and art thou moving to it Behold here is thy Viaticum thy provision for the way more costly then that was which Elias had in his passage to mount Horeb. If Christs Garment had such virtue in it that being only to touch'd it could stop an Issue of blood what efficacy what power may we conceive to be in his body when it is received and applyed by the hand of faith But you may say I am unworthy to partake of that divine food neither can I afford or give that reverence unto it which is meet I beseech you deare Brother let us not cover and cloake our sloathfullnesse with a colourable pretence ' of Reverence It is better sayes Aquinas to approach to this banquet out of love then out of a fond feare wholly to abstaine from it Part. 3.2.80 Art 10 and 3. St. Amb. expounds that Petition of the Lords Prayer Give us this day our daily Bread lib. 5 de Sac. c. 4. to be meant of the Supper of our Lord If it be daily Bread why receivest thou it but once a yeare Receive that daily which being received will profit thee So live that thou maist be fitted to receive it daily for he that is not fitted to receive it every day is unworthy to receive it after a yeares space when he has taken a surfeit in sinn and wickednesse lib 4. de Sac. c. 6. For as St. Amb. in another place if as often as the blood of Christ is poured out hee meanes the Wine in the chalice which is a signe of his blood it is poured out for the remission of sins It concerns mee to accept it ever with joy and thankfullnesse and that my sins may be wiped out and pardond I that alwayes wound my soule with sin ought alwayes to apply to those wounds a medicine Gemmadius Massi liensis determines this point well I neither praise nor discommend the Art of those who receive every day the holy Eucharist yet I exhort and perswade all Christians having first subdued their affections and repented heartily of their sins to communicate each Lords Day Hee that comes with a mind not infected with the love of sinne that man comes prepared And who so casts off all affections to his former sinnes that man ceases to hate and begins to love God Surely he is most ungratefull to his maker who for his sake and in obedience to his Command will not throw away and cast out the poyson of every pestilent and foule affection that so he may come prepar'd to the holy Communion with those that will not do this God is highly and deservedly displeased as appeares by that parable of the great man that made a Feast and invited Guests who would not come Luk 14.16 I say unto you said that Mr. of the Family that none of these men shall tast of my supper what Lord not tast of thy Supper why they are those that will not come and tast of it and dost thou Judge this to bee a fit punishment for their obstinate Rebellion so it is Their doome proceeded out of their own mouths They said they will not and God sayes they shall not Thus by their ungodly and rebellious will they shall be punish'd When the City of Samaria was straitned with a sore famine which threatned a generall destruction And Elisha promised that within a few dayes there should be great store and plenty of corne and other provision one of the lords of that City scoffing at his prediction answerd Though the Lord would make windowes in heaven could this thing come to passe to whom Eâ—isha replyed Behold thou shalt see it with thine eyes but shall not eate thereof It happend to that proud Lord as the Prophet foretold And thus at this day are many puâ—ished They see abundance or good store of this holy bread in the Eucharist but they eat not of it And thou cold Christian whose heart is frozen with hatred and malice ' thou who now contemnest Gods Ordinance thou shalt see the bread upon the Table and the Wine stand by it but God will not give thee grace to drink of this or tast of that Thou shalt see and heare of many who have beene refreshd by this heavenly banquet whilst thou in the meane time art starved and famished Because thou hast excluded thy selfe thou art debarred from comming to Gods Table by which thou mightst have beene plentifully fed and satisfied However it bee thus with the ungodly and wicked yet those that are predestinated to eternall life that are the genuine and true sons of God count it as a marke of Gods high displeasure to want this heavenly bread and therefore they neglect no opportunity omit no occasion whereby they may obtaine and purchase it for they are not Ignorant that the most provident Creatour hath allotted its proper food to every creature as to Eagles birds to Lyons wild beasts to the Horse Oates to an Ox Hay to sheepe Grasse to the Whale fishes to man bread that comes out of the Earth but to those that are his Sons by the grace of Adoption hee hath appointed better food that is bread from Heaven This heavenly bread this bread of Sons this bread of Angells Gods adopted Saints for the most part receive with an ardent desire with most submissive reverence and with that affection which becomes Gods beloved Children who had rather shew themselves to be Gods sons by immodest piety then appeare to bee his Enemies by an impious modesty If to any ones conscience who is