which is more hath given him Eternal Life freeing him from everlasting Damnation and not at so cheap a rate as words but by sweating Blood suffering Torments and giving up himself to Death even the death of the Cross Can this Benefit this Love this excess of Kindness find any in the World that can be compar'd to it And if we should be ungrateful for it or forgetful of it which in some sort is worse than to be ungrateful could there possibly be a greater wickedness O Lord suffer not me I beseech thee to be guilty of so great an Error of so great a Folly and of so great a Wickedness for such a strange want of Love and such an abominable Ingratitude cannot be thought of by any good Person without horror JVNE The First WEEK Of Baptism and Confirmation COnsider now what God hath done for thee in particular towards making thee a partaker of this high Benefit of Redemption for though Christ by his death paid a sufficient Price for the Souls of all Mankind yet thou no more than many others couldst have had no share in it hadst thou not been made a Member of his Body and how high soever the Benefit of Creation be it had been much better for thee never to have been born than not to have been made a Christian But what couldst thou a poor helpless Infant do towards the attaining so great a Benefit when thou didst not so much as know thy want of it Yet the Mercy of thy most Gracious God prevented thy desires and in his eternal purpose he determined thee to be one of that happy number that should be born of Christian Parents in that part of the World where the Gospel is most purely profess'd and where thou wert early consecrated to him in Baptism Thou wert brought to that Laver of Regeneration where the stains of thy Original Corruption were washed away in the Blood of Christ represented by the outward and visible sign of Water wherewith thou wert sprinkled to signifie thy death unto Sin and thy new birth unto Righteousness Thou wert baptized in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost according to thy Saviour's Appointment By the Gate of that Holy Sacrament thou wert admitted into the Church and made a Member of Christ a Child of God and an Heir of the Kingdom of Heaven being by Nature born in sin thou wert thereby made a Child of Grace Thus the second Covenant made with Mankind in Christ Jesus was sealed between God and thee which cannot fail on his part to be faithfully performed if thou be but careful on thine to do the best thou canst and to serve him with sincere if not with perfect Obedience Men use to envy those that are born of Noble Parents whose Care Power and Greatness may support and succour the naked weak and innocent Infants but O! what a Noble Birth is that of Faith What rich Mantles and Swadling-cloaths are the Coelestial Vertues That this little Creature shall no sooner be born but that at the same instant he comes into the care not of a weak frail Mother who lies unable to help her self by reason of the Pangs and Throws she suffer'd for the bringing of a Child into the World but of an Holy Perfect and Spiritual Mother which is the Catholick Church that cloaths him with the Robe of Grace an admirable Pledge of a safe and an eternal Inheritance in Glory That the Child should scarcely be born when already the Son of God as an invisible Minister doth by the visible hand of his Minister baptize and at the same time wash away sin from that Soul and fill it with Graces Gifts and Vertues This is an Honour which is indeed deservedly to be valued and a Benefit which can never be sufficiently admir'd From the time that the Water of Baptism washed off the filthy rags of Adam and cloathed thee with Grace in the Blood of the Lamb sin which had wounded thee before became wounded it self and whereas before it gave death from that time it suffered death In Natural Sicknesses the Remedies seldome reach to the Diseases and the Body when it is recovered hardly gets so great strength as what it lost by Sickness but in the Spiritual Sickness and in the Hurts and Diseases of the Soul it uses to be much otherwise for the wounded party recovers more strength and vigour when he is gotten up again than what he lost by falling into them The Devil ruined us but God is more powerful in good than he is in evil Sin destroy'd us and Grace renew'd us but Grace is more effectual to renew us than Sin to destroy us Our weak and ruined Nature was indebted Ten Thousand Talents but the Eternal Son of God hath satisfied the Debt not with Ten Thousand nor with an Hundred Thousand but with his Blood a Price of inestimable value Dost thou think that any thing can be more powerful than God Hath he not received thee into his Church by Baptism And hath not he on his part promised to protect to free and to assist thee Hast thou not passed through those Waters flying from the Enemy that pursued thee Did not that Red Sea of thy Saviour's blood open to give thee passage And did it not shut again to drown the Egyptian I mean Original Sin Then what hast thou to be afraid of Sing the Victory with Miriam and the Daughters of Israel which the Son of a better and a more glorious Myriam hath obtained for thee Is not God thy succour and thy hope Whom hast thou to fear Is not he thy defence and thy protection What dost thou dread When a man is once cloathed with the Grace of God in Baptism all his Enemies are but few By the Infusions of Grace thou oughtest to count Sin and Nature to be already conquer'd What signifies the Signing thee with the Sign of the Cross in thy Forehead but the marking thee out for a Souldier of Jesus Christ Be not therefore asham'd to confess the Faith of Christ crucified Thou art not only his Souldier but art furnished with Arms of his Magazine The Old Man is put away and thou art cloathed with the New and that New Man is Jesus Christ who enters into thy Soul to cloath it with himself and with his Graces for he enters to arm to defend to favour to protect and to assist thee The Field in which thou fightest is thine own for he strengthens and encourages thee in all encounters Thou fightest in the Militant Church whereof thou art a Member against which that Enemy with whom thou fightest can never prevail Great part of the Victory consists in the Advantage of Ground but all is favourable to thee from the time thou art entred into the Church That Entry by Baptism was the first Victory for the entrance it self was a Victory and that Victory a Triumph From that day Hell trembles at thee only because thou art a
