produce in the Soul. IF you have yet time before Communion acknowledge in the presence of God the admirable effects which it produceth desire earnestly to be partaker of them and say from the bottom of your heart as follows I acknowledge O Saviour of Souls the wonderfull effects which thou workest in those who worthyly receive thee The many and singular tokens of thy love thou bestowest upon them the favours thou communicatest unto them I acknowledge that thou hast made thy self my meat to fill my Soul with so divine repast thou conservest in us the life of thy grace thou makest us encrease more and more therein thou strengthenest us in our weakness thou curest our infirmities thou preservest us from Sin thou givest us strength to persevere in thy grace and to walk so far and so secure amidst the dangers of this mortall till we come to immortall and everlasting life O my God! Blessed be thy holy name for these so many favours thou hast bestowed upon us Make me worthy to partake of all thy mercies in this holy Communion Approach to the Communion with this faith saying with the infirm woman in the Gospell Mat. 9.21 If I shall but touch the hem of his Garment I shall be cured After Communion withdrawing your self from the Holy Table into some convenient place adore profoundly our Lord who hath vouchsafed to come and dwell within you and considering attentively the great favours which he hath bestowed upon you by his divine presence pronounce from your heart those excellent words of S. David Psal 106.8.9 Confiteantur Domino misericordiae ejus mirabilia ejus filiis hominum quia satiavit animam inanem animam esurientem satiavit bonis Let the divine mercy proclaim and praise him every where and let his wonders be made known to the whole world because he hath fully satisfyed a dry and fill'd an empty Soul hath replenished her with blessings of all sorts O my God be thou blessed for so many favours which thou hast now bestowed upon me and for all the blessings with which thou hast enrich'd me after the great want and miseries which I endured when by my pleasures and my passions I had departed from thee Was not I most miserable and blind to seek in these vain pleasures repose and happiness which are not to be found but in thee alone I removed my self a far distance from thee to ruin my self for ever but thy goodness was such that it withdrew me from the precipice whether I was running to throw my self headlong down enlightning me with thy rays and calling me back unto thee by thy grace Thou hast pardoned me all my Sins and for the accomplishment of all these favours thou gavest thy self present with me to the end I may dwell with thee O my God! be thou blessed for all these infinite mercies and let all the Saints supply my defects and praise thee in my stead Confiteantur tibi Domine omnia opera tua Sancti tui benedicant tibi Ps 144.10 Stirr up your Soul that is your self to praise God for all the benefits which he hath at present conferred upon you with those gratefull sentiments of the same Prophet Psal 102. Benedic anima mea Domino Considering them attentively one after another O my Soul bless our Lord and let all that is within me praise and magnify his holy name Bless our Lord and never be unmindfull of the favours which he even now hath done thee Our Lord I say who hath pardoned all thy offences and hath cured all thy Infirmities Who hath preserved thee from death and who hath Crowned thee with the effects of his bounty He hath replenished thee with all the blessings which thou could'st wish considering all these favours now thou shalt mend thy Life and renewing thy forces grow young like an Eagle in the service of thy God. After you have Ponder'd well upon these Sacred words and have raised up in your self all the motions of gratitude and acknowledgment to God for the many and great favours he hath done you you shall conclude with a strong resolution to renew your self that is to say totally to change your life to amend your faults to dedicate your self from henceforth entirely to the Service of God. You shall demand grace at his hands and to this effect you shall beg of him a steady and constant Faith whose acts you have endeavoured to practice in this Communion You shall beseech him that he will vouchsafe to augment it not only in respect of this Holy Mystery but also in regard of all the other Christian Verities and Principles of Eternal Life to the end that by this Faith you may surmount all the difficulties and impediments you shall meet with in your Journey thither for it is most certain that those who have this great Virtue strongly imprinted in their Soul overcome all whatsoever difficulties occurr in the way of Salvation as St. Paul hath clearly shewn in his Epistle to the Hebrews Chap. 11.33 Per fidem vicerunt regna operati sunt justitiam adepti sunt repromissiones By Faith they conquered Kingdoms they have done Justice they have obtained promises But all this is to be understood of an ardent faith enlivened with the flames of Charity as he himself elsewhere declares Gal. 5.6 Faith that worketh by Charity Read I entreat you the advice which hereafter shall be given you in the Seventh Article of the Third Chapter CHAP. II. Of Hope the second disposition for Communion HAving not as yet said any thing of this Virtue farther then what concern'd the Examen upon the First Commandment where I related the Sins which are opposite unto it I shall treat of it in this place so far as may be necessary to make it well known to all those who are not yet sufficiently instructed in it ARTICLE I. What is Hope IT is the Second of the three Theological Virtues so called because they respect God not only as their motive and their end as all other Christian Virtues do but also as their first and principal object To expect from the hand of God the things he hath promised us and which he hath prepar'd for his Servants is the proper effect of this Virtue wherefore it is defined a certain expectation of Eternal bliss and of the means to attain unto it This expectation is the proper act of this Virtue Hope which is a certain judgment which we form that God will be pleased to grant us Everlasting Life if we correspond with his mercies and be Faithfull in the Dispensations he hath commended to us for as St. Bernard observes very well in Psal 90. Serm. 10. Faith tells us that there are great rewards prepared for Gods Faithfull Servants Hope says that these are reserved for me Charity is the third and saith I run that I may reach to them and enjoy them It is of this expectation which the Prophet speaks Thren 3.24 Our Lord is my portion
every day early in the Morning together as the Scripture remarks Numb 11.9 with the Dew from Heaven which bedewed the whole Camp of Israel And with how much more reason may we affirm that none ever received this Celestial Manna the Holy Eucharist of which that is only a Type or Figure in the happy morning before the World hath seized his thoughts but he sinds his Soul replenished with abundance of Graces and Divine Blessings For certainly if this Heavenly bread is showred upon us for the nourishment of our needy and hungry Souls without question it works the same in her which wholsome food doth in a sound or healthy Body Now Corporal nutriment hath these four effects It conserves it increases it strengthens and it repairs the Body It is necessary therefore that this Spiritual food have the same Operations in our Souls if well disposed as we have already made out in the First part of this Treatise Chap. 3. Art. 3. It was a Simbole of this truth that the Prophet Elias 3. Reg. 19. flying the Persecution of Achab received from the hand of an Angel a Loaf of Bread which maintained him through his whole Journey and the Scripture affirms v. 8. that having eaten that bread he received such strength that without any further sustenance he travelled full forty days even to the Mountain Horeb which is interpreted the sight of God. ARTICLE VI. That the practice of Hope is a good and great disposition to the Holy Communion FRom the precedent we inferr this truth For if the Blessed Sacrament augment in us the Virtue of Hope it follows of necessity that to Communicate