in the number of the praedestinate Christ should thus speake by the still voyce of his spirit whilst he is receiving the holy Sacrament Consider seriously with thy most collected thoughts what and how great things I have done and suffered of my meere love to thee to expâ—ate thy sinnes Lift up the Eyes of thy soâ—â—e and behold with good attention the thornes that peirced my head and the many Sorrowes that rent my heart My body was wounded with whips and nails but my soule received its wounds from many great and unsufferable Injuries For thy sake I had almost in the garden selt deaths stroke There the lashes of my inward griefs did anticipate the whipping of Herods Souldiers Thinke not with thy selfe what I suffered from my foes when such heauy strokes were laid on me by my freinds Thou Knowest upon how hard a bed I dyed for thee If thou hads't not find I had not suffered My loue that thou mayst vnderstand the greatnesse of it moued me to undergoe the most bitâ—er and Ignominious death but none could he sound more bitter and Ignominious then that I did sustaine for thee the death of the crosse Behold I I who am the son of God haue died for thee poore sinfull man and if that death had not beene sufficient I would not haue refused to dye a thousand times more to have redeem'd thee from the power of death and Hell But what wilt thou doe
love an enemy To him that should make this objection we may retort thus But it will be a more hard and difficult matter to burne in the midst of Gods enemies in everlasting fire It may be hard to love him whom you think worthy of hatred but it will be an harder and more Irksome thing to heare the voyce of him who one day shall pronounce from his seat of Iudgement this heavy and souleiklling sentence go yecursed â—â—et then no man any more pretend difficulty and say It is a thing intolerable to flesh and blood not to hurt him by whom ofttimes I have beene hurr Let such a man remember what one did say He that will take no paines will never climb a Mountaine and whosoever hates his enemy shall never go to Heaven The superstitious Papists go in pilgrimage from place to place and for the most part returne the worse They offer large gifts at their Altars and in the meane time harbour hearts in their brests as hard as their Altar stones being full of hatred and malice they put themselves to great cost and paines to procure a Jubile for the pardon of their owne sins and yet they will not cast out their desire of Reveng God Christian hath appointed for thee a Iubile which thou maist solemnize within thy self and within the walls of thy house This is done by saying but one word from thy heart I forgive say this cordially and God will forgive thee all thy offences which thou hast committed against his Iustice Forgive and it shall be forgiven thee Lu. 6. for if thou shouldst give thy body to be burnt and hast not Charity in that thou hatest thine enemies it would presit the nothing God would not be pleasd with thee we count him rich who hath many debtors our enemies that heap upon us miseries owe us much for that they ought to suffer much by and from us It is in our power now whether we will enrich our selves by them in pardoning and passing by their offences But let me advise thee O man that art apt to reveng cast up thy account and see what thou thy self owest and what others to thee Consider how much it is which thou owest to thy God Thy score is so great that I beleeve thou art not able to diâ—charge it but by this onely means Eccl. 28.2 by relying upon Christs satisfaction to his Fathers Justice for thy sins Forgive thy Neighbour the hurt he hath done unto thee so shall thy sins be fâ—rgiven when thou prayest Great are thy debts which God hath forgiven thee if thou shouldst be backward and unwilling to cancell a small debt due to thee from another might not one justly suspect thee as guilty of great Iniquity That saying of St. Hier. is common and well known Oh fearefull sentence sayes he if we remit not small things to our Brother God will not remit great things to us A man may expect the like measure or that pardon from God which he affords to his Brother Forgive not and thou shalt not be forgiven Therefore O man take pitty on thy sâ—ule and if so be thou hatest not thy self see that thou extend thy love unto thine enemy The ple sure or defight that is taken in Reveng is not long but that which followes upon our mercy to others is everlasting Be not I beseech you overcome with evill but overcome evill with Good Rom. 12. If thine enemy be hungry give him meat if thirsty give him Drink So shalt thou heap cuales of fire upon his head and the Lord will recompence thee againe Overcome evill with good St. Chrys speakes excellently of this Victory In the Olympick Games consecrated to the Devill this Law was of force to overcome by doing ill by giving blow for blow but in the Schoole of Christ we are taught a quite contrary lesson to do good for evill for here not he that strikes but he that is stroken and beares it with patience is commended by Christ there he was crownd that shed most blood here only he that is most patient Humility