Thy fear of his Judgment is so great because that of thy Sins is so little Thou livest in a course of wickedness and committest thy wickedness with boldness and even with greediness and then thou art afraid to be judged and that is because thou art to be justly condemned But thy chief and principal fear ought to be that of offending so severe a Judge and thy chief and principal hope ought to be that of being judged by so indulgent and so loving a Father It is the part of an unfaithful Servant not to dare appear before his Master's face and though he fears him yet he does not love him But a good Servant is glad to come to the Presence of his Master Every Call of his is a joy to him every Command a comfort and he runs chearfully to wait upon him at every knock but an evil Servant is afraid to see him because he was not afraid to offend him 10. Every sin thou committest unless thou repent of it is a rigorous Sentence against thy self every guilty action and every wilful transgression is a Criminal Article whereof thou accusest thy self at that Tribunal How is it possible for thee not to tremble and dread the Judgment and thy Account in the other Life if thou livest without Judgment and without Account in this Repent therefore pray and weep love and serve thy Judge here that thou mayest find him kind gentle and gracious hereafter He is a Judge that suffers himself to be gain'd in this life therefore use means to win his favour before he comes to Judge thee in his anger for thy having slighted and neglected to get his favour when thou mightest have done it Tremble with apprehension to see him in his wrath who may yet be appeased by the means I have shewed thee and who being reconciled first fills the Penitent's Soul with transports of his Love and after with those Joys and Pleasures which are at his right hand for evermore The Fourth WEEK Of the Vniversal Judgment at the end of the World 1. I AM something comforted with your Discourse says the Penitent but I have heard dreadful things of that great Day when all Mankind must rise to Judgment that horrible Trumpet which makes even the Dead to hear how much more the deaf does also make the heart to tremble and confounds the senses with amazement It is no wonder indeed that thou shouldst be dismayed at that which affrighted St. Hierome and very many other holy Men thou mayest very well tremble at that which they were afraid of 2. Who can choose but fear and tremble to see the whole Creation destroyed by the Creator of it and all the World consumed by his powerful hand Who can choose but fear the Signs which fore-run that Judgment those terrible Earth-quakes and horrible roarings of the Sea Who would not fear to see the Elements those preservers of Life to become its furious Enemies and fighting with one another to become the Ministers of Death Who can choose but fear to see the confusion of Mankind some calling on the Rocks to hide them others upon the Darkness to cover them all being full of terror and astonishment to see all sorts of miseries come together to bring our Nature to an end Who can choose but fear to see the Sun covered with a deadly Vail his light obscured that of the Moon extinguished the Stars also falling from their places and overwhelming the Generations of Men. Nothing to be heard but publick Complaints and Lamentations Cries Sighs and Groans nothing to be seen but Fears Dangers Losses Miseries and Confusions 3. Can any one choose but be affrighted to see the dead rise again by God's Command at the sound of that horrible Trumpet to take up the consumed and scattered pieces of their Body to cloath themselves therewith and each one unite it to his Soul that he may appear at the dreadful Judgment-seat of God waiting for the Sentence either of Eternal Life or of Eternal Death Who can choose but be amazed with fear to see the Almighty cloathed in Majesty to come down with the Court of Heaven armed with Justice to be exercised against sin and wickedness Who would not be dismayed to see the Creator hurle flames of fire against all he hath created to see Houses and Cities Palaces and Kingdoms burnt together and finally to see the whole World destroyed in that cruel and dreadful Conflagration Who would not even dye with fear to see so many Angels and so many Devils together divided from one another on the right hand and on the left expecting the word of Sentence to be put in execution The Angels carrying the good to Eternal Joys and the Devils dragging the wicked to Eternal Torments 4. How is it possible not to fear a Tribunal so dreadful a Judgment so terrible and a Sentence so formidable from whence there is no Appeal and the Execution whereof is either Life Eternal or Death Eternal for ever for ever for ever so that they shall know no end of that ever ever ever My Soul is astonished and amazed in the consideration of the Universal Judgment It is dismayed to think and to imagine all this which is but as a Dream thus represented to us in writing in comparison of what it will be and of what we shall see it in effect 5. Grant O Lord that I may tremble bewail lament and sigh deeply for my sins and wickednesses before I hear that killing Sentence pronounced against them by thy Divine lips Grant that my Tears and Repentance my Sorrow and Contrition may make my polluted Soul fit to be washed and purified by thy most precious Blood to the end I may never hear that confounding word Go ye cursed into eternal fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels 6. O give me grace to imitate the Martyrs in Faith the Confessors in Hope and the Blessed Virgin thy most holy Mother and all the rest of the Saints in Charity to the end I may hear that most sweet and most welcome call of Come ye blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world 7. Oh that I had never offended thee my dearest Lord that I might not see thee offended Oh that I had ever served thee that I might see thee appeased Mercy sweet Saviour mercy in this Life that I may find it in the Judgment and in the Sentence of the Life to come Prepare me O Lord Jesus for my particular Judgment that I may be able to stand in thy Universal Judgment Have mercy upon me when thou shalt Judge me alone to the end thou mayest have mercy upon me when thou shalt Judge me and all the World together O grant I may live with such care to judge and call my self to an Account in this Life that the remembrance of that other which I must one day give to thee and my earnest endeavour to make my self ready for it may
desire to be great Then ye must become little that ye may be great For he that would be exalted must humble himself and he that humbles himself shall be exalted Behold I came down from Heaven and have humbled my self by taking the form of a Servant to be despised upon Earth and ye poor Earthen Vessels are ye lifting up your heads and your pretentions to the highest places in Heaven The second thing that he requir'd of them was that they should have the same Sincerity Goodness and Purity of Soul which that Child had Unless ye become pure and simple as this child ye shall in no wise enter into the Kingdom of Heaven This was to move them to that first Grace in all its Purity and Perfection since without that no Soul can enter into Heaven For a Christian must be brought back to that first Grace and Purity which he received in Baptism either by keeping his Soul from sin even from the lightest or else after having sinned whether lightly or grievously by washing his Soul with Tears of Repentance and Contrition and cleansing it from all stain and guilt by Faith in the Passion of Christ and by partaking of his Body and Blood in the Holy Sacrament and so the Soul is brought into the Purity of that little Child and made capable of entring into the Kingdom of Heaven Now the Sincerity and Charity and clearness of Conscience wherewith the Lord by the force of the Spirit and by the holy Exercises of the Spiritual Life cleanseth and purifieth a Soul St. Paul calls Goodness which in substance is an inward and superiour degree of pureness of Conscience so simple and so perfect that it resembles the Innocence of a Child This Goodness is an absolute compliance of our Thoughts Words and Actions to the Will of