with a generous heart all the difficulties and bad steps that he meets with in the Road if there be Hunger Thirst Cold or Heat he must be the first to feel it in his own proper Person Can there be a Christian if he be not a greater Coward than a Thersite who will not take a strong resolution to convert himself to Jesus Addit deinde Apostolus ibid. Et obliti estis consolationis quae vobis tanquam filiis loquitur c. follow his Colours fight under his Conduct being that besides Heaven which he does promise us as the reward of our Victories he does oblige himself to comfort us as often as we fight and as long as our Combat shall last CHAP. XXIX That the Immortality of our Soul ought to make us undervalue the World ARchimedes the Geometrician did boast in his days that he would make the Earth get out of its Center if any would assign him a point out of the Earth whereon he might fix one of the Rods of his Compass whether that be possible or no Cum interrogas unde sit anima utrum quasi regionem ejus patriam unde huc venerit nosse desideras propriam quandam habitationem animae ac patriam Deum ipsum credo esse à quo creata est substantiam vero ejus nominare non possum non enim eam puto esse ex his usitatis notisque naturis quas istis corporis sensibus tangimus D. Ang. tom 1. de quantitate anima cap. 1. circa initium I refer it At least I can tell for certain that the effect of his Art had never any Existence but in his own imagination And yet bragging that he would do it has acquired himself the admiration of all Antiquity If God had reserved those poor Pagans to live in the Age of the Evangelical Law they would have far greater reason to admire the inventions of him who placed Heaven and Earth out of their Center There was a Man who gave such strong shakes to Heaven and Earth that he forced them to change their Center He is the Son of God who taking humane flesh has brought himself to nothing and in the point of that humiliation has made himself the Center of the World Heaven did incline it self to come towards the Earth and the Earth leap'd with joy for having by a new transmigration found so perfect a settlement hard by its Center Quid de anima firmissime teneam non tacebo anima hominis immortalis est secundum quendam moâ—um suum non enim oâ—â— mâ—do de siâ—â—t Deus de quo dictum est quia sâ—lâ—s habet immortalitatem Paâ—lo â—nferius This wise Philosopher teaches us another Secret no less to be admired than the former which is not only to make the Earth change its Center getting it a place in the very middle of the Firmament but also to draw down the Firmament to give it place in the middle of the Earth The Christian Sed quod ita moritur alienata à vita Dei ut tamen in natura sua vivere non omnino desistat c. D. Aug. to 2. de natura origine animarum Epist 28. non longè à principio who has a firm belief of the immortality of the soul is an admirable Mathematician who can when he pleases set the Earth where Heaven is and Heaven where the Earth is He sets the Earth where Heaven is when that walking without the gallery of his sences he launces the thoughts of his spirit into Eternity for to contemplate the wonderful productions of Paradise and that glorious Inheritance whereof a Terrestrial creature pretends to take possession He sets Heaven where Earth is when with St. Paul he converses among men as if he had lived in the company of Angels entertaining nothing in his spirit but Angelical thoughts Seneca the moral Philosopher in an answer he makes to one of his Friends who earnestly desired that he would be pleased to prove the immortality of Souls makes it well appear Habet anima mortem suam cum vita beata caret quae vera animae vita dicenda est sed immortalis ideo nuncupatur quoniâ—â—â—qâ— alicumque vita etiamsi miserrima est nunquam 〈◊〉 vivere â— c. fuse that it lyes in the power of man to do that wonder telling of himself that he did exercise himself a long time in that imployment altogether Divine You have very much troubled me in my rest says he to his Freind for when I received your Letter I was giving my soul the fore-taste of glory and charming the drousiness of my Body by the sweet thoughts of the Immortality of my spirit D. Aug. to 3. l. 14. de Trin. c 4. statim mitio I was of belief that there was nothing in the world able to divert me from so happy an entertainment You have crost me in the object of my delights importuning me about a question of which all well-tempered souls ought not to have the least scruple You had obliged me more had you either abstained from writing or written to exhort me to live conformable to my belief Would to God that the effect of that repartee of Seneca had happened to be true among Christians and that such as are imployed to instruct the people Imago Dei invenienda est in animo hominis id est rationali sive intellectuali imago creatoris quae immortalitati ejus est insita Aug supra c. 3. were not obliged to trouble themselves to prove that verity so conformable to nature that the very Heavens according unto the saying of the learned Suares imprints in our bodies a certain feeling of immortality I must acknowledge with Aristotle in his charmes that some unfortunate genius jealous of so great an advantage has pierced our hearts through with a fatal nail and makes us like so many Estriches who can well strike at our flanks with our wings But the corruption of our nature which is no other than the Philosophers nail makes us always to incline downwards without giving us the liberty to look at Heaven until that a favourable Zephirus comes pleasantly on to solace our weakness by the powerful contribution of its forces and makes us to enjoy that innocent pleasure St. Augustin speaks of which is to live Immortal in the corruption of the Flesh by the serious meditation of Eternity And really if a Christian will but give himself the least leasure to think on this Subject he will soon find out Cleombrotus in hac animi magnitudine teperitur quem ferunt lecto Platonis libro ubi de immortalitate animae disputavit se praecipitem dedisse de muro atque ita ex vita migrasse ad eam quam credidit esse meliorem D. Aug. to 5. l. 1 civit c. 22. that his Spirit is immortal He knows well that Nature suffers no Powers to stand idle or useless She has given them sufficient
of that which he began viz. the Conversion of Sinners he ought to give the means most proper and the necessary Instructions to attain to that end There they have it in St. Matthew Matth. c. v. 19. Luceat lux vestra coram hominibus ut videant opera vestra bona let your Light shine before Men not by making the fire of Heaven to come thundring down on the Criminal and guilty Heads of Sinners not by commanding the Earth to open its flanks to swallow into its Bowels all Obstinate and Rebellious Souls nor the Air to form and let fly its Thunder-bolts to frighten the World Ego lucem accendi ut vero peseveret ardens vestri sit studii non propter me vosque ipsos tantum verum etiam propter eos qui eadem luce potientur vobisque ducentibus viam veritatis invenient D. Chrysost to 2. hom 15. in c. 5. Matth. But by rendring your selves imitable by your good and Holy Conversation to the end that Sinners seeing your good Works may Glorifie your Father which is in Heaven St. John the Baptist wrought no Miracles at least that ever we heard of either by History or otherwise But his Conversation was so Powerful to move Souls that all Herod's Court were his Admirers the austerity he always observ'd in his Eating and Drinking the Courseness of his Garment his Zeal in Preaching and extolling the Glory of Pennance put so great a feeling into the Hearts of Sinners that he drew them after him as the Load-stone draws the Iron D. Basil Epist 175. St. Basil relates that such as went to the chase of Pidgeons in his time thought of a very good invention to draw them into their Pidgeon-houses they would take a tame and Domestick Pidgeon and put a grain or two of Musk under her wings and afterwards let her fly This little Creature soon after would fall into the company of wilde ones and draw them where-ever she went with the sweet Perfume she had hidden under her Wings Christi bonus odor sumus in omni loco 2 Cor. cap. 2. v. 16. Foelix praedicator qui sic praedicat evidenter ut sit odor Christi non foetor antichristi Gozra in c. 2. Corint Coelius Rhodig lib. 6. antique lection cap. 29. Jesus Christ is a Pidgeon who bears under the Wings of his Humanity the Musk of a Coelestial conversation the Girls of the Cantick followed him at the Scent of his Perfumes The Apostles as St. Paul says are Musked Pidgeons sent by Jesus Christ over all the World to Perfume all Nations and bring them by the sweet smell of their Angellical Conversation to the Pidgeon-house of his Church We may read in Coelius Rhodignus that at a certain Banquet where the seven wife Men of Greece met there was according to their custom a Question proposed Which was the House and Family that they might lawfully call most happy Solon answered it was that which was well stor'd with Riches lawfully gotten and well managed Cleobulus where the Master made himself more to be loved than feared Pettacus Propter nos conscientia nostra sufficit nobis fama propter proximum qui autem bonae conscientiae fidens famam negligit crudelis est Gozram in c. 8. 2. ad Corinth where all things abounded as well for decency as necessity Chilon where the Family was Governed after a Monarchick way and so of the rest But Bias in my thoughts hit best when he said that the most happy was where the Master and Servants were as well ordered and ruled in their exteriour conversation among Men Sanctificatus est enim vir infidelis per mulierem fidelem 1 Cor. 7. v. 13. as if they had been daily in the presence of the Gods St. Paul seems to be of the very same opinion when he councels a Woman who had taken an Infidel to her Husband not to forsake him Inter omnia quae regunt hominem in viae salutis praecipuum est sequi societatem sanctorum hoc ostendit psalmus verbo cum sancto sanctus eris Coeciliae facto quae virum suum ad fidem convertit Gozram in c. 7. 1 Cor. because she might convert him by her good Example by her sweet and most Friendly Conversation Magdalen ought to return many thanks to her Sister Martha for who do you think was it that made her resolve to go hear Jesus Preach in Jerusalem where she received the most lively feelings of her Conversion if we give credit to Tradition it was her good Sister Jesus may most lawfully claim the best and chiefest part in that holy and most happy Penitents Conversion But the good company of Martha and her rare Examples of Virtue did much contribute to it Our antient Fathers who knew by their long experience the great advantage of good and commendable company esteemed nothing so much as to meet with a virtuous Man to whose prudence they might impart their most secret thoughts I shall always harbour a good opinion of a Christian whilst he delights to be among good People We cannot remain any long time near Roses but we must partake of their smell Virtue is a Charm to allure all those that come near it One shall hear ten Sermons without any alteration of life who by seeing a good Christian in a Church with a dejected countenance a modest face and a posture altogether Religious shall be moved to compunction The Tongue may speak wonders but the Hands must work them A Prelate will make Statutes and Decrees far surpassing those of Lycurgus or Corondas But if his life be not conformable to his Laws all will soon vanish away We must then have an esteem for good company being God does appoint them as a means much conducing to our Salvation CHAP. XXII If any thing be contrary to the Conversion of a Sinner it must be bad and scandalous company THe Prophet-Royal had very good reason to begin his Psaltery Videte ne fortè licentia vestra offendiculum fiat infirmis c. 1 Cor. 8. v. 9. 12. by declaring him a blessed man who is never found in the Assembly of the wicked never known to go the same Road with Sinners and never seen to sit in the Chair of Pestilence It was a great happiness for Enoch to have quitted the World so soon Sap. c. 4. v. 10 Raptus est ne malitia mutaret intellectum ejus c. for God made haste to transport him from Iniquities to a place of assurance far from the society of the wicked where he might preserve the integrity of his life Principium beatudinis sapientiae sanctitatis est separari à commercio improborum non haec quidem perfecta beatitudo sed exordium gradus primus Engub in Psal 1. If it be commendable to resort to Wise and Virtuous Men because with them we may soon profit both in Wisdom and in Virtue It is very hard to preserve
ELIAe onus tenes Thesbitem igni vomo tolli super aëa curru Vidit Elizaeus nescit at ipse sequi Currus addest sequere mitis blandire Leoni Ecce TENES ELIAe dum Leo sistit ONVS A. F. Anagrammatismus En sine velis eo Anapaesticon Tu quisquis vela daturus aquis Per medias Syrtes rapidisque Mare vorticibus sulcare cupis Sequere impavidi plaustra Leonis Curvare scit Imperio Syrtes Fluctusque vagos talia fatus EN EO SINE VELIS Impavidus A. F. THE PREFACE AND Overture of the Design WHen God gave Commission to his Prophet to Announce unto King Ezechias the hour of his Death 4 Reg. c. 20. v. 1 2 3. seqq Talis erat infirmitas Ezechiae via naturali quâ mortem non poterat evadere vertit se tamen ad orandum pro fanatione quod non fecisset si Propheta sibi mortem denunciasset secundum ordinem voluntatis divinae Lyranus in hunc locum Doubtless it was sad news to a Young Prince who was not as yet but beginning to taste of the Pleasures of Life As soon as he had heard it he turns his Face to the Wall and lances towards Heaven most earnest Prayers mixt with a thousand Sighs for the recovering of his Health God hears him and fixing presently at the feet of his Supplication Ah be it so as you desire He doth authorize it with a Prodigy which did astonish the whole World Because that for to assure him of the verity of that Promise though he had placed the Stars in a firm settlement he rul'd their motions after an extraordinary way commanding the Sun to go back on his steps and to retrograde ten Degrees The King of Babylon seeing the Vniverse startled and seiz'd with admiration at the novelty of this Prodigy deputes soon after Embassadors with orders to Congratulate Ezechias that Heaven and Earth did concur to the Happy recovering of his Health As they were arriv'd they were Treated Royally The Prince Honours them with his Presence every where gives them a sight of the Rarities of his Pallace of the Magnificence of his Court of the Grandeur of his Riches Opens the Cabinets where all shines with precious Stones and pieces of Remark conducts them into the Hall of Perfume and through that of the Vessels of Price and omits nothing that might cause them to have a high esteem of His Majesty But at the same time as this Prince was making a shew of his Power God pronounces the Sentence of his Condemnation Isaia declares the contents of it to him Hear the word of the Lord says he unto him the day shall come that they will plunder your Palace All the Treasures that your Ancestors have left you shall be as a booty to the Babylonians Your Children shall be the Eunuches of their Kings Palace Great God! what was the crime of Ezechias to deserve such a punishment Has he sinned by shewing unto those Foreign Embassadors what Precious things he had in his Cabinets Was Solomon Criminal by shewing the Queen of Sheba the brave Oeconomy of his House Scripture in the second of Paralipomene declares the Justice of that Punishment in this In legatione principum Babilonis quimissi fuerant ad eum ut interrogarent eum de portento quod acciderat super terram dereliquit eum Dominus 2 Paralip c. 32. v 35 that the Embassadors of Babylon did not only come to Congratulate this Prince nor admire his Riches but also to be particularly instructed in the subject of this Prodigy arriv'd in the retrogradation of the Sun that they might have occasion to praise the Author of it and to admire his Power A brave subject of Glorifying God which this ungrateful King suffers to escape For he ought at the first Audience he gave to those Embassadors to have related with a great deal of Sorrow how he was the subject of this Prodigy that he was Sick on his Bed already condemn'd to die that the Soveraign Bounty accepting of his Prayers was pleas'd to restore him to his Health Oravit Dominum exaudivitque eum dedit ei signum sed non juxta beneficia quae acceperat retribuit quia elevatum est cor ejus facta est contra eum ira 2 Paralip c 32 v. 24 â—5 seqq and moreover to prolong his Life fifteen years that for his consideration who was but a worm of the Earth the King of Glory was pleas'd to stop the course of the Stars and that he had no other return of Thanks to be made to the King their Master only this that by the Honour of his Visit he had procur'd him the means to manifest the Glory of his Benefactor whom he resolv'd evermore to publish over all the Corners of the Earth But because he makes Ostentation of his Vanities and that instead of Preaching the liberal Bounties of his God he glories in his Treasure he is condemn'd to the severity of a just Vengeance at the same time that he blots out of his Spirit the remembrance of his Obligations Ezechias Sick in his Bed 't is Adam plung'd in his Sin Isaie who in the Name of God doth announce Death unto him 't is the same God who declares it unto Adam if he doth eat of the forbidden Fruit. Ezechias turn'd towards the wall and who all overwhelm'd with Tears demands a Cure represents the ardent Sighs of the Prophets and Patriarchs for the Cure of Man by the Messias coming to the World The Promise of the cure made to this Prince 't is the decree of the Redemption of Man concluded in the Conclave of the three Divine persons The Sun retrograded ten Degrees 't is Jesus humbled beâ—eath the nine Quires of Angels nay and beneath Man too seeing that he doth number himself with the Prophet through an Abyss of Submission to the Category of the Sensitives not of the most perfect but of the meanest worms vile Excrements of the Earth Those strange Embassadors are the poor Infidels or as well the ignorant Christians who after a confus'd manner have heard somthing of a God born in a Manger Son of the Virgin and Crucified for their Love but who to be more fully inform'd of the Motives Causes and Consequences of this so adorable a Prodigy go either into the Churches or have their recourse to Catholick Books to see whether they may give them further Intelligence But if Preachers who as Chancellours ought to speak in the Name of their Prince will buisy themselves to unfould the Treasures of a Science altogether Humane Confundantur qui operantur linum pectentes extentes subtilia Isa 19. v. 9. the Riches of a politick Phylosophy and the subtile Inventions of their Spirit If the Catholick Writers who as Secretaries of State ought to write down the Wills of their Master do fill up entire Volumes with Poetical Fictions with the Amadis of Gaule Revelatur ira Dei de
Alliance of men with God both in the Mystery of his Incarnation and in the Mystery of his second Nativity Our Saviour says he is come unto the World as if it were unto his own and his own did not receive him To them nevertheless Potestas est potentia stabilita per adventum Spiritus unde patet quod non est in aliquo potestas in quo non fuerit prius potentia naturalis quia est in hominis voluntate ut possit fieri potestas si non ponit obicem gratiae Hugo Card. in c. 1. Joan. that had receiv'd him he gave power to be made the Children of God That power says Hugo the Cardinal is a stable Power determin'd by Grace and fortified by the Holy-Ghost A Power says the same Doctor which supposes Nature already prepar'd to give it no obstacle nor opposition with a great difference however for the Natural Power which we have to be the Children of God may be seperated from the Almighty Power Because that is but a simple possibility far from any Act this follows the conditions of liberty which in the advantages of Grace is near to its effect Great God says St. Augustine is not your Love without measure for men You are not at all of the humour of the Children of the World who are afraid to have many Brothers Co-heirs that they alone might succeed without any Associates to the Inheritance of their Parents You are the only Son of the Father and yet you do not desire to remain the sole Heir of his Substance You call without any exception to the Rights of Heaven and Eternity all them who undervaluing the Dross of the World shall believe in your Gospel We must not wonder at it for the Wealth of the Earth being divided groweth less the Wealth of Heaven contrariwise by communication doth increase St. John pursuing the History of the Incarnation adds Quasi securitatem faciens ait verbum caro factum est quid ergo miraris quiahomines ex Deo nascuntur attende ipsum Deum ex hominibus natum D. Aug. to 9. tract 2. in Joan. sub finem And the Word is made Flesh Remark the Coherency Dear Reader he comes to establish the Second Nativity of Jesus in the stable Powers of our Liberty And to the end says the Great St. Augustine that this should not seem incredible to any that a pitiful Creature should be Honoured with a Title not imaginary but subsistant of Divine Filiation he says that God is made man as if he were to draw this consequence if the Omnipotent Power of a God infinitely Adorable contrary to the ordinary Laws has abased it self to the union of a Nature so abject of it self as Humane Nature is Who will doubt but that a sinner Anima namque habet aliquam propinquitatem ad Deum Treophilactus in c. 1 Joan. touch'd with the Graces of Heaven and Converted by a sublime elevation may approach to the Throne of the Divinity there to receive by pre-eminency the Title of a Filial Adoption What were you willing to teach us O Saviour of the World when nail'd on the wood of the Cross Cum vidisset Jesus matrem discipulum stantem quem dilegebat dixit matri suae mulier ecce filius tuus Joan. 19. v. 26. whereon you were rendering to men the last proofs of your Love looking with an Amorous Eye at your Mother you said unto her that from thenceforth St. John should be her Son Will you refuse her after your Death what you would not take from her during your Life What a heart-breaking would it be to the Virgin when after the Death of Jesus thinking to discourse of high affections to comfort her poor Heart afflicted for his absence she should be denied ever to call him again by this worthy Name of Son more sweet than Honey No this Commandment would be a thing impossible and Love that knows not what it is to Obey where there is question of a Division would never consent to the rigour of its practice 'T is that St. John at the foot of the Cross was the figure of the Adoptive Children of Grace And to the end that the Virgin should acknowledge them for such Love them and Cherish them as she who ought most to Interess her self in the common and particular good of men Our Saviour says to her Woman behold thy Son unspeakable Happiness to see that he who had for his Lodging the Bowels of Mary should be pleas'd to assign us for a residence her proper heart Or else let us say Sicut portavimus imaginem terreni portemus imaginem Celestis 1 Cor. c. 15. v. 49. that by his last Will and Testament he was to give her an excellent proof of his Affections by leaving his Image deposited in her For every sinner Converted by the Grace of God is the Image of Jesus Crucified according to the Apostle's Doctrine follow'd with a rare thought of St. Augustine D. Aug. lib. de Sancta virginitate for after he had said that the Virgin is our Mother Mother by Spirit as she is our Saviours by Nature he goes further and remarks that she bears her Spiritual Children in her Bosome not for the space of nine Months only but as long as they are in this Life and is not deliver'd of them untill she introduces them to Heaven That is also the aim and scope of all the design of this Work wherein we shall make appear how that by the powerful endeavours of Grace the Holy Ghost labours incessantly to make us conceive the word of Salvation whose term must be Jesus form'd in our Hearts and 't is that which I shall call hereafter the Child of Heaven and of Grace and particular Saviour I am deceiv'd if St. Mark would not fain speak of this Sacred Fruit when he tells us That the Messias one day took a little Child in his Arms Quem cum complexus esset Mark 9. Math. 18. v. 2. and having set him in the middle of his Apostles Embrac'd him tenderly Where St. Matthew adds That he told them if they would not become like unto that Infant they should never enter into the Kingdom of Heaven I omit divers Interpretations of this passage to speak of that of St. Jerome who by that Infant understands the Holy-Ghost and says That he who by Grace is Converted unto God D. Hieron in catena ad c. 18. Matth. receives the Holy-Ghost who bears him Testimony that he is a Child of God Who will doubt but that the Eternal Father will embrace this Infant for the resemblance he has with his First Born The Son acknowledge him for his Younger Brother and the Holy Ghost own him for his own Work In a word my Dear Reader Omnis qui filio Dei credit conservatur secundum Evangelicos actus conversus ambulat quasi puer Qui autem non convertitur ut fiat sicut puer
