here while he gives them time to do it and for neglecting his many calls both of mercy and chastisement and thereby making Hell to become their own choice 7. Is it possible O my Jesus that I have chosen that horrible place by choosing Sin and continuing in it Yes for God set before thee Life and Death Blessing and Cursing and left the Election to thy self Why then Lord if I have hitherto chosen Death and that accursed place by sinning grant I may get out of it before I go into it and that by repenting by forsaking my sins and by relieving thy poor Members I may gain thee to be my Saviour and at the last day be called to thee with those comfortable words Come ye Blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdom prepar'd for you from the Beginning of the World The Third WEEK Of the Company of the Damned and of their pain of Sense 1. IF that terrible Abode were only a wide empty space though sad obscure and afflictive to the Wicked yet without such ill Company it might be more tolerable But the fierce and cruel Inhabitants and their hateful Company is worse and more intolerable than the place it self None but Devils and damned Persons are the Neighbours of that infernal City The Devils that are busily inflicting Tortures and the damned most impatient in suffering them raging and blaspheming with incredible Fury Nothing is heard there but the noise of the Lash and the cry of those that feel it a sighing without comsort a groaning without ease an eternal Woe and alas an endless weeping wailing and gnashing of Teeth 2. Their Lamentations are Oaths Curses and Blasphemies they rage despair and they belch out Vengeance without Revenge and Wrath without Satisfaction O good Jesus The hearing of one Curse the hearing of one Blasphemy is sufficient to pierce a Heart and afflict a Soul What will it then be to hear so many horrid Curses and Blasphemies This may be reckoned the very Hell of Hell it self But alas Lord the Damned do not only hear and suffer them but also utter them and that is yet much worse and more to be abhorred Rather O Lord let me suffer a Hell without pains but without Sins and Blasphemies than a Hell of Sins and Blasphemies without any other pain 3. In that unhappy and calamitous City and among those wretched Citizens all their Peace is Discord all their Quiet War all their Comfort Anger all their Order is Division Disagreement and Confusion Imagine thou didst behold a City where the Inhabitants went up and down killing and burning one another with Swords and Fire-brands in their Hands here loud Complaints there louder Cries here Rage there Death and Desperation Such a place were peaceable and quiet in comparison of the Hatreds Fightings and Discords that are in Hell For those at last come to an end when the Inhabitants have made an end of one another But these instead of ending are always beginning a new The Sufferings of those have some measure and limitation but these have no degree below infinite nor any limit short of Eternity and finally the Companions Friends and Neighbours of that dismal Abode are only the Devils and the Damned most inveterately hating and abhorring themselves and one another 4. Think how the nice and delicate Person will be able to endure this surly boisterous Company who by being used to suffer nothing that can cross his tender Inclination is become too haughty and insolent to bear the Company of his own Family or so much as bear with patience the attendance of his Servants How will the proud scornful and dissolute Woman endure to see her self encompassed with Devils and with Souls as proud and imperious as her self who cannot endure the Company of that Husband which God has given her How will the tyrannical Governour be able to suffer so many Devils to be his Superiors and to tyrannize over him who cannot suffer his Inferiors though Loyal and Obedient to live quietly under him And how will the rebellious Subject be able to suffer so many infernal Princes to exercise over him the Empire of their cruel Wills who never can suffer one good just and moderate Sovereign ruling him according to the Laws 5. Oh if thou didst turn the Eyes of thy Consideration another way and didst see loose and sensual Persons instead of the delightful Embraces of their lustful Lovers embraced and inflamed by Vipers and fiery Basilikes and suffering unexpressible Torments without any remedy or comfort If thou didst see the Scornful the Proud the Haughty trampled upon by Devils dragg'd and despised by them and burning in unquenchible Fire If thou didst see the ambitious Grasping at the top of Flames and Smoak and for ever suffering the Thirst which that of their ambition kindled here in so short a Life If thou didst see the rich covetous Miser in eternal beggary and nakedness without any other plenty but of Fire Torment Anguish and Affliction If thou didst see the beautiful and lascivious Woman whose Sins and Vanities carry her to Hell there become ugly loathsome and abominable her Body parched with flames and her Soul racked with vexation and despair If thou didst see the debauched Clergy-man who instead of guiding Souls to Heaven by his Doctrine brings many to Hell by his evil Example tormented there in living Flames his holy Orders much increasing his punishment and what was here his Honour and his Ornament becoming there the greatest Aggravation of his Crimes If thou didst see the Glutton and the Drunkard the Epicure and the Libertine there hungry and thirsty lean and pale all their Delights reduced to Fire and Brimstone without one drop of Water to cool or quench their thirst and instead of their delicate meats to be now devoured themselves and gnawed for ever by the Worm of their own Consciences If thou didst see all this and heard'st so many sad Cries and woeful Lamentations so many Curses Blasphemies and Confusions If I say thou didst see hear and well consider all this Ah! how much more careful would'st thou be to see to hear and to live otherwise than thou hast done hitherto Therefore go down into Hell by consideration while thou livest that thou mayest not go down into it by condemnation when thou diest Look well upon it thus and behold it now to the end thou mayest not be thrown into it now by Meditation to the end thou mayest never see it any other way nor be there compelled to feel the weight of God's wrathful Indignation The Fourth WEEK Of the Duration and the Pain of Loss and of the Worm of Conscience 1. IS there any Evil in Hell greater than this Can there be any other greater Yes there is yet another greater and more cruel than all these and that is the Eternity of them 2. If these horrible Misfortunes Torments and Miseries were to last for a Hundred thousand Years or for a hundred Millions of Years and that then
in receiving him and at the same time feel within themselves him that ministers unto them and two fires becoming but one inflame them that without by their Eyes and that within by their Hearts That happy Night the Lord took possession of the breast and heart of Men and they in exchange took a Proof of the excessive Love of God but our Saviour likewise had a Proof of Man's Ingratitude since the Traitor Judas received him his infinite Charity being resolv'd to try if he could possibly be washed clean within who was not purified at all by his having been washed without But he that had kept his foul Intention notwithstanding the washing of his Feet and would not make use of that Water to wash his evil Eye was as little the better for the inward washing for he shut his Eyes against that Beam which would have enlightened him and the fire of his Covetousness was more powerful than the fire of so great a Charity He suffered his Redeemer to come into his breast not that he might receive him but that he might the better sell him and so he carried him along with him that he might not get away when he was to deliver him up in the Garden At the same instant that he received the Saviour of Souls into his covetous Breast he presently went out to sell him to the Jews whereby it appears that he received him to the end that he might betray him more securely that way than by leaving him behind And this was the first and most grievous step of his Passion to be received by that Treacherous Disciple O let us that are Priests tremble in Receiving and Administring the Sacrament of him who in loving us enters as a meek and a gentle Lamb into our breast and who when he comes to Judge us will be a fierce Lion if we receive him here unworthily The Third WEEK Of his Agony in the Garden his Death Resurrection and Ascension THese three unspeakable Mysteries being ended the Saviour of Souls goes forth into the Garden of Gethsemane to give beginning to his dolorous Passion that the place where the second Adam rais'd us up might be like that where the first Adam cast us down It was in a Garden we were ruined by the first of Men and in another Garden we were repair'd by the best of Men. There our Redeemer sweats drops of Blood for the purging of thy sins and mine so laborious was it to bear the weight of our sins that his holy Pores were thereby opened and even Innocency itself was put into an Agony by that intolerable burden There to see the Ingratitude of Mankind and how much they would despise the un-utterable Treasures of Man's Redemption made blood break forth from the Body of the King of Heaven and run trickling down to the very Earth There he thrice made earnest Prayer unto his Father for himself and for us asking strength of Body for himself and strength of Soul for us There he repeated his Prayer so often to teach us that our Prayer ought to be earnest and persevering The Humane Nature begg'd assistance from the Divine and he weighed the heaviness and shrunk from the bitterness of that Cup that his Divinity might help his Humanity in the drinking of it There our dear Master by suffering taught us to suffer that our Patience and Courage in Suffering depends wholly upon God and that there is nothing in us but Miseries as if he should have said If I who am God as well as Man do as Man need the succour and favour of God and ask it with a threefold repetition Why do not ye weak wretched and miserable Men ask it a thousand times and why are ye not instant devout and fervent in your Prayers He there also granted that the Cup of his grievous Passion should pass on to his Disciples and that they and from them the rest of his Church should inherit that Patrimony of Pains and that effectual Medicine of Sins Let this Cup pass from me says he to his Father as if his meaning had been Grant O my God and Father that these my Apostles and all those that by the Preaching of them and their Successors