as well as learn'd weak and sick as well as strong and healthy and in a word all the world may have by his Grace And because He desires that we bee perfect and wills that we be happy He commands us to love him 3. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God Vpon which S. Austin Quid mihi es miserere ut loquar Quid tibi sum ego ut amari te jubeas a me nisi faciam minaris ingentes miserias parva ne est ipsa miseria si non amem te O my God! have pity on me pardon me if I am bold to speak being but dust and ashes what is this to say that you command me to love you ought one to command a Vassal to love his Prince an Infant to love his Father a Spouse to love her Espouse a Creature to love the Creator are not you my Soveraign my Father my Espouse my All and my Creator Nevertheless you threaten me with great miseries if I love you not is there in the world a greater misery then not to love you is it not the misery of miseries to be depriv'd of your love You command me to love you what mercy 'T is too much honor to have the permission of it a Vassall would not dare say to his Prince Sr. I love you he may say I honor your Majesty I have much affection for your service but not I love you and I may say it to my God not only without temerity but with much merit He permits it He desires it He commands it 4. Nevertheless we have this misfortune among many others and which is not of the lesser that we often make more account of things which we ought to consider less You find many who say this day is the feast of S. Matthew to morrow Ember day or Easter is at hand we must hear Mass fast prepare our selves for communion You find very few that ever sayd in their lives we must make an Act of the love of God and nevertheless it is a commandement of God which obliges more stricly than those of the Church it is the first and greatest commandement it is an affirmative commadement Note affirmative the affirmative Precepts are those which command some action the negative are those which forbid to act to obey negative commandements we need not but abstain from acting to observe these commands Thou shalt not kill Thou shalt not swear Thou shalt not Steal there is no need to do any thing 't is enough to abstain from killing swearing robbing It is not so in the affirmative We fulfill them not by doing nothing but by practising Acts which they command Now the Commandement of loving God is affirmative which obliges to expresse and formal acts and without doubt obliges sometimes and men think not of it They employ every week half an hour at least in hearing Mass to obey the command of the Church 't is well don and if they did not they would offend God But how coms it to pass that they employ not half a quarter of an hour nither every week nor every month nor every year to make an act of the love of God to obey this commandement of God which our Saviour published with is own mouth thou shalt love thy God 5. Belive me and you will believe one that desires your salvation with all his heart resolve from this present to employ some little space of time in the exercise of the love of God and give it the qualities and conditions of true love els it is not Charity and loses its value and its merit The love of God must have at least three qualities It must be a love that is Soveraign Pure and Active 6. The love of God is a love of preference it will be a king or nothing it cannot live without reigning and it cannot reign but Soveraignly The Son of God says in the Gospell He that loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me Matthew 10. 37. and he that loves son or daughter above me is not worthy of me And to shew that we ought not only not prefer them before God but that we ought to postpose them much and to neglect them for him He says in S. Luke if any one com to me and hates not Luke 14. 26. S. Iohn 12. 25. his father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters and his own life he cannot be my Disciple And in S. Iohn he that loves his life shal lose it and he that hates his life in this world does keep it to everlasting life S. Austin explicating these words sais they are to be understood of the love of preference which we ought to testify to our Savior Aug. trâ—ct 51. in Io. in occasion when his commandement is in opposition with the love of any Creature whatsoever that is Your heart ought to be in this disposition that in case you must lose your suit goods husband wife children honor life or commit a mortal sin you will chuse rather to lose all than commit it if you have not this sincere and cordial Will you have not the true love of God you are in the state of damnation if you die in it your process is wholy ended you are condemn'd and damn'd eternally 8. He that loves not God more than himself inverts the order of charity says S. Prosper he had reason to say inverts Is not this a horrible inversion perversion and a prodigious disorder to love a particular good more than the universall the stream more then the source the ray more then the sun the image more than the prototype the nothing more than the All the creature which is but dust and putrefaction more then the most high most excellent and infinite Majesty of the Creator 9. It is this disorder that makes that a mortal sin also in a thing which seems not to be of great importance does merit hell It seems very rigorous to damne one for stealing a crown but you must not only regard the value of a crown but that you make more account of a piece of a silver then of God himself since you will lose his amitie and Him for it 10. In the second place the love of God must be a pure and disinteressed love S. Paul says nor only that charity seeks the 1. Cor. 13. 5. the glory of God and his divine interests but that it seeks not its own interests Non quaerit quae sua sunt S. Thomas treating of this Verity concludes with all Divines that charity is not a mercenary love a love of profit and of interest but a free and disinteressed love a love of amity and benevolence a love by which we will good to God not for the love of our selves but for the love of him we love him not in regard of our profit but in regard of his goodness not becaus He does good to us or that He may do us good but becaus He
