Riches he makes for himself a God without eyes or hands without eyes that he should not see the disorders of his life without hands that he should not chastise him according to the Enormity of his Crimes He compares him as yet to Death for even as the Soul that admirable Form which gives Grace and Beauty to all the Commonwealth of the Body Anima quae peccat moritur non quidem more tali qualis est corporis sed multo gravior est animae nam corporalis mors est que salutis sejunctis invicem anima corpore hoc quidem à multis curis ac laboribus liberat anima aurem post quam à corpore saluta fuerit incorruptibilis eorpore devinctam in ignem detrudit inextinguibilem D. Chrys supra The Vision to the Eye the distinction of harmonious Sounds to the Ear The Scent to the Smelling and to each one of the Senses the use of their Functions She no sooner leaves off to perform that Mass but it looses its Ornaments and nothing remains but a sad Carcass whence flow such noysom Infections that to be preserved from its Poyson they are constrain'd to convey it speedily under the Earth In the same manner God that super-adorable Form who animates our Souls not as a substantial part of our Essence for He is all in Himself without division but as the Sovereign principle of Grace and Nature being once seperated from our hearts by the substraction of His Graces Man is no more than a vile Carcass more fit to be the receipt of Devils than the Temple of the Holy Ghost being he lost all that made him to be commendable by losing the Grace and Favour of his God But he who is dead by mortal sin as well as he who slumbers affectedly in Venial sin have not the power of themselves to re-enter into the Rites of a Spiritual life nor to mount up to a higher degree of perfection without the Spiritual and special assistance of God Therefore he offers them the Grace of Excitation and of a Morning-alarm whose properties are comprehended in the words of the Apostle Christ shall illuminate you as if he had said get up O Sinner hear Jesus who knocks at the door open your heart he is a Glorious Sun who lances forth his Rays St. Ambrose in lieu of his saying with the Apostle Christ shall illuminate you turns it the Lord shall teach you St. Chrysostome says That the words were drawn out of the Prophet Isaiah and that they were directed to our first Father Adam who was buried on the Mount Calvary in the same place where our Saviour's Cross was planted Not without a special design of Heaven that the Blood which ran down from the Virgin-Flesh of Jesus and battered with blows should touch the bones of Adam And that by virtue of that touching he should deserve to receive the first Fruits of the Passion and the freedom of getting into Heaven I know that St. Jerome does not approve of this Tradition and that he calls it a Theatral wonder found out by certain Stage-players who would have themselves admired by setting forth a History never as yet heard of Nevertheless Et vere fratres non incongrue dicitur quod ibi erectus sit medicus ubi jacebat aegrotus dignum erat ut ubi ceciderat humana superbia ibi se inclinaret divina misericordia sanguis ille pretiosus etiam corporaliter Pulverem antiqui peccatoris dum dignatur stillando contingere redemisse credatur D. Aug. tom 1. serm 71. de tempore this great Doctor may give me leave if he pleases to say that it is the Belief of Origen Tertullian St. Anastace and St. Augustine My Brethren says he it is very reasonable to believe that there the Sovereign Doctor and Physician of our Souls had plac'd his Chair where the Patient lay and that there the Divine Mercy should humble her self where the Pride of Man had received the mortal blow to the end that this precious Blood which run down from our Saviours Veins should touch the dust of the antient Sinner to awake him from his slumber to become the spectator of his Redemption I do respect and honour all those Holy Fathers feelings but I think that the Apostles chief intention is to exhort all languishing and sleepy Souls to awake not only to receive the glorious Impression of the exciting Grace to be the better able to go on in the way of their Salvation but also to re-double their steps and recover the time lost because our remaining days in this World are both uncertain and bad Would he fain make us believe as a certainty Redimentes tempus quoniam dies mali sunt Ephes 5. v. 7. Non dies mali sunt per se sed per homines D. Hier. to 9. in c 5. Ephes Viri sanguinum dolosi c. Psal 54. v. 24. Restituite in uno tempore quod minus fecistis in alio ut sic sites dimidi antes dies non sicut mali qui non dimidiant dies suos sed totum in malo expendunt Goz. in c. 5. Ephes that which hitherto in all Schools was thought to be imposible to recover the time past to re-call the days of old and render the past ages present here lies a contradiction therefore we must judge that his meaning is that God often to punish our sins shortens our lives and that He who in course would have attained to live under the Flag of an honourable old age had he been but steadfast in the Field of Virtue having plunged himself into all sorts of Vices sees himself at the gates of Death when he does but begin to taste of the sweetness of Life Do you not remember in Genesis that God had agreed with Noah to allow six score years life to them of the Law of Nature to the end they should have sufficient time to repent Yet he cuts them short of full twenty seeing them persist in the criminal liberty of so many abominations And really how many Handsom Young Grafts do we see in our age decay by reason of their overmuch liberty and as a Flower of one days growth die most miserably in the dawning of their age who by God's Decrees were appointed to live the years of a St. Paul the Hermit had they but followed his Examples Vide D. Tho. comment in c. 5. Ephes and become true Imitators of his mortify'd life These are the days that the Apostle calls bad and that the exciting Grace invites us to redeem That is to say as soon as a Sinner by God's Mercy shall know the state of his Soul how long it is a Month perhaps a Year two Years more or less that he sleeps in mortal Sin he ought to blot those days out of the Book of Everlasting Life They are so many moments lost for Heaven they are so many bad days But however they may be recovered Mercantes
Shoulder to the Wheel assuring him that after he would do his endeavours the Gods would not fail to relieve him and release him out of his Trouble I may say as much to all those Souls I spoke of It is no more the time to sit idle with cross Arms much less to linger in the dirt of their Abominations and Crimes Manum admoventes invocate numina Proverb It is good to have a Tongue to call to the Passengers and to invoke God and his Saints to their assistance But they must joyn the Hands to the Tongue the Faith to the Works the Belief to the Operation Never was their sleep under the Tree Lothos so fatal to the Companions of Vlysses as is the deceitful slumbering of a languishing Soul in the shadow of her laziness I see already Jesus the Divine Hercules appear with his Cross in his hand coming towards us with all speed let us hear what he will say CHAP. XVII God will not destroy those Luke-warm Souls which he begins to vomit Lazarus amicus noster dormit vado ut a somno excitem eum Joan. 11. v. 11. THe Grace of Excitation and this morning Alarm is no other in the Opinion and Doctrine of the Sacred Councel of Trent than an Interiour Light of the Holy Ghost received into the Soul by which he touches the Heart of the Tepid and Sleepy man to excite him to his Conversion That Grace according to the diversity of her effects has divers appellations If we do consider her as a fore-runner of the Will to which she is sent by the sole Mercy of God without any co-operation or precedent invitation of Merit on our side She is call'd a fore-running Grace If we do take her for an Accident that comes to lodge in the Soul as into her proper subject and residence to sollicite her to the work of her Salvation she is a Grace of Impulsion But if we come to Contemplate her under those Glorious Titles of morning Star dawning of the day Scout-master of the Sun which banishes away the dark Clouds from the Earth Sleep and all Drowsiness from mens Bodies we shall find that she is a Grace of Excitation and a Morning Alarm I cannot better explain the nature of her than by discovering the properties of the same term To excite to speak properly is to awake some one person that is either a sleep or slumbering Ego dormivi soporâ—tus sum exurrexi quia dominus suscepit me Psal 3. â— 6 Imagine with your self dear Reader a poor Pilgrim weary spent and quite tired after a long Journey Multi cum dormiunt non faciunt locum Domino tales excitat Apostolus surge qui dormis nam istae omnes foelicitates quae videntur saeculi somnia sunt dormientium the Night draws on and he finds no House to lodge in where he happens to be there he falls asleep But alas it is close to a Precipice just on the brink of a steep Rock the darkness of the Night hinders him to perceive the danger there he lies fast asleep if he stirs but in the least he is a lost Man one passes by moved with compassion takes this poor Pilgrim by the shoulders awakes him pushes him excites him Friend that is no place for you to sleep in do you not see that Precipice close by you This Traveller awakes of a sudden stretches his arms rubs his eyes shakes his Cloaths looks round about him sees the danger and makes his escape We are all Pilgrims in this World Dormiebam in utramque aurem securus nullo pavore solicitante ecce