God It is a full resignation to whatsoever God does that goes whithersoever his Divine Majesty directs performs whatsoever he appoints and seeks and follows and loves God in all things By this kind of Goodness a good Man does not seem to be in search of that which is good but to be already in the possession of it and holds it as a thing which he had found before This Purity of Loving Thinking Speaking and Doing the Lord Jesus requir'd also in his Disciples when he said to them Let your words be Yea Yea and Nay Nay as if he should have said let your words speak according to your hearts and your hearts speak according to my holy Will Say neither more nor less than what ye think for the Speech ought in all things to be conformable to the Thoughts and whatsoever is more can neither be Goodness nor Sincerity for Christ himself says that it is sin and therefore to praise a Man very much we properly say he is a Man that thinks what he speaks and speaks what he thinks for the former praises his Truth and the other his Ingenuity and Goodness This intrinsick Goodness is that which is in God by his Essence and that for which he is so often praised in the Scripture saying Thou art good O Lord teach me to be good by thy goodness as who should say O uncreated Goodness impart some of thy Goodness to me and the Soul begs this same Goodness with a gentle Sweetness and Meekness when she prays Let the light of thy countenance O Lord shine upon us and teach us thy statutes which is a Prayer we ought very often to make to God Of Meekness This kind of Goodness is accompanied with Meekness as Light is with Brightness for that being true and sincere and holy and having so much of God in it his Divine Majesty does as it were cloath him outwardly with the latter who inwardly possesses the former making a sweet and gentle Meekness to shine through all his Deportment And so thou mayest know a good heart by a peaceable quiet behaviour for nothing moves or disturbs it Nothing disturbs a good Man because his Confidence and his Affection are only placed in God he loves and seeks him and disregards all things else Nothing affrights him for his Goodness by Love doth cast out Fear he desires nothing that is Temporal for he sees whatsoever is so passeth away and comes suddenly to an end Nothing moves him because he only seeks for God who is unmoveable Nothing afflicts him because he resists and conquers all Crosses with his Patience He wants nothing because he possesses God who possesses all things and desires nothing because God alone is to him All-sufficient Now consider what Meekness that Soul must have who neither loves nor desires nor pretends to any thing who is neither troubled nor affrighted nor discomposed at any thing but in all Occurrences rests quietly in God This is a rare Meekness indeed I say rare because it is admirable and because I believe few have it in this Mortal Life since we see that even the holiest Men have been angry and there are Persons that are very perfect who Reprove and Chide who Reform and Punish with Anger Nay even Moses himself who is called the Meekest Man upon Earth was certainly transported with great Anger when he threw down and brake the Tables of the Law which God had written with his own finger God and his Love can do all things and no body can number or weigh or measure the Miracles of his Grace But thou deceivest thy self as I have told thee if thou thinkest that a Spiritual Meekness excludes Zeal for Reformation since the being gentle in Heart and very couragious in Zeal may well enough consist together and it was a great cause of surprize and indignation for Moses to find that People worshipping an Idol that had so manifestly seen the Power of God so many ways made known to them in their Protection and Deliverance And Christ himself who far excell'd Moses in Meekness as in all other Vertues was angry when he whip'd the Buyers and Sellers out of the Temple urging that Verse of the Psalm The Zeal of thine House hath even eaten me up And when he reprehended the Masters of the Law for destroying the Law and suffering the People to be loose and wicked though he was angry with them yet he was not the less meek in heart for the gentleness and serenity of it shin'd even through his Zeal and even then also he might have said Learn of me for I am meek and lowly of heart He meekly had a sweetness within his Zeal as the Honey-comb was in the mouth of Samson's Lion He shewed his Anger to draw them to his Meekness and seeing so many Discourses and so many Sermons and so many Miracles had wrought nothing upon them to soften their hardness as we do Iron by Fire he applied that of his Zeal for a Remedy The Vices do oppose and hinder one another but the Vertues do assist and help one another A Man cannot be Prodigal and Covetous at the same time for if he will give
Christian and now no body can destroy thee but thou thy self and thou art told by the Word of Truth that the greatest outward Enemy the Devil will flie from thee if thou dost but resist him Thou canst not but be greatly chear'd with these Encouragements and much comforted by seriously considering what thou hast received in Baptism We Christians certainly ought never to lose the sight of that Benefit but still to reflect upon the greatness of it with thankful hearts Yet we ought not only to look upon what God hath done for us but also to think upon our part of this Covenant and to weigh the Duties we are oblig'd to by it Remember that thy God fathers and God-mothers when thou wert baptized did promise and vow in thy Name that thou shouldst forsake the Devil and all his Works the Pomps and Vanities of this wicked World and all the sinful Lusts of the Flesh as likewise that thou shouldst believe all the Articles of the Christian Faith contained in the Apostles Creed and finally that thou shouldst keep God's Holy Will and Commandments contain'd in the Decalogue and walk in the same all the days of thy life The Church appointed them to do this for thee as thy Sureties because at that time by reason of thy tender Age thou wert not able to make much less to perform these Promises but being come to Understanding thou art bound to take that Vow upon thy self and they may properly be called God-fathers and God-mothers because in the mean while it is their Duty to take care that their God-Children as they grow up may be taught what a Solemn Vow Promise and Profession they have made for them and to cause them to be instructed both in the Articles of the Creed and in the Ten Commandments Moreover if at any time they shall hear them speak or see them do any thing contrary to that Divine Law they ought to put them in mind that they promised and vowed the contrary in their Baptism But O! how little of this care is there in the World there is nothing more neglected or forgotten than this Duty of God-fathers yet I hope not generally I cannot have such hard thoughts for though I must needs confess it is too much slighted yet certainly there be many that have a due regard of it But since Children when they grow to Age are themselves bound to perform what was promised in their Names by their God-fathers and God-mothers They may in great part discharge themselves when they take care that their God-children be so well Instructed in the Christian Religion as to know the Duties that Vow engages them to and when