shall heartily receive and embrace my Religion may drink of this Cup with me that they may also Reign with me There he was comforted by an Angel who was himself the Comfort of Angels and being God would shew himself as Man to stand in need of Divine Consolation giving us assurance that we likewise in our needs shall be succoured and protected by Angels There all his Disciples are dismayed or fallen asleep and none waâ—ches but the Traitor Judas O Lord how luke-warm and indifferent is our Love how strong how vigilant is our Ingratitude In serving thee dear Jesus we are dull and sleepy in offending thee we are lively and watchful Who could bear with such Wickedness but only thy infinite Goodness Who but thou O most Gracious Saviour could endure such sleepiness and such watchfulness such watchfulness in Sin and such sleepiness in Love Judas being Treacherous and Covetous for a little Money sells the Eternal Son of God and makes them pay for him to whom he freely offers himself in Gift Those infamous Ministers of Covetousness and Envy come with great force of Arms to lay hold of a gentle Lamb and Humane Weakness attempts with Cords to bind the Divine Omnipotence But what great matter was it that he should suffer himself to be bound by their wickedness when he had already bound himself with his own Charity That Treacherous Disciple with infamous lips kisses his Face and turns the Signal of Peace into a Signal of the greatest Treachery The Lord calls him Friend although he was so cruel an Enemy and still bore with him and loved him because he suffered himself to be sold for Love His design was to try if it were possible to soften the heart that was so hardened in mischief but his heart being in his Purse he neither would nor could let it be wrought upon by the meekness of his Master St. Peter being both fervent and valiant at the taking of our Redeemer cuts off an Ear of one of the Servants and it is probable he would have done the like to Judas if he had been near him but the most sweet and merciful Jesus restores it reproving that loving Disciple and being able with his Divinity to have defended his Humanity he makes use of the one to manifest the other by a clearer demonstration discovering his Divinity in the Miracle and his Humanity in the Advice and Remedy O more than infinite Goodness O thy merciful forwardness to Pardon and to Suffer Thou reprovest him that defends thee and curest him that offends and comes to take thee Yet in that hurry and disorder of wickedness the Miracle was not taken notice of and it being a Night of so much darkness to what could it prompt the minds of Men but to what
Thy fear of his Judgment is so great because that of thy Sins is so little Thou livest in a course of wickedness and committest thy wickedness with boldness and even with greediness and then thou art afraid to be judged and that is because thou art to be justly condemned But thy chief and principal fear ought to be that of offending so severe a Judge and thy chief and principal hope ought to be that of being judged by so indulgent and so loving a Father It is the part of an unfaithful Servant not to dare appear before his Master's face and though he fears him yet he does not love him But a good Servant is glad to come to the Presence of his Master Every Call of his is a joy to him every Command a comfort and he runs chearfully to wait upon him at every knock but an evil Servant is afraid to see him because he was not afraid to offend him 10. Every sin thou committest unless thou repent of it is a rigorous Sentence against thy self every guilty action and every wilful transgression is a Criminal Article whereof thou accusest thy self at that Tribunal How is it possible for thee not to tremble and dread the Judgment and thy Account in the other Life if thou livest without Judgment and without Account in this Repent therefore pray and weep love and serve thy Judge here that thou mayest find him kind gentle and gracious hereafter He is a Judge that suffers himself to be gain'd in this life therefore use means to win his favour before he comes to Judge thee in his anger for thy having slighted and neglected to get his favour when thou mightest have done it Tremble with apprehension to see him in his wrath who may yet be appeased by the means I have shewed thee and who being reconciled first fills the Penitent's Soul with transports of his Love and after with those Joys and Pleasures which are at his right hand for evermore The Fourth WEEK Of the Vniversal Judgment at the end of the World 1. I AM something comforted with your Discourse says the Penitent but I have heard dreadful things of that great Day when all Mankind must rise to Judgment that horrible Trumpet which makes even the Dead to hear how much more the deaf does also make the heart to tremble and confounds the senses with amazement It is no wonder indeed that thou shouldst be dismayed at that which affrighted St. Hierome and very many other holy Men thou mayest very well tremble at that which they were afraid of 2. Who can choose but fear and tremble to see the whole Creation destroyed by the Creator of it and all the World consumed by his powerful hand Who can choose but fear the Signs which fore-run that Judgment those terrible Earth-quakes and horrible roarings of the Sea Who would not fear to see the Elements those preservers of Life to become its furious Enemies and fighting with one another to become the Ministers of Death Who can choose but fear to see the confusion of Mankind some calling on the Rocks to hide them others upon the Darkness to cover them all being full of terror and astonishment to see all sorts of miseries come together to bring our Nature to an end Who can choose but fear to see the Sun covered with a deadly Vail his light obscured that of the Moon extinguished the Stars also falling from their places and overwhelming the Generations of Men. Nothing to be heard but publick Complaints and Lamentations Cries Sighs and Groans nothing to be seen but Fears Dangers Losses Miseries and Confusions 3. Can any one choose but be affrighted to see the dead rise again by God's Command at the sound of that horrible Trumpet to take up the consumed and scattered pieces of their Body to cloath themselves therewith and each one unite it to his Soul that he may appear at the dreadful Judgment-seat of God waiting for the Sentence either of Eternal Life or of Eternal Death Who can choose but be amazed with fear to see the Almighty cloathed in Majesty to come down with the Court of Heaven armed with Justice to be exercised against sin and wickedness Who would not be dismayed to see the Creator hurle flames of fire against all he hath created to see Houses and Cities Palaces and Kingdoms burnt together and finally to see the whole World destroyed in that cruel and dreadful Conflagration Who would not even dye with fear to see so many Angels and so many Devils together divided from one another on the right hand and on the left expecting the word of Sentence to be put in execution The Angels carrying the good to Eternal Joys and the Devils dragging the wicked to Eternal Torments 4. How is it possible not to fear a Tribunal so dreadful a Judgment so terrible and a Sentence so formidable from whence there is no Appeal and the Execution whereof is either Life Eternal or Death Eternal for ever for ever for ever so that they shall know no end of that ever ever ever My Soul is astonished and amazed in the consideration of the Universal Judgment It is dismayed to think and to imagine all this which is but as a Dream thus represented to us in writing in comparison of what it will be and of what we shall see it in effect 5. Grant O Lord that I may tremble bewail lament and sigh deeply for my sins and wickednesses before I hear that killing Sentence pronounced against them by thy Divine lips Grant that my Tears and Repentance my Sorrow and Contrition may make my polluted Soul fit to be washed and purified by thy most precious Blood to the end I may never hear that confounding word Go ye cursed into eternal fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels 6. O give me grace to imitate the Martyrs in Faith the Confessors in Hope and the Blessed Virgin thy most holy Mother and all the rest of the Saints in Charity to the end I may hear that most sweet and most welcome call of Come ye blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world 7. Oh that I had never offended thee my dearest Lord that I might not see thee offended Oh that I had ever served thee that I might see thee appeased Mercy sweet Saviour mercy in this Life that I may find it in the Judgment and in the Sentence of the Life to come Prepare me O Lord Jesus for my particular Judgment that I may be able to stand in thy Universal Judgment Have mercy upon me when thou shalt Judge me alone to the end thou mayest have mercy upon me when thou shalt Judge me and all the World together O grant I may live with such care to judge and call my self to an Account in this Life that the remembrance of that other which I must one day give to thee and my earnest endeavour to make my self ready for it may