well we must beforehand exercise the acts of and have our hearts replenished with the Virtue of Hope as in the same manner because heat is natural to Fire and Fire dispenseth not its effects but to the Subject which is already hot it is necessary that the same heat should be introduced into that matter where one would have the Fire to act for it is most certain that the natural qualities of any thing whatsoever serve as dispositions to give both its being and its action Since therefore the Holy Eucharist is a Sacrament which so powerfully revives our Hope as we have already proved it follows of necessity that to receive this Sacrament with that advantage it is capable to afford it is necessarily required that we be full of this Virtue and stirr up our selves the most we can unto it when we approach to this Holy Table And truly if we consider the particular acts of which this Virtue seems as it were to be composed we shall find that they are those which make up the most usual dispositions to Communion we have mark'd them out above in the Third Article An expectation of Eternal Life a desire to obtain it a fear to loose it by any Sin a resolution effectually to labour for it All these are the most usual acts in which we ought to employ our selves before and after Communion the practice whereof we are about to instruct you in ARTICLE VII The practice of the acts of Hope for Communion THese acts are the four of which we have already spoken to which it is but just that we subjoyn sorrow for Sins which have set us at so great a distance from the divine grace from eternall glory and Prayer by which we beg of God both the one and the other of these goods one may reap much fruit from the practice of them before and after Communion either in the following or some better manner The practice of Hope before Communion ADdressing your Thoughts and the whole intention of your heart to our Lord who is present in the Sacred host acknowledg that he is your only hope and that it is from him alone you expect all the goods both of Grace and Glory O Jesus my Saviour and my God I adore thee in this Sacred host where thou are present to the end that thou mayst be to me a Jesus and a Saviour Thou art my only hope it is from thee alone I expect all my happiness whether in this life or the next saying with David â—s 38.8 after he had considered the vanities of the world and what a nothing man himself is without thee And now in what or in whom can I put my trust but in thee O Lord thou art my help and all I can rely on nunc quae est expectatio mea nonne Dominus Substantia mea apud te est or Ps 70.5 O Lord in whom I have placed my confidence from my youth Thou art my refuge in this and my Salvation in the other Life I hope that thou wilt by thy grace conduct me safe in this and replenish me with glory in the next What blessings may not I expect from thy hands in this blessed state since thy bounty hath vouchsafed so liberally to bestow thy self upon me in this unhappy vale of miseries tears thou givest me hopes I shall possess thee one day unveil'd see thee face to face since thou hast been so good as ever now to give thy self unto me tho' veil'd in the blessed Sacrament O inestimable pledge of my future felicity when shall that happy hour arrive that I shall see thee face to face and enjoy thee as thou art in thy self with all the blessings thou hast prepared for those that serve thee O my God how lovely are those Mansions where thou art clearly seen my Soul longs to inhabit there sighs after them and even faints away in those desires My heart and my very flesh leap for joy in the hopes I shall once possess the living God. I am fixed and constant in my hope and I know that there is not any thing except my Sins which can ever frustrate my desires Wherefore I here detest them all from the bottom of my heart Prostrate in thy presence O my God with a contrite and humble heart I beg pardon of them And for the future I am fully resolved to fly Sin and the occasions of it more then from the danger of death or death it self It is in this pious confidence and hope that I approach at present to this holy table of Communion there to receive thee hidden under the Sacramentall species and to tast as by advance of these in finite goods which thou hast prepared for me in everlasting life where I shall be so happy as to see thee not only as now obscurely either in thy wonderfull effects or in the cloud of faith but clearly and distinctly as thou art in thy self O my God exclude me not from this holy table which thou hast prepared for me in this mortall life to the end I may deserve to be admitted to that other which thou hast furnish'd in everlasting life to feast thy faithfull Servants It is true I confess my Sins have made me unworthy of either of them yet I hope in thy Mercy which hath been pleased to pardon them
of your Sins you must read over these same Motives with much attention again and again not once or twice but many times you must begg continually of God that he will vouchsafe to grant you his Grace to understand them well and that your Soul may be moved with them in reading them you must pause some time upon those which touch you most you must weigh them well and imprint them in your heart and having understood them cast your self upon your knees and deplore your Sins in the presence of God upon those motives which you conceived best and which affected you most demand of him pardon and beseech him to shew his mercy toward you making use of this or the like prayer O my God! have pitty on me and let me partake of the effects of thy great mercy I acknowledge now the evil which I have done and apprehend the grievousness of my Sins Thou art he O my God whom I have offended whom I have attacqued rebellious ungratefull and perfidious Creature as I am Thee have I abandoned to follow my pleasures and passions I have lost thy grace and I who have been created to thy Image and likeness by my Sins have made my foul like unto those monsters of ingratitude the Devils I have lost Heaven my blessed Country I have merited Hell and Eternal Damnation which I shall never be able to avoid without the assistance of thy great mercy But above all I have infinitely offended thy bounty The injury which I have offered it is so great that it caused thy Son Jesus Christ my Saviour to suffer death O my God! how can I worthily deplore so great an evil who will give water to my head and a fountain of Tears unto my eyes to deplore night and day my misery and malice and to do Penance for my sins Make this or the like prayer but make it from the bottom of your soul make it with an humble and contrite heart in the presence of God in acknowledgment of your sins and misery Run it not over briefly take time to make it make it long and for many days Put your self in the State of a true Penitent in the sight of God and that you may perform it better make use of this means which I shall give you CHAP. XIII Of Examples of Penance taken out of Holy Writ ALltho ' what we have said may be very effectual to excite Contrition and a true sorrow for our Sins yet we will add in this place another means which without question must needs be more efficacious They are some Examples of true Penitents which we find in the Holy Scripture as well in the Old as New Testament These are the true models by which we may frame ours and learn what is true Penance and how to practice it Reade then Theotime and attend Consider David after his Sin how full of interiour trouble and concern he was for the evil he had done bedewing as he saith his bed with his tears and having always his Sins before his eyes demanding mercy of God and beseeching him to turn away his eyes from his Iniquities not to take away from him his Holy Spirit not to contemn the Sacrifice which he offer'd him of an afflicted mind of an humble and contrite heart Behold a true Penitent behold what true Contrition is Vade fac similiter Imitate this Example and you are a true Penitent You will find these excellent dispositions of a penitent mind in the seven Penitential Psalms if you reade them wth attention Behold King Ezechias weeping and lamenting in the presence of God and promising