in that of Isaac it was obliged to separate the Priest from the Victime and to arm the hands of the Father to immolate his only Son In the mean time Jesus Christ unites them in his person and in this adorable Sacrifice which he offers to his Father whether on the Cross or on the Altar he is both the Priest that consecrateth and the Victime that is immolated Inasmuch as Jesus Christ saith Saint Augustine is our God and our Temple he is also our Sacrifice and our Priest He is the Priest that reconciles us he is the Sacrifice whereby we are reconciled and the same Doctor admiring the novelties of the sacrifice of the Cross expresseth his wonder by these words The Altar of the Sacrifice is new because the Immolation is new and admirable For he that is the Sacrifice is the Priest the Sacrifice according to the Flesh the Priest according to the Spirit and both according to his Humanity He that offereth and he that is offered is one and the same person and these qualities which have so little analogy are found united in the sacrifice of the Cross Inasmuch as the Christian is the Image of Jesus Christ and this glorious title obligeth him to transcribe his original he ought to sacrifice himself as he did and to be both the Priest and the Oblation together Indeed if we descend into the Mysteries of our Religion and consider with the eye of Faith what we are not able to discover with the light of reason we shall find that we are immolated upon the Altar with the Son of God and that after his example we are both the sacrificers and the sacrifice For Jesus Christ is not offered all alone in our Temples he is immolated by the hands of the Priests and at the same time that he offers his natural body to his Father he offers also his mystical body so that offering himself to his Father by his Church and offering his Church together with himself he teacheth all the Faithful to joyn the quality of Priests with that of Victimes This is it that Saint Augustine informs us of in his Book De Civitate Dei Per hoc sacerdos est ipse offerens ipse oblatio cujus rei Sacramentum quotidianū esse voluit Ecclesiae sacrificiū quae cum ipsius capitis corpus sit seipsam per ipsū discit offerre Aug. lib. 10. de Civit. ca. 6. where searching into our mysteries he finds that the Church offers her self with her Beloved upon our Altars and that in the same sacrifice she is both Priestess and Oblation His words are too elegant to be omitted neither must it be a less Doctor then he that must appear that Protector of so important a Verity 'T is particularly saith he in unity that the sacrifice of Christians consists where being many in number we make up but one body with Jesus Christ this is it that the Church daily does in this Sacrament which is so well known to the Faithfull wherein is demonstrated that in the Oblation she offers she her self is offered that after the example of her Beloved she may be in the same sacrifice Priestess and Victime From this passage may easily be inferred that the Faithful are offered with Christ upon the Altar that the Host that contains him is large enough to contain all his members and that his mysticall body being immolated with his natural body he obligeth all Christians to associate as he doth the quality of Victime with that of a Priest But if leaving the Altar we consider the Faithful in the course of their life we shall see there is none but ought to sacrifice himself and who either in his body or in his soul may not find Victimes to offer to God There is no more need of providing Buls or Goats with the Jews to lay upon our Altars The time of the Mosaical Law is past truths have succeeded figures and if we rightly understand the secret of our mysteries Noli extrinsecus thura comparare sed dic In me sunt Deus vota tua noli extrinsecus pecus quod mactes inquirere habes in te quod occidas Aug. in Psal 51. it becomes us to offer those things these Animals represent We have whereof to sacrifice within our selves there is not any passion in our soul nor part in our body whereof we may not make an innocent Victime Indeed Christian Religion converting the sinner into a sacrifice obligeth him to immolate to God all that he is He is deficient in the lawfullest of his duties if his whole life be not a sacrifice and being compounded of soul and body he ought to sacrifice both that he may have the honour to be a perfect Holocaust The vertues are auxiliaries which facilitate these means and it seems these glorious habits are given us for no other end then to teach us to sacrifice to God all the faculties of our soul Inasmuch as the will is the noblest and this Soveraign being once perfectly gained over to God gives him an absolute dominion over all the rest there are some vertues which have no other employment but to be made victimes Sorrow which discovers to man the excess of his crime labours to convert him it bruiseth his heart by the violence of a holy contrition and if it cannot draw bloud from this sacrifice it draws tears which are more acceptable to God then the bloud of beasts This made David say that the spirit broken and afflicted was a true sacrifice and that he who sometimes refuseth Goats and Lambs never despiseth a heart that Repentance and Humility offers up unto him Sacrificium Deo spiritus contribulatus Obedience comes in to the succour of grief this beats down the pride of the will masters that imperious faculty and changing her triumph into a sacrifice obligeth her to die to her own inclinations that she may live to those of the Grace of Jesus Christ But love happily finisheth this design he burns the victime with his flames to render it an Holocaust and finding the means to put to death an immortall power teacheth us that a pure spirit may offer sacrifices to God For there is no lover but knows that love imitates death that he commits innocent murders and by stratagems which himself is only privy to makes sin die in us that Grace may live If the will become a Victim by means of Charity the understanding is offered up to God by the intervening of faith This vertue subjects it to her Empire perswades truths she explicates not she obligeth a man to suspend his judgement to renounce his reason and to give his senses the lye she engageth him to offer as many sacrifices as she propounds mysteries and by a power which would seem tyrannical were it not legitimate forbids him the use of reasoning in matters of religion The memory after the example of the understanding is immolated to God by remembrance and forgetfulness These two
