Issue I hope the same favours will attend your Lordship and be the reward as well of your Charitable Inclinations for the Poor in general as of the rare examples of Piety and Devotion you give your Children and which they are faithful to follow as well at home as abroad Moribus vita nobilitatur homo and the rather that they know them to be the essential Ornaments of true Nobility and that without them a Gentleman born is no more than he who is a Clown by his Extraction They know full well my Lord that whoever converses with the proud shall be puft up that a lustful acquaintance makes a Man lascivious and the way to secure a man from wickedness is to withdraw from the examples of it it is too much to have them near us but more to have them in us They know likewise that ill examples pleasure and ease are without doubt great corrupters of manners and as an ill Air may endanger a good Constitution so may a place of ill examples endanger a good Man There be some even of the highest rank who ought to influence their Inferiours with Piety and Devotion that take a Priviledge to be licentious so that the meaner sort are hurri'd on by their ill examples to all manner of dissolution And this perfect knowledg of the present Corruption of this unhappy Land prevents them from hankering after such places or persons and makes them take more pleasure in their Clossets than they can expect to find in their debauch'd Company 'T is this vertuous and godly disposition of your noble heart and Family which mov'd me to bring this pious work newly model'd under the shadow of your gracious Protection The very Title of the Book is able to make your Lordship affect the perusing of it and I am certain the substance thereof will give a further increase to your Devotion and also contribute much to the reducing strai'd Souls to the right understanding of their Duty to God which will redound to your greater Glory being it is by your means it appears to the World out of the obscurity of my Confinement who am Your Lordships most humble and most Obedient Servant Jo. Weldon C.J. THE Preface WHen God the grand Architect of the Vniverse had compleated the vast Fabrick of this visible World and brought out of nothing the Heavens the Earth the Seas and all that is contained within their Prccincts to exhibit as yet a more remarkable instance and a more glorious evidence of his Eternal Wisdom he did fully resolve to start out of the Bowels of the Earth with a Faciamus that Microcosm Man and give him an ascendent power to keep all other Creatures in Subjection He was moulded indeed as to his Body not very unlike to Terrene and Bruit Animals but as to his Soul if not equal with the Heavens and heavenly Spirits at least be was not much inferior to them for its certain that in the whole Vniverse thore's nothing worthy any difference if compar'd with the Soul Gold Silver Jewels Pearls Fire Moon Stars and the very Sun it self which with its resplendent Beams brings a solemn joy over the whole surface of the Earth are of no Estimate in her regard because that with a Word only God gave them all both their rise and their office which was to serve Man and give him all their attendance The wonderful Structure of humane Body is a sufficient demonstration of his Excellency for where as God had created all other things with a sole Dixit as David says he must come himself in person to the Creation of this little great Master-piece Gen. 1 26. first he prepares the necessary matter for this Construction then he Breaths into it the Spirit of Life and after he shapes him to the likeness of the primitive and principal Beauty But to what end It was says Scripture with an effectual resolution to devolve upon him an absolute Supremacy over all the Fishes of the Sea Ibid. 28. the Fowls of the Air and the Beasts of the Earth so that Man even before he was wafted over from Nothing to a Being was openly declar'd Lord of the whole Vniverse and was after introduc'd thereinto at to his Royal Palace already furnish'd with all Necessarys and Varieties both for his subsistence and pleasure But you must conceive that all this Honour was exhibited to him only upon the account of his participated resemblance of the Divine Trinity by which alone he does infinitely exceed all terrene Creatures so that every mortal Man may be deservedly term'd a petty Divinity especially when the Grace of God resides in his Soul Psal 81.6 For you must know that he does not bear this resemblance of God in his Body but within his Soul because that God is a pure Spirit without any terrene medley and consequently can't be perfectly represented by any Corporeal Image It s then within the facultys of his Soul that Man bears that resemblance which gives him an ascendent power over all other earthly Creatures viz. in his Memory Vnderstanding and Will where God is still President and constantly present as in his Image and Throne so steady that he is more intimate to the Soul than she is to her own Substance For the Eternal Father does replenish her Memory with his Omnipotency the Son does illustrate her Vnderstanding with his Wisdom and the Holy Ghost does enflame her Will with his Charity and even as God the Father God the Son and God the Holy Ghost are not Three but One God in Three distinct Persons so the Memory is the Soul the Vnderstanding is the Soul the Will is the Soul yet not three Souls but one in each Body bearing those three distinct Dignitys wherein the Image and likeness of God does shine to admiration 'T is true our Sins may deface this Image within our Souls however they can't utterly blast it for it is an inherent property in the Wicked as well as in the Just but with this distinction that the Righteous are a lively Image of God whereas the Wicked are indeed a sort of an Image of God but a very obscure one however the Divine Bounty is so much enamour'd with the Soul he devoted to himself with the impression of his Image to be his dearly beloved Spouse that he can't be removed thence though the Devil should worm out her consent to debase his Image with all the enormity Imaginable Moreover the Soul leans over and tends towards God her Spouse with so great a weight of natural inclination that nothing in this World is able to replenish her capacity or satisfy her mind but he alone who of his own Nature is Infinite good incircumscript and Immense The Dignity and Excellency of the Soul must therefore be truly great that all th'alluring objects and attracting pleasures of this World can't content her though they may barter her affections for a tract of time and may perhaps now and then
ready to drop down upon their criminal and guilty heads the sweet perfumes of thy divine virtues and the rare examples of thy Saints cann't prevail with them no they cann't tast of thy Chalice nor feel thy Scorges nor acknowledge thy Benefits tho' they are sufficient to melt a heart of Steel In fine Sin takes quite away the peace the joy and the tranquility of a good eonscience it does extinguish the fervour of the Spirit and leaves poor man sordid maculate deform'd and abominable in the sight of God and of all his Saints Yet by the benefit of thy Justification we are happily deliver'd from all these plagues evil consequences of Sin and the abyss of thy divine mercies is not content to have forgiven us our offences and receive us into favour but does also expell all those evils which are inseparable from Sin leaving our interiour man in the real possession of his former prerogatives and likeness to God Thou dost heal up our wounds wash off our spots break loofe the fetters and chains of our iniquitys destroy the yoke of our evil desires retrieve us from the slavery of Satan qualify the fury of our unruly passions and the heat of our vicious affections Thou dost likewise restore to the Soul her former freedom and beauty revive her interiour fenses dispose them to the exercise of all good works and to the abhorrence of any that 's bad Thou givest strength to resist manfully all the temptations of the Devil and to go through all the difficulties that might hinder the practise of virtue and their increase of devotion In fine my Sweet Saviour thou dost so absolutely revive and repair our interiour man and all his faculties that thy Apostle Scruples not to call such men Justifi'd Souls metamorphos'd natures new modell'd Spirits Creatures of another stamp This innovation is so great and so much to be admir'd that it 's worth our labour to finde out how and after what manner it is perform'd O my Saviour thou alone canst tell me truly the nature of it and the only one that can impart so great a blessing to my poor and languishing Soul wherefore let me hear thy solution to the matter SAVIOVR THou must know then O man that this so great a renovation when 't is perform'd by the means of Baptism may be call'd Regeneration but if it be done by Contrition and with the assistance of Pennance then 't is call'd resurrection not only because the Soul is rais'd from the Death of Sin to the Life of Grace but by reason it resembles so nearly the glorious beauty of future Resurrection No mortal tongue is able to express the radiant Splendor and supereminent beauty of a Justifi'd Soul 't is a mistery reserv'd to my Holy Spirit who made her so glorious with a design she should be his own Temple and place of residence Were all the wealth of the World all the imaginable dignities and honours of this life all the natural Graces and gifts together with all the acquir'd virtues and all other earthly advantages that can be thought of conferr'd with the beauty and treasures of a Justifi'd Soul all in comparison with her is vile obscure ill-favour'd and of no value No for there is as much difference betwixt the life of Grace and the life of Nature betwixt the beauty of the Soul Justifi'd and that of the body betwixt the interiour Riches of such a Soul and the exteriour of the body as there is betwixt Heaven Earth betwixt the Spirit and the body or betwixt Time and Eternity Because all these are circumscrib'd with certain limits they are temporal they appear handsom to corporal eyes and require only my general concourse to support them whereas the other depends on my particular and supernatural influence and have no prefix'd bounds because I am their object and they are so precious in my sight and of so great an estimate that they provoke even my divine Essence to be ardently enamour'd with their beauty I might have wrought all these wonders with my sole presence yet I would not but was pleas'd to adorn the Soul with my infus'd virtues and the Seven gifts of my Holy Ghost whereby not only her Essence but even her very faculties are cloth'd and adorn'd with those habitual and heavenly dresses Besides all these divine favours and benefits she is made happy with the constant presence of my divine Spirit and of the most adorable Trinity for all resides in a justifi'd Soul to teach her how to manage so great a treasure to her best advantage Matt. 12. wherein I act the part of a most loving Father who is not satisfi'd to have given Riches to his Son but gives him withal a Futor that knows how to Administer them well Luc. 11. Thou know'st that a multitude of vipors Serpents and Dragons I mean of evil Spirits enter into the Soul of a Sinner and makes her their habitation as thou mayst reade in my Gospel but 't is otherwise with a justifi'd Soul for I with my Father and Holy Spirit dwell there and having banish'd thence all evil Si quis diligit me Sermonem meum servabit Pater meus diliget eum ad eum veniomus mansionem apud eum faciemus Joan. 14. and Infernal Spirits we make her our temple our throne and Garden of pleasure as thou mayst finde in St. John where I say if a man love me he will keep my words my Father will love him and we will come unto him and make our abode with him All the Doctors of my Holy Church as well Ecclesiastick as Scholastick grounded upon these my words do firmly believe that my Holy Ghost dwells in a justifi'd Soul after a certain and peculiar manner and say moreover that he does not only confer his Gifts upon her but comes himself along with them with a fix'd resolution to clense Sanctify and adorn her as well with his constant presence as with all his heavenly treasures O man if all these extraordinary favours be not able to mollify thy flinty heart and force it to leave and forsake the paths of Sin and to gather also all thy Scatter'd affections and lead them towards me who am the most deserving of them I shall add more pressing motives to bring thee to so good so gracious and so benificial a resolution The First that occurs is that all the justifi'd are my living members so that I love and cherish them as my own and am no less careful to provide for them to protect and comfort them then were they all parts of my proper body nay without any intermission I influence them with my inspirations and graces even as the head communicates his vital Spirits into all the rest of its members moreover my Eternal Father beholds them with a gracious eye as being my living members united concorporate with me by the participation of his divine Spirit and therefore all their deeds are
