for a scepter and thorns upon his head for a crown as if He were a king of the Theater To be decry'd and condemn'd as a blasphemer as a seducer as ambitious as sedicious as an Imposter What confusion greater then to be dragd through the streets of Hierusalem with hues and cries as a fool and as an extravagant person from Caiphas to Pilate from Pilate to Herod from Herod to the Pretory To be less esteem'd then Barrabbas a seditious person and a murtherer to be esteem'd more wicked more unworthy to live and more worthy of the cross then he What indignity more intollerable than to receive foule and fiâ—thy matters in token of vility and baseness not upon his garments or hands only but upon his most venerable and adorable face this indignity was so ignominious in Israel that if a child receiv'd it from his father he was to bear the confusion Numb 12. 14. of it at least seven daies To be short What greater contempt than to die not the death of Nobles nor with honourable persons not in private and in prison not in the night by torch light but the death of slaves with infamous persons in a high and publick place at mid-day in the sight of more than two hundred thousand persons 7. What shal I say of the punishments receiv'd in his sacred Body He suffered more horrible harsh and bitter torments than were ever suffer'd by any creature upon earth The Prophet Isaiah calls him by excellence the man of Paines Abel was murthered c. 33. 3. Zachary was stoned Isaiah sawed Lazarus covered with ulcers and not one of them is called the man of Paines We have heard of men to whom their vertues or their vices their birth or their condition have given honourable or shamefull Names But we have not heard but of IESUS-CHRIST only to whom Paine hath given a name He is the Man of Pains because He did bear all our paines He is the man of Paines becaus He suffered in all his members and He is the man of Pains becaus He was pierced through with Pains exposed Sacrificed and given wholy over to sufferances and Pains 8. But the sufferances in his soul will make appear yet better the Greatness of his Paine He sayd in the Garden my soul is sorrowfull to death It would seperate my soul and Body if I shoul not hinder it for to endure yet more To whatsoever part He casts his sight He sees objects of the greatest sorrow His soul is nail'd to a most hard Cross before his Body is Crucifyd and the Cross of his Soul is much more harsh and insupportable then that of his Body The three nails of this interiour cross are the injuries don to his Father the Commpassion of his Mother and the damnation of his brothers Philosophy teaches us that a paine is more sharp and bitter when 't is received in a power more pure and immaterial IESUS was pierced with paine not only in the inferior part of his soul but also in the superior which is wholy spiritual in the part in which He was blessed and his Beatitude also contributed to the increas of paine says S. Laurence Justinian He de tryumphali Christi Agone saw by the light of glory God face to face He knew clearly the Greatness of his Majesty the outrage and the injury that sin does him he loved him with a most ardent and excessive love and therefore He could not be but excessively afflicted seeing the Ocean of sins committed against that most high adorable and amiable Majesty The wounds of his Body were made by hands of Torterers hands indeed most cruell and inhumane Yet their activity had stil limits But the wounds of his heart were inflicted by the hand of love by the love which He had for his Father a love ineffable and incomprehensible If a soule that loved God well could have as much contrition as she would desire ô how would she pierce herself with sorow How willingly would she bathe herself in her tears ô how would she calcinate her poor heart JESUS had as much of sorrow as He desired and He desired as much of it as He had love for his Father his sorrow was equal with his love If He had seen but one only mortal sin committed against him whom He so loved He would have grieved infinitely ô how then was He afflicted when He saw so many so different and so enormous 9. The love which he had for his Mother was another nail that pierced his heart and which fastned him to this interior Cross He sees her present at all the Misteries of his bitter Passion He sees all the wonds of his Body united in her heart and we may say that his compassion was another Passion 10. He looks below His soul is sorrowfull He sees the torments of hell wherein so many shal be plunged notwithstanding his sufferances for them He sees that their wounds are incurable that they abuse his Blood death and merits and that after so many remedies they damne themselves for trifles and what He indured for them would serve but as oyle and sulphur to inflame the divine Justice to punish their ingratitude more rigorously 11. S. Austin wholy astonished at the sight of CHRISTS sufferance cry's out ô Son of God whither hath your humility descended whither hath your charity been inflamed whither hath your piety extended it self The Wiseman sayd that you have don every thing in number weight and measure But in this work of your Love You have observ'd neither number nor weight nor measure You have exceeded all hopes and desires You have made an excess that could not be imagined The Angells were astonished considering this wonder a God whipt a God cover'd with spittle the King of kings crown'd with thorns a God crucifyed for slaves a God pierced with sorrows for worms of the earth of whom He had no need and knowing that they would be ungratfull for so great a Benefit What transport what excess and if He were not God I might say with Pagans what folly of Love Gentibus stultitia 12. After a love so cordial undeserv'd and so excessive shal we not love him If the least slave had don the same for us He would be Master of our hearts and seeing a God hath don it shal He not be Qui non diligit Dominum Iesum Anathema sit 1. cor 16. 22. says S. Paul since JESUS suffer'd for us if any one love him not let him be Anathema Curs'd excommunicated and abhorred of all creatures But if any one should not love him and moreover be so ungratfull as to offend him what punishment would You wish him holy Apostle He adds it not nor can one wish him a pain so great as he deserves there should be a new hell to revenge an ingratitude so monstrous and enormous 13. For as S. Bernard sayd if Moses speaking to the Iews who had but a gross and imperfect Law who had
