such dross but til then remaining in pain partly for their temporal losses by death but chiefly for their spirituall want being not able to attain Bliss which they infinitly desire til by the Churches help God of his mercy rectifies them and accomplishes their purgation yet so as by Fire S. Me thinks Sir in al this you talk not of burning or gnashing of teeth or such corporeall pains which I have been taught are in Hell and Purgatory M. These things are said to be in Hell metaphorically when spoken of souls which want their bodies and signify no more than that they are tormented by fire as who is frighted or dazel'd is tormented though not burn'd But are you able to tel me why and when souls shall receive their bodies S. The time is at dooms-day The cause why they receive them is I think their love to them M. Do you not remember you told me the wicked have not their desires and the just desire nothing but according to God's will If so it seems your consequence wil not be very good But to make it so you must know naturally a man desires every thing because 't is good and good is as much as convenient to the desirer who is not onely Soul but Body too wherfore if naturall desire cannot be frustrated or disappointed by God the Authour of nature and the desires of our life remain after death it follows that the desire of good to our person is naturall and remaining after death and therefore must needs be supply'd Can you tell me how this great work is to be done S. Sir I know we shal al arise at the great day more I know not M. I le help you when that Day comes Christ shall appear in the ayr over Hierusalem as 't is thought and suddenly all parts of the earth and sea shall render their carcases and whole Mankind be restor'd to their Bodies Where on the one part the Saints shall be carry'd in the ayr to meet Christ the others shall remain below viewing their glory dreading their own misery till judgment being given those rest happy for ever with our Saviour the other are swallow'd into hell After which day all motion shall cease and there shall be no change or alteration but a state of permanency for ever S. Yes Sir but I doubt not there will be other great differences betwixt the Saints and the damned if you would please to tell me them M. Do you not remember the gifts you told me were conferr'd on Adam as to his Body those very same shal be perfected in the Saints As for health they shall have impassibility so that nothing can hurt them For their strength they shall have a power which nothing can resist call'd Impenetrability For Agility they shal have a power in the twinckling of an eye to pass beyond any determin'd distance whatsoever And lastly for Beauty they shall have power to shine and shew themselvs in what glory they please As for the Damned the heaviness of their minds shall make them not onely uncapable of all these advantages but such distemper'd deform'd and every way ill-compos'd Bodies as are most sutable to so sadly and so outragedly distemper'd mindes S. What shall the Saints do with these perfections if there be no motion M. These are not for use but powers and qualities necessarily following the state of the soul in the body of which shee is to be Mistress and to have power to use it as her self pleases And so you see what good life brings you to both in this transitory and the next eternall world Can you shew me now that the Blessed have all that even wicked men can desire S. Sir I see they have more pleasure then this world can affoord And as for honour I see Saints are more honour'd then Alexanders and Augustuses Power I know not how they have or wealth M. Wealth is not here desir'd but for necessity or magnificence the time of both which is pass'd and for power sure they want not that who have all they wish and can meet with nothing to resist their will The Catechist also here hath great occasion to press his Catechumen to good life by lively representing him the greatness of the Ioyes and Pains of the next world which are most incomparably moving if he declare them well ELEVENTH CONFERENCE M. NOw you are so learn'd as to know what it was to which Christ labour'd so much to bring mankind I pray tell me what means he us'd to plant his doctrin so that it should continue so many ages so deeply rooted in the heart of man as we see it has and beleeve it shall S. Teaching and Miracles which are the greatest Confirmations that can be M. Thus much you told me long ago but what more do you not know Si me vis stere dolendum est primum ipsi tibi I mean that if a man be not perswaded affectionately of a thing himself he cannot well perswade another Consider then how necessary it was to send the Holy Ghost that is the plenitude of it upon his Apostles after his Ascension Which according to the outward apparition fill'd their hearts with fiery zeal and their tongues with the praises