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
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
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
infected with the contagion of that and that sin tracing grace prevents the will making it criminall before it be free The only thing that may seem strange to us in this Oeconomy is That a Baptized person does not communicate Christian grace to his children though he be possessed of it and yet doth communicate originall sin though he be freed from it Miraris quare peccator nascatur de semine Justi non te delectat mirari quare oleaster nascatur de semine olivae Accipe aliam similitudinem non attendis quia de grano purgato frumentum cum palea nascitur sine qua seminatur Aug. Serm. de Verb. Apos 14. But our wonder will cease if we consider that a grain of corn which is sown without chaffe springs up notwithstanding with it and on the other side a learned man derives not his sciences to his children though he doe his being Ideo de baptizato non justus nascitur quia non eum generat unde regeneratus est sed unde generatus est Id. ib. And because as Saint Augustine observes Christians beget not their children by the Spirit which is sanctified but by the body which still remains corrupted neither is Grace the concomitant of the Birth of Adam but of the regeneration of Jesus Christ who absolves not the guilty till they are cloathed with his merits in Baptisme The Fifth DISCOURSE Of the Resemblances that are found between the Birth of Christ and that of a Christian AS the Christian takes his denomination of Christ so also doth he his Glory neither hath he any Priviledge which he is not obliged to him for If he have any merits that render him acceptable to God 't is from the * Ex sacramento unctionis Christi Christianorum descendit voeabulum et nomen quod nomen ille frustra sortitur qui Christum minime imitatur Aug. de vita Christi Actions or Sufferings of Jesus Christ that he borrows them If he pretends any right to heaven as his inheritance 't is because Christ is his elder Brother if the Angels do him any service 't is because he is a member of his Body and that this quality equals if not prefers him before these blessed Spirits If lastly his birth be holy 't is because it resembles that of the Son of God and receives in the bosom of the Church the same advantages the Son of God received in the womb of his Mother Indeed could the tongue of man recount the wonders of a Nativity that astonish'd the Prophets they might haply be reduc'd to three or four heads that render it glorious and full of lustre The First is That the Son of God was conceived by the operation of the holy Ghost He it was that managed this great Designe who curdled the most pure blood of the Virgin who form'd the Body of the Word Incarnate and becoming his principle did in a manner give him in Time what he had received from him in Eternity The Angel spake thus of it to the Virgin when for the interest of her Virginity she desired to be instructed how she might be the Mother of God Superveniet in te dando foecunditatem servando Virginitatem Bern. The holy Ghost shall come upon thee and the Glory of the Highest shall over-shadow thee The Holy Ghost was the dispenser of this mystery his goodness wrought this miracle of love and he that was barren in Eternity to give Jesus Christ to the world became fruitfull in time Though this favour be admirable exalting the Son of God above Prophets and Kings yet is it common to him with Christians who have the priviledge to be born of the Holy Ghost and to enter into a new life by his grace For he it is and not an Angel that sits President in this sacred * Omni homini renascenti aqua baptismatis instar est uteri virginalis eodem Spiritu sanctorcplente fontem qui replevit et Virginē ut peccatum quod ibi vacuavit sacra conceptio hic mystica tollat ablutio Leo. pool wherein wee are regenerated he it is that stamps upon us the character that makes us Christians and sheds abroad charity into our hearts whereby we are made the children of God 'T is by his vertue that our sins are blotted out and by a secret influence that penetrateth the essence of our soul that we become the adopted sons of the Everlasting Father and the brethren of Jesus Christ The holy Scripture teacheth us this transcendent verity in common ordinary words but which in their deep sense comprehend almost an infinite number of mysteries Except a man be born again of water and of the Holy Ghost he shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven As it is he that gives us the being of Grace so he gives us a right to Glory and as he made the Virgin * Originem quā sumpsit in utero Virginis posuit in fonte baptismatis dedit aquae quod dedit Matri et obumbratio Spiritus sanctiquae fecit ut Maria parerot eadem facit ut aqua rogeneret credentem Leo Serm. de Nat. Christi fruitfull to bring forth Christ so he makes the water prolificall to regenerate the Christian 'T is the opinion of St Ambrose and of St Augustine who both conspire together to make us admire the excellent grace that we receive of the Holy Ghost in Baptism The same Grace saith the later that makes Man-God makes Man-Christian the one is re-born by the same Spirit whereof the other is born and as This is wholly exempt from all sin That is fully delivered from it Thus the Christian may boast that he hath God for his Principle that he owes his birth to the Holy Ghost and that this priviledge is common to him with the Word incarnate The Second Advantage of the Son of God in his temporall Nativity is That he had a Mother who miraculously united Fruitfulnesse with Purity for the Fruit that she bare shed not her Flower the quality of a Mother made her not lose that of a Virgin and Nature stood amazed that being so pure she was notwithstanding brought to bed The * Ecce Virgo concipiet ct parict filium Isa 7. Prophets have prepared us for the belief of this miracle by their predictions they beheld it in the secrets of Futurity and knowing very well that it was one of the greatest Priviledges of the Messias they have made it one of the fairest observations in his History The very Heathen were not ignorant of it The Sybils have proclaimed it for the rarest ornament of Virginity and there were some people who moved by their Predictions erected Altars to the * Virgini pariturae Virgin-Mother Nothing in all our Religion hath carried so much lustre with it amongst the Heathen as this glorious particular neither had they much adoe to beleeve that Jesus Christ was the Son of God seeing he was the Son of
