THE Christian Man OR THE REPARATION OF NATURE BY GRACE Written in French BY JOHN FRANCIS SENAVLT And now Englished LONDON Printed for M. M. G. Bedell and T. C. and are to be sold at their Shop at the Middle-Temple-gate in FLEETSTREET 1650. AN ADVERTISEMENT To the READER IT cannot be amiss for preventing of misapprehension or scandall by way of Advertisement to premonish the READER that the Authour which is very obvious to be perceived is a Roman Catholick whose opinions in what-ever repugnant to the established Doctrine of the Church of England the Translators intent is no way either to defend or promote That some such passages there may be and indeed are especially in the Sixth Treatise where he expresseth himself too grosly concerning the Christians Nourishment in the Sacrifice of the Altar as they usually phrase it as elsewhere glancing at Purgatory and other the espoused Tenents of the Church of Rome enforced by the necessity of the Discourse is no wonder to any man of Ingenuity the wonder is that there are no more All which rather then to cause a Chasme in the Work and so be guilty of an incivility to the Author are left to the Readers censure and which may give no small satisfaction the entire Peice delivered by way of Discourse far from any magisterial dogmatizing so that with some his modesty may soonest prove prejudiciall which siding with no Party doth therfore engage him upon the defensive against all those who pressing their opinions with too much heat think all expressions crude that are not peremptory Besides the whole intendment of the Author being to the praise and glory of the Grace of God which how remarkable in a Romanist and advantagious to Christianity none but a Pelagian will deny will I hope make the whole Work at least a passable Errour If therefore thy affection to the Subject shall invite thee to buy and thy charity to the Publisher who professeth himself no Master of Language bear thee company when thou readest in pardoning his Mistakes and giving a candid interpretation to his Intentions Thou wilt finde as thy honour to be a Man so thy perfection and happinesse to be a Christian man In the mean time referring thee to the Authors own Preface to usher thee in to the following Treatises the onely designe of this Preloquium is not at all to commend the Original but to prevent if possible any prejudging the Translation as scandalous to the Truths we professe by advancing contrary Doctrines under the disguise of well-worded Theologie which if so in the Authors native Stile will even upon that score perswade none but those who account all expressions true because handsome whereas this being a Translation wants that vanity of allurement having indeed the same face but the eys put out Read therefore and let thy Charity give it light or read not and thou art charitable still by leaving it in the dark Every way 't is at thy disposall Vnhappy He that is seduc'd by what himself is allow'd to guide Farewel The PREFACE SInce 't is the duty of Physicians to cure those diseases they have found out me thinks it concerns me having discover'd the miseries of Man a Criminal to let you see the advantages of Man justified and to search in the purity of Grace the cure of Nature corrupted by sin To acquit my self of this obligation is my businesse in this Work where by an innocent Murder I slay Man the Sinner to give birth to Man the Christian This seems to have been the principal designe of the Son of God and that next to the Glory of his Father he had no other motive for his Incarnation Nature though never so powerfull and wise forms onely our body and having prepared the organs for the operations of the soul leaves Morality the care of completing what she hath meerly decyphered This goes a step higher and finding Liberty and Reason in Man endeavours to husband them by her advice and precepts But if she be not assisted by Faith she fils her disciples with much vanity and in stead of making them Men many times renders them Divels Religion undertakes what Nature and Morality corrupted knew not how to accomplish she tryes to form the Christian Man by the Grace of Jesus Christ and in her School to teach him those verities he has not been able to learn in those of Philosophers To change his Inclinations she changeth his Beleef and giving him another Principle then what he received at his Birth makes him a new Creature In this Work I describe the miracles of Religion I report the means she useth to execute so high an Enterprize and as in guilty Man I took notice of the devastations of Sin in the Christian Man I observe the happy effects of Grace I consider him in all his Conditions and taking him at his Birth I lead him to his Happiness I look upon all his advantages and lest Pride should ruine him I present him with all his infirmities that perceiving what he hath drawn from Adam and what he hath received from Jesus Christ he may shake hands with the first and close with the second Not to wander in so difficult a path I have taken the Fathers of the Church for my Guides I tread in the steps of those Great Men she reverenceth as her Masters and knowing very well that a man cannot easily fail with those that destroy'd Heresies I stick to their opinions that so I may not fall into Errour But because S. Augustine seems one of the most famous and most sound he is one of those I most diligently consult From the beams of this Sun I borrow my Light I am instructed in the School of this Great Doctor and after the example of the Church I have drawn out of his Books the most part of those Truths I deliver in This. And as I do not lesse admire his profound Humility then his deep knowledge I labour to profit by both and defending his opinions without any eager heat I not onely reverence all those the Church doth not condemn but I am ready to renounce all my own when-ever she shall disprove them Having given the world this account of my opinions I conceive my self oblig'd to make information of my proceeding and order in this Work I promote very few Conceits which are not supported by the Authority of the Fathers and if somtimes I fail to relate their words faithfully I beleeve I never swerve from their meaning I have enriched my Margent with many passages which are not inserted into the Discourse but I hope I have no wayes disobliged the Reader in making him partaker of those Treasures I have discovered in Antiquity nor that he will be offended if like a Prodigall I keep no measure in my Largesses For what concerns the order I suppose I have very carefully observ'd it avoyding that confusion which is often incident to Works of this length and to impart some general Notion of
will be all in all things he will poure out that in abundance which now he deals forth in measure and all the Saints possessing all the Vertues shall possesse God in all his perfections But the chiefest advantage of this Divine Banquet is that the Mess which is served up will be instead of all things as long as we live upon the Earth the misery of our condition or the frailty of our goods suffers us not to find our contentment in one single object That which allays our hunger quencheth not our thirst that which enlightens us covers us not that which serves us for a garment serves us not for a house and that which satisfies our mind does not always content our body But when we shall be in Heaven the Divine Essence will fill all our desires and being infinite will alone abundantly supply the fulness of all perishable Earthly goods Your God saith Saint Augustine shall be your All you shall feed upon him to satisfie your hunger drink him to quench your thirst rest upon him for your support make him your garment to cover you you shall wholly possess and he as wholly possess you you shall find in him all that others doe because both you and they shall be but one and the same thing in him For the last effect of this viand whereof we have but an essay in the Eucharist is that it will perfectly transform us into it self because all Scripture teacheth us that when we see God we shall be like him Scimus quoniam cum apparuerit similes ei erimus Joan. and that Glory having consumed all that was mortal and perishable in our nature we shall be happily swallowed up in him without ceasing for all this to be our selves Thus God nourisheth us in nature with the fruits of the Earth which maintain a body taken out of the Earth in Grace by the bloud of Jesus Christ which preserves the life he merited for us upon the Crosse In Glory by Divinity it self which is both together our food and our felicity The Second DISCOURSE Of the Nourishment of Innocent Man and of that of Man a Christian I If the state of Innocence be unknown to us by reason of its dignity or its remotenesse we must confesse that Original Righteousnesse and the fruit of the Tree of Life which were the chief priviledges thereof are so hid from us Immortalitas ista praestabatur ei de ligno vitae non de constitutione naturae quo ligno separatus est eū peccasset ut posset mori Aug. that we have but weak conjectures to judge of their properties or of their effects Saint Augustine that hath written most rationally confounds them so often one with another that he seems to attribute to the Tree of Life that which appertains to Original Righteousness For though we know that this united the soul with the body subjected both to God and preserving the one from sin exempted the other from death yet he forbears not to impute that to the Tree of Life which we impute to Grace and to allot it so many advantages that it seems the whole happinesse of man depended absolutely upon this miraculous Tree But having well considered the words of this great Saint I find his doctrine so conformable to Scripture that there is no doubt but it was suggested to him by the same Spirit that made Moses speak in Genesis For as nourishment is ordained to preserve our life we need not think it strange that it holds some analogy with the principle that gives it us and that there should be some agreement between the matter whereof we are made and that wherewith we are nourished Therefore may we say that the Tree of Life preserved in Innocent man all that Original Righteousness had indued him with and that the fruit thereof which certainly was a figure of the holy Sacrament repaired the wasts of the natural heat maintained man in his vigour and secured him from death Wherein I find a great resemblance with truth because it wrought that in man an Innocent which the Body of the Son of God doth in man a Christian For there is none but confesseth that this admirable fruit united the soul with the body that it entertained that good intelligence which made up a notable part of his happiness and subjecting the body to the soul by a necessary consequence subjected the soul to God Divinity hath not yet fully examined whether this Vertue were natural to this Tree or whether being but a visible sign of an invsible grace the Divine power produced this effect in man when he took of that fruit with the dispositions of a firm faith and an humble obedience If we take the Scripture for our Guide and Saint Augustine for its Interpreter it will be easie to judge that this effect depended not upon the disposition of Man but upon the Vertue of the Tree because we see in Genesis that one of the reasons why our forefather was driven out of Paradise was that he might not eat of that wonderful fruit and so the miseries he had contracted by sin be prolonged together with his life Saint Augustine explicating this passage makes us plainly see that man having lost Original Righteousness had not lost Immortality if he had continued to feed upon the fruit of the Tree of Life Thus we are forced to confess that this Tree had a secret Vertue which depended not upon the sole disposition of man and that it was capable of producing a quality in his body which desending him for a time from death had encreased his misfortune with his years But not to engage in a question more curious then profitable 't is enough to know that as this fruit of the Tree of Life subjected the body to the soul and the soul to God the Eucharist produceth the same effects in the Christian and being received with the dispositions requisite to this Sacrament calms the passions weakens Concupiscence enthrones reason For though Baptisme leave Concupiscence to exercise the Christian and this Sacrament which opens him the Gate of the Church gives him not victory together with life yet all the Fathers confess that the Eucharist more powerful then Baptism furnisheth them with forces to set upon this domestick enemy that it sweetens his fury in combating him and that the presence of Jesus Christ delivers him from this evil more obstinate then the Devil and Sin For whether the purity of his flesh cures ours by a holy contagion or whether Concupiscence tremble at the apprehension of a body which is the work of the Holy Ghost or whether lastly this Sacrament that preserves our life gives us strength and delivers us from that languishing impotency which seems the very soul of Concupiscence we find by experience that the body of the Son of God procures us the victory and prepares us the triumph If it defend us it nourisheth us and if it pacifie our disorders it repairs the devastations
necessity of Grace in the state of Innocence and of Sin 156 Disc 3 That the Grace of a Christian ought to be more powerfull then that of Adam 160 Disc 4 Different opinions of the power of Christian Grace 166 Disc 5 Wherein precisely consists the power of Grace effectual 170 Disc 6 That the names that S. Augustine gives Christian Grace do sufficiently testifie that it is effectuall 175 Disc 7 That we may judge of the power of Grace over a Christian by the power of Concupiscence over a Sinner 180 Disc 8 That Grace effectuall doth not destroy Grace sufficient 186 Disc 9 Answers to some Objections against Grace effectual 193 A Prosecution of the same Discourse 197 Disc 10 That the Christian finds more rest in placing his salvation in Grace then in Liberty 202 The fifth TREATISE Of the Vertues of a Christian Disc 1. Wherein consisteth Christian Vertue 207 Disc 2 Of the Division of Christian Vertues 212 Disc 3 Of the Excellency and Necessity of Christian Faith 217 Disc 4 Of Christian Hope 222 Disc 5 A Description of Christian Charity 227 Disc 6 Of the Properties and Effects of Christian Charity 233 Disc 7 Of Christian Prudence Iustice Fortitude and Temperance 238 Disc 8 Of Christian Humility 243 Disc 9 Of Christian Repentance 248 Disc 10. Of Christian Self-denyall 253 The sixth TREATISE Of the Nourishment and Sacrifice of a Christian Disc 1 Of three Nourishments answering to the three Lives of a Christian 259 Disc 2 Of the Nourishment of Man in his Innocency and of that of a Christian 264 Disc 3 That the Body of Iesus Christ is the same to a Christian that Manna was to the Iewes 269 Disc 4 That this Nourishment bestows upon the Christian all that the Divel promised Man in his Innocence if hee would eat of the forbidden Fruit. 274 Disc 5 That this Nourishment unites the Christian with the Son of God 279 Disc 6 Of the Dispositions that the Christian ought to bring for the receiving of this Nourishment 283 Disc 7 That the Christian ows God the honour of the Sacrifice 288 Disc 8 That the Christian had need that the Son of God should offer up for him the Sacrifice of the Crosse and of the Altar 293 Disc 9 Of the Difference of these two Sacrifices and what the Christian receives from both of them 298 Disc 10 Of the obligation the Christian hath to sacrifice himself to God 303 The seventh TREATISE Of the Qualities of a Christian Disc 1 That the Christian is the Image of Iesus Christ 308 Disc 2 That the Christian is a Priest and a Victime 313 Disc 3 That the Christian is a Souldier and a Conqueror 317 Disc 4 That the Christian is a King and a Slave 322 Disc 5 That the Christian is a Saint 327 Disc 6 That the Christian is a Martyr 332 Disc 7 That the Christian is a Lover 338 Disc 8 That the Christian is an Excile and a Pilgrime 343 Disc 9 That the Christian is a Penitent 347 Disc 10 That the most glorious Quality of the Christian is that of a Christian 352 The eighth TREATISE Of the Blessedness of a Christian Disc 1. That every man desires to be happy and that he cannot be so but in God 357 Disc 2 That the Perfect Felicity of a Christian cannot be found in this world 361 Disc 3 That the Christian tasts some Felicity here below 365 Disc 4 That Happiness consists not in pleasure but in grief 368 Disc 5 That Happiness is rather found in Poverty then in Riches 372 Disc 6 That the Felicity of a Christian upon earth consists rather in Humility then in Glory 377 Disc 7 That Felicity is rather found in Obedience then in Command 381 Disc 8 What is the happinesse of a Christian in Heaven and wherein it consists 385 Disc 9 That the Soul and Body of the Christian shall finde their perfection in the Beatifical Vision 391 Disc 10 Of the Miracles that are found in the Christian's Beatitude 396 THE CHRISTIAN MAN OR The Reparation of NATURE BY GRACE The first TREATISE Of the Christian's Birth The first DISCOURSE That the Christian hath a double Birth IF MAN have pass'd for a Monster in the opinion of some Philosophers * Est inter Carnem Spiritum colluctatio discordantibus adversus se invicem quotidiana congressio ut non ea quae volumus ipsi faciamus dum spiritus coelestia divina quaerit caro terrena secularia concupiscit Aug. lib. 1. contra Julian because he is compos'd of two parts which cannot agree certainly the Christian may very well pass for a Prodigie in the judgement of the faithfull since the parts whereof he is made maintain a war as long as life For though the body of man contain within its Constitution all the Elements these four Enemies agree when they are mixt together The Fire is confounded with the Water without losing its driness and the Earth is united to the Air without losing its heaviness if they are at odds by reason of their Contrariety they embrace by reason of their sympathie and if somtimes they grow irregular there is always some external Cause that produceth the Disorder The Soul and Body are yet more opposite then the Elements it it is the strangest Marriage within the Confines of Nature Mirus amor corporis animi in tanta disparitate non potest esse sine fato Pla. and when God associated them together to make Man he had a minde to shew that he was absolute in the Universe In him we observe Sense with Understanding Passion with Reason Heaven with Earth Nevertheless God hath so well temper'd their qualities that these two so different parts cease not mutually to love one another The Soul stoops below the priviledg of her Birth to succour the Infirmities of the Body and the Body soares above the meaness of its Extraction to be serviceable to the more noble operations of the Soul If they are exercised at the provocation of some rebel-lust there is always found some common friend that takes up the difference Self-love is content to set them at one thereby to establish his Empire over sinners Haec cupiditas vana ac per hoc prava vincit in eis ac frenat alias cupiditates Aug. lib. 4. contra Julia. c. 3. and accompanies his Commands with so many charms that these two subjects wrong one another to obey him The spirit basely submits to the Body in the unclean conversations of the wanton and the body does homage to the soul in the pleasing caresses of the Ambitious these two parties joyn their forces to bid Grace battail and though Divine Justice hath divided them for their punishment they forget their quarrel and are reconcil'd to execute their vengeance But the Christian is of such a Composure that he can never taste any peace in his person Division seems to constitute one part of his Essence and till Glory shall put a
mistrust their merit They neither apprehended the greatness of the danger that was threatned nor the cruelty of the Tyrant that condemned them to death nor the fury of the Executioners that searched them out to massacre them their happiness was as unknown to them as their misery they were ignorant that they suffered for Jesus Christ that in their person they sought for Him and that receiving the stabs of the ponyard thrust at their heart they had this double honour to die for their Saviour and by yeelding up their own life to secure his Neverthelesse all the Fathers of the Church confess that their Martyrdome was true that the power of God supplyed their weakness that his grace prevented their will and that their sacrifice fayl'd not to be meritorious though it was not voluntary Amongst all those that have been their Advocates there is none hath pleaded their cause with more Eloquence then St Bernard his Reasons and his Words are equally powerfull and it seems that preserving the glory of their Martyrdom his designe was to preserve that of their Baptism Si quaeric corum apud Deum merita ut coronarentur quaere apud Herodem crimina ut occiderentur An forte minor Christi Pietas quà m Herodis impietas ut ille quidem potuit innoxios neci dare Christus non potuerit propter se occisos coronare Bern. de natal Inn. If you ask saith he what desert they had in the sight of God to merit a Crown ask what their crime was against Herod that deserved such a butchery shall the Piety of the Son of God be less powerful then the Impiety of Herod Shall the Tyrant be able to massacre Innocents and their Saviour not able to crown their sufferings Their Martyrdom exalteth the mercy of Jesus Christ and their example teacheth us that as good desires without works are sometimes recompensed in men works without desires may be recompensed in children If we doubt of their Martyrdom Ille pro Christo trucidatos Infantes dubitet inter Martyres coronari qui regeneratos in Christo non credit inter adoptionis silios numerari Idem ibid. as the same Father goes on we must doubt of the salvation of all those that are baptized and if we beleeve that Baptism sanctifies Infants though they cannot speak we must beleeve that Martyrdom consecrates these though they cannot expresse themselves After this example we need not think it strange that the Eternal Father acknowledgeth those for his Children whom the Son acknowledgeth for his Brethren nor doubt that imitating his Justice he saves by borrowed merits those he had condemned for accessory crimes But one of the most remarkable resemblances between our Recovery and our Fall is that both of them began by the Body For though this be lesse guilty then the soul neither did the corporal revolt sollicite our first Father to sin yet is it the pipe through which his offence passeth into the essence of his posterity Certum tenemus quia caro contracta de carne per legem concupiscentiae quam cito vivificatur originalis culpae vinculo premitur cjusque affectionibus anima quae carnem vivificat aggravatur sub hoc peccati vinculo demerguntur parvuli qui sine remedio baptismi moriuntur Habent enim originale peccatum non per animam sed per carnem utique contractum animaeque infusum carni namque ita unitur anima ut cum carne fit una persona Aug. lib. de Spir. Anim. c. 41. if they were not a part of his flesh they should inherit neither his sin nor his punishment and if concupiscence were fully extinguished by grace Generation would not be criminal Man is not faulty in his conception but because he is cloathed with Adam's flesh 't is by means of it that sin overspreads the soul for issuing from the hands of God 't is stain'd with no impurity but no sooner is it united to the body but it becomes guilty their marriage begets sin and having quickned that unhappy moity it enters into its imperfections and disorders it begins to affect terrestriall things it dwels upon perishable goods and is at a distance from eternall ones lest it should sad the Body it readily complyes with all its desires and as if it were become corporeal it longs for those objects that please and entertain the senses Though it be not carried yet by deliberation this way 't is by inclination and though it offend not willingly we may say it does naturally and that the privation of Grace joyned to its union with the body is the source of its transgression and misery In this point the Regeneration of the Christian holds so full a proportion with the Generation of the Man that the one is as well the proof as the Image of the other Quaeris in parvulis culpam invenis ex carne traductam Quaeris in eis gratiam invenis à Deo collatam Aug. de Spir. Anim. c. 41. For Grace though spiritual enters not into the soul but by the mediation of the body The Sacraments that dispense it communicate not their vertue to the Spirit till they have first imparted it to the flesh God is pleased to imitate his enemie and following his steps he cures the noblest part of man by the more ignoble Caro abluitur ut anima emaculetur caro ungitur ut anima consecretur caro corpore sanguine Christi vescitur ut anima saginetur Tert. de resurâ—ect carnis The spirit of the Christian Champions is not strengthened in Confirmation till the holy oyl is sprinkled on their fore-head Their soul to use Tertullian's expressions is not fatted with the Eucharist till it receives the body and bloud of Christ by their mouth nor is their spirit purified in Baptism but when their body is dipt in water The Remedy is symbolicall to the nature of the disease 't is affix'd to the prime delinquent and this maxime admits of no contradiction that the soul is uncapable of being healed assoon as it is separated from the flesh It seems the divine Justice will have Grace enter by the same passage into the soul that Sin did Nulla omnino anima salutem potest adipisci ni dum in carne est Id. Ib. and that the flesh should be the Christians ligament to Jesus Christ as well as the sinners to his first Progenitor Neither truly is it harder to conceive one then the other for as grace is insinuated into the soul by Baptisme of an offendor making an Innocent despoiling us of Adam and putting us on Jesus Christ ' Anima in corpore tanquam in vitiato vase corrumpitur ubi occulta justitia divinae legis includitur Aug. and finally passeth from our body into the Essence of that part that inanimates us so also may we easily comprehend that concupiscence is the conduit of sin that the miseries of the flesh make an Impression upon the spirit that this is
the mutuall gift of Men to God and of God to Men. But that which surpasseth all belief He is so absolutely in our disposall that the faithfull communicate him to others The Priests are not onely the Ministers but the Principles thereof they produce him by their word as they do Jesus Christ neither are there any Sacraments in the Church which are not so many channels by which they powre forth the Holy Ghost into the souls of Christians Nay many times they that have him not themselves impart him to others being poor they make others rich and having not the grace they notwithstanding communicate the source for though they lose their sanctity they lose not their power and as it is founded in their Character which can never be obliterated they have alwayes the right to give the Holy Ghost and to remit sins But because I intend to make a particular Treatise of the Spirit of the Christian I shall reserve my larger Discourse of the Allyances we have with him for that place and conclude the present subject with those words of St Leo That the Beleever is obliged to acknowledge the advantages he hath received from Jesus Christ in his Birth by no means to degenerate from his Nobility and to think he ought no more absolutely to dispose of himself seeing he hath the honour to be the Son of the Eternall Father the Brother of Jesus Christ and the Temple of the Holy Ghost The Eighth DISCOURSE Of the principall Effects Baptism produceth in the CHRISTIAN FOrasmuch as Effects are the images of their Causes we never judge better of the power of these then by the greatness of those A great Effect leads alwayes on to a great Cause and this Maxime is as true in Grace as in Nature For if God sometime make use of a weak Instrument to produce a miracle Aliud est enim baptizare per ministerium aliud per potestatem Baptisma enim tale est qualis est ille in cujus potestate datur nō qualis est ille per cujus ministerium datur Aug. Tr. 5. in Joann he raiseth the puissance thereof and by himself supplyes what infirmity would sink under Thence it comes to pass that the Fathers of the Church attribute to Jesus Christ all the effects of Baptism teaching us that 't is neither the vertue of the Water nor the merit of the Minister though both are requisite that justifie the Christian God reserves to himself the glory to act in this Sacrament He it is that baptiseth by the hand of his servants and without having respect to their deserts worketh grace by a Divel as well as by an Angel Wherefore we need not wonder that so common an element produceth such rare effects seeing 't is in his hands who of nothing was able to create all things These effects are almost infinite their number aswell as their greatness astonish us and to observe them well we had need be illuminated by his light whose works they are Nolite contristare Spiritum sanctum in quo signati estis Ephes 4. The most part of Divines are of opinion that the impression of the character is the first effect for he that is baptised wears the Livery of his Soveraigne he is marked with his Seale and from the time of his Baptism there is formed in the essence of his soul a Character that neither Time nor Eternity can blot out He carries it with him to heaven for his glory into hell for his confusion and that which was a mark of his allyance with God becoms a mark of his rebellion against God Men make their slaves wear upon their garments visible Badges of their vassallage and there are some so cruel as to stigmatize their very faces The Divel who is Gods Ape engraves his Character upon the bodies of those miserable wretches that serve him and if we beleeve the report of the Magicians and the experience of the Judges that have examined them there are not any Witches who bear not the shamefull marks of their abominable servitude This proud Spirit imitates his Soveraign as far as his weaknesse will give him leave and he is ravished that the creature who hath given himself to him witnesseth his fidelity by an external and visible impresse since he cannot act in the souls of men he is content to act upon their bodies and he is satisfied when upon the works of the Creator may be seen some characters of his Tyranny But God who is absolute in his State acts upon the souls aswell as upon the bodies and at the same time that the Ministers sprinkle the water of Baptisme upon the body of the Neophytes he imprints an eternall character in their souls This first effect is followed with another to wit the Infusion of Grace for assoon as the words that consecrate us are pronounced the holy Spirit enters into our hearts and there produceth that divine quality which renders us the children of God We know not whether it be equall in all those that are baptised Some are of opinion that the disposition of those that are at age augments or diminisheth it and according as they have more or lesse actuall love they receive more or lesse habituall Grace Some others pass the same judgment upon Infants and are perswaded that the designe of God upon their souls makes the difference of their Graces and that those who are destin'd to the highest degrees of Glory receive also at their baptism a higher degree of Grace This question being not yet resolved every one may abound in his own sense though it seem that as every man equally sinned in Adam every Christian is equally regenerated in Jesus Christ But I conceive our Fall and our Restauration are two Abysses that cannot be sounded and that the example alledged for confirmation of the first is as much conceal'd as the Truth they would thence elicite and extract Therefore not confining our selves to any one of these opinions 't is better to confess our ignorance and acknowledge there are secrets in the order of Grace aswell as in that of Nature which the spirit of man can by no means discover The third Effect of Baptism is the restitution of the Innocence we lost in Paradise Every one explains it according to the conceit he hath of it and there are store of Divines who imagine that man by the vertue of Baptism re-enters into all the advantages of Adam that his will recovers its Perfect freedom his understanding its light and every faculty of the soul is re-established in its primitive vigour and activity But certainly experience gives this opinion sufficiently the lye seeing every day the faithful to their cost finde that their will is a slave to concupiscence and if the assistance of Jesus Christ give them not the mastery there is no temptation but would engage them in a sin Indeed though we should affirm that habitual grace restores us with advantage what-ever Adam despoyl'd us
of yet must we acknowledge that concupiscence remains in those that are baptised making havock in their souls aswell as in their bodies that it weakens their wills because it divides them obscures their understandings because it sheds darkness over them troubles their rest because it stirs up seditions in their person which end not but with their life Let us say then that this innocency is nothing but a freedom from sin which flowing from grace causeth that the disorders of concupiscence render us not guilty and that there must be an act of the will to occasion the loss of that which grace hath endued us with This binds us so powerfully to Jesus Christ that we find more strength in him then in Adam and are more secure in our Banishment then we had been in the earthly Paradise But this Innocence though never so substantial is not quiet its conflicts make up the best part of its glory its enemies prepare triumphs for it and 't is always arm'd because 't is well assured Heaven cannot be gain'd now but by violence The fourth Effect of Baptism is the weakening of our concupiscence For though it remain in the baptized for their exercise it loseth much of its vigour being left an orphan in respect of the father that gave it life it droops and languisheth and separated from sin it gives us no assaults but such as we may easily defend our selves from The grace that assists us is more potent then the adversary that sets upon us and 't is upon this occasion that we may say Stronger are they that are on our side then those that are against us A man must needs play the coward to suffer himself to be overcome in a combat where the victory depends upon his own will animated with Grace If we want help we may pray for it and the Christian hath this comfort to know that his own consent is necessary to his undoing True it is inasmuch as he is not ignorant that his victory is affix'd to Grace and that Grace is not so due unto him as that it may not be justly refused him he hath still reason to fear and distrusting his own strength is obliged to have recourse to the mercy of his divine Redeemer Though all Christians are persecuted by concupiscence Cecidit primus homo omnes qui de illo nati sunt de illo traxerunt concupiscentiam carnis Aug. Tract 5. in Joann yet is it not certainly known whether it be equall in all for it is so impotent in some it seems utterly extinct all their inclinations are so good we have great reason to beleeve that Grace is rather the Principle of their actions then corrupted Nature and having had a greater share in Jesus Christ at their Baptism they have lesse of Adam then others of his Posterity Nothing pleaseth them but vertue sin appears with no shape but that of horrour and whether it be that Grace hath weakened Concupiscence or fortified Nature they have none but holy desires and just and upright hopes Others on the contrary have so many bad inclinations that Baptism seems not to have regenerated them Adam appears more in their actions and in their words then Jesus Christ the old man is more thriving and operative in their persons then the new and did not faith instruct us that the Sacraments infallibly produce their effects we should with reason doubt whether they had received that of Baptisme or no. These two differences can proceed from nothing but from those two Principles which we are equally ignorant of to wit whether some men have more transgressed in Adam or more merited in Jesus Christ then others have unlesse we will lay all the blame and misfortune of the later upon their own constitution or upon the disorders of their Parents who many times make them undergo the punishment of their debauches To all these internall Effects may be added a great number of externall ones which makes us greatly admire the power of Baptism For by the vertue of this Sacrament the Christian is freed from the slavery of Satan he changeth his Master as he changeth his Condition Hell is shut against him Heaven is opened to him the Angels look upon him as one of their Companions and seeing in his soul the Mark of their Soveraign they are very tender and respective of his Grace and Priviledges Circumcision had not this advantage for if it distinguished a child from an Infidel enroll'd him in the number of the Israelites and by the belief of his Parents shed forth faith into his soul yet all Divines are of opinion that it gave him no entrance into Heaven and that dying in that state they went down into Limbo the skirts and fringes of perdition The heavens were not opened till the Ascension of Jesus Christ He it was that delivered our Fathers from their Captivity and that he might triumph over Hell aswell as over Earth made them partakers of his happiness But to give us a clearer apprehension of the right we have to Glory by Baptism Baptizato Domino Caeli sunt apâ—rti ut declaretur nobis quid ex Baptismo operari possemus Div. Thom. he was pleased that the Heavens should be opened when he received this Ceremony at the hands of his Precursor and the Confession of his Father declaring him his wel-beloved Son was an Earnest and Pledge assuring us that we should one day receive the same favour From this advantage there ariseth another which greatly promoteth the Condition of Christians As they are ingrafted into the person of Jesus Christ passing into a new order they live under other lawes and I can hardly believe that they are subject to that common Providence that rules over all men For the illustration of this Truth which may seem strange because it is new Effectus rerum omnium aut movent aut notant sydera sed sive quod evenitfaciunt quid immutabilis rei notitia prosiciet sive significant quid refert puovidere quod evitare non possis Sen. we must suppose that the sin of Adam hath not onely changed Man but the World also The Elements bid him battel the Starres persecute him and the fires of the Firmament sparkle with pernicious qualities to infest him Mans life depends upon their influences his constitution is altered by their motions and the greatest part of his adventures are regulated by their favourable or malignant aspects Astrologers therefore have some reason to search for good or bad successes in the starres and to learne from heaven what shall happen upon the earth 'T is a book wherein knowing men may read the alteration of Monarchies the events of battels the birth and death of Soveraigns and all those other accidents which surprise the vulgar This Opinion whether true or false pretends to be founded in scripture In sole posuit Tabernaculum suum Psal 18 and that there are some passages in it assuing us that the stars are the
we cease not to have just apprehensions of our fall For though God never forsakes the sinner till the sinner first forsake him though he be faithfull in his promises nor is ever wanting to the Treaty he made with us in Baptisme Neverthelesse there remains in us a wretched faintnesse that so weakens us in temptation that without a continued assistance of Grace we cannot hope for victory Concupiscence always sides with sin it labours to revive what it first gave birth to and over-spreading all the faculties of the soul and members of the body it sollicites all of them to rise-against Grace its Fruitfulness is equal to its Malice it contains in it the seeds of all sins and when Temptation hatcheth them there 's not so much as one whereof man may not become guilty As long as he carries about him this enemy his salvation is in danger he groans under its tyranny and knowing that there wants but one meer act of the Will to be the midwife to sin he would willingly not be free that he might not become criminal For all Theologic confesseth that Concupiscence is not taken away by Baptism That it is left with the faithful to exercise them That it continually provokes them to evil That it contributes as often to their fall as to their glory and if it increase their merit it swells their danger Though it be not a sin in Christians it keeps them still in breath they are equally afraid of its smiles and of its frowns and whether it flatter or frighten they have still reason to fear lest it render then delinquents In a word Is it not a sad condition for a man always to carry his enemy in his bosome to be obliged to fight without any assurance of getting the better and to know that Grace with all its supplies may enfeeble him but never utterly defeat him If Man account himself miserable in Nature because he carries the principles of his death in himself and that the opposition of the elements which make him live must one day make him die Is not the Christian very unhappie in grace it self when he sees how he bears about the source of sin in his soul That Baptism sets him not free from slavery That Vertue engageth him to fight and at the same time that Hope promiseth him Victory Fear appales him with the apprehension of a Defeat This vexation is redoubled by a troublesome division which his second birth hath not composed For the Christian is unfortunately parted between Concupiscence and Grace he never sights with his full strength and when he hath a minde to obey Charity there is always some part of Himself that holds with his Enemy The Flesh always faceth the Spirit Man is the Theatre of this dreadful combat he cannot disarm those that trouble his rest though he sometimes prevail over them he fears lest rallying their forces they triumph over their conquerour 'T was this inseparable misfortune of the Christian that made S. Paul sigh 't was this potent enemy that made him long for death and supposing that 't were better die then sin he desired to lose his Life to preserve his Integrity But admit the Christian were delivered from Concupiscence that torments him and from Sedition that divides him he is still exercised by another trial which Baptism leaves him to grapple with For he is subject to Illusion Errour as well as Truth steals into his Understanding his giddy and unfaithful Senses side more with Wickedness then with Grace and these parties for the most part holding intelligence with the Devil threaten him with Blindness and Ignorance 'T is by this gate that the devil surpriseth the Will 't is by our eyes or by our ears that he seduceth us and having these rebels always at his devotion we need not wonder if he gain so many victories against us When he tempted our first father in Paradise he set upon a place where he had no intelligence the Senses did not all assist him against the Intellectual faculty nor Passions against Reason Mans forces were united and when his Will pronounced the definitive sentence he found as many ministers to execute it as he had Faculties But now he hath scarce any members which are not instrumental to his enemy his Grace though never so powerful stamps no faithfulness upon the Senses nor obedience upon the Passions he hath no submission but by violence and reigning in a state where Concupiscence lives still he meets with more rebels then subjects All his stability consists in Grace instructed by the defeat of Adam he has recourse to his divine Redeemer and knowing very well that his forces are weakned by sin he findes no better expedient to vanquish his enemy then to confess his impotency Haec una praesentis vitae perfectio est ut te infirmum imperfectum agnoscas Hieron ad Ctesi He remembers that Vertue is preserved in Infirmity that the Distrust of himself is the mother of Safety and that in a Religion where we live not by our own spirit neither do we overcome by our own strength But whatever artifice our Humility makes use of to defend it self yet must we confess that 't is an extreme affliction to know that the devil that tempts us can trouble our Imagination and make a part of our selves serviceable to his malice For in conclusion Concupiscence is a trusty minister which executes all his commands sets all the Passions in a commotion in behalf of him debaucheth all the Senses to serve him and carrying disorder into the inmost recesses of the Soul undertakes to make the Understanding and the Will stoop to his lure S. Augustine acknowledged this misery and confesseth that though the body were sanctified by Baptism it had not lost its corruption that in the language of Scripture it lay heavie upon the soul disposing it to sin Nay the soul it self though it have a greater share in grace then the body is nevertheless engaged in self-love Though in Baptism it received remission of all sins yet its bad inclinations are not obliterated in a moment nor do the first-fruits of Grace produce Vertues if they be not husbanded with much care and diligence the New man must increase daily if he intend to ruine the Old and dismantle the body of Sin if he will establish the Spirit of Grace For 't is an errour saith that great Saint for a man to perswade himself that from the very moment that a Christian is baptized all the infirmities of the old man are quite washed away his renovation indeed begins by the remission of sins but it cannot arrive to perfection but as he goes on in vertue and tastes those spiritual delights which serve as nourishment to the new life They therefore are much deceived who anchor their hope upon their Character who think to be a Christian is title enough to Salvation and never considering that they have onely the seeds of Christianity labour not
belongs The second includes sins of ignorance which seem to injure the Person of the Son to whom Wisdom is attributed The third comprehends sins of malice which seem to maligne the Person of the Holy Ghost to whom Goodness belongs Following this division they suppose that the first and second sort of sins deserve some pardon because the weakness and ignorance wherwith they are accompanied may plead somewhat in their excuse but the last are altogether unworthy of pardon because malice is the very soul of them and that those that have committed them had strength and light enough not to fall into them But if this Maxime were true there were not any Christian that would hope for the pardon of his sins since being enlightned by Faith and assisted by Grace they need neither eys to see them nor hands to withstand them Nay all the world knows there is not any sinner in whose soul Malice Weakness and Ignorance are not blended together Concupiscence which blinds their Understanding enfeebles their Will and sin reigning in both of them inspires them with Malice Thus every sinner would grow desperate and having offended the holy Spirit could not expect the remission of his sins Others explain this passage of Hereticks who knowing the Truth do notwithstanding contradict it who persecute the Church because she is the Spouse of Jesus Christ and serving for Ministers to the Divel do their utmost to ruine the workmanship of the Son of God But we have seen Hereticks converted who have stood for the defence of the Truth having quitted that of a Lye and who have gained subjects to Jesus Christ after they had procured slaves for his Enemy Some others understand it with St Augustine of that sin that accompanies men till death and which always resisting Grace cannot be expiated but by the pains of hell Pro quibus jam non est hostia sed terribilis quaedam expectatio judicii This Explication doubtless is the most assured for that the sin wherein any one dies is certainly irremissible but I do not know whether this Interpretation be the truest For it seems the Son of God would plainly and simply insinuate unto us the difference between sinners that oppose the designes of the Father and the Son and those who resist the designes of the Holy Ghost Ad hoc Mediator est Christus ut eos qui recesserant à Patre per se reconciliet suo sanguine eorum peccata solveret Aug. in Psal 93. ser 2. for though the first be culpable and have done very ill to neglect the Father speaking to them by the mouth of the Prophets yet might they hope for some impunity in their crimes and promise themselves that the Son coming upon the earth would reconcile them to his Father Though the second were more to blame then the first and deserve a severer punishment for not hearing the Son who taught them by his examples instructed them by his discourse and ravished them with his miracles They might yet perswade themselves that the Holy Ghost descending down amongst them would convert them and that submitting to his Graces and yeelding obedience to his Councels would change their bad life into a better But the last who resist the Holy Ghost can have no more hope their sin considering the disposition of the Orders of God is irremissible of its own nature for they no longer expect a divine Person that may reconcile them with the others The mission of the Holy Ghost is the last and the Scripture holds forth nothing more to be expected but the coming of Jesus Christ to judge both the quick and the dead Thus their sin who resist the Holy Ghost Contra Spiritum sanctum quo peccata omnia dimittuntur verbum valde malum nimis impium dicit quem patientia Dei cum ad paenitentiam adducat ipse secundum duritiam cordis sui cor impaenitens thesaurizat sibi iram in die judicii Dei qui reddet unicuique juxta opera ejus Aug. de verbis Dom. Ser. 12. is not only inexcusable but irremissible if they submit not to his inspirations their salvation is desperate if they suffer not themselves to be swayed by his motions 't is in vain that they pretend to glory and if they make not good use of his graces 't is rashness to promise that the Father or the Son will descend upon the earth to work their conversion for the holy Spirit consummates the work of the Father and of the Son he is the oeconomy of our salvation he that always resists him cannot be converted and he that will not give ear to his counsels cannot avoyd the judgment of the Son of God Thus to conclude in a few words all that we have delivered in this discourse The Holy Ghost remits the sins of the world reconciles sinners to God animates them against themselves to give him satisfaction but acting after another manner with obstinate perverse transgressours he gives them up to their impiety and justly refuseth them that grace which they have insolently despised The Eighth DISCOURSE That the CHRISTIAN in his Infirmities is assisted by the strength of the Holy SPIRIT VVEakness is so natural to the Creature that he hath need of Grace in the state of innocence as well as in that of sin Nothing Natura humana etiamsi in illa integritate in qua condita est permaneret nullo modo seipsam Creatore suo non adjuvante permaneret Aug. Epist 109. ad Bonif. from whence he came forth engageth him in this necessity and all Divines confesse with St Augustine That Man in Paradise could not raise himself up to God nor defend himself against the Divel without the assistance of Grace But his task is much harder since he became a Delinquent the infirmity he hath contracted from sin is far greater then that he drew out of Nothing and he is much weaker because he is a sinner then because he is a Creature The one is common to him with Angels who though of never so noble an extraction stood nevertheless in need of Grace whereby to persevere in that good they were instated in the other is proper and particular and takes it 's originall from all those devastations sin hath made in nature For there remains nothing in man since his disobedience which is not wholly impair'd His Understanding hath scarce any light to discern truth from falshood his Memory hath no more that force to retain the severall Species of things committed to it's trust and his Will is so enfeebled that it scarce meets with any enemies that triumph not over his liberty ever since it became captive it droop'd languish'd the divell that possesseth it tyrannizeth over it and if grace come not in to the rescue it cannot hold out against his solicitations Sin is yet more absolute then Satan he hath onely a borrowed power he reignes not over the hearts but because he domineers over the senses
them But Saint Augustine informs us that he acts otherwise with sinners then with the godly and that he carries himselfe after another fashion with those he moves only Aliter adjuvat nondum inhabitans aliter habitans nam nondum inhabitans adjuvat ut sint fideles inhabitans adjuvat jam fideles Aug. Epist ad Sixtum then with those whom he inanimates He assists the former that they may be converted he helps the second that they may persevere in the former he inspires faith in the later charity to the one he opens the door of the Church to the other the gate of Heaven But finally 't is one and the same Spirit that aids all Christians in their different conversations 'T is he that triumphs over the Executioners in the Martyrs that combates Hereticks in the Doctours that subdues the flesh in the Continent that despiseth the pleasures of the world in the Anchorites that conquers sinne in the Penitents and that leads all the Elect from the Camp of the Church Militant into the bosome of the Church Triumphant The Ninth DISCOURSE That the HOLYSPIRIT is the CHRISTIANS Comforter SIn and Misery were borne into the world both upon a day assoon as ever man became criminall he became miserable Peccavit anima ideo misera est liberum arbitrium accepit quo usa est quemadmodum voluit lapsa est ejecta est de beatitudine implicata est misertis Aug. contra Fortu. Disp 2. punishment followed transgression so close upon the heeles that he lost his happinesse as soon as he had lost his innocence Ever since this fatall moment his life hath been but a continued Train of miseries insensibly leading him to the Chambers of death The Hydra of the Poets never was so fruitfully pregnant and Fiction with all it's inventions could never yet represent the story of our misfortunes Nor Age nor Sexe nor Condition give any person a dispensation Infants are wretched in the Cradle that innocent Age that hath no other sinne then that of Adam is sensible of pains as sharp as those that accompany old age Women who somtimes shake off obedience to their Husbands cannot escape the pangs of griefe and Kings who are so absolute in their State have no Guards that can stop sicknesse and sadnesse from entring into their Palaces These two enemies of man-kind creep every where their dominion knowes no bounds where ever there are men they finde subjects and create miserable Indeed Christians meet with a great deale of consolation in these distresses for besides that the hope of futurity sweetens their present evils that the example of Jesus Christ gives them encouragement that the constancy of Martyrs bear up their spirits they have received the Holy Spirit that comforts them in their troubles and supplies them with as many remedies as misfortune takes upon it shapes to assault them Let us reduce both of them to four heads and make it appear in their discourses that 't is not in vaine that man beares the name of miserable and the Holy Spirit that of a Comforter One of the fearfullest torments of man a sinner is that the two parts whereof he is made cannot agree In te ex teipso est flagellum tuum fit rixa tua tecum lucta est in illo corpore quamdiu vivimus pugnamus quamdiu pugnamus periclitamur Aug. The body and the soule are always upon bad terms their love is turned into hate and if there be any agreement between them 't is always to the disadvantage of the nobler part All is out of order in the master-piece of the Creation Earth is higher then Heaven the Beast domineers over the Angell the Spirit stoops to the Body and Passions are the Mistresses of Reason The Saints groan under this disorder they invoke death to be freed from this Tyranny and they intreat an end of their life that they may see an end of a Combate whose event is so doubtfull The Holy Spirit accommodates this difference by his grace for he takes part with the soule against the body he subjects the soule to God thereby to subject the body to the soule he sets things in the state they were in during the time of Innocence and so suppresseth the revolts of the flesh that if the Spirit be not absolute it is at least the strongest in the Saints 'T is the grace of our heavenly Comforter say the Fathers of the Church that sweetens our discontents that quencheth the impure flames that concupiscence kindles in our hearts that subdues those violent passions whose first motions are of so difficult coercion 'T is it that charmes those deceitfull hopes and desires that promise us felicity in the World and which finally following the Inclinations of this Spirit whereof it is the Image inables the Christian to be revenged of those rebells that disturb the quiet of his person The second punishment of guilty man is to see himselfe exiled from heaven and constrain'd to endure a banishment as long as life Indeed he undergoes here all the miseries of an exterminated person he is deprived of his goods and lives not but upon borrowing or almes he is driven out of Paradise fallen from all those honours that equal'd his condition to that of Angels and reduced to a deplorarable state Homo cum in honore esset non intellexit ideo comparatus est jumentis insipientibus Psal 48. rendring his fortune little different from that of beasts He never looks up to heaven but if there be any spark of piety remaining he bewailes his offence and is afflicted at his banishment Griefe puts these complaints in his mouth Wo is me because my habitation is prolonged He is afraid least the snares that are scattered in the place of his residence entangle him if he suffer any calamity he presently reflects upon the happinesse he hath lost and if he taste any pleasures he misstrusts lest they engage him in the world For Christians are threatned with this double evill and if they take not good heed they are in danger to love their exile and forget their Countrey they settle their fortune upon earth they build as if they never meant to remove they are strongly taken up with the present world and they lose all beliefe of the future and a man hath much adoe to perswade them that so delightfull an Abode is the place of their Banishment and the Theater of their Torment They must be made feele their miseries that they may have some desire towards another life and we think we have gained much upon their Spirit when they will be perswaded to look with an indifferent eye upon the place of their birth Therefore is it that Richardus de Sancto Victore divides men into three ranks the first is those that are fastened to their Countrey whom he calls Delicate Delicatus est cui patria dulcis fortis cui omne solum patria perfâ—ctus cui omnis terra exilium est
provoke him The Third TREATISE Of the Christians Head The first DISCOURSE That the CHRISTIAN hath two Heads ADAM and JESUS CHRIST IF Bodies with two Heads passe for Monsters humane Nature may very well passe for a Prodigie in that it hath two Chiefes upon which it depends and that as Adam communicates his Sin to it by Generation making it guilty and miserable Jesus Christ communicates his Grace to it by Baptisme making it innocent and happy 'T is true Nature might have expected great advantages from this first Head had he kept his originall Righteousnesse for our Divines confesse that Adam being Chiefe of all men received Grace not onely for himselfe but for all his Posterity that as his sinne passeth into his children by Generation Grace had passed into them by the same conveyance and that then they had been borne innocent as now they are borne criminall Together with grace he had communicated to them all the Priviledges he had received from God in the Creation Their bodies had been freed from those troublesome maladies that exercise our patience and originall righteousnesse had knit the body so close to the soule that their peace had never been disturb'd by these intestine divisions that set them so much at distance Nourishment had repair'd the radicall moisture that the naturall heat had consum'd and the fruit of the Tree of Life retaining something of our Sacraments had imparted to them a new vigour that had secur'd them against old Age and Death Their soul had not been worse provided for then their body for with Grace they had received all vertues and according to Saint Augustine either they had had the use of reason for their service or they had learn'd with so much easinesse that Ignorance had never been their Torment In this happy condition the Will had been more free then now it is the passions were so subject to reason that they had never been up but by his order Concupiscence that tyrannizeth over the children of Adam Summa in carne sanitas in anima tota tranquilitas Aug. lib. 14. de Civ c. 26. had not enslav'd the soule to the body and though the inferiour part had felt it's naturall inclinations Grace had so well moderated them that they had never undertaken any thing either against justice or honesty Thence it comes to passe that these austere vertues that have nothing else to do but to combate the motions of the flesh had serv'd rather for his ornament then for his defence Thence it followes that Grace had not been the Mistresse of the Will because having no bad inclinations she might have guided her selfe provided she were but supported nor had there been any danger that she that was not yet a Captive to sinne should have the chiefe disposall of his salvation we are not certain that if Adam had preserved his innocence his children had been impeccable neither know we if the sinne of other men had injur'd their posterity and if having lost the advantages of originall righteousnesse in their own behalfe they had lost them also as concerning their successours This condition is so conceal'd that we have nothing but weak conjectures of it every one extolls or debaseth it according to his humour and having neither Scripture nor Tradition for their rule all the world may diminish or adde something to their happinesse 'T is certain neverthelesse Sicut in Paradiso nullus aestus aut frigus sic in ejus habitatione nulla ex cupiditate vel timore bonae voluntatis offensio Aug. lib. 14. de Civ c. 26. that all the torments that came into the world with sinne had never discompos'd his quiet The Seasons had not been irregular the Elements had not bid him battel the Earth had been fruitfull without tilling and thorns that are the fruits of sinne had not dishonoured the face thereof Deluges that drowned the world Drought that makes the fields barren Pestilence that depopulates Cities and mows down the Inhabitants having no other cause but sinne had made no devastations in an innocent State and men being upon good terms with God had found their happinesse under the protection of his Grace having lived some Ages upon the earth Proinde si non peccasset Adam non erat expoliandus corpore sed supervestiendus immortalitate Aug. they had been translated into heaven where Glory consuming what they had of perishable had made them perfectly immortall without passing them through the pangs of immortality The two parts that compose man had not been separated the Master-piece of the Creation had not been ruin'd and the soul reigning with Angels had not beheld her body devoured by worms in the Sepulchre See here a rude draught of the state of Innocence and a slight shadow of the glorious advantages children had derived from their father had he kept originall righteousnesse but the evils he procur'd them surpasse the priviledges in number and quality For his sinne is the source and fountain of all misfortunes we are not guilty but because we are his Members we sinn'd by his will because we lived in his person and the offence of one man is become the obliquity of whole Nature because it was included in him as the Tree in the Kernell or as a River in the Head Quia vero per liberum arbitrium Deum deseruit justum Dei judicium expertus est ut cum tota sua stirpe quae in illo adhuc posita tota cum illo peccaverat damnaretur Aug. This is it that Saint Augustine teacheth us in those no lesse handsom then solid expressions Adam felt the just judgement of God because abusing his free will he was unjustly separated from him and punishment was inflicted upon him with his whole race because being in him as in the stock they had wholly transgress'd with him The same also he delivers with as much or more eloquence in his Enchiridion for searching out the cause of so many evils that assault us he concludes that the sinne of our first father is the originall thereof and that we are therefore criminall and miserable because we are a part of him Thence it comes to passe saith he that being banished out of Paradise after his transgression he was condemned to death with all his Posterity who living in him as in their Principle were infected with his prevarication as the branches wither in their stock and die in their root Thence it comes to passe that all children that descend from him and from his wife the Complice of his offence and of his punishment are the heirs of his corruption This sinne passeth into them by the channell of concupiscence and makes them sensible of a torment which seems the image of their disobedience since one part of themselves is revolted against the other This revolt engaging their soule in vanity and their body in pain leads them insensibly with the rebellious Angels to that last Judgement which will never have an end Let us
may any way annoy it yet from a higher principle 't is informed that its life depends upon the Head and that 't is oblig'd to expose its self in his defence Thence it comes to pass that the hands ward the blow which is aimd at the Head that they readily oppose themselves to the danger that threatens it and forgetting their proper interests sacrifice themselves for the preservation of this Chief Thence it is that soldiers jeopard their lives in the quarrel of their Soveraign slighting the hail of Musquets the brunt of Pikes and the Thunder of Canons to augment his Glory or widen his State They are never more valiant then when his Person is in danger the greatness of the hazard heightens their courage and opinion or nature perswades them that living more in him then in themselves their death is less considerable then his Many times it fals out that he for whom they sacrifice themselves is some old Dotard spent with labour and age and hath but a few moments to live In the mean time because they know he is the soul of the State and the Head of his subjects they are perswaded they preserve themselves in dying in his defence and imagine that as Fathers live again in their children the members receive a new beeing in their Head This Paradox finds belief amongst all complexions there is not the meanest soldier but ventures his life upon this Maxime and I rather conceive their courage quickned by this consideration then by the hope of profit and reputation because all men are neither ambitious nor covetous but all being members of the State are instructed by nature to die for the defence of their Head Forasmuch as Grace is much more powerfull then Nature Vivificati sunt Martyres ne amando vitam negarent vitaÌ„ negando vitam amitterent vitam ac fic qui pro vita veritatem deserere noluerunt moriendo pro veritate vixe unt Aug. Concil 20. in Psal 118. it hath so strongly imprinted this Maxime in the soul of the subjects of Jesus Christ that there are no torments can wear it our For the Grace that makes them Christians secretly disciplines them that they are parts of the Mysticall Body of the Son of God that their condition obliges them to expose themselves for his Glory that they ought to be his Victimes because they are his Members and that they are bound to imitate the Wisdome of the Serpent that hides his Head with his whole Body knowing very wel that 't is the Fountain of Life and provided he may secure that can receive no wound that 's mortall The Martyrs animated with this Faith defended Jesus Christ who lived in them they sufferd death saith Saint Augustine to secure themselves from death they parted with that life they had received from Adam to guard that they had received from the Son of God so that it happily fell out that those who would not relinquish Truth to save their lives recoverd that in Heaven which they lost upon Earth and liv'd above eternally being content for the profession of the Truth to die here below miserably They laughed at all the threats of Tyrants and whilst they were covered with obloquies loaded with irons and burnt with flames they drew strength from him for whose sake they suffered and lifting up their now-expiring voice said If God be for us who can be against us When they were told as Saint Augustine saith how all the world was banded against them they answerd couragiously why should we fear the world who die for the glory of hâ—m that made the world What hurt can this hatred doe us who are environed with the love of God And why should we trouble our selves if our enemies spoil us of our bodies seeing he that defends our souls will restore our bodies in glory where being united to our Head we shall triumph over griefs and executioners Though persecution doe not exercise the courage of the Martyrs and the peace the Church enjoys suffer not the Faithfull to expose their lives for the quarrel of Jesus Christ they cease not to be obliged to this duty in a thousand opportunities if occasion present not it self they must preserve a will to it if they cannot suffer death they must suffer shame and confusion for his glory and when the world shall overturn the maximes of the Gospel to set up the maximes of Libertinisme or Impiety then is it that Christians must call to mind that they are the Members of Jesus Christ that they must prefer his interests before their own honour and if they be so happy as to sacrifice their lives for the defence of their Head they must be so stout as to sacrifice their reputation who requires this duty of them as the surest testimony of their love The Tenth DISCOURSE That all is common among Christians as among Members of the same Body AS Mans Body is the perfectest Image of the Church the Members that compose it are also the liveliest representatives of Christians Both of them live in unity depend of the same Head and are inform'd with the same Spirit Both of them preserve their differences in their Unity and exhibit in their mutuall correspondence that agreeable variety that sets an estimate upon all the works of Nature Though these Mysticall and Naturall members conspire altogether for the publick good they cease not to have their different employments Each particular acts according to its capacity they never trespass one upon another and as there are none useless they have all their severall functions which they exercise without confusion and jealousie their faculties are answerable to their employments Nature gives every one what is necessary for them to act according to her orders and Grace never refuses the others what they stand in need of to operate according to its motions But the most wonderful resemblance I find between the members of these two Bodies is that their good and bad occurrences are common and that living in a perfect society no sad disaster happens to one but all the rest are affected with it One sole blow makes a thousand wounds at once and though there be but one part set upon all the rest testifie their compassion The foot seems to be in the body what the foundation is in the building 't is not the noblest part though one of the necessariest and it seems by the distance 't is aâ— from others it should have less communication with them In the mean time if it be prickt with a thorn the pain is dispersed through all the body Every member affords it some good office and the care they have to assist it testifieth what share they have in the misfortune The Tongue complains for it this faithfull Interpreter gives advice to all the rest to shew how much the evil concerns her she speaks of it as her own and to hear her talk one would think she had been hurt too The Eyes being more delicate and
