one thing to another unless it be to give it ease and that too at a convenient time and not otherwise for those that would give ease unseasonably do but cause trouble One is displeas'd and then regards nothing so hard it is to obtain any thing of Man but by Pleasure which is the Money for which we part with any thing 44. * Man is a lover of Malignity but 't is not against the Wicked but against the Happy proud and 't is to be deceiv'd to judge otherwise Martiall 's Epigram upon the Blind is naught for it don't Comfort them and only gives a Point to the Glory of the Author What is not for the Author is worth nothing Ambitiosa recidet ornamenta those that have human and tender Thoughts should be pleased and not those who are barbarous and inhumane §. XXXII PRAYER To desire of God the right use of Sickness I. LORD thy Spirit is so good and so sweet in all things and thou art so Merciful that not only the Prosperities but even the sufferings which befal the Elect are effects of thy Love give me Grace not to act as a Heathen in the State whereinto thy Justice has reduced me but that as a true Christian I may own thee for my Father and my God in what condition soever I am for the change of my Condition makes nothing to thee for thou art always the same though I am subject to change and thou art the same God when thou afflictest and punishest as when thou dost comfort and shew compassion II. Thou gavest me Health to serve thee and I have converted it to a prophane use now thou sendest me Sickness to correct me suffer me not to abuse it to provoke thee by my impatience I have not rightly improved my health and thou hast justly punish'd me suffer me not to slight thy Correction And seeing the Corruption of my Nature is such that it makes thy favours pernicious to me Grant O my God that thy powerful Grace may make thy Chastisements profitable to me If my Heart has been full of Love for the World whilst it had any vigour abate this vigour for my good and make me uncapable of enjoying the World whether it be through weakness of Body or through Zeal of Charity that I might enjoy thee only III. O God before whom I must give an exact account of all my Actions at the end of my Life and at the end of the World O God who sufferest the World and all things in the World to subsist only to exercise thine Elect or to punish Sinners O God who leavest impenitent Sinners in the delicious but Criminal use of the World O God who killest our Bodies and at the instant of Death separatest our Soul from all that it loved in the World O God who wilt take me away at the last moment of my Life from all those things I delighted in and whereon I set my Heart O God who at the last day wilt consume Heaven and Earth and all Creatures therein contained that all Men might see that 't is thou only that subsistest and that therefore thou only deservest to be loved because nothing is permanent but thou O God who wilt destroy all vain Idols and all these wicked Objects of our Passions I Praise thee my God and will Bless thee all the days of my Life inasmuch as thou hast been pleas'd to prevent this dreadful Day in my behalf by destroying as to me all things by the weakness wherein thou hast put me I Praise thee my God and will bless thy Name as long as I live in that thou hast been pleas'd to make me unable to enjoy the Pleasures of Health and the Pleasures of the World and in that thou hast in some sort destroyed for my good the deceitful Idols which thou wilt absolutely destroy for the confusion of Sinners in the great Day of thy Wrath. Grant Lord that I may judge my self after this destruction which thou hast made in my regard to the end thou maist not judge me thy self after the general destruction which thou wilt make of my Life and of all the World For Lord as at the instant of my Death I shall find my self separated from the World stript of all things standing in thy Presence to answer thy Justice for all the Motions of my Heart grant that I may look on my self in this Sickness as in a kind of Death separate from the World depriv'd of all the Objects wherein I placed my delight standing in thy Presence to implore of thy Mercy the true Conversion of my Heart that so I may have and feel extraordinary Comfort that thou art pleased now to send me a kind of Death to exercise thy Mercy before thou sendest me Death effectively to exercise thy Judgment Grant therefore O my God that as thou hast anticipated my Death I may prevent the rigor of thy Sentence and that I may examine my self before thy Judgment that I may find Mercy in thy Presence IV. Grant O my God that I adore in silence the order of thy wonderful Providence in the conduct of my Life that thy Chastisements may comfort me and that having lived in the bitterness of my Sins during the time of Peace I may taste the Heavenly sweetness of thy Grace during the healthy Afflictions wherewith thou dost visit me But I acknowledge my God that my Heart is so hardned and full of Ideas Cares Molestations and Thoughts of this World that neither Sickness nor Health neither Discourse nor Books thy Holy Scriptures nor the Gospel neither Fasting Mortifications nor Works of Charity and Mercy nor Miracles nor the use of thy Sacraments nor all my indeavours nor those of all the World put together can contribute any thing towards my Conversion unless thou art pleas'd to accompany all these things with an extraordinary assistance of thy Grace Therefore my God I come unto thee Omnipotent God to demand that of thee which all Creatures together cannot give me I should not have the confidence to lift up my Voice unto thee if any body else could help me But O my God as the Conversion of my Heart which I beg of thee is a Work that surpasseth the strength of Nature I cannot but address my self to the Almighty Author and Master of Nature and of my Heart to whom should I cry Lord to whom should I go but to thee nothing but God can fill and satisfie my expectation It is God only that I seek for and that I desire and 't is to thee only O my God that I address my self that I might enjoy thee Open my Heart Lord enter into this Rebellious place which has been defil'd with Sin it keeps it in subjection enter thereinto as into the strong Mans House but first bind the strong Man that Rules in it and then take all the Riches therein Lord take my Affections which the World had stollen wilt thou accept this Treasure rather reassume it seeing