Psal 10. and I shall cast them into a burning fire where they shall not subfist in their miseries nay I shall pour down vengence fire and sulphur upon them fire hail snow Ice and the Spirit of tempests shall be but a small part of their chalice This great misfortune of the wicked is perfectly represented by my beloved Disciple in his Revelations where he says Revel 18.1.2.5.6.7 After these things I saw another Angel come down from Heaven having great power and the Earth was lightn'd with his glory and he cry'd mightily with a strong voice saying Babylon the great is fallen is fallen and is become the habitation of Devils and receptacle of every foul Spirit and a Cage for every unclean and hateful Bird. Her Sins have reach'd unto Heaven and God has remembred her iniquities He shall reward her even as she rewarded him and double upon double unto her according to her works the Cup which she has fill'd he shall fill to her double How much she has glorifi'd her self and liv'd deliciously so much torment and sorrow he shall give her Her Plagues shall come in one day upon her death mourning and famine and she shall be utterly burnt with fire for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her After this a mighty Angel took up a stone like a great milstone and cast it into the Sea saying thus with violence shall that great City Babylon be thrown down and shall be never found more Thus the wicked which are understood by Babylon shall be cast into the precipice of hell into that dark Dungeon overwhelm'd with horror and all manner of confusion O what tongue is able to express the multitude of torments which they shall suffer there for an Eternity their bodies shall burn with living flames never to be extinguish'd their Souls without any intermission shall be gnawed with the worm of conscience which shall never give them the least respit of ease there they shall continue perpetually weeping sighing and gnashing their teeth without any hopes of goal-delivery In this woful place of despair those miserable damn'd wretches in a cruel fury full of rage will send forth their invectives against me and turn their anger against themselves devouring their own flesh tearing their bowels incessantly blaspheming me who had condemn'd them to those unspeakable torments There every one of that damn'd crew will curse his grand misfortune and the unhappy day of his birth always repeating that mournful lamentation of Job let the day perish wherein I was born Job 3. and the night in which it was said there is a man-child conceiv'd let that day be darkness let not God regard it from above neither let the light shine upon it Let darkness and the shaddow of death stain it let a cloud dwell upon it let the blackness of the day terrify it As for that night let darkness seize upon it let it not be joyn'd unto the days of the year let it not come into the number of the months let that night be solatary let no joyful voice come therein Let them curse it that curse the day who are ready to raise up their mourning let the Stars of the twilight thereof be dark let it look for light but have none neither let it see the dawning of the day Because it shut not the door of my Mother's womb nor hid sorrow from mine eyes Why died I not from the womb Why did I not give up the Ghost when I came out of the belly why did the knees prevent me or why the breasts that I should suck For now should I have lain still and been quiet I should have slept then had I been at rest This shall be the musick these the Canticles these will be the Morning and Evening prayers of the damn'd for ever MAN If it be so bad with the damn'd as without doubt it is being thou sayst it O Lord I think they have sufficient reason to curse eternally the day that ever they were born for as thou didst say of Judas foreseeing his treachery and his Damnation which was to ensue it were better he had never come into the world I think the same of those wretched Souls it were better they had perished in their Mothers wombs then to become by their own Sins the fatal object of thy just Indignation and wrath O most unfortunate Souls if it were lawful for me or in the least available to you I would commiserate your condition but your sentence can never be recall'd there you are lodg'd among so many Legions of Devils and there you are like to continue for an eternity O unfortunate tongues that bolt out nothing but blasphemies O unhappy Eyes that see nothing but miseries calamities and new found torments at every moment O sad Ears that hear nothing but horrid crys woful screeks mournful lamentations and constant gnashing of teeth O deplorable bodys that have no other refreshment then scorching flames Whilest you were dwellers in this world you spent all your time in vanities in sinful recreations and pleasures increasing your fortunes and heaping up of earthly treasures far from the least thought of heavenly things but see now what is the end of all your actions what an infinite deal of miseries you have brought upon your selves O foolish and infatuated wretches what does all your unlawful and transitory pleasures avail you now for which you are condemned unto everlasting sorrow and woe what is become of all your wealth where are your treasures what is the end of all your joys and comforts nothing but everlasting misery woe tribulations and sorrow This is well illustrated in holy writ by the great famine which came upon the People of Egypt and which continu'd for the space of seven years O what an extream grief was it unto them that they did not in the seven former years of abundance provide for the seven following years of Dearth they were like men in despair for loosing the benefit of so favourable an opportunity and were vehemently troubl'd in minde for their misfortune and negligence herein but alas their grief is not to be compar'd to that of the damn'd 't is no more then a shaddow that is compar'd with the truth For the Famine of Egypt lasted no longer then seven years but that of hell shall never be at an end there was a remedy found for that of Egypt tho' with vast expences but for this there is no remedy at all to be expected That was soon releiv'd by selling their Cattle and lands to Joseph but this can never be abated with any manner of exchange this punishment can never be recall'd this pain will never be diminish'd The People of Egypt after the seven years of Dearth were expir'd began a little to respire to wade out of their miseries but in hell alas the wicked shall never be quit of their misfortunes they shall never come to the least rest or ease they shall be both night and day
esse filium hominis Mat. 16.14 I long to hear what Worldlings say of me and of my Kingdom for I suppose that some of them are apt to believe I am John the Baptist others will say perhaps that I am Elias others that I am Jeremiah or some one of the Prophets Noli me tangere Jo. 20.17 Vos autem quem me esse dicitis Ibid. v. 15. Some will think that it 's a folly for mortals to expect admittance to my Kingdom because that after my Resurrection I refus'd the Magdalen leave to touch me or to lay her hand upon any part of my garment But what dost thou say of me and of my glorious Residence MAN I Say Tu es Christus Filius Dei vivi Jo. 6.70 Et regni ejus non erit finis Luc. 1.33 that thou art Christ Son of the living God and that thy Kingdom will never have an end it 's therefore I believe that Scripture calls it the land of the living to let us understand that this wherein we abide deserves no better denomination then that of the dead Alas we know it by our woful experience to be very true for tho' Adam and his Descendants for a long time liv'd each of them so many Ages yet this fatal Epitaph mortuus est which he has entail'd upon all his posterity came at last to shew that as the world is mortal the inhabitants thereof must be of the same nature but as for thy Kingdom O Lord 't is immortal and without any end 't is therefore St. Paul says that this corruptible body of ours shall put on incorruption and of mortal become immortal This flesh of ours which now is so burdensome and does so depress our minde which is now invested with so many inconveniences subject to so many alterations griev'd with so many diseases defil'd with so many corruptions overwhelm'd with such an infinite deal of miseries and calamities shall in thy Kingdom O Lord be made glorious and advanc'd to the height of perfection It shall be endu'd with Seven gifts suitable to thy liberality and to the dignity of thy beloved Servants which are Beauty Agility Fortitude Justi fulgebant sicut sol in regno Patris eorum Mat. 13.43 Penetration Health Pleasure and Perpetuity As for the first gift which is Beauty thou hast thy self declar'd that the Just shall shine as the Sun in the Kingdom of their Father The second is Agility and this prerogative of the Just is no less then the former for by this their flesh is free'd from that lumpish heavy weight which kept their Spirits fetter'd whilst they remain'd in this life and made as light even as the Angels themselves who pass from one extremity of the world to the other in the twinkling of an eye the third gift is Supernatural Strength which does so abound in a glorifi'd body that he shall be able to move the whole globe of the Earth at thy command and give us a dry passage through the main Ocean with as much ease as thy Angel did to the People of Israel through the red Seas to avoid the Rage and fury of their pursuing Enemys The fourth is I enetration whereby he shall be able to penetrate any other bodies tho'never so hard or massy and make nothing to peirce Walls Doors the Earth and the very Firmament tho' it were made of Brass This thy glorifi'd body has perform'd after thy Resurrection for thou didst penetrate the house where thy Disciples were the Doors being all shut and at thy Ascension thou didst penetrate the Heavens also The fifth prerogative is absolute Health free from all pains of this life quit of all diseases troubles incumbrances and all other infirmitys incident to humane nature and shall be perpetually fix'd in a most perfect and flourishing state of health and felicity in no way liable to the least alteration for ever The sixth is Delight and Pleasure which shall be heap'd upon a glorifi'd body to that degree that all his senses shall finde their peculiar and proper objects in a far more delicious manner then ever they could expect in this world for his eyes shall be for ever recreated with the beatifical vision and with the sight of the most glorious and beautiful bodies of all the Saints One Sun is enough to bring a full joy over the whole continent of the Earth as also to depress the raging waves of the main Ocean in its greatest fury it revives the mortifi'd grain and makes it appear with it's green blades to assure the Labourer of it's being alive and sets at liberty all those varieties of flowers and simples which the cold season of winter kept a long time in it's prisons of Ice what joy then shall a blessed Soul conceive when he beholds as many Suns as there are Saints and when he sees himself to be one of them when he sees his hands his feet and the rest of his members to cast forth beams clearer then even the Sun in it's full height His ears shall be replenish'd wiih the most harmonious Songs and Musick of so many Quires of Angels of so many millions of Saints and of so many hundred thousands of heavenly Spirits as St. John in many several places of his Revelations makes mention of O my Soul here I would have thee stay a while and consider seriously what a great satisfaction this is to the blessed If the harp of David were so delightful to Saul and had so great a power as to asswage the fury of his passion and to recal him from that melancholy fit of which the Devil made use to destroy his Soul If the Lyre of Orpheus was able to operate such great prodigies in the World and to win the hearts not only of men but also of the Infernal Spirits if we may believe Poets who tell us that he recover'd his Wife out of their clutches with the sweetness of his melodious instruments If St. Francis thought himself already in Heaven hearing an Angel play on his instrument what pleasure what delight will a blessed Soul have when he hears the sweet harmony of so many thousands of Angels together Tradition which gives life to the best of Historys informs us that the singing of one little bird alone ravish'd a devout Monk to that degree that three hundred years seem'd no more to him then three hours what a sweetness will it be to hear the melody of those Songs which the innumerable citizens of that heavenly Jerusalem sing in praise of thee their eternal King his smell shall be recreated with the most odoriferous scent which comes from those beautiful bodies infinitely more sweet then all the perfumes of the Indies In fine the whole glorifi'd body shall be fill'd with abundance of all kind of consolation the Eyes the Ears the Nose the Mouth the Hands the Throat the Lungs the Heart the Stomach the Back nay the very Intrals and every part of the Body Inebriabuntur ab
