by a certain Antithesis to let us understand the difference that is between his Divine and his Humane Filiation And that the qualities he bears grounded on the rights of his Eternal Birth on his Fathers side are different from what he has founded on the Prerogatives of his Temporal Birth on his Mothers side What a solid Answer St. Peter gives â—â—h 16.13 who being question'd by Jesus Christ What did the World think of the Son of man Answered You are Christ Son of the living God All the rest were of so shallow a judgment as to believe that some mortal man was Father to Jesus as well as to St. Iohn the Baptist and to the Prophet Elias But St. Peter who already came to understand the secrets of his Master made a publick confession and an open acknowledgment of his Divine Filiation Ah! Peter replyes Jesus My Father has discover'd unto you the Mystery and has told you that I had no Father on Earth It is true then that our Saviour has but one Heavenly Father Christus non de substantia Spiritus Sancti sed de potentia nec generatione sed jussione benedictione conceptus est D. Aug. ser 6. de temp tom 10. But on Earth he is conceiv'd of the Holy Ghost in the Sacred womb of the Virgin Mary not by way of Emanation as in the bosom of the Father For as St. Augustin subtilly remarks He does not proceed from the Substance but by the Power of the Holy Ghost not by way of Generation but by way of command and by Coelestial Benediction If we must thus speak of the Paternity of the Messias in the Incarnation of the Eternal word whom must we acknowledge to be the true Father of the second Child form'd according to the model of the first I say that neither of both has a Father on Earth and that the Holy Ghost has supply'd the Office of a Father to both For as the Angel Embassador to assure the Virgin who having banish'd from her heart all love of Worldly Creatures could not comprehend how she could be a Mother Luc. 1. v. 35. told her presently Paraclitus autem Spiritus quem mittet Pater in nomine meo ille vos docebit omnia Joan. 4. v. 26. Ego rogabo patrem alium paraclitum dabit vobis ut mâ—neat vobiscumin aeternum Spiritum veritatis ibid. v. 16. That the Holy Ghost should come upon her that the Virtue of the most high should over-shadow her and that the Holy who should be born of her should be call'd the Son of God So our Saviour before he mounted up to Heaven assur'd his Apostles who could not conceive the height of the Mysteries committed unto them That he would send the Holy Ghost who by the infusion of his Graces would come within our Hearts pouring himself into our Souls Alium paraclitum nominavit non juxta naturae differentiam sed juxta operationis diversitatem Didimus in Cathena would frame them all according to the word Incarnate to form thereof another Jesus Christ That being so may I not lawfully say that the Holy Ghost does perform the Duty and Parts of a Father to both Non enim accepistis Spiritum servitutis iterum in timore sed accepistis Spiritum adoptionis filiorum in quo clamamus Abba pater Rom. 48.1.16 This is St. Paul's Doctrine in his Epistle to the Romans where after he had said That such as suffer the operation of the Spirit of God are the Children of God set at liberty and freed from all slavish fear He Imprints in their hearts the same pretensions of Love which he had imprinted in the heart of Jesus towards the recognizance of the one and self same Father who both adopt them after the coming and their receiving the Holy Ghost an active Adoption which is particularly attributed to the Holy Ghost for though that Grace and all her appurtenances are common Goods flowing from the liberal distributions of the whole Trinity yet because Love is a property of the Holy Ghost and as the Graces which we receive from him are beams deriv'd from that love he reserves to himself those communications by right of property The same Apostle goes on to confirm the certainty of that Adoptive Filiation when he says That the Holy Ghost gives Testimony to our Spirit Ipse enim Spiritus testimonium reddit Spiritui nostro quod sumus Filii Dei Rom. 8. v. 16. that we are the Children of God I know that our Adversaries giving a sinister interpretation to this passage would fain say that this testimony gives them an assurance of Faith Qui habet testimonium salvabitur non damnabitur eccè ergo Spiritus obligans adoptans testificans of the necessity of their Salvation and that therefore their Conscience ought to be free from all fear But it is to give the Lye to St. Paul who speaking of himself in another place dares not assure himself of his Justification though his Conscience be without any remorse of Crime Nicol. Gozram in hunc locum his design was only to fortifie our hopes but still notwithstanding he will have us to work out our Salvation with fear and Trembling 1 Cor. cap. 4. For this Testimony is not of Faith nor of Infallibility but of conjecture only and of moral confidence St. Basil gives you the form of it Basil in reg Brevioribus interog 296. For some one asking him the question what certainty could we have of being the Children of God he answers That if laying our hand to our breast we can say with David I hate Iniquity I have cherish'd and always fulfill'd the Law I have prais'd my Creator seven times a day at midnight my custom is and always was to get up and confess my sins I did ever shun bad Company and had always Justice for the Rule of my Actions or else if we find that we have the three conditions quoted by St. Bernard Bern. de 4. orandi modis viz. A Spirit elevated towards Heaven a Body subject to reason and an ardent desire to advance still in Virtue If you find your self so compos'd you may lawfully conceive a moral certainty of your Salvation but never look further for an Infallible certainty which might bring you to a false Peace an enemy to your Salvation which ought to be wrought out with fear and diffidence This was St. Gregory's advice to the noble Matron Gregoria who instantly pray'd him to give her satisfaction in this point Daughter says he you tell me Rem difficilem inutilem postulasti difficilem quidem quia indignus ego sum cui revelatio fieri debeat Inutilem vero quia secura de peccatis tuis fieri non debes nisi cum jam in die vitae tuae ultimo plangere eadem peccata non vobis D. Greg. l. 6. epist ep 186. that you will not let me rest until that I
Alliance of men with God both in the Mystery of his Incarnation and in the Mystery of his second Nativity Our Saviour says he is come unto the World as if it were unto his own and his own did not receive him To them nevertheless Potestas est potentia stabilita per adventum Spiritus unde patet quod non est in aliquo potestas in quo non fuerit prius potentia naturalis quia est in hominis voluntate ut possit fieri potestas si non ponit obicem gratiae Hugo Card. in c. 1. Joan. that had receiv'd him he gave power to be made the Children of God That power says Hugo the Cardinal is a stable Power determin'd by Grace and fortified by the Holy-Ghost A Power says the same Doctor which supposes Nature already prepar'd to give it no obstacle nor opposition with a great difference however for the Natural Power which we have to be the Children of God may be seperated from the Almighty Power Because that is but a simple possibility far from any Act this follows the conditions of liberty which in the advantages of Grace is near to its effect Great God says St. Augustine is not your Love without measure for men You are not at all of the humour of the Children of the World who are afraid to have many Brothers Co-heirs that they alone might succeed without any Associates to the Inheritance of their Parents You are the only Son of the Father and yet you do not desire to remain the sole Heir of his Substance You call without any exception to the Rights of Heaven and Eternity all them who undervaluing the Dross of the World shall believe in your Gospel We must not wonder at it for the Wealth of the Earth being divided groweth less the Wealth of Heaven contrariwise by communication doth increase St. John pursuing the History of the Incarnation adds Quasi securitatem faciens ait verbum caro factum est quid ergo miraris quiahomines ex Deo nascuntur attende ipsum Deum ex hominibus natum D. Aug. to 9. tract 2. in Joan. sub finem And the Word is made Flesh Remark the Coherency Dear Reader he comes to establish the Second Nativity of Jesus in the stable Powers of our Liberty And to the end says the Great St. Augustine that this should not seem incredible to any that a pitiful Creature should be Honoured with a Title not imaginary but subsistant of Divine Filiation he says that God is made man as if he were to draw this consequence if the Omnipotent Power of a God infinitely Adorable contrary to the ordinary Laws has abased it self to the union of a Nature so abject of it self as Humane Nature is Who will doubt but that a sinner Anima namque habet aliquam propinquitatem ad Deum Treophilactus in c. 1 Joan. touch'd with the Graces of Heaven and Converted by a sublime elevation may approach to the Throne of the Divinity there to receive by pre-eminency the Title of a Filial Adoption What were you willing to teach us O Saviour of the World when nail'd on the wood of the Cross Cum vidisset Jesus matrem discipulum stantem quem dilegebat dixit matri suae mulier ecce filius tuus Joan. 19. v. 26. whereon you were rendering to men the last proofs of your Love looking with an Amorous Eye at your Mother you said unto her that from thenceforth St. John should be her Son Will you refuse her after your Death what you would not take from her during your Life What a heart-breaking would it be to the Virgin when after the Death of Jesus thinking to discourse of high affections to comfort her poor Heart afflicted for his absence she should be denied ever to call him again by this worthy Name of Son more sweet than Honey No this Commandment would be a thing impossible and Love that knows not what it is to Obey where there is question of a Division would never consent to the rigour of its practice 'T is that St. John at the foot of the Cross was the figure of the Adoptive Children of Grace And to the end that the Virgin should acknowledge them for such Love them and Cherish them as she who ought most to Interess her self in the common and particular good of men Our Saviour says to her Woman behold thy Son unspeakable Happiness to see that he who had for his Lodging the Bowels of Mary should be pleas'd to assign us for a residence her proper heart Or else let us say Sicut portavimus imaginem terreni portemus imaginem Celestis 1 Cor. c. 15. v. 49. that by his last Will and Testament he was to give her an excellent proof of his Affections by leaving his Image deposited in her For every sinner Converted by the Grace of God is the Image of Jesus Crucified according to the Apostle's Doctrine follow'd with a rare thought of St. Augustine D. Aug. lib. de Sancta virginitate for after he had said that the Virgin is our Mother Mother by Spirit as she is our Saviours by Nature he goes further and remarks that she bears her Spiritual Children in her Bosome not for the space of nine Months only but as long as they are in this Life and is not deliver'd of them untill she introduces them to Heaven That is also the aim and scope of all the design of this Work wherein we shall make appear how that by the powerful endeavours of Grace the Holy Ghost labours incessantly to make us conceive the word of Salvation whose term must be Jesus form'd in our Hearts and 't is that which I shall call hereafter the Child of Heaven and of Grace and particular Saviour I am deceiv'd if St. Mark would not fain speak of this Sacred Fruit when he tells us That the Messias one day took a little Child in his Arms Quem cum complexus esset Mark 9. Math. 18. v. 2. and having set him in the middle of his Apostles Embrac'd him tenderly Where St. Matthew adds That he told them if they would not become like unto that Infant they should never enter into the Kingdom of Heaven I omit divers Interpretations of this passage to speak of that of St. Jerome who by that Infant understands the Holy-Ghost and says That he who by Grace is Converted unto God D. Hieron in catena ad c. 18. Matth. receives the Holy-Ghost who bears him Testimony that he is a Child of God Who will doubt but that the Eternal Father will embrace this Infant for the resemblance he has with his First Born The Son acknowledge him for his Younger Brother and the Holy Ghost own him for his own Work In a word my Dear Reader Omnis qui filio Dei credit conservatur secundum Evangelicos actus conversus ambulat quasi puer Qui autem non convertitur ut fiat sicut puer
