THE CHRISTIAN DUTY COMPOSED BY B. BERNARD FRANCIS STUDENT IN DIVINITY ISA. 30. 21. THIS IS THE WAY WALK IN IT 1. COR. 14. 38. If any man know not, he shall not be known. IHS PRINTED AT AIR BY CLAUDE FRANÇOIS TULLIET, M.DC.LXXXIV. with Licence of Superiors TO THE READER GOd desires so cordially and seeks so earnestly our salvation, that He calls it his work and his affair by excellence; His Son Io 4. 34. said to his Disciples I have meat you know not: 'tis to do the will of my Father, and to accomplish his work; And to his Mother in the Temple: Knew you not that I must labour in the affairs of my Father? And in the Vigil of his death: Father I have accomplished the work, you have given me to do. Because 'tis the work of works: the affair of affairs, and the aim, and end of other works. He employs in it not men only, but also Angels. All the Angelical Spirits that are sent Heb. 1. 14. into this world, are sent for the salvation of the Elect, says S Paul. What say I men and Angels? He employs in it his divine Perfections; For if He exerciseth his Power in working miracles: Wisdom in inventions to convert us: Patience in expecting us to penance: Goodness to allure us: justice to frighten us: Mercy in pardoning us, Providence in removing occasions of sin: 'tis for our salvation. And to the end there be nothing in Him, or of Him that is not employed in this great work: He sends the adorable Persons that proceed from him. He sends his beloved Son: who applies himself to it with so great tenderness and affection, that from thence He takes his name: with so much fervour and Zeal, that he spends in it his sweat and blood. He sends the holy Ghost, who shows likewise His Zeal; when our salvation is in danger, we being in the state of sin, what does He not to draw us out of it, and to convert us? He excites us: wakens us: threatens us: importunes us: knocks almost incessantly at the doors of our hearts▪ and if we open them to Him, He Enters into our souls: dwells in them: animates them: governs and conducts them: works by them our good works: in our prayers, He prays, cries, groans in us, and by us▪ in temptations He aids us: in perplexities, Enlightens us: in afflictions, comforts us. May not the Eternal Father say, Quid debui facere vineae meae & non feci? What should I have done for the salvation of men that I have left undone? He hath desired it most earnestly: He hath designed to it his creatures: Employed in it his Servants, Favourits, infinite Perfections: and the divine Persons of his Son, and of his holy Spirit. How comes it to pass then, that so few are saved, even amongst Christians? One reason is, that very many are yet ignorant of the ways ordinained by God to go to heaven. Another is, that the greater part also of the Faithful, are negligent and careless in the use of the means prescribed to be saved: they will not labour and strive to enter by the narrow gate, and therefore our Saviour says they shall not. Wherefore desiring the salvation of every one with all my heart, I show the First and put before their eyes, the plain and open ways to Heaven; and to correct the negligence of the other, I add the most pressing and urgent motives to walk and run in those ways. Peruse this work (good Reader) with the same intention and desire that I present it to you. Consider not who made it: nor how 'tis made: but what is therein said to you. If you shall become more knowing in the Faith and Law of Christ: and in ptactise more Dutiful to Him: it will abundantly recompense the labour of YOUR WELL WISHING FRIEND AND SERVANT IN CHRIST F. B. APPROBATIONS. JNfrascripti testamur nos librum perlegisse, tui Titulus, The Christian Duty. Idiomate Anglicano a V Adm. P. Bernardo a Sancto Francisco Ordinis FF. Minorum Recoll: Provinciae Angliae compositum: in quo nil Fidei Orthodoxae vel bonis moribus contrarium deprehendimus: verum è contra salutari plenum devotione, solidaque refertum doctrina; Quem idcirco Communi Bono vti●issimum, praeloque dignum judicavimus, Hac 29 Octobris. An. Domini 1683▪ In Conventu nostro FF. Min: Recoll: Anglorum Duaci: F, Pacificus a Sto. Albino F. Bonaventura. a Sta. Anna S. Theologiae Lector. S. Theologiae Lector. The Licence of the Superior. Ego F. Gervasius a Sto. Francisco Provinciae Angliae. FF. Min. Recoll: Minister Provincialis, facultatem concedo ut hoc opus cui Titulus, The Christian Duty a V Adm. Patre Bernardo a Sto. Francisco compositum, et eiusdem Provinciae Theologorum judicio approbatum, typis mandetur. Datum Ariae. 9 Septembris. An: 1683. F. Gervasius â Sto. Francisco qui Supra. Imprimatur liber cui Titulus, The Christian Duty a Reverendo Patre Bernardo à Sancto Francisco conscriptus. Actum in Vicariatu Audomarensi die decima septima Septembris. Anno 1684. De Mandato. B. DE LARRE. Secret. DISCOURSE. I. OF THE FIRST ARTICLE I believe in God. AMongst the noble actions which the holy Penitent David practised to appease God and satisfy his justice, This is one of the most notable: Docebo iniquos vias tuas, & impij ad te convertentur: I will teach sinners thy ways, my God: and the impious shall be converted to Thee. These words show me how to do well this worthy fruit of Penance; I must not flatter: I must not tickle ears: but I must teach: Docebo. And whom must I teach? The poor as well as the rich: the little and ignorant, as well as the great and learned, myself also as well as others; for we are all sinners: and I must teach sinners, iniquos. And what is it that I must teach? Not the conceits of Plato: not the discourses of Aristotle, but thy ways, o my God Vias tuas, the ways by which we must go to Thee. And why must I teach? not to receive popular praise: Not to be esteemed learned: but that sinners be converted to thee o my God & impij ad te convertentur. The ways by which we go to God, are Faith, and the Mysteries which it teaches, Hope, Charity, Grace, good Works, the Commandments, and the Sacraments. These ways, God aiding, I will open plainly, teach practically, and urge earnestly: that sinners may be converted into them, and unto God. And first I will consider the material object or the Mysteries of Faith, which the Apostles propose in their Creed to us, and begin with these words, I believe in God. 2. That there is a God, nature teaches us, the Pagans themselves confessed it: and it is a thing so manifest, that the scripture tells us, that none but fools deny it. 3. This word God in the singular number teaches us that there is but one. And if he were not the only one, he would not be God: He would not be the Sovereign of all: his Empire would not be absolute: nor his Dominion universal: since that a Corrival or Competitor, would have right to dispute with Him, if not the superiority or the preeminence, at least equality and independence. 4. The Apostles say not only, I believe God: but I believe in God: and these two expressions are very different; for the first imports only an Act of Faith by which we believe that there is a God, and what does come from Him: as what He teaches us in the Scripture, and what the Church proposes as revealed by Him. But the other signifys not only an act of Faith: but also of Hope, and Love. And we learn by this expression that it is not enough for a Christian to believe God: but he must moreover hope in Him, and love Him: and so distinguish himself from the wicked, and from the devil: who can believe that there is a God: and give credit to his word: but because they confide not in him, nor love him; they believe not in God. 5. But what is God? This Question the disciples of learned Epictetus made to him; who answered, my Children, if I could tell you what is God, either He would not be God, or I myself should be God; He said true, but he said not enough: it is not only impossible to explicate what is God: but whatsoever we can say of Him is infinitely below what we ought to say of Him, Wherefore S. Austin says, that we cannot say any thing that is worthy to be attributed to God, because in this it is unworthy, that it is possible to be said. 6. Nevertheless we ought to speak of Him for to make Him known, and we must make Him known for to make Him to be loved and feared: and we must make Him to be loved and feared, for to avoid sin which offends Him. 7. The Scripture says that He is great and above all praise, Magnus Dominus & laudabilis nimis. But we must not imagine that it Psal. 47. 2. speaks of a material and corporeal greatness. When we say that one King is greater than another: this is not to say, that he is of a greater and higher stature: but that he is greater in Power, and Dominions: so when we say, that God is great, we mean not in material quantity, length, largeness, and other corporeal dimensions; for He is a spirit, and has no body, nor parts; But He is great in Nobility, in Power, in Wisdom, in Goodness, and other divine Petfections. 8. He is great in Nobility; He is so noble, that all Kings and Emperors are but his servants and his slaves; All crowns of the world depend on Him, and he disposes of them at his pleasure. He is so noble that the kings are his beggars; they say to Him daily upon their knees, give us this day our daily bread, and if He should not give it them, they must necessarily want it. He is so noble that Kings compared to Him are but worms, who can do less against Him, than worms of the earth against you; I am a worm, said a great king in the light of his contemplation. 9 He is great in Power: Potens & metuendus nimis. The power which makes great ones of the world is commonly but to destroy; they say Alexander the great, Pompey the great, because by their armies they have defeated millions of men, ruined Towns, and desolated Provinces; And what power is this? a scorpion, a spider is able to destroy and kill à man: a little contagious air may defeat a whole army; and this power also of the great ones is so vain and weak, that they cannot annihilate or reduce to nothing a little fly, for always something of it remains. But God is so powerful, that He can not only reduce all things to nothing, but draw all things out of nothing, even without any assistance, without any labour, and more easily than you look upon me; for you may be wearied in looking on me, or hindered from seeing me: and God cannot be wearied, nothing can hinder the execution of his will. 10. He is great in Wisdom; He is so wise, that He makes all the actions of his creatures to contribute to his intentions, also those that are done against His intention; He lets the second causes act as if He acted not: He lets each cause move according to its genius and particular inclination; the natural naturally; the free freely; and He makes all their actions to serve His designs as infallibly, efféctually, and happily as if He alone did do their actions purposely. He makes likewise to contribute to the Execution of his Will, and to the accomplishment of his intentions: all that men do against his Will, and all that opposes his intentions; the impious do all they can to dishonour Him: the infidels to ruin his Church: the reprobate to afflict and destroy his Elect: and He makes the attempts of the impious to conduce to his glory: the infidelity of the infidels to the good of his Church: the persecutions of the reprobare, to the salvation of the elect. What an ineffable wisdom? 11. He is great and admirable in his Goodness: He is an infinite sea and an Abiss of love, mercy, and liberality, which without diminution flows continually and abundantly. In the order of nature, what flowers, what fruits, what plants, what animals, what voices, what perfumes, what colours, what drugs, what meats and drinks, for our nourishment, for our service, remedy, and divertissement? 12. In the supernatural Order He shows us evidently his Goodness: He accomplishes that which He said, Mensuram bonam & confertam Luke 6. 38. & coagitatam, & supereffluentem dabunt in sinum vestrum: He gives good, stuffed, shaken, and overflowing measure into the bosoms of the saints. One, for example, gave a morcel of bread, to a poor man, or a word of instruction for his salvation; this action was so small, this word so soon past, that one would not think them worthy to be remembered. Nevertheless; God forgets them not: He will look upon them with complacence, he will praise them, and recompense them, not for a hundred or a thousand years only, but for ever: so good He is and ardently amorous of good. 13. To men in this life He gives graces with so much liberality Ephes. 1. 8. and affluence that S. Paul says, The riches of his grace have superabounded in us. If then we are deprived of them, or receive them slenderly, it is not a defect of the source, but our own fault: because we make ourselves unworthy of them: not complying with them, not esteeming them: but neglecting, & contemning them. Who would not admire the nobility of this Royal & divine heart, who vouchsafes to give all these goods, not only to the elect who are thankful for them, but also to his enemies, who acknowledge him not, who blaspheme him, contemn him, & persecute him; Nevertheless he suffers them, he supports them, he conserveses them in health, he gives them honours, riches, & prosperities, he invites them to penance by summons and inspirations which would reclaim tigers, and if they return to him, he receives them, he pardons them, he embraces them with inconceivable Clemency and sweetness. 14. Nevertheless He is so great and terrible in justicè, that though, the death and Passion of JESUS-CHRIST is capable to redeem a hundred thousand worlds, He sees notwithstanding an infinity of jews, of Pagans of Turcks, Heretics, of bad Catholics, in the mass of corruption, in the way of perdition; He draws them not powerfully out of it, through a most profound and incomprehensible, but most just judgement: and he accomplisheth the verity of this word, of this tunder-clap: many are Mat. 20. 16▪ called, but few elect. 15. He is great and admirable in his independence, and in the plenitude of his Being. He is naturally sufficient to himself, most content with himself, most happy in himself, and has no need of any thing without himself. He had from all eternity power to produce creatures, heaven, earth, and all that is in them, and he hath not created them but in time, for to show that he had no need of them; for to make known, that since he hath been perfectly happy without them from eternity, he created them not for any S. Austin● 12. de Civit. c. 17. sub fin. want he had of them, but by a free goodness, and by a pure and disinteressed charity. Let us make an end of speaking of Him whose greatness has no end, who is infinite in his Essence, and infinite in Perfections; for 'tis to mafle as infants, 'tis to obscure his perfections to speak of them so imperfectly: and if He were not infinitely merciful and condescendent it would be a punishable temerity, to speak so lowly, so grossly, and so unworthily of Him. Yet this is enough to make us see what a Majesty we offend, and whom we make our enemy, when we commit a mortal sin. And after this, shall we not endeavour to conceive a lively repentance of our sins? shall we content ourselves with a little sorrow, and which regards nothing but our own interests? if we detest our sins, because they rob us of our merits, subject us to the tyranny of the devil, engage us to Eternal damnation; if we have no other motive, 'tis to feel and resent a scratch of a pin which we have received, and not a great stroke of a sword which we have given; The injuries that sin does to the Creator, are without comparison greater, than those which it does to the Creature. 16. For to avoid them then, Let us remember that God is infinitely noble. If a Prince, tho' a stranger that appertains not at all to us were in this Country, we would not abuse or injure him, but would honour him and treat him with respect; and shall we dare to offend our God, our Sovereign, the King of Kings? This King who is so great that all the Kings of the earth in respect of Him are but slaves, and worms of the earth. Let us consider, that He is infinitely powerful. We fear to offend the Powers of this world, because they can punish us, deprive us of our liberty, estates, or temporal life; and shall we dare to offend the omnipotent God, who by one word, one act of his Will, can reduce us to dust; who after He has killed the body, will cast our souls into Eternal flames? Let us consider that He is infinitely Wise: that all things lie open to his sight, that he can not forget any thing: that whatsoever excuse we forge for to flatter our conscience, and to diminish the greatness of our offences, He sees the greatness of them: He knows all the circumstances of them, and pierceth the bottom of our hearts: He knows that 'tis neither violence, nor poverty, nor necessity that makes us to commit sin: but that 'tis because we have not the fear of God, nor the due love of him. Let us consider that He is good, and that He has always been so to us. 'tis a great injustice, a very unnatural malice to offend a person that has never given us any cause, who has never disobliged us all his life. We know that 'tis God who created us, who conserveses us at present, and hath preserved us from a thousand dangers: He who hath given us more than we have desired, more than we should dare to desire: and what is above all desire, who has given his own life; and died upon the Cross by pure charity towards us. After all these graces, shall we have the malice to commit a mortal sin, which infinitely displeases Him? Let us remember that He is infinitely just, and that his justice ought to have its course; His Prophet said I feared all my job. 9 82. works knowing that thou wouldst not spare the offender, He leaves not unpunished the least failings; what will he do then to mortal sins, to great Crimes? We must hold it then as most certain, that if we commit these sins, we shall suffer soon or late most bitter and grievous torments in this world or in the other. Let us in fine consider, that He is independent, that He depends not of any one in his Being, nor in his designs, nor in his operations: that if He associate sometimes his creatures in the Execution of his designs, 'tis by an Excess of goodness, and not out of indigence. If He could have need of us, we might think that He would be obliged to pardon us, and to seek our amity, But he needs us not; He has been well without us from all Eternity: he will be well without us for all Eternity: and if we honour not his mercy in heaven, we shall honour his justice by our sufferances in hell, from which I pray God to keep us by his mercy. Amen DISCOURSE II. OF THE FIRST ARTICLE The Father Almighty, Creator Of Heaven and Earth. THe first verity expressed in these words requires as much virtue and strength of Faith as any other Verity revealed; It obliges us to believe and adore a plurality of divine Persons in a most perfect Unity of nature: and to Confess that in the Deity there is a Person who intellectually produces a coeternal and consubstantial Son. Hence the Apostles truly call Him Father; and his Paternity or fatherhood is so proper to Him, that 'tis not an Attribute or Quality: but that which enters the intrinsecal and individual constitution of Him. Father also of us: because he created us, conserveth us at present, and nourisheth us. Father again, because he redeemed us by his own Son, makes us his Children by adoption, governs, and directs us, and conducts us to the inheritance of eternal life. 2. Almighty or Omnipotent: This signifies a perfection not so proper to him, as is that of Fathêr. Omnipotence also is not his particular Attribute or Quality, but to him appropriated and attributed. You know that the faith of the church adores three Persons subsisting in the Divinity▪ You know that Divinity acknowledgeth and reverenceth in God three principal Perfections: Power, Wisdom, Goodness: You know that the Scriptures and the Fathers do attribute to each one of these Divine Persons, one of these Perfections, tho' all three be common to them all. Omnipotence to the Father, because He is the source and origin of Divinity. Wisdom, to the Son, because He is begotten by the way of understanding and of knowledge: Goodness, to the Holy Ghost, because. He is produced by the way of Will and Love. These are three Divine Persons which inseparably and indivisibly applied themselves to the Creation, to the Conservation, and to the Government of the Univers: These are the three fingers of God, as the Prophet I say calls them, who sustain, conserve, and govern the world: Those are their three infinite Perfections which are applied unto this work; For if we consider the matter out of which the World was drawn, we shall admire an infinite Power: If we consider the manner in which the World is governed, we shall acknowledge an incomprehensible Wisdom: If we consider the End to which this World is designed, we shall see and love an ineffable Goodness. 4. First we shall admire an infinite Power; For if there were so Excellent a workman that could make a Cup of gold of a lump of silver, he would be admired; but if he should make a golden Cup of a mass of lead, he would be a workman far more Excellent; and yet more, if he should make it of a bar of Iron; and yet more, if he made it of a piece of wood; but if he made it of a grain of sand, he would pass for a demi God, and we would say that his power is almost infinite. Ought he not than to be God indeed, and to have a power entirely infinite for to make, not a Cup of gold, but Heaven and Earth, Angels and men, and all the other Creatures, and to make them of nothing, as our God did, whom we confess in this Article to be the Creator of Heaven and Earth? 5. If his Divinity and his infinite Omnipotency appear so Clearly in the matter of which he made the world: his Divinity and his incomprehensible Wisdom appears yet more, in the manner by which he governs it. This Wisdom, say I, shines so brightly, in the conduct of the Univers, that we need not but to open our Eyes for to see it as clear as the day; For we see that the Heavens turn about us, in so regular, so constant, and so unvariable an order: that the seasons of the year serve us by quarters: and that they succeed one another with a vicissitude so proportioned to our life. We see that the animals that have not judgement, and also that the plants which have not sense, perform all their functions, with so much industry and perfection, and commodity for our service, as if they had judgement. All this makes us to conclude, that there must be in the Univers a Sovereign Wisdom, a divine Spirit, most intelligent, and most provident, who rules, governs, and directs all these things: and who by an ineffable Goodness obliges them to serve us. 6. For God created all these things for us: He governs them all for us: and to show us this his admirable Goodness, He created man the last of all as the End, to which He referred his works; For the end is always the first and the principal in the intention of the Workman, and the last in the Execution of the work. And we experience to our great profit, that they all tend unto this End, and that they conspire to serve and entertain us; some to bear us: others to nourish, cloth, cure, and rejoice us. 'tis then for you o man! that the heavens move, that stars glitter, that fire warms, that air refreshes, that rivers run, that the earth produces fruits, that animals live and labour; and it is for you in fine that God conserveses and employs all these Creatures, when you think least of it: when you recreate: when you sleep: when you injure and offend him: He than thinks on you, He acts for you, and makes all Nature to labour and sweat for you. He says to you, not by word, but by work, you disoblige me extremely, you commit sin which displeaseth me infinitely: But nevertheless take the presents which I make you: taste and see that I am a sweet Lord. For is it not to be very sweet to give you so many sweetnesses and dainties in return to so many bitternesses which you present me daily? Ha! we cease not to offend him, and He ceases not to caress us; what admirable Goodness! should we not be monsters of ingratitude, and abortives of nature, if our hearts be not softened, and gained by so many favours? 7. Moreover we must note, that we are obliged to God for all the good He hath done to other creatures. When a Father employs a Tailor, nourishes him, pays him for his labour: gives him stuff to make a robe for his daughter: 'tis not the robe that is obliged to him; and if also the robe should have sense and understanding it would not be much obliged to thank him, since he hath not done all this to the robe, for love of the robe, but for love of his daughter; 'tis the daughter then that hath the obligation, and who ought to thank her father for it; so we are obliged to God, for all the beauty, goodness, qualities, and proprieties that He hath distributed among his creatures: because 'tis not for them, but for us, that He hath given them all these qualities and perfections: to the end we may thank him, praise him, love him, serve him, and keep his commandments: He gave them the Countries of Nations, Says the Royal Prophet, and Psal. 104. 44. they possêssed the labours of people, that they might keep his justifications and seek his law. O how ill does he that serves not God o what injustice does he commit against his Creator! 'tis an insupportable ingratitude not to acknowledge, honour, and love such a Benefactor. 8. If you let a poor Cottage to your neighbour, you will that he pay you rend for it: and if he should fail, you would cry out against him: How comes it then says S. Chrisostome, that you pay not the tribute of thanks to your great God; that you hom. 12. ad Rom. serve him not cordially, who hath placed you in this world, in this glorious Palace, which He built, and which wholly appertains to him? If you have a Vineyard which you neither made, nor planted, nor cultivated, but have received it by inheritance; letting it to a farmer, you will have the half, or the thirds of the fruits of it, though that the farmer be poor, and hath many Children. God hath let you a Vineyard or field to farm, and how vouchsafe you not to pay him not only not the fourth part of the revenue of it, not also the tithe, perhaps not the twentieth part of the rent of it, but rather choose that your children make good cheer with it, that they give of it to this flatterer, or to this dissolute companion, than to your God, who dies with hunger in the person of the poor? I know well that you excuse yourselves by the number of your children. But if your farmer should dispense with himself from paying you your deuce upon the same account, would you admit of his excuse? S. Chysostome sends us to learn our lesson of the beasts, since that we put ourselves in their predicament, and perhaps also below; learn your lesson of your dog, said this great Doctor, you have not so much of judgement, or at least not so much of gratitude as your dog; for after you have given a morcel of bread to him, he flatters you, to thank you in the best manner that he can, to excite you to continue your favour to him; and you who are endued with reason, who blame so much ingratitude in others, whilst that God does feed and nourish you delicately, you thank him not. What say I? we thank h●m not, we offend him much, and many ways: Nay we abuse the very benefits in offending him. 9 I say that we abuse them; for we make them to revolt against the Creator, and we employ them to sin against him. We use the light to read Romances, and other naughty books: the darkness of the night to Cover dishonest actions: the air to breath out dissolute songs, the fruits of the earth, in gluttony and drunkenness, and spoils of animals, in vanites. 10. In this we do as a poor man that should throw money given him at the face of his benefactor for to hurt him; as a Commander, that should use his authority, to levy men for war against his Sovereign; as a wife that should abuse the presents her husband gave her, in pleasing an Adulterer. God complains of this abominable ingratitude by his Prophet Osee; and Osee. c. 28. there we see how God punishes it in this life: I gave them corn, and wine, and oil which they sacrificed to Baal. Therefore I will take my corn, and my wine; He will send sterility, famine, war, and other public afflictions; Wherefore a pious Doctor admonishes us very wisely, that as often as we use the creatures, we should imagine that they say to us these three words, Accipe, Red, Cave: Take the benefit, return service, beware punishment. 11. Take the benefit: Receive the creatures as so many Talents which this great Master gives you to make good use of them: as so many Presents, which this cordial Friend does make you for a testimony of his benevolence: and as so many burning coals which he heaps upon your head, for to heat you in his love. Return service; Render service and the fruit of your negotiation to so liberal a Master: thanks to so obliging a Benefactor: obedience ro so sweet a Father: and love to a so faithful Friend. In fine. Beware punishment. Take heed that you incur not the reproaches and the punishments of the ungratfull. Take heed you be not like to those unclean beasts, which never lift up their eyes to him who beats down acorns to them, and which thinks not of but eating and grunting at one another. Beware to imitate them who content themselves to use the creatures, or to speak more properly, to enjoy them, to make good cheer, and to take their pleasures, without ever thinking in themselves: to whom belongs this bread I eat, this air I breath, this fire which warms me, and this horse that carries me. Take heed of failing to acknowledge from whence these benefits do come; you will be ungratfull in not acknowledging them; more ungratfull in forgetting them: but most ungratfull in abusing them, and in using the benefits against the Benefactor; you will be a monster of ingratitude, who would deserve, not only to be deprived of the creatures, but also to be punished by them. For God hath not put the creatures under our feet for to serve as snares and stumblingblocks to make us fall, but to serve us as steps and ladders to mount up to the knowledge of him: He hath put them into our hands, not as arms to fight against him; but as instruments to work with them in his service; He hath put them before our eyes not as objects in which we may repose and place our last end: But as means and ways by which we may go to him, who is our sovereign Good, and our ultimate Beatitude Amen. DISCOURSE III. OF THE SECOND ARTICLE And in JESUS-CHRIST his only Son, our Lord. THough that the authority of the holy Apostles is more than sufficient to make men to believe simply and most reasonably, the verities proposed to them in these words; Nevertheless many in this unhappy age look upon them as impostures, and laugh at all Christianity as a humane invention or Romance; Wherefore the Honour of JESUS CHRIST, the Dignity of our Faith, and the Zeal of men's salvation oblige me to prove and establish them in their source, and to show to every understanding, which is not blinded wilfully, that JESUS-CHRIST is the true MESSIAH, promised in the Law and Prophets. 2. If JESUS-CHRIST had not come in the manner that He came, and if He had not done, that which he hath done, it would not be a Crime not to know and acknowledge him; But coming with all the Marks and Signs which the Scriptures give to the MESSIAH: having done the wonderful works which He hath done: the incredulity of men cannot be palliated with excuse, since that these evidence JESUS-CHRIST to be the true MESSIAH, as will appear by the consideration of them. 2. In the first place the Prophets who were sent by God, also according to the belief of our greatest Enimies, and who worked so many miracles for the proof of their mission, who signed with their blood the verity of their Prophecies, who have been found true and faithful, by the event of that which they foretold: whose writings could never possibly be falsifyd, nor altered the least by Christians, since that they were always in the hands of the jews: These Prophets, I say, foretell, not generally and obscurely, but particularly and distinctly, the Mysteries of JESUS-CHRIST, the time of his coming, the place of his birth, the Virginity of his Mother, the quality of his Personne, the kind of life He would lead, the virtues He would practise, the miracles He would work; his Passion, his Death, his Burial, and his Resurrection, with all their circumstances. The time of his Coming in the 49 Chapter of Genesis, where Gen. 49. jacob. Says at the hour of his death The sceptre shall not be taken away from judas, and a Duke out of his thigh, till He do come that is to be sent, and He shall be the Expectation of the Gentills. Here we see two illustrious Prophecies, which could not be foretold but by the Spirit of him who pierces future ages, and disposes of Kingdoms. He foretells that the Sovereignity and the Royal Authotity should enter into the Tribe of juda, and that it should remain there till the coming of the MESSIAH; In the first He foresees that which was to be effected after a thousand years; what man could see so far? He foresees what was to come contrary to all humane apearance: for Reuben, Simeon, and Levi were judas his elder Brothers, and by the right of eldership were to be preferred. Nevertheless, the Royalty in fine enters into the Tribe of juda in the personne of David: and is there established, and continues there till the coming of the MESSIAH, notwithstanding the murmuration of the ten other Tribes, the revolt of Israël, and the captivity of Babylon. Isay. 11. 1. Hierem. 23. 3. The Prophets Isaiah and Hieremiah foretell that He should issue out of the race of David, and JESUS-CHRIST issued thence: which is so clear, that He was called commonly the son of David: and it is proved by the deduction of his Geneaoligy ●n S. Matthew and S. Luke. Micheas foretells that He should be born in Betheleem: Mich. 5. He is born there. Isaiah, that He should be conceived and born Isai. 42. Isai. 35. 6. Isai. 53. Psal. 21. Psal. 14. Isai. 11. Zachuri●h. 19 of a Virgin: He was so▪ the Psalmist, that the Kings of the East should bring him presents: they did so. Isaiah Prophecies that He should be carried into Egypt, that He should be gentle, merciful, peaceable; That He should restore light to blind, hearing to deaf, and speech to dumb. That He should be despised, humbled, afflicted, and put to death with the wicked for the sins of men. David wrote almost from point to point his crucifixion, his death and Passion. He foretells, that his Body should not cour rupt in the Sepulchre, but that He should rise again. Isaiah that his Sepulchre should be glorious and it is at present visited by all Nations of the world. Zachariah assures us, that He should banish Idolatry, which He hath done so happily, that the jews themselves, his greatest Enemies, have not since his coming fallen into it, though before they were so subject to it. 3. And because JESUS-CHRIST came not only for jews, but also for Gentills, who had no other Prophecies than those of the Sibyls: the Providence of God put into the mouths of these Prophetesses divine Oracles, who announced the coming, works, and Mysteries of the Messiah, as JESUS hath accomplished them: The injuries of the times have deprived us of the greater part of their writings: But S. Clement Alexandrinus, Clem. Alex. bib. 6. storm. Lactan. lib. 45. de vera Sap. S. Iust. Mar. in Apol. ad Ant. S. Aug. l. 10. de Civit. c. 2 & lib. 11. c. 23. Lactantlus, S. justinus Martyr, S. Augustine, and other ancient Fathers, who cited them for the proof of our Religion, show, that yet in their times these Prophecies were in Vogue among the Pagans. 4. The Prophets announced that the Messiah would come: But S. john Baptist proclaimed that He is come, and showing him with his finger said, Behold him. His testimony cannot be refused by any reasonable man: for He led an innocent and irreprehensible life from his infancy; He was a disinteressed man, who contemned honours, riches, and the delights of the world. The perfection and sanctity of his life is so eminent, that they take him for the Messiah: and it was in him to be acknowledged for such. All the Synagogue sent to him Priests and Levites, for to know of him, if He were CHRIST or no; if He had answered but yes, they had believed his simple word giving testimony of himself; with more reason ought one to believe him when he testifys for another; He says, that he is unworthy to untie the shoestring of his shoes: he hides himself so soon as JESUS gins to show himself: and of so many Disciples as he had, not any of them appears after JESUS began to preach. 5. But tho' the predictions of the Prophets, nor the testimony of the Precursour should not authorise in any sort the Mission of JESUS-CHRIST: the works and miracles which He wrought show evidently that He was sent by God. When one affirms himself to be sent extraordinarily from God, if he will that men believe him, he ought to give proofs of his Mission, to work miracles, which are the bulls and patents of it; if he does evident, palpable, and irreprehensible miracles, men ought to believe that he is sent by God, and give credit to his words; for 'tis impossible that God should work a miracle in confirmation of a . JESUS shows then evidently and effectually that He is sent by God, and that He is God, since that He works so many Miracles in confirmation of his Mission, and his Doctrine; He makes seen his power in all Orders of the Vnivers: He exercises his empire upon all that is in nature, and he works miracles upon all creatures, as appears in the writings of the Evangelists. 6. Now that these miracles were not impostures but truly worked, many powerful reasons persuade every man that hath common sense. But this shall suffice at present, That the Evangelistes name often the persons, they particularise circumstances of place and manner in which the miracles were wrought: and they write those that were done in their time, in public, and in the presence of many witnesses; if they had not said the truth, they might easily be reproved, and they would have had thousands that would have contradicted them, and who would have taken all credit from them, and from their Gospels; They report that JESUS fed four thousand persons with seven loaves: and another time, five thousand with five loaves; They say that JESUS raised Lazarus half rotten in Bethania, very near to Jerusalem: the child of the Widow in Naim at the gate of the City, in the sight of very many; that they brought into Jerusalem the infirm of the neighbouring Towns, and that the shadow of S. Peter passing upon them, they were all cured; If these things were falls, when the Evangelists pteached, and published their books, they would have had as many Witnesses against them, as there were persons in Naim, in Jerusalem, and in the neighbouring Towns, who would have said, we were then in the Town, we have neither seen nor heard any thing of all this. They say that in the passion of JESUS CHRIST the sun was eclipsed, that darkness covered all the earth, that the earth trembled, that the sepulchres opened, that the Veil of the Temple was rend, and that this was done in the feast of Pasche, when there were in the City more than eleven hundred thousand persons according to the history of josephus; these Persons came to the Feast from all parts of the world where the jews were then dispersed, as may be seen in Philo, josephus, and Tacitus, and from thence they returned to their respective homes. If these miracles had not been true, there would have been in every place, who would have deposed against the Apostles and the Gospel which they brought with them: who would have said to them: you are great liars: we were that year in Jerusalem, and we saw nothing of all this: they would have sent them back into their counrrey with their books, But this happened not: for these miracles were so evident, so notorious, and confessed of all the world: that the Apostles who preached them were received by all the world. The Gospels which contain them being published; not one of the Pharisees, who were enraged with spite against JESUS CHRIST and his Religion, ever dared to contradict the narration of these miracles in the books which they composed; But on the contrary, all the enemies of christian Religion, jews, Mahometans, and Gentills, have acknowledged these miraculous works. 7. As concerning the miracles of the Apostles and primitive christians, Aug. lib. 1. de Consen. C. 10. Evang. which they wrought in the name of JESUS, they were so frequent and so evident, that Pagans not being able to reproach them by any artifice, attributed them to magic, as may be seen in S. Augustin. But to attribute them to Magic, is a malice as black and diabolical as magic itself. For first julian the Apostate, and so many others, who were so much affected and addicted to magicians and to magic, never could render sight to one blind, or raise one only dead man. Secondly magic hath no power but by the concurrence of the Devil: and how came it that he would assist the Apostles to do miracles, seeing that the Apostles by these miracles abolished the worship of the devils; But if you are so incredulous, that you will not belive any thing but what is before your eyes: believe a miracle which you see, the conversion of the world: and confess that JESUS CHRIST by himself, and by his Disciples hath made in the world the greatest, the hardest, and the best change that was ever made. 8. He hath made the true God, the God of Israel, who was not known but in Palestine, and to a few in the other parts of the earth, to be known and adored by all the world; He hath banished Idolatry, discredited the devils who abused men, silenced their oracles, ruined their Temples, demolished their Altars broken their Idols, abolished their sacrifices, and annihilated their service: He hath drawn men from murders, impurities, parricides and other abominations which they committed in the worship of these falls Gods: And what is yet more wonderful, in the place of this false worship, He hath planted and established a new religion, tho' the more speculative points of it appear contrary to the maxims of reason: The proper precepts and counsills of it pieces of great folly according to humane prudence, and the opinion of infidels: And the practice of it is the mortification, the cross, and the crucifixion of a man. 9 The jews and other Infidels must confess this at least, that this change was a work, which could not be accomplished but by a man not only sent by God, but extraordinarily assisted by him: since the ancient Prophets, who made so many invectives, gave so many threats, and worked so many miracles against Idolatry, could not yet banish it from one only kingdom of Egypt, one only City of Babylon, nor from any other pagan Town. Now this JESUS who is sent by God, and extraordinarily assisted by him: who negociates with so much success the affairs of his glory, john. 14. 6. says that He is the Son of God, that He is the Way, and the Verity, and the Life: that God and He are one and the same Thing: This is john. 10. 30. than most true, else God would not have authorized, but disowned and punished him, as the most detestable Impostor and blasphemer that had ever been; And on the contrary He is extremely angry with those, who put him to death: and hath punished, and punishes yet at present this furious attempt, with the most terrible and longest vengeance that He ever exercised in this world. 10. Let us say then with S. Philip, we have found the MESSIAH of whom Moses and the Prophet wrote: we have known him by certain and john. 1. 45. evident marks. But to what serves it to have known and received him, if instead of being our most good and amiable Redeemer, we by not practising his doctrine nor following his examples, do make him to be our most terrible and severe Judge? what profits us to have carried the name and character of Christians, if neglecting to be true Christians, good and virtuous Christians, we make by our fault, that JEsus, who was sent to be out Father and our Pastor, become to us a stumblingblock and an Enemy? 11. Let then every Christian look upon his Doctrine as a Law; which obliges them: as a Rule to which they must conform their lives: as a Contract that God hath made with us, which contains conditions under which He promises us his Paradise, and not otherwise. When then you read in this Law, Rule, and Contract any verity, or have it otherwise proposed to you: you must consider it, ruminate upon it, and apply it to yourself, and to your actions: for God said it expressly to you, and for this end. As when you read or hear. Unless you bocom as little children, you shall not enter into the kingdom of Heaven. Unless you do penance you shall perish; Say in yourself: Certainly if I be not simple, candid, and innocent as an infant: If I do not penance: I shall not enter into the kingdom of Heaven. Believe that when you shall be present at the terrible Tribunal of God, They who flatter you now, will not plead for you then: they who say in compliance with you, that 'tis not necessary to follow so scrupulously this Law and Rule, will not then excuse you; God will judge you, not according to your thoughts, nor according to their little reasons, nor according to the maxims of the world: But according to that which is written in this Law and Rule, and that with so much exactness, that there shall not be one word, not one syllable, not one jota, that shall not be infallibly accomplished. And to say no more, behold an irrevocable sentence of the eternal Verity, which no excuse, no pretext, no reasons can put off: They that obey not the Gospel, shall undergo eternal pains; 2 Thes, 1. 8. As on the contrary, God promises to those that shall hear and profit by the instructions of CHRIST, to be their recompense: He promises to give them joys, delights, treasures, and eternal benedictions. Amen. DISCOURSE IV: OF THE SECOND ARTICLE And in JESUS-CHRIST his only Son, our Lord. HAving shown that JESUS-CHRIST is the true object of our Faith, we must now consider what the Apostles propose to our belief in this Article concerning him. Wherefore in the first place we will see, what is JESUS-CHRIST to whom they give these names; And in the second place, Why they give these names to him. What is CHRSIT? This is a Mystery well known to many: But which ought not to be unknown to any: because 'tis the foundation of Christianity, And the Source of our salvation; And it oonsistes in this: that as in us there are two parts: the one interior, invisible, and Spiritual, which is the soul; The other exterior, visible, and material, which is the body; body and soul so knit together, that they make but one thing which is man; So in our Saviour there are two Natures, one increated, eternal, and infinite, to wit the Divinity; the other created, temporal, and finite, to wit the Humanity, that is to say, a body and a reasonoble soul; which Divinity and Humanity are so united and joined together, that they make but one Personne, which is true God, and true Man; whom the Apostles signify by these names, JESUS-CHRIST, SON OF GOD, and OUR LORD. 2. First they call him JESUS, which signifys a Saviour; And it was imposed with great reason. For if Joseph in the Egyptian tongue was Called Saviour, because he kept the people from Gen. 41. Numb. 13. famine by his providence; if Osee the Son of Num the Successor of Moses had the same name, because he led the people into the land of Promise after they had fought many battles; And if the Son of josadech had also the same name, for contributing 1. Esdras. 3. to the delivery of the people out of the captivity of Babylon; with much more reason our Saviour received this name, since He does not only deliver some particular people out of certain calamities as they did: but moreover all mankind from sin, damnation, and eternal misery. 3. He also applies himself to our Salvation with so much tenderness and affection, with so much fervour and zeal, that more than most deservingly He may take from this also his Name. They that love passionately write in a ring with their own name, that of their beloved, The Son of God hath written our salvation, not with his Name, but in his Name: He cannot think of his own Name without remembering our Salvation. When you will express an ardent desire of any thing, you say, I would give for it a part of my blood: JESUS said it not: but He hath done it: and He gave, not a part only, but all his precious Blood for our Salvation. JESUS makes so much account of our souls, that having bought them with his Blood, He pleases himself in the bargain: and shall we sell them to the Devil, for a little money, or for a brutal pleasure? He gins to suffer for us from the time He gins to live: and shall we serve him, but when we decay, or begin to die? He thinks not on his Name, without remembering us: and shall we hear or pronounce this holy Name without calling to mind the benefit of our Redemption: without thanking and honouring the Personne named? Let us have him in our thoughts frequently in the day, thanking him, and offering ourselves to him; In our words speaking often of him, and of what He hath done to be our JESUS; In our prayers, demanding of him, and by him, the graces and virtues which are necessary for us; In our hearts, loving him, and rejoicing in him. 4. In the second place, the Apostles call him CHRIST, which signifys anointed; And this name was given to Priests, Kings, Exod. 29 1. kings. 10. 3. kings. 19 and Prophets: because they were anointed with oil (which signifys grace) in figure of JESUS CHRIST; But JESUS is not a Priest only: but the sovereign Priest of Priests: not King only: but the King of Kings: not Prophet only: but Prophet of all the Prophets; Priest, King, Prophet; Anointed, not by men, but by God: not with oil, but with the fullness of his graces, 5. In the third place, they call him Son of the Omnipotent Father; SON, not by adoption or grace only, but by nature; For He is begotten from all eternity, not according to his humanity, or according to his Soul and Body, but according to his divine Person: Begotten I say, not carnally, corporeally; but spiritually, divinely, and incomprehensibly, by the understanding of the Father, or by the knowledge the eternal Father hath of himself. And by the property of his birth. He receives three names, which are to him particular, notional, and personal: which appertain to him, and not to the other Persons of the BB. Trinity. He is a WORD, an IMAGE, a SON. He is a WORD, Verbum erat apud Deum, the WORD was with God. S. john. 1. Collos. 8. He is an IMAGE, Ipse est Imago Dei invisibilis; He is the IMAGE of the invisible God; He is a SON: misit Deus filium suum: God sent his Son. He is a WORD; because produced by the Understanding; a WORD: for the science, knowledge and doctrine of the Father is most simple and uncompounded; 'tis but one only WORD, but which represents all, says all, and does all. He is an Image: for He is the actual knowledge which God hath of himself, the Expression of his Essence: He represents it then perfectly, otherwise the Science of God would be imperfect; He is then the natural image, lively representation, and perfect character of God's substance. He is a SON: for He is produced by the Understanding, by a natural Power, by a natural and vital action, and through inclination the Eternal Father hath to produce his like, not only by resemblance, but in identity of Nature. He is then the true Son of God, his production is true generation and He is not only equal to the Father, but the same God with him. 6. They Say, only Son. And He is so the only one, that 'tis impossible there should be another; because the eternal Father begets him most necessarily and continually: and his generative Power tho' infinite, is wholly, entirely; and eternally employed in producing him. 7, In fine the Apostles most justly call him Our Lord. For so He is by many Titles. Other Lords and Sovereigns have generally but one Title, one only right to their Dominions, and that sometimes pretended, usurped, and unjustly acquired, or at the best a very slight one. JESUS is our Lord by all sorts of Rights, by all the Titles that can give authority and jurisdiction. He is our Lord because He created us; the Workman is naturally Master of his work ' the Father of his child, and the Potter of his earthen vessel; He is our Lord, because He conserveses, nourishes and hinders us from returning to the nothing, out of which He drew us; He is our Lord, because He directs, governs and commands us, and by other prerogatives of Nature. 8. And because that all these Titles of Sovereignity give him Empire and Dominion over other creatures as well as over mankind, He would be our Lord by Titles that give him particular and special authority over us. We appertain to him by the right of Conquest, by the right of Emption or purchas, and Redemption. This right God alleged often to the jews, for to oblige them to be faithful in his service, and obedient to his Laws, I am the Lord thy God, who have brought thee out of the land of Egypt: I am your Lord and Sovereign, you are my Vassals, and Slaves ' not only as other people, by reason of the benefit of creation: but by a new right and a special obligation: because I made w●●r against Pharaoh for you: and you are my Captives and prisoners of war. JESUS hath much more reason to make the like plea to us, and to oblige us to his service: for he hath fought in his own person for us: He hath been wounded in the combat: He hath delivered us from the deplorable servitude of Sin, freed us from the most cruel tyranny of Satan, and drawn us from his oppression; are we not then his slaves? Add to this, that He hath bought us 1. Cor. 6. 20. with his blood: you are bought with a great price, Says the Apostle. You are then no more your own: your Being, your soul, your body, and your actions are not yours; if you employ them then for yourselves, you are usurpers of another's goods; since JESUS hath bought you, you belong more to him than a slave unto is Lord, than a horse unto his Master. 9 Nevertheless, what is most unjust, and most deplorable: Many acknowledge not JESUS-CHRIST to be their Lord: He receives no homage from them. For what honour, what service, and what obedience do they render him? If they are in a chamber of an earthly King or Lord,▪ 'tis with great respect, with a profound silence, and with fear to commit the least incivility; But if they are in a church, in the house of God, in his presence, they commit irreverences, insolences, and insupportable impudences. What service do they render him? In the morning as soon as they are up, they fall upon their employments, or upon fooleries, or trifles and pastimes; if they go to Church, they give to God their lips, and their hearts to their affairs, to vanities, and often to worse; in the Evening they pray in bed, or half a sleep, or with so little respect, that they would not speak in that manner to a Civil man; In the rest of the day, they think not of him, they speak of him no more than if there were no God, unless perhaps pronouncing his holy name, or calling upon him irreverently, and offending him. 10. What Obedience do they yield to his divine laws? What little King is there in the world, or Lord of a Village that they would disoblige as they do this great Lord? If He were a King of cards, they would not transgress his commandments with greater impudence than they do; If He were a God of straw▪ they would hardly offend him with more temerity and less regard to Him. They swear by his holy Name, transgress his Commandments, commit sins which displeas him infinitely, and after this they laugh, play, and sleep as boldly, as if they had done nothing. 11. No, He is not their Lord: they say with the jews, we will not have this man reign over us: they deny by their works, what they profess by these words: I believe in JESUS-CHRIST Luke 19 ●4. our Lord. Who is then their Master? to whom do they appertain? to whom do they homage and service? To the most barbarous, Cruel and infamous tyrants imaginable; though they know by serving such Masters they gain but hell: that they have not one day of true repose, not one hour of content; that they are tortured by the furies of their conscience, by apprehension of death, by fear of damnation, and by the sight of the inconstancy and mortality of Creatures which they love. The world cries I fail you in time of need; the flesh cries I defile and cover you with ordures; the Devil cries, I deceive them that trust in me: and many go after these Masters; JESUS our Lord cries, come to me all and I will refresh you: I will discharge you of the heavy burden of the world: I will deliver you from the Tyranny of your passions: I Matt. 11. 28. will free you from the servitude of the Devil; And yet few do go to him; Ah! few of them also who cry out to him Lord Lord, and do seem to honour him; for many of these desire to go, but stand still: they cannot abide to take pains in the way, they will not labour to practise the virtues which He commands; tho' He hath given so excellent and heroical Example of obedience, having made himself obedient to death, and to the death of the Cross; and tho' they know, that since He hath redeemed us by his Obedience to the Commandments of his Father, He will apply to us the fruit of his Redemption by our Obedience to his Commandments: He is made says the Apo-stle the cause of eternal salvation to all them that do obey him. 12. Let us say then with S. Austin: Command what you will: Heb. 5. 9 give what you Command. you may Command what so ever you please, for you are Lord; You cannot command any thing that is not just, for you are a most equitable judge; You command nothing, but what is sweet, profitable, and facile with your grace: for you are our Father. Give what you Command: There is much repugnance in our corrupted nature, much opposition to the observance of your divine Laws: But you are Omnipotent and can easily overcome it by your Grace. You promised by your Prophets, that you would write your Commandments in our hearts; they are as hard as stones; But you wrote them upon stones; Engrave them then we beseech you, in the centre of our hearts: that you coming to Judge may not find transgressions to be punished: But good works which are your gifts, to be rewarded in the happy Eternity. Amen DISCOURSE V OF THE THIRD ARTICLE Who was conceived by the holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Marie. Spiritual and devout souls, who meditate upon the Mysteries of this Article, are transported with joy and admiration, at the sight of the great wonders divinely wrought in the womb of the B. Virgin, in the Conception of JESUS-CHRIST. For if in this Conception there is one thing natural, there are many that surpass all nature. That our Redeemers Body was form of the Blood of a woman is a natural thing: But that it was form, not by man's operation, but by the operation of the holy Ghost; That his Body was made in an instant, without the imperfections in which ours are made; That in this instant it receives a reasonable soul, without the ignorance where in we are conceived: without the stain of original sin which Adam put upon us; But on the contrary, with perfect knowledge of all things and with plenitude of Grace; That this Body and soul are united to the second Person of the B. Trinity; That, that which arises by this Union is perfect God and perfect man; That He was such in a woman's womb; That she remaining a Virgin, was a Mother: Mother of a Man-God: Morher of God and Mother of Man: these, I say, are things which surpass Nature: and are the subjects of our admiration. I admire not said S. Cyprian, the stabylity of the earth which stands by its own weight in the midst of the Vnivers; I admire not the volubility of the firmament, which moves day and night and hath no Centre in which it may end its motion; I admire not the inconstancy of the Moon, which never remains in the same state, but increases, or decreases every moment; I admire not the Sun which shows itself always full, which is infatigable in its course, and marches as a Giant to communicate its light and heat to all the quarters of the world; But I admire God made man, I admire a God in the womb of a Virgin: I admire the Omnipotent an impotent infant: And we may add, I admire the Creator made a Creature: the Lord and Sovereign, a subject, and a slave: and the judge, a criminal in appearance. In all the other wonders of nature, I find some reasons that do satisfy me; But in this Mystery I have nothing else, but that which the prophet Abacuc did say, I have considered your works, and am astonished. 2. Born of the Virgin Marie. This is the second Birth of the Son of God; In his first, He issued forth of the Understanding of the Father from all eternity; In this He came forth of his mother's womb in time. The eternal birth is admirable: the temporal is amiable; I honour and reverence the eternal; I embrace and love the temporal; I rejoice in that▪ and I enjoy this; I glorify God for the first: and I thank him for the second; the eternal created me, and the temporal repaired me; It would have nothing profited me to have been created, if I had not been redeemed; by JESUS begotten of the Father I was created; by JESUS born of the Virgin I was redeemed; I have then more obligation to JESUS born of the Virgin, than to JESUS begotten of the Father; And I find many marvels in this second birth, as well as in the first. I will explicate the marvels of these his births, and of his Conception, by a comparison so proper and so natural, so clear and so intelligible, that the most indocible may come by it to a competent knowledge of these mysteries. 3. Amongst all the creatures purely corporal, there is not one that expresses God so naturally as the Sun. You see the Sun produces a Ray, which is its offspring; There is nothing more visible than the Sun producing its Ray: nothing also is more clear, bright, and visible than the Ray; and nevertheless there is nothing that we have so much difficulty to eye: we cannot fix our eyes upon it: not through want of light; but through excessive clearness, and through the weakness of our sight; So the Son of God is begotten by his Father in the light of his Divinity, by the way of understanding and of knowledge; there is nothing then more intelligible than this Generation: and nevertheless there is nothing that we are so unable to understand: 'tis darkness to us, by reason of the weakness of our understanding Tho' the Ray be the offspring of the Sun: it is nevertheless as ancient as the Sun: and if the sun had been from all Eternity, its Ray would have also been eternal; So though JESUS CHRIST according to his Divinity be the Son of God thc Father: He is nevertheless as ancient as his Father: He is from all Eternity, even as his Father. The Sun by its Ray warms the air, makes the earth fruitful and produces gold and silver, metals and minerals in the heart of it; So the eternal Father by his Son Created Heaven and earth, men john. ●. and Angels, and does by him his works: omnia per ipsum facta sunt The Sun loses nothing by giving Being to its Ray: on the contrary, the ray is the glory, beauty, and ornament of the Sun; So the Son of God is the splendour of the Father, and the figure of his substance: 'tis the Father's great perfection to beget a Son, who is God as He, and the same God with him. The Ray comes forth of the Sun, and is sent down to us: but it comes forth of it, without coming from it: you see it in the Sun, though it be upon the earth; So when faith teaches us, that the Son of God descended from heaven, and came into this world, this is not to say he left the bosom of his Father: He always remained there though He appeared here. The Sunbeam comes into this Church and passes through red glass How did it enter into it, how did it go out of it? I know not; It went into it without opening it: it went out of it, without breaking it; so the Son of God came into this world, and passed through the blessed womb of the Virgin: How was He there conceived? I know not; How was He brought forth? I know not; He was conceived there: He was brought forth: without opening, without breaking, and without prejudicing the Virginal womb. The ray passing through the glass beautifies it, renders it more clear and resplendent; So JESUS passing through the womb of Mary, rendered her Virginity more pure, more holy, and more sacred: Matris integritatem non minuit, sed sacravit. What hath the Ray done in this glass? it hath borrowed a little redness; it is become coloured, the glass hath clothed it with a red colour; And what did JESUS in the womb of Mary? He borrowed humane nature, which is made if a little red earth, Adam, that is to say, red earth: He made himself man there, the Virgin clothed him with our humanity. The ray borrowing of the glass this red colour, deprived not the glass of it; JESUS borrowing of Mary our humane nature, did not any hurt or prejudice to Mary. The sunbeam before it entered into the glass, was a Ray, but it was not colour, nor coloured: But since 'tis entered into this glass, and is come into this Church, 'tis a coloured Ray, 'tis a radiant colour, 'tis a colour which is a Ray; So JESUS before the incarnation was God from all eternity: But He was not man: Now since He is entered into Mary, He is a humanised God, He is a Deified man; is a God who is man, and a man that is God. The support and the subsistence of this red colour that appears here, is the Ray; for this colour subsists not, but by this Ray; So what is the support and the subsistence of the holy Humanity; 'tis the Son of God, it hath no subsistence besides him. This Sunbeam as a Ray or light of the Sun, is in all the world: But as a coloured Ray, it is not every where, it is only here and in some other places; JESUS as God, and Son of God, is in every place; But as man He is not every where: He is but in Heaven, and in the holy SACRAMENT. Who is the Father of this coloured Ray? 'Tis the Sun; But the Sun produced not the colour: But it produced the Ray which is joined with the colour; and who is the mother of this coloured Ray? 'tis the glass, but it made not the ray but it produced the radiant colour: it clothed the ray with this Robe of colour; Who is the Father of JESUS MAN-GOD? It is the eternal Father: He begot not of his substance the Humanity of JESUS; But He begot of his Substance the Person of his Son, who is Man; Who is the Mother of this MAN-GOD? It is Mary; she begot not the Divinity: But she conceived the Man who is God: the clothed the Person of the Son of God with our humanity▪ Which is the more ancient, this coloured Ray, or the glass? The Ray, as a Ray, as the offspring of the Sun, is a long time before the glass, it is from the beginning of the world, it is as ancient as the Sun: But the Ray as coloured is younger than the Sun; Who is the more ancient JESUS or Mary? JESUS as God, or as Son of God, is long before Mary, He is from eternity, as the Father and the holy Ghost: But JESUS as man, is younger than his Mother. This Ray being in the sun is so bright and resplendent that i● dazels the eyes of them that look upon it; but the same ray being descended here below, and clothed with a red colour is easily beheld; so the son of God in the bosom of his Father, is invisible, ineffable, inaccessible, and incomprehensible; But the same Son of God, being clothed with our humanity, is made visible, palpable, and sensible: to the end He might illuminate and instruct us, that He might be the Director of souls, and the Doctor of justice, as He is called by the Prophets; And He gins betimes to perform the charge: He exercices the office from the beginning of his life. 4. This insant newly born does preach: his pulpit is the cradle: his Auditory the univers: his Doctrine is the contempt of the world; He preaches, not by word: for He cannot speak: but by example; He preaches not to the ears: But to the eyes: He says, that voluntary poverty is better than riches; And the world on the contrary says, that money is to be procured in the first place: that a man must have it, tho' he hazard his soul for it. This divine infant says, the humble, simple, innocent, and mortifyd life is that which pleases God. The World says, a man must greaten himself, appear glorious, Machevalize subtly, Circumvent and diceive craftily▪ and live in delights and pleasures. 5. Behold two Masters quite contrary, two doctrines diametrically opposite! It is necessary the one, or the other be deceived. To say this infant is deceived, is horrible blasphemy; He is the eternal Wisdom, the increated Wisdom, the Angel of the great Council. It must then be confessed, that the Avaricious, Ambitions, Voluptuous, and Machiavilians are grossly deceived. 6. Let us then Conform ourselves to JESUS who is established by the eternal Father as our model; Let our life resemble his, as an Image the Prototype or original; Let it be a copy, an expression, and a representation of his; that we paticipating his virtues, Spirit, and graces in this life, may be partakers of his glory in the other. Amen▪ DISCOURSE VI. OF THE FOURTH ARTICLE Suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried THe Apostles who made in their Creed an abridgement of the principal Mysteries of our Faith, having spoken of the Conception, and of the Nativity of our Saviour, pass his Life in silence, and treat immediately of His death: to teach us the chief reason of his coming was, to suffer, and to redeem us by his Passion. 2. He saw by the light of glory the abyss of sin, and the Eternal damnation to which men were doomed for the fault of their first Parents, and for their own sins; He had pity on them and prayed his Father to pardon them for the Love of Him. What man on earth: What Angel in Heaven, knowing that the only Son of God, a Son so amiable, and so beloved, demands pardon of his Father for men, to whom He is like in nature: What man or Angel, say I, knowing this, would not have said, surely, surely, the eternal Father will pardon mankind for the love of his Son, who is a man, and that also freely, without any satisfaction; No, the Father does it not; But He says, Isaiah. 53. 10. my Justice must have its course; my Son, I will pardon men, if you will answer for them, and undergo death for them. The Son hath a great apprehension and horror of a death so cruel and ignominious; we see it in the Prayer He made in the Garden, which was an expression of that which He acted in the womb of his Mother after the instant of his Conception. 3. Nevertheless He accepted not only with patience and resignation, but also with pleasure and satisfaction the decrees of God's Justice concerning him; He offered himself most willingly and with an ineffable love not only to be nailed to the Cross, but also to remain and languish thereupon 'til the end of the world, if it should so please his Father: Ecce venio ut faciam voluntatem Heb. 10. 9 tuam. He that should have seen this submission, might with probability have said: the eternal Father will content himself with his good will, as He was satisfied with the good will of Abraham and of Isaac; at least the Justice of God will be contented that he suffer but one prick of a thorn, or one stroke of a whip, that He shed one drop of his Blood, which is sufficient to sanctify the whole world; No: He wills that He suffer actually all the punishments, humiliations, and afflictions we sinners did deserve. 4. A Sinner deserves to be deprived of the use of creatures, since he abused them; to be humbled and confounded, because he would not be subject to the laws and will of God; To be punished both in body and soul, because he offended the infinitely high Majesty of the Creator. And JESUS hath taken upon himself to satisfy for all these pains and punishments. 5. He was deprived of the use of Creatures; for what privation more rigorous, than to be spoiled of his very ? to be as naked as a worm of the earth: not to have so much as a poor shift to cover him, not a drop of water to refresh his tongue in the agony of death? One of his Apostles betrays him: another denys him: all forsake him: and though some holy Women followed him, yet they were not permitted to assist him. 6. He was humbled and confounded; What greater humiliation than to be exposed to derision and rudeness of the rabble, and to insolence of soldiers? Who treat him as the very scum of men: who salute him in mocherie, blindfold him, buffet him, pull off his beard: who put a reed in his hand for a sceptre, and thorns upon his head for a crown, as if He were a king of the Theatre? To be decried and condemned as a blasphemer, as a seducer, as ambitious, as seditious, as an Imposter: What confusion greater than to be dragged through the streets of Jerusalem with hues and cries, as a fool, and as an extravagant person, from Caiphas to Pilate, from Pilate to Herod, from Herod to the Pretory? To be less esteemed than Barrabbas a seditious person, and a murderer? to be esteemed more wicked, more unworthy to live, and more worthy of the cross than he? What indignity more intolerable than to receive foul and filthy matters in token of vility and baseness, not upon his garments or hands only, but upon his most venerable and adorable face? this indignity was so ignominious in Israel, that if a child received it from his father, he was to bear the confusion Numb. 12. 14. of it at least seven days: To be short, What greater contempt, than to die not the death of Nobles, nor with honourable persons, not in private and in prison, not in the night by torch light: but the death of slaves, with infamous persons, in a high and public place, at midday, in the sight of more than two hundred thousand persons. 7. What shall I say of the punishments received in his sacred Body? He suffered more horrible, harsh, and bitter torments than were ever suffered by any creature upon earth. The Prophet Isaiah calls him by excellence the man of Paines. Abel was murdered, c. 33. 3. Zachary was stoned, Isaiah sawed, Lazarus covered with ulcers, and not one of them is called the man of Paines. We have heard of men, to whom their virtues or their vices, their birth or their condition, have given honourable or shameful Names; But we have not heard but of JESUS-CHRIST only to whom Pain hath given a name; He is the Man of Pains, because He did bear all our pains; He is the man of Pains, because He suffered in all his members; and He is the man of Pains, because He was pierced through with Pains, exposed, Sacrificed, and given wholly over to sufferances and Pains. 8. But the sufferances in his soul will make appear yet better the Greatness of his Pain. He said in the Garden, my soul is sorrowful to death: It would separate my soul and Body, if I shoul not hinder it, for to endure yet more. To whatsoever part He casts his sight, He sees objects of the greatest sorrow: His soul is nailed to a most hard Cross, before his Body is crucified; and the Cross of his Soul is much more harsh, and insupportable, then that of his Body. The three nails of this interior cross are the injuries done to his Father: the Commpassion of his Mother: and the damnation of his brothers. Philosophy teaches us that a pain is more sharp and bitter, when 'tis received in a power more pure and immaterial. JESUS was pierced, with pain not only in the inferior part of his soul, but also in the superior, which is wholly spiritual, in the part in which He was blessed: and his Beatitude also contributed to the increase of pain, says S. Laurence Justinian. He de tryumphali Christi Ago. saw by the light of glory God face to face: He knew clearly the Greatness of his Majesty: the outrage and the injury that sin does him: he loved him with a most ardent and excessive love: and therefore He could not be but excessively afflicted seeing the Ocean of sins committed against that most high, adorable and amiable Majesty; The wounds of his Body were made by hands of Torterers: hands indeed most cruel and inhuman: Yet their activity had still limits; But the wounds of his heart were inflicted by the hand of love, by the love which He had for his Father: a love ineffable and incomprehensible; If a soul that loved God well, could have as much contrition as she would desire; o how would she pierce herself with sorrow▪ How willingly would she bathe herself in her tears! o how would she calcinate her poor heart! JESUS had as much of sorrow as He desired, and He desired as much of it as He had love for his Father: his sorrow was equal with his love; If He had seen but one only mortal sin committed against him whom He so loved, He would have grieved infinitely; o how then was He afflicted when He saw so many, so different, and so enormous! 9 The love which he had for his Mother, was another nail that pierced his heart, and which fastened him to this interior Cross. He sees her present at all the Mysteries of his bitter Passion; He sees all the wonds of his Body united in her heart: and we may say that his compassion was another Passion. 10. He looks below: His soul is sorrowful: He sees the torments of hell, wherein so many shall be plunged notwithstanding his sufferances for them. He sees that their wounds are incurable, that they abuse his Blood, death, and merits, and that after so many remedies they damn themselves for trifles, and what He endured for them, would serve but as oil and sulphur to inflame the divine Justice to punish their ingratitude more rigorously. 11. S. Austin wholly astonished at the sight of CHRIST'S sufferance cries out: o Son of God? whither hath your humility descended! whither hath your charity been inflamed! whither hath your piety extended itself! The Wiseman said, that you have done every thing in number, weight, and measure, But in this work of your Love, You have observed neither number, nor weight, nor measure; You have exceeded all hopes and desires; You have made an excess that could not be imagined; The Angels were astonished considering this wonder: a God whipped! a God covered with spittle! the King of kings crowned with thorns! a God crucified for slaves! a God pierced with sorrows for worms of the earth, of whom He had no need, and knowing, that they would be ungratfull for so great a Benefit. What transport! what excess! and if He were not God, I might say with Pagans, what folly of Love! Gentibus stultitia. 12. After a love so cordial, undeserved, and so excessive, shall we not love him? If the least slave had done the same for us, He would be Master of our hearts; and seeing a God hath done it, shall He not be? Qui non diligit Dominum jesum Anathema sit, 1. cor. 16. 22. says S. Paul: since JESUS suffered for us, if any one love him not, let him be Anathema, Cursed, excommunicated, and abhorred of all creatures. But if any one should not love him, and moreover be so ungratfull as to offend him, what punishment would You wish him holy Apostle. He adds it not; nor can one wish him a pain so great as he deserves; there should be a new hell to revenge an ingratitude so monstrous and enormous. 13. For as S. Bernard said, if Moses speaking to the jews, who had but a gross and imperfect Law. who had not been redeemed by JESUS-CHRIST, said to them Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with all thy heart, with all thy foul, and with all thy forces; what ought Christians to do after the Incarnation, Redemption, and Passion of our Saviour? Ought they not to burn with love? should they not, if it were possible, love JESUS above all their forces, thoughts, and activity of their hearts? If I own myself wholly to him for making me, what shall I add now for repairing me, and repairing me in such a manner? 14. Let us love him then, since He so loved us; let's not love him only in words and compliments; let us not content ourselves to say, I honour much my Saviour, I love him with all my heart: But let us love him in work and Verity: in doing, in giving, and in suffering for him: for so He loved us; And since his goodness is so infinite, and his love to us so excessive, that He preferred us, not only before Angels, but also before himself: it would be a horrible blindeness to prefer any other good before him; it would be a strange folly to offend him, to disoblige his goodness, to lose his amity and his favour, for honour, pleasure, profit, or satisfaction of a Passion. Do not so if you be wise: Say rather with S. Austin, all abundance, all honour, all felicity, that is not you my God, is but poverty, vanity, and misery; say as S. Francis did, my God You are my All! Love him with all your heart, since He his all your good: love him with a sovereign love, since He is sovereignly good: love, adore, bless, praise, glorify him now, and ever. Amen. DISCOURSE VII. OF THE FIFTH ARTICLE He descended into Hell, the third day He risen again from the dead. JESUS applied himself so earnestly to our Salvation, that whilst He was on earth, He let not a moment pass without labouring for it: And for this effect, whilst his Body laid in grave, He descended into Hell. This world Hell signifies an inferior and low place; And therefore the holy Church makes use of it in divers occasions, to signify divers inferior places. By this word she most often understands the place of everlasting damnation; And so our Saviour called it in 1. Luke. 36. S. Luk. where speaking of the unfortunate rich man says, he was buried in hell. Other times she uses this term to signify Purgatory: where they are, who died in the grace of God, but having not fully satisfied the divine justice, are further to be punished; so in the Mass of the dead she prays. free o Lord the souls of the faithful departed, from the pains of hell. She makes use of it also to signify the place, whither the souls of holy and just persons who were not subject to purgation, or had duly satisfied for their offences went, before the death of the Saviour of the world: expecting He should open them the gates of Heaven by his Passion. 2. He descended, not only by effect into these two last places making his power and goodness to appear by delivering the souls in them detained: But in substance He descended into them: his soul was really in those places, and He honoured the souls that were in them, and made them happy by his presence The third day he risen again from the dead; He risen no sooner, for to testify that He was truly dead, and to fulfil the figure of Matt. 12. 