and meeknesse would so guard us in our lives that if we did but use either of them in our actions no mischief should foile us no hurt befall us and no injury reach unto our persons being fenced with these two vertues Prov. 20.22.24.29 Say not then I will recompence evill but wait upon the Lord and he will save thee Neither say thou as he has done to me so will I do to him It is a madness by hurting another to procure thy owne hurt and dammage And he that bites at the stone when he should look to the hand that sent it discovers too much in himself of the nature of the Dogge Nay for blindness of understanding and for want of Iudgement he that rages against his adversary may be compard to an Owl or Buzzard 2 Sam. 16. Therefore when thy enemie doth curse thee let him curse for God hath bid him curse thee with this consideration David comforted himself when he was revil'd by Shimei He that is condemned to dye is not offended or angry with the Hang-man but rather with the Iudge And why poore wretched man dost thou storme in a passion against thy executioner Rather look up to the Iudge even to God Almighty who sent this Antagonist to try thy faith and patience and to chastise thee for thy sins The Devill without Gods permission could not have taken one small Sheep from Iob. Iob. 1. The Lord giveth and the Lord hath taken away the Lord not the Devill this was Jobs note Iohn 19. Christ in like manner replyed to Pilate Thou shouldst not have had any power against me at all unlesse it had beene given thee from above The same Answer maist thou make to thy Adversary most men have been more benefited by their enemies then by their most loving friends Take away tyrants and there will be no Martyrs and take away all enemies and men thereby will loose the reward of their patience Dioclesian did not less amplify and enlarge the Church by the Sword and barbarous Cruelty then Constantine did with Gold and liberality That Lord of the family in the Gospell would have the Wheat and the Tares grow together Mat. 13. Let both grow till the Harvest But we are of another temper of a forward and hasty disposition although it be to our hurt and destruction so soone as we see a weed grow amongst our Corne we cry presently t is a Thistle or Nettle away with it to the fire tares to the Furnace our enemies we wish to helf O my deare brethren bridle this unruly passion be more gentle and moderate It is not fit for you before the Harvest comes to vent your hasty fury upon the fields at the time of Harvest it shall be said to the reapers Gather first the Tares bind them in bundles and cast them into the Furnace Let us not then
and fixed Excell 〈◊〉 is that saying of Epictetus an heathen man I have sayes he so framed my will that in all things it is conformable to the wil of God Is it his will to scorch mee with a burning feaver I presently submitt and say so will I would he have me attempt any difficulty I wil. would he have me enjoy the goods of this world I wil. Not enjoy them but to be poore I will Is it his will I should die I will And seeing now my will is changed into Gods so that what he wills I will no man may will or hinder me from doing that vvhich is Good Oh! hovv may this brave spirit in an heathen put us to the blush vvhat a shame is it for Gospell not to discerne those things which are seene by those who were wrap'd up in the darke night of blindness and Ignorance Let us then as we outstrip them in knowledge so exceed them in Devotion and say Thy will be done Thine O our God thine not ours be â—â—ne by us in earth as it is in heaven wherefore a me your selves 1 Mac. 3.58 and be valiant men and be ready to fight against the Nations your sins and vices and encourage your selves in the fight and in all your distresses with the words of Iudas to his brethren As the will of God is in heaven so be it v. 60. The Towne clock or that which belongs to the Church is a president for all the rest in the Towne to go by by it they are set And why should not the wills of men like so many little Clocks move according to the direction of that great one in heaven Why should they not follow only the will of God It is beyond all thought and expression It cannot be said or Imagin'd how pleasing and gratefull a thing it is to God Almighty when a man renounces his owne will and makes Gods will the rule of all his Actions Acts 13.22 J have found sayes God David the Son of Iesse a man after mine owne heart who will do all things that I will It seemes by this Text that God had been long a seeking and that now he seeks to find a man of that will and affection who only loves that which God likes and wills and nills that which God willeth and forbiddeth Having found such a man God is much delighted and pleased with him and expresses his joy in that joyfull exclamation oh I have found a man After my long search I have a man which will do all things that I will and command And hence it was that Christ the only begotten Son of God subjected his whole will to his Fathers Ioh. 6. for so he sayes of himselfe I came down from heaven not to do mine owne will but the will of him that sent mee That man is farre from