most holy Spirit and the Son likewise is a most holy Spirit But they appropriate this name to him because his Emanation or Procession is so farr above our thoughts and our expressions that there is no language in the world that can express his Person for want of a proper name And becaus we are accustomed to call those things spirits of whose origin and manner of production we are ignorant So we call the wind spectres Angells and our souls spirits and we are likewise very ignorant in the production and procession of the holy Ghost 4. Secondly the Apostles appropriate this name to him because He proceeds from the Father and the Son as from one only Source and not as made or created nor as begotten but produced by the Will by an ineffable way which Divines term Spiration a breathing and impulse of the Will towards the thing beloved 5. Thirdly this name is appropriated to him becaus He is the Spirit of our spirit the Soul of our soul the Life of our life For He is given to the Souls of the just to animate and govern them He is not given so to a Bishop or a Priest in his ordination if he be in the state of sin He is not in him to sanctify him but to operate and act by him Hence it is that a Bishop or a Priest that is in sin and hath not grace gives nevertheless the grace of God by the Sacraments becaus he is the instrument of the holy Ghost as a penne gives to paper characters which it hath not becaus it is the instrument of rhe Writer 6. The Church moreover appropriated to this glorious and holy Spirit the name of Love and Charity becaus He is produced by the Will the authour of Love or by the mutual love and dilection of the eternal Father and the Son 7. From this second name which the Church attributes to the holy Ghost proceeds the third which is that of Gift Donum Dei Altissimi the Gift of the most high For that which is dō by pure love is dō freely and liberally and donation is a free and liberal action The two first names appropriated to the holy Ghost referr him to the Father and the Son but this of Gift relates him to Creatures that are capable to receive him and to enioy him as are men and Angells only and this Gift is the first the most necessary and the most excellent of all gifts that God ever gave or can give to us 8. He is the first and cause of all the rest for there is a great difference 'twixt the love of God and the love of men When we love any one 't is becaus we find in him some goodness some beauty or other Perfection Gods love supposes not its object in any creature but He puts it in them God begins not to love us with a love of Benevolence becaus we are good but we are good becaus He loves us so when the eternal Father gives us his only Son in the Incarnation He gave us first his Love and He gave not to us his Son but by his holy Spirit and by his Love He was conceived of the holy Ghost So God loved the world that He gave his only begotten Son 9. This Gift is so necessary that without it all the other Benefits profit very little the work of creation is appropriated to the Father the Incarnation to the Son the Sanctification to the holy Ghost the two first Benefits are unprofitable to us without the third In the creation God gave us Being He made and design'd for our service all the creatures of this world But our Saviour says to us What profit hath a man if He should gaine the whole world and lose himself and he will lose himself infallibly Luke 9. 25. if the holy Ghost sanctifys him not The Incarnation and the Death of the Son of God would not much availe us without the comming of this holy Spirit the torments of JESUS would have made him die and not have made us live He might have satisfyd without restoring us to grace a king offended by his Vassal may receive from him satisfaction and not receive him into favour nor restore him to his former state and to the priviledges which he had lost When I see the Saviour in the Crib or on the Cross I know not whether it be to satisfy only or moreover to restore us to the rights we lost by sin when He rises up again from death I know not whether it be for recompence of his death or to give us life When He ascends to Heaven I know not whether it be to give a convenient place ro his Body or to prepare also a place for us But when He sends the holy Ghost to sanctify us He ascertains us that we reenter into grace and that He applys to us his merits He hath sealed us and given the pledg of the Spirit in our 2. Cor. 1. 22. 1. Ep. 4. 13. hearts says S. Paul And the beloved Disciple In this we know that we abide in him and He in us becaus He of his Spirit hath given to us 10 What admirable favour and what incomparable grace that God vouchsafs to give us his Spirit Love divine and admirable Heart If one should give to a Philosopher the spirit of Aristotle or of Plato to an Orator the spirit of Cicero or Demostenes to a Phisitian the spirit of Hypocrates or of Galen and to a Divine the spirit of S. Thomas or of S. Augustin would not this be a singular favour God gives you not the spirit of Aristotle Cicero Hypocrates but his own Spirit the Spirit of Verity Wisdom and Sanctity When one hath the heart of a person one hath all If you be in the state of grace you have the heart of God for properly speaking the holy Ghost is the heart of God ô Father of mercies and Father of the miserable how deigne you to give them your heart T is that chosen souls are your treasure and you put your heart upon your treasure Quid retribuam Domino 11. What acknowledgment what satisfaction and what return can we make Love is not pay'd but by love nothing corresponds to a heart but another heart and what heart can correspond to the heart of God What love can answer his Would you not desire to be all heart Would you not wish to have as many millions of hearts as there are drops of water and grains of sand in the sea would you not referr apply and consecrate them to the love of God And what would this be compared to the heart of God which He hath given us It would be less than a grain of dust compared to all in Heaven and in Earth But He desires not so much He demands but only one but He will have it all He commands you to give it him Thou shalt love thy God with all thy heart and if you refuse it him He will damn you
is good and deserves to be loved for God is so good great holy powerfull and worthy to be loved that if He did desire it we should sacrifice our selves for his service though there were neither heaven for those that love him nor hell for those that love him not 11. We should do as the blessed Spirits do it is IESUS that gives the Counsel putting these words into our mouths Your will be don in earth as it is in heaven that is as the Angells do it they do the will of God and obey his Orders with a free pure and disinteressed love all that they pretend is to obey God to do his will all the recompence that they passionately desire is to receive new Orders to be employd again in his service purely for the love of him 12 This is not sayd that a faithfull soul may not hope and keep the commandements for reward or retribution as the Prophet says he did But that it be not the principal yet less the only aime of our love for as S. Bernard says perfect love of God intends no recompence but merits much The loving soul receives from the hands of God ineffable and incomprehensible goods but though she should not though there should be no Paradise nor reward she would not omit to love God serve him and to be pleasing to him and if she practises vertue for reward the reward which she desires is the increase of her love if she is glad to merit to be higher in heaven this is not to have there more of honor and glory but it is to have more of love if I merit much says she I shal see God more clearly and perfectly in heaven I shal glorify him more excellently I shal praise him more advantagiously I shal be united to him more strictly and intimatly I shal love him more ardently and so love is the true salary of love 13. In fine your love must not be idle and paralitick but active to render service to God and to do good works for his glory Charity works great things where it is and where it works not there it is not says S. Gregory S. Iohn 14. 23. 1. Ep. 3. 18. Psai 96. 