A GUIDE TO SALVATION.
FIRST PART.
The Importance of Mans Salvation, manifested by divers Motives and Considerations.
IT is an observation of St. Bonaventure, that there are two things which God doth allow, which are the Creation and Conservation of the world; there is one, which is the work of Man alone, and that is Sin; to the production of which, God doth not formally concur, as the [Page 2] Psalmist affirms of him [Psal. 44] in these words, He loves Justice, and detesteth Iniquity, and therefore is far from being the Author and cause of it; There is yet a third thing which God and Man work together, which is our Salvation; for the obtaining of which, to his Grace we must joyn our endeavour, according to that common saying of St. Augustine, Qui fecit te sine te, non salvabit te, sine te. He who made thee without thee, will not save thee without thee; this is the work of Grace and our Will together, as the Apostle affirms of himself; Non ego sed gratia Deimecum; not I alone, but the grace of God with me; and therefore we are stiled by him Coadjutors and fellow-Labourers with God in this work.
Hence is that of St. Augustine, [St. Aug. lib. Hypog. c. 3.] Nec gratia sine libero arbitrio facit hominem habere vitam beatam, nec liberum arbitrium sine gratia. Grace without our free will cannot make us blessed, nor our free will without grace, though it be true [Page 3] what the Prophet said of the Son of God; operatus est salutem in medio terrae; he wrought Salvation in the mid'st of the Earth. Yet it is as true, that he requires, that we should deny our selves, and assist him in carrying his Cross, the instrument of our Redemption; and so fulfil, as the Apostle speaks of himself, In our flesh, those things which are wanting of the Passion of Christ; that is, we should apply his merits and benefit of his Passion, and render them efficatious to us by our cooperation: Wherefore it highly concerns us seriously to consider this grand affair of our Salvation, that we become not deficient in our endeavours concerning it.
CHAP. I.
Containing divers Considerations and Motives concerning the Importance of this Affair.
The first Consideration and Motive.
THe important Consequence of this, first appears, in that it seems to be the greatest of Gods works, and the end of all the rest. This our blessed Saviour insinuated in his Answer to the people, when they thus demanded of him in St. John, [John 8. 9.] what shall we do, ut operemur opera Dei? to perform the works of God? he replyes, Hoc est opus Dei, this is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he sent. [Page 5] As if he should have said unto them, you demand what are the works of God? in the Plural number. I answer you in the Singular number, that there is but One, for which he doth all the rest, and that is the Salvation of man.
Hence Tertullian considering all things in this world, said, Horum bonorum unus est titulus, salus hominis: they all carry this Title upon them, The Salvation of man. When God had Created this sensible world with the Heavens, Elements, and all Creatures in it, he put this Title upon them, Salus hominis; this was the end of their being, to which they were ordered; when he Created the Angels, he placed this as a Frontisepiece upon them, Salus hominis, The Salvation of man; this is the affair in which they are imployed, as the Apostle [Heb. 1.] informes us, Omnes administratores Spiritus; All of them are administrating Spirits, sent for those who are to receive the inheritance of Salvation. They labour incessantly in this affair, knowing it is the greatest work [Page 6] of God, in which they can be imployed.
If God became Man, if he Preached, gave us examples of all Vertues, instituted the Sacraments, these and the like Marvels, have this Inscription upon them, Salus hominis, having no other end but this.
If he dyed on the Cross, it was for this design, he suffered Death to give us Life. It was from this consideration that Tertullian said, Nihil tam dignum Deo, quam salus hominis; nothing so worthy, or beseeming God, as the Salvation of man: and St. Thomas gives this Reason of it; because the whole Universe, with all the Orders, Dispositions, and Marvels in it, do not so clearly and fully manifest his grandeurs as the Salvation of man; for here he makes appear his Attributes and Perfections, which are his Power, Wisdome, Love, in a most eminent manner; which caused the holy Doctor to affirm, In rebus creatis nihil potest esse majus quam salus rationalis creaturae; In all Created things, there [Page 7] is not any greater than mans Salvation. God could have Created Heavens more extended, and more richly adorned, than those which now rowl over our heads; an Earth more fruitful, than that which now supports us: Angels more intelligent, than those which now sing his Praises in Heaven; but he could not do any thing more Great, Noble, and Divine, than the Salvation of man: this is it, which after a soveraign manner, manifests his Attributes and Perfections. This consideration should cause us highly to esteem, & incessantly to endeavour our Salvation which concerns so much the glory of God, which we are obliged to advance to our power. And seeing that God, on his part, so really and seriously desires our Salvation, and so highly esteems it, that he Created and Ordered all things in this universe for it; surely, by our neglecting it, we frustrate as much as in us lyes, all his designes, and dissolve and reduce to nothing the Creation of the world, with all things in it; for all things have their being, and [Page 8] conservation, for no other end but this; what a stupendious ingratitude and contempt of God and his benefits are involved in this neglect, who is so blind as not to discern it; and therefore most inconsiderate and insensible to be guilty of such a crime.
The second Consideration and Motive.
The second is taken from our own proper Interests, which is no less than our Salvation; the loss of which, renders us miserable for all Eternity.
We will begin this consideration with those remarkable words, with which the Wise man concluded his Ecclesiastes, Deum time; fear God and observe his Commandements: hoc est omnis homo; for this is every man; or as St. Jerome translates it, This is the end of every mans Birth and Being; from which St. Bernard draws this Consequence, Ergo absque hoc nihil est homo; then without this, man is nothing: Popes are not in the world to be Popes, nor Kings to be [Page 9] Kings, nor Wise men to be Learned, and the like; but all universally to be saved. All the conditions and employments which possess the Spirits of men, ought to give place to this, and aime at it, as their proper object and end, without which they are in vain. This our Blessed Saviour affirms in those words of St. Matthew, [cap. 16.] quid prodest homini; what will it advantage a man, to gain the whole world, and to suffer detriment in his Soul? what will it profit a man to have all the pleasures of the voluptuous? all the riches the world can afford him? all the honours that men can confer upon him? if he were absolute Monarck of the whole world, if at last he loseth his Soul. If he had all the knowledg of things natural and Divine; all the beauty that the body is capable of, such health for so long a time as he could desire, all the advantages of the world which men so ardently thirst after; all these, in the judgment of Christ, the Divine Wisdome of his Father, will be unprofitable if he comes not only to [Page 10] lose, but to suffer detriment in his Soul: For this reason, the Royal Prophet stiles his Soul, his Darling, or his One; Erue a framea Deus animam meam, & de manu canis unicam meam: Deliver my Soul from the power of the Sword, and my One from the hand of the Dog: He calls his Soul his One, not only because as other men, he had but one Soul, but because it was most dear unto him, he loved it, and procured the conservation of it with all the care and diligence; which one imploys to preserve things; the rarity and worth of which, renders them pretious and amiable. This caused St. Chrysostome [Hom. 12. de po.] to say, God hath given us two Eyes, two Ears, two Hands, two Feet, that if any Misfortune deprive us of the use of one, we may help our selves by the use of the other. Animam vero unam dedit nobis; but he hath given us but one Soul; if we lose this, we lose all irrevocably.
The Prophet David [Psal. 116.] well considered this, when he said Anima mea in manibus meis semper; my [Page 11] Soul is always in my hands, to hold it fast, that I might not lose it, but exercise it in good works, defend it from all Enemies who would ruine it, and always consider the condition of it, according to that of St. Bernard, Non facile obliviscimur; We do not easily forget those things which we hold in our hands: the care of our Souls should always thus be present to us. That Holy Father thus continues his discourse about this subject; If thou art so sollicitous as not to neglect small things, so vigilant to preserve thy Corn, thy Cattel, thy Money, thy Earthly possessions, such inferiour and transitory things; art thou not then foolish and unreasonable to neglect the Salvation of thy Soul, which is thy true treasure? This as St. Gregory speaks, is to pervert Reason into extream Folly.
The excellence of true reason and judgment consists, in discerning the price of things, and esteeming them according to their worth, and consequently to make more acccount incomparably of the Soul than of the Body; of things [Page 12] Eternal than Temporal; of the affair of his Salvation, than of all other things; and he who doth not do this, is as one without sence and judgment, seeing he judgeth so ill of things, which with such an excess are disproportionable in value. Plato said true, that the effect of true Wisdom, is, to be Wise for one's own good. Solomon affirmed [Pro. 9. 12.] as much before him, Si sapiens fueris, tibimetipsi eris; true Wisdom consists in being Wise to ones self. The Devil hath more knowledg than all the Learned men on Earth, but not one grain of true Wisdom, being miserable for Eternity, and so infinitely distant from essential Wisdom, which is God himself. For this reason, Sinners unmindful of their Salvation, of what spirit and knowledg soever they be, are stiled in sacred Scripture, Fools and Insensible Creatures; so great is the concern for the Salvation of our Souls, that it is stiled by the Apostle, and commended by him to the Thessalonians [1 Thes. 4.] as properly and particularly our affair; ut vestrum [Page 13] negotium agatis, that you may do your work: as though we had but only this to attend to; for other things, about which we employ our labour and care, deserve not this name; they are affairs in which the success oftentimes doth not correspond with our designs; affairs which pass away with little profit, and often contrary to the grand affair of our Salvation.
This great affair of our Salvation would make us admire that manner of speech so frequent amongst us, when seeing any one busied amongst the intrigues of Courts, in the commerce of Merchandize, in the negotiation of treaties and alliances, and the like; we use ordinarily to say, that he is a man of great businesse and affairs; it is an improper speech to give this name to imployments, which are but petite amusements, in which one for the most part loses his time, and often Heaven. We do not give the name of affairs to the employments of Children; as when they build their little houses of dirt, when they [Page 14] ride upon a stick, and contend with such earnestness to carry away the glory, and to be Kings in their sports; these puerilities and pastimes deserve not the name of affairs, being in themselves so little, and so momentary: In like manner the enterprises of men, to build houses, to purchase honours, to amass riches and the like; being not much more greater and durable than those of Children, deserve not the name of affairs: All men in the world have but one affair, about which they ought continually to imploy themselves, which is their Salvation; and if they mind this, then one may say, they are wise and able men, and busied about a grand affair.
This Tertullian well considered, when he said, In me unicum negotium: I have but one business in the world to attend unto, which is the Salvation of my Soul: I abandon what the world calls affairs, I decline the intrigues of the Court, the School of Philosophy, the company of Friends, to be vacant to this one affair, which I treat of with my self, and concerning [Page 15] which I am interessed. Our Blessed Saviour confirms all this, in calling the young man in the Gospel to follow him; for when he required leave, first to go bury his Father, our Blessed Saviour replyed, Dimitte mortuous sepelire mortuos; let the dead bury the dead: as if he should have said, as St. Peter Chrysogolus observes, to bury the body of your Father, is not the most important affair you have to do; it is to follow me, and to look after your Salvation, which ought to be the first in execution, as it is in worth and merit; Terrenus pater post ponendus est patri coelesti, as that Holy Father concludes, The care of a Temporal Father is to come after that of our Heavenly.
The third Consideration and Motive.