glory and humility which ravisheth Christians and confounds Infidels These cannot comprehend that the Son of Man is the Son of God that he that is equall to the Father is his servant that he gives Orders and receives them that he commands and obeyes that he comes down upon the earth and yet never leaves heaven that he dies and still lives that he is confin'd in a Sepulcher and yet fills the whole world This Miracle prepares us for the belief of another no lesse strange then the former For if we consult the Holy Scriptures we shall find that the Son of God was made the Son of man for no other end then to make us the Children of God he was humbled that we might be exalted and he hath facilitated the belief of our future greatness by the example of his debasement His birth is a pledge of ours he was born of a woman but to assure us that we might be born of God neither was he apparelled with the flesh in the womb but to perswade us that one day we shall be clothed with glory in the heavens And this is the Argument the most illuminated of the Evangelists makes use of to establish our second Generation for having taught us that Baptisme and Faith give us God for our Father fearing lest so high a promise find no credit in our understanding * Venit Filius ut illo participantemortalitatem nostram per dilectionem nos efficeret participes divinitatis suae per adoptionem Aug. de Cons Evangel he gives us the Generation of the Word for an assurance of our Regeneration and having ravished all men with those magnificent words He gave them power to become the Sons of God hee discovers the cause of that miracle and clearing us of one wonder by telling a greater he tells us man may become God since God by an excesse of love was willing to become man And the Word was made flesh and dwelt amongst us This is the admirable argumentation of St. John and the solid establishment of our greatness 'T is by this unparallel'd example that hee prepares us for the belief of our mysteries this is the proof all the Fathers make use of to perswade us that the misery of our condition can no way hinder us from being the children of God since the glory of the Word was no obstacle to his being made man Give me leave to expresse these wonders in the words of S. August Vt homines nascerentur ex Deo primo ex ipsis natus est Deus Non quaesivit quidem nisi matrem in terra quia jam patrem habebat in coelo natus ex Deo per quem efficeremur natus ex foemina per quem resiceremur Noli ergo mirari quia efficeris Filius Dei pergrat am quia nasceris ex Deo per verbum ejus prius ipsum Verbum voluit nasci ex homine ut tu securus nascereris ex Deo diceres nasci voluit Deus ex homine ut immortalem me faceret pro me mortaliter nascitur Aug. Tract 2. in Joan. and to joyn the pomp of his eloquence to the majesty of my subject God that makes all things with so much justice was willing to bee born of a woman that men might might be born of him He sought out but one Mother upon the earth because he had already one Father in heaven being born of his Father he made us being born of his mother he re-made us associating by an admirable conjunction the quality of Creator with that of Redeemer Wonder not then if by grace ye are the Sons of God since ye are born of him by his word nor thinke it strange that ye shall be one day immortall in glory since God in his second Generation became mortall was willing to suffer death upon the Crosse for our salvation Thus his Charity makes us like him his goodness surpasseth the miseries of our nature and renders us partakers of his glory so that there is no Christian but may boast that his Baptisme confers upon him by grace all the advantages Jesus Christ possesseth by nature and that the Mystery of the Incarnation being repeated in the faithfull by their new Birth exalts them by a happy Indulgence to the greatness of Jesus Christ The Sixth DISCOURSE Of the Adoption of Christians and the advantages it hath above the Adoption of Men. IF it be true that the end why the Son of God was made the son of Man was that we might be made the children of God we need not think it strange that the adoption of a Christian is one of the chiefest effects of Baptism nor that man changing his condition by his regeneration change also his Father and Mother But it is a thing very well worthy our admiration to consider that he is adopted by a Father who having an onely Son equal to himself should in reason cast out all adopted children were he not obliged to accept them at the intreaty of his own proper Son Adoptio nuptiarum subsidium fortunae remedium supplet sterilitati vel orbitati Jurisc For to take this Truth at the rise and unfold the wonders contained in it we must know that Adoption was invented among men to supply the barrenesse of Parents or the death of children Indeed t is a thing never heard of that a Father to whom Nature hath given a Son should adopt another and seek that in a strange Family which he