Person For if it be true Lord addes Saint Augustine that we can doe nothing without thee 't is in thee onely that we effect all that we bring to pass all our ability is from thee 't is thou that workest what we seem to work and being convinced by these Truths we are obliged to say that thou canst do all things without us but we can doe nothing without thee These words happily express all the obligations of the Faithfull and make them clearly discern that liberty can doe nothing without grace and that the members divided from their Head with all their naturall endowments and advantages are good for nothing but to be eternally burnt in Hel. From this first obligation is derived a second no whit lesse considerable For seeing the members draw life from their Head and their division causeth their ruine they are bound absolutely to depend upon him nor to have any other designes then his As they live by a borrowed life they ought to act by a forain vertue and to abandon themselves so fully to him that inanimates them as to have no other conduct but his Thence it comes to pass that self-deniall is the first vertue recommended to a Christian that renouncing himself he may obey Jesus Christ and conceiving himself in a strange body may act by his motions who is the Head thereof Philosophy hath laid down this position that man ought to purchase his liberty with the expence of his riches that 't is better be poor then be a slave and that 't was a gainfull bargain where parting with the goods of fortune we purchased the quietness of mind she hath also judged very well that the body is to be tam'd when it grows rebellious against reason that nourishment is to be retrencht as provender from an unruly wanton horse and his stomack taken down by the ascetick discipline of Fasts and Watchings But it never enterd into her Theorems that to be happy a man must renounce his understanding unlord his reason to become learned condemn his judgement to become wise Indeed Philosophy knew not that we are the members of a Body whereof the Eternall Word is the Head and that this condition that raiseth us as high as the light of Faith forbids us the pure use of Reason commanding us to soar above our own thoughts to search into his mind who will be the Principle of our Life For there is no body but sees that this obligation is as just as honourable that since Christians are rather Gods then men because of the union they have contracted with the Word Incarnate they ought to act rather by his motion then their own reason and remember that seeing he is the Head that quickens them he ought to be the Principle that guides them The whole drift of the Gospel labours to perswade us this Truth all its commands and counsels insinuate this obligation into us and when the Son of God gives order to us to renounce our own will to combate our inclinations to love our enemies and to hate our friends 't is only to teach us that being no longer at our own disposall we ought to have no other mind but what he inspires into us by his Grace A Third Obligation slows from this which is to be conformable to our Head to imitate his actions having followed his motions and to be made so like him that he may not be ashamed to own us for his members Nature exacts not this condition from the parts that compose mans body she will not have them resemble their Head because there would be insolence and impossibility in the very desire 'T is enough that they receive his influences that they obey his motions and that their whole imitation consist in their meer subjection But Morality and the Politicks will have the members that make up a Mysticall Body adde imitation to their other duties that they be regulated by their Head as by their model that they study his inclinations and be the perfect copies of this first Originall Thus we see that Kings are the inanimate examples of their subjects the living Laws of their States and the prime Masters of their people Every one makes it his glory to imitate them they are perswaded that whatever they doe is lawfull and that those that are the Images of God may very well be the Examplars of men Though this Maxime be true yet it is dangerous For as Greatness does not always inspire Goodness Quid est aliud vitia incendere quam authores illos Deos vel reges inscribere dare morbo exemplo Divinitatis aut Majestatis excusatam lieentiam Senec. nor are Sovereigns the most perfect and those that may doe what they will doe not always what they should it fals out many times that the greatest are the most vicious and the readiest way to corrupt a whole State is to set before it the Examples of the Governours Therefore hath Philosophy invented Ideas of Wisdome and despairing to finde among men models which may be securely transcribed hath made a Romance of Princes by the same artifice discovering their irregularity her own impotency But the Eternall Father giving us Jesus Christ for our Head hath withall propounded him for our Example he will have our life fully conformable to his that his actions be our documents that we be admitted into his School when we are united to his Body that we seek for perfection where we found life and that we be as well his Images as his Members This is it that Saint Bernard acquaints us with Our Head shall not reign in glory without his Members provided they be one with him by Faith and conformable to him in their Manners Both these conditions are necessary Union without Conformity is but meer hypocrisie and Conformity without Union is pure vanity He that is united to Christ and imitates him not cannot escape a fearfull separation one day by an Eternall Anathema and he that imitates him without believing will perceive in time that his imitation was but counterfeit and that he was so much more opposite to Jesus Christ the more he appeard only conformable to him We must therefore joyn these two duties together if we will have them usefull and having been united to our Head by Faith conform to him by good works that we be not reproached to have despised him whom we cannot find in our hearts to imitate But the chiefest obligation the quality of being Members of the Son of God exacts from us is to expose our life for his Glory as he expos'd his for our salvation Nature and Politicks teach us the justice of this duty and we need only consider how the members carry themselves toward the Head and subjects demean themselves towards their Soveraigns to understand what is our duty towards Jesus Christ Though every part of the body love its own preservation carefully avoiding whatever is contrary thereto and by a naturall providence abominates whatever