and Soul of each particular Christian That as Jesus Christ suffered during his Mortal Life Rose again to a new Life Ascended into Heaven and sate down on the Right Hand of God his Father so also the Body and Soul must suffer die be raised and ascend up into Heaven All these things are fulfilled in the Soul during this Life but not in the Body The Soul suffers and dies unto Sin in Repentance and Baptism the Soul rises to a new Life in these Sacraments and at last the Soul leaves the Earth and ascends to Heaven in Living a Holy Life which makes St. Paul say Conversatio nostra in Coelis est None of these things happen to the Body during this Life but they do afterwards for at Death the Body dies to this Mortal Life at the Day of Judgment it shall rise to a new Life after Judgment it shall ascend up into Heaven and there abide to all Eternity So that the same things arrive to Body and Soul but at different times and the changes of the Body do not happen till those of the Soul are accomplish'd that is to say after Death so that Death is the consummation of the Souls Happiness and the beginning of that of the Body This is the admirable conduct of the Wisdom of God in the Salvation of Souls and St. Austin teaches us on this Subject That God has so order'd it fearing least the Body of Man should be Dead and raised again for ever in Baptism or that he only became Obedient to the Gospel for love of Life whereas the greatness of Faith shines much more when one hopes for Immortality even through the shadows of Death 4. * It is not just we should be without sense and feeling of grief in the Afflictions and sad Accidents that befal us as if we were Angels that have no sense of Nature neither is it just that we should be quite dejected like Heathens that have no sense of Grace but 't is just we should be Afflicted and Comforted like Christians and that the Comforts of Grace should surmount the Sense of Nature to the end Grace may not only be in us but that it may predominate in us that so Sanctifying the Name of our Father his Will may become ours that his Grace may bear sway over Nature and that our Afflictions may be as the Matter of a Sacrifice which his Grace offers for the Glory of God and that these particular Sacrifices may honour and fore-run the Universal Sacrifice wherein whole Nature is to be consumed by the power of Jesus Christ Thus we draw benefit from our own Imperfections seeing they shall serve for matter of this Sacrifice for 't is the aim of all true Christians to make a Benefit of their very Imperfections because all things work together for Good for the Elect. And if we seriously consider it we shall find great helps to our edification in considering the thing in the Truth of it for seeing it is true that the Death of the Body is only the Figure of that of the Soul and that we build on this Principle that we have cause to hope the Salvation of those whose Death we lament it is most certain if we cannot stop the course of our Grief and Sorrow we should at least make this advantage of it that seeing the Death of the Body is so terrible that it causes so much fear in us that of the Soul should cause much greater grief and amazement God has sent the former to those whom we grieve for we hope he has put away the latter let us then consider the greatness of our Happiness by the greatness of our Miseries and let the excess of our Sorrow be the measure of our Joy. One of the most Solid and best Services we can do for the Dead is to do those things they would desire of us if they were living in the World by this means we make them as it were live in us seeing it is their Counsels that live and act in us And as Hereticks are punish'd in the other World for the Sins wherein they have ingag'd their Followers in whom their Poison as yet remains so the Dead are recompensed for those that have follow'd them by their good Counsels and Example 5. * Man is certainly too unable to judge rightly of the state of future things Let us therefore hope in God and not weary our selves by our indiscreet and rash Curiosity Let us refer our selves to God to Govern our Lives and that Grief may not predominate in us Saint Austin teaches us That there is in every Man a Serpent an Eve and an Adam The Serpent is the Senses and Nature the Eve is the Lustful Appetite and the Adam is Reason Nature tempts us continually the Sensual Appetite is ever craving but Sin is not finish'd unless Reason consents Let us then suffer this Serpent and Eve to act if we cannot hinder them but let us pray God that his Grace would so stregthen our Adam that he may continue Victorious that Jesus Christ may be Conquerer and that he might Reign for ever in us §. XXXI Sundry Meditations 1. THe more knowledge we have so much the more we find that there are perfect Men. Common People see no difference betwixt Men. 2. * One may have good Sense and yet not perceive all things aright for there are some that may judge aright in some things that are deceived in others some draw true Consequences from few Principles others draw right Consequences from things where there be many Principles for example some do well comprehend the effects of Water wherein there is but few Principles but whose Consequences are so fine that 't is only a very diligent search can attain to it yet these may not it may be be any great Geometricians because Geometry comprehends a great many Principles and some kind of Wit may be such that it can penetrate a few Principles to the bottom and yet may not penetrate those things wherein there are many Principles There are then two sorts of Wits one that penetrates vigorously and profoundly the Consequence of Principles and that is the Polite Wit the other comprehends a great many Principles without mingling them and that 's the Wit of Geometry the one is strength and clearness of Wit the other is largeness of Wit. Now the one of these may be without the other Wit may be strong and narrow and also may be large and weak There 's a great difference betwixt the Wit of Geometry and a refin'd Wit In the one the Principles are clear but remote from common usage so that one has some difficulty to look that way for want of use but turn a little that way and the Principles will appear plainly and one must have the Understanding very corrupt to reason ill upon such Principles as must needs be seen But in the refin'd Wit the Principles are in the common use and visible to the sight of all
