better the grievousness thereof SInce it is most certain that the best way to know a cause is to consider its effects doubtless the best means to discover the grievousness of Mortal Sin is to reflect on the Sad effects which followed from it We have said before that we could not perfectly know Sin in it self because it is the Supreme evil which is infinite no more then we can understand in it self the Supreme and Sovereign good which is God. But as by the effects which we see of his Power of his Wisdom of his Goodness we arrive at some knowledge of God So on the Contrary we may find out in some sort the heinousness of Sin if we do but consider attentively the Dreadful effects it causes and the horrible misfortunes which it carries with it And all these effects are as so many Powerfull motives of Contrition to make us detest and abhor Sin. To discover it the better we shall observe some order and search for it in several places viz. in our selves in Heaven in Hell in God himself and in his Son Jesus Christ ARTICLE I. Of the death of the Soul or the sad effects which Sin produceth in his Soul who commits it I Begin with the Death of the Soul because this is the first effect which Sin produceth as soon as ever is is committed Peccatum cum consummatum fuerit generat mortem Jac. 1. And I would to God it were as sensible as it is real and that those who are so unfortunate as to fall into Mortal Sin might exactly know the greatness of the evil which thereby they draw upon themselves as really in it self it is and resent it as it deserves It is for this reason that I desire to explicate it unto you and make you understand it Sin then saith the Scripture is no sooner finished but immediately it causeth Death It 's certain that it is not the death of the Body for a man doth not dye in the moment he hath committed it It is then the death of the Soul a thousand times more dreadfull then that of the Body for this doth but separate the Soul from the Body but the Death which is caused by Sin is a Separation of the Soul from God who is a Supernatural Life as St. Aug. saith vita corporis anima est vita animae Deus est And as this life which God gives the Soul is infinitely more estimable then that which the Soul confers upon the Body which it animates so the Death which causeth the loss of that Divine Life is infinitely more dreadfull and Lamentable then naturall Death To understand this well you must know what God hath reveal'd and we believe concerning a Soul which hath the Blessing to be in the State of the Grace of God And it is this when God receives a Soul into his Friendship he Cloathes her with the Robe of Sanctifying Grace a supernatural and Divine quality which cleanseth the Soul from all the spots of Sin and renders her agreeable to the eyes of God. And at the same moment he replenisheth her with Divine gifts as Faith Hope Charity and other Christian Virtues Then by the means of that Grace God dwells in that Soul after a particular manner he makes her his Temple and Habitation where he is pleased to be adored and loved by the Souls that possess him Lastly he interchangeably communicates himself unto her filling her with his holy Spirit and Divine Inspirations All these truths are drawn from the express words of the Sacred Scripture As from that where God promises That he will pour upon us a clean water which will cleanse us from all our stains Ezek. 36. This water is Sanctifying Grace From that where he saith That the Charity of God is poured into our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us Rom. 5. That we are the Temples of the Living God and that the Spirit of God doth dwell in us 1. Cor. 3. from those words where our Saviour saith If any one love me he will keep my word and my Father will love him and we will come to him and make our Dwelling with him Joh. 14. From those words of St. John. God is Charity and he who remains in Charity remains with God and God with him 1. Joh. 4. There are a great number of the like passages which clearly represent unto us the state of a Soul Sanctifyed by Grace and the great happiness she enjoys in that condition wherein she possesses God himself and is possessed by him Now all this felicity is constant and permanent as to what relates to God whose gifts are without repentance as the Scripture saith only the Soul can deprive her self of and destroy in her self this happiness This misfortune befalls us when forgetfull of the infinite blessing we possess and permitting our selves to be surprized by the allurements of Sin we break that happy League and Alliance which God had made with us And this we do by a criminal disobedience whereby we incur the displeasure of God and lose in a moment all those inestimable goods which before we happyly enjoyed O God Theotime who can worthily express the dreadfull misfortune which happens to a Soul by one mortal sin and paint to the life the deplorable state to which it is reduced in the moment she offends in which the Soul in that very instant is deprived of the grace of God and of one beautifull and as an Angel in his sight becomes as hideous and hatefull as a Devil Quomodo obscuratum est aurum mutatus est color optimus Thren 4. Is there any subject where we may more sitly apply those dolefull words of Jeremy how comes it to pass that this Soul should be so defaced what is become of that grace which made her more bright then gold how is that divine beauty changed into so hideous a form It is an effect of the divine Anger which hath justly fill'd that Soul with cloudy darkness which before had unjustly banisht the light of Grace But that which is most to be lamented is that that Soul which formerly had the honour to be employ'd as the Temple of God now sees her self rejected by him with horrour and detestation and the Holy Ghost retired from her having abandoned her to be the dwelling-place of the Devil according to that sentence of the same Prophet repulit Dominus Altare suum maledixit sanctificationi suae God hath rejected his Altar and laid a curse upon the place where he was adored and sanctified Thren 2. Is it possible Theotime that you can read these words without trembling if you are in the state of Mortal Sin It is this forsaking of God and this loss of his grace which properly causes the death of the Soul infinitely more to be feared then that of the Body forasmuch as by the death of the body we are only deprived of the presence of the Soul death being only a separation of the Soul from
and not perfected do not conduce at all to the Salvation of the wicked no more then the first motions to evil do render good and Virtuous Souls culpable in the sight of God. This Animadversion deserves to be well considered and so much the more for that it remarks a very particular reason of the false repentance which is customary to those who do not at all amend then Lives viz. that it often happens they have only a beginning of repentance by some good motions they seel in their heart without proceeding further They conceive indeed some disple sure against their Sins but not a perfect hatred and detestation of them they feel some faint desires but they have not at all an entire and true resolution to forsake them There is yet one thing more very remarkable in this Advertisement upon the example of Balaam and his false repentance For this wicked Prophet in the motion he had of repentance desired indeed to dye the death of the Just but he saith not one word of living as they did he demands the blessing to resemble them in his death but not to be like unto them in his life Let my Soul saith he Num. 23.10 dye the death of the Just and let my end be like unto theirs Thus his repentance was not true but false because he did not desire to forsake his Sins and amend his life but only to be sav'd at the hour of death Which is properly to desire to live ill and yet dye well and so not be punish'd for it Now this kind of repentance is found but too often amongst Christians and peculiarly amongst those who live in this customary relapse of which we speak For there is not one single man of them who desire not to dye in the grace of God and save their Souls And for this reason they go to Confession now and then to discharge themselves of their past Sins that they may not be troubled with remorse of Conscience at the hour of death But they seldom or never desire to live holily or at least they have not an effectual and efficacious will to do it as by their frequent relapses it doth but too evidently appear CHAP. VII That by returning back to Sin we lose great part of the fruit of our precedent good Confessions THis is another efficacious reason to demonstrate the danger to which one exposeth his Salvation by returning back to Sin. That it doth not only render abundance of Confessions invalid and nall but it also makes us lose the fruit of those good Confessions we have made Two fruits there are of the Sacrament of Penance The first is the Remission of Sins The second the Recovery of the friendship of Almighty God and many other Graces and Assistances which he grants by vertue of the Sacrament to those who perform the Penance their Sins deserve Tho' these two effects be produced at the same time and inseparably the one from the other yet one may be lost without the other For by relapse into Mortal Sin one doth not at all lose the Remission which he hath receiv'd of precedent Sins by good Confessions it being most certain that a Sin once pardon'd doth never revive again Forasmuch as the Apostle hath it Rom. 11.29 The gifts of God are without repentance But as to the Friendship of God and the special assistances of his Grace which one merits by means of the Sacrament it is certain they are entirely lost when one relapses into Mortal Sin and this mischievous fall causeth a deplorable ruine in his Soul who yields himself over to it God himself threatens this by his Prophet Ezech. 3.20 If the Just Man saith he withdraws himself from his Justice to return to his former iniquity I will forget all the good he hath done And the Wise Man saith upon this Subject Eccl. 34.30 What doth it avail a man who hath touched a dead body to have washed himself if again he defile himself and touch it This is the reason why God saith to Sinners by his Prophet wash and be cleansed he doth not only say that they wash themselves from their iniquities but that they be also cleansed forasmuch as Saint Gregory observes it is to no purpose to be washed if one do not conserve himself clean Without this one doth no more then those unclean Animals which wash themselves and presently return to wallow in the dirt This obliged St. Peter and others when they spoke of Penance to advertise Penitents that Penance avails them nothing who after they have performed it return to Sin except it be for their greater ruine 2. Pet. 2. Those saith St. Gregory above-cited who do Penance and do not amend their Lives are to be admonished that it is to no purpose to cleanse themselves from their Sins by tears if afterwards by their evil actions they defile their Souls And that they seem only to cleanse themselves to the end that after they are washed they may return to their former filth CHAP. VIII That by frequent relapse into Sin one allways falls into a worse condition then before THis truth our Saviour himself hath taught us upon occasion of a possessed person whom he had delivered from that miserable condition It happens saith he that the wicked Spirit being cast out of a man useth all his endeavours to return to his former dwelling and calling others to his assistance at last he re-enters there this second possession is much more prejudicial then the former Mat. 12.45 and the last of that man be made worse then the first By this example of a person whose body is possessed we are instructed in what passes in the Soul when one unfortunatly relapses into Sin as the Apostle St. Peter hath explained it in these words 2. Epistle cited in the second Chapter If after they are retired from the disorders of the world they suffer themselves yet to be intangled and overcome thereby they fall back into a worse condition then before Now if this be true of the first relpse what will it be of the Second of the Tenth of the Twentieth and of all those which befall them who do nothing else all their life time but rise and fall repent and then as often return to the Sins they had repented of It is evident that they fall at last into a most deplorable State even almost into an impossibility ever to save their Souls This is certain and if you doubt it answer if you can this proof and demonstration By this ordinary relapse three things which put his Salvation in the utmost danger befall the Sinner First ill habits encrease and grow stronger and stronger 2ly The light and graces of God diminish in an high degree 3ly The Devil comes with more strength and power to destroy him whom he sees so deeply engaged in wickedness Behold three things which without doubt when they happen endanger Salvation in an high degree Now it is certain they befall all
Assertion or Tenet of our Faith which doth not require to be well and distinctly understood and for this reason I shall explain every one of them in order as they lie First then we believe that it is a Sacrament that is a visible sign of invisible grace instituted by God for our sanctification Secondly we believe that this Sacrament contains really Jesus Christ all whole and entire that is his Body and Blood his Soul and Divinity Thirdly that under the Species in the Sacrament there remains nothing of the substance but only the appearance of Bread and Wine both substances being truly changed into the Body and Blood of the Son of God so that what we see of Bread and Wine as bigness figure colour smell taste c. are only the accidents and the outward and sensible appearance of Bread and Wine Fourthly that it is He God by his Almighty Power who works this wonderfull change by vertue of the words of Consecration This is my Body this is my Blood in that very moment in which the Priest in the Person of Jesus Christ makes an end of the pronunciation of them Fifthly That in vertue of these Divine words the Body of the Son of God becomes really present under the species of Bread not by it self or all alone but together with his Blood his Soul and Divinity and his Blood also under the species of Wine not singly by it self but accompanied with his Body his Soul and his Divinity with this difference that the Body becomes present there under the species of Bread precisely and directly by the vertue and signification of the words and the rest that is to say the Blood Soul and Divinity are there by concomitance only and by a necessary consequence because the Son of God being alive and the Divinity always inseparably united to his Humanity wheresoever his Body is there also is his Blood his Soul and his Divinity The same is to be said of his Blood which becomes present under the species of Wine directly by the signification of the words and his Body his Soul and his Divinity are also there by a necessary sequel and concomitance Sixthly That Jesus Christ continues whole and entire under the species of Bread and Wine in a Spiritual manner that is without his Quantity and natural extension after the manner of a Spirit that is whole in the whole Host and whole in every part of the Host so that he is there invisible indivisible and impassible And therefore when the Host is divided the Son of God is not divided nor broken but he continues entire in each small particle of the Host as he was before the division in the whole and he who receives any tho' the least part of the Host receives Jesus Christ whole and entire as much as if he had received the whole ARTICLE II. Of the Wonders which occurr in this Sacrament MAny and almost innumerable are the Wonders and Miracles which God works by his Almighty Power in this great Mystery whereof seven are more remarkable The First is that the Son of God in that very moment the words are pronounced becomes really present in the Eucharist and without departing from Heaven where he still remains his Body becomes truly present in the Sacred Host where before the Consecration it never was The Second which follows from the First is that the Body of the Son of God is at one and the same time truly in many places and in as many as there are Consecrated Hosts The Third is this admirable change of the substance of Bread and Wine into the substance of the Body and Blood of the Son of God so that at the moment of Consecration the Bread is no more Bread and the Wine is no more Wine Before Consecration saith St. Ambrose l. 4. de Sacram c. 4. the Bread is Bread after Consecration of Bread it becomes the Body of Christ The Fourth Miracle is that the accidents of Bread and Wine after the Consecration subsist separate from their proper substance which 'till then sustained them God by his Omnipotence preserving them thus in being The Fifth is that the Body of the Son of God is all whole entire and perfect in the Host yet without taking up any place as other Bodies do but after a Spiritual manner so that it is whole and totally entire in the whole Host and also whole and totally entire in each part of every Host after the manner of Spiritual things as for example the Soul which is all whole and entire in the whole and all whole and entire in every part of the Body from whence it follows of necessity that the body of the Son of God is as entire under the least as under the greatest part of the Host and he who receives but one part of the Host receives as much as he who receives the whole The Sixth which follows from the former that tho' the Host be divided or broken into many Parts the Body of the Son of God is neither divided nor broken because being Indivisible he continues in each part as he was before The Seventh is when the Host is consummated the Body of the Son of God is not consummated nor corrupted that altogether divine Body being incapable of any alteration what happens to it in that moment is only this it leaves or ceaseth to be in the Sacrament when the accidents of Bread or Wine are Corrupted and cease to be any longer the Accidents of Bread and Wine All these and innumerable other wonders with which this Sacrament abounds and which it is impossible to relate much more to comprehend oblige us to look upon it as an Abridgment of all the wonderfull effects of the Almighty Power according to that of David Psalm 110.4 where so long before by a Prophetick Spirit he foretold that God as a speciall token of his Mercy had made an abridgment of his Marvells in giving Meat to them that fear him and to behold it as the most endearing pledge which our Redeemer as the Council of Trent hath it Sess 13. c. 2. being ready to depart from this World to his Father summing up as we may say all the riches of his divine love to men most liberally bestowed upon us ARTICLE III. Of the Effects of the Holy Eucharist FRom what hath been said it is easy to judge of the great effects this Sacrament is capable and ordain'd to produce in the Soul of every receiver For as God hath wrought all these so immense and so incomprehensible wonders for our sakes it must needs be that they were design'd to work in us most powerfull effects of his Grace The Son of God by his infinite wisdom hath comprised them all in one word saying Jo. 6.56 that his flesh is meat indeed and his blood is drink indeed and that he who eateth his body and drinks his blood remains in him and he Jesus interchangeably remains in him who eats him From these divine
words it follows that the flesh of the Son of God as a Divine nourishment works in the Soul of the worthy receiver the same effects Spiritually which the best Corporal nourishment produceth corporally in the body of those who take it Now the effects of corporal nourishment are four or five 1. It conserves life 2. It makes one grow or encrease 3. It fortifies us 4. It preserves us against distempers Infine it gives us strength to be able to labour and to comply with all our respective duties By these we may judge of the effects of the Holy Eucharist The first is to conserve Grace which is the life of the Soul and therefore it is called the Bread of Life the Bread which gives Life unto the World. The Second is to augment the same grace and encrease the Christian Virtues Faith Hope and Charity This effect however it be common to all the Sacraments yet it is more peculiar to this as being more particularly instituted for the nourishment of the Soul and to make us increase and proceed from Virtue to Virtue till we come to the house of God. The third is to strengthen us against sin and the temptations which incline that way hence the Councill of Trent affirm'd Sess 13. c. 2. that this Sacrament is a preservative against Mortal and a remedy against Venial Sin. The fourth effect is that it heals the distempers that is the passions and disorderly affections of the Soul. It weakens concupiscence or gives new strength to overcome it It diminishes Choler Envy Pride and other Vices as St. Bernard Serm. de Coena Domini excellently well observes If any one says he does not find so frequent or so violent motions of Anger Envy Impurity or of other like passions let him give thanks to the body and blood of our Lord for it is the vertue of the Sacrament which produces in him these effects and let him rejoyce that the worst of Vlcers begin to heal Lastly the Holy Eucharist gives perseverance in the grace of God and in the way of Salvation in the midst of the various imminent dangers which we encounter in this Life and particularly when we draw near death whence it was given sometimes to Martyrs when they were ready to suffer for the name of Jesus Christ and the Church always takes care to Communicate the sick when they are in danger of Death that so they may be Strengthened in that dangerous passage and happily arrive at the haven of Salvation by means of this divine nourishment then called the Viaticum which is as much as to say the Provision for that voiage All these admirable effects evidently prove the greatness and excellence of this divine Sacrament and ought effectually to move us frequently to approach unto it and not neglect so many and so signal favours as God there presents unto us Yet we are to take notice that it doth not produce these Effects except in such persons as are rightly disposed to receive it as it deserves Of these dispositions we will now discourse ARTICLE IV. Of the dispositions required to Communicate well and as we ought WE shall inferr the dispositions from the same principle from which we gathered the effects viz. from the nature of the nourishment and Spiritual food we receive in the Holy Euchrist and as it produces the same effects in the Soul that food doth into the Body so also it requives proportionable dispositions in the Soul that nourishment doth to be beneficial to the Body Now Corporall nourishment we know requires three dispositions Life Health Action for a dead body is uncapable to be nourished an infirm Stomack can never make a good digestion nor is it possible to convert the food into our substance except that health be accompanied with our action which is the reason that the body to be nourished requires to be alive to be sound and well and to have an action of its own Thus the Eucharist that Celestiall food requires three dispositions in the Soul and without them it doth no good but harm The first is Sanctifying Grace which is the life of the Soul as mortall Sin is the death incompatible with it depriving us of this Supernatural life of the Soul Without this life the Soul not only receives no benefit from Communion but suffers also much detriment from this holy Table inofmuch as she becomes guilty of a new mortall Sin a Sacriledge which she commits by inviting the Authour of Life into the habitation of Death the author of Light into the place of Darkness and Jesus Christ into the company of the Devil This made St. Paul 1 Cor. 21.28 advertise all Communicants to examen themselves well when they approach to this holy table because saith the Apostle he who eats and drinks unworthily eats and drinks damnation to himself The Second disposition is the interiour Health of the Soul which requires 1st that she be free from any affection to veniall Sin. 2ly that she be not actually moved either with Passions or Affections which may hinder her in her application and address to Jesus Christ And altho' these defects do not render the Communicant absolutely unworthy or the Communion Sacrilegious yet they cause very ill effects and considerably diminish the fruits which otherwise it would produce They hinder the Soul from digesting this sacred food by good thoughts and holy affections And as nutriment which lies indigested upon the Stomack begets crudities and causes Sickness in the body so this divine sustenance by means of these indispositions becomes prejudicial to the Soul. Thereby we contract tepidity and coldness in devotion Charity and other Virtues are considerably diminish'd our good actions weak and feeble our selves by degrees insensible of all good things which conduce to Piety And thus by degrees at last we are often brought into mortall Sin. The Third disposition is Action that is actual devotion To receive the fruits of this Sacrament it is not sufficient that we be not indisposed or that we do not put any obstacle to its effects it is necessary also that in this so religious an action wherein we receive the Holy of Holys and the Author of Holiness it self we concur with dispositions of our own which consist in the practice of Christian Virtues Of which we shall speak below in the Second Part of this Instruction ARTICLE V. Of an Vnworthy Communion AN ancient Lawgiver being ask'd why he had made no Laws against Paricides made answer because he esteemed that crime impossible that there could not be found Children so degenerate and unnaturall as to attempt the life of their own Parents I would to God we could say the same with truth in the point of Instruction concerning unworthy Communion or that we could truly say that it is not necessary to advertise Christians to avoid that so horrid Sacriledge because it is impossible for a man professing himself a Christian ever to be guilty of so enormous a crime against