him to pass again over in his heart and in the bitterness of his Soul all his mis-spent years to bewail his Sins and obtain remission of them Reade his Canticle which begins Ego dixi in dimidio Esai 38. Cast your eyes upon the good Israelites who were sent Captives into Babilon after the taking of Jerusalem doing Penance for their Sins which had thrown them into that miserable state crying out to God from the bottom of their hearts Baruch 2. We have sinned against the Lord our God in not obeying his word To the Lord our God belongs justice and uprightness but to us nothing but shame and confusion which our iniquities have deserved We have sinned we have done evil we have dealt unjustly O Lord our God in all thy Commandments Turn from us thy anger hear O Lord our Prayers and our Petitions open thy eyes and consider that the dead praise thee not but the Soul which is sensible and afflicted with the greatness of the evils she hath done and performs due Penance for them Consider Manasses also in his Conversion groaning under the weight of his Sins and lamenting his Iniquities with such a sorrow that he acknowledged himself unworthy even to lift up his eyes towards Heaven so great he confest were his offences You will perceive these words to proceed from a truly penitent Soul overwhelmed with sorrow for his Sins Oratio Manasses 'T is true O Lord I have infinitely offended thee and my Sins are more in number then the Sand of the Sea I am unworthy to lift up my eyes towards Heaven to demand thy mercy having provoked thy anger as I have done by my Iniquities But now O my God I prostrate my self from my heart before thee to beg thy mercy I have sinned O my God I have sinned I acknowledge all the evil I have done pardon O Lord pardon I beg of thee and earnestly beseech thee do not destroy me with my Iniquities do not reserve me to the utmost rigour of thy Justice do not condemn me for ever unto the fire of Hell Remember that thou art my God the God of Penitents and thy immense bounty will best appear in me whilst it makes thee to save a miserable Sinner unworthy of thy grace and gives me occasion to praise thee eternally for thy infinite goodness Go to the Gospel and there you will find more pressing examples of Penance and Contrition There you may see a holy Penitent moved to that degree with sorrow for her Sins that she seeks the Son of God and having found him casts her self at his feet washes them with her tears such was the compunction of her heart and so abundantly did they flow wipes them with her hair and annoints them with precious Ointment thus consecrating these Riches that Hair those Tears to pious uses which till then she had employ'd in vanity And thus that sorrow she had so happily conceived broke forth into all the Signs of the love of God and spared nothing to serve him from whom she expected the remission of her Sins So that She deserved to hear from the mouth of our Saviour Luc. 7.47 that her Sins were forgiven her because she loved much There you shall find the head of the Apostles unfortunately fall'n denying his divine Master three several times But he had scarce ended his last denial when
our Saviour by a glance of his eye which penetrated Peters heart makes him to remember himself acknowledge his fault and conceive so great a grief that going out he wept bitterly for the Sin. Egressus foras flevit amare Mat. 26.75 And the grief continued all his life You will find in the Gospel two other examples of true penance which the Son of God himself proposed in two parables which he set forth for that intent The first is in the person of the Prodigal Son under which figure he sets before our eyes a perfect pattern of a Sinner returning again to God by means of Penance Luk. 15. This poor strayed young man after he had spent all his Estate is forced by the sense of his miseries to reflect or return to himself and say O how many hired Servants are there in my Fathers house who abound with bread and live at case and I miserable wretch am ready to starve with hunger I will arise and go to my Father and say Father I have sinned against Heaven and against you I am not now worthy to be called your Son permit me only to be like one of your hired Servants He had no sooner spoke these words but presently without delay he puts them in execution Leaves the place of his misery comes and casts himself at his Fathers feet to beg pardon and mercy at his hands and such and so great was this his repentance that whereas he only demanded a place amongst his Servants he was admitted unto that of his Son which he had lost Consider well this pattern Theotime imitate it in your Repentance and return to God. First Practice well that which is signified by these words in se reversus returning into himself for one must return into ones self to return to God that is to say one must acknowledge the miserable condition to which he is reduced by Sin the distance from God the loss of his grace the lack of Spiritual favours and particularly of Divine Inspirations and above all the continual danger of Damnation wherein one is Secondly in this view of your misery conceive a horrour of it and form in your heart a prompt and firm resolution to return unto your Heavenly Father in those words of the Prodigal Son Surgam ibo ad Patrem I will rise from my misery and I will go towards my Eternal Father I will declare my fault and ask him pardon submitting my self in all things to his will. Thirdly do not deferr no more then the Prodigal Son the performance of your resolution begin immediately and in earnest to do Penance for your Sins Prostrate your self in the presence of God and beg his pardon prepare your self for a good Confession using all the necessary means to make it well and in this Confession or even before make use often of those words of the Prodigal Pater peccavi in Coelum coram te jam non sum dignus vocari filius tuns fac me sicut unum de mercenariis tuis But ponder well what they signify for by those words you profess to God that you have grievously offended his Fatherly bounty that as a degenerate Child you have abused all his graces that you have not been ashamed to affront him even in his prefence and in the sight of the whole Court of Heaven that you acknowledge your self unworthy to appear before him or from thence forward to be treated by him as his Child that you only implore his mercy and the pardon of your Sins protesting to serve him faithfully from henceforward to do Penance and accomplish all his Commands as a good and faithfull Servant O what an excellent pattern is this Theotime if you did but know how to imitate it well The other example is that of the Publican in whose person the Son of God hath again represented to the life the dispositions which he requires in a true Penitent And that he might set it forth to the best advantage behold over against him a false or feigned Penitent who had nothing in him besides an appearance or a deceitfull shew of Penance Two men saith he Luke 18. went up into the Temple to pray the one was a Pharisee the other a Publican the Pharisee standing prayed thus with himself O God I give thee thanks that I am not like other men Thieves Adulterers Vnjust as also this Publican I fast twice a week I pay exactly the tenths of all my goods Behold an example of a feign'd Penitent who hath no sorrow for his own sins but who looks more into the sins of others then his own who justifies himself by the sins he hath not committed instead of condemning himself for those he is guilty of who esteems himself just before God when he is exempt from some certain sins altho' he commit others and sometimes greater Who thinks he sufficiently satisfies for his sins by some exterior good works as fasting and the like neglecting in the mean time Penance of heart and amendment of life Behold the Idea of a false Penitent which is but too frequently found amongst Christians Look now upon the Picture of a true one On the contrary saith our Saviour the Publican standing afar off would not so much as lift up his Eyes to Heaven but knockt his breast saying God have mercy upon me Miserable Sinner In this Example are set forth all the dispositions of a true Penitent