the same Grace which Magdalen received to wash off her sinful spots with her bitter Tears must not be a rule in its quantity for all forts of sinners For he that committed more Offences than Magdalen did ought to have a greater Repentance and shed more Tears than Magdalen Betwixt five hundred Pence and ten thousand Talents there is a great deal of difference I do respect and honour all the ravishing thoughts of those Holy and high Spirited men But let us reduce them all to an Unity let us find out one Guift one Payment one Satisfaction which by way of Eminency may be all Guift 〈◊〉 Payment all Satisfaction So that Offering it to God he must of necessity be contented and rest satisfy'd with our Oblation What is this precious Guift this plenary Satisfaction this absolute Payment Doubtless it is the Son of God a Son whom the Father hath given us and in giving him he gave us all that his Heavenly Court could afford so that if he demands of us that which appertains unto him and re-calls what he hath given us let us restore him back again his Son or at least another who may be like him and this is all that he can expect But how shall this be perform'd If it be true that the Phylosopher says Per quas causas quid componitur per easdem dissolvitur That by what causes a thing is compos'd by the same it is dissolv'd Then it must of necessity follow that we restore this Guift to God by the same ways we receiv'd it and by which this precious Guift descended down from Heaven to us He came forth from the abundant and fruitful memory of the Father the Original source of the Divine Persons he took his way through the Love of the Holy Ghost who cloath'd him with a Robe of mens wearing and hid him in a Virgins Womb for the space of nine Months The World hath seen him born in a Stable laid down in a Manger cry for Hunger tremble with Cold and die on a shameful Cross in the sight of all Nations There is the Child that God hath given us but he is not the Child that the Father will have from us because he has him already seated at his Right Hand in his full splendour and in all his Dimensions He aims at another who must be like him and who must also proceed from his Substance pass through the love of the Holy Ghost be clad like Christ be born die and buried with him for to rise up Glorious and mount Triumphing up to Heaven This is a second Child form'd by the model of the first and Him we must offer up to the Eternal Father for to clear off our Debts Here you have the Mystery of it 'T is true that the Son of God has found out a way for us to pay off our debts 't is the value and merits of his dying life but this price must be put into our hands He is upon his journey to Heaven what does he do for to leave us the handling of his Treasures he sends us his holy Ghost to whom he leaves his precious Blood together with all his merits as a Heavenly Seed wherein by the force of his Love he concurs to the conception not of the Son of God but of a Son altogether like the Son of God to the end that this Son so like unto the Son of God conceived in the Sacred Seed of Jesus after the model of the word Incarnate by the operation of the Holy Ghost may pass before God for an equivalent satisfaction and payment of all our Debts This is what St. Paul calls 2 Cor. 11. Pledge of the Holy Ghost which he reserves to give to men when that endeavouring to purchase Heaven they shall be demanded whether they have sufficient payment for its Acquisition St. Augustin is of a contrary Opinion for he will not have this payment to be called a Pledge but an Oblation to God Because that when the thing is restor'd for which the Pledge was laid out Pignus cum redditua res ipsa aufertur arrha autem de ipsa reddatur quae dando promittitur ut res quando redditur impleatur quod datum est non mutetur D. Aug. ser 15. de verb. dom statim initio the Pledge of course must be taken up and so God in giving us Heaven which is the purchase we aim at the Holy Ghost must take away his Pledge which is his Grace and that cannot be for it 's not the same with Grace as it is with Faith for Grace ought to subsist with Glory but Faith not so that this payment which St. Paul calls Pledge rigourously taken must be no Pledge but rather an Oblation to God which is a part of the thing we would fain buy and which cannot be taken away when the Contract is compleated And in effect Grace is the source and first beginning of Salvation which ends in Glory and hath its full consummation in Heaven Let us then give God this Gracious Child the second work of the Holy Ghost Aspicis Christum hominem Deum sed ostendit tibi Pater hominem servat tibi Deum D. Aug. Hom. 32. But we must give him to God in the same shape and Form as he gave Us his own Son reserving him Glorious with himself and suffering amongst us He did always cherish him within his Sacred bosom as him whom he doth engender from all Eternity Co-equal Consubstantial and of one and the same Nature But from himself he deals with him as with a Criminal and the chiefest of all Malefactors you would say that he doth not acknowledge him for his Son The same way we must offer and treat this second Son glorious and passible Glorious in the Cabinet of our Souls but passible in the exteriour of our Bodies Within we must consider him as the object of our most tender Affections give him a Princely attendance and Adore him without any dissimulation Exteriourly he must be a Crucify'd Love cover'd with Wounds Crown'd with Thorns and the perfect Portract of the man of sorrow Incarnate in a Virgins Womb 2 Cor. 4. v. 10. and laid down amongst the Beasts in a Manger for the Love of men But alas says St. Augustin our daily practice is quite contrary to this advice of St. Paul for Exteriourly we bear a most specious Jesus but Interiorly we cherish a most hideous Blackamore Christians in appearance and really nothing less in our hearts we shut up our Hearts with a Ring all guilded Annulo aureo corda obsignamus putridas intus paleas recondimus D. Aug. Ser. 10. Dom. 10. post Pent. and underneath lies nothing but dirt and Infection a heap of rotten straw the Apostle calls that To crucifie Jesus the second time You must beware never to offer that Child at the gates of Heaven he will never be taken for a Child conceiv'd in the Blood of Christ for he
difference of times to give us four remarkable proofs of his Eternal Care The first he brings Man from nothing by Creation The second when that Man had forgot his Respects to his Creator he resolves to repair his loss by uniting Humane Nature to the Divine in the Incarnation of his Son The third he prepares for him in Heaven an Immortal Crown in order to enjoy for ever in Glory the sight of his Divine Essence And the fourth when that by his Actual Sin he shall come to loose all right to that Glory by the loss of present Justice in this Life he offers him the means of a Repentance by the Feelings he gives him of his Conversion All these aforesaid Actions are the worthy Imployments of his Divinity but the Conversion of a Sinner of all seems the chiefest as for the Creation it was as it were necessary or at least most convenient that God should give actual Existence to Man being that his possibility was in his Thoughts from all Eternity otherwise it might be said That Power was faulty being not reduc'd to Act To assign him a state of Glory where after his Pilgrimage he might find his Center and final Settlement that follows immediately the way of acting of the first Principle who at the same instant as he gives Being to a Creature gives him his Settlement and final rest As for the Hypostatical Union in the Incarnation perhaps the design was taken in the most Sacred Conclave of the Blessed Trinity before the Fall of Adam Besides it was reasonable that the Son should raise the Honour of the Father very much interessed in the loss of Man the Noblest Master-piece that ever came from his hands if he had remain'd without remedy after his Offence But as for the Conversion of a Sinner in particular and after the re-establishment of Humane Nature by the general remedy of Redemption common to all men to undertake as yet his conduct and the transporting of him from the state of his actual Sin to that of Grace 't is the effect of his Infinite Love I must confess but it is also an Imployment worthy of his Divinity reserv'd for Jesus alone Reason makes it out for we say that the resemblance makes things known the World is the Work of God and known for such because its Perfections bear the resemblance and Portract of its Maker Grace which has Converted the Sinner comes far nearer to the Likeness of God for what goodness could render the Soul good make her partaker of Gods Grace and the Object of his Sovereign Love What Power could give her a Right to Heaven or to any part of its Glory what cause could procure her Eternal Felicity without any limitation or bounds but an Infinite Goodness a first Cause Primique referret luminis effigiem sanctaque imitamina formae Greg Naz. carm 4. an Eternity by Essence St. Gregory thinking on the imployment that God had before the worlds creation what was his occupation and pastime says that all his study was to render his perfections communicable but his perfections are all represented to the life in the conversion of a Soul consequently the worthyest imployment that God had before the Worlds creation out of himself was to manage the conversion of Souls and think of means to bring to pass so noble an undertaking in the difference of time Quos praescivit predestinavit conformes fieri imaginis filij sui ut sit ipse primogenitus in multis fratribus Rom. 8. v. 19. I do ingeniously confess that the first and chief imployment of the Eternal Fathers is to produce his only Son and to love him But after that the most honourable imployment his goodness could ever make choise of is to produce outwardly Children by the most Noble Generations that can be imagined