most holy Spirit and the Son likewise is a most holy Spirit But they appropriate this name to him because his Emanation or Procession is so farr above our thoughts and our expressions that there is no language in the world that can express his Person for want of a proper name And becaus we are accustomed to call those things spirits of whose origin and manner of production we are ignorant So we call the wind spectres Angells and our souls spirits and we are likewise very ignorant in the production and procession of the holy Ghost 4. Secondly the Apostles appropriate this name to him because He proceeds from the Father and the Son as from one only Source and not as made or created nor as begotten but produced by the Will by an ineffable way which Divines term Spiration a breathing and impulse of the Will towards the thing beloved 5. Thirdly this name is appropriated to him becaus He is the Spirit of our spirit the Soul of our soul the Life of our life For He is given to the Souls of the just to animate and govern them He is not given so to a Bishop or a Priest in his ordination if he be in the state of sin He is not in him to sanctify him but to operate and act by him Hence it is that a Bishop or a Priest that is in sin and hath not grace gives nevertheless the grace of God by the Sacraments becaus he is the instrument of the holy Ghost as a penne gives to paper characters which it hath not becaus it is the instrument of rhe Writer 6. The Church moreover appropriated to this glorious and holy Spirit the name of Love and Charity becaus He is produced by the Will the authour of Love or by the mutual love and dilection of the eternal Father and the Son 7. From this second name which the Church attributes to the holy Ghost proceeds the third which is that of Gift Donum Dei Altissimi the Gift of the most high For that which is dō by pure love is dō freely and liberally and donation is a free and liberal action The two first names appropriated to the holy Ghost referr him to the Father and the Son but this of Gift relates him to Creatures that are capable to receive him and to enioy him as are men and Angells only and this Gift is the first the most necessary and the most excellent of all gifts that God ever gave or can give to us 8. He is the first and cause of all the rest for there is a great difference 'twixt the love of God and the love of men When we love any one 't is becaus we find in him some goodness some beauty or other Perfection Gods love supposes not its object in any creature but He puts it in them God begins not to love us with a love of Benevolence becaus we are good but we are good becaus He loves us so when the eternal Father gives us his only Son in the Incarnation He gave us first his Love and He gave not to us his Son but by his holy Spirit and by his Love He was conceived of the holy Ghost So God loved the world that He gave his only begotten Son 9. This Gift is so necessary that without it all the other Benefits profit very little the work of creation is appropriated to the Father the Incarnation to the Son the Sanctification to the holy Ghost the two first Benefits are unprofitable to us without the third In the creation God gave us Being He made and design'd for our service all the creatures of this world But our Saviour says to us What profit hath a man if He should gaine the whole world and lose himself and he will lose himself infallibly Luke 9. 25. if the holy Ghost sanctifys him not The Incarnation and the Death of the Son of God would not much availe us without the comming of this holy Spirit the torments of JESUS would have made him die and not have made us live He might have satisfyd without restoring us to grace a king offended by his Vassal may receive from him satisfaction and not receive him into favour nor restore him to his former state and to the priviledges which he had lost When I see the Saviour in the Crib or on the Cross I know not whether it be to satisfy only or moreover to restore us to the rights we lost by sin when He rises up again from death I know not whether it be for recompence of his death or to give us life When He ascends to Heaven I know not whether it be to give a convenient place ro his Body or to prepare also a place for us But when He sends the holy Ghost to sanctify us He ascertains us that we reenter into grace and that He applys to us his merits He hath sealed us and given the pledg of the Spirit in our 2. Cor. 1. 22. 1. Ep. 4. 13. hearts says S. Paul And the beloved Disciple In this we know that we abide in him and He in us becaus He of his Spirit hath given to us 10 What admirable favour and what incomparable grace that God vouchsafs to give us his Spirit Love divine and admirable Heart If one should give to a Philosopher the spirit of Aristotle or of Plato to an Orator the spirit of Cicero or Demostenes to a Phisitian the spirit of Hypocrates or of Galen and to a Divine the spirit of S. Thomas or of S. Augustin would not this be a singular favour God gives you not the spirit of Aristotle Cicero Hypocrates but his own Spirit the Spirit of Verity Wisdom and Sanctity When one hath the heart of a person one hath all If you be in the state of grace you have the heart of God for properly speaking the holy Ghost is the heart of God ô Father of mercies and Father of the miserable how deigne you to give them your heart T is that chosen souls are your treasure and you put your heart upon your treasure Quid retribuam Domino 11. What acknowledgment what satisfaction and what return can we make Love is not pay'd but by love nothing corresponds to a heart but another heart and what heart can correspond to the heart of God What love can answer his Would you not desire to be all heart Would you not wish to have as many millions of hearts as there are drops of water and grains of sand in the sea would you not referr apply and consecrate them to the love of God And what would this be compared to the heart of God which He hath given us It would be less than a grain of dust compared to all in Heaven and in Earth But He desires not so much He demands but only one but He will have it all He commands you to give it him Thou shalt love thy God with all thy heart and if you refuse it him He will damn you
the second to the Corinthians We must all be manifested before the judgment seat of CHRIST that every one may receive the proper things of the body according as he hath don either good or evill For justice requires that we be recompenced and chastised in the same things which have contributed to good or evill But the greater part of sins are caused or Committed by the body 't is then reason that it rise again and feel the punishments due to them It concurrs likewise to vertuous actions 't is mortifyd by holy souls subjected to rigours of penance and to labours of a christian life it sufferrs prisons and punishments in Confessors torments and death in Martyrs 't is deprived of its pleasures in Virgins and in Widows and crucifyd in all true Christians it is then very just that it should participate in the satisfactions pleasures and recompences of Heaven The flesh says Tertullian is the Tertull. de Resur Carnis hinge of our salvation and if the soul be united to God 't is it that gives her capacity the flesh is washed to the end the soul be cleansed the flesh is annointed that the soul be consecrated the flesh is shadowed by imposition of hands that the soul be illuminated in Spirit the flesh is fed with the Body and Blood of JESUS-CHRIST to the end the soul be nourished by God they cannot then be seperated in recompences having been so joyn'd in actions And 't is vain to alleadg against this Verity the low condition of the flesh for the same Father says the flesh which God form'd to the resemblance of a man-God which He animated by his breath to the resemblance of his life which He fortifyd with his Sacraments of which He loves the purity approves the austerity and esteems the labours and the sufferances shal it not rise again It will never be that He leave in eternal