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
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
Tongues 't is to make strangers understand them and to gather up the children of God that are dispersed thorow all the world But that which exceedeth all belief is that the particular graces that sanctifie mens souls are common among the Faithful For of these Theologie acknowledgeth two sorts one which are given us for the service of others and respect more the benefit of the Church then our own sanctification such are all those graces that are called Gratuities whose principal end is the glory of Jesus Christ and the conversion of Infidels such is the gift of Miracles which doth not so much profit him that hath received it as those who see the effects of it because we know very well that this priviledge though extraordinary and rare may consist with sin and if it be not accompanied with much humility is as dangerous as splendid The other sort of Graces are those that make us acceptable to God blot out our offences look more to our own salvation then that of our neighbour and being not so glittering as the other are incomparably more holy and useful Now though these last kinde of graces be our own yet also are they common in the Church and those that are united to us by charity may in some sort make use of them 'T is certainly upon this ground that the great Apostle calls this vertue the bond of perfection because it not onely associates all Christians but renders their graces common and enricheth every particular with the advantages of the whole fraternity Therefore was David bold to entitle himself to all the good works they did that kept the commandments of God Particeps ego sum omnium timentium te custodientium mandata tua For though he knew very well his condition would not suffer him to be always at the Altar that the cares that accompany Royalty agree not with the sweet retirements of solitude and the bloody exercises of war gave him not leave to attend the service of the Ark he hoped nevertheless that Charity which united him to the Faithful would make him partaker of their merits and being a Member of that mystical body he should enjoy their Graces that made it up with him Thus this great Prince ruling in his Palace or fighting in his Armies promised himself a share in the Sacrifices of the Priests in the Tears of the Widows in the Illuminations of the Prophets in the Crowns of the Martyrs and that Love supplying the defect of his condition enriched him with their vertues without impoverishing them This also was the counsel S. Augustine gave the Faithfull of his time for knowing that every Christian could not have all graces Noli dicere in animo tuo ego si Christianus essem utique ad Deum pertinerem possem facere quod alius facit talis enim est acsi diceret auris ego si ad corpus pertinereÌ„ possem videre lunaÌ„ soleÌ„ non habet illud tamen nec auris nec manus sed faciunt fingula quod possunt cum concordia serviunt sibi inviceÌ„ omnia membra Aug. Hom. 15. Ex. 50. that variety is one of the beauties of the Church and that diversity of conditions contributes no less to her profit then to her ornament perswaded them to have recourse to Charity and to employ the credit of this vertue to purchase all others without labour His words are too handsome to be omitted Envie not said he to the whole company of the Faithful the advantages your neighbour possesseth but holily rejoyce in them and ye shall enjoy them with him Say not in your heart Were I indeed a Christian and had I the honour to belong to Jesus Christ I could do that which others do and instead of being engaged in the bonds of Marriage I would live a holy Celibate For 't is just as if the ear should say I am not of the body because I cannot see the light of the Sun in the mean time the hand hath not that priviledge no more then the ear and yet they are parts of the body as well as the eyes because though every member cannot do that by it self which all the others do they cease not mutually to assist each other and to possess that in common which they call their own properly After their example be glad of that grace God hath conferred upon any of the Faithful and you may do that in him which you are not able to perform in your selves He keeps his Virginity love him and you are continent with him you have the gift of Patience by learning to suffer let him love you and your patience shall become his He can fast and your constitution will not give you leave love him and his fasting shall be yours If you ask me how this can be 't is because he lives in you and you in him and you are both members of the same body for though ye be different in condition and in person by charity ye are but one and the same thing The Abbot Guerric certainly grounded himself upon this Maxime when he said that all vertues were common among Believers that the treasure of the Church was open to all her children and that when our condition or our weakness did not permit us to practise one vertue we fail not to practise it in another Caeteras virtutes etsi omnes non habent â—iligant illum qui habet quod in se non inveniunt in illo habent quod in se non vident sicut Petrus in Joanne virginitatis habet meritum sic Joannes in Petro habet Martyris praemi m. Gueri in festo pu Thus saith this great man Saint Peter and Saint John lived in a community of goods one found that in the other which he could not finde in himself joyning their merits together they mutually enriched one another and as Saint Peter was a virgin in the person of Saint John that beloved disciple was a Martyr in the person of Saint Peter So that the unity of Members which they had in Jesus Christ bestowed upon them priviledges they had not in their own person and Charity that united these two Apostles in despite of their condition twisted the Crown of Martyrdom with that of Virginity Martyrdom cost Saint John onely a little love without enduring the pain he had the merit of patience he triumphed without fighting because he lived in him whom grace made victorious Virginity cost Saint Peter no more his love procured him purity he was a virgin because he loved a virgin-disciple and enjoying the goods of Saint John as his own he found the merit of continence in the engagements of Marriage Quod tuum est per laborem menm est per amorem Greg. Mag. To give this truth a fuller expression we must make use of the words of S. Gregory the Great and say that in the unity of the Church one Believer gains that by love that another does by
