thou wert never to be called to Account therefore O sinner thou wilt find at thy death that 't is more easie to tremble at thy Account than to give it 4. Thou hast spent all thy life in sin and wickedness without any remembrance of the Glory to come what Idea therefore can thy Memory have of that Glory when thou comest to dye If it be tedious and wearisome to thee to confess a few daily sins how dost thou think thou shalt find Diligence and Patience enough when thou comest to dye to confess that infinite number thou hast committed from the time of thy birth Thou canst not or wilt not now in thy health lift a hundred weight and dost thou think thou shalt be able in thy sickness to lift a hundred thousand Dost thou reserve that weight to be laid upon thee in thy weakness which thou darest not venture to lift at in thy full strength What profit or advantage can thy Death bring thee when all thy care and trouble will be imployed about the losing of thy Life Thy Heart being glued to the Wealth and to the World which thou must leave How wilt thou be able to loosen it from thence and to join it to what thou hast never cared for The Chains of thy Passions tye thee fast to this transitory World How wilt thou be able to break them in an instant and to give thy self to that which is eternal 5. It cost me Tears and Groans Prayers and loud Cries to raise up Lazarus to Life again who had been dead but four days of a natural Death What will it cost to raise up thee from the spiritual Death in which thou hast lain dead perhaps these forty Years I raised up Lazarus without his doing any thing to help towards his own Resurrection but I will not revive thee unless thou dost something on thy part and how wilt thou be able O wretched Man to perform that under a double Death thy Soul in that of Sin and thy Body so near to that of Corruption Thy Spirit being conquered and having yielded it self a Slave to thine Appetite which has domineer'd powerfully all thy Life and forc't thy Soul to the Drudgery of Sin Dost thou believe that in breathing out thy last Gasp thou shalt be able to recover its liberty No thou wilt find that though it be freed from thy Body for a time it is going to suffer a much greater slavery in Hell and to be tormented by the Devil in Chains of Darkness till the Day of Judgment when thy Body indeed shall rise from the Grave as did that of Lazarus to be joined again with thy Soul yet not as his to Life but to die eternally and to be for ever banished from my sight 6. Thou hast used thy self all thy Life to follow thine own will and never to deny thy self in any thing and doest thou think thou shalt have power to do that in the end of it which has always been so contrary to thy Inclinations Or if thou hast endeavour'd to get Victories over thy self and hast fought without success that spiritual Combate is it probable thou shalt overcome thy self better in thy utmost weakness and when thou liest gasping for Breath If thou couldst not conquer that Enemy when thou hadst all thy strength if with the force of Reason quicken'd by frequent Admonitions called upon by many Exhortations and excited by several good Examples thou could'st not subdue thy sensual Appetite in so many Years how wilt thou conquer it when thy Reason and Understanding shall have forsaken thee and when the Ear of thy Body shall be as deaf to all other Motives as that of thy Soul has been till then Thinkest thou when thou liest fainting in thy Death-bed without strength to move a Hand rattling in the Throat and gasping for Breath to overcome that Enemy that potent Enemy insulting over thee in the Pride of so many repeated Victories That Enemy which the Apostles themselves and their Successors with so many other excellent Saints fought against all their Lives wilt thou conquer with the dregs of thine being without Memory without Understanding and even without Sense in that great disorder and confusion which Death uses to bring especially to those who have always suffer'd their Appetite to triumph over them 7. How long O Sinner wilt thou go on in this foolish Presumption I do not bid thee despair when thou diest but I bid thee work out thy Salvation with fear and trembling while thou livest I deny not but that I saved the good Thief He believed on me when my Disciples forsook me and fled and prayed to me even when I was nailed to the Cross to such an extraordinary Faith I shew'd an extraordinary Favour and though I promised he should be with me that day in Paradice thou mayest remember I suffered him that was crucified with me on the other hand to be condemned If he who died so near my side and looking upon that Blood which I shed for him was damned Wilt thou delay still and hope to escape at that last Hour I do not forbid thee to hope when thou comest to die but I bid thee to do good works in the mean while and serve me during thy Life without deferring it till Death for if thou despisest the warning I give thee now the time will come when thou shalt call and I will not hear and when thou shalt cry Lord Lord I will answer I know thee not thou worker of Iniquity Depart from me into everlasting Fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels The Fourth WEEK The Answer of a repenting Sinner and that we ought to prepare our selves for Death 1. AH let us all quake and tremble what shall we answer to these terrible Words of the Lord What shall we answer to these Arguments which are rather evident Conclusions What shall we answer to that eternal Wisdom to that eternal Light and Truth whose Sayings are undeniable and whose Accusings are clear Convictions Here is nothing to be done but to acknowledge our guilt to humble our selves and amend our Lives Here is nothing to be done but with Repentance Humility and Contrition to weep and sigh and earnestly beg for Mercy 2. Here is nothing to be done but with a most intimate Desire and Sorrow of the Soul to say Lord I have sinned against thee all my Life and I will bewail my offences during my Life that I may likewise bewail them at my Death If I be not willing to lament them now perhaps then I shall neither be willing nor able I sinned in the best of my time and so made it the worst and I desire to forsake my Sins in the best that remains before the last comes which is the worst indeed I desire O God to imploy the remainder of my days in thy Service since thou yet affordest me time to bewail that time which I so sinfully have lost I desire to lament my Sins with all