Adam depending upon our will as well as that did upon his They make us the masters of our salvation and not considering the terrible enemies we have to combate they think our weapons need be no better furnished then those of the first Man Therefore I cannot establish the necessity of efficacious Grace but I must describe the irregularity of our nature that the greatness of our disease may make us apprehend the excellency of the remedy And indeed 't is one of the chiefest reasons Saint Augustine made use of to make the Semi-Pelagians understand that the succours which were sufficient for man an Innocent could not be sufficient for man a Sinner He handles these two subjects without dividing them he opposeth Concupiscence to Charity and founds the strength of Grace upon the weakness of corrupted Nature Man in the state of Innocence was well with himself because he was so with God his flesh was obedient to his spirit because his spirit was obedient to him that created it Originall righteousness was a sacred chain which link'd the body to the soul and the soul to God so that having no domestick enemies he had but forainers to combate But when sin had despoiled him of grace he saw himself swallowed up by his own passions and justly condemned to suffer the eternall pain of his disobedience From that houre he began to be criminall and miserable the parts that compos'd him were divided and Original righteousness the bond of their amity having abandoned them their love was changed into hatred 'T was in this sad moment that Nature lost her primitive purity that she that was subject to Grace became captive to Concupiscence from which incestuous mixture those monsters received birth that bid us battle Man attempted divers means to recover the good he had lost Reason promised him the victory over his passions Data est Lex 〈◊〉 agrum de morbe convinceret qui sibi sanus videbatur ut peccata demonstrarētur non ut auferrentur Aug. in Psal 83. Liberty undertook the reconciliation of the soul and body and both of them assisted by a vain Philosophy put him in hopes of a happy tranquillity For awhile he suffered himself to be cousened with their promises and his vanity which could not be cured by his misery perswaded him that reason could supply the want of grace But the Law undeceived him which seems to have commanded the good and forbidden the evil for no other end but to make us sensible of our weakness and to oblige us to run to Grace 'T is true that as sin hath corrupted nature whereby shee is at a great distance from this acceptable condition wherein soul and body conspired together to make man happy The Grace of Jesus Christ must of necessity be far different from that of Adam it must have more light because it is to enlighten one blind more force because it is to cure one diseased In the state of Innocence it was subject to the will of man he made use of it according to his pleasure because having as yet no bad inclinations there was no inconvenience but his salvation might depend upon his liberty and he be in some sort the master of his happiness Heaven never refused him relief he found assistance in all his designs and being not yet criminal Grace was offered to him at every moment As it was always present with so was it always at his devotion he might accept or refuse it and in this happy condition he was so free that his salvation and his fall depended upon his will Weakness which is so naturall to the creature had nothing to doe to disquiet him because having no disorders in his soul nor in his body there were no intestine seditions that could surprise him But now that the disease is sunk down into the very Essence of his Beeing that all the faculties of his soul are disabled that the will seiz'd upon by concupiscence hath no inclination but towards evil and the understanding dazled with false lights or obscur'd by reall darkness can hardly discern truth from falshood Man hath need of some more vigorous active Grace then that of Innocence such as may render it self Mistress of his Liberty without forcing it apply his will to good without constraining it withdraw it from evil without offering it violence and being the principle of all his actions defend him from the subtle treachery of the senses the open revolt of the passions and the bold fury of concupiscence Though habituall grace that resides in the innermost recesses of the soul seems to have re-instated man in his first condition and that by vertue of Baptism or Repentance he is reconciled with God yet does he groan still under the tyranny of concupiscence This monster makes war upon him after his death Concupiscentia tanquam lex peccati cum parvulis nascitur in baptizatis à reatu solvitur ad agonem relinquitur Aug. employs the malice of his daughter to ruine him and endeavouring to re-enter upon a place where he holds so much intelligence admits of no truce nor minute of rest If among so many rebels that favour the party of sin Grace did still depend upon mans liberty I know not if he could make use of it with profit and whether self-love that lives still in his will would not endeavour to employ Grace it self to the advantage of this selfish passion For what can be hoped for from a creature that more follows the motions of concupiscence then the impulses of charity were there not some commanding Grace that became the Mistress of his heart and carrying him to good with as much force as sweetness gained him a sure victory over his enemies Therefore is it that the Great Saint Augustine to whom all the secrets of Grace were known represents it to us under the name of a Victorious Suavity which gently masters the will by its affectionate allurements leading her so securely amidst the throng of precipices that she runs less hazard in the world then our first Father did in Paradise For though he had nothing to fear but his weakness experience made him see 't was enough to destroy him and that 't was easie for him to tumble into a misfortune whence an Angel that was more vigorous knew not how to defend himself But though in the state of sin rebellion share the forces of man though Concupiscence divide his will he knows very well that when Grace clears up his understanding he cannot mistake and when it inanimates him he cannot be worsted We must not imagine for all this that Grace renders man impeccable nor that when it carries him out of himself he hath lost the power of resisting it he is too potent towards his loss he feels too often that the actual love that moves him Godward takes not away that unhappie inclination he hath to turn his back upon him he hears that cruel enemy in the deepest recesses of his soul
that murmures even whilst Grace triumphs over his Liberty he hath a sense of Passions that divide his Will and hinder Charity from taking a full possession of that superiour faculty he is convinced even to his damage that as a Needle between two Loadstones though drawn away by the strongest turns notwithstanding towards the weakest so he though mastered by Grace ceaseth not to be tempted by Concupiscence and by woful experience learns that as soon as Charity suspends her vertue and moderates that sweet violence wherewith she so pleasingly ravisheth the heart he is presently trail'd on by the weight of self-love that bends him towards the Creatures I know there are a sort of new Divines that seem to place Concupiscence in man an Innocent not exempting him from that intestine war whereof the Saints complain who are perswaded that original righteousness did not accord the two parts that compose man and that their division contributing to his glory ought also to contribute to his merit But besides that I suspect this Opinion as maintained by the Pelagians Haec quae ab impudentibus impudenter laudata pudenda Concupiscentia nulla esset nisi homo ante peccasset Aug. and S. Augustine hath laid it on the ground as the foundation of their Heresie those that defend it are at least obliged to confess that if Concupiscence were in man in the state of Innocence it was not there with those disorders the Apostle of the Gentiles groaned under but that original sin giving it a new vigour there is requisite a new grace to contest against it Otherwise he had done very unmanly to complain of a revolt which was nothing but an effect of Nature and which he might easily suppress by his Will animated with as much Grace as Jesus Christ refuses not even to his enemies And the Church guided by the holy Spirit would do amiss to intreat so often for her childrens deliverance from an insurrection which cannot be bad if it were born with man in his Innocence If they answer She requests not that the Faithful be delivered from it because bad but because dangerous by the same reason they must desire that they had neither eyes nor hands because both these parts are of sad consequence to sinners If they say they pray not for the full ruine of it but for its diminution they must confess that if what they would pare away be hurtful it ought not to be in Adam nor could now be cured by his grace For as S. Augustine says excellently well the grace of Adam was the grace of a man sound and free and the grace of Jesus Christ of a man a captive and diseased this produceth two effects in his person it restores his health before it give him strength it breaks his fetters before it makes him walk and suppresseth his disorders before it makes him act This Truth will be better conceived if we compare the Liberty of Adam with the Servitude of Man a sinner that by the difference of these two states we may judge more easily of the difference of their graces Adam was as Free as Innocent nothing resisted his Will in his person and the Passions having not as yet shook off the yoke of Reason troubled not his Rest he acted with tranquillity of minde he found his pleasure in his duty nor was he sensible of any internal rebellion impeaching his liberty Thence it came to pass that his grace was subject to his Will that he used it according to his desires and his occasions either to obey his Soveraign to command his Subjects or to resist his Enemies But the sinner fallen from this glorious condition is the slave of him that hath conquered him he serves as many Masters as he hath Passions and he findes to his cost that to punish his disobedience all his subjects rebel against him The grace of Adam would be useless in this condition being not fully free he could not make use of it and being the slave of sin in whose possession he is he would employ it rather to his own ruine then to his salvation Grace must set him free before he can work must break his chains before he can fight and restore him his liberty before he can form one good designe This is it that S. Augustine teacheth us in that Chapter where making the Antithesis of Man a Sinner and Man an Innocent he saith This had a grace great indeed but much different from ours For he lived in the advantages he had received from his Creator and of his goodness held that happie condition that exempted him from all our evils But the Faithful to whom this grace appertains that delivers Captives languish in misfortunes that make them seek after Liberty Adam in the midst of the innocent delights he tasted had no need of the death of Jesus Christ but the Christians cannot be washed from their hereditary or acquired sins but by the blood of the Lamb slain for their salvation Adam stood not in need of that assistance his children require when experiencing the revolt of the Flesh against the Spirit they complain of the Law of Sin that opposeth the Law of God and by the mediation of Jesus Christ beg strength to combat and ability to overcome an enemy whose assaults Adam was never sensible of For he was not divided in Paradise but enjoying a profound peace he saw not his body warring against his soul nor one part of himself unjustly lifting up the heel against the other Proinde etsi non interim laetiore nunc verunratē potentiore gratia indigent isti Aug. Let us say then with that great Doctor that the grace of Adam was happier then ours and ours more powerful then his he might if he would have overcome amidst his delights and we triumph among our sorrows his grace gave him a Power to act ours a Will his was subject to his Will ours is her mistress and by a happie occasion we are the conquerors of Devils because the slaves of Jesus Christ It seems our Redeemer would be revenged of us in avenging us of our enemy that he disposed all things so that our victory should depend upon our overthrow and our liberty should be grounded upon our servitude because Grace tames our Will to make it victorious over sin and subjects her to it self to give her command over the Passions and in this humble submission procures us those advantages we never had possessed in the Empire of Innocence For whatever arts we use to exalt the happie condition of Adam we must confess his grace was weak because it could not maintain the freedom of his Will and leaving him to himself suffered his enemy to foil him But the grace of Jesus Christ makes us victorious in the midst of our infirmities assures our salvation among the many stormings of Temptations and seizing upon our heart makes us triumph over the world When I consider the deplorable condition of a sinner me thinks
disposition it findes her For those that fully div'd into the meaning of S. Augustine have observed that the Grace of Jesus Christ though always effectual is not always victorious and though it never fail to produce some holy desires or good motions in the soul of a sinner yet it surmounts not always the illigitimate pleasure that holds her captive so that its manner of acting differs very much from Physicall predetermination which ever tames the will notwithstanding all the resistance she can make Finally this third opinion takes and leaves something of the second it takes that sweetness that charms the will of man and confesseth all the force of grace to consist in that suavity that accompanies it but it rejects that lazy compliance that subjects grace to liberty making man in some sort the master of his salvation it cannot allow that our consent should more depend upon our selves then upon grace and that acting in the state of sin as if we had acted in the state of innocence we should rather dispose of grace then grace of us To explain therefore the power of this Divine influence according to the most common opinion and most constant with S. Augustine it consists me thinks in a certain sweet elapse shedding it self into the will charming it so agreeably that 't is transported by it doing nothing but by the motion of this suavity which becomes infallibly victorious surmounting the delectation that captivated the will If it produce not always this last effect it fails not to produce some others For if it disingage not the sinners soul it breathes into him some desire of his liberty imprints some motions into him that make him sigh if it breaks not his chains it easeth the weight of them and enables him to form some good designs or conceive some good wishes But whatever man does 't is grace still that makes him doe it it is more the principle of his action then himself and seeing it produceth in him according to the language of the great Apostle both to will and to doe he is obliged to say with the same Apostle that he owes all that he is and all that he doth to Grace and that the glory he expects is rather the reward of grace then of his merits From all this Discourse 't is easie to judge that this last opinion comprehends the two other that it unites force with sweetness in grace that it may prevail upon man without wiolence It respects the Majesty of God because it gives him the absolute disposall of his creature it spares the liberty of man Certum est nos velle cum volumus sed ille facit ut velimus bonum certum est nos facere cum facimus sed ille facit ut faciamus praebendo vires efficacissimas voluntati Aug. because it subjects it only to pleasure which is never more welcome then when forc'd and gives it a share in the work of salvation because it confesseth with Saint Augustine that he acts with the grace that makes him act Ageris ut agas bene agis si à bono agaris There remains one difficulty which I am content to propound without resolving To wit whether Grace always mingle force with sweetnesse to convert a sinner or to guide a just person for it seems there are some souls that God deals roughly with which taste no inward sweetnesse at all and destitute of all delectation act only by the strength and faithfulness of their grace They are continually plunged in grief and sorrow they may bespeak God as Job did in the midst of his afflictions Mutatus es mihi in crudelem and they may boast with the Apostle that all their strength consists in their weakness Tunc potens sum cum infirmor I know very well that Saint Augustine never separates force from sweetness in grace and that where ever he describes it victorious he describes it agreeable But may we not say also that this great Doctor hath spoken of Grace as he had experience of it himself and being disingaged from sinfull pleasures by innocent ones believed all graces sweet and that the particular conduct God had observ'd towards his soul was his generall proceeding with all others In a word Mysticall Divines and Spirituall Guides seem to acknowledge ways wherein God separates light from force and force from sweetness though in both these he faile not to promote souls in piety But because Saint Augustine hath given no notice of them in his works let us hold our selves to his conceptions and say that if there are graces where light and force are more sensible then sweetnesse there are none where sweetness is not mixt with force and light and the sweetness so much more effectuall that being more intimate 't is lesse known to the understanding and more remote from sense The Sixt DISCOURSE That the names Saint Augustine gives Christian Grace bear witness 't is effectuall MAn is so free that he cannot endure any thing that checks his liberty he is more afraid of servitude then of death he had rather die a Free-man then live a Slave and if liberty were not to be found in Heaven I question whether he could find in his heart to be happy 'T is the love he hath to this advantage which serves him for excuse of his greatest crimes If he repine to live in a Monarchy 't is because he conceives the absolute power of Soveraigns inconsistent with the liberty of their subjects If hee cannot submit to Laws 't is because hee is perswaded they intrench upon his will and that they will fetter a creature over whom God will not reign by compulsion If finally Christians cannot suffer effectuall grace if the name be distastfull or suspected and if instead thereof they introduce sufficient grace 't is because they believe it reduceth man to a troublesome bondage excluding merit and prejudicing liberty But because there are unjust pannick fears and evils that more hurt the imagination then the body I design this Discourse to discover the unreasonableness of this apprehension and to let those that are in love with liberty see that 't is not incompatible with effectuall grace because this according to Saint Augustine is a victorious pleasure charming our soul a triumphant love predominant over our will and a powerfull perswasion captivating our understanding Forasmuch as God hath made man free never taking that from him which once he hath bestowed upon him he could not have employed a more gracious nor more effectuall way to gain him then pleasure All creatures are taken with it and the Poet had reason to say There is nothing that is not sweetly master'd by pleasure The Ambitious seek not so much the reputation in honours as the pleasure because they contemn them assoon as they cease to be agreeable The Covetous is not so much provoked with profit as pleasure in the desire of wealth because he spends many times prodigally to procure other things that
afraid to injure mans Liberty in using terms so significant because supposing Grace nothing but Love it can do no violence to the Will for of all the things in the world there is none freer then Love A man cannot complain that he is forced when nothing but charms of affection are employed to gain him and if there are some Lovers that have blamed the rigour of their mistresses there is none that have found fault with their love If it be an Evil 't is a voluntary one it hurts none but those that willingly embrace it and of so many punishments that torment us there is none more innocent because none more free Crowns may be snatched from Soveraigns Confidence may be taken from Philosophers Orators may be convinced any man may lose his life but whatever stratagems are made use of whatever violence men practise a Lover cannot be forced nor his love extorted from him Seeing then Grace is nothing but Charity and Charity nothing but a holy Love we must not apprehend violence nor imagine that the assaults of this divine quality can at all injure our Liberty because it does not disengage us from evil but by obliging us to love God If Grace cannot force our Will because it is a victorious love it ought less to constrain it because according to the language of S. Augustine 't is a pleasant perswasion For this great man considering that he was to deal with Free-will on one side and the Power of Grace on the other that he was to maintain the Empire of God and the Liberty of Man he hath always exprest himself so happily that he never prejudic'd either and as indeed Grace never forceth Man but perswades him it holds something of Eloquence or of Reason that triumphs over Liberty without compelling it Rhetorick is an Art that teacheth us to perswade Truth Orators are agreeable Soveraigns that bear rule over the mindes of their Auditors that calm their Passions change their Designes Quid enim inter Pisistratum Periclem interfuit nisi quod ille armatus hic sine armis tyrannidem gessâ—â— Cicer. and gently force their Wills Therefore was it unhandsomely done of that Ancient to compare Pericles with Pisistratus because this Tyrant domineered but over mens Bodies that Orator exercised a dominion over their Souls the one made use of Violence the other employed nothing but Sweetness the one procured the hatred of his Subjects the other the love of his Auditors For no man could complain of Pericles because he used nothing but Eloquence to perswade his Command was founded upon Reason his chief Force consisted in Truth he subjected no Understandings but by clearing them nor changed any mens Wills but in taking them by their interests or their inclinations In a word Eloquence may boast her self a Soveraign that reigns without arms subdues people by her word convinceth Philosophers by her reasons and subjects Monarchs by her power She protects the Innocent comforts the Distressed condemns or absolves the Guilty and as she animates the Advocates or the Judges produceth different miracles in their souls Whether she inchant the Ears by the harmonious cadencies of her Periods whether she excite love and hatred by her gestures her principal designe is to master the Liberty of Man She sets not upon the Understanding but to gain the Will she appears complacent that she may be perswasive nor doth she require the attention or her auditors but that she may get their consent 'T is true never any man complains of her violence because she is sweet and he that hath changed his minde at the hearing of an Orator never accused him of Tyranny 'T is certainly upon this ground that S. Augustine calls Grace a powerful perswasion because imitating Eloquence it clears our Spirits calms our Passions and gains our Consent It hath this advantage over Eloquence that it hath no need of our Ears to win our Hearts it transmits it self by it self into the inmost recesses of the soul findes out Reason in her Throne without employing the Senses carries Light into the Understanding and kindles Love in the Will Thus she perswades what she will to the obstinate subdues rebels without arms makes her Subjects will what she desires they should and when she displays all her forces she works the conversion of a sinner in a moment This certainly was the power Jesus Christ made use of when he laid Saint Paul flat at his feet when he converted that Persecutor into an Apostle changed his heart and his tongue and made him that breathed nothing but murder say Lord what wilt thou have me to do He lost not his Liberty for having lost his Fury he changed not his Nature for having changed his Judgement nor can we say that the perswasion that gained his consent was less free or more violent for being so sudden Grace knows how to be obeyed without making us slaves she can perswade without compelling and more powerful then Eloquence is able to make us love what we hated before That great Orator that guided the Romane Common-wealth with his Tongue and made his opinion so dexterously pass into the soul of his Auditors that gallant man I say hath wrought miracles by his Eloquence which we have much ado to allow the grace of Jesus Christ to effect He could boast that he altered the resolution of Caesar defending the cause of Ligarius that he shook the papers out of the hands and the hatred out of the heart of that Conquerour that he made him recal the sentence he had already pronounced in his soul that he overcame him by his Reasons that fubdued all by his Arms and trampled upon the pride of a Tyrant that had triumphed over the Liberty of Rome In the mean time we have much ado to believe that Grace can work miracles we weaken its Vertue to preserve our own Free-will we are not content that Jesus Christ should be as powerful as an Orator and when we hear of these victorious Graces and of these invincible perswasions we imagine as if there were a designe to oppress the publike Liberty Let us ascribe that to Grace which we grant to Eloquence let us confess that the Son of God knows how to imprint Truth in our spirit and Love in our heart to perswade us infallibly let us acknowledge that he is not to seek by what stratagems to gain our inclinations that his Grace more intimate then Concupiscence is able to become the mistress of our Wills and whatever command she exerciseth over us she never destroys our Liberty because she hath no other designe then to enfranchise it out of servitude The Seventh DISCOURSE That we may judge of the power of Grace over the Christian by that of Concupiscence over the Sinner FOrasmuch as the things of the world never appear with greater lustre then when they are set in opposition against their contraries I conceive in this Discourse I shall not do amiss to confront Concupiscence
temptation if it appear more agreeable then the Law of God Therefore when Jesus Christ undertakes our Conversion he infuses into our souls innocent pleasures which are more prevalent then those of sin he unmasks the beauties of vertue he charms us with her allurements and ravisheth our hearts by holy delights that make his Grace victorious Then is it that we resist the temptations of Satan that we contemn the revolts of the flesh and raised above our selves are amazed that such weak enemies have been able heretofore to worst us Then is it that the Martyrs runne to the Faggot that enchaunted with this pleasure that overcomes their spirit they triumph over Devils and Executioners trample upon flames and wilde Beasts and turn the cruelty of tyrants into wonder and admiration Must not the pleasure that charms them be exceeding powerfull when they tumble upon hot burning coals as upon a bed of roses When they swallow down melted lead as most delicious liquours Receive wounds a favours Prefer Prisons before Palaces Gibbets before Thrones and Crowns of Thorns before those of Diamonds Is not this that victorious pleasure that transports maids out of the dwellings of their parents burying them alive in cloysters and changing their inclinations obligeth them to quit gold and silk to put on hair and sackcloth Is it not this innocent pleasure that makes them neglect the advantages of their birth and perswading them that vertue is the beauty of the soul obliges them to despise the charming comeliness of the face Is it not finally this Grace as imperious as agreeable that animates the Religious against themselves that arms their hands to revenge the Son of God whom they have offended and making a just indignation the parent of a holy love obliges them to persecute themselves Let us conclude then from all this Discourse that Grace cannot force man because it is so sweet and that the most prevalent never destroys our liberty because its power consists in gentleness But withall let us confess that she is victorious in all her designs that she finds no resistance in the most obstinate sinners because she charms their wils by pleasures which seem the first fruits of those they shall reap in glory and which make the miserable taste one part of that felicity here the blessed feed upon in Heaven The Eighth DISCOURSE That Effectuall Grace destroyes not Sufficient Grace IF it be a truth that Nature hath some secrets that cannot be discovered that she conceals her vertue when she means to produce a wonder and steals out of the sight of her dearest lovers when she deals in mysteries we need not think it strange that God the Authour of Nature reveals not his designs to all the world and that there are some so profound that his most intimate friends are not acquainted with The Oeconomy of mans salvation is so involv'd that all those that goe about to explain it are in danger to mistake all foundations their reason relies upon in this matter are so infirm that having well discoursed they are obliged to confess their ignorance and adore the wisdome of God that hath reserved to himself the disposall of his creatures Neither indeed doe I pretend to examine his designs nor to penetrate his intentions but to search out the meaning of Saint Augustine and to see in this Discourse whether he believed the order established in the state of Innocence to be so ruined that there remained no footstep of it in the world and whether he judged Effectuall Grace so absolutely necessary that he held Grace sufficient merited by Jesus Christ to be altogether useless Though the sin of Adam hath corrupted the Nature of man though all men are born Delinquents their inclinations irregular and the faculties of their souls weakned yet must we confess with Saint Augustine that this disorder cannot deface the Characters God hath stampt upon his workmanship Reason serves for a Law to Insidels and teacheth them what the Law of Moses taught the Israelites all her lights are not put out and in the midst of that darkness wherein infidelity hath plunged her Nulla est anima quamvis perversa quae tamen ratiocinari potest in cujus conscientia non loquatur Deus quis enim legem naturalē scripsit in cordibus hominum nisi Deus Aug. she retains some knowledge of her Creator The passions that trouble her and the senses that seduce her cannot yet perswade her that the body ought to be her Soveraign neither is there any sinner so brutish but knows that of two parts that compose him the noblest ought to be the most absolute Notwithstanding all the injustice which swarms amongst men it cannot blot out of their souls this maxime that Nature hath engraven there What thou wouldst not have done to thy self doe not to another and had neither Law-givers nor Philosophers forbidden Murders Adulteries there was a Judge within them had made an Edict against both these iniquities So that we may say in their very infidelity they had the first Principles of Religion and Morality and if they discerned not in God the Trinity of Persons they knew at least the Unity of his Essence If all these advantages be the reliques of Original righteousness and the splinters of that great shipwrack where Nature was wholly lost in one man If the seeds of vertues be the steps of the innocence in men and if Conscience that punisheth Criminals be an expression of Divine Justice I am easily perswaded to believe that there remains some assistance for Infidels that sollicites them to the practice of vertue and gives them some thoughts of their salvation in the midst of Paganisme it self Qui est salvator omnium hominum maxime fideliū 1 Tim. 4. For if the Son of God died for all men and hath merited some favours for them which Nature since her prevarication could not hope for without him I doubt not but the Eternall Father inspires them with some good motions to satisfie the desires of his only Son and that those glorious actions they have performed and which according to the judgement of Saint Augustine deserve some commendations are the price of the bloud of that dying sacrifice If they have not faith they had perhaps some glimmerings which as the dawning had something of the brightness of the day something of the obscurity of the night if they wanted charity they have had some supernaturall love which was not strong enough to defend them from self-love and as fear though servile is the gift of God this love though interessed may be the effect of Grace They acted not always according to the motions of Concupiscence Their captiv'd will had some release according to the assistance they received from Heaven Their reason illuminated with a divine light and their will seconded with a supernaturall force resisted some sins and made them more innocent or lesse guilty then others Saint Augustine acknoweldgeth their actions profitable to the
Holy Ghost it would serve us for a strong means to obtain of God all other favours I perceive very well this answer rather scatters the difficulty then resolves it But who knows not that in all Sciences there are some Objections that cannot be answered and in that of Salvation which is the profoundest and most hidden there are a thousand which cannot be avoided but by the simplicity of faith 'T is enough to know in this that Prayer is a Grace more easily obtained then others and that if it be effectuall in respect of its effect 't is sufficient by reason of its facility But scarce are we delivered from one gulf but we are ready to fall into another and provide new Arms to defend us from a new assault which is so much the harder to sustain in that it takes all the force from the doctrine of Saint Augustine For this famous man that so discreetly manageth the justice of God with his mercy teacheth us in a hundred places of his writings that God never forsakes the sinner till the sinner forsakes him that he is not of the humour of those unfaithful friends who loving our fortune better then our person leave us when we have most need He must be provoked to punish us and out of an excesse of bounty as he is always the first to prevent us so is he the last to desert us All the Doctrine of Saint Augustine rowls upon this Maxime Si omnes peccatores Deus sperneret omnes utique sperneret quia sine peccato nemo est sed spernit discedentes à se quos Apostatas vocat Aug. de Nat. gra cap. 62. We must ruine his whole works to destroy it and convince him of falshood to convince him of change He never retracted this Principle and whenever he speaks of the desertion of a sinner healways lays the blame upon his own infidelity But if Grace be effectual if it absolutely dispose of mans wil if Jesus Christ necessarily apply it to vertue how can she abandon him being in his hands and he is rather the principle of her motions then her self For she acts by power derived from him obeys his orders and as long as Grace hath her in possession hath no other desire then to be perfectly united to him The most usuall Answer and perhaps the soundest is that God never forsakes the soul of sinners where he makes his residence till they drive him away by some mortal sin and though he deny them Actual Grace because he is the master of it and owes it no body hee never deprives them of Habitual Grace whereby he remains in their soul till they have broken his Laws or profaned his Sacraments The Disciples of Saint Augustine will be satisfied with this Answer but I conceive it contents not others who will reply with much reason that God takes away Habituall grace from sinners when he refuseth them actuall Grace because they cannot preserve one without the other and so 't is God always who contrary to the Maxime of Saint Augustine quits the sinner first For every one confesseth that as Habitual grace hath no other enemy that can destroy it but mortal sin neither hath she any other defence but Actual grace and assoon as men are deprived of the assistance of the one they are not only in danger but in a necessity of losing the other To stand so strong an Objection we must freely confess that there is some secret infidelity on the sinners part unknown to us that they make not all the use of the grace that is in their power that some way or other they resist its motions and expose themselves to dangers they might easily avoid or else we must ingenuously acknowledge that God abandons them not for having refused them Effectuall Grace because many times by some other lesse powerfull assistance but sufficient however he scatters the occasions that might engage them in sin weakens the force of temptations rebuketh the insolence of Satan and deals with them still as Friends though not as Elect. Finally we may boldly say that there is not a just man but wanders from God every day for he swerves as often as he acts by the instigation of Concupiscence this wretched weight bends him towards the creature and his weakness insensibly engages him in sin so that we need not wonder if God seeing so many things in him contrary to his Grace he deny him the assistance thereof and abandons a sinner that never loves him but when he is obliged to it by some forain external affection The Tenth DISCOURSE That the Christian findes more rest in placing his Salvation in Grace then in his Liberty THere is no man in the world who is not as sollicitous after his Salvation as after his Pleasure and would not secure his Felicity as well as his Fortune Sinners seek Good under the shadow of Evil and these poor mad-men believe they approach their happiness even then when they turn their backs upon it Our first father intended not to make himself miserable by his disobedience he hoped to finde Immortality in that Fruit that was his Death and he fancied repose and quietness in committing the sin that occasioned all his sad calamities His children are not wiser then he the same devil that deceived him abuseth them and his improvident off-spring finde every day their torment where they search for their contentment The Ambitious are remarkable witnesses of this important verity the Passion that animates them to these glorious enter prises where honour cannot be purchased without the hazard of their life is both the Tyrant that possesseth them and the Executioner that torments them They seek blinde as they are reputation in Arms and meet many times nothing but death They feel themselves Men by those very attempts they would pass for Gods Providence that thwarts their designes makes them acknowledge that the prowess of Conquerors holds as well of his Empire as the prudence of Politicians But not to imbark into the deduction of a Truth whereof all sinners can furnish me with testimonies 't is enough to affirm that there are Christians themselves involved in this Error who seek for rest where they find nothing but vexation and discontent For to assure their salvation they would have Predestination grounded upon their Merits that God considered their good works when he separated the Elect from the Reprobate and foresaw their Fidelity when he destined them to Glory They will have all Graces sufficient that their effects depend upon our Wills that we be the authors of our Fortune and that God presenting us aids at every moment 't is in our power to entertain or reject them They say Jesus Christ died indifferently for all men that his merits are offered to us that we can apply the vertue of them to our selves and that in the midst of Paganism without Gospel or Instruction we may feel their effects Finally they will have Paradise stand open
that depended upon his Liberty made him in some sort the Author of his good or bad fortune but as hee dealeth now with infirme men whose Forces are weakned by Division he will have their Salvation depend upon his Will and gives them a Grace which seizing their heart makes them victorious in the midst of their Infirmities Thence it comes to pass saith Saint Augustine that the Liberty of Man though never so languishing perseveres in Good by the vertue of JESUS CHRIST when the Will of Adam with all its vigorous activity stood not out against the Temptation 'T is the glory of the Son of God and the assurance of a Christian who comforts himself when he sees that his Salvation is no longer founded upon the Inconstancie of his Liberty but upon the Stability of Grace and certitude of Predestination This Belief makes him not more insolent because he knows this Mystery is hid and that there is not any one upon earth that knows whether his name be written in the Book of Life It makes him not more lazie because he is not ignorant that Grace obligeth him to a combat that Glory is a Triumph that succeeds a Victory and that no body is received into heaven that hath not suffered with JESUS CHRIST upon earth But this Belief ministers them Tranquillity in the midst of all the miseries of life it sweetly mingles Hope with Fear in his soul at the sight of his Infirmity he trembles looking upon the vigour of his Grace he takes courage and having had so much experience of his frailty he comforts himself that his Salvation stands fixed upon the Rock of Grace he blesseth the mercy of the Almighty that hath found a secret whereby to vanquish us without forcing us which leaving us our Liberty fortifies our Weakness and gives us an assurance in our Banishment which our first Father never had in Paradise For to conclude this Discourse and this Treatise with the words of Saint Augustine Ille Adam nempe Job in stercore est cautior quam Adam in Paradiso nam Adam-in Paradiso consensitmulieri ut de Paradiso emitteretur ille in stercore respu â—t mulierem ut ad Paradisum admitteretur Aug. in Psal 29. Job was more happie in his misery then Adam in his innocence He was victorious on the Dung-hill this Other was defeated in his Throne He gave no ear to the evil counsel of his wife this Other was cajol'd by his He despised all the assaults of Satan this Other suffered himself to be worsted at the first Temptation He preserved his Righteousness in the midst of his Sorrows this Other lost his Innocence in the midst of his Pleasures Let us comfort our selves then in the Grace of JESUS CHRIST whereby the Infirmity of Man triumphs over the Malice of Satan Let us rejoyce because he enjoyns it his Disciples in the hope we have that his hand hath written our names in the Book of Life in Characters that cannot be blotted out Let us give Thanks to him who knowing our Weakness is willing to save us by his Power and protesting that his Grace is the Fountain of our Salvation beg it in our Prayers expect it from his Mercy and hope not for it onely by our Merits The Fifth TREATISE Of the Vertues of a Christian The first DISCOURSE In what Christian Vertue consists IF it be true that the Christian is an inward man we need not wonder if he be hid Condelector legi Dei secundum interiorem hominem Rom. cap. 7. nor that his vertues carry lesse splendour with them then those of Philosophers Inasmuch as all their beauty resides in the soul it can be perceived by none but by Angels Those that have not their lights cannot observe them and the same blindness that occasions their ignorance occasions also the neglect they conceive of them The Chastity of Lucrece hath received more Elogies then that of the Catharines and Cecilies because it sparkles with more pomp and the murder which should arraign her as guilty hath made her more notable and glorious The Constancy of Cato hath far more admirers then the undaunted Courage of the Martyrs Pride and Despair that forc'd him to sheath his sword in his own bowels to avoid something he called Servitude have heightned his Glory and his Crime in the soul of the children of Adam who can admire nothing but what is arrogant and pompous Thence it comes to passe that Christian Vertue which is humble and seeks no other witnesse but he that reads the the heart receives not always the approbation of men and wanders uon the Earth without any Elogy or Commendation Her Essence is conceal'd we have much adoe to discover her Proprieties and if Grace do not second Nature we shall be at a losse to define or describe her As every one hath form'd an Idea of her every one makes descriptions of her according to his own humour or his knowledge and we may say of Vertue what the Orator said of the Supream Good that men consulted rather their Inclination then Truth when they were minded to speak of it I wonder not that Philosophers who had no other light then that of Nature have injured Vertue in thinking to bestow commendations upon her But I wonder that Christians have followed them in their errours and that leaving the Fathers of the Church they have taken the Blinde for their Guides For there are some at this day that confound honesty with vertue Virtus houestas nomina diversa sunt res autem subjecta prorsus eadem Cicero de Offic. who would perswade us that whatever is honest is vertuous Wherein I find them little differing from those that place Vertue in Glory and imagine a crime lawful when it ceaseth to be shameful and begins to appear honourabble Seneca as proud as he was hath well taken notice that this error was prejudicial to vertue and that the ambitious would no longer court her when once she should oblige her Partisans to quit their honour to continue in their duty Some others not so much in love with glory but more in love with nature are perswaded that Vertue is nothing else but a naturall inclination guided by reason and perfected by Science so that to live according to the Laws of Nature was to live according to the Laws of Vertue This opinion is approved of by the Stoicks among Philosophers and by the Pelagians among Heretiques It infuseth blindness and arrogance into the spirit of those that side with it and the esteem it puffs them up with of Nature makes them neglect the assistance of Grace It seems they would retrive the state of Innocence that they have a design to perswade us that sin hath done no hurt to the will of man that he is as free under the captivity of Concupiscence as under the dominion of Original righteousness and that Nature having lost nothing of her primitive purity may serve for a guide to guilty
forceth the Creature to fall down before him and upon the sight of sin and nothingness to adore the Power and Mercy that drew him out of these two Abysses Temperance regulates our Pleasures and moderates our Delights lest their disorder obstruct our salvation and out of a blinde impetuosity finde Pain and Sorrow where we look for Pleasure and Content 'T is true she is not so taken up with Particular good as not to watch over the Publike For without encroaching upon the rights and priviledges of Justice she calms the Passions allays the storms and producing a tranquillity in the soul of Particulars contributes to that of Kingdoms because the quiet of States depends upon that of Families and 't is very hard that those Subjects that yeeld not obedience to the laws of Temperance should to those of Justice But as since the Fall of Adam Sufferings are as common as Actings and man spends his life in Pain as well as in Labour to these Three Vertues is added Fortitude as a Supply to combat and vanquish Griefs that set upon us Indeed the chiefest employment of Fortitude is to wrestle with whatever is most troublesom in the world It skirmisheth with those accidents that disquiet our Health or concern our Honour is armed against Fortune and defying that blinde potentate that seems the enemy of Vertue stands ready to receive all the assaults this insolent Tyranness makes upon those that slight her Empire Indeed when Valour is enlightned by Faith she laughs at an Idol who subsists onely in the mindes of those that fear it and may be called the work of their Fancie and Imagination she trembles not at the attempts of a false Deity and being assured that every thing is regulated by a Supreme Providence which cannot fail lays an obligation upon us to adore his Decrees though they condemn us and kiss his Thunders though they strike us dead Thus under the favourable shadow of these Vertues the life of a Christian passeth on calmly Faith affords him light to illuminate him Charity heats to inflame him Hope promises to encourage him Justice and Temperance their severall supplies to put him in action and Fortitude who her self is a whole Army gives undauntedness of spirit to fight and to triumph To all these Divisions this may be added namely that man being compounded of a body and a soul hath need of Vertues that may unite them together and subjecting the soul to God may subject the body to the soul For there is this order between these two parts that the body respects not the laws of the minde but as far as the mind respects the laws of God assoon as one dispenseth with his duty the other failes of his obedience and at the same time that the soul rebels against God the flesh maketh an insurrection against the soul To this day we bewail the mischiefs of this rebellion and all the Vertues are given us only to re-instate us in our Primitive Tranquillity The Theological Vertues undertake to subject the mind to God Faith captivates the Understanding and obligeth it to believe those verities it comprehends not Hope fils the Memory with the Promises of Jesus Christ and Charity sweetly divorceth the will from all perishable goods to fixe it upon the Supream Good The Vertues that are called Cardinal Prudentia se habet ad vera faâ—sa temperantia fortitudo ad prospera adversujustitiase habet ad Deum Proximum D. Thom. 2.2 have mixt employments exercising their dominion over soul and body Prudence enlightens them Justice accords them Temperance regulates their pleasures and Fortitude combats their griefs so that all these Vertues associated together restrain man in his duty and make him find his happiness in his obedience But because I destine another Discourse to treat of these last Vertues I conceive my self bound to bestow the remainder of this upon the former and to shew the reasons wherefore it was requisite that the Christian must be assisted with Faith Hope and Charity Grace hath some resemblance with Nature and we find in man some Image of a Christian Man cannot come to his End unless he know it and have some assurance of a possibility to obtain it The Christian cannot move towards God his sole end unless he know him by Faith love him by Charity and promise himselfe the enjoyment of him by Hope Man that he may work aright hath need of three succours he must know what he does he must be able to doe it and he must will it otherwise all his designs will be unprofitable nor will he form any enterprise which will not confound or grieve him The Christian whose salvation is his chiefe business hath need of the same aids but because his enterprise is extreamly difficult and sin that hath made strange devastations in his soul hath spread darkness over his Rational thrown weakness into his Irascible and scattered malice into his Concupiscible faculty Faith must enlighten the one Hope satisfie the other and Charity which is nothing but an effusion of the Divine Goodness shed it self into the last and amend it Or let us say that Faith discovers the Supream Good to the Christian by its Lights that thence there arise two affections in his soul the desire of possessing it which is love and a confidence of obtaining it which is Hope These three Vertues doe consummate the Christians perfection Faith illuminates him Hope elevates him and Charity uniting him to God makes him partake in same sort of the felicity of the Blessed The Third DISCOURSE Of the Excellency and Necessity of Faith GOd is so far above our apprehension by the Greatness of his Nature that in whatever state we consider him we have only a borrowed light to know him by In that happy condition wherein Innocence dispell'd all mans darkness suffering neither ignorance nor infirmity to engage him in these sins which are rather naturall then voluntary he had need of light to know him whose Image he had the honour to be Those infused verities he received in his Creation those faithful glasses that presented him his Creator and all the beauties of the Universe that expressed his Divine perfections had imprinted in him but a faint knowledge if Faith elevating his soul had not clarified him with its brightnesse But when man shall pass from Earth to Heaven and removing from the Order of Grace shall enter into that of Glory In lumine tuo videbimus lumeÌ„ Psal 35. he shall still have need of a borrowed light to behold the Divine Essence Though he be then a pure Spirit and his soul abstracted from matter act as the Angels yet all our Divines confess that his darkness must be enlightned his weakness supported that he may contemplate this Divine Sun who by a rare Prodigy hides himself in light and covers himself with his Majesty We are not therefore to wonder if Faith be necessary for man in the state whereto sin hath
souls light and certitude Having considered its essence 't is fit we consider its properties and effects which are so great it self must come in to gain them belief For the Scripture seems to attribute to Faith whatever is most august and reverential in Scripture It is the Principle of spiritual life and according to the language of Saint Paul the just doth live by Faith For though the lise of a Christian be composed of many parts Initium bonae vitae cui vita etiam debetur aeterna rectafides est Aug. as the body is of many members and to be in a vigorous condition which is the symptome of perfect health Faith must be animated with good works nevertheless Faith is the first principle and without it every one confesseth all vertues are dead or languishing Therefore when S. Bernard calls Charity the life of the soul he acknowledgeth at the same time that Faith conceives her Hope brings her forth the holy Spirit forms her Reading suckles her Meditation nourisheth her and Prayer fortifies her As Faith is the life of the soul so is it also the eye and he that takes it not for his Guide shall never come to Glory it enlightens all the other vertues and penetrates those clouds of darkness that surround them 'T is also an observation S. Bernard hath made that Christ was never so closely hid but Faith always discovered him If he be Incarnate in the womb of his mother Faith does him homage in the person of S. John If he be born in a manger Faith adores him with the Wise-men and acknowledgeth the Word in Infancie Majestie in Baseness and Power in Infirmity If he be presented in the Temple Faith receives him in the arms of Simeon and makes his Elogie by the mouth of that aged Saint If he enter the river of Jordan to be baptized among sinners Faith manifests him by the testimony of his Precursor and teacheth us that he is the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world If he die upon the Cross or lose his honour with his life Faith acknowledgeth his Innocence in the midst of his Punishment and begs a share in his Kingdom by the mouth of the good Thief If he be veiled upon our Altars and the outward species of the Sacrament conceal him from our eyes Faith adores him in the person of Believers and discovers his splendour under the clouds that encompass him This made S. Bernard utter those excellent words That Faith was very quick-sighted because it acknowledged Christ born in the Manger and dying upon the Cross But as if one sole vertue made up all our Glory I finde that our highest qualities take their being from its merit For if we be the children of God 't is because we are Believers and the great Apostle that describes the prerogatives of Mans nature discovering the humiliations of the Word Incarnate observes expresly that the quality of the children of God is an appendix of Faith and that heaven shall not be our inheritance but because this vertue was the principle of our Filiation He gave them power to become the sons of God even to them that believe in his Name This august quality is not indulged us in Baptism but because there we receive Faith and 't is so truely the effect of that Sacrament that the Believer that gives proof of his Creed in the midst of torments fails not to be the childe of God though he be not baptized If Faith advance us to dignity it also communicates power to us it gives Reputation to our Dominion that it grow not contemptible and makes us in some sort absolute in the State of our Master For the gift of Miracles is a priviledge of Faith These Prodigies that astonish the Universe convert Nations make Tyrants tremble tame Devils are donatives heaven hath promised to Faith rather then to Charity Every thing is possible to him that believeth this vertue may boast it self absolute and as if it were inseparable from Soveraignty it seems he that is a Believer becomes powerful Those men of renown whose Elogies Saint Paul makes in his Epistles owe all their priviledges to Faith 'T is by it that they subdued Tyrants changed Nature disordered the Seasons and altered the Elements It serves us for a Conduct in Peace and a Defence in War and whenever the Apostle arms the Christians he gives them nothing but Faith either to assault or repel their enemies He Christens one and the same thing with divers names and calling it sometimes a Buckler sometimes a Brestplate sometimes a Sword lets us see that 't is sufficient to procure as many victories as it stands assaults or sights battels Finally it seems God takes pleasure to fasten our Power to our Infirmity and treating us like Samson all whose strength lay in his hair he will teach all the world that the Miracles we work are not so much the effects of our Ability as of his Grace For Faith is nothing but a submission of minde and a blinde obedience which holding more of Credulity then Argument seems rather a mark of our Weakness then of our Strength In the mean time the Son of God that hath a minde to humble us in raising us up and to manifest his greatness in our abasement hath founded our ability upon belief and is pleased that the gift of Miracles should be the recompence of our Credulity But nothing more astonisheth me Creditis quia hopossum faccrevobis dicunt ci Utique Domine Tunctetigit ocu los corū diceus Secundum filem vestrā fiat vobis Matth. 9. then to consider that God hath in some sort subjected his own Power to our Faith and before he would heal the sick or raise the dead he requires our Belief as a preparative to his Miracles For he never undertook any Cure but he obliged the Patient to believe and if he were not in a condition to use his own Understanding he demanded that disposition in the Assistants or Witnesses The same Evangelist observes that his power was manacled by the Infidelity of sinners Et non poterat ibi virtutem ullam facere mirabatur propter incredulitatem corum Matth. 6. and that there were some Towns where he could work no Miracles because he found no Faith among them We need not wonder that the Son of God hath so greatly honoured this vertue because it gives him so much obedience and that of all the Sacrifices the Christian can offer him this seems the hardest and most honourable For it makes an Oblation of our Understanding takes from us the liberty of reasoning in our Mysteries it perswades us what we understand not and contesting at the same time against Reason and Sense makes a perfect Holocaust of the Christian It reduceth that insolent undertaker who would know every thing in Paradise to believe all without knowing any thing it makes him purchase Faith with the expence of his Reason and it seems
Judge and Executioner In the quality of a Witness he is bound to examine his Conscience to Wrack his Memory to search the inmost thoughts of his Minde the secretest intentions of his Will and to convent himself before himself without Excuse or Flattery As a Judge he ought to consider the Number and the Quality of the crimes dextrously to examine the prisoner carefully to observe the cause of the fault and with Justice to pronounce sentence whereby the Criminal may suffer according to his desert and the party offended receive fatisfaction to his dignity And because soul and body are both concerned in the sin they must be joyntly condemned but the soul being the author of the iniquity and the body but the minister or complice he must begin the correction by an inward sadness mixed with Fear and Love and finish it by an external pain attended with Shame and Sorrow For there would be a kinde of Injustice to separate those in the Punishment that were Partners in the Fault and the Repentance would be imperfect did it not reach the body as well as the soul Having pronounced righteous judgement the Judge must take upon him the quality of the Executioner and execute what himself hath ordained being zealous for the Justice of God betraying Self-love so that he abandon it to Charity and full of anger and indignation revenge Jesus Christ upon his enemy All true Penitents have done thus the Contrition of their spirit hath produced the Maceration of their body and having conceived a mortal displeasure at their offences they have obliged their eyes to bewail them their hands to punish them and their mouthes to confess them They joyned Fastings to Prayer Watchings to Reading Discipline to Obedience that mortifying both soul and body they might obtain pardon for both these offenders Nothing can yeeld such assistance to so good a designe as the consideration of a second quality of Repentance For it takes the name from Pain 't is a Punishment as well as a Judgement 't is mingled with Grace and Rigour In peccatorem poenitentia pronuntians pro Dei indignatione fungitur temporali afflictatione aeterna supplicia non dicam frustratur sed expungit Tertul. and according to the conceit of Tertullian 't is an abridgement of eternal pains The sinner if a believer is not ignorant that his crimes which inflict death upon his soul merit hell he knows very well the decree is gone out the truth whereof he cannot question and that every transgressor that loseth Grace is worthy of the Torments the devil and his angels suffer When he is converted therefore and by the favour of Repentance hath his sins remitted he is obliged in spirit to descend into the centre of the earth to consider the pains the damned endure and then to equalize his sorrow he ought to imitate what he hath seen and to deal so severely with himself that he may satisfie that Justice which inflicts eternal punishments upon his enemies But nothing ought so much to animate him against himself as the consideration of his offence which being in its own nature infinite merits eternal punishments For though the sin be committed in a moment Momentaneum est quod delectat aeternum est quod cruciat Greg. Mag. and the pleasure that accompanies it be but an illusion yet doth it put the sinner in a condition out of which he cannot arise but by Grace which is not at his disposal He falls into this abyss by his own proper motion but he cannot get out of it by his own strength He may defend himself when he is tempted but being overcome he cannot rid himself of his enemy He enters into a slavery that insensibly engageth him into a necessity If Grace which he cannot challenge as his due prevent him not he lives and dies in a very deplorable condition and carries the same minde into hell which he cherished upon the earth Therefore doth the Divine Justice that reads mens hearts and looks rather upon the dispositions then actions of offenders inflict an eternal punishment upon a sin not fully finished and condemns a transgressor to endless torments who had always offended had he always lived But though he should not retain this unhappie disposition till his death 't is enough to merit an everlasting punishment that he hath committed a sin whose malice hath no bounds For Reason tells us there is no proportion between the Creature and the Creator the distance that separates them is infinite and therefore the sinner that forsakes the Creator to adhere is infinite Qui peccat mortaliter vult Deum esse impotentem aut injustum aut insipientem quia vellet Deum aut sua peccata nescire aut vindicare non posse aut vindicare nolle Bern. offers him an infinite injury which cannot justly be punished but by an eternaltorment Indeed he endeavours to destroy God by his offence he would rob him of his perfections and in the minde he is in to content himself he would have God void of light to see him without goodness to hate him without power to correct him Therefore is the Penitent at the sight of so many disorders and injustices obliged to make war upon himself to take Gods part against himself to punish a delinquent severely whose due it is to burn eternally and to continue a torment during his life which ought to continue for all generations The Tenth DISCOURSE Of the Renunciation and Self-denial of a Christian POlicie and Religion in the difference of their designes exact the same dispositions in their subjects Policie will have men prefer Publike interests before Private and to sacrifice their Fortune for the preservation of the State Religion also will have men consider nothing but the glory of Jesus Christ being always ready to immolate themselves in his quarrel Policie will not have men wedded to their goods lest Avarice should make them cowards Religion going a step further obligeth them to a voluntary poverty and will have them really or in affection divorced from their riches Finally Policie will have Subjects renounce their Will that they be more the States then their own Families and depend more upon their Soveraign then on Themselves Religion requires the same duty from her disciples Qui vult venire post me abneget semetipsum tollat crucem suam sequatur me Luc. 9. and will ahve them renounce their inclinations when they are admitted into the Church and Jesus Christ to be the Master of their actions and of their persons All the Maximes she gives us tend to this end all her counsels inspire us with this disposition and it seems the whole Gospel hath no other intention then to make us die to our selves that we may be guided by Jesus Christ And certainly we must confess If there be Rigour in the designe there is much Justice in it For besides that the Church no more then the State can subsist without submission and
the heat of self-love makes in our souls In which respect 't is certainly the truth of the Tree of Life and the accomplishment of that figure For though Innocent Man had other meats besides that and excepting the forbidden fruit all others that Paradise afforded were allowed him yet was he obliged to take of this from time to time as a medicine which the mercy of God had prepared for him to defend him against the Natural heat which insensibly wasted him Whence it is easie to infer that in the state of Innocence the body of man was composed of parts that could not agree That fire which makes man live devoured the radical moisture on which it feeds and though he daily took in nourishment which being much purer then ours might preserve life much longer yet had he need of an extraordinary diet which might repair the ruines the natural heat made in his body and Divines Providence which never abandons that sinner provided the Tree of Life for Innocent Man to defend him against the internal enemy who had insensibly brought him to death by means of old age and consumption Thus may we say that the body of the Son of God shields us against that forain heat Concupiscentia carnis in Baptismo dimittitur non ut non sit sed ut non obsit non imput tur Aug. lib. de Nup. Concup cap. 25. which setting upon the warmth of Charity threatens the Christian with death For though Concupiscence since Baptism be no longer sin and if sometimes they give it this name 't is because it is the principal effect yet is she not idle in our souls she makes strange progresses when her fury is not stopt she makes use of all occasions that are offered and holding under her command the passions and the senses she endeavours by their mediation to enslave the understanding and the will Though never so weak and langnishing in Christians she hath still vigour enough to engage them in sin if their reason assisted with grace continually oppose not her designs The little remainder there is makes them they cannot live secure and as long as they nourish the least degree of self-love there is no crime whereof they have not the seeds in them What the Son of God hath said of the grain of Mustard seed which is so small at first and so prodigious in the progress is not comparable to Concupiscence whose least sparks are able to kindle mighty conflagrations which only the Grace of Jesus Christ can extinguish Indeed his Body the noblest Organ of his Spirit moderates daily these heats in the Eucharist smothers the flames Concupiscence stirs up to consume us he gives beeing to that vertue that fight obscenity weakens that strange burning which glows against divine heat without which a Christian cannot live He produceth two contrary effects which manifests his power to be infinite For by kindling one fire he quencheth another and warming us with his own love happily delivers us from that of self 'T is a a wonderful Wine which contrary to the nature of ordinary wine bears Virgins and renders them pure thereby to render them pregnant in Vertues Finally 't is a Bread of Life that nourisheth soul and body carrying vigour into the one and light into the other to the end that preserving the whole man it may be his food in health and his remedy in sickness Having contrary to the Laws of Physick cured him contrary to the Laws of Nature it endeavours to make him young For Religion more powerful then the Fable hath found out a secret to renue the Christians youth in the Eucharist and to discover in Mysteries what it made us believe in Types and Figures Indeed all the Fathers are of opinion that the Tree of Life defended man from old age and preserved him from that languishing consumption which disposed him insensibly to his death if common fruits could preserve his life they were unable to maintain his vigour Though they had all the purity Innocent Nature could furnish her works with yet in repairing mans strength they had not restored that freshness which accompanies youth To secure himself from that mischief which had not respected his Innocence he was obliged to have recourse to the Tree of Life and from time to time to take an agreeable Physick which being no way distasteful restored him his primitive vigour and re-instated him in that flourishing age he was at first created in It is true that as Prudence was natural to him he never expected length of days to impair his beauty nor that old-age should print wrinkles upon his face he made such seasonable use of this remedy that the freshness of his complexion never faded The Roses and the Lilies were always mingled on his cheeks age and deformity never seized a body whose soul was exempt from sin and the fruit of the Tree of Life seconding his ordinary food maintained him in a vigorous constitution which was afraid neither of Sickness nor Weakness In this happie state Man had the advantages of the Aged and not their imperfections his Reason without the tedious trouble of Experience was furnished with all Lights requisite to conduct him he had no need to enfeeble his body to fortifie his minde but both the parts that composed him being equally innocent he had no occasion to wish that age might weaken the one to make it more obedient nor strengthen the other to render it more absolute Thus the fruit of the Tree of Life maintained Man in Youth and Innocence and these two inseparable qualities combating Old-age and Sin made him spend his life happily and holily Although Christians have not this advantage upon the earth and that their body being still the slave of Concupiscence cannot avoid the infirmities incident to old-age yet in their souls they fail not to enjoy the priviledges of Innocence they finde in the holy Sacrament what Adam found in the Tree of Life they receive a new vigour in the Eucharist their souls grow young as often as they approach to Jesus Christ when like Eagles they soar as high as this Sun lodg'd in a cloud they are astonished that in the infirmity of their flesh their spirit is renewed and that the outward man falling to decay by yeers and penance the inward man recruits by the heavenly meat he feeds upon This Miracle passeth sometimes from the soul to the body yet there have been some holy persons who taking no other sustenance but what is offered upon our Altars have lived many yeers Many times this Nutriment hath imprinted its qualities upon their bodies and darting forth certain rays of Grace upon their countenances communicated to them a part of that beauty which the blessed spirits shall possess Post primā caenam it a similes evascrunt Christodiscipuli ejus ut vix ab illo possent discerni Chrys S. John Chrysostome was of opinion that the Apostles participated of this priviledge in their