labour and is master of that with complacency which another cannot reach to but with much sweat of anxiety Thus the courage of the Martyrs supplies our weakness the knowledge of Doctors our ignorance the purity of virgins is in stead of continence in Marriage and the solitude of Anchorites is a supplement to the employments of those that are conversant in the world Hence 't is evident that he that is in the Body of the Church partakes of all the merits of the Faithful that without admitting himself into Religious Orders he shares in their travels if he be associated to them by charity without wearing their habit he participates of their vertues and that in an ordinary Secular condition he preacheth with the Dominicans sacrificeth with the Priests is in the desart with the solitary and is chaste in the highest degree of continency with the virgins But in this prerogative the Christian must defend himself from two mischiefs which strongly threaten him the first is Pride receiving with humility what he possesseth not but by right of Charity lest his own sufficiency make him lose the benefit of the Churches community The second is Idleness not to neglect the practice of vertues under a pretence of enjoying them in others but going forward with the highest industry in the way of perfection to store the Church with his pious endeavours and to adde new merits to the treasures of this charitable mother The Fourth TREATISE Of the Grace of a Christian The first DISCOURSE That Predestination upon which Grace depends is a hidden Mystery INasmuch as men are the children of Adam they are as curious as they are proud and as the haughtiness of their Father hath made them lose the remembrance of their misery his curiosity hath made them forget their ignorance They aspire to reign although they be slaves they would be masters of knowledge although they are born ignorant and these two unjust desires have made so deep an impression in their souls that all the punishments inflicted upon sin have not been able to suppress them I could pardon this imperfection of man had it any bounds nor would I find fault with an ignorant person desiring to be learned could he content himself with the knowledge of what might be known without danger or sin But the difficulty sets an edge upon his appetite there are no truths he is more eagerly inquisitive of then those God hath pleased to leave in the dark He mounts up to the Heavens to know their motions and influences he seeks his destiny in the Conjunction of the Planets and studies a Book whose Characters have abused all Astrologers and means to finde that in Stars which God hath lock'd up in his own Bosome He descends into the Abysses of the Earth out of Curiosity as much as Avarice he thinks knowledge is retired to the Center of the world and that he must confer with the spirit of lies to be acquainted with truth His Insolence hath passed as far as Religion he would fain penetrate its mysteries nor does God bring any thing to pass in the world the Causes and motives wâ—ereof he endeavours not to discover 'T is a crime in the State to comment upon the intentions of the Ministers thereof Sicut inquirere in vitam Principis ita in arcana ejus nefas est Taci Annal. Their prudence draws a curtain over the wheels they work by and they believe that he that shall sound the secrets of the Prince is not less guilty then he that would know the end of his life In the mean time we commit this crime against the mysteries of Faith we would make Religion a Science and we daily search for evidence and certitude in the region of ignorance and obscurity The desire we have to fathome the depths of Predestination is a certain proof of this Insolence For though there be nothing in the world more bid more in the dark there is not any thing man hath more curiously examined and made the employment of his busie undertakings seeking his fall in the fountain of salvation I should account my self very happy could I cure him of this malady and if describing the mystery hidden in eternity could make him see 't is an impiety to pretend to know more then God hath been willing to reveal Predestination is as certain as it is secret it makes up one part of Providence and if God have any care of his creatures he must needs lead them to their end There are none but the Epicures who fearing to trouble his rest have denyed him the knowledge of humane affairs The best of Philosophers have believed our fortune is in his hands and that having given us our beeing he must also give us our felicity Christian Religion hath confirmed us in this Creed and Faith perswading us that God hath regulated all things from Eternity obligeth us to believe that he hath ordained necessary means to ascertain our salvation Sufficiat eis scire quod non sit in quitas apud Deum cum cuim nulla merita invenisset Apostolus quibus Jacob apud Deum praecederet fratrem dicit Numquid apud DeuÌ„ est iniquitas absit Aug. lib. 4. contra duas Episto Pelag. Shee teacheth us that he beheld all his works before they proceeded out of Nothing that he hath drawn forth what he pleased not all that he was able That he created Men and Angels elected some out of Mercy rejected others out of Justice and that in these two contrary judgements he hath carried himself with so much evenness that no person hath any cause to complain Reason together with Faith instructs us that God loves all his creatures that his being Absolute makes him not unjust and acting according to the knowledge of the Cause he punisheth none that have not deserved it If he be no more liberall in his recompenses then severe in his corrections he fails not to be very observant of Justice if we be not sure that he hath respect to our merits we know at least that he hath to his own favours and that when he crowns our good works he crowns his own benefits and endowments The Scripture that knows very well that men are in love with their salvation and jealous of their liberty represents them often that God is absolute in his State that he is not to give account of his actions that his judgments being equitable in themselves have no need of our approbation nor are therefore less just because not conformable to our weak reasonings This divine Register insinuates to us that God is the master of his creature that he disposeth thereof as he pleaseth and that if Nothing whence he had his Beeing give him right enough to destroy him sin which he is guilty of gives him title enough to punish him But delivering all these reasons in different passages we are not permitted to deduce thence infallible consequences nay we may easily perceive the whole drift is rather to