of Christians then he did so great was his animosity to both that he murther'd very many thousands of them and destroy'd all their Alters and Churches which were erected and dedicated to my worship and Service will this most wicked and disssembling Prince cry Peccavi in the hour of his death no he will continue his impiety to his last breath which will be the perfect Eccho of his most ambitious and abominable life for receiving a mortall wound in the siege of a Town in the Kingdom of Persia he took a handfull of his blood flung it up as it were into my face with this horrid expression vicisti Nazarene vicisti O Nazarean Cum mens inclinata fugrit ad aliquid non se jam haber aequaliâ—er ad utrum que oppositorum sed ad illud ad quod magis inclinatur fertur nisi per rationis discussionem ab eo quadam solicitudine abducatur St. Tho. thou hast indeed overcome me at last after this he commanded his Gentlemen to put his Corps into a Coffin of lead and cast it into the Sea that his subjects finding not his body on Earth might believe it was carri'd by the hands of Angels into Heaven and seated there amongst the Gods Thou seest by these presidents what a foolish mistake the wicked ly under when they put off their conversion to the very last hour of their life in hopes to have then a hearty Peccavi which may be to me a sufficient Atonement for all their offences and breaches of both my Laws and commandments The Angelical Doctor St. Thomas seems to be much astonish'd at their folly herein for says he when men are viciously inclin'd and taken with a surprize in their evil habits it is out of their jurisdiction to conceive an abhorrence against them and have a love and esteem for a virtuous life unless they make use of their reason to finde out the manifold advantages of the one and the several evil consequences of the other but how can a wicked man that is seiz'd on by Death as he walks in the streets by a tile falling from the top of a house or some other such like unexpected accident make use of his reason in that ample manner 't is impossible and consequently Hac animadversione percutitur percator ut moriens obliviscatur sui qui dum viveret oblitus est Dei St. Amb. Arist whoever neglects his Salvation so far as to put it to such perilous events deserves no mercy at my hands But set the case that an old habitual Sinner should dye of a long and languishing sickness 't is very probable he will never think of me in his latter hour nor have the least feeling of a Peccavi being he forgot to call to me for mercy in his healthful days and this indeed is the usual punishment which I do inflict upon such persons Moreover 't is grounded upon this other Maxim of Philosophy altogether as undeniaable as the former Ab assuetis non fit passio That is to say things which men have dayly before their eyes make no impression upon their hearts the Sun which is the most resplendent and the most glorious Creature that ever was wrought by my hands for the use of men is dayly seen without the least admiration whereas if a Comet appears they are all eyes to behold it A Chirurgion will handle and dress the nastiest wound that ever man had without the least grudge or loathing because he is accustom'd to it A new rais'd Soldier will tremble at the noise of a bullet whereas an old and well-train'd Soldier will never shrink or give ground tho' even Cannons were roaring about him and their bullets flying on every side of him because he is acquainted with such warlike entertainment 'T is even so with a wicked liver in the hour of his death tho' his Ghostly Father his Wife his Children and all his friends were round his bed breaking their hearts and bursting their lungs calling and crying unto him to produce one act of Contrition one sorrowful Peccavi one have mercy on me O Lord he will take no notice of what they say all their exhortations to him intended to bring him to dye a good death will be to no effect he had often heard the like or rather more pressing motives from Teachers and Preachers in their Pulpits yet his heart was Steel-proof to all their fiery words they could never make him think on his Salvation and therefore 't is but in vain to expect he will be sollicitous for it now when the Devil has him fast fetter'd when his heart is over-clouded with the darkness of his manifold and grievous Sins when his understanding is blinded his will altogether corrupted his senses decay'd and the whole commonwealth of his Body and Soul clear out of order by reason of their approaching and dismal separation Thou hast a very remarkable president of this in the old Testament there thou mayst read what wonders I had done in order to mollify the heart of Pharaoh Exod. 9.10 and bring him to a right understanding of his obedience and duty to me who am the powerfull and mighty Jehovah who depress at will and make subject the greatest Potentates of the whole World How I had slain his first-born for refusing to let go the People of Israel out of his Land how I made all the Rivers Streams Fountains Springs within his Dominions run with bloud for the same reason how I cover'd all his Realm with darkness and Frogs which were so numerous that they came in Swarms upon his Table and even into his Bed how I sent a grievous Swarm of Flies into his house and into all the houses of Egypt how I had plagued all the Inhabitants of the Land as also their Cattle which pestiferous Ulcers Boils of which they all died how I had rain'd down such a stupendious shour of Hail upon them as was never seen before or since in the world how I had spread over the whole Land of Egypt Locusts that devour'd and destroy'd all that the hail had left yet all these prodigies could not mollify the obdurate and rebellious heart of Pharaoh till at last my Justice took him to task and drown'd both him and his whole Army in the Red-Seas which was a passage they were to go through to take up their quarters in the unquenchable fire of Hell where they shall repent for an Eternity but to no advantage for their Souls If this discourse so well grounded upon Scripture Fathers and Reason Hos 13.9 as also upon so many presidents out of Holy Writ will not prevail with Sinners not to delay their conversion or put it off to their crasy years I have only this to say Perditio tua ex te Israel let their eternal ruine and the fatal loss of their Souls lie at their own doors However to let them know how much I thirst after their Salvation I will have thee
eorum cognoscatis eos Math. 7.16 and the goodness of the one may be easily discern'd by th' other My Lord I have given you a true and faithful description of your most renowned Progenitor's great Atchievements Martial Exploits Loyalty Valour and Courage by which we may reasonably conclude that the whole Series of his noble and numerous Race were much of the same temper when occasion was offer'd witness your raising a Regiment of Horse upon your own Cost and Charges for the defence and supporting King Charles the First and his Royal Prerogatives against the basest of Usurpers Oliver Cromwell the most cruel of Tyrants and the very worst of Subjects The several and perilous hazards you have expos'd your self to in manifesting your Loyalty as well in Battels and Skirmishes as in Storming and taking of Towns and Castles with as much Bravery as could be performed by the most expert in the Stratagems of War will be a convincing Argument to after-Ages of the greatness of your Courage and also a perpetual Evidence of your unspotted Loyalty which was always reputed to be the chief ground of your happy Rise the main support of your Noble Family and will be in the other World a most glorious Flower to compleat the Beauty of your Eternal Crown But as Brave Men must expect to be tofs'd when they Steer their course against the Stream of Fortune and work against Wind and Weather Almighty God who disposes of all things to the best advantage of his beloved Servants has suffer'd your noble Family to be notably suppress'd for a time and to groan under the heavy weight of great Persecutions and Troubles which were in a manner equal in number to the afflictions of Holy Job Job 1. for your Children were taken violently from you and made close Prisoners your Vertuous Lady was confin'd another way your Plentiful Stock of Cows Horses and Sheep driven away by the Rabble your Mansion house taken and plunder'd by the Enemy your whole Estate expos'd to Sale before your Face and your self after all was forc'd to Travel into Foreign Countreys for a subsistance yet in all these disasters you were never heard to repine at your ill Fortune In omnibus his non peccavit Job labiis suis neque stult m quid locutus est contra Deum Job 1.21.22 Pliny of the Property of the Swallows for you accounted all your worldly Substance to be only adventitious and the temporal Blessings which you had from God A Deo data and therefore you were as willing to part with them as he was free to recal them in order to exercise your Patience How well the generous dispositions of your noble mind agree with the inbred inclinations of those innocent Creatures of your Coat of Arms appears in this that you have perform'd by the light of Grace what they do only by the instinct of nature for when any of their little ones happen to be afflicted with Blindness they fly with all speed into a certain Island of the Sea whence they bring a little Stone which they know has the vertue of restoring their fight and you my Lord in all your afflictions have made your most humble and earnest addresses to Jesus Esay 28.16 who is the tried and precious Corner Stone lodg'd in Zion for a foundation and who alone has the power to make all our afflictions tho' never so bitter sweet and comfortable The Swallows have another property no less remarkable they seem to touch the Earth with their Wings yet the least grain of its Dust can't stick to their Feathers because they are no sooner down than up in the Skies out of all Mens sight and this your Lordship has always perform'd for though your Fortune be considerable and that you have a competent share of the World's wealth yet nothing of its fleeting dross comes near your heart already possess'd with the love of God who will not admit of a Rival neither are you resolv'd to entertain any and though your Body has endur'd a close and tedious Confinement for Justice your Thoughts have been all the time sporting themselves within the enclosure of a vast Eternity or taking a fore-taste of the everlasting Joys and Pleasures of Heaven 'T is true the manifold Calamities of those sad times were so sharp and terrible that many Catholick Families fell from their Religion and went to Church rather than be depriv'd of their Estates and Livings but yours my Lord was tied fast to the Anchor of Faith and stood firm on Peters Rock unmov'd with any external violence or otherwise so little mov'd that all the Commotions and Troubles the Malice and Rage of their miscreant Foes could invent in order to remove their hearts from God were no more to them than is a shower of Hail on the Roof of a House that crackles and skips off again without doing any damage to the Inhabitants 'T is nothing my Lord for a Man to hold up his head in a Calm but to maintain his Post when others have quitted their ground and there to stand upright where others are beaten down this is Divine and praise worthy and this is what you have vigorously perform'd in your days induc'd to it as well by the good instructions as the rare examples of your Noble Parents and Ancestors for the one with th' other is very powerful to stir us up to Heroick actions nay the History alone of such large and masculine Souls is able to inspire any Man with generous Thoughts and make him long to be in Action and doing something that may be beneficial to the World as protecting the innocent upholding the weak delivering th' oppressed relieving the poor cloathing the naked cherishing the distressed Widows and Orphans Job 1.16.17.18 Tob. 1 20. this was the only thing that the holy Job and the righteous Tobias did value themselves upon It was likewise the pious and constant practise of your renown'd Ancestors and the same is now settl'd in your Lordships Breast where it shines to all mens admiration and no wonder for your Table was never seen without Strangers no more than your Door without a number of Poor whose several Necessitys were copiously supply'd in due time and good order you have besides preserv'd Thousands of His Majesties Subjects from Starving and Hundreds of the Irish Nation are oblig'd to your Lordship for their lives this is Praise-worthy indeed and the rather that they are a people which their Loyalty and their Zeal of Religion have depress'd to the deepest abyss of misfortune for besides loosing all their earthly substance upon so honourable an account they are hated revil'd and spit at even by those that should in all equity and Justice love respect and cherish them and bring others to do the same by their own Examples But as Abraham's liberality to Lot Gen. 22.16 with the greatness of his Faith gain'd him the powerful Protection of Heaven and the promise of a numerous