desire to be great Then ye must become little that ye may be great For he that would be exalted must humble himself and he that humbles himself shall be exalted Behold I came down from Heaven and have humbled my self by taking the form of a Servant to be despised upon Earth and ye poor Earthen Vessels are ye lifting up your heads and your pretentions to the highest places in Heaven The second thing that he requir'd of them was that they should have the same Sincerity Goodness and Purity of Soul which that Child had Unless ye become pure and simple as this child ye shall in no wise enter into the Kingdom of Heaven This was to move them to that first Grace in all its Purity and Perfection since without that no Soul can enter into Heaven For a Christian must be brought back to that first Grace and Purity which he received in Baptism either by keeping his Soul from sin even from the lightest or else after having sinned whether lightly or grievously by washing his Soul with Tears of Repentance and Contrition and cleansing it from all stain and guilt by Faith in the Passion of Christ and by partaking of his Body and Blood in the Holy Sacrament and so the Soul is brought into the Purity of that little Child and made capable of entring into the Kingdom of Heaven Now the Sincerity and Charity and clearness of Conscience wherewith the Lord by the force of the Spirit and by the holy Exercises of the Spiritual Life cleanseth and purifieth a Soul St. Paul calls Goodness which in substance is an inward and superiour degree of pureness of Conscience so simple and so perfect that it resembles the Innocence of a Child This Goodness is an absolute compliance of our Thoughts Words and Actions to the Will of God It is a full resignation to whatsoever God does that goes whithersoever his Divine Majesty directs performs whatsoever he appoints and seeks and follows and loves God in all things By this kind of Goodness a good Man does not seem to be in search of that which is good but to be already in the possession of it and holds it as a thing which he had found before This Purity of Loving Thinking Speaking and Doing the Lord Jesus requir'd also in his Disciples when he said to them Let your words be Yea Yea and Nay Nay as if he should have said let your words speak according to your hearts and your hearts speak according to my holy Will Say neither more nor less than what ye think for the Speech ought in all things to be conformable to the Thoughts and whatsoever is more can neither be Goodness nor Sincerity for Christ himself says that it is sin and therefore to praise a Man very much we properly say he is a Man that thinks what he speaks and speaks what he thinks for the former praises his Truth and the other his Ingenuity and Goodness This intrinsick Goodness is that which is in God by his Essence and that for which he is so often praised in the Scripture saying Thou art good O Lord teach me to be good by thy goodness as who should say O uncreated Goodness impart some of thy Goodness to me and the Soul begs this same Goodness with a gentle Sweetness and Meekness when she prays Let the light of thy countenance O Lord shine upon us and teach us thy statutes which is a Prayer we ought very often to make to God Of Meekness This kind of Goodness is accompanied with Meekness as Light is with Brightness for that being true and sincere and holy and having so much of God in it his Divine Majesty does as it were cloath him outwardly with the latter who inwardly possesses the former making a sweet and gentle Meekness to shine through all his Deportment And so thou mayest know a good heart by a peaceable quiet behaviour for nothing moves or disturbs it Nothing disturbs a good Man because his Confidence and his Affection are only placed in God he loves and seeks him and disregards all things else Nothing affrights him for his Goodness by Love doth cast out Fear he desires nothing that is Temporal for he sees whatsoever is so passeth away and comes suddenly to an end Nothing moves him because he only seeks for God who is unmoveable Nothing afflicts him because he resists and conquers all Crosses with his Patience He wants nothing because he possesses God who possesses all things and desires nothing because God alone is to him All-sufficient Now consider what Meekness that Soul must have who neither loves nor desires nor pretends to any thing who is neither troubled nor affrighted nor discomposed at any thing but in all Occurrences rests quietly in God This is a rare Meekness indeed I say rare because it is admirable and because I believe few have it in this Mortal Life since we see that even the holiest Men have been angry and there are Persons that are very perfect who Reprove and Chide who Reform and Punish with Anger Nay even Moses himself who is called the Meekest Man upon Earth was certainly transported with great Anger when he threw down and brake the Tables of the Law which God had written with his own finger God and his Love can do all things and no body can number or weigh or measure the Miracles of his Grace But thou deceivest thy self as I have told thee if thou thinkest that a Spiritual Meekness excludes Zeal for Reformation since the being gentle in Heart and very couragious in Zeal may well enough consist together and it was a great cause of surprize and indignation for Moses to find that People worshipping an Idol that had so manifestly seen the Power of God so many ways made known to them in their Protection and Deliverance And Christ himself who far excell'd Moses in Meekness as in all other Vertues was angry when he whip'd the Buyers and Sellers out of the Temple urging that Verse of the Psalm The Zeal of thine House hath even eaten me up And when he reprehended the Masters of the Law for destroying the Law and suffering the People to be loose and wicked though he was angry with them yet he was not the less meek in heart for the gentleness and serenity of it shin'd even through his Zeal and even then also he might have said Learn of me for I am meek and lowly of heart He meekly had a sweetness within his Zeal as the Honey-comb was in the mouth of Samson's Lion He shewed his Anger to draw them to his Meekness and seeing so many Discourses and so many Sermons and so many Miracles had wrought nothing upon them to soften their hardness as we do Iron by Fire he applied that of his Zeal for a Remedy The Vices do oppose and hinder one another but the Vertues do assist and help one another A Man cannot be Prodigal and Covetous at the same time for if he will give
I come with the Olive-branch of Peace in my mouth the Merits and Intercession of the Prince of Peace I have nothing else to plead but by them and by them only I hope to be received and kept from ever departing from thee any more If thou hast not been so great a Sinner as I art thou less bound to God for preserving thee from it than I for being pardon'd and reclaimed Shall the Benefit by thee be accounted less because it is really much greater Does the Hand that saved me from a Wound do me a smaller kindness than that which cures me when I am wounded Or rather is not the benefit of Preserving much the greater by saving the Blood I should have lost by the Wound and the Pain I should have suffered in the Cure For though it require a greater Power to lift me up when I am down than when I am up to keep me from falling yet to me the Benefit is more worth which prevents me from a Mischief than that which gives me remedy when I am in it Thus have I seen O God for how many Benefits I am indebted to thee notwithstanding my many Sins O let not an horrible Ingratitude be the last and greatest of them all Man's Laws have ordained no Punishment for that infamous Crime either because they did not believe that any thing in the World could be so bad as an ungrateful Person or that they could find no Punishment proportionable to so great a Crime The wildest and the most savage Breasts are grateful to their Benefactors and good turns have tamed the fiercest Lions but we more savage than the furious Beasts are so far from Gratitude that on the contrary we each moment offend our most gracious Benefactor But suffer us not O Lord to do so any longer and let the greatest of all thy Benefits be to make us thankful for them and with the humblest Devotion of our Souls to acknowledge that the Number of them is infinite and their Nature most transcendent Of the Guard of Angels We have seen how watchful the All-seeing Eye of God's Providence is for the Preservation of our Souls and Bodies The Holy Jesus tells us that without it not so much as a Sparrow falls to the Ground how much less a Man who is more worth than many Sparrows And to express his great Care of our smallest concerns he says that even the very Hairs of our Head are numbred Thus dwelling under the Defence of the most High and abiding under the Shadow of the Almighty any other Protection might be thought wholly needless yet God as subordinate to that hath out of his super-abundant Love to Mankind been pleased from the Beginning of the World to protect them particularly by the Guard of Angels for having created those Blessed Spirits in distinct Hierarchies and Choirs the chiefest of them he applied principally to the Worship and Veneration of himself and appointed others to serve him in the Succour and Assistance of Humane Nature We are told in the Epistle to the Hebrews that they are Ministring Spirits sent forth to Minister to those that shall be Heirs of Salvation And their forwardness to obey God in all things that relate to the good of Man is seen in many places of the Scripture HEre the Author having cited many places where Angels have been employ'd for the Service or for the Punishment of Mankind makes a long Discourse whereby he endeavours to establish their Doctrine of adoring and praying to Angels and proceeds with great Devotion therein but here our Church forbids us to go along with him allowing us to search the Scriptures where we find express Texts and Examples flatly to the contrary thus we read in the Revelation that when St. John was going to fall down and to adore the Angel he was strictly forbidden by him saying See thou do it not for I am thy Fellow-servant Worship thou God And we have a plain Text fore-warning us to take heed that no Man deceive us by a voluntary Humility and the Worshipping of Angels St. Paul was wrapp'd up into the Third Heaven and yet he makes no relation of those blessed Inhabitants but says he saw what it was not lawful for Man to utter and the Scripture tells us that things secret belong unto the Lord but the things that are revealed belong to us We ought therefore to content our selves with them and not to be wise beyond Sobriety but while they pretend not only to know particularly the Names and Ranks of the several Choirs in each Hierarchy but also the particular Business and Employment of every one of them Our part should be to acknowledge how infinitely we are indebted to God for his Goodness towards us and to raise our Minds to the highest Admiration and Reverence of God's unspeakable Power in Creating them and to the most ardent Love of his Goodness in employing their Ministry for our Benefit but most especially for that happy Message brought by the Angel Gabriel to the Blessed Virgin Mary of the Incarnation of the Eternal Word which was the beginning of our Redemption and for the joyful News of his Nativity delivered to the poor Shepherds by an Angel when suddenly a Multitude of the heavenly Host sung Glory to God on high c. How can we forbear to cry out with the Psalmist Lord what is Man that thou art mindful of him or the Son of Man that thou regardest him Thou madest him lower than the Angels to crown him with Glory and Honour Instead of praying to them let us lift up our Minds and Prayers to the Creator of them and in Thankfulness for all Mercies join with that blessed Choir to magnifie him Let us beseech him that hath ordained and constituted the Services of Angles and Men in a wonderful Order mercifully to grant that as his holy Angels always do him service in Heaven so by his appointment they may succour and defend us on Earth through Jesus Christ our Lord Amen The Fourth WEEK Of the Benefit of Redemption WE are come now to the utmost top of all the Divine Benefits which requires a most attentive Consideration Our great Creator in the making of Man designed a most wonderful Union between his Soul his Body and his God Three things so vastly distant and so strangely different that nothing but Omnipotency could have joyn'd them together for what can be more different than a dead Clod of Earth and a living immaterial Soul What can be more distant than a Soul dwelling here below in the narrow Limits of an Earthly Body and the Divinity of an infinite and an eternal God who dwelleth in the highest Heavens and whom even the Heaven of Heavens cannot contain In this blessed State he was placed in the Garden of Paradice where nothing was forbidden him but the Tree of Knowledge and with this Covenant that if he continued in obedience he should never die but be translated from that Earthly to an