40. him; As jonas was three days and three nights in the belly of a whale so shall be the Son of man in the bowels of the earth. He would be three days subject to the law of death, to teach us mystically that by his death and Passion, He had satisfied the three Persons of the B. Trinity, for the sins committed in the three states of the world: in the Law of nature, in the Law of Moses, and in the Law of grace: And to show us that his Passion was the cause of the delivery of the ancient Fathers out of hell, of the Redemption of men on earth: and of the reparation of the Angelical thrones in Heaven. He risen again: By which words the Apostles teach us, that He S. john 10. returned to life by his own power; He said also in the Gospel, I have power to lay down my life, and to take it up again; and in another place, I will raise up my Body in three days after death 3. I know well, that S. Peter and S. Paul teach in many places, that his Father raised Him up to life; because this miracle S. Pater is an effect of the omnipotency of God, which though common Ast. c. 3. 26. and c. 5. 30. S. Paul in the 4. 8. and 10. to the Rom. Phil. 28. and 9 to all the 3. Persons of the B. Trinity, yet is attributed commonly to the Father. 'Tis true then that He risen up by his own Power; and 'tis true also, that the eternal Father raised him: to the end He might show his goodness both ro him and us. 4. First to him: that his Body might receive the Glory which He merited by his labours, humiliations, and sufferances; For He humhled himself says the Apostle being obedient unto death: for the which thing God hath exalted him; Note exalted him: for his Resurrection was not a simple return from death to life: but an entrance into a glorious life; That Body which He laid down passable and mortal, He receives impassable and immortal: that which was inglorious, now is glorious: which was infirm, now is powerful: which was a natural Body now is become a spiritual. These are the excellent qualities which S. Paul attributes to every 1. cor. 15. matt. 13 43. glorifyd Body; But that of Glory or clarity delights me most; for the body of every saint shall shine by it, as the sun: fulgebunt justi sicut sol; and nevertheless one shall differ from another in this Quality, as much as he exceeded him here in good works, or as S. Paul says, as one star differs in glory from another. What glory then, what admirable splendour, what ravishing beauty was given to the adorable Body of JSUS in recompense of his merits? And what satisfaction, and felicity will it be to see it, when our eyes shall be able to behold it, as hereafter they shall be by their impassibility? These four qualities belong to the Body of the Son of God, as a body glorifyd; But as a Body Deifyd, as subsisting in the Divinity, it hath yet a far other Glory: It hath a supereminent, ineffable, and incomprehensible Glory, as we may see in the next Discourse. 5. Wherefore the Son of God thanks his Father for that He brought his soul out of hell, and his Body out of the sepulchre, and that He raised him up again, Exaltabo te Domine quoniam suscepisti psal. 29. me. Eduxisti ab inferno animam meam. And He esteems so much this favour, that He exhorts us to thank God, to praise and glorify him for it, Psallite Domino fancti ejus, & confitemini memoriae sanctificationis ejus. psal. 29. 6. This is that which many never did, that of which many never thought. Our devotions are often but productions of self love, practices of interest, and reflections upon ourselves. If we pray God, we demand not of him but that which concerns our spiritual or temporal profit. If we thank him, 'tis but for the good which He hath done us, or those of our family: this is to love ourselves, and our salvation; this is good, but not perfect. If we are perfect Christians, and loving Disciples of JESUS: we will love him more than our own selves, be concerned in his interests, and pray God his Father for the exaltation of his glory, and the accomplishment of his designs: We will thank Him often, that He revived his Son, and restored Him the life which our sins had taken from him, that He elevated him, and placed him at his right hand. 7. Secondly, God shows in this Mystery his Goodness also to us; for as his Son was incarnated for us, as He lived and died for us, so He is raised to life again for us; We are quickened with him, are raised-up with him, and his Resurrection is an assurance and pledge of ours. If there be no resurrection of the dead, neither 1. Cor. 15. Christ is risen again, says S. Paul; But now Christ is risen again from the dead the first fruits of them that sleep; by a man death, and by a man the Resurrection of the dead; and as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all shall be made alive. We shall all indeed rise again, says the same Apostle: But we shall not all be changed: to wit into a better, and more glorious state. But only such as conform themselves to JESUS-CHRIST, who is their Rule, mirror, and model. 8. He contributed much to his glorious Resurrection, He merited it, and disposed himself to it, by his sufferances, humiliations, patience, and other most perfect and heroical acts of virtues which He practised. He by dying, taught us to die to sin: by rising again, to rise to a new life, and by dying no more, to live, profit, and persever to the end in sanctity and holiness, as his Apostle declares and urges much in his epistle to the Romans. Rom. 6. 9 Let not then men deceive themselves; Let them not think to be glorifyd in Heaven, if they be not Sanctified on earth; Let them not think to enter into a glorious life any other way than that of sufferances, of mortifications, and Christian virtues; This is the only way which the Son of God prescribed: which our Saviour beat, and which the saints have followed. Hear S. Paul and S. Bernahas By many tribulations we must enter into the kingdom Acts. 14. 21. of God; they say not, that 'tis a salutary Counsel: 'tis a more assured way: But, we must, that 'tis necessary to pass, not through two or three; but through many suffetances to come to the kingdom of God. There is nothing more clear, more firm and certain then the words of the son of God, who says, He S. Luke 9 23. that will come after me, Let him renounce himself, and carry his cross daily, and follow me. Now in good earnest, will they dare to say, that living as they do in the world: haunting almost continually balls, comedies, places of lewdeness, banquets, other pleasures and pastimes, is to renounce one self, and to carry daily the cross, and to follow Christ? He tells his Disciples in the day of his Resurrection, what way S. Luke. C. 24. He went; Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and so to enter into his glory? Note aught; It was necessary that Christ should suffer, and that He should enter by this means into his glory, into the glory which was his own, to which He had so much right: and will they think without suffering any thing to tame their passions, and without mortifying themselves, to enter into the glory, to which they have no right, into the glory which they have so often demerited, and which they have renounced by so many Crimes? We cannot have this glory but in quality of the heirs of God, and coheirs of jesus Christ: and his Apostle declares, that to obtain this favour, we must suffer with jesus Chris. Rom. .8 17. We shall not be more privileged than his Parents, favourits, and beloved friends; all the Saints suffered with him: all either were Martyrized, or led an austere, humble: and penitent life; S. john Apor. 7. 14. in the Apocalypse seeing the assembly of them, one said to him, that they came out of great tribulation: they are happily arrived: they took then a good way: and we if wise, will follow the same, and leave the other way. 10. We see in the Church two different ways, two different lives of those that have any desire to save themselves; one is of those who lead a holy life, mortifyd, devout, perfect, and fervent in good works; The other is of them that lead a life, not in the sight of men Criminal: but slack, negligent, and imperfect; they commit not great Crimes: but they do not also much good: and withal they will that self-love be always satisfied; they treat themselves well: they pass their time in sports, walks, superfluous visits, and other divertisments, which they term innocent: they do no injury to any: but they concern not themselves in the necessities of their neighbours. All without exception approve and commend the first way; not one, or very few will have the boldness to warrant the second way; this way then at least is uncertain, fallible, and dangerous. And S. Augustin says, when Lib. 1. de Bapt. C. 3. the salvation of our souls is concerned, we fail against the love we own to ourselves, if we take not the surest way. 'Tis a maxim of the Law, that we must not leave the certain for the uncertain; and that we must use the more precaution, where there is more danger; Common sense and experience show, that by how much a loss is greater, we apprehend the danger of it with more fear: by how much an evil is more terrible, we avoid the peril of it with more care. Does it not seem to you a great loss to lose the kingdom of heaven, the possession and the enjoyance of a God? And is it not a great evil to be burnt a live? to be always burning and not consuming? 'Tis an infinite loss, an infinite evil. We must then avoid, I will not say the danger, but the appearance of danger; for we cannot have too much assurance in a matter of so great importance. I pray our Lord to give us grace to live so holily, that we may be found worthy of this immortal Resurrection, and of the happy Eternity. Amen. DISCOURSE VIII. OF THE SIXTH ARTICLE He Ascended into Heaven, sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. THe Apostles having taught Christ's Victorious Resurrection: teach us in this Article his triumphant Ascension. By his Nativity, He went forth into the field to fight; by his Passion and death He fought the battle: By his Resurrection He overcame his enemies: and by his Ascension He triumphs. His triumphant chariot, was a thousand thousand of celestial spirits, Psal. 67. 18. and according to the translation of S. Hierom, innumerable thousands. He triumphed not only over enemies of flesh and blood, but also over devils, sin, and death. The spoils He carried with him, were not flocks of sheep and troops of other beasts, but innumerable multitudes of souls, which He redeemed out of Prison, and rescued out of the jaws of Hell: Thou art ascended high, thou hast taken Captivity, says the Rayal Prophet to him. Psal. 67. 10. With all this glorious train He ascended, not carried in a chariot, as Elias, nor by Angels, as Abacuc the Prophet, and S. Philip: nor did He ascend only by the force and agility He received in his resurrection: but moreover by the power and virtue He had, as God. 2. He Ascended into heaven There are three Heavens according to the scripture, Airy, Statry, and Imperial; and He mounted above all heavens, as his Apostle says; so passing the Air, Sun and all ●phes. 4. the heavens, He mounted to the most high and sublime place of the world. 3. He sits at the right hand of God the Father. God is a spirit, a pure and incorporeal Being, who hath neither side, nor hand, no● part; How does He sit then at his right hand? And if He sits in a seat or Throne: of what matter is it made? is it of wood, marble, gold, silver, or Diamant? I know well 'tis answered, the Apostles accommodate themselves to our low manner of understanding and of speaking, and that by this session at the right hand of the Father, they express the equality and consubstantiality of the Father and the Son. When we see one speak to the king on knee, we conclude he is a Vassal; But if we see one sit upon a throne near the king, and at his right hand, we say he is a Prince or Sovereign. The Apostles say, JESUS sits at the right hand of the Father: this is to say, He is Sovereign, Omnipotent and infinite as the Father, equal, coessential, and coeternal with the Father. 4. Yes: But JESUS as man, is not consubstantial, nor coeternal with the Father, and yet He is at the right hand of the Father, not only as God, but also as man, as S. Leo expressly teaches in his first sermon of the Ascension. You will say, the humane nature of JESUS is in the Throne of God, and at the right hand of the Father, because being as it were ingraffted, and inserted in the Being of God, in the subsistence of the Word, and making but one Person with him, 'tis served and reverenced as God. 5. You say true, but this solues not the difficulty; For this holy Humanity is united to the Word, and subsisting in his Personality from the first instant of Christ's Conception: and nevertheless, to speak properly: it is not but since the day of his Ascension, that the Humanity is elevated to the glory of the Father, and seated at his right hand, as the church says in the Canon of the Mass that day. 6. For to clear then these difficulties, we must remember, that in the Mystery of the incarnation, the Son of God communicating his subsistence to the holy Humanity, should have made it at the same time participant of all the perfections and Attributes, of which a created Nature may be capable; For if in a perfect marriage, the Woman espouses not only the Person of her husband, but also his nobility, prerogatives, and Honours: shall not the sacred Humanity which is married much more perfectly and inseparebly to the Word, receive from him the Perfections that are communicable to It? A Vegetative soul penetrating the stock of a little tree makes it live with a Vegetative life. A sensitive soul informing the body of a Lamb, makes it live with a sensitive life: An intellectual soul animating the body of a man, makes it live with a reasonable life: and the divine Word actuating, filling, and possessing the holy Humanity shall He not make it live with a divine life? Ought He not to communicate to it his proprieties and his Attributes? since He is united to it more strictly, perfectly, and nobly, than any soul is to her Body, or form to its matter? 7. Nevettheless the divine Word to procure our salvation, and to accomplish the work of our Redempion, suspended in his Incarnation the communication of divers of his perfections. For if JESUS had been immortal, how should he have died for us? If He had been impassable, how would He have suffered for us? If He had been independent and sovereign, how would have he given us an example of obedience, subjecting himself to his holy Mother? But in the day of his Ascension He made an entire effusion of himself, and of all his excellencies, and perfections, that were communicable to Humanity. 8▪ This is that which He asked of his Father in the Vigil of his death, when He said, Now glorify me o Father with thyself, with the glory which I had with thee, before all ages. Upon which S. john 17. 5. Lib.. 11. in Io. C. 17. Colloss. 2. 9 S. Cyrill of Alexandria says, The Saviour asks to be glorifyd, not with an accidental glory but with a natural glory; and a little after, The glory which He always had as God, He asks now as man. This is moreover that which S. Paul teaches us, when he says, the plenitude or fullness of the Divinity inhabits corporally, in him, that is, in his Humanity, says the same S. Cyrill. And this is that which ought to rejoice us in this Mystery: This is that which renders this Mystery dear and precious to JESUS: to the Virgin: and to all the Church. 'Tis in the Ascension properly that JESUS Man God sits at the right hand of the Omnipotent; 'tis in the Ascension, that He was received into the Throne of God: and that He entered into the Glory of his Father. 9 He sits, that is to say, He is no more subject to labours, tributary to weariness, liable to humane miseries and infirmities. 10. He is at the right hand of the Omnipotent; that is, He hath the superintendence and the administration of Heaven and earth, of men and Angels, of spirituals and temporals. What honour, what happiness for us, to know and to be assured, that a person of the same nature with us hath the keys of life and death, of Heaven and hell, that He governs all and does whatsoever He sees good? 11. He is in the Throne of God: that is, He entered into the real, actual, and eternal enjoyance of his Empire. 12. He is in Glory of the Father; that is, He is received into a full, entire and perfect possession of all the Grandeures of God that are agreeable to his merits and to the quality of a man-God. 13. This Mystery was moreover expedient for the holy Virgin. For if JESUS had remained amongst us, until the end of the world, the Virgin all that time would have been deprived of part of her felicity; of the sight of the adorable Body of her son, which is the most beautiful, charming, and ravishing of all bodies. He said then with good reason to the Virgin as well as to the rest 'Tis expedient for you that I go. S. john 16. 7. 14. But how did He say his Ascension was expedient for us also? Was it expedient the Pastor should be separated from the sheep, the Head from the members, and the Espouse from the spouse? Nevertheless it was expedient for us; For He goes away, but leaves us not: He separates from us, and dwells always amongst us: He dwells not only amongst us, but with us, but within us; had He remained amongst us, He would not have entered into us: for He would not have instituted the Eucharist which He left us for a supplement of his absence. And tho' JESUS-CHRIST remaining on earth with us, would have instituted the holy Sacrament: Yet his Ascension is very favourable to us; It is a subject of great consolation and joy: because it is a most certain Pledge, and an assured hope, that we may follow him; He said to his Disciples, I go to prepare a place for you. He left behind him the print of his feet upon the mountain from whence He ascended: and suffers not the place to be covered through which He passed, to teach us by these permanent miracles, that the way to Heaven is open and beaten for all the faithful who will follow thither the tracts and footsteps which He left us. 15. But is not it a strange thing that we cannot persuade Christians a verity so assured, and so important to their salvation, that to follow him thither, they must necessarily imitate his actions. S. Peter, S. Paul, S. John Evangelist, the three most famous Apostles of the Son of God declare it to us. S. Peter, JESUS-CHRIST ●. Ep. 2. 21. Rom. 8. 29, 1. Ep. 2. 6. john. 15. 6. suffered for us, giving you exemple that you may follow his steps. S. Paul, whom God hath foreknown, He hath also predestinated to be made conformable to his Son. S. john Evangelist, He that says that he abides in JESUS-CHRIST, aught to walk as He hath walked. The Son of God says if any one abide not in me he shall be cast forth as a branch, and shall whither, and they shall gather him up and cast him into the fire; to be saved then, and not to be cast into hell fire, 'tis necessary to abide in CHRIST. Now his beloved Disciple says, that to abide in JESUS-CHRIST, we must walk as He walked, live as He lived, imitate the virtues which He practised, each one in his condition, and according to his capacity, by the assistance of his grace. 16. Let us then resolve from this present hour to follow Him; The labour in practice of Virtue is but little: and the joy of it will be infinitely great; The pleasure of this world which draws us from it is but short; the pain that attends it will be very long; the combat is very light: the Crown will be most excellent; this present life is short: and the future is eternal; of this short life depends an eternity of happiness: which I pray God grant us all. Amen. DISCOURSE IX. OF THE SEVENTH ARTICLE From thence He will come to judge the quick and the dead. IT is a certain verity, that a man is judged at the end of his life, or at his departure out of this world; For the Wise man assures us, his works are then disclosed: Ecclus 11. Matt. 20 and that then God rewards every one according to his ways. And in the Parable of the Gospel, the Lord of the Vineyard commands the Workmen to be Paid in the evening of the same day they laboured. In fine the sacred text both of the old and Psal. 67. 19 Luke. 23. 43. Numb. 16. 33. Luke. 16. Ep. of. jude. v. 7. new Testament teaches us, that many souls are at present happy in Heaven: and many others miserable in hell; And we know, God does not reward or condemn any one without examining his merits and demerits. 2 But some perhaps will say; If there be a particular judgement at the end of life, why shall there be a general in the end of the world? Is He who says of himself, I am meek and humble of heart: who was promised by the Prophets showed by the Precursor under the figure of a Lamb so inclined to judge, that He is not satisfied in judging once, but will judge again? The sentence which He pronounces against us, or in favour of us in the hour of our death, is it not definitive and without appeal? or is there any thing in it to be reformed that He will make revision of it in his general Assizes? 3. To see cleary that 'tis more than most convenient that after the particular, there should be a general judgement in the face of the Vnivers; we need not but consider the following reasons. First it is expedient for the honour and glory of JESUS-CHRIST; S. Io. 5. 22. All judgement, says He, the Father hath given to the Son that all may honour the Son. And his Apostle, all shall stand before the trybunal of CHRIST; Rom. 14. 11. Why? for it is written, that every knee shall bow to me; Angels and men, predestinate and reprobate shall be all assembled, that all together acknowledge the man▪ God: that they do homage to his Sovereignity: and that every tongue confess that He is in the glory of God his Father. He was judged most unjustly, laden with reproaches and confusions, dragged shamefully through the streets of Jerusalem, nailed to an infamous cross, He is daily contemned and mocked by Infidels, jews, Heretics, and by bad Catholics; Is it not reason that the world should make him honourable amends, and that He receive as much of Glory as He received of affronts and ignominies? 4. His Father himself does him so much honour▪ that He gives him not only authority to judge men, but takes him for judge in his own cause. The eternal Father says, He will assemble joel. 3. 2. all nations in the Valley of Josephat, and will plead against them there. But in what Trybunal will He plead this cause? In the Tribunal of JESUS; He hath given all judgement to his Son; He puts into his hands all his rights and pretensions; He will say joan. 5. 22. to him, my Son, do me justice; I have done such favours, given such graces to such and such persons: and they were so ungratfull as to contemn me: after so many benefits, they offended me: they committed so many and so great crimes; what chastisement do they not deserve; I make you judge of it. And since all the right will be on God's side, and all the wrong on ours: JESUS will take his Father's part, and espouse his quarrel: will do him justice for the injuries He received, and judge us without favour, or acceptance of persons. ●phes. 6. 9 5. He will rejoice exceedingly to satisfy his Father: because his interests are dear and precious to him. Impious and Idiots censure the Providence of God, because they know not the reasons and the end of it: they murmur, that the just are humbled▪ the poor afflicted, the bad honoured and glutted with riches, and delights: they are astonished, that the child of a devout woman dies without Baptism, and is reproved: the child of a dishonest woman is predestinated, and dies after Baptism; our Saviour will justify his Father: He will make clearly seen the Wisdom of his conduct, the uprightness of his judgements, the equity of his decrees, and the admirable Economie of his Providence. This rejoices souls that love our Saviour: this nourishes their hope, and is the object of their devotion. Let us elevate then ourselves to God, and say with the Psalmist, make jubilation in the sight of the king our Lord: because He comes to judge the earth. Psal. 97. 6. In the second place, it is convenient there should be another Judgement besides that which is made in the hour of our death: because in this the soul is judged only, and the body ought to be judged also. For The body contributs much to the merit, and demerit of the soul: it cooperats usually to the good, and to the evil which she practices; it is the cause that a reprobate soul offends God by intemperance, drunkenness, luxury, idleness, vain ornaments; it is the cause that an elect soul pleases God, in fasting, whatching, wearing hair cloth, kneeling, travelling, keeping Virginity, enduring death for defence of Faith; since then in the particular judgement these bodies received not the salary, nor the pain, which they merited in this life, there ought to be another judgement, which recompenses, or punishes them according to their deserts. 7. In fine it is expedient: that the elect may be praised, honoured, glorifyd: and the reprobate dispraised, reproached, and confounded in the face of the whole world. Our Lord will then give 1. Cor. 4. 5. to every one the praise which he deservs, says the Apostle; He will praise you, for your Charity: you, for your patience: you, for your humility; He will discover your secret penances, your alms given to the poor, your hidden hair shirt, your nightly and early rising to prayers, And consequently, He will give also to the reprobate, the blame and infamy which they deserve. 8. To this effect he will enlighten the hidden things of darkness, 1. Cor. 4. 5. and will manifest the counsels of the hearts, as the Apostle says; He will discover all thoughts, words, and actions of the reprobate in in the sight of that great assembly; He will confound the hypocrisy of those that deceive the world: reprove the craft and subtlety of them who supplant the simple: and thunder against the calumniators, and diffamers of the innocent; He will show how unjustly the elect are contemned, derided vilefied neglected, and abused: and how vainly and foolishly the reprobate are admired, praised, honoured, and preferred He will show that He is good, not only by praising, approving, and recompensing good: but also by dispraising, condemning, and persecuting the enemies of good. 9 Cheer up then, o chosen Souls! cheer up and rejoice, when we speak of judgement: lift up your heads, for behold your Redemption Luke. 21. 28. is at hand; What consolation, what joy, what gladness, and what assurance for you, when the whole world shall be moved at the terrible sound of the trumpet: when the judge shall be in a throne of glory and of Majesty, amidst thunders and lightnings: when the rocks themselves shall tremble, and people shall shake and shiver for fear: when you shall see Hercules and Alexander's, Caesar's and Pompey's, Plato's and Aristotle's, the great Conquerors and Wise of the world dragged as criminals to the Tribunal of the judge, reduced to an extreme despair, not daring so much as to lift up their eyes, expecting with horror the sentence of their condemnation: Then Then if you will believe me, if you will endure a little here, and keep exactly the commandments of God, Then I say, you will rejoice hearty: you who are esteemed the lees and the scum of the world, the objects of a thousand incommodities, you will laugh with a celestial laughter, you will be filled with a solid assurance, you will acknowledge him whom you have so well served, and whilst others tremble, you shall go to meet him in the Air obviam Thes. 4. ●6. Christo in aere: you shall approach to him with confidence saying with joy which cannot be expressed; behold my good Master that was crucified: behold my Saviour whom I loved so ardently; Look upon him now you worldly souls! Is not this the Saviour whom you so much despised? heretofore you mocked us: you called us hyppocrits, scrupulous, and superstitious people: you held it simplicity to pardon injuries: to endure affronts: to deprive yourselves of sensual pleasures: to mortify your flesh and passions: to contemn temporal goods, through the hopes of eternal: which you esteemed uncertain: You see well now, that we were not deceived: you see it by experience. O God what extreme favour to have served well a king now so honoured; Sacred labours, happy mortifications, and persecutions, which are now so divinely recompensed, sweet austerities! How great and admirable are the joys you breed me! Then Then o Christion souls; these bodies so often bowed and humbled before God, shall be exalted and replenished with glory; than you shall be justifyd from the faults of which at present you are so unjustly accused: you shall be delivered from the persecutions they raise against you. 9 But you on the contrary o worldly soul! you aught to tremble and shake, when we speak of judgement, You ought to consider that you must render an account to a judge infinitely powerful, to whose anger none can make resistance: To a judge infinitely Wise and knowing, who searches the bottom of the heart: from whose knowledge you cannot hid your most secret thoughts: to a judge infinitely good: who is obliged by his nature, to be mortal enemy to sin. Hear then and put in practise his divine Words, by which He vouchsafes to instruct you how to avoid the rigour of his justice; behold how He concludes the sermon which He made of the last judgement; Look well to yourselves, lest perhaps your hearts be aggravated Luke. 21. with surfeiting and drunkenness, and cares of this life: Watch therefore, praying at all times, that you may be accounted worthy to escape the things that are to come, and to stand before the Son of man. Amen▪ DISCOURSE X. OF THE SEVENTH ARTICLE From thence He will come to judge the quick and the dead. 1. IT is horrible to fall into the hands of the living God says S. Paul; because He is always living; Heb. 10. ●1. and as long as He shall be living, the damned shall be in torments. Wherefore the Son of God threatens a long time before He strikes, He speaks much of judgement before He does justice: He never hurls a thunderbolt, without making the thunder sound, the lightning flash, and without covering the air with clouds. He sent from time to time Prophets as Heralds of his justice, forerunners of his judgement: who always endeavoured to express the terror of it, by the most proper and significant epithets imaginable; they call it the day of anguish and tribulation: the day of affliction and misery: the day of obscurity and darkness: the day of outrage and tempest: of anger and vengeance: the day of the fury of the Lord: the day of horror and of slaughter; you may see this in Isaiah, in Hieremiah, in Ezechiel, and in Joel. Isay. 13. and 34. Heir. 16. Ezec. 7. and 27. joel. 2. 2. And because usually the faithful only believe the Prophets: and as S. Paul says infidels have need of signs and prodiges; To the end none may doubt of it: God will proclaim it to all the world by most remarkable signs, which He will show in Heaven, earth, sea, and other parts of nature; and as at present, according to the saying of the Prophet, the heavens and the stars declare the Omnipotence, Wisdom, and Goodness of God, who produced such glorious creatures, governs them in so constant and regular an order, and designs them for an end so noble; so before the judgement, the sun, moon, and stars shall foretell the justice of God: they shall preach it to all people, and that in so loud and intelligible a language, that none, not the most stupid, incredulous, and insensible shall doubt the least of it; In which we ought to admire and adore the goodness of God, who exercising his patience so long time, and towards so many persons: will exercise his justice as late, and against as few as He can. He exercises his patience from the beginning of the world, He employs in it not one day, month, or year, but many ages. He exercised it above six thousand Years, and He will exercise it to the end of ages, towards all sinners: but He will not execute the last judgement, the act of his great wrath, but at the end of time, as late as possible; and that He may find but few upon whom to exercise the same, He forewarns them of it: He frightens, threatens, and sends Prophets: He gives signs in heaven and in earth, showing by this, that He desires not to strike, that he wills not the death of a sinner, but that he be converted and do live; and this shows also the great and enormous malice of sin, which provoks and irritats so much, a God so mild, and merciful. 3. The Prophets, Apostles, Evangelists, and the Apocalypse foretells us many terrible signs, which shall be as messengers Matt 24. 30. 2. Pet. 3. Psal. 76. 19 and forerunners of the judge: see here some of them. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood; Stars shall fall from Heaven, and the Powers of it shall be moved. The Heaven's burning shall be resolved. There shall be no light, but that of lightning, which shall always flash; The thunderclaps shall be so great that the Heavens will seem to tear; thunderbolts shall be darted Wisdom 5. 22. Wisdom 5. 22, forth, as from a bow full bend, and shall fall directly contrary to their custom. The Water of the sea shall rage's against men, and the rivers shall run together roughly; The earth agitated with convulsions and tremble will open as if threatening, to swallow them. God will send devouring fire which shall burn the 2. Pet. 3. elements, consume Towns, and reduce to ashes all the works of men What horrible spectacle to see and feel the air changed into flames; stones, into burning coals: rivers, into boiling water: houses▪ into furnaces of fire? 4. If one only of these prodigies should happen now, in what a condition should we be? If we should see the sun and moon to lose their light, or the earth to tremble a whole week, in what a trance should we be? how should we cry-out mercy? what ●ill it be then to see all the aforesaid things together? And yet they shall be but signs and presages of what shall follow after: they shall be but the commencement of the sorrows says JESUS in the Gospel. And if the beginnings are so sorrowful, what shall the progress be? if the shadows and the figures are so terrible, what will the reality be? if it be so tirrible to see the Sergeants and the Apparitors that precede the Judge, what will it be to see the judge in the heat of his anger, and to be struck with the thunderbolt of of his sentence. 5. He is now our Advocate, He will be then our judge, not only to revenge injuries done to Orphans, Widows, Laborours', and to the Poor: But moreover to revenge offences committed against God his Father; He hath infinite obligations to him, a passionate love for him, a most ardent zeal for his glory, is very sensible of that which offends him, His interests are dear to him, He will have an ocean of enormous sins to condemn and punish: I leave you to think with what indignation, with what heat of anger He will be inflamed; It will be so great, that it will be a horror, and a death to sinners. I will not say, to be condemned. but to appear in his presence; I will not say, they will not dare, but they will not be able to subsist in the sight of his Majesty: they will not be able to think of him; who shall he able to think the day of his Advent? and who shall stand to malach. 3. 2. see him? says his Prophet. 6. The terror of him will be so great that the reprobate will desire rather to be crushed, ground and reduced to dust, then to be presented to the tribunal of this terrible judg. they Luke, 23 30. will say to the mountains, and to the rocks, fall upon us and hid us from the face of the Lamb: we have abused his meekness, we have obliged him to become a Lion, we shall not be able to endure the reproaches He will make us; rocks fall upon us, and crush us to pieces, that we may not be forced to appear in his presence: hid us from the face of the Lamb: they have cause to fear it, His presence only will put them to more pain; the rocks would but crush their bodies: the presence of JESUS will crush their bodies and their souls. 7. They know, they must now render a most punctual and exact acount of all the Talents, and Goods they received from the liberal hand of God, and of all the evils they have ever done. 8. They know, they must answer not only for mortal sins, but also for venial, for little lies, detractions, and derisions of their neighbour in things of small importance, for words, or unprofitable actions. good God who would believe our judge would be so rigorous, as to exact an account of his creatures for an unprofitable word! If Preachers should affirm it without the Word of God clear for it, would not men cry-out against them as Impostors? 9 They know they shall be damned, not only for their own sins, but again, for those of others, to which they contributed; And they see now clearly, that they contributed to an infinity of sins in others: either before they were committed, to wit by ill council: or bad example; or when they were committed, being the cause of them, by putting the objects, or the subjects, or by giving assistance to commit them. And after they were committed approving, or not exteriorly disapproving them: or not avoiding the haunt of those that committed them, for to give them a horror of them. 10. They know, they shall not only be condemned for sins of Commission: but mpreover for sins of Omission: they will expect to hear Go ye accursed into eternal fire; for I was hungry, I was thirsty, and you have not given me to eat and drink: I was naked and you have not clothed me. And if they are to be condemned, for not giving corporal nourishment: how much more for not giving spiritual? the life of the soul being of more importance a thousand times, then that of the Body? if those that refuse material bread to poor strangers, shall be so grievously punished what will become of them, who give not the spiritual bread of instruction, corection, and good counsel, to their children, domestics, and strayed neighbours? 11. In fine, they know they shall not only be condemned for sins of omission, and commission, but shall moreover be answerable for good works which they have done with any imperfection, which shall be found mixed with any impurity of intention, with self-love, secret vanity, or any other vicious circumstance; Cum accepero tempus Ego justitias judicabo; when I shall hold my Psal. 74 2. sopho. 1. 12. great day, I will judge also just works; and by his Prophet Sophonias He says: Scrutabor Jerusalem in lucernis: I will search narrowly the devout soul; and that no secret cranny may escape me, I will light a candle; How then will He sound a reprobate soul signifyd by Babylon, if He examine so rigorously a devout soul signifyd by Jerusalem? 12. Sinful souls, I say, know all this and much more; they know also, that their judge is not now a Lamb, but is become a Lion: that the time of mercy is now past, and the time of justice and revenge is come. I leave now you to think, in what horrible desolation they must be, expecting nothing, but (as the Prophet Hieremy says) the whirlwind of the Lords indignation Hierem. 23. 19 Matt. 25. 41. to come upon them. And what whirlwind, what tempest, what thunderclap, what Lions roaring shall be this voice? Go ye accursed into eternal fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels▪ As many words, so many thunderbolts and Anathemas. 13. Depart hence reproved soul! I banish thee for ever from my Paradise, and from my Grace; Get thee gone strayed sheep. I will be no more thy Pastor: be gone rebellious servant: I will no more be thy good Master; be gone unnatural child I will be no more thy Father; be gone adulterous spouse: I will be no more thy espouse; get thee gone ungratfull creature: thou shalt never have any part in my kingdom, nor in my delights, nor in my amity, nor in my company, nor in any thing that pertains to me, Get thee gone thou accursed: I excommunicate and anathematise thee for ever: I strike thee with the sentence of eternal malediction: thou shalt be accursed in thy understanding, which shall never have a good thought: cursed in thy will, which shall always rage's with spite and desperation: accursed in thy eyes, which shall never see any light: in thy ears, which shall never hear the harmonious music of the Angels; cursed in thy mouth, which shall never have one only drop of water; in thy feet and hands, which shall be always bound: in the chamber where thou shalt dwell. which shall be but a furness: in the company which You shall have, which shall be but Devils: cursed in every thing that can happen to thee. Go accursed into fire, where thou shalt not have for lodging, but a prison; for bed, but coals; for , but flames; for meat, but serpents; for drink, but gall; for music, but blasphemies; and for rest, but torments. Get thee gone into fire which shall endure ever: which shall inflame thee and not light thee; burn thee, and not consume thee; as long as I shall be, I will be thy enemy, as long as this fire shall be fire, it shall torture thee: as long as eternity shall endure, thou shalt remain in this pain. Depart, go into the fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels: I prepared it not for thee: 'tis against my inclination, that I send thee thither: But thou hast transgressed my Commandments, neglected and profaned my Sacraments, abused my graces, and hast been ungrateful for an infinity of favours: go ungrateful, go accursed, go unfortunate▪ depart from my presence; I will never have pity on thee. My Dear Brothers and sisters, behold a shadow, but a very slender and imperfect one of the sentence which shall be pronounced against the Reprobate; Think on it if you be wise: think upon, it in the presence of God, to whom be honour, praise, glory, benediction for ever and ever. Amn. DISCOURSE XI. OF THE EIGHTH ARTICLE. I believe in the holy Ghost. IT is reported in the Acts of the Apostles, that S. Paul Acts. 10. entering into the Town of Ephesus, and finding there some Faithful, demanded of them, if they had received the holy Ghost, and they answered, we know not so much as that there is a holy Ghost. If we should put now the same Question to many Christians, they might make the same answer, or at least, they might say, we know not what is the holy Ghost. To exclude and banish far from Christians an ignorance so pernicious, the Apostles employ this Article to instruct us concerning his adorable and amiable Person. 2. They teach us, that He is a Person distinct from the Father, and the Son; since they made us to say before, I believe in God the Father; I believe in jesus Christ his Son; and now, I believe in the holy Ghost. They teach us also, that this Person is God with the Father and the Son: since they make us say, I believe in the holy Ghost; They do not only make us to profess, that there is a holy Spirit: But to believe in Him, to reverence Him as God, and to love him as our sovereign Good. 3. They call him holy Ghost or Spirit: which is common to the Father, and the Son; For the Father is a most holy Spirit: and the Son likewise is a most holy Spirit; But they appropriate this name to him: because his Emanation or Procession is so far above our thoughts, and our expressions, that there is no language in the world that can express his Person, for want of a proper name: And because we are accustomed to call those things spirits, of whose origin and manner of production we are ignorant: So we call the wind, spectres, Angels, and our souls, spirits: and we are likewise very ignorant in the production and procession of the holy Ghost. 4. Secondly the Apostles appropriate this name to him: because He proceeds from the Father and the Son, as from one only Source, and not as made or created, nor as begotten, but produced by the Will, by an ineffable way, which Divines term Spiration, a breathing and impulse of the Will towards the thing beloved. 5. Thirdly this name is appropriated to him, because He is the Spirit of our spirit, the Soul of our soul, the Life of our life: For He is given to the Souls of the just, to animate and govern them. He is not given so to a Bishop, or a Priest, in his ordination, if he be in the state of sin: He is not in him, to sanctify him, but to operate and act by him. Hence it is that a Bishop or a Priest that is in sin and hath not grace, gives nevertheless the grace of God by the Sacraments, because he is the instrument of the holy Ghost: as a pen gives to paper characters which it hath not, because it is the instrument of the Writer. 6. The Church moreover appropriated to this glorious and holy Spirit, the name of Love and Charity, because He is produced by the Will, the author of Love, or by the mutual love and dilection of the eternal Father and the Son. 7. From this second name which the Church attributes to the holy Ghost, proceeds the third, which is that of Gift, Donum Dei Altissimi the Gift of the most high. For that which is do by pure love, is done freely and liberally, and donation is a free and liberal action. The two first names appropriated to the holy Ghost refer him to the Father and the Son; but this of Gift relates him to Creatures that are capable to receive him and to enjoy him, as are men and Angels only: and this Gift is the first: the most necessary: and the most excellent of all gifts that God ever gave, or can give to us. 8. He is the first and cause of all the rest: for there is a great difference 'twixt the love of God, and the love of men. When we love any one, 'tis because we find in him some goodness, some beauty, or other Perfection. God's love supposes not its object in any creature, but He puts it in them; God gins not to love us with a love of Benevolence because we are good: but we are good, because He loves us; so when the eternal Father gives us his only Son in the Incarnation: He gave us first his Love: and He gave not to us his Son, but by his holy Spirit, and by his Love: He was conceived of the holy Ghost. So God loved the world, that He gave his only begotten Son. 9 This Gift is so necessary, that without it all the other Benefits profit very little: the work of creation is appropriated to the Father; the Incarnation to the Son, the Sanctification to the holy Ghost; the two first Benefits are unprofitable to us without the third. In the creation God gave us Being, He made and designed for our service all the creatures of this world: But our Saviour says to us: What profit hath a man, if He should gain the whole world and lose himself: and he will lose himself infallibly, Luke. 9 25. if the holy Ghost sanctifys him not. The Incarnation and the Death of the Son of God▪ would not much avail us without the coming of this holy Spirit; the torments of JESUS would have made him die, and not have made us live: He might have satisfied, without restoring us to grace; a king offended by his Vassal, may receive from him satisfaction, and not receive him into favour, nor restore him to his former state, and to the privileges which he had lost. When I see the Saviour in the Crib or on the Cross, I know not whether it be to satisfy only, or moreover to restore us to the rights we lost by sin: when He rises up again from death, I know not whether it be for recompense of his death, or to give us life: When He ascends to Heaven, I know not whether it be to give a convenient place ro his Body, or to prepare also a place for us; But when He sends the holy Ghost to sanctify us: He ascertains us that we reenter into grace, and that He applies to us his merits, He hath sealed us, and given the pledge of the Spirit in our 2. Cor. 1. 22. 1. Ep. 4. 13. hearts, says S. Paul. And the beloved Disciple. In this we know that we abide in him, and He in us, because He of his Spirit hath given to us. 10 What admirable favour, and what incomparable grace, that God vouchsafes to give us his Spirit, Love, divine and admirable Heart: If one should give to a Philosopher the spirit of Aristotle or of Plato: to an Orator the spirit of Cicero or Demostenes: to a Physician, the spirit of Hypocrates or of Galen: and to a Divine the spirit of S. Thomas or of S. Augustin, would not this be a singular favour? God gives you not the spirit of Aristotle, Cicero, Hypocrates, but his own Spirit, the Spirit of Verity▪ Wisdom, and Sanctity. When one hath the heart of a person, one hath all; If you be in the state of grace, you have the heart of God; for properly speaking, the holy Ghost is the heart of God. o Father of mercies, and Father of the miserable! how deign you to give them your heart? 'tis that chosen souls are your treasure. and you put your heart upon your treasure, Quid retribuam Domino? 11. What acknowledgement, what satisfaction, and what return can we make? Love is not paid but by love: nothing corresponds to a heart but another heart: and what heart can correspond to the heart of God? What love can answer his? Would you not desire to be all heart? Would you not wish to have as many millions of hearts, as there are drops of water, and grains of sand in the sea: would you not refer, apply, and consecrate them to the love of God? And what would this be compared to the heart of God, which He hath given us? It would be less than a grain of dust compared to all in Heaven and in Earth. But He desires not so much; He demands but only one: but He will have it all: He commands you to give it him: Thou shalt love thy God with all thy heart; and if you refuse it him, He will damn you eternally. What horrible ingratitude is it to give one's heart to a Creature, to a foolish passion, to a shameful pleasure, and not to love God after a gift so precious? to refuse him our poor little heart, after He hath given us his? What monstrous malice is it to offend the holy Ghost, who is the end and the non plus ultra, the Centre and the consummation of all the liberalities, and donations of God to us. 12. His scripture teaches us, that we offend Him in dlvers manners: either resisting, or in contristating, or affronting him, or by extinguishing him in our hearts; S. Steven said to the jews, you resist always the holy Ghost: When we feel an impuls to rise out of the state of sin, and to convert ourselves seriously Asts. 7 51. to God, 'tis the holy Ghost that knocks at the door of our hearts; It seems that He makes it his employment: so assiduous He is to solicit us by his inspirations; if we consent not to his summons we resist him. When we have consented to him and He is entered into our hearts, we contristate and afflict him, if we commit voluntarily and deliberately a venial sin: All naughty speech, let it not proceed out of your mouth: and contristate not the holy Ghost, says the Apostle. We affront him consenting to Eph. 4. mortal sin, by which we chase him shamefully out of our hearts, and admit into them the evil spirit, his corrival, and mortal enemy Such an one hath done contumely to the Spirit of grace, says Heb. 10. 29. the same Apostle. We extinguish him in our hearts, when we commit the sins which are directly and diametrically opposite to him: as when we presume of the mercy of God, and to have pardon of our sins without doing penance for them; when we are sorry for the virtues of others, which are the works of the holy Ghost: or when we endeavour to destroy them, mocking those that pray much, that frequent the Sacraments, that remain long in the church: or when we oppose the known truth, or contradict it: 'tis to extinguish in ourselves the holy Spirit: 'tis to do contrary to this advertisement of S. Paul, The Spirit extinguish not. ●. Thess. 5. 19 13. Since then the holy Spirit enters not into our hearts without our free consent, nor without dispositions convenient for such a Guest: since we are so obdurate rhat we refuse him entrance, and that we have not only indisposition and indignity: but opposition and contrariety to his grace: and that when we have received him we are so weak and miserable, that we often afflict him or affront him; Let us pray him humbly and fervently to remove all these impediments: to vanquish our rebellion: to introduce into us by his mercy, the necessary dispositions: to open himself the door: to enter victoriously into our souls: to make them worthy sanctuaries where He may dwell in this world by his grace, and in the other by his Glory. Amen. DISCOURSE XII. OF THE NINTH ARTICLE I believe the holy Catholic Church the Communion of Saints. 1. THe Apostles by these Words make us to believe that CHRIST hath a true Church or Society of faithful people upon earth: And they oblige us to submit to all, that this Church proposes to be believed, as a matter or an Article of Faith. 2. This Submission is so necessary that unless we believe the Church, we cannot reasonably believe any Point of Faith; Nay we cannot so much as know what things are to be believed. For we cannot be ascertained and assured, but by the Church, that they have been revealed. Some will say, that they are assured by the holy Scripture of what is revealed, and learn in it, what is to be believed. 3. But how know they which is holy Scripture? And how know they, that the Gospels are the Word of God? God never appeared to them, to tell them, this Book printed in such a place is my Word, is my Scripture. The Bible also says not, I am holy Scripture; And if also it should say so, it should be in this suspected: since it gives testimony of itself: and another book might say I am the Word of God, I am holy Scripture, and we ought not to believe it. They will say, the Scripture is known by its own light, to be divine: or a light within them, makes them see that 'tis the Word of God. 4. If this were so: How could it come to pass that there should be hardly one book of Scripture, that hath not been rejected; The Marcionits' rejected the five Books of Moses: the Manicheans rejected the Prophets: the Albigenses, the Psalms, and all the ancient Testament: the Ebionites received but one of the four Gospels, to wit the Gospel of S. Matthew: the Cardonites admitted but one part of the Gospel of S. Luke: Luther rejected the Book of job, Ecclesiastes, the Epistle to the Hebrews, that of S. james, and that of S. jude: the second of S. Peter, the two last of S. john, and the Apocalypse: all which books the Calvinists and our Protestants in England admit as holy Scripture. How comes it, that Protestants in England and in France do see divers books to be the Word of God, which Protestants in Germany and other parts do not? And How does the whole Catholic world admit divers bocks to be Canonical, which Protestants reject as Apocryphal? If there were any such light in the Books by which they discover themselves to be certainly divine: or in men by which they see them to be the word of God: all must necessarily see the same Books to be Canonical: and all would acknowledge the Lib. count. Epist. Fundamenti Cap. 5. same: since the same Faith is necessary for all; And S. Austin would not have said, that He would not believe the Gospel, if the authority of the Church did not move him to it: for he would have seen them to be divine. Must we not then necessarily believe the Church and learn of her which is holy Scripture, And what is to be believed? And since we have not the original of one only Canonical Book: must we not believe the Church and trust her for a faithful Copy? 5▪ But suppose that God gave the Bible in English, and that He said, this Bible printed at London is his Scripture; I say again, that we must yet believe the Church and rely on her for the sense and meaning of it. For S. Peter in the same Bible says, 1. Pet. 3. 16. in the Epistles of S. Paul there are things hard to be understood, which the unlearned and the unstable deprave, as also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own perdition. Note perdition. Have not Disputes controversies and contests always risen concerning the sense and meaning of them, and that in matters of the greatest importance? Have not the best copies of the Bible been consulted, and all passages conferred, the controversies still remaining and increasing? Do we not see that divers and contrary Parties do confidently affirm that they have the true sense and understanding of the Scriptures: and that consequently they make to themselves Faiths, Religions, and models of Government to the utter destruction, of Unity, Peace, and Charity itself? Is it not then Necessary for the avoiding of Heresies, and Divisions, and for the preservation of Unity and Peace, to hearken also in this part to the Church, and to adhere to her sense of the holy Scripture? Wherefore the Apostles oblige us to follow her, and to rest in her judgements; to dispute against whom. S. Austin with great reason, tells us, is Ep. 1 insolent madness. And lest we might doubt which among all the Societies of men in the Christian world, is the dwelling place of Faith, the spring of truth, an the true Church of the living God; the Apostles mark her out to us by three evident Notes, which are proper to her, and distinguish her from all other Churches; they teach us that she is One, Holy, Catholic. 6. First they teach us that She is One: for they make us not to say, I believe Churches, but, I believe the Church; which is the kingdom of the Son of God, his flock, and mystical Body. You never find in the Gospel, that the Son of God hath many kingdoms, many flocks, many mystical bodies; But always one kingdom, one sheepfold, one mystical Body. In S. Matt. 4. 23. Ch. 13. 41. john. 10. 16. Rom. 12. Ephes. 4. v. 4 Matthew, JESUS went about preaching the Gospel of the kingdom. And again He says in the Same Gospel, that He will send his Angels, and they shall gather all scandals out of his kingdom. There shall be made one fold and one Pastor. We being many are one Body in Christ, One Lord, one Faith, One Baptism. 7. I demand now the Church of England, is it the true Church? if so: the Protestant Church in Holland is not: that in Germany is not: that in France is not; there is but one true Church, and these are many; they have nothing that unites them: they depend not one of another, they have not the same Superior. But among Catholics, many Bishoprics, many Republics, Nations, and Kingdoms are one Church, because they are united in the same Spiritual Head, or supreme Pastor. 8. You will say, that which unites us is Faith: we are one Body by the Unity of Faith. But besides that this Unity (which also excludes not Schismatics) is not enough to make one Church: We need not but look into the books of Luther, Calvin, Zuinglius to know the war they make with one another: We need not but to read the Works of their successors to see their disagreement in Points of the greatest importance. There is nothing for example, so important to Faith, as to know which are the Canonical Books, in which we ought to learn the Christian Verities, and they agree not, as we have seen, in them. And if they agree not about the prime Principle: How can agreement be expected in the things which are drawn from thence? Many differences might be named, about most important matters; their pursuit also of those differences demonstrats they do not judge them light: which stretches to the condemning one another for Heretics, and Schismatics, and sometimes to breaking into open arms one against another. 9 But Catholics however divided by country, language, particular interest, civil dissensions, or war: Yet agree exactly in all points of Faith; If you go to France, Spain, Poland, Italy, or the Indies: You will see that they teach the same Doctrine, that they make every where the same Catechisms. 10. And are not there, some will say to me, Thomists, Scotists, And other Parties who dispute continually? Yes, but this is not, but in school difficulties, in Philosophical Points, in Questions grounded upon humane reason: as concerning Articles of Faith, All agree in them: not one contradicts: not one questions them. 11. Secondly the Apostles teach us that the true Church is holy▪ I believe the holy Church; This is not to say, that All that are therein are Saints; For she is the field of the husbandman, Matt. 3. 21. Matt. 13. 47. Ron. 9 21 where the Cockle is mixed with good corn. She is the net which takes and holds bad fish with the good. She is the house, where there are Vessels of ignominy with those of honour. She is the Ark of the true Noah, where there are clean and unclean animals. Gen. 7. 2▪ But the true Church is holy, because she hath means to Sanctify herself, and many obtain it by those means. We ask it there, and obtain it of God, by Sacrifice: It is given by Sacraments; conserved by the observance of the commandments of God: increased by the practice of good and virtuous works. 12. But Reformers have forbidden all these ways: they have abolished among them the only sacrifice of the Mass; they have diminished the Sacraments: of seven that CHRIST instituted, they retain but two: Baptism and the Eucharist, which also they have made almost unprofitable. For they say that Baptism is not necessary for their children, and so deprive them often of this remedy, to the exclusion of them out of the kingdom of Heaven, according to the express words of the Son of God. They have used yet worse the Eucharist; instead of the real Presence john. 3. 5. of our Lord and Saviour, Source of all sanctity, who sanctifys our souls and bodies in this Sacrament: they have not in their supper but a morcel of bread, an inefficatious and empty Sacrament, which contains not what it signifiys. 13. As concerning the Commandments, besyds that they preach but those which Moses gave, and not those which JESUS-CHRIST added to sanctify his Church: they say, that they are impossible, also with the grace of God. And what man will undertake to execute that which he judges to be impossible? 14. As touching good Works, they deny the worth and merit of them; And who will undergo difficulty to practise good works, when he believes that they have no worth or merit: that faith only justifys, and suffices to salvation; if these principles do not usher in the neglect of all good works: it is not because the Doctrines do not afford it, but because they act by some other motives. What Sanctity then may one expect, where there is no Sacrifice, to obtain it of God: No efficatious Sacraments, where by to receive it: No possibility to obey the Commandments of God, to preserve it: no good works to increase it? So they say not, S. Luther, S▪ Calvin, S. Beza, as they say S. Gregory, S Bernard, S. Bonaventure, whom they confess to have been of the Roman Church; and experience shows, that there are none so holy, so virtuous, so perfect: None so devout towards God, charitable towards their neighbour, so sober, chaste, modest, and humble, as are innumerable Souls, who live entirely according to the maxims and the instructions of the Catholic Church. 15. Thirdly, the Apostles teach us, that the true Church of CHRIST is Catholic: that is to say Universal, or general: and the Apostles by putting this word oblige us to follow that Church whose Faith and Religion is received, and publicly professed, the longest Time: by the most Persons: and in most Places: and so the Faith of the Roman Church hath been. 16. Read but the Annals of Baronius, or of Gualterus: or The longuest Time. the works of Bellarmin, or Coccius, and You will see that ever-since the Apostles, the Church hath had from age to age the same Articles of Faith, which the Roman Church teaches at this present. Reformers confess that during the first four hundred years, the Roman was the true Church: if this Present were new: they ought to show, who was the first Author of this novellty: what was the new doctrine that was taught: in what time: and in what place: f●om what Church the Roman did separate, when she embraced this new doctrine: and who were they that opposed this novellty? These things are noted in every little alteration of Religion: and one cannot show them in the great pretended changes of the Faith of the Roman Church. 17, All those that have been converted to the Faith of CHRIST, By the most persons and have embraced Christian Religion, have always taken the Roman, and were converted by Romanists; Other Religions convert not infidels, and have never extended the Empire of JESUS in any Province of the Earth. 18. We must put out our Eyes, and burn all Histories, not In most Places. to see that the Roman Church only hath been extended in all the places where JESUS CHRIST is or hath been adored: and that no other Congregation of Christians has ever had public exercise of Religion throughout the world. But we may read in S. Ireneus, Tertullian, S. Cyprian, and S. Athanasius that in their times the Catholic Church was already in all the inhabited Earth: and this in accomplishment of what David had often foretold, saying that the Reign and Empire of JESUS CHRIST, that is to say, CHRIST'S Church should be extended throughout all the earth; I will give thee Gentills for thy inheritance, and thy possession the ends of the Earth; He Psal. 2. Psal. 71. shall rule from sea to sea, and from the river even to the end of the round world. 19 Fellow then the Faith of the Roman and Catholic Church, since these Notes evidently agree to Her, and to no other church: Heb. 11. 6. and since with out true and entire Faith;▪ 'tis impossible to please God. 20▪ Have and hold inviolable Unity with this Church, since all Faith without this Unity will not save You: There is but one Universal Church out of which nobody is saved said the great Council of Lateran, consisting of a 1215. Fathers. And S. Paul Gallatians 5. 20 himself, does teach expressly, that not Sects only, but also Dissensions, Divisions or Separations shall not possess the kingdom of God. Wherefore S. Cyprian in the book of Unity says, Whosoever seperats from the true Church, is excluded from the promises of the Church, and who hath abandoned the Church of CHRIST shall never come to receive the recompenses of CHRIST: He is a stranger, he is profane, he is an enemy of God; for He cannot have God for his Father, who hath not the Church for his Mother. S. Chrysostom testifys, that separation from the In Ep. ad Ephes. 4. p. 822. the papt. count. Don. lib. 1. c. 8. lib. 2. c. 6. Church, or dividing of it, is no less sin then falling into heresy, nay S. Austin holds that it is greater than that of infidelity and Idolatry; and for proof of what he says, he alleadges the example of Core, Dathan, and Abiron, and other Schismatics of the ancient Testament, who were sent living into hell, and punished more rigorously than Idolaters: who doubts, says he, that this was committed more criminally, which was revenged more severely▪ But he says things, yet more terrible; for he assures us, that all they that are not in the true Church, though they live extraordinarily well, though they give great alms, and also shed their Ep. 152. and. lib. 4. de Bap. blood for the love of JESUS CHRIST, if they die out of the Church, nothing will profit them, but shall be damned eternally. All those that were out of the Ark of Noah which was a figure of the Church, perished by the deluge. Only they that laboured in the vineyard received the recompense of the penny, that is eternal life. Members that remain not united to the body, cannot have life. Branches cut of from the tree, cannot bringforth fruit. JESUS CHRIST is the Saviour of his Body, which is the Church. He is the Espouse of the Church, and cannot have or acknowledge other children, than those of his Spouse. 21. Let us then resolve to live and die in the bosom of the Catholic or Roman Church. There we may avoid damnation: there we shall be assisted to obtain Salvation; For there is Communion of Saints: that is, communication of good works, and of prayers; There than every one may help his neighbour: the Living may secure also the Dead in Purgatory: and the Saints in Heaven can help by their merits and their prayers, sinners upon Earth; Amen. DISCOURSE XIII. OF THE TENTH ARTICLE The Forgiveness of Sins. 1. HE that should know well the monstrous nature and malice of Sin: the ingratitude, impudence, and insolence of the sinner: the infinite Greatness, Sanctity, and Majesty of him against whom it is committed: and should also know, what the Scripture expressly tells us, that a God is thereby irritated, exasperated, put into anger and fury against the sinner; such an one I say, could not by any light of reason hope for pardon: it would seem to him impossible, that sins committed against God, should be remitted: and he would need the light of Faith to believe that a sinner may obtain remission of them. Who would ever think that a God, who hath need of none: who had not respect to the celestial Principalities, and who spared not so great a number of noble Spirits, but condemned them all without exception, to eternal flames, would show favour to worms of the earth, to so ungrateful and base creatures, after they have so many, and so many times offended Him, multiplying sins upon sins, and reiterating the same sins? Here than we have need of Faith; and therefore the Apostles make us to believe, that God will pardon sins; and since they except none, that He will remit all sorts of them, how ever great and enormous they may be, by the Sacrament of Baptism: and after by Absolution, as often as we shall do true penance for them. 2. Here we meet with an error, and one of the most great, and most pernicious of some Reformers. They say, that it belongs not to a sinner to absolve others from their sins: and that it is an injury to the Son of God, to ask pardon of our sins of any other. On this account, they do ill in believing, that they being sinners, can by Baptism wash away the sins of others: and do injury to the Son of God, by going themselves, or by carrying their children to their Ministers to have their sins remitted by this Sacrament: since it belongs to the Son of God to wash away sins by Baptism. Heaven declared this Verity to S. john Baptist: Upon whom thou shalt see the holy Ghost john. 1. 33. descending, He it is, that Baptises. But who is so weak, that does not answer easily, that they baptise on the part of God, in his Name, and by his Command: that they go not to their Ministers, as men, but as God's Deputies and Vicegerents to be baptised? I say the same of Absolution: we absolve from sins, not of our own selves: but in the Name of God: as his Deputies, and Ministers, by the Power, Authority, and Commission which He hath given us. 3. Behold the Commissions and Patents of it, Whatsoever You shall Matt. 18. unbind on earth shall he unbound in heaven; and in Saint john, Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them; And whose You john. 20. shall retain, they are retained. These words of our Saviour are as clear as the Sun: but let us suppose they have need of interpretation; To whom shall we recur for the interpretation of them? To one that came a 100 or sixscore years ago, or to the ancient Fathers of the first ages, when according to Reformers themselves the Church was in her purity? S. Chrysostom speaks great things upon this subject, Lib. 3 de Sacerdotio. and seems to have foreseen all the evasions of Reformers. First he says, that the Son of God communicated to his Apostles the same power that He received from his Father; and this great Saint speaks so, after our Saviour himself; For in the same time He said to his Disciples, whose sins you shall remit, they are remitted: He said to them, I send you, as my Father sent me; But our Saviour had not only power to declare that sins are remitted by faith, but He had power also to remit them. In the second place S. Chrysostom says: If a king should give to a favourite power to imprison, and to deliver prisoners, what favour would this be? Yet this would be nothing if compared with the power of Priests; there is as much difference 'twixt these powers, as between heaven and earth Thirdly he says, that the Priests of the old Law, had not power, but to judge the leprosy of the body, and to judge of it only, not to cure it; ours have power to judge of sin, which is the leprosy of the soul, and also to cure her of it Aug. hom 49. ex. 50. S. Amb. Lib. 1. de Penit. c. 7. S. Austin says, let no body flatter himself, saying, I confess in my heart, I confess to God: this is not enough: and on this account, in vain the Son of God would have said to Priests: All that you shall unbind on earth And S. Ambrose speaking to the Novatians who said that men have not power to remit sins, says, Why baptise you if men have not power to remit sins? for Baptism is the remission of sins; and what if Priest's attribute to themselves the power that is given them, either by Baptism, or by Penance? Let us leave Dissenters: and consider the wonders of this Power, that we may with those in the Gospel glorify God, who gave such power to men. I confess that there are not many Misteryes in our Matt. 9 Religion which I more admire than this; and you will admire it with me, if you consider with me the circumstances of it. 4. The first is, that this Power is Divine, it pertains not properly but to him who received an injury to remit and pardon it; It belongs then to God to remit offences against him. Wherefore the Pharisees hearing our Saviour say to the Paralytic, thy sins are forgiven thee, and not believing that He was God, thought that He blasphemed. What would they have then thought? what wou●d they have said, if they had known, as we know, that JESUS CHRIST would give to men, and to sinful men, this Power? 5. A Power in the second place so sovereign, that 'tis definitive without appeal. The sentences which Priests pronounce, and all that they justly ordain on earth, is ratifyd infallibly in heaven. When you have confessed with necessary dispositions, if the Priest say to you, I absolve thee etc. fear not that God will condemn you: He cannot fail in his promise; and He promised to absolve you, if the Priest absolve you legitimatly. 6. And this is done with so much Authority and Majesty, that this Power is perfectly Royal; for the Priest absolves not praying: If he should say over you the misereatur only, or should pray God to absolve you, you would not be absolved; JESUS-CHRIST wills that he say, I absolve thee; and heaven and earth shall melt rather than you shall fail of absolution, how ever great and enormous your sins may be. 7. This is a fourth Circumstance of this Power, that it is most ample, absolute and general, without exception, restriction, or modification; For there is no sin which the Church cannot remit: since the Son of God hath said absolutely and without reserve: Whose sins you shall remit, shall be remitted. 8. But that which is to be admired most in this Power, is the facility and convenience we have to use it. 'Tis true, that having committed a sin, it is not so easy as some think, to have a true repentance of it; We must ask it instantly of God, and endeavour to obtain it of him by good works. But when we have obtained it what is more easy than to find a Priest, who may absolve us? Have we not great cause to be astonished, and to cry out? my God How have you been so liberal, as to give this Power to your Church, and to so many Priests? If you had given it but to the Pope, or to Patriarches, or to Bishops, or for one only time of the life of each one: the excess of liberality would not have seemed so great; but for always, for so many times, and to so many Priests: What excess of love, of grace, and mercy? o how will a soul that considers well thi● Benefit melt with dilection? how will she burn with the love of such a Benefactor? How often will she kiss those sacred wounds? How often will she bless that adorable Blood, which purchased her so great a good? How often will she say, my soul bless thou our Lord. On the contrary, What regretts shall we have in hell, if we are damned, for having neglected, contemned, or profaned so great a Benefit? The devout Rupertus was wont to say, he had no pity on Christians that were damned; and when one said to him, why have you not? if a dog should be so afflicted, we should be moved to compassion. I have none, said he, for 'tis their fault, they have well deserved it: since they might have saved themselves so easily. 9 But the we have so much convenience to make use of this great Benefit, and to help ourselves by this Power; Yet if we should be so ill advised, as to lose the grace of God by consenting to a mortal sin, we should hazard our salvation. Wherefore the Royal Prophet advises us, that if we have innocence, to take great care to keep it: to be solicitous not to offend God: and for Psal. 36. this effect, to remember, that He is just: and that his justice obliges him to punish sinners: and to favour and save the Just. Beware to say when temptation solicits you: J'll taste the sweetness of this pleasure: I will satisfy my desire: when I have taken my pleasure, and contented my passion I will do penance: I'll go to confession and be absolved. Will you do penance? you might do it, if it depended but on you: if you could do it of yourself. But the Son of God says to you in the Gospel, You can do nothing without me; you cannot then do penance, if God does john. 15. not make you do it: you cannot have repentance, if God does not give it to you. This gift is an effect of his benevolence, and You provoke his vengeance by your sin; 'tis an effect of his goodness: and you draw severity; 'tis an effect of his mercy: and you irritate his anger; The ordinary effect of his anger is to abandon a sinful soul: to deliver her up to the tyranny of her passions: to let her fall from sin into sin, from precipice into precipice; The people Isa. 64. 5. Deut. 32. 35. said to him in Isaiah, You are angry and we are fallen into sin, we are become unclean And He himself in Deuteronomie, The Vengeance that I will take of them is that I will permit that they do fall, And yet more terribly by Ezechiel, if the Justice shall be turned from his justice, and shall do iniquity, I will lay a stumblingblock before Ezec. 3. 20. him; Snares shall be laid, and occasions of sin Will be given you by the permission of God: who will also subtract from you his efficacious grace in punishment of your sins. 10. S. Chrysostom, S. Basil and other Fathers Speaking of the Chrys. hom. 3. in Ep. ad Heb. S. Basil. de Humil. in med. sin of S. Peter, who denied so weakly and deplorably his Master say, that our Saviour left him in his own weakness, and permitted him to fall in punishment of his rashness: because he had presumed of himself, and said, though all the rest should abandon their Master he would die with him, rather than deny him; if God let S. Peter fall into a mortal sin, in punishment of a venial: have you not reason to fear, that in punishment of a mortal sin which you commit, He will let you fall into another: and in punishment of the second, into a third, fourth, fifth, and into other sorts of crimes, as Cain, Pharaoh, Saul, and in fine into obduration. 11. But you will say, the grace of God is so powerful, that there is no understanding so blind, but He can enlighten it: no heart so hard, but He can soften it: no will so rebellious but He can overcome it; 'tis true; But God hath not promised his Victorious grace to any sinner in particular: He owes it to none: and He refuses it to many. 12. But hath not our Saviour said, I will not reject him that comes to me? Yes, but He adds, Nobody comes to me unless my Father draw him. 13. But S. Austin Says. Are not you drawn? pray God to draw you; and the Son of God makes us this promise: Ask and you shall receive: Yes, you shall receive all that you ask as you ought and as God wills you to ask: otherwise you will obtain nothing; for S. james says to many of us: you ask and james. 4. 3. you receive not; because you ask amiss; You ask not so much, nor in the manner, as a thing so precious deserves to be demanded, says S. Augustine. Solomon prayed God to give him Continence, and he asked it not slackly or tepidly, but with his whole heart as the Scripture tells us: and yet he obtained it not; he became about his old age, most carnal and voluptuous: because he asked it not with that confidence and perseverance, which God required of him; As when the holy Scripture Says: He that shall invocate the name of our Lord, shall be saved: this is not to say, all they that invocate him in what manner soever; but they that invocate him with the faith, piety, and purity of conscience that God requires. Do you not then see, that by consenting to a mortal sin, You hazard your salvation, that you endanger your happy eternity? You may be surprised in this state by a sudden and unprouided death, which arrives daily by so many accidents. If it should not: Yet you will not get out of this mire, if God draw you not out of it; and He being not obliged: 'tis a doubtful case whether or no He will; All the assurance you have of it is a perhaps; If you commit the sin, perhaps God will draw you out of it, exercising his mercy in respect of you: perhaps he will leave you in it, exercising his justice upon you; the first is not more to be hoped, than the second is to be feared. Nay, experience makes us see, that in this case more are the objects of his justice, then of his mercy; for we find more that fall into the second, third, or hundredth sin, than they that truly rise after the first; And if you have difficulty to resist a temptation now, when you are powerfully assisted by God: how will you when these great helps shall be drawn from you? If you do not when you are free: how will you when you are a slave of sin? If you do not when you are well covered and armed with the grace of God, and gifts of the holy Ghost: how will you when you shall be naked and unarmed? If you do not when you are strong and in good health: how will you do it when you shall be weak and wounded? Are you then in the state of grace? Say as holy job, and do as he, till I fail, I will not departed from my innocency, job. 27. 5. my justification which I have begun to hold, I will not forsake Amen. DISCOURSE XIV. OF THE ELEVENTH ARTICLE The Resurrection of the flesh. IT was so necessary that this Article should be well established in our faith: that after the Apostles had made the Faithful to profess it in their Creed: S. Paul yet proves it by many Arguments: He solves also the objections that might be made against it: and assures us so much of it, that he says, if our bodies do not rise again, neither is CHRIST Cor. 1. 15. Cor. 2. 5. 