may find in his own He would beleeve himself to offend against paternal charity should he divide it and injurious to his Son should he assigne him coheirs Though this be his only one he never resolves to provide him companions neither hath he ever recourse to this remedy but when the death of his son makes it lawfull in making it necessary In the mean time the Eternal Father adopts us though he have an immortal Son he extends his affections to us and admits us into his Family to make us share in his Inheritance But that which most furprifeth us in this Oeconomy is That he undertakes this designe at the request of his Son nor does he honour us with the condition of Children till Jesus Christ hath honoured us with that of Brethren 'T is one of the chiefest motives of his incarnation and we may say that he had never chosen a Mother upon earth but that he might have Brethren in heaven He is the onely begotten in the bosom of his Father He shares not this quality with the Holy Ghost and as their processions are different one is the Son the other the Spirit of the Father the One remains in his bosom the Other in his heart the One proceeds by Knowledge the Other by Love But this onely Son is first born of the chaste spotless womb of the Virgin by his temporal birth he gains Brethren and clothing them with the robes of his merits obligeth his Father to avow them for his Children For we
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
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
genus humanum Eeclesiae contulit unitate ut quod discordia dissipaverat colligeret charitas Aug. ser 3. de Pentecost when God intending to stop the progresse of that proud Tower the aspiring Posterity of Noah rays'd to get them a Name confounded their Language and scattered the people by the division of their Dialects But it was a far greater wonder when the Holy Ghost to unite all Nations honoured the Apostles with the gift of Tongues and made one man speak the Language of the Universe that the Gospel might be preached without an Interpreter through all the Provinces of the World And we must confesse the Church was never more glorious then when consisting but of one people it already spake the Language of all Countreys and proclaimed by this Miracle that her Conquests were to have no bounds but those of the Universe To this day she enjoyes this Priviledge but with lesse splendour she speaks all Languages because she possesseth some of all people she hath that in her progresse which was conferred upon her at her birth and she owns that amongst all the Faithfull Loquor omnibus linguis quia in co sum Christi corpore hoc est in Ecclesia quae loquitur jam omnibus linguis Aug. in psal 54. which heretofore was eminent in every one of the Apostles Therefore saith S. Augustine is the gift of Tongues now superfluous because the Church having over-spread all the Earth she finds in the meanest of her Disciples what was consin'd heretofore to the Colledge of her Masters and she may boast she hath lost nothing of her antient Priviledges because the goods of a Body being common among the Members she hath no children that speak not all sort of Tongues by the mouth of their brethren But because speech without the effect is but a dead letter the same Spirit that gave the Church the gift of Tongues gave her also the power of working Miracles she hath subjects to whom nothing is impossible Nature submits to their orders Faith that inanimates them makes them absolute in the state of their Soveraign The Sun stands still in the midst of his Course to doe homage to their words the Sea becomes firm under their feet and the Earth trembles under those of their Enemies and they oblige that common Mother to make a sepulcher of her Womb to swallow them up alive Indeed this favour that exalts them so high is transient to humble them Donum miraculorum sicut aliae gratiae gratis datae non sunt in sanctis nisi per modum transeuntis D. Tho. their will is not the rule but the motion of the Holy Ghost they act not but when hee acts with them they work miracles when they receive the power from him and assoon as ever he leaves them they return to their former inability Miracles cost them prayers and teares they acknowledge their dependance even whilst they exercise their Empire and whilst all people look upon them as Gods they finde themselvs oblig'd to confesse that they are nothing but mear Creatures Is it not a wonder that St. Paul drives away Divels heals the sick and yet by his prayers cannot deliver either himself from that Divel or that malady which exercised his humility as much as his patience Finally this Spirit that acted so powerfully by the hands of the Apostles establishing the Gospel no lesse by their miracles then by their words fortified them in persecutions and gave them courage at the same time to triumph over grief and pleasure too For as the Tyrants employd subtilty and violence power and policy to vanquish the Martyrs making use of threats and promises to astonish or seduce the Apostles it was requisite that the Holy Ghost should inspire them with continence and strength and that Grace serving them instead of a Sword and Buckler gain'd them as many Victories as they were bid Battels His power never appeared more glorious then upon this occasion Quld magnum est si fortis Angelus magnum est si fortis est Caro sed unde fortis Caro unde forte vas fictile nisi à Domino Aug. in Psal 238. Miracles have not procured so many conquests as persecutions have the Saints never got so much credit by their power as by their constancy and infidell Rome hath more admired the patience of the Martyrs then the puissance of the Apostles In the meane time he that shall consider these effects in their primitive cause will