protects us from all disasters we have nothing to be afraid of but our own weakness and provided we remain true to Grace we may promise our selves victory over our greatest enemies God watcheth over us as over the members of his Son he hath a care of our Interests he blesseth all our designes he makes the hatred of our adversaries serviceable to our salvation and spite of the fury of all Divels that tempt us and the rage of all Tyrants that persecute us he at last brings us happily to Glory But that which I finde most admirable in this Allyance is that in some sort it makes us enter upon the rights of a Father over his Son Jesus Christ for we * Nomen Paternitatis ex divinis ad humanos Patres translatum est Damas de fide cap. 9. produce him on our Altars and in the souls of Beleevers we are his Fathers and his Mothers and by a manner as true as incomprehensible we give him a new life here below The Priests bring him forth by their words and the Church acknowledgeth she should not enjoy her Beloved upon the earth did not the Priests make him descend from heaven 'T is in this administration that more powerful then Joshua they command Jesus Christ and entring into the authority of his Father they prescribe him Lawes which never he dispenseth with when they speak he obeys he works an hundred miracles to comply with their Orders The Preachers †O praeclara O reverenda potestas vestra certè non est potestas post Deum sicut potestas vestra quod enim vobis dedit primo loco sancta Verbi Incarnatio vos de die in diem nobis ministratis nobis ex collatae potestatis officio Berâ—de Coena Dom. imitate the Priests and from their Mission receive the same power the others do from their Character their lips are fruitfull in the Church they never preach but they hold forth the Son of God their word is a sacred branch that gives life to their Auditors and by a strange miracle they are the Fathers of Jesus Christ and of the faithfull they travell with them both together and when God blesseth their labours they bring forth these two Twins at the same time This is the happinesse the great * Filioli mei quos iterum parturio donec formetur Christusâ—n vobis Gal. 4. Apostle of the Gentiles boasted of heretofore when he called the Galatians his children and forming Jesus Christ in their souls he endeavoured to perfect both by his Evangelical labours Thus Preachers and Priests take their fruitfulnesse from the Father Everlasting they have no authority over his Son but because they have the honour to be his Ministers nor do they enter into his power but because they have an interest in the divine Paternity This advantage is not so peculiarly theirs that it is not common to them with the faithful Every Christian may conceive Jesus Christ in his own soul and bring him forth in others he may be both Father and Mother and the Son of God teacheth us that so holy an Allyance is contracted by an humble obedience He that doth the will of his Father becomes his Mother he that preacheth by his good example becomes his Father and every Christian may boast he returns that to Jesus Christ he received from him in his Baptism But certainly we must acknowledge there is no person that more honourably possesseth this advantage then the blessed Virgin she is the Mother of the Son of God in so August a manner that she comes neer that of his Eternal Father 't is the noblest copy of that divine Original neither is there any creature to whom God hath more largely communicated his fecundity He takes pleasure to see himself imitated by the Virgin and to observe in the person of Mary the properties of his divine Hypostasis He begot his Son of his substance and Mary of her bloud He conceived his Word in his bosom and Mary in her womb He produced him by a vertue that constitutes his Person in the Trinity and Mary brings him forth by the same vertue communicated to her in the moment of the Incarnation He produceth him by the knowledge of his Greatness and Mary by the consideration of her Nothingness Finally the Father begetteth his Son equall to himself Et erat subditus illis Luc. 2. Quid fecit Verbum non capiebatur in se descendit ita etiam ut esset subditus illis sic mutavit confilium suum ut quod tunc caeperat usque ad trigesimum annum dimiserit Ber. de Resur Domin Ser. 3. and Mary bringeth forth her first-born like unto Men Shee holds the place of the Eternal Father upon earth she is the Regent of the Son in his Minority she prescribes laws to him that gives lawes to the Angels and Jesus Christ reverencing the Authority of his Father in the person of his Mother was obedient to her the space of thirty yeers Thus the Eternal Father hath nothing so proper that he communicates not to Christians the Allyance he contracts with them is so strict that together with him they are all the fathers of the same Son and we may say 't was drawn out of that communication seeing he reserves not that very quality that distinguisheth him from his own naturall Son As the holy Spirit is the sacred bond uniting all these divine Allyances he also is pleased to associate himself with the Christians and entertains so firm a union with them that he is as well their Spirit as that of the Father and the Son for he is shed abroad in our hearts by charity he erects his Throne in our hearts he quickens us by his presence leads us by his motions illuminates us by his light and warms us by his heat He is so well blended with us that he is more the Principle of our actions then we our selves If we pray he furnisheth us with words and conceptions he expresseth himself by our mouth weeps with our eyes works with our hands and as if he were incarnate in each of us he makes use of all our members to accomplish his designes This divine Spirit accommodates himself to all our affairs and conditions he acts diversly in the faithfull and as the soul diffused over all the body sees with the eys works with the hands hears with the ears so he preacheth by the Apostles suffers in the Martyrs instructeth in the Doctors and in his adorable Unity produceth an acceptable Diversity of operations and effects His infinite charity obligeth him to intermeddle with our affairs he comforts the miserable without troubling his own happiness he strengthens the weak and makes Maids and Children triumph in the infirmity of their Age and Sex he teacheth the ignorant and this Divine Master distils Truth into the Understanding without the mediation of the Senses Finally he is the Spirit of the Church the bond of the faithful the love of Christians
belongs The second includes sins of ignorance which seem to injure the Person of the Son to whom Wisdom is attributed The third comprehends sins of malice which seem to maligne the Person of the Holy Ghost to whom Goodness belongs Following this division they suppose that the first and second sort of sins deserve some pardon because the weakness and ignorance wherwith they are accompanied may plead somewhat in their excuse but the last are altogether unworthy of pardon because malice is the very soul of them and that those that have committed them had strength and light enough not to fall into them But if this Maxime were true there were not any Christian that would hope for the pardon of his sins since being enlightned by Faith and assisted by Grace they need neither eys to see them nor hands to withstand them Nay all the world knows there is not any sinner in whose soul Malice Weakness and Ignorance are not blended together Concupiscence which blinds their Understanding enfeebles their Will and sin reigning in both of them inspires them with Malice Thus every sinner would grow desperate and having offended the holy Spirit could not expect the remission of his sins Others explain this passage of Hereticks who knowing the Truth do notwithstanding contradict it who persecute the Church because she is the Spouse of Jesus Christ and serving for Ministers to the Divel do their utmost to ruine the workmanship of the Son of God But we have seen Hereticks converted who have stood for the defence of the Truth having quitted that of a Lye and who have gained subjects to Jesus Christ after they had procured slaves for his Enemy Some others understand it with St Augustine of that sin that accompanies men till death and which always resisting Grace cannot be expiated but by the pains of hell Pro quibus jam non est hostia sed terribilis quaedam expectatio judicii This Explication doubtless is the most assured for that the sin wherein any one dies is certainly irremissible but I do not know whether this Interpretation be the truest For it seems the Son of God would plainly and simply insinuate unto us the difference between sinners that oppose the designes of the Father and the Son and those who resist the designes of the Holy Ghost Ad hoc Mediator est Christus ut eos qui recesserant à Patre per se reconciliet suo sanguine eorum peccata solveret Aug. in Psal 93. ser 2. for though the first be culpable and have done very ill to neglect the Father speaking to them by the mouth of the Prophets yet might they hope for some impunity in their crimes and promise themselves that the Son coming upon the earth would reconcile them to his Father Though the second were more to blame then the first and deserve a severer punishment for not hearing the Son who taught them by his examples instructed them by his discourse and ravished them with his miracles They might yet perswade themselves that the Holy Ghost descending down amongst them would convert them and that submitting to his Graces and yeelding obedience to his Councels would change their bad life into a better But the last who resist the Holy Ghost can have no more hope their sin considering the disposition of the Orders of God is irremissible of its own nature for they no longer expect a divine Person that may reconcile them with the others The mission of the Holy Ghost is the last and the Scripture holds forth nothing more to be expected but the coming of Jesus Christ to judge both the quick and the dead Thus their sin who resist the Holy Ghost Contra Spiritum sanctum quo peccata omnia dimittuntur verbum valde malum nimis impium dicit quem patientia Dei cum ad paenitentiam adducat ipse secundum duritiam cordis sui cor impaenitens thesaurizat sibi iram in die judicii Dei qui reddet unicuique juxta opera ejus Aug. de verbis Dom. Ser. 12. is not only inexcusable but irremissible if they submit not to his inspirations their salvation is desperate if they suffer not themselves to be swayed by his motions 't is in vain that they pretend to glory and if they make not good use of his graces 't is rashness to promise that the Father or the Son will descend upon the earth to work their conversion for the holy Spirit consummates the work of the Father and of the Son he is the oeconomy of our salvation he that always resists him cannot be converted and he that will not give ear to his counsels cannot avoyd the judgment of the Son of God Thus to conclude in a few words all that we have delivered in this discourse The Holy Ghost remits the sins of the world reconciles sinners to God animates them against themselves to give him satisfaction but acting after another manner with obstinate perverse transgressours he gives them up to their impiety and justly refuseth them that grace which they have insolently despised The Eighth DISCOURSE That the CHRISTIAN in his Infirmities is assisted by the strength of the Holy SPIRIT VVEakness is so natural to the Creature that he hath need of Grace in the state of innocence as well as in that of sin Nothing Natura humana etiamsi in illa integritate in qua condita est permaneret nullo modo seipsam Creatore suo non adjuvante permaneret Aug. Epist 109. ad Bonif. from whence he came forth engageth him in this necessity and all Divines confesse with St Augustine That Man in Paradise could not raise himself up to God nor defend himself against the Divel without the assistance of Grace But his task is much harder since he became a Delinquent the infirmity he hath contracted from sin is far greater then that he drew out of Nothing and he is much weaker because he is a sinner then because he is a Creature The one is common to him with Angels who though of never so noble an extraction stood nevertheless in need of Grace whereby to persevere in that good they were instated in the other is proper and particular and takes it 's originall from all those devastations sin hath made in nature For there remains nothing in man since his disobedience which is not wholly impair'd His Understanding hath scarce any light to discern truth from falshood his Memory hath no more that force to retain the severall Species of things committed to it's trust and his Will is so enfeebled that it scarce meets with any enemies that triumph not over his liberty ever since it became captive it droop'd languish'd the divell that possesseth it tyrannizeth over it and if grace come not in to the rescue it cannot hold out against his solicitations Sin is yet more absolute then Satan he hath onely a borrowed power he reignes not over the hearts but because he domineers over the senses
what I intend to those that shall take so much pains as to peruse it I will lay down a plain and easie Scheme which shall present you with a short prospect of the whole Christian Man I begin the first Treatise with his Birth which as it is the fruitful source of all the Allyances he contracts with God I cannot speak of it soundly and to the purpose without discovering some of his Qualities and letting you see that assoon as he is regenerated he is the adopted child of the eternal Father because he is the Temple of the holy Ghost and the Brother of the Word Incarnate To this I add some other Priviledges concomitants of his Baptism all which declare the misery he hath avoided and the happiness he hath obtain'd From thence I passe to the second Treatise which represents the Spirit of the Christian and which comprehends all the obligations we have to follow his motions to act according to his orders and to obey his inspirations because none are truly the children of God but those that are quickned by his Spirit Quicunque enim Spiritu Dei aguntur ii sunt Filii Dei Rom. 8. And because the Christian is but a part of a mystical Body whereof there is a Head to guide it as wel as a Spirit to enliven it in the third Treatise I describe the neer relations and close connexions this glorious quality communicates to him with Iesus Christ the advantages he receives from thence and the just duties he is obliged to return to this adored Head The fourth Treatise discovers all the secrets of Grace which seem to be nothing else but a sacred chain uniting the Christian with the son of God and with the Holy Ghost and putting him at their disposal to be conducted safely in the way of Salvation The vertues that flow from Grace as streams do from their fountain are the subject of the fifth Treatise demonstrating a new Morality which the Philosophers were ignorant of and which severing man from himself fastens him happily to his Principle Forasmuch as he lives by Grace and vertues in the sixth Treatise I set before him a heavenly Nourishment that preserves his life and withall affords him some pledges of Immortality But because this food is also a Victime speaking of his Nourishment I speak of his Sacrifice and I lay down the just Reasons the Christian hath to offer up himself to God with Iesus Christ In the seventh Treatise I discourse of his glorious Qualities which I had not touched in the former wherein I make it appear that being the Image of the Son of God he is also a Priest and a Sacrifice a Souldier and a Conqueror a Slave and a Soveraign a Penitent and an Innocent Lastly to compleat the Christian who is but rudely drawn in Baptism who as long as he is upon earth is always imperfect I lead him to Glory where finding his Happiness in the knowledge and love of the supreme Good he is happily transformed into God There he patiently waits for the resurrection of his Body that the two parts whereof he is composed being reunited there may be nothing wanting to the perfection of his happiness and that both Soul and Body being freed from the bondage of sin he may reign for ever with the Angels in Heaven Thus you see in a few words the drift and scope of the whole Work where if I have repeated something that I formerly delivered in the Guilty Man it is because the Cure depends upon the Disease Subjects are illustrated by their contraries and it is impossible to conceive the Advantages of Grace without comprehending all the Miseries of Sin A TABLE OF THE TREATISES DISCOURSES The First TREATISE Of the Christian's Birth Disc 1. That the Christian hath a double Birth page 1 Disc 2. That Man must be renewed to make a Christian of him page 6 Disc 3. That the principal Mysteries of Iesus Christ are applyed to the Christian in his Birth page 10 Disc 4. That Grace is communicated to the Christian in his Birth as Sin is communicated to Man in his Generation page 15 Disc 5 Of the Resemblances that are found between the Generation of Iesus Christ and that of a Christian page 19 Disc 6 Of the Adoption of Christians and the advantage it hath above the Adoption of Men. page 24 Disc 7 Of the Allyances the Christian contracts in his Birth with the Divine Persons page 29 Disc 8 Of the Principal Effects Baptism produceth in the Christian page 34 Disc 9 Of the obligation of a Christian as the consequence of his Birth page 39 Disc 10 That the Regeneration of a Christian takes not from him all that he drew from his first Generation page 43 The Second TREATISE Of the Spirit of a Christian Disc 1. That every Body hath its Head and what that of the Church is 48 Disc 2 That the Holy Ghost is the Heart of the Church 53 Disc 3 That the Holy Ghost is in a sort the same to Christians that he is to the Father and to the Son in Eternity 57 Disc 4 That the Holy Ghost seems to be the same to Christians that he is to the Son of God 62 Disc 5 That the Presence of the Holy Ghost giveth life to the Christian and his Absence causeth Death 67 Disc 6 That the Holy Ghost teacheth Christians to pray 72 Disc 7 That the Holy Ghost remits the sins of the Christian 77 Disc 8 That the Christian in his infirmities is assisted by the strength of the Holy Ghost 83 Disc 9 That the Holy Ghost is the Christians Comforter 89 Disc 10 Of the Christians ingratitude toward the Holy Ghost 94 The third TREATISE Of the Christian 's Head Disc 1 That the Christian hath two Heads Adam and Iesus Christ 100 Disc 2 Of the Excellencies of the Christian's Head and the advantages they draw from thence 105 Disc 3 Of the strict Union of the Head with his Members and of that of Iesus Christ with Christians 110 Disc 4 That the Union of Christians with their Head is an Imitation of the Hypostatical Union 115 Disc 5 That Iesus Christ treateth his Mystical Body with as much charity as he doth his Natural Body 120 Disc 6 That the Church is the Spouse of Iesus Christ because she is the Body and of the community of their Marriage 125 Disc 7 That the Quality of the Members of Iesus Christ is more advantageous then that of the Bretbren of Iesus Christ 130 Disc 8 That Iesus Christ hath taken all his Infirmities from his Members and that his Members derive all their strength from him 134 Disc 9 Of the duties of Christians as Members towards Iesus Christ as their Head 139 Disc 10 That all things are common among Christians as between members of the same Body 144 The fourth TREATISE Of the Grace of a Christian Disc 1 That Predestination which is the source of Grace is a hidden Mystery 150 Disc 2 Of the
glory and humility which ravisheth Christians and confounds Infidels These cannot comprehend that the Son of Man is the Son of God that he that is equall to the Father is his servant that he gives Orders and receives them that he commands and obeyes that he comes down upon the earth and yet never leaves heaven that he dies and still lives that he is confin'd in a Sepulcher and yet fills the whole world This Miracle prepares us for the belief of another no lesse strange then the former For if we consult the Holy Scriptures we shall find that the Son of God was made the Son of man for no other end then to make us the Children of God he was humbled that we might be exalted and he hath facilitated the belief of our future greatness by the example of his debasement His birth is a pledge of ours he was born of a woman but to assure us that we might be born of God neither was he apparelled with the flesh in the womb but to perswade us that one day we shall be clothed with glory in the heavens And this is the Argument the most illuminated of the Evangelists makes use of to establish our second Generation for having taught us that Baptisme and Faith give us God for our Father fearing lest so high a promise find no credit in our understanding * Venit Filius ut illo participantemortalitatem nostram per dilectionem nos efficeret participes divinitatis suae per adoptionem Aug. de Cons Evangel he gives us the Generation of the Word for an assurance of our Regeneration and having ravished all men with those magnificent words He gave them power to become the Sons of God hee discovers the cause of that miracle and clearing us of one wonder by telling a greater he tells us man may become God since God by an excesse of love was willing to become man And the Word was made flesh and dwelt amongst us This is the admirable argumentation of St. John and the solid establishment of our greatness 'T is by this unparallel'd example that hee prepares us for the belief of our mysteries this is the proof all the Fathers make use of to perswade us that the misery of our condition can no way hinder us from being the children of God since the glory of the Word was no obstacle to his being made man Give me leave to expresse these wonders in the words of S. August Vt homines nascerentur ex Deo primo ex ipsis natus est Deus Non quaesivit quidem nisi matrem in terra quia jam patrem habebat in coelo natus ex Deo per quem efficeremur natus ex foemina per quem resiceremur Noli ergo mirari quia efficeris Filius Dei pergrat am quia nasceris ex Deo per verbum ejus prius ipsum Verbum voluit nasci ex homine ut tu securus nascereris ex Deo diceres nasci voluit Deus ex homine ut immortalem me faceret pro me mortaliter nascitur Aug. Tract 2. in Joan. and to joyn the pomp of his eloquence to the majesty of my subject God that makes all things with so much justice was willing to bee born of a woman that men might might be born of him He sought out but one Mother upon the earth because he had already one Father in heaven being born of his Father he made us being born of his mother he re-made us associating by an admirable conjunction the quality of Creator with that of Redeemer Wonder not then if by grace ye are the Sons of God since ye are born of him by his word nor thinke it strange that ye shall be one day immortall in glory since God in his second Generation became mortall was willing to suffer death upon the Crosse for our salvation Thus his Charity makes us like him his goodness surpasseth the miseries of our nature and renders us partakers of his glory so that there is no Christian but may boast that his Baptisme confers upon him by grace all the advantages Jesus Christ possesseth by nature and that the Mystery of the Incarnation being repeated in the faithfull by their new Birth exalts them by a happy Indulgence to the greatness of Jesus Christ The Sixth DISCOURSE Of the Adoption of Christians and the advantages it hath above the Adoption of Men. IF it be true that the end why the Son of God was made the son of Man was that we might be made the children of God we need not think it strange that the adoption of a Christian is one of the chiefest effects of Baptism nor that man changing his condition by his regeneration change also his Father and Mother But it is a thing very well worthy our admiration to consider that he is adopted by a Father who having an onely Son equal to himself should in reason cast out all adopted children were he not obliged to accept them at the intreaty of his own proper Son Adoptio nuptiarum subsidium fortunae remedium supplet sterilitati vel orbitati Jurisc For to take this Truth at the rise and unfold the wonders contained in it we must know that Adoption was invented among men to supply the barrenesse of Parents or the death of children Indeed t is a thing never heard of that a Father to whom Nature hath given a Son should adopt another and seek that in a strange Family which he may find in his own He would beleeve himself to offend against paternal charity should he divide it and injurious to his Son should he assigne him coheirs Though this be his only one he never resolves to provide him companions neither hath he ever recourse to this remedy but when the death of his son makes it lawfull in making it necessary In the mean time the Eternal Father adopts us though he have an immortal Son he extends his affections to us and admits us into his Family to make us share in his Inheritance But that which most furprifeth us in this Oeconomy is That he undertakes this designe at the request of his Son nor does he honour us with the condition of Children till Jesus Christ hath honoured us with that of Brethren 'T is one of the chiefest motives of his incarnation and we may say that he had never chosen a Mother upon earth but that he might have Brethren in heaven He is the onely begotten in the bosom of his Father He shares not this quality with the Holy Ghost and as their processions are different one is the Son the other the Spirit of the Father the One remains in his bosom the Other in his heart the One proceeds by Knowledge the Other by Love But this onely Son is first born of the chaste spotless womb of the Virgin by his temporal birth he gains Brethren and clothing them with the robes of his merits obligeth his Father to avow them for his Children For we
enjoy not this quality but after we are instated in the person of the Word nor can we have God for our Father but we must have Jesus Christ for our Head But when Grace hath made us his members Unicum Filium Deus habet quem de sua substantia genuit nos autem non de sua substantia genuit Creatura enim sumus quam non genuit sed fecit ideo ut fratres Christi secundùm modum faceret adoptavit Aug. lib. 3. contra Faust cap. 3. and being quickned by his Spirit we make up one body with him the Father loves us as his children looks upon us as a portion of Jesus Christ contracts an allyance with us that honours us and imitates that which he hath from all Eternity with his Son Thus we are his sons and his subjects he is our Lord and our Father and we bespeak him in the same language our Head doth we call him our Father and our God This Allyance is not only true because founded in Grace Vinculum igitur nostrae cum Deo Patre unionis Christum esse constat qui nos quidem sibi conjunxit ut homo Deo verò genitori suo sic unitus est ut naturaliter in eo sit Cyril Alex in Joan. but so proper that it relates only to the person of the Son agreeing not so much as to the holy Spirit For as he is not the Father of Jesus Christ so neither is he ours and as he hath other Alliances with him so hath he also with us The Father alone is our Father 't is to him that we addresse our selves when we use that name and knowing very well that we are inseparable from his Son we know very wel that the affection he bears us is an overflowing beam of that love he bears him of whom we have the honour to be members Though this mystery be wonderfull and 't is a hard matter to comprehend upon what motive Jesus Christ was willing to procure us this honour yet the condition wherein he found us redoubles the wonder For Adoption hath this advantage above Nature that 't is in its liberty to chuse the most accomplish'd Nature is blinde in her affections as well as in her productions she knows not for the most part what she does her works are many times defective and as if she had lost her light together with her innocence she brings forth Monsters as often as Men In the mean time she forbears not to love her imperfections she hath the heart of a Mother for all her productions and compels parents many times to embrace Monsters because they are their children In this particular Adoption is much happier then Nature it sees what it admits of chuseth upon knowledge of the cause loves that which is lovely and amiable nor does impart affections or goods but to persons that merit them Neverthelesse contrary to all these rules we finde that the Eternal Father adopts children born in sin and having nothing but the Apennage of Adam are rather the objects of his wrath then of his love He goes to seek them in the masse of perdition he separates them from the Guilty to render them innocent and applyes to them the merits of his Son to make them worthy of his inheritance For of all the Favours saith St * Promisit hominibus divinitatem mortalibus immortalitatem peccatoribus justificationem abject is glorificationem quicquid promisit indignis promisit ut non quasi operibus merces promitteretur sed gratia nomine suo gratia gratis daretur Aug. Psal 102. Augustine God the Father was pleased to honour us with he hath continually prevented our deservings he pardoned us in our delinquency heaped honour upon us in our misery To wretches condemned to death he hath promised immortality to the guilty innocence to base contemptible creatures glory to men divinity that we may receive all these favours as the gracious endearments of his mercy and not the recompences of our merits Thus our Adoption is founded upon his goodness he chose us but because it was his good pleasure he hath made us his Children because Christ hath made us his Brethren and in the apprehension of so great an advantage all we have to do is to humble our selves at the sight of our miseries and to give him thanks at the consideration of his mercies But to the end that this grace may appear more precious we must reckon up its Priviledges and allow the rest of this Discourse to its more noble Excellencies The Adoption of men is indeed an Allyance but we may without offence call it an imaginary one it hath no other foundation but the affection of him that adopts and the true or apparant merit of him that is adopted the conjunction is so impotent that it produceth nothing reall in their minds 't is as we have observed a meer denomination constituting no true relation between the two persons it unites and in this particular we must needs confess 't is much weaker then Nature For this tyes men with flesh and bloud her chains are so strong that 't is almost impossible to break them The Father looks upon his Son as a piece of himself the Mother beholds him as a portion of her own bowels nor can the Son die but both of them die in conceit with him Adoption hath nothing of this vigour in it it leans upon interests and as soon as he that is adopted hath no more any hope he hath no more love nor respect But the Christian Adoption is like that of Nature the links that compose it are of Diamond Missus est Filius non adoptione factus sed semper genitus Filius ut participata natura filiorum hominum ad participandam ettam suam naturam adoptaret etiam filios hominum Aug. lib. de Gra. Novi Test and the Grace that supports it is so firm that 't is able to subsift eternally It penetrates the very essence of the soul and cleanseth it from the spots of sin darts a light into the understanding heat into the Will plants the seeds of Glory in that intellectual substance gives it a true right and title to the kingdom of heaven and constitutes an Allyance between man and God so strict and combining that it imitates that that is between the Humanity and the Divinity by the mystery of the Incarnation From the very instant of Baptism the Christian is truly the Son of God the misery of his Nature the shame of his Birth and the Crime of his first Father hinders not Jesus Christ from being his Brother the Church from being his Mother nor eternal glory from being his portion But I wonder not at all that the Adoption of Christians is more substantial then that of men since it is celebrated with greater pomp and ceremony For when a man intends to adopt a child he needs only declare his will and make use of the Princes authority to make his
a very noble Allyance yet we may say it relates not to God in his Persons but in his Essence For all the perfections Man received in his Creation are but the droppings of the perfections of God His Power expresseth that of his Creator his Liberty is an emanation of that Being which is as free as it is necessary his Reason is a product of the first primitive Reason and all the other qualities that raise him above the rest of Creatures are rather images of the Unity of God then of the Plurality of his Persons Nay the very Angels which are of nobler extraction then Man seem not allyed to the divine Persons Every one of their * Cernere est in Seraphin quomodo amet qui unde amet non habet cernere est in Cherubin Deum scientiarum qui solam nesciat ignorantiam cernere est in Thronis judicantis aequitatem nec vacat sessio tranquillitatis insigne est Bern. lib. 5. de Consid cap. 4. Orders respect some one of the perfections of their Creator The Seraphims express his Love the Cherubins his Light the Thrones his Rest The Hierarchies lead us not to the Trinity or if they give us some umbrages thereof they deliver no exact knowledge We see nothing in these blessed Spirits that discovers to us the Generation of the Word or the Procession of the Holy Ghost and having well considered them there is nothing we admire in them but the Goodness or the Power the Greatness or the Majesty of him that created them All their Allyances as wel as those of Men are terminated in the divine Essence and pass not to the Trinity of the Persons They are rather Servants then Sons or if they are Sons their Adoption is not * Nusquam enim Angelos apprchendis sed semen Abrahae apprehendit Heb. 2. founded upon the Mystery of the Incarnation This glory was reserved for Christians who at the moment of their Nativity have the honour to be allyed to all the Persons of the Trinity The Son loves them as his Brethren the Father adopts them as his children and the Holy Ghost quickens them as his Temples therefore are they baptised in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Their Birth consecrates them to this ineffable mystery and from the time they receive the Being of Grace they bear the Character of the Trinity The Son began this Allyance by the Mystery of the Incarnation he was made Man to make us his Members he hath united us in his Person by such a neer combination that his advantages become ours and our transgressions become his Every thing is common to us with him and giving his Person to our Nature there is no Greatness he hath not communicated to us our Grace is an effusion flowing from his our Birth is an image of his eternall Generation Gratia nihil est aliud quà m participatio divinae filiationis secundùm Divum Thomam and if we beleeve the Master of the School our Adoption is a copy of his divine filiation Finally to express so high a Verity in a more noble Elogie Every Christian seems to be a second Jesus Christ every beleever is a son of God and as they are happily blended with the Word Incarnate they may boast themselves as he is Men-Gods 'T is on this occasion Love makes his power appear that of many persons mutually affecting one another he makes but one that he makes greatness bow and sets humility on high that he transforms God into Man to transform Man into God and surmounting all obstacles that oppose this Union constitutes Jesus Christ the Head of Christians and Christians the Members of Jesus Christ Now 't is in Baptism that they obtain this honour for albeit the Son of God is united to our Nature in the Mystery of the Incarnation and that there this eternal affinity was contracted which death cannot dissolve we are not engraffed upon his Person but by Baptism till we are bathed in this Laver we have nothing but the miseries of Adam nor any part in the merits of Jesus Christ 'T is by the vertue of this †Nemo fit membrum Christi nisi aut Baptismate in Christo aut morte pro Christo Aug. lib. 1. de anima Sacrament that we enter into society with him 't is there that putting off the old man we put on the new and beginning to be united to the Son of God we participate of his divine qualities From this time the Christian is a new creature he receives the Spirit of Jesus Christ without changing his nature he changeth his condition though he hath yet but the seeds of glory he hath notwithstanding the rights of a Son and looks upon the Kingdom of heaven as his inheritance The grace of Jesus Christ blots out all his sins of a slave he becoms a child of an object of wrath he becoms an object of love and big with the merits of his Head he hopes one day to reign with him in glory By a necessary consequence he enters into an Allyance with the Father Everlasting not considering the meanness of his Extraction nor the misery of his Original he treats with God as with his own Father he makes use of those amorous terms the Church puts in his mouth and without losing the respect of a servant he enters into the liberty of a child Grace fastens so strict a union betwixt them that nothing but sin can divide them as it is an emanation of the divine Sonship it is not a bare Adoption and if it bear this name 't is because we have no other to expresse its excellence by But to comprehend rightly this Allyance is as true as that which flesh and blood entitles us to with our Fathers and Mothers if this be founded in Nature that is founded in Grace if this be sensible that is spiritual if this be close that is more intimate neither is the quality of children in Christians a meer denomination as 't is in those that humanely are adopted We are the images of our Father in the donation of Grace we participate of his nature and as it is true according to the saying of St Peter that by grace we are God's so is it certain that by the same grace we are the children of God All the trouble in this Alliance is that it depends upon our Liberty for its preservation we have the power to dissolve it there needs but one act of our will to break the Association and though the chains that entertain it are stronger and more precious then those of Diamond one mortall sin is able to dash them all in pieces there is nothing but Glory that unites us inseparably with God as long as we live upon the earth we are divided between hope and fear and if the greatness of Allyance makes us joyful it 's frailty causeth us to be apprehensive and fearful As long as it lasts it
Channel through which Providence conveighs its vertue upon the Creatures The Sun is the Throne where God sits in state and where he acts with more force 'T is by meanes of this glorious Starre that he produceth the rarest wonders of nature and from the very moment that he drew all things out of nothing he never appeares in the production of any visible Creatures but he makes use of his light or heat His Ecilpses are dreadful to the Universe he never suspends his influences but Nature suffers by it and his course is so necessary to the constitution of the World that a moment of rest would be able to destroy it Though this great body of Light have so absolute a superintendency over all Creatures yet doe I not believe that the Christians hold of his Empire though he enlighten them with his beams warm them with his heat and entertain their life with his motion yet am I of opinion there is a particular providence that governs them Dominus custodit te Dominus protectio tua per diem Sol non uret te nâ—que Luna per noctem Psal 120. that their occurrences are regulated by another sun neither is it in the power of Astrologers to discover the adventures of the faithfull In that they are the members of Jesus Christ their happiness is affix'd to his person their predestination is included in his and we must understand the secrets of the Apocalypse to divine their good or bad fortune The divel himself though never so subtil cannot penetrate this depth if he have some conjectures for the future they prove false in what concernes Christians the Grace that includes them blindes him and as the heavenly Light strikes his spirit with obscurity he is altogether unacquainted with the wayes by which providence happily conducts them to their end Therfore is it that Astrologers are never so much at a loss as when they pretend to judge of the fortune of Believers by the rules of Astrology they must dive into the minde of the eternal Father to understand his thoughts concerning the members of his Son and less then to be admitted into his Cabinet where the unchangeable designes of his predestination are contrived cannot inable them to foresee the smallest accidents of their life If the sanctity of their Condition cloud them from the curiosity of Astrologers it moreover protects them from the fury of Divels For though these wretched spirits are called by scripture the Princes of the World and the divine Justice suffers them to employ the Elements to content their fury yet have they no power over the faithfull All their rage turns to our profit they are serviceable even while they persecute Their notable attempts which testifie their power aswell as their hatred contribute greatly to our merit The Divine Providence that regulates all their motions makes use of them to our glory and wee learn by experience That nothing can hurt those that love GOD because they are beloved of him Thence ariseth that profound tranquillity which Christians enjoy For as they know nothing happens in the world but according to the order and disposall of their Soveraigne that the fury of their Enemies is subject to his Providence that the Divels execute his Will that the Elements serve his Justice or his Mercy they look upon all Accidents with a Holy indifferency they embrace Life and Death Honour and Dishonour Pleasure and Pain with one and the same disposition of spirit and knowing very well that they are the members of Jesus Christ they count it not strange that his Father makes them climbe up to honour by affronts and to felicity by persecution The Ninth DISCOURSE Of the Obligations of Christians in pursuance of their Birth INdependency is so natural to God that some Philosophers have doubted whether he could be ingaged by his promises But me thinks to preserve his Independency they would take away his Veracity and that they might make him an absolute Soveraign goe about to render him an unfaithfull one The perfections of God never clash one against another and those that seem to have some contrarietie in the creatures preserve a peacefull harmonie without loosing their differences in the Creator He is absolute in his power and faithfull in his promises he is subject to those Laws he himself prescribes and he respects his own Orders without infringing his Supremacy Seneca who had only naturall reason for his light judged that obedience did not at all injure the Soveraignty of God Ille ipse omnium conditor ac rector scripsit quidem fata sed sequitur semper paret semel jussit Senec. de prov c. 5. and that observing the ordinances he had set from all eternity hee obeyed alwaies and commanded but once David acknowledged fidelity in God as well as Independency and though he knew that all his graces were mercies he forbeares not to exact from him the effects of his promises and to conjure him upon the truth of his Word God is faithfull in all his words Wherefore I conceive I shall no waies wrong the Almighty if I say that he treates with the Christian in Baptisme That he imposes Laws upon himself which he never revokes and obliges himself to conditions which he inviolably keeps He receives the sinner into favour signes him the pardon of his sin invests him with the merits of his Son and promiseth all things necessary for his preservation in this new condition I cannot imagine that this Peace is but a Truce that there are any Christians to whom God does not sincerely and really remit originall sin Crâ—dentes in Christum per lavacrum regenerationis soluto reatu omnium peccatorum originalis quod generatio trahit liberantur à damnationc perpetua vivunt in fide spe charitate peregrinantes in hoc saeculo Aug. tract 124. in Joan. His goodness gives mee not leave to passe this judgement upon his justice and though I know that he performes an Act of Grace to a Delinquent in Baptisme I believe that considering him in the person of his Son he refuses him not those graces which so holy an alliance seem to require if he condemn them 't is not for the sin which is blotted out and if God be deficient to the Laws of this Treaty 't is because the Christian hath first broken the Covenant The gifts of God are without repentance he deserts none but those that forsake him and were we true to his grace he would never dispense with his promises The unchangeable Laws of Predestination clash not at all with this Maxime and at that instant when he resolved to leave the Reprobate in the masse of Perdition he saw their sins as well as those of Adam 'T is upon these that he rests when he refuses them Grace and had they made good use of that they received I cannot beleeve he would have abandoned them Si gratia dicitur gratis datur si operibus additur
