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 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
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
and to become Poor that we may imitate thee in thy Humanity Of the Birth of our Lord. Behold now when the appointed time for the Birth of the Messiah was come how the Eternal Son of God the Author of our Nature to Honour and Redeem it after having so long suffered that close Imprisonment in the pure Womb of an humble Virgin was humbly born in the Stable of an Inn and laid in a Manger He was born in a Stable amongst Beasts coming to live amongst brutish Men and he was laid in a Manger that was to be the Food of Souls and in an Inn the common receptacle of all Comers that all might have access to him who was the common Saviour of all Mankind Behold that poor Cottage of Bethlehem already transformed into a Heaven and his supposed Father the chaste Joseph with the Blessed Virgin his Mother kneeling to adore the Child of her Bowels who also was her Maker being the Creator of the whole World Behold all the Evangelical Spirits busie in worshipping the Lord God and in calling the Shepherds to acknowledge their true and eternal Shepherd The Angels sing Glory to God on high on Earth Peace and good will towards men exalting that Humility which had laid itself so low and manifesting his Divinity at the same time that his Humanity appeared Enter thou also with them O my Soul to adore the Divine Son of God who had now cloathed himself with the Nature of Man and fill'd it with greater Humanity and Love than ever till that time it was capable of Come thou therefore with love and lay aside thy fears if thou art a Shepherd to others thou art one of his Sheep This chief Eternal Shepherd comes to call and to seed not only the Sheep but their Shepherds also Draw near O my Soul to that Manger for his Deity and his Humility would have no greater Throne to the end that thou mightest the better approach it Seeing thy baseness his Divine Nature abased itself to the uttermost to the end that the baseness of thine might attain to so high a Greatness and Soveraignty Draw near my Soul be not afraid for his tender Mother holds him out to thee in her Arms and calls thee to his Humanity lest his Divinity should affright thee O Infant God the Joy and Consolation of Mankind O Infant God the Light of Eternity and Comfort of the Universe O Infant God the unspeakable Delight of all Creatures and the sweetest Gladness of Souls Why should not I suffer for thee since thou camest purposely into the World to suffer for me O Immortal and yet Mortal Child wherefore art thou in this Stable wherefore weeping and suffering in this Manger since thou art the Author of Grace and of all that is Graceful the Author of Delight of Joy and Gladness Were it not better O beautiful Infant were it not fitter that Sin that is I should suffer than thou who art Innocency itself Were it not fitter that the wicked should be in pain than that thy Goodness should endure it What hast thou done O tender Infant that thou bewailest the faults of others and makest the punishments of them thine own Wilt thou O sweetest Goodness wash my defiled Soul with thy Tears Wilt thou O lovely Child by suffering Cold inflame the coldness of my Heart or dost thou feel that cold to reproach the coldness of my Devotion O Glory and Comfort of my Soul Would God it were so clean and pure that I might offer it instead of Swathes to enfold and to embrace thy tender Body Would God it were full of Spiritual Flowers and sweet-smelling Vertues that I might lay them in that Manger instead of that straw which was honoured with bearing upon it that Divine Eternal Grain which is the Food and Nourishment of all that is created But O Holy and Eternal Infant I have nothing in me to offer thee but Thorns nothing but Sins and Miseries in my Soul and it is not just to anticipate those Thorns which must one day Crown thy sacred Head nor to begin so early to hurt that tender Body with them O thou that art my Happiness and my Glory how soon do my Sins begin thy Punishment How soon doth thy Love lye suffering between two Beasts dying for the love of Man who within few years art to suffer Death between two Men How soon O my Jesus after thy Birth art thou in the company of Beasts who art to live amongst Beasts and to dye amongst Beasts of a more cruel kind These at thy Birth are much more innocent for how brutish soever they be yet the Ox knows his Owner and the Ass his Master's Crib but they would neither know nor receive their Saviour but first they scourge and buffet and then nail their Redeemer to the Cross Why dost thou weep O Heavenly Child Yet since it is natural to thee to weep because thou hast taken our Nature weep because I do not weep to the end that I may weep