confesse that one and the same spirit hath produced them and that as he inanimates the Church by his presence so by his assistance he communicates the understanding of Tongues the knowledge of things to come the power of Miracles and the victory over torments Wherefore the Church knowing very well that she owes all to the Holy Spirit Nihil agunt fideles inconsulto Spiritu Sancto quae petunt illi commendant quae accipiunt illi adscribunt Bernard undertakes nothing but by his direction and being perswaded that she hath no strength which she is not beholding to his ayd for she forms no design wherein she implores not his succour and when any happy successe compleats the Enterprise she gives publick testimony by her Eucharisticall deportment that she is beholding to the favour of the Holy Ghost for the benefit she rejoyceth in The Third DISCOURSE That the Holy Spirit is in some sort the same to Christians that hee is to the Father and the Son from all Eternity THe alliance that the Eternall Word hath contracted with men is the source and originall of that which the Father and the Holy Spirit contract with the same Creatures The Father loves us as his children because we are the brethren of his only Son Heaven is as well our inheritance as our recompence and the quality of mercenaries or souldiers which we beare is no barre to that of children and heirs The Holy Spirit hath an influence also upon our souls by charity hee rears an altar in our hearts and of the members of our body he vouchsafes to make living Temples But as his infinite love hath no bounds his communications are much aforehand and by an excesse of goodnesse he was pleased to bee in time to the faithfull what he is in the Trinity to the Father and his only Sonne The whole Scripture teacheth us that the Holy Spirit is a sacred bond uniting the Father and the Son from all Eternity The Church which is very wel-sighted in these profound Mysteries Nexus amoris quo conjungitur Pater cum filio filius cum Patre cals him the True-loves-Knot The conclusion of her prayers clearly instruct us that the Father and the Son reign together in the unity of the Spirit Admit they were not one and the same Thing by their Essence they would be one and the same Principle by the Holy Spirit since all Theologie knowes very well that the Father and the Son are admirably united together to
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
did not the following surpass it For the Holy Spirit is the Love of the Faithful as he is the Love of the Father and of the Son But to understand this truth we must inform you that the Word being begotten of the Father by the Understanding is his onely Son and that the Holy Ghost being produced by the Will is his Love The Father and the Son reciprocally love one another by this mutual charity they finde their happiness in this common dilection and should they cease to love they would cease to be happie Having a minde to exalt us to their happiness they raise us also to their love and pouring forth charity into our souls they make us capable of loving them For God is so great that he can neither be known but by his own Light nor lov'd but by his own Love the Holy Spirit must enlighten our Souls warm our Wills and by the purity of his flames purge away the impurity of our affections he transforms us into himself to make us happie This holy Love is a particular effect of the Holy Spirit the beams that heat us are an emanation from that Divine fire that burns the Seraphims and the charity that raiseth us above the condition of men is a spark of that personal charity wherewith the Father and the Son love each other from all eternity But that we may not challenge the Holy Spirit as sparing of his favours he hath vouchsafed to be the accomplishment of the Church as he is the accomplishment and perfection of the Trinity For though there be no defects in God though this Sun is never clouded nor eclipsed this Supreme Truth labours under no shadows nor errours this excellent Beauty hath no spots nor blemishes and this amiable goodness be full of charms and graces yet may the Holy Ghost be called the Complement thereof The Father begins this adorable Circle which the Son continues and the Holy Spirit finisheth he it is that bounds the Divine emanations draws forth the fruitfulness of those that cause his production and if it be lawful to speak of an ineffable mystery and to subject to the laws of Time Eternity it self God is not compleated but by the production of the holy Spirit He is the rest of the Father and the Son his person is the perfection of the Trinity and this Divine mystery would want its full proportion did it not include the Holy Spirit with the two Persons from whence he proceeded The holy Scriptures to afford us some light of this verity attribute all the perfection of the works of God to the blessed Spirit They represent him to us moving upon the waters in the Creation of the world finishing by his Fecundity what the Father and the Son had produced by their Power They teach us that it was he that gave motion to the Heavens influences to the Stars heat to the Sun They inform us that 't was by his vertue that the earth became fruitful and that from his goodness she received that secret Fermentation that to this day renders her the Mother and the Nurse of all things living And the Gospel to give this Truth its full extent instructs us that 't is the holy Ghost who by his graces in the Church makes up what Jesus Christ hath begun in it by his travels He is his Vicar and Lieutenant he came down upon the earth after the other ascended up to heaven nor hath he any other designe in his descension then to compleat all the works of Jesus Christ The Apostles were yet but embryo's in Christianity when