hunc impossibile est intrare in regnum celerum Origenes Tract 3. ad illud qui scandalizaverit unum t. Whoever is not a Child after this Nature can hope for nothing in the successions of Heaven But take Courage for he who even from this World doth engage the Fidelity of his Word for assurance of an Eternal Blessing to them who without fraud or malice hanging close at the Paps of his Graces shall draw from thence the Spirit of Life will never deprive you of that Inheritance seeing that his Goodness is altogether as plenty in the Communication of his Favours as the Fidelity of his Word is certain in the Execution of his Promises The CONTENTS Chap. I. THat the Conversion of a Soul ought to be Fram'd according to the Word-Incarnate pag. 1 Chap. II. That the Conversion of a Soul is a second Nativity of Jesus pag. 12 Chap. III. Who ought to be the Father in this second Nativity pag. 23 Chap. IV. That there is in this Nativity a supposed Father as well as in that of Jesus pag. 30 Chap. V. That the Delivery and Birth of this Child must be in Pain and Sorrow pag. 38 Chap. VI. That this Sorrowful Delivery is the Accomplishment of the Word-Incarnate pag. 47 Chap. VII That it is the Angel of Great Council who brings to the Soul the Word of her Conversion pag. 54 Chap. VIII That it belongs to God alone to Convert a Soul pag. 64 Chap. IX The Confidence that a Soul ought to have in her God pag. 74 Chap. X. How God does cast into a Soul the Seed of her Conversion pag. 83 Chap. XI The Stratagems that Jesus makes use of to Convert a Soul pag. 95 Chap. XII That to become Servants to God we must know the World pag. 110 Chap. XIII That we cannot complain of the want of sufficient means for our Conversion pag. 125 Chap. XIV That the Infidel and Still-born Children cannot complain of God pag. 134 Chap. XV. God no sooner sees a Soul desirous of her Salvation but he gives her his helping Hand pag. 146 Chap. XVI How hard it is to Convert a Luke-warm Soul pag. 163 Chap. XVII God will not destroy those Luke-warm Souls which he begins to vomit pag. 172 Chap. XVIII For to Convert a Sinner God must afflict him pag. 181 Chap. XIX How the Devil hinders a Sinner to Convert himself to God in Affliction pag. 192 Chap. XX. It is by Preaching that Sinners are efficaciously moved pag. 202 Chap. XXI How Powerful good Example is for to touch a Sinner pag. 217 Chap. XXII If any thing be contrary to the Conversion of a Sinner it must be bad and scandalous company pag. 225 Chap. XXIII That to think of Death has a great power on the Conversion of a Sinner pag. 233 Chap. XXIV That the remorse of the Conscience is an Efficacious Instrument of our Conversion pag. 249 Chap. XXV That the Sinner can never be Converted whilst he smothers the Remorse of his Conscience pag. 261 Chap. XXVI That a Soul will not Convert her self to God unless she knows that she has no true Friend in this World pag. 268 Chap. XXVII That we cannot meet with a better Friend than Jesus pag. 279 Chap. XXVIII That Jesus is the only Friend who Comforts us on occasion pag. 293 Chap. XXIX That the Immortality of our Soul ought to make us undervalue the World pag. 307 Chap. XXX That the Mortality of our Souls sets all Crimes at Liberty pag. 319 Chap. XXXI That the Angels are imployed in the Conversion of a Sinner pag. 327 Chap. XXXII That the Devil hinders the Conversion of a Sinner pag. 338 Chap. XXXIII For to resist the Devil we must know his Power pag. 341 Chap. XXXIV The good Angels have more Power to Convert us than the bad Angels have to pervert us pag. 352 Chap. XXXV How the Flesh usurps on the right of the Spirit pag. 360 Chap. XXXVI The Second unjust Vsurpation of the Flesh on the right of the Spirit pag. 365 Chap. XXXVII The third unjust Vsurpation of the Flesh on the right of the Spirit pag. 371 Chap. XXXVIII That it is the Grace of Jesus which maintains the Spirit in his Rights pag. 375 Chap. XXXIX That the Grace of Jesus leaves that weighty obligation on all Christians to be both Souldiers and Conquerours pag. 393 Chap. XL. That the thoughts of Hell does bring the Sinner to his Duty pag. 406 Chap. XLI The first consideration of Hell pag. 409 Chap. XLII The second consideration of Hell pag. 416 Chap. XLIII The third consideration of Hell pag. 424 THE CONVERSION OF THE SOUL Form'd by the Patern of the Word-Incarnate PART I. CHAP. I. That the Conversion of a Soul ought to be Fram'd according to the Word-Incarnate WHat a High and Mighty Lord is Man what rich and ample Possessions has he if they had not been engag'd for the payment of his Debts All Creatures labour for his Service and seem to aim at nothing else but to procure his Glory St. Paul to set forth the Happiness of his Condition assures that the Angels were Created to Honour him with their Attendance Nonne omnes sunt administratorii spiritus Hebr. 1. The Sun the Moon the Stars are so many Lanthorns set out by the powerful hand of God to lead and lighten him through darkness the Heavens rowl over his Head to divide the year into Seasons for the welfare of his Body and the Recreation of his Senses they do power down their Influences upon the most private parts of the Earth to form therein Jewels and Pearls Gold and Silver for his Expence and Pleasure The Seas and the Floods Omnia subjecisti sub pedibus ejus Ps 8. whose roaring waves and cloudy storms often make all the Earth to Tremble stand calm nevertheless at his Command for to give him a firm and free passage from one Pole to the other In fine there is not any Creature but what does cast it self at the Feet of Man in sign of Subjection and Reverence Who perhaps seeing himself in the Splendour of that great Empire will become as Insolent as the Prince of Laodicea who beholding his great Wealth his resplendant Court and gallant Attendance Dives sum locupletatus Apoc 3.17 said I am rich and potent I have all things at command I want no bodies help or assistance His Pride made him to forget his Extraction from Dust and Ashes as also his dependency on God and his former misery Let not Man fall into the same misfortune let him not admire over-much the Beauty of his fine Feathers let him not become so Insolent in the abundance of his Wealth nor conceive any vain glory at the Homage and Reverence which he receives from all other Creatures Let him remember that He hath nothing but what is lent to him and that he must be accountable for all the goods he doth enjoy He hath God for his Creditor who by giving cannot
do assure you that your Sins are forgiven you and that hereafter you may presume to be the Adoptive Daughter of the Holy Ghost your demand is both difficult and without profit difficult because that I hold my self unworthy of the honour and priviledge of having Revelations without profit for you ought not to hope nor desire the infallible assurance of the remission of your Sins until the last breath of your life be spent when you shall have no more the power to be sorry for them Look at St. Paul who though rapt up to the third Heavens where he had so many Revelations yet he Chastises his Body and Mortifies his Flesh for fear That Preaching to others he should become a Reprobate himself And you that creep like a worm on Earth would you fain live in Security That is not reasonable dear and well-beloved Daughter too great a security is the Mother of Carelesness he that will not watch having his enemy hard by does expose himself to the danger of loosing his Life we must be always upon our Guard so long as we have occasion for Fighting Though these Verities cannot be contradicted and that the Testimony which our Spirit may give us to be the Children of God Quod testimonium reddit per effectum amoris filialis quem in nobis faciat D. Thom. in hunc locum is not Infallible however That ought not to be taken but as to Us and in the knowledge which we may have of it but as for the Holy Ghost it is most certain of a certainty of Faith that supposing the Grace of God in a man he is truly the adopted Son of the Holy Ghost because Grace cannot proceed but from that Eternal beginning St. James is of the same opinion for he says That all guifts come from above whence it follows that not finding a Father on Earth for this second Child we may justly derive his Pedigree from Heaven CHAP. IV. That there is in this Nativity a supposed Father as well as in that of Jesus SOme would fain take away from St. Joseph the Title of Lawful Spouse of our Blessed Lady because he was not the true Father of our Lord Jesus perhaps they grounded themselves on that Antient Tradition quoted by St. John Damascene Nicephorus Damasc lib. de fide 15. Nicephor ex Euodio lib. 1. cap. 7. Andreas Cret orat de dormitione virg Andrew of Crete other Authors viz. That the Virgins which were kept in the Temple when they came to be Marriagable were to be return'd home to their Parents houses But because that the Parents of the Blessed Virgin were already deceased the Priests to whom it belong'd to provide for them in that case thought it fit to deliver her over to Joseph only to be Guardian of her Chastity That Tradition might be further Authoriz'd by some certain Expression that the Fathers make use of as St. Chrysologue Josephus maritus solo nomine conscientia sponsus Chrysol ser 175. D. Bern. Hom. 2. in Evang. Missus who calls Joseph a Husband by Name and a Spouse by Conscience as St. Bernard who gives him the Title of Man because he was a Man of Virtue and no Married Man I grant that Joseph is not the true Filius ut putabatur Joseph Luke 1. but the supposed Father only of our Lord Yet it cannot be concluded thence that he was not the Lawful Spouse of our Lady such bad Phylosophy might bring us to stumble and totter in our Faith for the words of St. Luke are to be understood literally where it is said Suarez in 3 part Tom. 2. q 29. disp 7. sect 1. That the Angel Gabriel is sent to Mary Spouse to a man by Name Joseph Theology teaches us to distinguish three considerable things in Marriage viz. The Contract the Cohabitation and the Use the Contract is a mutual Consent of both Parties who do engage themselves willingly by a mutual Protestation of Marriage the Cohabitation is when both come to live together with a Resolution to partake each of them joyntly the Labours and Toyls of a Family and the use is the Power which both parties have to concur unanimously to the lawful Propagation of their Generation That last part without speaking of the second is not of the Essence of Marriage as you may find in the Decree of Eugenius in the Councel of Florence and in the four and twentieth Session of that of Trent and reason makes it appear for in the Marriage of Adam which was a true Marriage whilst they were in the Terrestial Paradice it is most evident they came not to enjoy the Rights of that Society So that the mutual consent of Wills without the use compleating essentially Marriage Joseph must be the true Spouse of Mary though he be but the suppos'd Father of Jesus 'T is an Honour and the ground of all his greatness for if St. Gregory Nazianzen willing to comprehend in short all what could be said to the advantage of his Brother-in-Law was content to conclude with these words Supremumscalae gradum cui Dominus innixus est Joseph obtinet sed quomodo Deus Dominus huic homini inixus est utique tanquam tutori pupillus quippe qui in hoc mundo sine pater natus est Ruper l. 3. de divin of l. 1. de glor hon fil hom That he was the Husband of Gorgonia so it is enough to say that Joseph is the suppos'd Father of Jesus for to comprehend in few words all that ever could be invented to set forth his praise and extol his merit This made the Abbot Rupert comparing the Genealogy of our Saviour to Jacobs Ladder say That Joseph was the last step thereof and that on that step Jesus does rest himself sweetly as the Orphan in the Arms of his Guardian who though he be not his Natural Father must perform the Duty of a Father to him as well to relieve the Mother in her necessities as to Foster and Cherish the Child to the utmost of his Power That being granted who shall be the suppos'd Father of the Child of Grace and of the Soul form'd on the Word-Incarnate by the operation of the Holy Ghost Filioli mei quos iterum partutio donec formetur in vobis Christus Gal. 4. v. 19 St. Paul would fain assume unto himself that Title of Honour when he speaks these words My little Children of whom I travail in Birth again untill that Christ be form'd in you Quidnam aluo illo beatius fuit qui tales filios parere potuit qui in se Christum haberent D. Chrysost tom 5. hom 10. de poenit versus initium My dear Reader here is what deserves a serious consideration to beget is an Action of a Father and yet the Child who is to proceed from that Generation must be call'd Christ It must be then that St. Paul is not the true Father for had he been the right
Father he must then have been call'd Paul as he was But having the name Christ it must of necessity follow that he is but the suppos'd Father and as this Christ of whom St. Paul speaks Deus unicum quem genuerat per quem cuncta creaverat misit in hunc mundum ut non esset unus sed fratres haberet adoptates Aug. tract 2 in cap. 1. Ioan. cannot be the proper Son of the Virgin Mary to whom St. Joseph is suppos'd Father as we have already said we must conclude that he must be some other Christ like unto him and his Brother by Adoption This is what I call Child of Grace whom the Holy Ghost forms on the Word-Incarnate The Apostle explains by the comparison of a Gardiner how this quality befits himself I have planted Apollo did water Ego plantavi Apollo rigavit Deus autem incrementum dedit 1 Cor. cap. 3. vers 7. but God gave the Increase and soon after he adds That he who plants as well as he who waters are nothing all the Honour ought to be referr'd to God who gives the Increase Petilian a Donatist falsifying these words of St. Paul does construe them thus I made a Proselite in Christ Apollo Baptiz'd him and God has confirm'd what Apollo and I have done this interpretation is bad for betwixt Doing and confirming what is done there is great difference Thus God both makes and creates the Tree the Flowers and the Fruit he does then something more than to confirm But why should we trouble our Heads to find out the Apostle's meaning being that he does explain himself He hints at the Corinthians who under colour of Piety gave overture to a Scandalous Schism the one saying that they belong'd to Paul others to Apollo every one boasting to have had for Master in the Faith him who labour'd most to work their Conversion Are you not as yet says he Adhuc enim carnales estis cum enim sit inter vos zelos contentio nonne carnales estis secundum hominem ambulantes 1 Cor. v. 2. altogether flesh and blood and your Thoughts are they not altogether humane Do you know well what are Paul and Apollo They are his Ministers to whom you have engag'd your Faith forsaking the Synagogues of the Jews to embrace the Gospel of Christ they are Labourers who Plant and Water and nothing else We are but simple Instruments who can work no further than Outwardly God is the only Agent and chief cause who gives Life Vigour and a full accomplishment to the Spiritual Generation As if he had said he is the true Father we are only the suppos'd Coelest Hier. cap. 3. Ea demum cuilibet Divinae distinctioni dedito perfectio est pro modo suo ad Dei imitationem totis conatibus eniti quodque praestantius omnibus est ac divinius ut sacra testantur eloquia Dei cooperatores fieri divinamque in se operationem quantum potest palam cunctis ostendere The Divine Areopagite extols highly the excellency of that suppos'd Paternity by giving to those Evangelical persons who labour for the Conversion of Souls the Honour to be God's Co-adjutors in the Redemption of the World For speaking of the Coelestial Hierarchy he says That she makes it her imployment to treat of Gods most high and Sacred Mysteries as also to express in her self in as much as possible his Divine operations to communicate his Light to their subordinate Creatures that is says he the continual Study and Office of the Angels in Heaven But that of Apostolical men on Earth is nothing inferiour being they are the men appointed by God to distribute and Communicate his Sacred Mysteries to his People Ita que pontifex in dies ad dei similitudinem omnes homines salvos fieri cupiens ad agnitionem venire veritatis praedicat omnibus vera Evangelia D. Dionis Eccles Hierar c 2. Statim initio They are the true Imitators of his Divine operations For to work the Conversion of a Sinner what is it else than to draw the Copy and Resemblance of our Saviour in a Soul It is to Organize and prepare a heart to receive a Coelestial Form which gives it life The self-same consideration mov'd St. Paul to speak thus to the Corinthians 1 Cor. c. 4. v. 15 Nam si decem milia paedagogorum habeatis in Christo sed non multos patres cum in Christo Jesu per Evangelium ego vos genui Though you may have ten thousand Pedagogues yet you have but few Fathers I am He who is your Father for I have engendred you to Jesus by the Seed of the Gospel wherein he makes a notable distinction between Pedagogy and Paternity Verbum Dei est semen quo Apostolus eos genuit verbo veritatis D. Tho. hic Pater est qui primo generat paedagogus autem est quijam natum nutrit erudit Id. Ibid. For though the one and the other have Infancy for Object the Pedagogues design is to give them a slight Instruction tending to I know not what of Civility and Humanity to appear among the wise of the World The Spiritual Father has other kind of Thoughts for such as he begets to Jesus they have nothing of Humane nothing of the World does Grace animate them does Love conduct them and Heaven is their only aim And all that he pretends by the exercise of that Spiritual Discipline and Mystick Education is to form many Children on the Word Incarnate and render them capable to sit one day with Honour and Glory at the Table of their Eternal Father He that does otherwise is condemned of Adultery by St. Gregory 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cauponantes for commenting on the words of the Apostle where he says We are not as some people who Adulterate or according to the Greek Translation Who cook up the word of God Adulter quippe non prolem sed voluptatem quaerit sic perversus ac vanae gloriae serviens rectè adulterari verbum Dei dicitur quia per sacrum elo quium non Deo filios gignere sed suam scientiam desiderat ostentare D. Greg. l. 6. mo al. cap. 28. he remarks That he is an Adulterer who in the Sacrament of Marriage aims at nothing else but to cover and cloak the Insolency of the Flesh and to enjoy at ease his Bruitish Pleasures Even so the Preacher ought to be esteem'd an Adulterer who in the Exercises of his Charge scorns the Spiritual Generation of the Children of God but puffs up his heart with vain and foolish pretentions and runs like a Thirsty Deer after the Applause and Praise of the People These are the Infallible marks of a bad Faith and of a worse Conscience CHAP. V. That the Delivery and Birth of this Child must be in Pain and Sorrow IT is to offend the Catholick Belief to give out or believe that the Virgin Mary bore her
Erravi sicut ovis quae periit c. Psal 118. and last end but moreover he must be sorry to have opposed himself to the common good of all humane nature The eloquent St. Lyon Ovis una homo intelligendus est in unius enim adae errore omne genus humanum aberravit D. Hilar. Can. 18. had no less than reason to invite all men to a serious consideration of their Nobility and to conceive a high esteem for their Soul the best and chiefest part of their Individium being that the care and management of her Salvation is the imployment of a Divinity I strayed like a Sheep that was lost but O Lord find out your Servant says the King of Prophet St. Hillarion understands this lost Sheep to be all mankind misled by Adam's errour O how happy man is to have God for his Buckler to defend him and for his Champion to raise and redress him when he falls from the right way which leads to Salvation The excellency of an action must be derived either from its end or from its beginning or from both together so the actions of Jesus are noble by reason of the Divine supposit who does appropriate them to himself Those of God are as yet more noble because that their end and beginning are but the self-same thing And amongst creatures that must be the most honourable that shall have for their end the enjoyment and possession of his first beginning which is God Such is humane nature for to speak properly the work of Grace and the Fathers action in the production of the Word have but one way through which the current of Divine emanations does pass to the Holy Ghost that is the Son It is by the same Son says St. Basil that Grace does pass whether she descends to the Soul or whether she returns to her Fountain Ego sum via veritas vita Joan 14. v. 6. I am says our Saviour the Way the Truth and the Life if then the beginning the way and the end gives the title of pre-eminency to the action what shall we say of the conversion of a Soul which has for beginning the Eternal Father who is the first Off-spring of all filiations missions and motions that tend to good For way and passage the Son of God and for co-operator the Holy Ghost who happily makes all the work of our justification return to the beginning and source from whence it flows Here must the Angelical nature strike her Flag to pay homage to Grace and acknowledge that if the Divinity Judges the conversion of Souls an imployment worthy of her amorous Occupations She is highly honoured to be called to the Guardianship of Men. The Pagan whose feeling and expression was that he had not received Life or Understanding but for to contemplate Heaven would find now-a-days subject enough to give a sound and just check to Christians if by the light of Faith he had come to understand the particular care that God takes to convert and Deifie a Soul and doubt not but that at the hour of death the long List of our transactions shall be set before our eyes as also so many inventions of Love drawn out of the Treasures of the Eternal Wisdom and all imployed to work our conversion but to no purpose our malice and our obdurate hearts being so sunk in unlawful pleasures have rendred all those endeavours and inventions Fruitless There is nothing more displeasing to a liberal Prince than to see those on whom he bestowed his favours to repay him with ungratefulness Let us then begin to conceive an esteem for God's great favours and liberality to us and concurring with our liberties to the design of his love let us follow him step by step until that he does accomplish in us that Master-piece which can have no other model but the Word Incarnate CHAP. IX The Confidence that a Soul ought to have in her God THat Child all the rest of his days may live without care and Glory that the Heavens attended his Birth with a favourable constellation when he met with a Father who loves him as the Apple of his Eye who studies nothing more than his advancement and spares no labour or care to make him great in the World The Marriners who undertake a long Voyage and oblige themselves to Sail on the main Seas may lie down and take their rest without any disturbance when they do meet with a Master Pilot so well vers'd in his Art that he foresees all Winds and foul Weather the beginning progress and falling of a Storm and is ignorant of nothing that belongs to the secret practice of Navigation The Soldier may boldly march forward to a breach and face his enemies without apprehension when he Fights under the Command and Conduct of a Wise and Valiant Captain who by long Experience has Learn'd to venture nothing rashly to find out Stratagems when Force fails and in all Rencounters to remain victorious Master both of the Field and of all his Enemies spoils whether he does retreat Honourably or stand stedfast to his Ground What the Affectionate Father is to his Children the Pilot well experienc'd to his Sea-men and the Valiant Captain to his Soldiers The same is the Creator of the Universe by way of Super-eminency to all his Creatures God is to us a good Father Patrem dicendo veniam peccatorum paenarum interitum justificationem sanctificationem liberationem filiorum adoptionem haereditatem Dei fraternitatem cum unigenito copulatam sancti Spiritus dona largissima uno sermone signavit Do. Chrys hom 20. in cap. 6. Matth. statim initio for where will you find a Father so desirous of the Temporal advancement of his Children as God has appear'd Passionate for the good of Man His Affection is soon known by his dividing and sharing to them as well the moveable Goods of Time as the immoveable and permanent Felicities of Eternity The Heavens are for us and all their Coelestial Globes so Artificially wrought one into another doe not continue their Motions but to entertain the course of Sublunary Generations The Elements do not subsist in the variety of their Effects but upon our account and for our Welfare if the Earth does ptoduce fine Flowers and Fruit it is to present them to us the most adorable Mystery of the Incarnation gives us an assurance of all the Goods of Eternity It is a Contract of Association by virtue of which we are made Gods Heirs and Coheirs to his only and dearly beloved Son And to the end that this Contract should have the more force he left us his real Body the most precious Guift he could afford as the Interest of a thousand Blessings which according to his Promise we are to receive in Heaven Quis est hic quia venti mare obediunt ei Matth. 8. v. 27. God is to us a most Experienc'd Pilot