genus humanum Eeclesiae contulit unitate ut quod discordia dissipaverat colligeret charitas Aug. ser 3. de Pentecost when God intending to stop the progresse of that proud Tower the aspiring Posterity of Noah rays'd to get them a Name confounded their Language and scattered the people by the division of their Dialects But it was a far greater wonder when the Holy Ghost to unite all Nations honoured the Apostles with the gift of Tongues and made one man speak the Language of the Universe that the Gospel might be preached without an Interpreter through all the Provinces of the World And we must confesse the Church was never more glorious then when consisting but of one people it already spake the Language of all Countreys and proclaimed by this Miracle that her Conquests were to have no bounds but those of the Universe To this day she enjoyes this Priviledge but with lesse splendour she speaks all Languages because she possesseth some of all people she hath that in her progresse which was conferred upon her at her birth and she owns that amongst all the Faithfull Loquor omnibus linguis quia in co sum Christi corpore hoc est in Ecclesia quae loquitur jam omnibus linguis Aug. in psal 54. which heretofore was eminent in every one of the Apostles Therefore saith S. Augustine is the gift of Tongues now superfluous because the Church having over-spread all the Earth she finds in the meanest of her Disciples what was consin'd heretofore to the Colledge of her Masters and she may boast she hath lost nothing of her antient Priviledges because the goods of a Body being common among the Members she hath no children that speak not all sort of Tongues by the mouth of their brethren But because speech without the effect is but a dead letter the same Spirit that gave the Church the gift of Tongues gave her also the power of working Miracles she hath subjects to whom nothing is impossible Nature submits to their orders Faith that inanimates them makes them absolute in the state of their Soveraign The Sun stands still in the midst of his Course to doe homage to their words the Sea becomes firm under their feet and the Earth trembles under those of their Enemies and they oblige that common Mother to make a sepulcher of her Womb to swallow them up alive Indeed this favour that exalts them so high is transient to humble them Donum miraculorum sicut aliae gratiae gratis datae non sunt in sanctis nisi per modum transeuntis D. Tho. their will is not the rule but the motion of the Holy Ghost they act not but when hee acts with them they work miracles when they receive the power from him and assoon as ever he leaves them they return to their former inability Miracles cost them prayers and teares they acknowledge their dependance even whilst they exercise their Empire and whilst all people look upon them as Gods they finde themselvs oblig'd to confesse that they are nothing but mear Creatures Is it not a wonder that St. Paul drives away Divels heals the sick and yet by his prayers cannot deliver either himself from that Divel or that malady which exercised his humility as much as his patience Finally this Spirit that acted so powerfully by the hands of the Apostles establishing the Gospel no lesse by their miracles then by their words fortified them in persecutions and gave them courage at the same time to triumph over grief and pleasure too For as the Tyrants employd subtilty and violence power and policy to vanquish the Martyrs making use of threats and promises to astonish or seduce the Apostles it was requisite that the Holy Ghost should inspire them with continence and strength and that Grace serving them instead of a Sword and Buckler gain'd them as many Victories as they were bid Battels His power never appeared more glorious then upon this occasion Quld magnum est si fortis Angelus magnum est si fortis est Caro sed unde fortis Caro unde forte vas fictile nisi à Domino Aug. in Psal 238. Miracles have not procured so many conquests as persecutions have the Saints never got so much credit by their power as by their constancy and infidell Rome hath more admired the patience of the Martyrs then the puissance of the Apostles In the meane time he that shall consider these effects in their primitive cause will confesse that one and the same spirit hath produced them and that as he inanimates the Church by his presence so by his assistance he communicates the understanding of Tongues the knowledge of things to come the power of Miracles and the victory over torments Wherefore the Church knowing very well that she owes all to the Holy Spirit Nihil agunt fideles inconsulto Spiritu Sancto quae petunt illi commendant quae accipiunt illi adscribunt Bernard undertakes nothing but by his direction and being perswaded that she hath no strength which she is not beholding to his ayd for she forms no design wherein she implores not his succour and when any happy successe compleats the Enterprise she gives publick testimony by her Eucharisticall deportment that she is beholding to the favour of the Holy Ghost for the benefit she rejoyceth in The Third DISCOURSE That the Holy Spirit is in some sort the same to Christians that hee is to the Father and the Son from all Eternity THe alliance that the Eternall Word hath contracted with men is the source and originall of that which the Father and the Holy Spirit contract with the same Creatures The Father loves us as his children because we are the brethren of his only Son Heaven is as well our inheritance as our recompence and the quality of mercenaries or souldiers which we beare is no barre to that of children and heirs The Holy Spirit hath an influence also upon our souls by charity hee rears an altar in our hearts and of the members of our body he vouchsafes to make living Temples But as his infinite love hath no bounds his communications are much aforehand and by an excesse of goodnesse he was pleased to bee in time to the faithfull what he is in the Trinity to the Father and his only Sonne The whole Scripture teacheth us that the Holy Spirit is a sacred bond uniting the Father and the Son from all Eternity The Church which is very wel-sighted in these profound Mysteries Nexus amoris quo conjungitur Pater cum filio filius cum Patre cals him the True-loves-Knot The conclusion of her prayers clearly instruct us that the Father and the Son reign together in the unity of the Spirit Admit they were not one and the same Thing by their Essence they would be one and the same Principle by the Holy Spirit since all Theologie knowes very well that the Father and the Son are admirably united together to
produce him Therefore hath he received a name that perfectly expresseth his ineffable procession Charitas quae pater diligit filium filius patrē quae est Spiritus Sanctus ineffabilem communionem demonstrat Aug. de Trini for being the production of the Father and the Son he bears a name common to both and he is cal'd the Spirit because the Father and the Sonne call him so in Scripture Now this Spirit is the sacred Bond which conjoyns all Christians together he is not onely the soul but the unity and he it is who by admirable and secret Tyes entertaines a faire correspondence between all the parts of this great body The diffence of their conditions the contrariety of their humours the diversity of their designs hinders not the Holy Spirit from uniting them together nor that he that is the agreement of the Father and the Son be also the peace and agreement of the faithfull He it is that decided the differences between the Jewes and the Gentiles he it is who breaking down the partition Wall hath made of them one building he it is who perfecting the design of Jesus Christ hath happily taken out of the way all obstacles that impeded the unity of the Church and he it is who equalling the poor with the rich the freeman with the slave the learned with the ignorant hath framed that wonderfull body the most perfect Image of the Trinity Therefore must we acknowledge that all those figures that represent to us the person of the holy Ghost abundantly bear witnesse that his principall work is unity For sometimes he is called Fire because that element combines metalls in melting them and of two different substances makes a third which is neither one nor the other but rather both Sometimes he is called Water because he gives consistency to the earth watering it by secret veins and of a fluid sand makes a solid heap which serves for the foundation and centre of the whole Universe Therefore is it that the great Apostle of the Gentiles never speaks of unity Solliciti servare unitatem spiritus in vinculo pacis Epist but he mentions the holy Ghost as the source and fountain of it As often as he recommends peace to the faithfull he wisheth them him that reconciles men unto God by the remission of sin that separates them asunder Neither hath charity which is the principall effect of this ever to be adored Spirit any more worthy employment then to unite Christians together after he hath united them with the Trinity The second Alliance that he contracts with us is that he becomes the gift of God to men as he is the gift of the Father to the Son and of the Son to the Father back again If we beleeve prophane Philosophy Love is not onely the first production but the first profusion of the will This faculty is liberall assoon as it is amorous and parting with its love it makes a donation of whatever holds of its Empire Thence it comes to passe that all Lovers are prodigall that they engage their liberty stripping themselves of their goods and renouncing their own inclinations assoon as ever they begin to be affectionate Now as the holy Spirit is the Love of the Father and the Son so is He their mutuall gift they give themselves whatever they are in producing him and it seems the Son renders to his Father by the production of the Spirit all that he received by his birth Though we want termes to expresse the greatnesse of these mysteries Faith which supplies our impotency steps in to perswade us that the holy Spirit is the uncreated Liberality of the Father and of the Son from all eternity and t is the same faith that teacheth us that the holy Ghost is also the gift of God to the Christians and that at the same time he entered into alliance with them he bestowed his love upon them as a mark of his largesse wherein I observe two or three things worthy of admiration The first is that God makes us a Present equall to himself Dedit dona hominibus quale donum Spiritum sanctum magna est autem Dei misericordia donum dat aequale sibi quia donum ejus Spiritus sanctus est Aug. ser 44. de verb. Dom. which the truest and most affectionate Lovers never do for though gifts are the effects of love they never equall it and if the Lover makes not himself a slave to the person he loveth he can offer no Present equivalent to his affection Pearls and Diamonds are but weak expressions of his good will whatever contents others are but incentives to his desires he would be a Monarch that he might bestow a kingdom and in that height of fortune he would professe no prodigality can satisfie a Lover But God to whom nothing is impossible hath in presenting his love presented a gift commensurate to the greatnesse of that best love he would expresse that which he bestows equalls himself his Present is infinite and when he tenders us the holy Ghost he makes offer of a divine Person The second excellency of this Present is that it prevents our merit because it findes us in the state of sin and did God consult his justice as much as his mercy we should appear the objects of his wrath rather then of his love For he bestows his Spirit upon his enemies he sheds his love abroad in the hearts of beleevers and we receive this favour from him when we deserve nothing but chastisements The third excellency of this gift is that it is the source of all others for being the prime radicall donation 't is that from whence all the bounteous liberality of God issues and proceeds who confers no benefit upon us which bears not the image and superscription of this first and prime gratuity Whatever comes from heaven is a copy of the holy Spirit riches are the expresses of his bounty advantageous parts of soul or body are the marks of his goodnesse Graces and vertues are his immediate impressions and in a few words to comprehend the priviledges of this Divine Offertory we must say with S. Augustine 't is the Pandora thorow which all other gifts are bestowed upon us If the Angels descend from heaven to protect us if the Sun enlightens us if the Stars favour us if the Earth nourish us if the Trees shade us if the Eternal Word leave the bosome of his Father to take upon him our miseries 't is by the counsel and mediation of the holy Spirit and this gift that ravished the Apostle who tells us of it was nothing but an effect and consequence of that primitive largess which is the cause of all others Thence I infer that when we receive any grace we ought to look upward to the Holy Spirit and acknowledging him the fountain of all blessings profess our selves bound to render him the eternal calves of our lips This favour would take away all hope of gratitude
did not the following surpass it For the Holy Spirit is the Love of the Faithful as he is the Love of the Father and of the Son But to understand this truth we must inform you that the Word being begotten of the Father by the Understanding is his onely Son and that the Holy Ghost being produced by the Will is his Love The Father and the Son reciprocally love one another by this mutual charity they finde their happiness in this common dilection and should they cease to love they would cease to be happie Having a minde to exalt us to their happiness they raise us also to their love and pouring forth charity into our souls they make us capable of loving them For God is so great that he can neither be known but by his own Light nor lov'd but by his own Love the Holy Spirit must enlighten our Souls warm our Wills and by the purity of his flames purge away the impurity of our affections he transforms us into himself to make us happie This holy Love is a particular effect of the Holy Spirit the beams that heat us are an emanation from that Divine fire that burns the Seraphims and the charity that raiseth us above the condition of men is a spark of that personal charity wherewith the Father and the Son love each other from all eternity But that we may not challenge the Holy Spirit as sparing of his favours he hath vouchsafed to be the accomplishment of the Church as he is the accomplishment and perfection of the Trinity For though there be no defects in God though this Sun is never clouded nor eclipsed this Supreme Truth labours under no shadows nor errours this excellent Beauty hath no spots nor blemishes and this amiable goodness be full of charms and graces yet may the Holy Ghost be called the Complement thereof The Father begins this adorable Circle which the Son continues and the Holy Spirit finisheth he it is that bounds the Divine emanations draws forth the fruitfulness of those that cause his production and if it be lawful to speak of an ineffable mystery and to subject to the laws of Time Eternity it self God is not compleated but by the production of the holy Spirit He is the rest of the Father and the Son his person is the perfection of the Trinity and this Divine mystery would want its full proportion did it not include the Holy Spirit with the two Persons from whence he proceeded The holy Scriptures to afford us some light of this verity attribute all the perfection of the works of God to the blessed Spirit They represent him to us moving upon the waters in the Creation of the world finishing by his Fecundity what the Father and the Son had produced by their Power They teach us that it was he that gave motion to the Heavens influences to the Stars heat to the Sun They inform us that 't was by his vertue that the earth became fruitful and that from his goodness she received that secret Fermentation that to this day renders her the Mother and the Nurse of all things living And the Gospel to give this Truth its full extent instructs us that 't is the holy Ghost who by his graces in the Church makes up what Jesus Christ hath begun in it by his travels He is his Vicar and Lieutenant he came down upon the earth after the other ascended up to heaven nor hath he any other designe in his descension then to compleat all the works of Jesus Christ The Apostles were yet but embryo's in Christianity when the Son of God left them three yeers of conversation was not able to perfect them the greatest part of the discourses of their Divine Master seemed to them nothing but Aenigma's his Maximes Paradoxes his Promises pleasing Illusions every thing was a mormo to these timorous spirits ths name of the Cross scandalized them and so many Miracles wrought in their presence were unable to calm their Fear or heighten their Courage To finish these demi-works the Holy Ghost came into the world he descended upon their heads in the shape of fiery tongues to make them eloquent and bold he inspired them with Charity to cure them of Fear made them Lovers thereby to make them Martyrs he cleared their Understanding warmed their Will that light and heat being blended together they might more easily overcome Philosophers and Tyrants Finally he set up a Throne in their hearts that speaking by their mouthes and acting by their hands he might render them accomplisht pieces to the service of their Master And indeed we must acknowledge the Apostles changed their condition after the descent of the Holy Ghost their Fear vanished as soon as they were confirmed by his Strength the Cross seem'd strew'd with Charms as soon as they were kindled with his Flames they found Sweetness even in Torments Glory in Affronts Venit Vicarius Redemptoris ut beneficia quae Salvator Dominus inchoavit Spiritus sancti virtute consammet quod ille redemit iste sanctificet quod ille acquisivit iste custodiat Aug. Serm. 1. Feria 32. Pentec and Riches in Poverty This made S. Augustine say that the Holy Spirit came to finish in Power what the Son of God had begun in Weakness to sanctifie what the other had redeemed and to preserve what Christ had purchased If you seek saith the same S. Augustine what was wanting to the Apostles and what might be added to their perfection by the coming down of the Holy Ghost I will tell you Before that happie moment they had Faith but they had neither Constancie nor Fidelity they were able to forsake their possessions to follow Jesus Christ but they would not lose their lives to glorifie him they were able indeed to preach the Gospel but knew not how to signe it with their blood nor seal it with their death they were vertuous as long as they conversed with the Son of God up on earth but they were not grown up to perfection till the Holy Ghost had communicated to them his graces and adding force to charity had made them the Foundations of the Church the Fathers of the Faithful the Terrour of Devils and the Astonishment of Tyrants Finally 't is the holy Spirit according to the saying of S. John Damascen that perfects the Christians because 't is he that Quickens them by Grace and Deifies them with Glory So that we are obliged to confess that he enters into alliance with them that he is the same to the Church that he is to the Trinity and that after he hath been our Bond our Gift and our Love upon Earth he will be our Accomplishment in Heaven The Fourth DISCOURSE That the Holy Ghost seems to be to Christians what he is to the Son of God IT is not without ground that the Christian is called the Image of Jesus Christ since he is his other Self the one possessing by Grace what the other doth by
Nature For if Jesus be the Natural Son of the Father the Christian is his Adopted one if Jesus be the Heir of the Father the Christian is the Co-heir of the Son according to the expression of the great Apostle if Jesus be Innocent the Christian is Justified if Jesus be born of the Spirit the Christian is regenerated thereby and receives in his Baptism what the Son of God received in his Birth Inasmuch as this last wonderfully exalteth the glory of the Faithful I conceive I ought to bestow this whole Discourse upon this matter and to make it appear that the Holy Ghost by an excess of bounty will be to every Christian what he is to Jesus Christ Faith teacheth us that though Jesus Christ be the Son of the Everlasting Father yet is he withal the Workmanship of the Holy Spirit he that was barren in Eternity became fruitful in Time he that produced nothing in the Heart of the Father produced the Word Incarnate in the Womb of the Virgin and he that before the world began was the Spirit of the Son in the fulness of time became his Principle The Scripture insinuates this Truth when it brings in the Angel speaking these words to the Virgin The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee And the Church teacheth it all her children in the Symbole of her Creed in these terms He was conceived of the Holy Ghost Et licet aliud quidem ex te aliud ex Patre sit jam non tamen cujusque suus sed unus utriusque erit Filius Sanctus Bern. super missus est homil Thence it comes to pass that his conception is so pure that sin hath no part therein and that he is free from shame as the mother that bare him was from sorrow He was so born saith Tertullian that he need not blush at the name of Son This great priviledge is granted the Christian in his Baptism and his second birth is as holy and as noble as his first was shameful and criminal In the one he is a sinner before he is reasonable and the slave of the devil as soon as he is the subject of Jesus Christ but in the other he is happily born again by the vertue of the Holy Spirit he receives grace as an earnest of glory he is adopted by the Father for his son acknowledged by Jesus Christ for his brother treated by the Angels as their equal and exalted to so high a condition that the holy Spirit disdains not to be stiled the Author and Principle thereof This is it that holy Scripture holds out to us by these words Vnless a man be born again of water and of the holy Ghost I would enlarge my self upon this meditation had I not explained it already in another passage of this Work Neither would it be any hard matter to make it appear that the Regeneration of a Christian is little inferiour in this particular to the Birth of Jesus Christ The second advantage that is common to them is that the same spirit which is their Principle is also their Director and that he that gives them life gives them conduct and motion These two Things are inseparable in Nature and in Grace the same causes that make us live make us act these Starres whose influences contribute so much to our birth are not lesse conducing to our fortune and as they are the Principles of our Being they are in some sort the Guides of our life if they have no dominion over our spirit they have over our humour and if they force not our liberty they many times sollicite our inclinations But not to rest in second Causes it is plaine the creature depends as well upon God in his motion as in his Being he governs men whom he hath created he guides Princes whom he hath raised to the Throne and he as absolutely hath their wills in his hands as their Scepter By the same reason the Holy Spirit which is the Principle of Jesus Christ is his Director he undertakes nothing but by his conduct and as he received his being from his goodnesse he submits all his actions to his power The Scriptures furnish us with a thousand proofes of so important a Truth all the Evangelists are the faithfull Witnesses thereof neither doe they ever take notice of the designs of the Son of God Ductus est Jesus à Spiritu quia Humanitas Christi erat organum Divinitatis ideo ad omnia movebatur instinctu Spiritûs sancti hoc igitur motu ivit in desertum locum aptum or ationi Glossa ordin but they make it appeare at the same time that the Holy Spirit is the first mover of them For if he retire into the desarts to converse with beasts if he enter the list wherein he seemes to injure his glory to assure our salvation if he spend dayes and nights there in prayers and fasting if he suffer his slave to tempt him and if he refuse not to combate him upon Earth that he had driven out of Heaven 't is because the Holy Spirit engageth him in the conflict and layes an obligation upon him to beare the punishment of our sins to deliver us therefrom if he passe from one Province to another if he leave a rebellious City to instruct another more obedient to his divine sermons 't is by the direction of his guide Jesus returned into Galile in the power of the Spirit If he work Miracles in Judea 't is not so much to magnifie his power In Spiritu Dei ejicio Daemonia as to comply with the motions of the Holy Spirit and though these signall wonders cost him but a few words or desires he never wrought them but his divine Principle obliged him thereto by some secret inspiration if he unfolds the Mysteries of our Religion if he declare to his Disciples the will of his Father and discover to them those grand designes contrived from all Eternity In ipsa hora exultavit Spiritu Sancto dixit confiteor tibi Pater Domine caeli terrae quod abscondisti haec à sapientibus prudentibus revelasti ca parvucis Luk. 10. and which were not to be executed but in time 't is the Holy Spirit that animates him to this discourse and obliges him to manifest that to men which till then he would not impart to the Angels If finally the Son of God offer himselfe up upon the Crosse for our salvation if he drown our sins in his blood if he reconcile us to his Father by his death and satisfie him with the losse of life and honour 't is the holy Spirit that engageth him in this Agony and who inspires him with love enough to vanquish the ignomy and paine thereof He offered himselse without spot to God by the Holy Ghost so that the life of the Son of God was spent in a continued obedience to the Holy Spirit he undertook nothing but by his orders executed nothing but by his
advice and hee that at first was his Principle proceeds still to be his counsellour and director The Christian enjoyes this advantage with Jesus Christ whatsoever designe he conceives whatsoever resolution he takes whatsoever enterprize he brings to passe he is alwayes bound to call upon the holy Ghost He that hath given him his Being ought to give him motion he that hath begotten him in Baptisme ought to govern him in the Church and if he will not be wanting to his obligations nor renounce his priviledges the same Spirit that inanimates him while he lives must move and lead him in all his operations This is it that S. Paul so highly magnifies when he sayes Those onely deserve to be called the children of God who are acted by the Spirit of God Qui Spiritu Dei aguntur hi sunt filii Dei Whereupon * Ergo agimur non agimus respondeo imo agis ageris tunc bene agis si à bono agaris Spiritus enim Dei qui te agit adjutor est tibi agenti ipsum nomen adjutoris praescribit tibi quia tu ipse aliquod agis sed ne te extolleret humanus spiritus ad hoc opus se idoneum jactaret ideo subjecit quotquot Spiritu Dei aguntur hi snut filii Dei Aug. Ser. 13. de verb. Apost S. Augustine preventing two contrary objections which might be made against this truth saith That Christians are not onely lead by the Spirit but driven to the end they may know that He is rather the Principle of their actions then themselves and that in the way of salvation they are rather sufferers then doers But because this answer might sooth men up in idlenesse and give them an occasion to neglect good works expecting the enthusiasmes of the Spirit he adds They are moved that they might move they receive the impression of grace that they may act and that the Apostle expresly made use of this manner of speech at once to make them shake off idlenesse and presumption From this Priviledge is derived a third not so peculiar to Christ as not to be common to Christians For the holy Spirit is their Master he instructs them both in his school and they have the glory to be his disciples as well as his workmanship The Son of God hath two schools as he hath two births the first is Eternity where his Father is his Master and where he teacheth him his learning in communicating to him his Essence There by a strange Prodigie the Master is not more knowing then the Scholar nor the Scholar junior to his Master the science is learnt in a moment but that moment endures for ever and though it have no parts it includes neverthelesse all the differences of time this science though but one comprehends in it all sorts of truth the Master hides nothing from his Scholar he instructs him at the same instant he begets him the birth of this Son to speak properly is his instruction as he is born for ever so he learns for ever and he that conceived him in his bosome is eternally his Father and his Master This Son hath in time another school and a new Master he that produceth him teacheth him and the same Principle that forms his body fashions his understanding from the very first moment of his Conception He imitates the Father that teacheth him from all eternity he instils all things into him without succession or labour and conveying light into his soul Vir erat Jesus necdum etiam natus sed sapientia non aetate animi virtute non viribus corporis Bern. he hath no need of the mediation of the senses to render him learned This Pupill discourseth before he speaks he conceives truth before he beholds the light and his understanding is inform'd of all the secrets of his Father before he could pronounce the name of his Mother His knowledge grows not up with time because it had its just proportion and measure at the very moment of his Generation Experience hath not made it more evident nor age more assured and if he pronounced no Oracles in his Infancy 't is because he had a minde to conceal his Wisdom as he had concealed his Divinity Finally this Divine Master taught him a science which Politicians seek for and cannot finde for he discovers to him the secrets of the heart the motions of the will and all those thoughts and imaginations which though they never brake forth in words nor actions cease not to render men guilty So that should Jesus Christ neither be united to the Person of the Word nor illuminated with the light of Glory he would neverthelesse have an infused knowledge whereby he would be acquainted with whatever is most secret in Nature and in Grace in Time and in Eternity The holy Scripture also teacheth us that the holy Spirit that abides not alwayes in others rests upon Jesus Christ Requievit super eum Spiritus Domini Isa and he that distributes his Graces to others by measure communicates them to his Masterpeece without weight or limitation But this is no hinderance from his being the Master also of all other Christians from teaching them the science of salvation discovering to them the mysteries of Theologie the secrets of Nature and the maximes of the Politikes In effect 't is the holy Spirit that made the Apostles learned that spake with their mouthes that confounded Emperours and Philosophers with their answers and made them understand those Oracles which were nothing but Riddles to them whilest Jesus Christ conversed with them upon the earth 'T is lastly the selfe same Spirit which to this day teacheth the faithfull what they are to beleeve in Religion what they are to do or leave undone in the practice of their life and what they ought to hope or fear after death He cannot deceive them because he is the Spirit of Truth he cannot engage them in evill because he is the Spirit of Holinesse neither can he suffer them to wander in Errour or languish in infirmities because he is the Spirit of Counsell and of Strength Therefore is he the Master whom the faithfull consult with in their occasions 't is in his Schoole that they commence in vertue 't is under his Conduct that they grow up to perfection and by his advice that they defend themselves against errour and falshood Vbi Deus Magister quam cito discitur quod docetur Leo Serm. 1. de Pente Though this Science be so deep yet is it learnt in a moment his Disciples become Masters without paines Truth distils into their understandings without passing through their eyes or eares sleeping and waking they are equally capable of attention and this Doctor is so dextrously exact that bestowing the Spirit upon his scholars he repaires by Grace the defects of Nature But to conclude all these resemblances we affirm that the holy Spirit is the witnesse of Jesus Christ and of
Righteousness Poenitentia à poena nomen accepit quia anima cruciatur caro mortificatur Aug. For though it presuppose sin and that Man cannot repent if he have not done amiss yet is it a very present help against his Infirmity and an admirable Invention of Mercy to deliver him from his Transgression In the mean time the state of Innocence was deprived of it and whether these two priviledges were incompatible neither would God grant this favour to men who had no excuse for their sin because it was absolutely in their power not to commit it we see not that they had this Prerogative nor that Adam recovered from his Fall by the assistance of Original Justice His Conversion is an effect of the Grace of JESUS CHRIST If he bewailed his sin he is beholding to the merits of the Son of God Nullus hominum transit ad Christum ut incipiat esse quod non erat nisi cum poeniteat fuisse quod erat Homil. 50. and if he repented 't was not till he became Christian For the Divine Providence which turns our Evils into Remedies is pleased to make use of our weakness in the business of Repentance and fortifying our Liberty by the vertue of Grace settles us in a condition more humble indeed but more sure then that of Innocence Therefore is it not founded so much upon the Will as upon Grace drawing its force much less from Man then from Jesus Christ He it is that hath instituted the remedy in his Church by a Sacrament wherein the holy Spirit raiseth up sinners after he hath regenerated them by Baptism For as he is the Principle of our new life so is he the Restorer thereof as he gives it by his Grace so he repairs it by his Goodness he presides in this sacred Pool and working stranger Miracles then the Angel did at the pool of Hierusalem he convinceth the Obstinate enlightens the Blinde instructeth the Ignorant Indeed this Sacrament hath always been lookt upon by Christians as a chanel thorow which the holy Spirit pours forth his graces into the souls of sinners There it is that he works those prodigies which astonish all Christians there it is that he acts as God and by a victorious sweetness triumphs over the liberty of Criminals there it is that he changeth Persecutors into Apostles Wolves into Lambs Libertines into Believers and Lascivious persons into Continent In the Old Testament this Spirit changed men externally indued them with new strength made use of Samsons to tame Lions take Cities and defeat Armies The Spirit of the Lord came upon Samson aad he slew a thousand men He changed the minde of those that he lifted up to the Throne and putting the Scepter into their hands inspired the Politicks into their soul and taught them that Science whereby Soveraigns govern States and Kingdoms The Spirit of the Lord shall come upon thee and thou shalt be changed into another man But now he changeth the hearts he causeth a Metamorphosis less glittering but more useful inspiring into the soul Repentance and Sorrow for Sin This Change is attributed to the holy Spirit because being the personal Love Est Spiritus sanctus in confitente jam ad donum Spiritûs sancti pertinet quia tibi displicet quod fecisti immundo spiritui peccata placent sancto displicent Aug. all the effects which designe any goodness are particularly applied to him and our Religion knows none greater then that wherein God receives his enemy into favour where not considering his Greatness he prevents him by his Mercy nor minding the many sins he hath committed treats with him not as a Rebellious Slave but as an obedient Son This belongs to the holy Spirit because being that sacred Bond that unites the Father with the Son from all Eternity it concerns him to reconcile sinners to God who are separated from him by their offences according to the language of the Prophet Your sins have separated between you and your God Finally this effect is so honourable to him that he is pleased to take it for his Name For the Church in her Oraisons calls it the Remission of Sins And as to flatter the ambition of Conquerours they bestow upon them the names of those Provinces they have reduced under their obedience the Church is of opinion that worthily to praise the holy Spirit to his Divine Qualities this glorious Title must be added and to specifie the victories he gains over sinners to name him by way of excellence The Remission of sins This Maxime is so true and the pardon of our offences so particularly attributed to the holy Ghost that the Ministers who are employed in this Sacrament must be quickned with his vertue to blot out sins For as Saint Augustine judiciously observes the Apostles received not the power to absolve the Guilty till they had received the holy Ghost nor did the Son of God say unto them Remit sins till he had before said unto them Receive the holy Ghost that they might know it was through his Name that they wrought this Miracle and that they were onely his Organs when they dispensed Grace in the State of their Soveraigne This will not seem strange to those that shall consider there is no greater power in the Church then to forgive sins For 't is in a manner to act upon a Non-entity 't is to imitate the power of God and to extract Grace out of Sin as the World out of Nothing Besides if we believe Saint Ambrose the Conversion of sinners hath something more difficult in it then the Creation of men For though in both these works God act upon nothing David telling us that to change a heart is to create it Create in me O God a clean heart and Saint Paul assuring us that our soul is created in good works when we are converted Creati in bonis operibus It seems God meets with more resistance in Conversion then in Creation Nothing obeys God when it hears his Word if it contribute not to his designes neither doth it oppose them and no sooner hath God made known his desire but it thrusts forth out of its barren womb The Heaven with its Stars the Earth with its Fields and the Sea with its Rocks He spake and they were made he commanded and they were created But Sin is a Non-entity rebellious against God it knows his minde and contemns it sets up parties in his State deboists his subjects and intrenching it self in their heart as in a Fort disputes the victory with their Soveraign Moreover there is no body but knows that God acts far more absolutely in the Creation of Men then in the Conversion of Sinners For when he drew man out of Nothing he advised with none but Himself he had no respect to his Liberty because he handled him as a Slave and speaking imperiously to him obliged him to appear before his Creator But when he Converts him he uses some kinde of
respect towards him he puts on rather the deportment of a Lover then of a Soveraign he gains his will without forcing it and though he knows the secret whereby to be obeyed 't is always with so much sweetness that he that suffers himself to be overcome hath reason to believe he gets the Victory Therefore doth the Scripture never speak of this Change but as of a work common to God with Man And when Saint Augustine observes the differences between Conversion and Creation he bears witness to this truth in these words Qui creavit te sine te non salvabit te sine te But not to enter into Disputes more Curious then Profitable Si conversio peccatoris non est majoris potentiae quà m creatio universi saltem est majoris miscricordiae Aug. let us be content to conclude with the same Saint Augustine that if the Conversion of a sinner require not more Power it supposeth at least more Mercy then Creation because if in This God obligeth the Miserable in That he obligeth the Criminal shewing Favour to those that could expect nothing but severity of Punishments Therefore is it that the Conversion of a sinner belongs to the Holy Spirit and a work that bears the Character of Goodness must needs have no other Principle but he to whom this Divine Perfection is attributed in the Scripture 'T is true that after he hath shewed mercy to sinners he performs a piece of most exemplary Justice and animating them against themselves he obliges them to take revenge and punishment upon themselves For one of the most admirable effects of the Spirit of Love is to produce hatred in the spirit of Penitents Quia ergo non potest esse confessio punitio peccati in homine à seipso cum quisque sibi irascitur sibi displicet sine dono Spiritûs sancti non est Aug. in Psal 50. and to satisfie the Majestie of God by the excess of their Austerities towards themselves They look upon themselves as guilty of Treason against the Divine Majestie they stay not till his Justice punish them they prevent his Sentence by their own Resolutions and invent more tortures to wrack themselves then the Executioners have been witty in to torment Martyrs with This is that Divine Spirit which hath driven the Anchorites into the desarts made the Antonines go down into caves and holes of the earth made the Stilites fix upon the top of Pillars which found out sackcloth and discipline to make as many Wretches as he had made Penitents All the Austerity that is in Christianity takes its birth from the love he inspires into the Faithful Their Rigour is proportionable to their Charity the more the holy Spirit possesseth them the more are they set against Themselves and we may affirm with reason that as much as they grow in his Love so much do they grow in the Hatred of their Sin This is it perhaps that our Saviour would have us understand when he told us that the holy Spirit should judge the world and should oblige sinners to punish themselves for the offences they have committed He shall convince the world of sin of righteousness and of judgement We cannot understand this Truth if we conceive not that the Father hath judged all men in his Son and having charged him with their iniquities hath charged him also with the punishments due for them From this moment they have no engagements to sue out with the Father and the Father satisfied with the Passion of his Son protests that he hath signed over to him all the right of judging the world The Father judgeth no man but hath committed all judgment to the Son The Son by vertue of this resignation shall judge all men at the end of the world and being become their Judg and their Partie will pronounce the definitive sentence of their Eternity In expectation of this day of Doom the holy Spirit judgeth men that are converted and mixing meekness with severity in these determinations he obliges them to undergo a scrutiny upon earth to be delivered from the torments of hell Nor are we to think it strange that he that is so gentle is withall so rigorous since the Poets have bestowed these two qualities upon Love For these pleasant Tel-tales have feigned that he was the severest of all the Gods that he bathed himself in tears lived upon blood and more cruel then Tyrants took pleasure in the torments of his subjects But Christian Religion that conceals Truth under the shadow of our Mysteries teacheth us that the love of God is severe that he exacts chastisements from those he inanimates that he engageth his Lovers in penance and more strong then death which parts soul and body he divides between the soul and the spirit and exerciseth a Tyranny over whole entire man True it is the torments he inflicts are always mix'd with pleasures he makes Roses grow among Thorns and amidst such a throng of Penitents that bid him battel there is not one complains of his sufferings 'T is enough that persecuting themselves Haec tristitia quae poenitcutiam ad salutem stabilem operatur laeta est ac spe profectus sui vegetata cunctam affabilitatis retinet suavitatem Cassian l. 9. c. 11. they are perswaded they satisfie him whom they have offended the same consideration that afflicts them comforts them and when they meditate that God that loves them is infinite they meet with no pain that is not short nor any torment that is not joyous They are better accompanied in the Desarts then the Monarchs in their Palaces their humiliations are more glorious then the Triumphs of Conquerors their poverty is more happy then abundance of riches and their ascetick life more full of charms then the pleasures of the world Though the holy Spirit be thus favourable to Penitents yet fails he not to be very severe against sinners if he pardon the offences committed against the Father and the Son he never pardons those that are committed against his own Person and the holy Scriptures teach us Blasphemia in Spiritum sanctum non remittetur in hoc seculo nec in futuro Mat. 12. that of all the sins in the world none are irremissible but those which do despite to the Holy Ghost This passage leaves all our Expositors at a losse every one forgeth new Principles to resolve the difficulties thereof and there are few but strive to invent something upon a subject so often handled and so little cleared Some divide sins into three Orders according to the perfections which are commonly applyed to the three Divine Persons The first comprehends sins of infirmity which seem to clash against the Person of the Father Peccata alia sunt infirmitatis quae Patri cujus est potentia adversantur alia ignorantiae quae Filio cujus est sapientia alia malitiae quae Spiritui sancto cujus est bonitas D. Thom. in Paulum to whom power
