THE CYNOSURA, Or a SAVING STAR That leads to ETERNITY. Discovered amidst the Celestial Orbs of DAVID'S PSALMS By way of Paraphrase upon the MISERERE.  

Humanum est errare;  
Divinum quid emendare.   

To do amiss is incident to humane Nature;  
To repair our failings something Divine.   
Si non traheris, ora ut traharis.  
If you be not moved to repentance, pray you may be moved,  St. Aug. 
LONDON, Printed by I. Redmayne for Thomas Rooks, at the Lamb and Ink-bottle, at the Entrance into Gresham College, next Bishops-gate-street. 1670.   

To the Right Honourable and Illustrious Lady ANNE Countess of SHREWSBURY.  
MADAM,  
IT is the great Voice of the Church taught by her Heavenly Espouse, that according to the ordinary course set down by his Providence, none arrived to the knowledge of good and evil, can reach their Beatitude; but by the wings of Penance. 'Tis a Decree passed immediately after our First Parent's transgression, that he should not eat his Bread, but at the rate of sweaty Brows: And though God seems to dispense in this severe Sentence in the old Law, promising to the exact observers of it, long life, abundance of wealth, a plentiful posterity, and the like: Yet this was done (as he will leave no virtue unrewarded) in regard that Heavens Gates were then shut up: But when Christ had cleared their passage unto Eternal felicity, and clapped the Thorns (which were the fruit of our sins) upon his own Head, than they recovered so high a Being, and grew to that value, as the heavier God lays his Hand upon us, the more his love appears: So that now the mark of our happiness is the Son of God not glorified, but scourged, spit upon, crowned with Thorns, torn with Whips, and nailed to the Cross.  
Hence it is we find our sweet Redeemer born in Tears, bred up in obscurity, and concluding the upshot of his life with all the circumstances of infamy and pain; at the opening of his grand commission to preach unto the World, his first Exordium was an exhortation unto penance, as if it were the sole Loadstone to draw Heaven towards us: And St. Paul his great Disciple declares it; nay he makes no exception, that all those who would be happy must crucify their flesh with their vices.  
Thus you see, Madam, that every Hand, whether innocent or guilty, whether noble or vulgar, aught to be stretched forth to sow the bitter Seed of penance: If we have sucked in virtue even with our Milk, and thrived with a daily increase in the sequel of our life, yet we ought not (says St. Austin) descend into the Tomb but by the way of penance: Again if we have complied with the Frailties of our corrupt nature, and trespassed against the duty we own to our good God, penance likewise must be our Sanctuary: So that penance is furnished with two Wings to bear us up to Heaven; the one is fashioned out by love, which prompts us to become by a course of severity, a true Copy of our suffering Original; the other is framed by strokes of Justice, and exacts worthy fruits; that is, such as may in some proportion be answerable to our failings; and though this other have not a motive altogether so Heroic, yet it speaks a great virtue, because it puts us upon a task the most knotty that can be imagined, as to appease the face of an angry God. Besides, it renders that Action just and equitable, in that it aims to repair the injury and contempt thrown by sin upon his greatness: Wherefore we ought not to blush upon either of these accounts to wear the Liveries of penance: If on the former we mortify our senses upon Earth, and vest ourselves with the habit of Christ shaped out to the Image of his Death, it is a perfect Metamorphosy wrought by the power of love, and for which Figure the very Angels (were they capable of sensible impressions) would be glad to exchange with us: If on the latter; that is, the score of satisfaction, it Cancels all our Bonds of guilt, it raises us from an Abyss of misery, to the high dignity of Grace, by which we are adopted Sons and Heirs to Heaven. So that a penitential life cannot but find veneration amongst all wise Men, and be highly acceptable in the sight of God; since by our humiliations we labour to contribute to his honour and greatness.  
But Madam, you may perhaps upon this discourse wonder to behold in the Courts of Christian Princes so much of glory, pomp, and magnificence which suit so ill with the Characters of the Cross. I confess at the First glance it might startle any one, were it not that a multitude of persons, both Illustrious in Blood, and eminent in Sanctity, have taught by their Example, that the glittering of the World, and a penitential Heart are not things incompatible: It were to groap in the Sunbeams to play the Ignorant in this Truth, that is, not to acknowledge that in all ages since Christ's visible appearance upon Earth, Princes and Ladies of no less extraction have been found, who under a Cloth of tissue, and the richest Ornaments have covered their tender Bodies with Hair-cloths: Who amidst the delicacies of the Court, have macerated themselves with fasting, and seasoned their repasts with bitter ingredients: Who have more valued one hours entertainment between God and their happy Souls, than all the Balls and Masques to which external compliance the greatness of their condition in some sort obliged them. For the essential part of penance consists in the interior disposition of the Mind; that is, in the operation of the understanding and will. The understanding first represents unto us a God disobeyed, and scorned; and his Justice (by this indignity stirred up to vindicate his honour) threatening nothing but ruin and desolation in this distress, the understanding further suggests that we have no refuge but to the throne of mercy, whereupon the will falls to work, laments what is passed, protests against any future compliance with bad inclinations, and seized with a holy sorrow and affliction, submits to any compensation shall be required: These are the preparatories to justification, and when once they are completed by a ray of Faith, strengthened with hope, and animated with charity, this virtue of penance grows up to that efficacy, as to obtain, in consideration of the excellency of its acts, and fervency of the Agent a full remission of all sin: Whence it is evident this grand work of penance may be wrought within the precincts of our interior, and consequently the vain appearance of precious attire, and ceremonies of greatness may possibly reach only to the film or outside, whilst within they possess humility, purity, temperance and other Christian virtues.  
To give a further elucidation of this point, you will please Madam to know, that Christ our Lord in his copious Redemption had two main designs: The one to gain the Hearts of Men to the obedience of his Laws, which were so frozen and marble like as he foresaw a slight wound received upon their score would have little effect; wherefore he used all the endearing motives imaginable to work them to their duty, and what greater than to receive upon his Back the stripes due to another's transgression. It is related of St. Gregory the great, that he never beheld the portraiture of Abraham with his Arm lifted up to Sacrifice Isaac, but it drew Tears from him; and for us to behold the Eternal Father abandoning his own and only Son to all the outrages which accursed miscreants could inflict upon him, without any resentment of our obligations, especially since they were directed to lead us into the enjoyment of eternal felicity, is certainly a wonder beyond all the prodigies he ever wrought, we see that very Tigers are won by the unresistable power of good turns; wherefore Christ our Lord hoped by this Engine to make a breach into us, and if once he made an Entry into our Hearts, he knew we would presently Capitulate, and surrender at least with colours flying; that is, conform ourselves to his commands though upon the large Articles of enjoying many sensual pleasures, which his indulgent Rules allow to the more Earthy part of Mankind.  
Besides this rational design of working us to a Compliance with his precepts, he had yet another more sublime in his superabundant satisfaction, which was to teach us the Law of love; now this is an Enemy to mercenary aims, and carries us beyond the Crude principles of doing no more than what is precisely commanded. St. Peter tells us his drift in this so rigorous a discharge of our debts, that (says he) we might follow and trace his steps. For he knew this afflictive way so necessary to us, as things now stand after our corruption in sin, that albeit one groan of his had been sufficient through the dignity of his infinite person to have redeemed a million of Worlds, yet he was content to load himself with all the injuries that Man can endure, believing his commands would prove less efficacious than the model and pattern of an immense love, represented lively unto us in his own actions.  
It is storied of a King amongst the Grecians, that he had a person very deformed, as it could not but create in the sense of the beholders a great distaste: However his goodness and wisdom so wrought upon his Subjects, that all the irregular Lines of nature in their Sovereign, they looked upon as strokes of perfection.  
If then opinion had so much power as to work Men into a belief, that very Monsters of nature are acquaint perfections, why should not the authority and ever adorable example of our Lord Jesus Christ, find so much credit amongst Men, as to effect, That poverty, chastity, contempt, patience, persecutions, and the like; which till then the World had entertained with horror, might afterwards be had in as much veneration; since he had daigned to honour them by his sufferings, raise them by his greatness, fix them by his authority, and fortify them by his admirable example: He had reason to persuade himself that Men would no more spartle at fasting, hair-cloths, watching in prayer, unwearied labours, and austerities of all kind, since he himself their Lord and Master had followed the same tract; all the Documents he hath chaulked out to us from the Crib through the whole course of his mortal life even unto the Cross, had no other aim than to draw us from the love of fading objects, and to divert us from placing any felicity in them.  
Nor truly Madam hath this design proved unsuccessful; for his example hath put millions of generous hearts upon the task of sufferings, and justly possessed them, that the greatest honour is to be humble, the greatest victory to be patiented and forgive, the greatest abundance to be poor, the greatest delicacies to fast, the greatest pleasures to macerate their Bodies, the greatest happiness to enjoy nothing of what the World calls happy: And all this because their Heavenly Master had read this Lesson to them in his own actions, and though they could not by all their crucifying inventions in contemning the World and themselves for his sake reach to a complete return, at least they hoped by them to express their gratitude, and manifest how truly they were the spoils of his amorous conquests.  
This little Treatise Madam, is grounded upon a famous Precedent to publish to the world what penance can do: It sets before our Eyes a King who had great failings, but by penitential acts he so redeemed them, as I question whether succeeding ages gained not more by his misfortunes, than if he had never lost his innocence; and as it is said of the incredulous Apostle, that his slow belief cleared to us all mists of doubt, so the miscarriages of our great Penitent warn us both of our own weakness, not to trust to ourselves in dangerous occasions, as also of God's inclining mercy so to shield us from despair.  
Next, we are taught by this Royal Penitent, that being drawn from the mire of sin; God confines not his mercy to a bare pardon, but afterwards gives us means to arrive at a high pitch of perfection.  
I confess Madam, I have a holy ambition to see you great in this noble warfare, since the most eminent Saints and most innocent Souls that ever were upon Earth, have made it their glory to fight under these colours, and this passion in me springs not only from a common zeal of Christianity to promote others in God's favour, but out of a particular respect to your person, having had the happiness to be employed and serve many of your relations in affairs of no small importance: Wherefore fear not to take up the arms of penance, they will not blemish your fair hand, but prove to your advantage in what posture soever you stand with your dear Creator; for in these Christian conflicts simply to obey, secures you from being overcome, and every virtuous sally beyond what is commanded will purchase fresh Laurels to you; the greatness of your birth prompts ●ou not to be ungrateful, and the temper of your Sex is not usually of Adamant against the impressions of love, especially when wrought upon by an accomplished perfection, and by all the endearing obligations imaginable, and albeit before this address you may have happily rendered yourself a Captive to the sacred charms of your suffering Redeemer, yet if the perusal of these poor descants may add but one Spark to those your holy enkindled flames, I shall think my labour in this Subject well spent, by which I hope will be evidenced how much your eternal good is valued by  
MADAM Your truly devoted Servant Nicolas Cross.   

ERRATA.  
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CHAP. I.  
Miserere mei DEUS,  
Have mercy on me, O GOD.  
AT the first entrance our Kingly Prophet prefers his Petition; and without any circumlocution expresses in direct terms what he would have, Miserere mei Deus, have mercy on me, O God; and he does it with such confidence as if he had a right to be forgiven: which minds me of a rare sentence of S. Gregory Nissen; that Man cannot more willingly ask pardon, than God is ready to give it: The Divine Majesty expects (if it may be so expressed) with passion the conversion of a sinner, and no sooner a repenting motion animates his heart, but the whole Court of heaven is alarmed with joy, and this joy is followed with showers of mercy: No wonder then if our Petitioner make his address with so little Ceremony, since he speaks to a Judge resolved to mercy upon his submission; to a Father who is transported with joy at the sight of his long lost Son: to a Creator who hath framed every particle of his being, and perfectly knows how frail, weak, and prone to innumerable failings he is (if left to himself) wherefore he cries Miserere mei Deus, have mercy on me, O God. He shelters this guilty (me) twixt God that made him, and Mercy that must save him; on these two he anchors all his hopes, which being let down by a vigorous faith renders him secure amidst all the storms, that hell and earth can raise; so that now like a rock he stands braving all his enemies assaults, who not long before was handed like a ball from one pleasure to another, as if he had been made up of sensuality, passion, and a neglect of God.  
Next in this exordium our Petitioner would insinuate a great truth, that the first grace is a free gift of God, and man a vessel of mercy, not of merit; hence he cries Miserere mei Deus, that is to say, let him pine away in sorrow, and repentance, let him produce acts of ardent affection, by which he prizes God above all things imaginable, yet when all this is done, he is a Child of perdition, and clouded with the guilt of Sin, unless an act of Grace be made him from his Sovereign: Wherefore we must know that Grace expelling Sin by access unto the Soul, finds there no merit, nothing that can pretend to a justification; neither Faith nor any other Virtue strikes the stroke, since Grace is the basis, or groundwork of all merit, whence it's being is derived no less than a beauteous Flower from the Plant that gives it birth: This piece of Divinity lay not hid to our penitent, hence he acknowledges his imbecility in meriting any favour, only he strives by holy acts of love, and grief to dispose himself for, mercy: Nay though he should comfort himself with Nathan's words that he was already possessed of the first Grace, yet to persevere in it, so as not to fall again, he knew must be the work of the same merciful hand; for it is no less out of our reach to become just, than to remain so, without a constant supply of many actual Graces, which must issue gratis from Heaven: This kept him still in humility, as never to presume of his own strength, always in fear, without any security of happiness in this life: So that having throughly scanned the Condition of Man in this present State, he concludes, the best lesson suitable to our continual wants here, is incessantly to repeat, and entreat under this effectual form, Miserere mei Deus, have mercy on me, O God.  
Whilst he thus lays all his hopes at the feet of mercy, he cannot but bless the sweet proceed of Heaven, in requiring of us to compass our happiness, that which is so conformable both to our Reason and Nature: For can there be any thing more rational, and delightful to Man, than to love a Sovereign Good, to congratulate the Divine Essence, Divine Subsistences, Divine Attributes, and unchangeable perfections essentially seated in God; Can there be any thing more just, than to desire this greatness and goodness should have his Divine Laws fulfilled, the Universe conserved for the Increase and Accomplishment of his Service, and that all praise and Benediction be poured forth before him by all Creatures both in Heaven and Earth: Can there be any action more commendable than to conceive an extreme detestation of Sin, because injurious to His Supreme Majesty, and obstructive to his glory; and yet in doing this, we so attemper ourselves for the reception of his favours, that as in the Order of Natural things, upon the Organization, and fitted Dispositions of a Body, he hath obliged himself to infuse a Soul, so he hath no less engaged to vest that Mind with supernatural Grace, which by acts of love and repentance shall be prepared for it.  
But alas! Amidst these pleasing reflections, when he looks into himself he finds a check, seeing he cannot even dispose himself for this happiness without a supernatural aid; for though 'tis true humane Nature by its own strength knows that God is worthy of all love, yet our knowledge in morality is much more capable of comprehension than practice: 'Tis not enough to have Wings to fly, if they be so hampered as they cannot be displayed; so this natural faculty in Man of loving God above all things is so weakened by original Sin, and a million of Obstacles, that we find the inclination of doing it far more ineffectual, than the dictamen of our reason to have it done. And no wonder when St. Thomas affirms, our Will by original Sin, is much more damnified than our understanding, whence self love grows powerful in us, and if it hath not a counterpoise of supernatural succours, we are violently hurried into the pursuit of Fading, and sensible objects. This consideration makes our penitent deplore the miseries of humane Nature, so wounded and made impotent unto good, as of herself she cannot pay what she owes to the most lawful object of all hearts, for his just homages are not only Sighs, Groans, and Enthusiastic throws, but effective services; as the exact observance of his commands, an aversion from what may put a separation 'twixt God and our Soul, such are sensual pleasures, greatness in the World and honours in excess, victory over Temptations, and in many encounters this love exacts a perpession of all the Calamities to which Man is incident, even to the privation of life, that he may not fall into transgressions opposite unto it: And these difficulties do so far exceed humane imbecility, that at last he makes this result, he must stick close to his praeliminary address, miserere mei Deus, have mercy on me O God;  
Again, when he reflects on the distance of these Terms Deus & mei, God and me, methinks it should startle the greatest Assurance, to consider the sublimity of him that is offended, and the despicability of the offendor; the one is immense and fills all places, the other is contracted into the dimensions of a small Body; the one is immutable, and still the same, the other is corruptible, and mouldering away every Moment towards that nothing from whence it came; the one is eternal, the other subject to time; the one is the object of Beatitude, the other of Misery: 'Tis true our penitent in relation to earthly greatness was qualified with the highest Title the World can give, as being Sovereign Monarch, and sole Ruler of a chosen Nation, a vast and numerous Body of People; yet if compared to God, he is not so much as an Atom in respect of the Sun: And for this me, this nothing to rise up in rebellion against such a Sovereign, it must needs work a strange Confusion and Disturbance within him how to make his submission; on the one side dejected by his own unworthiness, on the other, dazzled and confounded by the glory of the incensed. Yet at last he breaks through all obstacles, and implores mercy, he had rather perish in hoping too much, than to commit a Sacrilege in distrusting the goodness of him who invites all without distinction unto him: Nay I believe, had the object against which he trespassed, been any thing less than God, he would never have opened his Lips in Order to a Remission: For he knew well that he only to whom Goodness and Mercy is essential, would or could obliterate his guilt. 'Tis true his power and greatness strike a terror, yet they are so contempered with a merciful sweetness, that the Blackest Soul may there find wherewith to rinse her stains, and exchange them for a pure die of innocency, if she can with a David's Heart and Tongue but issue forth Miserere mei Deus, have mercy on me O God,  
I observe moreover that Almighty God permits a Soul though very dear unto him, to be often here exposed in troubled waters, where she seems to be wholly lost, and abandoned; that Heaven appears to have no light for her, and the Earth nothing but malice to work her ruin: How many terrors, and anxieties of Mind have Saints endured, and been left without any glimpse of Comfort, even for some whole year: And why all these rude trials in the conduct of the most innocent Soul, but that God seems to be delighted when his creatures tune forth; Miserere mei Deus, have mercy on me O God: Whence you may see, that God will exempt no condition from this supplicating stile, he will be sued to by the innocent, as well as nocent, and where the Formality of malice is wanting, he oft gives the apprehension, to the end, that flying to this powerful miserere, they might draw at least from his Goodnss the benefits of Conversation, increase of Grace, addition of Virtue, and other innumerable Mercies which he hath in store for those who trust in him. So that there is no time, nor place unseasonable for any person to prefer this Petition; Miserere mei Deus, have mercy on me O God.  

The Application.  
By this Petition we are taught not to presume on the value of our own actions: For God is the Sovereign Lord of the whole World, and particularly of the just, all whose good works convey unto him a pleasing odour; yet can they not arrive to that pitch as to have any Empire over him, or force him to let them share with him in the participation of his Heavenly Kingdom. Let the just perform all the good imaginable, in return he may justly say, I accept these services in discharge of your past debts, and what you own me for your Creation, Conservation, and the Grace I have given you to act: So that we may truly say with St. Paul, when we have done all we can, we are useless Servants: For whereas we were pure Negatives, it was his Sole Mercy that extracted us from nothing; it was this same Mercy which added to our natural Being, a Being of Grace. Lastly, the accomplishment of this Mercy is to bring us into the possession of eternal Glory, wherefore if we attire our actions in the colours of Mercy, and always beat upon this string, we may justly hope one day to sing the praises of this incomparable Mercy with our holy penitent, throughout the vast spaces of Eternity.  
Amen.    

CHAP. II.  
Secundum magnam Misericordiam tuam,  
According to thy great Mercy.  
OUr Holy Penitent having set a foot his Petition, we have all reason to believe since it is in a matter of so great weight, and from a person so accomplished, that 'tis framed and ajusted to the exactest rules of an effectual address; wherefore let us examine what Arguments he uses to move for a grant.  
I observe in the first place he alleges not the innocent and harmless life he led whilst he kept his Father's Flock: Nor his zeal for the honour of God's people in his Combat with Goliath: He mentions not his constant sufferings wrought by the malice of Saul: Nor his transport of joy, and reverence when he danced before the Ark: In a word he declines the memory of any action in his life past which might make him recommendable; wisely considering as did Job that admirable pattern of patience: Should he expostulate with God, He would not be able to answer one word for a thousand: Therefore he casts himself wholly upon the Favour of his judge, saying, Secundùm magnam misericordiam tuam, according to thy great mercy: He silences all the other Divine Attributes, and conjures his Creator by that which seems most appropriated to his condition.  
Nor is he content to challenge his mercy without the specification of great mercy, as if the Enormity of his Crimes were such as required more than an Ordinary Condonation.  
Indeed his Mercy may well be styled great, for it hath all the dimensions of greatness, it reacheth from Heaven to Earth, even to the Gates of Hell: It is extended from one pole to another, nay it is immense as God himself, participating of his Divine nature; it searches the abstrusest corners of our Heart, and if the least Cranny be put open to his light, and grace, it is presently replenished by this great mercy. Ah! did we but know what mists of terrene affections, the beams of his mercy have dispersed within us; what a change they have made in our bad inclinations, what dangers they have met and diverted from us: We should even repine at Nature that hath not furnished us with more Hearts, and Tongues to love and praise this great mercy.  
He adds likewise secundùm, that is according to the custom of thy great mercy, which uses not to boggle at the remission of any sin, nor to look so precisely upon the degree of the offenders past malice, as upon his present repentance, whence he grounds the Communication of his Grace; by which we may discern the Sense our Holy King had of his transgressions, which made him willing to huddle up his score, and without giving in any particular to desire they migh●●…ther in a cluster be cast, and drowned in the Ocean of his Mercy.  
We are taught by this two things, First not to presume upon the value of our own actions, so far as from them to justify ourselves; for in this kind none could plead more for himself than our holy petitioner; he had with a Piety and fortitude unequalled run through many difficult, and glorious enterprises, wherein God was pleased to appear for him, and own him his champion: Yet he thinks good to hush up all this, well knowing that praise is due alone to him under whose guidance and protection he had begun, and set a fortunate period to them.  
Next we are taught that (reflecting upon our sins passed) we should never despair; for as our good deeds we own to God alone, by whose inspiration moving us we do them; so we must submit our bad deeds (whereof we ourselves are the sole Authors) to his Mercy: Whence we may see, though he cannot concur with us in doing ill, his unspotted Nature being incapable of any obliquity; yet it being done, he will share with us in the undoing, or repairing of our misfortunes: And which is more, no sooner hath this Merciful Hand dragged us out of the mire of Sin, but 'tis stretched forth to be joined to ours in a happy nuptial bond, promising by his Prophet to espouse us unto himself for ever in misericordia, in the inseparable Union of his Mercy. It is this great Mercy without end, or beginning, which hath decreed from all eternity to bring us off clear from all misery, and place us glorious in his light inaccessible; from the time that God was, and loved himself, he disposed us for his love, and mercy; have we not therefore reason to spend every moment of our Life in loving, praising, and glorifying this great mercy: It is in all kinds infinite, no excess of malice obstructs it, no frequency of Commission or reiterated guilt renders it inexorable, no time excludes it, no not a desperate delay to the last moment, O God thy judgements may be well said to be unfathomed Abysses, wherein are lost our most Enormous crimes, and from that loss we find ourselves transferred unto the enjoyance of thee, irradiated with the comfortable beams of thy mercy.  
But above all, this mercy never appears so great as in the admirable Mystery of the Incarnation, where we behold the eternal Father giving up his only Son in behalf of Mankind vitiated, and defiled with Sin, rebellious, and insolent against His Sovereign, a Worm, and poor scantling of putrefaction, a prey for the Flames of Hell: That, I say, a God most perfect in himself, who hath no want, should love so vile a Creature, at such a distance from him, and who could stand him in no stead: and yet this eternal God full of greatness hath cherished Man in such a manner, as to bestow upon him the dear production of himself, coeternal, consubstantial, and equal to him in Greatness and Majesty, and for what end? To save him from ruin, to enrich him with eternal Life; this is that great mercy our Penitent now implores, and he claims it by virtue of a promise made to Abraham; that since he had not grudged him his only Son, all Nations should be blessed in his Seed, that the Eternal Death of him who is temporal, should be redeemed by the temporal Death of him who is eternal: How many Miracles found birth in the execution of this act of love and mercy: First, Nature was stopped as to the result of a humane subsistence, in whose place was intimately applied the personality of the Divine word; and this infinite subsistence, was adorned with graces, virtues, and privileges supereminent; a Mother enjoyed a fruitful Virginity, and a delivery without pain; in the fruit was found at the same instant the blood consolidated, organised, animated, and deified: So that the Second Person of the blessed Trinity assuming a new Being newly produced, that is, the essence of a holy humanity, attired himself with it, becomes a good man, and a master piece of love, and mercy: A remedy so necessary, that without it all the purity of Angels, and Holy Souls, all the inflamed desires of the Patriarches could never have merited with condignity this incarnate mystery: For were all the groans put together, all the tears, sufferings, and exquisite torments which Saints have endured for the love of God, and on the other side but one single tear thrown in of Jesus Christ shed either at his birth, or any time of his life, this tear issuing from the flaming Furnace of his Heart, Sacred, and united to the Divine Word, would exceed in value all you can think, or imagine in the meritorious actions of Creatures: So that this adorable mystery is not a mystery of just retribution springing from any humane, or Angelical merit; but, 'tis a mystery of goodness and supereminent mercy, and in consideration of that prodigious design of love, he is animated in his suit, and believes he cannot receive a repulse, because he acts it Secundùm magnam misericordiam tuam, in the name of the Messiah in whom all the Divine mercies from the beginning of the World issued forth unto mankind are comprised, and consequently may be styled a great, and the greatest of mercies.  

The Application.  
Our Holy penitent having in the clear prospect of his prophetic View, beheld this great work of mercy, broke forth into this happy expression, and couches a clause of all others the most efficacious to obtain the end he sues for; we may learn from hence that our Mediator Jesus Christ is the best Sanctuary in all our distresses, whether in regard of our past offences, or of our impotency to repair our failings: Methinks I hear our Petitioner to say, O God what shall I return thee in requital; when I would praise thee, an Abyss of Majesty exhausts in a moment all Encomiums, and my Adorations appear nothing before thy Divine Essence; could I unmake myself in deference to thee the Fountain of all Being's, it were a poor homage to thy ineffable greatness: Nay could I annihilate the whole World for thy glory, yet would it nothing equal what thy immensity might justly exact: But whilst I thus labour with my own poverty, finding nothing created worthy thy acceptance, behold the perfect oblation of thy Son, a prodigious effect of mercy; this I offer to thee, he can best speak our gratitude, who can only satisfy thy Justice; since by this gift the very treasury of Heaven will be exhausted, and the Earth enriched with a pure Sacrifice, whose odour draws upon mankind a continued flood of mercies. It is this eternal offering meant by our Petitioner when he mentions thy great mercy, whose very thought and foresight at the distance of many ages replenished his heart with joy: And if the expectation of him to come so transported, what dilation of spiritual joy ought to invade us, who now possess, what they had only in hope, who now reap a plentiful harvest of Salvation, when before the World was blasted with sterility and doomed to darkness, until the bowels of this great mercy were opened, to store us with his light and grace. Let us join our Petitions with Holy David, and adore the wonders of this great mercy, in which we behold humane flesh hypostasiated in a Divine nature, a Creator linked to his Creature, Death unto Life, Glory unto Confusion, and Iniquity stamped with Innocence: And whilst we contemplate these admirable contrivances of the Divine Wisdom, can they do less than ascertain us (if we place in the Frontispiece of our supplications this compositum, made up of so many contrarieties) that our desires will take effect, that under this Sanctuary we shall strike off all the scores of guilt, and render a satisfaction as great as God can expect or require: Hence you see how confidently every sinner may repeat with David: Have mercy on me, O God, according to thy great mercy.    

CHAP. III.  
Et secundùm multitudinem miserationum tuarum,  
And according to the multitude of thy mercies.  
OUr Holy Petitioner having expressed his reliance in general on God's mercy, next fixes upon its effects in particular, and makes a series, or list of all his mercies: Wherein methinks I behold him just like one in desolation of Shipwreck fastening on a plank, and though the storm continue, darkness surround him, and nothing but the Face of Death appears before his Eyes, yet he remembers that many have been saved in his condition; how some have been cast upon the shore, others upon a Rock, some by a passing Boat gathered up: In fine he calls to mind a thousand ways of preservation to consolate himself in this distress, and every thought of hope makes him grasp with new fervour his floating support: Even so I may say of our distressed Penitent, his goodly Vessel of innocence was wrecked, dashed against the powerful charms of a Woman, from thence he was thrown into an Ocean of Sins, where on all sides he beheld the menaces of eternal destruction; in these perplexities he runs with his thought over all the passages of God's mercy from the World's beginning by the consideration of them, a little to keep up his sinking Spirits. He fails not to remember the mild proceeding of God with Adam in not punishing him irrecoverably, as he had done the reprobate Angels, but was contented to Exile him from the delicious place of his Creation, and to expose him here to the Whirlwinds of passions, in which contest if he proved faithful; his reward was to be the same as first designed for him: From thence he passes to the conflagration of Sodom and Gomorrah, where though God's justice fell heavy upon those miscreants, yet he lays it on their impenitency, and admires his goodness that would notwithstanding have kept in his shafts of vengeance for the sake of ten just persons; if that small number were but found in those populous Cities; he goes on to the Ninivites, and pleases himself to see them under the Lee born thitherby repentance, even when the storm of God's wrath was ready to plunge them in an Abyss of ruin: He insists much upon the prayer of Moses, which still diverted the rigorous designs of God upon his people; he fancies that every Groan and Sigh of his contributes something towards the making up of a brazen Serpent, by whose Sovereign aspect his cauterised Soul might be unvenomed and made whole. It was no small Consolation when he reflects on God's people in the Land of Egypt, whose Oppression (which their own Sins had drawn upon them) was yet relieved at the rate of miracles, and wonders, and such as Israel had not seen: And why all this? But to make good his promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, that he would never abandon a Truly-repenting Heart.  
Thus he goes on enumerating a thousand other passages of God's mercy from the World's Creation, until his time; nor is he content with this, but advances further, displaying in his prophetic knowledge, innumerable other effects of God's compassion to Mankind, and at last gins to make this Application, though he could not deserve to partake of his great mercy, that is, not only to have his guilt remitted, but also to become the object of his choicest favours, yet at least he hoped he might be huddled in amidst the multitude of his mercies.  
How sweetly did those Attributes Divine resound in his Ears, where God is styled rich in mercies, where his Mercy transcends all his other works, and where his Goodness and Mercy are proclaimed inexhausted Sources: He leaves not a Cranny in the World unransacked, and after the severest scrutiny finds, and confesses there is no place destitute of his mercy, no Creature that is not cheered, and enlivened by the effects of his mercy; this made him cry: Lord when thou dost open thy hand, all Creatures are filled with blessings; and he tells us that every Being looks upwards depending on his Creator, and expects from him a seasonable supply of all wants: Nay he excludes not Hell, nor Souls doomed to eternal flames from this mercy, for he considers that God is bonus universis, good to all, and though his Justice have plunged them in that Calamitous State of misery, yet that their torments are not more intense, and in many circumstances aggravated, they own it to his mercy, which still hath something to do, even in the punishment of the highest offenders.  
Having then surveyed Angels, Man, and sensible Creatures, the Heavens, Earth, and Hell, and found no Being that could in the least repine for want of mercy; upon these reflections with just reason our Petitioner entitles them a multitude of mercies, for on all sides they flow as from a natural Source. Nor wonder that we have more Precedents of his mercy than Justice, for the one consists in a communicative virtue of what is good, and as God is essentially good, so he can always breathe forth these emanations of his goodness upon us: Now Justice, though it be equally essential to the Divine Essence with mercy, and other Attributes, yet in its operations ad extra or exterior effects, it depends upon the obliquity of our actions, without which it hath no matter or Subject to work on: So that mercy he can always shower down upon us, but Justice only when we offend: he would not forget how the greater number of Angels stood the brunt of temptations, when Lucifer perished with his proud adherents, it was this mercy held them up at the instant of their Trial; and though our afflicted penitent found not this innocence preserving mercy, yet he hopes to lay hold on that part where he is styled a purifying mercy: Let his Subjects fall from their obedience, and throw curses at him, let his Children prove unnatural, and labour to dethrone him, let a pestilential Disease depopulate his Country; in fine let the Joy of his Life Absalon be sacrificed by the Hand of his own Soldier, with smiles he will pass through all these Tests, so they proceed from the hand of this all purifying mercy: He values not the mediums, but the end he tends to, and when he thinks o● this, he gins afresh to admire this mercy in the reward of the elect; he knows not whether it exceeds more in the expectance and furtherance of a sinner's conversion, or in those immense felicities he communicates by his presence: For here he beholds a God courting his Creatures, insensible as it were of injuries, and dishonours from them, and seconding their least good intents, with the powerful succours of grace. There he contemplates a God remunerating our small inconsiderable Acts of Virtue with the same Felicity, wherewith he himself is blest and made happy: For his Beatitude is to enjoy himself and contemplate his own beauty and perfections, and this same Beatitude he imparts to us poor worms through the excess of his Mercy. But whether our holy penitent more extols the effects of his mercies in Heaven or Earth I know not; yet of this I am sure, he is reconciled to make it whilst he hath life, the Theme of his Pen, Heart, and Tongue; he will celebrate the praises of his innumerable mercies for all Eternity, he hath scarce a Psalm which speaks not his zeal for this subject, as if his quill had been dipped in this Fountain of mercies.  
Another branch which grows up amidst the multitude of his mercies, is, that he distributes his blessings not so much in the measure of his wisdom, as love; and after his innumerable favours done to his Vineyard, he defies the whole Mass of Creatures to tax him of any want on his part: For should he reward us according to our actions which he in his prescience and eternal essence foresees will come to pass, who of us should be left alive, or who of us should be born? Only the innocent should then be favoured, and rather than it should be so, he was willing to put it upon the Trial, how or what we might prove hereafter. He foreknew that Lucifer should fall, that Adam would sin, Saul become disobedient, and Judas betray him, yet he forbore not (for all this) to throw his favours upon them; to show his mercy is ever in competition with Man's malice, and like a good Physician if one Medicine work no good, he applies another like a g●od Husbandman if his Land yield him no Crop one year, he cultivates and labours it again the Second, and Third, by which it often happens that one fruitful season repairs the sterility of divers years past: Just so God still goes on, and though he sees no hope to stop our malice, yet he stops not his mercy; this proceeding made St. Austin cry, Praise and Glory O Lord be to thee O Fountain of mercies, the worse I grew, and more perverse, so much the nearer thou wast unto me. It is said a small proportion of chastisement suffices a Father in order to his Son; so God (as a kind and loving Father) thinks a little punishment enough for his Children: St. chrysostom says that after the Master of the Vineyard had his Servants beaten, and slain by the Husbandmen, he sent his Son, and for all these their outrages required no other satisfaction than to see them abashed and ashamed of their Cruelties and Ingratitude: They will (says he) reverence my Son; so that 'tis evident, their blushing not their bleeding he desired: Whence St. Hierom makes a result of this Parable, that in God's Clemency there was no Weight, no Number, no Measure; nor likewise in the others Malice. So that our holy penitent beholding in every transaction of God with Man this fullness of Mercy, might with reason expostulate, and entreat his pardon: Secundùm multitudinem miserationum tuarum, according to the multitude of thy mercies.  

The Application.  
Let every one examine his life from the time he had the use of reason, and I am confident he will find many ties of obligation to this great mercy; nay amongst the mass of Christians, I believe there is none but ranks himself a favourite in order to his largesses of mercy: For his love is constant, and knows no change, this great and good God hath persisted for an infinity of time in the perpetual resolution of gratifying us with his gifts, his inflamed heart hath entertained a continual solicitude without any truce for our good. Witness the Prophet Jeremy who says that God hath loved us with an everlasting Charity: His love is eternal, having always decreed to enrich us with his favours; St. Paul proclaims it, that he hath loved us before the World was framed. It is disinteressed, without any advantage to himself or hope of return on our parts: No other motive than the superabundance of his goodness; like a fountain which runs over, his natural goodness throws blessings on all Creatures. Plutarch speaking of love, says, it takes any occasion be it never so slight, to oblige the beloved; he wants no baits, nor snares, carrying about him the matter of his own bondage: So God's love never takes leave of a Sinner; nay where Man's impiety extorts as it were from him the darts of his Justice, he seems presently to relent, and promises (as he did after the Deluge) to do so no more; so that his love being eternal, unchangeable, and devested of all self ends, what can we ask of God that issues not from his mercy, wherefore let us with holy David cry have mercy on us O God, according to the multitude of thy mercies.  
Amen.    

CHAP. IU.  
Deal iniquitatem meam,  
Wipe away my iniquity.  
OUr poor Criminal having thus prepared his Judge, the next care is to lay open his condition, and show he implores God's purifying Mercy, by whose virtue the Chains of our sins are loosened and dissolved: Nor did it a little raise his confidence, that his Judge was not tied up to Laws, as the Groundwork of proceed with offenders; but his power is absolute to do all he pleases, and his will such as to render what ever he does good, and Just: So that the least propension of this Will; in order to a remission, is sufficient to wipe away all the iniquities of the Earth.  
Besides, he considers that when God chastises, he doth a thing extraneous to him, and (as Esay says) a work that is not his: But to be merciful he owns it as a propriety annexed to his Godhead, not to extenuate his Justice, but to insinuate the love he bears to Man.  
He embroils not his Fancy with the niceties in Schools; which dispute how Sin is remitted, whether by the expulsion of any positive form, and the introduction of another opposite to it: Whether it be by the mere infusion of Grace, or else only by taking away the obligation of a Sinner to eternal punishment; he omits all these curious questions, and attends only to the sweet effect, to wit, that he may be freed from his iniquity, oft repeating in his Heart, he had rather be a good Disciple, than a great Master in the exact knowledge of his own misery.  
When he looks back into his life past, and remembers with what satisfaction, and spiritual joy he had performed many acts of virtue, he gins to be enfired with new flames of urging for a grant of his Petition: Since he knows that whilst he lies under this attainder of Treason, he is capable of no right nor privilege, in the Charter given us by Heaven, that should he do actions which in another condition might be praemiated, would now be looked upon as a Jewel counterfeit and of no value: He compares himself to a Plant in a Region far remote from the Sun, whose Fruit never comes to maturity, so his iniquity sets him at a great distance with God, the light and life of Souls, and consequently nothing can be expected from him which savours not of a Soil accursed, and doomed to sterility; so that as a misfortune seldom walks solitary, he finds besides the unhappiness to have offended God, this addition, to be unable to do any thing acceptable unto him.  
Then he goes on ruminating upon the sad consequences of his Sin, which makes him fluctuate in his thoughts, wholly unresolved how to comport himself: Sometimes he appears like a Statue without motion, and would eternally remain so, since by no endeavours he can please his Creator: Then again I behold him bend upon the execution of all the good imaginable, at least within the extent of his natural Force or Power; that he may omit no Homage and Duty he owes to the Author of his Being: But after all his restless solicitudes, he observes the main Hinge of his happiness depends upon this Deal iniquitatem, the cancelling of this Bond by which he is liable to eternal punishment,  he can hope for admittance unto his wont ravishing entertainments with his Divine Master.  
He descants upon the proceeding of Almighty God with Sinners, and would feign search into the secrets of his Providence, why some are drawn from the depth of wickedness; even when they seemed to be lost to the World and Heaven, whilst others less guilty in the Eyes of men sadly perish without source, or redress. The preservation of the one he attributes to the immense goodness of God, which sometimes dispenses (as justly he may) in his own laws, as to afford unto an unworthy sinner such powerful calls that they are never resisted; such melting affections, as if they had been trained up in the School of Divine love, not in the Forge of iniquity: It is fit (he confesses) the Divine Will which frames all Creatures, should so dispose of what he hath made, that when he pleases to raise any one out of corruption, and render them instrumental to his Glory, none ought, or can justly repine at it: He sustains this Argument with much heat, himself being a party interessed, still expecting to be the object of his choice mercy: He dilates and expands his Soul under this inexhausted source, like the Earth without Water thirsting for one drop of that Celestial stream which might allay the anguish of his Mind, and deface all the foul Characters of his iniquity; his groans, and unwearied sighs are fair Harbingers of that Noble Guest he once entertained, with unspeakable delight, and if he ever gain the repossession, he protests that neither Angels, Men, Devils, nor all the charms in Creatures shall ever brand him with a new stamp of iniquity: his Eyes by which his Soul received her first wound are become two floods of tears, and if they prevail not to cleanse his stains, at least they will testify to the World, he repent what he had done: He casts not one glance towards Heaven which is not accompanied with hopes of meeting this mercy, and this confidence is so grounded in him, that were it decreed God would save but one Soul, he hath courage enough to hope that his might be that one; nay he builds so much upon these hopes, that transporting himself to the consideration of many Sinners, abandoned in their impieties, it doth not at all deject him; for he considers that God hath given us a freewill, which he will never violence to our prejudice, and though we cannot elevate this will to an act so perfect as naturally to merit the first Grace; yet it may in such sort dispose us for grace by love, and sorrow; that God will doubtless gratify us so prepared: Whence 'tis clear, that as we fall not but by our own default, so by virtue of a promise, and contract made by Heaven, we cannot finally perish but by an obstinate reluctancy of our own Hearts: If he sees a Phararh sink into ruin irrecoverably, he beholds likewise a Nebuchodonozer for the same crime struck down, to rise again: They were both Kings, the sin of either alike, detaining God's people in captivity, yet the Fates of both very unequal: Because the one retracts his misdeeds, and raises a detestation of them, the other persists in his Enormities without any truce or suspension.  
At last he makes a Corollary of this discourse, and concludes, since some are preserved in Innocence by continued showers of Grace, others by a sweet violence drawn from an Abyss of Sin to the upshot of happiness, and none so entangled, whom a true repentance will not set free; he will never cease to importune Heaven till his iniquity be razed out: let his Throat grow hoarse with clamours, his Eyes droop and wax dim, his Heart rend asunder with grief, he will spare no Particle of his whole Body, nay glory in its ruin, if by that means he can but unclog his Soul from the weight of Sin: He judged it very reasonable, that the Body having contributed to his Sin, should share in the punishment, as it had done in the crime, and as it had concurred unto his misery, so likewise it might unto his happiness: For doubtless the Combats which a virtuous Man sustains amidst so many Headstrong passions which abound in this mortal frame of ours, are no small advancements to eternal Glory, nor mean Engines to work our Freedom from the slavery of Sin: Hence he takes up arms, proclaims War against himself, and abjures any future compliance with his unbridled appetite: He will make his Body a Sacrifice into penance, which before had been a lump of ordures, and sensuality: His will shall become a Tyrant, and check every the least inclination to Evil, which till then was agitated and born away with every breath of Vanity, and foul delights; and if withal these rigours he can break the stamp of his iniquity, he will prise that Action, beyond all his former Victories, and raise more Trophies in Memory of this deliverance than ever were consecrated to the most Heroic enterprise of any person in the World.  
The monstrous shape of his iniquity so confounded him, that till it was defaced, he could not ask any blessing; for it is the greatest of evils, and wherein all misfortunes are Centred. When Rheuben importuned his Father Jacob that Benjamin his darling might go into Egypt, he offered his two Sons as pledges for his return, and adds for a further engagement, ero peccati reus, he would be guilty of sin, that is, exposed to all the miseries imaginable, if he falsifyed his word. St. Paul expressing how severely God fell upon his only Son, says he, who knew no sin, was made sin for us; that is, he discharged upon him the Tempest of his wrath, rendering him the most despicable of Men, as a Testimony of sins deformity, and the deplorable State of him that lies under the guilt of a mortal transgression: Whence a great Doctor allowing the truth of St. Austin's assertion that one drop of the water of Paradise will be sufficient to quench the flames of Hell, yet will it not suffice (says he) to wash away the foulness of sin: Our Holy Penitent knew well that Death concludes all our merit, and demerit; that though the Just after this life shall perform many glorious actions, yet these will not purchase to them any new Crowns, no more than the reprobate shall not become more criminal by their abominations acted in Hell; Wherefore during the time of this transitory life, wherein we are to fix our choice of an eternity good or bad; our penitent resolves to play the industrious Merchant; whilst he lives, his extinguished light of Grace may be enkindled, and the hideous Character of his iniquity worn out, but if Death surprise him in the obscurity of sin, he must eternally remain in darkness, deformed with the ugly stamp of his iniquity: Wherefore having a clear view, both of his present state, and danger of delay, he will both importunely, and opportunely redouble his Note, Deal iniquitatem meam, blot out my iniquity:  

The Application.  
We may learn by the example of our penitent, to work whilst the day of this life endures, for the Night of Death approaching our lot is cast: As the Tree falls, so it will lie; no skipping from vice to virtue, nor from virtue to vice, after Death, if here you claw not off the stamp of your iniquity it will be fixed as an eternal reproach unto you; and 'tis but just where there is a capacity of perfection, that a place, time, and state should be allotted for its acquisition. The Angels who excel Men compassed their Felicity by one sole Motion, by one simple operation: But Man who is more gross, and set at a greater distance from Beatitude must usually speaking gain it by several reiterated operations; for the period of our merit, or demerit, takes its beginning where we surcease in the use of our senses, for as in flattering their inclinations we offend, so in curbing and wisely ruling them for the love of God, we perform acts of Piety and Virtue, so that in Death the matter of Vice and Virtue expiring with the loss of our senses; Man remains confirmed in that State he is then found, be it of good, or evil; Wherefore let us imitate our penitent, and whilst our Petition may be heard, cry out with Holy David, Dele iniquitatem meam, blot out my iniquity,  
Amen.    

CHAP. V.  
Amplius lava me ab iniquitate mea,  
Wash me more from my iniquity.  
OUr distressed Penitent rouses up his Spirits believing he hath already a grant of part of his Petition; but he fears lest some relics may yet remain of his sin, that is, bad inclinations, and proneness unto wickedness, contracted by many reiterated peccaminous Acts, and therefore he thinks good to stick close unto the same subject till he complete his design: Wash me more from my iniquity. It is natural to Vegetables simply to covet a Being, to sensitive Animals, to seek a well Being, and to reasonable Creatures to thirst and long after a Sovereign Being, which only can satisfy their God-thirsting Souls: So that we see our Petitioner by an impulse of nature is carried on to his first demand, but when with this tendency in nature are joined the seeds and beginnings of Divine love, the least stain supervenes not without a sequel of a strange horror and trembling, arising as well from an apprehension of losing the rich Donative of Grace, as from a restless ambition of improving it every moment to God's Glory: He knows our life is here as it were between privation and existence, between light and darkness; by how much we recede from one Extreme, we approach nearer to the other; and to make a halt or stop in this mean, is to slide back into that part we would avoid; this made our Petitioner not satisfied with a bare remission, and to press for a further exemption from his iniquity; Amplius lava me, wash me more.  
He beholds the Sun to cheer the World with his light, not by one continued constant ray, but by a perpetual emission of Spirits from his luminous Body: Even so he wishes that splendour of the eternal Father, which hath already visited with comfortable beams his happy Soul, might incessantly oblige him with new influences, that if the least exhalation of Sin arise, it may in an instant fly and disperse itself before this purifying Globe; amplius lava me, wash me more.  
His anxiety continues, but with this difference, before he feared to die an enemy to God; now he dreads to die not his friend: Before his care was to clear himself of sin, now it is, how to preserve and purchase an increase of grace: He gins to wonder that this spiritual resurrection allays not all his desires; but forthwith he checks himself with the reflection of Man's condition in this life, where he is always to seek and never to find, because he proposes to himself the Idea of an Entity beyond his reach, and hath only this support to hold up his hope, that he seeks a thing incomprehensible, an Object on Earth designed for our love, and inquisition; in Heaven reserved for our fruition: And which will be communicated more or less in proportion to the Zeal and Purity of Hearts we have here in seeking: It is then in order to this happy enjoyment that our Penitent sues again and again to be more freed from his iniquity.  
Besides Virtues have in them an admirable Sympathy, which makes they never jar, but mutually conspire to unite themselves and the Subjects they inhabit to the most perfect Object; and since this Union is only found in glory, it is consequent we must needs here be in perpetual motion, sometimes rooting out this imperfection, otherwhiles acquiring that perfection, until we arrive at him, who is the beginning, and end of all our agitations.  
He remembered with what wariness God gave his command to Adam, advising even not to touch the Fruit he must not taste off, well knowing the consequences which attend occasions of sin: Hence he gathers this lesson, if we must not play with danger, much less harbour the  atom of sin within us; for it is of such a malignity, as the Ocean upon the breach of a bank rushes not in with more violence than sin doth, and overflows that Soul where once it finds admittance: Who will grant nothing, must receive no Petitions; it was not without reason the Jews forbade the eating of Fat, that they might not be alured to devour what was offered in their Sacrifice.  
Our Holy Petitioner implores then a preservative, as well as pardon; this more implies not only a fuller deletion of his iniquity, but also a stalling of dangerous occasions; he now suspects every motion of his enemy he hath seen from his own too dear experience that a spark hath grown up to a masterless incendium, and this now happily extinguished, should he again dally but with the least resemblance or shadow of sin, would in him appear monstrous after the taste of so signal a mercy. This made him cry, wash me Lord not only from sin, but more, even from all danger, and occasions of sin: For in the midst of imminent occasions of sin, not to decline from Virtue, and noble resolutions, is a possibility more speculative, than reducible to practise: Nor was our penitent so transported with his change, as not to have a solicitude for prevention of the like disaster: His repentance was not by halves, this made him stand always upon his guard; always in fear, and still panting after more purity, and more relaxation from his chains of iniquity.  
Wash me more, that is, more than others, this clause of his Petition he judged not unnecessary; for he believed the stains of his guilt were drunk in more deeply, and were more fixed, than in the Soul of any other the greatest offendor, and consequently his cure required the application of a more Sovereign remedy. If the Leprous Condition of Naaman Cyrus found not a complete redress until his seventh Lotion in Jordan; what streams must he seek out, whose infirmity speaks a contempt of God: What multiplicity of reiterated bathe will suffice to cleanse that Crimson Dye, whose reeking smoke ascends to Heaven to purchase thence a consuming fire: Whose numberless offences he himself compares to the sands of the Sea, and confesses he cannot entertain a thought of them without horror. He reckons up many signal Favours he had received from the liberal hand of God, how he was picked out from amidst his Father's flocks, being the youngest and least considerable of all his children, to be made Author of liberty unto Israel: how God had sheltered him as it were, under his Wings from all his Enemies, and so ordained that their greatest malice proved matter of his greatest glory; how God had entrusted into his hands the Rule and guidance of his elect people, and given him wisdom, and courage to acquit himself of that weighty charge with immortal honour: How God had promised not to confine his munificence unto his person, but that he would settle the succession of his Regal Dignity to his posterity for ever: And above all, how from his line, and seed should issue forth an abstract of all his liberalities to Mankind; the Saviour of the World: When he had registered all these Obligations, and passed on to survey what return he had made, he found so high ingratitude, so much of disloyalty, that to rank himself with other sinners, were to add presumption to his heap of sins: He supplicates therefore that to the Enormity of his Crimes may be proportioned the Measure of his pardon, that as the deformity of his sin was unparalleled, so likewise might the stroke of that pencil exceed, which was to correct all his imperfections, and beautify him with a touch of perfection; wash me more from my iniquity.  
When he had thus framed his Petition, implying in this word more; first a necessity of greater helps than others, proportionably to the greatness of his transgressions; next a desire to be free from the least venial sin, and lastly to be secured even from occasions of sin: He ventures yet a little further, and following the Dictamen of flesh and blood, makes instance for a relaxation of the temporal punishment due to his Sin; wash me more, that is, not only in taking away his doom to eternal torments, but also the temporary satisfactions he must here make: His sensitive part shrinks at the foresight of contradictions he was to wade through, and would feign obtain this additional remission; Man's natural affection to the Body, from a strict Union it hath with the Soul, raised in our Petitioner a great tenderness of it, insomuch as not to plead for it, were to violate (he thought) the Articles of Friendship made by nature between them: Yet he had always such an Eye to the Decrees of Heaven, that after all his supplications he totally submits: He will not repine at any pressure, but with an entire resignation drink in the bitterest draughts of temporal afflictions, if his Divine Justice so require: He values ('tis true) his Body in itself, God and nature having imprinted this love in him, but when its depression may conduce to the purifying of his Soul, upon whose happiness it mainly depends, reason teaches we must then let it sink; and though it be drowned in an Ocean of torments, our Penitent hath this consolation that his Petition is granted as to the effect, for he shall see it rise again wholly distained in the waters of tribulation, he shall find his past sorrows grown up into Jubileys, and Exultations, and his heart more sensible of that mercy which gave him constancy in his sufferings, than if by a pure act of grace he had been released from sin without any satisfaction in his own person: If then he be purified either according to his own wish, by an exemption from sufferings which his frail Nature suggests, or else by an inundation of afflictions which he hath merited by his crimes. He hath still this comfort that he sues not in vain, since both will contribute to the drift of his Petition, which is to appear every minute with a greater purity in the Eyes of his Creator. Amplius lava me, wash me more from my iniquity.  

The Application.  
St. Bernard observes that if at any time God deprives us of what is good, it is but to gratify us with something that is better; upon this reflection he reckons it a happiness in St. Paul that he was struck blind, for immediately upon that stroke he was raised to the third Heavens, and admitted unto secrets unfit to unfold to Man; and afterwards receiving the sight of his Body, with that restitution was superadded the clear Eyesight of his Soul. God sent Jeremy to the Potter's shop, that he might see how the broken Vessel was to be new moulded; and come out better than before, if then the Clay frequently recieves a better form and fashion than at first, let us in imitation and with the same confidence of our holy penitent after our failings cry, Lord, wash me more, Let our past harms warn us not to presume of our own strength; this humble opinion will separate much of the dross of our actions, and teach us to rely more upon God than ourselves: Let us oft lay before us the Seal of God's pardon, this cannot but inflame our love, and enfire our Hearts in the zeal of his service; nay Christ seems to set it down as a rule that we proportion our love to our Obligations. He little loves to whom little is forgiven; that where a large score is struck off by his Mercy, there must needs succeed an ambition to a more supereminent perfection; wash me more from my iniquity: In fine, this quadrates with Habakkuk's prophecy: If heretofore thou madest one step in the way of Death, thou shalt now tread for it ten in the way of life. So that every sinner is encouraged not only to recover his innocence, but to improve it throughout the remainder of his life, never ceasing to repeat: Amplius lava me ab iniquitate, wash me more from my iniquity.  
Amen.    