things of the World But Desire enjoys God and useth the World whereas on the contrary Charity useth the World and enjoys God. Now it is the end that denominates things all that hinders us to attain to it is called Enemy so that the Creatures though good are Enemies of the Just when they divert them from God and God himself is looked upon as an Enemy by those whose Lusts he interrupts So that the word Enemy relating to the latter end the Just understood it of their Passions and Carnal Men understood by it the Babylonians so that these Terms were only obscure to the unjust and 't is what is said by Isaiah Signa legem in Discipulis meis and that Jesus Christ shall be a stone of stumbling but blessed are those that shall not be offended in him The Prophet Hosea also saith plainly Where is the wise and he shall hear my words for the ways of God are straight the just shall walk in them but the wicked shall fall Nevertheless this Testament made after this manner light to some and dark to others did clearly shew in those whom it darkned the truth which was to be known by others for the outward visible things they received of God were so great and Divine that it was evident enough he had the power to give them the invisible things and also the Messias 13. * The time of the first coming of the Messias is foretold that of his second coming is not foretold because his first coming was to be privately whereas his second is to be more publick and so manifest that even his Enemies shall know it But as he was to come obscurely and to be known only by such as search'd the Scriptures God so dispos'd things that all contributed to make him known the Jews proved him in receiving him for they were the keepers of the Prophesies and they proved him also in not receiving him because therein they accomplished the Prophesies 14. * The Jews had Miracles Prophesies that they see accomplish'd and the Doctrine of their Law was to Love and Worship one God it was also perpetual it had therefore the Marks of the true Religion and so it was But you must distinguish betwixt the Doctrine of the Jews and the Doctrine of the Law of the Jews Now the Doctrine of the Jews was not true though it had Miracles Prophesies and Perpetuity because it wanted this other Point of not Adoring and Loving but God only The Jewish Religion should be consider'd differently in the Tradition of their Saints and the Tradition of the People The Moral and Felicity of it areridiculous in the Tradition of the People but they are incomparable in their Saints the Foundation is admirable It is the antientest and most authentick Book in the World And whereas Mahomet to make his Religion subsist forbid its being Read Moses to Establish his commanded that all the World should Read his 15. * The Jewish Religion is wholly Divine in its Authority in its Duration in its Perpetuity in its Moral in its Conduct Doctrine and Effects c. It was form'd on the pattern and likeness of the Messias and the truth of the Messias was acknowledg'd by the Jewish Religion which was the Type of it The truth was only in Type amongst the Jews in Heaven it is openly seen in the Church it is vail'd and known by relation to the Figure the Figure was taken from the Truth and the Truth was known by the Figure 16. * Whosoever judges of the Jews Religion by the exteriour cannot rightly understand it It is visible in the Holy Records and in the Tradition of the Prophets who have sufficiently shew'd that they did not understand the Law by the Letter so our Religion is Divine in the Gospel and Apostles but in those that corrupt it it is quite disfigur'd 17. * There were two sorts of Jews one soâ—t had only vain Pagan Affections the others had Christian Desires 18. * The Messias according to the Carnal Jews should be a great Temporal Prince according to Carnal Christians he came to exempt us from loving God and to give us Sacraments that operate without us neither of these is the Christian nor Jews Religion 19. The true Jews and Christians believ'd a Messias that enjoyn'd them to love God and by this Love to triumph over their Enemies 20. * The Vail which is over the Scriptures to the Jews is also to bad Christians and to all such as abhor not themselves but how easily do we understand them and know Jesus Christ when we truly censure and abhor our selves 21. * The Carnal Jews keep the midle betwixt Christians and Pagans the Pagans know not God and love only Worldly things the Jews know the true God and love the World only Christians know the true God and do not love the World. Jews and Pagans love the same Riches Jews and Christians know the same God. 22. * It is visibly a People made expresly to be Winesses to the Messias they keep the Records and love them but don't understand them and all this is foretold for it is said Gods Law is given into their Custody but like a Book seal'd 23. * Whilst the Prophets were in being to defend the Law the People were negligent but â—ince there have been no Prophets Zeal has succeeded which is an admirable Providence §. XI Moses 1. THe Creation of the World beginning to be far off God provided a Contempoâ—ary Historian and appointed a whole Nation â—o keep this Book to the end this History might be the most Authentick History in the World and that all Men should be inform'd of a thing so necessary to be known and which can be known by no other means 2. * Moses was very Wise and Learned that 's certain had he then had a design to impose on the World he would have done it in such a manner as that he might not have been accus'd of deceit He has done the quite contrary for had he told Lyes there had not been a Jew but would have discover'd his Imposture Wherefore for Example did he make the Lives of the first Men so long and so few Generations He might have hid himself in a multitude of Generations but he could not in so few for 't is not the number of Years but the multitude of Generations which render things obscure Truth doth not vary but by the change of Men. Nevertheless he places two things the most memorable that ever hapned viz. the Creation and the Deluge so near one another that they almost touch by the fewness of Generations he places betwixt them so that when he wrote these things the remembrance of them was fresh in the Mind of all the Jews 3. * Shem who saw Lamech who saw Adam did at least see Abraham and Abraham saw Jacob who saw those that saw Moses therefore the Deluge and the Creation are true This concludes amongst certain Persons who know it very
