rigour and the severity of the last judgement concludes watch therefore praying at all times He speakes not to Religious or to Priests only but to all Christians He knew the impediments we should have the importance of our affaires and He says pray at all times It was by perseverance that the Cananean woman obtain'd of the Son of God the deliverance of her daughter as Saint Chrysostome hath noted she prayed with interior humility since she sayd whelps also eate of the crummes Chrysost hom 5. in Mart. S. Mrk. 7. 29. and with exterior for she prostrated at the feet of our Saviour with fervour of Spirit which she shewed by crying-out clamavit Nevertheless the Son of God rejected her and would not hear her But she strugled with him and got the Victory by her importunity so must you to have success stand obstinate in a holy obstinacy and pray unto the end And therefore our Saviour himself sayes to you in S. Luke It behoves you to pray always and not to be weary S. Luke 18. 1. 10. And what hinders you from praying Is it that you have not leasure that you have many affaires and affaires of importance this is that which should oblige you to pray for the more serious your affaires are the more it concerns you to have success in them and prayer is the means to obtain it You have not-leasure to pray Why not You find time for dinner supper and other necessities of the body notwithstanding your great affaires and why find you not time for the refection of your Soul it is as necessary to pray God well for to work your Salvation as to take your refection to preserve your life You have not time to pray Believe me you have enough if you manage it well Cut off superfluous visits idle words unproâ—â—table workes and conversations and unnecessary divertisements and there will remaine time to be employ'd in prayer But are you so prest with business that you cannot find now and then a quarter of an hour to spend in prayer At least then in working elevate often your heart to God by jaculatory prayers adore him from time to time and beg of him his love grace and guidance put a pin upon your sleeve that seeing it you may be minded of it ' til you are accustom'd to it for it behoves you to pray always What is that which hinders you Is it that you have offended grievously This is as if you should say I am too much wounded I must not go to the Surgeon On the contrary this should incline you more to go to him Com to me all ye who areburdened Says our Saviour He says not receive me communicate so much the more often and the more boldly the more you are burdened with sins but com to me to pray me and to ask help and succour of me however great and numerous may be your sins if you have a lively resentment of them if you desire to be deliver'd from them it is a good motive to shew God to obtain his mercy It is that which David did when he sayd I am poor and needy 'T is that which the Publican did saying God be mercifull to me a sinner 'T is that which the Church puts into your mouth we sinners do beseech thee to hear us What is that in fine that hinders you Is it that God heares you not that He rejects you and withdraws himself from you and that it is long since you beg'd of Him not temporal goods but spiritual and you obtain not This gives you cause to persever and to pray more fervently since He defers so long to hear you 't is a signe that what He will bestow upon you is most excellent and precious though He seems to refuse what you ask He is pleased with your devotions and if He delays to hear you it is for good reasons 'T is to exercise your patience to heat your desire to try your perseverance to augment your merit And if you have patience and persever importuning him Sooner or later He will accomplish your desires and give you grace in this World and glory in the other Amen DISCOURS XXV OF FASTING And the Institution of Lent 1. IF the Apostle S. Paul were now on earth he would bewaile extreamly the horrible blindness of those who prefer the pleasure of their mouthes before the precept of the Church and the Salvation of their soules He would say to us what he sayd to the Philippians there are many amongst you of whom I weeping tell you that are enemies Philip. 3. 18. of the Cross of Christ that abhoâ—r all mortification of the flesh that have the belly for their God and shal have eternal damnation for their end for our fasts are not things indifferent or workes of supererogation they are workes of precept and obligation Some will say to me your fasts are not prescrib'd in Scripture they are commandements of men and therefore obâ—ige not other in Conscience But if a Dissenter should command his child a thing very profitable or necessary for his family and his child should say to him Father you are a man the Commandements of men oblige not in conscience I find not In the Scripture that God commands me to go to such a place or to do such a thing No he wiâ—l say to him But he commands thee to obey thy Father and thy Mother So I say to you It is not in Scripture that you must fast such a day that you keep suâ—h a holy day But God commands you in many Ephes. 6. Coloss 3. 20. Heb. 13. 17. places of the Scripture to obey the Church your Mother For the Apostle that sayd in the behalfe of God Children obey your Parents the same sayd also Obey your Prelates If men have not power to command other men nor to oblige them in Conscience whence comes it that JESUS-CHRIST sayd to his Apostles and Luke 10. 16. Matth. 23. 2. Matt. 18 17. Rom. 13. 2 to their successours who heares you heares me and who despises you despises me And to the people do all that they shal say to you whence is it that JESUS-CHRIST hath sayd He that heares not the Church esteeme him as a Pagan or a Publican Whence is it that S. Paul said He that resisteth Superiour power resists the ordinance of God and they that resist it purchase to themselves damnation But 't is to resist Superior power and to disobey the Church not to observe the fasts which She commands 't is to transgress an Apostolical command not to fast the Lent when you have not a legitimate excuse I say Apostolical command 2. And to prove this Verity I might alledg many testimonies of the ancient Fathers but becaus JEUS-CHRIST does say that we ought to give credit to two or three good Witnesses I will alledge the depositions of three or four of three parts of the world Africa Europe and Asia In Affrica Tertullian reports an