my Senses Powers and Faculties since I have abused them all in offending against thee my God nor will I defer my Tears till my Death since I did not defer my Sins till my Death 3. I desire O Lord that I may not be to seek for Oil in my Lamp when the Bridegroom calls but to have it ready prepar'd and lighted against his coming To get Oil after death is impossible grant that I may buy it and furnish my self before I fall asleep Life without thy Grace is not only Sleep but Death grant therefore O Lord that I may prepare for Death during Life by living well Grant O Lord my God that the Bridegroom at his coming may find me watching grant O Lord that when the Thief shall come to break into this House of my Body and rob me of my Soul I may not be found asleep in any customary Sin but awake upon my Guard and with my Lamp ready lighted and let me never hear from thee the Light eternal that terrible saying I know thee not 4. Grant that at thy second coming thou mayest find me with my Loins girt and my Light burning and able to give such an account of the Talents which thou hast given me that the Benefits of thy former coming may by thy Mercy be made effectual to my Soul What shall become of me O my God if I loose thee If once I loose thee O Light eternal when shall I be able ever to recover thee Deliver my Soul from the roaring Lion free my darling from the Power of the infernal Dragon if once I loose my self and thee Is it possible I should ever find thee again my Saviour Is there any passage from Hell to Glory Is there any Redemption in that place of Torment where all Mercies are utterly cut off Shall I expose my Soul to that hazard to that danger and to that loss at my Death for not repenting while I live Shall I trust that which is most precious and most important to the most unfit and the most uncertain time Shall I put off the loosing or enjoying thee eternally O my Jesus to a Conjuncture so full of anguish and confusion as scarce affords a possibility of knowing thee No Lord suffer me not I beseech thee to fall into so miserable a Condition rather let me die now instantly at this present moment in thy Grace than so foolishly to adventure the loss of both thy Grace and Glory 5. This is the Answer we should make to God these are the Thoughts we ought to feel these are the Requests we ought to make before the Agony of Death for then the Pains of the Body the Anguish of the Soul the Grief for leaving the Pleasures of this World and the Fear of going into the Torments of the next the Distraction of thy Thoughts and the Decay of thy Understanding will neither suffer thee to attend thy Prayers nor allow thee time to consider what to pray for O how ignorant how mad a Folly it is to delay our amendment till the Hour of Death What a mistake it is to believe that our dammage does not increase with that deceit and our deceit with that dammage What an Error to think I shall be better when I see and feel my self daily growing worse And that the end of my Life shall be good when the whole course of it from the beginning has been evil What a Cheat the Devil puts upon a Man to perswade him that when his Soul is torn out of his Body he shall be able to imploy himself in any thing else than to feel that strong Division between the Body and the Soul 6. This puts an end to the Sinner's Life this puts an end to his Delights this puts an end to his Acquaintance His Friends his Riches his Honour his Power all these must be left this is the thing that disquiets and afflicts him thither his Mind runs then where he had placed his contentment thither his sorrow his torture and confusion where he had rivetted his Heart His thought his care and his attention being taken up with what he loses and which is worse with what he fears he is in too great a Distraction to discourse of that which he should and which imports him most 7. And therefore if thou wilt live eternally die before thou diest Think of that now which thou meanest to think of hereafter Let not Death go out of thy Memory and so thou shalt amend thy Life Live and do all things as a Person that must die and thou shalt die to live for ever Thy Death shall be but a Passage not a Death and a passage to eternal Life not a dying to eternal Death MARCH The First WEEK Of the particular Account that each Man is to give immediately after his Death 1. NOW give ear and I will tell another thing more dreadful and terrible more quick and speedy and of more hazard and danger Anger than Death it self And that is the account thou art instantly to give with the Judgment and Sentence that shall be passed upon thee in particular at the Moment of thy Death What so soon Yes so soon scarce dead when already judged and Sentence past either to absolve or to condemn thee The Body is not yet quite cold upon its Bed And is the Soul judged already They are yet holding a Looking-glass to my Mouth to try whether I have any Breath left in me and is my Cause already dispatched concluded and sentenced The Body is not yet put into a Winding-sheet and is the Soul already judged and which is more the Sentence executed upon it Shall there not be a little delay Will they not allow me a little space to think how I may satisfie by some excuse the Charge that is brought against me Will they pluck me away and precipitate me so suddenly without having any thing to lay hold on when I am driven out of the Body without any thing to lay hold on when I am snatched to Judgment without any thing to lay hold on when I am hurried to execution without finding one moment of delay ere I receive the Sentence Is it possible that there is no place of refuge No retreat where I may stop a little though it were but at the foot of that very Judgment-seat where I am to be sentenced or at the Threshold of that Dungeon where I am to he imprisoned May not the Execution be suspended for a little while Is there no Chappel as I pass where a condemned Person may linger a while and pray between the Judgment-seat and the dismal place of Torment Is it possible that there is no other way either on the Right-hand or on the Left from Death to this account to this Judgment and to this Sentence whereby I may escape and hide my self Can I not turn back again Is it absolutely necessary I must be thrown headlong Must I needs swallow that bitter draught and be forc't to make that
I come with the Olive-branch of Peace in my mouth the Merits and Intercession of the Prince of Peace I have nothing else to plead but by them and by them only I hope to be received and kept from ever departing from thee any more If thou hast not been so great a Sinner as I art thou less bound to God for preserving thee from it than I for being pardon'd and reclaimed Shall the Benefit by thee be accounted less because it is really much greater Does the Hand that saved me from a Wound do me a smaller kindness than that which cures me when I am wounded Or rather is not the benefit of Preserving much the greater by saving the Blood I should have lost by the Wound and the Pain I should have suffered in the Cure For though it require a greater Power to lift me up when I am down than when I am up to keep me from falling yet to me the Benefit is more worth which prevents me from a Mischief than that which gives me remedy when I am in it Thus have I seen O God for how many Benefits I am indebted to thee notwithstanding my many Sins O let not an horrible Ingratitude be the last and greatest of them all Man's Laws have ordained no Punishment for that infamous Crime either because they did not believe that any thing in the World could be so bad as an ungrateful Person or that they could find no Punishment proportionable to so great a Crime The wildest and the most savage Breasts are grateful to their Benefactors and good turns have tamed the fiercest Lions but we more savage than the furious Beasts are so far from Gratitude that on the contrary we each moment offend our most gracious Benefactor But suffer us not O Lord to do so any longer and let the greatest of all thy Benefits be to make us thankful for them and with the humblest Devotion of our Souls to acknowledge that the Number of them is infinite and their Nature most transcendent Of the Guard of Angels We have seen how watchful the