of Almighty God that they might be vehemently conceited themselves of the truth and of the great good the knowledge thereof brought to the world and earnestly desirous to breed the like conceit in others and so it might descend in vertue of the first plantation by ordinary means to the end of the world But tel me who were those chiefly that receiv'd the Holy Ghost S. The Apostles were the chief and all others who came since have learn'd of them and so I see the Church is truly Apostolical M. Yes and onely shee ask any Hereticks whether they receiv'd their doctrin from the Apostles they will answer yes By whose hands they answer by the scripture But a Catholike says from his Forefathers they from theirs c. so that none lays claym to have their Church Apostolical but onely Catholicks For the question 's not whether there were al the while some of their Religion but whethese who now are were taught and receiv'd it from them by true succession For if two studying one thing in divers times finde the same the one does not receive it from the other and so 't is not true succession But where did the Apostles preach S. Through the whole world for such was Christs command nor can there be any doubt but they did what they were bid And so I see the Church is Catholik over the world M. How can that be seeing the Alcâ—ran is in as great a part of the world as Christ's Gospel Nay some Heresies have been spred in the greater part of the Christian world But because you are no very great Historian I wil read you this riddle You ought
you M. You answer well for Seeing specially by our understanding is the pleasure of the Minde which must needs be greater than the pleasure of the Body since the body has pleasure by the minde and the minde is deaded by the body But the Understanding infinitly surpasses the body because as Philosophers say it sees at once all particulars as who knows this universall that all men do such a thing knows what Sense can never reach But bee your self judge do you remember that ever at the sight of a dish of meat or news of a play day you burst out in laughter S. No Sir M. But if you heard a quick jest could you contain your self S. Many times I could not although I bit my lip and us'd al means to restrain my self M. Then the pleasure of a jest being intellectuall of the others corporeall which kinde of pleasure is most strong and efficacious S. I doubt not but the pleasure of the minde is stronger M. Now of all sorts of knowledge that by which wee understand why a thing is so or what makes it so which Logicians call demonstratio à priori is that which gives greatest pleasure and content and the higher the Cause is the greater proportionably the pleasure is too Now God being so high a Cause that hee 's beyond al causes and considerd as hee is in himself a more sublime notion comprehending both to be Cause and Effect and that in so noble and transcendent a manner as al the rest put together are incomparably and infinitly short of Him what pleasure must wee imagin it to see Him as hee is in himself As for your dâ—fficulty note that you do not desire change or variety til you have a satiety of what you enjoy and have a time of rest and quiet in it so that you have perfectly known it and found it less than your desires Now seeing God is beyond not onely the capacity of our desires but of millions of millions better then us and is sufficient to satisfy and fill the boundless extent of his own immense will 't is not possible that who sees God should complain of want of Variety Besides if variety were desirable in him is alâ— that can be desir'd not onely because hee contains every thing but because in him may be discern'd the essences and reasons of every particular thing from the creation of the heav'ns to the division of the least grain of dust in the high way what they are all their particular conditions that they are and why they are so that nothing can be sought for which is not to be found in God S. Truly Sir I must confess this is a pleasure greater than eye hath seen or ear heard or heart can conceive Nevertheless me thinks we should have some content also of our friends in the next life M. You shal of all their good but especially every one shal have particular contentment of his own good actions above all of those great ones Martyrdome Teaching and Virginity also of the good of every saint and creature in the world and of the punishment of euery damned soul in hel and the joy shal be greater according to every lawfull cause of content that nature affords us as kindred acquaintance and the like But not to forget our comparison le ts see what the wicked shal have shal they enjoy their desires can you tell me first what their desires be S. Their desires were wealth Authority meat drink and carnall pleasures which sure are then past and cannot be enjoy'd M. You say wel and in case they