a poor man not through tenderness of heart but because JESUS hath commanded him and sayd that which you shal do to the least of mine shal be don to me Who Matth. 25. 40. ever shal give a cup of cold water to one of mine in the name of a Disciple shal receive reward He promises you nothing if you give an alms to a poor man becaus he is your countreyman of the same condition of the same nature with you but if you give to him Becaus he is a Christian and a Disciple of the Son of God in the name of a Disciple Matt. 10. 42. 13. Let us hear then with respect and put in practise this Word of JESUS Habete fidem Have faith It is the extream misery of a Christian to lose Faith whilst it subsists in the soul there remains always some hopes of salvation when it is once lost all is lost there is no recovery but by a miracle 14. Have divine faith not humane only You ought to believe what I say to you not because I say it but becaus God sayd it becaus God revealed it to his Church and the Church teaches you it by my ministery Divine faith believes all the words of the Scripture without exception if you believe some and not the other it is humane faith or opinion or phansie not divine faith which believes becaus God is the soveraign and infallible Verity who cannot deceive in any point if He could in one He might in all the rest 15. Have actual faith not habitual only It is very profitable to exercise often formal and express acts of faith especially in temptation and in occasion of Sin to do as our Savior who being tempted in the desart oppos'd to each temptation a text of holy scripture And S. Paul counsells us to make use of the shield of faith in every occasion are you tempted by imprudence to defer your conversion oppose to it this shield enliven your faith by Ephes. 6. 16. Luke 12. 40. these words of our Savior the Son of man will com in what hour ye think not Death and judgment will surprize you when you think least of it Are you tempted by injustice to do any injury to your neigbour oppose this shield actuate your faith by these words of JESUS Do not to another what thou wouldst not have don to thy self Are you tempted by choler to abuse another by your words actuate your faith by these words of our Savior He that is angry with his brother he that calls him fool shal be guilty of fire Are you tempted by impurity oppose this shield quicken your faith by these words of S. Paul know that all fornicators and unclean Eph. 5. persons have no part in the kingdom of IESUS-CHRIST Are you tempted to go in an open dress and to shew your breasts Stir vp your faith by these words of IESUS Woe to him by whom a Scandal comes that is to him who gives an occasion to one only person to commit a mortal Sin 16. Have firm and perfect faith which doubts not wavers not staggers not at all You must be more convinced and perswaded of all that the Church does teach than you are of what you see S. Peter having seen the glory of IESUS vpon Luke 17. 1. mount Thabor having heard the voice of the eternal Father This is my beloved Son says that he was yet more ascertain'd of it by the testimony of holy Scripture habemus firmiorem Propheticum 2. Pet. 1. 19. sermonem And since the sacred text does say Fornicators Avaricious Robbers and other sinners shal never possess the kingdom of God if they correct not in themselves these Vices you must be more certain never to be saved if you commit these sins and have not true repentance then of what you see or hear if you doubt of it or have doubted of it voluntarily you must accuse your self thereof as of a Sin of infidelity I say voluntarily For when thoughts do rise against faith if they displeas you or if you reject them promptly as soon as you perceive them there is no Sin But to avoyd the occasions of them do what S. Paul commands you avoyd those that would seduce you they will cast always into your mind I know not what maligne and venemous disposition if your calling be to serve though they would give you great wages serve them not if you pretend to marriage beware to marry them for you put your selves in danger of being seduced and when there should be no danger yet you may die and leave children who being bredvp by them will follow their errors and lose their souls Beware also to read or to have in your house naughty books some of your people may happen to read them and be perverted or prejudiced by them 17. Have explicit faith content not your selves to say I am a good Catholick I believe all Articles of faith but learn them in particular at least the principall and most remarkable To learn them you ought to hear as often as you can sermons catechismes to read Spiritual books to frequent devout persons who can instruct you to meditate upon them for to conceive the importance of them 18. And to make a publick profession of them you should of ten explicate them and make others to admire them You must not fear to oppose those who speak unworthily of them of God or of his Church nor be asham'd to practise the observances and devotions prescribed by the Church in consequence to them But remember this word of the Son of God He that shal be asham'd Luke 9. 26. of me before men I will be asham'd of him in the presence of my Father and his Angells 19. Have living faith animated with charity and fruitfull in good works otherwise S. Paul will say Your faith is vain for 1. Cor. 15. 17. Iames 2. yet you are in your sins S. Iames will say Shal dead faith be able to save you S. Bernard will say behold a fine honor you render to your God! you offer to him a dead carkess a faith joyn'd to infamous and stincking actions The Saints did not so they practised Heb. 11. vertue by their faith they converted kingdoms by the heroical actions of their faith they obtain'd the promises which God made to the true faithfull the possession and enjoyment of the principal object of faith the intuitive and clear vision of the essence of God in the happy eternity which God granr us all Amen DISCOURS XVII Of Hope 1. THe God of Hope says the Apostle replenish you with all Rom. 15. 13. sort of joy that you may abound in hope In which words he wills not only that we hope but he demands of God for all the Faithfull an abundance of this gift and vertue by which we may hope through the merits of IESUS-CHRIST to possess God and to enjoy eternal felicity This Vertue is so necessary that
eternally What horrible ingratitude is it to give ones heart to a Creature to a foolish passion to a shamefull pleasure and not to love God after a gift so precious to refuse him our poor little heart after He hath given us his What monstrous malice is it to offend the holy Ghost who is the end and the non plus ultra the Center and the consummation of all the liberalities and donations of God to us 12. His scripture teaches us that we offend Him in dlvers manners either resisting or in contristating or affronting him or by extinguishing him in our hearts S. Steven sayd to the Iews you resist always the holy Ghost When we feel an impuls to rise out of the state of sin and to convert our selves seriously Asts. 7 51. to God 't is the holy Ghost that knoâ—ks at the door of our hearts It seems that He makes it his imployment so assiduous He is to solicite us by his inspirations if we consent not to his summons we resist him When we have consented to him and He is entred into our hearts we contristate and afflict him if we commit voluntarily and deliberatly a venial sin All naughty speech let it not proceed out of your mouth and contristate not the holy Ghost sais the Apostle We affront him consenting to Eph. 4. mortal sin by which we chase him shamefully out of our hearts and admit into them the euill spirit his corrival and mortal ennemy Such an one hath don contumely to the Spirit of grace says Heb. 10. 29. the same Apostle We extinguish him in our hearts when we commit the sins which are directly and diametrically opposit to him as when we presume of the mercy of God and to have pardon of our sins without doing penance for them when we are sorry for the vertues of others which are the works of the holy Ghost or when we indeavour to destroy them mocking those that pray much that frequent the Sacraments that remaine long in the church or when we oppose the known truth or contradict it t is to extinguish in our selves the holy Spirit 't is to do contrary to this advertisement of S. Paul The Spirit extinguish not â— Thess 5. 19. 13. Since then the holy Spirit enters not into our hearts without our free consent nor without dispositions convenient for such a Guest since we are so obdurat rhat we refuse him entrance and that we have not only indisposition and indignity but opposition and contrariety to his grace and that when we have received him we are so weake and miserable that we often afflict him or affront him Let us pray him humbly and fervently to remove all these impediments to vanquish our rebellion to introduce into us by his mercy the necessary dispositions to open himself the door to enter victoriously into our souls to make them worthy sanctuaries where He may dwell in this world by his grace and in the other by his Glory Amen DISCOURS XII OF THE NINTH ARTICLE I belieue the holy Catholick Church the Communion of Saints 1. THe Apostles by these Words make us to believe that CHRIST hath a true Church or Societie of faithfull people upon earth And they oblige us to submit to all that this Church proposes to be believed as a matter or an Article of Faith 2. This Submission is so necessary that unless we believe the Church we cannot reasonably belive any Point of Faith Nay we cannot so much as know what things are to be believed For we cannot be ascertained and assured but by the Church that they have been revealed Some will say that they are assured by the holy Scripture of what is revealed and learn in it what is to be believed 3. But how know they which is holy Scripture And how know they that the Gospells are the Word of God God never appeared to them to tell them this Book printed in such a place is my Word is my Scripture The Bible also says not I am holy Scripture And if also it should say so it should be in this suspected since it gives testimony of it self and another book might say I am the Word of God I am holy Scripture and we ought not to believe it They will say the Scripture is known by its own light to be divine or a light within them makes them see that 't is the Word of God 4. If this were so How could it com to pass that there should be hardly