the Son of God left them three yeers of conversation was not able to perfect them the greatest part of the discourses of their Divine Master seemed to them nothing but Aenigma's his Maximes Paradoxes his Promises pleasing Illusions every thing was a mormo to these timorous spirits ths name of the Cross scandalized them and so many Miracles wrought in their presence were unable to calm their Fear or heighten their Courage To finish these demi-works the Holy Ghost came into the world he descended upon their heads in the shape of fiery tongues to make them eloquent and bold he inspired them with Charity to cure them of Fear made them Lovers thereby to make them Martyrs he cleared their Understanding warmed their Will that light and heat being blended together they might more easily overcome Philosophers and Tyrants Finally he set up a Throne in their hearts that speaking by their mouthes and acting by their hands he might render them accomplisht pieces to the service of their Master And indeed we must acknowledge the Apostles changed their condition after the descent of the Holy Ghost their Fear vanished as soon as they were confirmed by his Strength the Cross seem'd strew'd with Charms as soon as they were kindled with his Flames they found Sweetness even in Torments Glory in Affronts Venit Vicarius Redemptoris ut beneficia quae Salvator Dominus inchoavit Spiritus sancti virtute consammet quod ille redemit iste sanctificet quod ille acquisivit iste custodiat Aug. Serm. 1. Feria 32. Pentec and Riches in Poverty This made S. Augustine say that the Holy Spirit came to finish in Power what the Son of God had begun in Weakness to sanctifie what the other had redeemed and to preserve what Christ had purchased If you seek saith the same S. Augustine what was wanting to the Apostles and what might be added to their perfection by the coming down of the Holy Ghost I will tell you Before that happie moment they had Faith but they had neither Constancie nor Fidelity they were able to forsake their possessions to follow Jesus Christ but they would not lose their lives to glorifie him they were able indeed to preach the Gospel but knew not how to signe it with their blood nor seal it with their death they were vertuous as long as they conversed with the Son of God up on earth but they were not grown up to perfection till the Holy Ghost had communicated to them his graces and adding force to charity had made them the Foundations of the Church the Fathers of the Faithful the Terrour of Devils and the Astonishment of Tyrants Finally 't is the holy Spirit according to the saying of S. John Damascen that perfects the Christians because 't is he that Quickens them by Grace and Deifies them with Glory So that we are obliged to confess that he enters into alliance with them that he is the same to the Church that he is to the Trinity and that after he hath been our Bond our Gift and our Love upon Earth he will be our Accomplishment in Heaven The Fourth DISCOURSE That the Holy Ghost seems to be to Christians what he is to the Son of God IT is not without ground that the Christian is called the Image of Jesus Christ since he is his other Self the one possessing by Grace what the other doth by
Nature For if Jesus be the Natural Son of the Father the Christian is his Adopted one if Jesus be the Heir of the Father the Christian is the Co-heir of the Son according to the expression of the great Apostle if Jesus be Innocent the Christian is Justified if Jesus be born of the Spirit the Christian is regenerated thereby and receives in his Baptism what the Son of God received in his Birth Inasmuch as this last wonderfully exalteth the glory of the Faithful I conceive I ought to bestow this whole Discourse upon this matter and to make it appear that the Holy Ghost by an excess of bounty will be to every Christian what he is to Jesus Christ Faith teacheth us that though Jesus Christ be the Son of the Everlasting Father yet is he withal the Workmanship of the Holy Spirit he that was barren in Eternity became fruitful in Time he that produced nothing in the Heart of the Father produced the Word Incarnate in the Womb of the Virgin and he that before the world began was the Spirit of the Son in the fulness of time became his Principle The Scripture insinuates this Truth when it brings in the Angel speaking these words to the Virgin The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee And the Church teacheth it all her children in the Symbole of her Creed in these terms He was conceived of the Holy Ghost Et licet aliud quidem ex te aliud ex Patre sit jam non tamen cujusque suus sed unus utriusque erit Filius Sanctus Bern. super missus est homil Thence it comes to pass that his conception is so pure that sin hath no part therein and that he is free from shame as the mother that bare him was from sorrow He was so born saith Tertullian that he need not blush at the name of Son This great priviledge is granted the Christian in his Baptism and his second birth is as holy and as noble as his first was shameful and criminal In the one he is a sinner before he is reasonable and the slave of the devil as soon as he is the subject of Jesus Christ but in the other he is happily born again by the vertue of the Holy Spirit he receives grace as an earnest of glory he is adopted by the Father for his son acknowledged by Jesus Christ for his brother treated by the Angels as their equal and exalted to so high a condition that the holy Spirit disdains not to be stiled the Author and Principle thereof This is it that holy Scripture holds out to us by these words Vnless a man be born again of water and of the holy Ghost I would enlarge my self upon this meditation had I not explained it already in another passage of