We may discern the importance of our Salvation, by the many crafts and endeavours the Devil useth to hinder it, which are so many and so great, that he hath his name given him from them, being [Page 16] called the Tempter; and as Tertullian speaks, Eversio hominis, operatio ejus; his only work is the ruine of man. The Prophet Hab. saith, that cibus ejus electus; his food is very choice, he desires to devour the Elect: he loves these delicate morsels; he labours not, but to resist the Salvation of men, and to procure their Damnation; this is his joy and triumph: And in the estate of misery, in which he is plunged, if he be capable of any satisfaction, it is the Damnation of man; for which reason, he is stiled by our Blessed Saviour in the Gospel, Inimicus hominis, the Enemy of man; for being not able to revenge himself on God, he turns his fury against his Servants; and thinks he commits a great outrage against him, if he can reverse the design he hath for the Salvation of man, and deface Gods Image in our Soul. He is the Enemy of man, because he knows man is to possess the place he left vacant by his revolt. He is the Enemy of man, because by this, he thinks to find some solace in his misery, having Companions [Page 17] with him in his sufferings, and subjects upon which to exercise his fury; he useth all artifices, employs all his power; he is Prodigal in promises to compass this, and to be an Usurper of Souls. He speaks as the King of Sodom did to Abraham, Da mihi animas, caetera tolle tibi; Give me the Souls, and take all the rest.
The pleasures of the Flesh are not for me; I misprise Riches, I leave Honours to the Ambitious; but for Souls, I continually thirst, and can never be satisfied. He was so bold, as to attempt against our Blessed Saviour himself, and to perswade him to adore him; he promised to give him Honours, Riches, Pleasures, all the Kingdoms of the Earth to do it; haec omnia tibi dabo; All these will I give thee if thou wilt fall down and worship me. See here the esteem he makes of one Soul, from which Salvianus takes an occasion to condemn the stupidity of men, who truly consider not the price of their Souls; Quis furor? viles habere animas, quas diabolus putat esse pretiosas? [Page 18] What madness, to have a vile esteem of our Souls, which in the opinion of the Devil are judged so pretious? To sell that for a little money, for a momentary pleasure, for a blast of Honour, which the proper Enemy of it, valued above the whole world, seeing he presented that to purchase it. This extream folly moved the said Salvianus, thus to exclaim, Novum genus emptionis & venditionis! A strange kind of buying and selling! the Devil gives nothing, and takes all! man receives nothing, and parts with all! When a Merchant contracts for any Ware, he receives the price agreed upon for it, and the buyer receives the Merchandize: But here is the contrary. See the foolish traffick of Sinners, the Devil sells them the pleasures of the sences, he promiseth them Honours, which are but smoak; Riches, which a Theif, a Violence, an Injustice may deprive them of; and in selling these, he gives them nothing, because these are not at his disposal, he being not Lord of them; and for these, he receives from [Page 19] us all the pretious things which concerns our Salvation. What a deplorable blindness is this of Sinners, to esteem so little of their Souls? I earnestly desire, that every one of them would follow that Counsel of the Wise man, [Eccles. 10. 31.] Serva animam tuam & da illi honorem secundum meritum suum: Save thy Soul, and give it that honour which is due unto it, according to its worth and dignity. And he adds, Quis honorificabit? Who shall honour him, who dishonours his Soul? and who can defend or excuse him against the justice of God, who offends against his own Soul?
The last Consideration and Motive.
We may clearly discern the worth of our Soul, and the esteem and care we ought to have of the Salvation of it, by what Christ did do, and suffer, for this end.
The Salvation of our Soul avails as much as it cost; but it cost the Blood, the Merits, the Life of Christ, which are infinite; [Page 20] from which we must necessarily conclude, that it is of an infinite value. I advance in this further; for ordinarily we value a thing, more than the price we paid to make it ours, if we be not deceived in it; but the Son of God, who hath an infinite Wisdome, and so cannot be deceived in the esteem and valuing of things, gave his Life and Merits to purchase the Salvation of our Souls; may we not then say, that in some manner, he esteemed them more than the price he gave for them.
I can declare unto you a clearer manifestation of this; Having redeemed our Souls with his pretious Blood and Merrits, he esteemed this infinite price so little, as he esteemed them given him gratis by his Heavenly Father, Quos dedisti mihi, [John 10] whom thou hast given me. Again, to know what esteem the Son of God had of our Souls, after having purchased them with so great a price, he calls the Angels [...]o Feast and Congratulate, not only man, but himself, as St. Thomas observes, [Page 21] [Opusc. c. 63.] and to speak with him, as if man were the God of God, and that the felicity of the Soveraign Majesty depended on the Salvation of man; as if he could not be happy, if man were miserable.
Having shewed the price of thy Salvation, the great esteem the Son of God had of it, that as St. Chrysostom speaks, Nihil indignum se putat, quod nobis proficiat ad salutem; He thought not any thing unworthy of him, which might conduce to our Salvation. If thou comest now to neglect this, by this Crime thou committest two grand outrages, One against the Son of God, the Other against thy self: for the first St. Augustine observes, [St. Aug. Sermo. 37. de temp.] qui dat pro modica delectatione: He who gives to the Devil for a short pleasure or transitory satisfaction, that, for which Christ gave no less than himself. Stultum reputat Christum mercatorem; By that very action, condemns Christ as a foolish and ignorant Merchant. Who hath not light to discover, nor wisdome to esteem the [Page 22] true value of Souls, seeing he did give an infinite price for the Salvation of them, which thou esteemest as a thing of nothing. What an affront is this offered to Christ? it is no less, as the Apostle affirms, than to trample his sacred Blood under our feet; of which he complained by the Psalmist, Sicut aqua effusus sum; I am poured out as water: as a thing of no esteem, trampled under the feet of all.
Ah Sinner! this outrage against the Son of God will fall heavy upon thy self, when thou comest to lose thy soul, and to sell it to the Devil for a transitory pleasure: Hast thou any thing so pretious wherewith to purchase it again, as the price that was given for it, and is so contemned by thee? St. Chrysologus assures thee, no. Quando eam tanti emptam perdideris, quomodo poteris eam deinceps emere? When thou losest that which was bought with so great a price, how can'st thou purchase it again? O Christians! after we have seen the esteem that God makes of our Salvation, the [Page 23] price he hath given for it, the labours and sufferings that his only Beloved Son did undergo to procure it for us; the crafts and endeavours the Devil useth to deprive us of it, what remains but to conclude? that this is the only thing in which you should be employed; the grand affair which deserves the application of your Spirits; the affections of your wills, the force of your bodies: when you have effected this, you have done all; if you miscarry in this, all is lost though you should gain the whole world by it.
CHAP. II.
Containing the Manner, how we must behave our selves in procuring our Salvation.
HE who desires any thing efficaciously, labours to obtain it seriously, diligently, and with perseverance; which are the three Conditions to be observed in this work of our Salvation.
The first Manner or Condition.
We must labour in it seriously, according to the example of our Blessed Saviour, who out of zeal to convert the Samaritan Woman, travelled half a day in the heats of the Sun, with great weariness [Page 25] and thirst to be at the place whither she was to come, to meet with an opportune occasion for her Conversion: To make, of another Sinner, a Penitent, he went to a banquet, and expected there her coming; and he travelled up and down, and frequented the company of sinners to effect this great business, which was the end of his coming into the world. St. Paul had the perfect knowledg and practice of this truth, and therefore travelled seriously with the whole application of his Spirit, for the Salvation of his Brethren. Hear how he speaks unto them, [2 Corinth. 12.] Ego autem libentissime impendam, & superimpendar, pro animabus vestris; I will gladly spend, and be spent for your Souls sake: There is not any thing which I will not do, to advance your Salvation, which is so dear and pretious to me, that I am ready to give my self to procure it. Upon which, is that of St. Ambrose; Non solum sua, pro eis impendere paratum se dicit, sed etiam seipsum pro salute animarum: He is not only content to [Page 26] give those things which are his, but also to expose and give himself for the salvation of their Souls. This Zeal of his, he more fully expressed in that to the Romans, [Cap. 9.] Optabam, ego ipse, Anathemaesse a Christo, pro fratribus meis. I did desire to be separated from Christ, for the Salvation of my Brethren. His own interests drew him to be with Christ as his Cupio dissolvi, I desire to be dissolved, sufficiently testifies; but for the Salvation of his Brethren, he was content for a time, to be separated from the glory of Christ, and to remain here on Earth, to labour in this work.
By this we may easily apprehend how we ought to employ the things of this world, and expose our life too, if it be necessary for our Salvation, our great affair in this world. But this which concerns us so much is so slightly passed over, that we may justly complain with those Prophets, [Jerem. Daniel. Osee.] Desolatione desolata est omnis terra, quia non est qui recogitet corde; The whole Earth is become desolate, because there is not any [Page 27] one who seriously considers in his heart. We may find many who think of their Salvation, but it is only superficially, not with the heart, and so their thoughts are cold and barren; cold, because they produce not an ardent desire to execute what they think; they are barren, because they produce not holy motions and actions. The Devil and Reprobate have the like; the thought of their Beautitude lost, is continually present to them, they know the excellency of it, by suffering the privation thereof; but this is not with the heart, with a consideration which is affective, ardent, effective: When we Will a thing efficatiously, it doth not only busie our thoughts, but employs our hands, and industry, to labour, our tongues frequently to speak of it; the heart, the hand, the tongue, are joyned in this work; the heart to meditate, the hand to execute, the tongue to publish it. Ex abundantia cordis os loquitur: Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh.
The second Manner or Condition requisite in this work.
From the Zeal and serious consideration of our Salvation, ordinarily proceeds an exquisite diligence for the procuring of it; which is the second Condition necessarily required in this work.
Our B. Saviour hath given us an admirable example in this kind; the sacred Scripture [Heb. 10.] saith of him, that entring into the world by the mistery of his Incarnation, he said unto his Heavenly Father, You Will not the Sacrifices of the Law, therefore I offer up the body you have given me for a Victime, to honour your Majesty, to satisfie your Justice, to appease your Anger. He did not delay his sufferings to the end of this life, but the first moment he entered into the world as Man, he presented himself as a Victime. And when he was then adored by the Angels, at the command of his Heavenly Father, even then he would honour him as his Servant and [Page 29] Victime. In the whole course of his life, he travelled in this affair with such diligence, as the Psalmist resembles him to a Gyant exulting to run his course, with an incredible vigour in all the wayes, wherein he might work our Salvation. His Espouse admiring this in her Canticles, [Cant. 2.] compares this course of his to the swiftness of a Roe and Hart. The Angels descended and ascended in Jacobs Ladder without repose, in the exercise which they continue indefatigably for the Salvation of men. Job by his own example shewed us with what fervour and diligence we should proceed in this affair, [Job 29.] Causam quam ignorabam diligentissime investigabam: If I did not understand the rights between parties to accord them, I used most exquisite diligence to understand it.
I did not defer till to morrow what I could do to day, but apply'd my self without delay to all the good works I could perform for the advance of my Salvation.