autem timore ingruente excitatus sum velut quem calamitas convovet velut ille corripit è stratis corpus socioque fatigat praecipites vigilate viri Egubing Psal supra wearied spent tired as the Holy Scripture says in the way of Iniquity Sleep even overcomes us Laziness makes us to stumble at every step We must lay our selves down Belly to the ground and stretch at all our length But alas where is it that we lie One will sleep under the Boughs of a Wall-nut-Tree a true symbol of obstinacy another close by the Cave of Miermaids the figure of Lust and unlawful pleasures This Man sets his foot on the Precipice whereinto he is in danger to fall the other is near at hand to his everlasting destruction and loss What does God do this great Overseer of the World He draws near takes us by the shoulders excites us awakes us Poor Christian bring up your hand to your eyes rub those Clouds off your eye-lids see the danger you are in it is Jesus that gives you this warning St. Paul sets before our eyes the necessity of that Grace Ephes 5. v. 14. Surge qui dormis exurge à mortus Illuminabit te Christus when that speaking of our Saviour the Eternal Light he exhorts the Ephesians to adore his Beams and to give a greater weight to his exhortation he borrows the words of the Prophet Isaiah You that are asleep Isaiae c. 60. v. 1 Surge Illuminare Jerusalem c. get up and awake out of the slumber of Death By which the Apostle compares the state of a Sinner to Sleep and to Death To Sleep for even as he that Sleeps is incapabble of any good action without he be capable of producing some motions of Liberty the imagination labouring to make up the Fabrick of a thousand extravagant Dreams of all which at his awake he finds not the least sign or token So it is with a Sinner says St. Augustine when he shuts up the eyes of his reason D. Aug. in Psal 131. v. si dedero Sommum oculis meis temporibus meis dormitationem Vide ibi D. Aug. to give a general Licence of acting to all his Senses without reserving himself the power of regulating their excess For what are all his actions but so many Dreams and raving Fits he does imagine that all they can tell him of the Kingdom of Heaven and of the pleasures of Paradice are but Fables so Hell with all its Torments and Tortures are but the amusements of Preachers to frighten the common sort of people Quid stygia quid cocytum quid nomina vanatimetis materiam vatum Claud. who are much apprehensive in their thoughts of such idle Toys that the frequenting of the Sacraments as well as the most innocent practice of a Devout life is but an entertainment for weak Spirits That the excess of a Melancholick humour drives them into the practice of such Exercises rather than the prudent conduct of a well regulated motion Dormientem mortuum dicit Dominus qui in peccatis est nam male foeter ut mortuâ—s inutilis est ut dormiens nihil videt quem admodum ille sed somniat vana imaginatur D. Chris tomo 4. in cap. 5. Ephes His Heaven is the Earth his everlasting happiness his
the Scribes and Pharisees admir'd him under that notion and quality saying one to another who is this Of whom the Wind and Seas stand so much in Awe and it happen'd that being once in a Ship with his Disciples the Seas began to grow rough the Waves to swell and the Winds to blow high he gives the Word of Command and presently a Calm was made no more high Winds nothing of a Storm the Seas lye as plain as a Table so that a Dice might run over all its Surface and a Bird build thereon her Nest without the least danger of miscarriage Tu Dominaris potestati maris c. Ps 88. v. 10. This is but the shadow and figure of what we do resent in our Souls Mystical Vessels whereof he has undertaken the steering For when the World that boisterous Sea aims to make us miscarry and run us down to an Abiss of Misfortune when Temptations over-sway us and that Satan with an infectious puff of his Breath strives to procure our utter destruction it is then that God doth stretch forth his Hand to us Movetur mare contradicit mare per strepit mare sed fidelis Deus qui non vos sinet tenture supra id quod potestus D. Aug. in Ps 88 Fear Faithful Soul God will soon appease nothing all those Storms and from among so many dangers will safely conduct you to the Harbour of his Grace so it be that you will let him stand at the Helm without controlling his Conduct God is to us a Valiant and Wise Captain the Prophet-Royal knew him to be such when he made him this acknowledgment Benedictus Dominus Deus meus qui docet c. Ps 143 v. 1 O God who hast train'd up my Hands to Battle and my Fingers to War it is by order from this God of Battle that we have seen the Apostles plant the Standards of the Gospel on their Enemies Trenches Martyrs expose themselves Merrily to so many hazards to maintain their Masters Honours and confound all Hell by the Testimony of their Blood Innocent and Tender Virgins give up the Ghost amidst the Flames with a great deal of Joy to conserve the first Flowers of their Virginity to Jesus And you O great St. Paul I dare say that you would have laid down your Arms and given over the Combate Si adversum se dissentiunt caro Spiritus molestus periculosus labor sunt enim in domo tanquam maritus úxor si maritus vincatur uxor dominetur pax perversa D. Aug. in Psal 143. to 8. when Satan darted at your Flesh one of his Arrows had you not so soon over-heard this voice of your Captain Paul That my Grace may suffice to strengthen you against all your Enemies Assaults it is my Pleasure and great Satisfaction to see you Fight so like a Christian Champion and by the assistance of my Grace give all the World to understand that there is nothing to be fear'd where I do command If our Saviour whilst we do continue Obedient and Submissive Children has a special care to Advance to Cherish and to place us at our ease if whilst we sleep in the Vessel of his Providence he has a care to keep us in the right and assur'd road to Heaven and if whilst we are good and Valiant Soldiers he gives us a good look and a gracious Countenance do you think that he will abandon us immediatly when becoming refractory to his Laws we shall follow our own evil Inclinations That he will never look after any further lodging in our Hearts after that by Sin we shall loose his Grace That he will never withdraw us from under the Tyrannical Hostility of our Adversaries when that by our own Cowardliness we shall fall into their hands No we must not believe it it is an Imployment worthy of the Divinity to relieve the miserable and to show unto men in their want of all Humane Assistance the great necessity of his Powerful and helping hand This Truth will appear without any contradiction if we consider the nature of the first Principle who is not content to give a bare Existence to things drawing them from the possibility of their Being by a reiterated production and that in two ways the one furnishing the Means Instinct and Inclinations convenient to attain to their last end The other driving off all contrary Causes which might interrupt the aforesaid Inclinations Man on that fatal day of his Transgression in Paradice lost at once and by one bit of an Apple his rare and leading Inclinations towards his Supernatural end I grant that the Divine Justice to deal rigorously might have left him in his Misery being he brought himself thereunto by his own proper Election But notwithstanding this God of Mercy who protests that his dearest delight is to live among men bears them so much Affection that he will rather imploy his Power to Regenerate them Spiritually by his Inspirations than leave them under the lash and rigours of Justice For he aims not at the death of a Sinner but at his Conversion and everlasting Happiness Omnis qui non amat Dominum Jesum anathema sit 1 Cor. 16. v. 22. O Vessel of Election what would you conclude when by a Spirit of Zeal you thundred out Excommunication against all them that lov'd not Jesus Paulus mea manu And to assure us that you had a particular feeling of the Ingratitude of Men Si quis non amat Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum Dominum jure creationis nostrum beneficio incarnationis Jesum officio Salvationis Christum plenitudini unctionis propter haec enim quatuor est amandus sit anathema Gozramus in c. 16 Cor. v. 22. you say that you wrote the Excommunication with your own hand This great Apostle has no other ground for the Solemn pronunciation of that Censure but to say being that Jesus is come down from Heaven on Earth to undertake the management of our Affairs to concern himself so much in the conduct of our Souls and to oppose himself to all our Enemies who ever after all those proofs he gave us of his Love will not love Jesus and put all his confidence in him let him be Accursed Excommunicated and as a Monster of Nature banish'd far from the company of men But what God rich in Power Eternal in continuance and Infinite in Wisdom Man weak in his Designs limited in his Time faulty in his Councels God Immortal by his Being Impassible by Nature All-sufficient of Himself Man the spoil of Death Theatre of Misfortunes and incident to all Misery what report or relation can there be betwixt two such Extreams and so far assunder To believe that God should trouble himself with the care of so vile and abject a Creature Quid novit Deus quasi per caliginem judicat nubes latibulum ejus nec nostra considerat c. Job c. 22. v. 12. Is it not