upon the Cross purchasing our Redemption by his Death the Merits and Benefits whereof shall therein be assur'd and convey'd to thee as a Pledge and Seal of thy Pardon Apply it to thy self with an humble Confidence in his Promises with a firm Faith that his Blood was shed for thee since thou art admitted to be a partaker thereof That Divine Antidote is not only to be thy Medicine but thy Nourishment and receiving it with lowliness and Devotion thou shalt not only find Grace but the Author of Grace thou shalt not only find the Guide but the Way the Comfort and Support of the Spirtual Life If he be God Eternal the Son of the Eternal Father whom thou receivest into thy Breast art not thou certain that all his Vertues and Attributes enter with him If in receiving him I make him not only my Guest but also my Lord and Ruler I become one with him as the fire which heats the Iron is united with it If his Goodness be in me when I receive him how is it that it does not abolish my Wickedness If his Omnipotency why does it not take away my Weakness If his Love be in me why does it not expel my Luke-warmness If his Purity and Chastity why don't they chase away all my Defilements A PRAYER O Eternal and Coelestial Light O my Redeemer and Soveraign Master and Physician O sweet Spouse of my Soul What is it that hinders the Operation of so great a Light in me but that my Soul is in so thick a Mist of Darkness What is it that can hinder the admirable Effects of thy Grace in me but the wickedness of my ungrateful heart What keeps the Divine Strength and Power from waking but my great coldness and hardness of heart What hinders thee O Heavenly Physician from curing the Diseases of my Soul but that it loves them and abhors the Remedy What hinders thy Sheep O Heavenly Shepherd from receiving the Coelestial Food thou offerest them but their being lost and running astray after sensual Delights the Poyson of their Vices What hinders the amorous Embraces and Favours of this loving Bridegroom but the ungrateful forgetfulness of his Spouse My heart gives it self up to worldly Loves and so does not perceive these glorious Pleasures What keeps my Soul from receiving the Graces and Favours which my King entring into it would bestow but the Passions and Rebellions wherewith it is fill'd What hinders me from hearing the wholsome Counsels of my most wise Instructor or if I hear them from following them but that my Passions make me deaf to his Inspirations or weak and unable to follow those which I have heard O Lord my God and my Redeemer All my Sickness is in my self all my Cure is in thee O my God since thou dost vouchsafe to enter into me stay there and deliver me from my self I am mine own Enemy no body can hurt me if I hurt not my self Free me from that inward Enemy O dear and potent Friend Thou art the strength of Heaven Thou art the succour of the Weak and I am weak Thou art the light of the Blind and I am blind Thou art the comfort of the Afflicted and I am afflicted Thou art the Shepherd of lost Sheep and I am one of them Thou art the pardoner of the Ungrateful and I am even Ingratitude itself What can Cure so great an Ignorance but thy Heavenly Wisdom What can take away or destroy so great a wickedness but thine Infinite Charity What can cleanse so many Defilements but thine ineffable Purity What can give strength to my feeble Soul overwhelmed with Vices but the Infinite Power of thy Glorious Vertues Have I thee here within me and wilt thou not Cure me I will not believe it Lord. Art thou one of those that see their Friends in the Sea of their Troubles and suffer them to be drowned Art not thou He who alone art able if thou wilt to appease a Tempest Art not thou He who stretch'd forth his hand to Peter when he was sinking in the waves Art not thou He who sleeping in the Ship didst awake and calm the Sea when it was ready to be swallowed up Art not thou He who walked'st upon the Waters of the Sea only to help those that were in them Art not thou He who both by Sea and Land in Mountains Towns and Cities wert the Universal Remedy both of Souls and Bodies For to whom thou gavest Grace in the one thou also gavest Health in the other Art thou less able in my Soul than thou wert in Judaea and Palestine Is not thy Power as great to Cure Souls now as it was to Cure Bodies then since thou didst therefore Cure their Bodies that thou mightest the better Cure their Souls Is thy skill less now adays O Omnipotent Physician than it was in those times Does not thy Immense Charity rather increase if it be possible for it to receive any augmentation Does not every one of thy Benefits call a great many more after it Canst thou do any thing else than give more and more and more Art not thou All-powerful O my Jesus Art not thou all Love and Goodness And art not thou infinitely Wise If then thou art both able knowing and willing How is it that I feel not the effects of thy Power Goodness and Wisdom It is true I have very often resisted them all but now I penitently yield my self up to them now I humbly prostrate my self I call I seek and adore the Author of my Remedy Enter into me O Lord my Glory Cast out of me all Humane Resistance and though wretch that I am I did resist thy Vertues I will no longer resist thy Remedies I desire O my God to desire Lend thy helping hand and banish all that can separate me from thee Drive out of me all that Will which opposeth thy Blessed Will O Lord God I believe as another incredulous Person said help thou my unbelief and my obdurate Nature which is the Original of all my harm I believe I will I desire I love I seek I weep O merciful Lord O Eternal and Heavenly Light pardon and banish my want of Love my Coldness my Ingratitude and my Forgetfulness I would fain desire but I know not how to desire I would fain work but I know not how to work but since thou entrest into me O my Jesus work thou in me Separate from me and destroy in me all that hinders and detains me from serving from loving from following and adoring thee Let that Love of thine which was enflamed with the love of me conquer and expel this ungrateful want of love Let thy Light drive away my Darkness and thy Goodness my Wickedness Finally O Lord make thy self Master of me of my heart of my will and of all my Faculties and carry my Soul thy Captive in the Triumph of thine Infinite Love These are the breathings thou oughtest to send forth from the bottom of thy
frequently receive and consecrate the Sacrament were they that fear'd him most and within that Humility Reverence and Fear they found the Treasures of Love O what tears of Fear did they shed at the receiving of it What fire of Love did they find in their Breasts by being so united to their Saviour What high knowledge sprang up from the depth of their Humility and Fear What Faith in believing and adoring him What Hope in seeking him and what Charity in finding and possessing him They did as St. Peter did at the first knowledge of his Master's Divinity in the Miracle of the draught of Fishes when throwing himself prostrate at his feet he said Depart from me O Lâ—rd for I am a sinful Man The Apostle runs to his Master's feet and at the same time prays him to depart from him His high fear makes him beg that he would depart and his ardent Love makes him at the same instant to draw near that approach was caused by Love and the bidding him depart proceeded from fear Thus at the Communion be thou all Humility Fear and Acknowledgment that thou art unworthy to receive so great a Lord but yet knowing thy unworthiness thou oughtest so much the rather to approach so high a Majesty with Love as well as with Fear and Humility That Fear which separates us from God is never a good Fear for where but in God can we find the Perfection both of Love and Fear O eternal God is not thy Goodness communicable Art not thou a God who givest thy self and makest all Creatures to participate of thy Goodness Then why shall not we come to this Communion and receive this communicable Good Art not thou Goodness and Liberality it self who bestowest thy Treasures upon all Didst thou institute this Sacrament in Bread and Wine to the end that Men should only see it and not receive and eat it Why didst thou leave thy self in this manner amongst Men but to be their Support and Nourishment When thou didst consecrate this Coelestial Bread didst thou not receive it first of all thy self and then give it unto thy Holy Disciples Thou knewest O Lord their Imperfections and that they would forsake thee and deny thee that very night yet thou gavest them remedy in thy blessed Body for without that their fall and their loss had been much greater O eternal Glory dost thou seek me and shâ—ll not I receive thee Dost thou come from Heaven to seek me and shall I fly out of the Church that I may not receive thee Thou comest O eternal Shepherd to be both my Shepherd and my Food and shall I poor lost and wandring Sheep refuse this Food and refuse to be born upon those blessed Shoulders Didst thou shed thy Blood to give it me for drink and was thy Body broken that I might feed upon it and shall I shut my Lips and my Heart and Soul against this meat and against this drink If I reject thee who art the Remedy of all my Griefs whom shall I ever receive If I drink not of thee thou Fountain of all Goodness when shall my thirst be satisfied If I bath not in this Fountain which thou hast set open for Sin and for Uncleanness who shall wash this Soul full of so many abominable Pollutions And if I be not to receive thee my God my Lord and my Creator but when I am indeed worthily disposed for it when shall I ever dare to approach thy Table Is any the highest Cherubim or Seraphin worthy to receive thee Can the greatest Purity deserve to