10. risen up again And in the second to the Corinthians We must all be manifested before the judgement seat of CHRIST, that every one may receive the proper things of the body according as he hath done, either good or evil. For justice requires that we be recompensed, and chastised in the same things which have contributed to good or evil; But the greater part of sins are caused or Committed by the body: 'tis then reason that it rise again and feel the punishments due to them. It concurs likewise to virtuous actions: 'tis mortifyd by holy souls, subjected to rigours of penance, and to labours of a christian life: it sufferrs prisons and punishments in Confessors: torments and death in Martyrs: 'tis deprived of its pleasures in Virgins, and in Widows, and crucified in all true Christians; it is then very just that it should participate in the satisfactions, pleasures, and recompenses of Heaven. The flesh, says Tertullian, is the Tertull. de Resur. Carnis. hinge of our salvation, and if the soul be united to God, 'tis it that gives her capacity; the flesh is washed to the end the soul be cleansed: the flesh is anointed, that the soul be consecrated: the flesh is shadowed by imposition of hands, that the soul be illuminated in Spirit: the flesh is fed with the Body and Blood of JESUS-CHRIST to the end the soul be nourished by God; they cannot then be separated in recompenses having been so joined in actions. And 'tis vain to allege against this Verity the low condition of the flesh; for the same Father says: the flesh which God formed to the resemblance of a man-God: which He animated by his breath, to the resemblance of his life: which He fortifyd with his Sacraments: of which He loves the purity, approves the austerity, and esteems the labours and the sufferances, shall it not rise again? It will never be that He leave in eternal death the works of his hands, the care of his Spirit, the tabernacle of his Breath, the heir of his Liberalities, the keeper of his Law, the Victim of his Religion, and the Sister of his CHRIST: It will then be raised up again; and in this, God does as a Potter: who seeing his Pot ill made, breaks it, to repair it better; so God having formed man of earth, and finding him depraved by sin, broke him by death, to which he doomed him: but with design, to repair and make him better, in the day of the Resurrection. 2. But if any one should ask me, how that which is withered and rotten, can become living and flourishing again? He needs not but to consider the Omnipotency of the Creator: or with S. Paul the grain of corn, which rots, to rise again: Fool, 1. Cor. 15. Cgrysol. Ser. 59 it first do die. All things in this world, according to S. Chrysologue are images of our Resurrection: the Sun sets, and rises: the day is buried in darkness, and returns: months, years, seasons, fruits, seeds, die in passing, and rise again returning; and to touch you with a sensible example, as often as you sleep and wake, you die in a certain manner, and rise again. Let us now reflect upon the words of this Article. 3. The Apostles say not The Resurrection of the man, though this he true, But of the flesh: for to teach us that when the man dies, his soul dies not: and therefore in the Resurrection, is nor raised-up again: but reunited only to the body; since nothing can be raised again to life, unless it first be dead. 4. They say not the Resurrecton of the body, but of the flesh because the holy Ghost would afford us a means to Confute the error of certain Heretics, who would sustain, as in the first ages of the Church some did, that we should rise, not in a body of flesh, but formed of air. 5. They use moreover these terms, to convince orhers, who in the time of the Apostles thought, that the Resurrection of which the Scripture speaks, signifys not that of the body, but only that by which the Soul is raised out of the death of sin to the life of grace. 6. In fine, this word Resurrection makes us understand, that we shall receive the same bodies which we had; for since rising again signifys returning to life again: It must be the same flesh which was dead, that rises and returns to life. 7. We All then shall have the same bodies which now we have, but entire and perfect, without want or superfluity: without the imperfection of youth, or the defect of old age; None shall rise blind or purblind, deaf or dumb, lame or crooked, too great, or too little: nor with any other defect or imperfection. Because 'tis God alone, whose works are perfect, that will raise us up: He will not in this work make use of natural causes, from which all defects proceed. 8. Nevertheless the Resurrection of the Elect, and that of the Reprobate will be very different; The blessed Souls shall receive bodies like to Christ's, endowed with Light, Subtlety, Agility▪ and Impassibility: that will shine as clear as Stars: that will penetrate and pass through allthings, as beams of the Sun through glass: that will move as swiftly, as lightning. That will be impassable and immortal, so that nothing in the world can hurt them. They will enter into their bodies with great joy and gladness: with many benedictions and congratulations: o my body! such a soul will Say: o my dear companion and most faithful friend! receive now with joy, the fruit of thy labours, mortifications, and pains in the works of holiness: thou hast been in miseries, and in sufferances: be thou now in felicity and in happiness: and let us praise together the Author of our good. but the reprobate Souls will reenter into their bodies with great a version, rage, and many maledictions of those members which they go to animate. for to render them sensible of ineffable and eternal torments. Domine quis habitabit in tabernaculo tuo, aut quis requiescet in monte sancto tuo? Lord, says the Royal Prophet, who shall dwell in thy tabernacle? or who shall rest in thy holy hill? He answers, Psal. 14. Qui ingreditur sine macula & operatur justitiam. He declares that two things are absolutely necessary; to avoid evil: and to do good: one without the other suffices not; Quis habitabit? who shall be that happy, that fortunate person, that shall come to the glorious Resurrection, and shall dwell amongst the Blessed? O what happy lot attends him! happy a thousand times the womb that bore him, and the breasts which He did suck! happy the pains taken to bring him up, o how well was it employed! happy earth that he tramples under feet: one ought to strew with flowers the paths which he honours with his steps: happy air that he breathes! one ought to sweeten it with all the perfumes of Arabia; happy the bread which he eats: one ought to nourish him with all that is most precious in nature; and what deserves he not who is Wisdom 3. 5. worthy of God? Invenit illos dignos se. Blessed a thousand times his holy and virtuous life, which disposes him to such a glory; blessed his happy death, which will be to him as a door to enter into an immortal life: Blessed his understanding, which shall see one day openly and face to face the divine Essence! his Will, that will love God and enjoy him for all Eternity! Blessed a thousand times his head, upon which the holy Trinity will put a Crown of Glory in the presence of the Vnivers: Blessed and happy his hands, which shall carry always palms, as the ensigns of his Victories; Blessed his feet, and his steps, since he shall walk upon the celestial Glob, in the company of Angels; Blessed, and happy a thousand times all the members of his body, and the powers of his soul, which shall be filled and satiated with all sorts of delights, joys, glory, happiness, and with eternal Beatitude. What I say of this elect Soul, I say to every one that shall do violence to himself to rise out of the state of sin: to overcome his passions, to keep the commandments, and to live according to the maxims of the Gospel: Violenti rapiunt illud: the Matthew 11. 12. Violent bear heaven away, they that do violence to themselves, to their vices, and their passions, obtain Heaven. God grant us the grace, to whom be honour, glory, praise, and benediction for ever Amen. DISCOURSE XV. OF THE TWELFTH ARTICLE. Life Everlasting. Amen. IN this last Article is declared to us the End, for which we were created, for which we were made Christians, and to which all Laws, Sacraments, Virtues, and other things are directed; we ought then to believe firmly, and to ruminate often, that after the Resurrection there shall be in the Vnivers two conditions, the one most happy, the other most miserable, and that neither of them shall ever end; that every one of us shall be either of the one, or of the other: of the right hand, or of the left: of the number of the good, or of the bad: of them that go to heaven, or of those that go to hell: And that 'tis now the time to look to our affairs, fitting ourselves to be of the happy side: for after this, there shall be no more time for us. This doubtless we shall do, if we consider and ponder well: What is Eternal Life? and how great are the goods of it? 2. S. John in the Apocalypse speaking of sinners, says, their Apoc. 28. 8. part shall be in the pool burning with fire and brimstone, which is the second death. The second or everlasting death than is, when the soul and the body are deprived of their Beatitude, and confined to the fire of hell. And on the contrary, eternal life is, when they are freed from those and all other evils, and do enjoy the eternal Goods of heaven. 3. These are so great, that the Apostle, who was rapt up into heaven, would not describe the Greatness of them: he speaks not of them but with astonishment: neither eye hath seen, says he, nor ear hath heard, nor hath the heart of man conceived, what God ●ath prepared for them that love him. Nevertheless, for to attain to some knowledge, or rather to some slender conjecture of their greatness: fourth hangs shall be considered. 4. First the liberality of God towards all men in this life: cast the eyes of your consideration with S: Austin▪ upon the extent of the Vnivers: see what stately buildings there are: what chambers richly furnished: what beauteous gardens: what pleasant meadows: what odoriferous and coloured Flowers: what sorts of savoury fruits: what delicious meats: what delicate wines: what sweet odours: what melodious voices: what sumptuous garments: what dogs for chase: what birds of prey, for recreation: It is God that gives all these things to men; But to what men? And who are they that more usually enjoy them? Atheists, Infidels and others that forget him, and incessantly offend him. Now if He do so much good to his enemies, what will he reserve for his friends? If He be so liberal to give: how much more to recompense? if He be so charitable to those that offend him: how much more to those who love him? if He be so magnificent to those He owes but punishments: how much more to those to whom He hath made so many promises? Run through in your mind all that you have ever seen, heard, or imagined: all that is great, rich magnificent, precious, pleasant, and desirable: all that is nothing if compared with that which God hath prepared for you, if you love him; for all that may be seen, recounted, or desired: and it is impossible to see decipher, or desire the great goods which God hath promised, and prepared for those that love him. 5. To have a second conjecture of them, you need not but weigh and consider the journeys and toils of Apostles: the torments of Martyrs: the watch and austerities of confessors: the temptations, combats, and Victories of Virgins: the alms and charities of Widows: the heroical virtues of other Saints: and that after so many toils, so many sufferances, penances, mortifications, good works, services, merits, the Apostle says, that Rom. 8. 18. the very sufferances and afflictions themselves of this life, are little in comparison with the glory of heaven. And again, the tribulation which at present is momentary and light, works above measure exceedingly an eternal weight of glory in us: note above measure exceedingly. 2. jor. 4. 17. 6. Nevertheless a third consideration will make this weight of glory to surpass yet much more all value and esteem of it; For Heaven is not only the Salary of the Saints, but also the recompense of the merits of JESUS; Consider what He is in his divine Person: what He is with God his Father: the ardent love He had for him, the Zeal which He had for his Glory: the great services He did him: what He suffered for his honour, what his precious Blood is worth; the Glory of Heaven is the Salary of all that, given by a King most liberal in his gifts, and most magnificent in his recompenses. 7. Hell also, though very low, may serve us for a footstool and a step to mount up to Heaven by contemplation, and to make a guess at the felicities of it. What is hell? 'tis an abyss, a Collection, a Rendevow of the most excessive sorrows, bitternesses and afflictions imaginable. What is it to be damned? 'Tis to be eternally in a prison most deep, most obscure, and most incommodious: to be eternally in captivity, under a Tyrant most insolent, most cruel, and most barbarous: not to have one mite of bread in an eternal and most ravenous hunger: not a drop of water, in a most burning thirst: not a ray of light in the greatest darkness: not a moment of rest in an unsupportable and eternal weariness: to be eternally afflicted with all the miseries a humane body is capable: to be continually burning in a most violent fire without consuming. To be in an eternity of regret, sorrow, vexation, rage, and horrible despair; It is so great a good to be exempted from these pains, that according to S. Austin, and S. Gregory, the justice of God leaves the reprobate in those miseries, that the elect may know their great happiness and felicity in being freed from them, by the grace of God: liberatus de non liberato discat quale supplicium sibi conveniret, nisi gratia subveniret; And they shall not only be perfectly delivered from them: but they shall have quite contrary favours: and not the contrary only, which we may possibly conceive: but moreover such as cannot come into the thoughts of a mortal man. When then the Scriptures tell us that the Saints possess God perfectly: that this infinite Good holding the place of all things satisfies all their desires, and makes their souls most happy: that they shall be brought into the house of God with eternal joy and gladness: and that they shall be inebriated with the plenty of his house, and in the torrent of his pleasures He will make them drink: all these and the like expressions give us only some obscure notions, imperfect images, or shadows of that ineffable Glory, which hath not ascended, as the Apostle says, into our hearts. 8. And it is not only the Vision and the Fruition of God, the joy and delectation which flow from them, which the Apostle speaks of in those words; But also the particular joys, and accidental glories and Laurels that Saints shall have given them there, according to their combats and victories here; to Martyrs such an one: to Confessors such a one: to Doctors such a one: to Virgins another, as it pleases him; which particular Glories what they shall be, how inestimably delightful they shall be to us, and how graceful in the sight of others, we neither know, nor can know here. If then the lesser things be so great, what is all Heaven? What is God who is the sum and substance of all reward and felicity? I doubt not, but all Christians believe more than any man can say of them: and I doubt as little, but they think them well worthy their study and care, and of their pains and cost. 9 But what is the pains and cost that belongs to them, which men and women so shrink at? Is it loss of life or limb? Not so: but in case of Martyrdom. Is it to give all to the Poor? No: though CHRIST advised it one, if he desired to be perfect. Is it to suffer burning or the pains of hell for them? Not so: and yet S. Austin and Venerable Bede wished with all their hearts to feel hell's torments a good while, to be sure of them: so great was their apprehension and value of heaven's greatness! 10. Why do they not then to obtain a happy and eternal life, that which they do to preserve this unhappy and languishing life? Thy deprive themselves of meats which prejudice their health: they renounce all divertisments which may probably distemper them: and they quit all that is most pleasing when it may be hurtful to them. Why do they not as much to obtain the happy life? When they labour so much to preserve this miserable life, they defend themselves not from death, and all that they can pretend to by the order of their diet, and by their remedies, is not to live always, but only to die a little later. Let them do as much for the other life, and testify by their actions that they have belief, love, and esteem of it, and they shall live eternally. 11. How much would you give says S. Augustine to be Augustine ser. 64. de Verb. Dom. exempt from suffering, and to be ascertained to live always? You would think all which you possess, would not suffice to buy so great a good▪ though also you should possess the whole world; Nevertheless this good, and what is yet infinitely more excellent is to be sold: You may buy it if you will: and you need not trouble yourself about the price of it: for it is rated but at what you have; you may purchase it by alms: obtain it by good works: merit it by good desires: acquire it by becoming a virtuous person. Contemn then not so great a happiness, which depends not but of grace, and your free will; and if you have any love of your salvation, so run, as the Apostle bids you, that you may obtain. The chief enemy to this virtuous course, is an idle, uncertain, and unsettled life. Let us busy our felves then always in something which is good. Let us have a certain and settled form and method of our practices, which we will not without necessity omit: and we shall so run as by the grace of God, we may obtain a most happy end. Resolve from this present moment upon this course, exclude all dalliance and delay: and pronounce after the Apostles with mouth and heart this word, Amen. DISCOURSE XVI. OF FAITH. HE that shall examine by the touchstone of holy Scripture, the value and worth of every thing, will acknowledge vithout difficulty, that amongst the christian virtues, one of those that honour God the most, And of the most important to our salvation, is Faith the first Theological virtue. For if S. Paul writing to the Romans, says, that when we employ Rom. 12. 1. our bodies in the service of God, by mortification, and the practice of good works, we offer to God a very acceptable Host, surely, when we captivate our understandings in obedience to Faith and mortify them, forcing them against their inclination to receive and approve the Articles of our Faith, which are obscure, and incomprehensible: this sacrifice cannot fail to be much more acceptable and pleasing: since we offer to him our Spirit, which is incomparably more excellent and noble. 2. If Faith be so glorious and acceptable to God: it is no less profitable and necessary to men. For He that believes and is baptised shall be saved: but he that believes not shall be condemned. By Faith, the Mark. 16. 16. Heb. 11. Ancient obtained testimony that they were just and pleased God: But without Faith it is impossible to please him. 3. A Dissenter or libertine Catholic hearing this will say: I am assured of my salvation: nothing is necessary to it, but Faith and Baptism; thanks be to God. I believe and am baptised. I shall then infallibly be saved. You say true: if you have true and living Faith: if you have such faith as God demands of you: for there is Faith, and Faith: there is humane faith and divine Faith: habitual faith, and actual faith: implicit faith, and explicit faith: Interiour faith, and exterior faith: dead faith, and living faith. 4. Humane faith is an assent to a proposition upon the simple testimony of men. 5. Divine faith is a special gift of God, by which we firmly hold for true all verities revealed upon the assured and ascertained testimony of God, who cannot deceive, or be deceived. Habitual faith is, when 'tis permanent as a habit, and remains in us 'til we lose it by infidelity. Actual faith is, when we exercise formally and expressly an act of belief upon a revealed Verity. Implicit is, when we believe not the Articles of Religion, but confusedly, in general, and in gros, as when we say, I believe all that the Church believes. Explicit is, when we believe distinctly and in particular, that there is one God in three Persons, that the Son of God was made man, and the like important verities. Interior faith is, when we believe in heart, without making known by any sign whether we believe or no. Exterior is, when we make profession of our belief by words, or by external and visible actions. dead faith is, when it is deprived of the love of God, and of other virtues. Living faith is, when it is animated by charity, and the practice of good works. 6. Humane faith conduces not to justification, nor consequently to salvation; this the Apostle expressly teaches, when he says, By Ephes. 2. 8. 2. Cor. 5. 2. grace you are saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, for it is the gift of God. And again, we are not sufficient to think any thing of ourselves, but our sufficiency is of God. 7. Habitual faith suffices not for an Adult, or one that hath sufficient use of reason; but he must believe actually the Mysteries of faith. For he that comes to God, must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that seek him, says S. Paul: And S. Heb. 11. john .. 3. 18. john, He that does not believe, is already judged; He says not, he that hath not faith, but he that does not believe: which expresses a formal act. I said, habitual faith suffices not one that hath sufficient use of reason; for infants and such as have not the use of reason may be saved by habitual faith, which they receive when they are spiritually regenerated by Baptism. For this habitual gift of faith, and the other habitual and supernatural gifts of Hope and Charity, which they then by the merits of CHRIST receive, justify them, makes them adoptive children of God, heirs of his kingdom, and remains in them for these effects, and to be the sources of correspondent acts, when they shall come to the use of reason. 8. Implicit faith suffices not to be saved; It is not enough to say, I believe all that the Church believes: you are obliged to know and believe explicitly, that there is one God in three Persons, Father, Son, and holy Ghost, Creator, Saviour, Sanctifier: the Incarnation of JESUS-CHRIST, his Nativity, Death, Resurrection, Ascension, his coming to Judgement; if any one committed to your care should be ignorant of these Mysteries, you would be more culpable, then if you should permit them to work on Christmas day, this being only against a precept of the Church: that against a Commandment of God. And for the same reason, if others, who do not particularly pertain to you, should be ignorant of those mysteries, you would offend against charity if you instruct them not, more than if you should leave them in ignorance of their obligation to hear Mass on Easter day. 9 Interior faith suffices not; It is not enough to have a firm faith in our heart, we must make a profession of it by our words Rom. 10. 10. and actions; For with the heart we believe unto justice: but with the mouth Confession is made to sâlvation, says S. Paul. We receive body and soul, and all from God: we must acknowledge, and honour him as He commands us, though with the loss of all. 1. Cor. 13. Galat. 5. 6. S. james. 2. 14. Matth. 7. 21 S. Matt. 25. 41. Aug. Lib. de Fide & Oper. C. 15. Tom. 4. ●, med. 10. Dead faith in fine suffices not, for if a man hath all faith and have not charity, he is nothing, says S. Paul. And in another place he assures us, that the faith only which works by charity is that which profits and conduces to salvation. S. james confutes largely dead faith, and thus concludes, You see then Brethren, how that by works a man is justifyd and not by faith only. Our Saviour himself declares it insufficient to salvation, when He says, Not every one that says Lord, Lord (which is not said without Faith) but he that does the will of my Father, shall enter into the kingdom of Heaven. And in the same Gospel, He blames those He sends into everlasting fire, not because they believed not in him: but because they did not good Works; and this passage S. Austin also urges much against the Solifideans. 11. Catholics believe this: but many among them fail in the practice of it. What Christian works, what supernatural works conformable to their faith, and what works more perfect than those of Pagans, do they? Tbey labour to maintain themselves, to nourish and provide for children, and the Pagans did so; They honour their Parents: the Pagans respected also theirs; they injure none: and honest Pagans did not; They love their Benefactors: I will not say what Pagan, but what Tiger does not? They love their friends, and such as do love them: the Publicans or Pagans, do they not the same? and what reward shall you have? said our Saviour. You must do works conformable to your faith, supernatural, Matth. 5. 46. heroical, and worthy of the recompense we pretend to. 12. A good Christian acts not by natural inclination, nor by humane reason, nor by maxims of policy, nor by temporal interest, but hath faith for the Principle of his actions, and for the Rule of his life. He labours and gains money, not for the love of it, nor of any honour, or pleasure he may get by it: but for a necessary entertainment of himself in the service of God, and to give Alms: because faith teaches him to use it for these ends. He nourishes and provides for children, not because they are his, but because they are Gods creatures, his Images, and the Members of JESUS-CHRIST. He abstains from sensual delights and carnal pleasures, not because a man is too noble and born to higher things than to be a slave to his body, but because JESUS-CHRIST recommended it. He does no injury to any, not because he would have the repute of an honest man, but because JESUS hath forbidden him. He suffers injuries and affronts, and pardons them, not because it is the property of a great courage to contemn and look upon them as unworthy of his anger, as a Lion or an Elephant slights the cries of little dogs, but because CHRIST commands us to pardon injuries, to do good to those that hate and persecute us. He serves faithfully his Master, not because his Master nourishes him well, and gives good wages, but because God said by the mouth of S. Paul, Servants render obedience to your Masters as to JESUS-CHRIST. He gives alms to a poor man, not through tenderness of heart, but because JESUS hath commanded him: and said, that which you shall do to the least of mine, shall be done to me. Who Matth. 25. 40. ever shall give a cup of cold water to one of mine in the name of a Disciple, shall receive reward: He promises you nothing if you give an alms to a poor man, because he is your countryman, of the same condition, of the same nature with you: but if you give to him, Because he is a Christian, and a Disciple of the Son of God: in the name of a Disciple. Matt. 10. 42. 13. Let us hear then with respect and put in practise this Word of JESUS, Habete fidem. Have faith: It is the extreme misery of a Christian to lose Faith; whilst it subsists in the soul, there remains always some hopes of salvation; when it is once lost, all is lost: there is no recovery, but by a miracle. 14. Have divine faith, not humane only; You ought to believe what I say to you, not because I say it, but because God said it: because God revealed it to his Church, and the Church teaches you it by my ministry. Divine faith believes all the words of the Scripture, without exception; if you believe some and not the other, it is humane faith, or opinion, or fancy, not divine faith, which believes, because God is the sovereign and infallible Verity, who cannot deceive in any point; if He could in one, He might in all the rest. 15. Have actual faith, not habitual only; It is very profitable to exercise often formal and express acts of faith, especially in temptation, and in occasion of Sin: to do as our Saviour, who being tempted in the desert, opposed to each temptation a text of holy scripture; And S. Paul counsels us to make use of the shield of faith in every occasion; are you tempted by imprudence to defer your conversion? oppose to it this shield, enliven your faith by Ephes. 6. 16. Luke 12. 40. these words of our Saviour, the Son of man will come in what hour ye think not; Death and judgement will surprise you, when you think least of it. Are you tempted by injustice to do any injury to your neighbour? oppose this shield, actuate your faith by these words of JESUS: Do not to another what thou wouldst not have done to thyself. Are you tempted by choler to abuse another by your words? actuate your faith by these words of our Saviour: He that is angry with his brother, he that calls him fool shall be guilty of fire. Are you tempted by impurity? oppose this shield: quicken your faith by these words of S. Paul, know that all fornicators and unclean Eph. 5. persons have no part in the kingdom of JESUS-CHRIST. Are you tempted to go in an open dress and to show your breasts? Stir up your faith by these words of JESUS: Woe to him by whom a Scandal comes, that is, to him who gives an occasion, to one only person, to commit a mortal Sin. 16. Have firm and perfect faith, which doubts not, wavers not, staggers not at all. You must be more convinced and persuaded of all that the Church does teach, than you are of what you see. S. Peter having seen the glory of JESUS upon Luke 17. 1. mount Thabor: having heard the voice of the eternal Father, This is my beloved Son, says that he was yet more ascertained of it by the testimony of holy Scripture, habemus firmiorem Propheticum 2. Pet. 1. 19 sermonem. And since the sacred text does say, Fornicators, Avaricious, Robbers, and other sinners shall never possess the kingdom of God, if they correct not in themselves these Vices; you must be more certain never to be saved, if you commit these sins, and have not true repentance, then of what you see, or hear. if you doubt of it, or have doubted of it voluntarily: you must accuse yourself thereof, as of a Sin of infidelity. I say voluntarily: For when thoughts do rise against faith: if they displeas you: or if you reject them promptly, as soon as you perceive them, there is no Sin. But to avoid the occasions of them, do what S. Paul commands you: avoid those that would seduce you: they will cast always into your mind I know not what malign and venomous disposition; if your calling be to serve, though they would give you great wages, serve them not; if you pretend to marriage, beware to marry them: for you put yourselves in danger of being seduced: and when there should be no danger: yet you may die and leave children, who being bredup by them, will follow their errors, and lose their souls. Beware also to read or to have in your house naughty books: some of your people may happen to read them, and be perverted or prejudiced by them. 17. Have explicit faith: content not yourselves to say, I am a good Catholic, I believe all Articles of faith: but learn them in particular, at least the principal and most remarkable. To learn them, you ought to hear as often as you can sermons, catechisms to read Spiritual books, to frequent devout persons who can instruct you: to meditate upon them, for to conceive the importance of them. 18. And to make a public profession of them: you should of ten explicate them, and make others to admire them. You must not fear to oppose those who speak unworthily of them, of God, or of his Church: nor be ashamed to practise the observances and devotions prescribed by the Church in consequence to them: But remember this word of the Son of God: He that shall be ashamed Luke. 9 26. of me before men, I will be ashamed. of him in the presence of my Father and his Angels. 19 Have living faith animated with charity, and fruitful in good works, otherwise S. Paul will say, Your faith is vain; for 1. Cor. 15. 17. james 2. yet you are in your sins. S. james will say, Shall dead faith be able to save you? S. Bernard will say, behold a fine honour you render to your God you offer to him a dead carkess, a faith joined to infamous and stinking actions. The Saints did not so: they practised Heb. 11. virtue by their faith; they converted kingdoms by the heroical actions of their faith: they obtained the promises which God made to the true faithful, the possession and enjoyment of the principal object of faith, the intuitive and clear vision of the essence of God in the happy eternity, which God granr us all. Amen. DISCOURSE XVII. Of Hope 1. THe God of Hope says the Apostle, replenish you with all Rom. 15. 13. sort of joy, that you may abound in hope; In which words he wills not only that we hope: but he demands of God for all the Faithful, an abundance of this gift, and virtue; by which we may hope through the merits of JESUS-CHRIST to possess God, and to enjoy eternal felicity. This Virtue is so necessary, that without it, we would not aspire to so high a good: and it gives us such assurance of Heb. 6. 19 Heb. 6. 17. Phil. 2. 12. This Good: that S. Paul calls Hope the sure and and firm anchor of the soul; and yet the same Apostle bids us work our Salvation in fear and trembling. But if our hope be so sure, how can we fear? if so firm, how can we tremble? 2. To reconcile this and the like apparent Contrarieties, we must remember that though our hope be founded upon the promises which God made us, through his infinite Goodness, and the merits of his Son; Yet these promises are not accomplished, with out the concourse and cooperation of our free Will. On the side of the promises of God, there is nothing to be doubted, our hope is most certain, and cannot be deceived; but our free will being fragil and inconstant, we have cause to fear, that being wanting to the grace of God, and to what He demands of us, we render ourselves unworthy of the goods, which his mercy promised and prepared for us. The faults which are usually committed in this matter of hope, may be reduced to three principal, We hope not what we ought to hope; or not of whom we ought to hope: or not as we ought to hope. To avoid these defects, and to practise well this important Virtue: I will show what we ought to hope; of whom we ought to hope; and how we ought to hope. 3. My God you are my Hope, said the Royal Prophet; Note says S. Bernard, that the Prophet says not only, my God I hope in you; but he says, You are my Hope. when you ask of God health, long life, prosperity, you hope in him; but 'tis health, long life, prosperity, which is your hope, that is to say, the object and the subject of your desires, pretensions, and affections; but the holy Prophet made God his hope; and in effect, God as the Author of S. Ber. Ser. 9 in qui habit sub. sin. grace, and the object of felicity is the supernatural good of man, 'tis this Sovereign Good which is infinitely to be preferred before all other goods. This Good then merits to be desires, pursued, and expected by him: and if he should do otherwise, he would not only be extremely wanting to himself: but also highly injurious to this Good: who only is capable to give him the accomplishment of his last perfection. 4. But as faith aids the understanding to believe in God, as its prime and principal object, aides also to believe many other things that are revealed by him, as its secondary and less principal; so Hope which assists the will to hope God as its prime principal and chief object, helps it consequently to hope many other things that proceed from God, and which serve to complete the beatitude of man, or as means to attain it. 5. Our Lord's prayer is an abridgement of all that we ought to hope, as the Symbol of the Apostles is a compendium of all we must believe; And in this most excellent and perfect prayer which the Son of God put into our mouths, we ask no corporal thing, but what is precisely necessary, our daily bread; we beg not worldly Glory, nor earthly riches, nor ease or pleasures for our bodies, nor the satisfaction of our passions; if we hope or beg Conc. in Psal. 34 Post med. such things of God S. Austin tells us, we do injury to him, and prejudice to ourselves, injuriam facis illi & damnum tibi; for what is all that, but desires of the flesh, irregular and vicious hopes, acts of ambition, avarice, and sensuality? To hope God will accomplish such desires, is it not to injure him? Is it not to make Him a servant of your ambition, a complice of your avarice, and a partner of your passions? if you should hope in jupiter, if you should pray Mars, Venus, Cupid, if you should pray a Devil, you would not ask of him other favour; and to ask those things of the true God, to demand them in the Name of his Son, to hope to obtain them by the intercession of the Saints: sensual pleasures, by the intercession of the B. Virgin who was so pure and mortifyd: riches of the earth, by the means of S. Francis, who so loved poverty: the Glory of the world, by the mediation of the Martyrs, who despised it: is not this to mock and offend God? should you obtain these things they would prove prejudicial rather than beneficial: and one might say to you, as to the sons of Zebedee, you knew not what you asked; God refuses some through benevolence and mercy, what He grants others through wrath and reprobation, says S. Augustin. Ang. in Psal. 40. Psal. 48. 6. The second fault against this virtue is committed by them, who confide in themselves, and in their virtue: Qui confidunt in virtute suâ. The holy Ghost commands us often to put our hope in God: and He promises his infallible assistance to them that do it; He Psal. 16. 7. Psal. 17. 31. Psal. 21. 5. Thren. 3. 25. Hier. 17. 5. saves all that hope in him. He is the Protector of all that hope in him. In thee our fathers have hoped and thou hast delivered them, says the Psalmist. Our Lord is good to them that hope in him, says Hieremie. 7. On the contrary the same Prophet says; Cursed be the man that trusts in man. These words Dissenters object to us: they say that we are cursed: because we confide either in living or dead men: since we invocate them, and implore their help. But if this curs concerns us, than cursed were they who said to Samuel, pray for thy servants to the Lord thy God; cursed was Samuel himself, who answered: far from me be this sin, that I 1. Kings. 12. 19 Rom. 15. 3. should cease to pray for you; and cursed was S. Paul, who desired them so often to whom he wrote, to pray for him. 8. Who is he then, that according to the Prophet trusts in man? 'Tis he that neglecting the help of God, looks only, or chief for the help of man; this the Prophet himself declares, when he adds, and makes flesh his arm, and his heart departeth from our Lord. 9 You are subject to this malediction, if you put such a confidence in yourself, since you are a man, says S. Austin; if you confide in your pretended virtue, in your firm resolutions, in your good nature; it is a greater fault than you imagine: 'tis to arrogate to yourself that which belongs to God only, who is the Author of all good: 'tis to be diffident in him, and in the sufficiency of his succour: 'tis to contradict these words, which the Church puts into your mouth: God, you know that we confide not in any of our actions. Is not this a strange vanity, and a horrible arrogancy, that a mortal man, whose life is full of miseries, whose Spirit and body are so inconstant, who is loaden with so many sins, exposed to so many temptations, subject to so many corruptions, designed to so many just punishments, should confide in himself, and presume to make himself happy, said Aug. Ep. 54. ad Macedonium. S. Austin. This vain reliance which men have on their own selves, and on the force of their free will, is the cause that they rashly cast themselves into occasions of sin: that they work not their salvation with fear and trembling as the Apostle commands: that they stand not upon their guard, to keep themselves from falling: that they pray not God fervently to hold them by the hand: that they are not in a state of perpetual humiliation, as the Saints advise them to be: that they disdain those that humane frailty made to fall: and that they glorify themselves in their good works; whence it comes often, that God chastises them, to humble them: He lets them fall into interior aridities and desolations, or into some furious temptations, which cast them down to the brink of hell, when they thought themselves at the gates of heaven, and makes them say as David, Ego dixi in abundantia mea non movebor in eternum, avertisti faciem tuam & factus sum conturbatus: It seemed Psal. 29. 7. to me that I should never be troubled in the resolution I had to serve you, o my God: You have withdrawn your grace, and I find myself wholly perplexed and in danger to be lost. Hope not then in yourselves, nor in the force of your free will, which is but weakness and misery: hope in God and in his assistance; but hope in him as you ought: that is to say, with great confidence. 10. Blessed be the man who puts his confidence in God, says Hieremie; he is like to a tree planted by the water, the leaf whereof is always green, and which never fails to bring forth fruit. Hierem. 17. 7. Collect of the 5. Sunday after Epiph. Wherefore the Church begging the favour of God's protection, makes a remonstrance to him, that she relies wholly upon the hope of his grace. There his nothing that obliges us more to act faithfully for another, then when we see that he confides in us, and wholly depends upon us: nor is there any thing that averts us more from succouring and assisting him, than to see that he is diffident of us: and can we think that our God will assist us powerfully, when we confide not entirely, but diffide in him; Diffidence makes us un worthy of his favours, it binds the hands of the Omnipotent, and stops the course of his particular graces. 11. Give me a soul that hath a great confidence in God, she would work miracles: but if one staggers, or diffides never so little in the Providence of God, he will not have good success. S. Peter finding the wind strong, did not quite diffide: since he cried out Lord save me; he had a little confidence, since JESUS said to him, o thou of little faith! But because he doubted, he began to sink. so certainly, the reason why we are not powerfully assisted by God, and that we do not the great works He would operate by us, is because there is always in our hearts some grain of diffidence. 12. Fellow then the counsel of the holy Ghost. Have confidence Prou. 3. 5. in the Lord, and rely not upon thy own prudence. In all thy ways think on him, and He will direct thy steps. Have confidence; you confide in a friend, who never said to you, trust in me: who perhaps is changed and hath lost the love he had for you; And will you not trust in God who is always the same, and who says to you in his Scripture with so much tenderness and assurance: I will not leave, nor abandon Heb. 13. 5. thee Will you not trust in your God, who can, and will aid you powerfully, if you cast yourself into his arms? In the Lord; He is Master, and He will show it, permitting you sometimes to be overwhelmed by a tempest, leaving you long in disgraces▪ suits, poverty, infirmity, and afflictions of Spirit; But if you put great confidence in him, though you be even past all remedy, and ready to be lost: He will strike the stroke of a Master: will make a signal demonstration of his Providence, and deliver you for his glory, to the admiration of the world. Rely not upon your own prudence; trust not in your ability, 'tis a weak support, a rotten plank, a reed, and a foundation upon sand; acknowledge in the presence of God, that your light is but darkness: that your Wisdom ss but folly: demand his conduct, invocate his mercy in the beginning, in the progress, and in theend of your actions. In all your ways think on him; 'Tis a great fault we commit, and the cause of all our failings, that we have not recours to God often enough, nor fervently enough. We are less able to do any thing that conduces to eternal life of our own selves, than a child that hath never written, is capable to write well; if then you will do well, you must not only recommend yourself to JESUS in the beginning of your actions: but often lift up your soul to him: dart forth respectful and affectionate aspirations, and ask his grace and light; If you do so: He will direct your steps: He will enlighten your understanding in perplexities, strengthen your heart in temptations, hold your hand in dangers, direct your footsteps in his ways: He will make your actions succeed to acquisition of his grace in this world, and to possession of his glory in the other. Amen. DISCOURSE XVIII. Of the Love of God. CHarity is amongst Christian Virtues, that which gold is amongst metals: ' that which the Palm is among trees: that which the Lion is amongst beasts: that which a man is among all Creatures of this world: that which the Seraphins are amongst Celestial creatures. S. Ireneus calls it properly Eminentissimum Charismatum, the most eminent and precious gift of the holy Ghost; he agrees in this with the Apostle, who having said that God hath chosen some 1. Cor. 12. 31. in his Church to be Apostles, others to be Doctors, others to work miracles: He adds I will show you yet a grace more excellent: a gift of the holy Ghost more to be desired than to be an Apostle, or a Prophet, and this grace is charity, of which he speaks immediately. One may be an Apostle and an ill man, witness Judas; a Prophet, witness Balaam; a Doctor, witness Tertullian; a Virgin, witness the five foolish: a worker of miracles, witness they who will say have we not worked many miracles in your name? But one cannot love God perfectly and Matth. 7. 22. have Charity, without being good, holy, and pleasing to God. 2. Here we ought to admire the Goodness and Providence of God, who placed all our felicity and happiness in a thing so sweet, and conformable to our nature: And which poor as well as rich, ignorant, as well as learned, weak and sick, as well as strong and healthy, and in a word, all the world may have by his Grace. And because He desires that we be perfect, and wills that we be happy, He commands us to love him. 3. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God. Upon which S. Austin▪ Quid mihi es? miserere, ut loquar: Quid tibi sum ego? ut amari te jubeas a me, & nisi faciam minaris ingentes miserias, parva ne est ipsa miseria si non amem te? O my God have pity on me, pardon me if I am bold to speak, being but dust and ashes; what is this to say that you command me to love you? aught one to command a Vassal to love his Prince? an Infant to love his Father? a Spouse to love her Espouse? a Creature to love the Creator. are not you my Sovereign, my Father, my Espouse, my All, and my Creator? Nevertheless you threaten me with great miseries if I love you not; is there in the world a greater misery than not to love you? is it not the misery of miseries to be deprived of your love? You command me to love you: what mercy! 'Tis too much honour to have the permission of it, a Vassal would not dare say to his Prince, Sr. I love you; he may say, I honour your Majesty, I have much affection for your service: but not I love you: and I may say it to my God, not only without temerity, but with much merit: He permits it, He desires it, He commands it. 4. Nevertheless we have this misfortune among many others, and which is not of the lesser; that we often make more account of things which we ought to consider less. You find many who say this day is the feast of S. Matthew, to morrow Ember day, or Easter is at hand: we must hear Mass, fast, prepare ourselves for communion: You find very few that ever said in their lives we must make an Act of the love of God: and nevertheless it is a commandment of God, which obliges more stricly than those of the Church: it is the first and greatest commandment: it is an affirmative commadement: Note affirmative; the affirmative Precepts are those which command some action: the negative are those which forbidden to act; to obey negative commandments, we need not but abstain from acting: to observe these commands, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not swear, Thou shalt not Steal, there is no need to do any thing, 'tis enough to abstain from killing, swearing, robbing. It is not so in the affirmative. We fulfil them not by doing nothing, but by practising Acts which they command; Now the Commandment of loving God is affirmative, which obliges to express and formal acts, and without doubt obliges sometimes: and men think not of it. They employ every week half an hour at least in hearing Mass, to obey the command of the Church: 'tis well done: and if they did not, they would offend God; But how comes it to pass, that they employ not half a quarter of an hour, nither every week, nor every month, nor every year to make an act of the love of God, to obey this commandment of God, which our Saviour published with is own mouth, thou shalt love thy God. 5. Believe me, and you will believe one that desires your salvation with all his heart; resolve from this present to employ some little space of time in the exercise of the love of God: and give it the qualities and conditions of true love: else it is not Charity, and loses its value and its merit. The love of God must have at least three qualities; It must be a love that is Sovereign, Pure, and Active. 6. The love of God is a love of preference: it will be a king, or nothing: it cannot live without reigning, and it cannot reign but Sovereignly. The Son of God says in the Gospel. He that loves father or mother more than me, is not worthy of me: Matthew. 10. 37. and he that loves son or daughter above me, is not worthy of me; And to show, that we ought not only not prefer them before God: but that we ought to postpose them much, and to neglect them for him; He says in S. Luke, if any one come to me and hates not Luke 14. 26. S. john 12. 25. his father and mother, and wife and children, and brothers and sisters, and his own life, he cannot be my Disciple. And in S. john, he that loves his life, shall lose it, and he that hates his life in this world does keep it to everlasting life. S. Austin explicating these words says they are to be understood of the love of preference, which we ought to testify to our Saviour Aug. tracked 51. in Io. in occasion, when his commandment is in opposition with the love of any Creature whatsoever: that is, Your heart ought to be in this disposition, that in case you must lose your suit, goods, husband, wife, children, honour, life, or commit a mortal sin, you will choose rather to lose all, than commit it; if you have not this sincere and cordial Will, you have not the true love of God, you are in the state of damnation: if you die in it, your process is wholly ended, you are condemned and damned eternally. 8. He that loves not God more than himself, inverts the order of charity says S. Prosper; he had reason to say inverts; Is not this a horrible inversion, perversion, and a prodigious disorder to love a particular good more than the universal, the stream more than the source, the ray more than the sun, the image more than the prototype, the nothing more than the All, the creature which is but dust and putrefaction more than the most high, most excellent, and infinite Majesty of the Creator? 9 It is this disorder that makes that a mortal sin, also in a thing which seems not to be of great importance, does merit hell; It seems very rigorous to damn one for stealing a crown; but you must not only regard the value of a crown, but that you make more account of a piece of a silver, then of God himself, since you will lose his amity and Him for it. 10. In the second place, the love of God must be a pure and disinteressed love; S. Paul says nor only that charity seeks the 1. Cor. 13. 5. the glory of God, and his divine interests, but that it seeks not its own interests: Non quaerit quae sua sunt. S. Thomas treating of this Verity concludes with all Divines, that charity is not a mercenary love, a love of profit and of interest: but a free and disinteressed love, a love of amity and benevolence, a love by which we will good to God, not for the love of ourselves, but for the love of him: we love him not in regard of our profit, but in regard of his goodness: not because He does good to us, or that He may do us good, but because He is good, and deserves to be loved; for God, is so good, great, holy, powerful, and worthy to be loved, that if He did desire it, we should sacrifice ourselves for his service, though there were neither heaven for those that love him, nor hell for those that love him not. 11. We should do as the blessed Spirits do: it is JESUS that gives the Counsel, putting these words into our mouths, Your will be done in earth as it is in heaven: that is as the Angels do it; they do the will of God and obey his Orders, with a free, pure, and disinteressed love: all that they pretend is to obey God, to do his will, all the recompense that they passionately desire, is to receive new Orders, to be employed again in his service, purely for the love of him. 12 This is not said, that a faithful soul may not hope, and keep the commandments for reward or retribution as the Prophet says he did: But that it be not the principal, yet less the only aim of our love? for as S. Bernard says, perfect love of God intends no recompense, but merits much. The loving soul receives from the hands of God ineffable and incomprehensible goods: but though she should not, though there should be no Paradise, nor reward, she would not omit to love God, serve him, and to be pleasing to him: and if she practices virtue for reward: the reward which she desires is the increase of her love; if she is glad to merit to be higher in heaven, this is not to have there more of honour and glory, but it is to have more of love: if I merit much says she, I shall see God more clearly and perfectly in heaven, I shall glorify him more excellently, I shall praise him more advantageously, I shall be united to him more strictly and intimatly, I shall love him more ardently; and so love is the true salary▪ of love. 13. In fine your love must not be idle and paralytic, but active to render service to God, and to do good works for his glory: Charity works great things where it is, and where it works not, there it is not, says S. Gregory. S. john 14. 23. 1. Ep. 3. 18. Psai. 96. 10. He that loves me will keep my word, says JESUS. My little children, says his beloved Disciple, let us not love in word and tongue only, but in work and verity; and the Royal Prophet, You that love our Lord hate ye evil; he says not only commit not evil: but hate it: He says not hate it in yourself, but absolutely hate it; If you love God, you will hate sin, wheresoever it is found: you will destroy it in yourself, and in your neighbour also, if if you can; if one should say, I abuse not my friend, but is not sorry that another does, nor hinders him when he can, may one truly say, he loves him? Let us conclude with a reflection upon these words of JESUS, I Came to cast fire upon the earth, and what desire I but that it be inflamed? Luke 12. 49. And does He not move, solicit, and stir up our hearts to this fire and flame of love by all possible ways? 14. He prevents us with great love; He loved us more than riches: He was made poor for us; more than honours: He suffered a thousand infamies; more than his ease and pleasure: He led a life in pain and labour; more than his body: He deprived it of glory, and of life; more than the Angels: He redeemed them not; And though we are so ungratful and unworthy as not to return love for love: He tries yet other means. 15. He heaps Benefits upon us, and makes us presents to engage our mercenary hearts. He practices the counsel He gives us by the Wiseman, and by his Apostle, Give meat and drink to your enemy, Prov. 25. 21. Rom. 12. 20. when he hath need, and you shall heap upon him burning coals, to heat his love to you; so many prosperities that are sent you: so many morsels of bread you eat: so many creatures that serve you: are so many burning coals, He heaps upon you to heat your love, so many presents He makes you, to gain your affection: so many baits he lays, to catch your heart; Et si parva sunt ista, adiiciet majora. And if it seems to you that all this is too little, and that your heart is yet worth more: He assures you, that all the favours whiich he hath done you, and which he does you yet every day, are not but gauges and pledges of the great Goods He hath prepared and promised you, if you love him; Neither eye hath seen, nor ear hath heard, 1. Cor 2. 9 nor the heart of man can comprehend the things which God hath prepared for them that love him says S. Paul. 16. But since we esteem not these promises enough, and are like those Israelites who contemned she desirable land: He lifts up his hand: He commands us ro love him, and threatens punishments, if we do not; Is not this to be extremely desirous of our love, to put as it were a dagger to our throats, and say to us, love me, I will kill you if you will not. He does not only say it, but he does it, he damns us eternaly, if we love him not. 17. And when He sees that fear of future punishments do not sufficiently move our hearts, He sends us sometimes afflictions to force our love: He takes away all you love in this world; because you love not well that which ought to be loved above all things; He removes from you all that may amuse and employ your heart: that it may be in a manner forced, for want of other object, to unite itself to Him; o great God? what can you do more to have this heart which you so passionately desire; you besige it on all sides, and it renders not; neither the preventions of your love: nor the attractives of your benefits: nor your promises of paradise: nor your strict commands: nor threats of hell: nor constrains of afflictions can open this locked heart; Extremis morbis extrema remedia. 18. When a passionate lover hath tried all ways, and finds them unsuccesful, he comes to the last, makes use of a charm, composes a love potion: JESUS, makes use of this artifice to gain our affection: He puts himself upon our Altars, and into our Tabernacles: there he is the charm of love, They say that in a charm of love, to render it more powerful, the Lover ought to mix with it some of his own substance, some drops of his blood: and JESUS puts all his blood into this potion: not a part of his substance only, but all his substance, Body, Soul, and Divinity. 19 What think you; Judge you not that God ought to have your heart after so many pursuances: do they not inflame you to beg that of God which is so necessary, and which you cannot have of your own selves? Ask it of God fervently, humbly, frequently, ask it of God if you be wise: I say again once more, and I would say a thousand times to all Christians in particular, ask often of God his Love, if you will work your salvation: pray the B. Virgin and other saints, to intercede for you: give great alms or many little ones that God may give you his love: fast sometimes, pray virtuous persons to beg it for you, and renonce all that displeases him: for if God be the object of our love in this life, He will be the object of our vision, fruition and felicity in the other, Amen. DISCOURSE XIX. OF THE LOVE OF NEIGHBOURS. NAture inclines and prompts all creatures to love their like; It obliges us to will, and also to do good to others: and teaches us that we cannot deny them good offices, or hate them without renouncing humanity. Generosity will that we pardon our Enemies: Invites us to do good to those that hurt us, and to oblige them to repentance by our favours. God to confirm men in this necessary love of others, commanded it: and made the legitimate love of their own selves the model, and Rule, by which they were to regulate their love of others. CHRIST in the Gospel confirms and renews the commandments of Love with a great Encomium: He says The whole Law, and the Prophets depend on them, It is then one of our greatest Mat. 22. 40. obligations and debts to love our neighbours as ourselves: a debt which we must pay, but cannot clear: always pay, and always own; Own no man any thing, but that you love one another, says S. Pau. Rom. 38. S. Paul: that is, pay to every one what you own, so that you own no more: but know, that you must pay them the debt of Charity, and own still more. Let us then see: who is our neighbour; that we may render to him this debt: and in the second place, how we must pay it to him. 2. When a certain Lawyer in the Gospel made this Question, who is my neighbour? JESUS to instruct him, proposed to him Luke. 10. 30. this Parable: A certain man went down from Jerusalem into jericho, and fell amongst thiefs, who rob him, wounded him, and left him half dead, And it happened that a certain Priest went down the same way, and having looked upon him, passed by. In like manner also a Levit, when he was near the place▪ and saw him, passed on. But a certain Samaritan going in his way, Came where he was; and seeing him was moved with compassion. And going to him, bound up his wounds, having powered into them oil and wine; and setting him upon his beast, brought him to an Inn, and took care of him. Then JESUS demanded of the Lawyer, which of These three, was in his opinion neighbour to him that fell among the thiefs? The Lawer said, he that shown mercy to him. And JESUS approved his answer, saying, go and do thou in like manner By which we see, that CHRIST forced him to confess, that not only the just, not only friends, not only jews, as the Lawyer thought, were neighbours, but a Samaritan was neighbour to a jew, that is, an enemy was neighbour to an enemy: and Consequently, every humane creature, though Pagan, jew, Turk, or Heretic, is our neighbour. And this also is made evident by S. Paul, who says, that all the commandments Rom. 13 9 are comprised in this word. Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself; for if any man whatsoever should not be comprehended under the notion of a neighbour, he would not sin against the precept of loving his neighbour, who should steal his goods, kill him, or bear falls witness against him, which contradicts expressly the doctrine of the Apostle. We are then obliged by this precept to love every man, be he a friend or an enemy, a relation or a stranger, a faithful person, or an infidel, as we love ourselves. 3. But when do we love truly our own selves? When we love God truly; for as S. Austin most judiciously does note, no body loves himself, unless he loves God; and again, speaking upon these Ep. 95. ad Innocent Papam words Peter lovest thou me; 'tis most strange, says he, but very true, that he that loves himself, if he loves not God, does not love himself: and he that loves well God, and loves not himself, truly loves himself; For we cannot love God as we ought, but at Aug. Tract 51. in joan. sub med. the same time we repair or preserve our Spiritual life, and procure our Sovereign good; nor can we fail in this love, but we deprive ourselves, of those goods, and truly hate ourselves. If then we love our neighbours as ourselves, we must make them to love God; if they be unfaithful, we must convert them: if sinners, correct them: and as much as in us lies make all to obey God, to love him perfectly, and serve him faithfully. 4. But again, when do we love well ourselves? when we make God and his service the But and End of our designs, erterprises and actions: when our hearts are in this posture and disposition: I will be wholly referred to God, I will not be in this world but for him: if I recreate myself, this shall not be only to pass the time, but to preserve my health for his service, if I nourish children, it is to the end they serve him: if I gain money, it is for a necessary Support of myself in the service of God, and to give alms: If I pursue an estate or office, it is to have an occasion to serve God, my neighbour, and the Church therein. So we should endeavour that our neighbour serve not God accidentally, occasionally and secondarily, that they make not themselves, nor the advancement of their families their chief and principal intention, nor the end of their studies, labours and endeavours; but God, his glory, and his service. 5. But again when do we truly love ourselves? We love not well ourselves satisfying our senses, and our passions, taking ease and pleasures, and seeking the felicities of this world; for he that loves so his life shall lose it, Says our Saviour, But we love ourselves truly when we content ourselves with what is necessary: and when we mortify our passions and sensualities: and labour for grace and virtue in this life, and for glory in the other. So our love of others must not comply with their sensualities, passions, or defects: but must separate what is hurtful: and procure them what is good and necessary in this life, and what may better them for the other. 6. But once more: when do we truly love ourselves? When we love our souls more than all things of this world: more than ease, pleasure, riches, honour, or life itself, and choose to live in pain and labour, in poverty and misery, in disgrace and infamy, and to lose our life, rather than hazard our salvation, or hurt in the least our souls; for what does it profit a man, says the Son of Matthew 16. 26. God if he gain the whole world and sustain the damage of his Soul? And so if we will be good Christians, we ought to love our Neighbours; there is nothing that we ought not to lose, pleasure, riches, honour, and also, if need be, life itself, for the Salvation of our neigbors; And this the beloved Disciple and faithful Interpreter of his Master teaches us in these clear words, In this we know the Charity of God, because He hath given his life for us, and we ought also to give our life for our Brothers; He does not say 1. Ep. 3. only, that 'tis expedient, that it is a Salntary counsel, but that we must give our lives for their salvation: and to move us more, He putteth before our eyes the example of JESUS-CHRIST: S▪ john. 13. who made his love of us, the rule of our love of others; I give you a new commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. And lest we should less note it: He repeats it again in the john. 15. same Gospel: This is my Precept, that you love one another as I have loved you. 7. Though this Virtue be so pleasing to God, and so important to our Salvation: nevertheless men fail, in this the most; and to say nothing of all those who live in hatred, envy, discord, contention, scandal, which are the common pests of the world, and the mortal enemies of charity: there are many who seem to have good intelligence, who make mutual visits, compliments, offers of service: Yet love but in word and tongue, not in work and verity: they will not open their purse, nor use their power, nor apply their pains and labour for the assistance of their neighbour in necessity. 8. Others love their kindred and relations, but with a natural inordinate, and hurtful love; they procure them what is honourable, or profitable upon earth, though they put them into eminent danger of losing heaven; they give them what pleases the senses and satisfies their foolish inclinations, though to the prejudice of their souls and their salvation: and if they see them desirous to renounce the world, and to betake themselves to a virtuous course of life, they call upon them, and to show their love, dissuade them from it, and recall them to the usual and libertine course of life; so they seem to love, but do truly hate, to be good friends, but are the worst of enemies, and the maxim of our Saviour is verefyd in them: The enemies of a man are his domestics. Matt. 10 9 Others in fine extend their love beyond Relations, but to those only from whom, or by whose means, they expect honour, pleasure, or profit. This is an imperfect love, a love of concupiscence and interest, and not of charity, which seeks not proper interest: but loves God, and in him, or for him, or for the love of him all others, though they be our enemies, because they are his images, redeemed by the precious blood of JESUS, capable to know, serve, and possess him: and because it is his Will, intimated to us, by this general precept to love our neighbours, and particularly commanded in S. Matthew: I say to you love Mat. 5. 44. your enemies, do good to them that hate you, pray for them that persecute and calumniate you, that you may be children of your Father. 10. But the first and most necessary effect of this good will and love which is exacted of us for our enemies, is to pardon them; for this is the first mercy and charity that we can do them, and the most necessary alms we can bestow upon them. What good can we do them, if first we do not pardon them, but keep in our hearts, odium, enmity, bitterness, and a desire to take revenge of them? Wherefore the Son of God who endeavours by all means our Salvation, does not only command this charity and mercy, but moreover obliges us to it by other pressing motives; He promises us his greatest mercy, which is the pardon of our sins, if we pardon others: dimittite & dimittemini: and he assures us that his Father will treat us most rigorously if we do not: Sic Pater meus celestis faciet vobis: so my heavenly Father will cast you into the prison of hell, if you forgive not others from your hearts. And S. james tells us, judgement james 2. 13. without mercy shall be don● to them. who shall not have done mercy. S. Austin praying for the soul of his deceased Mother said, I know that she led, a holy and innocent life; but woe to a laudable life if you examine it without mercy; Whatsoever life you lead, woe to you, woe to you, if you have enmity: you shall be judged without mercy: and woe to a laudable life, if judged without mercy. What laudable thing do you? You pray: woe if you have bitterness, woe to you notwithstanding your prayer; for that he Psal. 11● remembered not to do mercy, let his prayer be turned into sin, says the Psalmist. Your prayer condemns you: saying our Lord's prayer, you demand Vengeance against yourself; you say, I pardon such a person: but I will not speak to him: I will not that he come into my house, and after this you say, forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us; God will hear you, He will not speak to you favourably, nor admit you into his house, and if you be not admitted into heaven, whether shall you go? What laudable action do you? you give alms: woe to you if you have malice, woe to you notwithstanding your alms; S. Paul says, if you should give all your goods to the poor, if you 1. Cor. 13 have not charity, you are nothing; and by charity in this place, he understands the love of neighbours. What virtuous action do you? you fast: woe to you notwithstanding your fast, if you have dissension. In Isaiah the jews Isay 58. 3 complained to God, We have fasted and you have not regarded us; God answers them, with all your fasts you do your wills, you press your poor debtors, you have debates and contentions. What laudable thing perform you? Sacrifice; woe to you if you have malice; God says by Osee, and twice in the Gospel, I love and will rather mercy then your sacrifice; And therefore many Osee. 6. great Saints offering to God, the most meritorious sacrifice that can be offered to him, the sacrifice of their lives: have interrupted it, to obey this Commandment of mercy; in the hour of their death, when they had time little enough to elevate themselves to God, to offer, and to unite themselves to him: they remembered their enemies, prayed for them, and desired their good. 11. These heroical virtues of the Saints were extracts and copies of those, which we admire in JESUS-CHRIST the King of Martyrs, and the Saint of Saints: He being unjustly, and most cruelly nailed to the Cross, mocked, blasphemed, did not do as some do: they think that they exercise great acts of charity and patience towards their enemies, when they say, I will not revenge myself: I leave revenge to God: let God do to him according to his deserts; know you well what you do, says S. Austin: you make yourself judge of your neighbour, you will not, or you cannot execute your sentence, but you desire that God should be the Executioner of it. He that will be revenged, says Ecclesiasticus, shall find revenge of our Lord, and keeping he will keep his sin; He says not, he that will revenge himself, but he that will be revenged, shall be the object of the divine vengeance; You will not revenge yourself, nor hurt your neighbour: but you desire that God would revenge the injury that he hath done you: this it to desire to be revenged, it is to incur the Vengeance of God. The Son of God does quite otherwise upon the Cross: He prays God to pardon them: He excuses them as much as he can: He seeks reasons to diminish the greatness of their crimes; Pardon them, says He, for they know not what they do; He expects not his Resurrection to pray for them, when the abundance of glory and the charms of its delight would blot out the sense of his pains: He prays for them in the midst of most bitter torments: when He hath his enemies before his eeys, who offend him actually, his ears ringing with their blasphemies, his mouth full of gall and bitterness, his body all covered with wounds. When He prays for himself, He says, my God: when He prays for his enemies He says, my Father, to incline Him by the sweetness of this appellation; when He prays for himself in the garden, it is with condition, If it be possible; here He prays absolutely: my Father, I beseech you to pardon them, by these thorns which pierce my head, by these tears which fall from my eyes, by these wounds which are as so many mouths that demand your pardon. If so rare and prodigious an example of charity does not move us, nothing in the world will move us: 'tis in vain to say more: God have mercy on us, and convert us. Amen DISCOURSE XX. OF THE NECESSITY OF GRACE. I Treat not in this discourse of natural graces: not of those which Divines call gifts gratis given: not of habitual grace, which is a most noble and excellent quality, by which we are made children of God, most pleasing to his Majesty. and heirs of his Paradise; 'tis called habitual, because it remains always in us as a habit, when we have once received it, 'til we lose it by consenting to a mortal sin; 'tis also named sanctifying and justifieng grace, because it sanctifys us and renders us holy and just before God; But here I speak only of actual Grace, which is a good motion, a holy inspiration, an interior light, a secret touch, a supernatural aid by which the holy Ghost wakens us, and excites us to rise out of sin, or to the practice of some good work; It is called actual, because it makes us do acts of Virtue: and it remains not always in us, but passes as an act, or as a flash of lightning; I will show the necessity we have of this grace: because it imports very much to be well convinced of it, and to put in practise the Documents which are drawn from it. 2. God the omnipotent Creator having reposed from all Eternity, and satisfied himself in the plenitude of his divine Being, in the enjoyance of his infinite Perfections, in the fecundity of his adorable Emanations, in the society of his divine Persons, and willing by a sally of love, and by a powerful inclination of his natural Goodness to communicate himself out of himself, created man in the beginning of time to his own image and resemblance, that by grace and particular privilege, he might be partaker of the same felicity, which the Creator possessed in himself by the prerogative of his Nature. He created him, I say, to his own image and resemblance; to his Image in the Understanding: to his resemblance in the will; to his image in reason: to his resemblance in dilection: to his image in the knowledge of verity: to his resemblance in the love of virtue; having so created him, He made him Lord of all the creatures, and as a little God in this world, lodged him in a garden of delights; He honoured him with one only commandment very easy to be observed: that meriting by his own acts the Beatitude prepared for him: he might have more honour and contentment to enjoy it, not as a present freely given, but as a crown happily and gloriously obtained by conquest. Satan perceived this, and raging with envy desired to frustrate the design, fearing that man whom he esteemed much inferior to himself, should merit by his humility and obedience the glory of heaven, which he had lost by his arrogancy and rebellion; and seeing well, that he could not vanquish him by force, made use of fraud and artifice. and having induced him to transgress the commandment of God, gave him traitorously two mortal wounds contrary to the two prerogatives he received from God in his creation: Ignorance of good. against the light of his understanding: Concupiscence of evil. against the rectitude of his will. From these two accursed sources. have flown all the dismal evils which destroy our nature, and principally the two more notable, Delict, and Crime: Delict comes from ignorance, Crime proceeds from concupiscence; Delict is the omission of good commanded: Crime is the commission of evil prohibited; For such infectious wounds two remedies were necessary; man had need of counsel and of aid▪ consilio & auxilio indigebat; of counsel. to clear his ignorance: of aid, to correct his concupiscence: of counsel, to enlighten his understanding: of aid to fortify his will; of counsel, to make him know verity: of aid, to make him love virtue. This is that wherewith the divine Word incarnated for for the salvation of men hath enriched us abundantly: who came as S. john says, full of Grace and Verity; Grace, there S. john 1. is Aide; Verity, there is counsel. 4. But is not this a wonder capable to ravish the highest Scraphins with admiration, to see that the Son of God deferred so long a remedy so necessary? The Son of God resolved from all Eternity to make himself man; He made promises of it from the beginning of ages; and nevertheless He defers more than four thousand years the execution of a design so worthy of himself: so conformable to his goodness: so conducible to his glory: so advantageous to men. o my God, how wonderful are you! How incomprehensible is the Abyss of your secrets! You are so jealous of your honour; how permit you then, the evil Spirit, your mortal Enemy, to tyrannize so over your creatures, to possess your dominion, to be adored instead of you for the space of four thousand years? you have so mortal and irreconcilable hatred of sin: how permit you Idolatry, a sin so detestable and unnatural, to reign so long in the whole world? You have so much zeal for the salvation of men: how permit you that so many souls fall into perdition? I confess to you that you are terribly magnifyd: You will magnify, you will manifest the necessity and the excellency of the grace of JESUS your Son: you will show how Excellent and precious it is: since it was to be expected, desired, demanded by so many prayers of the Patriarches, groans of the Prophets, tears and sighs of virtuous people; how necessary it is, since the light of nature: the exquisite precepts of Philosophers: the rich discourses of Orators: the sharp invectives of Prophets: the terrible threats of your Scriptures: the exemplar chastisements of sinners, joined with the interior grace you gave to men, drew so few from Sin. You will make known how freely it is given: since you gave it in a time, in which men did demerit it by so many crimes: in a time, in which the world was prostituted to sins so black, enormous, and excessive that they provoked vengeance instead of inviting your mercy. 'tis S. Paul in the Epistle to the Romans and to the Galatians, and after him S. Austin in divers places, who Aug lib. 1. de Gratiae Christi Cap. 8. inculcate to us this verity, that God lest so long the Gentills in their ignorance, and the jews in the weakness of their concupiscence, for to oblige us to acknowledge, confess and magnify the necessity of his grace. 5. When we consider this, I wonder we cry not out continually, at least in the bottom of our hearts, Grace, Grace, with out it I know nothing, I can do nothing, I am nothing; I marvel how we can be proud in any good work whatsoever: that we cast not ourselves into the centre of our nothing. and say with S. Paul, By the grace of God I am what I am. We are not sufficient to think any thing of ourselves, as of ourselves. If we will be aided by this grace, without which we are in disgrace with God, and miserable for ever. we must do our duty, before it comes, when it comes, and after it is come 6. Before it comes, we must acknowledge and confess the need we have of it: That which the Wiseman said of a particular Wisdom. 8. 21. grace, we must say of all: knowing that I could not have the grace of continency, if God did not give it to me, I went to him▪ and demanded it of Him with my whole heart: and this very thing is Wisdom to know that 'tis a gift of God; We must do the like; We know or aught to know, that we cannot practise any virtuous action by which we advance towards heaven without the grace of God; we must then ask it of him humbly, fervently, and with all our heart; and this not once or twice, but very often; for since it is wholly necessary to the practice of Virtue, and also to every good and meritorious work in particular, ad singulos actus, as the Counsels Speak: what shall we do? and what will become of us, if we are not continually prevented by it? 7. We cannot of ourselves prevent and merit it; But we can demerit it, and render ourselves unworthy of it, by many, great and enormous sins, as the jews did; Let us not do as Ezechiel. 9 9 they: let us not hinder or retard the happy coming of his grace. 8. And when it comes: we must carefully not its genius and motions, for fear of a mistake, and of following the inclinations and the instincts of nature, instead of the conduct and designs of grace, for though they are wholly opposite, they are in appearance very like, and it imports very much, not to be herein deceived; for they that are led by nature are children of the old man: and they that are guided by grace are children of the new man JESUS CHRIST, or as the Apostle says, they are the Sons of God. 9 Nature hates all captivity: will not subjection nor humiliation: loves to govern and command. Grace loves subjection: desires Thomas a Kempis de Imitatione Christi. lib. 3. cap. 54. humiliation: and will not govern or command, if not obliged to it. 10. Nature loves praise and glory: to make itself seen and known to many: to employ and dissipate itself in exterior affairs; Grace loves to be hidden and unknown to the world: it seeks recollection and retirement, peace, and communication with God. 11. Nature flies all that gives difficulty or pain either to soul or body? it seeks what is proper and particular: loves its own ease and commodity, and refers all to itself and to its interest. Grace requires that which is laborious, which mortifys, and is incommodious to the flesh, which is serviceable and profitable to many, which conduces to the glory of God. When then you have thoughts and desires of the first sort, beware such thoughts, mistrust such inclinations, what ever fair pretence, appearance, and hopes you may have, to do good by following them, for there is danger: it is to be feared, that they are not but the inclinations of Nature, and the productions of self love; But when you have thoughts and affections of the other sort, suspect them not: for they are ordinarily the instinct● and motions of Grace. 