Heavenly Paradice but Lucifer who from a glorious Angel was become a Devil having been thrown out of Heaven for aspiring to be equal to God envied that Man should enjoy the Happiness which he had lost and knowing by woful Experience that Heaven could not contain a proud Person he thought himself sure to prevent Man's being admitted there if he could but make him guilty of the same Sin Pride Hereupon he subtilly first began to tempt the weaker Vessel Eve by shewing her the beautiful Fruit of the forbidden Tree telling her that by tasting it she might become like unto God himself and when by his perswasion he had deceived the Woman he made use of her as he still does to deceive the Man Thus Sin like a cunning Thief crept in at the Window of his Eye which he unwarily had set open to behold the Beauty of that Fruit and soon opened also the Doors of his Ears to admit the Enticement of his Wife conspiring with his treacherous Appetite to let in Death at the Gate of his Mouth by his disobedience in eating the Apple which was presented to him by her Then that blessed Union was broken and a Separation made not only between his Body and his Soul by a temporal Death the Sentence whereof instantly pass'd upon him though the Execution was deferr'd but also between his Soul and his God by an eternal Death to which he also became thereby liable and as a Fore-runner of both he and his Wife were driven out of Paradice from the Presence of their gracious Creator Now as the Departure of the Soul from the Body is Death so the Departure of God from the Soul can be no less than Hell for as in his presence there is fulness of Joy so in his absence there must be extremity of Sorrow and as at his Right-hand there be Pleasures for evermore so on his Left there must needs be everlasting Pains and what can the feeling of them be but Hell To this miserable Condition Sin brought our first Parents and from them all we their wretched Posterity became tainted with an original Corruption the Seeds whereof growing up into innumerable actual Transgressions afford no other Fruit but Death in this World and eternal Damnation in that which is to come but God being infinitely merciful would not abandon them to perish for ever in this sad Estate but out of the Bowels of his tender Compassion did with incomprehensible Wisdom find out a way for the Satisfaction of his own Justice and for the Salvation of Mankind It had been utterly impossible for all of them together to have done any thing in the least degree towards the Salvation of so much as one Man for it cost more to redeem a Soul so that they must have let that alone for ever But God contriv'd it by an Union much more admirable than that already mentioned and that was between the Divine and Humane Natures And Adam had no sooner broken the first Covenant of unsinning Obedience which God made with him in Paradice but he graciously made a Second with him and his Posterity in the second Adam the promised Messiah This he afterwards perform'd by sending his only begotten Son Jesus Christ equal to his Father as touching his Godhead into the World for the Redemption of Mankind who being conceiv'd by the Holy Ghost in the chast Womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary became also perfect Man of a reasonable Soul and humane Flesh subsisting to the end that as Man he might be capable to suffer and as God to satifie for the sins of the whole World This was a Benefit so high and so transcendent that neither the Understanding of Man no nor that of Angels is able to comprehend it Here all consideration is confounded and humbles itself with astonishment to see that the Son of God to the end that he might cloath thee with his Grace cloathed himself with our Nature which is a poor torn wretched Garment full of beggery and misery and yet that Soveraign Eternal and Divine Majesty put it on for our sake and though this was exceeding much yet he did a great deal more for us since besides this Humanity which Christ the Divine Word took upon him he underwent so many Sufferings for Mankind and wove this seamless Coat of Grace which he gives us in Baptism with such unmeasurable griefs and torments as never have been suffer'd in all the World but by himself nor ever shall be Nay he did yet more for he not only wove this Coat of Grace with these unspeakable pains but even with his holy death and would end his Life in that very employment of weaving and finishing it to the end he might give that seamless Robe its utmost Beauty and Perfection Here all our thoughts ought to be Silence Amazement Terror Reverence and Admiration with Tears of Love and Contrition That the Eternal Son of God to cloath me with his Grace should cloath himself with my humble Nature and presently load himself with the burden of my sins and then take upon him their Punishment upon the Cross and die upon it for them That the cleansing of me should make him be defil'd with the spittings of blasphemous mouths That the giving me the Life of Grace should make him die the Death of Nature and that in such cruel Torments That for the washing of my Soul he should shed all his Precious Blood And that he should devest himself of all Humane Comfort only to give me Comfort Remedy and even Heaven itself This is a business more proper for our Love than our Meditation more to make us active in his Service than contemplative in our Thoughts and to be expressed more by our Wonder than our Words Yet it is good to meditate upon it that we may love him to consider it that we may serve him and to speak of it that by finding we cannot speak enough we may admire and adore him A Man that does me a kindness has my Thanks and if by his pains and danger he draw me out of any Trouble I shew my Gratitude by acknowledging it There be Laws that order Recompences for a Subject that saves the Life of his King in War or in Peace appointing him to be rewarded with Wealth and crowned with Ensigns of Honour Mordecai only for giving Notice to Ahasuerus that some of his Treacherous Servants meant to kill him was by the Command of that Heathen King cloathed with his own Royal Robe and his most beloved Favourite was made to lead the Horse upon which that Loyal Subject rode about the Streets of the City This was an high Honour easily attain'd so notable a demonstration of Favour so Royal and Majestick a Recompence but for a bare Advertisment Consider now if so much were due to a Vassal who by the discovery of a Traytor had sav'd the Life of a King what shall a Vassal owe to his King who not only hath sav'd him from Death but
Mysteries of the Blessed Jesus for in them thou shalt find Light Joy and Company Fervency Grace and Devotion Go on and continue this Holy Meditation and it shall fill thy Soul with Treasures of Spiritual Comfort Of the Mystery of the Incarnation And first behold and consider the Eternal Son of God Co-eternal Co-omnipotent and Infinitely Wise with the Father coming forth from the Father yet without leaving him to be made Man the Holy Ghost in this high Mystery co-operating with the Father and the Son for the Three Divine Persons who concurred in the Creation of Man concurred also in his Reparation and Redemption Consider how he sets forth accompanied with the whole Court of Heaven and takes Flesh in the chaste Womb of the most pure and perfect Virgin that Nature ever saw the most Blessed Virgin Mary the Honour of Nazareth the Glory of Jerusalem and the Joy of all Israel Behold that unspeakable Union between the Divinity and the Humanity behold the Eternal Word cloathing himself with our Nature and espousing himself to it in that Virgin Bride-bed Here thou mayest know what thou owest to thy Creator and Saviour who for the love of thee and for thy Remedy made himself Man took on him the form of a Servant and subjected himself to all the Labours and Miseries to which Mankind is liable and together with our Nature loaded himself likewise with all their Pains and Punishments and which is more being Innocency itself he took upon him all their Sins also to suffer for them Consider thus what God did for thee and then consider likewise what thou owest to God for having done all this for thee That the Immense the Omnipotent and the Infinitely Wise should become Man for the Redemption of Man That those two Extreams so distant and distinct should be conjoyned that the Nature of Man which is Frailty and Misery should be united to the Divine Person of the Eternal Son of God which is the Supream and Soveraign Deity What greater cause can there be of Astonishment and Admiration Men use to say when they would express any thing impossible Heaven and Earth shall meet before this can come to pass Consider how much greater a thing is God's joyning the Humanity with the Divinity for my sake than the meeting of Heaven and Earth Can there be a greater Favour than that God to shew his love to us should do impossibilities Could Omnipotency want other means to Save and Redeem Mankind Could not his Infinite Wisdom have contriv'd other ways for the Salvation of the Sons of Adam without engaging himself in this incomprehensible expression of Love Yes most probably For to him that is All-powerful the most difficult things were very easie and to him that is Infinitely Wise they were also most clear and manifest but his excessive Love would for the Salvation of Man give that which was not precisely necessary and having it in his power to do less for their sakes he would needs do more O more than Infinite Goodness O Love that exceedest all Consideration That thou the Immense the Omnipotent and Infinite God shouldst be made Man for Man That thou shouldest so have limited thy self being the unbounded Creator of all things both in Heaven and Earth That thou shouldst be reduced to so short and narrow a space Thou who comprehendest the whole Creation within thy self and yet hast infinite room within that unmeasurable comprehension That thou shouldst become passible being by thy Divine Nature incapable of Labour Pains and Sufferings And not only passible but already beginning actually to suffer being Innocency and Goodness itself and the very Original of all Goodness and Innocency This does not only amaze Man's Understanding but even that of the highest Cherubims and only that same God can comprehend it who celebrated and performed this high and Soveraign Mystery Now let us come back to our selves and consider what is it for Man sinful Man to suffer that drags so many Chains of Passions and Wickednesses it being just that he should suffer for them since this Divine Lord suffers a close Restraint and Imprisonment in the Virgin 's Womb What is it for Man to humble himself for God's sake seeing God for Man's sake humbled himself so far as even to become Man What a small thing is it for Man to shut himself up in a Cell or to hide himself in a strait Enclosure in hope that he shall come forth to the enjoyment of Eternal Liberty since God the Son imprisons himself so closely for nine Months to come forth to suffer so many ways for Thirty and three years that he might purchase and obtain that very Liberty for Man What is it for the low the mean the vile and the unworthy to humble himself since the Divine the Immense the Omnipotent the Infinite and the most High hath abased himself to so great a degree Draw from hence that Humility which after a certain manner thou oughtest to be proud of as an Honour since thou dost that which God himself did for it must needs be always a great Honour to do that which has been done by that Eternal Majesty Behold what thankfulness thou owest to that unspeakable Goodness for that wonderful expression of his Love in the Incarnation of the Son of the Eternal God and how it can be possible for Man with sufficient gratitude to acknowledge that God should make himself Man for the Redemption of Man that he should come down from Heaven to Earth to make Earth an Inheritor of Heaven This in my Opinion was the greatest of all the expressions of God's Love and Kindness in this was the greatest Conquest of his Charity in this it was that he measured the most unmeasurable distance When once he was made Man to suffer for Man was but an Humane distance although a very vast one because that Man was God but that being God he should make himself Man was a Divine distance and that so beyond all excess that for the measuring of it it was necessary that Omnipotency itself should yield to the greater power of Love When once he had made himself passible by becoming Man it was so natural for him to suffer that if he would have freed his Humanity from it it must have been by the help of his Divinity but for him being God to make himself Man that he might become passible this was a Prodigy more than Divine and which does almost seem incredible Those that are of High and Noble Birth avoid to come near the Plebeians and Vulgar sort those that are Rich scorn to have any thing to do with the Poor and those that are Wise despise to talk with the Ignorant But thou O Eternal Wisdom Riches and Nobility not only camest near to our Poverty our Baseness and our Frailty but cloathed'st thy self therewith to instruct to enrich and to enoble our Nature From henceforth Lord we ought to learn from thy Divinity to humble and abase our selves