consists in the knowledge of the Supream Good and that no man can be truly content who is not acquainted with this prime Verity from whence all the rest flow as from their Fountain Profane Philosophy says the same concerning this Maxim neither hath she any Masters or Scholars who make not this confession that as the mind is more noble then the body 't is in the operations of that not in the senses of this that Beatitude is to be sought for In the mean time Earth is the habitation of obscurity we know God but in an Enigma we have only doubts and conjectures of his Greatness and though we are fully perswaded of his Existence we are altogether ignorant of his Essence If we consult our senses they cannot inform us of his Divine perfections and having neither shape nor colour our eyes nor our ears cannot tell us notice of him If our spirit reflect upon it self and elicite some act to know its Author in knowing it self it findes that the images it produceth are but Idols or phantasms and that the apprehensions it conceives of him are only mistakes and falshoods If Faith step in to the relief of the Understanding and obliging it to renounce its proper light clarifie it with what she brings 't is with so much obscurity that it hath more merit then satisfaction in its obedience I know very well that this vertue raiseth man abstracts him from sense gives him admittance into the light of God himself neither can he complain that reasoning is denyed him being prepared for an Intelligence But certainly she pays him these advantages with usury For he believes without knowing gives his senses the lye condemns his reason and obligeth himself to die for those truths he cannot yet understand Thus man is never happy in this world and whatever certainty he have of the mysteries of our Religion he will never attain to an evidence of them From this misfortune there arrives a second which is no whit less considerable For inasmuch as the Understanding is the Gandle of the soul which enlightens the will Nolunt homiues facere quod justum est sive quia latet sive quia non delectat Aug. and this blind faculty loves things according to the rate she knows them she never fully embraceth the Supream Good because she never perfectly knows it There is something always wanting to her love and to her happiness her possession is continually imperfect nor are her desires ever without discontent whatever tast she hath of felicity it rather sets an edge upon her love then any way appeaseth it and whatever pleasure she finds in transitory and perishable goods she feels by experience they may possibly divert her but no ways content her Their scantness causeth her indigence she continually changeth objects striving to find that in one which she cannot meet with in another she is like the Bees who sip upon all flowers to tast the dew that drops from heaven and being wearied with the various turnings and windings of the world is obliged to confess that Beatitude is found no where but in God but he is neither met with nor enjoyed upon Earth I proceed and say that should he suffer himself to be seen by his creature in the condition whereto sin hath reduced him it would prove rather a ground of fear and astonishment then of love and satisfaction There is so little proportion between God and Man that the one must needs be abased or the other greatly exalted that there may be some commerce between them The Majesty of God must be clouded by some allay of condescension and mans weakness strongly heightned by some gracious endowment or certainly the presence of God which is the felicity of the Angels in Heaven would occasion the misery of man upon Earth The Scripture tells us we cannot see him and live his aspect is formidable his splendour dazles our eyes his greatness chides our curiosity neither can we behold this Sun but we are in danger of losing our life together with our sight The righteous in the Old Testament repent their seeing him and though he temper his Majesty to accommodate it to our weakness they conceive this favour must be followed with their death Deum vidimus moriemur But should his Almightiness be proportionable to our misery and this Divine Sun like that of the Poets Vbi metus est ibi nulla vera felicitas Sen. lay by his rays that we may approach it the state of Earth would not suffer his presence to make us happy For our felicity that it may be true must be constant if we are not sure to keep the good we possess the apprehension of losing it traverseth our contentment and mingles restlesness with our pleasure Fear more afflicts us then the enjoyment can delight us we resent misery in the midst of felicity and we finde our happiness of the nature of those colours of the Cameleon that perish with the object that produceth them So then there is nothing durable in the world the noblest creatures are all subject to change whatever is possest may be lost The Soul though Immortal is not Immutable she that cannot die can sin and though Grace be an emanation of Glory it hath neither its constancy nor duration it is a kinde of Miracle that God works in