with thee since thou sighest let it be because I do not sigh since thou feelest pains let it be because I am insensible of thy pains and let them beget in me a deep sense of my unworthiness that thou shouldst suffer them for my sake Let those Tears of thine become my Remedy and my Rejoycing transfer them from thine eyes to mine and as they wash thy beautiful Cheeks let them also wash my polluted Soul Transfer the love of thy tender heart to this obdurate heart of mine and grant as it offends thee so it may infinitely grieve for having offended thee and desire with passionate longing to adore and to embrace thee Let the thought of that frosty Season wherein thou wert born thaw this frozen heart of mine into a love of thee that sufferedst that frost for me who am benumb'd with one more hard and lasting for that continued some few weeks perhaps but this of my heart has continued many years O that I had suffered it for thee dear Child for the most rigorous frost that is felt for thy sake is Warmth is Love and is not Ice but Fire to kindle and inflame my heart Thou wert born for my Happiness and for my Remedy Grant O dear Lord that such a Repentance such a Sorrow and such a Contrition may be born in my Soul as may prepare and fit me for my Remedy and grant that the light and power of those Beams of Love which dart from the beautiful Countenance of thy Humanity may drive away the darkness of Sin and Infidelity from my Soul which thou camest to banish from thence and may kindle in me such a fire of love towards thee as nothing may ever be able to extinguish it The Fourth WEEK Of the other Mysteries of our Lord till his Preaching and first of Circumcision IT is hard to get out of this Cottage that was honoured with the Birth of our Lord which is the sweetest Mystery and fill'd with the softest
foulest and the most disloyal that ever trod upon the Ground beginning as the Divine Physician with Judas who had the most deadly Disease and hastening the Remedy to him first that was in the greatest danger Others who would have St. Peter to be Head of the Church say He began with him That Reformation being the best grounded and the most powerful which begins from the highest descending from the Head unto the rest of the Body That holy Apostle seeing his Redeemer at his Feet was humbled and confounded before he touched them He that had walked upon the Waters and Trampled upon the Waves sinks deeper in this Bason through Love than he had done in the depth of the Sea through Fear Seeing an Humility so beyond all measure and that his God was down upon his Knees at his Feet he was in such an amazement that he denied them him saying Lord thou shalt not wash my feet O what an high acknowledgment was this of St. Peter when he said Lord wilt thou wash my feet It was in its kind an higher one than when he confessed him near Cesarea He then knew him and confessed him to be God but he did not know himself but now Peter acknowledges him to be God Infinite and Omnipotent and himself to be a wretched weak Man and a most miserable Sinner Many pretend to know God and are ignorant of themselves but they know him indeed who by his Divine Light come to discover their own Darkness Lord wilt thou wash my feet Thou the God of Heaven and I a little Dust of the Earth Thou the Creator and I the vilest of all Creatures Thou the Eternal Greatness of the Creation the Soul of all that lives and I the frailest the meanest of all that Die Thou my Master and I thy Disciple Thou the King and Crown of Angels and I a poor simple Fisherman nay which is worse a sinful Worm and therefore more base than any of those that crawl upon the Ground Thou that art Innocency adn Goodness itself upon thy Knees at the Feet of my Sins and of my Wickedness Finally O my Jesus Thou who art greater than the greatest dost thou kneel at my Feet who am less than the least of thy Mercies Thus the Humility of that loving Disciple opposed that of his Master with a Holy Contention while all stood looking and admiring to behold which would get the Victory whether the Human nature knowing the infinite height of the Divine or the Divine knowing the infinite Misery of the Humane It seems more just that here Peter should have overcome God than God Peter as it is more reasonable that Man should serve God than that God should serve Man It is the part of Man to obey and of God to command to Man it belongs to Serve and to God to suffer himself to be Served Loved and Adored This indeed was a Mystery of Love and Divine Charity and he shewed this excessive kindness to oblige and to enflame theirs to him and to one another by his example saying If I being your Master and your Lord have washed your Feet ye ought also to wash one anothers Feet That Love which made him being God to become Man made him being Man to humble