All-seeing Eye of God's Providence is for the Preservation of our Souls and Bodies The Holy Jesus tells us that without it not so much as a Sparrow falls to the Ground how much less a Man who is more worth than many Sparrows And to express his great Care of our smallest concerns he says that even the very Hairs of our Head are numbred Thus dwelling under the Defence of the most High and abiding under the Shadow of the Almighty any other Protection might be thought wholly needless yet God as subordinate to that hath out of his super-abundant Love to Mankind been pleased from the Beginning of the World to protect them particularly by the Guard of Angels for having created those Blessed Spirits in distinct Hierarchies and Choirs the chiefest of them he applied principally to the Worship and Veneration of himself and appointed others to serve him in the Succour and Assistance of Humane Nature We are told in the Epistle to the Hebrews that they are Ministring Spirits sent forth to Minister to those that shall be Heirs of Salvation And their forwardness to obey God in all things that relate to the good of Man is seen in many places of the Scripture HEre the Author having cited many places where Angels have been employ'd for the Service or for the Punishment of Mankind makes a long Discourse whereby he endeavours to establish their Doctrine of adoring and praying to Angels and proceeds with great Devotion therein but here our Church forbids us to go along with him allowing us to search the Scriptures where we find express Texts and Examples flatly to the contrary thus we read in the Revelation that when St. John was going to fall down and to adore the Angel he was strictly forbidden by him saying See thou do it not for I am thy Fellow-servant Worship thou God And we have a plain Text fore-warning us to take heed that no Man deceive us by a voluntary Humility and the Worshipping of Angels St. Paul was wrapp'd up into the Third Heaven and yet he makes no relation of those blessed Inhabitants but says he saw what it was not lawful for Man to utter and the Scripture tells us that things secret belong unto the Lord but the things that are revealed belong to us We ought therefore to content our selves with them and not to be wise beyond Sobriety but while they pretend not only to know particularly the Names and Ranks of the several Choirs in each Hierarchy but also the particular Business and Employment of every one of them Our part should be to acknowledge how infinitely we are indebted to God for his Goodness towards us and to raise our Minds to the highest Admiration and Reverence of God's unspeakable Power in Creating them and to the most ardent Love of his Goodness in employing their Ministry for our Benefit but most especially for that happy Message brought by the Angel Gabriel to the Blessed Virgin Mary of the Incarnation of the Eternal Word which was the beginning of our Redemption and for the joyful News of his Nativity delivered to the poor Shepherds by an Angel when suddenly a Multitude of the heavenly Host sung Glory to God on high c. How can we forbear to cry out with the Psalmist Lord what is Man that thou art mindful of him or the Son of Man that thou regardest him Thou madest him lower than the Angels to crown him with Glory and Honour Instead of praying to them let us lift up our Minds and Prayers to the Creator of them and in Thankfulness for all Mercies join with that blessed Choir to magnifie him Let us beseech him that hath ordained and constituted the Services of Angles and Men in a wonderful Order mercifully to grant that as his holy Angels always do him service in Heaven so by his appointment they may succour and defend us on Earth through Jesus Christ our Lord Amen The Fourth WEEK Of the Benefit of Redemption WE are come now to the utmost top of all the Divine Benefits which requires a most attentive Consideration Our great Creator in the making of Man designed a most wonderful Union between his Soul his Body and his God Three things so vastly distant and so strangely different that nothing but Omnipotency could have joyn'd them together for what can be more different than a dead Clod of Earth and a living immaterial Soul What can be more distant than a Soul dwelling here below in the narrow Limits of an Earthly Body and the Divinity of an infinite and an eternal God who dwelleth in the highest Heavens and whom even the Heaven of Heavens cannot contain In this blessed State he was placed in the Garden of Paradice where nothing was forbidden him but the Tree of Knowledge and with this Covenant that if he continued in obedience he should never die but be translated from that Earthly to an
in the Kingdom of Glory O happy Torments O joyful Death that is rewarded with eternal Bliss This Knowledge and these Lights will God encrease in thee if thou livest humbly mortified and resigned disposing thy self daily to receive more Grace Of the Purity of Intentions O that I could see my self so secure in this Kingdom of Grace as never to enter into that sad and dismal Kingdom of Sin But how can I be secure so long as I live in this miserable Life so full of Snares and Dangers There can be no security where Man's Will is to act which is so weak and frail and so unsteady The World is full of Snares there are more Stumbling-blocks than Steps We carry within us the Nourishment of our own Miseries and the Source of our Passions is the cause of our Sins and Imperfections But for all that Wouldst thou persevere in this Kingdom of Grace and go with full sail into the Kingdom of Glory Watch then and pray hope and fear trust and persist Let thine Intentions be pure and thy Conscience clean and do all things as in the Presence of God and believe that the end of this short Voyage will be the Haven of the Coelestial Country and of eternal Salvation Let thine Intentions be pure I repeat it again to thee let thine Intentions be pure for thereby thy Passage shall be safe from Rocks and Tempests If thy Intention really be to serve God and to please him in all things thy Practice thy Words thy Actions will also be to please him in all things As Matters go with thee internally so will they also externally If the Tree be good it gives good Fruit and if evil evil Fruit. An evil Tree cannot bring forth that which is good nor the good that which is evil The Quality of the Spiritual Tree is taken from that of the Intentions and the Quality of Fruits and Works from that of the Tree O happy he who has a clean and pure Heart that is a clean and pure Intention O happy he who desires and loves nothing but God and his Service for all the Exercises of such a Man will be to serve and adore him Thus then if thou desirest to persevere and to encrease in the Spiritual Life let thy first rule be to purifie thy Intention for that gives Life to thy Works and Cleanness to thy Heart If thine Eye be single saith God all thy Body will be full of Light as if he had said if the Intention be right the Body of all the Actions will be right and shining in good Example The Light that lightens thy Body is thine Intention if it be pure it enlightens thee if otherwise thou wilt walk in darkness See! how a Lanthorn shines that has a little Candle in it it not only is clear it self but gives light to all that are round about it So the Soul that has a pure holy Intention within it has thereby