favour of his Elect Qui se putat stare videat ne cadat Phil. 2. when he confirms them in Grace and though he give them assurance of their salvation he exempts them not from our miseries and infirmities And this is the last Reason I intend to make use of to let you see that the Earth is not the habitation of the Blessed All those that form any Idea of Happiness acknowledge that as it comprehends all Good it ought to exclude all Evil did it not include all of one sort it would not be perfect and did it not expel all of the other it would be miserable In the mean time the Earth is the region of Poverty Goods are very scarce but Evils come in crowds He that possesseth Riches languisheth after Honour he that raigns in a Kingdom does not always bear rule in his Person and if he triumph over his Enemies he seldom triumphs over his Passions He that bathes himself in Pleasures is drowned many times in Sin and he that is upon good terms with Fortune is for the most part at oddes with Himself Thus all men are miserable because they are indigent nor does the condition of their present life suffer them to associate all good things together to compose a perfect felicity It happens also by a necessary consequence that there are a thousand Evils from which they cannot defend themselves Their souls and their bodies are equally disposed to grief these two Delinquents which forsake not one another in the Sin share in the Punishment and Earth preventing Hell torments them both for company The Body bears an enemy in the bowels of it
with Grace and discover the excellency of the Remedy by the greatness of the Disease For 't is very true that a man cannot comprehend the dominion of Grace if he conceive not rightly of the tyranny of Concupiscence over the Will These two Soveraigns have so much resemblance in their contrariety that they make use of the same arms and employ the same means to execute their designes they subject men by ways altogether alike and deal with policy and power fair means and foul to make themselves mistresses For if we believe S. Augustine a man no less skilled in the state of Sin then of Grace he will acquaint us that Concupiscence is the law of the sinner acting impetuously over his Will Concupiscentia lex peccati est sequentes duxit nos postca renitentes traxi◠nos Aug. in Psal 64. applying it in all his actions so that he undertakes nothing but by the orders of this proud and domineering usurper she hath gained such a power over his Liberty that he acts onely by her impulses if he speak she moves his tongue if he looks about she ope nt his eyes if he act she manageth his hands and so absolutely commands all that belongs unto him that Concupiscence seems to inform and quicken him Though she exercise so absolute a power over his person she so well tempers sweetness with force that he never complains of his bondage he loves the Tyrant that devours him he loseth his liberty with pleasure he findes content in his vassalage and what is more unconceiveable he makes haste to a precipice and embraceth death with satisfaction whenever this cruel Soveraign commands him 'T is in effect Concupiscence that obligeth the Covetous to pass the Seas to descend into the depths and to surmount all dangers that accompany the search of riches 'T is she that engageth the Ambitious in such desperate designs where death is always mixt with glory and where a man must resolve to kill or be kill'd to purchase reputation 'T is she that imbarks the lascivious in their infamous pursuits where shame is the inseparable attendant of pleasure where a man must lose his own liberty to attain that of another and become a slave that he may be a master In the mean time if we ask all these Martyrs of Concupiscence we shall see by their answers there 's not one of them that groans under his irons that 's troubled for the loss of his honour or liberty nor makes the least attempt to break those chains that fetter him Had Tyrants but found this artifice they would raign more absolutely then Kings and making Love succeed Hatred they would be the delight of their Subjects But nothing but Concupiscence hath discovered this Secret which according Sweetness with Violence knows how to make her self belov'd and obey'd by sinners Nevertheless we must confess that Grace is as absolute over Christians and taking pattern from the proceeding of Concupiscence reigns over them with as much power as love For to express in a few words the Soveraign power of Grace we must say with S. Augustine that 't is she that makes us act that masters our Undestanding possesseth our Will Facit utvelimus bonum gratia facit ut faciamus operatu◠velle perficere praebet vires efficacissimas voluntati Aug. de Gra. Lib. arb c. 16. and is the principle of all our good works She acts with the Just as Concupiscence doth with Sinners she is the mistress of their Actions and if we believe the great Apostle 't is Grace that worketh in us to will and to do For as the Sinner loseth not his Liberty for being the slave of Concupiscence ceaseth not to act by himself though guided by another nor doth this external principle because the first mover that sets him awork exempt him from sin so the Believer is not constrained for being subject to Grace he ceaseth not to operate though moved by the holy Spirit and for having another principle of his actions then his Will fails not to merit eternal life But as Concupiscence is imperious carrying the heart by her assaults prescribing Laws which he inviolably keeps Grace produceth the same effects in the Faithful her orders are religiously observed she makes those act she enlivens and seizing upon their Wills causeth them exactly to put in execution whatever she commands S. Augustine will explain these Truths to us better then another Let us make up this Discourse with his