one book of Scripture that hath not been rejected The Marcionits rejected the five Books of Moses the Manicheans rejected the Prophets the Albigenses the Psalms and all the ancient Testament the Ebionites received but one of the four Gospells to wit the Gospell of S. Matthew the Cardonites admitted but one part of the Gospell of S. Luke Luther rejected the Book of Iob Ecclesiastes the Epistle to the Hebrews that of S. Iames and that of S. Iude the second of S. Peter the two last of S. Iohn and the Apocalyps all which books the Calvinists and our Protestants in England admit as holy Scripture How coms it that Protestants in England and in France do see divers books to be the Word of God which Protestants in Germany and other parts do not And How does the whole Catholick world admit divers bocks to be Canonical which Protestants reject as Apocryphal If there were any such light in the Books by which they discover themselves to be certainly divine or in men by which they see them to be the word of God all must necessarily see the same Books to be Canonical and all would acknowledg the Lib. cont Epist Fundamenti Cap. 5. same since the same Faith is necessary for all And S. Austin would not have sayd that He would not believe the Gospell if the authority of the Church did not move him to it for he would have seen them to be divine Must we not then necessarily believe the Church and learn of her which is holy Scripture And what is to be believed And since we have not the original of one only Canonical Book must we not believe the Church and trust her for a faithfull Copy 5 But suppose that God gave the Bible in English and that He sayd this Bible printed at London is his Scripture I say again that we must yet believe the Church and rely on her for the sense and meaning of it For S. Peter in the same Bible sais 1. Pet. 3. 16. in the Epistles of S. Paul there are things hard to be understood which the unlearned and the unstable deprave as also the rest of the Scriptures to their own perdition Note perdition Have not Disputes controversies and contests always risen concerning the sense and meaning of them and that in matters of the greatest importance Have not the best copies of the Bible been consulted and all passages confer'd the controversies stil remaining and increasing Doe we not see that divers and
and no man doubts to set any Painter or Graver on worke notwithstanding these words of the law God then forbids them to be made to the End divine worship be given to them and to signify this He adds Thou shalt not adore nor serve thâ—m He confirms us in this sense in the 26. chapter of Leviticus You shal not make to your selves an Idol and graven thing neither shal you erect Pillars nor set an Image of stone in your land for to adore it We gather this sense also from the reason which God gives of the command I am the Lord thy God all soveraign honor all divine worship all supream adoration is due to me I am a jealous God I Suffer not any divine worship but my own I connot allow my honour to be given to another Wherefore S. Austin and other Interpreters of scripture so understand these words that we make not images against the intention of the law if we make them not S. Aug. in Quest Iosue 22 30. for to adore them so the Israelites were fatisfyd that the Tribes of Ruben and Gad erected not an Altar against the intention of the law since they made it not for sacrifice but only for a monument S. Admire here the goodness of God who seperates us from idolatry the most vile foule and cruel servitude imaginable which made the poor idolaters to serve a thousand most vile and most base Masters which urged men and women in their publick service to actions so foul and impudent that impudence it self would blush to see or hear of them which engaged them to such inhumanities and cruelties in their sacrifices that we cannot without horrour speak or thinke of them And He does not only endeavour to free men from this most hard and pernicious slavery but moreover binds them to himself not that He hath any want of us He hath no need of our goods nor of our service He was most happy from all Eternity and would be for all Eternity without us But it is becaus He desires that we be perfect He will that we be happy and He sees that our perfection consists in loving and serving him And therefore He moves and solicits us to it by most effectual means He commands strictly and threatens the transgressours of his command to punish them in their children to the third and fourth generation and to move our mercenary hearts yet more He promises to recompence our obedience in thousands and all this is but a pledg and gage of the great goods which He prepared and promised us if we love him and keep his commandements 4. After such Commands threatnings and promises can we thinke that a great Church a Church so learned so curious and carefull in other points and so addicted to good workes would give supream honour divine worship and adoration to Saints and to their Relicks which she believes to be no Gods Nay to statues and pictures which she declares to have no Divinity or vertue and this with the loss of Gods favour forfeiture of his promises labour in this world eternal punishment in the other and without gain of any honor pleasure or profit whatsoever May be believe that CHRIST having banished Idolls out of the world for ever or out of the greater part of it as it was by the Prophets foretold He should and that the Turks who adore Isaiah 2. 18. Zachar. c. 13. V. 2. him not and the jews his greatest enemies enjoy the fruit and accomplishment of this promise and Christians who honor adore and love him should not but should live and dye in Image Saint and Host Idolatry He hath not made by himself or his Apostles Idolatry to cease one only moment of time if it be Idolatry to adore the B. Sacrament to honor the Saints their Relicks and their Images so as the Romane Church does honour them since these things have been so practised in all times in both Greek and Latine Church You see then that to make Catholicks Idolaters is to tear one of the most precious and replendent jewells out of the Crown of JESVS that it is to make the Prophets of his Father Lyars and that it is to give occasion to Infidells to make him this reproach Thy Prophets see vain things and divine a ly Is it Possible that the Catholick or universall Church the Church to which God promised that the gates of Hell shal not prevail against Matt. c. 16. v. 18. Matt. c. 28. v. 19. Iohn c. 16. v. 12. Osee c. 2. v. 19. Her That He would be with her all days even to the consummation of the world That He would preserve her from falling into errors and guid her into all truth the Church which God Espoused to himself for ever The Church which He obliged all to believe and follow I believe the holy Catholick Church Is it possible I say that she breaks always notoriously the first commandement by teaching and committing Idolatry It is impossible she should adore any other thing than God alone Note that I say Adore 5. For though this word Adore is used in the Bible and in the Hebrew Greek and Latine tongues to signify all sorts of honor supream and divine honor which is given to God only Psalme 96. where it is sayd adore him all ye Angells Inferiour honour which is given to Saints Iosuah 5. 14. where it is sayd that Iosuah adoted an Angell Humane and civill honor which is given to men on earth 3. kings 1. 23. where 't is sayd the Prophet Nathan adored David and in many other places it does signify these three different sorts of honour Nevertheless since this word Adore does signify in our language divine honor and worship proper to God alone I say 6. We adore not the Saints becaus we acknowledg not soveraign and supream excellency and perfection in them But we give them an inferiour honor according to their dignity their holiness and relation to God for according to the law of God and reason a proportionable honor is due to excellency 7. Secondly we honor and Venerate the Relicks of the Saints though with an honor inferior to that we give to the Saints themselves For we find in Relicks some dignity holiness and relation to God They were the living members of CHRIST and Tempells of the holy Ghost They are the Organs and Instruments of God by which He workes many miracles and imparts divers benefits to men and they shal be one day raised up again to be the habitations of glorious souls and to live and reign with CHRIST therefore they deserve some respect and the primitive Church as the holy Fathers testify did not deny it them Thirdly we adore not Images and pictures For we know and believe that there is no divinity in them Neither do we give them any inferior honor veneration or respect absolutely or for themselves or which is terminated upon them becaus we acknowledg not any vertue or perfection in them
THE CHRISTIAN DUTY COMPOSED BY B. BERNARD FRANCIS STUDENT IN DIVINITY ISA. 30. 21. THIS IS THE WAY WALK IN IT 1. COR. 14. 38. If any man know not he shal not be known IHS PRINTED AT AIRE BY CLAUDE FRANÇOIS TULLIET M.DC.LXXXIV with Licence of Superiors TO THE READER GOd desires so cordially and seeks so earnestly our salvation that He calls it his worke and his affaire by excellence His Son Io 4. 34. sayd to his Disciples I have meat you know not T is to do the will of my Father and to accomplish his worke And to his Mother in the Temple Knew you not that I must labour in the affaires of my Father And in the Vigil of his death Father I have accomplished the worke you have given me to do Becaus 't is the worke of workes the affaire of affaires and the ayme and end of other workes He employes in it not men only but also Angells All the Angelicall Spirits that are sent Heb. 1. 