the flower of your age whilst you have the most fine strong and vigorous part of your age and which God will accept if you present it to him but will perhaps reject you if you offer to him but old age the remainder of your time Give then your selves now entirely to God break at once all those fetters which hinder you resolve at this present to divorce without delay all those evill habits and affections to creatures and you will see that being so unbound you will seem to be another man unloaden of a heavy burden freed from a cruel tyranny brought into a terrestial Paradise you will say as S. Austin when he was converted You have broken ô Lord my chaines and I will sacrifice to you a host of praise Amen DISCOURS XXIII OF TRVE PENANCE IF we have never so little of understanding and good nature we wâ—ll acknowledg the great obligations we have to God in that He having exercised his justice upon the apostate Angells and having left them in their misery without remedy He vouchsafed to have mercy on us and instituted a meanes to wit penance by which we may obtain pardon of our sins aâ—d regain his favour I will here consider only the necessity of it and the Conversions which it makes in us remitting the rest to the discours upon the Sacrement Misericordiae Domini quia non sumus consumpti sayd the Prophet Ieremiah It is a great mercy of our Lord that He darts Lament 3. 22. not forth the thunderbolts of his justice upon our criminal heads When we are in the state of sin He hath good reason to do it we deserve it more than justly It is a mercy incomparably greater that He vouchsafes to think of us to have thoughts of peace reconciliation and accommodation Ego cogito cogitationes pacis But t is a mercy above all thought and hope that He vouchsafes for this effect to send to us Ambassadors for Christ we are Legates says S. Paul Woe to us if we receive 2 Cor. 5. 20. them not with gratitude for so great a favour woe to us if we hear them not since 't is not the custome to send Ambassadors but for affairs of the greatest consequence What is that which God desires of us what is the affaire these Embassadors must nogotiate with us It is to induce us to penance This is that which Prophets Apostles and Doctors have always announced on the part of God Convert and do penance from all your iniquities Ezech. 18. 30. 2. Cor. 5. 20. Sayes the Prophet Ezechiel And the Apostle For Christ we beseech you to be reconciled to God O my God what is this What goodnes what mercy God vouchsafes to seek us to exhort us to pray us to be reconciled to him by Penance And He complains of the fals Prophets and complying Preachers that negociate not this afâ—aire Thy Prophets not mine have seen fals and foolish things to thee nor have they opened thy iniquities to provoke thee to penance 2. This word penance coms from the word pain and this word pain is derived from the latine word pone behind because pain does always follow sin If we offend God and imagin to escape unpunished we imagin a thing that never hath been and never will be a thing impossible This made holy Iob say I fear'd all my works knowing that thou didst not spare the Iob. 9. 28. offender For if the sinner himself does not punish sin during this life by penance he will fall into the hands of the Lord says Ecclesiasticus who will punish it terribly in the other world And we see in the scripture that the holy Ghost attributes to Ecclus. 2. 22. impenitence the punishments that God inflicts on men and to penance the pardon and the mercy that He does them the same Prophet Iob speaking of an obstinate Soul sayd Let his Iob. 24. 19. sin lead him even into hell let mercy forget him becaus God hath given him place to do penance and he abused it and on the contrary the sacred text does say that God pardoned the Ninivites becaus they did penance 3. Let us suppose you have a suit at law in which you have a tryall for your estate honor and also for your life your Soliciter tells you such a paper is wanting Your Advocate tells you if you will gain your Suit 't is necessary to have such a writing the wife of your Iudg who hath an affection fort you says to you I heard often my husband and other Iuâ—ges who Spoke of your business Say that you must have such a writing to gain your Suit the Iudg who is favourable to you likewise sayes I shal be forced to condemn you if you produce not such a paper will you not be voyd of Iudgment sense and reason if you use not all indeavours to produce this writing You have a process of the greatest importance in the Tribunal of the justice of God which must be judged in the hour of your death The question is not about lands or other temporal goods but of possessing the kingdom of heaven or being burnt eternally in hell The Preacher who is your Soliciter who solicits your salvation with all affection says to you that to gain your suit you must do penance S. Peter S. Paul S. Iohn Evangelist and the other Saints who are Acts. 2. 