the second to the Corinthians We must all be manifested before the judgment seat of CHRIST that every one may receive the proper things of the body according as he hath don either good or evill For justice requires that we be recompenced and chastised in the same things which have contributed to good or evill But the greater part of sins are caused or Committed by the body 't is then reason that it rise again and feel the punishments due to them It concurrs likewise to vertuous actions 't is mortifyd by holy souls subjected to rigours of penance and to labours of a christian life it sufferrs prisons and punishments in Confessors torments and death in Martyrs 't is deprived of its pleasures in Virgins and in Widows and crucifyd in all true Christians it is then very just that it should participate in the satisfactions pleasures and recompences of Heaven The flesh says Tertullian is the Tertull. de Resur Carnis hinge of our salvation and if the soul be united to God 't is it that gives her capacity the flesh is washed to the end the soul be cleansed the flesh is annointed that the soul be consecrated the flesh is shadowed by imposition of hands that the soul be illuminated in Spirit the flesh is fed with the Body and Blood of JESUS-CHRIST to the end the soul be nourished by God they cannot then be seperated in recompences having been so joyn'd in actions And 't is vain to alleadg against this Verity the low condition of the flesh for the same Father says the flesh which God form'd to the resemblance of a man-God which He animated by his breath to the resemblance of his life which He fortifyd with his Sacraments of which He loves the purity approves the austerity and esteems the labours and the sufferances shal it not rise again It will never be that He leave in eternal death the works of his hands the care of his Spirit the tabernacle of his Breath the heir of his Liberalities the keeper of his Law the Victime of his Religion and the Sister of his CHRIST It will then be raised up again and in this God does as a Potter who seeing his Pot ill made breaks it to repair it better so God having form'd man of earth and finding him deprav'd by sin broke him by death to which he doom'd him but with design to repair and make him better in the day of the Resurrection 2. But if any one should aske me how that which is withered and rotten can becom living and flourishing again He needs not but to consider the Omnipotency of the Creator or with S. Paul the grain of corne which rots to rise again Foole 1. Cor. 15. Cgrysol Ser. 59. it first do die All things in this world according to S. Chrysologue are images of our Resurrection the Sun sets and rises the day is buried in darkness and returns months years seasons fruits seeds die in passing and rise again returning and to touch you with a sensible example as often as you sleep and wake you die in a certain manner and rise again Let us now reflect upon the words of this Article 3. The Apostles say not The Resurrection of the man though this he true But of the flesh for to teach us that when the man dies his soul dies not and therefore in the Resurection is nor raised-up again but reunited only to the body since nothing can be raised again to life unless it first be dead 4. They say not the Resurrecton of the body but of the flesh becaus the holy Ghost would afford us a means to Confute the errour of certain Hereticks who would sustain as in the first ages of the Church some did that we should rise not in a body of flesh but form'd of air 5. They use moreover these terms to convince orhers who in the time of the Apostles thought that the Resurrection of which the Scripture speaks signifys not that of the body but only that by which the Soul is raised out of the death of sin to the life of grace 6. In fine this word Resurrection makes us understand that we shal receive the same bodys which we had for since rising again signifys returning to life again It must be the same flesh which was dead that rises and returns to life 7. We All then shal have the same bodys which now we have but intire and perfect without want or superfluity without the imperfection of youth or the defect of old age None shal rise blind or purblind deaf or dumb lame or crooked too great or too little nor with any other defect or imperfection Becaus 't is God alone whose works are perfect that will raise us up He will not in this work make use of natural causes from which all defects proceed 8. Nevertheless the Resurrection of the Elect and that of the Reprobate will be very different The blessed Souls shal receive bodys like to Christs endowed with Light Subtility Agility and Impassibility that will shine as clear as Starrs that will penetrate and pass through althings as beams of the Sun through glass that will move as swiftly as lightning That will be impassible and immortal so that nothing in the world can hurt them They will enter into their bodys with great joy and gladness with many benedictions and congratulations ô my body such a soul will Say ô my dear companion and most faithfull friend receive now with ioy the fruit of thy labours mortifications and pains in the works of holiness thou hast been in miseries and in sufferances be thou now in felicity and in happiness and let us praise together the Authour of our good but the reprobate Souls will reenter into their bodies with great a version rage and many maledictions of those members which they go to animate for to render them sensible of ineffable and eternal torments Domine quis habitabit in tabernaculo tuo aut quis requiescet in monte sancto tuo Lord says the Royal Prophet who shal dwell in thy tabernacle or who shal rest in thy holy hill He answers Psal 14. Qui ingreditur sine macula operatur justitiam He declares that two things are absolutely necessary to avoid evill and to do good one without the other suffices not Quis habitabit who shal be that happy that fortunate person that shal com to the glorious Resurrection and shal dwell amongst the Blessed O what happy lot attends him happy a thousand times the womb that bore him and the breasts which He did suck happie the paines taken to bring him up ô how well was it employd happie earth that he tramples under feet one ought to strew with flowers the paths which he honours with his steps happie air that he breaths one ought to sweeten it with all the perfumes of Arabia happie the bread which he eates one ought to nourish him with all that is most precious in nature and what deserves
shal henceforth dare to doubt of it And He affirming and saying This is my blood who is he that shal doubt of it saying 't is not his blood Heretofore in Cana of Gallilee He changed water into wine is He not worthy to be believed changing wine into into blood Vnder the species of bread the Body is given and under the species of wine the blood is given his Body and his blood is receiv'd into our members That which seems bread is not bread though the taste preceives it such but the Body of Christ and that which seems wine is not wine though the taste represents it such but rhe Blood of Christ S. Cyrill of Alexandria who assisted in the third general Councel held at Ephesus in his 13. book upon Leviticus in the middle says Lest we should have horour of flesh and blood put upon our Altars God condescending to our weakness infuses into the things we offer to wit into bread and wine the vertue of life converting them into the verity of his own flesh S. Crysostome preaching to the people brings in our Saviour speaking thus to them Many Parents give their children to others Chrysost ham 61. ad pop Antioch to be nourished But not so I with my own flesh J nourish you and set my self as meat before you J took upon my self flesh and blood for you and the very same flesh and blood I deliver again to you Let vs ioyn to the Golden mouth to the Ambrosian mouth that is to say S. Ambrose to S. Chrysostom This bread before the Sacramental words is bread but when the consecration is don of bread is made the flesh of CHRIST by what words of IESUS CHRIST by the word which made althings the Heaven was not before the creation the sea was not the earth was not but He spoke and they were made He commanded and they were created so I answer you before the Consecration this was not the Body of Christ but after Consecration J say to you that 't is the Body of IESUS IESUS hath spoke the words In Africa they Spoke as they did in Italy becaus they had there the same faith which made S. Cyprian or the Authour of the supper of our Lord to say the bread which our Lord gave to his Disciples being changed not in appearance but in nature was made flesh by the omnipotency of the Word In fine great S. Augustine in a sermon upon the Title of the 33 Psalm admiring these words And He was carried in his own hands sayd this cannot be understood of David nor of any other than of Iesus CHRIST for who is he that can carry himself in his hands But IESUS CHRIST carried himself in his hand when He sayd to his Disciples take eate This is my Body If you will weigh with me the circumstances of the Institution of this Sacrament you will have no difficulty to embrace the faith of these holy Doctors and you will see the great injury they do our Lord who say that He gave to his Disciples but only bread as the figure and the memory of his Body 4. Let us consider first who He is that says these words This in my Body T is the Son of God who is all Power â—isdom Goodness We may well comtemplate in Him these Perfections since He himself considers them to accomplish this Mistery T is S. Iohn that says it JESUS knowing that the Father gave athings into his hands Iohn 13. that He came from God and goes to God whereas he had loved his that were in the world unto the end He loved them IESUS in the last supper considers that his Father gave althings into his hands that He had an infinite power and nothing was impossible to Him He considers that He came from God that He is the increated Wisdom produced by the Father by way of understanding and knowledg He considers that He had excessively loved men making himself man for them that it was the property of his infinite Goodness to Communicate it self to them more and more and to love them unto the end Ought He to consider all these things to give them a morcel of bread And is this a Donary beseeming such a Donor In the second place to whom does He speak Saying This is my Body To his beloved Disciples to whom He had sayd I will not call you servants but my friends becaus I have made known to you all that I have received from my Father He speaks to his Apostles to whom He was accuâ—â—omed to speak clearly without Parable or figure or if He proposed any to them He