14. into this world are sent for the salvation of the Elect says S Paul What say I men and Angells He employes in it his divine Perfections For if He exerciseth his Power in working miracles Wisdom in inventions to convert us Patience in expecting us to penance Goodness to allure us Iustice to frighten us Mercy in pardoning us Providence in removing occasions of sin 't is for our salvation And to the end there be nothing in Him or of Him that is not employ'd in this great work He sends the adorable Persons that proceed from him He sends his beloved Son who applyes himself to it with so great tenderness and affection that from thence He takes his name with so much fervour and Zeal that he spends in it his sweat and blood He sends the holy Ghost who shews likewise His Zeal when our salvation is in danger we being in the state of sin what does He not to draw us out of it and to convert us He excites us wakens us threatens us importunes us knocks almost incessantly at the doores of our hearts and if we open them to Him He Enters into our soules dwells in them animates them governs and conducts them workes by them our good workes in our prayers He prayes cryes groanes in us and by us in temptations He aydes us in perplexities Enlightens us in afflictions comforts us May not the Eternal Father say Quid debui facere vineae meae non feci What should I have don for the salvation of men that I have left undon He hath desired it most earnestly He hath design'd to it his creatures Employ'd in it his Servants Favourits infinite Perfections and the divine Persons of his Son and of his holy Spirit How coms it to pass then that so few are saved even amongst Christians One reason is that very many are yet ignorant of the ways ordinain'd by God to go to heaven Another is that the greater part also of the Faithfull are negligent and careless in the use of the means prescribed to be saved they will not labour and strive to enter by the narrow gate and therefore our Saviour sayes they shal not Wherefore desiring the salvation of every one with all my heart I shew the First and put before their eyes the plain and open wayes to Heaven and to correct the negligence of the other I add the most pressing and urgent motives to walke and run in those wayes Peruse this worke good Reader with the same intention and desire that I present it to you Consider not who made it nor how 't is made but what is therein sayd to you If you shal becom more knowing in the Faith and Law of Christ and in ptactise more Dutifull to Him it will abundantly recompence the labour of YOUR WELL WISHING FRIEND AND SERVANT IN CHRIST F. B. APPROBATIONS JNfrascripti testamur nos librum perlegisse tui Titulus The Christian Duty Idiomate Anglicano a V. Adm. P. Bernardo a Sancto Francisco Ordinis FF Minorum Recoll Provinciae Angliae compositum in quo nil Fidei Orthodoxae vel bonis moribus contrarium deprehendimus verum è contra salutari plenum devotione solidaque refertum doctrina Quem idcirco Communi Bono vtiâ—issimum praeloque dignum Iudicavimus Hac 29 Octobris An. Domini 1683 In Conventu nostro FF Min Recoll Anglorum Duaci F Pacificus a Sto. Albino F. Bonaventura a Sta. Anna S. Theologiae Lector S. Theologiae Lector The Licence of the Superior Ego F. Gervasius a Sto. Francisco Provinciae Angliae FF Min. Recoll Minister Provincialis facultatem concedo ut hoc opus cui Titulus The Christian Duty a V. Adm. Patre Bernardo a Sto. Francisco compositum et eiusdem Provinciae Theologorum judicio approbatum typis mandetur Datum Ariae 9. Septembris An 1683. F. Gervasius â Sto. Francisco qui Supra Imprimatur liber cui Titulus The Christian Duty a Reverendo Patre Bernardo à Sancto Francisco conscriptus Actum in Vicariatu Audomarensi die decima septima Septembris Anno 1684. De Mandato B. DE LARRE Secret DISCOURS I. OF THE FIRST ARTICLE I believe in God AMongst the noble actions which the holy Penitent David practised to appease God and satisfy his justice This is one of the most notable Docebo iniquos vias tuas impij ad te convertentur I will teach sinners thy wayes my God and the impious shal be converted to Thee These words shew me how to do well this worthy fruit of Penance I must not flatter I must not tickle eares but I must teach Docebo And whom must I teach The poor as well as the rich the little and ignorant as well as the great and learned my self also as well as others for we are all sinners and I must teach sinners iniquos And what is it that I must teach Not the conceits of Plato not the discourses of Aristotle but thy wayes ô my God! Vias tuas the ways by which we must go to Thee And why must I teach not to receive popular praise Not to be esteemed learned but that sinners be converted to thee ô my God! impij ad te convertentur The wayes by which we go to God are Faith and the Mysteries which it teaches Hope Charity Grace good Works the Commandements and the Sacraments These wayes God aiding I will open plainly teach practically and urge earnestly that sinners may be converted into them and unto God And first I will consider the material object or the Mysteries of Faith which the Apostles propose in their Creed to us and begin with these words I believe in God 2. That there is a God nature teaches us the Pagans them selves confessed it and it is a thing so manifest that the scripture tells us that none but fools deny it 3. This word God in the singular number teaches us that there is but one And if he were not the only one he would not be God He would not be
the Sovereign of all his Empire would not be absolute nor his Dominion universal since that a Corrival or Competitor would have right to dispute with Him if not the superiority or the preeminence at least equality and independence 4. The Apostles say not only I believe God but I believe in God and these two expressions are very different for the first imports only an Act of Faith by which we believe that there is a God and what does come from Him as what He teaches us in the Scripture and what the Church proposes as revealed by Him But the other signifys not only an act of Faith but also of Hope and Love And we learn by this expression that it is not enough for a Christian to believe God but he must moreover hope in Him and love Him and so distinguish himself from the wicked and from the devill who can believe that there is a God and give credit to his word but becaus they confide not in him nor love him they believe not in God 5. But what is God This Question the disciples of learned Epictetus made to him who answered my Children if I could tell you what is God either He would not be God or I my self should be God He sayd true but he sayd not enough it is not only impossible to explicate what is God but whatsoever we can say of Him is infinitely below what we ought to say of Him Wherefore S. Austin says that we cannot say any thing that is worthy to be attributed to God becaus in this it is unworthy that it is possible to be sayd 6. Neverthelesse we ought to speak of Him for to make Him known and we must make Him known for to make Him to be loved and feared and we must make Him to be loved and feared for to avoyd sin which offends Him 7. The Scripture says that He is great and above all praise Magnus Dominus laudabilis nimis But we must not imagin that it Psal 47. 2. speaks of a material and corporeal greatnesse When we say that one King is greater then another this is not to say that he is of a greater and higher stature but that he is greater in Power and Dominions so when we say that God is great we mean not in material quantity length largness and other corporeal dimensions for He is a spirit and has no body nor parts But He is great in Nobility in Power in Wisdome in Goodness and other divine Petfections 8. He is great in Nobility He is so noble that all Kings and Emperours are but his servants and his slaves All crowns of the world depend on Him and he disposes of them at his pleasure He is so noble that the kings are his beggers they say to Him daily upon their knees give us this day our daily bread and if He should not giue it them they must necessarily want it He is so noble that Kings compared to Him are but wormes who can do less against Him then worms of the earth against you I am a worme sayd a great king in the light of his contemplation 9. He is great in Power Potens metuendus nimis The power which makes great ones of the world is commonly but to destroy they say Alexander the great Pompie the great becaus by their armies they have defeated millions of men ruined Towns and desolated Provinces And what power is this a scorpion a spider is able to destroy and kill à man a little contagious air may defeat a whole army and this power also of the great ones is so vain and weak that they cannot annihilate or reduce to nothing a little fly for always something of it remains But God is so powerfull that He can not only reduce all things to nothing but draw all things out of nothing even without any assistance without any labour and more easily then you look upon me for you may be wearied in looking on me or hindred from seeing me and God cannot be wearied nothing can hinder the execution of his will 10. He is great in Wisdom He is so wise that He makes all the actions of his creatures to contribute to his intentions also those that are done against His intention He lets the second causes acte as if He acted not He lets each cause move according to its genious and particular inclination the natural naturally the free freely and He makes all their actions to serve His designes as infallibly efféctually and happily as if He alone did do their actions purposely He makes likewise to contribute to the Execution of his Will and to the accomplishment of his intentions all that men do against his Will and all that opposes his intentions the impious do all they can to dishonour Him the infidells to ruine his Church the reprobate to afflict and destroy his Elect and He makes the attempts of the impious to conduce to his glory the infidelity of the infidells to the good of his Church the persecutions of the reprobare to the salvation of the elect What an ineffable wisdom 11. He is great and admirable in his Goodness He is an infinite sea and an Abiss of love mercy and liberality which without diminution flowes continually and abundantly In the order of nature what flowers what fruits what plants what animalls what voices what perfumes what colours what drugs what meats and drinks for our nourishment for our service remedy and divertissement 12. In the supernatural Order He shews us evidently his Goodness He accomplishes that which He sayd Mensuram bonam confertam Luke 6. 38. coagitatam supereffluentem dabunt in sinum vestrum He gives good stuffed shaken and overflowing measure into the bosoms of the saints One for example gave a morcel of bread to a poor man or a word of instruction for his salvation this action was so smal this word so soon past that one would not think them worthy to be remembred Nevertheless God forgets them not He will look upon them with complacence he will praise them and recompence them not for a hundred or a thousand years only but for ever so good He is and ardently amorous of good 13. To men in this life He gives graces with so much liberality Ephes 1. 8. and affluence that S. Paul says The riches of his grace have superabounded in us If then we are deprived of them or receive them slenderly it is not a defect of the source but our own fault becaus we make our selves unworthy of them not complying with them not esteeming them but neglecting contemning them Who would not admire the nobility of this Royal divine heart who vouchsafes to give all these goods not only to the elect who are thankful for them but also to his enemies who acknowledg him not who blaspheme him contemn him persecute him Nevertheless he suffers them he supports them he conserves them in health he gives them honours riches