death the works of his hands the care of his Spirit the tabernacle of his Breath the heir of his Liberalities the keeper of his Law the Victime of his Religion and the Sister of his CHRIST It will then be raised up again and in this God does as a Potter who seeing his Pot ill made breaks it to repair it better so God having form'd man of earth and finding him deprav'd by sin broke him by death to which he doom'd him but with design to repair and make him better in the day of the Resurrection 2. But if any one should aske me how that which is withered and rotten can becom living and flourishing again He needs not but to consider the Omnipotency of the Creator or with S. Paul the grain of corne which rots to rise again Foole 1. Cor. 15. Cgrysol Ser. 59. it first do die All things in this world according to S. Chrysologue are images of our Resurrection the Sun sets and rises the day is buried in darkness and returns months years seasons fruits seeds die in passing and rise again returning and to touch you with a sensible example as often as you sleep and wake you die in a certain manner and rise again Let us now reflect upon the words of this Article 3. The Apostles say not The Resurrection of the man though this he true But of the flesh for to teach us that when the man dies his soul dies not and therefore in the Resurection is nor raised-up again but reunited only to the body since nothing can be raised again to life unless it first be dead 4. They say not the Resurrecton of the body but of the flesh becaus the holy Ghost would afford us a means to Confute the errour of certain Hereticks who would sustain as in the first ages of the Church some did that we should rise not in a body of flesh but form'd of air 5. They use moreover these terms to convince orhers who in the time of the Apostles thought that the Resurrection of which the Scripture speaks signifys not that of the body but only that by which the Soul is raised out of the death of sin to the life of grace 6. In fine this word Resurrection makes us understand that we shal receive the same bodys which we had for since rising again signifys returning to life again It must be the same flesh which was dead that rises and returns to life 7. We All then shal have the same bodys which now we have but intire and perfect without want or superfluity without the imperfection of youth or the defect of old age None shal rise blind or purblind deaf or dumb lame or crooked too great or too little nor with any other defect or imperfection Becaus 't is God alone whose works are perfect that will raise us up He will not in this work make use of natural causes from which all defects proceed 8. Nevertheless the Resurrection of the Elect and that of the Reprobate will be very different The blessed Souls shal receive bodys like to Christs endowed with Light Subtility Agility and Impassibility that will shine as clear as Starrs that will penetrate and pass through althings as beams of the Sun through glass that will move as swiftly as lightning That will be impassible and immortal so that nothing in the world can hurt them They will enter into their bodys with great joy and gladness with many benedictions and congratulations ô my body such a soul will Say ô my dear companion and most faithfull friend receive now with ioy the fruit of thy labours mortifications and pains in the works of holiness thou hast been in miseries and in sufferances be thou now in felicity and in happiness and let us praise together the Authour of our good but the reprobate Souls will reenter into their bodies with great a version rage and many maledictions of those members which they go to animate for to render them sensible of ineffable and eternal torments Domine quis habitabit in tabernaculo tuo aut quis requiescet in monte sancto tuo Lord says the Royal Prophet who shal dwell in thy tabernacle or who shal rest in thy holy hill He answers Psal 14. Qui ingreditur sine macula operatur justitiam He declares that two things are absolutely necessary to avoid evill and to do good one without the other suffices not Quis habitabit who shal be that happy that fortunate person that shal com to the glorious Resurrection and shal dwell amongst the Blessed O what happy lot attends him happy a thousand times the womb that bore him and the breasts which He did suck happie the paines taken to bring him up ô how well was it employd happie earth that he tramples under feet one ought to strew with flowers the paths which he honours with his steps happie air that he breaths one ought to sweeten it with all the perfumes of Arabia happie the bread which he eates one ought to nourish him with all that is most precious in nature and what deserves
holy SACRAMENT Who is the Father of this coloured Ray 'T is the Sun But the Sun produced not the colour But it produced the Ray which is joyned with the colour and who is the mother of this coloured Ray 't is the glass but it made not the ray but it produced the radiant colour it cloathed the ray with this Robe of colour Who is the Father of IESUS MAN-GOD It is the eternal Father He begot not of his substance the Humanity of JESUS But He begot of his Substance the Person of his Son who is Man Who is the Mother of this MAN-GOD It is Mary she begot not the Divinity But she conceived the Man who is God the cloathed the Person of the Son of God with our humanity Which is the more ancient this coloured Ray or the glass The Ray as a Ray as the offspring of the Sun is a long time before the glass it is from the beginning of the world it is as ancient as the Sun But the Ray as coloured is younger than the Sun Who is the more ancient IESUS or Mary IESUS as God or as Son of God is long before Mary He is from eternity as the Father and the holy Ghost But JESUS as man is younger than his Mother This Ray being in the sun is so bright and resplendent that i◠dazells the eyes of them that look upon it but the same ray being descended here below and cloathed with a red colour is easily beheld so the son of God in the bosome of his Father is invisible ineffable inaccessible and incomprehensible But the same Son of God being cloathed with our humanity is made visible palpable and sensible to the end He might illuminate and instruct us that He might be the Director of souls and the Doctor of justice as He is called by the Prophets And He begins betimes to perform the charge He exercices the office from the beginning of his life 4. This insant newly born does preach his pulpit is the cradle his Auditory the univers his Doctrine is the contempt of the world He preaches not by word for He cannot speak but by example He preaches not to the eares But to the eyes He says that voluntary poverty is better than riches And the world on the contrary says that money is to be procured in the first place that a man must have it tho' he hazard his soul for it This divine infant says the humble simple innocent and mortifyd life is that which pleases God The World says a man must greaten himself appear glorious Machevalize subtily Circumvent and diceive craftily and live in delights and pleasures 5. Behold two Masters quite contrary two doctrines diametrically opposite It is necessary the one or the other be deceiv'd To say this infant is deceiv'd is horrible blasphemy He is the eternal Wisdom the increated Wisdom the Angel of the great Council It must then be confest that the Avaricious Ambitions Voluptuous and Machiavilians are grossly deceived 6. Let us then Conforme our selves to IESUS who is established by the eternal Father as our modell Let our life resemble his as an Image the Prototipe or original Let it be a copie an expression and a representation of his that we paticipating his vertues Spirit and graces in this life may be partakers of his glory in the other Amen DISCOURS VI. OF THE FOVRTH ARTICLE Suffered under Pontius Pilate was crucified dead and buried THe Apostles who made in their Creed an abridgement of the principall Mysteries of our Faith having spoken of the Conception and of the Nativity of our Saviour pass his Life in silence and treat immediatly of His death to teach us the chiefe reason of his comming was to suffer and to redeem us by his Passion 2. He saw by the light of glory the abyss of sin and the Eternal damnation to which men were doom'd for the fault of their first Parents and for their own sins He had pity on them and prayed his Father to pardon them for the Love of Him What man on earth What Angel in Heaven knowing that the only Son of God a Son so amiable and so beloved demands pardon of his Father for men to whom He is like in nature What man or Angel say I knowing this would not have sayd surely surely the eternal Father will pardon mankind for the love of his Son who is a man and that also freely without any satisfaction No the Father does it not But He says Isaiah 53. 