all its Actions made holy clear and perfect God is to be thy Intention in all thou dost in all thou speakest in all thou thinkest and whatsoever thou dost must be for God with God and through God Of Purity of Conscience If this be thy Intention and thou hast attain'd its Purity thou shalt easily by the Grace of God attain Purity of Conscience also or rather it may be said if thou hast the one thou already hast the other also for what is Purity of Conscience but Purity of Heart and Intention If that be pure thy Thoughts Words and Actions will be so likewise and if they be pure thy Heart and Conscience are so too yet Purity of Conscience signifies not to consent to any blemish or defect in thee and when thou findest any to throw it away presently and to wash it with tears It signifies an attentive Care and Vigilance to purifie the Soul from all Sins and Imperfections small as well as great and not to allow them entrance or let them remain there but to confess bewail and forsake them It signifies an implacable Enmity between Innocency Truth and Sincerity of Heart and Sins of all kinds and a dissent and contradiction to them without permitting them to make any stay in it It signifies an exact care to see and observe what passes in thy Soul and not to tolerate any thing in it not only that is contrary but that tends but to the lessening thy desires to please God It signifies a great disquiet and uneasiness at any thing that offends God and an open War against Sins without having any Contentment or Satisfaction till thou hast thrown them out by Penitence and Contrition Those that live and walk with this hatefulness and with this desire are they which the Saviour of Souls meant when he said Blessed are the pure for they shall see God as if he had said 't is impossible to see God without purity of Heart Let a Man do works that are never so perfect and holy let him be liberal in Alms visit Hospitals pray and suffer as much as he will or do any thing else If his Heart and Conscience be not pure 't is impossible for him to see or enjoy God till he have cleansed and purified them Into Heaven no defect can enter nothing but what is clear shall be received into that bright City for a Man must enter there as he is to live there No Man can see God in Glory even though he were in Glory unless his sight be made so clear by purity of Life as to be able by the Divine goodness to be raised to behold God Employ therefore all thy care to cleanse thy Heart and Conscience not to consent that any Sins Passions or Imperfections should lodge there but to throw them out and wash them off with tears I do not say that thou shouldst have none though I wish it but that thou shouldst not entertain them for it is impossible in this sinful Life that a Man should not fall into small and sometimes even into great Sins but whether they be great or small he ought to detest them as soon as they are perceived and not to keep but to cast them out instantly with humble Sorrow Do not go to sleep with Sin in thine Heart before thou hast washed it out with tears Think how unsafe it would be for a Man to sleep with a Viper in his Bosom but 't is far more dangerous to sleep with Sin in the Soul As the Sea casts out dead Bodies so do thou cast Sins out of thy Soul See how long thou canst keep a burning Coal in the Palm of thine Hand and even a less time suffer Sin to continue in thy Soul As in the other Life no Man can see God without a pure Heart so in this Spiritual Life seldom does a Man hearken to God till he hath cleansed his Conscience by casting out his Sins Sins and Passions are troublesome Companions and make so great a noise that they disquiet and deafen the
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
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
midst of Light and now unless he get assistance of the light of Grace by Prayer what will become of him And how shall he keep himself standing in the midst of so much darkness and so many confusions as he has been subject to ever since he was banished thence 3. What is our Nature but a Vessel of Passions and Miseries a seed-plot of Sins and of Misfortunes Consider Man in his Generation and thou shalt find him to be nothing but Corruption Behold him in the darkness of his Mother's womb and thou shalt find him a little lump of living filth Behold him taken Captive before ever he was at liberty and a Prisoner before he hath committed any Crime His Body scarcely formed and yet already shut up in a most obscure Dungeon Thus was he acquainted with darkness before he saw any light and came headlong crying into the World as an Omen of his precipitate Passions and future Miseries Yet alas that Captivity which his Body suffers in his Mother's Womb is less to be lamented than the other which his Soul suffers in his Body 4. Behold that is a Captive not only to corruption and filth as the Body for that were tolerable but also to the loathsomness of sin created to an Original Servitude and condemned to Troubles without number or measure To begin to be and to begin to be in Servitude is in Man one and the same thing We are all born Slaves of the common Enemy what have we then to be proud of Only one Man exempted himself from this hard Servitude for he was God All the rest fell all the rest are Tributaries without remedy 5. Man is born to suffer and to weep he forces out his way by the strait passages of Afflictions Pangs and Throws causing them to his Mother and sometimes even her very Death What kind of Creature is this that cannot come to life without hazarding to give or to receive death And who at the same time begins to live and to lament being accustom'd to Tears before he comes acquainted with Laughter But it is no wonder he should weep at his Mother's feet for being born seeing the miseries that expect him in the World The Body hath cause enough to bewail its innumerable pains and the Soul its innumerable sins Finally Man is born the most feeble and helpless of all Creatures being destitute of every thing and needing the succour of every body He is kept alive by the Alms Care and Compassion of his Parents being utterly unable to help himself and utterly useless to all others 6. In this sad condition God's mercy steps in and makes him His by the Water of Baptism He takes from him the â—…gs of the Old Adam and cloaths him with the Robe of Grace making him the Adopted Son of God by the blood of the Eternal Son of God O! happy he if his Fortune ended here and if in this Holiness and Innocency of Childhood he might pass from Grace to Glory But no alas he is not so happy for he grows up either to a greater Reward or to harder Sufferings The light of Reason no sooner begins to glimmer in him but presently his Appetite rushes forth to oppose it and that being commonly strong and powerful drags the other after it because it is weaken'd by the first fall unless it be assisted by God's Grace His Affections take birth with his Understanding and with them his Passions gather strength these grow and daily darken his Reason he lives a painful and vexatious life in a continual conflict sometimes falling sometimes getting up again and very often totally overcome and willingly yielding up the Victory His Life whilst an Infant is meer impotence whilst a Child ignorance whilst a Youth danger whilst a Man care when Old weakness pain and