of the rent of it but rather chuse that your children make good cheer with it that they give of it to this flatterer or to this dissolute companion than to your God who dies with hunger in the person of the poor I know well that you excuse your selves by the number of your children But if your farmer should dispence with himself from paying you your dues upon the same account would you admit of his excuse S. Chysostome sends us to learn our lesson of the beasts since that we put our selues in their predicament and perhaps also below learn your lesson of your dog sayd this great Doctor you have not so much of judgment or at least not so much of gratitude as your dog for after you have given a morcel of bread to him he flatters you to thanke you in the best manner that he can to excite you to continue your favour to him and you who are indued with reason who blame so much ingratitude in others whilst that God does feed and nourish you delicately you thanke him not What say I we thanke hâ—m not we offend him much and many ways Nay we abuse the very benefits in offending him 9. I say that we abuse them for we make them to revolt against the Creator and we employ them to sin against him We use the light to read Romances and other naughty books the darkness of the night to Cover dishonest actions the air to breath out dissolute songs the fruits of the earth in gluttony and drunkennes cloaths and spoils of animalls in vanites 10. Jn this we do as a poor man that should throw money given him at the face of his benefactor for to hurt him as a Commander that should use his authority to levie men for warr against his Sovereign as a wife that should abuse the presents her husband gave her in pleasing an Adulterer God complains of this abominable ingratitude by his Prophet Osee and Osee c. 28. there we see how God punishes it in this life I gave them corne and wine and oile which they sacrificed to Baal Therefore I wil take my corne and my wine He will send sterility famine warr and other publick afflictions Wherefore a pious Doctor admonishes us very wisely that as often as we use the creatures we should imagin that they say to us these three words Accipe Redde Cave Take the benefit returne service beware punishment 11. Take the benefit Receive the creatures as so many Talents which this great Master gives you to make good use of them as so many Presents which this cordial Friend does make you for a testimony of his benevolence and as so many burning coales which he heaps upon your head for to heat you in his love Returne service Render service and the fruit of your negotiation to so liberal a Master thankes to so obliging a Benefactor obedience ro so sweet a Father and love to a so faithfull Friend In fine Beware punishment Take heed that you incurr not the reproches and the punishments of the ungratfull Take heed you be not like to those unclean beasts which never lift up their eyes to him who beats down acorns to them and which thinks not of but eating and grunting at one another Beware to imitate them who content themselves to use the creatures or to speak more properly to enioy them to make good cheer and to take their pleasures without ever thinking in themselues to whome belongs this bread I eate this air I breath this fire which warms me and this horse that carries me Take heed of failing to acknowledg from whence these benefits do com you will be ungratfull in not acknowledging them more ungratfull in forgetting them but most ungratfull in abusing them and in using the benefits against the Benefactor you will be a monster of ingratitude who would deserve not only to be deprived of the creatures but also to be punished by them For God hath not put the creatures under our feet for to serve as snares and stumblingblocks to make us fall but to serve us as stepps and ladders to mount up to the knowledg of him He hath put them into our hands not as arms to fight against him but as instruments to work with them in his service He hath put them before our eyes not as objects in which we may repose and place our last end But as means and wayes by which we may go to him who is our sovereign Good and our ultimate Beatitude Amen DISCOURS III. OF THE SECOND ARTICLE And in IESVS-CHRIST his only Son our Lord. THough that the authority of the holy Apostles is more than sufficient to make men to believe simply and most reasonably the verities proposed to them in these words Nevertheless many in this unhappy age look upon them as impostures and laugh at all Christianity as a humane invention or Romance Wherefore the Honour of JESUS CHRIST the Dignity of our Faith and the Zeal of mens salvation oblige me to prove and establish them in their source and to shew to every understanding which is not blinded willfully that JESUS-CHRIST is the true MESSIAS promised in the Law and Prophets 2. If JESUS-CHRIST had not come in the manner that He came and if He had not done that which he hath don it would not be a Crime not to know and acknowledg him But comming with all the Markes and Signes which the Scriptures give to the MESSIAS having don the wonderfull works which He hath done the incredulity of men cannot be palliated with excuse since that these evidence JESUS-CHRIST to be the true MESSIAS as will appeare by the consideration of them 2. In the first place the Prophets who were sent by God also according to the beliefe of our greatest Enimys and who worked so many miracles for the proof of their mission who signed with their blood the verity of their Prophesies who have been found true and faithfull by the event of that which they foretold whose writings could never possibly be falsifyd nor alter'd the least by Christians since that they were always in the hands of the Iews These Prophets I say foretell not generally and obscurely but particularly and distinctly the Misteries of JESUS-CHRIST the time of his comming the place of his birth the Virginity of his Mother the quality of his Personne the kind of life He would lead the vertues He would practise the miracles He would worke his Passion his Death his Burial and his Resurection with all their circumstances The time of his Comming in the 49 Chapter of Genesis where Gen. 49. Iacob Says at the houre of his death The scepter shal not be taken away from Iudas and a Duke out of his thigh 'till He do come that is to be sent and He shal be the Expectation of the Gentills Here we see two illustrious Prophesies which could not be foretold but by the Spirit of him who pierces future ages and disposes of Kingdoms He
foretells that the Sovereignity and the Royal Authotity should enter into the Tribe of Iuda and that it should remaine there 'till the comming of the MESSIAS In the first He foresees that which was to be effected after a thousand years what man could see so far He foresees what was to come contrary to all humane apearance for Ruben Simeon and Levi were Iudas his elder Brothers and by the right of eldership were to be preferred Nevertheless the Royalty in fine enters into the Tribe of Iuda in the personne of David and is there established and continues there 'till the comming of the MESSIAS notwithstanding the murmuration of the ten other Tribes the revolt of Israël and the captivity of Babilon Isay 11. 1. Hierem 23. 3. The Prophets Isaiah and Hieremiah foretell that He should issue out of the race of David and JESUS-CHRIST issued thence which is so clear that He was called commonly the son of David and it is proved by the deduction of his Geneaoligy â—n S. Matthew and S. Luke Micheas fortells that He should be born in Betheleem Mich. 5. He is born there Isaiah that He should be conceived and born Isai 42. Isai 35. 6. Isai 53. Psal 21. Psal 14. Isai 11. Zachuriâ—h 19. of a Virgin He was so the Psalmist that the Kings of the East should bring him presents they did so Isaiah Prophesies that He should be carried into Egipt that He should be gentle merciful peaceable That He should restore light to blinde hearing to deaf and speach to dumb That He should be despised humbled afflicted and put to death with the wicked for the sins of men David wrote almost from point to point his crucifixion his death and Passion He foretells that his Body should not cor rupt in the Sepulcher but that He should rise againe Isaiah that his Sepulcher should be glorious and it is at present visited by all Nations of the world Zachariah assures us that He should bannish Idolatry which He hath done so happily that the Iews themselves his greatest Ennemies have not since his comming fallen into it tho before they were so subject to it 3. And because IESUS-CHRIST came not only for Iews but also for Gentills who had no other Prophesies than those of the Sibyls the Providence of God put into the mouthes of these Prophetesses divine Oracles who announced the comming workes and Mysteries of the Messias as IESUS hath accomplished them The injuries of the times have deprived us of the greater part of their writings But S. Clement Alexandrinus Clem. Alex. bib 6. strom Lactan. lib. 45. de vera Sap. S. Iust Mar. in Apol. ad Ant. S. Aug. l. 10. de Civit. c. 2 lib. 11. c. 23. Lactantlus S. Iustinus Martyr S. Augustine and other ancient Fathers who cited them for the proof of our Religion shew that yet in their times these Prophesies were in Vogue among the Pagans 4. The Prophets announced that the Messias would come But S. Iohn Baptist proclaimed that He is come and shewing him with his finger sayd Behold him His testimony cannot be refused by any reasonable man for He led an innocent and irreprehensible life from his infancy He was a disinteressed man who contemned honours riches and the delights of the world The perfection and sanctity of his life is so eminent that they take him for the Messias and it was in him to be acknowledged for such All the Synagogue