for tho' I cann't say that I am guilty of any Sin that might deprive me of his grace yet he will scearch so narrowly into the most hidden corners of mens hearts at that departing day that I have great reason to fear he may finde some subject of his displeasure within my breast Another no less commendable for the holyness of his life tells me of a most dreadful example which was in his days exhibited on the Person of one Stephen a Monk a great lover of a quiet and Solatary life This holy man after he had pass'd over several years in a monastical conflict and adorn'd his Soul with extraordinary graces and virtues by his continual fasting weeping and chastising his body with St. Paul lest it should bring his Soul to subjection he went into the desart and built a little cell for himself at the foot of that famous mountain where the Prophet Helias had formerly a most Sacred and heavenly vision a place remote from all worldly consolation almost inaccessible to men and very near a hundred miles distant from any human habitation After he had continued there a long tract of time in the height of all manner of mortification and Pennance and being in his declining Age he return'd to his former habitation where in a few days he fell into a fit of sickness whereof he dy'd Joan. Climachus in Schola Parad graduer but the day before his death he awaked suddenly out of his slumber and looking frightfully towards the right left side of his bed he was heard by all that were about him to say as if he were brought to an account for his past life 't is true that is so but for that Sin I have fasted so many years To another objection he answer'd that is true likewise but for that fault I often shed most bitter tears To another he would reply that 's a grand lye I am innocent of that crime Again he would answer 't is so indeed I have nothing to say against it but leave my self wholly to God's mercy Certainly this was a spectacle able to terrify the hearts of all them that were by and especially for that the poor man was accus'd of what he never committed so eager his mortal Enemies were to get possession of his Soul by endeavouring to push him into despair He was indeed a lover of retir'd and solitary places and a Monk of forty years approbation endu'd with the gift of working miracles yet he trembles at the hearing of his accompts some he denys and some he owns but he relys upon Gods great mercy for a pardon and in this conflict he dyes without leaving any certainty of what became of him or how favourable his Judge was to him at the end of his trial O Saviour of mankinde if such great Saints were so much terrifi'd at the sight of death and so apprehensive of thy dreadful Judgements what will become of Sinners at that hour and of such Sinners as do spend their whole life in the vanities and transitory pleasures of the world of Sinners that make nothing to offend thee by all manner of wickedness of Sinners that live in so great a neglect of their Salvation as if they had no Souls to be sav'd and no account to be given after death If the Just are seiz'd with so great a terrour at the hour of Death what a deplorable condition will the habitual Sinner be in what will become of the weak shrubs of the desart that have no shelter from the raging storms of Death and Judgment when the tall Cedars of Liban are laid even with the ground Si Justus vix salvabitur Impius peccator ubi apâ—râ—bâ—nt 1 Pet. 4.3 18. If the Righteous scarcely be sav'd where shall the ungoldy and the Sinner appear who walk'd all his life in Lasciviousness Lust excess of Wine Revellings Banquetings and all abominable Idolatries what can be safe in Babylon when there is so strict a search made in Jerusalem SAVIOVR THou sayst well O man what will become of a Sinner indeed at the hour of death when I who am the spotless Lamb was seiz'd with so great an apprehension of it Tristis est anima mea usque ad mortem Mar. 14.34 that my Soul was sad even to death and terrifi'd to that degree that my body was all in a bloudy sweat But what will become of a Sinner when I shall appear to him who am to be not only his Judge but also a most irrefragable witness against him St. Augustin will tell thee he had rather suffer even the unspeakable torments of Hell Chrys hom 24. in Matth. then to behold the face of his angry Judge And St. Chrysostome declares it were better for Sinners to be struck with as many thunderbolts as the magazine of Heaven can afford then to see that countenance so meek and so full of sweetness heretofore altogether estrang'd from them at that most dreadful hour And if thou wilt give credit to the deposition of a learned Authour he will tell thee that even an Image which was only my representation on the Cross appear'd with such wrathful and incens'd eyes to a congregation of People that they all fell unto the ground senseless without any motion and that they cuntinued in that amazement several hours What a consternation then will Sinners be in when they shall behold not my Image which is at best but a dead figure but my self alive not in the humility of my Cross but seated on a Throne of Justice and Majesty not in a time of mercy but in the due season of a just vengeance not with naked hands pierc'd through with nails but arm'd against them with the Sword of Justice Thus I shall come to Judge and revenge the injuries which they have done unto me I am righteous in my Justice as I am in my mercy and as I have allotted a time for mercy so I will for Justice and as in this life the rigour of my justice is as it were repress'd and suspended so in that point of Death when the Sinners are to receive their final Sentence I will suffer it to break forth like an inundation and drown them all in the deluge of my indignation and wrath Imagine with thy self a great and rapid River that has had it's current violently stop'd these forty years Dan. 7. and now it were to have free passage what a condition the Country round about would be in with what a fury would it overrun the whole land and beat down all before it Citys Towns Villages Castles Trees Walls Houses Men Cattle and all without any resistance Thou knowst that my Prophet Daniel compares my Justice not to an ordinary River but to a River of fire to express the greatness and severity of it thou knowest likewise that the current of this River is frequently repress'd thirty forty years nay sometimes during the whole life of Man O what an infinite deal of
wrath will it have heap'd together with what an impetuous fury will it burst out upon a wretched sinner at the point of his death Tunc incipient dicere montibus cadite super nos Luk. 23.50 The same Prophet goes on with his description of this dreadful River which shall issue from my Countenance and says that it shall be so terrible that the wicked will invite even the Rocks and Mountains to fall upon them and shelter them from it's scorching waves The Prophet Isaiah sets forth my Justice in a more dreadful manner Isa 56. he says that I will come cloth'd in garments of vengeance and cover'd with a Robe of zeal and that I will give unto my Adversaries my Indignation and that my Enemies shall have their reward The Wiseman comes yet closer to the matter for he says that my zeal shall take up arms and that I shall animate all creatures to revenge me of my Enemies that I shall put on Justice as a brest-plate take the head-piece of righteous Judgment and shall sharpen my wrath as a lance nay I shall not only appear to Sinners at the hour of death as an enrag'd arm'd man Ose 13. but as a Bear that has been robb'd of her whelps that I shall tear their entrails in peices and devour them as a Lyon 'T is certain there is not among the Beasts a more fierce by nature then a Lyon or a more furious then a Bear especially when she has lost her young ones and that I who am by nature infinitely good mild and loving should compare my self to such monsters of nature for fierceness and cruelty is to express sensibly the terrors of my Justice and rigour against Sinners in that day of wrath full of calamity and misery Dies irae dies illa calamitatis miseriae dies magna amara valde miss de req in that great sorrowful and most bitter day O man take notice of this dreadful expression 't is able to terrify thy heart and to bring a trembling over all thy body Consider well how many poor Souls hast thou led astray from my paths by thy poysonous doctrine and evil examples how many poor Souls are now in Hell-fire solely upon the account of the damnable principles which thou hast still'd into their ears and hearts and which they carry'd along with them to their graves How many innocent and virtuous young Maids and Women hast thou forc'd out of my service to satisfy thy lustful desires I say forc'd them because that perceiving them in a wanting condition thou hast wrought upon their necessity and weakness both by giving them what thou shouldst have kept for the maintenance of thy proper Wife and Children Assure thy self that in the hour of thy death I shall appear unto thee as a Bear whom thou hast robb'd of so many young ones yea and shall tear thy entrails in peices for all thy misdemeanours extortions and oppressions I will devour thee as a Lyon as well for working the destruction of thy own Soul as for contributing to the loss of many others by thy bad examples 'T is by reason of the severity of my Justice against Sinners in the hour of their death that Daniel says there shall proceed from my face a River of fire because this Element of all others is the most active and so pure that it will not admit of any mixture whereas Earth will lodge in its bosom Mines of several mettals and Quarries of divers sorts of Stone Water will entertain a pleasant variety of Fishes the Air gives liberty to all sorts of Fowl to fly through all it's region and does also harbour a vast multitude of vapours exhalations and several other bodies but Fire endures nothing it melts the hardest mettals reduces even stones into Cinders consumes living Creatures converts Trees into its own Substance and turns all that is contrary to it into its own nature The same shall happen in that day of my wrath all shall be rigour and Justice without any mixture of mercy nay the very mercies which I have exhibited to sinners in their life time shall then be both a motive to kindle my indignation and fuel to blaze up my incensed Justice against them O man consider therefore whilst thou hast time to repent nay and seriouslytoo what a sad condition thou shalt see thy self in at that instant when neither my bloud shed for thee nor my self crucifi'd for thy sake nor the powerful intercession of my most blessed Mother nor the prayers of my Saints no nor my divine mercy it self shall contribute any thing to thy safety No this life once past thou art to expect no Patron no Protectour but thy virtuous actions thy Angel Guardian and all the Saints thy Advocates shall abandone thee thy vast riches the greatness of thy Authority thy numerous Servants thy learned Counsels will not avail thee nor defend thy Process thy good works alone will defend thee from the rigour of my Justice when the Treasures thou hast heap'd up in the world and been so careful to preserve shall fail thee Thine Alms bestow'd upon the poor shall stick close to thee and pleade for thy pardon in a powerful manner Thy Wife thy Children thy Kindred Friends and Followers shall go no farther then the grave with thee but the Strangers which thou hast lodg'd the sick which thou hast visited and the needy which thou hast succour'd will bear thee company even before my dreadful Throne and place thee at my right hand among the number of my blessed for ever MAN O My most gracious Saviour withdraw thy hand far from me and let not thy dread make me afraid Job 13. Wherefore hidest thou thy face holdest me for thy Enemy wilt thou break a leaf that is driven to fro with every little puff of wind and wilt thou so rigorously pursue the dry stubble for thou writest bitter things against me and makest me to possess the iniquities of my youth Thou puttest my feet also in the stocks and lookest narrowly unto all my paths thou settest a print upon the heels of my feet who am to be consum'd as a rotten thing and as a garment that is moth-eaten Man that is born of a Woman is of few days and full of trouble He comes forth like a flower and is cut down He vanisheth also as a shadow and continues not And dost thou fix thine eyes upon such an one and bringest me into Judgment with thee Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean These are the words of the most afflicted of mortals and Mirror of Patience admiring the severity of thy Justice against Man a creature so weak so frail and so prone to all manner of evil against a wretch viciously inclin'd from his cradle that drinks up iniquity with as much pleasure and case as he would a glass of Spring-water in his greatest drougth on a hot Summers day It were a subject of
In an Age of license to all sorts of vanity and wickedness as Lust Gluttony Avarice Envy Ambition Sloth Insolence Levity Contumacy Fear Rashness private Discords and publick Evils extravagant and groundless wishes vain Confidence sickly affections shameless Impiety Rapine authoriz'd and the violation of all things Sacred and prophane Obligations are pursu'd with Sword and Poison Benefits are turn'd into Crimes and that blood most seditiously spilt for which every honest man should expose his own Those that should be the preservers of their Country are the destroyers of it and 't is matter of dignity to trample upon the Government the Sword gives the Law and Mercenaries take up arms against their Masters Among these turbulent and unruly motions what hope is there of finding honesty or good Faith which is the life of all virtues there is not a more lively Image of humane life then that of a conquer'd City There is neither Mercy Modesty nor Religion and if we forget our lives we may well forget the obligations we have to thee and all thy benefits too But let us consider seriously the multitude and greatness of thy divine blessings deal with thee even as one man does with another The wise man says that gifts break Rocks Victoriam honorem acquirit qui dat munera animam autem aufert accipientium Prov. 22.9 and shall not thy divine benefits move a heart of flesh and if they can steal the hearts of the receivers according to Solomon how come we not to be rob'd of our Souls by thee O Lord For thou dost not only give us thy gifts but also dost bestow thy self upon us as a most precious treasure If we consider the benefits which we have receiv'd from thee in our Creation they are as many as we have members of our bodys and faculties of our Souls If those of our Conservation they are equal in number to the distinct natures in Heaven and on Earth The Elements the Sun the Moon the Stars and the whole World were created for our preservation for without them we could not subsist If we look upon the benefits of our Redemption We shall be easily convinc'd that they are as many as there are evils in Hell from which we are happily deliver'd by thy Passion and total effusion of thy most precious bloud Those of our Justification are no less in number then are the Sacraments which thou hast instituted to increase our Merits and work the Sanctification of our Souls then the Graces and Inspirations which thou dost shower down into our hearts and the divine Examples which thou hast left us Nonne haec opportuit Christum pati ita intrare in gloriam suam Luc. 24.26 which should invite us all to tread with a masculine courage in the same paths which brought thee O Lord into thine own glory All these with thousands of other benefits and obligations which we have receiv'd from thee and by thy Creatures cry out unto us to love thee with all our heart with all our Soul with all our Powers and to trample under our feet this false World with all it's vanitys trifles transitory pleasures But alas We make nothing of all thy benefits We give no ear to all their crys but rather will love the World and tast of its pleasures in as ample a measure as our fortunes will afford us wherein we seem to be worse then even the very Heathens for Aristides tho' he was reputed to be one of the greatest Men of Athens yet he was so avers'd to the Pomp and toys of the World and so affected to poverty that he always wore a course broken garment suffer'd Hunger Cold and Thirst not for any want of means or friends to relieve him but meerly for his own fancy Zeno was nothing concern'd when news was brought to him that he had lost all what he had in the World When An xagoras receiv'd the like news he said no more then if my Goods had not perish'd I had been undone Crates flung his whole substance into the Sea with this expression It is better I drown you then you me Diogenes bid adieu to all he had in the World and took nothing with him but a wooden dish and seeing by chance one drink out of the hollow of his hand broke that also And shall we refuse to do in obedience to thy Commands O Lord for the purchase of an eternal weight of glory what they freely and gladly perform'd to pleasure their own fancies and gain the repute of being Philosophers O madness O ingratitude never to be paralel'd Quid retribuam Domino pro omnibus quae retribuit mihi Ps 115.12 Tho' We are thine by so many just titles and thou hast given thy self and all what thou hast unto us yet we never think of what We ought to do for thee nor how We shall express our thankfulness for such and so great benefits This was the greatest care that David took and the sole subject of his most serious consideration what shall I return unto the Lord for all the favours which he has confirm'd upon me But O blessed King and Prophet give me leave to ask thee what are those favours 'T is true he has rais'd thee from the Station of a Shepherd to the dignity of a King He has enabl'd thee to encounter a Giant and to get the better of him too He has often protected thee against the evil Spirit of Saul and has preserv'd thy life from all the wicked and treacherous attempts he made to destroy thee these are great obligations indeed and deserve thy grateful return but are nothing to the benefits which we have receiv'd at his hands his love for us was so great that he suffer'd death to bring us to life everlasting and left unto us for food to our Souls his most precious body and blood certainly these obligations are unspeakable and deserve at least that small attonement of returning back unto him our Souls hearts and bodys for as we had them from him 't is our weighty obligation to let him have them again entirely and free from any love-to the World or affection to the Creatures so that We are to account our selves now and evermore as only his and not our own consequently We are not to debase our love by placing it upon any worldly object but to settle it wholly upon him alone And really if we consider seriously the infinite love which thou hast for us O Lord We shall finde that we have no love left to bestow either upon the World or any terrene object no nor upon our selves for We must know that love consists in action and the more it acts or suffers the greater is the perfection thereof how great then must thy love be O Lord being thou hast wrought such Stupendious works for our Salvation still dost continue to work the like for our preservation the Sun the Moon Omnia subjecisti sub
necessary things and that he is firmly resolv'd to break off with Vice C. P. 52. How a Sinner by his frequent relapse into Sin may reasonably fear he never was really contrite for his Sins C. p. 56. That a Sinner must fix his hope in God of whose mercy he can't despair without a mortal offence C. p. 57. The nature and necessary conditions of a true and perfect contrition p. 60. The fatal consequences of Venial Sins and how by degrees they bring a Man to commit Mortals C p. 65. The greatness of Gods Love for Man is a most pressing motive to a sorrowful contrition M. p 67. The means which God was pleas'd to take in order to redeem Mankind is another pressing motive to a sorrowful contrition M. p. 71. What Christ has suffer'd from his Cradle to the Cross was only for the love of Man M. p. 74. His Death and Passion should breed in our hearts a mortal hatred and abhorrence of Sin M. p. 78. Several other Considerations upon the same subject able to move even a Heart of Steel to love God above all Creatures M. p. 82. The benefits of our Justification lays a weighty obligation on us to love God with all our hearts p. 88. Several other deep considerations of the same benefit Mp. 91. The manifold disasters and miseries occasion'd by Sin and how we are happily deliver'd from 'em all by the benefit of our Justification M. p. 95. The manifold and wonderful advantages of a Justifi'd Soul M. p. 99. The benefit of our Justification exceeds that of our Creation and Redemption M. p. 103. The certainty of Death and th'uncertainty of the hour of Death with the several and dreadful circumstances thereof is a most pressing motive to detest Sin M. p. 106. The particular Judgment which is given of the Soul at her departing the Body M. p. 114. How dreadful will the sight of her Judge be to her and what anguishes she shall suffer at her Trial M. p. 120. Of the most strict account which will be taken of the Soul in this particular Judgment M. p. 126. How remote is the Judgment of God from that of Man and of the severity of his Chastisements even in this Life by which we may easily conceive th'unspeakable rigour of his punishments in th' other M. p. 133. Of the Torments which the Damn'd suffer in Hell M. p. 140. Of the Glory of Heaven in what it consists of its great estimate and what we ought to suffer for the everlasting purchase thereof M. p. 148. Of th'everlasting happiness of the Saints in Heaven and of their glorious Prerogatives M. p. 162. The little value that Christians set upon Vertue and how their dissolutions surpass the debauchery even of the worst of Heathens M. p. 173. The Godly feelings and Heroick exploits of Heathen Philosophers will certainly confound the Christians in the Day of Judgment M. p. 188. Of Hell and of th'unspeakable and various Torments which the Damn'd shall suffer there for an Eternity M. p. 201 Of the severity of Gods Justice the rage and malice of the Devils and the horrid confusion of the Damn'd occasion'd by the full Knowledge of their Vanities main Folly and wilful neglect of their Salvation M. p. 217. The wonderful Austerities of Gods Servants as well in the Old as in the New Testament in order to avoid the Torments of Hell will be a main confusion to such Christians as live deliciously in this World M. p. 226. If men be so outragiously cruel one to th' other how excessive cruel must the Devil be to the Damn'd in Hell being a professed enemy to all mankind even from the Creation M. p. 234. An habitual Sinner that puts off his Conversion to the hour of Death in expectation of a good Peccavi lies under a moral impossibility to be sav'd M. p. 248. The Love of God should replenish our hearts to that degree to leave no place for any terrene or carnal affection M. p. 266. An ample description of th'ingratitude inconstancy treachery cruelty and vanity of the World with several presidents relating thereunto M. p. 278. The Lust of the Flesh with its fatal attendance and branches are most abominable in themselves most odious to God and the most destructive enemies of our Souls M. p. 293. Th' only thing that the Nobility should value themselves upon is Vertue how vain is the Wisdom of the World Of Corporal Beauty and Rich Apparel and how th' one as well as th' other has been the ruine of many Millions of Souls M. p. 310. That the State of Poverty is far more advantageous to the Soul than that of Riches though it may not be so pleasant to the mind which is never content M. p. 327. The Charming expressions of Christ and the several employments he takes upon himself in order to save our Souls are able to withdraw all our scatter'd affections from the World and settle them upon him alone M. p. 346. That the World is both a Cheat and a Lyar for his Promises ars false his Honours are vain his Pleasures are Poyson and his Treasures are Soul-Killing Thorns M. p. 368. That they who after all Gods sweet Inspirations loving Invitations and gracious Admonitions do not love him reciprocally shall be in danger of eternal Destruction M. p. 384. A Check to Man p. 391. A Check to the Christian Man p. 395. A Check to the Religious Man p. 402. A Wholesom Advice to Mankind in general p 410. Errata P. 10. L. ult R. remit P. 26. M N. R. hac P. 249. L. 4. R. double P. 254. M. N. R. transiit messis P. 255. M. N. R. quo P. 259. L. 12. R. axiom P. 265. L. 27. R. Prophet P. 271. L. 13. R. no more P. 315. M. N. R. putredini p. 329. L. 26. R. not P. 336. L. 8. R. the. P. 344. L. 27. R. be P. 352. L. 18. R. so P. 368. L. 22. R. doorkeeper P. 371. L. 6. R. martial P. 374. L. 17. R. Micheas P. 376. L. 21. R. were P. 384. L. 6. R. as A Dialogical Discourse betwixt the Saviour and Man wherein all Souls desirous of the Love of God are copiously suppli'd with means powerfull to attain it and to gain the happy accomplishment of their Salvation MAN SPeak O Lord for thy Servant hears thee 1. Reg. 3. grant me a right Understanding to know thy ways and lead my will to walk therein let the sacred Dew of thy divine Inspirations flow down from thy heavenly Throne into my obdurate Heart Psal 118. that I may more easily observe thy Commands and steer my course directly without any Remora towards the Region of everlasting Bliss Loquere tâ— nobis audiemus non loquatur nobis Dominus ne â—orte moriamur Exod. 20. for which thou didst Create my Soul Heretofore the Children of Israel would have Moises only speak to them not thou O Lord fearing thy words might strike such a terrour to their Hearts
leads to it this is a necessary consequence of that grief hatred of sin for if thou be'st heartily sorry for the evil committed and dost truly detest it thou wilt also have a will to avoid it if not 't is most evident that thou hast neither sorrow nor aversion This contrition to be perfect and effectual must have four conditions it must be interiour Supernatural universal and Sovereign It must be interiour I mean from the heart for the outward expression of grief is at best but a complement and a meer illusion whereby many poor Souls are basely deceiv'd and utterly ruin'd Deut. 4. The heart must be sensibly touch'd with compunction it must be an act of the will thou must convert thy self to God with all thy heart and seek for him with the sorrow and tribulation of thy Soul See how I reprehended the Pennance of the Jews Scindite cordis vestra non vestimenta vestra ait Dominus Joel 2. they made great exteriour signs even to rent their cloths but they were not at all mov'd in their hearts and therefore I told them by my Prophet that they should convert themselves to me with all their hearts in tears and lamentations and that they should tear their hearts and not their garments Both Scripture and Reason does manifest this truth that this sorrow for thy Sins must be lodg'd in thy heart and as thy will was the principal cause of thy Sin so it must be the chief actor in thy sorrow Thy heart must renounce the evil which it has willfully committed and detest the sin which it had formerly affected Thy Grief must issue from a supernatural motive and the reason of it is that an action purely natural cannot be a condign satisfaction to me for thy mortal transgression of my positive commandment thou mayst see by the sorrow of Saul who did not grieve for his sin but for the loss of his Kingdom which God had resolv'd to take from him to give it to a more faithful and obedient servant Antiochus's sorrow was grounded upon the like motive for he did not weep for his sins but by reason of his great misfortunes Afflictions may indeed stir up a Sinner to return to God but they shall never be able to reclaim him from his wickedness without my Grace To obtain which he must detest his sins because they are infinitely offensive to God and a great obstacle to his own Salvation these are supernatural motives without which thy contrition will signify nothing in order to receive the grace of God Thy grief must be also sovereign that is most powerful And the reason for it is that it 's not enough to detest Sin upon a supernatural motive but that this motive must overrule all other that come into thy minde and rather detest sin by reason of the damage it brings to thy Salvation or the injury done to God thereby then for any natural evils which it may produce and be ready to suffer them all rather then commit one mortal Sin This is what Divines call detesting Sin Supra omne detestabile that is to detest it more then all which in the world is capable to stir up thy hatred and detestation In fine Ezech. 18. thy grief must be universal as to all mortal sins without excepting any 't is therefore I order'd my Prophet to tell my People that they must do Pennance for all the Sins which they had committed and if the Sinner shall do Pennance for all his Sins he shall live The reason of it is that mortal Sins cannot be remitted but totally not one without the rest for if thou shouldst reserve an affection for one mortal Sin tho' thou shouldst have an abhorrence against all the rest thou art still an enemy to God and a worthy object of his highest displeasure By this thou mayst perceive how grossly they are mistaken who pretend to be perfectly contrite and yet refuse to pardon injuries to be reconcil'd to their Enemies to restore unlawful goods to avoid the immediate occasions of Sin In a word all those that have any wilful tye to any particular sin shall have the same measure from my hands as Antiochus had for their Pennance as well as his is but imaginary MAN O My most mercifull Lord have pitty upon me and let my poor Soul partake of the wonderful effects of thy great clemency I acknowledge now the great evil which I have done now I see the grievousness of my Sins now I see how few have that true and perfect contrition which is so necessary to Salvation seeing they relapse into their habitual offences so soon and so easily for had they that great sorrow for their Sins they would be certainly more vigilant to avoid them then to prevent the greatest of all misfortunes They would be also more eager to set a stop to the dangerous currant of venial Sins since they are the preludes of a vicious habit and that by degrees they bring us to make nothing of mortals for they do notably diminish the lights of our understanding the sincerity of our minde is overclouded by them our heart over-rul'd the strength of grace and the vigour of virtue made weaker our Soul disorder'd and laid open to all evil impressions 'T is true they don't destroy sanctifying grace but they dispose us very much to lose it All together they don't make a mortal sin but they dispose the Soul to fall into it They don't directly cause death but they create those spiritual weaknesses maladies which bring death with them In a word tho' venial Sins don't break the league and unity betwixt God and the Soul which is grounded upon that happy foundation of grace yet inperceptably they diminish it and by this diminution Charity is weaken'd in us and God by degrees withdraws from us the chief favours of his assistance in all our spiritual necessities consequently having less strength we fall more easily into mortal Sin when we are assaulted by any temptation By this I may easily conclude that whoever is careless to avoid venial sins has not a sufficient abhorrence of mortals for there is nothing so venial but may be through an immoderate complacency dissolution or recreation become of the number of mortals and perhaps of the most capital Sins How then is it possible for those that continue whole hours nay from morning till night in Taverns and Tipling-houses Ranting Drinking Vae qui cogitatis inutile Mich. 2. Vae vobis qui ridetis quia flebitis Dancing and other such like dissolutions to be excus'd from mortal Sins since that God threatens with a woe even those who think of unprofitable things He does the same to those that place all their consolation and felicity in Riches As also to those that in any thing belonging to nature take pleasure to excess Ah! Vae vobis divitibus qui habetis consolationem vestram Et vae vobis qui saturati estis Luk. 6