it Is there no remedy against this Evil nor defence against this Danger 2. The Evil is not in being judged but in going unprepar'd to Judgment This imminent danger hath an easy plain and safe remedy by the Grace of God And that is for a Man to judge himself often times before God judge him once for all Wouldst thou not be afraid of the Judgment nor of that dreadful Sentence Judge thy self before hand examine thy self before thou comest to be examin'd call thy self frequently to a strict account humble thy self amend thy Life and at the sight of thy Sins pray and weep and thou shalt go willingly to Judgment and come off safe with thy account Serve thy Judge love thy Judge and obey him in all things before he come to judge thee and thou shalt go contentedly to his Judgment and find thy Judge to be thy Friend 3. Consider that many Saints have desir'd that their Life might be shorten'd that their Death might be hasten'd and that they might come to Judgment thereby to enjoy God They desir'd to be dissolved and to leave this mortal Tabernacle They desir'd this knot of Life might be untied and to be free from the Prison of this miserable and corruptible Body to see their God their Creator and Redeemer whom they loved served and ador'd while they lived in this World They esteem'd Death as Life because it freed them from a dying Life which delay'd their enjoyment of an eternal Life 4. They could not pass to the beatifical Vision of their God without going by the way of the Judgment and Sentence They did as it were die with an eager desire of dying and joyfully embrac'd that Death which brought them to behold the kind the cheerful and beautiful Countenance of their loving Judge They knew they were to be judged by their Father their God their Creator and Redeemer their faithful Friend and their most gracious Lord. They loved him in their Life they sought him by their Death they ador'd him in the Judgment and with an humble confidence in his infinite Pity they hoped for Mercy in the Sentence They knew their offences were many but they had bewailed them they knew though they were Sinners they had lived desirous to please him diligent to serve him and with care not to offend him They knew they could not put their cause into better hands and that the same Person was to judge them who had shed his Blood for them and given his Life upon the Cross for their Redemption They went to offer their Works their Tears and their Repentance unto God yet without trusting any thing in their Works they relied wholly upon the Goodness of God and the Merits of their Saviour 5. For though it be just that the Judgments of the Lord should be fear'd yet it is as just that they should be loved My Father says the holy Soul is to judge me what am I then afraid of My Lord and my God is my Judge How can I choose but hope and trust in my Lord and my God though he be my Judge If he have a kindness for me and I have a reverence for him What can I look for in the Sentence but Mercy and Compassion What Son is afraid to be judged by his own Father if he hath not lived and acted as an Enemy to his Father or if he hath bewailed the time that he was his Enemy What Wife is afraid to be judged by her tenderly affectionate Husband if she hath not been an Adulteress or hath heartily lamented that Injury and penitently begged pardon of her dearly loving Husband What Friend is afraid to be judged by his Friend if he hath been faithful to him or hath shewed a real grief for the breach of his Fidelity Though I be afraid and wretched says a sick Soul I have been desirous to serve thee O my God thy Precepts have been my Direction and thy Counsels have been my Rule if not in the execution yet at least in my intention and earnest desire I hope for mercy from that eternal goodness of God my Creator and Redeemer who dyed upon a Cross for my Salvation He that was so gracious and so loving in Redeeming me cannot but be a sweet and tender Father in Judging me 6. These are the breathings of a Holy Soul Thus said St. Paul and many others when they desir'd to be dissolved that they might come to the presence of God and for the obtaining of that did not fear to put their Cause and Sentence into his hand They feared his Power and they adored his Power They were afraid by reason of their sins and yet they hoped knowing his mercy and loving-kindness Their love conquered their fear because their hearts were inflam'd with that perfect Charity which casts out fear And thus if thou doest desire to have a holy and assured hope humbly resign'd and yet chearful in the Judgment and in the Sentence do that which the Saints have done and thou shalt hope as they have hoped 7. Make account in thy life-time of that Account thou art to give hereafter I repeat it to thee once again keep a Judgment-seat within thy self every day till thou comest to thy last Judge thy self ten thousand times and consider in what steps thou treadest for according to what thou doest in this World thou shalt be judged in the other Strictly observe thy very thoughts and mend what thou shalt find amiss For by this means thou shalt increase that love which casts out fear Do thou judge thine own Actions before God judges them beg light of him to see and know them and tears to bewail them and so with a holy resignation and with an humble confidence thou mayest appear in the presence of God Take good heed to thy Words Thoughts and Actions and square them by the Rule of the Divine Law and of the Will of that Lord who is to Judge thee and strive in this Life to obtain Mercy and Pardon for thy Sins and Miseries 8. Be careful to purifie thy Understanding and to purge it from evil fill it with honest and spiritual Considerations cleanse thy will from corrupt Desires and fill it with the love of thy Creator Let thy Memory be the Store-house of Holy Meditations and then hope and trust love and adore the Judgment of the Lord. His goodness does more desire to Pardon thee than thou dost to be pardoned He is more desirous of thy Salvation than thou art to be saved He is more desirous to deliver thee from that Infernal Dragon than thou art to be delivered Be careful I warn thee once again on what hand thou livest in this life for on that hand thou shalt find thy self when Death carries thee from hence 9. Fear the Judgment of the Lord for it is very just so to do fear humble thy self and tremble but yet hope and be more afraid of the sins wherewith thou offendest him than thou art of his righteous Judgment
which is more hath given him Eternal Life freeing him from everlasting Damnation and not at so cheap a rate as words but by sweating Blood suffering Torments and giving up himself to Death even the death of the Cross Can this Benefit this Love this excess of Kindness find any in the World that can be compar'd to it And if we should be ungrateful for it or forgetful of it which in some sort is worse than to be ungrateful could there possibly be a greater wickedness O Lord suffer not me I beseech thee to be guilty of so great an Error of so great a Folly and of so great a Wickedness for such a strange want of Love and such an abominable Ingratitude cannot be thought of by any good Person without horror JVNE The First WEEK Of Baptism and Confirmation COnsider now what God hath done for thee in particular towards making thee a partaker of this high Benefit of Redemption for though Christ by his death paid a sufficient Price for the Souls of all Mankind yet thou no more than many others couldst have had no share in it hadst thou not been made a Member of his Body and how high soever the Benefit of Creation be it had been much better for thee never to have been born than not to have been made a Christian But what couldst thou a poor helpless Infant do towards the attaining so great a Benefit when thou didst not so much as know thy want of it Yet the Mercy of thy most Gracious God prevented thy desires and in his eternal purpose he determined thee to be one of that happy number that should be born of Christian Parents in that part of the World where the Gospel is most purely profess'd and where thou wert early consecrated to him in Baptism Thou wert brought to that Laver of Regeneration where the stains of thy Original Corruption were washed away in the Blood of Christ represented by the outward and visible sign of Water wherewith thou wert sprinkled to signifie thy death unto Sin and thy new birth unto Righteousness Thou wert baptized in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost according to thy Saviour's Appointment By the Gate of that Holy Sacrament thou wert admitted into the Church and made a Member of Christ a Child of God and an Heir of the Kingdom of Heaven being by Nature born in sin thou wert thereby made a Child of Grace Thus the second Covenant made with Mankind in Christ Jesus was sealed between God and thee which cannot fail on his part to be faithfully performed if thou be but careful on thine to do the best thou canst and to serve him with sincere if not with perfect Obedience Men use to envy those that are born of Noble Parents whose Care Power and Greatness may support and succour the naked weak and innocent Infants but O! what a Noble Birth is that of Faith What rich Mantles and Swadling-cloaths are the Coelestial Vertues That this little Creature shall no sooner be born but that at the same instant he comes into the care not of a weak frail Mother who lies unable to help her self by reason of the Pangs and Throws she suffer'd for the bringing of a Child into the World but of an Holy Perfect and Spiritual Mother which is the Catholick Church that cloaths him with the Robe of Grace an admirable Pledge of a safe and an eternal Inheritance in Glory That the Child should scarcely be born when already the Son of God as an invisible Minister doth by the visible hand of his Minister baptize and at the same time wash away sin from that Soul and fill it with Graces Gifts and Vertues This is an Honour which is indeed deservedly to be valued and a Benefit which can never be sufficiently admir'd From the time that the Water of Baptism washed off the filthy rags of Adam and cloathed thee with Grace in the Blood of the Lamb sin which had wounded thee before became wounded it self and whereas before it gave death from that time it suffered death In Natural Sicknesses the Remedies seldome reach to the Diseases and the Body when it is recovered hardly gets so great strength as what it lost by Sickness but in the Spiritual Sickness and in the Hurts and Diseases of the Soul it uses to be much otherwise for the wounded party recovers more strength and vigour when he is gotten up again than what he lost by falling into them The Devil ruined us but God is more powerful in good than he is in evil Sin destroy'd us and Grace renew'd us but Grace is more effectual to renew us than Sin to destroy us Our weak and ruined Nature was indebted Ten Thousand Talents but the Eternal Son of God hath satisfied the Debt not with Ten Thousand nor with an Hundred Thousand but with his Blood a Price of inestimable value Dost thou think that any thing can be more powerful than God Hath he not received thee into his Church by Baptism And hath not he on his part promised to protect to free and to assist thee Hast thou not passed through those Waters flying from the Enemy that pursued thee Did not that Red Sea of thy Saviour's blood open to give thee passage And did it not shut again to drown the Egyptian I mean Original Sin Then what hast thou to be afraid of Sing the Victory with Miriam and the Daughters of Israel which the Son of a better and a more glorious Myriam hath obtained for thee Is not God thy succour and thy hope Whom hast thou to fear Is not he thy defence and thy protection What dost thou dread When a man is once cloathed with the Grace of God in Baptism all his Enemies are but few By the Infusions of Grace thou oughtest to count Sin and Nature to be already conquer'd What signifies the Signing thee with the Sign of the Cross in thy Forehead but the marking thee out for a Souldier of Jesus Christ Be not therefore asham'd to confess the Faith of Christ crucified Thou art not only his Souldier but art furnished with Arms of his Magazine The Old Man is put away and thou art cloathed with the New and that New Man is Jesus Christ who enters into thy Soul to cloath it with himself and with his Graces for he enters to arm to defend to favour to protect and to assist thee The Field in which thou fightest is thine own for he strengthens and encourages thee in all encounters Thou fightest in the Militant Church whereof thou art a Member against which that Enemy with whom thou fightest can never prevail Great part of the Victory consists in the Advantage of Ground but all is favourable to thee from the time thou art entred into the Church That Entry by Baptism was the first Victory for the entrance it self was a Victory and that Victory a Triumph From that day Hell trembles at thee only because thou art a