being of years able to renew that Covenant and to take the charge of their Souls upon themselves they shall have perswaded them upon serious consideration so to do and have brought them to the Bishop to be Confirmed according to that Order which the Wisdom of the Church hath established appointing all the Members thereof to be so or at least to be ready and desirous to be so before they be admitted to the Holy Communion The Bishop by whose Ministry this Office is performed first causeth the Parties who are to be Confirmed to make an open Confession in the Publick Congregation that they do renew the Promise and Vow that was made in their Name at their Baptism ratifying and confirming the same in their own Persons and acknowledging themselves bound to believe and to do all those things which their God-fathers and God-mothers then undertook for them He also prays to God to strengthen them by the Holy Ghost the Comforter and daily to increase in them his manifold Gifts and Graces the Spirit of Wisdom and Understanding the Spirit of Counsel and Ghostly Strength the Spirit of Knowledge and true Godliness and to fill them with the Spirit of his holy Fear for ever Lastly he lays his hand upon each Child and blesses him as our Saviour did upon those Children that were brought to him and concludes beseeching God to direct sanctifie and govern both their Hearts and Bodies in the ways of his Laws and in the works of his Commandments that through his mighty Protection both here and ever they may be preserved in Body and Soul through our Lord Jesus Christ Much are those Parents and Sureties to be blamed that omit to bring them to this Order of Confirmation it being a great benefit both to the Sureties in the discharge of their Obligation and to the Children who are duly fitted and prepared for it for they are thereby awakened to an early sense of Religion and to a future endeavour of performing their Duty in it When Young Plants are removed out of their Nurseries and set in the open Field it is necessary to fence them about with Stakes to hinder their being crop'd or trodden down by Beasts and it is no less necessary thus to confirm and strengthen new beginners in Christianity that they may be the better guarded at their coming into the open World against the dangerous approach of brutish Men. Such Branches as are so engrafted into the true Vine God doubtless vouchsafes to water with his Grace and though in weak measure at first yet if they continue to take firm Root he will not fail to make them thrive and bring forth good Fruit. Those gifts of the Spirit prayed for on their behalf will likewise through his Mercy increase till they become so many strong Bulwarks to defend their Souls against the Common Enemy within which they may stand safe to fight according to their Vow against the World the Flesh and the Devil Remember therefore always the Obligation that lies upon thee by that Vow We are engaged in our Childhood to that which we neglect when we are grown up whereas being grown up we should be careful to perform that which our Sureties promised for us when we were Children Keep then still in mind that thou art a listed Souldier forget not in what Army thou art enroll'd what Captain thou art to follow what Fidelity thou hast sworn to him and fight valiantly even to the death rather than suffer thy self to be overcome by the subtil Perswasions and Devices of his and thine own Enemies The Souldiers of this World for a very small hire keep Fidelity to their General they fight and die for him without any other bond or tye than that of some little piece of Money ill paid and yet they give their blood and daily venture their life for that Pay whereas we Christians the Souldiers of Jesus Christ listed under the Ensign of his Cross assisted by so many Benefits of Grace being Heirs and Co-heirs of Glory and having Heaven for our Pay do frequently desert our Colours like vile infamous Cowards and by sin treacherously fly over into the Enemies Camp The Souldiers of the World fight to defend their King or their General but here our General fights and gives his Blood and his Life for the
defence of his Souldiers They hazard their lives for a pitiful Pay which oftentimes they never get but our King and Captain secures us a certain Pay rewarding us with Life and Glory If they fly over to their Enemy 't is out of hope to preserve their lives but if we do so we run to eternal death and fly from eternal life The War of the World is made by wounding hurting and killing others but the War of God against the World is made by receiving Injuries Affronts Wounds and even Death it self if it be necessary The War of the World is to Conquer by destroying others but the War against the World is to Conquer by undergoing Difficulties and Suffering for God's sake In that War it is Force that overcomes in this 't is Patience The Victories of that War are gotten by pulling down and trampling upon others but in this by debasing and humbling our selves The Triumphs of that War are here upon Earth and of a short continuance but those of this War are to be in Heaven above and to endure for ever and ever Fight therefore couragiously have patience and persevere the Battle lasts but for a while thou art already near the Crown that is to be thy Reward Arm us O thou great Captain of our Salvation for this Warfare with the Shield of Faith the Breast-plate of Righteousness the Helmet of Salvation and with the Sword of the Spirit and grant that having our Feet shod with the preparation of the Gospel of Peace we may chearfully withstand all Assaults of our Ghostly Enemies keeping still present in our thoughts the Vow we made to thee in our Baptism to fight manfully under thy Banner against the World the Flesh and the Devil and to continue thy Faithful Souldiers and Servants unto our lives end The Second WEEK Of Repentance and Absolution OUR blessed Redeemer and Saviour of Souls did not stop here He thought it not enough to Arm us for the Spiritual Warfare but has also provided a Remedy to cure our Wounds His Divine Majesty knew our weakness he knew our proneness to Vice he knew that like Cowards we should sometimes throw down our Weapons at the feet of our Enemies and basely fly from his Banner for the sake of some filthy Appetite He would not leave our Souls without help but his Compassion seeing our Frailty and Misery was pleased in the very sight of so great Ingratitude to prepare a Medicine for the cure of our Wounds and an Antidote for the Poyson of our Sins by establishing the Doctrine of Repentance and by giving Power and Commandment to his Ministers to declare and pronounce unto such as are truly Penitent the Absolution and Remission of their sins Great was the Love of our Lord in dying for us upon the Cross nor was it less in giving us this means to make his Sufferings effectual to us To pardon past Offences has been seen and sometimes one man to suffer for another but not at so dear a Price as his own Blood For a Person offended to suffer the sight of his Enemies is much when it is to do them good but 't is much more when he knows that they are not only Enemies but that they are ungrateful and despise his Benefits to shed his very blood to make a Medicine for their Wounds This is a pity exceeding all Humane Understanding That there should be care taken in Armies to cure the Wounded and