confess that all we do is rather of God then of our selves He says the same thing again speaking of Perseverance and perswades all the Faithful that their salvation ought to be founded upon their humility because God hath indued them with Graces whereby they are made acquainted with his power and their own weakness For he will not have the Saints glorifie themselves for their perseverance in good out of their own abilities but from the assistance of his Grace neither hath he given them a succour equal to that he bestowed upon the first man whereby he might have persevered if he would because foreseeing that they would not persevere had they not from him the power and the wil he hath given them both out of his pure mercy Indeed their will is so effectually warm'd by the holy Spirit that they are able to doe the good because they wil and they will it because God hath inspir'd them with a will to it For did God abandon them to themselves in this infirmity which serves as a remedy against their pride and did he give them no other assistance but that by which Adam might have persevered if he would they would stoop to the assaults of temptations in the frailty of their flesh nor would they ever persevere because the weakness of their will would not suffer them to will the good at all or to will it so strongly as to doe it Therefore God desiring to succour their misery hath given them a grace that so moves this rationall faculty that she never resists it that in her weakness she may be vigorous enough to surmount all the adversities of life But because these manners of speeches might perswade the ignorant that a grace that acts so energetically would destroy liberty Saint Augustine instructs us that her force consists in her sweetness that she works upon the will only by the pleasure she there produceth nor that she is victorious but because she is agreeable This is the second truth that remains to be proved to satisfie my promise and to manifest the last resemblance between Concupiscence and Charity Though the former be sometimes so violent that she hardly leaves the sinner any liberty to resist she never employs force to extort his consent she is not of the humour of those tyrants which make use of nothing but torments to reduce their subjects to their designs and knowing that Empires are preserv'd by the same means they are acquired endeavour to keep that by cruelty they have gotten by violence But she corrupts the wil by pleasure proposing nothing but what is delightful she dexterously mixeth smiles with frowns profit with loss glory with shame and so artificially disguiseth the objects shee presents sinners with that they complain not even in the midst of their torments 'T is shee that sweetens the laborious travels of Conquerors charms the discontents of the Covetous comforts the Lascivious in the tortures that accompany their wantonness she gilds the chaines of al lthe slaves that follow her makes them acceptable when she cannot make them glorious sowing pleasure where shee cannot sow profit nor reputation Thence it comes to passe that her Empire is so firmly established among finners that to destroy it grace must change their wils subduing the vanity of their criminall pleasures by the truth of her innocent delights For she walks in the steps of her enemy she imitates her she intends to ruine and benefiting by her wiles she never sets upon the will of a sinner but she is seconded with pleasure her chiefe Stratagem is to render vertue agreeable to take off that austerity that suffers her not to be accosted and to lay all her Stoicall morosity upon the face of sin This is it that Saint Augustine declares by those words where he exhorts a sinner to be converted Confess your selves saith he in the presence of Almighty God and you shall obtain from his bounty that the vertue which seem'd so stern will seem sweet and easie When he hath wrought this first miracle you shal finde that facil which now you apprehend as impossible you shall have as much satisfaction in justice as formerly you had in iniquity Sobriety will relish better then drunkenness you will discern more charms in Alms then in Robbery and taste a farre richer pleasure in giving your own then in taking that of your neighbour Prayer will out-vie the Pastimes of the Theatre Psalmes and Hymnes will entertain you better then amorous Sonnets or the Aires of the Court you will goe to Church more chearfully then ever you went to a Play and reflecting upon the change of your heart you will acknowledge Grace the cause thereof and that the barren ground of your soul bare no fruits but because the Lord hath been pleased to water it with the perfumes of his Divine Influences For 't is an undoubted Maxime that Good though never so excellent begins not to be desired till it begin to be pleasurable Though it have more charms then beauty more lustre then glory more invitations then profit if it convey not pleasure into the will it knows not how to beget love Pleasure is the Load-stone that draws all hearts that are capable of love 't is the poyson that distils into the heart of all sinners and the only answer they return those that condemn them They oppose nothing but pleasure against all reproaches and when truth it self accuseth them they have but one reason wherewith to defend themselves they cannot forsooth leave that they take so much delight in Indeed they would never sin did not pleasure solicit them nor would the Devil ever master their will did he not make use of pleasure to gain their consent He employs the same devices against them he did against our first Father he makes use of the flesh to gain the spirit as he dealt with the woman to seduce the man he tries by suggestion to produce pleasure in his heart that pleasure may quicken sin He knows that this Commander is too free to be compell'd but he knows also that he is too amorous to hold out if he call not in another to his aid whereby he may be defended This also is the way God deals with souls to gain them he useth not his power but his sweetness he employs not his threats but his promises and when he intends to vanquish a creature he makes not use of pain but of pleasure he combates sensual delights with spiritual ones he opposeth the charms of vertue against the allurements of sin he inspires thoughts so sweet and so powerful that they blot out all those of the Earth and knowing very well that the Will always complies with the more predominant delectation that solicits her he is content to be lik't that he may be victorious For if Concupiscence contest with Grace about the conquest of a heart she that promiseth the highest pleasure shall prevail and though never so free the Helen will be overcome by the