the Scribes and Pharisees admir'd him under that notion and quality saying one to another who is this Of whom the Wind and Seas stand so much in Awe and it happen'd that being once in a Ship with his Disciples the Seas began to grow rough the Waves to swell and the Winds to blow high he gives the Word of Command and presently a Calm was made no more high Winds nothing of a Storm the Seas lye as plain as a Table so that a Dice might run over all its Surface and a Bird build thereon her Nest without the least danger of miscarriage Tu Dominaris potestati maris c. Ps 88. v. 10. This is but the shadow and figure of what we do resent in our Souls Mystical Vessels whereof he has undertaken the steering For when the World that boisterous Sea aims to make us miscarry and run us down to an Abiss of Misfortune when Temptations over-sway us and that Satan with an infectious puff of his Breath strives to procure our utter destruction it is then that God doth stretch forth his Hand to us Movetur mare contradicit mare per strepit mare sed fidelis Deus qui non vos sinet tenture supra id quod potestus D. Aug. in Ps 88 Fear Faithful Soul God will soon appease nothing all those Storms and from among so many dangers will safely conduct you to the Harbour of his Grace so it be that you will let him stand at the Helm without controlling his Conduct God is to us a Valiant and Wise Captain the Prophet-Royal knew him to be such when he made him this acknowledgment Benedictus Dominus Deus meus qui docet c. Ps 143 v. 1 O God who hast train'd up my Hands to Battle and my Fingers to War it is by order from this God of Battle that we have seen the Apostles plant the Standards of the Gospel on their Enemies Trenches Martyrs expose themselves Merrily to so many hazards to maintain their Masters Honours and confound all Hell by the Testimony of their Blood Innocent and Tender Virgins give up the Ghost amidst the Flames with a great deal of Joy to conserve the first Flowers of their Virginity to Jesus And you O great St. Paul I dare say that you would have laid down your Arms and given over the Combate Si adversum se dissentiunt caro Spiritus molestus periculosus labor sunt enim in domo tanquam maritus úxor si maritus vincatur uxor dominetur pax perversa D. Aug. in Psal 143. to 8. when Satan darted at your Flesh one of his Arrows had you not so soon over-heard this voice of your Captain Paul That my Grace may suffice to strengthen you against all your Enemies Assaults it is my Pleasure and great Satisfaction to see you Fight so like a Christian Champion and by the assistance of my Grace give all the World to understand that there is nothing to be fear'd where I do command If our Saviour whilst we do continue Obedient and Submissive Children has a special care to Advance to Cherish and to place us at our ease if whilst we sleep in the Vessel of his Providence he has a care to keep us in the right and assur'd road to Heaven and if whilst we are good and Valiant Soldiers he gives us a good look and a gracious Countenance do you think that he will abandon us immediatly when becoming refractory to his Laws we shall follow our own evil Inclinations That he will never look after any further lodging in our Hearts after that by Sin we shall loose his Grace That he will never withdraw us from under the Tyrannical Hostility of our Adversaries when that by our own Cowardliness we shall fall into their hands No we must not believe it it is an Imployment worthy of the Divinity to relieve the miserable and to show unto men in their want of all Humane Assistance the great necessity of his Powerful and helping hand This Truth will appear without any contradiction if we consider the nature of the first Principle who is not content to give a bare Existence to things drawing them from the possibility of their Being by a reiterated production and that in two ways the one furnishing the Means Instinct and Inclinations convenient to attain to their last end The other driving off all contrary Causes which might interrupt the aforesaid Inclinations Man on that fatal day of his Transgression in Paradice lost at once and by one bit of an Apple his rare and leading Inclinations towards his Supernatural end I grant that the Divine Justice to deal rigorously might have left him in his Misery being he brought himself thereunto by his own proper Election But notwithstanding this God of Mercy who protests that his dearest delight is to live among men bears them so much Affection that he will rather imploy his Power to Regenerate them Spiritually by his Inspirations than leave them under the lash and rigours of Justice For he aims not at the death of a Sinner but at his Conversion and everlasting Happiness Omnis qui non amat Dominum Jesum anathema sit 1 Cor. 16. v. 22. O Vessel of Election what would you conclude when by a Spirit of Zeal you thundred out Excommunication against all them that lov'd not Jesus Paulus mea manu And to assure us that you had a particular feeling of the Ingratitude of Men Si quis non amat Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum Dominum jure creationis nostrum beneficio incarnationis Jesum officio Salvationis Christum plenitudini unctionis propter haec enim quatuor est amandus sit anathema Gozramus in c. 16 Cor. v. 22. you say that you wrote the Excommunication with your own hand This great Apostle has no other ground for the Solemn pronunciation of that Censure but to say being that Jesus is come down from Heaven on Earth to undertake the management of our Affairs to concern himself so much in the conduct of our Souls and to oppose himself to all our Enemies who ever after all those proofs he gave us of his Love will not love Jesus and put all his confidence in him let him be Accursed Excommunicated and as a Monster of Nature banish'd far from the company of men But what God rich in Power Eternal in continuance and Infinite in Wisdom Man weak in his Designs limited in his Time faulty in his Councels God Immortal by his Being Impassible by Nature All-sufficient of Himself Man the spoil of Death Theatre of Misfortunes and incident to all Misery what report or relation can there be betwixt two such Extreams and so far assunder To believe that God should trouble himself with the care of so vile and abject a Creature Quid novit Deus quasi per caliginem judicat nubes latibulum ejus nec nostra considerat c. Job c. 22. v. 12. Is it not
to advance a proposition that comes near to the nature of a Riddle No such a thought cannot enter into the brains of those Licentious Atheists who represented God as a Powerful and Proud Monarch that never came without the Gallery of his highest Heavens to take notice of what pass'd here below says Holy Job I remit such as are of that feeling to the little Birds of the Air Considerat lilia agri c. Mat. 6. v. 28. which without Dunging or Tilling of the Earth nay without the least trouble find their Victuals set before them in such good Order that the best Oeconomer in the World could not parallel it I refer them to the Flower-Deluces which you may see in the Spring-time clad so Gloriously and with so much Majesty that Solomon with all the Pomp and Splendour of his brave Attendance is not to be compar'd to them They shall understand that it is the most Liberal Hand of God that gives to the one whereon to Feed and to the others whereby to Adorn themselves Man far more to be consider'd than all other Creatures being that by the degree of Understanding which he has by Nature he bears the Image of his Divinity shall he not have the better share in his Divine regards Will not that Lover of Men delight to relieve them in ther necessities Yes doubtless to believe otherwise would be to break down the Altar of his Clemency whereon all poor sinners hope to find full ease to all their pains CHAP. X. How God does cast into a Soul the Seed of her Conversion AMong all the Qualities and Titles of Honour that the Saviour of the World gives to the Eternal Father Pater meus agricola est Joan 15. v. 1. That of a Labourer seems to me full of Mysteries For I cannot think of the Action of a Labourer in the Fields who under his his left Arm holds his Bag of Seeds and with his Right-hand casts it on the Earth but presently I am oblig'd to raise up my Thoughts towards the Eternal Providence in the same Action at the beginning of the World For in the Left-hand of his Omnipotent Power I take notice of a Sack full of Creatures which with his Right he spreads over all the face of the World He casts a Handful into the Sea and on a suddain you see a Cluster of all sorts of Fishes Swim and in so great a quantity that the Prophet cannot make out the number Another Handful on the Earth and there you may see Lyons Tygers Elephants and all other Sensitive Creatures of one side and on the other Plants Flowers and Simples with so much Grace and Beauty that they do ravish our Hearts and dazle our Eyes Afterwards he flings another Handful into the Air and presently you take notice of an Eagle who with the vivacity of his Eye-sight becomes a borderer to Heaven a Merlin flies after and very near as high where he holds himself at a stop and the rest of the Birds that sing in their own Tone the Praises of their Creator He lifts up his Arm and casts a fourth Handfull towards the Heavens whence on a suddain comes forth an innumerable number of Stars and inserts themselves in the Firmament as so many Carbuncles and precious Stones Germinet terra herbam virentem statim omni surgente germine terra completa est D. Ambr. tom 2. lib. 3. Hexam c. 17. statim initio God is not as yet at the end of his project neither is the first cast of his Creature out of the hand of his Omnipotent Power the final scope of his â—ction For even as the Labourer committing his Grain and Seed to the Earth does not intend to have it lost but contrariwise in Harvest time expects for one Grain a hundred So God giving to all Creatures a Being will not have them to stand there they must go further Festinarunt campi non commissam sibi frugem edere ignorata viti olerum genera florum miracula germinaro c. Idom cap. 16. initio and produce each one actions conformable to their Nature Natural Phylosophy teaches us the same and will have the Operation to follow immediately the Being So God is an Act most Pure most Simple most Actual So the Angel is not a substance only Intelligible but also Intelligent Active Operative for the good Angels from the very instant of their Confirmation in Grace have always produc'd the formal Act of their Felicity and all Creatures in this point of their Activity are Gods following steps So that if it were possible that God would have or admit of a contrary it must have been the first matter which we call pure possibility or in a manner nothing because it has no manner of Activity and so produces nothing to the Publick that bears the marks of her Author or if it does it signifies as much as nothing Dear Reader you may easily see that my aim is to pass over from the designs of God in Nature to his Sacred Projects in Grace Dei agricultura estis Dei aedificatio estis 1 Cor. 3. v. 9. the Seed of our Conversion And say that our Beloved Master Jesus is a Mystical Labourer who casts without intermission that Seed of Eternity into our Hearts not that it should remain there idle buried and without effect but Vigorous Active and Operating Sapientia filiis suis vitam inspirat suscipit inquirentes se praeibit in via justitiae Eccl. c. 4. v. 12. If you set me the question what is the Nature of that Seed of Grace I will tell you that if you take it in general it is a breathing of the Holy Ghost into our Souls earnestly soliciting us to re-enter into our selves for to consider the condition we live in to take on strong resolutions of amendment if we be in Sin But if we be in the state of Grace it does inspire into us to advance still from Virtue to Virtue Sicut mater filios in utero vivificat eisque vitam naturalem aspirat ita sapientia suis inspirat super-naturalem Corn. in Eccl. supra and always to make new acquisitions of Merit An Inspiration altogether as necessary to continue the motions of the Spiritual Life as is the Respiration of the Air to preserve the Life of Nature for as it is impossible that a living Creature should subsist any long time without respiring the Air so it is impossible for a man to continue any long time grateful to God Lux enim gratiae quae desuper venit spiraculum hominis praestat ad vitam occulta mentis penetrat Rabanus lib. 1. in Jam. Jeremie c. 1. v. â—0 nor live the Interiour Life of the Spirit without this Divine Breathing to encourage him and push him on to new resolutions of Adoring and Serving God But I must set this only difference that we of necessity must respire the common Air whereas on the other side we
your hands offensive and defensive Arms to withstand the assaults of all evil inclinations Gignitur in planis quidem sed densissimis in vepribus rubisque difficilis collectu metitur non nisi permiserit Deus Jovem hunc intelligunt aliqui Plin. lib. 12. c. 19. and plant Virtue where sin was before in Garison The natural Hystorian discoursing of the nature and property of the Cinamon says that it is a pretious and Divine Plant which as if by natural instinct it were aversed to grow among other Plants withdraws from the sight of men to hide it self among Bushes and Thorns that by their pricks her Fruit might be preserved from all hands Assabinum illi vocant quadraginta quatuor bonum caprarumque extis impetratur venia caedenti non tamen aute post occasum lecit ibid. The Ethiopians were of opinion that there was a particular God by name Assabinus who took on himself to be the Patron and Defender of this Plant to prevent any prophane hand from turning it to common use because it should be preserved to adorn his Altars The Inpiration of God is a Cinamon-Plant truly Divine Sicut Cinnamonum Balsamum aromatisons ordorem dedi 1 Eccl. c. 14. v. 20. being that it takes root in Heaven but it will not grow in all places a heart plunged in the delights of the World as an Earth over-soft cannot conserve it its natural Soil must be a heart given to Mortification and Penance 't is there that the Divine Assabinus Jesus Christ will maintain it in its lustre for though God refuses none the assistance of his Grace and that he Acts without any distinction either of Time or Place a Christian notwithstanding would be fouly deceived to believe that the Inspiration which he received when he was in the occasion of sin should continue still No he must get out of the occasion as Lott got out of Sodom and transplant this simple mystick on the Mount Calvary close to the Cross of Christ There you may see it produce its effects and no where else For as the Plants never come to perfect maturity unless the Heavens do sweetly power down their showers into the bosom of the Earth So God's Inspirations in a Soul will never come to the just point of their perfection if they be not often watered with the Tears of true Repentance to certifie the displeasure we conceive of our offences We must then of necessity improve God's Graces Ego quoque in interitu vestro ridebo subsannabo cum vobis id quod timebatis advenerit Proverb 1. v. 26. for the infallible truth makes us an open Declaration that whoever this misfortune shall happen to to jeer him in his presence which is done by undervaluing the Inspirations which render God present to us shall suffer the same punishment at the hour of his death God will laugh at him but why at the hour of death it is a custom to laugh at a man who makes at that hour extravagant wishes and out of all reason he who would fain Reap and never Sow'd a grain he who would make a Will of ten thousand Crowns and has not five Pence in the World he who is but of the scum of the People and leaves Orders to be buried like a King He who in his Life-time undervalued God's favours makes altogether as extravagant wishes at the hour of his death if he thinks to Reap the Blessings of Heaven as well as Virtuous and Godly men he who never Sow'd in the teritories and ground of his Soul but corruption during his life if he makes an Authentical Will of Piety who in all his actions had not the least shadow of Virtue if he desires to be Seated with the Saints in Heaven who never had thoughts but upon the Earth nor any other pany but his concupisences Who past over his days in a constant Rebellion against God and his Holy Ghost Qui habitat in Coelis irridebit eos Dominus subsannabit Psal 2. v. 4. his thoughts are out of all reason what he aims at is altogether impossible God laughs at it he makes but a jest of it and seems to take no notice of what he says Let us then prepare our hearts to God and train them up to be submissive to his holy Laws let our daily practice be to temper them as Wax is made soft by the fire to receive the Divine Impression of his Sacred Characters Let us improve the grace and Favours of Heaven being they are the most happy Seed of a happy Eternity CHAP. XI The Stratagems that Jesus makes use of to Convert a Soul I Cannot but approve of the Feelings of so many Holy men who seeing the manifold Miseries that poor man is subject to Mane sicut herba transeat mane floreat transeat vespere decidat induret arescat Ps 89. v. 6. represented him as the most miserable of all Creatures he is a Sink and Common-shore full of Dirt and Infection says one He is the Abridgement of all Misfortunes says another this mans opinion of him is That he is the Spoil of Times the Fable of the day the Mocking-stock of Fortune another describes him to be a Shadow that goes away a Flower that passes and a Water that runs These Verities admit of no contradiction Omnis caro foenum omnis gloria ejus quasi flos agri exscicatam est foenum cecidit flos Isa c. 40. v. 6. if we consider Man in the state of his Fall But if we look upon him as he is the Amorous Object of Gods Delight Trismegist will tell you That he is a Miracle As for my part I may lawfully call him a Monarch being that we dayly see the King of Eternal Majesty knock at his door as at the door of some great Soveraign to be Entertain'd live in his Company and Eat at his Table Quid est homo quia magnificas eum aut quid apponis erga eum cortuum visitas eum â—iâ—ulculo Job 7. v. 17. Job is surpriz'd at this O great God what is man that you do so Magnifie him that you Visit him every Morning at his waking It seems that you would fain share your Scepter and Crown with him It is commonly said that our Sworn Enemy transfigures himself into an Angel of Light Allicit ut perimat blanditur ut fallat extoliit ut deprimat foenore quodam noeeudi ut quo ampliot fuerit summa voluptatum eo major exigatur usura poenarum D. Cyprian ad donatum that he may the easier deceive us under the appearance of Millions of Promises that shall never have any other end if he can than the Eternal loss of our Souls But our dear Jesus whose Affections we know to be sincere and true seeing himself refus'd at the door of a Christians heart transforms himself to all the Passions of a Coelestial Lover to invent the best means how to overcome his