without any prejudice to the pre-eminency of his first Paternity to wit in unity of supposit and love the first born of his Children is Jesus The rest of men are younger Brothers Sicut Deus pater suam naturalem bonitatem voluit aliis communicare perticipando eis similitudinem suae bonitaris ut non solus sit bonus sed etiam actor bonorum ita filius Dei voluit conformitatem suae filiationis ut non solus sit ipse filius sed etiam primogenitus filiorum D. Tho. in hunc locum Pauli less shared withal for all Laws favour the first born but notwithstanding they have the same Father same Inheritance same Rights same Coat of Arms So that as the Generation of the Word is God's first imployment within himself the Adoptive Generation which is performed by the conversion of a Sinner shall hold the first rank without him For even as in the super-adorable labours of his Divine fecundity he powers forth his knowledge without measure until that he meets with his Holy Ghost who setting a stop to his emanations seems as it were by violence to retain the course of his action This love must force it self to render its fecundity without any limitation both of acknowledgement and love among creatures capable of its impression So before the conversion of a Soul he proposes himself for Object of our thoughts and his Holy Ghost for the scope of our love to honour us with the same Objects which his knowledge and love have in the blessed Trinity Debuit per omnia fratribus assimilari Heb c. 2. for all filiations must have a reference to the first filiation and the nearer their reference is the more excellent they will be Moreover it is a prerogative belonging only to him who is above all Genus and Species and has a right of Sovereignty over all Categories to destroy all Genus and Species as well as to redress them to their ends if once they swerve from it God alone has a right of absolute and Universal Sovereignty then he can as well reduce all Genus and Species of Beasts to nothing as he brought them out of nothing to give them a Being Venit filius hominis quaerete c. Luke 19. v. 10. Mat. 18. v. 11. Cum dicit quod perierat sub intelligendum est genus humanum omnia enim elementa suum ordinem servant sed homo eravit quia suum ordinem perdidit Remigius in catena ad c. 18. Matth. All humane nature in her Species was misled from the end for which God had created her It was then an imployment suitable and reserved to the sole power of a God to work the establishment of so great a disorder True it is that actual sin is only a personal offence but because that it is a raising up against God and that God is the Center and last end of all the Species in that respect we may say that all sinners are gone astray from their Species Hence I do conclude that when a sinner converts himself to God it is not enough to conceive a displeasure for having offended him his peculiar good
the Scribes and Pharisees admir'd him under that notion and quality saying one to another who is this Of whom the Wind and Seas stand so much in Awe and it happen'd that being once in a Ship with his Disciples the Seas began to grow rough the Waves to swell and the Winds to blow high he gives the Word of Command and presently a Calm was made no more high Winds nothing of a Storm the Seas lye as plain as a Table so that a Dice might run over all its Surface and a Bird build thereon her Nest without the least danger of miscarriage Tu Dominaris potestati maris c. Ps 88. v. 10. This is but the shadow and figure of what we do resent in our Souls Mystical Vessels whereof he has undertaken the steering For when the World that boisterous Sea aims to make us miscarry and run us down to an Abiss of Misfortune when Temptations over-sway us and that Satan with an infectious puff of his Breath strives to procure our utter destruction it is then that God doth stretch forth his Hand to us Movetur mare contradicit mare per strepit mare sed fidelis Deus qui non vos sinet tenture supra id quod potestus D. Aug. in Ps 88 Fear Faithful Soul God will soon appease nothing all those Storms and from among so many dangers will safely conduct you to the Harbour of his Grace so it be that you will let him stand at the Helm without controlling his Conduct God is to us a Valiant and Wise Captain the Prophet-Royal knew him to be such when he made him this acknowledgment Benedictus Dominus Deus meus qui docet c. Ps 143 v. 1 O God who hast train'd up my Hands to Battle and my Fingers to War it is by order from this God of Battle that we have seen the Apostles plant the Standards of the Gospel on their Enemies Trenches Martyrs expose themselves Merrily to so many hazards to maintain their Masters Honours and confound all Hell by the Testimony of their Blood Innocent and Tender Virgins give up the Ghost amidst the Flames with a great deal of Joy to conserve the first Flowers of their Virginity to Jesus And you O great St. Paul I dare say that you would have laid down your Arms and given over the Combate Si adversum se dissentiunt caro Spiritus molestus periculosus labor sunt enim in domo tanquam maritus úxor si maritus vincatur uxor dominetur pax perversa D. Aug. in Psal 143. to 8. when Satan darted at your Flesh one of his Arrows had you not so soon over-heard this voice of your Captain Paul That my Grace may suffice to strengthen you against all your Enemies Assaults it is my Pleasure and great Satisfaction to see you Fight so like a Christian Champion and by the assistance of my Grace give all the World to understand that there is nothing to be fear'd where I do command If our Saviour whilst we do continue Obedient and Submissive Children has a special care to Advance to Cherish and to place us at our ease if whilst we sleep in the Vessel of his Providence he has a care to keep us in the right and assur'd road to Heaven and if whilst we are good and Valiant Soldiers he gives us a good look and a gracious Countenance do you think that he will abandon us immediatly when becoming refractory to his Laws we shall follow our own evil Inclinations That he will never look after any further lodging in our Hearts after that by Sin we shall loose his Grace That he will never withdraw us from under the Tyrannical Hostility of our Adversaries when that by our own Cowardliness we shall fall into their hands No we must not believe it it is an Imployment worthy of the Divinity to relieve the miserable and to show unto men in their want of all Humane Assistance the great necessity of his Powerful and helping hand This Truth will appear without any contradiction if we consider the nature of the first Principle who is not content to give a bare Existence to things drawing them from the possibility of their Being by a reiterated production and that in two ways the one furnishing the Means Instinct and Inclinations convenient to attain to their last end The other driving off all contrary Causes which might interrupt the aforesaid Inclinations Man on that fatal day of his Transgression in Paradice lost at once and by one bit of an Apple his rare and leading Inclinations towards his Supernatural end I grant that the Divine Justice to deal rigorously might have left him in his Misery being he brought himself thereunto by his own proper Election But notwithstanding this God of Mercy who protests that his dearest delight is to live among men bears them so much Affection that he will rather imploy his Power to Regenerate them Spiritually by his Inspirations than leave them under the lash and rigours of Justice For he aims not at the death of a Sinner but at his Conversion and everlasting Happiness Omnis qui non amat Dominum Jesum anathema sit 1 Cor. 16. v. 22. O Vessel of Election what would you conclude when by a Spirit of Zeal you thundred out Excommunication against all them that lov'd not Jesus Paulus mea manu And to assure us that you had a particular feeling of the Ingratitude of Men Si quis non amat Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum Dominum jure creationis nostrum beneficio incarnationis Jesum officio Salvationis Christum plenitudini unctionis propter haec enim quatuor est amandus sit anathema Gozramus in c. 16 Cor. v. 22. you say that you wrote the Excommunication with your own hand This great Apostle has no other ground for the Solemn pronunciation of that Censure but to say being that Jesus is come down from Heaven on Earth to undertake the management of our Affairs to concern himself so much in the conduct of our Souls and to oppose himself to all our Enemies who ever after all those proofs he gave us of his Love will not love Jesus and put all his confidence in him let him be Accursed Excommunicated and as a Monster of Nature banish'd far from the company of men But what God rich in Power Eternal in continuance and Infinite in Wisdom Man weak in his Designs limited in his Time faulty in his Councels God Immortal by his Being Impassible by Nature All-sufficient of Himself Man the spoil of Death Theatre of Misfortunes and incident to all Misery what report or relation can there be betwixt two such Extreams and so far assunder To believe that God should trouble himself with the care of so vile and abject a Creature Quid novit Deus quasi per caliginem judicat nubes latibulum ejus nec nostra considerat c. Job c. 22. v. 12. Is it not
a greedy Crow carried on by his Venereal Flames to all rotten Carcasses and slaves to Venus By night he is no better than a Ravenous Wolf that lives by the spoil of the very poor every where he goes he has the repute of a Devil his Body is the Hell of his Soul you hear nothing come from his Mouth but dark and Sacrilegious words These are the smoaky stinking vapours which the very Satanick Impiety that consumes his Heart breaths out at every moment The thoughts of Heaven and of his Salvation are as rare with him as if he had been already confirm'd in his everlasting misfortune There is a man of the World for you harnis'd like a Mule in a Waggon full of Maledictions Virtuous Ladies are as rare as Children well Bred. The Philosopher who in the open Streets of Athens with a Lanthorn in his hand at noon-day look'd for a Virtuous man Elevatae sunt filiae Sion ambulaverunt extento collo Isa 3. v. 6. might very well take one in each hand to find out a Wise and Virtuous Lady For Vanity seems to be so incident to that Sex that on all occasions they would have themselves ador'd as so many Divinities but that the ugliness of their Feet even as the Peacock forces them to acknowledge the frailty and weakness of their Nature If the foolish fancies of Love have once got into their Breasts there is no talking to them of living any longer under their Mothers wings Their Stubborness their Impudence their Boldness turns clear from their Hearts and Faces all Respect all Modesty all Shame The World has got such an Influence over their Affections as being their King that after he had treated them as the Scullions of his Kitchen he leaves them as a Reward for all their Service an everlasting repentance for having ever lov'd him so much Ut pulvis à turbine sic opes ab aliis ad alios subinde ventilantur atque jactantur umbrae qui instar manibus teneri nequaquem possunt nec desperatae carentibus nec satis certae possidentibus Greg. Naz. in orat ad Julianum tributorum exequatorem In fine perhaps the great Wealth