partake of that unspeakable Greatness Is there any Goodness worthy or capable of that infinite Majesty The Blessed Virgin thy Mother confesses she is not worthy to receive thee and what am I then polluted Wretch and sinful Man unworthy beyond all unworthiness Didst thou not know O eternal God when thou didst institute this Sacrament that it was to be received by weak Men and mâ—…erable Sinners Thou didst consecrate it with this Condition O infinite Mercy that thou wert to suffer the Misery of our Nature and to bear with the Neglects and Imperfections of our Frailty Before thou madest thy self the Nourishment of Men thou knewest the Weakness and Sinfulness of Men and didst leave this Institution not only for our nourishment but also for the remedy of our Diseases Who can cure them O God but thou Who else can guide and strengthen and encourage me to encounter all the Difficulties to avoid all the Deceits and to overcome all the Temptations that I meet with in this Spiritual Warfare Who can be my Antidote against the Poison of Sin but the Author of Grace Who can enable me in this Banishment to travel through the most rugged Passages into my heavenly Country but thou who art the Way the Truth and the Life that dost sustain lead cheer and refresh me Do not suffer me O Lord to have that kind of fear which shall hinder me from serving and adoring thee from seeking and finding thee from possessing and enjoying thee but give me a filial and reverential Fear and such an one as even in the midst of fear may enflame me with thy Love Thus may we comfort and encourage our selves against the thought that Fear cannot well consist with Love by which mistake some are kept from daring to receive the Sacrament And because St. John says That perfect Love casts out Fear they believe that Love and Fear are not compatible and that not having this Love it would be a great Presumption in them to receive the Communion of the Body and Blood of the Holy Jesus But they do not well understand St. John for he does not speak of reverential Fear which is very consistent with Love and grows up with it but of servile Fear for that is it which is thrown out by holy and perfect Love The holy Fear of God keeps no Man from doing any thing that is good and much less from the chiefest good which is the receiving this blessed Sacrament but rather by how much more perfect fear is so much the more does it burn in Love and so much the nearer does it draw us to God And thou must not only take heed that filial fear hinder thee not from receiving it with that frequency which thy Spiritual Guide shall advise but thou oughtest also not to forbear the receiving it though with but a servile Fear If thou hast thy Conscience burdened with no heinous Sin and hast confessed and lamented all those thou knowest thy self guilty of resolving to forsake them for the future Go with Humility and an holy Confidence to receive that Sacrament for God may turn thy Attrition into Contrition and his Love will better thy fear though in the beginning it be Servile yet if thou frequent the Table of the Lord his Grace will amend it and make it to become Filial It often happens and very often that beginning by the fear of Hell and Punishment a Man
most that run furthest from God O how much greater are the Sufferings of those that are so deceivd how much more painful and afflicting The Sinner passeth his whole Life in pains by reason of his Vices and so much the greater are his Torments by how much the greater are those Passions which disquiet and molest his troubled Mind Behold the loathsome Diseases of the sensual Man both of his Body and Soul Behold the unclean Surfeits of the Glutton Behold the fiery Rage of the Angry and Revengeful The racking Cares of the Covetous and the uneasie Emulations of the Proud Behold the frettings of the Envious Man All of them live or rather all of them die for how can they be said to live that undergo such Anguish and Vexation Then behold the difference between him that suffers for God outwardly and feels joy and comfort inwardly And how wilt thou grow in the Spiritual life without Temptations and Tribulations Thou canst not only not grow nor thrive but not so much as live in it Wouldst thou drive Sin out of thy Heart It must be by Mortification or else it will still remain there Wouldst thou drive away thy Passions It must be by conquering Temptations Wouldst thou be fitted for the Coelestial Building It must be by the Chisel and Mallet of Temptation and Mortification Wouldst thou throw out Vitious Habits It must be by exercising contrary Vertues Wouldst thou live humbled It is necessary that thou shouldst be afflicted Wouldst thou know what thou art By suffering Temptations thou shalt perceive thine own Frailty and Misery Wouldst thou cast Self-love out of thine unquiet Heart Deliver thy self up to an holy Self-denial Wouldst thou give thy self wholly to God thy Saviour and Redeemer Deny thy self and refuse to satisfie thine own desires Finally wouldst thou have Glory Take up the Cross embrace Sufferings love Tribulations do not defend thy self from the Cross but under the Cross and by the Cross do not defend thy self from Sufferings but under them by the power of Grace do not defend thy self from the Temptations which God sends thee but from the evil of those he sends thee That it is no easie matter to be saved but that it is necessary to fight Believe it he does but deceive thee who tells thee that thou mayest enjoy God in another Life without Suffering for him in this Life He does but cheat thee who says there are two Glories for the Soul one of Temporal Delights the other of Coelestial He deludes thee who says without any Tribulations thou shalt enjoy that Glory which our Lord entred into by suffering them He deceives thee who makes thee believe there is another way for thee than that which all the Saints pass'd through He cheats thee that says It is an easie matter for thee to live ill and to die well to take thy fill of Pleasures here and to partake in Eternal Joys hereafter He abuses thee that says 't is an easie thing to be sav'd and that the Gate of Heaven stands open for him at his death who hath lived wickedly all his life No the Saviour of Souls does not tell thee so but he says That narrow is the way that leads to Salvation He says We must strive to enter because the gate is strait He says The Kingdom of Heaven suffers violence and that the violent take it by force He tells thee His Flock is a little Flock that many are called but few chosen All this speaks no easiness nor temporal and sensual Sweetness but Rigour Courage Constancy Repentance Sorrow and a Life of Crosses and Tribulations Believe it the strictest Livers are at no small labour to obtain Salvation Strive therefore since it was not without cause that so many Holy Persons before thee have undergone the most terrible Difficulties and Afflictions in their way to Heaven Of the Grace of God This indeed is a sharp unpleasing Doctrine and very unwelcome to our Nature but if it be an Enemy to our Nature it is a Friend to our Spirit and to that Grace which brings Glory to our Nature It is a safe Doctrine because it is taught by our Redeemer It presses Men to take care of their Souls that they may seek God and not forsake him that they may serve him and not offend him But all this which is so difficult and even impossible to our frailty is sweet and easie by the Grace of God It is that Grace which fills and supports assists and conquers convinces and disposes does and perfects all The most powerful Grace of God is that which sweetens all Labours and renders them not only tolerable but delightful This Grace makes the good desire Sufferings as the bad do Pleasures and causes them to find Joys in their Austerities when the wicked find Trouble in the midst of their Delights Grace encourages sustains comforts and gives an inward sweetness to Sufferings which makes them more savoury and pleasant than the most pretended Enjoyments of this World Grace in the Spiritual Life strengthens the weak enlightens the blind eases the afflicted comforts the sorrowful and gives joy to the disconsolate Grace supports the Soul animates guides accompanies raises it when it is sinking leads it in the way and crowns it in the end O most powerful Grace of God! thou admirable effect of his Goodness All is owing to thee How many steps are taken in the Spiritual Life how many affections and desires are stirred up how many good actions are done how much perseverance is exercised how many tears are shed and how much love is enkindled all is owing to God's Holy Grace Fear not therefore Tribulations if Grace be with thee for by it Temptations and Tribulations will be rendred of no force and thou shalt conquer all by its Effectual and Omnipotent Power I can do all things saith the Apostle of the Gentiles through him that strengtheneth me for then he was strengthened by Grace Not I says he but the Grace of God which is in me as if he had said I work but I am carried guided and assisted by Grace for without it I neither know nor can do any thing being of my self unable so much as to think one good thought Behold with what facility David lamented his fall by the help of Grace Behold how quickly St. Peter wash'd away his sin with tears by the help of Grace Behold with what Resolution Mary Magdalene broke off the dissoluteness of her sinful Life by the help of Grace Behold how suddenly St. Paul from a Persecutor became a joyful sufferer of Persecution and the Prodigy of the World by the help of Grace See the World converted and reformed and Heaven peopled in a short time by the Apostles through the help of Grace Now that same Grace which made them Saints may make thee one also though now thou art a sinner 'T is the same Grace that favours and assists thee and is not less powerful now but is as kind as sweet