CHAP. VI  
Et à peccato meo munda me,  
And cleanse me from my sin.  
IN the Series of Acts inordinate and deficient from that rectitude required to give them a denomination of good: We find some which relate immediately to God, as when with contempt we strike at things directly ordained to his glory and service, these pass under the name of impiety: Others there are whose first tendency levels at our Neighbour, as when we traverse the light of Nature, in doing to another what we would not have done unto ourselves, and these are styled by the appellation of iniquity: Lastly there are certain treasons whereof we make our Bodies instrumental, and by which we are corrupted, depraved, and wrought into strange habitual Frailties; these are properly expressed by the term of sin, because by them we act against ourselves. Our Holy Penitent draws the exordium of his Petition from a sense of his impiety, when in this first verse he said, have mercy on me, O God, for there he owns his Frailties as a Creature in respect of his Creator, and begs his Gracious pardon: In the next verse he confesses his iniquity, whose full discussion as to injustice towards his Neighbour I reserve for another place: In this third verse he surveys his own person, beholds the Havocks, and corruption made there by sin; and now would feign apply a Salutary Medicament, to which end he inserts this clause in his Petition: A peccato meo munda me, cleanse me from my sin; that is, from the filth, and ordure which accompany sins of the flesh. Amongst all the irregular motions whereof Man is capable, there is none which leads unto Labyrinths so inextricable, into precipices so disastrous, as this unhappy sin of carnality: In the first place it draws a Cloud over the understanding, and so depresses the faculties of the Soul, as she becomes in a manner terrestrial, that is, unable to elevate herself beyond the objects of sense; for the operations of the Soul are more perfect, as they are more abstracted from materiality: Now this sin wholly drowns, and takes us up in the pursuit of sensible things, and consequently must needs debilitate, and weaken the Mind in her natural functions. In other passions, as Anger, Fear, Joy, and the like there are still extant some Seeds of reason; this destroys all that is Man in us, and makes Man by a thousand homages, and venerations subject to that Sex, which God and Nature have designed Man's inferior; as if it aimed not only at Man's destruction, but to resolve the World into another Chaos: For what shafts of God's vengeance have fallen heavy upon Mankind, that were not directed to the chastisement of this sin: It was an inordinate appetite to mix with the Daughters of Gentiles that first gave birth to Monsters, and Giants; and from their accursed offspring the Earth became such a sink of abominations, as no less than an universal inundation was able to wash away the staunch and infection of their impieties. It was this foul pleasure which ministered Fuel to the consuming flames of Sodom, and Gomorrah; this blind passion led Israel ensnared by Madian Women in Idolatry, a foundation to all the Calamities and derelictions by God which befell that chosen Nation: At one time twenty four thousand Hebrews were punished with Death for Adultery, and what a slaughter of sixty thousand persons did our sad Penitent behold, and this in revenge of his own libidinous Acts, as if the stains they had left behind, could not be drawn out by a Sea of blood.  
When his affrighted thoughts had laid before him all these dismal passages, he trembles, expecting every moment to be shivered and dispersed into Ashes by the decrees of a just avenger; he approves the fancy of those who compose Venus of the Froth of the Sea, brackish, perfidious, and the Seat of hazards, and disquiets; the pleasure he hath had, appears to him now but like a Froth, or bubble, which if not born away (as easily it is) by every blast, will certainly of itself soon dissolve, and work its own ruin; and however the substance be fleeting, it leaves notwithstanding a remembrance behind, so bitter and distasteful, and so hardly clawed off, as one would think that alone were a sufficient punishment for a trespass of so little satisfaction; and for the storms, and wastes it often makes in Kingdoms, and private Families, scarce any age hath not furnished many sad examples: I am sure our Holy Penitent felt the smart of this bitter Truth in the desolation of his house, in the dishonour and death of his Children, in the rebellion of his Subjects, and above all in the forfeiture of those large promises made by Heaven to him and his posterity, all which found not their Tomb but in the corruption of this unhappy sin. So that in this request to be cleansed from his sin, he first declares the foulness of it, evident in the horrid Disease Nature gives to those who use it in excess; next, he hints the relics, and dregs it leaves behind, that if God's grace, joined with a great resolution happen to dislodge this petulant Guest, yet still some footsteps or impressions remain, apt to reenter, and claim an interest: Wherefore he could promise to himself no security, unless an inundation of mercy fall upon him to purify, and carry away all the remainder of bad inclinations grown into a habit, and become as it were a second Nature in him. Cleanse me from my sin, and as it was not a slight stain he had contracted, but all circumstances weighed the most indelible that springs from inordinate acts in carnal pleasures: For Laws Divine, Natural, and Humane seem to be violated in Adultery: Divine, in that two persons by marriage are made one flesh, and both pass into the incommunicable Nature of individuality; becoming the essential part of each other whence violation cannot happen to one without destroying the life of the other, and breaking that bond which God hath knit together. Natural Law is likewise by an adulterous act infringed, because Marriage consists not in the sole possession of the Body, but also, nay principally in the affections of a reasonable Soul: For the bonds of Marriage are not wrought by copulation, but mutual consent, and under a sacred Vow never to be retracted; who then infringes these engagements must needs contract a note of infidelity, and consequently strike at the main Hinge of humane Society to preserve which Nature chief tends in all her principles, and essential motions. Lastly, a breach is made in humane Law by Adultery, in that Marriage is not a private but domestic good, which concerns not one, but infinite Families, strengthened by the Laws of the Church, and public Faith of Nations: From hence Nature finds those who carefully cultivate her plants; hence Commonwealths are enriched with Citizens, the Church with Children. By this we may see the malice of Adultery, that draws along with it the violation of so many Laws. Christ enjoins us a love of our Enemies; and that the Sun should not set in our anger. Yet in the treachery of Marriagebed permits a separation between Man and Wife, how strictly soever united by indissoluble ties, as if such crimes surpassed the limits of pardon; as if an evil so destructive, that remedies could find no place, and that this individual life once dissolved, could no more be recalled than habit from privation.  
Many Tyrants have subdued to therage of their cruelties the wealth, liberty, and lives of their Subjects, who looking upon this power as given from Heaven over them, patiently sustained all those depredations; but if once they touched upon their wives, and would involve them in the Mass of their impurities, this roused up their fallen spirits, cast them into rebellion, nay pushed them to that extremity as never to desist until they had deprived those of life, who had ravished from them what was more dear than life; until they had reduced unto ashes the Authors of their infamy, and taught them for the example of posterity this violence of all others will not be left unrevenged in this World.  
There hath scarce been any Nation though Pagan or Infidel which hath not punished Adultery with Death or exquisite Torments: Some by fire, others by wild Horses; some by the Halter, others in pulling out their Eyes, cutting off their Noses; some by stones as in Moses Law: Whence 'tis clear that even the light of Nature taught, there ought for the good of humane Society that a stop be made to this disorder.  
Our Penitent having in his thoughts laid open all those Enormities of an Adulterous Act, is surprised to see himself plunged in so many abominations, to have heaped up to himself so much ignominy and infection, as the reproach of them would last as long as time. How sparingly do good Men treat of carnal subjects, either in Writing or in the Pulpit, lest the very articulate sound or Characters in this matter might offend chaste Ears, or cause worse effects in Hearts already tainted: If then this poison carry with it so much of malignity in the very name or lightest thought, what corruption, and noisomeness must the sin itself produce. Oh! how strong did this scent breathe in the Nostrils of our Penitent when once his understanding was awake, and beheld with an Eye free from passion his Body dissolved into so many contaminations; no wonder than if he so oft repeat in this Psalm the cleansing from his sin: Every glimpse of his past foul delights casts him into a blush, beholding no other consequence of them than shame, confusion, and the threats of eternal destruction, notwithstanding all this he sues for a Vesture of innocence, and he does it to him who with a fiat or blast from his Mouth drew out of a dark Chaos that glorious Body of the Sun which so revives us: To him who hath promised to let fall all the darts of his anger upon the true repentance of a sinner; on this basis he fixes his Petition, and doubts not but at last to find a happy issue, to be drawn out of the mire of his sensualities, and his leprous condition changed into the consistence of restored grace; after this he sighs and groans, nor is capable of any consolation until that happy moment arrive which shall put a period to this longing demand; Et à peccato meo munda me, cleanse me from my sin.  

The Application.  
We must consider that God is purity itself, who hath nothing more in abomination than an impure Soul: That Heaven inhabited by Angels is a place of honour, where nothing defiled can have access: Wherefore we ought to apprehend any stain of lubricity; because most obstructive to our final Beatitude. First, in that it is according to St. Thomas, peccatum maximae inhaerentiae, a Sin that clings like Birdlime to our Souls, and of all others most hard to be clawed off; it resembles a Phoenix, who renews herself with the fire enkindled by the motion of her own Wings; so a person enured to that vice, even when he would give it over, and bury it withal occasion of incentives, doth often find the Coals to be blown afresh by the wings of thoughts, so that whilst we live, we ought never to be secure; since 'tis a combat of all others the most hazardous, and where the victory is most rare next, it is a sin of impudence, and when a Soul is devoid of shame, what hopes can there be to reclaim her; St. Hierom advises to a private admonition of our neighbour, and gives this reason, lest he break the curb of shame, and dwell in his sin for ever. By baptism we are made members of Jesus Christ, and the chiefest homage we can pay to him as our Head, is to preserve it unspotted from any smut of impurity: A virginal integrity is so acceptable unto God, that the Angels (were they permitted) would translate them Body and Soul into Heaven, that Death might not pray on a treasure that deserves to be immortal, wherefore let us never cease to cry with our holy Penitent; à peccato meo munda me, cleanse me from my sin.  
Amen.    

CHAP. VII.  
Quoniam iniquitatem meam ego cognosco,  
Because I know my iniquity.  
AFter all these supplications our Petitioner now comes to give a reason, why so confidently he requires an Act of Grace. At the first view, it seems a strange one, and to imply his greater guilt: It is this, because he knows his iniquity. Ignorance (where the fact is palpable) makes a great plea in offenders; our criminal on the contrary acknowledges his trespass, declares he knows what he has done, and from thence claims and pretends a rationality in his petition; had he in lieu of this, inserted a Repentance of his misdeeds, a detestation of his past failings, this might have carried some weight, in order to a remission.  
But we must reflect, injuries done to God and Man are things very disparate, and quite of another nature: For I may consider many disobligations I have thrown upon my Neighbour, and yet not retract in my will those ill Offices; because I may have received the like from him, and many humane Laws have allowed this retaliation; so that to retain a memory of the harms I have done to Man, may signify nothing of virtue, or pious amendment. But when I look upon any miscarriage in my Duty towards God, this glance must needs reproach me of ingratitude; there can be no pretence, or shadow of excuse to justify any failing towards the Divine Majesty: Since we are overwhelmed on all sides with his favours, and benedictions; whence the Sequel of such a consideration inevitably will humble, confound, and cast us upon the storms of Repentance.  
Our Petitioner therefore knowing his iniquity, virtually declares by it, he disowns what he hath done, or rather owns it to be exorbitant, and from this confession lays claim to his Justice, which upon the conversion of a sinner, engages to abolish and raise out of his memory all past iniquities.  
Because I know my iniquity: This knowledge evidences the return of Grace to his Soul. In the 35. Psalm he describes his own condition in the state of sin: My iniquities surrounded me, and I could see nothing: St. Austin exclaims against that day, wherein he committed sin, and questions whether he may call it day; since he was involved in a profound obscurity, and then he goes on, saying, he will rise, and disperse the mists of his iniquities, that he may see the fountain of all goodness.  
Our Petitioner again in the 48. Psalm gives Man (when enslaved by sin) the title of Beast, nay with something of aggravation, assimilating him to a Foolish Beast: He remembered how Adam after his fall, was clothed with Skins of Beasts; which attire was but a Symbol of his Mind bestiatized, and made Savage by transgressions.  
St. Thomas speaking of those Clouds of darkness, wherein poor sinners lie grovelling; says, it proceeds from a propension bend upon evil, aversed from God and deprived of grace: The opposite beams then, which fill our Souls with light and serenity, must needs draw their source from a love of what is good, an adhaesion to God, and a sweet repossession of grace, and in these splendours our Petitioner finds himself: First, they raise his Soul to an Object infinitely good, and amiable, and after vehement affections enkindled towards this Sovereign felicity, his Eyes are unsealed, and beholds the Ghastly shape of his sins, which cast him into exclamations against his own unworthiness, upon reiterated addresses for mercy and pardon, and at last admitted into favour; he learns by that inestimable gift (under whose Dominion he now lives) what it is to offend God, how monstrous a thing sin is, and therefore will not conceal his new acquired notions, but proclaim. Quoniam etc. because I know my iniquity.  
It was not an abstract knowledge of his iniquity he alleges, for this may consist with the most innocent and spotless Soul, and was found in Adam before his fall: But 'tis what he had learned by dear experience; he had tasted that Tree which imports knowledge of good and evil, but alas, far different from those pure Ideas, which reside in Souls that were never involved in the shades of sin; for such survey with an intellect as it were Angelical, the commands of God and in obedience to his Law make use of their knowledge, but to avoid the prevarication: But our Petitioner looks upon the deformity of sin in all its circumstances of the Abyss of ruin it draws upon us, and having with the Cananean cried for mercy, than he confesses his nakedness, than he lays open his failings, and blushes not at the knowledge of his iniquity, because they are now washed in a Crystal stream, and their past horrors serve but to raise in him a detestation of them, and to invite him at the same time to admire the Wisdom of God, that thus by his penitential acts will manifest his Justice; and lastly to praise his mercy that hath given him a perfect knowledge of his iniquity, as a certain Landmark to preserve him from future Shipwreck; because I know my iniquity.  
I remember the Prodigal Son, when languishing in misery, and perishing for hunger, pitched only upon this remedy, that he would tell his Father he had sinned against Heaven and him: In like manner our Petitioner lays aside the thought of any good he may have done, offers to the view of his eternal Father all the wounds of his cauterised Soul, and that he might engage himself to a complete discovery, confesses he is not ignorant, but knows all the Wind, and extravagant progressions of his iniquity; how they had led him from Adultery to Homicide, thence to Pride, Vanity, and Sole reliance on his own greatness and power, and when he had summed up all his ingratitudes, he gives this account, Domine opus tuum vivica illud, Lord I know my Sin. So likewise I know the temper of the delinquent, how he is composed of frailties, unable of himself to set his hand to any good work, to any supernatural motion: Wherefore he hopes this consideration may something take off, and render his deviations less irregular.  
Yet on the other side he will not flatter himself into a blameless condition, he knows a support of Grace ever attended him amidst his predominant passions, and smartest trials, by whose means he might have been victorious: This brings him on his Knees, and draws from him an humble confession. Because I know my iniquity.  
It was this knowledge fixing him on the basis of humility which prepared him for those sublime, and supernatural communications he afterwards received from his dear Creator: What are his Psalms but a Series of raptures, and celestial ravishments, a Tabernacle of sacred mysteries with which his understanding was fed; that we may see to what pitch Man is capable of arising from this knowledge of our Sins. How confidently did St. Peter persist in his denial of Christ, and cried as naturally, I know not the Man; as if he had been nursed up in infidelity: It was only the reflection upon his perfidious Crime, and a clear view of it, that brought him to himself, and sprung in him such floods of tears. What cast St. Mary Magdalen into such rigours which seem incomparable with humane Nature but a sense, and knowledge of her transgressions. What opened Heavens-Gate to the expiring Thief but this: Nos quidem digna factis recipimus; We truly receive a punishment which our crimes deserve. In a word, you shall find no remarkable change in the life of any person from Vice to Virtue, which took not its first rice from a serious consideration of their former ingratitude; and this is confirmed in the example of our Holy Petitioner; who first cries out he hath sinned, and presently hears Nathan, who proclaims a pardon, after which assurance, he sits not still, nor returns to his Vomit, but will for the future offer up as many holocausts, as before he hath had unlawful delights, he will convert the number of his sins into a greater number of virtues; and whatsoever in him hath contributed to the contempt of God his Creator, shall be employed in his service by penitential acts, that as now he sadly acknowledges his errors, he may one day be transported in the praise of the Divine goodne●…, divulge his satisfactions, the first step to which ascent he will ever owe to this lesson: Because I know my iniquity.  

The Application.  
St. Austin prescribing a remedy to siners, gives them this short Recipe, tu inde non avertas, withdraw not thy sight from thy sins: For if thou fix thy Eyes upon them, God will turn his away; but in case you throw them behind your back, than he will take a full view of them, and punish them severely in thee; the Sun setting upon a dark Cloud makes it become bright and radiant; so Almighty God laying open unto our holy penitent, the foulness of his iniquity, he cooperates with his merciful rays, surveys them, and by a true sense of his ingratitude, attracts the splendour of his pardon upon him. Let us then in imitation of our Holy Penitent not become a stranger to our own misdeeds, that so our great Judge may examine no other witnesses; an humble confession will prove our best plea, which we cannot exactly do, unless we know them, nor know them in all their colours of deformity without a high detestation of them; so that if we make a careful inquisition after our guiltiness in this life, we may hope to be warranted from a severe sentence in the next: Learn therefore to allege this powerful Topick here: Quoniam iniquitatem meam ego cognosco, because I know my iniquity.  
Amen.    

CHAP. VIII.  
Et peccatum meum contra me est semper,  
And my sin is always before me.  
AFter this declaration of our Petitioner how knowing he is in his own misfortunes, next he lays open his condition, hoping it may draw some beams of mercy and pity upon him, at least serve to warn others by his harms. My sin (says he) is always before me, sometimes as an Accuser, deposing with much vehemency every crime he hath committed, and omitting no circumstance that may render it more odious; sometimes as a Judge delivering exactly every statute he hath prevaricated, either of Heaven, Nature, or Reason, showing the punishment ordained for his misdeeds. And lastly, pronouncing a Sentence against which he hath no plea, nor evasion: Whence St. Chrysostom says, what pleasure alas can there be in sin, when the necessary consequences of it are, accusation, reproach, scandals and condemnations; all other afflictions have a remedy, this allows no truce nor respite in other tribulations (whilst our conscience is unstained) we have a Sanctuary within us, whether we may retreat, and find God, and in him all consolation; but this once forfeited by sin, what can we do? If in the Country, or City, abroad, or at home still this remorse attends us, and having fled from all the World, we find our Enemy and Executioner in our own selves, which we always drag after us wheresoever we go.  
What dreads and horrors besieged the Heart of Cain, every shadow he beheld seemed to threaten Death and destruction to him, so that his thoughts were always lodged in a Sepulchre; the memory of his crimes still rising up as witness against him, with how just reason than did St. Austin cry: Lord thou hast commanded, and it is fulfilled, that a vicious Soul proves to herself her own tormentor.  
Plato says, God hath given to the faculties of the Soul a certain Harmony, which infinitely delights, and recreates that spiritual substance, now when by inordinate actions she dissolves this unity, there must needs spring from this dissolution a great grief or anguish, though the cause be not known, as when any vital part is offended, a smart pain is dispersed through the whole Body, albeit we know not from whence it proceeds. If then this great Philosopher gives affliction as a natural effect of sin, what must he endure who hath the addition of a supernatural precept, when he looks upon it infringed, and made the Subject of his contempt; when he weighs the loss he hath made of Grace, the Abyss of misery, wherein he is plunged; certainly this must create within us a torment far beyond any impression of cruelty, or malice from abroad.  
This is the state of our Penitent; let him go where he will, he finds a Tribunal erected within him, where his Case is scanned to the full, and all his Exorbitances laid home to him; whilst he in the mean like poor Job not able to return one word for a thousand, looks about, at lest to fee some Council, but alas, every one withdraws, nay his own Conscience rises up against him.  
Paschasius upon that place of St. Matthew, where two possessed persons issuing forth from Monuments encountered; our blessed Saviour wonders why the Devils should rather inhabit corrupted Vaults, than pleasant Fields, Gardens, or stately Mansions, and at last satisfies himself with this reason, that it is a just return for those who would not relish Heavenly delights, they should be fed with Carcases, nourished with Ordure and Putrefaction, to the End their punishment may be suitable to their offence; this stroke of Justice our Penitent acknowledges his senses take in nothing, but the species of foul and cruel acts committed by him, and every glance adds a new fuel to his consuming flames; the Memory of them is so Ghastly, that were it to be his sole penalty he should think the reiteration of his crimes purchased at too dear a rate: My sin is always before me.  
We need seek no other Topics to prove the terror which remorse brings to a Conscience, than our Penitent's own words in the 54. Psalms, where he says, Discedunt in Infernum viventes, they descend alive into Hell. He thought no allusion, but to the state of the damned could reach this misfortune, so that whosoever is upon the rack of a tortured Conscience seems to anticipate his sad doom, and to find a Hell even upon Earth, and no wonder when Mercurius Trismegistus asserts, that the Body by habitual sin becomes brutish, and the Mind turns to be a Devil, which chastises and afflicts the offendor with the stripes of his own sin.  
Our sad Penitent little foresaw this Enemy within him at the beginning, his whole Solicitude was only to dazzle the Eyes of the World, by that means to stifle the dishonour might arise from his crimes. He sends for Vriah to Court, there caresses him, and all his Stratagems failing at last commands him to be exposed to certain ruin, and the drift of all this was to conceal his sin, believing could that be effected he should do well enough for the rest; but what was the event, hear the tidings Nathan brings him, thou hast done this offence covertly, and in secret; but God will publish it at noonday, and make known thy ingratitude. Behold all his policy blown up in an instant, and besides he hath this slow Executioner of his own Conscience, which like a shadow inseparably attends him, and makes him groan forth: My sin is always before me.  
Epicure was of Opinion, exorbitant actions ought to be declined upon the sole motive of fear which always invades the Minds of Criminals; this shows that nature is disordered by Evil (for this Philosopher had no other ray than that of reason) and the disturbance we find to spring from transgressions, is but an effect of nature in order to its own preservation: For who would conceive (did not sad experience render it manifest) that Man could support the constant reproaches and sharp sentences of his condemning Conscience, for the enjoyment of some slight pleasure of Carnality, Revenge, and the like: Which as a flash of lightning instead of glory and delight, leaves us to moulder away in the ashes of dishonour, and to be surrounded with torments, even before we had at a full pause tasted the cause and subject of our chastisements.  
Hence methinks Plato happily compares a person enslaved to his sensualities unto one who hatches, and nurses up a Chimaera consisting of many exact lineaments, and after a thousand complacent thoughts of this fantastic beauty, it is found at last to be a mere effect of the imagination. Our sad Penitent looking back into his life, acknowledges the truth of this allusion, he awakes as from a dream, all his past delights appear to him under no other form; only he finds the smart of his punishment to be real, and confesses his unpitying Conscience like another Caligula destroys him, not at once by a stroke of fury, but wracks him by degrees, that he might (as that Tyrant was wont to say) feel he was dying, and this in the most horrid manner to perish as it were by his own hands: Other indispositions admit some intervals, this allows no respite, the very sleep of guilty persons is filled with spectres, and frightful Ideas; witness that reproach of Mankind Nero, who confessed even when he slept the Ghost of his Mother failed not to torment him. Witness likewise our Penitent, who cries out my sin is always before me. Ah! let us then make his misfortune our instruction, to live well is the securest Bulwark against frights and terrors; a spotless Mind joy always attends, as Sorrow and Anguish are the Mates of guiltiness: And though these at present are the Companions of our Penitent, he hath yet this consolation, that the dismal shape of his sin carries him on to repentance, not to obdurateness, nor despair, and his hope is, that after they have agitated and raised the storms of sad remembrances within him, a gracious calm of pardon will follow, as well to settle peace and security in his Soul, as to banish for ever from his sight the hideous spectacle of his sins; which is now the sad subject of his complaint, and bitter remorse; my sin is always before me.  

The Application.  
St. Austin sets down the method his dear Creator held to reduce him to his duty: Retorquebat me ad meipsum ut viderem quam ulcerosus essem; He threw me upon myself, that I might in myself, as in a Glass behold how I was ulcerated and full of Sores: For this spectacle gave him at once a full view, both of his own misery and God's mercy, and both strike a terror into him; in the one, he reads the characters of his banisment, and forfeiture of his heavenly right, since nothing defiled can enter heaven, in the other, a Shoal of God's mercies appear before him, which meeting with his ingratitude make a strange Combat within him, and strike a terror not to be expressed, expecting every moment a just vengeance to fall upon his guilty head; this is the effect of sin, these are the lmps of that hideous Monster which surround a poor sinner, and keep him still awake with continual Alarms. Whence, I wonder not if Solomon proclaims non est pax impiis, that there is no peace for the wicked, because the ugly face of sin is always in their Eyes, all the rigours of Disciplines, Hair-cloths, fastings and other austerities of a true Christian Dissciple, are but toys if compared to the tortures of a wounded conscience; but to one grimace, or wory look of sin, the hissings of a Snake, stinging of an Adder, and croaking of a Toad, offend not the senses like to the dire aspect and frightful voice of sin: It was sin made Hell, Devils, and all that is terrible in nature; wherefore let us beg to be freed from this dreadful Object, and that we may never make it the subject of our misfortune, as to have the reproach of mortal sins before us.  
Amen.    

CHAP. IX.  
Tibi soli peccavi & malum coram te feci;  
I have sinned only against thee, and done evil.  
IT would amaze one at the first glance to see this clause of the petition inserted, that he who had highly injured Vriah, scandalised, and drawn by his sin the heavy hand of God upon his people, should disclaim of wrong done to his neighbour, and assert with confidence that he had offended against God alone. Nathan's Covert insinuation of the poor Man's whole and little stock wrested from him by a merciless depredation, speaks the prevarication of a precept in the second Table, which concerns our neighbour; the curses of Semei styling him a Man of blood import a charge of injuries done to Man: again, he knew the petitioned is a searcher of hearts, to whom nothing can lie hid, so as to extenuate his transgressions in the least tittle were absurd: Besides St. Thomas, says God, showers down his blessings upon Princes for the Subjects sake, so that if they abuse these gifts, they are ungrateful to God the Author of them, and injurious to the people; for whose good they are to be managed and directed. All this put together seems to reflect on the sincerity of our Penitent's proceed, and that he would disguise, if not wholly suppress a main part of his offences, yet let us examine  we censure, and I believe his confession will not be found to want the due circumstances of a true repentance. I have sinned (says he) against God alone. He considers first he is a criminal, next he beholds no power on Earth, which hath right to take cognizance of his trespass, and to carry on a complete process against him; the Holy Ghost had taught him, the anointed of God are sacred things not to be violated by any hand, wherefore since no humane Law could reach him, for that power is not supreme which is linked to any dependency: To whom can he acknowledge himself an offendor, but to him who is King of Kings, and from whom all Dominion both in Heaven and Earth is derived? He alone is his Judge, he alone can punish or save, and to his sole will he submits himself, and the correction of his misdeeds.  
This specification of his Royal dignity which exempts him from all Earthly Jurisdiction, renders him not more innocent, but rather is a circumstance of aggravation; for the perfection of the person offending, is a note of higher ingratitude proportionably to the excellency of his nature; and therefore Divines conclude the sin of Lucifer to be the most Enormous that ever was committed: First because of the excellency of his nature; next in that he directly struck at the source of his perfections, for which he ought to have been more grateful than other Creatures, having tasted more liberally than any other of his divine Favours. Lastly from the causality or consequence of his sin, which gave a rise, and was the foundation of all the evil that hath happened in the World, and in Heaven before it was created, overwhelming both Angels, and Men by his temptations; as in Tobit Chap. 4. From the Pride of the Devil all ruin and perdition is derived, and took its beginning.  
If we look upon the dignity of our Penitent, we shall find none above him upon Earth; if on the favours showered upon him from Heaven, he appears the Object of God's choicest liberalities; if on the disastrous sequel of his sin, what divisions in his Kingdom, what streams of Blood have issued from it. Hence I wonder not if St. Austin says, it is hard for Princes to commit a small offence: For the eminency of their place obliges them to so much integrity, that the least blemish in them grows up into a monstrous deformity; they are as it were the Primum Mobile, upon which all the other Orbs depend in their motion; Nay Cassidorus says it were more credible that Nature could err, than for a Prince to frame a Commonwealth different from the constitution of his own life: For he is not only a glass wherein the people contemplate the Idea or platform of what they ought to do, but a glass enflaming, and issuing forth incentives to imitation: Have we not seen a Rome warlike under Romulus, religious under Numa, continent under Fabritius, dissolute under Lucullus and Anthony, Idolatrous under Julian, and drenched in Arrianism under Valens, to show the people are always moulded into the temper of their Prince; nay think it a crime not to follow his example, and believe every leading action in him, may authorise and make good any wickedness in them. It was for this cause the Poets feigned their gods to have been vicious, that from thence they might claim a title, and right to do the like; and Terentius excuses a young man taken in adultery, because he had seen the portraiture of Jupiter representing such a posture of obscenity.  
The prophet Hoseah in his Fifth Chapter threatens judgement and ruin to Kings, who have become a Snare instead of a Sanctuary to their subjects; and St. Austin styles bad Kings the worst of homicides, in destroying the Souls of their Subjects.  
Our sad Penitent was not a stranger to his own condition, he knew well his duty to God, and how many obligations of virtue were annexed to a Crown; he therefore now alleges his regal power, not to diminish, but rather to give a full view of his transgression; by this he confesses, that he hath broke his Faith with multitudes of Men, deceiving the public opinion they had of his virtue, upon which presumption, their Lives, Fortunes, and what most dear to them, were shrouded under his guidance, and protection: By this he declares the Throne is to edify, not destroy the lookers on; for a King mediates 'twixt God and Man: Now that a Vacuum might not happen, but a happy concatenation preserved, it is as necessary a King should adhere to God, as he would have the People constantly faithful to him; a Christian Prince ought to make God, not Policy the ultimate Object of his sway; so that he must first consecrate himself, next his Kingdom, to the service of his Creator: And if he do it not, he seems to overwhelm and confound both divine, and humane Laws. By this he ackowledges his own misery, as St. Austin says, Kings are not to be esteemed happy from their conquests and success of Arms, but by using their power in the advancement of God's honour and service; if they love, fear, and reverence him, if they make their own greatness stoop and lie prostrate before his Divine Majesty; lastly, if they more value the sweet reign of virtue within them, than all the dazzling glories of their Earthly ●…ingdoms, this only makes them happy.  
Mistake not then our Penitent, he boasts not in these words (I have sinned against thee alone) his exemption from any terrene Judicature, but rather would publish by his greatness, the enormity of his crimes, how every glittering flash of his Crown, makes a new flaw in his unhappy trespass. He remembered in Leviticus it was decreed, the same proportion of Sacrifices for the Priest, as for the Universal people; and what satisfactions might then justly be required of him, into whose hands are entrusted the guidance of that chosen Nation; and to fail in so important an affair, must needs involve a greater blame. For where the Prerogative is more sublime, there the miscarriage carries with it more of deformity; as St Hierom cries: Let us rejoice whilst we ascend, but likewise beware a fall, because there is not so much contentment in the purchase of honour and greatness, as there is grief and confusion to be torn from the prossession of them. Besides such shall not only render an account of their own defaults, but also be responsible for the deviations of all those to whom they own the duty of direction and good example.  
O ye great ones, whose Birth or Fortune have made eminent in the World, take heed you be not the Subject of Jeremy's complaint; who having surveyed the Valleys, found therein a mere vacuity; from thence passing to the Heavens, he there met with a profound darkness; returning back upon the Mountains, he beheld them all in disorder. If you be Sovereign Princes meant by the Heavens, examine what Splendour hath issued from your Actions, by which your Subjects might steer the course of their lives, and be guided (free from Shipwreck) to the Haven of eternal rest: For if they lose themselves on the Sands of misbelief, or dashed upon the Rock of Vanity, unlawful pleasures, and the like; for want of your directing beams, their ruin will be laid to your charge; and were it permitted you to hear the sad complaints, and dire invectives those perished Souls do vomit forth against their Leaders, who have deceived, and tilled them on into misery, it would certainly have influence upon you, and oblige you to a greater circumspection in your ways and manner of life.  
If you own Nobility and Honour, which the Mountains personate, remember you are the Object of many inferior eyes; you are looked upon with respect, and indeed as the Glass which should convey unto them the true representation of their Prince: For he being but one, and consequently not so communicable, it is your parts who are dispersed through Kingdoms, to supply what he cannot do, to show by your Justice, Piety, Devotion, Charity, and other Christian virtues, that the practice of them can only maintain your greatness, and is the Foundation of all your hopes in another life, which Principles lively set forth in your actions, cannot but fix your dependants in a strange passion towards goodness, and ground them in a Belief, that it ought to be the ultimate scope of all their endeavours, and erterprises in this world.  
Nor are those of the meaner rank (hinted at by the Valleys) exempt from all obligation in this kind: There is not a Master of a family, but is as it were a Sovereign to those who depend on him: He ought to be the first at every pious duty, to see his little flock fed with all necessary instructions in order to what Christianity obliges them to know, and believe, to carry a watchful Eye over them, that he may know their faults to correct, their virtues to reward, and encourage; if they fail in this, they may say with David, I have sinned against thee alone: Though there be none under their roof can be a competent Judge, yet this will not render them innocent; and this our holy Penitent confesses, who in this expression acknowledges the excellency and multitude of God's favours in being a King, and consequently the highest ingratitude on his part towards the Author of them.  

The Application.  
By this clause we are further taught that if at any time we fail in our duty, the principal motive of that ressentment must be in that it is displeasing to God, whose only frown we apprehend: For when we trespass against our Neighbour, the evil is in reference to God who forbids it; whence every sinner may justly say I have sinned against thee alone: So that we ought not to regard our temporal, but eternal Penalties due to sin; for that concerns our Soul, which alone is the source of all our transgressions: Wherefore our chief solicitude ought to be for its preservation: Wherein we are to imitate St. Mary Magdalen, who pressed in her spiritual necessity, had a personal recourse to her dear Saviour, but when concerned in the loss of her Brother's life she contented herself to dispatch away a letter by a servant, insinuating by this the distinction she made between a soul and Body. I wish we might all in this follow her Example, that is, espouse the Souls interest as the main concern: Since in relation only to that we are to pronounce, tibi soli peccavi, I have sinned against thee alone.    

CHAP. X.  
 justificiens in Sermonibus tuis, & vincas cum judicaris;  
That thou mayest be justified in thy words, and overcome when thou art judged.  
OUr holy penitent tells us in this clause why he brought his guiltiness as King upon the Stage, because by it the petitioned will be justified in his words, which are these, that he will never reject a truly repenting heart, and he thinks they were never put more home to the Test than in his Person, for who can despair after his admission into favour, who had broken all the chains, and ties of duty, wherein a Creature is linked, and obliged by a most loving and liberal Creator. Besides the pardon of his ingratitude will serve as a fence against the rash judgements of the impious, who are apt to lay severity to God's charge upon the reprobation of a sinner; this makes our penitent to add, that thou mayest overcome when thou and judged; that is, when his case shall be alleged, it will stop and silence any blasphemous Tongue.  
I believe also he reflected on the promise made by God, that out of his line● should issue forth the hope of Israel, the Redeemer of mankind; and lest his sin might divert the streams of God's mercy, and frustrate his succeeding stems of that glorious offspring; he minds him first of his promise to receive with open arms the most enormous, if repenting Soul; nextt, his Foundation laid, he would insinuate, since by an act of mercy, he was again planted in the Region of grace, his hopes now are that the promises made by Heaven to him and his posterity might stand good; that their accomplishment would be a confirmation to him of a plenary indulgence, and a pledge that his punishment should not reach to so heavy a Confiscation, in order to his temporal satisfaction.  
But you must know when he says, that thou mayest be justified, etc. This particle (that) imports not the efficient cause of the precedent verse; to wit, he had sinned against God alone, to the end God may be justified; as if the motive of God's justification gave rise to his sin: No, no, it means only this, that the eminency of his condition rendered him guilty of the highest ingratitude, and since the torrent of God's mercy had born this clear away, the publication of this pardon must needs exalt the divine goodness, and testify to the World there is no iniquity so monstrous, which may not (if we will) be overcome by his mercy; whence he is justified in his words, never to be a stranger to those who return with Repentance unto him.  
How many times hath God been irritated by Man's ingratitude, nay so touched to the quick as to declare he repent to have made him; that is if God were capable of defect or change, this exorbitancy in man might well deserve such a repentance: have we not seen a Pharaoh prodigiously unmoved, insensible as a statue at the sight of miracles, which confounded all his enchanters, and false Gods; yet had not this unbelieving Prince hardened his own heart, God had reserved one greater wonder to work in his behalf, that is upon his sumission to receive him unto mercy: what can be thought of more indulgent than his amorous care and conduct of his people through the desert; and yet even when he was prescribing a Law, and Rule for the observance of their Duties, they frame Idols, and plunge themselves in transgressions of the highest nature. However he did not here forget his promise, but at the prayer of Moses reassumed them into his Sovereign Protection; the same Night which was blest with the institution of the sacred Synaxis or Eucharist, was also conscious of the horrid Treason of Judas, and yet this Monster of ingratitude according to all Divines might have sheltered himself from God's wrath by a true Repentance.  
Thus all along we see God justified in his Clemency towards sinners, so that victory must needs remain to him when questioned by blasphemous Tongues, for creating those who were to perish: A Nabuchodonozer speaks for him, a Thief upon the Cross, a St. Paul, a Magdalen, and a Million of others that have redeemed by a few hours repentance, what had been contracted in many years' impieties and wickedness.  
Our holy Penitent will also come in for a witness: First he cries what return shall I make to my God for all he hath done to me; he praises, blesses his holy name, and then lays open his enormous crimes, believing it is but reasonable to do him all right, that hath dealt to him so much of mercy; and though every thought of his sins afflicts him, yet he glories that his Creatour's goodness will appear resplendent through his deformity; he is content to become nothing that he might add the least tittle to God's Honour and greatness: He values not his own confusion, so God may be justified, and this sweet experienced truth made good, that the Divine will is that all shall be saved; and to this end, proportions sufficient means to all; so that none can perish but through their own Impenitency and Perseverance in sin.  
The Church would not style Adam's sin a happy sin, if our Redemption and the merits of Christ's sacred passion were not extenedd to all, even the highest offendor. St. Paul says, as Death found its entrance by the default of one, so life was restored by one; whence it is clear, the remedy brought to us by Christ reached as far as the Disease. St. John entitles him a Sun, which enlightens every one that comes into this World; there is none wrapped up in so black a Cloud of sins, who may not (if they will) take in the Rays of his Mercy, and by their Deliverance justify God's Promises to Man.  
In the production of every the least Creature (saith St. Thomas) the power, wisdom, and goodness of God are made manifest; how much more than are they exalted in the Transmutation of a Soul from the Privation of Justice to the Possession of a Supernatural Gift of Righteousness; whence St. Paul says, God doth predestinate us according to the council of his will, that we may praise and diffuse abroad his glory.  
Ah then, let us give unto God what is his due as near as we can; by despair we condemn ourselves, in rendering our Judge Inexorable and deaf to Mercy: By Hope animated with Repentance, we quit our scores of guiltiness, and justify the hand that wipes them off. To our justification by his grace he doth not only invite us to dispose ourselves for it, promising to refresh such as are oppressed, etc. But declares, he is at the door of our hearts, knocks, solicits, and expects but our consent to enter in, at last defies the World to object the least failing on his side, having done to his Vineyard what ever could be required to make it thrive; To conclude, God will be still justified, that sinner who doth finally perish is the Author of his ruin by his own impenitency, rejecting graces abundantly sufficient offered to him: So that in the height of his misery when it is too late, he will be forced to acknowledge; crying, O Lord, thou art just, and thy judgements equitable: That sinner again who hath imitated our Penitent, in having had timely recourse to the throne of mercy, will not blush to unfold his wickedness, since he now breathes a new life of grace, which obliges him to proclaim, how just God is in his promises, and glorious in his Mercies. That thou mayest be justified in thy words, and overcome when thou art judged.  

The Application.  
In this clause, we read the clear view our Holy Penitent had of the unquestionable proceed of God with Man; for beholding in his all-displaying Eye the ingratitude of Millions of Souls who would abuse his favours, yet did not this restrain his munificence to them; he first gave them a Being, added to this Being the exhibition of his Graces, all sufficient, nay in a greater proportion than to many of the elect; and to the acquisition of these benefits he made his only Son instrumental, by whose blood is conveyed to them a capacity of Salvation: Now if afterwards they come to perish, it is through their own malice in misusing his gracious endearments, and proving refractory to his commands, for since he had conducted them indiscriminately with the predestinate by a supernatural Providence, with which all along he obliged them, what wisdom, prudence, or justice were it to gratify Traitors (obstinate even unto death in rebellion) with his Glory: So that the motive of their reprobation is a foresight of their final perseverance in Sin; their guiltiness gives matter of God's hatred, and eternal damnation, the effect of their impenitency. 'Tis true it was not in their power to be born, or not be born; but to fight generously, or be vanquished by the Devil this depends on us: It seems unreasonable that a King opening a Tournament, and proposing a reward to the Conqueror, should admit only that person into the list whom he feresaw would be victorious: So God in Creating an infinity of persons whereof the greater part would become reprobate is not to be blamed, no more than that Prince who lets all run at the ring though it cannot be gained but by one, for if we be foiled it is by our own Cowardice and remissness. Thus the goodness of God appears in the Creation of Reprobates, and no less his justice in pouring vengeance upon them, so that he would be justified in his words, and silence any blasphemous Tongue; nay, though these unfortunate wretches miss of their particular end that is paradise to which they are created, yet the general design of their Creation, to wit the promotion of his Glory, will take effect: for after his patience hath been strained (if it may be so expressed) in supporting their insolences, he will give lustre to his Saint's Glory by the opposition of their misery; just as a Moor sets off a great beauty. Wherefore let us keep consort with our Holy Penitent, avowing his just providence, and submitting to all his Decrees, as most equitable and worthy our Adorations,  
Amen.    

CHAP. XI.  
Ecce enim in iniquitatibus conceptus sum,  
For behold I am conceived in iniquity.  
OUr Penitent here appeals to the World whether he hath not reason being reinvested with the rich ornament of Grace to stand up, and maintain God's proceed with his Creatures; to this intent he knows no better medium, than the publication of Man's corrupted Nature, brought to that imbecility, as of himself unable to give life, and birth to one good thought behold (says he) I am conceived in iniquities; that from the first instant of his conception, he is seized on by sin, and though that lineal stain be cleared by circumcision in the old Law, and now by Baptism, yet there still remains a propensity to sin, which grows up with us, gaining strength through the whole course of our Adolescence: For many years of our age are spent  we come to distinguish between good and evil; in all which time 'tis clear we follow without any stop, or haesitation the Dictamen of sense; so that at the opening of our understanding we discover a Law Anathemathematizing our former practices, the which by many reiterated, and continued Acts are so wrought into habit; that to break them, we must (as it were) mould ourselves into another nature. This considered, together with the dregs, and relics of corruption which original sin leaves behind, I wonder not if our Penitent deplore his misfortune, and hints in his Petition this memorandum; that he was conceived in iniquities.  
This Foams or scattered seed of original sin hath a double effect, one an inclination to evil, the other a drawing back, or declining from what is good: This made St. Paul confess, he found a Law in his Body contradicting that of his reason; and St. Bernard says, the sin ('tis true) may be taken away by Baptism, but to work a complete cure, that we feel no spice, nor itching of the infection, is in a manner impossible; at least it requires a long course of remedies by a constant exercise and Trial in virtuous actions: For it is an inordinate, and habitual concupiscence in the sensitive part, so radicated, that it becomes (as it were) a portion of nature: Whence Seneca affirms, virtues are rarely acquired without a Master, but we quickly become expert in vice without the help of any Teacher, which shows the pernicious consequence of original sin.  
Our Penitent had found the bitterness of it by dear experience, and this pushed him on to the reflection of a main cause of his misery; because he was conceived in iniquities.  
Yet our Penitent repines not at God's Justice herein, but submits to this smart doom, acknowledging a just retaliation; that since the Soul had been disobedient to her Creator, the Body in requital should rise up in rebellion against her, and punish her by the same Engines she had made use off in her prevarication; he doth not scan the motives why God should punish so severely many millions of innocent Souls, for the miscarriage of one Man, and though he could satisfy himself, that since original Justice had been purchased to all Adam's descendants by his obedience, it is not unreasonable to share by his fall in the pain due to his transgression: Our Penitent I say waves all argumentation, looks upon the sentence pronounced, and executed, and being a Decree from God, it must be just: His sole hope is, that this disordered, and depraved constitution in humane nature, will draw a more powerful aid, and greater compassion towards a sinner when he fails, and still the burden of his Song is, because he was conceived in iniquities.  
St. Bernard seems unresolved, and full of perplexity, when he considers Man in this tottering condition, it makes him confess, he knows not by what strange bewitching means our will impaired by sin is hampered in a kind of necessity, and in such a manner, as neither the necessity because voluntary, can plead excuse for our consent; nor the will being alured, can scarce break through the necessity; for this necessity is in some sort voluntary, it is a kind of amorous violence working by flattery, and flattering by force: Whence the Will having once consented to sin, can hardly disengage herself, nor yet finds reason enough to excuse what she hath done.  
Upon this score I wonder not to hear the plaining note of Job. Lord I suffer violence, it is only you who impose the necessity can answer for me. And a little after he cries, O thou Ruler of men, why hast thou set me against thee; all which shows the sad State of man wrought by original sin, if left to himself: for he was conceived in iniquities.  
Philo the Jew speaking of Sin gives it a Term of infinity, that being once set a flame can never be extinguished: he calls it an immortal evil, by no death, or desolation to be destroyed. The truth of this Philosophy who finds not in himself, that albeit Baptism hath cleared the channel, so as the streams of grace may run, yet there are certain exhalations which issued from that corruption always ready to fall, and embody with the currant; so that if there be not a continual care and sifting, it will be morally impossible to preserve our Souls pure, and unstained.  
Seneca says, there are certain vices which are obvious to every Eye, and to which we may be led as it were by the hand; others there are that lie lurking, and are hardly discerned, till fastened upon us; and these are the most pernicious, because against them we can have nither open war, nor a secure peace: And this truly is the genuine State of our natures from the corruption wrought in us by sin, that we are not said to be clearly sick, or well; and this fluctuancy (if rightly considered) must needs be a torment, because though we happen not to fall, yet danger still threatens, so that if we tender our happiness, we must stand upon our guard at all times, and places, because neither Heaven, Paradise, Religious Cloister, or remote Hermitage is a secure fence against sin; and a main reason to us the Children of Adam is, because in iniquitatibus conceptus sum, we are conceived and born in iniquities.  
Whilst we are environed and beset with such adversaries as our bad inclinations, who watch (as I may say) but an advantage to undo us, surely we ought to work out our Salvation with fear and trembling; St. Bernard was not ignorant of Man's inconstancy when he gave this caution; Oh (says he) did we but know, how small a portion of virtue we have, and how soon it vanishes, upon how ticklish a foundation it rests, unless the giver by a continued flux of Grace secure it to us, we would not so easily embark ourselves into dangerous occasions, for to indulge our senses, and to arm our Enemies, is the same, but a strange policy. How many who have thought themselves like Cedars elevated to a high pitch of virtue, by a presumption of their own strength through ignorance of humane frailty, and a Supine negligence, rashly engaging themselves in hazardous Trials, have been ignominiously blasted, and reduced to the condition of a contemptible shrub.  
Lucifer enamoured of his own perfections, and aspiring to a parity with God, became the most abject of Creatures. St. Peter promising wonders of his constant Fidelity, sufficiently testified by his shameful denial; what Man is in his own nature without the support of Grace.  
Our Penitent comes in also for a sad example, and hopes it will serve at least for a monument to Posterity, that they may reflect what Man is from the instant of his conception, and however he may be raised and ennobled by God's favours, yet in his 103. Psalms, he tells what he must trust to when left to himself. Auferes spiritum eorum & deficient, & in pulverem suum revertentur; upon the subtraction of thy Spirit, O Lord we sink; and resolve into the dust from whence we came, all covered, and besmeared with the stains of sin.  
St. Austin says, because Man did not what he could and might have done, now he hath a desire to that he cannot perform; losing by a will of malice the power of doing good. Hence St. Paul become as it were a captive cries, the evil I would not now I do, truly it is an expression which might terrify, were it not that a little he confesses, there is a power of grace which contradicts this predominancy of nature, and therefore in the Sixth Chapter to the Romans, he warns us not to let sin reign in our mortal Bodies; intimating hereby, the seeds of tumults and seditions be sowed within us, yet we have also arms, and strength sufficient (if we adhere to God) to crush, and frustrate all their insolences: So true it is that Man cannot be injured but by himself, to whom alone he owns his ruin if he perish.  
Thus the life of Man is become a warfare upon Earth, the Seat of many a contest, and strife; the sensitive part haling him one way, reason another, and this by a just Decree of Heaven, that since he would not have peace with God, he should have war brought to his own doors, and feel it within himself. Now to come off clear, and safe amidst so many hurley burleys, requires no small dexterity and courage: It minds me of Agesilaus answer to his friend who importuned him not to remove his Camp, though necessity urged it; because he was sick, and could not without much pain endure any motion; whereat Agesilaus all perplexed what to do cries, O how hard a thing is it to be wise, and yet compassionate. So our sensitive part made treacherous by sin, still makes its moan, fawns, solicits with importunity; and if the Will never so little condescend, Man is presently lost in sensual pleasures.  
Our Penitent had felt the smart of this Shipwreck, how soon he was overthrown by a little dalliance; and therefore exposes to the view of his Judge the source from whence he springs, and hopes since he knows his brittle substance, it may plead some inducement unto mercy, at least to a mitigation of his penalty; upon this score he proclaims, behold I am conceived in iniquities.  

The Application.  
In imitation of our holy Penitent we ought seriously to reflect upon the sad plight of humane nature wounded by original sin; so depressed and made feeble, as most Divines affirm, we cannot in any vehement temptation prove victorious without a special assistance from Heaven: For you must know, though the Will have an absolute command over the sensitive part, yet if the object be present and very delightful or afflictive, it is not in the Will's power to suppress the contentment, or anguish derived from thence to the imagination: Wherefore spiritual Men give these Rules, that we remove what we can the Object beloved, or hated from our sight, senses, imagination and thoughts; next, that we consider the little of pleasure, and multiplicity of defects which usually attend the objects of a sensual love; all which shows there is no reliance upon our own temper, and after we have practised all evasions to decline an engagement; the success (if put to the Test) must be expected from that all powerful hand which never fails to shield the humble in the most hazardous and dangerous attempts. It is humility then must crown us with Laurels;  
Amen.    

CHAP. XII.  
Et in peccatis concepit me Mater mea,  
And my Mother hath conceived me in Sin.  
OUr Penitent thinks it not enough to display his own misery, unless he relate also the condition of his Mother at the instant of his conception, and he expresses it so as if she yet groaned under the burden of original sin, when she conceived of him; and my Mother (says he) conceived me in sin: That is, had the same stains which defiled me at the First instant of my Being.  
As to this you must know in the old Law was instituted a remedy against original sin for Women as well as Men. For from the Creation of the World to Abraham's time (when First circumcision was commanded) which was above Two thousand years, we find nothing set down for the expiation of this hereditary guilt, yet doubtless as that lineal contagion was never interrupted, no more was there ever wanting a means ordained by Heaven to disengage us from it; so that it is probable after the precept of circumcision, the same remedy was continued on for women, and 'tis thought it consisted in some particular Sacrifice, though the specifical nature of the Sacrifice, or ceremony be not laid open to us: Hence it is beyond dispute, all were cleansed from this contamination, and therefore our Penitent means not by this word (sin) Original sin, but the penalty, and unhappy consequences of that sin, which are hunger, thirst, sickness, and all other afflictions annexed to a mortal life all which took not their rise but from Adam's transgression: He therefore casts this glance upon his Mother's condition to quiet himself, that if the plant from whence he springs be beset with thorns, he must not think to be decked with roses; and if it be decreed she must breed, and deliver him amidst the horrid throws of her labour, he must not think to pass the rest of his life without a sweaty brow, and a heart seasoned with cares.  
Man no sooner peeps into the World, than he speaks his own misery, and prophecies by his weeping notes this future condition; being grown up he finds himself engaged in a perpetual conflict between hope and fear: For if he be so happy as to live well, yet it must be in the midst of temptations, which oblige him still to have his arms in hand, and dangers threatening from all sides exclude security, or rest; so that in all events, Labour and Apprehensions are his inseparable mates.  
St. Paul exhorting us to wisdom, tells us the means to purchase it, by redeeming our time; and gives this reason, because the days are evil: He reflects sure upon those delicious hours we might have spent in Paradise, and which are not to be regained but by actions quite opposite to the cause of our Exile from thence: Our First Parent valued more the satisfaction of his sensual appetite, or a complacent humour towards his Wife, than he did all the pure delights; without any mixture of grief, or repentance, he might have enjoyed for many years: To recover then in some sort those years and lasting joys, we must here denounce war against our senses, denying them the least contentment; we must drag our Bodies after us, as a slave would do his Chain, that by this subjection we may preserve our obedience untouched to our Creator; and let our Soul which naturally covets Eternity, deliciate herself in ravishments proper to her spiritual substance; by this means we may strike off all the arrears of Time, which the Apostle so seriously recommends unto us.  
Now for the reason why he puts us upon this task of good Husbandry to repair our losses; because the days are evil: St. Austin tells us, there are two things (says he) which give birth to these our unfortunate days; One, the common misery of Mankind derived from Adam's sin: For cast your thoughts on the Mass of things created, and you will find none so indigent, so unsatisfyed, and reduced to such straits as Man; other Creatures are no sooner brought into the World, but nature gives them a capacity of helping themselves; Man after he is born for many years hath his understanding so tied up, that he resembles a mere Brute only surpassed by them in an industry to preserve natural life; other Creatures find here those objects which quiet all their motions; the elementary Bodies meet with their Centres which settle them in a full repose; the natural appetite of Beasts encounters that which satiates and gluts all their avidities; plants grow to a certain greatness proper to their species: Man only is the unsatisfyed Being upon Earth, for his understanding elevates his thoughts above the Heavens, and all the powers of nature; his will frames infinitely more desires than the World hath perfections; so that there being found no Object upon Earth adequately proportioned to the vast capacity of his Soul, it is necessary he still languish here in a State of dissatisfaction.  
This casts him upon so many shelves of misery, and makes him restless, hoping still to find something to allay his desires: Sometimes he fancies riches would do it, but finding them ordained to the purchase of other things, it cannot be a sovereign good; thence he flies to honour, and observing that also to depend upon the breath and will of another; he fastens on beauty, this likewise he perceives to fade, and perish by a thousand accidents; this invites him to the acquisition of knowledge, and after many a toilsome hour he finds only this proficiency, how little we are capable of, that the least plant of the Earth will puzzle and confront all his acquired Notions to render the true virtues of it: Thus he passes on from the Essay of one delight to another, still as unwearied, as unsatisfyed; and why all this? But because my Mother hath conceived me in sin: For my Mother conceiving me in sin, received by inheritance the doom of Death, and of miseries consequent to a mortal Life, and so cannot but convey the like direful effects to her posterity.  
Timon an Orator of Athens was wont to deliver so pathetically the miseries of Man in this Life, that after his Oration which he held forth in public, it was usual for many of his Audience to hasten their passage unto Death by a course of violence, some by precipices, others by water, some by poison, others by a poniard, or halter: In fine, they regarded not much the means, so it might but have the effect; that is, to rid them from the Calamities to be sustained in this life. In a word, his Eloquence wrought so many Tragedies, that the Senate was feign to make a recluse of him, that by sequestering him from humane Society they might prevent the destruction of Mankind.  
This person was an Infidel who considered only Man's corporal necessities, together with his failings in order to moral virtues, and if from this Ground he could draw such efficacious persuasions, what would he have done with the addition of our Penitent's Faith, which teaches that eternal felicity, or misery depend upon our actions here; that we lie under the Obligation of many positive precepts, against whose observance are laid continual Ambuscado's, both from the malice of Hell, deceit of the World, and our own bad inclinations; that in the midst of these imminent dangers we steer our Course to an Eternity of Joys, or Pain: What Energy I say, would this consideration add to the draught of our misery, when we not only suffer here, but suffer with so much hazard of incurring the doom of Torments without end.  
Ah blame not then our Penitent, if he set before his Eyes, and is willing also the petitioned should glance upon his condition in this state of mortality; his own reflections will serve to keep him in a wary humility checked with the frailties and inconstancy of his own nature; the notice also his dear Creator may take of what mould he is made, will stand (he hopes) in good stead, for he knows him so inclinable to pardon, that (if it may be said with reverence) he lies at catch for an opportunity to save us, and if the least hold be given, he presently fastens upon it, and hastens away (like a Soldier laden with a rich booty, of which he fears the reprisal) till he brings us to a place of security, where we shall have no more reason to fear the irregular motions of corrupt nature, no more to vent in sadness; And my Mother hath conceived me in sin.  
Holy Job that prodigy of humane Constancy amidst the smartest Trials was yet so sensible of Man's misery in this life, as to fall with bitterness upon the very day wherein he was brought forth, wishing it might perish, and never be reckoned amongst days in the course of the Zodiac; Nay he goes so far that he involves in his anathemas every circumstance which concurred to his Conception, or Nativity. Expositors of Scripture excuse these maledictions in Job, and free them from sin upon this score, that he weighing the disproportion of Man's desires, unto the objects he encounters in this life, which hold him in a continued disquiet; how naturally he sets his heart on riches, honour, beauty and other perishable goods, with what difficulty they are attained, with more preserved, and with little satisfaction possessed: Amidst these pensive Meditations beholding himself in the extremity of affliction, his sensitive part crushed even to nothing, broke forth into this seeming rage, as to fly at every thing that had a hand in leading him to so much misery: If this pattern of virtue might be allowed such Salleys that speak so much heat, without any derogation from his innocence, upon the mere consideration of that high pitch of distresses wherein he was plunged. Our Penitent having been made a prey to sin and frailty may doubtless with all submissiveness (as he doth) expose his Nakedness, as cast into the World without arms, beset with Enemies bend upon his destruction both at home and abroad▪ and in this plight all he can say for himself is; my Mother hath conceived me in sin.  