explicated the same presently He sayd to them You have the priviledg to know the secrets of the kingdom of God but to the rest I propose them in Parables He speaks to his Embassadors whom He sends to instruct the world Is it not to Embassadors that a King is wont to discover his designes to open the secrets of his heart to give particular Instructions that they may negotiate the better his affaires And IESUS saying that He gives his body saying it I say to his Friends Apostles Embassadors shal He â—ave deceived them and instead of his precious Body shal He have given them a morcel of bread Let us Consider in the third place the Circumstance of Time He eates first the Paschal Lamb with them and afterward to mount up to a higher Misterie to pass from the figure to the reality from the image to the verity from the promise to the accomplishment and from the shadow to the Body He gives them his precious Body If the bread that He gave them were not his Body but a figure only it would be in vain that He gave it it would be an unprofitable and superfluous repetition not of word but deed since the Paschal Lamb was a figure more express more distinct and more significant of his Body than a morcel of bread In giving it to them He sayd with desire I have desired to eate this Pasche with you before I suffer This desire was not only to eate the Paschal Lamb with his Disciples since He had eaten it so often with them and that He had had this desire lo long with desire I have desired says He that is J have long since vehemently desired and this desire of IESUS this great desire of IESUS this desire which the amorous heart of JESUS hath had so long shal it not have had for object but to eate with his Apostles a morcel of bread He sayd before I suffer and S. Paul in which night He was betrayd 1. Cor. 11. 23. to make vs know that being neer his death He made his Will and Testament and He declares it in express words This Chalice is the new Testament in my blood A wise man who loves his children making his Will speaks as clearly as he can if any one makes it in doubtfull and ambiguous words 't is becaus he is little intelligent in
good will for us that He desires nothing more than to fill us with goods to embrace us and to unite himself to us for ever we must cast our selves into his armes as an infant into his mothers put into his hand with great confidence our affaires afflictions salvation and our family ô God! I trust in you you are infinitely good you give your self to me you will give surely that which is much less 7. The third conformitie of the Eucharist with milk is in the manner of their operation First this is proper to milk amongst other nourishments that it is the whole feast and the entire refection of the infant it Satisfys hunger and thirst and serves him for meat and drink And this is also proper to the Eucharist that in one only Species of it is contain'd the whole refection of the Soul you are as well communicated and spiritually fed in taking the Host alone as in receiving both Host and Chalice 8. Here Dissenters think that they have a great advantage of us declaming against our communion in one kind But I see not how they can except against it For whatsoever the protestant people do in receiving of this Sacrament Catholicks do or may do too and what more ought to be don the Catholick Church does it and the Protestants do it not must one feed upon Christ Crucified by Faith Catholicks do it must the Eucharist be taken in remembrance of Him and his Death and Passion they do it must the people drink wine out of a Cup Catholick people do the like and over and above this they communicate the very Body of their Redeemer animated with his Soul full of blood and hypostatically united to his Deity this ought to be don to the end we may have life in us and Dissenters do it not But since they desist not to cry out and say that we deprive our people of the necessary means which Christ hath left them for their Salvation I must make you see that the holy Scripture the Fathers and Antiquity do authorize our practise 9. What pretend you in communicating Is it not to have eternall life you will acquire right to it in receiving but the Host for IESUS CHRIST sayd in most clear words He that eates Iohn 6. 51. and 58. Aug. tr 27. in Ioan of this bread shal live for ever And before the murmuration of the Capharnaits He spoke not of drinking his Blood but of eating his Body only He spoke not then of drinking his Blood but to answer to the gross thought of the Capharnaits and to tell them that they were not to eate his flesh separated from his blood dead cut and mangled as S. Austin says they thought but to eate his living Body full of blood Nor did He command all men to drink of the chalice or cup when He sayd in S. Matthew Drink ye all of this For these words were not spoken to all men nor to all the Faithfull But to all the Apostles and to them all only which is manifest out of the text it self for what S. Matthew says was commanded to all S. Marke relates to have been answerably perform'd by all they drank all thereof the second all is restrain'd to all the Apostles to whom only He spoke these words as also the other before and after and who were then made Priests what reason then is there to extend the former words farther then the Apostles Christ himself gave most S. Luke 24. probably the Eucharist under one only species to the Disciples that went to Emaus for He vanished says S. Luke as soone as they knew Him in breaking of the bread which S. Hierome S. Austin 5. Hier. in Fp. Paulae ad Eusto S. Aug. lib. 3. de consen Evang. c. 25. Et Ep. 59. ad Paulinum S. Paulinus V. Bede and other Doctors do understand and also prove to have been the holy Eucharist And 't is evident in S. Ambrose in Eusebius in S. Cyprian and in Tertullian that the primitive Church which would do nothing against the express command of Christ did give it often to the faithfull did carry it in journeys did send it to the absent and to the sick in one only kind or species and therefore they also held it to be as milk a whole and entire refection 9. Milk is given to an infant to nourish and make him grow and the Eucharist was instituted to make the children of the Church to increase and thrive in Christian perfection and therefore t is institituted under the species of bread which nourishes fortifys and causes groweth S. Ambr. orat de fratre suo Satyro Euseb lib. 6. c. 36. S. Cyprian de lapsis Tertull. lib. 2. ad uxor 10. Milk hath this property that it communicates often to infants the humours and the complexion of the Nource when the Poets describe a cruel man they are not content to say a rock hath brought him forth but they add that Tygars have given him suck And the holy Canons counsell mothers to nourse their own Children as much as may be for fear that giving them to vicious persons they suck with milk the ill humours of the nources The Son of God is not content to bring us forth in Baptisme He himself gives the brest He nourishes us with his own flesh that He may communicate his own inclinations to us He after communion sayd to his Disciples That the world may know I love my Father rise let us go to suffer for his glory So after communion we must examin our selves what service can I render to God what can I do that may conduce to his honor what is that in me or mine that displeases him and which I may correct if we use so this precious milk it will make us grow in perfection it will make us like to Him who nourishes us with his own substance it will give us his complexion and resemblance and if we resemble Him on earth in the life of grace we shal resemble Him in heaven in the life of glory Amen DISCOURS XLVI Of the Eucharist as a Sacrifice SAcrifice is a worship so noble and so proper to the Almighty as none either in heaven or in earth may partake with him in it So due to him and so necessary for men that every Law and Religion hath been stil anexed with a correspondent Sacrifice and Christians have all the reasons to honour God by it the Iews and those of the Law of nature ever had We are an externe and visible Congregation as they were We have the passion of the Messias to be represented before our eyes now with us past as with them it was to come we have the same God with the same worship to be honoured for received benefits to be praised for our sins to be appeased for favours to be invocated 2. Wherefore God promised us a Sacrifice by his Prophet Malachias Malac. 1. 10. where rejecting the ancient Sacrifices and
speaking of the future time as present according to custome of the Prophets sayd From the rising of the sun even to the going down great is my Name amongst the gentills and in every place is Sacrificed and offered to my name a clean Oblation He speaks not of the improper Sacrifice of contrition and other good works which according to Calvin and others are unclean nor of the Sacrifice of the Cross which was ofâ—er'd but in one place and but once and therefore the prophecie is not verifyd but in the Eucharist which is a true and proper Sacrifice since there is efâ—usion or oblation of blood for remission of sins This is the Chalice in my blood which is shed for you A clèan Sacrifice the Body and Blood of JESUS Offered in all times and places by vertue of these words of CHRIST Do this in commemoration of me And in effect the Apostles did so as it appeares in the Acts whilst they were ministring to our Lord Says S. Luke the holy Ghost sayd seperate me Paul and Barnabas that is whilst they were sacrificing for so the greek does signify and so Erasmus does translate The same hath been practised by their Successors ever since as Controvertists clearly shew out of the holy Fathers I will give you the words of three or four who lived during the times of the four first General Councills that you may see the beliefe and practise of those golden ages S. Ambrose upon the 38th Psalme says Though CHRIST Sc Ambr. in Psal 38. is not seen to offer now yet He himself is offered upon earth Nay He himself is manifested to offer in us whose speech does sanctify the Sacrifice which is offered S. Austin Since wee see this Sacrifice foretold by Malachias Aug lib. 18. de civit Dei c. 35 offered to God in every place by the Priesthood of CHRIST according to the order of Melchisaâ—eck and the Jews Sacrifice to cease why do they yet expect another CHRIST S. Chrysostome the Oracle of the greek and eastern Church sayd Becaus this Sacrifice is offered in many places are there many Christs No for as He who is offered every where is one body and not many bodys so the Sacrifice is but one Chrysost hom 17. in ep ad Heb. Nice 1. can 18. In fine the first most general Nicene Councill complaining that