being his Creatures under a double Title and he our Principle in Nature and in Grace there is no body but believes we have all the reason in the world to set up his Kingdome in our hearts and carefully to preserve charity whereby he lives in our soules Neverthelesse the Great Apostle of the Gentiles complaines that the faithfull of his time made him dye that they put out the candle of their life and by an ingratitude as great as their blindnesse committed a double murder in one and the same crime He begs their favour towards the holy Spirit and having presented them with the Obligations they owe his infinite goodnesse he conjures them not to choak him in their soules Quench not the Spirit This passage is diversly explain'd Nolite Spiritum extinguere 1 Thes 5. but equally weak'nd by our Interpreters For some are of opinion that Saint Paul made use of this word to quench because the Holy Ghost coming down upon the Apostles in the likenesse of Fire might be put out as fire by our negligence And if the vestall Virgins were guilty of death Vesta nihil aliud quam ignis cui virgines solent servire quod sicut ex virgine ita nihil ex igne nascatur Aug. for suffering the prophane fire committed to their charge to go out the Christians were certainly much more criminall to suffer this holy Fire to dye that kindled all vertues in their hearts and purg'd out all defects and inward defilements Others think it a kind of figurative speech the Apostle makes use of to aggravate the hainousness of the sinne they commit who do all that they can to extinguish the Holy Spirit and endeavour to imitate the cruelty of the Jews will signe their malice by a detestable parricide It seems Saint Augustine was entred into this opinion accusing not the sinner for the death of the holy Spirit but because of the will he had to do it and endeavouring all that was in his power to stifle him that lives and reigns with the Father and the Son from all Eternity But I conceive without doing violence to the words of Saint Paul or at all prejudicing the holy Spirit we may say He suffers death by sin and loseth life when we lose charity For the same Apostle teacheth us Nescitis quia templum Dei estis Spiritus Dei habitat in vâ—bis 1 Cor. 3. that the holy Ghost dwels in us by Grace that he erects an Altar in our heart makes himself a Temple in our soul and lives in us by his vertues All his Epistles speak this language and as often as he treats of the residence of the holy Spirit in our hearts he speaks of it as of a Divine life whereof he is the first Principle so that he lives in us after the same manner as we live in him and these two lives are so closely combined together that one cannot be destroy'd without the other Thus the holy Spirit ceaseth to live in the sinner when the sinner ceaseth to live by the holy Spirit As they have one and the same life so they endure one and the same death and as the sinner loseth life because he loseth Grace that united him to Jesus Christ so the holy Spirit in some sort loseth that life that united him to the Christian by Charity and receives death from him that inflicts it upon himself by sin Therefore is it that the Apostle useth such high terms to make us comprehend the heinousnesse of our crime and describes the death of our soul under that of the holy Spirit to the end that if we are not afraid to commit a simple Murder we may at least be startled from committing a Parricide The second Quality of the holy Spirit is that having been our Principle he will also be our Director and give us motion after he hath indued us with life I will not inlarge this Truth because I have already spoken sufficiently of it and discovered those advantages the Christian may draw from thence It shall suffice to add that Christians are exalted as far above Philosophers as Philosophers are above Beasts For Beasts are led meerly by sense the pleasure that tickles them transports them and what-ever flatters their appetite either in taste or sight overpowers them if they are not with-held by fear or grief Sinners are in no better condition then the Brutes they consult only their sense when they act Homo comparatus est jumentis Considerate vos factos ad Dei imaginem Imago Dei intus est non est in corpore non est in auribus istis eculis sed est factus ubi est intellectus ubi mens ubi ratio investigandae veritatis Aug. in Psa 48. their soul is alwayes the slave of their body neither do they perceive when they engage themselves in the love of pleasure or glory how they do no more then Buls that foam and fight for the enjoyment of a Heifer or to be leaders of the Herd Philosophers are a degree higher then Sinners and taking Reason for their Guide they think they cannot err Rationalc animal est homo consummatur itaque ejus bonum si id adimplevit cui nascitur quid est autem quod ab illo ratio exigit rem facillimam secundum naturam suam vivere Senec. Epist 41. they fancie proud ostentous designes they frame noble Ideas of felicity they call in the Vertues to their aid to compasse it and assisted with Prudence Justice and Fortitude they count themselves as happy and as perfect as God himself Illi Philosophi seculi vitium vitio peccatumque peccato medicantur nos amore virtutum vitia superemus Hieron Epist ad Rust These blind Opinators see not that their Reason is a slave to their Concupiscence that Vain-glory is the foul of their Vertue that thinking to avoid Sensuaality they fall into Arrogance and flying the sins of Men are taken with those of Divels But Christians humbly soaring above Philosophers take the holy Spirit for their Guide they subject their reason to his Inspirations and knowing very well that they cannot be the children of God unlesse they be the organs of his Spirit they undertake nothing but by the motion of his Grace Though this favour make up one of their greatest advantages they fail not sometimes to neglect it and to resist the Conduct of their divine Director They relapse into the condition of Beasts when they obey their senses are restor'd to that of Philosophers Haec est iniquitas cujus non miseretur Deus cum homo defendit quod Deus odit pecâ—atum justitiam asserit ut omnipotenti resistat omnipotens illi Bern. de Conse when they are led by their judgment and become sinners when they resist Grace 'T is from this impiety that all others are derived there is no wickedness a soul is uncapble of when it rejects the impulses of the Spirit neither were the Jews cast
off but because they stop'd their ears against his Oracles 'T is the crime St Stephen accused them of when they stoned him Ye always resist the Holy Ghost and 't is the punishment the Son of God threatens all those with that persevere in their sins The Third Quality of the holy Spirit is that of a Comforter for if our Body revolt against reason he supplyes us with strength to subdue this Rebell if Passions trouble our rest he layes the storms if we are in doubt of our Salvation he gives us assurances and whatever affliction exerciseth our Patience he is our Consolation and our Joy But as concerning the acknowledgment of this Grace we daily afflict him by our insolence and we compell the Successours of the Apostles to reprove us as Saint Paul did Grieve not the holy Spirit This advice which the Doctor of the Gentiles gives us is expressed in terms not easie to be understood For the holy Spirit being God with the Father and the Son is not capable of sadness he enjoyes a happinesse that cannot be disturbed the rebellion of his Subjects can neither shake his Empire nor diminish his felicity what-ever designe is undertaken against him he still remains absolute and his Power which equals his Wisdome makes the malice of his enemies serviceable to the execution of his Will Therefore is it Ira Dei non est ut hominis id est perturbatio concitati animi sed tranquilla justi supplicii constitutio Aug. Trac 124. in Joan. that Divines cannot comprehend the language of St Paul nor conceive how the holy Spirit that is the source of joy can be grieved by sinners Some explain it following the common Rule which placeth the effects of the Passions in God and excludes the imperfections for his Anger takes not away his Tranquillity he punisheth the Rebels of his State without the least commotion nor is he less calm when he punisheth the Divels then when he rewards the Angels But though he act with so much stayedness he makes his thunder roar over the heads of the guilty he makes the earth open under their feet and if these two Elements are not enough to destroy them he obliges the Sea to drown them by his Inundations Others conceive that Saint Paul attributes Grief to the holy Spirit after the same manner he attributes Groans that he more respects his Figure then his Person and considering him in that Dove Gemitus Columbae gemitus Spiritus sancti quia in figura columbae descendit Spiritus in Dominum in the shape whereof he descended upon Jesus Christ he applyes to him the properties of that innocent Bird For every one knowes that the Dove mourns that she hath no other note but sighs and when she is once separated from her mate her lamentation lasts as long as her life But St Augustine resolves this difficulty by the strict union between the Faithfull and the holy Spirit he attributes to him the grief he inspires into them and because the pity they expresse for the lost estate of sinners is an effect of his Grace he ascends to the cause and attributes that to the holy Spirit that he produceth in Christians But how-ever it is we afflict him that comforts us and not acknowledging the good he hath done us we grieve the holy Spirit because we sad the Church whom he inanimates Finally to conclude this Discourse One of the most eminent Qualities of the holy Spirit is that of the Remission of sins his Spouse making his Panegyrick honours him with this Elogie and Divinity teacheth us that he it is that prepares the Will of the ungodly that manageth their Consent by the endearments of his Grace and reconciles them to the Father by the merits of the Son which he applyes to them Thence is it that he presides in the work of Repentance that the Priests who absolve the guilty are his Ministers and the sorrow that blots out sin is an effect of his Mercy Ad ipsum pertinet societas qua efficimur unum corpus unici Filii Dei Aug. in Ser. de Blasph Spir. In the mean time we offend him that pardons us his indulgence makes us insolent and the easiness wherewith he receiveth Penitents encreaseth the number of Delinquents All the sins we commit check these Divine perfections and by the least of our offences we violate all his personall Proprieties He is the Unity of the Father and of the Son because he is that sacred bond that joyns them eternally together and Sin is an unhappy division that divorceth Man from God the body from the soul Peccatum origo mali nec sine peccato aliquid in natura malum est Aug. the Husband from the Wife The holy Spirit is Goodness because he proceeds by the way of Love and all the effects that bear the mark of that divine perfection are particularly attributed to him Sin is nothing but malice in the essence of it the Creature may be weak and ignorant by nature Sanctitas est ab omni inquinatione libera incontaminatissema et perfectissima puritas quae fine Spiritu saucto intelligi non potest in creatura S. Dyonis but he cannot be bad but by sin what-ever bears that shameful character takes its origination thence and men and Angels would be exempt from Malice were they exempt from Sin The holy Spirit is stiled Holy not onely because he sanctifies all Creatures but because being the Spirit of the Father and of the Son who are both holy it concern'd him to bear a name common to both and which may delineate forth the admirable secrets of his eternall Procession Sin is so opposite to Holiness that we cannot better define it then by its contrariety to this divine Perfection For sanctity separates us from the Creatures and unites us so mightily to the Creator that nothing can disjoyn us on the contrary Sin is nothing else but a being wedded to the Creatures and an unhappy separation from the Creator so that it thwarts all the personal Proprieties of the holy Spirit and renders men unworthy of all the Favours they have received from him Let us therefore combate this Enemy of Grace Quicquid fecit Christus ut destrueret peccatum fecit ita debet facere Christianus cui nullus hostis est praeter peccatum Chrys make warr against him that makes it against God let us shake off the yoak of this Tyrant that flatters onely to destroy us and acknowledging the obligations we have to the holy Spirit submit our selves to his divine qualities Seeing he gives us Life by Grace let not us make him die together with it seeing he is our Director let us yeeld obedience to his Ordinances since he is our Consolation in our discontents let us not grieve him in his just Ones and seeing he is the Remission of sins let us bewail those we have committed to give him satisfaction and commit no new ones further to
assistance to his creature to act with pleads no dispensation for himself from those Laws he hath prescribed nay is helpfull to his very enemies that he may not be wanting to his Word It seems that in the order of Grace he owes the same faithfulness to Christians that he is bound to assist them in all their actions and out of an obligation that no way injures his Greatness because worthy his Goodness he ought in some sort to concur with the faithful in all their operations Gratia redditur pro gratia cum Christiano propter Christi merita id quod petit conceditur Bernard For seeing they have the honour to be the Members of his Son seeing they are quickned with his Spirit and bear a glorious Character separating them from all other creatures why will he not at every moment indulge them a Grace necessary for their condition and as it were due to the dignity of their extraction I conceive this objection hath its full weight and I have set it forth in all the colours that may render it reasonable Let us see whether Truth will furnish us with Arms to batter it and whether the doctrine of Saint Augustine will warrant the Son of God from injustice when he refuseth his Grace to the Faithful To back our Answer we must suppose that the order of Nature and that of Grace are very different in the first order God seems to be in some sort responsible to his creature he never dispenseth with himselfe but by miracle when he refuseth his aid to a sinner makes the hand wither that is about to commit a Parricide or ties the tongue that was going to utter a blasphemy every one looks upon these effects as Prodigies But he owes nothing to his creature in the second order he entred not into it but by Grace nor doth he persevere in it but by Mercy In raising him to this state he is not tied to any rules what he hath once given obliges him not to continue and when he receives a sinner into his Church 't is with conditions which no ways prejudice his Soveraignty Inasmuch as he shews favour to whom he will we can plead no prescription against his Goodness he may every moment take away that succour he hath bestowed and he is so absolute in the order of Grace that when he deserts the just themselves they have no more right to complain then the guilty If they look upon themselves in Adam they are all sinners the sentence of their Condemnation preceded their Birth Vnde constat magnam esse gratiam quod plurimi liberantur quid sibi deberetur in iis qui non liberantur agnoscunt ut qui gloriantur non in suis meritis quae paria videntur esse in damnatis sed in Domino glorientur Aug. and when they were drawn out of the masse of perdition to be united to Jesus Christ 't is but for a time only if they be not written in the Book of Life in Eternal Characters This Answer is taken out of the pure Doctrine of Saint Augustine 't is founded upon his principles and he that makes a difficulty to receive it will not be a Disciple of that great Master But because it seems too severe to those that are not instructed in his School who consider not sufficiently the absolute power Divine Justice hath reserv'd to it self over the reprobate let us adde here this temperament and say that Christians have some right to Grace whilst they are united to Jesus Christ and that they may obtain it by Prayer when they find too much difficulty in good or too much engagement in evil But this Answer starts a new Objection and seems to combat the power of Grace in labouring to establish the facility of Prayer For if by the mediation of this vertue we can obtain every thing our salvation is in our own hands and we may purchase Grace by Supplication I acknowledge this Objection grounded not only upon the Principles of Saint Augustine but even upon the Principles of Religion it self For Scripture exhorts all sinners to prayer proposeth it to us as a help in all our needs Petite dabitur vobis quae rite invenietis pulsate aperietur vobis Mat. 7. and as a remedy for all our evils it seems 'tis enough to be a believer to be able to pray and that the Son of God having taught us the Lords Prayer hath furnished us with arms for our defence against the justice of his Father Saint Augustine following the steps of Jesus Christ teacheth us in a thousand places of his writings that the Law discovers vertue to us and Prayer obtains it that 't is the guard of Christians surmounting all temptations sweetning all difficulties and triumphing over Devils If then we are able to pray we are able to persevere if what is not due to our merits be granted to our prayers we may thereby obtain the Grace that is the Beginning and the End of our Salvation I confess this Objection puzzles me nor does the ordinary Answer made to it at all satisfie me For though Grace be requisite to pray though it is the Holy Spirit that puts the thoughts into our soul the affections into our heart and words into our mouthes though a prayer that is not warm'd with his heats is not acceptable to the Eternal Father we must neverthelesse confess either that Grace to pray is always offered to ns or that we have no means to make our addresses to God in our needs Therefore is it that Holy Scripture invites us every where to prayer The Son of God tels us that it offers a pleasing violence that it changeth his will sweetens his severitie and obtains all Graces it requests of him Si ergo vos cum sitis mali bona datis filiis vestris quanto magis pater vester qui in coelis est dabit bona petentibus se Mat. 7. Ne orationes putarentur praecedere merita quibus non gratuita daretur gratia sed jam nec gratia esset quia debita redderetur etiam ipsa oratio inter gratiae munera reperitur Aug. Epist ad Sixtum 105. I know indeed that Saint Paul teacheth us also that we know not how to pray as we ought unless the Holy Spirit teacheth us and that this Grace precedes our prayers as well as our good works Saint Augustine is of the same judgement when explaining that passage he saith in express tearms that to secure us from vanity which may perswade us that our prayer precedes Grace it is ranked by the Apostle among the gifts of the Spirit In this perplexity I can say nothing else but that the Grace of Prayer is more common then other graces that 't is frequently offered to Christians that God refuseth it none but those that undervalue it that 't is the principal cause of our Conversion and that if by this unhappy power which remains in us we resist not the
had not this mystery been attended with other consequences and had not the holy Sacrament been added to the Incarnation the Man-God had not communicated to us his qualities and remaining still the children of Adam we had never been made the children of God This great effect was reserved for the Eucharist 't is in this mystery that whole Nature was Deified and we may say that if the Communication of the Word in the Incarnation was infinite it was not immense but in the holy Sacrament of the Altar There it is that we become Gods without committing a crime there Piety satisfies our Ambition there the union we contract with the Word imitates and honours That it contracted with the Father from all Eternity Finally there it is that the onely Son becomes the first-born and taking us for his Brethren makes us the Children and withal the Images of his Father After this great advantage 't is not hard to conceive that he was willing to content our third desire and having made us Gods hath indued us with Knowledge to bestow upon us in earnest what the devil promised us in jest For this Spirit who still retains so much light amidst the thickness of his darkness perceiving that the desire of Knowledge is one of the strongest Passions of Man perswaded him that God had not forbidden him the use of the fruit he advised him to eat but to keep him in ignorance and to deprive him of those innocent pleasures Science brings with it into the minde This temptation proved so powerful that it prevailed upon man for his consent and he that had resisted the promises of Glory and Life suffered himself to be charmed with the hope of Knowledge Indeed we must confess that of all the Passions this is the most reasonable Beasts are moved with the love of Life and Glory they fear Death and Dishonour They fight to be secured from both these and those that are accounted the noblest are as ambitious in their victories of the increase of their reputation as of the preservation of their life But the desire of Knowledge is peculiar to Man there is no creature but he that takes pains to be delivered from Ignorance His combats for Glory are not more famous then his disputes for Truth and Conquerors take less pleasure to gain Slaves then Philosophers do to purchase Disciples The contestation of Wits is nobler then that of Bodies and if there be any conflict among the Angels it more resembles that of Philosophers then that of Conquerors The Understanding and the Will are the onely Atms made use of either for offence or defence whole Nature is the Field the differences spring not from the divers interests of Soveraigns but from the contrary opinions of Masters the recompence of the Victors is not so much the Conquest of Glory as of Knowledge they are never more satisfied with their advantage then when of their Enemies they make their Partisans and delivering them from Errour and Falsehood enrich them with Knowledge and Truth Therefore did the devil make use of this stratagem to gain man to his side and believed that if any thing in the world would make him forget his duty 't was his desire to Know Good and Evil. In the mean time Man lost his Light by losing his Innocence the father of Lyes plunged him in darkness and falling into the pit of Sin by a just judgement he fell into the abyss of Ignorance But Jesus Christ all whose Promises are Truth opens the eyes of the soul to the Faithful that receive his Body he enlightens their Understanding and warms their Will he manifests himself to those that receive him in this Sacrament and leading them to Knowledge by the mystery of Faith may be said to give them sight by making them blinde 'T is in the breaking of this Bread that his disciples know him 't is by the vertue of this Drink that the scales are taken from their eyes and 't is by the Grace of this Food that the Just who are nourished therewith receive Understanding together with Life If Jesus Christ raign upon our Altars as a Soveraign he instructs thence as a Master if we are his Subjects in that condition we are also his Disciples and if he gives us Laws to regulate us he gives us Counsels to inform us From all this Discourse 't is easie to infer that Jesus Christ is the God of Truth and the Devil the Father of Lyes That the One promising us Honour Knowledge and Life involved us in Shame Ignorance and Death the Other giving us his Body made us Wise Immortal and Glorious The Fifth DISCOURSE That this Nourishment unites the Christian with the Son of God INasmuch as Unity is the most excellent perfection of God all the works of his hands bear the Character thereof there is no creature that in his composition maintains not this advantage he ceaseth to subsist or live assoon as he begins to be divided and if S. Augustine judged rightly that grief was nothing but the division of the soul we may say that death is nothing but the dissolution of the body Thence it comes to pass that God in Nature and in Grace that he may preserve his creatures maintains them in unity and makes his noblest operations and his highest mysteries serviceable to this design His Providence that guides the Universe takes no other care but to associate the creatures together that their union may compose the worlds Harmony As the Battles of Princes tend to peace the jar of the Elements wrangles out a concord if they recede from their contraries 't is to embrace their like and when they seem most incensed they intend not so much a mutual destruction as to remove those obstacles that hinder their alliance That which is done in Nature is effected in Grace all the operations thereof mean only to reconcile us to God Teneamus charitatem fine qua etiam cum Sacramentis cum fide nibil sumus tenemus autem charitatem si amplectimur unitatem Aug. This noble expression of the Divine Essence breaths nothing but Unity and these austere Vertues which seem to annihilate the sinner have no other end but to destroy his sin to re-unite him to his Principle All our Mysteries and all our Sacraments seek the same end by different ways Baptism unites us to Jesus Christ as to our Head Repentance as to our Surety the Eucharist as to our Beloved because compleating all the other unions it happily converts us into him that nourisheth us with his Flesh and Bloud This design hath excellently appeared in the choice he made of the matter of this Sacrament For the Bread whose substance is changed into that of the Body of Jesus Christ is made up of many grains of corn which being kneaded and baked together composeth that Sacrifice which is offered upon our Altars The Wine whose substance is turned into the Bloud of Christ is compounded of many Grapes which
onely Son and having conceived him in the humble apprehensions of a handmaid as her last words to the Angel sufficiently testifie Ecce Ancilla Domini she infused her holy dispositions into the heart of Jesus Christ who as a faithful Eccho repeating the words of his mother protested he would be his Fathers Servant Therefore there is no Christian who ought not to esteem a Quality common to him with the Son of God which though it were not so honourable in yeelding complacency would appear sufficiently agreeable Servitude hath always this misfortune that it makes us regret the loss of Liberty whatever charms it useth to sweeten our discontents 't is always troublesome when forced A Chain though of Diamonds is a punishment and no ornament if it load us the stateliest Palace loseth its pleasantness when it becomes our prison and wherever there is compulsion we finde pain and sorrow Aliquando revera inventum est quando aurum non ametur Tert. There is nothing more acceptable then Gold 't is the richest and the fairest of Metals 't is the noblest production of the Sun and this Star which gives a being to so many Flowers in the Spring spends whole Ages to contribute the last perfection to this Master-piece of his light and heat In the mean time the love of Liberty hath made some Slaves utterly abominate it and in those Countries where it is so common where they make it the manacles of offenders 't is insupportable to the wretched inhabitants They complain when they are adorned with it that which is the pompous dress of our Kings is their torment because this Metal engageth them to Bondage it is the object of their hate and Nature hath found out an innocent artifice to render it odious to these Captives But though Servitude be so grievous it loseth its bitterness when voluntary Love without breaking their Chains sweetens them and mixing his Charms with their Weight makes them so welcome that there is not one Slave would recover his Liberty Ask all sinners who live in slavery you shall not finde one that complains of his Irons every one seeks to adde to their weight or to tye them faster and as if their Passion had changed their Nature they hug their Bondage and are afraid of their deliverance Who doubts but that a Wanton is captivated with the beauty he idolizeth Who knows not by his complaints that he hath lost his Liberty that he wears the Colours of his Mistress as a Slave those of his Master and that all the actions he does are so many proofs of his Slavery In the mean time he loves his Prison boasts of his Captivity and is proud of his Misery he would not change condition with a Monarch Inasmuch as the Grace of the Son of God is nothing but Love it knows the way of mixing Sweetness with Servitude it makes us slaves in subjecting us to his will it triumphs over our Liberty because it is victorious it imprisons us because we are made its Captives by being delivered from the Tyranny of sin Captivam duxit Captivitatem But it is agreeable because amorous amorous because voluntary and charms our discontents because it sweetly inchants our Wills It hath no Slaves that complain of their Bondage or regret their Liberty if they express any sorrow 't is because they are not yet fully under the dominion of Jesus Christ if they are big with any desires 't is that they may see themselves in a happie impotency to break their chains and to be so strongly fastned to their Master that as S. Paul they may bid defiance to all Creatures and say with that great Apostle that they cannot separate them from their divine Redeemer Therefore did S. Augustine heretofore admonish his Auditors Nolite timere Domini servitutem non erit ibi gemitus non murmur non indignatio sed libera servitus est apud Deum ubi non necessitas sed charitas servit August that the name of Servitude ought not to astonish them for Charity had dulcorated all the bitterness thereof in that Family no Slaves complained of the severity of their Master nor of the misery of their condition because the service is always free and pleasing seeing 't is not Necessity but Charity that makes us embrace it Thus may we with reason glory that we are Slaves and Soveraigns that the same power that united the Word with Flesh in Jesus Christ Virginity with Pregnancie in Mary hath been pleased in Christians to associate Servitude with Liberty Plenty with Want Glory with Humility since by a strange wonder there is not any Believer that owes not his Greatness his Pleasure his Empire to the humble condition of a Slave which he received in his Baptism The fifth DISCOURSE That the Christian is a Saint THough there be nothing in God which is not God himself and his Unity which forbids us to divide him suffers us not to know him Nevertheless the Scripture teacheth us to distinguish his perfections to compare one with another and to give them the advantage which seems most conducing to his glory or to our profit There is none but sees that our interests oblige us to prefer Mercy before Justice that being laden with miseries and crimes we love the one because it assists the distressed and fear the other because it punisheth offendors Following this principle I conceive I may give Holiness the preheminence over all the perfections of God because uniting our interests with his it contributes most to his Glory and our salvation 'T is this to speak truly that separates God from his works which preserves his respect in preserving his Majesty and which putting him at a distance from us confines him within himself Therefore may we say it repairs the wrong his immensity seems to do to him For though this noble perfection scatters him over all the corners of his state raiseth him into Heaven and leads him into Hell neverthelesse it engageth him in creatures which are unworthy to possesse him and though this effusion of himself be as well a mark of his Greatnesse as of his Goodness the understanding of man can hardly comprehend that the Divine Majesty is not interessed when it is in the Intellect of a Devil or in the heart of a sinner we have much adoe to suffer his Omnipotence to inanimate an impious person to move the tongue of a blasphemer to guide the hand of a parrcide and not to be wanting to the Laws he hath been pleased to prescribe himself to assist the guilty when they offend But his Holiness secures him from these outrages removes sinners farre from him Peccator longe abest ab illo qui ubique est Aug. in Psal scatters those wretches from him that fills all places preserves his purity in the midst of their crimes and manageth his honour so dextrously that he is as glorious in Hel as in the highest Heaven and as pure in the heart of a Reprobate
cito caperetur incarnatio non opus erat ut crederetur credendo ergo capitur quod nisi credatur nunquam intelligitur Aug. de vera Innoc. c. 45. as the difficulty of the Remedy neither does any thing make a man so sensible of the Corruption of his Nature by Sin as the difficulty of his Restitution by Grace The External Cause of his salvation is so strange that it appears incredible to all those that are not illuminated by Faith Humane Prudence cannot comprehend that the Death of a God was necessary for the Recovery of a Sinner It laughs at that Mercy that oblig'd Divinity to be cloath'd with our miseries it beleeves such excess of love unworthy an infinite wisdom and that to be perswaded of the mystery of the Incarnation is to render the Divine Nature ridiculous and humane Nature insolent Nevertheless Faith convinceth us that nothing hath so much exalted God as this Condescention nothing hath so much abased Man as this Exaltation For albeit the greatness of God be at the height that neither Desires nor Imaginations can add any thing to it yet if we believe Saint * Deus cum non haberet quo cresceret per ascensum quia ultra Deum nihil est per descensum quomodo cresceret invenit veniens Incarnari Bern. serm 2. de Asc Bernard he acquir'd new qualities by the Incarnation Men never more reverenced him then since he thus humbled himself and he hath done things in pursuance of this Mystery that might seem unprofitably attempted before he vouchsafed to accomplish so transcendent a wonder His Empire is increased now that he is become a servant to his Father Men have erected Altars to his Majesty since the Jews lifted him up upon the Cross and the Crown of Thorns that encircled his head hath merited the Crown of all the Kingdoms of the Universe If his Humiliation hath exalted him we must acknowledg that our exaltation hath humbled us †Haec medicina hominum tanta est quanta non potest cogitari nam quae superbia sanari potest si humilitate filii Dei non sanatur Aug. de Ago Chr. c. ii For there is no pride that wil not stoop when it considers that our sin could not finde a perfect remedy but in the death of God-Man that we must be wash'd in his blood to be purified and with his honour despoil him of Life to restore us our Innocence This Truth findes new proofs in the Birth of a Christian and if he consider the names it bears and the effects it produceth he will be constrain'd to acknowledg that he was strangely corrupted by sin since to re-establish him in Grace he was fain to bestow upon him a * Redditur nobis novitas per BaptismuÌ„ vetustate discedente deoneratur anima sarcinis peccatorum ut libertate novae vitae induta adversus Diabolum cum adjutorio Divino valeat fortiter dimicare Aug. l. 4. de Sym. c. 9 New-Birth Indeed the Holy Scriptures teach us that the Baptism wherein the Christian is Regenerated is somtimes called his Renovation somtimes his second Birth somtimes his first Resurrection that from the very name of his Remedy he may learn the greatness of his Malady Let us admire these two together and shew in this Discourse the Transgression of Man and the Reformation of the Christian Sin is a Secret poyson that hath spread its malice over the soul and body of Man Malorum omniuÌ„ nostrorum causa peccatum est non enim fine causa mala ista homines patiuntur Justus est Deus omnipotens non ista pateremur nisi mereremur Aug. ser 139. de Tempore The miseries it hath produc'd in the body are so publick that there is none but knows them because there is none but feels them The Confusion of our Humours the Disorder of our Temperament the unfaithfulness of our Senses and the revolt of our Passions are miseries under which Philosophers groan as well as Believers But as the soul is more guilty then the Body so is she much more miserable For Errour hath stoln into the Understanding Malice hath depraved the Will Oblivion hath dropt into the Memory and in so general a disorder there remains no faculty that is not either weakned or corrupted The Pride of the Stoïcks hath complain'd of this misfortune which though they have endeavoured to sweeten by Reason they have been forc'd to confess that so impotent a remedy could not cure so obstinate a malady After the Divine Justice had suffered man for many ages to languish in his * Productior est poena quam culpa ne parva putaretur culpa si cum illa finiretur poena Aug. Trac 124. in Joan. miseries at last Mercy furnished him with Baptism to rid him of his Evils But lest the Easiness of the remedy consisting of the Commonest of the Elements might render it contemptible God was willing that the very name it bears should inform us that we were so corrupt that to be cured we must be wholly new-made For in this Sacrament Man seems to change his Nature to receive a new life to assume other inclinations Ecce libertatis serenitate perfruuntur qui tenebantur paulo ante captivi Cives Ecclesiae sunt qui fuerunt in peregrinationis errore in sorte justitiae versantur qui fuerunt in confusâ—one peccati Non enim tantum sunt liberi sed sancti non tantum sancti sed justi non solum justi sed filii non solum filii sed cohaeredes c. vides quot sunt Baptismatis largitates Chrysost homil de Baptisatis citatur ab Aug. lib. 1. contra Julia. cap. 2. where being illuminated by faith he discovers other lights being warm'd by Charity he conceives other heats being united to another head he receives other influences and being quickned by a new Spirit he forms new designes Is it not indeed a prodigious change that he that was the slave of the Devil becomes the subject of Jesus Christ that a Criminal is pronounced Innocent that he that had in him the seeds of all Vices receives the seeds of all Vertues and that by a happy Metamorphosis which is wrought in a moment and with a word he is despoyl'd of Adam and cloathed with Jesus Christ This Renovation is so great and so consequentially admirable in the effects thereof that the Scripture to express the wonders that accompany it hath somtimes called it a New-birth somtimes a Regeneration The Son of God who is the Author of it testifies that no man can enter into the kingdom of heaven except he be born again of Water and of the Holy Ghost The Fathers of the Church have given it the same name and Theoyhylact teacheth us that we were so deeply swallowed up in the puddle of sin that being not able to be drawn out by an ordinary endevour nor cleansed by a simple washing we were fain to be Regenerated And