First a profound humility which made him stay below in the Temple at a distance and separated from others as if he apprehended himself by reason of his sins unworthy to approach to God or intermix himself amongst the just But by how much he retired farther off in himself by so much saith St. Augustine he approached nearer to God. Publicanus autem de longinquo stabat Deo tamen ipse propinquabat cordis conscientia removebat pietas applicabat Serm. 36. de vers Dom. Secondly the shame and confusion he had to appear before God with a Conscience loaden with sins a confusion so great that it hindred him from raising his Eyes towards Heaven Thirdly the sorrow he had in his heart for having grievously offended God in token whereof he knocks his breast denoting by that action saith St. Ciprian the sins concealed within Sed percutiebat pectus suum ut peccata intus inclusa testaretur De Orat. Dominica Fourthly the pardon he emplored of God as a true Penitent having no other motive but his own unworthiness on the one side and on the other the pure mercy of God by which alone he hoped for pardon and not by his own Merits Behold Theotime Examples and patterns of true Penance by which we ought to form and model ours They are proposed to us by the Holy Ghost for that end and the two last were drawn and formed by the Son of God to teach us how to behave our selves in that great action For this reason if you resolve upon Penance and a serious Conversion you
who after you have been admitted into his grace and favour continue to offend your maker But mark well that he never accepted of that reconciliation but upon condition of a sorowfull sense which you protested that you had to have offended him and upon Promise which you made to be faithfull to him not to offend him any more So that you are not only ungratefull in offending anew after he had pardon'd you but also a perfidious man and a traytour which is the second indignity which aggravates the Sin of a Relapse Perfidious because you acted contrary to your word and contrary to the Solemne promise which you made to God that you would serve him for the future A promise which you made not to a man but to God himself Solemnly in the hands of the Church and in the presence of Angells You would blush for shame if you should fail in your word to a man and you make a custome of it to be false to God to whom nothing is more displeasing then a promise slightly made and ill comply'd with Eccles 5.3 Displicet Deo infidelis Stulta promissio Moreover you are not only perfidious but your perfidiousness is a certain treason which you commit against God because you rebell and desert him to yield your self over to his Enemy the Devil and serve him anew against God himself This is that Sin which Tertullian exaggerates so strongly in the Book of Penance where he saith that he who after he hath renounc'd the Devil by Penance returns again to Sin gives occasion to the Enemy to rejoyce upon his return and triumph against God saying I have regain'd the prey which I had lost He subjoyns that this is manifestly to prefer the Devil before God himself when it being in his choice whether he will be for the one or for the other he so easily deserts the Service of God to deliver himself up to that of his Enemy and that by relapse into Sin he who before had a design to appease God by his Penance as if he repented himself of that good action becomes willing to make full satisfaction to the Devil by revoking his Penance and doing Penance for that he hath done Penance for his Sins rendring himself by this fatal change as hatefull in the sight of God as he will be wellcome to his enemy the Devil Weigh well these reflections Theotime and you will find they are all absolutely true not only for the ingratitude and persidious treachery which one is guilty of in regard of God when after Penance he returns again to Sin but also for the enormous contempt which one shews of his graces and of God himself For what greater affront can a person offer to God to make less esteem of his friendship then of all those trifling things for which one so easily relapses into Sin Is not this to esteem and make greater account of those things then of the grace of God or as Tertullian hath it to prefer the Devil who presents them before God who forbids them Nonne diabolum Domino praeponit And that I may make you truly sensible of the greatness of this contempt I ask whether there can be a greater affront offer'd to a person then not only continually to neglect his correspondence and all signes of amity after he hath been honoured with his friendship but dayly to offend him anew after his reconciliation to be almost constantly at distance with him in hopes to be restored to his favour when one pleases Would not every one say that he who should deal thus with his friend would take him for a stupid and a senseless man who had not the least sense to see himself so slighted and his friendship set at nought his favour or displeasure equally regarded never was there seen an affront or contempt comparable to this And yet this is that with which one treats Almighty God when he repeats his relapses into Sin after confession a contempt which ought to make those who are guilty of it tremble at the just judgments of God. And this is what we are about to speak of CHAP. IV. That those who relapse frequently into their Sins ought to dread their Salvation THe generality of Christians who live habituated to Relapses into Sin are wont to say that God is good and mereifull and to take occasion from this hope in his Mercy never to amend their lives Which is so intollerable an errour that it can never be sufficiently refelled And first it is in this that the greatness and the excess of the contempt which is offer'd to God consists that one takes occasion from his goodness and Mercy more heinously to offend him and never continue long in his favour since he believes it so easy to regain his Grace But in the next place those who make use of this pretext reason and discourse very ill and deceive themselves most shamefully for though it be very true that God is infinitely good and his mercies have no bounds where did they ever find that God is good to those who despise him and who trust so much to his goodness as not to apprehend but slight his displeasure Holy writ tells us that God is good to those that are good that he is good to those that hope in him and seek after him that he shews mercy to those who return unto him But it is not any where said that he is good to those that contemn and slight him On the contrary he threatens them with dreadfull punishments 1. Reg. 1.30 Qui contemnunt me erunt ignobiles It is said indeed that God shews mercy to Sinners who return unto him by repentance but it is no where said that he hath promis'd mercy to all Sinners that they shall return We are assured that God receives all those who truly converted from their Sins return unto him but where is it ever said that he receives those who return not to him but with this restriction for a time upon occasion of some great Solemnity and then after a little time willingly fall back into their Sins This is not found in any place of Holy writ But on the contrary we find there dreadfull and terrible menaces against those who treat God with such infidelity and so great contempt I shall produce two remarkable passages of this kind the one out of the Old the other from the New Testament The first is drawn from the People of Israel newly departed out of Egypt This chosen people of God was fallen into Captivity and under the Tyranny of the Egyptians under which they had groan'd for a long time overwhelmed with labours and miseries God by a peculiar mercy withdraws them from it working many prodigies and great miracles in their favour and amongst the rest the death of the first-born of the Egyptians the passage through the Red Sea as upon dry land so to free them from the Persecution of their Enemies who pursued them with a Powerfull Army