Estates Possessions and Riches that the World gives to some will be a sufficient motive to retain them in his Service Alas how can they be ignorant that these are so many Nets to intangle them further in their slavery and render them incapable ever to enjoy the liberty of true born Children of God which might wean them from all the Terrestrial Affections and transport their love towards Heaven the originary land of their Nativity they are Tokens sold and bought very dear and for which he expects extraordinary service with a thousand sorts of compulsions and violence However all this might be born with if we were but sure of its constant enjoyment and long possession But we see in the twinkling of an eye a Rich man made the most miserable of Mortals now a Craessus presently a Craetes It is then very true by the deduction of those three heads that he who forsakes the service of God to live under the Government of a Tyrannical Prince forsakes his Father to meet with his Enemy turns tail to his Happiness to face his Misfortunes declines from his true and well-affected Judge to cast himself into the hands of his Tormenter Vadam post amatores meos qui dant panes mihi aquas meas Ozee 2. v. 5. An non est hoc durae frontis meretriciae impudentiae ut in suo scelere glorietur dicat sequar amatores meos c. D. Hier. hic That our God makes use of that knowledge to Convert a Sinner Scripture makes it out where you may find in Hosea the Prophet a man who resolves to forsake the Service of God to follow his Passions and rank himself under the Tyrannical Laws of this corrupt World I will go says he after my Lovers that give me both Linnen and Woollen and Oyle to Drink as if he would say the ways of God are very Austere in his House they speak of no other thing but of carrying of Crosses renouncing ones Self banishing proper Love practising Mortification and wearing of Hair-Cloath I grudge those ways I will hereafter give Obedience to the World whose Maxims are far more sweet the company more grateful and the Commandments more conformable to Nature What says St. Hierome To glory in their Iniquity and declare openly that they will forsake God to follow the World and to run after its unlawful Allurements is it not to bear the front and face of a bold Impudent Strumpet Spinis electorum viae sepiuntur dum dolorum punctiones inveniunt in hoc quod temperaliter concupiscunt quasi interposita materia vis eorum obviat quorum nimirum defideria perfectionis difficultas impugnat D. Greg. 34. moral cap. 2. No no says our Saviour I stop you there you shall not find what you look for in the World I will set Bushes Thorns and great Stones in the way where you think to pass through that at last you shall be constrain'd to come back You think to live at your Ease in the World I will contrive it so that all Creatures shall rise up against you to controul your Designs You think to meet with Friends but I will order it that your nearest Relations shall be the first that will trouble your Settlement you think to enjoy your Liberty with more ease and less contradiction Vadam revertar ad virum meum priorem nam dum diversitatibus mundi quem diligit anima morderi coepit tunc plenius intelligit quanto illi cum priore viro melius fuit eos ergos quos voluntas prava pervertit plerumque adversitas corrigit Idem Greg. supra by withdrawing your self from my conduct I will render you a far greater Slave than any of the Criminals at the Chain in their Gallies Those sound Corrections and Divine Reproaches had so much power over that wavering Spirit that at last he is forc'd to acknowledge his fault and openly declare that he would return to his former Master because says he it is better to be with him than here where I find but the bare shadow of good luck and contentment Whereas in Gods Service I shall have all assurance of Glory and everlasting Felicity CHAP. XIII That we cannot complain of the want of sufficient means for our Conversion WE must suppose for a ground of this our Discourse that all Gods Graces tending to our Conversion may be reduc'd to two equal Divisions That is to the Graces that begin and dispose us to our Coversion and all those Graces are comprehended under the term and notion of less sufficient to Salvation or to the Graces which do effectually concur to our Conversion and those we call actual and efficacious Graces This is the Doctrine of all true Divines against Calvin Bellarm. tom 3. controvers l. 1.
c. Psal 77. v. 11. But ungrateful and most unmannerly People for all acknowledgment begin to contest with him and disown that ever they were oblig'd to him in the least Bona repromissoris sibi ascribit peccator c Is it possible that this ungrateful People have already forgotten the Favours which God did them in Babylon when that resenting much the Affronts done them by the Idumeans he brought them out of their Captivities There they were Chain'd Cuffed and Bolted and have they so soon forgotten him who broke and struck off their Irons Was it not a great proof of his Love to have sent Moses arm'd with his Omnipotent Power to bring them from Pharaoh's Jurisdiction and Slavery Coram patribus eorum fecit mirabilia in terra Egypti c. Psal 77. v. 23. The notorious Signs and Prodigies which Egypt hath seen shall be the Memorials of his Love Do they remember who it was that commanded the Seas to give them a free passage through their main Gulphs when that their Enemies came close on their backs And after all this they are so bold as to ask God the question How or where has he shew'd them any Love Before they should return any such Answer they should cast all Creatures into the fire being that they are in this point so many convincing proofs and witnesses of their Ingratitude They are not to be excus'd Qui etiam proprio filio non pepercit sed c. Rom. 8. v. 52. I must confess however they are in some respects to be Pardon'd For though they had the Laws of God in their Hands yet they did not as yet see or know the Author of Grace the Word-Incarnate But if a Christian should demand of God Sic Deus dilexit mundum ut filium suum c Joan. 3. v. 16. wherein have you lov'd me I would willingly conjure all Creatures to appear at his Tryal as Evidence of so hainous a Crime and as Executioners of so great a Malefactor But my God why should I dissemble where Truth is so plain For even among Christians we may soon find some of so Brazen a face Cum filio dato omnia donavit nobis ut ce dant in bonum nostrum superiora quidem scilicet divinae personae ad fruendum rationales spiritus ad convenidum omnia inferiora ad utendum D. Thom. in comment Eph. ad Rom. cap 8. as to pronounce the words or at least shew by their Actions that they do not believe that God has a Love for them yea without doubt For how can you think of them otherwise to receive daily the Divine Inspirations to see at all hours and moments the amorous Inventions of God to convert us to hear the Eternal Father repeat so often and in such express terms that he Lov'd the World so far as to give his Dearly Beloved Son to redeem it and not to be mov'd in the least to requite his Love with Love again it is not in Conscience to repeat those Blasphemous words wherein have you Lov'd me I do not find it expedient to give any further Answer to the Ingratitude of Christians then to set before their Eyes the wise conduct of Jesus in the management of our Conversions to let the Soul know that if she makes good use of the first Grace she receives Nonne est ipsa beata vita quam omnes volunt audimus nomen hoc rem ipsam omnes nos appetere fatemur non enim sono delectamur c. Paulo infra Nota est igitur omnibus hominibus quia una voce si interrogari possent sine ulla dubitatione velle responderent D. Aug. tom 1. lib. 10. confess cap. 20. per totum God will never deny her the continuation of his Graces until that her Conversion be fully compleated But because that the sufficient Grace whereof we spoke heretofore is a general term that comprehends all the particular Graces which precedes the Justification as Dispositions requisite to the Introduction of that Noble form I suppose with St. Augustin that the first Thought that falls into a Reasonable mans Heart whatever state he is in is a great desire to be Sav'd A desire which the Divines call a Velleity of Salvation to which God concurs with his special assistance to make this weak desire come to a perfect will For to comprehend the merit of that Grace Quae sursum sunt sapite non quae super terram Coloss 3. v. 2. it should be necessary to remark with St. Augustin and other Saints that all Spiritual Gifts all Graces and Favours which God of his Infinite Mercy communicates to our Hearts have no other end or aim but to stir up our Wills to Actions conducing to Salvation Which to perform after a sweet way God indues the Soul with two attractive Powers he fixes one to the objects of our Conversion and the other to its beginning and ground He orders that the Object shall lance a thousand Lustres of Beauty towards the poor Sinners Soul Quae oculus non vidit c. 1 Cor. 2.9 and so many brightsome Beams whereby Heaven is represented to him as a place of Rest where all Tears all Labours all Crosses and Sufferings are Divinely changed into so many Splendours and Lights of Glory where Saints are Sweetly reduc'd and Happily necessitated to Love freed of all Misery and replenish'd with that Saintly Pleasure which takes its source from the Divine Essence These are the Charms which the Object pours down into our Hearts and to the end that its ravishing Beauties should the sooner come to lodge therein God shapes them either into so many Figures which he knows will draw our Affections to them or at least reforms the former Species we had of them by giving them a more lively colour His Charms are altogether as great for the Understanding and Will the concurring Principles of our Conversion but Principles so corrupted since the Fall of Adam and so disorder'd in their Inclinations that besides the difficulties they meet with in the practice of Virtues they are blindly perswaded that all good and felicity resides where Vice even sits in its Thone with Authority But God to bring them from that errour takes off all contradictions makes all difficulties plain drives away all dark Clouds clears the understanding and helps on the Will in the pursuit of things which she thought impossible whilst she was plunged in the dirt of sin and lead by the inclinations of corrupt Nature then she finds that there is more satisfaction and pleasure to die on the Cross than she had of inclination to live in the flesh and is very well pleased to gather Roses amongst Bushes and Thorns However let us not be perswaded that the faculties of the Soul to work her Conversion requires only the intimate presence of God without any further concurrence of any created Principle I do acknowledge that God has the power of Essential