12. When you have received it: be very careful not to be ungrateful. Ingratitude says S. Bernard, is a murderer, an opposer of S. Berinthia ser. 3. de sept. panib. S. Ber. contrapessimum. vitium Ingrat. Grace, an enemy to salvation; I think nothing displeases God so much as ingratitude: it shuts the door against grace which hath no entrance where this Vice is found. There is nothing but ingratitude that hinders your advancement: the Benefactor reputing the graces lost which he gave to the ungrateful, shuts his hands, and gives them to him no more▪ Happy he who returns thanks for every benefit received from God, who is the Source of all grace; for when we are grateful for favours receiv'● we deserve to receive greater. 13. When Grace hath produced in you or by you any good, beware to say, that Our high hand and not our Lord hath done these things: Beware to attribute to yourselves the glory of them: say always as S. Paul, by the grace of God I am what I am; If I have not yielded to temptation, 'tis by the mercy of God; If I have received any grace from him, 'tis by his mercy; if I have consented to it and laboured with it, 'tis by his mercy; If I am exempted from many sins which are committed in the world, 1. Cor. 4. 7. 'tis by his mercy. Who distinguishes you from others? Have you any thing that you have not received, and if you have received it, why glorify you yourself, as if you had it of yourself? What difference is there between me, and the most execrable Criminal in the world? the mercy of God; what difference and distinction between my soul and the blackest soul in hell? 'tis the mercy of God; this great sinner, this unfortunate person was drawn out of nothing: and I also; he was in the mass of corruption: and I also; he inclined naturally to it: and I also; he had flesh that rebelled against the spirit, sensuality that was contrary to reason: and I also; If I have not been so violently tempted as he; If I have not been in the immediate occasions as he; if I have been more strong and firm than he: 'tis by the grace and mercy of God. Acknowledge, says S. Austin, the grace of God, to which you are debtors for being freed from the crimes which you have not committed: for no sin is committed by a man, which another might not commit: if forsaken by him who made man. And after this shall we be proud; shall we think to be something of ourselves? shall we disdain others? 14. S. Paul had great reason to cry-out to us, Tu fide stas, Rom. 11. 20. S. Ber. Ser. 54. in cant. noli altum sapere, sed time, though you have faith, and other virtues, nevertheless, be not proud, but fear. Upon which words S. Bernard says, in verity I have learned that there is nothing so effectual to keep and recover grace, as Humility and Fear: you are happy if you fill your heart with a triple fear; if your fear when you have received grace: and more, when you have lost it: and yet more, when you have recovered it; fear then when grace comes: fear when it retires: fear when it returns; when it comes, fear lest you comply not well with it; when it retires fear more: because you have lost your safeguard: and doubt not but that pride is the cause of it, though you know it not: for God sees that which is hid from you: God who gives his grace to the humble, takes it not from the humble; when then a man is deprived of grace, 'tis a sign that he is proud. And if it return by the mercy of God, 'tis then you ought to fear much more, lest you fall into a more lamentable relapse; fear therefore God always and withal your heart: mistrust your dispositions how ever holy and good they may seem, if they make you proud; God left so many souls in the way of perdition before the Incarnation, to make you know the necessity of Grace, and to establish you in Humility; will He not permit you to be lost, if you are not humble? fear if you commit great sins, that God will not give you efficacious grace to raise you out of them. Fear if you attribute it to yourselves, that God will draw it from you; work your salvation in fear and trembling: for 'tis God who produces in you the good will and the work; and this is the reason why Saints always fear, lest being proud of their good works: they be deprived of the help of grace, and left in weakness, says S. Leo, S. Leo. Ser. 8. de Epiph, Have you yet Baptismal Innocency, fear, beware to lose it: avoid all occasions that may make you suffer so great a loss; 'tis a most precious and inestimable treasure: but a tender one: if it be opened, it will soon rot. Are you in an ill state, fear; you are in the power of satan, the object of the anger of God, at the brink of hell; there needs not but an unhappy accident, a sudden death, to bury you in eternal fire. Are you raised out of sin? fear; fear to fall back again: your relapse would be more dangerous, your ingratitude more great, the remedy more hard. In whatsoever State you be, acknowledge the grace of God the great need you have of it, and call often and instantly for it; if you acknowledge the necessity of Grace: if you ask it: if you receive it: and improve it unto the end, assuredly you will be saved; for this divine grace in the seed, merit, and last disposition to eternal Glory. Amen. DISCOURSE XXI. Of good Works in general. SOme say that Catholics think to be saved by their good works without being beholding to JESUS-CHRIST: by their own merits: not by his; and consequently that they are the proudest, and the most ungrateful to God of all people in the world. 2. 'Tis a strange thing, that they can be so mistaken in our Doctrine: since our Church constantly and clearly ●ver taught the contrary. We believe that no force of nature; nor dignity of our best works, can merit our justification: but we are justifyd freely by grace, through the Redemption that is in JESUS-CHRIST. 3. We teach that our following merits or good works signisy no more, than actions done by the assistance of God's grace, to which it hath pleased his Goodness to promise a reward; a doctrine, so far from being unsuitable to the holy scriptures, that nothing is so frequently repeated in them, as God's gracious promises to recompense with everlasting glory the faith and obedience of his servants: 4. We believe that the merit and rewardableness of these actions 1. Tim. 4. 8. Rom. 2. 8. Rom. ●. 3. Heb. 6. 10. Matth. 25. 21 2. Tim. 2. 21. Matt. 25. 21. Matt. 19 12. arises not from the value of them, as they are ours, but from the grace and bounty of God. So we boast not in ourselves, but all our glorying is in CHRIST. We say with S. Paul, that we are naughty and unfaithful servants of our own selves: but good and faithful, as our Saviour says, by the grace of God; that we are unprofitable by our own works: but profitable▪ as S. Paul says by the works of grace; and if we should be absolutely unprofitable, we must expect the sequel there of, utter darkness that is damnation. 5. Besides good works of obligation, there are other of Supererogation: and at these Dissenters startle much; they hold it a proud and arrogant thing to think, that a man may do more than he is commanded as Catholics do teach. Yet what more plain in Scriptures? Our Saviour says, there are Eunucks who have made themselves Eunucks for the Kingdom of Heaven; and this is more than a man is bound to, for he may marry if he will, and yet go to heaven. He says again, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell all Matt. 19 21. thou hast, and give it to the Poor, and thou shalt have a treasure in heaven; No man can reasonably suppose this to to be a command; he than that obeys it, as the Apostles did, does more than he is commanded. Concerning Virgins, says the Apostle I 1. Cor. 7. 25. have no command: but I give counsel, plainly distinguishing betwixt counsel and command: betwixt that which we must do, and what we may do: betwixt we●l and better; He that marrieth doe● well: but he that marrieth not, does better; and He that does 1. Cor. 7. 38. well, does not sin, does not break a commandment: but he that does better, does more than he is commanded. Wherefore Catholics say, that God does not require of us all the good that He enables us to do; and this is the ground of works of superero gation, and doing more than is commanded. Now if God do not require all, but only thus much, to do well: then the doing better than well, is a stock which God gives us, to offer Him liberal services, beyond the band of duty. And what pride is it for man, to acknowledge this sweet providence of his Creator, and to p●aise his merciful indulgence in not exacting so much as He might: and giving him a way and means to show his voluntary and unexacted love to him. We give surely by this more honour and glory to God, than they who say, that God requires of us all that He enables us to do, yea and more, commanding things impossible: and then punishes us for not doing them. Far be such a thought of God from a Christian heart▪ God commands nothing, but what is honourable, profitable, and also easy with his grace. That which He demands to save us is, that we do good works conformable to our supernatural Being, and to the high end to which we are designed; that we do them in a competent and convenient Quantity; and that we do not abuse or lose the Talents which He lends us, but use these well in the practice of them: as shall be seen, God Matt. 3. 10. aiding, in this Discourse. 6. Now the axe is put to the root of the tree, every tree therefore that brings not forth good fruit, shall be cut down, and cast into the Matt. 7. 19 Matt. 20. fire: says S. john Baptist. And our Saviour himself in the Gospel confirms the Sermon of his Precursor and repeats his words Every tree that bears not good fruit, shall be cut down, and shall be cast into the fire. It is not then enough for to be saved, to have only the Psal. 61. 13. Matt. 16. 27. Rom. 2. 6. 2. Cor 5. 10. Apoc. 2. 23. leaves of Saintlike words: or only the flowers of holy and good desires: or only the rinds and the exterior of good fruit: but we must have good and perfect fruit, which are the works of Virtues. And in S. Matthew He calls the Elect, not Speakers, not designers, not complementers, but Workmen: Voca operarios. So in divers other places of holy Writ it is said: God will render unto every one, not according to his designs or fine discourses, but according to his works. He that made you without you will not save you without you said S. Augustine. And explicating these words of David I sought God with Aug. Ep. 21. ad Prob. c. 13. Psal. 76. 2. my hands, since God hath no body, says he, how can one seek him with the hands? he answers, that is to say, with good works. And this is not that God is hard to bestow his gifts, and to do good to his creatures: but 'tis that He would do it reasonably and decently, according to the rules of his providence and infinite Wisdom. He hath united his glory and our interests in procuring our Salvation: He will exercise and make seen his adorable perfections, his Power, Wisdom, and incomprehensible Goodness. The glory of his power shined more when he overcame Egypt by an army of flies, when he defeated Holofernes by the hand of a woman, than when He made use of powerful armies, Erit memoriale nominis tui, cum manus feminae dejecerit eum. And this same power shines yet more gloriously, when He ruins the empire of Satan, beats down the reign of sin and of the world, conquers heaven, and bears away the Crown of glory by feeble instruments. He shows his Wisdom, which demands that his goods and gifts be not undervalved: that one give them not to the unworthy, who contemn them: 'tis to have little esteem of them, and despise them: if we will not labour to obtain them. He makes his goodness seen, in that he vouchsafes to make use of his creatures, in an employment so honourable and so glorious. We hold it a great honour to be employed by a King in the regency and the government of a Kingdom; how much more honour is it, to be associated with a God in his more great, and noble actions, to conquer the kingdom of heaven, to sanctify our souls, and to enrich ourselves with christian Virtues? 7. The Scripture speaking of the glory of heaven, says it is a salary, a harvest, a crown, for to teach us that if we will be saved, we must necessarily labour, sow, fight; Each one shall receive his reward according to his labour, says S. Paul to the Corinthians 1. cor 3. 8. Gal. 6 7 2. Tem. 2. 5. and to the Galatians, a man shall not reap but what he hath sown; And to Timothy, No man shall be crowned, but he that hath fought legitimatly. A servant that should not have done any evil, but should have held his arms closed all the day and year, would he have the impudence to demand a salary? a labourer that should neither have sown nor planted, would he hope to gather or reap any thing? A Soldier that hath played whilst that others fought, would he have the boldness to desire to be crowned? The Son of God who is our model, was not contented to desire our Salvation and to demand it of his Father: He laboured for it: and to succeed in it, we must apply ourselves to virtuous works efficaciously and seriously: and in the second place as good trees, we must produce these good fruits plentifully. 7. The Son of God says in S. john, I am the Vine: you the john. 15. 5. branches. He that abides in me, and I in him, he brings forth much fruit; He says not simply fruit, but much fruit: then He adds, if any abide not in me, he shall he cast forth as the branch and shall whither, and shall be thrown into the fire. He was so much concerned for the fecundity of his branches, that He suffered death to merit grace for them to produce an abundance of good fruit; He delivered himself, says S. Paul, that He might redeem us from all iniquity, and might cleanse to himself a people acceptable, a pursuer of good works. Wherefore the Apostle ceased not to pray for the Collossians, Ep. ad Tit. 2. 14. Colloss. 1. 10. 2. Thess. 2. 17. that they might walk whorthy of God, in allthings pleasing, fructifying in all good works. And in like manner, prays God to exhort comfort and confirm the Thessalonians in every good work and word. But he makes us see yet more the necessity of this fecundity or abundance of good works, in the second Epistle to S. Timothy: for behold how he deciphers there an elect soul, who aspires seriously to the happy life, and who shall obtain it: she is says he, a Vessel unto honour sanctifyd, and profitable to our Lord, ready and disposed to every good work; He says ready or prepared, 2. Tim. 2 21. because every one cannot practise effectually all good works: but a chosen soul is disposed to do them promptly, whensoever God gives him ability and occasion. These Words of S. Paul instruct us to employ the Talents, and to cooperate with the grace that God gives us, faithfully. In what consists the fidelity of a servant? in that he employs the goods of his Master to as much profit as he can: and therefore the servant in the Gospel, who had employed well the five talents which were given him to traffic, was called faithful servant, S. Matt. 25. 26. serve bone & fidelis, and the other who gained not with his talon was termed, naughty servant. This aught to admonish us Gregory. hom. 9 in Evang. says great S. Gregory, to consider carefully, lest we who have received more from God than others, should be therefore judged more severely and rigorously than others: for when the gifts of God are augmented in us, the accounts which we must render of them also do increase: every one of us ought then to be so much more humble and more diligent in the service of God, how much he finds himself more obliged for the fovours he received from him. 9 Nevertheless, there are very many Christians that make not good use of them: there are but few comparatively, to whom one may not say, as to the idle servant in the Gospel who hide his Talon, serve nequam, naughty servant. Some have the Talon of a good wit and understanding; And in what do they employ this fine wit? to speak a witty word in company: to jest pleasantly: to study curiosities, and compliments: to make ingenious replies: to the end they say, there is a Lady that hath a great wit: there is a man that knows how to company; they do as that foolish Emperor, who spent the day in chase and killing flies with a golden bodkin; they have golden understandings which are not employed but to catch flies: the flies of vain glory: of worldly praise: of complacency in themselves: and at the best, but in the affairs of this world; God gave it them to consider his works: to contemplate his perfections: to meditate upon the Mysteries of Faith: to conceive acts of repentance: to do good works: to assist the poor: to comfort the oppressed; to help widows and orphans: and to instruct the ignorant: and they do nothing less: is not this to lose or abuse their Talon? Others have the Talon of perfect health, a body entire and well composed, that they may bear the labours of good and virtuous works, and the austerities of penance; and they let this health w●ste away in an idle, slack, and faint life. Ladies if you are good Christians, after you have done your devotions, you ought to labour in some work for the Poor, since S. Paul does say so. To others God hath given riches of this world to do good with them, to buy heaven, and to redeem their sins by alms. if God had done this favour to one man only, to be able to redeem eternal pains with temporal goods, to be able to oblige his Saviour, and to gain his favour with money, how happy would he be esteemed? when a rich man is upon his deathbed, and despaired off by Physicians, we are wont to say: o if life and health could be bought with money, how glad would this man be? how willingly would he give the half of his fortune to free himself from present death? Yes, life and health may be purchased with money: not the fragil and temporal health, but the solid and eternal: not this life which is full of miseries: but the happy life which is a collection of all goods: And instead of purchasing this life, instead of redeeming their sins by alms, instead of traficking with this Talon they keep it ●id and locked up in a coffer, or they throw it away in vanities, superfluities, and debaucheries. Another Talon which God desires us to manage with more care, is the time He gives us to do penance, and other works of holiness. He desires so much that we make use of the present time, that he leaves us uncertain of the future: we know not that after this year, this month, this week, this day, there will be any time for us. Is it not then a great want of prudence, to let it pass without making good use of it? Consider well your life, see in what you employ the precious time? You rise at eight or nine a clock: you lose two or three hours in dressing yourselves: you content yourselves to hear a short mass: the afternoon is spent in giving or receiving visits: the evening in frivolous discourses, in cards, or other pastimes: is this the life of a Christian? is this to bring forth much fruit? is this to be a Pursuer of good Works? But that with which we ought to cooperate most diligently, is the grace of God: Wherefore. S. Paul cryes-out to us, receive 2. Cor. 6. not the grace of God in Vain. Nevertheless holy job notes our abuse of it: Ipsi fuerunt rebelles Lumini: they have been rebels against the light. Is it not true that this word is verifyd in you? you job. 24. 23. do not sin through ignorance; you know well that you live not as you ought; you would not die in the state of negligence, Vanity, worldliness, in which you are; you do many things which in the hour of death you will wish you had not done; you do not many things which you will wish you had done: you seek arguments and apparent reasons to flatter yourselves in your imperfections, and abuses of God's graces; But We need not to go out of the parable of the Gospel to confute them. The Master said to the servant, who had hid his Talon. naughty servant, why have you not put it out to profit? He had not dissipated, nor employed ill the Talon: but because he had not gained by it, he said to him, naughty servant; take him, and cast him into exterior darkness. Let us then apply ourselves to good works so, that we may say with S. Paul the grace of God hath not been fruitless in me; that 1. Cor. 15. 10. coloss 4. 12. Apoc. 3. we may be of the number of those to whom 'tis said, You stand perfect and full in all the Will of God; that we may not be subject to this reproach in the Apocalypse, I find not thy works full before God. Consider what you would say to a workman that should rest two or rhree hours daily more than he ought; what you would say to your farmer, if he should bring you but half the rent he owes you. These holy dispositions must come from God; it belongs to him to give the beginning, the progress, and the accomplishment of our virtue. Beg then these graces of him humbly, fervently, and frequently: cooperate with them faithfully: render to him all the glory of your actions: and confess that when God shall crown your merits, He will crown his mercies and his favours, Amen. DISCOURSE XXII. OF NOT DEFERRING GOOD WORKS THat which learned Hypocrates said in a certain occasion, we may apply to penance, and the practice of other good Works; Life is short, Art is long, occasion flies away swiftly, the experience is dangerous. Life is short: it is but seventy or eighty years: infancy and chilhood cuts off a good part of it: another part is made unprofitable by extreme old age; sleep and other necessities of the body take up at least a third part of it: all which being deducted, the remainder will be found to be but short. Art is long: 'tis a trade full of difficulty, a high and hard enterprise for such as accustom themselves to the ways of the world, to do penance, and satisfy an infinite Justice for many and great sins, and after that to acquire virtue and perfection. Occasion flies away swiftly: It slides away insensibly, it is bald behind, having escaped, it cannot be retaken: when the conveniency to do penance, to acquire perfection is past, we shall not recover it again. The Experiment is dangerous: for the dignity of a man's body says the Interpreter of Hypocrates, and I'll say to my purpose, for the dignity of the reasonable soul: It is an Experience very dangerous to try whether or no we have done true penance, and practised solid virtue: there is nothing less at stake than our soul, than our eternal salvation; if we experience in the hour of our death, that our penance hath been falls, that our virtues have been wanting or defective, it is an irreparable fault: we commit it but once, but it is for all Eternity. Whence comes it then that we lose so easily the fair occasions which God presents us to labour in a work of so great consequence, delaying our conversion to old age, or to the time to come, which perhaps will never be for us. I desire to destroy utterly so penicious an abuse by three powerful reasons. First, that the Conversion which you pretend to make hereafter is uncertain: Secondly, harder: and thirdly, less fruitful. 2. It is a maxim in Divinity: that God is absolute Master of his goods, independent in his gifts, and that He gives them as He pleases; You say you will convert yourself hereafter: that nothing presses: and you have leisure enough. Know that you will never do it without a particular favour of God; Know that He owes it not to any: He hath refused it to many, and when you delay to leave your evil and negligent life, adding sin to sin, you give him cause to refuse it to you also. Consider the works of God Amos 1. 2. says the holy Ghost by the mouth of the Wise man and see that none can correct whom He hath despised; of this Predicament were those of Damascus, Tyre, Moab, and others, of whom the Creator says non convertam, I will not Convert them; of this number were the jews: to whom the Son of God did say, I go, S. john. 8. S. john 12. 33. and you will seek me, and you will die in your sin. and those, of whom the Evangelist said, that they could not believe, bécause God had blinded them, and hardened their hearts, that they might not be converted. It is rhen a strange folly: It is to build upon quick sands: it is to establish a design of the greatest importance upon an uncertain event, to defer your conversion to old age, or to future time. You let the time slide away, the occasions and inspirations which God gives you to do penance, and advance in piety: who hath ascertained you that▪ He will give you them hereafter? You dispose of yourself, and make the appointment of your life, as if you were the Master of it: you speak of your conversion, as if it depended on you only: you say, I will now take my pleasure content my passion, satisfy my inclination: afterward I will convert myself: will apply myself seriously to the affairs of my salvation; Poor man! you imagine that God will take your measures, that He will accommodate himself to your little projects, and regulate his thoughts, designs, and conduct according to the level of your rash thoughts: You deceive you self. You imagine that you have leisure enough to convert yourself; But if God call you out of this world suddenly, will you convert yourself in old age? if you die in the flower of your age, will you become virtuous in declining years, if you die this year, how will you do it? The evil spirit deals with men, as the Physician or Apothecary with his Patient: when he sees the sick cannot swallow a whole pill. he divides it, and makes him swallow it by piecemeal; Satan to seduce our first parents and o make them fall boldly into sin, said to them, You shall not die; at present seeing it impossible to persuade you, that you shall not die, because you see daily the contrary before your eyes: he divides the pill to make you swallow it: he says to you, you shall not die so soon: he makes you believe, that you will not die this year: afterward he persuades you that you will not die in the following year: nor in the year after that: so by little and little he persuades you what you would not believe in general, that you shall not die: 'til it happens to you as to our first parents, that sad experience makes you see the contrary: when on a sudden you will be surprised, when you think least of it. 3. But if you should not be surprised by sudden death, and your life should be a hundred years: 'tis a folly to believe that you will convert yourself more easily in the latter season of your age then in the present. The word of God tells you so expressly, Adolescens juxta viam suam, etiam cum senuerit non recedet Prou. 22. 6. ab ea: it rarely happens that a man withdraws himself in old age from the way he followed in his youth. And by Hieremie He says, if the Ethiopian can change his skin, and the Leopard his spots, you may Hierem. 13. 23. job. 20. 11. become virtuous when you are accustomed to vice. And therefore the holy Ghost says by the mouth of job of one that had not mortifyd but given himself to vices in his youth, his bones shall be filled with the vices of his youth and shall accompany him to his grave; for the infirmities of the soul, the inclinations and vicious customs which we quit not in good time, remain commonly with us until old age: now old age being feeble, weak, impotent, not able to do violence to itself, and thinking of little else then of maintaining the short life that rests, seldom purges itself from evil customs; the old are as much inclined to ambition, detraction, anger, as they were at the age of 30 years; so that the first part of the maxim of the holy Ghost is verifyd in them, that the infirmities of their youth have accompanied them to old age; And who doubts, if God do not work wonderfully in them, and if they do not use the greatest violence upon themselves, that the second part will be found as true: that these vices will remain with them 'til death? Et cum ipsis in pulvere dormient. S. Austin notes judiciously that the Son of God to raise Lazarus, proceeded otherwise than He did to raise the daughter of the Prince of the Synagogue; to raise this young maid, He took her only by the hand, and said to her, daughter rise, as if He wakened her out of a sweet sleep: to raise Lazarus, He troubled himself twice, wept, cry'd-out with a loud voice, Lazarus come forth; this was not that He had more difficulty to raise him than the other, since He will raise all men in the end of the world, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye; But this was 1. Cor. 15. 52. to show that there are sinners which are with much more difficulty converted than some other; He that having fallen through humane frailty makes speedy recourse to the Son of God, is easily revived; but he that is half rotten as Lazarus, buried and bound by his ill coustoms, covered with the stone of obduration, returns not so easily to the life of grace: but to this effect there is need of cries, tears, groans, great force and violence upon himself; such is the strength of bad customs, and vicious habits: which if not in the beginning rooted out do daily grow stronger, increase, and become a second nature. You see then that your conversion deferred to future time, or to old age, is not only very dangerous, but also much more hard. Let us then proceed and show, that it will be likewise less fruitful. 4. To convince you of this, let us suppose you will live to extreme old age: and that you will do penance and practice virtue about the end of your days; this I grant you to convince you: though most probably it will never be. But what will you say of the Time so dear, precious, and important, which you lose by delaying your conversion? Have you forgotten the counsel of the holy Ghost, who says to you by the Wiseman: go to the school of the Ant, disdain not to learn your lesson of this little Prou 6. creature: see how diligent it is in the summer, to make provivision for the winter: how it loses not one moment of time. Have you forgotten this advice of our Saviour, work whilst it is day, for the night will come in which you can do nothing; And this john. 9 4. word of S. Paul: Let us do good whilst we have time; This life, is the time to make provision, the proper day to work, the season to merit; All our good actions are the seed of eternity: they will produce us eternal joys, honours, riches, and delights; Is it not then a great prejudice to lose so great treasures as you might heap up in the space of many years? A noble and learned young man who lived a little licentiously having written a fine letter in heroic verse to S. Austin, the Saint answered him in this manner: Reading your letter I desired to have for some hours your poetic vein, to describe in a doleful Elegy, the greatness of your loss. God hath endued you with a good understanding, with a happy memory, and with much acquired Science: o great damage to lose all these talents! how much am I displeased to see that you lose them for trifles: If you have found a golden chalice, would you not make á present of it to our Saviour▪ would you not give it willingly to the Church to be employed in his service? God hath given you a golden understanding; Why do you not make of it an acceptable sacrifice to Him? I say the same to you; you are in the spring of your age, you have a good nature, a lively spirit, a solid judgement, and a free Will; o if all this were seriously consecrated to God, what glory would He receive thereby? what services might you render Him? what souls would you gain to him? what recompenses would you find in Heaven? and you lose all this for the desire of I know not what: for a little sensual pleasure: for a tye to some Creature, for fear to displeas I know not whom: through slothfulness to give yourself in good time to God, you bury these rich treasures in a tepid, unprofitable, and idle life: And you reserve for God but the scum of your life, the ruins of your age, the incommodious and uncertain time, your old age, in which you will be able to do little more than to say a few prayers sitting in a chimney corner. 5, God commanded in the ancient Law that they should offer to Him in Sacrifice, the strongest, best, and soundest of the creatures: will He permit that one offer to him the most weak, feeble, and unprofitable age of man? He that ordered the first fruits of the earth should be offered to Him, and otherwise blessed not the rest: does He not exact that a man should offer to him the first fruits of his life? will He bless the old age of him, who denied him his youth? Remember o man that your life is the possession and the inheritance of God: if your farmer brings you for ren● wheat mixed with much Ry you complain, and esteem him unjust; what would you do then, if he should bring you only weeds: What would you do, if the Keeper of your Vineyard instead of good and pure liquor which he owes you, should bring you nothing but dregs and lees? And of your life which is the inheritance of God, you give to the Devil the good corn, the fine flower, the pure liquor, to wit your younger and better years, and you reserve for God but Ry, straw, dregs and lees, which is your old age. Are you not ashamed to reserve for the exercise of virtue but the time of old age? Is it time to begin to live well, when you are ready to die? and to lay the foundations of your eternal happiness in that age, to which so few do live? 6. S. Augustine cryed-out to himself, Quamdiu cras, quare non modo, quare non in hac hora? I say the same to you; How long w●ll you say to morrow? why not at this present, since you have time to do it, and time that is proper, which is in your power, and you know no● that you shall have the time to come. How many see you die i● their youth, and have not time to do the good which they designed; Why not now? whilst your custom to evil is ye● weak and easy to be broken: and if you expect long it will be confirmed and made invincible; Why not at thi● present whilst you have strength to bear Austerities; since in old age you will be worn out, and will hav● difficulty enough to bear the inconveniences of old-age i● self. Why not now whilst you are in the flower of your age, whilst you have the most fine, strong, and vigorous part of your age, and which God will accept, if you present it to him: but will perhaps reject you, if you offer to him but old age, the remainder of your time. Give then yourselves now entirely to God: break at once all those fetters which hinder you: resolve at this present to divorce without delay all those evil habits, and affections to creatures: and you will see, that being so unbound, you will seem to be another man, unloaden of a heavy burden, freed from a cruel tyranny; brought into a terrestrial Paradise: you will say as S. Austin when he was converted, You have broken o Lord! my chains, and I will sacrifice to you a host of praise. Amen. DISCOURSE XXIII. OF TRUE PENANCE. IF we have never so little of understanding and good nature, we w●ll acknowledge the great obligations we have to God, in that He having exercised his justice upon the apostate Angels, and having left them in their misery without remedy, He vouchsafed to have mercy on us, and instituted a means, to wit penance, by which we may obtain pardon of our sins a●d regain his favour. I will here consider only the necessity of it, and the Conversions which it makes in us, remitting the rest to the discourse upon the Sacrament. Misericordiae Domini quia non sumus consumpti, said the Prophet jeremiah: It is a great mercy of our Lord that He darts Lament. 3. 22. not forth the thunderbolts of his justice upon our criminal heads: When we are in the state of sin, He hath good reason to do it: we deserve it more than justly. It is a mercy incomparably greater, that He vouchsafes to think of us, to have thoughts of peace, reconciliation and accommodation: Ego cogito cogitationes pacis; But 'tis a mercy above all thought and hope, that He vouchsafes for this effect, to send to us Ambassadors: for Christ we are Legates, says S. Paul; Woe to us, if we receive 2 Cor. 5. 20. them not with gratitude for so great a favour; woe to us, if we hear them not, since 'tis not the custom to send Ambassadors, but for affairs of the greatest consequence. What is that which God desires of us? what is the affair these Ambassadors must nogotiate with us? It is to induce us to penance. This is that which Prophets, Apostles, and Doctors have always announced on the part of God: Convert and do penance from all your iniquities, Ezech. 18. 30. 2. Cor. 5. 20. Says the Prophet Ezechiel; And the Apostle, For Christ we beseech you to be reconciled to God. O my God what is this! What goodness? what mercy? God vouchsafes to seek us, to exhort us, to pray us, to be reconciled to him by Penance; And He complains of the falls Prophets, and complying Preachers that negociate not this affair. Thy Prophets, not mine, have seen falls and foolish things to thee: nor have they opened thy iniquities to provoke thee to penance. 2. This word penance comes from the word pain, and this word pain, is derived from the latin word pone, behind, because pain does always follow sin; If we offend God and imagine to escape unpunished, we imagine a thing that never hath been, and never will be, a thing impossible. This made holy job say, I feared all my works, knowing that thou didst not spare the job. 9 28. offender; For if the sinner himself does not punish sin during this life by penance, he will fall into the hands of the Lord says Ecclesiasticus, who will punish it terribly in the other world. And we see in the scripture that the holy Ghost attributes to Ecclus. 2. 22. impenitence the punishments that God inflicts on men: and to penance, the pardon and the mercy that He does them; the same Prophet job speaking of an obstinate Soul said, Let his job. 24. 19 sin lead him even into hell, let mercy forget him: because God hath given him place to do penance, and he abused it; and on the contrary, the sacred text does say, that God pardoned the Ninivites, because they did penance. 3. Let us suppose you have a suit at law, in which you have a trial for your estate, honour, and also for your life: your Solicitor tells you, such a paper is wanting; Your Advocate tells you, if you will gain your Suit 'tis necessary to have such a writing; the wife of your judge, who hath an affection fort you says to you, I heard often my husband and other judges, who Spoke of your business, Say, that you must have such a writing to gain your Suit; the judge who is favourable to you likewise says, I shall be forced to condemn you, if you produce not such a paper; will you not be void of judgement sense, and reason, if you use not all endeavours to produce this writing? You have a process of the greatest importance in the Tribunal of the justice of God, which must be judged in the hour of your death; The question is not about lands, or other temporal goods, but of possessing the kingdom of heaven, or being burnt eternally in hell. The Preacher who is your Solicitor, who solicits your salvation with all affection, says to you, that to gain your suit, you must do penance; S. Peter S. Paul, S. john Evangelist, and the other Saints, who are Acts. 2. 38. your Advocats, declare to you, that it is necessary for you; S. Peter: Do penance to have pardon of your sins; S. Paul, God announces unto all men that they do penance, S. john, They shall be in the greatest affliction, if they do not penance; The Church which Acts. 17. 30. Apoc. 2. 22. is the Spouse of your judge tells you, that to be saved, you must follow the exhortation which S. john Baptist made you saying, Yield fruits worthy of penance; The son of God who is your judge, says to you twice in the same place, to move you the more, If you do not penance, I will condemn You: You shall perish all; Will you not then be Enemies to your own salvation, Luke. 13. 3. 5. and fools in the highest degree; if you do not penance? 4. Do penance then if you be Wise; do it at present not expecting longer; you have not perhaps ever done it well; perhaps you will never do it so well as you may now; if you let this present time and occasion slip, perhaps there will be no more time for you; The Son of God declares to you, that He will call you when you think least of it; S. Paul tells you, that when you shall think that you enjoy a profound peace, and are sure to live, than a sudden death shall surprise you; the examples of so many that die suddenly or before they expected, admonish you to lay hold on the present time; say not then we have time enough: that nothing presses to do penance; It is quite contrary; There is nothing that does not urge and press▪ What is it that urges and Pressess, you to penance? 'Tis the Will of God who commands you by S. john Baptist, by the Apostles, by the holy Doctors, by the Counsels of the Church, and by the mouth of his own Son. What is that which urges you? 'Tis the fear you ought to have to offend the greatness of God, his infinite justice, his Immensity, and most adorable Presence. What is that which urges you? The fear of falling into new sins, of dying in an ill state, of losing the merit of your good Works: It is the example of the Saints, who have done Penance all their life; It is the charity of JESUS, who incarnated himself, who endured so much, Who died upon the Cross to oblige you to it: who hath expected you so long, and so patiently with this intention; who promises you pardon and to receive you, if you do true Penance. See then the changes which true penance makes, that you may not so easily be deceived in a matter of so great importance. The Prophet joöl expresses them in a few words: Convert to me in all your heart, in fasting, and in weeping, and joel. 2. 12. in mourning. In the first place it makes a change in us, Convert; In the second. it changes our heart: convert to me in your heart; In the third place, It changes all the heart: convert to me in all your heart; in the fourth: It rests not in the heart on●y, but changes our exterior: Convert to me in fasting and in mourning. 5. In the first place, true penance changes and converts us: Convert; It is an admirable Chimistrie which transforms not metals, but souls; it changes not pewter into silver, copper into gold: but men into Angels: from carnal, terrestrial, vicious and brutal, it turns them into spiritual, virtuous, and divine men. S. Paul calls him that is converted, a new creature, a new man, and he says that by penance we are renewed and reformed, because we divest ourselves of the old Adam, for to revest ourselves with the new, which is JESUS-CHRIST. 6. This Word; in your hearts, notes the second change, and teaches us, that 'tis the heart, which must be first and Ephes. 4. 24. chief changed. It is the heart that God demands always, when He speaks of conversion: convert yourselves to me in all your heart; rend your hearts and ●n o● your garments says He by his Prophet joel. And by the Psalmist, my God you will not despise a contrite joel 2. Psal. 50. Ezech. 18. 31. and humbled heart; and by the Prophet Ezechiel, cast away all your prevarications. and make yourselves a new heart, and a new Spirit; A new spirit, that is thoughts, sentiments, and opinions; A new heart: that is wills affections, and desires quite other then before. 7. Upon which S. Gregory admonishes us of two Errors into part. 1. Past. c. 9 which we are apt to fall very dangerously; we take often, says he the thought of our understanding for the disposition of our heart, the Idea of our imagination, for the affection of our will. You will find sometims Penitents, whom the Confessor ask: Are you well prepared to confession? They will answer readily, yes Sir; we have made an act of contrition; And how have they made it? They have read in a book a prayer or form of contrition: my God it reputes me from the bottom of my heart to have committed Sin, because it displeases you; I am sorry to have offended you because you are infinitely good; and because they have said these, or the like words in their understanding, or with their mouth, they think that they have made an Act of contrition. 'Tis well done to say these words, provided you say true; But to think you have made an Act of Contrition, by saying them with your mouth, or in your understanding, is a most pernicious error; For Contrition is not in the lips, nor in the imagination, nor in the understanding, but in the Will. God requires not that you say, you are sorry to have offended him, but He wills that you be so in effect; a man that harbours animosities in his heart, or that restores not goods unjustly gotten, may say a hundred times my God I am Sorry to have offended you, and yet he will not have one grain of true repentance. By what may one know that he has it? by the effects: if you make restitution; if you leave off this unjust suit and repair damages; if you fly this occasion of sin: you show probably that your heart is changed. But if you content yourself with words or imaginations. one will say to you, that you give to God the motion of your lips: But the affection of your heart is far from Him▪ 8. Others change their lives, and their hearts notwithstanding are not changed; the change is made about them, not in them; they were heretofore frequenters of naughty houses, and of ill companies? Now they are ruined in their fortune, health, and reputation by their dissolutions; Wherefore they go no more to those houses, into those companies, they make no more excesses, they play no more: because they have not wherewith to to defray the charges, or their health will not permit them; it is their purses, or their bodies that are changed, not perhaps their hearts. I know not what confessions such do make: their bodies and their tongues cease to commit the sin: But their hearts perhaps cease not to love it; and if God hath not the heart, He makes little or no account of all the rest; He loves so much the heart, that He will have it all. 9 He says by his Prophet, Convert yourselves to me with all Deut. 4. your heart; And by Moses, when you shall seek the Lord you will find him, if you seek him in all your heart. He demands not all your money, but only a part in alms: nor all your fruits, but only a part in tithe; but he will have all your heart without reserve, restriction, or division: so that no affection whatsoever may remain in it to mortal sin: no division permitted of your love, which is as fatal to it, and to your conversion, as it is unto your heart: He wills that you quit, not one, two, three, or four sins only, but all without exception: and not only for the present time, but for ever; for if there remain in your heart, the least design for the future, your conversion is falls, deceitful, and unfruitful. 10. The fourth conversion that true penance makes is of our exterior: it makes us to do exterior works of penance when these are in our power. The Prophet said not only, convert in your heart, but moreover in fasting, and weeping, and in mourning. And S. john Baptist required exterior works of penance when he said, yield fruits worthy of penance; And our Saviour says not only, that a good tree bears not bad fruit, but he adds, that it produces good, and that it is by this, that we must know it to be good; if your penance be not of this stamp, it is sterile as the figtree near Bethania, and is likewise cursed by our Saviour. 11. If you ask S. Paul, what are the fruits that this good tree of penance ought to bear? He answers writing to the Corinthians, that it is a great care of our salvation, a holy indignation against Sin, a fear and apprehension of God's jugements, 2. Cor. 7. 11. a great desire to be pleasing to him, an ardent zeal of his glory, a spirit of vengeance to punish in ourselves the offence of God. If you demand of S. Chrisostome, what are these fruits? He answers, that they are the practices of virtues wholly contrary to the crimes you have committed: for example, you have usurped Hom. 1. in Matt. circa sin. another's goods, content not yourself with the restitution of them, but give liberally of your own. You have wallowed in the mire of sensual pleasures, deprive yourself of the delights which are not forbidden. You have offended your neighbour by word or work, render good for evil to them that disoblige you. You have been given to excesses, and to drunkenness, addict yourself to abstinence, and fasting. If you ask S. Pacian, what are the fruits worthy of penance? Epist. 31. He answers, that they are mortifications of of the flesh, retrenchments of pleasures, privations of temporal goods distributed to the Poor, and the labours of life. 12. This penance cannot be a work of a man: it must be an effect of God's mercy; wherefore beg it of him, affectionately; say often vouchsafe to bring us to true penance. He disposes us and brings us to it sometimes by alms; give as many as you can, either corporal, or spiritual: Redeem your sins with alms said the Prophet Daniel. He Dan. 4. 24. leads us to it by mortifications: for as exterior humiliation is the way to interior humility, says S. Bernard, so austerities, and exterior penances, are dispositions to interior compunction. He brings us to penance by the intercession of the Saints, and by the examples of their virtues; implore their aid devout : have in your houses the history of their lives, read it, and make it to be read to your families: excite yourselves to penance by the consideration of their austerities; if you have perfectly this second, Baptism, it will restore you to the innocency of the first; if you have this shield you will save yourselves from the anger of God; if you have this plank, it will carry you to a good haven, to the haven of eternal felicity. Amen. DISCOURSE XXIV. OF PRAYER. 1. JESUS-CHRIST being the Idea, Mirror, and the Model of the Elect, He instructs them by his Example in all which they ought to do to obtain salvation: He says to them, Exemplum dedi vobis, I have given you example; And because Prayer is one of the most profitable, important, and necessary actions in a Christian life, He would give most authentic, and remarkable examples Tract. 24 in john. sub med. of it. This is the reason, as S. Austin notes, why He prayed often with a loud voice; if He had pried only to obtain graces for his Church, it would have been enough to have prayed interiorly, in secret, or with a low voice; But being our Advocate He remembered that He was also our Doctor, and the prayer which He made for us, He pronunced before us, that He might profit us, not only by impetration of graces for us, but also by giving us a model. Whence it follows, that to be heard in our prayers, we ought not to ask any thing, but what JESUS hath asked; He never demanded nor will He ever demand for his, the Glory of the world, the riches of the earth, or delights of the flesh; we ought then to ask of God, as his members, and by his merits, love, fear, grace, conduct, virtues, and temporals precisely necessary: and we ought to ask them so, as He asked them. His Apostle teaches us, that his prayer was always accompanied with Heb. 5. three circumstances, wherewith ours ought also to be seasoned; During the course of his life He offered prayers and supplications to God with tears and great Cry, and He was heard for his Reverence; first than we ought to pray with Humility; secondly, with Fervour; thirdly, with Perseverance. For his Reverence: there is Humility; with tears and great cry: there is fervour; During the course of his life; there is Perseverance. 2. We ought to pray with humility and with interior and exterior Reverence. The interior consists in a profound abasement and annihilation of ourselves in the presence of God; we ought to esteem much, and apprehend lively the greatness of his Majesty, the excellence of his Being, and the infinity of his Perfections, our lowness, littleness, and infirmity: to acknowledge and avow that we are more than most unworthy, not only to convers with him, or to speak to h●m, but also to appear in his presence; we must go to Him as a poor begget to a rich man, for an Alms: as a sick-man to a Physician, to be cured: as a criminal to a judge, to implore favour and pardon; and say with great S. Austin, you are infinitely merciful, I am extremely miserable: you are the true Physician, I am sick to death: you are an Abyss of all good, I poor and in want of all things. We must go to him with a lively sense of the extreme need we have of his assistance, and of the severeign independency He hath of all without himself: believing firmly, that all the service we can do him, all the homages and praises of the highest Seraphins add not one grain to his essential Beatitude and glory. 3. From this interior disposition proceeds the exterior reverence, by which we prostrate on the ground before God, or we kneel, and if we cannot, we hold ourselves in an humble, modest▪ and respectful posture. This exterior humility is so suitable with the honour we own to God, that it hath been always used by them who desired to appease Him, to obtain his mercy, and the grant of their requests. The just Lot being prostrated ●en. 19 2. before an Angel who personated God: his prayer was heard: and this humble posture helped him to obtain his Request. josuah and the Ancient of Israel desiring to calm the Spirit of josuah. 7. God, prostrated a long time before the ark. The valiant judith to obtain success in her generous enterprise, prostrated in her oratory, clothed her body with a hairshirt, and covered her head with ashes; And what is more considerable, our Saviour himself, when He prayed in the garden, fell upon his face. Whereupon S. Caesar Bishop of Arles complaining says, Mercy prostrats himself, and Misery does not: Sanctity humbles himself, and iniquity will not: Innocence inclines, and malice will not bow; the judge lies upon the ground, and the criminal rests himself indecently. 4. 'Tis true, God is a Spirit, and He demands chief of us humility of spirit and affection of heart; But we are composed of body and soul: we received both from him: and we ought to employ both in his service. When we kneel reverently, bow, or prostrate humbly before God, we testify his greatness and excellence: our lowness, indignity, and vility: that the burden of our sins oppress us, and that we come to God to be eased: and these humble postures excite our interior humility and devotion, they dispose us to receive the dew of heaven more abundantly, and the grant of our requests; one reason why the man-God was heard of his Father was, that He prayed with great humility of spirit, with a profound reverence, and prostration of body: He was heard for his reverence, says S. Paul 5. He prayed in the second place, with tears and a strong cry; to show the fervour of his spirit, and to testify the aspirations of his heart; we may note, that very frequently, if not as often as 'tis said, any one hath cryed-out in prayer to God, the sacred text does add, that he was heard: and God promises it expressly: He shall cry out to me, and I will hear him; What is it to cryout to God in prayer? Is it to raise the Psal. 90. Voice? No: for Moses moved not his lips, and God said to him: you cry-out to me; When you pray, an ardent desire is a great cry in the ears of God said S. Bérnard. 6. Why think you God deferrs a long time the grant of our requests, also when we ask virtues and spiritual favours? It is says S. Austin to increase and inflame our desire: that we may learn to esteem much, and to have a great desire of great S. Ang. tr. 1. in. Io: and ser. 5. de Verbis Domini. things, We are accustomed to say that a thing is little worth, that is not worth the ask; It is then worth the ask so much the more fervently, how much it is more noble and more precious; and what is more precious than the love of God, his grace, and the Salvation of our souls? when we pray coldly or tepidly, we make no great account of the graces that we ask: if we make no great account of them, we render ourselves unworthy of them. 7. The reason why we pray negligently, and that we have not a great desire to be heard, is that we ponder not the extreme need we have of God's mercy: we consider this affair as a thing indifferent, or of little consequence; We ought to believe firmly, that if God hath not pity on us, we shall be most miserable and unhapy creatures; we know not that God hath pardoned the sins of our youth: that we have had a supernatural and legitimate repentance of them; and if we should know this: we know not what will become of us; for we are more fragil than glass, more weak than reeds, and more unconstant than the winds: what will then becomm of us, if God hath not pity on us. 7. He that knows not how to pray, let him go to sea, and see how they pray in a great storm, and in danger of death: and let him pray so always, and He will be saved infallibly. We are in a greater danger of damnation, than they are of death; they are not so endangered, but by two or three winds: we are by more than six: by pride, avarice, envy luxury, and other passions; betwixt them and death there is but a plank: betwixt me and hell, there is but my will, which is more fragil than that plank; if that plank were left alone, it would last a longtime: but if my will were left to itself but a little while, it would fall into horrible precipices, and lose itself; we are more uncapable to govern ourselves and obtain salvation without a particular grace of God, than a man who hath never-been at sea, is to govern a ship in a tempest in the midst of rocks and sands; Now I make yourselves judges, if we ought not to pray with all the force of our hearts? 8. But let us not go to sea: let us stay on land: there is no need to go so far to learn to pray; I find here a great number of excellent Teachers: but I am a bad scholar and learn not my lesson well: these are the poor that ask alms; they giuê us, not thinking of it, fine instructions, if we reflect upon them▪ If they know where early in the morning is a great concourse of people, they rise not flowly, but hasten to the place; Rise you so early, to have opportunity to pray half an hour or an hour: the Spirit is then more fresh, less encumbered with affairs, and more vigorous to pray. They range about the streets and Churches where they know are rich and charitable persons; make you recours to the friends of God, to the Saints who are rich in merits, and powerful with the Son of God; The Poor discover their wounds, they show their ulcers, and half rotten members: and if they have none, they sergeant some, to move men to compassion; we have no need to counterfeit: we have but too many in our souls: we must acknowledge them in the presence of God, and expose them to the Compassionate aspects of his mercy, and say: my God you see I am but darkness, weakness, poverty, and misery: I have nothing of myself, but ignorance and sin. Though many of these Poor are Idiots and ignorant: yet they find words, reasons, and arguments to move us to compassion, to persuade us to mercy, and to draw from us an Alms; Madam have pity on me: bestow one penny upon me, you will not be the poorer, and I will pray for you. I am a poor orphan, a stranger and far from my friends and country, where I was ruined by fire; show your charity to me, I ask it for the love of God. for the Passion of our Saviour. why find they so many words to beg an alms, and we find them not to pray God? It is because they have a great desire to receive an alms from men: and we desire but little to receive one that is more necessary from God. 'tis necessary that the feeling of our wants do suggest to us words; and one half hour of prayer made with such a feeling will be better than three hours of prayer without it. 9 Solomon made a prayer accompanied with the two first conditions: he asked of God continence with humility and fervour; he asked it humbly: for he acknowledged that he could not have it of himself, and that it pertained to God only to give it Wisdom. 8. 21. to him. he asked it fervently: for with all the force of his heart: and yet he was not heard: he obtained not chastity; whence was this? It was because his prayer failed of the third condition, which is perseverance; he prayed once or twice, and this was not enough: he should have continued. it: It is the counsel which the true Solomon our Saviour gives us, who having preached the rigour and the severity of the last judgement, concludes: watch therefore, praying at all times; He speaks not to Religious, or to Priests only, but to all Christians; He knew the impediments we should have, the importance of our affairs, and He says, pray at all times. It was by perseverance that the Cananean woman obtained of the Son of God the deliverance of her daughter, as Saint chrysostom hath noted; she prayed with interior humility: since she said, whelps also eat of the crumbs: Chrysost. hom. 5. in Mart. S. Mrk. 7. 29. and with exterior: for she prostrated at the feet of our Saviour: with fervour of Spirit: which she shown by crying-out, clamavit; Nevertheless the Son of God rejected her, and would not hear her; But she struggled with him, and got the Victory by her importunity; so must you to have success, stand obstinate in a holy obstinacy, and pray unto the end. And therefore our Saviour himself says to you in S. Luke, It behoves you to pray always and not to be weary. S. Luke. 18. 1. 10. And what hinders you from praying? Is it that you have not leisure: that you have many affairs, and affairs of importance? this is that which should oblige you to pray; for the more serious your affairs are, the more it concerns you to have success in them: and prayer is the means to obtain it. You have not-leasure to pray: Why not? You find time for dinner, supper, and other necessities of the body, notwithstanding your great affairs: and why find you not time for the refection of your Soul? it is as necessary to pray God well for to work your Salvation, as to take your refection to preserve your life. You have not time to pray? Believe me you have enough, if you manage it well. Cut off superfluous visits, idle words, unprofitable works and conversations, and unnecessary divertisements, and there will remain time to be employed in prayer. But are you so pressed with business that you cannot find now and then a quarter of an hour to spend in prayer? At least then in working elevate often your heart to God by jaculatory prayers, adore him from time to time, and beg of him his love, grace, and guidance: put a pin upon your sleeve, that seeing it you may be minded of it, 'til you are accustomed to it: for it behoves you to pray always. What is that which hinders you? Is it that you have offended grievously? This is as if you should say, I am too much wounded: I must not go to the Surgeon. On the contrary, this should incline you more to go to him: Come to me all ye who areburdened, Says our Saviour; He says not receive me, communicate so much the more often and the more boldly, the more you are burdened with sins, but come to me, to pray me, and to ask help and secure of me; however great, and numerous may be your sins, if you have a lively resentment of them, if you desire to be delivered from them: it is a good motive to show God to obtain his mercy: It is that which David did when he, said, I am poor and needy. 'Tis that which the Publican did saying, God be merciful to me a sinner; 'Tis that which the Church puts into your mouth: we sinners do beseech thee to hear us. What is that in fine that hinders you? Is it that God hears you not, that He rejects you, and withdraws himself from you, and that it is long since you begged of Him, not temporal goods, but spiritual, and you obtain not? This gives you cause to persever, and to pray more fervently; since He defers so long to hear you, 'tis a sign that what He will bestow upon you, is most excellent and precious; though He seems to refuse what you ask, He is pleased with your devotions; and if He delays to hear you, it is for good reasons; 'Tis to exercise your patience, to heat your desire, to try your perseverance, to augment your merit; And if you have patience, and persever importuning him: Sooner or later He will accomplish your desires, and give you grace in this World, and glory in the other Amen. DISCOURSE XXV. OF FASTING. And the Institution of Lent. 1. IF the Apostle S. Paul were now on earth he would bewail extremely the horrible blindness of those, who prefer the pleasure of their mouths before the precept of the Church, and the Salvation of their souls: He would say to us what he said to the Philippians, there are many amongst you, of whom I weeping tell you, that are enemies Philip. 3. 18. of the Cross of Christ, that abhor all mortification of the flesh, that have the belly for their God, and shall have eternal damnation for their end. for our fasts, are not things indifferent, or works of supererogation: they are works of precept and obligation. Some will say to me, your fasts are not prescribed in Scripture: they are commandments of men: and therefore oblige not other in Conscience. But if a Dissenter should command his child a thing very profitable or necessary for his family: and his child should say to him: Father you are a man: the Commandments of men oblige not in conscience; I find not In the Scripture, that God commands me to go to such a place, or to do such a thing; No, he will say to him; But he commands thee to obey thy Father and thy Mother; So I say to you: It is not in Scripture, that you must fast such a day: that you keep su●h a holy day; But God commands you in many Ephes. 6. Coloss. 3. 20. Heb. 13. 17. places of the Scripture, to obey the Church your Mother. For the Apostle that said in the behalf of God Children obey your Parents: the same said also, Obey your Prelates. If men have not power to command other men, nor to oblige them in Conscience: whence comes it that JESUS-CHRIST said to his Apostles and Luke 10. 16. Matth. 23. 2. Matt. 18 17. Rom. 13. 2 to their successors. who hears you, hears me, and who despises you despises me. And to the people do all that they shall say to you. whence is it that JESUS-CHRIST hath said, He that hears not the Church esteem him as a Pagan or a Publican: Whence is it that S. Paul said, He that resisteth Superior power, resists the ordinance of God, and they that resist it purchase to themselves damnation; But 'tis to resist Superior power, and to disobey the Church, not to observe the fasts which She commands; 'tis to transgress an Apostolical command, not to fast the Lent, when you have not a legitimate excuse: I say, Apostolical command. 2. And to prove this Verity, I might allege many testimonies of the ancient Fathers: but because JEUS-CHRIST does say, that we ought to give credit to two or three good Witnesses, I will allege the depositions of three or four, of three parts of the world, Africa, Europe, and Asia. In Africa Tertullian reports an objection which the Catholics de jeiunio C. 1. 3. 13. cont. Psychicos made against him, who would have had them to keep three Lents: the Apostles, said they, imposed no other Lent common to all, then that, in the time when CHRIST was taken from the Church his spouse by his death and Passion. S. Hierome in Europe, speaking of the Novelty of the Montanists, says, they observed three lents, as if three Saviour's had suffered: but we observe but one of them according to the Tradition of the Apostles. And the same holy Father writing to Marcelia tells her the Ember days as well as the Lent were instituted by the Apostles. In Asia S. Gregory of Nazianzen, reprehending a Perfect named Epist. 74 Celusius, said to him, you dispensing with yourself from fasting, do injury to the Laws: how will you keep humane laws, since you contemn divine. 4. You will not think the precept of fasting too severe, if you consider the reasons which moved the Apostles to institute the Lent. It was first to commemorate and honour the retreat and the penance of our Saviour in the desert: to honour it, I Rom. 8. 26. say, by imitation, according to our power; For S. Paul says, his servants must follow and imitate him, to be one day with him. In what must they follow and imitate him? Not in preaching, and in working miracles: but in fasting or suffering for the love of him; his Apostle declares it in these express words: Let us show, that we are the Ministers or servants of God by our fasts, our watch, our labours, and other practices of 2. Cor. 6. 6. virtue. Note, in Fasts, not in fasting once or twice a year, as many do when they form some design, but many days, as our Saviour hath given us example. In the second place the Lent was instituted for the conversion of souls; to purify our consciences from the ordure of sin by the practice of penance: and by this sanctification to dispose us to receive worthily the Eucharist. For the Prophet joel says, fasting conduces much to a true conversion: that it is one of the parts of penance convert yourselves to me in fasting. joel. 2. 14. The Lent is moreover fasted, to make the anniversary funeral of our Saviour's death; But sorrow and funerals are incompatible with good cheer: for the holy Ghost distinguishes and opposes them to one another:: It is better, says He, to go to the house of mourning, then to the house of banqueting. 4. S. Paul tells us that many have their Belly for their God; for this reason they are very eloquent and zealous to plead its cause: they fight for their God with many arguments; With some they would show fasting to be superfluous or superstitious: with others, hurtful or pernicious. If you are predestinated, will you not be saved say they, without your fasting? do you think God did expect your fasting to predestinate you? Answer, God did not expect our fasts, but He foresaw them and other good works, for which He predestinated us to glory: or this He did predestinate, and this He does decree: that by these means we shall obtain that end: not otherwise. CHRIST fasted for you to deliver you from this labour; Why do you then afflict yourselves in vain by fasting, as if Christ's fast did not suffice for your salvation, without your little fasts? Answer; CHRIST also would be baptised, and indeed for us, not for himself: and yet it follows not, that I ought not to be baptised: so though He fasted for me, yet I ought to fast by his Example; He suffered for us, says S. Peter leaving us an example, S. Peter 1. 2. Rom. 8. 17. that we may follow his footsteps; and S. Paul, if we suffer with Him, we shall be also glorifyd with him. Since you are resolved to fast, why do you not chose rather to fast voluntarily, than necessarily? Have you not read in the Psalmist, I will Sacrifice to you voluntarily? Answer: a fast commanded by the Church is better than that we take up by our own election; for this proceeds out of one virtue, to wit Temperance: that from two, Temperance and Obedience: And if a commanded fast should proceed from obedience obly: yet it would be so much better, and more Excellent than the other, how much the virtue of obedience is better than that of Temperance: Obedience is I. Kings 15. 22. better than victim, said Samuel to Saul. And obedient Souls fast not as you suppose, unvoluntarily, with regret and sorrow: but voluntarily, with alacrity and gladness. 5. The Epicurians, and the Advocats of self love urge, as they imagine, yet more forcibly: and to justify themselves make this remonstrance; We must love our bodies as well as our souls for God created both, and loves both, and wills that we do love them: But fasting and other austerities hinder sleep, punish the body and weaken it: prejudice health, and shorten life: and consequently by fasts and other austerities, we act against the will of God, the law of nature, and are injurious to ourselves. Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he seem to himself wise, God Would have us to love our Body; True: but He wills us to love it truly; and to love it truly, is to procure it, by the means of fasting, prayer, and other exercises of virtue, true, perfect, and everlasting health. What does it profit the flesh. that You nourish it delicately, if you nourish it for hell? If you feed it so, that it becomes the fuel of eternal fire? would you not love it better if you kerb it, and afflict it here a little with hunger and with thirst, to have it sound and glorious for all Eternity? This is that which our Saviour says, Qui amat animam suam perdet eam: et qui odit in hoc mundo animam suam, in vitam Eternam 1. john. 12. custodit eam; He that loves this temporal life, and therefore permits not his flesh to be molested, nor afflicts it with fasting watching, and other virtuous labours, does not keep it to everlasting life. Fasting hinders sleep: I believe it: and it was also instituted to hinder too much sleep: that so you may have more time for prayer, spiritual reading, and other exercises of a Christian. Fasting punishes and afflicts the body; I doubt not of it, if well practised; And do you think it was instituted for other purpose than to punish it; you will not then go to heaven if the way be not easy and pleasing to the flesh? if it be not strewed with flowers and sweet herbs? And where then is the law of christianisme, which is a law of mortification and of the Cross? And what will become of these words of our Saviour: Strive to enter by the narrow gate? You say fasting does prejudice health and shorten life; The Church, the Canon law, good Physicians, and experience Quicqd Etc. legimus de Consecra. dist. 5. say quite the contrary; the Church in the Collect of the first saturday in lent says, this solemn fast was holily instituted for the health both of soul and body. And in the decretals of Gratian we read, that many who had infirmities, their goods being confiscated, and they reduced to poverty, so that they could not make good cheer, were cured by this forced diet. All good Physicians will tell you, that for one hurt by fasting, fifty are killed by eating and drinking: And Experience shows that the more abstemious usually enjoy better health, and longer life. It is true, that Fasting macerates and weakens bodies that are not well accustomed and hardened by it: But it strengthens souls and makes them reign: they are disposed by it to prayer and contemplation: they please God by it, satisfy his justice, merit and impetrate of Him Benefits, temporal and eternal: The servant body then must endure theses pains and labours. by which accrue so many, and so great advantages to the lady soul nor does the Soul do injury to the body making it to fast, but much obliges it; She exempts it from punishments which it merited by rebellions; for nothing appeases more the anger of God, nothing averts better the thunderbolts of his justice then fasting and other macerations of the body, which proceed out of true conversion and compunction of heart: Witness the Ninivites. It is doplorable▪ that they who glory in the name of Christians have not so much sight and judgement, as those poor Pagans; the Son of God hath reason to say, that they shall rise in judgement and condemn them; jonas said not to the Ninivites, fast, put on haircloth, do penance, but only forty days and Ninive shall be subverted: and yet Pagans as they were, had the light to know, that to appease God, it was necessary to fast, and to do penance; they published a fast so general and severe, that all from the greatest to the least, from the eldest to the youngest, also bruit beasts, fasted three days and nights without any meat or drink: Should the Church command such a fast, how would they cry-out against her? but he Creator approved this Edict, and pardoned the sins of those that had so fasted. 6. To be short: if austerities be unlawful and forbidden: we must condemn all the ancient Anchorets, and a great part of the primitive Christians who fasted almost daily in bread and water, through the Spirit of penance and mortification; we must condemn the Religious of the present Church, who weaken their bodies by the exercises of penance; We must condemn our Saviour who fasted, and spent whole nights in prayer upon mount olivet, to give us example; we must condemn the holy Ghost. who exhorts us by the Apostle earnestly, to show that we are the Ministers or servants of God, by Patience, by Watch: 2. Cor. 6. 6. and fastings, by longanimity and sweetness, by the sincerity of our words, by chastity, and by cordial charity. 7. These are the virtues and dispositions which ought to accompany our fasts. They who have not health or strength for the one, aught to addict themselves with more zeal to the practice of the other, showing that they are the faithful servants of God, and true Children of the Church. By much patience. You say you cannot fast because you are big with child, or you are a nurse. And well says S. chrysostom, God excuses you from this fast; But He requires another of you: S. Chry●. hom. 22. ad pop. which is that you abstain from anger; this abstinence will do no hurt to the fruit you bear; on the contrary, the too ardent Passion by which you are transported, may hurt it much, and make it to die without Baptism. By longanimity and sweetness; If God say to you in judgement, why have you not fasted? if you answer: I had a great weakness of stomach, a continual and great giddiness of my head when I fasted; And well: if you say true, God will admit of this excuse. But what will you answer, when He will reply: why have you not pardoned your enemy? Why have you not thrown that hatred out of your heart? which filled you with gall and betterness? One sweet word said to salute your neighbour, and to gain his heart, would it have burnt your mouth, or caused dizziness in your head? By sincerity of words? you are sick: they command you to eat flesh; obey your Physician and Confessor; but eat not that flesh which is forbidden you. I fear I shall see one day, that many eat flesh in the Lent: not boiled, but raw, and also humane flesh, by calumny, and detraction: it is the Scripture that speaks so: the harmful approach upon me, and eat my flesh, said the Royal Prophet. And holy job, why do you persecute me. Psal. 26. 2. and are filled with my flesh? They make a conscience to put their teeth into a piece of dead flesh, and they make no scruple to tear with their tongue the living flesh of their neighbour by calumnies and murmurations, which is worse. By Chastity; fast not only with the mouth; for it is not the mouth only that offends God; make all the members of your body to fast. Impure looks. touches, lascivious thoughts and delectations are carnal meats; these are prohibited in all times, and chief in the Lent; he that fasts not commits but one or two sins a day: but he that consents to dishonest thoughts commits sometimes more than ten. By cordial Charity; The holy Fathers say fasting is not only instituted to punish the body, but also that we may have more means and leisure to give alms, to viset sick, and to practise other works of charity: fiat refectio pauperis abstinentia jejunantis. Either you fast or not: if you fast, you should give to the poor what you would spend in a supper; if you do not fast, seeing you honour not God by abstinence, honour him by mercy corporal, or spiritual. We ought to fast so in charity towards our neighbour; We must fast in charity also towards God, and not for terrene and temporal Ends. 8. The Son of God says to us, When you fast, wash your face Matt 6. 18. that is to say, purify your intention; Make not a fast of Galen, to be well and in good health: nor the fast of the Avaricious, to spare the purse: but the fast of a Christian, to obey the Church: to have more means to give alms, more leisure to practise good works: the spirit more free to pray: to satisfy the justice of God: to make the funeral of our Saviour's death: to dispose ourselves to communion: to honour and imitate the fast of JESUS in the desert; so having accompanied Him in his penance and fast on earth, we may merit to be satiated by the torrent of pleasure with him in heaven. Amen. DISCOURSE XXVI. OF ALMS. BLessed is the man that considers the necessities of the poor to have pity on him, God will treat him sweetly and mildly in the day of judgement, Psal. in the day which the Royal Prophet calls the evil day. The Sentence of the judge will be favourable to him: He will say to him with an Encomium, I have been hungry, and you have given me meat, ad that it may prove so, He forewarns and says to us: make yourselves friends, give alms, do good to the Poor▪ that they, and the alms which you put into their bosoms may plead and intercede for you, Let us then consider, who must give alms? To whom they must be given? and how men ought to give them? 1. Who is he that must give Alms? All Christians that pretend to obtain one day the kingdom of Heaven. we need no other proof than the word of JESUS, and the definitive sentence which He will pronounce in favour of the elect, and against the reprobate: Come ye blessed of. my Father, possess the kingdom; for you have given, Get ye gone from me ye cursed into everlasting fire for you have not given; All either are saved for giving, or damned for not giving alms: every one than is obliged to give them. And in the same chapter He compares the whole Church to an assembly of Virgins, whereof some are admitted to a nuptial feast for having furnished their lamps with oil: the others are excluded, for having none. 9 Hence S. chrysostom concludes, if those that were Virgins, Hom. 22. in Io. that is to say, that had no other great sins, were banished from heaven, for not giving alms with more reason those who have committed sins, and have not redeemed them by alms, shall be condemned. He adds, let us have then this oil of mercy, if we will enter with the Espouse: for what ever we shall do, 'tis impossible without alms, I say again, 'tis impossible to approach to the door of the Kingdom of heaven. 2 Can we be saved without Charity, without loving God, and being beloved of God? no surely; Now his beloved Disciple says: If any one having the goods of this world, and seeing his brother in 1. john. 3. 