ready to drop down upon their criminal and guilty heads the sweet perfumes of thy divine virtues and the rare examples of thy Saints cann't prevail with them no they cann't tast of thy Chalice nor feel thy Scorges nor acknowledge thy Benefits tho' they are sufficient to melt a heart of Steel In fine Sin takes quite away the peace the joy and the tranquility of a good eonscience it does extinguish the fervour of the Spirit and leaves poor man sordid maculate deform'd and abominable in the sight of God and of all his Saints Yet by the benefit of thy Justification we are happily deliver'd from all these plagues evil consequences of Sin and the abyss of thy divine mercies is not content to have forgiven us our offences and receive us into favour but does also expell all those evils which are inseparable from Sin leaving our interiour man in the real possession of his former prerogatives and likeness to God Thou dost heal up our wounds wash off our spots break loofe the fetters and chains of our iniquitys destroy the yoke of our evil desires retrieve us from the slavery of Satan qualify the fury of our unruly passions and the heat of our vicious affections Thou dost likewise restore to the Soul her former freedom and beauty revive her interiour fenses dispose them to the exercise of all good works and to the abhorrence of any that 's bad Thou givest strength to resist manfully all the temptations of the Devil and to go through all the difficulties that might hinder the practise of virtue and their increase of devotion In fine my Sweet Saviour thou dost so absolutely revive and repair our interiour man and all his faculties that thy Apostle Scruples not to call such men Justifi'd Souls metamorphos'd natures new modell'd Spirits Creatures of another stamp This innovation is so great and so much to be admir'd that it 's worth our labour to finde out how and after what manner it is perform'd O my Saviour thou alone canst tell me truly the nature of it and the only one that can impart so great a blessing to my poor and languishing Soul wherefore let me hear thy solution to the matter SAVIOVR THou must know then O man that this so great a renovation when 't is perform'd by the means of Baptism may be call'd Regeneration but if it be done by Contrition and with the assistance of Pennance then 't is call'd resurrection not only because the Soul is rais'd from the Death of Sin to the Life of Grace but by reason it resembles so nearly the glorious beauty of future Resurrection No mortal tongue is able to express the radiant Splendor and supereminent beauty of a Justifi'd Soul 't is a mistery reserv'd to my Holy Spirit who made her so glorious with a design she should be his own Temple and place of residence Were all the wealth of the World all the imaginable dignities and honours of this life all the natural Graces and gifts together with all the acquir'd virtues and all other earthly advantages that can be thought of conferr'd with the beauty and treasures of a Justifi'd Soul all in comparison with her is vile obscure ill-favour'd and of no value No for there is as much difference betwixt the life of Grace and the life of Nature betwixt the beauty of the Soul Justifi'd and that of the body betwixt the interiour Riches of such a Soul and the exteriour of the body as there is betwixt Heaven Earth betwixt the Spirit and the body or betwixt Time and Eternity Because all these are circumscrib'd with certain limits they are temporal they appear handsom to corporal eyes and require only my general concourse to support them whereas the other depends on my particular and supernatural influence and have no prefix'd bounds because I am their object and they are so precious in my sight and of so great an estimate that they provoke even my divine Essence to be ardently enamour'd with their beauty I might have wrought all these wonders with my sole presence yet I would not but was pleas'd to adorn the Soul with my infus'd virtues and the Seven gifts of my Holy Ghost whereby not only her Essence but even her very faculties are cloth'd and adorn'd with those habitual and heavenly dresses Besides all these divine favours and benefits she is made happy with the constant presence of my divine Spirit and of the most adorable Trinity for all resides in a justifi'd Soul to teach her how to manage so great a treasure to her best advantage Matt. 12. wherein I act the part of a most loving Father who is not satisfi'd to have given Riches to his Son but gives him withal a Futor that knows how to Administer them well Luc. 11. Thou know'st that a multitude of vipors Serpents and Dragons I mean of evil Spirits enter into the Soul of a Sinner and makes her their habitation as thou mayst reade in my Gospel but 't is otherwise with a justifi'd Soul for I with my Father and Holy Spirit dwell there and having banish'd thence all evil Si quis diligit me Sermonem meum servabit Pater meus diliget eum ad eum veniomus mansionem apud eum faciemus Joan. 14. and Infernal Spirits we make her our temple our throne and Garden of pleasure as thou mayst finde in St. John where I say if a man love me he will keep my words my Father will love him and we will come unto him and make our abode with him All the Doctors of my Holy Church as well Ecclesiastick as Scholastick grounded upon these my words do firmly believe that my Holy Ghost dwells in a justifi'd Soul after a certain and peculiar manner and say moreover that he does not only confer his Gifts upon her but comes himself along with them with a fix'd resolution to clense Sanctify and adorn her as well with his constant presence as with all his heavenly treasures O man if all these extraordinary favours be not able to mollify thy flinty heart and force it to leave and forsake the paths of Sin and to gather also all thy Scatter'd affections and lead them towards me who am the most deserving of them I shall add more pressing motives to bring thee to so good so gracious and so benificial a resolution The First that occurs is that all the justifi'd are my living members so that I love and cherish them as my own and am no less careful to provide for them to protect and comfort them then were they all parts of my proper body nay without any intermission I influence them with my inspirations and graces even as the head communicates his vital Spirits into all the rest of its members moreover my Eternal Father beholds them with a gracious eye as being my living members united concorporate with me by the participation of his divine Spirit and therefore all their deeds are
of wine in his hand and Blasphemy in his mouth another may be stab'd in a quarrel another crush'd with the fall of a horse In fine they have several ways to their end but the end it self which is Death is still the same For whether they dye by a sword by a halter by a potion or by a disease 't is all but Death which is so certain that thou can'st not doubt of it without a blemish to thy Faith none is exempted from drinking of this Chalice Regum Turres pauperumque Tabernas aeque pede pulsat Mors. Vir. Popes Kings and Princes must taste of it If there were any immunity or priviledge in the case surely I might have been exempted from Death as being the Law-maker and Promoter of that unavoidable sentence which I had pronounc'd against thy Progenitour for his transgression of my Commandment No the day shall come that thou wilt be alive in the morning and dead at night It will come sometime but when whether this day or to morrow 't is uncertain Thou art now in perfect health strong of body and found of minde thou dost measure thy life by the length of thy desires and by the multitude of thy business but the day will come that thou shalt be stretch'd on a bed candles lighted about thee thy Relations and Friends lamenting and weeping thy whole family in a great consternation expecting thee to breath out thy Soul every moment but when this day shall come 't is uncertain perhaps when thou dost least expect it perhaps when thou thinkst thy self secure from all dangers and when all thy thoughts are busi'd about building of Houses purchasing Lands matching thy Children settling their Fortunes 't is therefore said of Death Thess 5.23 that it comes like a Thief who takes that time to seize on his prey when men are in their dead sleep secure and without the least apprehension of being rob'd The day of the Lord says St. Paul shall come as a Thief in the night upon thee and when thou shalt say peace and security then sudden destruction shall come upon thee as Travail upon a Woman with Child and thou shalt not escape To consider seriously the preludes of death with their attendents which are a grievous sickness Aches and pains over all thy Limbs thy Stomach loaded with Apothecarys Stuffs so many sorts of loathsome drugs on a table before thy face which thou must of necessity swallow because thy Physician has order'd it so then art thou peevish and fretful continually tumbling and tossing from one place to another always restless this with several other emergencies weakens thy body and opens the gate for Death to come in even as when an enemy is resolv'd to Storm a City he first batters down its walls with his great Cannons and makes a breach large enough for a general assault then he commands his forces to stand to their Arms and he at the head of them marches on and makes himself Master of the place So before Death a mortal infirmity leads the van beats down thy natural Strength dismounts all thy senses gives thee no rest night or day batters down thy body with its violent fits so that the Soul is at last forc'd to withdraw from her old habitation to take up her quarters the Lord knows where But when the Infirmity is come to that height that thy Physitian and thy self too have no hopes of further life O what Anguishes what apprehensions what grief what trouble seizes thy poor heart and tares it asunder Videbunt quibus sacrificaverunt Eccl. then the whole series of thy former life comes into thy minde and thy dearest objects will then become the subjects of thy greatest sorrow thy Wife and Children thy Friends and Relations thy Riches thy Honours thy Titles thy Imployments with the rest which thou hast made thy Gods on Earth shall come in a croud to discompose thy Soul Soon after this alteration of thy minde comes another which is the forerunner of death thy forehead is harden'd and thy skin cleaves close to thy skull a cold sweat trickles down thy face thy eye-strings are already broken and thy eye-lids are fall'n down thy ears are deaf thy nose grows thin and sharp thy nostrils stuff'd up with corruption thy face turns to its original colour which is that of clay thy mouth is contracted thy tongue is stupifi'd and can no more perform its duty thy tast is gone thy lips are pale thy breath finks down to the bottom of thy breast thy hands are cold thy nails black thy pulse slow and weak sometimes at a stop and now and then revives thy feet have no more life they have lost their natural heat Infine all thy flesh is in a short space to be turn'd into corruption This is thy end O man but as thou art a Christian hear what shall enfue before the Separation of thy Soul from thy Body Then thou shalt imagine the Judgment of God to be at hand then thou shalt have a full view of all thy fins both great and small then all thy abominations and crimes shall come in a body to accuse thee before the dreadful Tribunal of my divine Justice Then thou shalt acknowledge tho' too late how sordid how heinous and how horrid were the crimes which thou hadst so easily so desperately committed against me without the least apprehension of my indignation wrath O what curses what bitter imprecations wilt thou utter at that fatal hour against the day in which thou hast offended me thou wilt curse even the place the occasion and complices of thy sins Thou wilt curse and condemn thine own folly and the wickedness of those which brought thee by their ill examples to forfiet the everlasting joys of Heaven for such trifles as are all the false and treacherous pleasures of this world pereat dies inqua natus sum c. Job 3.3 The afflictions of Job were nothing to those that shall be heap'd upon thee in that dreadful day of my visitation yet he cries out let the day perish wherein I was born and the night in which it was said there is a man-childe conceiv'd and what will thy feeling be when thou shalt see thy self depriv'd of all happiness and excluded from Heaven for an Eternity by the means of those vain sordid and transitory pleasures which thou hast taken in thy life-time when thou shalt behold thy self surrounded on all sides with tribulations and anguishes without any hopes of a longer life when there shall be no place for pennance when the days of grace are past when even those whom thou hast lov'd beyond all measure and reason cann't afford unto thee the least comfort but rather will kill thee with displeasure because they were thy beloved Idols and the only objects of thy adorations but now they shall become the subject of thy Eternall confusion Tell me O man when thou shalt see thy self brought to this deprorable state
in torments and tortures and that for an Eternity If the People of Egypt fell into despair before the expiration of the seven years Ex Inferno nulla est redemptio Facilis Descensus Averni sed revocare gradum hoc opus hic labor est Varg. being sure of a relief soon after what despair will the wicked be in having an assurance from thy mouth O Lord that their miseries shall never have an end O what miserable and unfortunate wretches are we they will cry what time what powerful means what opportunities of working our eternal Salvation have we neglected The time was that with one cup of cold water we might have purchas'd unto our selves a Crown of glory we might by relieving the poor and other such like works of mercy have merritted life everlasting how great was our blindness our madness and folly to have neglected those favourable occasions of enriching our selves for ever and to suffer those fruitfull years of such great abundance to pass away without making any provision for our Souls Had we been brought up amongst Infidels and Pagans and believ'd that our Souls were mortal as well as our bodies that we were in the same Category with all brute animals whose souls do perish at once with their bodies we might have some kinde of excuse and plead that we knew nothing of what was commanded or what was forbidden by God but being brought up Christians and holding for an Article of our belief that the hour shall come wherein we must give a strict account of all our transactions to God we have been often told by Preachers and Teachers that the kingdom of Heaven suffers violence and that we could not attain to it otherways then by the pass-port of Mortifications and Pennance that it was our incumbent duty to depress our unruly Passions and never to be drawn away by our evil inclinations yet unfortunate Souls we were fondly perswaded that Heaven was for us without any pains at all that God was so merciful that he would not condemn our Souls to everlasting torments ' tho' we were never so wicked and therefore we have justly deserv'd that he should deal with us according to the full rigour of his Justice Come then ye Infernal Furies come and rend us in pieces come and devour our unchristian bowels for we have justly deserv'd to be so cruelly dealt with we have deserv'd to be hunger-starv'd for ever being we have neglected to provide for our selves while we had both the means the time and conveniency of doing it we deserve not to reap because we have not sown We deserve to fuffer want and misery being we never laid up any thing in store we often refused the poor and needy their humble and earnest request and therefore we deserve to be deny'd ours We often have clos'd ears to the sighs and groans of the poor and distress'd and therefore we deserve to sigh and lament for an eternity in vain We deserve that the worm of our conscience should gnaw our intrails for ever by representing unto us our criminal and transitory pleasures the great happiness which we have lost by them Erravimus a via veritatis Justitiae lumen non illuxit nobis Sol intelligentiae non est ortus nobis lassati sumus in via iniquitat's perditionis ambulavimus vias difficiles viam autem Domini ignoravimus Sap. 5.6 7 8. the unspeakable torments which we are to suffer for them and their long continuance which will be for an Eternity We err'd and wander'd from the ways of truth and the light of Justice was not with us nor did the Sun of Wisdom shine upon us We weari'd our selves in the ways of wickedness and perdition and walk'd in paths of difficulty and knew not the way of the Lord. What has our Pride profited us and what has the pomp of our Riches avail'd us all those things have pass'd like a shaddow or like a messenger who passes in hast or like a Ship which cuts the instable waves leaves no mark where it went even so we are now consum'd in our wickedness The cruel and bloudy Tyrants who have afflicted put to death thy holy Martyrs O Lord shall be troubl'd with horrible fear when they shall behold them whom they had so unhumanely treated in this life to be so highly honour'd in Heaven they shall wonder at their unexpected Salvation and say amongst themselves with great regret with much grief and anguish of Spirit These are the men who sometime were unto us matter of Scorn and laughter We insipid wretches imagin'd their life to be madness and that then end will be without nonour but behold how they are counted amongst the children of God and how their lot is amongst the Saints such will be the amazement of those mercenary Judges also who have trampl'd under foot the justice and right of thy poor servants on Earth when they shall behold them Judges in Heaven and themselves condemn'd to Hell-fire for their unjust Sentences Solomon's words verifies this Eccl. c. 3. 10. where he says I saw a great evil beneath the Sun that in the Throne of Judgement was Seated impiety and wickedness in the place of Justice And I said in my heart God shall Judge the good and evil and then shall be seen who every one is Here on Earth the wicked sometimes are exalted and the Godly depress'd but thou O Lord shalt in the day of thy visitation rectify those great disorders and grievances thou shalt Separate the wheat from the tares thoushalt place the good upon thy right hand elevated in the Air that all the world may honour and reverence them as being thy favourites whereas the wicked shall stand all in a confusion far off at thy left expecting their final Sentence and the immediate execution thereof O how they shall at that dreadful hour envy the happy state of the Just seeing them so much honour'd and themselves so much despis'd O how will the Potentates and crown'd heads of the Earth be astonish'd when they shall behold their Vassals in Glory their Slaves amongst the Angels and themselves in the same rank with the Devils O my Sweet Saviour St. Chrys hom 24. in Lucam Armabit omnum creaturam ad ultronem inimicorum pugnabit proâ—eo orbis terrarum contra insensatos what shall I think of my self what shall I say what shall I do or how shall I be able to excuse my self in that day of thy wrath when Heaven Earth Sun Moon Stars Night and Day together with all that is contain'd within the precincts of the whole world shall accuse me bear witness of all my evil and cry vengeance against me before thy dreadful Throne nay were they all silent mine own conscience shall fly in my face and accuse me of all my offences even of the least idle word that ever I have spoken Woe 's me then says St. Ambrose St. Ambr. in
amara est memoria tua homini habenti pacem indivitijs suis Eccl. 41. that had conquer'd most part of the World in less then twelve years to see himself seiz'd on by Death and Summon'd to appear before thy most dreadful Tribunal when he desir'd most to live and tast of the joy and delight of all his victories What a heart-breaking will it be to those that employ all their time in building of houses purchasing estates increasing riches procuring dignities making up matches laying out vast sums to use when they shall see themselves even as so many Princes Mules discharg'd of their treasure and turn'd off with backs gaul'd into some nasty stable nay it will be far worse with them for after their long travelling in this World loaden with gold and Silver which had extreamly gall'd their wretched Souls they shall be disburthened at the day of death and sent away with their wounded consciences to the dark and loathsome Stable of Hell there to continue for an Eternity O my Saviour these considerations well meditated are able to mollify a heart of Steel to move any man to a true repentance of his past follys to breed in him an abhorrence of the world and of all its vanitys and make him resolve to employ the remainder of his days in thy Service that art absolutely the best of Masters and whose rewards to thy faithful Servants are far surpassing the pleasures treasures of this deluding world as thou dost exceed the creatures Eternity the Time the eternal joys of thy heavenly Court the short and transitory joys and delights of this Land SAVIOVR HE must be a most perverse and hard hearted man indeed that will not love me after all the several benefits and manifold favours which I have confer'd even in this life upon the generality of mankinde which are in a manner nothing to what I have prepar'd for my Elect in the other for these are so incomprehensibly glorious that eye has never seen nor ear has ever heard neither is man's understanding capable of conceiving their excessive greatness for I am by nature infinitely good amiable and liberal consequently what I have promis'd prepar'd and decreed from all Eternity to bestow upon my Elect must be no less then my self objective as your Divines call it and formaliter the most clear the most delicious the most pleasant the most blessed union and fruition of my divine Essence for all Eternity O the Immense the inestimable the glorious the Interminable felicity of a blessed Soul that shall live and reign with God who is infinite in beauty in glory in power in wisdom and in finite in all his Attributes that shall enjoy clearly and without any interruption his blessed Vision so unspeakably comfortable satisfactory to all her senses and this too for an Eternity A God likewise that is the abundant headspring of all delights the inexhaustible fountain of all goodness the most opulent treasury of all riches pleasures Joy Perfection and of all things desirable or necessary to compleat her everlasting happiness This is the essential and principal reward of the Blessed But besides these there are other innumerable joys which I call Secundary rewards and these are also so great and so many that they do absolutely transcend all measure and number and wilt thou not O man love a God who has lov'd thee gratis and to that excess as to give thee himself all that 's in his power A God that most mercifully lov'd thee when thou wert in actual rebellion against him wilt thou not love the Eternal Father who in the excess of his love for thee did not spare his only and dearly beloved Son but deliver'd him into the power of most cruel Enemies that crucify'd him this was for thy sins alone as well as for those of all mankinde wilt thou not love him that has by the effusion of his most precious bloud free'd thee from the power and unspeakable anguishes of Hell and it 's eternal torments to place thee in the most happy company of his beloved in glory wilt thou not love him who has chosen thee even before the worlds Creation who has call'd thee by his Grace and has predestinated thee in Christ from all Eternity wilt thou not love me who am the only Son of God in whose Faith and Grace thou liv'st who has lov'd thee who has suffer'd for thee who has call'd thee to his Service who has redeem'd thee from the intollerable burthen of the Old Law from the damnable yoke of Sin and from the everlasting thraldom of Hell O man Wilt thou not love me who am so fervent a lover as to purchase thy lost Soul not with the Worlds contemptible Coin Gold or Silver but with the most precious and Sacred bloud of my whole body Wilt thou not love me who am thy Creator thy Saviour and Judge and who was in mercy pleas'd to become thy Brother and Advocate too nay I am so much in love with thee that the day before I departed the world I bequeath'd unto thee my most precious body and bloud to seed thy Soul as a perpetual monument of my tender affection to all mankind In fine wilt thou not love me who besides the aforesaid Mercys Benefits and Blessings have given thee so compassionate and so potent a Mediatrix in Heaven as is my most dear and Superexcellent Mother Saluted before my conception in these very words by my Angel Ave gratia plena Luc. 1.28 Hail Mary full of Grace the Lord is with thee Blessed art thou among Women Blessed is the fruit of thy Womb. Since I the Essential truth do affirm this they must be impertinent and reprobately Wicked who deny her that Special Prerogative Thou shouldst love as much the Holy Ghost for by his Wisdom thou wert Created and by his Providence thou wert govern'd in so much that thou can'st not produce one meritorious act without his divine Inspiration or actual motion Therefore 't is his gracious goodness which gives thee the Will and the Power to perform any good thing 't is He that is pleas'd to inhabit illnstrate and inflame thy heart with an ardent desire of thy eternal Salvation In a word thy Obligation to love and honour the most glorious Trinity is the very same as thou hast to each Sacred Person therein contain'd It being the sole Source and cause of thy eternal Happiness For what the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost have done the very same thing has the Blessed Trinity done being but one the same God in those three distinct persons O Man shall not all these powerful motives replenish thy Soul with divine love even as the Dew of Heaven doth fill the Vegetives with vivifying juice or shall not this make my grace shine in thy Soul as Davids burning Lamps of affection Psa 63.5 which no terene waters could ever extinguish I say in thy Soul that it may disperse those filthy
Issue I hope the same favours will attend your Lordship and be the reward as well of your Charitable Inclinations for the Poor in general as of the rare examples of Piety and Devotion you give your Children and which they are faithful to follow as well at home as abroad Moribus vita nobilitatur homo and the rather that they know them to be the essential Ornaments of true Nobility and that without them a Gentleman born is no more than he who is a Clown by his Extraction They know full well my Lord that whoever converses with the proud shall be puft up that a lustful acquaintance makes a Man lascivious and the way to secure a man from wickedness is to withdraw from the examples of it it is too much to have them near us but more to have them in us They know likewise that ill examples pleasure and ease are without doubt great corrupters of manners and as an ill Air may endanger a good Constitution so may a place of ill examples endanger a good Man There be some even of the highest rank who ought to influence their Inferiours with Piety and Devotion that take a Priviledge to be licentious so that the meaner sort are hurri'd on by their ill examples to all manner of dissolution And this perfect knowledg of the present Corruption of this unhappy Land prevents them from hankering after such places or persons and makes them take more pleasure in their Clossets than they can expect to find in their debauch'd Company 'T is this vertuous and godly disposition of your noble heart and Family which mov'd me to bring this pious work newly model'd under the shadow of your gracious Protection The very Title of the Book is able to make your Lordship affect the perusing of it and I am certain the substance thereof will give a further increase to your Devotion and also contribute much to the reducing strai'd Souls to the right understanding of their Duty to God which will redound to your greater Glory being it is by your means it appears to the World out of the obscurity of my Confinement who am Your Lordships most humble and most Obedient Servant Jo. Weldon C.J. THE Preface WHen God the grand Architect of the Vniverse had compleated the vast Fabrick of this visible World and brought out of nothing the Heavens the Earth the Seas and all that is contained within their Prccincts to exhibit as yet a more remarkable instance and a more glorious evidence of his Eternal Wisdom he did fully resolve to start out of the Bowels of the Earth with a Faciamus that Microcosm Man and give him an ascendent power to keep all other Creatures in Subjection He was moulded indeed as to his Body not very unlike to Terrene and Bruit Animals but as to his Soul if not equal with the Heavens and heavenly Spirits at least be was not much inferior to them for its certain that in the whole Vniverse thore's nothing worthy any difference if compar'd with the Soul Gold Silver Jewels Pearls Fire Moon Stars and the very Sun it self which with its resplendent Beams brings a solemn joy over the whole surface of the Earth are of no Estimate in her regard because that with a Word only God gave them all both their rise and their office which was to serve Man and give him all their attendance The wonderful Structure of humane Body is a sufficient demonstration of his Excellency for where as God had created all other things with a sole Dixit as David says he must come himself in person to the Creation of this little great Master-piece Gen. 1 26. first he prepares the necessary matter for this Construction then he Breaths into it the Spirit of Life and after he shapes him to the likeness of the primitive and principal Beauty But to what end It was says Scripture with an effectual resolution to devolve upon him an absolute Supremacy over all the Fishes of the Sea Ibid. 28. the Fowls of the Air and the Beasts of the Earth so that Man even before he was wafted over from Nothing to a Being was openly declar'd Lord of the whole Vniverse and was after introduc'd thereinto at to his Royal Palace already furnish'd with all Necessarys and Varieties both for his subsistence and pleasure But you must conceive that all this Honour was exhibited to him only upon the account of his participated resemblance of the Divine Trinity by which alone he does infinitely exceed all terrene Creatures so that every mortal Man may be deservedly term'd a petty Divinity especially when the Grace of God resides in his Soul Psal 81.6 For you must know that he does not bear this resemblance of God in his Body but within his Soul because that God is a pure Spirit without any terrene medley and consequently can't be perfectly represented by any Corporeal Image It s then within the facultys of his Soul that Man bears that resemblance which gives him an ascendent power over all other earthly Creatures viz. in his Memory Vnderstanding and Will where God is still President and constantly present as in his Image and Throne so steady that he is more intimate to the Soul than she is to her own Substance For the Eternal Father does replenish her Memory with his Omnipotency the Son does illustrate her Vnderstanding with his Wisdom and the Holy Ghost does enflame her Will with his Charity and even as God the Father God the Son and God the Holy Ghost are not Three but One God in Three distinct Persons so the Memory is the Soul the Vnderstanding is the Soul the Will is the Soul yet not three Souls but one in each Body bearing those three distinct Dignitys wherein the Image and likeness of God does shine to admiration 'T is true our Sins may deface this Image within our Souls however they can't utterly blast it for it is an inherent property in the Wicked as well as in the Just but with this distinction that the Righteous are a lively Image of God whereas the Wicked are indeed a sort of an Image of God but a very obscure one however the Divine Bounty is so much enamour'd with the Soul he devoted to himself with the impression of his Image to be his dearly beloved Spouse that he can't be removed thence though the Devil should worm out her consent to debase his Image with all the enormity Imaginable Moreover the Soul leans over and tends towards God her Spouse with so great a weight of natural inclination that nothing in this World is able to replenish her capacity or satisfy her mind but he alone who of his own Nature is Infinite good incircumscript and Immense The Dignity and Excellency of the Soul must therefore be truly great that all th'alluring objects and attracting pleasures of this World can't content her though they may barter her affections for a tract of time and may perhaps now and then