hath so many Ages sealed them up in their Tombs and that now they do arise after they were buried in Infidelity then they shall be freed from all misfortunes that attend their mortal condition now they are delivered from all clouds of Ignorance that darken their spirituall existency then they shall rise to Immortality and Glory now they are regenerated to Grace and Salvation Though these effects of Baptism are sufficiently admirable by their own proper greatnesse Nonne mirandū et lavacro dilui mortem atquin eo magis credendum si quia mirandum est ideo non creditur atquin eo magis credendum est qualia enim decet esse opera divina nisi omnē admirationem Tert. de Bapt. Sine pompa sine apparatu sine sumptu in aquae demissus inter pauca verba tinctus inde exiliit innocentior Idem ibid. yet must we acknowledg that the easinesse that produceth them extreamly heightens their Excellency For to revive a childe there needs only a little water animated with the Word of God all these changes are wrought in his soul when the Priest speaks and sprinkles his body he is miraculously raised when the Ceremonies of the Church are ended and this way that prepares him to eternall life costs the Ministers of Jesus Christ nothing but the Pronunciation of these words I baptise thee in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost The Heathen who heretofore inform'd themselves of our Mysteries were scandaliz'd at a miracle so mean and simple in its Administration so glorious in its Promises and so powerfull in its Effects They could not comprehend saith Tertullian that washing the body with a little water the soul should be cleansed from its sins that without any * Miratur incredulitas non credit miratur enim simplicia quasi vana magnifica quasi impossbilia Ter. pomp or expense a few words mingled with the commonest of the Elements should assure us of the Conquest of heaven But this Great Doctor answers their doubts with such solid Reasons that he at once blazons the honor of our Religion and the Majesty of our God For he makes them see * Prob misera incredulitas quae denegas Deo proprietas suas simplicitatem et potestatē Ter. de Baptis he was pleased to shew his simplicity in the matter of our Sacraments and his State in their effects that not to know God was no more then to deny him these two perfections which seem to constitute his Nature and that it was to want respect to make simple things passe for vain and glorious things for impossible because it is easie for him who drew the world out of nothing to draw our salvation out of an Element quickned by his Word and by his Spirit Baptism then being so fruitfull of Miracles and this Sacrament being the Throne of the power of the Almighty we need not wonder that the Christian finds his birth there that in it he is renewed by Grace that he is raised again by the vertue of Jesus Christ and that there he commenceth a supernatural life whose Progresse is as strange as the Beginning is wonderfull The Third DISCOURSE That the chiefest Mysteries of Jesus Christ are applyed to the Christian in his Birth IT is not without reason that St. Paul informs Christians newly baptized * Quicunque in Christo baptizati estis Christum induistis Gal. 3. that they have put on Jesus Christ since in their second Nativity they are united to his Person replenished with his Grace and quickned with his Spirit For as a * Induistis id est conformes ei facti estis quod est vobis honor contra aestus protectio Glossa ordinar in hunc locum Garment is the ornament and shelter of a man it covers his shame and protects him from the injury of the weather so may we say of Jesus Christ he is the glory and guard of a Christian whom having delivered from the confusion that accompanies sin he defends against the assaults of temptation and bestows upon him vigour and beauty thereby to render him a compleat work But as all graces in Christianity are mixt with pain the Christian according to the doctrine of the same Apostle if he intend to be perfect must die with Christ death must bring him to the resurrection and to life Whosoever saith he are baptized into Jesus Christ are baptized into his death All that we are of Christians we have by being baptized in his death Sacri Baptismatis in cruce Christi grande mysterium commendavit Apostolus eo modo ut intelligamus nihil aliud esse in Christo baptismum nisi mortis Christi similitudinem ut quemadmodum in illo vera mors facta est sic in vobis vera remissio peccatorum quemadmodum in illo vera resurrectio ita in vobis vera justificatio Aug. in Beda we are buried with him in Baptism we drowned our sins in the waters of this Sacrament and in this laver happily lose whatever we received from Adam in our first birth This death is fruitful producing in us the life of grace this burial prepares us for the Resurrection neither doth Jesus Christ make us partake of his Cross but thereby to make us partake of his Glory The Tomb is a step to our Birth like the Phoenix we finde life in our ashes and by a wonderful prodigie the Sepulchre of the Sinner becomes the Cradle of the Believer For the Christian receives a Being in Baptism according as he expires there and contrary to all the Laws of Nature Death is the Midwife of Life All the Fathers speak the same dialect with S. Paul Baptismus Christi nobis est sepultura in quo peccatis morimur criminibus sepelimur veteris hominis conscientia in alterā nativitatem rediviva infantia reparamur Baptismus inquā Salvatoris vobis sepultura quia ibi perdidimus quod antè viximus ibi dennò accipimus ut vivamus magna igitur sepulturae hujus est gratia in qua nobis utilis mors infertur vtilior vita condonatur magna inquā sepulturae hujus gratia quae purificat peccatorē vivificat morientē Aug. Serm. 129. de Temp. never mentioning Baptism but as a Sacrament where the life and death of Jesus Christ are equally applied unto us that we may live to grace and die to sin The Baptism of Jesus Christ saith S. Augustine is a burial wherein we bequeath sin and losing the conscience of the old man we enter upon a second Infancy by a new Nativity In a word the Baptism of our Saviour is a Tomb wherein we are buried and a Cradle wherein we are born again 't is a pleasant dormitory where receiving a death beneficial we receive withal a life far more glorious and where leaving off to be Sinners we begin to be Innocents In this it is that I admire the Providence of the Son
instruct them that this death ought to be immortal that the divorce which they have made with the world can admit of no accommodation and that a departure accompanied with so solemn a funeral should in all reason extinguish the desire and hope of the life of Adam Finally the last condition of a burial is the oblivion of the world For notwithstanding men desire to live after death whereof those proud Mausolaeums they erect to their ashes is a witness as vain as it is confident Postquam per mille indignitates ad dignitates pervenerint misera subit eos cogitatio laborasse tantum in titulū sepulchri Senec. and that the care they take for their Obsequies gives testimony they would be thought to live still in the opinion of the world nevertheless experience teacheth us that Tombs are the chambers of Forgetfulness that they steal out of our remembrance those they cover and that contrary to the intention of the builders they many times together with their Body lay a stone upon their Name and Memory too The holy Scripture whose plainness of expression hath not wholly abandoned the figures of eloquence calls graves the receptacles of Oblivion Oblivioni datus sum tanquam mortuus à corde Psal 30. disciplining us by so elegant a metaphor that the sepulchre draws a black line over the glory of mortals and death having spoil'd them of their life takes pleasure still to plunder their reputation As the Christian is entomb'd so ought he also to be forgotten if he repent not of the grace he hath received Nunquid cognoscentur in tenebris mirabilia tua justitia tua in terra oblivionis Psa 87 he ought to be dead in the memory of men lest their calling him to minde prove fatal to his innocence and being remanded into the world whence death had given him a retirement he begin again to live in Adam and die to Jesus Christ Though this Doctrine appear harsh yet is it sweet and comfortable to those who know that the sepulture we finde in Baptism prepares us for the Resurrection Per Crucem datur credentibus virtus de infirmitate gloria de opprobrio vita de morte Leo. Serm. 8. de Passio Dom. For as Christ by his death entred into a new life the Cross contributed to his glory nor was heaven opened to him but thorow the passage of shame and grief so the Christian in death embraceth life and in the grave findes a new conception He is quickned with a new spirit in Baptism he tastes the joys of heaven there and the grace he receives in that holy Sacrament is not onely an Earnest but an Antepast and Prelibation of glory His life is answerable to his dignity having God for his Father his pretensions must needs be high and despising whatever the world can promise he aspires at no less then the felicity of Angels This is the consolation of the faithful in their troubles 't is the reason the great Apostle makes use of to sweeten his travels and as often as persecution flats our spirits he endeavours to raise them up again from the consideration of the recompenses that are prepared for us The truth is this life lies secret undiscovered the precedent death being much more visible and apparent Ye are dead saith the Apostle and your life is hid with Christ in God Our miseries are publike our advantages walk in the dark Men see what we suffer but doubt of what we hope for Mortui estis vita vestra abscondita cum Christo quomodo videutur arbores per hyemem quasi aridae quasi mortuae ergo quae spes Si mortui sumus intus est radix ibi radix nostra ibi vita nostra ibi charitas nostra Quando autem ver nostrum quando aestas nostra quando circumvestit dignitas foliorum ubertas frucluum Quando hoc erit Audi quod sequrtur Cùm Christus apparuerit vita vestra tunc vos apparebitis cum ipso in gloria Aug. in Ps 36. and in the judgement of Infidels our Religion passeth for an Imposture because the good things it promiseth are invisible but the evils it threatens are sensible and present We are saith S. Augustine like those great trees which during the sharpness of the winter are naked of all their leaves their life is inclosed in their roots their vigour is retired into their sap and all the soul and vegetation they have is hid from the eyes of the beholders but their death is conspicuous every branch publisheth it and all the bavock winter hath made them feel are so many arguments to make us doubt of their life Thus it is with Christians they are dead and they are alive but their life is in a cloud their death manifest the persecutions they suffer the temptations they contest with the conflicts they undergo perswade Infidels that their life is but a languishing and doleful death but their vigour is over-shadowed their beauty is like that of the Spouse whose advantages are the fruits rather of her minde then of her body their glory is retreated with Christ in God And as the Spring must needs return to convince the ignorant that a tree that hath lost his leaves is not dead so must the general Resurrection happen to assure unbelievers that a Christian persecuted by the world is alive with Christ in God Let us die therefore with him if we mean to live with him and to end this Discourse with the words of S. Gregory cited by S. Augustine * Cum Christo ergo nascamur cum Christo crucifigamur consepcliamur ei in mortem ut cum ipso etiam resurgamus ad vitam Greg. citat ab Aug. Let us be born with the Son of God in Baptism die with him upon the Cross be buried with him in the Tomb that we may rise with him in Glory and that from this present receiving the Pledges of his promises we may in the same Sacrament finde a Birth joyned with Death and a Resurrection with a Funeral The fourth DISCOURSE That Grace is communicated to the Christian in his Regeneration as Sin is communicated to Man in his Generation THough Providence display its banner in all the occurrences of our life and there is no moment wherein we may not take notice of its dispensations yet me thinks it never appears with greater lustre Vt qui in ligno vincebat in ligno quoque vinceretur then when from our fall it raiseth our salvation or makes use of a remedy that hath some resemblance with our disease Thus we see it makes the malice of the Devil serviceable to the Glory of the Martyrs employes a Man for the Redemption of all Men that their fall and recovery may have the same Principle 'T is Adam that destroys us Debitum quide Adae tantum erat ut illud non deberet solvere nifi homo sed non posset nisi Deus ita opus
mistrust their merit They neither apprehended the greatness of the danger that was threatned nor the cruelty of the Tyrant that condemned them to death nor the fury of the Executioners that searched them out to massacre them their happiness was as unknown to them as their misery they were ignorant that they suffered for Jesus Christ that in their person they sought for Him and that receiving the stabs of the ponyard thrust at their heart they had this double honour to die for their Saviour and by yeelding up their own life to secure his Neverthelesse all the Fathers of the Church confess that their Martyrdome was true that the power of God supplyed their weakness that his grace prevented their will and that their sacrifice fayl'd not to be meritorious though it was not voluntary Amongst all those that have been their Advocates there is none hath pleaded their cause with more Eloquence then St Bernard his Reasons and his Words are equally powerfull and it seems that preserving the glory of their Martyrdom his designe was to preserve that of their Baptism Si quaeric corum apud Deum merita ut coronarentur quaere apud Herodem crimina ut occiderentur An forte minor Christi Pietas quà m Herodis impietas ut ille quidem potuit innoxios neci dare Christus non potuerit propter se occisos coronare Bern. de natal Inn. If you ask saith he what desert they had in the sight of God to merit a Crown ask what their crime was against Herod that deserved such a butchery shall the Piety of the Son of God be less powerful then the Impiety of Herod Shall the Tyrant be able to massacre Innocents and their Saviour not able to crown their sufferings Their Martyrdom exalteth the mercy of Jesus Christ and their example teacheth us that as good desires without works are sometimes recompensed in men works without desires may be recompensed in children If we doubt of their Martyrdom Ille pro Christo trucidatos Infantes dubitet inter Martyres coronari qui regeneratos in Christo non credit inter adoptionis silios numerari Idem ibid. as the same Father goes on we must doubt of the salvation of all those that are baptized and if we beleeve that Baptism sanctifies Infants though they cannot speak we must beleeve that Martyrdom consecrates these though they cannot expresse themselves After this example we need not think it strange that the Eternal Father acknowledgeth those for his Children whom the Son acknowledgeth for his Brethren nor doubt that imitating his Justice he saves by borrowed merits those he had condemned for accessory crimes But one of the most remarkable resemblances between our Recovery and our Fall is that both of them began by the Body For though this be lesse guilty then the soul neither did the corporal revolt sollicite our first Father to sin yet is it the pipe through which his offence passeth into the essence of his posterity Certum tenemus quia caro contracta de carne per legem concupiscentiae quam cito vivificatur originalis culpae vinculo premitur cjusque affectionibus anima quae carnem vivificat aggravatur sub hoc peccati vinculo demerguntur parvuli qui sine remedio baptismi moriuntur Habent enim originale peccatum non per animam sed per carnem utique contractum animaeque infusum carni namque ita unitur anima ut cum carne fit una persona Aug. lib. de Spir. Anim. c. 41. if they were not a part of his flesh they should inherit neither his sin nor his punishment and if concupiscence were fully extinguished by grace Generation would not be criminal Man is not faulty in his conception but because he is cloathed with Adam's flesh 't is by means of it that sin overspreads the soul for issuing from the hands of God 't is stain'd with no impurity but no sooner is it united to the body but it becomes guilty their marriage begets sin and having quickned that unhappy moity it enters into its imperfections and disorders it begins to affect terrestriall things it dwels upon perishable goods and is at a distance from eternall ones lest it should sad the Body it readily complyes with all its desires and as if it were become corporeal it longs for those objects that please and entertain the senses Though it be not carried yet by deliberation this way 't is by inclination and though it offend not willingly we may say it does naturally and that the privation of Grace joyned to its union with the body is the source of its transgression and misery In this point the Regeneration of the Christian holds so full a proportion with the Generation of the Man that the one is as well the proof as the Image of the other Quaeris in parvulis culpam invenis ex carne traductam Quaeris in eis gratiam invenis à Deo collatam Aug. de Spir. Anim. c. 41. For Grace though spiritual enters not into the soul but by the mediation of the body The Sacraments that dispense it communicate not their vertue to the Spirit till they have first imparted it to the flesh God is pleased to imitate his enemie and following his steps he cures the noblest part of man by the more ignoble Caro abluitur ut anima emaculetur caro ungitur ut anima consecretur caro corpore sanguine Christi vescitur ut anima saginetur Tert. de resurâ—ect carnis The spirit of the Christian Champions is not strengthened in Confirmation till the holy oyl is sprinkled on their fore-head Their soul to use Tertullian's expressions is not fatted with the Eucharist till it receives the body and bloud of Christ by their mouth nor is their spirit purified in Baptism but when their body is dipt in water The Remedy is symbolicall to the nature of the disease 't is affix'd to the prime delinquent and this maxime admits of no contradiction that the soul is uncapable of being healed assoon as it is separated from the flesh It seems the divine Justice will have Grace enter by the same passage into the soul that Sin did Nulla omnino anima salutem potest adipisci ni dum in carne est Id. Ib. and that the flesh should be the Christians ligament to Jesus Christ as well as the sinners to his first Progenitor Neither truly is it harder to conceive one then the other for as grace is insinuated into the soul by Baptisme of an offendor making an Innocent despoiling us of Adam and putting us on Jesus Christ ' Anima in corpore tanquam in vitiato vase corrumpitur ubi occulta justitia divinae legis includitur Aug. and finally passeth from our body into the Essence of that part that inanimates us so also may we easily comprehend that concupiscence is the conduit of sin that the miseries of the flesh make an Impression upon the spirit that this is
a Virgin This Prerogative hath repaired the scandal of the Crosse and if some impious wretches have thought meanly of him when they knew he suffered upon a Gibbet they could not chuse but highly admire him when they learnt that he was born of a Virgin The Fathers of the Church are of opinion That if the Son honoured * Nobilitas fuit nascentis in Virginitate parientis et nobilitas parientis in Divinitate nascentis Aug. Serm. 30. de Temp. his Mother by his Divinity the Mother honoured her Son by her Virginity Finally they thought if God must have a Mother she must be a Virgin and if a Virgin must have a Son he must needs be a God Though this be so extraordinary a Priviledge that Christ never communicated it to any mortall the greatest Monarchs are born of a woman that purchaseth her condition of a Mother with the expense of that of a Virgin yet hath he been pleased to honour every Christian with the same favour For they are born of the Church who like Mary is pure and teeming together Their Mother is a Virgin and as Age impairs not her fecundity neither doth the number of her Progeny sully her purity She is delivered of them without sorrow as she conceives them without sin and because she engenders the members of Jesus Christ she hath the same priviledge with her that brought forth their Head The Church is a Virgin saith * Et Virgoest et parit Mariam imitatur quae Dominum peperit numquid non virgo sancta Maria et peperit et virgo permansit sic est Ecclesia et parit et virgo est Aug. Ser. 117. de Temp. St Augustine she imitates Mary that conceived Christ Mary is a Virgin though she were delivered of a childe the Church also bears children and continues still a Virgin And if you well weigh her priviledges you shall perceive that even she also brings forth Jesus Christ seeing those that are baptized are his members Thus the Birth of Christians is as glorious by their Mothers side as by their Fathers they have as Christ their elder Brother a God for their Principle a Virgin for their Mother and a Kingdom for their Inheritance To all these Graces we may adde a Third which is common to them with their Head for the Holy Scripture silently hints that the word of the Virgin contributed something to the production of her son she yeelded her consent before she surrendred her wombe she spake to express her intentions and her word had so much vertue that it gave life to Jesus Christ This word * Verbum quod erat in principio apud Deum fiat caro de carne mea secundum verbum fiat mihi verbum non prolatum quod transeat sed conceptum ut maneat Bern. super missus est Hom. 4. Fiat which began the Incarnation was in a manner as powerful in her mouth as that which began the Creation and if we judge of the Cause by the Effects we are more obliged to this then to that which produced the whole world since one Jesus Christ is more worth then the whole Masse of Men and Angels together This Word as efficacious as it was humble glads heaven and earth repairs the disorders of the Universe and giving a product to a Divine * Expectat Angelus responsum expectamus nos verbum miserationis quos premit sententia damnationis Ecce offertur tibi pretium salutis nostrae statim liberabuntur si consentis si ergo tu Deum facias audire vocem tuam ille te faciet videre salutem nostram Bern. ibid. Redeemer laid an obligation upon all creatures But if with our Mysteries we may raise our contemplations let us say that the Virgin imitated the Eternal Father and as He conceived his Son by speaking she conceived him so too she declares his divine Originall and becoming the Mother of him of whom he is the Father she begat him if not by her Thought at least by her Word Her sacred Mouth began the work of our salvation her Virgin-Womb finished it and assoon as the Holy Maid returned her answer and contributed her blood the Word was found Incarnate in her bowels I confess this Miracle would be without a Paralel had Jesus Christ no brethren but since he was willing to honour them with all the Priviledges of his Nativity he was pleased also that his Spouse should be fruitfull as his Mother was Indeed the Church produceth us by speaking the water that regenerates us receives the vertue from her words and did not the Ministers pronounce them when they baptise us this Sacrament would have no power to give us a Being 'T is the lips of the Mother that quickens us her voice that draws us out of the bosome of death neither would all the water of the sea be able to wash away the least sin were it not enlivened with her word Shee acts as her Beloved doth makes things by her speech inspires a secret vertue into the Elements ennobles them above their nature and by a miraculous impression gives them an insluence upon the soul Shee imitates Mary her speech is prolificall and as her production is spirituall she needs only speak to enliven her children What is water saith Saint Augustine without the Word of God in the mouth of the Church but the commonest of the Elements but when quickned with her voice it becomes fruitfull and by the union of these two Principles together the Sacrament is compleated sins are absolved the dead are raised Christians are regenerated and sinners converted Let us adde Miracles upon Miracles to unfold the excellencies of Man a Christian and pronounce this fourth wonder in the Birth of Christ that without losing the quality of the Son of God Idem est in forma Dei qui formam suscepit servi idem est incorporcus manens et corpus assumens idem est in sua virtute inviolabilis in nostra infirmitate passibilis idem est à paterno non divisus throno et ab impiis crucifixus in ligno D. Leo Ser. 10. de Nat. hee assumed that of the Son of Man For having two Natures united in one person he relates to his Father from all Eternity and to his Mother in the fulnes of time from the one he received Divinity from the other humanity The manger that cradled him in his Temporal Birth obscur'd not the Glory of his eternal Birth Greatness was alwaies mixt in his Person with meannesse and as God and Man are never separated since first they were united Nihil ibi ab invicem vacat tota est in majestate humilitas tota in humilitate majestas nec infert unitas confusionem nec dirimit proprietas unitatem aliud est passibile aliud inviolabile tamen ejusdem est contumelia cujus gloria Leo Ser. 3. de passi Dom. in this divine composure may still be discerned an admirable Medley of
Adoption publick and valid as soon as this Instrument is drawn he that was but a stranger becomes a Son But the Adoption of Christians is as full of mysteries as of circumstances for the Son of God must make himself the son of man must charge himself with our sins and enrich us with his merits that satisfying the justice of his Father he may oblige him to change his hatred into love and to accept those for his Children that he accounted his Enemies The Christian also must be washed in the waters of Baptism must borrow the voyce of the Church to renounce the tyranny of the Divel and the pomp of the World must put off Adam and put on Jesus Christ that being filled with grace and cleansed from sin he may receive the benefit of Adoption Under the shadows of these Ceremonies there are perform'd a hundred miracles which faith only can discover For an Element animated with the Word of God acts in the soul and defaceth the spots sin had imprinted there Man changeth his condition though not his nature he that was a slave becomes free and he that deserved damnation by the fault of Adam is accounted worthy of Glory by the Grace of Jesus Christ But the last and rarest Circumstance of this Adoption is that it admits Christians into an inheritance not at all divided by the number of heirs One of the greatest misfortunes of the world is that the goods are so small Ista quae appetitis quia exigua sunt nec possunt ad altcrum nisi alteri erepta transferri etdem affectantibus pugnam jurgia excitant Senec. lib. 5. de Ira. cap. 35. one man cannot be proprietary of them without ravishing them from another every man impoverisheth his neighbour to enrich himself and humane prudence that seeks for tranquillity in estates hath not to this day been able to choak this unhappy seed the root of all disorders Soveraigns will reign alone in their Dominions Fathers will be Masters of their Families both of them are jealous of their Children nor do they invite them as partners in the possession of their goods because they know very well they cannot be divided but they must be lessened Death must take away the Father that the Son may succeed him so that the lawfullest Succession in the world is never without grief because it can never be without loss This unhappiness proceeds certainly from the scantiness of earthly goods for were they large enough to be parted without suffering a diminution every one would possess them without jealousie Kings would not fear their Successors nor Fathers their Heirs And as Light and Vertue breed no quarrell amongst those that have them in their possession there would be no more War among Soveraigns nor Law-suits among Subjects This benefit is an inseparable consequence of the Adoption of Christians Their Inheritance is so large that the number of children cannot diminish it The Good they hope for hath two properties that secure it from envie it is one and cannot be divided it is infinite and sufficeth the whole world its unity is the cause that every one possesseth it intire its infinity that none are affraid of a lessening they are all rich of the same substance they are all happy by the same felicity the difference of their condition troubles not their rest and this Summum bonum though in diversity of endowments makes men neither envious nor proud Every one is content with anothers prosperity and with his own and the charity that reigns among the Citizens of this heavenly Jerusalem doth so intimately unite their hearts that the diversity of particulars disturbs not the happiness of the whole But that which compleats their contentment to the full is that death never separates the children from their Father he hath Heirs but no Successours he despoils not himself to enrich them but living and reigning with them he conferrs all his goods upon them without losing them He himself is their everlasting Inheritance who fills their desires perfects all the powers of their soul and communicates himself so abundantly and so surely to his children that as there is nothing they can fear so neither is there any thing they can wish for And to describe this happy state with St Augustine let us profess Deus sit baereditas nostra non fortè temerè dicimus faciendo vobis Deum possessionem cum ipse sit Deus Creator non est ista temeritas â—ffectus est desiderii dulcedo spei Dic securus ama securus spera securus Dominus pars haereditatis mcae Aug. in Psal 32. Ser. 2. That God is our Inheritance to Eternity that it is no presumption to stile him so though he be our Creator and our Soveraign because it is the fervency of our desire and the sweetnesse of our hope that puts this name into our mouth Say we therefore with assurance that he is our heritage since the Scripture obligeth us to beleeve it and forbids us to doubt of it But let us remember that as he is our Inheritance we are also his that he will possess us as we shall possess him and that we shall never be compleatly happy till possessing our God we shall enâ—irely be possessed by him Let us live alwayes in this desire comfort our selves with this expectation and by a certain hope taste the happiness we shall one day be satisfied with in an everlasting enjoyment The Seventh DISCOURSE Of the Allyances the Christian contracts at his Birth with the divine Persons THe Creation is the first Allyance Man contracted with God for as soon as ever he came forth out of Nothing he began to be his Creature and all the advantages he possesseth are so many sacred chains to fasten him to his Creator His Allyance is founded in his servitude and his servitude is founded in his Essence he must be annihilated to render him an independant from the Almighty neither yet in this condition would he cease to hold of him since God * Vocat ea qua non sunt tanquam ea quae sunt Unde existimavit Clem. Alexandrinus Decum esse Dominum creaturarum antequaÌ„ esset illarum Creator commands the creatures in their non-entity from out whose abyss he hath extracted all the elements Thus man obeys God before he hath an existence he is his Vassal before he is his Creature and he submits to his Orders before he can understand them But if his obedience precede his creation his Allyance succeeds it neither hath he any affinity with God till he is made his workmanship 'T is in that instant that he enters into society with him when his spirit enlightned by Faith knows the prime verity and his will warm'd by love seeks out for the soveraigne Good Assisted with this double succour he soars above himself and knowing that he came forth from God as from his Principle he endeavours to return thither as to his ultimate end Though this be
of yet must we acknowledge that concupiscence remains in those that are baptised making havock in their souls aswell as in their bodies that it weakens their wills because it divides them obscures their understandings because it sheds darkness over them troubles their rest because it stirs up seditions in their person which end not but with their life Let us say then that this innocency is nothing but a freedom from sin which flowing from grace causeth that the disorders of concupiscence render us not guilty and that there must be an act of the will to occasion the loss of that which grace hath endued us with This binds us so powerfully to Jesus Christ that we find more strength in him then in Adam and are more secure in our Banishment then we had been in the earthly Paradise But this Innocence though never so substantial is not quiet its conflicts make up the best part of its glory its enemies prepare triumphs for it and 't is always arm'd because 't is well assured Heaven cannot be gain'd now but by violence The fourth Effect of Baptism is the weakening of our concupiscence For though it remain in the baptized for their exercise it loseth much of its vigour being left an orphan in respect of the father that gave it life it droops and languisheth and separated from sin it gives us no assaults but such as we may easily defend our selves from The grace that assists us is more potent then the adversary that sets upon us and 't is upon this occasion that we may say Stronger are they that are on our side then those that are against us A man must needs play the coward to suffer himself to be overcome in a combat where the victory depends upon his own will animated with Grace If we want help we may pray for it and the Christian hath this comfort to know that his own consent is necessary to his undoing True it is inasmuch as he is not ignorant that his victory is affix'd to Grace and that Grace is not so due unto him as that it may not be justly refused him he hath still reason to fear and distrusting his own strength is obliged to have recourse to the mercy of his divine Redeemer Though all Christians are persecuted by concupiscence Cecidit primus homo omnes qui de illo nati sunt de illo traxerunt concupiscentiam carnis Aug. Tract 5. in Joann yet is it not certainly known whether it be equall in all for it is so impotent in some it seems utterly extinct all their inclinations are so good we have great reason to beleeve that Grace is rather the Principle of their actions then corrupted Nature and having had a greater share in Jesus Christ at their Baptism they have lesse of Adam then others of his Posterity Nothing pleaseth them but vertue sin appears with no shape but that of horrour and whether it be that Grace hath weakened Concupiscence or fortified Nature they have none but holy desires and just and upright hopes Others on the contrary have so many bad inclinations that Baptism seems not to have regenerated them Adam appears more in their actions and in their words then Jesus Christ the old man is more thriving and operative in their persons then the new and did not faith instruct us that the Sacraments infallibly produce their effects we should with reason doubt whether they had received that of Baptisme or no. These two differences can proceed from nothing but from those two Principles which we are equally ignorant of to wit whether some men have more transgressed in Adam or more merited in Jesus Christ then others have unlesse we will lay all the blame and misfortune of the later upon their own constitution or upon the disorders of their Parents who many times make them undergo the punishment of their debauches To all these internall Effects may be added a great number of externall ones which makes us greatly admire the power of Baptism For by the vertue of this Sacrament the Christian is freed from the slavery of Satan he changeth his Master as he changeth his Condition Hell is shut against him Heaven is opened to him the Angels look upon him as one of their Companions and seeing in his soul the Mark of their Soveraign they are very tender and respective of his Grace and Priviledges Circumcision had not this advantage for if it distinguished a child from an Infidel enroll'd him in the number of the Israelites and by the belief of his Parents shed forth faith into his soul yet all Divines are of opinion that it gave him no entrance into Heaven and that dying in that state they went down into Limbo the skirts and fringes of perdition The heavens were not opened till the Ascension of Jesus Christ He it was that delivered our Fathers from their Captivity and that he might triumph over Hell aswell as over Earth made them partakers of his happiness But to give us a clearer apprehension of the right we have to Glory by Baptism Baptizato Domino Caeli sunt apâ—rti ut declaretur nobis quid ex Baptismo operari possemus Div. Thom. he was pleased that the Heavens should be opened when he received this Ceremony at the hands of his Precursor and the Confession of his Father declaring him his wel-beloved Son was an Earnest and Pledge assuring us that we should one day receive the same favour From this advantage there ariseth another which greatly promoteth the Condition of Christians As they are ingrafted into the person of Jesus Christ passing into a new order they live under other lawes and I can hardly believe that they are subject to that common Providence that rules over all men For the illustration of this Truth which may seem strange because it is new Effectus rerum omnium aut movent aut notant sydera sed sive quod evenitfaciunt quid immutabilis rei notitia prosiciet sive significant quid refert puovidere quod evitare non possis Sen. we must suppose that the sin of Adam hath not onely changed Man but the World also The Elements bid him battel the Starres persecute him and the fires of the Firmament sparkle with pernicious qualities to infest him Mans life depends upon their influences his constitution is altered by their motions and the greatest part of his adventures are regulated by their favourable or malignant aspects Astrologers therefore have some reason to search for good or bad successes in the starres and to learne from heaven what shall happen upon the earth 'T is a book wherein knowing men may read the alteration of Monarchies the events of battels the birth and death of Soveraigns and all those other accidents which surprise the vulgar This Opinion whether true or false pretends to be founded in scripture In sole posuit Tabernaculum suum Psal 18 and that there are some passages in it assuing us that the stars are the
hath been not only contrary to their expectation but also to their beleife For the foundation of their Opinion is that the will cannot be charm'd by any thing but by pleasure and that pleasure cannot be separated from vertue so that the minde and intendment of this Sect is to render a man content in rendring him vertuous and to make him in love with vertue by catching him with pleasure If from the Schooles of Philosophers we passe to the conversation of sinners we shall finde there is not one of them who is not carryed with a particular humour and who seeks not out in the sins he does commit some shadow of happinesse The Ambitious have no other Spirit but vaine-glory This is that proud passion which inanimates all their designs inables them to surmount all difficulties engages them in conflicts where the successe is doutfull and obliges them to sacrifice their owne lives to purchase a little reputation Interest is the soule of the Covetous whatever is profitable is welcome and glorious 'T is the hope of gaine that sweetens their travels and when in despite of Rocks and Tempests they passe the Seas 't is that Idoll of Interest which scatters their feares and boyes up their hopes Pleasure is the life of the Lascivious this passion fosters their desires surmounts their griefes entertaines their fidelity and so besots them with the senses that nothing can any way divert them but what is agreeable or sensuall But not to trouble my selfe with the proofe of so known a Truth and leaving the state of sin to consider that of Grace we must confesse there is not any Society in the Church which finds not its difference in its Spirit and being link't together in the same bond of Charity is not distinguish'd by some other particular vertue Carthusianorum spiritus solitudo For to begin with that order which hath no commerce with men that they may have the more with Angels solitude is its spirit and advantage they take their probation in the Desarts They finde Thebais in Europe and reviving the Anchorites in these last Ages they present us in their Disciples with the happy Image of those great Saints that succeeded the Martyrs and who began to combat pleasure Labia Sacerdotis custodiunt scientiam Mala 2. after others had triumphed over griefe The Dominicans have the Spirit of Preaching their Name which obliges them to this Exercise is an embleme of their duty and because the Gospel subsists by knowledge as well as by Piety they are the Cherubins of the Church the Depositaries and Guardians of Learning the Masters of Divinity and the fruitfull Seminaries whence other Orders derive Knowledge and Truth 'T was their Order that bare those Constellations of Doctors that enlightned the whole Church the Alberts Thomas's Jourdains Renoults Raymonds and Vincents are the Starres which sparkle in this Firmament and who for these four Ages dispence Light and Science round the Europian Christendom The Order of St. Francis is inanimated with the spirit of Penance and Poverty these are the two severe ascetick vertues that preserve it representing in every one of this Fraternity as their blessed Founder the Image of Jesus Christ Crucified all their other Priviledges are reduced to these two as to their Principle what ever they doe or say their designe is to fasten the whole World to the Crosse and infusing their Spirit into the Church Surrexit Elias Propheta quasi ignis verbum illius quasi sacula ardebat verbo Domini continnit ignem dejecit de coelo ignem ter sic amplificatus est Elias in mirabilibus suis Eccles cap. 48. to make all Christians they converse with so many Votaries of Penance and Poverty That Order that takes its Name and Originall from Carmel hath no other Spirit then that of Elias The zeale of this Prophet breathes still in his Disciples wrongs done to God injure them whatever offends him wounds them and these Boanerges more sensible of his glory then their own concernments care not for being persecuted so God may be known and reverenced If as their Father they retire into Desarts 't is because they cannot away with the sins of the World if they preach 't is to gaine subjects to Jesus Christ and to enlarge the bounds of his Empire if they passe the Sea 't is to make war against Idols and to teach all people that they are the children of that Prophet who must support the state of the Church to the end of the World Its Daughters are not inferiour to its Disciples their zeale imitates that of their Father after his Example they live in Wildernesses they destroy wickednesse by their good Works they doe Penance for those sins they never committed and tempering the fervency of Elias with the sweetnesse of Jesus Christ they pray for the salvation of sinners and the ruine of sins they assist the Preachers with their Devotion and neither breaking their Cloyster nor their Silence they are carryed in Spirit into New France and England to convert by their fervour Hereticks and Infidels But as all these companies make but one portion of the body of the Church their spirits are but a part of hers and we may say that from her fulnesse they have borrowed all their riches For the spirit of the Church is the spirit of God he that formed Jesus Christ in the womb of the Virgin formed the Church in the world Venit Christus complentur in ejus ortu vita factis dictis morte resurrectione ascenfione omnia praeconiae prophetarum mittit Spiritum sanctum implet fideles in una domo congregatos hoc ipsū ante promissum orando desiderando expectantes Aug. ad Volus he it was that composed it when he descended upon the Apostles in the likenesse of tongues and as the Synagogue took its denomination from mount Sinai when the Law was written upon two stones in the middest of thunder and lightning so the Christian Church derives its originall from mount Sion when the law of love was engraven in the heart of the faithfull by the finger of God which is nothing else but the holy Spirit T' is from this happy moment that the sacred Historians begin the Annals of our Mother and then it was that the Apostles her Fathers and her Children cured of their ignorance and infirmity prepared themselves for the conquest of the Universe and the couversion of Infidels The same spirit that inspired them with life inspired them with courage for so generous a designe and hell trembled with amazement when it beheld twelve fishermen and seventy Peasants resolved to lose their lives or to work the downfall of Infidelity Their strength triumphed over the power of Kings their simplicity confounded the prudence of Politicians their ignorance convinced the obstinacy of Philosophers and their discourse void of all rhetoricall ornaments perswaded the mindes of Oratours These Prodigies are very apt to beget wonder but when