10. my Justice must have its cours my Son I will pardon men if you will answer for them and undergoe death for them The Son hath a great apprehension and horror of a death so cruell and ignominious we see it in the Prayer He made in the Garden which was an expression of that which He acted in the womb of his Mother after the instant of his Conception 3. Nevertheless He accepted not only with patience and resignation but also with pleasure and satisfaction the decrees of Gods Justice concerning him He offered himself most willingly and with an ineffable love not only to be nayled to the Cross but also to remaine and languish thereupon ' til the end of the world if it should so please his Father Ecce venio ut faciam voluntatem Heb. 10. 9. tuam He that should have seen this submission might with probability have sayd the eternal Father will content himself with his good will as He was satisfyd with the good will of Abraham and of Isaac at least the Justice of God will be contented that he suffer but one prick of a thorn or one stroke of a whip that He shed one drop of his Blood which is sufficient to sanctify the whole world No He wills that He suffer actually all the punishments humiliations and afflictions we sinners did deserve 4. A Sinner deserves to be depriv'd of the use of creatures since he abused them to be humbled and confounded becaus he would not be subject to the laws and will of God To be punished both in body and soul becaus he offended the infinitely high Majesty of the Creator And JESUS hath taken upon himself to satisfy for all these pains and punishments 5. He was depriv'd of the use of Creatures for what privation more rigorous than to be spoiled of his very cloathes to be as naked as a worme of the earth not to have so much as a poor shift to cover him not a drop of water to refresh his tongue in the agony of death One of his Apostles betrays him another denys him all forsake him and thô some holy Women followed him yet they were not permitted to assist him 6. He was humbled and confounded What greater humiliation than to be exposed to derision and rudeness of the rable and to insolence of soldiers Who treat him as the very scum of men who salute him in mocherie blindfold him buffet him pull off his beard who put a reed in his hand
of hatred or iâ—l will 't is out of love or xeal of justice his strokes are favours and his wounds are antidotes He is angry as a dove with out gaule or malice our anger is of a contrary quality 't is the anger of a viper with interiour venime and black bile when we are angry we are full of aversion and bitterness and the malignity also of this viper is so great that often it vomits out its poyson against the goodness of God himself 7. What remedy for a passion so unreasonable maligne and prejudicial First we must remove the cause in our own selves must pull out the root which is an inordinate affection to temporal goods or to our selves or to some other creature An Ancient named Cottis broke many Vessells which his friends had presented him fearing he should be angry when his servants broke them I counsell you not to destroy or to quit wholy all that is or may be the occasion of your anger but to moderate your affection to them and to love them rather out of obedience to the Will of God than by inclination so having no tye of irregular affection to them you will not be in danger to be much moved when you shal be depriv'd of them 9. Consider in the second place from whence the accidents and Crosses com which are wont to move your anger Know that all that happens in this world I say all except sin does com from God and therefore ought to be well receiv'd both in regard of the divine source whence they proceed and the beneficial effects they are sent to produce in us The holy Ghost sayes in Ecclesiasticus that good things and evill life and death poverty Ecclus. 11. Aug. in Psal 48. and riches com from God And hence S. Austin assures us that whatsoever happens in this world against our wills coms not but by the will of God by his Providence and order though we know not the reason of it Whosoever considers well this Providence of God his goodness and his Wisdom hath a true and sweet prevention of his passions he cannot thinke the Crosses are design'd for ill to him because they are disposed by an Infinite Goodness who intends and projects his good He will not Gyant like set up his will against the will of God and with a foolish rashness kick against the spurr but submit to all that hath been decreed in his counsells receive all patiently and thankfully as comming from so good a hand and happily rejoyce also in so good a hope 10. By these means well practised you may prevent your anger so that it will not easily surprize you And to extinguish it or moderate it when it is inflam'd your companions may by the grace of God do much if they imitate him in a like occasion you see sometimes a thick cloud that covers the skie darkens the Sun and makes as it were night at midday you hear a thunderbolt that runs in it lightens thunders and astonishes the world you will say that all goes to rack and the end of the world is com What does our good God to dissipate this tempest Educit ventos de the sauris suis He brings out of his treasures a gentle west wind a little wind that dissipates these clouds calms this tempest and makes the Sun to shine again this tempest is resolv'd into refreshing showers which water the earth and brings a thousand commodities When your neigbor is in passion he is like this cloud is in a tempest and in a rage the Sun of his reason is ecclipsed and hath with in him a darke night he murmures storms and makes a noise like a clap of thunder gives looks that resemble lightinings threatens rants and tears and makes appearance of overthrowing all If you are well disposed you will dissipate all this easily you need not but to let out of your heart which ought to be the treasure of God a mild word as a gentle wind you must not disavow any thing that he says at that time you must not resist him nor retort a fault upon him but excuse him and demand pardon though you have not committed any fault to morrow when this violent heat of passion is cooled and his spirit quieted he will return to himself will admire your patience acknowledg his fault repent himself of his folly and love you better than before 11. But the souveraign remedy of anger and other passions is the grace of God We commit great faults not making fervent and frequent recours to it Our Saviour had no need to pray and yet to give us example being neer his passion sayd to his Father My soul is troubled my fother save me from this houre Do Iohn 12. 27. as He when you percieve any temptation in your heart cast your selves at the feet of the Son of God beg help say with the Apostles Lord save us we perish And when you are not Matth. 8. 25. in temptation court him pray him practice vertues that please him to the end he assist you when you shal be assaulted And ruminate sometimes these words of S. Paul Patience is necessary Heb. 10. 36. for you that doing the will of God you may receive the promise If you be patient the promise of God will be fulfilled in you first in this world He sayed the meek and gentle shal possess the earth Matth. 