griefe of our Lord Iesus novv vve vvill but consider hovv infinitely the nature of God doth abhorre any one single sinne And hovv straitly our Lord IESVS had obliged himselfe out of loue to satisfy Gods Iustice for them all And hovv certainely he savv that the farre greater part of men vvould take no benefit at all by that bitter Passion But that some would not beleeue it some others vvould not apply it yea and that some would euen blaspheme it as thinking it impossible that God himselfe should be so good to them If vve consider that men vvho seriously desire to serue God vvith perfection are profoundly afflicted euē for the least discorrespondence to the motion of his holy Spirit and much more for any small defect into vvhich by their fault they may haue fallen And vvhen there hath beene question of greater sinnes there be men and vvomen vvho haue dyed as hath been sayd euen of pure repentance sorrovv for them And yet hovv fevv sinnes had they to be sory for in comparison of the sinnes of the vvhole vvorld And hovv little could they be sorry euē for their ovvne in cōparison of the griefe vvhich did seize the hart of our blessed Lord for those very sinnes Which (d) We shall greeue for onr sinnes after the rate of our know ledge and loue of God vvas so much greater then theirs as his knovvledge loue of God them his vnderstanding detestation of all sinne vvas greater If vve cōsider the seuerall kinds of sinne vvhich as hath been touched before vvere distinctly represented to the minde of Christ our B. Lord All the sinnes of Idolatry heresy offending after an infinite māner his most religious piety All the sinnes of pride his profound humility All the sinnes of vvrath his inuincible patience All the sinnes of cruelty and enuy those bovvels of his charity and mercy All the sinnes of gluttony and prodigality his his perfect pouerty and sobriety All the sinnes of abhominable bestiall and not so much as to be named sensuality his impenetrable supercelestiall purity If concerning Idolatry vve consider that it is either exteriour or interiour Exteriour vvhen Sacrifice is offred to a materiall externall Idoll interiour vvhen Christians or any other do lodge a creature in theyr harts which though they know not to be God yet they esteeme and obey and doe more honour to it then to God And if vve consider hovv for these seuerall kindes of sinnes he felt and vvas to feele a seuerall kind of Crosse an outvvard crosse to vvhich they vvould crucify his sacred body and another vvhich vvas inward to which he crucified his ovvne hart through griefe and loue In (e) How our Lord was wounded by the considetion of Gods iustice and bate of sinne and our great misery particular our Lord had his eye vpō that inflexible decree of God which dāned so many millions of Angells for one only sinne And how for one sinne he droue Adam out of Paradise Yea and how not only for the fault or guilt of sinne he is so terrible but euē for the penalty due to any one sinne although the fault be put away by pennance that he inflicteth excessiue paine in Purgatory if satisfaction be not made in this life He had besides in his sight the miserable weakenesse of man towards all good workes which weakenesse men cōtract by sinne besides the sinnes thēselues and these are the effects teliques therof And he well knew that they would make it very difficult for men to serue God without a great abōdāce ofgrace which he only could tell how to merit for thē Add to this that he cleerly saw all those vast affronts which in that night and the next day were to be done to himselfe with the hideous torments which he vvas sure they would inflict vpon him He also saw the Martyrdomes of all his Prophets past his Apostles and other Martyrs which were then to come the banishment and confiscation of his seruants persons and goods the contempt and prophanation of his Sacraments There was no place wheron he could tell how to rest the head of his hart The Synagogue was all in effect corrupt and almost dead and buried His Church vnder the name of Christian not then borne One of his Apostles was gone to betray him another would shortly deny him and the rest were vpon the point to runne from him His B. Mother in whom only he might haue taken intiere delight was to suffer martyrdome in her soule which was to be transpierced with a sword of sorrow Whithersoeuer he might cast his thoughs in the search of some little comfort they were bowed as it were and beaten backe againe into his owne sad hart which was become a whole Sea of sorrow How would he grieue for all this vvho grieued till he wept againe Ioan. 11. and till he was troubled and did groane in spirit for the only temporall death of Lazarus All these things I say being vvell considered and duely pondered I (f) It is no wonder if such incōparable causes of griefe did produce so strange effects in the