as strong and effectual as it was then Grace does not grow old but continues the same or rather increases Strive then fight and persevere for he that without Grace is but meer weakness may by it become a powerful Conquerour The Second WEEK Of the Glory of the Blessed THough the former Doctrine was sad and disconsolate I hope this last has chear'd and comforted thee We must still walk between hope and fear for the doubt of fear restrains us and the light of hope sets us forward To facilitate the way of the Spirit is good and sound Counsel and of possible performance for it is made easie by Grace and therefore a Christian ought not to be afraid of it but to facilitate Salvation and to make it consistent with a loose and licentious Life to make it attainable without seeking Heaven in good earnest without Repentance and Contrition through Grace and without conquering the Passions and banishing them from the Soul to make it easie I say to be sav'd that way is a most plain Fallacy and dangerous Deceit St. Paul tells us That through many tribulations we must enter into the Kingdom of Heaven and therefore the steps that lead to Glory are Tribulations And believe me even so it is purchased at a very cheap rate for all we can suffer in this Life full of Miseries is not worthy of the Glory that shall be revealed which he obtains who suffers willingly for God What can our Sufferings be in comparison of those Enjoyments How light are they all in respect of the eternal weight of Glory What an inexpressible Happiness must it be to see ones self admitted to be one of the Citizens of the Coelestial Jerusalem to see ones self in the ravishing Company of Saints and Angels to see ones self with the Patriarchs Prophets Apostles Martyrs Confessors and Virgins to see all those Just and Holy Spirits singing Hymns and Praises to the Glory of God And yet all this is less though unspeakably great than to see the holy Humanity of our Lord that gracious Countenance those Divine Eyes whose brightness darkeneth the Sun and enlightens all the Creatures those Hands and Feet and that pierced Side from whence as Blood heretofore there now comes forth the Splendour of Glory the Stream of Grace the Joy and Comfort of all the Saints And still this is less than to see God the Father God the Son and God the Holy Ghost Three Persons in One Essence the beginning and the end of all Creatures that ineffable Mystery which exceeds all created Understandings before whom all the Angels and Saints prostrate themselves in Adoration This is that which amazes the Pen and humbles the highest Meditations in contemplation whereof the most lofty Cherubims and Seraphims lose themselves not being able fully to comprehend it From this Fountain and Original of Divinity and Goodness proceed all the Felicities of those holy Citizens in that Triumphant Jerusalem from that Source of Joy and Delights flow all their Delights and Pleasures from that Infinite Omnipotent and Supream Essence which is Incomprehensible in all it's Attributes springs the Original Glory of the Blessed All their Power and Being arises from his Power and Being The sight of that Goodness that Wisdom and Charity is the cause of theirs From that Light proceeds their Light Only to see one of his Attributes whether his Goodness Justice or Mercy though 't is impossible to see any one of them without seeing the rest is enough to give inexpressible Glory to all the Creatures What a blessedness also is it to turn the Eyes upon the Order and Beauty of that whole Coelestial Court To see the Martyrs crown'd with Ensigns of their own Valour to see the Holy Confessors adorn'd with their Vertues to see the Virgins with their Palms and Crowns only to see the Order wherein they are rank'd and wherewith they Adore and Praise the Lord to see the Nine Quires of Angels with the Three admirable Hierarchies only to see the great number of beatified Souls and Spirits every one in his Place and Employment serving their Creator and the Author of all their Happiness with unspeakable Contentment What a wonderful and high Felicity is this Then what Peace what Contentment what Joy what Quiet what Sweetness what Union what Conformity what Ardent love of God and of his Creatures is there in that blessed City Finally wouldst thou see what Heaven is Look what all the Delights of this World are freed from any mixture of Disgust and thou shalt find that in respect of them they are but Pains and Torments Think what it is to hear the sweetest Voices to smell the sweetest Perfumes and to enjoy whatever can delight the rest of the Senses think of an Heart full of Joy and Contentment an Understanding with all the Powers of the Soul fill'd with all the Delights and Pleasures that this World can afford it is all but Sadness and Affliction Pain and Anguish in the highest degree in comparison of those Eternal Joys Wouldst thou know what Glory is Then consider who it is that gives it to the Saints Think how Infinite the Power of God is it 's his Power that gives that Glory Think how Infinite is his Wisdom 't is that Wisdom which gives that Glory Think how Infinite is his Goodness 't is that Goodness which gives that Glory If then an Infinite Power an Infinite Wisdom and an Infinite Goodness joyn together to give Glory what must that Glory be which is the effect of such a Power of such a Wisdom and of such a Goodness If God gives to every one of his Saints in his just proportion according to his Love his Power and his Wisdom what Riches shall he give who is infinitely Rich What Wisdom and Light shall he give who is Infinitely Wise And what Joy shall he give who is Infinitely Good and Happy If the necessitous Person measures his hopes by the Power and Hand of the Liberal what shall the Joy be that is given by an Infinite Power which is willing to give that which is Infinite Wouldst thou see what Joys those are which God will give to the Blessed in Heaven Think how great the Punishments are that are inflicted upon the Damned in Hell If those are so sharp and intolerable for the pain of them to the wicked how sweet and superabundant will be the Enjoyments of the good Though his Justice and his Mercy are Essentially equal yet in the effects his Mercy is greater than his Justice for he punishes in Hell less than Sinners deserve and rewards in Heaven more than the Saints deserve What Glory shall he give in Heaven who punisheth so terribly in Hell with everlasting Fire Wouldst thou see the Joys which he confers upon the Elect who serve him in this Life Think what he suffered for them and what he did to save them If he gave his Blood and Life upon the Cross for the bad as well as for the good
foulest and the most disloyal that ever trod upon the Ground beginning as the Divine Physician with Judas who had the most deadly Disease and hastening the Remedy to him first that was in the greatest danger Others who would have St. Peter to be Head of the Church say He began with him That Reformation being the best grounded and the most powerful which begins from the highest descending from the Head unto the rest of the Body That holy Apostle seeing his Redeemer at his Feet was humbled and confounded before he touched them He that had walked upon the Waters and Trampled upon the Waves sinks deeper in this Bason through Love than he had done in the depth of the Sea through Fear Seeing an Humility so beyond all measure and that his God was down upon his Knees at his Feet he was in such an amazement that he denied them him saying Lord thou shalt not wash my feet O what an high acknowledgment was this of St. Peter when he said Lord wilt thou wash my feet It was in its kind an higher one than when he confessed him near Cesarea He then knew him and confessed him to be God but he did not know himself but now Peter acknowledges him to be God Infinite and Omnipotent and himself to be a wretched weak Man and a most miserable Sinner Many pretend to know God and are ignorant of themselves but they know him indeed who by his Divine Light come to discover their own Darkness Lord wilt thou wash my feet Thou the God of Heaven and I a little Dust of the Earth Thou the Creator and I the vilest of all Creatures Thou the Eternal Greatness of the Creation the Soul of all that lives and I the frailest the meanest of all that Die Thou my Master and I thy Disciple Thou the King and Crown of Angels and I a poor simple Fisherman nay which is worse a sinful Worm and therefore more base than any of those that crawl upon the Ground Thou that art Innocency adn Goodness itself upon thy Knees at the Feet of my Sins and of my Wickedness Finally O my Jesus Thou who art greater than the greatest dost thou kneel at my Feet who am less than the least of thy Mercies Thus the Humility of that loving Disciple opposed that of his Master with a Holy Contention while all stood looking and admiring to behold which would get the Victory whether the Human nature knowing the infinite height of the Divine or the Divine knowing the infinite Misery of the Humane It seems more just that here Peter should have overcome God than God Peter as it is more reasonable that Man should serve God than that God should serve Man It is the part of Man to obey and of God to command to Man it belongs to Serve and to God to suffer himself to be Served Loved and Adored This indeed was a Mystery of Love and Divine Charity and he shewed this excessive kindness to oblige and to enflame theirs to him and to one another by his example saying If I being your Master and your Lord have washed your Feet ye ought also to wash one anothers Feet That Love which made him being God to become Man made him being Man to humble himself before Man And that Sovereign Lord never took a righter course for that high intent than by humbling and prostrating himself to wash to cleanse and to purifie Man He made himself Man that he might redeem him and did it seem much for God being become Man to kneel down to wash him Yes dear Jesus it is much much beyond expression for nothing of all this could be deserved by Man He does not deserve any remedy because he has been the Author of his own Misery but thy unbounded thy unspeakable compassion looks upon his Necessity and not upon his Demerits Whither dear Saviour shall the high expressions of thy Love extend Where shall this Infinite Charity of thine be limited Behold Lord we are Men that is to say meer Misery and Wickedness Behold Lord thou art God that is to say the most Sovereign Power and Supreme Majesty Dost thou so far abase thy Divinity as to drag it upon the Earth within thy Humanity Is it not enough for thee to make thy self Man unless thou humblest and prostratest thy self before Man Who can see God at his feet without falling into an Extasy of Astonishment and without giving up his life through an excessive Humility Who can choose but die with shame and confusion to see so unfitting an in-equality I do not wonder that St. Peter resisted it for besides that he knew that his Master was God and he a vile Creature he loved his God and he loved his Master extreamly much and in the same proportion that he loved him was the trouble he felt to see him kneeling at his feet since he knew that it was the duty of all earthly Creatures to serve and adore him But yet for all that Peter at last yielded to Christ it being most just that man should yield to God since the greatest Humility lies in the greatest Obedience the Disciple therefore must obey his Master and the Servant his Lord. Our Saviour