10. He that loves me will keep my word says IESUS My little children says his beloved Disciple let us not love in word and tongue only but in work and veritie and the Royal Prophet You that love our Lord hate ye evill he says not only commit not evill but hate it He says not hate it in your self but absolutely hate it If you love God you will hate sin wheresoever it is found you will destroy it in your self and in your neighbor also if if you can if one should say I abuse not my friend but is not sorry that another does nor hinders him when he can may one truly say he loves him Let us conclude with a reflexion upon these words of JESUS I Came to cast fire upon the earth and what desire I but that it be inflam'd Luke 12. 49. And does He not move solicit and stir up our hearts to this fire and flame of love by all possible wayes 14. He prevents us with great love He lou'd us more than riches He was made poor for us more than honours He suffered a thousand infamies more than his ease and pleasure He led a life in pain and labor more than his body He depriu'd it of glory and of life more than the Angells He redeem'd them not And though we are so ungratful and unworthy as not to return love for love He tryes yet other means 15. He heaps Benefits upon us and makes us presents to engage our mercenary hearts He practises the counsel He gives us by the Wiseman and by his Apostle Give meat and drink to your enemy Prov. 25. 21. Rom. 12. 20. when he hath need and you shal heap upon him burning coales to heat his love to you so many prosperities that are sent you so many morcells of bread you eate so many creatures that serve you are so many burning coales He heaps upon you to heat your love so many presents He makes you to gain your affection so many baits he laies to catch your heart Et si parva sunt ista adiiciet majora And if it seems to you that all this is too little and that your heart is yet worth more He assures you that all the favours whiich he hath don you and which he does you yet every day are not but gages and pledges of the great Goods He hath prepar'd and promis'd you if you love him Neither eye hath seen nor eare hath heard 1. Cor 2. 9 nor the heart of man can comprehend the things which God hath prepar'd for them that love him says S. Paul 16. But since we esteem not these promises enough and are like those Israelites who contemn'd she desirable land He lifts up his hand He commands us ro love him and threatens punishments if we do not Is not this to be extremly desirous of our love to put as it were a dagger to our throats and say to us love me J will kill you if you will not He does not only say it but he does it he damnes us eternaly if we love him not 17. And when He sees that fear of future punishments doe not sufficiently move our hearts He sends us sometimes afflictions to force our love He takes away all you love in this world becaus you love not well that which ought to be loved above all things He removes from you all that may amuse and employ your heart that it may be in a manner forced for want of other object to unite it self to Him ô great God what can you do more to have this heart which you so passionately desire you besige it on all sides and it renders not neither the preventions of your love nor the attractives of your benefits nor your promises of paradise nor your strict commands nor threats of hell nor constrains of afflictions can open this lockt heart Extremis morbis extrema remedia 18. When a passionate lover hath tryed all wayes and finds them unsuccesfull he coms to the last makes use of a charm composes a love potion JESUS makes use of this artifice to gain our affection He puts himself upon our Altars and into our Tabernacles there he is the charm of love They say that in a charm of love to render it more powerfull the Lover ought to mix with it some of his own substance some drops of his blood and JESUS puts all his blood into this potion not a part of his substance only but all his substance Body Soul and Divinity 19. What think you Judg you not that God ought to have your heart after so many pursuances do they not inflame you to beg that of God which is so necessary and which you cannot have of your own selves Aske it of God fervently humbly frequently aske it of
holy SACRAMENT Who is the Father of this coloured Ray 'T is the Sun But the Sun produced not the colour But it produced the Ray which is joyned with the colour and who is the mother of this coloured Ray 't is the glass but it made not the ray but it produced the radiant colour it cloathed the ray with this Robe of colour Who is the Father of IESUS MAN-GOD It is the eternal Father He begot not of his substance the Humanity of JESUS But He begot of his Substance the Person of his Son who is Man Who is the Mother of this MAN-GOD It is Mary she begot not the Divinity But she conceived the Man who is God the cloathed the Person of the Son of God with our humanity Which is the more ancient this coloured Ray or the glass The Ray as a Ray as the offspring of the Sun is a long time before the glass it is from the beginning of the world it is as ancient as the Sun But the Ray as coloured is younger than the Sun Who is the more ancient IESUS or Mary IESUS as God or as Son of God is long before Mary He is from eternity as the Father and the holy Ghost But JESUS as man is younger than his Mother This Ray being in the sun is so bright and resplendent that i◠dazells the eyes of them that look upon it but the same ray being descended here below and cloathed with a red colour is easily beheld so the son of God in the bosome of his Father is invisible ineffable inaccessible and incomprehensible But the same Son of God being cloathed with our humanity is made visible palpable and sensible to the end He might illuminate and instruct us that He might be the Director of souls and the Doctor of justice as He is called by the Prophets And He begins betimes to perform the charge He exercices the office from the beginning of his life 4. This insant newly born does preach his pulpit is the cradle his Auditory the univers his Doctrine is the contempt of the world He preaches not by word for He cannot speak but by example He preaches not to the eares But to the eyes He says that voluntary poverty is better than riches And the world on the contrary says that money is to be procured in the first place that a man must have it tho' he hazard his soul for it This divine infant says the humble simple innocent and mortifyd life is that which pleases God The World says a man must greaten himself appear glorious Machevalize subtily Circumvent and diceive craftily and live in delights and pleasures 5. Behold two Masters quite contrary two doctrines diametrically opposite It is necessary the one or the other be deceiv'd To say this infant is deceiv'd is horrible blasphemy He is the eternal Wisdom the increated Wisdom the Angel of the great Council It must then be confest that the Avaricious Ambitions Voluptuous and Machiavilians are grossly deceived 6. Let us then Conforme our selves to IESUS who is established by the eternal Father as our modell Let our life resemble his as an Image the Prototipe or original Let it be a copie an expression and a representation of his that we paticipating his vertues Spirit and graces in this life may be partakers of his glory in the other Amen DISCOURS VI. OF THE FOVRTH ARTICLE Suffered under Pontius Pilate was crucified dead and buried THe Apostles who made in their Creed an abridgement of the principall Mysteries of our Faith having spoken of the Conception and of the Nativity of our Saviour pass his Life in silence and treat immediatly of His death to teach us the chiefe reason of his comming was to suffer and to redeem us by his Passion 2. He saw by the light of glory the abyss of sin and the Eternal damnation to which men were doom'd for the fault of their first Parents and for their own sins He had pity on them and prayed his Father to pardon them for the Love of Him What man on earth What Angel in Heaven knowing that the only Son of God a Son so amiable and so beloved demands pardon of his Father for men to whom He is like in nature What man or Angel say I knowing this would not have sayd surely surely the eternal Father will pardon mankind for the love of his Son who is a man and that also freely without any satisfaction No the Father does it not But He says Isaiah 53. 