Gideon that won so many victories was but the Type of this For this mighty man entring the Camp of the Madianites and hearing one of their soldiers tell his fellow that in his sleep he saw a Cake fall from Heaven which routed their army he perswaded himself contrary to all appearance Sicut verbum Dei cibus est gladius ita corpus ejus Ber. that this Cake was his Sword and taking advantage from this dream set upon his enemies and defeated them Non est hoc aliud nisi gladius Gideonis But 't is very true that the Bread of Jesus Christ is the Sword of the Christians the same meat that nourisheth them defends them and the same remedy that cures their maladies subdues their enemies It s strength no way hinders its sweetness and like Manna there are charms in it that make it pleasing to every palate For the holy Scripture assures us that this Heavenly food was fitted to the appetite of the Israelites that never changing the fashion it altered the savour and following their inclinations complied with their tasts to satisfie their longing I know Saint Augustine is of opinion that this miracle was wrought onely in favour of the righteous and that the guilty were deprived of a Grace which in stead of heightning their devotion did only whet their stomack But the Scripture declares this miracle and the words thereof which are as true as Oracles inform us that Manna besides its natural taste had other rellishes according to the several appetites of those that gathered it If the Figure were thus advantageous for the body the Substance is much more beneficial for the soul For inasmuch as this Sacrament contains the source of Grace there is none but may from thence be communicated unto us though its principal effect be to maintain life it fails not to produce all Vertues and to satisfie the inclinations of all those that receive it It inspires Lovers with Charity weak persons with Courage Virgins with Purity Penitents with Sorrow and becoming all things to all upon Earth as well as in Heaven perfectly fulfils all the desires of the Faithful By its abundance it supplies all other Sacraments It gives us Jesus Christ in all his different relations and comprehending as well his Mysteries as their Graces makes us enjoy him living and dying humble and glorified acting and suffering For whether Eternity which in one indivisible moment includes all the differences of time recollect here all the Mysteries of Jesus Christ or whether this Sacrament comprehend all that it exhibits and being the Figure and Truth both together presents us the Death and Resurrection of the Son of God because it is the Sacrament thereof or finally whether Jesus Christ upon the Altars to comfort the Faithful who saw him not upon the Earth will by a miraculous way for their sakes accord the present with the past and let himself be enjoyed after his Death as he was seen before his Birth he gives himselfe wholly to them in this Mystery and fully communicates all that he is all that he hath done and all that he hath suffered for their salvation so that simple souls may consider him there as a child Hermites as solitary the Evangelists as a Divine Preacher the Martyrs as a Sacrifice the Prelates as a Pastor In hoc Sacramento judex advocatus sacerdos victima Leo Agnus Pastor Pascua Ber. and every one following his own piety may behold him in the condition which most affects him with pleasure or pain It was perhaps for this cause that the Moserabs in their Liturgy divided the Body of the Son of God into nine portions upon which they imposed the names of his chiefest Mysteries to teach us that he repeated them upon our Altars to content our piety and accomplishing the Figure of Manna exhibited himself in all these different estates thereby to accommodate himself to all our inclinations The Fourth DISCOURSE That this Nourishment gives the Christian whatever the Devil promised Innocent Man if he did eat of the Forbidden Fruit. THe Divine Providence is never more wonderful then when it employs the same means to save us the malice of the Devil had made use of to destroy us Thus let us magnifie his Oeconomy when we see our salvation somewhat resemble our fall and the same things that involved us in transgression deliver us out of it A Devil jealous of our happiness began our misery a Woman too easily listened to his words a man over-lightly complacent suffered himself to be cajoled by her and the beauty of the forbidden fruit charming his eyes seduced his mind and corrupted his will The Divine Wisdome imitating our fall in the work of our salvation made use of an Angel the Interpreter of his designs of a Virgin true to his Promises of a Man-God that satisfied his Justice and of a fruit not forbidden but commanded which really exhibits to the Christian all those advantages man was made to hope for in his Innocence For the Devil considering the just inclinations Nature and Grace had imprinted in the soul of man to seduce him promised him that if he would disobey God he should find his happiness in his rebellion and that the use of the fruit he was forbidden to meddle with should make him Immortal knowing Good and Evil and Christian Religion teacheth us that the Body of the Son of God received in the Sacrament with piety due to so great love produceth in us these effects and making us Men-Gods makes us Knowing and Immortal Let us examine these Promises and see what we ought to expect from the God of Truth and the Father of Lyes If the fear of death and the desire of life be not the most ancient passions of man we may affirm them the most natural and most violent He hath an apprehension of death before he knows what it is he desires Immortality before he believes it and whatever he does here below is only by defending himself from a dissolution to live for ever Every one seeks after the same end though by different mediums and he that would put the question to each particular would learn by their answers that they labour only to become Immortal Fathers mary not so much for the pleasure of the bed as for the desire they have to survive in their posterity and in spight of death gain a perpetuity to their Being as well as their Name Philosophers are not so much in love with Knowledge and Vanity as with Life whilst they spend whole nights in their books and leave the productions of their brain to posterity For they think to cozen death by this stratagem they believe their reputation will pierce the Generations to come and that living in the memory of men they shall in some sort enjoy Immortality Monarchs whose minde and body are equally barren leaving neither Children nor Vertues behinde them whereby they may be known to their Successors raise
was given up to the fury of Satan To his Sacriledge he added a Parricide and expiating these two offences by a violent death taught us there was never any crime more severely punished upon Earth then what was committed against Jesus Christ in the Eucharist so that a man cannot dispose himself too carefully when he is to approach this holy communion and seeing the Son of God recollects all his Graces in this Sacrament thereby to oblige us we ought to come accompanied with all kind of Vertues worthily to receive him The Seventh DISCOURSE That the Christian owes God the Honour of a Sacrifice SAcrifice is the most ancient duty of the creature towards his Creator It is the soul of Religion precedes affection and before man can be obliged to love God he is bound to offer him a Sacrifice For love presupposeth some society between God and man which is not so much an effect of Nature as of Grace but Sacrifice supposeth nothing but dependance which is inseparable from the creature and engageth him assoon as ever he proceeded out of Nothing to acknowledge his Original by a solemn homage From hence may be inferred that Sacrifice is an honour can be rendred only to God and that 't is changed into Sacriledge when offered to a meer creature Neither is this hard to be conceived if we consider the divers motives we have to offer Sacrifices to God since sin hath corrupted nature The first is to reconcile us to him and to mitigate his anger by the merit of the victime The second is to be united to him knowing very well that as his Indignation is the soucre of all our evils his Grace is the fountain-Head of all our good whence it came to pass that in the Old Testament there were peace-offerings offered to him for the salvation of sinners which testified by their dying mouths that to be removed from God was to be miserable The third is to obtain eternal glory which makes us find our happiness in the union it procures us with God and destroying whatever we had of mortal or perishable happily transforms us into him Holocaustum dicitur sacrificium cum totū accenditur quandò totum ardet totum absumitur igne divino Aug. Therefore were Holocausts immolated wherein the oblation wholly consumed by the flame figured out this Truth and by a silent language taught us that man should never be happy till he was despoiled of all his corruption that he might be perfectly consummated in God Now all men confesse that God only can bestow Grace remit sins which brave his Majesty sanctifie souls in uniting them to himself and glorifie them by communicating to them his Essence Therefore by a necessary consequence they acknowledge that as from him only these favours are to be obtained we have no other way to intercede for them but by sacrifice The Law punished those with death that erected Altars to strange gods and offered those honours to vain idols which could not be safely given to true men Nature her self though never so blind sacrificeth to none but those she conceives at least to be Gods and sin being not able to quench all her lights she retains this belief in her errour that Divinity only deserves the honours of sacrifice Faith confirms this Truth and strongly perswades us that if the creature adores not his Creator he is miserable and if he encroach upon the honour due to him he becomes guilty Creatura rationalis si non colit Deum misera est quia privatur Deo si colit Deum non vult se coli pro Deo Aug. Sacrifice then is a divine worship whereby a reasonable creature honours his Creator and publiquely professeth that as he hath received being from him 't is from him likewise that he expects felicity But though there is nothing in God which being God himself deserves not this homage and all his perfections may justly require it we must confess nevertheless there are three that oblige us to this duty and which in the state of innocence as wel as sin demand this sacrifice The first is the Soveraignty he hath over his creature For he depends of him in Creation and Preservation He had no right to exist before he issued from Nothing in these profound abysses he could not so much as desire or ask any thing and being not yet in nature could have no pretensions of aspiring either to Grace or Glory Being now reduced from Non-Entity he depends still upon his Soveraign he could not be able to subsist one moment without assistance from him he cannot act but by his impulses and though he be free in his operations he that gave him being must give him motion his preservation is a consequence of his Creation the same power that produced him preserves him and unless he be strangely impudent he must confess he depends not less upon God in his Entity then in his Non-Entity There is no need that the Earth should open under his feet to swallow him up that thunder should fall upon his head to crush him to ashes nor that the waters should flow from their couch to drown him God needs only withdraw his hand and he perisheth let him but cease to preserve and he moulders into annihilation Dependency therefore and servitude constitute one part of his Essence he is a slave assoon as a creature and though God be Almighty we may say without offence he can produce neither man nor Angel able to support themselves without him and who in the progress as well as beginning of his life depends not absolutely upon his All-sufficiency This is it that obligeth both of them in their Creation to offer sacrifices to him 't was their first reflexion towards their Principle their first duty towards their Soveraign and their primitive inclination towards their last end If they do not acquit themselves 't is their fault if dazled with their own light and charmed with their own beauty they fail of this their lawfull homage they need seek no other cause of their crime nor of their fall I pretend not to expresse the nature of this sacrifice because it is unkown to us but I will say thus much thatthe Angels being pure spirits seek not oblations out of their own person they stoop before the Almighty at the presence of his greatness they offer him what they are bound to by Creation and refuse not to submit to him by the motion of their proper will as they did from all Eternity in their nature For men there is great likelihood being compounded of a body and a soul they would joyn external sacrifice to internal and to the end they might offer all they had received presenting him an Holocaust of their person they would employ their mouths to praise him and their hands to serve him having made use of their understandings to know him and their wils to love him we might believe also that acknowledging all the goods of the
soever they turn their eyes they may without vanity utter these words Whatever we see is ours and though we leave the propriety to particular persons we cease not to enjoy the soveraignty with God But we need not wonder if these slaves are rich because they are free and that the same quality which instates them in plenty puts them into liberty Man is so free that he cannot be compell'd Sin that deprives him of Grace robs him not of his Liberty and into whatever condition he throws himself is still his own Master It is true that according to the language of Saint Paul he becomes the slave of sin and free from Grace when he becomes Guilty and on the contrary free from sin and the fervant of Grace when justified Although in these two states so opposite Liberty is always mixt with Servitude St Thomas and St Augustine Masters with whom we cannot easily mistake teach us That in the state of sin there is a reall Thraldome and a false Liberty because man departing from God wanders from his duty and subjecting himself to his passions is a slave in earnest and free only in appearance On the contrary there is a reall liberty in the state of Grace and an apparent servitude because Man does what he will in that he does what he ought that he is free because reasonable and master of himself because the slave of Jesus Christ This is it that the Word Incarnate had a minde to teach us with his own mouth when he said We should be free indeed if the Son made us free and this is it that Saint Augustine would have us understand by those excellent words We were the slaves of self-love and now that we are made free we may boast that we are the Slaves of Charity Neither is there any Divine that does not acknowledg that our will is never more free Omnia propter Electos then when she is most submitted to God and that true Liberty is the recompence of so happy a Bondage I may well give it this name because it produceth Glory and that all the slaves of the son of God are Soveraigns But that we may rightly conceive of the Greatnesse of this Priviledg we must remember that Servitude is the daughter of Sin that men were not slaves till they became Guilty and that Nature which laboured to equal their Conditions is not she that created this shamefull difference which distinguisheth them one from another They were all Kings before their Defection Innocence was the character of their Royalty and as long as they were the Images of God they were his Vicegerents in the world But sin that deprived them of Grace ravish'd from them their Liberty gave them as many Masters as they have bad inclinations and making this misfortune passe from their person into their estate many times imposed Tyrants over them under a colour of constituting lawfull Soveraigns We had for ever remained in this shamefull Bondage had not the son of God who draws our salvation out of our fall made us recover Liberty by Servitude For Grace bringing us in subjection unto his will hath put all Creatures under us his love subjecting our soul to his Empire hath made us the Masters of our Body this insolent slave is is become obedient and as it revolted not against the soul but because the soul was revolted against God it returned to its duty as soon as she betook her self to her respect and acknowledged his Soveraign as soon as she acknowledged her Creator Thus our Rule is founded upon our submission our Liberty established upon our vassalage and we command our Body because we obey our God Vis serviat animae tuae caro tua Deo serviat anima tua debes regi ut possis regerc Aug. This is it that Saint Augustine expresseth so handsomly When the soul is the servant of God she is the Mistresse of the flesh when Reason is subject to Grace she is the queen of Passions and reduceth these rebels to obedience so that the most assured means to re-enter upon our ancient Priviledges is to submit to God and to seek our greatnesse in our debasement The Son of God hath furnished us with a rare Example in his Life he ascended not to Glory but by the ladder of humility He was content to be his Fathers servant before he would be adored as his Son and in heaven it self where he raigns with him he still retains this humble deportment Saint Paul teacheth us that he wisheth not the accomplishment of his mysticall body but that he may be subject to his Father Cum autem subjecta fuerint illi omnia tunc ipse filius crit subjectus ei 1 Cor 15. having subjected all things to himself It seems he chose the Virgin for his mother because she was devoted to the service of the Altar and had protested that she would eternally remain the servant of the Lord He boasts of it by the mouth of a Prophet he will have all the world know that his service is founded upon his birth and that he is the slave of the eternall Father because the Son of his handmaid Ego servus tuus filius Ancillae tuae Humane Laws acknowledge three sorts of Slaves The First Servi sunt alii à Conventione alii à fortuna alii à natura Arist 2. Poli. those that sell themselves and to gain a small livelihood engage their Liberty and become Slaves to enrich their friends or children Others are those that Fortune throws into Fetters whom the loss of a Battel subjects to the mercy of the Conqueror and according to the Laws of War become the prisoners of their enemies The Last are those who are born of slavish parents and who seem to have less reason to complain because their servitude preceded their Birth and Nature conspired with Fortune to deprive them of their Liberty The Son of God was pleased to be of this number he desired his Thraldom might be natural Partus sequitur ventrem and that the same mother that made him a Man might make him his Fathers Servant and we cannot deny that he is liable to this condition because all Laws ordain that the Childe is of the same quality with the Mother It seems she had inspired him with this desire in giving him a being and that at the same time she conceived him she imprinted in his soul the minde of a Slave The Naturalists assure us that Mothers have so much power over the bodies of their children in the moment of conception Matres dum concipiunt foetibus desideriorū signa quaedam inurunt Plin. that they express upon them their Longings and Imaginations and those extraordinary marks they bring along with them into the world are certain proofs of so known a Truth But the Scripture acquaints us that the Virgin more happie and more powerful then other mothers hath made an impression upon the soul and body of her
the Captives that pine away for the loss of Liberty in prisons and those Miscreants that are broken upon the Wheel endure the extremity of Torments but because their sin is the cause of their punishment they may be sufferers but they cannot be Martyrs To deserve this Quality Nemo se extollat glorietur de passione nam si attendamus solâ—s passiones coronantur latrones si de passione gloriandum est potest ipse diabolus gloriari Aug. the interest of God must be mixt with Grief and the suffering takes its estimate from the justice of the Cause The Macchabees are Martyrs because they suffered for the Law of God and rather then violate it courageously lost their lives S. John Baptist augments the number of these glorious Champions because he died for the defence of Chastity and is the first victim this excellent vertue receiv'd The Saints who have spilt their blood in the Churches quarrels and have fought against Infidels or Hereticks for the interest of Faith justly deserve the quality of Martyrs and the Christian happily shares it with them because he suffers in obedience to Jesus Christ For when he pardons those that persecute him stifles those just resentments which are occasioned by injuries when he gives Calumny leave to blast his reputation and loseth Goods or Honour because he will not break the Commandments or violate the Counsels of the Son of God Non Martyrium sola effusio sanguinis consummat necsola dat palmam exustio flammarum pervenitur non solum occasu sed etiam contemptu Carnis ad Coronam Aug. Ser. 46 de Sanctis he is not less worthy of the name of Martyr then those that have shed their blood for the defence of his honour 'T is of such a one that we may say Occasion was wanting to his Will and that he had been in the Catalogue of Martyrs had he lived in the time of persecution But not to betray the Cause that I defend I am obliged to say that to be vertuous is title enough to be a Martyr For since Nature is corrupted by sin there is no Vertue that is not accompanied with Grief We learn Vices without a Master we carry the seeds of them in our souls and preventing bad examples we act wickedness before we have seen it But Christian vertues are so difficult that their conquest costs us much labour and travel we learn them with much ado forget them easily preserve them with care neither is it Nature nor Art but Grace and Sorrow that forms the Habit in us They cross our Inclinations we must fight to gain them and seeing wickedness is passed into our Nature Vertues are become our Torments The Darkness we come into the world with clouds the light of our Prudence the infirmities we have inherited from our first Father make the victory over Strength extremely difficult Interest which is inseparable from Self-love is an opposition naturally set against Justice and this heat without which we cannot live and by a deplorable unhappiness entertains the flames of Impurity is an obstacle to Continence It produceth thoughts which stain the lustre of this Vertue motions which trouble its rest so that S. Augustine had great reason to say that of all the Trials of a Christian the most furious was that of Chastity where the Conflict is so long the Victory so rare and the Danger so great I would adde to the words of this holy man without varrying much from his conceit that 't is the sharpest Martyrdom a Believer can endure because he confesseth in another place that to mortifie the Flesh to tame Pride makes up the best part of the Martyr 'T is perhaps upon this ground that the rigid Tertullian who hath defended the advantages of Chastity with the prejudice of Truth it self hath acknowledged this vertue so austere that 't is easier to die for her Majus est in castitate vivere quà m pro castitate mori Terâ— then to live with her As if he would tacitely insinuate that 't is a harder matter to be chaste then to be a Martyr and that a Christian who hath overcome impurity may easily subdue grief If having considered the severity of the Vertues we consider the rigour of the Gospel we shal finde it cannot be obeyed without the badg of Martyrdom Every People hath its Laws and there are none so barbarous whom Nature or Custom have not furnished with some Policy The Greeks lived according to the Laws of their Sages The Romanes followed the Twelve Tables and those that had neither Kings nor Law-givers have had for their guide the light of Nature which is a relique of Innocence The Jews were governed by the Law of Moses which if it gave them not strength enough to combat sin it gave them light enough to know and avoid it But the Christian hath so severe a Law that if Love did not sweeten the severity thereof it would drive men to despair and more tragical then Judaism would occasion not onely prevaricators but obstinate and hardned disciples For it hath not one Article which is not a Paradox and which thwarts not the Reason as well as the Inclinations of sinners The First is that to love God aright we must hate our selves and bestowing all our affection upon him reserve nothing but hatred for our selves The second is to renounce our Will that is to say to quit all the advantages Nature hath endued us with not to reason in our Mysteries not to listen to our Inclinations in the practise of Vertues The Third which is not less rigid and seems to violate the sweetest Laws of Nature obligeth us to forsake father and mother and to trample upon the belly of her that bare us to follow the voice of him that calls us to his service But the Fourth which hath to deal with the dearest and most violent of our Passions commands us to pardon our enemies to forget the injuries they have done us and to stifle all those just resentments the love of honour or of life can possess us with Who will not pronounce these Laws so many tortures these Commandments so many Pursuivants making inquisition after our Inclinations into the very inmost recesses of our Wils and one while lopping of love another while Hatred subjects us to as many sufferings as Martyrs undergo whose arms or legs were chopt off by the cruelty of Tyrants This made S. Augustine confess that the life of a Christian was a painful Martyrdom Vita Christiani si secundum Evangelium vivat crux est Martyrium Aug. nor that any man could observe the Laws of the Gospel but must condemn himself to a punishment as grievous as that of the Cross For this reason also will I make it appear in this following Discourse that Christians suffer more then the Martyrs These glorious Heroes of the Church suffered for the most part but in the body their souls were quiet in the midst of
their torments God hindered the commerce that Nature had placed between these two parts whereof we are composell a contented mind inanimated a wretched body love divorced him from his prison and by a kind of prodigious extasie disingaged him from all the painful vexations of his slave In every Christian might be seen an Image of Jesus Christ and as he during his life accorded pleasure with pain in his person and his glorious soul enlivened his passible and mortal body this miracle was repeated in favour of the Martyrs who preserved their joy in the midst of their torments They made Invectives against Tyrants laught at the weaknesse of their Executioners and lifting up their soul to him that inspired them with strength breath'd forth his Panegyrick whiles the flames devoured their bodies or the wild Beasts tore them in pieces But the Christians are bound to make war against both bodies and souls to struggle against their inclinations and their senses to exercise their just indignation against these two Delinquents nor to divide those in the correction who were united in the crime These Martyrs had only grief to master and having tamed this unruly enemy were certain of a triumph But the Christians are engaged to combat pleasure and as this pleasing enemy knows the secret of gaining love it is very hard to stand out against his charms Grief is violent astonisheth those that it sets upon quels their courage by the pomp of torments and he that is assisted with strength cannot resist the fury of its onsets In the mean time experience teacheth us that it is oftner foiled then pleasure and that there are more Christians fit to be Martyrs then to be Continent The soul barracadoes it self against grief but lyes open to pleasure The will stands out against the evil that would force her but gently surrenders to the delectation that would corrupt her her forces are rallied close when she combats grief but lie scattered when opposed to sensuality Grief holds no intelligence in the place it sets upon to facilitate a surprisal but pleasure finds a thousand passions that favour her entrance follow her motions Donat Deus ut delectatio peccati justitiae delectatione vincatur Aug. and sight under her ensigns Thence it comes to pass that when God intends to gain a soul or the Devil to seduce one neither of them employ any other thing then pleasure and knowing very well that they have to doe with a free creature make use only of allurements to win his consent without forcing it God deals only with Grace in the conversion of sinners and 't is by this victorious suavity that he gains the Conquest where honour is the Trophy of the Conquerour and profit the reward of the vanquished The Devil also employs no instrument but Pleasure to corrupt them he studies their inclinations followes their humours flatters them to their destruction and being not ignorant what sway pleasure bears over the wil promiseth glory to the ambitious riches to the covetous or in a word proposeth to every sinner the accomplishment of all his desires Therefore we need not wonder if the Christian suffer more then the Martyr because he hath a more redoubted enemy to grapple with nor can hope for any recompence except he triumph over pleasure The great Saint Augustine hath pronounced sentence in their behalf and comparing believers with Martyrs hath said that not to diminish the honour these have purchased by their constancy he did verily believe that a Christian who mortified his body resisted his inclinations and defended himself from pleasure might lawfully pretend to the Crown of Martyrdom But if the sweetness that accompanies pleasure give Christians such an advantage above Martyrs we must confess that the glory which accompanied the Conflict of the later greatly lessened their sorrows Nature who hath no other conduct then that of Providence hath been pleased that whatever was difficult should withall be glorious Quae pulchra difficilia quae difficilia gloriosa Pla. that glory which is attended with so many charms may give us strength to master the difficulty she hath so well linkt these two things together that they are inseparable and wherever she hath planted pain she hath hedged it about with honour It is a hard matter to perswade men to change their minds to calm their passions and to reduce them to their duty Thus is it glorious to be eloquent to be acquainted with all the secrets Orators make use of to conquer without armes and to gain obedience without violence 'T is a business of much industry to rule States to govern people to prescribe laws which may keep them Loyall without interessing their Liberty 'T is also a high honour to know the mystery of the Politicks and to pass for a great Prince or a wise Statesman There is nothing that labours under more difficulties then to tame Nations subdue Rebels force Enemies to submit to the Conditions of Subjects or Allies Neither indeed is there any thing more illustrious then victorious proceedings and the glory which is but faintly and in part bestowed upon Orators and Politians descends unanimously and in a full gale upon the head of Conquerors We see nothing in the Church more Noble then Martyrdome 't is the highest form of Vertue the last expression of Charity and when a man hath shed his bloud and parted with his life for Jesus Christ there is not any instance can farther be expected from his love Justly therefore may we acknowledge nothing more august in Religion then Martyrs They are the Heroes of Christianity the Gallant men of this State the Noblest parts of this Mystical Body there is no greatnesse that gives not way to their dignity whatever we admire is below their merit and according to the opinion of one of the wisest Fathers of the Church Plus est esse Martyrem quam esse Apostolū Cyp. 't is more to be a Martyr then to be an Apostle Neither hath any thing been ever more honoured in the world Heaven hath wrought a hundred miracles to discover their innocence Wild Beasts have respected them the flames have spared their garments Tyrants have admired them and many times their Executioners have become their Disciples insomuch that these renowned Champions had great reason to be afraid of vain-glory at the same time that God delivered them from sorrow But Christians want this consolation in their Martyrdom they suffer more then they fight they are Martyrs because they endure pain to master pleasure they give proof of their courage because they resist temptation but their Martyrdome is secret it passeth in silence or in solitude they have no witnesse but their Judge If the Angels surround them they are invisible and if they undergo the hardships of Martyrs they have neither their comforts nor their indearments For as Saint Augustiue saith the soul of a Christian hath inward conflicts and domestick enemies she struggles with grief and expects her crown
Continence to our relief to defend us from pleasures that tickle us sometimes we demand help of Fortitude to combat griefs that assault us sometimes we throw our selves into the arms of Justice to deliver us from enemies that oppress us But in Heaven all these Vertues are idle onely Charity is active and yet rests in acting her action is to love what she sees her rest to possess what she loves and her felicity to know that she shall never lose what she enjoys If you cannot suffer saith S. Augustine that the Vertues to which we owe Heaven be banished thence imagine them there more for your ornament then defence never conceive that they fight but perswade your selves that they triumph and having vanquished all their enemies enjoy a Peace which shall endure for all Eternity The Ninth DISCOURSE That the Christians Soul and Body shall finde their Perfection in Beatitude MAn is such a hidden Creature that he cannot well be known without Faith He is mistaken as often as he intends to pass judgement upon himself and the errours that have appeared in his own definition have given us occasion to conclude that he was ignorant of his own essence when he consulted his Sense he believed he was nothing but a Body and if there were a spirit that informed him it was perishable and mortal when he consulted his Pride he conceited himself a pure Spirit which either for his penalty or for his trial was included in a Body as in a prison from which he should be delivered by death These two errours produced two grand disorders in the world The first engaged Man in the love of his Body and the oblivion of his Soul he made no account but of sensual Pleasures and knowing no life but the present never troubled himself about the future He was of opinion that Death was the end of his Being and that nothing remaining of him after his dissolution he need fear neither any Punishment nor expect any Recompence The second errour made him so mightily undervalue his Body that he repined at it as a Slave and handled it as a Rebel he had recourse many times to Death that being delivered from this enemy he might mix with pure Intelligences and raign with Gods or Devils Faith which corrects our errours obligeth us to believe that Man is neither an Angel nor a Beast that he is compounded of a Body and a Soul and if he have the First common with Beasts he hath the Second common with Angels The same Faith perswades him that Death deprives him of his body but for a time onely that at the General Resurrection it shall be re-united to the soul to partake of its good or bad fortune Therefore treating here of the felicity of Christians I am necessarily to speak of the two parts that compose them and of the different happiness the Divine Justice prepares for them respectively Inasmuch as the soul is the noblest she is also most happily provided for and her Beatitude infinitely surpasseth that of the body Tunc nec falli nec peccare homines possunt veritate illuminati in bono confirmati Aug. When she quits her prison and is purified of all her imperfections by the grace of Jesus Christ she enters into Glory and receives all the advantages which are due to her dignity and condition Ignorance which is a brand of sin is quite defaced by the brightness that enlightens her her weakness is fortified by a supply which being much more powerful then that of Grace raiseth her to a condition wherein she cannot desert the good nor embrace the evil and where as Saint Augustine saith she is in a happy impotency to wander from her duty and estrange her self from the Supream good Assurance succeeds in the place of fear rest in stead of conflicts triumphs after victories she is no longer constrained to resist the motions of the flesh because this rebell is become obedient and losing in the Resurrection whatever he drew from Adam at his Birth hath now none but just and holy inclinations The Spirit is no longer busied to maintain a war against sin because this Monster cannot enter Heaven he groans not now under the revolt of the passions and as all the vertues are peaceable they finde neither enemies to subdue nor rebels to tame Her knowledge is no longer accompanied with doubts and darkness she learnes without labour is not afraid to forget and drawing light and wisdom from the very Fountain knows all things in their Principles In this happy condition there remains nothing for the Christian to wish for his soul is penetrated by the Divine Essence his understanding clarified with the light of glory his will inflamed with the love of God and all his powers and faculties finding their particular perfection in one object he confesseth that the promises of God exceed his hopes Though his body have been polluted by his birth and corrupted by death it findes life in the Resurrection and Purity in Glory For assoon as the Trumpet of the Angel shall have declared the will of God every soul shal reassume her own body reuniting her self with it shall give it a part in her happiness The greatness of this wonder hath found no belief in the mindes of Philosophers though they were perswaded of the Immortality of the soul they would not consent to the Resurrection of the body and having seen it made a prey to wilde Beasts or fuel for the flames they judged there was no power in the world could restore it again The spirit of man hath favoured this errour and believing his eyes rather then his light could not finde in his heart to place that part of man in heaven which he saw committed to the grave he was afraid to weary the power of the Almighty if he should oblige him to so many miracles and not comprehending how a body reduc'd to powder or smoak could take its primitive form chose rather to leave it in the Earth then draw it thence with so much violence But had he thought of the Creation he had never doubted of the Resurrection and Reason her self had perswaded him that seeing God was able to finde the body in Non-Entity where it was not he might very well finde it in the waters or in the slames where there was yet some remainder thereof If Nothing were not rebellious to him Nature cerrainly will not be disobedient and if he could make that which was not he may as easily repair what now is not Nothing perisheth in respect of the Creator the dead are not less his subjects then those that never were born and if he could make Non-Entity hear him he may well make death obey him The miracle of Resurrection is perhaps attended with more pomp then that of the Creation but there is less difficulty in it and he that could vanquish the distance between Entity and Non-Entity will have no great matter to do to master the opposition
puts us in the same Liberty and reducing us to things absolutely necessary rids us of superfluities This is it that confines the Anchorites to their pulse that gives them sackcloath for a garment a Den for a Lodging a Mat for their Bed This is it that enricheth them by making them poor makes them finde Liberty in servitude and equalling their condition with that of Angels frees them from the need we have of the Creatures If the Blessed have no communication but with God if they have quitted Earth to live in Paradise if the Love and Magnificats they bestow upon God be their whole employment and if in this one object they finde all their Happiness and their Diversion Pennance and Solitude procure the same priviledges to the faithfull Their heart is no longer in the Earth they mount up to heaven by their desires converse more with Angels then with Men and already enjoying the priviledges of the Resurrection lead a new life in their Banishment and a happy life in their wilderness Let us imitate their holy Examples fit our selves for Glory by Austerity and subjecting the Body to the soul and the soul to God set us to shake hands with the world that our Conversation may be with Jesus Christ The Tenth DISCOURSE Of the Miracles which are found in the Beatitude of a Christian AS Nature and Grace have their extraordinary proceedings so have they their Miracles Haec utique Deus potestatis suae proponit signa suis in solatium extraneis in testimonium Tertul. and in Both of them we behold changes which require the endevours of an absolute omnipotence When the Sun stands still in the midst of his course when the Earth cleaves from her foundations and opens her bowels to devour her Children when the sea passeth his bounds and makes inquisition after Delinquents beyond his Banks There is no body but looks upon these irregularities as Prodigies and who conceives not that the author of Nature disorders her to punish us Though Grace be so powerfull and its victorious sweetness so often triumphs over the libertie of sinners it many times produceth occurrences which pass for Miracles When it converted the Doctor of the world disarmed his heart and his hands and changing his will in a moment of a Persecutor made him an Apostle it seems so strange a proceeding may well be ranked in the number of prodigies when it touched that Comedian who laughed at the Ceremonies of our Religion enlightened his spirit upon the Theatre made use of the water he prophaned to make a Sacrament and by a wonderfull conduct made him finde his salvation in his very sin we shall not offend its power if we call this effect a Miracle If Nature and Grace have their Prodigies Glory which is their perfection may boast of those it hath and as its order is the highest so is it most miraculous Therefore did the Great S. Bernard confess That there were Three Unions that ravished him The first That of Virginity with Pregnancy in the person of Mary The second That of the Humanity with the Divinity in the person of the Word and the Third That of Glory with the spirit of Man in the person of the Blessed For he could not comprehend how it came to pass that the Creature was not dazled with the brightness of the Creator that a drop of water should not be lost in an Ocean and that an Atome should be preserved in the Abysses of a Divine Essence But certainly he that shall well consider the state of Glory will finde it a perpetuall Miracle and that the Circumstances that accompany it are so many Prodigies whereof the first is that God communicates himself entirely to every one of the Blessed The Goods of the earth are such scantlings that they cannot be divided without being diminished we ravish that from our neighbour which we possess our selves we cannot grow rich but must inaccommodate him and whatever care we take not to deal unjustly we finde by experience that our Plenty is an occasion of Misery and Indigence to others Monarchs cannot enlarge the borders of their State but must encroach upon those of their Neighbours they cannot widen their own Kingdom but must make a breach in that of their Allies and all worldly things are so small that being shared occasions the division and poverty of Families But inasmuch as the Good which the Blessed are in possession of is infinite it is communicated to all without being divided The Felicity of one is no hinderance to that of another and as Vertue though common is nevertheless chaste the Divine Essence though wholly shed abroad into a man ceaseth not to be entirely infused into an Angel It takes not from the Cherubims what it indulgeth the Seraphims and communicating it self indivisibly to all its Subjects occasions neither Jealousie nor Envie Great Goods have this advantage that they never suffer by division Magna vera bona non sic dividuntur ut exiguum in singulos cadat ad unumquemque totū perveniat Sen. Ep. 73. They make some rich without making others poor and as they are conferred in full weight and measure every one is content and none miserable Covetousness which hath divided Sea and Land hath not yet divided Time That which measures the life of Kings measures that of their Subjects every one possesseth it in common and though we make divers uses of it it runs along equally to all people Ambition which hath cantonized Honour hath not yet found out the Secret of parting the Light this daughter of the Sun never thinks she sullies her purity by rendering it common she equally shines upon all Nations and did not the Earth interpose between the effusion of her brightness she would banish Darkness from the face of the Universe The Divine Essence whereof the Light is but a shadow is shed abroad into the soul of the Blessed without being divided is not parted by being communicated All Angels and all Men fully possess it and if it make some difference in their happiness 't is without want or jealousie The Second miracle of Glory is that one and the same Good produceth all kinde of content and satisfies all sorts of desires Seeing the Creatures are but weak rays issuing from God as from their Sun there is none of them that possesseth all perfections Nullum est bonum praeter summum quo vere possimus esse boni aut beati Aug. They are bounded in their Qualities as well as in their Essences They cannot relieve us in all our necessities and had not sin made them rebel against us there was not one of them could remedy our evils Light enlightens us but cannot warm us without its heat Meat nourisheth but clothes us not Garments cover us but cannot feed us Gold enricheth but cannot defend us Iron defends but does not enrich us One Good produceth but one single commodity that which serves for one use does not for
what I intend to those that shall take so much pains as to peruse it I will lay down a plain and easie Scheme which shall present you with a short prospect of the whole Christian Man I begin the first Treatise with his Birth which as it is the fruitful source of all the Allyances he contracts with God I cannot speak of it soundly and to the purpose without discovering some of his Qualities and letting you see that assoon as he is regenerated he is the adopted child of the eternal Father because he is the Temple of the holy Ghost and the Brother of the Word Incarnate To this I add some other Priviledges concomitants of his Baptism all which declare the misery he hath avoided and the happiness he hath obtain'd From thence I passe to the second Treatise which represents the Spirit of the Christian and which comprehends all the obligations we have to follow his motions to act according to his orders and to obey his inspirations because none are truly the children of God but those that are quickned by his Spirit Quicunque enim Spiritu Dei aguntur ii sunt Filii Dei Rom. 8. And because the Christian is but a part of a mystical Body whereof there is a Head to guide it as wel as a Spirit to enliven it in the third Treatise I describe the neer relations and close connexions this glorious quality communicates to him with Iesus Christ the advantages he receives from thence and the just duties he is obliged to return to this adored Head The fourth Treatise discovers all the secrets of Grace which seem to be nothing else but a sacred chain uniting the Christian with the son of God and with the Holy Ghost and putting him at their disposal to be conducted safely in the way of Salvation The vertues that flow from Grace as streams do from their fountain are the subject of the fifth Treatise demonstrating a new Morality which the Philosophers were ignorant of and which severing man from himself fastens him happily to his Principle Forasmuch as he lives by Grace and vertues in the sixth Treatise I set before him a heavenly Nourishment that preserves his life and withall affords him some pledges of Immortality But because this food is also a Victime speaking of his Nourishment I speak of his Sacrifice and I lay down the just Reasons the Christian hath to offer up himself to God with Iesus Christ In the seventh Treatise I discourse of his glorious Qualities which I had not touched in the former wherein I make it appear that being the Image of the Son of God he is also a Priest and a Sacrifice a Souldier and a Conqueror a Slave and a Soveraign a Penitent and an Innocent Lastly to compleat the Christian who is but rudely drawn in Baptism who as long as he is upon earth is always imperfect I lead him to Glory where finding his Happiness in the knowledge and love of the supreme Good he is happily transformed into God There he patiently waits for the resurrection of his Body that the two parts whereof he is composed being reunited there may be nothing wanting to the perfection of his happiness and that both Soul and Body being freed from the bondage of sin he may reign for ever with the Angels in Heaven Thus you see in a few words the drift and scope of the whole Work where if I have repeated something that I formerly delivered in the Guilty Man it is because the Cure depends upon the Disease Subjects are illustrated by their contraries and it is impossible to conceive the Advantages of Grace without comprehending all the Miseries of Sin A TABLE OF THE TREATISES DISCOURSES The First TREATISE Of the Christian's Birth Disc 1. That the Christian hath a double Birth page 1 Disc 2. That Man must be renewed to make a Christian of him page 6 Disc 3. That the principal Mysteries of Iesus Christ are applyed to the Christian in his Birth page 10 Disc 4. That Grace is communicated to the Christian in his Birth as Sin is communicated to Man in his Generation page 15 Disc 5 Of the Resemblances that are found between the Generation of Iesus Christ and that of a Christian page 19 Disc 6 Of the Adoption of Christians and the advantage it hath above the Adoption of Men. page 24 Disc 7 Of the Allyances the Christian contracts in his Birth with the Divine Persons page 29 Disc 8 Of the Principal Effects Baptism produceth in the Christian page 34 Disc 9 Of the obligation of a Christian as the consequence of his Birth page 39 Disc 10 That the Regeneration of a Christian takes not from him all that he drew from his first Generation page 43 The Second TREATISE Of the Spirit of a Christian Disc 1. That every Body hath its Head and what that of the Church is 48 Disc 2 That the Holy Ghost is the Heart of the Church 53 Disc 3 That the Holy Ghost is in a sort the same to Christians that he is to the Father and to the Son in Eternity 57 Disc 4 That the Holy Ghost seems to be the same to Christians that he is to the Son of God 62 Disc 5 That the Presence of the Holy Ghost giveth life to the Christian and his Absence causeth Death 67 Disc 6 That the Holy Ghost teacheth Christians to pray 72 Disc 7 That the Holy Ghost remits the sins of the Christian 77 Disc 8 That the Christian in his infirmities is assisted by the strength of the Holy Ghost 83 Disc 9 That the Holy Ghost is the Christians Comforter 89 Disc 10 Of the Christians ingratitude toward the Holy Ghost 94 The third TREATISE Of the Christian 's Head Disc 1 That the Christian hath two Heads Adam and Iesus Christ 100 Disc 2 Of the Excellencies of the Christian's Head and the advantages they draw from thence 105 Disc 3 Of the strict Union of the Head with his Members and of that of Iesus Christ with Christians 110 Disc 4 That the Union of Christians with their Head is an Imitation of the Hypostatical Union 115 Disc 5 That Iesus Christ treateth his Mystical Body with as much charity as he doth his Natural Body 120 Disc 6 That the Church is the Spouse of Iesus Christ because she is the Body and of the community of their Marriage 125 Disc 7 That the Quality of the Members of Iesus Christ is more advantageous then that of the Bretbren of Iesus Christ 130 Disc 8 That Iesus Christ hath taken all his Infirmities from his Members and that his Members derive all their strength from him 134 Disc 9 Of the duties of Christians as Members towards Iesus Christ as their Head 139 Disc 10 That all things are common among Christians as between members of the same Body 144 The fourth TREATISE Of the Grace of a Christian Disc 1 That Predestination which is the source of Grace is a hidden Mystery 150 Disc 2 Of the
period to his Controversies he is continually infested with a Domestick and intestine war Though Repentance subdue the Body by its Austerities and Prayer elevate the Soul by its Raptures both Soul and Body continually rebel against the Spirit of God Indicitur enim bellum non solum adversus suggestiones Diaboli sed etiam adversus teipsum sed ex qua parte tibi displices jungeris Deo idoneus eris ad vincendum te quia tecum est qui omnia superat quare autem permittitur ut diu contra te litiges donec absorbeantur omnes cupiditates ut intelligas in te poenam tuam In te ex teipso est flagellum tuum est rixa tua tecum sic vindicatur in rebellem contra Deum ut ipse sit sibi bellum qui pacem noluit habere cum Deo Aug. in Psal 75. The greatest Saints complain of these disorders and wish an End of their life to finde an End of their Conflicts The internal peace that always accompanies a good Conscience is not able to reconcile these two Enemies and experience teacheth us that peace and war wil sooner shake hands in a Kingdom then Concupiscence and Charity in a CHRISTIAN But certainly I never wonder at his Discord since he hath two Fathers two Births and two Principles He hath two Fathers because he came from Adam and from Jesus Christ and deriving from one the Life of Sin he derives from the other the Life of Grace Thus by a strange wonder he is at the same time Innocent and Guilty he hopes for heaven as his Inheritance and is affraid of hel as the place of his torment and pursuing the severall Interests he hath received from these two Parents he is toss'd continually between hope and fear He is * Primas homo Adam sic olim defunctus est ut tamen post illum secundus sit homo Christus cum tot hominum millia inter illum hunc orta sint ideo manifestum pertinere ad illum omnem qui ex illa successione propagatur nascitur sicut ad istum pertinet omnis qui gratiae largitate in illo renascitur unde fit ut totum genus humanum quodammodo sint homines duo primus secundus Ex sent Prosp 299. Adam and Jesus both together in his person he unites their names aswell as their qualities he resents their diverse inclinations and holding something of these two Fathers hee beares the Crime of the one and the Innocencie of the other They reigne successively in his person and the chief Imployment of his life is to make the first dye and the second live This Parricide is innocent all Christians are obliged to commit it neither doth Jesus Christ acknowledge them for his children who endeavour not to strangle this Father who made them liable to Death before he entitled them to Life They cannot dispense with themselves from this murder and whosoever spares Adam in his person gives evidence he hath no minde that Jesus Christ should reign there Adam himself allowes of this cruelty in heaven where he now triumphs amongst the Angels he desires to dye in his Children that he may see him live there who hath repair'd his breach and if there were any thing that could trouble his happinesse it would be this that he sees his sin still to reign in his posterity that he stifles Christ in their souls and makes him suffer death upon Earth by whose benefit he enjoys life in Heaven He complains that he cannot utterly perish in his off-spring that he reigns there to this day against his will and that for punishment of a sin whereof he made them stand convicted before they were born they continue to make him guilty after that he is dead But nothing afflicts him so much as to behold sin in some sort more powerfull then Grace that the One overspreads all mankinde the Other onely the * Contra carnis concupiscentiam ità confligunt Sancti non ei consentientes ad malum ut tamen ejus motibus quibus repugnantibus resistunt non careant in hac vita Aug. l. 1. Retra cap. 13. Faithfull that sin oftentimes destroyes all Grace but Grace can never wholly destroy all sin Lastly that Adam utterly exterminates Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ can never perfectly slay Adam These two Fathers are conveyed to their posterity by two different Productions the first is shamefull and guilty the second is glorious and innocent The first is inseparable from sin For though it be noble according to the Lawes of the world 't is alwaies ignominious according to the Laws of God and though it appeare innocent to the eies of men 't is alwaies Criminall in the sight of Angels The Saints acknowledge it with grief and though the Issue of lawfull Beds they cease not to confesse that they were * Nunquid David de adulterio natus erat de Jesse viro justo Conjuge ipsius quid est quod se dicit in iniquitate conceptum nisi quia trahitur iniquitas ex Adam Aug. in Ps 50. born in sin The second is ever joined with Grace it gives us God for our Father the Church for our Mother and Heaven for our Inheritance We cannot better expresse their differences then in the words of St. Augustine * Duae sunt nativitates una de terra alia de Coelo una de Carne alia de Spiritu una de mortalitate alia de aeternitate una de Masculo Foemina alia de Deo Ecclesia Aug. Tract 11. in Joan. Sicut eos vita spiritus regenerat sideles in Christo sic eos Corpus mortis in Adam generat Peccatores Illa enim carnalis generatio est haec spiritualis illa facit filios carnis haec spiritûs illa filios mortis haec Resurrectionis illa filios saeculi haec filios Dei illa filios irae haec filios misericordiae ac per hoc illa peccato originali obligatos illa omnis vinculo peccati liberatos August lib. 1. de Pecca men who tells us The one comes from the Earth and returns thither again the other comes from Heaven and ascends thither again the one draws it 's Originall from the Flesh the other from the Spirit the one tends to Death the other to Eternity the one proceeds from Man and Woman the other from God and the Church Or to deliver the same Truth in other terms we may adde with the same Saint That the Life of the Spirit regenerates the Faithfull in Jesus Christ and the Death of the Body begets sinners in Adam That of these two Births the One is Carnal the Other Spiritual The One produceth Angels the Other engenders Men The One designes them to Death the Other prepares them for the Resurrection The One renders them the children of the Devil the Other makes them the children of God The One exposeth them to his Wrath the Other to his Mercy Finally
the One engageth them in Original sin the Other by a more happy and powerful influence frees them from all Iniquity These two Births produce two Lives which are preserv'd in every Christian till he dyes their strength is more or less according to the Progress * Sient ignorantia minuitur veritate magis magisque lucente ita concupiscentia minuitur charitate magis magisque fervente Aug l. 6. contra Julia. Per cupiditatem regnat in homine Diabolus cor ejus tenet per charitatem regnat in illo Christus Aug. lib. de Agone Christ cap. 1. Quanto magis regnum cupiditatis destruitur tanto magis regnum charitatis augetur August lib. 3. de Doctrina Christ c. 10. Grace or Sin makes in the Soul They act by contrary principles and divide the Christian in his operations as well as in his person For as he is mystically compounded of Jesus Christ and Adam so is he spiritually framed of Concupisence and Charity whatever he undertakes is under the conduct of one of these Mistresses who have no other design but to have an absolute Command over his will He is a slave to both he complains that being wholly delivered up to Grace he is not wholly delivered from Sin that he suffers the Evil he hath no minde to act that he feels disorders he no ways approves of and that unhappily divided between his desires he cannot so fully obey Charity but he must still serve Concupiscence Indeed every Christian is obliged to combate himself he feels somthing within him that cannot but displease him he wonders to behold such different motions in the same person and not being able to comprehend how such contrary desires grow in the same heart he is amaz'd to finde inclinations which transport him to sin as much as to vertue When he reflects upon himself he observes that he is just and guilty that he partly obeys Jesus Christ and partly resists him that being a subject and a rebell at the same time he bears about him the seeds of Life and of Death For he is righteous as * Eris in parte emendata justus quamvis sis adhuc in emendanda pecoator ex qua parte tibi displices justus es ex qua parte tibi displicet quod justum est in ustus es August in Psal 1. Praeponite delectationem mentis delectationi carnis carnem quippe nostram delectant delectationes illicitae mentem nostram delectat invisibilis casta sancta dulcis justitia ut non ad eam timore cogamini si enim ad eam timore cogimini nondū delectat peccare non debes timore paenae sed amore justitiae Aug. serm 17. de verb. Apost St. Augustin saith with that part that is sanctified by Grace but guilty with that which is corrupted by Sin He pleaseth God because he endevours to keep his Commandments He displeaseth him because he cherisheth somthing in his Soul that opposeth his will These two Mistresses that govern the Christian have some correspondency in their oppositions both of them make use of the same subjects nor undertake any thing of importance but by the assistance of the Passions and faculties of the Soul But Concupiscence findes more submission then Charity because she asks nothing but what suits with their humour and flatters their hope Nevertheless Charity gains Obedience because she acts in the power of the Almighty and is assisted by Grace to reduce all these rebels to their duty Her Empire though strong is nevertheless pleasing and herein she imitates Concupiscence her opposite For this agreeable Enemy of a Christian reigns with so much sweetness that she is loved of those that persecute her all her perswasions are so many charms and knowing very wel that she commands over free Creatures she never propounds any thing that is not acceptable and delightfull Charity takes the same course all her inspirations are pleasant if she press us 't is with Charms if she be victorious 't is without doing us any violence if she gain our Consent 't is without compelling our liberty and if she encourage us against our selves 't is not till she hath perswaded us that we are faulty Finally these two Soveraigns wholly possess the Christian by their diverse motions and according as he is acted by them he is Innocent or Guilty When he follows the provocations of Concupiscence he can do nothing but offend * Libido non solum sibi totū corpus nec solum extrinsecus vendicat sed totum hominem commovet animi simul affectu cū carnis appetitu conjuncto atque permixto Aug. lib. 14. de Civ c. 15. whatever lustre his actions put on they are always bad when they proceed from this principle Though he give his goods to the poor his assistance to the miserable expose his life for the safety of his Country shed his blood for the interest of Religion or Justice if he act by the Counsel of Concupiscence he is criminall amidst the throng of so many splendid Actions and the principle he moves by being unable to propound any other end then vain-glory can secure him neither from sin nor punishment When on the contrary the Christian being led by Charity acted by the Spirit of God that quickens him and following the motions of Grace endevours to satisfie his Duty all his actions are Innocent and acceptable to God Did he always act according to this Principle his condition would be no longer peccant and did he obey its holy inspirations he should be sure not to offend It is in this sense that the Beloved disciple of our Saviour assures us * Omnis qui natus est ex Deo peccatum non facit quoniam semen ipsius in eo manet quoniam ex Deo natus est 1 Joan. cap. 3. That whatever is born of God sinneth not that is the Christian that always follows the motion of the Divine Spirit is never subdued by Concupiscence neither can he be overcome as long as he is actually guided by Charity This heavenly seed that preserves him can produce nothing but what is excellent and this Tree that is planted in his heart can bring forth none but good fruit But in as much as this actuall assistance is not due unto him and that heaven leaves him to himself to make him sensible of his weakness he fals many times into light transgressions and is forc'd to confess with the same Apostle That he that says he hath no sin deceives himself and the truth is not in him Thus the Christians life is a continual warfare he resents his double Extraction feels the effects of both his Parents and divided by his desires he learns by woful experience that when he acts not by Charity he is in danger to act by Concupiscence The second DISCOURSE To make Man a Christian he must be Renew'd Regenerate and rais'd from the Dead NOthing doth so fully manifest the greatness of a Disease Si
cito caperetur incarnatio non opus erat ut crederetur credendo ergo capitur quod nisi credatur nunquam intelligitur Aug. de vera Innoc. c. 45. as the difficulty of the Remedy neither does any thing make a man so sensible of the Corruption of his Nature by Sin as the difficulty of his Restitution by Grace The External Cause of his salvation is so strange that it appears incredible to all those that are not illuminated by Faith Humane Prudence cannot comprehend that the Death of a God was necessary for the Recovery of a Sinner It laughs at that Mercy that oblig'd Divinity to be cloath'd with our miseries it beleeves such excess of love unworthy an infinite wisdom and that to be perswaded of the mystery of the Incarnation is to render the Divine Nature ridiculous and humane Nature insolent Nevertheless Faith convinceth us that nothing hath so much exalted God as this Condescention nothing hath so much abased Man as this Exaltation For albeit the greatness of God be at the height that neither Desires nor Imaginations can add any thing to it yet if we believe Saint * Deus cum non haberet quo cresceret per ascensum quia ultra Deum nihil est per descensum quomodo cresceret invenit veniens Incarnari Bern. serm 2. de Asc Bernard he acquir'd new qualities by the Incarnation Men never more reverenced him then since he thus humbled himself and he hath done things in pursuance of this Mystery that might seem unprofitably attempted before he vouchsafed to accomplish so transcendent a wonder His Empire is increased now that he is become a servant to his Father Men have erected Altars to his Majesty since the Jews lifted him up upon the Cross and the Crown of Thorns that encircled his head hath merited the Crown of all the Kingdoms of the Universe If his Humiliation hath exalted him we must acknowledg that our exaltation hath humbled us †Haec medicina hominum tanta est quanta non potest cogitari nam quae superbia sanari potest si humilitate filii Dei non sanatur Aug. de Ago Chr. c. ii For there is no pride that wil not stoop when it considers that our sin could not finde a perfect remedy but in the death of God-Man that we must be wash'd in his blood to be purified and with his honour despoil him of Life to restore us our Innocence This Truth findes new proofs in the Birth of a Christian and if he consider the names it bears and the effects it produceth he will be constrain'd to acknowledg that he was strangely corrupted by sin since to re-establish him in Grace he was fain to bestow upon him a * Redditur nobis novitas per BaptismuÌ„ vetustate discedente deoneratur anima sarcinis peccatorum ut libertate novae vitae induta adversus Diabolum cum adjutorio Divino valeat fortiter dimicare Aug. l. 4. de Sym. c. 9 New-Birth Indeed the Holy Scriptures teach us that the Baptism wherein the Christian is Regenerated is somtimes called his Renovation somtimes his second Birth somtimes his first Resurrection that from the very name of his Remedy he may learn the greatness of his Malady Let us admire these two together and shew in this Discourse the Transgression of Man and the Reformation of the Christian Sin is a Secret poyson that hath spread its malice over the soul and body of Man Malorum omniuÌ„ nostrorum causa peccatum est non enim fine causa mala ista homines patiuntur Justus est Deus omnipotens non ista pateremur nisi mereremur Aug. ser 139. de Tempore The miseries it hath produc'd in the body are so publick that there is none but knows them because there is none but feels them The Confusion of our Humours the Disorder of our Temperament the unfaithfulness of our Senses and the revolt of our Passions are miseries under which Philosophers groan as well as Believers But as the soul is more guilty then the Body so is she much more miserable For Errour hath stoln into the Understanding Malice hath depraved the Will Oblivion hath dropt into the Memory and in so general a disorder there remains no faculty that is not either weakned or corrupted The Pride of the Stoïcks hath complain'd of this misfortune which though they have endeavoured to sweeten by Reason they have been forc'd to confess that so impotent a remedy could not cure so obstinate a malady After the Divine Justice had suffered man for many ages to languish in his * Productior est poena quam culpa ne parva putaretur culpa si cum illa finiretur poena Aug. Trac 124. in Joan. miseries at last Mercy furnished him with Baptism to rid him of his Evils But lest the Easiness of the remedy consisting of the Commonest of the Elements might render it contemptible God was willing that the very name it bears should inform us that we were so corrupt that to be cured we must be wholly new-made For in this Sacrament Man seems to change his Nature to receive a new life to assume other inclinations Ecce libertatis serenitate perfruuntur qui tenebantur paulo ante captivi Cives Ecclesiae sunt qui fuerunt in peregrinationis errore in sorte justitiae versantur qui fuerunt in confusâ—one peccati Non enim tantum sunt liberi sed sancti non tantum sancti sed justi non solum justi sed filii non solum filii sed cohaeredes c. vides quot sunt Baptismatis largitates Chrysost homil de Baptisatis citatur ab Aug. lib. 1. contra Julia. cap. 2. where being illuminated by faith he discovers other lights being warm'd by Charity he conceives other heats being united to another head he receives other influences and being quickned by a new Spirit he forms new designes Is it not indeed a prodigious change that he that was the slave of the Devil becomes the subject of Jesus Christ that a Criminal is pronounced Innocent that he that had in him the seeds of all Vices receives the seeds of all Vertues and that by a happy Metamorphosis which is wrought in a moment and with a word he is despoyl'd of Adam and cloathed with Jesus Christ This Renovation is so great and so consequentially admirable in the effects thereof that the Scripture to express the wonders that accompany it hath somtimes called it a New-birth somtimes a Regeneration The Son of God who is the Author of it testifies that no man can enter into the kingdom of heaven except he be born again of Water and of the Holy Ghost The Fathers of the Church have given it the same name and Theoyhylact teacheth us that we were so deeply swallowed up in the puddle of sin that being not able to be drawn out by an ordinary endevour nor cleansed by a simple washing we were fain to be Regenerated And