Common-wealth that their vertue though imperfect carried lustre with it and though no way comparable to that of true believers had notwithstanding beauty enough to condemn one day bad Christians But admit the vertue of Infidels be false that hinders not but they may have some assistance from Heaven to discern good from evil and to take from them that excuse wherewith the pride of man shelters it self having sinned through ignorance This was the motive that induced God to give the Law to the Jews Nulli enim hominum ablatū est scire utiliter quaerere Non tibi deput atur a◠culpam quod invitus ignorat se◠quod negligis quaerere quod ignoras Aug. and 't is the same that prevailed with him to indulge the Heathen some light which in my opinion cannot render them more culpable if it did not withall render them more capable to shake hands with sin This is it perhaps that Saint Augustine means in the nineteenth Chapter of his third Book of Free-will where he grants that God hath deprived no body of the meanes to seek after truth and that the power of finding it is common to all men If their mind may be enlightned with some heavenly light their will may be touched with some regret for their offences they may have good thoughts and good motions which they reject their being in Infidelity puts them not yet in the state of Reprobation God makes some difference between these delinquents and the damned he deals not with them as with the devils and if it be true that he suspends the torments of these I can easily be perswaded that he withholds the sins of those and that they have graces that disengage their Will for some moments from the tyranny of Concupiscence They act not always under the conduct of this enemy and though they are his slaves yet they have a Soveraign who never losing his rights can defend them when he please S. Thomas the truest Interpreter and most knowing disciple of S. Augustine was of the same opinion neither intended to dissent from his Master He judged right with him that whatever is done among Infidels and among Christians by the instigation of Concupiscence is sin but he did not believe that Mercy had utterly forsaken the Heathen and that she imparts no Grace unto them which though leaving them in errour disengageth them many times from sin If there be supernatural assistances that prepare us for Faith and make us conceive some good thoughts before we be made Believers there may also be some which not drawing the Heathen out of their Infidelity may preserve them from the committing of some offences and make them perform some actions which relate to the Supreme Good imperfectly known and imperfectly loved When God heretofore converted the Heathen Concilium Tridentinum pronunciat Anathem a in eos qui dicunt opera omnia quae ante justificationem quacunque ratione facta sint vera esse peccata Sess 6. Can. 7. he gave them not the light of Faith all at once this vertue was ushered in by some good dispositions there were some moments wherein they were Infidels and sinned not wherein they acted by the conduct of Grace and not by that of Charity and when following the inspirations of heaven they were not actually in sin though habitually they still remained it There is some Grace that is not absolutely inconsistent with Infidelity because there is some love that is not altogether incompatible with sin and as every day sinners feel supernatural motions that lift them up towards God and oblige them to do good works we may say also that Infidels receive some extraordinary supply that rectifies their intentions Ex quo apparet habere quosdam in ipso ingenio divinumquoddā naturaliter munus intelligentiae quo moveantur ad fidem si congrua suis mentibus vel audiant verba vel figna conspiciant Aug. de bono Perse cap. 14. and makes them act for a supernatural and divine end And certainly they are not destitute of all Graces because S. Augugustine observes some in them which he acknowledgeth not in the Jews For explaining that famous and difficult passage where Jesus Christ assures us that those of Tyre and Sidon had certainly repented had they seen the miracles he did in Judea this great Doctor avows that the Tyrians were not so blinde nor so hardned as the Jews that they had one advantage which holding from Nature and Grace prepared them for Faith A naturally-divine gift of understanding whereby they are moved to Faith that they had believed the miracles of the Son of God had they had the honour to have seen them Quoniam credidissent si qualia viderunt isti signa vidissent and that this Grace had produced its effect had the circumstance whereon it depended intervened But though it gave them a power of being converted 't was as useless to them as Christs miracles were to the Jews because neither of them were of the number of the predestinated Sed nec illis profuit quod credere poterant quia praedestinati non erant The same Doctor is not far from this opinion when writing against Julian he saith to that Heretick that they were more equitable then he who ascribed the vertues of the Heathen to the assistance of heaven and not to their own Free-will and who granted them some grace in their Infidelity which they acknowledged after their conversion Perhaps the impulse of S. Dennis at the death of the Son of God was of this kinde That the Oracle he pronounced was inspired into him from heaven and that he felt the effects of the Cross before he knew the vertue thereof 'T is to no purpose to object that S. Augustine slights this opinion having judged it not so bad as that of the Pelagians and that he condemns it Sed absit ut sit in aliquo vera virtus nisi fuerit justus absit autem ut sit justus vere nisi vivat ex fide justus enim ex fide vivit when he protests that there is no solid vertue where there is not a lively Faith and true Justice For if we take those words in the strictest acception we must confess that sinners whose Faith is dead can do no good works and that all those that are not just can practise no vertue Sinners are as arrogant as Infidels they contemn the humility of the Son which they do not imitate they are the slaves of the devil whose motions they follow and that remainder of Faith that languisheth in their soul seems to serve onely to render them more culpable then the Heathen When therefore S. Augustine saith that the vertue of these is not true because not quickned by Faith he speaks certainly of a perfect vertue agreeable to God profitable to him that practifeth it and which may merit eternal life for him Now there is no man but sees that the vertue of Heathens and Sinners
souls light and certitude Having considered its essence 't is fit we consider its properties and effects which are so great it self must come in to gain them belief For the Scripture seems to attribute to Faith whatever is most august and reverential in Scripture It is the Principle of spiritual life and according to the language of Saint Paul the just doth live by Faith For though the lise of a Christian be composed of many parts Initium bonae vitae cui vita etiam debetur aeterna rectafides est Aug. as the body is of many members and to be in a vigorous condition which is the symptome of perfect health Faith must be animated with good works nevertheless Faith is the first principle and without it every one confesseth all vertues are dead or languishing Therefore when S. Bernard calls Charity the life of the soul he acknowledgeth at the same time that Faith conceives her Hope brings her forth the holy Spirit forms her Reading suckles her Meditation nourisheth her and Prayer fortifies her As Faith is the life of the soul so is it also the eye and he that takes it not for his Guide shall never come to Glory it enlightens all the other vertues and penetrates those clouds of darkness that surround them 'T is also an observation S. Bernard hath made that Christ was never so closely hid but Faith always discovered him If he be Incarnate in the womb of his mother Faith does him homage in the person of S. John If he be born in a manger Faith adores him with the Wise-men and acknowledgeth the Word in Infancie Majestie in Baseness and Power in Infirmity If he be presented in the Temple Faith receives him in the arms of Simeon and makes his Elogie by the mouth of that aged Saint