5. 4. moderate patient and well tempered spirits dispatch affaires with more conduct and better success than hasty turbulent and violent Fabius Maximus did more by his Patience against the Carthaginians than Scipio with his Armies Promise for the other life He sayd In your patience you shal Luke 21. 19. possess your soules you will avoyd an ocean of sins which would put you in danger of losing your soul you will diminish the paines due to your crimes so many injuries so many affronts so many displeasures which you endure for the love of God are so many penances and satisfactions for your offences By patience you practise humility charity towards your neigbbor resignation to the will of God and other vertues which will increase in you the grace of God and make you merit Glory Amen DISCOVRS XXXV OF THE FIFTH COMMANDEMENT Thou shalt not kill AS the reasonable soul is incomparably more noble than the body So the Spirituall murther is much more pernicious and damnable than the corporall That which I call Spiritual murther is Scandal for S. Paul speaking to a corinthian who scandalized his neighbor 1. Cor. 8. sayd to him You are the cause that your christian Brother for whome Christ hath dyed does perish This word of that great Apostle is enough to oblige us to speake all our words and to do all our actions with great circumspection that we may never give ill example nor scandalize so many who have their eyes upon us and who more usually and willingly do imitate our evill than our good By
accompanied them to old age And who doubts if God do not worke wonderfully in them and if they do not use the greatest violence upon themselves that the second part will be found as true that these vices will remaine with them ' til death Et cum ipsis in pulvere dormient S. Austin notes judiciously that the Son of God to raise Lazarus proceeded otherwise than He did to raise the daughter of the Prince of the Synagogue to raise this young maid He took her only by the hand and sayd to her daughter rise as if He wakened her out of a sweet sleep to raise Lazarus He troubled himself twice wept cry'd-out with a lowd voice Lazarus com forth this was not that He had more difficulty to raise him than the other since He will raise all men in the end of the world in a moment in the twinkling of an eye But this was 1. Cor. 15. 52. to shew that there are sinners which are with much more difficulty converted than some other He that having fallen through humane frailty makes speedy recourse to the Son of God is easily revived but he that is halfe rotten as Lazarus buried and bound by his ill coustoms cover'd with the stone of obduration returns not so easily to the life of grace but to this effect there is need of cryes teares groanes great force and violence upon himself such is the strength of bad customes and vitious habits which if not in the beginning rooted out do daily grow stronger increase and becom a second nature You see then that your conversion deferred to future time or to old age is not only very dangerous but also much more hard Let us then proceed and shew that it will be likewise less fruitfull 4. To convince you of this let us suppose you will live to extream old age and that you will do penance and practise vertue about the end of your dayes this I grant you to convince you though most probably it will never be But what will you say of the Time so dear precious and important which you lose by delaying your conversion Have you forgotten the counsell of the holy Ghost who says to you by the Wiseman go to the school of the Ant disdain not to learn your lesson of this little Prou 6. creature see how diligent it is in the summer to make provivision for the winter how it loses not one moment of time Have you forgotten this advice of our Savior worke whilst it is day for the night will com in which you can do nothing And this Iohn 9. 4. word of S. Paul Let us do good whilst we have time This life is the time to make provision the proper day to worke the season to merit All our good actions are the seed of eternity they will produce us eternal ioyes honors riches and delights Is it not then a great prejudice to lose so great treasures as you might heap up in the space of many years A noble and learned yong man who lived a little licentiously having written a fine letter in heroick verse to S. Austin the Saint answered him in this manner Reading your letter I desired to have for some hours your poetick veine to describe in a dolefull Elegie the greatness of your loss God hath indued you with a good understanding with a happy memory and with much acquired Science ô great damage to lose all these talents how much am I displeased to see that you lose them for trifles If you have found a golden chalice would you not make á present of it to our Savior would you not give it willingly to the Church to be employ'd in his service God hath given you a golden understanding Why do you not make of it an acceptable sacrifice to Him I say the same to you you are in the spring of your age you have a good nature a lively spirit a solid judgment and a free Will ô if all this were seriously consecrated to God what glory would He receive thereby what services might you render Him what soules would you gain to him what recompences would you find in Heaven and you lose all this for the desire of I know not what for a little sensual pleasure for a tye to some Creature for fear to displeas I know not whome through slothfulness to give your self in good time to God you bury these rich treasures in a tepide unprofitable and idle life And you reserve for God but the scum of your life the ruines of your age the incommodious and uncertain time your old age in which you will be able to do little more then to say a few prayers sitting in a chimney corner 5 God commanded in the ancient Law that they should offer to Him in Sacrifice the strongest best and soundest of the creatures will He permit that one offer to him the most weak feeble and unprofitable age of man He that ordered the first fruits of the earth should be offered to Him and otherwise blessed not the rest does He not exact that a man should offer to him the first fruits of his life will He bless the old age of him who denyed him his youth Remember ô man that your life is the possession and the inheritance of God if your farmer brings you for renâ— wheat mixed with much Ry you complaine and esteem him unjust what would you do then if he should bring you only weeds What would you do if the Keeper of your Vineyard instead of good and pure liquour which he owes you should bring you nothing but dregs and lees And of your life which is the inheritance of God you give to the Divell the good corne the fine flower the pure liquour to wit your younger and better years and you reserve for God but Ry straw dregs and lees which is your old age Are you not asham'd to reserve for the exercise of vertue but the time of old age Is it time to begin to live well when you are ready to dye and to lay the foundations of your eternal happiness in that age to which so few do live 6. S. Augustine cryed-out to himself Quamdiu cras quare non modo quare non in hac hora I say the same to you How long wâ—ll you say to morrow why not at this present since you have time to do it and time that is proper which is in your power and you know noâ— that you shal have the time to com How many see you die iâ— their youth and have not time to do the good which they design'd Why not now whilst your custome to evill is yeâ— weak and easy to be broken and if you expect long it will be confirmed and made invincible Why not at thiâ— present whilst you have strength to beare Austerities since in old age you will be worne out and will havâ— difficulty enough to bear the inconveniences of old-age iâ— self Why not now whilst you are in