in some particular Churches Deacons gave communion to Priests made this Convincing determination Neither Rule nor Custome hath delivered that they who offer not present the Body of CHRIST to them that offer By which words 't is evident the Fathers of this great Councill believed the Eucharist was not only a Sacrament containing really the Body and Blood of JESUS CHRIST But moreover a true and proper Sacrifice offered by Priests 3. Would it not now grieve a Christian heart to see poor Catholicks of England so miserably harrassed pillaged emprisoned hated hanged by their own Allies and countreymen as they have been now a hundred years for the profession of that great worke of Christianity which Christ and his Apostles taught them and that they should undergoe the same disgrace and ruine by such as call themselves Christians yea the only pure ones for that very self same act of Religion for which both the Apostles themselves and all primitive Christians were so cruelly persecuted by Jew and Pagan But the God of mercies look in his good time upon our Persecutors favourably becaus they do it ignorantly and in incredulity and becaus they are the far greater Sufferers being deprived of a Sacrifice so acceptable and glorious to God and so profitable and necessary to men 4. If we consider Him who offers what He offers and the manner in which he offers we shal see that 't is a Sacrifice exceedingly glorious and pleasing to God For in this oblation the principal Offerer and Sacrificer is JESUS CHRIST the object of his Fathers complacence and the subject of his most tender loves who is equall to him in Greatness to whom He Sacrifices You are a a Priest for ever according to the order of Melchisedeck Psal 109 Heb. 5. 6. Gen 14. 18. says the Royal Prophet and S. Paul speaking of our Saviour becaus He offers continually by Priests unbloody Sacrifice under the species and formes of bread and wine which were the offerings of Melchisedeck The Priest is but his instrument and Minister when he says This is my Body it is evident that the Priest Speaks not of his own body but of that of JESUS CHRIST and seeing he says not This is the body of JESUS CHRIST But this is my Body 't is clear by this that it is not properly he that speaks but t is JESUS that speaks by his mouth who of the things proposed makes his Body and Blood says S. Chriysostom Hom. de Tradit Iudae 5. That which he offers is not dead and corruptible flesh of Lambs or other things as the ancient Sacrifices which were not pleasing to God in themselves nor in their substance as too base to be the objects of his delights but only pleased Him as they were figures shadows and representations of the Victime of this Sacrifice which is the precious flesh of the man-God Deifyd flesh living and enlivening holy and Sanctifying flesh flesh united to the Divinity subsisting with the Divine nature in the Persone of the Word 6. The manner in which He offers it is admirable and gives to God the greatest Glory Jt is offered as a most perfect holocaust since in this Sacrifice God is perfectly honoured as the Soveraign Authour of all Being for the man-God losing in honor of his Father the Sacramental Being which He hath here shews that God produced Him hath right to destroy Him and suffers no loss in his destruction He honors the justice of his Father in that He avows He hath deserved death and annihilation for the sins of men for whom He made himself a Propitiatour He honors his mercy in that He transfer'd upon his innocent son the debts of criminal servants and in that He accepts the sacrifice of his precious Body and mystical effusion of his Blood instead of the true and real death that we deserve He honors Him as the last end for losing the Being which He hath here to honor Him He shews that he holds it for the greatest happiness and felicity if his Father thinks it fit to be annihilated for his service 7. This august Sacrifice being so glorious and pleasing to God cannot fail to be extreamly profitable and advantagious to men T is a magasin of Spiritual treasures which furnishes us where with to satisfy the great abligations we have to God 't is a most powerfull meanes to obtaine of him all favours necessary for our souls and bodys T is a Host of praise and an Eucharisticall Sacrifice T is an impetratory Host and propitiatory Oblation Isaiah sayd if one should make a fire with all the wood of mount Libanus Isay
the Iews for to oblige them to be faithfull in his service and obedient to his Laws I am the Lord thy God who have brought thee out of the land of Egipt I am your Lord and Sovereign you are my Vassalls and Slaves ' not only as other people by reason of the benefit of creation but by a new right and a special obligation becaus I made wâ—â—r against Pharao for you and you are my Captives and prisoners of warr JESUS hath much more reason to make the like plea to us and to oblige us to his service for he hath fought in his own person for us He hath been wounded in the combat He hath delivered us from the deplorable servitude of Sin freed us from the most cruel tyranny of Satan and drawn us from his oppression are we not then his slaves Add to this that He hath bought us 1. Cor. 6. 20. with his blood you are bought with a great price Says the Apostle You are then no more your own your Being your soul your body and your actions are not yours if you employ them then for your selves you are usurpers of anothers goods since IESUS hath bought you you belong more to him than a slave unto is Lord than a horse unto his Master 9. Nevertheless what is most uniust and most deplorable Many acknowledge not JESUS-CHRIST to be their Lord He receives no homage from them For what honor what service and what obedience do they render him If they are in a chamber of an earthly King or Lord t is with great respect with a profound silence and with fear to commit the least incivility But if they are in a church in the house of God in his presence they commit irreverences insolences and insupportable impudences What service do they render him In the morning as soon as they are up they fall upon their employments or upon fooleries or trifles and pastimes if they go to Church they give to God their lipps and their hearts to their affaires to vanities and often to worse in the Evening they pray in bed or half a sleep or with so little respect that they would not speak in that manner to a Civil man In the rest of the day they think not of him they speak of him no more than if there were no God unless perhaps pronouncing his holy name or calling upon him irreverently and offending him 10. What Obedience do they yield to his divine laws What little King is there in the world or Lord of a Village that they would disoblige as they do this great Lord If He were a King of cards they would not transgress his commandements with greater impudence than they do If He were a God of straw they would hardly offend him with more temerity and lesse regard to Him They sweare by his holy Name transgress his Commandements commit sins which displeas him infinitely and after this they laugh play and sleep as boldly as if they had done nothing 11. No He is not their Lord they say with the Iews we will not have this man reign over us they deny by their works what they profess by these words I believe in JESUS-CHRIST Luke 19. â—4 our Lord. Who is then their Master to whom do they appertain to whom do they homage and service To the most barbarous Cruel and infamous tyrants imaginable thô they know by serving such Masters they gain but hell that they have not one day of true repose not one hour of solide content that they are tortured by the furies of their conscience by apprehension of death by fear of damnation and by the sight of the inconstancy and mortality of Creatures which they love The world cries I fail you in time of need the flesh cries I defile and cover you with ordures the Devill cries I deceive them that trust in me and many goe after these Masters JESUS our Lord cries come to me all and I will refresh you I will discharg you of the heavy burden of the world I will deliver you from the Tyrannie of your passions I Matt. 11. 28. will free you from the servitude of the Devill And yet few do go to him Ah! few of them also who cry out to him Lord Lord and do seem to honour him for many of these desire to goe but stand still they cannot abide to take paines in the way they will not labour to practise the vertues which He commands tho' He hath given so excellent and heroycal Example of obedience having made himself obedient to death and to the death of the Cross and tho' they know that since He hath redeemed us by his Obedience to the Commandements of his Father He will apply to us the fruit of his Redemption by our Obedience to his Commandements He is made says the Apo-stle the cause of eternal salvation to all them that doe obey him 12. Let us say then with S. Austin Command what you will Heb. 5. 9. give what you Command you may Command what so ever you please for you are Lord You cannot command any thing that is not just for you are a most equitable Iudge You command nothing but what is sweet profitable and facile with your grace for you are our Father Give what you Command There is much repugnance in our corrupted nature much opposition to the observance of your divine Laws But you are Omnipotent and can easily overcome it by your Grace You promised by your Prophets that you would write your Commandements in our hearts they are as hard as stones But you wrote them upon stones Engrave them then we beseech you in the center of our hearts that you comming to Judge may not find transgressions to be punished But good works which are your gifts to be rewarded in the happy Eternity Amen DISCOURS V. OF THE THIRD ARTICLE Who was conceived by the holy Ghost born of the Virgin Marie SPirituall and devout soules who meditate upon the Misteries of this Article are transported with joy and admiration at the sight of the great wonders divinely wrought in the wombe of the B. Virgin in the Conception of JESUS-CHRIST For if in this Conception there is one thing natural there are many that surpass all nature That our Redeemers Body was formed of the Blood of a woman is a natural thing But that it was formed not by mans operation but by the operation of the holy Ghost That his Body was made in an instant without the imperfections in which ours are made That in this instant it receives a reasonable soule without the ignoâ—ance where in we are conceived without the stayne of original sin which Adam put upon us But on the contrary with perfect knowledg of all things and with plenitude of Grace That this Body and soul are united to the second Person of the B. Trinity That that which arises by this Vnion is perfect God and perfect man That He was such in a womans wombe That she remaining