sorrow and his passage through all these Ages is frailty sin and folly In short he lives such a life that Death uses sometimes to be his Wish often his Refuge and always the great Remedy of his Miseries This is the external Man therefore do thou use thy endeavours to become an internal Man Conquer Nature by the help of Grace thy Appetite by that of Reason the Delights of the Flesh by Mortification the Deceits of the World by Prayer and even Death it self by a Religious Life The Second WEEK Of the Frailty of Man and of the Miseries of his Body THis is the Nature of Man in general Look now in particular upon the Body that gross and visible part of our frailty Job saith not that man's Body hath some miseries and troubles but that he is of few days and full of troubles Would'st thou see it They are so many that they commonly break forth because they cannot be contained within him and ever and anon that which afflicts him inwardly discovers it self outwardly in boyls and blisters in swellings and discolourings of the skin The Year hath fewer days than there be ways of dying suddenly and can any body live in so stupid a Lethargy as not so much as to dream of an Eternal Life The Year and even our Life hath fewer hours than there be Mortal Diseases in the Body as Naturalists affirm and can any one live forgetful of his Soul We may wonder how life can continue in the Body having so many Gates and Windows to get out at How is it possible that the four Humours which are Enemies to one another should agree and last together in so strait so narrow and so obscure a place as is man's Body Yet they do not agree but with a most obstinate strife and contest they do disorder and discompose our life What is the Body but a false and seeming Friend to the Soul yet in truth its certain and deadly Enemy What is the Body but a Vessel of Poyson which to day is not perceived yet kills to morrow What is the Body but a heap of loathsomness and corruption What is it but a living deceit which yet continually undeceives us if we would be undeceived and a security in appearance but a constant infelicity Whilst it is in Health it cheats us and never speaks truth but in Sickness so long as it lives it is a lye and never tells truth till it be dead 2. Our life is nothing but death in a disguise and when it has made an end of acting its part the Mask is pull'd off The most beautiful Body carries that within it which were sufficient to make it eternally fly from it self if it were possible so to do It is full of filth and corruption so loathsome and so nauseous that it is a scandal but to name them It is a source of Uncleanness and the wretched dwelling of Impurities which are so numerous that it was necessary to make many Common Sewers for them to run out at because there was not room enough for them within The Body is so frail that every thing hath a powerful Jurisdiction over it a little dust choaks it a little
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
Fathoms under ground and there they build Towers and Pyramids of as many above it Here a mighty Emperor joins Land to Land by making a Bridge over a Bay of the Sea there a most potent King attempts to join Sea to Sea by cutting a Passage of many Miles from the Mediterranean to the Ocean Behold them leading huge Armies and cutting through Mountains that oppose their passage to rush upon Pikes and Swords as if they were resolved to be killed in spite of God's Protection Thus when Men are grown up to their greatest Strength instead of being more able to defend themselves against those manifold Dangers and Diseases we are naturally subject to they on the contrary have gotten but the more Power and the more Liberty to run into them by the Prosecution of their violent Passions The aspiring Ambition of one Man the greedy Covetousness of another their unruly Lust or enrag'd Jealousie their insolent Pride or their furious Anger exposing them continually to the Revenge of some implacable Enemy But if God hath given some the Grace to govern their Passions with more moderation yet the necessary occasions of their Business or Calling may several ways make them also lyable to numberless dangers as of Tempest and Shipwracks of Piracy and Slavery in Voyages by Sea of Falls and Precipices of Robberies and Murders in journeys by Land and of loss of Life in the Wars either by Sea or Land But if neither their Profession nor any other accident have engag'd them in these there are Plagues and Famines Lightnings and Thunders Conflagrations and Earthquakes Sea-breaches and Inundations with divers other publick Calamities which even Persons of the most quiet and retir'd Condition are subject to Besides the particular Mischances of drowning burning and many more such like than possibly can be imagined from which no sort of Persons can be exempted so that it is no wonder that Men die but the great wonder is when any one lives to be very old and were it not for the Power of an Almighty Protection the sight of a very aged Man would be counted little less than a Prodigy How many thousands perish before or in their Birth How many have Mothers more hard-hearted than the Estrich which is said to leave her Eggs exposed upon the bare Rocks and to regard them no further Nay and some Monsters much more barbarous do most cruelly destroy their innocent Babes to conceal their own Infamy How many in their Childhood how many in their Youth are snatched out of this World by one or other of the forementioned Accidents Not one of an hundred living to forty Years nor one of a thousand to double that Age and for those few that do their Strength then is but Labour and Sorrow so soon passeth it away and we are gone Those that dwell in populous Cities are every hour put in mind of this truth by the continual tolling of Bells and by their frequent meeting those that are carrying dead Bodies to be buried every one of which thou art to look upon as a preservation of thy self who hadst dropp'd into the Grave before them if his hand had not upheld the weight of thy Mortality which naturally tendeth thither The Mischiefs which some do suffer are the Benefits of those that escape Blindness Lameness Crookedness Dumbness Deafness and all Diseases whatsoever another suffers are so many Obligations thou hast to God that frees thee from them Their harms are thy Blessings since thou ought'st to have suffer'd if thou hadst not been pardoned all that they suffer who are so punished and if thou hast not suffered these Mischances how many more which thou knowest not of would have happened to thee if God had not preserv'd thee from those dangers His Preservation of thy Safety is manifested to thee in those many miserable Objects thou seest about the Streets since without his particular Favour thou mightest have been in the same or in a worse Estate Whensoever therefore thou beholdest any of those wretched Creatures gastly pale and lean with sickness or almost starv'd with hunger loathsome with Sores and Ulcers or naked with Poverty and Beggary Whenever thou seest the Members of one consumed and shrivel'd up by Fire or of another blasted and withered by Lightning or finally any of those lamentable Spectacles from which thou turn'st away thine Eyes through horrour let their Misery at the same time move thy Heart with Compassion to thine own Image and with thankfulness to thy God