to fall upon him and after she had cut off his hair whilst he was asleep she delivered him over into their hands He awakes with the noise and the Scripture remarks that awakening he said Egrediar sicut ante feci excutiam me Jud. 16.20 I will go out as I have done and I will disengage my self as heretofore but it adds that he was deceived in his hopes nesciens quod recessisset ab eo Dominus not knowing saith the Scripture that God had abandoned him In consequence whereof he falls into the hands of his Enemies who pull out his eyes and send him into their Country where he who but a while before was a terrour to his Enemies is now become their pastime and the object of their scorn Behold a figure and lively representation of what befalls Christian Souls who abuse the graces of God and allways return unto their Sins in hopes to clear themselves of them as they have done heretofore for God many times gives them over to an obdurate heart and to final impenitence whether it be in denying them time to do Penance or in depriving them of the means and grace to perform it well since that as St Augustin saith Altho' he hath promised pardon to penitent Sinners he hath not promised Penance to any one Qui poenitenti veniam promisit nulli promisit poenitentiam a truth not to be doubted of and which deserves to be well considered to teach men not to presume or conside too much in the divine Mercies and not render themselves unworthy of them at the hour of death wherein as he himself hath said he will scorn those who have despised his Counsels and neglected the admonitions he gave them to return unto him Because saith he I call'd and you refused I stretched out my hand and there was none that regarded You have despised all my Counsels and slighted my reprehensions I also will laugh at your destruction and will scorn when that shall come unto you which you feared Prov. 1.24 CHAP. X. Of the remedies against the relapse into Sin. I Should not easily make an end if I should write all which offers it self to be said upon this Subject But it is time to speak of the remedies and after you have seen the greatness of the evil to shew you the way to cure what 's past and for the future to avoid the like We cannot better find them out then by searching for them in the resemblance they bear to Corporal Infirmities and from the proportion they have to those remedies which are necessary to avoid relapses which are oftentimes more dangerous then the first Disease And first as in Corporal Distempers the Remedies depend upon two Persons the Physitian who prescribes them and the Patient who takes them for his Cure the same is to be understood of the Infirmities of the Soul which depend partly upon the Confessors who are the Physitians and partly upon the Penitent who must labour to save his Soul. This is what obliges us to speak something here of what both the one and the other are bound to contribute on their part and to treat in this Chapter of what depends upon the Confessors Now as in Corporal Sickness the relapses may spring from the Physitians fault either because he hath not sufficient Skill to know the proper Remedies of that Distemper or prudence enough to apply them in due season or sufficient resolution and constancy notwithstanding his resistance or impatience to make them be put in execution by the Patient So when Penitents easily relapse into their Sins one may often truly say that it proceeds from the Confessor's fault who is deficient in one of these three things either not having sufficient knowledge of the nature of the disorder or of the remedies it requires or wanting Prudence to apply them right or at least which is most ordinary not resolution enough to oblige the Penitents thereto when they appear as but too often they do unwilling A resolution which is an effect of Charity which they ought to have towards their Penitents whose Salvation they should rather seek after then accommodate themselves to their inclinations when they are contrary to their good It is most certain that were Confessors sufficiently endowed with these three qualities and used them well as they are obliged to do they would prevent a vast number of relapses and put their Penitents into the way of a truly Christian Life For first their Skill giving them a perfect insight into the obligation which Christians have to live in the grace of God and of the danger to which by these relapses their Salvation is exposed they would make a more strict enquiry into the most proper means to cure their Penitents of their Vices Secondly their Prudence would make them inquisitive to understand the present State of the Penitent in which they ought especially to observe two things 1. Whether he be in a State capable to receive Absolution and 2ly Whether there be any hopes of his amendment Thirdly by their resolution they should oblige the Penitent to perform what they shall judge necessary for these two things viz. To receive the Sacrament as he ought and thereby to improve himself The Confessor then as a good Physitian of Souls is obliged to have these three qualities and to employ them for the good of his Penitent and the better discharge of his own Conscience This good of the Penitent consists in two things First that he be restored to health that is to the grace of God. Secondly that he do not relapse into his former Sickness Mortall Sin. For as St. Augustin observes well in Psal 8. there are two parts in Physick the one to cure the Disease the other to conserve the health The Confessor is obliged to procure both these goods for the Penitent and to employ for that end all what lies in his power his knowledge his prudence and his charitable Resolution He must not content himself to have restored his Penitent to health but he must labour also to conserve it if he design to comply with the duty of a worthy Minister of Jesus Christ and a true Cooperatour with the Grace of God which as the same St. Augustine adds ibid. Si ergo Deus medicinam exhibet quâ sanemur infirmi quanto magis eam quâ custodiamur sani doth not satisfy himself to remit our Sins by justification but moreover grants the assistance of his Grace to conserve us in that happy state That he may make him pertaker of the former good he is obliged to examin strictly whether the Penitent be capable of Absolution and to this end it is necessary to examine two things The one whether he have any of the impediments above-mentioned in the 4th Part Chap. 10. and the other whether it be usuall for him to return to his mortal Sins after confession For in this case there is no reason why you should easily believe the Penitent tho'
they allways promise to endeavour their amendment without doing almost any thing it is often not only profitable but necessary to deser their Absolution untill such time as they have given sufficient signs of their Conversion by abstaining from their Sins and practising faithfully what is appointed them for that end CHAP. XI Of the means which Penitents ought to observe to avoid the relapse into Sin. COntinuing the comparison of a Penitent with a sick person I affirm that there are four things which the Penitent ought to observe that he may not relapse in mortal Sin. The first is that he understand perfectly the greatness of his evil and the eminent danger to which he exposes his Salvation For the Sick man who hath no apprehension of the ill consequences of his disease shall never be cured and therefore he must be fully convinc'd of two things first that to fall into mortal Sin of all misfortunes is the greatest Secondly that the relapse into sin exposes the eternall salvation to an extream hazard and that one finds himself surpriz'd when he least thinks of it The next thing he ought to do in consequence to this knowlege is to avoid all those things which have been the causes of this misfortune or which may make it return This is an indispensable obligation this is also the first mark of a Penitent Soul and desirous to recover her former health We laugh at a sick man that will not abstain from such meats or actions as are apprehended prejudiciall to him we say that he loves his pleasures more then his health and that he is his own murderer The like is to be said of a Penitent when he doth the same Prov. 1.22 How long will Fools desire what is hurtfull to them The third is the choice of a good Physitian that is he must always address himself