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
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
Divinity You know that Divinity acknowledgeth and reverenceth in God three principal Perfections Power Wisdom Goodness You know that the Scriptures and the Fathers doe attribute to each one of these Divine Persons one of these Perfections tho' all three be common to them all Omnipotence to the Father because He is the source and origin of Divinity Wisdom to the Son because He is begotten by the way of understanding and of knowledg Goodness to the Holy Ghost because He is produced by the way of Will and Love These are three Divine Persons which inseperably and indivisibly applyd themselves to the Creation to the Conservation and to the Government of the Univers These are the three fingers of God as the Prophet I say calls them who sustaine conserve and govern the world Those are their three infinite Perfections which are apply'd unto this worke For if we consider the matter out of which the World was drawn we shal admire an infinite Power If we consider the manner in which the World is governed we shal acknowledge an incomprehensible Wisdom If we consider the End to which this World is designed we shal see and love an ineffable Goodness 4. First we shal admire an infinite Power For if there were so Excellent a workman that could make a Cup of gold of a lumpe of silver he would be admired but if he should make a golden Cup of a mass of lead he would be a workman far more Excellent and yet more if he should make it of a barre of Iron and yet more if he made it of a piece of wood but if he made it of a grain of sand he would pass for a demy God and we would say that his power is almost infinite Ought he not than to be God indeed and to have a power entirely infinite for to make not a Cup of gold but Heaven and Earth Angells and men and all the other Creatures and to make them of nothing as our God did whom we confess in this Article to be the Creatour of Heaven and Earth 5. If his Divinity and his infinite Omnipotencie appeare so Clearly in the matter of which he made the world his Divinity and his incomprehensible Wisdom appears yet more in the manner by which he governs it This Wisdom say I shines so brightly in the conduct of the Univers that we need not but to open our Eyes for to see it as clear as the day For we see that the Heavens turne about us in so regular so constant and so unvariable an order that the seasons of the year serve us by quarters and that they succeed one another with a vicissitude so proportioned to our life We see that the animalls that have not judgement and also that the plants which have not sense performe all their functions with so much industry and perfection and commodity for our service as if they had judgment All this makes us to conclude that there must be in the Univers a Sovereign Wisdome a divine Spirit most intelligent and most provident who rules governs and directs all these things and who by an ineffable Goodness obliges them to serve us 6. For God created all these things for us He governs them all for us and to shew us this his admirable Goodness He created man the last of all as the End to which He referred his works For the end is always the first and the principall in the intention of the Workman and the last in the Execution of the worke And we experience to our great profit that they all tend unto this End and that they conspire to serve and intertaine us some to beare us others to nourish cloath cure and reioyce us T is then for you ô man that the heavens move that starrs glitter that fire warms that air refreshes that rivers run that the earth produces fruits that animalls live and labor and it is for you in fine that God conserves and employs all these Creatures when you thinke least of it when you recreate when you sleep when you injure and offend him He then thinkes on you He acts for you and makes all Nature to labor and sweat for you He says to you not by word but by work you disoblige me extremely you commit sin which displeaseth me infinitely But nevertheless take the presents which I make you taste and see that I am a sweet Lord. For is it not to be very sweet to give you so many sweetnesses and dainties in return to so many bitternesses which you present me daily Ha! we cease not to offend him and He ceases not to caress us what admirable Goodness should we not be monsters of ingratitude and abortives of nature if our hearts be not softened and gained by so many favours 7. Moreover we must note that we are obliged to God for all the good He hath don to other creatures When a Father employes a Tayler nourishes him payes him for his labor gives him stuff to make a robe for his daughter 't is not the robe that is obliged to him and if also the robe should have sense and understanding it would not be much obligd to thanke him since he hath not don all this to the robe for love of the robe but for love of his daughter 't is the daughter then that hath the obligation and who ought to thank her father for it so we are oblig'd to God for all the beauty goodness qualities and proprieties that He hath distributed among his creatures becaus 't is not for them but for us that He hath given them all these qualities and perfections to the end we may thank him prayse him love him serve him and keep his commandements He gave them the Countries of Nations Says the Royal Prophet and Psal 104. 