for a scepter and thorns upon his head for a crown as if He were a king of the Theater To be decry'd and condemn'd as a blasphemer as a seducer as ambitious as sedicious as an Imposter What confusion greater then to be dragd through the streets of Hierusalem with hues and cries as a fool and as an extravagant person from Caiphas to Pilate from Pilate to Herod from Herod to the Pretory To be less esteem'd then Barrabbas a seditious person and a murtherer to be esteem'd more wicked more unworthy to live and more worthy of the cross then he What indignity more intollerable than to receive foule and fiâ—thy matters in token of vility and baseness not upon his garments or hands only but upon his most venerable and adorable face this indignity was so ignominious in Israel that if a child receiv'd it from his father he was to bear the confusion Numb 12. 14. of it at least seven daies To be short What greater contempt than to die not the death of Nobles nor with honourable persons not in private and in prison not in the night by torch light but the death of slaves with infamous persons in a high and publick place at mid-day in the sight of more than two hundred thousand persons 7. What shal I say of the punishments receiv'd in his sacred Body He suffered more horrible harsh and bitter torments than were ever suffer'd by any creature upon earth The Prophet Isaiah calls him by excellence the man of Paines Abel was murthered c. 33. 3. Zachary was stoned Isaiah sawed Lazarus covered with ulcers and not one of them is called the man of Paines We have heard of men to whom their vertues or their vices their birth or their condition have given honourable or shamefull Names But we have not heard but of IESUS-CHRIST only to whom Paine hath given a name He is the Man of Pains because He did bear all our paines He is the man of Paines becaus He suffered in all his members and He is the man of Pains becaus He was pierced through with Pains exposed Sacrificed and given wholy over to sufferances and Pains 8. But the sufferances in his soul will make appear yet better the Greatness of his Paine He sayd in the Garden my soul is sorrowfull to death It would seperate my soul and Body if I shoul not hinder it for to endure yet more To whatsoever part He casts his sight He sees objects of the greatest sorrow His soul is nail'd to a most hard Cross before his Body is Crucifyd and the Cross of his Soul is much more harsh and insupportable then that of his Body The three nails of this interiour cross are the injuries don to his Father the Commpassion of his Mother and the damnation of his brothers Philosophy teaches us that a paine is more sharp and bitter when 't is received in a power more pure and immaterial IESUS was pierced with paine not only in the inferior part of his soul but also in the superior which is wholy spiritual in the part in which He was blessed and his Beatitude also contributed to the increas of paine says S. Laurence Justinian He de tryumphali Christi Agone saw by the light of glory God face to face He knew clearly the Greatness of his Majesty the outrage and the injury that sin does him he loved him with a most ardent and excessive love and therefore He could not be but excessively afflicted seeing the Ocean of sins committed against that most high adorable and amiable Majesty The wounds of his Body were made by hands of Torterers hands indeed most cruell and inhumane Yet their activity had stil limits But the wounds of his heart were inflicted by the hand of love by the love which He had for his Father a love ineffable and incomprehensible If a soule that loved God well could have as much contrition as she would desire ô how would she pierce herself with sorow How willingly would she bathe herself in her tears ô how would she calcinate her poor heart JESUS had as much of sorrow as He desired and He desired as much of it as He had love for his Father his sorrow was equal with his love If He had seen but one only mortal sin committed against him whom He so loved He would have grieved infinitely ô how then was He afflicted when He saw so many so different and so enormous 9. The love which he had for his Mother was another nail that pierced his heart and which fastned him to this interior Cross He sees her present at all the Misteries of his bitter Passion He sees all the wonds of his Body united in her heart and we may say that his compassion was another Passion 10. He looks below His soul is sorrowfull He sees the torments of hell wherein so many shal be plunged notwithstanding his sufferances for them He sees that their wounds are incurable that they abuse his Blood death and merits and that after so many remedies they damne themselves for trifles and what He indured for them would serve but as oyle and sulphur to inflame the divine Justice to punish their ingratitude more rigorously 11. S. Austin wholy astonished at the sight of CHRISTS sufferance cry's out ô Son of God whither hath your humility descended whither hath your charity been inflamed whither hath your piety extended it self The Wiseman sayd that you have don every thing in number weight and measure But in this work of your Love You have observ'd neither number nor weight nor measure You have exceeded all hopes and desires You have made an excess that could not be imagined The Angells were astonished considering this wonder a God whipt a God cover'd with spittle the King of kings crown'd with thorns a God crucifyed for slaves a God pierced with sorrows for worms of the earth of whom He had no need and knowing that they would be ungratfull for so great a Benefit What transport what excess and if He were not God I might say with Pagans what folly of Love Gentibus stultitia 12. After a love so cordial undeserv'd and so excessive shal we not love him If the least slave had don the same for us He would be Master of our hearts and seeing a God hath don it shal He not be Qui non diligit Dominum Iesum Anathema sit 1. cor 16. 22. says S. Paul since JESUS suffer'd for us if any one love him not let him be Anathema Curs'd excommunicated and abhorred of all creatures But if any one should not love him and moreover be so ungratfull as to offend him what punishment would You wish him holy Apostle He adds it not nor can one wish him a pain so great as he deserves there should be a new hell to revenge an ingratitude so monstrous and enormous 13. For as S. Bernard sayd if Moses speaking to the Iews who had but a gross and imperfect Law who had
this Vertue another Saint Charles the Cardinal Boromeus honoured so much the holy scripture that also studying it he read it always kneeling and uncover'd The seraphical Saint Francis commanded that papers which had the name of God written in them should not be Prophan'd but plac'd in decent and convenient places S. Lewis forbid painting and graving of the Cross upon the pavement for fear the people should tread upon it On Festivalls and Vigills in honor of the Saint celebrated or of the Mistery solemnized he gave dinner to two hundred Poore and serv'd them at the table He fasted all fridays of the yeare and in those of Advent and Lent he eate neither fish nor fruit becaus these two Times are consecrated to God 6. If these great Saints were now on earth what would they say what would they do seeing the comportment of men What thinke they now in heaven seeing the irreligion of those who will not allow them any honor though God does honor them and honor be a due salary of their Vertue who count it superstition Luke 15. 6. Luke 16. Apoc. 5. 8. and 8. 4. Matth. 18. 10 to implore their intercession though they have credit and favour in the sight of God do hear our prayers do know our necessities have experienced our miseries and have Charity and affection for us as the scriptures tell us What thinke they seeing the indevotion of others who rise in the morning and go to bed at night as beasts who sit down to table at noon as Epicurians and pass over the day as if there were no God who even fear to assist often at the Sacrifice to frequent the Sacraments to adore God and pray him as they ought lest men laugh at them and call them devotes or hypocrites though they are not ashamed to do ill in open street What do they think in fine seeing such irreverences of men towards holy things They employ the time of holy days in playing in visits and drunkenness if they discours for pleasure and recreation it seems not well seasoned if it clash not upon Priests or Religious Persons if they com to the Church it is not to appease God but to offend him to see and to be seen They prophane the holy scripture and use it in their jests meriments and Scurrilities 7. Si Ego Pater ubi est honor meus If I am the Father where is my honour He might have sayd if I am King If I am Iudg. If nature teaches the most barbarous to honour their father who is more worthy of honor than He from whom we have received not Body only but also Soul and All 8. If we honor the King and also the Courtiers for his sake should we not honor the King of kings so great powerfull and Soveraign that all the Kings of the world are his Uassalls and are but wormes in respect of Him 9. If we honor Iudges becaus they have some Power in this world ought we not to honor him who is infinitely powerfull and from whom all power is dereiv'd And give also an inferiour honour to the Saints whom God does so much honor that He makes them our Iudges You shal sit says our great Iudg upon S. Matth 19. 28. 1. Kings 2. 30. seats judging the twelue Tribes of Israel Let us remember then what God says to Samuel whosoever shal glorify me I will glorify him and they that contemne me shal be base If we neglect the service of God if we respect not his friends and althings that specially appertain to him sooner or later we shal be contemn'd coâ—â—r'd with shame dishonour and infamy But if we honour him as we ought we shal be replenished with glory either in this world by the good odour of our reputation or in the other by the crown of justice which God reserves for us in Heaven Amen DISCOURS XXX OF THE SECOND COMMANDEMENT Thou shalt not take the Name of the Lord thy God in Vaine For the Lord will not hold him innocent that shal take the name of the Lord his God in Vaine Exod. 20. THe royal Prophet representing to us the name of God as holy represents it at the same time as terrible and dreadfull Holy and terrible is his name Let us confess to thy great name becaus it is terrible and holy And he joy ns Majesty and power with Sanctity to imprint in our hearts reverence and to stricke terrour into us lest we should at any Psal 110 Psal 98. time dishonour him And God assures us in this Commendement that he will punish us for it that we may not pretend ignorance to be any caus of it The Lord will not hold him Innocent that shal take the name of the Lord his God in vaine In other sins the mercy of God pleads in favour of sinners demands pardon strives S. Iames. 