nihilo salvos facies illos nuila ergo hujus bona merita praecesseraut de quibus salvaretur imo talia praecesserant de quibus damnaretur Aug. in psal 55. and since the goodnesse of God is so jealous of our salvation it should of necessity furnish us with assistance upon all occasions There were some colour for this objection were Grace a debt but since 't is an Almes which God is no way bound to bestow upon any body I know not what pretence they have to complaine against its want of universality since in strictnesse of justice it might be refused to all the world The Holy Spirit is the Lord and Master of Grace he disposeth of it as pleaseth him and if sometimes he deny it there is none that can complaine The children of Adam lost it by the sin of their Father and the members of Jesus Christ lose it by their own The former are excluded by their birth the second by their infidelity The former are unfortunate the latter criminall and both of them living or dying in sin may justly expect nothing but condemnation But they reply 't is necessary that the holy Spirit acting in and by free creatures depend in his motions upon their will and concurre so gently with their free-will that they be rather the Authors then the Instruments of their salvation For we cannot conceive this dominion of the holy Spirit over mens hearts but withall we must apprehend some violence which diminisheth their merit and weakens their liberty Nature Reason and Faith furnish us with answers to satisfie these difficulties For when nature unites the soul and body together she intends that the Noblest should be the most powerfull that all the Authority appertains to him and that he shou ld be the Master of that part which is inferiour to him in dignity When morality united man with the Angel and gave Geniusse's to Philosophers and Emperours she was not afraid to injure the Liberty of Pupils by advancing the power of their Tutelary Angels nor did she never beleeve that Nocrates was a slave because obedient to his Familiar This Spirit whether good or bad indifferently applied him to all things he was his Councellor in his highest enterprises and the will of this Philosopher was so plyant to the motions of his genius that himself confesseth in Plato that he was rather Passive then Active Movebatur Socrates à Genio suo ut quaedam ageret à quibusdam abstineret saepe compellebatur Plut. de Socra daem In the mean time he complains not that he was forced he found pleasure in servitude and because his submission was voluntary he beleeved and that not without reason that obedience is no prejudice to liberty Faith perswades the same truth upon much stronger arguments for when it unites the holy Spirit with man it gives all the advantage to the Creator without supposing the least injury done to the creature it knows that God is more intimate with man then man with himself that he flows in upon the very essence of his will that he can change all his inclinations and being the Master of his workmanship can dispose of it as he pleaseth without the least umbrage of constraint His Providence leads men to their end with as much force as sweetness his force hurts not their liberty because accompanied with sweetnesse and his sweetnesse wrongs not his Majesty because attended with force whatever he does he always acts like a Soveraign his will findes no opposition that it surmounts not and when he intends to execute his designes he knowes as well how to prepare the heart of the guilty as of the innocent The first motions of Grace require no predispositions in the soul the second beget a consent without constraint and both of them bear away man with so much force and sweetnesse that he is never more free then when he is most powerfully drawn Sweetnesse so well tempers force that it is never violent and force so fully encourageth sweetnesse that it meets with no impediment it overcomes not Thus God is absolutely obeyed man sweetly born away the one findes his glory in his power the other his salvation in his obedience and both of them after a divers manner finish one and the same work This conduct is so distant from compulsion that the stronger it is the more gentle is it the more subject man is to it the freer his condition the lesse opposition hee hath the more happy is hee and perfect Jesus Christ owes one part of his Sanctity to the obedience hee rendered to the Holy Spirit the happy impotency hee was endued with not to resist him diminished neither his merit nor his liberty and hee blotted out our transgressions because hee was as necessarily as freely subject to his ordinances The nearer Christians approach to this state the more perfect are they the more powerfull their grace is the stronger is their liberty the more effectuall the inspirations of the Spirit are the easier and more acceptable is there conversion The sixth DISCOURSE That the Holy Spirit teacheth the Christian to pray NAture whose providence cannot be sufficiently admired hath beene pleased that those things that are most necessary should be most common and that as it were preventing the desires of men they should of their own accord offer themselves to those that enquire not after them There is nothing more necessary then light for besides that it is the channel whereby the Sun sheds his Influences upon the Earth it serves for a guide to them that walk discovers all the beauties of the world and happily expresseth those of its Creator So is there nothing more common in nature it is communicated to all people it suffers no partition and covetousnesse and ambition which have divided Sea and Land have found no way how to canton the light As the Aire is more necessary then this so is it also more common it enters into prisons where day never dawns it entertains those wretches with life who have lost their liberty it steales into the depths of the Sea and the bowels of the Earth neither is there any creature that is not refreshed by its acceptable humidity Grace imitates nature it is prodigall of its Treasures the more Christians stand in need of them the more frequently are they dispenced unto them and out of the care it takes of their salvation its good pleasure is that the most usefull favours are also the easiest to be obtained Prayer is an excellent proofe of this truth for in the condition we are there is no beleever that stands not in need thereof the daily miseries they suffer obliges them to make use of it and amongst so many enemies that set upon them they have no weapon but this wherewith to defend themselves 'T is the portion of the Church Militant and being still in conflict she cannot implore succour from heaven but by the mediation of Prayer Angeli beati de
Salute sua sunt securi de nostra solliciti Greg. Mag. The Church Triumphant is wholly taken up with Allelujahs being freed from miseries she makes no vows but for us and she hath no other businesse but eternally to blesse him that is the Fountain of her blessednesse But the Church Militant who lives in a strange Countrey who hath as many enemies as neighbours and who is well assured that the very name she bears obliges her to combate importunes Heaven by her prayers sends up sighs to her Well-beloved and cals upon him for help by the frequency of supplications If Prayer be thus necessary 't is yet more common for the Son of God tels us that blessings cost us onely the pains to ask for them Ask and ye shall receive Saint Paul will have us use this remedy in all our distresses offering up this sacrifice in all places Volo vos orare omni loco and Saint Augustine the faithfull Interpreter of this great Apostle assures us that to pray well there is nothing required but to desire well that our intercession continues as long as our desires doe and that in keeping silence we speak to God when we addresse our wishes to him but though this remedy be so necessary and so common yet is it neverthelesse of difficult performance and to know well how to use it the holy Spirit must instruct us The Scripture whose words are Oracles conferres this Elogie upon him particularly it teacheth us that he it is that animates our prayers by his calentures that inspires us with this confidence which gives us boldnesse to call God our Father which draws tears from our eyes sighs from our hearts and with groanes that cannot be expressed whereof he is the Authour blots out our sins and comforts our miseries In a word if we beleeve the great Apostle we know not the art to pray if we have not learnt it in the School of the holy Spirit the evils that oppresse us may indeed inspire us with eloquence but not indite our prayer and whatever need we feel if Grace prevent us not we cannot obtain a remedy Self-love so blindes us that if we be led by it we shall rather beg our ruine then our salvation Man is in so profound an ignorance that he knows not what is profitable or prejudiciall to him he many times conceives designes the accomplishments whereof are sad and dismall to him and Seneca had reason to say that God was incensed when he granted our requests If the ambitious give the reins to his passion that possesses him he will never aske any thing but honours and not consulting whether Glory stain his humility all his vows will have no other aim but the increase of his Fortune If the Covetous take councell of his Interest his prayers serve onely his covetousnesse even to the injuring of his Creatour whom he will never strive to gain but that he may be the Minister of his unjust desires If the Lascivious pursue the motion of wantonnesse that tyranniseth over him perhaps he will grow insolent enough to demand of God the glutting of his brutish passion so that according to the language of the Scripture his prayer will be turned into sin and the more Petitions he puts up the more offences will he commit If a man who breathes nothing but revenge implore the aid of Heaven in that wretched condition his inclination stronger then his reason will oblige him to interesse the Son of God in his injuries and out of an impudence worthy to be punished endeavour to engage him in his quarrell who died upon the Crosse for the salvation of his enemies Finally the prayer of every sinner will be a high sacriledge and he will draw down upon his head the thunder of heaven even then when he thinks to appease its anger But when the Christian suffers himselfe to be guided by the Spirit he intreats nothing of God but what is well-pleasing to him all his conceptions are not lesse beneficiall to himselfe then glorious for Jesus Christ and as the Principle that quickens him is Divine all the Prayers that flow thence are Divine and Heavenly too The glory of God is always dearer to him then his salvation he never separates the publick good from his own private interest he prays for his Family when he petitions for the State and knowing very well that he is a living member of the mysticall body of Jesus Christ he never makes any supplications that are prejudiciall to the Church The second Advantage we draw from the assistance of the holy Spirit in Prayer is that he makes known to us the secrets to come and carrying us beyond the present time markes out all those disasters the injustice of our desires threaten us with Our ignorance is one of the chiefest causes of our misfortunes if we could read in those eternall Annals where mens adventures are imprinted we should perceive that the greatest part of our desires are more disadvantageous to us then the imprecations of our enemies we are inquisitive after the causes of our disgrace in the night of futurity we hasten our ruine by our impatience and Heaven may easily plead excuse for our mischances since they are very often the effects of our own prayers God never takes greater vengeance on us then when he grants us what we so earnestly importune him for nor is he ever more opposite to our salvation then when he shews himself most favourable to our requests our Fathers and Mothers contribute to our damnation their wishes make us miserable and we need not wonder that calamities overwhelm us seeing we live amongst the Anathema's of our nearest relations The holy Spirit happily remedies this disorder for knowing the full extent of Eternity he sees all the events that are to happen in the sequell of succeeding generations so that he never inspires us with meditations that are not profitable to us he diverts us from those wishes which are prejudiciall to our salvation he will not suffer us to ask a Curse instead of a Blessing and when he breathes in our heart or speaks by our mouth our prayers always carry their reward with them the very deniall of them is usefull and when he forbears to grant what we besought him for 't is to exercise our patience and crown our humility If he have so much respect to our interest he hath no lesse to the Glory of Jesus Christ and he so well sorts his honour and our good together that whatsoever is helpfull to us is honourable to him The greatest part of sinners intreat of God those things that are opposite to his will or unworthy of his greatnesse For whether passion transport them or ignorance blind them they require honours of him that was born in a Stable and died upon a Crosse they expect pleasures from him who spent his whole life in sorrow and whom the Scriptures by way of Excellency style a Man of Griefes they hope for riches
from him who lived in poverty nor would receive any Disciples into his School that had not sold their goods and distributed them to the poor they demand Earth of him that reigns in Heaven the establishment of their welfare in this world from him who is the Father of that which is to come and taking no notice of their Creed they begge time of him who promiseth eternity But the holy Spirit disabuseth Christians when he either enlightens or instructs them For being the Spirit of the Son and knowing his intentions he never puts them upon those requests that are offensive to him When their hearts are encouraged with his Grace they preferre Conscience before Honour Vertue before Interest Grief before Pleasure and the will of God before their own inclinations If sometimes they petition for perishable goods 't is as farre as necessity obliges them and knowing that all such demands are dangerous 't is with feare that they always commence such suits with reservation that they continue them and with submission that they conclude them All their prayers are terminated with those words of our blessed Saviour to his Father in the Garden Not as I will but as thou wilt Finally the same Spirit teacheth them innocent Stratagems which they ought to make use of to pacifie the indignation of their Heavenly Father and to obtain those Graces they become Petitioners for Men are so little acquainted with God Quid oremus sicut oportet nescimus Rom. 8. that they know neither his minde nor his will his greatnesse exalts him so farre above us that we cannot approach unto him his designes are concealed from us and the Eternall Decrees he hath conceived in his breast are not to be penetrated by us 'T is with feare that we addresse our selves before him and being ignorant of his designes and resolutions wee have an apprehension that our desires may bid him defiance Wee have certain secrets to gain men we know by what arts we may insinuate into their fair opinion we have dexterity enough to take them with their interests and Rhetorick supplies us with inventions to triumph over their liberty without doing them the least violence But we know not how we are to treat with God his Majesty astonisheth us his Splendour dazles us and if his Mercy assure us his Justice confounds us because if we are miserable wee are besides more guilty The Holy Spirit assists us in this disorder whereto our sin hath reduced us Qui autem scrutatur corda scit quid desideret spiritus quia secundum Deum postulat pro Sanctis Rom. 8. For residing in the heart of the Father and of the Son he knows their most intimate cogitations he sounds those abysses which the Angels cannot descend into he sees their secretest intentions and teacheth us innocent artifices to appease them when provoked against us He spake no doubt by the mouth of Moses when that Prophet disarmed the Almighty and reduced to a loving impotency him whose power hath no other bounds but his will It was the Holy Spirit who fettered him by the hands of Moses and obliged him to demand leave to be avenged of his enemies Let me alone that my fury may waxe hot 'T is the same Spirit that daily disarms our God that pulleth the Thunder out of his hands and which gently forcing him willingly to be overcome by the prayers hee dictates to us triumphs over his fury by our perseverance 'T is he finally that teacheth us to desire that life that is knowne onely by Faith Est in nobis quaedam ut ita dicam docta ignorantia sed docta Spiritu Dei qui adjuvat infirmitatem nostram Aug. and possessed onely by Charity 'T is hee saith Saint Augustine that inspires us with that learned Ignorance whereby wee confesse that the happinesse that is promised us surpasseth our imagination wee know onely that his greatnesse exceedeth all those Ideas we can fashion of him so that wee reject all that are offered to our understanding knowing very well that faculty cannot conceive the good it is bound to hope for 'T is the Holy Spirit that mingles his light with our darknesse and leaving us in the ignorance of our felicity gives as much knowledge of it as is requisite to desire it For as Saint Augustine wisely observes if it were absolutely unknown of us it could never stir up any desire in us but besides were it fully revealed it could not provoke our hopes since according to the Maxime of the Apostle what a man sees he hopes not for nor wishes that which hee possesseth But the last and most admirable Stratagem of this Divine Spirit In quo clamamus Abba pater postulat pro nobis gemitibus inenarrabilibus Rom. 8. is that he accompanies our prayers with his groanes that without disturbing his own happiness he partakes of our distresses rendring himself in a sort miserable with us to make us happy with him for 't is by his motion that we send forth sighs by his grace that we groan and he so fully works these things in us that the Apostle attributing them to him is not afraid to say that he intercedes for us with sighs and groans that cannot be expressed In a word 't is this Spirit that teacheth us to mourn in the world that informs us that the Earth is our Banishment Heaven our Country that the one is to be endured the other to be hoped for Whoever knows how to profit by this instruction spends all his life in the doleful tone of the Turtle he sighs always when he considers that he is separated from JESUS and that living here belowe Nec parva res est quod docet nos Spiritus sanctus gemere insinuat enim nobis quia peregrinamur docet nos in Patriam suspirare ipso desiderio gemimus Aug. he hath onely the Earnest of that happiness which is promised him he weeps in these just desires and sheds tears much different from those of sinners They groan indeed burthened with Misfortunes the inseparable companions of Life they complain when they have lost their Liberty they sigh when they are oppressed with any Sorrow they murmure when they are betrayed by their friends or persecuted by their enemies But these Lamentations savour nothing of those mournful Accents of the Dove 'T is not Charity but Interest that fans this Passion 't is the spirit of the World and not that of God that makes them thus breathe out their souls in Sadness For as this last is Eternal so he sighs onely for Eternity as he proceeds from the Father and the Son he returns thither again and leads us with him and being the Spirit of Truth he occasions us to wish none but solid Goods nor to grieve for any but true Evils The Seventh DISCOURSE That the Holy Spirit remits the Sins of the Christian REpentance is one of the greatest advantages Christian Grace can possibly have above Original
kingdom of Life but by Jesus Christ As all that are born of Adam are sinners all that are born again of Jesus Christ are justified and as all the sons and daughters of Adam are the children of the earth and death all the children of Jesus Christ are the children of heaven and of life This Maxime is so true that man makes no more progresse in perfection then according as he doth in allyance with Jesus Christ The more Faith he hath the lesse hath he of Errour and Falshood the more hope he conceives in the mercy of God the lesse confidence hath he in the favour of men the more he burns with the fire of Charity the lesse is he scorched with the flames of Concupiscence the more he is united to this innocent and glorious Head from whom all grace is derived the lesse is he fixt to that infamous and criminall Head from whom all sin takes it originall so that Christians as we have already proved ought to have no other care but to make Adam die and Jesus Christ live in their person if they intend to be innocent they must be Parricides if they will bestow life upon the Son of God they must inflict death upon their first Father if they meane to be quickned with the spirit of humility which raiseth men in debasing them they must renounce the spirit of vain-glory which lays men low in lifting them up and under a colour of making Gods of them makes them nothing but Devils or Beasts Finally mans unhappinesse flows from the shamefull alliance he contracted with Adam in his Birth Ex transgressione primi hominis universum genus humanum natum cum obligatione peccati victor Diabolus possidebat si enim sub captivitate non teneremur redemptore non indigeremus venit ad captivos non captus venit ad captivos redimendos nihil in se captivitatis ha bens sed carne mortali pretium nostrum portans Aug. de Verb. Apo. Ser. 22. and the Christians happinesse proceeds from the glorious alliance he contracted with Jesus Christ in Baptisme Thus the quality of a Chief in Adam is the source of all our Evils and the quality of a Chief in Jesus Christ is the Originall of all our Good and as Adam did not so much destroy us in being our Father as in being our Head neither doth Jesus Christ save us so much for being his Brethren or his Children as because we are his members because 't is in effect this quality that procures us all the rest neither is God our Father but because Jesus Christ is our Head The Second DISCOURSE Of the Excellencies of the Christians Head and the advantages they draw from thence THough all the alliances Jesus Christ hath contracted with men be as beneficiall to them as they are honourable yet must we confesse that the relation that unites him to them as their Head is the strictest and most advantageous 'T is much that he would be their King and giving them Laws had owned them for his Subjects 'T is more yet that he condescended to be their Brother and sharing his Eternall Inheritance with them made them Co-heirs together with Himself 't is more yet that he made them his Children and conceiving them in his wounds suffered death to give them life But 't is yet a more signall favour that he vouchsafed to make them his Members and joyning them to Himself in one body he is constituted the Head from whence they receive all those indearing influences which communicate to them the life of Grace and merit for them that of Glory Therefore also doth Saint Augustine when he examines the favours we have received from the Father preferre this before all others Nullum majus donum prastâ—re posset hominibus quam ut verbum suum per quod condidit omniâ— faccret illis caput illos ei tanquam membra coaptaret ut esset filius Dei silius hominis unus Deus cum patre unus homo cum hominibus Aug. in Psal 36. Ser. 3. and confesseth he never more sensibly obliged us then when he gave us his onely Son to be our Head God saith he could bestow no higher honour upon men then by uniting them with his Word by whom he created all things as the Members with their Head that he that was the Son of God might be the Sonne of Man and that by reason of his Divine Person subsisting in the Humane Nature he might be God with his Father and Man with his Brethren 'T is in effect from this glorious co-habitation that all our blessings are derived If the Father look upon us 't is because we are the Members of his onely Sonne If he hear our prayers 't is because Jesus Christ speaks by our mouth if he receive us into Glory 't is because he sees us cloathed with the merits of our Head if he admit us into his bosome 't is because the quality we bear renders us inseparable from his Word But if this alliance be beneficiall to Christians 't is honourable to Jesus Christ For though nothing can be added to his Grandeur who is equall to his Father and all the Priviledges he received from his Incarnation may passe for so many Humiliations Neverthelesse the dignity of being Head of the Church is so eminent that after that of the Son of God there is none so Venerable and August It gives Jesus Christ the same advantage over the Faithfull that the Head hath over the Members and to conceive what he is in the Church we must observe what this is in the Body The Head is the noblest seat of the Soul 't is that part of the Body where she acts her highest operations 't is there that she debates those subjects that are presented to her that she deliberates upon the accidents that happen 't is there that the memory preserves the species which may be called the treasures of wisdome and the riches of the Intellectuall faculty 't is there that the understanding conceives truths and the will pronounceth determinations In a word 't is there that the affairs concerning Peace and Warre Salvation or Damnation Time or Eternity are treated of Thus also is it in Iesus Christ that all those lights reside that govern the Church 't is in him that are shut up all the treasures of wisdome and from him that all Oracles proceed whereby the Faithfull are instructed The Head is the most eminent part of the Body Nature was willing that as it is the noblest so it should be placed nearest Heaven and the very situation should oblige all the other parts to shew it reverence It is the most exalted that it may more easily dispence its orders and that the spirits which convey sense and motion by the nerves may descend with more facility into all the parts of the body Iesus Christ also is in the highest place of his State he reignes in Heaven with his Father from thence he views all
he encouraged his Apostles to Martyrdom and providing Graces for all his Members inspired them with strength to vanquish pleasure and subdue grief For though the Son of God be the Head of men in all the conditions of life because he was so before his birth nevertheless he exerciseth this Office in a time when others cannot Hodie mecum eris in Paradiso Excedit humanum conditionem ista promissio nec tam de ligno Crucis quà m de Throno editur potestatis Leo. He founded his Church in dying he acted like a Soveraigne when they deprived him of life he pardoned offenders when they handled him as a delinquent he disposed of the kingdom of heaven when they disputed his kingdom upon earth and making his power appear in his weakness his innocence in his execution and his grandeur in his affronts he takes pleasure to confound the pride of his enemies But me thinks there is no quality makes him shine forth with so much pomp upon the Cross as that of being the Head For besides that it was in this place that he offered up himself for his Elect and by bonds as strong as they are secret united them to his Person that neither sin nor death can ever separate them from him it was there that he made that wonderful Bargain with them where charging himself with their sins he invested them with his merits and taking upon him the quality of a sinner communicated to them that of innocents There it was that he espoused the Church and accomplishing that Figure which preceded in the person of Adam and Eve he was willing to die that his Spouse might live For the holy Scripture not without a Mystery observes that Eve was taken from the side of Adam whilst he was asleep that all the world might know that the Church must proceed from the side of Christ when he hung dead upon the Cross God could saith S. Augustine have formed the woman of her husband whilst he was awake had there not been some Mystery couched under that Ceremony for if we say God chose that time to rid man from all sense of pain it was too violent not to awaken him and if we say man felt it not because God wrought the work he could as easily have taken away the rib when he was awake as when he lay asleep But he had a minde to express that in Paradise which was to be acted upon mount Calvary and teach us that as Eve issued from the side of her sleeping husband the Church should issue from the side of dying Jesus If this Mystery heightens the love and power of Jesus Christ we must confess it augments withal the obligations Christians have to death and sufferings For Christ conceived us in the midst of his wounds we are the children of his sorrows and his Church cost him much more pain and trouble then Eve did the first Adam Sicut dormienti Adae costa detrabitur ut conjux efficiatur ita Christo morienti de latere sanguis effunditur ut Ecclesia construatur communicantes namque corpori sanguini efficimur Ecclesia Christi conjux Aug. His spouse never broke his sleep she rose from his side without any pang or violence he found himself happily married when he awoke and he judged her a piece of himself more from his inclination then his grief But Jesus lost his life to bestow it upon the Church his body must be opened and his heart pierced to form his Bride this Maid was to be sought for in the bowels of her Father and an incision made into the side of the Parent to be the Midwife to this Posthuma As this Quality was dear bought and like David he was fain to mingle his own blood with that of the Philistims to purchase his Church his minde is that the children of so dolorous a Marriage breathe nothing but sufferings and remembring that they are the babes of a God dying upon the Cross they should pass their whole life in sorrow and tribulations For what likelihood is there that being born in pain and anguish they should seek after delights and pleasure That they should be crowned with Roses when their Head was encircled with Thorns That they should be ambitious after the glory of the world since he that gave them being died amongst ignominy and reproaches or that they should seek revenge for their injuries when he from whom they descend begged as a favour the pardon of his enemies Let us imitate our Chief because he is our Example let us remember that all our happiness depends upon our union and conformity with him Let us often meditate that the Father loves none but his onely Son That none can have a part in his Inheritance that is not united to Jesus Christ That he onely can ascend up into heaven that came down from thence That as there is but one Guilty man so there is but one Innocent and as all the Reprobate are involved in the sin of Adam all the Predestinate are wrapt up in the grace of Jesus Christ The Third DISCOURSE Of the strict Vnion of the Head with the Members and of that of Jesus Christ with Christians ALl Polititians acknowledge that the Soveraign being the Head of the State is united with his Subjects and that their union is so neer that their interests are in common He that offends the Prince wrongs the State he that attempts any thing against his sacred Person wounds all those that live in his Kingdom and as Nature teacheth all members to expose themselves for the preservation of their head the Politicks teach all Subjects to venture themselves for the defence of their Soveraign But forasmuch as the obligations are mutual and reciprocal the same Politicks read a Lecture to Kings that they are bound to preserve their Subjects to spare their blood and to handle offenders as corrupted members which are never cut off from the body but with sorrow and necessity The Prince must be sensible of every part of his State that perisheth every blowe that lights upon it pierceth his heart and his love towards it must be such that he be ready to lay down his life for them when he shall judge their safety to depend upon his death This is the reason Seneca sometimes made use of to sweeten the cruel humour of Nero and to instil clemency into the heart of that bloody Parricide Thou said he art the head of the Common-wealth whence thou mayst ghess how necessary Clemency is to thee since in pardoning others thou art pitiful to thy self and favouring thy subjects art kinde to him that lives in them as in his members If we believe this Philosopher there was a time when Nero profited by this advice and this Truth had so powerful an impression upon his spirit that he was witty to finde out pretences to spare the blood of delinquents For to use Seneca's own words When there came an offender before him who
you goes on Saint Augustine seeing the same thing happens to us every day and an ordinary and familiar example evidenceth the same truth For when ye are in the throng of an Assembly and some body treads upon your foot your tongue presently complains and though no body toucht it cries out you have hurt me what means it by that expression Might it not be replyed you are in safety the place you have in the body secures you from danger and if any part be offended 't is the foot not you In the mean time Truth and Charity require this language for being in the same body with the foot their good and bad are common he that hurts one hurts the other the society that unites them and the compassion that grows from their society constraines it to utter theâ—e complaints as just as they are true Let us apply this comparison and say though Iesus Christ suffer not in his Person he suffers in that of the Faithfull that making up one body with them he is sensible of their pains and taking part in their wrongs is offended when any one offends them By the same consequence a Christian can doe no good to other Christians but the Son or God is beholding to him for it For the Felicity he enjoyeth exempts him from all want nothing can be added to his riches by desires and he is so great and so happy that there is nothing he can either hope or fear yet is he indigent in the faithfull and he may be assisted in the person of the miserable he protests that in that terrible day when he will examine the good and bad works of his Subjects he will recompence the good offices done to the poor as done to himself nor will make any difference between the good usage he received in his naturall body and that he shall have received in his mysticall body he will equally pronounce sentence upon these different actions and every where confounding the Head with the Members will punish with as much severity those that have persecuted him in the poor as those that nailed him to the Crosse That which yee did to one of the least of mine yee did unto me This truth ought to comfort the good and strike terrour into the wicked For if Iesus Christ live still in the distressed if the condition of a Head which he preserves in Glory make him languish in the poor we must needs conclude that those that oppresse them are as guilty as the Pharisees that oppressed Jesus Christ Though his Innocence was clouded under the likenesse of sinfull flesh and the lustre of his Majesty obscured by the humility of his person his enemies did despite to a God when they thought only to injure a Man they committed a Parricide when they imagined they acted only a murder and the Father punisheth them as guilty of Treason against the Divine Majesty because the miracles of his Sonne took away all pretence from their zeal and all excuse from their offence The same judgement threatens those that persecute the poor For though nothing of worth shine forth in them that can render them considerable though Iesus be hid under the misery of their condition and reason cannot discover a happy man under an unfortunate one nor a Son of God under a child of Adam he will not fail to punish them as severely as those that knew him not in Judea because his words which are to be respected as Oracles suffer us not to doubt of this verity which makes up one of the chiefest Articles of our Faith But if it be an argument of terrour to the wicked 't is a ground of comfort and consolation to the godly For they may still succour the Son of God in wretched and distressed people they may imitate the piety of Martha and Mary Magdalen they may enjoy the priviledges which make up the glory of those blessed women they may still be the entertainers of Iesus Christ and receiving him in the person of the poor and strangers Ne quis vestrum dicat 〈◊〉 beati qui Christum suscipere in propriam domii meruerunt noli dolere noli murmurare quia temporibus natus es quando jam dominum non vides in carne non tibi abstulit istam dignationem cum uni inquit ex minimis meis fecistis mibi fecistis Aug. Serm. 27. de Verb. Dom. participate in their merits who received him himself into their houses The Son of God will not have us make any difference between his naturall and his mysticall body his hands and his feet are not dearer to him then the poor and all that is done to these may expect the same reward as that which was done to them If we beleeve S. Chrysostome there is more advantage by serving Christ in his afflicted members then there was to wait upon him in his own Person because there is more trouble in it and as our senses meet with nothing that can flatter them in that exercise our love is more pure and more disinteressed There was as much pleasure as honour to perform acts of service to the Son of God whilest he lived upon earth the Majesty of his Countenance the graciousnesse of his Aspect the Charms of his Conversation the Power of his Words were recompence enough to them that received him into their houses they had a certain adhaesion to his person from whence they were to be separated by death That visible presence which charmed their eyes diminished their merit and the love they bare to that body that was the workmanship of the Holy Ghost had imperfections which were to be purified by elongation But the Faithfull who serve the Son of God in the poor are free from this danger they behold nothing in these sad objects that can please their sense they must consult their faith to find Iesus Christ there they must doe violence to themselves to pay their homage at those shrines and that Image having no allurements all their devotion betakes it self purely to seek after Iesus Christ in Heaven But not to determine this difference 't is sufficient to know for our comfort that Iesus Christ is in the Christians that the glories of the one and the miseries of the other separate them not that he suffers in us without any abatement of his Felicity that we reigne in him without any prejudice to our merit that he is upon the Earth though cloathed with the Glories of Immortality that we are in Heaven though shrowded in the rags of misery that in the difference of our conditions Quoties ergo videmus aliquem indigentem agnoscamus ChristuÌ„ in illo quia ipse indigens membrum Christi est Bern. de Pass Domi. cap. 32. there is a perfect communication of good and bad things between him and us that his Grace is ours our sins are his with this difference onely that his Grace cancels our sins and our sins despoile not him of his Innocence The
Fourth DISCOURSE That the Vnion of Christians with their Head is an Imitation of the Hypostaticall Vnion CHristian Religion acknowledgeth three wonderfull Unities which exercise her Faith enflame her Love and entertain her Piety The first is the Unity of Essence which is found in the Trinity For the same Faith that â—eacheth us there are three Persons in one God teacheth us also that he subsists in one and the same Essence and that the Father Son and Holy Ghost are but one God This Truth soares so high above Humane Understanding that it cannot be conceived otherwise then by the light of Faith Reason would deceive should she be consulted with in this mystery Man would not be more faithfull Considera quod voceris fidelis non rationalis si dicas hoc non est exponcre sed expositione fugere respondeo in die judicii non damnor quia dicam nescivi naturam Dei mei si aâ—tem aliquid temere dixero temeritas poenam habas ignorantia veuiam meretur Aug. Ser. 1. de Trinitate should he labour to be more rationall in this subject and hee will fall into the Heresie of the Arrians or into that of the Sabellians did he not subject his Reason to his Faith The second is the Unity of Person in Iesus Christ which honours the Unity of Essence in the Trinity though it be in some sort opposite thereto For as there are three Persons in God which preserve their differences in the Unity of their Nature that the Trinity is neither confounded by the Unity Decuit cum summa quâ— in Deo est unitate congruere ut quomo o ibi tres personae una essentia it a hic convenientissima quadam contrarietate tres essentiae fint una persona Bern. lib. 5. de Consider cap. 9. nor the Unity divided by the Trinity There are three Natures in Jesus Christ that subsist in one and the same Person and which without losing their proprieties make one composition which is called God-Man There by a strange prodigie Flesh and Spirit agree with Divinity neither are the two Others swallowed up in This Each Nature preserves its rights and as the soul is not debas'd by being engaged in the Flesh the Divinity is not disparaged by being associated to both This shines forth by Miracles the Other Two are obscured by Injuries In a word the Son of God never loseth his Equality with his Father nor the Son of Man his Equality with his Mother The third Unity is that of the Body which is found between Christ and his Church for though there be so much difference between these two Persons Love hath combined them so neer together that not confounding their properties he hath made there of but one Body whereof Jesus Christ is the Head and the Faithful the Members They live of one and the same Spirit their Interests are common though one raign triumphantly in heaven the other suffer miserably upon earth they fail not to be so perfectly knit together that the Body is happie in the Head and the Head is afflicted in the Members Of these Three admirable Unities the Second adores the First and the Third the Second For the principal designe of the Word in his Incarnation is to honour the Trinity of the Divine Persons by the Trinity of his Natures and to pay homage to the Unity of the Divine Essence by the Unity of his Person This Divine Compound is an Image of the Trinity it declares the wonders thereof by its constitution neither did he take pleasure to unite the Flesh and the Spirit with the Divinity but to express to the Faithful the ineffable Unity between the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit in the difference of their personal proprieties Indeed this incomprehensible Mystery was not preached among the children of men till the Word became Incarnate and their Understanding clarified with the light of Faith began not to conceive the Trinity of the Persons in the Unity of the Divine Essence till it conceived the Trinity of the Natures in the Unity of the Person of the Word Finally the Third Unity renders honour to the Second seeing Jesus Christ entred not into society with his Church but in pursuance of the affinity he had contracted with Humane Nature It seems he was willing to extend the mystery of the Incarnation in that he made all men his Members to make them the children of God and not being able or not vouchsafing to unite himself personally with every Christian he became united to them in the unity of the Spirit and of the Body The First of these Marriages is the example of the Second and we cannot well express the Union of Jesus Christ with his Church but by that of the Word with our Nature The Resemblances are so wonderful that they justly deserve this Discourse to see if we can clear them The chiefest secret of this mystery is that the Plurality of Nature destroys not the Unity of the Person Verbum caro factum unus est Christus ubi nihil est alterius naturaeâ—quod sit utriusque D. Leo. Serm. 10. de nat Dom. For though the Flesh have its weaknesses and the Divinity its perfections in Jesus Christ 't is nevertheless an admirable Compound that preserves its unity in the difference of its Natures he acts sometimes as God sometimes as Man receives the adorations of Angels and the injuries of Men that obeys his Father and commands with him suffers upon the Cross and reigns in Glory that 's buried with the dead in the Grave and triumphs over the devil in hell But in these different conditions he ceaseth not to be one and the same subject who accommodating himself to the proprieties of his Natures mixes Greatness with Humility Joy with Sorrow Repentance with Innocence without interessing his Person The same wonder is met with in the Marriage of Christ with his Church they are different in their qualities and 't is a strange effect of Love that was able to finde out a means to unite together two subjects whose conditions are so dissonant The one is Soveraign because God the other a slave because redeemed the one innocent the other guilty the one reigns in Eternity the other sighs and groans in Time nevertheless their Union is so strict that without confounding their properties they compose one and the same Body and both together make up but one onely Jesus Christ Whence it comes to pass that S. Augustine who after S. Paul hath best understood this Mystery Totus Christus secundum Ecclesiam caput corpus est non quia sinc corpore non est integer sed quia nobiscuÌ„ integer esse dignatus est qui sine nobis semper est integer Veruntamen fratres quomodo corpus ejus nos si non nobiscum unum Christus Aug. in Serm. Quod tribusmodis Christus intelligitur delivers these words One onely Jesus Christ is the Body and