Tobias did often rise from the Table, [Page 30] left his refection, quitted the Company of his Friends; to bury the dead, and to exercise works of mercy towards the poor and needy. Abraham stood in the common ways, to find and invite Pilgrims to his house, where his Wife and Domesticks were busied in preparing a refection for them. St. Paul [Acts 5.] protested to the faithful, that he used all possible diligence in his Apostolical function. That which the examples of the Saints inform us, the Wise man Councelled in his Proverbs, Diligenter exerce agrum tuum; diligently cultivate thy field. We must not imagine that he speaks here of good Husbandry, but under the symbol of a field, he insinuates that we should labour with diligence to extirpate vices, to acquire vertues; to increase in grace which God bestows upon us, to work out our Salvation by: Besides the Examples and Instructions of the Saints for our diligence in this affair, reason perswades also this truth; we see that a man applyes himself with diligence, to affairs of importance, and [Page 31] to things of consequence, which have an indeterminate and uncertain time, of which he knows not the length or shortness: Our Salvation hath these two circumstances, the thing is most pretious, and of the greatest concern; the time to compass it, is altogether uncertain; Death, after which we cannot work, often steals upon us, as a Thief in the Night, when we think our selves most secure of life; and therefore it concerns us to attend to our Salvation with all diligence, lest we be surprised unexpectedly, as the foolish Virgins were, and the rich Glutton in the Gospel.
If we have a Suit in Law, for the gaining of a possession, for the reparation of an injury, or the like, we apply all our endeavours, we regard not the rigour of the seasons, nor the suffering of our bodies, nor length of ways; we move every stone that might obstruct or further our designs; but for our Salvation, which is the greatest concern we have in the world, we think much to spend an hour at a Sermon, where we may be instructed [Page 32] in this, and the means to obtain it; to spend half an hour in a day to hear Mass, or to Pray where we may receive grace to carry on this affair with fervour; we are loath to give an Alms to a poor body, to merit the divine succours; such is our blindness and stupidity. When we suffer any maladies in our bodies, as St. Chrysostom [Hom. 22. ad pop.] affirms, we presently send for Physitians, we think no cost much for the cure of them, Animam vero vitiis laborantem negligimus; But we suffer our Souls to corrupt and putrifie in sin. To procure a remedy, and to purchase an immortal life, for them we are extream negligent.
This unreasonable preferring of the Body before the Soul, the immortal and divine part of us ought to cover us with Confusion in this world, where we would appear judicious & wise; & in the mean time, we shew our selves to be unreasonable and senceless.
It was a complaint of St. Bernard, Aspicio genus humanum; I behold mankind [Page 33] walking from the rising of the Sun, to the going down of it, through the spatious Mart and Market of the world, where some hunt after Riches, others gape for Honours, many pursue Pleasures, most spend their time in Vanities and Impertinencies; few mind the eternal good of their Souls, for which they came into the World. Seneca discovered this truth, si volueris attendere; if thou wilt consider, thou maist discern that a great part of mens lives pass away in doing Ill, the greatest part in Idleness and nothing, the Image of Death, and pomp of Vices; the whole in minding and doing another thing than which they came for. We read of a Phylosopher, who busied himself thirty years in observing the Oeconomie of Bees, of a Graver who spent his whole life in Carving and Pollishing one Statue of Isocrates, who studied ten years to compose an Oration which he was to pronounce at the Olympick Exercises; of many Phylosophers, who Travelled divers Countries, with many dangers and inconveniences to acquire [Page 34] humane knowledg and experience; shall not these rise up in judgment and condemn us, if we think any time tedious to imploy in the affair of our Salvation?
The third and last Condition, necessary for this work.
If we desire efficatiously to be saved, we must labour with perseverance, according to the example of our B. Saviour on the Cross, who would not descend from thence to put an end to his sufferings, and to the incredulity of the people who desired it; but as he says himself, he would there finish and consummate the work his Father had recommended to him; which was the Salvation of men for his glory. The Wise-man said, that omnia tempus habent, there is a time for all things; a time to Sow, and a time to Reap, and the like; and out of these Seasons, they are not to be done.
But the affair of our Salvation hath no certain time assigned for it; but the whole course of our life, from the first [Page 35] moment that we have the use of reason, to the last, is to be employed in it. Reason perswades us this truth, and gives us to understand of what importance the assiduity of this work is; because our Salvation depends on the last action of our life; if that be good, meritorious and agreeable to God, it will save us; if bad, sure enough we shall be damned, for as the Tree falls, so it shall lie: But here our death is uncertain, and every moment of our life may be the last, and the fatal stroke may surprise us when we think least of it: have we not reason then to travel incessantly in the affair of our Salvation, to secure it as much as possibly we can? for unless we persevere unto the end in it, we cannot be saved. And the breaking off this work, and declining out of the right way, though it be but for a time, may be the cause of our not persevering to the end, and consequently of our eternal perdition.
Many examples in this kind, Sacred and Ecclesiastical History afford us; and happy are we, if we become so wise by them, as at all times to be vigilant about this affair.
The Manner of Life to obtain Salvation.
SECOND PART.
CHAP. I.
Of the divers Lives of Christians.
ST. Augustine speaking of the Antient Patriarks and Prophets, sayes, Re, non nomine Christiani; they were not Christians in Name, but in effect and action. But we may affirm the contrary of many in our times, who stile themselves Christians; they are not such really and in effect, but only by Baptisme and Name.
To discover fully this truth unto you, I shall shew you the divers lives of Christians; and what is the true one necessarily required to obtain Salvation. For we be such, as the lives are we lead; good, if they be such; bad, if they be bad. To have life, saith St. Thomas, is to have in one the principle and cause of Motion; when a Woman with Child perceives the fruit she bears in her, begin to move, she sayes, I know well my Infant is alive; when one is on his Death-bed, if we see he hath not any more motion, neither in hands, eyes, lips, or pulse, we say, he hath no life in him. From hence we give by a Metaphor, the name of Life; to a running water; to a flame ascending in the Air; not that they have properly life in them, but because they move, being not in their Center, but tending to it. We find in the world four sorts of Lives, according to four divers principles, which give motion to all the actions of living Creatures. The Vegetative Life, which is that of Plants, which is imployed to nourish and increase. [Page 39] The Sensitive Life, that of Beasts and Animals, which conduct themselves by sence. The Rational Life, which is guided only by Natural Reason. The true Christian Life, which is governed by Faith. If we look amongst Christians and Catholicks with the true eye of the Spirit, we may discover many fair Plants, good Beasts, and honest Men, as the world stiles them; but few true Christians.
Of the Vegetative Life of Christians.
We may begin this with the saying of the blind Man in St. Mark; when Christ had open his eyes, he said, Video homines sicut arbores ambulantes; I see men walking as Trees. Many persons who are in esteem in the world, have no other Life but that of Plants; no other principle of their actions, than that of Trees. Behold a Merchant, who with care and diligence Travelleth by Sea and Land, coucheth late, riseth early; what is the principle of this Motion? why [Page 40] doth he all this? to purchase a House, a Farm, a Possession, or the like; to establish himself on Earth, as a Tree which spreads its Roots on every side, to encrease and fix it self deeper and firmer in the Earth; and so, of a petty Mercer at the first, in time become a rich Merchant; as a Plant, which of a petty Shrub at the first, grows up into a great Tree in time.
See here again, Parents of no great extraction, and of small revenue at the first, but so vigilant and active in managing their affairs, that they come to be a great Family, and Marry their Children to persons of honour and quality▪ One may say here, behold an excellent and fruitful Tree, which produceth so many fair graffs to propagate withal; what is this, but the life of a Plant? and in the mean time, have no more spirit in them, than a Plant, nay in some respect, far worse: See a Tree placed by a Wall, it doth not extend its branches on that side where the Wall casteth its shadow, but which is warmed [Page 41] and heated most by the comfortable and cherishing beams of the Sun: You breed up, and dispose of your Children, which are your branches, Quorum filii sicut novellae plantationes: [Psal. 144.] Whose Children as young Plants, amongst the Grandeurs of the world, which are but shadows of true greatness, and less regarded, and visited by the Sun of Justice, and gratious influence of Heaven, and not on the side of Humility and Vertue, which God most willingly respects; for which, many of them thrive so ill. The like Errour we may discover in multitudes, whose aime and endeavour here, is only to advance themselves and their Families in worldly wealth and greatness; to extend and dilate themselves and their Posterity on Earth; do not Trees do the like? and can we esteem better of the life of such, than of that of Plants, which naturally covet a deeper root and greater growth in the Earth. Give me leave to say, that such are worse than Trees and Plants, which at last come to a term and stand in their growth [Page 42] and extent: but these worldlings are without bounds and limits in their desires and endeavours, never satisfied with the earth, till they be buryed in it. O Earth, Earth, Earth, hear the word of our Lord, as the Prophet Jeremy admonisheth, [Jerem. 22. 29.] and follow that advice of the Apostle, Seek and savour those things which are above, and not those things which are on Earth; for which you were not Created, nor have your being here.
Of the Sensitive lives of many Christians.
Many others lead only a sensitive life, and in the judgment of God are esteemed no better than Beasts, conducted only by sence; of such a one, the Psalmist thus speaks, Comparatus est jumentis insipientibus: He is compared to the foolish Beasts. A Labourer works couragiously, because he is well fed and rewarded, he doth no more than a Horse; your Servant is faithful to you in his imployment, because you are a good Master to him; so will your Dog be for a [Page 43] piece of bread. A young man spends his whole Morning in Combing, Curling, Powdering his Hair; in composing himself according to the Mode; and one praiseth him, saying, See what a fine head of hair he hath, what a handsome body, how neatly adorned; one may give the like commendations to a Horse which is well Limb'd, Curried and Dressed. You may see a young Virgin, or Woman vainly attired and trickt up, and set out exactly to the fashion, by these alluring charms to draw the eyes of others to behold her, having no spirit of Vertue or Prudence to be commended or desired with judgment or reason; such a one in the judgment of the Psalmist, is to be no more esteemed than a Horse or a Mule, & by the Wise man in Ecclesiasticus, is compared to a fair & fat-body'd Bullock. what reproach shal such have in the judgment of God? what Shame & Confusion? when they shall see, that being endued with Reason; & further, that being Christians & Catholicks, they have followed nothing but the conduct of sence. [Page 44] In fine, consider the resort of the thoughts of most, and the motive of their actions, and you shall find them to be nothing but the contentment of the sences, the ease and conveniency of their bodies. They labour, eat, drink, sleep, sport for their sensual pleasures; Lyons, Bears, Bruits do the like: They go to rest at Night to repose their bodies, because they are weary; so doth a Horse after a hard Journey, or labour, if he finds good Litter: They eat, because they are hungry; so will an Ass if you give him Provender: They breed up their Infants and Children because they are theirs, so do Beasts and Birds; We are such as our lives are; if the principle of our actions is properly our life; if the Motive, out of which we act, is the principle of our actions, then, if we do our actions out of no other Motive, but that of Beasts, without doubt in the judgment of God, and men of Reason, we are no other than Beasts. Hence is that Councel of St. Ambrose; Tibi ergo attende: Mind and know thy self, not [Page 45] what body, power, dignities, possessions thou hast; sed qualem animam & mentem: but what manner of Soul and mind, from which thy Consults proceed, and the fruits of them are to be referred. The Apostle councelleth men, not to be deceived and deluded in this kind of life, [Gal. 6.] Que semina verit homo: That which a man sows he shall Reap. He who sowes in the flesh, from it, shall reap Corruption and Death.