The Application.  
We are here to deplore with our Penitent the sad consequences or penalties of original sin: First, it is from thence that Men become Enemies to one another; without this sin, we had known no Tyrants, Robbers by Sea or Land, no corruption in Officers, no oppression nor injury from any person: From hence it is, that the Beasts of the Earth, and Fowl of the Air, as if absolved from their Fidelity, are in a manner no more awed by the Majesty of Man's Face. The Elements, malignant Planets, and other insensible Creatures, as if let lose to our destruction, occasion an infinity of disasters unto us: It is from hence we are stupid in our own concerns, that being in a condition even beyond imagination dangerous, we yet sport, and vainly pursue our pleasures, as if all things were according to our wish. It is from hence we are filled with self-love, pusillanimous in struggling with vice, inordinate in our pursuit of fading objects, never satisfied with our state; and always seeking a change: Our senses distract us from the meditation of heavenly things, our fancy taken up with illusions, disturb our sleep; and after a thousand other discommodities, and infirmities which usher Death, at last it comes to resolve us into corruption, worms, dust, and as it were to nothing; and all this, because my Mother hath conceived me in sin: Ah let us therefore submit ourselves under the powerful hand of God, who alone is able to conclude all our misery in Beatitude;  
Amen.    

CHAP. XIII.  
Ecce enim veritatem dilexisti,  
For behold thou hast loved Truth.  
OUr Penitent having dissected the Anatomy of Man, and left no Cranny, whereinto misery might creep, undisplaid: Now seems to Apologise for his discovery, and pleads for excuse God's love to truth: And in this point he believes he hath discharged his duty; nor doth it a little satisfy him to have done it, since it is the only thing he can now perform to repair the failing in his duty.  
First he hath made an ingenuous confession, ripping up every thought that could any ways entrench upon God's holy Law, and having thus emptied his unhappy store, without the concealment of the least corrupted grain, hear what he expects in return of this his faithful Narrative, or rather what a Sequel depends upon it. Dixi confitebar injustitiam meam Domino, & tu remisisti impietatem peccati mei; no sooner, says he, had I pronounced that I would lay open my iniquities, but I found my shackles unloosened, and the impiety of my sin wholly razed out; whence we may see how the mere intention of doing well never falls to the ground unrewarded: Which imports, God presumes we will not trifle with him, and therefore at the least overture of rendering a just account of our misdeeds, he makes us no more impious; that is, takes away all the obstacles to Remission, as impenitency, obduration, habitual impression of evil, and the like; So that if we keep touch in our promise, he will be faithful in completing his act of grace; because dilexisti veritatem, thou hast loved truth.  
Hugo Cardinal prescribes unto us verity under three considerations; that is, a verity of life, a verity of Doctrine, and a verity of Justice.  
Verity of life consists in a conformity with those Laws which God and Nature have set down for the Rule of our actions, this our blessed Saviour sufficiently asserts, when he gives the lie to him who pretends to love God, and yet not observes his commands.  
St. Thomas says, there is a law eternal residing in the Divine intellect, by which the World is governed, and that humane laws are more or less just, as they participate of this eternal rule: Hence our life if not squared out by this directive original, must needs wander, fall into error, nor can be called a life of verity; nay I know not whether we may call it a life, since Lactantius affirms, that whosoever strays out of this line, flies from himself, despises humane nature, and consequently will suffer the torture of an erroneous conscience (which is not small) though other punishments escape him.  
The First Principle then of a life of Truth, is to steer our Course in order to this universal guiding spirit imprinted in us by the light of nature; next, we are to look upon positive Laws, dictated by the Holy Ghost, and the adorable example of our Lord Jesus whose life and actions were all directed to our instruction: So that any structure erected upon this foundation, cannot prove Sandy, nor fail the bvilder's expectation.  
We find in holy Scripture frequently eternal felicity promised as a reward to good works; this the penny agreed on with those who wrought in the Vineyard insinuates, no less doth the Crown prepared for those who faithfully combat in this life; the Triumph also of Resurrection speaks as much, assured to the real, not ideal supporters of Christ's Cross: Nor is the name of Christian given us as bare lookers on, but because actually made a spectacle to God; Angels, and Men. By acts therefore of Temperance, Patience, Humility, Resignation, and other Christian virtues, we shake off (as it were) our old Natures, and become a new production created in Justice and Truth, and so become the object of God's Love; because Veritatem dilexisti, he hath ever loved Truth.  
If we look upon the unwearied labours of Men in pursuit of what may render them happy in this life, we shall find Truth to be the main scope of their aims.  
First, it is a privilege of Man's Nature, there being no Creature in the World but Man capable of truth; so that whilst we toil in the inquisition, we comply with an appetite, or desire engrafted in us, which eggs us on towards the thing that can only make us happy: For Beatitude is defined a joy in the possession of truth unveiled, and clearly discovered to us.  
Secondly, the delight we derive from the knowledge of Truths far surpasses any other satisfaction we can have in this World, because depending merely upon the intellect; it is depurated from the dregs of sense, and so more intimately affects, and transports the Soul: When by study we have attained to a Demonstration, how quiet is the understanding, freed from all mists of doubts, and uncertainty, and securely rests in the acquisition of the said truth.  
Thirdly, if I covet a Friend, I propose in this design an object of truth, and fidelity; and if I find a breast sealed with this sacred stamp, how pleasing a Sanctuary is it, where in all distresses I fly as to an Oracle, unfolding the secrets of my heart, resolving in that consistory between us two what to act, and how to steer the course of my affairs: If the tye of marriage, leagues between Nations, and Friendships are held sacred from the obligation they impose upon us of sincerity, and truth; how much aught verity itself to be valued, which gives life, and influence to this Union; since common reason teaches the stream is not to be regarded with equal esteem to the Source from whence it flows.  
Lastly, what is the final End of all Arts and Sciences, whether they ransack the bowels of the Earth, or survey the immense bodies of the Heavens, whether they examine things past or present, but truth: it sets all Men on work, and can alone render them satisfied, so that it may well be defined, the source of motion and rest.  
Our Penitent having thus run o'er the vast extent of truth, and observed how it animates the actions of Men, taketh occasion from thence to adore God's holy Providence; that since he hath obliged us to a precept of confessing, and acknowledging our failings with all integrity, and fixed it as the sole means to expiate our faults, he hath advantaged us with so powerful an inclination unto truth: For if we be born so impetuously towards the acquisition, the exhibition of it must needs flow as it were naturally from us; and it is this motive which invites him to so frequent a repetition of his offences, lest he should disguise any the lest tittle, for he knows as an exact particular of our Sins, accompanied with a perfect sorrow, is very acceptable unto God, so it is beneficial unto Man; the return of such an account being always an evenning of all scores, an abolition of past Errors, and a complete act of grace. Upon this consideration he is not affrighted, that his Sin shall be evidenced like the Sun rays to the World, and of this harsh sentence to Nature, he himself will be the Executioner, he he will promulgate his enormities, and every exhalation of infamy that shall arise from thence upon him, he will receive as a blast of Zephir, because he speaks a truth animated with Repentance, a truth which speaks What he hath been, and what now he is, to wit, an imp of perdition, and now is become a subject of mercy, because it is a Truth God will ever own in a truly repenting heart: for veritatem dilexisti, it is essential to one who hath an Eternal love of Truth.  
But it is not enough to trace the steps of of our Lord Jesus as far as he is imitable by Man, unless we lay the Foundation of a life of verity, which is done by embracing with a firm belief the Doctrine and Faith he taught and delivered to us, for it is certain there is but one God and one truth.  
First, we cannot deny this unchangeable quality of Faith to spring from God the Primary Truth, since we own him the Author of Civil and natural Laws, both which are united, and receive efficacy from the bond of Religion, f●r all things are created to the service of Man, and he to God's service; so that by an act of Religious worship, the homage of all other Creatures are involved in that of Man, and consequently Religion seems of created things the final End, and ultimate disposition unto God.  
Now the means to attain to this Truth cannot be by the strength of natural reason, for the matter of credibility is above Nature, and Man by consenting to an act of Faith is raised above himself, therefore it must be God moving us by his Grace which draws the motions of our Will to submit to his revealed Truths.  
The Centurion proclaims he believes, yet withal adds, help O Lord my incredulity, which shows though he had done all that lay in his power, yet something was wanting.  
It remains than we render ourselves fit subjects for the reception of so noble a Guest, so rich a Donative as that of Faith, the way to this preparation is, first, to practise a life of Truth that is moral virtues; next, to lay aside all prejudice, that your understanding may work with out bias, or restraint: thirdly, to examine the opinions of those whom the World hath unanimously reverenced for their knowledge, sanctity, and wisdom: fourthly, to receive the Decrees of the Church as things sacred, since she is styled in Holy Scripture, a pillar of truth, a spouse all immaculate, without any stain of error; remembering also from what authority her infallible placits flow, witness the Apostles in their first Synod at Jerusalem, who began with this Form to publish their resolves; It is judged expedient by the Holy Ghost and by us: Where you see that Divine Spirit still sways and gives life to all Articles of Faith; and indeed it was the closing farewell of our blessed Master Christ Jesus, who promised to dispatch unto them his Disciples a Spirit of Truth, to reside with and animate his Church to the World's end.  
A verity of Justice is comprehended in that of integrity of life; it being the very Nerves, and Sinews of humane Society, without which we should be like wild Beasts in deserts, no leagues twixt Nations, no amities contracted amongst Men, no traffic or commerce; so that in this sole lovely quality is seated the very life and Soul of humane conversation: For behold thou hast loved truth.  

The Application.  
We are further taught in this clause, that God hath a true Being; that is, all qualities suitable to a Divine Nature, as to be Spiritual, Independent, Immortal, Omnipotent, all good, wise, merciful, Sovereignly happy, and a thousand other attributes; so that he alone hath the verity of a Divine Being. Whatsoever is imaginable and worthy of God, this is in him in a Sovereign degree of perfection; Nay whatever his infinite understanding can conceive, this he enjoys without any diminution or reserve: So that when our Petitioner points unto us how God loves truth, he means that he loves himself, and if herein we play the apt Scholar, placing our affections on that inexhausted source of Beauty, we shall then move according to the verity of humane Nature; For our Being is to be reasonable, and what can more decipher the Truth of our reason, than by a disdain of this World, to aspire unto him who is the final end in which we are to rest, and for which we had our Being. May our hearts then be ever fixed on this eternal verity;  
Amen.    

CHAP. XIV.  
Incerta & occulta sapientiae tuae manifestasti mihi,  
The uncertain, and hidden things of thy Wisdom thou hast made known unto me.  
WHilst our Penitent with delight descants upon God's love to truth, it were (he thinks) impious in him to stifle this great truth, that he hath called him to his Council, unbreasted to him secret and hidden things, and enriched him with the high Prerogative of Prophecy.  
Ah what a change in this Holy King; not long before when Nathan laid before him his offence under the shadow of a poor Man violenced in the depredation of his only sheep, he is dull, unfolds not the mystery, and little dreams (though it were plain enough) himself is pointed at, by which we may see what a mist of ignorance, as well as other mischief's sin draws along with it. But now he transcends the limits of natural knowledge, owns an irradiation of supernatural lights, and a capacity of discerning not only what is past, or present, but what is to come, and this in the secret, and uncertain things of God's Wisdom.  
It is true there is required in that person, who is made a repository of Prophetic Truths, that he shine with integrity of life, have an absolute command over his passions, and possess a Mind elevated and fitted to contemplation. Yet God is not tied up to previous dispositions by degrees, but can in a moment both prepare, and render perfect that party he designs for such a dignity; as he hath done in the person of King David, and so, as to make him one of the most accomplished Prophets that ever was: For there is a great disparity in prophetic irradiations, some are imperfect lights, and improperly called Prophetic, as what may proceed from an evil spirit, or from nature, as that of Pharaoh when he saw oxen, and Ears of Corn, not knowing from whence that vision might come, or whether he was sleeping, waking, and the like.  
Another degree more elevated is, when a ray is infused by which I certainly comprehend that which I see only by a species imaginary, such is Joseph's case, who had an assured knowledge of what he saw, that is, the signification of them, whence he is more justly called a Prophet than Pharaoh, who only saw, and knew not what they signified.  
A Third degree more perfect is, when there are both an impression of species, and sensible representations, as also an infused light, by which I can judge of the verity of the thing displayed before me; as Daniel could tell the King his Dream, and what it signified; for the Corporeal forms were fixed in his Spirit, and the meaning of the●… revealed in daniel's Mind.  
The last and noblest degree is, when a Truth is represented to us by species intelligible, and a light infused Superadded, which enables me infallibly to judge of what is represented by them, without any external medium of word, fact, or imaginary Vision; and this last irradiation Cassiodorus ascribes to David, whence he entitles him the most eminent amongst all the Prophets.  
But it will more recreate us to know what are those uncertain, and hidden things laid open to him, than the manner how it was done: Some opinionate it was the Creation of the World, where the wisdom of God appears glorious in the admirable reduction of a confused Chaos to light and order: In the contrivance of the Heavens, that such vast, and numerous Bodies should keep constant, and uninterrupted motion, without any jarring, or hindrance to one another in their Rapid Course. In their Sovereign influences conveyed incessantly to inferior things: In the prodigious fixation of the Earth, poised, and sustained by its own Centre. In the rare virtue of its plants, in the variety of Creatures in the Air, Earth, and Water. And above all in Man the Epitome of the Universe, to see him sway as Sovereign, and by his reason to quell the fury, strength, and cunning of the most savage beasts. To behold the revolutions of Cities, Kingdoms, and Empires, the strange vicissitude of humane things; to day a City swelling in pomp, and magnificence, not long after become a fallow Field; an Emperor weeping in that there is no more Worlds to conquer, hath been seen to perish howling, dispatched away by a few drops of poison; on the other side, another is beheld drawn from a dunghill, set on a throne, and to Reign wrth that felicity as if Heaven and Earth were held in fee to make him happy. Here a person drenched in a life of Sin, and impiety upon a sudden becomes a Saint there, another endued with grace, and virtue, whom the World Eyes not but with a kind of veneration, by a little presumption of his own strength and merits, falls to nothing, and proves an Imp of darkness. To contemplate I say all these works in Nature, all the strange events of humane actions, and all managed by the Divine wisdom, so as to make a Harmony to God's glory, and out of the clashing and thwarting malice of Men, to draw good; who would not be ravished at such a prospect? And confess with transports, they are truly secret and hidden effects (as to man) of an allseeing, inscrutable and increated wisdom. So that with unspeakable delight our holy Penitent repeated oft this Verse, the uncertain, and hidden things of thy wisdom thou hast revealed unto me.  
Others (and more happily I believe) say, those communications were the Incarnation, Nativity, Passion, and all the other mysteries which relate unto the humanity of Christ; and doubtless the contemplation of those mysteries clearly objected to him, could not but strangely regale his mind, to consider an infinite Being from all Eternity Sovereignly happy, in the perfect enjoyment of his blessed self, to be Hypostasiated in humane Nature, and that this compositum of so many perfections should be born of a Virgin, have no other palace than a poor stable, no other Courtiers then simple beasts, from whose Breath he must borrow a little warmth to preserve him from the rigours of the season, that a bloody design is hatched against him, to avoid which he must fly by Night into Egypt, through Cold and other dangers, attended only by his apprehensive Mother, and her faithful Coadjutour St. Joseph, amidst these uncomfortable reflections; surely our Holy Penitent failed not to remember the homages done to him, by the Angels, and Kings, that he might see he still intermixed the Splendour of his Divinity, with the Eclipses wrought, and cast on his Humanity.  
From thence he carries on his thoughts to Christ's Sacred Passion, where he lanches himself into an Ocean of misery; not a drop trickles down of his bloody sweat, but it makes him sink; he distinctly ponders every blow lanced at him, every scorn, and every Calumny: He numbers his weary steps, whilst he is haled from one Tribunal to another, he foresees the shameful flight of his Apostles, and how he is abandoned in distress by his nearest, and dearest Friends.  
Thus he sifts every particular passage of that Sacred Tragedy, and were it not he is sustained by the consideration of its immense Fruit, to wit, the redemption of the perished World, he would have showed by his compassionating Death, too much was revealed unto him, to be at once the Subject both of his knowledge, and life.  
Now that this expression of our Penitent doth quadrate with these mysteries; you must observe, that the second person of the blessed Trinity is styled the Wisdom of the Father, because produced by an act of his understanding, and though his Incarnation were certain as decreed from all eternity, and foretold by many Prophets, yet it was uncertain as to the precise time, and secret as to the manner of his coming, and particular occurrences of his life; it is true, both were couched in some prophecy or other, but so obscurely that the most learned could not dive into them, until he came himself to unread them by his painful accomplishment, and fulfilling of them.  
Again by the uncertain things of his wisdom imparted to him, he insinuates a further knowledge as to this; that it is not known to any in this life, whether they are worthy of love or hatred: Almighty God (by a special providence no doubt) having kept this shut up from us, that whilst we lie under an awful fear, it might abate our pride, and presumption. Now the Clouds of this uncertainty were dispersed as to him, assurance being given that his sin was removed, and the Anathema annexed to it taken off, and what greater evidence that he is readmitted into favour, than the entrusting secrets to him, than his exemption from the Common Laws, set down by Providence for the conduct and guidance of Mankind. These Reflections make him cherish with unspeakable satisfaction his privileged notions, nor do they carry him to vanity, but to bless the source from whence they flow, since gratitude exacts that tribute from him, to whom thou hast laid open the uncertain, and hidden things of thy wisdom.  

The Application.  
Here we may observe, in what awe and terror our Holy Penitent remained after his transgression; that though the Seal was set to his pardon, yet he thought this gave him no right to his former prerogative, whose restitution he dares not ask, he only presumed to repeat them to his dear Creator, that he might read therein his ingratitude, who enriched with supernatural gifts, reserved for his choice favourites, and by means of which endowments he might have proved a saving Star to guide others to Heaven; yet he hath not made use of them but to inure the Author of them, and there wrought his Ruin, where he might have erected to himself Trophies of glory; Next he made this Repetition, that he might ruminate upon the sad consequences of sin; which so altars a Man that God himself knows him not: This is manifest in the Gospel, where God said to the foolish Virgins, and to those who had wrought miracles in his name; Nescio vos, I know you not: Again, Adam after his sin seemed to be lost to God who made enquiry after him; Adam where art thou? which imports, I placed thee in prosperity, and content, but find thee now in wretchedness and misery. So our Holy Penitent minds his dear God of the blessings he had once showered down upon him, and being so signal, as few besides since the World's Creation could boast of the like; he hopes, being now again admitted to his presence, he may not only be revived in his memory, but restored to his former endearments, to which he disposes himself by this bashful expression; thou hast O Lord made me happpy by the Communication of the secret and hidden things of thy wisdom.    

CHAP. XV.  
Asperges me Hyssopo, & mundabor,  
Thou shalt sprinkle me with Hyssop, and I shall be cleansed.  
OUr Holy Penitent replenished with a Prophetic Spirit, seems how to breathe nothing but Divine Truths, nothing which issues not from such inspired lights: Behold wherefore he speaks at present in person of the Church, and forespeaks the Oeconomy God will practise in the guidance of her. Thou wilt sprinkle me (says he) with Hyssop; that is, pressures will fall upon me from all sides, for it is proper to Hyssop to be of a small growth, to take root in Stony and Rocky places, and its virtue is Sovereign against tumors, and swell.  
First then, Christ beset his Church with Hyssop, when he planted her in himself the fruitful Womb of all her productions; hear his Lesson, Learn of me that am meek, and humble of heart; from such a stock what can be expected but lowly shrubs Hyssop like; he instructs his Apostles to bear the innocence of Lambs amidst ravenous Wolves, the simplicity of Doves amidst wilily Serpents; he bids them overcome Tyrants by sufferings, opprobries, and contumelies by a patiented silence, the glory of great ones by humility, and the wealth of the World by Poverty.  
With these arms the wisdom, power and greatness of the World have been laid prostrate, and the humble Cross of Christ erected in Triumph, Maugre the malice of Hell and Idolators: After Nero, Decius, Seperus, Maximian, Diocletian had raged, and breathed from their Nostrils, death and destruction to the harmless little ones of Christ, affrighting them with fire, Wheels, Gridirons, Gibbets, Lions, Vipers and innumerable other tortures, what was the event? Julian the last and greatest persecutor, confesses he hath lost the day, and that the Contemptible Nazarean I remained Victorious.  
St. Paul gives but a touch, yet a dexterous one, and represents to the life the posture wherein God hath founded his Church. God (says he) seems to have marked our us Apostles unto Death, for we are made a spectacle to God, Angels, and Men; we suffer hunger and thirst, we are reviled, and buffeted, we are tossed up and down, hurried from one Tribunal to another, we are laden with maledictions, and in requital distribute blessings, we are plied with persecution, but sustain; we have blasphemies thrown at us, yet we pray, and petition in behalf of the Authors; in fine, we are looked upon as the soum of Mankind, and become as the mockery of the World.  
Behold the Epitome of a life Apostolical, and the maxims to which the Primitive Christians conformed themselves, by which you may judge how pat the allusion of Hyssop is applied to the Church; for what is more abject, and despicable than the institute of Christianity, nay it was the usual argument of Infidels, towards any person of eminency embracing Christian Religion, to reproach them with the baseness and contemptibility of it.  
The Rocky foundation also which gives life to the Hyssops Root, is no less suitable, if you reflect upon the promises made to St. Paul when first he listed himself under Christ's banner: Ananias was to be the bearer of his letters Patents, the substance of them was, that he should see what sufferings he must wade through for his Name, and how punctual God was in the accomplishment of his word, his own Epistles sufficiently declare; that from the time of his conversion, he had constant supplies of tribulations, from his unwearied preaching of the Gospel, unto the Snares and malice of false accusations; from thence to Prisons, then to Chains, Opprobries, and lastly, to a public Death in the Capital City of the World.  
Now that he alone was not doomed to these sad Catastropheys, he tells us into what confusion poor Christians were universally in all places cast; some lurking in Dens, others flying into deserts, some groaning under want, others exposed to scorn, and contempt; of whom the World (says he) was not worthy; then he enumerates a multiplicity of horrid tortures which ushered their ignominious deaths: And these outrages were not confined to any one Province, or City, but executed throughout the whole habitable World; and to that height, as one day was witness of a hundred thousand who were Sacrificed by the rage of Tyrants; nay they fancied their work so completely finished, that Trophies were erected with this Inscription, To the August Caesar Diocletian, by whom Christian Religion is abolished, and the worship of the God's improved.  
These were the flinty soils which gave life, and growth to Christian Religion; amidst these stony trials the Church hath still kept herself firmly rooted, in despite of all the storms, tempests, and whirlwinds of persecution.  
The third property of Hyssop (that it is medicinal) may justly be consigned to the furious assaults framed and put in Execution against the Church, as St. Austin says, Tyrants could never by obsequiousness and favour have so much contributed to the good of Martyrs, as they did by their bloud-thirsting cruelties: St. Paul glories in his tribulations, and makes of them a ladder to lead him as it were by degrees unto Christian perfection; whither he is no sooner arrived, but his thoughts are filled with the expectation of a reward: Nay he terms it a Crown of Justice as if every stroke of Persecution had contributed to the making up of his Crown, unto which he had a right, and just claim, since hammered and completed by his patiented sufferings. This same Apostle bids the Hebrews look back upon those past days wherein they had sustained immense Combats for the name of Christ, as if those pleasing remembrances had been able to charm the most bitter afflictions: Nay he thinks it a happiness when no burden was laid upon themselves, if they did but converse, and hold Society with the oppressed, as if from them must needs issue forth some communication of what is good.  
When our blessed Saviour had foretold to his Disciples the scandals of his passion, and how the World would allot the same measure to them, he gives the reason why these sharp decrees are made, because (says he) you should fly to me for Sanctuary, and only within my arms seek consolation, and security: St. Austin conformably to this Doctrine confesses Job to have lost all that God had given him, yet he retained him from whom he had all; to wit, God our Lord (says he) hath given, our Lord hath taken away, the name of our Lord be praised. Afterwards St. Austin rapt as it were into admiration cries; behold a Man with a Body mangled, yet entire, full of corruption, yet comely, wounded, yet without a sore, sprawling on a dunghill, yet powerful in heaven: Hence you may gather the exuberant Fruit of this sprinkled Hyssop, not a drop of it falls, which carries not along with it a virtue, that transcends the malignity of persecution, and the rage of Tyrants.  
Who would then repine at adversity, since Heaven hath laid it as the foundation, at least medium to eternal felicity. You that are poor tell me what you do want if you have God; and the rich what possess they without God. St. Paul relates how the Hebrews with joy sustained the rapine of their goods, because they knew there is a more lasting, and incomparably better inheritance prepared for them.  
You that bewail the loss of a Friend, remember he was not born to live always here, and perhaps was taken away lest malice might have seized him: Besides, if you truly love God, you cannot be afflicted at your Friend's Death; since you know, if he perish not to God, he cannot perish to you; and he alone can never be deprived of what is dear to him who makes God the Centre of his happiness, and places all that is precious in him, since he is not lost unless we will.  
If you groan under an infirm constitution know, you should not desire to enjoy life, but according to the tenor of its grant; we breath under constellations which by their several influences create different humours, and distempers, and this is convenient to the good of the Universe, unto which particular and private interests must give place. Besides, we learn by experience, that since we can break and thwart our inclinations upon the score of health; we may likewise do it from the motive of virtue and piety, we hold it an act of Religion to wean ourselves from sensual delights for the love of God; let then resignation make that voluntary, which accident, or some providential decree hath reduced to a necessity: you ought not therefore to calumniate this or that cause of your sickness, but take it as a present from a most merciful and benign Parent, ordained either for chastisement of your sins, or trial of your virtue; this flatters not the unhappy humour of Avarice, Ambition, Lubricity, and the like; every access of a Fever or other smart pain, sets before us the lively Image of mortality, and gives assurance we must one day quit all our Worldly interests.  
It were not amiss also, whilst our indisposition renders us unfit for humane Society, that we fancy ourselves as dead, and consider what will be done in the World without us; it subsisted before we were, so will it remain when we are gone: Who now seem so united in friendship, that the thought of separation is horrid as Death, will when a few days are slipped over after your Funeral, seek other alliances, and if by chance your memory be revived by any Casual discourse, they will afford you a sigh perhaps, and say you were good, or wise, or valiant, or fair, or some such Epithet you might deserve; and is this worth all the labours and hazards we run amidst a Million of designs in this uncertain life? how blessed then is that sickness whose pains lead to Salvation, and how fortunate that war which ends in eternal peace!  
If the walls of a Prison affright, propose to yourself those immense spaces above the Heavens designed as a praemium of your restraint; 'tis true for the present you are deprived of a little fresh Air, and of some other contentments depending on Liberty, but he that trafficks for so great a purchase as eternal felicity, may well venture something on the score of persecution: How many disasters and Ambuscado's of Enemies have been avoided by Captivity, what a change hath it wrought in many, who by a necessity of Recollection, have become supereminent Contemplatives, and enlarged their Minds by Spiritual entertainments, more than they could forfeit by the denial of their Body's liberty: You are there free from Envy, or detraction, it being rare to find malice, or cruelty to rage upon the prostrate: A life in such a place is seldom attended on by scandals, because adversity is the Companion; a Mistress excelling in the ways, and maxims of goodness: Nay could we fancy the World (as really it is) but a Prison, we should rather think we have made an escape from Thraldom, than lost our liberties.  
Thus we see the sprinklings of Hyssop, that is, the Seeds of Humility, Patience and Constancy in the profession of Christ, have furnished the Church Universal with Champions, and every her particular Soldier in all encounters with Rules, which if exactly observed cannot but end in Glory: So that our Penitent hopes, if once bathed in these purifying streams, he shall be cleansed, and become an Object pleasing to the all-pure-Eye of his Creator: Wherefore with Reason he inserts this clause, sprinkle me with Hyssop and I shall be cleansed.  

The Application.  
In imitation of our Holy Penitent. we are to covet the bitter draughts of contradictions in this life, denying our Will what sensuality prompts us to, that we may have a full swinge of our desires in the vast course of Eternity; tribulation is the securest clue to be directed by, in ease and pleasure, virtue must needs run a great risque; Fire in its own Sphere conserveses itself without any fuel to maintain it, so virtue would have done in Paradise, where the Goods of the Body concurred with those of the Soul, but this Concord was dissolved by sin. St. Ambrose likewise says of Job, that he had showed himself a valiant commander in peace, but not a conqueror in War, and that his troubles and afflictions purchased unto him the Palms of a complete Victory: For Earthly Crowns are made of Gold, but Heavenly Diadems of the Thorns of tribulation. Ah then let us aspire after these.  
Amen.    

CHAP. XVI.  
Lavabis me, & super nivem dealbabor,  
Thou wilt wash me, and I shall be whiter than Snow.  
OUr Holy Prophet thus purified, and calcined in the Furnace of adversity will not rest there, but is ambitious of a further sublimation, he beholds himself much refined, the dross of many frailties separated from him by temporal chastisements, and in this harsh School he hath learned a profitable Lesson; which is, not to advance in a spiritual Course is to lose ground; wherefore these sprinkling dews of Grace do not satisfy, he must be washed o'er and all-bathed in streams of Martyrdom; this will give him a tincture outvying the purity of Snow; this will consummate all his labours, and set on him the last and highest stroke of perfection. Thou wilt wash me, and I shall be whiter than Snow.  
It is pleasant to read Seneca, and other Philosophers in this point of Sacrificing life for a public interest, or on the score of friendship; they always place this action amongst the most Heroic, whereof Man is capable in this life. The Romans had several solemnities to eternize the memory of such as lost their lives in the service of the Republic. The Grecians employed all their Eloquence in setting out the Glory of those who died for their Country, believing that Souls separated from the Body upon such a score, were depurated and free from the mixture of any inordinate desires, or affections; and consequently are disposed to receive the highest beatitude that a created substance can attain unto. Xamolxis of Greece for his Wisdom was by the Egyptians ranked amongst the gods, whose memory to the Grecians was so Sacred, that yearly they sent one of their most learned Doctors to be Sacrificed before his Shrine, and at his departure towards Egypt, the other Collegiate Philosophers were all oppressed with grief, each one repining he was not worthy to be chosen for so glorious a design. The reason why this Opinion grew so prevalent amongst them was, that love and respect is best expressed by an act of homage and Sacrifice, now by the oblation of life, we at once give up all our interests of honour, pleasure, or what ever we can pretend to in this World, and witness in that action, we more value the cause for which we suffer, than our own Being, and in a manner do declare the person for whom we die, to have a perfect Dominion over us, and destroying ourselves would insinuate that we are nothing, at least willing to become nothing; so we may but pay to the Object of our loves the tribute of glory and greatness.  
The generous Heart of our Petitioner had trampled under his Feet the Enemies of God's people, he had purchased many Laurels by his active fortitude; and passing from thence to the passive part, he had manifested by his patience, and perseverance, he wanted not this more noble branch of fortitude; and that he might crown all his victories, he now contracts all the circumstances of a complete magnanimity in this Petition, that he might give up his life, and make a public satisfaction for the injury done by his Exorbitancies to his dear Creator. Thou wilt wash me, and I shall be whiter than Snow.  
He knew well this supereminent degree of fortitude, which gives a check to Audacity, nor permits its Salleys beyond the limits of a just moderation, and which charms likewise the retiring spirits of fear, and makes them return to their first stations, there to stand upon the defensive, is a virtue too sublime for Man, if considered within the verge of his natural force, and abilities: For martyrdom implies a profession of the true Faith which none without a divine Aid can perform: It being necessary to an Act of Salvation, that it be accompanied with th● power and means of Grace, wherefore he places the Energy of this Action in the Author of Grace, and cries; O God, if you will wash me, that is, if you will shower down the dew of your Grace, I will dispose my Soul for the reception, and so manage the gift; as every reproach, every stroke of the Executioner, every drop of Blood drawn from my Veins, shall have its effect of expiation, to cleanse my stains, to purify my Soul, and give it a whiteness which will surpass that of Snow.  
Again though the Psalms of this victory be never so precious; yet unless a storm of Tyranny convey them to him, he can only languish in desire: For the infliction of Death must come from another's hand, his part in this combat must be only to accept, and suffer: 'Tis true the Holy Ghost proclaims, that violence must bear away the wreath of this immortality, but it is understood a violence not so much active as passive: We must stoop to oppression, become a play-game, and mockery of the World; we must tune forth the praises of our Creator, more by expiring than speaking, and from these black mixtures of cruelty, will result, as from the Phoenix ashes, a production far beyond what we could even hope for in recompense. You shall wash me, and I shall be whiter than Snow.  
We must not doubt but the Soul of our Petitioner ambitious of perfection, had all the internal affections which move to this end, as charity, obedience, religion, faith, hope, and an heroic fortitude. The first to wit charity raises him to acts of love, by which God is more prizable to him, than his own life, or any other thing imaginable: Next, this amorous contemplation was accompanied with a perfect submission to the decrees of Heaven whilst Semei threw stones, and curses at him, he kept close to this principle, forbidding any punishment to the Actor, lest (says he) God may have ordained it for his trial or chastisement of his Sins; and what he Wills is just, and aught to be the Rule of our obedience without any dispute, or haesitation. The third ingredient to this dye of purity, is Religion; by which we are taught to pay the tribute of excellency and respect unto God, as the Sovereign Author, and Primogenial Source of all Being's; other Creatures who cannot comprehend the infinite perfections essentially seated in God, have a right that their wants be supplied by our Piety; so that we have a duty of acknowledgement not only for ourselves, but in behalf of every thing created to our Service; by an act then of Religion we return our own Being, and all other Being's likewise of the whole World into his Hands from whence they came, to be disposed off as he pleases, that as we hold it from him, so we would not enjoy it but for him, and this from two considerations; the one, of God's immense greatness and Majesty, the other of our own smallness, or rather nothing; as to the one, our Penitent defies any Being to compare with God, he confesses the Earth, Seas, and Heavens lie at his beck; that his Enemies he disperses, as the Sun doth the Shades of Night, and having thus exalted his unmeasured greatness, he then religiously exposes himself before him, acknowledges he is a worm, and not a man; and if a man, the very outcast, and opprobry of Mankind: He presumes to question God what man is, that he should deign him a glance of his careful Eye; and declares his opinion that he is but a piece of vanity, an empty outside, a heap of dust, and therefore it is but just in him to honour the Majesty of God by a profusion of what he enjoys, and that his Being can never be put to a better use than by annihilating itself (if possibly) to witness by that submission the immense perfections of his Creator.  
His fortitude in attempting great things needs no dilucidation, the Sunbeams are not more conspicuous; what Nation hath not received the History of his deeds together with the tidings of Christianity, where also is set forth his patience in adversity, in many rebellion's unnatural stratagems, and implacable hatred of Saul against him.  
For his Faith in Christ, amongst all the Prophecies of a Messiah his Psalms excel in delineating, and issuing a lively Character of all the passages of his passion: So that all these virtues could not spring but from a hope of enjoying one day that Sovereign good, for whose acquisition he was ready to Seal all these actions with his blood and life.  
I confess this tincture of Snow to arise from a bloody stream might seem a wrested interpretation, were it not that a passage in the Apocalypse doth clear it, where it is said; they whitened their stoles in the blood of the Lamb; that is, the effect of this ablution gives innocence, wipes off like Baptism all the spots of Gild, or Pain, so that once dipped in this Lavatory, he may justly promise to himself a lovely Grain far surpassing that of Snow.  
Wonder not then if our Petitioner touched with a sense of his transgressions, and frighted with the memory of that condition wherein he had been plunged, should aim at the glorious Palms of martyrdom both to secure his pardon, purchase a complete abolition of his Faults, and make himself a perpetual Sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving to his dear Creator. Lord thou wilt wash me, and I shall be whiter than Snow.  

The Application.  
Let us by the example of our Penitent thirst after these purifying streams, one boisterous billow of Persecution carried home to the struggling Patient, will have more virtue than all the waters of Jordan; St. Gregory saith, that the departing of the Body from the Soul is but a shadow, but the departing of a Soul from God is a sad Truth: And as a shadow is refreshing in Summer, so is Death to the Righteous, especially if voluntarily accepted, and inflicted upon the account of a pious cause. But since this Crown is out of our reach, and depends upon another's severity, we must be thus severe to ourselves, as to put on an undaunted look against any difficulty which may obstruct our Salvation, or advancement to p●…fection, and resolve to suffer or overcome them, either of which we may, by the aid of Grace never wanting at a pinch. Next, we must rejoice when harassed with adversities, it is St Luke's declaration of the Apostles, that they returned from Tribunal seats with joy, having been made worthy to be there reviled and scorned for the name of Christ; and truly Saints have seemed to measure their hopes of glory, according to the proportion of their sufferings: Lastly, we are to expose ourselves to hard and painful things for the spiritual good of our Neighbour; if we strengthen ourselves with these arms of fortitude, we shall be fitted for that last and most glorious proof of valour, at least secure an immense reward to ourselves.  
Amen.    

CHAP. XVII.  
Auditui meo dabis gaudium & laetitiam.  
Thou wilt give unto my hearing joy and gladness.  
WHen the Church proclaims the sin of Adam happy, in that it merited to have such, and so great a Redeemer; Methinks it hath some resemblance w●th this clause of our Petitioner, where he promises to himself joy, and gladness; as if they were a necessary consequence to repentance. In the precedent verse he minds his Creator of the Rules he hath set down to purchase innocence; to wit, by temporal adversity, here he opens the secret of God's working with a justified Soul, which is to fill her with jubilies, and consolation.  
For when Almighty God enlightens our understanding to consider his greatness, providence, goodness, and his other perfections; and when he gives a touch to our Wills, imprinting in them holy impulses of fear, hope, love, and the like; by which we are excited and enabled to frame and execute holy and pious resolutions, he doth not this by a way of violence, as a stone is taken up from its Centre, but by a way of sweetness, he governs and changes our inclinations, if we do not prove too stubborn: So that the first step to our justification is not made without the concurrence of our Wills; and questionless it is no small subject of joy to reflect that we ourselves have been Actors in this great work of our justification; which exceeds the Creation of Heaven, Earth, and all that is comprised in Nature; for though we own to God all that we have, yet that his liberality may take its desired effect, this he will have depend upon us; to the end by working our Salvation, it might prove an honour and satisfaction, in that we ourselves have contributed something to it by the consent of our free will, by which we can claim the actions we do to be our own.  
The next branch of joy and gladness in a justified Soul, is the access of grace, a supernatural form infused by God, by which we are raised to a supernatural Being; that is to say, a new Being, more prizable than an intellectula, or reasonable, than Angelical or Seraphical considered precisely in the order of Nature: Because Grace gives a new birth to the Soul, and communicates unto her a new Being which is called Divine; in that the Soul receives from it a resemblance unto God after a manner extraordinary, whose more perfect knowledge is reserved for the light of glory, which will make the discovery unto us: All we can now say is, that no sooner this divine gift inhabits our Souls, but we are designed to eternal beatitude: Almighty God beholds us with an Eye of satisfaction, as his Children received into his Family, as Solomon says, by grace we contract an eternal alliance with God.  
St. Thomas styles Grace a participation of the Divine Nature; for what the Divine Nature doth in God, the same Grace by imitation doth in a Soul; as the Divine Nature is in God the cause of his most transcending actions; to wit, love and union: So Grace in a Soul is the spring of glory, beatitude, supernatural knowledge and heavenly affections, by which she regulates all her works, according to integrity and holiness: Nay God obliges himself to give a Soul that can plead the title of Grace, the Kingdom of Heaven, and possession of eternal bliss.  
No wonder then if after the sprinklings of Hyssop, that is penitential tears, our Petitioner, expects a Harmony of joy and gladness, since the divine quality of Grace purchased by repentance is attended on by so many advantages: What matter of joy to be spiritually regenerated, the Son of God, the Brother, and Coheir with Jesus Christ! wherefore St. Leo says, this gift of being the Son of God, to be authorized to call God Father, exceeds all his other liberalities; for by generation a Father communicates his Nature to his Son, producing him in species alike: So by Adoption, he that adopts gives unto a stranger in desire and affection, what he is in himself, attributing unto him the prerogative of a Son, entitling him to all his inheritance, the same as if he were his Son by Nature; now what Man doth to another out of affection, God doth in effect: For imprinting Grace in a Soul, he gives himself, and is really in her; insomuch that were it possible, God could be not immense, Grace would render him afresh present to and in the Soul.  
Certainly if ever that saying was verified, where guilt hath reigned, there grace did yet more powerfully sway, it was in the person of our holy Petitioner his raptures, and Enthusiastic throws, his prophetic notions; Nay God's own Testimony of him, that Repentance had moulded him even conformably to his own Heart, sufficiently proved his Soul to float in floods of Grace, and consequently must needs swell with a great portion of joy; therefore with just reason he proclaims, thou wilt give unto my hearing joy and gladness.  
Again this possession of Grace is accompanied with the expectation of a Sovereign good: For the understanding enlightened by Faith, knows that Mans' Beatitude is in God, that this Beatitude is promised him as his final end, and the means to attain unto this End is by Grace, and acts of virtue; So that he enjoys it not but upon the terms of being one day eternally happy; this certain expectation of Beatitude, St. Bonaventure calls the Anchor and basis of Man in this life: It keeps him from dejection, placing still before his thoughts an infinite good, and which is infallibly to be the abject of his future acquisition; it chokes presumption, casting him upon the mediums ordained to lead him to this end; it draws his affections from terrene things, and raises them to God as the supreme object alone worthy to be loved, and served.  
What joy then to have our Wills carried on by this gift of hope, which sweetly entertains us in the contemplation of Eternity, and this not as a thing doubtful (for what would Cloud the severity of our comfort) but as a reward to which we are entitled by grace, and of which by this virtue of hope we have an earnest and pledge. St. Paul to the Hebrews prescribes hope as a means to compass whatsoever we would have. Let us approach with confidence to the Throne of Grace; as if we needed only a firm hope, to be able to scale the Throne of God, and bear thence what so e'er we desire.  
St. Gregory observes, there is no pleasure in this World, which is not greater in the expectation than fruition; by which we see what a strange Operation the very hope of some temporal object hath in us; what ravishments then must needs proceed from a hope that is fixed on the source of perfections; and to have this addition, that after our imaginations have proposed all the delights that humane wit can frame, yet they fall infinitely short of those joys the Object of a supernatural hope will discover unto us.  
Blame not then our Petitioner if he give himself the assurance of joy and gladness, when once his Soul shall be enriched with Grace, and divine hope inspired into him; since their presence brings the highest satisfactions we are capable off in this World.  
I observe after Christ had declared the remission of St. Mary magdalen's misdeeds, he bids her go in peace, to show she is no more impious: For as they are strangers to repose, so rest and satisfaction are the natural effects of a good conscience.  
When the Thief on the Cross had obtained mercy, immediately follow the glad tidings he should exchange that very day his Gibbet into a Paradise; St. Austin had no sooner stepped into the Paths of penance, but he found himself overwhelmed with joy which he thus describes. On a sudden (says he) it grew delightful to me to be weaned from trifling pleasures, and what before I feared to lose, now with joy I dismiss; for thou, O supreme Deity didst tear them from me, and supplyedst them by thy own presence who art in all honour, beauty and pleasure excelling. You see what he got in exchanging a few Worldly joys for a life of penance, in quitting a Creature he came to the enjoyment of his Creator; in abandoning that we must needs once lose, and which we still apprehend will be ravished from us, he arrived to an inestimable, and never perishing good.  
Nay reason may tell us, as happy experience hath informed Saints, that if his mercy be so great, and transforms itself into so many Shapes of virtues in reward to sinners; it must needs be much more admirable in order to the just: For it is but equitable, that those who must love and honour him, should have a more ample share in the Treasures of his mercies, than such who injure and daily offend him: If when we are Enemies he fails not to give Testimonies of his love, being reconciled, and readmitted to his favour what will he not do? If he bestow a kiss upon a treacherous Judas, with what overflowing sweetness will he visit a loyal heart, which breathes forth nothing but love and a conformity to his will; if a sound of his voice as Man was so charming, that many of the Apostles at his first call abandoned all their Worldly interests and engagements to follow him, what transports do the sweet whispers of his Divine Spirit occasion unto his dear Servants, what internal consolations, what tranquillity of mind: St. Austin terms them certain previous relishes or Antipasts of Heaven, which far transcend all the contentment and satisfactions of this world.  
In a word, that Seraphim of love St. Austin gives us the perfect Character of a spiritual joy by his own experience. Saying, O Lord, sometimes thou dost lead me into unknown delights, which (were they completed in me) I know not what they would be, but certain I am it would not be this life; that is, such a Dilatation of Spirits he found to attend those spiritual comforts, that he saw, were they accomplished, a ruin of his mortal Being must needs ensue.  
This is the joy and gladness our Holy Petitioner expects, and that he was not deceived in his expectation, scarce a Psalm of his that proclaims not the sweetness, and superabundant satisfactions issuing from the love, fear, and service of God, and therefore when he had petitioned for persecution, adversity, and the Crown of Martyrdom, he might justly solace himself with the sequel and fruits of sufferings, which are joy and gladness. To my hearing thou wilt give joy and gladness.  

The Application.  
Ah who would not then protest against the vain joys of this world, to taste the sweetness of spiritual entertainments: St. Gregory puts this difference 'twixt Corporal and Spiritual delights, that the former whilst in expectation, are coveted with much vehemency, but when once enjoyed, they presently become nauseous, and distasteful; the other we pursue but coldly, and with little heat of desire, yet when once we have a relish of them, we still languish after the increase: This made St. Francis that blessed despiser of the World, to make a Covenant with his senses never to fasten with the least Contentment on any sensual object; and truly he was so exact in the performance, as he went up and down like the mere shadow of a Man, that had nothing humane in him but his shape; his better part ever dwelling in the Mansion of the Blessed. These are joys that will not be held by Repentance, may we then still languish after them;  
Amen.    

CHAP. XVIII.  
Et exultabunt Ossa humiliata,  
And humbled Bones shall rejoice.  
THis encouragement which our Petitioner allows himself, corresponds with the second part of the former verse, where he was willing to Sacrifice his life: For he doth not only cheer himself, in reflecting upon the reward which repentance will bring to his Soul, but likewise upon the future condition of his Earthly mould, which he beholds as matter of great consolation; and therefore upon the same score he prosecutes the Subject of his hope, saying, that his humbled Bones shall rejoice.  
Amongst all the comforts Christian Religion affords, there is none hath so much influence upon Man, as the expectation of a future resurrection, the motive of this consolation springs from the belief we have of God's Omnipotency: For as we believe he hath created us of nothing, so we must acknowledge his power to restore us, and raise our ashes to a better, and more happy condition: Nay if we observe the course of Holy Scripture, we shall find the expiration of Saints hath a particular expression given it: For they are not said to die, but to fall into a sleep, as if their Bodies after separation retained a certain virtue, which had resemblance with their glorified Souls.  
In the Fourth Book of Kings Chap. 13. We read that a Carcase being thrown into the Sepulchre of Elizeus, was by a touch of his Bones restored to life.  
St. Hierom relates how Constantine the Great conveyed with much Solemnity the relics of St Andrew and St. Luke unto Constantinople.  
Areadius likewise the Emperor translated the relics of Samuel the Prophet from Judaea into Thracia, where they were received with great veneration, and joy of the people: All which shows, our Forefathers looked upon the remainder of Saints Bodies, not as liveless fragments, but as the Fountains of life, and health; as certain pieces God would make instrumental to miracles, and to works above the power of nature. Therefore the Bones of Holy Persons endued with such virtue may justly be qualifyed with joy, and consequently it is not improper to say, That humbled Bones shall rejoice.  
Again St. John Damascene hath a fine conception; saying, those who imitate the virtues of Saints, may be more truly said their relics, or impressions, than the lump and mass of Earth they leave behind. He who hath the zeal and ardours of a St. Paul in the Conversion of Souls, may be styled his lively Image: Who can claim the fortitude of a St. Stephen in accepting the stroke of Death for Justice sake; will infallibly bear the stamp of that Protomartyr: Who can perform the humble and spiritual life of a St. Francis, will prove a better pattern of him, than his own Body, which at this day remains entire at Assisium, as a Testimony of that Glory his Soul enjoys in Heaven; so that when we cast ourselves into the mould of their virtues, we become their animated statues, and make them rejoice in our imitation, as the Angels do at a sinner's Conversion: it is not unlikely our Holy Prophet alluded to such living relics, when he said humbled bones shall rejoice. Since good Men are here for the most part crushed in the World's esteem, that values nothing but what is great in vanity: Yet amidst these Clouds of oppression, and scorns thrown at them, they find within themselves a satisfaction in performing their duty to God, for the fruit of the spirit (says St. Paul) is joy, peace, and a thousand other contentments which attend a state of innocence; so that it is an ingenious Expression of our Penitent, that humbled bones shall rejoice.  
I have many times wondered, why Almighty God should give unto the Ashes of Saints, what he had denied them whilst they were alive, and made not use of any limb, or vital motion but for his sake; that is, many miracles have been wrought, by touching the mouldered dust of Saints, who living were never favoured with the power of any Miracle: but as the lives of Saints are admirable, so the proceed of Almighty God with them seem very mysterious, yet I have proposed some reasons of this to my cell.  
First, Almighty God will show by this how dear his Servants are unto him, and if he give so much virtue to their Ashes, what may we expect he doth to their Immortal Souls.  
Next, it argues how grateful a thing humility is in the sight of God, that those who have crucified their flesh, and daily Sacrificed their Bodies for his name, should have the very Ashes of that Mortified Body, cure Diseases, restore sight to the blind, and raise the dead to life.  
Thirdly, Almighty God will manifest the difference between a pampered Body, and one mangled by acts of penance, the one by all manner of delicacies sought to preserve a beauty, and make it proof against time: Yet once grown old, or cut off by Death it is cast into oblivion; the other kept in Chains, and threatened daily with ruin, yet at the last proves matter of veneration even unto those who before perhaps contemned it.  
You see then, how to live in the Memory of Men, what Art is to be used to raise a stately structure of ourselves, the materials of this must be acts of Charity towards our. Neighbour, and acts of severity towards our selves; the Cement must be Patience, Constancy, Resignation to God's holy will, and the like; with these Saints have purchased glory to themselves before God, and veneration amongst Men, that even Kings have crouched with bended knees before their Ashes, who whilst here poor Pilgrims upon Earth were looked upon as Idiots, and made as it were the mockery of the World; so that humbled bones at last shall Triumph, and erect their Trophies, where they had been made the spoils of Death.  
St. Gregory Nazianzen affirms the Ashes of St. Cyprian were so powerful, as no Disease wanted there its remedy, and this Testimony he received from those very persons, who had been the Subject of his miraculous Cures.  
St. Ambrose relates of one Severus who being blind, by touching only the Casket wherein were enchased the relics of the Holy Martyrs St. Gervasius and Protasius, he recovered his sight.  
St. Austin recounts many miracles wrought by the relics of St. Stephen, and adds: The benefits obtained at his shrine were so great and numerous, as whole Volumes might be filled with the relation.  
In fine, there is not a Doctor of the Church, whose writings speak not the wonders Heaven hath owned, (even in their time) upon the score of supplications made in the presence and honour of Saints Bodies.  
Nor did this religious Worship of relics spring up originally with the Gospel, for St. Epiphanius brings evidence how the Sepulchers of Esay, Ezekiel, and Jeremy were had in great veneration among the Jews, and this from the extraordinary succours God conferred on distressed People at the Tombs of those Holy Prophets.  
We find likewise Exodus 13. that before Moses conducted the Israelites out of Egypt, he ordained the Bones of Joseph to be taken up, and born away with Ceremony into the Land of promise.  
Now why all this? But to verify our Holy Prophet's assertion that humbled bones shall rejoice; that Death may cause a separation twixt Soul and Body, and so seem to Triumph over this mortal clay of ours, cannot be denied: Yet if our members have served in purity (as St. Paul terms it) and merited in life to be the Temple of the Holy Ghost, such as these (though exanimated) may still retain a virtue by which they give life and joy to other Being's. Whence justly our Petitioner fore-declares, and humbled bones shall rejoice.  
Truly it is but rational to conceive there should be a Providence to preserve from common corruption, those Bodies who had been instrumental to many acts of virtue, and made a daily victim by penance: For since mortality is the effect of sin, there ought at least be something that hath the resemblance of immortality to attend that Body, which hath much contributed to the Souls happiness.  
Besides, we believe our Bodies shall one day be glorified and vested with immortal dotes; it is fit than such who have here led a life as it were Angelical, without any contamination of sensual pleasures, should anticipate in some kind their future glorified condition, and how can this better appear, than by imprinting a Sovereign virtue in their extinguished Ashes, since it is decreed a complete glorification cannot (unless particularly dispensed with) be conferred till the universal Resurrection.  
This admirable operation given to their Earthly and liveless substance, as it is a Testimony of their Souls felicity, so is it no less to us a pledge the most dear we could have, by which we are assured of their watchful and compassionate care over us. In fine, how powerfully are we wrought into the imitation of their lives, when at their shrines we behold both Death and Nature vanquished, and the prodigious effects of humbled, prostrate Limbs loudly declare, how precious the Death of Saints is in the sight of God.  
Thus our Holy Petitioner hath laid open unto us; First, the Jubileys of mind which fill a Soul united unto God by love and repentance: Next, to complete the Harmony, he tells us our very bones shall not want their portion of joy; that if they here be made bare, disjointed, or broken, Almighty God never fails to sweeten those rigours, by internal whispers and consolations, which carry them on to perseverance in their pressures and debasements, and when Saints have once paid this debt to nature, than he gives to the one part the immediate fruition of his Glory, and to the other he often communicates such Sovereign virtues, that they are as it were certain previous dispositions to immortality.  
'Tis true, the relic of a Saint appears but a lump of Earth liveless, inanimate, and so is not capable of joy, yet God making it the instrument of miraculous effects, is thereby glorified, and what ever relates to his honour is matter of exultation. Again, St. Paul saith, that every Creature groans; that is, feels throws, and longing desires after their Maker: If then these resentments be allowed to every Being, much more ought we grant it to the Sacred pledge of a Saints Body, in which the Omnipotency, and other Divine attributes of God do so gloriously shine; and humbled bones shall rejoice.  

The Application.  
Let us then so manage our senses in this life, enslaving them to the Laws of reason, that after the short course of their servitude here, we may arrive to that joy mentioned by our Holy Petitioner.  
Amen.    