therefore I will expect him And St. Paul Rom. 5.2 when he assures us that he glories in the hope of the glory or happiness of the Children of God and when he exhorts all Christians to a good Life Expecting says he Tit. 2.13 the blessed hope and coming of the glory of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ This hope is certain and secure in as much as it is built upon Gods promise who can never fail of his word having both a will and a power to perform whatsoever he is pleased to promise This made the same Apostle affirm 2. Tim. 1.12 that he knew very well in whom he had put his trust and that he was altogether assur'd of the power he had in effect to fullfill his promise But whereas these divine promises are only conditional and made only to such who are his Faithfull Servants our hope ought also always to suppose this condition of our Fidelity and thus the certainty ought always to be accompanyed with a holy distrust or disconfidence in our selves which makes us work our Salvation with fear and trembling and as St. Peter hath it 2. Pet. 1.10 Secure our Vocation and Election by good works ARTICLE II. Of the good which we expect by Hope TWo goods there are we expect Grace and Glory this is the end which is prepared for us and that is the means whereby to obtain that end God comporting himself if I may say so in this our great concern like a good equally and a wise Father whose goodness obliges him to prepare an Inheritance for his Children and whose Wisdom finds out means whereby they may come to the possession of it Glory shall be our supream and final happiness wherein our Soul shall see God as he is in himself face to face and thence conceive so entire and perfect a love of him that every the least vacancy of the Soul shall be fill'd with an incomprehensible joy and an happiness that shall not receive either the least alteration or any end Even our body shall have its share in this happiness and glory For after the Resurrection the glorious splendors of the blessed Soul united to the body shall by the reflection of her rays render it not only immortall but discharge it also from all possibility of change endowing it with the four qualities which St. Paul 1. Cor. 15. in answer to that question v. 35. how do the dead rise again and with what kind of body shall they come hath discovered to us Impassibility v. 42. Clarity 43. Agility ibid. Subtility 44. The first is a blessed incorruption which shall exempt us and render us incapable of all either pain or grief The second a Glory whereby it shall become so bright as not only to vye with but to surpass the Sun The third is an active Power or strength by which it shall pass in an Instant at the beck of her will wheresoever she pleaseth without the least trouble and by the fourth as a Spirit it shall penetrate and pass thro' the most solid body without any impediment or let Behold what we expect after this life both for our Soul and bodies And as to what concerns this present life we expect from the hands of God the means whereby we may obtain this so happy end forasmuch as of our selves and by all our naturall endeavours though never so great left to our selves we are not able to arrive unto it This end inasmuch as it is a supernaturall good requires in our Soul a disposition of the same nature with it this is Sanctifying Grace the seed of Glory and the precious pledge of that Eternall Inheritance as the Apostle hath it speaking thus to the Ephesians c. 1.13 You are sign'd with the holy Spirit of promise which is the pledge of our Inheritance This Grace is a Supernaturall quality infused by God into our Soul at the instant he admits us into his freindship a quality which remits the Sin Sanctifies the Soul embellishes and renders her acceptable to God and gives her a certain right to eternall glory That Justified by his grace we may be heirs according to hope of Everlasting Life Tit. 3.7 Now since this grace this disposition to glory is also Supernatural it is necessary we have the assistance of some powerfull hand to obtain it and this can be no other then the hand of God as there is none but God alone who can endow the Soul with Sanctifying Grace This assistance is also called grace because it is graciously and out of Gods pure mercy bestow'd upon us but it is called actuall as the other is stil'd habituall grace because it is transient only not permanent as Sanctifying grace the habit is it is that action by which God moves the powers of our Soul our understanding will disposing her to her justification this by clearing her understanding and letting her see what chiefly concerns her by good thoughts which he bestows upon her moving her will to embrace that good she sees so much imports her by the holy affections which he vouchsafes to give her These helps have three effects in us For first they awake our Soul by interiour illuminations and religious motions oblige her to look seriously after her Salvation 2ly Once she is thus moved it assists her in the due performance of that good which is propos'd unto her gives her strength to raise her self up to God by acts of Faith Hope Contrition and the love of God all which dispose her to receive at the same time the remission of her Sins and justifying Grace 3ly As soon as she has received this grace these helps afford her still more strength to stand fast and conserve her self amongst the throng of temptations and to persever constant even to the end by her flight from evill and the frequent exercise of good and pious works Hence proceed the different names by which we call this actuall grace for the first we call Exciting Operating or Preventing grace the 2d Assisting or Cooperating grace the 3d the grace of Perseverance God hath bestowed upon us all these graces for our Salvation But we are to observe that they have not always their full and entire effect upon the will for she being only mov'd and press'd and not necessitated by the graces may either resist or not regard them according as the Councill of Trent sess 6. c. 5. remarks nay very often doth resist for we are advised in holy writ Psal 94.9 not to harden our hearts yet however we do harden them for frequently we do not hearken to the voice of God but resist his holy spirit as St. Stephen complains Act. 7.51 that the Jews did This advertisement may serve in this place to teach us an important truth that it is not enough to expect from the hands of God the means whereby we may compass our Salvation but that we ought to take great care to be faithfull to his dispensations and
Virgin that thou partake of the thanks which I am obliged to render to thy Son since he hath been pleas'd I should receive him in this Communion It was to thee that this living bread descended from heaven and from thee he took the body and blood which he gives us for our food Luc. 1.42 Blessed be thou amongst women and blessed be the fruit of thy womb Let the Angells praise thee for that thou hast given us this fruit of life and prepared for us this divine food which nourisheth us and brings us to everlasting bliss Help me to preserve this fruit that I may never loose it more And as thou hadst grace after thou hadst happily born him in thy womb to conserve him also more fortunately in thy heart obtain of him for me the like favour without which this Communion would not be usefull to me O Holy mother of God assist me that I may conceive in my Soul thy Son Jesus Christ that he may be born in me that he may dayly increase that he may there live and reign as absolute Lord and Master of my Soul. You may add here any of those prayers which the Church is used to make to her as the hymn Ave Maris Stella her Litanies or the like ARTICLE IX How we ought to spend the day of our Communion IT is an advice of very great consequence to spend all that day in Piety and Devotion wherein you have performed so holy so religious and so august an action and to honour that day by the exercise of good works upon which God hath been pleas'd to Sanctify you by his presence To spend it otherwise is to fail in your respect to Jesus Christ and it happens but too often that by this neglect of our duty we loose the greater part of the fruit which otherwise we might reap from the holy Table of Communion What then you are to do Theotime on that day is frequently in the day time to call to mind and seriously to reflect upon the honour you have received and to acknowledg that it is beyond your capacity sufficiently to esteem it 2ly Not to distract your mind either with vain divertisements or with unprofitable frivolous discourses but to be more serious modest and reserved in all the actions of that day remembring what honour it is how they value themselves who are admitted to the presence of a King and consequently what hath been done to you whilest you were chosen to be the Temple of Jesus Christ 3ly Employ all that day in good works as far as you are able as the rest of the morning in Divine Service or reading some good book After dinner in hearing the word of God assisting at Evensong and the remainder of the day either in discourse with good and virtuous persons or in reading At night in your prayers be not unmindfull to give God thanks for your Communion and for all the favours which he hath bestowed upon you Beseech him most earnestly that he will give you grace to benefit your self there-by the next day and all the remainder of your life and to practise well all the resolutions you have made upon this occasion But for the better complyance with these holy resolutions remember that you renew them every day in your morning prayers even to the day of your following Communion and at night in your examen of conscience see and consider well whether you have faithfully fullfill'd them or whether you have failed therein and broke your promise and in what that so you may rectify your self out of hand and set your self again into the right way of the Service of God and the path of your own Salvation ARTICLE X. Of frequent Communion NOthing remains but that I exhort you to Communicate often dear Theotime and benefit your self of the great advantages which God presents you with in this Divine Sacrament It is in reality a great benefit to have Communicated well in the manner we have but just now declared But if after this one abstain a long time from it he endangers himself to loose the fruit of the foregoing Communion by relapsing into Sin and the disorders of his former Life There is a certain proportion betwixt Spiritual and Corporal nourishment This requires we should take it as often as the necessity of our Body shall require and we need it according as the natural heat consumes our substance and whatsoever else serves for its subsistance The same we must affirm of Spiritual food which serves to repair the forces of the Soul which are continually diminished and weakened by Concupiscence and all the passions with which it is assaulted If these forces are not frequently recruited the Life of Grace is by degrees much weakned and totally lost at length Now that which serves to repair them is the Sacred Eucharist which renews our strength and restores our Soul to her former vigour weakening Concupiscence diminishing the Passions preserving her from Mortal nay even from Venial Sins as we have already said and proved at large After this is there any necessity of other motives to persuade either you or any other Christian to frequent Communion Certainly those who are willing to do what is pleasing in the sight of God and to continue in his grace have need of none And I suppose you are one of that number I exhort you then by the Charity of Jesus Christ and by the excess of love which he shewed us in bestowing himself upon us in this adorable Mystery as the best means for our Salvation that you will frequently approach unto him in this Divine Sacrament to the end he may remain in you and you in him according as he himself hath promised and you surely cannot but desire Consider that your Soul is always sick and that these Distempers if neglected may bring you to Eternal Death Come then to this great Physitian who only is able to cure you and preserve you from death by this Bread which he hath given as himself affirms for the Life of the World. Joan. 6.52 Panis quem ego dabo caro mea est pro mundi vita Ponder O ponder well upon the earnest desire he hath to relieve you in all your wants and the ardent love with which he calls and even compels you to come unto him Mat 11.28 Come to me all you that labour and are burthened and I will refresh you In me you shall find the repose which your Souls desire They who are not won with these so moving and vehement expressions do they not evidently shew that they are altogether insensible of the love which Jesus Christ hath so plainly testified he hath for them and that they are enemies to their own Salvation Is it possible that you should be one of these Look to it for if you be you are not of the number of the Children of God for Children listen and attend to the voice of their Father come to him willingly and
the end of the Instruction concerning Penance And this I have done that one might have in this one Book the explication of the Principal points of Christian Doctrine which every one is obliged to know and that one may be inform'd of these important truths which often through his negligence he is ignorant of either because he conceives them not so necessary or that he thinks he knows them sufficiently well already which happens but too often not only to young People but to many others Thus you see Dear Reader what I have to tell you upon the Subject of this Instruction After which I have no more to do but to exhort you to benefit your self thereby You will not fail herein if you read it with this design and with a desire ot improve your self And as I have composed it with no other intention except that of assisting you in your approach to God and conserving you in his grace I hope that if you also reade it with this intent God will bless both yours and my design This is what I demand with all my heart beseeching him with all possible humility that he will enlighten your Soul rightly to understand the truths which he hath comprised in these great Sacraments and that you may draw in abundance from these two Fountains of our Salvation the Celestial Waters of Divine Grace which will preserve you in this life from the mortal heats of Sin and rendering you fertil in Virtue and good works make you deserving of Everlasting Life the fruit of pious endeavours and our last end Amen The Approbation WE Underwritten Doctors of Divinity of the Faculty of Paris certify that we have read a Book Entitled Instruction concerning Penance and the Holy Communion c. Composed by Charles Gobinet also Doctor Principal of the Colledge of Plessis-Sorbon wherein we have found nothing but what is conformable to the Principles of Faith and Christian Morality which are there treated in a manner very clear for the Instruction of Youth moving for the Conversion of Sinners and extreme usefull for the Edification of the Just if they will follow the light and means which are therein suggested to them that they may advance in Piety by the frequent and worthy use of the Sacraments of Penance and the Eucharist Given at Paris this Third of December 1667. I. Charmeluc B. Le Blond J. Jollain The Division of the Instruction concerning Penance Pag. 1. PART I. COntaining an Exhortation to a true Conversion and amendment of Life Pag. 2. PART II. Of Contrition the first part of Penance Pag. 21. PART III. Of Confession Pag. 97. PART IV. Of Satisfaction Pag. 151. PART V. Of the preservation of Grace after Confession against relapse into Sin. Pag. 187. An Examen of Conscience Vpon the Commandments of God and the Church and upon the Seven Capital Sins Pag. 229. A Table of the CHAPTERS Of Instruction concerning Penance and the means to return to God by a true Conversion PART I. COntaining an Exhortation to a true Conversion and amendment of life Pag. 2. Chap. 1. An Exhortation which God made to men and particularly to Young People to return to him by Penance Pag. 3. Chap. 2. Reflections upon the said Exhortation and first upon the matter therein contain'd Pag. 5. Chap. 3. The Second Reflection upon the Goodness of God in Exhorting us himself to our Conversion Pag. 6. Chap. 4. The Third Reflection upon the Injury which those do who refuse to be Converted or deferr their Conversion Pag. 8. Chap. 5. The Fourth Reflection upon God's Anger against those who refuse to yield to these Exhortations Pag. 12. Chap. 6. Of the great Punishment which God lays upon those who refuse or deferr their Conversion Pag. 15. Chap. 7. The Conclusion of the Exhortation Pag. 19. PART II. OF Contrition Pag. 21. Chap. 1. What we are obliged to do in Virtue of the precedent Exhortation Ibid. Chap. 2. What Penance is Pag. 23. Chap. 3. What Contrition is Pag. 26. Chap. 4. Of the qualities or Conditions which true Contrition ought to have Pag. 29. Chap. 5. Of Perfect and imperfect Contrition Pag. 34. Chap. 6. Of the means to obtain Contrition Pag. 38. Chap. 7. Of the first means to obtain Contrition which is threefold Avoiding Sin Works of Penance and Prayer Pag. 40. Chap. 8. Of the Motives of Contrition and first of the grievousness of Sin. Pag. 43. Chap. 9. Of the same Subject of the grievousness of Sin. Pag. 46. Chap. 10. A further illustration of the grievousness of Sin. Pag. 49. Chap. 11. Of the deplorable effects of Mortal Sin to discover better the grievousness thereof Pag. 53. Art. 1. Of the death of the Soul or the sad effects which Sin produces in his Soul who commits it Pag. 54. Art. 2. Of the effects of Sin in Heaven and upon Earth Pag. 60. Art. 3. Of the effects of Sin in Hell. Pag. 64. Art. 4. A continuation of the same Subject Pag. 67. The Conclusion of this Article of the pains of Hell. Pag. 75. Art. 5. Of the effects which Sin produces in respect of God himself Pag. 78. Art. 6. Of the effects of Sin in the Person of Jesus Christ Pag. 81. Chap. 12. The practice of Contrition upon the precedent Motives Pag. 87. Chap. 13. Of Examples of Penance taken out of Holy Writ Pag. 89. PART III. OF the Treatise of Penance which is Confession Pag. 97. Chap. 1. Of the Institution and necessity of Confession ibid. Chap. 2. What Sacramental Confession is Pag. 99. Chap. 3. Of the Conditions necessary for a good Confession Pag. 102. Chap. 4. Of the defects in Confession Pag. 104. Chap. 5. Of the Conditions necessary to make the Confession entire Pag. 107. Chap. 6. An observable Advice concerning the Number of Sins Pag. 109. Chap. 7 An observable Advice concerning the Circumstances of Sins Pag. 112. Chap. 8. How great an evil it is to conceal a Mortal Sin in Confession Pag. 115. Chap. 9. Of the Preparation for Confession or the Examen of Conscience Pag. 123. Chap. 10. Of the distinction which must be made betwixt Mortal and Venial Sin. Pag. 126. Chap. 11. Of the Confession of Venial Sins Pag. 128. Chap. 12. Of Interiour and Exteriour Sins or of the Sins of Thought and Action Pag. 132. Chap. 13. Of the Sins of Action and Omission Pag. 134. Chap. 14. Of the Sins of Ignorance Passion and Malice Pag. 136. Art. 1. Of the Sins of Ignorance Pag. 137. Art. 2. Of the Sins of Frailty or of Passion Pag. 139. Art. 3. Of the Sins of Malice Pag. 141. Art. 4. Of the Sins which spring from Vitious Habits Pag. 144. Chap. 15. Of the Sins that are committed by Error or by Doubt Pag. 146. Chap. 16. Of the Sins which we commit in others Pag. 148. PART IV. OF the Treatise of Penance which is of Satisfaction Pag. 151. Chap. 1. What Satisfaction is ibid. Chap. 2. That God pardoning the Sin obliges to a Temporal punishment Pag.
He speaks more effectually in the 7th Chapter of the Prophet Jeremy And now because you have done all these works and I have spoken to you early rising and speaking you have not heard and I have called and you have not answered I will do to this house wherein my name is invocated and wherein you have confidence and to the place which I have given to you and your Fathers as I did to Silo and I will cast you away from my face as I have cast away all your Brethren the whole seed of Ephraim Jer. 7. And to shew how great his Indignation was against that people for contemning his sayings and the exhortations which he had so often made them for their Conversion he forbids his Prophet to pray for them and to oppose himself by his prayers to the Design he had to punish them and revenge himself of them Tu ergo noli Orare pro populo hoc nec assumas pro eis laudem Orationem neque obsistas mihi quia non exaudiam te Thou therefore pray not for this People neither take unto thee Praise and prayer for them and resist me not because I will not hear thee Could God give a greater mark of his indignation against them who refuse to be converted then is express'd in those Words since he refuses that others should appease him by their prayers by which they would endeavour to hinder the execution of his justice But if his anger were so high against the Jews for this reason how can we expect it should be less against Christians against us our selves Theotime who contemn no less his divine grace and who continue in our disordered lives and in our Sins after so many exhortations and admonitions to leave them This is the reflection which St. Hierome made upon this place which we ought to consider and keep well in minde Viz. that all that which God there spoke to the People of the Jews ought to be understood of us if we commit the same faults that the Jews did Quidquid illi populo dicitur intelligamus de nobis si similia fecerimus St. Hier. in c. 7. Jerem. CHAP. VI. Of the Great Punishment which God lays upon those who refuse or defer their Conversion ALL the Passages which I have brought do sufficiently shew the heavy Chastisement which God sends to those that contemn him in that manner The Scripture contains a vast number of others But we need not seek farther then in this Exhortation of God which we have spoken of above Learn from God himself what you ought to fear and the misfortunes that will befall you if you resist any longer the desire he hath of your Salvation The punishments are contained in these words Ego vero in interitu tuo ridebo subsannabo vos I will laugh at your Destruction and mock at you words full of terrour which ought to make all those tremble who are in mortal Sin. Dicat nunc qualiter feriat quos ad se nullatenus revertentes tanta longanimitate sustentat St. Greg. lib 18. moralium c. 7. It is for those according to the advice of St. Gregory to learn hence from the mouth of God himself in what manner he will punish those whose conversion he hath expected a long time without any effect on their part By these words God threatens to revenge himself of those at the hour of their death who continue in their sins to punish their wicked life with an unfortunate end and treat them at that last hour as they have dealt with him during their life Is not this most just and reasonable They abandon'd God during their Life and God abandons them at the hour of their death They refuse to hearken when he speaks and moves them to their Salvation they contemn his admonitions and will give ear to nothing but their own Passions and follow nothing but their pleasures They perform all their actions as if they Mocked God and God by a just but dreadfull punishment will act in respect of them as a provok'd Enemy who Scoff 's at his Conquer'd Foes and Insults over their utmost miseries with which he sees them overwhelmed He will behold them Surprized with some dreadfull accident or a mortal Agony which in a small time will carry them away He will see them Searching all means to Escape Overwhelmed with griefs troubled with fear and trembling tormented with the Remorse of their guilty Consciences calling to him for their Succour and Deliverance but he will not hearken at all He will become Deaf to their Prayers as they would not give ear to his admonitions He will not hearken to their desires for their deliverance as they would not hearken to his advices for their Salvation He will not give them time for repentance being they refused it when it was in their power and when they were exhorted by God himself Thus will they dye Miserably seeing themselves constrained to abandon a mortal Life with all the Pleasures which they lov'd more then either God or their Salvation to go and begin an Eternal Death where for fleeting Pleasures they shall find immortal torments and an infinity of evils which shall never end It is thus Theotime that God shall treat those who contemn his Favours and refuse to hearken to his Voice when he invites them to their Salvation and thus will he punish them always and that you may better comprehend this Chastizement of God take notice of three great evils which compose it The First is an unprovided death which he will send to those that are impenitent when they shall least expect it Cum irruerit repentina calamitas interitus quasi tempestas ingruerit The Second is an oppression of grief and anguishes in that dreadfull surprise pains of Body and Senses anguishes of Soul and Conscience this is that which is signified by those words of God Cum irruerit super vos tribulatio angustia The Third which is the most dreadfull is God's forsaking them in that last and deplorable extremity a forsaking so great that he will never more hearken to their prayers and crys as he himself saith in the following words tunc invocabunt me non exaudiam c. And all these miseries will befall them in punishment of their obstinacy in their Sins and refusal to be converted Eo quod exosam habuerint disciplinam sermonem Domini non receperint c. I would to God Theotime this chastisement were as rare as it is frightfull and terrible But it happens too often by a deplorable misfortune and is but a just effect of the divine justice which frequently puts in Execution his threats against those who so often contemn his holy inspirations All the Christians who are either dead or dayly dye in Mortal Sin of whom the multitude is innumerable are witnesses of this truth All those to wit who are surprized by unexpected accidents either of sickness wherein they dye without
the crimes that caused them and have recourse to God for our deliverance but they ought not to serve as a motive to detest our sins because that would be only a pure natural sorrow which avails nothing to restore us unto the grace of God. We must have a higher motive and returning to God by afflictions detest our sins by reason of the danger to which they exposed our Eternal Salvation or the honour of God which they have infinitely offended Whosoever hath not these motives in view or one of them hath not the Contrition which disposes to grace In the third place we have said that Contrition must not be only supernatural but also Sovereign that is most powerfull The meaning hereof is that it doth not suffice to detest sin upon a supernatural motive but that this motive should over-rule and keep above the other which come into our mind so that we should rather detest the sin by reason of the damage it brings to our Salvation or the injury done to God then for any natural evils it may produce and be resolved to suffer them all rather then commit one Mortal sin This is what Divines call detesting sin supra omne detestabile that is above all that which in the world may stir up our hatred and detestation And the reason is most clear because sin is the Sovereign evil and the greatest of all evils For if we consider the offence there is none more heinous then that which it commits against God and if we cast our eye upon the punishment there is none more Dreadfull This is the reason why one cannot detest it sufficiently but by detesting it above all naturall misfortunes Herein yet we must mark well that this greater detestation doth not consist in being more sensible more lively or more vehement then the hate and detestation of other evils because that is not necessary nor always in our power but this is to be understood of the esteem or judgment which we make of Sin accounting it really the greatest of all evils as in effect it is and detesting it in this quality above all others and purposing firmly not to commit it any more upon any account whatsoever But we are yet to observe that to have that detestation of Sin above all evils in our heart it is not at all necessary that every evil in particular should be proposed as Death Torments Infamy and the like but it suffices that they should be proposed in general Likewise it is not convenient they should be propos'd severally lest their representation should make the mind to waver in its Resolution or make resolutions lightly and with presumption of its own forces which would not be perform'd when occasions were offered as it happened to St. Peter It is sufficient to esteem Sin the greatest of all evils which can ever befall us To hate and detest it as such to make a new resolution not to commit it any more but rather to undergo whatever misfortune may happen to us trusting in the mercy of God and hoping he will either free us from those mischiefs or that he will give us strength to support them by his Grace then offend him The 4th condition of Contrition is that it must be Universal in respect of all Mortal Sins that is by it we must detest all without excepting any and have a resolution never more to commit any one mortal Sin. The Holy Ghost pointed at this Condition when he said that we must do Penance for all the Sins we have committed If the Sinner shall do Penance for all his Sins he shall Live. Ezech. 18. We must convert our selves to God with all our hearts that is the heart must totally be offered to God and not divided so as to give one part to God and the other to Sin. Their hearts says he elsewhere are divided therefore shall they dye Hosea 10. The reason is evident because Mortal Sins cannot be remitted but altogether not one without the rest Man cannot reserve in his heart an affection to any one Mortal Sin but he will of necessity incur the hatred and displeasure of God. The Contrition which one may think he hath of other Sins if yet he affect any cannot justify him in the sight of God for it is absolutely false and imaginary because if he really hates any he hates all Sins there not being any one which doth not cause his damnation and infinitely offend God. Hence it is that those deceive themselves who pretend to do Penance and yet refuse to pardon injuries or to be reconciled to their Enemies those also who will not restore the goods they have unjustly gotten and those who are careless in avoiding the immediate occasions of Sin and such other like In a word all those whosoever they be that have any willfull tye upon them to any particular Sin which yet they are not fully resolved to break asunder are imaginary but not true Penitents CHAP. V. Of perfect and imperfect Contrition THis distinction is grounded upon that which we said even now of the two sorts of evils which are found in Sin to wit the one of the injury done to God and the other of the damage which thereby we bring to our own Souls When we hate Sin by reason of the Supernaturall goods which it deprives us of as of the Grace of God and Life eternal or because of the Punishment it draws upon us from Almighty God it is an act of Contrition but an imperfect one by reason we consider nothing in it so much as our own Interest and this act is called Attrition But when above this motive we raise our thoughts higher and hate Sin by reason it is an affront to the supreme goodness of God which deserves to be beloved above all things which we ought to affect more then our selves and which we are obliged to love altho' there were neither Paradice nor Hell it is an act of perfect Contrition which proceeds from Charity and the pure love of God. The first Contrition is good and profitable it is supernatural by reason of its motive and because it is an effect of the inspiration of the Holy Ghost but it doth not restore man unto Grace except it be assisted by the Sacrament because it is not of it self without the assistance of the Sacrament an act of Charity which can justify but only an act of the Virtue of Hope which is not able to confer Grace The Second is excellent and perfect and restores the Soul to the grace of God even before the receiving of the Sacrament but not without respect to the Sacrament because it includes a will or disposition of mind to receive it when occasion serves In either of them both there is a fear and love of God but differently For in Attrition there is a servile fear and an imperfect love which makes us only regard our own advantage In Contrition there is a filial fear and a perfect love or Charity