2. 13. with justice and sometimes overcoms it and mercy exalteth it self above iudgment says S. Iames But in this sin the Verity of God joyns it self to justice and obliges God to punish the prophaner lest his word do fail Is it not then a misery which de serves to be deplor'd with teares of blood to see that there is nothing so licenciously and frequently prophan'd and abus'd by Christians as the name of God by pronouncing his holy name irreverently violating Vowes unworthily swearing falsly or prophanely Cursing or blaspheming detestably 2. But some will say Oathes are they essentially naught Is it not permitted to swear sometimes Yes 't is lawfull since the Scripture permits and approves it Saints have practised it and God himself vouchsafes to sweare The Prophet Hieremy permits us Hierem 4. 2. Psal 62. 12. Apoc. 10. 6. Gen. 14. 22. 3. kings 17. 1. Rom. 19. 2. Cor. 1. 23. Gal. 1. 20 Gen. 22. 16. Hier. 22. 24. Luke 1. 73. Psal 109 to sweare in the name of God provided it be with all necessary circumstances David praises those that sweare by the true God not by fals Deities as Pagans did Angells Patriarks Prophets and Apostles have sometimes sworn An Angel in the Apocalyps lifts up his hand to heaven and sweares by him that lives for ever and ever that after judgment there will be no more time In the book of Genesis the Patriarke Abraham says to the King of Sodom I lift up my hand to the most high Majesty of God who possesses heaven and Earth In the third book of kings the Prophet Elias sayd by the living God in whose sight I stand S. Paul in his Epistle to the Romans God is my witness that without intermission I make a memory of you In the second to the Corinthians I call God to witness upon my soul that sparing you I came not any more to Corinth And in the Epistle to the Galatians Behold before God that I ly not God himself whose least word is more firm then heaven and earth having nothing greater then himself vouchsafes to sweare by himself and by
us after this not unprofitable digression return to the definition 5. Dictum vel factum a word or action In this word Action is couched Omission when you can do an action which would hinder the offence of God and you do it not IESVS being required to pay tribute declares himself not oblig'd and nevertheless he pay'd it lest He should scandalize the farmers So the Virgin circumcised her Son and submitted herself to the law of purification for fear of giving ill example So S. Paul says the Ancient Philosophers having known the true God by the light of nature and having not communicated this knowledg to the rest of men to draw them from Idolatry incurr'd the anger of God and were guilty of all sins the people committed for want of that knowledg We are then culpable when we ought to correct reprehend or punish the defects of others and do not we scandalise them for they say there is no ill in this my Parents Confessor Superior say nothing to me of it 6. Minus rectum This word teaches us that if an action be good and laudable commanded by God or his Church we ought not to omit it though our neighbor be scandalized by it if one is scandalized when you say the truth 't is better to permit scandal then to oppose Verity says S. Gregory T is a Pharisaical scandal a S. Greg. hom 7. in Ezec. passive scandal not an active a scandal taken not given 7. And if the action be good and laudable but not of obligation ought we to omit it if one will be scandalized by it S. Thomas answers learnedly with a distinction either our neighbour is scandalized maliciously and out of a spirit of contradiction 2. 2. q. 43. ar 7. or is scandalised through ignorance or infirmity if he be scandalised maliciously we ought not to omit our good worke for 't is his own fault and not ours He does as the Pharesees who were scandalized maliciously by the predications of IESUS But IESUS contemn'd their scandal and left not off his preaching If he be scandalized through ignorance or through weakness 't is better to do your good worke in private or to omit it for a time than to give an occasion to your neighbor to fall into any sin And with much more reason if the action be of it self indifferent neither good nor evill charity obliges us to omit it when it would be an occasion of sin or temptation to our neighbor If you offend your neighbor giving him occasion of sin through his weakness you offend our Lord and therefore If I know my brother is scandalized to see me eate flesh I will never eate it lest I scandalize my hrother says S. Paul 1. Cor. 8. 12. Rom. 14. 15. 20. And again do not with thy meat destroy him for whom CHRIST dyed Destroy not the worke of God for meat Though then an action be permitted if it be not commanded we must abstain from it if it be a snare or stumblingblock to infirme and weak soules 8. Prebens alicui giving occasion to our neighbor Some may imagin that 't is not to be scandalous if they do not a publick action which is manifest to many But our Saviour says if you move Matt. 18. to sin but one only you are scandalous You say they are simple and weak people that are tempted by such an action or such a word the wise and well grounded in vertue are not moved by it IESUS says you must not scandalize one of the lesser ones unum de pusillis and S. Paul tells us that in scan dalizing the weak ones we sin against IESUS-CHRIST And the Son of God adds Voe mundo a scandalis Woe to the world for scandalls He Speakes so becaus the world is full of them and becaus they destroy so many souls so dear and precious to him 9. It seems that soules are more dear to IESUS than his innocent blood He willed it should be prophan'd and trod under feet for the ransome of these beloved soules I leave you to think what punishment and what reproches we shal receive from him if by our bad exemple or by our negligence we let any one of these soules fall into sin and damnation Believe that in the houre of your death nothing will cause you more regret nor afflict you more than the sight of the soules which by your fault are lost You will acknowledg this truth and feel the weight of these dreadfull words Vae homini illi per quem scandalum venit woe to the persone by whom Matt. 18. 7. Scandal coms You will see all the graces God had given to soules through your fault lost all the merits they had gotten all that our Saviour did and suffered for their salvation and you will with sorrow and sighing say Ha! I have destroy'd soules for which JESUS CHRIST dyed how shal I restore to him the blood which He hath shed vae homini illi wo be to that person It were better for you one had tyed a milstone about your neck and thrown you into the Sea You will see the excellency and the value of the soules you have cast away and this will oppress you with griefe as if you had a milstone upon your heart You will see that those who learnt of you the vanities of the world will teach their children them these will derive them to their descendents unto the third or fourth generation all which will be imputed to you this sight will cast you even into despaire Will you avoyd this miserable condition Do not by bad examples indiscreet words or negligence destroy a soul for whom IESUS CHRIST dyed But if you have been so unhappy do judgment and justice punish your fault by true penance repair the loss as much as lies in you bring back the lost sheep to IESUS or if you cannot gain another in his stead by prayers instructions aâ—d good examples so you may be confident of pardon God hath promised it Amen DISCOVRS XXXVI OF THE SIXTH AND NINTH COMMANDEMENTS thou shalt not commit Adultery Thou shalt not couet thy neighbours Wife Amongst all the irregular motions of a man there is none more contrary to his nature nor more abominable to the Creatour than the unhappy vice of carnality It is contrary to mans nature becaus it is beastly terrestrial and unworthy of a man In anger envy pride ambition there is some kind of spirit But luxury clouds the understanding depresses the faculties of the soul renders her unable to elevate her self above the objects of sense and impaires all that is manly in us 2. This vice is abominable to God who repented to have made man and sent a deluge to drowne the earth who consuin'd by fire four of the most florishing cityes of the world and slautered 24 thousand of his people at one time and 60 thousand at another in punishment of this sin Though this vice be so contrary to a man and
so abominable to God Yet fails it not to be most general For t is the source of an abundance of sins of an abundance in regard of the divers Species of it of an abundance in respect of the individuums or particulars 3. There is no kind of vice that hath so many Circumstances which chang the Species or kinds as this The other commonly have but three or four at most this hath seven which we must express in confession if we have fallen into them either in effect or will The first species or kind is simple Fornication when you are not married and do ill with a persone that is not bound neither by Vow nor marriage And though this be the least crime amongst the species of this vice 't is nevertheless a mortall sin for S. Paul declares to us at least three times that this sin excludes 1. Cor. 6. Gal. 5. Ephes. 7. 