de grat lib. arbitrio c. 11. Luther and Pelagius The one as Graceless denies Grace for good and all the rest will acknowledge none but what is Efficacious The great St. Augustin D. Aug lib. 1. de praedest sanct c. 10. tom 7. statim initio Vocat Deus praedestinatos multos filios suos ut eos faciat membra praedestinati vinci filii sui non ea vocatione qua vocati sunt qui noluerunt venire ad nuptias sed ea vocatione praedestinatos vocat quam distinxit Apostolus Vide catera ibidem discoursing at large of the effects of Gods good will for us gives us the same distinction in divers Expressions In one place he says That God has two means which he makes use of to Convert a Sinner and work his Salvation the one is Powerful in its Effect Infallible in its Operation and this he imploys for Predestinate Souls The other is that which he gave to those that he did invite to the Nuptials but took their Excuses and would not come The former is call'd Efficacious according to Gods purpose This sufficient in the design that he has to destroy no body That is so infallible in its effect that whosoever receives it St. John assures him John 16. That Hell with all its forces shall never be able to take him out of Gods Hands This is an effect of the Divine Goodness but suspended through the malice of our corrupt Will which does not concur with that Off-spring of all her Happiness That is never found seperated from the practice of Good or the exercise of Virtue This is only a bare faculty which gives of it self the Power to hope for Goodness if we please but most commonly we keep it a Slave and a Prisoner under the Irons of Blood and Flesh as the Apostle says Rom. 8. v. 4. The benignity of God has called you to Repentance but the hardness of your Soul and your obstinate Heart has increas'd Gods Indignation and wrath which shall come thundring on your Heads at the day of Judgement This distinction makes out that the word Sufficient must not be taken as the Grammarians do that is as if this only means had been able to conduce a Soul to the final point of her Conversion No it must be understood in the stile of Theology for a means sufficient to Salvation if it be naanag'd as it ought to be So we say in the most Sacred Mystery of the Incarnation that our Saviour did sufficiently operate the Salvation of all men yet notwithstanding all that sufficiency Mortals-will fall into the large and common rode of Perdition if they do not really and efficaciously apply the passion of Christ to themselves by resenting his Sadness his Grief and his Pains and joyn this application to that sufficiency as a condition without which nothing can be done to our advantage In the second place we must suppose that among the sufficient means to Conversion some are Interiour others Exteriour the Interiour means is no other than a Godly Thought which by Gods assistance gives light to the understanding to see the misery and deplorable state of the Soul and makes the poor sinner to give a mournful glance towards Heaven his Native soyl and place of rest or otherwise an affection or desire in the will to withdraw the Heart from all Terrestrial Laws to aim only and earnestly at his Soveraign good which is God The Exteriour sufficiency of means further off are helps proceeding from second Causes whereof God makes use as of Instruments to conduct us by degrees to a capacity of receiving far greater Graces Visâ—rum sua sionibur agit Deus ut velimus credamus extrinsicus exhortationes sive intrinsecus ubi nemo habet in potestate quid ei veniat in mentem sed consentire vel dissentire D. Aug. de spiritu lit cap. 3. In this rank of Exteriour means are Exhortations Preaching of the Word of God Reading of good Books the good Example of Neighbours the afflictions of the Body troublesom Times alteration of Things and such like misfortunes That being suppos'd let us draw out of the Registery of Holy Scripture the justifying pieces of Gods good will for Man to whom he never deny'd the sufficient means of his Conversion Miseris omnium quia omnia potes non enim odiens aliquid constituisti Sap. 11. and his coming to Salvation But before we proceed any further let us make use of a familiar comparison to give the Reader a clearer understanding of this Doctrine and say That God behaves himself in this Case as would a General of an Army who has good wishes for two of his Soldiers to one he gives a Captain 's place by which if he does acquit himself well he may raise his Fortune without any great Cost The other he leaves with the bare Qualification of a single Soldier but he orders him to be paid punctually as the rest assuring him nevertheless that if he be Faithful to perform his Duty he will advance him from Charge to Charge until that he attains to the condition of his Comerade The one and the other are sufficiently provided for by their Captain of means to come to a Fortune And it 's to no purpose to say that there is a great deal of inequality in the case being the one is brought so near the Throne of Fortune that he may touch it in a manner with his Finger and the other is in the high-way to come to it in time but only with more toyl So God in the desire he hath to save all men sets some in a state so near their Conversion that they need only to stretch out the Arm of their Will by a free concurrence of a sincere Co-operation and there they are presently out of Satans Power under the jurisdiction of Jesus King of all Glory He puts others in a state further off that tends notwithstanding to their Conversion if they do but stand Faithfully to their Arms and fight Couragiously so that they may well say with the Angel speaking to the Prophet who lay weary under a Tree Illuminat omnem hominem venâ—entâ—â— in hunc mundum Joan. cap. 1 v 9. Id est illuminat eum qui à Deo râ—cedens cadens en mundum cacâ—â—us est Glosa inâ—erlinâ—â—â—s tit we have as yet a long way to go However the one and the other are sufficiently provided for by our bountiful and gracious God St. John the darling of Jesus Christ who by leaning on his Masters breast the Word-Incarnate had learn'd the highest secrets of Theology in its proper source represents him to us coming into the World under the Symbol of a most bright Sun Enlightning all men that were to come to life from the Creation to the Consummation of all Ages An excellent comparison for even as the Sun there above seated in his Lightsom Throne pours down on all parts his Rays and
Juvenal Lucian Celsus and the rest are altogether astonish'd at their Silence not understanding that it is the true Religion which begins to make it self known to the World Fifthly It s general publication over all the World without any earthly assistance favour or support without Pleasure Profit or any Temporal satisfaction in Patience Humility and Affliction In fine the Infallible Assistance of Jesus to them of that Profession as well by the use of Holy Sacraments wherein he confers his Graces on us as by the care he has to give us his Angels to guard and protect us his Holy Ghost to comfort us and his Promise assuring us of Eternal Life Let the Heretick then as well as the bad Christian confess that it is not God but the bad use they make of their own free will and liberty that is the cause of their everlasting Misfortune and woe But alas what shall we say of those poor little Creatures which in their Mothers womb or soon after they breath'd the common air of Nature are depriv'd of Life before they become Peaceable possessors of the same passes from one Prison to another and not having along with them the safe conduct of Baptism are prohibited to come within the gates of Heaven Must so antient a Sin and so far from us as that of Adam is be the cause of our daily misfortunes Original sin what a subtile poison your Infection is being that it is impossible for any Creature except Jesus and Mary He by Nature she by a special Priviledge to avoid its fatal stain Were it not far better to deprive those poor Babes of Life for good and all by leaving them block'd up within that Chaos of nothing than to bring them to a state where they shall have cause to lament for ever their misfortune without any to comfort them or condole their bad luck St. Augustin Your Expressions are able to break any Heart to pieces when you say that very many Children receive not the Grace of God because they die without Baptism though they have no will contrary to the will and Holy Laws of God and though the Parents and Priests make as much hast as they can to Administer the Holy Sacrament unto them thing worthy of compassion they run in all haste to look for a Remedy to the Evil and the Patient expires before its application God permitting it so to fall out I confess ingeniously I would wish a more Happy condition to those poor little Creatures if Faith had suffer'd me to follow my feelings But it obliges me under pain of Damnation to submit my thoughts to Divine Revelation which gives me to understand that it was the Eternal Fathers Decree to send his only Son on Earth for the Reconciliation of Mankind then the Decree must of necessity be equally put in execution Prosper lib. 2. de vocat gent. c. 23. Non irreligiose arbitror dici quod isti paucorum dierum homines ad illam pertineant gratiae partem quae semper omnibus est impensa nationibus totaque illa principia nec dum rationalis infantiae sub arbitrio jacent voluntatis alienae nec ullo modo eis nisi per alios consuli potest Vide per totum so that none comprehended within the List and Obligation past in the Terrestrial Paradice can say that he has not been made partaker of sufficient means to Salvation St. Prosper was of the same feeling I do not believe says he that we do in any way transgress against either Religion or Conscience to say that those little Children Creatures of