defence of his Souldiers They hazard their lives for a pitiful Pay which oftentimes they never get but our King and Captain secures us a certain Pay rewarding us with Life and Glory If they fly over to their Enemy 't is out of hope to preserve their lives but if we do so we run to eternal death and fly from eternal life The War of the World is made by wounding hurting and killing others but the War of God against the World is made by receiving Injuries Affronts Wounds and even Death it self if it be necessary The War of the World is to Conquer by destroying others but the War against the World is to Conquer by undergoing Difficulties and Suffering for God's sake In that War it is Force that overcomes in this 't is Patience The Victories of that War are gotten by pulling down and trampling upon others but in this by debasing and humbling our selves The Triumphs of that War are here upon Earth and of a short continuance but those of this War are to be in Heaven above and to endure for ever and ever Fight therefore couragiously have patience and persevere the Battle lasts but for a while thou art already near the Crown that is to be thy Reward Arm us O thou great Captain of our Salvation for this Warfare with the Shield of Faith the Breast-plate of Righteousness the Helmet of Salvation and with the Sword of the Spirit and grant that having our Feet shod with the preparation of the Gospel of Peace we may chearfully withstand all Assaults of our Ghostly Enemies keeping still present in our thoughts the Vow we made to thee in our Baptism to fight manfully under thy Banner against the World the Flesh and the Devil and to continue thy Faithful Souldiers and Servants unto our lives end The Second WEEK Of Repentance and Absolution OUR blessed Redeemer and Saviour of Souls did not stop here He thought it not enough to Arm us for the Spiritual Warfare but has also provided a Remedy to cure our Wounds His Divine Majesty knew our weakness he knew our proneness to Vice he knew that like Cowards we should sometimes throw down our Weapons at the feet of our Enemies and basely fly from his Banner for the sake of some filthy Appetite He would not leave our Souls without help but his Compassion seeing our Frailty and Misery was pleased in the very sight of so great Ingratitude to prepare a Medicine for the cure of our Wounds and an Antidote for the Poyson of our Sins by establishing the Doctrine of Repentance and by giving Power and Commandment to his Ministers to declare and pronounce unto such as are truly Penitent the Absolution and Remission of their sins Great was the Love of our Lord in dying for us upon the Cross nor was it less in giving us this means to make his Sufferings effectual to us To pardon past Offences has been seen and sometimes one man to suffer for another but not at so dear a Price as his own Blood For a Person offended to suffer the sight of his Enemies is much when it is to do them good but 't is much more when he knows that they are not only Enemies but that they are ungrateful and despise his Benefits to shed his very blood to make a Medicine for their Wounds This is a pity exceeding all Humane Understanding That there should be care taken in Armies to cure the Wounded and Hospitals for the Sick it is not strange because they are Faithful Souldiers and venture their Lives in Fighting for their King But in the War of the Spirit that the Saviour of Souls should prepare Remedies not for his Friends that fight on his side but for Enemies and Souldiers that desert him that he should admit them again to be new listed under his Banner is a Mercy beyond comparison To pardon Mutineers has been seen in Armies but yet the Heads are commonly punished and the Companies disbanded but not only to pardon such Enemies and Traytors but to call them back to Love to Cure to Reward to Honour and Sustain them with his own Flesh and Blood can be the effect of nothing but an Infinite Charity and Compassion So great is the Benefit of Repentance which giving us a Title to the blood of Christ not only Cures those that are wounded but also raises those that are dead in sins nor is there any thing above the Cure of that Soveraign Medicine unless the Party affected resists the power of it which is so great that it not only cures the Wound but takes away the very Scars and makes those that are recovered more sound and healthful than they were before Behold a Man fallen from a Ship into the Sea and ready to be drowned amidst the Waves see with what eagerness he calls for a Cable with what greediness he catches at the Plank nay the poor wretch would even lay hold on a naked Sword to save his Life though with the loss of his Blood so the Christian who by the Grace of Baptism sails in the Ship of the Church being carried by his Passions throws himself into the World and is sinking in the Tempest of his sins and if he be drowned he perishes to Eternity but as he is sinking he finds this second Plank of Repentance to save him from Shipwrack and by it is drawn up into the Ship again and preserved to arrive in safety at his desired Port. Apply thy self therefore to the use of this Remedy with Humility with an holy Disposition and great sorrow for thy sins and by Faith in the Merits of Christ's Blood and then thou shalt rise up not only cured but crowned Call to remembrance thy sins and make a firm Resolution never to offend thy Lord again Be affected with a sorrow that is pure in its sincerity pious in its intention great in its degree perpetual in its lasting and particular in the enumeration of thy several sins with all the aggravating Circumstances thereof Finally let thy Confession be clear and undissembled with confusion of Face for thy often relapses giving Glory to God and taking Shame to thy self Make use of a Spiritual Guide in all difficulties of Conscience for thy Instruction and Consolation Forgive all Injuries thou hast at any time received which are but a few Pence in comparison of the many Talents which thou hast to be forgiven and remember that Christ says Except ye forgive men their trespasses neither will your Heavenly Father forgive you your trespasses And not only forgive thine Enemies but embrace them with unfeigned Affection for his sake and by his Example who loved thee when thou wast his Enemy Of the Holy Eucharist In this Preparation of Soul wounded both with Love and Grief and thirsting as the Hart for the Water-brooks approach reverently to the Sacrament of thy Saviour's Body and Blood which that gracious Lord instituted at his last Supper for a continual remembrance of the Sacrifice of himself
Soul when thou hast receiv'd thy Lord for that is the time for thee to beg and pray since he is not deaf but will hear thee not dumb but will speak unto thee not blind but will look upon thee and being most loving he will not reject thy love God works in the hearts of the Faithful according to what he himself is and according to what he finds in them and even though he find not in them such a convenient disposition as is due to so high a Majesty yet if they be in any measure disposed his goodness improves it and even that first disposition is a gift of his Goodness and Vertue Since therefore he gives thee all things and thou owest him whatsoever thou hast give thy self wholly to him who gives thee all things Come with cleanness to receive that Divine Purity and beg of him more Purity and more cleanness knowing thine own defilement and unworthiness Keep him fast with love whom thou receivest with an holy reverential fear and be not guilty of so gross a folly as to forsake him when thou hast but newly received him For thee to receive God and presently to turn thy back upon him and give thy self up to Worldly Affairs is the gross stupidity of the Traytor Judas who had scarce received him when he presently went away to sell him No be not so base and unworthy remain with him and suffer thy self to be enflamed with that Coelestial fire To him reduce all thy love and consideration raise up thy mind to him in Heaven and where thy Treasure is there let thine Heart be also The Third WEEK Of frequenting the Sacrament THE time shall come saith our Saviour to the Woman of Samaria that God shall be adored in all places and not only in Jerusalem as who should say the time shall come when Heaven shall come upon Earth Wouldst thou attain eternal Blessings Ask them of the Lord in the blessed Sacrament Wouldst thou be freed of thy Passions and have all Vertues planted in thee Wouldst thou have encrease of Grace and high Gifts of the Spirit Beg them of the Lord in his Sacrament receive it with frequency and purify thy self to approach that Lord of all Purity Receive with profound Humility that admirable Example of Humility and with ardent Charity him that is not only the Pattern of perfect Charity but even Charity it self That which thou receivest he gives thee and that which thou seekest desirest and labourest for thou mayest find in that foundation of all our Good and that remedy of all our Evils But thou wilt say Alas I cannot easily no nor with all the Pains I take find that Humility Purity and Charity you speak of and which you say will make me fit to receive him for if I could I would seek them and strive to get them and would offer them up to that Divine Lord but because I cannot attain them I fear to partake of that coelestial Food It concerns our Necessity to seek them but the finding of them belongs to his Grace If thou seekest them heartily in Spirit and Truth thou already hast them for God in his Goodness never obliges thee to find but only to seek The finding is much more certain than the seeking for this depends upon thy weakness but that upon his infinite Love and Charity Dost thou confess thy Sins with an unfeigned Sorrow and with true purpose and desire of Amendment Dost thou avoid the occasions of Sin and dost thou fly from Evil striving to exercise thy self in that which is good Dost thou feel Contrition for having offended so good a God Art thou truly desirous to please him for the future Wouldst thou in good earnest have thy Soul and Conscience ordered by him and that he should frame it according to his good pleasure Then what art thou afraid of Draw near to thy Lord with Love but yet still preserve his filial and holy Fear That good fear does not separate a Man from God but calls him and draws him nearer and encreases in the Saints in the same Proportion that their Love does A perfect Fear which springs from the high Knowledge of so high a Majesty and brings forth a deep Humility and Reverence of God does not drive Souls from but unites them more nearly to God This is the difference between a base servile Fear and a filial Fear that the servile grows greater by doing ill but filial Fear increases and becomes