38. your Advocats declare to you that it is necessary for you S. Peter Do penance to have pardon of your sins S. Paul God announces unto all men that they do penance S. Iohn They shal be in the greatest affliction if they do not penance The Church which Acts. 17. 30. Apoc. 2. 22. is the Spouse of your Iudg tells you that to be saved you must follow the exhortation which S. Iohn Baptist made you saying Yield fruits worthy of penance The son of God who is your Iudg says to you twice in the same place to move you the more If you do not penance I will condemn You You shal perish all Will you not then be Ennemies to your own salvation Luke 13. 3. 5. and fools in the highest degree if you do not penance 4. Do penance then if you be Wise do it at present not expecting longer you have not perhaps ever don it well perhaps you will never do it so well as you may now if you let this present time and occasion slip perhaps there will be no more time for you The Son of God declares to you that He will call you when you thinke least of it S. Paul tells you that when you shal think that you enioy a profound peace and are sure to live then a sudden death shal surprize you the examples of so many that die suddenly or before they expected admonish you to lay hold on the present time say not then we have time enough that nothing presses to do penance It is quite contrary There is nothing that does not
this Vertue another Saint Charles the Cardinal Boromeus honoured so much the holy scripture that also studying it he read it always kneeling and uncover'd The seraphical Saint Francis commanded that papers which had the name of God written in them should not be Prophan'd but plac'd in decent and convenient places S. Lewis forbid painting and graving of the Cross upon the pavement for fear the people should tread upon it On Festivalls and Vigills in honor of the Saint celebrated or of the Mistery solemnized he gave dinner to two hundred Poore and serv'd them at the table He fasted all fridays of the yeare and in those of Advent and Lent he eate neither fish nor fruit becaus these two Times are consecrated to God 6. If these great Saints were now on earth what would they say what would they do seeing the comportment of men What thinke they now in heaven seeing the irreligion of those who will not allow them any honor though God does honor them and honor be a due salary of their Vertue who count it superstition Luke 15. 6. Luke 16. Apoc. 5. 8. and 8. 4. Matth. 18. 10 to implore their intercession though they have credit and favour in the sight of God do hear our prayers do know our necessities have experienced our miseries and have Charity and affection for us as the scriptures tell us What thinke they seeing the indevotion of others who rise in the morning and go to bed at night as beasts who sit down to table at noon as Epicurians and pass over the day as if there were no God who even fear to assist often at the Sacrifice to frequent the Sacraments to adore God and pray him as they ought lest men laugh at them and call them devotes or hypocrites though they are not ashamed to do ill in open street What do they think in fine seeing such irreverences of men towards holy things They employ the time of holy days in playing in visits and drunkenness if they discours for pleasure and recreation it seems not well seasoned if it clash not upon Priests or Religious Persons if they com to the Church it is not to appease God but to offend him to see and to be seen They prophane the holy scripture and use it in their jests meriments and Scurrilities 7. Si Ego Pater ubi est honor meus If I am the Father where is my honour He might have sayd if I am King If I am Iudg. If nature teaches the most barbarous to honour their father who is more worthy of honor than He from whom we have received not Body only but also Soul and All 8. If we honor the King and also the Courtiers for his sake should we not honor the King of kings so great powerfull and Soveraign that all the Kings of the world are his Uassalls and are but wormes in respect of Him 9. If we honor Iudges becaus they have some Power in this world ought we not to honor him who is infinitely powerfull and from whom all power is dereiv'd And give also an inferiour honour to the Saints whom God does so much honor that He makes them our Iudges You shal sit says our great Iudg upon S. Matth 19. 28. 1. Kings 2. 30. seats judging the twelue Tribes of Israel Let us remember then what God says to Samuel whosoever shal glorify me I will glorify him and they that contemne me shal be base If we neglect the service of God if we respect not his friends and althings that specially appertain to him sooner or later we shal be contemn'd coâ—â—r'd with shame dishonour and infamy But if we honour him as we ought we shal be replenished with glory either in this world by the good odour of our reputation or in the other by the crown of justice which God reserves for us in Heaven Amen DISCOURS XXX OF THE SECOND COMMANDEMENT Thou shalt not take the Name of the Lord thy God in Vaine For the Lord will not hold him innocent that shal take the name of the Lord his God in Vaine Exod. 20. THe royal Prophet representing to us the name of God as holy represents it at the same time as terrible and dreadfull Holy and terrible is his name Let us confess to thy great name becaus it is terrible and holy And he joy ns Majesty and power with Sanctity to imprint in our hearts reverence and to stricke terrour into us lest we should at any Psal 110 Psal 98. time dishonour him And God assures us in this Commendement that he will punish us for it that we may not pretend ignorance to be any caus of it The Lord will not hold him Innocent that shal take the name of the Lord his God in vaine In other sins the mercy of God pleads in favour of sinners demands pardon strives S. Iames. 