of spirit and affection of heart But we are composed of body and soul we receiv'd both from him and we ought to employ both in his service When we kneel reverently bow or prostrate humbly before God we testify his greatness and excellence our lowness indignity and vility that the burden of our sins oppress us and that we com to God to be eased and these humble postures excite our interior humility and devotion they dispose us to receive the dew of heaven more abundantly and the grant of our requests one reason why the man-God was heard of his Father was that He prayed with great humility of spirit with a profound reverence and prostration of body He was heard for his reverence says S. Paul 5. He pray'd in the second place with teares and a strong cry to shew the fervour of his spirit and to testify the aspirations of his heart we may note that very frequently if not as often as 't is sayd any one hath cryed-out in prayer to God the sacred text does add that he was hear'd and God promises it expressly He shal cry out to me and I will heare him What is it to cryout to God in prayer Is it to raise the Psal 90. Voice No for Moses moved not his lipps and God sayd to him you cry-out to me When you pray an ardent desire is a great cry in the eares of God sayd S. Bérnard 6. Why thinke you God deferrs a long time the grant of our requests also when we aske vertues and spiritual favours It is says S. Austin to increase and inflame our desire that we may learn to esteem much and to have a great desire of great S. Ang. tr 1. in Io and ser 5. de Verbis Domini things We are accustomed to say that a thing is little worth that is not worth the asking It is then worth the asking so much the more fervently how much it is more noble and more precious and what is more pretious then the love of God his grace and the Salvation of our soules when we pray coldly or tepidly we make no great account of the graces that we aske if we make no great account of them we render our selves unworthy of them 7. The reason why we pray negligently and that we have not a great desire to be heard is that we ponder not the extream need we have of Gods mercy we consider this affair as a thing indifferent or of little consequence We ought to believe firmly that if God hath not pity on us we shal be most miserable and unhapy creatures we know not that God hath pardoned the sins of our youth that we have had a supernatural and legitimate repentance of them and if we should know this we know not what will becom of us for we are more fragil than glass more weak then reeds and more unconstant then the winds what will then becōm of us if God hath not pity on us 7. He that knows not how to pray let him go to sea and see how they pray in a great strom and in danger of death and let him pray so always and He will be saved infallibly We are in a greater danger of damnation then they are of death they are not so endanger'd but by two or three winds we are by more then six by pride avarice envy luxury and other passions betwixt them and death there is but a planke betwixt me and hell there is but my will which is more fragil than that planke if that planke were left alone it would last a longtime but if my will were left to it self but a little while it would fall into horrible precipices and lose it self we are more uncapable to govern our selves and obtain salvation without a particular grace of God than a man who hath never-been at sea is to govern a ship in a tempest in the midst of rocks and sands Now I make your selves judges if we ought not to pray with all the force of our hearts 8. But let us not go to sea let us stay on land there is no need to go so far to learn to pray I find here a great number of excellent Teachers but I am a bad scholler and learn not my lesson well these are the poor that ask alms they givê us not thinking of it fine instructions if we reflect upon them If they know where early in the morning is a great concours of people they rise not flowly but hasten to the place Rise you so early to have opportunity to pray half an houre or an houre the Spirit is then more fresh less incombred with affaires and more vigorous to pray They range about the streets and Churches where they know are rich and charitable persons make you recours to the friends of God to the Saints who are rich in merits and powerfull with the Son of God The Poor discover their wounds they shew their ulcers and half rotten members and if they have none they counterfeit some to move men to compassion we have no need to counterfeit we have but too many in our souls we must acknowledg them in the presence of God and expose them to the Compassionat aspects of his mercy and say my God! you see I am but darkness weakness poverty and misery I have nothing of my self but ignorance and sin Though many of these Poor are Idiots and ignorant yet they find words reasons and arguments to move us to compassion to perswade us to mercy and to draw from us an Alms Madame have pity on me bestow one penny upon me you will not be the poorer and I will pray for you I am a poor orphan a stranger and far from my friends and country where I was ruined by fire shew your charity to me I ask it for the love of God for the Passion of our Saviour why find they so many words to beg an alms and we find them not to pray God It is becaus they have a great desire to receive an alms from men and we desire but little to receive one that is more necessary from God T is necessary that the feeling of our wants do suggest to us words and one half houre of prayer made with such a feeling wil be better then three houres of prayer without it 9. Salomon made a prayer accompanied with the two first conditions he asked of God continence with humility and fervour he asked it humbly for he acknowledged that he could not have it of himself and that it pertain'd to God only to give it Wisdom 8. 21. to him he asked it fervently for with all the force of his heart and yet he was not heard he obtain'd not chastity whence was this It was becaus his prayer failed of the third condition which is perseverance he prayed once or twice and this was not enough he should have continued it It is the counsell which the true Salomon our Saviour gives us who having preached the
us after this not unprofitable digression return to the definition 5. Dictum vel factum a word or action In this word Action is couched Omission when you can do an action which would hinder the offence of God and you do it not IESVS being required to pay tribute declares himself not oblig'd and nevertheless he pay'd it lest He should scandalize the farmers So the Virgin circumcised her Son and submitted herself to the law of purification for fear of giving ill example So S. Paul says the Ancient Philosophers having known the true God by the light of nature and having not communicated this knowledg to the rest of men to draw them from Idolatry incurr'd the anger of God and were guilty of all sins the people committed for want of that knowledg We are then culpable when we ought to correct reprehend or punish the defects of others and do not we scandalise them for they say there is no ill in this my Parents Confessor Superior say nothing to me of it 6. Minus rectum This word teaches us that if an action be good and laudable commanded by God or his Church we ought not to omit it though our neighbor be scandalized by it if one is scandalized when you say the truth 't is better to permit scandal then to oppose Verity says S. Gregory T is a Pharisaical scandal a S. Greg. hom 7. in Ezec. passive scandal not an active a scandal taken not given 7. And if the action be good and laudable but not of obligation ought we to omit it if one will be scandalized by it S. Thomas answers learnedly with a distinction either our neighbour is scandalized maliciously and out of a spirit of contradiction 2. 