the Body whereas by the death of the Soul we are deprived or separated from Almighty God. Is there any misery to be compared to this of being deprived of God O my God! how is it possible that men should esteem thee so little If a man lose a perishable good as a Friend or an Estate this he laments most grievously and we loose our selves and are not at all concerned can there be any thing either more unjust or more injurious Is not that most exactly true which St. Augustine saith upon this Subject He seems not to have the bowels of Christian Charity who laments a Body from which the Soul is departed and doth not at all weep for a Soul from which God is separated That I may yet make you understand more sensibly the deplorable state of a Soul fallen into the displeasure of God and your own condition if you are under that misfortune I shall propose here an admirable and moving description which a Holy Author made in these words which he addresses to a Soul fallen into Mortal Sin and to you your self if you are in that unhappy state Aperi oculos anima misera vide quid eras quid nunc es quo loco eras quo nunc es Eras sponsa altissimi eras templum Dei vivi eras vas electionis Thalamus regis aeterni Thronus Salomonis Sedes Sapientiae eras soror Angelorum Haeres caelorum quoties dico eras eras toties tibi lachrimandum est cum subitam tuam cogitas mutationem Sponsa Dei facta est adultera diaboli Templum Spiritus Sancti mutatum est in Speluncam latronum vas Electionis in vas corruptionis Thalamus Christi in Volutabrum porcorum Sedes Sapientia in Cathedram pestilentiae Soror Angelorum in Sociam Daemonum quae instar Columbae ante◠in Caelum Volitabat nunc valut serpens reptat in terra Plange itaque super te anima misera plange quia te plangunt caeli te plangunt Sancti te plangunt lacrymae Pauli quia peccasti peccati quod commisisti paenitentiam non egisti Open thy eyes miserable Soul saith this holy Doctor speaking to a Soul which is fall'n into Mortal Sin and see what you were and what you are in what place you were and where you now are at present You were the Spouse of the most high You were the Temple of the living God you were a Vessel of election the Couch of the eternal King the Throne of the true Salomon the seat of Wisdom you were Sister to the Angels and Heir of Heaven and as often as I say you were you were so often ought you to lament and weep when you consider your sudden change Your Soul which was the Spouse of God is become the Adulteress of Satan the Temple of the Holy Ghost is changed into a Den of Thieves the Vessel of Election into a Vessel of Corruption the Bed of Solomon into a dunghill of unclean Beasts the Seat of Wisdom into the Chair of Infection the Sister of the Angels is become a Companion of the Devil and she who mounted like a Dove even unto Heaven creeps now upon the Earth like a Serpent Bewail then your self O miserable Soul bewail and lament since the Heavens weep for you since all the Saints deplore your misery the tears of St. Paul are shed for you because you have sinned and have not done Pennance for what you have committed These words Theotime are not to be read slightly read them often applying them to your self with attention and without doubt if you are not totally obdurate they will make a great impression on your heart when you consider attentively the unfortunate and deplorable state your Soul is brought into by Sin. ARTICLE II. Of the effects of Sin in Heaven and upon Earth IF you desire another reason of the hatred and horrour you have conceived against Sin Theotime raise your thoughts to Heaven and see the disorders it hath caused there This Infernal Fury hath spared nothing it hath conveyed it's rage even unto the house of God which it hath filled with War and Confusion it hath banished one part of the Angels thence and shut the door to men and to you your self let us see these misfortunes one after another God in the beginning of the World created an innumerable multitude of Celestial Spirits of several Orders and different perfections with which he filled Heaven and composed his Heavenly Court for the performance of his will both in Heaven and on Eaath His design was to replenish them all with the happiness of his sight and the perfect possession of the Divinity And for this effect besides the natural perfections he endowed them with he had created them in his grace and adorned them with all supernatural virtues thus to afford them a means to dispose themselves to Glory which he had prepared for them and to merit it by their actions and the practice of those same virtues When they were in this state behold Theotime what Sin did When they were as I said in this state brim full of mighty hopes upon the point of receiving the fruit of the grace and virtues which God had communicated unto them and to enjoy the perfect vision of the Divinity which would have secured their happiness for ever behold Sin by their inadvertency steals into the mind of one part of them overthrows their fair hopes and makes a confusion in the house of God himself This was a mischievous thought of Pride begun in one of the chiefest Angels who permitting himself to be surprized by the love of his own perfections and the brightness of his excellent beauty aspired to surpass all others in that degree that he would in some things be like unto God himself demanding an Authority equal with his in the government of all Creatures choosing rather as St Bernard considers to be separated from God then be Subject unto him Miser qui sine Deo esse maluit quà m sub Deo. Lucifer was follow'd in this extravagance by many of the other Angels who adhering to his pride listed themselves as it were under his banner They had not persisted long in this Rebellion when God who cannot endure the guilt of Sin be it in whom it will gives us upon occasion of this first disobedience the manifest marks of the hatred he bears to that infernal Monster For by a Solemn Decree the effect of his indignation he banisheth from his Kingdom this Rebellious Angel with all his followers and casts them down headlong from the height of Heaven to the most profound pit of Hell. Thus that Celestial Spirit who was but the instant before he sinn'd one of the most beautifull Creatures of God and as one may say the Master-piece of all his works initium viarum suarum became by his sin an infernal Dragon a sworn and unreconcilable enemy both to God and Man. What is it that hath caused this lamentable
will perpetually hate the punishment of sin from which however she shall never be delivered she will indeed continually employ her utmost endeavours to quit her self of her pain but to no purpose She will be incensed against her own torments and against God himself O what a torture is this could we but understand it rightly Quid iniquis voluntatibus tam contrarium quam semper conari impingere semper frustra And is there any torment continues the same St. Bernard greater then that of the depraved will of the damned to be always carried on the one side with a continual desire and to be met on the other with a continual resistance and all this to no purpose to no effect Quid tam paenale quam semper velle quod nunquam erit semper nolle quod nunquam non erit What affliction more painfull then always to desire that which will never come to pass and continually to wish to be freed from that which they shall perpetually eudure In aeternum non obtinebit quod vult quod non vult nihilominus sustinebit The Damned shall continue during all eternity without obtaining what he desires and yet shall everlastingly suffer the evils which he would not suffer Who saith St. Bernard will put all this in execution Rectus Dominus Deus noster qui justitias dilexit St. Bernard l. 5. de Considerat c. 12. It will be God who is upright and just and who for that reason can never agree with the unjust and depraved will of the Damned but on the contrary will perpetually resist it and eternally confound it A misfortune saith the same Saint which shall certainly befall all those who shall set themselves against that streight rule which knows not how to bend or yield to the contrary Vae universo quod obvium fortasse offenderit cedere nescia rectitudo Such shall be the effect of the curse of God upon the Damned from the first moment that it shall fall upon their heads Doth it not hence appear how dreadfull Damnation is But this is not all For in the third place those wretched and accursed Souls shall be cast into the torment of fire even into the fire of Hell. This is the Minister and Instrument of the Divine Justice the fruit and issue of Mortal Sin. Fire saith the Prophet shall go before and consume his Enemies all about him Psal 96.3 And in another place Our Lord in his anger shall surround them with trouble and flames of fire shall devour them Psal 20.10 But what fire Theotime That fire which the divine fury as the Scripture saith hath enkindled against the wicked and will burn even to the bottom of Hell. Deut. 32.22 That fire in comparison whereof our Elementary fire is but a painted Figure As St. Augustin saith that fire whose ardour is inconceivable which burn not only Bodies but Souls also and Spirits by a wonderfull Vertue which the divine justice grants unto it raising it above the power of Corporal nature to be able to torment unbodied creatures That fire which by another quality no less admirable burns all without either consuming any other or ever spending its own substance Our fire consumes the things it burns and when it hath wasted them spends it self for want of fuel but the fire of Hell is of a quite contrary nature It conserves its proper matter it burns without either consuming the matter or ever diminishing it self For this reason our saviour calls it ignis inextinguibilis an unextinguishable Fire and a Father of the Church hath given the reason Because the fire of Hell being created by God for the punishment of Sin it chastiseth the sin as it is commanded without consuming the Author Illa enim non casualis sed rationalis exustio quia culpam jubetur inquirere substantiam nescit absumere Euseb Emis hom 1. ad Manachos O Fire is it possible that men should fear thee so little is it not a wonderfull thing that so many words should be necessary to create in men a dread of that infernal fire whereas we are so sensible of that we see and feel amongst us If a small spark fall but on our hands it makes us cry out amain if one were constrained to put his finger in the fire but for a quarter of an hour he would not be able to endure it and yet the fear of the fire of Hell moves us not at all The Prophet crys out to all the world Who of you can dwell with a devouring fire or who can inhabit everlasting flames Isai 33.14 Yet in the mean time there are but very few that concern themselves to avoid that horrible torment or the object that deserves it which is sin or think seriously of the means to escape it at the hour of death which are Penance and a virtuous Life Ponder this Theotime and do not follow the throng of those blind people who run thus headlong to their ruine and without either foresight or prevention precipitate themselves into this infernal fire Now for the better prevention of this dreadfull misfortune let us consider its continuance which will not be for a day or a year or a hundred years but for all Eternity Inignem Aeternum that is this fire and all the other torments of the Damned shall never end they shall endure as long as God shall be God. In this life we have this comfort in our greatest afflictions that once they will have an end Death the most fearfull of all evils puts an end to all the rest in the worst of miseries one wishes that Death will come and it comes at last But in Hell we shall not have as much as this Satisfaction Death there is inexorable it is always present and allways absent The Damned see it continually it is always before their eyes and yet is always flying from them as it is said in the Apocalips c. 9.6 Men shall then seek Death and shall not find it they shall wish to dye and Death shall fly from them What more frightfull State then that where one can have no other comfort then that of Death and yet Death will never come there will be no other Life for those miserable Creatures then a perpetual Death and no other Death then to live continually amidst those Tortures as the learned St. Paulin in his Poetry said admirably well Vita erit sine fine mori mors Vivere poenis Et duranta suas pascere carne cruces Their Life shall be an endless Death and their death shall consist in this to live in Torments and by means of their never-to-be-consumed body continually to maintain their Punishment Their Torments saith another Father would incessantly destroy them but the justice of God will not permit them to dye and they will continue in that state for all eternity without ever putting an end to their misfortunes which will always fly from them and eternally avoid them Occidente poenâ vivificante
observe well in this place that these different affections which the Scripture attributes to God in respect of Sin are not to be found in God in the same manner as in men for they cause in men a discomposure of the mind from whence they are call'd Passions or the sufferings of the Soul but they make no such change in God who being unchangeable cannot be moved or suffer by different affections When therefore in Scripture it is said that God for example is touched with Grief Hatred Anger and the like this is to be understood as Divines express it no further then as to what concerns the exteriour effects which appear to us and are such as are amongst us the usual effects of a sorrowfull angry mind and not as to any change of affection which in God is none Quantum ad effectum non quantum ad affectum But this is no hindrance but that we may draw from these passages of Scripture infallible consequences to prove the enormity of Mortal Sin. For it is reasonable to judge of the malice of a cause by the evil effects which of its own nature it is capable to produce although it happen that the effect may not follow by reason of some extrinsecal impediment Sin therefore of it self being capable to produce in God all those Passions we have spoken of tho' his Sovereign perfection renders him uncapable to receive them this doth not diminish in the least the malice of it which is always such that in as much as in it lies it produceth in God all those passions and excites in him Grief Sadness Hatred Anger Fury and Indignation O Sin how wicked and cruel art thou since thou hast no regard to God himself but endeavourest to attaque that Sovereign Majesty even in his Throne of Glory A Prophet once said let Samaria be destroy'd because it hath raised bitterness and sadness to his God. Pereat Samaria quia ad amaritudinem concitavit Deum suum Osea 14. But with how much greater reason ought we to say that Sin should for ever perish seeing it attaques even God himself and in as much as in it lies fills that infinite Ocean of Sweetness and Bounty with Gall and Bitterness Behold Theotime the reasons we have to detest and abhor Sin from whence we may form to our selves a motive of true Contrition Behold how we are to detest Sin not only by reason of the evils which it heaps upon us whereof we have spoken above but for the evils with which it affects even God himself for once it is capable to cause all those effects in God altho' it doth not effectually produce them for the reason above mentioned it follows of necessity that the injury which it offers to God is dreadfully beyond measure great Conclude then with a strong resolution to hate this enemy of God this if possible disturber of the Deity ARTICLE VI. Of the Effects of Sin in the Person of Jesus Christ THat which Sin could not effect in God it hath brought about in his only Son our Lord Jesus Christ and if the Divinity by reason of it's infinite perfections be raised above the attempts of the malice of this Infernal Monster the most sacred humanity of the Son of God hath suffer'd for all beyond all that which we can either speak or think Consider this well Theotime and observe once more the enormity of Mortal Sin by the number and greatness of those evils which it made him to suffer who undertook to satisfy for it and destroy it Consider first that it was Sin which made the Son of God descend from Heaven that is which obliged him to take our humanity upon him and stoop to that wonderfull abasement of his Person which St. Paul called annihilation or becoming nothing Phil. 2.6.9 as to make himself Man for us and our Salvation to take the habit and form of a Servant to put himself in a capacity to satisfy the Divine Justice for the infinite injury done him by Mortal Sin An injury never to be repaired but by one who should be God and Man. Secondly this adorable Mystery of the Incarnation was no sooner accomplished but the first thought of the Son of God made Man was to offer himself to his Eternal Father a Sacrifice to the Divine Justice in satisfaction for all the Sins of Men as he himself said by the Prophet Psal 39.7 The Sacrifices and all Holocausts which hitherto have been offered to appease thy wrath against sin were not able to give thee satisfaction wherefore I am come and knowing that it was thy will that I should satisfy I am content O my God! and embrace with all my heart this thy good pleasure and decree From that first moment even untill the time of the Passion of the Son of God his life was a continual Sacrifice which he offered to his Father the divine love always burning never permitting him any repose untill he had accomplished the work he came for untill by his death he had conquer'd and destroy'd that cruel Enemy he came to fight with which was sin This is that which he himself testified when he said I have a Baptism wherewith I am to be Baptized and how am I streightned interiourly untill it be dispatcht Luk. 12.5 He who could recount the pains and travels of the life of the Son of God his fast his preaching his watchings his prayers and all that which he hath done and suffered as well in Soul as body during the 33 years of his mortal Life would easily perceive how all that tended to the destruction of sin for which he principally came into the world The time at length approaching wherein he was to enter into that last Combat of that so great and signal War which he was come to wage to free us all from sin and the captivity of the Devil its first Author what was he not obliged to do and suffer that he might conquer so potent an enemy it is true that he gained a glorious victory but it was with the loss of his precious life and at the price of his own death But what death Theotime A death full both of sorrows and reproaches the death of the Cross A death accompanied with all imaginable affronts and executed by those that he had in the highest degree obliged betrayed and delivered by one of his Disciples to his mortal enemies abandoned also and denied by his own Disciples arrained before a Judge accused as a Criminal Sentenced and condemned as a Malefactor exposed to the scoffs and derisions of the Multitude Before his execution he was Scourged with no less cruelty then shame and disgrace delivered over to the insolence of Soldiers who Crowned him with Thorns as a mock-King in derision and scorn In fine led to execution nailed to the Cross exposed to the view of all the world between two Thieves as if he had been an Impostor a Cheat and the worst of men Amidst these excessive pains
of his Body and yet far greater anguishes of his Soul overwhelmed with sorrow and confusion he expires upon the Cross and commends his Spirit into his hands who sent him O Theotime have you ever seriously thought of these sufferings of the Son of God your Saviour But perhaps you have not reflected upon that which caused them wonder at his goodness but be not surprised if I tell you that it is nothing else but Sin It was Sin alone that Crucified the Son of God. It is true they were the Jews who persecuted him to death it was Pilate who condemned him and the Executioners who nailed him on the Cross It is also most true that he offer'd himself unto death and underwent all these hardships because he was so pleased Oblatus est quia ipse voluit Isa 53. It is moreover most certain that his Eternal Father desired that of him and obliged him to drink that bitter Chalice But it is also without question that Sin was the first cause of the suffering of the Son of God it was that which first prosecuted him this also was his most cruel Executioner If he offer'd himself to death it was because he had willingly charged himself with our Sins If the Eternal Father would also have him suffer it was to receive from him the satisfaction which was due to his Divine Justice upon account of Sin. God saith Isaias c. 53. had laid on him all our Iniquities And the Eternal Father himself said that he had strucken him for the Sins of his people Propter scelus populi percussi eum Hearken here to the description which the same Prophet makes speaking of the torments of the Son of God which he saw as clearly in Spirit as if he had beheld them in effect There was no Beauty in him nor comeliness and we have seen him despised and most abject of Men a man of sorrows and knowing infirmities and his look as it were hid and despised whereupon neither have we esteemed him He surely hath born our infirmities and our sorrows he hath carryed and we have thought him 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 upon him and with his Stripes we are healed Behold dear Theotime how much our sins have made Jesus Christ to suffer Behold to what condition that cruel enemy hath reduced the Son of God Is not this sufficient to make us judge of the Greatness and enormity of Mortall Sin seeing it hath made him to suffer so great torments who had undertaken to destroy it seeing also the fault could not be expiated nor the damage repaired but by the death of God made man whose sole life is infinitely more estimable and precious then those of all Men Angels and other possible creatures put together Ought we not then to say that the wounds we have received by Sin are truly dreadfull since they could not be cured by any thing less then the blood of the Son of God Agnosce homo quam gravia sint nulnera pro quibus necesse fuit unigenitum Dei filium vulnerari Si non essent haec ad mortem ad mortem sempiternam nunquam prohis filius Dei moreretur Bern. Serm. 3. de Nat. Dom. O man saith St Bernard acknowledge how great those gashes were that obliged the only Son of God to be wounded to cure them If those Sores had not been mortall and the causes of an eternal death the Son of God had never dyed for their recovery Can there be a more considerable motive to lament and abhorr our sins then when we reflect that they were the cause why the Son of God our Saviour Suffered so much and also why he died upon the Cross The Jews once wept over and bewail'd the destruction of the Royal City of Jerusalem because of the loss of their King Cecidit corona capitis nostri vae nobis quia peccanimus Thren 5. How much more reason have we to lament our misfortune who by our sins are the only cause of the death of Jesus Christ our King our Redeemer and our Glory Weigh well Theotime and meditate upon this motive of sorrow and contrition it will pierce your heart except it be harder and more obdurate then the very Stones and say with St Bernard ubi supra Pudet itaque dilectissimi propriam negligenter dissimulare passionem cui tantam a majestate tantâ video exhiberi compassionem Compatitur filius Dei plorat homo patitur ridebit It is a shamefull thing for Christians not to acknowledge the evils which sin hath brought upon them when they consider what so supreme a Majesty as that of the Son of God hath been obliged to suffer for them The Son of God takes compassion on the miseries of man and weeps for sorrow whilst insensible man who is overwhelmed with his own Sins is not concern'd at all O Theotime have a care I will not say only that you never become so blind and insensible as to flight the grievousness and enormity of mortall Sin but that you never permit a day to pass in which with all the vigour of your heart you do not conceive new hatred against that infernall Monster which could not be destroyed but by the passion and death of the Son of God our Saviour CHAP. XII The practice of Contrition upon the Precedent Motives LEt us now resume all that which we have said concerning the Motives of Contrition since the Eighth Chapter that we may come to the practice of this great Virtue without which it is impossible to be justifyed in the sight of God. We have said that to have Contrition we must know the enormity or grievousness of Mortall Sin and we have made that Enormity appear from several heads First because it is incomprehensible in it self as we shewed in the Eighth Chapter 2dly From the knowledge we have of it from the Sacred Scripture which discovers unto us the several Signal and most enormous indignities of Sin whilst it treats of it as a Rebellion against God a detestable ingratitude a contempt of his Holy will a postponing the Creator to the Creature and a preferring of our own before the will of God which we spoke of in the 9th Chapter 3dly From the horrid offence or injury which by Sin is done to God an injury really infinite and so great that no pure Creature either Man or Angel is capable by himself to make satisfaction for it As we have seen in the 10th Chapter 4ly From the dreadfull effects which by sin are caused in all places and in all sorts of Subjects in Heaven in Earth in Hell in the Angels in Man in God himself and in his Son Jesus Christ as we have shewed in the several Articles of the 11th Chapter After all these Motives thus treated to give you an insight into the nature of that sorrow which is called Contrition