making use of another Comparison he tels us That being like an old house that is ready to fall it was requisite we should be quite destroy'd that we might be re-built again Ita vitiis eramus immersi ut nulla ratione purgari possemus sed opus suit Regeneratione nam secundam nativitatem Regeneratio significat nos ut veterem domum quam evertere oportet Deus denuo condidit Theophyl ad Tit. c. 3. St. Augustin is of the same opinion when observing what havock sin hath made in our Nature he saith God deals with us as he doth with decay'd buildings which are good only to be thrown down that upon their ruines may be laid the foundation of a new structure wherein the wisdom of the Architect is to be admir'd who from a heap of rubbish hath been able to erect a stately Palace or a magnificent Temple But not to wander from the subject of our Discourse in such figurative expressions Qui gaudes Baptismi perceptione vive in novi hominis sanctitate tenens fidem quae per dilectionem operatur habe bonū quod nondum habes profit tibi bonum quod habes Prosp Sent. 325. let us hold to the simplicity of the Gospel affirming that Baptism is call'd the New-birth of a Christian because thereby he receives a New-Being and passing from the person of Adam into that of Jesus Christ he happily loseth those bad qualities he had contracted in his first conception He becomes a member of the Son of God he enters by Grace upon all the rights of his head he converseth with God as with his Father with whom not losing his respect he gains a familiarity till being insensibly disengaged from the Earth he aspires to Heaven as towards his lawful inheritance Indeed this Generation is but begun in Baptism it continues the whole course of a mans life nor is it finished till the generall Resurrection For though Sin be blotted out by Grace in a Christian Concupiscentia tanquam lex peccati manens in membris corporis mortis hujus cum parvulis nascitur in parvulis baptizatis à reatu solvitur ad agonem relinquitur ante agonem mortuos nulla damnatione prosequitur August neither can all that he hath received from Adam any longer shut the gate of Heaven against him yet there are a thousand disorders that hinder the compleat perfect establishment of Charity in his soul It lives as it were in an ungratefull and barren land where there can be no improvement without a kinde of violence Self-love opposeth all its designes and this Enemy who is often beaten but never vanquished gives it so many turns that were it not for the continual assistance it receives from God it could not preserve it self one moment But admit this dangerous Enemy persecute not the Christian with so cruel awar the bondage whereto Infancy hath reduc'd him suffers him not to make any great progress For the Grace that we receive in Baptism cannot make us operate as we have not yet the use of Reason neither have we that of Charity or of Faith we are faithfull without beleeving in God Charitable without loving him we possess a Treasure that we cannot dispose of and our happiness having some resemblance with our disaster we have no other merits but that of Jesus Christ as we have no other sins but those of Adam For this reason are we obliged to be very industrious as soon as we are out of our childhood and not to suffer all those advantages we receive from our New-Birth to lye useless and unprofitable we must have recourse to our Redeemer and conjure him by our prayers to finish the work he hath begun that perfecting us in Grace * Cum concupiscentia natus es ut eam vincas noli tibi hostes addere vince cum quo natus es ad stadium vitae hujus cum illo venisti congredere cum eo qui tecum procedit Aug. Ps 57. here we may one day be happily consummated in Glory hereafter But to return to the subject we have necessarily digress'd from Baptism bears not only the name of a New Birth but also that of a Resurrection Therefore the Great Apostle saith * An ignoratis quia quicunque baptizati sumus in Christs Jesu in morte ipsius baptizati sumus cum illo per Baptismum in mortem ut quomodo Christus surrexit à mortuis per gloriam Patris ità nos in novitate vitae ambulemus Roman 6. That the Christians are risen with Christ that his Death quickens their souls and that these two contraries agreeing in their person they are dead to Sin and alive to Grace This name more excellent then the rest does me thinks more fully discover the misery of Man and the happinesse of a Christian For if Baptism be a Resurrection if a Beleever be not only born again but raisd from the grave we must conclude that before this second Birth he was dead and if he had some symptoms of a natural and sensitive he had not any Principle of a supernatural and divine Life He was asmuch pre-engaged in Death as in Sin and according to the rules of Scripture he was truly dead because truly a sinner All the excuse he could alledg in his misery is that his Death was contracted by the fault of another and that as he transgressed not but by the will of his Father so neither was he obnoxious to death but by his hand In a word to comprehend this rightly He is the cause of our misfortune He committed the Crime that we contracted in our birth if he be guilty by design we are so by necessity and before we have the use of reason we are therefore sinners because we are his Children by the same means that he conveighs * Sicut omnium fuisii parens ità omnium peremptor quod infelicius omnium prius peremptor quà m parens Ber. death to us by the same doth he communicate sin he is our Parricide just as he is our Parent and which puzzles all Philosophie he commits as many murders as his posterity begets Children In this deplorable condition as Baptism finds us it not only gives us life but restores it nor is it meerly our Birth but our Resurrection This is it that St. Augustine with no lesse Eloquence then Learning delivers when he saith Resurrecturum humanum genus i◠saeculi consummatione post mortem nunc resurgit in Baptismo suscitandus est tunc populus Dei post soporem nunc suscitandus post infidelitatem liberandus est tunc à mortali conditione nunc liberatur ab ignorantiae caecitate renasciturus tunc ad aeternitatem nunc renascitur ad salutem August Serm. 163. de Tempore that the Church acknowledgeth two Resurrections in the world the first is in Baptism the second will be at the day of Judgment that the Christians shall then awake from their long sleep which
hath so many Ages sealed them up in their Tombs and that now they do arise after they were buried in Infidelity then they shall be freed from all misfortunes that attend their mortal condition now they are delivered from all clouds of Ignorance that darken their spirituall existency then they shall rise to Immortality and Glory now they are regenerated to Grace and Salvation Though these effects of Baptism are sufficiently admirable by their own proper greatnesse Nonne mirandū et lavacro dilui mortem atquin eo magis credendum si quia mirandum est ideo non creditur atquin eo magis credendum est qualia enim decet esse opera divina nisi omnē admirationem Tert. de Bapt. Sine pompa sine apparatu sine sumptu in aquae demissus inter pauca verba tinctus inde exiliit innocentior Idem ibid. yet must we acknowledg that the easinesse that produceth them extreamly heightens their Excellency For to revive a childe there needs only a little water animated with the Word of God all these changes are wrought in his soul when the Priest speaks and sprinkles his body he is miraculously raised when the Ceremonies of the Church are ended and this way that prepares him to eternall life costs the Ministers of Jesus Christ nothing but the Pronunciation of these words I baptise thee in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost The Heathen who heretofore inform'd themselves of our Mysteries were scandaliz'd at a miracle so mean and simple in its Administration so glorious in its Promises and so powerfull in its Effects They could not comprehend saith Tertullian that washing the body with a little water the soul should be cleansed from its sins that without any * Miratur incredulitas non credit miratur enim simplicia quasi vana magnifica quasi impossbilia Ter. pomp or expense a few words mingled with the commonest of the Elements should assure us of the Conquest of heaven But this Great Doctor answers their doubts with such solid Reasons that he at once blazons the honor of our Religion and the Majesty of our God For he makes them see * Prob misera incredulitas quae denegas Deo proprietas suas simplicitatem et potestatē Ter. de Baptis he was pleased to shew his simplicity in the matter of our Sacraments and his State in their effects that not to know God was no more then to deny him these two perfections which seem to constitute his Nature and that it was to want respect to make simple things passe for vain and glorious things for impossible because it is easie for him who drew the world out of nothing to draw our salvation out of an Element quickned by his Word and by his Spirit Baptism then being so fruitfull of Miracles and this Sacrament being the Throne of the power of the Almighty we need not wonder that the Christian finds his birth there that in it he is renewed by Grace that he is raised again by the vertue of Jesus Christ and that there he commenceth a supernatural life whose Progresse is as strange as the Beginning is wonderfull The Third DISCOURSE That the chiefest Mysteries of Jesus Christ are applyed to the Christian in his Birth IT is not without reason that St. Paul informs Christians newly baptized * Quicunque in Christo baptizati estis Christum induistis Gal. 3. that they have put on Jesus Christ since in their second Nativity they are united to his Person replenished with his Grace and quickned with his Spirit For as a * Induistis id est conformes ei facti estis quod est vobis honor contra aestus protectio Glossa ordinar in hunc locum Garment is the ornament and shelter of a man it covers his shame and protects him from the injury of the weather so may we say of Jesus Christ he is the glory and guard of a Christian whom having delivered from the confusion that accompanies sin he defends against the assaults of temptation and bestows upon him vigour and beauty thereby to render him a compleat work But as all graces in Christianity are mixt with pain the Christian according to the doctrine of the same Apostle if he intend to be perfect must die with Christ death must bring him to the resurrection and to life Whosoever saith he are baptized into Jesus Christ are baptized into his death All that we are of Christians we have by being baptized in his death Sacri Baptismatis in cruce Christi grande mysterium commendavit Apostolus eo modo ut intelligamus nihil aliud esse in Christo baptismum nisi mortis Christi similitudinem ut quemadmodum in illo vera mors facta est sic in vobis vera remissio peccatorum quemadmodum in illo vera resurrectio ita in vobis vera justificatio Aug. in Beda we are buried with him in Baptism we drowned our sins in the waters of this Sacrament and in this laver happily lose whatever we received from Adam in our first birth This death is fruitful producing in us the life of grace this burial prepares us for the Resurrection neither doth Jesus Christ make us partake of his Cross but thereby to make us partake of his Glory The Tomb is a step to our Birth like the Phoenix we finde life in our ashes and by a wonderful prodigie the Sepulchre of the Sinner becomes the Cradle of the Believer For the Christian receives a Being in Baptism according as he expires there and contrary to all the Laws of Nature Death is the Midwife of Life All the Fathers speak the same dialect with S. Paul Baptismus Christi nobis est sepultura in quo peccatis morimur criminibus sepelimur veteris hominis conscientia in alterā nativitatem rediviva infantia reparamur Baptismus inquā Salvatoris vobis sepultura quia ibi perdidimus quod antè viximus ibi dennò accipimus ut vivamus magna igitur sepulturae hujus est gratia in qua nobis utilis mors infertur vtilior vita condonatur magna inquā sepulturae hujus gratia quae purificat peccatorē vivificat morientē Aug. Serm. 129. de Temp. never mentioning Baptism but as a Sacrament where the life and death of Jesus Christ are equally applied unto us that we may live to grace and die to sin The Baptism of Jesus Christ saith S. Augustine is a burial wherein we bequeath sin and losing the conscience of the old man we enter upon a second Infancy by a new Nativity In a word the Baptism of our Saviour is a Tomb wherein we are buried and a Cradle wherein we are born again 't is a pleasant dormitory where receiving a death beneficial we receive withal a life far more glorious and where leaving off to be Sinners we begin to be Innocents In this it is that I admire the Providence of the Son
of God who made use of sin to destroy sin as saith the Apostle of the Gentiles De peccato damnavit peccatum and changing his death into a sacrifice made it a satisfaction for all our iniquities For if Baptism make us die to sin it is upon no other ground but because it imprints in our souls the merit and image of the death of Christ and by an invisible but a true and real grace works in us a desire to part with all that is derived from Adam This makes the * Infelix ego homo quis me liberabit de corpore mortis hujus Rom. 7. Saints that they cannot endure the rebellions of concupiscence that they employ all their strength to smother these embryo's that being true to Grace they resist all the motions of its Enemy groaning when they are compelled to follow or suffer his disorders They know that Christ died to oblige them to die to sin that he was not nail'd to the Cross but to crucifie them to the world nor buried in the grave but that the earth might be their sepulchre All that is in the world Crucifixus est Christus ut vos crucifigamini mundo mortuus est ut vos moriamini peccato saeculo vivatis Deo sepultus est ut vos consepeliamini illi per baptismum Apostolo dicente Consepulti sumus c. ut sicut ille semel surgens à mortuis jam non moritur ita vos vetustate mortalitatis per Baptismum mortificati vitale indumentum induti non iterum per peccata in anima in morte retrahamiâ—i Aug. de Expos Orat. Dom. Symbol Serm. 3. displeaseth them diversions are their torments that which is a recreation to sinners afflicts them and knowing very well the minde of the Lord Jesus they endeavour to fulfil it even with the loss of their own lives Saint Augustine entertained the Catechumeni heretofore with these obligations and expounding to them the doctrine of the Gospel taught them that Baptism engaged them in death Jesus Christ said he was crucified that you might be so to the world he suffered death that you might die to sin he was buried that you might be together with him and having put off the old man Adam and being cloathed with the new man Jesus Christ you may die no more in your souls by sin All the other Fathers speak the same language teaching us that there is a death and a life hid in Baptism producing real effects in our souls Thence ariseth the inclination all Christians have to die and to live thence proceed those obstinate conflicts they entertain self-love with thence spring those violent desires to be separated from the world and the flesh that they may be no longer subject to their tyranny But because this Mystery very much concerns our salvation it deserves a more ample explication from us that we may disclose the truths and obligations that lie wrapt up in it The Son of God is willing that as his death is the Principle so it should be the Rule and Example of our salvation as he died to deliver us he would have us die to honour him and as he entered not into glory but by the door of the Cross neither must we pass to the resurrection but by the gate of the Grave He died saith the great Apostle that by his death he might ruine the Empire of sin He died that losing all the imperfections he drew from Adam he might rise again to life everlasting He died that satisfying his Father we might be no longer responsible to his Justice All these considerations oblige us to die in Baptism Pro omnibus mortuus est ut qui vivunt jam non sibi vivant sed ei qui pro ipsis mortuus est debet ergo vita hominis in se deficere in Christo proficere ut dicat cum Apostolo Vivo ego jam non ego Aug. Serm. de Epiphan if we intend to be the images of Jesus Christ we must destroy sin by death that dying we may be born again and making a sacrifice of our death we may be changed into spotless Victims But as the Son of God was not content onely to die but was willing to joyn the ignominy of the grave to the bitterness of his death Sicut Christus sepultus fuit in terra sic baptizatus mergitur in aqua Nicol. de Lyra. because there was a second punishment of sin comprised in those words of our Arrest Dust thou art and unto dust shalt thou return he will have our death followed with a funeral and that the same Sacrament that makes us die bury us together with him Consepulti sumus cum Christo. Burial addes to the dead corpse two or three notable conditions The first is Coemeteria extra urbes utnullum esset viveniuÌ„ cum mort uis mmercium that he that is buried is separated from the company of the living that he remains in the regions of death and hath no more commerce with the present world So the Christian is buried with the Son of God because he is removed from amongst wicked men neither doth the state of death into which he is entered suffer him to converse with them Quid est mori peccatâ— consepeliri cum Christo nisi damnandis operibus omnino non vivere nihil concupiscere carnaliter nihil ambire sicut qui mortuus est carne nulli detrahit nullum aversatur Prosp de vita contemp c. 21 He hath now no ears to hear calumnies no eyes to gaze upon the beauties of the earth no desires nor pretensions after the honours of the world and his death being attended with a funeral he protests aloud that he hath renounced all hopes of the things of the world The second condition of this state is the duration that goes along with it For though death be eternal in respect of the Creature nor can any but an Almighty power re-unite the soul with the body when once separated yet there seems to remain some faint hope as long as the body is not committed to the grave we watch it to see if that which appears a death be but a swoon or trance and there have been those that have died and rose again the same day without a miracle But when the body is laid in the sepulchre drooping Nature is then past all hope This dismal abode hath no intercourse with life 't is an everlasting habitation whence there is no return but by a prodigie Sepulchra eoruÌ„ domus illoruÌ„ in aeternuÌ„ jam quia constructa sunt sepulchra domus sunt sepulchra quia ibi semper crunt ideo domus in aeternum Aug. in Psal 48. 't is the place where worms serving for ministers of the Divine Justice discharge their fury upon men till being reduced to powder there remains nothing of these famous criminals Thus the Christians when baptized are as it were interred to
erat ut idem esset homo qui esset Deus Aug. lib. cur Deus homo cap. 6. 't is Jesus Christ that saves us It was a woman that serv'd as an Interpreter to Satan to deceive our first Father and 't is a Virgin that serves as a Handmaid to Jesus Christ to begin the work of our Restitution Finally Generation is the Channel whereby sin passeth into the soul of Man and Baptism is the Regeneration whereby Grace descendeth into the soul of the Christian Their Relations are so wonderful that 't is easie to judg that Divine Providence hath order'd them both and that we should admire its conduct in the work of our Redemption The first resemblance is that Sin precedes our knowledg we are Delinquents without knowing it our Ignorance furnisheth us with no excuse and though we know not the Parent from whom we are descended we fail not to be the heires of his obliquity Thus the Remedy imitating the Disease prevents our Reasoning we are absolv'd in our Baptism without knowing our Redeemer Grace enters into our soul and brings no light along with it it leaves us in the dark and knocks off our chains Quaeis utrum ex voluntate peccatum originale respondeo prorsus esse quia et hoc ex voluntate primi hominis seminatü est ut in illo esset et in omnes transiret Aug. lib. de Nup. Concup c. 28. and the Divine Mercy regulating it self after the measure of Justice is unwilling our Ignorance should exclude us from Grace since it no way excuseth us from sin Besides the offence that was voluntary in Adam is naturall in his children they draw it in with their breath it infects not their Will but because it corrupts their Nature This Sin was voluntary only in the first Man his posterity cannot hinder it and as Infants have not the use of Reason they are transgressors by the wil of their Father We must rise as high as Paradise to finde the Spring of our misfortune we are unable without the help of faith so much as to comprehend that we are guilty of a sin committed in the Nonage of the world and that without knowing or willing it we do in the first moment of our Conception contract it But if the Disease be strange we must needs acknowledg the Remedy is no less admirable For Christians are justified in Baptism by the Grace of Jesus Christ they enjoy his merits without asking for them they are enriched with his spoils and entring into a Community of Goods with him they have as much share in His Innocence as they had part in Adams Transgression 'T is not their Consent that sanctifies them their Salvation is no effect of their Will and if they satisfie the Justice of God 't is by the sole Merits of Jesus Christ They believe in him as they doubted in Adam and their Satisfaction being parallel to their Fault they are Innocent and Guilty in the person of their Fathers In the Third place Adam lent us his Body in Paradise to make us Criminals We saw the forbidden fruit with his Eyes We gather'd it with his Hands We are it with his Mouth and as if with Him we had committed all these sins We are to this day punish'd in all our members after his death For whether we made up one part of him whether he was a Universal and Generall Man whereof all others are but the Members whether he perpetuates and transmits himself into his descendants or whether having stipulated for us before God his Crimes became ours †Per unius illius voluntatem malam omnes in co peccaverunt quando omnes unus fuerunt de quo praeterea sin guli peccatum originale traxerunt Aug. l. 2. de Nup. Concup c. 3. what he hath done is imputed to us and we bear the punishment of a sin we could not commit but in his Person But that our Salvation may answer our Fall we use a borrowed support in our Baptism we believe by the faith of another we act by the mediation of the faithfull and the Church affords us her favour to make us partakers of the Grace of her Beloved * Accommodat Infantibus mater Ecclesia aliorum pedes ut veniant alioruÌ„ Cor ut credant aliorum linguaÌ„ ut fatcantur ut quemadmodum quod aegri suut alio peccaute gravantur sic hi cùm sani sunt alio consitente salventur Aug. serm 10. de verb. Apo. Indeed this Charitable Mother lends us her mouth to answer at the Font of Baptism the Arms of her Confessors to carry us thither her Heart to form acts of faith that as we were lost by the prevarication of our Father we might be saved by the piety of our Mother This was the argument the great S. Augustin somtimes made use of to confound the Pelagians who judg Baptism not necessary for Infants They believe already saith he though they cannot reason and if you ask me how they believe I answer 't is by the faith of their Parents whence I conclude they are infected with their sin Si baptizatis infantibus credentibus dicis aliquid Christum prodesse bene dicis Credunt Infantes Unde credunt fide parentum si fide parentum purgantur peccato parentum pollutt sunt corpus morcis in primis parentibus generavit cos peccatores Spiritus vitae in posterioribus parentibus regeneravit eos fideles Tu das fidem non respondenti ego peccatum nihil agenti Aug. Serm. de Bap. Parvul contra Pelag. cap. 14. because they are purified by their faith neither are you to think it strange that I admit sin in Children that act not since you admit faith in them that answer not Thus the one are sinners without Acting the others are belâ—evers without Speaking Sin is imparted as Grace is and Salvation imitating the Fall the sole merit of Jesus Christ makes them live whom the sole fault of Adam made dye Their destiny is like that of the holy Babes of Bethlehem those innocent victimes immolated to pay homage to the Birth of the Son of God The Church placeth them in the Catalogue of Martyrs it is the purest blond she ever shed upon the earth to honour that which the Son of God spilt at his Circumcision These are the first fruits that were offered to him in Judea the most illustrious testimony his Greatness received whilest yet he lay in his cradle In the mean time these Infant Martyrs were happy and never knew it Occiduntur pro Christo parvuli pro justitia moritur innocentia Quam beataaetas qua needum Christum potest loqui jam pro Christo meretur occidi Aug. Ser. 2. de Innoc. they powred out their blood upon an occasion they could neither fore-see nor wish for their will accepted not this Sacrifice and if we judge of their thoughts by their actions we shall be obliged to doubt of their courage and
Adoption publick and valid as soon as this Instrument is drawn he that was but a stranger becomes a Son But the Adoption of Christians is as full of mysteries as of circumstances for the Son of God must make himself the son of man must charge himself with our sins and enrich us with his merits that satisfying the justice of his Father he may oblige him to change his hatred into love and to accept those for his Children that he accounted his Enemies The Christian also must be washed in the waters of Baptism must borrow the voyce of the Church to renounce the tyranny of the Divel and the pomp of the World must put off Adam and put on Jesus Christ that being filled with grace and cleansed from sin he may receive the benefit of Adoption Under the shadows of these Ceremonies there are perform'd a hundred miracles which faith only can discover For an Element animated with the Word of God acts in the soul and defaceth the spots sin had imprinted there Man changeth his condition though not his nature he that was a slave becomes free and he that deserved damnation by the fault of Adam is accounted worthy of Glory by the Grace of Jesus Christ But the last and rarest Circumstance of this Adoption is that it admits Christians into an inheritance not at all divided by the number of heirs One of the greatest misfortunes of the world is that the goods are so small Ista quae appetitis quia exigua sunt nec possunt ad altcrum nisi alteri erepta transferri etdem affectantibus pugnam jurgia excitant Senec. lib. 5. de Ira. cap. 35. one man cannot be proprietary of them without ravishing them from another every man impoverisheth his neighbour to enrich himself and humane prudence that seeks for tranquillity in estates hath not to this day been able to choak this unhappy seed the root of all disorders Soveraigns will reign alone in their Dominions Fathers will be Masters of their Families both of them are jealous of their Children nor do they invite them as partners in the possession of their goods because they know very well they cannot be divided but they must be lessened Death must take away the Father that the Son may succeed him so that the lawfullest Succession in the world is never without grief because it can never be without loss This unhappiness proceeds certainly from the scantiness of earthly goods for were they large enough to be parted without suffering a diminution every one would possess them without jealousie Kings would not fear their Successors nor Fathers their Heirs And as Light and Vertue breed no quarrell amongst those that have them in their possession there would be no more War among Soveraigns nor Law-suits among Subjects This benefit is an inseparable consequence of the Adoption of Christians Their Inheritance is so large that the number of children cannot diminish it The Good they hope for hath two properties that secure it from envie it is one and cannot be divided it is infinite and sufficeth the whole world its unity is the cause that every one possesseth it intire its infinity that none are affraid of a lessening they are all rich of the same substance they are all happy by the same felicity the difference of their condition troubles not their rest and this Summum bonum though in diversity of endowments makes men neither envious nor proud Every one is content with anothers prosperity and with his own and the charity that reigns among the Citizens of this heavenly Jerusalem doth so intimately unite their hearts that the diversity of particulars disturbs not the happiness of the whole But that which compleats their contentment to the full is that death never separates the children from their Father he hath Heirs but no Successours he despoils not himself to enrich them but living and reigning with them he conferrs all his goods upon them without losing them He himself is their everlasting Inheritance who fills their desires perfects all the powers of their soul and communicates himself so abundantly and so surely to his children that as there is nothing they can fear so neither is there any thing they can wish for And to describe this happy state with St Augustine let us profess Deus sit baereditas nostra non fortè temerè dicimus faciendo vobis Deum possessionem cum ipse sit Deus Creator non est ista temeritas â—ffectus est desiderii dulcedo spei Dic securus ama securus spera securus Dominus pars haereditatis mcae Aug. in Psal 32. Ser. 2. That God is our Inheritance to Eternity that it is no presumption to stile him so though he be our Creator and our Soveraign because it is the fervency of our desire and the sweetnesse of our hope that puts this name into our mouth Say we therefore with assurance that he is our heritage since the Scripture obligeth us to beleeve it and forbids us to doubt of it But let us remember that as he is our Inheritance we are also his that he will possess us as we shall possess him and that we shall never be compleatly happy till possessing our God we shall enâ—irely be possessed by him Let us live alwayes in this desire comfort our selves with this expectation and by a certain hope taste the happiness we shall one day be satisfied with in an everlasting enjoyment The Seventh DISCOURSE Of the Allyances the Christian contracts at his Birth with the divine Persons THe Creation is the first Allyance Man contracted with God for as soon as ever he came forth out of Nothing he began to be his Creature and all the advantages he possesseth are so many sacred chains to fasten him to his Creator His Allyance is founded in his servitude and his servitude is founded in his Essence he must be annihilated to render him an independant from the Almighty neither yet in this condition would he cease to hold of him since God * Vocat ea qua non sunt tanquam ea quae sunt Unde existimavit Clem. Alexandrinus Decum esse Dominum creaturarum antequaÌ„ esset illarum Creator commands the creatures in their non-entity from out whose abyss he hath extracted all the elements Thus man obeys God before he hath an existence he is his Vassal before he is his Creature and he submits to his Orders before he can understand them But if his obedience precede his creation his Allyance succeeds it neither hath he any affinity with God till he is made his workmanship 'T is in that instant that he enters into society with him when his spirit enlightned by Faith knows the prime verity and his will warm'd by love seeks out for the soveraigne Good Assisted with this double succour he soars above himself and knowing that he came forth from God as from his Principle he endeavours to return thither as to his ultimate end Though this be
merâ—es redditur Aug. Psal 103. Ser. 3 The doctrine of S. Augustine doth not destroy it self though he teach us that Grace is not due to the Creature he never told us that it was not due to Jesus Christ and where he said that it was justly refus'd Christians he alwaies presupposed that they had committed some Crimes which rendred them unworthy There is some secret in Grace which yet we understand not whereby it comes to passe that without destroying the vertue of its efficacy we may resist its operation its charms perhaps are not so strong that they are alwaies inevitable its powers rob us not of our liberty and though it be very often victorious yet it is sometimes worsted We have a miserable power remaining in us to resist its motions and did it infallibly without any intermission produce its effect the Saints would not complain of their Infidelity Whatever good we doe bears witness of the great Empire it hath over our wills since it changeth them without compelling them and a thousand times more powerfull then eloquence it makes the sinner act what he never had a mind to before it knowes how to conquer our rebellion and its charmes are so sweetly prevalent that they master the most obstinate and subject the most rebellious But the evill we doe is an argument that our liberty may resist it that at all times it acts not with the like force and if at its birth it work more vigorously in its progress it growes more languishing and remisse In this point consists all the difficulty this is the secret God hath not been willing to discover to us 't is the cause of our differences and I am of opinion this will never be understood till Jesus Christ raise up some new light in his Church I reverence Saint Augustine when he defends the party of grace when he sets it above mans freewill when he stiles it victorious and to expresse its efficacy affirmes that it infallibly produceth its effect I am ravished when I read that great Doctor how he makes man stoop to God the will to grace salvation to mercy But withall I respect the Councel of Trent teaching us that our liberty may resist grace that when it receives its impressions it may reject them and that in the very motion whereby 't is carried it may remain obstinate and unmoveable what ever is said to reconcile these two opinions doth not at all satisfie me and whatsoever answer is returnd I alwaies meet with difficulties great enough to perswade me that earth is not the mansion of light I honour S. Augustine and the Holy Sea I subscribe to the Anathema's the Church hath thundered out against Pelagians Calvinists and as I believe that Sin hath not destroyed the Liberty of Man neither do I believe that Free-will ruines the power of Grace But to return where I left I hold for certain that God is never wanting to the Covenant he made with the Christian in Baptism that he never forsakes him till he be forsaken by him and that there is always some secret infidelity on mans part that renders him unworthy of the assistance God would afford him his grace is many times offered to the Christian though it be not due to him and as he is constantly obliged to combat sin I conceive he hath continually some helps which he scarce ever fails of If God make us sensible of our weakness 't is that he may oblige us to have recourse to his goodness if he suffer us to fall 't is to punish us and the withdrawing of his grace supposeth always some notable infidelity When he pardons in Baptism 't is with as much Sincerity as Mercy he doth not quicken a sin that he hath made to die he goes not to Adam to seek for motives to destroy a man that begins to revive in Jesus Christ and I verily believe he never refuses grace to a Christian for an offence he hath so solemnly pardoned But we must certainly confess that we observe not our promises with the same faithfulness and that we are many times wanting to those oaths and protestations we have made in Baptism For the Christian publikely vows that he doth renounce the devil That he dies to himself to live to Jesus Christ That he will be crucified with him and as he takes his party he is resolved to fight his enemies Let us examine these promises in particular and see what they exact from us Baptism in those of age begins by Instruction in children by Exorcism it presupposeth that they are possest with Devils whom if they torment not as a Tyrant they command as a Soveraign If this Maxime be not true the Ceremonies of Baptism must pass for illusions and the Church to amaze us with vain fears increaseth the misery of our thraldom to augment the benefit of our deliverance when she sets us free from this shameful captivity she obligeth us to have no more commerce with the Evil spirit and knowing that the World is his State that it lives under his Laws follows his Maximes obeys his Directions she gives us in charge to hate it and to the end we may submit to her injunctions we promise by the mouth of our Godfathers to renounce the World as well as the Devil But because the grace that defaceth Sin destroys not Concupiscence but this monster still lives in our flesh stirs up disorders there makes parties and raiseth seditions we engage moreover to weaken his Empire to combat his designes to check his motions Thus the Christians in their Baptism are obliged to a War nay to Death they must die if they intend to live they must fight if they mean to overcome and knowing that the New man is a souldier they must consider Life as a Combat the Earth as the Pitched Field and the Devil the World and the Flesh as irreconcileable Enemies In the rere of these marcheth a terrible Troop of sins which Christians are bound to grapple with and subdue For the grace they have received in Baptism differs much from that which Adam received in the state of Innocence His was quiet and gave no alarms it subjected the Soul to God the Body to the Soul and the Senses to Reason its commands were executed without the least dispute it found no resistance in its subjects and as it commanded with Gentleness it was obeyed with chearfulness This of Christians is obliged to joyn Force with Sweetness and as the most part of its subjects are rebels they must be threatned to reduce them to their duty It commands always with the sword in the hand and knowing very well that when a people are up Justice can execute nothing if it be not assisted with force it must be feared that it may be obeyed Hence it is that it calls in severe vertues to its aid which make the Body afflict the Senses and swallow up the Passions But use what endeavour it will it findes by woful
experience that its subjects are so mutinous that they cannot be brought in subjection They are rather tired then overcome and at the very instant they seem to submit to Grace they listen to Concupiscence and taking new courage from this rebel-lust they set upon their Soveraign afresh Thus our whole life is a continual Warfare we begin at our Baptism and we end not till our Death This is it that S. Cyprian expresseth so handsomely in his Treatise of the Deluge where speaking to the Neophytes he says You are baptized you have the honour to bear the character of Jesus Christ you have been admitted to his Table and his Flesh hath served for nourishment Take notice how this new kinde of life engages you in a combat where you must grapple with the whole family of sins If you overcome Covetousness Lust will set upon you if you foil Lust Ambition steps in its place and joyning craft to violence endeavours to perswade us that all his designes are reasonable If you master this combatant Envie Anger Drunkenness accompanied with their partisans will presently draw into a body to destroy you Therefore doth S. Augustine compare the condition of newly-converted Christians to that of the Jews when they went out of Egypt They saith he were delivered by Moses these are delivered by Jesus Christ they passed thorow the red Sea these pass thorow Baptism they saw all their enemies dead upon the shore these see all their sins drowned in the waters But remember my brethren that the Jews having passed the Red-sea were not suddenly landed in Palestine the wilderness and desarts exercised their patience hunger and thirst oppressed them a long time fiery serpents persecuted them and a thousand strange nations opposing their passage made them stand to their arms to defend themselves Thus the Christians spend their life in conflicts and finde the world a horrid desart where a hundred several monsters serve as trials of their courage and exercises of their vertue They sigh after their dear Country they long to reign with Jesus Christ but disciplined by these precedent Types and Figures they are taught that to arrive to his Triumphs they must share in his Combats Therefore ought they not to think it strange though being brethren of Jesus Christ and children of their heavenly Father they yet enjoy not their inheritance and if while they are on the earth treated like slaves or enemies they still feel the revolt of the Creatures the persecution of Satan the War of those two parts whereof they are composed Let us profit by these Examples and remember that if Heaven be our Inheritance 't is also our Recompence if we be Children we are also Souldiers and if God be Good enough to prevent our Deserts he is Just enough to require our Good Works The Tenth DISCOURSE The Regeneration of a Christian takes not away all that he drew from his first Generation AS Grace and Nature proceed from one and the same Principle Erat Deus in Angelis in prâ—â— homine naturä condens largiens gratiam Aug. they have in their differences certain wonderful resemblances which cannot be considered without ravishment They act both together and though sin have divided them yet does not Grace forbear to make use of Nature in its highest operations Their designes are alike onely they seek after God by diverse ways but Grace hath this advantage over Nature that it never wanders They have one and the same End as they have one and the same Beginning and when they seem to contest their onely designe is to make Man happie Both of them are admirable in their Variety Nature puts as many differences in mens Mindes as in their Countenances and though all faces have the same parts yet she ranks them with so much artifice that there appears a diversity in their very likeness Grace is not inferiour to Nature in this advantage all its productions are different and though the Saints are quickned with the same Spirit the Church recording their Panegyrick instructs us that they are singular in their species But one of their greatest resemblances is that Nature is flowe in her operations she brings not her works to pass without much labour and time one grain of Corn costs her a whole yeer and she needs the several Seasons to bring it to a perfect maturity Flowers that are not so useful as Fruits stand her not in less time and to give them their Colour and their Smell Winter and Spring are requisite Grace is yet more slowe then Nature for whether it finde resistance in its designes or labour in more difficult undertakings it perfects not but in Eternity what it begins in Time There remains something still to be reformed in the Creature and whatever excellency of endeavour it bestows upon the greatest Saints it continually meets with some disorders to be regulated some sin to be corrected some inclinations to be vanquished Thence it comes to pass that in Baptism where it gives life to the Christian it acts with so much weakness that wiping away the stain of sin it leaves notwithstanding Concupiscence there still For though by the vertue of this Sacrament we become new creatures that Adam dies and Jesus Christ is born in us yet are we but rude draughts unpolished works expecting their perfection from time and travel We are saith one Apostle but the embryo of a new creature and we bear the denomination of Children by reason of our Weakness as well as of our Innocence The Principles of Christian life are in our souls we have the seeds of all vertues but if we husband them not with great care they are choak'd among the thorns of our evil inclinations For the understanding a truth that so much concerns our salvation we must know that the grace of Baptism defaceth the sin of Adam invests us with the Innocence of Jesus Christ and giving us admittance into his rights bestoweth heaven upon us for our inheritance of children of wrath which we were before Salus hominis in Baptismate sacta est quia dimissum est peccatum quod ex parentibus traxit vel quicquid etiam propric ante Baptismum peccavit we become children of mercy and contracting a true alliance with the holy Trinity we renounce all affinity with flesh and bloud In this happy condition we are no longer afraid of the just wrath of God the thunders he threatens sinners with are no longer terrible to us and living securely under the shadow of Jesus Christ we know that the sole sin of Adam can no longer prejudice our salvation we meditate with delight upon those words of S. Paul There is now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus We have the earnest of our salvation in our selves Grace is a pledge of glory and remaining under the Conduct of the holy Spirit we are sure that under so good a guide we cannot miscarry But whatever hope our spirit flatters us with
to make them fructifie by good works whoever neglects this care cannot preserve his grace any long time and he that resists not Temptation which remains after sin is in great danger to be speedily deprived of the Innocence of Baptism To all these internal evils which seize us may be added those external ones which surround us for if Regeneration reform not the disorders of our soul nor of our body it never asswageth the persecution of the Elements Though we be justified by Baptism we are not instated in our primitive advantages The Curse issued out against the Creatures is not taken away by Grace and as we experience revolts in our person we resent them also in our state The Earth hath not recovered her former fruitfulness it brings forth thorns to this day to punish us it nourisheth monsters that make war against us it rends asunder in gaping chasms to swallow us up and levels mountains to overwhelm us Every Element mindes us of our misery they make no difference between an Infidel and a Christian Though the Angels respect their character Creatures despise it or know it not The Sea drowns Our Vessels as well as those of the Turks To be reconciled with God makes us not friends with the Windes a man must be a Saint that commands the Waves And if together with our Charity we have not also the gift of Miracles we know not how to calm the Sea nor to appease Tempests The Fire spares not all Innocents it hath burnt Martyrs who had no less faith then the Three Children that walk'd untouch'd in the midst of the fiery furnace it sometimes blends it self with Thunder and being blinde strikes the Just as often as the Guilty The Church canonizeth some Saints which that element hath reduced to Powder and because she knows that the sentence of our death speaks of dust and ashes she wonders not if Thunder have the same operation upon some Saints which Time is designed to have upon All men Finally all the Elements teach us that we are Miserable though we be not Criminal Baptism that delivers us from Sin frees us not from Punishment God will have the World persecute us that we may hate it he hath ordained the place of our banishment to be troublesome lest it should make us forget our Country This is the Advantage we draw from our Evil the Comfort we retain in our Miseries and 't is enough to make us stoop with all humility to the Justice of God inasmuch as we know that our Punishment may as well be serviceable to our own Salvation as to his Glory The Second TREATISE Of the Spirit of a Christian The first DISCOURSE That every Body hath its Spirit and what that of the Churches is IN Nature every thing hath its own Spirit and if we believe Chymists there is no element though never so simple out of which the Essent though never so simple out of which the Essence may not be extracted They make daily Experiments hereof with the Fire and dividing what Nature had united they separate the Form from the Matter The World according to the relation of some Philosophers hath a Soul that inanimates it which is shed abroad thorow all its parts and which according to their divers dispositions produceth divers effects 'T is this Divine Spirit that gives it motion that waters it with fruitfulness whereby it hatcheth all those wonders whose causes men are ignorant of As Artificial things are the images of Natural neither do men make any thing whereof they take not the Copie from Nature as from a perfect Original there is not any Sect that hath not its particular humour and difference The Peripateticks take all their light from Argumentation and Experience Alii alia de anima disceptant prout aut Platonis honor aut Zenonis vigor aut Aristotolis tenor aut Empedoclis furor aut Epicuri stupor aut Heracliti maeror persuascrunt Tert. de Ani. Authority hath no credit in their School they desert their Master when he agrees not with Truth and laughing at the blinde obedience of the Pythagoreans they believe nothing but what they discover by Sense or by Discourse The Platonicks march upon the higher ground but less certain less solid Animus cernit animus audit reliquae surda caeca sunt impedimentum est corpus non socium ad cognoscendam veritatem Tert. de Plato for they withdraw from the Senses as from the enemies of truth they look upon them as upon faithless ministers or pleasing impostors which beholding nought but the shadows of things present us with nothing but Errors and falshoods Their Spirit savours more of Intelligence then of Science as if individuals were unworthy of their observation they consider nothing but generals and leaving men and beasts Iste Academicue quiae omnia esse contendit incerta indignus est qui habeat ulld in his rebus authoritatem August de Cice. they contemplate only Angels and Ideas The Academicks are parted between these two they allow something to Reason and Intelligence they are more noble then the Peripateticks but not so credulous as the Platonicks they make the senses servants to Reason but having a minde to see a part of what they believe they make a Sect whose principall difference is doubt and uncertainty The Stoicks are as capacious as they are proud Magna promittitis quae optari quidem nedum credi possint deinde sublato alte supercilio in eadem quae caeteri desceuditis mutatis rerum nominibus Seneca ordinary proceedings please them not nothing seems generous that is not extravagant all common Opinions stumble them they judge so ill of the people that they take all their votes for Errours Their Pride which is the very soul of their Sect formes Ideas of vertue which not one of them can reach unto and they propound a Sage so exactly perfect to their Disciples that they put them past all hope of imitating him at the very same time they stirre up a desire in them to become their Proselytes The Epicures search after nothing but pleasure because they conceive it inseparable from vertue Their Sect which is soft onely in expressions is austere really and in deed Mea quidem sententia est Epicurum sancta recta praecipere si propius accesseris tristia voluptas enim illa ad parvum exile revocatur quam nos virtuti legem dicimus eam ille dicit voluptati Jubet illam parere naturae parum est autem luxuriae quod naturae satis est Senec de vita beat cap. 13. they reduce the desires of men to things meerly necessary they part with superfluities joyfully and placing their felicity in their Conscience they count themselves happy in the midst of Torments These Philosophers speak not of pleasure but to make their Disciples in love with vertue and if there have been found some who have deserted vertues side to embrace that of pleasure it
we consider that the Apostles served as interpreters to the holy Ghost that he spake with their mouthes and that he resided in their hearts we shall not conceive it strange that he that subdued Egypt with an army of flies converted the world by a few fishermen This spirit which was the force of the Church was also the light as it assisted her in her combats Impleti Spiritu sancto loquumur repente linguis omnium arguunt fidenter errores praedicant saluberrimam veritatem exbortantur ad poenitentiam indulgentiam de divina gratia pollicentur Aug. epist 3. ad Volusi it instructed her in her doubts and as often as she would resolve a difficulty or settle an Article of faith she consulted the spirit of her welbeloved and finding truth in his answers she pronounced nothing but Oracles to her children I see nothing more venerable and august in the infancy of the Church then the first Councell held in the City of Jerusalem to decide a matter that might separate the Jews from the Gentiles It was not convened with so much pomp as others have been there appeared not the Ambassadours of Christian Princes because the whole Church was included within the walls of one onely City there were no Philosophers who made use of the vanity of their Sciences to impede the progresse of the truth of the Gospel there were no strange Nations because all the beleevers were of one Countrey the epitome of the Universe was not seen in one Convocation because the Church had not yet displayed her banner neither in Europe nor Africa But there might be seen the Lieutenant of Jesus Christ with a zeal worthy of his charge there was the Bishop of Jerusalem who was to water with his blood the Church that he had built by his example and instructed by his sermons there might you see the Apostle of the Gentiles take the interest of the people he had newly converted and prove by his reasons that the Gospel being the accomplishment of the Law they were not to make that live again which Jesus Christ had crucified with himself upon the Crosse But of all the circumstances that give an excellency to this Councell above all others I am ravished with none so much as with that great assurance and unshaken confidence the Apostles begin their decisions withall For they acquaint us that they were the Organs of the holy Ghost that he that resided in their hearts expressed himself by their mouthes that he pronounced his Oracles in their words and confirming all they had ordained he had no other sence but theirs Visum est spiritui sancto nobis It hath seemed good to the holy Ghost and to us Let Kings conclude their Edicts in termes never so absolute let them second their reasons with that imperious clause Such is our pleasure and let them prescribe laws to their subjects liberty they shall never perswade us that the holy Ghost is the Authour of their Ordinances and that he that spake by the mouth of the Apostles speaks by the mouth of Monarchs Infallibility is promised to none but to the Church and to the head thereof there is but that Assembly alone that makes the holy Ghost vocall Truth is suspected in the mouthes of Philosophers and Oratours Soveraigns are constrained to have recourse to force to make their laws valid and of credit The Church onely can impose obedience upon her children when she will Potest fieri ut homo mentiatur non potest fieriut veritas mentiatur ex v ritatis ore cognosco Christum ipsam veritatem ex veritatis ore cognosco Ecclefiam veritatis participem Aug. in Isa 57. because to her alone is promised the assistance of the holy Ghost He is her Authour because he formed her in her birth he is her strength because he defends her in persecution he is her light because he instructs her in her doubts and he is her Spirit because he gives her life motion and direction The second DISCOURSE That the Holy Ghost is the Heart of the Church THough there is not any part in a mans body useless or unprofitable yet Natural Philosophy acknowledgeth the Heart and the Head for the two principal The Head is placed in the highest and most eminent seat as the Soveraign having all the Senses as so many faithful ministers gives orders aad sheds influences thorow the whole body of the State thence every part receives Sense and Motion and no sooner is there any obstruction that hinders the commerce of the Head with the rest of the Members but they remain stupied or benummed The Heart is not inferiour to the Head in dignity And we may affirm the Body an Empire that obeys two Soveraigns without the inconvenience of a Schism and takes Law from two absolute Potentates without dividing their Royalty For the Heart resides in the midst of the Body as a King in his Kingdom conveys the Spirits thorow the Arteries dispenseth Life to all his Subjects so extremely sensible of the Publike good that not the least disorder can arise but he gives notice of it by his irregular motion As these two parts are the Noblest so are they most United their fair correspondence cements the peace of the Body their division threatens its ruine and when they no longer entertain a free communication the State must necessarily perish without any hope of recovery If we may compare Great things with Small Ecclesiae Corporis Christus est Caput Spiritus sanctus Cor. Thom. we may say that the Church is a mystical Body whereof Jesus Christ is the Head and the holy Ghost the Heart They act diversly but to one and the same end The one Guides this great Body the other Quickens it the one gives it Motion the other Life As there is no misfortune that can divide them the Body which they constitute is immortal and whatever enemies set upon it they shall never be able to prevail against it all its Combats are attended with Victory Death despoils it of no parts which Eternity restores not again what it loseth upon Earth it recovers in Heaven and by a happie dispensation of Providence findes Rest in Persecution Life in Death Glory in Shame But as its greatest advantage is to have the holy Ghost for its Heart and the Son of God for its Head let us speak of the First till we shall have an opportunity to treat of the Second and let us discover those Graces and Blessings the Church receives from his guidance and direction Where that we may not pass the terms of our Comparison we say that the holy Spirit being the Heart of this great Body inanimates it by his Presence unites it by his Charity guides it by his Light and comforts it by his Goodness The Heart is the Noblest Seat of the Soul the Throne where she reigns the Centre of her Principality where she keeps her chief residence so that we may say 't is the
produce him Therefore hath he received a name that perfectly expresseth his ineffable procession Charitas quae pater diligit filium filius patrē quae est Spiritus Sanctus ineffabilem communionem demonstrat Aug. de Trini for being the production of the Father and the Son he bears a name common to both and he is cal'd the Spirit because the Father and the Sonne call him so in Scripture Now this Spirit is the sacred Bond which conjoyns all Christians together he is not onely the soul but the unity and he it is who by admirable and secret Tyes entertaines a faire correspondence between all the parts of this great body The diffence of their conditions the contrariety of their humours the diversity of their designs hinders not the Holy Spirit from uniting them together nor that he that is the agreement of the Father and the Son be also the peace and agreement of the faithfull He it is that decided the differences between the Jewes and the Gentiles he it is who breaking down the partition Wall hath made of them one building he it is who perfecting the design of Jesus Christ hath happily taken out of the way all obstacles that impeded the unity of the Church and he it is who equalling the poor with the rich the freeman with the slave the learned with the ignorant hath framed that wonderfull body the most perfect Image of the Trinity Therefore must we acknowledge that all those figures that represent to us the person of the holy Ghost abundantly bear witnesse that his principall work is unity For sometimes he is called Fire because that element combines metalls in melting them and of two different substances makes a third which is neither one nor the other but rather both Sometimes he is called Water because he gives consistency to the earth watering it by secret veins and of a fluid sand makes a solid heap which serves for the foundation and centre of the whole Universe Therefore is it that the great Apostle of the Gentiles never speaks of unity Solliciti servare unitatem spiritus in vinculo pacis Epist but he mentions the holy Ghost as the source and fountain of it As often as he recommends peace to the faithfull he wisheth them him that reconciles men unto God by the remission of sin that separates them asunder Neither hath charity which is the principall effect of this ever to be adored Spirit any more worthy employment then to unite Christians together after he hath united them with the Trinity The second Alliance that he contracts with us is that he becomes the gift of God to men as he is the gift of the Father to the Son and of the Son to the Father back again If we beleeve prophane Philosophy Love is not onely the first production but the first profusion of the will This faculty is liberall assoon as it is amorous and parting with its love it makes a donation of whatever holds of its Empire Thence it comes to passe that all Lovers are prodigall that they engage their liberty stripping themselves of their goods and renouncing their own inclinations assoon as ever they begin to be affectionate Now as the holy Spirit is the Love of the Father and the Son so is He their mutuall gift they give themselves whatever they are in producing him and it seems the Son renders to his Father by the production of the Spirit all that he received by his birth Though we want termes to expresse the greatnesse of these mysteries Faith which supplies our impotency steps in to perswade us that the holy Spirit is the uncreated Liberality of the Father and of the Son from all eternity and t is the same faith that teacheth us that the holy Ghost is also the gift of God to the Christians and that at the same time he entered into alliance with them he bestowed his love upon them as a mark of his largesse wherein I observe two or three things worthy of admiration The first is that God makes us a Present equall to himself Dedit dona hominibus quale donum Spiritum sanctum magna est autem Dei misericordia donum dat aequale sibi quia donum ejus Spiritus sanctus est Aug. ser 44. de verb. Dom. which the truest and most affectionate Lovers never do for though gifts are the effects of love they never equall it and if the Lover makes not himself a slave to the person he loveth he can offer no Present equivalent to his affection Pearls and Diamonds are but weak expressions of his good will whatever contents others are but incentives to his desires he would be a Monarch that he might bestow a kingdom and in that height of fortune he would professe no prodigality can satisfie a Lover But God to whom nothing is impossible hath in presenting his love presented a gift commensurate to the greatnesse of that best love he would expresse that which he bestows equalls himself his Present is infinite and when he tenders us the holy Ghost he makes offer of a divine Person The second excellency of this Present is that it prevents our merit because it findes us in the state of sin and did God consult his justice as much as his mercy we should appear the objects of his wrath rather then of his love For he bestows his Spirit upon his enemies he sheds his love abroad in the hearts of beleevers and we receive this favour from him when we deserve nothing but chastisements The third excellency of this gift is that it is the source of all others for being the prime radicall donation 't is that from whence all the bounteous liberality of God issues and proceeds who confers no benefit upon us which bears not the image and superscription of this first and prime gratuity Whatever comes from heaven is a copy of the holy Spirit riches are the expresses of his bounty advantageous parts of soul or body are the marks of his goodnesse Graces and vertues are his immediate impressions and in a few words to comprehend the priviledges of this Divine Offertory we must say with S. Augustine 't is the Pandora thorow which all other gifts are bestowed upon us If the Angels descend from heaven to protect us if the Sun enlightens us if the Stars favour us if the Earth nourish us if the Trees shade us if the Eternal Word leave the bosome of his Father to take upon him our miseries 't is by the counsel and mediation of the holy Spirit and this gift that ravished the Apostle who tells us of it was nothing but an effect and consequence of that primitive largess which is the cause of all others Thence I infer that when we receive any grace we ought to look upward to the Holy Spirit and acknowledging him the fountain of all blessings profess our selves bound to render him the eternal calves of our lips This favour would take away all hope of gratitude
advice and hee that at first was his Principle proceeds still to be his counsellour and director The Christian enjoyes this advantage with Jesus Christ whatsoever designe he conceives whatsoever resolution he takes whatsoever enterprize he brings to passe he is alwayes bound to call upon the holy Ghost He that hath given him his Being ought to give him motion he that hath begotten him in Baptisme ought to govern him in the Church and if he will not be wanting to his obligations nor renounce his priviledges the same Spirit that inanimates him while he lives must move and lead him in all his operations This is it that S. Paul so highly magnifies when he sayes Those onely deserve to be called the children of God who are acted by the Spirit of God Qui Spiritu Dei aguntur hi sunt filii Dei Whereupon * Ergo agimur non agimus respondeo imo agis ageris tunc bene agis si à bono agaris Spiritus enim Dei qui te agit adjutor est tibi agenti ipsum nomen adjutoris praescribit tibi quia tu ipse aliquod agis sed ne te extolleret humanus spiritus ad hoc opus se idoneum jactaret ideo subjecit quotquot Spiritu Dei aguntur hi snut filii Dei Aug. Ser. 13. de verb. Apost S. Augustine preventing two contrary objections which might be made against this truth saith That Christians are not onely lead by the Spirit but driven to the end they may know that He is rather the Principle of their actions then themselves and that in the way of salvation they are rather sufferers then doers But because this answer might sooth men up in idlenesse and give them an occasion to neglect good works expecting the enthusiasmes of the Spirit he adds They are moved that they might move they receive the impression of grace that they may act and that the Apostle expresly made use of this manner of speech at once to make them shake off idlenesse and presumption From this Priviledge is derived a third not so peculiar to Christ as not to be common to Christians For the holy Spirit is their Master he instructs them both in his school and they have the glory to be his disciples as well as his workmanship The Son of God hath two schools as he hath two births the first is Eternity where his Father is his Master and where he teacheth him his learning in communicating to him his Essence There by a strange Prodigie the Master is not more knowing then the Scholar nor the Scholar junior to his Master the science is learnt in a moment but that moment endures for ever and though it have no parts it includes neverthelesse all the differences of time this science though but one comprehends in it all sorts of truth the Master hides nothing from his Scholar he instructs him at the same instant he begets him the birth of this Son to speak properly is his instruction as he is born for ever so he learns for ever and he that conceived him in his bosome is eternally his Father and his Master This Son hath in time another school and a new Master he that produceth him teacheth him and the same Principle that forms his body fashions his understanding from the very first moment of his Conception He imitates the Father that teacheth him from all eternity he instils all things into him without succession or labour and conveying light into his soul Vir erat Jesus necdum etiam natus sed sapientia non aetate animi virtute non viribus corporis Bern. he hath no need of the mediation of the senses to render him learned This Pupill discourseth before he speaks he conceives truth before he beholds the light and his understanding is inform'd of all the secrets of his Father before he could pronounce the name of his Mother His knowledge grows not up with time because it had its just proportion and measure at the very moment of his Generation Experience hath not made it more evident nor age more assured and if he pronounced no Oracles in his Infancy 't is because he had a minde to conceal his Wisdom as he had concealed his Divinity Finally this Divine Master taught him a science which Politicians seek for and cannot finde for he discovers to him the secrets of the heart the motions of the will and all those thoughts and imaginations which though they never brake forth in words nor actions cease not to render men guilty So that should Jesus Christ neither be united to the Person of the Word nor illuminated with the light of Glory he would neverthelesse have an infused knowledge whereby he would be acquainted with whatever is most secret in Nature and in Grace in Time and in Eternity The holy Scripture also teacheth us that the holy Spirit that abides not alwayes in others rests upon Jesus Christ Requievit super eum Spiritus Domini Isa and he that distributes his Graces to others by measure communicates them to his Masterpeece without weight or limitation But this is no hinderance from his being the Master also of all other Christians from teaching them the science of salvation discovering to them the mysteries of Theologie the secrets of Nature and the maximes of the Politikes In effect 't is the holy Spirit that made the Apostles learned that spake with their mouthes that confounded Emperours and Philosophers with their answers and made them understand those Oracles which were nothing but Riddles to them whilest Jesus Christ conversed with them upon the earth 'T is lastly the selfe same Spirit which to this day teacheth the faithfull what they are to beleeve in Religion what they are to do or leave undone in the practice of their life and what they ought to hope or fear after death He cannot deceive them because he is the Spirit of Truth he cannot engage them in evill because he is the Spirit of Holinesse neither can he suffer them to wander in Errour or languish in infirmities because he is the Spirit of Counsell and of Strength Therefore is he the Master whom the faithfull consult with in their occasions 't is in his Schoole that they commence in vertue 't is under his Conduct that they grow up to perfection and by his advice that they defend themselves against errour and falshood Vbi Deus Magister quam cito discitur quod docetur Leo Serm. 1. de Pente Though this Science be so deep yet is it learnt in a moment his Disciples become Masters without paines Truth distils into their understandings without passing through their eyes or eares sleeping and waking they are equally capable of attention and this Doctor is so dextrously exact that bestowing the Spirit upon his scholars he repaires by Grace the defects of Nature But to conclude all these resemblances we affirm that the holy Spirit is the witnesse of Jesus Christ and of
the faithfull and having deposed for the Divinity of him deposeth daily for the Innocence of these For we know by Scripture that the same Spirit that spake heretofore by the Prophets hath since spoken by the Apostles and having foretold the Ages past the wonders that Jesus ought to doe revealed them to the generations to come that all men might bee fully informed of the Mysteries concerning him to whom they were beholding for their salvation This Spirit is the testimony of Jesus and of the faithfull because he hath formed them and knows all their thoughts whereof hee is the first Principle and Author This also was he that descended upon the head of the Son of God in the forme of a Dove during the ceremonies of his Baptisme 't was he that discovered to S. John Baptist his Innocence and taught him without speaking that he was that Lamb of God that was to take away the sins of the world And hee it is that daily performs the same office to Christians For having been their Master he vouchsafes to be their witnesse he speaks to the eternall Father in their behalfe having pleaded their cause he gives them assurance of their salvation The Rest that calmes the waves of their conscience is an effect of his testimony those sighes and groans he draws from the bottome of their heart those desires he inspires them with for everlasting good things those scorns he furnisheth them with for perishable ones are so many Earnests which the Elect have of his love and their salvation if there be some remainders now and then of Fear amidst their Hope 't is to preserve them from Negligence or from Pride and to make them profess that they finde in him a Divine Principle a wise Director a knowing Master and a faithful Witness The Fifth DISCOURSE That the presence of the Holy Spirit gives life to the Christian and his absence causeth his death ONe of the chiefest advantages we shall partake of in Glory is that God will be to us in stead of all things and that finding in him the accomplishment of all our desires we shall there meet with our perfect felicity He will be the Temple of the Blessed because they shall lodge in his Divine Essence He will be for a garment to them because they shall be cloathed with his light He will be their nourishment because he gives them eternal life and according to the language of S. Paul he will be All in all to these blessed inhabitants The Holy Spirit seems to have a minde to make us taste upon Earth the Happiness of Heaven inasmuch as he is all things to us in the Church that he informs us in our doubts comforts us in our afflictions assists us in our conflicts teacheth us in our prayers For Christians owe all that they are and all that they do to the holy Spirit They live by his presence act by his power understand by his light and love by his charity All their advantages flow from him If they are Saints 't is he that sanctifies them if they are free 't is he that sets them at liberty if they are generous 't is he that encourageth them and if they be wise 't is he that enlightens them In the mean time the most part of the Faithful are ungrateful to the holy Spirit Liberalitem Dei servitutem faciunt Tert. They attribute that to their own power which they derive from his and turning his grace into a slavery they would pass for the Authors of a work whereof they are at most but the Ministers Therefore will I spend this Discourse to let them see that the holy Spirit inanimates them and that as by his presence he makes them live so by his withdrawing himself he makes them die A Man and a Christian have some resemblance in their difference they live both of them by the Spirit and their life is rather spiritual then animal For though Man have a body composed of the Elements which hath need of the Air to breathe of the Earth to bear it of Food to nourish it and of Light to make it see yet is his soul the principle of his life This Form inanimates the heart giving it motion whereby all the other parts live The absence of the soul is the death of the body its presence the life and when grief or weakness separates them Man ceaseth to be a living creature Inasmuch as a Christian is more excellent then a Man by so much is his life more sublime and he hath a nobler principle of his Being For the holy Spirit is his Soul and paring off whatever defects that name may include he is the Form that inanimates the Believer Though he have an Understanding that reasoneth a Memory that preserves his conceptions and a Will free and absolute yet does he live by the holy Spirit and receive from him a supernatural life which makes him capable of God As long as he is united to this Spirit he is alive assoon as he is parted from him he is dead And 't is a miracle saith S. Augustine that the soul dead by sin does nevertheless enliven the body and that notwithstanding that imperfection Aliud est in anima unde corpus vivificatur aliud unde ipsa anima vivificatur Melius quippe anima quam corpus sed melius quam ipsa est Deus est ergo ipsa etiamsi sit insipiens injusta impia vita corporis Aug. Tract 19. in Joan. it have wherewithal still to reason in the finding out of Sciences and to manage it self in its affairs and negotiations It is true therefore that the absence of the holy Spirit greatly impaireth the vigour and clearness of Man for the life of Man as a Reasonable creature and as a Christian are so intimately united together that the one cannot be separated from the other without an extreme detriment and enfeebling of the creature The Christian merits not till he begin to reason Grace is idle in his soul when Reason is not yet formed in it and all Divines are of opinion that children baptized have no other merits but those of Jesus Christ Heaven is their Inheritance but not their Recompence they are in the condition of Heirs but not of Souldiers and the Crown they receive is rather the Consequence of their good Fortune then the Reward of their Labour Man is yet more deplorable when he loseth Grace then when the Christian loseth Reason for besides that none of his actions are any longer meritorious that he does nothing pleasing to God and having lost the Principle of his supernatural life he is destitute of all recompence and desert he hath moreover contracted this misfortune Vita infidelium peccatum est nihil est bonum sine summo bono ubi enim deest agnitio aeternae veritatis falsa virtus est etiam in optimis moribus Prosp sen 106 that he is become the slave of Concupiscence which throws Darkness over his