still continue a People §. XX. God is not known to advantage but by Jesus Christ 1. MOst of those that undertake to prove the Divinity to the prophane for the most part do begin by the Works of Nature and they very seldom succeed I do not call in question the solidity of these Proofs consecrated by the Holy Scriptures they are agreeable to Reason yet sometimes they are not conformable enough and sufficiently proportion'd to the Disposition of the Spirit of those for whom they are intended For it must be observ'd this Discourse is not directed to those that have a lively Faith and that presently see that all the World is nothing else but the Workmanship of that God whom they Adore It is to such the whole Fabrick of Nature speaks the praise of its Creator and that the Heavens shew forth his Handy-works But for those in whom this light is gone out and in whom one would willingly kindle it those Persons destitute of Faith and Charity that only see darkness and obscurity in all the Works of Nature it seems not to be the best way of instructing them to give them for Proofs only of this great and important Subject the course of the Moon and Planets or of common Notions against which they have ever had an aversion the obstinacy of their understanding has made them deaf to this Voice of Nature sounding continually in their Ears and experience shews that very far from gaining them by this means there 's nothing on the contrary more like to hinder them and to deprive them of all hope of knowing the Truth then to think to convince them only by this sort of Arguments and to tell them that they should plainly see the Truth in them It is not in this manner the Scripture speaks that knows the things of God better than we do It tells us indeed that the Beauty of the Creatures teaches him who made them but it doth not say that they work this same effect in all the World. It warns us on the contrary that when they do it it is not by themselves but by the light that God sheds forth at the same time in the Minds of those to whom he discovers himself by this means Quod notum est Dei manifestum est in illis Deus enim illis manifestavit It tells us in general that God is a God hid Vere tu es Deus absconditus and that since the Corruption of Nature he has left Mankind in a State of darkness from which they cannot be freed but by Jesus Christ without whom we are deny'd all Communion with God Nemo novit patrem nisi filius aut cui voluerit filius revelare It is also what the Scripture intimates to us when it saith in so many places that those which seek God shall find him one does not speak so of a light that is clear and evident one has no need to seek it it discovers and shews it self 2. * The Metaphysical Proofs of God are so far off from human Reasoning and so intangl'd that they seldom work upon any and if that should convince any one it would be but for the moment that they beheld this demonstration but an hour after they would be afraid of being cozen'd Quod curiositate cognoverint superbia amiserunt Moreover this kind of Proofs can only carry us to a speculative knowledg of God and to know him but in this manner is not to know him at all The Christians Divinity consists not barely in knowing a God that is Author of Geometrical Truths and of the order of the Elements this belongs to the Heathens It consists not barely neither in knowing a God that exercises his Providence over the Bodies and Goods of Men to bless with a long and happy Life those which adore him this is the Portion of Jews But the God of Abraham the God of Jaoob is a God of Consolation it is a God that fills the Heart and Soul that enjoys him it is a God that makes them inwardly feel their Misery and his infinite Mercy in their very Soul filling it with Humility Joy Confidence and Love which makes them uncapable of any other End but himself The God of Christians is a God that makes the Soul feel that he is its Soveraign good that its only Rest is in him and that it can have no true Joy but in loving him and that withal at the fame time makes it abhor those lets which defer and hinder it from loving him with all its might Self-love and Concupiscence which hinder it are very burdensom to it this God makes it feel that it is opprest with this burden of Self-love and that it is he only can cure it This is what 't is to know God as a Christian But to know him after this manner one must at the same time know ones own Misery Wretchedness and the need one has of a Mediator to bring one nearer to God and to unite one to him These Notions must not be separated because being separated they are not only unuseful but they are hurtful The knowledge of God without knowing our own Misery causeth Pride The knowledge of our Misery without the knowledg of Jesus Christ causeth Despair but to know Jesus Christ exempts us both from Despair and Pride because we therein know God our own Misery and the only means of Recovery We may know God and not our Miseries or our Miseries and not God or both God and our Miseries without knowing the means of being freed from the Miseries that oppress us But we cannot know Jesus Christ without knowing both God and our Miseries and the Remedy to cure them because Jesus Christ is not only God but he is a God that heals all our Miseries So that all such as seek God without Jesus Christ do not find any light that satisfies or can be any way profitable to them For either they attain not to know there is a God or if they do it is to no advantage to them because they imagin a means of having Communion without a Mediator with this God whom they have known without a Mediator So that they fall either into Atheism or into Deism which are two extreams Christian Religion abhors both alike We must then strive only to know Jesus Christ seeing it is by him only that we can hope to know God to any advantage It is he is the true God of all Men that is of the Miserable and Sinners he is the Object and Center of all and whosoever knows him not knows nothing in the order of the World nor in himself for we do not know God but by Jesus Christ neither do we know our own selves but by Jesus Christ Without Jesus Christ Man had remain'd in Sin and Misery having Jesus Christ Man is freed from Sin and Misery In him is all our Happiness our Virtue our Life our Light and our Hope And out of him is nothing but Sin Misery