2. q. 43. ar 7. or is scandalised through ignorance or infirmity if he be scandalised maliciously we ought not to omit our good worke for 't is his own fault and not ours He does as the Pharesees who were scandalized maliciously by the predications of IESUS But IESUS contemn'd their scandal and left not off his preaching If he be scandalized through ignorance or through weakness 't is better to do your good worke in private or to omit it for a time than to give an occasion to your neighbor to fall into any sin And with much more reason if the action be of it self indifferent neither good nor evill charity obliges us to omit it when it would be an occasion of sin or temptation to our neighbor If you offend your neighbor giving him occasion of sin through his weakness you offend our Lord and therefore If I know my brother is scandalized to see me eate flesh I will never eate it lest I scandalize my hrother says S. Paul 1. Cor. 8. 12. Rom. 14. 15. 20. And again do not with thy meat destroy him for whom CHRIST dyed Destroy not the worke of God for meat Though then an action be permitted if it be not commanded we must abstain from it if it be a snare or stumblingblock to infirme and weak soules 8. Prebens alicui giving occasion to our neighbor Some may imagin that 't is not to be scandalous if they do not a publick action which is manifest to many But our Saviour says if you move Matt. 18. to sin but one only you are scandalous You say they are simple and weak people that are tempted by such an action or such a word the wise and well grounded in vertue are not moved by it IESUS says you must not scandalize one of the lesser ones unum de pusillis and S. Paul tells us that in scan dalizing the weak ones we sin against IESUS-CHRIST And the Son of God adds Voe mundo a scandalis Woe to the world for scandalls He Speakes so becaus the world is full of them and becaus they destroy so many souls so dear and precious to him 9. It seems that soules are more dear to IESUS than his innocent blood He willed it should be prophan'd and trod under feet for the ransome of these beloved soules I leave you to think what punishment and what reproches we shal receive from him if by our bad exemple or by our negligence we let any one of these soules fall into sin and damnation Believe that in the houre of your death nothing will cause you more regret nor afflict you more than the sight of the soules which by your fault are lost You will acknowledg this truth and feel the weight of these dreadfull words Vae homini illi per quem scandalum venit woe to the persone by whom Matt. 18. 7. Scandal coms You will see all the graces God had given to soules through your fault lost all the merits they had gotten all that our Saviour did and suffered for their salvation and you will with sorrow and sighing say Ha! I have destroy'd soules for which JESUS CHRIST dyed how shal I restore to him the blood which He hath shed vae homini illi wo be to that person It were better for you one had tyed a milstone about your neck and thrown you into the Sea You will see the excellency and the value of the soules you have cast away and this will oppress you with griefe as if you had a milstone upon your heart You will see that those who learnt of you the vanities of the world will teach their children them these will derive them to their descendents unto the third or fourth generation all which will be imputed to you this sight will cast you even into despaire Will you avoyd this miserable condition Do not by bad examples indiscreet words or negligence destroy a soul for whom IESUS CHRIST dyed But if you have been so unhappy do judgment and justice punish your fault by true penance repair the loss as much as lies in you bring back the lost sheep to IESUS or if you cannot gain another in his stead by prayers instructions aâ—d good examples so you may be confident of pardon God hath promised it Amen DISCOVRS XXXVI OF THE SIXTH AND NINTH COMMANDEMENTS thou shalt not commit Adultery Thou shalt not couet thy neighbours Wife Amongst all the irregular motions of a man there is none more contrary to his nature nor more abominable to the Creatour than the unhappy vice of carnality It is contrary to mans nature becaus it is beastly terrestrial and unworthy of a man In anger envy pride ambition there is some kind of spirit But luxury clouds the understanding depresses the faculties of the soul renders her unable to elevate her self above the objects of sense and impaires all that is manly in us 2. This vice is abominable to God who repented to have made man and sent a deluge to drowne the earth who consuin'd by fire four of the most florishing cityes of the world and slautered 24 thousand of his people at one time and 60 thousand at another in punishment of this sin Though this vice be so contrary to a man and
are baptized but they stand obliged to follow them Which made great S. Basil say whosoever hath receiv'd the Baptisme of the law of grace is oblig'd to live according to the Gospell and hath oblig'd himself by an irrevocable contract to imitate IESUS CHRIST 5. I know well than to excuse your selves you say if I live not according to the world if I cloath not my self gorgeously if I lead a retired and mortified life I shal pass for an extravagant person they will not esteem me they will say I am an abhorrer of society and a man of another world You say true but what is this to say It is to say they will esteem you a christian that you will pass for a Disciple of IESUS This is that which you have promised in Baptisme T is in this the perfection of Christianity consists in declaring war against the world and its pomps in opposing its maxims and customs contradicting flesh and blood Take courage then says S. Chrysostom fight valiantly consider what Chrysost To 3 ser de Martyr you have promised under what condition you were made a Christian and in what war you are enrolled Think not to tryumph without Victory to be victorious without fighting to fight without enemies that are contrary to you 6. But some do say where are pastimes delights and pleasures forbidden in the ten commandements or in those of the Church If those frequent and almost continuall pastimes delights and pleasures are not against the first and chiefe of the commandements Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart with all thy soul with all thy mind and with all thy forces they are at least against the second which our Saviour says is like to it For is this to love your neighbor as your self to employ in superfluous delights that which might deliver him out of great inconveniences and miseries you know that so many orphans so many other poor who are the children of God members of our Saviour are eaten with vermin for want of a little linnen that they are starved with cold and that they dye with hunger for want of assistance and the money wherewith you might succour them you spend in superfluities what insensibility is this where is the fraternal Charity or the Christian Compassion or the bowells of mercy which the elect ought to have The Prophet Amos 6. 6. Amos weighed well how much Charity was by this violated when he sayd Woe to you who seek exquisite meats and delicious wines and yee have not pity on the miseries of the people 7. S. Denys says that in his time if one desired Baptisme the c. 2. Eccle. Hier. parag 2. et 3. first thing he did was to intreat a Christian to be his God father the Christian on the one side desiring the salvation of the Petitioner and on the other weighing the weakness of a man with the weight of the affaire was troubled with fear and seized with apprehension to conduct him to the Bishop Nevertheless in fine he led him to the Prelate Who sayd to him that his designe ought not to be imperfect but entire and with all his heart as approaching to God who is entirely perfect and having declar'd to him the forme of life he ought to lead to live godly receiv'd from him promises and protestations to aspire with all his force to that perfection And that he might not undertake such a charg lightly and inconsiderately he made him pass 2 or 3 years in Catechumenate which was the Noviciate of Christianity where he exercised himself in fasting prayer and other penances to make tryal if he could apply himself to the austere and vertuous life of Christians By which you see that the answers made for you in Baptisme