Reasons Deus est qui operatur in nobis velle oprari non sicut isti sentiunt tantummodo Scientiam revelando ut novetimus quod faciamus sed etiam inspirando charitatem ut ea quae discenso novimus etiam diligendo faciamus Aug. and respectfully hear the learnedst Doctor of the Church Grace is not onely a Light that clears the Understanding as Faith or Doctrine doth her Charity is accompanied with Force she produceth two effects at the same time For having taught us the good she gives us power to perform it and he that knows it and does it not cannot boast that he hath received it of Grace but from the Law Therefore is it that our Lord Jesus Christ saith in S. John that he that is taught of his Father fails not to come unto him Omnis qui audivit à Patre didicit venit ad me Whence S. Augustine concludes that he that is instructed in this School always goes to Jesus Christ and he that goes not never had the Father for his Master For Grace warms the Will at the same time it enlightens the Understanding it conveys light and heat both together and working two miracles at one moment fortifies our Weakness and warms our Coldness Her manner of acting is much more excellent then that of Precept or of the Law For these two Mistresses strike onely the ears or the eyes they inform not our judgement but by the mediation of our Senses and though they enlighten the Understanding they change not the Will But Grace works by an occult power in the hearts of men producing there not onely true illuminations but good and constant resolutions And because the Pelagians always confound Doctrine with Grace to weaken her vertue S. Augustine answers them that would they christen her with that name they must represent a wonderful Doctrine that God sheds abroad internally in the soul with an ineffable sweetness which taught not onely Truth but infused Charity into its disciples He more strongly establisheth this Maxime in explaining that passage where S. Paul tells us God worketh in us to will and to do we will saith this great Doctor for we are not liveless trunks or sensless rocks but God produceth in us this will we act for we ought not to be unprofitable but God produceth in us this action according to his good pleasure we are bound to say it and to believe it 't is piety to promote it that we may with all humility
and Angels that they resist Grace that they abuse his favours and frustrate his designes This sin is constantly the first Article of their Confession they look upon it as the source of all the rest and these great men that are better acquainted with the motions of Grace then the learnedst Divines never speak thereof without regret for having rejected them I profess this Objection seems one of the strongest can be formed against Effectual Grace because I have taken it for a proof of Grace Sufficient and withal it seems to clash against the Principles of S. Augustine for if Grace always produceth her effect how can we resist it if she make her self mistress of our Will how can she meet with rebellion there and if she manage that faculty with as much force as dexterity how can we oppose her designs or stop the conquests of her that S. Augustine so many times calls victorious I know some Doctors dispatch this difficulty by an Answer that admits of no Reply and say that when the Saints complain of their infidelity towards Grace their meaning is to speak of that which toucheth our Senses or enlightens our Understandings and being so well instructed in the School of S. Augustine they are not ignorant that the true Grace of Jesus Christ infallibly produceth its effect But this Answer never satisfied me and I must acknowledge the language of the Saints seems too strong to be expressed by so weak a grace They speak of their resistance with so much grief that we may judge by their complaints that 't is of the grace of Jesus Christ which they have abused that they intend to speak Some others believe 't is not an actual resistance that they accuse themselves of because that is incompatible with effectual grace but of an habitual resistance that combats the designe of Grace though it hinders not its effect These seem better grounded then the former because 't is true that the greatest Saint in the world hath always an opposition against Grace as long as there is one degree of self-love and is contrary to Jesus Christ as long as he is conformable in any thing to the first Adam The inordinate intentions which insensibly fasten him to the things of the world the revolt of the Passions that trouble the repose of his minde and Concupiscence that weakens Charity are so many enemies heaving at Grace and retarding the accomplishment of her designes But for all this we must confess that this Answer resolves not fully the whole difficulty of the Objection for besides that this resistance to speak properly is not a sin because 't is purely habitual nor renders the Saints more culpable then Concupiscence we know very well that it impedes not the effect of Grace and that when God intends to make himself master of the Will he can as well tame bad Habits as bad Inclinations Therefore have I thought it necessary to adde That there are secret oppositions against Grace that are unknown to us That the Will is not so fully possest by Charity but Concupiscence shares with her That there is no inconvenience that she should be inanimated at the same time with two contrary loves though one be victorious over the other seeing S. Augustine hath so often confessed that his heart being divided between two affections he willed at the same time two things utterly opposite Or we must say that Grace though efficacious in the beginning languisheth in the progress that when the motion that carried the Will grows weak Concupiscence awakes and attempts a victory when she findes least