2. 13. with justice and sometimes overcoms it and mercy exalteth it self above iudgment says S. Iames But in this sin the Verity of God joyns it self to justice and obliges God to punish the prophaner lest his word do fail Is it not then a misery which de serves to be deplor'd with teares of blood to see that there is nothing so licenciously and frequently prophan'd and abus'd by Christians as the name of God by pronouncing his holy name irreverently violating Vowes unworthily swearing falsly or prophanely Cursing or blaspheming detestably 2. But some will say Oathes are they essentially naught Is it not permitted to swear sometimes Yes 't is lawfull since the Scripture permits and approves it Saints have practised it and God himself vouchsafes to sweare The Prophet Hieremy permits us Hierem 4. 2. Psal 62. 12. Apoc. 10. 6. Gen. 14. 22. 3. kings 17. 1. Rom. 19. 2. Cor. 1. 23. Gal. 1. 20 Gen. 22. 16. Hier. 22. 24. Luke 1. 73. Psal 109 to sweare in the name of God provided it be with all necessary circumstances David praises those that sweare by the true God not by fals Deities as Pagans did Angells Patriarks Prophets and Apostles have sometimes sworn An Angel in the Apocalyps lifts up his hand to heaven and sweares by him that lives for ever and ever that after judgment there will be no more time In the book of Genesis the Patriarke Abraham says to the King of Sodom I lift up my hand to the most high Majesty of God who possesses heaven and Earth In the third book of kings the Prophet Elias sayd by the living God in whose sight I stand S. Paul in his Epistle to the Romans God is my witness that without intermission I make a memory of you In the second to the Corinthians I call God to witness upon my soul that sparing you I came not any more to Corinth And in the Epistle to the Galatians Behold before God that I ly not God himself whose least word is more firm then heaven and earth having nothing greater then himself vouchsafes to sweare by himself and by
the Sovereign of all his Empire would not be absolute nor his Dominion universal since that a Corrival or Competitor would have right to dispute with Him if not the superiority or the preeminence at least equality and independence 4. The Apostles say not only I believe God but I believe in God and these two expressions are very different for the first imports only an Act of Faith by which we believe that there is a God and what does come from Him as what He teaches us in the Scripture and what the Church proposes as revealed by Him But the other signifys not only an act of Faith but also of Hope and Love And we learn by this expression that it is not enough for a Christian to believe God but he must moreover hope in Him and love Him and so distinguish himself from the wicked and from the devill who can believe that there is a God and give credit to his word but becaus they confide not in him nor love him they believe not in God 5. But what is God This Question the disciples of learned Epictetus made to him who answered my Children if I could tell you what is God either He would not be God or I my self should be God He sayd true but he sayd not enough it is not only impossible to explicate what is God but whatsoever we can say of Him is infinitely below what we ought to say of Him Wherefore S. Austin says that we cannot say any thing that is worthy to be attributed to God becaus in this it is unworthy that it is possible to be sayd 6. Neverthelesse we ought to speak of Him for to make Him known and we must make Him known for to make Him to be loved and feared and we must make Him to be loved and feared for to avoyd sin which offends Him 7. The Scripture says that He is great and above all praise Magnus Dominus laudabilis nimis But we must not imagin that it Psal 47. 2. speaks of a material and corporeal greatnesse When we say that one King is greater then another this is not to say that he is of a greater and higher stature but that he is greater in Power and Dominions so when we say that God is great we mean not in material quantity length largness and other corporeal dimensions for He is a spirit and has no body nor parts But He is great in Nobility in Power in Wisdome in Goodness and other divine Petfections 8. He is great in Nobility He is so noble that all Kings and Emperours are but his servants and his slaves All crowns of the world depend on Him and he disposes of them at his pleasure He is so noble that the kings are his beggers they say to Him daily upon their knees give us this day our daily bread and if He should not giue it them they must necessarily want it He is so noble that Kings compared to Him are but wormes who can do less against Him then worms of the earth against you I am a worme sayd a great king in the light of his contemplation 9. He is great in Power Potens metuendus nimis The power which makes great ones of the world is commonly but to destroy they say Alexander the great Pompie the great becaus by their armies they have defeated millions of men ruined Towns and desolated Provinces And what power is this a scorpion a spider is able to destroy and kill à man a little contagious air may defeat a whole army and this power also of the great ones is so vain and weak that they cannot annihilate or