Disgrace and flatter himself with hopes that though he receiv'd a shameful refusal at his first Visit he may be more honourably receiv'd at his return I reduce his admirable inventions to three Heads all taken out of Scripture The first is grounded on the excellency of his proper Person the second on the setting forth of our Praises The third on the account he gives of all the Labours and Pains he takes in the pursuit of our Souls Attolite portas principes vestras introibit Rex gloriae Dominus virtutum ipse est Rex gloriae Psal 23. v. 9. He produces for his first Invention the excellency of his proper Person and with a great deal of reason for the Royal Prophet giving us a description of his entring into Heaven after he had accomplish'd on Earth the Will of his Eternal Father represents him to us knocking at the gates of Paradice Open your gates O Prince They enquire within what he is and he answers that He is their Lord Powerful and Strong the Lord of all Virtues the King of all Glory Whereupon they presently open'd their Gates receiv'd him in and brought him into his Throne with the acclamations of all the whole Heavenly Court Vox dilecti mei pulsantis Aperi mihi soror mea amica mea columba mea immaculata mea Cant. 5. v. 2. The Holy Ghost represents himself in the self-same posture before a Heart that he is desirous to Convert open your door to me my Sister my dearly Beloved my Dove The Mystery of this invention lies in that Word To Me For he might absolutely command as Lord and Master but he will have the Gospel of his proper Person under the Title and Notion of a Lover to be the Motive of our Obedience Open to me who am not of the common sort of Lovers but a Lover that loves by Essence a Lover without any mixture of Interest only that of your Salvation I am He that carries about me Pardon and Mercy and my Visits are never without the effects of my Liberality Ecce esto ad ostium pulso si quis audierit vocem meam aperuit mihi januam intrabo ad illum coenabo cum illo ipse mecum Apoc. 3. v. 20. But if we take that same word in another sense we shall find it to be a sweet Correction he makes to a Soul open your Heart to me being that you did open it to many others that are of a far Inferior condition to me Here stands at your door He who is greater than Solomon you have open'd it and given admittance to the false Pleasures and deceitful Charms of the World which have violently dragged you into the dark Dungeon of Sensuality there to devour you at their leasure and ease Quid necesse est ut cordis tui ostia clausa sint sponso aperiantur Christo claudantur diabolo juxta illud si Spiritus potestatem habentis ascenderit super te ne demiseris locum tuum D. Hier. Epist 22. ad Eustochium post me I am an Inchanter it is true and my voice has Charms but none such as Orpheus had to draw Rocks and Mountains No no my Charms aim at a higher purchase which is the Hearts and Consciences of Men All sorts of Sins are as so many Night-walkers and High-way-Robbers that made their Address to you by night or by day have been heartily welcom to you But what entertainment had you from them They compell'd you to content to a Rebellion against your Creator they rendred you guilty of loosing Divine Majesty And for conclusion of a Fatal Tragedy they will expose you at the mouth of Hell as a lost sheep and a loose Corn to the end that dying in that Act of Treachery you may learn by your own sad experience that their Salleys are never without a surprize Recover then your Wits O wandring Souls and know that the Excellency of a Soveraign Majesty who humbles himself to find you out deserves well to have the preference of your Affections What excuse can be made to such Powerful Charms Pauper sum ego in laboribus à juventute mea Psal 87. v. 16. What reply to such sweet Words Youth answers that Jesus knocks at their door too early in the morning that they are as yet in Bed and will not rise so soon they believe that it is to press them overmuch to have them to engage themselves so soon in the Service of God Poor Children of Adam what a weak excuse you give ear to He asks you nothing but what he practiced himself I am poor says he and was born poor and from my Cradle I have been always in labour and toyl To put off your Conversion till the next day is a dangerous thing perhaps the Bed you lie on this day may be your Grave to morrow perhaps that He who called you once being put off with a denyal will come no more to give you any further invitation Moreover if you fear to be wean'd too soon from the Contentments and Pleasures that this World can afford Melior est dies una in atriis tuis super milia Psal 83. v. 11. know that the Pleasure of one day in Gods House surpasses all the Pleasures that the World can afford if they were to last for an Eternity The second Invention that God makes use of in his call and pursuit of a Soul is that after he had seen the first was to no purpose he comes to our Commendations and Praises a common practice among worldly and false-hearted Batchellors to get the Love of their pretended Mistress you will see some of those flattering Fools to gain the Affection of a Mistress Paint her Face like unto a Morning Star when it bears the first Rayes of the Sun on our Hemisphere her fine Locks as Yellow as any Indian Gold when it comes out of the Cruisible both her Eyes like to so many shining Stars in her Forehead which with one favourable glance can revive the most languishing Heart her Body whiter and more polish'd than Ivory her Voice sweeter than that of Angels In fine she is a Mortal Deity at whose feet they make so many Protestations and Vows Folly worthy to be laugh'd at by all reasonable men However the invention when well apply'd is most excellent God makes use of it He gives the Soul four Titles of Honour my Sister my well-Beloved my Dove my Immaculate De sanguine meo soror mea de accessu meo proxima mea de Spiritu meo columba mea de sermone meo quem plenius ex etio didicisti perfecta mea Lyran. in c. 5. Cant. Remember that you are my Sister by the Sacrament of my Incarnation if the motions of a Civil Request grounded on my own proper Merits could work nothing on your haughty Spirit at least let the Right of Spiritual Consanguinity be a motive of your recognizance You are my Beloved by my
Passion if there be no greater Friendship than to expose his Life for his Friends You ought to love me above all Creatures for I suffer'd Death upon your account You are my Dove by the Communication of my Spirit if the simplicity of that little Creature which has been to me a Symbol in my Baptism and a Faithful Messenger to the good man Noah in the Deluge giving you to understand that I had no Gaul in my heart against you though you deserv'd I should have reserv'd some to Chastise you for all your Abominations and Crimes you may learn further by her Example to live so in this World that you never wet the foot of your Affections nor loiter as the Crow did to feed on dead Carcasses but to be always in a readiness to return to me when I shall open unto you the window of my heart a Mystical Ark pierc'd with a Lance for your Love You are my Immaculate by the use of the Holy Sacraments that my Flesh and Blood which is to you Food and refreshment in the Eucharist be not a bit to poison you as another Judas by the indisposition of your ill prepar'd and ill affected Conscience but rather a Sweet Nector to increase and fortify the Life of your Soul and perfume all her Faculties with the delicate scent of Piety that I may take pleasure to reside constantly in your heart Dixit insipiens in corde suo non est Deus Psal 13. v. 1. This second invention of Love prevails but very little or rather nothing at all with Christians and why so Nam ita superè peccat inverecundè ne si non esset Dâ—us Lyran. in Psal 13. Their excuse will be Ignorance they did not know who it was that spoke The fool said in his heart it is not God that knocks It is therefore that the Soul sends her Lacquey to the door to tell that Madam is not within that he that knocks may come another time or if he has any Packet to leave it and it shall be given to Madam when she comes from her walk That Lady is the Soul the Lacquey is the Body Caro concupiscit adversus spiritum spiritus autem adversus carnem Gal. 5. v. 17. for when God calls us to infuse some good Notions into our Souls the Body is always contrary as St. Paul says to the Spirit is hard by to make opposition Let us consider I pray the malice of that excuse What is the reason that a Body gives orders to tell that he is not within when he is call'd for It is either because he is not drest and in a condition to appear or that the person that looks for him is not grateful to him or that he is Indebted to him and having not wherewithall to pay him he commands his Servants to tell that he is not within O great God be not offended with the Impudence of that bold Harlot who gives Orders to tell that she is not within when you call for her For in good earnest she is not within she is far from you her Sins have carried her away to some Foreign Region as far off as another Prodigal Child and though she had been within she wants the Robe of Charity she is in no condition to appear Her Face is made black with the Cole of her Crimes your sight would make her horrible moreover your company is nothing acceptable to her Quae enim participatio justitiae cum iniquitate c. 2 Cor. 6. v. 14. for betwixt Light and Darkness there is no Communication Belial and Jesus never lodge under the same Roof but what troubles her mind most is that she is your Debtor and accountable to you for so great a number of Graces that she has not wherewithal to make you the least satisfaction an excuse without ground apology without any reason Ad excusandas excusationes in peccatis Psal 104. v. 4. Let it be so as you will have it that she is far from her God Is it not God that gathers together the scattered Sheep and leaves Ninety Nine in Heaven to look for one that is lost on Earth If she be naked and without the Ornaments of Charity is it not Jesus that cloaths them without any other cost charge or trouble only to be willing to receive them But she has not wherewithal to make satisfaction let her not trouble her mind with any and if she had she cannot of her self merit the least degree of Grace in the rigour of Justice whilst she is under the Law of sin It is enough that the precious Blood of Jesus is of an Infinite value to make all those excuses frivolous and never to be admitted of The third invention of Love that Jesus imploys in our search is to set before our eys the labours he undergoes upon this account as a loving Father to his Children though debauch'd out of all measure after the respect and authority of a Father could not prevail with them no more than his sweet alluring words and his threatnings he comes at last with a sad countenance the tears in his eyes and fetches a languishing sigh from the bottom of his Heart Ungrateful will you always continue the subject of my Afflictions At the age that I am in I should by course take my rest Yet it is Then that I see my self engaged in a thousand troubles and all this upon your account I deprive my self of all contentments for to advance your Fortune I expose my life to many hazards for to preserve yours if you have not the good nature to requite my affections at least have compassion of my Labour and Toyl God does the same Aperi mihi quia caput meum plenum est rore c. Cant. 5. v. 2. as you may see in many places of Scripture My hair says he is all wet with the dew and therefore opens the door to let me in A Man who has travelled all night upon some earnest occasion will come to the door of a Lodging two hours before day in the morning he appears there all in a Fog and dung-wet the first that meets with him is moved with compassion Oh! Poor Traveller I see you are sadly wet and how says he could I avoid it Here I have stood these two long hours under all this Rain knocking at the door and as yet I see no body come to let me in Servire me fecisti in peccatis tuis c. Isa 43. v. 24. It 's so with the Saviour of the Word I ran says he all night in Post hast to meet with a Soul at her up-rising I went through thick and thin Frost and Snow in a Cold Windy Rainy Season I arrived early before the break of day at her door I knock'd I call'd and recall'd I knock'd again and again but no body appeared and here I am wet and weary and have nothing for all my Labour But here I discover another Mystery
For if our Saviour's hair be wet with the dew for having tarried too long a time at the door of our Souls it must of necessity follow that he was bare-headed Even as a Man who is desirous to hear what is said or see what is done in a Lodging stoops down takes off his Hat draws nearer for fear that he should not hear the voice of them from whom he expects his answer En ipse stat post parietem nostrum respiciens c. Cant. 2. v. 9. In pariete propriae voluntatis fenestras reperit Deus inclinationis nimirum ipsius voluntatis per quas respiciat gratiae intuitu quasi per cancellorum foramina inspirationum suarum radios immitat Gislerius in cap. 2. Cant. expo 3. v. 9. So that in the ardent desire he has to hear and see what is doing within doors he willingly suffers all foul weathers The Holy Ghost makes use of the same Comparison Lo here he is says he speaking of the Spouse hidden behind the wall who looks in through the openings and chincks of the door for he is so desirous to know what we do and whether we hear his voice or no that he spares not to stoop down and look in through those overtures with a great deal of attention for fear that our answers should be so weak that he could not over-hear them Have we spoke the good word have we produced an act of amendment of life God is over-joy'd as if he had found what he look'd for he gives notice to the Angel-keeper Oh! I have heard her voice at last that Soul hitherto always gave me the deaf Ear Here she comes now to the Door now she is mine I heard her say that she would quit the World and all its allurements to follow me I am extraordinary well satisfy'd now for all my Labours Vos de deorsum estis ego de supernis sum c. John 8. v. 28. The third excuse that Worldings bring down to justifie their crooked ways is that they are not of the same Religion that Jesus Christ is of and therefore they can have no Communication with him without undervaluing their own Profession Pray dear Jesus let us know what Religion you are of I am says he from above and you are from below I am from Heaven and you from the World Above and below Heaven and Earth are far asunder We must not think it strange then if betwixt God and us there is so little correspondence if he goes among the great ones to purchase their Souls they will be very free with him they will tell him plain down-right that they are none of his Profession they will warn him away from Court for they will have none of his Maxims there Jesus makes an open Declaration in his Gospel that though he be King of all the World yet that his Kingdom as for the Dominion of Lucre and Profit was not here below For Humility was his Prerogative the Cross his Scepter the Thorn his Crown Calvary his Pallace Labour and Toyl Afflictions and Crosses his Revenues The Martyrs his Regiments the Disciples his Guards Filij Agar exquierent sapientiam que de terra est Baruch 3. v. 23. and the Poor Apostles his Officers The care of Great ones is quite contrary for all their Study is to amplifie their Estates by the utter Destruction of their Inferiors and Ruine of the Vulgar sort To shun Crosses to follow Ambition to suppress Devotion and all Christian Exercise to follow the Maxims of a most unlucky Policy that makes no further use of true Religion than as long as they see it consist with their Designs Matchiavel's Doctrine the most wicked of all Mortals If he goes to knock at the door of Ecclesiastical Persons he shall receive no better welcom Obliti sunt Deum qui nutrivit eos c. Baruch 4. v. 8. For if Jesus be a vigilant Pastor over all his Flock and feeds his Sheep with his own Flesh and the Blood of his Veins to give them Life everlasting if well received the most part of Church-men will be either wicked or unprofitable wicked for not honouring the greatness of their Character and Sacerdotal Ministry by the good example of their holy life and conversation unprofitable for their want of courage to arm themselves manfully to resist the often incursions of Satan that Infernal Wolf who devours the Flock of Jesus not daring to bark for fear of blows Totus mundus in maligno positus est 1 John 4. v. 19. Go over all other States and Conditions their return shall be the same their answers alike and their obstinacy in all points equal So that what ever endeavours our Saviour makes to convert us and call us to himself Arvinae toris membrorum moles robusta pinguesci ut saginatus in poenam charius pereat c. Cypr. ad donat though they be very efficacious yet they are often without effect Because that it seems we made a Vow to destroy our selves A State truly deplorable if our dear Jesus had not a greater Love and Care of us than we seem to have of our own Salvation CHAP. XII That to become Servants to God we must know the World IT is a true Maxim generally received among Phylosophers that to speak pertinently of a thing we must have a full knowledge of its Nature which cannot be acquired but either by Definition or Description The first makes appear it's Essence in the constitutive Principles of its Being the second discovers its principal properties by the Operations that strike at our Senses My aim is to let the Soul know that to convert her God sets before her eyes what a deplorable thing it is to serve the World I cannot perform this methodically but by describing its properties to the end that we conceive as much esteem for it and no more than it has of real and well-grounded conditions which render it worthy of Love What is the World Omne quod est in munda concupiscentia carnis est c. John 2. v. 16. If I make my Addresses to Scripture there I shall find the three main Pillars that bear it up Concupiscence of the Eyes Disorder of the Flesh and Pride of Life If I consult the Phylosopher he will tell me that it is a Sophistical and cheating Argument that always deceives by Equivocation that places the shadow for the real Existence of things That has but Negative Principles and would fain conclude affirmatively If I put the Question to Astronomers their answer will be that it is a stray'd and wandering Star that has no fix'd or settled place and whence they can draw no assured ground to know the Horoscope or Fortune of any Creature that it is a Body formed in the Region of the Air which having no support but a light and inconstant Cloud vanisheth away as soon as it begins to appear The Mathematician is much of the same opinion he
any want being you have the management of all my Treasures that also you have the Keys in your own custody I boarded you at my own Table where you have been serv'd with the Bread of Angels Upon what account then have you taken that resolution to serve another Master The obstinate Worldling continues still his purpose to have the World for his King whatever betides him Well says God you shall have it for your King being you are of that mind go on you will soon repent your bad choice You know not as yet the Master you desire to serve his Laws are most rigorous his Government Tyranical his Scepter a Rod of Iron I may soon let you see by a most sensible deduction what a sad thing it is to serve the World and how often you meet there with what you never look'd for The wishes of a Man in the World may be reduced to three heads either to content his ordinate appetite refusing nothing to his Senses or to have a great deal of Wealth to put himself in Vogue among the People or to have a good Issue of Children to suceeed him in his Inheritance and keep up his Name My opinion is that a Man's condition in the World is most unlucky in all those three respects But first I must tell you that your King the World has many Vice-Governours who will pretend to a Mastership over you so that by serving that unhappy King you bind your selves over to many Masters Covetousness will tell you that you are his Servant and that you have from him your Gold and Silver as a Reward for your good Service Letchery will alledge that you are his Servant because that he gave you a Feast of a moment for an Eternity of displeasure Hi velut irrâ—tionabilia pecora naturaliter in captionem in perniciem in his quae ignotant blasphemantes c. 2 Petr. 2. v. 12. Treachery gets into Judas and tells Jesus that he is none of his Servant for the Devil his Grand-master bought him to betray his Saviour and Lord for Thirty pence though he drinks with you he tells him he sells your Blood to me he is your Apostle but my Hireling Now as for the pleasure of the Body besides that it is to resent the Beast and the Epicurian Quid deliciarum foeditas mali non inducit sues ex hominibus facit imo vero etiam multo majores sus enim in luto volvitur stercore nutritur hic vero abominabilem magis mensam sibi construit iniquas commixtiones excogitans hic nullo cettè à daemonico discrimine separatur D. Chysost homil 58. in Matth. I will tell you that it could never as yet nor ever will afford it any true pleasure for they should be true and solid either by the cause that produces them or by the Subject that receives them or by the effects that follow them The cause that produces them is a vicious and corrupt nature which is cursed by the mouth of the Omniponent in Genesis What good could ever come from a bad Principle the Subject that receives them is Man who is it that ever was made happy by taking his pleasure I know that the foolish sort of this World have received from Satan a new kind of Religion wherein they have but two Articles the one is never to Think or trouble their mind for things to come The second Article is never to deny to their Appetites what pleasures the present time can afford But I remit such as are of that Belief to natural Theology which if received in their Hearts may dissolve all those Clouds of Ignorance if they do not set a stop to its light If they do I must then remit them over to experience which I may call a night Lanthorn The effects that follow do likewise shew the Malignity of the Cause for in exchange of one pleasure you have a thousand sorrows for a moment of Joy eternal Punishment their lamenting and the Tears that come from their Eyes are sufficient witness of the bitterness they do resent in their Hearts To find in the World a Child who gives any true content to his Parents Utile est mori sine filiis quam relinquere filios impios Eccl. 16. v. 4. is a rare thing on Earth he must be an Arabian Phoenix who can well be described yet never found out but once in an Age Their birth is waited on with Lamentation and Tears Pueritia tua adolescentiae tua inhonestamentum fuit adolescentiae senectutis dedecoramentum senectus Reipublicae flagitium Isidor lib. 2. Orig. c. 21. and with a deal of reason to the end the Fathers and Mothers should observe and set down in their memorials that the first day they became Parents they begin to spin a Thread which would lead them into a Labarinth of Afflictions It is better to depart this World without Children than to leave wicked ones behind says the Wise for you shall see some hardly come to the use of reason play such mad prancks Ossa ejus implebuntur vitiis adolâ—scentiae sua cum eo in pulvere dormient Job 20. v. 19. that they rather seem to be an Off-spring of Hell than the production of any Christian Race the Breasts that they have Sucked in my opinion were more full of Malice than of Milk being that their Souls are better stor'd with bad habits than their Bodies with any good substance which makes me believe that they will be rather the Blood-suckers of those that gave them the Breast and Birth than their Relievers and Staff of their old Age. Job confirms the same thing he says that an old Man will carry the Crimes of his Youth along with him to his Grave Equus iudomitus evadit durus filius remissus evadit praecipâ— Eccl. 30. A wild Horse you may be sure will be hard mouth'd and a wild youth will run head-long to his damnation if he be not strictly kept under and curb'd this is the feeling of the Holy Ghost and it must be very true A poor Father will run himself headlong into so many Inconveniencies Filii dum pueri sunt parentibus differunt capitis dolorem dum vero adoleverint cordis dolorem Proverbium Belgarum he will deprive himself of the influences of Heaven and Earth to have them fall on his Son thinking that he will be the Staff of his Old-age and the Pillar of his Family But it happens to the contrary for in lieu of a Staff of Old-age he has but a Reed full of wind and for a Son a Tyrant to torment him every day and every hour By sending him to the Academy he thought he should return home a true Nursery of Wisdom the Honour of Virtue and the unchangeable Defender of Justice but all his Hopes are chang'd into an Abiss of Sadness for he is become a Monster of Malice an abominable Scandal to all the World by day he is