resistance Thus Grace is worsted in her retreat self-love takes courage when the love of God gives ground and this Grace that was victorious in the onset becomes as all things in the world faint and drooping towards the end If this Answer crosseth the principles of S. Augustine I disavow it and if it resolve not the difficulty propounded I intreat those that shall read this Work to consider that Grace is not less wondersul then Nature and if the vertue of the Loadstone hath left so many Philosophers at a loss we need not wonder if the power of Grace put the Divines in a confusion A Prosecution of the same DISCOURSE Wherein some other Objections against Effectual Grace are answered MAns Understanding since the Fall is of the same condition as the Earth This is fruitful onely in thorns and bears nothing but briars if it be not tilled by the labour of the husbandman and that is fertitle onely in errours and is delivered of nothing but doubts which rather fight against Truth then defend it His Ingeny serves him for no other end but to raise difficulties his light is always mixt with darkness and as if he were of the nature of Spiders that distil flowers into poison he changeth truth into errours and extracts nothing from the fairest Maximes of Religion but doubts and suspitions There is nothing more certain in Christianity then that Grace is the Principle of our Salvation that she supports our Will and gives that faculty strength to stand out against Concupiscence In the mean time this Truth is the mother of Errours our understanding hath drawn more darkness thence then light and the doctrine of Saint Augustine that hath ruined the Pelagians hath produced more scruples then resolutions amongst Divines We cannot speak of the dominion of Grace but we are troubled to secure the liberty of man We are well content God should be the Master because we dare not dispute his Soveraignty Non aliud intelligetis arbitrium laudabiliter liberum nisi quod fuerit Dei Gratia liheratum Aug. but we are loth man should be his slave as if we doubted of his Justice or questioned his Mercy whatever depends not upon our wil casts us into a sealousie if Grace be not in subjection to Free-will we cannot be quiet The example of Adam who was foil'd notwithstanding his Sufficient Grace cannot cure us of this apprehension and the violent desire we have to be absolute in all things makes us seek for our safety in our Independency The Objections that are made against the Doctrine of Saint Augustine are proofs of this passion and the number is so great that one Discourse being not large enough to resolve them we must employ this supplement to the same purpose One of the strongest and most remarkable is that Baptisme is a second Birth where the Christian being regenerated seems to have received a new Nature For in that happy moment wherein his sins are remitted he receives Habitual Grace which uniting him to Jesus Christ as to his Head sets him free from the slavery of Satan and entitles him to the felicity of Angels Forasmuch as this Grace is a second nature she hath her faculties whereby she works Faith is her Light Hope her Strength Charity her Love and these three vertues are supernatural habits that elevate her understanding and her will As God refuseth not his
for all the world that according to the saying of our Saviour ill interpreted it may be carried by violence and without passing thorow the Church a man may scale heaven The desire of their Salvation is the source of these unjust desires They chuse not this side nor embrace this opinion but because they believe it favours their hopes Vanity is mixt with Interest being the children of Adam they imitate the pride of their Father they are guilty of his crime before they are aware nor do they consider that whilst they go about to subject Grace to their Liberty they follow his steps who had a minde to be god for no other end but that he might live an Independent in respect of his Soveraign But were they far enough from the vain oftentation of their first father they would certainly fall into his misfortune whilst they think to avoid it For all Theologie assures us that Men and Angels were lost because their Grace being subjected to their Liberty made them not constant in good they made ill use of their advantage because they were masters of it nor did they fall into sin but because their salvation was put into their own hands Their Fall teacheth us that we can have no weaker support then our selves that the Grace which relies onely upon our own Will is very frail and that sinners that ground their hope upon the certainty of their resolution are very blinde or very proud The Angels were much more illuminated then we their light was much purer then ours their strength was not mixt with weakness These pure spirits were not embodied in flesh and blood and Nature being happily united with Grace in their person banished all disorders that are in the creature by reason of sin In the mean time all these advantages hindered them not from falling the first temptation shook their Liberty because not submitted to Grace The beauty of Lucifer dazled them and struck them in love his promises made them forget those of God and the hope they fancied of raigning with that proud Angel made them side with him in his rebellion All these misfortunes have no other Cause but the weakness of Liberty and he that should ask these wretched spirits in the midst of their torments would receive no other answer but that their Grace was unprofitable because it depended upon their Will Neither are you to object that the faithful Angels were saved by the same succour the other neglected because all Divines are not agreed and 't is disputed in the Schools of the assistance they received to oppose the rebellion of Lucifer The greatest part of