wounded hart of our Lord Iesus cease to meruaile that such a generall muster of hell as this had like euen vvith the only apprehention therof to haue extinguished the pure lampe of his pretious life Or yet that it cost him so much shame vvith the horrour to see such a vvorld of filth cast before him vvhich novv he vvas to take vp and to make his ovvne as vvas able to put him into expresse Agony Or in fine that it drevv out that svveat and euen shovver of bloud as if it had bene to shevv the profound reason vvhich euen all his body had to blush therat Or els according to the deuoute contemplation of holy S. Bernard as if he should haue shed teares ouer all his body since his sacred eyes alone had not inough of the sluce for such a purpose Of the excellency of Prayer declared by occasion of that Prayer of our B. Lord in the Garden CHAP. 57. INFALLIBLY he must needs haue dyed vnder this huge weight of sorrow if particular force had not bene sent him by the good will of God as the sorrow of the same kind though incomparably of an inferiour degree hath depriued many others of their life Nor are we able to discerne visibly by what meanes this strength and succour came imparted to him but only by the visitation of the Angell and the feruour and perseuerance of his Prayer to the eternal Father (a) We ought to carry great deuotion reuerence to the Angells of God Now since our Lord who as God was the King of glory did not yet disdaine as man to accept that seruice and assistance from an Angell much more must we who are in the next degree to Nothing carry great deuotion to those blessed spirits who come to vs with succour in their hands at such times as when
OF THE LOVE OF OVR ONLY LORD AND SAVIOVR IESVS CHRIST Both that which he beareth to Vs and that also which we are obliged to beare to Him DECLARED By the principall Mysteries of the Life and Death of our Lord as they are deliuered to vs in Holy Scripture With a Preface or Introduction to the Discourse IHS D. Aug. Confess lib. 10. cap. 29. O Amor qui semper ardes numquam extingueru Charitas Deus meus accende me O thou Loue which euer burnest and art neuer quenched O Charity my God do thou enkindle me Permissu Superiorum M.DC.XXII TO THE MOST GLORIOVS AND EVER-BLESSED PERPETVALL VIRGIN MARY the All-Immaculate Mother of our Lord God RECEAVE this Treatise O Queene of Heauen with thy Hand of grace which the hart of thy Seruant doth prostrate at thy purest Feet as a token wrapped vp in words of the most reuearing and admiring Loue which he owes wil euer be striuing to pay to thee And vouchsafe of thy Goodnes to present it to thy Son our Lord the sole Redeemer and Sauiour of the World since it aymes at nothing els but his glory which with infinite mercy he hath vouchsafed to place in the exchange of Loue with mortall Man Thy selfe and thou alone art that happy Creature who by the aboundant sloud of his Grace wert made able to swim through all the moments of this life in the Purity and Perfection of this dunne Loue. Nor didst thou euer fayle therof from the first instant of thy Immaculate Conception in the bowells of thy blessed mother to that other of thy Assumption in the armes of thy most beloued Sonne O suffer not his Creatures who are also adopted sonnes of thine to be still so vnlike their mother as to disperse and dissipate themselues by inordinate Loue vpon the transitory obiects of this world It is inough it is too much that hitherto we haue defiled our soules and that forsaking the cleere vntroubled spring of diuine Beauty we haue bene miserably glad to stifle and drowne our selues whilst yet we are the workes of his Hands and the ioy of his Hart in the muddy pooles of profane Delight Behold how we sigh groane in thy sacred eares some of vs vnder thè seruile yoke of present sinnes and some others vnder the sad effects and consequences of our former wickednes since we are full of weakene towards good workes and of an auersion from ioyfully and perfectly complying with the superexcellent wise and holy will of God Demaund of that God obtaine of thy Sonne that he will print himselfe fast vpon our Soules that so O glorious Queene O thou most certaine Comfort of the Afflicted we may be discharged by thy prayers from these chaynes which are striuing to dragge vs downe as low as Hell And once being free we may fly vp from whence we are fallen and adhere to God with thee by an Eternall Loue. THE PREFACE DECLARING THE POWERS belonging to the Soule of man with their proper obiects and acts and how all the whole world liues by Loue and that the obiect of our Loue must be only God directed by meanes of Iesus Christ our only Lord and Sauiour IT is the ancient and iust Complaint of our Holy and Wise forefathers that men affect the knowledg of certaine fâ—rraine and fruitlesse things not caâ—ing to consider or euen know themselues We are apt to