If he enter the river of Jordan to be baptized among sinners Faith manifests him by the testimony of his Precursor and teacheth us that he is the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world If he die upon the Cross or lose his honour with his life Faith acknowledgeth his Innocence in the midst of his Punishment and begs a share in his Kingdom by the mouth of the good Thief If he be veiled upon our Altars and the outward species of the Sacrament conceal him from our eyes Faith adores him in the person of Believers and discovers his splendour under the clouds that encompass him This made S. Bernard utter those excellent words That Faith was very quick-sighted because it acknowledged Christ born in the Manger and dying upon the Cross But as if one sole vertue made up all our Glory I finde that our highest qualities take their being from its merit For if we be the children of God 't is because we are Believers and the great Apostle that describes the prerogatives of Mans nature discovering the humiliations of the Word Incarnate observes expresly that the quality of the children of God is an appendix of Faith and that heaven shall not be our inheritance but because this vertue was the principle of our Filiation He gave them power to become the sons of God even to them that believe in his Name This august quality is not indulged us in Baptism but because there we receive Faith and 't is so truely the effect of that Sacrament that the Believer that gives proof of his Creed in the midst of torments fails not to be the childe of God though he be not baptized If Faith advance us to dignity it also communicates power to us it gives Reputation to our Dominion that it grow not contemptible and makes us in some sort absolute in the State of our Master For the gift of Miracles is a priviledge of Faith These Prodigies that astonish the Universe convert Nations make Tyrants tremble tame Devils are donatives heaven hath promised to Faith rather then to Charity Every thing is possible to him that believeth this vertue may boast it self absolute and as if it were inseparable from Soveraignty it seems he that is a Believer becomes powerful Those men of renown whose Elogies Saint Paul makes in his Epistles owe all their priviledges to Faith 'T is by it that they subdued Tyrants changed Nature disordered the Seasons and altered the Elements It serves us for a Conduct in Peace and a Defence in War and whenever the Apostle arms the Christians he gives them nothing but Faith either to assault or repel their enemies He Christens one and the same thing with divers names and calling it sometimes a Buckler sometimes a Brestplate sometimes a Sword lets us see that 't is sufficient to procure as many victories as it stands assaults or sights battels Finally it seems God takes pleasure to fasten our Power to our Infirmity and treating us like Samson all whose strength lay in his hair he will teach all the world that the Miracles we work are not so much the effects of our Ability as of his Grace For Faith is nothing but a submission of minde and a blinde obedience which holding more of Credulity then Argument seems rather a mark of our Weakness then of our Strength In the mean time the Son of God that hath a minde to humble us in raising us up and to manifest his greatness in our abasement hath founded our ability upon belief and is pleased that the gift of Miracles should be the recompence of our Credulity But nothing more astonisheth me Creditis quia hopossum faccrevobis dicunt ci Utique Domine Tunctetigit ocu los corū diceus Secundum filem vestrā fiat vobis Matth. 9. then to consider that God hath in some sort subjected his own Power to our Faith and before he would heal the sick or raise the dead he requires our Belief as a preparative to his Miracles For he never undertook any Cure but he obliged the Patient to believe and if he were not in a condition to use his own Understanding he demanded that disposition in the Assistants or Witnesses The same Evangelist observes that his power was manacled by the Infidelity of sinners Et non poterat ibi virtutem ullam facere mirabatur propter incredulitatem corum Matth. 6. and that there were some Towns where he could work no Miracles because he found no Faith among them We need not wonder that the Son of God hath so greatly honoured this vertue because it gives him so much obedience and that of all the Sacrifices the Christian can offer him this seems the hardest and most honourable For it makes an Oblation of our Understanding takes from us the liberty of reasoning in our Mysteries it perswades us what we understand not and contesting at the same time against Reason and Sense makes a perfect Holocaust of the Christian It reduceth that insolent undertaker who would know every thing in Paradise to believe all without knowing any thing it makes him purchase Faith with the expence of his Reason and it seems
that to render him Faithful it will not suffer him to be Rational Though Faith have all these advantages yet must we acknowledge that without Charity it is unprofitable all a mans Miracles profit nothing without Good works and though this vertue raign so absolutely in the State of Jesus Christ she will never cause the Faithful to raign in Glory if he adde not the ardors of Love to the Light of Belief S. Augustine hath observed that though Abraham owe the beginning of his happiness to Faith he owed the perfection thereof to his Good works and Obedience when he believed the Word of God 't was a rare effect of Faith but when he obeyed the voice of the Angel armed his hand with a Sword lifted up his arm to strike his onely son 't was doubtless a very great act of Faith and a certain proof of his obedience Let us joyn therefore these two vertues that we may imitate him let us pass from Faith to Good works and if we would have the merit of that Patriarch let us fully believe the promises of Jesus Christ and faithfully execute his will that we may not be reproacht that our Faith is like that of Devils that fear the Justice of the Almighty but love not his Goodness The Fourth DISCOURSE Of the Hope of a Christian AS Sin hath robbed us of our Light so hath it deprived us of our Strength and he that cast us into Errour hath precipitated us into Weakness we are not onely Blinde but Impotent nor is it a sufficient Cure for us to have our Sight restored if withal we recover not our Vigour Faith takes pains to scatter our Darkness and Hope endeavours to strengthen our Weakness This vertue bears up the heart of a Christian draws him out of that unhappie Impotencie whereto sin had reduced him and resting upon the veracity of God expects with confidence the effects of his promises it knows very well that his Word is not like that of Soveraigns and being not subject to their Infirmities neither is he liable to their Changes For Princes oftentimes break their word either out of weakness or lightness or imprudence they cannot always do what they would their Will exceeds their Power and they are constrained to recal their word because they are not able to put it in execution 'T is enough that they are Men to make them Lyers The Scepter that adorns their hand and the Royal Wreathe that circles their head change not their Nature upon the Throne they are sensible of the failings of their Subjects and though the disposers of Honour and Life yet are they inconstant as their Mothers But were they resolved to keep their word that they