they may be worthy Presidents to others or it is to practise their virtue and perfect resignation to his holy will in order to gratifie them with a more eminent degree of glory MAN O My most gracious Lord thou hast now made a full and Satisfactory answer to all my complaints objections and Queries but notwithstanding I am still so perplex'd with anguishes and so troubled in mind that I do not know what to make of my self or where I may be eas'd of this worm that gnaws my guilty conscience and all my trouble proceeds from a well-grounded apprehension that I was never really contrite for my Sins never made a sincere sorrowful confession of them and that I never pray'd to my God as I ought or had that great care to amend my Life and to avoid the occasion of Sin SAVIOVR O Man be not at all dismay'd thou hast often heard that virtue does consist in the middle nay 't is the middle of too vitious extreams even as liberality is a medium betwixt prodigality and tenacity and therefore I would have thee to place thy self betwixt despair and presumption betwixt an impertinent Security and an immoderate fear fix a firm hope in thy God of whose mercy thou canst not despair without a mortal offence However I do not disallow thy fear when it is in a reasonable degree for the wise man will fear upon all occasions but especially where the matter is in doubt whether it will go well or ill with him as in this case thou dost not know for certain whether thou art worthy of Gods love or deserving of his hatred whether thou art in the state of Grace or in that of Sin whether predestinate or damn'd for ever MAN O My Saviour to consider seriously how strait is the gate and narrow is the way which leads to Salvation no rational man can choose but admire the blindness the vanity the great folly or rather madness of wicked men they know that they have a Soul which informs and gives motion to their body that this Soul is stamp'd with the likeness and Image of her Creator that she is entail'd to an eternity of glory and yet they run like so many mad wild Boars seeking where to satisfy their lustful and evil inclinations without the least thoughts of that ever-blessed Mansion Heaven of that radient day of Eternity of that day which never will admit of any darkness But let the wicked if they will be so obstinate run their course as for my self I shall never desist sighing after that Land of Promise whilst I remain in this vail of misery where poor man is inviron'd with so many afflictions and crosses tainted with so many Spots of Sin pester'd with so many brutal passions plagu'd with so many fears and cares disturb'd with so many foolish and vain curiosities subject to so many changes and errors consum'd with so many labours and toils liable to so many temptations snares sometimes sick with over-much eating and drinking sometimes also famishing with hunger and thirst O Lord when shall I see an end put to all these evils when shall I be free'd from the intollerable slavery of vice when shall I have thee for the sole object of all my thoughts when shall I throughly rejoyce in thee Quis me liberabit de corpore morcis hujus Rom. 7.24 or when wilt thou deliver me out of this mortal prison to enjoy the liberty of thy beloved in heaven when shall I be bless'd with a solid peace void of all trouble as well of mind as of body O Sweet Jesu when shall I be so happy as to see thee and to stand for ever in the deep contemplation of the glory of thy heavenly Court and Kingdom when shalt thou be to me all in all when shall I sit at that magnificent table which thou hast prepar'd from all Eternity for thy belov'd Alas here I am left a poor and banish'd creature in an enemies land where nothing is to be seen but constant mutinies dayly wars and great miscarriages O Lord be graciously pleas'd to Comfort me in my banishment and to lessen my sorrow for all the pleasures of this world seem now a burden to me and not any satisfaction it 's therefore that I long to be intimately united with thee but my weakness will not admit of that great happiness I would willingly hear and think of heavenly things but my worldly affairs will not allow it no more will my immortifi'd inclinations and brutish passions my mind would fain be above the World and look with a disdaining eye on all it's allurements but my flesh depresses my Spirit and keeps all my senses captive Hasten then O Lord and set an end to this intestine War take my Soul to thee her Creator and my Body to its primitive nothing Thus do I unfortunate man fight against my self both night and day the Spirit would fain have an absolute supremacy over the flesh but the flesh does thwart her and will dispute the matter with the dint of her furious and headstrong passions and I poor Wretch must be the fatal field where these two mortal foes do fight hand to hand but alas the flesh always remains Conqueror marches off with display'd colours There is no likelyhood of a peace without thy grace grant therefore O Lord that these two adversaries may joyn in a right understanding and come to thee with a true sense of their long and obstinate rebellion with a sorrowful and contrite heart and with a firm resolution to live submissive to thy divine laws for the remainder of their mortal life SAVIOVR O Man even as thou art oblig'd to love thy God with all thy heart and to that degree that thou wouldst sooner loose even thy life and suffer all the losses and afflictions imaginable rather then to offend him by giving consent to the least of mortal Sins so thou art bound to grieve more for the committing of one mortal Sin then for any painful evil or earthly damage tho' it were the total destruction and ruin of thy Family This is the grief which I call contrition and which may be absolutely accounted the greatest in nature Conc. Trent Sess 14. c. 4. My Council of Trent gives thee a perfect Idea of this great and sorrowful Sacrifice when it defines it to be a grief of mind and detestation of Sin with a resolution to avoid it for the future It is a grief of minde Sacrificium Deo Spiritus contribulatus Psal 50.19 that is a great regret and an inward displeasure which is conceiv'd in the heart of man for having offended his God 'T is also a detestation which is hatred and an aversion which one has to Sin when he considers it to be a most wicked thing a mortal enemy to God and destructive to his own Salvation But there must be a firm resolution made to avoid Sin for the future and likewise the occasion which
in torments and tortures and that for an Eternity If the People of Egypt fell into despair before the expiration of the seven years Ex Inferno nulla est redemptio Facilis Descensus Averni sed revocare gradum hoc opus hic labor est Varg. being sure of a relief soon after what despair will the wicked be in having an assurance from thy mouth O Lord that their miseries shall never have an end O what miserable and unfortunate wretches are we they will cry what time what powerful means what opportunities of working our eternal Salvation have we neglected The time was that with one cup of cold water we might have purchas'd unto our selves a Crown of glory we might by relieving the poor and other such like works of mercy have merritted life everlasting how great was our blindness our madness and folly to have neglected those favourable occasions of enriching our selves for ever and to suffer those fruitfull years of such great abundance to pass away without making any provision for our Souls Had we been brought up amongst Infidels and Pagans and believ'd that our Souls were mortal as well as our bodies that we were in the same Category with all brute animals whose souls do perish at once with their bodies we might have some kinde of excuse and plead that we knew nothing of what was commanded or what was forbidden by God but being brought up Christians and holding for an Article of our belief that the hour shall come wherein we must give a strict account of all our transactions to God we have been often told by Preachers and Teachers that the kingdom of Heaven suffers violence and that we could not attain to it otherways then by the pass-port of Mortifications and Pennance that it was our incumbent duty to depress our unruly Passions and never to be drawn away by our evil inclinations yet unfortunate Souls we were fondly perswaded that Heaven was for us without any pains at all that God was so merciful that he would not condemn our Souls to everlasting torments ' tho' we were never so wicked and therefore we have justly deserv'd that he should deal with us according to the full rigour of his Justice Come then ye Infernal Furies come and rend us in pieces come and devour our unchristian bowels for we have justly deserv'd to be so cruelly dealt with we have deserv'd to be hunger-starv'd for ever being we have neglected to provide for our selves while we had both the means the time and conveniency of doing it we deserve not to reap because we have not sown We deserve to fuffer want and misery being we never laid up any thing in store we often refused the poor and needy their humble and earnest request and therefore we deserve to be deny'd ours We often have clos'd ears to the sighs and groans of the poor and distress'd and therefore we deserve to sigh and lament for an eternity in vain We deserve that the worm of our conscience should gnaw our intrails for ever by representing unto us our criminal and transitory pleasures the great happiness which we have lost by them Erravimus a via veritatis Justitiae lumen non illuxit nobis Sol intelligentiae non est ortus nobis lassati sumus in via iniquitat's perditionis ambulavimus vias difficiles viam autem Domini ignoravimus Sap. 5.6 7 8. the unspeakable torments which we are to suffer for them and their long continuance which will be for an Eternity We err'd and wander'd from the ways of truth and the light of Justice was not with us nor did the Sun of Wisdom shine upon us We weari'd our selves in the ways of wickedness and perdition and walk'd in paths of difficulty and knew not the way of the Lord. What has our Pride profited us and what has the pomp of our Riches avail'd us all those things have pass'd like a shaddow or like a messenger who passes in hast or like a Ship which cuts the instable waves leaves no mark where it went even so we are now consum'd in our wickedness The cruel and bloudy Tyrants who have afflicted put to death thy holy Martyrs O Lord shall be troubl'd with horrible fear when they shall behold them whom they had so unhumanely treated in this life to be so highly honour'd in Heaven they shall wonder at their unexpected Salvation and say amongst themselves with great regret with much grief and anguish of Spirit These are the men who sometime were unto us matter of Scorn and laughter We insipid wretches imagin'd their life to be madness and that then end will be without nonour but behold how they are counted amongst the children of God and how their lot is amongst the Saints such will be the amazement of those mercenary Judges also who have trampl'd under foot the justice and right of thy poor servants on Earth when they shall behold them Judges in Heaven and themselves condemn'd to Hell-fire for their unjust Sentences Solomon's words verifies this Eccl. c. 3. 10. where he says I saw a great evil beneath the Sun that in the Throne of Judgement was Seated impiety and wickedness in the place of Justice And I said in my heart God shall Judge the good and evil and then shall be seen who every one is Here on Earth the wicked sometimes are exalted and the Godly depress'd but thou O Lord shalt in the day of thy visitation rectify those great disorders and grievances thou shalt Separate the wheat from the tares thoushalt place the good upon thy right hand elevated in the Air that all the world may honour and reverence them as being thy favourites whereas the wicked shall stand all in a confusion far off at thy left expecting their final Sentence and the immediate execution thereof O how they shall at that dreadful hour envy the happy state of the Just seeing them so much honour'd and themselves so much despis'd O how will the Potentates and crown'd heads of the Earth be astonish'd when they shall behold their Vassals in Glory their Slaves amongst the Angels and themselves in the same rank with the Devils O my Sweet Saviour St. Chrys hom 24. in Lucam Armabit omnum creaturam ad ultronem inimicorum pugnabit proâ—eo orbis terrarum contra insensatos what shall I think of my self what shall I say what shall I do or how shall I be able to excuse my self in that day of thy wrath when Heaven Earth Sun Moon Stars Night and Day together with all that is contain'd within the precincts of the whole world shall accuse me bear witness of all my evil and cry vengeance against me before thy dreadful Throne nay were they all silent mine own conscience shall fly in my face and accuse me of all my offences even of the least idle word that ever I have spoken Woe 's me then says St. Ambrose St. Ambr. in
