horrible to fall into the hands of the living God says S. Paul becaus He is always living Heb. 10. â—1 and as long as He shal be living the damned shal be in torments Wherfore the Son of God threatens a long time before He striks He speaks much of judgment before He does justice He never hurls a thunderbolt without making the thunder sound the lightning flash and without covering the air with clouds He sent from time to time Prophets as Heraulds of his justice forerunners of his judgment who always endeavoured to express the terrour of it by the most proper and significant epithets imaginable they call it the day of anguish and tribulation the day of affliction and misery the day of obscurity and darkness the day of outrage and tempest of anger and vengeance the day of the fury of the Lord the day of horror and of slaughter you may see this in Isaiah in Hieremiah in Ezechiel and in Joel Isay 13. and 34. Hiere 16. Ezec. 7. and 27. Ioel. 2. 2. And becaus usually the faithfull only believe the Prophets and as S. Paul says infidells have need of signs and prodiges To the end none may doubt of it God will proclaim it to all the world by most remarkable signs which He will shew in Heaven earth sea and other parts of nature and as at present according to the saying of the Prophet the heavens and the starrs declare the Omnipotence Wisdom and Goodness of God who produced such glorious creatures governs them in so constant and regular an order and designs them for an end so noble so before the judgment the sun moon and starrs shal foretell the justice of God they shal preach it to all people and that in so lowd and intelligible a language that none not the most stupid incredulous and insensible shal doubt the least of it In which we ought to admire and adore the goodness of God who exercising his patience so long time and towards so many persons will exercise his justice as late and against as few as He can He exercises his patience from the beginning of the world He employs in it not one day month or year but many ages He exercised it above six thousand Years and He will exercise it to the end of ages towards all sinners but He will not execute the last judgment the act of his great wrath but at the end of time as late as possible and that He may find but few upon whome to exercise the same He forewarns them of it He frightens threatens and sends Prophets He gives signes in heaven and in earth shewing by this that He desires not to strike that he wills not the death of a sinner but that he be converted and do live and this shews also the great and enormous malice of sin which provoks and irritats so much a God so mild and mercifull 3. The Prophetes Apostles Evangelists and the Apocalyps foretels us many terrible signs which shal be as messengers Matt 24. 30. 2. Pet. 3. Psal 76. 19. and forerunners of the Iudg see here some of them The sun shal be turned into darkness and the moon into blood Starrs shal fall from Heaven and the Powers of it shal be moved The Heavens burning shal be resolved There shal be no light but that of lightning which shal always flash The thunderclaps shal be so great that the Heavens will seem to teare thunderbolts shal be darted Wisdom 5. 22. Wisdom 5. 22 forth as from a bow full bent and shal fall directly contrary to their custome The Water of the sea shal rage against men and the rivers shal run togeather roughly The earth agitated with convulsions and tremblings will open as if threatning to swallow them God will send devouring fire which shal burn the 2. Pet. 3. elements consume Towns and reduce to ashes all the works of men What horrible spectacle to see and feel the air changed into flames stones into burning coals rivers into boiling water houses into furnaces of fire 4. If one only of these prodigies should happen now in what a condition should we be If we should see the sun and moon to lose their light or the earth to tremble a whole week in what a trance should we be how should we cry-out mercy what â—ill it be then to see all the aforesayd things togeather And yet they shal be but signs and presages of what shal follow after they shal be but the commencement of the sorrows says JESUS in the Gospel And if the beginnings are so sorrowfull what shal the progress be if the shadows and the figures are so terrible what will the reality be if it be so tirrible to see the Sergeants and the Apparitors that precede the Judg what will it be to see the Iudg in the heat of his anger and to be struck with the thunderbolt of of his sentence 5. He is now our Advocate He will be then our Iudg not only to reveng injuries don to Orphans Widows Laborours and to the Poor But moreover to reveng offences committed against God his Father He hath infinite obligations to him a passionate love for him a most ardent zeal for his glory is very sensible of that which offends him His interests are dear to him He will have an ocean of enormous sins to condemn and punish I leave you to think with what indignation with what heate of anger He will be inflam'd It will be so great that it will be a horror and a death to sinners I will not say to be condemn'd but to appear in his presence I will not say they will not dare but they will not be able to subsist in the sight of his Majesty they will not be able to think of him who shal he able to think the day of his Advent and who shal stand to malach 3. 2. see him says his Prophet 6. The terrour of him will be so great that the reprobate will desire rather to be crushed ground and reduced to dust then to be presented to the tribunal of this terrible Iudg. they Luke 23 30. will say to the mountains and to the rocks fall upon us and hide us from the face of the Lamb we have abused his meekness we have oblig'd him to becom a Lyon we shal not be able to endure the reproches He will make us rocks fall upon us and crush us to pieces that we may not be forced to appear in his presence hide us from the face of the Lamb they have cause to fear it His presence only will put them to more pain the rocks would but crush their bodys the presence of JESUS will crush their bodys and their souls 7. They know they must now render a most punctual and exact acount of all the Talents and Goods they receiv'd from the liberal hand af God and of all the evills they have ever don 8. They know they must answer not only for mortall sins but