to the best Confessors to those whom he believes endowed with the three above-mentioned qualities and above all to those who are not in the least neglective of the recovery of their Penitents but apply themselves seriously and with much care to that effect The Penitent who desires his health must seek out such Physitians If he do not it is an infallible proof that he doth not desire to amend He is afraid lest the Confessor should make him sensible of his misery and put a stop to the disorders of his Conscience a certain sign that he is not willing to be cured Do not you do thus Theotime remember that excellent sentence of St. Augustin Non timet reprehensorem qui veritatem amat He that loves truth that is his Salvation is not afraid of a monitor or to have his defects laid open before his Eyes The 4th is faithfully to apply the remedies which are necessary to cure the Soul preserve it from Sin whether they be those which the Physitian prescribes or those which by other ways one comes to know None doubts but that this way is absolutely necessary yet few practise it so easily as they believe it Many Penitents there are who could wish to amend their lives but would do it at their ease without pain or trouble The sight of the remedies is a trouble to them and when they should put them in execution their heart fails them and they will do nothing at all Is not this to desire an impossible thing to seek the end without the means to obtain it the cure without the remedies and Salvation without trouble This is to act like the slothfull man who will and yet will not Prov. 13.4 This is a faint and imperfect wish to be deliver'd from their evils but in reality it is an effectual desire to continue in them and never to be cured You will do otherwise Theotime if you are truly Penitent and desirous of your Salvation You will with much care seek after the remedies against your Sins and apply them with no less exactness Behold here some few The First is that you have a special care to conserve in your Soul the Spirit of Penance which you were made partaker of in your Confession viz. an Hatred of Sin a Sorrow to have Committed it and a Resolution to offend no more Now to conserve this spirit it is necessary you renew these acts every day which may easily be done The Second is to perform with this Spirit the works of Penance as well those that are enjoyned in the Sacrament as others which you impose upon your self These works as the Council of Trent declares conduce very much to divert and deter us from our Sins The Third remedy is Prayer For as all our strength is from God it is but just we make our addresses to him that he will vouchsafe to assist us powerfully with his grace This is a means absolutely necessary without which it is impossible to cure the distempers of the Soul. Ask saith our Lord Luc. 11.9 and you shall receive which is as much as to say what you do not demand you shall not receive at all But as this means is necessary so also it is most powerfull and never fails of its effect According to that Sentence of the wise man Eccle. 2.11 No one hath ever hoped in God who hath been Confounded or frustrated of his desires But this Prayer must be frequent and serverous as we have need every day so also we must always pray Luc. 18. And as we beseech him to vouchsafe his mercies that we may be sav'd so it is but just that we demand them with a great and ardent desire to the end we may be worthy of them The Fourth remedy is frequent Confession This also is a necessary means without which it is morally impossible to be freed from a vicious habit when once one is engaged therein It is a Sacrament which remits sins past which gives grace to avoid them for the future There one renews his sorrow for having offended God and his resolution thence-forward to be faithfull to him one there receives advices and means to that effect one is thereby reduced into the path who had lost his way encouraged when he is remiss and fortified against the difficulties which occur They who neglect this means will never be freed from their habitual Sins but those who thirst after their Salvation will embrace it with much affection It is very convenient we make them often and ordinarily speaking to the same select Confessor and who is endowed with the qualities above-mention'd The holy Communion is also a very efficacious remedy against relapses It gives strength against temptations It weakens our ill habits it makes us avoid many venial Sins which lead and dispose to mortal But this is to be understood when the Communion is performed with all necessary dispositions and it produceth all these effects proportionably to the greater or less devotion with which we approach that holy Table Be very diligent and carefull Theotime in the use and application of this divine remedy and to that
carefully cooperate with his grace and also that we ought dayly to begg of him that he will vouchsafe to continue replenish our hearts therewith lest by our Sins we render our selves unworthy of them ARTICLE III. That it is necessary to distinguish well betwixt True and False Good and Bad Hope THis distinction is of the highest importance for as much as the greatest part of the world deceive themselves therein taking false for true and embracing an evill and sinfull instead of a good and virtuous Hope and from this mistake proceeds the damnation of innumerable Christians There is no one but hopes to be saved but because their hopes are ill grounded they hope other wise then they ought they lull themselves asleep in this foolish hope and approaching to their end they find themselves upon the brink of a precipice when they imagined they were arrived into the port and stood upon firm land Such is their Hope who expect Salvation notwithstanding they do not use the means to obtain it and who living ill hope to dy well now how many are there of these and what numbers are herein deceived Such is their hope who believe indeed that it is necessary for Salvation to live a good and virtuous life but still defer their conversion thinking that God will allways expect them as hitherto he hath done with patience to repentance notwithstanding their wicked course of life and the perpetuall abuses which they never cease to offer to his graces Such is their hope who Sin upon account of the confidence they have of Pardon and who are wont to say when they have offended that Gods mercy is great and that he will forget their Sins Such is their hope who imagine they shall be converted and return to God whensoere they please or that his grace will be allways in their power or that let them do what they will it will never forsake them Such is their hope who willfully and by some signall negligence of theirs expose themselves to the immediate occasions of Sin in hopes that God will preserve them Such is the hope of many cold and negligent tho' otherwise just people who relying upon a certain confidence of working their Salvation without much trouble suffer themselves to sleep frequenting remissly or seldom the means which God hath been pleased to grant us as most proper to conserve encrease in us his Grace such as are Prayer the Sacraments and good Works All these hopes are false and deceitfull and like false lights lead them into a precipice instead of conducting them into the Port their Salvation A man Endowed with Hope which is good and true expects not only from the hand of God the performances of his promise but himself also expects that this shall be done in the manner God hath promised He hopes to be partaker of the goods of Glory but not except he serve him with fidelity as he hath promised those who shall serve him who shall be faithfull in complying with the graces dispens'd unto him and shall persevere therein unto the end He expects in this life the goods of Grace thereby to obtain that of glory but endeavours at the same time not to put any obstacle or let on his side to the workings of it He demands them with much fervour and humility he hath a care to comply sincerely with them If he be in sin he doth Penance without delay but never offends in hopes of doing Penance and as St. Gregory advises he is fearfull to commit a sin which