Of the meer Moral lives of Christians.
We find others, not so brutish as the former, but yet far from true and good Christians. They think they are perfect, because rational, humane Reason, Prudence, natural and moral Vertues are the principle of their Actions. They do hold aright the Ballance of Justice, they will do no injury, because naturally they love Equity; They assist the afflicted, because they think it reason to relieve their like, and they desire to be assisted in the like Condition. They abstain from sensual Pleasures, [Page 46] from carnal Contents, because they are Noble, and aspire to greater Things, than to be slaves to their Bodies. Major sum, & ad majora natus, quam ut corpori me Servitutem exhibeam. Said a Moral Pagan, I am born to greater things than to be a drudg to my Body. They patiently endure the injuries and affronts offered, because they esteem it proper to a generous Courage, to misprise feeble Spirits, and to esteem them not worthy their Choller; As a Lyon and Elephant contemn the barking of little Doggs. All this is, to be but an honest Man, and one of Honour, but far from a good Christan; a true Disciple of Christ and Faith. Dorotheus one time visited the Sick of his Monastery of which he was Abbot; The Informarian addressing himself to him, said Father, I have a great Temptation of vain Glory, considering that you admire my diligence, seeing all the Rooms and Beds so clean and orderly composed: The Saint thus replyed, Brother, one may affirm, that you are a good Ʋalet and [Page 47] Groom of the Chamber, but one cannot say, for all this, that you are a good Religious. So if you are a man of honour; just, zealous for the common good, out of a natural inclination only, or out of a moral and philosophical Probity, one may say, that you are a good justice of Peace, a good States-man, Wise, Politick; but for all this, a man cannot say, that you are a good Christian. I do not condemn this morral Life as bad, but I rather commend it, as laudable to be Practised. Because it hinders a man from committing many Evils; it affords good examples to others, and renders a man less indisposed for further helps: And God of his mercy will sooner have compassion on such, then on those that are vitious, and corrupt in naturalls, and offend against the manifest light of Reason: but I only affirm this kind of life to be Insufficient for the obtaining of Salvation. Because man is ordained to a Supernatural end, to which nature cannot reach, nor discover the means which God hath ordained to obtain this [Page 48] end by, nor the manner how he will be worshipped or served in order to it. The greatest importance of this life is to serve God in a manner agreeable to himself; which a man cannot do, unless God manifest his Will to him by Divine Revelations, which Pagans endeavouring to do by their natural judgment committed unsupportable extravagancies, and monstrous errours in the manner of their Worship. Aristotle generally esteemed the greatest man for humane learning, and one who penetrated further the secrets of nature, then others; yet as Theodoret relates of him, [Theod. lib. 8. de cura graec. affect.] He was so deplorably blind in the conduct of his Conscience, that he Sacrificed to his deceased Woman, who had been a Servant to a Tyrant; and that not once, but often is his life, and in that manner that the Athenians sacrificed to Ceres, which was with the most Religious Ceremonies, which were used in the superstions of the Gentiles; And therefore he said truly, that natural reason is as weak [Page 49] and blind towards divine things, as the eyes of a Batt or Owl are to behold the brightness of the clear Sun. And do we not manifestly see the truth of this now amongst us, by the diversity of Sects and Opinions in Religion, every one following the dictamen of their natural reason, and so run into many absurdities in this kind, and are continually changeing their judgments, without certainty in any thing. And we see that natural reason is weak and defective, even in things within its own Sphear, as appears in the divers and contrary Opinions among Philosophers and Scholastick Divines, and in the differences in the judgments of men in ordinary occurrences; what a blind Guide then must this needs be in divine and sublimer things? From this then we must necessarily conclude, that the light of Faith is required to direct us without errour in these Affaires. The Apostle affirms, that Fedes est substantia rerum sperandarum: That Faith is the ground of things we hope for in the next [Page 50] Life, and the foundation of our Spiritual Edifice; if that be wanting, there can be no building; if that be not sound, all must fall to the ground. And the Apostle further declares the necessity of this. Accedentem ad deum oportet credere; he that will come to God he must believe aright: And captivate his understanding and reason to the obedience of Faith; to which Reason must be a Handmaid not a Mistris. And our Blessed Saviour tels us, that he who doth not beleeve is condemned. And this Faith can be but one; so the Apostle affirms Una fides: One Faith, one Baptism, one Lord of all. Hence is that of St. Fulgentius [lib. de fide c 38.] omni enim homini &c. to a man that holds not firmly the faith and unity of the Catholick Church, neither his Baptism, nor Alms, nor Death for the name of Christ, will profit him to Salvation. And St. Athanatius informs us in his Creed, that he who will be Saved, above all things, must hold the Catholick Faith, entirely and inviolably; From hence it necessarily follows, that [Page 51] a man, though our Politicians imagine the contrary, cannot be Saved in any sort of Religion, for all these cannot be the only true one, necessarily required to Salvation. I will conclude this discourse concerning a meer honest Life, with the judgment of St. Augustine; [Serm. 13. de verb. Apost.] The Epicurian Philosophers, saith he, practised vertue, for the conveniency of the Body; useing moderation in their eating and drinking, in their prosperities and adversities, and in their whole conduct, for the welfare of their body, that it may in no manner suffer dammage. The Stoick Philosophers, being more Spiritual, practised Vertue for the natural good of the Soul, and Reason; to which Vertue is conformable and agreeable; in fine, he blameth them both, that their vertues were defective; and as the first were Sensual in their moderation and temperance, so the second were proud in their Vertue, which they practised for it self, and the good of reason to which they ordred it. The first, saith he, [Page 52] lived according to the flesh, the second according to the reason of the Soul, but neither according to God. So according to St. Augustine, one is not to rest in the utility and honesty of vertue; but he will, that a Christian Soul should raise it self higher, to practise Vertue for God, to glorify him by it; So that the body should not be the end, nor also the rational Soul, but only God, to whom it must be ordered and referred, He only being our soveraign good, and so alone deserves to be desired and searched for himself, and in that manner as he hath prescribed, without which there can be no true Vertue acceptable to him; and the light of Faith is necessary to direct us in this, seeing humane reason cannot do it. Therefore Christ sends us to his Church, to receave from her his Doctrine and Instructions, and commands us to obey her, under the penalty of being rejected as Heathens and Publicans, which he Incurs, who makes his imagination his Oracle, his proper sence his Doctor, and himself the Church he followes.
CHAP. II.
The true Life of a Christian, which is that of Faith.
JUstus autem meus ex fide vivit; my just one (saith God by the Prophet) shall live by faith. There are too Sorts of just men, one according to the world, the other according to God; the just according to the world are those, who are so by Humane reason, maxims of Estate, or temporal Interest. The just according to God are those, who have Faith for the Principle of their actions, and rule of their lives. A just man according to the world doth not injury to any, because the light of reason dictates to him, what he would [Page 54] not have done to himself, that he should not do to another; one just according to God, doth no injury to any, out of a further motive, which is because Jesus Christ commanded and practised it, for our example. A just man according to the world gives alms to an indigent person, out of a natural compassion and tenderness of heart; A just man according to God doth it, because Jesus Christ saith, What you shall do to one of these little ones, you shall do to me, because they are members of Christ. Whosoever gives a cup of could water, shall not lose his reward; it is the promise of Christ; but he doth not promise this reward, if you give an alms to one, because he is one of the same country, condition, or nature you are of; but if you give it to him, because he is a Christian, a disciple of Christ, because he required it of you, & you gave it in the name of Christ; or because he is ordain'd as a companion to glorify God with you in heaven. A good Servant according to the world, [Page 55] serves his master faithfully, because he expects a reward from him for it: a good servant according to God doth it because St. Paul exhorts servants, to obey theirs Masters, as Jesus Christ, and for conscience sake. One just according to the world nourisheth and brings up his children, because they are his: A just parent according to God, doth it because they are members of Christ, creatures ordained for his glory. The reason of this truth is evident, The life of a true Christian is a Supernaturall life; faith is more above reason, then reason above sence; and as one who lives as a man, is not governed by his sence as beasts, but by reason; so he who will live as a true Christian, must not follow the conduct of naturall reason only, as men do, but he must be directed in his life by faith and Evangelicall maxims; The glorious name we carry, obligeth us to this; The name of Christians comes from Christ, and by it we profess to be disciples and followers of [Page 56] him; and he who belongs to Christ, ought to live and walk as he did; so the Apostle informs us. Platonists and Epicurians were so called, because they were disciples of Plato, and of the school of Epicurus. We say one is a Ciceronian, because he imitates Cicero in writing and speaking. St. Mathew called those souldiers Herodians, who belonged to Herod: we are called Christians, and if we will be such in effect, we must be true disciples of Christ; enter into his school, study his doctrine, obey his commands, practice his maxims; so his heavenly Father commands, Ipsum audite; hear and obey him.
In my Judgment, the best reason, the rightest intention, the holyest disposition, we can have in our actions, is to practice them, because Christ taught them, recommended and practiced the like, for our example. When the disciples of Pythagoras advanced any proposition, they alleadged no proof for it, nor gave any other [Page 57] reason then, ipse dixit; he said it; ought not the word, and the authority of Christ, to prevail as much with us Christians? sure it ought, if we had but such an esteem and respect for him, as they had for their Master. If you ask a Schollar in paynting or writing, having a modell before his eyes, why he paints this visage so, or frames that letter after such a manner? he will answer you, because his pattern and example is so. If you demand of a Souldier, why he goes on this side, or that; sometimes in the wing, sometimes in the reer; he will reply, because his Ensign makes the like martches. So he who is a true Christian, a disciple, and Souldier of Christ, practiseth this or that Vertue, not as Philosophers, because it is excellent and befeeming a great courage, but because Jesus Christ, his pattern, example and captain, taught it, commanded it, practised it; some are oftentimes in care, to know what is the will of God, what most pleasing [Page 58] to him, and what to do most for his honour and glory? no man knew better the will of God, then Christ, who obeyed it, and fulfilled it in every thing; no man knew so well as he, what most conduced to the glory of God, seeing (as he testifieth of himself) he did not seek his own glory, but his Fathers in every thing; we have then no more to do in this affair, then to consider, what Jesus Christ did teach, command and practice, for our example? For God hath made him the pattern and example, of all the predestinate, as the Apostle informs us [Rom. 8.] in these words, Whom he did foresee to be his, he did predestinate them: conformes fieri imagini filii sui; to become conformable to the image of his Sonn. God hath called us of his mercy to be Christians, we are not such by generation, but by regeneration; nature, by all its power, cannot make a good Christian; it is a work of grace: let not a day pass without praising God for this benefit, and let us often [Page 59] demand of him, ardently and humbly, his grace, to become good Christians; without which, the benefitts of our creation, conservation, redemption, and of the Sacraments, will not profit us. What profit, to beleeve God, and what he sayes, if we do not do his Will? to consent to his Word, if we obey not his command? to profess his verities, if in practice we follow our vanities?