more perfect by doing well Wouldst thou see it An imperfect Man fears by reason of the Pains of Hell How much the more he sins so much the more he fears and how much greater is the number of his Offences so much greater is his fear of Damnation nor does he make one step in wickedness which if he set himself to think of it does not augment that terror This is the greatest Anguish of Mind ill Men have when they come to die and their fear is sometimes so excessive that they utterly despair of Mercy unless God by his especial Grace detain them On the other side the good Man fears God because he is his Father his Lord and Creator and is therefore afraid to displease him by how much the more he loves him by so much the more he fears to provoke and anger him and by how much the more his knowledge of that high Majesty does encrease by so much the more that holy Fear of God encreases also and with it the desire of pleasing him and the care not to offend him whereby he comes with greater confidence to rely upon his Mercy and Favour and therefore Thomas Aquinas says That the holy Fear of God may consist with the Blessedness of those in Heaven who though they be already freed from the Fears of the World and from losing that unspeakable Happiness do yet fear the Lord as well as love him and do therefore fear him because they love him for this holy fear takes Birth from Love is cloathed with Love and is indeed rather respect and reverence than fear And thus thou oughtest to receive the Lord in the Sacrament with Love and with Fear since this fear is Humility is Reverence is Love For because thou knowest so great a Majesty thou fearest it and fearing loving and reverencing the Greatness of that Majesty thou art to approach thou humblest thy self in the depth of thine own unworthiness and this Knowledge Fear Reverence and Humility inclines God to come unto thee to dwell with thee to inflame thee and preserve thee in his Love Woe be to that Man that comes to receive Christ without fearing him Woe be to that Man that receives without considering that it is God whom he receives and that he that receives him is but a weak wretched and sinful Man Woe be to him that receives God rashly and inconsiderately without weighing the infinite Difference that there is between the high â—od and so vile a Creature Those holy Men who did most
comes at last to the fear of offending so great a Goodness the Lord being so gracious and so good that he encreases our Charity only through the excess of his We begin with that which is imperfect before we can attain to that which is perfect We begin with Self-love and end with the hatred of our selves and with the perfect Love of God Believe me the receiving of this Sacrament draws vast Advantages along with it and those the Lord only by his infinite Goodness works wonderfully in us beyond what we see know or understand Let every one draw near with such Examination Confession and Preparation as he is able to make be it more or less if he have us'd his utmost diligence and let him hope that God will give him an hundred-fold encrease of what he brings How many Saints hath servile Fear made and brought to filial Fear who afterwards with Faith and Hope burning in Charity have cast away the former Fear and been enflam'd with love of the second How many Saints have begun their Spiritual course with fear of being tormented in Hell who afterwards only for God and his Love's sake have repented and bewailed their Sins and are now reigning in the Joys of Heaven How many Saints have by the means of Love cast out that imperfect Fear which was the Instrument to bring them to Love and to perfect filial Fear Our good Lord cures and remedies all things if we seek him and receive him by Grace trusting and relying upon his Goodness and Love to us Therefore those acts of Religion which are due as to their last end unto the three divine Persons in one Essence thou oughtest frequently to direct to the Reverence and the Worship of God in this divine and mysterious Sacrament In this Point all the Lines of thy Affection and Devotion ought to meet as in their Center Though it was the Son alone by whom it was instituted yet the Father is with him and with the Father is the Holy Ghost That Divine Lord that he might become our Saviour took our Nature upon him being conceived in the Womb of the blessed Virgin and if thou dost adore him the Saints and Angels are at the same time Adoring and Worshipping him whom thou dost adore and worship and for thy doing so with them He will both help and bless thee Thus the Devotion to our Saviour Jesus Christ in the Sacrament is the greatest of all Devotions This Worship and Reverence is the highest and comprehends all the rest The Fourth WEEK Of the Kingdom of Grace THE Kingdom of God says the Saviour of Souls is within you and it is that Kingdom of Grace which brings to the eternal Kingdom of Glory nor is it a small benefit and comfort that it is within us that we need not go far to seek it and to find it Happy is that necessitous Person who has his relief within himself he cannot be poor unless through perverse idleness he embraces his own Misery neither desiring nor knowing how to make use of that relief O the great Unhappiness that we should have this holy Kingdom within us and yet go out of it O the high Misfortune that this Kingdom of Grace being an infallible Pledge of that eternal one of Glory I by my Sins should banish my self from both the Kingdom of Grace and that of Glory that I my self of my own accord should forsake the eternal Joys and choose the Torments of Hell by embracing Passions and despising Vertue The Kingdom of Grace is to be in the Grace of God and God in us by his Mercy to subdue our Passions and by that means to make the inside suitable to the outside It is that my Reason should govern my Passions and the Spirit my Reason and to keep the Flesh mortified under that Dominion The Kingdom of Grace is that mine own Will and Appetites should be destroyed as much as may be and that the Divine Will should rule Instead of it O true Kingdom O just Empire without the least shew of Tyranny where the Creator governs the Creature and where Reason keeps the Passions and inferior Faculties of the Soul in subjection to it O Kingdom of true and holy Peace which knows nothing but Quietness and inward Joy above all other Contentments The Kingdom of Grace is for God to be in the Soul and the Soul in God for the Son to be in the Favour of his Father for the Creature to find himself beloved by the Creator for the Servant to yield himself humble obedient and resigned to the Will of his loving Lord which is not only Grace but Glory and great Glory In how great liberty is that happy Soul that lives and acts thus in the Grace of God! how much above all the Troubles and Miseries of this Life No torment no pain no disgust cometh into this Kingdom for there can be no torment pain or disgust but in the loss of it nor can any one lose it but he that will by forsaking Grace to commit Sin So long as a Man is in the Grace of God and does not lose his Grace and Mercy all things else do neither add to him nor take from him neither hurt him nor concern him Let the World burn in Wars abound in Misfortunes or shine in Felicity Let this Man rise and the other fall Let humane Affairs go as they will and these temporal transitory Kingdoms be in Peace or in Confusion He from the height of his Spiritual Kingdom looks down upon all with a quiet Resignation Let all the World join against it and with the World the Flesh and the Devil Let Affronts Calumnies and Persecutions arise if he lose not God and his Grace all the rest is but a greater encrease of Grace and a nearer approach to Glory Strive therefore to enter into this Kingdom for only those that live in it here shall see the Face of God hereafter Rather live tormented in it than be drawn out of it by deceitful Pleasures Rather suffer thy self to be torn in pieces than to be brought under the Slavery and Miseries of Sin Rather suffer a thousand Torments in this holy militant Jerusalem than make thy self a wretched Slave in the infamous City Babylon Forsake not those Squadrons that are at the Gates of Heaven to flie over to those that are entring into the Jaws of Hell Each of these must go to their own place either to Glory or eternal Torment That they might not forsake this Kingdom of Grace the Holy Apostles Martyrs and Confessors forsook their Lives not to lose that the Baptist lost his Head St. Peter chose his Cross and the Apostle of the Gentiles gave up his Neck to the Sword St. Bartholomew gave his very Skin and finally all the Saints in Heaven chose Tribulations and Torments here upon Earth rather than to leave that sweet Kingdom of Grace And what great matter was it that they lost here since they recovered it an hundred fold
as strong and effectual as it was then Grace does not grow old but continues the same or rather increases Strive then fight and persevere for he that without Grace is but meer weakness may by it become a powerful Conquerour The Second WEEK Of the Glory of the Blessed THough the former Doctrine was sad and disconsolate I hope this last has chear'd and comforted thee We must still walk between hope and fear for the doubt of fear restrains us and the light of hope sets us forward To facilitate the way of the Spirit is good and sound Counsel and of possible performance for it is made easie by Grace and therefore a Christian ought not to be afraid of it but to facilitate Salvation and to make it consistent with a loose and licentious Life to make it attainable without seeking Heaven in good earnest without Repentance and Contrition through Grace and without conquering the Passions and banishing them from the Soul to make it easie I say to be sav'd that way is a most plain Fallacy and dangerous Deceit St. Paul tells us That through many tribulations we must enter into the Kingdom of Heaven and therefore the steps that lead to Glory are Tribulations And believe me even so it is purchased at a very cheap rate for all we can suffer in this Life full of Miseries is not worthy of the Glory that shall be revealed which he obtains who suffers willingly for God What can our Sufferings be in comparison of those Enjoyments How light are they all in respect of the eternal weight of Glory What an inexpressible Happiness must it be to see ones self admitted to be one of the Citizens of the Coelestial Jerusalem to see ones self in the ravishing Company of Saints and Angels to see ones self with the Patriarchs Prophets Apostles Martyrs Confessors and Virgins to see all those Just and Holy Spirits singing Hymns and Praises to the Glory of God And yet all this is less though unspeakably great than to see the holy Humanity of our Lord that gracious Countenance those Divine Eyes whose brightness darkeneth the Sun and enlightens all the Creatures those Hands and Feet and that pierced Side from whence as Blood heretofore there now comes forth the Splendour of Glory the Stream of Grace the Joy and Comfort of all the Saints And still this is less than to see God the Father God the Son and God the Holy Ghost Three Persons in One Essence the beginning and the end of all Creatures that ineffable Mystery which exceeds all created Understandings before whom all the Angels and Saints prostrate themselves in Adoration This is that which amazes the Pen and humbles the highest Meditations in contemplation whereof the most lofty Cherubims and Seraphims lose themselves not being able fully to comprehend it From this Fountain and Original of Divinity and Goodness proceed all the Felicities of those holy Citizens in that Triumphant Jerusalem from that Source of Joy and Delights flow all their Delights and Pleasures from that Infinite Omnipotent and Supream Essence which is Incomprehensible in all it's Attributes springs the Original Glory of the Blessed All their Power and Being arises from his Power and Being The sight of that Goodness that Wisdom and Charity is the cause of theirs From that Light proceeds their Light Only to see one of his Attributes whether his Goodness Justice or Mercy though 't is impossible to see any one of them without seeing the rest is enough to give inexpressible Glory to all the Creatures What a blessedness also is it to turn the Eyes upon the Order and Beauty of that