necessary to baptise an infant or the primitive Christians the holy Fathers nay or IESUS CHRIST himself who says so clearly and with such asseveration that it is necessary for him 7. From these Catholick Verities all married women ought to learn to have great care that their daughters and servants also know well all that is necessary for the essence of this sacrament and that they know well what I am about to say of it In case of necessity each one may baptize an infant also the Father or Mother in defect of another and if you will that the child be saved see what you must do You must take water not spittle aquavitae rose-rosewater or any other made by art but natural water of fountaine sea river pit pond or well you must wet or wash the body of the infant with it the head if you can possibly and if you cannot wash the head you must put water upon the brest arme foot or upon some other naked part and the same persone that puts water must in putting it say distinctly with intention to purge him from original sin and to make him a member of the Church or at least to do what the Church does these words Infant I Baptise thee in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the holy Ghost But the Infant that should be perhaps baptized upon any other part than the head when the head appears you must baptise him again under condition saying Infant if thou art not baptized I baptise thee in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the holy Ghost Becaus Baptisme that is given upon any other part 3. Part q. 66. ar 7. is not certen says S. Thomas And when you are not certen that the child is dead you ought to baptise him under condition and say If tbou art living I baptize thee in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the holy Ghost For as S Austin speaking of a Catechumen that fell into an Apoplexie having not demanded Baptisme says that he ought to be baptized becaus 't is better to put your self in danger of baptizing one unwilling than to be wanting to one willing So when you doubt if a child be living 't is better to put your self in danger of baptizing a dead child than not to baptize one living And becaus the life of these little creatures is sometimes so feeble and imperceptible that we thinke them wholy dead though a longtime after they give signes of life I say 't is good thar every woman should know all this for it happens sometimes that a woman falls into labour suddenly and unexpectedly and that the infant cannot be brought perfectly into the world alive or it is so weake that likely it will die before an ordinary Minister of this Sacrament can be had if those about her know not how to baptize the infant may be for want of this help depriv'd of Salvation and if this should happen but once in the whole world in a hundred years for to avoyd it every one should learn with great care how to apply this Sacrament so important is the salvation of a soul 8. And this again is of so great importance that very learned and pious Bishops and other Divines have counselled all Curates to baptise under condition all infants that had been baptized by women for though some know well the matter and the form of Baptisme they are nevertheless so surprized and in such a hurrie in these conjunctures that often they know not what they do and this is not only the judgment of those Bishops but Opus 65. parag vlt de Officio Sacerd. the express opinion of S. Thomas 9. In fine married women ought to learn that they are most culpable in the sight of God if their infant die before Baptisme becaus they defer it too long expecting Gossips or for other humane reasons or considerations or becaus they hurt themselves and lie down before their time if this happen with out your fault you may comfort your selves in your innocencie and adore the Providence of God but if you have hurt your selves by your fault leaping dansing putting your selves into great passion or by carrying too heavy burdens 't is an evill which hath no excuse and which deserves to be deplor'd all the rest of your life 10. But if it be so great a misfortune to those poor infantâ— not to receive the grace of Baptisme though without their fault It is no smal misery to lose it after we have receiv'd it and to lose it by our fault for a passion or a trifle especially since it is so hard to returne again by penance to the same newness in CHRIST and to obtain so full and entire remission of all sins as in Baptisme we receiv'd The justice of God exacts to this effect a second Baptisme a Baptisme not of elementary water but of teares a laborious painfull and sorrowfull Baptisme say the holy Fathers and the Council of Trent For sins commited after Baptisme are far greater more enormous and unworthy of pardon ss 14. c. 2 than the sins of infidells Christians that shal be damn'd will be more tormented in hell than Pagans they have the knowlegd of God they know or ought to know his holy will and his divine Commandements how great an evill it is to transgress them and to offend so high and so excellent a Majesty The Servant that knows the will of his Master and does it not shall be beaten Luk. 12. 47. with many stripes says IESVS CHRIST We are not strangers but domesticks of God his children and beloved We have the honor to be received to his table to eate of his bread and to be nourished with his flesh if then we offend him after so many favours he is very sensible of the offence it is a monstrous ingratitude as when one of your own betrays you you are wont to say if it were another it would not trouble me but such an one who pertains to me so neerly whom I have so much oblig'd ha this does pierce my heart so IESUS says si inimicus meus maledixisset mihi sustinuissem utique if a Turk a Iew a Pagan who is my enemy offend me the injury is not so sensible But you a Christian who have contracted amitle with me who have set at my table how have you the malice to commit sin which disobliges me extreamly we have receiv'd the grace of God by Baptisme the gifts of the holy Ghost the supernatural habits helps to overcom temptations if we sin notwithstanding these favours we have much less excuse Do not so if you be wise If you have yet baptismal grace If you are cloathed with this fine garment which S. Austin calls the Robe of silk with this robe of innocencie which is given you in Baptisme keep it carefully persever and walk in it til death for t is more honourable more pleasant more easie and