Lights with such a deal of Liberality that you would say he would exhaust himself Per solem intelligi potest non iste visibilis sed ille de quo dicitur vobis qui timetis nomen domini orietur sel justitiae per pluviam irrigatio doctrinae quia bonis malis aparuit evangelisatus est chorus D. Aug. tom 4. de serm domini in monte lib. cap. 46. and deprive Himself of Himself for the good of the World so far as to oblige the very Rocks to open their bosoms and receive his Influence So our Saviour and Redeemer of our Souls true Sun of Justice seated in his Throne of Glory pours down with both Hands the Blessings and Divine Influences of his ardent Love all Breasts though never so hard are water'd with his Graces to let every one know that his design is to banish from our hearts the clouds of our Ignorance and the Obstinacy of our Malice The Prophet-Royal seems to dive further into the secrets of this comparison when he says that not only he is Enlightned with this Divine Light Non est qui se abscondat à calore ejâ—â— Psal 18. v. 7â— who presents himself without any resistance to receive his effects But also that Jesus is a fire who brings his heat into the most frozen Souls to molifie and dissolve their Ice Hence it comes that God sometimes dispatches an Angel from Heaven on purpose towards a Sinner obstinate in his Abominations Ite Angeli veloces ad gentem convulsam dilaceratam c. Isa 18. v. 2. who passed over all the days of his Life in the cold Winter of his In-devotions to open his Heart for to receive the Flames of his Love Another time he commands a Preacher Vocatio gentium hic describitur liberatis de manibus mundi Sathanae per Christum facta heu inquit terra quae es sita ultra Aethiopiam quae scates fluminibus id est terra in extremo orbe posita synec dochicè ultimas Vatabl. fererivo hist and an Apostolical Missioner to cross the Seas hazard his Life and break off all obstacles to meet with a poor Sumatre a Javan an Indian a Japanian to Preach the Gospel to him give him a full knowledge of the Mysteries of our Redemption make him to forsake his Barbarous ways and Behaviour as also the Worship of False Gods to live hereafter under the Government of one God and of one Law that requires and commands nothing but Love and Peace The Eternal Wisdom joyntly with his Paternal Providence are so forward to maintain the Union establish'd in the order of Creatures at their Creation that the grand pieces of the Universe would sooner quit their stations than fuffer any disorder or dis-union among them In case of necessity you would see the Earth ascend and the Firmament to descend sooner than suffer any void place within the inclosure of Nature The Divine Providence in matter of Grace and Communication of his Favours observes the same Rules for sooner than suffer any vacuity in a Soul or give occasion to any reasonable Creature to complain that he had not received sufficient means for his Conversion The Seraphins in Heaven who live only by the ardent Flames of Gods Love and who by their charge are always the next to his Throne as being the Angels of his Privy Council They would notwithstanding sooner forsake Heaven if it were necessary to bring into a Sinners Breast the Light of Grace and draw him out of all danger of everlasting loss by force of Cords and Ropes In funiculis Adam traham eos Osee 11. v 4. Non arbitreris istam asperam molestamque violentiam dulcis est suavis est ipsa te suavitas trahit D. Aug. tom 10. serm 2. dâ—â—verbis Apostoli You would sooner see the dead Carcasses revive and get out of their Graves to Preach to the Living than they should be depriv'd of sufficient means to work their Salvation St. Peter will have all men to humble themselves under the Powerful Hand of God and cast all their care on him because that being our common Father he has engaged himself to provide for us in all our necessities Omnem solicitudinem projicientes in eum quoniâ—m ipsi cura est de vobis 1 Petr. c. 5. v. 7. The Vessel of Election St. Paul who more particularly than the rest of the Apostles seems to extol the Uniformity of God's Graces says openly that in their distribution he keeps such an equality Idem Dominus omnium dives in omnes Rom. cap. 10. v. 12. that the Jew has nothing to boast of more than the Grecian because that he is absolute Lord of the one and of the other always resolved as for his part to open in such sort the Treasures of his Riches to this Man that the other shall have no occasion to say that he is positively excluded from any share CHAP. XIV That the Infidel and Still-born Children cannot complain of God Omnes homines vult salvos fieri ad agnitionem veriatis venire c. 1 Tim. cap. 2. THe Infidel cannot complain of God's proceedings in matters of Salvation though he had been hidden among the rest of wild Beasts in the Caves and Dens of the lower Thebaide had he been far more wild than Tygers and fierce than Lyons For the general propositions of Scripture which give us to understand Sine acceptione personarum judicat c. 1 Petr. 2. v. 17. that God wills not the death of any person but that every one be converted and live that all men be saved and come to the knowledge of Truth Quinque modis vult Deus omnes salvos fieri 1 sâ—b conditione si ipsi volunt 2 cum impletione quia nullus nisi eo volente sanus fit 3. cum distributionis restrictione id est de omni genere aliquos colligit enim electos à quatuor ventis 4. de praesenti quas effectivè id est facit omnes velle quia omnes naturalitâ—r volunt salui fieri 5. de futuro siâ—qâ—e praecipit consulit exortatur ut salui fiant que omnia sunt signa divinae voluntatis Gozram ex glossa in c. 2. 1 Tim v. 4. that all the Earth is replenished with his Mercy that he acts without any exception or Partiality must fall out to be so true that Heaven and Earth shall sooner pass over than the least point should want its accomplishment For the Nature of general propositions is to subsist in their truth in each one of the Individuals that are within their Praecincts As for example all men are subject to Death this is a general Proposition Then John Peter Paul and so of the rest by Deduction must of necessity submit themselves to the rigours of Death God will have all men to be saved this is a general Proposition then of necessity the Infidel who falls under that
Juvenal Lucian Celsus and the rest are altogether astonish'd at their Silence not understanding that it is the true Religion which begins to make it self known to the World Fifthly It s general publication over all the World without any earthly assistance favour or support without Pleasure Profit or any Temporal satisfaction in Patience Humility and Affliction In fine the Infallible Assistance of Jesus to them of that Profession as well by the use of Holy Sacraments wherein he confers his Graces on us as by the care he has to give us his Angels to guard and protect us his Holy Ghost to comfort us and his Promise assuring us of Eternal Life Let the Heretick then as well as the bad Christian confess that it is not God but the bad use they make of their own free will and liberty that is the cause of their everlasting Misfortune and woe But alas what shall we say of those poor little Creatures which in their Mothers womb or soon after they breath'd the common air of Nature are depriv'd of Life before they become Peaceable possessors of the same passes from one Prison to another and not having along with them the safe conduct of Baptism are prohibited to come within the gates of Heaven Must so antient a Sin and so far from us as that of Adam is be the cause of our daily misfortunes Original sin what a subtile poison your Infection is being that it is impossible for any Creature except Jesus and Mary He by Nature she by a special Priviledge to avoid its fatal stain Were it not far better to deprive those poor Babes of Life for good and all by leaving them block'd up within that Chaos of nothing than to bring them to a state where they shall have cause to lament for ever their misfortune without any to comfort them or condole their bad luck St. Augustin Your Expressions are able to break any Heart to pieces when you say that very many Children receive not the Grace of God because they die without Baptism though they have no will contrary to the will and Holy Laws of God and though the Parents and Priests make as much hast as they can to Administer the Holy Sacrament unto them thing worthy of compassion they run in all haste to look for a Remedy to the Evil and the Patient expires before its application God permitting it so to fall out I confess ingeniously I would wish a more Happy condition to those poor little Creatures if Faith had suffer'd me to follow my feelings But it obliges me under pain of Damnation to submit my thoughts to Divine Revelation which gives me to understand that it was the Eternal Fathers Decree to send his only Son on Earth for the Reconciliation of Mankind then the Decree must of necessity be equally put in execution Prosper lib. 2. de vocat gent. c. 23. Non irreligiose arbitror dici quod isti paucorum dierum homines ad illam pertineant gratiae partem quae semper omnibus est impensa nationibus totaque illa principia nec dum rationalis infantiae sub arbitrio jacent voluntatis alienae nec ullo modo eis nisi per alios consuli potest Vide per totum so that none comprehended within the List and Obligation past in the Terrestrial Paradice can say that he has not been made partaker of sufficient means to Salvation St. Prosper was of the same feeling I do not believe says he that we do in any way transgress against either Religion or Conscience to say that those little Children Creatures of few days appertain to that part of Grace which is communicated to all Nations and which if their Parents turn to good use doubtless will take its effect for all those small Grafts and Exordiums of Creatures not yet Reasonable lies under the good will of another The reason is that as the Children are not guilty before God but by the fault of their first Parent and never contributed on their side to any actul malice that is in them but only by a flowing of an Hereditary propagation which sticks to all them that come to the World by the way of ordinary Generation so they have not the sufficient means to stop this Original disorder but what depends on the Will of another Now we must suppose that it is morally impossible but that the Parents have an actual desire to confer on their Children this necessary means to Salvation and this is what the Divines call the sufficient means of little Infants But if it happens by hazard or otherwise that the Child dies in the Mothers womb or soon after this can be no reason to dress up a complaint against God because that those sad Mischances arriving through Natural Causes make that God who in the general disposition of the Universe acts as first Principle suffers also all things to go according to the course of their Nature without conceiving any formal design notwithstanding against that Child or this in particular that he should be depriv'd of Sufficient means to Salvation Would you have that God to hinder an Eclipse of the Sun should disturb and destroy all the order of Nature Sicut per unius delictum in omnes homines The Apostle says that the Sin of one man had so infected all Humane Nature that from the Child in the Mothers Womb to him who after a long scope of years waits for his Coffin and Grave there is none but has been condemn'd to die when first he began to live Even so by the Justice of another man not by Terrestrial but even Caelestial Grace as a brave Sun of an Infinite Greatness powers down her Rays on all men with so much proportion that the Child as well as the Old Man must ingeniously confess that nothing is wanting to them of Gods side who will never violate the Laws of his General Providence to hinder the operation and effects of particular Causes Let none then hereafter if it happens that unfortunately he falls into the common road of Perdition accuse the Eternal Providence of either Injustice or Partiality being he never refuses any Body sufficient means to work the Conversion and Salvation of his Soul CHAP. XV. God no sooner sees a Soul desirous of her Salvation but he gives her his helping Hand OUr God in the Prophet Malachie speaks a most sweet word to the People of Israel that deserves well some return more than a Complement I have lov'd you says he to them Malach. c. 1. v. 2 Dilexi vos dicit dâ—minus dixâ—stis in quo dilexisti nos and what ought they to reply how or in what terms should they acknowledge their great Obligations to him Should they not say it is true my Lord we have had several proofs of your good will Heaven and Earth on occasion might appear as Irreproachable Witnesses of the Favours we receiv'd at your most Liberal Hands Oblite sunt benefactorum ejus
Shoulder to the Wheel assuring him that after he would do his endeavours the Gods would not fail to relieve him and release him out of his Trouble I may say as much to all those Souls I spoke of It is no more the time to sit idle with cross Arms much less to linger in the dirt of their Abominations and Crimes Manum admoventes invocate numina Proverb It is good to have a Tongue to call to the Passengers and to invoke God and his Saints to their assistance But they must joyn the Hands to the Tongue the Faith to the Works the Belief to the Operation Never was their sleep under the Tree Lothos so fatal to the Companions of Vlysses as is the deceitful slumbering of a languishing Soul in the shadow of her laziness I see already Jesus the Divine Hercules appear with his Cross in his hand coming towards us with all speed let us hear what he will say CHAP. XVII God will not destroy those Luke-warm Souls which he begins to vomit Lazarus amicus noster dormit vado ut a somno excitem eum Joan. 11. v. 11. THe Grace of Excitation and this morning Alarm is no other in the Opinion and Doctrine of the Sacred Councel of Trent than an Interiour Light of the Holy Ghost received into the Soul by which he touches the Heart of the Tepid and Sleepy man to excite him to his Conversion That Grace according to the diversity of her effects has divers appellations If we do consider her as a fore-runner of the Will to which she is sent by the sole Mercy of God without any co-operation or precedent invitation of Merit on our side She is call'd a fore-running Grace If we do take her for an Accident that comes to lodge in the Soul as into her proper subject and residence to sollicite her to the work of her Salvation she is a Grace of Impulsion But if we come to Contemplate her under those Glorious Titles of morning Star dawning of the day Scout-master of the Sun which banishes away the dark Clouds from the Earth Sleep and all Drowsiness from mens Bodies we shall find that she is a Grace of Excitation and a Morning Alarm I cannot better explain the nature of her than by discovering the properties of the same term To excite to speak properly is to awake some one person that is either a sleep or slumbering Ego dormivi soporâ—tus sum exurrexi quia dominus suscepit me Psal 3. â— 6 Imagine with your self dear Reader a poor Pilgrim weary spent and quite tired after a long Journey Multi cum dormiunt non faciunt locum Domino tales excitat Apostolus surge qui dormis nam istae omnes foelicitates quae videntur saeculi somnia sunt dormientium the Night draws on and he finds no House to lodge in where he happens to be there he falls asleep But alas it is close to a Precipice just on the brink of a steep Rock the darkness of the Night hinders him to perceive the danger there he lies fast asleep if he stirs but in the least he is a lost Man one passes by moved with compassion takes this poor Pilgrim by the shoulders awakes him pushes him excites him Friend that is no place for you to sleep in do you not see that Precipice close by you This Traveller awakes of a sudden stretches his arms rubs his eyes shakes his Cloaths looks round about him sees the danger and makes his escape We are all Pilgrims in this World Dormiebam in utramque aurem securus nullo pavore solicitante ecce autem timore ingruente excitatus sum velut quem calamitas convovet velut ille corripit è stratis corpus socioque fatigat praecipites vigilate viri Egubing Psal supra wearied spent tired as the Holy Scripture says in the way of Iniquity Sleep even overcomes us Laziness makes us to stumble at every step We must lay our selves down Belly to the ground and stretch at all our length But alas where is it that we lie One will sleep under the Boughs of a Wall-nut-Tree a true symbol of obstinacy another close by the Cave of Miermaids the figure of Lust and unlawful pleasures This Man sets his foot on the Precipice whereinto he is in danger to fall the other is near at hand to his everlasting destruction and loss What does God do this great Overseer of the World He draws near takes us by the shoulders excites us awakes us Poor Christian bring up your hand to your eyes rub those Clouds off your eye-lids see the danger you are in it is Jesus that gives you this warning St. Paul sets before our eyes the necessity of that Grace Ephes 5. v. 14. Surge qui dormis exurge à mortus Illuminabit te Christus when that speaking of our Saviour the Eternal Light he exhorts the Ephesians to adore his Beams and to give a greater weight to his exhortation he borrows the words of the Prophet Isaiah You that are asleep Isaiae c. 60. v. 1 Surge Illuminare Jerusalem c. get up and awake out of the slumber of Death By which the Apostle compares the state of a Sinner to Sleep and to Death To Sleep for even as he that Sleeps is incapabble of any good action without he be capable of producing some motions of Liberty the imagination labouring to make up the Fabrick of a thousand extravagant Dreams of all which at his awake he finds not the least sign or token So it is with a Sinner says St. Augustine when he shuts up the eyes of his reason D. Aug. in Psal 131. v. si dedero Sommum oculis meis temporibus meis dormitationem Vide ibi D. Aug. to give a general Licence of acting to all his Senses without reserving himself the power of regulating their excess For what are all his actions but so many Dreams and raving Fits he does imagine that all they can tell him of the Kingdom of Heaven and of the pleasures of Paradice are but Fables so Hell with all its Torments and Tortures are but the amusements of Preachers to frighten the common sort of people Quid stygia quid cocytum quid nomina vanatimetis materiam vatum Claud. who are much apprehensive in their thoughts of such idle Toys that the frequenting of the Sacraments as well as the most innocent practice of a Devout life is but an entertainment for weak Spirits That the excess of a Melancholick humour drives them into the practice of such Exercises rather than the prudent conduct of a well regulated motion Dormientem mortuum dicit Dominus qui in peccatis est nam male foeter ut mortuâ—s inutilis est ut dormiens nihil videt quem admodum ille sed somniat vana imaginatur D. Chris tomo 4. in cap. 5. Ephes His Heaven is the Earth his everlasting happiness his
inhorresco inardesco inhorresco in quantum dissimilis ei sum inardesco in qūantum similis ei sum D. Aug. to 1 lib. 11. confes cap. 9. that the curiosity of hearing good Language brought him to be one of his Auditors rather than any desire he had to learn the Verities of Salvation But in fine at long running he finds himself taken The sweet mildness of St Ambrose together with the force of his words animated with the Fire of Divine Love made a breach on St. Augustines heart and out of the obdurate and hard Anvil of his Soul brought the miraculous flames of his most happy conversion But if any be who notwithstanding the redoubled stroaks of this Mystical Hammer notwithstanding all those earnest importunities of the Apostle will continue always his accustomed crimes Scripture will have for the last remedy that Heaven and Earth be called as witnesses of his hardness and how Life and Death Vice and Virtue Pain and Glory were set before his eyes and that yet he was not astonish'd in the least Testes in voco hodie Coelum Terram quod proposuerim vobis vitam mortem c. Deuter. 30. nor moved to a Conversion Let him not then think it strange if for having undervalued the word of God in his life time he be left without any cumfort at the hour of his Death without remorse of Conscience without compunction of Heart without Repentance for his Faults being that his obstinate and fierce humour had deserved him that disgrace The Sinners that do procrastinate their Conversion are those who in matter of changement of life turns it off to another day who defer and prolong their reconciliation as much as they can saying that it will be time enough to think of those sad entertainments when the heat and lust of Youth shall be clear past and spent that God is not so rigorous as they do Preach The good Thief said but three words before he died and he got into Heaven Mary the Aegyptian took all manner of pleasures whilst she was young yet she made a most Happy and a most Glorious end They are Souls that stand out firm against God and will not upon any account surrender and though they be offer'd most advantagious conditions they are for a cessation of Arms they will have Time to capitulate and find still new excuses for not surrendring What does God do to Convert those Souls He lays Seige to them as to revolted Cities which deny Obedience to their Sovereign You may find in Scripture Deut. c. 20. v. 10. Offeres primum ei pacem v. 19. Non succcides arbores de quibus vesci potest c. c. 21. v. 11. how he commands a general Destruction over all that they should preserve Fruit-trees only as for others they should root them out of the ground and after that they should give a general assault they should put all to the Sword and that such as under pretence of capitulation deferr'd to surrender themselves Si videris in numero captivorum mulierem pulchram c. they should receive exemplary punishment But if among those poor wretches there should be found a handsom portly Woman the Conquerour may take her for his Spouse with a condition to cut off her Hair to pair her Nails and to let her have a full month to lament her Father and Mother So God deals with Sinners that put off their Conversion after that the Preachers had summoned them in his Name He commands his Angels to sound a general Destruction whereupon comes a Plague into a City and leaves it waste he orders all the unprofitable Trees which bear not the worthy Fruits of a true Repentance to be cut down He who has escaped the Plague shall be taken with an Apoplexy which shall not afford him that short time to invoke the holy Name of Jesus to his assistance Another shall be prevented by a sudden death whilst he is in mortal sin and there he is lost for an Eternity And why all this It is because those Souls would fain capitulate with God Almighty they would not surrender when the white Flag of Peace was presented to them They always delayed their Repentance so that God was compelled by their obstinate ways to proceed against them with all manner of rigour Herodot lib. 1. The Ionians as you may read in Herodotus Besieged by King Cyrus who often before offered them honorable conditions that they might carry away their Lives and Goods safe or stay in the City and enjoy peaceably all their Immunities and Liberties that their Garison might March off with Drums beating Colours flying Arrow in hand Sword by their side Lance at a stand Yet they were so head-strong that they would not surrender But at last being not able to hold out any longer they resolved to send their Deputies to Cyrus Being come Cyrus for an answer tells them of a Parable A certain Man who could play well on the Flute walking along the River side begins to play on his Instrument as if he were to invite the Fish to Dance to come ashore and rejoyce at the hearing of so sweet a Harmony the Fish instead of coming near him fled away in full Squadrons under the Banks and muddy places of the River for the fear of being catched whereupon he throws in his Net amongst them and brings up a great quantity which were no sooner laid down in the Meadow but they began to Dance leap and strike with their Fins No no says he 't is no more time to Dance Salationis verbo non histrionis motibus sinuati corporis rotatus sed impigri cordis devotio religiosa membrorum designatur agilitas D. Aug. ex Hugon Cardinal in c. 7. Lucae you shall die This is to say that Cyrus would hear no more speaking of Peace being that the Ionians were so far overseen as to refuse it once when it was offered them by his Embassador and in his Name God by his Preachers often invited Sinners with the harmonious sound of his words to get out of the muddy waters of their Concupiscence and come to the shore of their Salvation to Dance and Rejoyce with the Angels at the day of their Conversion Saltant animae quae pennulis virtutum fultae per coeleste desiderium saltant ad contemplationem quamvis in se relabantur per carnis fragilitatem D. Greg. ex Hugone ibid. But they fled afar off and launched themsemselves further in under the Banks of Hell The hour of death comes on they cannot hold out any longer they have no more the power nor the occasions to offend God Then they begin to cry my God we would willingly make our Peace with you do not cut us off so soon we beg a cessation of Arms for one day more No no says our Saviour Canta vimus ei non saltastis Luke c 7. v. 32. in St. Luke I Sung but you would not Dance