provoke her to their earnest and hot pursuit yet they will never make her happy for when she thinks to possess them they fly away and leave her nothing but an everlasting displeasure to have settled her affections upon 'em she is of so unsatiable a capacity that all the munificence of the Vniverse is not able to content her none but her Heavenly Spouse can afford her true Consolation perfect Tranquillity and Joy without any medley of displeasure Whatever Species she receives within her besides that of her Creator whatever object she embraces besides her God is Seditious Killing Vain and savours more of perfect Gall than of the sweet Honey of real Comfort As for the Body who is able to express the wonderful Fabrick thereof let us consider how the wise and Heavenly Architect has united those two Natures the Body and Soul so contrary one to th' other in all respects and has link'd them together with so sure a knot of true friendship that they can't be separated without a deal of Violence and Grief Let us also consider how man as if he were naturally avers'd to the Earth looks with his face Heaven-wards whence he receiv'd his Creation and Dignity and where he does expect his final repose This favour he receiv'd from God above all other Creatures as a peculiar evidence of his good Will for him 't is also a memorial to him of his incumbent duty to God that by his upright look he might conceive the weighty Obligation he lies under to think always of heavenly things to tread under foot all earthly affairs and never to harbor any vile or sordid thoughts in his mind This was the happy State and Condition of Man before his dismal Fall for then all his Senses his Inclinations and Powers were perfectly united far from the least motion of any Rebellion and entirely submitted to th' Empire of the Will Then Reason paid her humble Submission perfect Obedience and a compleat Homage to her Creator alone and that perfect submission of Man together with his faithful concurrence to the Will of God brought upon him the great Blessings of a profound Tranquility of a grateful Accord of a firm Peace of perfect Justice of candid Innocency of unspeakable Purity of heart so that he was a plentiful Source of all good Qualities of all Vertues and of all kind of Happiness But alas no sooner did he expell from his heart the Love and Fear of God to give ear and obedience to the malicious dictates of the Infernal Serpent no sooner did he forsake his Heavenly Spouse to prostrate himself to his Rival and mortal Enemy the Devil no sooner was he so impiously bold as to cancel the Divine Precept at the fatal request of his silly Wife but he was miserably degraded of all those glorious Prerogatives and suddenly dejected from that happy State into an Abyss of such Evil and Woe that you would hardly believe him to be the same Man His little Republick which was before his Rebellion in a profound Peace fell into so great a disorder that no two were of one mind the Will was contrary to the Understanding and Reason was opposite to both the Spirit repin'd at the Flesh the Flesh rebell'd against the Spirit and gave him no Respect or Obedience because he did the same to his Creator Why should I aggravate his misfortune more than really it was I will only say what is most deplorable and likewise most true all things happen'd to poor Man after his Rebellion quite contrary to his expectation which was to be happy for ever His Memory which was whilst he remain'd in the state of Innocency and whilst he tugg'd at the Oar of Obedience replenish'd with all good and even with the Summum Bonum had taken so great a draught of Oblivion not out of the River Letheos but from the Forbidden Apple that he hardly knew or retain'd any thing but Wickedness and Vanity The Vnderstanding which was a little before wonderfully Illuminated with the Knowledge of God became so desperately involv'd in the darkness of a profound Ignorance that he knew nothing in a manner of his Creators Projects and was altogether ignorant of his ways The Will which was all in a Flame of Divine Love became so perverse that like a Blind Mole she imbrac'd Falshood for Truth Temporal for Eternal Evil for Good Carnal for Spiritual and undervaluing those things which might make her happy for ever she retain'd nothing of her Innate and Primitive Goodness nay she followed such disordinate courses as were enough to carry poor man headlong to everlasting Perdition Reason which as a Monarch should keep those petty Princes of Man's disjointed Republick in subjection having abdicated his Scepter together with all his Royalties became Tributary and paid Homage even to his Vassals nay he suffer'd himself to be rul'd and seduc'd by those who were created to pay him their constant and most humble submission and obedience O sad Misfortune What Man that noble Creature who had from God as due by his Creation an absolute Supremacy over all terene Creatures to be so deluded and worm'd out of all his Prerogatives by the Devils craft that he had not the full command of himself He was heretofore upright both of body and mind and was look'd upon as a divine Creature But alas he was soon after reduc'd to that low condition as he might be very well compar'd if not to a Brute at least to a prodigal Child who had revell'd away all his Birth-right However God of his infinite mercy was pleas'd to receive him again into favour and after he had wash'd off his sinful spots with the sacred Blood of the New Testament he Espous'd him to Christ by Faith This was an extraordinary Grace and the wonderful product of a most merciful God It was able to force Man's concurrence though he were never so ungrateful to love and serve him for ever Never-the-less this miserable Wretch has been an Enemy to God even from his blooming years and publickly forsook Jesus his gracious Redeemer nay he has impudently committed so many Adulteries with his Rival and mortal Adversary the Devil as were able to divert him from having any futher compassion of his misery What then must be done with Man must he always persevere in so foul and horrid a Relapse Nunquid qui cadit non adjiciet aliquando ut resurgat Aug. Must not he that falls strive to rise again If the Devil had the power and malice to debase him to that extream misfortune has not Jesus a far greater power to cancel his Contract with that mortal Enemy of mankind and bring him again into his Flock Rom. c. 5. v. 15 16 17 c. as a straid Sheep For St. Paul says that Sin is not so powerful to destroy as the gift of Grace is to repair If the sin of one Man has been the fatal occasion of the loss of many Souls the Grace of God
as would occasion their death but I am wholly an Alien to their feelings and do choose rather to side with the Prophet Samuel and in all humility do intreat that thou O Lord wilt be graciously pleas'd to speak to me Not Moises no nor any of thy Prophets for the instructions and lights they may give me be but gifts and Rays borrowed of thy incomprehensible Splendor thou alone without their Ministry canst perfectly instruct me alas their endeavours in my regard will signify just nothing without thy gracious concurrence They may indeed utter some words but unless thou dost influence them they 'l never mollify my stony Heart nor lodge thy Spirit within my bowels Their words may be indeed plac'd to admiration their Rhetorick Charming their Eloquence exceeding that of the very best Orators their Periods mannag'd in extraordinary good order but if they relish not of thy divine Spirit my heart alas will remain as cold as the very Ice They may Cite Scripture fluently to confirm their discourse and quote both Councels and Fathers to the astonishment of their Hearers but they cannot work so far on their understanding as to make 'em conceive the thing they aim at nor bring their Will to the practise of it that enterprize is out of their Province 't is a Prerogative pertaining alone to thee O Lord no mortal Man no the very Angels cannot pretend to it unless they have thy Commission to that effect They may entertain us with a learn'd and pleasant discourse of thy great and adorable Mysteries but thou alone can'st render our understanding capable to conceive them they may tell us of thy Precepts and Counsels but thou alone can'st help us to fulfil them They can shew to us the ready road leading to Salvation but thou alone can'st comfort us in our failings and give us then greater courage to walk therein till we arrive at our journeys end The most they can boast of is to be thy Sollicitors and Agents which thou mak'st use of to exhort us to the practise of this or that other Virtue they may describe unto us the many evil consequences of a wicked Licentious life Ego plantavi Apollo rigavit Deus autem incrementum dedit 1 Epist Pauli ad Câ—rintâ—ios c. 3. v. 6. Tanquam a facie Colubri fuge peccatum Eccl. c. 21. v 2. they may thunder from their Pulpits thy dreadful threatnings and the horrid effects of thy divine wrath but 't is thy Sanctifying Grace that alone can soften instruct and illustrate our Hearts They can exteriously water our barren and rebellous Souls but thou alone can'st give the increase cause them happily to comply with the sweet Influences of thy holy Inspirations They may cry out and warn us to fly from sin as from the venom of a Serpent but thou alone mak'st our understanding and will prompt to conceive and practise what they say Let Moises then for bear speaking to me 't is from thee my God I do expect the word which can subdue reform clear my heart from all terrene and sordid affections If I only be outwardly admonish'd and not inwardly inflam'd with the ardent fire of thy divine Love my Souls death may ensue or at best I shall be but a barren and wither'd tree Let me then hear thee speak O Lord and let thy word be no sooner heard but put in execution by me no sooner known but lov'd no sooner pronounc'd but deeply fix'd in the Center of my heart there to produce the worthy fruits of a sincere sorrowful and constant repentance 1 Reg. 3. Verba enim viâ—ae eternae habes Jo. 6. Speak then O Lord for thy Servant hears thee thy words are the happy seed of eternal life let me then hear them to the comfort of my Soul and to the reformation and perfect amendment of my whole life this is a work that will really be for thy greater Glory and my eternal Salvation SAVIOVR HEar my words O Man they are most sweet efficacious and vivifying far exceeding the science of the Philosophers and wise of this World my words are both spirit and life they are beyond the reach of humane understanding they don't affect a vain complacency but delight to be receiv'd rather in silence with all humility and with all the tenderness of love and affection that can be express'd My Servant David was throughly convinc'd of this undeniable assertion when he sent forth these seraphical expressions to my heavenly Throne Beatus quem tu erudieris Domine deâ—ege tua eum docueris ut mitiges ei a die bus malis c. Psal 93. v. 12. Blessed is the man O Lord whom thou shalt instruct in thy Law and teach how he may in the evil days of his mortal life heap up a vast treasure of merits for an Eternity I am the Lord who have taught the Prophets from the beginning and since have never ceas'd to speak unto all Men but alas few answer my expectation Satan has so blinded their understanding so perverted their will so benumb'd their senses that the most part of them make nothing of my words take no notice of my corrections and set no value on my most amorous invitations in order to revive their poor Souls and shelter them under the wings of my paternal and powerful protection from the rage and fury of that infernal and devouring Dragon The most of them are so infatuate as to be more inclin'd to give ear to the deluding Sirens of the world then to the inspirations of their God to the fatal perswasions of the flesh then to the salutary dictates of the Holy Ghost to the ruinous suggestions of the Devil then to the amorous invitations of their Creator and Redeemer What the world does promise 'em is but temporal and of no 〈◊〉 and yet for that small satisfaction they are content to become slaves to it and to lose that glorious title of Children of God and all pretentions to Heaven What I promise 'em is of an unspeakable estimate and of an everlasting continuance yet their hearts are strangely averse to it and seem to conceive as great an abhorrence of it as the people of Israel had against that food which I showr'd down upon them in the Desart Their obedience to the world and their other mortal enemies and their care of pleasing them is more prompt and far greater then what they shew in my service Esay 23. Let Sidon blush and why because that for a small Sallery for a trifle she will run a long way but for the purchase of Heaven for the gain of an everlasting and happy life she will hardly raise up her foot from the ground A man shall labour a whole day to get sixpence at night and perhaps less he will undertake the most vile work that can be nam'd and be at it both night and day and weary himself so extreamly as to be nigh breathing out his life and all
whom he may devour I do grant that the allurements to sin are great and numerous but the motives that I lay before all mortals to adhere to make use of on all such occasions are incomparably more in number and of greater force to repulse all temptations they are also very prevalent to induce 'em to lead a virtuous and godly life The world thou sayst invitest thee to unlawfull and wicked actions but God prohibits them nay he commands the contrary and if thou dost obey him he intails on thee a glorious and everlasting inheritance but if thou hast so little regard of his commands as to trangress them he threatens thee with everlasting damnation and torments The flesh inclines thee to evil but the spirit and reason too bids thee resist manfully such base and rebellious motions the one tells thee that the body is created to be a slave to the Soul not the Soul to the body th' other informs thee what a madness it is to forfeit an eternal happiness for a passing pleasure which ever leaves a sting to pierce and gall thy heart Sodom and Gomorrha were too much led by the flesh but consider well the terrible chastisement they suffer'd in this world yet it is but a shadow to what they shall suffer for an eternity Moreover that gnawing worm of a guilty Conscience should quell in thee all such foul and unlawfull pleasures Thou wilt plead that Satan with the rest of his infernal Confederates never desist perplexing thee with their frequent and strong suggestions and art thou the only man that he assaults no no his quarrel is with all mankind and since that fatal overthrow which he gave our first Progonitors in the garden of Eden he never ceas'd neither will he ever leave off pestering and plaguing their descendants with suggestions to evil Latrare potest Sollicitare potest sed mordere non potest nifi volentem Aug. Angelis suis Deus mandavit de te Mat. 4.6 for nothing makes them so furious and cruel as to see men in a fair way of possessing their forfeited and glorious Seats but thy chief comfort and security lyes within thy own breast he is like a Mastive-Dog at a chain he may indeed bark at thee but can never bite thee unless thou dost come within his reach and consent to thy own destruction Moreover God has deputed an Angel even from thy Mothers womb to protect and defend thee from all such accidents and he will perform his charge if thou wilt but obey him and listen to his wholsome inspirations and dictates If Satan does spur thee on to the Precipice of Sin thy good Angel will teach thee Non coronabitur nisi qui legirtime certaverit 2. Timo. 2.5 how thou mayst in thy conflict secure thy self either by a vigorous opposition or an immediate flight to God for Sanctuary He will also tell thee that thou art created to fight the mortal enemy of mankind and must foil him too if thou hopest to gain a crown in Heaven As for the wicked whom thou thinkest to be of the number of Gods happy favorites because thou seest them prosper in all their ways and that nothing crosseth them that they have plenty of Gold and Silver Horses and all other Cattle in abundance no mortality visits them Prosperitas Stultorum perdet ilios Prov. 1. Non audivit populus mens vocem meam Israel non intendit mihi dimisi eos secundum desideria cordis eorum ibunt in adinventionibus suis Psal 80. Multae tribulationes Justorum Psal 7.20 Non sunt condigâ—ae passiones hujus temporis ad fu turam gloriam quae revelabitur in nobis Rom. 8.18 Rain Wind Storms Thunder Lightnings do pass by them and by all they possess as well abroad as at home but believe me says the wise Solomon that this Prosperity of the wicked which thou dost so much extol and make so great an estimate of as to think them in that to be the Minnious of God will at the cancelling of their life hurry their Souls to the Abbiss of Hell Let the Stiff-necked people of Israel serve for a president to convince thee that I delight not in the wicked They would not hearken to my voice neither would they acknowledge me to be their God and what was the effect of their disobedience and infidelity I withdrew and wholly left them to be guided by their own sensual appetites and they took their self-pleasing courses and follow'd the directions of their own Councels This is the greatest punishment that can be inflicted on a Nation for then their reprobation is sign'd never to be recall'd Many indeed are the tribulations of the Just but my worthy Apostle telleth thee from me that the sufferings of this present time are infinitly less then the Glory which shall be reveal'd in my faithful and devoted Servants hereafter I deal with them on earth as a skilful Physitian with his Patients I cleanse their Souls of all their sinfull spots by giving them to drink of that bitter Chalice of tribulations by which they are disposed to partake of a more abundant grace and brought to a nearer conformity with me who exhausted the same Chalice of its very dregs by this remedy they are secur'd from th' everlasting pains of hell which are incomparably greater and of a longer tract then all the tribulations and crosses that were suffer'd by all mankinde in this world and the same intitleth them my Associates in Heaven to sit at my table to enjoy my presence for ever and all the happiness that my celestial Court can afford Ego quos diligo arguo castigo Apoc. 3. Thou seest by this what unspeakable advantages the Just do reap by their tribulations and how the tenderness of my love to them appears even in the severity of my chastisements No Father can be more indulgent to his Child then I am to the Sinner for tho' the greatness and multitude of his heinous offences deserve no mercy at my hands but rather the utter severity of my Justice yet commonly I for bear with him still expecting his amendment but the longer I let him run in the way of iniquity the more he should be terrified for sins never escape without condign punishment and the longer it is deferred the heavier it will fall at last T is true the sinner has my parole for a pardon at any time when he comes to me with true repentance Qui poenitenti veniam promisi Eundem de die crastino nequaquam certificavi 12. Aug. Terra miseriae terra tenebrarum ubi nulius ordo sed sempiternus horror inhabitat Job 10.12 that is a gift from God and which he is not sure to receive no more then he is certain to live till next day That fatal delay of repentance has replenish'd the Dominion of Satan with millions of poor Souls and if any should set them the question what brought them to that
they may be worthy Presidents to others or it is to practise their virtue and perfect resignation to his holy will in order to gratifie them with a more eminent degree of glory MAN O My most gracious Lord thou hast now made a full and Satisfactory answer to all my complaints objections and Queries but notwithstanding I am still so perplex'd with anguishes and so troubled in mind that I do not know what to make of my self or where I may be eas'd of this worm that gnaws my guilty conscience and all my trouble proceeds from a well-grounded apprehension that I was never really contrite for my Sins never made a sincere sorrowful confession of them and that I never pray'd to my God as I ought or had that great care to amend my Life and to avoid the occasion of Sin SAVIOVR O Man be not at all dismay'd thou hast often heard that virtue does consist in the middle nay 't is the middle of too vitious extreams even as liberality is a medium betwixt prodigality and tenacity and therefore I would have thee to place thy self betwixt despair and presumption betwixt an impertinent Security and an immoderate fear fix a firm hope in thy God of whose mercy thou canst not despair without a mortal offence However I do not disallow thy fear when it is in a reasonable degree for the wise man will fear upon all occasions but especially where the matter is in doubt whether it will go well or ill with him as in this case thou dost not know for certain whether thou art worthy of Gods love or deserving of his hatred whether thou art in the state of Grace or in that of Sin whether predestinate or damn'd for ever MAN O My Saviour to consider seriously how strait is the gate and narrow is the way which leads to Salvation no rational man can choose but admire the blindness the vanity the great folly or rather madness of wicked men they know that they have a Soul which informs and gives motion to their body that this Soul is stamp'd with the likeness and Image of her Creator that she is entail'd to an eternity of glory and yet they run like so many mad wild Boars seeking where to satisfy their lustful and evil inclinations without the least thoughts of that ever-blessed Mansion Heaven of that radient day of Eternity of that day which never will admit of any darkness But let the wicked if they will be so obstinate run their course as for my self I shall never desist sighing after that Land of Promise whilst I remain in this vail of misery where poor man is inviron'd with so many afflictions and crosses tainted with so many Spots of Sin pester'd with so many brutal passions plagu'd with so many fears and cares disturb'd with so many foolish and vain curiosities subject to so many changes and errors consum'd with so many labours and toils liable to so many temptations snares sometimes sick with over-much eating and drinking sometimes also famishing with hunger and thirst O Lord when shall I see an end put to all these evils when shall I be free'd from the intollerable slavery of vice when shall I have thee for the sole object of all my thoughts when shall I throughly rejoyce in thee Quis me liberabit de corpore morcis hujus Rom. 7.24 or when wilt thou deliver me out of this mortal prison to enjoy the liberty of thy beloved in heaven when shall I be bless'd with a solid peace void of all trouble as well of mind as of body O Sweet Jesu when shall I be so happy as to see thee and to stand for ever in the deep contemplation of the glory of thy heavenly Court and Kingdom when shalt thou be to me all in all when shall I sit at that magnificent table which thou hast prepar'd from all Eternity for thy belov'd Alas here I am left a poor and banish'd creature in an enemies land where nothing is to be seen but constant mutinies dayly wars and great miscarriages O Lord be graciously pleas'd to Comfort me in my banishment and to lessen my sorrow for all the pleasures of this world seem now a burden to me and not any satisfaction it 's therefore that I long to be intimately united with thee but my weakness will not admit of that great happiness I would willingly hear and think of heavenly things but my worldly affairs will not allow it no more will my immortifi'd inclinations and brutish passions my mind would fain be above the World and look with a disdaining eye on all it's allurements but my flesh depresses my Spirit and keeps all my senses captive Hasten then O Lord and set an end to this intestine War take my Soul to thee her Creator and my Body to its primitive nothing Thus do I unfortunate man fight against my self both night and day the Spirit would fain have an absolute supremacy over the flesh but the flesh does thwart her and will dispute the matter with the dint of her furious and headstrong passions and I poor Wretch must be the fatal field where these two mortal foes do fight hand to hand but alas the flesh always remains Conqueror marches off with display'd colours There is no likelyhood of a peace without thy grace grant therefore O Lord that these two adversaries may joyn in a right understanding and come to thee with a true sense of their long and obstinate rebellion with a sorrowful and contrite heart and with a firm resolution to live submissive to thy divine laws for the remainder of their mortal life SAVIOVR O Man even as thou art oblig'd to love thy God with all thy heart and to that degree that thou wouldst sooner loose even thy life and suffer all the losses and afflictions imaginable rather then to offend him by giving consent to the least of mortal Sins so thou art bound to grieve more for the committing of one mortal Sin then for any painful evil or earthly damage tho' it were the total destruction and ruin of thy Family This is the grief which I call contrition and which may be absolutely accounted the greatest in nature Conc. Trent Sess 14. c. 4. My Council of Trent gives thee a perfect Idea of this great and sorrowful Sacrifice when it defines it to be a grief of mind and detestation of Sin with a resolution to avoid it for the future It is a grief of minde Sacrificium Deo Spiritus contribulatus Psal 50.19 that is a great regret and an inward displeasure which is conceiv'd in the heart of man for having offended his God 'T is also a detestation which is hatred and an aversion which one has to Sin when he considers it to be a most wicked thing a mortal enemy to God and destructive to his own Salvation But there must be a firm resolution made to avoid Sin for the future and likewise the occasion which