Hospitals for the Sick it is not strange because they are Faithful Souldiers and venture their Lives in Fighting for their King But in the War of the Spirit that the Saviour of Souls should prepare Remedies not for his Friends that fight on his side but for Enemies and Souldiers that desert him that he should admit them again to be new listed under his Banner is a Mercy beyond comparison To pardon Mutineers has been seen in Armies but yet the Heads are commonly punished and the Companies disbanded but not only to pardon such Enemies and Traytors but to call them back to Love to Cure to Reward to Honour and Sustain them with his own Flesh and Blood can be the effect of nothing but an Infinite Charity and Compassion So great is the Benefit of Repentance which giving us a Title to the blood of Christ not only Cures those that are wounded but also raises those that are dead in sins nor is there any thing above the Cure of that Soveraign Medicine unless the Party affected resists the power of it which is so great that it not only cures the Wound but takes away the very Scars and makes those that are recovered more sound and healthful than they were before Behold a Man fallen from a Ship into the Sea and ready to be drowned amidst the Waves see with what eagerness he calls for a Cable with what greediness he catches at the Plank nay the poor wretch would even lay hold on a naked Sword to save his Life though with the loss of his Blood so the Christian who by the Grace of Baptism sails in the Ship of the Church being carried by his Passions throws himself into the World and is sinking in the Tempest of his sins and if he be drowned he perishes to Eternity but as he is sinking he finds this second Plank of Repentance to save him from Shipwrack and by it is drawn up into the Ship again and preserved to arrive in safety at his desired Port. Apply thy self therefore to the use of this Remedy with Humility with an holy Disposition and great sorrow for thy sins and by Faith in the Merits of Christ's Blood and then thou shalt rise up not only cured but crowned Call to remembrance thy sins and make a firm Resolution never to offend thy Lord again Be affected with a sorrow that is pure in its sincerity pious in its intention great in its degree perpetual in its lasting and particular in the enumeration of thy several sins with all the aggravating Circumstances thereof Finally let thy Confession be clear and undissembled with confusion of Face for thy often relapses giving Glory to God and taking Shame to thy self Make use of a Spiritual Guide in all difficulties of Conscience for thy Instruction and Consolation Forgive all Injuries thou hast at any time received which are but a few Pence in comparison of the many Talents which thou hast to be forgiven and remember that Christ says Except ye forgive men their trespasses neither will your Heavenly Father forgive you your trespasses And not only forgive thine Enemies but embrace them with unfeigned Affection for his sake and by his Example who loved thee when thou wast his Enemy Of the Holy Eucharist In this Preparation of Soul wounded both with Love and Grief and thirsting as the Hart for the Water-brooks approach reverently to the Sacrament of thy Saviour's Body and Blood which that gracious Lord instituted at his last Supper for a continual remembrance of the Sacrifice of himself
Expressions of his Love but there is a necessity of waiting upon him through the other demonstrations of it and because he came to Redeem us it is very fit we should follow him that we may attain that Redemption It seem'd a small thing to his Love to shed tears for us in the cold he was expos'd to by the openness of that inconvenient place but he also shed his blood already for us by being wounded with the Legal Knife O tender Infant how soon dost thou pour out the blood of thy most precious Veins for my sake O who would not wish to be so happy to spend the last drop of his for thine My sins gave sharpness to that Knife which was the Instrument of thy pain in this Mystery and that blood was spilt by my Offences and by thy Loving-kindness As they Circumcise thy Flesh O Eternal Good of Souls do thou Circumcise my wickedness Lord cut away my Vices and Deformities Take away the Old Man O Lord form and reform the New-Grant that I may cease to do evil and begin to do good that by so doing I may live for evermore The Adoration of the Kings They bring back our Saviour wounded with Love and Grief as well as with that knife unto the Stable and the Manger unless it was perhaps in that very place that he pour'd forth his blood as well as his tears There they stay till three Kings come to Adore him in requital of that one who sought to destroy him O how much greater a Kingdom did they find at the feet of this Coelestial Infant in the Manger than in their own Royal Thrones How much higher were they advanced by laying themselves prostrate before him and to what an height were they exalted by having so humbled themselves By throwing down their Crowns at his feet they encompassed their Heads with brighter Crowns and those not earthly but Crowns of Grace and Glory They presented unto that Divine Child things Temporal and he gave them things Heavenly and Eternal The Gifts they presented to him were but transitory but those he filled them with were permanent and everlasting They Offer to him Gold Frankincense and Myrrh and he in exchange gives them the Golden Vertue of Charity the Incense of pure and fervent Devotion and for Myrrh the Grace of Mortification whereby dying to this World they began to live to that other which never shall have end O how much greater were those Gifts which were bestowed on them by that little Child than those that were offered to him by those great Kings They presented to him Gold as to the Creator of all the Riches of Heaven and of Earth and he in exchange gave them the Riches of the Earth and Heaven They gave him Incense the perfume whereof ascending from Earth towards Heaven acknowledged him God as well as Man and he gave them Grace as an Earnest that they themselves also should ascend into Heaven They gave him Myrrh as to a Mortal Man and he in being Mortal did by his death quicken them to live with him for ever in his Glory Let us offer to him with those Kings that which those Kings did offer let us offer Devotion Charity Mortification and Adoration let us offer to him a Life that from this day may aspire to an Eternal Life let us offer unto him Ardent Love Fervent Prayers and Humble Penitence let us offer to him all the Actions of our Life and let us take care that all our Actions be such as may be fit to be offered to him We may well draw near with an humble confidence to adore this Child who suffered himself to be approached by Children and to be adored by the poorest Men as well as by the richest Kings He was born poor himself to the end that he may be found by those that are poor and a Child that he may be ador'd by little ones for even out of the mouths of Babes and Sucklings he has ordained strength and perfected praise Come with Humility and Assurance to make him an Offering of thy self and thou shalt find him tender and wounded with Love readily to accept thy Offering But what can I offer to thee O Glorious Infant I who am meer Poverty What Gold of Charity being with thee at Enmity What Works of Repentance being