but a weakness of mind or to say better a folly For Theotime can there be a greater folly then not to desire to cure a great evil by another which is much less then to chuse rather to damn ones soul for ever then to save it by a shame or confusion which lasts but for a moment What would you say of a Criminall who having deserved death should refuse the pardon offer'd him by the King upon this Condition that he would discover his Crime in secret to a Judge appointed by him would not all cry out that this man had lost his Wits yet this is his case who conceals any thing in Confession Blind that you are who chuse rather to dye and be lost Eternally then confess your sins to the Judge whom God hath appointed to take cognizance of them who will rather hide the wound that will cause your death then shew it to the Chirurgion who will cure it without fail who chuse rather to blush one day before God in the presence of Angels Men and the whole Court of Heaven then now to be ashamed and blush but for one moment before your Ghostly Father When you conceal your Sins from Men do you think by that means to hide them from the sight of God you fear the sight of Man and apprehend not at all that God should know them Is not this to disesteem the Divinity and scoff at God. In reality this shame is not so great a punishment if we do but make a true Judgment of it But suppose it were a thousand times greater consider that it is but a punishment for your sins and that you have deserved it yea and a far greater confusion and an eternal disgrace why then will you not suffer it Behold the great advantages it will bring you the remission of your Sins the quiet of your Conscience the friendship of God and Eternal Salvation O happy confusion It is this of which the wise man speaks Eccl. 4.25 There is a confusion that brings grace and Glory as there is another which brings Sin which is that mischievous shame of which we speak in this place But in fine consider one thing to which there is no reply viz. That it is impossible you should ever be saved without confessing that sin which you are troubled to declare Perform all the good work you please of Prayers Austerity or Alms-deeds as long as you retain any one mortal Sin in your heart without declaring it in Confession there is no Salvation for you and if you dye in that State you are lost for ever Do not tell me that you will confess it some day or other hereafter but for the present that you cannot do it Remember that the longer you defer it the greater will your shame and confusion be and you will have more trouble to declare it But in expectation of that day I ask whether in the interim you will go to Confession or no if you will then you will commit so many sacrileges as will make you a thousand times more Criminal in the sight of God and which will draw upon your head the divine anger and vengeance If you do not go to Confession in what a disorder and confusion do you put your conscience and to what danger do you expose your Salvation who hath told you that that day or time will come which you propose to your self and that you shall not dye before and without Confession being you would not confess when you had both time and means to do it For Conclusion my dear Theotime if you be in that miserable State I conjure you to look to your self open your eyes and awake from that Lethargy Consider how it is the Devil that deceives you and raises in you that wicked shame or that foolish fear by which he would work your eternall Damnation as he hath done to many others of your age and condition Call to mind that poor possessed person in the Gospell whom the Devil had render'd both deaf and dumb His misery did in such a manner move the Son of God that he wept Mark 7. Suspiciens in Caelum ingemuit ait Ephpheta quod est adaperire statim solutum est vinculum linguae ejus loquebatur recte Raising up his eyes to Heaven saith the Gospell he wept and said be open and presently his tongue was untyed and he spake plain The miseries which we consider in the body of that possess'd man are found dayly in the Soul which the Devil hath possess'd by Sin only with this difference that the condition of this Second is far more dangerous then the first They were the spiritual miseries represented in the body of the deaf and dumb man which drew tears and sighs from the Son of God. Take pitty on your self and render not your self unworthy of the compassion he hath for you Be no longer deaf to the commands he hath given you to declare your Sins in Confession nor to all those reasons which oblige you to it Courage make a strong resolution and execute it readily and have a care you be not remiss The Son of God will assist you in it with his grace he will open your mouth freely to confess your Sins you will receive a thousand Consolations from him and praising his holy name you will sing forth bene omnia fecit surdos fecit audire mutos loqui He hath done all things well he hath made the deaf to hear and the dumb to speak CHAP. IX Of the preparation for Confession or Examen of Conscience THere is no doubt but we ought to prepare our selves for Confession and being our memory ordinarily speaking is not so tenacious as to keep in mind things past except we apply our selves to call them back it follows that the same authority which obligeth us to an entire Confession of our sins doth oblige us also to make before-hand an examen of Conscience that so we may remember the three things above-mentioned viz. The Species the Number and the most notorious Circumstances This made the Council of Trent say that one is obliged to declare all their sins which they remember after a diligent examen It is certain that no general rule can be prescribed for this preparation which doth not depend upon the circumstances of the Person of his capacity of time of necessity and such like for there is more time required to prepare ones self for an Annual then for a Monthly Confession Those who have an ill memory or who observe not their daily actions or seldom examen their Consciences have need of a longer preparation then others We must follow herein that most judicious method which the Catechism of the Council prescribes In confessione summa illa eura diligentia ad hibenda est quam in rebus gravissimis ponere solemus Catechis ad Parac de Poenit. Sacram. n. 62. That is to use the same diligence in this preparation we are wont to employ
in affairs of greatest importance wherefore as in those occasions every one applies himself seriously and with all his power and useth all imaginable diligence and endeavours that nothing may be wanting which is necessary to compass his design we must do the same in this of Confession where we do not treat of any temporal concern but of the securing our Eternal Salvation by gaining the remission of our Sins a remission which cannot be otherwise obtained but by means of a good Confession To practice well this general rule we must perform these three things First we must pray to Almighty God and beg of him he will vouchsafe his Divine Light whereby we may see our sins this is a means which we must never forget and which we may say is absolutely necessary The heart of man is so secret that he himself oftentimes doth not know himself and none but God can search it to the bottom Our Conscience is sometimes so darkened and so obscured that we are not able to see into it either by means of our memory or knowledge only God by his grace and inward light which he communicates to the Soul is able to dissipate and disperse that darkness which when he doth we easily discover many spots which before we did not see as we see in the rays of the Sun many things which when we had only a lesser light were hidden from our eyes Wherefore Theotime in this preparation you must never desist but continually pray to God for this heavenly light Psal 17.29 Deus meus illumina tenebras meas O my God clear the darkness of my Soul that I may discover my sins Come O Holy Ghost dart me from heaven a ray of thy divine light Secondly you must observe some method in searching out your sins that so you may not forget any the best is to run over in order the Commandments of God and of the Church with the seven Deadly Sins For being every sin is a transgression of the Law of God we cannot more easily fall into the account of the sins we have committed then by running over his Commandments and examining upon every one by it self whether we have transgressed against it in what and how and being one may offend against them not only one but many ways it is necessary that we know the divers Sins which may be committed against each either to learn them by books which treat thereof or by the instruction of some understanding Person We shall set down hereafter an exact Examen Thirdly to make yet better this examen of your Conscience you must retire into your self there to take cognizance of your inclinations your chief passions the Sins which you most ordinarily fall into the occasions you have to offend God the persons you converse with the places you have frequented the affairs you have been concern'd in the particular obligations of your state the omissions you are guilty of and many other such like things If you practise well these three means Theotime you comply with the diligence which God requires at your hands in this preparation but practice them with serenity and quietness of mind without racking or torturing your Soul for disquietness and anxiety of mind are so far from being an help that they are an hindrance to Confession Remember that God requires nothing from you but what you can perform perform it then orderly and faithfully and when you have done concern not your self any more about your examen but beg pardon of God for your Sins CHAP. X. Of the distinction which must be made between Mortal and Venial Sin. IN this examen of Conscience we must not only employ the memory to remember the Sin but also the judgment to discern the quality and grievousness of them it being certain that all Sins are not equal or alike The first and the most signal difference which ought to be observed is that of Mortal and Venial the knowledge of this distinction is absolutely necessary in this place because Mortal Sin depriving us of the grace of God cannot be remitted but by a penitential sorrow it requires an entire Confession a far greater sorrow and another kind of satisfaction then Venial which doth not destroy the grace of God in a Soul may be forgiven without the Sacrament and doth not require necessarily to be Confessed altho' it be always very good to do it That you may understand this difference right you must know That every Sin is a trangression of the Law of God but with this difference that it is sometimes heavy or heinous and sometimes light It is heavy when it is acted in a matter of concern with knowledge and consent It is light when it wants either all or any of these three conditions That is either when the thing it self is light or being heavy is without sufficient consent or with consent but without knowledge of the evil so that it be not an affected wilfull or voluntary ignorance The first is called Mortal taking it's name from it's effect by reason of the death it causeth in the Soul by depriving her of the grace of God which is its Life The second is call'd Venial because offending God but lightly it is more pardonable The heavy Trangression offends God grievously it makes one incurr his displeasure robs the soul of Grace makes it lose the right it had to Heaven which is the inheritance of the Children of God and renders it subject to Eternal Damnation The light Transgression offending God but slightly doth not make the Soul incurr his absolute displeasure but only it causes some small diminution of the love which God hath for her All that which the Scripture says of the ill effects of Sin is to be understood of the first transgression as Jac. 1.15 That it causeth death Isa 59.2 That it sets God and man at a distauce And in a word all that which we have said above in the Second part Chap. 10. And that which the Scripture says that Prov. 24.16 The Just Man falls seven times a day that Jac. 3.2 All of us offend God many ways that 1. Jo. 18. If we say we have no Sin we deceive our selves Is all to be understood of the Second As these two sorts of sins are much different as well in their weight or enormity as effect so also are they very unlike in their remission for Mortall sin cannot be pardoned but by the Sacrament of Penance or perfect Contrition out of the Sacrament but always with relation to the Sacrament and an obligation to receive it whereas veniall sin may be remitted by the only remorse for having committed it accompanied with a resolution of amendment For this reason in Confession we must take great notice of the Sins which are Mortal or which we believe to be so that we may Confess them exactly and entirely without concealing any deplore them in the sight of God and do the Penance they shall deserve CHAP. XI Of the
is with more Fervour and with a more Humble Contrite Spirit they are performed by so much more easily they obtain what they demand In fine with all these admirable qualities they have yet another of no less note which in all reason should make them more lovely more desirable And it is this they are good against the maladies of the Soul and serve not only as a remedy to cure past Sins but also as a preservative against them for the future CHAP. VIII That the Penitent who truly desires to work his Salvation ought not to satisfy himself with the Pennance enjoyned him in the Sacrament but he ought to perform others and how IT is a great errour and very common amongst Penitents to satisfy themselves if they comply with the Penance that is enjoyned them and to believe that they have done enough when they have performed the Penance such as it was tho' frequently far inferiour to what it ought to be This abuse is the cause of many evils and particularly above the rest of the small progress one makes in vertue of loose living and relapses into Sin it being certain that if we did Penance as we ought for our past offences we should not so easily fall into other sins Mistake not then Theotime but be perswaded that you ought to do other Penances besides those that are enjoyned you in your Confessions and this for several Reasons First the better to satisfy the Divine Justice for your past Sins and by little and little to diminish the punishment which yet remains due from you to be payed 2ly to make you more gratefull and acceptable in the sight of God after your Sins and to merit at his hands those graces which by your former crimes you had justly lost 3ly To restrain you from offending God and relapsing into those Sins for which you see your self obliged to suffer 4ly To cure the vicious and wicked inclinations of your Soul by exercising the acts of contrary virtues All these are the reasons of the Council of Trent cited above in the 5th Chapter to which I refer my self This is the cause why the same Council hath said Ses 6. c. 13. That the Life of a Christian ought to be a perpetual Penance and that the just ought to work their Salvation with fear and trembling by Labour by Watchings Almsdeeds Prayers Fastings and by Chastity And these maxims are drawn from the Gospell the Doctrine of Jesus Christ and his Apostles so that there is not the least ground to doubt of the truth thereof Wherefore dear Theotime I exhort you to reflect seriously upon this truth and convince your self that it is necessary for you to do Penance in whatsoever state you are if you intend to live like a Christian It is a great errour to beleive that Penance belongs only to Religious it is the duty of all Christians and of all those that hope to save their Souls But you will ask me how it is to be done Behold the most easy means can be imagined Penance consists in two things in a detestation of Sin and in suffering in order to satisfy for the injury it hath done to God. One of these is in the heart the other in action Comply with them both and you will perform a very profitable Penance First conserve always in your heart a true regret or sorowfull sense for having offended God. And to conserve it better accustome your self dayly to renew it elicit acts of sorrow in your prayers as at Morning and Night demanding of him pardon for your Sins and detesting them from the bottom of your heart Secondly suffer for your Sins and that two ways first by imposing upon your self some action of Penance to perform every day One while a recital of some prayers otherwhile a distribution of almes sometimes mortification as abstinence or retrenchment of some lawfull pleasures as divertisements or the like But all this must be done upon the motive of making satisfaction for injurys done to God which is the Spirit of Penance 2ly accepting willingly and with the same spirit of Penance and satisfaction all the pains and evils which dayly befall you As the inconveniences of Life the disorders of Body the troubles of mind disgusts loss of goods poverty necessities afflictions either private or publick and generally all the evills which occur and whereof this life is so fertile and abounding But especially the particular pains and hardships which you are forced to suffer in the state and vocation where God hath placed you there not being any where one is not obliged to labour and take pains All these afflictions and troubles we may make use of to do penance and satisfy for our Sins upon condition we suffer them with patience as the Council of Trent hath declared sess 14. c. 8 9. and with sorrow for our offences Whereas on the contrary when we undergo them without patience and without offering them up to God for the remission of our Sins and for satisfaction of the punishment which we have deserved our sufferings are not only not mitigated but also render'd unprofitable without bringing either any benefit for the future or any Comfort for the present which is a thing which we ought to observe well in this place CHAP. IX Of Sacramentall Absolution What it is Wherein it consists and what are its Effects ALtho' Absolution be a part of the Priests office yet it is very fitting that the Penitents should be instructed in it to the end they may receive it with respect and sutable dispositions First he must know that as in every Sacrament there are two parts whereof one is called the matter the other the form Absolution is the form of the Sacrament of penance and without it there is neither a Sacrament nor remission of Sins by vertue of it This Absolution is a juridicall sentence pronounced by the Priest upon the Penitent by which after that he hath taken cognisance of the Sins which the Penitent hath confessed and of his good disposition to receive the remission of them and after that he hath enjoyned him a convenient Penance he remits his Sins on the behalf of God and by the authority which he hath given him It consists but in these three words which are essentiall to it I absolve thee from thy Sins all the other which the Priests says before and after them are Prayers which the Holy Church hath instituted to implore the Grace and Mercy of God upon the Penitent and which may be omitted in case of necessity The effects of the Absolution are to remit the Sin as far as concerns the fault or offence of God and the Eternall punishment and blot out the stains which Sin had caused in the Soul and recover the favour and freindship of God by the means of sanctifying Grace which it bestows upon him and revive in him all the precedent merits which were mortifyed and lost by sin It produceth all these
whilst the best of arguments are all too little in matters of less concern as in the sickness of the Soul they seek no furthet then barely the profession but when the Body is afflicted you shall have nice distinctions betwixt Physitians and Physitians Sickness and Sickness all indeed may be Physitians but they are not all equally endowed with natural parts Learning and Experience and there are some Sicknesses more dangerous then others that require the most eminent Doctors many frequently dy in the hands of the unskillfull and how do I know what my infirmity may be I grant they proceed upon good grounds in this their care of the Body and desire no more but that they will do the same in the distempers of the Soul and the choice of a Confessor But there are some which is lamentable to think on so far from this and so blindly foolish as to reject the better and apply themselves to those whom they know less able either to discern their malidies or to correct the vitious humours or to let them see the number greatness and enormity of their past Sins to create in their Souls an horror of them or make them sensible of what the malignity may grow to if not prevented by timely repentance They choose those who are less prudent in their prescriptions and less capable to give suitable admonitions necessary advices and other remedies against the maladies of the Soul the most indulgent in their Penances the most facile in resolution of cases of conscience those in fine who dive least into their consciences who pass slieghtly over all things are least troublesome in questions give little or no advice and that which they give only in a generall without descending to particulars who satisfy themselves with what is told them and from a slight Penance pass over to absolution And these are the Confessors not only most followed but most sought after Now is not this a deplorable blindness Is not this willingly to extinguish the light of reason that they may more freely and without remorse of Conscience fall into the pit of Hell. Are not Christians miserably unfortunate in verifying by their practises that greivous complaint which God once made against the Jews Isay 30.9 This people said he continually provokes my Wrath these are deceitfull Children that will not hearken to the Law of God who say unto the Seers see not and to the wise search not good things for us but speak pleasing things unto us entertain us with errours and falsities But what disorders accrue to poor penitents by the remissness of such Confessors Their Confessions become purely customary not prompted by the spirit of Penance The reiteration takes off the shame and confusion due to their Sins want of reprehension continues them in their tepidity and by their frequent relapses at last they deserve to be thrown headlong down the eternall precipice of Damnation And whence all this But from negligent ignorant loose or obsequious Confessors who resemble those Prophets of the Jewish people to whom Jeremy doth attribute the cause of the desolation of Jerusalem Thren 2.14 Your Prophets have declared unto them Falsities and fooleries neither have they made you know your iniquities to move you to do Penance But if by this plea such like Confessors are found guity of the damnation of Christians by the same certainly such Penitents will be Condemned who please themselves in the choice of such Confessors Therefore O Theotime be not so far guilty of your own eternal ruin as blindly to seek a director by whom you may be blindly led sooth not your self into your own destruction But as you aim by your Confession to set your self in the right way to Heaven so also let the choice of your guide be such that you may reasonably expect by his means to obtain what you design to be withdrawn from Vice encouraged in Virtue and securely conducted in your way to everlasting life We have told you in the Instruction of Youth what you are to do in the choice of a Director in the Second Part Chap. 5. which you will do well to reade attentively The Fifth Part. Of the preservation of Grace after Confession against relapse into Sin. CHAP. I. Of the Importance of this Subject I Treat here of this Subject because I find it of great importance and yet seldom expressly handled in other Treatises of Penance The Importance is sufficiently evinc't in that the very Fruit and end of the Sacrament depends upon it the Conversion of Sinners and the Salvation of Souls Is it not in reality an unexpressible benefit for a Sinner to be restored to the grace of God to be rankt a-new in the number of the Elect and resetled in the Inheritance of the Kingdom of Heaven after he had wilfully prescrib'd his Title and Right and justly deserv'd to be for ever rejected But if this happy restauration that was gained with trouble be not preserv'd with care but easily lost for want of compliance with our duty what will it avail us or rather what dire effects may we not expect from thence from the wounds on the one side of a guilty Conscience and on the other from the vengeance of an offended God. Where is there a Malefactor to be found who having been once pardon'd of a Capital Crime purely by the Clemency of his Prince dare by a repetition of his offence provoke the Justice of an injur'd bounty Or where a Person but even now freed from a dangerous Sickness that doth wilfully renew the declining Malady or rather who doth not with all the Sollicitude imaginable prevent the fatality of a worse relapse But alas it is only where the greatest concern is that there the least care is found When Eternal Life in the next depends upon the good State of the Soul in this 't is then only that the danger of a relapse which is always worse then the Original Disease is not regarded 't is only in this case that the Patient stands obstinately deaf to the advice of his Physitian Christians attempt that against God the Creator of Heaven and Earth which either the fear of a Temporal Power would deter them from or the Sacred name of Friend make them asham'd of For who is there that after reconciliation is not afraid to repeat continually the injuries of his Friend and who is there that would not reasonably judge that man a Cheat and Impostor who should pretend to the name of Friendship and yet by a repetition of new offences continue to urge the good nature of his Friend and by frequent relapses make his patience the only Subject of their mutual amity and his Facility in pardoning matter of ridiculing him to all the world Yet thus it is that Sinners treat with God. They confess their Sins ask pardon and time after time make their reconciliation with him by the Sacrament of Penance and for some few days they curb their evil inclinations but alas they