Sinners All his Actions testifie that he considers his Church as his Spouse and the Faithfull as his Children because he was willing to enter into their humiliations and to exalt them to his Greatnesses For though the Church be not Iesus Christ nor Iesus Christ the Church yet their union is so strict that they are two in one flesh two in one voice two in one passion and two in one rest Indeed if we examine these words well we shall find that they contain the chiefest conditions of the marriage of Iesus Christ with his Church and that they clearly explaine the priviledges which the quality of being members of the Son of God bestows upon the Faithfull They are both in one flesh because the Church is born of Iesus Christ upon the Crosse and that the Sacraments which produce and preserve her issued from the wounds of her Beloved They are two in the same flesh because in the Eucharist he nourisheth her with his Body and Blood and in that mystery tries to transform her into himself as hee was transformed into her in the Incarnation when he was made Man to become her Beloved Wherefore Saint Augustine hath very well observed Ut noveritis quia unus dicitur Christus caput corpus suum ipse dicit cum de conjugio loqueretur sunt duo in carne una ergo jam non duo sed caro una sed forte hoc dicit de quocunque conjugio Auli Paulum Ego autem dico in Christo Ecclesia fit ergo ex duobus una quaedā persona ex capite corpore ex sponso sponsa Aug. in Psal 30. that the Church was all things to Jesus Christ and that Jesus Christ was all things to his Church She is his Mother because she conceived him in the womb of the Virgin she is his Daughter because she was born of his death and proceeding from his wounds honours as her Father him whom she loves as her Bridegroom she is his Sister because she fulfils the will of the Father and obtains that quality by her obedience Thus Jesus Christ and his Church are truly allied by flesh and may upon a better title then other conjugall parties say in the difference of their conditions they are but one Body They have also but one voice because they always speak together the Church is the Organ of her Beloved and Iesus Christ is the interpreter of his Church He expressed himself by her mouth before he was born upon Earth he speaks yet by her now that he is ascended up into Heaven and as their interests are inseparable their prayers are common and their language is equally entertained by the Father Thence it comes to passe that Saint Augustine unfolding this profound mystery teacheth us that the Son of God carries himself diversly towards the Faithfull according to the different qualities that separate or unite him to them He intercedes for them as their Chief Priest whose principall Office is to offer up mens prayers and to draw down blessings from Heaven upon their heads He hears their supplications with his Father to whom he is equall in Majesty he is willingly overcome by the tears of the distressed and having prayed for them as their Priest he hears them as their God Finally he prays in them as their Head he delivers the Word in the name of his Body he defends the interests of his members he pleads his own cause in pleading theirs and asks a Grace for himself in begging mercy for them Thence it comes to passe that the Father giving way to the Prayers of his Son so easily lends an ear to the Petitions of the Church because hee ownes the voice of Jesus Christ in that of his Spouse and grants that to the merits of the one which he might justly refuse to the demerits of the other He might answer us as David sometimes did that widow that made so eloquent a speech to him in behalf of Absalom Is not the hand of Joab with thee in this Loquatur Christus in nobis ut quem gerimus iu pectore babeamus in cre Cypr. For when he understands the innocent voice of his Son mingled with ours and sees that we make use of the merits and arguments of Jesus Christ to perswade him he may say to every sinner Is not the hand of Christ with thee in this Or beholding the accomplishment of that Figurative History acted heretofore in the family of Isaac where the Cadet got the blessing of his father by a mysterious surprise he might say The hands are Esau's but the voice is Jacob's because 't is true that the voice of the Son of God covers many times our bad actions and his innocent mouth obtains Graces for us in stead of punishments our guilty hands would deservedly draw down upon us Oftentimes out of an excess of love he loads himself with our sins and forgetting his Greatness appears before his Father as a Delinquent he puts on the habit of a servant takes the place of rebels and making a change advantageous for them takes their Offences and puts upon them his Merits Thence it comes to past that on the Cross where he stands the Caution of Sinners he complains that his Father forsakes though he be inseparable from him and beholding himself as the Victim of Sin useth language unworthy of his Innocence but worthy of his Love Orator ergo in forma Det orat in forma servi ibi creator hic creatus creaturam mutandam non mutatus assumens secum nos faciens unum hominem caput corpus oramus ergo ad illum per illum in illo dicimus cum illo dicit nobiscum longe à salute mea verb a delictorum Aug. praef in Ps 85. and the condition he was in This is it that S. Augustine acquaints us with in that discourse that comprebends as many Mysteries as Words If we consider Jesus Christ as equal to his Father he hears our prayers with him if we consider him in the form of a servant as like to sinenrs he presents his prayers with them there he is the Creator here he is created but remaining unchangeable is united to his Creature to change him and makes himself one man with him whereof they are joyntly the Head and Body Thus sometimes we pray to him and sometimes also we pray in him and he prays with us he speaks by our mouth we by his and living in one and the same Body we many times use the same language 'T is in the view of this Mystery that S. Augustine hath discovered a Secret to explain all those passages that seem to concern the Innocence of Jesus Christ For as by consequence of the Marriage contracted with the Church he is included in her obligations he speaks many times in the person of the Church and that we mistake not we must have this alliance always before our eyes and not be astonished that the Son of God who
hath vouchsafed to bear our miseries hath been pleased to speak our language The Church saith that great Doctor is made up of all the Faithful Quia ergo totus Christus caput est corpus Ecclesiae prepter a in omnibus Psalmis sic audiamus voces capitis ut audiamus voces corporis Aug. in Psal 56. because all the Faithful are the Members of Jesus Christ Though her Head be in heaven he fails not to guide her upon earth and though separated by the distance of places ceaseth not to be united to her by charity Wherefore Christ making the Head and the Body we ought not in the Psalms to separate the voice of the Head from that of the Body nor think it strange that he that never deserted the Church never held other language then his Spouse did This it it that he treats of elsewhere in clearer and fuller terms If Jesus be our Head and we his Body the Head and the Body compose whole Jesus Christ nor is Jesus Christ entire if he comprehend not both This Maxime must serve us as a light to explain the Scripture by with which if we are not always enlightned we are in danger to mistake For sometimes we meet with words that cannot be applied to the Head and which would involve us in an errour or in doubt did we apply them to the body there are others that cannot be appropriated to the Body and yet are uttered by Jesus Christ To unravel these difficulties we need but attribute to the Head what cannot agree to the Body remembring that Jesus Christ speaks sometimes in his own person and sometimes in the person of the Church He spake certainly in her name when he complained that his Father had forsaken him because we know very well the Son was never abandoned by the Father were it not when he sustained the person of Adam who was forsaken of God as soon as he became guilty But because this Truth is but too evident let us pass to the Third condition of the Marriage of Jesus Christ with his Church and see how they are two in one and the same passion One of the chiefest effects of Love is Anima est magis ubi amat quà m ubi animat to make us Live where we Love and to make us Suffer where we Live Experience better perswades us of this Maxime then Reason and 't is needless to prove a Truth which every man may evidence in himself A father knows he is more affected with the sorrows of his children then with his own a husband is not ignorant that he sufters less in his own person then in that of his wife and all Lovers proclaim that the injuries or discontents of their Mistresses wound them deeper then those that fall upon themselves Siqua sides vulnus quod feci non dolet inquit Sed quod in facies hoc mihi Paetc dolet Mart. That generous gallant wife was well acquainted with this Axiome who protested she felt not the blowe the Poniard gave her self but onely that which her husband was resolved to receive As Charity which unites Jesus Christ to the Church is stronger then Conjugal love so doth it more advantageously produce this effect in them Their sufferings are common the Son of God suffers no sorrows which the Church resents not and the Church endures no torments which the Son of God complains not of Therefore hath S. Augustine said that the Church suffered in Jesus Christ when jesus Christ suffered for the salvation of the Church and that Jesus Christ suffered in the Church when the Church was persecuted for the glory of Jesus Christ their complaints were proofs of their sufferings and as the Church complained in Jesus Christ when he cried out upon the Cross My God my God why hast thou forsaken me Jesus complained in behalf of his Church when from the midst of his glory he said Saul Saul why persecutest thou me But as Saint Paul had learnt this truth from the mouth of the Son of God himself by whom he was informed that a man could not persecute the Church but he must persecute Jesus Christ there was not any of the Apostles who so highly exalted his labours as he did For knowing very well that he was a Member of the Church in which condition he could not suffer but Jesus Christ must suffer with him he speaks of his own sufferings as of those of his Master and out of a confidence which could arise from nothing but his love he boasts that in suffering he finished the Passion of Jesus Christ Adimpleo ea quae desunt passionum Christi He knew very well that nothing was wanting to the sorrows of the Son of God that the rage of the executioners was glutted upon his person that the Truth of Figures was accomplished in his death and that himself before he bowed his head and gave up the ghost had said aloud Consummatum est But he knew also that Jesus Christ had two Bodies that he suffered in one what he could not suffer in the other and that honouring his Father in both he sacrificed himself in his Members after he had sacrificed himself in his Person S. Augustine happily expresseth the meaning of S. Paul in these words Jesus Christ suffers no more in that flesh he carried into heaven but he suffers in mine that is still persecuted upon the earth nor are we to wonder at it because it is no more I that live but he that liveth in me And if this Maxime were not true Jesus Christ had never complained of the persecution of Saul nor ever Saul have been so bold as to say he had filled up what was wanting in the sufferings of Christ But a little to clear this passage we must say that the Son of God being the Pledge and Surety of sinners was willing to satisfie the justice of his Father and bear all the pains their sins deserved Passio Domini usque ad finem munâ—i producitur sicut in Sanctis suis ipse honoratur ipse diligitur in pauperibus ipse pascitur ipse vestitur ita in omnibus qui pro justitia adversae tolerant ipse compatitur Leo. de pass Dom. Ser. 19. Death being one of the severest and the sentence that designes us to it expresses no one kinde that we might fear all the Son will have them undergo all and by that stratagem of Love change all our Chastisements into Oblations of piety But because the Body his mother gave him could not suffer all these deaths their different kinds being incompatible and that one and the same man could not be nailed to the Cross devoured by wilde beasts choaked in the waters consumed by the flames he was pleased to associate a mystical Body which being compounded of different Members might undergo divers punishments and to satisfie the excess of his Charity might honour his Father by as many sacrifices as there were kindes of death in
Nature Thus was he torn in pieces by lions in the person of S. Ignatius devoured by flames in that of S. Laurence stoned in that of S. Stephen beheaded in that of S. Paul and this great Apostle that knew the desires of Jesus Christ rejoyced to accomplish them by his sufferings and to be one of those Victims whereby he adored the Justice and the Soveraignty of his Father But not to urge this conceit any further 't is enough that we learn from it that Jesus and the Church are united in their sufferings upon earth and by a necessary consequence assures us they shall be so one day in their rest in heaven For though the Church sigh here belowe she knows her Beloved will keep his word that having had a part in his sorrows she shall have a share in his triumphs and having been two in one Flesh they shall be two in one and the same Felicity She hath the promises of Jesus Christ for caution of her hope and when she remembers the prayer her Beloved made to his Father in her behalf she expects the performance with constancy of assurance Father I will that where I am there also my servants be Whenever Jesus Christ speaks to his Father 't is with so much respect that he seems rather a Servant then a Son when he asks that his Church may reign with him in his glory 't is with so much freedom of speech that he seems equal to his Father and that his demand is rather a determination then a prayer Volo Pater so that the Church who hath passed thorow all the degrees of unity with her Beloved expects this last with confidence and makes no more doubt of the Eternity of her rest then of the Verity of the words of her Beloved She believes that the union he hath contracted with her puts her in possession of her hopes that she enjoys in him what she hopes for in her self that she is glorious in her Body because she is so in her Head and that during the evils she suffers Ubi portio mea regnat ibi me regnare puto ubi caput meum dominatur ibi me dominari sentio D. Max. Serm. 3. she may boast her self happie because nothing is wanting to the felicity of her Beloved She hath now in Christ what she hopes for in her self and according to the judgement of S. Maxime she believes to raign there already where the most illustrious part of her Body reigns and conceives her self exalted above the Angels in the person of him that considers her as his Spouse and looks upon them as his Subjects The Seventh DISCOURSE That the quality of the Members of Jesus Christ is no more advantageous to Christians then that of the Brethren of Jesus Christ IT is not without great reason Unigenitus Dei factus est hominis filius ut qui Creator mundi erat fieret Redemptor Aug. that the same God that created us by his Power hath redeemed us by his Mercy For these two favours being extreme we should have had much ado equally to have acknowledged them Having but one heart to love with we must of necessity have divided our affections and the benefit of Redemption surpassing that of Creation we had been constrained to prefer our Redeemer before our Creator But the Divine Providence saith S. Bernard hath delivered us from this perplexity for he that drew us out of Nothing hath drawn us out of Sin and he that Created us is the same that Redeemed us so that without any fear of Jealousie we may compare these two benefits and give one the pre-eminence without injuring him of whom we have received them Me thinks I may say the same concerning the subject I am in hand with and free from any apprehension confront the quality of Brethren with that of Members because we hold them both of Jesus Christ and that the same who was pleased to be our Brother disdained not to be our Head Nature hath found out no alliance neerer then that of Brothers and Members and though she be so ingenious she hath not been able to link men in a stronger bond of relation then in giving them one and the same Father or one and the same Head Brothers are Slips of the same Stock if they ascend one degree they will finde that before their conception they made one portion of their Father and that before their birth they were a part of the bowels of their mother Friendship which is so much esteemed of in the world is but a Copie of this Alliance Friends are Brethren that our Will bestows upon us and Brethren are Friends that Nature stores us with but as that which is voluntary never equals that which is natural 't is very hard for Friends to love so tenderly as Brothers do Nevertheless if the affinity of these begin by Unity it insensibly tends to Division Brothers children are but Cousins their Grandchildren are yet at a farther distance and it falls out in time that those that issued from one father become by continuance of Generations strangers and enemies I know very well that Christians have priviledges that raise them above the condition of Men and that Grace more powerful then Nature hath given them a Father and Mother from whom they are never divided For the Son of God unites us to his Person in begetting us of children he makes us members and as if the Alliance of Father were not strict enough he becomes our Head that subsisting in him our life may be inseparable from his The Church imitates the charity of her Beloved she is so tenderly affected towards her children that she brings them up in the same bosome where she conceived them There are none but Hereticks that go out from her and they as Vipers must tear her bowels and offer violence to her Love in making a breach in her Unity Though other Mothers bear their children Nine months with an affection that solaceth their travel yet do they long to be eased of that painful load and the Infant desires to quit that troublesome prison Both of them do their utmost for a separation and if the children seek their liberty the mothers are as earnest after their delivery But the Church is so good a Mother she is never rid of her burden they always make a part of her inwards as they always are a part of the body of their Father they are born in the same place they are formed and as their Regeneration divides them not from Jesus Christ their Generation divorces them not from the Church But who sees not that to entertain this Union the quality of Members comes in to the assistance of that of Children and that the Faithful are much more knit together for being Members of the same Head then for being Children of the same Father We make up one Body with him Time that divides Brothers cannot divide Christians and as nothing but death can disjoyn the members
of the same Body Non est Judaeus neque Graecus non estliber neque servus non est masulus neque foemina omnes enim vos unum estis in Christo Jesu Gal. 3. nothing but sin can separate Believers As long as they remain in the Church they keep their alliance though removed by distance of place they are always united in the person of their Head though they speak divers tongues they have but one faith though they live under divers Soveraigns they have no law but charity and making up the parts of the same body they have this advantage that they are quickned with the same Spirit This is the second difference I observe between brethren and members for though brothers have tumbled in the same belly issued from the same Father have been nursed with the same milk and brought up in the same family yet many times their minds are as different as their bodies and nature that takes pleasure in the variety of her works or sin that travels to divide them puts so little correspondence in their wils that those that have lived in the same womb cannot live in the same house The Scripture tels us that in the Infancy of the world Cain and Abel were more different in their humours then in their conditions that envy stealing into the heart of the elder defaced all the feelings of nature and counselled him to commit a Parricide The same Scripture instructs us that Jacob and Esau could not agree in their mothers belly that their being twins hindered them not from being enemies that their hatred preceded their knowledge their inclinations set them more at variance then their interests that being not yet in the world they disputed the right of Primogeniture and already fought for the inheritance of their Father Collidebantur in utero ejus parvuli Bonorum malorum in Ecclesia simul pugnantium figura fueruut Jacob Esau in sinu matris sese collidentes Aug. I know very well their division was mysterious that these two brothers represented two people and that this Mother being a Type of the Church bore in her womb an Elect with a Reprobate but before Grace had sanctified Jacob the hatred he bore his brother Esau was founded in nature nor were they disaffected so much from the difference of their destiny as from the contrariety of their humours Now this mischief is never found amongst the members of the same body jealousie hath no dominion in so near an alliance and being quickned by one and the same Spirit they never have any contestation or quarrell Folly or madness must needs have infatuated that man who useth one hand to cut off the other or divides those parts whose preservation consists in their mutuall correspondence What therefore never fals out among members happens many times among brethren notwithstanding all the care nature takes to unite them hatred divides their hearts and experience teacheth us there is no more deadly nor bloody fewd then between persons of so near a relation The most memorable revenges Antiquity mentions are such as men have taken upon their own blood their rage was never more violent then when it succeeded fraternall love and Tyrants may goe to school to those that have executed their fury by taking vengeance on their brethren If the story of Eteocles and Polynices pass for a fable that of Romulus and Remus is reckond for a truth and if we can hardly believe what the Poets tel us of Thyestes and Atreus we dare not question what the Prophets write of Iacob and Esau But should Nature bee so much mistresse as to preserve amity among Brethren there is one mischief she can no ways remedy which proves the ground of wars among Princes and of Law-suits among private persons For the division of goods occasions that of hearts the parting of portions sets men at enmity and as they know their inheritances cannot be divided but they must be diminished they are unwilling to have brothers lest they should be troubled with co-heirs This was the reason Tertullian sometimes made use of to let the Heathens see the Christians much better deserved the name of brothers then those that came from the same Father because the sharing of goods divided the affections of these and covetousnesse which admits of no companions made them contrive the death of their brothers after they had longd for that of their Fathers Indeed the Son of God hath remedied this disorder in his Church because the Inheritance of Christians being infinite cannot be divided They enjoy one and the same good in common they spoil not others of what they possesse themselves and as light communicates it self intirely to every person felicity is wholly imparted to every Beleever Neverthelesse we must acknowledge that the quality of members addes something in this point to that of brethren for whatever good intelligence there is between these it never equals what is between those Brothers alwayes study their own advantage as they are separated by birth so are they parted by interests neither can charity well regulate their desires that the one doe not many times enrich themselves with the losse of the other Qui enim non est Christo contrarius in corpore ipsius haret membrum computatur nunquam sibi sunt membra contraria corporis integritas universis membris constat August But the members are so closely combind that the good fortune of the one contributes to that of the other the unity of the body they compose gives them not leave to have divided interests whatever difference nature puts in their functions they live always in community and whilst they are united in the same body they enjoy a common felicity But to make this conception a little clearer we must repeat what we said in the beginning of this Discourse and take notice that the alliance we have with Jesus Christ is much different from that we have from Adam That of Adam commenceth in unity and terminates in division we are all descended from one Father we were but one the same thing in his Person but the succession of time hath so divided us that of brethren we are become strangers and unknown For the family of Adam multiplying by the birth of his children made Towns which by their number grew into Provinces Provinces formd Kingdomes and Kingdomes at last peopled the Universe Thus men who were brothers at their birth were estranged by distance of place divided by languages parted by interests and opposite to each other by the contrariety of their humours The Son of God finding us in this deplorable condition makes us return to unity by all the degrees that tumbled us from it His love assisted with his power hath placed us in the same Kingdome given us the same Soveraign under whose Laws we breath an acceptable liberty Fecisti nos Deo nostroregnū But because all the Subjects of a Kingdom know not one another the distance of
places estrangeth their hearts he hath brought us into one City that being shut up within her Lines of Communication we may the easier converse together and of fellow Subjects may become fellow Citizens Vos estis Cives Sanctorum But forasmuch as this alliance is not the strictest there are factions many times in Cities which sow discord in mens minds all the inhabitants steer not one way the diversity of quarters hinders their familiarity he hath adopted us into one family that being the Domesticks of one Master our amity may be the closer by how much our condition is more equall Vos estis Domestici Dei Had he left us in this state he had taken pains enough for our good but as Domesticks have different designes jealousie steals into their souls and the hope of profit which is the end of base and mercenary souls suffers them not to taste the sweets of true Friendship he hath raised them to the quality of children and giving them their Soveraign for their Father will have them love one another as brethren Vos omnes fratres estis Morality and Politicks have nothing to wish for after this favour seeing all the Subjects of a State linkd together by the bonds of so indissoluble an alliance beleeve nothing can be added to their happinesse But God who is pleased to outgoe our hopes hath reduced us to the perfection of unity in making us members of the same body and giving us our Father for our Head So that all the Faithfull make up but one Man all their conditions are happily confounded together and all of them making up one part of Jesus Christ they are quickned with his Spirit clarified with his Light warmd with his Love till they be taken up into his Immensities and consummated in his Glory The Eight DISCOURSE That Jesus Christ hath taken all the infirmities of his Members and his Members have drawn all their strength from him IF it be a Truth that whatever is glorious as relating to Jesus Christ is profitable to Christians it is not true on the other side that whatever is beneficiall to Christians is honourable to Jesus Christ For the dignity of Head whence all their advantages are derived is the source of all those evils Jesus Christ underwent and had he not been the Head of sinners he had not been obliged to be their Surety Hee hath as Saint Augustine saith made a compact with men extreamly advantageous for them but very prejudiciall to himself For as the union which Nature or Grace puts between the members of the same body makes their good and bad common we find that the Son of God imparts his priviledges to us and assumes our miseries to himself He enters into our lownesse and we are admitted into his Greatnesse he is burdend with our transgressions and we are invested with his merits he is made the Sonne of Man and makes us the Children of God This important Verity requires a full Discourse and 't is just that in acknowledgement of the obligations we have to Jesus Christ we take notice of what he drew from us and of what we have received from him Innocence is one of the Apennages of the Word Incarnate Inde nascimur sic nascimur in carne peccati nascimur quam sola sanat similitudo carnis peccati inde mifit Deus filium suum in fimilitudine carnis peccati Inde venit sed non fic venit non enim virgo libidine sed fide concepit Aug. de verb. Dom. ser 10. were he not God by his Person he would be innocent by his Conception and having the Holy Ghost for his Principle and the Virgin for his Mother 't is impossible he should have contracted the sin of Adam Wherefore when the Angel expounded to the Virgin the Grandeurs of her onely Son he expresly observes that his Sanctity was derived from his Birth and being the work of the Holy Ghost must therefore be exempt from all impurity Spiritus Sanctus superveniet in te ideoque quod nascetur ex te Sanctum vocabitur filius Dei In the mean time the quality of Head obliges him to stoop under the load of our offences Hee that is innocent by nature becomes guilty by love and when he united himself to his members he became their Surety and engaged himselfe to satisfie for them Thence it is that the Prophets speak not of him only as a man of sorrows but as a man who stands Hostage for the children of Adam and who is voluntarily boundto bear all the punishments their sins are obnoxious to This made the Father say by the mouth of the Prophet Esay Percussi eum propter scelera populi mei Ipse vulneratus est propter iniquitates nostras attritus est proterscelera nostra posuit Dominus in eo iniquitatē omniū nostrum Isa 53. This made Saint John say That he was the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world and this made Jesus Christ himself upon the Crosse say that his sins condemned him to death Longe à salute mea verba delictorum meorum For he died not that ignominious death but because he stood in the place of men and being their pledge because he is their Head he was bound to satisfie for them the Justice of his Father Therefore the sentence that obliges the Son of God to death is the justest and unjustest sentence in the world 'T is unjust if we consider it as proceeding from the mouth of Pilate because all the crimes Jesus Christ was accused of were forged by his enemies 'T is just if we consider it as proceeding from the mouth of the Eternall Father because his Son appeared before him as the Head of all men and he beholds him as an innocent Victime whose charity hath made him a Delinquent Indeed our sins are not remitted but because the Son of God is charged with them the fury of God the Father is not appeased but because Jesus Christ hath satisfied it nor doe we live securely in the world but because our Head hath restored us our Innocence This is the compact he made with us he hath taken our evils to confer upon us his merits he hath made a change of qualities and to procure us that of the children of God hath voluntarily accepted of that of Surety for sinners This is it that Saint Augustine confirms to us in explaining those words of the Prophet which he supposes spoken by Jesus Christ Domine Deus meus clamavi ad te sanasti me The Son of God saith he prayd to his Father in the mount of Olives before his death and his Father heald him after his death but how could he heal him that never was wounded did he heal his Word who was God equall with himself No certainly but he heald us in his Person because this Word being made our Head was loaden with our wounds and had changed them into remedies to cure us of our scars He heald him then
agnosce â—e in ipso tentatum te in illo agnosce vincentem Aug. Jesus Christ saith he was tempted by the evil spirit in the desart or rather we were tempted in him for 't is from us that he took Flesh from him that we derive Salvation 't is from us that he receives his Death from him that we receive our Life 't is from us that he had these affronts cast upon him from him that we have Honours conferred upon us 'T is therefore for our sakes that he suffered Temptation and for his sake that we carry away the victory Or to say the same thing in other words If we were tempted in him 't is in him also that we overcame the devil our enemy He certainly could have difcarded him from his person and using him like a rebellious slave have punished his rash boldness by commanding him to hell but had he not been willing to be tempted he had not taught us to overcome by his example nor had the combat he fought in the wilderness procured us the honour of a Triumph Thus the quality of Head is injurious to Jesus Christ and honourable to Christians because in that exchange it obliged him to make with them he endured the shame of the Temptation and purchased for them the advantage of the Victory Finally to conclude this Discourse The Son of God was willing to bear the reproaches of the Cross and to merit for us the priviledges of Glory For being charged with our iniquities he suffered death the punishment of them permitted Shame to be added to Cruelty that spoiling him of Life Si moriamur saltem cum libertate moriamur Cicero in Verâ—em de Crucis supplicio agens they might withal rob him of his Honour and he might give up the ghost as an Offender and a Slave together In the mean time his Punishment purchased our Glory his Death merited our Immortality and in stead of taking vengeance of our crimes he procures us his own advantages It seems saith S. Augustine the Father mistook himself he treats his onely Son as a Delinquent and handles Men as Innocents he crowns him with Thorns these with Glory and confounding the Sinner with the Just confounds Chastisements with Rewards But if we consider that the Son of God took our place and we his that he is our Head and we his Members we shall finde that his Father had reason to punish him and to reward us because having made a change with us he is become Guilty we Innocent Let us therefore be thankful to Jesus Christ who disdained not a quality which investing him with our Nature chargeth him with our sins and our infirmities and uniting him to us as to his Members obliges him to be tempted to make us victorious Ille quippe Christianorum caput in omnibus tentari voluit quia tentamur sic morivoluit quiae morimur sic resurgere quiae resurrecturi sumus Aug. in Psal 9. Serm. 2. and to suffer the death of the Cross to obtain for us the glory of Immortality The Ninth DISCOURSE Of the duties of Christians as Members toward Jesus Christ as their Head THough the duties of the Head and of the Members are reciprocal and that composing one Body they are obliged to a mutual correspondence arising from Necessity as well as Love yet there is no man but will acknowledge that as the Members receive more assistance from the Head ten the Head from the Members so are they tied to greater expressions of dependence Nature which is an excellent mistress in this matter instructs us that the life of the Members depends upon the Head and their very preservation obliges them to three or four duties without which they can no ways subsist Their Interest requires that they be inseparably fastned to that from whence they receive their life lest their division with their death deprive them of all those advantages which spring from the union they have with their Head Thus we see that the Hand which is one of the most ingenious parts of the body and which may be called the Mother of all Arts and the faithfullest Minister of the Soul loseth its dexterity and comeliness as soon as separated from the Head that enlivens it The Feet though not so noble as the Hands are yet as necessary being the moveable Foundations of this living building are destitute of all strength when they have no commerce with the Head This indeed ceaseth not to act and move though provided neither of Hands nor Feet when Nature fails it hath recourse to Art and being the throne of the Soul ransacks all her treasures of Invention to execute that by it Self Omnis salus omnis vita à capite in caeterae membra derivatur Galen was wont to be put in execution by its Members But though the hands are so industriously subtil and the legs so vigorously strong they are absolutely useless because their separation deprives them of the influences of their head This Maxime so notorious in Nature is much more evident in Grace For the Son of God hath no need of his Members 't is Mercy and not Necessity obligeth him to make use of them He is not at all more powerful when united to them nor more feeble when separated from them Faith tells us he can do all things without them whereas they can doe nothing without him Therefore is he compared to the Vine and they to the Branch to acquaint them that all their vertue flows from his and being pluckt from his Body can as the Branch expect nothing but the fire Therefore the first obligation of Christians is to unite themselves to Jesus Christ to seek their life in this union and to believe that their death is the infallible consequence of their division This is it that Saint Augustine represents us in this Discourse which though long cannot be tedious because there is nothing in it that is not delightfull and necessary As the Body hath many members which though different in number make up but one body so Jesus Christ hath many members which in the diversity of their conditions constitute also but one body so that we are always with him as with our Head and drawing from him our strength as well as our life we can neither act nor live without him We with him make up a fruitful Vine that bears more Grapes then Leaves but divided from him we are like those Branches which being good for nothing are destin'd to the slames when stript off from the Vine Therefore doth the Son of God so earnestly affirm it in the Gospel that without him we can doe nothing that our interests as well as our love Domine si fine te nihil totum in te possumus Etenim quicquid ille operatur per nos videmur nos operari potest ille multum totum sine nobis nos nihil sine ipso Aug. in Psal 30. may engage us to be united to his
impute our fall to him When they foresaw our objections and our doubts they answered them only with admiration and paying us with that solution Saint Augustine so often returned the Pelagians that urged him close they have taught us this lesson that there is more to be adored then to be known in this ineffable mystery That in this occasion a man may boast his ignorance nor know which side to take without running the hazard of being accounted rash and unadvised Finally that the ways we take to discover the will and mind of God are in some sort injurious to his Majesty For we limit the knowledge of the Almighty and set down Instances wherein he sees some things and not others we make him reason according to our manner and we prescribe him principles whence we oblige him to draw consequences that please us we constrain him to save and destroy men according to the motions of severity or pity which sway us and not knowing that his justice is transcendently above all our Laws we go about to reduce him to the conditions of Judges or Soveraigns I honour the Fathers of the Church who to quel Heresies have advanced certain Maximes upon this subject of Predestination I reverence whatever the Church obliges me to believe of the Justice or Mercy of God I adore with the Scripture all the judgements of my Creator whether he founds his refusal of Grace or Glory upon my Non-Entity or upon my Sin I bless his justice if he chuse me upon sight of his own favours or my merits which are but the effects of his favours I will magnifie his mercy and not examining either his motives or questioning his power in the disposall of his creatures I will patiently submit to the Eternall determination of his Divine Providence Upon the consideration of these verities the Christian must live between hope and fear that seeing himself suspended between Heaven and Hel he may sigh out after his Redeemer and finding no firmer assurance then in submission to his grace may yeild full obedience to it earnestly longing that it may grow more vigorous that so it may exercise an absolute dominion over his will never fearing to lose his liberty by yeilding subjection thereto but instructed by the language of the Church beg of God that grace may become Mistress of his heart that it may vanquish his resistance and making strength succeed sweetness may triumph over a rebel that disputes the victory with him I know very well this subject causeth much bandying in the Schools that it divides the Masters of Divinity and troubles the peace and fair intelligence with which they ought to inquire after Truth But for me I find them agreed in the most materiall circumstances and that in the diversity of their opinions they can neither be suspected of Errour nor Rashness For seeing those who vary a little from the Doctrine of Saint Augustine confess that grace alwayes prevents the will that with its light it sheds forth heat and warmth into the soul of man chusing those ery moments in which it infallibly produceth its effects they are at a great distance from the errour of the Pelagians who ascribed all to Liberty and judged not Grace necessary to act absolutely but easily Semper est antë in nobis voluntas libera sed non est semper bona aut enim à justitia libera est quando servit peccato tunc est mala aut à peccato libera est quando servit justitiae tunc est bona Aug. de Grat. Lib. arb c. 15. and seeing those that boast themselves the disciples of Saint Augustine acknowledge that Grace takes not away the Liberty though it leave it not wholly in an indifferency me thinks they are very far from the dreams of the Manichees and the impiety of the Calvinists particularly that following their Master they acknowledge that Man is always free in good and evil onely with this difference that his Liberty is the onely cause of his Perdition and Grace the principal cause of his Salvation 'T is upon these two Principles as upon two immoveable Poles that I make this whole Treatise roll wherein I profess to take S. Augustine for my guide but protest withal that in seeking after Truth I have always endeavoured to preserve Charity and am so far from blaming those Opinions I do not hold that I am ready to relinquish mine own when the Church shall condemn them or when her Governours shall oblige me to change them Hitherto both Opinions have seemed Orthodox The Councel of Trent hath authorized them leaving them in the Church and hath suffered the Faithful to embrace that which they shall judge most conformable to Scripture and the holy Fathers The Canons of this Assembly are composed with so much prudence that condemning the Heresies that divided the unity of the Church it hath determined nothing concerning the Controversies of the Divines It hath so judiciously explained it self that each party alleadgeth it for themselves and by the carriage of the business hath made us see that tacitely it gave approbation to both these Opinions which for twelve Ages have busied the best Wits of the School For though something be added to that which seems least consonant to the doctrine of S. Augustine there is no change in the substance and 't is the same that so many Bishops and Doctors have taught heretofore in the Pulpit and in the Chair After the example of this great Councel I honour both the Opinions and expecting till the Church shall further explain her self upon these matters which produce so many gallant Pieces on one side and the other I will content my self in saying that in each party there is something to be done and something to be left undone For those who will not that Grace have so absolute a dominion over the Will ought to labour hard because believing their liberty not so maimed but that it may with a little aid practise Christian vertues they are obliged to produce notable effects and to carry heaven by violence and the assiduity of an uncessant endeavour But they must withal carefully avoid Pride which accompanies bold undertakings They must remember all their pains will be fruitless if they be not quickned with Grace they must be ever mindful of those words of Jesus Christ who confounding the vanity of men hath obliged his disciples to confess that after all their travels they are unprofitable servants They must consider that whatever share their liberty may pretend in the business of their salvation they can do nothing without his grace who said to all his disciples in the person of his Apostles Sine me nihil potest is facere The disciples of S. Augustine who acknowledge the weakness of Nature and the power of Grace are engaged to pray much to depend upon the mercy of God and to cry aloud with the Psalmist to their Divine Redeemer In manibus tua sortes meae but