few days appertain to that part of Grace which is communicated to all Nations and which if their Parents turn to good use doubtless will take its effect for all those small Grafts and Exordiums of Creatures not yet Reasonable lies under the good will of another The reason is that as the Children are not guilty before God but by the fault of their first Parent and never contributed on their side to any actul malice that is in them but only by a flowing of an Hereditary propagation which sticks to all them that come to the World by the way of ordinary Generation so they have not the sufficient means to stop this Original disorder but what depends on the Will of another Now we must suppose that it is morally impossible but that the Parents have an actual desire to confer on their Children this necessary means to Salvation and this is what the Divines call the sufficient means of little Infants But if it happens by hazard or otherwise that the Child dies in the Mothers womb or soon after this can be no reason to dress up a complaint against God because that those sad Mischances arriving through Natural Causes make that God who in the general disposition of the Universe acts as first Principle suffers also all things to go according to the course of their Nature without conceiving any formal design notwithstanding against that Child or this in particular that he should be depriv'd of Sufficient means to Salvation Would you have that God to hinder an Eclipse of the Sun should disturb and destroy all the order of Nature Sicut per unius delictum in omnes homines The Apostle says that the Sin of one man had so infected all Humane Nature that from the Child in the Mothers Womb to him who after a long scope of years waits for his Coffin and Grave there is none but has been condemn'd to die when first he began to live Even so by the Justice of another man not by Terrestrial but even Caelestial Grace as a brave Sun of an Infinite Greatness powers down her Rays on all men with so much proportion that the Child as well as the Old Man must ingeniously confess that nothing is wanting to them of Gods side who will never violate the Laws of his General Providence to hinder the operation and effects of particular Causes Let none then hereafter if it happens that unfortunately he falls into the common road of Perdition accuse the Eternal Providence of either Injustice or Partiality being he never refuses any Body sufficient means to work the Conversion and Salvation of his Soul CHAP. XV. God no sooner sees a Soul desirous of her Salvation but he gives her his helping Hand OUr God in the Prophet Malachie speaks a most sweet word to the People of Israel that deserves well some return more than a Complement I have lov'd you says he to them Malach. c. 1. v. 2 Dilexi vos dicit dâ—minus dixâ—stis in quo dilexisti nos and what ought they to reply how or in what terms should they acknowledge their great Obligations to him Should they not say it is true my Lord we have had several proofs of your good will Heaven and Earth on occasion might appear as Irreproachable Witnesses of the Favours we receiv'd at your most Liberal Hands Oblite sunt benefactorum ejus
c. Psal 77. v. 11. But ungrateful and most unmannerly People for all acknowledgment begin to contest with him and disown that ever they were oblig'd to him in the least Bona repromissoris sibi ascribit peccator c Is it possible that this ungrateful People have already forgotten the Favours which God did them in Babylon when that resenting much the Affronts done them by the Idumeans he brought them out of their Captivities There they were Chain'd Cuffed and Bolted and have they so soon forgotten him who broke and struck off their Irons Was it not a great proof of his Love to have sent Moses arm'd with his Omnipotent Power to bring them from Pharaoh's Jurisdiction and Slavery Coram patribus eorum fecit mirabilia in terra Egypti c. Psal 77. v. 23. The notorious Signs and Prodigies which Egypt hath seen shall be the Memorials of his Love Do they remember who it was that commanded the Seas to give them a free passage through their main Gulphs when that their Enemies came close on their backs And after all this they are so bold as to ask God the question How or where has he shew'd them any Love Before they should return any such Answer they should cast all Creatures into the fire being that they are in this point so many convincing proofs and witnesses of their Ingratitude They are not to be excus'd Qui etiam proprio filio non pepercit sed c. Rom. 8. v. 52. I must confess however they are in some respects to be Pardon'd For though they had the Laws of God in their Hands yet they did not as yet see or know the Author of Grace the Word-Incarnate But if a Christian should demand of God Sic Deus dilexit mundum ut filium suum c Joan. 3. v. 16. wherein have you lov'd me I would willingly conjure all Creatures to appear at his Tryal as Evidence of so hainous a Crime and as Executioners of so great a Malefactor But my God why should I dissemble where Truth is so plain For even among Christians we may soon find some of so Brazen a face Cum filio dato omnia donavit nobis ut ce dant in bonum nostrum superiora quidem scilicet divinae personae ad fruendum rationales spiritus ad convenidum omnia inferiora ad utendum D. Thom. in comment Eph. ad Rom. cap 8. as to pronounce the words or at least shew by their Actions that they do not believe that God has a Love for them yea without doubt For how can you think of them otherwise to receive daily the Divine Inspirations to see at all hours and moments the amorous Inventions of God to convert us to hear the Eternal Father repeat so often and in such express terms that he Lov'd the World so far as to give his Dearly Beloved Son to redeem it and not to be mov'd in the least to requite his Love with Love again it is not in Conscience to repeat those Blasphemous words wherein have you Lov'd me I do not find it expedient to give any further Answer to the Ingratitude of Christians then to set before their Eyes the wise conduct of Jesus in the management of our Conversions to let the Soul know that if she makes good use of the first Grace she receives Nonne est ipsa beata vita quam omnes volunt audimus nomen hoc rem ipsam omnes nos appetere fatemur non enim sono delectamur c. Paulo infra Nota est igitur omnibus hominibus quia una voce si interrogari possent sine ulla dubitatione velle responderent D. Aug. tom 1. lib. 10. confess cap. 20. per totum God will never deny her the continuation of his Graces until that her Conversion be fully compleated But because that the sufficient Grace whereof we spoke heretofore is a general term that comprehends all the particular Graces which precedes the Justification as Dispositions requisite to the Introduction of that Noble form I suppose with St. Augustin that the first Thought that falls into a Reasonable mans Heart whatever state he is in is a great desire to be Sav'd A desire which the Divines call a Velleity of Salvation to which God concurs with his special assistance to make this weak desire come to a perfect will For to comprehend the merit of that Grace Quae sursum sunt sapite non quae super terram Coloss 3. v. 2. it should be necessary to remark with St. Augustin and other Saints that all Spiritual Gifts all Graces and Favours which God of his Infinite Mercy communicates to our Hearts have no other end or aim but to stir up our Wills to Actions conducing to Salvation Which to perform after a sweet way God indues the Soul with two attractive Powers he fixes one to the objects of our Conversion and the other to its beginning and ground He orders that the Object shall lance a thousand Lustres of Beauty towards the poor Sinners Soul Quae oculus non vidit c. 1 Cor. 2.9 and so many brightsome Beams whereby Heaven is represented to him as a place of Rest where all Tears all Labours all Crosses and Sufferings are Divinely changed into so many Splendours and Lights of Glory where Saints are Sweetly reduc'd and Happily necessitated to Love freed of all Misery and replenish'd with that Saintly Pleasure which takes its source from the Divine Essence These are the Charms which the Object pours down into our Hearts and to the end that its ravishing Beauties should the sooner come to lodge therein God shapes them either into so many Figures which he knows will draw our Affections to them or at least reforms the former Species we had of them by giving them a more lively colour His Charms are altogether as great for the Understanding and Will the concurring Principles of our Conversion but Principles so corrupted since the Fall of Adam and so disorder'd in their Inclinations that besides the difficulties they meet with in the practice of Virtues they are blindly perswaded that all good and felicity resides where Vice even sits in its Thone with Authority But God to bring them from that errour takes off all contradictions makes all difficulties plain drives away all dark Clouds clears the understanding and helps on the Will in the pursuit of things which she thought impossible whilst she was plunged in the dirt of sin and lead by the inclinations of corrupt Nature then she finds that there is more satisfaction and pleasure to die on the Cross than she had of inclination to live in the flesh and is very well pleased to gather Roses amongst Bushes and Thorns However let us not be perswaded that the faculties of the Soul to work her Conversion requires only the intimate presence of God without any further concurrence of any created Principle I do acknowledge that God has the power of Essential