full of Obstinacy Rebellion and Impenitency What Devotion my Prayers being full of wandring Thoughts and Distractions O my God I come not only to adore thee but also to beg of thee Lord I believe that I please thee more in asking of thee than in giving to thee Such is thy Charity thy Goodness thy Mercy and Liberality that to exercise it and to be giving is thy Glory and thou rejoycest much more in that thou bestowest than in all thou canst receive from us poor necessitous Beggars And what can we bestow on thee O Infant God we that are nothing but Misery What can we give but trifles unworthy of a God and only tolerable for a meer Humane Child but far unfit for thee who art also God Thou alone canst give us what we ought to give thee and if the Gift which we ought to offer thee come not first from thine hand the worth of it can be no ways suitable to such an Hand to such a Child and to such a God Finally it is from hence thou must endeavour to draw those Gifts that thou oughtest to Present him It is from himself thou must obtain the Gold the Frankincense and the Myrrh in Prayer Charity and Mortification From hence thou must procure a Charity burning with the love of that Lord a Mortification constant in suffering for him that suffered for thee that suffered cold and shed his blood in that mean place for thy sake In short from hence thou must draw an earnest and fervent Devotion to contemplate and adore so many and so great Benefits without suffering them to slip out of thy Memory and him whom those Kings sought in that particular place thou must love seek follow and adore in all places wheresoever thou shalt happen to be Of His Presentation in the Temple His Holy Mother when the days of her Purification were accomplished according to the Law of Moses carries her Son the Eternal Son of God and with his supposed Father Joseph Presents him in the Temple with a pair of Turtle Doves the Offering appointed for the Poor they not being able to make a richer There he was received by the hands of Simeon the Priest who having been assured by the Holy Ghost that he should not die till he had seen the Lord's Christ knew by the same Spirit that that Promise was then fulfilled which he openly declared when taking him in his Arms he blessed God and desired to depart in peace for that his eyes had seen his Salvation which God had prepared before the face of all People to be a Light to lighten the Gentiles and to be the Glory of his People Israel It
in receiving him and at the same time feel within themselves him that ministers unto them and two fires becoming but one inflame them that without by their Eyes and that within by their Hearts That happy Night the Lord took possession of the breast and heart of Men and they in exchange took a Proof of the excessive Love of God but our Saviour likewise had a Proof of Man's Ingratitude since the Traitor Judas received him his infinite Charity being resolv'd to try if he could possibly be washed clean within who was not purified at all by his having been washed without But he that had kept his foul Intention notwithstanding the washing of his Feet and would not make use of that Water to wash his evil Eye was as little the better for the inward washing for he shut his Eyes against that Beam which would have enlightened him and the fire of his Covetousness was more powerful than the fire of so great a Charity He suffered his Redeemer to come into his breast not that he might receive him but that he might the better sell him and so he carried him along with him that he might not get away when he was to deliver him up in the Garden At the same instant that he received the Saviour of Souls into his covetous Breast he presently went out to sell him to the Jews whereby it appears that he received him to the end that he might betray him more securely that way than by leaving him behind And this was the first and most grievous step of his Passion to be received by that Treacherous Disciple O let us that are Priests tremble in Receiving and Administring the Sacrament of him who in loving us enters as a meek and a gentle Lamb into our breast and who when he comes to Judge us will be a fierce Lion if we receive him here unworthily The Third WEEK Of his Agony in the Garden his Death Resurrection and Ascension THese three unspeakable Mysteries being ended the Saviour of Souls goes forth into the Garden of Gethsemane to give beginning to his dolorous Passion that the place where the second Adam rais'd us up might be like that where the first Adam cast us down It was in a Garden we were ruined by the first of Men and in another Garden we were repair'd by the best of Men. There our Redeemer sweats drops of Blood for the purging of thy sins and mine so laborious was it to bear the weight of our sins that his holy Pores were thereby opened and even Innocency itself was put into an Agony by that intolerable burden There to see the Ingratitude of Mankind and how much they would despise the un-utterable Treasures of Man's Redemption made blood break forth from the Body of the King of Heaven and run trickling down to the very Earth There he thrice made earnest Prayer unto his Father for himself and for us asking strength of Body for himself and strength of Soul for us There he repeated his Prayer so often to teach us that our Prayer ought to be earnest and persevering The Humane Nature begg'd assistance from the Divine and he weighed the heaviness and shrunk from the bitterness of that Cup that his Divinity might help his Humanity in the drinking of it There our dear Master by suffering taught us to suffer that our Patience and Courage in Suffering depends wholly upon God and that there is nothing in us but Miseries as if he should have said If I who am God as well as Man do as Man need the succour and favour of God and ask it with a threefold repetition Why do not ye weak wretched and miserable Men ask it a thousand times and why are ye not instant devout and fervent in your Prayers He there also granted that the Cup of his grievous Passion should pass on to his Disciples and that they and from them the rest of his Church should inherit that Patrimony of Pains and that effectual Medicine of Sins Let this Cup pass from me says he to his Father as if his meaning had been Grant O my God and Father that these my Apostles and all those that by the Preaching of them and their Successors shall heartily receive and embrace my Religion may drink of this Cup with me that they may also Reign with me There he was comforted by an Angel who was himself the Comfort of Angels and being God would shew himself as Man to stand in need of Divine Consolation giving us assurance that we likewise in our needs shall be succoured and protected by Angels There all his Disciples are dismayed or fallen asleep and none waâ—ches but the Traitor Judas O Lord how luke-warm and indifferent is our Love how strong how vigilant is our Ingratitude In serving thee dear Jesus we are dull and sleepy in offending thee we are lively and watchful Who could bear with such Wickedness but only thy infinite Goodness Who but thou O most Gracious Saviour could endure such sleepiness and such watchfulness such watchfulness in Sin and such sleepiness in Love Judas being Treacherous and Covetous for a little Money sells the Eternal Son of God and makes them pay for him to whom he freely offers