By this doctrine delivered, we may discover the errour of many mistakes, who speak of Christs humanity, in the like manner as they do, of other infirm creatures; affirming, that the consideration of it, obscures the bright rayes of the Divinity in Contemplation; and therefore to become a perfect contemplative, a man must abstract from that and transcend it, as he would do from that of other creatures. This mistake of theirs, they ground upon the doctrine of St. Denys, not well understood by them; that H. Father affirms it necessary, to the [Page 60] perfect Contemplation of the Divinity, to transcend all Creatures, either by denying them, or adding somthing, to shew that they are not God, and so that we ought not to rest in them, if we seek God. But this reason holds not good in Christ, who is both God and Man; and so as St. Augustine speaks, by the same pace we go to him as Man, we ascend to him as God: And by the same act, we love him as Man, we love him too as God. But it is not so in the love of other Creatures; for here is necessary, a reflection, and an affirmation, that I love them not for themselves, but for God, because they contain not God intimately in them; and so in loving them, my mind directly by this tends not God. But when I love Christ, who is personally God and Man, that act tends to him as God and Man, because he is both, inseparably. Hence saith St. Bernard, The Divinity shadowed it self in a body, the better to be seen.
So though the humanity of Christ is [Page 61] not a pure spirit, yet it is not so flesh, as to be an impediment to the spirit. This is the Doctrine of St. Augustine, [Lib. 9. de civit. c. 15.] who says, that God being made partaker of our humanity, Compendium praebuit participandae divinitatis suae; shewed a compendious way to become partakers of his Divinity, is that by touching him man, we touch also God; what more compendious? Christ inform'd us as much in his Transfiguration on the Mount, where he did speak of his excess which he was to accomplish at Hierusalem, [Luc. 9.] seeing in such a Splendour, Majesty, and Glory, he would solemnly mention his Death and Passion; Moses and Elias would not be amid'st the rayes of Divinity, without the meditation of Christ Crucified; glory became more pleasing to them by it, and that most resplendant Vision was thereby the more easily supported, without fear of being oppressed by the ravishing violence of its delightfulness.
And hence is that of St. Bernard, Marcessit divinitatis contemplatio, ubi languit passionis meditatio; The contemplation of the Divinity will soon fail, when the Meditation of the Passion languisheth and decays.
CHAP. III.
The Lives of the Primitive Christians propounded, as an Example in this kind of Life.
TErtullian affirms, that the Christians in his time, were of such an innocent Life, that they had no other crime pretended against them by their Enemies, than their Religion; And he gives the Pagans the defiance, if they say, they have Christians in their Prisons amongst them for any thing else but for their Religion. Athenagoras sayes in his Apology, Nullus Christianus malus; There is not any Christian bad, unless he dissembles his Religion. Eusebius relates, that in the time of Dioclesian, the Oracle of Apollo answered, that [Page 64] the Just had hindered him from speaking; Dioclesian demanding who these Just were, the Idolatrous Priests replyed, that they were the Christians, who led an Innocent life.
Pliny Junior, writing to Trajan, sayes, that he had no Crime to object against Christians, but their Superstition. If he had known the Truth, he would have said, then their Devotion; we have the same Faith, the same Ceremonies, the same Mysteries which the Primitive Christians had; but their interiour dispositions, their substantial devotions, their solid virtues are so ecclipsed in our time, that scarce any thing of them appears amongst us; so that we seem in respect of them, to be Christians only in Name. When St. Hierome was called before Christ his Judg in a Vision, and the Judg asking him, who he was, he replyed, I am a Christian; the Judg said unto him, thou lyest, Ciceronianus es, non Christianus: Thou art a Ciceronian, not Christian; thou takest more delight in reading the works of Cicero, [Page 65] than books of Piety & Devotion; and the Judg commanded an Angel to scourge him severely for it; the marks of which remained for a long time in his body, as he writes of himself to Eustochium.
Are they then to be esteemed true Christians, who spend most of their time in reading frivolous Romances, idle Playbooks, and such fopperies? Voluptuous Man, if God should demand of thee, what art thou? as sure enough he will one day; if thou sayest unto him, thou art a Christian, he will give you the lye; and say, you are not a Christian, but an Epicurian; you observe the precepts of Epicurus, not of Jesus Christ; you have made a God of your belly, and your chiefest pleasure hath been to satisfie your bruitish passions. Vindicative person, if God should demand of thee, who art thou? darest thou say, thou art a Christian? God will confound thee presently, in saying, thou art not a Disciple of Jesus Christ, but rather of Cicero or Demosthenes; to repel injury with injustice; to curse them, [Page 66] who curse you; to take Revenge for words spoken amiss, are the maxims of Cicero, or of Demosthenes, or other Pagans; not of Jesus Christ, who taught and practised the quite contrary; as to forget Injuries, to pray for our Persecutors, or render good for evil. What will your Vain Dame answer at the hour of Death, which may happen sooner than she expects, when God will demand of her what she is? will she have the boldness to answer, she is a Christian? no sure, she knows too well in her Conscience, that she is a Worldling, that she lived according to the Laws and Mode of the World; that she hath a heart plunged in vanities; and that she feared more to displease a person of the world, than to offend God; that she thought it not tedious to spend every day, three or four hours to adorn and compose her self, to appear grateful; I know not to whom, and thought much, even on a day of Communion, to spend one hour, to prepare her self to appear agreeable unto God. In fine, many persons amongst [Page 67] us, who make profession of the true Faith, will appear then to be no true Christians, but rather Antichrists, having lived contrary to the Evangelical Rules and Maxims delivered to us by Christ, and faithfully practised by the Primitive Christians, his true followers, and whom we challenge for our Predecessors in Religion. Habentes Igitur, [Hebr. 12.] having such a Cloud of Witnesses put upon us, let us lay aside every weight that cloggs us, and sin that beset us, and let us with Patience, run the Race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our Faith.
It is the admonition of the Apostle: such a Cloud of Witnesses, who shew to us by their lives, how we ought to live, to obtain Salvation. An antient Monk, called Machaire, having visited the Cells of other Religious, who lived in great perfection, returning from thence with great Confusion, humbly said, vidi Monachos: I have seen true Monks and Religious, in comparison of whom, I am not one, I deserve not to carry that name.
When I consider the lives of the antient Christians, I cannot but say, vidi Christianos: I have seen true Christians, in respect of whom, we are but such in name and appearance only, not in effect, in manners and life. But as St. Chrysostom adviseth, if that we cannot arrive to so high a perfection, as the antients did, yet at least let us do what we can to imitate and follow them; talem nubem, such a Cloud; If we endeavour to imitate them to our power, they will be Clouds which will distill down upon us, benigne influences, refreshing dews from Heaven; otherwise, they will be Clouds, which at the day of Judgment will cast forth against us Thunder-bolts of Vengeance; they will Accuse, Confound, and Condemn us by the opposition of their former Lives and Vertues. Were they not frail, as we are? composed of the same matter? clogged and oppressed with the same flesh? as sensible and delicate as we? have we not the same God? the same Jesus Crucified? Have we not the same Sacraments? Are we not in [Page 69] the same Church? And yet we expect the same Paradice for a little, which cost them so dear. Is there any reason, that without a lawful Fight and Victory, we should possess the same Kingdom which they Conquered by so many Combats, and possessed by so holy a Violence: Curramus ad propositum certamen: Let us run to the Fight set before us; The Apostle doth not say, Ad coronam, To the Crown proposed; for if there were no Crown to be obtained, no Sallary to be received, yet it would be highly honourable for us to Combate in the cause of God.
How many generous Spirits are in the world, who hold it glorious to be employed in the occasion of venturing their blood and lives without any other reward, than to have the honour of serving their Prince and Country? and can we be of so base and servile a Spirit, as to be inferiour to them, in order to God, in whom we move and have our being? Let us cast our eyes on Jesus Christ, Aspicientes in Authorem fidei; He is the [Page 70] Authour of our Faith, and ought to be the Idea and Model of our life; let us look upon him, not only to imitate him, but to implore his ayde and succours; that as he is the Authour of our Faith, he may be also the Finisher of our Hopes; as he is the Alpha and first principle, he may be also the Omega and last end; as he is our liberal Saviour by grace, he may be our full recompence by glory.
This Treatise, Containing the Principal means of Preserving and Encreasing this Life of a True Christian.
THIRD PART.
CHAP. I.
The first Means is, the Mortificaon of the Principal Powers and Faculties of the Soul, with the Passions of the sensitive Appetite.