are not ayrie words they are according to this great Saint and other holy Fathers promises and protestations which oblige us By the same you see also what life the Christians of those times did lead to satiâ—fy the obligations contractd in their Baptisme 8. Do as they did renounce the Devill and all his pompes works and suggestions renounce the World with its vanities follies and maxims renounce your selves your flesh sensualitie selflove particular judgment and all the inclinations of the old man separate your will from his and turn to IESUS your God and the Source of your salvation Acknowledg the excellencie of your Dignitie the noble and divine Allyance to which you are elevated to whom you pertain by Baptisme Remember that you have the honour to be the members of IESUS-CHRIST not improperly nor metaphorically but really and truly Let us remember that he is our Head and that we must conform our selves to him otherwise we shal make a great deformitie in his body and dishonour him extreamly Would not this be a monstrous and unnatural deformitie if to the head of a handsom man were joyn'd the body of a beast the paws of a Lyon the belly of a hog the tail of a serpent IESUS is the Head of the Church we are the members of it what dishonor should we do him what unnatural deformitie should we make in his Body if we should be unlike to him if He being as meek as a lamb as pure as the sunbeam and as simple as a dove we should be cruel like lyons unclean like hogs and deceitfull as serpents Let us assure our selves that He will not suffer such deformitie in heaven and that to be associated to him in the life of glory we must be like to him in the life of grace Amen DISCOVRS XLIII Of Confirmation AS the eternal Father hath shewn effectually the ineffable love which He had for the world in giving his only and beloved Son in the Mistery of the Incarnation a love so wonderfull and prodigious that though admiration be the daughter of ignorance and IESUS be the infinite and eternal Science He speaks not of it but with astonishment and admiration Sic Deus dilexit mundum So IESUS hath shewn effectually the infinite love which He had for his Church in giving Her his holy Spirit who is equal coeternal and consubstantial with Him and his Father 2. But as in the distribution of graces where of the Apostle 1. Cor. 12. 10. speaks the holy Ghost is communicated to divers persons for different operations to some to worke miracles to others to interpret the holy scripture and the like so in Sacramental grace the holy Ghost is given for divers intentions to produce divers effects according to the difference of the ends for which IESUS instituted the Sacraments In Baptisme the holy Ghost is given us to be the Soul of our souls the life of our life and the Spirit of our spirit to create in us the spiritual and Christian life make us Children of God Members of IESUS CHRIST and Heirs of the kingdom of heaven In Confirmation He is given us to make us Souldiers of IESUS CHRIST to enrole us in his warfare and to
which the Sacrament excites And it would restore also health of body more effectually for when you are in or neere your agony and dispaired of by Phisicians if the Sacrament should repaire your force and strength this would be a miracle which God who disposes althings sweetly does not usually or without necessity But if you receive it sooner He would dispose second causes by the secrets of his providence to renew your health in case He should judg it necessary for your salvation 6. The third effect which the Apostle atributes to this Sacrament is the remission of sins And if he be in sins they shal be remitted him He says expressy If he be in sins becaus he supposes the Sicke hath already received Penance and that by absolution his sins have been remitted But if he hath not rightly accomplished Confession and Communion and knows it not or if by humane frailty he hath committed a mortal sin after his Confession and is ignorant of it such remainders with all venial sins would be remitted and a good part of the temporal punishment due to them relaxed by this Sacrament If then we are depriv'd of it by our fault or if we receive the Sacrament unfruitfully or if by our negligence a Soul depart out of this world without receiving the grace of it 't is a great fault and God does make this complaint of it The wound is not sured nor mollifyd with oyle 7. S. Bernard writes that S. Malachy was intreated to visit and Vitâ S. Malach. carry the holy oyles to a Gentlewoman dying near his monastery who so reioyced in the presence of the holy Prelate that she seem'd to be quite reviv'd she demanded the Sacrament but the Assisstant seeing her so changed desired the Prelate to forbeare The Saint condescended to their request and returned with the holy oyles No sooner he arrived at the Monastery but he heard the Cryes of divers who sayd that she was dead he runns and coms to her and finds her dead Behold him in the greatest sorrow in lamentations tears groans and complaints of himself for a fault whereof he was not guilty T is my fault Lord 't is my fault since she desired it I should not have defer'd it he protests to all the Assistants that he will weep in consolably that is Soul should never rest til he had restored to the dead the grace which she had lost he remains by the corps and instead of holy Oyle waters it all night with his precious tears This holy water frightens and puts death to flight for the next morning the dead opened her eyes as if she had been wakened out of sleep then sits up and making a low inclination to the Bishop says The prayer of faith hath saved the infirme By which you see how soliciâ—ous we should be to receive the effects and reap the fruits of this Sacrament 8. And to reap them with full hands and in abundance we must receive it with necessary dispositions and 't is certaine that Sacramental Confession must if possible precede it becaus this Sacrament is one of those which Divines call Sacramenta Vivorum that is which ought not to be received but by the faithfull who are already in the life of grace I say if possible for if one should be so depriv'd by a sudden accident that he cannot Confess we must neuertheless administer to him this Sacrament But there are three other dispositions which a devout soul should have in receiving it One in respect of God another in respect of himself and the third in respect of his neighbor 9. First you must offer to God a sacrifice of your life accepting death with resignation to his holy Will with great submission to the Orders of his Providence and to render honor and homage to his divine Perfections and say my God I submit with all my heart to the sentence of death you have pronounced against me from the beginning of the world I offer my life to you to do homage to your Souveraintie and Justice I acknowledg and protest that I have most justly deserv'd it not only by teason of original sin but as often as I have sinned in all my life 10. He that is in this disposition of a Victime and a Holocaust in the sight of God will have also the necessary spirit of humility He will renounce all pride ambition vain glory and ostentation he will abhorr the spirit of those vain souls who disire passionately to be praised in gazetts celebrated in histories that their hearts or bodys be emâ—auâ—med put into ledden coffins carried to the grave with pomp with famous and magnificent obsequies and funeral discourses who build for themselves or make to be built high and glorious tombes who fix their names and armes upon the walls of Churches and cause Epitaphes to be composed Aug. lib. 9. confess c. 13. in their praises S. Austin praises his Mother for that she had not the least thought of such a Vanity And the Scripture blames the ambition wherewith they buried the king Asa They buried him in his sepulcher which he digged for himself in the City of David and they layd him upon his bed full of Spices and odoriferous 2. Paral. 16. 