himself in Gift Those infamous Ministers of Covetousness and Envy come with great force of Arms to lay hold of a gentle Lamb and Humane Weakness attempts with Cords to bind the Divine Omnipotence But what great matter was it that he should suffer himself to be bound by their wickedness when he had already bound himself with his own Charity That Treacherous Disciple with infamous lips kisses his Face and turns the Signal of Peace into a Signal of the greatest Treachery The Lord calls him Friend although he was so cruel an Enemy and still bore with him and loved him because he suffered himself to be sold for Love His design was to try if it were possible to soften the heart that was so hardened in mischief but his heart being in his Purse he neither would nor could let it be wrought upon by the meekness of his Master St. Peter being both fervent and valiant at the taking of our Redeemer cuts off an Ear of one of the Servants and it is probable he would have done the like to Judas if he had been near him but the most sweet and merciful Jesus restores it reproving that loving Disciple and being able with his Divinity to have defended his Humanity he makes use of the one to manifest the other by a clearer demonstration discovering his Divinity in the Miracle and his Humanity in the Advice and Remedy O more than infinite Goodness O thy merciful forwardness to Pardon and to Suffer Thou reprovest him that defends thee and curest him that offends and comes to take thee Yet in that hurry and disorder of wickedness the Miracle was not taken notice of and it being a Night of so much darkness to what could it prompt the minds of Men but to what
it condemns him to Death though disswaded by his Wife upon her Dream from having any thing to do with that Just Person and delivers him to them to be crucified since all that was easier for such a mean complying Judge to consent to than to trouble and hazard himself in the further Defence of Innocency Yet that he might remain clear and spotless and honoured in the Opinion of the World in Condemning our Saviour he declares himself not guilty of his Blood and so he washes his hands and satisfies himself with laying the Crime upon others But what greater Infamy can a Judge be guilty of than to suffer the Accusers themselves to write and to sign the Sentence This being done our Blessed Saviour carries his Cross alone for a great part of the way to Mount Calvary and because they thought the time long of his getting thither they make Simon the Cyrenian help him to bear it that he might be there so much the sooner for it was not out of pity that they gave him that Assistance but it was an effect of their Cruelty nor did they intend it for any ease to his Life but for the hastening of his Death In his way to Calvary he is bewailed by the Daughters of Jerusalem leaving this Glory to the Women that they alone wept at the Passion of their Lord their Master and their Redeemer They strip his Body for the cloathing of our Souls and at the same time both Heaven and Earth were cloathed with Grief and Darkness to mourn for the Sufferings of their Creator They with rough hard Nails fasten the Eternal Son of God unto the Cross the Ingratitude of the Jews making him that requital for all his Divine Benefits Those blessed Feet that travelled up and down so many weary steps to seek Sinners that he might save and pardon them Those liberal Hands full of Charity and Beneficence are bored through and nailed by those very Persons whom he came to succour Not to acknowledge a good turn is Ingratitude and Wickedness what shall it then be to pierce both the Hands and Feet of ones Benefactor Then they raise up the Blessed Jesus upon the Cross and allow him the Superiority over two Thieves as fit Subjects for the King of that Royal Throne and by the same action they raise and exalt Man's Nature and advance it in a manner to be Divine When the Son of Man shall be raised up said his Divine Majesty he will draw all along with him It is clear he did so since by his most precious Blood he washed and redeemed them and with his most ardent Love he called and enflamed them O my dearest Lord God who wert wounded and despised crucified and crowned with Thorns and for my sins didst suffer so many torments upon the Cross I beseech thee by the Merits of them all O sweetest Jesus to pardon all my grievous Offences Since thou hast drawn up all draw me up also O most Gracious Saviour Do not suffer that most precious Blood to leave unwashed this Soul which confesses thee and acknowledges thee to be God Thy ardent Charity interceded to thy Father for those very Enemies that crucified thee How much rather then wilt thou be the Mediator and Redeemer of a poor Christian who confesses and adores thy Sovereign Majesty Behold admire and adore thy Suffering Saviour and bewail thy sins the cause of all his Sufferings Behold all Creatures in amazement to see their Creator in so woful a condition Behold the Heavens obscur'd at that Eclipse of his Heavenly Beauties Behold the Earth and all the Elements confounded at the awfulness of his Pains and Torments Behold how the Sun withdraws its Light not to see so horrid a Wickedness and so terrible an Ingratitude Behold even the very Rocks so softened as to cleave asunder in compassion What kind of hearts then are those that remain unsensible Lord suffer not mine to be one of them but let it melt with Love and Contrition to think of thy heavy Torments and of my hainous Offences The Vail of the Temple was rent in twain and shall my Heart be whole Shall not my Breast and all my Bowels open themselves to receive the Blood which thou sheddest for my Redemption Behold the Holy Virgin at the Foot of her Son's Cross who recommends her to the care of his beloved Disciple Behold how one drop of his Blood falling upon the good Thief was to him the Baptism of Life and eternal Condemnation to the Bad who knew not how to make his advantage of it He there made the Divine Nature propitious to the Human that it might be pardoned and by the last of those seven Words which he spake upon the Cross declar'd that by his Blood and Death he had finished the Work of our Redemption Then after having hung three Hours alive upon the Cross He that was the Life of Souls gave them Life by his Death and a Life eternal which Triumphs over Death for ever When he was dead the Souldier with a Spear pierced his most holy Side out of which came Water and Blood representing the two Sacraments and making a wide Door for holy Souls to enter and after other three Hours the Piety of his Friends takes him down from the Cross laying his precious Body in a new Sepulchre which was bestowed on him by the Charity of Joseph of Arimathea So he who during his Life had not a House to rest his Head in was so poor likewise at his Death that he had not so much as a Grave of his own to put his Body in There they sadly lament his loss and burying him in their Hearts as they had done in that Tomb they leave him there embalmed with Spices that as it was Prophesied of him he might be as the Rich in his Death and though there they leave him yet they carry him away with them in their remembrance that we by their example never may forget him After his sad and bloody Passion succeeded his Powerful Resurrection when he had conquered Hell as well as Death and then the Glorious Triumph of his Ascension to the end that Human Nature might not only be Redeemed but also Honoured and Crowned yet before he went up into Heaven he comforted his Mother and the Apostles to whom he several times appeared after his Resurrection to the end that their Joy for it might recompense the Sadness they had felt at his dolorous Passion He examined St. Peter thrice concerning his Love that by three Confessions he might purge away the Shame of his three Denials bidding him as often to feed his Lambs He signified to him by what death he should Glorifie God commanding them all to Preach the Gospel and assuring them that he would be with them to the end of the World Within few days after he made good his promise in sending them another Comforter for at Pentecost the Holy Ghost descended upon the Apostles in fiery Tongues to the end