CHAP. XIX.  
Averte faciem tuam à peccatis meis,  
Turn away thy Face from my sins.  
WHen I cast my Eye upon this clause of the Petition, I cannot but reflect on that passage of Esay where he says, it is a bitter thing to have once abandoned God; for after a sin is committed, though it be secret, unseen, and none reprehend us for it, yet we fear every shadow, suspect every look and syllable, nor can we ever think ourselves secure and out of danger.  
St. Austin says, as iniquity is always accompanied with a neglect of God, and consequently is a kind of Pride, by which we value our own satisfaction beyond his honour; so sin by a just punishment throws us down below ourselves; it first induces us to actions unworthy our reason, and after that engagement, what Tyranny like to this usurper: For having shaken off the fear of God, (who alone ought to be the Object of that passion) we sink into the fear of every thing capable to be the Term of Sense; if a sound, it is a loud promulgation of our Crime, if a Shadow it is some Ambuscado to surprise us; if the World be civil, they are acts of flattery to beguile us, if otherwise they are open hostilities raised by Heaven to begin that vengeance which will be continued to eternity.  
Nay though the cause of these terrors be taken away by the reinfusion of grace, yet there is a kind of unsettledness within us which remains ever after, and is ready to break forth upon every representation of past offences. Witness our Holy Penitent whom but a little before we have seen elevated with the assurance of joy and prosperity, which was to attend both his spiritual and corporal substance, but now glancing upon his misdeeds, they appear so ugly to him, that he believes it is impossible that the unspotted Eye of a Divinity can endure such abominations; wherefore lest he might again be involved in the same Abyss of misery, he petitions the Face of God may be averted from his sins; as if the just Judge of Mankind could not make a review of his actions, without laying abroad and reviving the Ashes of his former condition.  
Again our Penitent discreetly weighed that God hath a Countenance of Justice as well as mercy, to dispense unto his Creatures; that should the former be cast upon him, he were lost: For who can stand the Face of his Anger which is a consuming fire; he knows God is just, holy, nay purity and sanctity itself, 'tis not then credible he can have any complacence to injustice, for sure he must be of a depraved, and sordid nature, that hath not a disdain of what is evil, hence after a sin is committed, Almighty God suspends no longer the action of his Will, but passes judgement upon it in himself, and prosecutes with hatred where he finds it, and truly sin deserves his vengeance.  
First, it destroys Man who is his lively Image, and the most noble Masterpiece he hath framed in this World, and as a rare Artist cannot but be incensed against him who spoils his work. So God frowns at Sin, and it appears in his sight more horrid and execrable than is the plague, Thunder, or the most venomous beast unto the sense of Man.  
But his indignation stops not at the Sin, he passes on to the Sinner, who commits and admits it within himself, him he abominates as one infected with the poison of Sin, as one disfigured, and grown up in to a Monster, as one who hath scorned the Empire of his Sovereign, entertained his Enemy, transgressed, and rebelled against his holy Laws.  
This truth; saith Lactantius, is the Sovereign basis of Religion, and Piety, for who would serve God if he loved not his faithful Servants, and chastized not those that scorn him; and in nothing render that homage and respect which is due to his greatness.  
Do but imagine (says a holy person) with what impetuosity a rapid stream, that hath for a while been barricadoed up, doth at last finding a little passage break through and make its way: or a thunderbolt which for a time had been hemmed in a cloud, with what a dreadful force it issues forth, destroying what ever happens near unto it: just so the anger of God, when not restrained by his mercy and patience, seizes upon unfortunate Souls, and inflicts immortal and endless vengeance upon them: this anger in the next life will be implacable never to be moderated in the vast extent of Eternity; for as their Souls will be Eternally contaminated with Sin, so will they be Eternally odious in the sight of God.  
From these considerations our holy penitent grounds his Suit, and supplicates that his face of justice may be averted from him; for to be struck with a million of thunderbolts would appear but like a honey dew, if compared to the terror, which the angry looks of our great and good God will strike into a Sinner.  
Turn away thy face, that is, examine not thy book of accounts kept in the archive of Eternity, where the debts of all Men are enroled; if you will not connive, and pass over our sins, but retain them in your sight, and design their discussion before your just tribunal; alas, who will be able to plead his cause; if the just Man shall with difficulty be saved, where can the impious  his Head: St. Austin pronounces woe, and desolation to that person, whose life however pure and holy shall come to be laid open and brought to the Test without the Mercy of God.  
Whilst our Petitioner thus contemplates the disproportion of Man's justice with God's prerogative, he finds himself as it were in a Labyrinth, and after many a pensive thought, how to divert the Eye of his displeasure two Expedients occur. The one by calling home his affection to earthly things, and by disowning all those contentments which before he had valued beyond the Honour and Glory of his God; by suppressing all inordinate passions, that they break not forth and wander upon unlawful objects: and when he shall have no act of inordination, to reproach him, but enjoy a quiet of Mind, which knows no disturbance unless what arises from the storms of repentance: In this posture he hopes, the peaceful Eye of God will be taken up in beholding the change, wrought in him, and that his virtues may serve as a veil cast over his sins; only he begs further that when he shall design design him a glance, that he would not for all this play the curious, and pry too narrowly, but rather the dissembler, as if he saw no farther than his penitential groans and tears.  
St. Bernard warrants this design of our Penitent by his own experience; saying, O my God I transgressed, and thou didst feign not to be offended, I forbear not my crimes, yet thou didst forbear thy chastisements, I prolonged, and persevered in my iniquity, and thou O Lord in thy pity.  
His next stratagem is to interpose the amiable person of Jesus Christ; for if charity cover a multitude of iniquities, what a preservative must this sacred pledge of Heaven needs prove; that propitiatory Sacrifice prepared by so many sufferings, is a shield of protection, a Sanctuary which the Justice of God itself cannot force; hence our Penitent exclaimed; respice in faciem Christi tui, that if the Head of Christ all Crowned with Thorns were interposed 'twixt God and a Sinner, it would obscure and Cloud his guiltiness, that his allseeing Eye clogged with benignity could not pierce the traverse, nor come to a survey of his iniquities. Turn away thy face from my sins.  
This assurance Nathan the Prophet gave him, that his Sin was transferred, and charged upon the Shoulders of that all-immaculate Lamb, who was to bear away the sins of the World; it is then under this infinite oblation, and universal expiation he shrowds his failings from the face of God.  
St. Austin observes, in God not to take notice, imports the same thing as to pardon, nor doth the frequent prosperity of wicked people shake this Truth, for every their least deviation is registered and reserved till the last bitter account they are to make, however they here run on without any stop, as if the Sage ruler of all things took no cognizance of their actions, and which is done perhaps from a foresight they will persevere to the end in wickedness, and having performed acts of moral virtues, God allows them a little calm in this life.  
But in our sense, when God passes over as undiscerned our faults, he remits them without punishment, and so seems to have been a stranger to our misdeeds; but yet he never, doth this; that is; never turns away his Face from our sins, unless we first turn our Face upon them, placing them before our Eyes, and touched with a horror at their deformity, abjure, and protest against them; having done this, we must then expose that abstract of wonders Christ Jesus before the Eternal Father, that his wounded body may serve as a bulwark to defend us, and appease his angry looks, which implies the aversion of his Face, or fury from us.  
Our penitent having in this manner made his way, he hopes the effect will follow, that God averting his Face, in that act will give him an abolition of his crimes, that so he may reap the fruit of a Holy penitential fear. We kow St. Peter fared not the worse, when prompted by a low esteem of himself, he requested his Lord to withdraw from him because a sinner: No more did the good Centurion lose any thing, in acknowledging his little of merit to have his house blessed, and made happy by Christ's presence: So our Penitent's awful respect in declining the Face of his Creator, springing from a sense of his own unworthiness; and believing his sins an object unfit for an Eye so pure and unstained, may perhaps draw benedictions upon him, and contribute in a large measure to his happiness. Wherefore he goes on still repeating, turn away thy face from my sins.  

The Application.  
From this discourse we may learn the agitations of a Soul which hath once been defiled with sin, sometimes he Figures God unto him as an angry judge, and is affrighted to appear before him, than again as a purity so complete and Essential, that though he should be conscious of no guilt, as having been cleansed, and washed as white as Snow, he dares not yet stand to the examen: Nay, on the contrary it makes him petition to have that face (which is the joy of Angels) to be diverted from him: we must then in imitation of our penitent fix only to this comfort, that humility, repentance, and reverential thoughts, though they keep us here depressed and under hatches, will at last render that face (we would now decline through the terror of our Sins) amiable and pleasing into our possession, whereon we may gaze, and feed our glorified Senses for all Eternity.  
Amen.    

CHAP. XX.  
Et omnes iniquitates meas deal,  
And wipe away all my iniquities.  
ST. Cyril of Alexandria saith, in the j●…stification of a sinner are required certain previous dispositions, amongst which he reckons up faith, hope, repentance, and fear: Whence I conceive the apprehension of our Holy Penitent, lest God should fasten his regards upon his iniquities mentioned in the preceding verse, was initiative, and preliminary to his present address. That his iniquities may be wiped away.  
St. Austin holds it a thing most rare, that any should embrace Christian Religion, who have not first received within them an impression of the fear of God.  
That the Ninivites became Penitent, and shrouded themselves under a veil of Sackcloth, and Ashes: The only cause was a fear of vengeance threatened them by the preaching of Ionas.  
St. Hierom upon the First Chapter of Malachy says, behold O Lord how the fear of punishment diverts us from evil, and that the privilege of being your Children arises from a servile apprehension.  
Our Penitent was not ignorant of this, when after a dread conceived of God's judgements, he immediately proceeds (as if prepared by that terror) to demand an abolition of his crimes. Wipe away my iniquities.  
Besides he here explicates himself more fully, that in case he do procure the Face of God to be averted, than he is confident, the sequel will be an expulsion of sin by grace. For it were absurd that faith, love, and other qualities inherent, should be necessary to dispose us for pardon, and yet the formal effect to be , and a justice not ours, but imputed to us. St. Paul desides this in his Epistle to the Colossians. Christ hath freed us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of the love of his Son. Where you see the infusion of justice (by which a Man becomes pious) succeeds to the Remission of sin, by which we cease to be impious, and just as the Air by the same ray of the Sun, hath not only its darkness expelled, but also is filled with light; so that true Son of Justice communicating unto Man his divine grace, doth at once by this gift disperse the Clouds of sin, and replenish him with the splendour of inherent Justice.  
The same Apostl●… Rom. 5. takes away all doubt in this point; saying, that the grace of God is diffused into our hearts by the Holy Ghost, who is given unto us; and that no mistake in this Text may happen, St. Austin explicates it in this Sense. The charity of God is said to fill our hearts; not with that love by which he loves us, but by ●he●…by which we love him. It is then in this fountain of love, which springs within us, whose overflowing streams arise from Christ's donation; in these we are washed, we are sanctified, and made just; by this regeneration we are said to become a new Creature, and from an Enemy purchase the title of being the Son of God, all which powerfully import a mutation and real change within us.  
St. John in his First Epistle says, he that doth justice is just: Abel was just in that he sacrificed unto God with all the circumstances of homage due unto a supreme Being: Noah just in that he gave credit unto God, feared his judgements, and obeyed his commands. St. Luke affirms Zachary and Elizabeth to be just from their compliance, and obedience to Divine precepts; so that it is clear the Principle of their justification was inherent, and that nothing extrinsic or imputative can be the formal cause of our actions, for if not issuing from something within us, we cannot own them to be ours.  
Our Holy Penitent filled with supernatural illustrations, was not a stranger to Divine Laws established in order to Man's conversion: Wherefore he knew well his Petition, to have his iniquities struck off, involved the gift of grace by whose power alone they were to be destroyed.  
Nay, even Natural Reason will lead us to this Truth, for justification is a motion from sin to justice, whence its name is derived, as calefaction from heat: Now it is evident to expel cold, will not be thought calefaction, unless the quality of heat be introduced: So the bare remission of sin, cannot amount to an act of justification, without the consecution of Justice; which is the End, we tend to in this motion.  
Besides, justification is not bestowed on us by God merely to avoid punisment, it is designed as well to fit us for Heavenly rewards, this St. Paul testifyes ad Rom. 8. That God glorifyes whom he hath justified; of which glory a simple absolution cannot be the Subject, since no person by a judicial sentence clearing him from guilt, is thought by that to merit a reward, but to exchange the condition of an enemy for that of a friend, of a domestic, nay of a child, this must needs be wrought by something more than a bare condition.  
In this Petition than he implores virtually the infusion of justifying grace, a divine quality inherent it the Soul, which like a bright ray of the Sun disperses all the Clouds of sin, before whose presence without a miracle it cannot subsist one sole moment: It likewise inclines the Soul to Christian duties, and from that source do flow all the virtuous, and pious action we perform: For as sin expels justice, being opposite to habitual grace; not only by way of privation, but contrariety: So a supreme act of love opposes habitual sin, and by a contrary working, as an efficient cause destroys it. Whence infusion of grace, and deletion of sin do as infallibly succeed to such an act of love, as the infusion of a rational soul into a Body after humane generation. Thus our Petitioner like a acquaint Penman, so couches his demands, as to comprise in them much more than the letter seems to express: Wipe away all my iniquities. This word all is emphatic, and expresses with some energy a desire not only to have those sins which appear before him, and reproach his ingratitude, to be remitted: But also what ever are set upon his score in that eternal Book of accounts, and contracted by him, either through ignorance, inadvertence, or oblivion, in not discharging what he owes for their expiation.  
Our Petitioner had reason to add this Particle, and frame his Petition full, if we reflect upon what Solomon says Ecclesiast. ch. 8. That all things concerning another life shall here be wrapped up in doubts and uncertainties. No security of our state whether marked out to punishment, or reward: For were there any means to this discovery, the benefits of God would lay it open; yet we find these indiscriminately dispensed to the just and impious; to preserve some in humility, he loads them with afflictions, lest others should despair, he fills them with abundant consolations; some he draws by the Lure of temporal blessings, so to buoy them up from despair, or in reward of some moral virtue; others he steeps in the bitterness of wants and disgraces, to stop the Career of pride, and excess; and by a paternal correction he presents an opportunity by which they are either deterred from sin, or may satisfy in this life for their transgressions. Sometimes again the doom of punishment gins here which is to last for eternity; so that neither adversity, nor prosperity give us any light into the state of Men's consciences, whence our Penitent, fearing lest any unknown guilt may slain his Soul, petitions that all his iniquities may be taken away.  
St. Paul confesses after a severe inquisition of himself though he found no matter of accusation, yet he durst not trust to his own justification; knowing well, the judgements of God and Men are very different, and if we groap so much in our own concerns, what madness upon every slight conjecture, and surmise, to pass sentence of condemnation upon our Neighbour: This savours not the Spirit of an Apostle who would have no other Umpire than Christ the true searcher of hearts; and the same maxim was fixed in our Holy Penitent, who not daring to secure himself from all imputations, cries out; wipe away all my iniquities that no sin, upon what account contracted, may escape the Seal of God's pardon.  
How many have been seen who beheld themselves with an Eye of satisfaction as patterns of innocency, as possessing within themselves the treasure of grace, to a great proportion; and yet brought to the Test were found empty Vessels, and poor Objects of frailty and malice. St. Peter told his blessed Master he was ready to attend him unto Prisons, nay, even to Death itself; but the event proved he had not the Groundwork of such a fortitude within him. St. Paul whilst he played the fierce Lion, preying upon the Blood of Christians, believed all his flames were enkindled by a just zeal of God's Holy Laws, and how do we know but many actions of ours may proceed from a gross ignorance, which will not render us inexcusable at the latter day; what greater Evidence of integrity than to Sacrifice life in any cause, and yet this we have seen done on either side of two opinions diametrically opposite to each other: Both these propose unto themselves Almighty God above all things amiable as the motive of their sufferings, yet without dispute one of the two must needs be involved in errors, and in the total privation of grace: Hhw justly then doth our Penitent (suspending all judgement of his condition) beg that all his iniquities may be taken away; that if he have not perfect Charity he may obtain it, if he go astray he may be reduced into the right path, if in darkness he may be filled with light; and since we are ignorant of our own state, and that God hath reserved the knowledge of this Truth to himself, he is resolved in his petition never to omit this clause; Et omnes iniquitates mea● deal, and wipe away all my iniquities.  

The Application.  
In pursuance of this design we are in regard of our own infirmity, and indisposition never to Lull ourselves in security, since God's promises in order to the remission of sins require on our part, that we be worthily disposed for the reception of the Sacraments: Now to have an infallible assurance of this fitted disposition, or that we are not guilty of some secret pride, some mortal sin undiscovered, some inordinate cleaving to the World, and the like, is by God's Providence locked up in his own Breast, so to keep us humble, wary, and in fear of his judgements: Wherefore all we have to do, is to hope in the mercy of God, in the merits of Christ's passion, and efficacy of the Sacraments, and then conclude with the same Prayer of our Penitent, that all our defects and transgressions whether known or concealed to us may be blotted out.  
Amen.    

CHAP. XXI.  
Cor mundum cre● in me Deus,  
Create in me O God a clean heart.  
OUr Holy Penitent in the Ten precedent Verses, working like an expert Carver by way of defalcation had still desired he might be brought into shape, by cutting off all those Excrescencies, which made him monstrous in God's Eye: Now he petitions (believing his whole frame vitiated, and unfit for his design) that a new model might be drawn up of him, and new materials inserted in the whole structure. In order to this, he first moves to have a clean heart created in him; this shows him a wise, and bold beggar, that will not be content with scraps, but asks a treasure which may enrich, and enable him to give to his Benefactor: For this address implies a reformation of all the faculties of his Soul, the Scripture expressing frequently by the name of Heart both the understanding, Will, and Memory: So that all these once purified, and adorned with innocence, he will be able to produce Heroic acts of faith and hope; and the daily influence of divine favours still rising in his imagination, must needs enkindle flames of Charity within him.  
St. Hierom compares sanctifying grace with the essence of the Soul, for as the powers, and natural faculties (which are the instrument of action) flow from the essence: So from grace are distilled into the powers of the Soul all those virtues by which they are moved and carried on to what they act. Grace then is like a new Being which elevates Man above his natural condition, and puts him into a capacity of possessing God who is his supernatural end; and by consequence it ought like a noble Queen be attended with a train of infused habits of Virtues. The Theological furnish us with wings to fly in a strait Line unto God; the Cardinal set us in a just comportment of holiness towards our Neighbour, and our selves: Nay, when Sanctifying Grace shall no more be clogged with the Mass of the Body, and relics of sin, her last operation will be to produce unto us the clear vision of God, accompanied with beatific love; for the essential part of grace is the same thing with Glory, and only distinguished like to what is perfect, from that which is less perfect, or as a thing begun from what is finished and complete.  
This Sanctifying Grace then is the fountain our Penitent thirsts after, for the purifying his Heart, and if once washed in this stream he may justly call it a clean heart, witness the Prophet Ezekiel Chap. 6. I will shower down upon you a pure water, and it will cleanse you from all your iniquities. If this stain consist in a perverse action unretracted, Sanctifying grace recalls this perverse action by an habitual conversion unto God, and submission to his Holy Will. If it speak an offence to God, grace repairs this injury, and makes that injurious Action no more voluntary: If his ugliness spring from an enmity with God, grace appeases all his anger, and changes it into a love of complacence as a necessary effect; not that to love us he hath any need, but because a Soul enriched with Grace is just, and righteous, and whilst it is in such a condition, God cannot but delight himself in an object so worthy and deserving. If his deformity involves an obligation to eternal punishment, grace clears all that score, raising a Soul to that degree as she is worthy of Heaven: Now 'tis impossible that being in a state capable of enjoying him, she can be liable to such a debt, wherefore there is nothing so hideous, and abominable in a sinner, which grace doth not destroy. Thus you see what an expedient our Holy Penitent hath pitched upon to arrive by it to his designed purity, and if he obtain his demand, he knows his work is done; that is, the operation of grace is so infallible, as the effect is not to be hindered: For it is not possible that a Soul at the same time can be innocent, and guilty, holy, and impious; have a Right to Heaven and liable to eternal death: So that being once drowned in this purifying Ocean, he receives a pledge of all the felicity that either the nature of Angels or Men is capable off.  
But it may be objected, that our Petitioner may fall short of his expectation even though he obtain his demand: For we see many holy habits introduced with grace, to lie as dead within us; no ways disposing us sensibly to supernatural actions; Nay on the contrary, that persons so enriched are often disturbed, and harassed with the insolences of perverse inclinations: Now the reason of this is, that the effects of Grace are spiritual, and without the Sphere of sense, so that these supernatural virtues being of a quite different rank from the vicious propensions of our corrupt nature, they do not by their presence necessarily destroy them. This position our Penitent admits, knowing that God obliges not himself to communicate unto every Soul all kind of supernatural virtues as a necessary dependence on Sanctifying grace; but that he distributes to some more to others less, in reference either to their want, their disposition, or the Series of his Holy Providence, which deals the measure of his favours according to his will.  
Having weighed all this, he recollects his thoughts as to his own particular, and remembers how before he defiled himself with sin. God had witnessed a satisfaction in the choice of him, making him the object of his most obliging liberalities; next, he considers that when God is pleased to sign his pardon and letters of grace unto a sinner, he doth not only free him from eternal punishment for what is past, but restores all the treasure he had hoarded up in the sunshine of his favour, nay more, confers an addition of grace in that very penitential act by which he concurs with his merciful call: So that he hath reason to hope if he purchase a clean heart; that is, if it be sprinkled with the dew of sanctifying grace, his understanding now stupefied in the mists of sin, will receive its wont irradiations, his will born down with the weight of earthly affections, will breathe forth again amorous languishments after eternal delights; his memory which now records the ugly species of sensual pleasures, will be taken up in the holy entertainments of a spiritual life; and in sequel of this, he thinks it not presumption to believe, he shall find himself in the same, if not better condition than before his fall; and in possession of all those precious titles the Divine Oracle had once pronounced of him. This meditation puts him upon great resolves how to preserve, and improve the purity he sues for, that it may more strictly unite him to God who is his final end, his hope, and beatitude; wherefore every moment he redoubles his petition. Create in me O God a clean heart.  
Another motive of this his Petition is, in that the heart is the source of all evil: 'Tis from thence that Homicide, Adultery, Theft, and other sins arise, which gave occasion unto many great wits to assert, that internal transgressions alone were punished by God, and if at any time the scourge of his anger seems to fall heavy upon external acts, it was merely upon the score of bad example, whose consequences are for the most part very pernicious to Mankind. Besides, as the heart is the fountain of all evil, so is it no less of all good: For the goodness and malice of every action consists in its conformity with reason, which rule cannot be squared out by external acts, because the power that sets them on work, cannot discern whether the object be suitable to reason or no. This alone belongs to the understanding, and in sequel to the Will, by whose direction it is led: It is evident then that on the motion of the heart (which expression comprizes the three faculties of the Soul as I said in the beginning) depends the blame, and praise of whatsoever we do: For that an action may be said to be of Man; the understanding must first give its approbation, by which he doth it knowingly; next, the will is to make its election, and in that owns its liberty: Lastly, the memory is for the most part filled with various Images of Terrestrial Objects, by which it solicits the will to vain and bad desires, so that, if these three be reform, he questions not but to deface all the fantomes and representations of this World which have led him so astray, and by a total diversion from all that is Earth, to repose quietly in God: That then his understanding may receive the irradiations of a holy light, his will be consumed in the flames of a pure love, his memory stripped of all the species of vain objects, he incessantly repeats: Create in me O God a clean heart.  
St Gregory says that Abel's Sacrifice was so highly acceptable unto God in that he had first offered up the same in his heart; so that it was not the best of his flocks, but the devotion of his heart, which set a value upon that action. Again, the gloss says, it is not the loudness of the voice, but the lovingness of the heart which sounds sweetly in God's Ear; so that if you strike not upon this string, and according to those notes which our great Musician hath set down, you will but ●arr, and make a dissonancy ungrateful to your Creator. This our Blessed Saviour sufficiently hinted in St. Matthew, when he says, They honour me with their lips, but their heart is far from me: Which imports, that though our Lips, Eyes, Hands, and every other part speak Sanctity and Holiness; yet if our Heart that great Wheel give not motion to the rest, the End will be nothing but disorder and confusion.  
It is storied of St. Catharine of Sienna, that reading this verset of David, she petitioned for a new heart, believing her own to be defiled with Sin; for her love represented to her every the least defect as a monstrous deformity: The issue of this her Address was, that Christ our Lord appeared to her, opened her breast, took out her heart, and thus left her heartless, but not hopeless; in this plight she continued somedays, when her amorous maker returns, and fills the void place he had left with his own heart: O happy exchange, so that for ever after this blessed Saint was wont to conjure our Saviour, that he should have care of his own heart: if then St. Catharine prosecuting the form of another's petition met with so good success, have we not reason to conclude the like amorous interchange befell our holy prophet, especially if we reflect upon what God says of him, that he had found a Man according to his own heart, that is, who in all things follow the motion and impulse of that heart I gave him: But I conceive this Exchange in the Legend of St. Catharine is not understood to be Physical and real, the moral is, when God destroys in a sinner's heart the foul Characters he there had forged, he takes his pencil, marks it for his own, drawing upon it his divine gifts and favours; whence St. Ambrose says, at the latter day the reproach of a sinner will be to have blotted out the fair Images of innocence and simplicity of heart; delineated by the Hand of God, and in the Room to have set up his own Idol of shame and vanity; lest then any of those hideous spectres may appear at that dreadful Tribunal he now implores, that the Table of his heart, as yet capable of other impressions, may be run o'er with the strokes of his mercy: To this end he cries; Create in me O God a clean heart.  
When the Maccabees had regained the Temple of Zion, their resolution to destroy the Altar profaned by Antiochus was commended, because all their Ceremonies of Purification, whilst the Altar stood, could never have washed away the opprobry of that contamination.  
Our holy penitent was fixed on the same principle, for beholding his soul contaminated by his transgressions, his whole contrivance is, that there may be no witness extant, nor any Monument remain of his infidelity, wherefore he begs a recreation, or rather such a production of habits opposite to what he had contracted, as it might not appear the same thing: He would not have it created anew, (for he knew it to be incorruptible, and immortal) but that God would deign so to renew it, as it might seem a new Creation; for to restore it to its former condition of innocen●…, was all one as to create it; that whereas before his heart was like a World without a Sun, excluded both from light and heat, now upon this transmutation it might become more pure than Snow, whiter than Milk, and more beautiful than the polished Saphir. That whereas before it was like a City burnt, sacked, and razed to the ground; for the future it might prove a fortress impregnable against all the World's allurements. That whereas before it was like a habitation deserted and made a refuge only for Toads, Spiders, and Snakes; hereafter it might serve as a Temple for the Holy Ghost, attended on with a retinue of supernatural and moral virtues. That whereas before he had not Eyes but to pry into the faults of others, for the time to come he might be quick-sighted only to discern his own misdeeds. Lastly, whereas he had left God to follow sin, and at the same time became as it were a stranger to himself, now he sues for a clean heart that he may recover himself, and so return to his God, hoping like the Prodigal Son to find some little Corner of retreat in his Father's house; though it be but in the nature of a hireling. These are his aims, and which he awaits as the effects of his Metamorphosed heart, he knows on its temper depends the consistence of all virtues, and if that foundation be well laid, it will be the more secure for him to reenter his form's possession. He is not likewise ignorant, that of all the gifts wherewith God hath ennobled Man, it is not only our heart he exacts in requital; hence it is that the Enemy of Mankind lays all his batteries particularly against it, insomuch that St. chrysostom affirms there is not any Nation, City, or Person in the whole World, against whom so many designs are set on Foot both by open force and treachery, as are machinated against a poor distressed heart; and which is yet more deplorable, that most of its Enemies are hatched, and trained up within its own Breast, who like the Viper tears asunder the womb that bore them. Besides, they are all armed completely against it, whilst this defendant to preserve itself against so many Harpies and ravenous Wolves, hath nothing but a poor will, and this weakened extremely enfeebled by original sin; so that many times it is so overpowred, what by the charms of objects presented to her, what by their importunity, and near approach, that unable to make any offensive; nay, or so much as defensive play, all she can do, is to disown and disavow any compliance, protesting against the violence of all her mutinous passions. In these distresses our Penitent knew well it was necessary to have a clean heart, that is, a heart st●…d in that perfection, as might dimini●… the effects of ●…iginal sin; for a Soul arrived once at perfection, performs acts of virtues with such facility as if he seemed not to have forfeited 〈◊〉 ●usti●es, and though usually this happiness is not purchased but by a long tract of unwearied practice, yet God can supply all this by a superabundant Collation of his Grace, and with these hopes, he confidently and incessantly tunes forth, create in me O God a clean heart.  

The Application.  
Here we are taught that in all our actions we must attend to the sincerity of our intentions for it is not the material thing we do, that gives a value to them, but the source from whence they spring; and if that be qualifyed with a pure designment to aim only at God's glory, than it is evident they proceed from a heart fashioned by the hand of God, and directed by his all-moving Spirit, St. Austin says, we shall be rewarded, or punished, according to the will by which we have acted. Abraham lost not his Son, nor likewise did he lose his merit, because it is the same moral goodness which resides in the inferior and exterior act, and if the one be obstructed, this takes not off the esteem due to the other; just as the Sun is still luminous, though a Cloud sometimes hinders the effect of his beams: Let us bless therefore our good God who contents himself with the heart, and let us dispose that always ready for his service.  
Amen.    

CHAP. XXII.  
Et Spiritum rectum innova in visceribus meis,  
And renew in my Bowels a right spirit.  
OUr Holy Penitent in this clause keeps the method of a wise Petitioner, having an Eye not only to his present succour, but also how to settle a constant supply: For to have implored a dean heart would avail him little without a sentinel and guard to protect this fountain from impure hands: He was not ignorant that the will is a blind faculty that must be directed, wherefore he petitions here in behalf of his understanding, that it may receive those lights which are necessary for his conduct in all the occurrences of this life. Renew in my Bowels a right spirit.  
This spiritual rectitude consists in two heads, to wit, faith and morality: The first teaches what we own to God, the other what is due to our Neighbour and our selves; the first discovers unto us the perfections, and attributes of God, and of these gives us a most certain knowledge not liable to any error, because it is grounded on the Testimony of God, which is more infallible than our reason, senses, or apparitions of the dead.  
Now that this certitude in matter of Faith ought to be of all things most unquestionable, is evident: For Man is obliged to prefer God before all created things, to set a value upon the works of his service beyond any proper interest of riches, honour, nay of life, which is frankly to be exposed in defiance of all the cruelties that can be inflicted, rather than to fail in the least tittle of what Faith prescribes as due to our Creator: It were then very severe we should be tied to forfeit what is most precious to us in this World, and to sustain that which we most abhor, and all this for a thing that is dubious, uncertain, and liable to error. Wherefore in all reason the knowledge we have by Faith ought to be the most depurated from dross of doubt, or vacillation: Now what can be more secure and satisfactory than to be taught by God himself, instructed by his word and revelation, who is a supreme verity and cannot reveal a falsehood, and which is conveyed unto us by the Church, who is the immediate receptacle of Divine truths; so that it is inconceivable how any expedient could be found more efficacious to quiet the minds of Men in religious duties than this of Revelation.  
In other virtue's God seems to treat with us familiarly, and as equals, laying down reason to move us to embrace them; but in matter of Faith he plays the Sovereign, he commands, forbids, threatens, promises, and delivers things which surpass all imagination, and this without any evidence, or reason of their existence; now though at the first glance this proceeding seems harsh, yet seriously weighed it will be found a stroke of his goodness; for whilst we believe amidst these Clouds and obscurity, it speaks more loud an act of our free will which is the spring of merit, presupposing the existence of grace: For if where we most contradict ourselves, there is a Subject of greater merit, certainly in nothing Man doth more divest himself of his inclinations than in acts of Faith, for he renounces his natural way of knowledge by reason, and sense; he Sacrifices his understanding to God's simple word, and believes all the greatnesses and wonders of the Divine Being, and mysterious works, merely because he hath said it.  
Our Holy Penitent desirous to be irradiated with these unerring notions, petitions that a right Spirit may be resettled in him, for supposing Man's End or Beatitude, which is to know, serve, love, and glorify God in all Eternity; we must in order to this end raise our understanding and affections to objects which outstrip the power of sense, and exceed the reach of our natural reason; the acts of Religion by which we pay our duty to God, being supernatural, and justly proportioned to Beatitude to which they tend; now Man of himself without some light from above, cannot frame any supernatural act; of himself he knows not what homage and service is due to his Sovereign Monarch, nor with what Sacrifices he ought to appease his anger, and pay the tribute of thanks, and adoration, wherefore he begs, that he himself would teach him and be his Master, that he may not like the Gentiles follow the vain dictamen of sense, but serve him as he would be served, and in that manner as might be most agreeable to his divine will, which he shall infallibly perform if he deign to fill him with his right Spirit; and renew in my bowels a right Spirit.  
But whilst he sues that this Spirit all guiding of Truth may be infused into his bowels, that is diffused through the whole Man, in such sort that every particle of him may feel its operation, he is not I say so transported as not to consider what he asks, and in that the great condescendency of God, who disdains not to converse with Men; he deals not with them as he doth with Angels, where the superior intelligences instruct the inferior, but by himself an increated wisdom, he conveys unto our happy Ears the mysterious wonders of our Faith: It is by him we are taught that all sin is forbidden, even to the least thought or desire; that God is to be loved above all things, and sin to be abominated in the highest degree, so that the exact observer of his Laws must be holy and enriched with all virtues; there is nothing in our Faith that speaks not the greatness of God, nothing that is not sublime, transcending, and what becomes not an infinite Majesty; he lays down nothing of eternal things that sounds the least imperfection: So that the complete knowledge of them must needs involve a joy eternal, since even in the transitory passage of this life we experience the most solid contentment and satisfaction we have to consist in the sweet Meditation of those Mysteries: For alas, without those hopes which Faith gives us, what Captive more wretched than Man; we are as banished into a Land of misery, enslaved by sin, where we truckle under the insolency of unruly passions, which hurries into many disasters and calamities; at last, we finish a deplorable life by death, in whose Face is seated nothing but dread and horror: After this corruption, staunch, and infection are the last farewell and monument of us, so that without Faith we are centred within these miseries, unable to carry our sight beyond the low condition of a brute, and unreasonable Creature. On the contrary, faith teaches we are created to a supernatural and blessed end, which we are to purchase by acts of Religion: That our Souls are immortal, by which (resembling the Angels) we are excluded from putrefaction, and approach the nearer to God: That he hath created all things of nothing in which belief we acknowledge his Omnipotency, and cherish our own hopes, that if he could extract us out of nothing, with more facility can he after death rejoin our disunited parts.  
Our Holy Penitent figures to himself all these comforts resulting from divine faith, and in sequel implores with instance that a right spirit may be renewed within him.  
But I conceive our Holy Penitent looked not upon himself as wholly deprived of habitual faith, for though every mortal sin disposes afar off unto its total ruin, and truly merits it should be taken from us; yet God is so merciful as to leave that foundation unalterable by sin, unless directly undermined by an opposite act of infidelity. In this petition then for a right spirit he pretends to the operation of habitual faith; that is, an actual and firm belief of Objects proposed by Faith: His reason is, that the lights and irradiations of Faith have a certain blessing from God, to stir up and carry the will to what is good; so that after an act of Faith produced in the understanding, he knew his clean heart would no longer lie a sleep, but grow up into a spark which would both enlighten and inflame, as the Prophet Habakkuk says, Chap. 1. The just Man lives by Faith; that is, Faith actuated, and enlivened both preserves the Soul's life by grace, and by merit opens a passage to eternal glory.  
Run o'er the World's History from the Creation, and you will find habitual faith lying dead and frozen within us to have been the source of all our misery. The reprobate Angels upon what score did they forfeit that precious title of being the Sons of God? was it not in that they preferred a motion of self love, before the motives of faith, which would have rendered them stable and secure? What a frivolous plea made Adam for his trespass, lest his Wife upon his denial might have grown sad, as if a fear to offend God, and ruin his whole posterity ought not to have prevailed in this temptation? Had Cain considered the greatness of God, his obligation to observe his Law in loving his Brother, a petty suggestion of avarice, or sting of envy, could never have animated him to an action so horrid; the Massacre of so many Infants by Herod's command wherein he thought to have involved the person of Jesus Christ was merely upon the account of ambition, the Jewish Oracles foretelling his reign and Empire, which Herod understood to be of this World; nor did the Jews put our Saviour to death, but in order to the preservation of their City, and themselves in the good Opinion of the Romans; so that Men have been pushed on in all their crimes by humane reasons and interests; whilst they laid aside those dissuasives which Faith held forth to them, and which had (if duly weighed) rendered them victorious, witness St. John Chap. 5. The power of faith hath made a conquest of the World, which is meant not of the habit, but act of faith.  
Our Holy Penitent applies all this to himself, having seen the shipwreck that befell him through a sluggishness in not giving life and activity to his faith: For when he was tempted to impurity and other his transgressions that sprang from thence, had he considered what faith teaches concerning mortal sin, that it deprives a Soul of eternal glory, adjudges her to the endless torments of Hell, that it throws a scorn and contempt upon a God whose greatness and Majesty is infinite, and who merits from all Creatures a respect and love ineffable; had he fixed himself on these sublime and supernatural reasons of Faith the Childish baits of flesh and blood could never have taken hold upon his unfortunate senses; wherefore to prevent at least for the future, he solicits a right spirit may be infused into him, a spirit that may not be overgrown with rust like a sword in a scabbard for want of use; but that it may prove active even to his very bowels, which is to say, that this noble quality of faith producing frequently acts, by the consideration of its proper objects, may gain his will, memory, sensitive and moving faculties, and so happily conduct him to his designed Beatitude; renew in my Bowels a right spirit.  
After Faith thus enlivened as a necessary dependent, comes in a troop of moral virtues, which completes the rectitude of his spirit, he so much desires: For virtue is a habit that inclines the Soul to perform actions suitable to a reasonable nature; and though the Soul be sufficient of herself by her natural faculties to frame several acts of virtue, yet it is with hardship and difficulty, whereas this quality of virtue contributes a facility by which the good thence issuing is done with promptitude, and delight. It consists in a mediocrity between two extremes, that is, too little, or too much: For example; Charity is between a coldness or indevotion, and an indiscreet Zeal: Fortitude between rashness and cowardice; so of the rest: Wherefore the art is, so to steer your course as to keep at an equal distance from them both, yet always mindful, that if one be more dangerous than the other, you are most to decline that; as if I would embrace the virtue of hope, which is beset with presumption and despair, and my complexion cold and melancholy draws me on the extremity of despair, this certainly most threatens my ruin, and therefore I am to look upon every spark of that with more apprehension, than a fire which issues from presumption.  
Our Holy Penitent knew that whilst he sailed in the Ocean of this World, he must needs be flanked with two dangerous Rocks, that is two opposite vices to any virtue he would embrace, so that if he keep not a steady hand to the helm, by the least diversion he is cast upon a shelf which will destroy him: Wherefore it behoves him to fit himself with a right spirit, a Spirit of virtue, which leaning upon the Principles of reason, might preserve him in that degree of honour wherein he is ranked amidst created Being's. For as knowledge makes one knowing, so virtue gives us the title of good, and as the good of any thing consists in the just measure and proportion unto it; he concludes this right spirit of virtue to be a purchase worthy his ambition; since doubtless nothing to Man as Man is more suitable and agreeing, than such actions as are produced conformable to a reasonable nature; he anticipates his Son's Declaration, and thinks nothing profitable, pleasant, or great, which is not made so by virtue: This right spirit will shower down spiritual comforts, settle him in peace with God, Angels, and Men; shelter him under the wings of God's Providence, which never fails to cherish those who live according to the rules of virtue; and after a life attempered with the Harmony of delightful actions, it changes into swee●…ss, the grim face of Death, making it a secure passage unto eternal Beatitude, He is resolved to put in execution the practice both of intellectual and moral virtues, and that they may prove meritorious, he begs they may be infused into him, that when he considers the infinity of God's Being, and the immensity of his perfections, he may forthwith pay him the just tribute of glory, respect, and submission; all worship, praise, and possible endeavours of Piety: That his omnipotency may never pass his thoughts without an entire obedience to his will, that his inexhausted and unerring wisdom may draw him to acts of faith, and firm assent to his divine word. That the fidelity of his never failing promises may fix a reliance, and assured hope in him: That his unwearied goodness may ravish him into a charity and love never to be extinguished. That his incomparable greatness may work him into the annihilation of himself before him, and give him a true feeling of his own vileness. That a terror of his judgements may throw him into a course of rigid penance for his misdeeds, and his unspeakable favours be met with all the Testimonies of gratitude, which a poor Creature can give: He knows that had he a Million of hearts lodged within his own person, yet could they never reach that love his goodness merits, and should he stoop even unto Hell; nay lower were it possible, it would still be short of that submission due to his greatness: Wherefore though he be hopeless to pay what he owes, he will show at least he hath a will to be just, nor doth he blush at his impotency, since it springs from the excellency of his Creditor, from whom likewise he expects to be enabled towards the discharge of his arrears, and he conceives no treasure can be more effectual than that of a right spirit, and therefore he incessantly repeats; renew in my bowels a right spirit.  

The Application.  
God will be adored in spirit and truth, wherefore man is to serve and honour him, by a certain knowledge suitable to his intellectual nature; now in the essence of God are contained wonders not to be comprehended by the natural force of our understanding: Whence we are with our Holy Penitent to Petition for a right spirit, that is the excellent light of faith, by which we are raised to a more eminent knowledge of the Divinity, than all the activity and vigour of our reason could ever reach. In this knowledge consists eternal life, in the ignorance of this eternal death: For with what Face shall he one day ask Heaven of the adorable Trinity, who hath never known that mystery? Or claim a share in the fruit of our redemption, who hath been ignorant of Jesus Christ? Let us then beg for this heavenly wisdom, by which we are taken off from the low affection to Creatures, to fix our Eyes upon the greatness of our Creator, the wonders of his works, and amidst a Million of ravishing objects which this right spirit presents to our meditation, let us insist with a particular gust on this, that our Souls are created for eternal bliss;  
Amen.    

CHAP. XXIII.  
Ne projicias me à facie tua,  
Cast me not away from thy face.  
OUr Holy Penitent seems here to question the success of his precedent petition, by which he had sued for a right understanding; this argues how unsettled the mind of a sinner is, that no sooner he had aimed at this irradiation, but immediately he is struck with a terror of his demerits, and fancies his doom is to be eternally banished from the Face of God, wherefore he cries, cast me not away from thy Face.  
St. Hierom conceives this clause levels only at the communication of his Divinity in order to the Hypostatick union, which he apprehends in punishment of his sin might be concealed from him; and therefore he says, cast me not away from thy face; that is, deprive me not of the knowledge of thy divine nature as it relates to Man in the great Sacrament of the incarnation: It is this mystery he fears to be ravished off, which brings along with it a fullness of time, and wherein all the groans and labours of many longing Souls will cease and be at rest.  
But the more vogued opinion lays this expression upon his anxiety touching his eternal reprobation: He knew he was unworthy of eternal life through the forfeiture of grace he had made, and whether being now a Vessel of dishonour, the divine Artist will not leave him eternally in this reproachful mould is the just motive of his fear. He remembers a passage in Exodus, where our Lord threatens to obdurate the heart of Pharaoh, and it is no less affrighting what St. Paul declares, that God is merciful on whom he will have mercy; and in the Fourth Chapter to the Corinthians, God hath cast an obcaecation on the Minds of unbelievers. Yet our Petitioner is too good a Divine as (entertaining these reflections) to make God the efficient cause of Man's obdurateness, he knows that God is only permissive, and accidentally concurring unto final impenitency; that is, in not imparting his grace dissolving Hearts unto such as will not receive it; for since they obstinately cleave unto sin, he is not obliged to violence the liberty of Man's freewill which he hath in his Creation decreed unto him: Nor prodigally throw away his precious grace upon those who contemn it; Wherefore the penal substraction of his grace springs not from the slow current of mercy to a sinner: For it is always ready to flow where the Channel is cut out, and prepared to receive it; but from the malice of Man by which he is totally averted from God, opposite and refractory to his holy inspirations.  
When therefore he begs not to be sequestered from his face, far be it from his thoughts to impeach God as Author of obdurateness; it would only speak he is cause of the punishment not the fault: That if by the prevarication of our first Parent we were reduced to such a condition, as God might justly leave us to ourselves, much more by actual sin do we deserve it; and in this dereliction we can never rise, nor frame a supernatural act, without which it is not possible to attain unto Salvation: So that if God will use his own right, and divert his face, that is the effects of his goodness and mercy from him, he gives himself for lost, and so justly lost as not to have the least matter of complaint against his Judge: Nay on the contrary he joins issue with the Prophet Esay; saying, Lord, if all the Nations thou hast made should perish, who can blame thee. If God hath drawn some out of the gulf of perdition to issue forth the Marks of his goodness, even in the height and fury of their malice, this is no warrant to our Petitioner that for his sake he will break the ordinary rule of his providence: he rather apprehends he may be made an Example of his Justice, and be abandoned to his corrupt inclinations, wherefore he petitions that he would deign to cast a benign Eye upon him, nor throw him away from his blessed face.  
Another dismal thought occurs which eggs him on to this demand, and it ought certainly to be very dreadful to a sinner; that is, there is a certain period set to every Man's transgressions, which is called the measure of his iniquities, and if this be once completed, such a Cloud of obstinacy and perseverance in evil involves him, as he never will be cheered with the Sunshine of God's mercy: This proceeding hath been evident in the downfall of several Nations and Cities, whose excess of wickedness hath drawn upon them the exterminating hand of God. Our Holy Penitent first places before his Eyes the universal deluge, where it is declared that the World had accomplished their malice, and by it so prepared the divine Justice, as there wanted nothing but his avenging Rod to fall heavy upon them. Again, as to the Land of promise designed to the Seed of Abraham, God told him he could not yet perform it, and his patience awaited the space of four hundred years until the Amorites, and Canaanites had summed up their iniquities, after which they were made a prey to the Children of Israel. In sequel of this our Holy Penitent concludes, that though these examples in a vast multitude were remarkable, and terrifying, yet God's judgements hold the same method in the concern of every particular Soul. Besides, his fears increase when he considers that God's patience is spun out longer with some than others; and whether his last sin might not be the upshot and close of all God's special favours to him, he knows not: Wherefore in this suspense, and just subject of apprehension, he petitions not to be thrown away from his face.  
Our Holy Penitent finds notwithstanding some glimmerings of comfort, when he revolves in hes Mind the marks of this helpless desolation. First he remembers when the Sodomites were consumed in the flames of his anger, the Harbinger of their destruction was their notorious and public commission of their crimes, and this joined with such impudence as to vaunt and boast of their impieties. Our sad Penitent found himself not guilty of this, for what contrivances had he nol framed to conceal his sin, and when reproved by Nathan presently with shame and confusion he owned his miscarriage.  
The next presage of Reprobation is obstinacy which was laid before him in the person of Pharaoh, whose hardened heart not all the importunities of Moses, nor the prodigious wonders he wrought, could in the least mollify, nor, work him to the dismission of God's people: When therefore you behold a person so bend upon his wicked ways, as no remonstrance, entreaty, promise nor threat can prevail, you have reason to believe (as St. Paul says) they are given up to a reprobate sense, which insensibly and unawares will bring them to endless ruin.  
Our Petitioner cannot likewise accuse himself of this prelude to perdition; this present Psalm (which he composed immediately after the Prophet from the part of God had denounced unto him his ingratitude) sufficiently evinces, he was not deaf to the workings of God's inspirations, nor impenetrable against the power of exciting grace.  
Another cause of God's dereliction is an habitual application to a certain sin, to which one is so fastened, as his ordinary grace hath no effect to draw him from it; and God is pleased not to gratify him with any thing extraordinary in punishment of his transgressions, having so often abused his mercy: This habitual malice was evident in the Jews, who from age to age had persecuted the Prophets, sent to mind them of their duties, insomuch as St. Stephen laid it to their charge, and defied them to name any one who had escaped their fury; and this they continued, until at last they laid their hands on the Saint of Saints Christ Jesus; after which Sacrilegious act, arrived at the utmost pitch of their demerits, they were given up to the Tyranny of the Romans, who totally subverted their City and Nation.  
Our Penitent had reason to hope his deviation was an effect of frailty rather than malice, having not continued any space without repentance, when once his sin was represented to him by the Minister of God's word, yet knowing the web of Man's Salvation to be wrapped up in the secret of the Divine Providence, that though he had revealed to many of his Servants the glad tidings of their predestination, yet never had he to any communicated the doom of reprobation, lest it might cast them into despair; therefore he thinks it the wisest course to sail between hope and fear, and in all events to implore, that he may not be excluded from his sight.  
Some again weighing the subsequent verse, where our Penitent petitions God not to take away from him his holy spirit, are of Opinion that this demand imports not a dread of reprobation (for he seems to thinks himself in the possession of grace) but argues rather a fear to have stopped the sacred stream of God's extraordinary favours towards him: For he was so well versed in the ways of perfection, as he knew the foundation of a life of Sanctity consists in the good management of divine inspirations, and that the greatest Saints have from thence derived their happy success in a spiritual life. We see no King nor Commonwealth, if they find any person unfaithful in a slight Office, that will entrust to him a more weighty charge; and why should we think that God will be less prudent in the Government of Souls. St. Prosper says that God imparts his graces in order, and by degrees: First distilling into them some little drops of his grace, and then a greater quantity, in case those first be carefully improved; it being a good earnest, that he who acquits himself with fidelity in ordinary things, will in matters of greater perfection come off with no less honour. Whereas on the contrary, the first step to the misfortune of a sinner, is made by the neglect of God's early inspirations in the beginning: For there is not any Pagan, misbeliever, or Christian, whom he stirs not up to the common practice of virtue, as obsequiousness to our Parents, the avoiding Theft, Luxury, and the like; and if they comply with these, he fails not to inflame them with desires, and gives them abilities to arrive at more sublime perfection.  
Wherefore our Penitent fears he may have demerited in this Nature, and begs not to be excluded from his face; that is, not to be deprived of those endearments wherewith he is wont to overwhelm such Souls as correspond with his inspirations; and if hitherto he hath played the Coy one, and scorned his dalliances; for the future he will change his humour, and cherish every the least motion of his dear Creator: He will aim at a perfect resemblance of his beloved; in imitation of his wisdom he will discern good from evil, and distinguish 'twixt the less and greater good always embracing that which is best. In order to his purity as much as is consistent with frail nature, supported by grace he hopes to preserve himself from all stain and imperfection. That some sparks of his charity may shine in him, he will love that which God loves, and love nothing but what he loves, and upon the same motives whereon his love is grounded In a word, he will unite all his faculties with God in as strict an alliance as this present condition of mortality will bear, provided he be not exiled from his Face, nor the floodgates of gracious communications shut up in punishment of his past offences.  
Whilst the person offended admits the offendor to his presence, it argues there is not an utter breach between them, wherefore till a sentence of banishment be passed, he still retains some hope; his aim then in this petition is, to put a bar to this extremity of rigour; He confesses it is a bitter thing to leave God, but yet a far greater to be left by him; and a main appearance of this is, when he leaves us to the desires of our own heart; like a Physician who permits his patient in a desperate condition to eat and drink what he please: He knows the anger of God is great when he is not angry with a sinner, and that it is a stroke of his goodness, when his temporal chastisement immediately follows the offence; so that if he please to afflict him, and like a Jealous God issue forth his indignation upon the place for every misdemeanour, He is ready to embrace with open arms what ever affliction he shall send, and is willing to expose his breast to the direst shafts of his fury; so it may but divert this great subject of his fears, as to be ternally cast out from his presence. Neprojicias' me, etc.  

The Application.  
We behold by this clause, how all along in this petition our Penitent hath been terrified with the ugly shape of sin; and now he gins to apprehend the effects of sin which is Death: For Death and sin considered apart are very frightful, but once joined together, that is to die in sin, there is nothing more dreadful: and this dismal stroke he fears, when he says cast me not away from thy face. St. John Damascene observes two derelictions of God; the one seeming, when he permits the just to fall into sin, that by experiment of their frailty, they might rise more humble, and more watchfully attend to their Salvation. This happened to our Penitent St. Peter, and divers others. The other is absolute, and a final cashier for ever, and this happens when after all remedies applied, a Soul remains stupid, and incurable (even to the last) by his obstinate perseverance in wickedness: so that God foreseeing this obdurateness withholds his special grace, and so lets him end in his impenitency; we are here therefore to join with our Petitioner, and beg we may not come to this period, or consummation of our iniquities, but timely lay hold on the shield of his mercy:  
Amen.    

CHAP. XXIV.  
Et spiritum Sanctum tuum nè auferas à me,  
And take not from me thy holy Spirit.  
THe workings of God's Holy Spirit in our Souls are great secrets, and if to our selves unknown, no wonder that to others they lie hid, and though he be in us after a quite different manner, than he is said to be ubiquitary by his essence, presence, and power; yet his approach, or recess is so insensible, as the best persons during this life are left in suspense, ignorant whether they be in a condition of love, or hatred with their Creator: Of this blessed Job seemed to complain, saying Chap. 19 If he come I shall not see him, and when he retires I am in the same Cloud. Notwithstanding God is pleased sometimes though rarely to dispense with his ordinary proceeding, as to give such marks of his grace and friendship to a Soul, that it is apparent even to the Eye of the Body. Of this we have an example in the Feast of Pentecost, when the Holy Ghost descended upon the Apostles in form of fiery tongues, so replenishing their Minds with knowledge, and enflaming their Hearts with charity, as the whole World was in a short time laid prostrate to the power of their doctrine and miracles.  
In this clause of the petition we have likewise reason to pass the same Opinion of our Holy Penitent, that he had been gratified with the like visible communication of this divine gift: The past transactions 'twixt God and his once happy Soul were fresh in his memory, and how he had designed to reveal unto him many secrets of his Providence: Nay, had given him so many proofs of inhabiting grace, as one must be strangely stupid not to acknowledge it. Now here he seems to cheer himself with a confidence, that after his petition for a clean heart, and right understanding, he is again in the enjoyment of his blessed presence by grace and charity; wherefore he begs he might always dwell with him, and that he may never more taste the bitter absence of his Holy Spirit: Et spiritum sanctum tuum, etc.  
Spiritual Men who have employed their thoughts on the subject of the mission of the divine persons unto Creatures, discover advantages by this Embassy unto humane nature which seem to surpass all the wonders of our faith; at least they are conveyed unto us with more sensible delight.  
First, they say when a Soul is privileged with a visit from that divine spirit, she doth not only receive inherent and accidental grace, not only splendours which irradiate, and ardours which inflame, but even the substantial Principium the Holy Ghost from whence they flow. Witness St. Paul 2. add Rom. The charity of God is diffused through our hearts by the Holy Ghost who is given to us. The Philosopher says, that two Lovers if possibly would become but one, because this identity would destroy all fear of separation, and since they cannot arrive to this, at least by conversation, discourse, and mutual presence they give themselves to one another. Now the love of God is all-powerful, no obstacle can hinder the perfect union to which it tends; wherefore this love inclining the divine person to unite and surrender up himself unto a Soul, she finds herself immediately fastened to him by other chains than those of his immensity; it is by grace and charity she is enslaved, and their efficacy is to prodigious, that were not that divine spirit already at the door, they would draw him thither and court him to a most intimate alliance.  
Our Holy Penitent well knew the truth of this Divinity by the amorous operations he had once felt within him; for this great gift of God was no stranger to him, whence I wonder not if he court its preservation, since in it is contained the whole treasure of his immense love: If then he shall please to secure this present to him, he will in return consecrate to his honour all the fruit of his understanding and will; his thoughts shall ever dwell in him, and from this meditation he hopes to enkindle such a flame within him as all the waves of adversity, or allurements of the World shall never be able to quench; his constant Prayer therefore shall be, withdraw not from me thy holy spirit.  
After he had thus considered the dignity of the person communicated to a devout Soul, he than descends to the particulars of his negotiation.  
The first point is, that this divine spirit is the Prin●ipium or great wheel which gives motion to all her supernatural and meritorious actions, by which the Soul exceeds her own strength, and gets above all her natural faculties, and without this spirit Man is feeble, impotent, and can act nothing generous in a spiritual life.  
The second advantage of this Treaty is, that this divine person becomes the object of our understanding and will, so that he is a known object in a knowing will, and a beloved object in a loving will; than it is that the Soul hath God within her, who alone entertains, and employs her thoughts and affections; it is towards him she raises acts of faith and love, setting a value upon him beyond all the World, as the most excellent Being to whom she can consecrate herself.  
Another benefit of this mission is, that this divine spirit communicates himself unto a Soul as her sole treasure, and appropriated sovereign good, and in such a manner, as she will not only find God within her, but likewise that he belongs to her as her proper right, the serious thought of which happy possession must doubtless much assuage all the bitterness of this life.  
In sequel of these irradiations our Holy Penitent is at a stand, comparing the liberalities of his good God with his own ingratitude: For God had given himself up to him, to be the instrument of all his supernatural operations, to be the object of his thoughts, and repository of his affections; in requital our unfortunate Penitent rejecting this divine legate, hath taken up the arms of sensualities against him, filled his memory with Earthly species, and consulted with brutish passions! O bad exchange? When he had thus reproached himself of his disloyalty, he than converts his Eye to the shipwreck he had made, for by one mortal sin he hath lost God, as he is God of grace and glory; though not as he is God of nature, for as such a one he still remains to cast thunderbolts of vengeance upon his guilty head; but he is resolved, if the divine goodness shall please to restore and continue to him himself, in whom is found the source of so many precious treasures, he will for the future manage them to his honour, he will glorify him in all eternity, and manifest to the world, that through his grace he is made worthy not to have his holy spirit taken from him.  
In temporal afflictions we lose (it is true) the gift, but the giver is yet secured to us; by sin we lose both. So that there is no desolation can happen equal to what is thrown upon us by sin: For whilst we lie under the guilt of mortal sin, God is no more the Principium of our meritorious operations, no more the object of our amorous powers, nor to be claimed as our proper good, and treasure; and though his infinite beauties and perfections render him always a source of all good imaginable, yet to a Soul defiled with sin, he is a spring that diverts his stream in another Channel; he is a treasure locked up, whose Key is taken away, and all-right of entrance decreed against him: These are the miserable circumstances which attend the loss of God's holy spirit, of which our Holy Penitent being very conscious incessantly repeats; Lord, withdraw not from me thy holy spirit.  
Theodoret says, that St. Peter having heard from Christ's own Mouth; Thou shalt thrice deny me; would feign have fled many Leagues from that occasion, but his love was so great as he held it less evil to follow, and deny him; than to fly away and confess him: He took so much pleasure in his presence, that he chose rather to hazard his Soul, than the loss of his blessed sight; deeming it less unhappiness to renounce him, than not to be in the Eye of him whom he loved so dearly: If then his corporal presence so ravished this Apostle, what a charm must it be to possess within us a divine spirit, what solicitude to preserve this treasure in whose participation consists all the happiness we are any ways capable of in the condition of this our mortality. Ah blame not then our Petitioner, if again and again he sues under this form; Lord, take not thy holy spirit from me.  
Many Nations have made their gods Prisoners, chaining them fast in their Temples, the Lacedæmonians hampered their god Mars with Cords of Silk; Hercules with Fetters of Gold, fancying to themselves, that if they could enjoy their Company though by violence, they should not want their protection.  
Our Holy Penitent thought the best stratagem to fasten his God unto him, was an humble acknowledgement of his fault; joined with a fervent prayer. In the First part of his petition he had copiously set forth his own guiltiness, and now he supplicates in a Subject the most grateful that can be to his Creator; for his delight is to be with the Sons of Men; It was to draw the World unto him that he exalted himself upon the Cross; his extended arms there sufficiently expressed, with what dear embraces he would receive those that fly unto him with an humble and contrite heart: His thirst there was not so much the effect of his torments, as an excessive zeal for Man's Salvation: How often hath he justified himself in his proceed with Man; insomuch as all his wisdom and love could not contrive more inducements than he hath set on foot to gain us to him, and if he be continually rapping at our door, can we think he will shut up the treasures of his holy spirit in despite of our importunity: No, no, great Penitent fear not, prefer your memorial, it is only expected you ask, and the grant is ready; that his holy spirit shall not be taken from you.  
A holy writer observes, that God always gives more than is asked of him: Anna prayed for a Son, God gave her one that was a Saint, a Prophet, and his chief favourite: Solomon sued for wisdom to govern his People, he received it not only to Rule, but he was universally knowing; besides, an infinite store of wealth was bestowed upon him. The Servant indebted ten thousand Talents demanded only a little forbearance, and the whole debt was remitted to him; wherefore our Penitent demanding only to keep what he already enjoys, by this providential act he not only secures his possession, but gives earnest for a new supply. Nay, his goodness always prevents the prayer of the afflicted, giving them ease of their griefs, before they ask his help; resembling that fountain which calls and invites the thirsty to drink, or like that Tree which bending its bows, offers its fruits unto gathering hands, when ripe; so that God's love needs no baits to allure his favours from him; an affectionate heart doth more with him then all the charms in nature: It is true St. Austin distinguishes between a willing a thing, and a willing it stoutly and entirely: But we have all reason to judge the velleity of our Penitent was fervent, and efficacious, when he hath so much confidence as to call God to witness of it: Tu scis Domine, omne desiderium meum ante te; that he had exposed before him all the motions of his heart, and left him to be judge whether any circumstance was wanting that might hinder the effect of his petition; as not to be deprived of his holy spirit.  
St. Austin says, were it impossible for a sinner to hid himself from God, he would advise him to get into some abstruse retreat, and there lie close till the Cloud of his anger be blown over, but since this cannot be done, his best way to escape God's hands, is to put himself into his hands, and prostrate himself at his feet. Our Penitent then is not ill advised, that being already enroled in the list of his retinue to endeavour to prevent his dismission by a non auferes à me: For he hath many advantages whilst he is in, which will be lost if once cashiered: Now he hath the Ear of his Sovereign, can discourse his case with him, and purchase a good word from many powerful friends, but if once discarded like a desolate Orphan he will find no refuge. Besides, though God beheld in his allseeing prospect the treachery of Judas and ingratitude of the Jews, yet (to cut off all matter of excuse) he obliged them with all the endearing imaginable; why shoul not then our Penitent hope to dwell in the lasting enjoyment of this divine spirit, since he is resolved for the future to be led by his holy dictamen; he will seek his Salvation with ineffable groans; it is St. Paul's expression of such as are guided by the Holy Ghost; he will with the Prophet Jeremy cry out for a fountain of tears, that he may bewail (as he ought) his own and his people's sins, and since this divine spirit communicates himself in so many different ways unto Creatures, he begs he may return himself a gift and oblation to God, by every thing that is capable of Action; that by a constant, and unwearied motion in his service, this seed of glory he now possesses may at last conduct him to the beatific vision, where he shall no more apprehend what is now the subject of his Fear: To have his holy spirit taken from him.  