ordering and squaring his life Actions by the rule of Gods will revealed in his word who will neither come when God calls nor obey when he commands A wise man feareth and departs from evill Pro. 14. Pro. 30. but a foole goes on and is confident He eates and wipes his mouth and then saith I have done no evill He that is thus desperatly perverse and foolish hath pawned his foule to the Devill and yet laughs is merry he has lost heaven and is not sensible of his misery he spends his dayes in a wanton jollity as if he had lost nothing Thus like a fool that is going to the Stocks or house of Correction he playes and sports while he is posting to damnation But on the contrary those that are destin'd to eternall glory have their minds so confirmed and establish'd in good and the love of it that they dread even the very shevv of evill â—nd the shadovv of sin That vvhich displeaseth God shall in no vvise please them The bent of their soules is so carried to that vvhich is pleasing to him that they neither think nor speak of any thing else It is the subject of their discourse and object of their thoughts and though they displease all men by their performance of any good duty they vvill do it so long as they be certaine and sure it is pleasing to God And vvith out all doubt their vvills are so enflam'd vvith divine love that they can upon better grounds cry out vvith Epictetus My God my love be it farre from mee not to vvill that that thou vvillest or to nill that vvhich thou vvouldest not have me to doe Thy will is my will nay my will is no more mine but now begins to be thine and therefore thy will is now to be followed because it has begun to be mine It is my duty to will that which thou willest and O my God I do will it vvilt thou have me sick I will or poore I will Afflicted with tormenting paine and griefe I will Or loaded with Injuries and contumelious speeches This also O Lord I am willing to beare Is it thy will I should be contemned and despised This too willingly I 'le suffer although this is greivous to flesh and blood Wilt thou have me left like a Cottage in a Garden of Cucumbers destitute of all helps and comforts In this likewise I vvill subscribe to thy good vvill and pleasure for I knovv that I am in the hands of a mercifull and indulgent Father wilt thou have me suffer the pangs of a troubled mind vvhich are to the vvicked the previous flashes of Hell torments These deare God vvill I endure patiently and vvould undergoe this burthen cheerefully even till the day of Judgement if thou Lord do'st think it fit and convenient for me vvilt thou have me spoil'd and bereav'd of those things I love next unto thee my God I confess it is an hard task to relinquish in our affections and to sustaine the loss of those things on vvhich vve have set our hearts yet even this I vvill endure because it is thy vvill I should suffer Wilt thou have me die All difficulties we know strike saile and stoop to this at which Nature shrinks yet I refuse not to die an hundred deaths on this condition that I may breath out my last breath in the armes of thy divine will and be compassed with the embraces of thy mercy Wilt thou have me die before my time before the thread of life be spun out This I will too though nature be not willing to it Wilt thou have me go to Heaven and shake off the fetters of mortallity vvherevvith I am clogged and held fast in affliction I vvill O my Lord I will Wilt thou send me to Hell Ah good Iesus that thou shouldest will this I have deserved it by my wicked deeds whereby I served the De vill with that willingness as if I had a will to go to his place but O my sweet Iesu when thou did'st shed thy most precious blood for me thou plainly shewd'st that thou wert unwilling I should be
sentenc'd to that place of torments and by vertue of thy merit my nature was sanctified my vvill changed But if it were so as indeed it cannot be that I must choose one of these two either to be happy that thy just will should be frustrated or damned that it might be executed and fullfil'd I proclaime and pronounce to the praise of thy Justice that it were better for me to be damned that so thy will o God may be in me ratified But o eternall goodness I know am perswaded that thou willest not my death because thou therefore vvould'st have thy Son die upon the Cross that I might not dye an eternall death which is a perpetuall banishment from thee the fountaine of all bliss Wherefore I beseech thee deare Father by the merits of the bitter death of thy Son preserve me from the bands of eternall death Behold the wounds behold that blood that precious blood which was shed for me and by which thy Iustice was satisfied who would'st not spare thy Son that I thy poore servant might be redeem'd from destruction O King immortall and of eternall glory do with me novv what thou pleasest and so sanctifie my vvill that it may yeeld it selfe to be govern'd by thee in all things The Issues of thy will shall be sweet and pleasant to me Whatsoever thou willest most gladly will I doe Psal 106. My heart is ready O God my heart is ready Such servants the great Lord of heaven does love who observe