sent to him Priests and Levites for to know of him if He were CHRIST or no if He had answered but yes they had believed his simple word giving testimony of himself with more reason ought one to believe him when he testifys for another He says that he is unworthy to unty the shoostring of his shoos he hides himself so soon as IESUS begins to shew himself and of so many Disciples as he had not any of them appears after IESUS began to preach 5. But tho' the predictions of the Prophets nor the testimony of the Precursour should not authorize in any sort the Mission of IESUS-CHRIST the workes and miracles which He wrought shew evidently that He was sent by God When one affirms himself to be sent extraordinarily from God if he will that men believe him he ought to give proofs of his Mission to worke miracles which are the bulls and patents of it if he does evident palpable and irreprehensible miracles men ought to believe that he is sent by God and give credit to his words for 't is impossible that God should work a miracle in confirmation of a ly JESVS shews then evidently and effectually that He is sent by God and that He is God since that He works so many Miracles in confirmation of his Mission and his Doctrine He makes seen his power in all Orders of the Vnivers He exercises his empire upon all that is in nature and he works miracles upon all creatures as appears in the writings of the Evangelists 6. Now that these miracles were not impostures but truly worked many powerfull reasons perswade every man that hath common sense But this shal suffice at present That the Evangelistes name often the persons they particularize circumstances of place and manner in which the miracles were wrought and they write those that were don in their time in publick and in the presence of many witnesses if they had not sayd the truth they might easily be reproved and they would have had thousands that would have contradicted them and who would have taken all credit from them and from their Gospells They report that JESVS fed four thousand persons with seven loaves and another time five thousand with five loaves They say that JESUS raised Lazarus half rotten in Bethania very neare to Hierusalem the child of the Widow in Naim at the gate of the City in the sight of very many that they brought into Hierusalem the infirme of the neighbouring Towns and that the shadow of S. Peter passing upon them they were all cured If these things were fals when the Evangelists pteached and published their books they would have had as many Witnesses against them as there were persons in Naim in Hierusalem and in the neighbouring Towns who would have sayd we were then in the Town we have neither seen nor heard any thing of all this They say that in the passion of JESUS CHRIST the sun was eclipsed that darkness covered all the earth that the earth trembled that the sepulchers opened that the Vail of the Temple was rent and that this was done in the feast of Pasche when rhere were in the City more than eleven hundred thousand persons according to the history of Iosephus these Persons came to the Feast from all parts of the world where the Iews were then dispersed as may be seen in Philo Iosephus and Tacitus and from thence they returned to their respective homes If these miracles had not been true there would have been in every place who
also for venial for little lies detractions and derisions of their neighbor in things of smal importance for words or unprofitable actions good God! who would believe our judg would be so rigorous as to exact an account of his creatures for an unprofitable worde If Preachers should affirm it without the Word of God clear for it would not men cry-out against them as Impostors 9. They know they shal be damned not only for their own sins but again for those of others to which they contributed And they see now clearly that they contributed to an infinity of sins in others either before they were committed to witt by ill councel or bad example or when they were committed being the cause of them by putting the objects or the subjects or by giving assistance to commit them And after they were committed approving or not exteriourly disapproving them or not avoiding the hante of those that committed them for to give them a horrour of them 10. They know they shal not only be comdemn'd for sins of Commission but mpreover for sins of Omission they will expect to hear Go yee accursed into eternal fire for I was hungrie I was thirsty and you have not given me to eate and drink I was naked and you have not clothed me And if they are to be condemn'd for not giving corporal nourishment how much more for not giving spiritual the life of the soul being of more importance a thousand times then that of the Body if those that refuse material bread to poor strangers shal be so grieuously punished what will becom of them who give not the spiritual bread of instruction corection and good counsel to their children domesticks and strayed neigbours 11. In fine they know they shal not only be condemn'd for sins of omission and commission but shal moreover be answerable for good works which they have don with any imperfection which shal be found mixt with any impurity of intention with selflove secret vanity or any other vicious circumstance Cum accepero tempus Ego justitias judicabo when I shal hold my Psal 74 2. sopho 1. 12. great day I will judg also just works and by his Prophet Sophonias He says Scrutabor Hierusalem in lucernis I will search narrowly the devout soul and that no secret crany may escape me I will light a candle How then will He sound a reprobate soul signifyd by Babylon if He examin so rigorously a devout soul signifyd by Hierusalem 12. Sinfull souls I say know all this and much more they know also that their Iudg is not now a Lamb but is becom a Lion that the time of mercy is now past and the time of justice and reveng is com I leave now you to think in what horrible desolation they must be expecting nothing but as the Prophet Hieremy says the whirlewind of the Lords indignation Hierem. 23. 19. Matt. 25. 41. to com upon them And what whirlewind what tempest what thunderclap what Lyons roaring shal be this voice Go ye accursed into eternal fire prepar'd for the Devill and his Angells As many words so many thunderbolts and Anathemas 13. Depart hence reproved soul I banish thee for ever from my Paradise and from my Grace Get thee gon strayed sheep I will be no more thy Pastor be gon rebellious servant I will no more be thy good Master be gon unnatural child I will be no more thy Father be gon adulterous spouse I will be no more thy espouse get thee gon ungratfull creature thou shalt never have any part in my kingdom nor in my delights nor in my amity nor in my company nor in any thing that pertains to me Get thee gon thou accursed I excommunicate and anathematize thee for ever I strike thee with the sentence of eternal malediction thou shalt be accursed in thy understanding which shal never have a good thought cursed in thy will which shal always rage with spite and desperation accursed in thy eyes which shal never see any light in thy eares which shal never hear the harmonious musick of the Angells cursed in thy mouth which shal never have one only drop of water in thy feet and hands which shal be always bound in the chamber where thou shalt dwell which shal be but a furness in the company which You shal have which shal be but Devills cursed in every thing that can happen to thee Go accursed into fire where thou shalt not have for lodging but a prison for bed but coales for cloathes but flames for meat but serpents for drink but gall for musick but blasphemies and for rest but torments Get thee gon into fire which shal endure ever which shal inflame thee and not light thee burn thee and not consume thee as long as I shal be I will be thy enemy as long as this fire shal be fire it shal torture thee as long as eternity shal endure thou shalt remain in this pain Depart go into the fire prepared for the Devill and his Angells I prepared it not for thee t is against my inclination that I send thee thither But thou hast transgrest my Commandements neglected and profaned my Sacraments abused my graces and hast been ungratefull for an infinity of favours go ungratefull go accursed go unfortunate depart from my presence I will never have pity on thee My Dear Brothers and sisters behold a shadow but a very slender and imperfect one of the sentence which shal be pronounced against the Reprobate Thinke on it if you be wise think upon it in the presence of God to whom be honour praise glory benediction for ever and ever Amn. DISCOURS XI OF THE EIGHTH ARTICLE I believe in the holy Ghost IT is reported in the Acts of the Apostles that S. Paul Acts. 10. entring into the Town of Ephesus and finding there some Faithfull demanded of them if they had receiv'd the holy Ghost and they answered we know not so much as that there is a holy Ghost If we should put now the same Question to many Christians they might make the same answer or at least they might say we know not what is the holy Ghost To exclude and banish farr from Christians an ignorance so pernicious the Apostles employ this Article to instruct us concerning his adorable and amiable Person 2. They teach us that He is a Person distinct from the Father and the Son since they made us to say before I believe in God the Father I believe in Iesus Christ his Son and now I believe in the holy Ghost They teach us also that this Person is God with the Father and the Son since they make us say I belive in the holy Ghost They do not only make us to profess that there is a holy Spirit But to believe in Him to reverence Him as God and to love him as our sovereign Good 3. They call him holy Ghost or Spirit which is common to the Father and the Son For the Father is a