told him that if he would not be washed and purified he could have no share in his Redemption at the hearing of which terrible Sentence Peter offered him not only his feet to be washed but his Hands and his Head also To this Christ replyed He that is washed needeth not save only to wash his Feet but is clean all over That is he that hath been already washed in the Laver of Baptism needeth only to wash the Feet of his Affections which from the Earth and misery of our Inclinations and Passions rise up to the Heart Hereby the Redeemer of Souls signifies that Purity wherewith we ought to prepare our selves for the receiving of the Blessed Sacrament for before he Consecrates that he in the washing his Disciples feet gives them an example of Humility and Resignation and in the Water expresses the vertue of those penitent Tears wherewith they were to wash their Sins and bewail their Miseries And by not suffering the Dust of the Earth to remain upon their Feet teaches them that they should much less suffer inordinate Affections to remain in their Hearts In short our Blessed Lord washed the feet of all the Holy Apostles and amongst the rest those of the Traitor Judas whose cruel Obstinacy was so great that neither the touching them with those Divine Hands nor the bringing them so near to the Compassionate Breast of the Redeemer of Souls could mollifie the hardness of his Heart nor change the cruelty of his Intention O how hard-hearted a thing is Covetousness What an insensible Rock How well does St. Paul call it the Source of all evil O what a difficult thing it is to bring those with sincerity home to God who once have lost their respect to him so far as to dare to offend him
it condemns him to Death though disswaded by his Wife upon her Dream from having any thing to do with that Just Person and delivers him to them to be crucified since all that was easier for such a mean complying Judge to consent to than to trouble and hazard himself in the further Defence of Innocency Yet that he might remain clear and spotless and honoured in the Opinion of the World in Condemning our Saviour he declares himself not guilty of his Blood and so he washes his hands and satisfies himself with laying the Crime upon others But what greater Infamy can a Judge be guilty of than to suffer the Accusers themselves to write and to sign the Sentence This being done our Blessed Saviour carries his Cross alone for a great part of the way to Mount Calvary and because they thought the time long of his getting thither they make Simon the Cyrenian help him to bear it that he might be there so much the sooner for it was not out of pity that they gave him that Assistance but it was an effect of their Cruelty nor did they intend it for any ease to his Life but for the hastening of his Death In his way to Calvary he is bewailed by the Daughters of Jerusalem leaving this Glory to the Women that they alone wept at the Passion of their Lord their Master and their Redeemer They strip his Body for the cloathing of our Souls and at the same time both Heaven and Earth were cloathed with Grief and Darkness to mourn for the Sufferings of their Creator They with rough hard Nails fasten the Eternal Son of God unto the Cross the Ingratitude of the Jews making him that requital for all his Divine Benefits Those blessed Feet that travelled up and down so many weary steps to seek Sinners that he might save and pardon them Those liberal Hands full of Charity and Beneficence are bored through and nailed by those very Persons whom he came to succour Not to acknowledge a good turn is Ingratitude and Wickedness what shall it then be to pierce both the Hands and Feet of ones Benefactor Then they raise up the Blessed Jesus upon the Cross and allow him the Superiority over two Thieves as fit Subjects for the King of that Royal Throne and by the same action they raise and exalt Man's Nature and advance it in a manner to be Divine When the Son of Man shall be raised up said his Divine Majesty he will draw all along with him It is clear he did so since by his most precious Blood he washed and redeemed them and with his most ardent Love he called and enflamed them O my dearest Lord God who wert wounded and despised crucified and crowned with Thorns and for my sins didst suffer so many torments upon the Cross I beseech thee by the Merits of them all O sweetest Jesus to pardon all my grievous Offences Since thou hast drawn up all draw me up also O most Gracious Saviour Do not suffer that most precious Blood to leave unwashed this Soul which confesses thee and acknowledges thee to be God Thy ardent Charity interceded to thy Father for those very Enemies that crucified thee How much rather then wilt thou be the Mediator and Redeemer of a poor Christian who confesses and adores thy Sovereign Majesty Behold admire and adore thy Suffering Saviour and bewail thy sins the cause of all his Sufferings Behold all Creatures in amazement to see their Creator in so woful a condition Behold the Heavens obscur'd at that Eclipse of his Heavenly Beauties Behold the Earth and all the Elements confounded at the awfulness of his Pains and Torments Behold how the Sun withdraws its Light not to see so horrid a Wickedness and so terrible an Ingratitude Behold even the very Rocks so softened as to cleave asunder in compassion What kind of hearts then are those that remain unsensible Lord suffer not mine to be one of them but let it melt with Love and Contrition to think of thy heavy Torments and of my hainous Offences The Vail of the Temple was rent in twain and shall my Heart be whole Shall not my Breast and all my Bowels open themselves to receive the Blood which thou sheddest for my Redemption Behold the Holy Virgin at the Foot of her Son's Cross who recommends her to the care of his beloved Disciple Behold how one drop of his Blood falling upon the good Thief was to him the Baptism of Life and eternal Condemnation to the Bad who knew not how to make his advantage of it He there made the Divine Nature propitious to the Human that it might be pardoned and by the last of those seven Words which he spake upon the Cross declar'd that by his Blood and Death he had finished the Work of our Redemption Then after having hung three Hours alive upon the Cross He that was the Life of Souls gave them Life by his Death and a Life eternal which Triumphs over Death for ever When he was dead the Souldier with a Spear pierced his most holy Side out of which came Water and Blood representing the two Sacraments and making a wide Door for holy Souls to enter and after other three Hours the Piety of his Friends takes him down from the Cross laying his precious Body in a new Sepulchre which was bestowed on him by the Charity of Joseph of Arimathea So he who during his Life had not a House to rest his Head in was so poor likewise at his Death that he had not so much as a Grave of his own to put his Body in There they sadly lament his loss and burying him in their Hearts as they had done in that Tomb they leave him there embalmed with Spices that as it was Prophesied of him he might be as the Rich in his Death and though there they leave him yet they carry him away with them in their remembrance that we by their example never may forget him After his sad and bloody Passion succeeded his Powerful Resurrection when he had conquered Hell as well as Death and then the Glorious Triumph of his Ascension to the end that Human Nature might not only be Redeemed but also Honoured and Crowned yet before he went up into Heaven he comforted his Mother and the Apostles to whom he several times appeared after his Resurrection to the end that their Joy for it might recompense the Sadness they had felt at his dolorous Passion He examined St. Peter thrice concerning his Love that by three Confessions he might purge away the Shame of his three Denials bidding him as often to feed his Lambs He signified to him by what death he should Glorifie God commanding them all to Preach the Gospel and assuring them that he would be with them to the end of the World Within few days after he made good his promise in sending them another Comforter for at Pentecost the Holy Ghost descended upon the Apostles in fiery Tongues to the end
profit 't is manifest that in the Night you will find nothing but Errours and Mischiefs Who would refuse to go his Journey while the Sun shines believing that he shall find his way better in the dark Therefore shake off idleness and embrace fervency and diligence Do you think you shall be able to find diligence at your Death when you have wasted all your Life in laziness and in sloth or that you shall find Amendment when you come to be judged Idleness being the Mother of all Vices The Saints call Idleness the Sepulchre of the Living because Worms Rottenness and Corruption are engendred by it and that it foments all kinds of Miseries together That holy Man understood it well who living in the Desart busied himself in carrying stones from one place to another and in bringing them back thither again and being asked why he did so he answered I avoid idleness or at least I master that body that would master me No Vice is so destructive to the Spirit nor so kind a Companion to the Flesh as idleness and although it seems the least is yet the cause of the greatest Evils Besides being slothful and idle in good there is no ill which does not encrease and become worse by it for it is the same thing as to set open the Gate of the Soul to all the Passions and Vices that shall have a mind to enter There is no Vice so mean but will adventure to assault an idle Man because it looks upon him as one that will not take the pains to make any resistance being so weak as to have yielded up himself even before he be attempted and so all wickednesses take confidence to come upon him and assume to themselves a Jurisdiction over him If the Devil be diligent watchful bold strong heedful crafty and cruel What will he be not able to do against a weak idle careless and disarmed Man The holy the spiritual and the diligent who night and day busie themselves in some vertuous Employment have much ado to escape free from the Assaults of the Devil How then shall the slothful be able to defend himself from so designing and so dangerous an Enemy So much thou dost encrease in holiness as thou dost encrease in diligence and therefore work always without ceasing for those works are Safety and Reward and do advance thee in Spirit and Charity The blessed Virgin came to so much Perfection by working for having begun with such unspeakable Graces she rose to more than can be imagined only by going on each moment encreasing and improving her former Gifts