5. us out of the kingdom of Heaven 5. The second is Stupration when yon defloure or dishonour a Virgin you ruine in her soul the grace of God which is the greatest good she can have in this world and in her body a precious treasure the loss of which is the more deplorable becaus it is irreparable 6. The Third is Incest when 't is with any of your Relations by blood or by affinity unto the fourth degree inclusively 7. The fourth is Adultery when you are married or do ill with a persone that is bound in marriage a sin which violates divine natural and humane Lawes a sin which Pagans ot Infidells themselves have punished with death or exquisite torments some by fire others by wild horses some by the halter others in pulling out their eyes cutting off their noses and in the law of Moses it was punished by stones so great appears this disorder by the light of nature and so enormous in the sight of God 8. Nevertheless this sin is now incomparably more black and criminal than it was in the law of Moses or in that of nature For you break as much as lies in you the indissoluble bond of marriage you violate a bond which represents the Vnion of IESUS CHRIST with his Church 'T is as if you sayd that JESUS â—ath divorsed the Church his Spouse or that his Spouse hath quitted him notwithstanding his promises to the contrary More yet the bodyes of Christians are worthy of honour and ought to be treated with respect and reverence not only becaus they are the members of Christ and Temples of the holy Ghost but moreover becaus they have been sanctifyd by Baptisme by the sacred Chrisme in Confirmation by the most holy Body of JESUS in Communion by being the matter of a Sacrament which S. Paul calls Great and by the nuptial benediction when they married And they soil them by adulteries prostitute them as prophane things to black infamous shamefull and abominable actions Wherefore the Emperours Constantine Constantius and Constance sons of the great Constantine published an Edict against adulterers condemning them to the punishment of paricides which was to be butnt or drown'd becaus say they such are sacriligi nuptiarum abusers and prophaners of marriage 9. The fift Species of this Vice is Rape when you force one or you draw consent by deceits lyes promises or perswasions so powerfull that they are equivalent to constraint 10. The six is Sacriledge when you commit an impurity being a persone sacred by solemne or particular Vow or by holy Orders or when you permit such a persone to take carnal pleasure in you 't is in some manner to rob him if it could be of consecration 't is the highest pitch of malice in the matter of fornication sayes S. Chrysostome S. Chry. Hom. 76. in Matt. 11. The seventh in fine is the sin against nature which is so abominable that we name it not and which nevertheless is committed sometimes also amongst married persones Remember that S. Briget did see in extasie many married people in hell for having abused marriage Remember what S. Austin sayes that you may be drunk with your own wine as well as with anothers S. Aug. ser 14. de diver Gen. 38. 10. Remember that in Genesis Onan was grievously punished by God becaus he offended him in marriage eo quod rem detestabilem faceret Confessours are very reserv'd and ought to be so in this matter of carnality Preachers and good Writers treat sparingly of such subjects lest the very articulate sound or characters in this matter should offend chast eares or cause wors effects in the hearts of others if than you do not help your selves if you confess not these ordures unless you be examin'd you may remain in them ' til death 12. These are the seven heads of this Monster seven heads by which we may sin by this Vice But the Individuums or particulars of it are infinite There is no kind of vice wherein men commit so great a number of mortal sins as in this vice of Luxury a Drunkard is not drunk but once or twice a day a Robber robbs not every day a murtherer kills not very often But he that gives himself over to impurity commits dozens of mortal sins a day it happens very often that he takes delight interiourly ten twelve or twenty times a day in impure objects and the voluntary delectation is a sin though he has no will to do it in effect 13. Wherefore I would counsell him that is a slave to this Passion to make to himself the same reply which heretofore the Buffoon or Iester of Francis the first of France did make The King having assembled his Counsell to deliberate what way was best to go to Pavie some sayd one way others another and others a third the Buffoon who heard all behind the tapestry when they were gon cryed-out they have all consulted by which way the King shal go but they have not consider'd by what way he shal return And the event made appeare it had been an important counsell for the King was there made prisoner When temptation flatters the hearts of them they consult not but of the means to content it and how they may find a fit occasion to satisfy their passion But they consider not how they may get out of the inconveniences which they bring upon themselves by it they consider not the certaine loss of spiritual life the danger of the temporall and of their fame and that by begetting illegitimate children they deprive unjustly the legitimate and oblige themselves to restitutions which will be very hardly made These things well consider'd will be a bridle to their passion and make them also fly those conversations dispositions affections and occasions of falling into a snare so prejudicial and into a labyrinth so inextricable for we must fight in this war as the Parthians flying and therefore S. Paul bids us not to struggle or graple with this vice but to fly it fugite fornicationem 14. Consider in the second place
would He have don to him if he had receiv'd and lost many and what will IESUS say to us what will he do to us if we shal have abused or not used and profited in vertue by the talents of the sacraments He hath given us what weeping what regrets what gnashing of teeth and what rage against our selves for having lost so good so easy and so frequent occasions to make good our salvation to advance in vertue to load our selves with merits and to enrich our selves for eternity But vertuous people will reioyce will admire their own happiness and will acknowledg their wisdom in receiving them often becaus they will see that these Sacraments were most rich talents and were gages and infallible promises of the inestimable incomprehensible and infinite glory which they shal possess for ever Amen DISCOVRS XLI Of the Necessitie and Nature of Baptisme WHen great S. Hierome says we are not Christians by birth he speaks of the carnal birth and not of the spiritual for in the Sacrament of Baptisme we are made Christians we are regenerated in the life of grace This Sacrament is a spiritual birth the first and the most necessary of all the Sacraments the door through which we enter into the Church To know evidently the necessity of it we must acknowledg three verities founded upon the principles of Christian Religion received by all Doctors and drawn from express passages of holy scripture 1. The first is that all Children which are conceiv'd by the ordinary way all except the Virgin are sported with original sin are enemies of God objects of his just wrath â—laves of the Devill Children of perdition and victimes of eternal death I say conceiv'd by the ordinary way to make you understand that the Son of God being not conceiv'd by this way but by the operation of the holy Ghost his Conception was not only exempt from all impurity but hath been the source and origin of all purity of our souls and bodys I have moreover added the Virgin excepted becaus according to the maxim of S Aâ—stin when we speak of sin we speak not of the Virgin she having been prevented with all the graces and advantaged with all the priviledges that an Omnipotent and loving Son could bountifully bestow on her whom He chose to be his Mother These two then excepted T is an Article of faith that all Children though their Parents be faithfull and in the state of grace are soiled with sin and are fruits of malediction and damnation They are soiled with sin For in Adam all have sinned says S. Paul and nothing that is soiled shal Rom. 5. 12. Apoc. 21. 27. Ephes. 2. 3. enter into heaven says S. Iohn They are the objects of Gods anger we were by nature the children of wrath says S. Paul and the anger of God is not a passion but a punishment the wrath of God upon this stilborne infant is never appeased For he that hath not faith the wrath of God remaines upon him says IESUS CHRIST in S Iohn but this infant hath neither actual nor habitual faith not actual for he is uncapable of it not habitual for he could 3. 36. not receive it but by the Sacrament and he is dead without it the wrath of God remaines upon him 2. After all this how do some flatter themselves in their sins and say that God made us not to cast us away that his mercy permits him not to be so rigorous as they say that he will spare us though we die in the state of sin made He these poor infants to cast them away and nevertheless He permits them to be lost the mercy of God is greater than you can possibly imagin and notwithstanding this great mercy this infinite mercy hinders him not to exercise such a severity upon these little creatures And if He be so severe to them for one only sin which they incurre by the misfortune of their condition what will He be to you for so great a number of sins which you commit not by ignorance constraint surprise but so freely and voluntarily 3. 'T is a second Verity that original sin was an evill so desperate and incurable that there was not any pure Creature possible that could remedy this evill that nothing less was necessary than the humiliation blood and death of a God for a medecine to t is mortal maladie 'T is easy to prove it by the malice of sin which offends an infinite Majesty but 't is not necessary since it is a common doctrine that 't is not but to extreme maladies that one applyes extreme remedies sin must be a very dangerous and extreme evill since a remedy so powerfull strange extraordinary and extreme was necessary for it Ha! you know not ô sinner what is a mortal sin for if you knew it you would rather die a thousand times than commit it you would rather eate your tongue than pronounce one only blasphemy or fals testimony you would rather burn your hand than reach it out to a dishonest or unjust action 4. This precious and inestimable treasure of the merits and passion of IESUS is a most powerfull remedy for original sin but nevertheless unprofitable and uneffectuall if it be not apply'd to us Suppose that you have here the best medecine in the world if the infirme person take in not it serves for nothing so though the precious blood of IESUS and the infinite merits of his passion be more than most sufficient to deliver us from sin if they be not appropriated and appli'd to us by the Sacrament they are uneffectuall and unprofitable So we see the Scripture attributes 1. Ep. 1. 7. Ephes. 5. 26. 1. Pet. 1. 19. Tit. 3. 5. Iohn 3. 3. 6. S. Austin ep 20. ad Hierom lib. 3. ep 9. ad Fidu Aug. lib. 3 de Orig. Animae 9. c. to the water of Baptisme the same effects it attributes to the blood of IESUS CHRIST becaus water aplyes the vertue of it The blood of IESVS CHRIST cleanses us says S. Iohn IESVS CHRIST cleanseth his Church by the Baptisme of wator says S. Paul S. Peter We are saved by the blood of the immaculate Lamb. S. Paul God hath saved us by the Baptisme of regeneration In S. Iohn IESUS repeats twice with great instance that none may pretend ignorance Amen Amen I say to thee if any one be not regenerated of water and the holy Ghost he shal not enter into the kingdom of heaven Hence the primitive Christians if an infant was in danger ran hastily to the Church and in great fear lest the infant should dye without the sacrament Hence S. Cyprian says without Baptisme infants are lost Hence S. Austin gives us this caveat say not teach not if you will be a Catholick that infants departing before Baptisme can com to remission of their original sins Now I make your selves Iudges whom we ought to belive either a Quaker or some other Reformer who say that t is not