ascertain'd testimony of God who cannot deceive or be deceived Habitual faith is when 't is permanent as a habit and remains in us ' til we lose it by infidelity Actual faith is when we exercise formally and expresly an act of beliefe upon a revealed Verity Implicite is when we believe not the Articles of Religion but confusedly in general and in gros as when we say I believe all that the Church believes Explicit is when we believe distinctly and in particular that there is one God in three Persons that the Son of God was made man and the like important verities Interior faith is when we believe in heart without making known by any signe whether we believe or no. Exteriour is when we make profession of our belief by words or by external and visible actions dead faith is when it is depriv'd of the love of God and of other vertues Living faith is when it is animated by charity and the practise of good works 6. Humane faith conduces not to justification nor consequently to salvation this the Apostle expressly teaches when he says By Ephes 2. 8. 2. Cor. 5. 2. grace you are saved through faith and that not of your selves for it is the gift of God And again we are not sufficient to think any thing of our selves but our sufficiency is of God 7. Habitual faith suffices not for an Adult or one that hath sufficient use of reason but he must believe actually the Mysteries of faith For he that coms to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of them that seek him says S. Paul And S. Heb. 11. Iohn .. 3. 18. Iohn He that does not believe is already judged He says not he that hath not faith but he that does not believe which expresses a formal act I sayd habitual faith suffices not one that hath sufficient use of reason for infants and such as have not the use of reason may be saved by habitual faith which they receive when they are spiritually regenerated by Baptisme For this habitual gift of faith and the other habitual and supernatural gifts of Hope and Charity which they then by the merits of CHRIST receive justify them makes them adoptive children of God heires of his kingdom and remains in them for these effects and to be the sources of correspondent acts when they shal com to the use of reason 8. Implicit faith suffices not to be saved It is not enough to say I believe all that the Church believes you are oblig'd to know and believe explicitly that there is one God in three Persons Father Son and holy Ghost Creatour Saviour Sanctifier the Incarnation of JESUS-CHRIST his Nativity Death Resurrection Ascension his comming to Judgment if any one committed to your care should be ignorant of these Misteries you would be more culpable then if you should permit them to work on Christmas day this being only against a precept of the Church that against a Commandement of God And for the same reason if others who do not particularly pertain to you should be ignorant of those mysteries you would offend against charity if you instruct them not more then if you should leave them in ignorance of their obligation to hear Mass on Easter day 9. Interior faith suffices not It is not enough to have a firm faith in our heart we must make a profession of it by our words Rom. 10. 10. and actions For with the heart we believe vnto justice but with the mouth Confession is made to sâlvation says S. Paul We receive body and soul and all from God we must acknowledg and honour him as He commands us though with the loss of all 1. Cor. 13. Galat. 5. 6. S. Iames. 2. 14. Matth. 7. 21 S. Matt. 25. 41. Aug. Lib. de Fide Oper. C. 15. Tom. 4. ◠med 10. Dead faith in fine suffices not for if a man hath all faith and have not charity he is nothing says S. Paul And in another place he assures us that the faith only which works by charity is that which profits and conduces to salvation S. Iames confutes largly dead faith and thus concludes You see then Brethren how that by works a man is justifyd and not by faith only Our Saviour himself declares it insufficient to salvation when He says Not every one that says Lord Lord which is not sayd without Faith but he that does the will of my Father shal enter into the kingdom of Heaven And in the same Gospell He blames those He sends into everlasting fire not becaus they believ'd not in him but becaus they did not good Works and this passage S. Austin also urges much against the Solifideans 11. Catholicks believe this but many among them fail in the practise of it What Christian works what supernatural works conformable to their faith and what works more perfect than those of Pagans do they Tbey labour to maintain themselves to nourish and provide for children and the Pagans did so They honor their Parents the Pagans respected also theirs they injure none and honest Pagans did not They love their Benefactors I will not say what Pagan but what Tyger does not They love their friends and such as do love them the Publicans or Pagans do they not the same and what reward shal you have sayd our Saviour You must do works conformable to your faith supernatural Matth. 5. 46. heroical and worthy of the recompence we pretend to 12. A good Christian acts not by natural inclination nor by humane reason nor by maxims of policie nor by temporal interest but hath faith for the Principle of his actions and for the Rule of his life He labours and gains money not for the love of it nor of any honour or pleasure he may get by it but for a necessary entertainment of himself in the service of God and to give Alms because faith teaches him to use it for these ends He nourishes and provides for children not because they are his but because they are Gods creatures his Images and the Members of JESUS-CHRIST He abstains from sensual delights and carnal pleasures not because a man is too noble and born to higher things than to be a slave to his body but because JESUS-CHRIST recommended it He does no injury to any not because he would have the repute of an honest man but becaus JESUS hath forbidden him He suffers injuries and affronts and pardons them not because it is the property of a great courage to contemne and look upon them as unworthy of his anger as a Lyon or an Elephant slights the cries of little dogs but because CHRIST commands us to pardon injuries to do good to those that hate and persecute us He serves faithfully his Master not becaus his Master nourishes him well and gives good wages but becaus God sayd by the mouth of S. Paul Servants render obedience to your Masters as to JESUS-CHRIST He gives alms to
mercies and his favours Amen DISCOURS XXII OF NOT DEFERRING GOOD WORKES THat which learned Hypocrates sayd in a certain occasion we may apply to penance and the practise of other good Workes Life is short Art is long occasion flyes away swiftly the experience is dangerous Life is short it is but seventy or eighty years infancy and chilhood cuts off a good part of it another part is made unprofitable by extream old age sleep and other necessities of the body take up at least a third part of it all which being deducted the remainder will be found to be but short Art is long 't is a trade full of difficulty a high and hard enterprize for such as accustome themselves to the wayes of the world to do penance and satisfy an infinite Justice for many and great sins and after that to acquire vertue and perfâ—ction Occasion flyes away swiftly It slides away insensibly it is bald behind having escaped it cannot be retaken when the conveniency to do penance to acquire perfection is past we shal not recover it again The Experiment is dangerous for the dignity of a mans body sayes the Interpreter of Hypocrates and I 'le say to my purpose for the dignity of the reasonable soul It is an Experience very dangerous to try whether or no we have don true penance and practised solid vertue there is nothing less at stake than our soul than our eternal salvation if we experience in the hour of our death that our penance hath been fals that our vertues have been wanting or defective it is an irreparable fault we commit it but once but it is for all Eternity Whence comes it then that we lose so easily the fair occasions which God presents us to labor in a worke of so great consequence delaying our conversion to old age or to the time to com which perhaps will never be for us I desire to destroy utterly so penicious an abuse by three powerfull reasons First that the Conversion which you pretend to make hereafter is uncertaine Secondly harder and thirdly less fruitfull 2. It is a maxime in Divinity that God is absolute Master of his goods independent in his gifts and that He gives them as He pleases You say you will convert your self hereafter that nothing presses and you have leasure enough Know that you will never do it without a particular favour of God Know that He owes it not to any He hath refused it to many and when you delay to leave your evill and negligent life adding sin to sin you give him cause to refuse it to you also Consider the workes of God Amos 1. 2. sayes the holy Ghost by the mouth of the Wise man and see that none can correct whom He hath despised of this Predicament were those of Damascus Tyre Moab and others of whome the Creator sayes non convertam I will not Convert them of this number were the Iewes to whom the Son of God did say I go S. Iohn 8. S. Iohn 12. 33. and you will seek me and you will die in your sin and those of whom the Evangelist sayd that they could not believe bécause God had blinded them and hardned their hearts that they might not be converted It is rhen a strange folly It is to build upon quick sands it is to establish a designe of the greatest importance upon an uncertaine event to defer your conversion to old age or to future time You let the time slide away the occasions and inspirations which God gives you to do penance and advance in piety who hath ascertain'd you that He will give you them hereafter You dispose of your self and make the appointement of your life as if you were the Master of it you speak of your conversion as if it depended on you only you say I will now take my pleasure content my passion satisfy my inclination afterward I will convert myself will apply my self seriously to the affaires of my salvation Poor man you imagin that God will take your measures that He will accommodate himself to your little projects and regulate his thoughts designes and conduct according to the levell of your rash thoughts You deceive you self You imagin that you have leasure enough to convert your self But if God call you out of this world suddenly will you convert your self in old age if you dye in the flower of your age will you becom vertuous in declining years if you dye this year how will you do it The evill spirit deals with men as the Phisitian or Apothecarie with his Patient when he sees the sick cannot swallow a whole pill he devides it and makes him swallow it by piecemeal Satan to seduce our first parents and o make them fall boldly into sin sayd to them You shal not dye at present seeing it impossible to perswade you that you shal not dye because you see daily the contrary before your eyes he devides the pill to make you swallow it he says to you you shal not die so soon he makes you believe that you will not die this year afterward he perswades you that you will not dye in the following year nor in the year after that so by little and little he perswades you what you would not believe in general that you shal not dye ' til it happens to you as to our first parents that sad experience makes you see the contrary when on a sudden you will be surprized when you think least of it 3. But if you should not be surprized by sudden death and your life should be a hundred years 't is a folly to believe that you will convert your self more easily in the latter season of your age then in the present The word of God tells you so expressly Adolescens juxta viam suam etiam cum senuerit non recedet Prou. 22. 