that the third Person in the Holy Trinity might Govern the Church which the second had founded in his Blood and which the first still supports with abundance of Coelestial Blessings This is a Week which is sufficient to employ all our Days and Weeks and Years even to Eternity in imitating those Vertues in adoring those Mysteries and in for ever praising that Saviour and Redeemer of Souls who performed them for our sakes The Fourth WEEK Of the Exercise of the three Theological Vertues Faith Hope and Charity upon Contemplation of the Life and Death of our Saviour WE have been furnished with large matter of Consideration which not only is sweet and holy but also most profitable to our Souls For the Life of Jesus Christ must be the Looking-glass of our Lives His Passion must banish the Sins and Passions of our Hearts His Sufferings must moderate and reform our Pleasures His Wounds must be the Cure of our Wounds and Maladies His Cross must be our Banner and his Death our Life From hence as from a most clear and beautiful Original thou art to Copy out those Vertues which are to resist assault and conquer thy Vices Upon these high and Heavenly Mysteries thou art to fix thy Faith thy Hope and thy Love at all times So far as thou shalt think and meditate upon the Life and Passion of our Lord so far will thy Faith quicken and enliven thee and that Faith which being Dead and without Works will be but the cause of thy greater Condemnation by being made a living and a working Faith will obtain for thee a high Reward If you have Faith sayes our Saviour you shall remove Mountains O how great is the power of Faith If you have Faith ask of me and you shall receive seek me and you shall find me and if you knock it shall be opened unto you That lively Faith which is offered and given us in the Life and Death of the Saviour of Souls is not only to believe what Faith teaches us but also to do in the same measure as we believe To believe so many Heavenly Mysteries and not to act in conformity to them is a very imperfect Faith To believe a God will not serve the turn alone The Devils saith St. James believe and tremble too and yet are now burning in Hell The Devil knows very well that God is God and abhors him though he believes Dost thou believe in God art thou a Christian T is well But tell me how many are Condemned for ever who believed but did not do accordingly Dost thou believe in Christ and yet wilt not follow Christ and which is worse dost thou Persecute him and Crucifie him again by thy wicked Life Woe be to thee and woe be to me if we thus believe in Christ This People saith he honour me with their Lips but their Heart is far from me Woe be to thee and me if we honour Christ on that manner Not all those saith the Holy Jesus that cry unto me Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven but he that does the will of my Father That is to say there are two sorts of Persons that cry Lord Lord which are two sorts of Believers The one say and do not do believe but do not work The other both say and do believe and likewise work He that believes and does shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven but he that believes a God and yet works against him and Offends and Crucifies him shall never be admitted into those Heavenly Mansions 'T is not enough to do without believing nor to believe without doing both are necessary and we must work without giving over Let every one look and consider what his works are for thither he shall go whither his Thoughts Words and Actions direct their Course Are they sinful Then to Hell Are they full of Tears Repentance and Contrition Then to Heaven Look what thou sowest for that shalt thou reap If Corruption thou shalt reap Corruption if Perfection thou shalt reap Perfection Dost thou sow Vertues in this Life Thou shalt reap Coelestial Crowns in the other Dost thou sow Vices Thou shalt reap Eternal Torments A lively Faith I say a lively Faith is that which will save us a lively active a pure holy Faith not one defil'd with Sins deformed with Passions and full of Misery and Presumption Dost thou live as if thou wert an Heathen and yet believe thy self a Christian Unless thou amendest thy Life the Heathen shall carry the Christian along with him to Hell but the Christian shall never carry the Heathen along with him to Heaven Dost thou believe an Eternity and yet livest without any memory of that Eternity having all thy thoughts fastened on that which is meerly Temporal These Transitory and Temporal things will pass away and then thou shalt come to suffer Torments in Eternity Do not deceive thy self nor think it is enough to believe without working nor that Christ's having suffered for thee will be enough to save thee whilst thou ungratefully offendest him that suffered for thee Alas that will not serve the turn but rather it will be enough and too much to damn thee Dost thou think Christ came to suffer to the end that thou mightest the more freely sin against him Dost thou think he came into the World that thou mightest heap up thy wickednesses upon his holy shoulders Dost thou think he came to facilitate thy Crimes to the end that obstinate sinners might compound their Vices with his Merits Dost thou think that Heavenly Master of Purity and Holiness came to open a Gate unto all Vice whereby his Sufferings might serve to save those that only believed and wrought nothing but Sins and Transgressions The Eternal Son of God came into the World not only to Redeem us but also to Teach us In his Blood he left Redemption and in his Life Instruction He underwent his Passion to redeem Souls but his Actions were so high and holy to amend inform direct and purifie them The effect of his Pains his Cross his Death is to give Merit to our Works and Grace and Force to a Christian to suffer with him but the effect of his Vertues Perfections and whole Life is to teach us and to set us a Pattern to imitate as far as we are able I have given you an Example says he that ye should do as I have done And in another place he says Whosoever doth not bear his Cross and come after me cannot be my Disciple He is no perfect Christian nor is it possible he should be that flies from the Cross even though he might escape it Every Christian is to follow and embrace the Cross of his Redeemer Can any Man be a perfect Christian without keeping the Commandments No certainly Why then the keeping of them is to follow Christ in taking up his Cross Consider that when thou camest into the Gate of the Church by being Baptized in the Name of the