do not enjoy them how wil they be contented with the want of them S. They must needs be extremely afflicted if they vehemently desire and cannot obtain them and you say'd that if by choice of reason they took them for absolutely good they must needs desire them M. Tell me then are they in pain or no S. In Grief sir I understand they are but I do not see how they can be in Pain M. True 't is wee ordinarily take pain for corporall grief whereas indeed 't is but grief inflicted by another onely because we see none grieve but such as might leave of if they would we think no grief pain But after this life when the wicked cannot chuse but grieve if you remember that all comes from Gods hand you will see that their grief is also pain But do you judge it equall to that pain which the Body feels S. I know the pains of hell are far the greater though I know not well why M. If pleasure come from the soul to the body must not grief do the like and if the body dull the edge of pleasure must it not necessarily dull that also If then pleasure of minde infinitely exceed pleasure of body must not the like be sayd of grief But when shall this grief have an end S. I know that neither heaven nor hel have end but I know not well the reason more then that it so befits God's goodness and justice M. You are of a short memorâ— did you not tel mee God could not chuse but give him bliss that lov'd him above all things and that who saw him being All-goodness it ielf could not but love him above all things S. Now I see that since neither the blessed can leave to love nor God to bless those who love him their happiness can have no end M. And do you think the wicked can lose the misery unless they change their mind from loving what they cannot obtain S. No Sir but I know not why they should not change their minds M. Can they change their minds unless they see some thing of new which they saw not before or leave seeing somewhat which they did see and know S. No certainly but methinks they can think of what they wil M. Is not their souls indivisible and it 's actions without motion and so whatever they go about as soon done as 't is doing you see then necessarily that al they can do is already done al perpetually present and they see at once al they can see wherefore they can never change their minds but are to be everlastingly miserable which God defend us from But is there think you no middle condition between thâ—se two and some in that condition S. Yes Sir there 's a third state of those that dy in venial sin who aae in Purgatory and thence go to Heaven M. You are wel taught For some being in such a state at their death as though they firmly think God their greatest good and are content to forgo al other goods for him nevertheless they love worldly things withal something irregularly so as they are loath to leave them These therefore cannot have perpetual bliss til such desires be taken off and like gold in the fiâ—e purifi'd from all
relate and so distinguish the Substance yet not substantially And. a Son being a Living thing proceeding from a Living thing of the same nature as from a Principle remaining in it and Knowledge in God being such in respect of he Divine Essence known That is truly call'd Son This Father Likewise God loving Himself the same thing is Loving and Loved yet as such distinct therefore there is besides in God a a third call'd Divine Love Also Love intelligent things proceeding from their proper Good which is Truth consisting in this that the Object be in the Knowledge Divine Love proceeds from the Divine Essence as Object in the Divine Knowledge that is from Father and Son Whiâ—h Love is call'd Holy Spirit because He makes us Holy by inspiring us with Love of God or Charity as also Comforter Again â— Person being an Individuall or One Intelligent substance and God having no Accidents The distinction in him must bee of Persons There are then in One God three Persons yet not necessarily Three Things Of these the Second took our Nature not by charging God but by joyning Man to God's Person And therefore the Second because 't is proper to Knowledge or Wisedome to teach us or be our Master A shore History of some signal passages belonging to our Saviour Godâ— being made Man to redeem Mankind from Sin and put him in the way to Heaven which consists see in seeing God and Love of God disposing and determining necessarily to this Man is to love God as being All-Good Our most bountifull benefactour and whose Likeness or Image we bear And our Neighbour being made for the same End wee are that is for God we ought to wish him that End and means to it that is love him as our self Also Love of God necessarily disposing to see â—â—m who loves God has great reason to hope to see him grounded in his Goodness and faithfulness to his promise put none can love or hope un ess knowing the things which motives why taught