might imitate his Constancie whose Majestie they represent they would be often forc'd to revoke it to avoid those disorders their Prudence had not foreseen for the Light of Kings is bounded as well as their Power they cannot read the obscure Characters of Futurity and whatever ministers their Councel is composed of they cannot prevent accidents if they consult not with Prophets so that necessity compels them to fail of their word if they will not fail of their duty But the God we adore is free from these infirmities and if he appear sometimes to repent of his designs or recall his decrees 't is only to suit with our understanding and to deal with men after the manner of men He is absolute in his state his Power is his Will as his Goodness is his Essence he finds no Rebels in the world and if there be any that seem to brave his Mercy they obey his Justice that punisheth them His Immutability is equall to his Power he never changeth his designs and though he accommodate himself sometimes to his creatures 't is in reducing them to his Will without constraining them He magnifieth himself in this Attribute in Holy Scripture and as if his Constancy were a proof of his Divinity he will have us believe him God because he is Immutable Ego Deus non mutor A surprisal or a mistake obligeth him not to change his resolution nothing happens in his State contrary to his Will or his Permission he prevents the revolts of his Subjects and if his Justice punish Crimes in Time his Wisdome foresaw them in Eternity His Councel regulates Events Successe answers his Enterprises and the malice of men not being able to surprise his Providence he is never forced to revoke his Decrees Thence it comes to passe that Hope which is founded upon his Promises is not liable to distrust 't is well assured that Truth can neither deceive nor be deceived that an absolute power meets with no difficulties that check it and that a wisdome subject to no errour is subject to no change Thus the Christian assisted with this Vertue lives in the sweetness of tranquillity nothing in the whole world makes him afraid the greatness of danger heightens his confidence and knowing very well that God can raise his salvation out of his very fall he is fearless in the midst of his enemies This made David utter those words In Domino sperans non infi mabor he could not have said so had he placed his confidence in the creature because as Saint Augustine saith it fell with man who was its support but being grounded upon him who is as Powerfull as he is True he was able to preserve his assurance in the midst of danger and to promise victory in the thickest of the conflict Thus doth Saint Augustine paraphrase upon the words of the same Prophet where out of an excess of confidence he cals his God his Hope Quoniam tu es Domine spes mea Let other men saith that incomparable Doctor trust in the vanity of their riches and think that with their gold they can seduce Women corrupt Judges and subdue their Enemies Let others confide in their Friends and perswade themselves they have a share in their goods as well as in their affections that assisted by their counsell or supported by their furtherance they can triumph over grief and fortune Let others raising their thoughts a degree higher hope in the weak power of Kings promise themselves admittance into their favour to be of their Councel to partake of their Secrets and to govern their Person or their State as for me who am no longer abused with these vanities I will rest upon my God and not violating the respect I owe him making the Almighty my Hope will say Quoniam tu es Domiue spes mea If this Vertue heighten the infirmity of Christians we must confess it sweetens their discontents and is in stead of Consolation midst all the torments that afflict them Not to know that man is miserable since he became criminal is to be extreamly ignorant the sweetest life hath its labours the shortest is long enough to be sensible of a thousand calamities the remedies whereof are a second affliction and that which we call comfort and consolation
that fortifies our weakness when we are set upon that dissipates our darkness when we are blinded and sweetens our discontents when we are troubled Hee weeps with us without interessing his felicity he shares in our infirmities without prejudicing his Almightinesse he is sadded with our miseries without disquieting his own contentedness he puts sighs into our hearts words into our mouthes reasons into our understandings to expresse our wretchedness and to pacifie our Judge Postulat pro nobis gemitibus inenarrabilibus The union he contracts with us is so strict that the Scripture attributes to him what it would have us do and by a strange liberty makes him partakers of our miseries as we are made partakers of his happiness The last torment of man a sinner is the doubt he hath of his salvation Death is troublesom because the hour thereof is uncertain neither hath he that pronounc'd sentence upon us express'd the time of its execution All moments are to be suspected by us every day may be our last and the accidents that cause our dissolution are so involved in futurity that they daily seize us before we are provided for them Nescit homo utrum amore an odio dignus sit sed omnia in futuruÌ„ servantur incerta Eccl. 9. But our salvation is much more concealed then our death Predestination is much more secret and more important then the end of our life and the alarms so just an apprehension strikes us with are much more lawfull and amazing There is no man that hath read in the Book of the living nor that knows whether his name be written there the whole world trembles at the thought of that irrevocable judgment the Character of Baptism the vocation into the Church the power of working Miracles the love of Enemies the forgetting of Injuries and what-ever is most glorious and most difficult in Religion are no certain proofs of our predestination Fear is alwayes mix'd with hope in our souls the Grace that quickens us may forsake us the example of the Reprobate strikes us with astonishment and after the Treason and Despair of Judas there is no Saint but trembles This is the greatest pain that afflicts Christians Vae miseris nobis qui de electione nostra nullam adhuc Dei vocem cognovimus jam in otio torpemus vae etiam laudabili vitae hominum si remota pictate judicemur Greg. the cruellest punishment that exerciseth their patience the rudest torment that proves their charity Thus would it be an insupportable vexation did not the holy Spirit sweeten it by the inward testimony he witnesseth to our Conscience But he moreover gives us assurances of our salvation he makes us obscurely read over the Book of Life he takes us into that privie-Chamber where the definitive sentence of our Eternity is pronounc'd Ipse Spiritus testimonium reddit spiritui nostro quòd sumus filii Dei Rom. 8. he applyes to us the merits of Jesus Christ and interposes himself the caution of his promises he blots out those mortall discontents which labour to cast us into despair he heightens our hope by a prelibation of glory and handles us with so much tenderness that we have much adoe to beleeve that we can be miserable in the other world having been so happy in this The Tenth DISCOURSE Of the CHRISTIAN's Ingratitude towards the Holy SPIRIT IF that Philosopher had reason to say Nibil in rerum natura tam sacrum quod sacrilegum non inveniat Sen. There was nothing so sacred in