temptation if it appear more agreeable then the Law of God Therefore when Jesus Christ undertakes our Conversion he infuses into our souls innocent pleasures which are more prevalent then those of sin he unmasks the beauties of vertue he charms us with her allurements and ravisheth our hearts by holy delights that make his Grace victorious Then is it that we resist the temptations of Satan that we contemn the revolts of the flesh and raised above our selves are amazed that such weak enemies have been able heretofore to worst us Then is it that the Martyrs runne to the Faggot that enchaunted with this pleasure that overcomes their spirit they triumph over Devils and Executioners trample upon flames and wilde Beasts and turn the cruelty of tyrants into wonder and admiration Must not the pleasure that charms them be exceeding powerfull when they tumble upon hot burning coals as upon a bed of roses When they swallow down melted lead as most delicious liquours Receive wounds a favours Prefer Prisons before Palaces Gibbets before Thrones and Crowns of Thorns before those of Diamonds Is not this that victorious pleasure that transports maids out of the dwellings of their parents burying them alive in cloysters and changing their inclinations obligeth them to quit gold and silk to put on hair and sackcloth Is it not this innocent pleasure that makes them neglect the advantages of their birth and perswading them that vertue is the beauty of the soul obliges them to despise the charming comeliness of the face Is it not finally this Grace as imperious as agreeable that animates the Religious against themselves that arms their hands to revenge the Son of God whom they have offended and making a just indignation the parent of a holy love obliges them to persecute themselves Let us conclude then from all this Discourse that Grace cannot force man because it is so sweet and that the most prevalent never destroys our liberty because its power consists in gentleness But withall let us confess that she is victorious in all her designs that she finds no resistance in the most obstinate sinners because she charms their wils by pleasures which seem the first fruits of those they shall reap in glory and which make the miserable taste one part of that felicity here the blessed feed upon in Heaven The Eighth DISCOURSE That Effectuall Grace destroyes not Sufficient Grace IF it be a truth that Nature hath some secrets that cannot be discovered that she conceals her vertue when she means to produce a wonder and steals out of the sight of her dearest lovers when she deals in mysteries we need not think it strange that God the Authour of Nature reveals not his designs to all the world and that there are some so profound that his most intimate friends are not acquainted with The Oeconomy of mans salvation is so involv'd that all those that goe about to explain it are in danger to mistake all foundations their reason relies upon in this matter are so infirm that having well discoursed they are obliged to confess their ignorance and adore the wisdome of God that hath reserved to himself the disposall of his creatures Neither indeed doe I pretend to examine his designs nor to penetrate his intentions but to search out the meaning of Saint Augustine and to see in this Discourse whether he believed the order established in the state of Innocence to be so ruined that there remained no footstep of it in the world and whether he judged Effectuall Grace so absolutely necessary that he held Grace sufficient merited by Jesus Christ to be altogether useless Though the sin of Adam hath corrupted the Nature of man though all men are born Delinquents their inclinations irregular and the faculties of their souls weakned yet must we confess with Saint Augustine that this disorder cannot deface the Characters God hath stampt upon his workmanship Reason serves for a Law to Insidels and teacheth them what the Law of Moses taught the Israelites all her lights are not put out and in the midst of that darkness wherein infidelity hath plunged her Nulla est anima quamvis perversa quae tamen ratiocinari potest in cujus conscientia non loquatur Deus quis enim legem naturalē scripsit in cordibus hominum nisi Deus Aug. she retains some knowledge of her Creator The passions that trouble her and the senses that seduce her cannot yet perswade her that the body ought to be her Soveraign neither is there any sinner so brutish but knows that of two parts that compose him the noblest ought to be the most absolute Notwithstanding all the injustice which swarms amongst men it cannot blot out of their souls this maxime that Nature hath engraven there What thou wouldst not have done to thy self doe not to another and had neither Law-givers nor Philosophers forbidden Murders Adulteries there was a Judge within them had made an Edict against both these iniquities So that we may say in their very infidelity they had the first Principles of Religion and Morality and if they discerned not in God the Trinity of Persons they knew at least the Unity of his Essence If all these advantages be the reliques of Original righteousness and the splinters of that great shipwrack where Nature was wholly lost in one man If the seeds of vertues be the steps of the innocence in men and if Conscience that punisheth Criminals be an expression of Divine Justice I am easily perswaded to believe that there remains some assistance for Infidels that sollicites them to the practice of vertue and gives them some thoughts of their salvation in the midst of Paganisme it self Qui est salvator omnium hominum maxime fideliū 1 Tim. 4. For if the Son of God died for all men and hath merited some favours for them which Nature since her prevarication could not hope for without him I doubt not but the Eternall Father inspires them with some good motions to satisfie the desires of his only Son and that those glorious actions they have performed and which according to the judgement of Saint Augustine deserve some commendations are the price of the bloud of that dying sacrifice If they have not faith they had perhaps some glimmerings which as the dawning had something of the brightness of the day something of the obscurity of the night if they wanted charity they have had some supernaturall love which was not strong enough to defend them from self-love and as fear though servile is the gift of God this love though interessed may be the effect of Grace They acted not always according to the motions of Concupiscence Their captiv'd will had some release according to the assistance they received from Heaven Their reason illuminated with a divine light and their will seconded with a supernaturall force resisted some sins and made them more innocent or lesse guilty then others Saint Augustine acknoweldgeth their actions profitable to the
hath not these conditions and though it proceed from a good Principle and respect a lawful End may yet be stiled deficient because according to the Maxime of Aristotle Bonum ex integra Causa malum ex quolibet defectu Aristo an action is bad when it labours under any defect After all this Argumentation I cannot but confess that the graces of Infidels are very rare and if they remain subject to their liberty they will not deliver them from their errours But they are more common among Christians and act more powerfully over their Wills because there they finde less resistance This Proposition is evident according to the principles of S. Augustine because in a thousand places of his Writings he will have Faith teach us to pray and that Supplication obtain that succour that is necessary for the subduing of Concupiscence I know very well that Prayer supposeth Grace that a man must be instructed in the School of the holy Ghost to speak to the Eternal Father but it seems this grace is offered to all the Faithful serving us for a defence in our infirmity and that as in all times our enemies may assault us we may in all times also defend our selves For if the Grace of Prayer were not easie and common it never had been ordained of God for the obtaining of all others and we should have some reason to complain of him that hath obliged us to have recourse to that Asylum if it were not more in out disposal then those things we intreat by means thereof This remedy is as common as it is easie 't is a favour which God refuseth not but to some notorious offenders a man must often have rejected it to be deprived of its assistance and it seems that the soul that is inanimated with habitual Grace hath some right and power to flee to Prayer when dejected with sorrow or assaulted by temptation The hardening of Sinners is another proof of the Truth I endeavour to promote For since according to the doctrine of S. Augustine this punishment is nothing else but the withdrawing of Grace Obdurat Deus non impertiendo gratiam quibus enim non impertitur nec digni sunt nec merentur Aug. we must needs confess that those who are not yet hardned have some grace gently bearing them on to piety which sollicites their consent and not using an absolute power as effectual Grace doth separates them withal from those God hath utterly given over and from those God conducts to heaven by more sure ways and more powerful motions Thence it comes to pass that S. Augustine preaching to his people and letting them see the great danger in despising those good inspirations that come from heaven said that sinners sometimes could not be converted though they had a will to it because they would not do it when they had the power Impius saith this great Doctor dum vult non potest quia dum potuit noluit I know some Divines take that wicked one for Adam who making no use of his grace whereby he had power to act lost it for himself and for all his posterity and say that 't is he S. Augustine speaks of in that passage But whoever shall take good notice of his intention will clearly perceive that he ascends not so high as Paradise that he complains not of the first man onely but of all his children who neglect the power they have to do good and justly are deprived of it for not having made use thereof Otherwise sinners would lay all their faults upon the person of Adam and esteeming themselves more unfortunate then sinful would blame S. Augustine for accusing them to have abused a power they never had But nothing better confirms sufficient grace then our refusing to obey it Experience teacheth us there are Divine sweetnesses which are not always victorious Grace triumphs not continually when it combats sin S. Augustine often found that his ill habits were more prevalent then the invitations of Grace and that his Will like a Needle between two Loadstones quitted the more feeble and innocent pleasure to close with the stronger and more criminal Had Grace been effectual she had not received this shameful repulse her first attempts had gained this sinner and S. Augustine after he had tasted the innocent delights of holy love would not have longed to drink of the muddy waters of Voluptuousness But were all their designes of Grace followed with their effects did this Conqueress of Hearts fight no battels that were not accompanied with victories the Saints whose confessions are as true as they are humble would never accuse themselves for resisting her motions and being untrue to her inspirations For they complain not onely of this habitual opposition which is never lost till they are received into glory and which still subsists in us even then when Grace hath gotten the mastery but they complain of an actual opposition which cannot agree with effectual Grace they acknowledge their resisting the holy Ghost that their soul possest with self-love disputes with the love of God and resenting their weakness conjure heaven to redouble its batteries and to make use of some more powerful grace to bring their rebellious Wills in subjection S. Augustine nor his Interpreters dissent from this opinion for they confess that there are ineffectual Graces which produce indeed some effect in the sinner but convert him not and cannot be rightly stiled victorious because they surmount not unlawful and criminal pleasure which corrupt the Will so that we may say This Grace hath not done all that it pretended to do since fighting against her enemy she was not able to overcome him For though it be usually answered that this Grace is effectual because it always produceth its effect and that it is felt by the sinner in whose soul she begets a pleasure that tickles him but is not fully prevalent because she cannot perfect his conversion nor disengage him from sin Me thinks a man may reply from the principles of S. Augustine that this Grace is not efficacious because not victorious that she rights and is beaten that she carries not the advantage thorowout which she pretended over her enemy and that we cannot imagine that having set upon him her designe was not to subdue him 'T is easie also to prove that this Grace is sufficient because it makes war upon sin endeavours his expulsion and would certainly be accounted rash or indiscreet had she undertaken a designe beyond her power Moreover every one knows that if the sinner had not fortified Concupiscence by his bad habits this Grace had been able to convert him and by its innocent pleasure outvie that criminal sensuality he findes in his iniquity because he hath a minde to take up his dwelling in it To all this I adde the testimony of S. Augustine which ought to be so much the less suspected because taken from two places where he seems more strongly to establish the
his bounty ought to live for his service Thence he concludes that we offer our members as oblations and employ all that we are for the glory of our Redeemer Slaves in the negotiations of the world could not dispose of their actions they acted by order of their Master they took pains for his Interest they got wealth for his profit and as if nature had lost her right in their persons they got children to increase his family Philosophers acknowledge that servitude fals only upon the body that it fetters only the feet and the hands leaving the slaves more free many times in their irons then the Soveraigns upon their Throne Bondage hath no dominion over their wil and with all her rigours cannot extort the least baseness from them if they be generous they dispute their liberty with fortune they preserve in deed what they have lost in appearance they many times command their oppressour and bearing the hearts of Kings in the bodies of slaves are more free and more happy then their Master But the Christian enters by Redemption into a Thraldome which passeth from his body into his soul fetters his heart with his hands triumphs over his liberty without constraining it confiscates all his goods to his Soveraign and despoiling him of all but Nothingness and Sin obligeth him to confess that he owes all the rest to the Liberaility of his Redeemer For the understanding of this Verity which makes one of the foundations of Christianity we must know that though God be the Soveraign of all men he treats not the innocent and the guilty alike He seems to respect the former to refuse them nothing that they desire preventing their wishes and in that happy state wherein Concupiscence had not disordered them he subjected their salvation to their liberty and made them in some sort the disposers or masters of their good fortune Grace is always at the door of their heart this Divine assistance never fails them and God would think he violated the Laws of his Justice had he not given these Innocents all that is necessary for their salvation But he deals far otherwise with Guilty men It seems Sin gives him more right over these wretches then Nothing does and being fallen from their priviledges by their own fault he owes them nothing but punishments He abandons them to their own conduct leaves them in blindness and weakness and as if they were meerly the objects of his anger he sometimes withdraws from them the assistance of his Grace Thus did the Eternal Father deal with men before the mystery of the Incarnation his Son found them in this deplorable condition when he undertook their deliverance they had no right neither to Grace nor Glory and sin that had deprived them of their innocence had confiscated all their apennages Thus we owe our Salvation to our Redemption we hold that of Mercy which heretofore we held of Justice we are saved rather as men enfranchised then free and acknowledging our salvation an effect rather of Grace then our own freedome we ought to renounce the one to give our selves over to the other This conceit carries me insensibly to another which seems only a consequent of this and the coherence they have will not give me leave to divide them Man in the state of Innocence was the master of his actions the uprightness wherein he was created was the cause that God left him to his liberty having no inordinate motions to regulate no wild passions to subdue no unfaithful senses to correct he had need only of a succour to sustain him His will was the principle of his merit and the good works he did proceeded rather from himself then from God Thus his good fortune was in a manner in his own hands he depended more upon Liberty then upon Grace and being the Director of this he might say without vanity that he was the principal Authour of his own salvation Divine Providence obliged him to take the guidance of himself to determine his own actions that he was the master of his fortune and making use of the advantages she had given him the acknowledgement of the victory was due only to his own courage and dexterity But now that he is faln from his Innocence hath lost half his Light and Liberty carries a Tyrant in his very Essentials which subjects him to his Laws he stands in need of a Grace that may deliver him and exercising a dominion over his will may save him by a more humble but surer way then that of Adam He is no longer the Master of his actions nor the Authour of his salvation he must take direction from Jesus Christ learn to deny himself distrust his own abilities and place his hope in that victorious Grace which subjects whose man captivating his understanding by Faith and his will by Love This Oeconomy of God towards the Christian is mixed with Justice and Mercy 't is Justice to take from him the disposall of his person because he used it so ill in the state of Innocence 'T is Justice to submit his Liberty to Grace because when he was the master thereof he neglected to make use of it 'T is Justice to treat him as a Pupil or a Slave not to trust him any more with the government of himself and to employ for his cure a remedy which reproacheth him with his blindness and infirmity 'T is Mercy also to knock off the fetters of a slave to indulge him the true liberty his sin had deprived him of to unite him to God from whom he was estranged to assure his salvation by a Grace which infallibly produceth its effect to sanctifie him in Jesus Christ whereof he is a Member and to give him an occasion to offer himself an Holocaust to God For it is true that self-denial is a parting with all things a sacrifice wherein man immolates his will by obedience a combat wherein he triumphs over himself where he is the vanquisher and the vanquished where he subdues his passions by reason and subjects his reason to grace After this advantage there is none but he may with Justice hope for because he that hath conquered himself may easily conquer all others 'T is a punishment which in hardship and durance disputes with that of Martyrs It is long because it lasts as long as life may take up the best part of an age nor spares the strength of the penitent but to make him suffer more It is rigorous because there is no cruelties a man given over to grace does not exercise upon his person and being witty to invent torments converts all things into corrections For as Saint Gregory the Great saith he suppresseth vanity by the sword of the Word of God he cuts off his head to ingraffe Jesus Christ upon his body he makes all die that he received from the old Adam to make all live that he hath drawn from the new and if he cut not off his arms and his legs he pares
Earth the effects of his bounty they would bring presents and victimes of them that returning his Soveraignty what they had received from his mercy they would sprinkle his Altars with wine load them with fruits and deck them with flowers But there is a question whether to satisfie their piety they would exercise their cruelty upon Animals whether they would butcher those innocent victimes shed their bloud upon the Earth and in that happy state commit murders that they might offer sacrifices Some are of opinion that man living only upon fruits slaughtered no victimes that having not as yet deserved death he would not make them bear the punishment of his sin and being content to offer their Wool or their Milk he honoured God and did not deprive them of life Others conceive they slew these innocent Beasts not to pacifie the Justice of God who was not as yet offended but to adore his Soveraignty and publickly to profess that expecting no sin he might binde Man over to death and require it of him not as a Punishment but as a Sacrifice The Scripture seems to favour this opinion and the skins wherewith our first parents were cloathed after their transgression make us suspect they had sacrificed some Animals during the state of Innocence and that the Supremacie of the Almighty imitating his Justice was content that Man sacrificed them in stead of himself But not to engage in the search of a Truth which lies buried in darkness and oblivion 't is enough to know that Sacrifice is a publike acknowledgement of Gods Soveraign power and that this was the first motive that invited Man to offer him Oblations The second is taken from his Holiness Sanctum terribile nomen ejus Psal 110. which is one of the noblest and least known of all his perfections The Scripture never speaks of it but with respect and mixing admiration always with this attribute teacheth us that we are to magnifie it rather by our silence then by our words The Angels in their eternal Hallelujahs are taken up onely with this adorable perfection They forget as it were his Power that drew them out of Nothing his Providence that guided them while they walked in the way of Merit his Mercy that fortified them in their conflict his Justice that crowned them in the victory to think onely upon his Holiness Sanctus sanctus sanctus Dominus Deus exercituum Isa 6. which unites them to the Supreme Good and separates them from all things else Indeed it is the Seat of the Almighty and if it be true according to the opinion of the Fathers that his Essence was his Habitation we may say that his Holiness is his Throne and place of rest For all the other perfections more sollicitous after our advantage then his glory oblige him to apply himself to our necessities His Power marcheth forth to seek us in the Abysses of Non-entity his Mercy delivers us from our Miseries his Goodness pardons our Offences and if his Justice that punisheth us seem to espouse his interests it presently forgets them because having revenged them it studies to recompense our deservings But Holiness Sanctitas est ab omni inquinatione libera incontaminatissima perfectissima puritas Dionys Requievit ab operibus non in operibus suis in se enim Deus requiescit it studies to recompense our deservings But Holiness more zealous for the Glory of God then the Salvation of Man separates him from all things shuts him up in himself and surrounds him with such a brightness of Majestie that his Creatures dare not approach unto him He rests in this ever-to-be-worshipped Throne more holily then in those blessed spirits who borrowing their name from their properties or from their offices are called the living Thrones of the Divine Essence Sacrifices then are immolated upon Altars to adore this ineffable Perfection They perish by the knife or by the flame to testifie that God is not at all fastned to his Creatures that the noblest are unworthy to come into his presence and that approaching before him he must destroy them because there is nothing deserves to be offered up unto him 'T was in this humble and true sense of the Divine Majestie that the most innocent of all Sacrifices bowed his head and gave up the ghost In this apprehension that Jesus Christ adoring the dereliction of his Father acknowledged that as his Victim he was to be forsaken though as his Son he remained inseparable nor that it was just for God to go out of his rest to deliver him from his sorrows or to avenge him of his enemies Tu autem in sancto habitas laus Israel But because we cannot speak much of a Perfection whose Greatness amazeth us and the lustre whereof dazzles us we pass to the Fulness of God which is the Third Motive of our duty of Sacrifice Sadai appellatur Deus ab Hebraeis hoc est sibi sufficiens God is so Immense that by a glorious Impotency he can do nothing which is not useless in respect of Himself Whatever he produceth out of his Essence is unworthy of his employment Inasmuch as he findes his happiness in himself he stands not in need of our Magnificats and seeing his felicity supplies him with inexhaustible riches he hath no need of our Presents he possesseth all things in a transcendent eminency and they are much nobler in him then in themselves Omnis pulchritudo agri mecū est ubertas omnium in terra gignentium mecum est cum illo sunt omnia cognitione quaedam ineffabilis sapientia Dei in verbo constituta Aug. in Ps 49. The Flowers are immortal in God the Fields are always cloathed with a springing fertility the Trees never lose their fruit the Seasons are never irregular the Elements jar not in him there men live for ever and all Creatures subsist in their perfections without any mixture of deficiency Thence it comes to pass that we deliver up Victims to the knife and consume them in the fire to publish aloud that we pretend not to enrich him that possesseth all things and who would not be God did he stand in need of our Oblations Dixi Domino Deus meus es tu quoniam bonorum meorum non eges Therefore in the very state of Innocence they poured out the Liquors that were offered they burnt the Fruits that were presented and striving to annihilate them proclaimed openly that they were no way profitable to him But since sin hath robbed us of original righteousness we were obliged to joyn offended Justice to these three Perfections and to offer Sacrifice to him to pacifie his Fury For inasmuch as he is chiefly busied to revenge his neglected slighted Mercy that 't is this that laid the foundations of hell made deluges over-flow shakes the earth till it tremble we have endeavoured to appease this incensed attribute by our homages Knowing that Death is one of the highest vengeances he takes we
make use of it in Sacrifice and laying the punishment we our selves deserve upon the Creature we do our utmost to avoid his indignation by an invention his own mercy hath taught us Et viles animas pro meliore damus Ovi Fast Thence it is that those people who have lost the true Religion have not left off to continue Sacrifice and instructed either by Tradition or Nature they have laboured to appease the gods they worship by the slaughter of Victims Apud Aegyptios victimae inurchantur sigillo quodam in quo effigies erat servi seipsū gladio confodientis Plut. in Isid Osy By that Ceremony they acknowledged themselves worthy of death and at the same time they went about to satisfie Justice they confessed that his Mercy suffered them to transfer the punishment due to their offences upon the Beast and to immolate innocent Animals in stead of guilty Men. The Egyptians who had more dealing with the Jews give testimony they were of the same minde when they stampt upon the Victim the picture of a Slave stabbing himself to inform all the world that the Justice of God sparing the Man gave them leave to sacrifice the Beast in his place and in a manner to charge him with his sin and his punishment 'T is true that as Oblations were not considerable among the Jews but because they were the Figures and Types of Jesus Christ Huic summo veroque sacrificio cuncta falsa sacrificia cesserunt Aug. it was thought requisite that in the fulness of time he should accomplish the Truth and that he might perfectly honour all the perfections of his Father should himself be sacrificed upon the Altar of the Cross The Eighth DISCOURSE That the Christian stood in need that the Son of God should offer for him the Sacrifice of the Cross and of the Altar IT is a strange Paradox but very true that Sin which obligeth Man to sacrifice himself deprives him of the power to do it Animantia minus ingrata Deo quia minus infecta peccato Philo Jud. and reduceth him to a condition where not being able to finde a Victim in himself he is driven to seek for one among the Creatures This shameful necessity discovered not to him onely the Goodness of God who was content that Beasts should be offered up in stead of Men but it upbraided him with his unworthiness and made him wofully resent that being able to offend his Creator he could by no means make him satisfaction Having imprinted this truth in his minde and for many Generations reading him this lesson that he that pretended to equal the Almighty was in a worse condition then the Beasts in process of time it was demonstrated to him that his crime was too great to be expiated by the blood of Goats or Lambs and that his excess required a Sacrifice whose merit was Infinite Indeed that a Sacrifice might be acceptable to God it must have those qualities which are found neither in Angels nor Men nor Beasts For it must be Innocent and no way obnoxious to that evil whereof it is to be the remedy It must be Reasonable to treat with God and to speak in behalf of them whose place he appears in It must be mortal that it may undergo the punishment sin hath deserved and thereby satisfie the Divine Justice But above all its merit must of necessity be Infinite that being equal to the malice of sin the honour of God may have full reparation and the debt of man an entire compleat acquittance De Adaestirpe nullus propagari poterat naturaliter qui illius delicto non teneretur adstrictus Aug. The Angel had two of these conditions he was Reasonable and Innocent but being Immortal and Finite by nature he could neither die nor satisfie Man was Reasonable and Mortal the one he owed to his Sin the other to his Constitution but having lost his Innocence he could neither Satisfie nor Merit The Beast more happie in some sort then Man was Mortal and Innocent but having not the use of Reason his death was unprofitable nor could his sacrifice reconcile us to God Therefore did the Eternal Word contrive to be Incarnate that uniting the Divine Nature with the Humane in his Person there might come forth a Divine Compositum which being God and Man both together might possess all the qualities requisite to accomplish the work of our Salvation He was Mortal because he was Man and had assumed our Nature with its imperfections the appurtenances of sin He was Innocent because he subsisted in the person of the Word which managed his Will without constraining it and by a happie necessity made him absolutely impeccable He was Reasonable inasmuch as having taken our imperfections he withal took our advantages and by a priviledge due to his Greatness the use of Reason was indulged him with life that from the first moment of his conception he might honour his Father and satisfie for sinners His Merit was as his Person Infinite and the actions that were performed by this God-Man were Meritorious because Humane and on the other fide Infinite because Divine Thus the Word Incarnate became the Sacrifice of God and Men and entering into our duties paid what we stood bound for to the Justice of his Father he suffered what our sins deserved and delivered us from those punishments our sentence condemned us to But being the Substance of all the Shadows of the Old Testament and by his acquitting us being obliged to fulfil all the Figures thereof he offered up himself to the Eternal Father by a double Sacrifice that one seconding the other the Christians might render as much honour to God as the Jews For the Synagogue had four kindes of Sacrifices The First was the Holocaust which respected the glory of God wherein the Victim was wholly consumed by the fire The Second was an Atonement for sin where the Oblation being parted between God and his Ministers one part was burnt in the fire and the other remained to the Priest for his nourishment The Third and Fourth were called Peace-offerings with this distinction that the one was made to obtain some favour of God or to give him thanks for what was already received the other to acquit the offerer of his promises and to accomplish those vows he stood engaged to God for In these two last Sacrifices the Victim was divided into Three parts The First was consecrated to God the Second designed to the Priest and the Third left to the Faithful Therefore hath the Son of God joyned the Sacrifice of the Cross with that of the Altar to accomplish all those of the Old Law Upon the Cross he offered up himself an Holocaust to his Father where being destroyed by death he rose from the Grave to be consummated in Glory and to be received into the bosom of his Father from whence he came forth by the Mystery of the Incarnation But because in the Oblation
where the Sacrifice is wholly reduced into God men have no part he was pleased to institute another in his Church where giving himself wholly to his Father Hujus sacrificii caro sanguis ante adventum Christi per Victimas similitudinum promittebatur in Passione Christi per ipsam veritatem reddebatur post ascensum Christi per Sacramentum memoriae celebratur Aug. lib 20. cont Faust and to the Faithful he compleated with advantage the sacrifices of the Old Testament For he is there after such a wonderful manner that without being divided he enters equally into the bosome of his Father and into the heart of his Ministers every one possesseth him entirely and this communion is so perfect that none are excluded but those that will have no part in it But for the better understanding of a truth which is one of the principal Articles of our Faith and to resolve the difficulties Heresie opposeth against these two sacrifices we must know that both of them make up but one and that one without the other would be utterly unprofitable For the Scripture teacheth us that to the perfection of a sacrifice Si autem habuerit maculaÌ„ vel claudum fuerit vel coecum aut in aliqua parte deforme vel debile non immolabitur Deo Deut. 15. there are required five parts The first is the sanctification of the Victime which consisted in four things The first was its perfection which excluded all blemishes because they are the marks and punishments of sin whence it was that the Law in express terms enjoyned that nothing should be offered to God that was not perfect The second was a supernatural sanctification which elevated the sacrifice above it self and which being stampt upon it by Divine Authority disingaged it from the dominion of man and destin'd it for the Altar The third was separation which consecrated it to God and suffered it no longer to be employed to any profane use The last was the obligation to death Haecomnia patent ex libris Exo. Levi. Vbi de hâ—stia dicitur quod sanctificabitur scparabitur Domino as a thing dedicated to God and which ought to perish for his glory The second part of the sacrifice was the oblation of the Victime where according to the form prescribed in the Law or taught by Tradition it was actually offered to God and began to appertain to him by a new right greater then that of sanctification The third was the death or killing of the Victime which though the most sensible part of the sacrifice was not yet the principall because it was performed by the Levites and not by the Priests in the Court of the Temple and not in the place next the Sanctuary The fourth was the consummation of the sacrifice which was devoured by the flame that the smoak ascending up into Heaven God might partake of the oblation as the Scripture testifieth in those words Odoratus est Dominus sacrificium and that which seems to have given some colour to the false opinion of the Heathen who imagined that God was nourished with the fume of the offerings The fifth was the communion of the Victime which as we have already observed was sometimes wholly devoted to God sometimes was divided between God the Priest and the people But inasmuch as these sacrifices were but the types and shadows of that which Jesus Christ was to offer to his Father he did not partake of it but in a figure by means of fire which in the belief of the world was accounted the noblest representatation of the Divinity Deus noster Ignis consumens est as for the people and the Priest they communicated really and received the sacrifice into their mouth to disgest it in their stomach If Jesus Christ be the accomplishment of the Law his Sacrifice must necessarily comprehend all these parts and we must find on the Altar what we do not find on the Crosse His sanctification is fully evident for besides that he is the first-born and in that consideration is holy we know that he is the work of the Holy Ghost that his Father is God that his Mother is a Virgin and that his Conception is altogether Immaculate But his Divine Person is his principal sanctification and if other sacrifices be sanctified by some transient words this is consecrated by the Eternal and Divine Word The same Unction that made him Priest made him the Victime and dedicated him by a double title to the service of the Altar His oblation began in the womb of the Blessed Virgin continued in the Temple and during his life and was at last finished upon the Crosse In the womb of his mother he offered himself in spirit according to the meaning of Saint Paul and explaining his mind in the words of the Prophet he protests that he took a body only to be immolated to his Father In the Temple he was presented by the hands of the Virgin and received by Simeon who penetrating the design of Jesus Christ and his mother answers their intentions and instructs her in the mystery of the Cross whereof this oblation was the prologue During his life he continued to offer up himself to his Father as an innocent Victime till upon the Crosse he acquitted himself of his promises and satisfied his obligations Obtulit se immaculatum Deo per Spiritum Sanctum His death appeared upon Mount Calvary where making use of the cruelty of the Jews of the treason of Judas and of the rage of the Executioners he was offered up for our salvation But because it is not the principal part of the sacrifice which is not compleat if the Victime be not consummated it was requisite that the Resurrection should finish what Death began Indeed the Resurrection of the Son of God is his consummation 't is in this mystery that Glory swallowed up what Death had left that he parts with whatever remained of perishable that he enters into that Majesty which is due to his Birth that he is reduced to God and received into the bosome of his Father his lawful and natural habitation This is the mystery to which Saint Paul attributes the perfection of our salvation because it is the Crown of the Sacrifice of Jesus Christ Therefore discoursing of what we owe his Death and his Glory he saith Mortuus est propter peccata nostra resurrexit propter justificationem nostram where he assigns the principal effect of our salvation not to the Passion but to the Resurrection of Jesus Christ There it is in a word that Jesus is perfected that his work is accomplished where he is happily consummated where the Divine Essence having the same operation in him that the fire had in the sacrifice he is despoiled of our infirmities and invested with all the glories of his Father Inasmuch as the life of a Christian is a sacrifice which honours that of the Word Incarnate it is not terminated so much by Death as