44. they possêssed the labours of people that they might keep his justifications and seek his law Ô how ill does he that serves not God! ô what injustice does he commit against his Creatour T is an insupportable ingratitude not to acknowledg honor and love such a Benefactor 8. If you lett a poor Cottage to your neighbor you will that he pay you rent for it and if he should fail you would cry out against him How comes it then says S. Chrisostome that you pay not the tribute of thanks to your great God that you hom 12. ad Rom. serve him not cordially who hath placed you in this world in this glorious Pallace which He built and which wholy appertains to him If you have a Vineyard which you neither made nor planted nor cultivated but have received it by inheritance letting it to a farmer you will have the half or the thirds of the fruits of it though that the farmer be poor and hath many Children God hath lett you a Vineyard or field to farme and how vouchsafe you not to pay him not only not the fourth part of the revenew of it not also the tythe perhaps not the twentieth part
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
many sins exposed to so many temptations subject to so many corruptions designed to so many just punishments should confide in himself and presume to make himself happy sayd Aug. Ep. 54. ad Macedonium S. Austin This vain relyance which men have on their own selves and on the force of their free will is the cause that they rashly cast themselves into occasions of sin that they worke not their salvation with fear and trembling as the Apostle commands that they stand not upon their guard to keep themselves from falling that they pray not God fervently to hold them by the hand that they are not in a state of perpetual humiliation as the Saints advise them to be that they disdain those that humane frailty made to fall and that they glorify themselves in their good works whence it comes often that God chastises them to humble them He lets them fall into interiour aridities and desolations or into some furious temptations which cast them down to the brink of hell when they thought themselves at the gates of heaven and makes them say as David Ego dixi in abundantia mea non movebor in eternum avertisti faciem tuam factus sum conturbatus It seem'd Psal 29. 7. to me that I should never be troubled in the resolution I had to serve you ô my God You have withdrawn your grace and I find my self wholy perplex'd and in danger to be lost Hope not then in your selves nor in the force of your free will which is but weakness and misery hope in God and in his assistance but hope in him as you ought that is to say with great confidence 10. Blessed be the man who puts his confidence in God says Hieremie he is like to a tree planted by the water the leaf whereof is always green and which never fails to bring forth fruit Hierem. 17. 7. Collect of the 5. Sunday after Epiph. Wherefore the Church begging the favour of Gods protection makes a remonstrance to him that she relyes wholy upon the hope of his grace There his nothing that obliges us more to act faithfully for another then when we see that he confides in us and wholy depends upon us nor is there any thing that averts us more from succouring and assisting him than to see that he is diffident of us and can we think that our God will assist us powerfully when we confide not entirely but diffide in him Diffidence makes us un worthy of his favours it binds the hands of the Omnipotent and stops the cours of his particular graces 11. Give me a soul that hath a great confidence in God she would work miracles but if one staggers or diffides never so little in the Providence of God he will not have good success S. Peter finding the wind strong did not quite diffide since he cryd out Lord save me he had a little confidence since JESUS sayd to him ô thou of little faith But becaus he doubted he began to sink so certenly the reason why we are not powerfully assisted by God and that we do not the great works He would operate by us is becaus there is always in our hearts some grain of diffidence 12. Follow then the counsel of the holy Ghost Have confidence Prou. 3. 5. in the Lord and rely not vpon thy own prudence In all thy ways think on him and He will direct thy steps Have confidence you confide in a friend who never sayd to you trust in me who perhaps is chang'd and hath lost the love he had for you And will you not trust in God who is always the same and who says to you in his Scripture with so much tenderness and assurance I will not leave nor abandon Heb. 13. 