occasion Lyon is Infected also away with those Chandlers the base smell of their rotten Tallow has brought the Disease amongst them We are like so many Dogs we run after the stone that God doth cast at us without considering what hand it comes from without turning our Face towards him who strikes at us to know what was his meaning to strike us We Lop our Trees and why to hinder that unprofitable Branches may not take away the substance We prune our Vines that they should have less Leaves and more Fruit less Buds and more Grapes You rub your course Irons and why It is to pollish them and take away the Rust God by means of Afflictions cleans our Souls to confirm us in his Grace he clips and cuts us to pieces that we may the sooner produce the Fruits of a true Repentance he sets us under the main Hammer of the Cross in this World to take away the Rust of old Sores and polish our Souls for an Eternity Satan will have us believe the contrary Omnia quae patiuntur mala iniquè se pati dicunt dantes illi iniquitatem per cujus voluntatem patiuntur aut quia non audent ei dare iniquitatem auferunt ei gubernationem D. Aug. to 8. in Psâ— 31. and as by the supposition of a false Belief he dull'd us so far as not to be able to conceive the effects of God's Providence He will soon oblige us to believe that whatever misfortune hapens to us has its off-spring from some fatal necessity And so in liew of considering our Afflictions to be the amorous inventions of God's Love who calls us to his Service we take them for sinister causes which reduce us to bear company with the most miserable Creatures that Nature can afford This is not only found to be true in the general Afflictions which God is pleased to lay over a whole Kingdom or Province to chastise them for their misdemeanours but as yet in particular and personal Afflictions to which every one of us all is subject Let us take for example Diseases St. Basil says That they are God's Prisons If there be a wild young Man in a Countrey a High-way Robber a Murderer a Whore-master or otherwise idly given whom the fear of the Justice of the Law is not able to reduce to any right understanding the Magistrate to bring this spend-thrift to his Duty issues out his Warrant to the King's Officers to bring in his Body He is taken brought to his Tryal and condemned to Prison there he begins to implore the clemency of his Judges he who a little before undervalu'd both God and Man A Sinner who had no regard of God's Laws Jam saeviat quantum voluerit pater est sed flagilavit nos afflixit contrivit nos verum est sed pater est fili si ploras sub patre plora Paulo infra trod under foot all remorse of Conscience made nothing of the inward reprehensions of his Angel-keeper God who notwithstanding will not have this poor wretch to perish sends his Serjeant with a Warrant to seize on his body a good sound sickness casts him down on his Bed puts Irons on his hands and feet to the end that at last in that condition he be forced to beg his life of his Creator implore his Clemency and expect that by his special Grace he leads him into the Road which all good Christians take to arrive in Heaven Si non vis repelli ab haereditate noli attendere quam poenam habeas in flâ—gello sed quem locum in testamento D. Aug. to 8. in Psal 103. We must not attribute the cause of our Afflictions to some fatal constellation which had preceded at our Birth or to the bad constitution of our Bodies or to the want of good Government in our Diet for though all those causes may contribute somewhat we must acknowledge that there is a Supream and Sovereign cause which has a far higher design than that of sickness and which ends not in that exteriour Infirmity of our Bodies but goes on to cure us of a far more dangerous Disease which is the Interiour Malady of our Souls A Wife has lost her Husband whom she loved as her heart a Husband lost his Wife whom he cherisheth as his one half both are weeping lamenting sighing Alas the Wife will say did the Heavens joyn us together with so sure a knot as that of Marriage to seperate us so soon at least if I had been the first to pay my Duty to Nature I would have had the comfort as not to out-live the object of my misfortune Alas the Husband will say what shall become of my poor Children after having lost a Mother who lov'd them so tenderly What shall become of my House and Family being that I have lost my Wife my Adviser my Helper my House-keeper and prudent Oeconomer who eas'd me of all my cares Could I but release her life with the effusion of my Blood I would soon empty all my Veins to bring her to life again I freely pardon those hot expressions of Nature for being we are all made of Flesh and Blood we must have a feeling for our Friends But to speak like a Christian God demands other guess thoughts of you in those Afflictions he pardons those tears that pass in a moment But he does expect a grief that shall have no other term than Eternity The Virgins of Jerusalem seeing our Saviour to towards the Mount Calvary covered with blood and all battered with blows wept bitterly He does not approve of their Grief but tells them freely that their tears had been better imploy'd for themselves I say the same to those Souls we ought rather to weep for the loss we have often had of our true Spouse Jesus Christ when that by our infidelities we lost his presence Tears on this only occasion are grateful to God and well received by his Apostles when they do produce in us a true Grief of our past idle life and a constant resolution of amendment for the future Another is intangled in Law has lost his Suit which takes away all that he has in the World to whom shall he make his addresses to tell him of his misfortune Now he lays the blame on the Judges and says that they were mis-inform'd and more inclined to favour his Adversaries that they gave Sentence for them who had no Justice on their side Maledictus autem qui spem suam ponit in homine confunderis quia fefellit te spes fefellit spes posita in mendacio si autem ponas spem in Deo non confunderis quia ille in quo spem posuisti falli non potest D. Aug. to 8. in Psal 36. another time he finds fault with himself and accusing himself of laziness says that he either lost his most material Papers or left them at home in his Closet He complains of his Friends that they were too backward
c Such as made choice of me heretofore to be their Councel and took advice of me as of their Trustee whilst all Prosperities attended my Fortune whilst Heaven and Earth were at strife to heap up my contentments and whilst I was in esteem amongst Foreign Nations have basely now forsaken me upon occasion thinking they should be grieved for my Afflictions I let them know the State of my Affairs but they made nothing of my Letters and looked upon me as a Stranger nay for fear that by perusing my Lines where I put them in mind of the Rites of Antient Friendship they should be moved to afford me some consolation Divitiae addunt amicos plurimos à paupere autem hi quos habuit separantur c. Proverb 19. v. 4 6 7. they were so ungrateful as to cast them into the fire and to have no more the memory of them I had Neighbours to whom I was never otherwise than civil I shewed them all manner of courtesie I do not believe that ever I eat a meal but I would have them called one after another to sit at my Table they had the liberty to make use of all that I had in my House as their own proper Goods God did no sooner touch me with the Rod of his Justice but loosing all remembrance of me and my former kindness Inquilini domus mea ancillae meae sicut alienum habuerunt me quasi peregrinus fui in oculis eorum Job 19. v. 15. as if I had been some abominable Man given over to the Devil they had a horrour to see me I had a great number of people that held Farms from me whom I never press'd to pay me though their Terms were expired from whom I never demanded any reparation or other satisfaction for any destruction or damage they might have done to my Tenements and Lands I had patience with them and suffer'd them to live in peace forbearing with their Poverty and expecting their own conveniency to pay my Rents But alas since I lay down on this Bed not one did appear to me nor give me the least word of consolation in the very excess of my Sorrows Servum meum vocavi non respondit ore proprio deprecabur illum Ibid. v. 16. I had Servants who esteemed themselves happy to live in my Service far from having any ground to complain of me that I kept their Wages from them for after I had paid them well I always gave them some gratification to which I was not obliged If they had a desire to withdraw themselves from my House and Service I gave them their liberty and in discharging them the means to advance and further themselves each one according to his condition Seeing that my poor body all full of Sores and Scabs took away the use of my Limbs that by great ado could I lift up my arm to bring my hand to my mouth that my Legs as stiff as a stake by reason of the gross humours which dull'd my Sinews principle of motion would not permit me to stir out of one place I would call them my self and by their proper names as flattering them that they should be the more willing to come at me to ease me of any of my pains To one I would say I pray thee Friend bring me a bit of Linnen that I may rub off the Matter and Dregs which run down from this putrified wound whose sharp and biting humours put me to a thousand pains To another Oh be graciously pleased to help me to change this posture my Back is all bruised with lying so long upon