10. my Justice must have its cours my Son I will pardon men if you will answer for them and undergoe death for them The Son hath a great apprehension and horror of a death so cruell and ignominious we see it in the Prayer He made in the Garden which was an expression of that which He acted in the womb of his Mother after the instant of his Conception 3. Nevertheless He accepted not only with patience and resignation but also with pleasure and satisfaction the decrees of Gods Justice concerning him He offered himself most willingly and with an ineffable love not only to be nayled to the Cross but also to remaine and languish thereupon ' til the end of the world if it should so please his Father Ecce venio ut faciam voluntatem Heb. 10. 9. tuam He that should have seen this submission might with probability have sayd the eternal Father will content himself with his good will as He was satisfyd with the good will of Abraham and of Isaac at least the Justice of God will be contented that he suffer but one prick of a thorn or one stroke of a whip that He shed one drop of his Blood which is sufficient to sanctify the whole world No He wills that He suffer actually all the punishments humiliations and afflictions we sinners did deserve 4. A Sinner deserves to be depriv'd of the use of creatures since he abused them to be humbled and confounded becaus he would not be subject to the laws and will of God To be punished both in body and soul becaus he offended the infinitely high Majesty of the Creator And JESUS hath taken upon himself to satisfy for all these pains and punishments 5. He was depriv'd of the use of Creatures for what privation more rigorous than to be spoiled of his very cloathes to be as naked as a worme of the earth not to have so much as a poor shift to cover him not a drop of water to refresh his tongue in the agony of death One of his Apostles betrays him another denys him all forsake him and thô some holy Women followed him yet they were not permitted to assist him 6. He was humbled and confounded What greater humiliation than to be exposed to derision and rudeness of the rable and to insolence of soldiers Who treat him as the very scum of men who salute him in mocherie blindfold him buffet him pull off his beard who put a reed in his hand
if he gain the whole world and sustain the damage of his Soul And so if we will be good Christians we ought to love our Neighbors there is nothing that we ought not to lose pleasure riches honor and also if need be life it self for the Salvation of our neigbors And this the beloved Disciple and faithfull Interpreter of his Master teaches us in these clear words In this we know the Charity of God becaus He hath given his life for us and we ought also to give our life for our Brothers He does not say 1. Ep. 3. only that 't is expedient that it is a Salntary counsell but that we must give our lives for their salvation and to move us more He puts before our eyes the example of IESUS-CHRIST S Iohn 13. who made his love of us the rule of our love of others I give you a new commandement that you love one another as I have loved you And lest we should less note it He repeats it again in the Iohn 15. same Gospell This is my Precept that you love one another as I have loved you 7. Though this Vertue be so pleasing to God and so important to our Salvation nevertheless men fail in this the most and to say nothing of all those who live in hatred envie discord contention scandal which are the common pests of the world and the mortal ennemies of charity there are many who seem to have good intelligence who make mutuall visits complements offers of service Yet love but in word and tongue not in work and verity they will not open their purs nor use their power nor apply their pains and labor for the assistance of their neighbor in necessity 8. Others love their kindred and relations but with a natural inordinate and hurtfull love they procure them what is honourable or profitable upon earth though they put them into eminent danger of losing heaven they give them what pleases the senses and satisfys their foolish inclinations though to the prejudice of their souls and their salvation and if they see them desirous to renounce the world and to betake themselves to a vertuous cours of life they call upon them and to shew their love diswade them from it and recall them to the usuall and libertine cours of life so they seem to love but do truly hate to be good friends but are the worst of enemies and the maxim of our Savior is verefyd in them The enemies of a man are his domesticks Matt. 10 9. Others in fine extend their love beyond Relations but to those only from whom or by whose means they expect honor pleasure or profit This is an imperfect love a love of concupiscence and interest and not of charity which seeks not proper interest but loves God and in him or for him or for the love of him all others though they be our enemies becaus they are his images redem'd by the precious blood of IESUS capable to know serve and possess him and becaus it is his Will intimated to us by this general precept to love our neighbors and particularly commanded in S. Matthew I say to you love Mat. 5. 44. your enemies do good to them that hate you pray for them that persecute and calumniate you that you may be children of your Father 10. But the first and most necessary effect of this good will and love which is exacted of us for our ennemies is to pardon them for this is the first mercy and charity that we can doe them and the most necessary alms we can bestow upon them What good can we do them if first we do not pardon them but keep in our hearts odium enmity bitterness and a desire to take reveng of them Wherefore the Son of God who endeavours by all means our Salvation does not only command this charity and mercy but moreover obliges us to it by other pressing motives He promises us his greatest mercy which is the pardon of our sins if we pardon others dimittite dimittemini and he assures us that his Father will treat us most rigorously if we do not Sic Pater meus celestis faciet vobis so my heavenly Father will cast you into the prison of hell if you forgive not others from your hearts And S. Iames tells us judgement Iames 2. 