either to errour or Impiety 10. The Tenth is to scoff at holy things the ceremonies of the Church to contemn them in his heart or by any action whatsoever 11. The Eleventh to abuse the words of the holy Scripture in applying them to wicked or prophane senses making them serve for jests or other ill uses 12. The Twelfth is to desire to know such things to come as appertain to God alone or those which are either past or present but totally hidden from us and for this end to employ unlawfull means as Soothsayers Magicians Fortune-tellers observe Omens cast Lotts or make use of other Superstitious Inventions 13. The thirteenth is to give credit to Dreams and Superstitions to employ Prayers or Sacred Names to ill uses to use Charms or other Inventions to the end to make ones self beloved to cure Diseases or to give a Spell whether to Men or Beasts All these are Mortal Sins even when the means seem innocent as Prayers or Sacred words if one believe they will certainly take effect For then as St. Augustin saith De medicin animae contra sortileg These are not remedies given us by Jesus Christ but rather Poyson which the Devil hath spread amongst holy things Non est in eis remedium Christi sed venenum Diaboli Sins against Hope Anchora quae nostrae stat pes bene fida salutis Motibus his quatitur dum Desperatio mentem Dejicit aut falsas addit Praesumptio vires I. 1. Hinc qui scelerum furiis agitantibus omnem Desperat veniam 2. vel ab his cessare modumque Ponere posse negans vitiis dimittit habenas Divinae contemptor opis spem laedit Et ille II. 1. Qui male confisus sperat placabile numen Dum nova praeteritis adjungens crimina 2. mores Mutare extremae differt in tempora vitae 3. Quique Deum tentans levis imprudensque periclis 4. Corporis aut animae sese objicit 5. auxiliique Non poscit coelestis opem praesentia cingunt Dum mala 6. praesidiis spernit melioribus uti Quae Deus ad nostram voluit conferre salutem 7. Rebus in adversis qui frangitur atque superbis Vocibus impatiens hominesque Deumque fatigat Hope is a Theological Virtue whereby we expect from the hand of God Eternal Salvation and the means whereby we may obtain it Two Sins there are diametrically opposit both contrary to this Virtue The one is hoping too little the other confiding too much the first is called Despair the other Presumption I. One sins by Despair 1. When one distrusts in the mercies of God or despairs to be ever able to obtain of God the remission of his Sins as it happened to Cain 2. When one despairs of amending ones Life and in this Despair abandons himself to all wickedness which is a mistrust or contempt of the grace of God. This Sin is but too common II. One sins by Presumption 1. When one hopes that God will allways forgive his Sins whatsoever life he leads and living in this hope he doth not at all concern himself to mend his Life 2. When one defers his conversion 'till the end of his life or puts off his Repentance 'till the honr of Death 3. When one willingly exposes himself to any danger of offending God as to Company Reading or any other thing by which he runs the hazard to offend This is what we call to tempt God. 4. When without necessity one exposes himself to some Corporal danger as Sickness Wounds or Death 5. When in these so remarkable dangers of Body or Soul one neglects his application and recourse to God by Prayer to implore his assistance 6. When in these same dangers one neglects the remedies which God hath instituted and appointed as those of Physick for the Body and those of Prayer and Sacraments for the Soul. One sins also against this Virtue in adversities when he is discouraged to that degree that he puts not his trust in God and more still when one is impatient or murmures against his Providence in Adversity or is exalted in his own thoughts in time of Prosperity attributing the good success or Honour to himself The Sins against Charity CHarity is a Theological Virtue which makes us to love God above all things whence it follows that every Mortal Sin is directly opposite to it totally destroys it Because the Sinner in every such Sin prefers the affection he bears to the thing wherein he offends before the love and bounden duty he owes to God who forbids the Sin. However there are some Sins more particularly opposed to this great Virtue whereof behold some examples Caelestem nullum non laedit crimen amorem Quod male divinum humano postponit amori Praecipuè tamen his virtutum maxima damnis Impetitur 1. Summae si quis bonitatis amarum Infandumque furens scelerata forte recepit Mente odium execrans blasphemans sancta Deique Dextram indignatus ferientem aut Judicis aequi Iram exhorrescens infensum quem timet odit 2. Praeterea ille nocens sanctum qui numen amore Diligit exiguo bona nec super omnia summum Prosequitur redamatque bonum peccare paratus Vt serventur opes vel honos aut vita caducis Postponens aeterna bonis 3. Hominum quoque amorem Posthabito quaesisse Deo quem non piget qui Esse suo gratus Domino nil curat at omnem Stultis ut placeat curam admovet atque laborem 4. Quem pudor aut vani revocat formido pericli Ne cupiat bona vel faciat quae conscius ipse Sancta jubere sibi novit mandata malumque Quod prohibent patrat humano compulsus amore 5. Inque Deum raro conversus segnius illum Cogitat aut loquitur tacito sub corde monentem Non andit Benefacta sui nec mente revolvens Auctoris dignas contemnit reddere grates The greatest sin against Charity is the hatred of God. This is a Sin the very thought whereof causes an horrour in the Soul and it is proper to the Devils and damned Souls Yet however sometimes it is found amongst men when a wicked Conscience oppress'd with misfortunes gives it self over to complaints against God as if he were the cause of them to execrations to Blasphemys and in fine to hate him whom he believes to be the cause of his miseries or from whom he fears the punishment of his crimes 2. The second is not to bear God the love which he requires at our hands that is the love above all things as he is the greatest and most amiable of all goods This happens when one is so disposed in mind that he will rather choose willfully to offend God then loose either some Honour Riches or life it self if it were necessary This Sin is but too common and one does not take notice of it 3. The third is to prefer the love of men before the love of God to be more fearfull of their
doing nothing then employ himself in any lawfull and commendable exercise which is a Sin that never comes alone but carries after it a large train of many others And in this point it is necessary to examen ones self seriously and distinctly The 2d is to be more carefull and Solicitous to labour in the concerns of our bodies or temporall advantages then for the Salvation of our Souls It is a very Common Sin of which however one seldome or never examens himself Consider then whether you have not often totally neglected and abandoned the care of your Soul being so far from taking any care to labour in this great concern as that you have not admitted even of a thought thereof How long time have you past in this negligence The 3d. is to slight in his heart piety and good works having a distast or an aversion for them as it happens but too often to those who continue in the negligence we have just now spoke of The 4th is to defer from day to day and from time to time the amendment of ones life or immediately to desist after one has begun it The 5th is to forsake those means which God hath vouchsaf't us for our amendment Such as are the Sacraments Penance Prayer good works Or else to perform indeed these duties but so ill and with so little devotion that they do one no good Thus you must here examen your self whether when you were conscious to your self that you were in danger to commit some mortall Sin you have employed these means to the end you might avoid it The 6th is when either despairing ever to be able to amend or presuming that God will pardon us at the last hour we give our selves over totally to vice without ever concerning our selves at all to amend our lives Which is properly what St. Paul calls Rom. 2.5 to heap up a treasure of the Wrath of God against our selves All these Sins deserve to be well examined The EXAMEN upon the Second Commandment Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain THere are four sorts of Sins which are forbidden in this Commandment or which may have relation to it viz. an unlawfull Oath Blasphemy Cursing the Sins against Vows which the following verses will explain Terribile sanctum nomen violare secunda Lex prohibet tantoque reum se crimine reddit I. In vanum jurans falsi testem vel iniqui Qui vocat ore Deum nulla aut ratione coactus II. In caelum erectus numen blasphemat eique Nomina sancta adimens male sanus veraque falsis Commutans Sanctum scelerata voce lacessit III. Tum furiis ipsum se devovet atque precatur Dira sibi horrendum dictu sociisque Deoque IV. Stultaque vota vovens 1. quae vel praestare nequibit 2. Aut non sunt placitura Deo. 3. Qui vota fidemque Rite datam revocat levis 4. aut dissolvere differt To form a right judgment of this Commandment You must observe that we do not here take this word Oath as it is vulgarly understood for so Blasphemy as well as Cursing is called an Oath but we take it precisely and properly for the use which is made of the name of God to affirm or deny a thing such an use of its own nature is not bad but on the contrary it is an act of Religion when it is accompanied with the three circumstances which holy writ Heirem 4.2 requires an Oath should have Truth Justice and Necessity Hence the Commandment doth not at all forbid to Swear but to Swear in vain that is without these three conditions Wherefore the first Sin against this Commandment is the taking a wicked Oath that is 1. When one Swears an untruth which one knows to be so 2. When one Swears an unjust thing to the prejudice of our neighbour 3. When one Swears without any necessity altho ' the thing be both true and just Now there is no necessity of an oath except the thing for which one swears be of great importance One Sins moreover by an evil Oath when one either Swears to do what he never designs to do or when one swears to do an evill thing in which case the Oath doth not at all oblige but it was a mortall Sin to Swear and it would be another to fulfill his Oath These kind of Oaths are Sworn when one says that he takes God to witness of a thing or that he Swears upon his Salvation upon the damnation of his Soul by the oath he owes to God that he may perish in that instant or such like Wherein it is necessary that they examen themselves particularly well who are accustomed to Swear and declare the number of these sins as near as they can The 2. Sin is that of Blasphemy that is to revile and villify Almighty God whether it be by denying him some perfection which is proper to him as in saying that he is not Just Good Wise c. or in attributing to him something unworthy of him as to say that he is the author of evill or the like Renouncing him either by word or thought Cursing him which never happens but to such Souls as are transported with rage and fury as in losses in Gaming or upon occasion of such other Crosses It is also a kind of Blasphemy to swear by the name of God by his Death by his Blood as often as all or any of these things shall be spoken in anger or thro' contempt and reproach and always in abusing Gods holy name and the adorable Misteries of our Redemption Those who are subject to these Sins ought strictly to examen themselves in all these points The 3. Sin is Cursing that is when to affirm a thing either mov'd by anger against any one or thro' impatience of his crosses and contradictions one flyes out into a passion so far as to wish harm to himself or others as death or some misfortune to wish at the Devil or the like Which choler but too often suggests to those who do not curb their passions The 4. concerns the abuse of Vows which are promises one makes to God. This abuse is offered many ways 1. In making a vow to do that which is impossible for him to fulfill 2. In vowing to do that which is evill and displeasing to Almighty God. 3. In breaking vows which one has made 4. In deferring too long to fulfill them without any lawfull cause of that delay The EXAMEN upon the Third Commandment Remember thou keep holy the Sabbath Day THat we may rightly understand the obligations of this Commandment it is necessary that we know the intention with which it was given which was that we might Honour God upon that day which for this end he hath reserved to himself Wherefore he forbids us servile works which might divert or hinder us from applying our selves unto him Whence it follows that this Commandment does not only oblige us
of the singular advantages of Holy Communion and Effectually be made Partakers of those Graces which God is ready to bestow by means of this Blessed Sacrament As for the Second Part it is to be perused and Practized for this effect it will be very proper to peruse it often and with Attention but particularly upon the Eve and day of Communion PART I. Of the Doctrin that is to say of the Truths which it Imports us to know concerning the Sacrament of the Eucharist A Christian Communicant that he may receive worthily if as yet he know them not distinctly ought to be well instructed in three things of which two are generall the third is particular to this Sacrament First he must be instructed in Faith in Generall without which it is impossible to attain to the knowledge of this great Mystery of the Eucharist He must understand perfectly well what God hath reveal'd concerning this Virtue which is the Basis and ground-work of Salvation As Saint Paul saith Heb. 11.1 The Substance of the things to be hoped for Secondly He must have a true Notion of the Principal Mysteries of Faith in Particular as of the Blessed Trinity the Incarnation the Redemption the Catholick Chuch for except he believe these Truths it is impossible ever to come either to the knowledg or belief of that of the Holy Eucharist Thirdly He must be throughly informed in what concerns this Sacrament in particular viz. in the principal truths which appertain unto it as the real presence of the Son of God in the Cousecrated Host The change of the substance of the Bread and Wine into that of his Body and Blood The great wonders which meet in this Mystery The effects which it produces in the Soul of the worthy receiver The dispositions with which it ought to be received Following this order I shall divide this First Part into three Chapters whereof the First shall treat of Faith the Second of the Principal Mysteries of our Faith the Third of what concerns this Sacrament in particular And we shall divide the Chapters into Articles or Questions as necessity shall require CHAP. I. Of Faith. FOR your greater ease we shall treat of this Subject by way of Question and Answers immediately subjoyn'd Question I. What is it we are obliged to know concerning Faith in general SEven things viz. What Faith is who is the Author of it what its action its object its motive its rule and what the conditions it requires that it may be perfect Quest II. What is Faith IT is a gift of God or a light from above by which man being illuminated doth firmly believe all those things which God hath revealed and proposed to his Church to be believed whether written or unwritten In this definition is comprised all whatsoever as is abovesaid we are obliged to know concerning Faith. And first it teacheth us that Faith is a Supernatural light proceeding not from us but from God and which makes us assent to those truths the belief whereof is necessary for Salvation It teacheth us also who is the Author of Faith what its action the rest as we shall see by the Replies to the following Questions Quest III. Who is the Author of Faith I Answer God alone Faith is a gift of God saith the Apostle Ephes 2.8 and there is none but he can give it He bestows it upon us by enlightning our understanding in a supernatural way and inclining the will to follow by her consent the light which is proposed unto her The will indeed concurrs and doth well in accepting and agreeing with the truth which is proposed unto her but it is God alone who is the first and principal cause wherefore it is very necessary that we beg and require it at his hands Quest IV. What is the Action Object and Motive of Faith TO believe that is to hold a truth for certain and assured without the least doubt thereof is the proper act of Faith. The object that is the things which we are oblig'd to believe are all the truths which God hath revealed and which are therefore proposed that we may assent unto them The motive or reason why we ought to believe is the divine revelation For one believes a truth because God who neither can deceive us nor be deceived in what he reveals unto us hath revealed it And this revelation for this reason is always infallible Quest V. By what ways hath God revealed the Truth unto us BY two By the Holy Scripture and by Tradition These are the two ways whereby God hath been pleased to manifest his holy truths and both of them are equally infallible because both are equall the one written the other the unwritten word of God. Quest VI. Which is the Rule of Faith WE call that the Rule of Faith whereby we discern the revelations which come from those which do not come from God for it is certain that there are some false revelations and which the Devil the Author of Lies proposes by his Ministers and therefore that we may not be be deceived we have a certain rule This rule is the judgment or the interpretation of the Holy Church to which God hath given that Power and promised the assistance of his Holy Spirit that it also may never be deceived The Proofs are manifest in the Scripture Behold Mat. 28.20 saith he I am with you even untill the end of the World. He also said Mat. 16.18 Vpon this Rock will I build my Church and the Gates of Hell shall not prevail against it And the Apostle saith afterwards 1. Tim. 3.15 that the Church is the House of God and that it is the Pillar and Ground of Truth The Son of God commands us to hearken to it even as to himself Luc. 10.16 He that heareth you heareth me and he that despiseth you despiseth me And he saith Mat. 18.17 he who will not hear the Church let him be accounted as a heathen or Publican Without this Rule we can have no Faith because without it we can neither be assured of the Divine Revelation nor of the true Scriptures nor of their true Sense wherefore Hereticks who refuse to follow the Judgment of the Church have neither Faith not even any certainty of any thing they believe They say indeed that they follow the Scripture but they deceive themselves For first How do they know that there is such a thing as Scripture but by the Testimony of the Catholick Church which assures us of it and hath conserved it from time to time even untill their times Did not St. Augustin contra Epist fundam c. 5. say and with good reason that he would not believe the Gospel except he were moved unto it by the authority of the Catholick Church and that if we believe the Church when it tells us that we must believe the Gospel why should we not believe it when it forbids us to believe Manicheus or Hereticks Secondly It is not enough to
I believe the Gospel I must also necessarily believe the Acts of the Apostles because the same Authority of the Catholick Church obliges to believe them both We may say the same of all the other truths which are proposed by the Church for if we believe one we ought also to believe the others because it is the same Authority and the same Church which proposes and gives us assurance of them both And the same St. Augustin l. 16. cont Faust c. 3. speaking of Hereticks and those who would give credit to nothing but their own will. You says he who in the Gospell believe what you please and what you like not reject You rather give credit to your selves then to the Gospell because when led by your private Spirit you approve what pleaseth and disapprove what displeases you in Scripture you do not at all submit your selves to the authority of holy writ there to find out your faith but rather you subject the Scripture to your selves to judge of it according to your will. In fine Faith ought to be firm that is fixed steddy and free from any at least voluntary doubt And this also for the same reason the infallible authority of the Church which proposes unto us the divine truths the objects of our Faith and cannot be deceived in what she proposes to us So that there is no more reason to doubt of any one truth then of all the rest And there is not a better way to dispell with ease the doubts which arise against any one article of our faith then to reflect upon the others which one believes with all the certainty imaginable which yet are no otherwise grounded then upon the same authority of the Church for if we do not doubt of those neither ought we to question these In all the doubts which may occur concerning any point or points of faith whether they arise from our own imaginations or spring from occasion of Heresy new doctrins or scandall given in the Church we ought to have recourse to this authority as to a secure refuge A refuge where we shall find the divine Protection against the contradiction of evill tongues as the Psalmist hath it and after him St. Augustin in those excellent words which he delivers upon that passage of Psa 30. exposi 2. Serm. 3. Preteges eos in tabernaculo tuo a condictione linguarum If you find tongues which contratradict you heresies raised up against you and divisions which oppose you have recourse to the Tabernacle of God adhere and stick fast to the Catholick Church do not depart from this rule of Truth and you shall be protected and guarded from the contradiction of tongues in the Tabernacle of God. Behold not only a wholsome but also a necessary advice which ought to be practised upon occasion of any doubts in faith and especially in the beginning of any heresy And had the hereticks of our time follow'd this good councell they would never so unfortunately have continued obstinate in their errour or drawn others into the same ruin as they have done CHAP. II. Of the things we are obliged to believe WE shall reduce them to four heads 1. The Divinity or what we are obliged to believe of God. 2. The Incarnation or the Humanity of the Son of God which shall comprehend what we are to be believe of Jesus Christ 3. The Church 4. The Sacraments These four things are all contained in the Apostles Creed ARTICLE I. What are we oblig'd to believe of God FOur things The First I believe in God that God is that is that there is one only true God who is an uncreated Being Eternall Independent Infinite in perfections in Knowledge in Power in Wisdom in Goodness in Justice and in all other things Secondly The Father Almighty and in his only Son I believe in the Holy Ghost that in God there are three Persons The Father the Son and the Holy Ghost That all these three are but one true God having the self same divine Essence the self same Wisdom the self same Goodness the self same Power and so of the other divine perfections That the Son the Eternal Word proceeds from the understanding of the Father by a perfect Knowledge which the Father conceives of himself by which he expresses his Image in the Son. And the Holy Ghost proceeds from the Father and the Son by a Mutuall love which they bear one another That these Processions do not cause any inequality or dependence or priority amongst the Divine Persons who are all Equall and Eternall as being all but one only true God One in Nature and three in Persons Thirdly Creator of Heaven and Earth That God is the authour and creator of all things that he hath made both Heaven and Earth and all the creatures therein whether visible or invisible of nothing by his only word That he conserves them by his power and governs them by his wisdom Fourthly Life Everlasting That as he is the beginning and first cause so also he is the end of all things and particularly of Men and Angels whom he created to adore and serve him and for whom he hath prepared eternall happiness which will consist in this that the blessed shall see him perfectly and enjoy him as he is in himself and this enjoyment shall endure for all eternity it shall never no never end ARTICLE II. What are we obliged to believe of Jesus Christ FOR the greater facility and distinctions sake we shall divide this Article into Questions Quest I. What is Jesus Christ And in Jesus Christ his only Son. HE is the Son of God the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity who was Incarnate that is made Man for us men and for our Salvation But Quest II. Why was he made Man TO redeem man from the Sentence of everlasting death which we had all incurred by disobedience of the first man and to give full satisfaction to the Divine Justice as well for that first or Original Sin as for all the rest which have been committed ever since by other men Quest III. This Incarnation in what doth it consist Who was conceived of the Holy Ghost born of the Virgin Mary IT consists in the strict and personal union of the Eternall word with human nature that is with a mortall body and an immortall Soul such as we have from which union there results a compound whom we call Jesus Christ true God and at the same time true man. Whence it plainly follows that in Jesus Christ there are two Natures and one only Person viz. the one divine the other humane nature both united in one the same Person of the Son of God or the eternal word whereas on the contrary in the divinity there is but one Nature three Persons By this Union the Divinity was neither changed into the Humanity nor the Humanity into the Divinity of our Lord for that is impossible But both natures enjoying either of them their own perfections
were strictly united in the person of the Son of God. So that continuing what he was that is God he became what he was not viz. Man as St. Leo Sermone de Nativ Dom. expresses himself Manens quod erat assumpserat quod non erat Quest IV. How was this Divine Vnion accomplished WHen the fulness of time was come that God had decreed to send his Son for the redemption of Mankind he dismis'd from Heaven an Angell Messenger to the Blessed Virgin whom above all others he had chosen and in whom he had ordain'd this adorable mystery should be perform'd to declare unto her it was his will that she should be the temporall Mother of the Son of God. She had no sooner yielded and concurr'd with her consent to the accomplishing of the will of God thus manifested unto her but the Almighty power frames in her Virginal womb an humane body out of her purest blood creating in the same instant a rationall Soul to animate and inform it and in that same moment the Word who from all eternity terminates the Divinity began in time to terminate the Humanity of our Lord Uniting in his Person the two divine humane Natures And thus was fulfill'd that divine truth recorded by St. John Verbum caro factum est The word was made Flesh The Blessed Virgin having thus conceived the Son of God by the speciall work of the Holy Ghost at the end of nine months she brings him forth into the world nourishes maintains and breeds him up as other mothers use to do their Children and the Son of God lived with her thus unknown to the world untill the age of thirty years thenceforward only he began to manifest himself and to commence the work of our redemption for which he came Quest V. What is it that the Son of God hath done for our Redemption HE did four principall things first he preached publickly his Gospell during the space of three years and some months confirming the truth of his Doctrine his Mission and his Divinity by an infinite number of miracles Secondly he Suffer'd under Pontius Pilate a most bitter Passion and death upon the Cross upon which he offer'd himself a Sacrifice in satisfaction to the divine Justice for the Sins of all mankind and recompensation for the infinite injury which thereby was done to the divine Majesty Goodness and by this means to open the gates of Everlasting life for man to enter which till that time were shut against both Adam and all his Posterity Having performed this duty the third day he rose again from the dead and after that by frequent apparitions he had proved the truth of his Resurrection for the space of forty days he Ascended glorious and triumphant into Heaven from whence at the end of the World he shall come to judge both the quick and the dead all men according to their merits who for that end shall be raised from death to life and appear before him never more to die but receive either an Eternal Reward for their good or everlasting Punishment for their evil works Thirdly he establish'd and confirm'd his Church consisting of almost innumerable men Pastors and their Flock who should believe in him and continue in an uninterrupted Succession to the end of the world which Church Act. 20.28 he purchased with his blood Fourthly he instituted the Sacraments as the means to convey unto us the merits of his Passion and as so many pretious Vessels wherein is preserved the price of that adorable blood which he hath so abundantly shed for us to the end it might be applied unto us according as the necessity of our Salvation should require And for as much as these two last heads require a larger Explication we shall treat of them here in two distinct Articles ARTICLE III. What are we oblig'd to believe concerning the Church I Believe the Holy Catholique Church the Communion of Saints We must first believe that it is the Mysticall Body of which Jesus Christ is the Head or a Congregation of the Faithfull holding the same Doctrin or Faith which he taught using the same Sacraments which he instituted living under the conduct of the Apostles and succeeding Pastours and acknowledging the same visible Head the Vicar of Jesus Christ the Chief Bishop and true Successor of St. Peter Secondly that there is but one Church as there is but one God one Faith one Baptism as St. Paul Ephes 4.4 saith unum corpus unus Spiritus unus Dominus una Fides unum Baptisma unus Deus Pater omnium He that doth not conserve this Vnion saith St. Cyprian de unitat Eccles how can he believe that he hath Faith he who opposes and resists the Church who abandons the Chair of St. Peter upon which the Church is built how can he hope that he is in the Church since the blessed Apostle teacheth this same thing and shewing the sacred tye of Vnity affirming that there is but one body that is the Church as there is but one Spirit who governs it Thirdly that this is that only Church which acknowledgeth the Pope for her visible head whom Jesus Christ hath appointed to govern her and to be the source and Center of her Unity here on Earth which made St. Cyprian say ibid. that Heresies and Schisms spring from hence that some will not acknowledge in the Church one whom Jesus Christ constituted head over the rest in those words which he spoke to St. Peter Thou art Peter and upon this Rock I will build my Church and I will give to thee the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven and in another place feed my Sheep Vpon one man continues St. Cyprian Ibid. he builds his Church and gives him charge to feed his Flock And although he bestow'd an equal authority upon the Apostles as far as concerns the remission of Sins Yet that the Vnity of the Church might more clearly appear he hath ordain'd one Chair and it was his will that the Vnity take its Original and beginning from one man and a little after he saith that the Primacy was given to St. Peter to shew that the Church of Christ and the Chair was one St. Hierome L. 1. in Jovinian says the same thing viz. That St. Peter was preferred before the other Apostles to be the head of the Church to the end that the head being one all occasion of division in the Church might be removed Fourthly we are obliged to believe that there is no Salvation for any one out of this one true Church It is an Article of Faith which hath been held constantly in the Church this having always been an unquestion'd and current Maxim that he who will not have the Church for his Mother shall not have God for his Father Which was the reason why St. Hierome finding himself in the East where there was some division upon this Subject the names of the three Persons of the Blessed Trinity writ to Pope