These are my familiars O Lord wherewith I have so often displeas'd thee rebellious ungrateful and perfidious creature as I am I have been created to thy Image and likeness but alas by my Sins I have made my Soul most like unto the Devils those monsters of ingratitude By my Sins I have often renew'd the bitter Death and Passion of Jesus thy beloved Son Quis dabit Capitimeo aquam oculis meis fontem lachrimarum plorabo die ac nocte Jer. 9.1 O how can I worthily deplore so great an evil who will give water to my head a fountain of tears to my eyes to lament both night and day my misery and malice To have contributed to thy death O Lord is of all other motives the most powerful to replenish my minde with grief and sorrow and therefore do desire to hear from thy self the particulars of it SAVIOVR KNow then that after I had taken man out of the bowells of the Earth with a Faciamnus and created him to my own Image and likeness in order to make him sole Lord and absolute Monarch of the whole Universe with full power to take and tast of all things that a most pleasant paradise could afford the fruit of Life only excepted He the ungratefull and rebellious creature considering the great advantage of his condition and the greatness of his dignity which should be to him a sufficient motive to love obey respect and praise me for ever took thence occasion to mutiny rebell and desert me and enter into a league against me with Lucifer whom I had a little before expell'd Heaven for his thoughts of Pride Ambition and who from that very moment made a vow to deface and destroy my Picture being that he could not annoy my Person This so heinous an offence deserv'd he should be immediately commanded out of that Terrestrial Paradise where he was created and liv'd like a petty Prince and where he had all other creatures even the most furious among them at his beck to do with them as he thought fit Accepisti argentum vestes a Naaman sed Lepra Naaman adhaerebit tibi semini tuo usque in sempiternum 4 Reg. 5. He was therefore turn'd off as a vagabond cast into exile and made liable to suffer the punishment even of the damn'd for as he became an associate to the Devil in Sin 't was fit he should be his companion in torment Thou hast heard of my Judgement inflicted on Gehazi my Prophets servant and how for taking Naaman's mony and cloths for the cure of his Leprosy I order'd that for his covetous transgression both he and all his generation to the worlds end should share in his Leprosy as he did in his garments Even so have I decreed against man who had so much affected Lucifers Pride and Ambition that he should be likewise infected with his Leprosy and as he was obedient to his suggestions he should partake of his punishments also Behold the fatal Metamorphosis of man and how for imitating the Devil in his rebellion he forfieted my resemblance to put on that of this most horrid and hideous Monster of Hell Man being made so abominable by sin and so great an eyesore to my divine Essence I in mercy was mov'd not to reflect so much upon the injury done to my Supream Majesty as not to condole the greatness of his deplorable misery was more inclin'd to compassionate his weakness then to be reveng'd of his crime Whereupon to repair his loss I undertook to mediate his peace with my heavenly Father and in order to so great a work I contracted with humane nature so strict an alliance that I became both God and man which was so grateful to my Father that he not only forgave man all his past transgressions but also receiv'd him into favour with all the demonstrations of joy that could be express'd Who would ever expect that so large and so dangerous a breach should ever be repair'd who would ever imagine that two things so opposit one to the other as is the divine to humane nature should come to subsist and remain together not in one house not at one table nor in one bed but in one and the self-same person This is a miracle beyond the expectation of man and indeed beyond th' expression of an Angel for there cann't be any two more contrary then is God and the Sinner yet now what two can be more firmly united or have greater influence then God and man There is nothing more sublime then God Pulvis es in pulverem reverteris Gen. 1. and nothing more vile and despicable then man Notwithstanding God with all humility descends from Heaven to man and man ascends to Heaven with God so that the action of man is the same with that of God and whatever God is said to have done may be justly imputed to man because that I am both God and man Who would ever believe that man to see him naked after his dismal fall and absconding in one corner or other in Paradise for to keep himself from Gods indignation and wrath who would believe I say that such a fordid and contemptable substance should be in time united to God in one and the same Person This was a strange union indeed and a true lovers knot for when it was upon the dissolution at the time of my Passion it did not in the least fail but was rather violently separated to shew what an amorous inclination I had to be still united to humane nature Death indeed might have taken my Soul from my body and break off that union of nature which kept them together Quod semel assumpsit nunquam dimisit Aug. but had not the power to withdraw my Godhead from either of them for that was an union of the divine person which I shall never relinquish having once fix'd upon it with all the tenderness of a most ardent love MAN O Lord I am so much oblig'd to thee for this extraordinary great favour that I am not able to return thee sufficient thanks for the way and means which thou hast taken to redeem me and my very redemption is so great a benefit that no Angelical tongue is able to express it All that I can say is that I am bound by all the ties both of nature and conscience to love thee and stand submissive to thy laws for ever Thou hast deliver'd my Soul out of the infernal Dragon's jaws and without any merit of mine but meerly through the multitude of thy mercies thou hast reconcil'd me to thy self This is eternally worthy of praise But if I consider how and after what manner thou hast done me that unspeakable favour I shall finde that it does exceed even that great work of my redemption Thy works are wonderfull in all their circumstances Mirabilis Deus in Sanctis suis and tho' man when he considers one does really believe that
nothing can go beyond it it 's so prodigious in his eye yet when he brings his minde to the serious contemplation of another of thy wonders his former amazement is over and his eyes are totally fix'd upon this Et Sanctus in omnibus operibus suis even to the annihilation of his senses This his judgment of the matter does not at all diminish the greatness of thy glory but rather gives it a more resplendent lustre and makes appear how wonderful and holy thou art in all thy works But by what means O Lord wert thou pleas'd to release me out of my bondage Quis potest facere mnndum de immundo semine nonne tu qui solus es Job to cleanse my Soul of all her iniquities Thou mightst indeed have restor'd me several ways to a perfect health of Soul even by a word of thy mouth without any further labour or cost but thy liberality was so great and so wonderful towards me that to give me a perfect demonstration of the excess of thy goodness and love thou wert pleas'd to help me out of my misery with such excessive pains and anguishes that the very thoughts of them brought a bloudy Sweat over all thy limbs and thy bitter Passion which did immediately follow was of force to rent and split even the hardest Rocks with grief Let the Heavens therefore praise thee O Lord and all the Saints and Angels extoll thy wonders and the greatness of thy mercy Thou canst live of thy self independent of man who is at his best but a handfull of clay and consequently could neither be a hindrance to thy glory nor give it any further increase and if the perpetual destruction of all mankinde had ensu'd the dismal fall of Adam Si peccaveris quid eum nocebis si multiplicatae fuerinâ— iniquitates tuae quid facies contra eum porro si justus eris quid donabis ei aut quid de manu tua accipiet Job 35. it could not have been in any respect prejudicial to thee for as holy Job says if thou Sinnest what dost thou against him or if thy transgressions be multiply'd what dost thou unto him If thou be righteous what givest thou him or what receiveth he of thine hand Thou art O Lord so rich that thy wealth cann't be increas'd so potent that thou canst not be more powerful and so wise that thou wantest not the counsel of any Thou art neither greater nor lesser before nor after the Creation of the World Tho' all the orders of Holy Angels should incessantly sing thy praises and tho' all Sublunary creatures should be constantly imploy'd in the like affair thou canst not be more glorious then thou art nor less tho' they should all combine to curse and Blaspheme thee When we were all thy profess'd Enemies thou wert pleas'd to debase thy self so low as to descend from thy heavenly Throne into this Land of misery to put on the habit of our mortality make thy self liable to all our debts and for the satisfaction thereof to suffer the greatest torments that the malice and rage of Man or Devil could ever invent SAVIOVR THou sayst true O Man for thy Love I was content to be born in a stable laid in a manger betwixt an Ox and an Ass to receive a little heat by their breathing wrap'd up in clouts and was eight days after my Nativity circumcis'd so early did I make an effusion of part of my blood and spent the remainder to the last drop on the Cross for thy Redemption It was for the love of thee that I fled into Egypt where I continu'd full Seven years in want and misery and after my return what Persecutions and troubles I suffer'd from the hands of that ungrateful and stiff-necked Nation of Israel was meerly for Love of thee My fasting my watching my journeys from one place to another and often disappointed tho' weary and faint of a place to shelter me from th' inconveniencies of foul weather was wholly for thy sake In Fine all the miseries and tortures which thy Sins had deserv'd were experienc'd by me solely upon th' account of thy Love For I was innocent and without the least spot of Sin free from all fallacies or circumventions and never offensive to any tho' I was wrong'd and highly injur'd by all For thy sake O man was I betray'd by my own Disciple apprehended by an unruly and Malignant Rabble forsaken by my Friends deny'd by the chief of my Apostles sold to my Enemies for a trifle Arraign'd before a Judge accus'd as a Criminal Sentenc'd and condemn'd as a notorious Malefactor expos'd to the Scoffs and derisions of the Multitude Before my Execution I was scourg'd with no less cruelty then shame and disgrace deliver'd over to th'insolence of insulting and bloudy Soldiers who Crown'd me with Thorns as a Mock-King in derision and Scorn In Fine I was led to execution nail'd to a shameful Cross expos'd to the view of all the World between two Thieves as if I had been an Impostor a Cheat and the worst of Men. At last O man amidst these excessive pains of my Body Pater in manus tuas commendo Spiritum meum Ecce ego mitte me and far greater anguishes of my Soul over whelm'd with sorrow and confusion I pour'd out my last Breath in th' arms of the Cross recommending my Spirit into the hands of him that sent me at my own request to purchase thy Redemption Give ear O man to the sorrowful description which my Prophet gives thee as well of my Person as of the torments which I have suffer'd for thee There was no beauty in him says he nor comeliness and we have seen him despis'd and made the most abject of Men he was a man of sorrow and knowing infirmities We hid as it were our faces from him he was despis'd and we esteem'd him not He surely hath born our infirmities and our sorrows he hath carry'd Propter Scelus populi mei percussi eum Isa 53 and we have thought him to be as it were a Leper and stricken of God and humbled and he was wounded for our iniquities he was broken for our Sins The discipline of our peace was upon him and with his stripes we are heal'd God says he again has laid on him all our iniquities and hath stricken him for the Sins of his People Acknowledge therefore Agnosce homo quam gravia sunt vulnera pro quibus necesse fuit unigenitum Dei filium vulnerari Sinon essent haec ad mortem ad mortem sempiternam nunquam pro his filius Dei moreretur Bern. Ser. 3. de nati Dom. Pudet itaque dilectissimi propriam negligenter dissimulare passionem cui rantum a Majestate tanta video exhiberi Compassionem compatitur filius Dei plorat Homo patitur ridebit Bern. ibid. O man how great those thy evils were that oblig'd me the only and dearly belov'd Son of God to
be thus wounded mangled and bruised to cure them Certainly if those Sores had not been mortal and even the fatal causes of the eternal death of thy Soul I had never suffer'd so cruel a death for her recovery Can there be a more considerable or a pressing motive to lament and abhor thy Sins then to remember that they were the only cause of all my sufferances and even of my most bitter death upon the Cross The Jews went once through Jerusalem and bewail'd the destruction of that Royall City and the loss of their King how much more reason hast thou to lament thy great misfortune to have occasion'd my death who am thy King thy Redeemer and he only that can either pardon thee thy sins or condemn thee for them to an eternity of pains O man let this consideration be the constant subject of thy serious meditations it will pierce thy heart unless it be harder and more obdurate then the very Stones This very consideration made one of my faithful servants to say that it is a shameful thing for Christians not to acknowledge the evils which sin has brought upon them when they consider what so supream a Majesty as that of the Son of God has been oblig'd to suffer for them The Son of God says he takes compassion on the miseries of man and weeps for sorrow whilst insensible man who is overwhelm'd with his own sins is not concern'd at all MAN O My dear Lord and Master thou hast said enough to conquer my heart and to bring also the whole universe to admire the greatness of thy love for man For what can be more worthy of our admiration then to behold a God of so infinite a Majesty finish his life under the notion of a notorious malefactor upon a shameful Cross and betwixt two Thieves Had I seen a man tho' he were the basest and most vile amongst the People brought to that misfortune as to be condemn'd for his crime to dy so cruel a death certainly I could not choose but compassionate his condition and condole that his misdemeanours should have brought him to so great a distress If it be then a subject worthy our compassion to see a man of that inferiour rank and condition for his own crimes in so deplorable a state what will it be I pray to see not a man but the Lord of all created things for the Sins of his servants reduc'd to that extremity Can there be any thing more wonderfull then to see even God himself plung'd into so great an abyss of anguishes and pains for the sins and wickedness of wretched Men If the calamity and misfortune suffer'd must be retaliated with a trembling and astonishment proportionable to the worth and dignity of the person that suffers O ye Angels of Heaven who have a perfect knowledge of the greatness and excellency of my benign Jesus our gracious Redeemer and your Creator tell me how great was your grief how stupendious your astonishment how excessive was your lamentation and trouble when you have seen him hang on that hard and uneasy cross The Cherubins whose figures God had order'd in the old Law to be plac'd on each side of the Arck of Alliance look'd then at each other with admiration to behold this bloudy Sacrifice of that innocent and immaculate Lamb for the redemption of mankinde Nature it self stood amaz'd and all creatures were interdicted their inbred inclinations and functions The Principalities and Powers of Heaven trembl'd at the very consideration of the unspeakable goodness of God tho' so intimately acquainted therewith What then shall become of those that do not swim in the waves of so great an ocean of admiration Dominator Domine Deus misericors clemens patiens multae miserationis Exod. 34. or what of those that are not drown'd in the Seas of so great a bounty are not they depriv'd of their senses even as Moises was on Mount Sinai where the figure of this bloudy sacrifice was so lively represented to him that he cry'd out with a loud voice the Lord the Lord God merciful and gracious long suffering and abundant in goodness and truth So much Surpriz'd was he at the view of thine excessive goodness O Lord that he could not forbear praising thy mercy in the hearing of all the multitude of Israel The Prophet Helias cover'd his face as God pass'd by him in the splendor of his glory much more then should all mortals cover theirs to behold Gods profound humility and annihilation Now not overthrowing mountains and spliting Rocks with his infinite power but expos'd to the view of a malignant and most wicked Nation and in so terrible and dismal a posture that even the Rocks and Temple were rent asunder with an excess of compassion What man of Steel what heart of brass will not relent and open his breast to lodge therein the love of so charming so gracious and so bountiful a God O height of charity O profoundness of humility never to be paralel'd O unspeakable mercy O Abiss of incomprehensible bounty O my most gracious Lord If I be so much oblig'd to thee for redeeming me how much more am I bound to thee for the means which thou hast taken to redeem me Thou hast redeemed me with pains with sorrow with scorns with reproaches with nails and thorns and hast been made the derision of men and even the most vile of the whole world However O Lord by thy contumelies thou hast honour'd me by thy false accusations thou hast defended me with thy bloud thou hast wash'd me by thy death thou hast reviv'd me and by thy tears thou hast deliver'd me from a perpetual weeping and gnashing of teeth O heavenly Father how tenderly thou lovest thy Children thou art indeed that good and faithful Pastor thou givest thy self as food to thy flock O faithful keeper who hast laid down even thy precious life for to protect and defend thy Sheep which thou hadst in thy keeping what thanks or what service can I return thee for so great a favour with what tears can I recompence thy weeping or what life shall I bestow upon thee for that pure and holy one which thou hast given for me Alas there is no proportion betwixt the life of man and that of God betwixt the tears of a silly creature and that of an omnipotent Creator 'T is true thou hast not suffer'd for me alone but for all the world shall I therefore think my obligation the less to thee no no for tho' thou sned'st thy most precious bloud for all mankinde yet it was after such a manner that every particular man receiv'd the benefit from thy sufferings In fine thou didst suffer thy bitter and bloudy passion as well for me in particular as thou hast for all in general O my God thy charity was so immense that if but one alone of all mankinde were criminal even for that one man thou wouldst have suffer'd what thou didst for all
who had kill'd his Master this animal runs at him and holds him fast looking on the by-standers with such a mournful countenance as if he had desir'd Justice whereupon the murderer was apprehended and forc'd to confess his crime for which he was immediately sentenc'd to dy O man If a Dog for a piece of bread had so great a love for his master and was so faithful to him as to lament and vindicate his death wilt thou not be displeas'd at thine ingratitude and principally when a dumb beast reprehends it and teacheth thee to be grateful If that irrational creature was so much incens'd against the murderer of his Master why art thou not displeas'd with those that have slain thy gracious Lord and Master and what are they but thy Sins 'T is true O man thy Sins have taken me have tyed me have scourg'd me have crown'd me have nail'd me to the Cross and were the sole occasion of my bitter death for the Jews could never have the power to crucify me but that thy Sins did both arm and incourage 'em to it Wherefore then art thou not highly displeas'd with them why dost thou not bend all thy wrath and fury against them seeing thy divine Master crucify'd by them before thine eyes and especially since my Death and Passion was design'd to breed in thy heart an eternal hatred of Sin It was in order to destroy Sin that I suffer'd death It was to set a stop to thy feet and hands which are so prone to evil even from thy very cradle that mine as an oblation for their evils were nail'd to the Cross How art thou so impious as to live after such a manner that all my pains taken for thy Salvation will signify nothing Why dost thou not tremble at the very mention of Sin seeing me suffer such cruel torments to destroy and root it clean out of the world How canst thou be so rash and so great an enemy to thy poor Soul as to dare to offend me seeing Heaven open to cast forth its thunder bolts upon thy criminal head and Hell with a dilated mouth ready to swallow thee both body and Soul MAN O My God my King my Saviour my Judge and my only comfort Thou art I confess the Eternal Wisdom and thy words to me are Spirit and Life for they have made me resolve to bid adieu for ever to Sin and to plant virtue where vice was before in great request but give me leave to ask thee what would the benefit of my redemption avail me if that of my Justification had not ensu'd for by this it is that the virtue of the former is appli'd to the diseases of my Soul and even as a plaister tho' never so soveraign will signify nothing except it be laid unto the wound so that heavenly medicine would be of no use or advantage to me if it had not been appli'd by the mediation of this unspeakable benefit to the bruises which I receiv'd in that fatal field of Eden where all mankinde were shamefully foil'd and quite overthrown in the Person of Adam The Sanctification of man does chiefly appertain to the Holy Ghost 'T is his prerogative to prevent the Sinner with the sweetness of his mercy then to call him being call'd to justify him and being justifi'd to direct him and leade him on to the end of his course and then to gratify him with a crown of glory wherefore I may justly say that this very benefit is the happy complement of all others for by this man is register'd in the number of Gods children discharg'd of the main weight of his iniquities deliver'd from the dominion and Tyranny of the Devil reviv'd from Death to Life brought from the state of Sin to that of Justice and of a child of malediction and woe he becomes the Son of God and Co-heir with thee in thy Glory Nemo potest venire ad me nisi Pater meus traxerit illum Joa 44. But this cannot be perform'd without the peculiar help and assistance of the holy Ghost as thou hast declar'd to thy beloved Disciple in these words No man can come to me except the Father who has sent me draw him whereby I conceive that neither free will nor the power of humane nature can withdraw a man from Sin and bring him to Grace unless he be help'd on by the vertue of thy divine power The Angelical Doctor St. Thomas commenting upon these words says even as a Stone by its nature still falls downwards and can never ascend without some exteriour assistance so man overpress'd by the corruption of Sin tends always downwards and is powerfully hurri'd on by his inbred inclinations to the love and desire of terene and transitory things but if he be minded to aim higher that is at the love and supernatural desire of heavenly things he must implore the assistance of thy Divine Spirit without which he shall never be able to make any progress in virtue SAVIOVR O Man thou sayst well but I would have thee practise well what thou sayst for 't is the practise and not the discourse of good things that can make thee grateful to me the serious consdieration of this unspeakable benefit should indeed press thee to it make thee most diligent to atchieve it which is a matter of greatest moment to thee for by this thou art reconcil'd to me and cleans'd from Sin which is the worst of all evils and the only evil I most hate and abhor it alone is able to bring my indignation and wrath upon thee Odisti omnes qui operantur iniquitatem perdes omnes qui loquntur mendacium Psal 5. as thou mayst unerstand by my Prophet who says of me Thou art not a God which taketh pleasure in wickedness neither shall evil dwell with thee The foorish shall not stand in thy sight Thou hatest all workers of iniquity Thou shalt destroy them that speak leasing the Lord will abhor the bloody and deceitful man Thou seest by this that Sin is the greatest of all evils nay 't is the very root and origine of them all On the contrary to be in my favour the object of my most tender affection is a real happiness the fountain of all goodness and the solid foundation of all other favours and virtues Why dost thou then delay thy endeavours refuse to concur with my holy inspirations If thou wouldst once firmly resolve an amendment imploy all thy faculties to destroy Sin in thee thou shouldst then receive the benefit of Justification by which thou art deliver'd from that pernicious evil and of a mortal enemy thou art made my friend not in a common degree of friendship but in the most supream that can be thought of which is that of a Father to his Son Videte qualem charitatem nobis dedit pater ut filii Dei nominemur fimus 1. Jo. 3. My Evangelist extols this extraordinary favour very highly where he says behold
and condition where wilt thou go what wilt thou do to whom wilt thou call for help To return to life 't is impossible and to ease thy self thou wilt not be able In illa die occidet Sol in meridie tenebrescere faciam terram in die luminis c. Amos. 8. what shall become of thee when I will cause the Sun to go down at noon and when I will darken the Earth at mid-day what wilt thou say when I shall turn thy feasts into mourning and all thy Songs into lamentation when I will bring up Sackcloth upon all mens loins and baldness upon every head and when I shall make it as the morning for an only Son and the end thereof as a bitter day hast thou not therefore a far greater subject then Job to curse the day wherein thou wert born for he was so just a man that my eternal Father glori'd in having so good so gracious and faithful a Servant nay In omnibus his non peccavit Job labiis suis c. Job 1.22 the Holy Ghost avers that he sinned not in all what he had spoken in his troubles and calamities which I had permitted to come upon him not as a punishment for his Sins but as a trial of his patience to make him a worthy president to all mortals of virtue of constancy and of perfect resignation to my holy will in all their afflictions He himself does protest that his conscience did not accuse him yet he was so apprehensive of the strict judgment which a Soul is to undergo at her departing the body that amaz'd at the severity of my Justice he crys out protect me O Lord Dionys. Rikel Art 16. de novis and hide me in hell whilst thy fury passes Whereupon one of my devout Servants affirms that the instant wherein I give judgment of a Soul is not only more terrible then Death but more terrible then to suffer even the pains of hell for a certain time not only to those who are to be damn'd but even unto my very Elect. O man reflect seriously upon this and Judge what will become of a Sinner at the hour of his Death and at the lively representation of all his offences and crimes what a consternation he will be in how he will tremble and shake every limb of him at the very sight of me his Creator and Redeemer whom he had so often offended and injur'd in the course of his sinful life that very presence will be more dreadful to him then the suffering of the pains of hell it self MAN O Most gracious Redeemer I cann't deny what thou sayst of a dying man and of the Anguishes which he shall suffer at the departing of the Soul from his body she shall enter into Judgment alone naked poor and without any to patronize her cause except her good works if she has any to shew her Conscience will be the Deponent the Triall will be either for life or death not temporal but eternal and thou an injur'd Judge shall appear to her in a dreadful Throne to give sentence for her or against her either of Salvation or of her everlasting damnation If she be grievously indebted and not able to ballance her accounts O what a horrible confusion she will be in grief and sorrow sighs and tears dreadful lamentations and crys will be her woful entertainment and the only motives she can produce to mollify thee O Lord but all will be to no purpose her repentance comes too late 't is totally fruitless at that hour all her protestations of amendment will be in vain no bills or bonds of performance will be accepted of no bail shall be taken her lease is out she must remove her nobility her riches her honours cann't obtain for her a further respite of time the sentence is pronounc'd the decree is unavoidable she must submit O the unfortunate Sinner what will he do what will he say how can he express the greatness of his misfortune otherwise then by these words of thy Prophet Psa 18.4.5 The sorrows of Death have compassed me and the flouds of iniquity have made me afraid The sorrows of hell have compassed me about and the snares of Death have prevented me O what a woful circle is that into which his Sins have brought him and unexpected too when he had not the least thought of death what will his friends avail him now his dignities his riches his lands and all that he took most delight in they will remain after him to other Masters that will soon wast and consume 'em in a worse way perhaps then ever he gather'd them tho' that perchance was bad enough The Sins which he had committed in heaping them up are the only companions he is like to have along with him to another world where he is to be tormented for them according to their enormity If I should make my addresses to worldlings in hopes to be farther instructed in this so necessary a matter to Salvation Alas they know nothing of it and which is worse they will not believe it for they live as if they had no account at all to give after death and why should I think it strange being they live in Egypt that is in a land of darkness in a willful blindness overwhelm'd with all sorts of errors where scarcely two are found of one opinion in matters of Faith and manners I am then resolv'd to go farther off and streight into the land of Geshen where the light of verity is allways in its full splendour Non intres in Judicium cum servo tuo Domine quia non justiflcabitur in conspectu tuo omnis vivens Psa 143. and to consult with the Inhabitants thereof in this case they will certainly teach me not only by their words but also by their examples how much this dreadful day of so strict an account is to be fear'd The first I meet with is the holy'st man of his age a man according to thine own heart O Lord yet he is so terrifi'd even at the very remembrance of this accompting day that he begs thee with all the tenderness of a contrite heart not to enter into Judgment with thy Servant and the reason he gives for his request is that in thy sight shall no man living be justifi'd The second that appears to me In vitis Patrum Sect. 2.153 is that most renown'd and holy Arsenius a man of wonderful austerity a man always in prayer always in contemplation yet tho' he was so virtuous and so great a Saint tears were seen to trickle down his cheeks when he was a dying and all his body to tremble in his deep consideration of this reckoning day His Disciples that stood round his poor and hard bed setting him the question why he cry'd and whether he was afraid of death he made answer yes my dearly beloved Children I fear Death and I tremble at the approach of my dreadful Judge