reduce to nothing a little fly for always something of it remains But God is so powerfull that He can not only reduce all things to nothing but draw all things out of nothing even without any assistance without any labour and more easily then you look upon me for you may be wearied in looking on me or hindred from seeing me and God cannot be wearied nothing can hinder the execution of his will 10. He is great in Wisdom He is so wise that He makes all the actions of his creatures to contribute to his intentions also those that are done against His intention He lets the second causes acte as if He acted not He lets each cause move according to its genious and particular inclination the natural naturally the free freely and He makes all their actions to serve His designes as infallibly efféctually and happily as if He alone did do their actions purposely He makes likewise to contribute to the Execution of his Will and to the accomplishment of his intentions all that men do against his Will and all that opposes his intentions the impious do all they can to dishonour Him the infidells to ruine his Church the reprobate to afflict and destroy his Elect and He makes the attempts of the impious to conduce to his glory the infidelity of the infidells to the good of his Church the persecutions of the reprobare to the salvation of the elect What an ineffable wisdom 11. He is great and admirable in his Goodness He is an infinite sea and an Abiss of love mercy and liberality which without diminution flowes continually and abundantly In the order of nature what flowers what fruits what plants what animalls what voices what perfumes what colours what drugs what meats and drinks for our nourishment for our service remedy and divertissement 12. In the supernatural Order He shews us evidently his Goodness He accomplishes that which He sayd Mensuram bonam confertam Luke 6. 38. coagitatam supereffluentem dabunt in sinum vestrum He gives good stuffed shaken and overflowing measure into the bosoms of the saints One for example gave a morcel of bread to a poor man or a word of instruction for his salvation this action was so smal this word so soon past that one would not think them worthy to be remembred Nevertheless God forgets them not He will look upon them with complacence he will praise them and recompence them not for a hundred or a thousand years only but for ever so good He is and ardently amorous of good 13. To men in this life He gives graces with so much liberality Ephes 1. 8. and affluence that S. Paul says The riches of his grace have superabounded in us If then we are deprived of them or receive them slenderly it is not a defect of the source but our own fault becaus we make our selves unworthy of them not complying with them not esteeming them but neglecting contemning them Who would not admire the nobility of this Royal divine heart who vouchsafes to give all these goods not only to the elect who are thankful for them but also to his enemies who acknowledg him not who blaspheme him contemn him persecute him Nevertheless he suffers them he supports them he conserves them in health he gives them honours riches
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
detestable and unnatural to reign so long in the whole world You have so much zeal for the salvation of men how permit you that so many souls fall into perdition I confess to you that you are terribly magnifyd You will magnify you will manifest the necessity and the excellencie of the grace of JESUS your Son you will shew how Excellent and precious it is since it was to be expected desired demanded by so many prayers of the Patriarks groanes of the Prophets teares and sighs of vertuous people how necessary it is since the light of nature the exquisite precepts of Philosophers the rich discourses of Orators the sharp invectives of Prophets the terrible threats of your Scriptures the exemplar chastisements of sinners joyn'd with the interiour grace you gave to men drew so few from Sin You will make known how freely it is given since you gave it in a time in which men did demerit it by so many crimes in a time in which the world was prostituted to sins so black enormous and excessive that they provoked vengeance instead of inviting your mercy T is S. Paul in the Epistle to the Romans and to the Galatians and after him S. Austin in divers places who Aug lib. 1. de Gratiae Christi Cap. 8. inculcate to us this verity that God lest so long the Gentills in their ignorance and the Iews in the weakness of their concupiscence for to oblige us to acknowledg confess and magnify the necessity of his grace 5. When we consider this I wonder we cry not out continually at least jn the bottom of our hearts Grace Grace with out it I know nothing I can do nothing I am nothing I marvell how we can be proud in any good work whatsoever that we cast not our selves into the center of our nothing and say with S. Paul By the grace of God I am what I am We are not sufficient to think any thing of our selves as of our selves If we will be aided by this grace without which we are in disgrace with God and miserable for ever we must do our duty before it coms when it coms and after it is come 6. Before it coms we must acknowledg and confess the need we have of it That which the Wiseman sayd of a particular Wisdom 8. 