the Fathers were of opinion that the mystery of the Incarnation was revealed to them at that instant that they drew force from Jesus Christ that they fought under his banner that they overcame by the blood of the Lamb and that they owe their triumphs to the Sacrifice of his death S. Augustine is of this belief and though according to his Principles Si utrique boni squaliter creati sunt istis mala voluntate cadentibus illi amplius adjuti ad eam beatitudinis plenitudinem unde se nunquā casuros certissimi fierent pervenerunt Aug. l. 12. de Civ Dei c. 9. it seems we must conclude that the good Angels were not recompensed but because their Will made good use of their Grace he unsays it in other places and confesseth ingenuously that they received new assistances and that they were victorious because they were better seconded then the others I know what may be said in answer to this passage but I finde it so clear and uttered in such strong expressions that those that explain it will pardon me if I remain in my opinion and if with S. Augustine I believe that the good Angels owe not their salvation to Grace Sufficient but to that Christian Grace the Word Incarnate merited for them by his travels Though Man was not advantaged equal to the Angels neither in Nature nor in Grace because they were Hierarchies and one was the rule of the other yet every one confesseth Mans Will was created right his Understanding cleared his Senses faithful and his Passions obedient He felt not those revolts which now trouble our rest the Flesh warred not against the Spirit and those two parts notwithstanding their difference were not as yet enemies original righteousness composed their quarrels and living in good intelligence under the dominion of this prerogative they conspired together mans felicity Sufficient Grace was always offered him whatever enterprise he took in hand this faithful companion never left him she came to his aid as often as he called upon her or rather preventing his desires and his necessities waited his orders and directions Nevertheless amidst all these priviledges miserable man lost himself the first temptation made him forget his duty though he knew that his Soul was taken out of Nothing and his body formed of the slime of the earth he suffered himself to be perswaded that in violating the Laws of God he could make himself immortal Whence think you proceeded this misfortune and what was the cause of so dismal a disgrace 'T was not the strength of the temptation for that was ridiculous and we cannot yet conceive how it could make any impression upon the minde of a Rational creature 'T was not Concupiscence for this infamous daughter was not born before her Father nor had Sin as yet given her a Being 'T was not the refusal of Grace for it was due to man in this state or at least was never denied him 'T was then his Liberty which was the cause of his misfortune his Will which without being forced by temptation corrupted by the Senses or sollicited by the Passions made no use of Grace and so fell headlong into sin If it be true that Free-will was so impotent in the state of Innocence What can we expect in the state of sin And if Sufficient Grace supported by original righteousness hindered not Man from falling What assistance can we promise our selves thence now that it is assaulted by Concupiscence Let us rest our Salvation upon a surer Foundation let us implore some more vigorous Grace let us give our Liberty leave to be over-born by its motions let us grow wise by our Fathers losses and not pitch our hope upon a succout which ruined him onely because he was subject to his Will Grace is changed with Nature as this is not in her primitive purity neither is the other in her primitive weakness JESUS CHRIST is come to be the Founder of a New Order in the world and because he findes men in infirmities which they had during the state of Innocence he furnisheth them with stronger Graces that the Remedie surpassing the Disease may afford them a perfect Cure When he had to do with Adam whose vigour was natural because his Forces were not yet divided he left his Salvation at his own disposal and giving him a Grace
from this misfortune it carries Eternity along with it and were it not engaged in a subject changeable and obnoxious to mutability it would be as Immortal as it is Holy Let us adde to this advantage that Grace cannot be taken from us against our will 't is a treasure we never lose but by our own default Perishable goods cannot be preserved with all our care cunning or violence may rob us of them and whatever prudence we use to keep them we are many times constrain'd to fear or feel the loss of them Calumny takes away our good name Injustice or misfortune spoils us of our riches a disease deprives us of health and death of life All these goods though precious cannot avoid the disasters that threaten them The Innocent lose their honour as well as the Guilty The rich are as much afraid of sickness as the poor nor are Kings more secure from death then their Subjects But Grace is a good which cannot be taken from us without our consent Potes aurum perdere nolens potes domum bonū autem quo bonus es nec invitus accipis nec invitus amittis Au. There is no violence can plunder us of it and men though in league with the Devils cannot make us lose it if we favour not their design by our weakness This is the difference Saint Augustine hath put between earthly goods and heavenly Those are many times lost in spite of the owners these are never lost but by the fault of those that neglect them so that the condition of the Faithful is very little inferiour to that of the Blessed because that if the one be certain their glory shal never have an end the others are sure their Grace shal never be lost unless they wil not preserve it out of malice