woÌ„der at the huge height of mountaines the vnwearied walke of riuers the subtile course of seas the perpetuall motion of planets and in the meanetyme we reslect not vpö that which growes in our owne bosomes which yet is a fitter subiect for our admiratioÌ„ to worke vpon The most inestimable riches of the whole materiall world is but beggary and misery in comparison of the mind of Man For what Monarch had euer such Ambassadors and Spies as are his Senses or such Solicitours as are his Desires or such Officers and Executioners as are his Passions or such a Lord Steward of his Houshould as is his Reason or such a Secretary of State as is his Inuention or such a Treasurer as is his Memory or such a President of his Counâ—aile as is his Vnderstanding and which of them had euer so absolute a Dominion ouer his Countries Vassalls as man hath ouer himselfe by the vse and exercise of his will Of all these Powers the Vnderstanding Will are the most important as being they to which the rest are all reserred Verum or that which is True is the Obiect of the VnderstaÌ„ding the Obiect of the Wil is BònÌ„ or that which is Good The Act which the VnderstaÌ„ding exerciseth towards his Obiect of Truth is Knowledge for the Vnderstanding doth euer desire to know that which is exercised by the Wil towards the Obiect of God is Loue for al creatures which caÌ„ Loue are carried to a desire of that which is Good or at least which seemeth good to the. And indeed it may be truly sayd if it be discreetly vnderstood that there is no creature at all which hath not a Loue that it lookes after Euen all the inanimate Creatures do moue with a restles desire to their proper CeÌ„ter through a quality which is impressed vpon them by the common Creator of them vs. Fire flyes vpward earth falls downe ward they are driuen by their weight they aspire to their places By force you may with hold them but if you leaue them to themselues you shal quickly see where they haue a mind to be And as the actual Loue which a reasonable creature bears to any Obiect is accoÌ„ted for the weight wherby he is carried to his iourneyes end Amor meus pondus meÌ„ eò feror quocumque feror D. Aâ—â— Confes lib. 13. c. 9. so the weight or Virtus motiua of inanimate Creatures may well be accounted called their Loue wherby they are carried knowledg of Good Bad so also must he needs haue a more vniuersall and noble meanes for the reaching arriuing to the perfection of so excellent a nature From hence also it comes that as it is proper to him to apprehend his End so he must be enabled with all the meanes coÌ„ducing to it This last End of man is perfect complete Beatitude So as the true and vndoubted Obiect of his Will is Omne bonum which is All Good This Perfectió supposech of it self implyeth in any creature which can aspire therunto to be to liue to know So that if any man be asked whether he would be glad to Be to Liue to Know to be Happy he cannot doubt of it though he would vnlesse he were out of his wits then in effect he would be no man Now Beatitudo as saith Boetius est status omnium bonorum aggregatione perfectus And (c) Confes lib. 10. c. 21. S. Augustine saith That if any man should be asked whether he would be happy or no all the world would say yea as
Herod was That thing which once vvas Nothing and now was growne to be so hideously worse then Nothing as it is incomparably worse to be an enemy and persecutour of Christ our Lord then not to be at all But imediatly after the Presentation in the Temple our Lord Iesus was carryed to Nazareth a place remote almost fourescore myles And (b) The occasions of Herods feare Matt. 2. Luc. 2. the noyse of his Natiuity and of the Starre which ledd the Magi and of the Presentation in the Temple together with the prophesies of the King of the Iewes to be borne at Bethleem gaue Herod an all-arme of extreme feare least he who indeed was come to giue vs the kingdome of heauen had meant to rob men of earthly kingdomes But what sayth S. Augustine will his tribunall Ser. 30. de Tempore when he shall sitt as iudge be able to doe now that his Infaurs cradle is able so to fright proud Kings How much better shall those kings doe who seeke not to kill Christ like Herod but rather desire to adore him as the Magi did Him I say who at the hands of his enemies and for his very enemies did endure that death which now his enemies designed him to who being killed afterward did kill that very death in his owne body Leâ— (c) The duty of King sto this King of Kinges Kings carry a pious feare towards him who is sitting at the right hand of his Father whome this impious king did so feare whilst he was sucking at the breast of his mother This cruelty of his did extend so farre as to commaund the death of all the Infants within two yeares of age in Bethleem and all the places neere adjoyning who are esteemed as appears by