6. ab ea it rarely happens that a man withdraws himself in old age from the way he followed in his youth And by Hieremie He says if the Ethiopian can change his skin and the Leopard his spots you may Hierem. 13. 23. Iob. 20. 11. becom vertuous when you are accustomed to vice And therefore the holy Ghost sayes by the mouth of Iob of one that had not mortifyd but given himself to vices in his youth his bones shal be filled with the vices of his youth and shal accompany him to his grave for the infirmities of the soul the inclinations and vicious customs which we quit not in good time remain commonly with us until old age now old age being feeble weak impotent not able to do violence to it self and thinking of little els then of maintaining the short life that rests seldom purges it self from evill customs the old are as much inclin'd to ambition detraction anger as they were at the age of 30 years so that the first part of the maxime of the holy Ghost is verifyd in them that the infirmities of their youth have
rigour and the severity of the last judgement concludes watch therefore praying at all times He speakes not to Religious or to Priests only but to all Christians He knew the impediments we should have the importance of our affaires and He says pray at all times It was by perseverance that the Cananean woman obtain'd of the Son of God the deliverance of her daughter as Saint Chrysostome hath noted she prayed with interior humility since she sayd whelps also eate of the crummes Chrysost hom 5. in Mart. S. Mrk. 7. 29. and with exterior for she prostrated at the feet of our Saviour with fervour of Spirit which she shewed by crying-out clamavit Nevertheless the Son of God rejected her and would not hear her But she strugled with him and got the Victory by her importunity so must you to have success stand obstinate in a holy obstinacy and pray unto the end And therefore our Saviour himself sayes to you in S. Luke It behoves you to pray always and not to be weary S. Luke 18. 1. 10. And what hinders you from praying Is it that you have not leasure that you have many affaires and affaires of importance this is that which should oblige you to pray for the more serious your affaires are the more it concerns you to have success in them and prayer is the means to obtain it You have not-leasure to pray Why not You find time for dinner supper and other necessities of the body notwithstanding your great affaires and why find you not time for the refection of your Soul it is as necessary to pray God well for to work your Salvation as to take your refection to preserve your life You have not time to pray Believe me you have enough if you manage it well Cut off superfluous visits idle words unproâ—â—table workes and conversations and unnecessary divertisements and there will remaine time to be employ'd in prayer But are you so prest with business that you cannot find now and then a quarter of an hour to spend in prayer At least then in working elevate often your heart to God by jaculatory prayers adore him from time to time and beg of him his love grace and guidance put a pin upon your sleeve that seeing it you may be minded of it ' til you are accustom'd to it for it behoves you to pray always What is that which hinders you Is it that you have offended grievously This is as if you should say I am too much wounded I must not go to the Surgeon On the contrary this should incline you more to go to him Com to me all ye who areburdened Says our Saviour He says not receive me communicate so much the more often and the more boldly the more you are burdened with sins but com to me to pray me and to ask help and succour of me however great and numerous may be your sins if you have a lively resentment of them if you desire to be deliver'd from them it is a good motive to shew God to obtain his mercy It is that which David did when he sayd I am poor and needy 'T is that which the Publican did saying God be mercifull to me a sinner 'T is that which the Church puts into your mouth we sinners do beseech thee to hear us What is that in fine that hinders you Is it that God heares you not that He rejects you and withdraws himself from you and that it is long since you beg'd of Him not temporal goods but spiritual and you obtain not This gives you cause to persever and to pray more fervently since He defers so long to hear you 't is a signe that what He will bestow upon you is most excellent and precious though He seems to refuse what you ask He is pleased with your devotions and if He delays to hear you it is for good reasons 'T is to exercise your patience to heat your desire to try your perseverance to augment your merit And if you have patience and persever importuning him Sooner or later He will accomplish your desires and give you grace in this World and glory in the other Amen DISCOURS XXV OF FASTING And the Institution of Lent 1. IF the Apostle S. Paul were now on earth he would bewaile extreamly the horrible blindness of those who prefer the pleasure of their mouthes before the precept of the Church and the Salvation of their soules He would say to us what he sayd to the Philippians there are many amongst you of whom I weeping tell you that are enemies Philip. 3. 18. of the Cross of Christ that abhoâ—r all mortification of the flesh that have the belly for their God and shal have eternal damnation for their end for our fasts are not things indifferent or workes of supererogation they are workes of precept and obligation Some will say to me your fasts are not prescrib'd in Scripture they are commandements of men and therefore obâ—ige not other in Conscience But if a Dissenter should command his child a thing very profitable or necessary for his family and his child should say to him Father you are a man the Commandements of men oblige not in conscience I find not In the Scripture that God commands me to go to such a place or to do such a thing No he wiâ—l say to him But he commands thee to obey thy Father and thy Mother So I say to you It is not in Scripture that you must fast such a day that you keep suâ—h a holy day But God commands you in many Ephes. 6. Coloss 3. 20. Heb. 13. 17. places of the Scripture to obey the Church your Mother For the Apostle that sayd in the behalfe of God Children obey your Parents the same sayd also Obey your Prelates If men have not power to command other men nor to oblige them in Conscience whence comes it that JESUS-CHRIST sayd to his Apostles and Luke 10. 16. Matth. 23. 2. Matt. 18 17. Rom. 13. 2 to their successours who heares you heares me and who despises you despises me And to the people do all that they shal say to you whence is it that JESUS-CHRIST hath sayd He that heares not the Church esteeme him as a Pagan or a Publican Whence is it that S. Paul said He that resisteth Superiour power resists the ordinance of God and they that resist it purchase to themselves damnation But 't is to resist Superior power and to disobey the Church not to observe the fasts which She commands 't is to transgress an Apostolical command not to fast the Lent when you have not a legitimate excuse I say Apostolical command 2. And to prove this Verity I might alledg many testimonies of the ancient Fathers but becaus JEUS-CHRIST does say that we ought to give credit to two or three good Witnesses I will alledge the depositions of three or four of three parts of the world Africa Europe and Asia In Affrica Tertullian reports an
and he will be responsible The holy Ghost tells us not with what punishments He will chastise him beeaus he sends divers sorts of them some He chastiles in one manner other in another according to the Rules of his Providence and good pleasure But why labour I in this behalf This word which the Son of God sayd ought to be S. Matt 5. more then enough to avert men from unnecessary Oathes You have heard that it was sayd to them of old Thou shalt not forsweare thy self But I say to you Sweare not at all He understands here vainly or in vaine for He explicates or extends this Precept Thou shalt not take the Name of God in vain 15. If Christians must abstain from oathes with greater reason yet from Blasphemy Which is a reproach or contumely thrown upon God himself or upon his Saints This Vice is so detestable that vertuous Persons in the Scripture had a horrour to pronounce it and in stead of sayng blaspheme God they were wont to say Bless God Lest perhaps my children have sinned and blest God sayd holy Iob. The Iewes had this Vice in so great-abomination Iob. 1. 5. that when they heard a blasphemy they rent and tore their garmetns to shew they would have no part in so enormous a Crime and that they detested it extreamly I would not counsell you to tear your cloathes as often as you hear blasphemy you would do it too often in these times I dare not counsell you that which S. Chrysostom counselled his Auditours when you hear a monster of Chrysost hom ad pop Antioc infin nature who dares to blaspheme give him a great blow upon his face you will sanctify your hand by this action this service which you do to God will be as sacred oyle and a holy unction that will consecrate your hand I dare not give you this counsell unless for those that are under your care as your children and your servants But when you hear others blaspheme you ought at least to rent your heart to be displeased at this impudence and to shew that it displeases you admonish charitably the insolent and if he will not hear you fly his company and adore the high Majesty of God making him by this action as it were amends for the injury He received that you may avert from you and from the Community the wrath and Vengeance of God that blasphemy brings upon you 16. Follow then if you be wise and put in practise the advertisement of the Son of God Let your speech be yes yes S. Matth. 