5. thee Will you not trust in your God who can and will aide you powerfully if you cast your self into his armes In the Lord He is Master and He will shew it permitting you sometimes to be overwhelm'd by a tempest leaving you long in disgraces suits poverty infirmity and afflictions of Spirit But if you put great confidence in him though you be even past all remedy and ready to be lost He will strike the stroke of a Master will make a signal demonstration of his Providence and deliver you for his glory to the admiration of the world Rely not vpon your own prudence trust not in your ability 't is a weak support a rotten planck a reed and a foundation upon sand acknowledg in the presence of God that your light is but darkness that your Wisdom ss but folly demand his conduct invocate his mercy in the beginning in the progress and in theend of your actions In all your wayes think on him 'T is a great fault we commit and the cause of all our failings that we have not recours to God often enough nor fervently enough We are less able to do any thing that conduces to eternal life of our own selves than a child that hath never written is capable to write well if then you will do well you must not only recommend your self to JESUS in the beginning of your actions but often lift up your soul to him dart forth respectfull and affectionate aspirations and ask his grace and light If you do so He will direct your steps He will enlighten your understanding in perplexities strengthen your heart in temptations hold your hand in dangers direct your footsteps in his wayes He will make your actions succeed to acquisition of his grace in this world and to possession of his glory in the other Amen DISCOURS XVIII Of the Love of God CHarity is amongst Christian Vertues that which gold is amongst metalls ' that which the Palme is among trees that which the Lyon is amongst beasts that which a man is among all Creatures of this world that which the Seraphins are amongst Celestial creatures S. Ireneus calls it properly Eminentissimum Charismatum the most eminent and precious gift of the holy Ghost he agrees in this with the Apostle who having sayd that God hath chosen some 1. Cor. 12. 31. in his Church to be Apostles others to be Doctors others to work miracles He adds I will shew you yet a grace more excellent a gift of the holy Ghost more to be desir'd than to be an Apostle or a Prophet and this grace is charity of which he speaks immediatly One may be an Apostle and an ill man witness Judas a Prophet witness Balaam a Doctor witness Tertullian a Virgin witness the five foolish a worker of miracles witness they who will say have we not worked many miracles in your name But one cannot love God perfectly and Matth. 7. 22. have Charity without being good holy and pleasing to God 2. Here we ought to admire the Goodness and Providence of God who placed all our felicity and happiness in a thing so sweet and conformable to our nature And which poor as well as rich ignorant
of charity and patience towards their enemies when they say I will not reveng my self I leave reveng to God let God do to him according to his deserts know you well what you do says S. Austin you make your self judg of your neighbor you will not or you cannot execute your sentence but you desire that God should be the Executioner of it He that will be revenged says Ecclesiasticus shal find reveng of our Lord and keeping he will keep his sin He says not he that will reveng himself but he that will be revenged shal be the object of the divine vengeance You will not reveng your self nor hurt your neigbor but you desire that God would reveng the injury that he hath don you this ir to desire to be revenged it is to incurre the Vengeance of God The Son of God does quite otherwise upon the Cross He prayes God to pardon them He excuses them as much as he can He seeks reasons to diminish the greatness of their crimes Pardon them sayes He for they know not what they do He expects not his Resurrection to pray for them when the abundance of glory and the charms of its delight would blot out the sense of his paines He prayes for them in the midst of most bitter torments when He hath his enemies before his eeys who offend him actually his eares ringing with their blasphemies his mouth full of gall and bitterness his body all cover'd with wounds When He prays for himself He sayes my God when He prayes for his enemies He says my Father to incline Him by the sweetness of this appellation when He prays for himself in the garden it is with condition If it be possible here He prays absolutely my Father I beseech you to pardon them by these thornes which pierce my head by these teares which fall from my eyes by these wounds which are as so many mouthes that demand your pardon If so rare and prodigious an example of charity does not move us nothing in the world will move us 't is in vain to say more God have mercy on us and convert us Amen DISCOURS XX. OF THE NECESSITY OF GRACE I Treat not in this discours of natural graces not of those which Divines call gifts gratis given not of habitual grace which is a most noble and excellent quality by which we are made children of God most pleasing to his Majesty and heires of his Paradise 't is called habitual becaus it remains always in us as a habit when we have once receiv'd it ' til we lose it by consenting to a mortal sin 't is also named sanctifieng and justifieng grace becaus it sanctifys us and renders us holy and just before God But here I speak only of actual Grace which is a good motion a holy inspiration an interiour light a secret touch a supernatural aide by which the holy Ghost wakens us and excites us to rise out of sin or to the practise of some good work It is called actual becaus it makes us do acts of Vertue and it remains not always in us but passes as an act or as a flash of lightning I will shew the necessity we have of this grace becaus it imports very much to be well convinced of it and to put in practise the Documents which are drawn