himself before Man And that Sovereign Lord never took a righter course for that high intent than by humbling and prostrating himself to wash to cleanse and to purifie Man He made himself Man that he might redeem him and did it seem much for God being become Man to kneel down to wash him Yes dear Jesus it is much much beyond expression for nothing of all this could be deserved by Man He does not deserve any remedy because he has been the Author of his own Misery but thy unbounded thy unspeakable compassion looks upon his Necessity and not upon his Demerits Whither dear Saviour shall the high expressions of thy Love extend Where shall this Infinite Charity of thine be limited Behold Lord we are Men that is to say meer Misery and Wickedness Behold Lord thou art God that is to say the most Sovereign Power and Supreme Majesty Dost thou so far abase thy Divinity as to drag it upon the Earth within thy Humanity Is it not enough for thee to make thy self Man unless thou humblest and prostratest thy self before Man Who can see God at his feet without falling into an Extasy of Astonishment and without giving up his life through an excessive Humility Who can choose but die with shame and confusion to see so unfitting an in-equality I do not wonder that St. Peter resisted it for besides that he knew that his Master was God and he a vile Creature he loved his God and he loved his Master extreamly much and in the same proportion that he loved him was the trouble he felt to see him kneeling at his feet since he knew that it was the duty of all earthly Creatures to serve and adore him But yet for all that Peter at last yielded to Christ it being most just that man should yield to God since the greatest Humility lies in the greatest Obedience the Disciple therefore must obey his Master and the Servant his Lord. Our Saviour told him that if he would not be washed and purified he could have no share in his Redemption at the hearing of which terrible Sentence Peter offered him not only his feet to be washed but his Hands and his Head also To this Christ replyed He that is washed needeth not save only to wash his Feet but is clean all over That is he that hath been already washed in the Laver of Baptism needeth only to wash the Feet of his Affections which from the Earth and misery of our Inclinations and Passions rise up to the Heart Hereby the Redeemer of Souls signifies that Purity wherewith we ought to prepare our selves for the receiving of the Blessed Sacrament for before he Consecrates that he in the washing his Disciples feet gives them an example of Humility and Resignation and in the Water expresses the vertue of those penitent Tears wherewith they were to wash their Sins and bewail their Miseries And by not suffering the Dust of the Earth to remain upon their Feet teaches them that they should much less suffer inordinate Affections to remain in their Hearts In short our Blessed Lord washed the feet of all the Holy Apostles and amongst the rest those of the Traitor Judas whose cruel Obstinacy was so great that neither the touching them with those Divine Hands nor the bringing them so near to the Compassionate Breast of the Redeemer of Souls could mollifie the hardness of his Heart nor change the cruelty of his Intention O how hard-hearted a thing is Covetousness What an insensible Rock How well does St. Paul call it the Source of all evil O what a difficult thing it is to bring those with sincerity home to God who once have lost their respect to him so far as to dare to offend him
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
the Occasion Thou shalt be with me thou that dyest with me shalt go with me but if thou hadst not kept me Company in Death thou shouldst not have kept me Company in Paradise All which are rare Singularities which if they do not shorten the Power of God and his Grace towards others yet St. Austin notes that they may well make Man's Presumption tremble Finally we have more reason to fear in this case God's Justice for that the other Thief was not sav'd though he was so near our Saviour because he had delayed his Repentance till Death than to be too confident of his Mercy who saved the good Thief with so many limitations What is all this but to warn us to do well while we live and enjoy our Youth our Health and our Strength and not to defer our Amendment till the hour of our Death And to make us observe that good living and good dying go together and that evil living and evil dying do so too and that to expect those Miracles when we die which only happened at the Death of our Saviour will instead of making him our Friend while we live most certainly provoke him to be our Enemy at our Death and Judgment Thus Good Works are the probable Signs of a good Death to follow and an ill Death is the sign of Evil Works