that thou thy self art not in that woful Condition Consider him as a Man of the same Nature with thy self as one whose manner of Birth was just like to that of the greatest Monarch though in this World God hath set the one upon a Throne and laid the other on the Dunghill Say then O Lord this is my Picture and just such an one might I now have been if thy preserving Mercy had not put so vast a difference between us As I have daily new occasions to remember this Mercy so let me daily praise thee for it with joyful Lips and with a thankful Heart Lord that I may make a right use of it and then it will move me not only to pity but also to relieve his Misery so shall we make an exchange advantageous to both my Soul feeling the Affliction of his Distress and his the Comfort of my Alms and of my Compassion Let me still remember that I am liable to the like Disasters and be prepar'd with an humble Resignation to undergo whatsoever thy fatherly Hand shall at any time lay upon me hoping that if I share with Lazarus in his Sufferings here I shall also share with him hereafter in the Joys of Abraham's Bosom But the Diseases and Miseries of the Soul when they break out to shameful and scandalous Actions are much more loathsome and abominable than those of the Body therefore when thou shalt likewise see any notorious Sinner glorying in his wickedness as too many do now a-days when thou shalt hear any one abusing the Name of God and the Ears of good Men with horrid Oaths and Blasphemies or with prophane Atheistical Discourses When the disfigur'd Face of one shews thee the Marks of his brutish Lust or the reeling steps of another discover his swinish Drunkenness in short when any come in thy way that are manifestly guilty of those heinous Sins which yet thou art free from take heed of thinking thy self good because they are so much worse and if thou standest take heed least thou fall and be not high minded but fear for there was a time when those profligate Wretches were as far from such Practices as now thou thinkest thy self to be Ascribe it then to God's Mercy only that thou art not such an one and say Not unto me O Lord not unto me not unto me but unto thy restraining Grace be the Praise for without that I should have been nay and yet may be if that should forsake me as great
Wealthy From hence it comes to pass that the humble Man is very free and liberal for he that desires nothing for himself does easily give away all and he that thinks that all he has is too much for him does neither covet nor desire any thing he has not Thus the humble and meek of heart are not only liberal and forward to give Alms but prodigal after an holy manner and when they want wherewithal to give they readily give their very selves Serapion the Sindonite gave his upper-Coat to a poor Man he met and passing on further he gave his under one to another remaining in a manner naked with only the New Testament in his hand which he also gave away to a third and being ask'd Who stripped him so He answered that Charity had strip'd him of his upper-Coat the Gospel of his under one and of the Book of the Gospel Christ himself the Author of the Gospel This same Man sold himself twice to Slavery that he might convert his Masters And another Bishop after he had given all he had to the poor hired himself out by the Day that he might have wherewithal to give therefore fly from Covetousness more than from the Fire Love Holy Poverty Charity and Liberality and if thou must exceed in any kind rather err on the right hand of giving than on the left hand of refusing Our Saviour as an Ancient Father of the Church says is always between two Thieves and this is most verified in the Moral Vertues because the excess or defect destroys the Vertue which consists in the middle He that does not give that which is sufficient is covetous He that gives too much is prodigal but he that gives that which is useful fitting and necessary is liberal and so with him Jesus Christ is to be found Therefore when through Humane frailty thou art like to err on the one hand or the other and dost not know how to walk straight in the middle way keep on the right hand for the Prodigal Man is the good Thief and the evil Thief is the Covetous and God more easily pardons him that gives I always observe in the Holy Gospel Prodigal Persons pardoned and Covetous ones condemned Mary Magdalene was tax'd of Prodigality for breaking the Box of precious Oyntment to serve our Redeemer which was great wast according to appearance O Heavenly Prodigal all seems little to her for the anointing of her Lord She breaks the Box and with it all her vain desires she casts her self down a prodigal Sinner and presently rose up a pardoned Saint she was Prodigal in good and so what she did was to be accounted rather love than wast but the Prodigal Son was Prodigal in Evil and spent his Portion foolishly amongst Harlots wandring and distressed about the World yet in the midst of all those squandrings God gave him a good and holy Consideration of remembring his Father and a Resolution to return penitently to seek him This wretch went astray 't is true but yet he gave he ruined himself but he relieved others If he sinned in giving ill yet there was something good wrought in that giving ill namely to give to succour and to sustain those that wanted If he offended God in sinning yet he imitated God in giving at least for God gives not only to the good but also to the evil and to give though with squandring to the bad was an evil not totally void of good The unjust Steward that lessened the Debts to his Master's cost to pass them so afterwards in his Accounts did very ill but yet he gave and the Lord commended him as having done wisely and puts him for an Example that we should make Friends of the unrighteous Mammon that is of Money ill-gotten and that we should get out of that wickedness by giving when we cannot find the Person to whom it should be restor'd but the Covetous Man that had so many Barns and yet in his thought was foolishly contriving to build more and greater ones to hoard up the great abundance of his Corn was himself cast into Hell as a bundle of Tares And the other Rich Glutton who would not give so much as the broken scraps of his Gluttony to feed the holy Beggar that lay at his Door was also for ever condemned there being amongst the evil they did nothing that was good for Pity to lay hold on And thus it is ill to be Prodigal and it is also ill to be Covetous The good thing is to be Liberal and a giver of Alms yet of the two extreams he is the less evil with equal imperfection that gives than he that refuses He that throws away than he that takes away and he that wastes than he that spares Of Chastity and Abstinence With Humility and Liberality thou oughtest to love Chastity the inward and the outward Cloathing which cleanses and beautifies the Conscience and adorns the Soul with a white Garment sweetly perfumed and very pleasing in the Lord's Eyes A Vertue beloved of our Saviour and his Mother and one of those he shew'd most kindness to Jesus being a Virgin himself would have a Virgin-Mother and a Virgin-Father in her Husband Joseph a Virgin-Fore-runner in the Baptist a Virgin-Disciple in St. John the Evangelist and even in Heaven Virginity had its first birth in the Angelical Nature O Heavenly Virginity O Soveraign Purity O