Ecclesiasticall history to haue arriued to the number of about (*) Vide Salmeron Tom. 3. Tract 44. foureteene thousand That so he might be sure at least as he conceaued to make our Lord away who had not then in likelyhood the age of so many monthes But because some Children are more forvvard in grovvth then others and some errour might chaunce to arriue by the mistaking of age vvithin a little compasse he thought it vvas lesse ill to murther thousands more then needed then to aduenture the escape of that one vvho yet came voluntaryly to dye euen that the tyrant himselfe might not perish So different are the designes of God and man so different are their desires And the successe is also so very different as that the diuine Maiesty doth take sometymes the (d) God draweth good out of euill peruerse will of man yet without hauing any part in the peruersenes therof for the execution of his iust decrees yea not only such of them as are founded in iustice but euen in mercy also It would seeme to some who iudge of God by the lawes which they vse to prescribe for themselues that it had beene much more agreable to the greatnes of such a God as we describe not to haue permitted that such a Tyrant should liue to commit so vast a cryme as this How easely could our Lord with the least breath of his mouth Deutr. 4. which is a consuming fire haue blowne downe that painted wall how little would it haue cost him to haue strocken Herod lame or blind or mad or dead or to haue damned him to hell for all eternity and at an instant How soone could he haue sent that infamous Rebellious little worme who presumed after a sort to spit in the face of that high Maiesty into the bottomelesse pit of Nothing from whence with mercy he had beene drawne It might haue bene instantly and most easely done But the wisedome of God tooke pleasure to drawe great good out of great euill and his loue was that which did set his wisedome so on worke For (e) The wise mercy of God by this permission of his and by the publishing of Herods cruelty the notice of the mistery of his owne Natiuity was much inereased that so his loue to the soules of men might be declared And besides if tyrants were not permitted on earth there would be no Martyrs in heauen as S. Augustine saith And if this tyrant had then beene strocken by some suddayne death the mercy of God might haue seemed lesse wheras now by forbearance euen Herod also had tyme of penance though his Malice were such as that it made no vse therof And * The happines of the Innocents and their mothers against their owne the Tyrants will as for the happy Innocents who were murthered by that Tyrant vpon the occasion of Christ our Lord it is plaine that the world which would deplore their misery yea and their afflicted mothers who did also lament their owne infelicity were farre from iudging as they ought For how much better was it for those mothers to be created mothers of so many Martyrs who instantly went to a seat of rest and presently after the Resurrection of Christ our Lord were placed as a garland vpon his owne sacred head and carryed into an eternity of glory for hauing bene murthered in despight and for the hate of him then to haue contynued as they were but the mothers of Children like the rest Who if they had runne on in their owne naturall course they might perhaps haue ended it with the losse of their soules wheras novv they vvere not only saued but vvhich is more it vvas done vvithout their hauing euer so much as once offended God and so they vvere made the very flovver and first fruits of martyrs So that the loue of our Lord vvas exercised heerin vpon them all And (f) The loue of our Lord Iesus entreth euery where and vpon all occasions vvhere may vve not looke for this loue And vvhat place can be found vvhich is voyd therof since euen in the poysned Cuppe of the Tyrants hate the pretious liquor of his diuine loue did svvym so high as to fill the same To himselfe he tooke the most sad and painefull and shamefull part The compassion vvhich he had of the holy Innocents paine and death I meane of that little which they felt of paine in that passage for his sake vvas a kind of infinite thing That of the mothers vvas extreme for the sacred Text discribes them by vvay of Prophecy to haue bene so profoundly afflicted Ierem. 31. Matt. 2. as that not only they could not but euen they would not receaue comfort But as the loue of the tendrest mother to the only infant of her vvombe may go euen for hatred if it be compared to those vnspeakable ardours of affection vvhervvith the hart of our Lord doth euer flame tovvards all the Creatures for vvhome he dyed Esay 49. for although a mother should forget her sonne yet can not I forget you saith our Lord so may their griefe hovv great soeuer be termed a kind of ioy in respect of his Theirs grovving our of selfe loue