14. oyntments and they burnt it upon him with exceeding ambition says the sacred Text. 12. In fine the holy oyle minds you of the Parable of the Virgins that they who had kept Virginity were not saved becaus they wanted the oyle of mercy with much more reason they cannot be saved who having committed impurities and other sins shal be presented to their Judg not having redeem'd their crimes by the workes of Charity You ought to do it all your life but if you have failed if you have not made the lamp to be carried before you make it at least to follow after you that you may not be wholy in darkness when you go into the other world JESUS having given us his sweat blood and life deserves well that you give him a good part of your goods also during your life when they are more necessary for you But since you have omitted it give him a little part of them at least in the houre of your death when your goods are useless to you 't is He who gave them to you who is the Proprietor of them and nevertheless desires for your good to receive of them in the persone of the Poor 13. I conclude with these words of S. Salvian You are avaricious But you are not enough I exhort you to be yet more you love Lib. 2. con Av. a ritiam in fine riches love them at your death as well as in your life you fear the poverty of this life fear also that of the other carry your riches with you into the other world they will be more necessary there than here to avoyd the paines of Purgatory in the way to redeem you in case you are cast in to that Prison and to make
it to be good if your penance be not of this stamp it is steril as the figtree neer Bethania and is likewise cursed by our Savior 11. If you aske S. Paul what are the fruits that this good tree of penance ought to beare He answers writing to the Corinthians that it is a great care of our salvation a holy indignation against Sin a fear and apprehension of Gods jugements 2. Cor. 7. 11. a great desire to be pleasing to him an ardent zeal of his glory a spirit of vengeance to punish in our selves the offence of God If you demand of S. Chrisostome what are these fruits He answers that they are the practises of vertues wholy contrary to the crimes you have committed for example you have usurped Hom. 1. in Matt. circa sin anothers goods content not your self with the restitution of them but give liberally of your own You have wallowed in the mire of sensual pleasures deprive your self of the delights which are not forbidden You have offended your neighbour by word or worke render good for evill to them that disoblige you You have been given to excesses and to drunkenness addict your self to abstinence and fasting If you aske S. Pacian what are the fruits worthy of penance Epist 31. He answers that they are mortifications of of the flesh retrenchments of pleasures privations of temporal goods distributed to the Poor and the labours of life 12. This penance cannot be a worke of a man it must be an effect of Gods mercy wherefore beg it of him affectionately say often vouchsafe to bring us to true penance He disposes us and brings us to it sometimes by alms give as many as you can either corporal or spiritual Redeem your sins with alms sayd the Prophet Daniel He Dan. 4. 24. leads us to it by mortifications for as exteriour humiliation is the way to interiour humility says S. Bernard so austerities and exteriour penances are dispositions to interiour compunction He brings us to penance by the intercession of the Saints and by the examples of their vertues implore their aide devout ly have in your houses the history of their lives read it and make it to be read to your families excite your selves to penance by the consideration of their austerities if you have perfectly this second Baptisme it will restore you to the innocency of the first if you have this shield you will save your selves from the anger of God if you have this planck it will carry you to a good haven to the haven of eternal felicity Amen DISCOURS XXIV OF PRAYER 1. IESUS-CHRIST being the Idea Mirrour and the Model of the Elect He instructs them by his Example in all which they ought to do to obtain salvation He says to them Exemplum dedi vobis I have given you example And becaus Prayer is one of the most profitable important and necessary actions in a Christian life He would give most authentike and remarkable examples Tract 24 in Iohn sub med of it This is the reason as S. Austin notes why He pray ed often with a lowd voice if He had pryed only to obtain graces for his Church it would have been enough to have prayed interiourly in secret or with a low voice But being our Advocate He remembred that He was also our Doctor and the prayer which He made for us He pronunced before us that He might profit us not only by impetration of graces for us but also by giving us a model Whence it follows that to be heard in our prayers we ought not to aske any thing but what IESUS hath asked He never demanded nor will He ever demand for his the Glory of the world the riches of the earth or delights of the flesh we ought then to aske of God as his members and by his merits love fear grace conduct vertues and temporalls precisely necessary and we ought to ask them so as He asked them His Apostle teaches us that his prayer was always accompanied with Heb. 5. three circumstances wherewith ours ought also to be seasoned During the cours of his life He offered prayers and supplications to God with teares and great Cry and He was heard for his Reverence first then we ought to pray with Humility secondly with Fervour thirdly with Perseverance For his Reverence there is Humility with teares and great cry there is fervour During the cours of his life there is Perseverance 2. We ought to pray with humility and with interior and exterior Reverence The interior consists in a profound abasement and annihilation of our selves in the presence of God we ought to esteem much and apprehend lively the greatness of his Majesty the excellence of his Being and the infinity of his Perfections our lowness littleness and infirmity to acknowledg and avow that we are more then most unworthy not only to convers with him or to speak to hâ—m but also to appear in his presence we must go to Him as a poor begget to a rich man for an Alms as a sickman to a Phisitian to be cured as a criminal to a judg to implore favour and pardon and say with great S. Austin you are infinitely mercifull I am extreamly miserable you are the true Phisitian I am sick to death you are an Abyss of all good I poor and in want of all things We must go to him with a lively sense of the extream need we have of his assistance and of the severeign independency He hath of all without himself believing firmly that all the service we can do him all the homages and praises of the highest Seraphins add not one grain to his essential Beatitude and glory 3. From this interior disposition proceeds the exterior reverence by which we prostrate on the ground before God or we kneel and if we cannot we hold our selves in an humble modest and respectfull posture This exterior humility is so sutable with the honour we owe to God that it hath been always used by them who desired to appease Him to obtain his mercy and the grant of their requests The just Lot being prostrated â—en 19. 2. before an Angel who personated God his prayer was heard and this humble posture help'd him to obtain his Request Iosuah and the Ancient of Israel desiring to calme the Spirit of Iosuah 7. God prostrated a long time before the arke The valiant Iudith to obtain success in her generous enterprize prostrated in her oratory clothed her body with a hairshirt and cover'd her head with ashes And what is more considerable our Saviour himself when He prayed in the garden fell upon his face Whereupon S. Ceser Bishop of Arles complaining says Mercy prostrats himself and Misery does not Sanctity humbles himself and iniquity will not Innocence inclines and malice will not bow the Iudg lies upon the ground and the criminal rests himself indecently 4. 'T is true God is a Spirit and He demands chiefly of us humility