Psal 10. and I shall cast them into a burning fire where they shall not subfist in their miseries nay I shall pour down vengence fire and sulphur upon them fire hail snow Ice and the Spirit of tempests shall be but a small part of their chalice This great misfortune of the wicked is perfectly represented by my beloved Disciple in his Revelations where he says Revel 18.1.2.5.6.7 After these things I saw another Angel come down from Heaven having great power and the Earth was lightn'd with his glory and he cry'd mightily with a strong voice saying Babylon the great is fallen is fallen and is become the habitation of Devils and receptacle of every foul Spirit and a Cage for every unclean and hateful Bird. Her Sins have reach'd unto Heaven and God has remembred her iniquities He shall reward her even as she rewarded him and double upon double unto her according to her works the Cup which she has fill'd he shall fill to her double How much she has glorifi'd her self and liv'd deliciously so much torment and sorrow he shall give her Her Plagues shall come in one day upon her death mourning and famine and she shall be utterly burnt with fire for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her After this a mighty Angel took up a stone like a great milstone and cast it into the Sea saying thus with violence shall that great City Babylon be thrown down and shall be never found more Thus the wicked which are understood by Babylon shall be cast into the precipice of hell into that dark Dungeon overwhelm'd with horror and all manner of confusion O what tongue is able to express the multitude of torments which they shall suffer there for an Eternity their bodies shall burn with living flames never to be extinguish'd their Souls without any intermission shall be gnawed with the worm of conscience which shall never give them the least respit of ease there they shall continue perpetually weeping sighing and gnashing their teeth without any hopes of goal-delivery In this woful place of despair those miserable damn'd wretches in a cruel fury full of rage will send forth their invectives against me and turn their anger against themselves devouring their own flesh tearing their bowels incessantly blaspheming me who had condemn'd them to those unspeakable torments There every one of that damn'd crew will curse his grand misfortune and the unhappy day of his birth always repeating that mournful lamentation of Job let the day perish wherein I was born Job 3. and the night in which it was said there is a man-child conceiv'd let that day be darkness let not God regard it from above neither let the light shine upon it Let darkness and the shaddow of death stain it let a cloud dwell upon it let the blackness of the day terrify it As for that night let darkness seize upon it let it not be joyn'd unto the days of the year let it not come into the number of the months let that night be solatary let no joyful voice come therein Let them curse it that curse the day who are ready to raise up their mourning let the Stars of the twilight thereof be dark let it look for light but have none neither let it see the dawning of the day Because it shut not the door of my Mother's womb nor hid sorrow from mine eyes Why died I not from the womb Why did I not give up the Ghost when I came out of the belly why did the knees prevent me or why the breasts that I should suck For now should I have lain still and been quiet I should have slept then had I been at rest This shall be the musick these the Canticles these will be the Morning and Evening prayers of the damn'd for ever MAN If it be so bad with the damn'd as without doubt it is being thou sayst it O Lord I think they have sufficient reason to curse eternally the day that ever they were born for as thou didst say of Judas foreseeing his treachery and his Damnation which was to ensue it were better he had never come into the world I think the same of those wretched Souls it were better they had perished in their Mothers wombs then to become by their own Sins the fatal object of thy just Indignation and wrath O most unfortunate Souls if it were lawful for me or in the least available to you I would commiserate your condition but your sentence can never be recall'd there you are lodg'd among so many Legions of Devils and there you are like to continue for an eternity O unfortunate tongues that bolt out nothing but blasphemies O unhappy Eyes that see nothing but miseries calamities and new found torments at every moment O sad Ears that hear nothing but horrid crys woful screeks mournful lamentations and constant gnashing of teeth O deplorable bodys that have no other refreshment then scorching flames Whilest you were dwellers in this world you spent all your time in vanities in sinful recreations and pleasures increasing your fortunes and heaping up of earthly treasures far from the least thought of heavenly things but see now what is the end of all your actions what an infinite deal of miseries you have brought upon your selves O foolish and infatuated wretches what does all your unlawful and transitory pleasures avail you now for which you are condemned unto everlasting sorrow and woe what is become of all your wealth where are your treasures what is the end of all your joys and comforts nothing but everlasting misery woe tribulations and sorrow This is well illustrated in holy writ by the great famine which came upon the People of Egypt and which continu'd for the space of seven years O what an extream grief was it unto them that they did not in the seven former years of abundance provide for the seven following years of Dearth they were like men in despair for loosing the benefit of so favourable an opportunity and were vehemently troubl'd in minde for their misfortune and negligence herein but alas their grief is not to be compar'd to that of the damn'd 't is no more then a shaddow that is compar'd with the truth For the Famine of Egypt lasted no longer then seven years but that of hell shall never be at an end there was a remedy found for that of Egypt tho' with vast expences but for this there is no remedy at all to be expected That was soon releiv'd by selling their Cattle and lands to Joseph but this can never be abated with any manner of exchange this punishment can never be recall'd this pain will never be diminish'd The People of Egypt after the seven years of Dearth were expir'd began a little to respire to wade out of their miseries but in hell alas the wicked shall never be quit of their misfortunes they shall never come to the least rest or ease they shall be both night and day
Lucum if I do not weep and lament for my Sins while I have time and conveniency Woe 's me if I do not rise at midnight with the Prophet royal to confess unto thee O Lord Woe is me if ever I wrong bely or bring My neighbour into any evil inconvenience or trouble woe 's me if I do not speak truth at all times or if ever I be found in a ly For the Ax of Death is now perhaps at the root of my Tree of life or at least will be ere long 't is the same case with every one therefore it behoves us all to be watchful to be constantly in the practise of Pennance and in the exercise of all good works in hopes we may be one day of the number of thy beloved in Heaven SAVIOVR O Man Omnia toleranda pro caelesti gloria Aug. had'st thou known what a Supream happiness it is to be of the number of my beloved in Heaven thou wouldst be of St. Augustins opinion and say with him were I to suffer every day the greatest torments that the Rage and Malice of the most bloudy Tyrants could invent nay were I to endure even the anguishes of Hell for a long time to see Christ in his Glory I would think my self extraordinary well rewarded nay I would freely and with all my heart undergo all the afflictions imaginable upon condition to be made Partaker of so great a blessing Let the Devils therefore ly in Ambushes for me let them prepare as many temtations against me as they can contrive let my body be even consum'd with abstinence and constant fasting let hair-cloth chains of Iron depress my flesh let labour and continual toil extenuate my body let watching and lying on the hard ground wither it and make it as dry as a rotten tree let this man exclaim against me and th' other pursue me to death let the cold seize upon me and make me stoop to the Earth let my conscience murmure let the scorching heat of the Sun parch me let my body grieve let my breast burn let my stomack swell let my countenance wax pale let me from head to foot be full of ulcers let my whole life hours days years pass over in tears in grief and in sorrow let the dust inter my bones and cover me all over so that I be shelter'd in the day of Tribulation and plac'd at thy right hand O Lord among the number of thy Elect. O how great will be the glory of the Just and how infinite will be the joy of the Saints when every ones face will shine as the Sun But thou must know O man that the principal joy of the blessed is the peaceable enjoyment and possession of me whom they Behold clearly as I am in my self and that as Honourable profitable and delectable are not divided in Heaven so the blessed Souls have three gifts essential and inseparable from that happy state which correspond to those three kinde of Blessings which your Divines call vision comprehension and fruition The first consists in the clear and perfect sight of me Ego Protector tuus Sum. merces tua magna nimis Gen. 15.1 which I give to the Just as a reward of their merits and by this they receive an unspeakable honour in as much as their works and virtues are rewarded in the presence of all my Arch-angels Angels and heavenly Spirits with no less a recompence then my self The second is the full and ample possession which the Soul has of me who am all her treasure all her delight and all inheritance And the third is the ineffable joy which evermore accompanies this blessed sight and ever-peaceable possession This joy is adorn'd with two singular qualities the first whereof makes it so vigorous and powerful that it excludes all grief all pain and in a word St. Aug. medita 22. all manner of evil This is consonant to what St. Augustin says where he crys on t O Lord the life which thou hast prepar'd for thy friends is a blessed life a secure life a quiet life a life that knows no death a life without sadness without labour without grief without trouble without corruption without fear without variety without alteration A life replenish'd with all beauty and dignity where there is neither Enemy that can offend nor delight that can annoy where love admits of no mixture of hatred or disdain where the day is everlasting where the spirit of all is one where God is seen face to face who is the only meat whereupon they feed without any nauseating hitherto St. Augustin Cicero de Fin. 5. Tuscul Many of your ancient Philosphers were of opinion that the exemption from evil pain and grief was the chief felicity of man it 's therefore that the best of prophane Orators and Philosophers did place the chief happiness of man in the freedom from grief Jero Rodius Diodorus Philoso Perip but here lies their error they Judg'd that to be the Summum-bonum which was only the consequent and product thereof For the love and joy which springs from the clear vision of my divine Essence is so powerful that it 's enough to convert even Hell into Heaven in so much as if to the most tormented Soul in hell were added all the torments of the rest of the damned both men and Devils and that I should vouensafe him but one glimpse of my knowledge that only vision tho' in the lowest degree were sufficient to free him from all those evils both of sin and pain so that his Soul being extasi'd by that unspeakable beauty which he beheld would not be sensible of any grief or pain whatever By this thou mayst easily conceive the omnipotency of that joy which I confer upon my beloved in Heaven which if I should impart to the most damn'd in hell it would convert all his great torments into far greater consolations The Second stupendious wonder which the greatness of my joy produces in the Souls of my belov'd is the manifold pleasures which spring from it as from a most fruitful root Art thou not astonish'd to hear that the happiness of the Souls should cause so many and marvellous effects in the bodies of my Blessed as St. Augustin relates dost thou not wonder when he tells thee that my beatifical vision carries so unspeakable a joy with it into their Souls that it wholly changes their bodies makes them as beautiful as so many Angels resplendent as the Sun immortal as a Spirit and as impassible as even my self What miracles and prodigies it works in their bodies by the redundancy of the unspeakable comfort which they feel in their spirits Art thou not seiz'd with admiration when St. Anselme tells thee that if the body of one of my Blessed endow'd with the four gifts of glory full of clearness splendor and beauty were plac'd in any part or corner of the world it would perfume the whole universe with a fragrancy
Earth certainly thou wouldst be totally inflam'd with love for so admirable a Creature thou wouldst never be weary of his company much less of his discourse why then dost thou not love me with all thy heart as thou art commanded Diliges Dominum Deum tuum ex toto corde tuo Matth. 22.37 Cupio dissolvi esse cum Christo Phil. 1.23 why dost thou not often and ardently desire with St. Paul to be deliver'd from that loathsome prison of thy body to enjoy my sight and company who am really adorn'd with all those perfections and graces in an infinite degree above all earthly Creatures and do confer the same upon all and every one of my Saints in Heaven why dost thou not despise the transitory and sordid pleasures of the world to seek after those of my heavenly Court which can beautify and embellish both thy body and Soul and the rather because I am so free to impart them not only to thee but also to all those that shall be faithfull to observe my commands For if I be so magnificent a Lord and so free to confer my favours in this world upon all men without any distinction so that the wicked may pertake of them as well as the Godly is there any ground then to believe that I have not far greater blessings in store for those alone that are my favourits and dearest beloved If I was so liberal as to bestow gratis such vast treasures as are the manifold benefits of nature upon a People that I was not in the least oblig'd to but on the contrary have suffer'd much at their hands Nec oculus vidit reâ— auris audivit nec in cor hominis ascendit quae praeparavit Deus diligentibus se 1 Cor. 2.9 how much more am I indebted to those that have serv'd me faithfully and with the loss of both their lives fortunes It 's impossible for thee O man to express the immensity of the glory which I shall confer upon my Elect in Heaven since that even the benefits which I have imparted to my very Enemies here on Earth are far beyond the reach of thy understanding for my Apostle says that the eye has not seen nor the ear heard neither have enter'd into the heart of man the things which God has prepar'd for them that love him If that be so as really it is why dost thou loyter then in thy banishment and dote so much upon the vaniteis of the world and earthly affairs why art thou so desirous to live any longer in the land of Egypt to gather straw and drink muddy water out of it's stinking Pits despising the headspring of all felicitys and the fountain of living waters why art thou content to beg and gather Alms at every door rather then live in thy heavenly Fathers house where all manner of solid content and pleasure is to be found why dost thou starve with the prodigal Son and feed with the Swine upon Acorns whilst thou mayst fit at his table and eat of the banquet which he has prepar'd for all his belov'd in glory If thou be'st inclin'd to pleasure raise up thy heart towards my heavenly Residence and there thou shalt behold that Supream Good which contains within its self eminently all the pleasures and allurements of all things that can be called good or delectable If this created life be pleasing to thee how much more pleasing must that increated life be which gave it a beginning and without which it cann't subsist one moment If health be a comfort to thee how much more comfort can I afford thee who am alone the giver the promoter and powerful preserver thereof If the knowledge of the creatures be sweet and acceptable to thee how much more sweet and acceptable ought the knowledge of thy Creator be unto thee Cujus pulchritudinem sol luna mirantur Job 38.7 Generationem ejus quis ennarrabit Isa 53.8 If all thy delight be plac'd in beauty I am he whose beauty the Sun and Moon does admire If thou beest taken with Nobility I am the source and offspring of all that can be call'd noble for my extraction goes far beyond the Creation of the world and limits of time If thou delightest in learning here in my heavenly School thou shalt know all my mysteries the profound sense of holy Scriptures thou shalt know the exact number of all my Saints and Angels thou shalt know the Secrets of my Divine providence how many are damn'd and for what thou shalt understand the frame and making of the world the whole artifice of nature the motions of the Stars and Planets the proprieties of Plants Stones Birds Beasts thou shalt not only know all things created but also many more things which I might have created thou shalt not only know them altogether and in the total but clearly and distinctly without any confusion The knowledge of the greatest wisemen and Philosophers of the world even in things natural is full of ignorance deceit and incertainty because they know not the substance of things but through the shell and bark of accidents whereas a poor and silly Servant kept all his life in Slavery nay were he a natural in the world yet in heaven he shall be replenish'd with more learning and knowledge as well of natural as of divine things then Solomon then Aristotle then all the Mathematicians Astrologers Astronomers Philosophers Divines and Doctors that ever were or will be to the worlds end for as St. Gregory says it is not to be believed that the Saints who behold within themselves the light of God are ignorant of any thing without them If thou beest desirous of long life health here thou wilt enjoy life everlasting without any distemper or malady without any danger of death or of any other evil in the quiet and peaceable possession of all manner of pleasure and comfort for there thou shalt rejoyce in what is above thee which is my beatifical vision in what is below thee which is the beauty of Heaven and other corporal Creatures in what is within thee which is the glorification of thy body in what is without thee which is the company of so many blessed Angels so many glorious Apostles so many renowned Patriarks so many famous Prophets such an invincible army of Martyrs a most renown'd assembly of Confessors a vast number of true and perfect religious so many holy Virgins which have overcome both the pleasures of the world and the frailty of their own nature Here I shall recreate and feast all thy spiritual Senses with an unspeakable delight for I shall be both thy gracious and grateful object I shall be a mirrour to the sight musick to the ear sweetness to the tast balsom to the smell flowers to the touch Here In fine there shall be the clear sight of Summer the pleasantness of the Spring the abundance of Autumn and the repose of winter But O man Quem dicunthomines
far worse then that of the Romans which was no other then to indulge their bodies in all that might be pleasing to their Palate Let him yet speak more of his minde to the Romans and thou shalt finde that what enormities he lays to their charge is now adays the common practise of Christians That says he which enhances the esteem of every thing is the price of it In so much that water it self which ought to be gratuitous is expos'd to sale in their Conservatories of Ice and Snow Nay we are troubl'd that we cann't buy breath light and that we have the Air it self gratis And if our conditions be evil our trouble is that nature has left something to us in common But Luxury contrives ways to set a price upon the most necessary and communicable benefits in nature even those benefits which are free to Birds and Beasts as well as to men and serve indifferently for the use of the most Sluggish Creatures But how chances it that fountain-water is not cool enough to serve us unless it be bound up in Ice So long as the Stomach is moderatly satisfi'd Nature discharges her functions without trouble but when the blood comes to be inflam'd with excess of wine or the Stomach overcharg'd with meat simple water is not cool enough to Allay it's heat then we are forc'd to make use of remedyes which remedies themselves are vices And this is the product of heaping Suppers upon Dinners and Dinners upon Suppers without intermission The natural thirst be it never so vehement and not deriv'd from libidinous actions is easily quench'd with a draught of water tho' it be of the River it will suffice but when the palate is grown squeemish we taste nothing that which we take for thirst is only the rage of a Fevour or some other distemper acquir'd by disorder Even the very Women are in some measure guilty of this extravagance for tho' they have not alter'd their natures they have chang'd the course of their lives and by taking the liberties of men they partake as well of their diseases as of their wickedness They sit up late drink as much nay in their very Appetites they are as masculine too in a word they have lost the modesty and other advantages of their Sex by their vices O man are not these the abominations and Crimes now in vogue in that corrupt and licentious Age thou liv'st in What this good moral Philosoper blames in the Romans is it not the common practice of Christians now a days nay they are guilty of far greater crimes for they do not only pamper their Lusts but provoke them as if they were to learn the very art of voluptuousness And wherein is their corrupt nature depress'd all this while for I see nothing deny'd to their craving Appetites no violence us'd to their sensuality no bounds set to their womanish desires They give all the best entertainment they can to their bodies and take no care at all of their Souls It is with them as with an innocent that a certain Noble-man had in his Family She became blind on a Sudden and no body could perswade her she was blind she could not endure the house she said it was so dark and was still calling to go abroad That which the people laugh'd at in her is found to be true in the greatest part of mankinde They are Covetous Luxurious Ambitious and what not but the world shall never bring them to acknowledge it Nay they are the worst of the two for that blinde fool call'd for a guide and they wander about without any and which is worse they will have none It 's a hard matter to cure those that will not believe they are sick This is thy case O man thou hast been told often of thy desperate condition and how thy Soul is in danger to be lost for ever unless that thou dost comply with my instructions and break off that sinful yoak of Satan that brings thee by one evil to make way for another Thou wert told that the Kingdome of Heaven suffers violence that to become an Inhabitant thereof thou must of necessity struggle with thy Passions and overcome them too which is to destroy a numerous company of Monsters and the most glorious action that can be undertaken Horatius Cocles oppos'd his single body to a whole Army till the Bridge was cut down behinde him and then leap'd into the River with his Sword in his hand and came off safe to his own party this was a generous act indeed but it is a more noble exploit to subdue thy corrupt nature thou dost signalize thy self when thou art become thine own Master and triumphs over thy passions which have vanquish'd the greatest Conquerors of the world when thou shalt stand like another Hercules and beat down those inbred monsters of thy old man with as much courage as he did subdue the Hidra's and Minotaures then thou wilt arrive at the highest piteh of felicity Be not surpriz'd that I call thy Passions Monsters of nature for they are not only monstrous in themselves but they make the mind that is harrass'd with them very deform'd and most miserable to boot for they leave no place either for Councel or friendship honesty or good manners no place either for the exercise of reason or for the Offices of life If I were to describe the Passion of anger which is the common distemper of all mankinde I would draw a Tiger bath'd in bloud sharp set and ready to take a leap at his prey or dress it up as the Poets represent their furys with whips Snakes and flames It should be sour livid full of Scars and wallowing in gore raging up and down destroying grinning bellowing and pursuing sick of all other things and most of all of it self It turns beauty into deformity and the calmest councels into fierceness It disorders the very garments of those that are slaves to it and fills their mindes with horror How abominable must it be in the Soul then when it appears so hideous even through the bones the skin and so many impediments Is he not a monster of a man that has lost the government of himself and is toss'd hither and thither by his Raging fury as by a tempest He is the executioner of his own revenge both with his heart and hand and the murtherer of his nearest friends The smallest matter will blow him up to that degree that he is altogether insociable and inaccessible He does all things by violence as well upon himself as others It may be then very well call'd the master of all Passions being 't is the most hard to be surmounted Yet Heathens without the assistance of my grace or knowledge of my glory have wholly subdu'd this predominate Passion encourag'd thereunto only by a popular applause and to get the esteem of being perfect Philosophers Plato was about to strike his Servant and while his hand was in the Air
perpetual decree that it can't pass it and tho' the waves thereof toss themselves yet can they not prevail tho' they roar yet can they not pass over it as if he had said hast thou not a great deal of reason to dread the Arm of so powerful a God whose omnipotency is sufficiently discover'd by this prodigious work And if he be so great in all his works thou must likewise acknowledge him to be great in the chastisement of Sinners The same Prophet was Innocent and free from the least spot of Sin being Sanctifi'd in his Mothers womb yet he trembles at the very noise of my Severity to Sinners and says there is none like unto thee O Lord thou art great and thy name is great in might Who would not fear thee O King of Nations for to thee does it appertain For as much as among all the wisemen of the Nations and in all their Kingdoms there is none like unto thee My heart is replenish'd with the fear of thy wrath and therefore have sequester'd my felf from the converse of all men into a remote wilderness to prevent thy fury and appease thy Anger with sorrow with Sighs and with a continual flood of tears Respicit Terram facit eam tremere tangit montes fumigant Psa 105. Stellae Columnae Coeli pavent contremiscuntad nutum ejus Job 26.11 Ideo sn uno die venient plagaeejus mors luctus fames igne comburetur quia fortis est Dominus Deus qui Jndicabit illam Ap. c. 18.8 Tho' this holy man was certain that my Indignation and wrath was not against him yet seeing it so great and ready to fall with all its weight upon the criminal and guilty heads of Sinners he had no less then cause to tremble being that even my looks put the Earth in a quaking fit and make the Mountains groan nay they make the Stars and even the Pillars of Heaven to tremble they are astonish'd at my reproof and why not being that the Angels and Archangels the Cherubins and Seraphins the Principalities and Powers of Heaven are all Struck into an amazement at the very aspect of my most dreadful Majesty and angry countenance not that they fear to be depriv'd of their glory but because the greatness of my indignation is such that they can't but be astonish'd at the very sight of me By this thou mayst Judge in what a deplorable condition the Damn'd will be for these are the unhappy wretches which are to feel the weight of my wrath all their plagues shall come upon them in one day everlasting death mourning and famine shall be their inheritance for ever they shall be utterly burnt with fire for strong is the Lord God who judgeth them My Apostle had a sufficient tryal of my Strength when I forc'd him out of the way of iniquity Horrendum est incidere in manus Dei viventis Heb. 10.31 and of a Persecutor of Christians made him the Defender and powerful promoter of Christianity therefore he says it 's a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God not into the hands of men for they are not so powerful but criminals may fly from their violence and decline from their anger moreover they have not the authority to cast a Soul into the Dungeon of Hell It 's therefore I had warn'd my Disciples not to fear them which kill the Body Mat. 10.28 and are not able to kill the Soul but rather to fear him which is able to destroy both Soul and body in Hell And these are the hands which my Apostle calls dreadful they are them also that the wise man speaks of where he says unless ye do pennance and give that slender attonement of tears and of a hearty grief to God for your sins ye shall undoubtedly fall into the hands of the Lord and not into the hands of men By what is already said thou mayst easily conclude that as I am omnipotent and great in my power in my Majesty and in all my works I am the same in my wrath in my Justice and in the punishment which I have decreed for the Damned If thou wilt examine Scripture thou shalt finde there such dreadful effects of my Justice upon the wicked even in this life which is the only season for mercy that thou shalt be forc'd to confess that the pains of Hell must be as intollerable as they are unspeakable and that it were better for the dam'd they had never been born then to endure them for an Eternity without any hopes of redemption or of the least abatement What a terrible punishment was that of Dathan and Abiram and of all their Complices in the sight of that numerous People of Israel at the request of my Servant Moises to vindicate his innocency and punish the wrong which was intended to him by those Peoples rising in Rebellion against him I commanded the Earth to open its bowels and to swallow them alive together with all their Earthly substance down into the bottomless pit of Hell which was no sooner commanded then put in execution The punishment of Sodom and Gomorah if well consider'd is able to terify the stoutest Bully that ever appear'd on the Stage of this world to mollify his obdurate heart and force from his mouth Lord what wilt thou have me do They were so much addicted to that brutish pleasure Domine quid me vis facere Act. 9.6 and sordid Sin of the flesh that they must attempt even upon my very Angels and strive to make them the subject of their Lust this was a general corruption and therefore requir'd a general chastisement their Sins cry'd for vengeance Gen. 19.24 and tho' I was sollicited by my Servant Abraham to spare their lives for the sake of ten Just men knowing there was none but Lot who was already secured and under the safeguard of my Angels I pour'd down wild-fire and brimstone upon them and cast them headlong into Hell-fire there to increase the fatal number of the damn'd and to become partakers of their torments as they had been of their crimes on Earth Didst thou ever hear such terrible menaces as are set down in Deuteronomy Deut. 28.16 17. c. and which were exactly put in execution against the transgressours of my Law Hear how the Prophet speaks to them in my behalf Cursed shalt thou be in the City and Cursed shalt thou be in the field Cursed shalt thou be when thou comest in enrfed shalt thou be when thou goest out The Lord shall send upon thee cursing vexation rebuke in all that thou set'st thine hand unto for to do untill thou be destroyed and until thou perish quickly because of the wickedness of thy doings whereby thou hast for saken me The Lord shall smite thee with a Consumption and with a Fever and with an inflamation and with an extream burning and with the sword and with blasting and they