Understanding Weakness into his Memory and Malice into his Will Under this conduct he confounds Errour with Truth Vice with Vertue and having no other end but himself he commits as many sins as he intends to perform good works Vain-glory is the Primum mobile that sets him a going he seeks for reputation in all his actions and when he assists his Country stands for the Laws and fights for Liberty he obeys a Tyrant which inspires him with wicked intentions even then when he seems to counsel him to the best and most upright undertakings Thus Man becomes Wretched when he ceaseth to be Faithful the loss of Grace causeth the enfeebling of his Liberty and the removal of the holy Spirit involves him in a death so much the more dangerous by how much it is less sensible and more concealed The Natural death makes a strange havock in the body of Man as soon as he seizeth upon the face he banisheth Beauty horrour and fear always attend him nor does he ever enter upon a body but 't is accompanied with stench and putrifaction These sad effects render him ghastly nor can the most confident behold him without some sense of terrour and affrightment But the spiritual death causeth indeed no amazement because it leaves no visible characters of its malignity The holy Spirit quits the sinner with small noise his departure which causeth so much misfortune makes no buzzle at all and when he withdraws his Grace from a soul she is no whit affected with it because the loss is insensible A Monarch thinks he is deprived of nothing because he still exerciseth absolute command over his subjects nor sees that he is a slave to as many masters as there are sins that reign in his soul A Philosopher never conceits himself less happie because he is not more ignorant the Light that remains in him suffers him not to see his Blindness and he imagines he is still vertuous because he still retains his knowledge An immodest woman is never troubled at the loss of Grace because it no ways impairs her good complexion she hath much ado to believe that sin hath polluted her Soul because it hath stampt no deformity upon her Face and beholding her self in her glass as handsome after her fault as before she cannot perswade her self that she is less amiable in Gods eyes because she is not in her own In the mean time the loss of Grace is the loss of Life the absence of the holy Spirit is the death of the Soul and from the very instant he deserts us all Vertues bid us farewel Whiles he keeps his residence in our hearts those glorious habits that render men vertuous accompany them and as the presence of the Sun produceth Lilies and Roses in our Gardens the presence of the holy Spirit produceth Hope and Charity in our Souls 'T is true this Spirit is so good that after he hath left us he still hovers about us if he dwell not in our hearts he forbears not to move and stir them and if he Quicken us no longer by his Grace he incites us by his Power But to understand this Truth which is one of the most important in Religion we must know there is this difference between the Soul and the Spirit That moves no more when once it ceaseth to inanimate Spiritus ubi vult spirat quod fatendum est aliter adjuvat nondum inhabitans aliter inhabitans nordum inhabitans adjuvat ut sint fideles inhabitans adjuvat jam fidebes Aug. Epist ad Sixt. it gives no Impulse when it gives no Life and there must be some supernatural power to re-unite it to the body which it hath once bidden adieu to But the holy Spirit which is a Form not depending upon the Matter free in his operations and like the winde blowes where it listeth is not subject to these laws he quits the sinner when his Crime obliges him to do it he abandons the Temple he consecrated with his presence and together with habitual grace he takes away all vertues that served him for ornament or for defence But his goodness reserves the means still to sollicite this unfaithful soul by holy motions to touch this rebel by his inspirations and by his allurements to court this adultress who hath falsified the faith she promised in the Sacrament of Baptism or that of Repentance he knocks at the door of his heart to get admittance he sheds light into his understanding to dispel the darknesse he carries pleasure into his will to gaine its content and without doing it any violence triumphs over his obstinacy when he constrains him to taste more sweetnesse in vertue then in vice The love men have to liberty makes them wish that these motions of the Spirit were continuall that at every moment he should offer grace to the sinner that he could use it at pleasure and that in the state of sin enjoying the priviledges of the state of innocene his salvation might depend absolutely upon his own will Those that make this objection know not in my opinion neither the greatnesse of our crime nor the power of the Holy Spirit God deales with the sinner much after another fashion then he does with the Innocent Natura hominis primitus inculpata sine ullo vitio creata est natura vero ista hominis qua unusquisque ex Adam nascitur jam medico indiget quia sana non est Aug. de natur grac. c. 3. 't is easier to preserve a just man then to convert a guilty one there needs much more endeavour to subdue a will rooted consummated in evil then to entertame one grounded established in good Innocent man had no bad inclinations Grace found no resistance in his person and his liberty being not captivated by concupiscence there was no need that the Holy Ghost should gaine mastery thereby to purchase his deliverance It was sufficient gently to excite a man who needed but a little support to walk to raise him by his Inspirations who was cumbred with no disorders and to dart a small beame of light into his eyes who needed indeed to be cleared not to be cured But sinfull man must be dealt with after another manner the motion of the Spirit must be more vigorous because he undertakes an enemy Grace must have more allurements because it meets with more impediments must raise it selfe above the will because the will stoopes beneath self-love and God must be the Authour of mans salvation because man was the Authour of his fall If the Holy Spirit did not act more vigorously then in the state of Innocence sinners would remaine obstinate in their obliquity if Grace were but a flash their will would never be changed and if this victorious sweetnesse did not imprint force with pleasure they would live and die in their sins But at last say they Grace ought to be as common as it is vigorous it must bee offered to us every moment Pro
respect towards him he puts on rather the deportment of a Lover then of a Soveraign he gains his will without forcing it and though he knows the secret whereby to be obeyed 't is always with so much sweetness that he that suffers himself to be overcome hath reason to believe he gets the Victory Therefore doth the Scripture never speak of this Change but as of a work common to God with Man And when Saint Augustine observes the differences between Conversion and Creation he bears witness to this truth in these words Qui creavit te sine te non salvabit te sine te But not to enter into Disputes more Curious then Profitable Si conversio peccatoris non est majoris potentiae quà m creatio universi saltem est majoris miscricordiae Aug. let us be content to conclude with the same Saint Augustine that if the Conversion of a sinner require not more Power it supposeth at least more Mercy then Creation because if in This God obligeth the Miserable in That he obligeth the Criminal shewing Favour to those that could expect nothing but severity of Punishments Therefore is it that the Conversion of a sinner belongs to the Holy Spirit and a work that bears the Character of Goodness must needs have no other Principle but he to whom this Divine Perfection is attributed in the Scripture 'T is true that after he hath shewed mercy to sinners he performs a piece of most exemplary Justice and animating them against themselves he obliges them to take revenge and punishment upon themselves For one of the most admirable effects of the Spirit of Love is to produce hatred in the spirit of Penitents Quia ergo non potest esse confessio punitio peccati in homine à seipso cum quisque sibi irascitur sibi displicet sine dono Spiritûs sancti non est Aug. in Psal 50. and to satisfie the Majestie of God by the excess of their Austerities towards themselves They look upon themselves as guilty of Treason against the Divine Majestie they stay not till his Justice punish them they prevent his Sentence by their own Resolutions and invent more tortures to wrack themselves then the Executioners have been witty in to torment Martyrs with This is that Divine Spirit which hath driven the Anchorites into the desarts made the Antonines go down into caves and holes of the earth made the Stilites fix upon the top of Pillars which found out sackcloth and discipline to make as many Wretches as he had made Penitents All the Austerity that is in Christianity takes its birth from the love he inspires into the Faithful Their Rigour is proportionable to their Charity the more the holy Spirit possesseth them the more are they set against Themselves and we may affirm with reason that as much as they grow in his Love so much do they grow in the Hatred of their Sin This is it perhaps that our Saviour would have us understand when he told us that the holy Spirit should judge the world and should oblige sinners to punish themselves for the offences they have committed He shall convince the world of sin of righteousness and of judgement We cannot understand this Truth if we conceive not that the Father hath judged all men in his Son and having charged him with their iniquities hath charged him also with the punishments due for them From this moment they have no engagements to sue out with the Father and the Father satisfied with the Passion of his Son protests that he hath signed over to him all the right of judging the world The Father judgeth no man but hath committed all judgment to the Son The Son by vertue of this resignation shall judge all men at the end of the world and being become their Judg and their Partie will pronounce the definitive sentence of their Eternity In expectation of this day of Doom the holy Spirit judgeth men that are converted and mixing meekness with severity in these determinations he obliges them to undergo a scrutiny upon earth to be delivered from the torments of hell Nor are we to think it strange that he that is so gentle is withall so rigorous since the Poets have bestowed these two qualities upon Love For these pleasant Tel-tales have feigned that he was the severest of all the Gods that he bathed himself in tears lived upon blood and more cruel then Tyrants took pleasure in the torments of his subjects But Christian Religion that conceals Truth under the shadow of our Mysteries teacheth us that the love of God is severe that he exacts chastisements from those he inanimates that he engageth his Lovers in penance and more strong then death which parts soul and body he divides between the soul and the spirit and exerciseth a Tyranny over whole entire man True it is the torments he inflicts are always mix'd with pleasures he makes Roses grow among Thorns and amidst such a throng of Penitents that bid him battel there is not one complains of his sufferings 'T is enough that persecuting themselves Haec tristitia quae poenitcutiam ad salutem stabilem operatur laeta est ac spe profectus sui vegetata cunctam affabilitatis retinet suavitatem Cassian l. 9. c. 11. they are perswaded they satisfie him whom they have offended the same consideration that afflicts them comforts them and when they meditate that God that loves them is infinite they meet with no pain that is not short nor any torment that is not joyous They are better accompanied in the Desarts then the Monarchs in their Palaces their humiliations are more glorious then the Triumphs of Conquerors their poverty is more happy then abundance of riches and their ascetick life more full of charms then the pleasures of the world Though the holy Spirit be thus favourable to Penitents yet fails he not to be very severe against sinners if he pardon the offences committed against the Father and the Son he never pardons those that are committed against his own Person and the holy Scriptures teach us Blasphemia in Spiritum sanctum non remittetur in hoc seculo nec in futuro Mat. 12. that of all the sins in the world none are irremissible but those which do despite to the Holy Ghost This passage leaves all our Expositors at a losse every one forgeth new Principles to resolve the difficulties thereof and there are few but strive to invent something upon a subject so often handled and so little cleared Some divide sins into three Orders according to the perfections which are commonly applyed to the three Divine Persons The first comprehends sins of infirmity which seem to clash against the Person of the Father Peccata alia sunt infirmitatis quae Patri cujus est potentia adversantur alia ignorantiae quae Filio cujus est sapientia alia malitiae quae Spiritui sancto cujus est bonitas D. Thom. in Paulum to whom power
he is not master of the mind but because he is of the body nor hath he any command over the will of man but because 't is in his power to mutinie his passions But sinne reigns in all the faculties of man his darkness clouds the Understanding his malice depraves the Will his ingratitude weakens the Memory he enters where ever grace can and penetrating the very essence of the soule builds a Palace where the holy Spirit had erected a Temple When he is forced to quit the hold where he had intrench'd himselfe and yielding to grace is constrained to leave the sinner at liberty he sets on foot by his Ministers that violence he could not act by himselfe Concupiscence which is his daughter and his mother endeavours to execute his designes she takes pains in his directions and like a souldier that disputes the victory after the death of his Generall she does her utmost to enthrone him after his defeat For all the motions of this concupiscence favour sinne all the streams that issue from this fountain are unclean all the counsels that proceed from this Minister are suspected and all the assaults this Enemy makes against us are prejudiciall to our salvation she is not innocent in the greatest Saints * Concupiscentia causa est peccati vel defectione consentientis vel contagione nascentis Aug. lib. 6. Con. Jul. c. 19. she preserves her malignity in the very Empire of Grace she resists the Holy Spirit in the Temple he is adored in and as Divines confesse that as the Tree is inclosed in the kernell sinne is wrapt up in concupiscence This was the evill the Apostle of the Gentiles complains of writing to the Romans 't was that disorder he would but could not reforme 't was that rebellion he felt in his members and was not able to appease 't was that law of the flesh warring against that of God which he could not abrogate 't was finally that Monster that drew complaints from his mouth made him confesse his weaknesse and obliged him to wish for death that he might be delivered from his Tyranny For as Saint * Non quod volo ago sed quod nolo hoc ago quod odi concupiscere odi concupiscere tamen illud ago ex carne non ex mente non implet legem infirmitas mea sed legem laudat voluntas mea Aug. in Rom. Augustine observes very well 't was not in the power of the Apostle to cure that maladie which depended not upon his Will because it passed on in despite of him and his complaints which were marks of his piety were proofs also of his infirmity We must not say with the Pelagians that Saint Paul in his person represents that of a sinner whose bad Habit having weakened his liberty left him nothing but sighes and regrets for being thrown into a condition out of which 't was not in his power to come forth For though this interpretation be true and some Fathers who were very tender of the holinesse of the Apostle of the Gentiles have imagined that he could not be subject to these disorders Neverthelesse Saint Ambrose and Saint Augustine who knew very well that Grace does not destroy Concupiscence were not troubled to acknowledge this in Saint Paul and to confesse That the Liberty of the greatest Saints is not so intire but it experienceth rebellions which it cannot master and that 't is onely in Eternity where Grace obtains a full triumphant victory over sin Si autem sicut melius sentit Ambrosius hoc etiam de seipso dicit Apostolus nec justorum est in hac vita tanta libertas propriae voluntatis quanta erit in illa vita ubi non dicitur Non quod volo ago Aug. lib. 6. cont Julian when the Saints shall no more say with Saint Paul I do that which I would not Indeed this complaint is an evident proof of the weakness that remains in man after he hath received the pardon of his sin Though he be in Grace he is not freed from pain though he be assisted by God he cannot chuse but tremble and though his Will be straight yet is it not so stedfast and constant as to overcome all that combates his good resolutions The experience he hath of his infirmity obligeth him to implore the succours of Heaven knowing very well that victory is never compleat upon earth he intreats an end of his life to obtain that of his conflict and being not ignorant that his vigour is abated by this Inmate which he can neither defeat nor divorce he implores an Aid that supplyes his impotency and renders him strong enough not to be worsted This is the Reason St Augustine made use of against the Pelagians For whereas they affirmed that Man had always a full freedom to correct himself nor that there was any state wherein Concupiscence held so great a command over the Will that he could not easily defend himself he confronted them with this passage of St Paul saying with that vigour of spirit that accompanies all his argumentations Confess that all those that have a mind to mend cannot do it since he that speaks in these terms 'T is not I that work gives a sufficient demonstration that his desire is strong but his power weak Say not that he can subdue sin by the meer abilities of his Will since he discovers his infirmity by his complaints and were he vigorous enough to bring all his forces into the field he would never utter those words Non quod volo ago Suffer him at least in whom you see the activity of free-will weakened to have recourse to the assistance of Grace and to seek for that out of himself which he cannot finde in himself But this misfortune is yet much greater in sinners newly converted then in the just who have a long time persevered in this vertue For if these last have not destroyed sin they have debilitated him and if they have not obtained a full victory they have gain'd some advantage over this Enemy if they have not quite obstructed his motions they have greatly check'd them and if they have not strength to be delivered they have courage enough to stand upon their guard and defend themselves But the others have encreased his power by their own cowardise they have added the tyranny of Habit to that of Concupiscence they are reduced to a wretched impotency to withstand since they have not crush'd him in his conception and their liberty is so small to defeat him that their slavery degenerates for the most part into down-right necessity Thence it came to passe that St Augustine being fallen into that deplorable condition complain'd that his bad Habit had fettered his Will that he groan'd under the weight of his irons that he could not break them though he had hammered them himself and having voluntarily thrown himself into the net he was necessarily held fast in it My Will saith he admirably in his
Confessions was in the hands of mine Enemy he had cast a chain about me which manacled me so fast I could not disengage my self but was forced to follow him for of my bad inclinations he formed bad desires which basely obeying I contracted a bad habit and not timely resisted was presently changed into a troublesome necessity I call this slavery a Chain because it was composed of my own inclinations as of so many links which the Grace that prepar'd me for my Conversion was not strong enough to break asunder He made vain attempts to be disengaged his Will encourag'd with Grace stoutly opposed his Will seconded with Concupiscence himself was the Theater of this Combat he was the Victor and the vanquished but the advantage was more prejudiciall then the defeat since the worse party was the strongest and his Will yeelding obedience to the Tyranny of Concupiscence resisted the Command of Charity He pleasantly complains to God of the greatness of this Evill in the same place of his Confessions In vain did I take pleasure in Your Law concerning the inward man because there was another law in the rebelling against Yours and which against my will made me subject to the law of sin that was in my members For the law of sin is nothing else but the Tyranny of Custome which engageth the minde of man with a kinde of constraint but not without some colour of Justice because he willingly procured this Thraldom But he never more happily express'd the nature of this Evill then when he compares a bad Habit to the imperious complacency of sleep For it seems there is nothing more sweet then those drowsie vapours in the mean time there is nothing more violent and of all things that set upon a man there is none from which he can lesse defend himselfe This evill takes force from it's sweetnesse the more pleasant the fumes are it exhaleth the stronger are they the more pain they inflict the more is their pleasure the lesse liberty they indulge us the more is the love they expresse toward us 'T is by this example that this great Saint illustrates the agreeable violence of a bad habit Ita sarcina seculi veluti somno assolet dulciter premebar cogitationes quibus meditabar in te similes erant conatibus expergisci volentium qui tamen superati soporis altitudine remerguntur Aug. I was overwhelmed with the love of the world saith he as with a deep sleep and the meditations I lifted up to heaven were like the vain endeavours of men striving to awake who beaten down with the weight of drowsiness fall asleep again at the very instant they awake True it is as there is no man that would always sleep and in the judgement of all wise men watchings are better then sleep I also was of the same opinion that 't was more advantageous for me to submit to thy grace O Lord then to yield to my passion But as the most part of men suffered themselves to be more sweetly charm'd with sleep when their hour to awake approacheth so did I more enticingly imbrace my bad habit when the time of my conversion seemed nearest at hand It is but too evident by this comparison that mans weaknesse passeth even to impotency when he suffers himselfe to be swallowed up by sin and in his infirmities stands in need of a mighty arme to deliver him from the Tyrant that keeps him under Now the holy Spirit performs this good office to all sinners 't is he that breaketh their irons when they are fetter'd by concupiscence or by custome The Spirit helpeth our infirmity saith great Saint Paul he not only clarifies the Christians but fortifies them and the same grace he sheds abroad in their souls at once fils them with light and strength he joynes himselfe with the soule to subdue the rebellions of the flesh he inspires their liberty with a new vigour knocking off it's fetters he armes the faculty whereby it takes vengeance of it's enemies for as Saint Augustine excellently observes 't is not the Spirit of man but of God that fights against the flesh Spiritus concupiscit adversus carnem in hominibus bonis non in malis qui Spiritum Dei non habent contra quem caro concupiscat Aug. these two parts almost continually agree in unbelievers and wicked men if they practise hostility for their particular interests concupiscence unites them to serve her designes She masters wantonnesse with pride tames pleasure with avarice but in all these contestations the soule and body are subject to sin and these two are reconciled together to further the intentions of their Soveraign But when the soule fights against the flesh in the faithfull 't is always by the motion of the spirit 't is this divine Protection that gives her courage and delivering her from the bondage of her slave establisheth her in the possession of her lawfull authority Let us explain this Truth in the words of Saint Augustine the flesh did not lust against the spirit in Paradise there was no warre in so profound a peace nor did man see himselfe divided by the conflict of two parts whereof he was made But when once he had violated the Law of God and had refused obedience to his Soveraign he was given over to himselfe upon condition too that he should never be his own Master but be wholy at his devotion that had deceived him Then was it that the flesh began to revolt against the spirit but this happens not but in the person of good men for in that of wicked men the flesh hath nothing to rebell against because the soule being become carnall hath no other feelings but those of the flesh And when the Apostle saith That the spirit warreth against the flesh we are not to imagine that he speaks of the spirit of man but of that of God that fights in us against our selves or to speak more soundly 't is he that combates that in us that is prejudiciall to us and when he makes warre upon us 't is to procure peace within us 'T is in this sense that the same Apostle hath said further to the faithfull that if by the vertue of the spirit they did mortifie the deeds of the flesh they should live For least man should grow proud in hearing those words and perswade himselfe that it was by his own spirit that he ought to tame the flesh the Apostle presently explains himselfe that they are the Children of God that are led by the Spirit to the end we may know that 't is he that mortifies our flesh quickens our soule and gives us victory in the Conslict 'T is for this cause that he is called in Scripture the Spirit of strength and of counsell to teach us that the same that guides doth also assist us that having enlightned us he warmes us too inspiring us with courage to execute our designes after he hath endued us with wisdome to devise and contrive
that fortifies our weakness when we are set upon that dissipates our darkness when we are blinded and sweetens our discontents when we are troubled Hee weeps with us without interessing his felicity he shares in our infirmities without prejudicing his Almightinesse he is sadded with our miseries without disquieting his own contentedness he puts sighs into our hearts words into our mouthes reasons into our understandings to expresse our wretchedness and to pacifie our Judge Postulat pro nobis gemitibus inenarrabilibus The union he contracts with us is so strict that the Scripture attributes to him what it would have us do and by a strange liberty makes him partakers of our miseries as we are made partakers of his happiness The last torment of man a sinner is the doubt he hath of his salvation Death is troublesom because the hour thereof is uncertain neither hath he that pronounc'd sentence upon us express'd the time of its execution All moments are to be suspected by us every day may be our last and the accidents that cause our dissolution are so involved in futurity that they daily seize us before we are provided for them Nescit homo utrum amore an odio dignus sit sed omnia in futuruÌ„ servantur incerta Eccl. 9. But our salvation is much more concealed then our death Predestination is much more secret and more important then the end of our life and the alarms so just an apprehension strikes us with are much more lawfull and amazing There is no man that hath read in the Book of the living nor that knows whether his name be written there the whole world trembles at the thought of that irrevocable judgment the Character of Baptism the vocation into the Church the power of working Miracles the love of Enemies the forgetting of Injuries and what-ever is most glorious and most difficult in Religion are no certain proofs of our predestination Fear is alwayes mix'd with hope in our souls the Grace that quickens us may forsake us the example of the Reprobate strikes us with astonishment and after the Treason and Despair of Judas there is no Saint but trembles This is the greatest pain that afflicts Christians Vae miseris nobis qui de electione nostra nullam adhuc Dei vocem cognovimus jam in otio torpemus vae etiam laudabili vitae hominum si remota pictate judicemur Greg. the cruellest punishment that exerciseth their patience the rudest torment that proves their charity Thus would it be an insupportable vexation did not the holy Spirit sweeten it by the inward testimony he witnesseth to our Conscience But he moreover gives us assurances of our salvation he makes us obscurely read over the Book of Life he takes us into that privie-Chamber where the definitive sentence of our Eternity is pronounc'd Ipse Spiritus testimonium reddit spiritui nostro quòd sumus filii Dei Rom. 8. he applyes to us the merits of Jesus Christ and interposes himself the caution of his promises he blots out those mortall discontents which labour to cast us into despair he heightens our hope by a prelibation of glory and handles us with so much tenderness that we have much adoe to beleeve that we can be miserable in the other world having been so happy in this The Tenth DISCOURSE Of the CHRISTIAN's Ingratitude towards the Holy SPIRIT IF that Philosopher had reason to say Nibil in rerum natura tam sacrum quod sacrilegum non inveniat Sen. There was nothing so sacred in Nature that meets not with some sacrilegious person to prophane it Divines may with greater justice affirm There is nothing so holy in Religion that wicked and ungodly men do not dishonour and by their malice desecrate its holyest mysteries The divine Mercy is the source of all Graces were not God mercifull we should be eternally miserable did not he remit the injuries done against him the first offence would cast us into despair and having once lost his grace we could expect nothing but punishments in the mean time his Mercy makes sinners presumptuous in their crimes that which should convert them hardens them and that which promiseth them impunity carryes them for the most part to impenitency The death of Jesus Christ is the last testimony of his love his wounds are so many bleeding mouthes breathing forth this Truth and when we begin to doubt of it we need but consider the streams of blood that issued from his veins In the mean time Positus est in ruinam in resurrectionem mulâ—orum Luc. 7. his death is often the occasion of our fall we perswade our selves that he that could finde in his heart to die for us is too much concern'd in our salvation to destroy us upon this vain hope we abandon our selves to all wickednesse and turn our Antidote into a poyson The holy Sacrament is the highest invention the charity of the Son of God could finde out none but an infinite Wisdome could designe it nor could any but an absolute uncontrolled Power put it in execution both of them are drained in this Mystery and when the Son of God is incarnated upon our Altars to enter into our hearts there is no other favour to be wished for upon earth Neverthelesse experience teacheth us that this Grace is not onely unprofitable Sumunt boni sumunt mali sorte tamen inaequali vitae vel interitus D. Thom. but pernicious to sinners that it conveighes death instead of life mixeth a sacriledge with a sacrifice and makes the devill enter into their soules by admitting Jesus Christ unworthily But not to stand upon the proofe of so known a Truth we need but represent the Grace of the Holy Spirit and the ingratitude of wicked men to be fully perswaded thereof He is the fruitfull source of all the blessings we receive from heaven he is the dispenser of all the merits of the Sonne of God nor can we expect any thing of the one but by the mediation of the other In the mean time we prophane his Graces cast off his Inspirations his goodnesse serves onely to set an edge upon our malice the more favourable he is to us the more rebellious are we against him and the more arts he useth to convert us the more barres do we oppose to resist him we may judge of this by the names he beares and by the attempts he makes to gaine us he gives testimony of his love and affection towards us The Holy Spirit is the Principle of our supernaturall life Spiritus Domini ferebatur super aquas ad Creationem pertinet nisi quis renatus fuerit ad regenâ—rationem Faith instructs us that 't is he that frees us from the state of sin to levell us a passage to Grace if we are the effects of his power in the world we are the works of his mercy in the Church so high a favour would challenge as high an acknowledgment so that
being his Creatures under a double Title and he our Principle in Nature and in Grace there is no body but believes we have all the reason in the world to set up his Kingdome in our hearts and carefully to preserve charity whereby he lives in our soules Neverthelesse the Great Apostle of the Gentiles complaines that the faithfull of his time made him dye that they put out the candle of their life and by an ingratitude as great as their blindnesse committed a double murder in one and the same crime He begs their favour towards the holy Spirit and having presented them with the Obligations they owe his infinite goodnesse he conjures them not to choak him in their soules Quench not the Spirit This passage is diversly explain'd Nolite Spiritum extinguere 1 Thes 5. but equally weak'nd by our Interpreters For some are of opinion that Saint Paul made use of this word to quench because the Holy Ghost coming down upon the Apostles in the likenesse of Fire might be put out as fire by our negligence And if the vestall Virgins were guilty of death Vesta nihil aliud quam ignis cui virgines solent servire quod sicut ex virgine ita nihil ex igne nascatur Aug. for suffering the prophane fire committed to their charge to go out the Christians were certainly much more criminall to suffer this holy Fire to dye that kindled all vertues in their hearts and purg'd out all defects and inward defilements Others think it a kind of figurative speech the Apostle makes use of to aggravate the hainousness of the sinne they commit who do all that they can to extinguish the Holy Spirit and endeavour to imitate the cruelty of the Jews will signe their malice by a detestable parricide It seems Saint Augustine was entred into this opinion accusing not the sinner for the death of the holy Spirit but because of the will he had to do it and endeavouring all that was in his power to stifle him that lives and reigns with the Father and the Son from all Eternity But I conceive without doing violence to the words of Saint Paul or at all prejudicing the holy Spirit we may say He suffers death by sin and loseth life when we lose charity For the same Apostle teacheth us Nescitis quia templum Dei estis Spiritus Dei habitat in vâ—bis 1 Cor. 3. that the holy Ghost dwels in us by Grace that he erects an Altar in our heart makes himself a Temple in our soul and lives in us by his vertues All his Epistles speak this language and as often as he treats of the residence of the holy Spirit in our hearts he speaks of it as of a Divine life whereof he is the first Principle so that he lives in us after the same manner as we live in him and these two lives are so closely combined together that one cannot be destroy'd without the other Thus the holy Spirit ceaseth to live in the sinner when the sinner ceaseth to live by the holy Spirit As they have one and the same life so they endure one and the same death and as the sinner loseth life because he loseth Grace that united him to Jesus Christ so the holy Spirit in some sort loseth that life that united him to the Christian by Charity and receives death from him that inflicts it upon himself by sin Therefore is it that the Apostle useth such high terms to make us comprehend the heinousnesse of our crime and describes the death of our soul under that of the holy Spirit to the end that if we are not afraid to commit a simple Murder we may at least be startled from committing a Parricide The second Quality of the holy Spirit is that having been our Principle he will also be our Director and give us motion after he hath indued us with life I will not inlarge this Truth because I have already spoken sufficiently of it and discovered those advantages the Christian may draw from thence It shall suffice to add that Christians are exalted as far above Philosophers as Philosophers are above Beasts For Beasts are led meerly by sense the pleasure that tickles them transports them and what-ever flatters their appetite either in taste or sight overpowers them if they are not with-held by fear or grief Sinners are in no better condition then the Brutes they consult only their sense when they act Homo comparatus est jumentis Considerate vos factos ad Dei imaginem Imago Dei intus est non est in corpore non est in auribus istis eculis sed est factus ubi est intellectus ubi mens ubi ratio investigandae veritatis Aug. in Psa 48. their soul is alwayes the slave of their body neither do they perceive when they engage themselves in the love of pleasure or glory how they do no more then Buls that foam and fight for the enjoyment of a Heifer or to be leaders of the Herd Philosophers are a degree higher then Sinners and taking Reason for their Guide they think they cannot err Rationalc animal est homo consummatur itaque ejus bonum si id adimplevit cui nascitur quid est autem quod ab illo ratio exigit rem facillimam secundum naturam suam vivere Senec. Epist 41. they fancie proud ostentous designes they frame noble Ideas of felicity they call in the Vertues to their aid to compasse it and assisted with Prudence Justice and Fortitude they count themselves as happy and as perfect as God himself Illi Philosophi seculi vitium vitio peccatumque peccato medicantur nos amore virtutum vitia superemus Hieron Epist ad Rust These blind Opinators see not that their Reason is a slave to their Concupiscence that Vain-glory is the foul of their Vertue that thinking to avoid Sensuaality they fall into Arrogance and flying the sins of Men are taken with those of Divels But Christians humbly soaring above Philosophers take the holy Spirit for their Guide they subject their reason to his Inspirations and knowing very well that they cannot be the children of God unlesse they be the organs of his Spirit they undertake nothing but by the motion of his Grace Though this favour make up one of their greatest advantages they fail not sometimes to neglect it and to resist the Conduct of their divine Director They relapse into the condition of Beasts when they obey their senses are restor'd to that of Philosophers Haec est iniquitas cujus non miseretur Deus cum homo defendit quod Deus odit pecâ—atum justitiam asserit ut omnipotenti resistat omnipotens illi Bern. de Conse when they are led by their judgment and become sinners when they resist Grace 'T is from this impiety that all others are derived there is no wickedness a soul is uncapble of when it rejects the impulses of the Spirit neither were the Jews cast
off but because they stop'd their ears against his Oracles 'T is the crime St Stephen accused them of when they stoned him Ye always resist the Holy Ghost and 't is the punishment the Son of God threatens all those with that persevere in their sins The Third Quality of the holy Spirit is that of a Comforter for if our Body revolt against reason he supplyes us with strength to subdue this Rebell if Passions trouble our rest he layes the storms if we are in doubt of our Salvation he gives us assurances and whatever affliction exerciseth our Patience he is our Consolation and our Joy But as concerning the acknowledgment of this Grace we daily afflict him by our insolence and we compell the Successours of the Apostles to reprove us as Saint Paul did Grieve not the holy Spirit This advice which the Doctor of the Gentiles gives us is expressed in terms not easie to be understood For the holy Spirit being God with the Father and the Son is not capable of sadness he enjoyes a happinesse that cannot be disturbed the rebellion of his Subjects can neither shake his Empire nor diminish his felicity what-ever designe is undertaken against him he still remains absolute and his Power which equals his Wisdome makes the malice of his enemies serviceable to the execution of his Will Therefore is it Ira Dei non est ut hominis id est perturbatio concitati animi sed tranquilla justi supplicii constitutio Aug. Trac 124. in Joan. that Divines cannot comprehend the language of St Paul nor conceive how the holy Spirit that is the source of joy can be grieved by sinners Some explain it following the common Rule which placeth the effects of the Passions in God and excludes the imperfections for his Anger takes not away his Tranquillity he punisheth the Rebels of his State without the least commotion nor is he less calm when he punisheth the Divels then when he rewards the Angels But though he act with so much stayedness he makes his thunder roar over the heads of the guilty he makes the earth open under their feet and if these two Elements are not enough to destroy them he obliges the Sea to drown them by his Inundations Others conceive that Saint Paul attributes Grief to the holy Spirit after the same manner he attributes Groans that he more respects his Figure then his Person and considering him in that Dove Gemitus Columbae gemitus Spiritus sancti quia in figura columbae descendit Spiritus in Dominum in the shape whereof he descended upon Jesus Christ he applyes to him the properties of that innocent Bird For every one knowes that the Dove mourns that she hath no other note but sighs and when she is once separated from her mate her lamentation lasts as long as her life But St Augustine resolves this difficulty by the strict union between the Faithfull and the holy Spirit he attributes to him the grief he inspires into them and because the pity they expresse for the lost estate of sinners is an effect of his Grace he ascends to the cause and attributes that to the holy Spirit that he produceth in Christians But how-ever it is we afflict him that comforts us and not acknowledging the good he hath done us we grieve the holy Spirit because we sad the Church whom he inanimates Finally to conclude this Discourse One of the most eminent Qualities of the holy Spirit is that of the Remission of sins his Spouse making his Panegyrick honours him with this Elogie and Divinity teacheth us that he it is that prepares the Will of the ungodly that manageth their Consent by the endearments of his Grace and reconciles them to the Father by the merits of the Son which he applyes to them Thence is it that he presides in the work of Repentance that the Priests who absolve the guilty are his Ministers and the sorrow that blots out sin is an effect of his Mercy Ad ipsum pertinet societas qua efficimur unum corpus unici Filii Dei Aug. in Ser. de Blasph Spir. In the mean time we offend him that pardons us his indulgence makes us insolent and the easiness wherewith he receiveth Penitents encreaseth the number of Delinquents All the sins we commit check these Divine perfections and by the least of our offences we violate all his personall Proprieties He is the Unity of the Father and of the Son because he is that sacred bond that joyns them eternally together and Sin is an unhappy division that divorceth Man from God the body from the soul Peccatum origo mali nec sine peccato aliquid in natura malum est Aug. the Husband from the Wife The holy Spirit is Goodness because he proceeds by the way of Love and all the effects that bear the mark of that divine perfection are particularly attributed to him Sin is nothing but malice in the essence of it the Creature may be weak and ignorant by nature Sanctitas est ab omni inquinatione libera incontaminatissema et perfectissima puritas quae fine Spiritu saucto intelligi non potest in creatura S. Dyonis but he cannot be bad but by sin what-ever bears that shameful character takes its origination thence and men and Angels would be exempt from Malice were they exempt from Sin The holy Spirit is stiled Holy not onely because he sanctifies all Creatures but because being the Spirit of the Father and of the Son who are both holy it concern'd him to bear a name common to both and which may delineate forth the admirable secrets of his eternall Procession Sin is so opposite to Holiness that we cannot better define it then by its contrariety to this divine Perfection For sanctity separates us from the Creatures and unites us so mightily to the Creator that nothing can disjoyn us on the contrary Sin is nothing else but a being wedded to the Creatures and an unhappy separation from the Creator so that it thwarts all the personal Proprieties of the holy Spirit and renders men unworthy of all the Favours they have received from him Let us therefore combate this Enemy of Grace Quicquid fecit Christus ut destrueret peccatum fecit ita debet facere Christianus cui nullus hostis est praeter peccatum Chrys make warr against him that makes it against God let us shake off the yoak of this Tyrant that flatters onely to destroy us and acknowledging the obligations we have to the holy Spirit submit our selves to his divine qualities Seeing he gives us Life by Grace let not us make him die together with it seeing he is our Director let us yeeld obedience to his Ordinances since he is our Consolation in our discontents let us not grieve him in his just Ones and seeing he is the Remission of sins let us bewail those we have committed to give him satisfaction and commit no new ones further to
kingdom of Life but by Jesus Christ As all that are born of Adam are sinners all that are born again of Jesus Christ are justified and as all the sons and daughters of Adam are the children of the earth and death all the children of Jesus Christ are the children of heaven and of life This Maxime is so true that man makes no more progresse in perfection then according as he doth in allyance with Jesus Christ The more Faith he hath the lesse hath he of Errour and Falshood the more hope he conceives in the mercy of God the lesse confidence hath he in the favour of men the more he burns with the fire of Charity the lesse is he scorched with the flames of Concupiscence the more he is united to this innocent and glorious Head from whom all grace is derived the lesse is he fixt to that infamous and criminall Head from whom all sin takes it originall so that Christians as we have already proved ought to have no other care but to make Adam die and Jesus Christ live in their person if they intend to be innocent they must be Parricides if they will bestow life upon the Son of God they must inflict death upon their first Father if they meane to be quickned with the spirit of humility which raiseth men in debasing them they must renounce the spirit of vain-glory which lays men low in lifting them up and under a colour of making Gods of them makes them nothing but Devils or Beasts Finally mans unhappinesse flows from the shamefull alliance he contracted with Adam in his Birth Ex transgressione primi hominis universum genus humanum natum cum obligatione peccati victor Diabolus possidebat si enim sub captivitate non teneremur redemptore non indigeremus venit ad captivos non captus venit ad captivos redimendos nihil in se captivitatis ha bens sed carne mortali pretium nostrum portans Aug. de Verb. Apo. Ser. 22. and the Christians happinesse proceeds from the glorious alliance he contracted with Jesus Christ in Baptisme Thus the quality of a Chief in Adam is the source of all our Evils and the quality of a Chief in Jesus Christ is the Originall of all our Good and as Adam did not so much destroy us in being our Father as in being our Head neither doth Jesus Christ save us so much for being his Brethren or his Children as because we are his members because 't is in effect this quality that procures us all the rest neither is God our Father but because Jesus Christ is our Head The Second DISCOURSE Of the Excellencies of the Christians Head and the advantages they draw from thence THough all the alliances Jesus Christ hath contracted with men be as beneficiall to them as they are honourable yet must we confesse that the relation that unites him to them as their Head is the strictest and most advantageous 'T is much that he would be their King and giving them Laws had owned them for his Subjects 'T is more yet that he condescended to be their Brother and sharing his Eternall Inheritance with them made them Co-heirs together with Himself 't is more yet that he made them his Children and conceiving them in his wounds suffered death to give them life But 't is yet a more signall favour that he vouchsafed to make them his Members and joyning them to Himself in one body he is constituted the Head from whence they receive all those indearing influences which communicate to them the life of Grace and merit for them that of Glory Therefore also doth Saint Augustine when he examines the favours we have received from the Father preferre this before all others Nullum majus donum prastâ—re posset hominibus quam ut verbum suum per quod condidit omniâ— faccret illis caput illos ei tanquam membra coaptaret ut esset filius Dei silius hominis unus Deus cum patre unus homo cum hominibus Aug. in Psal 36. Ser. 3. and confesseth he never more sensibly obliged us then when he gave us his onely Son to be our Head God saith he could bestow no higher honour upon men then by uniting them with his Word by whom he created all things as the Members with their Head that he that was the Son of God might be the Sonne of Man and that by reason of his Divine Person subsisting in the Humane Nature he might be God with his Father and Man with his Brethren 'T is in effect from this glorious co-habitation that all our blessings are derived If the Father look upon us 't is because we are the Members of his onely Sonne If he hear our prayers 't is because Jesus Christ speaks by our mouth if he receive us into Glory 't is because he sees us cloathed with the merits of our Head if he admit us into his bosome 't is because the quality we bear renders us inseparable from his Word But if this alliance be beneficiall to Christians 't is honourable to Jesus Christ For though nothing can be added to his Grandeur who is equall to his Father and all the Priviledges he received from his Incarnation may passe for so many Humiliations Neverthelesse the dignity of being Head of the Church is so eminent that after that of the Son of God there is none so Venerable and August It gives Jesus Christ the same advantage over the Faithfull that the Head hath over the Members and to conceive what he is in the Church we must observe what this is in the Body The Head is the noblest seat of the Soul 't is that part of the Body where she acts her highest operations 't is there that she debates those subjects that are presented to her that she deliberates upon the accidents that happen 't is there that the memory preserves the species which may be called the treasures of wisdome and the riches of the Intellectuall faculty 't is there that the understanding conceives truths and the will pronounceth determinations In a word 't is there that the affairs concerning Peace and Warre Salvation or Damnation Time or Eternity are treated of Thus also is it in Iesus Christ that all those lights reside that govern the Church 't is in him that are shut up all the treasures of wisdome and from him that all Oracles proceed whereby the Faithfull are instructed The Head is the most eminent part of the Body Nature was willing that as it is the noblest so it should be placed nearest Heaven and the very situation should oblige all the other parts to shew it reverence It is the most exalted that it may more easily dispence its orders and that the spirits which convey sense and motion by the nerves may descend with more facility into all the parts of the body Iesus Christ also is in the highest place of his State he reignes in Heaven with his Father from thence he views all
the necessities of his Body he sends those influences that are needfull to every particular member distributing light and heat according to his own designes and their necessities The Head is the most illustrious throne of the Soul she hath all the senses for ornament or for defence The Ears serve as Scouts which exactly report whatever the confusion of noises or distinction of voices can inform either doubtfull or certain The Eyes are faithfull Guides discovering the Essence of things by discovering the accidents under which they are veiled The Palate is the taster of meats judgeth of good and bad and following the orders of his Soveraign receives the one and rejects the other The Nose is not only the unloader of the Brain and the ornament of the Face but the seat of smelling and discerns of sents that as the Head is the Queen Regent of the Body she may have all things necessary for the preservation of her Subjects Thus may we say that the Son of God possesses all the Graces that are dispersed amongst the Faithful that he hath all the gifts of the holy Ghost which are as the senses of the Mystical Body and includes all the vertues that serve either for the ornament or defence of his members Omnia fere dona nostra habent adjunctam imperfectionem unde continentia est hostis testis concupisâ—entiae Aug. He hath moreover some advantages which others enjoy not and as he is the Head of the Church his Father was pleased that he should be happy in his mortall passage that his light should have no shadow of darknesse that he should preserve his Innocence in the midst of our sins whereof he was the pledge that he should have the gift of Prophecy without obscurity and that all his Graces should be free from those imperfections in men they are accompanied with If this wonderfull Chief have some priviledges common with the Head he hath others that are particular and which force us to confesse that hee is much nobler then that goodly part that commands all the rest For the Head can neither be younger nor elder then the Body Nature forms them both together and at the same time that she lengthens the arm extends the Shoulders fastens the Legs she opens the Eyes boars the Ears fashions the Nose and pefects the Head But Iesus Christ is Independent of his Members he was born at the very instant he chose with his Father and as he quickens his Body before his Birth so doth he after his Death All the Faithfull that were before him lived by the Grace they drew from him and all that come after him live now by the influences they receive from his Sacred Person He acted in the world before he came into the world He sanctified the Patriarchs of whom he was to be born He inanimated those Kings that were his Ancestors and contrary to all the orders of Nature he gave life to those from whom he was to receive it We cannot deny but his Grace was more powerfull in this particular then the sin of Adam for this wretched Parent communicated not his poison but to those that descended from him he made none but his children heirs of his misfortune and whoever sprang not from that unfortunate stock may boast himself innocent But the Son of God acts indifferently upon all men his power is not bounded by Ages the Future depends upon him as well as the Past and the Saints that saw the Deluge of the world owe their grace to him as well as those that shall see the Conflagration of it He hath this advantage common to him with those causes which act before they are and being the last in execution cease not to operate because they are the first in intention Thus the Son of God produceth wonders at the birth and at the dissolution of Ages though he were not born till the fulness of time because he is the first in the intention of his Father the Faithful are but for him and all the Elect are the Members which make up that Body whereof he is the Head Vicerunt sancti in sanguine Agni Apoc. Agnus est occisus ab origine mundi caput nostrii Christus est Corpus capitis illius nos sumus nunquid soli nos non etiam illi qui fuerunt ante nos Omnes qui ab inicio saeculi fuerunt justi caput ChristuÌ„ habent Aug. Serm. 3. in Psal 36. This is the truth that S. John teacheth us when he saith that the Saints overcame by the blood of the Lamb that was slain from the beginning of the world For though he died not till the reign of Tiberius his blood failed not to produce effects in all the differences of time and as the Martyrs of the Old Testament were not less his Members then those of the New they owed their conflicts their victories their triumphs to his vertue This circumstance greatly magnifies the power of Jesus Christ and makes us see that the treasures of his merits are infinite in that he is not onely unable to be exhausted by all the Faithful that are enriched by him but because his liberality was laid open from the beginning of the world The Kings of the earth act not but during their life if they exercise some desires in the hearts of their Subjects before their death they are blinde velleities which are many times attended with repentance and sorrow if they leave some regret after their death it is quickly buried by the vices or vertues of their Successors and when we no longer feel the benefit of their Protection we are no longer mindful of their Persons But Jesus more powerful and more necessary then Monarchs acted before his Birth and after his Resurrection Christus ante profuit quà m fuit Bern. he governed his Kingdom before he was conceived in the womb of the Virgin he won battels before he had any hands to fight he maintained the Faithful before he had a Soul and gave life to his Members before he received it from his Mother he lived not as yet in Himself and was alive and already in Others he acted not in his Natural body and yet he acted in his Mystical body not being able to express himself by his own mouth he spake by that of the Prophets and gave Laws to all the Jews in the person of Moses His Power was increased by his Death that which ruines the dominion of Princes served onely to establish his Kingdom he was never more absolute then upon the Cross and that head crowned with thorns was never more active then when he stood at bay This Sun never darted forth more rays then when he was in an eclipse nor did the Son of God ever so gloriously triumph over his enemies as when they upbraided him with his weakness and rejoyced at his sufferings Then was it that he conceived the Church in his wounds that he gave his children life by his own death that
august solemnity then what appeared at the Death of Jesus Christ Men lament the death of their Soveraigns they expresse some sadnesse though for the most part 't is either counterfeit or interessed Those that expected their liberality are afflicted at their death those that feared their power or their displeasure rejoyce But were they so generally beloved that the regret was universall at least we must confesse that Nature would not weep over their Funerals she would be insensible of their death nor would she disorder her Course to witnesse her Lamentation This honour was reserved for Jesus Christ There was never any King but he registred by quick and dead None but this Innocent drew tears from the Stars and the Son of God is the only Soveraign whose obsequies all creatures solemnly attended 'T is true his Mysticall Body partakes of this honour with him Nature hath many times wrought miracles to publish the Innocence of Martyrs the fire hath lost his heat that it might not be instrumentall to their punishment wilde Beasts have waxed tame at their feet Omnes Martyres Deus Spiritualiter liberavit neminem Spritualiter deseruit visibiliter tamē quosdā deseruisse visus est quosdam eripuisse sed ideo quosdam eripuit neputes illum non potuisse eripere ubi non cripuit secretiorem intelligas voluntatem Aug. Tract 8. in Epist 10. and acknowledging in them a Grace more powerfull then that of Originall Righteousnesse they have many times forgot that fiercenesse the sin of man indued them with The Sea hath suffered violence to preserve them hath gently transported them upon his waves or suspending his waters as it were into Wals and Arches hath erected them Temples in his lowest Abysses But the Scripture whose every word is an Oracle teacheth us that the death of the Mysticall Body of Christ shall receive the same honours at the end of the world that his Naturall Body received in Mount Calvary For when the number of the Elect shall be perfect when Jesus Christ coming to judge the quick and the dead shall cut off the corrupted members from his Mysticall Body and remove those from his person that were united to it only by a vain Character and an unprofitable Faith the same prodigies that appeared at his death shall appear at this Judgement and according to the language of the Fathers Nature that bewailed Jesus Christ in his Naturall Body shall bewail him again in his Mysticall Body and all creatures shall put on mourning for the death of their Soveraign Finally these two Bodies shall have the same destiny after their Resurrection as they had the same during their Life for the one shall be glorified as the other and they shall both receive the recompence due to their labours The Son of God rose gloriously out of his Tomb after he had given assurance to his Apostles he was taken up into Heaven to reign there eternally with his Father The Angels made a part of his Triumph the Captives he delivered from the Lymbo's waited upon him those gates of Brasse and Steel that had been shut since the sin of Man opened at his word and his Body that was pierc'd with the nails rent with stripes torn with thorns was set at the right hand of his Father upon a Throne whose ornament was Justice and the foundation Mercy His Mysticall Body shall always receive the same glorious entertainment the Faithfull are admitted into the company of the Blessed the Saints shall reign in Heaven with the Angels they shall be mingled in their Hierarchies according to their merits and as heretofore of the Jew and Gentile was made one Church Militant of Men and Angels is daily made one Church Triumphant The bodies of the Faithfull shall accompany their souls in glory in the generall Resurrection those members that have suffered in the quarrell of Jesus Christ shall be freed from all miseries the Divine Providence shall rouze them out of their dormitories by the clattering sound of a miraculous trumpet it will find in spite of the flames those that have been burnt to ashes in spite of the waters those that have been swallowed up in the deep and working as many miracles as there shall be diversities of death to overcome shall treat the Faithfull as it hath already treated Jesus Christ so that we may say of both the Bodies of the Son of God those glorious words of the Apostle Great is the Mysterie of Godlinesse Indeed 't is a Sacrament of Piety that the Word was pleased to be allied to our nature and to the Church to have a Naturall Body and a Mysticall Body Which was manifested in the flesh both of them were manifested in the flesh because it was requisite that the Word should be made Incarnate to Espouse his Church Justified in the Spirit Both of them were justified in the Spirit because they are purely his work and the Regeneration of Beleevers is an Image of the Birth of Jesus Christ Seen of Angels Both of them appeared to Angels in that the same Spirits that waited upon the Son of God assisted his Spouse and extend their care over all her children Preached to the Gentiles beleeved on in the world Both of them were preached to the Gentiles by the Apostles and the mystery of the Incarnation joyned to that of their Vocation hath made up the best part of the Gospel Both of them were beleeved on in the world nor hath any thing more perswaded us of our future greatenesse then the condescention of the Eternall world Received up into Glory Finally both of them were exalted into Glory there to reign everlastingly that the blessedness of Iesus Christ may have its accomplishment and he be as happy in his Members as in his Person The Sixt DISCOURSE That the Church is the Spouse of Jesus Christ because she is his Body and of the Community of their Marriage ONe of the ancientest qualities of Iesus Christ is that of a Bridegroom Tanquam sponsus procedens de thalamo suo Psal 18. the Prophets have honoured him with this title in the Old Testament David in the forty fifth Psalm hath made his Epithalamium and Saint Iohn who was the end of Types and Figures and the Silence of the Prophets gave out that he was the Friend of the Bridegroom But Adam is the first that descovered to us this mystery and by his marriage represented to us that of Iesus Christ with his Church For besides that his wife was taken out of his side whilst he lay asleep as the Church was out of the side of the Son of God when he was dead we know that the Laws of that marriage more respected the second Adam then the first He having neither Father nor Mother was not obliged to forsake them to cleave unto his wife But Iesus Christ at his Incarnation left his Father when he took upon him the form of a Servant and his Mother at his Passion when he suffered death for
agnosce â—e in ipso tentatum te in illo agnosce vincentem Aug. Jesus Christ saith he was tempted by the evil spirit in the desart or rather we were tempted in him for 't is from us that he took Flesh from him that we derive Salvation 't is from us that he receives his Death from him that we receive our Life 't is from us that he had these affronts cast upon him from him that we have Honours conferred upon us 'T is therefore for our sakes that he suffered Temptation and for his sake that we carry away the victory Or to say the same thing in other words If we were tempted in him 't is in him also that we overcame the devil our enemy He certainly could have difcarded him from his person and using him like a rebellious slave have punished his rash boldness by commanding him to hell but had he not been willing to be tempted he had not taught us to overcome by his example nor had the combat he fought in the wilderness procured us the honour of a Triumph Thus the quality of Head is injurious to Jesus Christ and honourable to Christians because in that exchange it obliged him to make with them he endured the shame of the Temptation and purchased for them the advantage of the Victory Finally to conclude this Discourse The Son of God was willing to bear the reproaches of the Cross and to merit for us the priviledges of Glory For being charged with our iniquities he suffered death the punishment of them permitted Shame to be added to Cruelty that spoiling him of Life Si moriamur saltem cum libertate moriamur Cicero in Verâ—em de Crucis supplicio agens they might withal rob him of his Honour and he might give up the ghost as an Offender and a Slave together In the mean time his Punishment purchased our Glory his Death merited our Immortality and in stead of taking vengeance of our crimes he procures us his own advantages It seems saith S. Augustine the Father mistook himself he treats his onely Son as a Delinquent and handles Men as Innocents he crowns him with Thorns these with Glory and confounding the Sinner with the Just confounds Chastisements with Rewards But if we consider that the Son of God took our place and we his that he is our Head and we his Members we shall finde that his Father had reason to punish him and to reward us because having made a change with us he is become Guilty we Innocent Let us therefore be thankful to Jesus Christ who disdained not a quality which investing him with our Nature chargeth him with our sins and our infirmities and uniting him to us as to his Members obliges him to be tempted to make us victorious Ille quippe Christianorum caput in omnibus tentari voluit quia tentamur sic morivoluit quiae morimur sic resurgere quiae resurrecturi sumus Aug. in Psal 9. Serm. 2. and to suffer the death of the Cross to obtain for us the glory of Immortality The Ninth DISCOURSE Of the duties of Christians as Members toward Jesus Christ as their Head THough the duties of the Head and of the Members are reciprocal and that composing one Body they are obliged to a mutual correspondence arising from Necessity as well as Love yet there is no man but will acknowledge that as the Members receive more assistance from the Head ten the Head from the Members so are they tied to greater expressions of dependence Nature which is an excellent mistress in this matter instructs us that the life of the Members depends upon the Head and their very preservation obliges them to three or four duties without which they can no ways subsist Their Interest requires that they be inseparably fastned to that from whence they receive their life lest their division with their death deprive them of all those advantages which spring from the union they have with their Head Thus we see that the Hand which is one of the most ingenious parts of the body and which may be called the Mother of all Arts and the faithfullest Minister of the Soul loseth its dexterity and comeliness as soon as separated from the Head that enlivens it The Feet though not so noble as the Hands are yet as necessary being the moveable Foundations of this living building are destitute of all strength when they have no commerce with the Head This indeed ceaseth not to act and move though provided neither of Hands nor Feet when Nature fails it hath recourse to Art and being the throne of the Soul ransacks all her treasures of Invention to execute that by it Self Omnis salus omnis vita à capite in caeterae membra derivatur Galen was wont to be put in execution by its Members But though the hands are so industriously subtil and the legs so vigorously strong they are absolutely useless because their separation deprives them of the influences of their head This Maxime so notorious in Nature is much more evident in Grace For the Son of God hath no need of his Members 't is Mercy and not Necessity obligeth him to make use of them He is not at all more powerful when united to them nor more feeble when separated from them Faith tells us he can do all things without them whereas they can doe nothing without him Therefore is he compared to the Vine and they to the Branch to acquaint them that all their vertue flows from his and being pluckt from his Body can as the Branch expect nothing but the fire Therefore the first obligation of Christians is to unite themselves to Jesus Christ to seek their life in this union and to believe that their death is the infallible consequence of their division This is it that Saint Augustine represents us in this Discourse which though long cannot be tedious because there is nothing in it that is not delightfull and necessary As the Body hath many members which though different in number make up but one body so Jesus Christ hath many members which in the diversity of their conditions constitute also but one body so that we are always with him as with our Head and drawing from him our strength as well as our life we can neither act nor live without him We with him make up a fruitful Vine that bears more Grapes then Leaves but divided from him we are like those Branches which being good for nothing are destin'd to the slames when stript off from the Vine Therefore doth the Son of God so earnestly affirm it in the Gospel that without him we can doe nothing that our interests as well as our love Domine si fine te nihil totum in te possumus Etenim quicquid ille operatur per nos videmur nos operari potest ille multum totum sine nobis nos nihil sine ipso Aug. in Psal 30. may engage us to be united to his