them in St. John by a solemn Oath that even in this World their sadness shall be turned into joy and through their Afflictions he will let run the streams of his Heavenly Consolations Si me persecuti sunt vos persequenter Joan 15. v. 29. Gaudium vestrum nemo tollet à vobis Joan 16. v. 22. They shall taste Honey from the top of the Rod that whips them If he strikes at them they ought to consider him as a Shephard who for to gather his Flock before him takes up with his Pastoral Staff a clod of Earth to fling at the Sheep that goes aside Una pendet in vitibus oliva in arboribus quandiu pendent in frutetis suis tanquam libero acre perfruuntur at nec una vinum est nec oliva selum ante pressurant sic sunt homines quos praedestinavit Deus ante saecula conformes fieri imaginis fillij sui qui precipuè in passione magnus hortus expressus est c. Paulo inferius Accedens quisque ad servitutem Dei ad torcularia se venisse cognoscat non ut in hoc saeculo pereâ—t sed ut in apothecâ—s Dei deflunt c. D Aug. to 8. in Psal 1â— qui est pro torcularibâ—â— If he puts them under the Press of Afflictions it is only to squeese out of them what is mortal and terrestrial to be the better able to fly towards the Region of Immortal things This is not as yet enough God has other Designs on the Souls which he does afflict in this World he aims to bring them by the means of Afflictions from that large Road which leads to Hell and to conduct them into the narrow Lane of Heaven For being it is very true that a Man who was never otherwise lead than by the pernicious Maxims of Blood and Flesh is as much incapable to think of Heaven and knows the obligations of his Salvation as is the Owl to look at the Sun in his full height God could never make choice of a more efficacious means to convert a Sinner than to expose his Body and Flesh to the rigours of the Cross thereby to revive his Spirit And it is very true John 17. v. 9. for St. John the Faithful Secretary of Jesus relating the Articles of his Masters last Will and Testament says That he Pray'd to God his Father not for the World nor for the Worldlings that always live in Prosperity But for them who for his Love willingly made choice to carry their Cross But I pray to what end was this Prayer made which doubtless will be heard for the Reverence of him who makes it St. Luke resolves me as for you says he Luke 22. v. 18. who by my Example have stood firm and constant in all your Temptations I do dispose unto you the Kingdom that my Father prepar'd for me Et ego dispono vobis sicut disposuit mihi pater meus regnum a disposing which is never perform'd but by the Holy motions that he casts into a Soul whilst she is afflicted it is then that he does dispose her by a generous Conversion to make her self worthy of the Kingdom of Heaven The Prophet Joel Quis scit si convertatur ignoscat relinquat benedictionem Joel c. 2. v. 13. after he had exhorted the People to Convert themselves with all their Hearts by Fasting and weeping seems to doubt if after all that God all good all merciful as he is be pleas'd with our Fasting and Tears For we can sometimes Convert our selves to God but it is hard to know if God has Converted himself to us Vide D. Hieron to 6. ad haec verba Joelis hic Who is it that knows says he if after we fulfil what God demanded of us whether he leaves us his Blessing or no. The Abbot Rupert clears us of this doubt Rupert in c. 1. Joel by remitting us to that infallible sign in Exodus where God assures the Children of Israel That they shall not resent the rigours of his Indignation nor suffer the exemplary punishments of the Egyptians so that he sees their doors sprinkled with the Blood of the H. Lamb â— scit apud 〈◊〉 peccata 〈◊〉 ab eis â—â—â—â—ricordia â—bitur ei 〈◊〉 â—â—â—que 〈…〉 â—ald ex Heâ—â—â—â—o 't is to this sign that he leaves his Blessing Among Christians we have not a more sensible mark to know that God has a good will for a Soul than to see her cover'd over with the Blood of Jesus and carry her Cross after him When it pleases this Soveraign King to come the Circuit of the World if he falls into the Great ones Pallaces where he perceives a superfluity of all sorts Par Deo dignum vir fortis cum malafortuna compositus spectaculum Deo dignum fortuna ut gladiatur fortissimos sibi pares quaerit alias fastidio transit ignem expeâ—â—tur in mutio c. Seneca lib. 1. de providentia he never stops there with his Blessings but goes through if he meets with Cities Towns or Houses where nothing is free but Crimes he passes by he seems not to look at them If he comes into the company of Ranters and debauch'd Livers he makes no matter of them and as well the one as the other he leaves them in the hands of his Revenging Angel who puts them all to the Sword and in the very place But if he meets with a good Soul forsaken by all the World abandon'd by his nearest Relations under the heavy load of Oppressions which nevertheless lifts up her Eyes towards Heaven whence she expects all her Relief and her Comfort It is there he goes in there he pours down his Graces by full handfuls to compleat her Conversion The Infidels seeing heretofore the Christians under the rage and fury of Tyrants some to be Strapado'd others crush'd into pieces on Wheels here a great company cut into quarters there as many more Fley'd Alive could not conceive how the God for whose Love they protested to suffer all those Torments could be the God of the Afflicted that it was no proof of any true Friendship to strike where he Lov'd But the Prophet Joel gives them their Answer that they are the Caresses of a Loving Father and that God is displeas'd with the Earth for pardoning his People Ite igitur succendite eum igni succenderunt ergo servi Absolam segetem igni c. 2 Reg. v. â—0 31 c. Absolon was banish'd from his Fathers Presence and in the Disgrace of his banishment desirous to receive some Consolation from his Friends he sends an express to Joab to intreat him to Honour him with a Visit Joab desires to be excus'd Absolon the second time sends to him requesting earnestly being whilst Fortune favour'd him he profess'd to be his real Friend that now in his Disgrace he would not deprive him of that great satisfaction he was in hopes to receive
difference of times a Friend for to make his beloved to resent the effects of his Friendship we must not seek for him in the World Jacob c. 4. v 4. Quicunque ergo voluerit amicus esse hujus saeculi inimicus Dei constituitus For St. James assures us in his Masters behalf that whoever takes the World for his Friend has God at the same time for his mortal Enemy Parmenion did no sooner imagine that he had a better Friend in the World than Alexander but Alexander out of hand forgot him and dismist him out of his Court. Dyrce the Thebeian seeing that Lycus her Husband had an affection for Antiopa she could not bear that affront she has Antiopa tied to the Horns of a furious Bull and turns off her Husband Lycus as a Man unworthy of her company Mundi amor Dei pariter in uno corde cohabitare non possunt quemadmodum jidem oculi Coelum pariter terram nequaquam aspiciunt Auctor lib. de 12. abusionibus inter opera Augustini God will have us to believe that he is in love with Men and that the least glance we give at Creatures to the prejudice of what we owe unto him he takes it to be criminal and cannot conceal his feelings of it Though it be true that he lets us sometimes run at random that we may know to our own cost how rigorous are the Laws of all other Friendships but his but it is to the end that having learned by experience how all things underneath him are subject to change we come to confess that of necessity we must get out of the World for to find a perfect Friend and so insensibly withdraw our selves from all Earthly troubles to settle better the compass of reason and find a Friend who shews that he loves us by saving our Souls CHAP. XXVII That we cannot meet with a better Friend than JESUS IF the Catastrophes and Bloody Tragedies of the amities of the World constrain us by reason to detest their alliances Speciosus forma prae filiis hominum c. Psal 4. v. 3. the rare qualities which render Jesus amiable above all things Rebus intelligibilibus tanta est pulchritudo ut illa sit Archetybos nostra simulata umbrarilis pendens nascens à corporeis lineamentis illa in lumine claritatis suae haerens in hac est Deus formâ—sitimus c. Egubinus in Psal 44. shall have no less power to engage our affections in the pursuit of his Love I do not think it strange what St. Augustine says in his Confessions where he accuses himself to have wept in his younger days reading in Virgil the love which Dido and Aeneas had one for another For though the continuance happen'd to be disgraceful to Dido this Poet nevertheless represents the beginning with such a deal of chaste motions that St. Augustine could not read without Tears the fatal end of so innocent a Love He makes that Princess appear so ravished musing upon the happiness she had to have lodged her affections in so worthy a subject that she could never be out of her dumps unless it were to relate the perfections of her Friend and by that sweet evaporation ease the heat of those Fires which consumed her Heart If she looks on his bright Armour and Martial Forehead Virgil 4. Aeneid she believes that there is nothing in the World can withstand the greatness of his courage If he opens his Mouth for to broach a Discourse she finds therein so much Grace and Charms that she thinks it a wonder to see Mercurius and Mars agree so well together in one Subject Now she takes in her Arms the little Ascanius Son to Aeneas for Aeneas was the Widower of Lavinia as Dido was the Relict of Sichaeus and looking into the pollished Christal of his Eyes where the Image of his Father in her fancy did shine she flatters her self with hopes to have the like consolation by the Rights of a Lawful Marriage Another time she takes her Sister Anne aside and discharging her Heart to her Credo equidem nec vana fides gâ—nu esse deorum â—bidem says I must not tell you a lie my dear Sister there is a Man above all Men For my part I do believe and am not deceived he must be of the Race of the Gods It seems to me that this is the discourse of Magdalen and Martha of their dearly beloved Jesus Magdalen over-light in her Friendship whilst she remained a Slave to the World and Subject to its Laws had no sooner seen the Face of the Messias and washed his Feet in the Pharisee's House but coming back to her Lodging all in a sweat Ah! my dear Sister let me hear no more talk of the World Jesus has gained my Heart I shall never Love any other what a wretch am I to begin so late to understand his Merits he is both handsom sweet and gracious he is affable withal they made me believe that nothing came from his Mouth but Thunders Remissa sunt ei peccata multa quia dilexit multum Lucae 7. v. 47. from his Eyes but Lightnings and from his Hand but Thunderbolts It 's true but they are Thunderbolts without any hurt Lightnings without any terrour a Thunder without noise Ardor charitatis in ea rubi ginem peccatorum combussit peccata cremabâ—lia sunt ad faciem ignis stare non possunt D. Greg. ex Hugone Card. in c. 7. Lucae I never expected from him so favourable a reception as I had The company begins to grumble at me but he most graciously took my defence in hand they would fain blame my actions but he was pleased to justifie me before all and which is more he was so merciful to me as to give me the full absolution of all my Sins Let Dido burn if she please in her flames for Aeneas For my part I will never have any Friend but Jesus at this present I do renounce with all my Heart all other amities for to live and die in Jesus my sweet Love Deligebat Jesus Martham Sororem ejus Mariam Lazarum ille languens illae tristes omnes dilecti sed diligebat eos languentium Salvator imo etiam mortuorum suscitator tristium consolator D. Aug. tom 9. Tract 49. in cap. 11. Joan. Magdalen had reason for besides that Jesus by his proper Nature inexhaustible source of the primitive Love is worthy to be lov'd above all things by a Love of benevolence the effects which we do receive dayly of his Friendship ought to render him amiable to us and worthy of Love which may be both sensible and of proper Interest For if we come to consider the favours he gives us they are without number if we take notice after what fashion he bestows them they are without example If of the times wherein he does them there is not a moment of our lives but is under the