Damasus Epi. 57. that he was resolved never to depart from him but inseparably to unite himself unto him as to one who held the Chair of St. Peter upon which says he I know that the Church is built Adding that the Church thus built is the only house where it is lawfull to Eat the Paschal Lamb the Ark of Noah out of which during the Flood none were saved he that doth not gather with the Pope scattereth that is he who is not united to Jesus Christ doth associate himself with Anti-Christ Fifthly we are also obliged to believe that this true Church is Infallible in her judgments in matters of Faith and Doctrine concerning manners whether she be or be not assembled in the persons of her Pastours and Head viz. the Pope and Bishops she holds universally one and the same Doctrine This is also an Article of Faith grounded upon the word of the Son of God who hath promised that the gates of Hell shall never prevail against her his Church from whence it follows that she never either fell or ever shall fall into the least error in points of faith she being as the Apostle affirms the Pillar and ground of truth But we have already prov'd this truth above in the first Article Now from all what we have said both in the first Article and in the present question it follows that we must conclude and hold this for a certain and infallible truth that all saithfull Christians whosoever desire to be assured in points of faith and sound Doctrine concerning Manners and to avoid error in a matter of so great concern must of necessity adhere and stick close solely inseperably to the Holy Catholick Apostolick and Roman Church and hear and follow her Judgment and Doctrine in all things ARTICLE IV. What are we obliged to believe concerning the Sacraments I Believe the Remission of Sins We are obliged to believe what the Church hath always taught concerning the Sacraments viz. First that they are the means instituted by God thereby either to confer his Grace upon us or to augment what we have already received or to restore what we had lost as it is expressed in the Councill of Trent Sess 7. Proaem Secondly that a Sacrament may be rightly defined in this manner a Visible signe of invisible grace instituted by God for our sanctification 3. That this Visible sign consists and is as it were composed of two parts viz. the sensible thing which is applyed in the Sacrament as water in Baptism and the words which are pronounced as in the same Beptism these words I baptize thee c. according to that received doctrine delivered by St. Augustin Accedit verbum ad Elementum fit Sacramentum By the joyning of the words with the Element or Material thing the Sacrament becomes compleat One of these two parts is called the matter the other the form of the Sacrament 4. That the Sacrament being applyed by a lawfull Minister either gives or augments Sanctifying Grace in the Soul of the worthy receiver 5. That there are Seven Sacraments viz. Baptism Confirmation Eucharist Penance Extreme Unction Order Matrimony Baptism makes us the Children of Jesus Christ Washing us from the Stains of Original sin and enlivening our Soul with the Life of Grace whence St. Paul calls Baptism Tit. 3.5 the laver of regeneration and the renovation of the Holy Ghost Confirmation strengthens us and conserves and confirms us in the faith we received in Baptism The Holy Eucharist is the nourishment of the Soul for as by Meat and Drink our decayed Spirits are revived so by the use of the Blessed Sacrament those damages which Charity dayly suffers from humane frailty are repaired Penance restores us to the Grace of God which we had lost by sin Extreme Unction gives us strength at the hour of death that we may be the better able to fight against our Ghostly Enemy in that last Moment upon which Eternily depends it is a remedy against Spirituall weakness contracted by our former Sins Order consecrates the Ministers of Christ and gives them power to conferr the Sacraments Matrimony sanctifies the contract betwixt man and woman and gives them grace to comply with the obligations which they draw upon themselves by that indissoluble Bond instituted by God for the propagation of Mankind and raised to the dignity of a Sacrament by our Saviour Christ Altho' all or every one of the Sacraments do cause sanctifying grace yet they do not every one produce it in the same manner for there are two viz. Baptism and Penance instituted for the remission of Sins which conferr it upon those whom they find void of grace from whence it is that they are called the Sacraments of the dead that is to say of those who are dead in the sight of God in the state of Mortal Sin whom they raise up from that death to the life of grace whereas all the rest are called the Sacraments of the living in as much as they encrease the grace they find precedently in the Soul and to receive any one of these worthily it is necessary that we be in the state of grace The Soul by each Sacrament is not only sanctified by habitual but also endowed with actual grace that is with a vigour and strength towards the compassing of those particular effects for which it was first instituted and ordained Moreover there are three which imprint a character in the Soul Baptism Confirmation and Order this Character is a Spiritual Mark or Seal which God makes in his Soul who receives any of these three Sacraments which impression because it can never be rased out none of these three Sacraments can be reiterated or received the second time by the same Person without a Sacrilege CHAP. III. Of the Holy Eucharist ALL what we have said hitherto whether of Faith in general or in particular of the Divinity it self of the Incarnation of the Son of God of the Holy Church and of the Sacraments serve only as so many steps or dispositions to the belief of the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar and to render the understanding of this adorable Mystery more easy to us which therefore we shall here endeavour to explain as brief and short as possibly we may I shall reduce all whatsoever we are obliged to know concerning it into four heads 1. The real prefence of the Son of God in the Sacrament 2. The Wonders inseparably annext unto it 3. The effects which it is capable to produce 4. The dispositions necessary to receive it ARTICLE I. Of the real presence of the Son of God in the Holy Eucharist and of what we are to believe concerning this Sacrament WE are obliged to believe that it is a Sacrament instituted by Jesus Christ wherein he gives us really and truly his Body and Blood under the species or exteriour appearance of Bread and Wine for our Spiritual nourishment and refection There is not any one particle of this general
our Saviour Jesus Christ But Alas the contrary is too true and this crime tho' a thousand times greater yet is much more common amongst Christians then that of Paricide They have an horror and with good reason to deprive those of breath from whom they receiv'd their life yet they are not apprehensive to Murder and Crucifie again as much as in them lies our Saviour Christ by receiving him into an impure perfidious Breast Nature hath imprinted in them a profound and lasting respect for those from whom they have received only a Mortal and fading life But they easily forget the Reverence they owe to Jesus Christ notwithstanding he nourisheth them with his own substance his pretious Blood and offers them by his presence a Spiritual and immortal and a pledge of everlasting life O God Theotime is it possible then that there should be found Souls capable of so black a deed so horrible a Crime Surely they are only those who either have no Faith or such as have never considered the enormity of the Sin who can commit it for he must surpass the very Devils in malice who falls into such a Sin if he have but the least knowledge how grievous and great it is and what dreadfull consequences do follow from it Two points I therefore design to discourse of in this place I will set forth the enormity of this Sin from three heads 1. From that remarkable saying of our Lord himself Mat. 7.6 Do not give that which is Holy unto Dogs If it be a great Sacrilege to give to Dogs things consecrated to God what Crime must it needs be to give the Holy of Holies unto a Soul an enemy of God more impure and filthy then the very Dogs and what Sin must it be in those to receive the Body of our Lord who being no better then Dogs as it is said in the Apocalypse and under this notion excluded from the Sanctuary Foris canes impudici yet have the impudence to eat the Bread of Children the Bread of the very Angels themselves Ecce panis Angelorum vere panis filioram non mittendus canibus 2. From that so famed Doctrine and signal admonition of St. Paul 1. Cor. 11.27 Whosoever ones the Bread and drinks the Chalice of our Lord unworthily shall be guilty of the Body and Blood of our Lord. This Sentence is a Thunder which ought to terrify all those who are so miserably unfortumate as to Communicate in Mortal Sin For he saith they are guilty of the Body and Blood of the Son of God that is they despise and treat in juriously this adorable Body and Blood whilst they receive it in a profane place in the Temple of Satan in a Soul polluted with Mortal Sin. It is particularly verified in this occasion what St. Paul relates elsewhere Heb. 6.6 this is to Crucisy Jesus Christ again to scoff at him to trample him under ones feet and contemn his Blood in that very action by which one ought to sanctify his holy name Can we think of these things without trembling and horror We never call to mind without a certain horror and eversion the inhumane methods the Jews and Soldiets a sed against our Saviour Jesus Christ in the time of his bitter Passion and can we be so insensible in our own case as not to detest those affronts we offer him even worse then the Jews did whilst we unworthily receive him For besides that they Luo. 23.34 knew not what they did we know and confess him to be the Son of God whom we offend St. Chrisostome explaining these words of St. Paul. 1. Cor. 11. Whosoever shall eat the Bread or drink the Cup of our Lord unworthily shall be guilty of the Body and Blood of our Lord. Why so suith this Holy Father hom 27. and his answer is because he hath spilt the Blood and by that action he hath not offered a Sacrifice but committed a Murther for he who approaches unworthily to this Divine Table and receives no Fruit from thence resembles them who formerly pierced the Body of our Lord not to drink but to shed his Blood. And hom 60. Consider saith he what just Indignation you conceive against him who betrayed Jesus Christ and against those who Crucified him therefore consider lest you also be equally culpable and guilty of the Body and Blood of the Son of God. It is true they kill'd his most Sacred Body but you after so many and so often repeated benefits bestowed upon you receive him into an unclean and polluted Soul. St. Cyprian before him had said that unworthy Communicants offer Violence to the Body of Jesus Christ and that this sin is a more grievous offence in the sight of God then it is for a Christian to abjure him in the presence of Infidels The Third from hence which you ought never to forget that the sin of an unworthy Communion is the sin of Judas It was he who first committed it and those who fall into it since imitate his Example and become his Disciples They receive him as he did in a Criminall and guilty Soul They betray him not indeed to the Jews but which is worse to the Devil who inhabits in them What punishment ought they not to dread from such an Enormous Crime Ought they not to remember how that perfidious Apostle was immediately possessed by the Devil in the moment that be received Jesus Christ for since they imitate him in his Sin they cannot avoid being partaker of his punishment as we are about to shew you The dammages which follow from an unworthy Communion SUch a mischievous cause cannot but produce most fatal effects The death of the Soul which infallibly it brings with it is the first evil which follows from it Mors est malis vita bonis This death is an encrease or extension of that other wherein the Soul lay buried before by the Sin in which he receiv'd the Sacrament It is a further banishment from the grace of God and a further disheartning and exposing her to the Power of Satan From this Death follow other most dismal lamentable effects as the fall into new Sins the blindness of Spirit the encrease of vices and passions which makes a Soul to groan under the Yoke of her Captivity and hinder her from returning again to God by true Repentance The Prophet hath comprised these effects in few words Psalm 68.23 when speaking against the enemies of Jesus Christ he prays to God that their Table may prove a snare to them and an occasion of scandal That they may become blind so that they may not see their own good That they may always stoop under the Yoke of a miserable Servitude If those who persecuted Jesus Christ without knowing him are punished so severely what ought not Christians to expect when they treat him so ill in his own Person whom they know Histories are full of examples of divers punishments which God hath laid upon this so detestabie a
Sin. Saint Paul the first of all 1. Cor. 11.30 attributes as the effects of unworthy Communions the great number of distempers Sicknesses and Deaths with which the Corinthians were afflicted Saint Cyprian delapsis affirms that in his time there were many whose bodies were delivered over to be possess'd by the Devil for that they had Communicated unworthily and also that many had lost their judgment and become distracted and mad upon the same account And Saint Chrisostome also assures us that the same thing happen'd in his time The same St. Cyprian reports that a Christian woman having partaken in private of the Sacrifices of the Idols and coming not long after to Communicate with the Christians she had no sooner received the Son of God but she found her self tormented as if she had taken poyson and dyed in the presence of all there He speaks of another who being willing to receive the precious body of the Son of God her self being in an evil state as she open'd the vessel in which it was enclosed there issued out a flame of fire which hindred her so that she was not able to receive it And another Christian going about to do the same instead of the Consecrated host which he expected to have found in the place where he had reserved it he found nothing else but ashes He himself also recounts this Passage how that a little Child to whom his Pagan nurse had caus'd a little wine consecrated to the Idols to be given being afterwards carried by his mother unto the Church at the time of the holy Sacrifice of the Mass was not able to swallow one drop of the consecrated wine which the Deacon had put into his mouth The Sacred Eucharist saith this holy Father ibid. could not endure to stay in a body and mouth defiled and profaned by the only touch of a forbidden drink But if it could not stay in this body whose Soul was altogether innocent what may we say of those whose Souls are altogether guilty and polluted I could relate a vast number of other examples but it would be too long tedious these are sufficient to make every one reflect as the same St. Cyprian considers that if he have not as yet received the same punishment for his unworthy Communion if he have been guilty of it he hath nevertheless deserv'd it as much as they Let every one consider saith this Holy Father not so much the punishment which another hath received as what he himself hath deserved and that he do not believe he hath avoided the chastisement because as yet it is something delayed since he ought rather to be much more afraid to whom God in his just judgment hath deferred the punishment of his Sins to a longer time ARTICLE VI. Of the end we ought to propose to our selves in the Holy Communion BEsides the purity of Conscience it is necessary that we have that of rectitude of Intention to Communicate well for it is most certain that an action how good soever it may be in it self looseth its worth and value by the default of a good Intention and it becomes evil and vitious if the Intention be such and if it be done for an evil end This being true in all good actions whatsoever it is still much more in this of Communion forasmuch as it is certain that nothing but what is pure and holy ought to draw near and receive purity and holyness it self and that it is a contempt of the greatness and sanctity of God to approach unto him upon any other motive then that of pleasing him and meriting his grace and favour For this reason in the Old Testament it was his will that none should serve himself upon his Altar of any other then Holy Fire which he had ordained for the use of the Sacrifices And he punished with sudden death the two Sons of Aaron who were so rash as there to make use of Prophane Fire by this figure we learn that for one to approach unto him it is not sufficient to be holy but it is also necessary that one bring with him an Intention altogether pure and holy and that an evil and Prophane Intention doth grievously offend him upon this occasion We must then approach unto the Holy Communion with an Intention totally pure and propose to our selves an end altogether holy in this so great and so august an action Now that we may perform this duty two things are necessary The first is that one propose to himself no evil thing as the motive and cause of his Communion as Hypocrisy to dissemble and conceal some fault with an appearance of Piety Vanity to be esteemed virtuous Humane respect lest he should displease any one or to please men rather then God. These three motives are but too frequent amongst those who are not sufficiently instructed concerning the Intention which we ought to have in our Communion and particularly among young People Wherefore they ought to have special care to avoid them The first is the greatest fault and ordinarily speaking renders the Communion Sacrilegious the other two deprives one of the best part of the fruit it otherwise would produce Secondly This intention must be directed to the Service of God and our Salvation to God to please him the more and to unite our selves thereby more strictly to him to our Salvation to promote it by obtaining by means of the Holy Communion the Graces which we stand most in need of as to amend our faults to resist temptations to fix and confirm us more in the practice of Virtues The two ends we find in our Lords prayer where the three first Petitions contain what we can wish for the greater honour and glory of God and the other four comprehend what is necessary for our Salvation And it is a very profitable exercise to propose to our selves for the end of our Communion the obtaining of the grace of God for the accomplishment of the Seven demands which make up compose it or of which this divine Prayer consists It is also good to add to this general intention some particular end according to our present necessities as to obtain some particular grace we stand in need of to correct in our selves some fault and to advance in some particular Virtue Lastly The right and Religious intention which we ought to have in Communion is the very same which Christ proposed to himself when he first instituted this divine Sacrament Now his intention was as he himself declared that he might remain in us and we in him He dwells in us by his Grace and the assistance of his holy Inspirations and we remain in him by love and the obedience we render to him propose to your self this end and you shall Communicate according to the Intention and Will of Jesus Christ PART II. Of the Practice of Communion Or What we must do to Communicate well and as we ought NExt to the purity of Conscience and the
please our Lord to receive him in this manner and that you loose innumerable favours by this your so signally cold reception of him Consider how ill this corresponds with that pressing and ardent love with which he invites you to this Feast and with that earnest desire he hath to receive you there saying to you now what formerly he did to his Disciples Luc. 22.15 I have most earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you Thus when he invites a Soul unto him he doth not only require that she appear in his presence but he expects that she should make him to hear and understand her voice Come says he Cant. 2.14 my dear and well beloved Soul shew me thy face let me hear thy voice for thy voice is sweet and charming as thy countenance is beautifull and comely By the face he gives us to understand the beauty of the Soul which consists in Sanctifying grace and the Ornaments of the Virtues and by the Voice he points at the acts of these same Virtues which make a confort and harmony most pleasing and agreeable in the sight of God. ARTICLE III. The practice of the Act of Faith for the Communion LEt us now come to the practice of these excellent Virtues and see how they must be employed in the Holy Communion To perform them right we must be well instructed and fully convinced of the truths of this divine Mystery which we have explain'd above Amongst these verities there are three upon which one may practice with much benefit the acts of Faith viz. 1. The real presence of the Son of the God in the Eucharist 2. The Wonders which God works in this Holy Mystery 3. The effects which he produceth in his Soul who worthily receives Exercise your Faith upon these three points when you communicate but see that they be acts of a stedfast and fervent faith and for the easier performance of them ponder and detain your self upon the two first before Communion and entertain your thoughts upon the third which are the effects after Communion in the following manner An Act of Faith upon the real presence of Jesus Christ in the Blessed Sacrament MY Saviour Jesus Christ I firmly believe and from the bottom of my heart I hold that thou art truly present in the Sacred Host I believe that it contains thy Body and thy precious Blood accompany'd with thy Soul and thy Divinity I believe that by vertue of the words of Consecration and in the moment they are pronounced the Bread is changed into thy Body and the Wine into thy Blood. I believe this truth upon the assurance of thy holy words and upon the authority of thy holy Church which thus teaches me to believe I believe it firmly and freely without any hesitation renouncing with all my heart all doubts which may ever come into my mind concerning this Subject Mar. 9.23 Credo Domine adjuva incredulitatem meam Yes my God I believe it assist my incredulity by thy grace and augment in my heart thy faith Luc. 17.5 Domine adauge nobis fidem believing thus I adore thee in this blessed Sacrament from the bottom of my Soul I acknowledge thee for my Lord and for my God as St. Thomas did Jo. 20.28 Dominus meus Deus meus Vpon the Wonders which occur in the Blessed Sacrament MY Lord and my God I acknowledge all the mighty things which thou hast wrought in this Holy Mystery grant me I beseech thee grace to understand them for they far exceed the capacity of my Soul. Psal 105.2 Quis loquitur potentias Domini auditas fafiet omnes laudes ejus Who is he O my God who can recount thy wonders and duly proclaim thy praises I know by faith and I acknowledge that thou art really in the Sacred Host without departing from Heaven where thou art seated on the right hand of thy Eternal Father That thou art in innumerable places in the same instant and in as many as there are Consecrated Hosts That the substance of Bread and Wine is changed into that of thy body and thy blood That of Bread and Wine there remains only the accidents which subsist without their substance which supported them before and that now thou dost miraculously conserve them as before That thy Body is in that Host without taking up any place and that it is whole in the whole Host and whole in every part thereof That it is as whole and entire under the least part as under the greatest Host That when the Host is broken thy body is not divided but that it remains entire in each part of the Consecrated Host That when the Host is consummated thy Body is not consumed but only ceases to be where it was before That the good and bad equally receive thee as to the reality but unequally only as to the effect the one finding life therein the other death O my Saviour I acknowledge all these great truths I firmly believe all these wonders I adore thy power which hath wrought them I praise thy infinite goodness that was pleased to prepare them for me and I say from the bottom of my heart with David Psal 9. Confitebor tibi Domini in toto Corde meo Narrabo omnia mirabilia tua Latabor exultabo in te psallam nomini tuo altissime My God I will praise thee with my whole Heart and I will recount all thy admirable works I will rejoyce in thee and I will bless thy holy name I acknowledg that thou hast really fullfilled in this mystery the Prophecy of David Psa 110.4 wherein he said that as an especiall effect of thy mercy thou hast made an abridgment and memoriall of thy wonders in bestowing food upon those who fear thee In this faith and with this acknowledgment I make bold to approach at present to this adorable banquet where thou bestowest upon me this divine food of thy Body and Blood that thou mayst fill me with thy self and thy divine Spirit O Jesus grant that I may approach unto thee with the sense of the respect and humility which is due to thy infinite Majesty who am I O my God that thou shouldst work such great wonders for my sake vouchsafe at least that I be not unworthy of them and that at present I may receive thee with a pure heart with a clear conscience and with a sincere and true faith Pardon me my Sins which have rendered me most unworthy to approach unto thee I detest them from the bottom of my heart because O my God they are displeasing to thee I here renounce them for the future and I promise to be faithfull to thee Proceed then my soul raise thy self up to go and receive thy God and to receive at his hands all the favours which he hath prepared for thee in this divine Sacrament Convertere anima mea Psa 114.7 in requiem tuam quia Dominus bene fecit tibi Vpon the Effects which the Holy Eucharist is capable to