from it 2. God the omnipotent Creator having reposed from all Eternity and satisfyd himself in the plenitude of his divine Being in the enjoyance of his infinite Perfections in the fecundity of his adorable Emanations in the society of his divine Persons and willing by a sally of love and by a powerfull inclination of his natural Goodness to communicate himself out of himself created man in the beginning of time to his own image and resemblance that by grace and particular priviledge he might be partaker of the same felicity which the Creatour possessed in himself by the prerogative of his Nature He created him I say to his own image and resemblance to his Image in the Vnderstanding to his resemblance in the will to his image in reason to his resemblance in dilection to his image in the kâ—owledg of verity to his resemblance in the love of vertue having so created him He made him Lord of all the creatures and as a little God in this world lodged him in a garden of delights He honoured him with one only commandement very easy to be observ'd that meriting by his own acts the Beatitude prepar'd for him he might have more honor and contentment to enjoy it not as a present freely given but as a crown happily and gloriously obtain'd by conquest Satan perceived this and raging with envie desir'd to frustrate the designe feating that man whom he esteem'd much inferiour to himself should merit by his humility and obedience the glory of heaven which he had lost by his arrogancy and rebellion and seeing well that he could not vanquish him by force made use of fraud and artifice and having induced him to transgress the commandement of God gave him traiterously two mortal wounds contrary to the two prerogatives he receiv'd from God in his creation Ignorance of good against the light of his understanding Concupiscence of evill against the rectitude of his will From these two accursed sources have flown all the dismal evills which destroy our nature and principally the two more notable Delict and Crime Delict coms from ignorance Crime proceeds from concupiscence Delict is the omission of good commanded Crime is the commission of evill prohibited For such infectious wounds two remedies were necessary man had need of counsel and of aide consilio auxilio indigebat of counsel to cleare his ignorance of aide to correct his concupiscence of counsel to enlighten his understanding of aide to fortify his will of counsel to make him know verity of aide to make him love vertue This is that wherewith the divine Word incarnated for for the salvation of men hath enriched us abundantly who came as S. Iohn says full of Grace and Verity Grace there S. Iohn 1. is Aide Verity there is counsel 4. But is not this a wonder capable to ravish the highest Scraphins with admiration to see that the Son of God defer'd so long a remedy so necessary The Son of God resolv'd from all Eternity to make himself man He made promises of it from the beginning of ages and nevertheless He defers more then four thousand years the execution of a designe so worthy of himself so conformable to his goodness so conducible to his glory so advantagious to men ô my God how wonderfull are you How incomprehensible is the Abyss of your secrets You are so jealous of your honour how permit you then the evill Spirit your mortal Enemy to tyrannize so over your creatures to possess your dominion to be adored instead of you for the space of four thousand years you have so mortal and irreconcilable hatred of sin how permit you Idolatry a sin so
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
are baptized but they stand obliged to follow them Which made great S. Basil say whosoever hath receiv'd the Baptisme of the law of grace is oblig'd to live according to the Gospell and hath oblig'd himself by an irrevocable contract to imitate IESUS CHRIST 5. I know well than to excuse your selves you say if I live not according to the world if I cloath not my self gorgeously if I lead a retired and mortified life I shal pass for an extravagant person they will not esteem me they will say I am an abhorrer of society and a man of another world You say true but what is this to say It is to say they will esteem you a christian that you will pass for a Disciple of IESUS This is that which you have promised in Baptisme T is in this the perfection of Christianity consists in declaring war against the world and its pomps in opposing its maxims and customs contradicting flesh and blood Take courage then says S. Chrysostom fight valiantly consider what Chrysost To 3 ser de Martyr you have promised under what condition you were made a Christian and in what war you are enrolled Think not to tryumph without Victory to be victorious without fighting to fight without enemies that are contrary to you 6. But some do say where are pastimes delights and pleasures forbidden in the ten commandements or in those of the Church If those frequent and almost continuall pastimes delights and pleasures are not against the first and chiefe of the commandements Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart with all thy soul with all thy mind and with all thy forces they are at least against the second which our Saviour says is like to it For is this to love your neighbor as your self to employ in superfluous delights that which might deliver him out of great inconveniences and miseries you know that so many orphans so many other poor who are the children of God members of our Saviour are eaten with vermin for want of a little linnen that they are starved with cold and that they dye with hunger for want of assistance and the money wherewith you might succour them you spend in superfluities what insensibility is this where is the fraternal Charity or the Christian Compassion or the bowells of mercy which the elect ought to have The Prophet Amos 6. 