influences of his Liberalities The favours which God is pleased to do us are without number for whoever could exactly set down the Riches of the Earth the Profits of the Seas the Commodities of the Air the Necessity of the Fire the Fecundity of the Moon the Wonders of the Sun the Influences of the Heavens the Multitude of Beasts and the Number of Fishes the Beauty of Flowers Quid dicam quemadmodum clementia Dei humanae prospexit utilitati Foeneratum terra restituit quod acceperit usurarum cumulo multiplicatum homines saepe decepiunt ipsa foeneratorem suum forte defraudant terra fidelis manet c. D. Ambr. lib. 3. Hexam cap. 8. the Ornament of the Universe and the Diversity of so much Treasures all that appertain to Man by a free and authentical gift Signed Sealed and set up in the Register-Office of the Divinity Let all the Monarchs of the World be Assembled in one for to furnish Man with the least and meanest part of all those Goods their abilities shall become short And to the end that we should have our obligations all entire to him who with so liberal a hand gave us so much Riches he has deprived all other Creatures both of Understanding and Reason That not knowing what they were nor what they had they might not appropriate to themselves that whose Possession was reserved for Man only They commonly say of a Father after his death that he loved his Children dearly when he left them an ample and rich Patrimony or a Succession in a very good Estate an Inheritance without strife yet after his Decease it falls out that the Children are at a deal of pains and trouble to preserve their Goods The Gifts of God in the beginning were not accompanied with these incumbrances For if a Man had conserv'd himself in the Innocency of his Creation the Earth which is now become a Rebel to the Stock and Plough had opened her Bosom without the least violence to give him his Livelihood and which is more if in the same disorder we are in at present and where we suffer the punishment of Sin by the general revolt of all Creatures there were Men who would entirely submit themselves to the wise conduct of the Eternal Providence without being so over-earnest in the cares and concerns of the Earth Scripture assures us that they should be abundantly provided for in all their necessities For if God doth cherish all that came from his bountiful hands Considerate lilia agri quantus sic candor in foliis quemadmodum stipâ—ta ipsa folia ab imo ad summum videantur assurgere ut scyphi ex primant formam ut auri quaedam species intus effulgeat quae tamen vallo in circuitu floris obsepta nulli pateat injuirae D. Amb. lib. 3. Hexam cap. â— if he covers the Flowers with Purple and Scarlet if he nourishes maintains and preserves the little Birds of the Air if he keeps an exact account of each Leaf of a Tree what will he do for Man had he been the wickedest of all Mortals This Sun of Justice will never deny him the benignity of his Influences being that he will have the distribution thereof to be made as well to the good as to the bad with that differenc e that the good do participate not only with the bad of the common Goods of Nature which is equally shared but as yet receives by way of pre-eminency extraordinary favours Si foenum agri quod hodie est c. Matth. 6. v. 30. So we see Fathers and Mothers authorised by all good manners and customs make over a special and free Gift to one of their Children who will among all the rest be most obedient to their Commandments who will have more inclination to serve them and who by the effects of their good nature shall as a Stork render the Duties of Piety to them who gave them their Being a Gift Judged irrevocable by all Laws as well written as introduced by Custom chiefly when the cause of merit is exprest in the said donation And though it should be subject to a decision God who is the absolute Master of all Goods and owes nothing to no body advances whom he pleases and none can bring him to question for it much less find fault with him And as the Goods which concern the Salvation of Man imports him more than those who aim at nothing else but the present life So God besides the general Graces which he imparts to all without exception he reserves some particular Graces for them that he takes to be the most worthy objects of his Love The fashon whereby God loves us Quod homo homini det multae possunt esse causae Paulo inferius Deus non indiget aliquo cum ipse det omnibus vitam inspirationem comnia si peccaveris quid ei nocebis si multiplicatae fuerint iniquitates tuae quid facies contra eum patet ergo quod ex pura liberalitate deligat nos Deu. Hugo Card. in c. 3. Joan. is no less considerable For the manner of acting of all sorts of Powers is what extols and gives a lustre to the action God loves us not for our good Offices done to him being that we are declared Criminals by his Divine Majesty even from our Mothers Womb. It 's not for having continued Faithful in his Service since we were re-called by our Baptism to the Rights of an Adoptive Filiation being we no sooner came to the use of reason but we began to be refractory to the Holy Laws of Heaven It 's not by our loving him he receives any Surplus of Glory For as our Creation has added nothing to the merit of his Power by drawing us out of that Chaos So his reducing us to nothing would lessen in no respect the Dominion of his Grandeurs Seneca de Clementia Cinna was cherished by Octavius Caesar who chose him for one of his Favourites to whom he was more inclined to impart his most secret Affairs Cinna could not conserve himself any long time in that Honourable Imployment He detracts from his Prince murmurs against his designs censures all his best actions Caesar hears of it Caesar dissembles and seeing that Cinna had subject to complain that making him his Favourite he did not as yet Treat him according to his merit He takes on a resolution to advance him gives him Riches suffers him to have the handling of his Treasures sets him at his ease and invested him with the most Honourable Imployments that were in the Senate hoping that this wild Spirit overcome with so many Civilities would be constrained to bear him an affection Cinna more ungrateful than ever at the very first up-rising of the Commonwealth where all the Factious did Monopolise against the State nay against the very Person of Caesar casts himself amongst them he will be of the Party and makes himself the most concerned in
nothing here but the bare use of things as all other Creatures nothing remains to him but the Immortal thoughts of Heaven to maintain himself in the advantage of his pretentions Let us then aim at Heaven our Native Soil if we be not willing to be placed among the number of Bruit Beasts and to the great undervaluing of the wise conduct of Jesus who by the thoughts of Immortality desires to wean our affections from the Earth and bring them to purchase an Immortal Glory CHAP. XXXI That the Angels are imployed to the Conversion of a Sinner I Do no more admire that Antiquity represented Love to be blind now that the super-adorable Sacrament of the Incarnation of Jesus has given us the full knowledge of that Riddle and taught us that we must not understand it of Humane Love but of Divine whereupon Theology gives us a notable distinction of those two Loves For Humane and Prophane Love which never labours but for its own Interest never does engage it self in the pursuit of any Object but what it supposes to be both good and worthy of Love and in so choosing it seems not to be blind But Divine Love by Loving renders what it Loves amiable can find therein no charms able to captivate tho' it Love but what proceeds from his own proper goodness It 's therein that it seems to be blind being that it loves a thing which is known before-hand to be nothing amiable Hypoâ—iposâ— A great Monarch moved to compassion at the disgrace of his Subject whom he sees reduced to that extremity as to Beg from door to door without the least overture of any ease to his misery Willing to release him out of that Thraldom becomes bound for him to his Creditors clears him of his Debts assigns him over a House of a thousand Crowns Rent commands his Officers to put him in possession of it and that none should dare to molest him in his Rights There is a great Love indeed This Subject forgets the good will and favour of his Prince he commits a crime of Leze Majestie in the first degree there he is condemned to die his Sentence is solemnly pronounced his Posterity must be blotted out of Mens memory a Piramide raised whereon in great Characters all Ages to come may see and read the horrour and grieviousness of his Offence Before the execution of that Sentence the Monarch comes and grants him his Pardon gives Orders that all the pieces of his Process be brought out of the Registers-Office of Parliament stands by and sees all burnt This is not all he commands upon pain of Death that a word should never be spoke of to his disgrace Of a meer Clown as he was he makes him a Gentleman gives him his Patents of Nobility and to confirm them he makes him a Knight of his own Order without doubt that is a particular Love This is not enough this Subject dies and leaves Children behind him who are like to be crossed by those that envied their Fathers great Fortune This Monarch apprehending such a disorder has an Inventory made of all his Goods puts the Money out to Use appoints a Prince of the Blood to be a Tutor to the Orphans and will have beyond all common Laws that he become accountable to him for the true Administration of his Charge Blind Love never to be paralel'd Jesus is our Monarch we are his Subjects Before the Creation what were we A no Being a meet negation a pure nothing Adam is no sooner come out of the Matrice of that Chaos but God puts him in Possession of Heaven and Earth expresly commanding all Nature to obey his Orders he commands his Angels to cast a Line and mark out the Platform of a Royal House of a magnificent Pallace of a Terrestrial Paradice All being set in good Order they bring him into that Inheritance he was not there full three hours when that by an Act of Fellony he becomes refractory to his Divine Majesty and by a manifest Rebellion he undervalues the Ordinances of his Sovereign through the unruly Appetite of a most vile concupiscence All Creatures would have been revenged of so great a disorder and the very insensible themselves drawing up his Process would have punished him in the very place but that the