which went before FINIS A Catalogue of Books Printed for Samuel Smith at the Prince's Arms in St. Paul's Church-yard 1692. THE Meditations of Marcus Aurelius Antoninus the Roman Emperour concerning himself Treating of a Natural Man's Happiness wherein it consisteth and of the means to attain unto it Translated out of the Original Greek with Notes By Meric Causabon D. D. The Fifth Edition To which is added The Life of Antoninus with some select Remarks upon the whole by Monsieur and Madam Dacier Never before in English In 8o. 1692. The Wisdom of God manifested in the Works of the Creation In two Parts viz. The Heavenly Bodies Elements Meteors Fossils Vegetables Animals Beasts Birds Fishes and Insects more particularly in the Body of the Earth its Figure Motion and Consistency and in the Admirable Structure of the Bodies of Man and other Animals as also in their Generation c. By John Ray Fellow of the Royal Society The Second Edition very much enlarged In 8o. 1692. Three Discourses concerning the Changes and Dissolution of the World The First of the Creation and Chaos The Second of the General Deluge Fountains formed Stones Subterraneous Beds of Shells Earthquakes and other Changes in our Terraqueous Globe The Third of the General Conflagration Dissolution and means of bringing them to pass Of the Future State c. The Second Edition Corrected and very much enlarged and Illustrated with Copper Plates By John Ray Fellow of the Royal Society In 8o. 1692. A Treatise of Church-Government Or A Vindication of Diocesan Episcopacy against the Objections of the Dissenters in Answer to some Letters lately Printed concerning the same Subject By Robert Burscough M. A. In 8o. 1692. Several Books Written by the Reverend Dr. Rich. Lucas Vicar of St. Stephen's Coleman-street Practical Christianity Or An Account of the Holiness which the Gospel enjoyns with Motives to it and the Remedies it proposes against Temptations with a Prayer concluding each distinct Duty In 8o. 1685. Enquiry after Happiness in several Parts c. The Second Edition enlarged In 8o. 1692. The Duty of Apprentices and Servants 1. The Parents Duty how to Educate their Children that they may be sit to be employed and trusted 2. What Preparation is needful for such as enter into Service with some Rules to be observed by them how to make a wise and happy Choice of a Service 3. Their Duty in Service towards God their Master and themselves with suitable Prayers to each Duty and some Directions peculiarly to Servants for the Worthy Receiving the Holy Sacrament Published for the Benefit of Families In 8o. A Sermon Preached at the Funeral of Mr. Tho. Lamb July 23d 1686. In 4o. A Sermon Preached at the Assizes held at Horsham in Sussex August 23. 1691. Christian Thoughts for every day of the Month with a Prayer wherein is represented the Nature of Unfeigned Repentance and of Perfect Love towards God In 12o. 1692. The Plain Man's Guide to Heaven Containing First his Duty towards God Secondly towards his Neighbour With proper Prayers Meditations and Ejaculations Designed chiefly for the Country-man Tradesman Labourer and such like In 12o. 1691. Devotion and Charity A Sermon Preached before the Lord Mayor March 30. 1692. The Christan Race A Sermon Preached before the Queen July 31. 1692. Mr. Thornton's Sermon at the Assizes held at Chelmsford in Essex September 2d 1691. Mr. Gee's Sermon before the Queen Aug. 7. 1692. Dr. Stanley's Sermon at the Consecration of Thomas Lord Bishop of Lincoln January 10. 1691 2. The History of the Roman Conclave Containing the Rites and Ceremonies used and observed at the Death Election and Coronation of the Pope As also an Exact Description of the State of Rome during the Vacancy of that Chair Together with a brief Account of the Life of this present Pope Innocent XII By W. B. M. A. 1691. Medicinal Experiments Or A Collection of Choice Remedies for the most part Simple and easily prepared which being cheap may be made Serviceable to poor Country People By the Honourable Robert Boyle Esq late Fellow of the Royal Society Licensed Nov. 18. 1691. by Sir Robert Southwell President of the Royal Society and the major part thereof Printed before the Author's Death who Deceased Decemb. 30th 1691. To which is annexed a Catalogue of all his Theological and Philosophical Works together with the Order of Time wherein each of them hath been Published respectively In 12o. 1692. Of the Reconcileableness of Specifick Medicines to the Corpuscular By the Honourable Robert Boyle Esq Fellow of the Royal Society In 8o. 1686. Miracles Works above and contrary to Nature Or an Answer to a late Translation out of Spinosa's Tractatus Theologico-Politicus Mr. Hobs's Leviathan c. In 4o. 1683. History of the Original and Progress of Ecclesiastical Revenues By the Learned P. Simon 1685.