17. necessity shuts up his bowels of charity from him, how does the Love of God remain in him? He says not seeing his brother in extreme necessity, but simply in necessity; 'tis then an error to believe, the commandment of giving alms obliges not, but when our neighbour is in extreme necessity; Yes it obliges when he is in a great and notable poverty, as are so many in these deplorable times; For as Vasquez reasons very well, the precept of charity obliges all, as well poor as rich to secure their neighbour when he is in extreme necessity: nature itself teaches it, without other positive command; and 'tis principally to the rich that the holy Scripture makes this commandment of alms; 'tis not then only in extreme necessity the rich are obliged to give: but also in a considerable and important need command the rich of this 1. Tim. c. 17. 1. Cor. 22. 26. world to give easily says S. Paul. And he gives in another place the reason of it: we are parts and members of the Mystical Body of JESUS; But when one member hath received any hurt, all the other suffer with it, all contribute to the help of it; if a thorn hath entered into the foot, the back bends, the eyes open and seek it, the hand pulls it out: and if they should do otherwise, it would be irregular, monstrous and unnatural: with much more reason in the body of the Church, which hath JESUS for its head, and the holy Ghost for its soul, the members are obliged to solace and serve each other with a sincere and cordial charity. S. Peter Confirms the saying of S. Paul, and adds another reason: that we are not independent Proprietors and Masters of the riches, Epist. 1. c. 4. 10. talents, gifts, and graces which we received from God: He obliges us to be good Economists and Dispenser's of them: to assist and serve the necessities of our neighbours with them: if then we employ them not, but only keep them, we do against the intention of the Master that lends them: and on the contrary, if we employ them in dissolutions, and other Superfluities, we do contrary to the will of him who entrusts us with them. If an Economist of a great house should reserve to himself all the bread and wine, and other provisions; and refuse to give them to the children, and servants, according to the order of his Master, would he not merit to be punished? if on the contrary, he distributes them faithfully, would he not gain the salary promised to him? The power and authority you have, God hath given you to protect this Widow, and this Orphan that are oppressed: the understanding, Science, industry which are in you, you received from God, to assist and instruct the ignorant: and these goods you possess, God made you the steward of them to Communicate them to the Poor, after you have had the honour and the prerogative to take of them what is necessary for your person, and your family; if you do not He will say to you. as to the naughty servant in the Gospel: Why have you not employed well my money? If you do as you ought, He will say to you: Come faithful Servant enter into the joy of thy Matth. 5. Lord. Let us see then to whom we ought to give. 3. Charity obliges us to give to all that are in necessity, but especially to the faithful: to others, we must give alms as to the creatures, and the images of God: but to the faithful moreover, as to the members of JESUS CHRIST, and for the love of Him, and so to JESUS CHRIST in them; for He will say in judgement, I have been hungry: I have been thirsty: I have been sick; JESUS then is sick, and suffers in his members: and JESUS receives our help and assistance in them; if we bestow our alms so, our charity will be more acceptable to him, and more meritorious to us, than if we did give them to his own person. if you had lived in that golden age when JESUS was visible to the world: would you not have been ravished with joy to have lodged Him, served, and entertained. Him? you merit more if you do it to a poor man says S. Chrysostom, for the charms of his pleasing Countenance and his Comportment would allure your hearts, and force them by a sweet attraction to will him good; but when you do it to him in the person of the Poor, who are so disagreeable: your faith is more lively: your charity more generous, and your piety more disinteressed, since self love finds not there her reckoning. It seems JESUS should say in the last iugdment to S. Matthew, you made me a banquet in your Conversion: to Zacheus you received me into your house: to S. Martha you lodged me in your Castle, you served me with great diligence. No, He will not praise them principally for these good offices: But He will say to them. That which you have done to the least of mine, you have done to me: because He esteems more that which is done to his members, than what is done to himself; let us weigh these words. 4. First He says: That which you have done to the least of mine; He means chief; the poor, since He speaks of those that Matth 52. 40. hunger and thirst; 'tis then a strange folly, which displeases him extremely, to give your goods to flatterers, to dissolute persons, or to employ them to enrich your children, to elevate or greaten your parents, or to leave them wherewith to live in dilights, in dissolutions, whilst our Saviour hath not where with to live in the person of the poor? is not this a great injustice to give to your child wherewith to live in superfluity and not to give to our Saviour, wherewith to sustain. a poor life says S. Austin? He says, Wherewith to live in superfluity; for you may merit, if out of the spirit of charity and mercy you leave to your children, or to your parents, as to the members of JESUS CHRIST, goods as alms, wherewith to maintain themselves according to their quality, in Christian modesty and frugality: not in superfluity, and in the ambition of the world. 5. You have done to me, for the love of me, if you give alms out of natural compassion, 'tis not christian charity, but moral virtue; if our of ostentation, to be esteemed liberal: 'tis vanity; if because the poor man is of the same country profession or condition that you are, that he is a Soldier, and you have been: that he hath been a merchant, and you are; 'tis to give an alms to a man, to a soldier, to a merchant, and not to JESUS, and because the poor man is his member, Disciple, or his Brother; likewise if you give it to the end only that God may recompense you by temporal goods: JESUS will not say to you, you have given to me; because in effect 'tis not for JESUS that you give it, but for yourselves: 'tis not alms but avarice. You have done to me; He says not to my servants, my faithful, but to me: we must then consider JESUS in the poor, and comport ourselves towards them, with the same dispositions, that we would to JESUS: and season our alms with all that is requisite to a most virtuous and meritorious action. 6. First bestow your alms with tenderness, commiseration, and with bowels of compassion; for mercy ought to make our hearts miserable by a sympathy of charity, participating in the sufferances, and afflictions of others. 7. Secondly with benignity, sweetness and affability, the testimony of affection and benevolence; and abstain from all reproaches, which would make a poor man suffer more by the confusion to which you put him, than you pleasure him by the alms you give him. 8. In the third place, with interior humility, thinking that you are not worthy to give an alms to JESUS; and in effect, all that we do is nothing in comparison of that we should do: and what we give less than our lives, is less than that which in occasion we ought to give, for God hath given his life for us, and we ought to give also our lives for our 1. Ep. c. 3. brothers says S. john. 9 In fine, give prompty, joyfully, and copiously: let your good will exceed your power; in giving a penny, wish it were a pound, an have also a desire to give it if you had it, and if it were convenient; in giving a mess of broth, wish it were the best, because it is for your best beloved, who merits that we should consume the treasures of the world, for the service of the least of his members. 10i. Let us conclude with the fine words of S. Augustine: Brothers, exercise mercy, there is no other band to tie us to the love of Aug. in Psal. 102 God and of our neighbour: there is no other means to carry us from earth to heaven; and a little after he adds, Behold what you may buy: how much you must give for it: and when you must buy it? Behold what you must buy! Paradise is to be sold: you may buy with money the kingdom of heaven, eternal life, and the possession of God; What great favour! what incomparable happiness! if God did not permit it, who would dare so much as to think of it? o if men be damned, they deserve not to be pitied! Satan will have good reason to laugh at them, and say; o great fools they would give willingly the half of their goods to buy 30. or 40. years of life, and of a life full of afflictions, infirmities and miseries: and they would not give it to buy millions of years of a most happy and delicious life. And do not tell me. so precious merchandise is not sold at a cheap rate, and that you have neither gold, nor silver, nor means to buy it. Bohold how much you must give for it: a glass of cold water, a little service if you have nothing else, may procure you it. our Saviour speaking to his poor Apostles said: you have always poor with you, and you may do good to them when you please: He says not, you may give to them; But you may do good to them; because many cannot give: but every one can do good. You may viset the sick, and imprisoned, and though you have nothing to give: you may comfort them, exhort them, and do them other services: The Son of God will not say, you have not redeemed me out of prison: but you have not visited me that you may have no excuse. You are a married woman: 'tis not permitted you to give great alms of your husband's goods: But 'tis permitted, and it will be a good alms to serve, assist, and cherish with respect and tenderness, for the love of God, the old and infirm of your family. You are a chambermaid: it would be theft and not alm● to give to the Poor the goods of your Master against his will; but it will be a Charity, if you help this inferior servant, if you assist her in the labour wherewith she is oppressed. You are a Counsellor, an Advocate, or a Solicitor; you have many Children and little means, and not able to give alms; But you may assist with your credit▪ counsel and service, this poor widow▪ this orphan, poor man, and the like persons. whom commonly men neglect. You may instruct in the Mysteries of faith, and in what is necessary to salvation, your domestics, servants, neigbors, and the poor that beg alms at your door; this is the best alms you can bestow upon them: an alms more excellent than the corporal so much as the soul is better than the body: heaven than earth: the grace of God than money or bread. You have enemies that do you great injuries; if so: they are poor in virtue; o what an excellent alms would you bestow upon them, if you procure it them; and you will procure them virtue: if you gain their affection by pardoning them, and seeking their amity. Know brothers said S. Austin, that there are Aug hom. 5. ex 50. post medium. two sorts of alms: the one of the heart: the other of the purse; you may excuse yourselves sometimes from this, but not from that; the alms of the heart is to pardon your enemies, to love cordially your neighbours, to have pity and compassion on the poor, to be sorry you have not wherewith to secure them, and to pray God that the rich may help them; our Saviout says not only, give and it shall be given to you: but he says first, pardon, and you shall be pardoned. Behold how easily, and at how small a rate you may buy the kingdom of heaven: see now when or in what time you must buy it. The time of buying it, is the time of this life only: do not as the foolish Virgins, who neglected to make provision of oil till they were called before the Bridegroom: and whilst they went to buy it, the Bridchamber door was shut and they excluded for ever, Imitate rather the wise Virgins, make in time provision of oil, and be not surprised by death. Remember that two sorts of oil are necessary for us; shalt of God on us: for woe to the most laudable life, if God examine it without mercy, said S. Austin: and ours upon our neighbour: for judment without mercy to him, who shall not have done mercy; But if you open to your neighbour your bowels of mercy, God will open his to you: and so happy are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy. Amen. DISCOURSE XXVII. of the Commandments in general. IT was with great reason, that God giving the Law to his people, did use this Preface, Ego sum Dominus Deus tuus, I am the Lord thy God; For by many most just Titles He is our Lord, and hath right to command us, And to oblige us to pay duties to his commandments and Orders, and principally three; we must study them: we must keep them: and we must love them. 1. In the first place we must study them, learn them, and meditate upon them. Some will say: Who is he that is ignorant of them? what little schoolboy is there amongst us that does not know the ten commandments? Yes, they can rehearse them: but this is not enough; We must study them learn the sense and meaning of them, and search into the depth of them; David was a great Prophet, and he studied them, searched into them, meditated upon them, and prayed God to teach him them: Give me understanding, said he to God, and I will learn thy justifications; and to learn them he contemplated them attentively. And in effect, if it be necessary to study the rules of grammar, and of rhetoric, to learn to speak well, is it not necessary to study the Law of God, and his Gospel, to learn to live well, said S. Austin? And S. Ambrose makes us to consider that in she book of Ecclesiastes the holy Ghost says not only, Mandata ejus serva, keep his Commandments, Eccles. 12. 13. but observa, Note them, and search into them diligently. For the Decalogue given to Moses does nor declare so clearly all things that are necessary to be done, nor forbidden so expressly many sins which render us most criminal before God; we must then ponder them, examine, and consider all the words, beg light of the holy Ghost, to find out the sense▪ meaning and intention of God. 2. Moreover the Commandments of the Decalogue were given to men, as men; But God gave moreover many to the jews, as jews: which made S. Paul say, He that made himself a jew, receiving Circumcission, obliged himself to keep Gal. 5. 3. all the Law of Moses. And to learn it well, the Israelites in the time of the Prophet Esdras, made a Lecture of it four times a day: and in the time of S. Paul, on all Saturdays; so 2. Esdras. 9 3. also the Son of God hath given other Commandments to Christians, as Christians; which made the same Apostle say to the faithful, They who obey not the Gospel shall suffer eternal pains. 2. Thes. 1. 8. We must be then solicitous to learn the Evangellical Commandments, to read the books which treat of them, to assist at Sermons and Catechisms which teach them, to beg the grace of God to understand them, and to learn them not only, nor chief for to know them, but to keep them and to put them in practice; Thou hast very much commanded thy commandments to be kept, says the Royal Prophet: Note very much, very much. 3. It is wonderful to see with what earnestness and instance God recommended to his people the memory and observance of them. First He wrote them upon Tables of stone, to teach us to engrave in our hearts, what He vouchsafed to write with his own hand. Secondly He commanded a Tabernacle to be made, and within it an Ark of incorruptible wood, covered with fine gold, to lodge therein the Tables. In the third place, that the king of the people should write with his own hand these holy Commandments. In the fourth place He Commanded the people, that having passed Jordan, and entered into the land of promise, they should place great stones upon the shore, upon which the Commandments should be written, that all might be ascertained if they kept them not, they should not enjoy long that happy land. And because they would not be always there to read them often: He commanded them to be written upon the doors of all their houses, to be imprinted in their hearts, and in the hearts of their children. Behold his words: these words Deut. 6. 5. which I command thee shall be in thy heart: and thou shalt tell them to thy children, and thou shalt meditate upon them sitting in thy house, and walking on thy journey, sleeping, and rising. And thou shalt bind them as a sign in thy hand: and thou shalt write them in the entry, and on the doors of thy house. And because profit and recompense are the baits of humane hearts, He makes promises so advantageous to the observers of them, that they would be incredible, if any other than himself did make them. I will send you rain in time and season, the earth Levit 26. shall bring forth its Spring, and the trees shall be burdened with fruits. I will give peace in your coasts: you shall sleep, and there shall be none to fright you. five of yours shall pursue a hundred strangers, and a hundred of you, ten thousand. I will respect you, and make you increase: you shall be multiplyd, and I will establish my Covenant with you. Note that 'twas to the jews He made these great promises, whom He was wont to recompense with worldly goods when they observed his Commandments, and chastise them with temporal punishments, when thy transgressed them: because they were material, gross and terrestrial; But to Christians, He promises Spiritual and Celestial goods, recompenses that are eternal, so great, so charming, and so excellent, that the felicities He promised to the jews, and which seem to us so admirable, are but shadows and figures of them. 4. But some will say, what will these great Promises avail us, if we cannot perform the condition under which they are made to us? and if we cannot keep the Commandments of God, also with that grace He gives us? Some indeed have said this: But the Scriptures say quite the contrary; This commandment which I command thee is not above thee, says the eternal Father. My yoke Deut 30. 11. Matth. 11. 30. 1. john. 5. 3. S. Luke. 1. 6. is sweet, and my burden light, says JESUS-CHRIST. His commandments are not heavy, said his beloved Disciple. And his Evangelist S. Luke does tell us. that Zachary and Elizabeth were just, and walked without reproof in all the Commandments and justifications of the Lord. And we also may do as they: Else God would be unjust, imposing impossible commands upon us: cruel, in punishing us for not keeping them. and a mocker in promising us his heaven, if we shall observe them. 5. We ought also to keep these divine commandments, not with a servile fear, but with a filial love, as S. Austin says so often; not as slaves, but as children; for we have not received the spirit of servitude again in fear; But we have received the spirit of adoption of children, says S. Paul. And this David did yet in the old Law, repeating so often: I have loved your Law: I have affected your commandments: they are the joy of my heart: I have loved them more than millions of gold: more than the Topase, and other precious stones: more than all the riches of the world: they are to me more sweet than honey: I take more pleasure in keeping them, than à Conqueror in burdening himself with spoils. And to see clearly that they are most reasonable, most just, and most amiable: let us make a supposition, that there are but two Towns in this world: and that in one of them, all the inhabitants keep exactly the commandments of God: and that to the other God hath not given any commandments, but permits every one without punishment to live as he list; Is it not true that the former City would be a terrestrial Paradise, a garden of delights a place of peace and tranquillity, an image of the state of Innocency, and a foretaste of Felicity. There would be no envy, no detraction, no quarrel, no enmity, no injustice, no fear or diffidence; there would be no need of bolts upon doors, nor locks upon coffers, nor of guards, nor sentinels, but upon the frontiers; But the other City where no body should be obliged to keep the commandments of God, would be a forest peopled with robbers, who would pillage one another: a den of Lions, who would tear and eat each other: a Sty of hogs, who would wallow in all sorts of ordures. 6. Have we not then cause to thank God for giving us commandments so holy, so just, so saving, and so amiable? aught we not to submit ourselves with much respect to the orders of his sovereignty? The Epithets which the scripture gives them aught to persuade us to it. It says that they are Testimonies, because they testify to us, and certify us of that which God requires of us; That they are judgements because they will condemn us if that we transgress them; That they are justifications, because they justify us, and render us just before God when we keep them; That they are ways and paths, because we go to Heaven by the observance of them; which God of his mercy grant us. Amen. DISCOURSE XXVIII. Of the first Commandment. I Am the Lord thy God who brought thee out of the land of egypt, and out of the house of bondage, Thou shalt not have strange Gods before me. Thou shalt not make to thyself any graven thing, nor any similitude that is in heaven above, or in earth below, or of things that are in the waters under the earth. Thou shalt not adore, nor serve them; I am the Lord thy God, strong and jealous, visiting the sins of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generation: and showing mercy to thousands of those that love me and keep my commandments. Exod. 20. Some, also of the Ancient, put only these words r● Thou shalt not have strange Gods, or as other Versions have, other Gods before me, in the first commandment; And they begin the second from the following words, Thou shalt not make to thyself any graven thing: and lest that by so doing, they increase the number of the commandments, which are called ten Words in the scripture, they comprise these last words, Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife; Thou shalt not desire his house, or other goods, in one commandment. But we divide these last words into two commandments: and the first words, which others divide, we unite in one: because this hath been more generally received: approved for the better division by S. Austin: and is also more conformable Aug. Quest. 71. in Exod. concls 1. in Psal. 32. Ep 119. add jan c 11 lib. 15. count Faustuns and else where Deut 5▪ to reason; for the exterior octs of adultery and theft being forbidden by two precepts, should not the interior acts or desires be prohibited by two commandments, since these are as different as the other? Nor does it make against us, that the interior acts seem in Exodus to be indistinctly and promiscuously prohibited by one precept; since in Deuteronomy, which is a repetition, revision, and an explication of the Law, they are distinctly and severally prohibited; and that the 70. Interpreters put these Precepts in both places as distinct and divers. Since than we find divers prohibitions, and divers acts prhibited in the last words: and that the correspondent exterior acts are forbidden by divers precepts: we have more reason to divide the last words, than the first: which forbidden in substance but one kind of Sin, and make one complete and perfect prohibition of Idolatry; which will yet more appear by the explication of them; though this controversy raised by Calvin seems not to be of great importance: since it imports not much how these words are divided, provided that ten commandments be admitted, and all the words acknowledged and observed. 2. Thou shalt not have strange Gods before me Thou shalt not make to thyself any graven thing, nor any similitude, God forbids not to make a statue, Image, or a representation absolutely, either for ornament, memory, instruction, help of devotion, or for any good use or purpose whatsoever; For He commanded soon after, Images, similitudes, and representations of divers things to be made: Images of Angels, to wit Cherubins, Exod 25. the similitude of a serpent, Numbers. 21. Representations of oxen and Lions, and other graven things, 3. of kings 6. and 7. And therefore Protestants themselves Scruple not to have and make such things: No Presbiterian or Puritan is so precise, but he will engrave, carve, print, and paint them: and no man doubts to set any Painter or Graver on work, notwithstanding these words of the law. God then forbids them to be made to the End divine worship be given to them: and to signify this, He adds, Thou shalt not adore nor serve th●m: He confirms us in this sense in the 26. chapter of Leviticus, You shall not make to yourselves, an Idol and graven thing, neither shall you erect Pillars, nor set an Image of stone in your land, for to adore it; We gather this sense also from the reason which God gives of the command: I am the Lord thy God: all sovereign honour, all divine worship, all supreme adoration is due to me; I am a jealous God: I Suffer not any divine worship, but my own: I cannot allow my honour to be given to another; Wherefore S. Austin, and other Interpreters of scripture so understand these words, that we make not images against the intention of the law, if we make them not S. Aug. in Quest. joshua. 22 30. for to adore them. so the Israelites were fatisfyd that the Tribes of Reuben and Gad erected not an Altar against the intention of the law, since they made it not for sacrifice, but only for a monument. S. Admire here the goodness of God, who separates us from idolatry, the most vile, foul, and cruel servitude imaginable: which made the poor idolaters to serve a thousand most vile and most base Masters: which urged men and women in their public service to actions so foul and impudent, that impudence itself would blush to see. or hear of them: which engaged them to such inhumanities' and cruelties in their sacrifices, that we cannot without horror speak or think of them. And He does not only endeavour to free men from this most hard and pernicious slavery: but moreover binds them to himself; not that He hath any want of us; He hath no need of our goods, nor of our service: He was most happy from all Eternity, and would be for all Eternity without us; But it is, because He desires that we be perfect: He will that we be happy and He sees that our perfection consists in loving and serving him; And therefore He moves and solicits us to it by most effectual means; He commands strictly, and threatens the transgressors of his command to punish them in their children to the third and fourth generation: and to move our mercenary hearts yet more, He promises to recompense our obedience in thousands; and all this is but a pledge and gage of the great goods which He prepared and promised us if we love him and keep his commandments. 4. After such Commands, threaten and promises, can we think that a great Church, a Church so learned, so curious and careful in other points, and so addicted to good works, would give supreme honour, divine worship and adoration to Saints, and to their Relics, which she believes to be no Gods? Nay, to statues and pictures, which she declares to have no Divinity or virtue: and this with the loss of God's favour, forfeiture of his promises, labour in this world, eternal punishment in the other: and without gain of any honour, pleasure, or profit whatsoever? May be believe that CHRIST having banished Idols out of the world for ever, or out of the greater part of it: as it was by the Prophets foretold He should: and that the Turks, who adore Isaiah. 2. 18. Zachar. c. 13. V 2. him not, and the jews, his greatest enemies, enjoy the fruit and accomplishment of this promise: and Christians, who honour, adore and love him should not, but should live and die in Image, Saint, and Host Idolatry? He hath not made by himself or his Apostles Idolatry to cease one only moment of time, if it be Idolatry to adore the B. Sacrament, to honour the Saints, their Relics and their Images so as the Roman Church does honour them: since these things have been so practised in all times, in both Greek and Latin Church. You see then, that to make Catholics Idolaters, is to tear one of the most precious and replendent jewels out of the Crown of JESUS: that it is to make the Prophets of his Father Liars: and that it is to give occasion to Infidels to make him this reproach Thy Prophets see vain things. and divine a . Is it Possible, that the Catholic or universal Church, the Church to which God promised, that the gates of Hell shall not prevail against Matt. c. 16. v. 18. Matt. c. 28. v. 19 john. c. 16. v. 12. Osee. c. 2. v. 19 Her; That He would be with her all days even to the consummation of the world; That He would preserve her from falling into errors, and guide her into all truth; the Church which God Espoused to himself for ever, The Church, which He obliged all to believe and follow: I believe the holy Catholic Church. Is it possible, I say, that she breaks always notoriously the first commandment, by teaching and committing Idolatry? It is impossible she should adore any other thing than God alone. Note that I say Adore. 5. For though this word Adore, is used in the Bible, and in the Hebrew, Greek, and Latin tongues, to signify all sorts of honour; supreme and divine honour which is given to God only, Psalm 96. where it is said, adore him all ye Angels. Inferior honour which is given to Saints, josuah 5. 14. where it is said, that josuah adoted an Angel. Humane and civil honour, which is given to men on earth, 3. kings 1. 23. where 'tis said the Prophet Nathan adored David; and in many other places it does signify these three different sorts of honour; Nevertheless, since this word Adore does signify in our language divine honour, and worship proper to God alone, I say. 6. We adore not the Saints; because we acknowledge not sovereign and supreme excellency and perfection in them. But we give them an inferior honour according to their dignity, their holiness, and relation to God; for according to the law of God, and reason, a proportionable honour is due to excellency. 7. Secondly, we honour and Venerate the Relics of the Saints, though with an honour inferior to that we give to the Saints themselves, For we find in Relics some dignity, holiness, and relation to God. They were the living members of CHRIST, and Tempells of the holy Ghost; They are the Organs and Instruments of God, by which He works many miracles, and imparts divers benefits to men; and they shall be one day raised up again, to be the habitations of glorious souls, and to live and reign with CHRIST; therefore they deserve some respect, and the primitive Church, as the holy Fathers testify, did not deny it them. Thirdly we adore not Images and pictures. For we know and believe that there is no divinity in them. Neither do we give them any inferior honour, veneration or respect absolutely, or for themselves, or which is terminated upon them; because we acknowledge not any virtue or perfection in them that deserves it from us. But seeing that the holy Fathers declare: all Nations acknowledge: and nature itself does teach, that the honour or dishonour done to an Image is referred to the Prototype or thing represented, and is done by the Image to it; We do not with the Iconoclast Heretics break them, trample them under feet and deface them as profane, or scoff at them as Idols; But on the contrary, we reserve them, lodge them decently, make good uses of them, and in occasion we kiss them, we put off our hats and bow or kneel before them, for to adore JESUS-CHRIST, and honour his Saints by them. And surely all this practice is some part of Christian duty; since neither common sense, reason▪ nor religion, will permit us to do less in this behalf to our Saviour and his friends in heaven, than that which others do to honour, and to show their love to men on earth. 9 Is it not then very strange that some will hold, that to honour JESUS-CHRIST by his image, is forbidden? And is not this as unreasonable as that is strange, to conclude from a falsely supposed prohibition, that the worship is therefore terminated upon the image, and is Idolatrous? We have shown that it is not forbidden by the Law to honour CHRIST by his image, but to honour the image itself for CHRIST, or instead of CHRIST. And now we add that in case it were indeed forbidden yet it would not be Idolatry: it would be still the worship of the true God: it would terminate upon Him, as well as the offerings of the blind and lame, which God had forbidden, and yet complains, that the jews by them polluted Him; It would terminate upon him as well as blasphemy, Malac. 1. and other crimes, which He forbids: It would be then disobedience, or some other sin: But not Idolatry, by which one gives God's honour to a creature. 10. oh! your ignorant people at least, do adore images themselves: they pray to them and demand succour from them, as from God: and therefore it is better that the use of them should be abolished, than that it should be the occasion of Idolatry. It is very hard to judge that any are so ignorant; since they cannot learn the first Article of the Creed, nor the first of the Commandments but they must know, that images are not Gods, nor to be adored: and since they must be as senseless as the images themselves, that will pray to them, or demand help of them. But suppose there happen some abuse; this must be very rare, and easily removed: and therefore is to be amended by instruction, not by the abolishing of the adundant good use of images. They go on to make us Transgressors of this commandment, and Idolaters; They say that we honour the Saints with divine worship, and do them Sovereign homage: that we do not only implore their intercession, but pray the Saints to give us the things which we desire: that we build Temples, erect Altars, and offer Sacrifice to them; for we name the Church of S. Steeven, the Altar of S. Peter, the Mass of our B. Lady. 11. These are great mistakes; for we believe that God alone i● the Author and the Giver of all good things; this is our public Doctrine set forth in the Council of Trent, inculcated to the faithful in Catechisms, and put often into the public prayers SS. 25. the Invoc. Sanctorum. of the Church: Lord who art the Author and Giver of all good things; God from whom all good things come; God the Giver of all good things; When we say then sometimes to the Virgin, help the miserable, strengthen the weak, comforr those that mourn, and use these, and the like expressions after S. Austin himself: our sense and meaning is no other, but to desire her to obtain for us of Aug. ser. 18. the Sanct. in med. God the blessings which we desire, and which we believe that He alone can give. 12. Nor is there a less mistake in the other part of the objection; For we build no Churches, erect not Altars, nor offer Sacrifice to Saints; For as S. Denys says, the Temple is for the altar, the Altar is for the Priest, the Priest is for Sacrifice, and Sacrifice is for God only. And when we name the Church of S. Steeven, the Altar of S. Peter, or the Mass of our Lady: We understand that the Church is dedicated, the Altar consecrated, and the Mass offered ro God, in thanksgiving for the favours He hath done to the Virgin, to S. Peter, or to S. Steeven; as when we name the Mass of the dead, of marriage, of peace, of Travellers: It is because we offer the sacrifice to God, to demand of him rest of souls, benediction of Marriage, peace between Princes, and a good journey for Travellers. See what the Council of Trent, who knew best the faith and practise of the Church does say of it: Though that the Church celebrates sometimes Masses in the honour and memory of Saints: she ss. 22. 3. teaches nevertheless, that it is not to them that she offers sacrifice, but to God alone, who hath crowned them; whence it is that the Priest says not, S. Peter S. Paul, I offer to you this Sactifice, but to God, to whom he gives thanks for their Victories imploring their intercession. And so S. Austin teaches, answering Faustus the Manichean Heretic, who made the same objection against the Catholics S. Aug. lib. 20. cont. Faust. of his time. Some perhaps will say they cannot understand, how we can offer Sacrifice to the honour of a Saint, and not sacrifice to the Saint, for whose honour it is offered. 13. Know then, that honour is but a sign, a testimony, or protestation of some excellency; and that thanks given to God by words or Sacrifice, for the gifts or graces bestowed on such persons, is a testimony or protestation of such excellency in those persons, and therefore for their honour: though both words and Sacrifice be directed to God, and not to them. If Protestants should keep a solemn day of thanksgiving to God for the wit and zeal their Doctor hath shown against Popery: this would be much to his honour, though the thanks be given to God, and not to him. 14. Let us learn then by the unfortunate failings of others, not to blaspheme that which we understand not; Let us not fear Idolatry or falls worship following the general practice of that Church, which alone does labour to extirpate Paganism, to ruin Idols and Idolatry, and to put in vogue this commandment. But Let us beware to make other Idols in ourselves and to ourselves, which are harder to be extirpated, and as pernicious to Salvation as those of Pagans. For if we prefer our judgement before that of the Catholic Church, we make an Idol of our fancy or opinion, and adore it. If we affect a Creature disordinately against the commandment of God, we erect an Idol in our heart, and adore it. If we are intemperate, subject to drunkenness or to gluttony, S. Paul says to us, that our belly is our God. if we are avaricious, he declares to us, that Philip. 3. 19 Colloss. 3. 5. Ephes 5. gold and silver are our Idols. if we are unchaste, we adore an Idol of flesh. If it be our design to greaten ourselves and to make our fortune at what rate soever, our idols are the world and its vanities, or our children. If we cloth ourselves excessively, our Idols are our bodies; in a word, all that weighs most in the balance of our affections is our God, says S. Austin. Banish then all such inordinate affections; honour and adore the true God only; give yourselves to him without reserve: love him, bless him, fear him, serve him with all your heart; refer to him all that you do, all that you say, all that you are, He only is your treasure, your refreshment, your life, and your glory; He alone is your honour, prosperity, and felicity in soul and body, in time and in eternity, upon earth and in Heaven: where He will satiate and make you perfectly happy by the enjoyment of his eternal glory. Amen. DISCOURSE XXIX. OF THE FIRST COMMANDMENT. Thou shalt not have strange Gods before me etc. AS by this commandment God excludes worship and adoration of falls Gods: So by the same He demands just honour and homage which we own to the only true God. It is by the Virtue of Religion that we acquit ourselves of this obligation; For this virtue moves us to give to God the honour, worship and adoration due to him by reason of the infinite Excellence of his nature, and sovereignity over allthings; It teaches us to honour him by our Understanding and our Will, with our Body and ou● goods: and moreover to honour allthings that are specially referred to him; And this is that which is exacted of us by this Commandment: and which we shall show in this Discourse. 1. The Virtue of Religion hath this Excellency amongst other moral Virtues, that we may practise it in all occasions, and in all times. We have always the object of it: great reason: and Power to do it. The object: God is always near us, we are in his presence, He is always great and worthy of honour. Great reason: He obliges us incessantly, we receive from him continually Being, Preservation, Motion; we should think of him as often as we breath, if we could; and He did require it of us; we have always Power to exercise this Virtue: for there is no need of riches, strength of body, fine words: It is practised by the motion of the heart, by the affection of the soul, by the acts of the understanding and the Will. 2. By the understanding we must conceive a high and great esteem of his Greatness and Excellence, of his Power, Wisdom, Goodness, justice, and other Perfections: apprhend lively, believe firmly, profess humbly, that He is infinitely Powerful▪ Wise, Good: that whatsoever He does, He does it most wisely, justly, holily; that all that we can think, all that the Angels can conceive of his Greatness is nothing to that He is. We must acknowledge before God, that he is our Creator, Beginning, last End, sovereign Good, true Treasure, only Beatitude: that He is our legal Lord, sovereign King: that He can dispose of us more justly, and absolutely, than a King of his Vassal, than a Master of his slave, than a Potter of his earthen Vessel: that if He should take our Children from us, our goods, honour, life without having given Him any occasion of offence He would not do us injury, would use his right, would be in so doing most just, amiable, and adorable. By our will, we must resolve to do promptly all that we know conduces to the service of God, and to the advancement of his glory, and to avoid all things which displeas Him: To desire and beg frequently the things that are convenient to be asked of him: that so we may honour and reverence Him, by submitting ourselves to him, and by acknowledging that we have need of him, and totally rely on him. To adore him often, professing subjection to his divine Will, in acknowledgement of his excellency and infinite Majesty, and our subjection and dependence on Him. 3. And because we are composed of soulw and body, and receive them, and all other goods from him, we own him not only the interior, but also the exterior acts of Religion; such is Sacrifice, by which we honour him as our God and Sovereign, professing his supreme Dominion, and a dependency of all things on him; we thank him for Benefits: satisfy his justice: and implore succour of our necessities; such is the use of Sacraments, by which we tacitly protest, that God is the Sanctifier and the Author of grace which subjects to him more and more our Souls. Such are genuflections, prostrations, to testify by these signs the high esteem we have of his Greatness, and our submission to him. Such in fine are thanks, Vocal prayers, praises▪ and other like tributes of honour and homage which we pay to him. We ought more over to employ our labour▪ and to use our goods for the service of him: Yea, to contemn our honour, and sacrifice our lives, in a just occasion. 4. And since all that is in God, is God, and consequently amiable, honourable, and adorable: we ought also to honour and adore all his divine Attributes and Perfections, chiefly in occasions when it pleases him to practise them; When he sends prosperities to virtuous people, or to their children, adore his fidelity who promised to favour the virtuous; when He gives goods to ill men, adore his Goodness, who does good to his Enemies; when He calls a just man out of this life, who seemed necessary in this world, adore his Independence, who hath not need of his creatures; when He preserves in life the Vicious, adore his Patience and longanimity; When He sends afflictions. adore his justice. 5. In fine the Virtue of Religion obliges us to reverence God not only in himself, and in his divine Perfections: But also in his Friends and Servants, in the Times, and Places, which are particularly consecrated to his service, and in all that hath a special respect and relation to his Majesty. It was by this disposition that josuah 5. Gen. 48. 16. Psal. 138. Or. 139. Apoc. 1. 4. josuah honoured the Angel that appeared to him. That jacob prayed an Angel to bless his Children. That David honoured very much the friends of God. And that S. john Evangelist implores the assistance of Angels to obtain grace and peace from God. It was by the same Virtue that great S. Antony honoured Priests as Ministers of Christ's Inheritance, Officers of his Crown and Dispenser's of his treasures: and that meeting even the least of them, he fell upon his knees and demanded his Benediction. By this Virtue S. Charles the Great entered into Rome and visited a foot the Churches of it, embraced and kissed with devotion the Pillars of them. By this Virtue another Saint Charles, the Cardinal Boromeus honoured so much the holy scripture, that also studying it, he read it always kneeling and uncovered The seraphical Saint Francis commanded, that papers which had the name of God written in them, should not be Profaned but placed in decent and convenient places. S. Lewis forbidden painting and graving of the Cross upon the pavement, for fear the people should tread upon it. On Festivals and Vigils, in honour of the Saint celebrated, or of the Mystery solemnised, he gave dinner to two hundred Poor, and served them at the table. He fasted all fridays of the year: and in those of Advent and Lent, he eat neither fish nor fruit, because these two Times are consecrated to God. 6. If these great Saints were now on earth, what would they say, what would they do seeing the comportment of men? What think they now in heaven seeing the irreligion of those, who will not allow them any honour, though God does honour them and honour be a due salary of their Virtue; who count it superstition Luke 15. 6. Luke. 16. Apoc. 5. 8. and 8. 4. Matth. 18. 10 to implore their intercession, though they have credit and favour in the sight of God, do hear our prayers, do know our necessities, have experienced our miseries, and have Charity and affection for us, as the scriptures tell us. What think they seeing the indevotion of others, who rise in the morning, and go to bed at night as beasts: who sit down to table at noon as Epicurians, and pass over the day as if there were no God; who even fear to assist often at the Sacrifice, to frequent the Sacraments, to adore God, and pray him as they ought, lest men laugh at them, and call them devotes. or hypocrites, though they are not ashamed to do ill in open street. What do they think in fine seeing such irreverences of men towards holy things? They employ the time of holy days, in playing, in visits, and drunkenness; if they discourse for pleasure and recreation, it seems not well seasoned if it clash not upon Priests, or Religious Persons; if they come to the Church, it is not to appease God, but to offend him, to see and to be seen; They profane the holy scripture, and use it in their jests, merriments, and Scurrilities. 7. Si Ego Pater, ubi est honor meus? If I am the Father. where is my honour? He might have said, if I am King, If I am judg. If nature teaches the most barbarous to honour their father who is more worthy of honour than He from whom we have received, not Body only, but also Soul and All? 8. If we honour the King. and also the Courtiers for his sake: should we not honour the King of kings, so great, powerful, and Sovereign, that all the Kings of the world are his Uassalls, and are but worms in respect of Him. 9 If we honour judges, because they have some Power in this world: ought we not to honour him who is infinitely powerful, and from whom all power is dereived? And give also an inferior honour to the Saints, whom God does so much honour, that He makes them our judges; You shall sit, says our great judge, upon S. Matth 19 28. 1. Kings 2. 30. seats, judging the twelve Tribes of Israel. Let us remember then, what God says to Samuel, whosoever shall glorify me, I will glorify him: and they that contemn me shall be base; If we neglect the service of God: if we respect not his friends, and allthings that specially appertain to him: sooner or later, we shall be contemned, co●●r'd with shame, dishonour and infamy; But if we honour him as we ought, we shall be replenished with glory, either in this world by the good odour of our reputation, or in the other, by the crown of justice, which God reserves for us in Heaven. Amen. DISCOURSE XXX. OF THE SECOND COMMANDMENT. Thou shalt not take the Name of the Lord thy God in Vain. For the Lord will not hold him innocent that shall take the name of the Lord his God in Vain. Exod. 20. THe royal Prophet representing to us the name of God as holy, represents it at the same time as terrible, and dreadful: Holy and terrible is his name. Let us confess to thy great name, because it is terrible and holy; And he joy ns Majesty and power with Sanctity, to imprint in our heart's reverence, and to strick terror into us, lest we should at any Psal. 110 Psal. 98. time dishonour him; And God assures us in this Commendement: that he will punish us for it, that we may not pretend ignorance to be any cause of it. The Lord will not hold him Innocent, that shall take the name of the Lord his God in vain. In other sins the mercy of God pleads in favour of sinners, demands pardon, strives S. james. 2. 13. with justice, and sometimes overcoms it, and mercy exalteth itself above judgement, says S. james; But in this sin the Verity of God joins itself to justice, and obliges God to punish the profaner, lest his word do fail. Is it not then a misery which the serves to be deplored with tears of blood, to see that there is nothing so licentiously and frequently profaned and abused by Christians as the name of God, by pronouncing his holy name irreverently: violating Vows unworthily: swearing falsely, or profanely: Cursing, or blaspheming detestably. 2. But some will say: Oaths are they essentially naught? Is it not permitted to swear sometimes? Yes 'tis lawful: since the Scripture permits and approves it: Saints have practised it: and God himself vouchsafes to swear. The Prophet Hieremy permits us Hierem: 4. 2. Psal. 62. 12. Apoc. 10. 6. Gen. 14. 22. 3. kings 17. 1. Rom. 19 2. Cor. 1. 23. Gal. 1. 20 Gen. 22. 16. Hier. 22. 24. Luke. 1. 73. Psal. 109 to swear in the name of God, provided it be with all necessary circumstances. David praises those that swear by the true God, not by falls Deities as Pagans did. Angels, Patriarches, Prophets, and Apostles have sometimes sworn. An Angel in the Apocalypse lifts up his hand to heaven, and swears by him that lives for ever and ever, that after judgement there will be no more time. In the book of Genesis, the Patriarch Abraham says to the King of Sodom, I lift up my hand to the most high Majesty of God who possesses heaven and Earth. In the third book of kings the Prophet Elias said, by the living God in whose sight I stand. S. Paul in his Epistle to the Romans, God is my witness that without intermission I make a memory of you. In the second to the Corinthians, I call God to witness upon my soul, that sparing you, I came not any more to Corinth. And in the Epistle to the Galatians, Behold before God, that I lie not. God himself whose least word is more firm than heaven and earth, having nothing greater than himself vouchsafes to swear by himself, and by his life. And the Psalmist says expressly The Lord hath Sworn. 3. It is true then, that absolutely speaking, an Oath that is accompanied with all its circumstances, is neither mortal, nor venial sin: on the contrary, it is a virtuous and meritorious action; It is an Act of the virtue of Religion, which hath for its object the payment to God and his divine Perfections, the honour and homage that we own him. When an oath is well made, we honour the Immensity, Science, and Veracity of God; Calling him to witness what we say. we acknowledge him to be in all places, present with all his creatures: to know all that passeth in this world: and to be the Sovereign and infallible Verity, Source and Origin of all verity, who authorises by his testimony all truths. 4. There are divers sorts of oaths: But that I may not burden your memory, I will distinguish them into 3. kinds only, which Divinity calls, Assertory, Promissory, Execratory. 5 First the Assertory is, when you ascertain any thing that is past or present, calling God to witness what you say: calling him I say, either by himself, as when you say, by God, before God, I say this in the presence of God: or by some creature S. Matt. 5. that hath relation to him, as when you say, by my soul, by this light, by this fire; so JESUS-CHRIST says in the Gospel, that to swear by heaven, is to swear by the Throne of God: to swear by the earth, is to swear by the footstool of his feet. 6. Secondly the Promissory is, when you promise under oath to do, or not to do any thing. And You commit perjury and offend God mortally, if you have not an intention to do, or not to do what you promise: or if you know that you cannot do it: or if afterward you voluntarily fail to do what you promised, in a matter of importance. 7. In the third place, the Execratory, or oath of imprecation is then, when to assure any thing, you call God not only to witness what you say, but you call him moreover to revenge the , in case you say not true; as when you say: God punish me: may I die presently: never may I go out of this place: Never may I see God: the Devil take me, if this be not true; it is as much as if you said: if I say not true, I will that God permit that I die, that I never departed from hence, that the Devil carry me away etc. 8. And it happens sometimes, that God takes such swearers at their word, and sends them the evil which they wished. Niceforus Calixtus says, that three Calumniators accusing the Bishop Narcissus of Adultery one of them said, that he would die if what he affirmed was not true: another, that he would be burnt: the third, that he might never see. The first died suddenly: the second was burnt with his house, by a spark of fire that fell from his lamp: the third having seen the punishment of his complices, repent of his fault, and wept so bitterly that he lost his sight. 9 The Prophet Hieremiah above cited, marks out to us the conditions wherewith an oath must be accompanied that it be not vicious, but virtuous and meritorious: jurabis, vivit Dominus, in veritate, in justitia, & judicio: He permits you to swear by the life of God, or other oath, provided, that it be with truth, with justice, and with discretion. 10. First with truth, this circumstance is so absolutely necessary to an oath, that if you swear an untruth, or are not sure of what you swear, it is a perjury, though it should be about the value of a pin. I say though it should be upon the matter of a pin; for it is not in this sin as in other kinds of crimes▪ wherein the levity of the matter makes the sin to be but venial; here the levity of the matter diminishes not the sin, but increases the malice of it; for it is a greater contempt of God to abuse his authority, and to call him to witness an untruth for a thing that is friyolous, and of little consequence. 11. And we must not only not swear to assert an express and formally, But not also to confirm a disguised and palliated untruth. I call palliated lies, equivocations, ambiguous words and of a double meaning; for these deceive men: they are subtle and crafty cheats; And is it not a great evil to make use of the name of God, and his credit, to cheat and deceive men? S. Isidore and S. Bernard tell us, that what ever artifice of equivocation we use in swearing, God who sees our conscience, S. Isod. lib. 2. sent. 6. 31. S. Ber. lib. de mod. bene vivendi: ser. 32. Aug. Ep. 224. ad Alipium. takes our words according to the sense that he to whom we swear does understand them. S. Augustine concludes the same: I doubt not says he, but you ought to keep the fidelity of your promise, according as he to whom you swore did understand it, and not according to the ambiguity of your word; whence it follows that those are perjured, who contenting themselves to perform their words according to their own concealed sense of them, have deceived the thoughts and expectations of him to whom they swore; and consequently shall not be saved: since the Prophet says, that to go to heaven, one must not in swearing deceive his Neighbour; Qui jurat proximo suo, & non decipit. 12 Secondly, you must swear with justice: that is to say: you must not swear but that which is just and lawful, And therefore they sin grievously, who swear to revenge themselves, or to do any thing displeasing to God. They are not at all obliged to keep such oaths: since nobody can be obliged to do ill; Nay, they are obliged not to keep them, because the Law of God obliges them, not to do such things. 13. In the third place, it must be with judgement, that is with prudence and maturity, for things necessary, and of importance, and by reason of some obligation grounded in a virtue, as charity, justice, or obedience: For to swear lightly, rashly, without just cause or necessity, though it be for verity, is a sin, and moreover the cause of many inconvenients; It is an irreverence and a dishonour of God to call him for witness in things that are frivolous, or of little or no importance; 'Tis as if Lackeys playing in the court of Whitehall, should call the King to be Arbitrator in all their childish disputes and differences. 14. But take the inconveniences which do follow this accursed language from Ecclesiasticus, or rather from the holy Ghost: A man that is given to swearing shall be filled with iniquity, and Ecclus. 33. 12. his house shall be always afflicted. He shall be filled with his own sins which he commits by swearing lightly: and also with those of others, who will learn to swear by his example, and through the force of custom, forswear also themselves, and he will be responsible. The holy Ghost tells us not, with what punishments He will chastise him; beeaus he sends divers sorts of them; some He chastiles in one manner: other in another, according to the Rules of his Providence and good pleasure. But why labour I in this behalf? This word which the Son of God said, aught to be S. Matt, 5. more then enough to avert men from unnecessary Oaths: You have heard, that it was said to them of old, Thou shalt not forswear thyself: But I say to you, Swear not at all; He understands here vainly, or in vain: for He explicates or extends this Precept, Thou shalt not take the Name of God in vain. 15. If Christians must abstain from oaths: with greater reason yet from Blasphemy: Which is a reproach or contumely, thrown upon God himself, or upon his Saints; This Vice is so detestable, that virtuous Persons in the Scripture had a horror to pronounce it, and in stead of saying blaspheme God, they were wont to say, Bless God: Lest perhaps my children have sinned, and blessed God said holy job. The jews had this Vice in so great-abomination job. 1. 5. that when they heard a blasphemy: they rend and tore their garmetns: to show, they would have no part in so enormous a Crime, and that they detested it extremely. I would not counsel you to tear your as often as you hear blasphemy, you would do it too often in these times; I dare not counsel you that which S. Chrysostom counselled his Auditors: when you hear a monster of Chrysost: hom. ad pop. Antioc infin. nature, who dares to blaspheme, give him a great blow upon his face: you will sanctify your hand by this action, this service which you do to God will be as sacred oil, and a holy unction that will consecrate your hand: I dare not give you this counsel: unless for those that are under your care, as your children, and your servants; But when you hear others blaspheme, you ought at least to rend your heart, to be displeased at this impudence, and to show that it displeases you, admonish charitably the insolent: and if he will not hear you, fly his company, and adore the high Majesty of God, making him by this action as it were amends for the injury He received: that you may avert from you and from the Community, the wrath and Vengeance of God that blasphemy brings upon you▪ 16. Fellow then if you be wise, and put in practise the advertisement of the Son of God; Let your speech be, yes, yes, S. Matth. 5. no, no; when you will affirm any thing, content yourselves to say, this is so, or else, it is not so: and that which is over and above these, is of Evil says JESUS-CHRIST: if you add any oath, it is an ill effect of an evil cause. This evil comes sometimes, from the incredulity of him to whom you speak; But if he will not believe you, let him go see, or let him stay there; ought his incredulity to make you disobedlent to God? if you swear not, he will not believe you: and if you swear, God will be offended with you: which of the two is most to be feared? It is of evil; This evil comes often from your bad Conscience: you swear because your Conscience dictates to you that you deserve not to be credited upon your simple word: and consequently you show that you are subject to lying; if you be subject to lying, you are bad: if you are bad, you deserve not to be believed, also when you swear. It is of evil; This evil comes from a bad habit you have contracted; you will never put it off, if you watch not over yourselves: if you do not some penance as often as you swear. Give something to the Poor, say a Pater noster, by't your tongue, pull a hair out of your head, that the rigour of the penance may make the ill Custom to give place, says▪ S. Austin. Can you cure a dangerous and inveterate infirmity without bleeding, physic, or any remedy? Think you to root out this bad custom, without labour, penance, or any violence? It is of evil; this evil comes from your anger, you excuse yourselves there upon; but it is to wash yourselves with ink; you are culpable, both for being angry, and for swearing or blaspheming in anger. If you correct not yourself, God hath anger as well as you, but very different from yours; He hath anger most reasonable and just, which will punish yours most justly. It is of evil. This evil comes from the evil Spirit, who rages with hatred against God, and against you: and who is glad to use your tongue to spite God, and to make you criminal, unhappy, an enemy of God as he, companion in his miseries and his pains. Let us then detest the execrable language of sinners: and let us say with Saints, I will bless our Lord in all times; I will bless him in the morning, because He ought to have the first and the best of all things; In the evening: because He is the last end of all my works; During the day: because by his order the day continues to enlighten me; I will bless him in adversity, because than He is with me; In prosperity, because it is a present that he makes me, to oblige me to praise and love him; I will bless him in all times, that I may begin in this life, what I shall do by his grace in heaven: where I shall praise, bless, and glorify him for ever. Amen. DISCOURSE XXXI OF THE THIRD COMMANDMENT. Remember that thou Sanctify the Sabbath day. 1. IF this commandment does oblige us Christians, as it obliged the jews: we commit three great faults, each of which does bring damnation: This Commandment obliged the jews to rest on the same day that God Exod. 20. 9 Levit. 23: 3. Exod. 35▪ 3. Exod. 16▪ 23. Levit. 23. did rest, to wit on saturday: and we rest on Sunday. It forbidden them all work: as to light a fire, to dress meat, to wa●k in the fields, except one mile, or there about: And we do on sunday these works which were forbidden. The day of rest began from the evening of its Vigil: and we begin it, but after midnight: Who hath given us all these dispensations? Who hath licenced us to break all these Laws? We find not in the new Testament one only word that gives us a plain and clear excuse. We read indeed in the Apocalypse, that S. john was in spirit upon our Lord's day; there was then such a day as our Lord's Apoc. 1. day; But a Sabbatharian will say to us: he does not tell you that the Sanctification given to saturday was taken from that day; nor that there was given a command to all the world, not to work upon that day which he called our Lord's day; nor does it appear there, or elsewhere in the scripture, that it was not the day of the Resurrection, or Ascension, or Christmas day which S. john called our Lord's day. We read again in the Acts, that the first christians met upon the first day of the week which is our sunday, to communicate. But Acts. 20. 7. a Sabbatharian will reply again what then? The Text does not say they assembled always on that day: or only on that day: yea we read in the Acts, that they communicated very frequently, Acts. 2. or every day; How do you then infer from their communicating once upon that day, that the Sabbath was abrogated, and the Sunday was subrogated in its place? Nay, you find in the new Law, that though the old Law was by CHRIST evacuated, yet the ten Commandments were by Him confirmed; For in S. Matthew, one came to our Saviour saying, what good shall I do that I may have everlasting life? Our Saviour Matth. 10. answered, keep the commandments. And when that man replied to know what commandments? Our Lord explicated himself to mean those Commandments, which that man knew very well, S. Mark. 10. S. Luke. 18. Cor. 7. 19▪ as appears also in S. Mark, and in S. Luke, Secondly S: Paul in his first Epistle to the Corinthians says, Circumcision is nothing, and prepuce is nothing, but the observance of the Commandments of God; this is the thing you must look too, if you will have everlasting life. Behold here that great Apostle tells you, rhat even then, when Circumcision was abolished, and made nothing, yet the observance of the Commandments, and he excepts not one, was necessary to salvation. And our Saviour foretelling his Apostles the destruction of Jerusalem, which was to be 40. years after his Resurrection, when one would think the observance of the Sabbath would have been, S. Matthew. 24. 20. if ever it were to be abolished: yet He bids them pray, that their flight might not be upon the Sabbath or the 7. th' day for to avoid the profanation of that day. The seventh day than was to be observed, long after the supposed practice of Communion upon the Sunday: Acts. 20. 7. 1. Cor. 16▪ and long after S. Paul bids Christians to make their collections upon the first day of the week: from whence you draw another argument: though the Apostle does not so much as say, that they did use to meet that day: and seems to appoint that day only for a pious beginning of the week. 2. Since then the Scriptures are not clear for us in this important point: yea, seem rather to be against us; How do we know that the obligation of sanctifying the Sabbath or seventh day was taken away? And how do we know that a new obligation of sanctifying the Sunday was put upon us? we know it by the same way we know the Bible is the Word of God: that the Creed was made by the Apostles: that infants are to be baptised: that the prohibition of the new Law to eat suffocated Acts. 15. meats and blood is repealed: and to be short, as we know other things of great importance not written, or not plainly 2. Thes. 2. 15. declared in Scripture: And this is Apostolical Tradition, which S. Paul bids us hold; For the Church by the instruction of the Apostles tells us plainly, that the Son of God hath freed us from all obligation to sanctify the Sabbath of the jews: and hath instituted Sunday for us Christians. For on this day, the principal Works attributed to the most holy Trinity, and done in favour of us, were begun or accomplished. It was on Sunday that God began to create the World; It was on Sunday, that our Saviour came into the world: that He was born of the B. Virgin: and that he risen again from the dead; It was on Sunday, that the holy Ghost descended upon the Faithful to sanctify the world. 3. These incomparable Works should be the object of our devotion on Sundays to conform ourselves to the intentions of our Saviour, and of the Church. For this Commandment is both affirmative, and negative; as negative, it forbids servile works: as affirmative, it commands us to sanctify the day: that is to employ the day in holy Works: as in assisting devoutly at divine service, in praying, in contemplating particularly those great works of God, for to admire the excellency of them, and to thank, bless, and praise him for them: in receiving the Sacraments, in reading spiritual books, in hearing the word of God, in visiting the Poor, Sick, and Prisoners, which is an act of Religion says S. james: in instructing one another in the Mysteries of Faith, in the Commandments of God, in S. james▪ 1. 27. the practice of virtue and Religion. S. chrysostom said, that Sunday was called the day of bread, because all Christians than received the bread of Angels in the Eucharist: the day of light: because we ought to receive therein light and guidance for all the week, by sermons, catechisms, spiritual reading, and meditation. If then we employ great part of the day in dancing, playing and recreating ourselves, we offend not indeed against the negative Commandment, which forbids servile works, but we do not accomplish perfectly the affirmative precept, which commands us to sanctify the day. 4. They violate the negative Commandment who employ the holy days in traficking, in buying or selling, or other servile and mercenary employments: and are subjects of the complaint which God makes by Ezechiel. The houses of Israel provoked me, and my Ezeeh. 20. 13. Sabbaths they violated exceedingly. 4. You wil● say; If I sell not, another will: I shall lose my custom, and shall want. But if this be so: S. Paul would not say, Piety is profitable to all things, that is, both to the spiritual 1. Tim. 4. 8 Matt 6. 31. and the temporal. Nor would our Saviour conclude. Be not therefore solicitous for the Sustenance of your bodies, seek first the kingdom of God, and his Providence will furnish you the rest, by the means of moderate labour. If we ever ought to seek the kingdom of God, we ought to do it at least on Sundays, and because you seek it not, you are not supplied with the rest. You neglect the spiritual, for the temporal: and you lose both temporal and spiritual: you are poor in this world, and in the other. 5. They have violated my Sabbaths exceedingly; God says. Exceedingly, against those, who not only serve not God on sundays, but offend him more outrageously than in any other day, by debaucheries, impieties, and dissolutions. It seems the sunday is made by some the sink of all the week, who having not leisure to offend God on other days, transferr this to the sunday; It is not now our Lord's day with them, but the devils: their solemnities are not the festivals of Saints, but of Bacchus, Ceres, and Venus. Heretofore the devils left the bodies of possessed persons. and withdrew themselves into the desert, as unable to endure the piety and devotion of the Faithful; But now they possess the hearts of Christians, as those hogs of the Geraseens, to precipitate them into the lake of a thousand brutal actions: and after, into the pool of fire and brimstone of everlasting death. It is certible to hear isaiah. 1. 14. Malac. 2. 3. with what execration God speaks of holy days so Profaned: my soul hateth your Solemnities: I will cast upon your faces, the dung of them. 6. Let us say then with the Psalmist, Turn o my Soul into thy rest: because our Lord hath done good to thee. Psal. 114. 7. Turn o my Soul, convert yourself entirely to God on the sunday at least. It is instituted for this end, and it is called the day of our Lord: because if we have been turned to ourselves, and to our affairs the other days: we must at least turn to God and to his service this day, which He hath reserved to himself. It seems an usurpation of another's goods, and a sort of sacrilege to rob him of this day, and to employ it prophanly against his will. Turn o my Soul into thy rest; It is a great crime to refuse Obedience to a commandment so sweet; other Masters urge their servants and cry out to them, work, work: ha'! God says to his: my children: I will not that you weary out yourselves: give some respite to yourselves from labours: rest in me, who am the Centre of your hearts, and the true rest of your souls. He calls this day by his Prophet, The delicate or delicious Sabbath: His Isaiah. 58. 13. delights are to be, and to convers with us: why should we not then make it our delights to be and convers with Him? Turn into thy rest, because our Lord hath done well to thee. The Sunday was instituted that we might have opportunity to serve God, and more leisure to thank Him for our Creation, Preservation Redemption, Sanctification, and Vocation to his Service: for all graces and good works which He gives us: for preserving us from a thousand infirmities, miseries, deaths, and from so many occasions of sin: He hath delivered, says the Prophet, my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from sliding; if we are grateful for benefits received, we shall give him occasion to give us new: if we employ we●l the time designed for the service of God, He will bless the time granted us to make provision for ourselves and families. do then the works of God on holy days, and He will do yours on other days: and moreover make you pass from the figure to the Verity, from the shadow to the light, from the symbol to the reality, and from the temporal rest of this life, to the eternal repose of glory. Amen. DISCOURSES XXXII. OF THE FORTH COMMANDMENT Honour thy Father and thy Mother AS the Commandments written in the first Table, tend immediately to the honour and glory of the Creator, recommending ro us Piety and devotion towards Him; So these of the second Table tend immediately to the salvation and the utility of men▪ and recommend to us charity and justice towards all our neighbours: that each one doing his duty in his state and condition, the families and communites of Christians may be well ordered and disposed. The most important of these duties, is that of children towards their Parents; and therefore it is exacted by the first commandment of the second Table; and to move them more to it, recompense is herein promised to those that shall honour their Parents with the triple honour of Reverence, Obedience, and Assistance. 2. First, with the honour of Reverence; for our Parents are the images of God, whose authority is a Ray of his Paternity: they are Sources and Causes of our life after Him: Organs and Instruments which He uses, to give and preserve our Being. Hence it comes that we ought to honour them, be they whatsoever: though your Father be vicious and deboist, he is still your Father a cause of your life, an instrument of God, and an image of his Paternity. And because the chief part of this honour consists in the interior: you must esteem your Parents in your heart, acknowledge them your Superiors, respect and reverence their Authority; And because they know not your interior: you are obliged to testify by exterior signs, the honour which you have for them: to speak to them humbly: of them to others, honourably: to give them respect and reverence, and to do nothing that savours of neglect or contempt. The Queen Bethsabee was not of the Royal blood, but of mean extraction, and nevertheless the wise Solomon her Son, though a great and powerful Monarch, and sitting in the Throne of justice, risen out of it, to meet and reverence her, and placed her in a Throne at the right hand of his Majesty. This wise King was the figure of our Saviour, who being King of kings, and God of infinite Majesty: disdained not on earth to be subject to his holy Mother, and who elevated, and placed her in heaven at Psal. 44. his right hand; Astitit Regina a dextris tuis. 3. To honour your Parents: you must moreover consult them, before you undertake any thing of consequence; when you would marry, commence a suit, undertake a far journey, or engage yourself in any other thing of importance: ask their counsel, and follow it; this shows you esteem their prudence, and God blesses this proceeding; the young Tobias had a great blessing, was assisted by an Angel, delivered from all danger, replenished with riches and prosperity in his journey, because he undertook it by the advice and direction of his Father. 4: The second honour of our Parents exacted by this Commandment, is that of Obedience; This honour S. Paul often recommends to us, and in the Epistle to the Ephesians he proves it by this commandment to be their due: Obey your Parents in our Ephes. 6. Lord: For this is just: Honour thy Father and thy Mother. He adds In our Lord: For if they command you any thing against the commandments of God, or of his Church: or if they would avert you from Religion and his service, S. Bernard tells you, that Epist: 104. 'tis Piety to neglect them for the love of JESUS-CHRIST; for He that said: Honour your Father and your Mother: says to you also, He that loves his father or his mother more than me, is not worthy of me. But when they command just and lawful things, you must obey them, they are your Superiors, and the Causes of your Being: they then as Superiors ought to move you: and as Causes of your Being, to be also the Authors of your operations. And if a servant be obliged to obey his Master for a little nourishment, and a small salary he receives; how much more a child his Mother, who nourished him with her own substance: and his Father, who laboured so much, to bring him up, and endeavours to provide for him? 5. I find in the holy scripture, that your obedience to be perfect, aught to have three conditions at the least, it ought to be blind, cordial, and perseverant. In the first place blind to the motives of the Command: It must propose no why's, no questions, and no reasons. All your why, and all your reason ought to be the will of your Parents representing to you the will of God. Be subject, says S. Paul, in all things pleasing, not contradicting, or murmuring. Tit. 2. 9 Secondly, your obedience ought to be amorous, and to proceed out of a filial heart. when you do the things commanded, out of humane considerations, out of servile fear, or with a mercenary spirit, you lose the fat of your sacrifice, the grace of your action, and the merit of your good work. You must offer marrowie sacrifices: you must obey your Superiors with a good will says S. Paul; with a sincere and cordial affection: acknowledging and honouring in them the sovereignty of God. Thirdly, your obedience must be perseverant: it must continue to the end of your life; 'Tis true, that justinian in his Institutes: and after him other Lawyers have taught divers ways, by which a child may be emancipated;: But there is no civil Law, nor humane power, that can free a child from the obligation he hath by this commandment, and by the Law of nature, to honour and obey his Father and Mother unto the last moment of his life. Wherefore Venerable Tobias thinking that Tob. 4. 4. he should die, amongst other admonitions which he gave his Son, said to him with great tenderness, Thou shalt honour thy mother all the days of her life; Is it not then deplorable to see children, who during their minority, are humble, respectful, and obedient to their parents; But being become men or women, married, and elevated to offices, when they think they have no more need of them, forget and neglect, disdain and contemn them. our Saviour does not so; He being elevated to the Throne of glory, to the right hand of the Father, adored by all the celestial Powers, forgets not his mother: He honours her more than ever, accomplishes her desires, favours and assists those who honour and invocate her, and works more miracles for the honour of her, than for the honour of his own Body; there is no Kingdom, Nation, or Province in the Catholic world, where there are Churches or Chappells consecrated to God, in honour of the Virgin, that God does not render famous by certain miracles. 6. In fine this Commandment obliges us to honour Parents, by helping, succouring, and assisting them. Wherefore Christ Matth. 15. S. Hierom and. S. Bede. Tim. 5. 3. reprehended the Pharisees as transgressors of this Commandment, for denying them this honour. And the holy Fathers have truly noted, that the word Honour in the Scriptures, signifys not so much salutations and proffers of services, as giving alms and making presents: Honour Widows, that are truly Widows says S. Paul to his disciple Timothy: that is, nourish them with alms; and recommending to him Priests, Let them that rule well, especially they Tim. 5. 17. that labour in word and doctrine, be esteemed worthy of double honour, that is of a greater recompense or reward than others. 7. If then we will observe this Commandment, we ought not to content ourselves with Ceremonies: we must not think it enough to say that we honour and respect our Parents: but we must show it them in effect; We must recompense them says the holy Ghost by the mouth of Ecclesiasticus: Them, who brought us Ecclus. 7. 31. into the world: who have loved us so long, so cordially, and effectually. When then they are broken with old age, think it not a burden to entertain them: be not more void of reason than animals that have none: you who are humane creatures, and by your nature ought to have humanity; you who are Christians, and by this quality ought to have charity, be not less charitable than storks that nourish their parents in old age; have not less piety than a pagan woman, who deprived her child of nourishment, to give it to her father: say no more, we have children: we fear they will want: we cannot nourish Parents without injuring our families; For Divinity also teaches you, to D. Tho. 2. 2. q. 26. ar. 9 ad 3 m. Coloss. 3. 21. let your children die with famine, to assist your Parents in extreme necessity. 8. To excite Children, to acquit themselves worthily of these duties, S. Paul proposes three motives to them. The first is, that by so doing, they please God; and we see this clearly by the benedictions which God bestows upon those that are respectful and obedient. But would you believe, that God worked miracles, also amongst Infidels, to approve this piety of children? Aristotle in the book of the wonders of the world: and in the abridgement of Philosophy which he sent to Alexander the Great reports, that a raging fire divided and gave passage to a young man, that retarded his flight, and neglected his own life, to save his aged father, and reunited itself upon those that ran before them. 9 On the contrary the impiety of a child is so abominable in the sight of God, that in the ancient Testament He condemned him to death, not only if he killed or beat, but if he cursed them, or was notably rebellious or disobedient. Exod, 21. 17. Deut. 21. 18. Ephs. 6. 