ease of all intermission of all comfort is shut up for ever There is none to be expected from Heaven none from Earth none from the Creatour and none from all the Creatures no were they thy dearest friends and nearest relations there is no consolation to be hop'd for but extream desolation for all Eternity Luc. 16. Thou hast a lively expression hereof in that dreadful Parable of the rich Glutton in Hell see to what an extream necessity he was driven to desire after so pittiful a manner that Lazarus might dip the top only of his finger in water to cool his tongue therewith in the midst of that scorching fire wherein he was tormented and yet this small favour this slender request would not be granted to him O ye rich of the world that make your Gods your treasures consider seriously the severity of my Justice Redde rationem villicationis tuae Luc. 16.2 what a strict account you are to give me of all your expences how and after what manner you have spent the least sarthing consider also what torments you shall suffer in Hell if you have imploy'd your wealth as this unfortunate glutton had done to pamper up your bodys without any regard to your Souls And let this consideration move you to the perfect amendment of your lives now while you do live and the gate of my mercy is open to you This is the only time wherein you may avoid all those everlasting misfortunes now is the only season to prevent my indignation wrath if you be wise you will not delay a matter of such great importance for you do not know what will become of you to morrow no nor what you may be an hour hence Noli te obdurate corda vestra c. Psal 94.8 Do not harden your hearts as the people of Israel did in the provocation as in the day of temptation in the wilderness Iest I swear in my wrath that you shall not enter into my rest If Pharaoh had resolv'd an amendment while Moises was with him how fortunate a Creature had he been If the rich Glutton had taken the time while Lazarus lay at his door how blessed a man had he made himself He was foretold his misery as you are now by Moises and other Prophets according to my directions but he would not take notice of their words he gave no ear to their exhortations but soon after he fell into such detestation of his own folly that he would needs have Lazarus sent from Abrahams bosom unto his Brethren in the world to warn them of his error and evil consequences thereof But Abraham answer'd it was to no purpose in as much as they would give no credit to Lazarus but rather stone him to death for disgracing their honour'd deceas'd Brother by revealing his torments The wicked men now alive would do no less to any that should tell them of their Parents and Friends being tormented in Hell for such offences as themselves are guilty of What could I do more to save their Souls then to send them Preachers and Teachers to give them necessary instructions to work their Salvation They were often told that leading the life they do they can't avoid the misfortune of this unhappy wretch they know or ought to know that many before them have been damn'd for less matters They cann't choose but know that they must shortly dy and receive themselves as they receiv'd living as they did or rather worse They are often told that the pains prepar'd for the wicked are intollerable and eternal too They do acknowledge them to be most unfortunate that for any pleasure or interest of this world have run the hazard of their own Salvation and have made themselves the worthy objects of my everlasting indignation and yet they continue their wicked course of life An divitias bonitatis ejus longanimi atem contemnis ignorans quoniam benignitas Dei ad paenitentiam te adducit secundum autem duritiam tuam impaenitens cor tuum thesanrirasti iram in die irae revalationis justi Judicy Dei qui reddet unicuique secundum opera ejus Rom. 2.4 5 6. despising the riches of my goodness and forbearance long suffering not knowing that my goodness leads them to repentance but after their harden'd and impenitent hearts they treasure up unto themselves wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of my righteous Judgment who wil render to them according to their deeds Tell me O man who ever would be so earnest to heap up a treasure as not to let one day pass without adding something to it and that for the space of fifty or threescore years sure he would then at the opening of his trunks finde a vast treasure this is thy case O unfortunate wretch dost thou not know that there is not a day or an hour that passes wherein thou dost not increase the treasure of my wrath which is reserved for thy destruction and which is augmented by every Sin thou dost commit every lascivious look thou givest every unclean thought every impure desire thy hatred thy revenge thy great oaths thy perjurys thy blasphemys with the rest of thy wicked doings which are enough to fill up a vast volume and going on thus for the space of so many years how immense must be the treasure of my wrath against thee if thou diest impenitent Thou must know that I am thy God and thy Judge too consequently that my duty is to take care that the punishment be equal to the offence Hebr. 10.29 Rursum crucifi gentes sibimet ipsis filium Dei ostentui habentes Hebr. 6.6 Memorare novissima tua in aeternum non peccabis Eccl. 7.40 and satisfactory to the person offended Thou hast troden me under foot and hast counted the blood of the covenant wherewith thou wert sanctifi'd an unholy thing and hast done despite unto the spirit of my grace nay thou hast often crucifi'd me to thy self and put me to an open shame wherefore as I am infinite in all my Attributes and in all respects thy pains must be likewise infinite in all manner of rigour O man thou hast given me hitherto a reasonable account of matters belonging to thy Salvation and as this point is one of the chiefest conducing to it and besides is a main obstacle to the increase of vice I do not doubt but thou art sufficiently instructed herein let me therefore hear from thee what the holy Fathers and Doctours of my Church say of the Damn'd and of the rigour of their punishments MAN Infandum Jehova Jubes renovare dolores Inferni poenas quas detestabile Regnum Ditis habet quarum pars magna est faetor ignis Adde quod aeterno privantur lumine Solis Cunctipotentis ibi torquentur corpora miris Nocte diuque modis Nulli patet exitus ex hoc Ignivomente Lacn Densa in caligine pressi Damnati stabunt manibus pedibusque
Earth how necessitous how poor how miserable soever which the damn'd would not most willingly endure nay they would think themselves most happy were they permitted so favourable an Exchange This very Consideration wrought so much upon several of my Saints that there was no course of life so austere but they would undergo My beloved Disciple after he had discours'd of the smoke which ascended from the torments of the damn'd world without end Hic patientia sanctorum est qui custodiunt mandata Dei Apoc. 14.12 and how they had no rest night or day immediately adds here is the patience of the Saints meaning that seeing all the troubles of this life were only temporal and the torments of the other eternal nothing that they endur'd seem'd too much for them See what a penitent posture Manasses had put himself in after his conversion behold how he groans under the burden of his Sins and how he laments his iniquities with such a sorrow that he acknowledg'd himself unworthy even to lift up his eyes towards Heaven so great he confess'd were his offences that he was rather deserving of Hell then any favour at my hands hear his words and thou shalt believe them to be the products of a truly penitent Soul 'T is true says he O Lord I have infinitely offended thee and my Sins are more in number then the Sand of the Sea I am unworthy to lift up my eyes towards Heaven to demand thy mercy I have Sinned O my God I have Sinned I acknowledge all the evil I have done pardon O Lord pardon I beg of thee and earnestly beseech thee do not destroy me with my iniquities do not reserve me to the utmost rigour of the Justice do not condemn me for ever unto the fire of Hell Remember that thou art my God the God of Penitents and thy immense bounty will best appear in me whilst it makes thee to save a miserable Sinner unworthy of thy Grace and gives me occasion to praise thee eternally for thy infinite goodness Behold how the Israelites in their Babilonical Captivity after the taking of Jerusalem cover'd with hair-cloth all their heads and bodys laid over with ashes prostrate on the ground cry out to me from the bottom of their hearts we have Sinned against thee O Lord in not obeying thy word To thee O Lord belongs Justice and uprightness but to us nothing but shame and confusion which our iniquities have deserv'd We have Sinn'd we have done evil we have dealt unjustly O Lord our God in all thy commandments Turn from us thy anger hear O Lord our prayers and our petitions open thy eyes and consider that the dead praise thee not but the Soul which is sensible and afflicted with the greatness of the evils done and performs due pennance for them Psal 6. How full of inward grief and trouble was David for the Sins he had committed O Lord says he rebuke me not in thine anger chastise me not in thy hot displeasure Have mercy upon me O Lord for I am weak O Lord heal me for my bones are vex'd But thou O Lord how long Return O Lord deliver my Soul Save me for thy mercies sake For in Death there 's no remembrance of thee In the grave who shall give thee thanks I am weary with my groaning all the night make I my bed to swim I water my Couch with my tears mine eyes are consum'd with grief Psal 51. Have mercy upon me O Lord according to thy loving kindness according to the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions Wash me throughly from my iniquity and clense me from my sin for I acknowledge my transgressions and my Sin is ever before me Against thee only have I Sinned and done this evil in thy sight wherefore contemn not the Sacrifice which I offer unto thee of an afflicted mind and of an humble and contrite heart Behold O man what these great Saints have done to make mean atonement for their Sins and to avoid the everlasting torments of Hell See how they labour'd to mortify their Passions to depress their evil affections and to destroy all their sinister inclinations proceeding from the infection of their sensual concupiscences they knew this to be the only means to weaken the forces of their enemies and that nothing was more effectual to dismount their batteries against them then to chastise their bodies and keep them in subjection by a long and earnest practise of corporal afflictions In Jejunijs multis in multis vigilijs in fame siti frigore nuditate c. 2 Coâ— 11.27 this is the powerful remedy that all my Saints made use of and even my Apostles came to Heaven by the same means for they spent their whole lives in much fasting much watching hunger thirst cold and nakedness My beloved Apostle and Brother St. James tho' he was a man of extraordinary great Sanctity and was therefore Sir-nam'd the Just yet besides other austerities of apparel diet and all other mortifications his exercise of praying on his bare knees was so continual that the skin of them was as hard as the brawn of a Camels knee Philo the learned Jew and famous Philosopher giving an account of the first Christians in Alexandria under St. Mark the Evangelist sent thither from Rome by St. Peter to give a beginning to that Church which he perform'd says he with such exemplary Piety Sanctity of life Simplicity abstinence and mortification that he and his followers mov'd their Adversaries to extreme admiration But to what did all this rigour tend or what might be the end of all these extraordinary mortifications practis'd so exactly and for so many Ages as well by Monks Anachorites and Hermits as by the Founders of Holy Orders and by their Disciples to this very present Age and will continue with my assistance to the worlds end St. St. Aug. L. 1. Confess 5. Augustin will tell thee in these few words the prime motive thereof Moriar ne moriar that is to say I will dy to the end that I may not dy for ever I will mortify my body in this Life lest I should be of the unhappy number of the damn'd for ever St. Hierom is much upon the same point for being in the Desert of Syria he was set upon by the Devil who plagu'd him as he did St. Paul with suggestions of the Flesh but what weapons did he make use of to obtain the victory over so dangerous an enemy the fear of God and of the fire of Hell was an Armour of proof to him against all the temptations snares of so powerful an adversary Hear the relation he makes himself of his several conflicts and brave defence How often says he being in the Wilderness was I burnt up and scorch'd with the extream heat of the Sun how oft likewise was I tempted with the Roman delights tho' I was so far distant from those objects and so low
brought that I was but skin and bone I sat alone with a heavy heart in sorrow and bitterness The whole compound of my body was at this time so deform and ugly with the continual wearing of my Sackcloth and my skin so black that any man might take me for a perfect Ethiopian I wept dayly and pass'd my time continually in groaning and when at length sleep came upon me against my will I lay down and began a labouring my bare bones that scarce hung together sometimes against the ground and sometimes with as great a Stone as I was able to manage well with my hand Of my meat and drink I will say nothing for in this place we Monks use only cold water even in our greatest infirmitys think it a great delicacy to taste of any thing that savours of the fire But what was all this mortification of S. Jerom for It was says he for fear of Hell that I brought my self to this extremity and retir'd my self to this Wilderness where I have for companions only Scorpions and wild Beasts It was to avoid Sin that I wore out my body with continual fasting that I cry'd unto thee O Lord whole days and nights together that I never ceas'd to beat and knock my breast that I persever'd in prayer for so many years in that forlorn and savage Desart and this I thought my self oblig'd to do for to avoid the scorching flames of Hell remembring what councel thou givest me and all mortals Pro Justitia agonizare pro anima tua usque ad mortem cetta pro Justitia Eccl. 4.33 to fight valiantly for our Souls and strive unto Death for the maintaining of Justice O man consider seriously how remiss and careless thou and the rest of mortals are in the practise of this heavenly Doctrine what do you do or what pains do you take to secure your Souls from Hell what care do you take to depress your passions evil inclinations what resistance do you make to Sin which of you all takes that great care to fly from the occasion of evil there 's none now adays that mortifies his flesh but will rather cherish and pamper it to wickedness there 's none found that takes the pains to repress his unruly appetites that withstands his sensual suggestions nay the whole World run after their own concupiscences they presently yield themselves slaves to every temptation that comes upon them to every assault that the Enemy makes they devour every hook that the Devil lays to intrap them and swallow down every poison'd bait that he casts for their destruction Prove 7.6 7 8. Behold how perfectly the careless and sensual man is describ'd by the Holy Ghost in the Proverbs At the window of my house says he I look'd through my casement and beheld among the simple ones a young man void of understanding walking in the dark night he met with a Woman dress'd like a Harlot prepar'd to deceive Souls She invited him with many alluring speeches to go with her home to her house and immediately he follow'd her as an Ox led unto the Slaughter and as a wanton skipping Lamb that is carri'd to the Shambles like a Bird that makes hast to the Snare so follows he not knowing silly sot that he is drawn to fetters and that the danger of his Soul depends thereon until his heart be stricken through c. This description the Holy Ghost makes to set out the deplorable state of dissolute and foolish Christians who take no care to resist temptations but follow every suggestion of the Devil until at last he brings them into his Slaughter-house and there ties them up fast in the bands and chains of their own wickedness banish'd from Heaven for an Eternity Now O man I leave thee to give them a description of the calamities and anguishes which they are to meet with in this their unfortunate and wofull Exile MAN MOst merciful Redeemer that it is an unfortunate Place replenish'd with miseries none can doubt because thou O God hast said it And it is in the opinion of the chiefest of thy Prophets a Land of Sulpher and burning pitch a Land of Pestilence and corruption a Land of uncleanness and misery and no wonder it should be call'd so being the Angelical Doctor St. Thomas avers that all the most nasty dross and dregs as well of the Earth as of the other elements shall be cast down into Hell for the greater punishment of the Damn'd and the reason he gives for it is that as every Creature does contribute to the joy of the Blessed so every creature likewise shall add unto the torments of the damn'd and as they have separated themselves by sin from thee who art One and plac'd their happiness only in the Creatures they shall also receive their punishment from the Creatures in this common shore Laystal of all the Elements O what a dreadful Dungeon what a lamentable place of Banishment will this be to those Damn'd Wretches What I have to say of Cicero's joyful admiration is If men be thus transported with the difference betwixt some Countrys and others betwixt the humours of some Men and those of others what difference shall the damn'd Souls finde betwixt Heaven and Hell betwixt the joy of the one and the torments of the other and betwixt the conversation of Angels and that of the Devils What grief will it be to them to behold themselves everlastingly banish'd from Heaven depriv'd of thy vision ejected from the company of Angels from the society of Saints and out of that happy Land of the living where all is in peace quietness Charity Joy where all shines all pleases and all parts resound with Alleluia's I am now to consider with what cruelty the Devil treats those wretches in that woful land of their Banishment but before I enter upon this matter it will not be amiss to entertain you with the cruelty of Mortals one to another by which we may easily conclude how outragiously cruel the Devil will be to all men that shall be so unhappy as to fall into his Clutches for he is their professed Enemy even from their Creation It would be more then sufficient matter for a larger Volume then this to treat of the miserable consequences sanguinary effects of mens Rage and malice one to th' other from hence proceed slaughters poisons Wars Desolation rasing and burning of Cities unpeopling of Nations turning of populous Countrys into Desarts publick Massacres Regicids Kings abdicated Princes led in Triumph some murther'd in their bed-chambers others Stab'd in the Senate or cut off in the security of their spectacles and pleasures Some were that took their passion for a Princely quality as Darius who in his expedition against the Scythians being desir'd by a Noble-man that had three Sons that he would vouchsafe to accept of two of them into his Service and leave the third at home for a comfort to his Father I will
be to the damn'd to be depriv'd of this unspeakable comfort for an Eternity 't is so deplorable that Scripture does place it in the first rank of all other losses damages torments miseries that can befall a damn'd Soul let the wicked man be taken away Tollatur Impius ne videat gloriam Dei Esai 16. to the end he may not see the glory of God says the Prophet From this loss proceeds that great and general torment so often repeated in Scripture by the name of the worm of Conscience so call'd because as a worm lies eating gnawing the wood wherein she abides so shall the remorse of their Consciences ly within the damn'd griping and tormenting them for ever it shall be to them a remembrancer to put them in minde of the means and causes of their everlasting damnation which will make them to fret and rage and admire their own folly to have hanker'd so much after the vanities of the World and neglected the grand work of their Salvation Hear how they exclaim in Hell what has our Pride Sap. 5. or what has the glory of our Riches profited us they are all now vanish'd like a shaddow We have wearied our selves in the way of iniquity and perdition and the way of our Lord we have not known This shall be their everlasting ditty thus shall their tormented Conscience rave in Hell O most gracious Saviour when I see to my great sorrow in this sad Age we live in poor Mortals so far blinded with their worldly interest so deeply engag'd in the mire of iniquity so much taken with their sinful recreations and pastimes so deaf to thy Inspirations and callings so avers'd to the practise of piety and devotion such great enemies to mortification and pennance I despair in a manner of their Salvation and the rather that these so powerful motives can't prevail with them or make them desist lusting after those poysonous baits which the Devll presents unto them dayly and at every moment and which they with as much ease swallow as he takes pleasure to destroy their Souls Their common discourse is 't is time enough to think of Pennance when we come to old Age for then we shall be fit for no other thing O most Sacred Saviour thou sayst thou wilt not the death of a Sinner wherefore be pleas'd to let them know the danger of delaying their conversion and of deferring their repentance untill their latter days SAVIOVR THere is a kinde of People in the World Rom. 16. Tit. 1. says my Apostle that do exteriourly and by words confess God and profess themselves to be as good Christians as the rest yet interiourly and by the products of their doble dissembling hearts they don't believe there is a God at least with those Attributes that are as essential to him as his divine Nature and which I call infinite knowledge Providence Care and disposition of humane affairs Justice Judgment Punishment and the like These they do not indeed believe because their life and actions are quite contrary to a well-grounded belief Scripture avers it with a wo unto the dissolute and careless in heart who do not believe God Vae dissolutis corde qui non credunt Deo Eccl. 2. Deut. 22. These are the men whom I do hate and detest with all my heart because they plow with an Ox and an Ass together because they sow their ground with mingl'd Seed and their Apparel is made of flax and wool together These are them I spoke of in the Revelations Apoc. 3. I would thou wert either cold or hot but for that thou art lukewarm and neither cold nor hot therefore will I begin to vomit thee out of my mouth These are they who can accord all Religions together and take up all Controversys by only saying that either they are differences of small importance or else that they are out of their Province and belong only to learned men to dispute of but not unto them moreover they are of opinion that both parts do erre in somewhat or may be agreed and go both to Heaven These are the men who can apply themselves to any company to any time to any Government to any Princes pleasure to any Religion but will not admit of any discourse of Devotion in their presence only they will have men eat drink and be merry with them tell news of the Court and affairs abroad Sing Dance Laugh and play at Cards and dice and so they spend their lives in their Sinful recreations without any thoughts of God without any care of Salvation without any apprehension of Death depending only upon a good Peccavi in their extremity and when God shall Summon them to another World but alas they shall finde themselves sadly mistaken Vae Impio in malum Esai 3. Ipsi videntes sic admirati sunt conturbati sunt commoti sunt tremor apprehendet eos Psal 47.6 for I shall turn them off with a wo to the wicked and then shall set before their eyes all their abominations and crimes their Usury their Drunkenness their whoredome their treacheries their false Oaths their Extortions and Oppressions of the poor their blasphemies and the rest of their wicked actions shall come in a crowd to confound their Souls their Gold and Silver their Estates and Fortunes which they had so unjustly acquir'd their pleasures treasures now the only object of their adoration shall then become the fatal Subject of their confusion and my Justice shall take delight to batter and break their understanding Conteret Dominus scelestos simul Peccatores Esa 1.28 and memory with the full knowledge of all their Sins and how often they had slieghted my Inspirations my Callings my amorous invitations other innumerable effects of my mercy O silly Souls says St. Paul be not deceiv'd be not so far overseen as to leade a licentious life in hopes to dye a good Death Nolite orrare quae enim seminaverit homo haec metet Qui seminat in carne de carne metet corruptionem Gala. 6.7 Mat. 7.16 for in that dreadful hour you shall reap no better grain then what you have sown if you have been such bad Husbands of your Salvation as to sow and plant nothing else in the Soil ground of your Souls but carnal works you can't pretend to no better Harvest then corruption and everlasting Damnation Do Men gather grapes of thorns or figs of thistles even so every good Tree brings forth good fruit but a corrupt Tree brings forth evil fruit A good Tree can't bring forth evil fruit neither can a corrupt Tree bring forth good fruit Every Tree that brings not forth good fruit is hewn down cast into the fire These are my words 't is I the Eternal verity that speaks them Dicite justo quoniam bene fructum adinventionum suarum commedent Esai 3.10 and therefore they can't be contradicted or falsify'd let all men
lay their hands on their breasts and examine their own life and conversation if they finde themselves to be good Christians upright honest in all their ways it shall be well with them in the hour of their Death for they shall eat the fruit of their well-doings but if they be viciously given and found void of all good works they must expect no better wellcome from me then an order to cut them all down with the Ax of Death and to cast them headlong into hell-fire Thou shalt finde several proofs to confirm this assertion in the first Sermon I preach'd immediately after I was baptiz'd there shalt thou hear me recommend Matth. 5.4 and extoll the great advantages of a virtuous life of Poverty Meekness Justice Purity Sorrow for Sin patience in suffering contempt of Riches forgiving of injuries Fasting Prayer Pennance Entring by the straight gate and also of perfection Holyness Integrity of life and conversation and of the exact fulfilling of every particular of my Heavenly Fathers Laws and Commandments There thou shalt hear me say I came not to the World to break the Law but to fulfill the same and whosoever shall offer to break the least of them and bring others either by his ill example or by his erroneous doctrine to do the like should have no place in the Kingdom of Heaven There thou mayst hear me say to all Christians except their Justice did exceed that of the Scribes and Pharisees which was altogether in words and outward appearance they could not be saved That they might not serve two Masters in this life but either must forsake God or abandon Mammon That they should decline from false Prophets that usually come in sheep's clothing but are no better then ravenous Wolves in their hearts and that all men should seek to enter by the straight gate but the conclusion of my long Sermon is that the only sign and token of a good Tree is the good fruit which it bears and without this fruit let the Tree be never so fair or pleasant to the eye yet it is to be cut down and burnt that 't is not every one that shall cry Lord Lord at the last day shall be sav'd or enter into the Kingdom of Heaven but only such as did execute really and in Deeds the Will and commandments of my Father in this life Where is there any incouragement here for the wicked to delay their conversion or to put it off till the hour of death in hopes of a good Peccavi I see none for they are all most pressing motives to force them rather out of their iniquity into a virtuous and godly life To be the better convinc'd of this undeniable truth thou must know that life is a time and season of sowing and planting the seed of virtue and the bitter roots of mortifications and pennance and that Death is Harvest time to reap the main profit of that happy Seed and the wonderful sweetness of those bitter roots It 's therefore my Prophet speaking of the manifold tribulations and anguishes of the Just Euntes Ibant flebant mittentes semina sua venientes autem venient cum exultatione portantes manipulos suos Ps 126.6 Tromsijt mesus finita est aestas nos salvati non sumus Jer. 8.20 Non potest male mori qui bene vixit vix bene moritur qui male vixit Aug. Venite bene dicti Patris mei posside te paratum vobis regnum a constitutione mundi Matth. 25.34 says they were going on weeping and sowing the precious seed of their eternal Salvation and that without any doubt they shall come again rejoycing bringing their sheaves with them and my Prophet Jeremy declares how the wicked shall say in the hour of Death and with tears in their eyes the Harvest is past the Summer is ended and we are not sav'd This was the lamentation of the Jews seeing themselves oppress'd under the slavish and heavy yoak of the Caldeans without any hopes of being reliev'd but it may be likewise taken for the sad moan which the wicked shall make in the hour of Death seeing themselves void of all good works and groaning under the heavy weight of their evil actions then indeed they may cry the Summer is ended the time of our life is now expir'd wherein we might have gather'd a plentiful stock of all virtues and good works but We unfortunate Souls We have spent that precious season in all manner of vices and now that the Harvest is past we must appear naked as we are of all good works replenish'd with evil ones before a dreadful Judge to be sentenc'd to Eternal Death which We have justly deserv'd for abusing his mercy by flattering our selves with a good Peccavi at our last farewell to the World and to all its deceitful pleasures The Harvest is past the Summer is ended and we are not sav'd What can be more terrible How should any Man dare delay his conversion hearing these words and having as many Presidents hereof as there have been Sinners surpris'd by death even in the heat of their wickedness O ye Blessed Souls says St. Augustin who have spent your days in the constant practise of virtue still submissive to the Laws of God always obedient to his commands thirsting after righteousness and justice great lovers of mortification and pennance hear what comfortable news I bring you and what is that You cannot dye an ill death no 't is impossible Orabat scelestus ad Dominum ad quo non erat misericordiam con secuturus 2 Machab. 9.13 De Centum Millibus quorum maia fuit vita vix unus salvabitur Aug. for God will assist you in that dreadful hour and will receive your Souls at their departing your bodys into the perfect enjoyment of my everlasting Glory Whereas the wicked tho' they should make as great a shew of an apparent repentance as Antiochus did yet will they hardly come to a better end for of a hundred thousand that lead a bad life continually to the hour of death scarce one shall be sav'd says the same St. Augustin and his doctrine is grounded upon my words because I have call'd and ye refus'd I have stretch'd out my hand and no man regarded and as ye have made naught of all my Counsels and been deaf to my reproof I also will laugh at your Calamity I will mock when your fear comes When it comes as desolation and when your destruction comes as a Whirlwind when distress and anguish comes upon you then shall ye call upon me but I will not answer ye shall seek me early but ye shall not finde me because ye hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the Lord. Prov. 1.24 They would not accept of my Counsel they despis'd all my reproofs therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way and be fill'd with their own devices The devout St. Bernard confirms this truth by two