un-utterable Chastity which dwellest in Heaven and wert a Vertue there before thou wert known upon Earth O Heavenly Virginity which waitest upon the Virgin-Lamb who is accompanied by Virgins that follow him whithersoever he goeth O Heavenly Virginity which art the fruit of the Blood of the Lamb since it is that Wine which engendreth Virgins Virginity and Chastity purifie the Soul and which is more admirable preserve the Body also pure white and spotless Chastity makes the Spirit pure clean and fervent Chastity disposes the Will to give itself wholly up to God and not to love the Creatures nor to forsake the Creator for them Chastity keeps the Powers Faculties and Senses clean to the end that being pure chast and dis-engaged we may forsake all Creatures freely seeking after the Creator Chastity betroths itself to Vertue protects and defends it and obliges the Eternal Son of God and his Holy Mother with all the Saints and Angels to be our Friends Finally wouldst thou see the excellency of Chastity Look upon its contraries Lust and Sensuality Wouldst thou know the beauty of Light Consider the ugly and loathsome horror of Darkness These defile embase and make deformed whereas the other clears adorns and beautifies The Mischiefs of Sensuality Sensuality depraves the Senses defiles the powers of the Soul disorders all our Faculties destroys all our Rational part and reduces us to be meerly Animal Sensuality obscures Reason and makes Passion tyrannize over it Other Vices do bespot the Soul this the Soul and Body too The rest are Vices and Passions of Discourse this is a
profit 't is manifest that in the Night you will find nothing but Errours and Mischiefs Who would refuse to go his Journey while the Sun shines believing that he shall find his way better in the dark Therefore shake off idleness and embrace fervency and diligence Do you think you shall be able to find diligence at your Death when you have wasted all your Life in laziness and in sloth or that you shall find Amendment when you come to be judged Idleness being the Mother of all Vices The Saints call Idleness the Sepulchre of the Living because Worms Rottenness and Corruption are engendred by it and that it foments all kinds of Miseries together That holy Man understood it well who living in the Desart busied himself in carrying stones from one place to another and in bringing them back thither again and being asked why he did so he answered I avoid idleness or at least I master that body that would master me No Vice is so destructive to the Spirit nor so kind a Companion to the Flesh as idleness and although it seems the least is yet the cause of the greatest Evils Besides being slothful and idle in good there is no ill which does not encrease and become worse by it for it is the same thing as to set open the Gate of the Soul to all the Passions and Vices that shall have a mind to enter There is no Vice so mean but will adventure to assault an idle Man because it looks upon him as one that will not take the pains to make any resistance being so weak as to have yielded up himself even before he be attempted and so all wickednesses take confidence to come upon him and assume to themselves a Jurisdiction over him If the Devil be diligent watchful bold strong heedful crafty and cruel What will he be not able to do against a weak idle careless and disarmed Man The holy the spiritual and the diligent who night and day busie themselves in some vertuous Employment have much ado to escape free from the Assaults of the Devil How then shall the slothful be able to defend himself from so designing and so dangerous an Enemy So much thou dost encrease in holiness as thou dost encrease in diligence and therefore work always without ceasing for those works are Safety and Reward and do advance thee in Spirit and Charity The blessed Virgin came to so much Perfection by working for having begun with such unspeakable Graces she rose to more than can be imagined only by going on each moment encreasing and improving her former Gifts and Graces The holy Apostles were the Light of the World and observe how diligent they were They went about like the Sun in perpetual motion and by that means Twelve Men alone were able in a little more than Thirty Years to enlighten to reduce and to confound the blindness of the Gentiles throughout the whole World How could holy Persons in former Ages become in few Years such Prodigies of Holiness but by their diligence to encrease and redouble their Talents and by constantly following the Dictates of the Holy Spirit which governed them Even those valiant and ambitious Men that heretofore conquer'nt so many Nations and Countreys could never have done it but by diligence One of those being ask'd How in less than Nine Years he had gained so many Kingdoms answer'd Non procrastinando by not delaying till to Morrow If this be necessary for the Conquest of frail mortal and inconstant Kingdoms that are but Heaps of Dung What diligence and care is needful in us Christians for the gaining of the Eternal Kingdom of Heaven Traffick till I come says the Saviour of Souls Be industrious and suffer not your Talents to lie idle That slothful Servant who buried his Talent did no other harm but that he did so and sat down quietly by it and yet for all that the Lord condemns him to Hell and calls him wicked Servant Serve nequam Cursed of God because being lazy and sluggish he gave that to the Earth and to what is Sensual which was due to Heaven and to what is Spiritual Our Humane Condition and Misery can hardly hold to an Indifference If thou dost not labour in that which is good thou wilt take pains in that which is Evil not to watch is to fall asleep not to serve God and please him is little better than to offend him and in the Opinion of those who will allow no indifference in things it is as I have shew'd absolutely to offend him Believe me 't is not for nothing that Christ so often calls upon us to Watch He pronounced that word fourteen times and his blessed Lips exhort us to it so often with that very same word Watch. Sloth Idleness Omission and Negligence is the sleep of Death which carries us to Death Eternal Watch then for the Devil sleeps not for thine Appetite sleeps not Watch least the Bridegroom find thee without Oyl like the foolish Virgins when he shall come to judge thee Watch for the Thief goes about carefully to rob thy House Watch for the Infernal Lyon goes about seeking to devour thee Watch and expect the coming of thy Lord with thy Lamp burning when he shall come from the first Marriage unto the second that is from his first to his second Coming Finally If thou wilt be a true Spiritual Person thou must work and labour sweat and walk without stopping and with fervent steps follow the Lord who goes before thee carrying the Cross on his Divine Shoulders and giving strength breath and courage unto thy Fervency by his Love NOVEMBER The First WEEK Of the Twelve Fruits of the Holy Spirit in General IT is time now to gather in the Fruits of this Spiritual Year that we may praise God in the advantages of a Plentiful Encrease St. Paul the Light and the Apostle of the Gentiles teacheth us That the Fruits of the Spirit are Twelve to wit Charity Peace Long-suffering Benignity Faith Continence Joy Patience Goodness Meekness Modesty and Chastity I admire that he puts the End in the Middle and seems to make the Root to be the Fruit For I should think that the Fruits of the Spirit were the Graces and the Blessings we have already treated of in some of the former Months that is to say a happy Death Absolution from Judgment a Pardon pronounced to us at the passing of that Sentence and the Reward Crown and Glory of the Blessed in the other Life which is given to those that have fought a good fight in this but to make the Fruit of the Spirit and of being vertuous to be Vertue it self seems to me either to put the end of Vertue in the middle or else to anticipate that Fruit in this Life which only can be attained perfectly in the Life Eternal But St. Paul by naming the excellent Fruits of the Spirit wisely answers the wicked of this World who hold the Spiritual Life for Folly and