THe greatest Impediment in the affair of our Salvation, is interiour, which consists in the disorder of the powers and faculties of the Soul and Passions, Rebellion [Page 72] of the flesh, & infidelity of our Sences; all which enemies seem to conspire to our Perdition, & to destroy all Spiritual Life in us. For the preserving of which, against them, we must practise Mortification; by this means to subdue and regulate them, that we be not carried headlong by their violence to our utter ruine. In the first place it is necessary, to reform the three Spiritual Powers of the Soul, which are the Intellect, Will, and Memory, which are the principles and origine of humane Acts, from which they proceed and depend, if they be done knowingly and voluntarily; if these be infected and corrupted as ordinarily they are, no good can be expected to proceed from them. Concerning the Intellect, we ought to esteem the purgation of it, as St. Augustine informs us. [St. Aug. lib. 1. de doctrin. Christ.] Quasi ambulationem & navigationem: As a walking and navigation to our Heavenly Country. For it is the guide of the will which in it self is a blind power, and being troubled and disordered, causeth [Page 73] an irregularity in all the other faculties. In the Intellect one may discover many faults to be reformed, as ignorance of things, one is obliged to know: Inconsideration and imprudence in executing; Errour, by which one apprehends whats false, for a truth: obstinacy, to defend and persevere in a mistake, after good information and instruction, to which one ought to Acquiess; Temerity, to judg of the intentions, actions and designs of another; Carnal and sensual Prudence and Craft, to circumvent others, and contrive (by ill expedients) worldly affaires. Curiosity, to know things, which it were more profitable to us to be ignorant of. The Intellect vitiated by these and the like faults, ought diligently to be mortified and reformed, or els it will be the cause of many deformed humane Acts; This reformation may be made by divers means; the chief is, a diligent practise of Vertue, which produceth true intelligence, as the Prophet David affirms [Psal. 128.] Mandatis tuis intellexi: I got understanding [Page 74] by observing thy Commands. The custome of doing well, and experience in Devotion, is the best Mistress, by which one apprehends and profits most. Another means is, reading Spiritual Books, with an intention to obtain Purity of Mind, interposing Affective Prayers. A third means may be, conferrence with Illuminated Persons, from whom, they may receave good instructions of Salvation, and directions for their conduct in all Doubts, Temptations, & ocurring Difficulties. As for the Memory, it ought to be reformed about the variety of Images and Representations of terrene and vain objects, by which it is often soiled; and in pusuit of which, it importunes the Will to evil desires and actions; one must labour in this Reformation, by exercising himself in the frequent meditation of Divine things; which if a man exercise constantly, he will in time deface and race out the Phantasies and imaginations of vain Objects: so that after a faithful labour in this, the Soul will find it self, as it [Page 75] were absorpt in God, and will entertain and delight it self in nothing so much, and so often, as in God. The Will purchaseth it self proper satisfactions and interests by the motive of self-Love, with which it is dangerously impoysoned, and which is the Mother and Nurse of all Sin and Vices; it perverts the rectitude of intentions, Rebells against the commands of God and Superiours; it is the Enemy of perfection, the Murderer of an interiour and Spiritual Life. This Mortification and Reformation must be affected by a Dolorous Contrition for Sin, by Acts of Abnegation, by a total Submission and Conformity to the divine Will: In fine, the practise of all moral Vertues, with purity of intention, embellisheth it, as Stars do the Firmament. Next, the sensual Appetite (which is the inferiour portion of the Soul inclin'd to the commodities of the body) is to be mortified, with its Passions; which in the estate of corrupt Nature ordinarily are culpable: they are not to be condemned in Beasts, because [Page 76] they are not governed by Reason; but it is far otherwise in Man, endued with a rational Spirit, able to discern between good and evill, and to unite himself to God his Soveraign good, whom he ought to prefer above all Created things; and by his superiour Reason, imploy and order all the powers and faculties of his Body, to attain this Good. But we see the contrary arrive to man, by means of his passions which turn him from the true love of God, replenish him with impetuous Solitudes, for the purchasing of terrene things, and with fears and anxieties, for the loss of them. They fill him with impure phantasies, Imaginations and Delights, precipitate him into many Errours and Irregularities, employ him more for the corruptible Body, which is meat for Worms, then for his immortal Soul, the Divine Particle in him; causeing continually Rebellions in the interiour Appetite, against the Superiour, preventing Reason and Judgment, and tyrannizing over the Spirit; so that they are the [Page 77] source and origine of Sins, which ruine our Salvation, and further a Soul towards her Damnation; and as Lactantius speaks [Lactan. lib. 6. Institut. c. 5.] Omnia fere, quae improbe fiunt, ab his affectibus oriuntur: Almost all evils committed, proceed from these passions and affections. If one would repress the impetuosity of choller, all clamours and contentions would be appeased, not any one would endamage an other; if one would moderate the desire of having, there would be no Theeves by land, no Pyrates on Sea, no Arms taken up to invade others Dominions; if one would mortify the concupiscence of the flesh, every Age and Sex would be Holy; no person would do, or suffer, what is infamous in this kind; all these and the like discords come from the passions, not mortified and regulated according to reason. Passions thus ordered, are good, and about lawful Objects.
Thus they are Souldiers, which Second the endeavours of their cheif, the Spirit: they are Ornaments of vertuous [Page 78] actions; Ardours of the heart, without which it would languish. But the most part of men, by the corruption from original sin, follow their naturall inclinations and passions, by which they are hurryed into many disorders and damages, irreparably; therefore a strict mortification of these, is necessary to a good and well ordered life, and to conserve the interiour state of the soul entire: without the regulating of these, a man is so far from tending to perfection, that at last he will find himself, to become uncivil, barbarous, brutish, wholly governed by humours and phantasies, without repose in his Soul; continually agitated by disquiets, caused by his sensual affections, to which he hath resigned the dominion and empire of his affairs, not capable to govern them with any order. For which the Antients compared such a man unto an uncultivated field, over-run with weeds, thorns, bryars; as such a one ordinarily is, with sins and vices. These [Page 79] passions and affections may often be hindred, from riseing and breaking forth, by a prudent foresight and prevention of the occasions of them; for oftentimes when they seem to be mortified in us, they lurk Secretly in the heart as fire under ashes, which will break forth, with a violence upon occasions presented, if there be not a strong and vigilant guard set over them; for which reason St. Gregory Nazianzen ascribes the destruction of Saul, to one spark of his former passions, stirred and blowed up by occasions: In this we should imitate a cunning Pylot, who shuns a tempest, when he sees he cannot easily resist it. Again, one may Suppress these passions, by combating generously against them, not once or twice, but as often as these assault us; for this reiteration of resistance, will moderate and debilitate their violence and forces, according to that advice of St Augustine, that we must frustrate by this means their attempts, that they may [Page 80] not presume any more to rise; having so often assaulted us in vain. One may mortify and moderate passions and affections, by yeilding something to them, and by making use of them against themselves; which is done, by giving them supernaturall and right objects. This course our Blessed Saviour took; St. Paul was of a cholerrick-hot humour, but our Saviour Jesus converted it, he turned this fire into a flame of Apostolical Zeal; he did not Suppress this passion, but changed its object; so that by the same arms with which he persecuted his Name, he preached his Gospel; St. Mary Magdalen's passion was Love, he did not destroy it, but converted it, presenting himself to be the object of it; this is an easy cure, & an admirable triumph, to use passions themselves, for an instrument, whereby to gain a conquest over them. St. Augustine teacheth us this Art, councelling us, to overcome fear by fear; the fear of the evills of the world, by fear of offending [Page 81] God, of incurring hell, and losing Heaven. St. Isidore affirms the same, explicating those words of the Psalmist Irascimini, et nolite peccare: be angry, but Sin not: overcome (saith he) choller by choller it self; give somthing to this passion, but to the end to delude it; turn thy choller against thy brother, to a hatred against your self, and your passion; this was the advice of St. Basil, saying, Turn thy anger against the devil the destroyer of Souls, but have mercy upon thy Brother offending thee.
Some hold, that the greatest expedient to mortify these passions is, to Chastice the body, by fasting and rigorous austerities; for which reason many of the Saints treated their bodies very rudely, that by this means, they being debilitated, their Souls might be more vigorous in their functions, and the flesh less rebellious & refractory to the decrees of reason. From hence proceed the austere Vows of religious, crucifying our carnal affections, thereby to chastise the insolencies [Page 82] of the sensuall appetite, and to render the body a slave to the spirit. However, not to condemn corporall mortifications, if used with discretion, according to the Custom of all antiquity, and not takeing Christ down from the Cross: In my judgment, the best and most efficatious means, is not to tame the spirit by the body, but to subject the body by the spirit; for the flesh is not the only and principal criminal to be thus handled; wherefore it is more expedient, to mortify these passions by the Superiour part of reason and the spirit; which, considering what is profitable, and what hurtful to its salvation, from generous resolutions of pursuing the former, and declining the latter, and so sweetly draws the sensitive appetite after it, and forceth it to desist from following its vitious inclinations. For example, a man reflecting upon the motions of the sensitive appetite, and perceiving it engaged in the desire of things superfluous, and troubled about them, disapprooving [Page 83] such a conduct; flyes to interiour repressions, considering that we were created for paradice; not inordinatly to desire and pursue temporalls, but covet and seek eternalls; and that it is to little purpose, to disquiet ones self, for the transitory affairs of this world, but that rather we ought to possess our souls in peace and patience. After such considerations and interiour repressions, the soul with a great resolution frames desires of spiritualls, and forceth it self to remain in peace and silence; by which it attracts after it the sensitive appetite, and rationally orders the passions of it, at least as long as it remains in that condition. O my Soul, thou hast a difficulty to Suffer a disgrace, thy passions spur thee forward to reveng; consider with thy self, that it is far more reasonable for a Christian to imitate the clemency of his Saviour, and benignity of the same God. By the like considerations, according to the diversity of passions, a man will [Page 84] become more vigilant over them, and more powerfull to suppress and mortify them. This methode is more sweet and humane, more generall and easie for a good regimen of life, and is also a moderate chastisement for the body. I will conclude this first means with that of the Apostle [Rom ch. 8.] If you live according to the flesh, you shall dye; but if by Spirit, you mortify the deeds of the flesh, you shall live.
CHAP. II.
Of Interiour and Affective Prayer.
BY speaking here of Interiour and Mental Prayer, I intend not to exclude Vocal, if it be performed with the attention of the mind, and the affection of the heart; for if these be wanting to it, I esteem it not worthy the name of Prayer. The necessity of Prayer, to sustain this spiritual life of ours, appears by this, That in Sacred Writ there is not any precept so often repeated, nor so seriously recommended to us, as this, Non impediaris orare semper; [Eccles. 18. 22.] Be not hindred from Praying alwayes. It is the Councel of [Page 86] the Wise Man; no business howsoever profitable or necessary should hinder thee from the assiduity in this exercise. The Prophet David in many places of his Psalms, commends to us not any thing more than the study of Prayer, and praising God; our B. Saviour often and carefully puts us in mind of this, Oporter semper orare: [Luc. 18.] Ye ought alwayes to Pray; there is a necessity of it, not some time, not often, but you must alwayes Pray: And again, Vigilate semper orantes, [Luc. 21.] Watch, alwayes Praying. He did not only teach us the necessity of Prayer, by words, but also by his own example; he often ascended Mountains, and retyred into desert places to be more vacant to Prayer; and as St. Luke testifies, he often spent whole nights in Prayer; not for his own necessities, but for our instruction. St. Paul seriously commends and commands this: [1 Thes. 1.] Be instant in Prayer, pray without intermission. And again, [1 Tim. 2.] Volo vos orare, &c. I will that you pray in every place.
But some may scruple here, how this precept of alwayes praying can be observed and practised? some expound it, that we ought to be always employed in some good, to the honour of God; every good work, as they say, being a kind of Prayer: But this cannot be the true sence of it, because Christ maketh a difference between prayer and good works, and maketh Alms, Prayer, and Fasting, distinct things; therefore there is some other way how this may be understood. St. Augustine [St. Aug. Epist. 112. c. 9.] expounds it thus, To pray without intermission: what other thing doth it mean, then to desire without intermission, Eternal Life? Let us desire this of our Lord, and we always pray; and by this we may easily conceive any man always to pray, and to spend both day and night in Prayer: And this desire in the heart of the godly doth never cease, but they alwayes seek and implore the Divine assistance, whether they eat or drink, or what else soever they do; as a man in Prison clogg'd with Irons, alwayes [Page 88] desires his Freedom. Others answer to this doubt in this manner; we must not understand this so strictly, that we should not in a moment of time cease from prayer, but that very often and diligently we should employ our selves in it, nor for other works less necessary, omit it; as if a Physitian should say to his Patient, see that you always eat this kind of dyet, and never intermit it; he doth not mean by this manner of speech, that he should sit day and night at the Table eating; but that at convenient times, as at Dinner and Supper, he should not abstain from it: So he is said always to pray, who every day hath set-times consecrated to prayer, and permits not himself to be called or hindred from thence. We may easily continue this exercise all the day, by the help of jaculatory prayers, which we may use at all times, in all places and company; for which St. Augustine commended certain Monks in Egypt.