46. 16. and should burn in Sacrifice all the beasts that feed on it in acknowledgment of Gods Benefits all that would not be enough He sayd true but he sayd not all for we may add if we should make a fire with all the fewell in the world and all men and Angells should be therein consum'd for the honor of God all that would not suffice to acknowledg worthily the favours He hath don us But when we offer to God the precious Body of his Son we render him that which doth counterpoise all Benefits He hath don not only to poor sinners upon Earth but moreover to Saints in Heaven 8. This Host of praise being presented to God in thanksgiving for favours obtaines other If you shal aske says our Saviour any Iohn 16 23. thing of my Father in my name He will give it you We cannot better ask of God any favour in the name of IESUS then having Him with us upon our Altars in our hands and within us The Clemency of God will have regard to the love He hath for Him to the sacred Oblation you present to him and harken to the petitions you make by him Have you much offended God deserv'd his justice and his anger Do you fear the effects of his vengeance Dare you not appear in his presence by reason of the enormity of your crimes Take into your company the Heire of heaven the beloved of the eternal Father assist at Mass devoutly offer to the Father the precious Body which is there Sacrificed the blood which there is poured forth the Passion which there is represented and you will appease his anger and He will harken to your requests For it was for this chiefly that Christ instituted this Sacrifice to be the sacred Victime which appeases the wrath of God as he declares in Saint Luke when you are in the state of sin if mass be sayd S. Luke 22. 20. for you or if you assist at it this obtaines of God actuall graces lights and good motions to enter into your selves to quit the sin and to convert your selves to God if you resist not the Summons of his graces when you are in the state of grace Part of the merits sufferances and satisfactions of IESUS CHRIST are applyed to you to acquit your debts and to deminish the pains due to your sins 9 But suppose you are not indebred to the Iustice of God the poor souls in Puâ—gatory are and you may help them much by making a mass to be sayd or by hearing one for them For 't is not in vaine says S. Chrysostome that the Apostles ordain'd that in the dreadfull Misteries we make a memory of the dead for they knew that by it arriv'd to them great benefit And S. Cyrill of Hierusalem S. Chry. tom 3 in Ep ad Philip. S. Cyrill Catech. Mystag 5 Paulo ante medium Aug. lib. 9. Confes C 35. we beseech God for the dead believing the obsecration of that holy and dreadfull sacrifice which is put upon the Altar to be a great kelp to the soules for which 't is offered Wherefore S. Augustine in his Confessions prayes God to inspite the Bishops and the Priests of his acquaintance to remember his Father and Mother at the Altar 10 Having then seen how acceptable and glorious this Sacrifice is to God how beneficial both to the living and the dead fail not to assist at as many masses as you may hear them as devoutly as you can Offer them in the first place to God to do homage to your Soveraign to render him your respects and humble submissions to pay him the tribute of honour and service which you owe him Secondly to thanke him for an infinity of most great and inestimable benefits you have received from him benefits in soul benefits in body benefits of nature grace spiritual and temporal Thirdly to appease Him and to ask pardon of Him for jnnumerable sins you have committed and to gaine his favour represent to Him the love which his Son had for Him the zeal which He had for his glory the service He hath don Him offer and lay before Him the Mysteries of his Incarnation Nativity Circumcision his life labors and Passion this is that which S. Paul calls obsecrations Fourthy beg light and guidance in your actions succour and assistance in temptations love and grace to keep his commandements and all that is necessary as well for the spiritual as the temporal and you should do all these dutyes not only for your family but also for others If you assist at mass so you will not receive only the many and great advantages of it in this life but moreover reap the fruits of the Mysteries which the Mass represents to you and which glory discovers to the Blessed in the other Amen DISCOURS XLVII OF THE THREE PARTS OF PENANCE 1. AMongst many expressions which the holy Ghost vses in the scripture to make us conceive the maligne and monstrous nature of sin one of the most natural is the comparison of an impostume An impostume is a corruption of flesh and blood in our bodys which makes a stinking smell sin is a corruption of reason and of vertue in our souls which cause a stink unsupportable to God and his Angells They are corrupted and made abominable says the Royal Prophet All Surgeons will tell you and daily experience Psal 13. 1. shews it that to cuâ—e an impostume three things are necessary First it must be cut with a lancet secondly the corruption must be forced out in the third place it must be bound up oyls and unguents being applyed to it Such like are the three parts of penance so often repeated and so ill practised Contrition is the cut of the lancet Confession is that which brings out the corruption Satisfaction is the application of the unguents and binders These are the 3. Acts necessary to cure the spiritual but horrible impostume of sin of which I shal treat in this Discours In which omitting the Questions of Scholasticks I propose only Verities drawn out of Scripture and Councills of the Church 2. First then it is certain that 't is absolutely necessary to repent after sin that without repentance there is no pardon no grace of God no hope of salvation whatsoever Confession or Satisfaction you do make whatever absolution is given you Whatsoever indulgence or Iubily is granted you If you want this repentance also without your fault though also you think you have it if you have it not in effect there is no Sacrament nor absolution profitable And certainly Absolution is not more efficacious and requires not less disposition than Baptisme But to receive profitably Baptisme if we be in mortal sin we must have sorrow for it for in the second and third chapter of the Acts S. Peter having made a powerfull predication and his Auditours being moved inquired of him what ought we to do to obtain pardon of our sins He answered do Penance and
than Tyrants 257 they censure althings 259 Confirmation obliges us to endure their censures and derisions 259 D Detraction defined 234. T is a mortal sin in a matter of importance 234. 'T is a greater sin than Robbery 235. It kills also the hearers if they oppose it not 335. It kills the Detracted by a triple murder 236. Remedies of detraction 237. E Eucharist containes really the Body and Blood of Christ Dise 44. It is compared to milk in its Production 268. In the manner it ought to be received 269. In the manner of its Operation 271. Communion in one kind defended 271. Examples move more than words 281. F Faith necessary to believe sins may be remitted 72. The Excellency and Necessity of it 88. Divers sorts of it 88. None suffices to salvation but living Faith 89. Many practise not according to their Faith 91. How a good Christian regulates his actions by Faith 91. Exhort to true Faith 92. Fasting necessary 148. The Lent was instituted by the Apostles 149. The motives to institute it 149. Objections against fasting solved 150. It s lawfullness demonstrated 153. Vertues that must accompany it 153. The ends and intentions we ought to have in it 154. Frauds are very common and pernicious 231. G God is necessarily One only 2. He is ineffable 2. Great in Nobility 3. In Power 3. In Wisdom 4. In Goodness 4. In justice 5. In indepedence 5. Documents from these Perfections 6. He is Father for divers reasons 8. He shews an infinite Power in Creating 9. Incomprehensible Wisdom in Governing 9. Ineffable Goodness in designing the Creatures to our service 10. We are obliged to thanke him for all the good He has don to them 11. Motives to Gratitude 11. Grace divided 113. What is actuall Grace 114. In how happy a state man was created and how he fell from it 114. How necessary Grace is and how freely given 115. We must distinguish carefully its motions from those of Nature 117. How they may be distinguished 118 We must be gratefull for it 118. We must not be proud when it had produced good in us but live in feare 118 Sanctifying or Habitual Grace What and how Excellent 113 241. H Heaven How great are the Goods of it 83. Four considerations to guess at their Greatness 84 motives and meanes to obtain them 86 Hell has divers significations 38 What it is to be damned 85 Hope stands with fear 95 What we ought to hope 95 of whom we ought to hope 97 Catholicks are not touched with the malediction of those that trust in men 97 who are subject to it 97 Relyance on our selves is caus of many inconveniences 97 We must hope with great Confidence 98 Exhor to confidence in our Lord 99 Holy Ghost why so called 60 Why called Gift 6 The necessity an excellency of this gift 62 We offend the holy Ghost in divers manners 6â— I Idolatry cannot be imputed to the Romane Church 169. She adores not Saints nor Relicks nor Images 170. 171. She prayes not Saints to give things desired 172. Builds not Temples Erects not Altars nor offers Sacrifice to them 172. 173. Images are not absolutely forbidden to be made but only to the end they may be adored 167. 168. Imitatours of the world reproved and their objections answered 211 212. Iudgment Particular and General 49. Reasons for a Generall Iudgment 50. This is a great Consolation to the Elect 52 Description of the general Iugdment Disc 10. What things will be therein Examined 57. Paraphrase of the Sentence of condemnation 58 Rash Iudgment Three Circumstances necessary to make it a mortal Sin 228 Causes of râ—sh Iudgment 22â— It s bad effects 229. Remedyes for it 330. L Love of God the most Excellent Vertue 100. It s necessity 101. It s necessary qualities 102 motives to love God 10â— Love of Neighbours very necessary vertue 107. Every reasonable Creature is our Neighbor 108. How we truly love our Selves and neighbors 108. 