produce in the Soul. IF you have yet time before Communion acknowledge in the presence of God the admirable effects which it produceth desire earnestly to be partaker of them and say from the bottom of your heart as follows I acknowledge O Saviour of Souls the wonderfull effects which thou workest in those who worthyly receive thee The many and singular tokens of thy love thou bestowest upon them the favours thou communicatest unto them I acknowledge that thou hast made thy self my meat to fill my Soul with so divine repast thou conservest in us the life of thy grace thou makest us encrease more and more therein thou strengthenest us in our weakness thou curest our infirmities thou preservest us from Sin thou givest us strength to persevere in thy grace and to walk so far and so secure amidst the dangers of this mortall till we come to immortall and everlasting life O my God! Blessed be thy holy name for these so many favours thou hast bestowed upon us Make me worthy to partake of all thy mercies in this holy Communion Approach to the Communion with this faith saying with the infirm woman in the Gospell Mat. 9.21 If I shall but touch the hem of his Garment I shall be cured After Communion withdrawing your self from the Holy Table into some convenient place adore profoundly our Lord who hath vouchsafed to come and dwell within you and considering attentively the great favours which he hath bestowed upon you by his divine presence pronounce from your heart those excellent words of S. David Psal 106.8.9 Confiteantur Domino misericordiae ejus mirabilia ejus filiis hominum quia satiavit animam inanem animam esurientem satiavit bonis Let the divine mercy proclaim and praise him every where and let his wonders be made known to the whole world because he hath fully satisfyed a dry and fill'd an empty Soul hath replenished her with blessings of all sorts O my God be thou blessed for so many favours which thou hast now bestowed upon me and for all the blessings with which thou hast enrich'd me after the great want and miseries which I endured when by my pleasures and my passions I had departed from thee Was not I most miserable and blind to seek in these vain pleasures repose and happiness which are not to be found but in thee alone I removed my self a far distance from thee to ruin my self for ever but thy goodness was such that it withdrew me from the precipice whether I was running to throw my self headlong down enlightning me with thy rays and calling me back unto thee by thy grace Thou hast pardoned me all my Sins and for the accomplishment of all these favours thou gavest thy self present with me to the end I may dwell with thee O my God! be thou blessed for all these infinite mercies and let all the Saints supply my defects and praise thee in my stead Confiteantur tibi Domine omnia opera tua Sancti tui benedicant tibi Ps 144.10 Stirr up your Soul that is your self to praise God for all the benefits which he hath at present conferred upon you with those gratefull sentiments of the same Prophet Psal 102. Benedic anima mea Domino Considering them attentively one after another O my Soul bless our Lord and let all that is within me praise and magnify his holy name Bless our Lord and never be unmindfull of the favours which he even now hath done thee Our Lord I say who hath pardoned all thy offences and hath cured all thy Infirmities Who hath preserved thee from death and who hath Crowned thee with the effects of his bounty He hath replenished thee with all the blessings which thou could'st wish considering all these favours now thou shalt mend thy Life and renewing thy forces grow young like an Eagle in the service of thy God. After you have Ponder'd well upon these Sacred words and have raised up in your self all the motions of gratitude and acknowledgment to God for the many and great favours he hath done you you shall conclude with a strong resolution to renew your self that is to say totally to change your life to amend your faults to dedicate your self from henceforth entirely to the Service of God. You shall demand grace at his hands and to this effect you shall beg of him a steady and constant Faith whose acts you have endeavoured to practice in this Communion You shall beseech him that he will vouchsafe to augment it not only in respect of this Holy Mystery but also in regard of all the other Christian Verities and Principles of Eternal Life to the end that by this Faith you may surmount all the difficulties and impediments you shall meet with in your Journey thither for it is most certain that those who have this great Virtue strongly imprinted in their Soul overcome all whatsoever difficulties occurr in the way of Salvation as St. Paul hath clearly shewn in his Epistle to the Hebrews Chap. 11.33 Per fidem vicerunt regna operati sunt justitiam adepti sunt repromissiones By Faith they conquered Kingdoms they have done Justice they have obtained promises But all this is to be understood of an ardent faith enlivened with the flames of Charity as he himself elsewhere declares Gal. 5.6 Faith that worketh by Charity Read I entreat you the advice which hereafter shall be given you in the Seventh Article of the Third Chapter CHAP. II. Of Hope the second disposition for Communion HAving not as yet said any thing of this Virtue farther then what concern'd the Examen upon the First Commandment where I related the Sins which are opposite unto it I shall treat of it in this place so far as may be necessary to make it well known to all those who are not yet sufficiently instructed in it ARTICLE I. What is Hope IT is the Second of the three Theological Virtues so called because they respect God not only as their motive and their end as all other Christian Virtues do but also as their first and principal object To expect from the hand of God the things he hath promised us and which he hath prepar'd for his Servants is the proper effect of this Virtue wherefore it is defined a certain expectation of Eternal bliss and of the means to attain unto it This expectation is the proper act of this Virtue Hope which is a certain judgment which we form that God will be pleased to grant us Everlasting Life if we correspond with his mercies and be Faithfull in the Dispensations he hath commended to us for as St. Bernard observes very well in Psal 90. Serm. 10. Faith tells us that there are great rewards prepared for Gods Faithfull Servants Hope says that these are reserved for me Charity is the third and saith I run that I may reach to them and enjoy them It is of this expectation which the Prophet speaks Thren 3.24 Our Lord is my portion
carefully cooperate with his grace and also that we ought dayly to begg of him that he will vouchsafe to continue replenish our hearts therewith lest by our Sins we render our selves unworthy of them ARTICLE III. That it is necessary to distinguish well betwixt True and False Good and Bad Hope THis distinction is of the highest importance for as much as the greatest part of the world deceive themselves therein taking false for true and embracing an evill and sinfull instead of a good and virtuous Hope and from this mistake proceeds the damnation of innumerable Christians There is no one but hopes to be saved but because their hopes are ill grounded they hope other wise then they ought they lull themselves asleep in this foolish hope and approaching to their end they find themselves upon the brink of a precipice when they imagined they were arrived into the port and stood upon firm land Such is their Hope who expect Salvation notwithstanding they do not use the means to obtain it and who living ill hope to dy well now how many are there of these and what numbers are herein deceived Such is their hope who believe indeed that it is necessary for Salvation to live a good and virtuous life but still defer their conversion thinking that God will allways expect them as hitherto he hath done with patience to repentance notwithstanding their wicked course of life and the perpetuall abuses which they never cease to offer to his graces Such is their hope who Sin upon account of the confidence they have of Pardon and who are wont to say when they have offended that Gods mercy is great and that he will forget their Sins Such is their hope who imagine they shall be converted and return to God whensoere they please or that his grace will be allways in their power or that let them do what they will it will never forsake them Such is their hope who willfully and by some signall negligence of theirs expose themselves to the immediate occasions of Sin in hopes that God will preserve them Such is the hope of many cold and negligent tho' otherwise just people who relying upon a certain confidence of working their Salvation without much trouble suffer themselves to sleep frequenting remissly or seldom the means which God hath been pleased to grant us as most proper to conserve encrease in us his Grace such as are Prayer the Sacraments and good Works All these hopes are false and deceitfull and like false lights lead them into a precipice instead of conducting them into the Port their Salvation A man Endowed with Hope which is good and true expects not only from the hand of God the performances of his promise but himself also expects that this shall be done in the manner God hath promised He hopes to be partaker of the goods of Glory but not except he serve him with fidelity as he hath promised those who shall serve him who shall be faithfull in complying with the graces dispens'd unto him and shall persevere therein unto the end He expects in this life the goods of Grace thereby to obtain that of glory but endeavours at the same time not to put any obstacle or let on his side to the workings of it He demands them with much fervour and humility he hath a care to comply sincerely with them If he be in sin he doth Penance without delay but never offends in hopes of doing Penance and as St. Gregory advises he is fearfull to commit a sin which he doth not know whether or no he shall ever be sufficiently able to deplore In a word a man who truly hopes walks always in the midst between confidence and fear he trusts in God and mistrusts himself He hopes that God will not reject him but he fears lest himself should forsake his God he hopes that God will assist him but fears lest himself prove unfaithfull or defective in his duty And thus between this confidence and fear humbling himself in the presence of God he prays he labours endeavouring to secure his Salvation on the one side by flying from Sin and all the occasions of it and on the other by a due performance of good works In short Hope consists in or is at least attended with these four acts 1. A confidence to obtain from the divine goodness Everlasting life with all the graces necessary to acquire it 2. A vehement desire of Salvation for the expectation which we have of any great good is apt to raise in us an ardent great desire of it 3. A fear to lose it by our fault or any infidelity of ours a fear which ought not to produce any disquiet in the Soul but the hatred of sin which only can make us lose it 4. A firm and that an efficacious resolution to labour for Salvation a Resolution which makes one act and employ the means necessary to obtain that end as is abovesaid ARTICLE IV. Of the great blessings which Hope derives upon us WHen this great Virtue is well imprinted in a Soul it there produceth wonderfull Effects First It makes her love and desire Heaven her dear Country her native Soil it makes her sigh after her Eternal happyness it makes her fear lest she be frustrated of it by her fault and lose her self among the dangers of this Mortall Life so full of Rocks whereon Salvation so often suffers Shipwrack Secondly It makes her love the divine goodness which hath prepared so great blessings for her and hath put into her hands the means to acquire them Thirdly It makes her contemn this present life it disengageth her from the love of these goods and pleasures making her look upon them as transitory things which pass like a shaddow and yet which are not obtained but with much trouble nor possessed without solicitude nor lost without great grief It is for this reason that the just Man accounts himself in this life no otherwise then as a Pilgrim or Traveller upon his way to his Native soil knowing well as St. Paul Heb. 13.14 saith that here we have no permanent City or abode but we seek that which is to come after this life And as it would be a folly in a Traveller to set his affections upon an however gallant or stately Inn and desire to make it his abode so he whose soul is full of the hopes of Heaven accounts it madness to apply his mind to the goods of the earth and in these trifles lose his precious time and let slip the occasion of aiming at Heaven And St. Augustin observes excellently well that God by his Wisdom hath mingled afflictions and bitterness with all the even most innocent goods of this life so to disengage us from the affection to them in Psal 40. Docetur amare meliora per amaritudinem inferiorum ne viator tendens ad patriam stabulum amet pro domo sua Lest says he Man who is a Traveller upon his way to
every day early in the Morning together as the Scripture remarks Numb 11.9 with the Dew from Heaven which bedewed the whole Camp of Israel And with how much more reason may we affirm that none ever received this Celestial Manna the Holy Eucharist of which that is only a Type or Figure in the happy morning before the World hath seized his thoughts but he sinds his Soul replenished with abundance of Graces and Divine Blessings For certainly if this Heavenly bread is showred upon us for the nourishment of our needy and hungry Souls without question it works the same in her which wholsome food doth in a sound or healthy Body Now Corporal nutriment hath these four effects It conserves it increases it strengthens and it repairs the Body It is necessary therefore that this Spiritual food have the same Operations in our Souls if well disposed as we have already made out in the First part of this Treatise Chap. 3. Art. 3. It was a Simbole of this truth that the Prophet Elias 3. Reg. 19. flying the Persecution of Achab received from the hand of an Angel a Loaf of Bread which maintained him through his whole Journey and the Scripture affirms v. 8. that having eaten that bread he received such strength that without any further sustenance he travelled full forty days even to the Mountain Horeb which is interpreted the sight of God. ARTICLE VI. That the practice of Hope is a good and great disposition to the Holy Communion FRom the precedent we inferr this truth For if the Blessed Sacrament augment in us the Virtue of Hope it follows of necessity that to Communicate well we must beforehand exercise the acts of and have our hearts replenished with the Virtue of Hope as in the same manner because heat is natural to Fire and Fire dispenseth not its effects but to the Subject which is already hot it is necessary that the same heat should be introduced into that matter where one would have the Fire to act for it is most certain that the natural qualities of any thing whatsoever serve as dispositions to give both its being and its action Since therefore the Holy Eucharist is a Sacrament which so powerfully revives our Hope as we have already proved it follows of necessity that to receive this Sacrament with that advantage it is capable to afford it is necessarily required that we be full of this Virtue and stirr up our selves the most we can unto it when we approach to this Holy Table And truly if we consider the particular acts of which this Virtue seems as it were to be composed we shall find that they are those which make up the most usual dispositions to Communion we have mark'd them out above in the Third Article An expectation of Eternal Life a desire to obtain it a fear to loose it by any Sin a resolution effectually to labour for it All these are the most usual acts in which we ought to employ our selves before and after Communion the practice whereof we are about to instruct you in ARTICLE VII The practice of the acts of Hope for Communion THese acts are the four of which we have already spoken to which it is but just that we subjoyn sorrow for Sins which have set us at so great a distance from the divine grace from eternall glory and Prayer by which we beg of God both the one and the other of these goods one may reap much fruit from the practice of them before and after Communion either in the following or some better manner The practice of Hope before Communion ADdressing your Thoughts and the whole intention of your heart to our Lord who is present in the Sacred host acknowledg that he is your only hope and that it is from him alone you expect all the goods both of Grace and Glory O Jesus my Saviour and my God I adore thee in this Sacred host where thou are present to the end that thou mayst be to me a Jesus and a Saviour Thou art my only hope it is from thee alone I expect all my happiness whether in this life or the next saying with David â—s 38.8 after he had considered the vanities of the world and what a nothing man himself is without thee And now in what or in whom can I put my trust but in thee O Lord thou art my help and all I can rely on nunc quae est expectatio mea nonne Dominus Substantia mea apud te est or Ps 70.5 O Lord in whom I have placed my confidence from my youth Thou art my refuge in this and my Salvation in the other Life I hope that thou wilt by thy grace conduct me safe in this and replenish me with glory in the next What blessings may not I expect from thy hands in this blessed state since thy bounty hath vouchsafed so liberally to bestow thy self upon me in this unhappy vale of miseries tears thou givest me hopes I shall possess thee one day unveil'd see thee face to face since thou hast been so good as ever now to give thy self unto me tho' veil'd in the blessed Sacrament O inestimable pledge of my future felicity when shall that happy hour arrive that I shall see thee face to face and enjoy thee as thou art in thy self with all the blessings thou hast prepared for those that serve thee O my God how lovely are those Mansions where thou art clearly seen my Soul longs to inhabit there sighs after them and even faints away in those desires My heart and my very flesh leap for joy in the hopes I shall once possess the living God. I am fixed and constant in my hope and I know that there is not any thing except my Sins which can ever frustrate my desires Wherefore I here detest them all from the bottom of my heart Prostrate in thy presence O my God with a contrite and humble heart I beg pardon of them And for the future I am fully resolved to fly Sin and the occasions of it more then from the danger of death or death it self It is in this pious confidence and hope that I approach at present to this holy table of Communion there to receive thee hidden under the Sacramentall species and to tast as by advance of these in finite goods which thou hast prepared for me in everlasting life where I shall be so happy as to see thee not only as now obscurely either in thy wonderfull effects or in the cloud of faith but clearly and distinctly as thou art in thy self O my God exclude me not from this holy table which thou hast prepared for me in this mortall life to the end I may deserve to be admitted to that other which thou hast furnish'd in everlasting life to feast thy faithfull Servants It is true I confess my Sins have made me unworthy of either of them yet I hope in thy Mercy which hath been pleased to pardon them
these great acts of Faith and Hope are of no use If then these two Virtues without Charity are useless in respect of Salvation it is certain that of themselves without Charity they are not sufficient dispositions to receive into our brest the author of Salvation The Son of God entring into us by the Holy Communion would willingly find there a dwelling place prepared and worthy of him which cannot be except Charity be there For as S. Augustin says excellently well Faith is the foundation of the house of God in our Soul by Hope the Walls are raised but Charity is the roof and perfection of the work Domus Dei credendo fundatur sperando erigitur diligendo perficitur This is the reason why Salomon as it is recorded in Holy Writ building a Temple to God was not satisfied to lay the ground-work upon a Mountain and build it with stones of great value but over and above he caused 3. Reg. 6.20 that part of the Temple where the Ark of the Testament was to be placed to be covered and seeled with the purest Gold. The Holy Ghost teaching us by this figure that the house of God ought to be adorned with the most refined Gold of Charity without which it cannot be an agreeable or pleasing habitation for him In this divine Sacrament we receive the Bread of Life whereby as by Celestial food our Soul is nourished and preserv'd in the Life of Grace It is then required that it find the Soul alive no dead thing being capable of nourishment Now the life of the Soul is Charity and as the beloved Disciple saith 1. Jo. 3.14 He that loveth not is already dead This Celestial bread is the bread of the Children of God it is made for them and it is an horrible Sacrilege for any one to receive it who is not of that Number as we have said above Part. 1. Chap. 3. Art. 5. Vere panis filiorum non mittendus canibus Now what is it that makes men the Children of God and what is it by which they are distinguished from Children of the Devil St. Augustin Tract 5. in Epist 1. Jo. saith that it is Charity and nothing else Dilectio sola discernit inter filios Dei filios Diaboli The sign of the Cross Baptism frequenting the Church and the other marks of Christianity do not sufficiently distinguish betwixt the one and the other Charity alone is the only distinctive sign betwixt them He who loves God is the Child of God he who loves him not is the Child of perdition or of the Devil In fine it is a Heavenly banquet where our Lord gives himself for our food his body for meat and his blood for drink and to which he invites us with a love great beyond all comparison but he invites only his friends Eat says he Cant. 5.2 my friends and drink Now he is not a friend of Jesus Christ who doth not love him who doth not comply with his will in all things If you love me says he Jo. 14.14 keep my Commandments v. 21. He who knows my Commandments and observes them he and he alone it is that loves me It is his will that every one should come to this Banquet with that preparation which such a feast deserves that we bring with us the Nuptial garment if he find here any one so rash and temerarious as to present himself before him without this Ornament he rejects him as unworthy Now this robe is nothing else but that of Charity which renders our Soul acceptable to God and worthy to approach unto him Ps 44.14 In vestitu deaurato circundata varietate In a word it is most certain that to communicate well and as we ought we must be in the state of grace which without Charity it is impossible to be and this is the reason why we cannot communicate worthily without the Queen of Virtues ARTICLE II. That we must have a special care to distinguish false Charity from true THere is not any one who questions the precedent truth all agreeing that to receive worthily there must of necessity be the love of God in our heart since he hath bestowed himself upon us with such an admirable so unexpressible a love But all do not agree in the nature and quality of this love forasmuch as there are many who judge of it rather according to their own inclinations then consequent to the rules of truth There is not any one except perhaps some furious desperate Person who will not love God whom he knows to be the Author of all good and who does not at least think he loves him but there are almost infinite numbers of People who deceive themselves in this their belief and have nothing but a false and imaginary hope of God whereas they think they truly love him Such is their Charity who say they love God and yet hate their Neighbour or who will not pardon an injury or deny to be reconciled to their Enemy for as St. John says very well 1. Jo. 4.20 If any one shall say he loves God and hates his brother he is a Lyar. Such is their Charity who say they love God yet they have ill gotten goods which they will not restore who continue in an evil habit of Mortal Sin without having a firm purpose to amend and theirs who neglect to acquit themselves of the obligations of their State In a word all theirs who fail in the observance of Gods Commandments in any thing whatsoever This being an undoubted Maxim that the true and only mark of the love of God is to keep his Commandments If any one love me saith our Lord Jo. 14.23 he will keep my words that is my Commandments he who doth not love me observes them not And St. John after him 1. Jo. 2.4 assures us that he who says that he knoweth him God that is in the Scripture phrase he who saith he loves God and does not keep his Commandments is a Lyar and the truth is not in him All and every one of these sorts of Charity are false and deceitfull those who love God in this manner do not love him at all and those who Communicate only with this kind of love are unworthy Communicants and eat and drink Damnation to themselves The true love of God is only that which makes us observe his Commandments in all things which makes us fearfull to incurr his displeasure by any Mortal Sin and which makes us preferr his friendship before all whatsoever is most dear unto us as before our Pleasures our Estate our Honour and our Life it self being ready to loose all or any of these things when otherwise we might preserve them rather then offend God. Behold Theotime what it is that is the love of God without which it is impossible to be in the State of Grace or Communicate worthily and as we ought and that you may understand it better read what follows ARTICLE III. What is Charity IT is a Virtue