vvith care that although he be as S. Augustine saith superior summo meo Confes l. 3. cap. 6. yet vvithall he is interior intimo meo And in another place Though he be omni luce clarior c. Ibid. lib. 9. cap. 1. yet he is omni secreto interior superiour to the highest part yet he is more interior then the most inward part of vs Cleerer then the clearest light and yet he is more internall then the most hidden secret Illuminating teaching by particular fauours those soules vvhich listen to him vvith particular attentioÌ„ according to the good counsaile of the same S. Augustine Audiat te intus sermocinantem Confes lib. 11. cap. 9. qui potest Let him that can be so happy giue eare to that which thou O God art saying to him there within And instructing all such as are desirous to saue their soules by doing him seruice not onely with a sufficiency but euen with an ouer-aboundance of his diuine grace Of the tender loue which our Lord Iesus shewed by the incommodity which he was subiect to whilst he deliuered his Doctrine to vs and of the surfet which some are sublect to if we take not heed by the aboundance of his blesÃngs CHAP. 33. THE Doctours and Teachers of this world vse to be at their ease when they giue their lessons and for feare least crouds should come in vpon them they are separated and secured by chaires or pulpits Many of them teach for hire many for ostentation and few for meere loue of God or of his creatures and the pure desire of their profit in vertue and learning And as for those Religious men who vndertake the troublesome taske of doing good to the world in this kind for the loue of our Lord that loue of theirs though (a) The great serâ—â—ce which is done to God the world by such as instruct youth in vertue learning for pure charity of most excellent seruice to God and man is but a sparke which hath conueyed it selfe out of the fornace of the loue of Christ our Lord by the merit of his Magistery who is the only originall maister of all mankind And he it is who obteyned grace for those others to become to be such as by his goodnes we see they are But yet by the great mercy of God it is made a rare case with these his seruants to be put vpon those extreme difficulties vnlesse it be amongst Heretikes and Pagans in the exercise of this function from which his ardent loue would neuer giue him leaue to be free For euen from his first to his last Baptisme that is from the Baptisme of water in the Riuer of Iordan to the Baptisme in the bloud of that Imaculat clambe which was himselfe vpon Mount Caluary he went teaching vp and downe the world in a kind of perpetuall motion And was subiect to a most vnkind continuall persecution by the most part of them whome he did most particularly apply himselfe to instruct and teach It is true that his Apostles and Disciples did follow him throughout with extreme affection and admiration but yet withall they were so very ignorant and vnlearned as could haue giuen no pleasure in teaching them to any other but to Christ our Lord. What (b) It is a great mor tification for a wise worthy person to betyed to the continuall conuersation of ignoraÌ„t rude people greater mortificatioÌ„ can there be then for a wise and worthy and noble person to be perpetually conuersing with certaine course vnpolished creatures without fashion without learning without meanes and without so much as aptitude to be the better by it And yet our Lord IESVS was dayly in conuersation with such as these Who knew not how to gather the fruit of that tree of his diuine wisedome though the weight therof did make the braunches stoope so low as that they might be within their reach How (c) The great meeknes of our Lord Iesus meekely did he liue in their sight which was a kind of most effectual Doctrine How continually did he accompany them how carefully did he defeÌ„d them how sweetly did he allure them and how strongly did he conuince them And all this he did in the midst of a thousand corporall incomodities of labour and hungar when after the day was spent in continuall pennance the nights would lay hold on him without a lodging The Foxes had holes Matt. 8. and the birds of the ayre had nests but the sonne of man the sonne of that all-Immaculate woman that virgin mother that type of purity that torch of charity had not a place where to lay his diuine head But to the consusion of impatient men who are angry euen with their best friends when they change to be pinched otherwise he was farre from caring for any other habitation but only that he might dwell in the hartes of men by loue Of his Apostles we read that once when they had wherwithall they went to Sichar to buy meate and returning they inuited our B. Lord to eate therof But he excused himselfe by saying Ioan. 4. that he had another inuisible food (d) The principall food our Lord Iesus was the glory of God the good of man Ibid. which they knew