Tongues 't is to make strangers understand them and to gather up the children of God that are dispersed thorow all the world But that which exceedeth all belief is that the particular graces that sanctifie mens souls are common among the Faithful For of these Theologie acknowledgeth two sorts one which are given us for the service of others and respect more the benefit of the Church then our own sanctification such are all those graces that are called Gratuities whose principal end is the glory of Jesus Christ and the conversion of Infidels such is the gift of Miracles which doth not so much profit him that hath received it as those who see the effects of it because we know very well that this priviledge though extraordinary and rare may consist with sin and if it be not accompanied with much humility is as dangerous as splendid The other sort of Graces are those that make us acceptable to God blot out our offences look more to our own salvation then that of our neighbour and being not so glittering as the other are incomparably more holy and useful Now though these last kinde of graces be our own yet also are they common in the Church and those that are united to us by charity may in some sort make use of them 'T is certainly upon this ground that the great Apostle calls this vertue the bond of perfection because it not onely associates all Christians but renders their graces common and enricheth every particular with the advantages of the whole fraternity Therefore was David bold to entitle himself to all the good works they did that kept the commandments of God Particeps ego sum omnium timentium te custodientium mandata tua For though he knew very well his condition would not suffer him to be always at the Altar that the cares that accompany Royalty agree not with the sweet retirements of solitude and the bloody exercises of war gave him not leave to attend the service of the Ark he hoped nevertheless that Charity which united him to the Faithful would make him partaker of their merits and being a Member of that mystical body he should enjoy their Graces that made it up with him Thus this great Prince ruling in his Palace or fighting in his Armies promised himself a share in the Sacrifices of the Priests in the Tears of the Widows in the Illuminations of the Prophets in the Crowns of the Martyrs and that Love supplying the defect of his condition enriched him with their vertues without impoverishing them This also was the counsel S. Augustine gave the Faithfull of his time for knowing that every Christian could not have all graces Noli dicere in animo tuo ego si Christianus essem utique ad Deum pertinerem possem facere quod alius facit talis enim est acsi diceret auris ego si ad corpus pertinereÌ„ possem videre lunaÌ„ soleÌ„ non habet illud tamen nec auris nec manus sed faciunt fingula quod possunt cum concordia serviunt sibi inviceÌ„ omnia membra Aug. Hom. 15. Ex. 50. that variety is one of the beauties of the Church and that diversity of conditions contributes no less to her profit then to her ornament perswaded them to have recourse to Charity and to employ the credit of this vertue to purchase all others without labour His words are too handsome to be omitted Envie not said he to the whole company of the Faithful the advantages your neighbour possesseth but holily rejoyce in them and ye shall enjoy them with him Say not in your heart Were I indeed a Christian and had I the honour to belong to Jesus Christ I could do that which others do and instead of being engaged in the bonds of Marriage I would live a holy Celibate For 't is just as if the ear should say I am not of the body because I cannot see the light of the Sun in the mean time the hand hath not that priviledge no more then the ear and yet they are parts of the body as well as the eyes because though every member cannot do that by it self which all the others do they cease not mutually to assist each other and to possess that in common which they call their own properly After their example be glad of that grace God hath conferred upon any of the Faithful and you may do that in him which you are not able to perform in your selves He keeps his Virginity love him and you are continent with him you have the gift of Patience by learning to suffer let him love you and your patience shall become his He can fast and your constitution will not give you leave love him and his fasting shall be yours If you ask me how this can be 't is because he lives in you and you in him and you are both members of the same body for though ye be different in condition and in person by charity ye are but one and the same thing The Abbot Guerric certainly grounded himself upon this Maxime when he said that all vertues were common among Believers that the treasure of the Church was open to all her children and that when our condition or our weakness did not permit us to practise one vertue we fail not to practise it in another Caeteras virtutes etsi omnes non habent â—iligant illum qui habet quod in se non inveniunt in illo habent quod in se non vident sicut Petrus in Joanne virginitatis habet meritum sic Joannes in Petro habet Martyris praemi m. Gueri in festo pu Thus saith this great man Saint Peter and Saint John lived in a community of goods one found that in the other which he could not finde in himself joyning their merits together they mutually enriched one another and as Saint Peter was a virgin in the person of Saint John that beloved disciple was a Martyr in the person of Saint Peter So that the unity of Members which they had in Jesus Christ bestowed upon them priviledges they had not in their own person and Charity that united these two Apostles in despite of their condition twisted the Crown of Martyrdom with that of Virginity Martyrdom cost Saint John onely a little love without enduring the pain he had the merit of patience he triumphed without fighting because he lived in him whom grace made victorious Virginity cost Saint Peter no more his love procured him purity he was a virgin because he loved a virgin-disciple and enjoying the goods of Saint John as his own he found the merit of continence in the engagements of Marriage Quod tuum est per laborem menm est per amorem Greg. Mag. To give this truth a fuller expression we must make use of the words of S. Gregory the Great and say that in the unity of the Church one Believer gains that by love that another does by
impute our fall to him When they foresaw our objections and our doubts they answered them only with admiration and paying us with that solution Saint Augustine so often returned the Pelagians that urged him close they have taught us this lesson that there is more to be adored then to be known in this ineffable mystery That in this occasion a man may boast his ignorance nor know which side to take without running the hazard of being accounted rash and unadvised Finally that the ways we take to discover the will and mind of God are in some sort injurious to his Majesty For we limit the knowledge of the Almighty and set down Instances wherein he sees some things and not others we make him reason according to our manner and we prescribe him principles whence we oblige him to draw consequences that please us we constrain him to save and destroy men according to the motions of severity or pity which sway us and not knowing that his justice is transcendently above all our Laws we go about to reduce him to the conditions of Judges or Soveraigns I honour the Fathers of the Church who to quel Heresies have advanced certain Maximes upon this subject of Predestination I reverence whatever the Church obliges me to believe of the Justice or Mercy of God I adore with the Scripture all the judgements of my Creator whether he founds his refusal of Grace or Glory upon my Non-Entity or upon my Sin I bless his justice if he chuse me upon sight of his own favours or my merits which are but the effects of his favours I will magnifie his mercy and not examining either his motives or questioning his power in the disposall of his creatures I will patiently submit to the Eternall determination of his Divine Providence Upon the consideration of these verities the Christian must live between hope and fear that seeing himself suspended between Heaven and Hel he may sigh out after his Redeemer and finding no firmer assurance then in submission to his grace may yeild full obedience to it earnestly longing that it may grow more vigorous that so it may exercise an absolute dominion over his will never fearing to lose his liberty by yeilding subjection thereto but instructed by the language of the Church beg of God that grace may become Mistress of his heart that it may vanquish his resistance and making strength succeed sweetness may triumph over a rebel that disputes the victory with him I know very well this subject causeth much bandying in the Schools that it divides the Masters of Divinity and troubles the peace and fair intelligence with which they ought to inquire after Truth But for me I find them agreed in the most materiall circumstances and that in the diversity of their opinions they can neither be suspected of Errour nor Rashness For seeing those who vary a little from the Doctrine of Saint Augustine confess that grace alwayes prevents the will that with its light it sheds forth heat and warmth into the soul of man chusing those ery moments in which it infallibly produceth its effects they are at a great distance from the errour of the Pelagians who ascribed all to Liberty and judged not Grace necessary to act absolutely but easily Semper est antë in nobis voluntas libera sed non est semper bona aut enim à justitia libera est quando servit peccato tunc est mala aut à peccato libera est quando servit justitiae tunc est bona Aug. de Grat. Lib. arb c. 15. and seeing those that boast themselves the disciples of Saint Augustine acknowledge that Grace takes not away the Liberty though it leave it not wholly in an indifferency me thinks they are very far from the dreams of the Manichees and the impiety of the Calvinists particularly that following their Master they acknowledge that Man is always free in good and evil onely with this difference that his Liberty is the onely cause of his Perdition and Grace the principal cause of his Salvation 'T is upon these two Principles as upon two immoveable Poles that I make this whole Treatise roll wherein I profess to take S. Augustine for my guide but protest withal that in seeking after Truth I have always endeavoured to preserve Charity and am so far from blaming those Opinions I do not hold that I am ready to relinquish mine own when the Church shall condemn them or when her Governours shall oblige me to change them Hitherto both Opinions have seemed Orthodox The Councel of Trent hath authorized them leaving them in the Church and hath suffered the Faithful to embrace that which they shall judge most conformable to Scripture and the holy Fathers The Canons of this Assembly are composed with so much prudence that condemning the Heresies that divided the unity of the Church it hath determined nothing concerning the Controversies of the Divines It hath so judiciously explained it self that each party alleadgeth it for themselves and by the carriage of the business hath made us see that tacitely it gave approbation to both these Opinions which for twelve Ages have busied the best Wits of the School For though something be added to that which seems least consonant to the doctrine of S. Augustine there is no change in the substance and 't is the same that so many Bishops and Doctors have taught heretofore in the Pulpit and in the Chair After the example of this great Councel I honour both the Opinions and expecting till the Church shall further explain her self upon these matters which produce so many gallant Pieces on one side and the other I will content my self in saying that in each party there is something to be done and something to be left undone For those who will not that Grace have so absolute a dominion over the Will ought to labour hard because believing their liberty not so maimed but that it may with a little aid practise Christian vertues they are obliged to produce notable effects and to carry heaven by violence and the assiduity of an uncessant endeavour But they must withal carefully avoid Pride which accompanies bold undertakings They must remember all their pains will be fruitless if they be not quickned with Grace they must be ever mindful of those words of Jesus Christ who confounding the vanity of men hath obliged his disciples to confess that after all their travels they are unprofitable servants They must consider that whatever share their liberty may pretend in the business of their salvation they can do nothing without his grace who said to all his disciples in the person of his Apostles Sine me nihil potest is facere The disciples of S. Augustine who acknowledge the weakness of Nature and the power of Grace are engaged to pray much to depend upon the mercy of God and to cry aloud with the Psalmist to their Divine Redeemer In manibus tua sortes meae but
to act when this ceaseth to operate For the right understanding of this Truth we must remember that though the Christian and the Man be one and the same person yet have they their oppositions and their differences Man believes himself perfect when he is free and reasonable these two faculties are his principal advantages and the vanity of Philosophy perswades him that as long as he acts according to Reason he cannot fail of attaining felicity To keep himself in this state he is careful that the Senses pervert not his Understanding that the Passions trouble not his Rest and an inordinate Love deprive him of his Liberty But this blinde Opiniator sees not that he carries his enemy in his own bosom that Concupiscence orders all the motions of his soul that Reason is but her slave and that he is never more wedded to himself then when he thinks to hang loose from all things else As the Christian is a new man he acts by other principles for he renounceth Reason to give himself over to Grace he quits the light of his Understanding to submit to the obscurity of Faith and his endeavour is to quench the flames of Self-love that he may burn onely with the fire of Charity He learns in the School of Christianity that Reason is a bad guide because she lets Concupiscence lead her he knows that the Understanding is prevented with a thousand errours and having lost the better part of his light he many times confounds Vertue with Vice He is not ignorant that the Will is the most depraved as it is the most guilty of all his faculties and being engaged in the love of the creatures finds nothing that charms the affection but what is corruptible and perishable Therefore is his greatest care to get assistance against these domestick enemies and wholly to surrender himself to grace that it may be to him for a guide and a defence Thus Faith becomes his Light Hope his Supporter Charity his Love and if we may speak so Grace is made his second Nature To the vain errours of Science he opposeth the solid lights of Faith to the false promises of the world the true promises of Jesus Christ to self-love divine love and to the corruption of Nature the purity of Grace Then is it that soaring above himself he learns by a happy experience that he was never more free then since he became a slave and that Grace is so far from robbing him of his liberty that it hath delivered him from a bondage as cruell as it was ignominious For as Saint Augustine saith Free-will finds its perfection in Charity he that was in darkness becomes enlightned from weakness he passeth to strength from disorder to good government and he that was sullied with the love of the creatures recovers his purity in the love of the Creator But nothing more obliges the Christian to renounce his reason that so he may become the subject of Grace then to know that his last end is supernaturall and that he cannot attain it by forces solely naturall For though man have some knowledge of God though he observe his perfections in the creatures though he judge of his greatness by the beauty of his works and recoiling into himself sees there some shadows of him whose image he is yet he knows very well that God is so great that he cannot be perceived but by his own light Indeed he must shed abroad some rays into our soul that the soul may have some glympse of him he must clarifie and strengthen her that she may look up unto him and mounting above her selfe may render her partaker of that light whereby he is made visible to the blessed in glory Thus though the will have some affection for the Supream Good though she cannot fixe upon any objects that have not some appearance of Goodness in them and that in the midst of her greatest disorders there still remains some inclination towards her Creator yet the Christian knows that God cannot be worthily embrac'd but by that love he works in us that charity must be poured into our hearts and that without the assistance of this Divine gift we can neither love him nor hate our selves as we should The inclination Nature stamped upon us in her purity was too weak to effect this and that which Nature hath left us since her corruption is too inordinate to lead us to it Thus Grace is necessary in both conditions and the actions that proceed not from this Principle are to be suspected because according to the Maximes of Saint Augustine those that flow not from Charity flow most commonly from Concupiscence These two Soveraigns possess the will successively as the first works nothing but good the second is only active in evil and to be disingaged from the tyranny of the one there is no other way but to submit to the lawful dominion of the other Thence it comes to pass that the same Doctor declaring his full judgement in that Epistle he writ to Vitalius informs us that Grace depends upon Gods pure Liberality that 't is due neither to Men nor Infants though it be necessary to all the actions of the former that God who is the Author of it respects neither their works nor their dispositions that men may know when he bestows it 't is an emanation of his mercy and when he denies it 't is an act of his justice He that shall well weigh the sense of these words as profound as the depths he treats of will not have much adoe to acknowledge the indigence of the creature the need he hath of Grace and the Liberty God reserves to himself of dispensing it to whom he will The Third DISCOURSE That the Grace of a Christian ought to be more powerfull then that of Adam IT is strange but withall very true that nothing so much hinders a man from valuing the remedies that cure him as the opinion he hath that he was not very sick This is it that to this day abuseth the greatest part of Christians and lessens the obligation they have to the Grace of Jesus Christ For they are perswaded that the fault of our first Father hath scarce made any devastations in our Nature that the greatest part of our evils spring not so much from our will as from our imagination and that there is little difference between the state of sin and the state of originall righteousness Pride insensibly confirms us in this belief we make our weakness pass for cowardise nor can we be brought to acknowledge that our passions are the punishment of our disobedience From this first Errour is derived a second more troublesome then the former For believing our disease light we think the remedy extream easie and judging Concupiscence not so strong we judge the Grace of Jesus Christ nothing so powerful Indeed those that imagine that mans liberty is yet vigorous enough to resist sin acknowledge only a sufficient grace adding little to that of
Providence of God because they know his concurrence hath no lesse sweetness then force and that he ceaseth not to act winningly notwithstanding he acts absolutely They believe also God no ways injures the creature if he leave him to his infirmity because owing him nothing he may let him fall when he will and that it is mercy and not justice when he vouchsafes to uphold or lift him up Adjuvat noâ— Deus per Doctrinam revelationem suaÌ„ dum cordis nostri oculos aperit dum nobis ne praesentibus occupemur futura demoÌ„strat dum Diaboli pandit infidias dum nos mâ—liformi inoffabili dono gratiae caelestis illuminat Pelag in Aug. â—â— 1. de Gra. Christi ca. 7. Some other Divines to whom this opinion seems too severe place the power of Grace in the consent of the creature and will have that God more tender of our salvation then of his own glory presents Grace to all men and that it depends only upon their liberty to receive or reject it This assistance hath no more vertue then the law it shews the evill but cures it not it forbids sin but gives no strength to avoid it it clears the understanding but changeth not the will it solicits not this but because it illuminates that and as if men had kept all their libertie since their fall it tries to dissipate their darkness without taking the pains to break their fetters This Grace thus conceived is but a weak light because it leaves all Infidels in their Errours and a vain perswasion because it leaves so many Christians in their sins Nevertheless according to their Creed 't is sufficient to save all men provided they will and as if their liberty had not been infeebled at all by Originall sin they can make use of this Universall Grace work out their salvation with it draw themselves out of the number of the Reprobate and pass into that of Elect. It seems this Grace is not much different from that which Saint Augustine opposed when he said these words to the Pelagians If we have the power to consent why does the Apostle teach us that 't is God that works in us to will I know ye will answer he works in us by his Law in obeying which we make it efficacious and in resisting render it uselesse and unprofitable But if all be as you say you condemn all the Prayers of the Faithfull you blame the custome of the Church For seeing 't is in our power to consent when we list 't is to no purpose to pray that we may doe it and since having the knowledge of good 't is in our own power to perform it 't is in vain that Saint Paul requested Grace for the Faithfull who were already enlightned In the mean time knowing that 't is of God to prepare the will he addes Prayer to the Command having exhorted them to depart from sin he endeavours to divert them by his supplications and to obtain that for them which he had formerly taught them But as I write not so much to confute the opinion of others as to establish my own I leave every man the freedome to follow his own sense in this particular and content my self to make it appear that Saint Augustine was never of this judgement concerning Grace And indeed there are few Divines that embrace the opinion I am about to deliver it was stifled in the very Birth as Monsters are and though it flatter liberty making it the Mistress of salvation it must be sweetned to give it some credit among the Faithfull Behold therefore the temperament the new Divines have reduc'd it to thereby to give more to Grace and lesse to Free-will Neque tacenduÌ„ est Dlum pracedenter velle omnes homines salvari non enim ad puniendum nos plasmavit sed ut efficiat nos bonitatis suae participes ut bonus peccantes autem puniri vult ut justus Damas de fide They say then that God is willing to save all men that this is a design worthy his goodness who would not create men to damn them that in consideration of the merits of Jesus Christ that are infinite he offers Grace to all sinners which being well husbanded is able to procure them salvation But forasmuch as the weakness of man is great his inclination to evil powerful and his will so free that no Laws can be imposed upon it they say that God as if he distrusted his forces or would not incroach upon the Liberty accommodates himself to the inclinations of the sinner whom he means to convert that he studies his humours feels the pulse of his affections and taking the moments he judgeth most proper for the execution of his designs sets upon him when he scarce knows how to defend himself For the Graces God offers are so fitted to his spirit so agreeable to his Will so conformable to his Temperament that he accepts on this occasion what he would have refused in another Gratia congrna est qua tali tempore loco datur quo per scieutiam conditionatam Deus praevidet voluntatem hominis ei consensum praebituram quamvis potest pro naturali sua indifferentia dissentire Suarez lib. 3. de Concurs Less lib. de Grat. Efficaci These Divines describe God as a timorous Lover and the soul of man as a stately Mistresse God speaks to her by his inspirations and shee gives no ear he discovers her his Beauties and she contemns them he presents her his Favours and she mindes them not Seeing her rebellious to his will deaf to his intreaties as if he could not be obeyed without offering her violence and conveying heat into the will as well as light into the understanding he hath recourse to Stratagems he endeavours to surprise her that he cannot overcome he wins her heart by her ears nor triumphs over her liberty but by her humors or her inclinations But certainly Love never made the Almighty lose his Majesty but in the Mystery of the Incarnation when he deals with his creature he always keeps his State his being a Lover makes him not forget that he is a Soveraign and when he intends to deliver a soul from the slavery of sin he employs graces so sweet and so strong that as he no ways wrongs the liberty of his creature so neither doth he prejudice his absolute Power He knows very well that sin gives him a new right over men that he may refuse them grace without any injustice that he saves a Delinquent when he saves a Saint and that the merits of his Son being not applyed to men but according to his good pleasure take not from him the power absolutely to dispose of his subjects To give my judgement therefore of these three opinions Me thinks the first more respects the Majesty of God then the Liberty of Man prescribes Laws to him which in truth are not unjust but seems a little too severe lifts him not high
more delight him Nay the Lascivious wanton is not so much in love with beauty as with pleasure because he placeth his affection sometimes upon objects that have no appearance of beauty and many times forsakes a handsome woman to court a deformed one Thus pleasure is a powerfull charm that masters all hearts plunders liberties and makes slaves that never complain of their bondage because they are voluntary Lovers that seek the secret of purchasing affection study nothing but complacency being assured they shall produce love in that heart where they have begot pleasure Flatterers never insinuate into the minds of great men but by rendring themselves acceptable nor doe their false Commendations steal in at the ears but because pleasure takes up the place of truth The very Devils though our mortall enemies seduce us not but because they please us and had they not found out the art of mixing pleasure with sin all their temptations would be fruitless But the will of man though never so free hath such an inclination toward pleasure that did she never so strongly barracado her self she could not possibly resist it she holds out against truth because she is blind and sees not the beauties 't is adorned with she secures her self against violence because she is free and naturally opposeth whatever seems to incroach upon her liberty she does not acquiesce in reason because she is deaf nor hears any discourse but such as charms the understanding by convincing it But pleasure hath allurements which she can no wayes withstand she trembles when ever it sets upon her she is afraid to lose her liberty in his presence and knowing the power it hath over her inclinations she cals in sorrow to her succour to guard her against this pleasing enemy If it be true that pleasure reigns absolutely over the will we need not think it strange that grace which is nothing else but a victorious suavity hath such advantage over her for besides that this Heavenly influence surpasseth all the delights in the world that charm us having more allurements then glory and beauty that makes so many Lovers and Martyrs it insinuates much deeper into the will then whatever ravisheth us mortals Tunc enim bonum concupisci incipit cum dulcescere incipit ergo benedictio dulcedinis est gratia Dei qua fit in nobis ut nos delectet cupiamus hoc est amemus quod praecipit nobis Aug. Being in the hands of Jesus Christ whom nothing can resist it glides into the very Center of our heart making impressions there that are never more strong then when they are most agreeable thence it cashieres all pleasures that have unjustly usurpt upon us and knowing all the weaknesses of the place it sets upon we need not wonder if she make her self mistresse Other pleasures enter not into the will but at the gate of the senses they have lost half their strength before they can make their approach and her inclinations being unknown to them they many times cause aversion intending to procure love But grace wooes the heart without the mediation of the senses and more powerfull then pleasures that act not upon all the faculties of the soul carries light into the understanding faithfulnesse into the memory and pleasure into the will so that we need not wonder if the sinner suffer himself to be overcome by a Divine quality that sheds delight into all the powers and faculties of the soul That which Grace effects thus agreeably by pleasure it brings to pass more powerfully by Love For according to the judgement of S. Augustine Amor imperiü babet super omnes animae vires propter hoc quod ejus objectum est bonum Aristo Di. Tho. and when God means to convert a sinner his sole design is to make him his Lover Love is the Master of all hearts There is no impossibility this passion undertakes not Miracles are his sports and all the prodigies Antiquity hath teem'd with are nothing but the effects of this Soveraign Scripture is never more eloquent then when it intends to express the force thereof nothing satisfies it in this design all words seem too weak to express its conceptions and finding no comparisons that answer the dignity of the subject it descends to the Tombes where having considered the Trophies of death is forc'd to confess that his power equals not that of Love it passeth to the very Center of the Earth observes the unrelenting hardness of Hel and comparing the pains of the damned with the anxiety of lovers leaves us in doubt whether Hel or Love be more pitiless But not to aggravate his power by such strange comparisons let it suffice to judg of him by his effects Though he be the son of the Wil yet is he the Master he disposeth so absolutely of his Mother that she hath no motions but what her Son inspires her with she undertakes nothing but by his orders 't is the weight that sets her a going the Loadstone that attracts her the King that governs her and she so absolutely depends upon his power that nothing but another love can dis-engage her she is so fierce or so free that neither violence nor fear can tame her she laughs at tortures preserves her liberty in the midst of fetters and many times torments make her but more wilfull Only Love mollifies her hardness his charmes gain upon her what sorrow cannot and experience teacheth us there is no surer Command then that which is founded upon Love In the mean time Vanity which is almost the inseparable companion of Greatness perswades Kings that 't is a debasement to seek the love of their subjects and seduced by this false Maxime they endeavour to make themselves feared not being able to make themselves beloved But God who hath formed the heart of man and knows how they may be vanquished without being forc'd owes all his Conquests to his Love he never appears more absolute then when he tames a rebellious Will when of an Enemy he makes a Lover and changing his inclinations sweetly compels him to fall in love with him Forinsecus terret per Legem intrinsecus delectat per Amorem Aug. His Power sparkles in his Corrections he astonisheth sinners when he loosens the mountains from their foundations when he makes the earth shake under their feet the thunder rumble over their heads and threatens the world with an universal Deluge or a general Conflagration But all these menaces convert not the Guilty the fear that terrifies them reduceth them not to their duty their heart remains criminal when their mouthes and their hands be innocent and if God inspire not his love into them he punisheth indeed their offence but changeth not their Will This prodigious Metamorphosis is reserved for his love 't is his charity that must triumph over rebels nor is there any thing but his Grace that by its imperious sweetness can oblige a sinner to love him I am not
hath not these conditions and though it proceed from a good Principle and respect a lawful End may yet be stiled deficient because according to the Maxime of Aristotle Bonum ex integra Causa malum ex quolibet defectu Aristo an action is bad when it labours under any defect After all this Argumentation I cannot but confess that the graces of Infidels are very rare and if they remain subject to their liberty they will not deliver them from their errours But they are more common among Christians and act more powerfully over their Wills because there they finde less resistance This Proposition is evident according to the principles of S. Augustine because in a thousand places of his Writings he will have Faith teach us to pray and that Supplication obtain that succour that is necessary for the subduing of Concupiscence I know very well that Prayer supposeth Grace that a man must be instructed in the School of the holy Ghost to speak to the Eternal Father but it seems this grace is offered to all the Faithful serving us for a defence in our infirmity and that as in all times our enemies may assault us we may in all times also defend our selves For if the Grace of Prayer were not easie and common it never had been ordained of God for the obtaining of all others and we should have some reason to complain of him that hath obliged us to have recourse to that Asylum if it were not more in out disposal then those things we intreat by means thereof This remedy is as common as it is easie 't is a favour which God refuseth not but to some notorious offenders a man must often have rejected it to be deprived of its assistance and it seems that the soul that is inanimated with habitual Grace hath some right and power to flee to Prayer when dejected with sorrow or assaulted by temptation The hardening of Sinners is another proof of the Truth I endeavour to promote For since according to the doctrine of S. Augustine this punishment is nothing else but the withdrawing of Grace Obdurat Deus non impertiendo gratiam quibus enim non impertitur nec digni sunt nec merentur Aug. we must needs confess that those who are not yet hardned have some grace gently bearing them on to piety which sollicites their consent and not using an absolute power as effectual Grace doth separates them withal from those God hath utterly given over and from those God conducts to heaven by more sure ways and more powerful motions Thence it comes to pass that S. Augustine preaching to his people and letting them see the great danger in despising those good inspirations that come from heaven said that sinners sometimes could not be converted though they had a will to it because they would not do it when they had the power Impius saith this great Doctor dum vult non potest quia dum potuit noluit I know some Divines take that wicked one for Adam who making no use of his grace whereby he had power to act lost it for himself and for all his posterity and say that 't is he S. Augustine speaks of in that passage But whoever shall take good notice of his intention will clearly perceive that he ascends not so high as Paradise that he complains not of the first man onely but of all his children who neglect the power they have to do good and justly are deprived of it for not having made use thereof Otherwise sinners would lay all their faults upon the person of Adam and esteeming themselves more unfortunate then sinful would blame S. Augustine for accusing them to have abused a power they never had But nothing better confirms sufficient grace then our refusing to obey it Experience teacheth us there are Divine sweetnesses which are not always victorious Grace triumphs not continually when it combats sin S. Augustine often found that his ill habits were more prevalent then the invitations of Grace and that his Will like a Needle between two Loadstones quitted the more feeble and innocent pleasure to close with the stronger and more criminal Had Grace been effectual she had not received this shameful repulse her first attempts had gained this sinner and S. Augustine after he had tasted the innocent delights of holy love would not have longed to drink of the muddy waters of Voluptuousness But were all their designes of Grace followed with their effects did this Conqueress of Hearts fight no battels that were not accompanied with victories the Saints whose confessions are as true as they are humble would never accuse themselves for resisting her motions and being untrue to her inspirations For they complain not onely of this habitual opposition which is never lost till they are received into glory and which still subsists in us even then when Grace hath gotten the mastery but they complain of an actual opposition which cannot agree with effectual Grace they acknowledge their resisting the holy Ghost that their soul possest with self-love disputes with the love of God and resenting their weakness conjure heaven to redouble its batteries and to make use of some more powerful grace to bring their rebellious Wills in subjection S. Augustine nor his Interpreters dissent from this opinion for they confess that there are ineffectual Graces which produce indeed some effect in the sinner but convert him not and cannot be rightly stiled victorious because they surmount not unlawful and criminal pleasure which corrupt the Will so that we may say This Grace hath not done all that it pretended to do since fighting against her enemy she was not able to overcome him For though it be usually answered that this Grace is effectual because it always produceth its effect and that it is felt by the sinner in whose soul she begets a pleasure that tickles him but is not fully prevalent because she cannot perfect his conversion nor disengage him from sin Me thinks a man may reply from the principles of S. Augustine that this Grace is not efficacious because not victorious that she rights and is beaten that she carries not the advantage thorowout which she pretended over her enemy and that we cannot imagine that having set upon him her designe was not to subdue him 'T is easie also to prove that this Grace is sufficient because it makes war upon sin endeavours his expulsion and would certainly be accounted rash or indiscreet had she undertaken a designe beyond her power Moreover every one knows that if the sinner had not fortified Concupiscence by his bad habits this Grace had been able to convert him and by its innocent pleasure outvie that criminal sensuality he findes in his iniquity because he hath a minde to take up his dwelling in it To all this I adde the testimony of S. Augustine which ought to be so much the less suspected because taken from two places where he seems more strongly to establish the
Answer he returns to these Philosophers 'T is a great argument of a firm Will not to be able to change and we are not to imagine that a man will not a thing when he wills it so strongly that 't is not in his power not to will it at all For who is so unadvised as to deny that the Wil is free when she is no longer in danger to quit her resolution to embrace a contrary nay who ought not rather to judge that she is never so free as when her resolution is so firm that it becomes eternal Indeed if we believe he wills a thing who may not will it Must we not believe that he wills it much more when he wills it so powerfully that he is past all danger of not willing it But he could not better resolve this Doubt then when opposing Constraint against Necessity he saith The later may be found with Liberty and if we have no obligation to a man that does us a courtesie because he was forced to it we have notwithstanding to him that does it because he cannot do otherwise and hath imposed this necessity upon himself with which he cannot possibly dispense This opinion hath its Reasons to back it and though it seem somewhat singular hath notwithstanding Philosophers for its Protectors whose judgement 't is that the Will is never more free then when 't is less indifferent For if Liberty say they be nothing but a fixation of the Will we must acknowledge that she is never more free then when by many indifferent acts she is so united to her object that she cannot possibly undo her self Otherwise perfect Love would deprive us of Liberty the use of that power would destroy it and it would follow that to have a long time acted freely we should cease to be free They confess that Indifferency which they look upon as a weakness of Liberty is lessened by the power of Love and the more strongly a man affects a thing the less indifferencie hath he to quit it But they believe you shall never perswade a Lover that the loss of his Indifferency is the loss of his Liberty that the more his Passion increaseth the more his worth diminisheth and for being more constant he is less acceptable to her he loveth There are some Divines of the opinion of these Philosophers who finding no Indifferency in Jesus Christ nor in the Blessed cannot imagine it inseparable from Liberty For Jesus Christ was free because he merited the reconciliation of men with his Father he was free because he satisfied for their sins and all the hope of their salvation is founded as well upon the Liberty as upon the Dignity of his actions Etiamsi esset liberuÌ„ arbitrium Christi determinatum ad unum numero sicut ad diligendum Deum quod non facere non potest tamen ex hoc non amittit libertatem aut rationem laudis sive meritiâ—nam respectu amoris est sempiterna libera electio D. Thom. In the mean time he had no Indifference in respect of Good and Evil the will of his Father determined his without constraining it he died necessarily and freely and seeing his sentence noted in the thought of his Father he submitted to it by an obedience which not being indifferent ceased not therefore to be perfectly free Finally they cannot be perswaded that the Saints have lost their Liberty in the enjoyment of Glory for having lost their Indifferency They cannot believe that the Blessed are slaves that their love is not free because necessary and that the firmness of their condition cancels the perfection of their Liberty They adde further that no man shall perswade them that Grace which is Glory begun deprives us of Liberty when it deprives us of Indifferency not that it reduceth us to the condition of Slaves because it brings us neer to that of the Blessed But as all agree not upon the same Principles Other Divines leaning upon Reason and Scripture will have Indifference inseparable from Liberty in this world that men may always will Good and Evil and that they are never so strongly determined to the one but they may quit it to embrace the other They judge that Grace does not so fix the Will upon Good that it takes away her Indifferency but that there remains some inclination or some capacity towards Evil so that even when she is determined by Grace she hath still in the centre of her Being a certain Indifferency making her capable to change her minde and to depart from the Supreme Good that possesseth her According to this Principle we must say that as Grace transporting us leaves us a power to resist so also determining us an Indifferency That as we may hold out so may we change if we will and consequently there is no moment wherein our Will is not always Indifferent By this 't is easie to judge that the Councel of Trent opposeth not this Opinion Siquis dixerit Liberum arbitrium à Deo motum non posse dissentire si velit seâ—velut inanime quoddam nihil omnino agere â—nathema sit Sess 6. Can. 4. when it pronounceth an Anathema against those that say that Free-will being moved by Grace cannot resist it when it will because whatever advantage we put upon Grace we acknowledge she never takes away the power of resisting of God confessing she leaves us Concupiscence which holds our Wil under her Tyranny For there are no Saints who at the very instant they yeeld obedience to Grace prove not internally a secret opposition to her motions who groan not to see themselves divided by self-love and who sigh not with Saint Paul in that they feel in the recesses of their soul an irregular inclination that combats that of Grace This domestick sedition makes them long for Glory which hath this advantage over Grace that destroying all the remainders of sin and confirming their will in Good it lifts them to a condition which suffers them no longer to contradict the pleasures of the Almighty But in expectation of this happie hour they confess with as much confusion of face as grief of heart that though they will not resist him that draws them they can nevertheless do it because Grace hath not so strongly rooted them in good but they may forsake it should the mercy of God give them over to their own infirmity 'T is then easie enough to comprehend that Grace though effectual takes not away from the greatest Saints the power to resist Jesus Christ But 't is very hard to conceive how their complaints are true and how they can with reason accuse themselves for having been unfaithful to him For the accusations of Saints ought to be sincere humility must not make them renounce Truth nor to avoid Pride engage in a Lye These are two extremes equally dangerous which all those that are led by the holy Spirit ought carefully to avoid In the mean time they accuse themselves daily before Men
assistance to his creature to act with pleads no dispensation for himself from those Laws he hath prescribed nay is helpfull to his very enemies that he may not be wanting to his Word It seems that in the order of Grace he owes the same faithfulness to Christians that he is bound to assist them in all their actions and out of an obligation that no way injures his Greatness because worthy his Goodness he ought in some sort to concur with the faithful in all their operations Gratia redditur pro gratia cum Christiano propter Christi merita id quod petit conceditur Bernard For seeing they have the honour to be the Members of his Son seeing they are quickned with his Spirit and bear a glorious Character separating them from all other creatures why will he not at every moment indulge them a Grace necessary for their condition and as it were due to the dignity of their extraction I conceive this objection hath its full weight and I have set it forth in all the colours that may render it reasonable Let us see whether Truth will furnish us with Arms to batter it and whether the doctrine of Saint Augustine will warrant the Son of God from injustice when he refuseth his Grace to the Faithful To back our Answer we must suppose that the order of Nature and that of Grace are very different in the first order God seems to be in some sort responsible to his creature he never dispenseth with himselfe but by miracle when he refuseth his aid to a sinner makes the hand wither that is about to commit a Parricide or ties the tongue that was going to utter a blasphemy every one looks upon these effects as Prodigies But he owes nothing to his creature in the second order he entred not into it but by Grace nor doth he persevere in it but by Mercy In raising him to this state he is not tied to any rules what he hath once given obliges him not to continue and when he receives a sinner into his Church 't is with conditions which no ways prejudice his Soveraignty Inasmuch as he shews favour to whom he will we can plead no prescription against his Goodness he may every moment take away that succour he hath bestowed and he is so absolute in the order of Grace that when he deserts the just themselves they have no more right to complain then the guilty If they look upon themselves in Adam they are all sinners the sentence of their Condemnation preceded their Birth Vnde constat magnam esse gratiam quod plurimi liberantur quid sibi deberetur in iis qui non liberantur agnoscunt ut qui gloriantur non in suis meritis quae paria videntur esse in damnatis sed in Domino glorientur Aug. and when they were drawn out of the masse of perdition to be united to Jesus Christ 't is but for a time only if they be not written in the Book of Life in Eternal Characters This Answer is taken out of the pure Doctrine of Saint Augustine 't is founded upon his principles and he that makes a difficulty to receive it will not be a Disciple of that great Master But because it seems too severe to those that are not instructed in his School who consider not sufficiently the absolute power Divine Justice hath reserv'd to it self over the reprobate let us adde here this temperament and say that Christians have some right to Grace whilst they are united to Jesus Christ and that they may obtain it by Prayer when they find too much difficulty in good or too much engagement in evil But this Answer starts a new Objection and seems to combat the power of Grace in labouring to establish the facility of Prayer For if by the mediation of this vertue we can obtain every thing our salvation is in our own hands and we may purchase Grace by Supplication I acknowledge this Objection grounded not only upon the Principles of Saint Augustine but even upon the Principles of Religion it self For Scripture exhorts all sinners to prayer proposeth it to us as a help in all our needs Petite dabitur vobis quae rite invenietis pulsate aperietur vobis Mat. 7. and as a remedy for all our evils it seems 'tis enough to be a believer to be able to pray and that the Son of God having taught us the Lords Prayer hath furnished us with arms for our defence against the justice of his Father Saint Augustine following the steps of Jesus Christ teacheth us in a thousand places of his writings that the Law discovers vertue to us and Prayer obtains it that 't is the guard of Christians surmounting all temptations sweetning all difficulties and triumphing over Devils If then we are able to pray we are able to persevere if what is not due to our merits be granted to our prayers we may thereby obtain the Grace that is the Beginning and the End of our Salvation I confess this Objection puzzles me nor does the ordinary Answer made to it at all satisfie me For though Grace be requisite to pray though it is the Holy Spirit that puts the thoughts into our soul the affections into our heart and words into our mouthes though a prayer that is not warm'd with his heats is not acceptable to the Eternal Father we must neverthelesse confess either that Grace to pray is always offered to ns or that we have no means to make our addresses to God in our needs Therefore is it that Holy Scripture invites us every where to prayer The Son of God tels us that it offers a pleasing violence that it changeth his will sweetens his severitie and obtains all Graces it requests of him Si ergo vos cum sitis mali bona datis filiis vestris quanto magis pater vester qui in coelis est dabit bona petentibus se Mat. 7. Ne orationes putarentur praecedere merita quibus non gratuita daretur gratia sed jam nec gratia esset quia debita redderetur etiam ipsa oratio inter gratiae munera reperitur Aug. Epist ad Sixtum 105. I know indeed that Saint Paul teacheth us also that we know not how to pray as we ought unless the Holy Spirit teacheth us and that this Grace precedes our prayers as well as our good works Saint Augustine is of the same judgement when explaining that passage he saith in express tearms that to secure us from vanity which may perswade us that our prayer precedes Grace it is ranked by the Apostle among the gifts of the Spirit In this perplexity I can say nothing else but that the Grace of Prayer is more common then other graces that 't is frequently offered to Christians that God refuseth it none but those that undervalue it that 't is the principal cause of our Conversion and that if by this unhappy power which remains in us we resist not the
other happily guides us in it The one purifies our soul by Labour the other unites us to God by Prayer The one keeps the Commandments and the other receives the Recompence The one is afflicted with grief because it bewails his sins with the Penitents the other is bathed in pleasure because it participates in the felicity of the Blessed The same Doctor all whose Maximes are Truths gives us another Division of Vertues from the difference of our conditions and being not far from that Principle we are going to explain attributes but one Vertue to the Blessed and leaves all the rest to the Faithful They indeed finde all their happiness in the Supreme Good which they are in possession of their Love makes up the total of their felicity and that ineffable Union that transforms them into him they love is the onely Vertue that for ever takes them up in the fruition of Glory Prudence is not requisite because there is no darkness to be dissipated nor misfortunes to be prevented Fortitude is useless because there are no sorrows to struggle with Temperance serves to no end because all their delights are innocent and lawful Neither is there any employment for their Justice because in the Tabernacle of Glory there are neither miserable to be protected nor criminals to be punished Thus as that incomparable Doctor goes on they practise but one Vertue and by a happie encounter this Vertue is their recompence because uniting them to God it makes them finde their felicity in him 'T is true that as the Supreme Good contains all other Goods we may say also that all the Vertues are comprehended in this and their several denominations may be imposed upon it It is Prudence because it illuminates them with the brightness of God himself Fortitude because it unites them so firmly with him that nothing can separate them Temperance because it makes them chastly embrace the Chief Good and in the delights they taste of they seek not so much their Pleasure as his Glory Justice because it subjects them to their Soveraign making them finde their Happiness in their Submission But as there is some analogie between the condition of the Blessed and that of the Faithful at the same time that S. Augustine separates them he associates them again and confounding their Vertues together saith that during this life Love is the onely vertue of Christians and that there is none other but to love that which is amiable So that to facilitate the acquisition of that object we place our affections upon by chusing sutable and convenient means is Prudence Not to be discouraged or diverted by Grief is Fortitude Not to be drawn away by Pleasures is Temperance and not to be kept off by the vain pomp and grandetza's of the world is Justice He lodgeth these Vertues in Glory which he seems to have banished thence and acknowledgeth that the Blessed enjoy them as well as the Faithful but with this difference That upon the earth they are in Act in heaven in Habit upon the earth they serve for a Defence in heaven for an Ornament upon the earth in Exercise in heaven in their Acquiescence upon the earth they are the sure Land-marks guiding the Faithful to their journeys end in heaven they happily unite the Faithful in an inseparable Bond of Communion But because this Doctrine is not fully conformable to that which is commonly received and that we have borrowed from Philosophers the Division and the Quality of Vertues let us say with them that we judge of their number by our obligations and our necessities We are upon the earth for no other end but to Know and Love to Suffer and to Do our whole life is spent in these two employments and if we be not absolutely unprofitable we must raise our selves to the Knowledge and Love of the Supreme Good and resolve if we be not altogether lazie by our Courage to overcome all the difficulties which occur in the course of our life Thence it comes to pass that we have need of different Vertues Bonam vitam ego puto Deum cognoscere amare mala pati bona facere sic perseverare usque ad mortem Bern. and that according to the designes we form we are obliged sometimes to have recourse to the Divine vertues sometimes to the Moral Inasmuch as God is surrounded with Light that darkens us our Understanding must necessarily be cleared by Faith that we may know him In that he is an Infinite Good our soul must be fortified with Hope that we may search after him and our Will warmed with Charity that we may love him For though Good be amiable and the Supreme Good transcendently amiable yet is it so far above our reach that without Grace we cannot approach unto it and as we must be clarified by his Light that we may know him so must we be warmed by his Calentures that we may affectionately close with him Thus Faith Hope and Charity are the Vertues by means whereof we treat with God But because Man is born for Society in serving God he is bound to assist his Neighbour Charity hath a double respect having united us to the Supreme Good for love of it she unites us to our Like and obligeth us to love them as we do our selves Were this Vertue in its full vigour 't would be sufficient alone Lex venit in subsidium amicitiae Atistot and as Philosophers have observed that Laws would be useless did Friendship raign in mens hearts I dare affirm did Charity set up her throne in ours the Vertues would be idle among Christians or act onely by her orders and directions But whether we have not as yet attained this Perfection or that the number of Subjects contributes to the Greatness of Soveraigns she hath under her command Four Vertues which are called Cardinal that act by her motions and execute her designes Prudence clears our Understandings to act helps us to discern Good from Evil and Truth from Falshood For as there are Evils which under a fair shew deceive us and Lyes that finde more credit then some Truths Prudence must serve us for a Guide and in so important an election secure us from mistakes Justice gives every one his due makes our Interests yeeld to Reason preserves Peace in the inequality of our conditions and taking original righteousness for an example which made a harmony between foul and body this sets Man at union with himself and by a necessary consequence accommodates him with his neighbour Therefore is it that Repentance and Humility are as rivulets flowing from this Fountain and as rays issuing from this Sun For Repentance is nothing but a severe Justice that animates the sinner against himself that obliges him to act the part of a witness in accusing of a judge in condemning of an executioner in punishing himself Humility is nothing but a modest and true Justice which considering the Majestie of the Creator
its violence finds nothing impossible Thence is it that the ambitious conceive so many designs that surpass humane power and hardning themselves against all difficulties had rather break then bow Thence comes it to passe that the covetous undergoe so many miseries to fill their coffers and are exposed to the fury of all the elements to comply with that passion that tyrannizeth over them These attempts are the images of those Charity effects which is yet more active then Concupiscence For as her hope is founded upon God and the greatness of her Conquests heightens her courage whereby she travels for Eternity she believes there is no pain she ought not to suffer nor difficulties she must not overcome Nothing seems hard when it may serve her turn and measuring her force by her affection imagines nothing ought to check her enterprises Nihil difficile videtur amanti amor enim nomeÌ„ difficultatis erubescit Bern. She chides her laziness when she deliberates she is afraid her weaknesse should be objected to her when she parlies for composition and she is so used to overcome that she looks upon difficulties not so much as a true excuse as a shamefull pretence Thus the Martyrs have traversed the flames to find Jesus Christ The Virgins have provoked wild Beasts that they might be the sooner with their Beloved The Anchorites have contested with grief that they might carry Heaven by violence Finally Charity is of the nature of fire she cannot lie still she sets upon her body when she finds no other enemy and that she may not be unprofitable seeks for occasions of suffering when she wants those of acting And this is the second resemblance between these two Loves For Concupiscence hath her Martyrs as well as Charity she suffers for what she loves and as doing and suffering are mutually in the world she gives proof of her courage in these two different conditions From the evils she undergoes she extracts vanity she makes them her happinesse when they are past and lest they should slip out of her memory she ruminates upon them in her solitudes and entertains her self with them in companies she hath some satisfaction in her Martyrdome when she thinks it will be an argument of her Constancy or of her Fidelity nor is she troubled to be made the prey of Flames or of Lions provided she may evidence her Courage and her Affection Charity thrives better in this design then Concupiscence she hath made many more Martyrs then vain-glory hath as she takes her birth from the Crosse so is she never more vigorous nor content then when she swims in her own bloud she is witty to invent occasions of suffering and becomes her own tormentor when she can meet with no other The absence of her Beloved is the greatest part of her punishment and conceiving that torments may shorten her banishment she is inquisitive after them as the remedies of her languishing Therefore doe these Divine Lovers suffer always upon Earth the peace of the Church frees not them from persecution and though the Princes that govern them are Christians they meet with Tyrants that persecute them Every failing is their torture every moment makes them languish and they die a thousand times in a day because they will not die at last Indeed their Love which is as witty as cruel learns them innocent murders they commit Parricides without a Crime they kill Adam in their person that Jesus Christ may live there they take vengeance of this Father that made them guilty and destroying whatever they received from him of every one of their inclinations they make a reasonable sacrifice But the Master-piece of Love is that it makes that present which we love and in despight of absence unites us with it Remoteness is certainly one of the greatest torments of Love he shuns it as his mortallest enemy and employs all his stratagems to be secured from it he hath recourse to Presents knowing very well that they are the remembrancers of the absent and that 't is very hard to forget a person to whom we are beholding he entertains himself by the commerce of Letters he writes to those he cannot speak to he beguiles his Passion with a picture and not being able to see his friend he is satisfied with beholding his portraicture But when all these inventions content not he reflects upon himself and making use of his thoughts and desires he goes upon the quest and retrives him whose absence caused his punishment For the Understanding is an imperious faculty which by a Natural Magick renders absent things present excelling the Imagery of Painters because her Idea's can speak and the same spirit that gives them life infuses motion into them and speech If Love be not satisfied with this invention he obligeth the Will to enquire out what she affecteth and to quit the body and the soul to be united to the object of her sorrow To obey her Soveraign she commands her desires to bestir themselves to prevent the diligence of the windes and passeth Sea and Land to seek the Subject of her vexation to the worlds end She pursues the Posts she hath dispatched imitates the agility of Angels and like those spirits finding themselves wherever they operate clings in spight of absence to what she loveth In these admirable courses she arrives at her journeys end without passing any middle distance she traverseth Kingdoms in a moment and disengaging her self from the body she informs findes her self miraculously in the subject she loves Concupiscence works the same Miracles every day she makes use of the Understanding and of the Will for her satisfaction she employs these two faculties to content her Passion and when the ears or the eyes can tell her no news of the remote objects that torment her she hath recourse to her thoughts and desire to bring them to her presence But we must confess that Charity acts this part much better for though that which she loves be in heaven she journeys thither without weariness she goes to seek him whom the Angels enjoy Iter tuum ad caelum voluntas tua gradus tui affecius tui ambulas affectibus non pedibus accedis ad Deum amando recedis negâ—igendo stans in terra in caelo es si diligas Deum Aug. and leaving the Sun and Stars belowe her is swallowed up in that Abyss of Glory whose elongation caused her torment For S. Augustine excellently informs me our Affections are our Wings and our Will is our Guide to conduct us to heaven You think perhaps you must build a tower to ascend thither that the Angels must be invited down to assist you or that the wings of a dove must be borrowed to convey you thither but your Love is your Pole-star by your Desires you scale those heavenly regions by your negligence you stand at distance from them and loving God upon the earth you may boast your selves already in heaven For it is not with the
affection higher in loving God they become Divine But there needs no other proof of this verity but the Mystery of the Incarnation where Love triumphing over God himself made him assume the form of a Man invested him with our nature and our miseries loaded him with our sins and obliged him to appear before his Father as a Penitent or rather as an Anathema This prodigious change makes us look for another For God was not made Man but that Men might be made Gods he was humbled that they might be exalted he took their nature that he might bestow his upon them nor did he suffer his love to render him like Man but to perswade them that the same love may liken them to God The Seventh DISCOURSE Of the Prudence Justice Fortitude and Temperance of a Christian THough sin hath committed so many outrages against Nature divided her Forces obscured her Lights and weakned her Liberty yet hath he not been able to destroy the workmanship of God There remains to man since his Fall some strength to combat his enemies some light to discover errours and some liberty to defend him against evil After his Transgression his misery opened his eyes when seeking out remedies for his disease he made himself a Morality which taught him vertues to rectifie those disorders his disobedience had occasioned in his person Some call them the Reliques of Innocence Virtus ars est nou natura Senec. but without any reason Because the Vertues that accompanied that happle condition having no enemies were not obliged to stand upon their guard Others call them the Succours of sinful Man and that very justly Because they help him in his necessities and comfort him in his misfortunes They believe that Adam receiving them from God after his repentance for his fault taught them his children and left them these arms to combat their Passions But inasmuch as they went not to him who had bestowed them upon their father and had reserved himself the power of dispensing them to their children there remained nothing but the appearance and the name Concupiscence took the place of Charity and animating her false Vertues made them true Sins This made S. Augustine so often profess that the Prudence of the Heathen is blind and interessed that their Fortitude is upheld meerely by Vanity that their Temperance overcomes one passion with another and that their Justice being arrogant seeks only fair pretences to authorise its usurpations So that these Vertues have not recovered their Primitive purity but by the grace of Christianity They owe all their worth to Charity they are acceptable to God because they proceed from Jesus Christ nor can they hope for an eternal recompence but because they have a Supernatural and Divine Principle Therefore the same Doctor mingles Charity always in the definition of these Vertues Definitio brevis est vera virtutis ardor amoris propter quod dicit sponsa ordinate in me charitatē Aug. lib. 15. de Civ cap. 12. Prudentia est in eligendis Temperantia in utendis Fortitudo in tolerandis Justitia in distribuendis Aug. and makes them passe for so many severall motions or functions of Love In this conceit he cals Prudence an illuminated Love Justice a regulated Love Fortitude a couragious Love and Temperance a faithful Love But because this definition seems to limit these Vertues and many think they are not so much the Impulses as the Ministers of Love Let us say that Prudence is a Practicall Science teaching the soul what it ought to doe inspiring her with a love of good things and a detestation of bad and carrying light into the understanding teacheth it to discern what is profitable from what is hurtful Fortitude is a couragious Vertue making us suffer with an evennesse of mind affronts and griefs 'T is a victorious habit that triumphs in suffering and owes the best part of her advantages to the bitternesse of the afflictions that persecute her 'T is a stability of spirit against all the miseries of the world a resolution to fight and overcome all the labours that accompany life 'T is a Vertue whose generous humour makes us desire great things contemn low things and endure hard things or it is a Vertue that raiseth the soul above Fear apprehending nothing but dishonour and which instructs us to carry our selves equally in favours and in disgraces If we will shut her up within the bounds of Christianity we may say it is a Vertue inform'd with Grace preparing us to undergo all things rather then fail of our duty Temperance is a just dominion of reason over the passions but especially over those that flatter us by the pleasure they promise and employ voluptuousnesse to seduce us 'T is a Vertue that teacheth us to wish nothing that may cause shame in us or regret not to doe any thing that exceeds the bounds of reason to suffer nothing that may diminish her authority and foment the rebellion of her lawful subjects Or to use Saint Augustines expressions 't is an affection that subdueth the Concupiscible appetite and gives it not leave to hunt after those pleasures which are accompanied with shame or followed wich repentance Justice is a Vertue that prefers the publick interests before private and many times punisheth a Delinquent with more severity then his fault requires to stop the course of evil and to astonish other offenders According to the opinion of Saint Ambrose it is a Vertue which hath more respect to the service of others then of it self and considers more the advantages of her neighbour then her own According to Aristotle it renders every one their due punisheth Vice rewards Vertue maintains the peace of the State by the severity of punishments and the liberality of recompences Let us adde with Seneca though very blind in the knowledge of Christian Vertues that Justice is a secret Convention Nature hath contracted with men for the succour of the innocent or distressed that it is a Divine Law that entertains humane society preserves every man his right and not respecting the quality of the persons considers only their merits Finally 't is a Christian Vertue which enlightned by Faith animated with Charity obligeth man to satisfie at once God himself and his neighbour Having examined the nature of these Vertues it remains that we take notice of their use and the profit that ariseth from them S. Augustine whom in Morality I look upon as my Guide and in Divinity my Master saith that these Vertues are given to the soul to imbellish her and to arm her against Vices Prudence teacheth her what she is to doe is in stead of a Torch to light her in the darknesse of the world Temperance learns her not to bee charmed with pleasure Fortitude not to be vanquished with griefs and Justice not to be transported with her own interests or to expresse another way no lesse solidly and more pleasingly the obligations of these Vertues it concerns Prudence