or not consent to secure it out of cowardise Indeed inasmuch as they know that their wils are impotent and their inclinations bad they place all their confidence in the mercy of God they hope that he that converted them will make them persevere and having assisted them in the combate will crown them in the trumph The Fourth DISCOURSE That Happinesse consists not in Pleasure but in Grief OF all the Sects which have opposed Truth the most dangerous is that of the Epicures For though base and unjust in that it gave the Body preheminence over the Minde and Pleasure the right hand of Vertue Nevertheless it surprised men at first sight and seduced them by a name which bears some analogy with that of felicity For whatever Idea men fashion of this it is impossible to separate it from Pleasure and very casie to confound them together We cannot imagine such a thing as the supream Good but we must conceive it agreeable nor can we perswade our selves that there is felicity where there is not content This hath procured more Disciples to this shameful Sect then to all the rest and made it triumph over the reason of the Academicks and the supercilious vanity of the Stoicks Allsinners took part with this Philosophy Christian Religion which destroyed Idolatry hath not been able to ruine this and the Church bears those in her bosome who boast themselves Christians but are indeed Epicures The whole world courts pleasure by different addresses 'T is the Idol that hath most Altars and receives most Sacrifices The Ambitious are her slaves they adore Voluptuousness under the name of Glory and suffer themselves to be charm'd by the allurements that attend a great reputation The Covetous are her Votaries they offer Incense to this false Deity they seek for pleasure in the arms of profit nor do they so much doat upon riches because profitable as because agreeable Indeed the Supream Good is inseparable from pleasure and as you cannot see the Sun but must be enlightned no more can men behold the Supream Good without being charm'd Delectatio ex fruitione summi boni necessario sequitur Aug. If delectation be but a consequence of Happiness as some Philosophers affirm it is at least necessary and I account it no more impossible to see God and not love him then to love and see him without receiving contentment in him Therefore the errour of the Epicures consists not in placing Beatitude in Pleasure but in placing pleasure in the body because man being compounded of a body and a minde ought to be happy in both these parts Let us combate this Monster which against nature destroys not men but because he flatters them nor is dangerous but because he is over complacent There is no body but confesseth that Beatitude consists in a union with God by means of the understanding and the will we must renounce reason to oppose this truth and cease to be men to doubt of a Maxim authorised by all profane Philosophy God is the Ultimate End of his creatures and consequently their perfect Happiness The Understanding and the Will are the two noblest faculties of the soul the wings that make her soar aloft and the chains that fasten her to the object she loves so that she is never more happy then when united to the Supream Good by Knowledge and Love whatever hinders this union is contrary to it and whatever separates or removes her from God is the enemy of her felicity It is easie thence to infer that sensual pleasures cannot cause our felicity because they suffer not our souls to be united to God and imbark her so strongly in the flesh that she seems to have lost all the qualities of a spirit Impurity produceth store of miseries in the world nor can we invent too many invectives against a sin that defiles a man and of an Angel makes a Beast But the greatest of its enormities is that it inebriates our soul with its poison and makes us lose the remembrance of all Divine things Nothing pleaseth the slaves it tyrannizeth over but sensuality whatever affects not the senses seems not true they take the pleasures of the minde for meer illusions and as if the glory of Heaven were but a fable or an imposture they are less affected with the consideration of them then reasonable men with the reading of Romance This misfortune produceth another For as pleasure separates men from God it fastens them to the creatures their inferiours and debasing them below themselves Quisquis quod seitso est deterius sequitur fit ipse de erior Aug. communicates the bad qualities of the things they doat upon Love is a kind of medley it confounds those subjects it unites and by a wonderful Chymistry makes them pass one into another Thence it comes to pass that Kings become Slaves when they love their Subjects and renounce their power when abandon'd to dalliance They fall from their Greatness when they engage in an affection and as the noblest metals lose their purity when mixt with those of a baser allay Soveraigns quit their Majesty when allied with their Subjects Thus the man who gluts