13. without mercy shal be donâ— to them who shal not have don mercy S. Austin praying for the soul of his deceased Mother sayd I know that she led a holy and innocent life but woe to a laudable life if you examin it without mercy Whatsoever life you lead woe to you woe to you if you have enmitie you shal be judged without mercy and woe to a laudable life if judged without mercy What laudable thing do you You pray woe if you have bitterness woe to you notwithstanding your prayer for that he Psal 11â— remembred not to do mercy let his prayer be turn'd into sin says the Psalmist Your prayer condemns you saying our Lords prayer you demand Vengeance against your self you say I pardon such a person but I will not speak to him I will not that he com into my house and after this you say forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us God will hear you He will not speak to you favourably nor admit you into his house and if you be not admitted into heaven whether shal you go What laudable action do you you give alms woe to you if you have malice woe to you notwithstanding your alms S. Paul says if you should give all your goods to the poor if you 1. Cor. 13 have not charity you are nothing and by charity in this place he understands the love of neigbours What vertuous action do you you fast woe to you notwithstanding your fast if you have dissention In Isaiah the Iews Isay 58. 3 complain'd to God We have fasted and you have not regarded us God answers them with all your fasts you do your wills you press your poor debtours you have debates and contentions What laudable thing perform you Sacrifice woe to you if you have malice God says by Osee and twice in the Gospell I love and will rather mercy then your sacrifice And therefore many Osee 6. great Saints offering to God the most meritorious sacrifice that can be offer'd to him the sacrifice of their lives have interrupted it to obey this Commandement of mercy in the hour of their death when they had time little enough to elevate themselves to God to offer and to unite themselves to him they remembred their enemies pray'd for them and desired their good 11. These heroical vertues of the Saints were extracts and copies of those which we admire in IESUS-CHRIST the King of Martyrs and the Saint of Saints He being unjustly and most cruelly nailed to the Cross mock'd blasphem'd did not do as some do they think that they exercise great acts
rigour and the severity of the last judgement concludes watch therefore praying at all times He speakes not to Religious or to Priests only but to all Christians He knew the impediments we should have the importance of our affaires and He says pray at all times It was by perseverance that the Cananean woman obtain'd of the Son of God the deliverance of her daughter as Saint Chrysostome hath noted she prayed with interior humility since she sayd whelps also eate of the crummes Chrysost hom 5. in Mart. S. Mrk. 7. 29. and with exterior for she prostrated at the feet of our Saviour with fervour of Spirit which she shewed by crying-out clamavit Nevertheless the Son of God rejected her and would not hear her But she strugled with him and got the Victory by her importunity so must you to have success stand obstinate in a holy obstinacy and pray unto the end And therefore our Saviour himself sayes to you in S. Luke It behoves you to pray always and not to be weary S. Luke 18. 1. 10. And what hinders you from praying Is it that you have not leasure that you have many affaires and affaires of importance this is that which should oblige you to pray for the more serious your affaires are the more it concerns you to have success in them and prayer is the means to obtain it You have not-leasure to pray Why not You find time for dinner supper and other necessities of the body notwithstanding your great affaires and why find you not time for the refection of your Soul it is as necessary to pray God well for to work your Salvation as to take your refection to preserve your life You have not time to pray Believe me you have enough if you manage it well Cut off superfluous visits idle words unproâ—â—table workes and conversations and unnecessary divertisements and there will remaine time to be employ'd in prayer But are you so prest with business that you cannot find now and then a quarter of an hour to spend in prayer At least then in working elevate often your heart to God by jaculatory prayers adore him from time to time and beg of him his love grace and guidance put a pin upon your sleeve that seeing it you may be minded of it ' til you are accustom'd to it for it behoves you to pray always What is that which hinders you Is it that you have offended grievously This is as if you should say I am too much wounded I must not go to the Surgeon On the contrary this should incline you more to go to him Com to me all ye who areburdened Says our Saviour He says not receive me communicate so much the more often and the more boldly the more you are burdened with sins but com to me to pray me and to ask help and succour of me however great and numerous may be your sins if you have a lively resentment of them if you desire to be deliver'd from them it is a good motive to shew God to obtain his mercy It is that which David did when he sayd I am poor and needy 'T is that which the Publican did saying God be mercifull to me a sinner 'T is that which the Church puts into your mouth we sinners do beseech thee to hear us What is that in fine that hinders you Is it that God heares you not that He rejects you and withdraws himself from you and that it is long since you beg'd of Him not temporal goods but spiritual and you obtain not This gives you cause to persever and to pray more fervently since He defers so long to hear you 't is a signe that what He will bestow upon you is most excellent and precious though He seems to refuse what you ask He is pleased with your devotions and if He delays to hear you it is for good reasons 'T is to exercise your patience to heat your desire to try your perseverance to augment your merit And if you have patience and persever importuning him Sooner or later He will accomplish your desires and give you grace in this World and glory in the other Amen DISCOURS XXV OF FASTING And the Institution of Lent 1. IF the Apostle S. Paul were now on earth he would bewaile extreamly the horrible blindness of those who prefer the pleasure of their mouthes before the precept of the Church and the Salvation of their soules He would say to us what he sayd to the Philippians there are many amongst you of whom I weeping tell you that are enemies Philip. 3. 18. of the Cross of Christ that abhoâ—r all mortification of the flesh that have the belly for their God and shal have eternal damnation for their end for our fasts are not things indifferent or workes of supererogation they are workes of precept and obligation Some will say to me your fasts are not prescrib'd in Scripture they are commandements of men and therefore obâ—ige not other in Conscience But if a Dissenter should command his child a thing very profitable or necessary for his family and his child should say to him Father you are a man the Commandements of men oblige not in conscience I find not In the Scripture that God commands me to go to such a place or to do such a thing No he wiâ—l say to him But he commands thee to obey thy Father and thy Mother So I say to you It is not in Scripture that you must fast such a day that you keep suâ—h a holy day But God commands you in many Ephes. 