to know our power Fortitude to employ it Temperance to moderate it Justice to rule it and as this Divine Spirit can never be exhausted but knows how to give a hundred colours to the same thing thereby to discover all the different beauties thereof Let us adde with him that Prudence concerns the choice of means Temperance the use of pleasures Fortitude that of afflictions and Justice the distribution of all these Finally he concludes that it belongs to Prudence to foresee hidden things to Temperance to desie pleasures to Fortitude to attaque them and to Justice to regulate their interests But because these duties savour still of the description let us speak of those that denote the necessity of these Vertues and say that honesty which is inseparable from them is composed of four parts without which it cannot possibly subsist The first is Knowledge which serves it for a conduct and a light The second is the Interest of Society which ought always to be preferred before that of particulars The third is a certain magnanimity which seems as it were the soul of all honourable Actions and the defence of all Vertues The fourth is Moderation which keeps every one within his duty not suffering him to undertake any thing that may be disadvantageous to his neighbour Light appertains to Prudence the care of the Community to Justice Glorious enterprises to Fortitude and the regulating of Pleasures to Temperance Therefore hath that excellent Copier of Saint Augustine venerable Bede who being able to be a great Master of his own Head chose rather to be an humble Disciple of that learned Doctor observed that the Vertues coming in to the help of man a sinner seemed to have a mind to cure four great wounds which Original sin had inflicted upon him The first is Ignorance which is born with him which involves him in darknesse assoon as ever nature exposeth him to the light For he is Ignorant assoon as Criminal and as Grace is necessary to deliver him from sin Prudence is requisite to defend him from Errour and Falshood she irradiates his mind with a Heavenly Light gives him the spirit of discerning between Good and Evil and severing apparent good from reall keeps him from wandering in the course of his life The second wound is that of Concupiscence which seems particularly to have set upon the Concupisicible appetite which she hath engaged in the love of sinful sensualities and diverts from innocent contentments against this agreeable enemy Heaven hath given him Temperance whose businesse 't is to undeceive this irregular appetite to make use of charms to suppresse his unjust inclinations and to reduce him to a condition where he wisheth only reasonable things The third wound is Weakness which plungeth man in idleness suffering him not to act frights him from Vertue because of the difficulties 't is accompanied with and representing Death as a Spectrum Grief as a Monster strives to deter him from his duty by such fearful apprehensions against this great inconvenience which may be called the root of all other Fortitude stands up which heightens our courage fils the man with hope and activity animates him with glory the companion of difficulty and changing our diseases into remedies makes us find honour in pain and Immortality in Death The fourth and deepest wound is the malice of the will which may be called a Natural Injustice which is troubled at the prosperity and rejoyceth at the adversity of his neighbour when a man minds nothing but his own interests believes whatever is profitable is lawful placeth right in force duty in pleasure and is perswaded that glory being inseparable from profit there is nothing beneficial which at the same time is not honourable Morality to rid him of so Potent an enemy hath given him Justice which supplying the loss of Original righteousness teacheth him to prefer his duty before his interest and his conscience before his reputation This excellent Vertue which is the soule of all the rest undertakes to regulate mans actions to appease all disorders wherein his guilty birth hath engaged him For she submitteth his mind to God his body to his mind and having made this double agreement tries to accommodate man with his neighbour and to establish peace in his state after she hath brought it into his person Nothing distinguisheth this Vertue from Original righteousness but the resistence it meets with in those things it would regulate for the first took no pains to be obeyed she had to doe with tractable subjects the soul and body had not as yet clash'd their inclinations though different were not opposite and these two parts that make up man were not contrary in their designs so that Original righteousness had no hard task to manage a peace which seemed founded as well in Grace as in Nature But Christian Justice meets with insolent subjects who acknowledge not their Soveraign obey her not but by compulsion who being born in sedition think it their duty to live in disobedience nevertheless when assisted with Prudence to chuse means of accommodation seconded with Temperance to suppress pleasures and manfully supported by Fortitude to overcome grief she gains that by violence which Original righteousness did by sweet compliance and if she be not so quiet she may boast at least she is more glorious To express the same Truth in other words and to give it a new beauty in setting it out in new colours we may say that Prudence is busied in discussing those things that deceive us to discern truth from falshood and to secure us from being surprised with a lye Temperance is employed to suppress those things that charm our affections and whose allurements pleasingly heighten our appetites Fortitude is engaged to vanquish those things that terrifie us it revives our spirits and as a General of an Army that heartens his soldiers endeavours to rally that Courage Grief or Danger had in a manner routed Justice is busied in regulating those concernments wherein lies our interest and which under a colour of some gain would set us upon some violent course to compass it Wherefore Seneca said that perillous things were to be mastered by Valour pleasurable things to be moderated by Temperance Things that abuse us to be examined by Prudence and those that tempt and fain would corrupt us to be regulated by Justice If it be true that Vertue respects only our person and that according to the opinion of some Philosophers who would make her the slave of our interests her sole object is man we may say without thwarting their conceit that Prudence considers things without us which being hid and obscured by the distance of places and times cannot be foreseen but by the light of this Vertue which seems to be a natural kind of prophesie According to this principle Temperance regulates things that are below us in the inferiour Region of the soul reduceth the passions and the senses to their duty and entertains reason
Principle of Humility is sin which is a Non-Entity in the order of Grace and which abaseth the sinner to so low a condition that he is much more miserable then if he were annihilated For inasmuch as he recedes from God the supream Beeing adhering to the creature who is in a manner Nothing himself becomes a wretched Non-Entity and loseth all those advantages he was made partaker of by the union he had with his Creator Tamdiu est aliquid homo quādiu haeret illi à quo factus est homo Aug. in Psal 75. This is it that Saint Augustine expresseth in those excellent words Man is Something as long as he is united to God from whom he had his Beeing but he ceaseth to be assoon as he separates from him by sin and finding his Fall in his Crimes tumbles into a more deplorable Nothing then that of Nature For the former obeys the voice of God if it contribute nothing to his design neither doth it resist his hand and the world that issued out of its barren depths was an evident proof of its submission But the Non-Entity of sin resists the will of God forms parties in his State deboists his most loyal subjects and mastering their wils disputes the dominion with their Soveraign Therefore doth Saint Augustine in some place of his writings call sin an armed Nothing and the Scripture to shew us the horrour goes along with it Nihil rebelle in Deum armatū Amb. prefers the condition of men who never were before that of transgressors who are fallen into sin The third Principle of Humility is Death which seems the middle between Nothing and Sin It is an image of the former and a chastisement of the second it bears the name of both in Scripture and the Prophets illuminated from above call it sometimes a Nothing sometimes a Sin Saint Augustine gives us a handsome proof hereof in these words Death saith he is the punishment of sin he bears the name of his Father to teach us that though man sin not in dying he never should have died if he had not sinned and the same Doctor in another passage acquaints us that Death is a Nothing which having no Essence might indeed be ordained by the Justice of God but not produced by his Power Thence it comes to passe that 't is a shameful punishment attempting the honor of man and his life and makes him feel himself a Criminal because having set upon his reputation it proceeds to attaque his person For he destroys this Master-piece of Nature separates the two parts that compound him breaks the ligaments that unites them and being not able to be revenged upon the soul dischargeth his fury upon the body and afflicts the Mistress in punishing her servant But should not all these powerful considerations oblige man to humble himself the Christian could by no means refuse this homage when he considers that his salvation depends upon Grace that his Liberty without this Supernatural aid serves only to damn him and being fallen from that happy condition wherein he was the master of his fortune he is now the slave of Concupiscence if he be not enfranchised by the merits of Jesus Christ Indeed the Example of God debased greatly comforts him in his misery he is never troubled to humble himself when he considers the Word annihilated in the Incarnation he submits to the Counsels of that Divine Master he is not ashamed to learn humility in his School and having heard that Oracle from his mouth Discite à me quia mitis sum humilis corde he looks upon this Vertue as his Glory and is forced to confess with Saint Augustine that if it be a Prodigy to behold a man proud 't is a Miracle to see a God humbled and by consequence of so great an Example that man must have lost his judgement that should be ashamed of Humility The Ninth DISCOURSE Of the Repentance of a Christian ALL the Vertues have their particular advantages the least splendid are the most useful and those that have not so many allurements have commonly most desert Repentance is of the number of these and it seems 't is not so much her beauty as her necessity that makes her considerable Her Countenance hath no comeliness her Mouth is always full of sighes her Eyes moist with tears her shoulders covered with sackcloth and her hands armed with discipline The Interest of God sets her against her self his Goodness offended his Glory obscured his Mercy neglected provokes her indignation against sinners and obliges them to invent torments to punish their offences But did not her zeal contribute to her excellency she is so necessary that in whatever condition man appears she is proper and peculiar to him It seems she is his difference in Grace and that this Vertue distinguisheth him from Angels and Beasts For these have only a blind instinct that guides them they have no liberty in their actions It is not reason but Nature that leads them and as they are incapable of Sin so are they of Repentance The Angels are unchangeable in good and evil Constancy hath made the Angels happy and Obstinacy hath rendred the Devils miserable These pure spirits cannot alter and whether they know good and evil intuitively or whether they act with the full extent of their power or whether they had but one moment to merit in all Divinity assures us that they cannot repent I intend not to examine whether Grace by its victorious sweetness be able to work a change in them and whether their will be so perversly obstinate in evil that it cannot be diverted But I say with our Masters there is something in their Nature and in their Sin which renders them unworthy and uncapable of Repentance so that this Vertue is a priviledge of a man one of his properties in Nature and one of his differences in Grace Being weak he never adheres so strongly to Vertue but he may desert her and by a happiness arising from his infirmity he is never so deeply engaged in vice but he may shake hands with it He is neither constant in good nor obstinate in evil and though he can neither leave the one nor embrace the other unless he be assisted by Grace he hath a natural disposition which rendring him unconstant makes him capable of this happy change that accompanies Repentance It seems the mercy of God which makes use of our sin to redeem us will make use of unconstancy to convert us and managing this weakness which is natural to us takes pleasure to save us by the same means that ruined us If those that are of opinion that the Grace that changeth men were able also to convert the Angels are not agreed as touching this Maxime they ought at least to confess that the Angel having had but one moment to merit in was not capable of this Grace in the order of God because his Salvation or his Fall had immediately followed
a Government loseth all command when not obeyed there are a thousand Reasons which no less respect our own Interest then the Glory of our Soveraign which oblige us to this undisputed resignation If we consider the Word Incarnate we shall finde that his deportment towards his Father exacts this humble duty from us He doth nothing upon the earth but by his orders he consults his will before he undertake any thing and if the time he hath set him to work his miracles in be not yet come he rejects the intreaties of his mother who can receive no other answer from his mouth but these words Nondum venit hora mea But if we look upon the holy Humanity united to the Eternal Word we shall see that as it is despoiled of its proper subsistence it hath no other motions then what it receives from the Divine Assistant that sustains it Humanitas Christi non est sui juris sed verbi actiones enim sunt suppofitorum It is more a his devotion then at its own is guided by that that preserves it and having no dominion over its actions is in a submission equal to its love whatever it acts upon earth all is referred to the Divine Person and as there is no union more strict then theirs neither is any dependance more obedient then that of the Humanity to the Divinity The Word acts absolutely in this holy Humanity Aliud est inviolabile aliud est passibile tamen ejusdem est contumelia cujus est gloria ipse est in infirmitate qui in virtute Leo. he reserves the whole conduct thereof to himself appropriates all the Inclinations and whether the Humane nature suffer or be abased he will have us know and believe that a God suffers and is humbled with it Therefore are all Christians after the imitation of so rare an example obliged to despoil themselves of their Wills to renounce their Desires to submit to Jesus Christ and to manifest in their person an image of the Incarnation 'T was certainly this powerful reason that made the great Apostle to utter these notable words Vivo autem jam non ego vivit vero in me Christus and to teach us by his advice to derive our guidance as well as our glory from the Son of God Indeed the whole Abnegation of a Christian is founded upon the mystery of the Incarnation and when they consider how the holy Humanity is obscured in the desarts humbled in the Villages sacrificed upon Mount Calavary to be obedient to the person of the Word they need not think it strange if to doe Homage to Jesus Christ they are obliged to renounce their glory and consent to lay down their lives at his command But if this example be not powerful enough to perswade us we must be convinced by reason and confess that Christians have no quality that that doth not exact this blind submission from them For if we consider them as Temples of the Holy Ghost or Members of the Son of God we are forced to acknowledge that these two glorious qualities are as well the Fountains of their dependance as of their greatness Temples are only for the Divinity that honours them with his presence they breath forth nothing but his glory and were they inanimated they would act meerly by his motions Therefore inasmuch as Christians are the living Temples of the Holy Ghost they ought not to act but as guided by him they are unable to perform any thing but by his order and all their actions that have not his Grace for their principle are Criminal or profane We are no more the children of God but as far as we are quickned by this ever to be adored Spirit all our merit is from our acting by his Vertue and when he ceaseth to incite and stir us up we leave off to form good thoughts or perform good actions The quality of Members ties us not lesse closely to our Head then that of Temples to the Holy Ghost for according to the Laws of Nature the Members more belong to their Head then slaves doe to their Master they receive life and motion from his Influences they owe all their vigour to the communication they have with him aand whenever there happens any obstruction that hinders him from sending his Spirits into his Members they lose all sense and strength Besides he hath such command over them that he applies them according to his designs takes no notice of their wils employs the eyes to weep as well as see the hand to serve as well as command the tongue to manage meat as well as compose words and as if it were their greatest glory to perish for him there is not any Member but willingly exposeth it self to death for his defence or honour This submission is an Image of the dependance Christians ought to have towards Jesus Christ they are no longer their own when once ingraffed upon his person they receive an obligation to obey from the same quality that gives them a power to operate Quam in in Christo manes per amorem ipse in te per sanctitatis justitiae operationem in ejus corpore membris computaris Ber. they become Servants assoon as they become Members their liberty depends upon their servitude and by a happy occurrence they lose their own will by submitting to that of the Son of God As it is love that unites them to him so that their liberty is not interessed in their obedience they are never more their own then when they are their Heads they recover themselves in being lost possess themselves by forsaking themselves and by a strange adventure find a resurrection in dying Thence it comes to pass that they are never troubled to sacrifice themselves to Jesus Christ they account themselves sufficiently happy if they can be serviceable to his Glory it matters not though they lose their lives provided they obey him and knowing very well that in the State and in Nature subjects expose themselves for their Prince Members for their Head they are of this mind assoon as ever they enter into the Mystical Body of Jesus Christ â—â—t when they consider how he hath joyned the quality of Redeemer to that of Head and that to associate them to his person he hath delivered them by the losse of his own life they believe they can no ways acknowledge this extream obligation but in dying for his glory who was willing to die for their salvation Indeed we are the servants of Jesus Christ he hath bought us by his death we are the price of his bloud and we owe our happiness and our hope to his merits This is it that the Apostle represents to us in such emphatical terms when he saith Empti estis pretio magno and by a necessary consequence teacheth us that we ought to glorifie him in our body and in our soul Thence it is that he infers that those that live upon
his bounty ought to live for his service Thence he concludes that we offer our members as oblations and employ all that we are for the glory of our Redeemer Slaves in the negotiations of the world could not dispose of their actions they acted by order of their Master they took pains for his Interest they got wealth for his profit and as if nature had lost her right in their persons they got children to increase his family Philosophers acknowledge that servitude fals only upon the body that it fetters only the feet and the hands leaving the slaves more free many times in their irons then the Soveraigns upon their Throne Bondage hath no dominion over their wil and with all her rigours cannot extort the least baseness from them if they be generous they dispute their liberty with fortune they preserve in deed what they have lost in appearance they many times command their oppressour and bearing the hearts of Kings in the bodies of slaves are more free and more happy then their Master But the Christian enters by Redemption into a Thraldome which passeth from his body into his soul fetters his heart with his hands triumphs over his liberty without constraining it confiscates all his goods to his Soveraign and despoiling him of all but Nothingness and Sin obligeth him to confess that he owes all the rest to the Liberaility of his Redeemer For the understanding of this Verity which makes one of the foundations of Christianity we must know that though God be the Soveraign of all men he treats not the innocent and the guilty alike He seems to respect the former to refuse them nothing that they desire preventing their wishes and in that happy state wherein Concupiscence had not disordered them he subjected their salvation to their liberty and made them in some sort the disposers or masters of their good fortune Grace is always at the door of their heart this Divine assistance never fails them and God would think he violated the Laws of his Justice had he not given these Innocents all that is necessary for their salvation But he deals far otherwise with Guilty men It seems Sin gives him more right over these wretches then Nothing does and being fallen from their priviledges by their own fault he owes them nothing but punishments He abandons them to their own conduct leaves them in blindness and weakness and as if they were meerly the objects of his anger he sometimes withdraws from them the assistance of his Grace Thus did the Eternal Father deal with men before the mystery of the Incarnation his Son found them in this deplorable condition when he undertook their deliverance they had no right neither to Grace nor Glory and sin that had deprived them of their innocence had confiscated all their apennages Thus we owe our Salvation to our Redemption we hold that of Mercy which heretofore we held of Justice we are saved rather as men enfranchised then free and acknowledging our salvation an effect rather of Grace then our own freedome we ought to renounce the one to give our selves over to the other This conceit carries me insensibly to another which seems only a consequent of this and the coherence they have will not give me leave to divide them Man in the state of Innocence was the master of his actions the uprightness wherein he was created was the cause that God left him to his liberty having no inordinate motions to regulate no wild passions to subdue no unfaithful senses to correct he had need only of a succour to sustain him His will was the principle of his merit and the good works he did proceeded rather from himself then from God Thus his good fortune was in a manner in his own hands he depended more upon Liberty then upon Grace and being the Director of this he might say without vanity that he was the principal Authour of his own salvation Divine Providence obliged him to take the guidance of himself to determine his own actions that he was the master of his fortune and making use of the advantages she had given him the acknowledgement of the victory was due only to his own courage and dexterity But now that he is faln from his Innocence hath lost half his Light and Liberty carries a Tyrant in his very Essentials which subjects him to his Laws he stands in need of a Grace that may deliver him and exercising a dominion over his will may save him by a more humble but surer way then that of Adam He is no longer the Master of his actions nor the Authour of his salvation he must take direction from Jesus Christ learn to deny himself distrust his own abilities and place his hope in that victorious Grace which subjects whose man captivating his understanding by Faith and his will by Love This Oeconomy of God towards the Christian is mixed with Justice and Mercy 't is Justice to take from him the disposall of his person because he used it so ill in the state of Innocence 'T is Justice to submit his Liberty to Grace because when he was the master thereof he neglected to make use of it 'T is Justice to treat him as a Pupil or a Slave not to trust him any more with the government of himself and to employ for his cure a remedy which reproacheth him with his blindness and infirmity 'T is Mercy also to knock off the fetters of a slave to indulge him the true liberty his sin had deprived him of to unite him to God from whom he was estranged to assure his salvation by a Grace which infallibly produceth its effect to sanctifie him in Jesus Christ whereof he is a Member and to give him an occasion to offer himself an Holocaust to God For it is true that self-denial is a parting with all things a sacrifice wherein man immolates his will by obedience a combat wherein he triumphs over himself where he is the vanquisher and the vanquished where he subdues his passions by reason and subjects his reason to grace After this advantage there is none but he may with Justice hope for because he that hath conquered himself may easily conquer all others 'T is a punishment which in hardship and durance disputes with that of Martyrs It is long because it lasts as long as life may take up the best part of an age nor spares the strength of the penitent but to make him suffer more It is rigorous because there is no cruelties a man given over to grace does not exercise upon his person and being witty to invent torments converts all things into corrections For as Saint Gregory the Great saith he suppresseth vanity by the sword of the Word of God he cuts off his head to ingraffe Jesus Christ upon his body he makes all die that he received from the old Adam to make all live that he hath drawn from the new and if he cut not off his arms and his legs he pares
away his desires and his hopes to give Jesus Christ some testimonies of his love Therefore doth the Scripture inform us that there is no Vertue receives a greater recompence then Self-denial The Man that is knockt off from himself is united to the Son of God the creatures respect him the Sun obeys his word and 't is in this sense that the Scripture to make his Panegyrick is not content to say that he pronounceth Oracles but addes that he gains Battles and bears away victories by speaking All things stoop to his commands and more glorious then the first man who could not use the creatures but according to their inclinations he disorders them to make himself feared and testifies the power he hath in the state of his Master by the command he exerciseth over all the parts of the Universe Thus Self-denial which seems to abase men raiseth them up the Vertue that entertains them in the distrust of their weakness gives them admittance into the power of God and that which obligeth them to renounce their own will makes them find the accomplishment of all their desires The Sixth TREATISE Of the Nourishment and Sacrifice of the Christian The first DISCOURSE Of Three Nourishments answering the Three Lives of a Christian. SOme will wonder perhaps that in the same Treatise I joyn two such different things together and that speaking of Nourishment which preserves the life of a Christian I treat of a Sacrifice that engageth him in Death But the wonder will cease if we consider that these two things are united together in Religion and that the same Sacrament that feeds us obligeth us also to die For the Son of God upon our Altars is as well our Nourishment as our Victim inviting us to a Feast he bids us to a Sacrifice and his Love associating two Subjects which have so small a relation he makes use of one and the same body to destroy our sins and to preserve our souls He offers himself up to his Father as an innocent Sacrifice and gives himself to the Faithful as a delicious Viand His Power which equals his Love takes from this Sacrifice whatever might render it horrid and removes from this Banquet whatever might make it sensual In both of them he satisfies his Father and his Children and exalting us in the light of Faith makes us believe what we cannot conceive Following therefore his intentions I have joyned in the same Treatise what he hath joyned in the same Mystery and resolve to manifest the wonders of this Food and the Prodigies of this Sacrifice Reason that teacheth us that Nourishment is the staff of Life teacheth us also that every living thing hath need of Nourishment and that the Divine Providence whose care is extended over all the Creatures hath left none without aliment This feedeth the Fowls of the air and the Psalmist confesseth it provided for the necessities of their young when forsaken by the dams It maketh Grass to grow in the desarts for the Cattel and Rain which seems unprofitably to fall into the Sea serves for refreshing and meat for the Fishes Inasmuch as Men are Gods master-pieces he takes a particular care to nourish them whole Nature labours to furnish their Table her fruitfulness is onely to satisfie their hunger or content their appetite and every Creature she teems with seems a Victim to be immolated to preserve their life But as they have Three Lives that answer to the Three Orders of Nature of Grace and of Glory God hath given them Three sorts of Food which in the difference of their qualities cease not to have wonderful Correspondencies The Earth is the Nurse that furnisheth us our chiefest nourishment that Divine word Crescite multiplicamini which enricht her with fruitfulness in the very birth hath preserved this prolifical vertue in the succession of so many yeers and if the Justice of God make her not barren for our punishment she returns with usury the laborious pains of the Husbandman Corn which is our principal support is multiplied by its corruption 't is born by death and making us see an image of the Resurrection perswades us our bodies may rise out of the Grave after they have been resolved to dust because the Grain springs not up till it be putrified in the earth This production would pass for a Miracle were it not so common and to observe the wonders thereof would be sufficient to oblige all men to reverence the power and wisdom of the Creator For when the Corn is corrupted it puts forth a bud which cleaves the earth and covers it with a tuft of Grass which preserves its verdure in the midst of the sharpest Winters At the Spring it thrusts forth a stalk which riseth insensibly and from time to time is strengthned with joynts to resist the violence of the windes Upon the top is formed an Ear wherein Nature seems to employ all her industry Seritur solummodo granum sine folliculi teste sine fundamento spicae fine munimento aristae fine superbia culmi Exurgit autem copia faenâ—ratum compagine aedisicatam ordine structum cultu munitum usquequaque vestituÌ„ Tertul. every grain is inclosed in a husk that if one be corrupted the rest may not be infected and the evil prove not a contagion each husk is fenced with a prizly sharp to guard the inclosed fruit from the injury of the air and the rapine of birds The heat of the Summer compleats the whole work gives it Colour in giving it Maturity and gently opening the several cells which lock up the treasure of the Husbandman admonisheth him to prepare for the Harvest If this Wonder ravish us and if we are bound to reverence the Divine Providence which makes the earth fruitful to nourish us we are not less concerned to admire the prodigious alterations it causeth in Nature to increase provision For it makes use onely of Rain to enrich us and from this inexhausted source draws so many different Fruits that if their number please us their qualities astonish us Rain is nothing but a Vapour in the conception the Sun sports with it in the air thickens it into a cloud to take it out of our sight then destroying his own work dissolves it into showers to water the thirsty earth In the mean time this Rain is turned into all things it toucheth takes the nature and quality of those things it bathes and by a miraculous Metamorphosis is changed into Wine falling upon grapes into Oil upon olives It contracts the taste of all Fruits and the colour of all Flowers It grows yellow upon the Marigolds red upon Pinks white upon Lilies and though when it falls it have neither taste nor colour yet may it boast it gives both to all Fruits and all Flowers This prodigious change which is daily wrought upon the earth is but an overture of that which is made upon the Body of Man to maintain it For all the Nourishment he
receives is digested by the Stomack and is turned to Blood in the Liver thence it is conveyed by the Veins into all the parts of the body which assimilating it into their substance gives it as many forms as they themselves have There by a strange prodigie the same aliment is softned into Flesh hardned into Bones stiffned into Sinews extended into Cartilages its superfluities are not useless and if we be-believe Physitians they serve to nourish our Hair and our Nails whereof the first is the ornament of the Head the second the defence of the Hand Who will not acknowledge that Man is very dear to God since he works so many Miracles to feed him and produceth so many several Meats to entertain a life common to him with beasts But inasmuch as that of the Soul is much more noble the nourishment whereby it is preserved is exceedingly more excellent and if in the order of Nature God hath made so many prodigies to nourish Man he works many more in the order of Grace to entertain the Christian For the body of his oncly Son is the food of the Faithful they live upon that Blood which begat them on the Cross that the same Principle which gave them their life may preserve it This Body is formed upon our Altars by the Word of Jesus Christ himself the Priests are onely the Ministers or Interpreters they repeat what he delivered in the Supper they do that in the Church that he did at Jerusalem and offering up this Sacrifice to the Eternal Father make provision to nourish the Faithful Thus in Nature and in Grace 't is the Word of God that makes us live and we may truely say Non in solo pane vivit homo sed in omni verbo quod procedit ex ore Dei But this Bread that nourisheth our souls is not of the same quality with that that nourisheth our Bodies For the Corn whereof this is made owes its Life to its Death nor can increase till it be corrupted but that which is exhibited to us upon our Altars felt corruption onely on the Cross where dying to procure us life he himself boasted that he was the Grain of Corn whose fruitfulness proceeds from its corruption Si mortuum fuerit multum fructum affert But now it is incorruptible in our Tabernacles death can no more injure it the Glory that invests it secures it from our fury as well as our wrongs We must acknowledge nevertheless that its presence depends upon the species that cover it it ceaseth to be with us when the heat hath digested them or time consumed them and though he remain by his Grace his body is absent which is tied to accidents as to chains his love hath forged for it He never dispenseth with this bondage the treachery of Judas could not make him violate the laws he had prescribed the blinde fury of Hereticks cannot compel him out of this prison and the impiety of Sinners hath not been able to force him to quit their hearts till the species that preserved him there be consumed by the natural heat He is as faithful to observe his promises as to obey the will of his Father and as the blasphemies of the Jews could not make him descend from the Cross to give them proofs of his Innocence and of his Divinity the sacriledges of prophane Christians cannot make him desert the Hoast where his love and fidelity hold him prisoner Though he be subject to all these humiliations to become our nourishment he is not liable for all that to all the conditions of Nutriment For he passeth not into our substance he is not changed into those that receive him and in his debasement he reserves himself the power to convert them into him His being our Food hinders him not from being our God he acts upon those that feed upon him he makes an impression of his Divine qualities in their souls and if he changeth not their Nature at least he makes them change their Condition and their Life Neither ought this to seem strange to those that consider that Natural meats communicate their qualities to us and by a mutual Metamorphosis we are changed into them when they are assimilated into us 'T is believed that Nero was therefore cruel because he suckt the milk of a cruel Nurse and that Achilles was therefore valiant because his Master nourished him with the marrow of Lions Experience it self teacheth us that people draw their humours from the earth that bears them and the heaven that covers them Those that are bred among Rocks are savage those that live in the fertile Plains are more tractable Therefore we need not wonder if the Christians feeding upon a Divine meat do so easily change their inclinations Auâ—ite officaciam communionem corporis sanguinu Domini nos Jesu Christo Jesus Christus nobis in unitate foederatur inenarrabili sicut ipse dicit Qui manducat carnem meum in me manet ego in eo Bern. because more powerful and successful then ordinary food it hath the vertue of conveying its own qualities and of changing the guests into it self And from this Principle do the Fathers draw the obligation the Christians have to be gods upon earth because they receive a God in the Eucharist who acting according to the extent of his power would transform them into himself were not his Divine operations hindered by the weakness or malice of the recipient But that which is begun upon Earth is happily perfected in Heaven where Divinity being the food of the Blessed raiseth them to a condition where leaving off to be Mortals they commence Gods Indeed the holy Scripture teacheth us that the Beatifical state is a Feast where God communicating his Essence to Angels and Men makes them in one dish taste all imaginable delights For though there be diversity of conditions among the Blessed though the degrees of Glory answer the degrees of Love and those who have been most affectionate are those that God most honours yet all Theology confesseth that the Divine Essence is the only object of their felicity that every one enjoys all without division that though common to all 't is notwithstanding proper to each particular that being wholly communicated to one it takes nothing from the rest and more excellent then the light which enlightens one man as perfectly as the whole world it is as fully communicated to the lowest Angel as to the highest Seraphim God is divided upon the Earth without interessing his simplicity he communicates himself to the faithful but in part and handling every one according to their Merit and his Grate is not always the same to one that he is to another He hath manifested his Wisdome in Solomon his Clemency in David his Patience in Job his Love in Saint Peter his Zeal in Saint Paul his Purity in Saint John and his other perfections in the rest of the Faithful But at the end of the world God
contrary to all the laws of Nature that the Accidents subsist without their Subject and that the Substance of the Bread and Wine being turned into that of his Body and Blood keep notwithstanding its Colour Taste and Form He is multiplied without being divided to satisfie the love of his Spouse and admitting his Humanity into the priviledges of the Divinity filleth his State with his presence We are in a doubt whether he does not work a Miracle for the Faithful which is not indulged the Blessed and we are yet ignorant whether this divine multiplication be an effect of his glory or of his power For though there are some Divines who believe that glorified bodies may be in divers places without a miracle and that the part they have in the Immensity of God multiplies their bodies without dividing them the Schools have always lookt upon this effect as a prodigie and have taught us that the order of Glory had its Miracles as well as that of Nature and Grace Finally it seems that the Son of God to make his power and his love admired Dicitur virgini supervenient in te Spiritus sanctus dicâ—tur etiem Sacerdoti superveniet in te Spiritus sarctus efficiet quod intelligentiam tuam excedet Joan. Damasc had a minde in this Mystery to repeat all the Miracles he had wrought during the course of his life For if he were born of Mary without interessing her Virginity if making her a Mother he left her a Virgin if the Fruit she bare deflowred not her Purity he is produced in our Sacrifices without violating their Accidents and changing their substance into his alters not the Species that cover them If he turn water into wine at a Marriage in Cana and manifest himself the Master of the Elements in changing their qualies he appears no less absolute in a Sacrament where he turns the Bread into his Body the Wine into his Blood and the Creature into his Creator If he multiply the loaves in the wilderness and operate this prodigie by the hands of his Apostles they being ignorant of the manner he daily multiplies his Body by the hands of the Priests who cannot comprehend a miracle whereof they are the witnesses and the Ministers If heretofore he cured the sick that came unto him here he cures the diseased that receive him and if he raised the dead by his touch or by his Word here he promiseth life to all those that feed upon him and engageth himself by a promise as sure as an Oracle that he will draw all those out of the grave that have served him here for a Temple Thus this adorable Sacrament deserves the name of Manna better then Manna it self and ought no less to fill our hearts with astonishment then with love But to continue our resemblances and to manifest the truth in the figure The Psalmist hath observed that Manna was not a bare Nutriment but a preservative and a remedy For while the Israelites made use of it in the Desarts they were never molested with any infirmities Though they so often changed their Quarters marched through a Wilderness where the want of water and the multitude of serpents might make them fear an infection nevertheless this food which participated of the Tree of Life and made them taste in the Desarts the delights of Paradise so well suited with their temper that though they daily beheld rebels in their Camp they never saw any sick In Tribubus eorum non erat infirmus There by a strange prodigy diseases were not the harbingers of death they gave up the ghost without any pangs some small weakness gave them notice of the houre of their departure the soul fairly took leave of the body and the Feaver which seems the forrager of death durst not set upon men whom Manna served for nourishment The Eucharist works the same miracle in our souls that this Heavenly food did in their bodies It is at the same time diet and an Antidote it gives life and preserves it it delivers us from evil and then protects us against it it maintains the constitution of the soul in a regulated evenness of temper and much happier then physick which cannot tame the disease without weakning nature it deals so critically with the sins that it never prejudiceth the sinner Many times when Faith seconds Piety this Celestial viand extends its effects as far as the body it maintains health as well as salvation and cures the diseased as well as the wicked In the Primitive Church it wrought wonderful cures and the great Saint Cyprian tels us that Physitians were useless in those days because Christians found their cure in the Eucharist and proved there was the same Jesus present whose Word was heretofore so fatal to infirmities and so favourable to the infirm If in this particular it supass Manna in another it equals it Manna non solum sanitatem sed animum Judais conserebat Josâ—ph because in restoring health it infused strength and inspired courage For there are some Writers that are of opinion that the valour of the Israelites was an effect of Manna that they owed those formidable victories they gained from their enemies to this meat that came down from Heaven Neither ought this to seem strange to the incredulous since experience teacheth us that wine which is the pure work of Nature produceth daily the same effects drowns fear in its vapours inspires men with the contempt of dangers gives a new vigour to soldiers and constitutes the best part of their courage Therefore I am easily perswaded to believe that Manna wrought the same wonder in the Israelites whilest nourishing their body it maintained their valour and making them sound and lusty made them withall magnanimous and valiant Indeed inasmuch as this food was more miraculous then natural and acted rather by the directions of Heaven then the properties of its own nature it lost this faculty assoon as the Israelites lost grace and as if it had changed quality when they changed disposition it produced fear in the same hearts where it had formerly produced courage and assurance All these wonders were but the shadows of what we adore in the Eucharist which is not only the food but the force of the Christian we come from the Altar as Lions terrifying the Infernal Spirits they cannot endure our sight the presence of Jesus Christ wherewith we are surrounded startles them into a disorder and remembring that we bear about us the same slesh and bloud which triumphed over them upon Mount Calvary they dare not set upon us They flie such men who lodge a god in their souls and beholding their Judge seated in our hearts as upon his Throne they are afraid lest he pronounce sentence against them re-doubling their pains and aggravating their torments It was this Heavenly Bread that animated the Martyrs to the combat this adorable Bread that gave them courage to daunt their executioners and the sword of
had not this mystery been attended with other consequences and had not the holy Sacrament been added to the Incarnation the Man-God had not communicated to us his qualities and remaining still the children of Adam we had never been made the children of God This great effect was reserved for the Eucharist 't is in this mystery that whole Nature was Deified and we may say that if the Communication of the Word in the Incarnation was infinite it was not immense but in the holy Sacrament of the Altar There it is that we become Gods without committing a crime there Piety satisfies our Ambition there the union we contract with the Word imitates and honours That it contracted with the Father from all Eternity Finally there it is that the onely Son becomes the first-born and taking us for his Brethren makes us the Children and withal the Images of his Father After this great advantage 't is not hard to conceive that he was willing to content our third desire and having made us Gods hath indued us with Knowledge to bestow upon us in earnest what the devil promised us in jest For this Spirit who still retains so much light amidst the thickness of his darkness perceiving that the desire of Knowledge is one of the strongest Passions of Man perswaded him that God had not forbidden him the use of the fruit he advised him to eat but to keep him in ignorance and to deprive him of those innocent pleasures Science brings with it into the minde This temptation proved so powerful that it prevailed upon man for his consent and he that had resisted the promises of Glory and Life suffered himself to be charmed with the hope of Knowledge Indeed we must confess that of all the Passions this is the most reasonable Beasts are moved with the love of Life and Glory they fear Death and Dishonour They fight to be secured from both these and those that are accounted the noblest are as ambitious in their victories of the increase of their reputation as of the preservation of their life But the desire of Knowledge is peculiar to Man there is no creature but he that takes pains to be delivered from Ignorance His combats for Glory are not more famous then his disputes for Truth and Conquerors take less pleasure to gain Slaves then Philosophers do to purchase Disciples The contestation of Wits is nobler then that of Bodies and if there be any conflict among the Angels it more resembles that of Philosophers then that of Conquerors The Understanding and the Will are the onely Atms made use of either for offence or defence whole Nature is the Field the differences spring not from the divers interests of Soveraigns but from the contrary opinions of Masters the recompence of the Victors is not so much the Conquest of Glory as of Knowledge they are never more satisfied with their advantage then when of their Enemies they make their Partisans and delivering them from Errour and Falsehood enrich them with Knowledge and Truth Therefore did the devil make use of this stratagem to gain man to his side and believed that if any thing in the world would make him forget his duty 't was his desire to Know Good and Evil. In the mean time Man lost his Light by losing his Innocence the father of Lyes plunged him in darkness and falling into the pit of Sin by a just judgement he fell into the abyss of Ignorance But Jesus Christ all whose Promises are Truth opens the eyes of the soul to the Faithful that receive his Body he enlightens their Understanding and warms their Will he manifests himself to those that receive him in this Sacrament and leading them to Knowledge by the mystery of Faith may be said to give them sight by making them blinde 'T is in the breaking of this Bread that his disciples know him 't is by the vertue of this Drink that the scales are taken from their eyes and 't is by the Grace of this Food that the Just who are nourished therewith receive Understanding together with Life If Jesus Christ raign upon our Altars as a Soveraign he instructs thence as a Master if we are his Subjects in that condition we are also his Disciples and if he gives us Laws to regulate us he gives us Counsels to inform us From all this Discourse 't is easie to infer that Jesus Christ is the God of Truth and the Devil the Father of Lyes That the One promising us Honour Knowledge and Life involved us in Shame Ignorance and Death the Other giving us his Body made us Wise Immortal and Glorious The Fifth DISCOURSE That this Nourishment unites the Christian with the Son of God INasmuch as Unity is the most excellent perfection of God all the works of his hands bear the Character thereof there is no creature that in his composition maintains not this advantage he ceaseth to subsist or live assoon as he begins to be divided and if S. Augustine judged rightly that grief was nothing but the division of the soul we may say that death is nothing but the dissolution of the body Thence it comes to pass that God in Nature and in Grace that he may preserve his creatures maintains them in unity and makes his noblest operations and his highest mysteries serviceable to this design His Providence that guides the Universe takes no other care but to associate the creatures together that their union may compose the worlds Harmony As the Battles of Princes tend to peace the jar of the Elements wrangles out a concord if they recede from their contraries 't is to embrace their like and when they seem most incensed they intend not so much a mutual destruction as to remove those obstacles that hinder their alliance That which is done in Nature is effected in Grace all the operations thereof mean only to reconcile us to God Teneamus charitatem fine qua etiam cum Sacramentis cum fide nibil sumus tenemus autem charitatem si amplectimur unitatem Aug. This noble expression of the Divine Essence breaths nothing but Unity and these austere Vertues which seem to annihilate the sinner have no other end but to destroy his sin to re-unite him to his Principle All our Mysteries and all our Sacraments seek the same end by different ways Baptism unites us to Jesus Christ as to our Head Repentance as to our Surety the Eucharist as to our Beloved because compleating all the other unions it happily converts us into him that nourisheth us with his Flesh and Bloud This design hath excellently appeared in the choice he made of the matter of this Sacrament For the Bread whose substance is changed into that of the Body of Jesus Christ is made up of many grains of corn which being kneaded and baked together composeth that Sacrifice which is offered upon our Altars The Wine whose substance is turned into the Bloud of Christ is compounded of many Grapes which
being trodden in the same Press sends forth that juice which is exhibited in this oblation So that the Son of God prepares the heart of the Faithful by a sensible union to a spiritual one and teacheth them that he will unite them with him in a Sacrament whose outward appearances breathe nothing but unity The Flesh which the outward species cover is so one that its multiplication cannot divide it it is produced in a thousand places to re-unite those that receive it and contrary to that of Adam is one in its substance Omne bellum oritur ex carne homo enim si carnalis non esset nunquam cum alio homine pugnaret Aug. as well as in its effects For the flesh of our first Father is a fruitful and unhappy spring of division it is parted into as many bodies as there are children and we may say that all men are the wretched portions of this guilty flesh The souls are divided with it to inanimate it and acting by its Organs contract its bad qualities whence arise quarrels and disputes that distract States and Fam lies But the most Tragical division is that being the channel of sin it makes the souls guilty assoon as they touch it and separate them from God by an offence which was free in the first man and natural in all his posterity For 't is enough that they are blended with the flesh of Adam to make them become guilty 'T is from this unhappy mixture that those fatal rents issue and proceed which occasion all our disasters and if we did not communicate in flesh with Adam we should not partake of his sin nor be liable to his punishment But this of Jesus Christ more happy and more innocent then his heals our division and leads us to unity it is one in substance and though a part of Adams is exempt from all sin because the work of the Holy Ghost and the Word that sustains it renders it impeccable He that communicates life to it communicates innocence in so high a degree that he imparts it to those that receive it It s multiplication dissolves not the unity the same Word that produceth it upon our Altars gives it the impress of its qualities and contrary to all the rules of nature which cannot multiply things without dividing them finds a secret to give it a Beeing in a thousand places without impairing its unity There is this difference between Nature and a Word the former is fruitful only by division 't is wonderful how from a grain of corn she extracts a whole Harvest pays the labour of the Husbandman with usury recompenseth his pains with plenty and imitating the power of her Creator which makes all things of nothing makes a great deal of a very little But she cannot accord multiplication with unity she must divide whatever she produceth and her liberality is founded upon the fraction of her Presents A Word more powerful then nature is brought forth without partition it is communicated through the fullest Auditory without wronging its Unity and though always one fils the ears of all those that are within the sound of it It seems that the Body of the Son of God which produced by the Word Vnusquisque accepit partem suam unde ipsa Gratia partes vocantur per partes manducantur manet integer totus per partes manducatur in Sacramento manet integer totus in coelo manet integer toâ—us in corde tuo Aug. Serm. de Verb. Evang. hath borrowed this Vertue from its cause is multiplied in the world and is not divided it is received into the heart of all the Faithful and this kind of Immensity that multiplies its presence alters not its unity It is whole and entire under every part of the Hoast though they break it they cannot divide it but preserving its unity in the fraction of the species remains always the Numerical body of Jesus Christ Thence it comes to pass that it unites all the faithful that receive it For though they be as different in conditions as generations as contrary in humours as interests as great strangers in their inclinations as climates they doe notwithstanding make up one body because they are nourished with one bread and all eat the same meat which having the power to assimilate the feeder into the food communicates unto them a wonderful unity which composeth all their differences But to comprehend this last miracle we must remember that this viand being of another nature then common meat is not disgested by the natural heat nor converted into the substance of those that take it only the accidents that cover it resent that injury and yielding to that fire that animates and consumes us becomes a part of our selves Being impassible and glorified 't is free from corruption acting upon those that eat it and having the same effect upon them they have upon other nutriments converts them miraculously into it self Thus every Christian if he bring not resistance with him becomes another Jesus Christ he parts with the bad qualities of Adam to assume the glorious ones of the Son of God if he share not in his impassibility he does in his innocence if he become not immortal he becomes in some sort glorified and if he change not nature he alters at least his inclination Therefore is it that all the Fathers of the Church admiring the holy stratagems Jesus Christ makes use of to unite us to himself Qui vult vivere habet unde vivat accedat credat incorporetur vivificectur inhaereat corpori vivat Deo de Deo nunc laboret in terra ut postea vivat in caeâ—o Aug. call this Sacrament a Divine Transformation wherein man losing what he had of corruptible and criminal gains the advantages of the Blessed and is happily changed into him that nourisheth him Indeed experience teacheth us that nature and love have found out no better invention to convert Essences then Nutrition Every day the meat we eat is assimilated into our substance the wine altering its qualities by a natural Chymistry is turned into our bloud bread without any other additional supplement then the natural heat becomes our flesh and all the nourishments we take by a wonderful metamorphosis pass into our nature The union they contract with us is so great nothing can break it all the endeavours of men cannot dissolve it and it is easier for the cruelty of the Executioner to bray the chains that fasten the soul to the body then to unravel those links that doe consubstantiate the food with him that hath disgested it Being changed into his substance and blended with all the parts that compose him the inquisition must search for it in his Arteries and break his very bones to extract it with the marrow Love also that takes pleasure to imitate nature hath found out no more powerful means to unite lovers together when one of them hath bid farewel to the world then in making the
that his Body is the Holocaust of his Love our Understanding must be the Victim of our Faith 'T is in this occasion that we ought to relie upon the Power and Truth of him that worketh this Miracle and examining the difficulties that combat our Faith we are onely to consider that he that hath drawn All things out of Nothing is still able to extract his Body out of the substance of the Bread Haec Sacramenta necessario fidem exigunt rationem non admittunt Bern. and change one thing into another since he was able to produce what was not This is the Mystery must be approached unto in the simplicity of Faith where we must believe Jesus Christ whom we do not see that Darkness being the midwife of Light we may behold him in heaven whom we have believed upon earth The second disposition of the Christian is derived from the second quality of this heavenly meat All Religion informs us that Heaven bestows this Nutriment upon us by the mighty power of its Love every effect we observe therein is a Miracle never will the Prodigies of Manna equal those of the Eucharist Tota ratio facti potentia facientis Aug. nothing is done here according to the laws of Nature God dispenseth with all those rules in other occurrences he obligeth himself unto and we may say that in this adorable Mystery he consults onely his Power and his Goodness He changeth the Elements without altering their qualities he sustains Accidents without their Substances he multiplies his Body without dividing it he nourisheth the Faithful with his Flesh without wasting it he is present in a thousand places at the same instant Whilst Men possess him the Angels do not lose him he is wholly in heaven and wholly upon the earth and as if the Incarnation were but an Essay of the Eucharist this gives all the world the same Body the other indulged onely to Judea Such a cloud of Miracles exact our silence and astonishment we must admire what we cannot comprehend and making Ignorance serviceable to Piety say with the Prophet Mirabilis Deus in sanctis suis magnus in operibus suis Indeed if we admire the wonders of Nature if that which surpasseth our apprehension ravish our understanding if the disorder of the Elements or the irregularity of the Seasons strike a kinde of awe into us Ought we not greatly to respect a Mystery whose every circumstance is a Miracle and every effect a Prodigie But inasmuch as this Food is an Earnest of Glory and this Feast whereto the Faithful are invited is a figure of that Eternal Banquet which the Blessed sit down at we must bring along with us Desire and Hope God gives us nothing upon the earth which he doth promise us aforehand to occasion our desires But because Promises are not bare words Judaei quippe habebant quandam umbram nos veritatem Judaei fuerunt servi nos filii Judaei per mare transierunt ad Eremum nos per Baptismum intravimus in Regnum Judaei Manna manducaverunt nos Christum Judaei pruinam nos Deum caeli Salvia he many times gives us a part of what he hath promised Though the Law were but a shadow of Truth the Sacraments thereof but vain and empty Figures yet did they contain something that the Israelites were to hope for by them Manna had qualities expressing those of the Body of Jesus Christ The Law though obscure was an exposition of the Gospel and rightly understood obliged us to love God above all things and our Neighbour as our selves The Sea which favoured their retreat in parting asunder and coming together again swallowed up the Egyptians darted forth some glimmerings of light amidst these shades of darkness and by sensible effects exhibited what was to be acted upon our souls in the Sacrament of Baptism The Land of Promise had some resemblance with that of the Living its plenty was an image of the felicity of heaven where nothing is wanting to the blessed inhabitants Nevertheless we must acknowledge that the pledges we receive in the New Testament are far more certain and substantial They exhibit the best part of what they promise they do what they make shew of and joyning the Figure with the Substance we may say that without depriving us of the quality of the Faithful they procure us that of the Blessed Baptism which raiseth us to the dignity of the Sons of God gives us admittance into his Inheritance we are already new creatures and though not yet perfected by Glory are notwithstanding begun to be wrought upon by Grace We are the members of Jesus Christ though we remain the members of Adam if the Charity the holy Ghost hath shed abroad in our hearts quench not Concupiscence at least it abolisheth the sin and though our righteousness be imperfect it fails not to be true The Incarnation raiseth our hopes and having seen a God made Man in being born of a Virgin we have not much ado to believe that Men may become Gods in being born of the Church But not to enter upon a deduction which would lead too far from the Subject of my discourse we need onely consider the Eucharist to be perswaded of this Verity It is a pledge wherein God performs what he promiseth 'T is part of that sum he bids us hope for Sacramenta prima erant praenvnitiativa Christi ideo ablata quia completa alia sunt instituta virtute majora utilitate meliora actu feliciora numero pauciora Aug. an Antepast of the felicity we expect neither is there any Christian who is not fully assured to possess Jesus Christ in heaven because he so entirely enjoys him on earth He waits with patience for the effect of so many gracious promises whereof he hath received such certain earnest he comforts himself in his discontents from the consideration of his advantages neither can he doubt that he that is so often sacrificed for his salvation will not wholly communicate himself for his happiness This infallible Gage exacts from us as much Desire as Confidence It is not enough to be assured of the promise of God we must long to have it effected our enjoyment ought to produce our yearning after it All Christians must be like Daniel men of desires and renouncing the things of the world fix all their pretensions towards heaven This Mystery that unites them to Jesus Christ must raise them as high as God and when his presence is vanished with the species the desires that Grace inspires them with must give them another rellish of what the natural heat hath made them lose by digestion This disposition prepares us for another more noble and more holy For if we are to express our longings because the Body of the Son of God is a pledge of his Promises we ought to be indued with Love and Fidelity because this Sacrament is a Marriage of his soul with ours Baptism is the Beginning and
in that of Isaac it was obliged to separate the Priest from the Victime and to arm the hands of the Father to immolate his only Son In the mean time Jesus Christ unites them in his person and in this adorable Sacrifice which he offers to his Father whether on the Cross or on the Altar he is both the Priest that consecrateth and the Victime that is immolated Inasmuch as Jesus Christ saith Saint Augustine is our God and our Temple he is also our Sacrifice and our Priest He is the Priest that reconciles us he is the Sacrifice whereby we are reconciled and the same Doctor admiring the novelties of the sacrifice of the Cross expresseth his wonder by these words The Altar of the Sacrifice is new because the Immolation is new and admirable For he that is the Sacrifice is the Priest the Sacrifice according to the Flesh the Priest according to the Spirit and both according to his Humanity He that offereth and he that is offered is one and the same person and these qualities which have so little analogy are found united in the sacrifice of the Cross Inasmuch as the Christian is the Image of Jesus Christ and this glorious title obligeth him to transcribe his original he ought to sacrifice himself as he did and to be both the Priest and the Oblation together Indeed if we descend into the Mysteries of our Religion and consider with the eye of Faith what we are not able to discover with the light of reason we shall find that we are immolated upon the Altar with the Son of God and that after his example we are both the sacrificers and the sacrifice For Jesus Christ is not offered all alone in our Temples he is immolated by the hands of the Priests and at the same time that he offers his natural body to his Father he offers also his mystical body so that offering himself to his Father by his Church and offering his Church together with himself he teacheth all the Faithful to joyn the quality of Priests with that of Victimes This is it that Saint Augustine informs us of in his Book De Civitate Dei Per hoc sacerdos est ipse offerens ipse oblatio cujus rei Sacramentum quotidianū esse voluit Ecclesiae sacrificiū quae cum ipsius capitis corpus sit seipsam per ipsū discit offerre Aug. lib. 10. de Civit. ca. 6. where searching into our mysteries he finds that the Church offers her self with her Beloved upon our Altars and that in the same sacrifice she is both Priestess and Oblation His words are too elegant to be omitted neither must it be a less Doctor then he that must appear that Protector of so important a Verity 'T is particularly saith he in unity that the sacrifice of Christians consists where being many in number we make up but one body with Jesus Christ this is it that the Church daily does in this Sacrament which is so well known to the Faithfull wherein is demonstrated that in the Oblation she offers she her self is offered that after the example of her Beloved she may be in the same sacrifice Priestess and Victime From this passage may easily be inferred that the Faithful are offered with Christ upon the Altar that the Host that contains him is large enough to contain all his members and that his mysticall body being immolated with his natural body he obligeth all Christians to associate as he doth the quality of Victime with that of a Priest But if leaving the Altar we consider the Faithful in the course of their life we shall see there is none but ought to sacrifice himself and who either in his body or in his soul may not find Victimes to offer to God There is no more need of providing Buls or Goats with the Jews to lay upon our Altars The time of the Mosaical Law is past truths have succeeded figures and if we rightly understand the secret of our mysteries Noli extrinsecus thura comparare sed dic In me sunt Deus vota tua noli extrinsecus pecus quod mactes inquirere habes in te quod occidas Aug. in Psal 51. it becomes us to offer those things these Animals represent We have whereof to sacrifice within our selves there is not any passion in our soul nor part in our body whereof we may not make an innocent Victime Indeed Christian Religion converting the sinner into a sacrifice obligeth him to immolate to God all that he is He is deficient in the lawfullest of his duties if his whole life be not a sacrifice and being compounded of soul and body he ought to sacrifice both that he may have the honour to be a perfect Holocaust The vertues are auxiliaries which facilitate these means and it seems these glorious habits are given us for no other end then to teach us to sacrifice to God all the faculties of our soul Inasmuch as the will is the noblest and this Soveraign being once perfectly gained over to God gives him an absolute dominion over all the rest there are some vertues which have no other employment but to be made victimes Sorrow which discovers to man the excess of his crime labours to convert him it bruiseth his heart by the violence of a holy contrition and if it cannot draw bloud from this sacrifice it draws tears which are more acceptable to God then the bloud of beasts This made David say that the spirit broken and afflicted was a true sacrifice and that he who sometimes refuseth Goats and Lambs never despiseth a heart that Repentance and Humility offers up unto him Sacrificium Deo spiritus contribulatus Obedience comes in to the succour of grief this beats down the pride of the will masters that imperious faculty and changing her triumph into a sacrifice obligeth her to die to her own inclinations that she may live to those of the Grace of Jesus Christ But love happily finisheth this design he burns the victime with his flames to render it an Holocaust and finding the means to put to death an immortall power teacheth us that a pure spirit may offer sacrifices to God For there is no lover but knows that love imitates death that he commits innocent murders and by stratagems which himself is only privy to makes sin die in us that Grace may live If the will become a Victim by means of Charity the understanding is offered up to God by the intervening of faith This vertue subjects it to her Empire perswades truths she explicates not she obligeth a man to suspend his judgement to renounce his reason and to give his senses the lye she engageth him to offer as many sacrifices as she propounds mysteries and by a power which would seem tyrannical were it not legitimate forbids him the use of reasoning in matters of religion The memory after the example of the understanding is immolated to God by remembrance and forgetfulness These two