say If he would that I should have ador'd him he would have left me Marks of his Will. So he has but you neglect them seek them at least they are well worth the labour 22. * Atheists should speak things very clear Now one must be out of their right Senses to say the Soul is Mortal I think it is not necessary to search into the bottom of Copernicus his Opinion but it concerns our whole Life to know if the Soul be Mortal or Immortal or not 23. * The Prophesies Miracles and other Proofs of our Religion are not of that kind as that one can say they are Geometrically convincing But it shall serve my turn at present that you will grant that 't is not against Reason to believe them They have light and darkness to enlighten some and to darken others but the light is such that it surpasseth or at least equals that which makes to the contrary so that 't is not Reason that can make us not to follow it and can be nothing else but the Malice and Lust of the Heart There is light enough to condemn those that do not believe and not enough to gain them to the end it should appear that in those that follow it it is Grace and not Reason that makes them follow it and that in those that shun it it is Concupiscence and not Reason that makes them shun it 24. * Who can chuse but admire and imbrace a Religion that knows to the bottom that understands the more by so much the more one is enlightned A Man that discovers Proofs of the Christian Religion is like an Heir that finds the Deeds of his Estate Will he say they are false and will he neglect to examin them 26. * There is two sorts of Persons that know God those whose Hearts are humbled and that love Self-denial and Meanness how much or how little Wisdom soever they have or those that have Judgment enough to discern Truth what opposition soever they have unto it 27. * The Wise Men amongst the Heathens that affirmed there was but one God were persecuted the Jews were hated the Christians worse hated 28. * I do not see there is any greater difficulty to believe the Resurrection of the Dead and the Birth of Christ of the Virgin than that of the Creation Is it a harder matter to reproduce a Man than to make a Man And if it had never been known what Generation was would it be thought stranger that a Child should proceed from a Maid alone then from a Man and a Maid 29. * There 's a great difference betwixt Repose and Peace of Conscience nothing should give Rest but a sincere seeking of the Truth and nothing can give Assurance but Truth 30. * There are two Truths of Faith equally constant one wherein Man in the State of Creation or in the State of Grace is raised up above Nature made like unto God and partaker of the Divine Nature the other that in the State of Corruption and of Sin he is fallen from this State and become like to the Beasts These two Propositions are both alike solid and certain The Scripture plainly manifests this when it saith Deliciae meae esse cum filiis hominum Effundam Spiritum meum super omnem carnem Dii estis c. and that it saith in other places Omnes caro foenum Homo comparatus est jumentis insipientibus similis factus est illis Dixi in corde meo de filiis hominum ut probaret eos Deus ostenderet similes esse bestiis c. 31. * The Example of the generous Death of the Lacedemonians and others signifies but very little to us for what is all that to us But the Death of Martyrs doth concern us for they are our Members we have a common Obligation with them their Resolution may frame ours there 's no such thing in the Example of the Pagans we have no relation to them the Riches of a Stranger adds nothing to us but that of a Father or a Husband doth 32. * We never part with any thing without regret One don't feel any yoak when we willingly follow them that lead us but when we begin to resist and to struggle one suffers the more the Yoak is the heavier the Pain the more sensible and this Yoak is our Body which is not broke but in Death Our Saviour said that since the coming of John Baptist that is to say since his coming in every Believer the Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence and the violent take it by force Before one is touched we have only the weight of Concupiscence that bends to the Earth When God wakeneth these two contrary Motions cause such a concussion as God only can appease But we can do all things saith St. Leo with him without whom we can do nothing We must then resolve to suffer this War all our Life for there is here no Peace Jesus Christ came to bring the Sword and not Peace Nevertheless it must be granted that as the Scripture saith the Wisdom of Man is Foolishness with God so it may be said that this War that appears severe to Men is Peace in the sight of God for it is the Peace that Jesus Christ hath brought however it shall not be compleat till the Body be destroyed and 't is this that makes Death be desired yet nevertheless being content to live for his sake who both suffered to die and live for us and that can bestow better things upon us than we can desire or imagin as Saint Paul speaks 33. * We must strive not to be troubled for any thing and to take all that comes for the better I believe 't is a Duty and one Sins in not doing so for the reason why Sin is Sin is only because it is contrary to the Will of God And so the Essence of Sin consisting in having a Will opposite to that we know to be in God it appears visible that when he discovers his Will to us by the Events it were a Sin not to comply therewith 34. * When Truth is forsaken and persecuted it seems to be a time wherein the Service we yield to God in defending it is the more pleasing to God. He will have us judg of Grace by Nature and so he suffers us to consider that as a Prince banish'd from his Country by his Subjects has an extream love for those that continu'd faithful to him in the publick Revolt so it would seem God considers those with a particular kindness that defend the purity of Religion when it is openly opposed But there is this difference betwixt the Kings of the Earth and the King of Kings that Princes don't make their Subjects faithful but they find them so whereas God always finds Men unfaithful without his Grace and makes them faithful when they are so So that whereas Kings for the most part testifie their Obligation to those that continue in their Duty