this Work Neither would it be any hard matter to make it appear that the Regeneration of a Christian is little inferiour in this particular to the Birth of Jesus Christ The second advantage that is common to them is that the same spirit which is their Principle is also their Director and that he that gives them life gives them conduct and motion These two Things are inseparable in Nature and in Grace the same causes that make us live make us act these Starres whose influences contribute so much to our birth are not lesse conducing to our fortune and as they are the Principles of our Being they are in some sort the Guides of our life if they have no dominion over our spirit they have over our humour and if they force not our liberty they many times sollicite our inclinations But not to rest in second Causes it is plaine the creature depends as well upon God in his motion as in his Being he governs men whom he hath created he guides Princes whom he hath raised to the Throne and he as absolutely hath their wills in his hands as their Scepter By the same reason the Holy Spirit which is the Principle of Jesus Christ is his Director he undertakes nothing but by his conduct and as he received his being from his goodnesse he submits all his actions to his power The Scriptures furnish us with a thousand proofes of so important a Truth all the Evangelists are the faithfull Witnesses thereof neither doe they ever take notice of the designs of the Son of God Ductus est Jesus à Spiritu quia Humanitas Christi erat organum Divinitatis ideo ad omnia movebatur instinctu Spiritûs sancti hoc igitur motu ivit in desertum locum aptum or ationi Glossa ordin but they make it appeare at the same time that the Holy Spirit is the first mover of them For if he retire into the desarts to converse with beasts if he enter the list wherein he seemes to injure his glory to assure our salvation if he spend dayes and nights there in prayers and fasting if he suffer his slave to tempt him and if he refuse not to combate him upon Earth that he had driven out of Heaven 't is because the Holy Spirit engageth him in the conflict and layes an obligation upon him to beare the punishment of our sins to deliver us therefrom if he passe from one Province to another if he leave a rebellious City to instruct another more obedient to his divine sermons 't is by the direction of his guide Jesus returned into Galile in the power of the Spirit If he work Miracles in Judea 't is not so much to magnifie his power In Spiritu Dei ejicio Daemonia as to comply with the motions of the Holy Spirit and though these signall wonders cost him but a few words or desires he never wrought them but his divine Principle obliged him thereto by some secret inspiration if he unfolds the Mysteries of our Religion if he declare to his Disciples the will of his Father and discover to them those grand designes contrived from all Eternity In ipsa hora exultavit Spiritu Sancto dixit confiteor tibi Pater Domine caeli terrae quod abscondisti haec à sapientibus prudentibus revelasti ca parvucis Luk. 10. and which were not to be executed but in time 't is the Holy Spirit that animates him to this discourse and obliges him to manifest that to men which till then he would not impart to the Angels If finally the Son of God offer himselfe up upon the Crosse for our salvation if he drown our sins in his blood if he reconcile us to his Father by his death and satisfie him with the losse of life and honour 't is the holy Spirit that engageth him in this Agony and who inspires him with love enough to vanquish the ignomy and paine thereof He offered himselse without spot to God by the Holy Ghost so that the life of the Son of God was spent in a continued obedience to the Holy Spirit he undertook nothing but by his orders executed nothing but by his
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
deceives men by the vanity of its promises This then is uncertain doubt makes up a part of its Essence and by a misfortune inseparable from it it ceaseth to be Hope as soon as it begins to be sure Therefore Seneca said she promised a doubtfull good and to her very favourites leaves all things dubious and uncertain But the Hope of a Christian is sure his certitude commensurate and all men that define it make it synonimous with Assurance That of Men is false what-ever fair colours its promises are dress'd with it cannot avoyd the denomination of a Lye Therefore the same Scripture that calls it uncertain calls it a lying vanity and finding nothing vain enough whereby to expresse its essence compares it to Dreams that abuse men in their sleep Vana spes mendacium viro insensato somnia extollunt imprudentem so that those that give ear unto it are like those poor Dreamers who being rich onely whilest they sleep lose all as soon as they awake their sleep enricheth them and when they awake they are plundred of all and reduc'd to their former poverty But the Hope of a Christian is true and being founded upon the promises of God who cannot lie never deludes the Beleever that listens to them If that of Men be false we need not wonder that it is miserable and for those imaginary contentments it allures us with gives nothing but reall pains For though we may flatteringly apprehend her as the most agreeable passion and endeavour to perswade our selves that she sweetens the disquietnesse of our longings true Philosophy confesseth her the cause of our Fear Desines sperare desines timere Senec. and that the only means to be free from distrustfull apprehensions is to be free from hope But the Hope of a Christian is accompanied with confidence and so close united to pleasure that it passeth for one part of our Felicity Finally the Hope of Worldlings is so often faulty that the