whole Coelestial Court To see the Martyrs crown'd with Ensigns of their own Valour to see the Holy Confessors adorn'd with their Vertues to see the Virgins with their Palms and Crowns only to see the Order wherein they are rank'd and wherewith they Adore and Praise the Lord to see the Nine Quires of Angels with the Three admirable Hierarchies only to see the great number of beatified Souls and Spirits every one in his Place and Employment serving their Creator and the Author of all their Happiness with unspeakable Contentment What a wonderful and high Felicity is this Then what Peace what Contentment what Joy what Quiet what Sweetness what Union what Conformity what Ardent love of God and of his Creatures is there in that blessed City Finally wouldst thou see what Heaven is Look what all the Delights of this World are freed from any mixture of Disgust and thou shalt find that in respect of them they are but Pains and Torments Think what it is to hear the sweetest Voices to smell the sweetest Perfumes and to enjoy whatever can delight the rest of the Senses think of an Heart full of Joy and Contentment an Understanding with all the Powers of the Soul fill'd with all the Delights and Pleasures that this World can afford it is all but Sadness and Affliction Pain and Anguish in the highest degree in comparison of those Eternal Joys Wouldst thou know what Glory is Then consider who it is that gives it to the Saints Think how Infinite the Power of God is it 's his Power that gives that Glory Think how Infinite is his Wisdom 't is that Wisdom which gives that Glory Think how Infinite is his Goodness 't is that Goodness which gives that Glory If then an Infinite Power an Infinite Wisdom and an Infinite Goodness joyn together to give Glory what must that Glory be which is the effect of such a Power of such a Wisdom and of such a Goodness If God gives to every one of his Saints in his just proportion according to his Love his Power and his Wisdom what Riches shall he give who is infinitely Rich What Wisdom and Light shall he give who is Infinitely Wise And what Joy shall he give who is Infinitely Good and Happy If the necessitous Person measures his hopes by the Power and Hand of the Liberal what shall the Joy be that is given by an Infinite Power which is willing to give that which is Infinite Wouldst thou see what Joys those are which God will give to the Blessed in Heaven Think how great the Punishments are that are inflicted upon the Damned in Hell If those are so sharp and intolerable for the pain of them to the wicked how sweet and superabundant will be the Enjoyments of the good Though his Justice and his Mercy are Essentially equal yet in the effects his Mercy is greater than his Justice for he punishes in Hell less than Sinners deserve and rewards in Heaven more than the Saints deserve What Glory shall he give in Heaven who punisheth so terribly in Hell with everlasting Fire Wouldst thou see the Joys which he confers upon the Elect who serve him in this Life Think what he suffered for them and what he did to save them If he gave his Blood and Life upon the Cross for the bad as well as for the good
Expressions of his Love but there is a necessity of waiting upon him through the other demonstrations of it and because he came to Redeem us it is very fit we should follow him that we may attain that Redemption It seem'd a small thing to his Love to shed tears for us in the cold he was expos'd to by the openness of that inconvenient place but he also shed his blood already for us by being wounded with the Legal Knife O tender Infant how soon dost thou pour out the blood of thy most precious Veins for my sake O who would not wish to be so happy to spend the last drop of his for thine My sins gave sharpness to that Knife which was the Instrument of thy pain in this Mystery and that blood was spilt by my Offences and by thy Loving-kindness As they Circumcise thy Flesh O Eternal Good of Souls do thou Circumcise my wickedness Lord cut away my Vices and Deformities Take away the Old Man O Lord form and reform the New-Grant that I may cease to do evil and begin to do good that by so doing I may live for evermore The Adoration of the Kings They bring back our Saviour wounded with Love and Grief as well as with that knife unto the Stable and the Manger unless it was perhaps in that very place that he pour'd forth his blood as well as his tears There they stay till three Kings come to Adore him in requital of that one who sought to destroy him O how much greater a Kingdom did they find at the feet of this Coelestial Infant in the Manger than in their own Royal Thrones How much higher were they advanced by laying themselves prostrate before him and to what an height were they exalted by having so humbled themselves By throwing down their Crowns at his feet they encompassed their Heads with brighter Crowns and those not earthly but Crowns of Grace and Glory They presented unto that Divine Child things Temporal and he gave them things Heavenly and Eternal The Gifts they presented to him were but transitory but those he filled them with were permanent and everlasting They Offer to him Gold Frankincense and Myrrh and he in exchange gives them the Golden Vertue of Charity the Incense of pure and fervent Devotion and for Myrrh the Grace of Mortification whereby dying to this World they began to live to that other which never shall have end O how much greater were those Gifts which were bestowed on them by that little Child than those that were offered to him by those great Kings They presented to him Gold as to the Creator of all the Riches of Heaven and of Earth and he in exchange gave them the Riches of the Earth and Heaven They gave him Incense the perfume whereof ascending from Earth towards Heaven acknowledged him God as well as Man and he gave them Grace as an Earnest that they themselves also should ascend into Heaven They gave him Myrrh as to a Mortal Man and he in being Mortal did by his death quicken them to live with him for ever in his Glory Let us offer to him with those Kings that which those Kings did offer let us offer Devotion Charity Mortification and Adoration let us offer to him a Life that from this day may aspire to an Eternal Life let us offer unto him Ardent Love Fervent Prayers and Humble Penitence let us offer to him all the Actions of our Life and let us take care that all our Actions be such as may be fit to be offered to him We may well draw near with an humble confidence to adore this Child who suffered himself to be approached by Children and to be adored by the poorest Men as well as by the richest Kings He was born poor himself to the end that he may be found by those that are poor and a Child that he may be ador'd by little ones for even out of the mouths of Babes and Sucklings he has ordained strength and perfected praise Come with Humility and Assurance to make him an Offering of thy self and thou shalt find him tender and wounded with Love readily to accept thy Offering But what can I offer to thee O Glorious Infant I who am meer Poverty What Gold of Charity being with thee at Enmity What Works of Repentance being full of Obstinacy Rebellion and Impenitency What Devotion my Prayers being full of wandring Thoughts and Distractions O my God I come not only to adore thee but also to beg of thee Lord I believe that I please thee more in asking of thee than in giving to thee Such is thy Charity thy Goodness thy Mercy and Liberality that to exercise it and to be giving is thy Glory and thou rejoycest much more in that thou bestowest than in all thou canst receive from us poor necessitous Beggars And what can we bestow on thee O Infant God we that are nothing but Misery What can we give but trifles unworthy of a God and only tolerable for a meer Humane Child but far unfit for thee who art also God Thou alone canst give us what we ought to give thee and if the Gift which we ought to offer thee come not first from thine hand the worth of it can be no ways suitable to such an Hand to such a Child and to such a God Finally it is from hence thou must endeavour to draw those Gifts that thou oughtest to Present him It is from himself thou must obtain the Gold the Frankincense and the Myrrh in Prayer Charity and Mortification From hence thou must procure a Charity burning with the love of that Lord a Mortification constant in suffering for him that suffered for thee that suffered cold and shed his blood in that mean place for thy sake In short from hence thou must draw an earnest and fervent Devotion to contemplate and adore so many and so great Benefits without suffering them to slip out of thy Memory and him whom those Kings sought in that particular place thou must love seek follow and adore in all places wheresoever thou shalt happen to be Of His Presentation in the Temple His Holy Mother when the days of her Purification were accomplished according to the Law of Moses carries her Son the Eternal Son of God and with his supposed Father Joseph Presents him in the Temple with a pair of Turtle Doves the Offering appointed for the Poor they not being able to make a richer There he was received by the hands of Simeon the Priest who having been assured by the Holy Ghost that he should not die till he had seen the Lord's Christ knew by the same Spirit that that Promise was then fulfilled which he openly declared when taking him in his Arms he blessed God and desired to depart in peace for that his eyes had seen his Salvation which God had prepared before the face of all People to be a Light to lighten the Gentiles and to be the Glory of his People Israel It
other AVGVST The First WEEK Of the Baptism and Preaching of our Lord with his Doctrine Miracles and Parables NOW I will shew thee the Original of which thou oughtest to be a Copy and the Looking-glass wherein thou oughtest to dress thy self I mean the Actions of our Lord which hitherto have been unspeakable Mysteries but now besides being Mysteries they begin to be Advertisements Instructions Lights Counsels and Informations of the Spiritual Life Behold how after Eighteen Years of Silence and Obedience our Saviour at the Age of Thirty begins to teach and direct Souls A rare and admirable Example teaching us that we ought to restrain our selves and not be too hasty in getting up into Offices and Preferments but to fear them and to learn first that we may be afterwards able to teach since he did so who had no need of learning and who was Wisdom itself that came to teach us Do thou love Obedience Patience and Silence and if thou wouldst learn to Teach and Govern learn first to Obey and to hold thy peace Behold how that Lamb of God goes to the River Jordan to seek his Holy Fore-runner John the Baptist who pointed out the Saviour of Souls with his finger bearing Witness that it was He who came to take away the sins of the World See how presently going into the Water to be baptized he was not so much washed himself as he purified and cleansed the Waters with his Innocency and Holiness and by them our sins leaving us the Universal Remedy of Baptism the Gate of the Church the ineffable Seal and mysterious Character of Humane Redemption and of Christian Vocation Behold how the Father acknowledges his beloved Son in whom he declares himself well pleased Behold the Holy Ghost also appears upon him in the visible form of a Dove the whole Trinity co-operating in the Institution of that Holy Sacrament Pray to him to restore unto thee that Robe of Grace which he gave thee in thy Baptism and which thou hast lost by thy many sins Beg of him to renew it by his Vertues and amongst the rest by the chiefest which is final Perseverance Consider what Thanks thou owest unto this Lord for having caused thee to be born where thou hadst the benefit of this blessed Sacrament and wert made capable of those Heavenly Blessings which by it are brought into thy Soul Behold in the next place how our Lord goes to the Desart to Fast forty days that he might consecrate Fasting to us by his Abstinence and the labours and difficulties of a Spiritual Life by being tempted If the Eternal Son of God who is Goodness and Innocency itself did Fast have not I need to do so being meer Wickedness Excess and Incontinency If the Eternal Son of God being the Creator of all things suffered himself to be tempted by our common Enemy the