Selected quad for the lemma: heaven_n
Text snippets containing the quad
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A84588
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A guide to salvation, bequeathed to a person of honour, by his dying-friend the R.F. Br. Laurence Eason, Ord. S. Franc. S. Th. L.
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Eason, Laurence.
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1673
(1673)
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Wing E99aA; ESTC R230984
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39,971
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127
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considering all things in this world said Horum bonorum unus est titulus salus hominis they all carry this Title upon them The Salvation of man When God had Created this sensible world with the Heavens Elements and all Creatures in it he put this Title upon them Salus hominis this was the end of their being to which they were ordered when he Created the Angels he placed this as a Frontisepiece upon them Salus hominis The Salvation of man this is the affair in which they are imployed as the Apostle Heb. 1. informes us Omnes administratores Spiritus All of them are administrating Spirits sent for those who are to receive the inheritance of Salvation They labour incessantly in this affair knowing it is the greatest work of God in which they can be imployed If God became Man if he Preached gave us examples of all Vertues instituted the Sacraments these and the like Marvels have this Inscription upon them Salus hominis having no other end but this If he dyed on the Cross it was for this design he suffered Death to give us Life It was from this consideration that Tertullian said Nihil tam dignum Deo quam salus hominis nothing so worthy or beseeming God as the Salvation of man and St. Thomas gives this Reason of it because the whole Universe with all the Orders Dispositions and Marvels in it do not so clearly and fully manifest his grandeurs as the Salvation of man for here he makes appear his Attributes and Perfections which are his Power Wisdome Love in a most eminent manner which caused the holy Doctor to affirm In rebus creatis nihil potest esse majus quam salus rationalis creaturae In all Created things there is not any greater than mans Salvation God could have Created Heavens more extended and more richly adorned than those which now rowl over our heads an Earth more fruitful than that which now supports us Angels more intelligent than those which now sing his Praises in Heaven but he could not do any thing more Great Noble and Divine than the Salvation of man this is it which after a soveraign manner manifests his Attributes and Perfections This consideration should cause us highly to esteem incessantly to endeavour our Salvation which concerns so much the glory of God which we are obliged to advance to our power And seeing that God on his part so really and seriously desires our Salvation and so highly esteems it that he Created and Ordered all things in this universe for it surely by our neglecting it we frustrate as much as in us lyes all his designes and dissolve and reduce to nothing the Creation of the world with all things in it for all things have their being and conservation for no other end but this what a stupendious ingratitude and contempt of God and his benefits are involved in this neglect who is so blind as not to discern it and therefore most inconsiderate and insensible to be guilty of such a crime The second Consideration and Motive The second is taken from our own proper Interests which is no less than our Salvation the loss of which renders us miserable for all Eternity We will begin this consideration with those remarkable words with which the Wise man concluded his Ecclesiastes Deum time fear God and observe his Commandements hoc est omnis homo for this is every man or as St. Jerome translates it This is the end of every mans Birth and Being from which St. Bernard draws this Consequence Ergo absque hoc nihil est homo then without this man is nothing Popes are not in the world to be Popes nor Kings to be Kings nor Wise men to be Learned and the like but all universally to be saved All the conditions and employments which possess the Spirits of men ought to give place to this and aime at it as their proper object and end without which they are in vain This our Blessed Saviour affirms in those words of St. Matthew cap. 16. quid prodest homini what will it advantage a man to gain the whole world and to suffer detriment in his Soul what will it profit a man to have all the pleasures of the voluptuous all the riches the world can afford him all the honours that men can confer upon him if he were absolute Monarck of the whole world if at last he loseth his Soul If he had all the knowledg of things natural and Divine all the beauty that the body is capable of such health for so long a time as he could desire all the advantages of the world which men so ardently thirst after all these in the judgment of Christ the Divine Wisdome of his Father will be unprofitable if he comes not only to lose but to suffer detriment in his Soul For this reason the Royal Prophet stiles his Soul his Darling or his One Erue a framea Deus animam meam de manu canis unicam meam Deliver my Soul from the power of the Sword and my One from the hand of the Dog He calls his Soul his One not only because as other men he had but one Soul but because it was most dear unto him he loved it and procured the conservation of it with all the care and diligence which one imploys to preserve things the rarity and worth of which renders them pretious and amiable This caused St. Chrysostome Hom. 12. de po to say God hath given us two Eyes two Ears two Hands two Feet that if any Misfortune deprive us of the use of one we may help our selves by the use of the other Animam vero unam dedit nobis but he hath given us but one Soul if we lose this we lose all irrevocably The Prophet David Psal 116. well considered this when he said Anima mea in manibus meis semper my Soul is always in my hands to hold it fast that I might not lose it but exercise it in good works defend it from all Enemies who would ruine it and always consider the condition of it according to that of St. Bernard Non facile obliviscimur We do not easily forget those things which we hold in our hands the care of our Souls should always thus be present to us That Holy Father thus continues his discourse about this subject If thou art so sollicitous as not to neglect small things so vigilant to preserve thy Corn thy Cattel thy Money thy Earthly possessions such inferiour and transitory things art thou not then foolish and unreasonable to neglect the Salvation of thy Soul which is thy true treasure This as St. Gregory speaks is to pervert Reason into extream Folly The excellence of true reason and judgment consists in discerning the price of things and esteeming them according to their worth and consequently to make more acccount incomparably of the Soul than of the Body of things Eternal than Temporal of the affair of his Salvation than