The Application.  
St. Ambrose says, that no man in this life can be long secure from falling into sin, for whom the Devil cannot lay prostrate at the first attack, he presses with redoubled assaults, and leaves no stratagem unessayed to work his end. In this warfare our Holy Penitent was not a Novice, he knew there was no place in Man impregnable, unless fortified by God's Holy Spirit: This he expresses in another Psalm, If you withdraw (says he) your spirit, we shall presently resolve into dust; that is, corruption from whence we came. For grace is a motion in the understanding and will; to wit a certain action in both these powers, which soon passes away unless fixed by a continued influence of his favours: Wherefore we must take the admonition of St. Paul and be wary, that the grace of God prove not a liberality in vain bestowed upon us: But that we make the right use of it, which is the remission of our sins and a passage unto eternal life.    

CHAP. XXV.  
Reddite mihi laetitiam salutaris tui,  
Restore unto me the joy of thy Salvation.  
IT is not (methinks) easy to determine, whether Man be more unfortunate in not having a discerning faculty of misery, or through the mistakes he falls into about the object of his felicity: How many have been seen to languish and pine away under an accident which they looked upon as their ruin, and yet it proved their making; whilst others again have triumphed, and made jubilyes for seeming blessings, that in the end became fatal to them; who would not have looked upon the Patriarch Joseph when sold to the Madianites but as a slave, and an abortive of fortune, and yet without this cruelty of his Brethren in all likelihood he had never handled the Sceptre of Egypt. Again, who would not have envied the success of our Penitent against Goliath, and yet this glorious victory occasioned unto him a life full of disturbance for many years how to preserve himself: This uncertainty in the event of things is managed no doubt by a special providence, to teach us we ought to bear a temper unalterable amidst the various occurrences of this life, not to be too much transported with joy, nor cast down with sadness upon any rencontre, since the effects do often prove far different from what they promise, and this by the unresistable ordinations of Heaven, which can draw riches out of poverty, make us great by humility, give us honour by contempts: In fine, who needs no previous dispositions in Creatures to frame his productions.  
Now to lead us in this labyrinth, that we may not err, Divines distinguish a twofold joy: The one is temporal which hath for its Object riches, honour, sensual pleasures and the like: So that when our joy reaches but to the petty interests of this World, this is poor, and argues a baseness of Spirit, which is angustiated within the limits of flesh and blood, and hopes or fears only what may prove distasteful or pleasant to their present state of Being. The other branch of joy is eternal, taking its specification from the object which is God, without end or beginning; it only looks upon him, and it is he alone that gives the rise to all its motions. One part of this joy is proper for us here whilst we are in viâ (as Divines term it) or pilgrims upon earth: the completion of the other we must expect in patria, when we shall attain to the mansion of the blessed; it is this joy St. Bernard meant when he says, O good Jesus if it be so sweet a thing to weep for thee, what will it be to rejoice with a●d in thee. So that we are here by a compunctive sorrow to crucify ourselves daily, and by this means dispose ourselves for that joy which is necessarily consequent to such acts.  
Our Holy Penitent follows this method in his petition, he knows the effects of a heart pierced with a virtuous sorrow and repentance, is peace, joy, and the like: So that though we labour here to steep ourselves in bitterness and anguish, there results out of these agonies a certain contentment in performing our duties to God, and this so great, as it surpasses all the delights of this World.  
Many Heathen Philosophers have been of Opinion, that virtue itself was a sufficient reward unto such as embraced it; that is, there springs from good actions such a satisfaction in conformity to the dictamen of reason, as they have preferred it before riches, honour, or any sensual pleasure; we have seen them endure torments of all kind, the hardship of want, the rough trial of disgraces; and all this with smiling looks, and merely from this Principle, they took their cause to be good, and that virtue commanded it; believing her Laws to be more suitable to a reasonable Soul than all the glory and plenty of the World attended on by injustice and impiety.  
Our Ho●y Penitent by his own experience had learned that in works of Piety, there is found something which sensibly affects the agent with delight, and be they never so knotty, yet they are still sweetened with this; that reason is their guide, that the whole intellectual part applauds the action, which concurrence of the Souls faculties cannot but be followed with an universal dilatation of the spirits, and what is this but the height of joy: If then moral actions, looked upon as apparalleled in their simple natural colours; that is, merely confined to the limits of what is good and just by the light of reason, prove such an Antidote against adversity, as to make them receive the most embittered Arrows of fortune with cheerful looks: What may we expect when these are directed to a supernatural end, when they are enriched with the merits of Jesus Christ, after which our Holy Petitioner languished, and whose efficacy had influence upon his repentance at the distance of so many preceding ages, as now it hath on ours after so many subsequent revolutions.  
It is then for the joy of this Salvation he makes instance, and what a value must this addition set upon his smallest sufferings? Whence I wonder not to contemplate much of serenity in the Foreheads of afflicted persons crushed for virtue's sake, for the tempest wherein they are agitated doth only bluster about them, within they enjoy a Harmony and full peace of Mind, even tasting a kind of Antipast or fore-notion of Paradise.  
I observe in the Gospel of St. Luke, how Christ our Lord gave a check to his Disciples, when returning from the exercise of their Apostolic Commissions they seemed to glory in their power of casting out Devils; and when he had terrified them with a Memorandum of the Angel's fall, he prescribes rules how they should lay the foundation of their joy, and satisfaction amidst their transcending employments, saying, Rejoice in this that your Names are written in Heaven: First he disallows not of their joy, but rather animates them to it; only he dislikes the motive, or more properly to say, sets down what they ought to lay hold on as the basis of their exultations: Rejoice because your Names are written in Heaven. That they were zealous in God's service, charitable, had the gift of tongues, of working miracles, casting out Devils, and the like; these must not be the groundwork of their contentments; but that they are by the efficacious Will of God transmitted to a supernatural end, upon which foundation are built all the spiritual benefits of God towards them, as their vocation, justification, and glorification: From this Root springs their calling to be a Christian, to be a member of Christ's true Church, by means of which they obtain grace, and by the right use of Grace eternal glorification: This must give birth and life to their joy, and no less to ours; as it did to our Holy Penitent before his fall, and now restored (as he hopes) to the wont caresses of his Creator, he gins to breath after the assurance of his predestination, which had often occasioned unto him abundant joy: Wherefore he cries, restore unto me the joy of thy Salvation.  
Yet whilst he petitioned for this solid contentment, he was not ignorant that his Election must proceed from the merciful hand of God, and the Collation of glory from the interest of his own merits: God first puts us in an infallible condition to be happy, and then so tempers the circumstances, as we ourselves may be a partial cause of our happiness; he offers the occasions of merit, this done, he seconds our endeavours so powerfully as the effect; to wit, eternal glory cannot but follow: So that the joy he sues for, is an assurance to be in the state of grace and eternally predestinate; that be his combats and assaults in this life never so furious, he shall overcome: Be his temptations never so vehement, the issue will be glorious, having his Eyes still fixed upon the Palms of Beatitude, the assured guerdon of his conflicts, in case, I say, he be in the number of the Predestinate.  
But as to the infallible decrce of predestination, our Holy Penitent knows it is a secret shut up in the Cabinet of his great Counsels; the joy therefore he aims at here is, that which arises from the mediums consequent to our eternal Election: For God first designs our Beatitude, and after this the means to arrive unto it, as to have true faith, to observe the Commandments, to avoid sin, to practice works of mercy, to have a sincere repentance, a perfect charity towards God, and our Neighbour, to bear adversity with patience, and finally to persevere in grace; these actions he knows are the proper instruments to cause joy within him; in order to this he resolves upon the punctual accomplishment of his commands, and this vigorously like a Giant both with firm footing, and with large and nimble paces; nor will he discharge this Obligation in a cold manner simply to pay what he owes, but with a serious application of his Mind offering them up to God, and directing them to his glory with a most holy and pious zeal: Next, he resolves always to do that which is most acceptable to God, knowing that we cannot give him too much honour, and that our fidelity engages us not to omit any occasion of doing good: Lastly, he will be assiduous in framing interior and exterior acts of virtues, especially such as more immediately lead unto him, he will conspire with heart and affection to all the services, to all the acts of love, praise and glorification, that the most perfect Creatures ever have, or shall give unto him.  
His next design in pursuance of this joy is to have an Eye to himself, whom he beholds like a plat of ground, which must be cultivated, and emboweld ere it be fruitful: He undertakes this melioration with the tools of fortitude, temperance, and other virtues; nor is he set on work by the comeliness of virtue, or turpitude of vice; his final end is the object of all his motion, it is merely to please God, and glorify him in his Salvation. He knows the condition of this life is always beset with dangers, and hazards (alas his own experience had too freshly taught him this Truth) and that we are in the midst of sworn mortal Enemies, wherefore he is resolved to bear a strict band, and purchase victory by a perfect abnegation of himself, of his senses both interior and exterior, of his memory, understanding, and will, knowing it is a Nice and Ticklish Combat to overcome by Love.  
His third contrivance to joy is, not to fail in what he owes to his Neighbour: He considers Man issuing from the hands of God, and in a capacity (if faithful to his Graces) to return unto the same fountain: Wherefore he fears to hate that person whom God may have designed to love for eternity, and as he loves God not as a particular, but universal good, so he will cherish, love, and honour all Souls, as being in a possibility of enjoying him.  
This is the foundation our Holy Penitent lays for the superstructure of his joy; remitting the rest to the disposal of that all comprehending Architect, whose lines are drawn severally according to the rule of his providence: For when a Soul whom he hath gratified with endearments of spiritual relishes, and ineffable delights happens to forfeit by some default the subtraction of his grace, sometimes upon her repentance he not only admits her again to his favour, but also to her wont ravishments, nay to that degree as even she seems to have gained by her loss: Sometimes again he is pleased barely to Seal his pardon, without any further communication of those Enthusiastic throws, she used to feel in her amorous transports. Now I find our Penitent in this his petition is desirous to regain all, and this appears in divers others of his Psalms, where he suffers strange convulsions in his desires to be united unto God, and now born up with a restless longing, he sighs forth, restore me the joy of thy Salvation.  
St. Gregory puts this distinction 'twixt corporal and spiritual pleasures, that the former not had, push us on to vehement desires for the acquisition, but when enjoyed they presently cloy, and beget a nauceousness; the other give very little insentives when absent, yet being once possessed they are still coveted, because still creating new delights, and though to be kept in desire and hope be a kind of torment in Earthly enjoyments, yet it is not so when they relate to Heavenly treasures; the reason is, God hath deputed Earth for our hopes, and Heaven for our bliss: If here we are mindful of Celestial glory, and make it the subject of our thoughts, and desires, every the least glimmering hope of that blessed state will produce ineffable joy within us. There is nothing says St: Basil which ought so much to ravish Man, as to reflect that he is designed to so noble an end, as to enjoy God's immense perfections for all eternity: Whence he infers the sole way to anticipate our happiness, is to think continually on him, to consider that our Souls shall be translated and as it were dissolved into his divine essence: Wherefore he exhorts us to the imitation of Painters, who aiming at the performance of a rare piece, have their Eyes always fixed upon the Original: But if we pervert this order, and make the Earth our Heaven, enjoy that we should but use, what must be the issue; for after a long inquest, passing from one delight to another, our thirst is never satisfied: Whence the pleasures of this life are resembled to brackish waters, which still the more you drink, the more you increase your thirst; nay they have this additional circumstance of woe, that their drought shall never be quenched in this life, nor in the next; not in this, for Christ our Lord positively declared it to the Samaritan, that those who swill themselves with the puddle of Earthly pleasures shall be always thirsty and panting after new refreshments: Not in the next life, for the whole extent of Hell could not afford the unfortunate rich man one drop of water, a little to allay the vehemency of his enraging heat. I remember Philo the Jew treating of Earthly delights calls them furta Coeli the plunder of Heaven: So that who enjoys them steals them from thence; now as a thief retains what he hath got by rapine with a continual fear and jealousy, which still moderates and allays the contentment of his acquests, so doubtless there is nothing transitory can give a true satisfaction to the owner.  
Our Holy Penitent was very sensible of this Truth, and grown weary of the World's prosperity, confesses in another Psalm, that his Soul could find no comfort but in the meditation of everlasting joy; as in this the whole scope of his petition is, that as Abraham was ready at God's command to sacrifice Isaac his sole joy and contentment in this life, so he is ready to renounce his lovely Absalon, or any thing most dear to him in this World, that by this dispropriation he may make a passage to that lasting joy which attends his Salvation. Wherefore he will never cease to implore, restore unto me the joy of thy Salvation.  

The Application.  
Our Penitent insinuates the high contentment he once received, when a darling to Heaven he had promises made him, that out of his Line should issue forth the World's Saviour; and as the perpetuity, of his blood to continue in the Throne was fastened to his posterity, upon a condition that they observed his Laws, which promise was evacuated (he fears) by his transgressions: Wherefore now readmitted into favour, he hopes to be restored to all his former privileges and amongst all, he most covets an assurance touching the coming of the Messiah. This is the joy of Salvation after which he languishes. In imitation we must rejoice, in that the Incarnate word is come, and redouble our joy in the reflection of his glorious qualities: First, that this sacred humanity is distained from all the corruptions of our nature; and though it be of the same species with ours, yet it far surpasses all created things, even in the first rank of Angels. Next, his flesh miraculously framed by the operation of the Holy Ghost, of the blood of a Virgin all immaculate, was so pure as no ray of the Sun could be equalled to it. Lastly, into this unspotted flesh was infused a Soul of a beauty ineffable, adorned with grace, knowledge, and all supernatural habits, as God himself judged it not unworthy of his personal union. Let then this accomplished wonder of all perfection be the subject of our prayer, that we may possess the joy of thy Salvation.  
Amen.    

CHAP. XXVI.  
Et spiritu principali confirma me,  
And confirm me with a principal Spirit.  
MEthinks our Penitent by this clause seems to have shaken off his Chains, and fortified with the Seal of his pardon gins to fly at all. He had laid claim to the Holy Ghost; next, he expostulates for the restitution of his primary effect which is joy. Now he would have a principal Spirit which might lead him to perfection, and by that means put him into the best posture of security from a relapse, as our present condition can bear; saying, confirm me with a principal spirit.  
This perfection or principal spirit so called, because it leads to generous and noble exploits, consists in a concourse of virtuous habits disposing the Soul to actions most holy and meritorious. Our Penitent aims by it to endear himself to God, and to prove just and obliging to his Neighbour: As to the first, this noble spirit settles the Soul in a perfect repose; and as the Needle always points towards the North-pole, so all her affections guided by this spirit tend, and rest quiet in God: She looks upon herself in the condition of his spouse, a quality the most sublime she can be capable off, by which she is enabled to lead a life answerable to that title: She hath no remorse of conscience, as being at a great distance from sin, she is enriched with peace, sheltered under God's special Providence, and hath power to bend his will by her prayer to any thing she desires, because she desires nothing but what is good: Her thoughts are all celestial, her affections all pure, and her life no less admirable than it is rare. No wonder then if our Penitent after a grant of Jubilyes, always cheerful, always ravished with pledges of Salvation should petition for this spirit of perfection, which might secure all these advantages to him; confirm me with a principal spirit.  
It is this wisdom our Penitent aims at which irradiates, inflames, and gives to the Soul a relish of Heavenly comforts; this is the Evangelical Pearl for whose purchase the wise Merchant sold all he had, and it is a good bargain; for St. Paul says, a Soul adorned with perfection is of such a value as the Earth deserves not to bear her, and Solomon prefers one single person fearing God before a thousand impious Sons; nay God is pleased to own a special protection of his perfect Servants, styling himself particularly the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: So that I doubt not, one Soul endued with Perfection doth alone more glorify God, than an infinity of others that languish and consume their lives in coldness and indevotion: Our Penitent therefore becomes now ambitious of promoting God's honour, supplicates for a spirit of perfection, and though he knows usually it is not attained to but by a long practice of virtues, yet Almighty God is pleased sometimes to dispense in this proceeding, and in a moment raises to a high degree such as he hath designed for his choicest favours; and truly he had so far experienced God's liberal hand towards himself, that he might reasonably hope to obtain whatsoever he made the subject of his request, as here with all fervour and zeal he petitions; comfirm me with a principal spirit.  
Many Divines are of Opinion, that Christ our Lord suffered more in the rude combat of his passion for the most perfect Souls, than for others: For though he offered up his blood for the redemption of all Mankind, yet all did not equally share in the fruit of his passion: Some only have conveyed to them by it sufficient means of their Salvation without any other effect; others also receive from thence the true remission of their sins; but perfect Souls are raised by this oblation to a strange pitch in a spiritual life; and in consequence to that, to a degree of most eminent glory: Wherefore the passion of Christ is to them effectively more beneficial. This position they prove out of the Canticles, where Christ speaking to a beloved Soul says, vulnerâsti Cor meum; that is to say, there is not a hair of her head, dart of her Eye, least motion of her heart, or limb, which cost him not a wound; because they all import acts of obedience, humility, and love, towards him; and therefore it was a pleasing wound, since it was to be to them matter of all their spiritual benedictions: Whence you may see that Christ our Lord doth not like Creatures who love the less those persons that have caused unto them the greater sufferings, for one act of gratitude on our part is of a virtue so sovereign, as it heals and closes up all his wounds.  
If then his passion however bitter in itself was made delightful to him in regard of the just whom he foresaw would make good use of it; how ought it to affect those who reap the benefit; it is this satisfaction after which our Penitent aspires, for in this a double contentment arrives to perfect Souls: First, in that his love made him suffer so liberally for them: Next, in that they have contributed to allay the acerbities of his passion, by the foreknowledge he had of their compliance with his grace. O what solid matter of joy? Now you must know that our Penitent looked upon himself as much concerned in the fruit and participation of Christ's merits, as those who were to live after his coming and visible appearance upon Earth. Our Petitioner in the preceding verse expresses himself in the Terms of thy salvation, that is, purchased by the merits of Christ God-man. The Church calls it a happy fault in that it merited so great a Redeemer, in the same sense our Penitent contemplating the cause of his redemption, admires his happy deliverance, and urges for this spirit of perfection, that as the just was to be the motive of a more copious effusion of his blood, so he becoming perfect might assuage his torments; to which end he cries, confirm me with a principal spirit.  
Again, our Penitent is animated to this his petition upon the consideration, that when a perfect Soul whom God hath designed to salvation falls into any notable default (as she may, not being impeccable) he lets her not lie mired in the filth of sin without any feeling of her condition, but presently solicits her with his exciting graces, and this with such importunity as he told St. Paul, it was hard for him to play the obstinate against so many darts of his love, and if ever that parable was fulfilled, where out Saviour having found the lost sheep, witnesss more joy for the recovery of that one, than of the Ninety nine he had left in the desert, it is certainly in the resettlement of a Soul in his favour, whom he hath marked out to be his: 'Tis true, sometimes Almighty God withdraws his sustaining hand, and permits them to dash upon the Rock of offence, so to humble them; that sin might effect what his Grace could not, yet the conclusion is always to their greater good; and if he makes use of so many stratagems to bring them to their former state of happiness, being once returned, with what profusions of his bounty, with what inundations of his grace doth he overflow them? It is then a Soul makes a new oblation of herself to God, renewing her vows and promises, and soon regains her former lustre; nay becomes more accomplished improving still her light and virtue, and with these penitential ornaments she invites her Espouse to a visit, who declares in the Canticles, that he is descended into the Garden of Filberts, and amidst the Apples of the Valleys. Intimating by these words, that his satisfaction is to behold a Soul (freed from the sink of sin) to spring anew, and bud forth in the practice of eminent virtues, to see her like fire always in motion, acting generous things for his service: To hear her amidst the baits of this world to send forth amorous Sighs after him, passionately coveting to be discharged from the mass of the body, so to arrive at the fruition of him, and he is so good as to answer every motion of this converted Soul: She never looks on him, but he amorously casts an Eye upon her; she never thinks on him, but he requites the kindness with a thought on her; she never gives herself unto him, but he as liberally bestows himself upon her: These are the entertainments our Holy Penitent doth promise to himself by means of this spirit of perfection; he confesses he hath been humbled by his sin: Next, he hopes he is raised by his Grace, and now he expects the consequence of his merciful reconciliation; imploring, confirm me with a principal spirit.  
When I read this clause, it minds me of what St. Paul says, that where sin hath abounded, there Grace doth many times superabound: For doubtless nothing adds wings to the fervour of a true Penitent, like to the remembrance of their past failings, whence I gather our Petitioner, upon these seeds of his restauration, will add a superstructure of mystic Divinity, and raise himself to as high a pitch of Union with God, as in this life Man is capable of. But in this enterprise he is ignorant what method to follow, because no certain rule is set down by God for its acquisition, it being a pure gift of his, like Grace gratis given; that we might know we have a Master in Heaven, who instructs immediately by himself his Disciples in the maxims of true wisdom: Wherefore our Penitent trusts not to his own industry or virtue, but supplicates for divine immissions, as a thing independent of any other means than his own free Donation; confirm me with a principal spirit.  
This Science of mystic Divinity is defined an experimental knowledge of God, arising from a most elevated union of the will with him: For the will is the Organ of a spiritual relish, by which Man tastes the sweetness of God, and by this experience teaches the understanding what God is: Now this savour, taste, or spiritual feeling may be said to be a kind of knowing; because love itself according to St. Austin is a knowledge; but a knowledge so secret as unintelligible to any but the person in whom it is; as it is commonly said of a smart pain, none can so justly conceive it as he that suffers. Now our Penitent thirsts after this banquet, he knows it fortifies and confirms a Soul in the practice of devotion, and at a pinch sustains her in the rude combats of temptations: For being united unto God, she is above all the attractives, and violence of Creatures: So that enjoying this delicious guest by an experimental knowledge, there is doubtless nothing in this World of force to separate her from God: This Job seems to insinuate Chap. 1. Place me near to thee, and I fear not the attempt of any: And St. Paul likewise apprehending himself in this secure state sets the whole World at defiance, who (says he) shall separate me from the love of Jesus Christ.  
As this security must needs give birth to continual acts of joy: No less are the ravishments which overwhelm a Soul in the practice of this devotion; for it is a certain lively experiment of God's intimate presence, of his essence, of his perfections and divine operations; and this with an experimental affection or strong assurance that we love God, that we make his glory our interest, that by complacence and friendship we share in what he hath, it being the Nature of true love to make all things common.  
The first effect is to work a complete Metamorphosy in us; for to transform a thing, is to separate it from its natural form, and communicate another not only interior but exterior: Now when a Soul is arrived to a holy complacence in God, and to a strict amity with him, she is devested of the form of sin, and vicious affections, which was her natural inclination, and receives within the Centre of her heart, new affections, desires wholly Divine, and motions quite different from what Nature prompts her to: This made St. Paul cry I live now, not I, but Christ doth live in me; and this same motive gave life to our Petitioners present address, that gaining this spirit of perfection he might lose himself, and by that interchange come to know what God is: That he is a source of goodness, eminency and beauty; that he merits all honour, glory, reverence, and praise: Then comparing himself to God, he beholds how vile captive, and contemptible a Creature he is: Lastly, comparing God to himself, he admires the greatness of his clemency and sweetness that designs to lodge in so despicable a place as his conscience, the inestimable treasures of his wisdom, hence enfired with a glowing flame of love, he can think on nothing but him, study no satisfaction that relates not to him, and abhors all sensual pleasure whatsoever: In sequel of this arises a delight and sweetness, which surpasses all that is Earth; Nay even the capacity of Man in this life, as many Saints have witnessed the same, crying out, O Deus contine undas gratiae. That such a torrent of delights overwhelmed them as if they were not moderated, they must needs have opened a passage unto Death; O! Who would not be overcome by such a conquering spirit; confirm me with a principal spirit.  
Another effect of this spirit is to settle the Soul in a great quiet and repose, free from all joy, grief or the like; for every thing is at rest when in its proper place and centre: Now God is our Souls final end, nor can she be more intimately united unto him in this life than by the power of this Celestial Philosophy, wherefore the storms of passions very little molest a Soul enriched with this spirit; all things pass in peace and tranquillity, and though it be true that we must still labour in a certain languishment and desire, until we reach our Centre, yet this is so attempered by the goodness of God, as it is no ways Irksome.  
A holy person expresses this very pathetically; saying, My Lord and God, who art the support and strength of those who faithfully seek you, at the entrance of your Paradise I behold you, and beholding I cannot yet say what Object I have bofere me, because I see nothing that is visible; there is only one thing I dare own to know, that I am both ignorant of what I see, nor shall I be ever able to know it: For raising my Soul to the highest pitch I find you infinite, and incomprehensible beyond the access of my imagination, and whilst my thoughts would go on, and make a further inquisition, a mist of ignorance surrounds me: But Oh my God, what is this ignorance but a learned ignorance! Nox illuminatio mea in deliciis meis; this obscure Night is a splendour overspread with delights, the sum of my joy and consolation in this life; is to consider that you are infinity itself, incomprehensible and an inexhausted Treasure. What felicity one day to possess in glory a good without end, and which exceeds what the understanding can imagine, the heart desire, or tongue can express, and that these Clouds which now involve us shall break forth into a Day of eternal Sunshine. By which you may see, that holy persons in these admirable transactions, though they are left in darkness, and meet not with a complete allay of all their desires, yet it breeds no disquiet, and all the rest is supplied by a perfect submission to the will of God, not desiring even Heaven itself but according to the measure of his degree.  
Our Holy Penitent having received the fruit of one part of this meditation by his gracious deliverance from the servitude of sin, he now covets to be sheltered under the secure Bastion of this principal spirit; Confirm me, etc.  
Some expositors understand by this principal spirit the first person of the blessed Trinity, unto whom power is peculiarly attributed: Whence they infer in this petition he pretends to a gift of Rule and Government, that by his prudent orders circumstanced with Religion, he might induce his Subjects to pay what they own to God, himself, and to one another: By which that chosen Nation committed to his guidance might flourish, and he himself make some reparation for the sufferings thrown upon them in punishment of his transgressions.  
Others conceive, that by this clause he aims at the Spirit of Prophecy, because in the subsequent verse he undertakes to play the Master, and teach the wicked, Principles of Heaven, to which nothing would more conduce than a prophetic faculty.  
Notwithstanding these Opinions, I adhere to my first conception, that the spirit of perfection is the scope of his desires, because it includes the others; for perfection is styled by Masters of spirituality a spirit of wisdom, and by consequence proper for a Governor; and as to Revelation it is most certain that contemplatives are illuminated, and receive irradiations which naturally they could not attain to; they are often so surcharged with supernatural lights, and knowledge, a prospect of the World's Scene being laid open to them, as even ravished with admiration they seem to suffer with an excess of communications, which made our Holy Penitent in some such like transport cry out. Anima mea cognoscit nimis; that the divine operations within his Soul exceed the limits of her capacity. Wherefore we conclude, that perfection is an abreviate of God's Universal favours to Man, and that our Holy Penitent in this his petition comprehends what soever he can ask; confirm me with a principal spirit.  

The Application.  
We are taught in this clause to aspire unto perfection which consists in these degrees. The first is to obtain grace and charity; this perfection is requisite to all Christians, and is so essential to a spiritual life that without it we cannot make one step towards Heaven. The second perfection is of council, and consists in a certain disposition of the Soul, to perform readily and without difficulty on her part, not only what is commanded, but also works of supererogation; and this in a manner more pure, and more spiritual than usually is done; to this Christ our Lord exhorts us in the fifth of St. Matthew; Be ye perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect. The third perfection consists in eternal felicity, where we shall be united to a sovereign good, by a clear vision and fervent love. This is called our final perfection, because there is none greater. The other two branches are but the means to arrive at this. The subject then of our petition must be to attain to our Beatitude, and this is truly to be confirmed with a principal spirit.  
Amen.    

CHAP. XXVII.  
Docebo iniquos vias tuas,  
I will teach the wicked thy ways.  
OUr Holy Penitent like a Soldier completely armed (who expects but the Signal to fall on) believes himself now fittted for great designs: His first undertaking is to chaulk out the wicked the Paths of Salvation, an enterprise worthy so great a Prince, and so great a Penitent; and which Christ our Lord an increated wisdom made the sole motive of his becoming Man. This he declares in express terms, asserting that he came not to call the just but sinners: Upon this foundation I conceive he imposed upon us an obligation of loving our Neighbour, as our selves: By virtue of which command we are to expose our corporal life and fortune for the preservation of our Neighbours spiritual good; if Christ sets so high a value on a drop of water, or scrap of bread given in his Name to relieve the want of a distressed person, as that he will own it as done to himself; what may we expect in return when we prevent the eternal misery of our Neighbour, which is the necessary consequence of sin not defaced by repentance. These reflections so transported, St. Gregory the great as to make him say, The very Angels do envy Man in the conversion of a sinner: Nay, they would be content to quit even the beatific Vision for a while, that they might render to God the service of gaining one Soul; and could they repine at any thing, it should be in not having Tongues sensibly to express themselves in order to this end. Wherefore you may see by this clause our Penitent is grateful, he will not like the sluggish steward bury his Talon in the Ground, but improve it, and this by the noblest way of Traffic increasing the number of the blessed: I will teach the wicked thy ways.  
There is nothing certainly holds in subjection, and strikes an awe and respect into us more than the impressions of knowledge we receive from any person, those who are most famed for wisdom in the world, have always acknowledged a greater Obligation to their Masters than Parents, because the one made them simply to live, the others to live well: It was from this principle that God designing to give a precept of charity to his reasonable Creatures, to facilitate the Execution of this his command, ordained a dependency of one another in the conveyance of intellectual notions; that the first rank of Seraphims should enlighten the next immediate order, and so to the lowest Hierarchy; for from this ordinate transmission of scientifical species arises a Harmony of love and respect, love in those that communicate, respect in those that receive; nor doth it end in the giver, and receiver, but is returned with the advantage of praise and glory unto the supreme Fountain whence all true wisdom flows. Now Princes are Earthly Seraphims, unto whom it belongs (as mortal Quires) to enrich their Nobility, they their immediate subordinate ranks, and so to the lowest Peasant, with Documents of Justice, temperance, and Piety: First, by good example: Next, by a vigilancy to put in Execution pious, and equitable Laws.  
Our Holy Penitent happily ambitious to lay the Foundation of a Commonwealth, which unanimously conspiring to God's honour might imitate that of the blessed, is resolved to play his part; he will not barely instruct, but teach by his actions what his subjects own to God; Nay he will have a particular Eye unto the wicked, and show his zeal in their reduction, a task beyond the victory over Lions and Giants. I will teach the wicked thy ways.  
I will teach the wicked thy ways, that is, thy commandments, and from thence confound them in their disobedience: for God having created the world of nothing, an absolute dominion over all Creatures is from thence most justly due unto him, and if the potter of the same Mass of Clay, composes Vessels of honour, and others to base uses, and this without any blame, though many causes concur with him in this action: With much more reason God having had no partner in the production of Creatures ought to have an entire disposal of them; this sovereignty by the title of Creation is the most noble and accomplished that can be imagined, because he derives the privilege from none, but holds it from himself, so that it is natural to him.  
Having laid this foundation, our penitential Master unfolds unto the wicked a Law eternal, which is nothing else but certain decrees and maxims he framed in his infinite understanding from all eternity, by which he resolved to govern the World, when he should think fit to give it a Being. Amongst a multitude of these Maxims, One is, to concur to the motions and actions of all Creatures conformably to their Natures which he would not destroy. Another is, to permit Man to act according to his strength and liberty whatsoever the issue be. The third is, not to admit him into Heaven, unless he render himself in some sort capable of it; and after the Collation of his grace, and imposition of his commands, never to violence his liberty so to obstruct sin, but yet he resolved to draw good out of evil, and at the latter day pass a severe sentence upon voluntary bad actions.  
This is then the first lesson our Convert will read unto the wicked, that the decrees of God touching the world's Government as they are eternal, so are they immutable. If some be frozen through want of light and heat, others again do melt with the excess of both, yet will he not for all this alter the Sun's course; if some do abuse free will, and by it work their own destruction, this inconveniency will not make him change what he hath done, nor abrogate that noble privilege. Though heaven should become a desert, yet will he not people it but with such as merit it by a good life; I mean in persons grown up to the use of reason, however foolish intoxicated brains may quarrel his conduct (as they do) in many of these particulars.  
The next Lecture our Convert will hold forth unto the wicked, and mark out to them the tract of heaven, is, that this supreme Lord hath imprinted in every man a law of reason; by which if he square not his actions, his own reason will rise up against him, play the judge, and condemn him: This light tells us we must fly what is evil in itself, and embrace that good which is so intrinsic to our natures, as its contrary is absolutely evil: As for example, to adore God is a thing so corresponds with Man's reason, as were there no superior command to do it, yet our own judgement could not but allow it as proper and fitting to be done; both in consideration of Man's infirmity and vileness, as also in relation to the greatness and infinity of God. This light is so universally spread, that scarce any can be found so savage, who knows and performs not good in some kind or other: St. Paul confirms this doctrine ad Rom. 1. The Gentiles ignorant both of the Law of Moses and the gospel do naturally discharge some part of the Law, that is, of nature; whence St. Austin cries out, O God your Law is written in our hearts, which no iniquity can raze out. Hence springs a remorse of conscience even in the most barbarous persons, after the perpretation of any crime opposite to the law of nature, and which sooner or later never fails to seize them with apprehensions of the divine justice, but especially when grace (of which no man is altogether and always destitute) awakens their drowsy and extinguished conscience: this I say ever gives them some light spark of knowledge, by which their first inconsiderate act is rendered less excusable. Thus our brave combatant beats the wicked with their own weapons, and evidently demonstrates (referring all to their own conscience) that when they prevaricate by injustice, falsehood, irreverence to God, impenitency and the like; they act against a Lawgiver which is God himself; and against a Law that took birth with their Creation, and is the Model and Rule of humane Laws, which (without conformity to this Law) are not Laws, but injustice and tyranny: I will teach the wicked thy ways.  
The third remonstrance of our inflamed Doctor is, to inform the wicked that positive Divine Laws are necessary, not only to rectify their wand'ring steps, but also to preserve the just in their righteous paths. The reason is, Man is designed to a supernatural end, to arrive at which his natural faculties are deficient, wherefore it was requisite he should have supernatural precepts and rules proportioned to the sublime condition of his end: Besides, after he had exchanged a state of innocency for that of sin, and corruption; he stood in need of a Master who might instruct him how disastrous a thing sin is, how necessary to have a redeemer, all which Divine Laws do open unto him. Again, to observe even the Laws of Nature would have been a hard task; if he aspired not after something more sublime; for the efforts of his Soul are so clogged by the violence of his passions, and his nature so weakened by sin, that unless divine positive laws had engaged man unto heavenly pursuits, scarce would he ever have been able to reach the perfect observance of the Law of nature. Lastly, it was necessary he should have always before his Eyes his dependency and subjection unto God, so to be stirred up to the performance of his duty, and by giving testimony of his faithful obedience merit something at his hands; wherefore his Creation was no sooner finished, but God laid a command upon him, that he might know even in Paradise he had a Master. Next, he consecrated the Seventh day to works of his service, obliging the first inhabitants of the Earth to its observance: Moreover, those first Men of the World were obliged to the supernatural virtues of Faith, Hope, and Charity, without which acts they could not be saved; now those decrees were positive Laws, and superadded to those of nature; so that in all times Men were never left purely to the Law of nature, but it was intermixed with several positive ordinations, that might help them on more advantageously in the way of their Salvation.  
Our Holy Penitent having thus exposed before the wicked the endearing providence of God over mankind, who never abandoned them to the sole instinct of nature, and conduct of their own Reason, but like a careful Master teaching them his will by himself, and giving them particular directions to lead them in the way of virtue; he would not stop there, but proceed to a further elucidation of God's benefits towards them; that at last overcome by his goodness, they might lay down their arms, and think it no dishonour to lie prostrate at the feet of so noble a Conqueror; which if our penitent can effect, he will repeat with much joy, I will te●ch the wicked thy ways.  
Our zealous convert plies the Iron whilst it is hot, hoping to render the wicked more malleable, wherefore he produces the Mosaic law given by God to sanctify the Children of Abraham, and dispose the World for the knowledge, belief, and honourable reception of Jesus Christ: The Law consisted in precepts moral, ceremonial, and judicial: The first contained the Ten Commandments, and divers others relating to them; and though the Law of nature led to their observance, yet many errors were committed in reference to them, which were cleared, and better regulated by positive Laws. The Ceremonial were ordained in order to the worship of God, regulating what belongs to the Sacraments, Temple, institution of fasts, and bloody Sacrifice of Beasts; wherein God manifested his justice, declaring that sin deserved Death, and likewise his Mercy, in that he would exchange the death of a sinner for that of a poor animal. The third are judicial which conspire to the establishment of a rare Government amongst the Jews, that by an admirable policy being kept in peace, Religion might flourish, the number of their Laws amount to above six hundred, an Argument of God's indulgence towards them: For the Jews being stupid, and of a gross apprehension, uncapable of being led by general rules, as not knowing how to apply them in particular emergencies, he was pleased in every point to satisfy and instruct them: Nay his particular providence here in appears, that delivering so many Articles for their observance, he seems to take upon him the whole care of providing for their temporals as well as spirituals, as if he would keep a watch over every step and motion of theirs, to the end all things might be exact, and settled in the highest order. He designed them likewise to be a pattern of Holiness and Sanctity to the Gentiles, that by their example they might be drawn from the corruption of Idolatry, to the real sentiments of virtue and religion, wherefore he planted them in the midst of the habitable world.  
Lastly, it was just that Nation should be the most Religious and Pious, from whence Jesus Christ was to issue forth, that they might prefigure, publish, and engrave him in the hearts and minds of Men by their holy Ceremonies and legal observances, which were all to represent him, and the wonders of his life and death: for this cause, the kingdom of the Jews was prophetic, and their religious actions a figure of the qualities, condition, and mysteries of Jesus Christ: Nay, all the worship and service which God required of that Nation, and all the Exercise of their Religion was merely to foretell, announce, expect and receive the Messiah; wherefore St. Paul calls it a holy Law abounding in Ceremonies, and all tending to this effect.  
I cannot doubt but our great Doctor and Prophet did with much Energy insist upon the designed End of the Mosaic Law which is Jesus Christ; representing to the wicked that the sole way to Salvation was by repentance and belief in the Messiah; exhorting them to join with him in the practice of Heroic acts of virtues, so to expedite his coming, and repeat after him this his daily Prayer; who will give us from Zion the Saviour of Israel. He told them there was not a sigh or languishment, any prayer, or good work, directed for the accelleration of this mystery which had not its effect; that Abraham advanced it much by his prodigious act of obedience in offering to Sacrifice his Son, and after he had run over all the Gests of Saints till his time, he conclude all these motives would have been little efficacious without the charity, mercy, and love of God to lost Man. St. John attributes the glory of this Action to love alone, and if some have compared the vigour of love to equal that of death, I dare give it a higher Encomium, and will say it was so generous as to transport itself up to Heaven, and assault the Divinity in his Throne, drawing from thence the eternal Son of God. O who can be so wicked to behold the lines of this merciful proceeding drawn forth, and not presently join issue with our holy preacher to abandon the pernicious ways of sin, and become a Disciple in the Rudiments of virtue: To behold a Redeemer living in the Hearts of Men, before he came to live upon Earth, to see all the Sanctity of the World addressed to him, to speak of nothing but him, and all conspire to his glory. If before he came, he had so many tongues and voices to set him forth; and that the Law and service of God had no other aim than to engrave the Messiah in the Hearts of Men, what expressions ought to inflame our zeal after his birth, life, cross, and triumphant glory.  
These are the ways our Graduate will distil into the Minds of the wicked, and certainly he did it with an excess of fervour and delight helped on by the consideration, that out of his seed the Saviour of Israel was to be born: And it is clear he kept close to this Theme even to the last, making it his Testament, and the subject of his expiring words to his Son Solomon, That he should be sure to walk in the ways of the Lord, that in the exact observance of his judgements and Commandment written in the Law of Moses were fastened the succession of his Crown, saying; This done thou shalt not want one of thy posterity to sit upon the throne of Israel. These are the ways if happily taken will preserve the wicked from ruin, give them eternal life; secure them from Hell, and open a passage to all the delights of Heaven, as St. John says; To the end that all who believe in the should possess eternal bliss. Wherefore our Penitent egged on by so many powerful motives to the discharge of his task, will never fail in what he hath promised, to teach the wicked the ways of God.  

The Application.  
Our Penitent instructs us here by his example, that there is no employment so acceptable unto God, as to disperse in our Neighbour the clouds of Ignorance, and imbue him with principles of wisdom. His Son Solomon was perhaps taught by this clause to address so happily his petition. And Joel the prophet makes it the great subject of good tidings he foredeclared to the Church: Be glad yea Sons of Zion, and rejoice in the Lord your God, who hath given you a teacher of righteousness. Aristotle being asked why Commonwealths did not assign pensions for Masters that taught and instructed others, as they did to other offices of the State, made this reply, because there could be no reward answerable to their desert: if he thought certain notions in natural knowledge to be so valuable, what a price would he have set on such as convey the sublime mysteries of heaven unto us: Let us then instruct our Neighbour, by good example, by doing charity to the distressed, and by wholesome Documents, every one according to his Talon and Ability: And in doing this, we follow the steps of a great Saint who believed he could in nothing better express his gratitude and zeal for God's honour, than in the Reduction of Souls to the way of Salvation;  
Amen.    

CHAP. XXVIII.  
Et impii ad te convertentur,  
And the impious shall be converted to thee.  
BY this clause our Penitent destroys the Opinion of some in those modern times, who assert, that Christ died not for all Men, but only for the elect; for if the impious be not excluded from the participation of his precious Blood, surely there is none that are; impiety being a crime that directly strikes against the honour of God, and is a complaet rebellion against his Divinity. Now if our Divine by his preaching was confident to reduce such offenders, whom can we imagine shall be excepted? nor can they say we are put into a worse condition by the Evangelical Law, in which a plenitude of benedictions are showered down upon us, and which as far exceeds the Mosaic, as a thing real, the type and figure that represents it. St. John Chap. 1.2. says, Christ is a propitiation for our sins, and not only for ours but for the sins of the whole World. First, Christ satisfied for Adam's disobedience and original sin, witness St. Paul, ad Rom. Chap. 2. As death entered by the default of one, so life by the justice and obedience of one. Again St. John says, Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the World, that is, original sin, for the Greek version puts it in the Singular Number, so Bede, Theophilact, and St. Thomas understand it. The Angelical Doctor adds, that the Son of God was incarnate rather for original sin, which was an universal evil, whose venom infected all Mankind, than for the actual and personal sins of the World; but as no sin is irremissible to an infinite mercy by consequence after original sin, he made satisfaction for all actions and transgressions which were mortal: The reason is, that mortal sins not only deprive the Soul of the vision of God for all eternity, but likewise exposes it to the everlasting torments of Hell; the Son of God then, whose nature is all goodness considered the misery of these sins, and offered up his life and death for their expiation.  
For without sanctifying grace our works are not meritorious; nor can they satisfy for any venial sin: Wherefore deprived of grace by original sin, we could not by ourselves (no not by the assistance of the blessed Angels) satisfy for the least venial sin: Because, though they be endued with grace, yet no pure Creature can merit condign grace: Wherefore it was necessary that Jesus Christ should make satisfaction for our least failing, as St. Austin says excellently well, that to save an infinity of World's we ought not to cast one glance of the Eye contrary to the will of God, Whence it is clear no Creature can satisfy for the least sin, since to do it, we must offer up something more valuable than the whole World.  
If then we could not free ourselves from the least deviation without the interposition of his merits, much less were we in a capacity to relieve ourselves from the guilt of Enormous Crimes, and if as to these the fruit of his passion was not applied unto all, it must be either from the inefficacy of satisfaction, or a defect of commiseration and goodness towards his Creatures. It cannot be the first, for his merits are infinite by reason of the divine person from whence they proceed, for actions belong to the person according to Philosophy: It was likewise infinite in regard of his humanity, because it was sanctified and deified by the divinity, which was like a certain sanctifying and deifying form unto that sacred humanity, now as the greatness of merit is not only measured by the quality of the work, but also by many circumstances, and especially in consideration of the dignity of the person that merits. Hence it is that Jesus Christ being infinite in consideration of his person, and his humanity being infinitely holy, his actions are of an infinite value, and merit.  
If it be said his goodness is deficient in this ransom, and that he contracted it only to some few; St. John confounds them for speaking of the incarnation, he seems transported with wonder, and expresses it with a sic, that is, God so loved the World as he gave unto it his only Son: Can we imagine than he loved it so little as to select a certain small number; no no, he loved it so much as he died for all. There is no good person upon Earth who desires not out of charity all Men's Salvation, and shall Jesus Christ the Saint of Saints be limited in this his charity? St. Bridget in her Revelations recounts how Christ our Lord said once unto her, I am much offended with those who say my Laws are hard, that I give not sufficient Grace to their observance, and that my passion is to some no ways beneficial, by which they would ravish my goodness from me, but at the latter day I will justify myself before the Angels and Saints, and make it clear as the Sun, there was no want on my part; that there is not one Soul for whom I would not have endured as much as I have done for all, and that the sole fault consists in the obliquity of their wills, always rebellious, and contrary to mine.  
St. Peter in his second Epistle, Chap. 2. speaking of certain Reprobate Heretics says: They deny him by which they are redeemed; and St. Paul 1 Cor. c. 8. Thus thy Brother will perish for whom our Lord and Saviour died. Whence it follows a person may be damned for whom Christ offered up his death, by consequence he died for the Reprobate. The council of Trent Sess. 6. c. 3. Christ died for all, though as to the benefit of his death those only receive it unto whom his passion is applied. The price of his blood was given then for all Men, though the success be different, some more, some less partaking the fruit of his passion: He is a Saviour then to all in some degree of redemption, even to those he shall judge and condemn; as St. Austin on the 53. Psalm. He shall judge all the World who hath paid the ransom for all the World: In which appears his magnificence and copious redemption, that would die for Souls whom he foreknew would resist the charms of his grace to the last, and as much as lies in them, render his passion fruitless: nay he glories in that he came for the greatest sinners, promising cure to the most desperate diseases, nay to the impious in case they will comply with his prescriptions.  
To bring this a little more home, St. Thomas says the passion of Jesus Christ is like to a ray of the Sun, which though it be created for the benefit of the whole World, yet all reap not advantage by it, there being some of a melancholy reserved humour who effect darkness, and shut up their doors and windows against his beams; so the passion and death of our Saviour, is offered up for the universal good of all Men; but many loving the darkness of sin, keep themselves barricadoed from his benign influence, resisting the light of Faith, and other attractives of his love.  
Thus you see all have power to save themselves, though such only are effectually saved, unto whom the passion of Jesus Christ (by our happy concurrence with his sufficient Grace) is communicated and applied as in the Fifth Chapter to the Hebrews; he is cause of Salvation unto all those who obey him.  
Our Learned Doctor upon these grounds hath reason to hope, that when he shall have deciphered unto the wicked the ways of God; how full of mercy, and obliging sweetness they are, they will lend their cooperation and consent to the movings of his grace, bear part with their Saviour's passion, that they may likewise share in his glory, acknowledging with faith and love all that is done, or to be done by them, the effects of his grace, and so apply to themselves Christ's merits and satisfaction: And the impious shall be converted to thee.  
Impiety in the strict acceptation imports Atheism and a shaking off all acknowledgement of a Deity; its usual mates are profaneness and impurity, by which all things sacred are contemned, and Man degenerates into a brute. What a task is it then to reduce an impious person? Whom neither the fear of a divinity doth awe, nor the charms of holy things allure, nor finally the shame of a base action can move. St. Austin treating of such as are enslaved to this vice says, they resemble in nature to a Feverish Distemper which still creates a thirst, though you throw in an Ocean of liquor; so where the flames of impiety have once taken hold, to stop the wastes of its fury passes the art of reason, or eloquence; for the impious have neither Eye, nor Ear, nor any sense which is not depraved, and turns all into the malignity of its own humour. I remember St. Chrysostom makes a query, why Herod fell so barbarously upon the massacre of so many Infants, for (says he) he either believed the Prophecy or believed it not, if he gave no credit to it, it was sottish in him to imbrue his hands in so much blood, any spark of judgement would have dictated he ought to have contemned and slighted it: Again, if he believed it was a real prophecy issuing from the decree of Heaven, it must needs be inviolable, and could not want its effect: At last, he solves the question, and throws it upon this, that a Soul drenched in impiety, is above all things the most infatuated, she is so unhappy as, where there is no impulse from abroad, to precipitate herself into inevitable ruin, nay fruitlessly to attempt odious, and impossible things.  
It is of these impious, holy Job speaks, when he gives a relation of their Maxims. They say unto God retire from us, we scorn the knowledge of your ways, what is the Omnipotent that we must serve him, and what benefit arises if we pray unto him?  
These are the familiar blasphemies which the impious belch forth; the presence of God they decline, shutting up all the Avenues of Faith and Charity, by which he may enter unto them: The knowledge of his ways, and Commandments they abhor, because they are contrary to their works; to his power they submit not, feigning to believe he is not omnipotent, because he is merciful: Finally, they offer not up their supplications unto him, because they would ask what is not fit for his supreme wisdom and goodness to accord.  
Our great Minister in despite of all these exorbitancies, promises yet to himself the reduction of these Monsters, and hopes to shape them to the resemblance in which they were created; in which undertaking we need not doubt but he used all the Topics of authority and reason apt to convince and persuade: First, offering to their consideration how much it comforts Man to believe there is a God, for in doing this, we contemplate a Being infinite, and sovereign, that presides and rules in the World, so that the World possesses in him a sovereign good; Is it not then better, the World should enjoy such a Being which derives from himself alone his essence, and existence, than to be deprived of it. For in believing there is a God, we consecrate our love unto him, we pay him the homage of obedience, than which nothing is more delightful. For to serve an Object of so much excellency is the height of glory, we raise ourselves finally one day to enjoy this accomplished Being, as the ultimate end to which we are designed, and every glance of this hope creates in us a new contentment. Now if we have not the belief of a God, what follows? We convert ourselves to a Creature inferior to us, on this we rely, to this we submit, in this we hope, who being filled with misery and want, can contribute little or nothing to make us great, or happy, so we must needs languish without any hopes of a full satisfaction.  
Besides, suppose there were no such thing as a God, we are yet in as good a condition as impious Atheists; for than we shall taste no punishment after Death, no more than they; but if there be a God, they have lost all, in having not acknowledged the World's Sovereign, nor performed any duty to him; so that in all Events it is better to believe than disbelieve a Deity: For besides the joys our hopes afford us in this life of eternal felicity, we run no hazard of ruin, as poor unfortunate, impious Atheists do.  
Next, he lays before the impious, that he who believes not a providence, resembles an Orphan bereft of his Parents, and hath none to take care of him; is like a person at Sea in the midst of Tempests, who fancies to be without a Pilot, and exposed to the mercy of the Waves; Whereas the contrary opinion settles us in peace and tranquillity; and in all the disasters of this life, we have this consolation that his wise and indulgent Providence, will make all our seeming misfortunes to end in happiness, if with patience we expect but the Issue.  
Again, he would have the wicked represent unto themselves what a comfort it is to place God in our thoughts, enriched with all kind of perfections, that he is an unfathomed Abyss of excellency, that he is most happy, most wise, most powerful, most good, and merciful. So that our dependence on such a Sovereign cannot but add much to our contentment; to think he hath abundance to supply all our indigency, and goodness to confer it upon us, if we prove faithful to his service.  
When he had thus ravished them with a discourse of God's amiable perfections; he tells them, they were created of nothing: and so distils into them a conception and belief of his Omnipotency, and by that stirs up their hope. For if he drew them out of nothing, with more facility can he restore life, and raise them from their Ashes: This belief gives us a knowledge of our extraction, and shows it is noble, in that we belong to God, we are subjects to a Lord all powerful, who can reward, and punish according as we deserve: Next, he minds them that being composed of Soul and Body, the one is immortal, by which he is elevated above all other Creatures, and resembles the glorious Angelical spirits: Now had they not this assurance by faith, what desolation and despair would seize them at the approach of Death, when like Beasts they must come to lose all, and perish for ever in corruption; whereas the belief of a Resurrection renders Death unto us but like a sound sleep, in the space of which we remove from one habitation to a better: So that the belief of the Soul's immortality is accompanied with the greatest consolation that can be.  
His next overture is that they are designed to eternal beatitude, from which article proceeds a most ravishing harmony: for it is the sole charm by which all the traverses and afflictions of this life are made supportable, and the only ingredient which sweetens the bitterness of misfortunes here: It is just like a person in distress, and born to a great inheritance, who still animates himself with the expectation of his Estate, which will be the more welcome to him, as his hardship hath been the greater; no less do our pretensions to Paradise plant in us hope, charity, humility and constancy in all events.  
Our Holy Penitent notwithstanding all this is not so arrogant as to persuade himself, the force of his Arguments will infallibly prevail upon the impious: For though the advantages of Faith prescribe an Antidote against any Poison of misfortune either in this life, or the next; though it contain nothing that is not holy and pure, nothing that is not worthy the Majesty of God; yet he knows that Man by the strength of nature cannot purchase a complete beatitude; that neither by the succour of any natural Agent can he arrive to his perfect happiness, because it is above, and exceeds any created virtue; so that it is necessary God should there act immediately himself, as in the raising a dead person to life, or restoring sight to the blind, whence St. Austin says, None can give eternal life, but the Author of Eternity: And therefore our wise Penitent says not, he will convert the impious, but that they shall be converted, which is to say, the power of God's grace must strike the stroke.  
Lastly, he acquaints them, that though they are to be illuminated, inspired, and introduced into their happiness by God himself, yet the sole way to dispose themselves for this, must be by their own good works and actions: Not but that the Omnipotency of God might give them beatitude without exacting any thing at their hands, but the order of his Providence would have it so, that Man should exercise himself in virtue, and labour for the purchase of his final perfection: To which end God assists him with his grace, and gives supernatural helps, which proportion his good works to the greatness of beatitude, unto which he may raise himself by degrees, by many labours and pious exercises; so to purify, and the better to dispose himself for so sublime and transcending an end.  
In conclusion, our great Doctor bids them gather from this his discourse upon what foundation they stand, that if they will have a Crown they must fight for it; they must desert their ways of impiety, change their gluttony into a sober repast, their softness and delicacies into austerity, their vain joys into Tears of Repentance, their libidinous desires, into languishments of love and affection towards God. If then the most impious will submit to this doom, and follow these rules his Holy Providence hath set down, he will not blush to assert with confidence that even the most enormous sinner shall be converted: And the impious shall be converted.  