Scripture calls it an Abomination and makes us know that all the pretences of sinners are nothing but Crimes The Lascivious promiseth himself nothing but Adulteries the Ambitious nought but Tyrannies the Furious plots vengeance the Covetous feeds himself with unjust gains and all of them saith S. Gregory never acknowledge their sin till the pleasure is past and grief succeds in the place thereof But the Hope of a Christian is Innocent produceth just desires in their souls and the Good they wait for makes them commence Saints upon Earth that they be perfected in heaven The Fifth DISCOURSE The Description of Christian Charity DIvinity teacheth us that God is so infinite that to expresse all his Greatnes he must have as many names as hee hath perfections Therefore is it that the Scripture calls him sometimes a Sun because his brightness dissipates the darkness of our hearts and discovers our intentions from the very depth of our wills Sometimes he is calld a Heaven because his Immensity incircles all his works and comprehends in his Nature whatever he produceth by his Power Sometimes hee is stiled a devouring Fire because he consumes our sins and because his holines more active then that Element burnes the souls of the Saints whom it purifieth Sometimes he is called a Flower because his beauty ravisheth us his odour perfumes us and his splendour dazels us In as much as Charity is his noblest and most excellent expression the Scripture handleth it with the same respect and perceiving that it cannot manifest all its Excellencies by one single name gives it as many Appellations as this Vertue hath different qualities And because every name is a kind of a Definition I beleive I ought to rehearse them in this Discourse which will contribute very much towards the knowledge of the Excellencies of Charity Saint John the Evangelist whom we may call the Disciple of Love as well as of Light Deus charitas est qui manet in charitate in Deo manet Deus in eo 1 Joh. 4. teacheth us that God is Charity and though in this definition he pretends not to perswade us that the Charity which makes us love God is God himselfe yet his design is to inform us that there is nothing can more happily transform us into God then this vertue because he vouchsafes to bear the name thereof and of all the things in the world there is none that expresse his Greatness in so noble an Hieroglyphick Therefore Saint Augustine ravished with this Speech hath uttered that which gives us the meaning thereof God is Charitie a short Elogie but exceeding great short in words but great in sense If you inquire how many Gods there are this Definition will tell you but one and if you ask what he is will assure you he is Love St. Bernard who following the steps of St. Augustine reviv'd his opinions in France Deus Charitas est quid pretiosius qui manet in charitate in Deo manet quid securius Deus in eo quid jucundius Bern. and made us see that in the matter of Grace we need consult no other Oracle heightens this Definition with as much learning as Eloquence God saith he is Charity what more precious he that abides in Charity abides in God what more secure and God abides in him what condition more agreeable Indeed we cannot possesse Charity in our hearts but together with it we must have the Divine Essence and their Union is so inseparable that the one cannot bee lost without the other This gave the Apostle of the Gentiles occasion to call Charity the Fellowship of the Holy Ghost because being the chiefest of his Gifts he never produceth it in a soul but he alwayes enters together with it Light is never dis-joyn'd from the Sun and if it be true that this noble quality subsisted some daies without adhering to that glorious Star the same power that united them may again separate them But the Holy Spirit and Charity are indivisible this fire is never without heat this Sun is never without brightnes and all Scripture would be false if Charity were not a certain proof of the presence of the Holy Spirit in our souls The same Apostle whom we stile the Panegyrist of Charity assures us that it is the fulfilling of the Law and the accomplishment of the Decalogue Indeed he lives holily that loves the Supream Good and at the same time those that may enjoy it with him He is perfect saith S. Augustine that can regulate his affection and govern himself with so much justice that he loves what is amiable and hates what is odious and proportioning his charity to the merit of the objects loves that differently which he cannot love equally Therefore is there not so great a necessity in reading holy Books in diving into the mysteries of Scripture to search out the meaning of the Prophets because in exercising Charity we may boast we have fullfilled all we have understood all Therefore saith 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
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