and Obedience it on the contrary happens that those that continue in the Service of God are themselves infinitely beholden to him 35. * It is neither the austerities of Body nor the agitations of the Mind but the good motions of the Heart that support the Pains of Body and Mind for these two things are needful to sanctifie Pains and Pleasures Saint Paul said That those that will live Godly shall find many Tribulations this should comfort those that feel them seeing they are warn'd the way to Heaven that they seek is full of them they should rejoyce to find Marks that they are in the right way But those Pains are never without Pleasure and are never surmounted but with Pleasure for as those that forsake God to turn to the World do it only but because they find more sweetness in the Pleasures of the World then in those of Union with God and that this conquering charm leads them and making them repent of their first choice makes them the Devils Penitents as Tertullian speaks So in like manner one would never forsake the Pleasures of the World to imbrace the Cross of Jesus Christ if one did not find more pleasure in Disgrace Poverty Nakedness and the reproach of Men than in the pleasures of Sin. And so as Tertullian speaks elsewhere It must not be thought a Christians Life is a Life of Sadness One does not quit Pleasures but change them for others that are far greater Pray continually saith St. Paul Give Thanks always Rejoyce evermore It is the Joy of having found God is the ground of the sorrow of having offended him and of the whole change of our Life Him that found a Treasure in a Field is so glad according to Jesus Christ that he sells all he has to purchase it Worldlings have their sadness but they have not this joy which the World can neither give nor take away saith Christ himself The Blessed have this joy without any sorrow and Christians have this Joy mixed with sadness for having follow'd other Pleasures and the fear of losing it by the inticement of those other Pleasures that continually tempt us So that we ought continually to labour to preserve this fear which may moderate our joy and thereafter as one finds himself too much inclin'd towards the one to bend towards the other thereby to continue steddy Think of Good in the Days of Adversity and think of Affliction in the Days of Rejoycing saith the Scriptures until such time as the Promise of Jesus Christ be fulfill'd in accomplishing his Joy in us Let us not then be wholly dejected with sorrow and let us not think Piety consists only in bitterness without Consolation True Piety that is only to be found perfect in Heaven is so full of Comforts that it fills both the Entrance the Progress and the End. It is a Light so bright that it shines upon all that is near it if there be any sorrow mingled especially at first 't is from us it proceeds and not from Virtue for it is not the effect of Piety that begins to be in us but of the Impiety which remaineth in us Let us take away the Impiety and there will be Joy without any mixture Let us not then lay the blame on Devotion but on our selves and seek for Comfort only by correcting our selves 36. * The time past should not trouble us seeing it is only needful we should have true sorrow for our offences the time to come should less trouble us because that makes nothing at all to us and it may be we shall not live to see it the present is the only time that is ours and which we should employ in the fear of God it is therein our Thoughts should be chiefly imploy'd Nevertheless Men are so lazy that we scarce ever think of the time present but of that we shall live in hereafter So that we are ever about living in the time to come and never live in the present Our Saviour would not that our forecast should reach farther than the present Day it is the bounds that he has set us and appointed us to keep both for our Health and Rest 37. Sometimes Men rectisie themselves by seeing Evil more than by Good Example and 't is good to accustom ones self to profit by Evil seeing it is so common whereas that which is Good is rare 38. * In the 13th Chapter of St. Mark Jesus Christ made a great Discourse to his Disciples of his last coming and as all that befals the Church doth also happen to every particular Christian it is certain this Chapter â—oth as well foretel the State of every Christian in particular that in their Conversion dostroy the Old Man in themselves as the State of the whole Universe which shall be destroy'd to give place to a new Heaven and new Earth as the Scripture speaks the Prophesies therein contain'd of the destruction of the rejected Temple which represents the ruin of the Man of Sin which is in every one of us and of which it is said there shall not one Stone be left upon another shews there shall not be left any Passion of the Old Man. And those strange intestine Commotions do plainly foreshew the inward troubles those do feel that give themselves up to God than which there can be nothing more lively described c. 39. * The Holy Spirit invisibly rests in the Relicks of those who are Dead in the Grace of God even until he appears visibly again at the Resurrection and this is it that renders the Relicks of Saints so worthy of Veneration For God never abandons his Servants no not even in the Sepulchres where their Bodies though dead to the Eyes of Men are more alive in the sight of God because they are free from Sin whereas Sin abides in them still during this Life at least the root of it indeed the fruits of Sin are not always seen And this unhappy Root which always subsists during Life is the cause they deserve not so much Honour but rather on the contrary to be hated therefore it is that Death is necessary wholly to mortifie this wicked Root and it is what makes it desirable 40. * The Elect do not know their Virtues nor the Reprobates their Crimes Lord will the one and the other say when saw we thee an hunger'd c. 41. * Jesus Christ refus'd the Testimony of Devils and of those that were not called but not of God and of John Baptist 42. * In writing my Thought sometimes I forget but that makes me remember my weakness which I am apt to forget every Minute and this instructs me as much as the Thought I forgot for I only strive to know my own Nothingness 43. * Mountaign is guilty of great Failures his Works are full of unchast and filthy Words this ought not to be his Opinions of Murder and wilful Death are horrible he inspires a faint hope of Salvation without fear or