inward thoughts are loose and ungoverned what is it but a well-composed Falshood and a well studied Hypocrisie And all this is highly abominable to God nor do I wonder he should abhor it for his Divine Majesty is Truth and Sincerity itself and therefore he must of necessity detest a substantial Lye mask'd under the appearance of a Truth Christ reproved the Pharisees for making clean the outside of the Cup and Platter while within they were full of the deadly Poison of Extortion and Excess Make clean said he the inside and thereby the outside will become clean also He also calls them whited Sepulchres which had the appearance of Vertue and Religion but within were full of Bones Worms and Rottenness as if he should have said Ye have lively Passions within while your Passions seem utterly mortified without Thus this outward Modesty while it corresponds with the inward is both Vertue and Example but if it be not proportioned to that it is but a Mantle of Snow that covers an heap of Dung the Sun of Truth comes and melts it and then it is so much the worse by how much before it appeared the better Outward Modesty is always convenient in as much as it covers Imperfections to the end that a fault may not pass on to a scandal which is the worst and the most hurtful thing in the World yet when an ill Man makes use of outward Modesty to give Credit to his Authority and to those Erroneous Practises which he inwardly favours that concealed Wickedness is a great deal worse than a manifest Crime A Wolf in Sheep's cloathing is much more dangerous to the Flock than when he appears in his own shape for so he is known both to the Dog and to the Shepherd The one does but whistle and the other presently flies at him but when he comes in a fair Disguise he is unknown to both and the poor Flock is in danger to become his Prey Every body that has Eyes may escape a Precipice but hardly any body can escape a Snare for that has a seeming shew of Security but the other visibly shews the Hazard and the Danger The Common Enemy is never more dangerous to Souls than when he tempts with pretences of Good for he that takes him for an Angel of Light and of Holiness will more easily suffer himself to be perswaded than if he saw him in the Deformity of the Devil Though the Devil was a Serpent yet some Expositors say he spoke not to our first Parents in the figure of a Serpent but cloathed himself with a beautiful Appearance for fear lest Eve seeing him so ugly should have been afraid of his approach and so not have suffered her self to be perswaded by him He took the Colours of the Forbidden Fruit which was Beautiful in shew and Poison in reality Thus the Substantial Fruit of the Holy Spirit which thou must endeavour to obtain is not only an outward Modesty for under that great Treacheries and much Hypocrisie may lye hid though of itself it be good when it is not abused but an outward and an inward Modelty coupled together as well in the actions as in the manner of doing them and in ordering all we do in such a way that the Circumstances and Substance may receive mutual Advantage from one another and may together be like a fair gilt Case and Dial-plate exactly fitted to the proportion of a well-wrought Clock whereby being preserved from Rust and Foulness and defended from those Accidents that might spoil and disorder it the motions of its Wheels are kept regular and it is not only an Ornament to the place where the Maker sets it but a needful Help and Direction to all that look upon it for the disposing of their Time and of their Affairs and thereby the worth of the Case is also improv'd as a necessary and proper means of attaining the end for which the Clock is designed but if that be taken away the Case remains an empty useless thing and though the sight of it may please Fools and Ignorant Persons who regard not though the Hand point to a wrong Hour yet those of discerning Judgments will soon perceive the want of life and motion and disregard it as a thing of a flight and inconsiderable value Of the Fruit of Chastity The Fruit of Chastity is also a more excellent and higher Vertue than that we formerly spake of for this Fruit grows out of that being the Flower of that Tree and the production of that Holy Root This is a Chastity of an Heroical degree a Chastity of Supream Magnitude 't is that which those Saints were blessed with who gave their Lives to defend it or not to lose it This is that which the Blessed Virgin Mary the Mother of Virgins and the prime Example of Chastity had This is that which Joseph had not only the Patriarch who was first of that Name when by his Chastity he triumphed over the wanton Lightness of his infamous Mistress choosing rather to suffer a cruel Imprisonment than to blemish it or do a Treachery to his Master but also the other Patriarch Joseph the Husband of the Blessed Virgin more Holy and more Chast than the former This is that which the great John Baptist had in losing his Life for having endeavoured to cleanse the heart of that Tyrant Herod from the Vice contrary to Chastity which cost him his Head that was sacrificed to the Revengeful Adulteress And this is that which many of the Primitive Christians valued to so high a degree that nothing could stain the whiteness of their Chastity but the Blood of their own Veins which was shed for the preservation of it This excellent Vertue may live and reign also even in Wedlock and shine brightly in holy Matrimony for Continence Temperance and Modesty in the use of Marriage is perfect Chastity sanctifying honouring and authorizing that holy Bond as St. Paul says This Fruit of the Spirit is acquir'd or to say better given by God through the Holy Spirit both to the married and unmarried to Virgins and to all those that have exercis'd themselves in keeping a clean and holy Purity both in Body and Mind And although all these Twelve Fruits of the Holy Spirit are owing to his Infinite Bounty yet this of Chastity is so more than all the rest for if as we have said none can have that former degree of Chastity out by the Gift of God Nemo enim continens esse potest nisi Deus dederit how can any one by other means obtain this Flower of Chastity which is the Crown and Fruit of that excellent Vertue which honours and improves even Chastity itself being exercis'd in such occasions and with such Heroical Vertues as do much increase the Glory of it Nor does the dependance of this Admirable Vertue upon the Bounty of God more than others increase the difficulty of it for in my Opinion and according to my way of Understanding it