Nature that meets not with some sacrilegious person to prophane it Divines may with greater justice affirm There is nothing so holy in Religion that wicked and ungodly men do not dishonour and by their malice desecrate its holyest mysteries The divine Mercy is the source of all Graces were not God mercifull we should be eternally miserable did not he remit the injuries done against him the first offence would cast us into despair and having once lost his grace we could expect nothing but punishments in the mean time his Mercy makes sinners presumptuous in their crimes that which should convert them hardens them and that which promiseth them impunity carryes them for the most part to impenitency The death of Jesus Christ is the last testimony of his love his wounds are so many bleeding mouthes breathing forth this Truth and when we begin to doubt of it we need but consider the streams of blood that issued from his veins In the mean time Positus est in ruinam in resurrectionem mulâ—orum Luc. 7. his death is often the occasion of our fall we perswade our selves that he that could finde in his heart to die for us is too much concern'd in our salvation to destroy us upon this vain hope we abandon our selves to all wickednesse and turn our Antidote into a poyson The holy Sacrament is the highest invention the charity of the Son of God could finde out none but an infinite Wisdome could designe it nor could any but an absolute uncontrolled Power put it in execution both of them are drained in this Mystery and when the Son of God is incarnated upon our Altars to enter into our hearts there is no other favour to be wished for upon earth Neverthelesse experience teacheth us that this Grace is not onely unprofitable Sumunt boni sumunt mali sorte tamen inaequali vitae vel interitus D. Thom. but pernicious to sinners that it conveighes death instead of life mixeth a sacriledge with a sacrifice and makes the devill enter into their soules by admitting Jesus Christ unworthily But not to stand upon the proofe of so known a Truth we need but represent the Grace of the Holy Spirit and the ingratitude of wicked men to be fully perswaded thereof He is the fruitfull source of all the blessings we receive from heaven he is the dispenser of all the merits of the Sonne of God nor can we expect any thing of the one but by the mediation of the other In the mean time we prophane his Graces cast off his Inspirations his goodnesse serves onely to set an edge upon our malice the more favourable he is to us the more rebellious are we against him and the more arts he useth to convert us the more barres do we oppose to resist him we may judge of this by the names he beares and by the attempts he makes to gaine us he gives testimony of his love and affection towards us The Holy Spirit is the Principle of our supernaturall life Spiritus Domini ferebatur super aquas ad Creationem pertinet nisi quis renatus fuerit ad regenâ—rationem Faith instructs us that 't is he that frees us from the state of sin to levell us a passage to Grace if we are the effects of his power in the world we are the works of his mercy in the Church so high a favour would challenge as high an acknowledgment so that
rather to be obey'd then lov'd He acts so powerfully that all his designes are accomplished he toucheth the Will of Man with so much energie that he masters it and makes that blinde faculty so sensible of his Authority that acknowledging him for her lawful Soveraign that seizeth her she loseth all desire of resistance and accounts it her happiness to yeeld obedience These Divines borrow the terms of S. Augustine to explain themselves and taking advantage of whatever he hath said in behalf of the power of Grace say that she is invincible in her designes that she findes no opposition in her subjects that she manageth the hearts of men as she lists bending their Wills without constraining them that she acts so absolutely that she changeth their resolutions and of rebels makes them loyal and obedient subjects They stick to all those expressions S. Augustine makes use of to set an estimate upon the power of Grace and they are so afraid lest gentle usage bring some prejudice to the Soveraignty of God that they seem to have neglected the liberty of Man Nothing more detains them in these manners of speech then a belief they have that no operation of God though never so strong doth ever oppress the liberty of the Creature In a word though he act so powerfully he still preserves the interest of his workmanship he never deprives him of those perfections he once endowed him with and as he necessarily moves necessary causes so he also freely moves free causes whatever impression he makes upon them he never storms them and as there is nothing more natural to the Creature then to obey his Creator so is there nothing less violent Cujuscunque rci natura Dei voluntas Aug. de civ Dei This made S. Augustine utter that learned and gallant speech That the will of God was the nature of every thing That the Fire was as much disposed to cool as to burn the Sea to contain it self as to overflow the Earth to move as to stand fixed upon its centre when they received order from their Soveraign The same may be said some way proportionably of Man as his inclinations are not more natural to him then these qualities to the Elements God may change them without doing him any violence and ravish his heart without interesting his liberty Si ergo cum voluerit reges in terra Deus constituere magis habet in potestate voluntates hominum quam ipsi suas quis alius facit ut salubris sit correptio fiat in correpti corde correctio ut caelesti constituatur in regno Aug. Thus we see that S. Augustine saith so often That Grace worketh in us to will That it gains our consent overcomes our standing out and by a wonderful effect of its power makes us hate those things we loved and love those things we hated That finally its impulses are so strong that when they are received into our heart we must infallibly obey and yeelding to his omnipotence that drew us out of nothing we voluntarily pass from Death to Life from Rebellion to Obedience Though this Opinion ascribe so much to the Grace of Jesus Christ it takes from it the principal advantage and speaking nothing of its Sweetness the better to establish its power greatly diminisheth the esteem due unto it For Men being passionate of their Liberty cannot rellish that which seems to weaken it the shadow of bondage checks them and this absolute Empire of the Creator over his Creature inspires them rather with Rebellion then Obedience Therefore some other willing to preserve Mans Liberty have lessened the power of Grace they place its vertue in its accommodation and rendering it rather compliant then victorious make it not raign so much by power as by stratagem They will have Jesus Christ when he undertakes the conversion of a sinner chuse the most opportune moments consult the inclinations of his enemy search among his treasures of Graces those that are most sutable to this rebels humour and that he may not force his Will fit himself to his condition and temper They are afraid lest giving too much authority to Grace they ruine the Liberty of Man and to avoid this misfortune they reconcile them so well together that 't is hard to judge which of the two is mistress S. Augustine furnisheth them with words and reasons for their defence his first Writings are much in their favour and before he was to