it the Bones pierce my Skin I am half dead To this Servant alas is there no means to get me a drop of fresh water I am so dry that I think my Stomach is nothing but a hot Furnace I can hardly speak my Mouth is so dry my Tongue sticks to my Pallate My God! What heart would not burst to hear the moaning and pitiful tone of a poor Creature so much afflicted Nevertheless Job must have patience his Servants will no more acknowledge him nor hear his voice Let him cry let him complain let him lament there is none now that cares for him he is but a dying Dog in their thoughts they expect no more but the last breath to cast his rotten Carcass into some Ditch This is not as yet all I had a Wife Halitum meum exhorruit uxor mea Job 19. v. 17. says he whom I loved as my self or rather more I would be very sorry to displease her in any thing whatever opposition she might have given to my designs I would captivate my self for to follow her inclinations and let her know that all my feelings were the same with hers But Alas She was to me more cruel and Inhumane than all the rest I am so much an eye-sore and a heart-breaking to her that she scorns to look once at me she would with all her heart see me a hundred foot under ground If by chance she sees any Cup which I made use of to drink in the Servants must presently put it aside out of her sight For she says that it smels of the Leprosy and that the only sight of it provokes her to a Vomit Nolite diligere mundum neque ea quae sunt in mundo non dixit nolite habere sed nolite deligere ecce concupivisti haesisti quis dabit tibi paenas ut columbae quando vâ—labis ubi requiescas quando hic ubi malè haesisti perverse requiescere voluisti nolite diligere mundum tuba divina est D. Aug. tom 1. ser 34. de veeb. Doâ— secundum Lucam if she be forced to pass sometimes hard by me she puts with all speed her handkerchief to her mouth and nose and tells me that my breath is insufferable to her I lie down stretcht on a Dunghil and she will not take the pains to have me carried to a Stable where I might be shelter'd from Rain and bad Weather she sees me and suffers me to languish in that bad Equipage What man of Judgement would ever after relie on the Friendship of this World whose consequences are so Tragical who will not seek to lodge his affections elsewhere being that among Men there is so much disloyalty and falshood You will tell me perhaps that they are exaggerations to frighten Souls And moreover that Histories are full of a number of good Friends who have been both Faithful and Friendly to their dying day Hercules and Theseus Pilades and Orestes Socrates and Choerephon Damon and Pithias Nicocles and Phocion Scipion and Pompeius Lucillius and Brutus Coesar Augustus and Maecenas It 's true but besides this that those Friendships had only for ground that weak foundation of Blood and Flesh they lasted no longer time than the moment of this present life A Christian ought to look for a Friend who is a Priend without Interest a Friend without any
difference of times a Friend for to make his beloved to resent the effects of his Friendship we must not seek for him in the World Jacob c. 4. v 4. Quicunque ergo voluerit amicus esse hujus saeculi inimicus Dei constituitus For St. James assures us in his Masters behalf that whoever takes the World for his Friend has God at the same time for his mortal Enemy Parmenion did no sooner imagine that he had a better Friend in the World than Alexander but Alexander out of hand forgot him and dismist him out of his Court. Dyrce the Thebeian seeing that Lycus her Husband had an affection for Antiopa she could not bear that affront she has Antiopa tied to the Horns of a furious Bull and turns off her Husband Lycus as a Man unworthy of her company Mundi amor Dei pariter in uno corde cohabitare non possunt quemadmodum jidem oculi Coelum pariter terram nequaquam aspiciunt Auctor lib. de 12. abusionibus inter opera Augustini God will have us to believe that he is in love with Men and that the least glance we give at Creatures to the prejudice of what we owe unto him he takes it to be criminal and cannot conceal his feelings of it Though it be true that he lets us sometimes run at random that we may know to our own cost how rigorous are the Laws of all other Friendships but his but it is to the end that having learned by experience how all things underneath him are subject to change we come to confess that of necessity we must get out of the World for to find a perfect Friend and so insensibly withdraw our selves from all Earthly troubles to settle better the compass of reason and find a Friend who shews that he loves us by saving our Souls CHAP. XXVII That we cannot meet with a better Friend than JESUS IF the Catastrophes and Bloody Tragedies of the amities of the World constrain us by reason to detest their alliances Speciosus forma prae filiis hominum c. Psal 4. v. 3. the rare qualities which render Jesus amiable above all things Rebus intelligibilibus tanta est pulchritudo ut illa sit Archetybos nostra simulata umbrarilis pendens nascens à corporeis lineamentis illa in lumine claritatis suae haerens in hac est Deus formâ—sitimus c. Egubinus in Psal 44. shall have no less power to engage our affections in the pursuit of his Love I do not think it strange what St. Augustine says in his Confessions where he accuses himself to have wept in his younger days reading in Virgil the love which Dido and Aeneas had one for another For though the continuance happen'd to be disgraceful to Dido this Poet nevertheless represents the beginning with such a deal of chaste motions that St. Augustine could not read without Tears the fatal end of so innocent a Love He makes that Princess appear so ravished musing upon the happiness she had to have lodged her affections in so worthy a subject that she could never be out of her dumps unless it were to relate the perfections of her Friend and by that sweet evaporation ease the heat of those Fires which consumed her Heart If she looks on his bright Armour and Martial Forehead Virgil 4. Aeneid she believes that there is nothing in the World can withstand the greatness of his courage If he opens his Mouth for to broach a Discourse she finds therein so much Grace and Charms that she thinks it a wonder to see Mercurius and Mars agree so well together in one Subject Now she takes in her Arms the little Ascanius Son to Aeneas for Aeneas was the Widower of Lavinia as Dido was the Relict of Sichaeus and looking into the pollished Christal of his Eyes where the Image of his Father in her fancy did shine she flatters her self with hopes to have the like consolation by the Rights of a Lawful Marriage Another time she takes her Sister Anne aside and discharging her Heart to her Credo equidem nec vana fides gâ—nu esse deorum â—bidem says I must not tell you a lie my dear Sister there is a Man above all Men For my part I do believe and am not deceived he must be of the Race of the Gods It seems to me that this is the discourse of Magdalen and Martha of their dearly beloved Jesus Magdalen over-light in her Friendship whilst she remained a Slave to the World and Subject to its Laws had no sooner seen the Face of the Messias and washed his Feet in the Pharisee's House but coming back to her Lodging all in a sweat Ah! my dear Sister let me hear no more talk of the World Jesus has gained my Heart I shall never Love any other what a wretch am I to begin so late to understand his Merits he is both handsom sweet and gracious he is affable withal they made me believe that nothing came from his Mouth but Thunders Remissa sunt ei peccata multa quia dilexit multum Lucae 7. v. 47. from his Eyes but Lightnings and from his Hand but Thunderbolts It 's true but they are Thunderbolts without any hurt Lightnings without any terrour a Thunder without noise Ardor charitatis in ea rubi ginem peccatorum combussit peccata cremabâ—lia sunt ad faciem ignis stare non possunt D. Greg. ex Hugone Card. in c. 7. Lucae I never expected from him so favourable a reception as I had The company begins to grumble at me but he most graciously took my defence in hand they would fain blame my actions but he was pleased to justifie me before all and which is more he was so merciful to me as to give me the full absolution of all my Sins Let Dido burn if she please in her flames for Aeneas For my part I will never have any Friend but Jesus at this present I do renounce with all my Heart all other amities for to live and die in Jesus my sweet Love Deligebat Jesus Martham Sororem ejus Mariam Lazarum ille languens illae tristes omnes dilecti sed diligebat eos languentium Salvator imo etiam mortuorum suscitator tristium consolator D. Aug. tom 9. Tract 49. in cap. 11. Joan. Magdalen had reason for besides that Jesus by his proper Nature inexhaustible source of the primitive Love is worthy to be lov'd above all things by a Love of benevolence the effects which we do receive dayly of his Friendship ought to render him amiable to us and worthy of Love which may be both sensible and of proper Interest For if we come to consider the favours he gives us they are without number if we take notice after what fashion he bestows them they are without example If of the times wherein he does them there is not a moment of our lives but is under the