6. Amos weighed well how much Charity was by this violated when he sayd Woe to you who seek exquisite meats and delicious wines and yee have not pity on the miseries of the people 7. S. Denys says that in his time if one desired Baptisme the c. 2. Eccle. Hier. parag 2. et 3. first thing he did was to intreat a Christian to be his God father the Christian on the one side desiring the salvation of the Petitioner and on the other weighing the weakness of a man with the weight of the affaire was troubled with fear and seized with apprehension to conduct him to the Bishop Nevertheless in fine he led him to the Prelate Who sayd to him that his designe ought not to be imperfect but entire and with all his heart as approaching to God who is entirely perfect and having declar'd to him the forme of life he ought to lead to live godly receiv'd from him promises and protestations to aspire with all his force to that perfection And that he might not undertake such a charg lightly and inconsiderately he made him pass 2 or 3 years in Catechumenate which was the Noviciate of Christianity where he exercised himself in fasting prayer and other penances to make tryal if he could apply himself to the austere and vertuous life of Christians By which you see that the answers made for you in Baptisme are not ayrie words they are according to this great Saint and other holy Fathers promises and protestations which oblige us By the same you see also what life the Christians of those times did lead to satiâ—fy the obligations contractd in their Baptisme 8. Do as they did renounce the Devill and all his pompes works and suggestions renounce the World with its vanities follies and maxims renounce your selves your flesh sensualitie selflove particular judgment and all the inclinations of the old man separate your will from his and turn to IESUS your God and the Source of your salvation Acknowledg the excellencie of your Dignitie the noble and divine Allyance to which you are elevated to whom you pertain by Baptisme Remember that you have the honour to be the members of IESUS-CHRIST not improperly nor metaphorically but really and truly Let us remember that he is our Head and that we must conform our selves to him otherwise we shal make a great deformitie in his body and dishonour him extreamly Would not this be a monstrous and unnatural deformitie if to the head of a handsom man were joyn'd the body of a beast the paws of a Lyon the belly of a hog the tail of a serpent IESUS is the Head of the Church we are the members of it what dishonor should we do him what unnatural deformitie should we make in his Body if we should be unlike to him if He being as meek as a lamb as pure as the sunbeam and as simple as a dove we should be cruel like lyons unclean like hogs and deceitfull as serpents Let us assure our selves that He will not suffer such deformitie in heaven and that to be associated to him in the life of glory we must be like to him in the life of grace Amen DISCOVRS XLIII Of Confirmation AS the eternal Father hath shewn effectually the ineffable love which He had for the world in giving his only and beloved Son in the Mistery of the Incarnation a love so wonderfull and prodigious that though admiration be the daughter of ignorance and IESUS be the infinite and eternal Science He speaks not of it but with astonishment and admiration Sic Deus dilexit mundum So IESUS hath shewn effectually the infinite love which He had for his Church in giving Her his holy Spirit who is equal coeternal and consubstantial with Him and his Father 2. But as in the distribution of graces where of the Apostle 1. Cor. 12. 10. speaks the holy Ghost is communicated to divers persons for different operations to some to worke miracles to others to interpret the holy scripture and the like so in Sacramental grace the holy Ghost is given for divers intentions to produce divers effects according to the difference of the ends for which IESUS instituted the Sacraments In Baptisme the holy Ghost is given us to be the Soul of our souls the life of our life and the Spirit of our spirit to create in us the spiritual and Christian life make us Children of God Members of IESUS CHRIST and Heirs of the kingdom of heaven In Confirmation He is given us to make us Souldiers of IESUS CHRIST to enrole us in his warfare and to
46. 16. and should burn in Sacrifice all the beasts that feed on it in acknowledgment of Gods Benefits all that would not be enough He sayd true but he sayd not all for we may add if we should make a fire with all the fewell in the world and all men and Angells should be therein consum'd for the honor of God all that would not suffice to acknowledg worthily the favours He hath don us But when we offer to God the precious Body of his Son we render him that which doth counterpoise all Benefits He hath don not only to poor sinners upon Earth but moreover to Saints in Heaven 8. This Host of praise being presented to God in thanksgiving for favours obtaines other If you shal aske says our Saviour any Iohn 16 23. thing of my Father in my name He will give it you We cannot better ask of God any favour in the name of IESUS then having Him with us upon our Altars in our hands and within us The Clemency of God will have regard to the love He hath for Him to the sacred Oblation you present to him and harken to the petitions you make by him Have you much offended God deserv'd his justice and his anger Do you fear the effects of his vengeance Dare you not appear in his presence by reason of the enormity of your crimes Take into your company the Heire of heaven the beloved of the eternal Father assist at Mass devoutly offer to the Father the precious Body which is there Sacrificed the blood which there is poured forth the Passion which there is represented and you will appease his anger and He will harken to your requests For it was for this chiefly that Christ instituted this Sacrifice to be the sacred Victime which appeases the wrath of God as he declares in Saint Luke when you are in the state of sin if mass be sayd S. Luke 22. 