Earth certainly thou wouldst be totally inflam'd with love for so admirable a Creature thou wouldst never be weary of his company much less of his discourse why then dost thou not love me with all thy heart as thou art commanded Diliges Dominum Deum tuum ex toto corde tuo Matth. 22.37 Cupio dissolvi esse cum Christo Phil. 1.23 why dost thou not often and ardently desire with St. Paul to be deliver'd from that loathsome prison of thy body to enjoy my sight and company who am really adorn'd with all those perfections and graces in an infinite degree above all earthly Creatures and do confer the same upon all and every one of my Saints in Heaven why dost thou not despise the transitory and sordid pleasures of the world to seek after those of my heavenly Court which can beautify and embellish both thy body and Soul and the rather because I am so free to impart them not only to thee but also to all those that shall be faithfull to observe my commands For if I be so magnificent a Lord and so free to confer my favours in this world upon all men without any distinction so that the wicked may pertake of them as well as the Godly is there any ground then to believe that I have not far greater blessings in store for those alone that are my favourits and dearest beloved If I was so liberal as to bestow gratis such vast treasures as are the manifold benefits of nature upon a People that I was not in the least oblig'd to but on the contrary have suffer'd much at their hands Nec oculus vidit reâ— auris audivit nec in cor hominis ascendit quae praeparavit Deus diligentibus se 1 Cor. 2.9 how much more am I indebted to those that have serv'd me faithfully and with the loss of both their lives fortunes It 's impossible for thee O man to express the immensity of the glory which I shall confer upon my Elect in Heaven since that even the benefits which I have imparted to my very Enemies here on Earth are far beyond the reach of thy understanding for my Apostle says that the eye has not seen nor the ear heard neither have enter'd into the heart of man the things which God has prepar'd for them that love him If that be so as really it is why dost thou loyter then in thy banishment and dote so much upon the vaniteis of the world and earthly affairs why art thou so desirous to live any longer in the land of Egypt to gather straw and drink muddy water out of it's stinking Pits despising the headspring of all felicitys and the fountain of living waters why art thou content to beg and gather Alms at every door rather then live in thy heavenly Fathers house where all manner of solid content and pleasure is to be found why dost thou starve with the prodigal Son and feed with the Swine upon Acorns whilst thou mayst fit at his table and eat of the banquet which he has prepar'd for all his belov'd in glory If thou be'st inclin'd to pleasure raise up thy heart towards my heavenly Residence and there thou shalt behold that Supream Good which contains within its self eminently all the pleasures and allurements of all things that can be called good or delectable If this created life be pleasing to thee how much more pleasing must that increated life be which gave it a beginning and without which it cann't subsist one moment If health be a comfort to thee how much more comfort can I afford thee who am alone the giver the promoter and powerful preserver thereof If the knowledge of the creatures be sweet and acceptable to thee how much more sweet and acceptable ought the knowledge of thy Creator be unto thee Cujus pulchritudinem sol luna mirantur Job 38.7 Generationem ejus quis ennarrabit Isa 53.8 If all thy delight be plac'd in beauty I am he whose beauty the Sun and Moon does admire If thou beest taken with Nobility I am the source and offspring of all that can be call'd noble for my extraction goes far beyond the Creation of the world and limits of time If thou delightest in learning here in my heavenly School thou shalt know all my mysteries the profound sense of holy Scriptures thou shalt know the exact number of all my Saints and Angels thou shalt know the Secrets of my Divine providence how many are damn'd and for what thou shalt understand the frame and making of the world the whole artifice of nature the motions of the Stars and Planets the proprieties of Plants Stones Birds Beasts thou shalt not only know all things created but also many more things which I might have created thou shalt not only know them altogether and in the total but clearly and distinctly without any confusion The knowledge of the greatest wisemen and Philosophers of the world even in things natural is full of ignorance deceit and incertainty because they know not the substance of things but through the shell and bark of accidents whereas a poor and silly Servant kept all his life in Slavery nay were he a natural in the world yet in heaven he shall be replenish'd with more learning and knowledge as well of natural as of divine things then Solomon then Aristotle then all the Mathematicians Astrologers Astronomers Philosophers Divines and Doctors that ever were or will be to the worlds end for as St. Gregory says it is not to be believed that the Saints who behold within themselves the light of God are ignorant of any thing without them If thou beest desirous of long life health here thou wilt enjoy life everlasting without any distemper or malady without any danger of death or of any other evil in the quiet and peaceable possession of all manner of pleasure and comfort for there thou shalt rejoyce in what is above thee which is my beatifical vision in what is below thee which is the beauty of Heaven and other corporal Creatures in what is within thee which is the glorification of thy body in what is without thee which is the company of so many blessed Angels so many glorious Apostles so many renowned Patriarks so many famous Prophets such an invincible army of Martyrs a most renown'd assembly of Confessors a vast number of true and perfect religious so many holy Virgins which have overcome both the pleasures of the world and the frailty of their own nature Here I shall recreate and feast all thy spiritual Senses with an unspeakable delight for I shall be both thy gracious and grateful object I shall be a mirrour to the sight musick to the ear sweetness to the tast balsom to the smell flowers to the touch Here In fine there shall be the clear sight of Summer the pleasantness of the Spring the abundance of Autumn and the repose of winter But O man Quem dicunthomines
he check'd himself but still held it in that menacing posture being taken notice of and ask'd what he meant I am now says he punishing of an angry man Another time his Servant having committed a great fault pray says he to his friend do you beat that fellow for I am angry for he did not think it fit that a Servant should be in his power that is not his own master Socrates when he was angry would take himself in it and speak low in opposition to the motions of his displeasure O man thou art promis'd a crown of glory in Heaven if thou wilt subdue thy passions on Earth Thou art assur'd to sit at my Table and to enjoy my presence for ever so be that thou dost subdue thy evil inclinations and keep them always in subjection yet these powerful motives are not sufficient to Stir up thy drooping courage to so glorious an action and so much to thine own advantage whereas these Heathens have got the better of them all only for to be applauded by the people and to obtain the credit of being perfect Philosophers I tell thee for a certain truth that they shall rise in Judgment with this generation of cow-hearted Christians Mat. 12.41 42. and shall condemn them because they have subdu'd their Passions and evil inclinations only upon the bare account of vanity which they will not perform tho' they be promis'd the reward of an Eternal weight of Glory The Queen of the South shall also rise in Judgment against them and shall condemn them for she came from the uttermost parts of the Earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon whereas they will not make the least progress in virtue to pleasure me who am the Fountain of wisdom and who went so many steps to finde out their stray'd Souls when they were in danger to be lost for ever The Histories are full of perillous and desperate enterprizes and all for temporal rewards In the beginning of the civil wars which the Senate of Rome carried on against Cajus and Fulvius Gracchuus the Consul Opimus by publick Edict promis'd that whosoever should bring him the head of Cajus Gracchus should receive for reward it's weight in gold Setimuleyus undertakes the work and cuts of the head of Gracchus with the manifest danger of his own life and fills the hollow places thereof with melted lead to have the more weight of Gold But my promises far exceed this being I give for less labour and for a trouble as light as a feather an eternal weight of glory nay for a draught of water for that which is but vile and lasts but for a moment I give that which is of inestimable price and is to continue for all Eternity With that which is no more worth then a Straw thou mayst purchase my glory for all the felicities all the riches and Earthly delights are no more then a Straw compar'd to it Certainly thou wouldst look upon him to be a meer fool that would not give a chip for an hundred weight of Gold This is thy great folly O man thou wilt not go through the least of difficultys nor give a smal share of thy worldly Substance to the poor and distress'd for the purchase of Heaven Cyrus to encourage his Soldiers in his war against the Medes made them a Sumptuous Banquet with a promise to give them Gold and Silver in abundance if they had subdu'd that effeminate Nation if this motive was sufficient to make a barbarous People prefer a doubtful reward before a certain and hazardous labour why should not a certain reward and infinitely greater then the labour provoke thee and all mankinde to the conquest of Heaven Compare the banquet which I am to to exhibit to all my belov'd in Heaven unto that which Cyrus gave unto his whole Army the pleasures of my Kingdom with the troubles and displeasures of this life the joys above with the sorrows below the riches and treasures of Paradise with the little labour and pains which thou dost take in my Service and for which thou art promis'd eternal glory as a reward thou shalt finde as much difference as there is betwixt a dead body full of worms stench and corruption and a glorious body exceeding the Sun in brightness the Heavens in beauty and in sweetness the most odoriferous and purest Roses or Lillies It s therefore my Apostle says that all which men can suffer in this life is no way worthy of the glory which is entail'd upon my Elect. No the Stupendious mortifications and pennances of St. Simon Stylites the Austeritys of St. Romualdus the poverty and nakedness of St. Francis the manifold torments and tortures of all the martyrs are no more in comparison of my glory then is the taking up of a Straw for the gaining of an Earthly Empire David declares that the first man that should encouuter the Jebuseans as being the most daring and warlike of all his enemies should be made General Joab hears of it and expos'd his life to obtain that honour at the price of his bloud Saul offers his Daughter in marriage to him that should overcome the Giant Goliah David embraces the motion slights all danger to purchase so great a reward Seneca wonder'd at what Soldiers did and suffer'd for so short and transitory Kingdoms as are those of the world and that not for themselves neither but for another much more might he wonder that the sufferings labours of this life by which Christians are to gain the Kingdom of Heaven not for strangers but for themselves should seem so great and so grievous unto them as they make appear by their unwillingness to undergoe the least trouble for so great a purchase But I must attribute their failings herein to their little estimate of so precious a Jewel Proposito sibi gaudio sustinuit crucem Heb. 12. Matth. 13 Philip. 3. for had they known the value of it as well as others have done they would bid for it as they did or at least they would not pass by so carelesly a thing which they sought after so carefully Saint Paul says of me that laying the joys of Heaven before my eyes I sustain'd the Cross this should be to all Christians a main argument of my great estimate of the matter seeing I would buy it at so dear a rate and invite all men to go and sell all they have to purchase this treasure St. Paul is much of my opinion for he esteems all the World as dung to the purchase of this precious gem and imparted the same feeling to his worthy Disciple and glorious martyr St. Ignatius Hear what he is willing to give for the purchase thereof Fire Gallows Beasts breaking of my bones quartering of my members crushing of my body all the torments of the Devil together let them come upon me so I may enjoy this inestimable treasure St. Chryso Tom. 5. Hom. 19. Vincent Martyr was nothing inferiour to him either in