6. Coloss 3. 20. Heb. 13. 17. places of the Scripture to obey the Church your Mother For the Apostle that sayd in the behalfe of God Children obey your Parents the same sayd also Obey your Prelates If men have not power to command other men nor to oblige them in Conscience whence comes it that JESUS-CHRIST sayd to his Apostles and Luke 10. 16. Matth. 23. 2. Matt. 18 17. Rom. 13. 2 to their successours who heares you heares me and who despises you despises me And to the people do all that they shal say to you whence is it that JESUS-CHRIST hath sayd He that heares not the Church esteeme him as a Pagan or a Publican Whence is it that S. Paul said He that resisteth Superiour power resists the ordinance of God and they that resist it purchase to themselves damnation But 't is to resist Superior power and to disobey the Church not to observe the fasts which She commands 't is to transgress an Apostolical command not to fast the Lent when you have not a legitimate excuse I say Apostolical command 2. And to prove this Verity I might alledg many testimonies of the ancient Fathers but becaus JEUS-CHRIST does say that we ought to give credit to two or three good Witnesses I will alledge the depositions of three or four of three parts of the world Africa Europe and Asia In Affrica Tertullian reports an
cals the evill day The Sentence of the Iudg will be favourable to him He will say to him with an Encomium I have been hungrie and you have given me meat ad that it may prove so He forewarns and says to us make your selves friends give alms do good to the Poore that they and the alms which you put into their bosomes may plead and intercede for you Let us then consider who must give alms To whom they must be given and how men ought to give them 1. Who is he that must give Alms All Christians that pretend to obtaine one day the kingdom of Heaven we need no other proof then the word of IESUS and the definitive sentence which He will pronounce in favour of the elect and against the reprobate Com ye blessed of my Father possess the kingdom for you have given Get ye gon from me ye cursed into everlasting fire for you have not given All either are saved for giving or damned for not giving alms every one then is obliged to give them And in the same chapter He compares the whole Church to an assembly of Virgins whereof some are admitted to a nuptial feast for having furnished their lamps with oyle the others are excluded for having none 9. Hence S. Chrysostome concludes if those that were Virgins Hom. 22. in Io. that is to say that had no other great sins were banished from heaven for not giving alms with more reason those who have committed sins and have not redeemed them by alms shal be condemn'd He adds let us have then this oyle of mercy if we will enter with the Espouse for what ever we shal do t is impossible without alms I say again 't is impossible to approach to the door of the Kingdom of heaven 2 Can we be saved without Charity without loving God and being beloved of God no surely Now his beloved Disciple says If any one having the goods of this world and seeing his brother in 1. Iohn 3. 17. necessity shuts up his bowells of charity from him how does the Love of God remain in him He says not seeing his brother in extream necessity but simply in necessity T is then an error to believe the commandement of giving alms obliges not but when our neigbor is in extream necessity Yes it obliges when he is in a great and notable poverty as are so many in these deplorable times For as Vasquez reasons very well the precept of charity obliges all as well poor as rich to succour their neigbor when he is in extrem necessity nature it self teaches it without other positive command and 't is principally to the rich that the holy Scripture makes this commandement of alms T is not then only in extream necessity the rich are oblig'd to give but also in a considerable and important need command the rich of this 1. Tim. c. 17. 1. Cor. 22. 26. world to give easily says S. Paul And he gives in another place the reason of it we are parts and members of the Mystical Body of IESUS But when one member hath receiv'd any hurt all the other suffer with it all contribute to the help of it if a thorn hath entred into the foot the back bends the eyes open and seek it the hand pulls it out and if they should do otherwise it would be irregular monstrous and unnatural with much more reason in the body of the Church which hath JESUS for its head and the holy Ghost for its soul the members are oblig'd to solace and serve each other with a sincere and cordial charity S. Peter Confirms the saying of S. Paul and adds another reason that we are not independent Proprietors and Masters of the riches Epist 1. c. 4. 10. talents gifts and graces which we receiv'd from God He obliges us to be good Economists and Dispensers of them to assist and serve the necessities of our neighbors with them if then we employ them not but only keep them we do against the intention of the Master that lends them and on the contrary if we employ them in dissolutions and other Superfluities we do contrary to the will of him who intrusts us with them If an Economist of a great house should reserve to himself all the bread and wine and other provisions and refuse to give them to the children and servants according to the order of his Master would he not merit to be punished if on the contrary he distributes them faithfully would he not gaine the salary promised to him The power and authority you have God hath given you to protect this Widow and this Orphan that are oppressed the understanding Science industry which are in you you receiv'd from God to assist and instruct the ignorant and these goods you possess God made you the steward of them to Communicate them to the Poor after you have had the honor and the prerogative to take of them what is necessary for your person and your family if you do not He will say to you as to the naughty servant in the Gospell Why have you not employ'd well my money If you do as you ought He will say to you Com faithfull Servant enter into the joy of thy Matth. 5. Lord. Let us see then to whom we ought to give 3. Charity obliges us to give to all that are in necessity but especially to the faithfull to others we must give alms as to the creatures and the images of God but to the faithfull moreover as to the members of IESUS CHRIST and for the love of Him and so to IESUS CHRIST in them for He will say in iudgment I have been hungrie I have been thursty I have been sick IESUS then is sick and suffers in his members and IESUS receives our help and assistance in them if we bestow our alms so our charity will be more acceptable to him and more meritorious to us than if we did give them to his own person if you had lived in that golden age when IESUS was visible to the world would you not have been ravished with joy to have lodged Him served and entertain'd Him you merit more if you do it to a poor man says S. Chrysostom for the charmes of his pleasing Countenance and his Comportment would allure your hearts and force them by a sweet attraction to will him good but when you do it to him in the person of the Poor who are so disagreable your faith is more lively your charity more generous and your piety more disinteressed since self love finds not there her reckning It seems IESUS should say in the last iugdment to S. Matthew you made me a banket in your Conversion to Zacheus you receiv'd me into your house to S. Martha you log'd me in your Castle you serv'd me with great diligence No He will not praise them principally for these good offices But He will say to them That which you have don to the least of mine you have