where the Sacrifice is wholly reduced into God men have no part he was pleased to institute another in his Church where giving himself wholly to his Father Hujus sacrificii caro sanguis ante adventum Christi per Victimas similitudinum promittebatur in Passione Christi per ipsam veritatem reddebatur post ascensum Christi per Sacramentum memoriae celebratur Aug. lib 20. cont Faust and to the Faithful he compleated with advantage the sacrifices of the Old Testament For he is there after such a wonderful manner that without being divided he enters equally into the bosome of his Father and into the heart of his Ministers every one possesseth him entirely and this communion is so perfect that none are excluded but those that will have no part in it But for the better understanding of a truth which is one of the principal Articles of our Faith and to resolve the difficulties Heresie opposeth against these two sacrifices we must know that both of them make up but one and that one without the other would be utterly unprofitable For the Scripture teacheth us that to the perfection of a sacrifice Si autem habuerit maculaÌ„ vel claudum fuerit vel coecum aut in aliqua parte deforme vel debile non immolabitur Deo Deut. 15. there are required five parts The first is the sanctification of the Victime which consisted in four things The first was its perfection which excluded all blemishes because they are the marks and punishments of sin whence it was that the Law in express terms enjoyned that nothing should be offered to God that was not perfect The second was a supernatural sanctification which elevated the sacrifice above it self and which being stampt upon it by Divine Authority disingaged it from the dominion of man and destin'd it for the Altar The third was separation which consecrated it to God and suffered it no longer to be employed to any profane use The last was the obligation to death Haecomnia patent ex libris Exo. Levi. Vbi de hâ—stia dicitur quod sanctificabitur scparabitur Domino as a thing dedicated to God and which ought to perish for his glory The second part of the sacrifice was the oblation of the Victime where according to the form prescribed in the Law or taught by Tradition it was actually offered to God and began to appertain to him by a new right greater then that of sanctification The third was the death or killing of the Victime which though the most sensible part of the sacrifice was not yet the principall because it was performed by the Levites and not by the Priests in the Court of the Temple and not in the place next the Sanctuary The fourth was the consummation of the sacrifice which was devoured by the flame that the smoak ascending up into Heaven God might partake of the oblation as the Scripture testifieth in those words Odoratus est Dominus sacrificium and that which seems to have given some colour to the false opinion of the Heathen who imagined that God was nourished with the fume of the offerings The fifth was the communion of the Victime which as we have already observed was sometimes wholly devoted to God sometimes was divided between God the Priest and the people But inasmuch as these sacrifices were but the types and shadows of that which Jesus Christ was to offer to his Father he did not partake of it but in a figure by means of fire which in the belief of the world was accounted the noblest representatation of the Divinity Deus noster Ignis consumens est as for the people and the Priest they communicated really and received the sacrifice into their mouth to disgest it in their stomach If Jesus Christ be the accomplishment of the Law his Sacrifice must necessarily comprehend all these parts and we must find on the Altar what we do not find on the Crosse His sanctification is fully evident for besides that he is the first-born and in that consideration is holy we know that he is the work of the Holy Ghost that his Father is God that his Mother is a Virgin and that his Conception is altogether Immaculate But his Divine Person is his principal sanctification and if other sacrifices be sanctified by some transient words this is consecrated by the Eternal and Divine Word The same Unction that made him Priest made him the Victime and dedicated him by a double title to the service of the Altar His oblation began in the womb of the Blessed Virgin continued in the Temple and during his life and was at last finished upon the Crosse In the womb of his mother he offered himself in spirit according to the meaning of Saint Paul and explaining his mind in the words of the Prophet he protests that he took a body only to be immolated to his Father In the Temple he was presented by the hands of the Virgin and received by Simeon who penetrating the design of Jesus Christ and his mother answers their intentions and instructs her in the mystery of the Cross whereof this oblation was the prologue During his life he continued to offer up himself to his Father as an innocent Victime till upon the Crosse he acquitted himself of his promises and satisfied his obligations Obtulit se immaculatum Deo per Spiritum Sanctum His death appeared upon Mount Calvary where making use of the cruelty of the Jews of the treason of Judas and of the rage of the Executioners he was offered up for our salvation But because it is not the principal part of the sacrifice which is not compleat if the Victime be not consummated it was requisite that the Resurrection should finish what Death began Indeed the Resurrection of the Son of God is his consummation 't is in this mystery that Glory swallowed up what Death had left that he parts with whatever remained of perishable that he enters into that Majesty which is due to his Birth that he is reduced to God and received into the bosome of his Father his lawful and natural habitation This is the mystery to which Saint Paul attributes the perfection of our salvation because it is the Crown of the Sacrifice of Jesus Christ Therefore discoursing of what we owe his Death and his Glory he saith Mortuus est propter peccata nostra resurrexit propter justificationem nostram where he assigns the principal effect of our salvation not to the Passion but to the Resurrection of Jesus Christ There it is in a word that Jesus is perfected that his work is accomplished where he is happily consummated where the Divine Essence having the same operation in him that the fire had in the sacrifice he is despoiled of our infirmities and invested with all the glories of his Father Inasmuch as the life of a Christian is a sacrifice which honours that of the Word Incarnate it is not terminated so much by Death as