of Christians then he did so great was his animosity to both that he murther'd very many thousands of them and destroy'd all their Alters and Churches which were erected and dedicated to my worship and Service will this most wicked and disssembling Prince cry Peccavi in the hour of his death no he will continue his impiety to his last breath which will be the perfect Eccho of his most ambitious and abominable life for receiving a mortall wound in the siege of a Town in the Kingdom of Persia he took a handfull of his blood flung it up as it were into my face with this horrid expression vicisti Nazarene vicisti O Nazarean Cum mens inclinata fugrit ad aliquid non se jam haber aequaliâ—er ad utrum que oppositorum sed ad illud ad quod magis inclinatur fertur nisi per rationis discussionem ab eo quadam solicitudine abducatur St. Tho. thou hast indeed overcome me at last after this he commanded his Gentlemen to put his Corps into a Coffin of lead and cast it into the Sea that his subjects finding not his body on Earth might believe it was carri'd by the hands of Angels into Heaven and seated there amongst the Gods Thou seest by these presidents what a foolish mistake the wicked ly under when they put off their conversion to the very last hour of their life in hopes to have then a hearty Peccavi which may be to me a sufficient Atonement for all their offences and breaches of both my Laws and commandments The Angelical Doctor St. Thomas seems to be much astonish'd at their folly herein for says he when men are viciously inclin'd and taken with a surprize in their evil habits it is out of their jurisdiction to conceive an abhorrence against them and have a love and esteem for a virtuous life unless they make use of their reason to finde out the manifold advantages of the one and the several evil consequences of the other but how can a wicked man that is seiz'd on by Death as he walks in the streets by a tile falling from the top of a house or some other such like unexpected accident make use of his reason in that ample manner 't is impossible and consequently Hac animadversione percutitur percator ut moriens obliviscatur sui qui dum viveret oblitus est Dei St. Amb. Arist whoever neglects his Salvation so far as to put it to such perilous events deserves no mercy at my hands But set the case that an old habitual Sinner should dye of a long and languishing sickness 't is very probable he will never think of me in his latter hour nor have the least feeling of a Peccavi being he forgot to call to me for mercy in his healthful days and this indeed is the usual punishment which I do inflict upon such persons Moreover 't is grounded upon this other Maxim of Philosophy altogether as undeniaable as the former Ab assuetis non fit passio That is to say things which men have dayly before their eyes make no impression upon their hearts the Sun which is the most resplendent and the most glorious Creature that ever was wrought by my hands for the use of men is dayly seen without the least admiration whereas if a Comet appears they are all eyes to behold it A Chirurgion will handle and dress the nastiest wound that ever man had without the least grudge or loathing because he is accustom'd to it A new rais'd Soldier will tremble at the noise of a bullet whereas an old and well-train'd Soldier will never shrink or give ground tho' even Cannons were roaring about him and their bullets flying on every side of him because he is acquainted with such warlike entertainment 'T is even so with a wicked liver in the hour of his death tho' his Ghostly Father his Wife his Children and all his friends were round his bed breaking their hearts and bursting their lungs calling and crying unto him to produce one act of Contrition one sorrowful Peccavi one have mercy on me O Lord he will take no notice of what they say all their exhortations to him intended to bring him to dye a good death will be to no effect he had often heard the like or rather more pressing motives from Teachers and Preachers in their Pulpits yet his heart was Steel-proof to all their fiery words they could never make him think on his Salvation and therefore 't is but in vain to expect he will be sollicitous for it now when the Devil has him fast fetter'd when his heart is over-clouded with the darkness of his manifold and grievous Sins when his understanding is blinded his will altogether corrupted his senses decay'd and the whole commonwealth of his Body and Soul clear out of order by reason of their approaching and dismal separation Thou hast a very remarkable president of this in the old Testament there thou mayst read what wonders I had done in order to mollify the heart of Pharaoh Exod. 9.10 and bring him to a right understanding of his obedience and duty to me who am the powerfull and mighty Jehovah who depress at will and make subject the greatest Potentates of the whole World How I had slain his first-born for refusing to let go the People of Israel out of his Land how I made all the Rivers Streams Fountains Springs within his Dominions run with bloud for the same reason how I cover'd all his Realm with darkness and Frogs which were so numerous that they came in Swarms upon his Table and even into his Bed how I sent a grievous Swarm of Flies into his house and into all the houses of Egypt how I had plagued all the Inhabitants of the Land as also their Cattle which pestiferous Ulcers Boils of which they all died how I had rain'd down such a stupendious shour of Hail upon them as was never seen before or since in the world how I had spread over the whole Land of Egypt Locusts that devour'd and destroy'd all that the hail had left yet all these prodigies could not mollify the obdurate and rebellious heart of Pharaoh till at last my Justice took him to task and drown'd both him and his whole Army in the Red-Seas which was a passage they were to go through to take up their quarters in the unquenchable fire of Hell where they shall repent for an Eternity but to no advantage for their Souls If this discourse so well grounded upon Scripture Fathers and Reason Hos 13.9 as also upon so many presidents out of Holy Writ will not prevail with Sinners not to delay their conversion or put it off to their crasy years I have only this to say Perditio tua ex te Israel let their eternal ruine and the fatal loss of their Souls lie at their own doors However to let them know how much I thirst after their Salvation I will have thee
pedibus ejus over boves universns insuper peccora Campi Volucres Coeli Pisces maris Psa 8.8 and the Stars have their being from thee O Lord upon our account it was meerly for our sake thou hast created them It was for our love thou hast brought out of nothing what wonders of nature we see dayly before our eyes that so great and so beautiful a diversity of odoriferous flowers of sweet herbs of delicate fruit of fine Trees and all other varieties which the Earth produces It was by thy orders and for our entertainment and comfort Do we not see how the Corn grows for to feed us how the wool encreases for our cloathing and all Beasts are left to our disposing thou hast also order'd the very Rocks to open their bosoms and refresh us with their Springs and not only the Earth supplys us with all it's productions but also all other Elements are so many store-houses to supply our wants the Sea the Rivers Brooks have orders from thee to supply us with fish the Air with fowl and the fire with heat Nay the very Angels have their understanding from thee with that obligation to preserve and protect us from all disasters both at home and abroad Angelis suis mandavit de te ut custodiant te in omnibus vijs tuis Psa 90.13 If patience be a trial of love where shall we finde so great an example of that heavenly virtue as thou hast shown to the World in thy most bloody passion and cruel death for us poor miserable and wretched Sinners and also in thy most gracious for bearance with us as often as we transgress thy Laws and rebell against thy self If a King after his Vassals had a thousand times attempted to murther him should not only pardon them but also continue still to heap his favours treasures upon them Rursum crucifigertes Christum in Cordibus vestris Heb. 6 6. certainly We would conclude that his love for them was excessive great what ought We then to say of thy love O Lord who sufferest us incessantly to crucify thee our Creatour our Redeemer and glorious King yet thou art still silent and the excess of thy love sets a stop to the current of thy Justice O Lord says the Prophet royal what is man that thou art mindeful of him but I may add Lord Quid est homo quod memor es ejus Ps 8.5 what is man that the Holy Trinity must have so great a love for him The Eternal Father delivers up into the hands of his mortal enemies his only and dearly beloved Son to suffer the most bitter death of the Cross for our Redemption The Son leaves unto us his Real Body and Blood under the species of Bread and Wine to comfort and strengthen our Souls against all the temptations and snares of the Devil and the Father and the Son together send us the Holy Ghost by whose grace We are made partakers of thy divine nature Divinae narurae consortes efficimur 2 Pet. 1.4 can there be imagin'd a more intense more real or more tender love then this If the right payment of love must be love and that in an equal measure too how shall we be able to requite thy love it 's altogether out of our power unless thou wilt be pleas'd to accept of our offer to have no more love but for thee no will but thine and to requite thy great love with an ardent love hereafter for all good works and a virtuous life for thou art not content we should only love thee with our tongues no thou dost reprehend those who cry unto thee Lord Lord and do not what thou commandest We must therefore love thee in all fincerity we must suffer for thee and make thee partake of all what we have that is good or may be pleasing unto thee We must love thee truly who so much loved us we must resolve to trample the world under our feet and also if occasion be to lose honour wealth and pleasures rather then decline from thy love but that we may the better perform our resolution let us know from thee O Lord what the World is and how dangerous it is to bestow our affections upon it SAVIOVR O Man thou must never repute him happy that depends upon the World for his happiness for nothing can be more preposterous then to place the good of a reasonable Creature in unreasonable things and yet as it is a common mistake to account those necessary that are superfluous so it is altogether as common with men to depend upon the World for the felicity of life which arises only from virtue There is no trusting to its smiles no more then there is to a calme at Sea which will swell and rage in a moment so that the Ships are swallow'd up at night in the very place where they sported themselves in the morning The world has the same power over Princes that it has over Empires over Nations that it has over Cities and the same power over Cities that it has over private men Where 's that Estate that may not be follow'd upon the heel with Famine and Beggery That Dignity which the next moment may not be laid in the dust that Kingdom that is secure from desolation and ruine The burning of Lyons may serve as a President to shew that nothing can be safe or stable in this World it may likewise teach men to stand upon their guard and arm themselves against all surprises The terror of it must needs be great for the calamity is almost without example If it had been fir'd by an Enemy the flame would have left some farther mischief to be done by the Soldiers but to be wholly consum'd was a prodigious accident and perhaps an Earthquake so pernicious as that was never heard of so many rarities to be destroy'd in one night and in a profound peace to suffer an outrage beyond the extremity of war who would believe it but twelve hours betwixt of fair a City and none at all It was laid in ashes in less time then it would require to tell the story That the Inhabitants should stand unshaken in such a calamity is hardly to be expected and their wonder could not but be equal to their grief This dismal accident should teach all men to provide against the possibilities that fall within the Power of so cruel an Enemy as is the World for this Tyrant having all external things under his dominion will sometimes smile at poor Silly Mortals invite them to tast of his pleasures and another while he will turn them off with a frown and destroy them with mischiefs whereof they are to seek for the Author No time place or condition is excepted from his Tyranny he makes their very pleasures painful to them and makes War upon them in the depth of Peace he turns the means of their Security into an occasion of fear he turns
extream addition to his great misfortune Augustus was a most gracious Prince when he had the power in his own hand and so careful of the welfare of his Subjects that they had no less then reason to think themselves most happy under his Government for he kept them in peace with all the World so that they could trade both far and near without any fear of being molested or their Ships in danger of being taken by any Enemy in their voyages abroad or coming home he gave them as much of their Liberty as they could reasonably expect and as much freedom and Priviledge as their hearts could desire but they ungrateful Wretches kick'd at all his kindeness and resolv'd inhumanely to rebell against him and who must be the chief head of their Faction but Cinna a man so much indebted to Augustus for his manifold favours conferr'd upon him and above all other kindnesses for giving him his life which he had before forfeited upon such another wicked action The design was laid and order'd that Cinna with two more of his Confederates should invite Augustus into his Chariot and when he was therein to deliver him unto his mortal Enemies or murther him in the very place If he had made any resistance but another circumstance which does aggravate his ingratitude to the highest pitch is that when he had one hand extended to subscribe unto this horrid Plot against his life he had another ready to receive more of his favours for at the same time Augustus made him a Consul which was an honour as he confess'd himself he durst not so much as desire What shall I say of the monstrous ingratitude of Brutus against so good a friend and Father too as Julius Caesar was to him for he was not only content to heap honours and dignities upon him but did adopt him for his own Son and Heir apparent to all his worldly wealth this so extraordinary a kindness should move the heart even of the greatest of Tyrants to lay down his life in defence of so good a friend yet it was not able to mollify the stony heart of Brutus for he was the very first that approach'd him with his naked dagger to give him his mortal wound in the very Senate-house These and several other such miscariages tarnish'd the Lustre of their glorious actions and forc'd me to remove their Empire into another Nation which is already come to be as treacherous ungrateful in a manner to me as the Romans have been one to another for I see they have combin'd with my Enemies to afflict and oppress my Members upon Earth and lessen the beauty and immunity of my Church-militant These are crimes far exceeding the falshood and treachery of the Romans because they were Heathens without any knowledge of my infinite Attributes of my Supream Majesty of my omnipotent power and also were depriv'd of the light of grace which are the eminent favours I have imparted to them but I see they turn them all to the wrong use which certainly will rise in Judgment against them in the dreadful day of my visitation But alas Interest is the only friendship of the World and where it is not to be had there 's no favour no nor common civility to be shown O Ungrateful World Woe is he that will settle his affections upon thee after all these convincing Presidents of thy most horrid baseness Now Man let me hear thee discourse of its falshood and vanities and give me an account of what my Doctors and able Divines say of it MAN O Most Gracious Saviour thou hast throughly convinc'd me of the falshood and vanitys of the World and hast said as much of its transitory pleasures as is able to breed in the hearts of all men an everlasting abhorrence of them but because thou desirest to hear what the Doctours and the able Divines of thy Church speak of 'em I will begin to relate thy beloved Disciples opinion of them he tells me in the first place 1 Joan. 2.10 11. c that whosoever hates his Brother is in Darkness and walks in darkness and knows not whether he goes because that darkness has blinded his eyes and this I think is sufficient to restrain the malice hatred and mortal animosities which Christians have one against another In the second place he earnestly intreats us all not to love the World neither the things that are in great esteem with the World and the reason he gives for it is that if any love the world or its allurements the love of thy Celestial Father is not in his heart for all that is in the World is the Lust of the flesh the lust of the eyes and the pride of life with their attendants and several branches which thy Father hates mortally and therefore if We pretend to be of the happy number of his Children We must be of his minde and declare by our actions the mortal hatred we bear them and especially because the World passes away and the lust thereof but he that does thy will which is the same with that of thy Father abides for ever To begin with the lust of the flesh I must speak of the pleasures of the Palate which is one of the most dangerous branches thereof for it deals with us like the Egiptian Thieves that Strangle those they imbrace I must confess that I am amaz'd to hear of the Luxury of Nomentanus and Apicius that entertain'd their very Souls in the Kitchen they had the choicest musick for their ears the most diverting spectacles for their eyes the choicest variety of meats and drinks for their Palates and what was all that but a merry madness 'T is true they had their delights but not without heavy and anxious thoughts even in their very enjoyments besides that they are follow'd with repentance and their very frolieks are little more then the laughter of so many people out of their Wits Their felicities are full of disquiet and neither sincere nor well grounded but they have need of one pleasure to support another and of new prayers to forgive the errors of their former Their life must needs be wretched that get with great pains what they keep with greater One diversion overtakes another hope excites hope Ambition begets ambition so that they only change the matter of their miseries without feeling any end of them and shall never be without prosperous or unhappy causes of disquiet What if a body might have all the pleasures in the world for the asking who would so much unman himself as by accepting of them to desert his Soul and become a perpetual Slave to his Senses Those false and miserable Palates that Judge of meats by the price and difficulty not by the healthfulness and tast they vomit that they may eat and they eat that they may fetch it up again They cross the Seas for rarities and when they have swallow'd them they will not so much as give them leave to
a horse we take off his cloths and his trappings and examin his shape and body for fear of being cozen'd And shall we put an estimate upon a man for being set off by his fortune and quality nay if we see any thing of ornament about him we are to suspect him the more for some infirmity under it He that is content in Poverty would not be so neither in Plenty for the fault is not in the thing but in the minde It 's therefore thy Apostle writing to Timothy says command the Rich of this World not to be high-minded nor place their considence in the uncertainty of their Riches Divitibus hujus mundi praecipe non sublime sapere neque sperare in incerto divitiarum 1 Tim. 17. Non proderunt divitiae indie ultionis Pro. 11.4 Divitiarumjactantia quid nobis contulit Sap. 5. Dormierunt somnum suum nihil in venerunt omnes viri divitiarum in manibus suis Psa 75.6 and the ground of his Precept is that Riches shall not profit a man in the day of revenge nor rescue him from the rigour of thy Justice in the day of his death if his sins have put him out of thy favour this the wicked Rich themselves confess tho' too late being already condemn'd to live in torments for an Eternity what has the bravery of our Riches avail'd us nothing at all but have rather increas'd our misery because we made thereof our Gods upon Earth tho' we were often told of their vanity and how they could never afford their Masters any comfort or ease when they were in most need of their help The Royal Prophet seems to commiserate their deplorable condition where he says Alas the Rich men have slept out their sleep and have found nothing in their hands People in their sleep will dream of Mountains of Gold and Silver and think themselves rich for ever but when they awake they finde they are altogether in as bare a condition as before this is the case with the rich whilst they are in this life they do imagine themselves Rich for ever and that their vast treasures will bear them up in all necessitys that shall occur but when they open their eyes in the hour of death they see then that they must depart for another World with as little provision as the poorest beggar in nature I can't but smile to hear the Prophet Baruch laugh at such People where are they now says he those great Estated men those mercenary Judges those deluding Lawyers those flie Attornys those greedy and covetous Merchants those insatiable Usurers that heap'd up such a vast deal of gold silver and that never desisted gathering together Alas they are rooted out of the World cast down into Hell-sire And therefore says St James now ye rich men weep and wail Jacob. 5.1 2 3. c. and howl for your miseries that come upon you now your riches are rotten and your gold and silver is rusty and the rust thereof shall be in testimony against you It shall feed upon your flesh as if it were fire you have hoorded up wrath to your own selves in the last day Tho' he is an Apostle that speaks yet his words are the very dictates of the holy Ghost whereby we may easily conceive the dangerous consequence of worldly wealth and the main folly of them that labour so much to procure the same by injustice and other indirect means and when they are masters of them do not imploy them to the advantage of their Souls but lay out all to support their grandeur and satisfy their Lust I am certain that if an Assembly of the most able physitians of the World had met to determine whether such or such meats were dangerous to feed upon and that they should all conclude they were absolute poyson to the body few or none at all would hazard his health to eat thereof tho' otherwise in sight smell and tast they appear'd sweet and most pleasant And shall not the unanimous votes of all the Saints in Heaven and of all the Catholike Doctors on Earth together with thy most holy and urgent admonitions O Lord be able to remove the disordinate love which mortals bear to this most dangerous Soul-killing vanity Thou sayst by thy Prophet to all mankind Divitiae si affluant nolite cor apponere Psa 61. Qui diligit aurum non justificabitur Eccl. 31. Zacha. 1. set not your hearts upon the love of Riches and why the wise make them this answer because whoever loves Gold that is beyond the precept shall never be justifi'd and thou sayst thy self that thy indignation and wrath shall fall very heavy upon rich nations There 's nothing so often repeated in Scripture as a Woe to the Rich and thou dost confirm it thy self with that usual affirmation Amen Amen I say unto you that a Rich man shall hardly enter into the Kingdom of Heaven Matth. 19. What an extream folly it is then to seek so much after so poisonous a bait as are Earthly Riches which may perhaps afford some little comfort to their owners in this World but with an absolute exclusion from the everlasting pleasures of thy kingdom Woe be to you Rich men for that you have receiv'd your consolation in this life so that in the other you are not to expect any Sad news indeed for the Rich and able to settle in their hearts a perpetual abhorrence against so fatal an enemy to the Salvation of their Souls This expression I fear will not at all rellish with many of our Worldlings who account Riches to be their dearest and only Friend nay had I said their God it would not be contrary to truth for their hearts are more enamour'd with them then they are with thee O Lord tho' thou hast deposited thy sweet life to ransom their Souls from the power of Hell Qui volunt divites fieri incident in tettuionem in laqueum Diaboli defideria malta inutilia nociva quae mergunt homines in interitum perdidonem 1 Tim. 6.9 and Death everlasting And yet if St. Paul may be credited they are grosly mistaken and wide from the mark they aim at for where they expect their consolation and pleasure they meet with their eternal destruction and sorrow for He says that they which will be rich do fall into temptations and into the Snares of Satan as also into many unprofitable hurtful desires which do drown them in the Abiss of destruction and Woe Their main objection to this doctrine is what shall become of our Wives and Children if we be not careful to provide a maintenance for them that they may live in the World with as much splendour as the dignity of their condition requires But the Wife man gives them a satisfactory answer in my minde and a notable check to boot for he calls them fools and besides he tells them in plain terms that their great care
and labour which they take to provide so amply for their Wives and Children is sinful and therefore will create an eternal displeasure to their poor Souls This is confirm'd by the Parable which thou didst rehearse of the Rich-man who said what must I do for I have no place vacant wherein to bestow my Fruits and he said this will I do Lac. 12.20 I will demolish my Barns and erect greater and in them will I bestow all my Fruits and my Goods And then I will say to my Soul Soul thou hast much wealth laid up for many years take now thine ease Eat Drink and be merry And did not God say unto him thou Fool this night thy Soul shall be requir'd of thee then whose shall those things be which thou hast provided So He that impiously or immoderatly lays up treasure for himself his Wife and Family expecting to enjoy it many years deserves the same title and may as suddenly be disappointed because he had improv'd his own Stock and rob'd God his heavenly King of his Custom that is He never according to his capacity bestow'd any part of his treasure in pious works as Gods law doth require And indeed if this be well consider'd We shall finde it an excessive folly and maddness too What can it be term'd else to damn ones Soul to leave ones Wife and Children rich in the world This is certainly the height of madness and a meer delusion of the Devil for one moment after We are dead We shall care no more for all our Kindred then we shall for strangers and one penny given in Alms while we liv'd for thy sake O Lord shall bring us more comfort at that day then thousands of pounds bestow'd even upon our nearest Relations to make them rich It is of such People that the Prophet Royal speaks Universa vanitas omnis homo viveâ—s Psal 39. where he says that all their actions are nothing but meer vanity for what greater vanity is there then to bequeath such vast Sums of Gold and Silver to their own kindred and leave in a manner nothing for the good of their immortal Souls Vae vobis qui trahitis iniquitatem in funiculis vanitatis Esai 56. Were we to go a long journey We would be sure to carry some provision with us for to support our bodys and We shall take no care for our Souls when they are in their departing Agony ready to begin that painful and frightful voyage of Eternity Surely such men walk unprofitably certainly they are disquieted in vain they heap up Riches and know not who shall enjoy them their life is a gathering of all kinde of vansty vanity in ambition vanity in Riches vanity in pleasures vanity in their corporal beauty vanity in their Apparel vanity in all things which they most esteem vanity in all their life vanity in their death In fine vanity in their last Will and Testament wherein their noblest part the Soul has the least share Woe be unto you says the Prophet Psal 3. that do draw wickedness in the ropes of vanity of promotion of dignity of Nobility c. these are the ropes he means and which do always drag with them a vast croud of iniqnity and Sin Thou hast O Lord a mortal hatred for the observers of superfluous vanitys 1 Reg. 17. and thou hast utterly destroy'd the whole Family and Linage of Baasa King of Israel for no other reason but because they had provok'd thee in their vanity Blessed then is that man who has not suffer'd his heart to be seduc'd with the vanity and false madness of this World Beatus vir qui non respexit in vanitates insanias falsas Psal of this Vale of tears of this deplorable banishment of this boisterous Sea so full of disasters that there 's not a day nor an hour nor a moment of our life but is attended with some misfortune or another the best Arithmetician that ever took pen in hand cannot exactly set down or calculate milerys that are incident to humane nature no tongue is able to express the manifold infirmitys of our Bodys the passions of our Souls all the affronts and injurys we receive as well from Friends as from our Foes all the tribulations and crosses that are laid upon us daily both at home and abroad This Man commences a Law-suit against us without either Equity or Justice but meerly for spite and Malice another lys in wait for us to take away our lives a third man will make it his study to blast our reputation Some are in open wars one with th' other others more subtile will bear their neighbours a mortal grudge but will make no shew of it until they meet with a favourable occasion to execute their malice Da mihi in disco caput Joannis Baptistae Matt. 14.8 the hatred of Herodias against St. John the Baptist was not publickly known to the world until she had perswaded her Daughter to ask no greater favour of Herod then to give her in a dish the head of so renown'd a Prophet and of so glorious a Martyr Some to be reveng'd of their Brothers if they can't annoy their Persons will not scruple to produce false witness to criminate them and be themselves of the number too others will make it their whole business to trot up and down like so many infernal Emissaries and publish wherever they go as well the private as the publick imperfections of this or that other body even as they do maliciously and falsely surmise and will never revoke what they had tax'd him with tho' they were even upon the borders of Hell ready to be cast therein both Soul and body so great is the malice of such desperate and unchristian Sonls There are besides thefe usual calamities an infinite number of others that are nameless because they be sudden and unexpected chances one loses an eye in a Skirmish another his arm one gets a fall from his horse and breaks his neck another in a frantick fit flings himself out of a Window and is bruis'd to death a Third man falls into a Pool or a River and is drown'd If all the Writers of this Sinful Age We live in had taken an exact account from every particular man within the same Century of what distasters had happen'd to him in his life they would certainly have matter enough to fill as many volumes as they have hairs on their heads and if all the merry passages sad rencounters that every individual man had met with in his days were put in a balance the latter would much overweigh the former so he would visibly see that for one hour of pleasure true content he had in his life he met with a hundred of misery of tribulation and anguishes now if the life of Man which is so short be intermix'd with fuch a vast deal of sorrow what a small parcel thereof can pretend to any real felicity if