most holy Spirit and the Son likewise is a most holy Spirit But they appropriate this name to him because his Emanation or Procession is so farr above our thoughts and our expressions that there is no language in the world that can express his Person for want of a proper name And becaus we are accustomed to call those things spirits of whose origin and manner of production we are ignorant So we call the wind spectres Angells and our souls spirits and we are likewise very ignorant in the production and procession of the holy Ghost 4. Secondly the Apostles appropriate this name to him because He proceeds from the Father and the Son as from one only Source and not as made or created nor as begotten but produced by the Will by an ineffable way which Divines term Spiration a breathing and impulse of the Will towards the thing beloved 5. Thirdly this name is appropriated to him becaus He is the Spirit of our spirit the Soul of our soul the Life of our life For He is given to the Souls of the just to animate and govern them He is not given so to a Bishop or a Priest in his ordination if he be in the state of sin He is not in him to sanctify him but to operate and act by him Hence it is that a Bishop or a Priest that is in sin and hath not grace gives nevertheless the grace of God by the Sacraments becaus he is the instrument of the holy Ghost as a penne gives to paper characters which it hath not becaus it is the instrument of rhe Writer 6. The Church moreover appropriated to this glorious and holy Spirit the name of Love and Charity becaus He is produced by the Will the authour of Love or by the mutual love and dilection of the eternal Father and the Son 7. From this second name which the Church attributes to the holy Ghost proceeds the third which is that of Gift Donum Dei Altissimi the Gift of the most high For that which is dō by pure love is dō freely and liberally and donation is a free and liberal action The two first names appropriated to the holy Ghost referr him to the Father and the Son but this of Gift relates him to Creatures that are capable to receive him and to enioy him as are men and Angells only and this Gift is the first the most necessary and the most excellent of all gifts that God ever gave or can give to us 8. He is the first and cause of all the rest for there is a great difference 'twixt the love of God and the love of men When we love any one 't is becaus we find in him some goodness some beauty or other Perfection Gods love supposes not its object in any creature but He puts it in them God begins not to love us with a love of Benevolence becaus we are good but we are good becaus He loves us so when the eternal Father gives us his only Son in the Incarnation He gave us first his Love and He gave not to us his Son but by his holy Spirit and by his Love He was conceived of the holy Ghost So God loved the world that He gave his only begotten Son 9. This Gift is so necessary that without it all the other Benefits profit very little the work of creation is appropriated to the Father the Incarnation to the Son the Sanctification to the holy Ghost the two first Benefits are unprofitable to us without the third In the creation God gave us Being He made and design'd for our service all the creatures of this world But our Saviour says to us What profit hath a man if He should gaine the whole world and lose himself and he will lose himself infallibly Luke 9. 25. if the holy Ghost sanctifys him not The Incarnation and the Death of the Son of God would not much availe us without the comming of this holy Spirit the torments of JESUS would have made him die and not have made us live He might have satisfyd without restoring us to grace a king offended by his Vassal may receive from him satisfaction and not receive him into favour nor restore him to his former state and to the priviledges which he had lost When I see the Saviour in the Crib or on the Cross I know not whether it be to satisfy only or moreover to restore us to the rights we lost by sin when He rises up again from death I know not whether it be for recompence of his death or to give us life When He ascends to Heaven I know not whether it be to give a convenient place ro his Body or to prepare also a place for us But when He sends the holy Ghost to sanctify us He ascertains us that we reenter into grace and that He applys to us his merits He hath sealed us and given the pledg of the Spirit in our 2. Cor. 1. 22. 1. Ep. 4. 13. hearts says S. Paul And the beloved Disciple In this we know that we abide in him and He in us becaus He of his Spirit hath given to us 10 What admirable favour and what incomparable grace that God vouchsafs to give us his Spirit Love divine and admirable Heart If one should give to a Philosopher the spirit of Aristotle or of Plato to an Orator the spirit of Cicero or Demostenes to a Phisitian the spirit of Hypocrates or of Galen and to a Divine the spirit of S. Thomas or of S. Augustin would not this be a singular favour God gives you not the spirit of Aristotle Cicero Hypocrates but his own Spirit the Spirit of Verity Wisdom and Sanctity When one hath the heart of a person one hath all If you be in the state of grace you have the heart of God for properly speaking the holy Ghost is the heart of God ô Father of mercies and Father of the miserable how deigne you to give them your heart T is that chosen souls are your treasure and you put your heart upon your treasure Quid retribuam Domino 11. What acknowledgment what satisfaction and what return can we make Love is not pay'd but by love nothing corresponds to a heart but another heart and what heart can correspond to the heart of God What love can answer his Would you not desire to be all heart Would you not wish to have as many millions of hearts as there are drops of water and grains of sand in the sea would you not referr apply and consecrate them to the love of God And what would this be compared to the heart of God which He hath given us It would be less than a grain of dust compared to all in Heaven and in Earth But He desires not so much He demands but only one but He will have it all He commands you to give it him Thou shalt love thy God with all thy heart and if you refuse it him He will damn you