heaviness distaste and sadness And on the other part to let us know when we shall be brought to that State whom to make our addresses to to find true consolation In all Arts as well Mechanick as Liberal say the Masters Hoc dixit quia multi clamant in tribulatione qui non exaudiuntur ad voluntatem sed ad salutem Ibid. there is a certain secret which they will hardly communicate There is in humane life also a secret to live contentedly which I would wish all the World had known Dear Reader here it is for you in three words Love only where you ought to Love and you shall never be heavy at the Heart you shall be always content you shall see sometimes one in the turning of a hand to be altogether changed in his humours of a jolly hearty companion become on a sudden mournful sad drowzy whatever he sees pains him where others find their recreation he gets wherewith to entertain his Melancholly he shuns all company to give more leasure and liberty to his dark thoughts to grieve him and trouble his Rest the more Has he a desire to get out of that dimness where Sadness sits in her Throne Will he know whence he had that grim Companion that litigious Domestick that trouble-feast who sets a disorder over all the Commonwealth of the Soul Let him not find fault with the bad constitution of his Body Let him not attribute any thing to the change of Seasons nor to the Influence of the Stars for none of them are the cause of his heaviness But let him examine his own affections let him never give over to search until he discovers the Object that retains them For doubtless they are in some place where true consolation cannot be lodged Omnis nostra tribulatio est ex nobis sed consolatio ex solo Deo ex nobis sunt conturbationes sed ex Deo finis earum Incognit in Psal 41. D. Aug. 4. Cons c. 12. as in some Creature or in some vain hope finding out this too to be true let him love where he ought to love Let him withdraw his affections thence and place them where Justice Reason and his own Interest will have them to be and I do assure him in God's Name with St. Augustine that he has found the secret to live content and happy in this World There is nothing so much to be admired in the process of times as to see how God to teach this secret to Men Summons them to the experience of a thousand Fatal accidents and permits them to place their desires according to the choice of their liberty how he permits afflictions heaviness to rise at the very instant Men thought to rest happy and repose themselves sweetly in the Lap of consolation and Peace Was there any thing more Glorious in appearance than Belissarius under Justinian the Emperour Belissarius the most Valiant Captain that ever bore Arms in the three Neighbouring Ages who reduced the Persians under the obedience of his Prince who supprest the insolency of the Goths over all Italy who went along to Africk to Subdue those Barbarous Nations whence he brought Prisoner the King Gilismer as the Crown of his Victories He returns to Court full of Glory gives an account of his Actions brings Scepters and Crowns to the Feet of Justinian hoping to find Peace Tranquility and a favourable Reception as a Reward of his Fidelity But God who will not have Man to lean upon the brittle Staff of Creatures to find his Consolation suffers that He who was obliged for his life to Belissarius enters into a Jealousy of the Honour of his Conquests forgets all the hazards wherein he exposed himself for his Service has both his eyes pluckt out of his Head strips him out of all his Means reduces him to a State of such extream misery that poor Belissarius is constrained to build himself a little Cabin of Dung and Straw on the High-road to ask the Alms of Passengers for the love of God Euseb lib. 2. Hist cap. 5. Belissarius had lodged his hopes very ill but Philo the Jew more wise than he found out the secret Deus non tibi declarat ipsam misericordiam quam tibi per diem mandavit nisi per noctem cum venorat ipsa tribulatio tunc adjutorio te non deserit ostendit tibi verum fuisse quod tibi per diem mandavit etenim scriptum est speciosa misericordia Domini in tempore tribulationis sicut nubes pluviae in tempore siccitatis D. Aug. tom 1. in Psal 41. for being accused by Appion before Cajus Caligula and being very hard put to for to justifie himself of what was laid to his charge failed not nevertheless to find in short his true Consolation He turns himself with a smiling countenance towards his Country-men courage my Companions here is the hour come wherein it is necessary that God should comfort us seeing all Humane assistance has failed us As if he would say that God by a solemn Decree of his Divine Providence has as it were obliged himself to Man that at the same time when he shall know by experience that a Creature cannot be the Object of his Consolations and that he will convert himself to him he will receive him in his Arms to comfort him in all his Afflictions and Heaviness of Heart It is then very true that he who has found out the secret of living contentedly has concluded out of the weakness of Creatures and by their inability to furnish any true contentment that God alone is He who can really comfort him a consequence which is very easie to be deduced if we will but suppose a Principle known of it self to be true by natural reason which is that all Men in general without exception of any whatever desires to be content and live happy This good luck is never found but in the pursuit or in the enjoyment of our last end after which there is no more to be desired But it is most evident by the ordinary unquietness of our mind which is never here at rest through the unruliness of our Souls always at the chase of new affections by reason of the disordered Appetite of all our faculties which are never satisfied with the Metaphorical food of their Objects That the Creature cannot be our last end seeing it cannot afford us so much good at once as that we may never desire any more God alone then remains for our last end for he only can give such contentment and so perfect that after it we cannot desire any more And therefore no Consolation can be true if it has not the full enjoyment of its last end But because there is a great difference betwixt the Desire and the Enjoyment of the thing desired and that this true Consolation which all Men look for is as the Golden-Fleece of Antiquity that could not be carried away without danger of life and that we
Virtue without shineing Jesus Christ trod under foot God altogether forgotten and what is most deserving of our respects set at naught and utterly disdained For my part I remit the off-spring of those disorders to the want of believing the Immortality of Souls For wherever that pernicious errour has crept that all dyes with the Body they may attempt on the Sacred Persons of Kings and without any respect to the Divinity whereof they are the lively Images on Earth treat them unworthily so be that their dealings be underboard For if all dyes with the Body and that there is no account to be taken of their crimes after death If they do betray the State if they do sell their Country if they do commit the most horrid crimes that ever were heard of they may fear no punishment if that unhappy belief takes place in their Spirits Let the great ones oppress the little ones let the rich cut the poor peoples throats let the enemy execute his vengeance all is permitted to him who gives no more advantage to his Soul than to that of a bruit beast Let them speak no more of the commandments of God of the Sacraments of the Church of the reward reserved for the good in Heaven of the punishments prepared for the wicked in Hell if there be no more in man then Living and Dying we may say as much of the Patriarchs of Religious Orders Benedict Bernard Dominick Francis that they have not obliged their Children to bring them from the World to pass over the best of their days in crucifying of their Bodies For if the Souls be not Immortal all those sufferings are but a meer oppression of Innocency I have heretofore joyned my small weak Prayers to the common Vows of all France for a Blessing from Heaven for our Sovereigns Arms whilst he had them in his hands to fight against Heresy but I will have a thousand times more sensible feelings of his Piety and Courage when he shall make appear his Power and Authority to suppress those unfortunate execrements of Nature who are so bold as to lift up their Horns to strike at Piety In the mean time I call you again brave Chrysanthus and Musonius most worthy Prelates of the Church get out of your Tombs pierce the Rock of your Sepulchres and announce unto us your Belief in this point of the Immortality of Souls Chrysanthus and Musonius were two Famous Bishops among them who assisted at the general Councel of Nice in the year 1328 where the two Articles of the Resurrection of the Flesh and of the Life Everlasting were particularly treated of it happened that these two great Prelates died before the conclusion of the Councel After the Fathers had Signed all and each of the Acts they brought the Papers on the Tombs of the Deceased with this humble supplication Holy Fathers the well beloved of God who have assisted at the Acts of this present Councel as we have found you always Faithful to maintain the Rights of the Church the Faithful Spouse of your Master and Ours and as you have Fought with us to defend her against her Enemies So We do beseech you if you have as yet the same feelings with us of the Articles proposed that you may set your honds to these present Papers A thing truly to be admired next Morning they found that all was Signed with their proper hands If that Article of it self cannot be contradicted but by him who will deny the Principles of Nature the Authority of the Holy Ghoct and all common feelings can there be Christians found hereafter who will live in the World as if all