by Faith which se-curely relies On God's Truth saying such things and Tradition or the Infallible Attestation of the Church that he 〈◊〉 them There are then three virtues call'-Theologicall or immedily respecting God necessary to mankind's saluation Faith Hope and Charity Faith being a Knowledge of supernaturall things the way to advance Faith is to increase that Knowledge by Study of such things that is by Prayer of which Mentall has three parts To Know the truth of the point To resolve according to that Knowledge and To raise the heart to God expecting a Blessing Vocall Prayer is better than Mentall as being compos'd by able men and less distractive But worse as â—ess satiating the Soul Less proportion'd to it and Desective the two first parts mention'd Hence of Mental the written are bâ—st for beginners of Vocall Those which are best understood and Well attended to Lastly â— Prayer being the use of Considerations â—â—â—i caâ—ioâ—sly moving to â—ove of God The fruit of Prayer is to advance Charity that iâ— Prayer is the high way to Heaven wheresore without Iâ— Retreat in vertue is inevitable Moreover Charity or â—ove obliging us to give what 's due to those wee love 't will make us render To God Service To our selves what 's best for us that is 't will make us prefer a greater good before a less which is perform'd by Temperance and avoyd a greater harm before a less which is done by Fortitude To our Neighbour If Infeiour or Equall Love Good will If superiour Obedience and Respect which belong to Justice Yet these three Virtues unexcited by Love of Heaven avail not to It though in some sort conformable to Nature They become severall particular Virtues as respecting severall Objects Also Discretion being The right se 〈…〉 of ouâ— Affectiâ—â—â— in oâ—dâ—r to Act on and the three fore and Virtues giving this who has thâ—m has also Dscretion or Prudence There are then â—our Morall or Cardinall Virtues according to which who acts since not byast by ill affections needs not scruple his action though it hap to be imperfect in some other respect Christian Life is a Practice of the three Theologicall and four Morall virtues for God's sake which is done by Chariâ—y Whâ—r fore since the Life of a Christian is to move towards God and Love of God or Charity makes us do so It onely is a Christians Life and he dead without It. Wherefore what causes ibis death is Mortall Sin which springs from love of Creatures above all things bringing neglect of our Duties yet not every such neglect Mortall but In those to our Neighbour such as would absolutely break Friendship In those to our selves such as done us by another would make us fall out with him In those towards God such misrespect as to our Neighbour were want of â—ove Other Neglects are Venial From what 's said follows is most full of Pleasure and Credit Also It fits us for the next world For who loves God or aâ—y thing for it's self is dispos'd to love it ever Wherefore Love of God or desire to see him remaining in a soul separated It shall see him else would bee miserable for loving him and God cruell Further The pleasure of the Mind had by Knowledge infinitly surpassing that of the body and The seeing all Truths in God as in the supreme Cause being the highest Knowledge the Sight of God beatifies a Soul To which is consequent content in our own former Actions and Friend But the things desired by the wicked are temporall fading therefore the dâ—sires of them remaining â—xâ—â—ssively tâ—rments with Greeâ— which inflicted by another is truly Pain Infinit as being in the Soul and Enledss In regard Those Desires must ever remain unchang'd The Soul as indivisible being unaccessive Yet Veniall Affections are changeble therefore may be purg'd Also Souls shal finally receiue their Bodies because Their desires of them are naturall The manner â—ow with The endowments of Glorify'd and contrary Dispositions of damned Bodies Hence A virtuous life finally brings Insinit more Pleasure Honour and Power than a wicked and is above need of wealth The means to bring corrupt Mankind to loue God being Miracles and Teaching and this ineâ—â—icacious unless lively conceited by the Teachers therefore Divine Love or the Holy Ghost was to descend upon the Apostles in virtue of which primitive vâ—gour Christ's doctrin was brought down from them to us that is the Church is truly Apostolical and Catholik as planted by the Apostles universally as having some of her profession in each câ—untry as the only eminent Congregation in Câ—â—istendome Also Having an entire Body of Faith or Doctrin fit to promote Sanctity Laws Customes conformable to that Faith and extraordinary Sanctity attainable by her Principles and practis'd by her children she is likewise Holy Lastly Her rule of Faith Tradition Her externall Profession of Faith and Her Government being the same all ovâ—r She is also One