not of and that was the performance of his eternall Fathers will and the perfecting of the worke of the good of soules by the words of his diuine mouth And after this food he had so fierce an appetite that he ran panting towards it and that so very fast as to make himselfe weary though he were God and to be glad to make a seate of that well side to which the happy Samaritane came for water It is also true that Christ our Lord was often inuited to eate with others and he accepted therof nay and he was not inuited so much by their desires as he was by his owne loue to their soules for their good he made himselfe all to all For he did eate with them to the end that men might not want the Doctrine of his diuine example both in the point of Temperance and Patience But many of those meates were otherwise of much more mortification to him in seuerall kinds then the want therof could haue bene Since it was not in the power of that heaueÌ„ly wisedome to continue vntoucht by those teeth of malice which vpon all warnings were gnashing towards him But (e) The wicked vse which the lewes made of our Lords benignity towardes them Matt. 11. from his facility of descending into their company and the resolution that whilst he was there he would not shew any singularity they did with the hand of their caÌ„kered mind fetch reasons why they should sel him for a gluttoÌ„ drinker of wine This seems euen to haue pierced the tender hart of our B. Lord with vnkindnes and it drew him in effect to say Iohn the Baptist came to you in abstinence
the Leaprous Another for the Paraliticques Another for the Lunatiques and another for persons who were possessed by deuils who would euer haue contynued so vnlesse that right hand of God had cast them out But (c) A straÌ„ge spectacle what a spectacle then would it haue bene to see a number of diseased distressed and defeated persons at an instant all become new men All the Dumbe being able to speake the Deafe to heare the Lame to goe the blind to see the mad men to discourse with reason and the dying men to shew health and strength How I say would they looke with a face of wonder and amazement vpon one another as scarcely beleuing what they felt and heard and saw when they found the scene of all the world to be so changed at once For then Christ our Lord of whome S. Peter said Act. 10. Quod pertransijt benefaciendo curing all such as were oppressed by the diuell euen as fast as he could goe was rayning (d) The great labour and the great loue of our Lord. downe from those liberall hands of his the seuerall blessings wherof euery one had greatest need And this he did with a hart so tenderly behoulding in euery particular creature the image of his eternal Father that it made him loue the meanest of them a million of tymes more then his owne pretious life And so obseruing how in euery one of theÌ„ that Image was growne to be defaced which himselfe had made he tooke care to reforme it which no power but his could arriue vnto There haue bene in the world certaine ambitious sculptours who conceauing theÌ„selues withall to be of matchlesse Skil would take pleasure and pride when they were in making any curious Image or statue to leaue some eare or fingar or some part of the foot vnfinished Therby sending out a secret kind of defiance to any other of their profession who would presum to make that like the rest But (e) The omnipotent power lone of the diuine Artificer this heauenly Sculptour of ours who made not only the formes but the matter also of the creatures was both more cunning more charitable then the former For at the first he made al the Images of his Father most complete nor was there any want of that perfection vvhich they could desire And aftervvard vvhen they grevv to be defaced broken through the falls vvhich they tooke by actual sinne besides Adams fall which infected theÌ„ vvith original sinne one of theÌ„ wanting an arme another an eye for all these and the like vvere the effects and fruits of sinne he vvas pleased to bring vvith a kind of greedy hart the same hand of strength vvhich before had made those armes and eyes to restore them as by a kind of second creation But O thou infinite God! and vvho shal euer be able to tell vs hovv the tendernes of this loue did make that very hart of thine a kind of most true interiour (f) How the hart of our Lord was the true hospitall of mercy Iob. 29. hospitall wherby all those other hospitalls vvere fed and vvhereinto their miseries vvere receiued and from vvhence they vvere supplyed vvith all that mercy vvherof they had need For if Iob had such a hart as made him be an eye to the blinde a foote to the lame and a Father to the Orphane for as much as he grieued at the miseries vvhich lay vpon poore people and procured to remoue them by vvorkes of mercy hovv much more are vve to beleeue it of Christ our Lord. In (g) No