such a thing may be expected in this World But all those calamities I now have mention'd are common as well to the good as to the bad Lassati sumus in via iniquitatis perditionis ambulavimus vias difficiles viam autem domini ignoravimus Sap. 5. because they both sail in the same Sea and are both likewise expos'd to the self-same fortune yet I can demonstrate many other miseries which are peculiar to the wicked alone and these are not improperly term'd the Daughters of iniquity whose description will be much to our present purpose because they render the life of the wicked most abominable and their body and minde both subject to a multitude of miseries Hear what they themselves do confess of them Alas say they we have wearied our selves in the way of iniquity and perdition We have walk'd in most difficult and sinister paths during our whole lives for We know nothing of the way of the Lord by this their own discourse we may very well conclude that even as the Just enjoy a kind of Paradise here upon Earth and do expect a far more happy one in the other life so the wicked have in this World their Hell to which a far more intollerable shall succeed in th' other for evil Consciences proceed from Hell without doubt and they steer their course directly to the same Haven where they shall be tormented eternally And their products have proportionable evils deriv'd from several causes some of them are the effects of thy Justice O Lord for thou art a most just Judge in all thy proceedings sometimes thou dost order the sin to be punish'd as soon as committed and tho' thou dost usually reserve the punishment thereof to the other life yet the wicked are very often afflicted even in this life for the same 'T is most certain that as thou dost govern the whole World with a general providence thou dost also moderate every particular therein with a peculiar Providence so that as the number of our Sins does increase our Punishments shall be multipli'd to the same degree This we know by our many and fatal experiences for what were all our disasters hitherto as so many Revolutions of Government such vast alterations and changes in matters of State and Religion the various fortune of so many Kings and Princes Such horrid disloialty in Subjects to their lawful Sovereigns so many stupendious and destructive Famines and Conflagrations such inhumane and bloudy Wars so many pestilential Distempers such cruel Murthers so many private and publick dissentions and jars They were certainly the just punishments of our manifold and most grevious offences to make good what I say that the punishment immediately follows the sin I produce what thou O Lord saidst to Cain for a confirmation Nonne si bene egeris recipies si autem male statim in foribus peccatum aderit Gen. 7. Deut. 7. If thou dost well shalt thou not be accepted but If thou dost ill Sin lieth at thy door that is to say the pain and punishment of the Sin is at hand and Moises in thy name says as much to the People of Israel know then that the Lord thy God he is God the faithful God which keeps Covenant and Mercy with them that love him and keep his Commandments to a thousand Generations and repays them that hate him to their face to destroy them He will not be slack to him that hates him he will repay him to his face This word Statim so often repeated in Scripture and which signifies a quick return assures me that besides the punishments thon hast reserv'd for the wicked in th' other World thou hast also some in store whereby to chastise them even in this life immediately after the transgression of thy Law So that as often as they fall into Sin so often they feel the heavy weight of thy just indignation they are tost from one misery into another from one tribulation they fall into another this day brought to the bar for their misdemeanours to morrow condemn'd to dye and the next day shamefully put to death without making any reflection upon what might be the fatal cause of their great misfortune For they do not believe the goods of nature to be thy benefits and consequently not deserving their thanksgiving for them neither do they impute their punishment to thy Wrath nor as laid upon them by thy appointment and this blindness it is which prevents the amendment of their lives If there were no other evil in the World then the afflictions and miseries which attend our bodys it were not so much to be hated neither should our fear be so great to trade and converse therein but seeing our correspondence and freedom with it is so pernicions to our Souls also which ought to be the subject of our greatest care as being the principal part of our essence Pluet super peccatores laqueos Psal 10.6 and a precious depositum whereof We must give a strict account to thee O Lord We are necessarily in all reason oblig'd to estrange our selves from it and more especially for fear to be intangl'd in its Snares which are so numerous that the Prophet says of thee upon the wicked thon shalt rain Snares O what an unspeakable number of snares must be in the world then since they are compared to the drops of Rain that fall from Heaven and they must fall upon Sinners too because they of all men have the least care of their hearts of their senses and consciences they are the least solicitons to avoid the occasions of Sin and the least concern'd for Spiritual Remedys so that being intimately acquainted with the World they can't avoid falling into these Snares which come like Rain upon Sinners O Lord thou dost pour down Snares upon Youth Snares upon old Age there are Snares in every state and condition Snares in Riches Snares in Poverty Snares in Honours Snares in opprobrys Snares in Frindship Snares in the Society of Men as well as in the company of Women Snares in the Solitary Wilderness Snares in Prosperity Snares in Adversity Snares in all our senses In fine the Prophet crys out Snares upon all the Inhabitants of the Earth O Lord hadst thou vouchsaf'd to open our eyes as thou didst those of blessed St. Anthony Athanas. in vita St. Antony We should see how the whole World is spread over with Snares and so close that they touch one another and we would also admire as he did that any one should escape what wonder is it then that so many Souls should perish dayly and that St. Bernard should fay of ten Souls that flote upon the tempestious Sea of this World scarce one shall be fav'd and who shall not hate so dangerous a World who should not fear to live in so dreadful a place who will not strive with all his might and skill to avoid those Snares who will dare go bare-foot among so many Serpents
and without Arms among so many Enemies who will believe himself secure among so many occasions of Sin or who will be so desperate as to cohabit with so many mortal infirmities without a Doctor or his prescription to preserve him from falling into one or several of those distempers who will not use all his Endeavours to get out of this Egipt out of this land of darkness out of this Babilonish Slavery who will not ardently desire to be set at liberty out of the scorching flames of this World which do as often provoke thee O Lord to resolve upon our utter destruction as the wickedness of Sodom and Gomorha did solicit thee to so dreadful a chastisement as theirs was Since that the World is so replenish'd with dangerous Snares design'd to intangle our poor Souls therein and send them Prisoners to the dark dungeon of Hell and withall We meet every where with a Precipiece the very flames of vice have in a great measure deform'd tho beauty of our Souls already who will then think himself safe to live any longer in a place so throng'd with mortall Enemies The Wise man sets us this Question Prov. 6. can a man take fire in his bosom and his cloths not by burnt or can one go upon hot Coals and his feet not be burnt He that will handle Pitch Eccle. 13. says another can't be free from a spot no more can a Man that is always conversant with the Proud be exempt from Pride and this is the case of all us poor Mortals for We can't expect to live in the World among so many Snares Aliquando incidam vna die in manum Sauli nonne melius est ut sugiam salver 1 Reg. 27.1 and Ambushes without falling into them frequently David was cruelly persecuted by Saul and often in danger of his sweet life which made him take a firm resolution to avoid his company and never to come into his sight for says he if I do not take this course and secure my life by flying from the danger I shall certainly one time or other fall into his hands let us make use of the same means to secure our Souls from the World and from all it 's false allurements let us fly from them or at least if We be so far ingag'd therein that we can't avoid it let us be sure to give it no place in our hearts which ought to be wholly consecrated to thee O Lord who alone deservest it intirely to thy self without any Rival for thou dost love us still tho' We continue to be thy Enemies and desires only a grateful return of love from us that we may be made happy for ever In our Baptism We gave thee admittance into our hearts with a promise to be faithful to thee hereafter thou art ready to take possession thereof and to adorn it with all thy holy Graces and favours certainly we must be hard-hearted indeed if we refuse so favourable a motion from so good and so gracious a Saviour I am consident thy endearing words and most loving expressions will even force our consent to so charming a request and the rather that it is to our great advantage and the eternal Salvation of our Souls Speak then O Lord for We shall all hear thee and will by the assistance of thy Grace perform what ever thou wilt command us to do SAVIOVR O Man the greatness of my Paternal Providence for mankinde in general and the excess of my love for those among them that are my faithful Servants should win the hearts even of the most obstinate and most rebellious that ever were heard of nay it should force them to pay me that small tribute I only require at their hands which is to love me with all their hearts and to fulfill my commands with the most tender affection of a most dutiful and obedient Servant For the love I bear them does far exceed that of all worldly Fathers to their Children and the care I take to provide for them is altogether as great as my love What Father was ever known to shed his blood for his children as I have done for mine or give that attendance to his Children as I give to mine I am both day and night present with them to protect and defend them from all accidents I stand by them in all their tribulations to comfort them and so temper their afflictions that their extremity make them not despair the Prophet Royal was sensible of the great care I take of my Children in their afflictions by this I know Psal 40.11 12. says he that thou favourest me because thou dost not suffer mine Enemy to triumph over me thou upholdest me in my integrity and settest me in thy sight for ever So great is my love for my beloved Children that I never remove my eyes from off them There 's no better testimony then that of a man who knows what is said to be true by his own experience my Prophet can give thee a true account of my ardent love for those that are so happy as to be of the number of my Children and Favourites and therefore I would have thee to hear what he says of me and to fix thy self upon his undeniable deposition behold says he the eyes of the Lord is upon them that fear him and upon them that hope in his mercy to deliver their Souls from Death The eyes of the Lord are upon the Righteous and his ears are open unto their cry But the face of the Lord is against them that do evil to cut off the remembrance of them from the Earth The Righteous cry and the Lord hears and delivers them out of all their troubles The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart and saves such as be of a contrite Spirit Many are th' afflictions of the Righteous but the Lord delivers him out of them all Psa 30.18 Psa 34.15 But evil shall slay the wicked and they that hate the Righteous shall be desolate Whereas the Lord shall redeem the Souls of his own true Servants and Children and none of all them that place their trust and put their confidence in him shall ever perish The greatest treasure that a Christian Man should wish to enjoy in this World is the love and Providence of God the more he knows them and the surer he is of their enjoyment the greater should be his comfort and confidence in the same God Thou must know O man that the testimonies of Scripture relating to the promises I give unto the Faithfull of my love Eccle. 15 20.34 19. my care and protection of them are so many authentick Evidences and ratifications of the same that they are no more to be question'd then is the last Will and Testament of a dying man which none ought to mistrust of falshood Hear then and take great notice of what the wise say of my great love and care for Men. The eyes of the
even as a mist is better seen at a distance then close by it It 's therefore that virtuous and godly men have an absolute abhorrence of it because that in their eminent Station they have a ful prospect of all its vanitys but whosoever has any commerce with it the first entertainment he is to expect is to be led blindfold with the prosperity thereof that he may not see the misery of his own condition nor the way to better himself in this case the world deals with his silly followers even as the Raven does with the poor innocent Sheep the first thing he does before he tramples on his back is to strike out his eyes that he may not see the way to escape his tyranny This is exactly the world's practise no sooner has he bereft his poor wretched Citizen of his Spiritual Sight Matth. 4. and put him in that distress'd condition that he knows not how to judge between good and evil vanity and verity true and false pleasures but he works him asleep bindes him sweetly and deceives him pleasantly torments him in great peace and rest gives him a Proud Spirit which shall place him upon the Pinacle of greedy Ambition and thence shews him all his alluring dignitys and charming Preferments The Worlds projects do not end thus He has his deceitful Merchants that when they make sale of their Cloth and other goods shew the first and last part of them but will not admit the buyer to view search and see throughly lest he should discover the cheat He has several hundreds of false Prophets at his command to flatter and divert him as they did Achab from hearing Michael's counsel 1 Reg. 22. or taking any notice of the torments of his Conscience that tells him of the dangerous state of his deluded Soul He has a thousand slie and cunning fishers that will lay pleasant baits to draw him into further mischief He has a thousand times more Strumpets of Babylon at his pleasure then Solomon had of Queens and Concubines Apoc. 17. and these he imploys to present him provoking liquours out of their golden Cups But alas 't is a draught of deadly poison to their Souls Jud. 4. He has at every door of his enchanted Pallace an alluring Jael to entice him to take off his fatal delights and pleasures each of them having their hammer nails to drive through his brains when he is in a fast sleep 2. Reg. 1. He has also a flattering Joab in every corner ready to imbrace him with one arm and murther him with the other Matth. 24. and a false Judas likewise to give him a kiss betray him at the same time to such enemies as will take delight to torment him O my Soul Jo. 21. let us fly with all speed from so perfidious so pernicious and so dangerous an Enemy for if We should love him he will hate us if we should put our confidence in him he will certainly deceive us If we should serve him he will afflict us if we should honour him he will debase us if we should be of his faction he will undoubtedly damn us In fine if We should be so enamour'd with the World as to love and adore it more then God himself should we make our selves his absolute slaves to be the more in his favour he will certainly prove another Nabal to us at the fag end of our mortal life and give us the same answer and the same entertainment as he gave to David and to his Servants that is 1 Reg. 25. to send us into the next world with a surly kick for all our pains taken in his Service and with a who is David or who is the Son of Jesse that I should know him Let us therefore my Soul take notice of Davids advice to all mortals and look upon the World hereafter not only as a lyer but a meer Impostor let us then fly from all it's pleasures and treasures and principally because thou hast O Lord Psal 4. Matth. 3. Grego hom 5 in Evang. call'd them thorns as indeed they are for even as a Man when he is cast naked among thorns can't chuse but have his body rent and torn and made bloody So any worldly mans Soul harrass'd with the manifold cares and thoughts of heaping up wealth must be strangely perplex'd with the restless pricking of the same neither can she be free from mortal wounds having so many strong temptations and pressing allurements to bring her to Sin We have a vulgar story whose moral part shews that Riches cannot be possess'd without anxiety and great care A certain man of a mecanick calling having nothing to support himself and family but what he purchas'd by his honest labour liv'd notwithstanding very merrily and urter'd dayly so many pleasant strains as evidently avere the products of a minde not only easy contented but void of all tormenting care This being observ'd by an Usurer a dayly witness of his poor but happy life that was not a little amaz'd to see him so necessitous and withal so merry he resolv'd to try whether mony would allay or increase his mirth And thereupon convey'd a hundred pound into his homely habitation really thinking that Sum would augment the poor mans mirth to excess but the conclusion was directly opposite to his expectation the man quits his business is imploy'd in counting his new-found treasure he sung no more that day nor did the night give him any rest only the opportunity to muse more deliberately how he should dispose of his Cash a thousand projects present themselves either to inlarge his shop or to take a whole house and to improve his wealth by letting of lodgings now he was for purchasing a spot of ground to build upon and immediately for putting it to interest in order to prefer his Children in the morning he returns to his usual business but 't was so heavily and with so dejected a countenance that his neighbours admir'd at the sudden change of the man and ask'd him what he ail'd and what the cause might be that interrupted them the hearing his delightful and merry voice that morning above all others among the rest the Usurer came to see him hearing what moan his neighbours made for his so sudden melancholiness he beg'd their excuse expressing himself sorry that the man had lost his mirth that was so recreative and pleasant to them demanding withal his bag of mony which he left there the day before what said the poor man does that treasure belong to you why then take it in Gods name for had it stay'd longer with me I should certainly have run mad No sooner was he quit of his Mammon but he clear'd his brows tun'd his voice and return'd to his business merry notes This is an argument that Riches bring trouble and affliction with them Eccl. 1 2 3 4. Phil. 4. and Solomon the wisest of men
confirms it and St. Paul avers that where the love of Riches is once settl'd the peace of God is utterly excluded and this is a greater loss then our understanding can comprehend in a word that man who puts his heart in his treasure has a restless Soul and this is the greatest misfortune incident to mankinde He is like a Clock which when winded up will never leave it's motion till the weights be down 't is the same with him his mind will never be at rest whilst so many cares and anxietys possess it which are to it as weights to a clock that keep it always going so when others are in their sweet repose he is breaking his brains contriving how to manage his money to the best advantage Of all the Plagues that God was pleas'd to impose upon the Egyptians for their many and grievous sins Exod. 8. that of the flys was most intollerable because they were so cruelly tormented by the very creatures they had ador'd for Gods I may say the same of worldly men that of all the Miserys and troubles which God lays upon 'em for their offences this is one of the greatest to be tormented and grievously perplex'd with the cares even of that thing which they adore as their God and in which they place their chiefest felicity And let them use all their skill to forget these cares they can't possibly expell them and this adds much to their great disaster no they will assault them in the morning and shall bear them company all day neither shall they leave them at night no they will enter the bed with 'em and deprive them of rest they shall be the subject of their dreams Qui nocte nec die non dabunt requiem Jer. 16. Quia abstuli pacem a populo isto dicit Dominus misericordiam miserationes Jer. 16. so that I may well compare them to those unmerciful Tyrants wherewith thou O Lord dost threaten the wicked by thy prophet which shall allow them no comfort or ease either night or day This is a very great affliction I confess and the only reason hereof is that thou hast taken away thy peace from so terrene a People plung'd so extreamly in their pleasures without the least care of their Souls or thought of heaven and therefore have they merited a divorce from thy mercy and a continuance of their deplorable state even without hopes of thy commiseration And really if I give credit to what the Prophet Esay says of them their condition is so bad Esai 59. that it can't be better express'd then by his own words They put their trust in things of nothing says he and do talk of vanitys They conceive labour and bring forth iniquity They break the eggs of Serpents and weave the webs of Spiders He that shall eat of their eggs shall dy and that which is hatched thence shall be a Cockatrice Their webs shall not make cloth to cover them for that their works are unprofitable and the work of iniquity is in their hands There 's not a word in all this the Prophet's description of the Rich of this World but contains a mystery by the first that they put their trust in things of nothing we may very well conceive the vanity of Riches which if enjoy'd to day to morrow they may be snatch'd from us and perhaps our lives too for lucre of them And he who takes them from us may likewise lose them soon after with the same damage if not a greater I mean his Soul's loss for ever They conceive labour O what a deal of toil do poor worldlings take to heap up treasures how many perilous voiages to the East and West-Indies how many tedious journeys by land to this and that other Fair how many dangers of being rob'd and of losing their lives too Day and night they are afraid of Thieves nay they dare not trust their own Servants no nor their Wives with the keys of their treasures for fear they should rob them of their money and if any thereof be taken away O what an angry countenance will he put on what curses what Imprecations will he make What a consternation will the whole Family be in every one striving to clear himself will make his earnest Address to the Conjurer and as he is apt to tell lyes being so great a familiar with Lucifer he may make the innocent criminal and the criminal innocent for with him favour goes by bribing and he that gives him most shall have his best word tho' he were the greatest Knave in the whole Pack this is the labour now let us hear th'Iniquity it brings forth is there not a wo pronounc'd to them which draw iniquity with the ropes of vanity The same Prophet says that they break the Eggs of Serpents Pliny the naturalist tells us and our own experience confirms it that the bird which sits upon the eggs of a Serpent by breaking and hatching them brings forth a venemous brood that will most certainly be the utter destruction of her self 'T is even so with a man that sits as it were in brood upon his Riches and does affect them overmuch they will certainly be the death of his Soul and in the interim will make him a most miserable wretch whilst he lives in this World always in fear of losing them for they are as apt to change Masters as the Spiders web is to be broken with the least puff of Wind this wants no confirmation for the man in the Gospel ratifys it who with excessive care and labour had gather'd so vast a quantity of Riches that he was forc'd to pull down his old barns and build new to lay them in and when that was done he bids his Soul enjoy her self being really perswaded he should live splendidly and fare sumptuously upon them many years but his Soul was snatch'd that very night from him and all his great preparations were useless to him This inconstancy of Worldly wealth occasion'd the said prophet to say that the webs of those weavers shall not make cloth to cover them withal nor shall their works be profitable to them and that none but the works of Iniquity should remain in their hands whereby he lets us know that whoever loves and follows these vanitys shall certainly load his Soul with so great a burthen of iniquity that he will sink into the very lowest Hell where those who had glutted themselves with the World's pleasures delights shall be grievously tormented and then they will know that their riches were thorns indeed that not only rent their hearts in this World but will wound their Souls eternally in the other These thoughts are now far from their minds but when their glass is spent that grim Death appears unto them O how bitter will the remembrance thereof be unto those men that have plac'd all their happiness in Riches What a grief was it to Alexander the great O Mors quam
judge of thy Charity by thy behaviour to thy Christian Religious Brethren I shall find thee altogether an Alien to it for 't is said in Scripture 1 Cor. 13.1 2 3 4. c. tho' I speak with the tongues of Men and Angels and have not Charity I am become as sounding Brass or a tinkling Symbal And tho' I have the gift of Prophesy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge and tho' I have all Faith so as to remove Mountains and have no Charity I am nothing And tho' I bestow all my goods to feed the Poor and tho' I give my body to be burnt and have no Charity it profits nothing Charity suffers long and is kind Charity Envys not Charity extols not it self is not puffed up does not behave it self unseemly seeks not her own is not easily provok'd thinks not evil rejoyces not in Iniquity but rejoyces in the Truth bears all things hopes all things endures all things This is a rule which St. Paul leaves unto all mortals whereby they may easily conceive whether they be in Charity with all men or not And St. James says if one fulfils the whole Law and yet offends in one point Jacob. 2.10 he is guilty of all This is thy case O man if thou hast Charity for all and withdraws it from one Brother thou hast none either for God or for thy Neighbour no nor for thy self for thou art void of Charity in all respects and as it is impossible thou shouldst be grateful to God without Faith so it is altogether impossible thou shouldst be pleasing to him whilst thou art not in Charity with thy Christian or Religious Brother St. St. Augu. Ser. 20. de verb Dom. Augustin gives this reason for it as the Church of God is grounded by Faith and rais'd by hope so she receives her perfection and complement by Charity alone A wholesome Advise to all Mankind O Man entertain thy self frequently with these Considerations The Conclusion and with the good Instructions which I have given thee in this Book for they are sufficient to move the most obstinate and the most Rebellious of Sinners to a true repentance Remember that it is not enough to be well grounded in thy Faith no thou must be also well vers'd in the Maxims and practices of a Christian life Suffer not thy Mind to be corrupted with the fallacys of the World which will easily deprave as well all thy Actions as thy whole life This was the charge which the Prophet gave to the Jews in their Babilonish captivity Baruch 6.3 You will see says he in Babilon Idols of Gold and Silver carri'd upon Mens shoulders to cause a terrour and respect in their Spectatours but beware you do not adore them with others When you shall see multitudes of People coming in great troops from all parts to adore them say in your heart O Lord thou alone art he who ought to be ador'd I say the same unto thee O man Thou wilt see many in the World adoring Idols that is Pleasures Vanitys Riches Gold and Silver the Flesh and their Passions thou wilt see there that Vice is in great request and highly honour'd and that Virtue is depress'd nay 't is a ridiculous thing in the opinion of Worldlings Thou wilt hear there such Maxims as were never taught in any University but that of the Reprobates whose chief President is the Devil that sits night and day in the chair of pestilence uttering his infernal dictates and dispatching his hellish Agents to disperse them in the World but be thou careful whom thou conversest with and be more wary in choosing thy Company then thy victuals for the worst of this can but anoy thy Body whereas the worst of that will certainly destroy thy Soul But to animate thy self against all evil occurrences let the true Maxims of Christianity be always in thy memory and let the Eternal Veritys thou hast heard from me in this Treatise be the dayly subject of thy serious Meditations have recourse to them when thou art assaulted with the World 's nefarious Allurements and to the end they may serve as certain Rules for the future conduct of thy life and conversation peruse them very often and with the greatest devotion and attention possible If thou shalt faithfully observe what I here prescribe unto thee thou wilt move me to give thee further Instructions in the Second part of this Book In the mean time the Grace of God shall not be wanting to assist thee in performing thy duty to me as well as to thy Neighbours in as ample a manner as it is here set down Thy immediate compliance will contribute largely to the eternal hapiness of thy Soul and therefore I give thee the same advice that I gave St. Augustin which was a happy beginning to his most happy Conversion Tolle Lege Perfice Take Read and practise punctually what thou readest Soli Deo honor gloria FINIS