cope with the Pelagians said very much in their behalf For as this great Doctor hath combated all the Hereticks of his time hath buckled with the Manichees and the Donatists he hath changed his Batteries according as he changed his Enemies and seems to employ other Principles against the Manichees then against the Pelagians When he deals with the first he attributes much to the liberty of man he makes it not onely the source of sin but of good works and to hear him speak against these Hereticks Grace seems not so much the handmaid as the mistress of the Will Before he was advanced to a Bishoprick he had opinions which afterwards he retracted and being as humble as he was learned he knew that he had attributed too much to the Will and too little to Grace But also we must confess that he writ some things in those times that he never recanted and though he spake afterwards more stoutly he seems to have left his disciples the liberty of chusing in his Writings those opinions that seem most reasonable For this great man would never tyrannize over the spirits never would he make himself Head of a party and excepting those things he believ'd matter of Faith he never forced any man to follow his Judgement Though therefore he quitted this opinion he condemned it not and those that embrace it may boast themselves the disciples of this great Doctor besides that in his last Works he useth some terms that seem to favour it For he makes as if he placed the victory of Grace in its aptness acknowledging it victorious as far as 't is agreeable and agreeable as far as sutable to the sinner He compares it sometimes to those Potions that are bitter to a sick person because their mouthes are out of taste and which must be dulcorated by some artisice that they may be taken He confesses writing against Faustus that the sweet elapses of Grace consist in this agreement which makes it entertained by the sinner and that to produce its effect it must have some resemblance with the inclination of him that it would master Procul dubio saith he suavitatem ipsa congruentia facit But as in this Opinion Liberty seems still the mistress of Grace and that she reserves a right to use it at pleasure There is a Third Opinion made up of the two former taking and leaving somewhat of both From the first it takes that Force it acknowledgeth in Grace and rejects that imperious power that converts the Will in whatever
forceth the Creature to fall down before him and upon the sight of sin and nothingness to adore the Power and Mercy that drew him out of these two Abysses Temperance regulates our Pleasures and moderates our Delights lest their disorder obstruct our salvation and out of a blinde impetuosity finde Pain and Sorrow where we look for Pleasure and Content 'T is true she is not so taken up with Particular good as not to watch over the Publike For without encroaching upon the rights and priviledges of Justice she calms the Passions allays the storms and producing a tranquillity in the soul of Particulars contributes to that of Kingdoms because the quiet of States depends upon that of Families and 't is very hard that those Subjects that yeeld not obedience to the laws of Temperance should to those of Justice But as since the Fall of Adam Sufferings are as common as Actings and man spends his life in Pain as well as in Labour to these Three Vertues is added Fortitude as a Supply to combat and vanquish Griefs that set upon us Indeed the chiefest employment of Fortitude is to wrestle with whatever is most troublesom in the world It skirmisheth with those accidents that disquiet our Health or concern our Honour is armed against Fortune and defying that blinde potentate that seems the enemy of Vertue stands ready to receive all the assaults this insolent Tyranness makes upon those that slight her Empire Indeed when Valour is enlightned by Faith she laughs at an Idol who subsists onely in the mindes of those that fear it and may be called the work of their Fancie and Imagination she trembles not at the attempts of a false Deity and being assured that every thing is regulated by a Supreme Providence which cannot fail lays an obligation upon us to adore his Decrees though they condemn us and kiss his Thunders though they strike us dead Thus under the favourable shadow of these Vertues the life of a Christian passeth on calmly Faith affords him light to illuminate him Charity heats to inflame him Hope promises to encourage him Justice and Temperance their severall supplies to put him in action and Fortitude who her self is a whole Army gives undauntedness of spirit to fight and to triumph To all these Divisions this may be added namely that man being compounded of a body and a soul hath need of Vertues that may unite them together and subjecting the soul to God may subject the body to the soul For there is this order between these two parts that the body respects not the laws of the minde but as far as the mind respects the laws of God assoon as one dispenseth with his duty the other failes of his obedience and at the same time that the soul rebels against God the flesh maketh an insurrection against the soul To this day we bewail the mischiefs of this rebellion and all the Vertues are given us only to re-instate us in our Primitive Tranquillity The Theological Vertues undertake to subject the mind to God Faith captivates the Understanding and obligeth it to believe those verities it comprehends not Hope fils the Memory with the Promises of Jesus Christ and Charity sweetly divorceth the will from all perishable goods to fixe it upon the Supream Good The Vertues that are called Cardinal Prudentia se habet ad vera faâ—sa temperantia fortitudo ad prospera adversujustitiase habet ad Deum Proximum D. Thom. 2.2 have mixt employments exercising their dominion over soul and body Prudence enlightens them Justice accords them Temperance regulates their pleasures and Fortitude combats their griefs so that all these Vertues associated together restrain man in his duty and make him find his happiness in his obedience But because I destine another Discourse to treat of these last Vertues I conceive my self bound to bestow the remainder of this upon the former and to shew the reasons wherefore it was requisite that the Christian must be assisted with Faith Hope and Charity Grace hath some resemblance with Nature and we find in man some Image of a Christian Man cannot come to his End unless he know it and have some assurance of a possibility to obtain it The Christian cannot move towards God his sole end unless he know him by Faith love him by Charity and promise himselfe the enjoyment of him by Hope Man that he may work aright hath need of three succours he must know what he does he must be able to doe it and he must will it otherwise all his designs will be unprofitable nor will he form any enterprise which will not confound or grieve him The Christian whose salvation is his chiefe business hath need of the same aids but because his enterprise is extreamly difficult and sin that hath made strange devastations in his soul hath spread darkness over his Rational thrown weakness into his Irascible and scattered malice into his Concupiscible faculty Faith must enlighten the one Hope satisfie the other and Charity which is nothing but an effusion of the Divine Goodness shed it self into the last and amend it Or let us say that Faith discovers the Supream Good to the Christian by its Lights that thence