ligatis Discite Mortales facilis descensus Avcrni Sed revocare gradum superûmque evadere ad orbem Hoc opus hic labor est Solis quos Christus amavit Arbiter aut ardens evexit ad Athera virtus Tantus erit concessus honor Jesuque potiri Perpetuo Aspectu Sanctis simul annumerari Angelicisque choris sine fine dicentibus hymnum Sanctus Sanctus Sanctus Dominus Deus omni Potens qui est qui erat qui venturus est MOst Gracious Saviour in order to comply with thy command I must premit these two considerations First that there is nothing happens to mortals in this life or in the other but by thy permission Secondly that the Devil who is the mortal Enemy of all mankind is to be the Executioner of thy Justice in Hell and sometimes on Earth as appears by what St. John says in his Revelations I saw says he Apoc. 9. a Star fall from heaven unto the Earth And to him was given the key of the bottomless pit And he open'd the bottomless pit and there arose a smoke out of the pit as the smoke of a great Furnace and the Sun and the Air were darken'd by reason of the smoke of the pit And there came out of the smoke Locusts upon the Earth and unto them was given power Adescription of the power of hell as the Scorpions of the Earth have power And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the Earth neither any green thing neither any Tree but only those men which have not the Seal of God in their for-heads And to them was given that they should not kill them but that they should be tormented five Months and their torment was as the torment of a Scorpion when he strikes a Man And in those days shall a man seek Death and shall not finde it and shall desire to dye and Death shall fly from them And the shapes of the Locusts were like unto horses prepar'd unto battle and on their heads were as it were Crowns like gold and their faces were as the faces of men And they had hair as the hair of women and their teeth were as the teeth of Lions And they had breast-plates as it were breast-plates of Iron and the sound of their wings was as the sound of Chariots of many horses running to battle and they had tails like unto Scorpions and there were Stings in their tails St. Augustin says that the meaning of the holy Ghost who is the undoubted Authour of this Scripture was to represent unto us under so formidable and dreadful a figure the severity of thy Justice the greatness of thy chastisements thereby to frighten the wicked debar them from ever offending so powerful and so dreadful a Judge He understands by that Star which fell from Heaven unto the Earth and to whom the key of that bottomless pit was given Exod. 8. Lucifer a most beautiful and resplendent Angel indeed who for his Pride was cast down from Heaven to assume the fatal Government of that Region of everlasting darkness and by those Locusts like unto horses arm'd and ready for a battle the infernal Spirits which were the associates of his rebellon in Heaven and now are become his Ministers and the tyranical executioners of his inbred rage and malice against men by that grass and green plants which they are prohibited to hurt he understands the Just whose Souls being moisten'd with the waters of thy divine grace do sprout out the green leaves the flourishing branches and the most odoriferous fruit of life everlasting But what are those that have not the Seal of God in their foreheads which is the glorious character and distinctive mark of thy faithfull Servants O Lord what but the wicked 't is then against them only that this great Army of Devils are to fight these are the People which they are to torment according to their demerits and the Services which they had exhibited unto them in their life even as the People of Egypt were punish'd by the very flies and frogs which they had ador'd as their Gods a little before What a horror will it be to them to behold in that most obscure and nasty dungeon of Hell so many thousands of hideous and ill shap'd Monsters what a fearful thing will it be to stand in full view of that hungry Dragon bursting with rage and fury against those unfortunate Slaves of that Behemoth that Job speaks of who eats grass as an Ox Job 40. who has his strength in his loins and his force in the navel of his belly who moves his tail like a Cedar who devours the mountains drinks up the rivers who makes nothing to draw Jordan into his mouth and eyes This dreadful Monster is to execute thy Sentence O Lord against the damn'd what favour what mercy can they expect at his hands being he deals so cruelly even with those who are not his slaves but are only deliver'd to his power in order to exercise their patience Behold how cruelly he treats that Innocent and harmless Job after he had consum'd by fire all his sheep and his Servants after he had taken away all his Cows his Camels Asses and slain their keepers after he had beat down his houses and Smother'd all his Children under their ruines he cover'd his body from head to foot with so loathsome an Ulcer that he was an eye-sore to his whole family and cast out upon a dunghill where he lay without any comfort relief or assistance from any friend or relation so that he was forc'd himself to scrape off the worms and corruption that came from his wounds with a pot-sheard His poor body was so far consum'd and left so lean that only so much flesh remain'd about his lips as might enable him to speak and make answer The night which brings some refreshment and ease to the afflictions of others augmented his misery and increas'd his pains with most dreadful apparitions his Wife which should be a great comfort to him in his deplorable state and condition was one of his greatest plagues for she did both rail and vilify him to that degree as to tell him to his face that she could not endure the noisomeness of his putrifi'd body and bid him to curse God and dye like a rotten dog as he was His friends were no less cruel to him upon the same account for in seven days they did not speak a word to condole his misfortune O most gracious Saviour if thou hast permitted that cruel and devouring Dragon to handle so roughly the simple pious obedient pure and Saint-like Job only to exercise his patience and convince the Devil that thou hadst a faithful Servant upon Earth what a large commission and full liberty wilt thou give him to torment in Hell Adulterers Murtherers High-way robbers Usurers Drunkards Cheats Knights of the Post Lascivious companions cruel Parents Disloyal and stif-necked Children and all
do more for you then that says Darius for you shall have them all three again So he order'd them to be slain before his face and left him their bodys Xerxes dealt not much better with Pythius who had five Sons and desir'd only one of them for himself Xerxes bad him to take his choice and he claim'd the Eldest whom he immediately commanded to be cut in halves and one half of the body to be laid on each side of the way where his Army was to pass that they might march betwixt them undoubtedly a most inauspicious Sacrifice for He came to the end that he deserv'd and liv'd to see that prodigious Power Scatter'd and broken and instead of Military and victorious Troops to be compass'd with dead Carcases But these you 'l say were only barbarous Princes that knew neither civility nor letters And these Savage crueltys will be imputed perchance to their rudeness of manners and want of Discipline But what if Alexander the great that was train'd up under the institution even of the Prince of Philosophers should be guilty of an action altogether as barbarous did he not kill Clytus his Favourite and School-fellow with his own hand under his own Roof and over the freedom of a Cup of Wine And what was his Crime He was loth to degenerate from a Macedonian liberty into a Persian-Slavery that is to say He could not flatter Lysimacus another of his friends he expos'd to a Lyon and glad would he have been to have had nails and teeth to have devour'd him himself It would have too much derogated he thought from the dignity of his wrath to have appointed a man for the execution of his friend And this very Lysimacus after he had escap'd this danger was never the more merciful when he came to reign himself for he cut off the ears and nose of his friend Telesphorus and when he had so disfigured him that he had no longer the face of a man he threw him into a Dungeon and there kept him to be shew'd for a Monster as a strange sight The place was so low that he was fain to creep upon all four and his sides were gall'd too with the straitness of it In this misery he lay half famish'd in his own filth so odious so terrible and so loathsome a spectacle that the horrour of his condition had even extinguish'd all pity for him Nothing was ever so unlike a man as the poor wretch that suffer'd this saving the cruel Tryant that acted it But what is all this to the cruelty and Tyranny which the Devil shall exercise upon the Souls and Bodies of his infernal Caitiss August l. 1. de civit c. 10. St. Augustin says that he will fasten them to malign Spirits which shall be all inflam'd with fire that he shall manicle and bolt them with other fiery bodys so that they shall not be able to remove from one place to another that they shall have perpetually before their eyes such terrible and hideous shapes proportionable to their offences as shall be able to frighten them out of their lives The holy Scripture says that the damn'd shall be so straitned and crowded together in that infernall Dungeon that they may be very well compar'd to grapes in the wine-press which do press one another until they burst That their Souls shall swim in the middle of a most dreadful Lake of fire like fishes in the Sea V. Less de perfect Divin l. 13 c. 30. and that this fire shall enter into their very substance even as the water comes into the mouth nose and ears of a drowned body Telesphorus was cast into a deep Dungeon without cloths expos'd to the inclemency of the cold and moisture of the place where he could not see the light of Heaven or have any thing to feed upon but once in four and twenty hours a little piece of hard barly bread and a little water to drink where he was to continue all his life without speaking or seeing any body and no other beel to sleep upon but the cold noisom and nasty ground up to his navel in his own dung O what a misery this was certainly one weeks lodging there would appear longer then a hundred years elsewhere Yet if we compare this with that banishment and prison of Hell we shall finde the misery of this man to be a main happiness in regard of that which the damn'd suffer in their dark and dreadful habitation In his troubles he met with none so hard-hearted as to Scoff and jest at his misfortunes none to torment and whip him but in Hell they shall finde both for the Devils shall never cease to deride whip and torment them most cruelly There he had no horrid sights no fearful noises of howlings groanings lamentations but in Hell the eyes and ears of the damn'd shall never be free from all those distasters There he had no flames of fire to scorch him but in Hell they shall burn even into the very bowels There he might move and turn from one side to the other But in Hell they are not permitted to stir out of the place nor change their posture to give themselves the least ease There he might breath now and then some little fresh Air but in hell they shall suck in nothing but flames stink and Sulpher There he might have some hopes of release after the Tyrant's death but in Hell they have no expectation of goal-delivery no hope of being ever redeem'd There the least peice of hard bread would seem to him every day a fine Regale but in Hell for an Eternity they shall not behold a crumb of bread nor a drop of water but shall eternally rage with a dog-like hunger and a burning thirst This is the grand calamity of that Land of darkness barren of all things but of the brambles and thorns of grief and torments Caesar would commonly for exercise and pleasure put Senators and Roman Knights to the torture and whip several of them like slaves or put them to death with the most accurate torments meerly for the satisfaction of his cruelty That Caesar who wish'd the People of Rome had all but one neck that he might cut it off at one blow Cruelty was the imployment the Study and the Joy of his life He would not so much as give the expiring leave to groan but caus'd their mouths to be stop'd with spunges or for want of them with rags of their own cloths that they might not breath out so much as their last Agonies at liberty nay he was so impatient of delay that he would frequently rise from Supper to have men kill'd by torch-light as if his life and death had depended upon their dispatch before the next morning To say nothing how many Fathers were put to death by him in the same night with their Sons which was a kinde of mercy in the preventing of their mourning And was not Sylla's cruelty prodigious too