he doth not know whether or no he shall ever be sufficiently able to deplore In a word a man who truly hopes walks always in the midst between confidence and fear he trusts in God and mistrusts himself He hopes that God will not reject him but he fears lest himself should forsake his God he hopes that God will assist him but fears lest himself prove unfaithfull or defective in his duty And thus between this confidence and fear humbling himself in the presence of God he prays he labours endeavouring to secure his Salvation on the one side by flying from Sin and all the occasions of it and on the other by a due performance of good works In short Hope consists in or is at least attended with these four acts 1. A confidence to obtain from the divine goodness Everlasting life with all the graces necessary to acquire it 2. A vehement desire of Salvation for the expectation which we have of any great good is apt to raise in us an ardent great desire of it 3. A fear to lose it by our fault or any infidelity of ours a fear which ought not to produce any disquiet in the Soul but the hatred of sin which only can make us lose it 4. A firm and that an efficacious resolution to labour for Salvation a Resolution which makes one act and employ the means necessary to obtain that end as is abovesaid ARTICLE IV. Of the great blessings which Hope derives upon us WHen this great Virtue is well imprinted in a Soul it there produceth wonderfull Effects First It makes her love and desire Heaven her dear Country her native Soil it makes her sigh after her Eternal happyness it makes her fear lest she be frustrated of it by her fault and lose her self among the dangers of this Mortall Life so full of Rocks whereon Salvation so often suffers Shipwrack Secondly It makes her love the divine goodness which hath prepared so great blessings for her and hath put into her hands the means to acquire them Thirdly It makes her contemn this present life it disengageth her from the love of these goods and pleasures making her look upon them as transitory things which pass like a shaddow and yet which are not obtained but with much trouble nor possessed without solicitude nor lost without great grief It is for this reason that the just Man accounts himself in this life no otherwise then as a Pilgrim or Traveller upon his way to his Native soil knowing well as St. Paul Heb. 13.14 saith that here we have no permanent City or abode but we seek that which is to come after this life And as it would be a folly in a Traveller to set his affections upon an however gallant or stately Inn and desire to make it his abode so he whose soul is full of the hopes of Heaven accounts it madness to apply his mind to the goods of the earth and in these trifles lose his precious time and let slip the occasion of aiming at Heaven And St. Augustin observes excellently well that God by his Wisdom hath mingled afflictions and bitterness with all the even most innocent goods of this life so to disengage us from the affection to them in Psal 40. Docetur amare meliora per amaritudinem inferiorum ne viator tendens ad patriam stabulum amet pro domo sua Lest says he Man who is a Traveller upon his way to
esteem themselves happy in his company and above all they take it for a peculiar honour that they are admitted to eat at his Table What shame is it then for Christians so to neglect so great a treasure and so nigh at hand to be just at the Spring-head of Divine Graces and not esteem them to remain in the death of Sin when the Fountain of Life is at their disposal Ezech. 33.11 quare moriemini domus Israel and why do you deliver your selves to death O house of Israel O Christians amongst whom God hath chose his habitation upon earth why do you suffer your selves thus to dye having the author of Life so near you who invites you to come and threatens you if you do not accept his invitation Crying out to you in a loud voice John 6.54 unless ye eat my Body and drink my Blood you shall have no life in you Adding that he who eateth me shall live for my sake After such threats if we do not come and so great assurance if we do what can we alledge before the divine Tribunall at the day of judgment if still we are at a distance from him from God the Fountain of life and continue still companions to the enemy of mankind in the state of death and Sin and this because we are unwilling so to live that frequently we may partake of this living and life-giving bread Call to mind the feast in the parable Luc. 14. where the Master of the house shewed so much anger and indignation against those who refused to come after they had been so solemnly invited They excused themselves the best they could some with their affairs others with their pleasures one said he was obliged to go to his country house another that he went to try the Oxen he had bought and the third that he was taken up and employed about his marriage but not any of these excuses were admitted they were all rejected as frivolous pleas and therefore themselves for framing them were all judged worthy to be not only then but ever after excluded from that Banquet And this is the method which God shall use towards Christians who refrain from the Sacraments upon the vain pretences which usually they form to themselves for all their excuses shall be rejected and themselves punished as in in the Parable we have seen To those who shall excuse themselves with the affairs and employments of the world it shall be answer'd that there is no concern of such importance as that of their Salvation which therefore they ought to prefer before all other things And they shall be reproached with this that they have prefer'd their temporal concerns before their eternal happiness and made more account of the possessions of this world then of the grace of God. To those who shall excuse themselves with the indispositions of their Soul saying that they have not that virtue which is required for frequent Communion One may reply that their excuse is but too true yet it is a very bad one for that it is their duty so to live that they may Communicate dayly and to use all imaginable industry to render themselves capable thereof Lastly we shall find that there is no other cause why people communicate but seldom besides their sloath their indevotion and fear lest if they should frequent the Sacraments thereby they shou'd be obliged to live holily and in a word a will or a tacit resolution not to amend their lives but to remain in their Sins their Pleasures their Covetuousness Ambition and in all their irregular affections O Theotime avoid this great misfortune this fault so generall and yet so common amongst Christians who slight in this manner their Salvation and the great advantages which by the goodness Mercy of God are presented to them Learn in time to set a great value on them to advantage your self from thence approaching frequently to these divine mysteries instituted by God the means for your Salvation Begin this exercise from your youth and continue it thence-forward all your life that you may perform it dayly better and better and oftener approach to the Holy Table of Communion and receive our Lord. ARTICLE XI When and how often we ought to Communicate THe time which you ought most commonly to observe in your communion is that of every month so that you should not exceed that time without giving your Soul the opportunity to partake of this divine nourishment of the holy Eucharist It is very hard for you to stay so long without having a considerable want of help to resist the temptations of your Ghostly enemy or repress the passions which spring from your age and the heat of blood You have need of strength whereby you may be able to withstand the Devil as also of a good preservative against your self The one and the other you shall find in the holy communion wherefore it is fit you have recourse unto it according to the proportion of the necessity you find that you have thereof Beside it is necessary that you grow up and encrease in the fear of God and in all Christian virtues Faith Hope Charity Humility Temperance Modesty and the rest Which you can never do if you Communicate but seldom Take this then for a