10 Secondly the holy Apostle tells us, that it is just to honour them. Consider I pray, what languish, what faintings, what loathe, and incommodities your poor Mother suffered for you, whilst She did bear you in her womb! what pains, what dangers, and what fears of death she had in bringing you into the world▪ what uneasy nights, what toils, what vexations she had, and what ordures, cries, and importunities she suffered, to nurse and nourish you! Consider, what cares, what troubles, what watches, what journeys, what suits, what labours your poor Father hath embraced to get and keep a few goods for you! God willing to afflict the son of Pharaoh, said by Moses to this king, I will send my plagues upon thy heart: because a father and a mother love their children as their hearts; you will be never able to return the tendernesses which they had for you; when you were sick, they were ill; when you were contented, they were joyful: when you discontented, they sorrowful: and after so many testimonies of affection, not to love them, not to rejoice them, not to comfort and content them to the utmost of your power, but to be the cause of their sorrow and affliction; is not this to be more cruel than Tigers, and more monstrous than monsters themselves? 11. But if your duty, and the strict obligations that you have to them do not touch you: let at least the love of your own selves, and your proper interest move you, through hope of the promises which God hath made you; He promises you long and happy life, if you honour your Father and Mother. S. Thomas says, he that is grateful for a benefit merits to have it continued Ephes. 6. and increased: the child than that is grateful for the life he hath received from his Parents, deserves that it be polonged and preserved. If then we see good natured and obedient children die young: it is that the providence of God foresaw, that temptation would change them, and put them in danger of damnation: and in recompense of their obedience, he gives them eternal life in lieu of temporal: He was taken away, says the holy Wisd. 4. 11. Ghost, lest malice should change his understanding, or lest any guile might deceive his soul. or God calls them to himself that they may not see and feel the public afflictions and calamities of the times. Isay. 57 1. The ●ust is taken away from the face of evil, said the Prophet Isaiah. 12. S. Paul says, that Piety serves not only to merit a long life, but to obtain all other grace and favour of God, the salvation of the soul, health of body, a happy posterity, with an abundance also of temporals, if they are profitable to the Spiritual. Tim. 2. 4. and 8. The Wiseman had taught this long before, assuring us, He heaps up treasure, that honours his Mother: and he that honours his Father, shall joy in children, and in the day of his prayer, shall be heard. Ecclus. 3. 13. Honour them then, as Ecclesiasticus there bids you, by words, by actions, and by patience; Speak to them, and of them ro others, always with respect: do nothing to offend them, with your works: and if they give you yet occasion of sufferance or discontent: endure and bear it patiently; so you will be the children of God, fruits of benediction, and coheires of JESUS-CHRIST, in the possession of the kingdom of heaven. Amen. DISCOURSES XXXIII. of the Duty of Parents. IT is a Question in Divinity, Why God hath not in the Decalogue recommended to Parents their Duty in respect of children? S. Chrysostom answers: that it was not necessary, since nature does teach it clearly: and the great love they have for their children does sufficiently incline Parents to have a care of them. Whence S. Paul takes occasion to draw this consequence He who hath not care of his own, and especially of his domestics is worse than an infidel; because he does not violate only the laws of Christianity: but transgresses also the law of nature, so deeply imprinted in the hearts of all men. And if according to the Gospel, they that are not more virtuous than Pagan's, shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven; what salvation may they hope: Nay, what damnation should they not expect, who as the Apostle says, are worse than Infidels? To avoid this then, Parents must pay exactly four debts they own to children: Nourishment: Instruction: good Example: and Correction. 2. First Nourishment; For Parents that deny them this debt, are not only worse than Infidels, but more unnatural and cruel than savage beasts. It is God himself that complains of it by Hieremiah, Lamiaes nudaverunt mammam, lactaverunt catulos suos, filia populi mei crudelis ut struthio, instead of lamias, there is in the hebrew Thren. 4. 3. (Tanim) dragons, wild dogs. There is no beast so cruel, but hath care to nourish its young: the dragons themselves, and the wild dogs do it: and there are many amongst my people, who are cruel as the ostrich; the ostrich, you know, is a very greedy and devouring foul: cast to it iron, pewter, silver, it swallows all, it degests all to nourish its own self: but towards its young it is most cruel; for as holy job says, she job. 39 13. is content to lay her eggs: she does not cover or sit upon them: and if any one by the heat of the Sun does bring forth a young one, and it cryout to the mother for a little nourishment she is deaf to this mournful voice: she is hardened against her young, as if it were not her own. Many fathers do the same: they are as revenous and cruel as this bird: they consume silver, pewter, iron, linen, which they sell to defray the charges of their disorders: they content themselves to people the world, to have children, and take no care to breed them up. Whilst they make good cheer in Taverns, these poor innocents' cry for hunger, they lament and say as Micheas, we make mourning as it were of ostritches. Mich 1. 8 3. There are others who fail in this first duty by a disposition quite contrary to profusion: by a spirit of avarice and unsatiable covetousness: they love so much their money, that they will not employ a little for the good education and salvation of their children; they choose rather to see them ignorant, rude, and vicious, then to disburse money for a good Instructor, to send them to school, to buy them spiritual books, and to make them learn something in which they may profitably employ the time of their life, and improve the Talents God hath given them: in defect whereof, they are miserable both in regard of this life and the other. they fear says S. Austin, to lose the image of the King engraven on the money in their purse, and they fear not at all to lose the Image of God imprinted in the souls of children, of whom He hath given them charge. 4. They ought not also to do as the Ape, which often kills its young by hugging them too much; they ought not to do as Agrippa, who being told that her Son should be Emperor, imperious, and take away her life; I care not, said she, so that he do reign, occidat modo imperet. Say in like manner to another, you are ill advised to accustom your daughter to go so richly clothed, to kill yourself in body and soul to marry her so richly; what need is there that she should be better than you? when she shall be elevated she will laugh at you, despise you, look upon you as below herself, be ashamed to accompany you, and to show that you are her mother; this will make you die with regret; occidat modo imperet: I care not, so that she be great. say to this father after S. Austin, that it is not to have care of your children, but to stifle them, to burden them so with riches gotten by the ruin of the Poor, to make them swim thus in the tears of widows, and orphans, whose goods you hold: this will draw down the malediction of God upon them, and upon you eternal damnation; I care not provided that he be great. Say to, him your elder Son is ignorant: he hath neither judgement nor virtue, and is uncapable of that office: if you resign it to him, or obtain it for him, he will do therein a thousand injustices; your younger Son is not called to an Ecclesiastical state: he hath not the gift of continence, nor any devotion; if you obtain for him that Benefice, he will damn himself therein, and will damn many other: and you will be responsible for all; occidat modo imperet: I care not provided that he be great. 5. This too great care which they have to enrich and greaten them, hinders the care they ought to have to instruct and teach them; Bring them up says S. Paul, in erudition and correction Iphes. 6. of our Lord: that is bring them up in good learning and correction; according to the law or will of God. And since the holy Ghost recommends so often, and so instantly to Prov. 1. and 4. and 6. children to hear with attention the instructions of their Parents, without doubt He supposes that the words which they will speak to them will be as they ought to be, words of edification and salvation: not maxims of vanity, ambition, avarice, and worldliness, as they are so often in these times. 6. The Venerable Tobias, who was but in the Mosaical Law, job. 4. 2. that terrestrial and imperfect law, gave to his Son quite contrary Documents; We are in the law of grace, a perfect law: and therefore he will condemn us in the day of judgement; hear what he said to his Son: Be mindful of God all the days of your life, and take great heed that you never consent to sin; Bless God in all times, and pray him to guide you in all your actions: and that all your designs may be according to his will; That which you would not have done unto your , never do unto another; Turn not away your eyes of compassion from any poor person; for by this means God will not avert the eyes of his mercy from you; Be merciful in what manner you can: if you have an abundance of goods, give abundantly: if you have but little: you can give but little, but give it with a good heart: alms will be a great confidence before God to all that give it; avoid the conversation, and haunt of sinners, consult the wise in your enterprises. You must give to your children all these instructions and others yet more perfect, because they are in the law of grace: you must imprint in them the maxims of Christianity, a great respect for holy things, for humility, patience, pardon of enemies, the contempt of worldly things, the love of God, a great zeal for his glory, and of all that contributs to his service. 7. And forget not, that works are more powerful than words: that examples persuade much more than reasons: that one hears with more respect him, who practices what he teaches, than him, who contradicts and denies his doctrine by his life; that Princes themselves as powerful as they are, are yet more absolute by their examples, and gain more upon their subjects by their virtues, than by their Edicts; that therefore Christ our Master, began first to do, and then to teach; And his great Apostle proposing himself for Preacher to the Faithful, proposed himself also for their Example: Be ye Imitators of me, as I also of Christ. if then you will educate your children well as you are obliged: have more care to instruct them by examples than by words. 1. Cor. 11 1. 8. Philo calls Parents the visible Gods of their children. They have you always before their eyes as the models of their actions: they consider you as the sources of their Being, preservation, and good fortune: they naturally follow you, and glory in the imitation of you: and if they learn not virtue of you, of whom may they learn it? to teach them virtue well, make them to practise it: and practise you it with them; take them with you to prayers, to Mass, and Vesperas, and see that they comport themselves in them reverently and devoutly; give alms in their presence, and do it by them, to the end you may induce them to it; command them to give it with respect, for to honour JESUS-CHRIST in the person of the poor; take them with you to visit the poor, sick, and prisoners: make them read with you the lives of Saints: the works of Granado, or other good books, especially on sundays, and holidays; make examines of Conscience: Acts of Faith, Hope, Charity, Gratitude, and Contrition with them; they will take these things from you: will deliver them to their children, and so these good practices will pass unto many generations: and you will have the merit of them, and the glory before God. 9 But if they will not imitate you, and practise your instructions: you must do that which S. Paul adds: make use of chastisement: in defect where of, God will chastise you: and that most severely, as appears by many and most authentic examples. Ephes. 6. Hear then and put in practise the admonitions of the holy Ghost: withdraw not Discipline from a child: for if thou shalt strike him with the rod, he shall not die. Thou shalt strike him with the rod, and Prov. 23. deliver his soul from hell. He that loves his child, accustoms him to stripes, that he may rejoice in his later end. Flatter thy child, and he will make thee afraid: play with him, and he will make thee sorrowful. Eccles. 31 10. Let us Make an end with this word of S. Hierom: The salvation of the Children, is the gain of the Parents; if you procure the salvation of your children, mortifying the natural tenderness and love you have for them, to correct their imperfections: and choose rather to leave them poor and low, then to enrich and raise them against Conscience, you will gain the favour of God, He will say to you as to Abraham: Because you have been so faithful to me, that you spared not your son for the love of me, I will bless your family, and give you a happy posterity. And on the contrary, if you do as Hely, you will be punished as he; he was blind and feeble: he could not himself chastise his children: but the law of God commanded him to bring them to the judge: to accuse them of their disorders: to demand justice against them, and to make them to be condemned to death: and because he did it not, he was himself condemned; God obliges you not to so great severity, but to chastise them, at least when they offend him. He commands so strictly your children to honour you: why should you not recommend to them the render of the honour which they own him? He punishes them so rigorously if they obey you not: why should you not punish them, when they obey not him? He spared not his own Son, his most innocent and amiable Son, He preferred your salvation before his life: Why should you spare your child, your ungodly, intemperate, dissolute, and vicious child? Will you Iose both his and your own soul, to show a fond love, or to make him great? The salvation of the children is the gain of Parents; if your children work their salvation, you will gain repose: when they are prudent and virtuous, you have no disquiet, no sting of conscience, no interior nor exterior trouble concerning them. It is the gain; you will gain honour and reputation in the world: for Parents are known by their children: the cause by its effects: the original by the copy; such a Master such a man: such Parents, such children, commonly speaking. It is the gain of the Parents; you will gain the affection and the praises of your children; They will say after your death; Thanks be to God, who gave us Parents so exemplar, vigilant, and virtuous. It is your gain; you will gain Heaven; for S. Paul says, if a woman continue in faith and love, in sanctification and sobriety: and breed up her children in the same, she shall obtain salvation. 1. Tim. 2. 18. Amen. DISCOURSES XXXIIII. OF THE FIFTH COMMANDMENT. Thou shalt not kill. THis Commandment forbids us to kill without legitimate Authority either our own selves, or any humane creature: either positively, by putting the cause of death: or negatively, by not removing it, if in our power; To which the Son of God hath added: But I say to you, Whosoever shall be angry, shall be in danger of judgement. Nevertheless since our Saviour Matth. 5. is the perfect model and Idea of the elect: and that we see in the scripture, He hath been sometimes angry; It seems that imitation of him in this point, is an action, not permitted Mark. 3. 5. only, but virtuous, and meritorious. To clear this point, in which the difficulty of this commandment consists, and to make this discourse beneficial: We will see first, whether or no, there was any anger in JESUS-CHRIST; Secondly, the difference of his and ours: and thirdly, the remedies of ours. Lord rebuke me not in thy fury, nor chastise me in thy anger: says the Royal Prophet. Our Saviour JESUS-CHRIST, is He transported with fury? Is He subject to any passion, as to Psal. 6. make his blood boil, his eyes sparkle, his mouth froth, to set his face on fire, and afterwards to make it pale: to disorder his soul in her functions, and to deprive her of her empire and command? for these are the proper effects, and symtoms of anger: which made the Stoics, after many disputes upon this subject say, a wise man, is not subject to these passions. It is certain, that in our Saviour, as he is God, there is no such Passion, for his Divinity being most pure, simple, and invariable cannot be subject to these transports, and alterations. 3. Nevertheless, the holy Ghost in the Scripture, to condescend to our infirmity, and to accommodate himself to our manner of speaking and understanding, attributes to God many things which pertain not to him properly, but only by Analogy and likeness to that which is seen in creatures: so He attributes to him anger, which is no other thing in him, than his justice, which is called anger, because it hath the same effect as anger, but not the weakness and imperfection of anger. He that is angry revenges the injury received, but with transport and commotion: God by his justice punishes sin, but with tranquillity without passion: Thou judgest with Wisd. 12. 18. tranquillity, says the holy Ghost in the book of Wisdom. 4. But if we consider JESUS-CHRIST as man, I will say with Divines, that the passions, love, hatred, choler, and joy, sorrow, desire, and fear, being appurtinances to humane nature certainly were in JESUS-CHRIST, as man; But without the imperfections wherewith original sin hath soiled them: which hath made them in us strong and vigorous, and to revolt continually. The Passions of JESUS were not such: He had absolute command over them: they were perfections, natural organs, and instruments which He applied to holy uses. Wherefore the Saints dared not call them simply Passions, but Propassions, to signify that in this holy Soul, there were some dispositions, which held the place of passions, and therefore are called propassions: as the Pronouns are so called, because they hold the place of Nouns: So the sacred Historians recount that JESUS entering into the Temple, raised in himself anger, ouverthrew the tables of the Marchands, and chased them out as dogs, May we imitate him in this? Is it good to raise anger in ourselves? aught we not to confess it? We need not absolutely speaking; 'tis neither vice nor imperfection, but a good action and a virtue to raise anger, provided it be seasoned with all necessary circumstances, and like to that of JESUS. But because we are commonly so frail and so imperfect, that we know not how to use this knife without cutting our own selves; all things well considered, it is better to deprive ourselves of it, and not be angry. 5. For the anger of JESUS was furnished with two conditions, which commonly ours does want; wherefore his was most virtuous and laudable: ours vicious and reproachful. That of JESUS, never prevented or surprised Him: He had it not, but when, in what manner, and so much as He would. In in effect, 'tis said in the Gospel, that He troubled himself, and not that He was troubled. S. john 11. 13. S. Mark 14. 33. And again in the Vigil of his Passion, He began to fear: not before, though He had a longtime the object present in his Spirit. Anger did not prejudice the use of his reason: it cast no darkness, nor obscurity into his understanding: it hindered him not to proceed most wisely, and with entire circumspection in his actions; His rod, says Hieremiah, is a watching rod, which Hierom. 1. 11. hath open eyes, to see where it strikes, and how it strikes: his anger is a zeal, and not a passion, most reasonable and most just. Ours on the contrary, is generally blind, inconsiderate, and rash: It prevents the judgement, and darkens reason, and is the cause we know not what we do, and that we do nothing that is good. 6. All that you say, or do in passion, is never well said, or well done: and though you should speak golden sentences, though you should do wonders, they make no account of them: they attribute them to your passion▪ and not to you: as they attribute to the liquor all that a man says or does in drink: because they know a man drunk with liquor or with passion, is uncapable to say or do any thing of worth; So the Civil Laws I. Quocqd. Si. de Reg jur. 4. king. 3. declare we ought not to regard what you say or do in the heat of passion, if you persever not in it when your anger is allayed: Eliseus finding himself moved by a just anger would not pronounce his Oracles, and instruct the Kings: but called a Musician to appears first the commotion by the gravity of his music; He knew well, that a soul troubled with passion is uncapable Psal. 106 27. S. james. 1. 20. of celestial lights; And that anger of man works not the justice of God. It belongs not but to JESUS and to his holy Mother to do a thing well in the heat of passion. 7. Moreover there is a second difference of his and our anger; His is never mixed with bitterness, nor exercised with a desire of vengeance; when He is angry and punishes us, it is not out of hatred or ill will, 'tis out of love, or xeal of justice; his strokes are favours, and his wounds are antidotes: He is angry as a dove, with out gall or malice: our anger is of a contrary quality, 'tis the anger of a viper, with interior venom and black bile; when we are angry, we are full of aversion, and bitterness: and the malignity also of this viper is so great, that often it vomits out its poison against the goodness of God himself. 7. What remedy for a passion so unreasonable, malign, and prejudicial? First we must remove the cause in our own selves: must pull out the root, which is an inordinate affection to temporal goods, or to ourselves, or to some other creature. An Ancient named Cottis broke many Vessels which his friends had presented him, fearing he should be angry, when his servants broke them; I counsel you not to destroy, or to quit wholly all that is, or may be the occasion of your anger: but to moderate your affection to them: and to love them rather out of obedience to the Will of God, than by inclination; so having no tye of irregular affection to them: you will not be in danger to be much moved, when you shall be deprived of them. 9 Consider in the second place from whence the accidents and Crosses come which are wont to move your anger; Know that all that happens in this world, I say all, except sin, does come from God: and therefore aught to be well received, both in regard of the divine source whence they proceed, and the beneficial effects, they are sent to produce in us. The holy Ghost says in Ecclesiasticus that good things and evil, life and death, poverty Ecclus. 11. Aug. in Psal. 48. and riches come from God. And hence S. Austin assures us, that whatsoever happens in this world against our wills, comes not but by the will of God, by his Providence and order, though we know not the reason of it. Whosoever considers well this Providence of God, his goodness, and his Wisdom, hath a true and sweet prevention of his passions; he cannot think the Crosses are designed for ill to him because, they are disposed by an Infinite Goodness, who intends and projects his good; He will not Giant like set up his will against the will of God, and with a foolish rashness kick against the spurr; but submit to all that hath been decreed in his counsels, receive all patiently and thankfully, as coming from so good a hand, and happily rejoice also in so good a hope. 10. By these means well practised, you may prevent your anger, so that it will not easily surprise you; And to extinguish it, or moderate it when it is inflamed, your companions may by the grace of God do much, if they imitate him in a like occasion; you see sometimes a thick cloud that covers the sky, darkens the Sun, and makes as it were night at midday: you hear a thunderbolt that runs in it, lightens, thunder's, and astonishes the world: you will say that all goes to rack, and the end of the world is come, What does our good God to dissipate this tempest? Educit ventos de the sauris suis: He brings out of his treasures a gentle west wind, a little wind, that dissipates these clouds, calms this tempest, and makes the Sun to shine again; this tempest is resolved into refreshing showers, which water the earth, and brings a thousand commodities. When your neighbour is in passion, he is like this cloud, is in a tempest, and in a rage: the Sun of his reason is eclipsed, and hath with in him a dark night: he murmurs, storms, and makes a noise like a clap of thunder, giveth looks that resemble lightinings, threatens, rants and tears, and makes appearance of overthrowing all. If you are well disposed, you will dissipate all this easily; you need not but to let out of your heart, which ought to be the treasure of God, a mild word, as a gentle wind: you must not disavow any thing that he says at that time: you must not resist him, nor retort a fault upon him, but excuse him, and demand pardon, though you have not committed any fault. to morrow when this violent heat of passion is cooled, and his spirit quieted, he will return to himself, will admire your patience, acknowledge his fault, repent himself of his folly, and love you better, than before. 11. But the souveraign remedy of anger and other passions is the grace of God. We commit great faults not making fervent and frequent recours to it. Our Saviour had no need to pray: and yet to give us example, being near his passion, said to his Father, My soul is troubled; my father save me from this hour: Do john. 12. 27. as He: when you perceive any temptation in your heart▪ cast yourselves at the feet of the Son of God, beg help: say with the Apostles, Lord save us, we perish. And when you are not Matth. 8. 25. in temptation, court him, pray him, practice virtues that please him, to the end he assist you, when you shall be assaulted; And ruminate sometimes these words of S. Paul: Patience is necessary Heb. 10. 36. for you, that doing the will of God, you may receive the promise. If you be patiented, the promise of God will be fulfilled in you; first, in this world; He said, the meek and gentle shall possess the earth; Matth. 5. 4. moderate, patiented, and well tempered spirits dispatch affairs with more conduct, and better success, than hasty, turbulent, and violent; Fabius Maximus did more by his Patience against the Carthaginians, than Scipio with his Armies. Promise, for the other life; He said, In your patience you shall Luke 21. 19 possess your souls: you will avoid an ocean of sins, which would put you in danger of losing your soul: you will diminish the pains due to your crimes; so many injuries, so many affronts, so many displeasures which you endure for the love of God, are so many penances and satisfactions for your offences. By patience you practise humility, charity towards your neigbbor, resignation to the will of God, and other virtues, which will increase in you the grace of God, and make you merit Glory. Amen. DISCOURSES XXXV. OF THE FIFTH COMMANDMENT. Thou shalt not kill. AS the reasonable soul is incomparably more noble than the body: So the Spiritual murder is much more pernicious and damnable than the corporal. That which I call Spiritual murder, is Scandal; for S. Paul speaking to a corinthian who scandalised his neighbour, 1. Cor. 8. said to him, You are the cause that your christian Brother, for whom Christ hath died, does perish. This word of that great Apostle is enough to oblige us to speak all our words, and to do all our actions with great circumspection, that we may never give ill example, nor scandalise so many who have their eyes upon us: and who more usually and willingly do imitate our evil, than our good. By the same Word also we may learn, that scandal is not a word or action, which gives occasion of dishonour, infamy, or confusion: that to scandalise another is not to discover his Vice, to publish and make it known to the world: this is not to scandalise him properly speaking, 'tis to diffame and dishonour him: Scandal is a word, or an action, that is not so right as it should be, which gives occasion to our neihgbor to commit a sin; So S. Thomas, and after him all the school: Dictum, vel factum minus rectum praebens alicui occasionem ruinae. To have a perfect knowledge of this Definition▪ we must weigh all the words of it: the defect whereof makes men to be deceived often, and to remain in ignorance. 2. Dictum: scandal is sometimes a word; for the body is poisoned by the mouth, and the soul by the ears said Plato; and S. Paul who citys but seldom profane Authors, alleges to this purpose the saying of the greek Poet: corrumpunt bonos 1. Cor. 15 33. Psal. 118 mores colloquia prava, evil discourses corrupt good manners; David seemed to fear the contagion of them when he prayed Lord deliver my soul from unjust lips and from the deceitful tongue: and we have greater reason to do the like: you will find many who will not speak openly against the faith, lest they should be accounted impious, or Atheists; But they will say, one might object such a thing against our belief: or Infidels propose to us this argument; Deceitful tongue. They move not manifestly their neighbour to dissension, but slyly and secretly: I wonder, say they, how you endure that: you are too patiented: he will tread upon you: one said such a thing of you; Deceitful tongue. They speak not words openly impure, but covered, equivocal, and of a double meaning: Deceitful tongue. such words are usually more hurtful, than the other; these are sharp arrows which enter more deeply into the mark; and the wit and subtlety which is in these covered words, makes them enter more easily into the imagination, and to remain there longer. These are the burning coals which desolate and ruin the purity, charity, and simplicity of Christian souls. 3. Dictum vel factum; Scandal is a word or work and action, which may be the cause of sin; and works or actions are more scandalous than words: these move indeed: but those draw: 'tis enough to draw another to what is naught, if others do it: if it be the mode: if but one only considerable person do it: if it be the custom: so inclined are men to what is naught! they are like goats or Sheep: if one pass a place, the rest follow, not regarding the danger of it. What do I say follow? Men do not only follow others in what is naught: but they will with tooth and nail endeavour to justify the following of them; They say, we must accommodate ourselves to the place in which we are, and live according to the world, since we are in the world. To which I oppose this of the S. Paul Be ye not conformed to this wordl. and this of S. john. Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world; and this of the Rom. 12. 2. 1. johd. 2. 15. S. john. 17. Rom. 1. 7. Thess. 1. 4. And 7. S. Pet. 1. 3. And 9 Acts. 10 15. 1. Cor. 6. 2. Son of God speaking of his disciples to his Father, they are in the world, but they are not of the world. Christians, Disciples of Christ, have been sanctifyd in Baptism, and in the other Sacraments: they are obliged to be holy, 'tis their vocation and profession: they are called to be Saints, says S. Paul to the Romans; and to the Thessa●onians, God hath called us into Sanctification. And S. Peter. But you are an elect Generation. a holy people. To be holy, and to be common, are two opposite Terms: what God hath Sanctifyd, do not thou call common. Christian's shall judge the world, says S. Paul in his 1. Epistle to the Corinthians; they must nor then be Complices or Companions in the actions, customs, and proceed of the world. Reason itself forbids us to follow them; We know, that there is nothing so erroneous as the opinion of the world: nothing so corrupted and perverted as the judgement of men; there are but few that know in what true virtue does consist; and amongst those that know it, there are but few, that live according to this knowledge: because their Passions oversway their judgements, and corrupt their actions; and therefore a wise man ought to steer a quite contrary course. But ought we not to avoid singularity? yes, that which you affect of your own head, and by the spirit of Vanity; but not that which you accept from the will of God, and by the spirit of sanctity. Are not the high and common ways the more sure? yes, to go to a place on earth: but not to go to heaven; our Saviour tells us so in express terms, Enter by the narrow gate: because broad is the gate, and large is the way that leads to perdition, and many there bes that enter by it. How narrow is the gate, and straight is the way that lead Matt. 7. 13. to life: and few there are that find it? But if I leave the usual way of men, what will they say? I shall pass for a scrupulous, a melancholy person, or a hypocrite, and they will laugh at me. And who will laugh at you? Libertines, Impious, and Atheists; but God, Angels, and virtuous Persons will esteem and praise you. Will it not be much honour to you, to be blamed by those that are worthy of blame, and to be esteemed by those who merit to be esteemed? The conscience also of Libertines themselves will be forced to admire what their mouth condemns; for virtue sends forth such bright rays, that they strike a holy terror into the souls of her greatest enemies: and she receives praises from those, who at the first sight of her, did burden her with reproaches. But suppose, that you are really laughed at and derided. What virtuous Person hath not passed this trial? Tobias and job, were they not mocked, as Idiots and simple men? S. Charles, did he not pass amongst worldly soule● for a man too stiff and obstinate in his way? S. chrysostom, for too austere? Granado and Avila for scrupulous? and what is most considerable, the Saint of Saints JESUS-CHRIST, hath he not passed for a fool or madman, for a friend of good cheer, for a hlasphemer and for a magician? We must then have the courage, says great S. Francis Sales, to make the world know by our manner of living, that we are not of this world, but the servants of God, that the lights of the Gospel, and not the maxims and the customs of the world, are the rules of our life; so we shall tie the tongues of the impudent: and draw many to the same manner of living, by the examples of our virtues. Let us after this not unprofitable digression, return to the definition. 5. Dictum, vel factum, a word or action. In this word Action, is couched Omission: when you can do an action which would hinder the offence of God, and you do it not. JESUS being required to pay tribute, declares himself not obliged, and nevertheless he paid it, lest He should scandalise the farmers. So the Virgin circumcised her Son, and submitted herself to the law of purification, for fear of giving ill example. So S. Paul says, the Ancient Philosophers having known the true God by the light of nature: and having not communicated this knowledge to the rest of men, to draw them from Idolatry, incurred the anger of God, and were guilty of all sins the people committed for want of that knowledge. We are then culpable, when we ought to correct, reprehend, or punish the defects of others, and do not: we scandalize them: for they say, there is no ill in this, my Parents, Confessor, Superior, say nothing to me of it. 6. Minus rectum. This word teaches us that if an action be good and laudable, commanded by God or his Church, we ought not to omit it, though our neighbour be scandalised by it; if one is scandalised when you say the truth, 'tis better to permit scandal then to oppose Verity says S. Gregory; 'tis a Pharisaical scandal, a S. Greg. hom. 7. in Ezec. passive scandal, not an active, a scandal taken not given. 7. And if the action be good and laudable, but not of obligation: ought we to omit it, if one will be scandalised by it? S. Thomas answers learnedly with a distinction. either our neighbour is scandalised maliciously and out of a spirit of contradiction: 2. 2. q. 43. ar. 7. or is scandalised through ignorance, or infirmity; if he be scandalised maliciously; we ought not to omit our good work; for 'tis his own fault, and not ours. He does as the Pharesees, who were scandalised maliciously by the predications of JESUS; But JESUS contemned their scandal, and left not off his preaching. If he be scandalised through ignorance, or through weakness: 'tis better to do your good work in private, or to omit it for a time, than to give an occasion to your neighbour to fall into any sin. And with much more reason, if the action be of itself indifferent, neither good, nor evil, charity obliges us to omit it, when it would be an occasion of sin, or temptation to our neighbour. If you offend your neighbour giving him occasion of sin through his weakness, you offend our Lord: and therefore If I know my brother is scandalised to see me eat flesh, I will never eat it, lest I scandalise my hrother, says S. Paul. 1. Cor. 8. 12. Rom. 14. 15. 20. And again, do not with thy meat destroy him, for whom CHRIST died. Destroy not the work of God for meat. Though then an action be permitted, if it be not commanded, we must abstain from it, if it be a snare or stumblingblock to infirm and weak souls. 8. Prebens alicui: giving occasion to our neighbour. Some may imagine, that 'tis not to be scandalous, if they do not a public action, which is manifest to many. But our Saviour says, if you move Matt. 18. to sin but one only, you are scandalous. You say, they are simple and weak people, that are tempted by such an action or such a word: the wise and well grounded in virtue are not moved by it; JESUS says you must not scandalise one of the lesser ones, unum de pusillis; and S. Paul tells us that in scan dalizing the weak ones, we sin against JESUS-CHRIST; And the Son of God adds: Who mundo a scandalis, Woe to the world for scandals; He Speaks so, because the world is full of them; and because they destroy so many souls, so dear and precious to him. 9 It seems that souls are more dear to JESUS than his innocent blood; He willed it should be profaned, and trod under feet, for the ransom of these beloved souls. I leave you to think, what punishment, and what reproaches we shall receive from him: if by our bad exemple, or by our negligence, we let any one of these souls fall into sin, and damnation? Believe, that in the hour of your death, nothing will cause you more regret: nor afflict you more, than the sight of the souls which by your fault are lost; You will acknowledge this truth, and feel the weight of these dreadful words: Vae homini illi per quem scandalum venit: woe to the person by whom Matt. 18. 7. Scandal comes. You will see all the graces God had given to souls through your fault lost: all the merits they had gotten: all that our Saviour did and suffered for their salvation: and you will with sorrow, and sighing say; Ha! I have destroyed souls for which JESUS CHRIST died; how shall I restore to him the blood which He hath shed? vae homini illi: woe be to that person! It were better for you one had tied a millstone about your neck and thrown you into the Sea. You will see the excellency and the value of the souls you have cast away: and this will oppress you with grief, as if you had a millstone upon your heart. You will see that those who learned of you the vanities of the world, will teach their children them: these will derive them to their descendants unto the third or fourth generation, all which will be imputed to you: this sight will cast you even into despair. Will you avoid▪ this miserable condition: Do not by bad examples, indiscreet words, or negligence destroy a soul, for whom JESUS CHRIST died. But if you have been so unhappy: do judgement, and justice; punish your fault by true penance repair the loss as much as lies in you; bring back the lost sheep to JESUS: or if you cannot: gain another in his stead: by prayers instructions, a●d good examples; so you may be confident of pardon: God hath promised it. Amen. DISCOURSES XXXVI OF THE SIXTH AND NINTH COMMANDMENTS thou shalt not commit Adultery. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's Wife. Amongst all the irregular motions of a man, there is none more contrary to his nature, nor more abominable to the Creator, than the unhappy vice of carnality. It is contrary to man's nature: because it is beastly, terrestrial, and unworthy of a man; In anger, envy, pride. ambition there is some kind of spirit; But luxury clouds the understanding: depresses the faculties of the soul: renders her unable to elevate herself above the objects of sense, and impairs all that is manly in us. 2. This vice is abominable to God, who repent to have made man, and sent a deluge to drown the earth; who consuined by fire four of the most flourishing cities of the world: and slautered 24 thousand of his people at one time: and 60 thousand at another, in punishment of this sin. Though this vice be so contrary to a man, and so abominable to God: Yet fails it not to be most general; For 'tis the source of an abundance of sins; of an abundance in regard of the divers Species of it; of an abundance in respect of the individuums or particulars. 3. There is no kind of vice that hath so many Circumstances which change the Species or kinds, as this. The other commonly have but three or four at most: this hath seven; which we must express in confession, if we have fallen into them, either in effect or will. The first species or kind is simple Fornication: when you are not married, and do ill with a person that is not bound, neither by Vow, nor marriage; And though this be the least crime amongst the species of this vice: 'tis nevertheless a mortal sin; for S. Paul declares to us at least three times, that this sin excludes 1. Cor. 6. Gal. 5. Ephes. 7. 5. us out of the kingdom of Heaven. 5. The second is Stupration: when yond deflower or dishonour a Virgin; you ruin in her soul the grace of God, which is the greatest good she can have in this world: and in her body a precious treasure, the loss of which is the more deplorable, because it is irreparable. 6. The Third is Incest, when 'tis with any of your Relations, by blood, or by affinity, unto the fourth degree inclusively. 7. The fourth is Adultery: when you are married, or do ill with a person that is bound in marriage: a sin, which violates divine, natural, and humane Laws: a sin, which Pagans, or Infidels themselves have punished 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: and in the law of Moses it was punished by stones: so great appears this disorder by the light of nature, and so enormous in the sight of God. 8. Nevertheless this sin is now incomparably more black and criminal than it was in the law of Moses, or in that of nature; For you break as much as lies in you the indissoluble bond of marriage: you violate a bond which represents the Union of JESUS CHRIST with his Church; 'Tis as if you said that JESUS ●ath divorced the Church his Spouse: or that his Spouse hath quitted him▪ notwithstanding his promises to the contrary. More yet: the bodies of Christians are worthy of honour, and aught to be treated with respect and reverence, not only because they are the members of Christ, and Temples of the holy Ghost: but moreover, because they have been sanctifyd by Baptism: by the sacred Chrism in Confirmation: by the most holy Body of JESUS in Communion: by being the matter of a Sacrament, which S. Paul calls Great: and by the nuptial benediction when they married; And they soil them by adulteries, prostitute them as profane things, to black, infamous, shameful, and abominable actions; Wherefore the Emperor's Constantine, Constantius, and Constance sons of the great Constantine, published an Edict against adulterers, condemning them to the punishment of parricides: which was to be butnt, or drowned, because say they, such are, sacriligi nuptiarum, abusers and prophaners of marriage. 9 The fift Species of this Vice is Rape: when you force one: or you draw consent by deceits, lies, promises, or persuasions so powerful, that they are equivalent to constraint. 10. The six is Sacrilege: when you commit an impurity being a person sacred by solemn or particular Vow, or by holy Orders: or when you permit such a person to take carnal pleasure in you: 'tis in some manner to rob him, if it could be, of consecration: 'tis the highest pitch of malice in the matter of fornication, says S. chrysostom. S. Chry. Hom. 76. in Matt. 11. The seventh in fine is the sin against nature: which is so abominable, that we name it not, and which nevertheless is committed sometimes also amongst married people. Remember that S. Bridget did see in ecstasy many married people in hell, for having abused marriage. Remember what S. Austin says, that▪ you may be drunk with your own wine as well as with another's S. Aug. ser. 14. the diver. Gen. 38. 10. Remember that in Genesis Onan was grievously punished by God, because he offended him in marriage, eo quod rem detestabilem faceret? Confessors are very reserved, and aught to be so in this matter of carnality; Preachers and good Writers treat sparingly of such subjects: lest the very articulate sound or characters in this matter should offend chaste ears: or cause worse effects in the hearts of others; if than you do not help yourselves: if you confess not these ordures, unless you be examined you may remain in them 'til death. 12. These are the seven heads of this Monster: seven heads by which we may sin by this Vice; But the Individuums or particulars of it are infinite. There is no kind of vice wherein men commit so great a number of mortal sins, as in this vice of Luxury; a Drunkard is not drunk, but once, or twice a day: a Robber robs not every day: a murderer kills not very often: But he that gives himself over to impurity, commits dozen of mortal sins a day; it happens very often, that he takes delight interiorly, ten, twelve, or twenty times a day in impure objects: and the voluntary delectation is a sin: though he has no will to do it in effect. 13. Wherefore I would counsel him that is a slave to this Passion, to make to himself the same reply, which heretofore the Buffoon or jester of Francis the first of France did make; The King having assembled his Counsel, to deliberate what way was best to go to Pavia: some said one way: others another: and others a third; the Buffoon, who heard all behind the tapestry, when they were gone, cryed-out: they have all consulted by which way the King shall go: but they have not considered by what way he shall return! And the event made appear it had been an important counsel; for the King was there made prisoner. When temptation flatters the hearts of them: they consult not, but of the means to content it: and how they may find a fit occasion to satisfy their passion; But they consider not, how they may get out of the inconveniences, which they bring upon themselves by it; they consider not, the certain loss of spiritual life, the danger of the temporal, and of their fame: and that by begetting illegitimate children, they deprive unjustly the legitimate, and oblige themselves to restitutions, which will be very hardly made. These things well considered, will be a bridle to their passion: and make them also fly those conversations, dispositions, affections, and occasions of falling into a snare so prejudicial, and into a labyrinth so inextricable, for we must fight in this war, as the Parthians flying: and therefore S. Paul bids us not to struggle or grapple with this vice, but to fly it fugite fornicationem. 14. Consider in the second place with Solomon, that you cannot have continence, unless God gives it you; demand it then of him with all your heart: use the means of mortification to obtain: make daily supplication to the Mother of Purity, that by her powerful intercession, you may be drawn out of this deep mire. 15. Consider in fine, what the sacred Text does teach us of this vice, and of the contrary virtue: The holy Ghost will not Prov. 22. 11. Matt. 5. 1. Cor. 6. 15. 13. Rom. .8 dwell in a Body subject to sin. He that loves purity of heart shall have the King his friend. Blessed are the pure and clean of heart, for they shall see God. Know you not, that your bodies are the members of CHRIST? Taking therefore the members of CHRIST, shall I make them the members of a harlot? Know you not that your members are the Temple of the holy Ghost? God will destroy him who violates his Temple. 2. Cor. 7. If you live according to the flesh, you shall die. But if by the Spirit, you mortify the works of the flesh, you shall live. Having these promises let us cleanse ourselves from all inquination of the flesh and Spirit, perfecting sanctification in the fear of God. Amen. DISCOURSES XXXVII. OF THE SEVENTH AND TENTH COMMANDMENTS. Thou shall not steal. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbours goods. GOd having made an express Commandment to defend the life of man, and another to secure him from injury in the person of his wife: 'tis with great reason that He gives this Commandment to secure his goods; to which I join the tenth, by which He forbids us to covet or desire them. And to explain well the crime of Robbery, which both forbidden; we must consider first, what is the cause of it? In the second place, what is the essence and nature of it? And in the third place, what is the proper effect of it? 1. The Ordinary cause is Avarice: a vice contrary to the Gospel: condemned by the Law of God: and pernicious to the Salvation of an infinity of people; For the world is full of avarice: and the Poor are very often more reprehensible, and more slaves to this passion, than the Rich themselves. When we praise poverty, or inveigh against riches: there are many poor, who rejoice, and look upon the rich with disdain and contempt. JESUS said not simply blessed are the poor: but Blessed are the poor of Spirit, by love and affection, who love poverty; If you Matt. 5. 3. be as poor as Lazarus, and have affection to riches: if you be as much wedded to your rags, and trifles, as the Rich to their silk, and costly furniture: if you forswear yourself to gain a little money: if you steal little things, not daring or not being able to steal more: this first Beatitude is not for you: you are not poor in the sight of JESUS; but richer than the themselves, poor by necessity, by a miserable, not by a laudable Will says S. Bernard S. Ber. ser. 1. in festo omnium Sanctorum. 2. The Rich also often deceive themselees grossly in this point, Whatsoever affection and tie they have to riches, they think themselves secure, in that they would not possess the goods of their neighbour, nor covet to have them by unjust ways: as if the holy scripture did condemn injustice only, and not also avarice. They consider not that S. Paul distinguishes avarice from robbery: and that he says not only the robbers, but also the 1. Cor. 5. 10. 1. Cor. 6. 9 S. Basil, hom. de Divite avaro. S. Ambr. Ser. 81. S. Aug. Ser. 196. de Temp. S. Aug. Ser. 19 de Verb. Apost. 1. Tim. 6. 17. avaricious shall not possess the kingdom of God; Do not Err, neither thiefs, nor the covetous, nor extorsiners, shall possess the kingdom of God. 3. Who is he whom the scripture terms covetous? said S. Basil, and after him S. Ambrose; He say they, who is not content with that which ought to be enough. And S. Austin declares, that not only he who takes the goods of another: but he that keeps his own with avidity is covetous. And the same Saint makes us note, that all the Rich that are damned and declared such in the Gospel, were not Usurpers of other men's goods: but only too greedy and tenacious of their own. Wherefore the Apostle writing to his Disciple Timothy charges him, to command the rich of this world, not to trust in the incertainty of riches, but in the living God; to do well, to become rich in good works, to give easily, to communicate their wealth to those that want, to heap unto themselves a good foundation for the time to come, that they may obtain the true life. We see then that avarice is pernicious, though it prevail not so far with us as to make us to commit injustice; which effect avarice so frequently produces, that the earth is filled with it: though injustice does oblige to perfect Restitution: and this be hard and very rare. You will avow these verities, if you consider with me the Definition which Doctors give of Robbery. 4. They say; that 'tis to take, or retain, or to endamage the goods of another against the will of him to whom it belongs. 'tis to take: either by yourself, or by others: either secretly and by theft, or openly by force, exacting, receiving, or permitting others to exact, or to receive what is not due to you; as when you exact fourshillings for merchandise, or service, which is not worth three. 5. To take or retain; Not only to take, but to retain that which is not yours is robbery. If you inherit goods ill gotten by your Father or by your Ancestors, if you own any thing to others: if you have found that which another lost: by retaining it you commit robbery; There is no great difference said Pope Innocent the third in the Lateran Council as to the danger of the soul, betwixt unjust detention, and invasion of another's goods. 6. Or endamage; if you damnify your neighbour in his corn, or other thing; if you thrust yourself into an office, Trade, or other employment of which you are uncapable, and are the cause through your ignorance that any one be prejudiced in health or other good, you commit robbery. To good of another; understand either spiritual, or corporal: which is not pondered and considered enough by some. If you have destroyed your neighbour's house, you are judged a Robber: you are obliged to make Satisfaction; you have made a horrible destruction in his soul: you destroyed in his heart the treasures of the grace of God, soliciting him to sin, and you reflect not on it: you think not to put again into a good way this unhappy soul which you have made to stray; you are a robber. 8. They add in the definition, against the will of him to whom it belongs: that is to say, without his voluntary and absolute free consent; For though he consent to it, if he consent unwillingly: if he does wish it otherwise: if his consent be any ways extorted either by force, or fear: it excuses you not from robbery; for there is nothing so contrary to a free consent as force, or fear. He than is a robber, who to do justice to a Party that hath right, receives a bribe or present. He is a robber who wearies another with suits and expenses, to the end he quit that which he may pretend to justly. He is a robber who makes his dependants to do him services, to which they are not obliged, without paying them well for them. He is a robber, who forces his Creditors to composition, for fear of inconveniences which he may bring upon them: because the consent to these, and the like actions, is not free and voluntary. so far these palliated injustices are from being justifiable in the sight of God: that on the contrary they add to simple theft a circumstance which changes the species of it, and which is called Rapine. 9 To have a horror of these, and the like disorders: Consider that this vice engages you in an ocean of sins, and precipitates you in a manner-irreperably, into eternal damnation. For 'tis not so in this sin as in others: You are not quit of it by repenting, confessing, and doing penance for it: it obliges moreover to Restitution; And see here, what Divines say of it. 10. They teach us in the first place, that restitution is an act of commutative justice, and consequently that there must be an equality between the damages which you have caused, and the reparation which you make of it; In Vindicative justice, if mercifully you relax a little the rigour of the Law: if you make not the greatness of the pain precisely equal to the grievousness of the crime, the mercy of God excuses easily your fault; But in Commutative justice, if having stolen 50. shillings, you restore but 48. you are still a thief. 11. Secondly, they assure us, that Restitution is necessary to salvation; that without it sorrow, confession, and absolution are unprofitable, that nothing can excuse you from it, but only impossibility to make it. 12. But to restore all must I fall from my estate and Condition? You are obliged to it; having built your fortune upon the ruin of your neighbour, it is most reasonable you repair that of your neighbour, by the ruin of yours; ought not the condition of the Innocent to be better than that of the Criminal? 13. But I cannot make restitution without defaming myself; for he to whom I shall restore, will see that I have injured him and will decry me. You must give it in this case to your Confessor, or to a faithful friend, who may render it without naming any personne, take an acquittance of him, and show it to you. that you may be sure of your discharge, from this obligation; an obligation so strict, that no power on earth can free you from it. Death itself, which dissolves consummate marriage, delivers you not from it; and if God should raise you up again, you would not be obliged to retake your wife: but you would be to pay your debts: and your heirs ought to do it in your defect. 14 Divines inform us further, that not only he who does an injury, but moreover all that cooperate or concur to it are obliged to Restitution: as Receivers, falls Witnesses, makers of antidates, and falls contracts: Counselors, who counsel you to prosecute a suit which they know to be unjust: or they, who by notable negligence make their Clients lose a just one: and Notaries who by ignorance or malice change the intention of the testator. 15. Infine they conclude that this commandment obliges always and incessantly; because it is not an affirmative precept only that commands us to restore: but also a negative, that forbids us to retain: and as such it is expressed commonly by negative terms in the Bible. 'Tis the property of negative commandments to oblige always, and for always; and therefore we sin at least so often, as the thought of paying, satisfying, restoring, comes into our minds, if having power, we neglect it. 16. Do better, injure no man, commit not sins which oblige to restitution; for you will make it, or not; if you make it, you will have contracted sin, and obligation to punishment, without receiving the profit of it: since you must restore the principal, and make good all prejudice and damage; and if you make it not, being in capacity to make it, you are undone, you are lost for ever. 17. If then you have been so unfortunate as to oblige yourselves to it; do as a rich man of our age, who going from a Sermon, distributed his goods to those he had injured, saying, Pereant mihi, ne ego Peream: may I lose these goods, lest I lose myself; these goods are for the earth, my soul is for heaven: these goods are perishable, my soul is immortal: these goods will stay here, my soul will go with me; they will be the possession of my heirs, my soul will be my own; these are not true goods however great and abundant they be, since they make not good so many bad men that possess them: they are not true riches since they make not rich nor content those that are flaves to them: I must leave them one day necessarily, and without merit, 'tis better than that I quit them now voluntarily, and with merit. 18. This good man did very well to cure his wounds: But I advise you, by flying avarice which was the cause of them, to prevent all wounds. Hear then what the holy Ghost hath said of it: Nothing is more wicked than to love money. Hear our Saviour, Eccli. 10. 10. mark. 10. 24. Tim. 6. 9 How hard it is for them that trust in money to enter into the kingdom of God Hear also his Apostle, They that will be made rich fall into temptation, and hurtful desires, which drown men into destruction and perdition. For the root of all evils is avarice. Root out then covetousness says S. Austin, and plant charity, the root of all good; This will make you feed Christ in the hungry: refresh him in the thirsty: harbour him in the stranger: cloth him in the naked: visit him in the sick: comfort him in the prisoner: and this will make you one day hear this most joyful word, which will put Matth. 25. 34. you in Possession of all good: come ye blessed of my father, possess t● kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. Amen. DISCOURSES XXXVIII. OF THE EIGHT COMMANDMENT. Thou shalt not bear falls witness against thy neighbour. IF the fifth commandment ougth to be much respected, because it forbids us to assault the life of our neighbour: and the sixth, which forbids us to dishonour his wife: and the seventh which prohibits us to steal, or to hurt him in his goods: with more reason the eighth commandment ought to be looked upon as of the greatest importance, since it forbids falls witness, which makes our neighbour often lose his life, honour, temporal goods, and sometimes also his spiritual. To handle this subject fully, and to make it more universal, we will consider three sins or falsities which oppose this commandment: falsities of heart, which are rash judgements: falsities of mouth, which are lies: falsities of works or actions, which are cheats or impostures. 1. An Ancient said that there is no art nor occupation of which so many make profession as that of Physicians; so soon as you complain of the toothache, colic, or gravel, you will find forty, who prescribe you remedies, all as they think very effectual, all or the most part in effect very unprofitable. that Ancient had hit better yet, had he sa●d, that 'tis the office of a judge, that all the world will exercise; there is nither virtuous nor vicious person that is not often tempted to judge the actions of their neighbour: and the Son of God forbids it when he says, Will not to S. john 7. 24. judge according to the exterior appearance. In which words our Saviour expresses 3. circumstances which are necessary to make rash judgement a mortal sin in a matter of importance. 2. In the first place 'tis necessary that a judgement be voluntary and deliberate, for if it be but a thought, and a promptitude, which we renounce when we perceive it, 'tis not a sin; JESUS said not, do not judge: but he said, will not to judge; It is not in our power not to judge by a sudden motion: but 'tis in our power, not to consent to this judgement, and to cast it out of our mind. 3. In the second place: 'tis not a mortal sin when one judges not absolutely, but doubts only of a thing: makes not a formed and fixed judgement: but suspects only: he says not in himself, surely it is so: but it may be so: I fear lest it be so; And JESUS did not say, suspect not. He nevertheless who should suspect voluntarily of a Prelate, or such like persons an evil of great importance, I know not, if one may excuse him from a mortal sin. 4. In the third place, 'tis not a mortal sin, nor also often venial, when you judge of that which cannot be palliared, nor excused by any reason: if you see a man kill his neighbour: to do ill with a married woman: to blaspheme the holy name of God: 'tis not a rash judgement to think that he is a murderer, an adulterer, a blasphemer; but to judge upon weak appearances, is contrary to the word of the Son of God: judge not according to appeanance; It is an evil effect, which proceeds from divers causes, and all bad and vicious; 'tis sometimes lightness and emptiness of spirit; when one hath not good entertainments within himself, nor in his own house, he seeks entertainments without himself, wanders about in companies, cannot be mute in them, tells news, hears other, knows not enough, invents more. 5. An Ancient in Plautus, compares them to wasps: which make no honey, buzz inceslantly, fly up and down, upon Altars, Mitres, Crowns, and leave nothing but filth upon them: so those Idlebees' drones and lazy people, who know not how to employ themselves, pass their time in judging and detracting Prelates, Kings, judges, Priests, Religions: and since they are light, and shallow, they believe easily all that comes into their mind, with never so little appearance, be it good or evil. 6. S Paul teaches us another cause of rash judgements: the defect of charity: 'Tis because you have in your heart some secret envy, bitterness, or aversion from your neighbour: Charity thinks not ill, says the Apostle; there needs no other proof of it than experience. If a personne that you love well did the actions which you censure in your enemy, or corrival, you would not judge them criminal, as you do those of others: you would interpret them in a good sense. As he that looks through a red glass, all that he sees seems to him red: so you judge the actions of your neighbour according to the passion of love or hatred you have for him. We believe easily what we desire and see willingly, says S. Thomas; You have no repugnance, but great inclination to believe the vice of your neighbour, because you wish him ill: because you are subject to the crimes, and imperfections which you imagine to be in him; The fool conceives that all others are like himself, says the holy Ghost by the mouth of the wise man. Eccl. 10. 15. And again: the heart of a wise man is in his right side, and that of a fool in the left; It is certain, that all men have the heart in the same place: but He does signify, that a virtuous man judges in good part the actious of all men: the ill man measures every one by his own ell: he makes sinister judgements of the most part of men; the Bee draws honey from the most bitter flowers: the cantharides makes poison of the most sweet; the same rain falling upon a Vine is changed into pleasant and wholesome wine ●t watering hemlock is changed into mortal poison; a good stomach makes good blood of the grossest meats: a bad stomach makes peccant humours of the best nourishment. 7. And from thence comes the bad effects which these rash judgements produce against God, our neighbours, and ourselves. 'Tis to usurp the office of the Son of God and to do him injury: since the Father hath given to him all judgement: Note all; john▪ 5. 22. Rom. 14. 4▪ S. Paul looking upon it as a horrible usurpation, cryes-out: Who art thou that juggest another man's servant? To his own Lord he stands or falls. 'Tis likewise to be injurious to our neighbour: For 'tis detraction and injustice to ruin his reputation, though it be in the opinion of one man only; but when you judge ill of your neighbour upon weak conjectures, you ruin his reputation in yourself; you do to another, that which you would not have done to you; you do as the Pharisee who disdained another only within himself, and the Son of God reprehends him for it. In fine you do not only injure God, and your neighbour by rash judgements, but you hurt much also your own self, for they fill you with pride, vanity, jealousy, suspicion, unquietness, and contempt of your neighbour. 8. S. Bernard gives us for a remedy of these judgements a most salutary advice. If you see your neighbour to do ill, think perhaps he does it with a good intention, or out of ignorance, or through great weakness, and without malice, or that he was surprised; but if the action be so black, that it admits none of these excuses, think it was à very strong and violent temptation that made him fall, and say within yourself, if God had permitted the like to have assaulted me, perhaps I had yielded to it as well as he: perhaps he hath many great virtues, which counterbalance the fault which he committed: perhaps this fall makes him very humble, and that by his humility, he is more pleasing to God, than you by your proud Innocence: and when nothing of all this should be: how know you what will become of you, and what will become of him; there is inconstancy and weakness enough in your heart to make you one day, one of the greatest sinners in the world: and there is power and mercy enough in the heart of God, to make this sinner become one day, a most great Saint in heaven. 9, The second sort of falsities which this commandment forbids are those of the mouth; and men are accustomed to speak them in three manners; First in injuring their neighbour, as when they testify that he hath robbed or killed: and this lie is called, hurtful, or pernicious. secondly, in pleasuring your neighbour: as when you lie, to deliver him out of some peril: and this is called a serviceable or officious . Thirdly, in neither hurting, nor aiding; and this is called, a vain or idle . There are many▪ also of those that make profession of virtue, who detest falls witness and pernicious lies: but make no difficulty of idle, and officious; they consider not that the holy Ghost distinguishes a from fals-witness, and says that both displeas God. Prov. 6. 16. 2. 2. q. 110. S. Greg. lib. 18. mor: cap. 4. S. Thomas concludes, that we ought not to lie, for to save a man. S. Gregory said the same, speaking of officious lies. S. Augustine who wrote whole books upon this subject, goes farther yet, and says, that one ought not to lie, for to procure the salvation of our neighbour: ad sempiternam vitam nullus ducendus est opitulante mendacio. And to the objection which some propose of the Egyptian midwives who killed not the Children of the Israelites, as Pharo had commanded, and excused themselves by lies, the scripture adding that God rewarded them. S. Gregory answers, that they were not recompensed for their , but for their Piety. And as to the Patriarch jacob, and other Saints who seem in the scripture to have spoke untruths: the hoy Father's answer, that they were mysteries, not lies, because they spoke not in their own person, but in the personne of those, of whom they were the figure. 10. Officious lies oblige us to the pains of Purgatory: but pernicious to the pains of hell; The mouth that lieth kills the soul, says the holy Ghost it brings damnation most due to them who are so injurious both to God and man. 11. In fine the third sort of falsities forbidden, are frauds, circumventions, dissimulations, and hypocrisies; These are so common in the world that if the Prophet Hieremie were in this age, he would say of it, what he said of his, That our houses are fall of guile. In the houses of great ones, what chringing, suppleness, and treachery to supplant others? in the Courts of justice what injurious judgements, what superfluous delays, what unjust appeals! In the shops of marchands, and tradesmen, what frauds, what falls weights and measures, what falls coin, what corrupted and sophisticated merchandise! To be short, in the Churches themselves, what counterfeit devotions, what disguised confessions, what hypocritical communions! 12. This Vice is so detestable, that the sacred Text joins it with homicide; God will abominate the murderer and the the Deceiver, says the Royal Prophet; And you will not find Psal. 7. that the Son of God said a word so sharp and nipping, of any absent person, as He did of Herod, saying that he was a fox, because he was a Deceiver? Dicite vulpi illi. 13. Let us end this discourse with three powerful passages of of Scripture, and three reasons against these vices. Against the first, out of S Matthew, judge not that you may not Matth. 7. 1. be judged, For in what judgement you judge, you shall be judged: and in what measure you meet, it shall be measured to you again. There is notching so terrible as the judgement of God; the greatest Saints have reason to fear it: a thousand times happy he, who shall not feel the severity of it; you shall be the person, if you will: the Judge himself assures you of it; judge not, and you shalt not be judged; if you judge your neighbour with sweetness and mercy, God will judge you with sweetness and mercy. Against the second Vice S. Paul says to us away with lying: let every Ephes. 4. 25. one speak truth with his neighbour, because we are members of one another; he than that will be a living member of that Body, where of JESUS-CHRIST Verity itself is Head, must not by pernicious falsities hurt his neighbour, but love and cherish him, as a member of the same Body. Against the third Vice, the Son of God having said, that we shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven, unless we become as little children; S. Peter teaches us in what we must be like them: be yet as children newly born without guile with out malice, 1. Epist. 2. without dissimulation. Holy job who was but in the Law of nature, practised perfectly this advertisement; the first praise which God gave him was his simplicity; Have you considered, my servant job, that there job. 1. 8. is not his like on earth, a man simple, and just, and fearing God, and departing from evil? happy he that imitates him! he walks confidently Prov. 10. 9 Prov. 20. 7. Prov. 3. 32. Wisd. 1. 1. says the Wiseman: he fears not to be taken in a as often impostors are; the children which he shall leave behind him ●hal be blessed; he shall have the honour to have communications with God: for his Communication is with the simple. And for the accomplishment of his happiness, he hath God▪ for his inheritance: For to find God we must seek Him in simplicity of heart. 'Tis the most precious treasure a man can possess, a treasure which makes him glorious, rich, content, and happy for ever and ever. Amen. DISCOURSES XXXIX. OF THE EIGHTH COMMANDMENT. Thou shalt not bear falls witness against thy neighbour. AS detraction is a very dangerous and common Vice: so it seems commonly forbidden. Some say, that 'tis forbidden by the fift commandment, Thou shalt not kill: because it takes away our civil life, by which we live in the good opinion of men. Others say that 'tis forbidden by the seventh. Thou shalt not steal: because it robs men of their fame and good name. Others in fine will have it forbidden by the eighth: because this, say they, forbids all injuries, that we do to the goods, to the honour and reputation, or the person of our neighbour by our unruly tongue; all which does show what a pernicious sin this is; which kills, robs, and injures so much our neighbour; And yet, as I said, 'tis a most common vice, because Detractours want not specious pretexts, nor excuses which seem legitimate to palliate and plaster it. Wherefore in this discourse I first lay open the nature of it, and unmask it; In the second place, I put before your eyes its bad effects; and in the third place, remedies. Calumny, says S. Thomas, is to accuse our neighbour falsely of a sin which he hath not committed; And detraction is to declare a fin which he hath committed, or a notable imperfection that is in him. This is not so great a sin as calumny, But it is a great one. When a thing is manifest: if it be known to the most of the Town or neighbourhood and cannot be concealed: if you speak of it, it is not a mortal sin; But if the thing be secret or known to few: if you reveal it to them that know nothing of it you do against charity and justice: and therefore you are obliged to restitution. The light of nature, and this maxim of JESUS teaches you this truth, Do not to another, What you would not have done to yourself. If your daughter, sister, or kinswoman has committed a fault your neighbour seeing it, would you he should reveal it? or he to whom he hath revealed it should publish it, and say for excuse; I did not invent it: such a person saw it: I relate it as I heard it; would you not be troubled and grieved notwithstanding this excuse? Why then do you to another what you would not have done to yourself? 4. There are other yet more malicious: they make show that what they say, comes from compassion, and nevertheless it comes out of passion. Our Saviour said: Take heed of them who come to you in the clothing of sheep, and are inwardly ravenous Matt. 7. 10. wolves; we may say again, who come to you with the voice of sheep, who praise the absent, and afterward do as wolves; with our doubt, say they, he is one of the finest men of his profession in the world; But he forgot himself very much: he is much to be pitied: he would have done very well: 'tis a great misfortune: I say it with a feeling; It was no fault of mine he did not avoid that: I have often admonished him of it; they give poison sweetened with honey: they have the voice of sheep, but the teeth of wolves. 4. And in effect they hurt and kill three persons with one bite. First themselves; for their detraction deprives them of the life of grace, and kills them spiritually: it being a mortal sin, in a matter of importance, according to the scriptures. We call it detraction in a matter of importance, when you discover any thing that diminishes notably the reputation of your neighbour, though the thing be true, if it be secret and unknown. That this is a mortal sin, is proved out of S. Paul: who recounting 1. Cor. 15 the sins which hinder our entrance into heaven, and the sinners that shall not possess the kingdom of God names Detractors And in another place making a list of sins to which Pagans were addicted, and which Christians must avoid, he adds no Epithet to other sins, he names them all simply: but speaking of detractors, says, detractores Deo odibiles, detractors are odious to Rom. 1. 30. God, hateful and abominable to him; 'tis then a mortal sin, since it makes us odious to God, and shuts against us the gates of heaven. The reason of it is evident; Theft in a matter of importance is it not a mortal sin? who doubts of it? detraction is theft more notable, unjust, and dammagable; For a good reputation is Prov. 21. 1. more precious than great riches, says the wiseman; he than that robs a man of his good name, does him a greater injury, than he that takes away his money: And in effect, what man of honour would not rather choose that one should cut his purse, or burn his house, than deprive him of his honour? Divines than conclude by ●● good consequence, that detraction is a greater sin than Robery, because it takes away a thing more precious. Some may here propose a question; There is for example a man addicted to swearing, blasphemy, or detraction; he does so sometimes inconsiderately, lightly, and without reflection: does he sin mortally as often as that happens to him? Divinity answers with a distinction, either he takes pains to correct himself or not? If he takes pains: if he does some penance when he falls into it, then 'tis not a mortal sin: because it is not wholly voluntary; but if he be careless, if he endeavours not to correct his bad custom, and to stand upon his guard: every time heswears falsely, or detracts in a thing of importance, though lightly, and inconsiderately, he sins mortally: for though such words are not entirely voluntary, when he pronounces them, they are yet voluntary in their cause. 6. If the Detractor kills himself, think not others safe: for the second wound he makes, is in him that hears: and if there be twenty in the company, perhaps he kills them all. Which S. Thomas proves 22. q. 75. ar. 4: Rom. 1 32. Psal. 49. 18. by this of S. Paul: That not only they who do ill, but also they who consent to it, are worthy of death. And that the Prophet reprehends sharply not only them that rob with the thief, but those also that acompany him. And in that S. Bernard doubts whether of the two merits more damnation, the dretractor, or he that hears him; lib. 1. de consid. c. 13. and that he concludes, that both have the Devil in them, one in his mouth and the other in his ears. If your neighbour's house were set on fire: would you not be obliged, at least by charity, to help him, and to quench it, if you can? He suffers a greater loss in his reputation: your obligation is then greater to defend him from this hurt▪ if then you are in company where one detracts: you are obliged to reprehend and correct the detractor, if you have authority over him: and if he detracts by a , to show that what he says is falls: if what he says is true, to excuse the absent discreetly: to change the discourse: to leave the company: but if you cannot do these things: to show unwillingness to hear, and a displeased countenance; for when he sees rhat you are not pleased with his tattle, he will be ashamed, and will learn to hold his peace. The north wind dissipates rain, and a sad look the tongue that detracts. But if you are glad of the detraction: if you say a word that contributs to it: if you show by Prov, 25. 23. signs that it pleases you: if you are cause that he proceeds in the discourse: if you make a show to know it, to the end he detract more boldly, and without scruple, you are as criminal as he, and your soul is killed. Behold two deaths already caused by detraction. 7 The third is of the poor absent person, whom it kills by a triple murder. We have three sorts of lives: the natural life: the spiritual: and the civil▪ The natural life is the union of the soul with the body; The spiritual is the union of grace with the soul: And the civil is the union of a man with his neighbours, and a good repute amongst them. Now the detractor sometimes takes away the first life: often the second: and very frequently the third. The first sometimes: either by creating mortal enemies against the poor absent person: or by representing him as dishonest and unfaithful, whereby he loses those employments, without which he cannot nourish himself, nor his. The second often: for soon or late the detracted person hears of the Detractor, he conceives a hatred of him, and resolves upon revenge; ah! he sometimes dies in this disposition, and with the Devils is damned for ever. The third frequently: for generally speaking detraction takes effect, and deprives the detracted of the good opinion others have of him, which is the cement of the commerce that is between them; so the detractor takes away his civil life, and obliges himself to restitutions, and reparations both of the honour and good name, and of all the expenses, damages, and interects caused by his detraction, which will be very hardly made. 8 To avoid a vice so pernicious both to you and others, follow the counsel of the holy Ghost: Weigh your words in a just Eccl. 28. 29. balance before you utter them; Remembet, that in the judgement of God, they shall be all exactly weighed, examined, judged, punished, or recompensed; we must render an account in judgement of a word which hurts not: how much more of those which blacken our neighbour, rob him of his honour, and are the cause of so many enmities and dissensions? Remember when you are in passion and quarrelling with your neighbour, That you utter not the Prov. 25. 