The Application.  
By this clause our Penitent would fortify us against despair, and show there is no sin so enormous which can resist the efficacy of a true repentance, for God hath engaged his word not to be inexorable, and protests it is far from his thoughts, to will the death of a sinner, and he excepts none; no not the impious, but upon submission he will receive them with open arms, raze from his memory their iniquities, and transport them from a state of perdition to the rich title of being his Children. St. Bernard says, he that assents to what God affirms, expresses his Faith, and gives belief to God; he that acknowledges his Existence and Being, is said to believe God: Lastly, he that places all his hope in God, is properly said to believe in him. Let us then remember when we say our creed, that at the same time we cast all our hope and confidence in God, relying on his goodness and power, which is infinite and exceeds by consequence all the malice of sin. Let us repeat with St. Austin, if Paul a persecutor and great sinner is become a Vessel of election, why should I despair; and why should not I with our Holy Penitent entertain a firm hope, when the impious shall be converted;  
Amen.    

CHAP. XXIX.  
Libera me de sanguinibus Deus, Deus salutis meae,  
Free me from blood O God, God of my Salvation.  
OUr Holy Penitent makes a stop in the career of his zeal at the voice of blood from Heaven which beats his affrighted Ears: He remembers how Cain wandered like a restless motion, beholding always in his imagination Spectres, Monstres, Fears, and dreads the usual mates of a Conscience wounded with homicide. And shall he then sit quiet in his Throne, whilst Vriah his Veins are opened, and emptied by his command; the reeking Vapour which arises from that injured Body seems so to condense the Air, that it even stifles him; wherefore he begs a little respiration, that he may recover a new life; and which he shall ever owe to the God of his Salvation; Free me from blood, etc.  
St. Gregory the great, rendering a reason why God will inflict an eternal punishment for a momentary transgression, lays the weight of his argument upon the practice of Men, who dispatch away into another World by Sentence of Death Murderers, and other Criminals of several less degrees; by which (as much as in them lies) they inflict a punishment for eternity, depriving them of life which they can never restore.  
Our Holy Penitent fears the force of this ratiocination, for since he hath decreed this doom to his innocent neighbour, what remains for him to expect, but a torment without end, which shall last as long as the injury, and this he can never repair. All his plea then is to repent, to disown his malice, to throw himself at the Feet of him in whose Hands are grasped all the Laws of life and death; that he having the supreme Legislative power, to him alone it belongs to dispense, acquit, or chastise according to the measure of his will. Wherefore he sues to this God of Salvation, that he may be freed from that heavy doom due to his transgressions; Free me from blood, etc.  
St. Matthew says whosoever shall take up a Sword in order to the effusion of humane blood shall perish by the Sword; the same measure shall be returned to him which he hath dealt to others, and by the same means he wrought another's destruction, his own shall be contrived, and in Gen. 9 the reason is given; because Man is created to the resemblance of God. We find that upon the score of the excellency of humane nature, Man is taken off from the perpetration of several sins as too low for the dignity of his Creation. The consideration that he is endued with reason, gives unto wise persons an aversion from carnal pleasures, lest they should by them degenerate into the condition of a brute; The consideration that his Soul is immortal, makes him fly Avarice, it being sottish for a substance which is to exist for ever, to dote upon any thing that is liable to ruin and corruption. The consideration that his Soul is invisible, giveth a check to Pride and Vanity, since her glories cannot appear sensibly and with splendour before the Eye of the World. Lastly, the consideration that she animates and enlivens every particle of the Body, how minute, or vile so ere it be, warns her from offering any damage or injury to our Neighbour. If I say these thoughts work many to decline several particular sins, in regard they are misbeseeming the excellent qualities of the Soul; doubtless the meditation, that she is the fair Image of God, aught to make us abominate all sin without reserve, fearing by any vicious act to deface the lively Image of a Divinity: Wherefore the respect we own to his resemblance, aught to strike in us a terror of laying violent hands on our Neighbour, much less by any force to dissolve that lovely union of Soul and Body, in which consists the accomplishment of God's work in framing Man: Wherefore St. Cyprian says, the honour of humane nature is to treat well the portraiture of God, and from thence discharge our awful reverence towards the Original.  
But when any one is led on by fury and revenge, or will usurp in a private person the execution of Justice, this is to dash in pieces the Image of God, which perhaps he would preserve, or at least have it stand, until by instruments of his own he is pleased to undo it.  
Our Holy Penitent confesses he hath committed this outrage, he is guilty of this irregular proceeding, and hath destroyed God's fair handy work in the Death of Vriah, which he was bound to keep decently in repair, it being the Office of a King to protect, and not destroy his Subjects. How many brave designs hath he had to erect a Temple in God's honour, and now hurried on by an unruly passion, he hath demolished a structure more valuable in the sight of God, than all his material edifices the Hands of Man can raise.  
If incendiaries by all Nations are punished with most rigorous Laws, what animadversions of severity will be practised upon such as destroy not only habitations but inhabitants, who ruin a mansion wherein God hath lodged a Soul immortal, and which he hath designed to be the matter of her great merit in this life; and an instrument of his praise in the next. And if St. Paul says, the blood of Souls will be required at the Hands of Pastors, who starve and famish their flock for want of due instruction, and good Example; what account shall he have to make, who hath not only by omission frustrated his Subjects of good Documents, issuing from an exemplar life, but more, hath effectively concurred to the destruction of them, and hurried them to a dreadful Tribunal, at a time when perhaps they were little prepared for that grand balancing of all their good and bad deeds; and by this means who knows whether he hath not only disjoined, and torn the Soul from the Body, but even from God for all eternity. These dismal thoughts prompt him to fly for Sanctuary, and it is not where to be found but at the Throne of God's mercy which he implores; Free me from blood, etc.  
Again, he considers with what a severe Eye God looks upon the sin of homicide, commanding in Moses Law, that blood alone should be the price and satisfaction for blood; nay he extends it even to irrational Creatures, that if any happen to be the cause of Man's death, the Beast (what ever it be) should lose its life. It was to prevent this unnatural violence, that he prohibited the eating of blood, so to cut off any practice which might diminish the horror of it. Besides, the remorse and tortures of conscience which always attend this sin, sufficiently evidences, that though in other Crimes his patiented Justice seems for a while to lie asleep, yet this he always revenges upon the place: For if the Thunderbolts of his anger do not immediately fall upon their heads as to the public view; at least he gins the execution from the first moment of the Fact committed, disturbing their sleep with frightful Phantomes, and filling their awakened hearts with dreads and terrors that their life is even a burden and Irksome to them; of this are extant innumerable examples, both in sacred and profane Histories, too long here to recite.  
It is not unworthy our observation, that a murdered Body should bleed afresh (as it hath been often experimented) at the presence of the murderer. It is true many give natural reasons of the thing, attributing it to the vital spirits not yet extinguished in the remnants of the blood retreated into several Crannies of the Body, which by an Antipathy at the approach of their adversary fall into a Commotion, and by this disturbance occasions the blood again to flow. Others say it may proceed from a sympathy, supposing the murderer to have upon his weapon wherewith he gave the wound, or in some other part about him, certain drops of blood of the deceased, by which Sympathetick virtue it receives motion in order to its reunion. But my design not being to insist on Philosophical disputes, I will not labour to weaken the force of their Arguments, and only assert my Opinion, which is, that it speaks simply the extraordinary way of God, which he holds sometimes in one kind, sometimes in another, to manifest and publish offenders of this nature,  
Our Holy Penitent may be brought in for an instance, unto whom it was declared by God's own command, that notwithstanding all his Artifices in contriving Vriah his Death, it should be exposed in the view of the whole World; that future ages might see he whom he had chosen as the delight of his heart, should have no privilege in this particular, and though he would abate something of his wont rigour, in not exacting his life for a satisfaction; yet he would bring it near to his door by the rebellion of his Children, with the Enmity and Machinations of many Conspirators against him; and that the Law of retaliation was not executed against him, perhaps he owes it to this clause of the petition, which he seems with more than usual fervour to have preferred, repeating; O God, God of my Salvation.  
We may here reflect, how pernicious a thing passion is, when once it hath got the Mastery, and how soon it gets strength with the aid of dangerous occasions. Our Penitent knew well, that the Divine precept; Non occides, thou shalt not kill; did not only forbid the taking away of our Neighbour's life, but likewise all rancour or malice towards him, all injury by word or deed, which may touch upon his honour or person; all disputes, contest, or impetuosity of Choler, these are the seeds of that monstrous fruit homicide, as St. John says, who hates his Brother is a homicide: For by nourishing within you a little spark of animosity, this from the heart appears in the Eyes which are the glass of the inward temper; thence it breaks into words, and at last sadly ends in his destruction. Behold our Kingly Prophet, and now an humble petitioner in his own behalf, he is said to have been the meekest of Men; and in consideration of his lenity, and mildness in Government, God spun out his reign to the Term of Forty years, which was granted to few or none of the Jewish Kings; with what patience did he sustain the reproaches and maledictions of Semei, with what an admirable temper the long and restless persecution of Saul, how tenderly issued he forth his orders touching Absalon, that though he were actually in arms against him, and thirsted after nothing but his life and Throne, yet he commanded a hair of his Head should not be touched. Notwithstanding all this, upon a sudden seized with a passion of love, both his sweet temperament and all his former habits of virtue proved of little use unto him: The Crystal of his understanding was blemished with gross vapours arising from brutish pleasures, the purling stream of his inclinations, which was wont to flow softly without noise, and from the source of virtue; is now grown into a storm of fury; it is so deprived of reason, as to imagine his own good and safety to depend upon the ruin of his Neighbour; and therefore hastens to take vengeance upon him, who never gave him the least shadow of real offence. O what a Tyranny is the Rule of passion, to make us love what is not amiable, and hate what is not odious, to push us on to desire what we should abhor, and fly from what we ought most to covet. Our holy penitent hath served under this oppression, and now petitions a release: Free me from blood, etc.  
Now the Latins not using the word blood in the plural Number, though the Greeks do, hence it is, that some infer and with reason, that our Penitent aims at the remission of Adultery likewise, because all carnal acts unlawful carry along with them a corruption both of flesh and blood, this appears in Deut. Chap. 21. Where it is said, that rotteness and worms shall be the inheritance of a luxurious person, and as the one (that is homicide) destroys the species of Man, so adultery subverts those rules which are set down for his education, a design which nature intends, and drives at as well as Generation. The one injures his Neighbour in his person, the other in his honour, and this not only of himself, but casts an infamy upon his posterity.  
It is storied of Ulysses that he met in his Travails with Circe's the Enchantress, who promised, to make him immortal in case he would be naught with her; and though he believed she was able to make good her promise; yet he refused her, less valuing immortality than fidelity to his Wife; Susanna far less esteemed of Death, than she did the dishonour to herself and Family. Solomon says a Thief may have some excuse, in that extremity of hunger urged him to his villainy, at least in rendering sevenfold he makes satisfaction: But an Adulterer hath no plea, nor can the Indies balance the wrong done by him.  
Our Holy Penitent revolving all these truths in his Mind, hath reason to join in his petition the crimes of homicide and adultery together, since both are Coincident in his malice, both injurious to our Neighbour, both destructive to the very Laws of nature, and both exemplarly punished in all ages by Divine Justice: Wherefore he may justly insert; Free me from blood, etc.  
When I read a passage in St. Paul, 2 Cor. Chap. 7. it appears terrible the resentment God entertains of Adultery: He there says, if the Husband be in the number of the faithful, and the Wife of the unfaithful, he shall not dismiss her: But if she be unfaithful to his bed, than he may lawfully forsake her; so that God seems to be more offended, in that she keeps not her saith with her Husband, than in being disloyal to him, insinuating by this that he will give no quarter to an adulterous act.  
How odious this Crime is to humane Society appears, in that the Civil Law permits the Father or Husband of the Adulteress (if taken in the fact) to offer violent hands, and immediately destroy both the offenders; and though the Cannons seem to disallaw of this Law as unjust, because it precipitates the guilty into an evident hazard of their eternal Salvation: Yet still it concludes, how monstrous an exorbitancy Adultery is in the judgements of Men, when to punish it they allow parleys interessed to be both Accusers, and Judges, which in no other circumstance hath ever been permitted.  
Adultery is a commerce between persons who are not linked together in a conjugal tye, and from thence it is clothed with the turpitude of fornication, and is a sin against charity: Next, it is a violation of a bond indissoluble, by which the Author of Nature hath united one to another, and superadded to fortify this Chain the blessing, and virtues of a Sacrament. I remember the Council of Trent in favour of this Sacrament teaches, that God by it bestows a particular grace; that as in Baptism we purchase as it were a new Being, regenerated and born to a spiritual life; as in confirmation we receive a Grace strengthening us in our Faith; as in the Eucharist an increase of heavenly blessings is showered down upon us the like in the rest of the Sacraments. So in that of marriage a grace is communicated which perfits, and refines the natural love they bore to one another before they married: Insomuch as that love which before was perhaps seated in some corporeal charm or grace, afterwards becomes wholly sacred, and no attractive appears, which carries not along with it a pious allurement, and which makes them (whilst they tread the paths of virtue) to have a horror of any thing that may alter or diminish it. Now this holy effect is evacuated by Adultery, so that it may be called a kind of Sacrilege, dissolving the sacred union of hearts which is made by marriage; and therefore I wonder not if St. Cyprian terms it Summum delictum, the highest crime that Man can be guilty of.  
Our sad Penitent alarmed with the outcries of blood on the one side, and Adultery on the other, for which as an Enemy to God and Nature he deserves to be exterminated, hath no refuge but to the God of his Salvation, and he repeats it again and again that he would deign to save him from the doom of both, protesting a true repentance of both, and that for the future like a Lamb in the shearers hands, he will be silent, endure all the opprob●ios his Subjects shall cast upon him, and make a return of all the good he can: Lastly, he will extinguish for ever within him all the Fires of concupiscence and unlawful desires, so he may be sheltered from these crying sins under the beams of his mercy: Free me from blood O God, God of my Salvation.  

The Application.  
The way to preserve ourselves from this torturing guilt is to be well versed in the precept of charity: For by this same virtue by which I love God, I am likewise carried on to love my Neighbour: So that whensoever I injure him, I violate the Law of love towards God, which obliges not only to love him, but all that belongs to him: Now as Man is the most excellent Creature in this inferior World, and most capable to render him honour and glory, there can be no violence offered to him, which reflects not upon the Sovereign Lord he serves, for whose respect we ought to cherish what he would have cherished. I must not then love my Neighbour because he is rich, beautiful, well fashioned, or to me particularly obliging, but I must love him, because I love God, to whose Family he belongs, and in a place of Eminency by the privilege of his Being: I must love him in that 〈◊〉 the glory of God, to which he may contribute much by the Conversion of his own and other Souls to his Service: why should I then plot mischief against him, for whom Jesus Christ hath a value? why should I aim at his Death, to whom God imparted life, for whom our redeemer suffered Death, and would if needful do it again? What need I care if they be malicious to me, since I love them nor for what they are in themselves, not for what they are to me, but merely for the love I bear to my dear Sigi●…r? Let us stick close to this Principle, and pray, Free me from blood, etc.  
Amen.    

CHAP. XXX.  
Et exultabit Lingua mea justitiam tuam,  
And my Tongue shall exalt thy Justice.  
AT the first glance, one might Censure our Petitioner as not placing aright his acts of gratitude, ascribing to God's Justice rather than mercy his deliverance from sin; but you must know, it is far from him; nay contrary to the Doctrine he delivered in the preceding Chapter, to think he could merit any thing de condigno, or by the value of his own works without sanctifying grace, which is the sole effect of God's mercy. His meaning therefore is, that supposing he be enriched with the Donative of Grace, he may then lay claim to his Justice for a reward. St. Paul Tim. 4. says, A Crown of Justice is reserved and will be justly given to him. First, he calls Heaven a Crown of Justice; because it is given by way of Justice, in consideration of the worth of merit: Next, that God will give it as a thing to which he hath a right; and Lastly, he styles God a just Judge, in Testimony he doth it by virtue of his Office, that is, to observe the Rules of Justice.  
The Arausican Council chap. 28. declares that a recompense is due to good works, but grace (which is not due) must go before and give life to them; and truly it is rational, that since God threatens punishment to the wicked deeds of Men, he should likewise propose a recompense to virtuous actions; otherwise he might be said to be more inclined to severity than sweetness, which is much repugnant to his nature.  
Again, sanctifying grace is a quality so sublime, that it dignifies and exalts the works of that subject it informs above all the World's greatness: Now there being nothing but eternal glory which surpasses grace, a meritorious action animated by grace, cannot be recompensed to the worth but by glory, whence it follows that grace by a title of right and condignity merits eternal glory.  
Lastly, sanctifying Grace is communicated by God unto a Soul with the circumstance of an affectionate Amity, by which in the first place he loves her, and this love of friendship moves him to pardon all her offences, to receive her into his favour, and adorn her with the incomparable Ornament of this Celestial quality. This done, Man becomes a Friend of God in his first justification, is raised to a pitch of greatness so transcending, as his works are worthy of Heaven as performed by a friend of God, who hath an affection for her, and by that will render her completely happy.  
Upon these motives, and supposition of a grant to the preceding clause of his petition, he will blazon forth the justice of God not in the remission of his sin, for this he acknowledges to his pure mercy, but upon the score of a recompense which his goodness hath promised. This consideration awakens him from sluggishness, and as the Labourer endures patiently the fatigues of his task, in hopes of his salary at Night, so will our Petitioner unweariedly sustain the traverses of this life, and amidst his tribulations, every thought of Paradise shall move his Tongue to exalt, O Lord, thy Justice.  
Merit is defined a service which obliges to a retribution or a good work done freely, and which God accepts of as the price of eternal life: Now albeit good actions arising from grace (by which they are supernaturallized) are in a certain manner rendered worthy of eternal life, even without the promise of God; yet they can no ways oblige God to give it, unless he first engage his word to this effect. For he is the Sovereign Lord of the World, and most particularly of just Men, and their good deeds; yet can they not so much sway with him, as to put a constraint on his will to let them share with him in his Heavenly Kingdom. For when all the just had consecrated to his honour all the good works imaginable, he might justly say, I accept of these in discharge of your past debts, and obligations due to me for your Creation, conservation, grace and power I have given you to act: So that when any one makes an oblation of his person, fortune, or any other his goods unto God, he must not present it in way of a gift, but with humility as in satisfaction of a debt; nor yet as if he would clear all scores, but as a small parcel of that great Sum which he owes. Wherefore that Man may have an unquestionable right to Heaven by the value of his good works (being so engaged to God as he is) it was necessary a contract or stipulation should pass, by which God should please to declare he would give him Heaven in recompense, and upon this ground he should have a title to demand and obtain it.  
In this proceeding his Mercy and Justice meet, his mercy in that he accepts the works of the just, for more than the bare discharge of their obligations: His Justice in that he is pleased to give the rate of Heaven in return of their good works; by this means Saints are humbled in the excellency and value of their merits, for by it they know that Heaven is so bestowed by way of justice, as they are notwithstanding unspeakably obliged to the Divine mercy, which passing over the debts, accepts of their works for Heaven; this certainly will give them immortal resentments of gratitude, for which they will pour forth an infinity of praises, and benedictions throughout the vast spaces of eternity, to a Benefactor, who treats them so nobly, with such signal favours, as to become a Debtor even to his own debtors. St. Austin admiring this Mystery says, God hath made himself a Debtor to us, not by receiving any thing from us, but by promising what he pleased unto us. For all things are depending on him, nor can they oblige him but as far as he will oblige himself, by his incomparable Charity and inviolable Fidelity.  
Our great Penitent ravished in the contemplation of these truths cannot but unloose his Tongue to celebrate the praises of the Divine justice, which so attempters the circumstances of our Salvation, that we may claim it as our due: He hires us into his Vineyard, and if we prove faithful to our task, he will not fail in his promise to give us a salary; he often reflects what a comfort it will be to a beatifyed Soul to have contributed something to her own happiness. In this liberty and free will which God hath given us, he beholds the perfection, and greatness of the Soul, that neither the most charming beauties, the most ravishing delights, the most glorious dignities, the most amiable virtues in spiritual entertainments, nay, nor the most eminent hopes of glory, can work any impression or impose any necessity upon her actions, but according to the mtasure of her will. Again, she hath a vigour impregnable (fortified with God's grace) against all sin and misfortunes, that neither the allurements of what is lovely, nor the horrid face of what is frightful, can make any entrance by force; for the Soul is above all the machinations of Men, can resist them, and merely because it pleases her so to do. Let them speak fair, let them bribe, threaten, weep, attack, thunder, lighten, muster the Elements into storms and fury, nothing finds admittance, but at her disposal. So that these words in the Apocalypses may justly be applied to her. I have been dead and am living: She was dead by Original sin, and is revived by the Grace of Jesus Christ, she hath put into her Hands the Keys of life and death, that is free will, which may open to her either Paradise or Hell.  
After this survey of Man's liberty in this life, by which he is free either to the acting of what is good or bad; he makes a pause upon the apprehension that Man would have been more perfect, were he limited to virtue, and incapable of any vicious action, as God himself is, and all the blessed by a clear vision. But he solves this objection, considering that God alone by nature is impeccable, it is a privilege wherein none can share with him, as being infinitely perfect, and can admit of no imperfection. St. Ambrose says, that only the substance of the Divinity is a Being that cannot die, to wit, by the death of sin: All other reasonable Creatures in this sense are mortal, and if the blessed in heaven be impeccable, it is not by their nature, but by the power of glory communicated, in which they were invested by God after they had given proof of their virtues whilst they were Viatours, and under their Trial.  
Now as to Man the experience of his frailty helps him on to discern more clearly (as the obscurity of the Night renders a fair Day the more resplendent) and reverence this excellency in God. Next, he ought not to repine that he is not here glorious; for this life is his place of Combat, and the Crown is not given till the Victory be gained, wherefore as long as he lives he enjoys a liberty, by which he may sin and be overcome, and by which he may vanquish.  
Lastly, God decreed this liberty to Man, and gave him a faculty by which he might with a full swinge of his Will be take himself to good or evil, to the end he might be capable of merit or demerit; for if he acted by the impulse of necessity, he could merit no recompense for his virtue, nor punishment for his sin, no more than a tree which bears good or bad fruit, and by this means the divine Justice could not be discerned either in the condemnation of the wicked, or in the reward of the just.  
Our great Penitent in the issue of this meditation hath reason to set his Tongue a work, and spend itself in exalting this powerful and remunerating justice of God, which happily converts to our advantage what at the first glance appears the Subject of our ruin; and resign himself to those dangers wherein the perfection of his free will may involve him; since by his grace (which he implores) he may embrace, and practise what is pleasing to him: And if to the end he carry on this noble resolution, he hath an assurance to bless his justice for all Eternity. And my Tongue shall exalt thy justice..  
St. Austin upon this place is of Opinion that our Penitent means the Messiah whose Justice he will extol, in that by his merit both Men and Angels are rescued from the slavery of sin. To which I agree, nor do the premises any ways derogate from this interpretation; for the merits of Jesus Christ are the source and cause of Sanctifying grace, which grace dignifyes the works of the just, and raises them to the degree of merit: Now that which is cause of the cause, is likewise cause of the effect, and consequently the merits of Jesus Christ, are cause of the merits of Saints, as St. Paul to the Galatians Chap. 1. He hath blessed us with all spiritual benediction in Jesus Christ.  
Next, the merits of Jesus Christ contribute to the merits of Saints, in that he hath obtained by his actions, and sufferings a promise from God to accept the merits of Men in order to Heaven, for it was in consideration of him, and upon the score of his torments, that this promise was made unto us: It is this St. Peter in his Second Epistle Chap. 3. hints at, when speaking of Christ he says, by him he hath made us great and precious promises, to the end we might by them be made partakers of the Divine Nature. Now as Grace is the Fountain of the merits of Saints, and God's promise the accomplishment; both the one, and the other proceeding from the merits of Jesus Christ; it follows that the merits of Saints subsist not but by those of Christ. Nor have they a dependency only by way of simple condition, or necessary circumstance, but they flow from them as from the root, fountain, and principal cause, without which they would have no Being.  
Our Holy Doctor therefore will praise and set forth the divine Justice under several Notions. First, as he is the Principium or Offspring, whence all remission of sin, and collation of grace is derived; and without which all Mankind had been eternally wrapped up in the darkness of sin, so that the just and superabundant ransom he hath paid for us; merits the Adorations and praises of all hearts and tongues.  
Next, he will extol him under the title of a remunerating justice, in that after he hath taught us how to fight, put arms into our hands, and hath stood by us to confirm our courage, exacting only a firm will to overcome; doth yet dispense his Crowns with applause, as if we had done all ourselves: O who can then asperse, and lay a charge upon this Opinion as if it injured Christ's merits? doth the fullness of a stream dishonour the source from whence it flows; or the excellency of any fruit injure the Root that gives birth to it; so the merits of the just, being only the rivulets, and fruit of Christ's superabundant satisfaction, cannot certainly in the least derogate from his; they only serve in an inferior degree to extol and do homage to the infinity of Christ's merit. Wherefore Our Penitent will incessantly tune forth: And my Tongue shall exalt thy Justice.  
The Justice of God beholds Creatures in three several relations: First, it is distributive, by which he allots unto every Creature faculties proportionable to carry them on to the End for which they were created. To the Soul which he hath designed to contemplate and love him, he hath given an understanding and will; the Body doomed to labour he hath framed with Arms, and Hands: The Sun whose Office is to enlighten the World, he hath vested with a lasting brightness, which never fails to perform its task; in fine, every animal, Tree, Plant, or what ever is existent in the World hath a virtue proper to the designment of its Creation. Whence St. Dennis says, that God is communicable in his Justice, distributing to every one according to the dignity of its nature, and bounding within limits most equitable, the manner, beauty, order, Ornament; the inequalities and proportions of all Creatures, accommodating every thing with that which is proper to it.  
Our Penitent will not be silent in order to this his distributive justice, he will admire the works of God, give his approbation without the least Censure, and confess that this wise Architect hath balanced all things with equity and justice; and if he may be so happy as to manage his individual Being conformably to those proprieties and qualities he hath received from his Creator, he will with confidence proclaim, that his tongue shall exalt his justice.  
In the second consideration his punitive justice hath place, by which he inflicts a punishment on sinners, the reason of this is, that a sinner living contrary to the will of God, and disobedient to his order, settling his contentment on things forbidden by his Sovereign, doth by these his ways throw a contempt upon him: Wherefore it is most just reparation should be made; and since he hath rebelled in breaking the Commands of his Creator, it is fit he should be afflicted with torments, and enslaved by that will he hath so much scorned, and set at naught. Lactantius says, the Law is just which imposes on criminals a punishment they merit; and that judge is upright and good who spares not offenders; because the chastisement of the wicked, is a preservation of the good. So God is not blamable if he fall heavy upon the wicked, that they may no longer oppress and injure the innocent, for it would not be a virtue in God to behold his Servants in this great World tread his Laws under foot, blaspheme his Holy Name, thwart in every thing his Sacred will, commit exorbitancies of all kind, and amidst all these disorders, remain as stupid and insensible: No, no, God hath a virtue dreadful to the impious, which is his avenging justice.  
Our Penitent finds here likewise matter enough for his Tongue, that God having had so much reason to execute his Justice, upon his criminal Head, hath yet been pleased to hold in his Thunderbolts, as that they have not (as he deserved) reduced him to ashes. Wherefore he will amend his life so to avoid the terrors of this dreadful power, and if he be not for the future led by the charms of his sweetness unto the observance of his laws, than he will submit to this his punitive right, it being just he should not forfeit it upon his score, or that of any unrepenting sinner: So that in all events, his Tongue shall exalt thy Justice.  
The third reflection of God's justice towards his Creatures is styled remunerative, by which he fills with ineffable and endless joy, such as have served him faithfully in this life; for as it becomes not his Majesty to let the infringers of his Laws to the last go unpunished, no less is it suitable to his goodness, not to reward the obedient services of his Friends. They have studied here to please him, to confirm themselves to his desires, and promote his Glory as much as lay in them: Nay, were it possible to make any addition to his treasure and perfections, they would have done it. Wherefore their good God being invincible, and not to be overcome by the good will or affection of any Creature, thinks himself engaged to confer by way of recompense eternal honour, riches, and joys unto those Souls who have her served, and glorified him by their virtuous actions.  
Our penitent lays hold on this justice, and and it is the great Theme on which he promises here to dilate himself: but whilst he is busied in this his duty, he is confounded to consider, that all he can possibly give to God, is a bare and simple good will, the plenitude of his perfections admitting no increase; but on the other side, he receives effective and solid blessings: God draws no profit out of our good works, yet he sets such a value on them, as to think Heaven itself not too great a price for them: We can only glorify him in the film, or outside, by witnessing an esteem we have for his service, but he glorifies us intimately, and to the lowest Centre of our Soul, which he will replenish with splendour, delight, and glory; and all these great things he will not do gratis, as a favour at discretion, but by virtue of an engagement, and under a title of Justice, that we might more firmly hope for our felicity, and possess it in the most noble manner of enjoyment! O what a stroke of goodness even in this his justice? Therefore our Penitent will never cease: And my Tongue shall exalt thy justice.  

The Application.  
Christ our Lord declared those blessed who hungered, and thirsted after justice.. Now this justice consists in the aggregation of all virtues; to be humble, chaste, or patiented suffices not to qualify any person with the title of just: For if we are guilty of any one inordinate act, we forfeit our whole right to justice: Our Penitent therefore in the precedent clause sued to be freed from the crimes of homicide and adultery, hoping as to the rest he was innocent, and nothing of an enormous Nature could be laid to his charge; supposing then to be cleared from these, he raises his hopes after that promised recompense; to wit, He himself would be our too great reward; and whosoever should glorify him, should be glorified by him. Let us then exalt this justice which seems wholly to lay aside his own interest, that he may stand engaged to those who own him all; what demonstration of his goodness is this even in his justice, as to be himself our happy portion for all eternity;  
Amen.    

CHAP. XXXI.  
Domine labia mea aperies.  
Lord thou shalt open my Lips.  
OUr Holy Penitent conscious of the sublimity of the Subject he hath undertaken, warily considers his inabilities, and that the Tongues of Angels do but stammer when they would set forth his Perfections; yet willing to express his gratitude, he cannot be silent, holding it a less fault to praise him unworthily than not to praise him at all, and his deficiency hath at least this plea of comfort, that it springs from the excellency of the Being he would extol.  
But since his duty binds him to say something, like a sage Orator he would fortify himself with all the helps imaginable: His first contrivance is to dispose his Lips, which is a main Instrument of Speech, and the best way to fit them to a right temper, is to put them into the hands of him that made them: whence he desires, that he who shapes the tongues of infants into eloquence would open and frame his lips, that they may tune forth his praises, and ravish men with the love of him; upon this design, he cries; Lord thou wilt open my Lips.  
It is couched in Genesis that after God had framed Man out of a mass of Clay, he breathed into him a spirit of life. Our Petitioner like a Clod of dull Earth lies exanimated, and as it were dead in sin, and though some life of grace be put into him, yet he is as in a trance and it is necessary his Lips and Teeth be wrenched open that he may speak, and to speak to the purpose, it was also necessary words should be put into his Mouth, and such words as are enlivened with a Spirit of Wisdom, which he alone could give, who is an increated source of knowledge; and if once thus prepared he will do wonders, his Lips shall no more be employed in the vain Art of Arithmetic to cast up the number of his People, so to rely more on the strength of a Multitude, than on the divine assistance. No more shall his Lips give out unlawful orders for the death of the Innocent: No more taken up in the luxurious courtships of women: So that if the divine goodness shall please to lift up these floudgates, he doubts not but to convey a stream, which bacting upon the stones of his repenting breast will make up a fine harmony in the ears of his Creator; wherefore he begs, Lord thou wilt open my Lips.  
It is storied of Creesus King of Lydia, that seeing a City wherein he was besieged, attacked, and forcibly entered by Cyrus' King of the Medes, he resolved rather than become a scornful prisoner to die on the places, upon which design he cast himself into the midst of his Enemies, preferring an honourable death before an opprobrious life: His Son beholding his imminent danger, though to that instant at the Age of twenty years he had been always dumb; cried out, spare my Father, spare my Father, it is the King: Whereupon the Enemy seized his person, and preserved his life, some attribute this to a natural cause, alleging the love this Prince had for his Father, put all his vital spirits into combustion, and by that violent motion broke the obstacle of his speech.  
However methinks this passage may in some sense be applied to our great Penitent, who was morally dumb, the Organs of his Soul struct by the malignity of sin; insomuch as he could not utter one syllable, which might have force to reach the Ears of his Creator; until he came to have a prospect of his eternal ruin, and no sooner these Terrors appeared before him, but all the faculties of his Soul were stirred up, removed all Obstacles, and made him Petition for the opening his Lips, the first motion to his happiness. Lord thou wilt open my Lips; For this imports not a local division of the Lips, but an inflammation of the heart, by virtue of which heat, all the parts of his Body will be disposed to discharge those functions for which they were created.  
St Paul to show how little Man can do if left to himself, says, 1 Cor. 4. What do we possess which we have not received, and if so, why glory we in it as if our own. Again, he powerfully asserts it in the Eighth Chapter to the Romans, It is not he who wills, or runs, but he on whom God will have mercy. As if he would say, as Esau in vain pursued his Chase, thinking from thence to derive to himself his Father's blessing: So Man after sin loses but his time, and endeavour, if he think by the strength of his natural faculties to be able to observe the Commandments of God, or perform what is requisite to the purchase of Heaven; So that it must chief spring from the mercy of God's assisting grace.  
Nay, which is more, we cannot so much as desire to serve God according to our obligations, unless he first by his divine grace move our hearts, and dispose our will unto it; as the same St. Paul says, God works in us both the will and the execution; without God assisting, we cannot have a desire neither to believe what is proposed as the object of Faith, nor perform what we should in order to virtuous actions; and therefore St. Austin says, the prodigal Son had never resolved to return home to his Father, if the mercy of God had not inspired him to it.  
To manifest this truth we need go no further than to cast our thoughts upon the Grecian and Roman learning, which produced the greatest wits in the World; yet in all their inquisition after a sovereign good, they were so lost as even to become ridiculous; acting things concerning a Deity, and Man's supreme felicity, as if they were destitute of reason. St. Paul takes notice in particular, how coming to Athens he found an Altar dedicated to an unknown God: For they had been visited with a great pestilence, and ignorant for what offence a chastisement so severe was inflicted; at last, fancied it was for want of homage to be rendered to some Deity not yet discovered; than this what could be more absurd, to show in what darkness and errors, Man doth grope when left to himself.  
So that if at any time a person blushes at his vanities and past extravagancies, and doth confess that what before he behold as light, and life, to be nothing else than obscurity and death; this Conversion (says St. Austin) comes not from himself, but from the powerful, and hidden grace of God which dissipates the Clouds of Earthly opinions, and inflames his heart with a desire of knowing the truth.  
Now this change God works in Souls several ways, in some more gently, in others more forcibly: Solomon insinuates that he particularly gives his call by the outward preaching of his word; this Esai. confirms Chap. 40. God hath sent Doctors of his Faith into the World, who should reduce their Brethren like the blind into the way; that is, unto Jesus Christ the Messiah, who is styled the way, truth, and life. In this manner Surius recounts Barlaam was sent to Josaphat Son to a King in the Indies, that by his conversion the whole Kingdom might embrace the Law of Christ. St. Paul was sent to Athens, who converted the great St. Dennis a famous Doctor of the Areopagites. St. Philip to the Eunuch of the Ethiopian Queen, who by expounding unto him a Prophecy of Christ in Esai. immediately received Baptism at his hands.  
In the History of Japonia it is related of a certain Indian who had lived well according to the light of nature, how he was restless in his Mind, believing his religion to be false: he went to the Turks thinking to follow theirs, but finding there no satisfaction, than he applied himself to the Jews, but still remained in perplexity, so that with much fervour he was wont to cry out; O God, let me know who thou art, and that I may serve thee according to thy will, otherwise do not charge me with blame for my error. At last it happened St. Francis Xavierus came into the Town where he was, and no sooner did he hear him unfold the points, and sacred mysteries of Christian Religion, but he proclaimed, that Man preaches the God I must serve, and forth with was baptised.  
By this expedient he likewise made a conquest of our Holy Penitent, in which action Nathan the Prophet was instrumental, who laying before him his obligations to God and his ingratitude, occasioned that without delay he had recourse to the Sanctuary of this present petition or Miserere.  
The second manner of his call is by the inward operation of his Spirit, and this he communicates to all, witness St. Paul, 1 Cor. 4. God who drew light from darkness by a word from his mouth, hath filled our hearts with the splendour of his knowledge: For without this light of Faith, Man knows not God who made him, he knows not whither he tends; he knows not eternal felicity, for which he was created; nay he knows not himself; for without Faith, we know not that we are born Imps of wrath, and liable to eternal death: We know not the wounds of our nature, our inability to good, the necessity of being regenerated by grace. Lastly, without this interior light, we know not Christ our Mediator, by whose precious blood we are Redeemed from eternal damnation, and restored to a life of Grace and Glory.  
But you will say if God imparts this light of faith to all, how comes it so many remain in darkness, and infidelity; of this the reason is, that it is required to the end the light of Faith may have its effect, a cooperation in our wills, otherwise this ray (how glorious so  it be) is rendered useless, and as it were under a Cloud: Therefore St. Paul ad Rom. 10. says, Faith which justifies must come from the heart; and in Luke 22. Christ reprehends the Disciples going to Emaus, that notwithstanding he had filled them with the beams of his light, yet their hearts were slow in admitting a belief; Job likewise confirms this Chap. 24. saying; they were obdurate, and rejected the light presented to them.  
Our Learned Graduate and Petitioner more happy, rejected not the internal call of God by his secret inspirations, but corresponded with them by a pious affection in his will; and having a merciful invitation to a feast of grace, he would not like those guests mentioned in the 22. of St. Matthew, Let the consideration of a poor Farm, or a little musty ware gain more upon him than the hope of this treasure, more precious than the whole World: He would not prefer darkness before light, nor choose to wallow in dirt and mire, rather than beautify his Soul with a gift which will one day render him immortal in glory. He had already obtained a desire to do well, and this desire he would improve by action, and since God had daigned to give him the velle, or will to serve him, he begs he would open his Lips, that he might redeem his miscarriage in setting forth the Enormity of sin, the Characters of the divine goodness, and the greatness of his Justice; Lord thou wilt open my Lips.  
St. Austin reflecting upon the goodness of God, in that he not only bids us ask, but even gives us more than we demand; says, That our slothfulness ought to blush in that God is more ready to give than we are to receive.  
Abraham petitioned for a Son, and received a promise that his Seed should be multiplied like Stars of Heaven, or Sands of the Sea, and that Christ should issue forth from his Loins.  
Jacob's request was extended only to Bread, and a Garment, and he was honoured with Angels to be his Companions, was partaker of many heavenly visions, and abundance of riches poured as it were into his Lap.  
The Thief on the Cross sued but for a remembrance, and Christ gave him a promise of Paradise.  
So our Penitent seems to be very modest in his petition knowing well the wont of God's bounty, that doth not secure us in one kind, and leave us miserable in another, but relieves completely: Wherefore he sues only to have his Lips unsealed; for the rest he refers it to his incomparable munificence, being fixed in this Principle, that according to the measure of his donation, he will exhort, allure, threaten; nay put himself into any shape, that may most effectually purchase Souls unto God.  
Nor is it a bad presage of his future success, that he is so confident to have his Lips laid open; Lord (says he) thou wilt open my Lips, as if he had the Key of grace at his command. For I observe when God would dispose a Soul for the reception of his favour, the first Seed he casts into her is that of hope, this lesson he read to the Paralytic, Matt. 9 Son be confident and hope well.  
Cassianus says, it is a sign we shall obtain what we demand, when we find a strong faith and confidence in ourselves whilst we offer our petition: For Almighty God uses to inspire this virtue into us as an earnest or pledge of his future grant; this made the Apostle St. Paul prescribe it as a means to compass our desires, Heb. 2.16. Let us approach with confidence the Throne of grace. As if we needed only a firm hope to be able to scale the throne of grace and bear thence what ever we desire.  
Hope is defined a virtue residing in the will, which raises it to the expectation of a sovereign good, and consequently to all necessary means in order to that; as grace, remission of sin, and the like: For the understanding enlightened by Faith, knows that the beatitude of Man is in God, that this beatitude is promised him as his final end; whence the will sets itself a work after this sovereign good, and being unable of itself to reach so high, this virtue of hope is infused to strengthen the imbecility of our nature.  
Now the motives of hope are; First, God's mercy, which is no less prompt to free his Creatures from misery, than the fire is to burn, or the Sun to give light,  
The next motive is his Providence, which allots unto every Being what is necessary to lead them to their final end.  
The third motive is his divine power, against which no machination or force can be of any effect to ruin a Soul he means to save: For all the power of Hell before him is but like an● atom before the Sun, nay he can with more facility draw a Soul from an Abyss of sin, and adorn her with an Angelic purity, I say with more ease, than we can utter a Syllable, or make the twinkling of an Eye. Besides, he is generous, and seeing his Enemy at his Feet, imploring his mercy, he loves to raise them by his pardon, and cannot endure that any in vain should hope in him.  
In sequel of this meditation our Petitioner assures himself that God will not reject him; nay, that he will give him more than even he dares to hope for: That since he hath designed him to a supernatural end, his providential care will enrich him with an interior illustration of his Mind, and a holy impulse in his will, that he may comprehend those Truths which he hath hid from the wise, and discovered to his little ones. He knew the Messiah would not shed his precious blood to make us great Orators, Physicians, Astrologers or the like; because Man by the strength of his own capacity may reach and acquire them in some perfection; but to enable us to supernatural principles: And though by the contemplation of created things, Man may make many deductions and inferences, and so come to the knowledge of several perfections in God: Yet knowledge thus acquired is very imperfect; and therefore St. Thomas observes, that the wisest Men have fallen into many sottish errors, until a supernatural Divinity came to rectify, what Man's Wit could not penetrate and discern.  
Our Penitent now feeling himself to swell like a Fountain to the brim, with these irradiations and sacred transports, longs to discharge himself, and besprinkle the Arid Souls of languishing sinners: Wherefore he begs his Lips may be laid open, that like a torrent he may bear all down before him, destroy all the Barricado's of impiety, and teach the World in his Example, that notwithstanding we forfeit by sin all supernatural aids; yet repentance is of power to redeem them, and restore us to a capacity of regaining our eternal Beatitude: Wherefore he exhorts all Men to join issue with him, and with a firm hope cry; Lord thou shalt open my Lips.  

The Application.  
We are taught here when we begin to pray, that we look upon ourselves as infirm, indigent, and ulcerated Beggars; who expect from the merciful hand of God to find some relief in our necessities; and we must further reflect upon this great addition to our misery, that    

as that the time was not tedious to him, to whom the Saint replied, that the whole world was a great Volume expanded, in which he read as it were in great Characters, the wonders of its Creator, to which also alludes the Sentence of St. Chrysostom: There is not any particle of a Creature, be it of worth or not, which issues not forth a voice more loud than a Trumpet, and speaks the praises of God.  
But above all, it belongs to Man by many Titles of obligation to contribute to the praise and glory of God.  
First, his natural perfections more lively represent the Divine perfections, as being created to his Image, and enriched with an understanding able to comprehend supernatural things, so that he alone in this Earthly Sphere can acknowledge, and make a return of gratitude, for all the visible productions we here behold. Whence it is evident, that Man is obliged to pay the tribute of praise and thanksgiving in the behalf of all Creatures: it was upon this score the high Priest among the Jews was wont to have wrought in his Garment a draught of the World, to insinuate, that it was his part to discharge the duty of Adoration, and acknowledgement unto God in the name of the universe.  
Next, Man may be aiding to the glory of God, employing those gifts of grace he receives in acts of Religion, obeying his Commandments, embracing his Counsels referring all his actions to his honour, and evidencing by a holy life, that all his endeavours are in order to him, and his service. For from hence is reflected a certain external glory upon God; not only in that he is known, loved, and respected by such a life of Sanctity; but also in that he hath such holy and generous Creatures, just as it is the glory of a Father to have a Son virtuous and wise, and who by his valour and sage conduct, draws the Eyes of the World with a kind of admiration upon him.  
But the greatest glory Man can give unto God, is in a state of Beatitude, for when once there arrived, he shall see him face to face without any interposed Veil, he shall know the wonders of his essence, cast his sweetness inconceivable, and have his heart ravished with eternal affections: He shall there praise him in a full consort for all Eternity: This is the highest, pitch of glory Man can give unto God, in which he is partner with the Angels, it is the final end of our Creation, we are not put into this World upon any other design, than by a constant progress in virtue to advance ourselves daily to this end.  
Here you may discern the general Heads of praise in which our Penitent will engage his mouth. First, he will praise him in the infinite variety of Creatures he hath framed in this inferior World for Man's use, and in his behalf he will powerforth his thanks, and acts of gratitude, resolving never to abuse them, or design them contrary to that end for which they were made.  
Next, he will submit all his actions, to be led and conducted according to the impulse and dictamen of those Graces he shall please to bestow upon him; making his Body a holy, chaste, and ma●…rated victim to his Laws, and by this means he will dispose himself for that last and highest service he is to render him in a complete Beatitude, where his Mouth shall never cease to celebrate his praise: And my Mouth shall declare thy praise.  
Whilst our Penitent thus in his thoughts runs over all these motives which might justly afford matter of praise to his grateful Tongue, there occurs one more which must not be omitted, since it exceeds all others, and exalts the glory of God beyond all the submission of Men and Angels; it is the mystery of the Incarnation in which Christ Jesus God-Man hath contributed the most to God's glory: For he hath saved the World by the effusion of his precious blood, and nothing is more glorious to God than the Salvation of Mankind; for good and holy persons will praise, love, admire, contemplate, enjoy, and adore his perfections in the vast spaces of Eternity: Now had he not died for Man, no Paradise, no felicity could have been for them; so that God had remained under the privation of that glory, he doth and is to receive from blessed Spirits for all Eternity.  
Nay more, not only Men do glorify God by Jesus Christ, but the Angels likewise, in whose concern the Church declares the Angels praise your Majesty, the Archangels bow before you, the Powers tremble with respect, the virtues of Heaven, and blessed Seraphims with like joy and love do glorify you: So that all the external glory consecrated to God either in Heaven or Earth is in consideration of the divine person as it supports the sacred humanity of Christ.  
Lastly, Jesus Christ in Heaven doth praise and magnify the Divinity with an Air incomparable; he doth it more copiously, with more variety, with a note more lively and ravishing than all the Choires of Angels and Saints put together: The reason is, that the most perfect knowledge, and most ardent affection are the ●ources of the most sublime and magnificent Panegyrics: Now the Soul of our Redeemer enjoyed without dispute a more clear and penetrating wisdom and knowledge of the Divinity, is inflamed in that Abyss of essence to a higher degree: than any other whatsoever, and consequently his most pure Soul breaks forth into praises, which outstrip and surpass by far all the Harmony both of Angels and the blessed spirits in Heaven.  
I doubt not but our Penitent with much satisfaction let his Tongue strike upon this Theme; for if the very thought of the Messiah replenished his Mind with abundant joy, what consolation to consider that by him alone God would derive to himself more glory, than from the whole mass of Creatures, that he was to share with him in this task of praise, that he would procure, increase, and magnify the honour of God to his utmost; and since Angels and Men were to pay their homage of praise and benediction by and in the person of the Messiah, our Penitent would not be exempted from that privilege of bearing a part in the comfort, and bless the divine goodness in that by the bloody Sacrifice of the Messiah, God's honour should be repaired, and as many voices gained to promote his greatness, as there were to be glorious spirits in Heaven, that by his sacred Mouth the praises of his God, his sovereign good, and object of his love were to be ecch●…d forth in the midst of Paradise; with what ●…y would he put a helping hand, and conspire in this design, and second the generous intentions of the Messiah, by a million of toyl●…e Labours, might he but live to see the  of his coming, however he is resolved by him to offer up all his stock of praise and benediction. And my Mouth shall announce, thy praise.  
Cassianus admires the goodness of God, that possessing within himself an inexhausted Treasure of all good, in whom cannot be found the least want of any thing desirable, is yet pleased to play the Merchant with poor Creatures, entrusting into their hands not only the visible stock of this inferior World, but also the dispensation of heavenly graces, and this whilst he can expect no return, this our Petitioner himself confesses in the last Chapter of the first of the Chronicles; where He and the Princes of the people had made a large Offering of many Talents of Gold, Silver, and other Metals: For reflecting then upon the state of Accounts 'twixt God and his Creatures; he said, Who am I, and what is my people to offer any thing unto thee, for all things come from thee, and of thine own we have given. So that none can offer unto God but what they have received from him: Nay, he is so indulgent, as though we can return him nothing but what is his own, yet let them be stamped with the mark of gratitude, he will put them upon account as satisfactory. In a word we can exchange nothing in return of all his benefit, but the oblation of praise, and is it not strange we should r●fuse● him this? Nay, to encourage us though we give him but a trifle, not worth the regarding, yet if it be done with a real intent of serving him, he blenches not at it, but by his acceptance makes it valuable, and of a price not to be esteemed. I must needs then say, our great Penitent hath pitched upon a right way of traffic, and which is most suitable to the state of his affairs. Wherefore I wonder not if in divers other Psalms, he protests he will live no longer than he shall be able to remit unto his obliging Creditor, the just tribute of praise, and that he will be punctual in this commerce whilst he hath a Being, which resolution he again here confirms: And my Mouth shall send forth thy praise.  
St. Bonaventure forbids two things in those that would praise the name of God; to wit, Pride and fear: For, if proud, though he take up the Subject of another's praise, and descants upon it with much seeming zeal, yet he always so manages the Encomiums as to involve himself as a Party, which spoils all; for God will have no Ri●al, he communicates (it is true) unto his Creatures the participation of his divide essence, I but in matter of glory he will be singular, and protests that none shall bear a share with him; in this he proclaims himself to be a Jo●lo●… God.  
Next, if the Praiser be timorous, he can never be faithful, for this unmanly passion like an Apoplexy seizes upon all the vital spirits, Whinders the speech, nay even be rails any interest at the Face of danger. So that you never see any thing great or generous to issue from a Coward; wherefore our blessed Saviour declares he will not own him at the Latter day, who hath here blished, and not dared to acknowledge him.  
Our great Doctor was far exempt from these irregular motions: As to the first, he was the meekest of Men, the Character he gives of himself shows he was not elevated with an Any conceit of his own worth, when he pronounces in his Psalm; That he is a Worm, and not a Man; the opprobry of Men, and scorn of the people. So that the brain blast of Pride did not stifle, or any ways obstruct those just Attributes he promises here to give unto his Maker.  
As to the other branch of fear, his Heroic exploits are abundantly set forth in the sacred History, so that to go about to clear him from (apprehension) of terror, when God's ●…use ●ay 〈◊〉 ●…e, were the same as to use Arguments in a glorious day, to persuade the Sun shines: Let us then conclude he was completely qualifyed in border to the performance of his task, and that his Mouth was admirably fitted to Sing forth the praises of his God: And my Mouth shall announce thy praise.  
Whilst our Penitent goes on in his design to make an Elegy of his Creators' praises, he is startled at an opinion, that God is glorified in the damnation of a Soul, as much it in her Salvation. But he soon recovered himself upon the principles he hath laid; for as a rare and accomplished piece of work speaks more the art and perfection of the workman, than one that is imperfect and be set with many faults; so a blessed Soul adorned with many perfections, and being lively image of her Maker, doth more express the power, wisdom, and other Attributes of God than a lost Soul all stained with a horrid guilt of sin.  
Again, it would be indifferent to the most zealous in the love of God, whether a soul perished or not; because they desiring nothing but the glory of God, and if that were equally concerned in the loss, or Salvation of a Soul, certainly either would be a like to them, but it is most evident they practise the contrary, entertaining passionate desires for the gaining of a Soul, and much resenting, nay with great desolation, the ruin of any; which evidences that God derives to himself more glory from a Soul enlivened by his grace, than from another wallowing in the filth of sin. Wherefore he concludes the task of God's praise cannot be carried on but by a life of Sanctity, which he looks upon as a happy necessity, that the glory of our Creator is annexed to our greatest happiness; For he hath produced all things to be finally referred to himself, and if in this, Creatures find likewise their interest and full delight, how great an obligation is it? That he hath linked his glory to our happy condition, and utmost perfection; that is, whilst we procure unto God the greatest glory, in the same action we purchase to ourselves our greatest felicity: So that our Penitent will never cease: And my Mouth shall send forth thy praise.  

The Application.  
Here we are instructed that our Being is conferred upon us to no other end than to love, praise, and glorify God, and to procure (as much as in us lies) that others likewise discharge this designment of their Creation. If then we direct our actions to our own praise, sucking in the Air of humane applause, we commit an act of injustice against God, and pervert the noble employment allotted to our nature: We play the Thief, and plunder the lawful propriety of our Creator: The utmost perfection of a stream is to be reunited to its source; and that of Man to praise and glorify God, in loving, serving, and manifesting his perfections; and since all other Creatures conspire according to their capacity to render him glory, Let us who are endued with reason consecrate all our thoughts and words, all our desires and affections to exalt his praise and glory.  
Amen.    