What work or company can hinder thee from lifting up thy heart to God, with [Page 89] the Psalmist [Ps. 37] in these few words, Intend unto my aid O Lord God of my Salvation. Which words Cassianus affirms to bemost powerful & efficatious; or one may use a variety of such short speeches. This thou maist do saith St. Chrysostom, wheresoever thou art, no place can hinder thee from lifting up thy heart to God; if thou wert dressing meat, washing dishes, sweeping the house, or the like, thou may'st thus pray. I could wish that they who are delighted in prayer, and willingly spend their time in it, would not burden themselves with a multitude of Vocal prayers, and discoursive Meditations; but give more to the affection of the Will, than to the speculation of the understanding; spending most of that time in setting their affections on fire towards God, which is the true end of prayer.
A man may understand the necessity of prayer, who truly considers the miserable estate of man, reduced to such a misery and poverty in spirituals, that he cannot of himself act, speak, or think any [Page 90] thing that is grateful to God, unless assisted by his holy Spirit. What remains for an infirm Beggar, who hath no art, no patrimony, nor strength to labour for his being? What remedy in this condition, but to beg, or else to perish? Doth not then our condition, like to this, enforce us continually to fly to God by prayer, and by this means to beg of him (who is rich in mercies) a supply of all necessaries for this our life, as we are instructed in the Pater Noster, by asking our daily bread? The Salvation of every Christian depends on God, whom we must daily implore for the obtaining of it, and because this Salvation of ours is in continual danger, and that every one is bound to procure it with all care and diligence he can; hence it is, that always we are bound to pray to God for it, seeing it is not to be obtained by any other means, than from him, and by him. Again, there is no man, who hath not somtimes sinned, nor that hath any warrant or security hereafter not to sin; and in this respect, it is most necessary [Page 91] for us, by daily prayer, not only to seek that he would gratiously pardon and forgive our former sins; but also that he would be pleased to prevent with his grace, lest we fall again into other sins, through which we may incur eternal Damnation. We have a continual War, as the Apostle informs us, with invisible and powerful Enemies, and of our selves we are weak and unable to resist and conquer; how can we be for a moment secure, if we neglect to implore aid and assistance from God? this St. Chrysostom sets out to us by that of Exodus; [Exod. c. 17.] where it is said, that when Moses lifted up his hands in prayer, Israel did overcome: but when he was remiss in it, the Amalekites his Enemies did prevail; from hence that Holy Father concludes, that he is not to be excused, who would not have his Enemy overcome, and yet ceaseth from prayer; Oratio jugis, infirmitas hostis, as he speaks, Continual Prayer is a weakning & worsting of our Enemy. He affords weapons against himself, who ceaseth to weary his [Page 92] Enemy by the instancy of prayer: and lastly, he concludes with this exhortation; If thou desirest to be freed from dangers, to overcome the Devil, to subdue the Flesh, to suppress the sensual Appetites, to root out Vices, to procure Vertues, to contemn Temporals, to love and possess Eternals, give thy self seriously to Prayer. But prayer, to be powerful and efficatious, for a supply of all necessaries, must be qualified with these two conditions especially: First, it must be done with attention and recollection of Spirit; Christ by his own example in the Prayer he made in the Garden, immediately before his Passion, taught us this; he would not prostrate himself there to his Heavenly Father, before he was abstracted and separated from his Disciples there with him, Quantum jact us est lapidis, [Luc. 22.] as far as the cast of a stone; to inform us, that in this exercise of prayer, we should abstract our selves from all Creatures.
This at the first was a defect in St. Augustine, as he confesseth, [Lib. 10. [Page 93] Conf. c. 27.] Mecumeras, & tecum non eram: Thou wert with me, but I was not with thee. God was with him by his immensity, but he was not with him, by reason of his Distractions. St. Chrysostom Councelleth that our prayer ought to be Mysterium, a Mistery; so secret and intimate, as known only to God, and not so much as to our selves. Cassianus affirms, that not to be a perfect prayer, in which a man reflects upon what he prays, he should be not only distracted, but also so retired and abstracted, as to be, not only seperated from others, but even from himself by Union with Gods will; and such a prayer is a true Mistery and secret. It is the advice of Origen, that the Soul should have always a fixed Altar in it self, in which it should offer up unto God the Sacrifices and Victims of praises and prayer: It is the admonition of our B. Saviour in the Gospel, that when thou prayest, Intra in cubiculum, Enter into thy Chamber or Closet; which is not only to be understood of a [Page 94] material Chamber, or place of Retirement, but of entering into the Heart, & remaining inclosed there from all the World, as St. Chrysostom Expounds it, In cubitulo orat: He prays in his Chamber, though it be in the Church. Qui Solum Deum attendit: who there only attends to God. St. Ambrose renders the same sence of our Saviours words, Habes ubi (que) cubiculum: Thou hast thy Chamber, which is thy Heart, every where; into that thou must Retire, and remaine therein inclosed, in the time of Prayer; the doors of the Sences being shut, and all distracted occasions and imaginations Excluded. This Chamber hath three Cells, into which thou must enter; these are the three Powers, Memory, Intellect, and Will: enter into the Memory, being only mindful of God, and what thou art to meditate of; into thy Intellect, considering God present in thy Soul, and contemplating those things only, which belong unto him, and being very attentive what he speaks there, to thy Soul: into thy Will, produceing there, Acts [Page 95] of Affection towards God. True Devotion is of the nature of a Turtle, which seeketh solitary places, that there she may not be interrupted in her amorous Sighes and Languishings; which one should principally practise in Domestick and ordinary Prayers, not as many do, who say their Prayers in dressing themselves or by the fire-side in hast, and so their Prayers vanish as Smoak. As for Prayers in publick, as in Churches, where one cannot enjoy the retreat of a place, they must retyre the so much the more, to the retreat of their Heart, as the Alcyons, which in their little Nests injoy a calm in the midst of Waves, a repose in the Sea, tranquility in an Element troubled with Winds and Storms: which we may do, if we shut our Eyes, and regard not the objects which inviron us; our Ears by not hearkning to the discourses of others; our Mouths in talking only with God, our Imagination chasing away vain and imperfect Thoughts, by which we shall enjoy Peace and Retyrement in [Page 96] the midst of Assemblies. Joseph would not manifest himself to his Brethren, till all the Aegyptians were out of the place, neither will Christ communicate his Comforts and Sweetness to a Soul, if Aegyptians be present, vain imaginations and distractions, which disturbs the Peace of it. The second condition Required to the efficacy of Prayer, is purity of Mind, from the affection of Sin, as Women who go to fetch clean Water, are careful to carry Pots or Vessels cleansed from other Liquors. This God required of his People, by the Prophet Isay [C. 1.] Lavimini, mundi estote. Wash, and be clean. remove the evil of your thoughts, from my Eyes; Luxurious, remove thy impurity. Vindicative, thy Anger and Choller; Malitious, thy Envy; Proud, thy Arrogance; Covetous, thy Avarice; Sinner, thy Abominations; for if thou come thus defyled and polluted before the face of God, he will reject your Prayers, as he assures you by his Prophet, Cum multiplicaveris orationes. [Page 97] When you shall multiply your Prayers, I will not hear you; Manus enim vestrae Sanguine sunt plenae. Because your Hands are full of Blood; your Hands are defiled with the Blood of your Neighbours by many injustices; with your own Blood, by Sin, which Murders your Souls. By the Blood of Christ, so unprised by you: and thus you presume to present your Prayers to me, with bloody Hearts and Hands, full of iniquity, without having cleansed them by the waters of true Contrition, I will turn my Eyes from your defiled Hands, my Ears from your impure Prayers, my Heart from your polluted Hearts; I will not hear you.
This informs us, that we must come to prayer with contrition for our sins, with hearts pure from affection to evill. As they report of the Viper, that when she goes to the fountain to drink, she vomits up her poyson, that she may not be endangered by it; or as the Oyster casteth our the salt water, [Page 98] when she will open her shell, to receive the celestial dew, to conceive pearls: or as the place on which manna was to fall, was first purged from dust and filth by a precedent blast of wind; or as the victims which the antient Jews offered to God, were washed in a cistern of water, placed at the port of the temple, for that use. In like manner, Wash, and be clean, before you come to pray, if you will have your prayers gratefull to God, and beneficiall to your Souls.
This is the ground of that incouragement, in holy Job. [c. 11.] si iniquitatem abstuleris à te; if thou wilt remove from thee thy iniquity, then thou mayst lift thy face to God boldly, without offence.
The conditions requisite to prayer are comprehended in those few words of our Blessed Saviour to the Samaritan woman, Spiritus est Deus; God is a spirit, and ought to be adored in spirit and truth: in Spirit, by the interiour affection; in truth and verity, by the [Page 99] purity of mind and intention; in spirit, without voluntary distractions; in truth, without hypocrisie; in Spirit, fervently and humbly; in truth, sincerely and cordially.
O Soul! if thou didst but consider the benefit of spirituall prayer, how rich and liberall God is towards them, who truly invocate him, then would'st thou be diligent, fervent, perseverant to knock at the door of his mercy; thou wouldst not permit whole dayes to pass without prayer: this would be thy exercise in morning, mid-day and night; prayer would open the begining, conduct the progress, conclude the end of all thy enterprises.