In an Age of license to all sorts of vanity and wickedness as Lust Gluttony Avarice Envy Ambition Sloth Insolence Levity Contumacy Fear Rashness private Discords and publick Evils extravagant and groundless wishes vain Confidence sickly affections shameless Impiety Rapine authoriz'd and the violation of all things Sacred and prophane Obligations are pursu'd with Sword and Poison Benefits are turn'd into Crimes and that blood most seditiously spilt for which every honest man should expose his own Those that should be the preservers of their Country are the destroyers of it and 't is matter of dignity to trample upon the Government the Sword gives the Law and Mercenaries take up arms against their Masters Among these turbulent and unruly motions what hope is there of finding honesty or good Faith which is the life of all virtues there is not a more lively Image of humane life then that of a conquer'd City There is neither Mercy Modesty nor Religion and if we forget our lives we may well forget the obligations we have to thee and all thy benefits too But let us consider seriously the multitude and greatness of thy divine blessings deal with thee even as one man does with another The wise man says that gifts break Rocks Victoriam honorem acquirit qui dat munera animam autem aufert accipientium Prov. 22.9 and shall not thy divine benefits move a heart of flesh and if they can steal the hearts of the receivers according to Solomon how come we not to be rob'd of our Souls by thee O Lord For thou dost not only give us thy gifts but also dost bestow thy self upon us as a most precious treasure If we consider the benefits which we have receiv'd from thee in our Creation they are as many as we have members of our bodys and faculties of our Souls If those of our Conservation they are equal in number to the distinct natures in Heaven and on Earth The Elements the Sun the Moon the Stars and the whole World were created for our preservation for without them we could not subsist If we look upon the benefits of our Redemption We shall be easily convinc'd that they are as many as there are evils in Hell from which we are happily deliver'd by thy Passion and total effusion of thy most precious bloud Those of our Justification are no less in number then are the Sacraments which thou hast instituted to increase our Merits and work the Sanctification of our Souls then the Graces and Inspirations which thou dost shower down into our hearts and the divine Examples which thou hast left us Nonne haec opportuit Christum pati ita intrare in gloriam suam Luc. 24.26 which should invite us all to tread with a masculine courage in the same paths which brought thee O Lord into thine own glory All these with thousands of other benefits and obligations which we have receiv'd from thee and by thy Creatures cry out unto us to love thee with all our heart with all our Soul with all our Powers and to trample under our feet this false World with all it's vanitys trifles transitory pleasures But alas We make nothing of all thy benefits We give no ear to all their crys but rather will love the World and tast of its pleasures in as ample a measure as our fortunes will afford us wherein we seem to be worse then even the very Heathens for Aristides tho' he was reputed to be one of the greatest Men of Athens yet he was so avers'd to the Pomp and toys of the World and so affected to poverty that he always wore a course broken garment suffer'd Hunger Cold and Thirst not for any want of means or friends to relieve him but meerly for his own fancy Zeno was nothing concern'd when news was brought to him that he had lost all what he had in the World When An xagoras receiv'd the like news he said no more then if my Goods had not perish'd I had been undone Crates flung his whole substance into the Sea with this expression It is better I drown you then you me Diogenes bid adieu to all he had in the World and took nothing with him but a wooden dish and seeing by chance one drink out of the hollow of his hand broke that also And shall we refuse to do in obedience to thy Commands O Lord for the purchase of an eternal weight of glory what they freely and gladly perform'd to pleasure their own fancies and gain the repute of being Philosophers O madness O ingratitude never to be paralel'd Quid retribuam Domino pro omnibus quae retribuit mihi Ps 115.12 Tho' We are thine by so many just titles and thou hast given thy self and all what thou hast unto us yet we never think of what We ought to do for thee nor how We shall express our thankfulness for such and so great benefits This was the greatest care that David took and the sole subject of his most serious consideration what shall I return unto the Lord for all the favours which he has confirm'd upon me But O blessed King and Prophet give me leave to ask thee what are those favours 'T is true he has rais'd thee from the Station of a Shepherd to the dignity of a King He has enabl'd thee to encounter a Giant and to get the better of him too He has often protected thee against the evil Spirit of Saul and has preserv'd thy life from all the wicked and treacherous attempts he made to destroy thee these are great obligations indeed and deserve thy grateful return but are nothing to the benefits which we have receiv'd at his hands his love for us was so great that he suffer'd death to bring us to life everlasting and left unto us for food to our Souls his most precious body and blood certainly these obligations are unspeakable and deserve at least that small attonement of returning back unto him our Souls hearts and bodys for as we had them from him 't is our weighty obligation to let him have them again entirely and free from any love-to the World or affection to the Creatures so that We are to account our selves now and evermore as only his and not our own consequently We are not to debase our love by placing it upon any worldly object but to settle it wholly upon him alone And really if we consider seriously the infinite love which thou hast for us O Lord We shall finde that we have no love left to bestow either upon the World or any terrene object no nor upon our selves for We must know that love consists in action and the more it acts or suffers the greater is the perfection thereof how great then must thy love be O Lord being thou hast wrought such Stupendious works for our Salvation still dost continue to work the like for our preservation the Sun the Moon Omnia subjecisti sub
a horse we take off his cloths and his trappings and examin his shape and body for fear of being cozen'd And shall we put an estimate upon a man for being set off by his fortune and quality nay if we see any thing of ornament about him we are to suspect him the more for some infirmity under it He that is content in Poverty would not be so neither in Plenty for the fault is not in the thing but in the minde It 's therefore thy Apostle writing to Timothy says command the Rich of this World not to be high-minded nor place their considence in the uncertainty of their Riches Divitibus hujus mundi praecipe non sublime sapere neque sperare in incerto divitiarum 1 Tim. 17. Non proderunt divitiae indie ultionis Pro. 11.4 Divitiarumjactantia quid nobis contulit Sap. 5. Dormierunt somnum suum nihil in venerunt omnes viri divitiarum in manibus suis Psa 75.6 and the ground of his Precept is that Riches shall not profit a man in the day of revenge nor rescue him from the rigour of thy Justice in the day of his death if his sins have put him out of thy favour this the wicked Rich themselves confess tho' too late being already condemn'd to live in torments for an Eternity what has the bravery of our Riches avail'd us nothing at all but have rather increas'd our misery because we made thereof our Gods upon Earth tho' we were often told of their vanity and how they could never afford their Masters any comfort or ease when they were in most need of their help The Royal Prophet seems to commiserate their deplorable condition where he says Alas the Rich men have slept out their sleep and have found nothing in their hands People in their sleep will dream of Mountains of Gold and Silver and think themselves rich for ever but when they awake they finde they are altogether in as bare a condition as before this is the case with the rich whilst they are in this life they do imagine themselves Rich for ever and that their vast treasures will bear them up in all necessitys that shall occur but when they open their eyes in the hour of death they see then that they must depart for another World with as little provision as the poorest beggar in nature I can't but smile to hear the Prophet Baruch laugh at such People where are they now says he those great Estated men those mercenary Judges those deluding Lawyers those flie Attornys those greedy and covetous Merchants those insatiable Usurers that heap'd up such a vast deal of gold silver and that never desisted gathering together Alas they are rooted out of the World cast down into Hell-sire And therefore says St James now ye rich men weep and wail Jacob. 5.1 2 3. c. and howl for your miseries that come upon you now your riches are rotten and your gold and silver is rusty and the rust thereof shall be in testimony against you It shall feed upon your flesh as if it were fire you have hoorded up wrath to your own selves in the last day Tho' he is an Apostle that speaks yet his words are the very dictates of the holy Ghost whereby we may easily conceive the dangerous consequence of worldly wealth and the main folly of them that labour so much to procure the same by injustice and other indirect means and when they are masters of them do not imploy them to the advantage of their Souls but lay out all to support their grandeur and satisfy their Lust I am certain that if an Assembly of the most able physitians of the World had met to determine whether such or such meats were dangerous to feed upon and that they should all conclude they were absolute poyson to the body few or none at all would hazard his health to eat thereof tho' otherwise in sight smell and tast they appear'd sweet and most pleasant And shall not the unanimous votes of all the Saints in Heaven and of all the Catholike Doctors on Earth together with thy most holy and urgent admonitions O Lord be able to remove the disordinate love which mortals bear to this most dangerous Soul-killing vanity Thou sayst by thy Prophet to all mankind Divitiae si affluant nolite cor apponere Psa 61. Qui diligit aurum non justificabitur Eccl. 31. Zacha. 1. set not your hearts upon the love of Riches and why the wise make them this answer because whoever loves Gold that is beyond the precept shall never be justifi'd and thou sayst thy self that thy indignation and wrath shall fall very heavy upon rich nations There 's nothing so often repeated in Scripture as a Woe to the Rich and thou dost confirm it thy self with that usual affirmation Amen Amen I say unto you that a Rich man shall hardly enter into the Kingdom of Heaven Matth. 19. What an extream folly it is then to seek so much after so poisonous a bait as are Earthly Riches which may perhaps afford some little comfort to their owners in this World but with an absolute exclusion from the everlasting pleasures of thy kingdom Woe be to you Rich men for that you have receiv'd your consolation in this life so that in the other you are not to expect any Sad news indeed for the Rich and able to settle in their hearts a perpetual abhorrence against so fatal an enemy to the Salvation of their Souls This expression I fear will not at all rellish with many of our Worldlings who account Riches to be their dearest and only Friend nay had I said their God it would not be contrary to truth for their hearts are more enamour'd with them then they are with thee O Lord tho' thou hast deposited thy sweet life to ransom their Souls from the power of Hell Qui volunt divites fieri incident in tettuionem in laqueum Diaboli defideria malta inutilia nociva quae mergunt homines in interitum perdidonem 1 Tim. 6.9 and Death everlasting And yet if St. Paul may be credited they are grosly mistaken and wide from the mark they aim at for where they expect their consolation and pleasure they meet with their eternal destruction and sorrow for He says that they which will be rich do fall into temptations and into the Snares of Satan as also into many unprofitable hurtful desires which do drown them in the Abiss of destruction and Woe Their main objection to this doctrine is what shall become of our Wives and Children if we be not careful to provide a maintenance for them that they may live in the World with as much splendour as the dignity of their condition requires But the Wife man gives them a satisfactory answer in my minde and a notable check to boot for he calls them fools and besides he tells them in plain terms that their great care