21. grace we must say of all knowing that I could not have the grace of continency if God did not give it to me I went to him and demanded it of Him with my whole heart and this very thing is Wisdom to know that t is a gift of God We must do the like We know or ought to know that we cannot practise any vertous action by which we advance towards heaven without the grace of God we must then ask it of him humbly fervently and with all our heart and this not once or twice but very often for since it is wholy necessary to the practise of Vertue and also to every good and meritorious work in particular ad singulos actus as the Councells Speake what shal we do and what will becom of us if we are not continually prevented by it 7. We cannot of our selves prevent and merit it But we can demerit it and render our selves unworthy of it by many great and enormous sins as the jews did Let us not do as Ezechiel 9. 9. they let us not hinder or retard the happy comming of his grace 8. And when it coms we must carefully not its genious and motions for fear of a mistake and of following the inclinations and the instincts of nature instead of the conduct and designes of grace for though they are wholy opposite they are in appearance very like and it imports very much not to be herein deceiv'd for they that are led by nature are children of the old man and they that are guided by grace are children of the new man JESUS CHRIST or as the Apostle says they are the Sons of God 9. Nature hates all captivity will not subjection nor humiliation loves to governe and command Grace loves subjection desires Thomas a Kempis de Imitatione Christi lib. 3. cap. 54. humiliation and will not govern or command if not obligd to it 10. Nature loves praise and glory to make it self seen and known to many to employ and dissipate it self in exteriour affaires Grace loves to be hidden and unknown to the world it seeks recollection and retyrement peace and communication with God 11. Nature flys all that gives difficulty or paine either to soul or body it seeks what is proper and particular loves its own ease and commodity and referrs all to it self and to its interest Grace requires that which is laborious which mortifys and is incommodious to the flesh which is serviceable and profitable to many which conduces to the glory of God When then you have thoughts and desires of the first sort beware such thoughts mistrust such inclinations what ever faire pretence appearance and hopes you may have to do good by following them for there is danger it is to be fear'd that they are not but the inclinations of Nature and the productions of self love But when you have thoughts and affections of the other sort suspect them not for they are ordinarily the instinctâ— and motions of Grace 12. When you have receiv'd it be very carefull not to be ungratefull Ingratitude says S. Bernard is a murtherer an opposer of S. Ber ser 3. de sept panib S. Ber. contrapessimum vitium Ingrat Grace an enemy to salvation I think nothing displeases God so much as ingratitude it shuts the door against grace which hath no entrance where this Vice is found There is nothing but ingratitude that hinders your advancement the Benefactor reputing the graces lost which he gave to the ungratefull shuts his hands and gives them to him no more Happy he who returns thanks for every benefit receiv'd from God who is the Source of all grace for when we are gratefull for favours receiv'â— we deserve to receive greater 13. When Grace hath produced in you or by you any good beware to say that Our high hand and not our Lord hath don these things Beware to attribute to your selves the glory of them say always as S. Paul by the grace of God I am what I am If I have not yielded to temptation t is by the mercy of God If I have receiv'd any grace from him t is by his mercy if I have consented to it and laboured with it t is by his mercy If I am exempted from many sins which are committed in the world 1. Cor. 4. 7. 't is by his mercy Who distinguishes you from others Have you any thing that you have not receiv'd and if you have receiv'd it why glorify you your self as if you had it of your self What difference is there between me and the most execrable Criminal in the world the mercy of God what difference and distinction between my soul
and the blackest soul in hell t is the mercy of God this great sinner this unfortunate person was drawn out of nothing and I also he was in the mass of corruption and I also he inclin'd naturally to it and I also he had flesh that rebell'd against the spirit sensuality that was contrary to reason and J also If I have not been so violently tempted as he If I have not been in the immediate occasions as he if I have been more strong and firm then he 't is by the grace and mercy of God Acknowledg says S. Austin the grace of God to which you are debtours for being freed from the crimes which you have not committed for no sin is committed by a man which another might not commit if forsaken by him who made man And after this shal we be proud shal we think to be something of our selves shal we disdain others 14. S. Paul had great reason to cry-out to us Tu fide stas Rom. 11. 