the most delicious viands you can possibly present him with Prepare your self to make him an offering of your heart to love him and of your self with all fidelity to serve him 3. Set forth upon your way to meet him and to invite him into your house by good thoughts and Holy affections Cant. 5. Veniat dilectus meus in hortum suum O Jesus come into my Soul as into a Garden which much delights thee Make her O make her fit and worthy to receive thee cleanse her and vouchsafe to take away from her whatsoever may be Offensive to thee plant in her and adorn her with the flowers which best please thee that is with Purity and Humility Veni Domine Jesu Come O Saviour of my Soul Come and save me by thy Grace and deliver me from those Enemies who design my Eternal ruine After Communion PErform that towards Jesus Christ which we are wont to do when a Person of Quality whom we have long expected is arrived For after the first meeting and salutation we conduct him to the apartment prepared for him and there we perform these four things 1. We give him some great or signal testimonies of our respect friendship and acknowledgment for the Honour which we receive by his presence 2. We offer him the best things we have such as may be most pleasing to him 3. If we have need of his assistance we beg such things as we want willingly would have And in fine 4. When he returns we give him thanks acknowledging the honour of the visit we renew and repeat to him the protestations of fidelity friendship and service Behold as in a pattern how you are to behave your self towards Jesus Christ immediately after Communion As soon therefore as you have receiv'd the Sacred host with much Faith and a profound Humility adore our Lord who is within you Then departing modestly from the holy Table withdraw your self into some convenient place and employ your self in the following thoughts Conduct our Lord not into your body since he is there already but into the place of your Soul wherein he most delights that is into your heart and your affection That is to say six your thoughts upon him and comply with the following duties Make acts of Adoration of Love and of Acknowledgment in this manner and first Of Adoration O my God and my Saviour Jesus Christ I adore thee from the bottom of my heart I firmly believe that I now possess thy Body thy Blood thy Soul and thy Divinity I acknowledge that thou art in me all and every one of these ways O Greatness of God! is it possible that thou shouldest humble thy self so low O goodness how immense art thou and yet art pleased thus to remain with us Thou dost not only come and inhabit with us but thou bestowest thy self upon us for our food and nourishment and to whom to a poor and wretched servant as I am A Lord to his Slave God to his creature Jesus Christ to a Sinner O res mirabilis manducat Dominum pauper servus humilis Altho' there were nothing else but my mean and base condition it would make me unworthy to receive thee but I am become more undeserving by my sins and yet thou hast the goodness not only to say to me as David did to Miphiboseth that I shall Eat at thy Table 2. Reg. 9.7 Et tu comedes panem in mensa mea semper But also thou thy self offerest thy self unto me for my food and nourishment O Divine Goodness how have I deserved such and so great favours Ibid. Quis sum ego quoniam respexisti super canem mortuum Ponder well upon these words and consider what you were before by sin less in the sight of God then a dead Dog in respect of his Master and that you are now by his grace and favour restored to the number of the Children of God and seated at his Table nourished with his Body and Blood. Next pass on to the Acts of Love and Acknowledgment Acts of Love towards Jesus Christ O My God what return shall I make for this so signal favour and what shall I do to acknowledge it Is it possible that I should not continually love thee after this excess of love which thou hast shew'd me Thou hast loved me to that degree as to lay down thy Life for my sake and shall I not make this return as only to live for thee Thou at present hast communicated thy self wholly to me and shall not I be from henceforward wholly thine O my God permit me not to be so ungratefull and so insensible of thy Love and my own Salvation I protest here before thee that I will be faithfull to thee for the future that I will never part from thee by any disobedience to thy Commandments Ps 118.93 In aeternum non obliviscar justificationes tuas quia in ipsis vivificasti me I will never forget thy bounty nor the favour which thou hast done me in admitting me to thy mercy I will love thee with all my heart O my Saviour Ps 17. Diligam te Domine fortitudo mea firmamentum meum refugium meum liberator meus I will love thee and I do love thee O my God my strength my support my refuge and my deliverer Thou art my God and my All. Deus meus omnia What is there either in Heaven or upon Earth that I should love besides thee Ps 72.25 Quid mihi est in Coelo a te quid volui super terram Deus cordis mei pars mea Deus in aeternum O my God I will not love either in Heaven or Earth any thing but thee Thou art the God of my heart the inheritance and only happyness I pretend to I have made choice of thee and I will never change An Offering to Jesus Christ WHat shall I give thee O my Saviour in acknowledgment of thy favours and as an earnest of the love which now I promise thee I have not any thing worthy of thee and if I had I have nothing but what is from thee and what is thine and due to thee upon all accounts but thou art pleased to accept what is thy own upon several heads Hence it is that I offer my self unto thee that is my Body and my Soul which are now sanctified by the Honour of thy Divine presence I consecrate them both unto thee since at present thou hast vouchsafed they should serve thee as a Temple My Body never more to be employ'd as an Instrument of Sin My Soul to know thee to love thee and evermore to be faithfull to thee O Lord bless I beseech thee the Present which I make thee Sanctify them both since they have served thee for a Temple Benedic Domine domum istam Permit not that my Body be any more defiled with impure delights nor my Soul by a will to commit any Mortal Sin. This resolution I here make in thy presence
to be faithfull to thee and to be all thine to serve thee with Body and Soul to correct the evil inclinations of them both to fight against my self and deny my self my wonted pleasures my Delights my Passions my Concupiscence my Anger my Ambition my own will and lastly all whatsoever may offend thee O my God. A Prayer to Jesus Christ DOmine Deus 1. Par. 29.18 Custodi in aeternum hanc voluntatem O my Saviour conserve in my Soul this holy resolution which thou hast given me and grant me grace to put it faithfully in execution I can do nothing of my self and without thy assistance I beg it of thee with all my heart that I may conquer all tho' almost innumerable difficulties which occurr in the way of my Salvation Regard me with the eyes of thy Mercy strengthen me daily with thy Grace Psal 24.16 Respice in me miserere mei quia unicus pauper sum ego Tribulationes cordis mei multiplicatae sunt de necessitatibus meis erue me When you have finished all these acts you may proceed and make use of the Prayers in your Manuall after Communion or other vooal Prayers according as your Devotion shall dictate to you And I say the same also of the Prayers which the same Manuals have as a preparation to Communion But all this is to be understood provided still that you apply your chief endeavours to the practise of the acts of some one or more of the precedent Virtues ARTICLE VII Advices concerning the precedent practices of Faith Hope and Charity THese are some prescriptions to be be observed concerning the practice which we have given you of these three Virtues in order to Communion The First is that it is not necessary to employ them all equally every time we Communinicate because they may be too long But it is enough that we insist particularly upon the practice of some one of the three and to direct the principall fruit of the Commmunion to that End. Thus you may choose for one Communion the practice of Faith for the next that of Hope and Charity for the third Secondly That you may reap the benefit of any of these Virtues you must prepare your self beforehand by reading the practices which we have given thereof you shall read then that which you intend to practice and take notice of the acts and endeavour to understand them well and make them your own Thirdly When the time of Communion shall be at hand you shall practice these acts as you reade them here But remember that your heart go along with your words that is to say that you reade them with attention and perform them with heart and mind To this end you must read them softly repeat and ruminate upon them within your self insisting upon those which move you most They are for the most part words taken out of Holy writ which I collected on purpose that you may learn them with more ease and that they may more efficaciously move you being the very words of the Holy Ghost In fine to conclude and reap the benefit of the practice of these three Virtues employ some part of the day of your Communion in pondering upon what you have practiced in the morning to this end reade the whole Chapter which concerns that Virtue and let it be the Spirituall Lesson for the day of your Communion ARTICLE VIII Another Advice of Prayer to the Blessed Virgin before and after Communion THis is what I recommend unto you most earnestly Dear Theotime that you do not forget the prayer to the Blessed Virgin before and after Communion Before Communion that you may obtain by her intercession the grace to Communicate worthyly conceiving as she did the Son of God in your heart before you receive him in your body as St. Ambrose affirm'd of her Prius concepit mente quam corpore And that you may be replenish'd with those holy dispositions whereby she merited to receive the Son of God himself into her womb and particularly with those of Purity and Humility which were the two virtues by which according to St. Bernard she attracted to her the Son of God She pleased him by her Virginity and conceived him by her Humility Virginitate placuit humilitate concepit For this reason you shall address your self unto her in this or some such like manner A Prayer to the Blessed Virgin before Communion O Blessed Virgin most worthy mother of God behold me upon the point of receiving him the very same person whom thou didst conceive in thy chast bowells and ready to partake of the adorable body and blood which he received from thee It concerns thee that he be received with all the respect and honour he deserves and that he be not unworthyly treated by those upon whom he bestows himself with so much love This is the cause why I address my self unto thee that thou wouldest vouchsafe to obtain of him in my behalf all the blessings which I stand in need of in this Communion Obtain of him that he take possession of my heart by love before he enter into my body by the Sacrament And that loving him I may be worthy to receive him Beg and by thy powerfull intercession obtain of him these dispositions for me these two important virtues which assured him unto thee and render'd thee deservedly his worthy mother I mean Purity and Humility That he find nothing in me which may tast either of Impurity or Pride And for this reason it is that I detest from my heart these two Sins which infinitely displease both him thee And I am fully resolv'd to use all my endeavours that I may perfectly acquire these two excellent virtues by which I heartily desire to please him and to imitate thee begging for this end his grace by thy holy intercession which I implore with all my heart After Communion YOu shall pray to her that by her intercession you may obtain grace to conserve her Son Jesus Christ whom you have corporally received also Spiritually in your Soul as she her self after she had conceived brought him into the world preserved him always in her heart by means of that love which kept her Soul continually fixed upon her dearly beloved Son a love whereby she enjoy'd a greater happiness then she did by being chosen the Mother of God according to the sentiment of a Father of the Church It is true says Venerable Bede in Luc. the Mother of God was truly happy upon this account that she became his Mother in the Incarnation and conceived him in her body but questionless she was much more happy for that she conserved him perpetually in her heart by love as she always did Form in your understanding a right conceit of this happiness and pray to the Blessed Virgin that she will obtain it for you for ever To this end direct the following prayer to her A Prayer to the Blessed Virgin after Communion IT is just O Blessed
and according to the desire you shall find in your self to advance in virtue and in the service of God A desire which however it ought to be always very vehement and strong yet should it dayly increase in you more and more An Advice of great Consequence BUt I advise you at all times and especially in this wherein actually you now are carefully to avoid three faults which are incident easily to them who Communicate upon set days The 1st is that they communicate by custome and by course without proposing to themselves an end or design in their communion The 2d is that they Communicate with little or no preparation and without devotion The 3d is that they reap no fruit or very little persisting still in the same vitious habits of innumerable veniall and many times mortall Sins These are three faults which prejudice frequent Communion in an high degree and which makes one lose the greatest part of the fruit thereof and renders it oftentimes rather worse then better for us Let it be your chief care to avoid them and to this end remember every time you come to communicate to comply with these three duties directly opposite to the former faults First to propose to your self always a good end which you hope to compass by means of your Communion such as is above-mentioned viz. to please God to advance in his grace and to strengthen or to ground your self better in virtue 2ly Prepare your self always the best you can and endeavour to stir your self up to some act of great devotion and to this effect take care that you put in practise the directions we have formerly given upon this Subject 3ly Endeavour to amend your evil habits and to make good use of all the graces which you have received by means of this Blessed Sacrament It is a matter of high concern and of which you ought to have a speciall care Remember that there are two faults which you ought equally to eschew in the holy Communion The one is to Communicate too seldom the other is to Communicate often but to no effect By the First one neglects and looses the graces of God by the Second one abuses those which one has received both which leade directly to damnation Fly these two rocks upon either of which your Salvation may easily suffer shipwrack Communicate often with the disposition above-mention'd and advantage your self of the Holy Communion in order to the amendment of your life your advancement in virtue and the love of God. If you do thus Theotime the blessing of God will fall upon your devotion and he will dayly shower new graces upon your Soul that you may better serve him all the remainder of your days in this and enjoy him perfectly in the next life for evermore Amen FINIS ERRATA PAge 15. Line 15. r. vestro p. 23. l. 31. r. own p. 28. l. 12. r. it is in ib. l. 25. r. Sin. p. 30. l. 5. r. ought p. 41. l. 23. r. pluvias p. 45. l. 6. 12. r. fully conceive p. 58. l. 23. r. Sapientiae p. 62. l. 27. r. anger of God. p. 72. l. 12. r. burns p. 74. l. 15. r. durante p. 84. l. 3. r. prosecuted p. 85. l. 18. r. vulnera p. 95. l. 33. r. de Verb. p. 1.25 l. 30. r. concern'd in p. 159. l. 15. r. the imposition p. 1 60. l. ult r. the 6th Chapter p. 185. l. 3. r. in general p. 187. l. 17. r. proscrib'd p. 195. l. 6. r. then to p. 204. l. 11. Prayers ib. l. 30. r. evince p. 205. l. 7. r. C. 2. Admonit 31. p. 220. l. 19. r. obliged ib. l. 24. r. do p. 234. l. 13. r. spes p. 255. l. 18. r. facto p. 260. l. 9. r. of them so that p. 271. l. 25. r. dilectio p. 274. l. 25. r. sociusve p. 301. l. 31. r. should take p. 304. l. ult r. Eternity p. 314. l. 9. r. in the body p. 318. l. ult r. saith p. 333. l. 8. r. Loquetur ib. r. faciet p. 334. l. 13. r. laetabor p. 356. l. 4. r. art p. 360. l. 9. r. and what else may p 305. l. 10. r. imaginary love p. 369. l. 20. r. which yet Ib. l. 21. r. belov'd
Not to be able to endure any thing that troubles us or is contrary to our Inclinations or to be easily impatient upon this account 2. To suffer ones solf to be carried away by the motions of Wrath and Indignation against those who give us any disgust or trouble to please ones self in these Passions and entertain them 3. To proceed to Quarrels injurious language and reproches 4. To break out into Oaths Blasphemies Curses and grievous threats 5. To execute our anger and revenge our selves of the injury which we believe was offered us 6. When one cannot effectually revenge himself to be willing to do it by wishing him harm and seeking the means to do it Not to pardon Injuries nor be reconciled to his enemies Concerning this last Article one ought to examen himself diligently because he who keeps Anger in his heart or who refuses to be truly reconciled is not in a State capable of Absolution The EXAMEN Of the Sins which one commits by another BEsides all the Sins whereof we have spoken there are yet others which are very common and of which one seldom or never examens ones self which are the Sins which we commit by others That is which others commit by our fault whereof we have already treated in general in a Chapter above we shall declare here the Species or several kinds of them in particular which we shall describe in order in the following Verses At que suas ritinam lueret mens noxia culpas Tantum nec facerent aliena piacula sontem Sed tam multiplici non sunt maculata colore Corpora pardorum quam mens humana frequentes Contrahit in foelix alieno ex crimine sordes Dum factis dictisque nocet dum voce silenti Dat sceleri causas aut nullis artibus arcet 1. Facta nocent aliis faciles ostensa sequuntur Dum mala sub ducibusque ruunt in crimina caecis Crimina perpetuo ducibus simul igne pianda Est pariterque reus sceleris 2. qui provocat 3. urget 4. Qui juvat auxilio sontes opibusque tuetur 5. Excipit occultat 6. fautor 7. sociasve malorum 8. Qui mente aut nutu seeleri consentit 9. cique Cum prohibere valet nullis conatibus obstat II. At quantis heu lingua malis dat pessima â—â—usas Inventrix scelerum morum teterrima pestis 1. Dum scelus ipsa docet 2. dum praecipit atque nefanda 3. Consilio 4. hortatu promissis prece suadet 5. Extorquet-ve minis 6. animumque accendit in iras 7. Dum malefacta probans auctorem laudibus effert 8. Vel sua deposito prodit peccata pudore 9. Aut bene quod gestum est spernit minuitque loquendo 10. Irridens facta bonis veneranda malorum Obiicit insanis multurn ridenda cachinnis 11. Vel fratres inter spargens inimica susurris Jurgia dissociat qvâ—os pax jungebat amica III. Verba ream faciunt sed ipsa silentia linguam Dum sibi subject os spernit meliora docere Vtque bonum peragant jussis urgere ruentes In vitium nu llis satagit cohibere catenis At fratrem si forte tibi quem nulla potestas Subdidit advertis peccantem vulnera siccis Aspiciens oculis molli medicante recusas Attrect are manu monitisque salubribus illum Negli gis emendare reum auctoremque ruinae Frat ernae te lingua silens te muta loquetur Seâ—l quanto graviore oneras te crimine si quae Nec fanare vales nec amica vulnera dextra Tangere saltem illis quorum est curare salutem Fratris non retegis certis sananda medelis Occultumque sinens penetrare in viscera virus Et fratrem ipse perire vides aliosque trahentem Aeternae secum per certa pericula mortis Crudelis quem non fraternae cura salutis Afficit heu fu so meruit quam sanguine Christus One may contribute two manner of ways to anothers Sin as we have already said in the Third Part Last Chapter 1. by doing an Action or speaking any word which induces our Neighbour to evil 2. in omitting to do or say that which might hinder him from offending God. The first is positive the other negative yet however criminal or offensive You must therefore examen your self here 1. Whether you have contributed to anothers Sin by your actions in any of the following ways I. In doing an evil action in his presence as an act of Impurity or the like Or also in doing any action which tho' it be not ill in it self yet is believed esteemed to be so by those who see it for in this case one ought to abstain according to the rule of the Apostle 1. Thes 5.22 From all appearance of evil refrain your selves 2. In performing any action with a design to stir up others to Sin. 3. By compelling them to it by some force or violence 4. In giving aid or assistance to another to do a wicked action as Revenge Thest Imperity contributing thereunto by money or other wise 5. In harbouring bad people in concealing them lest they should be discovered or be punished 6. In favouring evil any manner of way 7. In sharing therein whether in the action or the profit arising from thence 8. In approving the evil action of another whether only in Will or by some sign or exteriour mark of approbation 9. In not hindring evil when one may II. In the Second place you must examen whether you have been the cause of the Sins of another by words any of these ways 1. By teaching him the evil which he did not know before 2. By commanding those under your charge to do any evil thing 3. By counsel or advising them to it 4. By pressing them to it by Prayers Promises or Presents 5. By threats fear and terrour 6. Endeavouring to provoke or sollicite him to the evil one would have another do 7. By approving of evil actions and praising those who do them or are the Authors of them 8. By recounting either the Sins he hath committed bragging and vaunting that he hath done such and such things which are known Sins or even of those he never committed 9. By slighting others good deeds either by word or otherwise 10. By scoffing at them or exposing them to the scorn of others which is a grievous Sin and concerning which one ought to examen himself very strictly 11. By sowing discord and dissention amongst others either by false reports or otherwise and endeavouring to keep them up instead of procuring Peace and making them friends III. In the Third place examen the evils which you have caused in others by your filence when you were obliged to speak 1. In respect of your Inferiours as your Servants or others whether you have been wanting to instruct or cause them to be instructed in things which they ought either to know or do for the Salvation of their Souls Whether you have omitted to forbid the
ill or command them the good which they were obliged to do Whether you have failed to reprehend their evil actions and to chastise them when necessity required Whether you have not neglected to concurr towards the amendment of their lives by permitting them to live as they pleased 2. In regard of others who are not subject to you whether you have neglected fraternal correction that is whether seeing them offend God you have yet been careless to give them charitable admonitions when you might have done it to hinder them as much as in you lay from falling back into the same faults Or else whether when your could not or durst not reprehend your Neighbours fault foreseeing that he would yet fall therein you neglected either to give notice or cause notice to be given to those under whose charge he was and who ought to have a care of his Salvation according to the command of the Son of God who requires that one should declare to the Church that is to the Superiours the Sins of others when one cannot restrain him ones self We have given you an express Chapter of this Subject in the Instruction of Youth Part 4. Chap. 18. Moreover it is to be observed that every one ought to examen himself particularly concerning the Sins of his own State and condition which we shall not put here because we write now particularly for young people one may find them in other Books The EXAMEN Of the Sins of Students I Shall inform you only that Students ought to examen themselves concerning the Sins which they commit in their Studies by Idleness and loss of time which ordinarily is a very great Sin in the sight of God tho' they usually reflect not on it They must therefore examen themselves whether they have neglected to Employ their time in their Studies Whether they have spent Days Weeks Months Years without Studying or Studying but little wherein there may be a Mortall Sin. Whether they have Studyed remisly and loosely without application and desire to learn. Whether they have omitted frequently the duty of their Classe or have gotten it made by others Whether they have hindred others from Studying whether they dissuaded them whether they mocked at those who apply'd themselves to Study and were willing to learn. Whether they have neglected to attend and hearken to that which was taught them and to make their advantage of it Whether they gave themselves too much to Play and Recreation spent much time therein Whether upon that Account they have lost their School time and other Hours appointed for Study Whether they have played away a great deal of Money or spent in play in good cheer and in foolish Recreations the Monies which their Parents allowed them for their Maintenance or for other uses Whether they have sold their Books Stol'n or Cheated at Play. Whether they have contemned their Masters Scoffed at them or rendered them contemptible to their Companions Whether they have given them any disgust either in Private or Publick resisted them rebelled against them or stirred up others to disobedience or Rebellion Whether they have loved Courted the Company of naughty Knavish or Vicious Schollars Whether they have diverted others from Piety or Scoffed at those who are good and Virtuous or caused them to be laughed at by others which is a very great Sin whether they have debauched others or Sollicited them to Sin or instructed them in wickedness Whether they have read bad Authors or bad places in those that are permitted but are not corrected Whether in their Studies they have proposed to themselves any other end then the will of God and to make themselves capable to serve him in the State he shall call them to Whether in Studying they have endeavoured rather to advance themselves in Science then in Virtue and the true knowledge of their Salvation which is a sin very ordinary amongst Students and which carries a large train of evils after it INSTRUCTION Concerning the Holy Communion The Preface Of the Necessity of this Instruction and the Order to be observed therein THis Instruction is no less necessary then that of of Penance by reason that the Holy Communion is the Complement and perfection of what Penance had begun that is to say it is a perfect restauration and a certain confirmation of the Soul in the grace of God. It conserves it augments it fortifies the Soul dayly more and more in his holy grace and contributes very much towards finall Perseverance supposing it be frequently made use of and that the receiver approach unto it with those dispositions which so holy and so adorable a Sacrament requires Whereas on the contrary it heaps upon the head of the unworthy receiver dreadfull and almost irreparable ruins changing the fountain of life into the cause of death and that which of it self and by its first institution was a pledge of Salvation a Sacrament of Love and Mercy into a Sentence of Condemnation or Everlasting death If one Communicate tho' not absolutely unworthy that is in the State of Mortal sin but however with some irreverence or considerable defect in Devotion he is deprived of the better part of that fruit which otherwise he might gather from this Tree of Life And not only that he doth not only lose the many favours he might by means of the Sacrament be partaker of but also he thereby contracts a great number of infirmities as tepidity or coldness in Charity indevotion insensibility in the concerns of our Soul the diminution of our Spiritual strength and Divine Graces frequent relapses into Venial and sometimes into Mortal sin Thus you see Theotime of what importance it is to perform this great action well No less then your Salvation depends upon the right performance of it Now to do this worthily as the thing deserves it is necessary we be well informed whence it is easy to perceive 1. How usefull Instruction is upon this Subject 2. The Obligation you have to apply your serious attention in the reading of it so to advantage your self the more thereby The Division I Shall divide this Treatise into two Parts whereof the First shall treat of the Doctrin The Second of the Practice of Holy Communion In the First I shall declare what it imports us to know concerning this sublime Mystery and in the Second what we are to do to receive it worthily and with fruit In the First Part I shall give some Generall Expositions of Faith it self and of the Principal Mysteries of our Faith for the greater Convenience of those who are not already so fully instructed in these so necessary concerns and Especially of young People who very seldom have sufficient knowledge of them I hope that those who shall peruse them with Care and a Desire to Learn will find therein such and so solid Instructions in all the Fundamentall Points of our Holy Religion as by that means their Hearts will become more ample and Capacious