8. things which your eyes have seen, lest afterward you cannot amend it, when you have dishonoured him, says the sacred text. And in effect a detractive word is soon let forth, but not so soon recalled; words have not handells to be pulled back again when they have escaped: but they have wings which makes them fly away irrevocably; if you would repair the honour of your neighbour, whither will you go to seek all those to whom you have spoken, and all those who have spoken of it after you? and if you find them, how will you raze out of their minds the bad opinion of their neighbour which you have imprinted in them? And yet 'tis a thing absolutely necessary: unless you go to the person whom you detracted, and pray him to pardon you, and to free you from the obligation of restoring; But if he does not: 'tis a verity avowed by all Doctors, that you stand obliged to repair his honour: in defect whereof the Pope himself cannot absolve you. Calumniate not, nor detract then any person, but have charity which as the Apostle says, Covers a multitude of sins: so you will enjoy quiet in yourself, and peace with others: you will obtain the grace and favour of God in this world, and glory in the other, Amen. DISCOURSE XL. OF THE SACRAMENTS IN GENERAL. AS Creation is attributed to the Father: Redemption to the Son: So sanctifieation of souls is attributed to the holy Ghost: because 'tis an effect of particular love and goodness: The more usual way He takes for this work is the administration of Sacraments, which are the instrumental causes of his graces, channels and conduits of his benedictions. Before we speak of each one in particular, 'tis good to treat of them in general, and to consider what is common to all the Sacraments of the Law of Grace. Wherefore I will put before your eyes their causes, the nature, and effects of them. 1. T●e Efficient Caus who instituted the Sacraments, is JESUS lib. 4. c. 4. the Sacrament. Trid. ss. 7. can. 1. CHRIST. Who is the Author of the Sacraments, but JESUS our Lord? these Sacraments came from heaven, says S. Ambrose. And the holy Ghost, by the mouth of his Spouse, assembled in the Council of Trent. If any one shall say, that all the Sacraments of the new Law were not instituted by CHRIST our Lord, let him be anathema. JESUS hath given his Apostles, and his Church commission to institute Feasts Fasts and the Ceremonies of the Office: but the institution of Sacraments He reserved to himself: 'tis He alone that bequeathed them to the faithful, as the magasins of his merits, channels of his graces, and authentic proofs of his Divinity— Yes of his Divinity. 2. For in the institution and administration of Sacraments JESUS shows that he is God, since He exercises and makes appear divine perfections, His Power, Wisdom, Goodness, Mercy, justice, and Providence. 3. His Power: They say usually in Philosophy, that no creature however noble and eminent it may be can serve the Creator as an instrument, to draw out of nothing another creature: that a Seraphin cannot create, no not instrumentally, a drop of water, or one only grain of sand: Let them change now their tone, and praise the power of JESUS CHRIST, who makes use of common creatures to produce so excellent: of material, to to produce Spiritual: of dead and inanimate creatures, to create a divine life: who makes use elements which are in the lowest order of nature, to produce that which is most high and more excellent than all that is in nature: who makes use of a little water to produce grace, which is a participation of the life of God himself. 4. He shows in this his Wisdom, disposing of all things sweetly. leading his creatures to their last End by means convenient, and fitted to their nature. If you had not bodies: if you were as Angels S. Chryhom. 60. ad Pop. Antioch. separated from all corporeal matter, God would give you his gifts purely, spiritually, and invisibly; but because your souls are clothed with terrestrial and material bodies, God gives you his graces in material elements. and in sensible signs. 5. He exercises his Goodness; for by the malediction thundered against the first man and his posterity, corporeal creatures are Wisdom. 4. become to us temptations, stumblingblocks, and snares: But by the Benediction of JESUS, they are the matter of Sacraments, conduits of his graces, organs of our sanctification, and instruments of our salvation. 6. And whereas He is both merciful and just, in showing us mercy, he exercises his justice; for man being by sin unjustly elevated against God, who is infinitely above him; he is justly punished and humbled, seeing himself obliged to receive his salvation by corporal creatures, which are so much below him. 7. His Providence in sine herein does shine: He foresaw that men are naturally inclined to an exterior worship: and He provided Sacraments and Sacrifice, which consist in exterior actions, lest they should employ themselves in superstitions. He sees that Unity is necessary amongst his faithful: and to make them uniform in the exercise of Piety and divine service, to unite them together in th● same Religion, and the same Church, He institutes exterior actions, common to all Christians, by which they may pay to God their Duties, and receive from him his favours. 8. But JESUS is not only the Author and Institutor of Sacraments: He is moreover the Dispenser of them, who vouchsafes to confer and administer them to you; to confer them I say, not only as an universal and general cause: but also as a special and particular. 9 The Nature and the Essence of a Sacrament is to be a visible and effective sign of divine and invisible grace; And they have very great resemblance with the Author of grace, with the subject of grace, and with the effect of grace. The Author of grace is JESUS CHRIST Man God, and the Sacraments represent him very naturally; For as JESUS CHRIST, if one may speak so, is but a holy and wonderful Compositum of the divine Word and humane nature: so a Sacrament is but a compositum of the word of the Priest, and of the material Element. The subject of grace, is the person that receives it: he is composed of body and soul; And the matter of the Sacrament is applied to his body: and the form which consists in words, teaches, excites, and animates the faith and the devotion of his soul. The effects of grace are different and very well represented by the exterior signs or Sacraments; The effect of Baptismal grace is to cleanse the soul from original sin, and to temper the ardours of concupiscence; and what is more proper to represent these effects than water? The effect of Eucharistical grace is to feed, nourish, and cherish our souls; and what is more proper to signify this nourishment, than the species of bread? we may say the same of the other Saments as we shall see God aiding, when we treat of each one In particular: let us content ourselves at present to see, that the Sacraments are practical and effective signs of the grace they signify, of which only it now remains to speak. 10. This word Grace in the Scripture, and in the language of the Faithful, is taken in divers senses. First, it is taken sometimes for all favours that God does us, also in the order of nature; other times for free gifts of God, termed graces gratis given: because they are not given for the deserts, not for the benefit of the Receiver: but for the good of the Church, as the gifts of prophecy, preaching, and working miracles. 11. 'Tis not in any of these senses that 'tis taken treating of the Sacraments. 'Tis taken for habitual and sanctifying grace: which is a most excellent quality, that Sanctifys us, and renders us holy and just before God: that makes us children of the eternal Father, Brothers, and Coheires with JESUS CHRIST, living Temples of the holy Ghost, Kings of heaven, and Partakers of the Divine nature says S. Peter. 2. Ep. 1. ss. 7. can 6. 13. 'Tis an article of Faith declared by the council of Trent, that all sacraments of the christian Church give Sanctifying grace to all that receive them worthily. If there were a Confessor so rich and liberal, that he would give five or six Guinnies to all that should come and confess to him, and as often as they should come, who would not go? would he not be oppressed with people? We are not Christians if we believe not firmly, that as often as we confess, or receive other sacrament as we ought, we acquire a greater treasure, than if one should give us a thousand guinnies; yes, in the balance of God's judgement, and in the esteem of wisemen, one only degree of grace is more precious, and more worth than all the riches of the Indies, because grace is of a superior order to all the goods of nature. 14. But by the sacraments you receive not only one degree of grace, but many. In Isaiah it is said, You shall draw waters in joy out of the Saviour's fountains: 'Tis not said, you shall receive they shall be given you: But you shall draw: 'tis not said, out of cisterns: But out of fountains; if it were said, you shall receive grace you might think that you should receive but as much as one would give you: But since 'tis said, that you may draw, and also out of fountains, which cannot be drained, you may take as much of it as you will. The measure of the greater or lesser quantity of water that you draw out of a fountain, is not in the fountain itself: but in the greatness or littleness of the vessel wherein you draw it, so the measure of the greater or lesser grace you receive in sacraments, is not in the sacraments themselves: but in the greater or lesser disposition which you bring; it you come to them with much of faith, attention, contrition, humility, devotion, fervour, and love of God, you will receive in them much grace: if you go to them with little disposition, you will receive but little; and consequently 'tis more profitable to confess and to communicate one only time with-great devotion, than 5. or 6 times with little disposition. 14. Moreover the sacraments give not only habitual and sanctifying grace: but also actual and auxiliary graces, which aid us to obtain the end for which each Sacrament was instituted. I explicate myself; when you receive holy Orders in a good state, and with the disposition that you ought, in the sanctifying grace which you receive, is included a promise which God makes you to give you actual graces, to perform well the divine office, to instruct the people, to administer the Sacraments, and to do other ecclesiastical functions to which you are applied and consecrated by holy Orders. If you marry in a good state, and as a christian, in the sanctifying grace which you receive, is contained a promise that God makes you, to give you in occasions, actual and auxiliary graces, to live peaceably with your husband, to breed up well your children, to resist temptations against conjugal chastity, and to practise other virtues to which marriage obliges you. By which you see the great prejudice you do yourselves, when either you neglect or receive unworthily the Sacraments: you deprive yourselves of innumerable graces, which God would oblige himself to give you in the rest of your life, as the appurtenances and attendants of the grace, which you should have received. 16. This will render you extremely culpable in the judgement of God, and you will die with great regret, seeing you had so sovereign remedies and helps, and that you neglected so much to profit by them. know that the Sacraments are talents, of inestimable value: but which are given us with an obligation to gain by them. In S. Matthew JESUS compares himself to a Lord who gave Talents to his servants: and finding that he who had received Mat. 25. but one had not gained with it said, cast the unprofitable servant out into exteriout darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. What then would He have done to him, if he had lost his talon? what would He have done to him, if he had received and lost many? and what will JESUS say to us? what will he do to us, if we shall have abused, or not used and profited in virtue by the talents of the sacraments He hath given us? what weeping? what regrets? what gnashing of teeth? and what rage against ourselves for having lost so good, so easy, and so frequent occasions to make good our salvation, to advance in virtue, to load ourselves with merits, and to enrich ourselves for eternity? But virtuous people will rejoice, will admire their own happiness, and will acknowledge their wisdom in receiving them often, because they will see that these Sacraments were most rich talents, and were gauges, and infallible promises of the inestimable, incomprehensible, and infinite glory which they shall possess for ever. Amen. DISCOURSES XLI Of the Necessity and Nature of Baptism. WHen great S. Hierome says we are not Christians▪ by birth, he speaks of the carnal birth, and not of the spiritual, for in the Sacrament of Baptism we are made Christians we are regenerated in the life of grace; This Sacrament is a spiritual birth, the first, and the most necessary of all the Sacraments: the door through which we enter into the Church. To know evidently the necessity of it, we must acknowledge three verities, founded upon the principles of Christian Religion, received by all Doctors, and drawn from express passages of holy scripture. 1. The first is, that all Children which are conceived by the ordinary way, all except the Virgin, are sported with original sin, are enemies of God, objects of his just wrath, ●laves of the Devil, Children of perdition, and victim of eternal death; I say, conceived by the ordinary way, to make you understand, that the Son of God being not conceived by this way, but by the operation of the holy Ghost, his Conception was not only exempt from all impurity: but hath been the source and origin of all purity of our souls and bodies. I have moreover added the Virgin excepted: because according to the maxim of S▪ A●stin, when we speak of sin, we speak not of the Virgin, she having been prevented with all the graces, and advantaged with all the privileges that an Omnipotent and loving Son could bountifully bestow on her whom He chose to be his Mother. These two then excepted; 'tis an Article of faith, that all Children, though their Parents be faithful and in the state of grace, are soiled with sin, and are fruits of malediction, and damnation: They are soiled with sin, For in Adam all have sinned, says S. Paul; and nothing that is soiled shall Rom. 5. 12. Apoc. 21. 27. Ephes. 2. 3. enter into heaven, says S. john. They are the objects of God's anger: we were by nature the children of wrath, says S. Paul▪ and the anger of God is not a passion, but a punishment; the wrath of God upon this stilborne infant is never appeased: For he that hath not faith, the wrath of God remains upon him, says JESUS CHRIST in S, john: but this infant hath neither actual, nor habitual faith: not actual, for he is uncapable of it: not habitual, for he could 3. 36. not receive it but by the Sacrament, and he is dead without it: the wrath of God remains upon him. 2. After all this, how do some flatter themselves in their sins and say, that God made us not to cast us away: that his mercy permits him not to be so rigorous as they say: that he will spare us though we die in the state of sin; made He these poor infants to cast them away? and nevertheless He permits them to be lost; the mercy of God is greater than you can possibly imagine, and notwithstanding, this great mercy, this infinite mercy hinders him not to exercise such a severity upon these little creatures; And if He be so severe to them for one only sin, which they incur by the misfortune of their condition: what will He be to you for so great a number of sins, which you commit, not by ignorance, constraint, surprise, but so freely, and voluntarily? 3. 'Tis a second Verity that original sin was an evil so desperate and incurable, that there was not any pure Creature possible, that could remedy this evil: that nothing less was necessary than the humiliation, blood. and death of a God, for a medicine to 'tis mortal malady. 'Tis easy to prove it by the malice of sin, which offends an infinite Majesty: but 'tis not necessary: since it is a common doctrine, that 'tis not but to extreme maladies that one applies extreme remedies. sin must be a very dangerous and extreme evil, since a remedy so powerful, strange, extraordinary, and extreme was necessary for it. Ha! you know not o sinner! what is a mortal sin; for if you knew it, you would rather die a thousand times than commit it: you would rather eat your tongue, than pronounce one only blasphemy or falls testimony: you would rather burn your hand than reach it out to a dishonest, or unjust action. 4. This precious and inestimable treasure of the merits and passion of JESUS, is a most powerful remedy for original sin, but nevertheless unprofitable and uneffectuall, if it be not applied to us. Suppose that you have here the best medicine in the world: if the infirm person take in not, it serves for nothing; so though the precious blood of JESUS, and the infinite merits of his passion be more than most sufficient to deliver us from sin: if they be not appropriated and applied to us by the Sacrament, they are uneffectuall and unprofitable. So we see the Scripture attributes 1. Ep. 1. 7. Ephes. 5. 26. 1. Pet. 1. 19 Tit. 3. 5. john. 3. 3. 6. S. Austin. ep. 20. ad Hierom: lib. 3. ep. 9 ad Fidu: Aug. lib. 3 de Orig. Animae. 9 c. to the water of Baptism the same effects, it attributes to the blood of JESUS CHRIST: because water aplyes the virtue of it. The blood of JESUS CHRIST cleanses us, says S. john. JESUS CHRIST cleanseth his Church by the Baptism of wator, says, S. Paul. S. Peter, We are saved by the blood of the immaculate Lamb. S. Paul, God hath saved us by the Baptism of regeneration. In S. john JESUS repeats twice with great instance, that none may pretend ignorance: Amen Amen I say to thee, if any one be not regenerated of water and the holy Ghost, he shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Hence the primitive Christians, if an infant was in danger, ran hastily to the Church, and in great fear lest the infant should die without the sacrament. Hence S. Cyprian says, without Baptism infants are lost. Hence S. Austin gives us this caveat, say not, teach not if you will be a Catholic, that infants departing before Baptism can come to remission of their original sins. Now I make yourselves judges, whom we ought to belive either a Quaker or some other Reformer, who say that 'tis not necessary to baptise an infant: or the primitive Christians, the holy Fathers, nay or JESUS CHRIST himself, who says so clearly, and with such asseveration that it is necessary for him. 7. From these Catholic Verities, all married women ought to learn, to have great care, that their daughters, and servants also, know well all that is necessary for the essence of this sacrament: and that they know well what I am about to say of it. In case of necessity, each one may baptise an infant, also the Father or Mother in defect of another: and if you will that the child be saved: see what you must do; You must take water, not spittle, aquavitae, rose-water, or any other made by art, but natural water, of fountain, sea, river, pit, pond, or well: you must wet or wash the body of the infant with it: the head if you can possibly: and if you cannot wash the head, you must put water upon the breast, arm, foot, or upon some other naked part. and the same person that puts water, must in putting it say distinctly, (with intention to purge him from original sin, and to make him a member of the Church, or at least, to do what the Church does) these words; Infant, I Baptism thee in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the holy Ghost. But the Infant that should be perhaps baptised upon any other part than the head: when the head appears, you must baptise him again under condition, saying, Infant. if thou art not baptised, I baptise thee in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the holy Ghost. Because Baptism that is given upon any other part, 3. Part q. 66. ar. 7. is not certain, says S. Thomas. And when you are not certain that the child is dead, you ought to baptise him under condition, and say, If tbou art living, I baptise thee in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the holy Ghost. For as S▪ Austin speaking of a Catechumen that fell into an Apoplexy having not demanded Baptism says that he ought to be baptised; because 'tis better to put yourself in danger of baptising one unwilling, than to be wanting to one willing; So when you doubt if a child be living, 'tis better to put yourself in danger of baptising a dead child, than not to baptise one living; And because the life of these little creatures is sometimes so feeble and imperceptible, that we think them wholly dead, though a longtime after they give signs of life. I say 'tis good that every woman should know all this: for it happens sometimes that a woman falls into labour suddenly and unexpectedly, and that the infant cannot be brought perfectly into the world alive: or it is so weak that likely it will die before an ordinary Minister of this Sacrament can be had; if those about her know not how to baptise, the infant may be for want of this help deprived of Salvation; and if this should happen but once in the whole world in a hundred years: for to avoid it, every one should learn with great care how to apply this Sacrament, so important is the salvation of a soul. 8. And this again is of so great importance, that very learned and pious Bishops, and other Divines have counselled all Curates to baptise under condition, all infants that had been baptised by women; for though some know well the matter and the form of Baptism, they are nevertheless so surprised, and in such a hurry in these conjunctures, that often they know not what they do; and this is not only the judgement of those Bishops, but Opus. 65. parag. ult de Officio Sacerd. the express opinion of S. Thomas. 9 In fine married women ought to learn that they are most culpable in the sight of God, if their infant die before Baptism because they defer it too long expecting Gossips, or for other humane reasons or considerations: or because they hurt themselves and lie down before their time; if this happen with out your fault▪ you may comfort yourselves in your innocence and adore the Providence of God; but if you have hurt yourselves by your fault leaping, dancing, putting yourselves into great passion, or by carrying too heavy burdens; 'tis an evil which hath no excuse, and which deserves to be deplored all the rest of your life. 10. But if it be so great a misfortune to those poor infant● not to receive the grace of Baptism though without their fault: It is no small misery to lose it after we have received it, and to lose it by our fault for a passion, or a trifle; especially since it is so hard to return again by penance, to the same newness in CHRIST, and to obtain so full and entire remission of all sins as in Baptism we received. The justice of God exacts to this effect a second Baptism, a Baptism not of elementary water, but of tears, a laborious▪ painful, and sorrowful Baptism, say the holy Fathers, and the Council of Trent. For sins committed after Baptism are far greater, more enormous, and unworthy of pardon, ss 14. c. 2 than the sins of infidels; Christians that shall be damned, will be more tormented in hell, than Pagans: they have the knowlegd of God, they know, or aught to know his holy will: and his divine Commandments: how great an evil it is to transgress them and to offend so high and so excellent a Majesty; The Servant that knows the will of his Master and does it not shall be beaten Luk. 12. 47. with many stripes, says JESUS CHRIST. We are not strangers, but domestics of God, his children, and beloved. We have the honour to be received to his table, to eat of his bread, and to be nourished with his flesh; if then we offend him after so many favours, he is very sensible of the offence, it is a monstrous ingratitude: as when one of your own betrays you, you are wont to say: if it were another, it would not trouble me: but such an one, who pertains to me so nearly, whom I have so much obliged, ha'! this does pierce my heart! so JESUS says, si inimicus meus maledixisset mihi, sustinuissem utique: if a Turk, a jew, a Pagan who is my enemy offend me, the injury is not so sensible; But you, a Christian: who have contracted amitle with me, who have set at my table. how have you the malice to commit sin, which disobliges me extremely? we have received the grace of God by Baptism, the gifts of the holy Ghost, the supernatural habits, helps to overcome temptations: if we sin notwithstanding these favours, we have much less excuse. Do not so if you be wise! If you have yet baptismal grace: If you are clothed with this fine garment, which S. Austin calls the Robe of silk, with this robe of innocence, which is given you in Baptism: keep it carefully, persever and walk in it till death, for 'tis more honourable, more pleasant, more easy, and more secure to go by the way of Innocence, than by the way penance to everlasting life Amen. DISCOURSE XLII of the Oblgations we contract in Baptism. I Will pour out upon you clean water, and you shall be cleansed from all your contaminations, I will give you a new heart and a new spirit, said God by Ezechiel; Which words the holy Fathers and the Interpreters of Scripure understand unanimously of Baptismal water. He had reason to make this promise with so great pomp and majesty of words; for if we cosider attentively, we shall see that after the Incarnation of the Son of God, and the Redemption of mankind, He never more obliged humane nature, than by the institution of the Sacrament of Baptism: which purges us from all sin, makes us adoptive children of God, members of JESUS CHRIST, coheires of Heaven, and Temples of the holy Ghost. What honour! what dignity! and what admirable prerogatives! They that are members of JESUS CHRIST and the children of God, ought they not to lead a life conformable to this dignity? thy that received the Spirit of God in Baptism, should they not act and speak according to this divine Spirit? 'tis that to which all Christians are obliged by Baptism; It obliges them to die a moral and virtuous death: and to lead a new life conformable to the excellency of this birth, as shall be shown in this Discourse. 1. Before I proceed to the proofs of these important Points, I explicate myself; By the sin of the first man, and by our own crimes we deserve to die effectually the death of soul and body, and to be buried in hell eternally; But the Son of God out of his infinite mercy, to the end we might live and merit the crowns of heaven, changes by Baptism that horrible and eternal death, into a moral and virtuous one; He will that we die to sin, to the world, and to ourselves. To sin, that is to all sorts of vices. To the world and its pomps, that is you must not set your heart upon the pride, riches, and passtimes thereof: you must reject superfluities, and content yourself with necessaries, and not according to the rules of the world, but according to christian frugality, modesty, and humility. To ourselves: this is that we call dying to the old Adam: that is, you must die to ill humours, irregular passions, vicious inclinations, to the love of your own selves, which we contracted by our carnal birth and extraction from the first man; for by his sin our nature hath been so corrupted, that if we follow it, we have no other object of our thoughts, words, actions, and affections, than ourselves, and our own interests. To all the aforesaid things we are obliged to die, and see here the proofs of it. 2. For when S. Paul says in the 6th. chapter of his Epistle to the Romans, that we are dead and buried with JESUS CHRIST Rom. 6. by Baptism: It is to prove what he would persuade us in the whole Chapter, that we are obliged to kill in ourselves sin with all its appurtenances and for ever; so he says, since we are dead to sin, how shall we live therein? We know that by Baptism, our old Rom. 6, man hath been crucified with JESUS CHRIST, that the body of sin, and the mass of evil inclinations may be destroyed. And to the Galatians, they that pertain to Christ have crucified their flesh, with its vices and Gal. 5. concupiscences. Can we be good Christians and not appertain to JESUS? Nevertheless the Apostle of JESUS says, that we appertain not to him, if we crucify not our flesh. He says not, they that appertain to him in the quality of Religious, or Priests: But all they that appertain to JESUS CHRIST, Crucify their flesh. And S. Chrisostome, Baptism is to us that which the Cross and Sepulchre was to JESUS: 24. hom. 10. in ep. Rom. C. 6. it ought to have in us the same effects: it ought to crucify us, to make us die, and to hid us from the world. 3. It imports much to note what is the Grace of each Sacrament, and what charge it puts upon us; for each sacrament conferrs a special grace, and to this grace some charge is annexed, to which we oblige ourselves. 'tis a Talon given us with a strict obligation to employ it. The grace of Confirmation, is a spirit of Fortitude, which obliges us to make profession of the Faith in Presence of Tyrants, also with peril of our lives. The grace of Confession is a spirit of Penance, which obliges us to satisfactory works, to fasts, alms, prayers, and other actions which S. john Baptist terms, Fruits worthy of penance. the grace of Baptism is a spirit of the Cross and death, which obliges us to die to sin, to the world, and to ourselves; if then we have any voluntary affection to the Pomp's of the world, to the delights of the flesh, to the satisfaction of unruly passions: if we are wedded to our own conduct, to our proper judgement, and not to that of our Superiors, we are wanting to the grace of this Sacrament; for we are baptised to be made Christians, that is Disciples of Christ: and He says to us expressly, He that renounces Matth. 16. Luke 9 23. not himself, note himself, his unbridled passions, bad humours, his own judgement, and self love, and carries not his Cross daily, cannot be my disciple 4. But this death is like to that of the Phoenix, which dies not, but to acquire a new life; 'Tis as that of JESUS, who was spoilt of a mortal and fading life, to resume a glorious and immortal. We die not to sin, to the world, and to ourselves, but to live to God, and to his grace; we are not crucified with JESUS CHRIST, but to rise again to a new life; we divest not ourselves of the old man, but to put on the new; For we are buried by baptism with JESUS, to die to sin, that as the Son of God is risen by the glory of his Father, So also we may Rom. 6. Ephes. 4. 24. walk in newness of life, says S. Paul to the Romans. And to the Ephesians, Put ye on the new man which according to God is created in justice and sanctity. When the Apostle commends to us a new life, he demands of us a great change, and an admirable metamorphosis says S. Chrysostom. Then he adds, I have great S Chrysost. hom. 10. in ep ad Rom. 6. Gal. 5. 3. cause to groan, and weep abundantly, considering on the one side the great obligations we have contracted in Baptism, and seeing on the other our great negligence. For as S. Paul in the Epistle to the Galatians says, every man that circumcises himself engages himself to observe, all the law of Moses:: So whosoever receives Baptism, obliges himself to keep the law of Christ. Now since Christian Religion is a profession of penance mortification, sanctity and perfection: these things are not indifferent to them that are baptised, but they stand obliged to follow them. Which made great S. Basil say, whosoever hath received the Baptism of the law of grace, is obliged to live according to the Gospel: and hath obliged himself by an irrevocable contract, to imitate JESUS CHRIST. 5. I know well than to excuse yourselves you say, if I live not according to the world: if I cloth not myself gorgeously, if I lead a retired and mortified life: I shall pass for an extravagant person: they will not esteem me: they will say I am an abhorrer of society, and a man of another world. You say true: but what is this to say? It is to say, they will esteem you a christian: that you will pass for a Disciple of JESUS; This is that which you have promised in Baptism: 'tis in this the perfection of Christianity consists, in declaring war against the world, and its pomps: in opposing its maxims and customs: contradicting flesh and blood; Take courage then says S. Chrysostom, fight valiantly, consider what Chrysost. To 3 ser. de Martyr you have promised, under what condition you were made a Christian, and in what war you are enroled. Think not to triumph without Victory, to be victorious without fight, to fight without enemies that are contrary to you. 6. But some do say: where are pastimes, delights, and pleasures forbidden in the ten commandments, or in those of the Church? If those frequent, and almost continual pastimes, delights, and pleasures are not against the first and chief of the commandments, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, with all thy mind, and with all thy forces: they are at least against the second, which our Saviour says is like to it; For is this to love your neighbour as yourself, to employ in superfluous delights, that which might deliver him out of great inconveniences and miseries? you know that so many orphans, so many other poor, who are the children of God, members of our Saviour, are eaten with vermin for want of a little linen, that they are starved with cold, and that they die with hunger for want of assistance: and the money wherewith you might secure them, you spend in superfluities: what insensibility is this? where is the fraternal Charity, or the Christian Compassion, or the bowels of mercy which the elect aught to have? The Prophet Amos 6. 6. Amos weighed well how much Charity was by this violated when he said; Woe to you who seek exquisite meats, and delicious wines, and ye have not pity on the miseries of the people. 7. S. Denys says that in his time, if one desired Baptism, the c. 2. Eccle. Hier. parag. 2. et. 3. first thing he did, was to entreat a Christian to be his God father; the Christian on the one side desiring the salvation of the Petitioner: and on the other weighing the weakness of a man with the weight of the affair, was troubled with fear, and seized with apprehension to conduct him to the Bishop. Nevertheless in fine he led him to the Prelate: Who said to him, that his design ought not to be imperfect, but entire, and with all his heart, as approaching to God who is entirely perfect; and having declared to him the form of life he ought to lead, to live godly: received from him promises and protestations to aspire with all his force to that perfection. And that he might not undertake such a charge lightly and inconsiderately, he made him pass 2 or 3 years in Catechumenate, which was the Noviciate of Christianity, where he exercised himself in fasting, prayer, and other penances to make trial, if he could apply himself to the austere and virtuous life of Christians. By which you see, that the answers made for you in Baptism, are not airy words, they are according to this great Saint, and other holy Father's promises, and protestations which oblige us. By the same you see also, what life the Christians of those times did lead, to satisfy the obligations contractd in their Baptism. 8. Do as they did: renounce the Devil, and all his pomps, works, and suggestions; renounce the World, with its vanities, follies, and maxims; renounce yourselves: your flesh, sensuality, self-love, particular judgement, and all the inclinations of the old man; separate your will from his: and turn to JESUS your God and the Source of your salvation. Acknowledge the excellency of your Dignity: the noble and divine Alliance to which you are elevated: to whom you pertain by Baptism. Remember that you have the honour to be the members of JESUS-CHRIST, not improperly, nor metaphorically but really and truly. Let us remember that he is our Head, and that we must conform ourselves to him; otherwise we shall make a great deformity in his body and dishonour him extremely. Would not this be a monstrous and unnatural deformity, if to the head of a handsome man were joined the body of a beast, the paws of a Lion, the belly of a hog., the tail of a serpent? JESUS is the Head of the Church: we are the members of it; what dishonour should we do him? what unnatural deformity should we make in his Body, if we should be unlike to him? if He being as meek as a lamb, as pure as the sunbeam, and as simple as a dove, we should be cruel like lions, unclean like hogs, and deceitful as serpents; Let us assure ourselves that He will not suffer such deformity in heaven: and that to be associated to him in the life of glory, we must be like to him in the life of grace. Amen. DISCOURSES XLIII Of Confirmation. AS the eternal Father hath shown effectually the ineffable love which He had for the world in giving his only and beloved Son in the Mystery of the Incarnation: a love so wonderful and prodigious, that though admiration be the daughter of ignorance, and JESUS be the infinite and eternal Science, He speaks not of it but with astonishment and admiration: Sic Deus dilexit mundum! So JESUS hath shown effectually the infinite love which He had for his Church in giving Her his holy Spirit, who is equal, coeternal, and consubstantial with Him▪ and his Father. 2. But as in the distribution of graces where of the Apostle 1. Cor. 12. 10. speaks, the holy Ghost is communicated to divers persons, for different operations: to some to work miracles, to others to interpret the holy scripture, and the like; so in Sacramental grace the holy Ghost is given for divers intentions, to produce divers effects, according to the difference of the ends, for which JESUS instituted the Sacraments. In Baptism the holy Ghost is given us, to be the Soul of our souls, the life of our life, and the Spirit of our spirit, to create in us the spiritual and Christian life, make us Children of God, Members of JESUS CHRIST, and Heirs of the kingdom of heaven. In Confirmation He is given us, to make us Soldiers of JESUS CHRIST, to unroll us in his warfare. and to arm and fortify us against his enemies. 3. That there hath been always in the Church a particular Sacrament, to make us soldiers of JESUS CHRIST, appears in the Acts Acts. 8. 17. where S. Peter and S. john gave the holy Ghost by imposing Episcopal hands upon the Samarians whom Philip the deacon had converted and baptised. The same, S. Paul did to the disciples of Acts. 19 5. and 6. Tertull de Prescrip. c. 40. S. john at Ephesus. It appears also in Ter●ullian, who says, that Satan, Ape of the Divinity, and ambitious of the honour we give to God in our Mysteries, incited the Idolaters to counterfeit in their superstitious ceremonies the Sacraments of the Church; He proves it by induction in the first Sacraments. Satan, says he. Counterfeits our Baptism: he baptises those that believe in him; our Confirmation: he marks in the forehead those who are his soldiers; and our Eucharist: he makes an oblation of bread. O●her Fathers say, that this Sacrament is Pentecost for us; that is to say, the holy Ghost is given to us in it with abundance of his grace, and for the same end for which He was sent to the Apostles, in the day of Pentecost; JESUS ascending into heaven commanded them not to preach the Gospel, not to appear abroad, till they had received him: He knew their frailty: He knew that without his aid they would be overcome. Behold S. Peter: he had been baptised: he came from communion: and because he was not strengthened with this virtue, he trembles, and shrinks at the voice of a poor maid; but after Pen●ecost he is so courageous, that he speaks undauntedly in a full Consistory: he says to the judges and high Priests, We must rather obey God than men. You see then, that this Sacrament makes soldiers of JESUS CHRIST, and gives us force to fight for him; wherefore it imprints a Character: and it belongs to a Bishop only to confer it: He administers it with the thumb: with Unction of sacred Chrism composed of oil and balm: he makes the sign of the Cross upon the forehead, and gives a little stroke upon the cheek. 4. It imprints a character in our soul; for characters are imprinted in us by some Sacraments, to mark and distinguish us from other men, and to design us paticularly to the service of God; by Baptism we are made his subjects: by holy Order, Officers and Ministers of his Church: and by Confirmation, we are made his Soldiers. 5. I know well that by Baptism we are also made spiritual soldiers: and for this we use unction in it; But this is only to fight in our own quarrel, against the Devil and other particular Enemies; As the Burgesses of a Town, though they are not by profession soldiers, fail not to have arms and to fight in need, in defence of their people, or their country. 6. But by Confirmation we are made soldiers to fight, not in our particular quarrels, but in those of JESUS-CHRIST: soldiers by office and profession: to the end we fight for him against Tyrants, against the World, and against the Enemies of his Religion. 7. And hence it proceeds that every one may Baptise in necessity: and that a Bishop only may Confirm; for to make a subject of a king we need not but to cause a child to be born in his kingdom; But to raise and unroll soldiers, belongs not but to Captains; so to make us Vassals of JESUS: on needs not but to make us to be borne in the Church his kingdom, which is done by Baptism; But to make us his soldiers by Confirmation, one must be a Bishop or Prelate of the Church. 8. In making us soldiers He gives us arms and force by the grace of this Sacrament; And hence it is that the Bishop gives it with his thumb, the strongest of all the fingers. He gives it by unction: to signify the interior Unction and force, by which we are fitted to appear in the field; Balm is thereto added, because we must fight publicly for JESUS: and if we do well, we are a good odour to the son of God, and to his Church, Christi bonus odor sumus in omni loco. 9 This unction is made in the form of a Cross: because the Cross is the standard and the ensign of the warfare in which we unroll ourselves. 10. This Cross is made in the forehead, the seat of bashfulness to teach us, that thenceforth we must not be ashamed of the Cross of JESUS: that we ought to embrace with a holy boldness, the reproaches, confusions, humiliations, and the mortifications, which occur in the practice of Christian virtues; and to make us know that we must be ready to receive and endure affronts and ignominies, for the defence of jesus, He gives us a little blow. 11, It was not in vain, nor without much reason, that JESUS instituted a particular Sacrament, so great a Sacrament, a Sacrament which imprints a character, which a Bishop only can confer, which gives such plenitude of the holy Ghost to arm and fortify us, not only against Tyrants, but also against the Persecutors of christian piety and devotion. For christian Religion which is almost freed from the persecution of pagans, is at present tyranized by the babble, raillery, and derision of worldly souls. Wherefore S. Bernard said, the Church may truly say, In pace amaritudo mea amarissima: my affliction is most bitter in the time of Isay. 38. 17. peace: It was bitter in the death that Tyrants made the Martyrs to endure: more hitter in the infidelity of Heretics: But 'tis most bitter in the ill life of Christians, who mock and laugh at the piety of devout Souls; For this is much more hurtful than that of Tyrants. In the persecution of Tyrant's Christians dared not to pray, nor to exercise devotion in public, they sought caves, groats, and private houses: but they served God freely at least in these places; the persecution of worldlings is the cause that many dare not serve God as they ought in particular houses, for fear to be called devotes: they dare not frequent the Sacraments, or be assiduous at divine service, because they call them hypocrites: they dare not be conscientious and restrained from unhandsome words and insolent actions, because they call them scrupulous: a sin detestable and wholly unnatural, to persecute christianity in chrichristianity itself: to have sworn fidelity to JESUS in the Sacrament of Baptism, and laugh at those who are faithful to him: not to serve God themselves: and to deride those that serve him: a sin, not of frailty, nor of ignorance, but of malice and contempt: which draws from them the grace of God, indurates and disposes them to impenitence and reprobation. The children of Hely who averted the people from devotion, 1. Kings. 3. 14. committed an abominable crime in the sight of God, which could not be expiated by victim, says the holy Scripture. 12. This temptation is so dangerous, also to devout souls, that they who stand invincible against other assaults, permit themselves to be overcome by this: because good natures are facile, complaisant, and condescending: they have so much fear and confusion to do or omit any thing that may displeas another, or which they apprehend may lessen their own honour or reputation, that one only thought, What will they think? what will they say? will render all predications, remonstrances, and exhortations uneffectual. Say for example to this Gentleman or duelist, you live upon the brink of hell: you may say every morning when you rise, perhaps in the evening I shall go to bed in hell; there needs no more than that a friend do pray you to serve him as a Second, to be killed in this action and behold you are most meserable for an eternity. Can there be any thing more foolish than to expose yourself to be killed, or to kill another man, who never disobliged you, to serve the caprice of a giddy and unreasonable head? refuse courageously these requests, and they will trouble you no more with them. I would willingly, he will answer you; But what will they say? Say to this Lady, the extravagance of your does prejudice much your salvation; it consumes the best part of your time: it fills your soul with pride and vanity, it weds your heart to trifles: it renders you unable to pay debts: to give necessary assistance to the Poor: you would do well to yourself more simply and modestly. I would do it willingly, she will assure you: But what will they say? 13. But what are they you fear so much? Atheists, impious, or at best, light, lose, and libertine Christians; good and virtuous souls, solid and understanding persons will esteem and honour you. If a Cripple should laugh at you, because you go strait: would you do well, to be ashamed of it, and to counterfeit yourself a cripple? If you study to pleas the humours and the fancies of the world, you will never have done, you will make yourselves ridiculous; regard them not; Let them talk: 'tis your part do do well: and theirs to speak ill▪ you can no more hinder them from talking, than you can dogs from barking. 14. Whatsoever you do: you will be the But of evil tongues; your intentions will be judged: your actions censured. If you be meanly clothed, they esteem you a hypocrice; if well clothed according to your condition, proud; If thrifty, avaricious; if liberal, prodigal; if you pardon injuries, a coward? if you defend your right, revengeful; if you fast, a dissembler▪ If you nourish yourself, a glutton; if peaceable, negligent; If vigilant in your duty, turbulent; If quick at mass, indevout; if long, scrupulous; if you preach mildly: you lull people a sleep; if vigorously, you are passionate; if you reprehend vices, you are too violent; if you reprehend them not, a flatterer; S. john did neither eat nor drink, they said he was possessed; JESUS did eat and drink, they said He was a friend of good cheer; All these overflowings of tongues are best stopped by a generous contempt of them; when they shall have satisfied their folly, or their malice, they will be weary of talking, and will honour you; for when you are virtuous, the people of the world mock you in appearance, but in effect they honour you: they laugh at you exteriorly: but interiorly esteem you. 15. But suppose that in effect they laugh at you, and contemn you; Why are you confirmed? the charge that Confirmation imposes on you, is to endure affronts, reproaches, and confusions, for the glory of JESUS CHRIST: to defend his doctrine and his Virtues with the peril of your honour, and of your life: as He hath endured confusions, ignominies, calumnies, and a most infamous and shameful death for you: He that shall be ashamed of me and of my words, I will be ashamed of him before my Father; And Mat. 10. .3 on the contrary He says, He that shall confess me: he that ●hal not be ashamed to acknowledge my Doctrine. to practise my virtues, and to be my Disciple, I will confess him in the presence of my Father and his Angels: I will acknowledge him for my servant, praise his virtuous actions, and adorn his head with a crown of Glory▪ Amen. DISCOURSE XLIV of the Real Presence of the Body of JESUS CHRIST in the Eucharist. JESUS CHRIST being both God and man, hath always two intentions in his erterprises: He regards the glory of God, and the salvation of men; wherefore He willed that the Eucharist should be a Sacrifice, and a Sacrament, a Victim and a food; In the quality of a Sacrifice and a Host, it is referred to the glory of God; in the quality of a Sacrament and food, it is referred to the salvation of men. I shall treat of it as a Sacrifice in another place; In this, I speak of it as a Sacrament, and demonstrat that it contains really, truly, and substantially the precious Body of JESUS CHRIST. 1. And to convince an understanding that teceives the holy Scripture, I need not other proof than the clear testimony of the Son john. 6. Matt. 26. 26. Mark. 14 22. Luke 22. 19 1. cor. 11 Gal. 1. 12 of God, who said, The Bread which I will give you is my flesh; And giving it to his Disciples in the last Supper, This is my Body. Which words He said not only before his death, as the Evangelists depose: But also after his Resurrection and Ascension, as S. Paul does testify; I have learned of our Lord says He, and not of men that being in the last supper He said to his Disciples, take, eat, This is my Body. 2. Notwithstanding the evidence of these words, Calvin is so bold as to say that what our Saviour held in his hand and gave to his Apostles, was not his Body, but bread, a figure or shadow of his Body. I would know, if our Saviour desiring to declare to us, that He gave his Body, could speak otherwise than He did. If all the men in the world should employ a thousand years in seeking terms to express themselves: could they speak more clearly, than saying This is my Body; And the bread which I will give you is my flesh. 3. But suppose that these words are obscure; to whom ought we to refer ourselves for the meaning of them? Either to Calvin who came more than fifteen hundred years after CHRIST, or to the judgement of the Faithful who lived in the times of the four first general Counsels, during which Calvin himself avows, that the Church was in her purity? The Gospel says, that we must credit two or three good Witnesses: behold here six authentik ones: three of the Greek, and three of the Latin Church; S. cyril of Jerusalem who had place in the second 4. Mistagog: cat. general Council held in the year 381. teaching his people by the Scripture, and according to the sense of the whole Church of his age, speaks thus; Since than our Saviour himself declares and says of bread This is my Body, who shall henceforth dare to doubt of it? And He affirming and saying This is my blood, who is he that shall doubt of it saying 'tis not his blood? Heretofore in Cana of Gallilee He changed water into wine: is He not worthy to be believed changing wine into into blood? Under the species of bread the Body is given, and under the species of wine the blood is given his Body and his blood is received into our members. That which seems bread, is not bread, though the taste preceives it such, but the Body of Christ; and that which seems wine, is not wine, though the taste represents it such, but the Blood of Christ. S. cyril of Alexandria who assisted in the third general Council held at Ephesus in his 13. book upon Leviticus, in the middle says, Lest we should have horour of flesh and blood put upon our Altars: God condescending to our weakness, infuses into the things we offer, to wit into bread and wine, the virtue of life, converting them into the verity of his own flesh. S. Crysostome preaching to the people, brings in our Saviour speaking thus to them: Many Parents give their children to others Chrysost. ham. 61. ad pop, Antioch. to be nourished: But not so I: with my own flesh I nourish you and set myself as meat before you. I took upon myself flesh and blood for you: and the very same flesh and blood I deliver again to you. Let us join to the Golden mouth to the Ambrosian mouth, that is to say, S. Ambrose to S. Chrysostom; This bread before the Sacramental words, is bread: but when the consecration is done, of bread is made the flesh of CHRIST; by what words? of JESUS CHRIST: by the word which made allthings; the Heaven was not before the creation, the sea was not, the earth was not: but He spoke, and they were made, He commanded and they were created: so I answer you, before the Consecration this was not the Body of Christ: but after Consecration I say to you that 'tis the Body of JESUS: JESUS hath spoke the words. In Africa they Spoke as they did in Italy, because they had there the same faith, which made S. Cyprian or the Author of the supper of our Lord to say, the bread which our Lord gave to his Disciples being changed, not in appearance, but in nature, was made flesh by the omnipotency of the Word. In fine great S. Augustine in a sermon upon the Title of the 33: Psalm admiring these words And He was carried in his own hands said, this cannot be understood of David nor of any other than of jesus CHRIST: for who is he that can carry himself in his hands? But JESUS CHRIST carried himself in his hand when He said to his Disciples, take, eat, This is my Body. If you will weigh with me the circumstances of the Institution of this Sacrament, you will have no difficulty to embrace the faith of these holy Doctors: and you will see the great injury they do our Lord who say, that He gave to his Disciples, but only bread as the figure and the memory of his Body. 4. Let us consider first, who He is that says these words: This in my Body: 'tis the Son of God, who is all Power, wisdom, Goodness; We may well comtemplate in Him these Perfections since He himself considers them to accomplish this Mystery. 'tis S. john that says it: JESUS knowing that the Father gave athing into his hands: john. 13. that He came from God, and goes to God: whereas he had loved his that were in the world, unto the end He loved them. JESUS in the last supper considers that his Father gave allthings into his hands, that He had an infinite power, and nothing was impossible to Him. He considers that He came from God: that He is the increated Wisdom produced by the Father by way of understanding and knowledge. He considers that He had excessively loved men making himself man for them: that it was the property of his infinite Goodness to Communicate itself to them more and more, and to love them unto the end; Ought He to consider all these things, to give them a morcel of bread? And is this a Donary beseeming such a Donor? In the second place, to whom does He speak, Saying. This is my Body? To his beloved Disciples, to whom He had said, I will not call you servants but my friends, because I have made known to you all that I have received from my Father. He speaks to his Apostles, to whom He was accustomed to speak clearly, without Parable or figure: or if He proposed any to them, He explicated the same presently: He said to them, You have the privilege to know the secrets of the kingdom of God, but to the rest I propose them in Parables, He speaks to his Ambassadors, whom He sends to instruct the world? Is it not to Ambassadors that a King is wont to discover his designs, to open the secrets of his heart, to give particular Instructions, that they may negotiate the better his affairs? And JESUS saying that. He gives his body, saying it I say, to his Friends, Apostles, Ambassadors, shall He ●ave deceived them, and instead of his precious Body, shall He have given them a morcel of bread? Let us Consider in the third place, the Circumstance of Time; He eats first the Paschal Lamb with them; and afterward to mount up to a higher Mystery, to pass from the figure to the reality, from the image to the verity. from the promise to the accomplishment, and from the shadow to the Body: He gives them his precious Body: If the bread that He gave them were not his Body, but a figure only, it would be in vain that He gave it: it would be an unprofitable and superfluous repetition, not of word, but deed: since the Paschal Lamb was a figure more express, more distinct, and more significant of his Body, than a morcel of bread. In giving it to them He said▪ with desire I have desired to eat this Pasche with you before I suffer. This desire was not only to eat the Paschal Lamb with his Disciples, since He had eaten it so often with them, and that He had had this desire lo long; with desire I have desired, says He, that is I have long since vehemently desired; and this desire of JESUS, this great desire of JESUS, this desire which the amorous heart of JESUS hath had so long, shall it not have had for object but to eat with his Apostles a morcel of bread? He said before I suffer: and S. Paul, in which night He was betrayed: 1. Cor. 11. 23. to make us know, that being near his death, He made his Will and Testament, and He declares it in express words: This Chalice is the new Testament in my blood. A wise man, who loves his children, making his Will, speaks as clearly as he can: if any one makes it in doubtful and ambiguous words: 'tis because he is little intelligent in affairs: or will leave suits, not goods to his heirs; if my Father had left me a house, and you would contest with me saying, 'tis a paper or painted house he means: what Judge would hear you? what impartial Arbiter would not condemn you: would you not injure me, and yet more my father? if he had meant a paper house, would he not have declared his intention? JESUS our celestial Father makes his Testament, He declares his last Will, He says that He leaves me his precious Body: and you say 'tis not his true Body, 'tis a figure of his Body; go you are a mocker: if it was not but his figure would He not have said so as well as you? would He have said This is my Body, instead of saying this is my figure? He is upon his departure in his last supper: He goes to death and afterward to the imperial heaven; when a loving husband is upon his deathbed, or bids farewell to his dear spouse for a journey somewhat long: is it not then that he opens his heart to her, and discovers to her his secrets? is it not then that he speaks to her without ambiguity? that he gives her testimonies of his greatest affection, and leaves her the more precious presents? And JESUS being in the vigil of his death: giving his farewell to the Church his Spouse, and depriving her of his Visible presence, shall He have spoken obscurely and equivocally to her? shall He shall He have deceived her in a matter of so great importance, and for all nuptial presents, for the gage of his amity, for the testimony of his tender affections, for a supplement of his absence, shall He have left her only a morsel of bread? The manner also in which He accomplishes this Mystery ought to be considered; if this be but a morcel of bread; Why promises He it so long before; why speaks He of it with so much pomp? Why praises He the effects and necessity of it so much? Why prefers He it before the Manna? the bread which I will give you is my flesh; he that shall eat of this bread hath everlasting life; If you eat not my flesh you shall not have life in in you; This is not as the manna your fathers have eaten; If that which He gives is but a mite of bread: the manna was to be preferred before it; It was the figure of the Body of JESUS CHRIST, as well as calvin's bread, and much more express; for it was moulded● by hands of Angels: the bread of Calvinists by the hands of men: that came from heaven: and their bread from a bakers oven; that had all sorts of tastes: their bread hath but one. After He had promised it so long time, and so solemnly, He gives it; but washes first the feet of his Disciples: He makes them a long and sublime sermon: He recommends to them purity and charity: He makes to his Father a very long prayer, and if all this tended but to give them a piece of bread, I make you judge. 5. Let us consult moreover the practice and the Piety of the primitive Christians, and we shall see that their faith, and the religious S. Ambr. lib. 3. the Spirit. Sto. c. 12 S. Crysos. hom. 24. in 1. ad Cor. Et in orat. de Philogonio. Ceremonies which they practised in respect of the Eucharist were-very contrary to the error of the Calvinists; they adored the holy Sacrament upon the Altar, with the worship of Latria which cannot be given but to God only; we adore the flesh of CHRIST yet this day in the sacred Mysteries says S. Ambrose. S. Augustine upon these words of the Psalm, Adore his footstool said, Christ hath given us his flesh to eat, but nobody eats this flesh, but after that he hath adored it. S. chrysostom, Let us imitate at least the Mages, who seeing Christ but in a manger, adored Him with great fear: and you see Him, not in a manger, but upon an altar. 6. They feared extremely to let fall upon the ground the least S. Aug. lib. 50. hom. hom. 26. Origen. hom 13. in Exod. particle of the Eucharist, or one drop of the chalice, as S. Austin. and Origen do testify. They required not only purity of body, and sanctity of soul to touch, or receive this Sacrament: but they demanded sancti●ie to see it and to look upon it, as appears in the first epistle S. chrysostom wrote ●o Pope Innocent, where he complains that soldiers sent by his enemies, had entered in a tumultuous manner into the Church: and he exagerats as a bold attempt, that many of them who were not yet baptised, had seen the holy Hosts. They exposed not, also to the Catechumen the secret of this Sacrament: it was the secret of the Church, which was not revealed but to her Children: and it was a crime to speak of it in the presence of Catechumen, or of Infidels; this is seen in the epistle which the Synod of Allexandria wrote to the Catholic Bishops, where the Council complains, that the Arians were not ashamed to speak of the Mysteries in the presence of Catechumen, and what is worse before infidels. 7. Now I appeal to your consciences: if the Christians of the primitive Church; did believe that the Eucharist is but a morcel of bread which minds us of the body of JESUS: would they have adored it with supreme worship? would they have thought it so great an incongruity to let fall the least crumb of it? would they have required such purity of body and soul to receive it, to touch it, or to hear, or speak of it? 8. All the Articles of our faith are equally true; but there are none of them so express in scripture: none taught so clearly by the holy Fathers: less opposed in primitive times: confirmed by so many miracles: received so unversally in Europe: in Asia: and in Africa as this; For amongst all, Catholics, Heretics, Schismatics: amongst Grecians, Latins, Hebrews, Abyssins' or Ethiopians which have been, and which are at present, Calvin only with his Party hath obstinately denied it. I leave you to think, with whom you should choose to rise and appear at the day of judgement, either with S. Cyprian, S. Ambrose, S. Augustine, S. Chrysostom, and all the other holy Doctors of the east, west, south, and north, who flourished in the time when the Church was in her greatest purity and vigour, or with Calvin, who came fifteen hundred years after the institution of this Sacrament. 9 Fellow the counsel which the holy Ghost gives you by the Wiseman, Ne transgrediaris terminos antiquos quos posuerunt Patres tui, Pass not the bounds which your Ancestors have put; hold the belief of those primitive Christians and the doctrine of these holy Fathers, who were taught by the Apostles, or by their Successors: who read the holy Scripture day and night: who meditated upon it seriously: who were particularly assisted by the holy Ghost to understand it well: who were desinteressed and free from passion; for in effect, you are not more holy, nor more learned, nor wiser than S. Austin; And hear what he said to a Pelagian Heretic: That which the Fathers believed I believe: what lib. 1 contra jul. c. 2. circ● med. they taught I teach: what they preached, I preach. Fellow the example of this great and holy Doctor if you be wise and careful of your salvation: follow always Antiquity and Universality in your belief▪ say with the whole College of the Apostles, I believe the holy and Universal Church; And to all the reasons of humane Philosophy that Dissenters oppose, Answer that S. Paul hath said, Our faith ought not to be in the wisdom of men, 1. Cor. 2. 5. but in the Power of God. Amen. DISCOURSE XLV Of the Production, Reception and Operation of the Eucharist. S Peter having in the first chapter of his first epistle taught us, that we are born again by the seed of the word of God, bids us in the second, to desire as new born children reasonable milk, that we may grow unto salvation. by which words he does not only invite us to suck yet more the milk of saving Doctrine: but moreover to the participation of the holy Eucharist, which here he also signifys by milk. And in effect, there are three great conformities and resemblances between the milk which a mother gives her child, and the adorable Sacrament of the Altar: Conformity in the manner of their production: conformity in the manner of their reception: confirmity in the manner of their operation. 2. S. Austin in his frst sermon upon the Title of 33 Psalm brings this pat comparison: Imagine that you enter into the house of a mother of many children: Some of fifteen or Sixteen years of age: other but four or five months' old; if you ask her what will you do with that bread? 'tis, she will say, for the nourishment of my children. And of what children? of these great and little ones. What, for the nourishment of these little ones? they have no teeth: how will they eat that bread? Yes, that bread is for the nourishment of all my children both great and little, but in divers manners; the great shall eat it in the form you see it; and because the little ones cannot eat it so: I will concoct it in my stomach and change it into my blood; and because they would have horror to take my blood in its own form, I will concoct it a second time, by the heat of my heart in the limbick of my breast: where it will become, white as snow, sweet as sugar, and liquid as wine. The Son of God in his Divinity is living bread, enlivening bread, the bread of Angels; The Celestial Spirits do not live, are not nourished, saciated, and happy but by seeing, loving, possessing, enjoying God. men also ought to be nourished with the same food: but in this mortal life, they are uncapable to enjoy God in his proper form, they cannot see him openly, and face to face; what hath the Son of God done, who compares himself in Scripture to a loving Mother? He incarnated this bread: this divine Word incorporated himself, and took the form of flesh and blood. And because men would have had fear and horror to eat his flesh and drink his blood in the form He was: He concocted this Bread a second time in the breast of this Sacrament, by the heat of his heart, by an ardent love He again transformed this Word, and clothed himself with the species of bread and wine, which are common and usual with us, to be the milk and nourishment of men, who are his little children. And as a mother giving her breast to an infant exposeth herself to many importunities, incommodities and pinches which he gives her; So our Saviour shut his Eyes to many considerations of his glory, and of his interest which might have hindered Him from instituting this Sacrament; He exposed himself to a thousand affronts which He receives, and will receive to the end of the world, from Heretics, bad Catholics, and vicious Priests, that communicate in the state of sin; and ●hough He be the Sovereign Purity, the essential Sanctity who abhors sin infinitely: yet is content to suffer all these injuries, rather than deprive his well beloved children of the happiness of this breast. 3. In the second place, this Sacrament is compared to milk in the manner 'tis to be received; It must be taken as children take the breast with faith, hunger, and familiarity. 4. An infant takes the breast with shut eyes: he examines nothing, but sucks the breast trusting to his mother▪ a Dissenrer proposes questions as the Capharnaits: how can this man gives us his flesh Psal. 130. to eat? How can so great a body be contained in so little a Host? If I am not humble, and if I exalt my Soul, I shall be like to an infant that is weaned from the breast, said the royal Prophet. This happens to a Dissenter; he exalts his Soul, thinking that he hath much of knowledge and understanding: he examines the power of the Omnipotent, and will find that to be impossible which our Saviour said: and he is weaned from this sacred breast. Catholics as humble, simple, docible children, trust the Church their Mother, who neither can, nor would if she could deceive them; they silence senses, and shut the eyes of fallible reason, to open only those of infallible Faith. 5. They that have a lively faith of that which is contained in this Sacrament, have a great appetite to it, an earnest desire of it, and therefore they reap incredible fruits from it. The Virgin said in her canticle, God fills the hungry with good things, Such as approach to him with a Spiritual greediness and avidity. see, says S. chrysostom, with what readiness a little infant takes the teat, with what force he joins himself to the breast: you would think that Hom 60. add pop. he would thrust himself into the breast of his mother: or that he would suck out the heart and soul of his nurse; and if he be one only day without this refection, he is wholly unquiet, troublesome, and insupportable. Do the same, says this holy Doctor: go to the Body of JESUS amorously, ardently; and greedily, as if you would lodge yourself in the sacred side of JESUS, unite yourself to Him, heart to heart, soul to soul, essence to essence, and transform yourself wholly unto Him: and when by your fault you are deprived of this divine refection, be sorry and troubled, as having suffered a great loss. 6. And after you have had the happiness to receive, make good use of it. This Sacrament hath a permanent Being, and remains as long as the species in the stomach, that JESUS may have leisure to convers with us, and we with Him. We ought then to keep him company, to court and entertain him by acts of adoration, gratitude, love, oblation of ourselves, with resolution to serve Him well; we must believe He comes to us full of good will for us: that He desires nothing more than to fill us with goods, to embrace us, and to unite himself to us for ever; we must cast ourselves into his arms, as an infant into his mothers, put into his hand with great confidence our affairs, afflictions, salvation, and our family: o God I trust in you: you are infinitely good, you give yourself to me, you will give surely that which is much less. 7. The third conformity of the Eucharist with milk is in the manner of their operation. First this is proper to milk amongst other nourishments, that it is the whole feast and the entire refection of the infant? it Satisfys' hunger and thirst, and serves him for meat and drink; And this is also proper to the Eucharist, that in one only Species of it is contained the whole refection of the Soul: you are as well communicated and spiritually fed in taking the Host alone, as in receiving both Host and Chalice. 8. Here Dissenters think that they have a great advantage of us declaiming against our communion in one kind; But I see not how they can except against it: For whatsoever the protestant people do in receiving of this Sacrament, Catholics do or may do too, and what more ought to be done, the Catholic Church does it, and the Protestants do it not. must one feed upon Christ Crucified, by Faith; Catholics do it; must the Eucharist be taken in remembrance of Him and his Death and Passion? they do it; must the people drink wine out of a Cup? Catholic people do the like; and over and above this, they communicate the very Body of their Redeemer, animated with his Soul, full of blood, and hypostatically united to his Deity; this aught to be done, to the end we may have life in us: and Dissenters do it not. But since they desist not to cry out and say, that we deprive our people of the necessary means, which Christ hath left them for their Salvation: I must make you see, that the holy Scripture, the Fathers and Antiquity do authorise our practice. 9 What pretend you in communicating? Is it not to have eternal life? you will acquire right to it in receiving but the Host; for JESUS CHRIST said in most clear words, He that eats john 6. 51. and 58. Aug. tr. 27. in joan: of this bread shall live for ever. And before the murmuration of the Capharnaits, He spoke not of drinking his Blood, but of eating his Body only. He spoke not then of drinking his Blood, but to answer to the gross thought of the Capharnaits, and to tell them that they were not to eat his flesh separated from his blood dead, cut, and mangled, as S. Austin says they thought, but to eat his living Body full of blood. Nor did He command all men to drink of the chalice or cup when He said in S. Matthew, Drink ye all of this: For these words were not spoken to all men: nor to all the Faithful: But to all the Apostles, and to them all only: which is manifest out of the text itself; for what S. Matthew says was commanded to all, S. Mark relates to have been answerably performed by all: they drank all thereof; the second all is restrained to all the Apostles, to whom only He spoke these words, as also the other before and after, and who were then made Priests; what reason then is there to extend the former words farther than the Apostles? Christ himself gave most S. Luke 24. probably the Eucharist under one only species to the Disciples that went to Emaus: for He vanished, says S. Luke. as soon as they knew Him in breaking of the bread; which S. Hierome, S. Austin, 5. Hier. in Fp. Paulae ad Eusto. S. Aug. lib. 3. the consen. Evang. c. 25. Et Ep. 59 ad Paulinum S. Paulinus, V Bede and other Doctors do understand, and also prove to have been the holy Eucharist. And 'tis evident in S. Ambrose, in Eusebius, in S. Cyprian, and in Tertullian, that the primitive Church which would do nothing against the express command of Christ, did give it often to the faithful: did carry it in journeys: did send it to the absent, and to the sick in one only kind or species; and therefore they also held it to be, as milk, a whole, and entire refection. 9 Milk is given to an infant to nourish and make him grow; and the Eucharist was instituted to make the children of the Church to increase and thrive in Christian perfection; and therefore 'tis institituted under the species of bread, which nourishes, fortifies, and causes groweth. S. Ambr. orat. de fratre suo Satyro. Euseb. lib. 6. c. 36. S. Cyprian de lapsis. Tertull. lib. 2. ad uxor. 10. Milk hath this property that it communicates often to infants the humours, and the complexion of the Nurse; when the Poets describe a cruel man, they are not content to say, a rock hath brought him forth: but they add, that Tigers have given him suck. And the holy Canon's counsel mothers to nurse their own Children as much as may be, for fear that giving them to vicious persons, they suck with milk▪ the ill humours of the nurses; The Son of God is not content to bring us forth in Baptism: He himself gives the breast: He nourishes us with his own flesh, that He may communicate his own inclinations to us. He after communion said to his Disciples, That the world may know I love my Father, rise let us go, to suffer for his glory; So after communion we must examine ourselves: what service can I render to God? what can I do that may conduce to his honour? what is that in me or mine that displeases him, and which I may correct? if we use so this precious milk, it will make us grow in perfection: it will make us like to Him, who nourishes us with his own substance: it will give us his complexion and resemblance: and if we resemble Him on earth in the life of grace, we shall resemble Him in heaven in the life of glory. Amen. DISCOURSE XLVI. Of the Eucharist as a Sacrifice. SAcrifice is a worship so noble, and so proper to the Almighty, as none either in heaven or in earth may partake with him in it; So due to him, and so necessary for men, that every Law and Religion hath been still annexed with a correspondent Sacrifice; and Christians have all the reasons to honour God by it, the jews, and those of the Law of nature ever had. We are an extern and visible Congregation as they were; We have the passion of the Messiah to be represented before our eyes now with us past, as with them it was to come; we have the same God with the same worship to be honoured: for received benefits to be praised: for our sins to be appeased: for favours to be invocated. 2. Wherefore God promised us a Sacrifice by his Prophet Malachias: Malac. 1. 10. where rejecting the ancient Sacrifices, and speaking of the future time as present according to custom of the Prophets, said, From the rising of the sun, even to the going down, great is my Name amongst the gentills, and in every place is Sacrificed, and offered to my name a clean Oblation. He speaks not of the improper Sacrifice of contrition, and other good works, which according to Calvin and others are unclean; nor of the Sacrifice of the Cross, which was offered but in one place, and but once; and therefore the prophecy is not verifyd, but in the Eucharist: which is a true and proper Sacrifice, since there is effusion, or oblation of blood for remission of sins; This is the Chalice in my blood which is shed for you. A clèan Sacrifice: the Body and Blood of JESUS; Offered in all times and places, by virtue of these words of CHRIST: Do this in commemoration of me. And in effect, the Apostles did so, as it appears in the Acts; whilst they were ministering to our Lord Says S. Luke, the holy Ghost said, separate me Paul and Barnabas; that is, whilst they were sacrificing, for so the greek does signify, and so Erasmus does translate. The same hath been practised by their Successors ever since as Controvertists clearly show out of the holy Fathers. I will give you the words of three or four, who lived during the times of the four first General Councils, that you may see the belief and practice of those golden ages. S. Ambrose upon the 38th. Psalm says, Though CHRIST Sc Ambr. in Psal. 38. is not seen to offer now, yet He himself is offered upon earth: Nay He himself is manifested to offer in us, whose speech does sanctify the Sacrifice which is offered. S. Austin: Since we see this Sacrifice, foretold by Malachias, Aug lib. 18. the civet: Dei c. 35 offered to God in every place by the Priesthood of CHRIST according to the order of Melchisa●eck, and the Jews Sacrifice to cease, why do they yet expect another CHRIST. S. chrysostom the Oracle of the greek and eastern Church said, Because this Sacrifice is offered in many places, are there many Christ's? No: for as He who is offered every where, is one body, and not many bodies, so the Sacrifice is but one. Chrysost. hom 17. in ep. ad Heb. Nice. 1. can. 18. In fine the first most general Nicene Council complaining that in some particular Church's Deacons gave communion to Priests, made this Convincing determination. Neither Rule nor Custom hath delivered, that they who offer not, present the Body of CHRIST to them that offer. By which words 'tis evident the Fathers of this great Council believed, the Eucharist was not only a Sacrament, containing really the Body and Blood of JESUS CHRIST: But moreover a true and proper Sacrifice offered by Priests. 3. Would it not now grieve a Christian heart to see poor Catholics of England, so miserably harrassed, pillaged, imprisoned, hated, hanged by their own Allies and countrymen as they have been now a hundred years, for the profession of that great work of Christianity which Christ and his Apostles taught them; and that they should undergo the same disgrace and ruin by such as call themselves Christians, yea the only pure ones, for that very self same act of Religion, for which both the Apostles themselves and all primitive Christians were so cruelly persecuted by Jew and Pagan. But the God of mercies look in his good time upon our Persecutors favourably: because they do it ignorantly and in incredulity: and because they are the far greater Sufferers, being deprived of a Sacrifice so acceptable and glorious to God, and so profitable and necessary to men. 4. If we consider Him who offers; what He offers: and the manner in which he offers: we shall see that 'tis a Sacrifice exceedingly glorious and pleasing to God. For in this oblation the principal Offerer and Sacrificer is JESUS CHRIST, the object of his Father's complacence, and the subject of his most tender loves, who is equal to him in Greatness to whom He Sacrifices; You are a a Priest for ever according to the order of Melchisedeck Psal. 109 Heb. 5. 6. Gen 14. 18. says the Royal Prophet, and S. Paul speaking of our Saviour: because He offers continually by Priests unbloody Sacrifice, under the species and forms of bread and wine: which were the offerings of Melchisedeck. The Priest is but his instrument and Minister: when he says, This is my Body: it is evident, that the Priest Speaks not of his own body, but of that of JESUS CHRIST; and seeing he says not, This is the body of JESUS CHRIST, But, this is my Body: 'tis clear by this, that it is not properly he that speaks, but 'tis JESUS that speaks by his mouth, who of the things proposed makes his Body and Blood, says S. Chriysostom. Hom. de Tradit: judae, 5. That which he offers is not dead and corruptible flesh of Lambs or other things, as the ancient Sacrifices, which were not pleasing to God in themselves, nor in their substance, as too base to be the objects of his delights: but only pleased Him, as they were figures, shadows, and representations of the Victim of this Sacrifice, which is the precious flesh of the man-God, Deifyd flesh, living, and enlivening, holy and Sanctifying flesh: flesh united to the Divinity, subsisting with the Divine nature in the Person of the Word. 6. The manner in which He offers it is admirable, and gives to God the greatest Glory; It is offered as a most perfect holocaust: since in this Sacrifice God is perfectly honoured as the Sovereign Author of all Being; for the man-God losing in honour of his Father the Sacramental Being which He hath here, shows that God produced Him: hath right to destroy Him: and suffers no loss in his destruction. He honours the justice of his Father, in that He avows He hath deserved death, and annihilation for the sins of men, for whom He made himself a Propitiatour. He honours his mercy, in that He transferred upon his innocent son the debts of criminal servants; and in that He accepts the sacrifice of his precious Body, and mystical effusion of his Blood, instead of the true and real death that we deserve. He honours Him as the last end: for losing the Being which He hath here, to honour Him: He shows, that he holds it for the greatest happiness and felicity, if his Father thinks it fit, to be annihilated for his service. 