their Masters nod with so vigilant an eye that the will of their Lord is their Law and rule by which their lives and Actions are regulated who likewise can with cheer fullness say It is the Lord let him do what he pleases There is nothing better then to feare God nothing sweeter then to take heed to the Commandements of the Lord. Eccl. 23. God delights in those servants who observe his precepts and keepe his commands with all care and diligence Who are ready at his beck to obey and bow when he would have them bend who likewise though most afflicted can in one day cheerefully even a thousand and more times cry and say with heart and voyce God's will be done and let him doe whatsoever he pleases Thus whatsoever these good men will God wills the same for they most constantly and reselutely will not that which they know God wills not but hate and abhorre it By this meanes such holy minded men obtaine what ever they desire because they desire nothing else but this that they may conforme themselves wholly and onely to Gods good will and pleasure They know how true that is which St. Hierome once said when he writ to Paula concerning the death of Blaesilla God is good and all that a good God doth must needs be good Neither doe men who are well minded who have good and holy wills account any thing evill which comes from a good God Are they in health They give thanks for this to their maker Are they rich even in this they acknowledge the vvill of their Lord and praise their loving Father Are they bereav'd of their deare friends by death They lament and bewaile their loss but because they know this to be the good pleasure of their Lord they sustaine and suffer it with a joyfull mind and are contented Is their onely son taken from them This is hard but to be endured because he is taken away by that God from whom he was sent or rather lent Does poverty which is a sore burden lye hard upon them or sickness which is heavier then that does contumely or contempt afflict their patient soules doe whole troopes of Injuries provoke their spirits for all this and in these great extremities they suffer no other speeches to fall from their Tongues but this What the Lord hath pleased so hath he done and it is well done God be praised God be Blessed for it With such sanctified and reformed wills ever subjected to Gods the righteous are settled and staied as it were with an Anchor in the mid'st of many Tempests Stormes and Changes which shake the minds of those that are not built upon Christ who is a strong foundation But the godly relying upon Christ his all sufficient merits and throwing themselves upon God by an entire subjection to his vvord by suffering vvhat he vvills and doing vvhat he commands standing in this holy posture of their soules they expect their last houre the houre of their change and think every misfortune and calamity short and little that shall be seconded vvith an happy state and condition which shall be eternall and never have end SYMBOLVM XI Voluntatis in bonum propensio Inclinaui cor meum ad faciendas justificationes tuas in aeternum propter retributionem Psal 118. Embleme XII Moderation of our passions Thy desire shall be subiect to thine husband and hee shall rule over thee Genesis 3.16 The twelfth signe IS The moderation of our affections set out by a vvell-tuned Lute The vvord or motto annexed to it GEN. 3.16 Thy desire shall be subjest to thine Husband and he shall rule over thee i.e. The sensitive appetite shall be subject to the command of Reason THey that be Christs have crucified their flesh with the vices and lusts thereof Gal. â— So sayes St. Paul Elegantly Saint Bern. commenting upon Christs words inviting us to come unto him He that will come after me let him deny himselfe It is sayes hee as if Christ had said He that desires to enjoy mee let him despise himselfe and he that would do my will must learn to forsake and break his owne We may be wearied in the fight but after victory we shall be crown'd And this is the way to gaine life to die daily to our selves and to mortifie our affections where and in whom they live there reason is dead And therefore holy David prai'd thus unto the Lord. Psal 119. Open mine eyes that I may see the wondrous things of thy law As if he should have said I know o Lord that in thy law are hid and conteined great and sublime mysteries but I am a poore sinfull man cumbred and pressed vvith the burthen of my flesh subject to divers affections and lusts neither am I Ignorant how great is their power and strength they molest my thoughts and blind my understanding Doe thou therefore of thy goodness open my eyes and dispell the mist of error which is spread in my foule by meanes of my affections Concerning these raging passions Seneca sayes not amiss Ep. 85. et 116. It is far more easy to stop their beginnings then to master or rule their violence for as the body that is cast down headlong from an high Tovver has no command of it selfe nor power to resist or stay its selfe before it falls to the ground even so the mind if it has thrown itselfe upon any base passion if it hath yeelded it selfe captive to any untamed