Hebrews that they crucified again the Son of God and that contrary to his intention and that of his Church they would make him die twice in their person who died but once in his own Rursum crucifigentes sibimet ipsis Filium Dei ostentui habentes But inasmuch as the Sacrifice of the Altar is a Sacrifice of Religion it must of necessity be repeated and for the continual honouring of the Eternal Father must continually be immolated in our Temples Therefore is it that the Synagogue which was the Figure of the Church had some Sacrifices which were offered but once every yeer nor had been offered but once at all had they had the merit and value of that of the Cross But there were others offered every day which the Scripture for this reason calls Juge Sacrificium The Church which hath not less piety then the Synagogue imitates and outgoes it in this point because it offers a daily Sacrifice and never changeth the Victim For 't is always the same body she produceth and immolateth that satisfying her love she may render an honour to God which ends not but with the world Her Beloved who hath inspired her with this desire hath given her the means to put it in execution she acts by the vertue received from him she repeats his words to repeat his miracles she produceth upon the Altars him that produced her upon the Cross she becomes the mother of him whose daughter she is and by a happie exchange conceives in her chaste womb him that heretofore conceived her in his wounds Thus this Sacrifice of Love is repeated every day and the Victim being incessantly produced by the Priest the Eternal Father is continually honoured The second difference is that the Sacrifice of the Cross is General and that of the Altar Particular Upon the Cross the Son of God was offered up for the salvation of all men his love is extended over all the Nations of the earth he excludes no Condition from this universal benefit he looks upon the Gentiles together with the Jews he mingles the Guilty with the Innocent and making no distinction of persons dies as well for Slaves as for those that are Free Ne existimes pro illa tantummodo gente hanc hostiam offerri propterea extra muros extra civitatem occiditur ut intelligas quoniam communis est hostia pro humano genere oblata Aug. and for the Poor as well as for the Rich. Therefore neither was this Sacrifice offered in the Temple nor in the City of Jerusalem that all people might know this favour was not particular and the most desperately-wicked might pretend to it since the first that felt the effect thereof were Theeves and Murtherers But the Sacrifice of the Altar is particular being instituted in the Church it relates onely to the Faithful its Merit though infinite reacheth not to strangers excommunicated persons are banished from it neither are the Catechumeni admitted The wedding-garment is requisite for those that are received and being a Feast as well as a Sacrifice they must be the Friends of the Bridegroom that are partakers of it But the third and most notable difference is that upon the Cross the Sacrifice was blended with Sacriledge whereas upon the Altar it is altogether pure attended with nothing that makes it not acceptable to God It is one of the Miracles of Providence to make wicked instruments serviceable to its designes and to employ their very malice to the execution of its will and intendments Joseph ows his Greatness to the Hatred of his Brethren and their ill disposition well husbanded by the conduct of heaven made him sit upon the Throne of Egypt That prodigie of Patience whose example comforts all that are miserable is glorious by his very detriment and had not the devil been permitted to afflict him he would not be the wonder and astonishment of all the Righteous The Martyrs were not admired by Christians but because they were persecuted by Tyrants and had they not given proofs of their courage in the Conflict they never had triumphed with Jesus Christ in Glory But that which most astonisheth me is that the very Passion of the Son of God was not effected but by the malice of men and devils this Sacrifice is accompanied with a Sacriledge and the holiest action of the world is shrowded under the appearance of a murder In respect of the Son of God there is nothing more sacred then his death 't is the most illustrious testimony of his Obedience the last office of his Piety the greatest expression of his Love and the most memorable action of his Life There is no Creature that is not beholding to him for it Men owe him their Salvation the Angels their Crowns the Elements their Deliverance the Earth her Purity and Heaven its Ornament and Glory If we consider this Death in respect of the Jews we want words to express the horrour thereof with It was the most unjust Sentence that ever was pronounced the most shameful ignominious punishment that an Innocent ever suffered the most execrable attempt that ever was projected by Rebellious Subjects in a word the most abominable Parricide that ever was committed by unnatural Children Comparing the motive of the Jews with that of Jesus Christ we cannot say whether God was more honoured or more offended upon Mount Calvary nor whether Nature conceived more horrour or compassion at the Tragedie The Eternal Father was abundantly satisfied Ibi Deus per malos quidem sed tamen ipse bonus per injustos sed justus juste ita in eos vindicavit ut perimerentur multa hominum millia ipsa civitas everteretur Aug. in Psal 73. because in consideration thereof he forgat his injuries and our sins and consented that his enemies should become his heirs But on the other side he was mightily offended because he discharged his wrath upon Judea armed the Romanes against the Jews sackt Jerusalem and his Temple and his just indignation not satisfied with so many miseries persecutes to this day that vagabond and criminal Nation Nature imitates the minde of her Author all her parts testified their Anger and their Pity The Earth trembled to swallow up the executioners in her fearful abysses the Rocks clave asunder with grief the Stars sunk into the Firmament that they might not be the witnesses of this Parricide the Sun was eclipsed that it might not enlighten such prodigious wickedness and whole Nature being not able to destroy them endeavoured to die with her God that died for her Thus Sacriledge was mixed with the Sacrifice of the Cross the Father was Oftended even whilst he was Satisfied and the whole world was scandalized by the crime of the Jews at the same time when it was purified by the Blood of Jesus Christ But Sanctity is altogether spotless upon our Altars there appears not that Medley which makes a confused mixture of Love and Hatred in our hearts and the
Sacrifice that is offered is no longer a Sacriledge to be detested It is not Cruelty that makes Jesus Christ die but Piety 'T is no longer a Crime but an act of Religion to immolate him neither is he offered by the hands of Executioners but of Priests The Father receives this Sacrifice with Pleasure without Indignation the Son presents himself with Affection free from Sorrow Nature beholds it with Respect and no Horrour and Men partake of it Profitably and without Sin The fourth and last difference is that the Sacrifice of the Cross merits all and applies nothing and contrarily that of the Altar merits nothing and applies all For the comprehending of this Truth we must know that General Causes are the sources of all things nothing is produced here belowe that flows not from their fecundity the very operation of Particular Causes is an emanation of their vertue Did the Sun cease to shine all things of the world would not onely cease to act but also to subsist this goodly Star maintains them with its aspects and though he be not their Creator he is in some sort their Preserver But though he equally shed heat and light over all Creatures yet must we confess some receive his influences more favourably and apply them more faithfully With the Clouds he forms those Meteors which pleasantly ravish the eyes of the beholders with dew he enamels the Flowers which serve for an ornament to our Gardens with the Earth he produceth Gold and Iron which Avarice and Cruelty employed to a hundred different uses But did not these Causes that apply his power weaken his vertue and were there a Sun here belowe to receive his influences without confining them all the world are of opinion he would produce far nobler effects Virtus Causae generalis recipitur à causa particulari secundum suam agendi capacitatem D. Tho. and that in stead of Roses and Lilies we should see nothing but Stars in our Walks and Gardens But because he cannot act alone and the Causes that apply him debilitate his power we behold nothing here belowe answerable either to his excellency or beauty What we see in Nature we believe in Grace General Causes produce all but apply nothing Particular Causes produce nothing but apply all The death of Jesus Christ is the Spring-head of all Merit the Faithful can hope for nothing which is not acquired by that Sacrifice Heaven is not so much the recompence of their Vertue as of its Value and if the quality of Members which ties them to Jesus Christ as to their Head did not give them part in his merits they could not pretend to the inheritance of heaven In the mean time so powerful a Cause produceth nothing if not applied this fruitful Fountain sends forth no streams if there be no Chanels disposed to receive them Mors Christi Fons omnium bonorum Sacramenta vero Rivuli and this Star which darts forth so much heat and light makes neither flowers nor fruit grow up in the Church if there be not some secondary cause which conveys its vertue to us Therefore hath the Son of God instituted Sacraments in his Church which happily apply whatever he hath liberally merited for us upon the Cross They are so many Pipes issuing his blood into our hearts so many Suns carrying their influences into our souls but they have this unhappiness in applying his merits they weaken them and not being capable of receiving all his vertue neither have they the power of communicating it to us Every Sacrament operates in us according to its particular condition Baptism gives us our new birth Sacramenta novae legis representant passionē Christi à qua fluxerunt sicut effectus representant causam Hugo à Sancto Victor Confirmation strengthens us Repentance raiseth us Ordination designes us to the service of the Altar and being second causes they limit the vertue of this universal cause which they apply unto us But the Sacrifice of the Altar more happie and more powerful then the rest applies the merits of the Cross without any limitation It procures us all kinde of Graces hath the power to produce and raise us gives us life and strength unites us to God and takes us off from the world weakens concupiscence and sin and the Son of God finding himself applied by himself there are no wonderful effects which he cannot give a product to There he merits nothing because he is at the end of his Course in the place of his Rest and in the time of his Recompence But he applies all because being equal to himself he hath gained nothing by the Sacrifice of the Cross which he cannot communicate by the Sacrifice of the Altar Nothing can hinder his divine operations but our Weakness or our Malice for as he acts with Free causes without constraining them we must lend him our Will for our Sanctification that making him Master of our hearts we may in some sort assist him to raign absolutely in his State and prepare our selves worthily to receive at the Altar those Graces he hath merited for us upon the Cross The Tenth DISCOURSE Of the Obligation the Christian hath to sacrifice himself to God SInce the Son of God hath united in his person the Humane Nature with the Divine Deus erat homo factus est suscepit humanitatē non amisit divinitatem factus humilis mansit sublimis natus est homo non destitit esse Deus Aug. lib. de quinq haeres cap. 5. and mastering the difficulties which stood in opposition to the execution of so great a design hath effected this admirable Master-piece which accords baseness with greatness misery with happiness it seems he hath taken pleasure to conjoin in his person all those qualities which clash in others so that we may say he hath pacified all the differences that were in Heaven and in Earth Indeed he is the Father and the Son of the Church he produced her upon the Cross and is produced by her upon the Altar He is the Son and the Servant of his Father he associates two qualities which appear incompatible in men and tempering respect with love teacheth us that Gods being his Father hinders him not from being his Soveraign He is our Advocate and our Judge having pleaded our cause he pronounceth our sentence and I know not whether it be a ground of fear or of confidence in that we are assured that he that is entred into our obligations is admitted also into the rights of his Father and that one day he will punish those for whom he hath satisfied upon the Cross But if there be any qualities whose alliance ravisheth us in the person of Jesus Christ we must confess 't is that of Priest and Sacrifice These two are so different among men that nothing but a supream power or an extream love could unite them together When the Synagogue would represent us with the Sacrifice of the Son of God
in that of Isaac it was obliged to separate the Priest from the Victime and to arm the hands of the Father to immolate his only Son In the mean time Jesus Christ unites them in his person and in this adorable Sacrifice which he offers to his Father whether on the Cross or on the Altar he is both the Priest that consecrateth and the Victime that is immolated Inasmuch as Jesus Christ saith Saint Augustine is our God and our Temple he is also our Sacrifice and our Priest He is the Priest that reconciles us he is the Sacrifice whereby we are reconciled and the same Doctor admiring the novelties of the sacrifice of the Cross expresseth his wonder by these words The Altar of the Sacrifice is new because the Immolation is new and admirable For he that is the Sacrifice is the Priest the Sacrifice according to the Flesh the Priest according to the Spirit and both according to his Humanity He that offereth and he that is offered is one and the same person and these qualities which have so little analogy are found united in the sacrifice of the Cross Inasmuch as the Christian is the Image of Jesus Christ and this glorious title obligeth him to transcribe his original he ought to sacrifice himself as he did and to be both the Priest and the Oblation together Indeed if we descend into the Mysteries of our Religion and consider with the eye of Faith what we are not able to discover with the light of reason we shall find that we are immolated upon the Altar with the Son of God and that after his example we are both the sacrificers and the sacrifice For Jesus Christ is not offered all alone in our Temples he is immolated by the hands of the Priests and at the same time that he offers his natural body to his Father he offers also his mystical body so that offering himself to his Father by his Church and offering his Church together with himself he teacheth all the Faithful to joyn the quality of Priests with that of Victimes This is it that Saint Augustine informs us of in his Book De Civitate Dei Per hoc sacerdos est ipse offerens ipse oblatio cujus rei Sacramentum quotidianū esse voluit Ecclesiae sacrificiū quae cum ipsius capitis corpus sit seipsam per ipsū discit offerre Aug. lib. 10. de Civit. ca. 6. where searching into our mysteries he finds that the Church offers her self with her Beloved upon our Altars and that in the same sacrifice she is both Priestess and Oblation His words are too elegant to be omitted neither must it be a less Doctor then he that must appear that Protector of so important a Verity 'T is particularly saith he in unity that the sacrifice of Christians consists where being many in number we make up but one body with Jesus Christ this is it that the Church daily does in this Sacrament which is so well known to the Faithfull wherein is demonstrated that in the Oblation she offers she her self is offered that after the example of her Beloved she may be in the same sacrifice Priestess and Victime From this passage may easily be inferred that the Faithful are offered with Christ upon the Altar that the Host that contains him is large enough to contain all his members and that his mysticall body being immolated with his natural body he obligeth all Christians to associate as he doth the quality of Victime with that of a Priest But if leaving the Altar we consider the Faithful in the course of their life we shall see there is none but ought to sacrifice himself and who either in his body or in his soul may not find Victimes to offer to God There is no more need of providing Buls or Goats with the Jews to lay upon our Altars The time of the Mosaical Law is past truths have succeeded figures and if we rightly understand the secret of our mysteries Noli extrinsecus thura comparare sed dic In me sunt Deus vota tua noli extrinsecus pecus quod mactes inquirere habes in te quod occidas Aug. in Psal 51. it becomes us to offer those things these Animals represent We have whereof to sacrifice within our selves there is not any passion in our soul nor part in our body whereof we may not make an innocent Victime Indeed Christian Religion converting the sinner into a sacrifice obligeth him to immolate to God all that he is He is deficient in the lawfullest of his duties if his whole life be not a sacrifice and being compounded of soul and body he ought to sacrifice both that he may have the honour to be a perfect Holocaust The vertues are auxiliaries which facilitate these means and it seems these glorious habits are given us for no other end then to teach us to sacrifice to God all the faculties of our soul Inasmuch as the will is the noblest and this Soveraign being once perfectly gained over to God gives him an absolute dominion over all the rest there are some vertues which have no other employment but to be made victimes Sorrow which discovers to man the excess of his crime labours to convert him it bruiseth his heart by the violence of a holy contrition and if it cannot draw bloud from this sacrifice it draws tears which are more acceptable to God then the bloud of beasts This made David say that the spirit broken and afflicted was a true sacrifice and that he who sometimes refuseth Goats and Lambs never despiseth a heart that Repentance and Humility offers up unto him Sacrificium Deo spiritus contribulatus Obedience comes in to the succour of grief this beats down the pride of the will masters that imperious faculty and changing her triumph into a sacrifice obligeth her to die to her own inclinations that she may live to those of the Grace of Jesus Christ But love happily finisheth this design he burns the victime with his flames to render it an Holocaust and finding the means to put to death an immortall power teacheth us that a pure spirit may offer sacrifices to God For there is no lover but knows that love imitates death that he commits innocent murders and by stratagems which himself is only privy to makes sin die in us that Grace may live If the will become a Victim by means of Charity the understanding is offered up to God by the intervening of faith This vertue subjects it to her Empire perswades truths she explicates not she obligeth a man to suspend his judgement to renounce his reason and to give his senses the lye she engageth him to offer as many sacrifices as she propounds mysteries and by a power which would seem tyrannical were it not legitimate forbids him the use of reasoning in matters of religion The memory after the example of the understanding is immolated to God by remembrance and forgetfulness These two
Vanity but such as imprint Characters or produce effects in their souls they are as solid as glorious they raise men up to heaven make them heirs of the Eternal Father and brethren of his onely Son Their greatness depends not upon the opinion of people though they are unknown they are notwithstanding honourable sometimes Contempt augments their reputation and the less splendor they bear amongst men the more respect they finde with God Therefore I should betray the honour of the Christian if having spoken of his Vertues I should not speak of his Qualities and having described his Labours and his Sacrifices I should say nothing of his Rewards and Recompences True it is that as the parts of this work are mutually interwoven and the remotest have secret links that unite them all together in speaking of the Christians Birth I have handled his Noblest Qualities and have made it appear that he was the Brother and the Member of Jesus Christ that he was the adopted Son of the Eternal Father and the living Temple of the holy Ghost In making the Elogie of his Vertues I shewed that Faith made him a Believer Charity a Lover Austerity of life a Penitent so that having already spoken of these advantages there remains onely to supply what is behinde to compleat his Portraicture which I cannot better begin then in demonstrating in this Discourse that the Christian is the Image of Jesus Christ For the happier explaining of this Verity we must know that the Word is the Image of his Father the Character of his Substance Qui videt me videt Patrē Joan. 14. the Express of his Greatness He gives himself this Title in the Gospel and teacheth his Disciples that in seeing Him they see his Father in his person Our Divines abound with Reasons of this Assertion to prove that this Elogie is not unworthy of the Eternal Word and that his being the lively Image of his Father no way hinders his being equal with him But not to trouble my self in the proof of a Truth Faith obligeth us to believe it is enough with the great S. Athanasius to let you see that this Divine Image hath none of those defects which are inseparably incident to those of our Carvers and Painters for Existimavit Philo Judaeus prohibitas esse à Deo picturas quia sunt mendacia the most exact Pieces that come from their hands are false because they are not that which they represent nor can all the industry of Art make them other then agreeable Illusions Though they are Lyers yet are they mute painting cannot make them speak and the highest commendation can be given them is to say that nothing but Speech is wanting to them Lastly they are dead Art less powerful then Nature cannot inanimate them what ever dexterity it useth it cannot enliven them they are children that expire in their very birth and could they speak would complain of the rigour of their Parents who in stead of making them Men have made them onely Idols Now this Image that so lively represents the Eternal Father hath none of these imperfections It is very far from a Lye because it is so conformable to its Original that 't is as well his Truth as his Copie It is not dumb because it is the Interpreter of the Father his Eternal Panegyrick his subsisting Word all whose works are so many expressions chanting forth the praises of their Authour It is not dead because it is the Fountain of Life wherein the Creatures before their birth and after their death live and by a perpetual Miracle enlivens all those works it hath produced Imago ista non falsa est quia Veritas non muta quia Verbum non mortua quia Vita Lib. de Incar Verb. This is it which S. Athanasius saith with as much pomp of Eloquence as Learning and Piety This Image is not mute because it is the Word not false because it is the Truth not dead because it is Life This same Son who is the Image of his Father is by a necessary consequence the Idea of all the Creatures they are all formed after this Divine Examplar and according as they more or less participate of his likeness they are more or less noble in their nature Men and Angels have no advantage above the rest but because they are the Transcripts of this Idea and others at most but the Footsteps thereof The Scripture teacheth us that Man was formed after this primitive Image that he was made after the similitude thereof and that in the very Creation he belonged not to the Father but by the mediation of the Son This Greatness was the occasion of his Fall for sollicited by the devil he was not content to be the Image of the Word but would also be that of the Father and pronounce these words which are onely true in the mouth of the Son Ego sum similis Altissimo This Crime was the cause of his disaster the Father to revenge his Son drove this Insolent that had encroached upon his rights out of Paradise and reduced Him to the condition of Beasts who had impudently aspired to the equality of his Word So great a misfortune had utterly ruined us without any hope of recovery had not the Son of God who was the Innocent occasion been also the Charitable remedy For seeing that men were become guilty in striving to imitate him that to revenge Him his Father had destroyed Them he resolved saith S. Bernard Per me Pater recipiat quos propter me amisisse videtur ecce venio talem me eis exhibebo ut quisquis gesticrit imitari fiat ei aemulatio in bonum Bern. to put himself in a condition wherein he may be securely imitated and where the desire of being like him being no longer a Crime is become a means to arrive to happiness He was made Man to serve for an Example to Man he submitted himself to his Father to teach them obedience he was abased to the shame of the Cross to teach them Humility and he forgave his Executioners their putting him to death to oblige them to pardon their enemies Therefore is it that S. Paul discovering the secrets of Predestination saith that his designe is to render the Elect conformable to his Image and to bestow Graces upon them which satisfying their desires may make them without committing a fault like his onely Son For this reason Tertullian says that the same Eternal Father forming the body of the First man at the Creation of the world Quodcunque limus exprimebatur Christus cogitabatur homo futurus Tert. de resurrect carn was taken up with Jesus Christ that the Slime represented him the Incarnation of his Word and that foreseeing the sin of Adam he already provided him a remedy It is true then that the Christian is the Image of the Son of God that Nature and Grace obligeth him to imitate this Pattern and that his perfection consists in
Son of God he ought to breath only after his honour to act for his service to speak for his glory and as a Criminal whom the Prince hath pardoned remains a living monument of his clemency so a Christian whom Jesus Christ hath redeemed is an inanimated picture of his mercy nor ought to have any other design then by the lustre of his actions to manifest the goodnesse of his Divine Redeemer The Second DISCOURSE That the Christian is a Priest and a Sacrifice LOve hath made the Son of God so liberal that he possesseth no qualities which he communicates not to the Christians If he be God by his Essence we are by his Grace if he be the Son of God by Nature we are by Adoption if he produce the holy Spirit from all Eternity we produce him in Time if he confer Grace in the state of his Father we confer it in his if he be Priest and Victim in his Sacrifice we partake these two qualities with him and the Church bears no Christians in her womb who may not boast that in some sort they are both Priests and Victims Gens sancta regale sacerdodotium 1. Pet. 2. The Scripture gives them this honourable title by the mouth of S. Peter the Saints glory in the Apocalypse that the Grace of Baptism hath made them Priests and Kings Fecisti nos regnum sacerdotes Deo Patri so that we cannot question this title as not belonging to the Christian unlesse we question the Authority of the Scripture nor can we doubt that the Son of God hath honoured them with this Character but we must withall doubt of his love or of his power Indeed the Fathers of the Church have professed that the Christians were Priests that their Baptism was their Priesthood Sacerdotium Laico um Baptisma Hieron and that in this Sacrament which separates them from the world they were consecrated to Jesus Christ Therefore doth the great Saint Hierome writing against the Luciferians honour the Laity with this title and cals their Baptism their Priesthood Saint Augustine is of the same mind and though he was not ignorant of the difference between the Laity and the Clergy he forbears not to style all Christian Priests because their Name denotes their Unction and their Grace makes them the members of the High Priest Jesus Christ And certainly he that shall consider the employments of Priests will find that they are common to the Laity and though they have neither their character nor their power they are with them admitted into the dispensation of the Sacraments They may administer Baptism in case of necessity communicate the Grace they have received and bring forth children to Jesus Christ Though they are not raised to that pitch of dignity which makes the Priests Judges in the Tribunal of Repentance and have not any Authority from the Son of God to remit sins neverthelesse it hath sometimes fallen out that the Faithful being not able to meet with a Priest have confessed themselves to Laicks and the Laicks have endeavoured to obtain Grace for them by means of Prayer which in some sort supplies the vertue of Absolution Saint Thomas authoriseth this custome and exhorts Soldiers that enter into the field Mariners that are surprised with a storm not to neglect this remedy and to fly to this kind of confession when they want the ordinary one He confirms the use thereof by his reasons and tels us that the sorrow and the humility Christians epxresse in this occasion is not unprofitable to draw down upon them the Divine mercie The Laity in some sense may be said to sacrifice daily in our Churches If they pronounce not the Sacramental words with the Priests they joyn themselves with their intentions and accompanying them with their vows have a share in the producing of Jesus Christ on our Altars For the Priests representing the whole Church in this Sacrament they are the Syndics or Proctors of the Faithful acting in their name they require their assistance and conjure them to joyn with them in an action which equally concerns them all All the words of the Masse confirm this truth The confession which is common to Priest and people testifies that the sacrifice is common The oblation of the Host wherein the Priest requires the attention and consent of the people is an evident proof of the part they bear in it the very Canon wherein the Priest treats in secret with God where he interposeth the credit of the Saints that reign in Heaven authoriseth this belief For he speaks in the name of the Faithful and even then when he offers this sacrifice in their behalf testifies that he offers it with them and that he is at the same time the Minister of Jesus Christ and of his Church Finally Christians are Priests as we have said because they are ordained daily to offer up sacrifices Perum Sacrificium est omne opus quod agitur ut sancta societate haereamus Deo Aug. and according to the language of Saint Augustine all vertuous actions are so many holy oblations which they present to the Eternal Father He that sings with the Priest offers the sacrifice of praise he that gives Alms to the poor makes a sacrifice of his goods he that is sorrowful for his sins offers a sacrifice of his heart and he that endeavours to wash them away by his tears offers a sacrifice of his eyes But not to reckon up all the actions of the Faithful it is enough to say with the same Saint Augustine that their whole life is a sacrifice and that they begin to be Priests assoon as they begin to be Victims These two qualities were inseparable in the person of Jesus Christ he bare them from the very first moment of his Incarnation and assoon as ever he held the language of a Priest A Domino Deo missus Christus sacerdos noster assumpsit à nobis quod offerret Domino ipsas primitias carnis ex utero virginis Aug. he had the dispositions of a Victim He began his sacrifice with his life he offered himself to his Father in the chast womb of his Mother and having received that Divine Unction which constituted him High Priest he protested that he would be a publick Victim He finished upon the Crosse what he had projected before his Birth and joyning these two qualities in his Death taught us that we should not separte them during our life Therefore are all Christians obliged to be Victims and after the example of Jesus Christ they ought to find in their person the subject of their sacrifice They have no remainders of Adam which may not happily be subservient to this design Whatever they hold of this wretched Father ought to be consumed by the flames of Justice or those of Charity Purgatory will burn that which the fire hath not and Heaven finishing what these two had begun wâ—â— reduce the Victim to an estate where nothing will appear in
soever they turn their eyes they may without vanity utter these words Whatever we see is ours and though we leave the propriety to particular persons we cease not to enjoy the soveraignty with God But we need not wonder if these slaves are rich because they are free and that the same quality which instates them in plenty puts them into liberty Man is so free that he cannot be compell'd Sin that deprives him of Grace robs him not of his Liberty and into whatever condition he throws himself is still his own Master It is true that according to the language of Saint Paul he becomes the slave of sin and free from Grace when he becomes Guilty and on the contrary free from sin and the fervant of Grace when justified Although in these two states so opposite Liberty is always mixt with Servitude St Thomas and St Augustine Masters with whom we cannot easily mistake teach us That in the state of sin there is a reall Thraldome and a false Liberty because man departing from God wanders from his duty and subjecting himself to his passions is a slave in earnest and free only in appearance On the contrary there is a reall liberty in the state of Grace and an apparent servitude because Man does what he will in that he does what he ought that he is free because reasonable and master of himself because the slave of Jesus Christ This is it that the Word Incarnate had a minde to teach us with his own mouth when he said We should be free indeed if the Son made us free and this is it that Saint Augustine would have us understand by those excellent words We were the slaves of self-love and now that we are made free we may boast that we are the Slaves of Charity Neither is there any Divine that does not acknowledg that our will is never more free Omnia propter Electos then when she is most submitted to God and that true Liberty is the recompence of so happy a Bondage I may well give it this name because it produceth Glory and that all the slaves of the son of God are Soveraigns But that we may rightly conceive of the Greatnesse of this Priviledg we must remember that Servitude is the daughter of Sin that men were not slaves till they became Guilty and that Nature which laboured to equal their Conditions is not she that created this shamefull difference which distinguisheth them one from another They were all Kings before their Defection Innocence was the character of their Royalty and as long as they were the Images of God they were his Vicegerents in the world But sin that deprived them of Grace ravish'd from them their Liberty gave them as many Masters as they have bad inclinations and making this misfortune passe from their person into their estate many times imposed Tyrants over them under a colour of constituting lawfull Soveraigns We had for ever remained in this shamefull Bondage had not the son of God who draws our salvation out of our fall made us recover Liberty by Servitude For Grace bringing us in subjection unto his will hath put all Creatures under us his love subjecting our soul to his Empire hath made us the Masters of our Body this insolent slave is is become obedient and as it revolted not against the soul but because the soul was revolted against God it returned to its duty as soon as she betook her self to her respect and acknowledged his Soveraign as soon as she acknowledged her Creator Thus our Rule is founded upon our submission our Liberty established upon our vassalage and we command our Body because we obey our God Vis serviat animae tuae caro tua Deo serviat anima tua debes regi ut possis regerc Aug. This is it that Saint Augustine expresseth so handsomly When the soul is the servant of God she is the Mistresse of the flesh when Reason is subject to Grace she is the queen of Passions and reduceth these rebels to obedience so that the most assured means to re-enter upon our ancient Priviledges is to submit to God and to seek our greatnesse in our debasement The Son of God hath furnished us with a rare Example in his Life he ascended not to Glory but by the ladder of humility He was content to be his Fathers servant before he would be adored as his Son and in heaven it self where he raigns with him he still retains this humble deportment Saint Paul teacheth us that he wisheth not the accomplishment of his mysticall body but that he may be subject to his Father Cum autem subjecta fuerint illi omnia tunc ipse filius crit subjectus ei 1 Cor 15. having subjected all things to himself It seems he chose the Virgin for his mother because she was devoted to the service of the Altar and had protested that she would eternally remain the servant of the Lord He boasts of it by the mouth of a Prophet he will have all the world know that his service is founded upon his birth and that he is the slave of the eternall Father because the Son of his handmaid Ego servus tuus filius Ancillae tuae Humane Laws acknowledge three sorts of Slaves The First Servi sunt alii à Conventione alii à fortuna alii à natura Arist 2. Poli. those that sell themselves and to gain a small livelihood engage their Liberty and become Slaves to enrich their friends or children Others are those that Fortune throws into Fetters whom the loss of a Battel subjects to the mercy of the Conqueror and according to the Laws of War become the prisoners of their enemies The Last are those who are born of slavish parents and who seem to have less reason to complain because their servitude preceded their Birth and Nature conspired with Fortune to deprive them of their Liberty The Son of God was pleased to be of this number he desired his Thraldom might be natural Partus sequitur ventrem and that the same mother that made him a Man might make him his Fathers Servant and we cannot deny that he is liable to this condition because all Laws ordain that the Childe is of the same quality with the Mother It seems she had inspired him with this desire in giving him a being and that at the same time she conceived him she imprinted in his soul the minde of a Slave The Naturalists assure us that Mothers have so much power over the bodies of their children in the moment of conception Matres dum concipiunt foetibus desideriorū signa quaedam inurunt Plin. that they express upon them their Longings and Imaginations and those extraordinary marks they bring along with them into the world are certain proofs of so known a Truth But the Scripture acquaints us that the Virgin more happie and more powerful then other mothers hath made an impression upon the soul and body of her
in love with his Countrey that doats upon his Banishment or should have any passion for Heaven when he is strongly wedded to the Earth If he be stricken with Divine Love he spends his whole life in sighs he never beholds the stars but he sheds tears and though there be nothing below that afflicts him 't is enough that he is in a strange Land to account himself miserable His Banishment is his Torment and without inventing other racks to exercise his patience 't is enough to make him complain that he is condemned to travel David enjoyed a profound tranquillity when he sent up his sighs towards Heaven Heu mihi quia incolat us meus prolongatus est His state was not divided by a Civil War the Grandees had not conspired against his person his children had not as yet driven him from his Palace and the people at his detion were not cheated with the false promises of an unlawful Soveraign In the mean time he forbore not to lament and the remoteness from his Countrey was the sole cause of his tears Si amatur patria magna poenae illium si autem non amatur patria pejor est cordis poena Aug. Therefore had S. Augustine reason to utter these gallant words that to a man that loves his Countrey Banishment is an insupportable pain but yet he is more wretched who cherishing his Banishment contemns or forgets his Countrey Finally Pilgrims see nothing during their journey more agreeable then their Countrey the affection they bear the place of their Nativity ever defends its cause in heir heart Though it be but a rock environed with precipices they have some secret charms which makes them wish well to it and in the midst of fertile fields they have a longing for the air they first drew their breath in Christians are in this particular better grounded then Pilgrims For they see nothing here below that can equall the beauty of their Countrey whatever is presented to their eyes is but the shadow of that happiness they wait for there Earth is therefore fruitful because it receives the influences of Heaven and all that ravisheth here below owes its worth to the heat and light of the Sun Nothing can damage their Countrey but its greatness their understanding is too weak to conceive its Excellency and if it be not sufficiently esteem'd 't is because it is not sufficiently known Nevertheless 't is enough to love it to be acquainted as Saint Augustine saith that it is a blessed City whereof the Angels are the Citizens the Eternal Father the Temple the Son the Brightness the Holy Ghost the Love that 't is a City where men are never born nor ever die where perfect Health banisheth all Sickness where satiety expels hunger and thirst where rest admits of no labour and where we have nothing else to doe but to live reign and rejoyce eternally with God The Hope of this Happiness sweetens our present discontents and there is not any Pilgrim or Exile upon Earth who takes not courage when he thinks that after his tedious wanderings he shall enjoy a felicity that nothing can interrupt nor ever shall have an end The Ninth DISCOURSE That the Christian is a Penitent IF Baptism did wash away self-love together with sin and the Grace we receive in this Sacrament cleared us of ignorance and weakness as well as of malice we might boast that being innocent Repentance were useless But seeing there is no Christian who after his Baptism feels not bad inclinations which carry him to sin there is none but have need of this vertue and who after the imitation of the greatest Saints ought not to joyn the Quality of a Penitent to that of a Sinner For though light offences rob him not of Grace he is obliged to be troubled at them because they are displeasing to God and as long as he feels rebellions in his soul or in his body he must have recourse to austerity to stifle them But if sin make him lose the life he received in Baptism Repentance must give him a Resurrection and coming to the relief of this first Sacrament recover Grace by Sorrow and Contrition Thence it comes to pass that the Fathers have called Repentance a laborious Baptism because the sinner is washed thereby in his tears and obtains that with much difficulty which was easily gain'd in Baptism He is obliged to mingle his bloud with that of Jesus Christ and to apply the merits thereof by painfull and dolorous works of satisfaction His whole life ought to be spent in lamentation Poenitentia est Gratia vel virtus qua commissa mala plangimus semper odimus iterū plangenda committere nolumus for assoon as he ceaseth to be a Penitent he becomes a Sinner For Repentance according to the opinion of Divines is a Grace or a Vertue whereby often bewailing our sins we always hate them and constantly resolve never to commit them again This definition contains four things which happily express the nature of Repentance and remarking what it hath common with other vertues discovers also what it hath proper and peculiar to it self It is called Grace because it is the gift of God and finding us in a crime cannot be an effect of our merits For in that wretched condition we are rather objects of Gods Hatred then of his Love and when he delivers 't is of his Mercy and not of his Justice It is also called a Vertue because it fals under the Law combats sin and obtains our pardon It seems to belong to Vindicative Justice because like it it pronounceth sentences and invents punishments to torture offendors In a word it hath no other employment but to prevent the indignation of Heaven and to oblige it to clemency by its own severity It enters into the interests of God chastiseth that in time which he would chastise for Eternity and endeavours to proportion the correction to the offence of the transgressor But though in some things it agree with Vindicative Justice in others it is far different For Justice is in the Judge it pronounceth sentence from his mouth Non impunitum erit peccatum meum sed ideo nolo ut tu me punius quia ego peccatum meum punias Aug. in Psal 50. and borrows the hand of the Officer to put it in execution Repentance on the contrary is in the offendor resides in his soul expresseth it self by his mouth acts by his hands and contrary to all Natural and Civil Laws obligeth the Criminal to condemn and punish himself Justice cannot make sufferings welcome to those that undergo them though just yet are they compulsive and did not the Judges use force in their administration all crimes would pass unpunished But Repentance by a wonderful dexterity makes afflictions agreeable mixeth some sweetness with their severity and causing the guilty person voluntarily to embrace such penalties finds an expedient to make them suffer without murmuring Finally Justice