CHAP. XXXIII.  
Quoniam si voluisses Sacrificium, dedissem utique,  
Because if thou wouldst have had a Sacrifice, I should verily have done it.  
IN this Clause our Petitioner hints a remarkable consideration; which is, that he will not play the Heady devote, nor follow his own will; and what his weak brain may suggest unto him in order to God's service, but wisely commit himself unto God, who must be his Master in this particular: For Man's blindness is so great, the Clouds over his understanding so black, that of himself he cannot discern what homage is due to his Sovereign Monarch, nor with what Sacrifice he ought to adore, thank, and appease him: He knew well our important affair in this life, is to serve God as he would be served, and in that way which might be most pleasing to him; by consequence the orders he is to observe must be revealed to him by God, that conformably to his pleasure he is ready to obey, to Sacrifice not only a beast, but his fortune, honour, crown, person, and all.  
There are many Opinions about this Quere; why those legal Sacrifices instituted by God's own appointment, as a testimony of our acknowledgement of his supreme Dominion over us, and being their sole refuge to shelter themselves from the darts of his anger, should in the case of our Petitioner be censured as useless, and no ways to be countenanced by the approbation of Heaven.  
Some say our Penitent means by this the bare external act of Sacrifice, which as an accustomary thing without the intention, which gives life to the action, is not required of God, nor receives from him any support, and that in this sense he truly doth not authenticate any Sacrifice so offered.  
But questionless this exposition is far from our Penitents thoughts, for no oblation unless vested with a form of sincere respect, and reverence to the Divinity, can find any propitious effect; and since that depends on the will of him that offers sacrifice, if this circumstance be wanting, neither will his immolation be acceptable, nor he himself blameless; if he desist upon that title from discharging his duty by those Ceremonies which the Law then required.  
I will wave the sentiments of divers others so to avoid prolixity, and give you that of St. Gregory, who seems to have hit upon the genuine sense of this clause. For he reputes it to be a prophetic inspiration in our Penitent, that the legal Sacrifices being a Type only and Figure of that eternal Sacrifice to be offered up in the person of Christ, in whom they were all to end. Therefore in consideration of his vigorous Faith, and ardent zeal for his coming, by which he merited the effect of what they represented, he was dispensed within these legal Sacrifices as to himself, they being in these circumstances little beneficial, and as it were unnecessary.  
But let us examine the nature of a Sacrifice which will give us light the better to discern the verity of this clause: First, it exacts that he who offers Sacrifice be a Priest; for since it is a worship of all others the most eminent, by which the World conspires in one to acknowledge a Divinity, it is requisite this external Ceremony, should not be committed to the Execution of everyone, but that certain selected Persons be constituted, who in the name of the Commonwealth should pay their homage to the divine Majesty; and in that action of Sacrifice, acknowledge both his supreme power, and their subjection; and this person ought to be a Priest because it is his proper office; witness St. Paul in the Fifth to the Hebrews, Every Priest chosen out amongst Men are appointed for the service of Men, in those things which relate unto God in the oblation of gifts and Sacrifices.  
Now as to the Law of nature where mention is made of Sacrifices, and not of Priests; St. Hierom citys a tradition of the Hebrews which testifies that the First born Male, or Eldest Son were Priests, and enjoyed both a regal, and pontificial authority in their Line, and Family. Whence Job Chap. 2. Sacrificed in behalf of his Children, whom likewise he blessed and sanctified.  
Next, it is required in a Sacrifice, that it be some external sensible thing, either living or inanimate; for whatsoever by the esteem of Nations, or authority of holy Scripture hath been reputed a real and true Sacrifice, it ever consisted in some such visible and external thing.  
The third condition of a Sacrifice is, that the thing offered up be killed, or some alteration made in it; for all the Sacrifices of the natural and Mosaic Law were not performed by a simple oblation or elevation of the thing, but by its destruction, and this directed to God's honour. Living Creatures were slaughtered, and things inanimate, some burnt, as Flower, Salt, Incense: Others poured out or spilt, as Blood, Oil, and Water. The reason why a Sacrifice ought to be destroyed is, that by the destruction it serves no more to the use of Men, and so more completely seems all applied to God's honour, as importing his supreme Dominion, and a dependency of all things on him.  
Fourthly, a Sacrifice is to be offered up implicitly, or explicitly to the honour of God; if for any other end it loses the nature and quality of a Sacrifice: For a Sacrifice is in the number of those signs by which we express our inward value of another's excellency, and a desire in ourselves to become his slave, now if this esteem or desire be wanting, the sign is false, and hath no effect; so that a Sacrifice proceeding from flattery or fear is impious, and puts a scorn upon the Deity they seem to adore.  
Lastly, the place wherein a Sacrifice is performed, aught to be consecrated to that end, and this we call an Altar, for doubtless the dignity of that action may justly exact a particular department separated from profane uses, as the custom of all Nations declares.  
From these premises we see what a Sacrifice is taken in the strictest sense; to wit, an external oblation of some sensible thing offered unto God, by which we acknowledge his supreme power over us, and all things: that he may dispose of them and us at his pleasure. Now that God should not require at the hands of our Petitioner such an expression of his duty seems intricate, because though by the tye of nature we are obliged to worship God by acts of virtue; and good works issuing from such a principle, may quadrate with the end of a Sacrifice, which is to honour God: Yet they produce no external sign, and so properly cannot be said to be an act of Religion, nor consequently a Sacrifice, which comprehends the most perfect worship that can be given by a Creature.  
Besides, it is most certain that the Law of Moses obliged the Jews very strictly, and this appears in God's promises to the punctual observers of it; as that rain should fall in due season, their Lands become fertile, their Trees be laden with fruit, abundance in their Vineyards, that they should be preserved from wild Beasts, enjoy a full peace, overcome their Enemies, and plant themselves in the midst of them; Nay more, that these temporal blessings were to be Crowned with eternal life, of which promise made to the first inhabitants of the Earth, they had a Tradition, though their Law made no mention of it. So that not only for their temporal prosperity, but likewise in order to spiritual and eternal treasures, they were bound to obey their legal precepts, and this in conscience under the penalty of a mortal or venial guilt, according to the matter wherein they transgressed. Now this obligation was extended not only to their moral, and Ceremonial precepts, but likewise to their Judicial and Politic; for why should not civil and temporal Laws bind in Conscience, since we are tied by a certain external Justice in morality to contribute to the peace and quiet order of the Commonwealth.  
Lastly, they are commanded by God as well as the others, and pronounced with the like benedictions, and maledictions; and therefore obligatory after the same manner. It was upon this ground they set more by one precept of the Law, than by their lives, or whatsoever else most precious to them: For example Eleazar, and the Mother of the Maccabees with her Sons, chose rather to die, than to eat Swine's flesh forbidden by the Law; it was in pursuance of this their zeal, that when the Romans first took Jerusalem under Pompey, and forcibly entering the Temple, mowed down all before them; neither the terror of death, nor outcries of the dying Multitude round about them, could divert them from their divine service, oblations, and Sacrifices; but on the contrary were resolved to lie at the mercy of the victorious, and suffer what they pleased, rather than abandon their Altars, on quit any part of their duty, in observing what was commanded by their Law, and forefathers.  
Now since these legal Sacrifices were so much valued by the Jews, and observed with so much zeal, as instituted by God's own appointment, in Testimony of our acknowledgement, of his supreme power, and our subjection, and being they were their sole refuge to shelter themselves from the darts of his anger, how comes it to pass that in the case of our Petitioner they are censured useless, and no ways to be countenanced from Heaven: For as here he expressly declares, that God would not have him pay this tribute or homage of Sacrifice, so we have reason to believe he did it not; for it is no where read, that he offered up any Sacrifice for Vriah's murder, or his adultery with Berfabee; though usually all offenders in that nature did it, nor were to be admitted into humane Society until they had purified themselves by a Sacrifice of expiation.  
Some there are who fancy that our Petitioner understands here, that legal Sacrifices were most of them appointed for sins committed through ignorance, and negligence: Now he not finding himself guilty in this kind, presumes that God would not exact a Sacrifice of him upon that score.  
But this cannot hold Water, for certain it is, that many of those Sacrifices were instituted for the expiation of several trespasses of commission; and namely those which gave birth to this his penitential Psalm: Besides, he seems to be much devoted to that kind of Sacrifice, which was ordained for sins of ignorance, often supplicating the Divine mercy in behalf of his secret, and hidden sins, which must needs import his faults into which through ignorance he may have fallen; and therefore upon that score he would never desist from the offering up of a Sacrifice.  
Others again interpret this clause of our Petitioner, as if he would say, Lord should I offer up those Sacrifices commanded in the Law they will not please, nor appease thee? They are but figures and representations of that true Sacrifice thou wilt one day give us, and from the efficacy of which future Sacrifice the weak virtue of these are derived, at whose approach all these are to be evacuated, and cease: Were it not then better that I present you with one, that will never be refused, that is, a heart pierced with sorrow, and bowed with repentance; this is a Sacrifice I am sure you require, and if I give you this, you will not think I grudge you the other: Upon these Terms the three Young Men in Babylon petitioned: That God would receive a contrite heart and spirit of humility, in lieu of Ramms, Bulls, and a thousand fat Lambs offered up in Holocaust.  
But with submission I conceive our Petitioner in this clause appeals to his great God, and insinuates it, is his revealed will he should desist from these Sacrifices; as being all satisfied with his internal acts of repentance, which more perfectly contribute to the effect of a Sacrifice (though not to the formality of it) than any external oblation; For this expression if you would have had one (supposing the command of God in general to the Jewish Nation, that in all their distresses they were to make their way to him by the means of Sacrifice) imports a knowledge he had to the contrary, otherwise he would never have put in an if, nor made a Quere whether he should do it, had he not been first warranted in the forbearance.  
Now, if you ask me why God should proceed so particularly with him, it seems to me probable, that it was in consideration of his vigorous Faith, and ardent zeal for the coming of the Messiah, by which he merited the effect of what the legal Sacrifices did represent; and so was dispensed with, in order to all those Sacrifices, as to him with these circumstances little beneficial.  
For we see in several Emergencies, that God would not tie himself to the strict rules he had set down for the guidance of his people; he had ordained that Priests only were to be the lawful Ministers of Sacrifice, and the prevarication of this Law he punished severely in the persons of Ozias and Saul: Yet at another time by a particular Ordination, he enjoined Abel, Abraham, Isaac, and others; though they were not Priests to offer Sacrifice: For by virtue of this Command they were consecrated Priests, and had the power of Sacrificing committed to them. In like manner our Petitioner living in the time of the Law, a Law of bondage; where many harsh impositions were laid upon them, might be exempted from the burden of Sacrifices, upon the score of his Heroic Love, Repentance, and ceaseless groans for a Redeemer: For doubtless amongst all the Patriarches of the old Testament, none ever interessed themselves so much in that particular as he, and it is believed he much obliged the World by those his longing desires, in hastening the coming of the Messiah.  
For all this at the first glance, one would think our Penitent were liable to censure: That knowing he addressed himself to one who is the searcher of hearts, and before whom the most secret motions are displayed; he should nevertheless make this superfluous expression of his promptitude to perform what ever he would exact of him.  
But we ought to justify our Penitent, and believe that in this he aims at the World's satisfaction; to the end after ages might read, he declined not the use of those remedies the Law prescribed, out of any defect of submission to the Law, but merely upon the score of God's dispensation, who was pleased to accept of the interior Acts of his repentance, and in that acceptation, would inform Mankind, the heart is the thing he most considers.  

The Application.  
From hence we may learn this instruction, that when we see our Neighbour deficient in what he owes to the eternal Law, we must not immediately pass Sentence of Condemnation upon him; the Judgements of God being far different from those of Men, but refer all to that great day which will lay open all Truths; especially in matters of omission, where the causes are so inevident, and where in we so often make the Innocent guilty. If seriously we insist upon this principle, then with confidence we may keep time with Holy David, and cry; If thou wouldst have had a Sacrifiice, I had verily done it.  
Amen.    

CHAP. XXXIV.  
Holocaustis non delectaberis,  
Thou wilt not be delighted with Holocausts.  
HAd our Petitioner couched this Clause in the present Tense, and said, Thou art not dedelighted with Holocausts; it would have cleared the sense of the precedent disease, and proved a satisfactory alligation for his omission of Sacrifice: But being in the future, it renders the expression dubious, and may import, that upon the establishment of a new Law, all these Figurative oblations will cease, and then the Incense of those appeasing Sacrifices would no more smell sweet in his Nostrils.  
But however upon a more serious inspection it may bear this construction, that an immediate, and present effect would follow; to wit, whensoever he should offer Sacrifice, it will be no ways acceptable to him, because as I said in the promises, the lively Faith he had of the Law of grace, put him in the same condition through a particular dispensation of Heaven, as if he had not been under the Mosaic Yoke, and therefore since he contributed on his part, what was requisite to the perfection of an Evangelical Sacrifice, God would supply the rest, so that truly, as to his particular, he might say; Thou art not delighted with Holocausts, etc.  
Upon these grounds our Petitioners argument carries weight, and infers that if Holocausts be not countenanced by Heaven, it were in vain to think of any other oblation, for amongst all the legal Sacrifices, that of Holocausts, or Burnt-offerings, was the most perfect, and the most completely expresses the supremacy of God's power over us, and the fullness of our subjection to him; for in some Sacrifices part of them were burnt, the rest applied to the use of the Minister, but in Holocausts all was consumed, and by the total destruction of that offering was employed a dependency of Fortune, Life, and Being on his orders, and commands from whence they were derived.  
I observe likewise in the sacred Text, that if Sacrifices were not performed with a pure conscience, and detestation of sin, they were odious in the sight of God, this appears in the First Chapter of Esay; by whose Pen God declares, that Incense was abominable to him, and that he abhorred their Solemnities. Again, in the Prov. The Sacrifice offered up by an impious hand is abomination in his sight. For the end of a Sacrifice is either in order to a reconciliation with God, a return of thanks for benefits received, or for the impetration of some new favour: Now to pretend to any of these, and not renounce all affection to Sin were rather to provoke, than any ways appease his anger: But our Petitioner delivers not the thing with that horror, he touches not upon any abomination, or severity on God's part, but expresses it in the Negative of any satisfaction he will take in it, which concludes his Sacrificing action would not be rejected upon the score of any real-guilt, but as a thing unnecessary to him, who was privileged with the conditions of a more efficacious oblation, and therefore justly he might cry, thou art not delighted with Holocausts.  
Again, our Holy Penitent in his 30. Psalms, explicates himself more clearly about this point, his words are these. Thou hast not required a burnt-offering for sin, wherefore I will plant your Law in the midst of my heart; since I said engraven in the Frontispiece of the Book that is my conscience, I should in this manner perform your will: What can be more evident to demonstrate, he had orders to desist from any other Sacrifice, than what were hatched and conveyed unto God, from an unspotted Heart; for by this Book is meant the secret of God's proceed with Man, as appears in the Apocalypses, where is expressed that the Lamb alone was found worthy to open, and unclasp the Book of God's secrets, and this Book was unfolded to him, by which he is taught. That he is not delighted with Holocausts, Holocausts, etc.  
Besides, though the Law of Moses were abrogated as to their Ceremonial and judicial precepts: Yet what depended on the Doctrine of Faith, and morality was not cashiered, but refined, amplified, and made more perfect: Whence our Holy Petitioner by way of Amplification instructed in the more ample Elucidation of Faith to be unfolded in the Law Evangelical, and enriched with a right Spirit, not only to discern what is good, from bad; but likewise to embrace, and pursue the ways of virtue, not only to know the wounds of humane nature, but also the sovereign remedies for their cure; presumed he might lay claim to a Law, not of fear but love, laid open to him in his prophetic Spirit. A Law not only given by a Legislator, but by him who was both a Lawgiver, and Redeemer; a Law not written in stone, and which breathed forth anger, but one that should be imprinted in the hearts of Men, whose effects are Grace and Truth, and by which he should be related to them as their God, and they to him as his people: A Law not given to one single Nation, but directed to the whole World, in which repentance, and remission of sins should be enacted, and held forth; A Law not consisting of shadows, but substance, by the infusion of Faith and Charity, and by the impletion of all figurative Sacrifices; a Law not of slavery, but freedom, and love, which with the Precepts would be communicated a spirit of Charity, to enable them to the performance of what was imposed, and where the Lords spirit is, there liberty is found. Hence though our Petitioner was still under the Law, yet it was not as a bondman, performing his acts by constraint; but as a Child born to his duties by affection and respect, and therefore exempt from the terrors of the Law, he says, thou art not delighted, etc.  
Christ our Lord abrogated the bill of divorce practised amongst the Jews, declaring that whosoever dismissed his wife, and took another, played the Adulterer: Now it is most certain that it was always unlawful, though in the Law (upon the score of the Jews proness, and obstinacy in evil) no punishment were ordained for the fame, as there were for other crimes; so that it was an evil permitted, not approved off. And this not as to the guilt, but defect of chastisement. If then the Law practised a kind of connivancy in forbearing the use of its coercive power to prevent a greater inconveniency, that might ensue; Why may we not infer with more reason, that where the most perfect conditions, as to the effect of a Sacrifice are found, others of less moment may be omitted: The legal Sacrifices not having power to confer Grace, nor without the internal worship of virtues, as Charity, Repentance, and the like were grateful, no more than our external good works at present are, even in the highest, and more perfect oblation, if a disposition in the Mind be wanting; wherefore our Petitioner enriched with all essential requisites of a lively faith, love, sorrow, etc. And being a person according to Gods own Heart, I see not but with these circumstances he might rest fixed in his Oblation in Spirit; and cry, thou art not delighted with Holocausts.  
This Clause hath set a work many great wits, and pushed them on so far, as to assert that Sacrifices were not commanded in the old Law, but only permitted as a lesser Evil, as to make them decline Idolatry; which that gross people were so apt to slide into, and to show this was the end of that Institution, they observe those Beasts were appointed, and marked out for their Sacrifices, which were the Deities adored by the Egyptians; as a Sheep, a Goat, a Kid, an Ox, a Calf, a Dove, a Sparrow, a Turtle; that whilst they mangled, and destroyed those Animals they might reflect upon that one supreme God, before whom all other powers must lie prostrate, and by their destruction acknowledge his Sovereign Dominion.  
Now I confess, as to the Universal tye of the Law, I go not along with this Opinion in matter of Sacrifice, for before the written Law, it is clear in the Sacrifice of Abel, Noah, and Abraham, that they were Obligatory, and likewise acceptable to God, and this the Church confirms supplicating that this unbloody Sacrifice might find acceptance at his Hands, as those of Melchizedeck, and other just Patriarches had done: Nay, in Exodus the 12. God makes an accurate, and distinct settlement of the Ceremonies, inflicting punishments on the infringers, which speaks more than bare permission: Nay, he owns the perfume arising from a Sacrifice, to be most Odoriferous, and pleasing to him.  
You must know then that one motive in the Institution of Sacrifices was to divert the Jews from dangers of Idolatry, just as now one of the intentions in marriage may be to avoid fornication.  
Another motive was to prefigure that bloody Sacrifice of the Cross, to be offered up in the new Law; for the end of the Law was to know love, and obey Christ, so that all their Sacrifices tended to his instruction: They were as a kind of bond, or engagement by which the new Law was promised to them.  
So that if they addressed them under that Form, and attired with these circumstances, they were questionless holy, and grateful in the sight of God, and in this sense the Law obliged all in general unto Sacrifice; yet this hinders not, but our Petitioner prevented with extraordinary Graces, may be taught another method of Sacrifice, and truly he insinuates as much in his 39 Psalms, where he owns to have received a command to perform the will of God, and adds he had done it; and this in planting his Law, that is Sacrifice in the midst of his Earth; wherefore as to himself he might say: Thou art not delighted with Holocausts, etc.  
I am not Ignorant there are many who lay the force of this expression upon the sole inefficacy of the Law, whose Sacrifices, and Sacraments did not Physically and really confer Grace, but only after a moral way, prefigured and shadowed it forth; depending more upon the disposition of him that offered, than on any innate virtue contained in themselves; and upon this ground our Petitioner might allege that burnt-offerings would not serene his angry looks, since they did but discover the Ulcer not heal it.  
Yet the difficulty still remains, that however inefficacious they were, they had no other remedies; so that they were duties, to which they were obliged, and the sole expedient to relieve them in distress.  
Some were propitiatory to divert, and shelter them from the storms of God's vengeance, and this was a victim for sin, others were in thanksgiving for blessings received, and for the continuation of them, and was styled a pacific oblation, part of this Animal was burnt, the rest eaten by the Priests, and those that offered the same Sacrifice likewise if not consumed the same day, but reserved till the next; was directed to the impetration of new benefits; whence you may see, that upon every turn, and in all their Exigencies they were necessitated to fly unto the help of Sacrifices, and how liberal and unwearied they were in that devotion, appears by a just account, (as Josephus relates) given into the Precedent of Syria, who was desirous to acquaint Nero by this with the greatness of their Commonwealth, it was there found, and exactly set down, that they did Sacrifice at every one of their Solemn Sabbaths, two hundred fifty six thousand five hundred Lambs: So that you see their fervour was not slack, and tepid in matter of Sacrifices, and though they were a Nation of all others most addicted to avarice: Yet in this they jumped not with the Opinion of Socrates, who judged things of the least value most fit to be offered up to the Gods, because as they stand not in need of our gifts, so do they more value our affection, than what we give; but they on the contrary, thought nothing better spent, than what was laid out in Sacrifices, a clear Evidence, that the main part of their Religion consisted in these external rules.  
Nay, they were so bend upon them, as St. Chrysostom by way of similitude says, as a Physician to cut off all opportunity from his Feverish Patient, that he might not ruin himself by intemperate draughts of cold water, in a kind of passion throws away that liquor, and breaks the Vessel in which it was brought, just so (says he) Christ the original, and accomplishment of all their Figures, appearing amongst them, who came to make a perfect cure, and free them from all their distempers, saw he could not wean them from their habitual practices of the Law at that time, not only unnecessary, but even obnoxious to them, without proceeding like a resolute Physician by way of severity: Wherefore where he saw reason, sweetness, and all the Wonders he had wrought could effect nothing with those obdurate, and unbelieving spirits; he was forced to a course adverse to his meekness, and to the love he bore that chosen Nation, designing the total subversion of their City, and place of Sacrifice, and their utter dispersion through the habitable World, and this he foretold them all bathed in Tears, to show his resentment for what he needs must do, there being no other expedient to draw them from that strange dotage on victimes and immolation of Beasts.  
From these premises we may conclude that whilst the Law was in its vigour, Sacrifices as to the universality of the people, were the only rules set down for the reparation of their failings, and till our Penitent had a particular Patent for his exemption, none was ever more magnificent in his exhibitions in this kind: Nay, he made it the Theme of his exhortations to others, that they should consecrate their Vows, and discharge by way of Sacrifice what they own unto the Lord God.  
But when God was pleased to reach unto him, the fair draught of the mystery of the incarnation; wherein he read the Law's evacuation, the darkness of its Figures, to break forth into the splendour of a crucified oblation, from whence arises a perfume, whose odour would lay open Heavens Gates, that to this Law of terror would succeed one of love, and which like to its Priesthood was to be eternal; his desires heightened by these prophetic notions were certainly inflamed to a great pitch of charity, and strengthened with a vigorous and lively Faith, pushed him on to vehement long to become a Member of that Kingdom of Grace, then to flourish in the Hearts of Men. In this manner prepared by internal acts of virtue, of repentance for his misdeeds, submission to his will, patience under the weight of his Chastisements; no wonder if the Eye of Heaven pleased to behold an Object so worthy of his special favour, should take him out of the Common tract of the Mosaic way, and conduct him by the Beams of an Evangelical light; So that supported with Grace by a firm hope in the merits of the Messiah to come, he might now (void of any blame) as to himself say, thou art not delighted with Holocausts, etc.  

The Application.  
This Clause seems but a confirmation of the precedent Verse, wherein our Holy Penitent doth specify in the Example of a Holocaust, how little valuable our actions are, if they be not circumstanced with the approbation of Heaven: For amongst all the Religious ordinations of the Jews, there was none that expressed their entire submission, and dependence upon God, like to that of a Holocaust; and yet our Holy Petitioner declares, God is not delighted with it; that is, if performed in his person, whom he had instructed in the oblations of a more perfect Sacrifice, not so gross and carnal as that of Beasts; but which hath a resemblance with what the Angels and blessed do incessantly offer up from their flaming Breasts. Let us then in imitation ascend from virtue to virtue, and proportionably to the communication of his Graces, aspire to a life more perfect, remembering we are to improve our stock according to the Sum we have to negotiate. God grant than we may give a just account.  
Amen.    

CHAP. XXXV.  
Sacrificium Deo spiritus contribulatus,  
A Sacrifice to God is a troubled Spirit.  
AFter our Penitents Declaration, that God required not at his Hands the external right of Sacrifice, he comes now to specify what homage he is to pay, saying a Sacrifice to God is a troubled spirit. Now if you look upon the principles of spiritual Masters, this oblation seems very opposite to what they design; for the main intent of all their prescriptions drive at this, as to make us insensible of any Earthly Objects, which might turmoil the Spirit, and to hinder a quiet repose in the Soul, without which no fruit can be reaped in contemplation. Nay, indeed its necessary in order to the meritorious performance of any good work; this appears in Aaron, who reprehended by Moses, that upon the loss of his Beloved Daughter, he forbore to eat of the Sacrifices, made this answer, how can I please God by eating, or any other Ceremony, whilst I possess a sad and troubled Mind. But you must know there is a twofold sorrow, one that springs from God, the other from the World, this gives life, that Death: St. Hierom calls a Soul crushed with austerity and fasting, a Sacrifice, so that by this oblation of a troubled spirit, our Penitent means the combat of a virtuous Man, in subduing his passions; and this St. Gregory terms a continual martyrdom, in which is daily offered up a living victim, Holy, pure, and acceptable to God, by which a Man may be resembled to one that flying his Enemy kills himself.  
In Leviticus 12. A command is laid upon the Jews, that they should celebrate with great solemnity the Feast of expiation, and the manner how it was to be done is set down, that they should afflict their Souls: Now this seems very incongruous to the nature of a Feast, but since our felicity consists in suffering here, we must be merry to see ourselves piously sad; green wood cast on the Fire both weeps, and burns, our breast may be sad in one part, and cheerful in the other. The Prophet Baruc says, the Soul that bewails her Sins gives Glory unto God, for as there is nothing more sad than sin, so doubtless nothing more delightful as worthily to deplore it: Wherefore this troubled spirit imports not a tortured conscience but a Lancet in the Hand of a dexterous Artist, who making a passage for corruption, the sooner cures the wound; so likewise groans, tears, wring of Hands, outcries, and such like Testimonies of a disturbed Mind, are the several compositions of a Sacrifice pleasing to God; A Sacrifice to God is a troubled spirit.  
St. Austin says, Man comes into the World wrapped up in such a Cloud of Ignorance in order to truth, and replenished with such a swarm of desires, that were he left to his own inclination, there is no evil he would not commit. This is evident in the Comportment of Men before Cities were built, and policy of Laws established, which restrain the impetuosity of their passions; for it is storied, they killed, and devoured one another, falsifying all equity, and justice: So that to deserve the name of Man, we ought to bridle, and check the insolency of our sensual appetites, but to become a Sacrifice pleasing to God under the Character of a troubled spirit, not only the Body must be macerated, and brought under, but the spirit likewise must be enslaved, and captivated to the Faith of Christ.  
In the composition of this Sacrifice, I find spiritual directors are divided, some think the most powerful ingredient is to chastise the Body, waste it with abstinence, and hair-cloths, and spend it with labour; by which harsh usage, it is weakened, and the Soul gets the Mastery to do what she pleases, as with an Enemy overcome, disarmed, and at our Feet: This Opinion hath given birth to so many austerities in several orders, to so many Crucifying inventions, that the Soul might become more powerful by extenuating the Body, and so render it less rebellions to the decrees of reason: This way hath the approbation of St. Paul, who in his Fift Chapter to the Galathians says; that those who are servants to Christ, have crucified their flesh with their vices, and concupiscencies. Others again say, it is not enough to quell, and reform your spirit by the Body, but that your Body is likewise to be reduced to order by the Mind; because in the commission of sin, the Body is not always the offendor, and deserves not to be harassed with rude strokes like an Ass: wherefore they judge it more expedient that the superior portion of Man, to wit, his reason should interpose; and taking into consideration what is prejudicious, or conducing to Salvation, frame resolutions accordingly both to avoid such actions as are pernicious, and embrace such as are to her interest: And if this be put in Execution with a virtue Heroick, it will infallibly oblige the sensitive part to quit her pursuits, and follow the dictamen of the Soul: For example, suppose I am transported with a passion of Anger for some disgrace thrown upon me, my part is to reproach myself with the Vanity of being concerned in the trifling affairs of the World, to that degree as to forfeit my quiet which is more precious, and if I generously pardon my Neighbour, this injury will at last conclude in my honour; by this means all will succeed in peace, and tranquillity; I shall be fortified against all Events and so rationally govern my passions, especially if guided with a moderate severity to my Body.  
Our Holy Penitent having undertaken to instruct the wicked, and settled in the possession of a principal spirit, that is a spirit of perfection, was not blind in the conduct of himself; wherefore we may believe he squared out this Sacrifice, according to the rules of a good, and prudent Artist, he expresses in the first of his penitential Psalms, that his Soul was troubled, and in another place it was like wax melted before the Fire, and that his Enemies near him; to wit, his passions assaulted him with strange violence, insomuch as he confesses his sole refuge (as if reason were then useless to him) was to play the deaf, and dumb; and by that passive comportment, avoiding contests, he Sacrificed his troubled spirit to his Creator. A Sacrifice to God, etc.  
St. Gregory Nyssen descants upon God's proceeding with the Israelites in commanding them to set up a brazen Serpent, at the sight of which those that should be bit with those venomous Beasts, might immediately find their cure, and why (says he) did not God take a shorter cut by destroying all those Serpents, which had given an end to that Plague he had sent amongst them; at last, he satisfies himself with this reason, that whilst the Hebrews beheld that Sovereign Medicament, in casting up their Eyes to Heaven, they might have occasion to consider from whence they received their deliverance, which otherwise that gross ungrateful people would soon have forgot: So that to draw them to pay what they own to his goodness, he was feign to lengthen out their afflictions.  
Job likewise whilst he was scraping his Soars upon the Dunghill, said, Lord when I was in prosperity I heard thee, but now in my affliction I see thee: Which shows nothing gives a more intimate knowledge of God, than to be surrounded with tribulation, the Soul in prosperity grows proud, deaf, and careless; so that she must smart in the sense to be made sensible: With how many charming Courtships doth the espouse in the Canticles woe his Darling to open the door, but all in vain, she is not to be wrought upon, but inter angustias, when afflicted, and in misery: Ionas in the Whale's Belly, the Prodigal in the Pig-sty, the Sick in his Fever, thinks and calls upon God, but when in sports, and pastimes sailing in a Sea of plenty and delights, all our senses are shut up, and no passage open to his merciful call.  
But to be pinched in the last of any temporal misfortune, as it awakens a Soul to stretch out for succour, so doth it no less bow God's powerful Arm towards us: This he declares to Moses out of a bush, which he made the Throne of his Glory, to show that the affliction of his people made him run after that Prophet, and retrieve him in the Thickest part of the desert, and from thence commission him in order to their deliverance: St. Gregory says, that God appeared to Job in a Whirlwind; because having hurried him into a boisterous storm of afflictions, he would himself enjoy no calmer Wether, but let him know he was there to secure him. Of Joseph it is said he went down with him into the Pit, nor left him in his Bonds, and Esay 12. speaking in the person of God, says, my people is gone down into Egypt: Assur hath afflicted them without cause, and now what do I here? My people captive, and I at liberty, What do I here? My people trod under Foot, and I enjoy the smoke of Incense, and Sacrifice, what do I here? No, no, there is no Sacrifice acceptable to God, like to a troubled spirit, and this our Holy Penitent had wrought out even to perfection: For he declares how all his Bones were in disorder, his Loins filled with illusions and spectres, at the ghastly memory of his Sins; his groans were like the roar of a Lion, and the burden of his Folly so weighty, as it bowed him even to the ground; if his Flesh appeared before the Face of God's anger, it dissolved into corruption, and had not one sound part, if before the frightful aspect of his transgression it gave a trembling, and disquiet to all his Bones; the night he spent in bathing his Couch with Tears, and in the day he confessed that the hand of God was heavy upon him; so that if ever the Sacrifice of a troubled spirit, that is, of a person discomposed by the resentment of his ingratitude was offered up to God, it was certainly in our Holy Penitent, who amidst all his afflictions had this comfort; A Sacrifice to God is a troubled spirit.  
Spiritual directors lay down as the ground work of a life of Sanctity, an interior abnegation of ourselves, by which we give a repulse to ourselves: For when once we come to divest ourselves of love, than the terrors of mortifications, torments, and adversity will find no effect, then generous, and Heroic Acts will be the productions of such a Soul; for solid virtue, like a Rose amidst Thorns seldom springs forth but in the soil of crosses, austerities, and repentance. Those that are seized with this holy aversion against themselves, mind not the hardships they are to wade through in making good their fidelity to God, they throw themselves upon the points of Halberds, and other instruments of severity; without the least whining or flinching at their sharpness: they take in as it were with the same relish the Gall of misfortunes, and desolations, and the Honey of prosperities and comforts: No stormy season hinders their Journey, and that which disturbs soft and effeminate Spirits is to them matter of joy, and repose; because they possess what they desire, to wit, affliction; so that all things which pass under the name of Adversity, are not so, but to the wicked who make ill use of them in prising the Creature, more than the Creator: Hence it is that the general spirit of Saints have carried them on to be ambitious of suffering, and to reckon it amongst one of the choice favours of Heaven; for they had learned by experience, that if God with one Hand reaches unto them the Cup of his passion, it is but by snatches and as it were a sup, whilst with the other he gives them large draughts of consolation.  
It is noted in the sacred Text, that God laid open the person of Job to all the assaults of Satan, but with this reserve, that he touch not upon his life; and this not in regard that death would have eclipsed the glory of that great Champion, but because he would not be deprived of such a Combatant to whose conflict he, and his blessed Angels were intent with much satisfaction, and so would not lose the pleasure of seeing this stout skirmish, fought out to the last 'twixt him, and his Enemy. And as the Heathen Emperors took great delight to see a Christian enter into the list with a wild Beast; so the King of Heaven is solaced with the sight of one of his Saints, when he maintains a Fight against those fierce Beasts of Hell.  
Seneca out of the principles of humane wisdom, drew this excellent saying, that no object was more worthy in the Eyes of the gods, than to behold a stout Man with a settled countenance unmoved to struggle with adverse Fortune: and truly the delay our blessed Saviour made, in sending succour to his Disciples endangered by a storm at Sea, sufficiently hints unto us, the pleasure God takes to see the Just row against the stream, tug and wrestle with all the might they can against the stream, and afflictions of this World.  
Thus you see how happy our Holy Penitent hath ajusted his Sacrifice to the lines of God's will, and that he never spoke more emphatically than when he said, A Sacrifice to God is a troubled spirit.  
St. Bonaventure says, that honour is due to God in four several respects, and in like manner we ought in as many ways render it unto him: First, in consideration of many blessings, and this is to be returned by our gratitude, and acts of thanksgiving: Next, we own him honour in that he hath laid his commands upon us, and this we perform by our obedience, and submission to his Laws: Thirdly, his greatness and sovereignity exact it at our hands, and this is paid by the virtue of Latria, and adoration: Lastly, honour is due unto him in that he hath been offended, and injuriously treated by sin: Now the honour due to him in this point is restored by Penitential acts, and by a troubled spirit.  
Because, in regard of his displeasure, and to make reparation for the contempts thrown upon his Majesty, he is ready to humble himself, and apply all his endeavour to works of piety, so far as even to afflict himself, that he might honour the Divine Justice, which requires that sin should never go unpunished.  
Wherefore God is delighted in these painful satisfactory acquittances, which we often give him written in our sweat, and blood: And Jesus Christ makes of them a present to his Father with his own, from whence the value of ours is derived, and there they find acceptance, not upon the score of any contentment it is to God that we are tormented either in Soul or Body, but merely in that by them his Justice is honoured and exalted, and the Palms of our victory more resplendent.  
This anxiety of spirit supported with a patiented resignation, and strengthened with a fervent prayer, purchased to the distressed Anna, and to the Jewish Nation, that great Prophet Samuel. This same disturbance of Spirit, carried on by a generous submissive resolution against all the Machinations of Saul, put into the Hands of our Penitent the Sceptre of Juda; in a word, it seems to be a principle settled in Heaven, that without this Sacrifice of a troubled spirit, he will not part with his blessings.  
It may be objected that God knows the Hearts of Men, and what they will do, and therefore he need not this external Testimony: Next, that Christ's merits being of an infinite value, ours appear altogether superfluous; to which I answer: First, that his external glory consisting in the visible homages paid to him by his Creatures, this would be wanting should he give them no occasion to make it manifest, and show unto the World, he hath dependants who value no suffering in proportion to the duty they own him: Besides the satisfaction we shall take in Heaven to have done something to merit our Beatitude, will certainly be a great addition to our Contentment.  
As to the other, though I confess the merits of Christ all sufficient, yet this will not excuse us from offering what we can in satisfaction, for the Honour and glory of all our actions belong to God; now it being an Act of injustice to defraud any one of his revenue, no less is it against equity to deprive God of the glory due unto him: Wherefore a life that contributes not to his glory is perverse and wicked. Again he that owns a Tree, hath likewise right to the fruit it bears, if the Land be mine, the Crop also is at my disposal; the labour and service of a Horse is due to his Master: In like manner all that we are, all the good we do, or shall do, is the work of God, and a present with which he enriches us, that we might be able to give something to him: Wherefore as all is his, our duty binds us to consecrate all our interior, and exterior actions to promote his honour and glory: And since it is reasonable sin should be punished, our Holy Penitent submits to the decree, exposes himself to be wracked and tortured by what punishment the Divine Majesty shall think good either in Mind or Body, nor can he ever repine whilst he reflects: That a Sacrifice to God is a troubled spirit.  

The Application.  
Here we are taught, there is no Sacrifice conveys an odour so pleasing unto Heaven, as that of a Soul angustiated upon the score of God's cause. The oblation of a Holocaust imports the reduction of it to Ashes, that of a troubled spirit is a transmutation into the Holy Ghost who promises to be the intellect, to be the Tongue; nay all unto him that suffers for his name. It is a Sacrifice of what is most dear unto us, that is the Friendship of Men: For Christ foretold his Servants that they should be hated of the whole World, so that by this immolation we forfeit what is natural, and of all things most delightful to us. But whilst we are in this consuming task, we must remember that the Husbandman expects not the fruit of his labours until the seed he casts into the ground be corrupted, and thence a plentiful Generation spring forth: So we must continue perishing to the last, that so we may rise under a new form, never more to be crushed by the Flail, or Mill of grinding persecutors, but to flourish in eternal quiet, as the just recompense of a troubled spirit.  
Amen.    

CHAP. XXXVI.  
Cor contritum & humiliatum Deus non despicies,  
A contrite and humble Heart O God thou wilt not despise.  
ST. Chrysostom says, no fond Lover dotes so much upon his Mistress, as God doth on a Soul truly Penitent; and then making an Apostrophe unto Tears, he cries, O happy streams, all principalities and powers strike Sail to you: The countenance of a Judge affrights you not, your accusing adversaries are struck dumb, before you: It is you alone that finds admittance, and are entertained by your Sovereign, you only can overcome the invincible, and tie up the Omnipotent.  
When I read these words of this great Saint upon the efficacy of Tears, I am startled at the slender Character our Petitioner gives in this clause: A contrite heart (says he) O God thou wilt not despise: An expression which falls much short of a Lover's passion; for to have no other return of a present, than barely not to have it rejected, argues the gift very little prized by the receiver, and is in the next door to a contempt. But yet the addition our Penitent makes of humble, speaks very much and helps out the sentence: For it imports, that humility teaches him the excellency of God, and at the same time his own nothing; so that not to find a repulse in the exhibition of any homage rendered to a Being infinitely perfect, is an endearing beyond what a poor Creature could any ways in Justice expect; and therefore in these lowly thoughts it seems to him he sets out God's mercy in saying; A contrite and humble heart thou wilt not despise.  
Wherefore it is evident our Petitioner relies upon sure principles, and speaks he is well read in Divinity; for if satisfactory and penal works be a Sacrifice pleasing to God (as is demonstrated in the precedent clause) much more a contrite heart must needs be highly acceptable, which is a total destruction of all love to sin, a detestation and dislike against it; which involves a passion of sorrow consequent to this hatred, and a firm purpose to avoid all future relapses.  
But the motive of this sorrow must be in that we have offended the Majesty of God, who merits all love, honour, and obedience from us; and therefore merely in that sin is displeasing to him, we are to retract and abominate our past misdeeds.  
Our Holy Penitent, the more effectually to create within him this lively compunction, considers that by sin we deny unto God the just tribute of ohedience, as if in a manner we would wrest his Sceptre from his Hand, and in sequel reduce him to nothing; for God cannot be God, nor subsist, without a sovereign Empire over all things, it being an attribute immediately resulting from his Divine and Infinite Majesty.  
Next, he weighs how God hates sin even to death; witness his Commandments imposed under such heavy penalties on the transgressors. The rebellious Angels, our first parent Adam, the universal Deluge, conflagration of Sodom, etc. are frightful examples. After he had run over all these punishments, it was easy for him to judge of sin's horror, and how much it is abominated by God; nay he yet stooped lower, and beheld many eternally doomed to the flames of hell, and this perhaps but for one only mortal sin.  
After these dreadful precedents he proceeds further, and in his prophetic view contemplates the Son of God innocent, undefiled, and set at a great distance from any sin, to pass through the highest rigours of Justice, and this merely because he had taken upon him our iniquities. Hence he concludes, if the eternal Father be so severe to the dear production of himself in chastising the prevarications of another, he will certainly redouble his stripes on Man for his own proper defaults: Conformably to this meditation St. Austin says, If a Redeemer be so roughly handled upon the score of another's transgression, what may a sinner expect in revenge of his own miscarriage.  
Lastly, our Penitent lays down how by sin we are declared Enemies to God, enslaved to Satan, odious in the sight of Angels, and doomed to suffer in Hell without end; which infinitely exceeds all the disasters of this life. Besides, we lose the grace and love of God, a treasure above all other imaginable, and whose forfeiture we ought more to deplore, than all other misfortunes joined together: Wherefore one mortal sin is more to be lamented, than all the disgraces and hardships which possibly may befall us in this World.  
Our Petitioner having by these remonstrances alarmed all the faculties of his Soul, and so disposed them for action, just like Soldiers commanded to Arms; he than instructs them how to redeem all their damages they have sustained by sin.  
First, they must abhor their past misdeeds, that is, have such an aversion as hearty to wish they had never been committed, and since the birth and essence of sin springs from the will, it must be ruined by the same power, retracting, disowning, and as much as in us lies, breaking the force of sin in becoming unvoluntary.  
This done, he reads unto them the efficacy of contrition, by which our Souls are sanctified, and all the Characters of sin defaced: So that from Children of perdition, in an instant we are declared heirs to eternal felicity; the reason of this is, that contrition comprizes a love of God above all things, and the nature of charity is to make an absolute destruction of all vice, which other virtues do not, as having a repugnance only to the opposite sins: So that there is no medium 'twixt charity and sin; Man hath the one or the other, but cannot enjoy them both together. This is confirmed by the Prophet Ezechiel Chap. 53. The impiety of the impious shall not do him harm, whensoever he shall be converted: For love, saith St. Gregory, is nothing else but a flame, and sin may be compared to rust: So that when Christ said, Many sins are forgiven her, because she loved much; it imports her Soul enkindled with a fire of divine love, had worn away all the rust of her sins.  
But what need we seek for authorities to strengthen this Doctrine, when our Penitent had this happy Truth wrought in himself; for no sooner he had cried peccavi, and repent what he had done, when the Prophet Nathan published his deliverance, and that his sin was taken from him, so that he had all reason to assert; a contrite and humble heart O God thou wilt not despise.  
St. Ambrose says, that penance is as necessary to a sinner, as any Balsam, or Medicament can be to a dangerous wound: For where parts by any hurt are disunited, and by separation break off a necessary communication with the blood, or vital spirits, nature cannot of herself repair those breaches, without the supply of remedies ordained in such extremities: So likewise in any spiritual distemper, which threatens the Soul's ruin; if the sovereign medicine of contrition (whose principal ingredient is gathered in Heaven) be not applied; she must needs run a hazard of destruction: Wherefore since penance is the sole remedy of sin after Baptism, this great Doctor exhorts us to make it our Refuge; he bids us not to shrink at the face of sufferings, but on the contrary fill our Soul with bitterness, endure the storms of compunction, remember the heart is to be contrite, not crooked or broken, but shivered into pieces by disgraces, confusions, tears, sighs, and acts of humility; and when you shall be in these Agonies upon the account of virtue, then may you join issue with our Holy Petitioner and say; a contrite and humble heart O God thou wilt not despise.  
But our Penitent adds the particle of humble, to show that a heart completely disposed for God's favourable aspect must have a stroke of humility, because this virtue speaks obedience, for Eccles. Chap. 10. says, as the beginning of Pride is the Seed of Apostasy from God, so humility is a reduction to our duty. St. Austin makes no distinction between pride and disobedience, nor between humility and obedience, but takes them in a manner for the same thing: In his Fourth Book of the City of God he declares, It is good to keep our hearts aloft, not towards ourselves, for that is pride; but unto God which is obedience, and a virtue not to be found but in the humble. Again on the Eighth Chapter of Gen. our proper will cannot but sink under a great weight of ruin, if it prove rebellious to the will of a superior power; this the First Man contemning Gods command found too true, and by this he learned to distinguish between good and evil; that is, between the good of obedience, and the evil of disobedience: So that we see the transgression of our first parent sprung from a secret Root of disobedience; for puffed up with pride he would be his own Master, and scorn to be subordinate to the Laws of God, this made him seize on the forbidden fruit, and by that act of disobedience we are all made guilty.  
So that to repair our innocency and begin a new life, we must destroy the old man, that is, pride and self love: And as by those unhappy instruments we fell from our righteousness, it is by humility, and a love to God above all things we must return to Justice; and if our Hearts be vested with these noble qualities, we shall always have a stock to fashion out to our Creator, a Sacrifice that will not be despised.  
It is feigned by the Poets that the Son of the Earth wrestling with Hercules, still as he touched the ground, he received a fresh vigour; just so the humble minded Man, who esteems himself to be but an Imp of the Earth, the offspring of Dust and Ashes, in proportion as he bows himself in acts of lowliness, he will be raised, and approach nearer to Heaven. St. Austin speaking of the Centurion's humility, who judged himself unworthy to receive such a guest as our Saviour under his roof, says; that by confessing himself unworthy, he rendered himself more worthy, for there is no disposition so fit for the reception of God, as to acknowledge, and avow our own unworthiness.  
But you must know there is a humility of the understanding, another of the will; this gives us a true knowledge of our nothing that brings us readily to submit: Now to be humbled by the will, and force honour and greatness to stoop, this is Heroic, and worthy a Prince; but to be brought down by adverse fortune, this humility carries with it little of wonder, there being no great virtue for one that is humbled to become humble.  
This virtue then, to render it meritorious, and accomplished in all points, as to make our Heart a pleasing Sacrifice to God, requires that we seriously consider our own faults and imperfections, the wants and necessities incident to humane nature, and which every one (how charming soever in the outside they appear) carry about them. This will sufficiently evidence that instead of praise and veneration, we ought to expect nothing but scorn and confusion from the sense of our own defects, and conclude that honour and excellency belong not to us. Thus you see the will is carried on by humility to decline all things which raise our hope or appetite above our deserts.  
It is proper then to this virtue to check all excessive attempts in Man, after the purchase of greatness and Earthly advantages: Nor is it notwithstanding opposite to hope as a Theological virtue, nor unto magnanimity as a Christian virtue: For these stir up to the pursuit of what is great in order to God, and humility obstructs not this, waving only that greatness which sides with the inordinate interests of the World. St. Thomas says, There is none but may believe, and declare himself without a falsehood to be the most vile Creature in the World, according to the hidden defects he knows in himself, and the gifts of God unknown to him which are or may be in his Neighbour. In fine, Christ our Lord declared it to be the sole clew leading to Heaven; it is the first and last step to bliss: For in this life where all is storm and tempest, torment, war, and temptation; where nothing is secure and certain, humility alone amidst these perils and dangers like so many rocks, and shelves, can bring us safe off, and conduct us to the Haven of happiness. Elias in that furious whirlwind, terrible Earthquake, and dismal Fire, wrapped himself up like a bottom of Yarn, and lay close to the Earth. Job in that general destruction of all his goods, rend his garments, shaved his Head, fell flat to the ground, and worshipping, said, Naked I came into the World, and naked I shall return: The Lord hath given, the Lord hath taken away, blessed be his name: The tempest afterwards increasing upon him, as boiles, botches, leprosy, worms, and a wife, he fled to a Dunghill with a piece of potsherd in his Hand, making choice of the humblest and safest place. Our Holy Penitent likewise in that his persecution by Saul, cried out, I was humbled, and he delivered me: So that he spoke not at random, but had experience, how acceptable unto God is a contrite and humble heart.  
The Scripture attributes two Names unto Christ; the one Espouse, the other Lord; in the one he shows his love, in the other the fear which is due unto him; in the one the security with which we may come unto him, and offer our petitions; in the other, the respect and reverence we own to so great a Majesty: As our Espouse he hath contracted with us a holy alliance by grace, which we have forfeited through our infidelity; and therefore to redeem this adulterate action, nothing but a pure act of sorrow arising from the source of Charity will suffice to a reconciliation.  
But as he is our Lord, we ought (were it possible) to dissolve into nothing before him in acknowledgement of our guiltiness, and satisfaction to his offended greatness: So that this Sacrifice of a contrite and humble heart seems to be appropriated to these titles of Espouse, and Lord ascribed in sacred writ unto him: For love rooted in repentance is the most proper compensation for an injured and abused lover, and fear joined with humility is the best allay to an irritated Sovereign.  
St. Gregory says a repenting sinner, for the most part beginning his conversion, is seized with a terror and fear, which the memory of his treason doth work within him; this makes him for a time consume in the sad apprehension of deserved punishment for his crimes; and whilst he remains in this plight he beholds God under the notion of a severe Judge; but by degrees the bitterness of these terrors wearing off by some glimmering hopes of pardon obtained, he still continues his penitential acts, yet with this disparity; that whereas at first he wept lest he should be brought to Execution, now inflamed with a love of spiritual-delights, he melts away in Tears, lamenting that he is with held from his felicity: So that love and fear are still the materials of this Sacrifice which God will not reject.  
This same Doctor observes the several agitations of a Soul in this oblation of love and fear: First, she calls to mind in the glass of her sins where she was; to wit, on the brink of Hell: Next, weighing and affrighted at the Abyss of God's judgements, considers where she may be; then casting her Eye upon the miseries of this present life sadly reflects where she is: Lastly, she contemplates the joys of eternity, and filled with sighs, and groans, laments she is not there.  
Thus you see how a Soul is distracted, that hath ever tasted the bitterness of sin: If she look back she is affrighted at the ghastly sight of her misdeeds, and hath only this comfort which God declared to Ezechias upon his repentance, that he had thrown all his sins behind him, never to take a further view of them. If she look upon what may befall her, the judgements of God are unfathomed Abysses into which she cannot dive; and the sole buckler she hath to rely on, that he will not reject an humble and contrite heart. If she fix her Eye upon the present state of things, she beholds herself surrounded with dangers from abroad, and her own frailties at home, against which her only fence is humility and resignation to his blessed will. If she raise her thoughts to the end for which she is created, she can but languish after it; and frame ardent desires for the possession. In these distresses our Holy Penitent marches between love and fear, his love cemented with fear keeps him from sinking into despair; and his humility, fortified with a true sorrow resolves him to a future constant obedience to God's Laws. Thus armed, thus guarded with a train of hope and confidence, trusting in God, and always distrustful of himself, he concludes; A contrite and humble heart O God thou wilt not despise.  

The Application.  
We are here instructed how to prevent any repulse in our addresses to Heaven, for a heart qualifyed with love and humility, God will not reject; this is declared in the person of St. Mary Magdalen that her love had purchased a complete abolition of all her iniquities, and Christ hath engaged that he who humbles himself shall be exalted. St. Thomas says, as there is no attribute wherein God more glories than in his mercy, so above all, he most delights in the humble, it being a virtue which renders Men still capable of his favours; and upon the same score he hates the proud, because they have not recourse to his mercy, as believing they want it not. Let us then stick close to our Penitents doctrine, and seek no other way to be great, than what was practised by our redeemer; he stooped even to the death of the Cross, and so entered into his glory; we likewise must either take up our own Cross, or else with love and humility bear that which God shall please to lay upon our shoulders, and if we thus sustain our load, we need not fear that scornful World, I know you not; but on the contrary, a happy invitation, Come ye blessed into the Kingdom prepared as a recompense of your contrition and humility from the World's beginning.  
Amen.    

CHAP. XXXVII.  
Benign fac Domine in bona voluntate tua Zion,  
Deal favourably O Lord in thy good will with Zion.  
THe order of Charity prescribes that in the first place we love God; next, ourselves, and then our Neighbour: As to God, he is the primary, and chief object which gives motion unto Charity; because a goodness infinite (which is the groundwork of our love) is found essentially and most perfectly in him. He being then the sovereign good of all things, there is no goodness in Creatures which is not derived from him as the source, and without whom they could not one moment subsist. Insomuch as God is to me a greater good than I am to myself: For though God be a thing distinct from me, yet he is the good on whom both myself, and all others depend; wherefore I ought absolutely to wish and choose rather that God should be, than that myself should be; because it is better, and more suitable to the inclinations of nature: For Man is not carried by any natural propension to love himself more than God, such an inclination were perverse and wicked: Nay, forbidden by the Law of nature, that a Being created and imperfect should be preferred before one infinite and increated: God therefore whose productions are all good, never gave unto Man such a tendency: The conclusion than is, that we are carried on by the impulse of nature to love God above all things, even above ourselves, however this inclination be strangely thwarted by our passions, and the corruption wrought in us by sin.  
After God we are to love ourselves in our spiritual wants and necessities, beyond all our Neighbours in the most strict alliance either of blood or friendship: Because the aim of Charity is to unite the Subject it informs with God; and therefore St. Bernardin of Sienna says, Whosoever defiles himself with sin under the Cloak of Charity, this Charity is impious; for that cannot be Charity which destroys our own Charity within us, since all Charity in Man gins at home, and in order to himself.  
Our Holy Penitent had steered his actions according to the Rules of Charity: First, he had consecrated his love to God his sovereign good, and in view of this he beheld all other things as a fair nothing: When he had paid him these first fruits of his inclinations, he fell upon his own concerns in his spiritual necessities, and having exposed them all before the beams of God's mercy, which never fails to enliven and cherish a contrite and humble heart; he presumes now to intercede for his Neighbour, and petition in behalf of the inhabitants of Zion, a Hill dedicated to God's service, and for the holy City of Jerusalem, that these places might be preserved to the increase of the people's devotion, and not be laid open to destruction upon the score of his transgressions, wherefore he cries, Be favourable O Lord in thy good will with Zion.  
When I read a passage in Jeremy, Chap. 7. I admire the power and force of prayer; for there God speaking to this Prophet says, do not pray for this people, lest I divert my anger; and again he bids Moses forbear his importunity, that his fury might break forth; which shows that the supplications of the just bind up God's Hands, and stand like a bulwark between his rage and our guiltiness. Now if the efficacy of prayer be such, as to appease his avenging Face, when all inflamed against offenders, it hath doubtless no less virtue to obtain what ever we demand for our own or our Neighbours good. St. Austin says, that whilst God leaves us a Heart and Tongue disposed for prayer, we need not fear the substraction of his graces; for he is faithful in his promise, nor will ever give a repulse to just petitions: The Head of this Truth springs from the order of his Providence, which hath eternally resolved, that many things shall be done in the World by the means of prayer: For there are two kinds of decrees, the one absolute, by which he determined the Creation of the Heavens, Angels, and Elements, and these things he determined to create without any intermingled condition: His other decrees are conditional, as that of Beatifying the Angels, and communicating unto Men eternal glory, upon supposition that by their virtuous actions they rendered themselves worthy of Beatitude. Such also is that decree by which he designs a grant of several benefits in case he be petitioned for them, and with humility demanded at his Hands as the Author of all good: Wherefore prayer works no change in God's determinations, but brings them to Execution suitably to his orders; whence prayer hath the power of impetration, and obtains of God's mercy what he hath graciously promised, but this must be understood in things that are conducing to Salvation. Whereupon St. Bernard delivers these excellent words: The Care of God over thee is so tender and prudent, that when ignorantly thou dost petition for what is useless, or perhaps prejudicious to thee: he is deaf to thee in this particular, yet will exchange it into some gift or other more to thy advantage. For example, suppose you ask to be freed from some affliction that seems very heavy to you, if God grant you patience, it is a blessing beyond the deliverance you seek after: Again, you would be exempted from this or that temptation; as St. Paul made it his earnest suit, but if God give you grace and courage to repress it, in such sort as to receive no injury, but an increase of merit, you have no reason to repine: So that God is always faithful in his promises, and never breaks his word with his Creatures, but gives the effect of prayer either in the specifical thing demanded, or in that which is more valuable; if I say it be asked with faith, hope, perseverance, and concerning necessaries to Salvation.  
St. Austin says, the Soul hath power assisted by grace to cultivate herself, and by a pious industry purchase and get into the possession of all virtues; by which she may be delivered from the difficulties of concupiscence which torments her; and of ignorance that blinds her. Nay, in the height of temptation or ignorance, God never takes from her a free will, by which she may demand, seek, and play the courageous, even before she assent to those that ask, discover to those that inquire, or give admittance to such as importunately press upon her; how comes it then to pass (says he) that she is sometimes ignorant what to do, it is because she hath not yet received that Grace, but infallibly she will receive it, if good use be made of what she hath already received, that is, a grace to seek piously and with diligence. Hence he lays the ruin of many Souls upon this default in not praying against the difficulties of concupiscence and ignorance: Nay on the contrary, we covet for the most part to be glutted with some Earthly satisfaction, on which our sensitive part is fastened, for which our prayers and instances are made out of self love not the glory of God: Now because they are pernicious to us, he plays the deaf; and thinks it misbecomes his love to Man to set a seal to his undoing, which made St. Austin say; It is a stroke of God's mercy sometimes to withdraw his mercy.  
Our Petitioner knew that the gift of prayer is the first grace God bestows on Man, which serves as a Ladder, that by it he may ascend to other Grace's necessary to Salvation; he hath made it the Subject of his Song, and beat upon no other string in the whole tract of this his petition, than to obtain pardon for his sins, and to be restored to the inestimable treasure of Sanctifying grace; after this task of his own concern, he undertook to instruct the wicked, and labour in the conversion of the impious, and that these principles wherewith he had imbued them might take the deeper root by a constant practice, he now supplicates the Divine Majesty in behalf of the City of Jerusalem, and the holy mountain of Zion, to the end it might be settled in peace, and be a secure refuge not only to the numerous inhabitants, but also to that infinite resort of Pilgrims, who from all parts came thither to pay their religious duties to God; and he hopes for a good effect of his prayer, since it is in order to the establishment of God's Church; in which action the divine zeal hath more visibly appeared (both in gratifying such as have advanced the structure, and in punishing any sacrilegious violence) than in any other external actions of Men.  
Ezekiel, painting forth the abominations of the Temple says, there came six Angels, and every one had in his hands Vessels of slaughter; upon which Theodoret observes in the destruction of Zenacharib's Army, one only Angel appeared, but against the prophaners of his Temple six are deputed, that no day of the Week should pass over their Heads without a fresh Executioner to torment them.  
Jeremy weighs the wrongs Nebuchodonozer had done to Jerusalem by dishonouring Matrons, deflowering Virgins, killing little Children, tormenting the aged, burning houses, their robberies and spoils, and yet all these he passes over in silence (though he took it much to heart) and presses only the profanation of the Temple, having made of it a stable for his Horses.  
When the Angel appeared to Joshuah with a drawn sword, and commanded him to put off his Shoes, as before he had done to Moses in the flaming bush, enjoining him the like; many grave Doctors assert th●… this Angel was the Son of God, wherein he would insinuate two things: First, the reverence they ought to bear to that place, where in a manner so particular he was pleased to manifest himself: Next, that against those who should lose this respect, he had Fire and Sword ready to vindicate his honour: For the Majesty of a King or regal power upon Earth is respected throughout the whole jurisdiction of his Crown, but yet much more where he hath his Throne, and Chair of state: So God as he is King of Kings, and Lord of Lords over all the Nations of the World, aught in all places to have homages of submission and obedience paid unto him, but especially in places dedicated to religious acts; in Heaven at the right hand of his Father is the supreme throne of his greatness; in the Synagogue he had the propitiatory, and in the Temple his Sacrarium; and as to a Temple or Church wherein God is to be honoured. Nilus says a Christian should bear no less respect to this his Holy Tabernacle than if he were in Heaven: Because, the glory of God is more apparent in the adorable Sacrament of the Altar; and from thence a greater reverence may justly be required, than from all the Temples that were in past ages dedicated to God's honour: For in this dread Sacrifice God is adored, honoured, appeased, loved and served by his Son Jesus Christ in all the Corners of the World; where this mystery is celebrated all the adorations, and homages of other Creatures, contribute nothing to his Glory, if compared to what he receives here by his Son; because he is an object infinite, and as a King receives more honour from the submission of a Prince, than of an ordinary vulgar person; in like manner the adorations rendered to God by Jesus Christ do glorify him more, than those of all Men and Angels, together by the Mouth of Malachy the Prophet; God says, my name is great among the Gentiles, because in all places a pure oblation is offered up unto me, which Theodoret explicates an unspotted Lamb taking away the sins of the World, and which is Sacrificed unto him in this mystery.  
The Master of the Family Matth. 20. having had his Servants ill treated by the labourers in his Vineyard, sent his Son to reduce them to obedience; saying, they will respect him: So God the Father would render his Son present in this mystery, to induce all Christians to pay their duties to his greatness.  
Who would not then Combat in the presence of their King? We may reasonably expect to live with Angels, and with them contemplate the divine essence, since now we live with Jesus Christ himself who is the Food of our Souls; he who gives himself to be eaten here, will not deny us to see and behold him in eternity.  
Now our Holy Penitent in his prophetic view beheld this Hill of Zion, as a place marked out for the admirable structure of the Evangelical Temple, whereof the Messiah was to be the Corner stone, and therefore he calls it holy, wherein Sacraments conferring grace by their proper virtue were to be administered; upon this score he prefers the Gates of Zion, before all the tabernacles of Jacob: He forespeaks the building of this Zion, and that God will there be seen in his glory, as much as the Cloudy Scene in this World can represent him; and as on mount Sinai the written Law, a carnal and Earthly Law was given; so on Mount Zion should be enacted a Law Evangelical, holy, spiritual, and heavenly. These fore-notions imprinted in our Petitioner a reverence to this model of perfection, and stirs him to implore his mercy in her behalf; that since it is to be a Law of love, all powerful to conduct Souls unto a great pitch of sanctity in this life, and glory in the next, he will hope his prayer may contribute something to draw from his liberality a confirmation of his gracious promises unto her; in this confidence with much fervour and zeal he repeats; Deal favourably O Lord in thy good will with Zion.  