109. How ill this command is observ'd by many 110 The first and most necessary Effect of the love of our Ennemys is to pardon them 111 Motives to love and pardon them 111 112. Lyes of three Sorts 230 We ought not to speak an officious or Idle ly to save a man 231 Mass See Sacrifice M Matrimony a true Sacrement 303. A great One 304. Dutyes to which it Obligeth 305. Honour we owe to it 307. Merit Catholick Doctrine concerning it 12â— See good Works O Oathes Sometimes lawfull 181. Division and Description of them 181. 182. Conditions requisite to make them lawfull 182 183. We cannot Swear to confirm a palliated untruth 183 Divers bad causes of Swearing 185. Order a true Sacrament 298. It Confers to Priests two singular favours 299 300. P Parents Why God has not recommended to them in the Decalogue their duty in respect of children 198. They owe them Nourishment 198 Instruction 200. good Examples 201. correction 202 Exhort to educate well children 202. Penance Necessary 134 279 Conversions it makes 137 138 Two dangerous Errours concerning Penance into which we are apt to fall 138 Fruits of true Penance 140 means to obtain true Penance 140 Exhort to do Penance in the present time 136 Prayer Very necssary 141 What things are to be asked in Prayer 141 How we ought to pray 142 143 144 Excuses of indevout removed 146 R Religion Vertue may be practised in all Occasions and Times 175 The practise of it by the Vnderstanding 176 By the Will 176 by exteriour Actions 176 177 The practise of it in respect of Gods Attributes 177 It obliges us to honour God also in his Friends and Servants in Times and Places particularly consecrated to his service 177 Irreligion indevotion and irreverence reprehended 178 Exhort to honor God c. 178. Restitution must be perfect 224. 'T is absolutely necessary 224. All that concurr to an injury are obliged to it 225. It obliges always 225. Motives to avoyd injustice 225. Resurrection proved 79. the words of the article declared 80 We shal rise in the same Bodys but without defect 81 The Resurrection of the Elect and that of the Repâ—oâ—ate very different 81. Robbery defined and its definition explicated 222. It obliges to perfect Restitution 224 S Sacraments all instituted by Christ 238 He shews therein divine Perfections 239 They represent their effects very properly 240 They conferr sanctifying grace more or less according to the disposition of the Receiver 241 They give also auxiliary graces 242 Exhort to frequent them 242 Sacrifice in the new Law 273 T is very acceptaâ—le and glorious to God 275 greatly advantagious to men 276 Very beneficial to Souls in Purgatory 277 How to be offered 278. Salvation of men earnestly desired by God and the most important worke Epist to the Reader 'T is to be procured by the securest way 43. Satisfaction third Part of Penance must be made according to the multitude Enormity and diversity of our offences 283 We may satisfy the divine Iustice by all Crosses that befall us 28â— Motives to fly sin and to returne to God by true Penance 285 Scandal What properly 210 'T is sometimes a Word 211 Often Actions 211 Othertimes Omissions 213 What Actions are not to be omitted and what are to avoyd Scandal 214 Motives to avoyd it 215 Sin the greatest evill 245 248 In Christians t is far greater than io infidells 248 By sinnlng mortally we hazard Salvation 76 Carnal sins Contrary to mans nature and abominable to God 216 Species or Kinds of them 217 218 Individuums or particulars innumerable 219 Remedies of them 219. Sunday why instituted 189 How to be observed 189 190 Exhort to observe it well 191 T Tradition necessary to excuse Christians from observance of the Iews Sabbath 187 188 189 V Vnction of the Sick a true and proper Sacrament 292. It s Saving Effects 203. 294. 295. Dispositions requisite in the Receiver 296 297. Exhort to Charity 297. W Works of supererogation proved 121 good Works necessary to Salvation 122 123 Why God requires them 123 'T is necessary to be fruitfull in them 124 We must apply our Talents in them faithfully 124 Many Christianâ— lofe or abuse them 125. Exhort to practise good workes 127 We must not defer our Conversion and the practise of good Works Discours 22. FIN
against other assaults permit themselves to be overcom by this becaus good natures are facile complaisant and condescending they have so much fear and confusion to do or omit any thing that may displeas another or which they apprehend may lessen their own honor or reputation that one only thought What will they think what will they say will render al predications remonstrances and exhortations uneffectual Say for example to this Gentleman or Duellist you live upon the brink of hell you may say every morning when you rise perhaps in the evening I shall go to bed in hell there needs no more than that a friend do pray you to serve him as a Second to be kill'd in this action and behold you are most meserable for an eternity Can there be any thing more foolish than to expose your self to be kill'd or to kill another man who never disoblig'd you to serve the caprice of a giddy and unreasonable head refuse couragiously these requests and they will trouble you no more with them I would willingly he will answer you But what will they say Say to this Lady the extravagance of your cloathes does prejudice much your salvation it consumes the best part of your time it fills your soul with pride and vanity it wedds your heart to trifles it renders you unable to pay debts to give necessary assistance to the Poor you would do well to cloath your self more simply and modestly I would do it willingly she will assure you But what will they say 13. But what are they you fear so much Atheists impious or at best light loose and libertine Christians good and vertuous soules solid and understanding persons will esteem and honour you If a Criple should laugh at you becaus you go straight would you do well to be asham'd of it and to counterfeit your self a criple If you study to pleas the humours and the fancies of the world you will never have don you will make your selves ridiculous regard them not Let them talk 't is your part do do well and theirs to speak ill you can no more hinder them from talking than you can doggs from barking 14. Whatsoever you do you will be the But of evill tongues your intentions will be judged your actions censured If you be meanly cloathed they esteem you a hypocrice if well cloathed according to your condition proud If thrifty avaricious if liberal prodigal if you pardon injuries a coward if you defend your right revengfull if you fast a dissembler If you nourish your self a glutton if peaceable negligent If vigilant in your duty turbulent If quick at mass indevout if long scrupulous if you preach mildly you lull people a sleep if vigorously you are passionate if you reprehend vices you are too violent if you reprehend them not a flatterer S. Iohn did neither eate nor drink they sayd he was possest IESUS did eate and drink they sayd He was a friend of good cheer All these overflowings of tongues are best stopt by a generous contempt of them when they shal have satisfyd their folly or their malice they will be weary of talking and will honor you for when you are vertuous the people of the world mock you in appearance but in effect they honor you they laugh at you exteriourly but interiourly esteem you 15. But suppose that in effect they laugh at you and contemne you Why are you confirmd the charg that Confirmation imposes on you is to endure affronts reproches and confusions for the glory of IESUS CHRIST to defend his doctrine and his Vertues with the peril of your honor and of your life as He hath endured confusions ignominies calumnies and a most infamouâ— and shamefull death for you He that shal be asham'd of me and of my words I will be asham'd of him before my Father And Mat. 10. .3 on the contrary He says He that shal confess me he that â—hal not be asham'd to acknowledg my Doctrine to practise my vertues and to be my Disciple I will confess him in the presence of my Father and his Angells I will acknowledg him for my servant praise his vertuous actions and adorn his head with a crown of Glory Amen DISCOURS XLIV of the Real Presence of the Body of IESVS CHRIST in the Eucharist IESUS CHRIST being both God and man hath always two intentions in his enterprizes He regards the glory of God and the salvation of men wherefore He willed that the Eucharist should be a Sacrifice and a Sacrament a Victime and a food In the quality of a Sacrifice and a Host it is referr'd to the glory of God in the quality of a Sacrament and food it is referr'd to the salvation of men I shal treat of it as a Sacrifice in another place In this I speak of it as a Sacrament and demonstrat that it contains really truly and substantially the precious Body of JESUS CHRIST 1. And to convince an understanding thar teceives the holy Scripture I need not other proof than the clear testimony of the Son Iohn 6. Matt. 26. 26. Mark 14 22. Luke 22. 19. 1. cor 11 Gal. 1. 12 of God who sayd The Bread which I will give you is my flesh And giving it to his Disciples in the last Supper This is my Body Which words He sayd not only before his death as the Evangelists depose But also after his Resurrection and Ascension as S. Paul does testify I have learned of our Lord says He and not of men that being in the last supper He sayd to his Disciples take eate This is my Body 2. Notwithstanding the evidence of these words Calvin is so bold as to say that what our Saviour held in his hand and gave to his Apostles was not his Body but bread a figure or shadow of his Body I would know if our Saviour deâ—iring to declare to us that He gave his Body could speak otherwise than He did If all the men in the world should employ a thousand years in seeking terms to express themselves could they speak more clearly than saying This is my Body And the bread which I will give you is my flesh 3. But suppose that these words are obscure to whom ought we to referr our selves for the meaning of them Either to Calvin who came more than fifteen hundred years after CHRIST or to the judgment of the Faithfull who lived in the times of the four first general Councells during which Calvin himself avows that the Church was in her purity The Gospell says that we must credit two or three good Witnesses behold here six authentik ones three of the Greek and three of the Latine Church S. Cyrill of Hierusalem who had place in the second 4. Mistagog cat general Council held in the year 381. teaching his people by the Scripture and according to the sense of the whole Church of his age speaks thus Since then our Saviour himself declares and says of bread This is my Body who