there arise two affections in his soul the desire of possessing it which is love and a confidence of obtaining it which is Hope These three Vertues doe consummate the Christians perfection Faith illuminates him Hope elevates him and Charity uniting him to God makes him partake in same sort of the felicity of the Blessed The Third DISCOURSE Of the Excellency and Necessity of Faith GOd is so far above our apprehension by the Greatness of his Nature that in whatever state we consider him we have only a borrowed light to know him by In that happy condition wherein Innocence dispell'd all mans darkness suffering neither ignorance nor infirmity to engage him in these sins which are rather naturall then voluntary he had need of light to know him whose Image he had the honour to be Those infused verities he received in his Creation those faithful glasses that presented him his Creator and all the beauties of the Universe that expressed his Divine perfections had imprinted in him but a faint knowledge if Faith elevating his soul had not clarified him with its brightnesse But when man shall pass from Earth to Heaven and removing from the Order of Grace shall enter into that of Glory In lumine tuo videbimus lumeÌ„ Psal 35. he shall still have need of a borrowed light to behold the Divine Essence Though he be then a pure Spirit and his soul abstracted from matter act as the Angels yet all our Divines confess that his darkness must be enlightned his weakness supported that he may contemplate this Divine Sun who by a rare Prodigy hides himself in light and covers himself with his Majesty We are not therefore to wonder if Faith be necessary for man in the state whereto sin hath
the heat of self-love makes in our souls In which respect 't is certainly the truth of the Tree of Life and the accomplishment of that figure For though Innocent Man had other meats besides that and excepting the forbidden fruit all others that Paradise afforded were allowed him yet was he obliged to take of this from time to time as a medicine which the mercy of God had prepared for him to defend him against the Natural heat which insensibly wasted him Whence it is easie to infer that in the state of Innocence the body of man was composed of parts that could not agree That fire which makes man live devoured the radical moisture on which it feeds and though he daily took in nourishment which being much purer then ours might preserve life much longer yet had he need of an extraordinary diet which might repair the ruines the natural heat made in his body and Divines Providence which never abandons that sinner provided the Tree of Life for Innocent Man to defend him against the internal enemy who had insensibly brought him to death by means of old age and consumption Thus may we say that the body of the Son of God shields us against that forain heat Concupiscentia carnis in Baptismo dimittitur non ut non sit sed ut non obsit non imput tur Aug. lib. de Nup. Concup cap. 25. which setting upon the warmth of Charity threatens the Christian with death For though Concupiscence since Baptism be no longer sin and if sometimes they give it this name 't is because it is the principal effect yet is she not idle in our souls she makes strange progresses when her fury is not stopt she makes use of all occasions that are offered and holding under her command the passions and the senses she endeavours by their mediation to enslave the understanding and the will Though never so weak and langnishing in Christians she hath still vigour enough to engage them in sin if their reason assisted with grace continually oppose not her designs The little remainder there is makes them they cannot live secure and as long as they nourish the least degree of self-love there is no crime whereof they have not the seeds in them What the Son of God hath said of the grain of Mustard seed which is so small at first and so prodigious in the progress is not comparable to Concupiscence whose least sparks are able to kindle mighty conflagrations which only the Grace of Jesus Christ can extinguish Indeed his Body the noblest Organ of his Spirit moderates daily these heats in the Eucharist smothers the flames Concupiscence stirs up to consume us he gives beeing to that vertue that fight obscenity weakens that strange burning which glows against divine heat without which a Christian cannot live He produceth two contrary effects which manifests his power to be infinite For by kindling one fire he quencheth another and warming us with his own love happily delivers us from that of self 'T is a a wonderful Wine which contrary to the nature of ordinary wine bears Virgins and renders them pure thereby to render them pregnant in Vertues Finally 't is a Bread of Life that nourisheth soul and body carrying vigour into the one and light into the other to the end that preserving the whole man it may be his food in health and his remedy in sickness Having contrary to the Laws of Physick cured him contrary to the Laws of Nature it endeavours to make him young For Religion more powerful then the Fable hath found out a secret to renue the Christians youth in the Eucharist and to discover in Mysteries what it made us believe in Types and Figures Indeed all the Fathers are of opinion that the Tree of Life defended man from old age and preserved him from that languishing consumption which disposed him insensibly to his death if common fruits could preserve his life they were unable to maintain his vigour Though they had all the purity Innocent Nature could furnish her works with yet in repairing mans strength they had not restored that freshness which accompanies youth To secure himself from that mischief which had not respected his Innocence he was obliged to have recourse to the Tree of Life and from time to time to take an agreeable Physick which being no way distasteful restored him his primitive vigour and re-instated him in that flourishing age he was at first created in It is true that as Prudence was natural to him he never expected length of days to impair his beauty nor that old-age should print wrinkles upon his face he made such seasonable use of this remedy that the freshness of his complexion never faded The Roses and the Lilies were always mingled on his cheeks age and deformity never seized a body whose soul was exempt from sin and the fruit of the Tree of Life seconding his ordinary food maintained him in a vigorous constitution which was afraid neither of Sickness nor Weakness In this happie state Man had the advantages of the Aged and not their imperfections his Reason without the tedious trouble of Experience was furnished with all Lights requisite to conduct him he had no need to enfeeble his body to fortifie his minde but both the parts that composed him being equally innocent he had no occasion to wish that age might weaken the one to make it more obedient nor strengthen the other to render it more absolute Thus the fruit of the Tree of Life maintained Man in Youth and Innocence and these two inseparable qualities combating Old-age and Sin made him spend his life happily and holily Although Christians have not this advantage upon the earth and that their body being still the slave of Concupiscence cannot avoid the infirmities incident to old-age yet in their souls they fail not to enjoy the priviledges of Innocence they finde in the holy Sacrament what Adam found in the Tree of Life they receive a new vigour in the Eucharist their souls grow young as often as they approach to Jesus Christ when like Eagles they soar as high as this Sun lodg'd in a cloud they are astonished that in the infirmity of their flesh their spirit is renewed and that the outward man falling to decay by yeers and penance the inward man recruits by the heavenly meat he feeds upon This Miracle passeth sometimes from the soul to the body yet there have been some holy persons who taking no other sustenance but what is offered upon our Altars have lived many yeers Many times this Nutriment hath imprinted its qualities upon their bodies and darting forth certain rays of Grace upon their countenances communicated to them a part of that beauty which the blessed spirits shall possess Post primā caenam it a similes evascrunt Christodiscipuli ejus ut vix ab illo possent discerni Chrys S. John Chrysostome was of opinion that the Apostles participated of this priviledge in their