The Application.  
We have a Lesson here of Charity which shows us inexcusable, if we fail to endeavour the succour of our Neighbour: For there is none so impotent but may lend the assistance of his prayers, and how powerful that is to avert danger, appears in that God seems willing to prevent the Prophet Jeremy's mediation, commanding he should not resist him; that is, he should not stand between him, and the destruction of his people; as if it were in the power of this Prophet by means of his prayer, to hold God's Hand, and force him to a merciful composition. Besides we are much encouraged to relieve the distressed in this supplicating way by the form of prayer which Christ prescribes, in that we should conjure him under the title of Father; nay more our Father which speaks I have a right to ask not only as I am your Child, but likewise to intercede for him who hath the same relation unto you, and by that an alliance towards me, which naturally exacts my help; if then as a Maker you can destroy; as a Father nature will prompt you to save: In fine, God plays not the stately like the great Princes of this World, but gives audience upon the place; whether in behalf of yourself or Neighbour: Nay, he excludes not his greatest Enemies, but doth treat with them of peace upon the least overture they make: Ah! let us then daily present our supplications before his throne of grace, in behalf of all persons capable of eternal Salvation.  
Amen.    

CHAP. XXXVIII.  
 edificentur muri Jerusalem.  
And let the Walls of Jerusalem be built.  
BY the Walls of this Zion or Jerusalem (for they are usually taken for the same thing) is meant the Prelates, and Pastors of this happy Congregation, within whose circumference or direction we are all piously to walk, and to whose care and protection all Mankind is committed: Our Penitent beholds the Messiah as the foundation and prop of this eternal structure; for the Office of a Priest consists in the power of administering sacred things, and to offer prayers, gifts, and Sacrifices unto God for the remission of sins, and this in the name of the universal Church: Now jesus Christ was constituted by God over all Souls, with a plenary authority to reconcile them to him, and for this end he offered up a true and real Sacrifice, in which the immolated victim suffered a real mutation, both in that Christian oblation without effusion of blood, which he celebrated the night before his death, as also in the bloody Sacrifice of himself, which he might have hindered but would not; he is then a true Priest.  
Again, his power not being confined to Sacraments, nor to certain words and ceremonies, as that of Men, who are Priests after him; and not depending upon the impression of any Character (since he was settled in it sufficiently by his Hypostatick union) he enjoys a degree of Priesthood with eminency above all other Men, invested with this sublime dignity.  
Wherefore doubtless this his Priesthood, above all other things was most acceptable to God; because by this title and quality he hath wrought the World's Salvation, hath reconciled Souls unto God, and put them into a condition of rendering him glory in all Eternity: So that among all the sublime qualities of Jesus Christ, that of his Priesthood hath been the most beneficial to the World; for by it he hath made up all the breaches of sin, both in Heaven and Earth, appeased God's anger by his Sacrifice, and restored us to his lost grace and favour.  
Next, he is not only Priest but sovereign Bishop, empowered to institute, ordain, and govern at his pleasure in all spiritual things, which relate unto God and the Salvation of Souls; wherefore St. Peter Ep. 1. C. 2. Styles him the Bishop and Pastor of Souls. St. Paul likewise to the Hebrews Chap. 7. says, It was fit we should have a Bishop holy, innocent, unpolluted, and separated from sinners, who hath no necessity of offering Sacrifice daily for his own sins. So that Christ is not reduced to that extremity as to offer Sacrifice for the expiation of his own faults, he hath no need to purify himself, since he hath a Sanctity which outvyes that of Angels; his only task is to enlighten, purify, and improve others, that he might transmit them from the perfection and spiritual treasures of this life; to the perfection and eternal treasures of the next. At this his sovereign Chair doth aim; that is, the acquisition of immortal felicity, he hath laid down for our safe passage and firm footing two planks; to wit, the Cross and penance, he is mediator between God and Man, an intercessor for us, he assists at our right Hand that we might not be overthrown, and amidst the storm of Stones which fell upon St. Stephen, he is awake and upon his Legs, ready to run to his succour; so that he hath all the conditions of a powerful and careful Prelate.  
The Prophet Joel had in his prospect this Prince of ecclesiastics, when in his 2. Chapter he exhorts the Daughters of Zion to skip for joy, and fly to the Lord their God, because he had given unto them a Doctor of Justice; to teach them a spiritual life, how to separate their Souls from affection to Creatures, and unite themselves too God. This he did in commanding us to renounce ourselves, and follow him; to carry with him our Cross, to be perseverant in prayer, to practise virtues, to love God above all things; and our Neighbour as ourselves: In fine, his Doctrine permits no vice, cherishes all virtues, raises Man above himself, and his nature, and besides his Commandments he gives admirable Counsels of chastity, poverty, and obedience, and other precepts leading to perfection; which if exactly weighed would evidence as clear as the Sun beams, that he is the greatest Master and Doctor of a spiritual life.  
He is then Head of the Church because the Founder, from whence she hath received her Life and Being; by the seeds of his grace, by the preaching of his Apostles, by all the good works and stratagems he hath set on foot to draw Souls unto Faith and Baptism: From whom she hath received her subsistence and nourishment in the provision of the Sacraments, and of a multitude of gifts and graces in order to the propagation and defence of the Church. He hath likewise settled here an Ecclesiastical Hierarchy resembling that of Angels; and lastly, he overwhelms her with the load of his favours, transmitting daily her Members to his Church Triumphant, where he invests them with glory, nor will cease until he hath made of the Souls issuing from the militant here beneath a Church glorious, and without the least stain or wrinkle.  
This Saint of Saints, this Prince of ecclesiastics, this Doctor of Justice is the Corner stone on which our Penitent had fixed his Eye, and petitioned to be the Basis of Jerusalem's fair Walls; so that having such a foundation, what noble superstructure might he not expect; and truly this edifice was squared out to the highest Ideas of perfection. First, we see an addition of the three Theological virtues, that is so polished and refined as it gives them quite another lustre; as to Faith the mysteries of the blessed Trinity, the Incarnation, and the holy Eucharist are in the Evangelical Law drawn as it were out of a Cloud into the Sunbeams, and therefore St. Paul styles the written Law a Schoolmaster which taught the Jews only the first Rudiments of Religion, whereas Christian Faith proposes ravishing objects, and discovers the wonders of the said mysteries distinctly, which begets reverence and devotion in the Hearts of Men.  
As to hope, which inflames our courage to the Execution of generous undertake, the Jews had very obscure revelations of eternal beatitude, nor could they hope for it till the coming of the Messiah and Redeemer who was to open Heaven's Gates, and have the honour to be the first Man that entered there; in the interim they were fed with promises of Earthly rewards which rendered Souls Mercenary, and their intentions more gross, whilst the Evangelical Law unfolds the wonders of Heaven, the glory of a Resurrection, and engages for our immediate reception into that place of immortal felicity after this life, supposing we are distained from all guilt of sin.  
As to Charity the Soul of virtues and devotion, it must needs receive from the Evangelical Law many degrees of heat and fervour; since it renders our faith and hope more perfect: For where the knowledge is greater of things more worthy of love, and where our hopes are heightened to a more valuable expectation, there doubtless will be found the production of a more ardent desire and affection.  
After this rare piece which much embellished the structure, are disposed the Sacraments which like a great water about the circumvallation, serve both to secure the inhabitants from the assaults of their Enemies, and to strengthen them in the noble exploits of virtues: So that by this succour and powerful aid they are obliged in honour and conscience to a more eminent degree of Sanctity. We see that Arts and Sciences are improved by success of time, and those Masters which come after are more expert than the former: Now this proceeding we behold in divine precepts, not out of any deficiency in the Lawgiver, but because after Adam's sin humane nature was rendered unworthy of God's grace, so that if at any time he communicated his blessings, it was by way of advance, and upon credit in consideration of the merits of his incarnate Son. Wherefore being once come, he gave precepts of higher perfection, so that doubtless nothing can be better, more just, and more suitable to Man than the Evangelical Law: Nothing more agreeable to the good Government of the Universe, and all Creatures; nor which contains in its decrees more equity and holiness: Insomuch as its perfection alone seems ground enough to pass a judgement, that it cannot issue but from the deep Counsels of a Divinity.  
Lastly, as to good manners, or natural precepts, this great Architect hath made of them a more clear and ample explication, by which the will is rectified, and carried on to the pursuit of greater things than were proposed in the Mosaic Law.  
What just reason than had our Petitioner to make this edifice of Jerusalem's Wall the object of his most fervent prayer, and that all his subjects should subscribe to the petition, and offer up their Vows for the dispatch of this great work, in which their heavy Yoke so little beneficial to them would be taken off, and in exchange they were to be ranked under the discipline and law of grace and love; wherefore let us join issue and cry; Let the Walls of Jerusalem be built up.  
The next composition of this structure is foretold by the Prophet Esay; I will lay in the foundation of Zion a stone that hath endured the touch, a corner and precious stone founded in the foundation: This is Peter and his successors, that rock on whom Christ hath built his Church, and which hath been tried by all the assaults of Earth and Hell: Nor hath this stone proved only of right temper, in which no engine of malice could work a flaw, but it is shaped into a corner stone, by which the two walls of Jews and Gentiles are united together, and make one Christian Church: It is also precious in copiously distributing her Spiritual Treasures throughout the World; as the clear explication of her Doctrine by universal consent, the rights of Sacraments, which delivered with a Harmony and unity in faith, is the bond of peace, the Life and Soul of Religion. Lastly, it is grounded in the foundation which shows it to be a secondary foundation: The first St. Paul declares; no Man can lay any other foundation (that is primary and Basis of all) than what is already laid; to wit, Jesus Christ.  
But after him the next groundwork is St. Peter, by whom alone, and his successors we are to arrive at Christ, and what can be to God more glorious than to make use of the feeble to confound the strong, and by faith and humility to lead Men unto wisdom and glory.  
This piece of Workmanship in the Fabric of Jerusalem is like a Citadel which commands all, and holds its awful title not by Law of Nations, but divine right: It governs men in order to their Souls, and rather under the notion of being Christians, than Men; it looks not upon their temporal ease and security, but hath an Eye to a life and felicity immortal: It is fortified with divine Laws, and maintains a perpetual skirmish not only with a few visible adversaries, but with an infinity of invisible Enemies.  
After this Rock solidly disposed and fited, the Bishops like Watchtowers and strong Bastions are erected; whose office is to superintend over the Guards and Sentinels, and to protect the weaker part of the Walls from the Enemy's assaults; this contrivance is set down by St. Athanasius, where he says, O Peter upon thy Foundation the Bishops as pillars of the Church are settled and confirmed.  
Then Priests, Deacons, and other officers are assigned to render this structure in all points complete; some of these materials are for the beauty and ornament of the Church in her great solemnities; others as Priests for the necessary discharge of our duty to God; for religion teaching us to pay that honour and esteem we own to God, is the perfection and accomplishment of the World, nor can we upon any score be dispensed with in the acknowledgement of these fealties: Whence no Nation hath ever been found so ignorant or barbarous as not to own, and in some manner or other to pay this Tribute, either by way of adoration, praise, prayer, sacrifice, festival solemnity or by some external Ceremony: Now that these actions might be duly acquitted, there appears an absolute necessity that some selected person should be set apart, and sanctified to this end.  
But above all it was most requisite in the Evangelical Law, where a Priest hath power to offer up a victim and Sacrifice by which in a moment he renders to God more glory and service than all the Angels and Men can do in the vast durance of Eternity: Where he is daily to represent to the eternal Father Christ's holy passion, and by that moving object render him propitious unto Souls, where he is to disengage Men from the slavery of sin, and jaws of Hell by the administration of holy Sacraments: So that all the splendour and beauty of the Church consists in the Ministry of Priests, that as the Sun diffuses his beams on all sides, no less doth this sacred Character enrich those Souls with a perfume of Sanctity, who make themselves worthy by a due cooperation with its virtue; so that we ought to esteem it one of the greatest blessings of God to the World, in that he hath given us Ecclesiastical persons to dispense his Heavenly treasures, and spiritual graces to enlighten the World, purify Souls from sin, and lead them as it were by the Hand unto a sovereign good. Ah! what ingratitude then to throw a contempt upon those without whom Mankind would be but a Firebrand for Hell in all Eternity.  
The last materials for this Fabric are lay and secular persons of all sorts; so that of these and ecclesiastics are composed two different and great Nations under the Jurisdiction of Christ; the Office of the one is to give, the other to receive; the one communicates by oblation of Sacrifice, and administration of Sacraments, spiritual goods, without which Men would be like a Body destitute of a Soul, having little tendency or elevation unto God; the others passively make up the Hierarchy, as being framed, instructed, purified, and by ecclesiastics united unto God.  
Thus you see our holy Prophet was solicitous in a matter of no small concern, for within the limits of this sanctuary are bounded all the hopes of Man's Salvation. Christ was made (says St. Paul) cause of eternal Salvation unto all those who obey him: Now his Commandments relate to Faith, good manners, and the Sacraments, which are not rightly performed but within the bosom of his Church. Let us then join our hands and hearts to this noble structure, and cry, that the walls of Jerusalem be built up.  

The Application.  
If our Holy Penitent was so zealous for the erecting this magnificent structure of the Church, as by his ardent prayer to dispose the divine Architect unto this admirable work; what a reproach will it be to us, who find the Fabric done to our Hands, and who are ourselves so happy as to be part of the materials, if we do not so much as keep it in repair, nor preserve it against any rebellious or violent effort. To this performance is required a due obedience to the supreme Pastor, who as it were the form and Soul of this edifice: Next, a reverence and submission unto Bishops, who are the pillars, and great supports of it: Lastly, a respect to Priests, who are a main ornament, and useful to this glorious Fabric. Whereas then our Holy Penitent poured forth his prayers, with so much fervour for the raising of these Evangelical walls, it is our part now to make addresses unto Heaven, that according to his promise it may continue pure, unstained, and invincible against all the malice of Earth and Hell.  
Amen.    

CHAP. XXXIX.  
Tunc acceptabis Sacrificium, Justitiae oblationes, & Holocausta.  
Then thou wilt receive Sacrifice, oblations of Justice, and whole Burnt-offerings.  
OUr Holy Penitent had entertained in his thoughts not only the Materials and Architecture of this Building, but he went further and reached in his prophetic view the Sacrifices which were there to be offered up.  
The first object displayed in this Temple is the Messiah God-man, who was a true Sacrifice, oblation of Justice and Holocaust. A Sacrifice, in that he appeased God's anger, frankly offered, and with the purest intention that could be imagined; this is expressed in John 14. That the World may know I love my Father, and perform his commands, arise (says Christ to his Apostles) and let us to the Cross. For God having committed to him the affair of Man's Salvation lost by sin, he was inflamed with a zeal of rendering all possible satisfaction; and considering that if he should make himself a victim, and present that Sacrifice to God, it would be of an infinite value, in regard of the infinity of his person; and such a Sacrifice infinite, would counterbalance the infinite malice of sin, and prove a satisfaction answerable to Man's offence: Wherefore that God might have reparation of honour, he designed an actual bloody Sacrifice of himself unto God for the sin of Adam, and all Mankind: And to this end likewise that God being appeased and satisfied by the dignity of this Sacrifice, might depose all animosity against Man, and restore him to those expedients by which he may work his Salvation.  
Amongst all the contrivances that can enter our thoughts, none appear more excellent and noble, both to ajust God's honour and Man's Salvation together, than this immolation of himself upon the Altar of the Cross. First, it is very powerful to appease God's wrath, for nothing more than death can be endured for God's honour, nor can any Creature more absolutely avow himself unto him, than in dying for his sake: Wherefore St. Paul says of Christ ad Ephes. 5. He gave himself up an oblation and host unto God in the perfume of sweetness. Next, it is very proper to cure Man's infirmity, who by his disobedience and pride had forfeited his right to Paradise; wherefore Christ submitting himself to the Cross, and so accomplishing the will of his Father, repaired those breaches we had made by our Rebellion.  
Lastly, it is very efficacious to purchase our love without infringing the liberty of our freewill: For what can more charm us to love, than to behold a person for my sole interest sustain the torments of a Cross, which was the most infamous of all kind of punishments; yet so great was the affection our Saviour Christ bore us, that he deposited in the infamy, and reproach of the Cross, all that honour which his miracles, his Doctrine, and innocent life had purchased to him; leaving them all hanging on it as a Trophy of his love: The Cross than is the North Star of our comfort, and hope; for what can he deny us, nay what will he not grant us, who on the Cross hath made such large expressions of his kindness. God is said to be the searcher of hearts; that is, he only knows the sincerity of them; whence some have taken occasion to murmur at the Maker; in that he placed not a window before the Breast of every one: But though we may be jealous of all the rest, yet sure we cannot be of Christ upon the Cross, nor of his love, since he there even lays open his Bowels unto us; upon this consideration Christ might justly promise to himself, That when he shall be lifted up from the Earth (that is upon the Cross) he would draw the affections of all Mankind unto him.  
How different is the proceeding of this our eternal Priest from the usual ways of Men, who upon a mean and trivial interest fall upon the destruction of their Neighbour; whilst his design is to Sacrifice himself upon our score, and by that means gain our love as a just Tribute to his eternal Father; he might well assure himself this Sacrifice would be accepted, he knew that God could not behold the Face of his Christ under this bloody posture for the redemption of guilty Souls, and not be touched with the worth of this Sacrifice; wherefore our Penitent may confidently repeat tunc acceptabis, then, that is, at this plenitude of time a Sacrifice will appear which shall convey to Heaven an odor grateful unto God, and serve as a balm to cure all the wounds of humane nature.  
This Sacrifice was likewise an oblation of Justice, for supposing that God would have sin punished, because it is a decree of his eternal Law, which cannot err nor want its effect. Again, since Man was impotent to any complete satisfaction for sin, wherewith he was defiled and contaminated, it was necessary some person exempt from all sin should interpose, and take upon him out of love and goodness, the discharge of our transgressions. Now Christ was this happy Redeemer, who replenished with mercy spared not his sacred humanity for our deliverance.  
First, he dragged us out of the misery wherein we lay after Adam's sin, that by no action of ours we could recover grace, or any ways reach our justification; this impotency Christ took away, and purchased to all Mankind means of Salvation in case they make right use of it.  
Next, he freed us from the misery of sin, and by his passion obtained a perfect enlargement for all those who faithfully cooperate with his grace.  
Lastly, he merited for the Soul and Body an exemption from the Calamities they sustain and endure in this life; and afterwards the glory of Heaven, if so be they persevere in sanctifying grace; and all this upon the design of rendering a full satisfaction for all the sins of the World in rigour of Justice: And since God was irritated by Man's contempt which sin involves, Christ knowing that God could not receive more honour than what was paid him by the way of Sacrifice; and that by how much the victim excelled, his glory went in the like proportion: He presented his sacred humanity personally united to the Word by way of Justice on the Tree of the Cross, as a just compensation of all indignities thrown upon him by the World; and for this end he exposed his Body to all the highest severities of Justice. Thus God accepting this oblation of Justice punished in his Son all the sins of Mankind.  
Wherefore as a disobedience to God's Law, a Pride in thwarting his greatness, and a pleasure in our conversion to a Creature are found in sin; all these were confronted in Christ's passion, by a prodigious obedience, an incomparable humility, and a perpession of the most exquisite torments that could be inflicted; so that there was not the least punctilio of equity wanting in this oblation of Justice.  
Our Holy Penitent weighing this terrible account could not but tremble: It is true God was contented with Abraham's good intention, and stopped the Execution of Isaac; but when his eternal Law to punish sin was in question (which he will have inviolable) he spares not his only Son, and if on him the darts of his anger fall so heavy, and this for another's transgression, what may not a miserable sinner justly expect for his own sins in his own person: If this be done on the green branches, what havoc will be made of those that are withered: if the Innocent have this measure, what will become of the Guilty, but however these dismal reflections may affright our penitent, yet he is still boyd up with hope and confidence in this oblation of Justice.  
Lastly, this Sacrifice is a perfect Holocaust, the excellency of which consists in the total destruction of the thing offered. In confirmation of this St. Paul asserts, that Christ annihilated himself in becoming obedient to the Death of the Cross. Look on his passion; and you will see him reduced to a moral nothing. First, at his last Supper, he throws himself at the Feet of his Apostles, he washes, dries, and kisses even those of a perfidious Judas: in the garden of Olivet he not only prays with bended knees, but is prostrate on the ground, bedewed with a bloody sweat, the most prodigious effect of terror that ever happened in nature: In the sequel of his passion he is branded with false accusations, and ignominious reproaches, derisions and scorns: He receives the highest indignities from the vilest of persons, as to be buffeted, spit on, crowned with Thorns, fastened on the Cross between two Thiefs as the ring leaders, and this at their Paschal solemnity in the populous City of Jerusalem, where he forfeited all that reputation, which the wonders of his power, and sublime communications of his wisdom had purchased to him; so that many who had been his spectators, and of his audience, in whose opinion he had passed for a signal person, a great Prophet, a Man incomparable in virtue and sanctity, nay who looked upon him as the promised Messiah, and Son of God, gave him then the Character of an Hypocrite, and condemned all his miracles, as mere illusions, and the effects of Art magic, and his Sermons as dreams of fantastic babbling. Nay, the Prophet Esay styles him the last and outcast of Men, disfigured, misshapen, and laden with infirmities, insomuch that he was esteemed as one Leperstrook, and the object of God's vengeance. O what a Holocaust was this? He that is Lord and Creator of the World, King of Heaven, and Sovereign Judge over the living and the dead; is destroyed in his honour and reputation, his Eyes wax dim and dark, his Face pale and wan, his Tongue furred and swollen, his Lips black and blue, and his whole Body mangled in such sort as they numbered all his Bones; so that it was as it were but one wound; and all these outrages are completed in his Execution upon the Cross, which kind of death was so abominable as Tostatus says; it is an injury done to God himself that a Creature created after his Image should die on the Cross. Cicero says, it is an act very heinous to bind a Citizen of Rome, a Villainy to scourge him, and in a manner a Parricide to kill him, but what then will it be to put him on a Cross.  
Heretofore God made himself known by destroying Pharaoh and all his Host, but now he will get himself a Name and Fame by playing the Holocaust, and dying upon the Cross.  
Thus you see how justly our Petitioner might assert this Sacrifice to be an oblation of Justice, and a Holocaust or whole  offering which would be accepted off: For certainly God was never more honoured than by Christ offered up on the Cross, because the glory there given him, outvyes all the injuries and affronts that had been or ever shall issue from the ugly Face of sin.  
But the Fire of his love stopped not here: his sacred humanity would further yet honour God by a Sacrifice, which should not be confined to a short space of three hours, to a little 〈…〉 Nation of the Jews, nor to the narrow hill of Mount Calvary: wherefore by a generous design he instituted the Sacrament of the Eucharist, where this same humanity without effusion of blood might honour God by a Sacrifice that would last to the world's end, and be every day reiterated, not upon one single mountain, but in millions of places throughout all kingdoms where there is any Priest to offer up this Sacrifice to God's honour, and as a tribute to his infinite greatness.  
Our great God beholding this admirable contrivance of his incarnate word, and of a Soul most pure, and holy, allied to his Son by a personal union; and relishing this honour he should receive from this Sacrifice begun at a great distance to nose the sweet odour it would evaporate even up to Heaven; this gave him a distaste (as it were) of the Mosaical Sacrifices; which revealing to our Holy Penitent made him cry, thou art not delighted with Holocausts. But this is more clearly expressed by the Prophet Malachy, where God requires the Temple Gate to be shut; the Fire of his Altar for the destruction of victim no more to be kept in; and confesses he is cloyed with them, upon the prevision of that excellent Sacrifice to be made to him in the Evangelical Law.  
Again, as a Sacrifice is directed not only to express God's supreme Dominion over us, but likewise to acknowledge our thanks for his divine favours; now the sacred humanity of Jesus Christ accomplished in virtue would not be ungrateful: For God had given himself unto it by a personal union, in a manner the most obliging, and most sublime, that is any way consistent with a Creature; in return of this he would consecrate himself unto him with all the circumstances of perfection, by which a Creature can be made his: And which cannot be more than by a Sacrifice wherein he himself is destroyed, and as much as may be reduced to nothing, that his immense greatness might appear by his opposite subjection: Now having done this once by the bloody Sacrifice of the Cross, he would perpetuate the same in the Sacrifice of the Altar: that whilst the fabric of this new Jerusalem should stand, he might always render acts of thanksgiving for the graces conferred on his humanity, and on the members of his Church. By this Sacrifice we are enabled to pay our debt of thanks to God for the rich present of his only Son, which we return unto him as a due and equal acknowledgement; and if it be proportioned to what we own for a gift so precious, much more will it serve to discharge our duties of gratitude for other benefits; as when he is pleased to make us victorious over temptations and all the Enemies of our Salvation.  
Lastly, his Sacrifice on the Cross was to allay God's anger against the sins of Mankind; and this same design is carried on in the Sacrifice of the Altar, and aims chief to render God propitious to our transgressions. In the works of St. james, St. Basil, and St. Chrysostom speaking of this Sacrifice is found this expression. Lord accept of this Sacrifice as a propitiation for the sins and ignorance of the people, by which you may see this Sacrifice doth not only appease God's anger, discharge our large score of gratitude, but also is effectual to purchase a supply for all our wants. So that our Petitioner in the prospect of this bloody and unbloody victim might confidently usurp this pleasing air: Then he will with a satisfied Eye behold a Sacrifice, oblation of Justice, and a whole burnt-offering.  

The Application.  
Our Holy Penitent in another Psalm expresses the resentment of the Children of Israel, when in captivity they sat weeping upon the Banks of the River of Babylon at the remembrance of Zion, and of those Religious acts they were wont to perform in that holy place. I am confident our zealous Petitioner felt no less the bitter throws of affliction and langutshments after the Evangelical Temple, wherein would be offered up a Sacrifice so full, as the Justice of God could exact nothing more; with what satisfaction did he reflect on this then, to wit, that time we now possess, wherein we can daily adore Jesus Christ in his sacred throne of the Eucharist, as Children paying the duty we own to so indulgent a Father, as Subjects to a lawful Prince, as Criminals to a most equitable Judge as slaves to a Redeemer, and as Creatures to a Sovereign Creator. Let us beg that since he hath daigned to expose himself a daily victim upon the Altar for all Mankind, that there may be no Soul who shall deny him the just tribute of love, praise, and Adoration.  
Amen.    

CHAP. XL.  
Tunc imponent super altare tuum vitulos,  
Then they will lay Calves upon thy Altar.  
OUr holy Penitent having decipherd this bloody, and unbloody Sacrifice, as Jerusalem's greatest Glory, and the Ornament of Zion, that is, the Church of Christ; he carries on in his prophetic view his thoughts to other inferior offerings, as the offspring and result of this supremely great one: Such are the oblation of persons, who raised above the charms of flesh and blood embrace the Counsels, and Rules of highest perfection given by our Saviour, and quitting all Earthly interests consecrate themselves totally to God.  
These our Petitioner shadows under the name of Calves (according to Enthymius) because having never tasted the Yoke, but let lose to their full swinge and liberty, do yet of their own accord make themselves a daily Sacrifice unto God: For he that embraces such a state of perfection forsakes all; first, he forsakes himself, renouncing in some sort all right over himself, and to become a slave to God in the person of another, who in the name of God, and in his stead accepts the donation and surrender of himself; and it is upon these terms, that he may be conducted to perfection; so that the Final motive of this Sacrifice is the exact and universal practice of all kind of virtues.  
Riches, honour, and pleasure are the three main Enemies to perfection; all which are clearly subdued in the essential obligations of this perfect State. Poverty chokes the desire after temporal goods; Chastity allays the concupiscence of pleasure, and obedience stifles all appetite to Worldly greatness: But besides all this, we are to give to God our actions, our time, and employments; and this gift consists in the punctual observance of certain Rules which allot to every one how to spend the Year, the Month, the Week, the Day; nay every Hour: So that persons who devote themselves to such a state need not be solicitous for directions leading to perfection; the Commandments of God, and zealous performance of such prescripts as are given by spiritual masters, afford abundant matter for this noble design.  
What a comfort must it be to those who are settled in this state to think, that there is nothing more excellent in a Creature, than to belong in a particular manner to God their Creator; who hath power to glorify and enrich them with all good? What can be more desirable than to grow every Day, and hour in perfection, and this in spirituality, which is beyond all others a treasure of highest value? We see all Being's strive to their utmost in this ambition; Plants spring up, and bear the fairest Flowers that possibly they can: Trees afford liberally their best fruit; Bodies issue forth all their strength and vigour to become more powerful in which their virtue consists: And what invention is not hammered out by Women to add the least stroke to their natural beauty; shall the Soul then be alone insensible in this propriety of nature? No, no, our new Lawgiver hath planted in Man a holy ambition after perfection, and this seed hath been so fruitful, and so efficacious, that one might judge the abstracted lives which so many have led in all ages, since his visible appearance upon Earth, were the effects of a severe command, rather than a Paternal Council, and that such a Sacrifice of Calves; that is, a religious simplicity and total abnegation of Earthy interest, could not spring from a frank choice of the will, but from an absolute necessity: Wherefore our Holy Penitent all ravished with admiration points out that time wherein these wonders shall be wrought; Then will they put Calves upon thy Altar.  
The great Wheels which give motion to all our actions in this life are what is beneficial, pleasant, and glorious: As to the first, those who addict themselves to a state of perfection find good rules, good example, spiritual documents, knowing directours, several exciting graces, and all things that lead to the accomplishment of virtue, and increase of merit. Besides, he is secured from innumerable miseries of the World, which is nothing else but a Chaos of trouble and confusion, a Theatour of envy, ambition, luxury, tyrannical oppressions, a place of error, and darkness, overspread with nets of temptations, and cluttered with impediments of Salvation heaped one upon another: So that to be warranted against so many dangers, and at the same time put into possession of a real good by the constant practice of virtues, is an advantage to a humane Creature designed for Eternity beyond all other in the World.  
As to the other motive which agitates us here; to wit, things delightful, none are to be compared to those ravishments enclosed within the precincts of a holy retirement: For they are satisfactions of the Mind, which being more pure and solid than those of the Body, do consequently much outstrip them in worth and excellency; the first ground of this contentment is a perfect tranquillity of Mind, which knows no gnawing nor remorse of conscience. The Soul (says Solomon) that rests in this assurance is a continual banquet, after this quiet succeeds a great love to God, which yields a sweet relish to the most embittered accidents of this life: Then a vigorous subduing of immortifyed passions, which like an Executioner tortures the greatest part of Worldlings, and makes them spin out this miserable life in an infinity of anxieties, and affliction. In a word, it is the property of virtue to affect with delight that person which puts himself upon the performance of any Heroic action. Wherefore a state of perfection which teaches the practice of all virtues, in the most generous and disinteressed way, must needs be attended with a great joy and consolation; what pleasure then must it be to be settled in a condition of life which is a holy resemblance of Heaven, surrounded with the precious ornaments of all virtues, wherewith it is decked and set forth no less than is the Firmament embellished with Stars.  
O what pleasure to be received into the Household and Family of God, to be cherished with an amiable aspect from that grand Master, and owned by him as a Domestic; where a multitude of graces and divine favours are showered down; where at every turn are offered occasions of doing well, and arriving at an admirable pitch of Sanctity, and lastly, where particular aids of grace are communicated to carry us to our final end and ete●…al felicity!  
As to the third Engine which gives life to our actions, that is honour; what greater can there be than for a Soul to be God's spouse, his favourite, and friend! Now this state of perfection ennobles a person with all these titles of greatness; for virtue is the source of honour, and by how much that excels in any one, so much is his honour really advanced, this state then being a nursery of virtues, wherein the most excellent are practised, and in the most excellent manner, as squared out to the Evangelical Counsels, it follows that such are truly noble who are enlisted under the sublime Standard of so perfect and Christian a warfare.  
First, they practise the method of getting honour; that is, by flying it; for honour resembles a shadow that flies the pursuer, and pursues the fugitive.  
Next, they profess humility, and the Son of God hath protested, that those who humble themselves shall be exalted.  
Thirdly, they incessantly praise and glorify God both by their deeds and words; now Christ says, those that glorify him shall be glorified by him. Wherefore this state cannot be but truly glorious and honourable, in which are comprised in its perfection all that is either to our profit, pleasure or honour.  
Some who would diminish the worth of this Sacrifice object, that many languish under the Yoke of their vocation, and lead a life more embittered than others in a worldly conversation.  
To which I answer, that those defects spring not from the State, but from the immortifyedness, pride, indevotion, and other evil qualities in particular persons, who were they such as their state requires, would trip with joy in their tribulation, acknowledge themselves singularly countenanced by Heaven, that when they were in the midst of a depraved and corrupted world, he drew them off clear from all its hazards and miseries; to plant them in a Land flowing with Milk and Honey: That having rescued them from a party, that would have betrayed and given them up to death, he admitted them inhabitants of God's City upon Earth; who will be to them a loving and indulgent Mother, and transmit them rich laden with merit into the Land of the living; in case they acquit themselves faithfully of their duty: This I say would be their Harmony were they not ungrateful, and by their Chagrin and Malcontented humour, distasteful to God and themselves, and so unworthy of the dignity of their state.  
But whilst I thus exalt this Sacrifice, which is the purchase of that eternal victim offered up on the Cross, yet I am not so transported with its excellency, as not to know it hath its proper Crosses, nor do I blush to confess it, since every difficulty finds there likewise its Consolation.  
First, the indigent life there led is many times but a simple dispropriation; where we find more necessaries for a subsistence than an infinity of persons in the World enjoy, who by constraint is feign to continue poor: Besides, this poverty will be recompensed with a hundred-fold in eternal treasures, and to this performance the Son of God hath engaged himself.  
Chastity there observed is a life Angelical, and an imitation of that eternal, wherein no marriage will be admitted, it frees them from a million of cares, sufferings and perplexities which married persons experiment at a dear rate, and thence frankly confess their state to be much less happy.  
Obedience is a life without curiosity, a secure navigation, and an excuse of weight with God: It is a journey performed sleeping; for whilst you obey, you repose quietly in the conduct of another, and by that, avoid a thousand dangers and difficulties incident to those, who live at the Helm of their own will and liberty.  
If they are startled at the necessity of cohabiting with some who may be of a strange peevish and cross humour, and with these they must continue even to death; this I confess may happen sometimes, yet not always; but as to this likewise there is often a mistake, the froward humour being rather in themselves than in their companion, so that possessing a spirit like that of the Jaundice, all they behold appears yellow to them: But admit they are really so, that is, thwarting and contradictory, perhaps God hath given them to you, that they may be converted and saved by your mildness and patience, at least to be unto you occasion of merit: Christ our Lord disdained not to cohabit with Judas, and if they discharge not their duty to you, at least do yours to them, and so you will hammer out a Crown at their cost, and by means of their unpleasing strokes.  
In a word, if you have a love for God, and a serious thought of Eternity, be it of Heaven or Hell; if you consider the torments and death of Jesus Christ, nothing will seem harsh or tedious to you in this life: If you consider the immense obligations you own to your Redeemer, you will lament in that you have but one life to Sacrifice for him, that hath lost his own so worthy upon the Altar of the Cross for your sake: You will repine that nature allows you but a term of sixty years or thereabouts in this world to spin out in his service; since he hath surrendered up his life for you, of which one moment is more to be valued than all the duration and existence of Men and Angels.  
This is the Sacrifice of Calves, which our Penitent had in his prophetic view, and it leaves a sweet relish in his Mind, with which he concludes his petition. It was doubtless matter of great joy to our Penitent, to consider the powerful operation of Christ's Spirit, that would draw Men from sensual pleasures, and baits of this World, induce them to contemn riches, honours, and Earthly glory, and exchange these for hair-cloths, fasting, disciplines, and other mortifications of the flesh; and this to be acted by persons great in dignity, swimming in a full plenty of wealth, and endued with intellectual parts even to admiration: Millions of these have shrouded themselves within the Walls of a poor habitation, where clothed with a course habit they have led a life wholly Angelical, and made themselves a daily Sacrifice, unto God beautified with a religious simplicity, which surpasses all the wisdom of the World, and so fulfilled the prophecy of our happy Penitent; Then (that is in the Church to be established and founded by the Messiah) they will lay Calves on thy Altar.  

The Application.  
Our Holy Penitent here entertains himself with the grateful returns which Christians were to make in consideration of Christ's eternal Sacrifice, and certainly there is no state speaks so much a generous love to God, as that of a contemplative life, where we behold Men devested of all self love, to become perfect slaves to the divine will; freed from all adhesion to created things, that in charity they might be united to God, avoiding the World's conversation, the better to enjoy God's presence, that since they cannot live without him, at least they might live with him as much as the condition of this mortal life will bear. To contemplate so many thousand Families, where Creatures anticipate their felicity by praising God incessantly, and who seem not to subsist but by the dew of a Holy Love, like the Seraphims in Heaven. Ah let us then conclude with our Holy Penitent, and bless the divine Providence, who hath in the revolution of so many ages received the perfume of prayers and thanksgivings, from an infinity of pure innocent Souls, consecrated in a peculiar manner to his glory and service.  
Amen.    
FINIS.   

A TABLE Of the principal matter of this BOOK.  

A.  
Affliction. 

WHy God conducts Souls by way of affliction. Pag. 8  
Adversity foundation to eternal happiness. p. 143  
Why God lengthens out our afflictions. p. 380, 381  
Affliction of David. p. 282    
Anger. 

Means how to avert God's anger. p. 178    
Adultery. 

All Laws violated by adultery. p. 56, 57  
Punished by death and great torments by all Nations. p. 58  
It subverts the rules set down for our education. p. 303  
It is a wrong not to be repaired. Ib.  
A passage of St. Paul terrible concerning adultery. p. 304  
The civil la permits parties interessed to be Judges. Ibid.  
It is a kind of Sacrilege. p. 305, 306     

B.  
Body. 

It is fit the Body should share in the punishment of sin. p. 36  
Saints Bodies always had in veneration both in the old and new Law. p. 170  
Divers examples of this subject. ib.  
Why God favours Saints Bodies with the working of miracles. p. 168  
What David means by humbled bones. p. 167    
Beatitude. 

To anticipate our Beatitude is here to think always of it. p. 248, 249  
Why we cannot be happy here. p. 249  
How sweet the thoughts of Beatitude. p. 290  
Good works the means to Beatitude. ibid.     

C.  
Carnal Sins. 

Carnal sins destroy both Body and Soul, p. 52, 53  
Punishments of Heaven for carnal sins. p. 53, 54  
Why carnal sins are most dangerous and most abominated by God. ibid.    
Church. 

A pillar of truth, etc. p. 127  
Upon what terms God founded his Church. p. 138 & seq.  
God punishes such as violate Temples, or Churches. p. 409, 410  
The sublime institution of the Church. p. 422, & seq.    
Christ. 

Christ's presence how amiable. p. 234  
Christ loves to be with men. p. 235  
Christ died for all. p. 280, & seq.  
Christ's Revelation to St. Bridget. p. 283  
Christ the source of all merit. p. 316  
Christ supreme pastor of Souls. p. 415  
Christ Sovereign Bishop of the Church. p. 416  
Christ a true Holocaust. p. 433, 434  
Christ a true oblation of Justice. p. 431    
Charity. 

Order of charity. p. 403, 404    
Conversion. 

Of an Indian in Japonia. p. 328  
Sometimes wrought by outward preaching. ibid.  
Sometimes by the inward operation of his spirit. p. 329     

D.  
Mystic Divinity. 

It's definition and several operations from p. 259. unto 263    
David. 

Why David begged to be freed from temporal punishment. p. 48, 49  
David the most accomplished Prophet p. 131  
The world's creation revealed to David. p. 131, 132  
The Incarnation, Nativity, and Passion revealed to David. p. 133, 134, 135  
The state of his conscience in order to God was revealed to him. p. 135  
David desired to be a Martyr. p. 150  
What means he by the joy of his Salvation. p. 251  
He was very meek and humble. p. 3●7    
Death. 

Death concludes all our merit. p. 38, 39, 40    
Desire. 

Why our desires are never satiated in this life. p. 43, 44    
Despair. 

Why we should never despair. p. 293     

E.  


Men of all conditions are bound to give good example. 86, 87, & seq.     

F.  
Fear. 

Difference of fear in the good and bad. p. 43    
Friend. 

Loss of a friend not to be lamented. p. 143, 144    
Faith. 

Springs from God. p. 126, and 216  
Moral virtues &c, the way to faith. p. 127  
Faith teaches what we own to God and our Neighbour. p. 205  
Faith of all things ought to be the most unquestionable. ibid.  
God proceeds like a Sovereign in matter of faith. ibid.  
This his proceeding a stroke of his goodness. ibid.  
Christ our Master in matters of faith. p. 207, 208  
The mysteries of faith our greatest comfort. p. 208, 209  
What habitual faith is, and its effects. p. 210, 211     

G.  
God. 

If God deprives us of one good, it is but to give us a better. p. 49 & 50  
God never rejects a truly repenting heart. p. 90, 91, & seq.  
God will be justified in his proceed with man. p. 97  
God a primary and essential truth. p. 128  
God is not the efficient cause of obdurateness. p. 218, 219  
What sign of God's leaving us. p. 226  
Two derelictions of God. p. 227  
How God is lost by sin. p. 232  
God still gives more than we ask. p. 231, 235  
How to escape God's anger. p. 236, 237  
How comfortable the belief of God. p. 288    
Grace. 

Definition of grace and its effects. p. 158, 159  
Grace raises our hope to the expectation of a sovereign good. p. 160  
How sin is expulsed by grace. p. 184, 185, 186, & seq.  
Grace compared to the essence of the Soul. p. 192  
How grace cleanses the Soul from all iniquity. p. 193, 194  
Why grace doth not quiet all motions of sensuality. p. 195  
Grace purifyes all the powers of the Soul. p. 196  
God imparts his graces by degrees. p. 224  
The power of sanctifying grace. p. 309    
God. 

God is the final end of all his works. p. 337  
God hath an essential glory and what it is. ibid.  
He hath likewise an external accidental glory. ibid.  
God is more glorified by a good than bad Soul. p. 338, 348  
Every being glorifyes God. p. 339  
Why man above all in this world ought most to glorify God. 340, 341  
Why God is delighted with our sufferings. p. 385    
Good works. 

How do they merit a recompense. p. 309, 310     

H  
Heart. 

The heart the source of all evil, and good. p. 196  
How St. Katherine of Sienna lost her heart. p. 199  
Character of a heart defiled with sin. p. 201  
God exacts only our hearts. p. 202  
The misery of a humane heart. ibid.    
Honour. 

Sacrificed by Christ on the Cross. p. 429    
Hope. 

The comforts which hope brings to a Soul. p. 160, 161  
The first sign of God's favour is to give us hope p. 332  
The definition of hope. p. 333  
The motives of hope. ibid.    
Holy Ghost. 

His operations in a Soul. p. 229, 230, & seq.    
Humility. 

Praise of this virtue. p. 395  
Not to be humble is to be disobedient. ibid.  
Two kinds of humility. p. 397  
The effects of humility. ibid.  
How pleasing to God. p. 402    
Homicide. 

Terrors of mind which attend homicide. p. 294  
An injury not to be repaired. p. 295  
It destroys God's image. ibid.  
To prevent this he forbade in the old law the eating of blood. p. 299  
It is never left unrevenged. ibid.  
Why a murdered body bleeds at the presence of the murderer. p. 299 300     

I.  
Incarnation. 

The wonders of this mystery set forth. p. 16  
No creature could satisfy for sin, so that it was a mystery of love. p. 17    
Ingratitude. 

The ingratitude of David. p 232    
Injury. 

All injuries done are against God. p. 89, 307    
Job. 

Job excused from sin in cursing the day of his birth. p. 116, 117  
Why God would not permit Satan to touch upon Job's life. p. 384    
Impiety. 

Definition of it. p. 285, & seq.    
Justice. 

God's justice is distributive, punitive and remunerative. p. 318, 319, & seq.  
To be just implies an aggregation of all virtues. p. 322    
Justification. 

The first step is not made without the concurrence of our wills. p. 157  
A justified Soul is filled with joy p. 156, & seq.    
Intention. 

We shall be rewarded and punished according to our intention. p. 204    
Inspiration. 

It highly imports not to reject the least good inspiration. p. 224    
Infirmity. 

An infirm constitution and sickness not to be repined at p. 144, 145    
Instruction. 

To teach others the way of salvation the highest employment. p. 277, 278, 279  
It is an employment envied by the Angels. ibid.  
Why Masters have not pensions assigned them by commonwealths. p. 279    
joy.. 

Joy the effects of grace. p. 56, & seq.  
Many blessings accompany a spiritual joy. p. 162, 163  
Two kinds of joy. p. 240, 241  
What ought to be the motive of our joy. p. 243  
The means to arrive at this joy. p. 246, 247     

K.  
Knowledge. 

Why it is good to know our iniquity. p. 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, & seq.    
King. 

In what sense Kings offend against God alone. p. 81  
The greater the person is that offends the greater is his offence. 82  
Why Kings are obliged to give good example. p. 83, 84, 85     

L.  
Love. 

The properties of God's love. p. 29  
St. Peter's love to Christ. p. 233  
Love assaults the Divinity in his throne. p. 277  
Why we should love our Neighbour. p. 307  
God's love in playing the merchant with poor man. p 345  
To overcome self-love the shortest way to perfection. p. 382  
Christ's love to man on the Cross. p. 429, 430  
Christ's love to man in the institution of the Eucharist. p. 436, & seq.    
Law. 

What is law eternal. p. 269  
What is the la of reason. p. 270  
Positive divine laws. p. 272  
The Mosaic la. p. 274, 275  
The end of the Mosaic la, perfection of the Evangelical la. p. 419, 420, 421     

Man. 

Man is a vessel of mercy not merit. p. 2  
Man cannot persevere in grace without a special aid. p. 3.  
Man is diverted from many sins as misbelieving his nature. p. 290  
How little man can do if left to himself. p. 326, 327, & seq.  
Man is created to praise God. p. 349    
Mercy. 

It is God's mercy not the value of our actions by which we are saved. p 9  
His mercy is immense and exceeds all our demeries. p. 12  
His mercy is a Bulwark against despair. p. 14  
By God's great mercy is meant the mystery of the incarnation. p. 18  
A series of God's mercies. p. 21  
No Creature is destitute of God's mercy. p. 23  
Why we have more Precedents of his mercy than justice. p. 24.  
His mercy appears in reward of the elect. p. 25  
He distributes his mercies more in the measure of his love than wisdom. p. 27, 28    
Martyrdom. 

A description of what is requisite to be a martyr. p. 150, 151, 152    
Masters. 

We own more to our Masters than Parents. p. 267  
Why there is a dependency of one another in the conveyance of intellectual notions. p. 267, 268    
Misery. 

Miseries of this life set forth. p. 114, 115  
No misery like to that of sin. p. 174    
Merit. 

Definition of merit. p. 310  
We merit by virtue of grace but the effect of it comes from God's promise. p. 310, 311     

O  


Occasions of sin to be avoided. p. 44, 45    
Omnipotency. 

The belief of it raises our hope. p. 290     

P.  
Prophet. 

Conditions requisite to a true Prophet. p. 130  
Several degrees of prophetic lights. p. 130, 131    
Praise. 

General heads of praise that man is to give to God. p. 342, 343  
Pride and fear forbidden in those that would praise God. p. 346    
Prison. 

Restraint occasion of much good. p. 146    
Providence. 

How comfortable the belief of it. p. 289    
Persecution. 

How beneficial. p. 155    
Passion. 

How dangerous it is. p. 301, 302  
Several benefits of Christ's passion. p. 431    
Predestination. 

No security of our state in this life. p. 188, 189.  
How we are predestinated. p. 244, 245  
The effects of our eternal election. Ibid.    
Perfection. 

Praise of a state of perfection. p. 440  
What it is. p. 252, 440  
The effects of perfection and its praise. ibid.  
Perfect Souls if they fall do soon rise again. p. 256, 257  
Three degrees of perfection. p. 265    
Pleasure. 

Difference 'twixt corporal and spiritual pleasures. p. 161, 248    
Penance. 

To penance succeeds many glad tidings. p. 162, 164, & seq.  
Necessity of penance. p. 394    
Prayer. 

How we are to dispose ourselves to prayer, and what we are to ask. p. 335, 336  
The power of prayer. p. 405  
Prayer works no change in God's decrees. p. 406  
Prayer the first gift of God. p. 408  
How we ought to value it. p. 413, & seq.     

R.  
Remorse. 

Remorse of conscience always attends sin. p. 71, & seq.    
Resurrection. 

Belief of the resurrection very comfortable. p. 166     

S.  
Sin. 

The agitations of a soul defiled with sin. p. 182.  
There is a period set to every man's sins which is called the measure of their iniquities. p. 220, 221  
The marks of this period. p. 221, 222  
No less equal to what we lose by sin. p. 233  
Whilst in sin we are capable of no right to heaven. p. 32  
Why some are drawn from sin others not. p. 33  
Sin the greatest of evils. p. 38  
Greater sins require a greater mercy. p. 45 46, 47  
The terrors of sin. p. 76 & seq. p. 174, 175  
Man's imbecility caused by original sin. p. 99 & seq.  
What remedy in the old Law for original sin in women. p. 110  
The penalty and consequencies of original sin. p. 110. & seq.  
The benefit of confessing our sins. 126, 125  
It becomes God to punish sin. p. 176    
Sacrifice. 

Why God required not of David a sacrifice. p. 351  
Who the minister of a sacrifice p. 352, 357. & seq.  
In the law of nature the first born male were Priests. Ibid.  
That some sensible thing be offered is required in a sacrifice. p. 353  
Definition of a sacrifice. p. 355  
Other conditions of a sacrifice. p. 354  
Holocausts the most perfect sacrifice. p. 363  
Why sacrifices commanded. p. 368, 369  
Divers sorts of sacrifices. p. 370  
The jews zeal in matter of sacrifice. Ibid.  
Sacrifice of the new law most perfect. p. 424, 428.    
Sorrow. 

There is a twofold sorrow. p. 370  
How pleasing a pious sorrow is to God. Ib.  
What is a troubled spirit. p. 377  
Whether the soul or body most conducing to a sacrifice of a troubled spirit. p. 377  
Motives of a true sorrow p. 390. & seq.    
Security. 

No security from sin in this life. Ibid.    
Speech. 

How Croesus son came to his speech. Ibid.  
How one is morally dumb, and how cured. Ibid.    
Seneca. 

His opinion concerning such as lost their lives upon the score of friendship, or a public interest. p. 148, 249     

T.  
Truth. 

Three kinds of truth. p. 121  
Knowledge of truth most delightful. p. 123, 124    
Transgressions. 

Internal transgressions only punished by God. p. 197, 198  
A certain period is set to every man's transgression. p. 220, 221  
Signs of this helpless desolation. p. 221, 222, 223    
Tribulation. 

Tribulation the securest way to heaven. p. 147  
Senecas opinion of tribulation manfully sustained. p. 348    
Temptation. 

The difficulty to resist temptation. p. 202     

V.  
Virtue. 

Moral virtues contribute a facility in doing well, and wherein they consist. p. 213  
Virtue itself a reward to the actors. p. 241  
Delight of virtuous actions. p. 242, 243    
Uncertainty. 

All things uncertain as to the issue in this life. p. 239     

W.  
Will. 

The will is more prejudiced by original sin than the understanding. p. 6.  
God doth never violence our will to our prejudice. p. 35  
The greatness of the soul by free will. p. 313  
Whether it had not been better to have done well by necessity. 314, 315     
FINIS.