would die with the Body But if they do believe the Immortality of Souls how can it be that they have no thoughts but for the Earth It 's a folly like that of a Merchant who Freights a Vessel to go to the Indies to Peron to China to enrich himself And being arrived where the Mines of Gold and Silver are he spends his time in looking at the Hills that are about the place the Streams that are underneath the Woods that are hard by and does not think of loading his Ship nor of returning back to his Country God has placed our Souls in our Bodies as in a Mystical Vessel it 's to load us with the Goods of Eternity and the Merchandize of Heaven One spends his time with pampering of his Flesh another to build a Fortune in the Air This Man Fights with the Winds that Man Paints on the Waters and none thinks that his Soul is Immortal nor that she is to return to her Country some day was there ever the like folly That was a strong Receipt and more than ordinary Plato in eo qâ— Carmi. which Zamolxis a Physician of Thrace gave to a young Man whom Plato calls Carmis Son to Glaucon who complained of a great pain in his head and of a Megrim which made him giddy-brain'd He orders no cooling Plaisters to be applyed to him no opening of a Vein no Scarrifications he will have his Soul to be Purged assuring that the Infirmities of the Body proceed from the alterations of this Principle This Purging is no other than a discharging of all feelings of the Earth to bring her to the thoughts of Immortality This is the Receipt which Jesus prescribes to all those who are willing to convert themselves I will make bold to borrow the words of Seneca the Moral Phylosopher Seneca Ep. 102 to make the Induction thereby If the Infirmities of the Body trouble your Health and that by redoubling their rigours they bring you to Death's door rejoyce as the Prisoner at the first news of his Liberty For Death is no other thing than an enlargement of the Soul out of the Prison of the Body where she sighs under the Irons and Chains of corrupt Nature If any ask you the question which is your Countrey and your Native place do not say that it is Alexandria or Smyrna No tell boldly that it is Heaven being there is nothing here on Earth can content your heart nor set a stop to your expectations for all rouls under the unavoidable Laws of Mortality Consider that even as the Mother which carried you in her Womb was not resolved to lodge you there still but that after nine months space you should come weeping into the World So the World that has harboured you for a time had no design to give you a perpetual residence but only to suffer you to refresh your self as a passenger without any tie to the place where you have lodged by way of civility only and as a Passenger not as a Proprietor This vale of Misery is but an Inne the Riches are but Honours and Vanity the Pleasures are the Houshold-stuff Man is the Pilgrim and Traveller he is not permitted to carry any thing along with him he must first account with his Host and after march off from whence he came and as he has
laesi carmine fontis aquoe Illicibus glandes cantataque vitibus una Decidit nullo poma movente fluunt to render the land fruitless by reason of the want of sufficient heat or humidity or by destroying the Harvest in time of Reaping with heavy showers of Hail This was known to be true by the very Pagans themselves Ceres says the prophane Poet being wounded by an inchanting Verse in lieu of Corn gives now but dirt and weeds the Fountains are dryed up in their source the Acorns fall off the Trees before their time Omnes humanae injuriae quae religiosis viris inferuntur non eosdem habet authores quos ministros executio hominis est sed diaboli instinctus est D. Hilâ—r in Ps 128. and the Vintage is made before the Grapes are ripe St. Hillarion gives a further addition he says that the Devils have power to set people by the ears and that all the affronts wrongs and injuries which good and virtuous Livers receive in this World come from the Devil though men be the Executioners of his rage It 's very true says the great Synesius for the greatest solemnity in Hell and the rarest Banquets that the Devils can have is the abundance of human Calamities Humane Bodies by Divine permission are subject to their torments either by Possession or Obsession by Possession when that they do make use of their Limbs according to their will and pleasure making them to operate things above their nature as would be to make an ignorant body to speak Greek and Latine hold a man hanging in the Air without any visible support transport him to forreign Countreys in a short time and other such Works By Obsession when that they are not permitted to do what they would with humane Bodies but only to cause them a thousand vexations Exteriourly as to frighten them with such a deal of phantastical representations and hideous forms to drive men into panique fears trouble and confound the Species before that our faculties receive them whence come so many extravagant immaginations for one will believe that all that he sees is red another that all that he eats has the taste of Wormwood and so of the rest They also do procure a number of Diseases Hence comes it that St. Luke relates of a certain Woman whom the Devils did afflict with a great pain in her back bone that made her stoop down to the ground and could hardly go he calls the Devil who gave her this Distemper a Spirit of Infirmity that is to say a Devil whose Office was to cause Sickness As for Temptations which bring us directly or indirectly to sin by the impulsion of the Devils I find two different feelings among the Fathers the One is of St. Anselm Ansel in c. 15. Mat. who Judges them worthy of reprehension who to palliate their Offences will cast all the blame upon Satan And that we must stand to the terms of Scripture which says that from the Heart come all evil thoughts The Other of St. Cyprian who will give this priviledge to the merit of the Evangelical Law that a Christian having received Baptism is no more subject to the Temptations of the Devil he brings down to Authorize his own opinion the Example of Pharaoh who can well cause a displeasure to Moses whilst he remains in Aegypt but as soon as he sets his foot into the water the Symbol of Baptism he loses all his strength Moses makes his escape Pharaoh falls down to the bottom with all his Baggage However these thoughts and different opinions may be accorded for the first must be understood of the consent of the will and not of the instigations and motions of the Devil The second is true for the design of its Author is to say that since the Sacrament of the Incarnation the Devil's Forces were so much weakened and the Church so well provided with so many efficacious means to blow up all his Mines and crush all his Forces to pieces that he does not exercise his Power any more with so much Empire as he was accustomed to do in the antient Law because the Blood of the Messias had not as yet besprinkled their Sacraments as it has ours Nocent illi quidem sed iis à quibus timentur quos manus excelsa Dei non protegit qui prophani sunt à Sacramento veritatis Lact. l. 2. Just the Pious use thereof puts into our hands as many Offensive and Defensive Arms as they have particular Effects each one in its Nature And so as Lactantius does well remark them are only among Christians the Object of their rage who like so many cowardly Clowns do suffer themselves to be beaten with their own Arms whilst they have them in their hands You see then that from the cowardliness of our Hearts they do take what advantages they please to tempt us They do proceed after two ways of perswasion and disposition by way of perswasion when they do deceive our Interiour faculties by representing unto them the Purity of their Objects the understanding when in lieu of Eternal verities they do Print therein deceiptful verities which being drawn out of a bad Principle cannot ingender but most pernicious consequences even as by transforming themselves into Angels of light they deceived our first Parents under the false Title of Divinity which brought them no other thing but the loss of their Innocency and of their original Justice The will when that confounding the Love which we owe to God with the Love of Creatures they make her look upon God as upon an Object far out of her reach and because that the great distance of the Object is less able to move the Faculty than that which is present by a diabolical malice they do substitute the presence of Creatures to God whom they remov'd afar off and by that block which makes an obstacle they do hinder us to have that real and true affection for our Sovereign good 'T is by that way that he has settled those two unfortunate Maxims in the Heart of our Worldly Politicians who will have themselves to be the strong and undaunted Spirits only upon that account that they will not batter their Brains with musing upon future and invisible things There is the first Maxim and the second is that they will enjoy at full the things present for fear to deceive or afflict Nature in the over-much care of things absent The Devils do seduce us by way of disposition in our sensitive faculties Cum in reproborum cordibus pravum quid oritur mox per studium delectationis diaboli malitia enutritur cum sibi minime resistitur protinus ex consensu roboratur c. D. Greg. l. 27. Moral in c. 37. Job c. 19. sub Enem as well Interiour as Exteriour To bring us to Hatred to Envy to Anger they may trouble our Sences so by deluding the Eyes confounding the Fantasy tossing the Immagination that Man