different ways make two contrary sacrifices This faculty calls to mind the benefits received from its Creator and forgets the injuries received from Enemies Between these two exercises it is equally divided and whatever outrage sin hath committed in our soul she finds that the art of oblivion is harder then that of retaining or learning 'T is upon the first that the love of enemies is founded which seems the most troublesome sacrifice of Ghristian Religion and upon the other acknowledgment or the action of thankfulness which is the justest duty of the creature towards his Creator Though the body be the least moity of man yet is it not destitute of Victims which it furnisheth him with to appease God and according to the different vertues that inform it offers sacrifices which are little inferiour to those of the minde Repentance afflicts it a hundred severall ways and this vertue no less austere then witty invents every day new means to tame its rebellion and of a disobedient slave to make a voluntary sacrifice Sometimes she punishes his boldness by fasting sometimes abates his strength by watchings sometimes lets him bloud by disciplines sometimes tames his pride with ashes Finally by these divers artifices she lets us see that a penitent is nothing but a man armed against himself who offers a sacrifice of Justice when he is more offended at his own sins then those of his neighbour Repentance cals in Continence many times to her aid for when this rebel resists grief she forbids him the use of the most lawful pleasures and depriving him of whatever he loves makes a victim of him which suffers the more the slower his sorrow is and his sacrifice more sharp and irksome But because the eye and the mouth are the most guilty parts of man repentance obligeth the first to bewail his sins changeth his fountain of flames into flouds of tears compels this complice of impurity to become the Minister of sorrow forceth this faithful Interpreter of the heart to betray it no more with his glances and to be closed to all objects which might trouble his rest or pervert his good designs she deals more imperiously with the mouth for seeing this is guilty of two contrary evils and his silence is sometimes as criminal as his words this part is condemned to two different punishments sometimes being obliged to keep silence sometims to speak of his silence and of his discourse is composed one and the same sacrifice The mouth is obliged to open in chanting forth the praises of its Creator and having discharged this part of duty when the words are no longer answerable to the greatness of the subject it hath recourse to silence and by wonder and astonishment makes amends for those faults committed by too much liberty This double sacrifice hath its value and its price and the Scripture which tels us that God is pleased with praises acquaints us also that silence when arising from a great respect is not unacceptable to him By the first we profess that he is the Authour of all perfections that ours are derived from him and because speech is an advantage we hold from his goodness it ought to be consecrated to his honour By the second we tacitly confess that as his Divine Essence cannot be known neither can it be expressed and that of all the ways we have to magnifie him by silence is most agreeable to his greatness and our humility After that man hath immolated his body and his soul he is obliged to tender his goods and to offer him a sacrifice of all that he possesseth Alms and Poverty are his assistants in so pious a design and these two vertues by different mediums arrive at the same end for Alms parts goods with God and looking upon Jesus Christ in the person of the poor restores that to his indigence which he received of his bounty 'T is true in this point his meaning is much different from those that address themselves by way of sacrifice for they when they offer a victim slay him at the Altar to testifie that their presents are useless to God because being the source of all good nothing can be given him which he possesseth not in himself But he that doth Alms hath this satisfaction Noli contemnere Christum in coelo sedentem in terra egentē veniet cum retributione vita aeterna igne aeterno Aug. that his sacrifice is not unprofitable to Jesus Christ because though he be happy in his person he is indigent in his members Poverty out-bids Alms despoils a man of all is of the nature of the Holocaust where he that sacrificeth reserving nothing to himself gives all wholly to God This forsakes not goods only but the very desires also renounceth all pretensions to the Earth and not content to offer God what is in possession bestows upon him whatever may be hoped for so that this sacrifice being as large as Hope we may say it comprehends all that this passion which is boundless promiseth the Ambitious or the Covetous Thus the Christian acquits himself of the promise he made in Baptism and consecrating his soul by Charity his body by Repentance and his Riches by Alms or Poverty satisfies both his obligations and his promises Ipse homo Dei nomini consecratus Deo devotus in quantum mundo moritur ut Deo vivat sacrificiū est Aug. For Saint Augustine teacheth me that he that dies to the world to live to Jesus Christ is a true sacrifice when following the motions of Grace he useth his body to the Glory of his Creator striving to quench the fire of self-love by that of Charity making his members servants to justice in being serviceable to repentance he becomes a sacrifice wel-pleasing to God and may boast that in satisfying the duties of Christianity he acquits himself of the obligation of the sacrifice with which Christians can no way dispense The Seventh TREATISE Of the Qualities of the Christian The first DISCOURSE That the Christian is the Image of Jesus Christ ALthough men are dignified by Qualities being the marks either of their Birth or Desert yet must we confess that they adde nothing to their Persons nor imprint any Character upon their Soul or Body They are fair illusions which pleasingly deceive us Dreams that amuse men awake Charms that inchant those that are in love with them They owe their Lustre to our Blindness their Grandeur to our Ignorance For the highest dignities which so much disquiet the Ambitious are but the Errours of their Understanding and the Idols of their Imagination should we pare away from Great Personages the attendance of their followers the pomp of their habits and the magnificence of their houses Magna Fortuna magna Servitus Senec. we should finde their Charges meer Chimera's and that which we call Fortune nothing but a False Greatness or a Real Slavery But inasmuch as the Qualities of a Christian are not the works of
the likeness he may have to this Model Let us see then what it concerns him to do that he may gain it and afterwards we will consider the obligations so great an advantage requires at our hands Grace hath more analogie with Art then with Nature For when this makes a man at the same time she is busie about all the parts whereof he is composed and as if she were afraid to make them jealous one of another she hollows the eyes when she bores the ears and fashions the tongue as soon as the heart But Art less happie or less powerful then Nature contrives her works successively one while she makes a hand and divides it into five fingers whereby it becomes as useful as it is handsome presently it opens an eye then the mouth and effecting that at divers turns which it could not do at once finisheth the Picture with much time and labour Grace imitating Art more then Nature spends whole moneths to form Jesus Christ in our souls In our Birth we are but rude draughts of the New man our vertues are not acquired all at an instant and whether Grace finde resistance in our Wills or Concupiscence combat her designes she thinks her progress very considerable if in a whole yeer she can enrich us with one vertue and having spent much sweat to finish us is obliged to say by the mouth of S. Paul Filioli quos iterum parturio donec formetur in vobis Christus She calls us little to teach us that we are still growing she puts us in minde that she still travels with us that we may comprehend 't is at divers passes that she brings us forth she says she teems with us till Christ be again formed in our hearts to perswade us that our production is not wrought in a moment and to make us the Images of Jesus Christ she must successively employ the Lights of Faith the Fervours of Charity the Vigours of Repentance and the Submissions of Humility For all this it often falls out that the Christian is not perfect when he dies that he is but a defective Image of the Son of God and that there is need for the flames of Purgatory to supply the negligence of our labour and the weakness of our vertue Nevertheless if he will during his life make use of a double address and joyn two Arts together to express Jesus Christ in himself he may make his designes happily succeed Painting and Carving do both of them make Images but the ways they take are extremely different for the Carver useth nothing but the Chizel he hews away whatever is superfluous in the Marble or in the Wood it seems to search for the Statue in its matter takes away that which covers it strips it to enrich it destroys it to perfect it and removes the form of a tree or of a stone onely to give it that of a Man or of a Beast The Painter goes a quite contrary way for he finisheth the Picture by laying Colour upon Colour draws the Pencil a hundred times over his work addes one dash upon another and emboldening bright Colours by dark ones extends Fields depresseth Valleys raiseth Mountains and does all those wonders which couzen our eyes and ravish our understandings To the compleating of a Christian and to form the Image of Jesus Christ in his soul these two contrary arts must be associated and the Statuaries industry and the Painters dexterity joyntly imitated Sculptoris Artem imitetur Christianus detrahat quotidie quod sibi nocet quod Deo displicet Hugo de sanct Vict. he must every day lop off some imperfection deface some bad habit pare away some vitious inclination and as if he sought for the beauty of Grace under the rubbish of Sin remove whatever seems to hide it from us But at the same time we must imitate the Painter adde vertue to vertue joyn patience to humility heighten constancy by sweetness mingle many good works together and by that pleasing medley perfect the Image of Jesus Christ The Pencil-must be sorted with the Chizel chop off as-Carvers do useless Pleasures superfluous Riches excessive Honours and at the same time like the Painter adde the practise of vertue the exercise of good works and the patient suffering of advesities Finally the most excellent disposition is so to engrave the Image of Jesus Christ in our heart that nothing can blot it out We draw figures upon the sand but a little wind blows them away we paint the water but the least storm spoils our fancy we cut in brasse and marble and these characters stand the fury of time and endure many ages The Image of Jesus Christ meets with all these different subjects in Christians sometimes 't is formed upon souls that have no more consistence then the sand or waves the wind of temptation scatters the impressions of grace and the least occasion makes them lose advantages they had received in the Sacrament of Repentance There are others more constant which keep the form they have taken who amidst the storms of grief preserve the character they bear and more lasting then brasse lose not in the flames what they have received from the Sacraments If we are of this number there remains no more to make us perfect but to render to Jesus Christ the submissions are due to him from his Images The first is to depend upon his will and to acknowledge that as we hold our being from his power so we expect the preservation thereof from his goodness There are some pieces that survive the Artists that have wrought them and having been made by mortal hands cease not in some sort to enjoy a kind of eternity There are other images which cannot subsist but by those that have given them their being Our presence produceth them in a Glass our absence quite defaceth them and they cease to live assoon as we cease to inanimate them Vt in nobis quasi in quodā speculo Divinae bonitatis forma resplendeat D. Leo. Christians are like these later Images The presence of Jesus Christ is necessary for their preservation and the Grace that produced them is the same that preserves and upholds them The second duty is to express him so happily that he may be seen in our person and that we may be taken for second Jesus Christs For if a picture be good it makes us know him it represents we see the lineaments of his face observe his behaviour and discover his very humours If the Christian be the Image of the Son of God he must have his air expresse his vertues imitate his actions and follow his motions The last duty of an Image is to serve for the glory of him whom it represents Could it speak it would publish nothing but his praises and would witness that being only his it espouseth no other Interests but what are his The Christian is bound to be of the same mind because he is the Image of the
gives purity to the Immodest and innocence to the Criminals This Love hath no bounds neither in relation to its extent nor excess 't is immense and infinite both together and when God loves us he loves us in all places and in all his perfections men are so miserable that they change manners when they change Countries and Climats the Elements make some impression upon their wills and being no longer what they were they cease to love what they doated on before should they be more constant they would be alwayes lyable to this misfortune that being unable to be but in one place they could not stretch their love every where they borrow tongues to express their passion Like earthly Kings who being not in a capacity to fill their whole State are obliged to have Leiutenants which represent them these also are forc'd to seeke out interpreters to declare their love and supply their impotency But Gods Love is immense place confines it not he loves whereever he is his charity is as extensive as his essence in Heaven he cherisheth the blessed and preserving his love in all the corners of his State is affectionate to Christians in the very heart of their enemies If it be immense 't is Infinite and when God loves a person 't is with the full extent of his perfections As men are made up of soul and body the faculties of that and the members of this have their several uses and employments The Understanding conceives thoughts the Memory preserves the species and onely the will formes acts of Love The holiest Lover hath this dissatisfaction that he knows he loves God but with one faculty of the soul he is afflicted and not without reason that self-love shares with charity and notwithstanding all his endeavour he never loves God as much as he can or ought to love him He is not more happy in his body then in his minde for every member hath its different functions his hands act according as there is occasion his eyes discern colours his ears judge of sounds his tongue formes words and his heart onely is capable of affection he reproacheth Nature and complaines that this Step dame having given to him two hands to act two eyes to see two ears to hear she hath given him but one heart to love in the extasies of his soul he wisheth with David that his whole body were heart and tongue to love and magnifie him with all his power who is so infinitely lovely Nevertheless after all his vain desires he is obliged to confess that there is nothing but the will in the soul and the heart in his body which is sensible of the endeerments of affection But inasmuch as God is a simple being suffering neither composition nor division he loves men where ever he is he hath not any perfection but contributes to the love he bears them His Justice which takes vengeance of his enemies his Majesty which makes him respected of his subjects his holiness which separates him from his works are happily confounded with charity and as he acts with all his power when he produceth some effects he loves with his whole being when he expresseth his affection to his friends Therefore the Christians who know very well that love is paid onely with love never limit this passion they endeavour to love God with all their power nor do they wish for death but because they are of opinion that delivering them from self-love they shall be perfect lovers in glory The Eight DISCOURSE That the Christian is an Exile and a Pilgrim THe advantages we have received from Jesus Christ deliver us not from the misfortunes we drew from Adam our being the children of God frees us not from being his slaves though associated to his Empire we are still obnoxious to the persecution of the creature and though the objects of his love feel notwithstanding the severity of his Justice Thence it comes to pass that being Pilgrims we are Exiles and these two qualities which clash in other men agree exceeding well in Christians For Pilgrims are honorable Piety invites them out of their Country they seek Heaven in the Temple they visit and honouring the relicks of Saints oblige the Angels to assist them in their journeys Peregrinum facit Pietas Exulem paena peregrini sumus qui cives peccatorum Exulcs vero quia peceatores Chryso But the banished are criminals Justice drives them from their home she it is that cuts them off from the body of the State like corrupt members least they should infect the the rest In the mean time Christians are Pilgrims and Exiles if they draw the former qualities from Grace they derive the latter fom sin To clear this conceit we must remember that of all the punishments in the world banishment is the most shameful and most cruell It hath served as a punishment for the greatest crimes and the most notorious offendors have groand under this pressure Our first father was driven out of Paradise after he was condemned to death That Parricide who steep'd his hands in his Brothers blood heard this sentence pronounced against him by the mouth of the Living God Eris vagus et profugus super terram he desired that his punishment might be commuted and judging death more gentle them banishment he begged for an end of his life that he might finde a period of his torment Therefore is it that Philo approving the opinion of Cain said that death was the end of our evils banishment the beginning and that if a man going out of the world were worthy of envy he that departed out of his Country deserv'd pitty Thence certainly it comes to pass that Christians are dealt with as exiles that the severity of their chastisement may make them accknowledge the hainousness of their sin Indeed those wretches are civilly dead they have no more commerce with the world the use of the Elements is interdicted them and if the judges give them leave to live 't is to make them die more cruelly Thus it is with man since his transgression he hath no more intercourse with the Angels he was driven out from Paradise and the Earth being cursed he must water it either with his sweat or with his tears if he intend to have it fruitful Banished persons possess nothing they lose their substance in losing their Country they can neither make will nor inherite and they learn to their cost that want is the inseparable companion of banishment there must be some edict of the Prince to mitigate the rigour of the sentence and without his express permission their very kindred dare not relive them in their misery If Christians be not so cruelly dealt with 't is from their obligation to the merits of of Jesus Christ For being banished they are fallen from all their rights losing the supreme good they have forfeited all together with him and what they possess'd heretofore escheating to their soveraign by their felony they can dispose
in love with his Countrey that doats upon his Banishment or should have any passion for Heaven when he is strongly wedded to the Earth If he be stricken with Divine Love he spends his whole life in sighs he never beholds the stars but he sheds tears and though there be nothing below that afflicts him 't is enough that he is in a strange Land to account himself miserable His Banishment is his Torment and without inventing other racks to exercise his patience 't is enough to make him complain that he is condemned to travel David enjoyed a profound tranquillity when he sent up his sighs towards Heaven Heu mihi quia incolat us meus prolongatus est His state was not divided by a Civil War the Grandees had not conspired against his person his children had not as yet driven him from his Palace and the people at his detion were not cheated with the false promises of an unlawful Soveraign In the mean time he forbore not to lament and the remoteness from his Countrey was the sole cause of his tears Si amatur patria magna poenae illium si autem non amatur patria pejor est cordis poena Aug. Therefore had S. Augustine reason to utter these gallant words that to a man that loves his Countrey Banishment is an insupportable pain but yet he is more wretched who cherishing his Banishment contemns or forgets his Countrey Finally Pilgrims see nothing during their journey more agreeable then their Countrey the affection they bear the place of their Nativity ever defends its cause in heir heart Though it be but a rock environed with precipices they have some secret charms which makes them wish well to it and in the midst of fertile fields they have a longing for the air they first drew their breath in Christians are in this particular better grounded then Pilgrims For they see nothing here below that can equall the beauty of their Countrey whatever is presented to their eyes is but the shadow of that happiness they wait for there Earth is therefore fruitful because it receives the influences of Heaven and all that ravisheth here below owes its worth to the heat and light of the Sun Nothing can damage their Countrey but its greatness their understanding is too weak to conceive its Excellency and if it be not sufficiently esteem'd 't is because it is not sufficiently known Nevertheless 't is enough to love it to be acquainted as Saint Augustine saith that it is a blessed City whereof the Angels are the Citizens the Eternal Father the Temple the Son the Brightness the Holy Ghost the Love that 't is a City where men are never born nor ever die where perfect Health banisheth all Sickness where satiety expels hunger and thirst where rest admits of no labour and where we have nothing else to doe but to live reign and rejoyce eternally with God The Hope of this Happiness sweetens our present discontents and there is not any Pilgrim or Exile upon Earth who takes not courage when he thinks that after his tedious wanderings he shall enjoy a felicity that nothing can interrupt nor ever shall have an end The Ninth DISCOURSE That the Christian is a Penitent IF Baptism did wash away self-love together with sin and the Grace we receive in this Sacrament cleared us of ignorance and weakness as well as of malice we might boast that being innocent Repentance were useless But seeing there is no Christian who after his Baptism feels not bad inclinations which carry him to sin there is none but have need of this vertue and who after the imitation of the greatest Saints ought not to joyn the Quality of a Penitent to that of a Sinner For though light offences rob him not of Grace he is obliged to be troubled at them because they are displeasing to God and as long as he feels rebellions in his soul or in his body he must have recourse to austerity to stifle them But if sin make him lose the life he received in Baptism Repentance must give him a Resurrection and coming to the relief of this first Sacrament recover Grace by Sorrow and Contrition Thence it comes to pass that the Fathers have called Repentance a laborious Baptism because the sinner is washed thereby in his tears and obtains that with much difficulty which was easily gain'd in Baptism He is obliged to mingle his bloud with that of Jesus Christ and to apply the merits thereof by painfull and dolorous works of satisfaction His whole life ought to be spent in lamentation Poenitentia est Gratia vel virtus qua commissa mala plangimus semper odimus iterū plangenda committere nolumus for assoon as he ceaseth to be a Penitent he becomes a Sinner For Repentance according to the opinion of Divines is a Grace or a Vertue whereby often bewailing our sins we always hate them and constantly resolve never to commit them again This definition contains four things which happily express the nature of Repentance and remarking what it hath common with other vertues discovers also what it hath proper and peculiar to it self It is called Grace because it is the gift of God and finding us in a crime cannot be an effect of our merits For in that wretched condition we are rather objects of Gods Hatred then of his Love and when he delivers 't is of his Mercy and not of his Justice It is also called a Vertue because it fals under the Law combats sin and obtains our pardon It seems to belong to Vindicative Justice because like it it pronounceth sentences and invents punishments to torture offendors In a word it hath no other employment but to prevent the indignation of Heaven and to oblige it to clemency by its own severity It enters into the interests of God chastiseth that in time which he would chastise for Eternity and endeavours to proportion the correction to the offence of the transgressor But though in some things it agree with Vindicative Justice in others it is far different For Justice is in the Judge it pronounceth sentence from his mouth Non impunitum erit peccatum meum sed ideo nolo ut tu me punius quia ego peccatum meum punias Aug. in Psal 50. and borrows the hand of the Officer to put it in execution Repentance on the contrary is in the offendor resides in his soul expresseth it self by his mouth acts by his hands and contrary to all Natural and Civil Laws obligeth the Criminal to condemn and punish himself Justice cannot make sufferings welcome to those that undergo them though just yet are they compulsive and did not the Judges use force in their administration all crimes would pass unpunished But Repentance by a wonderful dexterity makes afflictions agreeable mixeth some sweetness with their severity and causing the guilty person voluntarily to embrace such penalties finds an expedient to make them suffer without murmuring Finally Justice
looks upon the sin in it self considers only the interests of the state and provided that by punishing the wicked she may stop the current of Evil accounts her self sufficiently happy But Repentance illuminated by the Light of Faith mounts as high as God considers his Majesty offended and full of zeal and love endeavours to satisfie him by punishing the sinner Thence it comes to pass that 't is more severe then Justice and comparing the Excellency of the Creator with the meanness of the creature condemns him to sufferings which last as long as life When strength fails it hath recourse to tears and gives it self over to sighs to expiate the offences committed Morality hath observed that tears serve us in all our passions Joy hath its tears as well as Grief and when excessive hath a spice of groaning Love cannot avoid them when the heart is wounded it bleeds at the eyes and that Lover had reason to blame the Stoicks who allowed their Scholars to love but by no means to weep Mercy is never without Tears it daily lets fall some drops as witnesses of her compassion When she cannot relieve the distressed Lacrymis altaria sudant parca superstitio Stat. she bewails them and this remedy is so common that when the Pagans made a Goddess of this vertue the Victims they offered were Tears and Sighs But if there be any passion which profitably makes use of them we must confess it to be Sorrow this affection is better expressed by weeping then speaking her Tears are more eloquent then her Words and she gains more victories by her groans then by her reasons Thence it comes to pass that Repentance being nothing else but a Sorrow for sin it swims continually in tears interrupts its prayers with sobbings Purgatorium animae Baptismus Poenitentiū diluvium pecca torum Hiero. Chrys Greg. and mingles bloud with tears in all its sacrifices Therefore do the Fathers of the Church call it sometimes the Purgatory of the souls sometimes the Deluge of sins sometimes the Baptism of sinners and sometimes the Bath of Penitents For this reason all those that have gone about to appease the Justice of God have had recourse to their Tears David mingled them with his drink and that famous Penitent watered his Couch with them in the night season Mary Magdaleu obtain'd pardon for her sins by that innocent Stratagem she bedewed the feet of her Master with her tears wip'd them with the hair of her head and making that instrumental to her Repentance which had been to her Vanity deserved the glorious name of the Beloved of Christ But he himself whom we may style a publick Penitent bewail'd our sins to expiate them he mingled his sighs with his words upon the Cross and for the consummating of his sacrifice he was pleased that the Victim should be bathed in his bloud and in his tears In the mean time all sinners despise this condition of Repentance they bewail their miseries but never weep for their transgressions and knowing not well how to apply this remedy vainly sigh for the loss of their honour or their goods but are never seriously sad for the loss of Grace Saint Augustin blames himself in his Confessions that he lamented the death of Dido but wept not over the death of his soul that he bestowed some tears upon a woman that loved a man too much and denyed them to a sinner that was deficient in his affection to his God Though Tears make up one part of Repentance they may be sometimes wiped away these fountains dry up with time and there are few sinners who like Saint Peter can bedew their cheeks as often as they call to mind their offences But they ought always to abominate them and if there be some truce with their tears their hatred must have no intermission The vertues are not always active inasmuch as they have none but particular enemies they take their rest when they have either defeated or worsted them Continence lays aside her arms when she hath mortified the Body Humility takes some respite when the spirit is tam'd and Patience is satisfied when she hath calm'd the motions of anger But Repentance is a publick vertue whether she make war upon all kinds of sins revenge the outrages done against God set upon his enemies she is never at rest Her employment is continuall and as long as she sees any remainders of pride or impurity in the soul or body she spends all her power to stifle them The havock that sin bath made in our nature maintains her in this humour she cannot away with our irregularities at sight of them she presently meditates vengeance and as often as she considers our understanding darkned and our will depraved she resents a just indignation which awakens her against the sin Nothing so much incenseth a Prince against an enemy that hath wasted his state as when pursuing him with his Troops he sees the Fields desolate the Towns beaten to the ground the Villages burnt to ashes and which way soever he turns himself meets with the marks of the fury of a stranger Neither does any thing so much set an edge upon Repentance as when bidding sin battle she beholds the disorders it hath wrought in sinners and perceives neither parts in their body nor faculties in their soul which are not out of order Her just anger reacheth sometimes over the very men and finding they have taken this Tyrants part she animates them against themselves and making them serviceable to her indignation changeth their love into hatred and their pleasures into punishments Indeed every Penitent is his own Judge he enters into the interests of God and as if he were elevated above himself he conceives he hath some right to revenge the former and punish the later Anger according to the opinion of Saint Augustin is nothing else but a desire of vengeance and vengeance according to the sense of Tertullian is only the fruit or effect of anger But inasmuch as this passion is extreamly violent and that it is a hard matter to keep a just measure when we are Arbitrators in our own cause God was willing to reserve the disposal thereof to himself He it is that revengeth the Innocents and punisheth the Guilty and among so many things that belong to him there is none that he is so jealous of as this Mihi vindictam ego retribuam If he give some persons leave to make use of this right 't is after he hath made them his Images and of so many men that people the world there are none but Kings and Parents that have a power to correct their subjects or their children But as the Penitent holds the place of God here below and takes part in his Interests he shares also in his Justice and Power he pronounceth sentence against himself condemns himself as a Judge punisheth himself as an Executioner and being not able to endure himself dischargeth his fury upon all
consists in the knowledge of the Supream Good and that no man can be truly content who is not acquainted with this prime Verity from whence all the rest flow as from their Fountain Profane Philosophy says the same concerning this Maxim neither hath she any Masters or Scholars who make not this confession that as the mind is more noble then the body 't is in the operations of that not in the senses of this that Beatitude is to be sought for In the mean time Earth is the habitation of obscurity we know God but in an Enigma we have only doubts and conjectures of his Greatness and though we are fully perswaded of his Existence we are altogether ignorant of his Essence If we consult our senses they cannot inform us of his Divine perfections and having neither shape nor colour our eyes nor our ears cannot tell us notice of him If our spirit reflect upon it self and elicite some act to know its Author in knowing it self it findes that the images it produceth are but Idols or phantasms and that the apprehensions it conceives of him are only mistakes and falshoods If Faith step in to the relief of the Understanding and obliging it to renounce its proper light clarifie it with what she brings 't is with so much obscurity that it hath more merit then satisfaction in its obedience I know very well that this vertue raiseth man abstracts him from sense gives him admittance into the light of God himself neither can he complain that reasoning is denyed him being prepared for an Intelligence But certainly she pays him these advantages with usury For he believes without knowing gives his senses the lye condemns his reason and obligeth himself to die for those truths he cannot yet understand Thus man is never happy in this world and whatever certainty he have of the mysteries of our Religion he will never attain to an evidence of them From this misfortune there arrives a second which is no whit less considerable For inasmuch as the Understanding is the Gandle of the soul which enlightens the will Nolunt homiues facere quod justum est sive quia latet sive quia non delectat Aug. and this blind faculty loves things according to the rate she knows them she never fully embraceth the Supream Good because she never perfectly knows it There is something always wanting to her love and to her happiness her possession is continually imperfect nor are her desires ever without discontent whatever tast she hath of felicity it rather sets an edge upon her love then any way appeaseth it and whatever pleasure she finds in transitory and perishable goods she feels by experience they may possibly divert her but no ways content her Their scantness causeth her indigence she continually changeth objects striving to find that in one which she cannot meet with in another she is like the Bees who sip upon all flowers to tast the dew that drops from heaven and being wearied with the various turnings and windings of the world is obliged to confess that Beatitude is found no where but in God but he is neither met with nor enjoyed upon Earth I proceed and say that should he suffer himself to be seen by his creature in the condition whereto sin hath reduced him it would prove rather a ground of fear and astonishment then of love and satisfaction There is so little proportion between God and Man that the one must needs be abased or the other greatly exalted that there may be some commerce between them The Majesty of God must be clouded by some allay of condescension and mans weakness strongly heightned by some gracious endowment or certainly the presence of God which is the felicity of the Angels in Heaven would occasion the misery of man upon Earth The Scripture tells us we cannot see him and live his aspect is formidable his splendour dazles our eyes his greatness chides our curiosity neither can we behold this Sun but we are in danger of losing our life together with our sight The righteous in the Old Testament repent their seeing him and though he temper his Majesty to accommodate it to our weakness they conceive this favour must be followed with their death Deum vidimus moriemur But should his Almightiness be proportionable to our misery and this Divine Sun like that of the Poets Vbi metus est ibi nulla vera felicitas Sen. lay by his rays that we may approach it the state of Earth would not suffer his presence to make us happy For our felicity that it may be true must be constant if we are not sure to keep the good we possess the apprehension of losing it traverseth our contentment and mingles restlesness with our pleasure Fear more afflicts us then the enjoyment can delight us we resent misery in the midst of felicity and we finde our happiness of the nature of those colours of the Cameleon that perish with the object that produceth them So then there is nothing durable in the world the noblest creatures are all subject to change whatever is possest may be lost The Soul though Immortal is not Immutable she that cannot die can sin and though Grace be an emanation of Glory it hath neither its constancy nor duration it is a kinde of Miracle that God works in favour of his Elect Qui se putat stare videat ne cadat Phil. 2. when he confirms them in Grace and though he give them assurance of their salvation he exempts them not from our miseries and infirmities And this is the last Reason I intend to make use of to let you see that the Earth is not the habitation of the Blessed All those that form any Idea of Happiness acknowledge that as it comprehends all Good it ought to exclude all Evil did it not include all of one sort it would not be perfect and did it not expel all of the other it would be miserable In the mean time the Earth is the region of Poverty Goods are very scarce but Evils come in crowds He that possesseth Riches languisheth after Honour he that raigns in a Kingdom does not always bear rule in his Person and if he triumph over his Enemies he seldom triumphs over his Passions He that bathes himself in Pleasures is drowned many times in Sin and he that is upon good terms with Fortune is for the most part at oddes with Himself Thus all men are miserable because they are indigent nor does the condition of their present life suffer them to associate all good things together to compose a perfect felicity It happens also by a necessary consequence that there are a thousand Evils from which they cannot defend themselves Their souls and their bodies are equally disposed to grief these two Delinquents which forsake not one another in the Sin share in the Punishment and Earth preventing Hell torments them both for company The Body bears an enemy in the bowels of it
that devours it the natural heat that inanimates it consumes it This wretched mother brings forth two Maladies which though natural are notwithstanding mortal if there be not some speedy remedies applied For Hunger and Thirst are punishments that cannot be avoided these two executioners harrase all the children of Adam and when the Son of God was incarnate he suffered their assaults he was hungry in the desarts thirsty in Samaria and the blood which the stripes and nails drew from his veins made him utter that word upon the Cross which exprest his Thirst as well as his Love Sitio The evils which arise from our Constitution are accompanied with others that arise from the confusion of the Universe Heat and Cold persecute us Summer and Winter bid us battel the Seasons grow irregular to make us suffer and the Elements jar to destroy us Our State is nothing now but a Country of enemies or strangers our Subjects either know us not or contemn us and this place which was heretofore the Threatre of our Glory is now the Scaffold of our Punishment Inasmuch as the Soul is more culpable then the Body she is also more miserable Corpus hoc animae pondus est poena premente illa urgetur in vinculis est Sen. ep 65. she suffers her own evils and those of the body too she resents her own pains and those of her slave her Temple is changed into a Prison her Host is become her Enemy nor is she less busied to subdue her Senses and her Members then to guide her Passions and her Faculties whatever attempt she make to procure peace in her State there are four miseries which she can never provide against The First is the revolt of the Passions which always disturb her rest Love and Hatred appear without her leave the first gets up by desires and hopes to be joyned to the object that gives it birth If he meet with any opposition to his designes he makes use of Anger and Boldness to master it if he be victorious he triumphs with Joy if defeated he falls into despair and is wholly given over to grief Hatred imitates Love she calls in the Passions to her aid that hold of her Empire and having discovered her enemy removes for fear if too weak or sets upon him with anger if she conceive her self strong enough When her enterprise succeeds well she triumphs as well as Love and when her endeavours are frustrated she also sinks into despair and sadness But that which is most troublesom in all these disorders is that they rebel in spite of Reason and the soul is forced to suffer these insurrections which she cannot help The Second misery she is sensible of is the irregularity of her actions though she consult with Prudence and Justice though she keep a mediocrity which constitutes Vertue she steps aside many times from her duty and under specious pretences falls into vitious extremes Sometimes she is too indulgent or too severe in punishing sometimes she is too reserved or too lavish in her presents sometimes she is too cowardly or too hardy in her combats Non est expectanda sinceritas veritatis à sensibus corporis nihil est enim sensibile quod non habeat fimile falso Aug. so that many times it falls out she commits a Crime when she thinks to practise a Vertue The Third misery which she can hardly avoid is Errour and Illusion For being a prisoner in the Body seeing nothing but through the Senses and so compelled to make use of these unfaithful messengers she is oftner engaged in a lye then in truth and is so badly informed of what she ought to love or hate that for the most part she confounds Good with Evil Vice with Vertue But the Fourth misery inseparable from her condition and contrary to her felicity is the weakness she resents in all her enterprises if she think to conquer Temptations she sinks under them if she thinks to mount up to heaven by holy contemplations her body like a clog weighs her down to the earth if she strive to combat her Inclinations she findes her Senses favouring their party and that she hath as many Enemies as she believes her self to have Subjects In the midst of so many miseries she hath onely one consolation that Grace is sufficient to make her victorious Sufficit tibi gratia mea But these words that comfort her teach her that the earth is not the mansion of Happiness because it is the Pitched Field where we must win the Victory to deserve the Triumph The Third DISCOURSE That the Christian tastes some Happiness here belowe THough the earth be not the habitation of rest and all the children of Adam are condemned to labour since the sin of their father yet fail they not to taste some Pleasure among their Sorrows The Divine Justice tempers its Chastisements with some Graces Mercy steps to the relief of these wretches and the merits of Jesus Christ obtain favours for them which are not onely the Pledges but the Antepasts of Felicity Enjoyment is mixt with Hope in our souls the same advantages that make us hope for Glory give us a title to possess it and the Vertues which make us Saints render us in some sort Blessed Faith is the first vertue that unites us to Jesus Christ she that initiates us into his Mysteries that enrols us of his Family makes us the Subjects of his State and the Members of his Mystical Body It clarifies our Understanding in subjecting it imparts some Flames together with its Lights that warm our Will and gain our consent to the belief of those Verities that surpass our apprehension But it s principal and most wonderful effect is to make Jesus Christ present in our souls and to give us a taste here belowe of the felicity of Angels for these Spirits are therefore happie because they are the Thrones of God lodging their Soveraign in the innermost recesses of their Essence Ambula per fidem ut pervenias ad patriam species non laetisicat in Patria quem fides non consolatur in via Aug. and are most intimately possest by him who is infinitely distant from the Wicked Now the Faithful partake of this happiness with them Jesus Christ dwells in their hearts by Faith and S. Paul tells us that those that believe in him possess him Christum habitare per fidem in cordibus vestris S. Augustine who so happily expresseth the words of this great Apostle assures us that this vertue hath the power to fill us with Jesus Christ that it makes Heaven stoop and Earth ascend and uniting the Faithful with the Beatified in some sort equals their different conditions It is a kinde of Miracle that Faith which believes onely things distant and obscure should make us see and possess them enlightning us by their darkness and giving us an approach to them by their remoteness For as S. Augustine saith when we believe in Jesus
Christ we have Jesus Christ in us This vertue makes him present in our souls and the belief we conceive of him is his other self in our hearts Thus the Believer is happie because he possesseth the Son of God and is possessed by him as long as he preserves a vertue which so closely unites them together Hope which is bred with Faith increaseth this happiness and makes our condition more resemble that of the Blessed For that which seems most to separate them from us is that they enjoy that happiness we expect that they languish not as we do and that they have received seisen of the Supreme Good we still hope for They feel the truth of that speech the Scripture hath recorded for our consolation Intra in gaudium Domini tui Their Desires disturb them not and Fear which always accompanies Hope troubles not their content They are above all their wishes and being in full possession of the Supreme Good have neither Miseries to fear nor Blessings to desire It is true the Believers enjoy not all these priviledges neither does their condition suffer them to live without apprehensions and longings They work out their salvation with trembling Ille bene novit in miseriis exterioribus subsistere qui scit de spe interna semper gaudere Greg. Mora. and as they possess not all that they love they give themselves leave gently to consume away in the flames and desires of their Love But withal we must confess they have a part of this felicity for all Philosophers know that Hope is the flower of Pleasure that it gives a taste of the pleasure it promiseth that to stir up the appetite of our Soul it indulgeth a kinde of sense of the felicity prepared for us and that the strength she inspires us with proceeds from the sweetness she charms our expectation with I know prophane Authors affirm that the overtures of Hope are but pleasing Lyes Spes vigilantiū somnium Plut. that she engageth us in dangers with vain promises and finding us over-easie abuseth our credulity But the sounder sort of Philosophers acknowledge that Hopes animates us sowes pleasures amidst our pains nor ever carries men on to generous and difficult actions but in making them taste a part of the recompence she promiseth But admit this Passion had not all the power attributed to her we must by no means question it as belonging to that Hope which is grounded upon the words of God This confers things in promising them makes us feel the happiness we expect and as the Air and the Windes carry the Odours of Arabia into the neighbouring Provinces we may say that this vertue carries the felicity of the Beatified into the very heart of the Faithful Thence it comes to pass that Saint Paul many times in his Epistles mingles Joy with Hope as if he would teach us that we cannot hope but we must possess in part what we hope for Spe gaudentes and in another place Gloriamur in spe gloriae filiorum Dei Finally if it exclude not all Evils as Beatitude does at least it sweetens them and turns them into remedies S. Gregory goes further for he will have it happie because certain and wiping away the tears of Christians crowns them with a joy which comes neer that of the Angels Inasmuch as Charity is nobler then Hope she contributes more liberally to the Happiness of the Faithful For besides that it makes the holy Trinity present in their souls renders their Exile a Paradise she unites them to God and by a happy Metamorphosis findes out an expedient to transform them into him All the world knows that love is the tye of hearts and that his principal effect is to unite together all the Subjects that live under his Empire To accomplish this design he equals their conditions debaseth great persons and exalteth mean ones enricheth the poor and impoverisheth the rich sets slaves at liberty and makes Masters slaves But Charity effects all these things more happily then profane love she humbles the Almighty without interessing his Greatness obligeth him to comply with our weakness Quis me amavit non ad me pervenit quisquis me quaerit cum ipso sum ipse amor tibi praesentem me facit Aug. and reduceth him to a condition wherin he enters into commerce with us not dazling us with his light nor astonishing us with his Majesty He infuseth himself into our souls by grace is linkt to us by his love and in this union communicates to us all his Divine Qualities For he lifts us above our selves to transform us into him draws us out of our misery to make us capable of his happiness and takes from us our own affections to give us admittance into his inclinations when we are arrived to this height of perfection we behold all earthly things under our feet we breath nothing but Heaven we discourse onely of the subject of our love and we are so perfectly filled with him that we may say without offence our desires are alike our conditions equal and our interests common Though all Christians cannot pretend to this high degree of Happiness it seems yet that having the Grace of Jesus Christ they have one part of that felicity which the Saints possess by Charity For in the judgement of all Divines Grace is Glory begun Glory Grace consummated the former gives that a being here below which the second finisheth above and maugre all the miseries that afflict the children of Adam makes us finde Happiness in the midst of our sorrows 'T is perhaps upon this ground that Saint Paul calls Grace Eternal Life Gratia Dei vita aeterna and insinuates to all Christians that being Saints here below they are already Blessed Beatitudo in quodam illapsu Divinae Essen tiae intra animam consistit Henri à Gau. Indeed Essential Felicity consists in a certain emanation of Divinity into the substance of the soul when she as the iron by the fire is penetrated therewith she happily loseth her own qualities to assume those of God she is swallowed up in this Ocean of Glory and having no longer any thing of mortal nor humane is entirely Immutable and Divine What Glory operates in the Blessed Grace works proportionably in the Faithful she sheds abroad the Divine Essence in their souls communicates to them a new being and changing their nature and condition makes Gods of them which may die indeed because they may sin and being not inseparable from the Supream Good are not yet fully impeccable Nevertheless Divines confess that as Grace is a participation of the Divine Nature it communicates Immortality as well as Sanctity and the life it produceth in our souls carries along with it no principle of death The life of the body is not a true life because the same elements that preserve it destroy it and the corruption that accompanies it leads it insensibly to a dissolution But the life of Grace is exempt
this Cordiall And as servile souls are gained by Profit generous souls are wonne by Honour They would perswade us that of all externall goods it is the noblest and the most faithfull the Noblest because it relates to the minde and never descends so low as to the senses as Interest or Pleasure doe the most Faithfull because it never abandons vertue and accompanies men even to their Grave Delights quit us with life these pleasing Syrenes bear us company till death and at their departure leave us nothing but shame and repentance Riches are not more faithfull then Pleasures and as they descend not with our Bodies into the Grave neither doe they pass with our souls into the other world But Glory is inseparable from Vertue as the shadow from Light it is the onely Inheritance the dead may dispose of that which makes them survive in the world and preserves them from oblivion after their dissolution Finally Honour and Vertue are so closely combined together that they cannot be divided without occasioning their destruction They are Twins whose destiny is so like that the Death of the one leaves the other livelesse and the onely way to banish vertue out of the world is to exterminate Glory thence which serves her for a nourishment and a recompence But whatever the Ambitious would say there needs but a little reason to confesse that there is nothing in the world more jejunely brittle then Glory nor that men ever treated vertue more injuriously then when they assigned Honour for her Recompence For if Glory be a Good 't is a strange one and is oftner the fortunate mans portion then the deservings Honorary It reacheth not always to us and when dispenced with Justice it rests in the minde of those that know or publish our worth so that we should be happy without knowing it and receive honour without any contentment But certainly did we know it our satisfaction would not be the more For the Good that produceth Beatitude must be constant and immutable if it be subject to change 't is to loss and whatever good may fail is not productive of true felicity Now there is nothing in the world that depends more upon fortune then honour 't is the work of opinion 't is a rumour founded upon the Capriciousness of the people who look upon nothing but appearances and in their Judgements for the most part consult nothing but their interest or pleasure If Conquerors are unhappy because victories which are their master-peices depend upon fortune I account them not less miserable because Glory which is the reward of their courage depends upon the opinion of the vulgar and that in this point their Subjects and their Souldiers become their Judges and their Soveraigns If their Felicity be such that they can force men to render them that honour they deserve they ought to take heed least those that commend them deceive Qui laudant mendaces sunt qui laudantur vani Aug. and being Masters of their tongues they be not also of their hearts May they not be afraid also that the judgment of wise men is not the same with the vulgar that whilst they are adored by servile and mercenary souls they are blamed by free and generous ones who more considering the actions then the persons prize vertue in a slave and condemn vice in a Monarch But what satisfaction can they have in the midst of their Triumphs if the reproaches of their consciences give their commendations the lye Plures magnum saepe nomen salsis vulgi rumoribus attulerunt quo quid turpius excogitari potest nam qui falso praedicantur suis ipsi necesse est laudibus erubescant Boet. l. 4. de Conso will they not be extreamly wretched amidst the acclamations of the people if they blame what others appland and if they are conscious that in the managing of a state or in the Conquest of a Province they have laboured more for their own Glory then for the good of their Subjects Are they not more worthy of punishment then Honour if they have preferred reputation before their Duty and have ruin'd their neighbours onely to gain the name of Conquerors But admit for their satisfaction that their desires are lawfull their Conquests just the praises they receive true who can tell whether the opinions of men agree with those of Angels who is sure that Heaven approves what the Earth so highly values and whether God prepare not punishments for those victories men solemnize with Triumphs True glory depends upon him that reads the heart who sees the intentions in the ground of the will Therefore saith the Apostle That he indeed was praise-worthy that received commendations from the mouth of God Illuminabit abscondita tenebrarum manifestabit consilia cordium tunc laus erit unicuique à Deo 1 Cor. 4. and not from that of men Men are mistaken in their words as well as in their thoughts as they judge not but by the appearances they blame an obscure vertue and cry up a glittering vice David therefore would not have his glory depend upon the judgement of his subjects He committed his Reputation as well as his Crown into the hands of God and protested in his Psalms that as he owed his Victories to the protection of the Almighty from him also did he expect glory as the recompence Apud te laus mea The Philosophers were of the same minde because that defining glory they would not have it grounded upon the opinion of the Vulgar but upon the judgement of the wise Gloria vera bonorum consensus est Senec. and that he onely was honourable who by his worth had gained the approbation of honest men But who knows not that vertue is too generous to seek her felicity where she will not so much as look for her reward she looks upon honour as her slave rather then her master and when she acts she consults not so much her reputation as her conscience she is so noble that she looks after no other end but God and so just that she requires no other witnesse but he that must be her Judge This Maxim is not so severe but it hath been embraced by Philosophers For though the Romans committed this outrage against vertue as to subject it to Glory and these grand Politicians to animate their Citizens to generous and difficult actions had perswaded them that none entred into the Temple of Honour but through that of Vertue yet Seneca rightly acknowledged that there was injustice in this proceeding that it was to subject the Soveraign to his slave and that sometimes there were occasions offered where a man must betray his Honour to preserve his Vertue Piety had taught the chast Susanna this Maxim when seeing that she could not preserve her chastity without the losse of her reputation she sacrificed her honour to her duty and preferred the approbation of Angels to the opinion and esteem of men Glory then
if they intend not to use it according to the designes of their Soveraign and they are unworthy to rule if they have not courage enough to stifle the Evil in the birth or stop it in the progress They are deceived saith S. Augustine if they perswade themselves they are raised to the Throne onely to trample upon the heads of their Subjects they know not their obligations if labouring to subdue men they take no care to subdue vices nor are they victorious but in name if having gained some advange over their Enemies they suffer themselves to be routed by their passions or devoured by their sins I forbear to speak of the dangers that threaten their salvation as well as their power nor doe I intend to make a Catalogue of the faults they may possibly commit in Government though it be an infallible proof that Blessedness is not to be found in Royalty I am content with the holy Scripture to say That Kings cannot sin secretly Their Devotion is a scandall to the whole State They authorize the Evil they commit infect their subjects by their examples and as they are guilty of the sins they hinder not so doe they condemn themselves when they commit those they punish and by their actions give their Edicts the lye Thence it comes to passe that Christians finding more security in obedience then in command place their felicity in it and never think themselves happier then when they follow the motions of their Soveraign so that they have this advantage in humbling themselves they are exalted and submitting to God bring all the Creatures under their subjection For Man by submission enters into the Soveraignty of his Creator Magna utilitas est hominis jubenti Deo servire jubendo enim Deus utile facit quicquid jubere voluerit Aug. neither is any thing impossible to him when he obeys him that is Almighty Thus we see S. Peter walking upon the water at the command of the Son of God how this Element became solid under his feet respects his obedience or reverenceth Jesus Christ in his person Mans Body could never pretend to the glorious qualities of the soul were it not subject to her will but soaring above it self in obedience to her commands furnishing words to express her minde reports the meaning of others and offers some kinde of violence to it self to be subservient to her designes shee acknowledgeth the fidelity of its services in Glory and associating it to her own happiness communicates to it agility light and subtlety Thus may we say that the man who obeys God becomes Divine passeth into the condition of him that commands and despoyling himself of his miseries puts on the majesty of his Soveraign Transformation which is accounted a principall effect of Love is a priviledge also of obedience we are changed into God by submission as well as by Charity and God takes as much pleasure to exalt his servants as his Friends He gives Empires to his people when they obey his word and obligeth himself to raise them higher then all the nations of the world when they keep his commandments Si audieris voces Domini tui faciet te excelsiorem omnibus Gentibus If man become God by submission he degenerates into a beast by disobedience As long as Originall righteousness subjected the spirit to God it subjected the Body to the spirit Man felt no revolts in his person and though composed of flesh and blood had none but reasonable inclinations But assoon as he lost the respect was due to God his Body rebelled against his Soul he beheld irregular motions which made him extreamly ashamed and wondred that being still a man he felt the disorders of a Beast Finally Obedience is more acceptable to God then Sacrifice and more honourable to man then the highest Triumph Melior est Obedientia quà m Sacrificium Though God have reserved this Homage for himself and there is none but he alone to whom Victims are to be offered yet he prefers the merit of Obedience before the honour of Sacrifice and accounts himself more hallowed by him that stoops to his Word then that offers him Holocausts Nor are we to wonder at it saith S. Gregory because in our sacrifices we offer nothing but Bulls or other beasts but by our Obedience we immolate our wils and affections For this very reason is it more honourable then Triumphs In armis militum virtus locorum opportunitas auxilia sociorum multum juvant maximam verò partem quasi jure fortuna sibi vendicat qu ic quid est prospere gestum id poene omne ducit suum Cic. pro M. Mar. because it procures us more signall victories then those we gain over our Enemies The world sees nothing more illustrious then a victorious Prince The Sun once stood still as a witness of the conquest of Joshua and this glorious Luminary which beholds all things but with a transient aspect suspended his motion to have the pleasure of considering the advantages the Jews had over the Infidels In the mean time there is no action wherein humane Prudence hath less part Fortune presides over Battles accidents occasion good successes and many times the Dust and the Sun rob the most Courageous of their victory But admit all these misfortunes which cannot be avoided have no wayes assisted the Conquerour he must necessarily confess that his Prudence is beholding to the valour of his Souldiers and in vain hath he gallantly commanded if he be not honestly obey'd But he that masters his Passions shares his glory with none but the Grace of Jelus Christ Having subdued himself in the conflict Hoc est ex victoriâ suâ triumphare testarique nihil se quod dignum esset victore apud victos invenisse Senec. all the honour is his own and earth being unable to recompence him he promiseth himself a Triumph in Heaven The Eighth DISCOURSE What is the Happinesse of a Christian in Heaven and wherein it consists BLessedness hath so much relation to God that whatever is said of the One may be affirmed of the other God is infinite his Greatness hath no bounds he includes his whole State within himself nor does his power produce any thing which is not contained in his Essence Blessedness is infinite and the pleasure it promiseth is bounded neither with extent nor duration God comprehends all imaginable perfections nothing is dispersed in the creature which is not recollected in the Creator and he possesseth aswel the brightness of the Stars as the beauty of the meadowes and the fruitfulness of the fields Beatitude is an Epitome of all pleasures nothing is wanting to him that enjoys all things and according to the opinion of Philosophers it is a coacervation of all solid and true goods But inasmuch as God is so great that he cannot be conceived that his divine perfections raise him above our thoughts nor can we praise him but by wonder and silence Blessedness is
between Life and Death Finally our Creator never loses his right over his creatures they are at his disposal in what place soever they are Their changing of form makes them not change condition and because they pass thorow three or four Elements they depend not lesse upon his Omnipotence The body of man is always the work of God and he may after its corruption restore its beauty and re-unite it to the soul like a wise Artist having reduced a statue to powder may by his skil restore it to the primitive form All the difficulties our spirit can suggest in this miracle are easily master'd by him that can do all things and having well weighed the wonders of the Creation it will be no hard matter to comprehend those of the Resurrection Inasmch as the body receives life in this and is re-united with the soul it is happily delivered from all the miseries it had contracted in its birth or during its life If Nature were mistaken in forming it the Authour of Nature corrects the faults in raising it He gives it its just dimension its lawful proportion and retrenching whatever was superfluous makes it a compleat piece But because it is not enough to take away the defects to render it happy God gives it advantages in glory which it had not in innocence For although the body before it was infected with sin was not rebellious against the minde nor subject to grief and death it was nevertheless capable of corruption The Natural heat consumed the substance and the waste it made was to be repaired by nourishment Though he were obedient yet was he an Animal and though he felt no disorders yet was he liable to infirmities his weight would have hindered him from following his soul to Heaven he could not walk upon the water nor penetrate the Chrystal and had he not prevented hunger and thirst by eating and drinking he had never held out against griefe and death Finally though he enjoyed the priviledges of Original Righteousness he wanted those of Glory and though innocent was neither incorruptible nor illuminated But in the Resurrection he shall receive all these qualities and as the soul is now corporeal because wholly engaged in the body by a happy retaliation the body will be spiritual because perfectly submitted to the soul and as the soul saith Saint Augustine though corporeal ceaseth not to be a spirit the body though spiritual ceaseth not to be a body It will change condition though it change not nature and will have advantages which shall set it free from all the miseries it now endures It s subtilty will surpass that of the light will penetrate all solid bodies nothing shall be able to withstand its desires and being no longer the Prison but the Temple of his soul will find no obstacles that stop it nor chains that intangle it It s agility will be so great that it will outstrip the winds and lightning will fly without wings thorow the spacious regions of the air will walk upon the water and not sink and in a moment passing from one end of the world to another will be no longer the clog and torment of the soul It s impassibility will free it from all the injuries of the Seasons and Elements the naturall heat which now consumes him shall no more corrode the naturall Moisture The Contraries that compose him will agree and being no longer tormented with hunger and thirst will stand in need neither of meat nor drink He will be in a state of consistency wherein he will have his just proportion nor will he expect from time his youth or old age he will enjoy an eternall spring of years which will never wither he will see the dayes passe on and never feel any declension in himself his budding verdure will fear no winter the Lillies and the Roses of his countenance will keep their freshness and as original righteousness served for a Garment for innocent man glory will be insteed of a robe to the blessed His brightness will surpass that of the Sun the raies which dart from his eyes will dim those of this Glorious Luminary and he will cast such lights and flames that the least glorified Body will be able to illuminate the Universe His immortality will be the Crown of his Happiness That pittilesse monster which exerciseth his rigour upon all men pursues them into the Grave reduceth them to powder after the worms have devoured them This Cruell one I say will have no more power over the Blessed he will discharge his fury upon the damned in Hell he will make a league with life to torment them Eternally and that which endures here but for a moment will last for ever in that dismall habitation to lengthen their pains according to the obstinacy of their crimes But he will respect his Conquerors and beholding the Blessed as the Members of him that hath defeated him upon the Crosse will not dare to set upon them afresh nor so much as appear in their presence Then shall the happinesse of men be perfect when a glorified soul shall inanimate an immortall Body and mutually communicating all their advantages the soul shall be happy in the felicity of the Body and the Body happy in that of the Soul All their differences shall be composed in this General peace the Soul shall forget all the Revolts of the Body nor shall the Body any more complain of the severities of the Soul but both of them remembring onely the Good offices they have done each other they shall reign in Heaven in a Community of Glory as they lived upon Earth in a Community of Merits But to arrive to this Happy condition the Spirit must war against the Flesh and Repentance give the faithfull those Priviledges Glory instates the Blessed in For though there be nothing more opposite to Rest then a Conflict yet is it the Conflict that gains us the victory Ex bello pax pugna enim nos praeparat victoriae victoria nobis obtinet triumphum Chry. and the victory that procures us the peace Though there be nothing more contrary to Happiness theu Pain it is notwithstanding austerity that subjects the Body to the Soul and makes us see in our Banishment a perfect Image of Glory For if it be true that the Blessed feel no Rebellion in their person and if their Body be perfectly subjected to their minde we must acknowledg that the Christian cannot pretend to any part of this advantage but by the help of repentance It is this vertue that tames the Pride of the flesh this faithfull minister of the Divine Justice which makes Charity reign in spite of Concupiscence and all the peace we have in the earth we owe it to the zeal and austerity of crucifixion If the Blessed be disengaged from the world if their condition be separated from ours and if finding all things in the Divine Essence meat cloaths and lodging be useless to them it seems Repentance