difficile est ut linguae saecularium men tem non inquinet quam tangit quia dum plerumque eis ad quaedam lonquenda condescendimus paulisper assueti hanc ipsam locutionem quae nobis indigna est etiam delectabiliter tenamus ut ex ea jam redire non libeat ad quam ex condescensione venimus inviti D. Greg. to 2. lib. 3. dialog cap. 15. and Capharnites happens to very many in our days which is That our Saviour speaking to them of Holy and Profitable things of the Institution of the Blessed Sacrament of the necessity of Crosses of the obligation of sufferance says that they are things hard to be digested they cannot give ear to them they are altogether displeasing to them and for to express their unwillingness to practice them they do withdraw themselves one after another from under so heavy a Yoak Is it not a strange and most deplorable thing that now-a-days it 's taken for the meerest folly in Nature to speak of God in any Meetings He is but an Alter-piece a devourer of Images a rouler of Beads a Melancholick and Hypocondriacal man who will offer to speak of Devotion in company they will presently begin to jeer him to smother his feelings of Devotion and Piety Gorrumpunt mores bonos colloquia prava 1 Cor. 15. v. 33. Is it possible that the World has blotted out of our hearts the Memorials of the Recognizances which we owe unto him whom the very senseless and dumb Beasts cannot forget We will make such large amplifications of a matter of nothing and we shall not have a word to say of the King of Glory of a God of Majesty inexhaustible source of perfection We will pass over whole days to entertain a company with Stories with Fables with Fictions without truth or ground and we shall be sorry for one quarter of an hour imployed to set forth the Praises and Glorious Prerogatives of our Redeemer A Commedian a Stage-player shall be heard as an Oracle and he who will declare the Word of God must be commanded to keep silence Do we not fear the Fatal Effects of that most Dreadful Sentence pronounced by our Saviour against them who shall be ashamed to confess him before Men Vitiorum exempla oppugnant animum immutant transformant miraculo erit inter incendia vel non sâ—mi vel ceâ—tè non incaâ—esâ—ere S Cyprian de spectaculis that he will not acknowledge them before his Father which is in Heaven They are the People to be shun'd as a Plague that infects all the World as so many Incarnate Devils whose conversation and company brings us nothing but misfortune and woe It is then most true that good conversation and company is an efficacious means that God makes use of to convert Souls That of the wicked is also another strong means whereof the Devil makes use to cross his designs of their Conversion And so we must conclude that he who is taken with this company goes on headlong to everlasting destruction whereas the former has found out the right Road to Heaven and the assured means to work his Salvation CHAP. XXIII That to think of Death has a great power on the Conversion of a Sinner THere is neither Rule nor Law so Universal Statutum est omnibus hominibus semel mori post hoc autem judicium Heb. v. 27. but admits of some exceptions or difficulties there have been many and are at this present to my great grief that will hardly believe the Existance of a God But all without either exception or difficulty concur in this Point that we must all die we tread under our feet the dead to day and we shall be dealt with the same to morrow Testamentum enim hujus mundi morte morietur Eccl. 14. v. 12. For my part I do adore all thoughts which may conduce to my Salvation as of the love of God above all things who without any desert of mine has given me so many Graces of the Beauty of Heaven glorious and everlasting residence of the Blessed of the noble extraction of the Soul appointed from all Eternity to enjoy the intuitive Vision of the first Essence But in this point I must confess the corruption of my nature the dullness of my understanding such thoughts are good for purer Souls than mine is they are motives able to ravish a St. Paul into the third Heavens to Print on a St. Francis the Effigies of Christ to set a St. Bernard beyond his Senses and make all those extatical Spirits to fall into a weakness I am an insensible Rock to all those truths a Dyamond which those Darts cannot penetrate I am colder than the very Ice at the approach of those Fires But when I come to think thar poor Brother Lyon Capucin must die that I am now standing on my Legs and that to morrow they will put my Head into a Capuce for to cast me into the Earth That they will sing a doleful de profundis at my Funeral to send me to another World and give me the last farewel I raise up my shoulders I re-enter into my self my Blood is already frozen within my Veins I have no more mind to laugh than I have to live And really as I shall make it appear by moral induction there is no Motive more powerful among the Exteriours to stir up all sorts of persons to the feelings of their Salvation than the thought of dying To Youth it is a curb to stop them when they are in their full carreer to Perdition To Kings Princes Emperours and Monarchs a Subject of humility that they should not puff themselves up with over-much Pride above the People To Soldiers and Warriours a cause of humiliation that the favour of Fortune and Arms should not make them insolent To the most Holy Souls an ordinary entertainment Mors rot a incertè fixa brevis haec est multiplex vita sursum movetur ac deorsum trahitur fugiens tenetur manus effugit saltat plerumque nec tamen fugere potest stationem suam motu trahit retrahit Greg. Nâ—zianz in distichis to keep them within the limits of humility and from presuming any thing rashly by the Justice of their actions As for the Youth that Antient practice of the Romans was a rare spectacle and a brave Lesson they gave the young men of the City when they made up a most magnificent Sepulchre to the young Princess Servilia the rarest beauty that ever appeared in the Roman Empire Over the Marble cover of her Tomb was in the very middle an Earthen Pot and at both the ends two Nymphs in Womens shape from the Head to the Navel and thence downwards light-footed Deers so Artificially joynted Greg. Nazianz. in Moncast which looking fixedly at the Pot with a jeering smile would give it a kick at the same time and break it to pieces That Earthen Pot represented the Body of Servilia a Vessel
Lodge after his Death There they cry with a loud voice and solemn Acclamations Live the Emperour thrice Happy And here they let him understand that he must begin to die There every one Congratulates his new coming to the Crown and here there is nothing heard but the mourning Discourse of a Tradesman Pallida mors aequo pede pulsat c. Horat. who summons him to think of the Duties and Tribute which he must pay to Nature We must not be astonish'd at it for Death is as welt over-heard among those lofty and proud Appels at Court as in a poor mans Cabbin and therefore to think of it seriously is altogether as Profitable to the Great ones of the World as to the Little ones To the Rich as to the meerest Begger in Nature St. John Damescene gives us a further Confirmationn of it relating a brave Stratagem of a King who after he had seriously thought of that last Hour liv'd all his Life in great fear and apprehension of Gods Judgments every one read in his Face the alteration and change of his Soul His Brother Laughs at him and taking his fears to be but pannick Terrours he accuses him of a Sadness rising from over-much Melancholly nothing becoming a man of his Quality The King hears of it and early in the Morning he commands a Trumpet to be Sounded at his Brother's door a signal of Death among those People The Prince altogether astonish'd leaps out of his Bed and runs half Drest to his Brother in the Kings Palace imploring his Mercy protesting his Innocency begs his Life Brother said the King then mock no more at them that fear Death at the sound of a simple Trumpet there you are all in an Alarm though your Conscience does not accuse you of any Crime committed against me know as for my part that I am a Criminal and guilty of treason against the Divine Majesty for so many sins which I have committed It 's therefore I have great reason to be sad and to apprehend Death Perhaps the thoughts of Death will be altogether useless and unprofitable to Warriours who Alexander monitorem sibi in magna fortuna statuit qui quotidie mane sibi inclamaret hominem eum esse quo scilicet tumidiores animos comprimeret c. Aucto 1 vie vitae apud Cornel Eccl. 14. v. 12. for being accustom'd to Blood and to Slaughter and to see no other things but dead Corps stretch'd at their Feet will remain insensible to the Powers of that Meditation No no let them boast as much as they please let them vapour and strike fire with their Swords let them defy as much and as often as they list both Heaven and Earth If nevertheless they be pleas'd to take one quarter of an hours time to entertain themselves with that thought that they must die I do assure my self that their Arms will soon drop but of their Hands and that from roaring and bloody Lyons they will become mild Lambs they will come to cast themselves at the foot of a Crucifix to do Pennance The great William Duke of Aquittain did he not by the force of his Arms put all the Church in a Combustion Did he not become as another Attila the Scourge of God Did he not declare open War to Priests and Swear never to be reconcil'd St. Bernard makes use of no other Stratagem for to Convert him but to set efficaciously before his Eyes the rigorous account he shall be forc'd to give at the hour of his Death An invention which had so happy a success that he sent him as Gods Prisoner to Rome to beg Absolution of his Holiness in all Humility Absolution which he received and accompanied with a thousand Sighs irreproachable Witnesses of his displeasure to have so much offended God by his abominations and Crimes He changes his Life takes on new and Holy Resolutions retires himself into the Wilderness to pass over the rest of his days in the heighth of Mortification and Pennance never as yet parallel'd and never will be to the Worlds end Ask me now the question whether such as have abandon'd the company of men and have freely engag'd themselves and their Liberties under the yoak of Obedience and Evangelical Councels shall be oblig'd to the thoughts of Death have they not sufficient strong assurance of their Fidelity No they must as yet think of Death to keep them in Humility the ground of all other Virtues I cannot but find fault with certain Spirituals of the Sect of Scribes and Pharisees Phylosophers of the purest grain refiners of Devotion who make certain persons believe that they have already attain'd to the height of Perfection that they are come to the indivisible point of Spirituality And therefore that they must think no more but of the attributes of Unity Simplicity Immutability and Essential will of God That there is a state of Inaction where the Soul is no more Acting but Suffering under the simple motions of bare Faith that the thoughts of Death are good for beginners in the Purgative Life But as for them Unde ista simulatio fratres mei unde haec perniciosa tepiditas unde haec securitas maledicta quid seducimus miseri nos ipsos forsitan jam divites facti sumus forsitan jam regnamus nonne ostium domus nostrae horribiles illi Spiritus obsident D. Bernard serm 2. in festo Sanct. Petri Pauli who are already in a manner Deify'd and whose operations are altogether Angelical that it is to afflict the Holy Ghost to bring them down to such a low and gross exercise All that is meer folly nay pure madness they do seduce themselves Satan for being over-much Spiritual was damn'd Tertullian and Origen for getting out of the common rode and desirous to shew the subtilty of their Wits broaching a Doctrine contrary to the feelings of the Church are I fear in danger never to see the face of God are we more perfect than St. Hilarion Hilarion the Honour of the Desart the Father of Hermits the Leader and Light of all Religious Souls Hilarion who at the Age of Fourteen years distributed all his Goods to the Poor and built himself a Cell so narrow and so little that it was scarce able to contain him Hilarion who never wore but a Hair-cloth who was an object of Admiration both to Angels and Men for the Austerity of has Life Could he not confide in the Mercies of God Had he not all reason to believe that Jesus was very well pleas'd with his Actions and therefore that he should not fear Death He who had so Faithfully serv'd his Creator for the space of threescore and five years Yet Hilarion this great Hermit apprehends Death he thinks of it often and ready to yield up his Ghost he shakes with fear at the sight of that cruel seperation and we poor miserable wretches who serve God but to the eye and at random who are but novices in the
c Such as made choice of me heretofore to be their Councel and took advice of me as of their Trustee whilst all Prosperities attended my Fortune whilst Heaven and Earth were at strife to heap up my contentments and whilst I was in esteem amongst Foreign Nations have basely now forsaken me upon occasion thinking they should be grieved for my Afflictions I let them know the State of my Affairs but they made nothing of my Letters and looked upon me as a Stranger nay for fear that by perusing my Lines where I put them in mind of the Rites of Antient Friendship they should be moved to afford me some consolation Divitiae addunt amicos plurimos à paupere autem hi quos habuit separantur c. Proverb 19. v. 4 6 7. they were so ungrateful as to cast them into the fire and to have no more the memory of them I had Neighbours to whom I was never otherwise than civil I shewed them all manner of courtesie I do not believe that ever I eat a meal but I would have them called one after another to sit at my Table they had the liberty to make use of all that I had in my House as their own proper Goods God did no sooner touch me with the Rod of his Justice but loosing all remembrance of me and my former kindness Inquilini domus mea ancillae meae sicut alienum habuerunt me quasi peregrinus fui in oculis eorum Job 19. v. 15. as if I had been some abominable Man given over to the Devil they had a horrour to see me I had a great number of people that held Farms from me whom I never press'd to pay me though their Terms were expired from whom I never demanded any reparation or other satisfaction for any destruction or damage they might have done to my Tenements and Lands I had patience with them and suffer'd them to live in peace forbearing with their Poverty and expecting their own conveniency to pay my Rents But alas since I lay down on this Bed not one did appear to me nor give me the least word of consolation in the very excess of my Sorrows Servum meum vocavi non respondit ore proprio deprecabur illum Ibid. v. 16. I had Servants who esteemed themselves happy to live in my Service far from having any ground to complain of me that I kept their Wages from them for after I had paid them well I always gave them some gratification to which I was not obliged If they had a desire to withdraw themselves from my House and Service I gave them their liberty and in discharging them the means to advance and further themselves each one according to his condition Seeing that my poor body all full of Sores and Scabs took away the use of my Limbs that by great ado could I lift up my arm to bring my hand to my mouth that my Legs as stiff as a stake by reason of the gross humours which dull'd my Sinews principle of motion would not permit me to stir out of one place I would call them my self and by their proper names as flattering them that they should be the more willing to come at me to ease me of any of my pains To one I would say I pray thee Friend bring me a bit of Linnen that I may rub off the Matter and Dregs which run down from this putrified wound whose sharp and biting humours put me to a thousand pains To another Oh be graciously pleased to help me to change this posture my Back is all bruised with lying so long upon it the Bones pierce my Skin I am half dead To this Servant alas is there no means to get me a drop of fresh water I am so dry that I think my Stomach is nothing but a hot Furnace I can hardly speak my Mouth is so dry my Tongue sticks to my Pallate My God! What heart would not burst to hear the moaning and pitiful tone of a poor Creature so much afflicted Nevertheless Job must have patience his Servants will no more acknowledge him nor hear his voice Let him cry let him complain let him lament there is none now that cares for him he is but a dying Dog in their thoughts they expect no more but the last breath to cast his rotten Carcass into some Ditch This is not as yet all I had a Wife Halitum meum exhorruit uxor mea Job 19. v. 17. says he whom I loved as my self or rather more I would be very sorry to displease her in any thing whatever opposition she might have given to my designs I would captivate my self for to follow her inclinations and let her know that all my feelings were the same with hers But Alas She was to me more cruel and Inhumane than all the rest I am so much an eye-sore and a heart-breaking to her that she scorns to look once at me she would with all her heart see me a hundred foot under ground If by chance she sees any Cup which I made use of to drink in the Servants must presently put it aside out of her sight For she says that it smels of the Leprosy and that the only sight of it provokes her to a Vomit Nolite diligere mundum neque ea quae sunt in mundo non dixit nolite habere sed nolite deligere ecce concupivisti haesisti quis dabit tibi paenas ut columbae quando vâ—labis ubi requiescas quando hic ubi malè haesisti perverse requiescere voluisti nolite diligere mundum tuba divina est D. Aug. tom 1. ser 34. de veeb. Doâ— secundum Lucam if she be forced to pass sometimes hard by me she puts with all speed her handkerchief to her mouth and nose and tells me that my breath is insufferable to her I lie down stretcht on a Dunghil and she will not take the pains to have me carried to a Stable where I might be shelter'd from Rain and bad Weather she sees me and suffers me to languish in that bad Equipage What man of Judgement would ever after relie on the Friendship of this World whose consequences are so Tragical who will not seek to lodge his affections elsewhere being that among Men there is so much disloyalty and falshood You will tell me perhaps that they are exaggerations to frighten Souls And moreover that Histories are full of a number of good Friends who have been both Faithful and Friendly to their dying day Hercules and Theseus Pilades and Orestes Socrates and Choerephon Damon and Pithias Nicocles and Phocion Scipion and Pompeius Lucillius and Brutus Coesar Augustus and Maecenas It 's true but besides this that those Friendships had only for ground that weak foundation of Blood and Flesh they lasted no longer time than the moment of this present life A Christian ought to look for a Friend who is a Priend without Interest a Friend without any
imployment about their own proper Objects otherwise the Author of Nature had fail'd in his work For example in vain had God so Artificially wrought out the Eyes which he has plac'd in mans Forehead as the Organs of his Visual Faculty if withall we could not behold the Beauty of Colours which cannot be said without Blaspheming against the Sacred Proceedings of the Divinity It 's therefore that the same Author of Nature who had grafted in each Faculty a seeking Inclination for its Object has likewise set in the Object other Inclinations for the inquisition of its faculty Man has a faculty of Understanding and Reasoning De animi immortalitate multi etiam philosophi gentium multa disputarunt immortalemesse animum humanum multis multiplicibus libris conscriptum memoriae reliquerunt D. Aug. tom 8. in Psal 88. which is as essential to him as his proper Nature being that it is his chief difference by Virtue of that faculty he passes when he pleases beyond all what is material among the Creatures shapes within himself their Species and having reduc'd them all to a small Volume he lodges them within the roof of his Understanding Nay which is more he takes his walk into the very imaginary spaces where he finds other Heavens other Worlds possible wonderful handsome if God had been pleas'd to reduce them to Act This is not as yet enough his activity admits of no bounds until it comes to the knowledge of an Eternal Immortal Impassible Being which must be the originary principle of all things If that be so and that our Spirits go beyond all Creatures to contemplate on that which is Eternal Immortal Impassible and that moreover the faculty ought to enjoy its Object we must conclude two necessary Verities the one that our Spirits are Immortal the other that they are Created to participate of that Immortality which God gives us as a reward for our good Service If the matter had gone otherwise Man who is Created to the Image and Resemblance of God to be the Happiest Creature in the World would remain the most miserable of all Creatures For if we do consider the strength of his Body Qui animae suae curam gerunt c. Paulo infra Lyons and Bulls surpass him If the length of his years Trees are far beyond him If the Subtility of his Eye-sight the Eagle surmounts him If the Health of his Body Ipse non oportere contraria facere existimantes Philosophiae ejusque solutioni ac purificationi ad hanc viam se convertunt sequentes illam qua praeit ac ducit Plato in Phaed. the Fish has the advantage If Riches the Bowels of the Earth may argue with him of Poverty If Contentment the Birds of the Air make but a mockery of his Pleasures If good Cloaths and Rich Garments the Roses and Lillies are cover'd with Satten with Purple and Scarlet Whereas he sees nothing on his back but the Spoils of dead Beasts It 's then necessary that there be another state wherein it must be found true Ubi mors ad hominem accesserit mortale quidem ipsius ut apparet moritur immortale vero saluum incorruptum abit c Plato ibidem that Man is the most Happy of all Creatures This cannot be here on Earth where Corruption joyn'd with Inconstancy Nurse of Alterations and Changes suffers not any thing to subsist long without decaying and finding its doom where it had its birth The Saviour of the World ordain'd the days of his Incarnation to teach all Faithful Souls the place so much to be desir'd of their Eternal rest he makes them a publick Lesson of it in the famous Sermon on the Mount where the common sort made up the main part of his Audience He proves by formal Induction of all the Beatitudes and Consolations which may happen to Man that there is none true or solid here to be found on Earth consequently that Heaven must be their place Quod si immortalis est anima cura sane opus habet c. Paulo infra Cercidas the Arcadian was at deaths door when being demanded if he did not fear so cruel a Separation Contrariwise my Friends hitherto 't was my Body that liv'd under the rigorous Laws of an urgent Destiny it must be restor'd to the Earth that demands it Nunc vero cum haec immortalis esse videatur nullum aliud fuerit ipsi refugium neque salus à malis praeter quam ut optima sapientissima fiat nihil enim aliud secum transiens anima ad inferos habit praeter eruditionem ac educationem Plato infra being that we must restore to every one what appertains to him As for my Spirit which is Immortal it goes to the Elisian Fields where it shall meet with Pythagoras the Phylosopher Olympus the Musician Hecate the Annalist Homer the Prince of Poets That brave repartee would sound better in a Christians mouth when his Frends exhort him to resign himself to Death if with a Spirit truly Faithful he would say Alas what is your reason to exhort me to take Death in good part I have no such great cause to desire a longer Life being that the Tears which drop from my Eyes at the hour of my Birth and the continual troubles which have accompanied the rest of my days have preached no other thing to me than the necessity of this passage For my part I hope in the Mercy of my God that he will admit me into the company of the Blessed Virgin Hamana anima ita immortalis est ut mori possit ita mortalis ut mori non possit c. Paulo inferius Ut ergo breviter dixerim immortaliter mortalis est mortaliter immortalis D. Greg. l. 4. Moral in c. 3. Iob. c. 7. Si cor hominis in manu Dei multo magis anima si anima in manu Domini est non utique anima nostra sepulchro simul cum corpore includitur nec busto tenetur sed quiete pia fungitur of all the Apostles Martyrs Confessors Virgins and the rest of the Blessed For if the day that the Prisoner sees himself discharg'd of his Irons freed out of his slavery drawn out of a dark dungeon to enjoy his beloved Liberty live in the company of his Freinds and enjoy the sweet Air of his native country is pleasant and grateful to him Know that the moment of my departing brings me no less consolation my nature has loaden me with Irons my Body made me a meer slave my Actions have cast me into a dungeon if the Commissary knocks at the door I do rejoyce for it is to make me enjoy the true liberty live in the company of Gods servants and enjoy the sweet Air of Heaven the native country of all blessed souls why should I not then take death in good part being that I always believed the Center of my soul could be no other then the