7. This august Sacrifice being so glorious, and pleasing to God cannot fail to be extremely profitable and advantageous to men. 'tis a magasin of Spiritual treasures, which furnishes us where with to satisfy the great abligations we have to God; 'tis a most powerful means to obtain of him all favours necessary for our souls and bodies: 'tis a Host of praise, and an Eucharistical Sacrifice: 'tis an impetratory Host, and propitiatory Oblation. Isaiah said, if one should make a fire with all the wood of mount Libanus: Isay. 46. 16. and should burn in Sacrifice all the beasts that feed on it in acknowledgement of God's Benefits, all that would not be enough; He said true: but he said not all: for we may add, if we should make a fire with all the fuel in the world: and all men and Angels should be therein consumed for the honour of God. all that would not suffice to acknowledge worthily the favours He hath done us. But when we offer to God the precious Body of his Son: we render him that which doth counterpoise all Benefits He hath done not only to poor sinners upon Earth: but moreover to Saints in Heaven. 8. This Host of praise being presented to God in thanksgiving for favours, obtains other: If you shall ask, says our Saviour any john 16 23. thing of my Father in my name, He will give it you; We cannot better ask of God any favour in the name of JESUS, then having Him with us, upon our Altars, in our hands, and within us; The Clemency of God will have regard to the love He hath for Him: to the sacred Oblation you present to him: and hearken to the petitions you make by him. Have you much offended God, deserved his justice and his anger? Do you fear the effects of his vengeance? Dare you not appear in his presence by reason of the enormity of your crimes? Take into your company the Heir of heaven, the beloved of the eternal Father: assist at Mass devoutly: offer to the Father the precious Body which is there Sacrificed, the blood which there is poured forth, the Passion which there is represented: and you will appease his anger, and He will hearken to your requests; For it was for this chief that Christ instituted this Sacrifice, to be the sacred Victim which appeases the wrath of God, as he declares in Saint Luke. when you are in the state of sin, if mass be said, S. Luke 22. 20. for you, or if you assist at it, this obtains of God actual graces, lights, and good motions, to enter into yourselves, to quit the sin, and to convert yourselves to God, if you resist not the Summons of his graces; when you are in the state of grace, Part of the merits, sufferances, and satisfactions of JESUS CHRIST, are applied to you, to acquit your debts, and to diminish the pains due to your sins. 9 But suppose you are not indebred to the justice of God: the poor souls in Purgatory are: and you may help them much by making a mass to be said, or by hearing one for them. For 'tis not in vain, says S. chrysostom that the Apostles ordained that in the dreadful Mysteries we make a memory of the dead; for they knew, that by it arrived to them great benefit. And S. Cyrill of Jerusalem, S. Chry. tom. 3 in Ep▪ ad Philip. S. Cyrill Catech. Mystag. 5 Paulo ante medium. Aug. lib. 9 Confess. C 35. we beseech God for the dead, believing the obsecration of that holy and dreadful sacrifice which is put upon the Altar to be a great kelp to the souls for which 'tis offered. Wherefore S. Augustine in his Confessions prays God to inspite the Bishops and the Priests of his acquaintance to remember his Father and Mother at the Altar. 10 Having then seen how acceptable and glorious this Sacrifice is to God: how beneficial both to the living and the dead; fail not to assist at as many masses as you may; hear them as devoutly as you can; Offer them in the first place to God, to do homage to your Sovereign, to render him your respects and humble submissions, to pay him the tribute of honour and service which you own him. Secondly; to thank him for an infinity of most great and inestimable benefits, you have received from him: benefits in soul. benefits in body, benefits of nature, grace, spiritual and temporal: Thirdly to appease Him, and to ask pardon of Him for jnnumerable sins you have committed: and to gain his favour, represent to Him the love which his Son had for Him, the zeal which He had for his glory, the service He hath done Him: offer and lay before Him, the Mysteries of his Incarnation, Nativity, Circumcision, his life, labours, and Passion. this is that which S. Paul calls obsecrations. Fourthy, beg light and guidance in your actions: succour and assistance in temptations: love and grace to keep his commandments: and all that is necessary, as well for the spiritual as the temporal; and you should do all these duties not only for your family, but also for others. If you assist at mass so: you will not receive only the many and great advantages of it in this life: but moreover reap the fruits of the Mysteries which the Mass represents to you, and which glory discovers to the Blessed in the other. Amen. DISCOURSE XLVII. OF THE THREE PARTS OF PENANCE. 1. AMongst many expressions which the holy Ghost uses in the scripture, to make us conceive the malign and monstrous nature of sin, one of the most natural, is the comparison of an imposthume. An imposthume is a corruption of flesh and blood in our bodies, which makes a stinking smell; sin is a corruption of reason, and of virtue in our souls, which cause a stink unsupportable to God and his Angels; They are corrupted, and made abominable says the Royal Prophet. All Surgeons will tell you, and daily experience Psal. 13. 1. shows it, that to cu●e an imposthume, three things are necessary. First, it must be cut with a lancet; secondly the corruption must be forced out; in the third place, it must be bound up, oils and unguents being applied to it. Such like are the three parts of penance so often repeated, and so ill practised; Contrition is the cut of the lancet; Confession is that which brings out the corruption; Satisfaction is the application of the unguents and binder's. These are the 3. Acts necessary to cure the spiritual, but horrible imposthume of sin, of which I shall treat in this Discourse; In which omitting the Questions of Scholasticks I propose only Verities drawn out of Scripture, and Councils of the Church. 2. First than it is certain, that 'tis absolutely necessary to repent after sin: that without repentance, there is no pardon, no grace of God, no hope of salvation, whatsoever Confession, or Satisfaction you do make: whatever absolution is given you: Whatsoever indulgence or jubily is granted you. If you want this repentance, also without your fault: though also you think you have it, if you have it not in effect, there is no Sacrament nor absolution profitable. And certainly Absolution is not more efficacious: and requires not less disposition than Baptism; But to receive profitably Baptism, if we be in mortal sin, we must have sorrow for it; for in the second and third chapter of the Acts, S. Peter having made a powerful predication, and his Auditors being moved, inquired of him: what ought we to do, to obtain pardon of our sins? He answered, do Penance, and receive Baptism. The Council of Trent assures us, that penance hath been in all times necessary, to obtain pardon of sins. And this is so certain that Divines conclude, that a Martyr, a man that goes to suffer death for the Faith of JESUS CHRIST, if he remember that he is in mortal sin, is obliged to make a formal and express Act of penance: and that in defect of it his Martyrdom will avail him nothing. With more reason this formal act of penance is absolutely necessary to receive absolution; For the councils declare that the Acts of the Penitent are the matter of this Sacrament, without which the Sacrament subsists not, and is null; and amongst these acts, the first, the principal, and most essential is repentance. And hence it comes, that 'tis a great Sin, and Sacrilege to confess without sorrow, though you have but venial sins: it would be much better, if you have no other, to say our Lord's prayer, and to communicate without confession, than to confess without repentance. 3. Now since it is not so easy to have in your heart true sorrow and regret for daily defects, and a sincere and effective purpose to amend these venial sins: take this counsel, worthy to be put in practice; if you have but these lesser sins, add to the end of your confession some great sin of your past life, for which you have more sorrow and repentance; in this case the absolution will fall upon that sin, not upon the venial sins, of which you have no sorrow, or true purpose of amendment. 4. Secondly the Council of Trent does teach us that this imperfect sorrow which is called Attrition ought to be supernatural, it must be a gift of God, and a motion of the holy Ghost And in the first Canon of the sixth session, they pronounce Anathema against all that shall dare say, a man without the prevening inspira ration of the holy Ghost; can believe, hope, love, and repent as be aught, to receive the grace of justification. 5. This Doctrine condemns the practice of those, Who use great diligence in examining their conscience: but little or none, in procuring convenient sorrow; That is good and necessary: but This is the more important; if you fail in that a little, a good confessor may supply by ask and examining you; but if you have not this: none can give it you: it belongs to God only to bestow it on you: and you ought to employ time, care, affection, and fervour to obtain it. 6. In the third place, the Council declares, that supernatural Attrition, ss. 14. c. 4. leaves us in the state of sin, if it be not actually followed by the absolution of a Priest. If you are surprised by the Article of death in the state of mortal sin, having Attrition only, it avails you nothing to use all diligence to have one, if in effect he comes not and absolves you; dying you are lost: doubt not of it, for 'tis on Article of Faith. You will say: God never obliges to a thing impossible: shall I be damned for want of absolution, since it was not my fault, having used all possible means to have it? I answer: you shall not be damned for any sin you commit, in that you are deprived of absolution: but you shall be, for the precedent sin, of which you cannot have a remedy, but by perfect Contrition, or by Attrition with absolution. And this is not only the doctrine of the Council of Trent, and present Church: it was the belief of the primitive Christians: as may be seen in the 180. Epistle of S Augustin. 7. But to receive this necessary Absolution and cure from your spiritual Physician, you must open your infirmity to him; when you have lanced your heart with sharp Contrition or Attrition: you must make all the corruption of mortal sins issue out of it, by an entire Confession. 8. Some say: 'Tis not necessary to confess all to a Sinner: 'tis impossible to declare this sin: but I will have true repentance of it, give alms, and do great penances, and God will pardon me. Deceive not yourselves: God will not be a liar, to be merciful S. john. 22. to you; He said to Priests, whose sins you shall remit, are remitted: And whose you shall retain are retained. The sins which you know you have committed, and declare not to a Priest, are not remitted by him; and if he remits them not, they are retained, and God will never pardon them. This hath ever been the sense of the Universal Church; She always understood, that in those words of JESUS CHRIST, which contain the institution of this Sacrament, was instituted also and commanded an entire confession of mortal sins, as the Council of Trent declared. Wherefore S. Austin preaching to sinners said, flatter not your selves, ss. 14. c. 5 S. Aug. hom. 49. ex. 50. Say not I confess in my heart, I confess to God; this is not enough: for so in vain the Son of God would have said to Priests: All that you shall unbind on earth shall be unbound in heaven. And in effect, who would go to Priests, if by confessing to God alone they could obtain remission? And again, Be thou sorrowful before Confession: Confess, let all the matter and putrefaction run out in Confession: now exult, and rejoice, that which remains, will easily be healed. 9 By this we may understand; why so many confess, and so few are amended: why so many receive this Sacrament, and so few profit by it? One great reason is, that many make not a true, perfect, and entire Confession. This defect hinders the operation of so great a Caus, and makes the Sacrament invalid or unprofitable. It happens either through negligence, ignorance, or shame. 8. First through negligence; They examine, and Confess only the actions which they have done, and not those which they ought to do, and have not done; they confess the sins of their person: and not those of their condition: sins which they committed: and not those which others committed by their occasion. 9 Secondly, through Ignorance: For they must not think to be excused saying, I have not confessed such sins; because I thought not to do ill; if you omit any sin through gross ignocance, or through culpable blindness, God says to you in the scripture, If you know not, you shall not be known. Because thou hast 1. Cor. 14. 38. Osee, 4. 6. repelled knowledge, I will repel thee. If this ignorance or blindness be in you because you pray not God enough to enlighten you, and make you know what displeases him; or because you have thrust yourself into an office, of which you are uncapable: or because you hear not sermons, nor read good books, which may instruct you: nor desire that any one should tell you your faults, you are not excused in the sight of God, for not confessing them. 10. Thirdly through shame; which makes us to conceal voluntarily some sin, most perniciously, and criminally: This want of integrity is pernicious: since the Wiseman says, He that hides Prov. 28. 13. his sin cannot be corrected, nor directed in the way of Salvation. How can a Physician cure an infirmity hidden and unknown? and how can the infirm be directed in the way of health, when he hath not yet begun the way? For the beginning of a good life is a confession of the evil, says S. Austin. It is likewise most criminal: for 'tis not only in its self a great crime: but makes you to commit many other Sacrileges afterward in Confessions: Sacrileges in communions: and sins upon sins: which will cast you into despair, and into the mouth of hell. But if you submit to the humiliation and shame which you have merited, and confess entirely: you rejoice the the Angels, and your Confessors with them: you please the Son of God, who desires nothing more, than to pardon those, who being penitent confess perfectly their sins. 11. Let us come to Satisfaction, which is the third part of penance, and necessary to satisfy the justice of God, and to complete the cure of our souls. For true penance is not that which the Calvinists do say; perfect penance is not only that, which many Catholics do think. Calvinists say, that to do penance is to leave sinning and to amend one's life. This is necessary: but it suffices not. many Catholics think, to do penance, is to be sorrowful for sins, to confess them to a Priest, receive absolution, and to say a few prayers; All this is necessary: but 'tis not enough. To do entire and perfect Penance, which appeases God, averts his anger, regains his favours, and delivers us from the dreadful effects of sin: we must satisfy the justice of God, by humble and fervent prayers, by austerities and painful works, according to the multitude, enormity and diversity of our offences. For as often as the holy scripture speaks of penance, it makes mention of works which afflict the flesh, mortify sensuality, and which are contrary to self love. In joel, Convert yourselves to me in fasting, and in weeping, and in joel. 2. 12. Matt. 11. 2. Cor. 7. 11. S. Aug. lib. 50. hom hom. ult. C. ult. mourning. In S. Matthew: If in Tyre and Sydon had been wrought the miracles that have been wrought in you, they had done penance in haircloth and in ashes long ago. And S. Paul says, The sorrow which is according to God, works in us revenge: by which we punish sin in our own selves. Wherefore S. Austin tells us, That 'tis not enough to change the evil life into a better, and to departed from past sins, if we do not satisfy God, by the regrets of penance, by humble groans, by fasts, and by Alms. 12. The primitive Christians were so firmly persuaded of this Verity, that to avoid the Vengeance of God, and to satisfy his justice, they willingly submitted to public Penance: in which they endured so many humiliations, mortifications, and confusions that it would seem incredible, were it not attested by so great authority, that we may not doubt of it. 13. I know well, that those rigorous observances are not now in use; nevertheless they show what was the sentiment of those great Saints, who were the Disciples of the Apostles, or the Disciples of their Disciples: who had the spirit of God: who read the Scriptures day and night: who propagated the Church and watered it with their sweat and blood. Those observances make known, that 'tis not so easy to appease God, and to obtain full pardon, as we imagine: and that we we must employ ordinarily more than one hour, one day, or week, to regain his ancient favours, and what we lost by sin. 14. And to know that the present Church retains the Spirit of the primitive: read the Council of Trent, and you will see the Father's Ss. 24, de Refor c. 8. order public penance to be imposed for public crimes, if the Bishops dispense not with it. And in the 14th. ss. chap. 8. they declare to Priests if through timerousness, or too much condescendence, and humane respects, they give little penance for great crimes, they make themselves partakers of the sins of others. See if we are not in great danger, and if we have not great reason to fear, that we shall fall into the dreadful hands of God? What quarrels, what drunkennesses, what scandals are committed daily? And what great penances are imposed for so many, so great, and enormous Crimes? 15. But behold a doctrine of great Consolation, which the Council of Trent does teach us. 'Tis that we may Satisfy the divine justice, not only by the penances which the Confessor imposes: Ss. 14. C. 9 not only by the prayers, fasts, alms, austerities, and mortifications which we assume voluntarily of ourselves: but moreover by all the humiliations and aflictions that befall us, if we receive them as we ought. When then God vouchsafes to send you Crosses and afflictions: receive them, not only with patience and resignation, but with joy and thankfulness: kiss the hand that chastises you: and adore the Justice that punishes you in this world to spare you in the other. Say with the Prophet Micheas▪ Iram Domini portabo quoniam peccavi ei. I will suffer the anger of God, Micheas C. 7. 9 I will endure willingly this affliction: I will pardon them that afflict me, for the love of God, and for penance for my sins, since I have been So rash as to offend Him. 16. Let us conclude this Discour● with the words of the beloved Disciple: Haec Scribo vobis ut non peccetis; Be very careful that you offend not God: 'tis the greatest evil that can befall you; as often as you consent to a mortal sin, you put yourself in danger of damnation; for you may die in this state without absolution. You imagine that in this occasion you are secure of your salvation, provided that you have time to say, my God I ask you pardon! you deceive yourself; for if you cannot have a Priest: you must necessarily have perfect contrition: and this is most hard and rare; And if you have a Priest, it helps you nothing without Attrition: and you cannot have Attrition of yourself: 'tis necessary that God do give it you by his powerful grace: and He owes you not this grace: you have demerited it by your sin: He hath not promised it to you: and hath refused it to many. But if by humane frailty you have sinned, and averted yourself from God: beg instantly and humbly his grace through the merits of JESUS CHRIST to return to Him by a true Conversion; Return by true sorrow for having offended a most adorable, most amiable, and most dreadful Majesty; Return by an humble, sincere, and entire confession; Return by a satisfaction of Prayers Fasts, and Alms; you will be delivered from a most dangerous malady: from a most infamous servitude: from the sentence of eternal death. You will recover sanctifying grace: the gifts of the holy Ghost: the merits of your goods works; the Angels will rejoice upon it in heaven: the Faithful will be edifyd upon earth: Devils will rage's for envy in hell. The eternal Father will adopt you for his child: the Son will make you one of his members: the holy Ghost will dwell in you as in his Temple; The B. Trinity will adorn you with a triple Crown: they will make you happy by Beatifical Vision, by perfect Fruition, and by possession of eternal Goods Amen. DISCOURSE XLVIII. of Purgatory 1. Though there be but one only Church in the world; yet this may be divided into three Parts or Orders, which according to their divers conditions, bear different names and Titles. That which reigns with God in Heaven, and happily passed from the Combat to the Victory, and from Victory to Triumph, is called the Triumphant Church. That which fights yet upon Earth, and environed with Devils and with Sinners, labours to vanquish the one, and to convert the other, is called Militant; And that which Expiates its sins in the flames of Purgatory, and satisfys the justice of God by the greatness of its pains, is called Suffrante. Of this I shall now treat; and that the Living and the Dead may reap profit by this Discourse: I divide it into two Parts. In the first I will show that there is a Purgatory in which souls do suffer. In the second, we will see, by what means we may and aught to help those poor souls. 2. Beati mortui qui in Domino moriuntur; Blessed are they who die in our Lord: who die so perfect in Faith and Charity: who depart Apoc. 14. 13. hence so purged by true and entire Penance, that they are free from all spot of sin: and not liable to any punishment due to it; But they that are not so pure and clean, as so many are not, must necessarily feel the severity of God's justice, which leaves no sin unpunished, and must be purged, before they can be blessed: as Scriptures, Fathers, and reason make evident to every vnbyassed understanding. In the second Book of the Maccabees we read, that judas Machabeus that valiant Champion, who was high Priest or chief Bishop of the Church, and Defender of the true Faith and Religion sent 12. thousand Drachmas to Jerusalem that sacrifice might be offered for the Dead; And the Author of the book concludes It is a holy and salutary cogitation to pray for the dead that they may be delivered from their sins. And this was the general practice of the Church, as appears by their set form of Office for the Dead in their book Mahzor, translated and set forth by Bishop Genebrard. Munster. and Fagius in Annot. upon. 14. of Deut Whitaker lib. 1. count Dureum fo● 81. 1. Ep. c. 4. This custom is yet observed by the jews: which is so evident, that Protestants themselves confess it. S. Peter in the new Testament furnishes us with a strong proof of Purgatory in the third chapter of his first Epistle: He teaches us, that the Son of God descended, and Preached to them that were in prison, who had been incredulous sometime in the days of Noah. This passage cannot be applied to the Fathers that were detained in Limbo. nor to the damned that were locked up in hell. For the first never were incrudulous, as were those to whom the Son of God did speak. The second deserved not that JESUS CHRIST should preach, or Evangelize as the text says good news to them, or should mitigate their torments by the happiness of his presence: Since according to the Scripture, in hell there is no redemption. It remains then that He speaks of the Souls in Purgatory, and of those particularly, that gave not credit to the preaching of Noah: who nevertheless being moved by the deluge, and by the present peril, called upon God, and converted themselves to him by penance; But to Expiate the pains due to their sins, were doomed to prison, and to punishment until the coming of the Redeemer: who preached to them the grace of Redemption: drew them out of prison, and led them with Him into Heaven. S, Paul says, That he who upon the foundation of faith makes a building 1. cor. 3. 12. of Gold, silver, and precious stones, That is, of solid and perfect virtues, He shall receive reward; but he that hath made a building of wood, hay, stubble, that is of imperfections or venial sins, Aug. in Psal. 37. Psal. 6, shall be saved, but by fire, S. Austin explicates of Purgatory this text, and citys moreover to the same purpose these words of David; Lord reprove me not in your fury, and correct me not in your anger. Lord, says David, according to the explication of Saint Austin, permit me not to be of the number of those, to whom you will say, Go ye accursed into Eternal fire: and purify me in this life so, that I may not need to be purged by the fire that corrects those lib. de Monog: c. 10. who shall be saved. Tertullian in the second age of the Church speaking of the devotions of Widows of his time, says, that every year on the anniversary of their husband's death, they made offerings for them, and that they prayed God to give them refreshment; they believed then that they were in pains. We might allege many other ancient Fathers; But there is no need to cite them, since lib. 3. Institut c. 5. n. 10. Calvin himself confesseth, that the holy Fathers who lived a 1300 years before his time prayed for the Dead: and that which he answers to this is, the ancient Fathers were men, who were deceived: as if he were an Angel or rather a God that could not Err, But if we should have nither Scripture nor Tradition for this Verity: yet common sense would teach it. For let us suppose that there is a man, as there may be, who having committed blasphemies murders, adulteries, and other sins in great number, and being upon his deathbed, reputes, converts himself to God, and dies; whither shall his soul go? Not to hell; for God never rejects a contrite and humbled heart: and He hath promised mercy to all that shall convert themselves by true and sincere penance. Shall he go straight to heaven, and as straight as one that hath served God well, and kept his commandments all his life? what appearance of it? and where would be the verity of this word of S. Paul a man shall reap that which he hath sown. where would be Gal. 6. Psal. 61 Rom. 2. 6. Apoc. 22 Matt. 16. the truth of this, which the Royal Prophet, the Apostle, the Evangelist, and our Saviour himself hath said, God will render to every one according to his works? We need not but consider what is God, and what is sin, to avow a Purgatory in which an imperfect soul is purifyd before she may, or would be pesented to God, who is Purity itself. 3. Wherefore a soul in Purgatory murmurs not: she complains not of too much rigour: on the contrary she embraces and suffers those torments voluntarily: she knows how disagreeable she is to the Sanctity and Purity of God: that she is a debtor to his justice: and that she deserves those torments: she desires the justice of God should have its course: and as she loves God more than her own self: she is glad, the injury done to his Majesty is revenged, also at her own cost; she will remain in that prison until her debt be entirely paid, either by her own sufferances: or by the satisfactions and suffrages of others. 4. For we may aid those poor afflicted souls; they are in communion of spiritual goods with us: they are members of the same mystical Body, children of the same Church, Citizens of the same City; and there is such an union, such a sympathy, and communication betwixt members of the same Body, children of the same family, inhabitants of the same City, that we cauterize a member that is well, to cure that which is ill: that the labour of a child of a family profits his brother who labours not: that one citizen ss. 25. in Decret: de purge. can pay debts and satisfy for another. We can then help these souls, especially in three manners. First by Prayers, as the Council of Trent declares. For a good and devout prayer, is not only meritorious to him that makes it, but also impetratory and satisfactory for others. Secondly, by the Sacrifice of Mass; for this is the most See Dis. XLVI. n. 9 Toby. 4. 18. profitable suffrage, that can be offered to God for the help of the dead, as not only the aforesaid Council, but also the Fathers of the primitive Church declare. Thirdly by Alms. Venerable Toby said to his son, Put your bread and wine upon the Tomb of the just; because in that time the Poor assembled in Cemeteries or Churchyards, and alms of bread and wine were given them, for the souls departed; He says, upon the Tomb of the just: because alms given for souls that are in hell, avail them not: but those that departed out of this world in the state of grace they profit much. wherefore S. Austin reproved the avaricious, who excused themselves from such alms, by the great Aug. lib de decem cordis. c. 12. number of their children: when we said he, reprehend you for your avarice▪ you say, that if you give not so much as you desire, 'tis because you have many children: It is a falls pretence wherewith you mask your avarice. For if one of your children die, are you more charitable than you were? if you keep your goods for them you would send a part to him: he hath now more need of it then ever. But if you have not means to give alms for the poor souls, secure them by other works. 5. All virtuous actions done in the state of grace, and especially the painful, if Offered for the dead, give them great refreshment. But those comfort them most, of which they are the Cause either by their instructions, or by their good examples. For Divinity ●eaches us, that if we are the cause of any good as often as 'tis done after our death, our accidental glory in heaven is increased: and if we are in purgatory, our torments are diminished; as on the contrary, our pains there are augmented, if any sin be committed by our bad example. 6. Let us give ear then to the doleful lamentations of those poor souls who implore our help; Meseremini mei Miseremini mei, Saltem vos amici mei; Have pity on me, have pity on me, at least you who are my friends; she says twice, Have pity on me; Have pity on me. Lest you increase my pains! Have pity on me, to ease me in my sufferances? Have pity: Be touched with compassion of so great miseries; For judgement without mercy shall be done to him who shall not S. james 2. 13. have done mercy; But on what will you exercise mercy, but on misery; and what greater misery then that of a poor creature, who owes very much, and is pursued and pressed by a rigorous justice, and hath not wherewith to pay? What greater misery then that of a poor soul, upon whom the revenging hand of the Omnipotent is laid? then of a poor soul, in torments so Excessive, that if a dog should be so tormented, it would move you to compassion? Of me: a soul created to the image of God, redeemed by the precious blood of JESUS, marked with his character: embellished with his graces: designed to his glory; He will say in judgement: I have been thirsty, and you have given me drink: I have been Matt, 25 35. in prison, and you have visited me: I have been naked, and you have clothed me: I have been a stranger, and you have received me into your house; You do all these good works of charity, if you deliver a poor Soul out of Purgatory; you are the cause that she is satiated with a torrent of pleasute; you redeem her out of a very obscure and painful prison: you clothe her with the stole of glory: and you make her to be received and lodged in heaven. At least you: who are the cause, or occasion that this soul is in pain, have pity on her: you have made her to offend God, by your impure words, by your bad examples, or by your solicitations; having so great part in the debt, will you not contribute to the satisfaction? At least you friends; what is become of the affection you testifyd to your friend? where are the offers of service? where are the protestations so often made that you would never abandon her? forget you her because she is separated from you: and turn you your back to her when she hath the greatest need of Succour? It appears now that you were a friend of fortune only▪ and the affliction of your friend, is the touchstone which shows the falness of your friendship. At least you my friends; your Ancestors have made themselves debtors to the justice God by the sins which they committed to leave you goods; will you be so ungrateful and so cruel as to refuse them a little part of them? you swim in delights and they are in torments: you rest in feathers, and they lie in flames: You complain not of a large refection you give to I know not whom and you refuse your afflicted mother a little dinner which you might send her by the poor. In fine, if you be so mercenary as to seek your interest in all your actions: remember that these poot Souls are in the gtace of God: must go to heaven: and you must one day succeed in their present place: and if you shall deliver them, they will not be ungrateful. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy; If you give an amls for a soul in Purgatory, you do at once two works of mercy; corporal mercy to the poor in want: and Spiritual to the soul in pains: you make the poor man your friend, and the poor soul your debtor; when you depart out of this world, they will remember your courtesy: will return you the like, and receive you into the eternal Tabernacles. Amen. DISCOURSE XLIX. of Extreme Unction. AN Ancient being asked, what is the touchstone of perfect amity? He answered wisely, that it is adversity; a true friend does as the heart: inclines always to the left side: and places more affection where he sees more affliction. JESUS then loves us with a sincere and cordial love, since He instituted a Sacrament expressly to comfort us, and to strengthen us in our last infirmity; when honours, dignities, offices, and riches fail us. Though this Verity be assured us both by the greek and Latin Church, as appears by the general Council of Florence in the Instruction of the Armenians, which was without contradiction admitted by the Grecians; Nevertheless, Dissenters endeavour to take from us this signal demonstration of Christ's Providence and love, and to deprive us of this powerful help in time of our greatest need. Wherefore in the first place I will show yet farther, that 'tis a true and proper Sacrament; in the second, the effects of it; and in the third, the dispositions we ought to have to receive it. 2. To evince the first, I need no other proof than the clear words of S. james: If any one be sick amongst you: let him bring in the Priests of the Church, and let them pray over him, anoiling him james. 5. 4. with oil in the name of our Lord. And the prayer of Faith shall save the sick: and our Lord will alleviate him, and if he be in sins, they shall be remitted him. Here we have all that Dissenters themselves require to the essence of a Sacrament: to wit an exterior sign or symbol: a promise of Grace: and divine institution; The exterior sign or Symbol, is Unction with oil and the prayer of Faith: the promise, is Alleviation of the sick, and remission of sins: and the institution thereof is gathered from the constant and firm promise of the Apostle: for he would not have promised so confidently and absolutely, had not our Lord instituted and commanded it. Innoc ●p. ad Decentium c. 8. Hence S. Innocent says expressy and clearly, that this Unction, is a Sacrament. declared by S. james, and therefore not given to them that are yet in penance, since the other Sacraments are refused them. This Testimony of antiquity shall suffice, since the Epistle is certain: He an ancient, learned, holy man, wonderfully commended by S. Austin, S. Hierome, and S. chrysostom, and never reprehended by any of the Ancient for teaching the Unction of sick to be a Sacrament. Wherefore the Magdeburgenses prove by this Testimony, that Christians of the fift age had a custom to anoint their Magd●bur. Cent. 5. c. 6 S. Aug. in speculo. et ser. 215▪ Cyrysost, lib. 3. de sacerd. Origen. hom Z. ●n Levit. sick. But they did not hold it as a pious custom only, but as a necessary duty: for S. Austin, S. Chysostome, Origen, and other Fathers expressly tell us, that the words of S. james appertain to us: rhat Christians ought to do now, and in all times, what this Apostle writes concerning the infirm; And you will avow they had great reason, if you consider with me the admirable and saving effects of this Sacrament, which are naturally represented by the effects of olive oil, and expressed by the words of the Apostle, 3. First he Says, the Prayer of Faith shall save the sick; This Sacrament saves his soul, by giving grace and force to withstand the terrors and temptations of the enemy in the hour of death. For 'tis then he plays his planks and applies all his forces to tempr us more furiously as the holy Fathers tell us; because he sees his time is short: and that we are least able to resist, when through the greatness of pains we can hardly lift up our minds to God. Sometimes he sets upon us as a Lion, with violence: Othertimes as a Dragon, laying snares to entrap us; he tempts us to infidelity, suggesting apparent reasons against Faith: to Presumption, and to confidence in ourselves: or to despair and diffidence in the mercy of God: exagerating the rigour of his justice: the grievousness and great number of our sins: the little or no penance we have done: he tempts us to impatience in the rigour or length of the disease: to murmuration against God: to fear and diffidence in his Providence, 'tis then that Friends should aid you powerfully by servant prayers; 'tis then that Confessors should assist, and especially the Poor; for their souls are at least as dear and precious to JESUS as those of the Rich; the rich have generally Domestics, or friends that can exhort them, and that have leisure to help them to die well; the Poor have them not, nor such provision of good thoughts, instructions, and spiritual arms as the Rich, by the advantage of their education and their 1. Pet. 5. reading. The infernal wolf who roves about seeking whom he may devour, sleeps not in this occasion: the Pastor than ought to be vigilant and present in a time of so great importance; the gift of gifts: the grace of graces, the most precious and desirable, is final perseverance; with out this grace, all the other benefits serve for nothing. In effect what will it profit me to have been created▪ redeemed, and justified, if I die not in the state of grace? and this Sacrament disposes me to persever in it. 4 In the second place the Apostle says, that God will alleviate the sick person or raise him up. For this Sacrament restores health of body to those who otherwise should die, if it be necessary or profitable to the salvation of the soul, as the holy Council of Trent, and before it that of Florence, assembled from all parts of the world, declare. This makes many Catholics subject to this reproach which the Scripture made to Asa king of juda: Neither in his infirmity did he seek our Lord, but rather trusted in the art of Physicians. There was not then in the Church a remedy instituted, for the cure of infirmities, as there is now: nevertheless the Scripture complains that he made recours to Physicians rather than to God: how much more will He complain of them who recur not to the Sacrament which JESUS hath left us: a remedy so easy and so commodious: but in the utmost extremity, when they can do no more? And when you expect the Agony to receive, or make this Sacrament to be received, you put yourselves in danger to be prevented by death, which happens too often and the fault is irreparable, moreover when you receive it so late, having not the use of reason, and knowing not what is done to you, you receive it less fruitfully: since you have not actual devotion, which would dispose you to receive it more worthily, answering to the prayers of the Priost, joining yours with his, exercising acts of Faith, Hope, Charity, and of other virtues which the Sacrament excites; And it would restore also health of body more effectually; for when you are in, or near your agony, and dispaired of by Physicians, if the Sacrament should repair your force and strength, this would be a miracle, which God, who disposes allthings sweetly does not usually or without necessity. But if you receive it sooner, He would dispose second causes by the secrets of his providence to renew your health, in case He should judge it necessary for your salvation. 6. The third effect which the Apostle atributes to this Sacrament, is the remission of sins: And if he be in sins, they shall be remitted him; He says expressy, If he be in sins: because he supposes, the Sick hath already received Penance, and that by absolution his sins have been remitted. But if he hath not rightly accomplished Confession and Communion, and knows it not: or if by humane frailty he hath committed a mortal sin after his Confession, and is ignorant of it: such remainders, with all venial sins, would be remitted, and a good part of the temporal punishment due to them relaxed by this Sacrament. If then we are deprived of it by our fault: or if we receive the Sacrament unfruitfully: or if by our negligence a Soul departed out of this world without receiving the grace of it, 'tis a great fault, and God does make this complaint of it, The wound is not sured, nor mollifyd with oil. 7. S. Bernard writes, that S. Malachy was entreated to visit and Vitâ S. Malach. carry the holy oils to a Gentlewoman dying near his monastery, who so rejoiced in the presence of the holy Prelate, that she seemed to be quite revived; she demanded the Sacrament; but the Assisstant seeing her so changed, desired the Prelate to forbear; The Saint condescended to their request: and returned with the holy oils. No sooner he arrived at the Monastery but he heard the Cries of divers, who said that she was dead; he runs, and comes to her and finds her dead; Behold him in the greatest sorrow, in lamentations, tears, groans, and complaints of himself, for a fault whereof he was not guilty. 'tis my fault Lord, 'tis my fault; since she desired it, I should not have deferred it; he protests to all the Assistants, that he will weep in consolably: that is Soul should never rest, till he had restored to the dead, the grace which she had lost. he remains by the corpse, and instead of holy Oil, waters it all night with his precious tears. This holy water frightens and puts death to flight: for the next morning the dead opened her eyes, as if she had been wakened out of sleep: then sits up, and making a low inclination to the Bishop, says, The prayer of faith hath saved the infirm. By which you see how solicitous we should be to receive the effects, and reap the fruits of this Sacrament. 8. And to reap them with full hands, and in abundance: we must receive it with necessary dispositions; and 'tis certain that Sacramental Confession must, if possible, precede it: because this Sacrament is one of those which Divines call Sacramenta Vivorum, that is, which ought not to be received, but by the faithful, who are already in the life of grace. I say, if possible; for if one should be so deprived by a sudden accident, that he cannot Confess: we must nevertheless, administer to him this Sacrament. But there are three other dispositions which a devout soul should have in receiving it. One in respect of God: another in respect of himself: and the third in respect of his neighbour. 9 First you must offer to God a sacrifice of your life, accepting death with resignation to his holy Will, with great submission to the Orders of his Providence: and to render honour and homage to his divine Perfections: and say: my God, I submit with all my heart to the sentence of death you have pronounced against me from the beginning of the world. I offer my life to you, to do homage to your Souveraintie and Justice; I acknowledge and protest that I have most justly deserved it, not only by teason of original sin: but as often as I have sinned in all my life. 10. He that is in this disposition of a Victim and a Holocaust in the sight of God: will have also the necessary spirit of humility, He will renounce all pride, ambition, vain glory, and ostentation: he will abhor the spirit of those vain souls; who disire passionately to be praised in gazettes, celebrated in histories, that their hearts or bodies be embalmed, put into leaden coffins, carried to the grave with pomp, with famous and magnificent obsequies, and funeral discourses; who build for themselves or make to be built high and glorious tombs: who fix their names and arms upon the walls of Churches, and cause Epitaphs to be composed Aug. lib. 9 confess. c. 13. in their praises. S. Austin praises his Mother, for that she had not the least thought of such a Vanity. And the Scripture blames the ambition wherewith they buried the king Asa: They buried him in his sepulchre, which he digged for himself in the City of David: and they laid him upon his bed full of Spices and odoriferous 2. Paral. 16. 14. ointments: and they burnt it upon him with exceeding ambition, says the sacred Text. 12. In fine the holy oil, minds you of the Parable of the Virgins: that they who had kept Virginity were not saved, because they wanted the oil of mercy; with much more reason they cannot be saved, who having committed impurities, and other sins, shall be presented to their Judge not having redeemed their crimes by the works of Charity. You ought to do it all your life; but if you have failed: if you have not made the lamp to be carried before you: make it at least to follow after you, that you may not be wholly in darkness, when you go into the other world. JESUS having given us his sweat, blood, and life, deserves well that you give him a good part of your goods, also during your life, when they are more necessary for you; But since you have omitted it: give him a little part of them at least in the hour of your death, when your goods are useless to you; 'tis He who gave them to you: who is the Proprietor of them: and nevertheless desires for your good, to receive of them, in the person of the Poor. 13. I conclude with these words of S. Salvian; You are avaricious: But you are not enough: I exhort you to be yet more; you love Lib. 2. con Au. a ritiam in fine. riches: love them at your death as well as in your life: you fear the poverty of this life: fear also that of the other; carry your riches with you into the other world: they will be more necessary there than here: to avoid the pains of Purgatory in the way: to redeem you in case you are cast in to that Prison: and to make friends who may receive you into the eternal Tabernacles. Amen. DISCOURSE L. Of Holy Orders HItherto we have treated of Sacraments which were instituted to sanctify men in particular: now we speak of the Sacrament of Order, instituted for the General good, public Order, Government, and Ministry of the Church. And because Dissenters deny it to be a Sacrament, we will show in the first place that 'tis a true one; Secondly we will consider, what this sacred Sign does signify: and in the third place the Documents we ought to draw from thence, for the glory of God, the Salvation of our Souls, and the guidance of our lives. 1. A Sacrament is an exterior and sensible sign, by which grace of the holy Ghost is given him that receives it worthily. Now the Apostle S. Paul, and after him the general Council of Chalcedon say expressly, that grace of the holy Ghost is conferred in Ordination by imposition of hands. Neglect not the grace that is in 1. Tim. 4. 14. 2. Tim. 1. 6. Concil: calced an. 451. Act. 1 5. can 2 thee: which is given thee by Prophecy, with imposition of the hands of Priesthood. I admonish thee that thou resussitate the grace of God, which is in thee by the imposition of my hands. Hence the Counsels and ancient Fathers have always acknowledged Ordination for a true and proper Sacrament; and therefore in the general Council of Florence this is numbered with them, both Grecians and Latins approving it. I might Fill pages with Citations of the holy Fathers: But this of great S, Austin will suffice: He in his second book against the Epistle of Parmenean proves against the Donatists, that the Sacrament of Order cannot be lost, because Baptism cannot: Let them Explicate, says He, how the Sacrament of the the Baptised cannot be lost, and the Sacrament of the Orderer may be? For if both of them be Sacraments, of which nobody doubts, why cannot that be lost, if this may be? Here he calls Orders a Sacrament: He shows it to be a proper and true one by comparing it Baptism; He assures us that nobody doubted of this Verity: and if S. Austin may be credited, not only all the Writers of his time, but also all the Faithful did believe the same. 2. This external and sacred sign expresses two singular favours which ecclesiastics receive from God in their consecration. The first is the highest dignity in the World. For to a Priest is given Power over the natural Body of JESUS CHRIST: to consectate, and offer, and distribute it; and over his myistical Body, which is the Church, to remit sins, administer Sacraments and to do the sacred functions of the characters imprinted in him; A Power so much more excellent, eminent, and higher than other Dignities, as the Spirit than the Body: Heaven than Earth: Divine things than humane: and as Eternal than temporal. S. Paul says 'tis certain by the consent of all the world, Heb. 7. 4. that he who hath right to give his Benediction to another, is more noble and high than he, sine ulla contradictione quod minus est a meliore benedicitur. But a Priest gives his Benediction to Princes, Kings, and Emperors: his Dignity then is more high. S. chrysostom exhorting Priests to refuse Absolution and Communion S. Chry. Hom. 3. in Matt. Hom. ad 60. pop. Antioch. to all that are unworthy, though they be Princes or Kings says to them: you ought to do it, and you can do it; you ought to do it; otherwise, JESUS CHRIST will exact of you an account of his Blood, and will punish you most terribly; You can do it, for your Power is greater than that of Princes of this world. If you suspect the Testimony of this Saint because he was a Prelate of the Church: hear the Prince of the world. The Emperor Basil in an oration he made to his people, in the eighth general Baron. An: 869. nn. 55. Council: It belongs not to us Laymen to meddle with the things of the Church, it belongs to Priests, and Prelates who have power to sanctify us, to open heaven to us, and shut it against us, to bind us, or else to to absolve us. Our condition is to be fed as sheep, to be sanctifyd, conducted, and unbound. You will not think the words of these Great men strange, or that they exaggerate the Greatness of Priestly Power: if you consider that it surpasses the spiritual Power as well as the temporal; divine as well as humane. For pope's who excel in Authority and Grandeure, if considered not as as Priests, are less in Power than these. For the Power of Priests extends upon the natural Body of JESUS CHRIST, and that of Popes upon his mystical Body only, which is his Church: and therefore as much as his natural Body exceeds his mystical, so much the Priestly Power surmounts the Papal. S. John Baptist, who surpassed all men: who was the greatest that had risen among the sons of women for his sanctity: Yet was less in Power than the least Priest of the Church: He shown with his fingar JESUS CHRIST: But Priests produce Him in their hands, and give Him for nourishment to others; He only diposed the people to penance: and Priests absolve them from their sins. The Angels, who though they can do great things upon creatures of the world, they cannot put Christ at their Will upon the Altar: but are content to adore, love and admire Him there; And Priests by virtue of their character have this Power: and can offer Him in an unbloody Sacrifice for the salvation of the Living and the Dead. 3. This Power of Priests being so great, God out of his goodness adds in their ordination another favour to it; He whose works are perfect, giving power, giveth likewise those things that are requisite for the legitimate and convenient use of it. He replenishes Priests with abundant grace to make them worthy of their Character, to exercise well the functions of it, and to rendet them capable to sanctify the faithful. Noli negligere gratiam, quae data est tibi per impositionem manuum Presbiterij. Idoneos nos fecit Ministros. 4. These particular favours which JESUS does to Priests, admonish us of the Honour we are obliged to render them. Honour God with all thy soul, and honour Priests, says Ecclesiasticus. And S. Paul, Priests that do well their duty, deserve double honour. 'Tis by them says S. Hierome, that we are converted and made Christians: by them we are received into the Church: by them we are delivered from our sins: we reenter into the grace and favour of God: by them we receive his blessings, enjoy the precious Body of JESUS, and offer to God the dreadful sacrifice: by them in fine the Sacraments are administered, and the imperial heaven is opened to us. We must not neglect them who are the Judges of Kings in the process of eternity: them who the Prophet Malachy says, are the Angels of our Lord. Malac, 2. 7. Exod. 22. 28. Them, whom God himself calls Gods: because they are his Vice-Roys, Officers of his Crown, His Ministers of state: Secretaries of his commandments: judges of his people: Ambassadors of his Majesty: Mediators between God and men: who announce the will of God to men, and who present the desires of men to God. We respect Ambassadors, also those of barbarous and infidel Kings, with much more reason those which the king of Kings does send to us, said S. chrysostom. 5. To create in our hearts a great respect to Priests: Some allege the example of wise Solomon, who said to Abiather the Priest: you are guilty of death: but I will not condemn you: because you have carried the Ark. Or the Example of Constantine the Great: who in the Council of Nice would not sit down, but after all the Bishops, and upon a little seat below them all. And when one presented to him papers of complaints against some Priests: he burned them without reading them, and being angry with the person that gave them to him, said, it belongs to Priests to judge Emperors, and not to Emperors, to judge and condemn Priests: and should I see a Priest commit a sin, I would cover him with my Royal cloak, for fear that any one should see him. Other propose the example of S. Antony. This great Saint! this Patriarch of so many thousands of Anchorets that lived like Angels! This great Antony, of whose amity Emperors made so great account: This Antony whom wild beasts obeyed; at whose Name Devils trembled: whose life converted so many Souls to God; This great S. Antony, I say, honoured so much Priests, that if he met the least of them, he fell upon his knees, and risen not up, till he had received his benediction. Or of the Seraphical Father S. Francis, who said, that if he should meet an Angel, and a Priest: he would rather kiss the hands of the Priest, than of the Angel. Or of S. Catherine of Sienna, who kissed the ways and paths in which Priests had past. 6. Is it not pity to see now that some Christians neglect them, or contemn them, under pretence that some of them are vicious? If it be so: does it pertain to them to speak of their vices? are they judges of their Judges? are they wiser than Solomon: greater than Constantine: more devout than S. Antony: more fervent than S. Francis: more innocent than S. Catherine: and more zealous of the honour of God, than God himself? Who said by his Prophet, Touch not my anointed. Psal. 104. 15. 7. Let us take heed Venerable Priests and honourable Fathers that we be not the cause, or at least the occasion of this temerity: that by our indevotions and immodesties, by our irreverence in the Church, and our conversations with the world, we be not the cause of the little respect now given to our character and vocation. How is the gold darkened and the best colour changed, says the Prophet Hieremie? What's become of that splendour, that lustre, Thren. 4. and glory which heretofore shined in Clergiemen? of that honour, respect, reverence, and filial fear which they had for Ptiests in the primitive Church? How is all this so decayed and obscured? 'tis because, than they saw not Priests, but at the Altar, in the Confessional, or in the pulpit; and now they are seen in Taverns, in playhouses, and in worldly companies. JESUS says to us, you are the light of the world; we must shine so then, that men may see our good works: and may be moved to glorify our Father which is in heaven. But if our light be darkness: if we falsify by our actions Christ's Doctrine and maxims: this ill example of one of us will ruin more the piety of the Faithful, than many other by their doctrine and good examples will be able to repair. You are the salt of the earth; salt is drawn out of water: but if it be reunited to it: it dissolves, and loses the propriety it had to prevent corruption; a Priest is separated from the people by his consecration: if he rejoin himself to them by a worldly conversation: he loses the authority which he had to preserve them from the corruption of sin. We are judges of others: we must not be criminal; God will examine us more axactly, judge us more severely, and punish us more rigorously. SAVIOUR JESUS high Priest and Pastor of our sols, permit not that we give you cause to do it: permit not, that it may be truly said, as the people so the Priest; you are our inheritance, our Lot, and our Portion: permit not that our inheritance pertain to others more than to us. Make that our mouths be not employed but to resound your praises: that our comportment and our manners do express and represent your actions: that our hearts be not inflamed, but in your love. Amen. DISCOURSE'S LI. of Matrimony. 1. THe Mystery of the Incarnation is an alliance so advantageous and pleasing to the holy Humanity of JESUS, that He would have not only in Churches, but also in particular houses a continual image, and a lively representation of it. This is the legitimate alliance of man and woman: of which I have three things to show; First, that 'tis a true and a great Sacrament; secondly, the Duties to which it does oblige you; Thirdly, the honour you own to it. 2. If we weigh holy things, not by the balance of the opinion of Dissenters: But By the weight of the sanctuary, and by the judgement of the Church: We shall avow that the legitimate Edhes. 5. 32. S. Ambr. c. 7. S. Aug. de bono conjug. c. 18. c. 24. alliance of man and woman, is one of the most holy, great, and mysterious Sacraments of the Church. 'Tis a true Sacrament; For besides that the Apostle says in the Epistle to the Ephesians: This is a great Sacrament: the Fathers of the Church teach it. S. Ambrose speaking of an Adulterer, says, he loses the grace of the heavenly Sacrament. S. Austin tells us, in the marriages of Christians, the sanctity of the Sacrament is of more value than the f●cundity of the womb. And again: amongst infidels marriage hath for its end propagation, and fidelity: but amongst Christians it hath moreover the sanctity of the Sacrament. Not only these, but other holy Fathers, the Councils, and the Tradition of the Universal Church, ever taught the same; hence it was that in the Instruction of the Armenians given in the Council of Florence, it is numbered with the other Sacraments, Trid. ss. 24. can. 1. hoth Grecians and Latins consenting to it; And that the Council of Trent pronounces anathema against those that shall say, marriage is not a proper Sacrament, instituted by JESUS CHRIST. 3. Let us say then, that 'tis a true Sacrament: nay let us say, that 'tis a Great one; Great in its Caus: Great in its Mater: and Great in its Effects, S. Austin very indiciously did say, that as in the primitive Church the holy Ghost descended visibly upon those that were confirmed: so JESUS assisted visibly in the marriage in Cana, to make known that He is always invisibly in the marriage of the Faithful; 'Tis He that gives your wife to you; 'Tis He that gives your husband to you; 'Tis He that joins and associates you together; This is not an airy conceit: 'tis a certain Verity: since the Scripture teaches it in saying, That which God hath joined let not man separate. Matt. 19 6. 4. The Matter of this Sacrament is not a little water, oil, balm, or other inanimate creature; 'Tis your Bodies sanctifyd by Baptism: and consecrated in Confirmation: your bodies▪ the Members of JESUS CHRIST, Temples of the holy Ghost, are employed to make this Great Sacrament. 5. In fine, 'tis Great in its Effects: It conferrs very great graces, and in great number, if it be received worthily, with the dipositions and sentiment of piety that it deserves. The ancient Israelites had the liberty to repudiate their wives, if they did not please them: Polygamy was permitted them: they had sacrifice, and the water of jealousy to try the fidelity of their wives. All these things having not been tolerated but by condescendence to that rude people, JESUS CHRIST abrogated them; and in this rendered marriage much more burdensome, and aggravated the yoke. Now since his Law is a Law of grace and sweetness since. He says, his yoke is sweet, and his burden light. it concerned Him to recompense and ease married Christians by the abundant graces which He gives them in this Sacrament. Yes, in virtue of this Sacrament, God gives you in the rest of your days, in divers occasions, most great and powerful graces (if you put no obstacle) to resist temptations: to conduct well your family, to bring up your children in the fear of God: to endure patiently each others imperfections: and to support the other burdens and inconveniences of marriage; and they deprive themselves of all these graces, who marry in an ill state, in the state of mortal sin. 6. This Sacrament being a symbol and a representation of the marriage of jesus with his Church, must imitate and express it. In consequence to the alliance of JESUS with his Church, there is betwixt them mutual tradition and communication of bodies, of Spirit, and of Fortune. JESUS as the Espouse of the Church, gives her his precious Body: and takes ours: He joins them to His, and makes of them his Members. The Calvinists say, that JESUS CHRIST is not in the Eucharist; they say true: He is not in their Eucharist: He gives not his body to their pretended Church: He delivers not his precious flesh to any other but his Spouse; 'Tis only the Roman Church: 'tis this true and legitimate Spouse: 'tis this only one and well beloved that enjoys this Privilege infallibly, only, and perpetually. 7. The Lawyer said, and it is true, that a wife ought to lege adversus. Cod. de crimine explicatae hered. enter into society with her husband, not only in humane things, but moreover in divine: socia rei humanae & divinae. And JESUS contents not himself to give his humane body to the Church, but gives his divine Spirit, the holy Ghost: and you know that the holy Ghost is love and charity by the propriety of his Person, and by the condition of his emanation. S. Paul then hath reason to say Husbands love your wives, as Christ also loved the Church and delivered himself for it, that He might Sanctify it. A husband than must love his wife as JESUS loves his Church, with a sincere and cordial love, speaking to her with an open heart: communicating to her his designs, associating her in his erterprises, as JESUS hath revealed to his Church all that Honorio received from his Father, and associated her to all his operations, also to the production of grace. A wife must love, and also reverence or honour (as the Apostle says) her husband, as the Church loves and honours JESUS CHRIST: she must love and Ephes. 25 honour the parents and friends of her husband, as the Church loves and honours the Virgin, Mother of her Espouse, S. james and other Saints his friends. Husband and Wife must love mutually one another with a true and pure love, not with an inordinate, sensual, or worldly love, as they do, who procure each other what is honourable or profitable upon earth, though with eminent danger of losing heaven: who espouse the passions, revenge the quarrels, please the senses, and satisfy the foolish and inordinate inclinations of each other, to the great prejudice of their souls, and their Salvation. 8. Christ loved not so, his Church: He loved not so his Mother, his Apostles, Martyrs, Confessors, and other friends: but loved them in order to everlasting life. Wherefore if you will love well, love as Christ hath loved us: love in order to everlasting life: cut off occasions of sin: seek occasions to do each other good, to make one another virtuous, and procure by prayers; exhortations, and good examples the salvation of each other. 9 S. Paul desires that the man be so holy, and give so good example to his wife, that he convert her, if she be an infidel: and that the wife in like manner by her holy conversation do sanctify her husband, though he should be a pagan and idolater. 1. Cor. 7. 14. This will never be done by dunning him with complaints, reproaches, invectives, or with other outcries; but as S. Monica converted her husband, enduring patiently his injuries, supporting his inperfections, never answering him when he was in anger, speaking to him of God, more by her good example than by her words, showing him to the end, a sincere, faithful, and constant love. 10. JESUS CHRIST said to the persecutors of his Church, why do you persecute me? so much He participates in the afflictions of his Church; The Church partakes also in the sufferances of JESUS: she is sorrowful, afflicted, mortifyd, when she considers Him in his Death and Passion; so all aught to be common amongst married persons, good things and bad, joy and sorrow, pleasure and displeasure: and this will much conduce to the honour of so great a Sacrament, which S. Paul says is worthy of all respect. 11. Honorabile Connubium in omnibus: Marriage honourable in all. This is not to say, among all men, as Dissenters translate: Else Heb. 13. 4. the marriage of a Brother with his Sister would be honourable; and that of those who have vowed continence, to whom the same Apostle says, 'tis damnable: But in all things: that is, in all its Parts, Circumstances, and Appurtenances. Honour it in the intention you have to marry; for if it be bad and vicious, all the sequel will be corrupted. will you know why God is not in the marriage of many? 'tis because they married not for the love of him: they married for carnal or fond love, for sensual pleasure: through ambition to have this man who is in credit, or through avarice to have a rich Party. If two are assembled in my name, says our Saviour, I will be in the midst of them; He is not in the midst of those: because they were not assembled in his name▪ This aught to be the intention of Christians, says S. Augustine, to give children to JESUS, and to his Church▪ to have a posterity that may praise, love, and serve God in your place after your death. 12 Honour marriage, in the election and choice you make; you must pray God much for this, that He give you a convenient Party with whom you may work you● Salvation: it belongs to God only to know the person, and to give the same to you, House and riches are given of the Parents: but of our Lord properly a Proverb. 19 14. prudent Wife, says the holy Ghost by the mouth of the wise man; to obtain this favour you must live holily, and do many good works before your marriage, a good woman is a good portion: she shall be given to a man for good deeds. 13. Honour marriage in the treaty of it: let there be no circumvention, Ecclus. 26. 3. deceit, nor fraud. you would not be well content to be deceived in a treaty of small concern; why should you deceive another in a matter of such importance as is marriage, where there is no relief, and which is for all the life? This is the c●us of aversions, complaints, reproaches, and horrible divisions. 14. Honour marriage in the solemnisation or celebration of it. You must confess, communicate, hear Mass with great attention, and beg of God an abundance of graces in this Sacrament; Invocate the Sainrs that have been married, especially the B. Virgin: implore the intercession of those Angels that have been employed in making marriages: as S. Gabriel that of the Son of God: S. Raphael that of Tobias, and another that of Isaac. Banish those impudent persons who say such words especially in the bridchamber, which would make impudence itself to blush. You would do better, and draw down the benediction of God upon you, if you would follow the counsel which the Angel Raphael gave to Tobias and his Wife: to pass the three first days in continence, and not to employ them in delights, but prayers. And he admonished them also, that the Devil hath power over those that give themselves to lust, as horse and mule which have not understanding. 15. Honour in fine marriage in its Effects: which is a perfect society of heart, goods, fortune, and of all. If husband and wife are divided, and one will hot, and the other cold: one sour, the other sweet: one will negotiate in this manner the other in another: the burdens of marriage are most heavy and insupportable: their house is a hell: a Place of sin and pain: of brawling, bitterness, and despair; But if they live in union, and aid each other serve God, and to keep his Commandments, they are agreeable to Him; For there are three, things that please Him much: the concord of brothers, the love of neighbours, and Ecclus. 25. 2. a husband and wife that agree together. JESUS will be in the midst of them to assist them: their temporal affairs will have better issue: their children will learn virtue of them and consign it to posterity: their people will serve them more faithfully: Neighbours will be edifyd: Parents and Friends rejoiced: they will bear more easily the burdens of marriage, and comfort one another: their house will be like a terrestrial Paradise: it will be an image, a foretaste, and prelude of the celestial, into which they will one day enter. Amen. DEO GRATIAS I humbly submit these writings and myself also to the correction of the Catholic Church, of which I desire to live and die a member and a most obedient Child. TABLE OF THIS BOOK A Absolution. Authority to absolve from sins proved. 73. The wonderful Circumstances of it. 74. Adore, in the Scripture signifies all sorts of honour. 170. Adultery, is a very Enormous Crime. 217. Alms, all Christians are obliged to give them. 155. To whom 157. How to be given. 159. Exhor. to give them. 160. Anger, Its Effects and Symtoms. 204. It was not in our Saviour as God. 204. It was in him, as man: but without imperfection. 205. His was virtuous, ours is vicious. 205. Remidies for ours. 207. Exhor. to Patience. 209. Attrition, must be supernatural. 280. It leaves us in state of sin if not followed by absolution. 281. Avarice, is a pernicious and common vice. 221. who is avaricious. 222. B Baptism, obliges to à moral and virtuous death, 249. In what consists this death. 249. It obliges to a new life. 251. Excuses of worldly Souls removed. 252. What life the primitive Christians lead to satisfy obligations of Baptism. 253. Exhort. to imitate them 253. Beatitude: See Heaven. Blasphemy, a detestable Vice 184. C Children, are obliged to honour their Parents with the honour of Reverence 192. with the honour of Obedience: which must ●e blind, cordial, and perseverant. 193. with the honour of assistance. 195. Motives to acquit themselves of these duties. 196. Christ, the true Messiah. Discourse 3. we must live according to his Doctrine, 20. What is Christ. 21. Why called, JESUS, CHRIST, only Son, our Lord. Disc. 4. he is not acknowledged Lord by many Christians, 25. The Miracles wrought in his conception and Nativity 27. These Mysteries declared by a natural Comparison 29 His Doctrine preached in the Crib, contrary to that of the world 31. His Sufferances for men. Disc. 6. Exhor. to love him, 37. He Risen up again by his own Power, and his Father also raised him, 39 We ought to thank the Father for it, 40. How He contributed to his Resurrection, and how we must to ours, 41. His Ascension described, 44. How He sits at the right hand of the Father, 44. His Ascension very advantageous to him, to the Virgin, and to us, 46, To follow him to heaven, we must imitate his actions, 48, Church, 'Tis necessary to submit to all the true Church proposes as an Article of faith, 65, We must rely on her for true scriptures, and for the sense and meaning of them, 65, 66, The true Church is One, 67, The Roman Church only is One, 67, The true Church is holy, 68, The Roman Church only is holy, 69 The true Church is Universal or general. 70, The Roman Church only is so, 70, 'Tis necessary to salvation to be united to the Roman Church 71, Commandments of God, must be studied, learned, and pondered, 162, they may be kept 164 We must keep them with filial love, 165, They are most reasonable, just, and amiable, 165, Why called Testimonies, judgements, justifications, ways and paths, 166, Catholics divide them best, 166, Confession of all mortal Sins to a Priest is necessary, 281, Confirmation makes Soldiers of JESUS-CHRIST, 255, 'Tis a true Sacrament. 255, Imprints a Character, and gives Special grace to fight against Tyrants and worldly souls, 257, These hurt more than Tyrants, 257, they censure allthings 259, Confirmation obliges us to endure their censures and derisions, 259, D Detraction defined. 234. 'tis a mortal sin in a matter of importance, 234. 'Tis a greater sin than Robbery, 235. It kills also the hearers if they oppose it not. 335. It kills the Detracted by a triple murder. 236. Remedies of detraction. 237. E Eucharist, contains really the Body and Blood of Christ, Dise. 44. It is compared to milk in its Production. 268. In the manner it ought to be received. 269. In the manner of its Operation. 271. Communion in one kind defended. 271. Examples move more than words 281. F Faith, necessary to believe sins may be remitted. 72. The Excellency and Necessity of it. 88 Divers sorts of it, 88 None suffices to salvation but living Faith 89. Many practise not according to their Faith. 91. How a good Christian regulates his actions by Faith 91. Exhort. to true Faith 92. Fasting, necessary. 148. The Lent was instituted by the Apostles. 149. The motives to institute it 149. Objections against fasting solved. 150. It's lawfulness demonstrated. 153. Virtues that must accompany it, 153. The ends and intentions we ought to have in it 154. Frauds, are very common and pernicious. 231. G God, is necessarily One only. 2. He is ineffable. 2. Great in Nobility. 3. In Power 3. In Wisdom. 4. In Goodness. 4. In justice. 5. In indepedence. 5. Documents, from these Perfections. 6. He is Father for divers reasons. 8. He shows an infinite Power in Creating. 9 Incomprehensible Wisdom in Governing. 9 Ineffable Goodness in designing the Creatures to our service. 10. We are obliged to thank him for all the good He has done to them. 11. Motives to Gratitude. 11. Grace, divided. 113. What is actual Grace 114. In how happy a state man was created, and how he fell from it. 114. How necessary Grace is, and how freely given 115. We must distinguish carefully its motions, from those of Nature. 117. How they may be distinguished 118, We must be grateful for it. 118. We must not be proud when it had produced good in us, but live in fear 118 Sanctifying or Habitual Grace, What, and how Excellent. 113▪ 241. H Heaven., How great are the Goods of it. 83. Four considerations to guests at their Greatness- 84 motives and means to obtain them 86 Hell has divers significations 38 What it is to be damned 85 Hope stands with fear 95 What we ought to hope 95 of whom we ought to hope 97 Catholics are not touched with the malediction of those that trust in men 97 who are subject to it 97 Reliance on ourselves is cause of many inconveniences 97 We must hope with great Confidence 98 Exhor to confidence in our Lord 99 Holy Ghost, why so called 60 Why called Gift 6 The necessity an excellency of this gift, 62, We offend the holy Ghost in divers manners 6●. I Idolatry, cannot be imputed to the Roman Church. 169. She adores not Saints, nor Relics, nor Images. 170. 171. She prays not Saints to give things desired. 172. Builds not Temples, Erects not Altars, nor offers Sacrifice to them. 172. 173. Images are not absolutely forbidden to be made, but only to the end they may be adored. 167. 168. Imitators of the world reproved, and their objections answered 211 212. judgement Particular and General. 49. Reasons for a General judgement. 50. This is a great Consolation to the Elect 52, Description of the general judgement Disc 10. What things will be therein Examined 57 Paraphrase of the Sentence of condemnation. 58 Rash judgement: Three Circumstances necessary to make it a mortal Sin 228 Causes of r●sh judgement 22● It's bad effects 229. remedies for it 330. L Love of God, the most Excellent Virtue 100 It's necessity 101. It's necessary qualities. 102 motives to love God, 100L. Love of Neighbours, very necessary virtue, 107. Every reasonable Creature is our Neighbour, 108. How we truly love ourselves and neighbours, 108. 109. How ill this command is observed by many 110, The first and most necessary Effect of the love of our Ennemies is to pardon them 111, Motives to love and pardon them 111, 112. Lies, of three Sorts, 230, We ought not to speak an officious or Idle to save a man 231, Mass: See Sacrifice, M Matrimony a true Sacrament, 303. A great One, 304. Duties to which it Obligeth, 305. Honour we own to it, 307. Merit, Catholic Doctrine concerning it, 12●. See good Works. O Oaths Sometimes lawful, 181. Division and Description of them 181. 182. Conditions requisite to make them lawful, 182 183. We cannot Swear to confirm a palliated untruth. 183, Divers bad causes of Swearing, 185. Order a true Sacrament, 298. It Confers to Priests two singular favours, 299 300. P Parents: Why God has not recommended to them in the Decalogue their duty in respect of children 198. They own them Nourishment 198▪ Instruction 200. good Examples 201. correction. 202 Exhort to educate well children 202. Penance Necessary. 134 279 Conversions it makes, 137 138, Two dangerous Errors concerning Penance into which we are apt to fall 138, Fruits of true Penance, 140, means to obtain true Penance 140, Exhort, to do Penance in the present time, 136, Prayer, Very necssary, 141, What things are to be asked in Prayer, 141 How we ought to pray, 142 143 144, Excuses of indevout removed, 146, R Religion Virtue may be practised in all Occasions and Times 175 The practice of it by the Understanding 176 By the Will 176 by exterior Actions 176 177 The practice of it in respect of God's Attributes 177 It obliges us to honour God, also in his Friends and Servants, in Times and Places particularly consecrated to his service 177 Irreligion, indevotion, and irreverence reprehended 178 Exhort to honour God etc. 178. Restitution, must be perfect. 224. 'Tis absolutely necessary 224. All that concur to an injury are obliged to it. 225. It obliges always 225. Motives to avoid injustice 225. Resurrection, proved 79. the words of the article declared 80 We shall rise in the same bodies but without defect 81 The Resurrection of the Elect and that of the Reprobate very different 81. Robbery defined, and its definition explicated 222. It obliges to perfect Restitution 224 S Sacraments, all instituted by Christ 238 He shows therein divine Perfections 239 They represent their effects very properly 240 They confer sanctifying grace more or less according to the disposition of the Receiver 241 They give also auxiliary graces 242 Exhort to frequent them 242 Sacrifice in the new Law 273 'tis very acceptable, and glorious to God 275 greatly advantageous to men 276 Very beneficial to Souls in Purgatory 277 How to be offered 278. Salvation, of men earnestly desired by God, and the most important work. Epist to the Reader 'Tis to be procured by the securest way 43. Satisfaction, third Part of Penance must be made according to the multitude, Enormity, and diversity of our offences 283 We may satisfy the divine justice by all Crosses that befall us 28 Motives to fly sin, and to return to God by true Penance 285 Scandal, What properly 210 'Tis sometimes a Word 211 Often Actions 211 Othertimes Omissions 213 What Actions are not to be omitted, and what are to avoid Scandal 214 Motives to avoid it 215 Sin, the greatest evil 245 248 In Christians 'tis far greater than io infidels 248 By sinnlng mortally we hazard Salvation 76 Carnal sins Contrary to man's nature, and abominable to God 216 Species or Kind's of them 217 218 Individuums or particulars innumerable 219 Remedies of them 219. Sunday, why instituted 189 How to be observed 189 190 Exhort to observe it well 191 T Tradition, necessary to excuse Christians from observance of the jews Sabbath 187 188 189 V Unction of the Sick a true and proper Sacrament 292. It's Saving Effects. 203. 294. 295. Dispositions requisite in the Receiver 296 297. Exhort to Charity 297. W Works, of supererogation proved 121 good Works necessary to Salvation 122 123 Why God requires them 123 'Tis necessary to be fruitful in them 124 We must apply our Talents in them faithfully 124 Many Christian● loaf, or abuse them 125. Exhort: to practise good works 127 We must not defer our Conversion, and the practice of good Works Discourse 22. FIN.