and Graces The holy Apostles were the Light of the World and observe how diligent they were They went about like the Sun in perpetual motion and by that means Twelve Men alone were able in a little more than Thirty Years to enlighten to reduce and to confound the blindness of the Gentiles throughout the whole World How could holy Persons in former Ages become in few Years such Prodigies of Holiness but by their diligence to encrease and redouble their Talents and by constantly following the Dictates of the Holy Spirit which governed them Even those valiant and ambitious Men that heretofore conquer'nt so many Nations and Countreys could never have done it but by diligence One of those being ask'd How in less than Nine Years he had gained so many Kingdoms answer'd Non procrastinando by not delaying till to Morrow If this be necessary for the Conquest of frail mortal and inconstant Kingdoms that are but Heaps of Dung What diligence and care is needful in us Christians for the gaining of the Eternal Kingdom of Heaven Traffick till I come says the Saviour of Souls Be industrious and suffer not your Talents to lie idle That slothful Servant who buried his Talent did no other harm but that he did so and sat down quietly by it and yet for all that the Lord condemns him to Hell and calls him wicked Servant Serve nequam Cursed of God because being lazy and sluggish he gave that to the Earth and to what is Sensual which was due to Heaven and to what is Spiritual Our Humane Condition and Misery can hardly hold to an Indifference If thou dost not labour in that which is good thou wilt take pains in that which is Evil not to watch is to fall asleep not to serve God and please him is little better than to offend him and in the Opinion of those who will allow no indifference in things it is as I have shew'd absolutely to offend him Believe me 't is not for nothing that Christ so often calls upon us to Watch He pronounced that word fourteen times and his blessed Lips exhort us to it so often with that very same word Watch. Sloth Idleness Omission and Negligence is the sleep of Death which carries us to Death Eternal Watch then for the Devil sleeps not for thine Appetite sleeps not Watch least the Bridegroom find thee without Oyl like the foolish Virgins when he shall come to judge thee Watch for the Thief goes about carefully to rob thy House Watch for the Infernal Lyon goes about seeking to devour thee Watch and expect the coming of thy Lord with thy Lamp burning when he shall come from the first Marriage unto the second that is from his first to his second Coming Finally If thou wilt be a true Spiritual Person thou must work and labour sweat and walk without stopping and with fervent steps follow the Lord who goes before thee carrying the Cross on his Divine Shoulders and giving strength breath and courage unto thy Fervency by his Love NOVEMBER The First WEEK Of the Twelve Fruits of the Holy Spirit in General IT is time now to gather in the Fruits of this Spiritual Year that we may praise God in the advantages of a Plentiful Encrease St. Paul the Light and the Apostle of the Gentiles teacheth us That the Fruits of the Spirit are Twelve to wit Charity Peace Long-suffering Benignity Faith Continence Joy Patience Goodness Meekness Modesty and Chastity I admire that he puts the End in the Middle and seems to make the Root to be the Fruit For I should think that the Fruits of the Spirit were the Graces and the Blessings we have already treated of in some of the former Months that is to say a happy Death Absolution from Judgment a Pardon pronounced to us at the passing of that Sentence and the Reward Crown and Glory of the Blessed in the other Life which is given to those that have fought a good fight in this but to make the Fruit of the Spirit and of being vertuous to be Vertue it self seems to me either to put the end of Vertue in the middle or else to anticipate that Fruit in this Life which only can be attained perfectly in the Life Eternal But St. Paul by naming the excellent Fruits of the Spirit wisely answers the wicked of this World who hold the Spiritual Life for Folly and
is a full resignation to all that God doth disposeth or permitteth and there he quiets comforts and chears up himself where the Will of God is for in that the true Peace consists The Third WEEK Of the Third and Fourth Fruits of the Holy Spirit Longanimity and Benignity THE Apostle of the Gentiles proposes Longanimity as a Fruit of the Holy Spirit because it is not only profitable but necessary for the preservation of Peace and Charity and is a most excellent Vertue of Souls Longanimity signifies a dilating and enlargement of the heart which gives it a capacity of bearing both inward and outward Troubles and having this nothing affrights or amazes nothing terrifies nor afflicts it And if God did not give this admirable Fruit and Gift to the Soul it would be lost and fall away at every step and neither act with valour constancy nor perseverance The heart of Man is so little that it is not sufficient to give a small break-fast to a Kite and so of it self it is not capable of any great thing being so wretched a Morsel Can the Sea be contained in a Thimble Can the thing contained be greater than what contains it If the Vessel of this Human Nature that is Man's heart be so narrow what great thing can find room within it Now see the Miracle that God works with the Spiritual Man and how high a Fruit this Longanimity and the Enlarging of the Heart is which God gives to a Soul according to the measure it hath served loved and pleased him or according as he thinks fit to give it of his own good will making it so capacious as to be able to contain the Soveraign Gifts and Vertues of God and which is more even God himself who contains all things It would be a rare thing if a Man that lives in a poor little Cottage should of a sudden find himself in a Royal Stately and Majestick Palace or in a huge populous City What a wonderful Enlargement would that be of his poor Hermitage O Divine Beauty O heavenly Architect O immense good of Souls How vastly thou dilatest how strangely thou enlargest Man's heart with thy Grace and with thy Spirit Who does not sometimes see a Man great in Wit in Fortune and in Quality Who in a few years nay perhaps in a few Months before was busily running after childish Pleasures and drag'd along by his mean vile and sensual Appetite in such trouble anguish and affliction that his Soul hardly so big as a Child's Rattle was capable of nothing but empty Vanities his Heart being scarcely so big in comparison as a Pepper Corn mistaking every action stumbling at every step every thing afflicting him every thing tormenting him and God of a sudden entring into him and with Soveraign Light enlarging his Heart and spreading out his Mind by Longanimity he begins to despise and to mock at those things which he so fondly hunted after before and pretended to as things highly considerable but now being made capable of greater Matters turning his back to such mean vile Trifles he seeks after that which is really great and high that which is heavenly and unspeakable without ever resting or contenting himself till he have attained it What is this who enlarged that Heart Who stretched out that narrow Vessel which before was fill'd with a few small drops and now nothing can fill it but the unmeasurable Sea of the Passion of our Lord Who made a Giant of this Dwarf that before could hardly wield a Straw and now like Sampson is able to throw down and carry away Pillars and bear all the strong weaknesses of this Life Who hath made him that before cried as a Child because he could not get an Hobby-horse for such are the highest things the World can give now undervalue and despise whole Nature to ingulf himself in the vast Ocean of Grace Who hath made him that a while before followed hunted after and embraced Dung and Corruption to think the whole Heavens too little for him aiming to seek and possess the Creator of them and of himself Yesterday he was as busie in making little Houses of Sticks upon the Sand and covering them with Straw as Children are about making Dirt-Pies in some Corner and now he tramples upon the Stars and pretending to Eternity can content himself with no House but the Empyreal Heavens Who could work these Miracles but the Holy Ghost giving that Heart his Fruit and Blessing in that high Gift of Longanimity which enlarges it and dilates the Soul making it capable of those infinite good things that Supream Gift being the Tree which bears these admirable Fruits This St. Paul knew when he said When I was a Child I spoke as a Child I thought as a Child and did as a Child and in all that he acknowledged his own littleness but now that I am a Man I act as a Man and put away all childlish things Behold the difference between a Child and a Man In a Child all things are childish in a Man they are serious In a Child there is neither strength nor capacity he is a publick Necessity that lives upon Alms which Charity bestows upon him whether it be of his Parents or of his Nurse or of any other that takes pity on him A Man has strength and ability he is a publick Succour that is capable of any thing Now the same difference that there is between a Man and a Child nay a far greater there is between a good Spiritual Man and a wicked debauch'd Fellow that lives in a loose and sinful Course I say a much greater for the growth of a Child that becomes a Man is a natural Growth which is short limited and slow increasing by very insensible degrees and that hardly rises six Feet from the Ground in fourscore Years but the growth of a Man that was wicked and to whom God hath shewed the kindness to make him good and holy and to give him that Gift of Longanimity that is a growth of Grace in which there is no Geometrical material Distance or Degrees but is all Supernatural Behold the distance there is between Heaven and Earth that between an evil and good Man is yet greater Nay how far it is from Hell which is much lower than the Superficies of the Earth unto the Empyreal Heaven where God himself doth inhabit and so great is the distance between a vicious and a vertuous Person Now consider what difference there is between a heart when God hath enlarged it with this Gift of Longanimity and what it was before for that which was so fill'd with some trifling Passion that the Breast was not able to contain it but it broke forth and ran over through the Lips is made capable to receive even God himself so vast is the difference between an evil and a good Man And take notice that this place of St. Paul may also be understood not only of the infinite distance between the