Devil why should thou and I who are vile Worms of the Earth think it much to suffer Temptations and Tribulations since our Misery and Wickedness for the most part give nourishment to those very Temptations and that we very often run into them by tempting our selves See how he conquers both the Tempter and the Temptation the one by his Abstinence and the other by his Humility and Patience choosing those two Vertues for an Universal Remedy of all the Diseases of the Soul Humble thy self therefore and be confounded in the knowledge of thy Misery and when thou art tempted since Christ himself was so do thou imitate him in a firm and resolute Resistance patiently relying upon his strength who with the Temptation will make a way for thee to escape and will deliver thee when thou callest upon him Behold now how he chooses his Apostles the first Pillars of the Christian Religion and the chief Masters of the Spiritual Life beginning with two poor Fisher-men who having spent all the Night toyling in vain and caught nothing taught us Obedience by their readily letting down the Nets again at his Command which was well rewarded by the Miraculous draught of Fish with which they themselves were caught and were from that time made fishers of Men. These he increased to the number of Twelve most of them being of that mean Profession whose Poverty and Ignorance he chose to confound Humane Wisdom and Greatness that to neither of them but to his Grace alone might be acknowledged the conquering and confounding of the most presumptuous Power Knowledge and Vanity of this World Therefore love Poverty and believe that the Kingdom of God cannot consist with Riches and Greatness unless they be mingled with Humility Mark how he begins his holy Preaching with that Divine Sermon in the Mount the Matter whereof has been the Subject of all Sermons ever since Read it often till thou hast fixed it in thy Memory and have it always before the eyes of thy Mind to follow it in thy Practise Let the Prayer he teaches there be the Pattern of all thy Prayers In the three first Petitions whereof thou mayest learn thy Duty towards God to Sanctifie his Name to resign thy self to his Will in all things and to love him above thy Life in longing for his Kingdom which thou canst not enter into but by Death Learn in the other three thy Duty towards thy Neighbour in loving him as thy self since by using the Plural Number thou beggest all those Blessings for others which thou desirest for thy self and askest to be forgiven thy Offences towards God no otherwise than as thou thy self forgivest those that are done unto thee by Men And since the doing good to all and the forgiving all Injuries is the greatest perfection of Christianity and the thing wherein we most resemble our Blessed Saviour be sure amongst all those excellent Lessons of that Divine Sermon to make that one of doing to others whatsoever thou wouldst have them do to thee the continual Rule of all thy Actions for that will make thee to love and to do good unto all because thou wouldst have all to love and to do good unto thee and it will make thee forgive the greatest Injuries that any Enemy can do unto thee because thou wouldst have no body to take Revenge for those they receive from thee When the Holy Jesus had ended his Sermon on the Mount that Divine Repository of the most excellent Truths containing a Breviary of all those Precepts which make up and perfect the Morality of the Christian Religion he descended into the Valleys to consign his Doctrine by the power of Miracles which were next to Infinite and which it is remarkable he chose to instance in actions of Mercy that all his Powers might especially determine upon Bounty and Charity and at the same time be invincible Arguments of the Divinity of his Person and Doctrine Almost all the Miraculous Works he did during his Natural Life were actions of Relief and Mercy that he might at once both do good to Men and also demonstrate his Mission from
Will for this is hazard and that Security I had rather endure Torments with my dear Lord than enjoy the Delights and Greatness of the World I had rather follow him and serve him on Mount Calvary in this Life than to rejoyce in the Glories of Mount Tabor Deny thy self not only in Temporal and Sensual Pleasures but also even in those that are Spiritual Love the Cross not only in flying from evil but in following that which is best Pains and Sufferings Lord are the Portions of this Life for Joys we may well wait till the eternal O what were thy Sufferings my sweetest Jesus If once thou gavest liberty to thy Divinity to swallow up thy holy Humanity in Glory at thy Transfiguration how often didst thou hide it under thy Sufferings nay rather thou madest use of it that the Sufferings of thy holy Humanity might be the greater the stronger and the more durable Thou with the Power of thy Godhead didst support the frailty of thy Manhood and thy Divine Nature gave strength to thy Humane to the end that it might thereby be enabled to undergo that which otherwise it could not possibly have endured Consider then and lament and follow him in this first part of his holy and dolorous Passion When the Eternal Word being prepar'd to Suffer ask'd leave of his Eternal Father to enter into that Sea of Torments to compleat the excess of his love to Man and to crown that Obedience wherewith he dispos'd himself for the Redemption of Mankind Behold from Six a Clock in the Evening of that Thursday which also may well be called Holy the many painful steps which our Saviour took in going to shed his Blood and how that most gentle Lamb was carried and offered up by Love for a Sacrifice upon the Cross There the Prophecy of Venerable Simeon had its perfect completion there the sharp Sword of Sorrow pierced through the heart of his Virgin-Mother Learn of him as she did to resign thy self in all kinds of Sufferings for him as he resigned himself to the Will of his Father in his Sufferings for thee Yield an humble resignation to the Judgments of the Lord and chearfully bear whatsoever he shall ordain concerning thee since thou seest the Son of God and his Mother the one giving up his Blood to obey it and the other her Heart Refuse not Labours repay not Slanders resist not Persecutions and Affronts but whatsoever thou shalt suffer suffer it humbly and patiently for the sake of that dearest Lord. God the Father sends them God the Son in bearing teaches thee to bear them and God the Holy Ghost will give thee Comfort in them Dost thou feel how much the Enemy persecutes thee Dost thou feel how much thy evil-willers afflict thee Dost thou feel the Injustice and Oppression of the Powerful Dost thou feel Losses Trouble Sickness Anguish Poverty or whatsoever else lies heavy on thy heart Ease it by considering that all comes to thee from Heaven That which is God's permission in him that sins is his dispensation to him that suffers and those very Afflictions and Persecutions which God permits by a Tyrant he makes use of as the Chisel and Mallet with which he is cutting out and forming of a Martyr He commands the one to suffer and suffers the other to torment to the one he sends a Crown of Martyrdom from Heaven and leaves the other upon Earth to commit Sins which will be his everlasting Torment in Hell therefore whatsoever thou shalt suffer bear it patiently in God with God and for God Of the Last Supper and of the washing of his Disciples Feet Now behold the Lord Jesus with all his Apostles entring into the Chamber prepared for them to celebrate the Legal Natural and Eucharistical Suppers in where the Eternal Shepherd made himself Food for the Nourishment of his Sheep Behold how with his Disciples he celebrates the Ancient Legal Passover with Staves in their hands standing with Shoes on his holy feet eating those bitter Herbs which he abolished and leaving them for the sweet Aliment and Sustenance he after gave us in his most Holy Body and Blood With that he gave a full accomplishment to the Ancient Written Law of Moses and gave it a Farewel with his most holy Hand shutting the Door for ever against those Ceremonies which till then were enjoyn'd but are since seal'd up and prohibited Having ended that first Supper of the Paschal Lamb which was much more a Figure and a Mystery than a Nourishment his Apostles celebrated the natural and common Supper giving refreshment to their weary Limbs that their Nature might be enabled to support those Injuries Pains and Torments which Sin was like to bring upon them In that second Supper our Saviour gives Judas an hint of his intended Treason and of his own Mercy and as if he had meant to awaken him from his wicked Lethargy offers him the Sop he had dipped to the end that the Liquor changing the colour of the Bread might check the Traitor with the thought of his most precious Blood and that he was going to shed it even for him by being nail'd upon the Cross Our Lord strikes a trouble into all his Disciples by affirming that one amongst them would betray him Peter loving him fervently and being stout desires to be informed by the means of John who that Traiterous Disciple was that as it is credible he might chastise so horrid a wickedness but our Lord who that Night had made as it were an Embargo upon all Pains and Punishments and seized them only for himself would not plainly manifest the Traitor lest by discovering so horrible a Treachery the Salvation and Redemption of Mankind should have been hindred Those two Suppers being ended our Saviour to establish Humility in the hearts of his Disciples to the end that by increasing and multiplying it might be derived to the whole Church of God enriching and improving it with that Holy Vertue The Creator rises to wash the feet of his Creatures and who could cleanse them better than he that Created them Who could better repair what was fallen down than he that made the Building Who could better restore us to our former Innocency than he that was like us in all things Sin only excepted Who could wash and purifie our Sins but the Author and Fountain of Grace which flowing in the Heart of our Lord most full of Mercy that Source of eternal goodness pours it forth with his most Holy Hand for From what other Hand could so great pity and compassion have proceeded What other Water O Jesus my Redeemer could cleanse the foulness of my Sins What other but thy Divine Hands could purifie the Defilements of my inordinate Passions What but Innocency itself could whiten the stains of my polluted Soul What could take away my Wickedness but thy Infinite and Unspeakable Goodness He begins to wash the Feet of his Apostles of which some think the first were the
Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost thou wert signed with the Sign of the Cross in token that thou shouldest not be asham'd to confess the Faith of Christ crucified but manfully fight under his Banner against Sin the World the Flesh and the Devil and continue Christ's faithful Souldier and Servant unto thy life's end Consider that being come to Understanding thou art brought to take thy Baptismal Vow upon thy self in Confirmation whereby the Soul is fortified to fight the inward Battles of this Life and to bear the Cross Consider that at the receiving the Sacrament if thou dost it worthily thou renewest the same Vow and that the Benefits of Christ's Death cannot be convey'd to thee therein but by believing and working according to thy belief What is all this but to teach us that our Faith ought to be lively and that believing and doing must go together in a Christian For if thou wantest a hand to work thou wilt also want a hand to lay hold of Christ's Merits and to apply them to thy Soul Beg therefore of God that he would give thee a true a vital and an active Faith for by that means thou mayest have a sure and a certain Hope and an ardent Charity since they that believe well hope well and they that hope well love well He that works as he believes and believes as Christ commands him hopes in the same proportion that he believes If thou hopest as thou believest and believest as thou oughtest and lovest in the same manner as thou hopest Heaven and Glory are surely thine thou hast already conquer'd Hell The Devils flie already from thee The Angels are already with thee The Saints already bear thee Company Thou art already under the Protection of thy Blessed Saviour and art already sealed by him for an Heir predestinated to his Glory Pray therefore earnestly to God for a lively Faith and then thou shalt have certain Hope and fervent Charity The Root of that most beautiful Tree is Faith the green Leaves and fair Flowers of it are Hope and the sweet savoury Fruit is Charity This Tree of true Wisdom is the Tree of Eternal Life which cures the Wounds of the Tree of Death and of Knowledge Pant and gasp after the Fruit of this Spiritual Tree which is Divine Charity If thou feelest that if thou possessest that thou art already grown up and hast profited considerably in the Spiritual Life If thou feelest the love of God in thee and that thy heart be warmed with one spark thereof rejoyce and be of good courage for thou art already near the top of Calvary which is the Mount of Christian Perfection The day that God gives a Soul the feeling of his Love and an eager hearty desire to serve and to please him he draws it near to him and unites it to himself nay he already gives it a Pledge that living always so he may safely hope never to be parted from him Hast thou Divine Charity and dost thou feel the love of God within thee Thou wilt cast away Humane Passions and Imperfections and having banished that which is imperfect that which is perfect will continue and increase in thee Hast thou Divine Charity and dost thou feel the love of God Darkness will speedily flie away and an holy perfect Light will enlighten thee O Divine Charity how great is thy Power how great is thy Worth What is it that thou canst not do Thou art more Omnipotent in a manner than Omnipotency itself Thou madest the Son of God to leave the Bosom of his Omnipotent Father to seek a Mother to become Man and to die on the Cross for Man In the doing all which acts of excessive Kindness Omnipotency was as it were the Servant of Divine Charity since those things could not have been done if Omnipotency had not obey'd the infinite Love of God in performing what his Charity ordained If thou lovest God then I reckon thee safe on shore Persevere go on with joy and chearfulness and all will be easie sweet and pleasant to thee The Love of God facilitates the Exercises of a Spiritual Life and makes them sweet though in themselves they be bitter The Love of God chears the Soul and resists great Storms of Temptations Afflictions and Tribulations and keeps a Conscience pure holy prompt and lively The Love of God gives more pleasure in Suffering than Pleasure itself does in the enjoying The Love of God gives Light and drives away Darkness from the heart and as Night and Day cannot consist together so neither can Divine Charity and Sin The Love of God gives Strength and Perseverance in what is good and Valour and Constancy to oppose what is evil The Love of God roots out Passions Hatred and Revenge from the heart and introduces Pity Goodness and Mercy with the other excellent Vertues Finally the Love of God quickens defends comforts strengthens enlightens and perfects the Heart and Soul and so long as thou keepest it there it brings all under Subjection and Obedience to Reason It is strong sweet and powerful loving constant couragious and chearful it contains in it all that is good and casts out whatsoever is evil Exercise thy self then in Love if thou desirest the Lord should Crown thee If thou hast a mind to profit employ thy heart in loving Day and Night Love the Lord who in his Eternal purpose loved thee before there was Day or Night Let every return of thy breath breathe out the Love of this Lord so that thy respiration and thy love to him may he equally constant in thee THE THIRD PART OF THE Spiritual Year IN September October November December SEPTEMBER The First WEEK Of the Vertue of Religion and of the manner of Governing the Cardinal and Moral Vertues by that of Religion AN ardent Love a lively Faith and a constant Hope will bring thee to another most sweet and noble Vertue called Religion or the inward and outward Worship of God which is that that creates and promotes all the other Vertues and goes alway intermingled with Prayer In this thou oughtest to Exercise thy self with very great Humility All thy Conversation should be with God of God and for God Enter thy self into his Service by Faith adore him with Reverence and love all that appertains to him There is no need for thee to go up into Heaven to seek this Lord since for that purpose even Earth is Heaven and all Heaven is to be found in this narrow place of our Banishment Thou oughtest also to bear great Reverence to the Houses of God and to Sacred Persons for these are the Ministers of God and do represent God and those are Holy places consecrated and appointed for his outward Worship If thou dost live thus with Reverence and Fear and dost exercise the Vertue of Religion with Love which is the height of all Perfection thou shalt walk on in Spirit in Truth and in Prayer and shalt in the
Temperance has two Reins in her hand sometimes she stops sometimes she puts forward now she turns on the one hand now on the other Whithersoever the Law Reason and the Divine Will directs thither she guides How should all be governed without Error if the Mind be not moderated enlighten'd with Reason and subdued with Mortification How is it possible that Temperance without God should be able to contain and moderate man's unbridled Appetite either irascible or concupiscible Or how can it without the power of Grace subdue our corrupt rebellious and unruly Nature How can this outward part be governed unless God illuminate and guide it from within And what can shew us the way of Vertue here below but the light that comes in to us from above The Gentiles did practise some Moral Vertues with Temperance yet even in them and in others they themselves acted with Intemperance Diogenes an humorous overweaning and wilfully-poor Philosopher tramples with his bare Feet all dirty upon the stately Train of Plato a wealthy Philosopher richly apparell'd Plato asked Diogenes What dost thou He answers I trample upon Plato's Pride Yes reply'd Plato but with a greater Pride Here the very Light of Nature judg'd among the Gentiles and enlighten'd them to see their Errors and one Pride reformed another for there was Pride in both Plato will be an Heavenly Man full of Vanity and Pride and fast giued to the Commodities of Life playing the Philosopher about Eternity only in Speculation but giving up his Will and Passion wholly to Temporal things Diogenes on the contrary despising outward things was neither contented in himself nor could live quiet among others being full of an inward Pride that contemned abused and offended all Both of them were acted by Intemperance and were Philosophers of this World and of Nature but not true Philosophers of God nor of the Spirit of Grace If one of the Saints or ancient Fathers of the Church had come into the richly-furnished Room of Plato he would have despis'd but not trampled upon his costly Furniture He would have despis'd his Riches with the same holy Humility wherewith he despised himself He would have despis'd the brave Hangings and Carpets of Plato but not the Person of Plato O the Celestial Knowledge of God and of his holy Law O incomprehensible Wisdom How pure and clear how bright thou shinest in the heart of a Christian who suffers himself to be govern'd by thy Light and directed by thy Means It is a ridiculous thing to think there is any perfect Vertue without God neither Prudence Justice Fortitude nor Temperance can be so without him for without God Prudence is Imprudence Justice is Injustice Fortitude is Weakness and Temperance Intemperance If God does not govern order temper and enlighten it if he does not guide and direct it natural Vertue will be so weak and full of imperfections that it will stumble at every step If it go right now it goes wrong within a moment and if here it punishes the Guilty there it condemns the Innocent But the Government of God and that Soveraign Light which enlightens a Righteous Man that heavenly Grace which assists and counsels him that is it which thou art to pray for and endeavour to obtain that is it that must temper thee if thou wouldst attain to the true practise of the Moral Vertues Of the Manner of Governing the Moral Vertues by the Cardinal By these four principal Vertues thou art to govern and direct the seven Moral ones I mean those which are opposite to the seven deadly Sins which in the Spiritual Life do order our Manners and make the Soul acceptable to the Lord of Vertues The former do command dispose guide encourage and direct us in the way but the latter to practise and put in execution what the others ordain Prudence gives the Manner Justice the Rectitude Fortitude the Courage and Temperance the Measure in all thy Actions Of all the Moral Vertues there is not one perfect which in its Exercise Duration and Perfection does not contain all the four Cardinal ones within it self Humility the Glory Peace and Foundation of the Spiritual Life the most fruitful Seminary of Gifts and Excellencies stands in need of Prudence Justice Fortitude and Temperance and so do all the rest First â—…t has need of Prudence for without a prudent management Humility might pass on so far as to become Scandal or Vanity Secondly It has need of Justice for a Man ought to keep it in such manner as likewise to keep up his Office Ministry or Dignity Thirdly It has need of Fortitude to preserve the Man between two vicious and contrary Extreams which the Moral Vertues are always in danger of unless they be corrected and assisted by the four Cardinal ones And lastly It has need of Temperance to keep a well-ordered proportion in every business Of Judging falsly But observe that there is a worldly judgment of persons and things that has nothing of the Spirit and another that is Spiritual and Internal therefore in thy Actions avoid the former and give thy self wholly to the latter Whatsoever a Soul does for God is accounted foolishness by those of the World because they take their own Rule and measure the Action with a natural Measure whereas the end for which it is done is Supernatural and so he who does that good thing does not suit nor proportion himself to the Judgment Rule and Censure of evil Men. They hold that for imprudent unjust weak and intemperate which is heavenly Temperance Justice Fortitude and great Prudence Gâ—… calls the Soul with an effectual Vocation and presently the gallant Young-man and the beautiful young Lady quit their Vanities and Follies and despise the Pleasures Honours and Riches of this World to secure an Inheritance in that to come by entring into a strict course of performing the Duties of Religion God calls the ancient Person who being undeceiv'd by Experience presently forsakes the World and retires from Business to spend his Age in a severe and penitent Life that he may give an holy end to those beginnings and middle parts of it that were wicked and scandalous This the World esteems to be imprudence injustice lightness of affection and takes it for the distemper and disorder of Reason The Spiritual person fasts and uses other Austeries he flies from those Companies that formerly were the occasion of his sins he seeks God in Solitude or else in Business and Employments and lives in his Service having an eye to him in all his Actions The World instantly gives him the Character of a strange singular extravagant and distempered Man whereas he is truly just temperate valiant wise and one that gives life unto the World For this reason it is that our Saviour says that the Prudence of this World is an Enemy to the Prudence of God for these two sorts of Prudence being very opposite and contrary do always look upon each other with an eye of