5. no no when you will affirm any thing content your selves to say this is so or els it is not so and that which is over and above these is of Evill says JESUS-CHRIST if you add any oath it is an ill effect of an evill cause This evill comes sometimes from the incredulity of him to whome you speak But if he will not believe you let him go see or let him stay there ought his incredulity to make you disobedlent to God if you sweare not he will not believe you and if you sweare God will be offended with you which of the two is most to be feared It is of evill This evill coms often from your bad Conscience you sweare becaus your Conscience dictates to you that you deserve not to be credited upon your simple word and consequently you shew that you are subject to lying if you be subject to lying you are bad if you are bad you deserve not to be believed also when you sweare It is of evill This evill coms from a bad habit you have contracted you will never put it off if you watch not over your selves if you do not some penance as often as you sweare Give something to the Poor say a Pater noster bite your tongue pull a haire out of your head that the rigour of the penance may make the ill Custome to give place says S. Austin Can you cure a dangerous and inveterate infirmity without bleeding phisick or any remedy Thinke you to root out this bad custome without labour penance or any violence It is of evill this evill coms from your anger you excuse your selves there upon but it is to wash your selves with inke you are culpable both for being angry and for swearing or blaspheming in anger If you correct not your self God hath anger as well as you but very different from yours He hath anger most reasonable and just which will punish yours most justly It is of evill This evill comes from the evill Spirit who rages with hatred against God and against you and who is glad to vse your tongue to spite God and to make you criminal unhappy an enemie of God as he companion in his miseries and his paines Let us then detest the execrable language of sinners and let us say with Saints I will bless our Lord in all times I will bless him in the morning becaus He ought to have the first and the best of all things In the evening becaus He is the last end of all my workes During the day becaus by his order the day continues to enlighten me I will bless him in adversity becaus then He is with me In prosperity becaus it is a present that he makes me to oblige me to praise and love him I will bless him in all times that I may begin in this life what I shal do by his grace in heaven where I shal praise bless and glorify him for ever Amen DISCOURS XXXI OF THE THIRD COMMANDEMENT Remember that thou Sanctify the Sabbath day 1. IF this commandement does oblige us Christians as it oblig'd the Iewes we commit three great faults each of which does bring damnation This Commandement oblig'd the Iewes to rest on the same day that God Exod. 20. 9. Levit. 23 3. Exod. 35 3. Exod. 16 23. Levit. 23. did rest to wit on saturday and we rest on Sunday It forbid them all worke as to light a fire to dress meat to waâ—k in the fields except one mile or there about And we do on sunday these workes which were forbidden The day of rest began from the evening of its Vigil and we begin it but after midnight Who hath given us all these dispensations Who hath licenced us to break all these Lawes We find not in the new Testament one only word that gives us a playn and clear excuse We read indeed in the Apocalyps that S. Iohn was in spirit upon our Lords day there was then such a day as our Lords Apoc. 1. day But a Sabbatharian will say to us he does not tell you that the Sanctification given to saturday was taken from that day nor that there was given a command to all the world not to worke upon that day which he called our Lords day nor does it appear there or elswhere in the scripture that it was not the day of the Resurrection or Ascension or Christmas day
us after this not unprofitable digression return to the definition 5. Dictum vel factum a word or action In this word Action is couched Omission when you can do an action which would hinder the offence of God and you do it not IESVS being required to pay tribute declares himself not oblig'd and nevertheless he pay'd it lest He should scandalize the farmers So the Virgin circumcised her Son and submitted herself to the law of purification for fear of giving ill example So S. Paul says the Ancient Philosophers having known the true God by the light of nature and having not communicated this knowledg to the rest of men to draw them from Idolatry incurr'd the anger of God and were guilty of all sins the people committed for want of that knowledg We are then culpable when we ought to correct reprehend or punish the defects of others and do not we scandalise them for they say there is no ill in this my Parents Confessor Superior say nothing to me of it 6. Minus rectum This word teaches us that if an action be good and laudable commanded by God or his Church we ought not to omit it though our neighbor be scandalized by it if one is scandalized when you say the truth 't is better to permit scandal then to oppose Verity says S. Gregory T is a Pharisaical scandal a S. Greg. hom 7. in Ezec. passive scandal not an active a scandal taken not given 7. And if the action be good and laudable but not of obligation ought we to omit it if one will be scandalized by it S. Thomas answers learnedly with a distinction either our neighbour is scandalized maliciously and out of a spirit of contradiction 2. 2. q. 43. ar 7. or is scandalised through ignorance or infirmity if he be scandalised maliciously we ought not to omit our good worke for 't is his own fault and not ours He does as the Pharesees who were scandalized maliciously by the predications of IESUS But IESUS contemn'd their scandal and left not off his preaching If he be scandalized through ignorance or through weakness 't is better to do your good worke in private or to omit it for a time than to give an occasion to your neighbor to fall into any sin And with much more reason if the action be of it self indifferent neither good nor evill charity obliges us to omit it when it would be an occasion of sin or temptation to our neighbor If you offend your neighbor giving him occasion of sin through his weakness you offend our Lord and therefore If I know my brother is scandalized to see me eate flesh I will never eate it lest I scandalize my hrother says S. Paul 1. Cor. 8. 12. Rom. 14. 15. 20. And again do not with thy meat destroy him for whom CHRIST dyed Destroy not the worke of God for meat Though then an action be permitted if it be not commanded we must abstain from it if it be a snare or stumblingblock to infirme and weak soules 8. Prebens alicui giving occasion to our neighbor Some may imagin that 't is not to be scandalous if they do not a publick action which is manifest to many But our Saviour says if you move Matt. 18. to sin but one only you are scandalous You say they are simple and weak people that are tempted by such an action or such a word the wise and well grounded in vertue are not moved by it IESUS says you must not scandalize one of the lesser ones unum de pusillis and S. Paul tells us that in scan dalizing the weak ones we sin against IESUS-CHRIST And the Son of God adds Voe mundo a scandalis Woe to the world for scandalls He Speakes so becaus the world is full of them and becaus they destroy so many souls so dear and precious to him 9. It seems that soules are more dear to IESUS than his innocent blood He willed it should be prophan'd and trod under feet for the ransome of these beloved soules I leave you to think what punishment and what reproches we shal receive from him if by our bad exemple or by our negligence we let any one of these soules fall into sin and damnation Believe that in the houre of your death nothing will cause you more regret nor afflict you more than the sight of the soules which by your fault are lost You will acknowledg this truth and feel the weight of these dreadfull words Vae homini illi per quem scandalum venit woe to the persone by whom Matt. 18. 7. Scandal coms You will see all the graces God had given to soules through your fault lost all the merits they had gotten all that our Saviour did and suffered for their salvation and you will with sorrow and sighing say Ha! I have destroy'd soules for which JESUS CHRIST dyed how shal I restore to him the blood which He hath shed vae homini illi wo be to that person It were better for you one had tyed a milstone about your neck and thrown you into the Sea You will see the excellency and the value of the soules you have cast away and this will oppress you with griefe as if you had a milstone upon your heart You will see that those who learnt of you the vanities of the world will teach their children them these will derive them to their descendents unto the third or fourth generation all which will be imputed to you this sight will cast you even into despaire Will you avoyd this miserable condition Do not by bad examples indiscreet words or negligence destroy a soul for whom IESUS CHRIST dyed But if you have been so unhappy do judgment and justice punish your fault by true penance repair the loss as much as lies in you bring back the lost sheep to IESUS or if you cannot gain another in his stead by prayers instructions aâ—d good examples so you may be confident of pardon God hath promised it Amen DISCOVRS XXXVI OF THE SIXTH AND NINTH COMMANDEMENTS thou shalt not commit Adultery Thou shalt not couet thy neighbours Wife Amongst all the irregular motions of a man there is none more contrary to his nature nor more abominable to the Creatour than the unhappy vice of carnality It is contrary to mans nature becaus it is beastly terrestrial and unworthy of a man In anger envy pride ambition there is some kind of spirit But luxury clouds the understanding depresses the faculties of the soul renders her unable to elevate her self above the objects of sense and impaires all that is manly in us 2. This vice is abominable to God who repented to have made man and sent a deluge to drowne the earth who consuin'd by fire four of the most florishing cityes of the world and slautered 24 thousand of his people at one time and 60 thousand at another in punishment of this sin Though this vice be so contrary to a man and