Dauphin of Heaven the Son and Heir of the Eternal Father undertakes to accommodate that matter makes himself to be put into his place takes from Humane Nature by Incarnation whereby to repair that disorder and make full satisfaction to the Parties offended in rigour of Justice through the Infinite Merit of his Proctorship The Criminal is restored to his Rights which he lost through his disobedience all the pieces of his Process are brought out of the Eternal Fathers Register-Office and nailed on the Cross never to be produced any more against the Transgressors does not this shew the greatness of God's Love for Men. Love goes on always increasing as the Morning-star and even as the fire never stops the course of its activity until that all combustible matters which entertains its action be taken away So the Divine love never gives over to spread its flames whilst it finds objects capable of its Impression And in case he finds none he creates some For man the second time becoming insolent and being surprised in Rebellion his Arms in his hands that is committing of actual sin was resolved to nail once more Jesus his Redeemer on the Cross as St. Paul tells me Action which ought to set a stop to the course of his love but that he puts a mask on his eyes and seems not to take notice of our insolencies he appoints his Priests to be Commissaries to examine and judge the Delinquents but with orders not to deal rigorously with them nor according to all the points of Law and that he will never fail to confirm the graces of Absolution which his Judges shall give so be that they do attest the repentance of the penitent Nay and which is more he is resolved to give them Letters of Nobility and make them Knights of the Order of the Holy Ghost if they do but leave off their base trading with Creatures and exercise themselves in the noble actions of Heaven and Salvation And because that those extraordinary favours will be an object of contradiction and of revolt to Devils by reason of their ancient jealousie of our happiness God even to hinder their bad design has put us in the Safeguard and under the protection of good Angels making them our Overseers to manage his Graces in us and improve his Inspirations in our hearts whilst we shall remain in our minority The Articles of that Overseeing are distinctly set down in the Holy Scripture in the Book of Exodus Exod. 23. where among other advices which God gives to Moses and to all the popularity of Israelites for to pass happily through the Desarts never to be weary in their journey to get the victory
secures her self against violence because she is free and naturally opposeth whatever seems to incroach upon her liberty She does not acquiesce in reason because she is deaf nor hears any discourse but such as charms the Understanding by convincing it But Pleasure hath allurements which she can no ways withstand She trembles whenever it sets upon her she is afraid to lose her liberty in his presence and knowing the power it hath over her inclinations she calls in Sorrow to her succour to Guard her against this pleasing Enemy If it be true that Pleasure reigns absolutely over the Will we need not think it strange that Grace which is nothing but a Victorious suavity hath such advantage over her For besides that this Heavenly Influence surpasseth all the delights in the World that charm us having more allurements than Glory and Beauty that makes so many Lovers and Martyrs Tunc enim bonum concupisci incipit cum dulcescere incipit ergo benedictio dulcedinis est gratia Dei qua fit in nobis ut nos delectes cupiamus hoc est amemus quod praecipit nobis Aug. it insinuates much deeper into the Will than whatever ravisheth us Mortals Being in the hands of Jesus Christ whom nothing can resist it glides into the very Center of our Hearts making Impressions there that are never more strong than when they are most agreeable thence it cashiers all Pleasures that have unjustly Usurp'd upon us and knowing all the weakness of the place it sets upon we need not wonder if she makes her self Mistress Other Pleasures enter not into the Will but at the Gate of the Senses they have lost half their strength before they can make their approach and her inclination being unknown to them they many times cause aversion intending to procure Love But Grace wooes the Heart without the mediation of the Senses and more powerful than Pleasures that act not upon all the faculties of the Soul carries light into the Understanding Faithfulness into the Memory and Pleasures into the Will so that we need not wonder if the Sinner suffer himself to be overcome by a Divine quality that sheds delight into all the powers and faculties of the Soul That which Grace effects thus agreeable by Pleasure Amor imperium habet super omnes animae vires propter hoc quod ejus objectum est bonum Arivis D. Tho. it brings to pass more powerfully by Love For according to the Judgement of St. Augustine Grace is nothing else but Charity and when God means to convert a Sinner his sole design is to make him his Lover Love is the Master of all Hearts there is no impossibility this Passion undertakes not Miracles are his sports and all the Prodigies Antiquity hath produced are nothing but the effects of this Sovereign Scripture is never more Eloquent than when it intends to express the force thereof Nothing satisfies it in this design all words seem too weak to express its conceptions and finding no comparisons that answer the dignity of the Subject it descends to the Tombs where having considered the Trophies of Death is forced to confess that his power equals not that of Love It passeth to the very Center of the Earth observes the unrelenting sadness of Hell and comparing the pains of the Damned with the anxeity of Lovers leaves us in doubt whether Hell or Love be more pitiless But not to aggravate his power by such strange comparisons let it suffice to Judge of him by his Effects Though he be the Son of the Will yet is he the Master he disposeth so absolutely of his Mother that she hath no Motions but what her Son inspires her with She undertakes nothing but by his Orders 't is the Weight that sets her a going the Load-stone that attracts her the King that Governs her and she so absolutely depends upon his Power that nothing but an other Love can dis-engage her She is so fierce or so free that neither Violence nor Fear can tame her She laughs at Tortures preserves her Liberty in the midst of Fetters and many times Torments make her but more wilful Only Love mollifies her hardness his Charms gain upon her what sorrow cannot and Experience teacheth Us there is no surer command then that which is founded upon Love In the mean time Vanity which is almost the inseparable Companion of Greatness perswades Kings that 't is a debasement to seek the Love of their Subjects and seduced by this false Maxim They endeavour to make themselves feared not being able to make themselves Beloved But God who hath formed the Heart of Man and knows how they may be Vanquished without being forced owes all his Conquests to his Love He never appears more absolute then when he tames a Rebellious Will when of an Enemy he makes him a Lover and changing his Inclinations sweetly compels him to fall in Love with him Forin secus terret per legem intrinsecus delectat per amorem Aug. His Power sparkles in his Corrections He astonisheth Sinners when he loosens the Mountains from their Foundations when he makes the Earth shake under their Feet the Thunder rumble over their Heads and threatens the World with an Universal Deluge or a general Conflagration But all these Menaces convert not the Guilty The fear that terrifies them does not reduce them to their Duty their Heart remains Criminal when their Mouths and their Hands be Innocent and if God inspire not his Love into them he punishes indeed their Offence but changes not their Wills This Prodigious Metamorphosis is reserved for his Love 't is his Charity that must Triumph over Rebels Nor is there any thing but his Grace that by its Imperious Sweetness can oblige a Sinner to Love him I am not afraid to injure Mans Liberty in using Terms so Significant Because supposing Grace to be nothing but Love it can do no Violence to the Will For of all the things in the World there is none freer then Love A Man cannot complain that he is forc'd when nothing but Charms of affection are imployed to gain him And if there are some Lovers that have blamed the Rigour of their Mistresses there is none that have found fault with their Love If it be an Evil 't is a Voluntary one it hurts none but those that willingly Embrace it and of so many Punishments that torment Us there is none more Innocent because none more Free Crowns may be snatched from Soveraigns Confidence may be taken from Philosophers Orators may be convinc'd any man may lose his Life but what ever Stratagems are made use of what ever Violence men Practice a Lover cannot be forc'd nor his Love extorted from him Seeing then Grace is nothing but Charity and Charity nothing but a Holy Love We must not apprehend Violence nor imagine that the Assaults of this Divine Quality can at all injure our Liberty because it does not dis-engage us from Evil but by obliging
us to Love God If Grace cannot force our Will because it is a Victorious Love it ought less to constrain it Because according to the Language of St. Augustine 't is a pleasant perswasion For this great Man considering that he was to deal with Free-will on one side and the Power of Grace on the other that he was to maintain the Empire of God and the Liberty of Man He hath always exprest himself so happily that he never prejudic'd either And as indeed Grace never forces Man but perswades him it holds some thing of Eloquence or of Reason that Triumphs over Liberty without compelling it Rhetorik is an Art that teaches us to perswade Truth Orators are agreeable Soveraigns that bear Rule over the minds of their Auditors that calm their Passions change their Designs and gently force their Wills Therefore was it unhandsomely done of that Ancient to compare Pericles with Pisistratus Quid enim inter Pisistratum Periclem inter fuit nisi quod ille armatus hic sine armis Tyrannidem gessit Cicero because this Tyrant domineer'd but over Mens Bodies that Orator exercised a Dominion over their Souls The one made use of Violence the other imploy'd nothing but Sweetness The one procur'd the hatred of his Subjects the other the Love of his Auditors For no man could complain of Pericles because he used nothing but Eloquence to perswade his command was founded upon Reason his Chief force consisted in Truth he subjected no understandings but by clearing them nor changed any Mens Wills but in taking them by their Interests or their Inclinations In a word Eloquence may boast her self a Soveraign that Reigns without Arms Subdues People by her Word convinceth Philosophers by her Reasons and Subjects Monarchs by her Power She protects the Innocent comforts the Distressed condemns or absolves the Guilty and she Animates the Advocates or the Judges produceth different Miracles in their Souls Whether she inchant the Ears by the Harmonious Cadencies of her Periods whether she excite Love and hatred by her Gestures her principal design is to master the Liberty of Man She