pleas'd to veil his Conduct and in such a manner to mingle Light with Obscurity that it should most depend on the Dispositions of the Heart to believe or to rest in Darkness So that those to whom he hides himself ought never to hope for any good till first they do as much as they can possible set themselves in the way of those that have found the Truth But they shall scarce give over counting for nought the Miserable Riches which some would deprive them of they will scarce begin to believe Poverty cannot be an Evil that Disgraces and Oppressions may be lookt upon as Good that nothing is to be shunn'd but offending God and nothing to be sought for but how to please him that all shall be clear to them and if there remains any Obscurity it will appear at least that it is only for those who desire to rest in it For Instance God was pleas'd to send his only Son into the World to save Men and at the same time to be a Stone of stumbling and an Object of contradiction to those who made themselves unworthy of so great a Blessing Could he have done any thing better than what he did to this End He was born of mean Parents he made him spend his Life without having wherein to lay his Head he only gave him the refuse of his People to be his Followers he would not that he should speak of any Sciences nor of any thing esteem'd great amongst Men he made him be thought a Deceiver he caus'd him to fall into the hands of his Enemies to be betray'd by one of his Disciples and forsaken by all the rest he made him tremble at the approach of Death which he sufferr'd publickly and as a Malefactor how could he better disguise him to those who only savour the things of Worldly Greatness and have no Eyes to behold true Wisdom But he also made him Command the Sea the Waves and the Wind yea he had also power over Devils and Death he made him know the inward Thoughts of those that spake with him he pour'd forth his Spirit upon him and put those things in his Mouth as could proceed from no other but God he made him speak the things of Heaven in such a manner as far surpasseth the reach of Men he was desirous to inform them the State of their Heart and how they might be deliver'd from their Miseries he made him live without the least appearance of Sin insomuch as his greatest Enemies had not the least pretext of accusing him he made him foretel his own Death and Resurrection and he raised him up out of the Grave What could there have been fitter to hinder him from being rejected by those who love true Greatness and Wisdom To conclude because all Ages and the whole Universe were concern'd in the same Conditions of Obscurity for some and of Light for others he would have his History and Life writ by none but his Disciples to render it suspicious to those who desir'd to be deceived and that it should be the most undoubted of all Histories that so they might be inexcusable For in a Word not to enter into this vast Field of Dispute if it be not true either the Apostles must be deceived or they must be Cheats and neither the one nor other is to be believ'd how could it be that they were deceiv'd those who said They were Eye Witnesses of the Life of Jesus Christ and also believ'd to be Chosen and endow'd with Gifts to that very End Could they be deceiv'd to know if they themselves healed the Sick if they raised the Dead What other or greater Sign could they have desired to be assur'd of knowing the Truth But if Jesus Christ made them believe during his Life how comes it to pass they were not better advis'd after his Death seeing they believ'd he was truly God that is Master of Life and Death For as for the Disciples of Mahomet who only call'd himself a Prophet it is plain they rested in Ignorance and Error after his Death and he was careful not to promise them to Rise again But it is not so of those of Jesus Christ they are far bolder accordingly they declare If he is not Risen all they did and said is in Vain It is thence they draw their greatest Comfort and Constancy and 't is very unlikely and even impossible but they believ'd at least that they saw him after his Death and they believ'd it with the greatest certainty could be in exposing themselves to all they sufferr'd and by reposing thereon the great Work wherein they had so happy success This being granted how can it be imagin'd they all believ'd so strongly a thing so difficult to be receiv'd and whereof the Eyes only can be the Judges Did they all dream it in one Night for they all declare they see him and we think they were all honest Men. Is it a Ghost that deceiv'd them for the space of Fourty Days or was it some Impostor that made them believe that he was the Man that Dy'd before their Eyes and whom they had laid in the Sepulcher and who afterwards found means to ascend up into Heaven in their sight This would be ridiculous to say and so much the more because 't is plainly seen by what we have left us of theirs that they were not so simple to believe That if Jesus Christ had been but a Common Man he could not have Raised himself from the Dead It would be altogether as Vain to say the Apostles were Deceivers and that after the Death of their Master they agreed amongst themselves to say he was Risen and should think all the World must take their Word for it For though it be said Men are Naturally Lyars it is not so in the Sense it is commonly taken It 's true they are born such inasmuch as they are born Enemies to God who is the Sovereign Truth and that their Heart is bent and prone to Vanity and Falshood which too often they look upon to be Real But else it is certain they Naturally love to speak Truth and it cannot well be otherwise the Natural Inclination tending to speak what one knows or at least what one believes that is what 's True in it self or in regard of him that speaks it Whereas for Lying there must be deliberation and design one must be at the trouble of inventing and it is seen such Men never Lye but for Interest or for Honour and then too because they cannot otherwise attain to it And they take great heed that what they say should seem probable and that the Falshood should not be discover'd especially if the Consequences are dangerous and if any should be found that Lye for Pleasure they never think but of enjoying it in the Moment not grounding any thing that 's Real upon their Lye. So that the Apostles could not possibly have any design of imposing upon Men in what they taught of