kissed the Plague if he had met it in the Street There was another like this that was also a great Enemy to Mankind and they two visiting one another the first said I am very glad to be in the Company of one that abhors Men To which the other replied So should I also to be in thine but that thou art a Man Were these Men No certainly but Beasts and fiercer than Beasts Our blessed Redeemer did not thus but was always pleased to be called Man and being God the Eternal Son of God God of God seldom or never called himself the Son of God but often the Son of Man honouring that Nature which he came to Redeem and making himself Man by taking his Name from it Love thy Nature says the Holy Ghost hate not thine own Flesh If Men abhor Men and which is more Men that are vertuous for that is it which Envy commonly abhors who shall love Men or reward Vertue He is no true Christian that abhors Men through Envy or Cruelty for he follows not the principal Vertue which Jesus Christ did practise God being Divine became Humane and being God cloathed himself with our Nature to become Man and canst thou abhor thine own Nature or at least a Man Tell me after what manner did God converse with Men being perfect God and perfect Man How meek how gentle how favourable how sweet and gracious towards all Men Of Courtesie And this he did amongst other things to teach us not only Humility but even Courtesie Humanity and Civility as Beams of that Charity for that Infinite Love bestowed and communicated himself on that manner with his very Humanity The Saviour of Souls condemns any one that shall be rude and discourteous or that shall call his Brother Raca which in the Opinion of grave Expositors signifies a manner of discourteous and reproachful Behaviour and St. Paul also makes Courtesie an holy and a Sacred thing counselling that in honour we should prefer one another Honore se invicem praevenientes as who should say be Courteous and prevent one another in Civility or strive each of you to be the first in Courtesie Think not that Humanity and kind Behaviour is a slight matter in the Spiritual Life No it is of great weight and of much worth When thou art invited says our Saviour sit not down in the chiefest place least a more honourable than thou come and thou be forc'd with shame to take the lower Room Thou should'st strive to be Courteous and Civil for it is a great good to thy self and very pleasing to others Thy love of God cannot be great if it make thee not shew thy self meek and courteous towards Men. That has but a very small force which cannot break forth through the thickness of four fingers and that is as much as the distance can be from thy heart to the outside of thy breast If thy love of God be a true love it is not possible thou should'st forbear to love his Creatures and thou wilt do it so much the more by how much the more the love of God is pure and perfect in thee In the same proportion that thy love of God increases thy love to thy Neighbours will increase likewise and in the same proportion the one wasts and decays the other ceases and vanishes also If God who is love it self do love Man how can a Man that loves God forbear to love Man and to desire his good The love of God to Man appeared before his Divine Majesty created him his love being uncreate and eternal in it self though in respect of its manifestation to Mankind it had a beginning That loving Apostle the glory of Apostleship the beloved Evangelist and the adopted Son of the most blessed Virgin wrote an Epistle perswading to the love of God and of Men and being grown so old that his Disciples were fain to carry him in their Arms all his Sermon was Little Children love one another All we Men are Sons by Grace of one same Father which is God and Sons by Baptism of one same Mother which is the Church We are all made by one same Creator all redeemed by one same Price which is the Blood of Christ and all nourished by one same Milk which is his most holy Doctrine and admirable Sacraments And is it possible that so many Bonds and Obligations should not tye Man close to Man nor make them love and help one another Is it possible that Wrath Passion and Envy should break all these Obligations No No. Love Humane Nature for though it were not noble in it self yet it being created by God it becomes noble and is illustrious by being redeemed honoured and favoured by his most precious Son That which cost much is of great value but the repairing of Man's Nature cost the Blood of the Eternal Son of God He cloathed himself with it and honoured us also by it God Created Man after his own Likeness Who will not esteem Man for being the Image of God And the more because God afterwards by becoming Man made himself the Image of Man The Fourth WEEK Of Diligence and Fervency and of the Mischiefs of Omission and Sloth THE Vertues help forward one another The love of God will guide thee to that of Men. This love will bring thee to fervency and fervency will open the Gate to zeal and zeal for the good of thy Neighbours burning in Charity both for them and for thy self will open thee the Gate of Heaven This fervency and this love will not suffer thee to be lazy and sleepy for sleep is no usual Companion of Lovers Charity and Sloth cannot dwell together in one breast To sleep much and to love much are not things consistent My Father always worketh saith the Lord and I work What wonder is it that the Father and the Son should always be working since through the Holy Ghost they are always loving There can be no such thing as a lazy Spritual Person for so much as he hath of sloth so much he wanteth of being spiritual Love is full of an holy disquiet It is a sweet longing and refreshing and if it be afire how can idleness and sloth be in so active and stirring an Element Fly from sloth in the Spiritual Life fly from it I say for it is a great and terrible Evil. Go learn of the Ant says the Holy Spirit to the sluggard Judge what the Vice is and what the Person is that is infected with it who needs to be taught by so contemptible a Master and how much more wretched and contemptible is the Scholar Sloth stupifies the Senses dulls the powers of the Soul puts shackles upon all the Faculties and by little and little strips the Spiritual Man quite naked and leaves him meerly natural and sensual Sloth is the Mother of Omission and Omission is manifestly the ruin of us Dost thou see all the evil that is in the World It all proceeds and takes birth
in receiving Honours And this which seems to be a very hard Law is so sweet an one that though St. Paul contents himself here with an Equality yet some Saints as we see in the Examples that have been given pass on further and express more Joy in Sufferings than in Comforts though these come from God and those from the hands of Men. As we may believe that the Divine Goodness of our Lord took more delight in Redeeming Mankind upon the Cross than in the Glories of his Transfiguration upon Mount Tabor though upon Mount Tabor those Favours came from the hands of his Father and upon Mount Calvary his Sufferings came from the hands of Men. So likewise those who suffer for God the Holy Apostles and all those that now follow or have followed them rejoyce more in Pains and Tribulations which God sends them by the hands of Men than in those Favours and Comforts which they receive immediately from God himself Therefore our Saviour said to his Disciples at his going to his last Supper when he was beginning to enter upon his Holy Passion With a great desire have I desir'd to eat this Passover with you but he said no such thing to them when he went to the Glories of Mount Tabor In imitation of this we read of one that for a favour begged of Christ to be crowned with Thorns another to bear the marks of his Wounds with a lively feeling of his dolorous Passion One Devout Soul begs Lord if I may obtain my desire grant that I may be despised for thy sake Another meditating on Christ crucified Lord I desire nothing but thy self and to be crucified with thee This in my Opinion was an high and wise Petition because he asked to suffer with Christ in this life as Christ in this life had suffered for him and then presently to have Christ himself for a Reward in the Life Eternal for he that begs for Christ crucified to be made his it is clear he does not beg for a Glorious Christ but wounded bloody and in the anguish of his Passion and so he asked not the Crown of Thorns alone nor the five Wounds alone but also what he suffer'd in the scourgings at the Pillar Not only the Mockeries the Buffetings and the pains of his Passion but the Slanders Affronts and Persecutions which he suffered before it And not those alone but whatsoever he suffered from his Blessed Mother's Womb and the Manger till he expir'd upon the Cross This we ought to ask and imitate in this life and to advance thereby in Grace and Patience and thereby thou shalt see how certain it is that such Holy Devout Persons not only do possess that equality of Patience wherewith St. Paul Arms his Spiritual Man in receiving Affronts and Crosses with as chearful a Countenance as the Pleasures of this World but that their Delight is greater and their Patience more chearful in suffering than their Joy is in rejoycing The Second WEEK Of the Ninth and Tenth Fruits of the Holy Spirit Goodness and Meekness THese two Fruits of the Spirit which God gives to those that are exercised in the Spiritual Life are as the Cause and the Effect for in truth Goodness is the Mother of Meekness And as some Fruits by reason of their great fecundity grow one within another and as an Ear of Corn produces many Grains so Goodness produces Gentleness Meekness and Affability repeated again and again in all its words and actions And we must take notice that this Goodness which St. Paul names here for a Fruit of the Spirit is not barely that Vertue which is the first cause of Grace that is to say a disposition to receive and to hold it by the Soul 's being free from the guilt of any great sin for that is a Fruit of the Divine Goodness and Mercy which gave the Soul light and strength to cast out sin rather than a Fruit of the Spirit But the Goodness here meant is in my Opinion an high Gift of Grace and Favour which God grants to holy Souls after they have serv'd him long in the Spiritual Life whereby the Soul is cleansed and purified not only from greater sins but even from lesser nay even the least Passions and by taking away those Barks as it were and inward Rinds of our Nature lays it bare and naked from those folds and doublings of imperfect Habits leaving the Soul in so great a purity truth and sincerity that St. Paul calls it perfect Goodness It is as if God should make an Old Man to become a New Man or as if an old decayed and broken House should by his Power not only be repaired and strengthened and made up again in the same proportion grace and Beauty it had at first but also be brought to a greater perfection and enriched with more costly Ornaments And though it still leaves in him the incitement and provocation to sin for that never ceases nor does Grace take it away yet it is as much weakened and disabled as Reason was in it before This Goodness and Sincerity the Lord found in holy Job and to give him an high Praise indeed he said He was single and upright God by his Grace had taken from him all those folds and doublings which we have in our Souls those corners and hollow places where Malice uses to dwell He had cast out all Imperfections from thence and had filled it with his Lights and Vertues making him a Mirrour of his high Perfections This Goodness and Sincerity is that which Christ desir'd to find in his Disciples when they were contending who should be the greatest and he Discoursing upon it took a Child and laying his Holy Hands upon the Head of that little Angel said unto them Unless ye become as this little Child ye cannot enter into the Kingdom of God Some Authors say this Child was St. Ignatius afterwards Bishop of Antioch and Martyr who was one of the most Holy Disciples that the Apostles had and from that touch of Christ's hand he became so much in love with him that he took for his Motto Amor meus crucifixus est For his only Love was Christ crucified and at his Martyrdom this holy Man defied the Lions that were to tear him in pieces and said to them I am the Wheat of Christ and I shall be ground by your teeth that I may be worthy to be made the Bread of that Lord. This Digression I have made to quicken the Faith of Clergy-men for if Christ but by touching him made him to become so holy how holy ought we to be who not only touch the Bread of the Lord but the Bread which is the Lord and do so often Consecrate and Receive it Two things God requir'd of the Apostles in imitation of that Child first Humility for since they were proudly striving who should have the highest place he could not set before them a fitter Example than that Age and that Humility Do ye