20. for you or if you assist at it this obtaines of God actuall graces lights and good motions to enter into your selves to quit the sin and to convert your selves to God if you resist not the Summons of his graces when you are in the state of grace Part of the merits sufferances and satisfactions of IESUS CHRIST are applyed to you to acquit your debts and to deminish the pains due to your sins 9 But suppose you are not indebred to the Iustice of God the poor souls in Puâ—gatory are and you may help them much by making a mass to be sayd or by hearing one for them For 't is not in vaine says S. Chrysostome that the Apostles ordain'd that in the dreadfull Misteries we make a memory of the dead for they knew that by it arriv'd to them great benefit And S. Cyrill of Hierusalem S. Chry. tom 3 in Ep ad Philip. S. Cyrill Catech. Mystag 5 Paulo ante medium Aug. lib. 9. Confes C 35. we beseech God for the dead believing the obsecration of that holy and dreadfull sacrifice which is put upon the Altar to be a great kelp to the soules for which 't is offered Wherefore S. Augustine in his Confessions prayes God to inspite the Bishops and the Priests of his acquaintance to remember his Father and Mother at the Altar 10 Having then seen how acceptable and glorious this Sacrifice is to God how beneficial both to the living and the dead fail not to assist at as many masses as you may hear them as devoutly as you can Offer them in the first place to God to do homage to your Soveraign to render him your respects and humble submissions to pay him the tribute of honour and service which you owe him Secondly to thanke him for an infinity of most great and inestimable benefits you have received from him benefits in soul benefits in body benefits of nature grace spiritual and temporal Thirdly to appease Him and to ask pardon of Him for jnnumerable sins you have committed and to gaine his favour represent to Him the love which his Son had for Him the zeal which He had for his glory the service He hath don Him offer and lay before Him the Mysteries of his Incarnation Nativity Circumcision his life labors and Passion this is that which S. Paul calls obsecrations Fourthy beg light and guidance in your actions succour and assistance in temptations love and grace to keep his commandements and all that is necessary as well for the spiritual as the temporal and you should do all these dutyes not only for your family but also for others If you assist at mass so you will not receive only the many and great advantages of it in this life but moreover reap the fruits of the Mysteries which the Mass represents to you and which glory discovers to the Blessed in the other Amen DISCOURS XLVII OF THE THREE PARTS OF PENANCE 1. AMongst many expressions which the holy Ghost vses in the scripture to make us conceive the maligne and monstrous nature of sin one of the most natural is the comparison of an impostume An impostume is a corruption of flesh and blood in our bodys which makes a stinking smell sin is a corruption of reason and of vertue in our souls which cause a stink unsupportable to God and his Angells They are corrupted and made abominable says the Royal Prophet All Surgeons will tell you and daily experience Psal 13. 1. shews it that to cuâ—e an impostume three things are necessary First it must be cut with a lancet secondly the corruption must be forced out in the third place it must be bound up oyls and unguents being applyed to it Such like are the three parts of penance so often repeated and so ill practised Contrition is the cut of the lancet Confession is that which brings out the corruption Satisfaction is the application of the unguents and binders These are the 3. Acts necessary to cure the spiritual but horrible impostume of sin of which I shal treat in this Discours In which omitting the Questions of Scholasticks I propose only Verities drawn out of Scripture and Councills of the Church 2. First then it is certain that 't is absolutely necessary to repent after sin that without repentance there is no pardon no grace of God no hope of salvation whatsoever Confession or Satisfaction you do make whatever absolution is given you Whatsoever indulgence or Iubily is granted you If you want this repentance also without your fault though also you think you have it if you have it not in effect there is no Sacrament nor absolution profitable And certainly Absolution is not more efficacious and requires not less disposition than Baptisme But to receive profitably Baptisme if we be in mortal sin we must have sorrow for it for in the second and third chapter of the Acts S. Peter having made a powerfull predication and his Auditours being moved inquired of him what ought we to do to obtain pardon of our sins He answered do Penance and