mercy must coÌ„pare with that of Christ our Lord. comparison of vvhose least mercy the greatest mercy of Iob vvas meere cruelty Tell vs therfore deere Lord hovv full that hart of thine vvas of eyes and hovv many vvayes they vvere looking all at once for our both teÌ„porall and eternall good For whilst thou wert curing the bodies of some thou hadst an ayme at the miraculous recouery of the soules of others He cured S. Peter and S. Andrew of the intricate netts and perplexed cares of worldly busines And S. Iames and S. Iohn Matt. 4. Marc. 1. Matt. 9. Marc. â—â— Luc. 5. Luc. 7. not only of wordly affaires but of wordly affections to their friends S. Matthew he brought from vnlawfull gaynes and S. Mary Magdalene from impure pleasures And euery one of these many many more at an instant by the only cast of a countenance or some one single word of his sacred mouth hauing first receaued a tincture from his enamoured hart How the corporall Miracles of our Lord Iesus had an ayme at the reformation of soules and did tend to the discouering and facilitating the beliefe of great Mysteryes CHAP. 44. THE corporall miracles themselues did all carry a kind of respect to the soules either of theÌ„ on whome they were wrought or els of others And that not only by way of purging them in point of life but of illuminating them also by way of most perfect vnderstanding and beliefe yea and yet further by vvay of vniting them to himselfe through pure and perfect loue Fitting euery thing vvith diuine vvisedome to euery person according to the seuerall disposition which he was found to haue Christ our Lord as S. Augustine saith did intend That whatsoeuer he wrought corporally S. Aug. serm 44. de verbis Domini might spiritually also be vnderstood He wrought not saith he those miracles for the miracles alone but that as those things which he exposed to the sight of men were acknowledged to be strange so those other things which he insinuated therby to the vnderstanding might be imbraced as true And S. Gregory declares to the same effect That the miraculous workes of Christ our Lord Hom. 21 in Euang. did shew one thing by the power which they expressed did declare another by the mistery which they coÌ„tained There (a) The relation which corporall diseases haue to spirituall was not therfore a corporal miracle wrought by Christ our Lord which had not also a relation to the discouery and cure of some spirituall disease of the minde The defenes of men did shew a not complying with heauenly inspirations Theyr blindenes a darknes of vnderstanding Their Feuers a boyling vp of sensual appetite which caused extreme disorder in the will Their leaprosies a rooted impurity of the soule Their Lunacies a mad inconstancy of the minde Their Paralisies an vnaptnes and weakenes towards all good workes Their dropsies a gredines after gaine together with a swelling vp of Pride And sinally their being possessed a state of men who were reprobately giuen ouer to sinne together with the bitter seruitude wherin the deuill holdeth such as become his slaues No one sigh was vttered by Christ our Lord no one teare was shed but with intention to instruct vs how to deplore our misery and how to implore the diuine mercy There was (b) The misteries which were contayned
were Relatiues and that after a sort it would redound vpon them both a like there could be no doubt but that howsoeuer he were so vnworthy as not to be gratefull to her for her sake yet he would not faile to be so for his owne What kind of (a) How our Lord was as it were obliged to fill our B. Lady with all perfectiō thing must they therfore make Almighty God who allow him not to haue endued our Blessed Lady withall the priuiledges and prerogatiues of sāctity and grace wherof a pure creature could be capable since he tooke flesh of her and that she was ordayned from all eterniry to giue a new being and nature and life to himselfe Wherby he was to atcheeue the most glorious enterprize which euer he had vndertaken or euer would And so much more wicked is it to thinke any such thing of God euen because he is God and is not a whit the emptier for filling any other with himselfe And because he is supreme goodnes and knowes not how to be ouercome with curtesy But now since he descended to this Incarnation in the B. Virgins wombe especially and expresly for the meere cōmunication of himselfe to all his reasonable creatures what flouds of grace must he needs be beleeued to haue rayned downe vpon that happy soule by whose only meanes vnder himselfe he was afterward to deriue himselfe to others Yea and finally if this blasphemy could be a truth that God had sought his owne and not our end therby and that it were possible to conceaue God to be wise and not conceaue him to be also good yet euen wisedom alone would haue obliged him to doe all that for her which could possibly haue bin