here on Earth was accepted and received of God in Heaven This is the State of things in our Blessed Lord Jesus now let us consider them in our selves When we are first admitted into the Church which is the World of the Faithful especially of the Elect wherein Jesus Christ entred from the Moment of his Incarnation by a peculiar Privilege belonging to the only Son of God we are Offered and Sanctified This Sacrifice continues through the whole course of Life and ends at Death wherein the Soul truly quitting all the Vices and love of the World with the Contagion wherewith it is infected during the course of this Life it finishes its Offering and is received into Bliss Let us not then grieve for the Death of Believers as Pagans do that have no hope When the Faithful depart this Life they are not lost We lost them upon a matter even from the moment they entred into the Church by Baptism from that instant they were Devoted to God their Life was Consecrated to God their Actions regarded the World only for God at their Death they were wholly freed from Sin and 't is then they were received of God and that their Sacrifice received its accomplishment and reward They did what they had Vowed they accomplish'd the Work God gave them to do they did the Work they were Created for the Will of God is fulfilled in them and their Will is swallow'd up into the Will of God Let not our Will separate what God has join'd together and let us stifle or restrain by understanding the Truth the instinct of corrupt and deprav'd Nature which only has false Glosses and that by its Illusions interrupts the Holiness of those Notions which the Truth of the Gospel doth inspire in us Let us not any longer consider Death like Pagans but like Christians that is to say with hope as St. Paul teacheth seeing it is the special Privilege of Christians Let us not consider a Body as a filthy Carrion for deluded Nature does so represent it to us but as the Living Temple of the Holy Ghost as Faith doth teach us For we know the Holy Ghost dwells in the Bodies of Saints till the Resurrection and that they shall be raised by the Power of the Spirit that resides in them to this effect This is the Opinion of some of the Fathers It was upon this account that the Eucharist was heretofore put in the Mouth of the Dead for knowing they were the Temple of the Holy Ghost it was thought convenient they should be united to this Holy Sacrament but the Church has changed this Custom not but the Bodies of Saints are decently buried but because the Eucharist being a Figure of the Bread of Life and for the Living it is not fit it should be given to the Dead Let us not look upon Believers departed in the Fear of God as ceasing to Live though Nature would suggest so but as beginning to live as Truth doth assure us Let us not look upon their Souls as lost and reduc'd to nothing but as vivified and united to the Sovereign Being and by hearkening to these Truths let us restrain the great Mistakes we are so inclin'd unto and those motions of horror which are so Natural to Men. 3. * God has Created Man with two Desires one for God the other for himself but with this restriction that the love for God should be infinite that is to say without any other end but God only and that the love for himself should be finite and referring to God Man in this State would not only love himself without Sin yea he could not but love himself without Sin. Since the Fall Man has lost the first of these Loves and the love of himself being only left in this great Soul capable of an infinite love this Self-love has extended it self and filled the space the Love of God had left and so he loves only himself and all things for himself that is to say Infinitely This is the Original of Self-love it was Natural to Adam and just in his Innocency but it became criminal and immoderate after his Fall This is the Spring of this Love and the cause of its defectiveness and of its excesses It is the same of the immoderate desire of Power of Sloath and of other things The Application is easie to be made upon account of the horror we have of Death This Fear was natural and just in Adam whilst Innocent because his Life being very pleasing to God it was the same to Man and Death would have been horrible because it would have put an end to a Life that was conformable to the Will of God. Since Man Sinned his Life is become depraved his Soul and Body Enemies to each other and both to God. This change having infected so Holy a Life the love of Life remains nevertheless and the fear of Death resting also what was just in Adam is unjust in us This is the Original of the horror of Death and the cause of its defectivenss Let us then clear the horror of Nature by the light of Grace The fear of Death is Natural but 't is in the State of Innocence because it could not enter into Paradise but in finishing an Innocent Life It was just to hate it when it could not happen but in separating a Holy Soul from a Holy Body but 't is just to love it when it separates a Holy Soul from an Impure Body it was just to shun it when it would have broke the Peace betwixt the Body and Soul but not when it calms the highest Dissention To conclude when it would have afflicted an Innocent Body when it would have depriv'd the Body of the liberty of honouring God when it would have separated from the Soul a Body that submitted to its desires when it had destroyed all the Good Man was capable of it was just to abhor it but when it puts an end to a wicked Life when it takes from the Body the liberty of Sinning when it delivers the Soul from a powerful Enemy that resists all the Motions to its Salvation it is very unjust to have the same Sentiments Let us not then quit this Love Nature has given us for Life seeing we have received it from God but let it be for the same Life for which God has given it to us and not for a contrary end And in consenting to the Love Adam had for his Life in Innocency and that Jesus Christ himself had for his let us strive to hate a Life contrary to that which Jesus Christ loved and fear only the Death that Jesus Christ feared which befals a Body well pleasing to God but not fear a Death that punishing a guilty Body and cleansing a Vicious Body should give us quite contrary desires if we have ever so little Faith Hope and Charity It is one of the chief Principles of Christianity that all that befel Jesus Christ should also be fulfill'd in the Body