Virtue without shineing Jesus Christ trod under foot God altogether forgotten and what is most deserving of our respects set at naught and utterly disdained For my part I remit the off-spring of those disorders to the want of believing the Immortality of Souls For wherever that pernicious errour has crept that all dyes with the Body they may attempt on the Sacred Persons of Kings and without any respect to the Divinity whereof they are the lively Images on Earth treat them unworthily so be that their dealings be underboard For if all dyes with the Body and that there is no account to be taken of their crimes after death If they do betray the State if they do sell their Country if they do commit the most horrid crimes that ever were heard of they may fear no punishment if that unhappy belief takes place in their Spirits Let the great ones oppress the little ones let the rich cut the poor peoples throats let the enemy execute his vengeance all is permitted to him who gives no more advantage to his Soul than to that of a bruit beast Let them speak no more of the commandments of God of the Sacraments of the Church of the reward reserved for the good in Heaven of the punishments prepared for the wicked in Hell if there be no more in man then Living and Dying we may say as much of the Patriarchs of Religious Orders Benedict Bernard Dominick Francis that they have not obliged their Children to bring them from the World to pass over the best of their days in crucifying of their Bodies For if the Souls be not Immortal all those sufferings are but a meer oppression of Innocency I have heretofore joyned my small weak Prayers to the common Vows of all France for a Blessing from Heaven for our Sovereigns Arms whilst he had them in his hands to fight against Heresy but I will have a thousand times more sensible feelings of his Piety and Courage when he shall make appear his Power and Authority to suppress those unfortunate execrements of Nature who are so bold as to lift up their Horns to strike at Piety In the mean time I call you again brave Chrysanthus and Musonius most worthy Prelates of the Church get out of your Tombs pierce the Rock of your Sepulchres and announce unto us your Belief in this point of the Immortality of Souls Chrysanthus and Musonius were two Famous Bishops among them who assisted at the general Councel of Nice in the year 1328 where the two Articles of the Resurrection of the Flesh and of the Life Everlasting were particularly treated of it happened that these two great Prelates died before the conclusion of the Councel After the Fathers had Signed all and each of the Acts they brought the Papers on the Tombs of the Deceased with this humble supplication Holy Fathers the well beloved of God who have assisted at the Acts of this present Councel as we have found you always Faithful to maintain the Rights of the Church the Faithful Spouse of your Master and Ours and as you have Fought with us to defend her against her Enemies So We do beseech you if you have as yet the same feelings with us of the Articles proposed that you may set your honds to these present Papers A thing truly to be admired next Morning they found that all was Signed with their proper hands If that Article of it self cannot be contradicted but by him who will deny the Principles of Nature the Authority of the Holy Ghoct and all common feelings can there be Christians found hereafter who will live in the World as if all would die with the Body But if they do believe the Immortality of Souls how can it be that they have no thoughts but for the Earth It 's a folly like that of a Merchant who Freights a Vessel to go to the Indies to Peron to China to enrich himself And being arrived where the Mines of Gold and Silver are he spends his time in looking at the Hills that are about the place the Streams that are underneath the Woods that are hard by and does not think of loading his Ship nor of returning back to his Country God has placed our Souls in our Bodies as in a Mystical Vessel it 's to load us with the Goods of Eternity and the Merchandize of Heaven One spends his time with pampering of his Flesh another to build a Fortune in the Air This Man Fights with the Winds that Man Paints on the Waters and none thinks that his Soul is Immortal nor that she is to return to her Country some day was there ever the like folly That was a strong Receipt and more than ordinary Plato in eo qâ— Carmi. which Zamolxis a Physician of Thrace gave to a young Man whom Plato calls Carmis Son to Glaucon who complained of a great pain in his head and of a Megrim which made him giddy-brain'd He orders no cooling Plaisters to be applyed to him no opening of a Vein no Scarrifications he will have his Soul to be Purged assuring that the Infirmities of the Body proceed from the alterations of this Principle This Purging is no other than a discharging of all feelings of the Earth to bring her to the thoughts of Immortality This is the Receipt which Jesus prescribes to all those who are willing to convert themselves I will make bold to borrow the words of Seneca the Moral Phylosopher Seneca Ep. 102 to make the Induction thereby If the Infirmities of the Body trouble your Health and that by redoubling their rigours they bring you to Death's door rejoyce as the Prisoner at the first news of his Liberty For Death is no other thing than an enlargement of the Soul out of the Prison of the Body where she sighs under the Irons and Chains of corrupt Nature If any ask you the question which is your Countrey and your Native place do not say that it is Alexandria or Smyrna No tell boldly that it is Heaven being there is nothing here on Earth can content your heart nor set a stop to your expectations for all rouls under the unavoidable Laws of Mortality Consider that even as the Mother which carried you in her Womb was not resolved to lodge you there still but that after nine months space you should come weeping into the World So the World that has harboured you for a time had no design to give you a perpetual residence but only to suffer you to refresh your self as a passenger without any tie to the place where you have lodged by way of civility only and as a Passenger not as a Proprietor This vale of Misery is but an Inne the Riches are but Honours and Vanity the Pleasures are the Houshold-stuff Man is the Pilgrim and Traveller he is not permitted to carry any thing along with him he must first account with his Host and after march off from whence he came and as he has
nothing here but the bare use of things as all other Creatures nothing remains to him but the Immortal thoughts of Heaven to maintain himself in the advantage of his pretentions Let us then aim at Heaven our Native Soil if we be not willing to be placed among the number of Bruit Beasts and to the great undervaluing of the wise conduct of Jesus who by the thoughts of Immortality desires to wean our affections from the Earth and bring them to purchase an Immortal Glory CHAP. XXXI That the Angels are imployed to the Conversion of a Sinner I Do no more admire that Antiquity represented Love to be blind now that the super-adorable Sacrament of the Incarnation of Jesus has given us the full knowledge of that Riddle and taught us that we must not understand it of Humane Love but of Divine whereupon Theology gives us a notable distinction of those two Loves For Humane and Prophane Love which never labours but for its own Interest never does engage it self in the pursuit of any Object but what it supposes to be both good and worthy of Love and in so choosing it seems not to be blind But Divine Love by Loving renders what it Loves amiable can find therein no charms able to captivate tho' it Love but what proceeds from his own proper goodness It 's therein that it seems to be blind being that it loves a thing which is known before-hand to be nothing amiable Hypoâ—iposâ— A great Monarch moved to compassion at the disgrace of his Subject whom he sees reduced to that extremity as to Beg from door to door without the least overture of any ease to his misery Willing to release him out of that Thraldom becomes bound for him to his Creditors clears him of his Debts assigns him over a House of a thousand Crowns Rent commands his Officers to put him in possession of it and that none should dare to molest him in his Rights There is a great Love indeed This Subject forgets the good will and favour of his Prince he commits a crime of Leze Majestie in the first degree there he is condemned to die his Sentence is solemnly pronounced his Posterity must be blotted out of Mens memory a Piramide raised whereon in great Characters all Ages to come may see and read the horrour and grieviousness of his Offence Before the execution of that Sentence the Monarch comes and grants him his Pardon gives Orders that all the pieces of his Process be brought out of the Registers-Office of Parliament stands by and sees all burnt This is not all he commands upon pain of Death that a word should never be spoke of to his disgrace Of a meer Clown as he was he makes him a Gentleman gives him his Patents of Nobility and to confirm them he makes him a Knight of his own Order without doubt that is a particular Love This is not enough this Subject dies and leaves Children behind him who are like to be crossed by those that envied their Fathers great Fortune This Monarch apprehending such a disorder has an Inventory made of all his Goods puts the Money out to Use appoints a Prince of the Blood to be a Tutor to the Orphans and will have beyond all common Laws that he become accountable to him for the true Administration of his Charge Blind Love never to be paralel'd Jesus is our Monarch we are his Subjects Before the Creation what were we A no Being a meet negation a pure nothing Adam is no sooner come out of the Matrice of that Chaos but God puts him in Possession of Heaven and Earth expresly commanding all Nature to obey his Orders he commands his Angels to cast a Line and mark out the Platform of a Royal House of a magnificent Pallace of a Terrestrial Paradice All being set in good Order they bring him into that Inheritance he was not there full three hours when that by an Act of Fellony he becomes refractory to his Divine Majesty and by a manifest Rebellion he undervalues the Ordinances of his Sovereign through the unruly Appetite of a most vile concupiscence All Creatures would have been revenged of so great a disorder and the very insensible themselves drawing up his Process would have punished him in the very place but that the Dauphin of Heaven the Son and Heir of the Eternal Father undertakes to accommodate that matter makes himself to be put into his place takes from Humane Nature by Incarnation whereby to repair that disorder and make full satisfaction to the Parties offended in rigour of Justice through the Infinite Merit of his Proctorship The Criminal is restored to his Rights which he lost through his disobedience all the pieces of his Process are brought out of the Eternal Fathers Register-Office and nailed on the Cross never to be produced any more against the Transgressors does not this shew the greatness of God's Love for Men. Love goes on always increasing as the Morning-star and even as the fire never stops the course of its activity until that all combustible matters which entertains its action be taken away So the Divine love never gives over to spread its flames whilst it finds objects capable of its Impression And in case he finds none he creates some For man the second time becoming insolent and being surprised in Rebellion his Arms in his hands that is committing of actual sin was resolved to nail once more Jesus his Redeemer on the Cross as St. Paul tells me Action which ought to set a stop to the course of his love but that he puts a mask on his eyes and seems not to take notice of our insolencies he appoints his Priests to be Commissaries to examine and judge the Delinquents but with orders not to deal rigorously with them nor according to all the points of Law and that he will never fail to confirm the graces of Absolution which his Judges shall give so be that they do attest the repentance of the penitent Nay and which is more he is resolved to give them Letters of Nobility and make them Knights of the Order of the Holy Ghost if they do but leave off their base trading with Creatures and exercise themselves in the noble actions of Heaven and Salvation And because that those extraordinary favours will be an object of contradiction and of revolt to Devils by reason of their ancient jealousie of our happiness God even to hinder their bad design has put us in the Safeguard and under the protection of good Angels making them our Overseers to manage his Graces in us and improve his Inspirations in our hearts whilst we shall remain in our minority The Articles of that Overseeing are distinctly set down in the Holy Scripture in the Book of Exodus Exod. 23. where among other advices which God gives to Moses and to all the popularity of Israelites for to pass happily through the Desarts never to be weary in their journey to get the victory
altogether beyond himself will do actions as far out of Reason as his feelings shall be out of their Duty not that the Devils are the Physical cause of those extravagant sallies by the Impression of any Interiour quality which is received in the faculties but by the application of the Active to the Passive they do so dispose the Oeconomy of all the Species Hostis itaque callidus contra celestem militem modo ex pharetra per insidias eum sagitâ vulnerat modo ante ejus faciem hastam vibrat quia videlicet vitia alia sub virtutum specie contegit alia ut sunt aperta ejus oculis opponit D. Greg. l. 13. Moral in c. 39. Job cap. 30. statim initio that if the Will as Mistress of the Lodging comes not by force of Arms to banish those Trouble-Feasts and set each piece in its own Order they will soon put all the House in disorder We must not believe that the Devils when they have undertaken to deceive or tempt any body after that nature will have it cried out with the sound of a Trumpet over all the corners of the City or that they will set up Proclamations on the Gates and in all publick places No they go another way to work here is their craft They do search and consider the predominant humour Si autem fortasse validum contra avaritiam cernit importunè ejus cogitationibus suorum domesticorum inopiam suggerit ut dum mens ad provisionem curam quasi piè flectitur seducta futurim in rerum ambitu inique rapitur Idem Greg. Ibid. and the inclination that takes most authority in each person For it 's certain that we bring from our Mothers Womb two inclinations Passions and Humours the one good the other bad the good serves as an Instrument to the good Angels to convert us the bad is an occasion to Satan to pervert us At the sight of that bad inclination as by the favour of a strong Bulwork our Enemies do make their Batteries in all assurance do and represent Objects Exteriourly which may be conformable to that inclination and then they do let fly their Arrows with that assurance that we shall not use much violence to curb our unruly Appetites they do expect to gain the Victory very soon if they know a Man whose inclination leads him to sensuality they will charge his phantasy with so many lubrick and carnal Species they will furnish so many present occasions to the evil Cum malum aliquod cogitamus sive parum sive multum nulli dubium esse debet quin Angelum malignum hortatorem habeamus D. Aug. ad Ef. in eremâ— they will kindle so many fires on the hearth of our concupiscences that we shall sooner burn alive in our scorching heat then we shall take notice of their flames so true is the saying of St. Augustine that we never think of any bad thing be it great or little but we have a malignant Angel who sets us on to commit it There are your Enemies for you you have seen their endeavours and wherein consists all the power they have to Tempt us But all that is not able to make us go back when we have a magnanimous Heart to go through with the design of our Conversion They have their Arms in hand but they dare not strike at us with them if we do not give them liberty They have their Arrows to let flie at us but we have the Buckler of Faith to mortify their points If they do wound us the Blood of Jesus will cure us of all our wounds and their Temptations being made useless by our courage will give us an increase of Merit and to them an augmentation of pain CHAP. XXXIV The good Angels have more Power to Convert us than the bad Angels have to pervert us Dominator Caelorum mittae Angelum tuam bonum ante nos c. 2 Mat. 15. v. 23. Angelicos spiritus recte Dei milite dicimus quia decertare eos contra potestetes aereas non ignoramus quae tamen certamina non lalabore sed imperio peragunt quia quicquid agendo contra immundos spiritus appetunt ex adiutorio cuncâ—â— regentis possiâ—t IN the Conduct and Order of Created things we find that the Superiours by way of Eminency contain all that is Good Handsom and Noble in the Inferiours The Plant which doth possess the first degree of vegitative life contains also in it self the simple being of a Stone which is Inferiour to it the sensible Creature more perfect than the Plant besides her essential form has the simple being of the Stone and the vegetative of the Plant Man who has an ascendance over the Beast besides his special difference which makes him reasonable possesses in a degree of excellency the simple being of the Stone the vegetative of the Plant D. Greg. l. 7. Moral in caput 26. Job c. 8. statum initâ—o and the feeling of the Beast The Angel superiour to Man as he doth surpass him in the Nobility of his Nature so he contains by way of eminency all what he has of Good Handsom and Noble in his Intelligence What great pleasure I take to consider with the Phylosopher the natural Pensel of this invisible Painter who devises in Man all the Images of corporal things with so much perfection ne uity For stripping them out of all what they have that is course and terrestrial he renders them so delicate and small that they do pass without the least difficulty through the Organs of the Immagination and Phantasy for to lodge themselves in the memory wherein they are set up in Order as so many Pourtraicts of Zeuxis and Apelles in that most renowned Gallery of the great King of Persia to see a big Tree Block Bark Fruit Flowers Leaves Branches and Roots the Heavens so many degrees bigger than all the Earth fixed Stars Planets Sun Moon Elements a City all entire Streets Houses Pallaces Towers Churches Steeples and all this to pass through the Apple of an eye which is no bigger than a little Pea to conserve themselves in the memory without any confusion and though there be a Thousand Millions of such like shapes to know how to pick them out upon occasion and to make use of them is there any thing more ravishing Sancti Angeli proculdubio universam creaturam in qua ipsi sunt principialiter conditi in ipso verbo Dei prius noverunt in quo sunt omnium etiam quae temporaliter facta sunt aeternae rationes tanquam in eo per quod facta sunt omnia ac deinde in ipsa creatura quam sic noverunt tanquam infra respicientes eamque referentes ad illius laudem in cujus incommutabili veritate rationes secundum quas facta est principaliter vident D. Aug. tom 3. l. 4. de Genes ad litt c 14. per totum Why then all that is done by