appears complacent that she may be perswasive nor doth she require the attention of her Auditors but that she may get their consent 'T is true never any man complains of her Violence because she is Sweet and he that has chang'd his mind at the hearing of an Orator never accused him of Tyranny 'T is certainly upon this ground that St. Augustine calls Grace a very Powerful perswasion because imitating Eloquence it clears our Spirits calms our Passions and gains our Consent it hath this advantage over Eloquence that it hath no need of our Ears to win our Hearts it transmits it self by its self into the inmost recesses of the Soul finds out Reason in her Throne without employing the Senses carries Light into the Understanding and kindles Love in the Will Thus she perswades what she will to the obstinate Subdues Rebels without Arms makes her Subjects will what she desires they should and when she displays all her Forces she works the Conversion of a Sinner in a moment This certainly was the power Jesus Christ made use of when he laid St. Paul flat at his feet when he Converted that Persecutor into an Apostle chang'd his Heart and his Tongue and made him that breath'd nothing but murther say Lord what wilt thou have me to do He lost not his Liberty for having lost his Fury He chang'd not his Nature for having chang'd his Judgement nor can we say that the perswasion that gain'd his consent was less free or more Violent for being too sudden Grace knows how to be obeyed without making us Slaves She can perswade without compelling and more Powerful then Eloquence is able to make us Love what we hated before That great Orator that guided the Roman Common-Wealth with his Tongue and made his Opinion so Dexterously pass into the Soul of his Auditors That Gallant Man I say hath wrought Miracles by his Eloquence which we have much ado to allow the Grace of Jesus Christ to effect He could boast that he alter'd the Resolution of Coesar defending the Cause of Ligarius that he shook the Papers out of the Hands and the hatred out of the Heart of that Conquerour that he made him re-call the Sentence he had already pronounced in his Soul that he overcame him by his Reasons that he Subdued all by his Arms and trampled upon the pride of a Tyrant that had Triumph'd over the Liberty of Rome In the mean time we have much ado to believe that Grace can work Miracles We weaken its Virtue to preserve our own Free-will We are not content that Jesus Christ should be as Powerful as an Orator and when we hear of these Victorious Graces and of these invinsible perswasions we imagine as if there were a design to oppress the Publick Liberty Let us ascribe that to Grace which we grant to Eloquence Let us confess that the Son of God knows how to imprint Truth in our Spirit and Love in our Heart to perswade us Infallibly Let us acknowledge that he is not to seek by what Stratagems to gain our Inclinations that his Grace more intimate then Concupiscence is able to become the Mistress of our Wills and whatever command she Exercises over us she never destroys our Liberty because she hath no other design then to redeem it out of Servitude Let us then conclude with the Example and Doctrine of St. Augustine that the Profession of a Christian and the Excellency of the Children of Grace is not to Prophesie future things nor to hurl the point of their Intelligence into the hidden Mysteries of Holy Scripture but to be Magnanimous and Couragious in the frequent Combats which Concupiscence give us for that is the only imployment which will make appear how strong the Love is which we bear to Jesus CHAP. XXXIX That the Grace of JESUS leaves that weighty obligation on all Christians to be both Souldiers and Conquerors THe God whom we adore takes his Glory as well from War as from Rest and if he be call'd in Scripture the God of Peace he is as often called the Lord of Hosts Multitudo militiae Caelestis His Angels are the Souldiers that wait upon him to the Battle who avenge him of his Enemies The Stars which keep watch as Centinels about his Palace bear the name of the Militia in the Language of the Prophets And all those that serve him for Ministers in his Embassies serve him for Combatants in his Conquest Labora sicut bonus miles Christ 2. Tim. 2. Therefore did the Angels who gave notice to the Shepherds of the Birth of Jesus Christ take their name from their principal imployment and called themselves the Heavenly Host And when the Son of God was taken in the Garden of Olives and blamed Saint Peter Nemo coronabitur nisi vicerit neque vicet nisi certaverit Quis autem
Disciples that he would destroy the World in the dreadful day of his Vengeance so that professing to imitate the Son of God we are obliged to hate what he never loved and to defend our selves from a Traytor who imploys Lying Grief and Pleasure to gain us to his Party He tries to deceive us that so he may corrupt us Duplicem aciem mundus producit contra milites Christi blanditur ut decipiat minatur ut frangat adutrosque aditus occurit Christus non vincitur Christianus Aug. de sanct vinc He sets up Maxims which under a pretence of maintaining Society introduce Libertinism amongst Men he makes Debauches pass for Recreations Revenge for greatness of Courage Impurity for a Lawful Affection If he cannot seduce us he goes about to terifie us casts pannick fears into weak Souls makes them apprehensive of Grief or Infamy Perswades a Young Man that Chastity is a blemish to his Reputation A Woman that Modesty spoils the lustre of her Beauty A Gentleman that the forgetting of Injuries damps his Courage and being a Tyrant makes use of fear to keep his Subjects in obedience But when he meets with generous Souls who reject his Maxims and contemn his Threats he hath recourse to Pleasures and imploys Charms to soften the obdurate This last Battery is the most to be feared because the sweetest This is that which enervates the Sampsons Masters the Davids and Tryumpths over the Solomons Engages these great men in a Lie by blinding them terrifies them by making them Cowards and breeding fear in their Hearts with Love causes them to apprehend the loss of those things he makes them passionately affect He lays before their eyes whatever may allure them makes pleasure enter in at their Senses and forgetting no kind of Artifice to render wickedness agreeable widens his Empire and increases the number of his Subjects If we be Christians indeed we must give battle to this Enemy oppose the Maxims of the Gospel against his falshoods destroy Errour by Truth and protest that being the Subjects of Jesus Christ we acknowledge no other Laws but those of his Church To evacuate those Terrours wherewith he shakes our Courage we must discern true Honour from false fix our Glory in our Duty and remember that the true Disciples of Jesus Christ ought always to prefer Virtue before Honour and Conscience before Reputation To defend us from the Pleasures the World tempts us with we must look upon their end and represent the shame and grief that never forsakes them Finally we must beg Grace of Jesus Christ who hath overcome the World that assisted with his favour we may vanquish his Enemies with all the Errours wherewith he would seduce us the fear wherewith he would astonish us and the Pleasures wherewith he would enchant us For it is not enough for the Christian to be a Souldier if he be not also Victorious his Condition is more painful than that of Souldiers For though these are the Victims of Glory and of Death that for a little pay they expose themselves to a thousand dangers they are not responsible for the Success of the Battle and provided they lend their Heart and Hand to their General there is nothing more can be expected from their Valour But the Christians are such Soldiers as must be Victorious 'T is not enough that they Fight they must win the Field they must overcome here if they mean to Reign with Christ hereafter 'T is true Omne quod natum est Deo vincit mundum Joan. 16. v. 5. he hath this advantage over all other Captains he inspires courage into his Souldiers and gives them Victory who engage in the Combat so that 't is their fault if they be defeated and the Glory of their Commander if they remain Conquerours Their Birth obliges them to this Duty For the Scripture teacheth us that those that are born of God overcome the World that Grace which contains Glory in the seed is able to preserve them from Sin and that leaving them to the Spirit that Inanimates them they remain impeccable in his Hands St. Bernard is of this mind and will have their Victory over Temptation a certain Proof of their Adoption The Virtues themselves they have received at their Baptism are helps which facilitate the Defeat of their Enemies For Faith is not only their strength but their Victory and renders them as well Conquerours as Souldiers Hope doth heighten their Courage and giving them the Almighty for their Second makes them gain as many Victories as they Fight Battles Charity that finds nothing impossible which measures its Power by its Courage and more prevalent than Death over-turns whatever resists it inspres them with so much force that they vanquish all griefs and Master all Difficulties But if there be any Virtue that renders them invinsible we must confess 't is their despoiling themselves of the Goods of the Earth For Satan never catches us but by those things that engage us He seduces only by those things that please us and when Self-denial hath perfectly separated us they lose the boldness to set upon us and the hope of over-coming us Therefore doth St. Augustine admirably conclude that he that only loves that good which cannot be taken from him is truly invinsible And Seneca founded upon the same Principle had reason to say that Alexander was vanquished by Diogenes because he found a Philosopher to whom he could give nothing and from whom he could take nothing away Indeed the Ambitious are not Subdued but because they are affraid to lose their Honour the Immodest are not gain'd but because they have a mind to preserve their Love nor are the Covetous engaged in Iniquity but because they cannot resolve to part with Riches But the Saints who are wedded only to God laugh at Tyrants and Devils and cruelty being not able to ravish from them what they love they happily assume the quality of Conquerour with that of a Souldier Let us adde that the Believer is invinsible if he be persectly united to Jesus Christ our strength depends upon this Union and when the Devil breaks the secur'd Bonds he hath an advantage against us He defeated us in the Person of Adam He vanquished all men in one He gain'd a hundred Victories in one Duel But he hath lost all his advantages again by Jesus Christ in Him we are Conquerours and as St. Augustine says his Victory would not be persect if he did not still Conquer the World in his Members Let us therefore unite our selves to him that we may be invinsible When we feel the Solicitations of the Flesh or the Devil and these two Tyrants confederate together endeavour to over-power us Let us implore the assistance of our Head and nothing presuming upon our own abilities but promising our selves all from his Grace render the Honour to Him of whom we hold the Victory CHAP. XL. That the Thoughts of Hell does bring the Sinner to his