20. S. Ber. Ser. 54. in cant noli altum sapere sed time though you have faith and other vertues nevertheless be not proud but fear Vpon which words S. Bernard says in verity I have learnt that there is nothing so effectual to keep and recover grace as Humility and Fear you are happy if you fill your heart with a triple fear if your fear when you have receiv'd grace and more when you have lost it and yet more when you have recover'd it fear then when grace comes fear when it retyres fear when it returns when it comes fear lest you comply not well with it when it retyres fear more becaus you have lost your safeguard and doubt not but that pride is the cause of it though you know it not for God sees that which is hid from you God who gives his grace to the humble takes it not from the humble when then a man is depriv'd of grace 't is a signe that he is proud And if it returne by the mercy of God 't is then you ought to fear much more lest you fall into a more lamentable relaps fear therefore God always and withall your heart mistrust your dispositions how ever holy and good they may seem if they make you proud God left so many souls in the way of perdition before the Incarnation to make you know the necessity of Grace and to establish you in Humility will He not permit you to be lost if you are not humble fear if you commit great sins that God will not give you efficacious grace to raise you out of them Fear if you attribute it to your selves that God will draw it from you work your salvation in fear and trembling for 't is God who produces in you the good will and the work and this is the reason why Saints always fear lest being proud of their good works they be depriv'd of the help of grace and left in weakness says S. Leo S. Leo. Ser. 8. de Epiph Have you yet Baptismal Innocency fear beware to lose it avoyd all occasions that may make you suffer so great a loss 't is a most precious and inestimable treasure but a tender one if it be opened it will soon rot Are you in an ill state fear you are in the power of satan the object of the anger of God at the brink of hell there needs not but an unhappy accident a sudden death to bury you in eternal fire Are you raised out of sin fear fear to fall back again your relaps would be more dangerous your ingratitude more great the remedy more hard In whatsoever State you be acknowledg the grace of God the great need you have of it and call often and instantly for it if you acknowledg the necessity of Grace if you ask it if you receive it and improve it unto the end assuredly you will be saved for this divine grace in the seed merit and last disposition to eternal Glory Amen DISCOURS XXI Of good Works in general SOme say that Catholicks think to be saved by their good works without being beholding to JESUS-CHRIST by their own merits not by his and consequently that they are the proudest and the most ungrateful to God of all people in the world 2. 'T is a strange thing that they can be so mistaken in our Doctrine since our Church constantly and clearly â—ver taught the contrary We belive that no force of nature nor dignity of our best works can merit our justification but we are justifyd freely by grace through the Redemption that is in JESUS-CHRIST 3. We teach that our following merits or good works signisy no more than actions don by the assistance of God's grace to which it hath pleased his Goodness to promise a reward a doctrine so far from being unsuitable to the holy scriptures that nothing is so frequently repeated in them as God's gracious promises to recompence with everlasting glory the faith and obedience of his servants 4. We believe that the merit and rewardableness of these actions 1. Tim. 4. 8. Rom. 2. 8. Rom. â— 3. Heb. 6. 10. Matth. 25. 21 2. Tim. 2. 21. Matt. 25. 21. Matt. 19. 12. arises not from the value of them as they are ours but from the grace and bounty of God So we boast not in our selves but all our glorying is in CHRIST We say with S. Paul that we are naughty and unfaithfull servants of our own selves but good and faithfull as our Saviour saies by the grace of God that we are unprofitable by our own works but profitable as S. Paul says by the works of grace and if we should be absolutely unprofitable we must expect the sequel there of utter darkness that is damnation 5. Besides good workes of obligation there are other of Supererogation and at these Dissenters startle much they hold it a proud and arrogant thing to think that a man may do more than he is commanded as Catholicks do teach Yet what more plain in Scriptures Our Savior sayes there are Eunucks who have made themselves Eunucks for the Kingdom of Heaven and this is more than a man is bound to for he may marry if he will and yet go to heaven He says again If thou wilt be perfect go and sell all Matt. 19. 21. thou hast and give it to the Poor and thou shalt have a treasure in heaven No man can reasonably suppose this to to be a command he then that obeys it as the Apostles did does more than he is commanded Concerning Virgins sayes the Apostle I 1. Cor. 7. 25. have no command but I give counsell plainly distinguishing betwixt counsell and command betwixt that which we must do and what we may do betwixt weâ—l and better He that marrieth doeâ— well but he that marrieth not does better and He that does 1. Cor. 7. 38. well does not sin does not break a commandement but he that does better does more than he is commanded Wherefore Catholicks
this fall makes him very humble and that by his humility he is more pleasing to God than you by your proud Innocence and when nothing of all this should be how know you what will becom of you and what will becom of him there is inconstancy and weakness enough in your heart to make you one day one of the greatest sinners in the world and there is power and mercy enough in the heart of God to make this sinner becom one day a most great Saint in heaven 9 The second sort of falsities which this commandement forbids are those of the mouth and men are accustomed to speak them in three manners First in injuring their neighbour as when they testify that he hath rob'd or kill'd and this lye is called hurtfull or pernicious secondly in pleasuring your neighbour as when you ly to deliver him out of some perill and this is called a serviceable or officious ly Thirdly in neither hurting nor ayding and this is called a vain or idle ly There are many also of those that make profession of vertue who detest fals witness and pernicious lyes but make no difficulty of idle and officious they consider not that the holy Ghost distinguishes a ly from fals-witness and says that both displeas God Prov. 6. 