Continence to our relief to defend us from pleasures that tickle us sometimes we demand help of Fortitude to combat griefs that assault us sometimes we throw our selves into the arms of Justice to deliver us from enemies that oppress us But in Heaven all these Vertues are idle onely Charity is active and yet rests in acting her action is to love what she sees her rest to possess what she loves and her felicity to know that she shall never lose what she enjoys If you cannot suffer saith S. Augustine that the Vertues to which we owe Heaven be banished thence imagine them there more for your ornament then defence never conceive that they fight but perswade your selves that they triumph and having vanquished all their enemies enjoy a Peace which shall endure for all Eternity The Ninth DISCOURSE That the Christians Soul and Body shall finde their Perfection in Beatitude MAn is such a hidden Creature that he cannot well be known without Faith He is mistaken as often as he intends to pass judgement upon himself and the errours that have appeared in his own definition have given us occasion to conclude that he was ignorant of his own essence when he consulted his Sense he believed he was nothing but a Body and if there were a spirit that informed him it was perishable and mortal when he consulted his Pride he conceited himself a pure Spirit which either for his penalty or for his trial was included in a Body as in a prison from which he should be delivered by death These two errours produced two grand disorders in the world The first engaged Man in the love of his Body and the oblivion of his Soul he made no account but of sensual Pleasures and knowing no life but the present never troubled himself about the future He was of opinion that Death was the end of his Being and that nothing remaining of him after his dissolution he need fear neither any Punishment nor expect any Recompence The second errour made him so mightily undervalue his Body that he repined at it as a Slave and handled it as a Rebel he had recourse many times to Death that being delivered from this enemy he might mix with pure Intelligences and raign with Gods or Devils Faith which corrects our errours obligeth us to believe that Man is neither an Angel nor a Beast that he is compounded of a Body and a Soul and if he have the First common with Beasts he hath the Second common with Angels The same Faith perswades him that Death deprives him of his body but for a time onely that at the General Resurrection it shall be re-united to the soul to partake of its good or bad fortune Therefore treating here of the felicity of Christians I am necessarily to speak of the two parts that compose them and of the different happiness the Divine Justice prepares for them respectively Inasmuch as the soul is the noblest she is also most happily provided for and her Beatitude infinitely surpasseth that of the body Tunc nec falli nec peccare homines possunt veritate illuminati in bono confirmati Aug. When she quits her prison and is purified of all her imperfections by the grace of Jesus Christ she enters into Glory and receives all the advantages which are due to her dignity and condition Ignorance which is a brand of sin is quite defaced by the brightness that enlightens her her weakness is fortified by a supply which being much more powerful then that of Grace raiseth her to a condition wherein she cannot desert the good nor embrace the evil and where as Saint Augustine saith she is in a happy impotency to wander from her duty and estrange her self from the Supream good Assurance succeeds in the place of fear rest in stead of conflicts triumphs after victories she is no longer constrained to resist the motions of the flesh because this rebell is become obedient and losing in the Resurrection whatever he drew from Adam at his Birth hath now none but just and holy inclinations The Spirit is no longer busied to maintain a war against sin because this Monster cannot enter Heaven he groans not now under the revolt of the passions and as all the vertues are peaceable they finde neither enemies to subdue nor rebels to tame Her knowledge is no longer accompanied with doubts and darkness she learnes without labour is not afraid to forget and drawing light and wisdom from the very Fountain knows all things in their Principles In this happy condition there remains nothing for the Christian to wish for his soul is penetrated by the Divine Essence his understanding clarified with the light of glory his will inflamed with the love of God and all his powers and faculties finding their particular perfection in one object he confesseth that the promises of God exceed his hopes Though his body have been polluted by his birth and corrupted by death it findes life in the Resurrection and Purity in Glory For assoon as the Trumpet of the Angel shall have declared the will of God every soul shal reassume her own body reuniting her self with it shall give it a part in her happiness The greatness of this wonder hath found no belief in the mindes of Philosophers though they were perswaded of the Immortality of the soul they would not consent to the Resurrection of the body and having seen it made a prey to wilde Beasts or fuel for the flames they judged there was no power in the world could restore it again The spirit of man hath favoured this errour and believing his eyes rather then his light could not finde in his heart to place that part of man in heaven which he saw committed to the grave he was afraid to weary the power of the Almighty if he should oblige him to so many miracles and not comprehending how a body reduc'd to powder or smoak could take its primitive form chose rather to leave it in the Earth then draw it thence with so much violence But had he thought of the Creation he had never doubted of the Resurrection and Reason her self had perswaded him that seeing God was able to finde the body in Non-Entity where it was not he might very well finde it in the waters or in the slames where there was yet some remainder thereof If Nothing were not rebellious to him Nature cerrainly will not be disobedient and if he could make that which was not he may as easily repair what now is not Nothing perisheth in respect of the Creator the dead are not less his subjects then those that never were born and if he could make Non-Entity hear him he may well make death obey him The miracle of Resurrection is perhaps attended with more pomp then that of the Creation but there is less difficulty in it and he that could vanquish the distance between Entity and Non-Entity will have no great matter to do to master the opposition