makes our neighbor often lose his life honour temporall goods and sometimes also his spirituall To handle this subject fully and to make it more universall we will consider three sins or falsities which oppose this commandement falsities of heart which are rash judgments falsities of mouth which are lyes falsities of workes or actions which are cheats or impostures 1. An Ancient sayd that there is no art nor occupation of which so many make profession as that of Phisitians so soon as you complain of the toothake collick or gravel you will find fourty who prescribe you remedies all as they think very effectual all or the most part in effect very unprofitable that Ancient had hitt better yet had he saâ—d that 't is the office of a judg that all the world will exercise there is nither vertuous nor vicious person that is not often tempted to judg the actions of their neighbour and the Son of God forbids it when he says Will not to S. Iohn 7. 24. judg according to the exteriour appearance In which words our Saviour expresses 3. circumstances which are necessary to make rash judgment a mortal sin in a matter of importance 2. In the first place 't is necessary that a judgment be voluntary and deliberate for if it be but a thought and a promptitude which we renounce when we perceive it 't is not a sin IESUS sayd not do not judg but he sayd will not to judg It is not in our power not to judg by a sudden motion but 't is in our power not to consent to this judgment and to cast it out of our mind 3. In the second place 't is not a mortall sin when one judges not absolutely but doubts only of a thing makes not a form'd and fixt judgment but suspects only he says not in himself surely it is so but it may be so I fear lest it be so And IESUS did not say suspect not He nevertheless who should suspect voluntarily of a Prelate or such like persons an evill of great importance I know not if one may excuse him from a mortal sin 4. In the third place 't is not a mortall sin nor also often venial when you judg of that which cannot be palliared nor excused by any reason if you see a man kill his neighbor to do ill with a married woman to blaspheme the holy name of God 't is not a rash judgment to thinke that he is a murtherer an adulterer a blasphemer but to judg upon weak appearances is contrary to the word of the Son of God judg not according to appeanance It is an evill effect which proceeds from divers causes and all bad and vicious 't is sometimes lightnes and emptines of spirit when one hath not good entertainments within himself nor in his own house he seeks entertainments without himself wanders about in companies cannot be mute in them tells newes heares other knowes not enough invents more 5. An Ancient in Plautus compares them to waspes which make no hony buzz inceslantly fly up and down upon Altars Miters Crownes and leave nothing but filth upon them so those Idlebees droanes and lazie people who know not how to employ themselves pass their time in judging and detracting Prelats Kings Iudges Priests Religions and since they are light and shallow they believe easily all that comes into their mind with never so little appearance be it good or evill 6. S Paul teaches us another cause of rash judgments the defect of charity 'T is becaus you have in your heart some secret envy bitterness or aversion from your neighbour Charity thinks not ill says the Apostle there needs no other proof of it than experience If a personne that you love well did the actions which you censure in your enemy or corrival you would not judg them criminall as you do those of others you would interpret them in a good sense As he that looks through a red glass all that he sees seems to him red so you judg the actions of your neighbor according to the passion of love or hatred you have for him We believe easily what we desire and see willingly says S. Thomas You have no repugnance but great inclination to believe the vice of your neighbor becaus you wish him ill becaus you are subject to the crimes and imperfections which you imagin to be in him The foole conceives that all others are like himself says the holy Ghost by the mouth of the wise man Eccl. 10. 15. And again the heart of a wise man is in his right side and that of a fool in the left It is certen that all men have the heart in the same place but He does signify that a vertuous man judges in good part the actious of all men the ill man measures every one by his own ell he makes sinister judgements of the most part of men the Bee drawes hony from the most bitter flowers the cantharides makes poyson of the most sweet the same raine falling upon a Vine is changed into pleasant and wholsome wine â—t watering hemlock is changed into mortall poison a good stomack makes good blood of the grossest meats a bad stomack makes peccant humours of the best nourishment 7. And from thence comes the bad effects which these rash judgments produce against God our neighbors and our selves 'T is to usurp the office of the Son of God and to do him injury since the Father hath given to him all judgment Note all Iohn 5. 22. Rom. 14. 4 S. Paul looking upon it as a horrible usurpation cryes-out Who art thou that juggest another mans servant To his own Lord he stands or falls 'T is likewise to be injurious to our neighbor For 't is detraction and injustice to ruine his reputation though it be in the opinion of one man only but when you judg ill of your neighbour upon weake conjectures you ruine his reputation in your self you do to another that which you would not have don to you you do as the Pharisee who disdain'd another only within himself and the Son of God reprehends him for it In fine you do not only injure God and your neighbour by rash judgments but you hurt much also your own self for they fill you with pride vanity iealousy suspicion unquietness and contempt of your neighbour 8. S. Bernard gives us for a remedy of these judgments a most salutary advice If you see your neighbor to do ill think perhaps he does it with a good intention or out of ignorance or through great weakness and without malice or that he was surprized but if the action be so black that it admits none of these excuses think it was à very strong and violent temptation that made him fall and say within your self if God had permitted the like to have assaulted me perhaps J had yielded to it as well as he perhaps he hath many great vertues which counterbalance the fault which he committed perhaps