the means of the Species and Images which the Spirit of Man invisible Painter draws from all the material Objects I say Images which bear no other name in our Schools than that of diminitive entities so much they are to be admir'd in their smalness The Angels who are superiours to Man as well by the Nobility of their Nature as by the constitution of their Essence have also the shapes and Images of all Sublunary things which give them a full knowledge of their singularities after such wonderful ways that there is nothing here on Earth but is perfectly represented to them in Heaven by their Pourtraits which they do so artificially devise within themselves but with this difference that Man by the long experience of things which he knows and perceives by his Sences takes even the Copies thereof and forms their Images on the model of the objects whereas the Angel who has neither Organs nor Sences to shape those Images and intelligible Species receives them from God immediately and by way of infusion from the very moment of his existance A acknowledge which is the foundation and ground of all the Angels power in regard of Men moreover to shew that the Saints now Canonized in Heaven have a particular care of those that are as yet on Earth besides the Article of Faith which obliges us to believe that according as their Knowledge does increase to a greater perfection so their Charity also will become greater and of a more vast extent The same it is with Angels whose powers may be reduced to two Heads pursuant to the two sorts of knowledge they have in relation to men The first is relating to Man in the state of his corporal and individuall nature Banc. in 1 part D. Tho. q. 57. art 1 p 740. not only touching the generality of his Essence but as yet in the singular circumstances of the Accidents and special Rencounters which are to befall him So the Angel of St. Peter for Example from the very instant of his Creation received from God by infusion an intelligible Species whereby he might know him when he would come to the World and with such particular marks that he could in no wise be deceived in such sort that the same abstractive Image which he receives of St. Peter before he comes to the World is the self-same which brings him to his knowledge when he is in the World wherein he partakes of the Excellency of that Eternal Idea which being but One and most simple represents unto him without any change things possible and actual God gave not this knowledge to Angels of our Persons Angelis suis Deus mandavit de te c. Psal 90. Petrus de Natal l. 4 c. 141. De excelso coelorum habitaculo ad consulendos visitandos adjuvandum nos attrahit supereminens charitas Angelos propter Deum propter nos propter seipsos Author libri de diligendo Deo apud Aâ—g to 9. c 3. in â—ine nor of the accidents which happen to us but with that weighty obligation to have a special care of us God commanded his Angels says the Prophet-Royal to direct and secure your steps in the slippery Ways and paths of the Earth that your foot may not meet with a stumbling Stone which might give you a fall It 's so that the devout Pilgrim of Orleance continuing his Journey to St. James in Calice received no hurt by the Robbers who waited for him at the passage of a River to plunder him for his Angel Guardian transported him to the other side of the water sooner than his Enemies could put their hands to their Arms to take away with his purse his life which was dearer to him then all that the World could afford him The second knowledge of Angels on the fact of men is to know the Supernatural means necessary to their Salvation among which the most adorable Mystery of the Incarnation holds the first rank as the chiefest and whereof depends all the rest with this difference that at the first instant of their Creation Faith made them only believe the chief motive thereof whereas at the second moment they had seen in the word both the motive and the particular circumstances as are his Nativity in the Stable his Death on Mount Calvary his Resurrection from the Tomb the Sacrament of Baptism the Institution of the Eucharist and the rest which were to follow that general motive And this for two Reasons the one touches themselves the other regards Us That which touches Them is being that Jesus Christ according to St. Pauls Doctrine was appointed supream Head both of Angels and Men Hebr. 1. and the first among the second objects of their Beatitude they could not affix themselves to him but they must have had him in perspective by Faith and in enjoyment by the Word and in the Word That which relates unto Us is that the Angels by the Duty of their charge being obliged to procure the Salvation of Men and to be the Ministers thereof according to the same Apostle it was convenient that they should know all the appurtenances of the Incarnation Otherwise God would have ordained them to an end without giving them the means to attain to it it would be to make them Guiders and Leaders to Men without knowing where to conduct them and have no ground to exhort them to the veneration of those Mysteries if they had not a former knowledge of their merits Now if the Devils at the first instant of their Creation knew the substance of this Mystery yet they stopt there without passing any further Christus Dominus tantum innotuit daemonibus quantum voluit voluit autem quantum oportuit D. Aug. 9. civ c. 22. not only because they would not know the circumstances of it in the Word for That was a Priviledge reserved to the blessed and which was deny'd to the Devils as being Apostates and Rebellious Spirits but only as for the Incarnation brought to pass in the difference of times they remained always doubtful whether the Son of God should or could die for Men until that by three Actions which could not come but from an Agent who resented a fulness of Divinity To wit to resuscitate glorious from the Tomb to bring the Fathers out of Limbo and mount up to the Heavens by his proper Virtue they were compelled against their Inclinations to confess with respect and fear what they did obstinately contest before We must then fear no more the Devils in the enterprize of our conversions For besides that all their power is under conditions and so little advantagious to their ill-will for us that they cannot hurt us but with our own consent we are assured in the behalf of our good Angels that they have both the power to comfort strengthen and also assist us without limitation and a good will to discharge themselves faithfully of their duty without weariness and upon all occasions CHAP. XXXV How the
Flesh usurps on the right of the Spirit In vicino versatur invidia Senec. de brev vitae NEighbourhood is never without envy says the moral Philosopher and I think him nothing seated to his advantage In hoc flexu aetatis fama Coelii haesit admetas notitia Clodiae mulieris impudicae iufoelici vicinitate Cicero pro. who has made it his choice to reside close by a bad Neighbour For there he shall always find something to be debated The Body and the Spirit the Superiour and Inferiour part of the Soul are two Neighbours that lodge Door against Door always in War always in strife M. Coelio Video aliam legem in membris meis repugnantem legi mentis meae Rom. 7. v. 23. never out of trouble The one brings down his Laws his Customs and daily Practices the other alledges his own But the Body better vers'd and more learn'd in the subtilities of Pleading gives the Spirit much to do He acts the part of a malicious Usurper who will invest himself with another mans Goods and makes it his ordinary business to conceive and produce three Acts of bad Faith by one he pulls down and destroys the Meers and Bounds which set a distinction betwixt both the Inheritances by the other he burns confounds or retains with himself all the pretensions and titles of his Neighbour that he might have nothing to shew whereby to make appear the right and justice of his possession By the third he passes all the Farms in his own name receives the Rents and duties and so of a slave oftentimes he makes himself absolute Lord and Proprietor of that which he held from another by credit and Homage Aggenus l. de Limitibus agrorum and also with an obligation of Bondage As for the first which is the taking away of Meers and Bounds it 's an Act against the common Law of Nations which prescribes unto each thing its Mark that the Lord and Master thereof may be known and that no body might encroach or trespass on his Land The collation of those Meers was so Holy and venerable among the Antients that they would accompany it with as many Ceremonies as they would their most solemn Sacrifice to their Gods the stones being gather'd into a great heap on a firm ground they would Crown them with a Cap of Flowers and cast thereon some Aromatique Ointments to Embalm the place the Trench being made deep where the Bounds being to be settled they were to kill some clean spotless Beasts which they would bury therein by quarters and be-sprinkle them with Blood freshly drawn out of their veins the Sacred Fire being put to those materials so disposed and at the greatest force of the activity of these flames when the Flesh began to boil in the Blood they would cast the stones into that deep trench so carefully made hot Frontinus lib. de limitions and this they would call Meers of Inheritance Ille homo Primitus Dei lege transgressa aliam legem repugnantem suae menti habere coepit in membris inobedientiae suae malum sensit quoniam sibi retributam dignissime inobedientiam carnis suae invenit D. Aug. to 7. l. 1. de nuptiis concupisc ad Valerium cap. 6. statim intio which no body durst take away by reason of the punishment decreed against such transgressors which was to be immediatly comdemned to the Mines The Body as a bad Neighbour after he had at that dismal day of the Garden of Eden raised up in Arms all the unruly motions of his concupiscence to provoke the Soul to the disorder of the Crime which she there committed believed he had acquired advantages great enough to entrench upon her Rights knowing very well by the experience he had of her litle courage to maintain them that he would soon get the better of her if he would undertake to intangle her in a Process he begins with the first Act of a bad Faith which is to take away and pass over the Bounds which God and Nature had put betwixt him and the Soul But what are the Meers of the Body assigned by the Decree of the great Surveyor of the Universe it 's a little bit of Earth of five or six foot in length two or three in breadth for the most corpulent An inheritance which is never better measured then by the same Body when that they do cast him into his Tomb and stretch him over all what he is worth in the World and as yet the Worms will strive for the same and pretending the prosperty to be their own they gnaw the carcass so far as to take away all form and shape belonging to a Body Morever whilst the Body is alive he is subject to all manner of slavery which can be exacted of a Vassal If the Soul as his Soveraign can absolutely command him And if she could make use of the Justice of her Power and Prerogative the Body in respcct of her would have no further credit or esteem then what we usually have for a meer Slave because that the Soul being of a Celestial off-spring she can have no bounds upon Earth her limits touch the very point of Eternity whence she derives the Antiquity of her Race and the Grandeurs of her Nobility What has happened upon that account what but that great misfortune which St. Paul will have the Corinthians to avoid Non sit schisma in corpore 1. Cor. c 11. to wit to hinder that the Body should become Schysmatique that is to say to hinder that no division should be betwixt the Members and the Head the Vassal and the Lord the Servant and the Master The Soul is the Head the Lady and the Mistress of the Body Yet by reason that the Soul cannot exercise the Acts of her power unless that she does pass over the Earth of the Body and that the Spirit cannot receive any intelligible Species unless she draws them from abroad by the favour of the sences which are the Organs of the Body Hence the Body in the continuation of the Soul passes and repasses seeintg she had need of his assistance took the occasion of a revolt and in a short time being weary of serving and getting without the Meers of his duty he reduced her to that pass to serve and wait on his unruly appetite Servitutes praediorum confundantur si idem utriusque praedii dominus esse coeperit Digest l. 8. tit 6. and to labour the Earth though she be a Princess of Heavenly Extraction And this because she knew not how to hold her own rank maintain her Rights and make the Body know how far she could extend her bounds CHAP. XXXVI The Second unjust Usurpation of the Flesh on the right of the Spirit THe Lord and Proprietor being no more able to obtain what is his by right through the unjustice which was done unto him by destroying and taking away his Bounds the bad
secures her self against violence because she is free and naturally opposeth whatever seems to incroach upon her liberty She does not acquiesce in reason because she is deaf nor hears any discourse but such as charms the Understanding by convincing it But Pleasure hath allurements which she can no ways withstand She trembles whenever it sets upon her she is afraid to lose her liberty in his presence and knowing the power it hath over her inclinations she calls in Sorrow to her succour to Guard her against this pleasing Enemy If it be true that Pleasure reigns absolutely over the Will we need not think it strange that Grace which is nothing but a Victorious suavity hath such advantage over her For besides that this Heavenly Influence surpasseth all the delights in the World that charm us having more allurements than Glory and Beauty that makes so many Lovers and Martyrs Tunc enim bonum concupisci incipit cum dulcescere incipit ergo benedictio dulcedinis est gratia Dei qua fit in nobis ut nos delectes cupiamus hoc est amemus quod praecipit nobis Aug. it insinuates much deeper into the Will than whatever ravisheth us Mortals Being in the hands of Jesus Christ whom nothing can resist it glides into the very Center of our Hearts making Impressions there that are never more strong than when they are most agreeable thence it cashiers all Pleasures that have unjustly Usurp'd upon us and knowing all the weakness of the place it sets upon we need not wonder if she makes her self Mistress Other Pleasures enter not into the Will but at the Gate of the Senses they have lost half their strength before they can make their approach and her inclination being unknown to them they many times cause aversion intending to procure Love But Grace wooes the Heart without the mediation of the Senses and more powerful than Pleasures that act not upon all the faculties of the Soul carries light into the Understanding Faithfulness into the Memory and Pleasures into the Will so that we need not wonder if the Sinner suffer himself to be overcome by a Divine quality that sheds delight into all the powers and faculties of the Soul That which Grace effects thus agreeable by Pleasure Amor imperium habet super omnes animae vires propter hoc quod ejus objectum est bonum Arivis D. Tho. it brings to pass more powerfully by Love For according to the Judgement of St. Augustine Grace is nothing else but Charity and when God means to convert a Sinner his sole design is to make him his Lover Love is the Master of all Hearts there is no impossibility this Passion undertakes not Miracles are his sports and all the Prodigies Antiquity hath produced are nothing but the effects of this Sovereign Scripture is never more Eloquent than when it intends to express the force thereof Nothing satisfies it in this design all words seem too weak to express its conceptions and finding no comparisons that answer the dignity of the Subject it descends to the Tombs where having considered the Trophies of Death is forced to confess that his power equals not that of Love It passeth to the very Center of the Earth observes the unrelenting sadness of Hell and comparing the pains of the Damned with the anxeity of Lovers leaves us in doubt whether Hell or Love be more pitiless But not to aggravate his power by such strange comparisons let it suffice to Judge of him by his Effects Though he be the Son of the Will yet is he the Master he disposeth so absolutely of his Mother that she hath no Motions but what her Son inspires her with She undertakes nothing but by his Orders 't is the Weight that sets her a going the Load-stone that attracts her the King that Governs her and she so absolutely depends upon his Power that nothing but an other Love can dis-engage her She is so fierce or so free that neither Violence nor Fear can tame her She laughs at Tortures preserves her Liberty in the midst of Fetters and many times Torments make her but more wilful Only Love mollifies her hardness his Charms gain upon her what sorrow cannot and Experience teacheth Us there is no surer command then that which is founded upon Love In the mean time Vanity which is almost the inseparable Companion of Greatness perswades Kings that 't is a debasement to seek the Love of their Subjects and seduced by this false Maxim They endeavour to make themselves feared not being able to make themselves Beloved But God who hath formed the Heart of Man and knows how they may be Vanquished without being forced owes all his Conquests to his Love He never appears more absolute then when he tames a Rebellious Will when of an Enemy he makes him a Lover and changing his Inclinations sweetly compels him to fall in Love with him Forin secus terret per legem intrinsecus delectat per amorem Aug. His Power sparkles in his Corrections He astonisheth Sinners when he loosens the Mountains from their Foundations when he makes the Earth shake under their Feet the Thunder rumble over their Heads and threatens the World with an Universal Deluge or a general Conflagration But all these Menaces convert not the Guilty The fear that terrifies them does not reduce them to their Duty their Heart remains Criminal when their Mouths and their Hands be Innocent and if God inspire not his Love into them he punishes indeed their Offence but changes not their Wills This Prodigious Metamorphosis is reserved for his Love 't is his Charity that must Triumph over Rebels Nor is there any thing but his Grace that by its Imperious Sweetness can oblige a Sinner to Love him I am not afraid to injure Mans Liberty in using Terms so Significant Because supposing Grace to be nothing but Love it can do no Violence to the Will For of all the things in the World there is none freer then Love A Man cannot complain that he is forc'd when nothing but Charms of affection are imployed to gain him And if there are some Lovers that have blamed the Rigour of their Mistresses there is none that have found fault with their Love If it be an Evil 't is a Voluntary one it hurts none but those that willingly Embrace it and of so many Punishments that torment Us there is none more Innocent because none more Free Crowns may be snatched from Soveraigns Confidence may be taken from Philosophers Orators may be convinc'd any man may lose his Life but what ever Stratagems are made use of what ever Violence men Practice a Lover cannot be forc'd nor his Love extorted from him Seeing then Grace is nothing but Charity and Charity nothing but a Holy Love We must not apprehend Violence nor imagine that the Assaults of this Divine Quality can at all injure our Liberty because it does not dis-engage us from Evil but by obliging
Love which render'd them tollerable shall make up but a small part of the pains of the Damned Alas if a little Head-ach sets us out of all order and patience a little swelling or matter under the nail will make us cry to Heaven and Earth the least prick of a Pin will give us a feeling what shall it be among so many and such searching evils of their own Nature and without remedy by the Divine Ordinance Let us pass over all this and come to consider the anguish and perplexity of the Spirit Let us if it be possible cast up an account of all the Rages Despairs and Melancholies of Men of that of a Judas who hangs himself of Otho the Emperour who not being able to get the Victory of Vitellius runs himself through with his Sword Of a Cassius who with the same Dagger he murthered Caesar in the Senate deprives himself of his Life Of a Silvius an Italian Poet who at the age of seventy five years plung'd in a profound sadness finding no other thing whereby to Exercise his rage pierces his heart with the point of a Nail Of a Galerius who smother'd himself in his Sheets And a number of others who went tormented in their Souls some have cast themselves into Privies others from the top of high Towers Yet all That is nothing to be compar'd to the rage and despair of a damn'd Soul The Devil will take occasion to Exercise new punishments on the reprobate from the pleasures he was most given to in the World Ambition made him to raise up his horns and in the smoak of a passing honour-to build for himself an Idol of presumption to which all his wishes and desires should offer continual Sacrifices Undervaluing Taunts Contempts and Rebukes shall be his ordinary Serenades Now a Devil boxing him will say get you gone unfortunate Soul you have lost your share of Heaven for a point of Honour Another will publish his most hidden sins Ibi dolor permanet ut affligat natura perdurat ut sentiat quia utrumque ideo non deficit ne paena deficiat D Aug. to 5. l. 19. Civit. c. 28. per totum there is the Hypocrite who past for a Saint among men to complain of these affronts he would not dare if he be not willing to have them redoubled to seek for one to comfort him or to be revenged of those Murderers 't is in vain all compassion is banished out of that Land 't is there that Cruelty sits in her Throne Ah dear Soul to escape those torments will you not have pity of your self This is not as yet enough those fires remain without mercy those burning flames which devour and those parching heats which consume without giving death and give Death without consuming Qualitatem doloriferam igni Deus imprimit Suarez Flames which act no more within the order of their natural Activity though the same be most rigorous but which receive new dolorous Qualities which God draws from their obediential power as well for to torment the Body the more as for to act against the Soul Quod a diabolus ejusque Angeli cum sint incorporei corporeo tamon cruciantur igne quid mirum si animae antequam recipiant corpora corporea sentiant tormenta D. Greg. 4. Dialo though she be Spiritual For as God uniting our Souls to our Bodies makes it that our Souls are sensible of the sores of the Body he may as easily command the fire to act against those very Souls and make them to resent the violence of its Action And even as he does elevate the Water which is an Elementary Body to the Spiritual effects of Baptismal Grace so he does elevate those Fires though they be Material to the punishment of Spirits without any contradiction or dis-agreement of the Soul with the Fire no more than there is of Grace with the Water The Prophet I say cannot look on those Furnaces but he must fall into a weakness of heart Hugo of St. Victor gives us the reason of it and says that those Fires are to be admir'd in one point which is that they do operate without loosing any thing of their force because they meet with no contrary Agent that might moderate their Action they are mixed with a Sulphureous Fat thick bituminous matter to give them a more scorching heat And which is more this Doctor is of opinion Ibi omnia genera tormentorum sunt congregata sicut aquae maris in alveo suo Hugo Card. in c. 16. Luc. that if all the Waters of the Sea nay if the Heavens had opened their Cataracts even to power down therein an Universal Deluge it would signifie no more then a little drop of Oyl cast into Vulcan's Furnace We must not imagine that those Fires have no further power to act on the Damn'd Souls than to intimate their commission at length and to startle them with a threatning pain or to serve as high Walls only in form of a Dungeon where the Spirits are detained Prisoners No no those Fires are not to be suppos'd to act only by an intentional Species which supplies the want of a proportionable Object For then the Devils having a general Species of all matterial things by infusion from the instant of their Creation it would be no great trouble to them And therefore it is necessary that the real presence of the substance of the Fire be there Habebit tunc carnis substantia qualitatem ab illo juditam qui tam miras varias rebus indidit quas videmus eas quia multae sunt non miremur D. Aug. l. 21. Civit. c. 4. per totum joyned with the dolorous qualities which God gives it in the instant of its Elevation to the end that it should adhere to the Souls with so straight a tye says St. Augustine that the Union of the Soul with the Body in the rights of Information cannot be more intimate than that of the Damned Souls is to the Fire of Hell CHAP. XLII The second Consideration of Hell Virgil. 6. Aeneid WHo will not tremble and cry out at the sole remembrance of that dreadful thought The Latin Poet describing the horidness of those Subterranian Mansions conceives a Den in form of an Abyss fortified with a triple Wall which a Torrent of Flames does environ on all sides and an Iron Tower with Brass-Gates which all the Gods are not able to break open on one side a Gnosius and a Radamantus may be seen there to put those unfortunate Criminals to the torture and on the nother the Alcides Titans and Salmones punished for their crimes committed against Jupiter Nevertheless he seems to give them some hopes that after the expiration of their offences they may flye unto the Elizean Fields though it must be with some difficulty However Faith will have us to believe the contrary Theseus got out of the Labarinth by the favour of a Thred he had received