general rule that regularly speaking you Communicate once a month and oftener upon either of these occasions 1st When there happens any Solemn feast as of our Lord or of the Blessed Virgin which you should never let pass without receiving the Blessed Sacrament both because you should honour the Feast by this Sacred action as also make your self worthy to partake of the graces which God more liberally distributes in respect of the united prayers of the faithfull on those days The 2d is when you perceive in your self any considerable want thereof as when you are assaulted with more violent or more frequent temptations for then you must have recourse to this remedy to strengthen you least you fall into mortall Sin. And if by misfortune it have so happen'd that you are already faln therein for want of due foresight of the fall which easily happens not only to young people but to many others by reason they are not sensible of the evil before it be faln upon them in this case Theotime take care to confess your self forthwith And as for Communion take the advice of your Ghostly father whether it be to receive that day if he find you suffiently disposed or to defer it some days longer during which time you may prepare your self for it by doing penance for your Sins and deploring in the presence of God the misery which hath befaln you Behold what you are to observe concerning the time of Communion whilst yet you are young When you shall be more advanc'd in age in judgment and in the love of God you may Communicate more frequently still according to the counsell you shall receive in that point supposing you have a good guide
and which will yet more confirm that pardon confirming me in the resolution I have conceived to be faithfull to thee Come then O Divine Saviour enter and take possession of me speak to my Soul a word of comfort Psa 34.3 Dic animae meae salus tua ego sum tell her that thou art her strength her Salvation and her Sovereign good Tell her as once thou didst Abraham Gen. 15.1 Fear not I am thy Protector amidst the greatest dangers of this Life I will secure thee I am thy exceeding great Reward an infinite and incomprehensible recompence in the next grant I beseech thee that I may rightly understand these high Mysteries these important truths and that this may be the fruit of the Communion which I am about to receive When you have ponder'd well upon these holy thoughts approach to the Sacred Table full with desire to take possession of and enjoy your God and replenished with hope to receive in this Communion an abundant plenty of Graces to conserve him in you and you in him After Communion AS soon as you are retired from the Holy Table prostrate in heart before him adore with all humility our Lord whom you have received return him innumerable thanks for the infinite favour he hath done in coming to you and consequent to this you shall insist upon the practice of these three acts of the Virtue of Hope An earnest desire of Eternal Salvation A strong resolution to labour that you may attain unto it Prayer to demand at the hands of God grace and the means to obtain it Adoration First then addressing your thought to our Lord whom you have received represent to your self how you possess him the very same whose sight causeth all that bliss which maketh the Angels and Saints in Heaven blessed and all the Celestial Spirits desire and esteem themselves happy to behold him 1. Pet. 1.12 In quem desiderant Angeli prospicere in this belief speak to him and let your heart pronounce as followeth I Adore thee O Infinite greatness O Divine Majesty who fillest both Heaven and Earth and art adored in Heaven by all the Blessed Spirits Angells and Saints who incessantly praise and cry out before thee Esai 6.3 Sanctus Sanctus sanctus Dominus Deus Sabaoth how is it possible O my God that thou shouldst stoop so low as to descend unto me and to enclose thy self within me 2. Par. 6.18 Is it credible O All-mighty God that thou wouldst vouchsafe to dwell amongst men upon the Earth If the Heavens and Heavens of Heavens do not contain thee how much less this habitation which I have prepared for thee But thy goodness O great God knows full well how to humble it self when it pleases thee Thou knowest well how to conceal the amazing splendors of thy glory and by condescending to our weak capacity to communicate thy self more freely to us This thou didst begin to do in thy adorable Incarnation in which thou mad'st thy self like unto us to attract our love And this method thou holdest on in this Mystery where thou bestowest thy self upon us for our food and nourishment that thou may'st more closely unite thy self unto us and make us aspire to that Celestial Banquet which thou hast made for all the Blessed in Heaven who glut themselves without loathing and are perpetually satiated with and yet always desire thy Divine presence O my God grant me grace that I may dayly more and more aspire to and long after this eternal banquet that the desire to enjoy it may make me slight all the goods and pleasures of this mortall life and labour continually to render my self worthy of it and happily at last to arrive unto it This is my resolution which at present I make before thee I resolve to renounce all whatsoever my irregular affections and may too much incline me to the vain and deceitfull goods or possessions of this life I know they are apt to endanger and make me loose everlasting happyness and for this reason I will discharge my heart of them that I may love nothing but thee alone and place my whole trust in thee as David did Ps 72.28 It is good for me to cleave to God and to put my hope in our Lord. I firmly resolve to watch over all my actions and fly from Sin and avoid whatsoever may displease thee And as the same Psalmist expresseth himself Ps 17.24 I will be by his grace immaculate in his sight and will observe to keep my self from all iniquity I will labour to work my Salvation by keeping thy holy commandments And I protest before thee O my God and I hope I shall be faithfull to thee Ps 118.106 I have Sworn and determin'd with my self to keep the Judgments which thou hast form'd and manifested to me of thy justice But I am not able to perform this resolution without the assistance of thy grace wherefore I most humbly demand it of thee O Jesus save me ibid. 35. Conduct me thro' all the ways of thy Commandments which I now enter upon and Embrace with all my heart Incline my heart and make me love thy divine truths which thou hast so abundantly attested and not to covetousness or the immoderate desire of the goods of this world Divert my Eyes that they may not see that is be fixed on Vanity or the promising but indeed vain and empty delights of this present life Enliven and strengthen me in thy way that is in the holy path of Virtue and good works Grant that I may find nothing amiable whereon to fix my affection but thee alone Assist my weakness that I may be able to advance towards thee Cant. 1.4 Draw me to thee O divine Jesus that being so attracted I may run after the odours of thy perfumes that is of thy divine Virtues by an holy imitation of them and following thee by that way even as far as Heaven where thou livest and raignest for all Eternity CHAP. III. Of Charity the third disposition for the worthy receiving the blessed Sacrament ARTICLE I. How necessary Charity is and how much is requir'd to Communicate well and as we ought THis is the third disposition to a good Communion and no less necessary then the former two yea without it those two great Virtues would not at all conduce or dispose the soul better for the worthy receiving of Jesus Christ Altho' your Faith were as great as that of the Apostles and your hope equalled that of the Prophets if you have not Charity you are not in a condition fit to entertain him who is Charity himself and who cannot dwell with him who is without it Altho' I should have so strong a Faith says St. Paul 1. Cor. 13.1 so that I could move Mountains without Charity it avails nothing and proceeding he affirms v. 3. Altho' I should distribute all my goods amongst the poor and deliver my body to be burnt as the Martyrs have done if I am void of Charity all