16. 2. 2. q. 110. S. Greg. lib. 18. mor cap. 4. S. Thomas concluds that we ought not to ly for to save a man S. Gregory sayd the same speaking of officious lyes S. Augustine who wrote whole books upon this subject goes farther yet and says that one ought not to ly for to procure the salvation of our neighbour ad sempiternam vitam nullus ducendus est opitulante mendacio And to the objection which some propose of the Egiptian midwives who kylled not the Children of the Israelites as Pharo had commanded and excused themselves by lyes the scripture adding that God rewarded them S. Gregory answers that they were not recompenced for their ly but for their Piety And as to the Patriarke Iacob and other Saints who seem in the scripture to have spoke untruths the hoy Fathers answer that they were mysteryes not lyes becaus they spoke not in their own persone but in the personne of those of whom they were the figure 10. Officious lyes oblige us to the paines of Purgatory but pernicious to the paines of hell The mouth that lyeth kills the soul says the holy Ghost it brings damnation most due to them who are so injurious both to God and man 11. In fine the third sort of falsities forbidden are frauds circumventions dissimulations and hypocrisies These are so common in the world that if the Prophet Hieremie were in this age he would say of it what he sayd of his That our houses are fall of guile In the houses of great ones what chringing suppleness and treachery to supplant others in the Courts of justice what injurious judgments what superfluous delayes what unjust appeals In the shops of marchands and tradesmen what frauds what fals weights and measures what fals coyne what corrupted and sophisticated marchandise To be short in the Churches themselves what counterfeit devotions what disguised confessions what hypocritical communions 12. This Vice is so detestable that the sacred Text joyns it with homicide God will abominate the murtherer and the the Deceiver says the Royal Prophet And you will not find Psal 7. that the Son of God sayd a word so sharp and nipping of any absent persone as He did of Herod saying that he was a fox becaus he was a Deceiver Dicite vulpi illi 13. Let us end this discours with three powerfull passages of of Scripture and three reasons against these vices Against the first out of S Matthew Iudg not that you may not Matth. 7. 1. be judged For in what judgment you judg you shal be judged and in what measure you mete it shal be measured to you againe There is notâ—hing so terrible as the judgment of God the greatest Saints have reason to fear it a thousand times happy he who shal not feel the severity of it you shal be the person if you will the Judg himself assures you of it Iudg not and you shalt not be judged if you judg your neighbour with sweetness and mercy God will judg you with sweetness and mercy Against the second Vice S. Paul says to us away with lying let every Ephes. 4. 25. one speak truth with his neighbour becaus we are members of one another he then that will be a living member of that Body where of IESUS-CHRIST Verity it self is Head must not by pernicious falsities hurt his neighbor but love and cherish him as a member of the same Body Against the third Vice the Son of God having sayd that we shal not enter into the kindom of heaven unless we becom as little children S. Peter teaches us in what we must be like them be yet as children newly born without guile with out malice 1. Epist 2. without dissimulation Holy Iob who was but in the Law of nature practised perfectly this advertisement the first praise which God gave him was his simplicity Have you considered my servant Iob that there Iob. 1. 8. is not his like on earth a man simple and just and fearing God and departing from evill happy he that imitates him he walks confidently Prov. 10. 9. Prov. 20. 7. Prov. 3. 32. Wisd 1. 1. says the Wiseman he fears not to be taken in a ly as often impostors are the children which he shal leave behind him â—hal be blessed he shal have the honor to have communicationâ— with God for his Communication is with the simple And for the accomplishment of his happiness he hath God for his inheritance For to find God we must seek Him in simplicity of heart 'T is the most precious treasure a man can possess a treasure which makes him glorious rich content and happy for ever and ever Amen DISCOVRS XXXIX OF THE EIGHTH COMMANDEMENT Thou shat not bear fals witness against thy neighbour AS detraction is a very dangerous and common Vice so it seems commonly forbidden Some say that 't is forbidden by the fift commandement Thou shalt not kill becaus it takes away our civill life by which we live in the good opinion of men Others say that 't is forbidden by the seventh Thou shalt not steal becaus it robs men of their fame and good name Others in fine will have it forbidden by the eighth becaus this say they forbids all injuries that we do to the goods to the honor and reputation or the person of our neighbour by our unruly tongue all which does shew what a pernicious sin this is which kills robs and injures so much our neighbour And yet as I sayd 't is a most common vice becaus Detractours want not specious pretexts nor excuses which seem legitimate to palliate and plaister it Wherefore in this discours I first lay open the nature of it