than Tyrants 257 they censure althings 259 Confirmation obliges us to endure their censures and derisions 259 D Detraction defined 234. T is a mortal sin in a matter of importance 234. 'T is a greater sin than Robbery 235. It kills also the hearers if they oppose it not 335. It kills the Detracted by a triple murder 236. Remedies of detraction 237. E Eucharist containes really the Body and Blood of Christ Dise 44. It is compared to milk in its Production 268. In the manner it ought to be received 269. In the manner of its Operation 271. Communion in one kind defended 271. Examples move more than words 281. F Faith necessary to believe sins may be remitted 72. The Excellency and Necessity of it 88. Divers sorts of it 88. None suffices to salvation but living Faith 89. Many practise not according to their Faith 91. How a good Christian regulates his actions by Faith 91. Exhort to true Faith 92. Fasting necessary 148. The Lent was instituted by the Apostles 149. The motives to institute it 149. Objections against fasting solved 150. It s lawfullness demonstrated 153. Vertues that must accompany it 153. The ends and intentions we ought to have in it 154. Frauds are very common and pernicious 231. G God is necessarily One only 2. He is ineffable 2. Great in Nobility 3. In Power 3. In Wisdom 4. In Goodness 4. In justice 5. In indepedence 5. Documents from these Perfections 6. He is Father for divers reasons 8. He shews an infinite Power in Creating 9. Incomprehensible Wisdom in Governing 9. Ineffable Goodness in designing the Creatures to our service 10. We are obliged to thanke him for all the good He has don to them 11. Motives to Gratitude 11. Grace divided 113. What is actuall Grace 114. In how happy a state man was created and how he fell from it 114. How necessary Grace is and how freely given 115. We must distinguish carefully its motions from those of Nature 117. How they may be distinguished 118 We must be gratefull for it 118. We must not be proud when it had produced good in us but live in feare 118 Sanctifying or Habitual Grace What and how Excellent 113 241. H Heaven How great are the Goods of it 83. Four considerations to guess at their Greatness 84 motives and meanes to obtain them 86 Hell has divers significations 38 What it is to be damned 85 Hope stands with fear 95 What we ought to hope 95 of whom we ought to hope 97 Catholicks are not touched with the malediction of those that trust in men 97 who are subject to it 97 Relyance on our selves is caus of many inconveniences 97 We must hope with great Confidence 98 Exhor to confidence in our Lord 99 Holy Ghost why so called 60 Why called Gift 6 The necessity an excellency of this gift 62 We offend the holy Ghost in divers manners 6â— I Idolatry cannot be imputed to the Romane Church 169. She adores not Saints nor Relicks nor Images 170. 171. She prayes not Saints to give things desired 172. Builds not Temples Erects not Altars nor offers Sacrifice to them 172. 173. Images are not absolutely forbidden to be made but only to the end they may be adored 167. 168. Imitatours of the world reproved and their objections answered 211 212. Iudgment Particular and General 49. Reasons for a Generall Iudgment 50. This is a great Consolation to the Elect 52 Description of the general Iugdment Disc 10. What things will be therein Examined 57. Paraphrase of the Sentence of condemnation 58 Rash Iudgment Three Circumstances necessary to make it a mortal Sin 228 Causes of râ—sh Iudgment 22â— It s bad effects 229. Remedyes for it 330. L Love of God the most Excellent Vertue 100. It s necessity 101. It s necessary qualities 102 motives to love God 10â— Love of Neighbours very necessary vertue 107. Every reasonable Creature is our Neighbor 108. How we truly love our Selves and neighbors 108. 109. How ill this command is observ'd by many 110 The first and most necessary Effect of the love of our Ennemys is to pardon them 111 Motives to love and pardon them 111 112. Lyes of three Sorts 230 We ought not to speak an officious or Idle ly to save a man 231 Mass See Sacrifice M Matrimony a true Sacrement 303. A great One 304. Dutyes to which it Obligeth 305. Honour we owe to it 307. Merit Catholick Doctrine concerning it 12â— See good Works O Oathes Sometimes lawfull 181. Division and Description of them 181. 182. Conditions requisite to make them lawfull 182 183. We cannot Swear to confirm a palliated untruth 183 Divers bad causes of Swearing 185. Order a true Sacrament 298. It Confers to Priests two singular favours 299 300. P Parents Why God has not recommended to them in the Decalogue their duty in respect of children 198. They owe them Nourishment 198 Instruction 200. good Examples 201. correction 202 Exhort to educate well children 202. Penance Necessary 134 279 Conversions it makes 137 138 Two dangerous Errours concerning Penance into which we are apt to fall 138 Fruits of true Penance 140 means to obtain true Penance 140 Exhort to do Penance in the present time 136 Prayer Very necssary 141 What things are to be asked in Prayer 141 How we ought to pray 142 143 144 Excuses of indevout removed 146 R Religion Vertue may be practised in all Occasions and Times 175 The practise of it by the Vnderstanding 176 By the Will 176 by exteriour Actions 176 177 The practise of it in respect of Gods Attributes 177 It obliges us to honour God also in his Friends and Servants in Times and Places particularly consecrated to his service 177 Irreligion indevotion and irreverence reprehended 178 Exhort to honor God c. 178. Restitution must be perfect 224. 'T is absolutely necessary 224. All that concurr to an injury are obliged to it 225. It obliges always 225. Motives to avoyd injustice 225. Resurrection proved 79. the words of the article declared 80 We shal rise in the same Bodys but without defect 81 The Resurrection of the Elect and that of the Repâ—oâ—ate very different 81. Robbery defined and its definition explicated 222. It obliges to perfect Restitution 224 S Sacraments all instituted by Christ 238 He shews therein divine Perfections 239 They represent their effects very properly 240 They conferr sanctifying grace more or less according to the disposition of the Receiver 241 They give also auxiliary graces 242 Exhort to frequent them 242 Sacrifice in the new Law 273 T is very acceptaâ—le and glorious to God 275 greatly advantagious to men 276 Very beneficial to Souls in Purgatory 277 How to be offered 278. Salvation of men earnestly desired by God and the most important worke Epist to the Reader 'T is to be procured by the securest way 43. Satisfaction third Part of Penance must be made according to the multitude Enormity and diversity of our offences 283 We may satisfy the divine Iustice by all Crosses that befall us 28â— Motives to fly sin and to returne to God by true Penance 285 Scandal What properly 210 'T is sometimes a Word 211 Often Actions 211 Othertimes Omissions 213 What Actions are not to be omitted and what are to avoyd Scandal 214 Motives to avoyd it 215 Sin the greatest evill 245 248 In Christians t is far greater than io infidells 248 By sinnlng mortally we hazard Salvation 76 Carnal sins Contrary to mans nature and abominable to God 216 Species or Kinds of them 217 218 Individuums or particulars innumerable 219 Remedies of them 219. Sunday why instituted 189 How to be observed 189 190 Exhort to observe it well 191 T Tradition necessary to excuse Christians from observance of the Iews Sabbath 187 188 189 V Vnction of the Sick a true and proper Sacrament 292. It s Saving Effects 203. 294. 295. Dispositions requisite in the Receiver 296 297. Exhort to Charity 297. W Works of supererogation proved 121 good Works necessary to Salvation 122 123 Why God requires them 123 'T is necessary to be fruitfull in them 124 We must apply our Talents in them faithfully 124 Many Christianâ— lofe or abuse them 125. Exhort to practise good workes 127 We must not defer our Conversion and the practise of good Works Discours 22. FIN