his Content and having given him life by his power must give him Beatitude by his Goodness It is a question in Divinity whether man being a reasonable creature can have any other end then his Creator and whether the Angels who are his superiours in Nature and in Grace can be the objects of his felicity But not to engage in the decision of a thing which depends absolutely upon the will of God I may safely answer with Saint Augustine In rebus à Deo factis tam magnum bonum est natura rationalis ut nullum fit bonum quo beata sit nisi Deus Aug. de Nat. bon cap. 7. That man in the state he is now in can have no other end but God He is too noble saith that great Doctor to find his felicity in a creature he is destined for the supream good hath inclinations towards it which cannot be blotted out He would be wretched had he not some hope of possessing it his desires would become his torment were he not assured there was a possibility of satisfying them and whatever should be offered him in exchange of the good they would deprive him of would minister nothing but want and vexation of spirit But if this were an injustice to man it would be an injury to God For he hath two qualities whereof he is equally jealous The first is that of Creator which he communicates to none He cals neither Men nor Angels to his aid when he creates any thing the distance of Entity from Non-Entity is so great that it cannot be surmounted but by an infinite power and the creature is too weak to be raised to so high a degree S. Augustine believes 't is to violate the respect due to God to imagine that the Angels can become Creators and God himself who makes use of the Sun to preserve his works would not make use of it to create them lest men should ascribe an honour to it which he reserves for himself Gen. 1. Indeed we observe in Scripture that the fruits and flowers the trees and plants which owe their preservation to the beauties of the Sun were created two days before this glorious Luminary that all nature might learn that if it were their Preserver it never was their Creator The second Quality which God by no means communicates is that of the last end He is so jealous that he will not have us stay at the creature 't is a fault in our Religion to be in love with them Our love that it may be innocent must aim directly at God and whatever action a Christian does he sins if he propounds himself any other end then his Principle All the sins of the world are derived from this disorder men become not Criminals but because they close with the creature and of means designed them by God to arrive unto him make their last end and their supream felicity The cause or occasion of this Errour comes from this that the perfections of God are shed abroad in his creatures For he delineates himself in them when they are produced and hath been pleased to make them his Pourtraitures or his Images The Sun is an effusion of his Light The Heaven which encloseth the Universe is an image of Immensity The Earth which is centred upon its own weight represents us his Constancy the fields laden with fruits and adorned with flowers are the marks of his beauty and all the perfections that are dispersed in the several works of his hands are the rivulets of this Ocean or the rayes of this Sun Thence it comes to pass that sinners preserving in the root of their inclinations an appetite for the supream good fasten upon every thing that represents it and preferring the Copies before the Original court the creature and keep at distance from the Creator But if their blindness make them wander their misery reclaims them and they learn by woful experience that God only can cure them of their maladies Mans desires arise either from his weakness or from his want he covets what he stands in need of nor hath he ever recourse to wishes but when the things that he hath a mind to are out of his power Both these appetites cannot be satisfied with the possession of the Creature If the beauty that sparkles upon a face please our eyes it cannot charm our ears if riches protect us from poverty they cannot secure us from grief if glory have a powet to draw an ambitious man out of infamy or contempt it cannot deliver him from obloquy or envy and if Crowns and Scepters exempt Kings from servitude they cannot guard them from death Thus in whatever condition men find themselves they are obliged to ascend above the creatures to seek for him who being the Fountain of all good is also the remedy against all evil and with David to beg of him their cure and deliverance De necessitatibus meis erue me Being the supream Power he can free them from all their infirmities being a Light without the least shadow he can dispel all darkness being the the Prime Verity Jam non novimus bonum nisi promereri Deum ad illa produci quae promisit nec fâ—icitas hujus saeculi facit nos Beatos nec adverfitas miseros Aug. in Psal 128. he can disingage them from Errour and Falshood being Fountain of Life he can draw them out of the bosome of death and to conclude all in one word being the supream Felicity he is able to deliver them from all their miseries When they hope for him they are couragious when they desire him they are reasonable when they possesse him they are happy The sight of his Divine Essence satisfies all their wants remedies all their evils and contents all their desires the belief they have by faith the expectation they conceive by hope begins their felicity here below It is true that as the supream Good cannot be fully known upon Earth neither can happiness be perfect here and being never entirely possest in the region of mortality there are always miseries to be undergone and languishings to be endured The Second DISCOURSE That the perfect Felicity of a Christian cannot be found in this world HE was not much mistaken who considering that the Earth stood between Heaven and Hel said it held something of both these extreams Indeed Pleasure is here mixt with Grief Light confounded with Darkness Plenty attended with Want and men are happy and miserable both together But certainly we must confess that since the Earth was cursed for the sin of man it partakes more of the qualities of Hel then of Heaven For besides that all things here are in a confusion that the seasons are irregular that the Elements bid us battail that the wild Beasts either persecute us or despise us it is certain that Felicity is not to be met with here below and that man is exceedingly more miserable then happy All the world confesseth that Beatitude