amara est memoria tua homini habenti pacem indivitijs suis Eccl. 41. that had conquer'd most part of the World in less then twelve years to see himself seiz'd on by Death and Summon'd to appear before thy most dreadful Tribunal when he desir'd most to live and tast of the joy and delight of all his victories What a heart-breaking will it be to those that employ all their time in building of houses purchasing estates increasing riches procuring dignities making up matches laying out vast sums to use when they shall see themselves even as so many Princes Mules discharg'd of their treasure and turn'd off with backs gaul'd into some nasty stable nay it will be far worse with them for after their long travelling in this World loaden with gold and Silver which had extreamly gall'd their wretched Souls they shall be disburthened at the day of death and sent away with their wounded consciences to the dark and loathsome Stable of Hell there to continue for an Eternity O my Saviour these considerations well meditated are able to mollify a heart of Steel to move any man to a true repentance of his past follys to breed in him an abhorrence of the world and of all its vanitys and make him resolve to employ the remainder of his days in thy Service that art absolutely the best of Masters and whose rewards to thy faithful Servants are far surpassing the pleasures treasures of this deluding world as thou dost exceed the creatures Eternity the Time the eternal joys of thy heavenly Court the short and transitory joys and delights of this Land SAVIOVR HE must be a most perverse and hard hearted man indeed that will not love me after all the several benefits and manifold favours which I have confer'd even in this life upon the generality of mankinde which are in a manner nothing to what I have prepar'd for my Elect in the other for these are so incomprehensibly glorious that eye has never seen nor ear has ever heard neither is man's understanding capable of conceiving their excessive greatness for I am by nature infinitely good amiable and liberal consequently what I have promis'd prepar'd and decreed from all Eternity to bestow upon my Elect must be no less then my self objective as your Divines call it and formaliter the most clear the most delicious the most pleasant the most blessed union and fruition of my divine Essence for all Eternity O the Immense the inestimable the glorious the Interminable felicity of a blessed Soul that shall live and reign with God who is infinite in beauty in glory in power in wisdom and in finite in all his Attributes that shall enjoy clearly and without any interruption his blessed Vision so unspeakably comfortable satisfactory to all her senses and this too for an Eternity A God likewise that is the abundant headspring of all delights the inexhaustible fountain of all goodness the most opulent treasury of all riches pleasures Joy Perfection and of all things desirable or necessary to compleat her everlasting happiness This is the essential and principal reward of the Blessed But besides these there are other innumerable joys which I call Secundary rewards and these are also so great and so many that they do absolutely transcend all measure and number and wilt thou not O man love a God who has lov'd thee gratis and to that excess as to give thee himself all that 's in his power A God that most mercifully lov'd thee when thou wert in actual rebellion against him wilt thou not love the Eternal Father who in the excess of his love for thee did not spare his only and dearly beloved Son but deliver'd him into the power of most cruel Enemies that crucify'd him this was for thy sins alone as well as for those of all mankinde wilt thou not love him that has by the effusion of his most precious bloud free'd thee from the power and unspeakable anguishes of Hell and it 's eternal torments to place thee in the most happy company of his beloved in glory wilt thou not love him who has chosen thee even before the worlds Creation who has call'd thee by his Grace and has predestinated thee in Christ from all Eternity wilt thou not love me who am the only Son of God in whose Faith and Grace thou liv'st who has lov'd thee who has suffer'd for thee who has call'd thee to his Service who has redeem'd thee from the intollerable burthen of the Old Law from the damnable yoke of Sin and from the everlasting thraldom of Hell O man Wilt thou not love me who am so fervent a lover as to purchase thy lost Soul not with the Worlds contemptible Coin Gold or Silver but with the most precious and Sacred bloud of my whole body Wilt thou not love me who am thy Creator thy Saviour and Judge and who was in mercy pleas'd to become thy Brother and Advocate too nay I am so much in love with thee that the day before I departed the world I bequeath'd unto thee my most precious body and bloud to seed thy Soul as a perpetual monument of my tender affection to all mankind In fine wilt thou not love me who besides the aforesaid Mercys Benefits and Blessings have given thee so compassionate and so potent a Mediatrix in Heaven as is my most dear and Superexcellent Mother Saluted before my conception in these very words by my Angel Ave gratia plena Luc. 1.28 Hail Mary full of Grace the Lord is with thee Blessed art thou among Women Blessed is the fruit of thy Womb. Since I the Essential truth do affirm this they must be impertinent and reprobately Wicked who deny her that Special Prerogative Thou shouldst love as much the Holy Ghost for by his Wisdom thou wert Created and by his Providence thou wert govern'd in so much that thou can'st not produce one meritorious act without his divine Inspiration or actual motion Therefore 't is his gracious goodness which gives thee the Will and the Power to perform any good thing 't is He that is pleas'd to inhabit illnstrate and inflame thy heart with an ardent desire of thy eternal Salvation In a word thy Obligation to love and honour the most glorious Trinity is the very same as thou hast to each Sacred Person therein contain'd It being the sole Source and cause of thy eternal Happiness For what the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost have done the very same thing has the Blessed Trinity done being but one the same God in those three distinct persons O Man shall not all these powerful motives replenish thy Soul with divine love even as the Dew of Heaven doth fill the Vegetives with vivifying juice or shall not this make my grace shine in thy Soul as Davids burning Lamps of affection Psa 63.5 which no terene waters could ever extinguish I say in thy Soul that it may disperse those filthy
vapours of carnal affections which have in a manner lul'd her into a Lethargy And as thou wert created to enjoy the fellowship of Angels let these demonstrations of all my Favours to mankind in general and to thee in particular kindle such a fire of divine love in thy Soul as when she departs thy body she may ascend to Heaven in it's aspiring flames Nolite voeare vobis Patrem super terram unus est enim Pater vester in caelis Mat. 23. Hast thou not heard what I say in the Gospel to thee and to all men that ye should not rely upon them ye call Father on Earth for you have but one only Father who is in Heaven and is really so in a far more eminent degree then is either Carnal or Spiritual Father whatever For from him thou didst receive thy Soul by his immediate creation and whatever advantage thou hast of nature from thy Parents or from the Concurrence of any celestial and Second causes thou receivedst the same eminently from Him who is the Principal Authour of all things Sin only excepted Thy Philosophers confirm this for they tell thee that every prime and Original cause does influence the effect more then any second cause whatever Omnis causa prima plus influit quam quaecunque causa secunda Arist Ex quo omnis paternitas in Caelis in terra nominatur Ephes 3.15 If thou by all Laws Natural Divine and Positive art strictly commanded to love reverence honour and obey with all submission thy carnal Parents how much more oughtest thou to love honour adore and obey thy Heavenly Father who is the Original of all Paternitys as well in Heaven as on Earth and from whom all causes have their action their motion and their Fecundity The remisness and frequent failings of all mortals in this their incumbent duty gave me occasion to make this sorrowful complaint Malac. 1.6 the Son does hear his Father and the Servant does both fear and obey his Lord and Master If I be then the Father of mankinde where 's their love their respect and obedience to me And if I be their chief Lord and Master where 's their fear and dread of displeasing me and transgressing my commandments My Apostle seems to admire so great a neglect we have had says he Hebr. 12.9 for our Tutors Fathers of the Flesh and to those We have paid all submission and reverence and shall not We give a far greater respect to our Father in Heaven by whom and from whom We have our being and preservation If even the very Heathens accounted it a most abominable crime in Children not to obey their Parents or to despise them and not regard their commands and counsels and if in the old Law I have order'd all contumacious Levit. 20.9 rebellious and Avaritious Children to be even ston'd to death without any further Process how much more nefarious a crime it is to be refactory to the omnipotent God and Father and to be so great and so cruel a rebell to him as to crucify him every moment in his dearly beloved Son This is so hainous an offence that I can't but resent it and say by my Prophet will a man rob God of his honour and of all his Prerogatives this is the common injury which the generality of mankinde has done unto me for they have indeed rob'd me even the whole generation of them Hear O Heavens and give ear O Earth I have nourish'd brought up Children they have rebell'd against me The Ox knows his owner Esai 1 2 3 4.23 c. and the Ass his Masters crib But Israel does not know me neither does my People consider me Ah! Sinful nation that they are a people laden with iniquity a seed of evil doers Children that are corrupted themselves and greater corrupters of others they have all forsaken the Lord they have all provok'd the holy one of Israel unto Anger Their Princes are rebellious and the companions of Thieves Every one loves gifts and follows after rewards they judge not the Fatherless nor does the cause of the Widdow come unto them But I will ease me of my Adversarys and revenge me of mine Enemies then shall come the utter destruction and ruine of all Transgressors and Sinners and they that have forsaken me to follow the World and it's unlawful pleasures shall be wholly consum'd They shall be as an Oak whose leaf fades Psal 20 9. and as a garden that has no water They shall be as Tow and Fire and shall both burn together and none shall be able to quench their flames to fulfil the words of my Prophet I shall make them as a fiery oven in the time of my Anger I shall swallow them up in my wrath and the fire shall devour them A Check to MAN O Ungrateful man Gen. 2.7 hast thou not justly deserv'd these dreadful effects of my heavy indignation and Wrath for in the very exordium of the World I created thee to my own Image and likeness I have instructed thee in the Law of nature which thou wert to observe and to regulate thy actions by the dictates and Maxims thereof I have also printed the dictamen of Reason in thy Soul that thou might'st thereby discern betwixt good and evil truth and falshood the Creature and thy Creator But thou ungrateful Wretch and most unworthy of such extraordinary favours hast from the very beginning shaken off my Yoak broke my Chains and hast declar'd openly that thou wouldst no longer live submissive to my decrees no longer obey my Commands neither wouldst thou serve so good and so bountiful a Master but be a Tenant at will to embrace whatever was most pleasant to thy brutish passions and most charming to thy rebellious inclinations wherein thou hast transgress'd the agreement that had pass'd betwixt us broken the Contract violated the Law and hast cancel'd thy bonds wherewith thou hadst bound thy self and thy Descendents to the World's end to live upright faithful and obedient to my Will and to my Commands for ever And what was it that engag'd thee to incur the guilt of so horrid a crime the fear only of displeasing thy silly Wife O ingratitude never to be paralell'd What must a foolish and phantastical creature be honor'd and obey'd rather then I who am thy Omnipotent God and Creator I produc'd thee with a faciamus only out of the bowels of the Earth to make thee happy for an Eternity with the perpetual fruition and vision of my divine Essence but thou hast perferr'd before so immense and unspeakable a blessing a created Good vile in it's self tho' pleasant to the eye and sweet to the taste and what was it 'T is an eternal shame and an infinite disgrace for all mankinde to hear in mention'd 't was no less then to postpone me the Fountain of life and all my Glory for a Trifle an Apple Heavens are you not astonish'd that