done to a created nature since himselfe was to be so highly interessed therby his very body hauing bin wholy hers The glory or shame of any mother and her Sonne are so neere of kinne that they will not part and how much more of this Sonne and mother since this mother gaue this Sonne all the humane nature he had by the operatiō of the holy Ghost And (b) That body which our B. Lady gaue to Christ our Lord is that very body which is to raigne eternally at the right hād of God that very body so bestowed by her as to remaine raigne at the right hand of God for all eternity It is therfore of much honour to Christ our Lord the more honorable and excellent his Blessed Mother was And by this we way also easily discerne the immensity of height to which our Blessed Lady is exalted She being raysed vp so neere to the Deity of Christ our Lord it selfe and beholding that omnipotent God both personally and eternally to subsist and liue in her nature And by the infinite merit of that person of his to be working such store of spirituall miracles in the world adorning men heere with guifts of grace and crowning them afterward with glory So great is our Blessed Lady so much more as shall be shewed afterward and her adnersaries and ours haue no cause to scandalize themselues with vs for saying so For to that which they are wont to say that we equall her to Christ our Lord I will desire them to receaue this short true answere that afterward I may proceed in her prayses without any further feare of offending them By so good a worke we all acknowledge and beleeue our Lord IESVS to be true and perfect God and that our Blessed Lady though the most excellent meere creature that euer was to haue bin no more then a meere creature Now (c) There lyes no comparisort at all betweene our B. Lady and Christ our Lord as God it followes heervpon that there was is more excellency in him as God then her by more millions of degrees then there is greater quātity in the bulke of the whole world then in the least little moate which wanders vp and downe in the ayre For in a word he is infinite she but finite therfore there lyes no kind of comparison betwene them two Let it be also considered that euen what she had of dignity and greatues did all originally as will further be shewed afterward depend vpon that first Grace wherby she was elected without any merit at all of hers through the only goodnes of God who drew her by his diuine vnderstanding before all eternities and did execute it afterwards vpon her when the fulnes of tyme was come out of the whole race of mankind with intention to make her that happy creature which should giue flesh and bloud and life to the increated Word and Wisedome of God the secōd person of the most holy Trinity Which diuine life of his he would afterward lay downe vpon the Crosse for the redemption of the world and the totall destruction of our death That (d) The ground Originall cause of all our B. Ladies sanctity out of the same free goodnes she was made a most pure vessell of the holy Ghost at the very first instant of her sacred and immaculate Conception that so as she was to be the mother of God she might also be made most worthy of so incomparable a dignity And that to this end she was most beloued adorned and enriched withall that plenitude of diuine graces and vertues prerogatiues which might any way be conuenient for the incomprehensible high office to which she was assumed That not only she was infinitely inferiour indeed of her selfe a meere Nothing in respect of God but that she was also incōcomparably of lesse excellency and dignity then Christ our Lord as he was man And that since euen the soule of Christ our Lord himselfe did not deserue that first Grace wherby it pleased God to assume and vnite it hypostatically to the second person of the most blessed Trinity in vertue of which vnion the Grace and merit of that soule after a sort was infinite so much lesse could the soule of the B. Virgin deserue the first Grace which was imparted to it whervpon all her other greatnes did originally depend That (e) The great preheminēce of Christ our Lord euen as he is man beyond our B. Lady Christ our Lord did merit as it were infinitely of himselfe and for himselfe but that the Blessed Virgin could neuer haue merited any thinge but in vertue of the merits of Christ our Lord. That Christ our Lord was absolutely and of himselfe by nature holy and indued at the first instant wherin his soule was vnited to the Word with such an immensity of all diuine graces as was wholy incapable of any increase That he was our sole Redeemer and Sauiour and for himselfe did need no Sauiour nor Redeemer That he was not conceaued in the way of ordinary generation but by way of Obumbration of the holy Ghost in the most pretious and pure wombe of the all-immaculate Luc. 1. and B. Virgin But that she came into