The reason, why most people in the world, are plunged in a carnal, and sensuall life, is the defect of Internal and spirituall prayer, by the exercise of which they would enter into their hearts, to discover the true causes of their distempers, and so be excited to apply convenient remedies [Page 100] against them. If every one would be solicitous, to demand of God all graces necessary, for his souls conduct in his vocation and condition, it is impossible that God should refuse him, or that he should suffer shipwrack of his Salvation; because God cannot lye, because he is engaged by his word to give his grace; and his light, to conduct those, who demand it of him; if their prayers be accompanied with requisite conditions, with confusion for their sins, a desire of his grace; with interiour attention, humility, perseverance. Dabit Spiritum bonum; he will give his good spirit, to those that demand it, and every one who seeks, shall find, si petiisses; if thou hadst asked, he would have given thee the water of life. But many spend whole days entirely, without thinking that there is a God, or that they have a soul to save, riseing and lying down without once lifting their hearts to heaven, Sicut equus et mulus; as horses and [Page 101] beasts: others come to Church, to see and be seen, to prattle rather then to pray; others for the most part, pray for temporalls, as honours, riches, health and conveniences of the body, rather then for the grace and light of Gods spirit, to enable and direct them, in the affairs of their Souls Salvation; The prayers of others, are accompanied with such distractions, imaginations, and negligence, that we must conclude with St. James, [cap. 6.] petitis, et non accipitis; ye pray, and receave not, because you ask not as you ought. Of all prayers, all things equally considered, the morning prayers are most profitable; and the earlyer, the better. It is a reprehension of St. Chrysostome [St. Chrisost. deorando Deo] qua fronte: with what face do'st thou behold the riseing Sun, unless thou first adore God, who sends thee that gratefull light? Hence in the primitive times, the Christians, resorted to the Churches early in the morning, before day-light, as Tertullian [Page 102] and Eusebius relate; conformable to which, is that exhortation of St. Athanasius [St. Athana. do virg.] Oriens sol videat: let the rising Sun behold a prayer-book in thy hand. St. Basill informs us, it was the custome of Christians in his time, to prevent the rising Sun in their prayers. The Gentiles and Pagans, by the light of reason, did thus adore their Gods. Vergil [Li. 11. Aen.] relates of Aeneas, that first of all he did pay his vows to God; we read in Exodus [c. 7.] that God thus commanded Moses, vade; Go to Pharaoh early in the morning: behold, he goes then forth unto the waters, to perform some kind of adoration to them, as Abulensis and others affirm, upon that place: this Pagan understood, that morning adoration was most proper for God. Elias [Reg. 3. 18.] granted to the prophets of Baal, the morning to sacrifice to him, for this reason, as Theodoret observes, left being confounded by his not hearing them, they might excuse [Page 103] themselves, by saying that he did not first of all in the Morning receive a Sacrifice from them. The Prophet David found the benefit of this Morning Prayer, when he said, Domine mane: Lord in the Morning thou shalt hear my Prayer; this may be one Reason why these Prayers are most grateful to God; Because the first fruits, by all right, are due to him: so he offends against this, who gives them to another. Is it not a perversity in Christians to invert this order, to be intent and busied about other things? St. Chryfost. confounds Christians, negligent in this, by this Example: A King comes into a place, and men think it honour to prevent others, and to be the first in rendring homage to him, and think it a neglect to suffer Inferiours to go before them in it: But this diligence, saith he, is wanting in Christians, in rendring their Devotions and Service to God: they do not care if they be prevented in it, even by unreasonable and inanimate Creatures: what is this but to prefer, and esteem more of [Page 104] an Earthly King, than of the King of Heaven; but many here, saith the Holy Father, pretend excuses, by reason of necessary employments; but if the love of God were fervent, and the esteem of him the chiefest above all, such frivolous and cold excuses would not prevail: who more employed in necessary affairs than King David was? and yet in the Morning he did consecrate the firstfruits to God; lay thou aside all excuses, and cease to palliate Sloath and Tepidity under the Cloak of Necessity, which is so displeasing to God, that he is, as it were streightned and oblidged by it, to be sparing in bestowing benefits, as he speaks by his Prophet Zachary, [c. 11.] Contracta est anima mea in eis; My Soul is streightned in them. Another reason, why these morning and early prayers are so grateful to God, may be this; Because it is the proper Office of the Angels; and God, to render us like unto them, would have us joyn with them in praising him in this manner. That this [Page 105] is proper to Angels, holy Job [Job 38. 7] informs us, calling the Angels Morning Stars, Cum me laudarent; when the Morning Stars did praise me together, and all the Sons of God exulted for joy. SSt. Hierome, Gregory, Bede, and others, by the Morning Stars understand the Angels which are said to be Morning Stars, because from the very beginning, as soon as they were Created, the first thing they performed, was to praise God. A last reason of these Morning prayers may be, because they are not so subject to distractions, being performed before we be ingaged in other things; and preventing all affairs, they have a gratious influence upon all the good we do the day following, to direct it aright to the honour and glory of God; And thus every good work may be stiled a Prayer when it is done, in vertue of precedent Prayer; and so one may pray all the day long, by doing some good or other in vertue of his former Prayers.
I will conclude this with that of Solomon, [Eccles. 39.] The just man will [Page 106] give his heart, to resort early to our Lord that made him, and will pray before the most high.
I have been somthing tedious about this Interiour and Spiritual Prayer, because of the great necessity of it, to regulate and preserve a spiritual life, and because it is so much neglected in these times.
The last Means to Preserve and Encrease a Christian Life in us, is a Devout Frequenting of the Sacred Eucharist.
This appears clearly by the Words of our Blessed Saviour in St. John, [C. 6.] Qui manducat me, ipse vivet propter me; he who eats me, shall live by me; for which Reason the Antient Affrican Christians called this Mistery Life; as St. Augustin relates of them. [S. Aug. de pec. merit. lib. 1. c. 24.] because he gives himself here to every one in particular, to render him Partaker of his Divine Life. For [Page 107] this reason Paschacius compares this Sacrament, to the Tree of Life, planted in Paradice, to preserve and prolong the Life of Man. And to signifie thus much, it is instituted under the forms of Bread and Wine; to inform us, that it produceth the same effects, in order to a Spiritual Life, as these Elements do, about the Corporal Life of Man; for which, it is stiled by St. Cyprian [St. Cypr. Ser. de laps. de coena dom. Ep. 54.] a Celestial Viand, the aliment of Immortality, a Divine Nourishment: So the grace of the Eucharist, is properly nourishing Grace, because this Sacrament is instituted and ordained, to augment, fortifie and conserve the Spiritual Life of the Soul. It is an observation of St. Cyril [Cyril. Alexand. lib. 4. in Joan.] that our Blessed Saviour ordinarily in working of Miracles, used the Application of his Sacred Body; as when he would cure the infirm, or raise the Dead, he touched them with his Hands, to shew that his Flesh united with the Divinity Vivifica esset: had a vivificative Vertue [Page 108] in it. That which he did visibly in the world, he doth invisibly by Grace in this Sacrament; and by the Real Presence of his Body in this Mistery. By which Union with him, we receive in a most excellent and abundant manner, the communication of his Life and Spirit. We are incorporate here, and made one Body with him, to the end that we live by him, as St. Augustine affirms, [St. Aug. tract. 26 in Joan.] This Sacred Eucharist renders us strong in Dangers, constant in Labours, patient in Afflictions; it expels humane Fears, and exceedingly confirms the Heart of Man; and was lively represented by the Bread which Elias received from the Angel; by the vertue of which, he walked through the desert to Oreb, the Mount of God. David shadowed it out, in that of the 22. Psalm, parasti mensam: thou hast prepared a Table before me, against all that trouble me; and what other Table can he mean, but this, which Christ hath set before all his faithful? What other [Page 109] Table can fortify him against all his Enemies, but this, wherein is eaten Fortitudo Gentium, the Fortitude of the Gentiles? hence St. Chrysostome saith, that we should depart from this Table, Tanquam leones, as generous Lyons breathing Flames of Fire, and become terrible unto the Devils. The reason why this Celestial Food, Armeth our Souls against all the assaults of our Enemies, may be easily conceived by this; for it would little avail a Souldier Armed without, if he were destitute of natural Force and Strength of Body to mannage his Weapons; if for Hunger his Vital Spirits failed, if he were so weak that he could not strike a Blow: therefore Meat is necessary to restore his lost Forces, and consequently to Arm him within, against the Troops of his Enemies: So likewise Internally, doth this Holy Eucharist fortify us by Spiritual nutrition and vital Sustentation, against our ghostly Foes; therefore Christ saith, Caro mea vere est cibus, my Flesh is Meat indeed. To signifie this, the Councell [Page 110] of Trent [Sess. 13. c. 2.] would have this Sacrament receaved, as Spiritual Food, to Nourish and strengthen the Soul; and as an Antidote, to free us from venial Sins, and preserve us from Mortals. Hence the Affrican Council, as St. Cyprian relates, though it had determined, the Eucharist not to be given to those, who had denyed their Faith in Persecution, unless it were in case of Necessity or Infirmity; yet a new Persecution arising, they Decreed it to be Administred to such, lest they should fail in the profession of their Faith, by Torments. Such fortifying Vertue they attributed to it, as St. Cyprian Affirms, that he is not sufficiently prepared to suffer Martyrdom, Qui ab Ecclesia non armatur ad praelium; who by this means, is not Armed by the Church to Combate against the Enemies of it. In this Sacrament, we do not not only receave an encrease of Sanctifying grace, but in consequence of our communions, the Divine providence is, as it were obliged, to give us actuall [Page 111] graces, lights, motives, inspirations to assist us, and further us in good, for the future; why so? because this Sacrament is instituted to conserve, and encrease the Spiritual life of the soul; And because, the means necessary to make this encreas, and establish perseverance, is the exercise of holy actions, and the practise of good works; of which succours we have assurance, by vertue of this Sacrament, if we will worthily cooperate with them, and conserve them in our hearts, to make them eternally profitable: for which reason, it is Stiled by our B. Saviour, Food, qui permanet in vitam aeternam, which remains to life eternal. Do not think therefore, that the Blood of Christ works only in our hearts, in time of Communion, or whilst it remains in us really, under the form of the Sacrament, but that it also presents us an eternall fecundity and motive to good works, which St. Augustine expresseth by this similitude; The command which God [Page 112] gave to the earth in the begining, to produce herbs and fruits, was not only operative for then, but that same impression works, for all ensuing Ages; in so much, that the productions, which we see in order of the Nature, are but Explications of that first Word Germinet terra, Let the Earth bring forth: [Gen. 1.] So the Communion we Receive, is a Secret impression, and tacite Command, which Jesus Christ made, to produce the Fruits of good Works in us; Germinet terra: Let the Earth, watered and made Fruitful, by my Blood, thus bring forth; nor do these impressions only work, during these pretious Moments of his Reall Presence in us, but they extend their Activity, through the rest of our Life; so that all the actions of a Christian, ought to be explications, and living interpretations, of this Subsistant Word, and Life, which Jesus Christ leaves in us. This is the opinion of St. Bernard, saying, Siquis vestrum; if any [Page 113] one of you finds not in himself, such violent motions of Anger, Envy, Lust, & the like, let him give thanks to the Body and Blood of Christ, because the vertue of the Sacrament works in him. Is it not now reasonable that you live and work as true Christians, after having received in you, such a fruitful principle, cause and root of good. Radicati in ipso: [Col. 2.] rooted thus in him? If there be any thing, can give us assurance of the efficacy of this Sacrament in us, it is the exercise of good works and a vertuous life; one knows a tree by the fruit of it; and you know, if you have effectively received this Sacrament, by the works it causeth you to produce in your Lives; so you may therefore suspect your Communions, when they produce not such Fruits in you. Upon which St. Peter [Ep. 1. 2.] Exhorts us, to assure our Vocation by good Works, which particularly is understood of the grace of this Mistery.
Receiving in our hearts the Life of our Saviour, being assured of His Presence, [Page 114] and of our Obligations to do good works, which answers the fecundity of this Cause, the power of Succours, the efficacity of Motives here, which we have in this Mistery; is it not strange to see so little fruit produced by this amongst Christians? There is nothing so common as the use of the Eucharist; Priests say Mass every day; a great part of Christians Communicate once a Month, many oftner. And notwithstanding this, where is the Sanctity of Manners which should follow this operative Life received, this powerful principle and cause of Grace? you may see Dames, who make profession, often to approach this Holy Mystery, and yet they are not by this less violent in their passions, or less vain in their Conversations; nor are they more devout, or more charitable; which gives occasion to Hereticks to judg amiss of our Faith; and to Libertines, to blame the frequent use of this Sacrament; from whence then proceeds this prodigious sterility amongst Christians in a [Page 115] Sacrament so fruitful and operative? It is not the fault of the vertue of it, because we received the self-same, which produced the courage of Martyrs and Sanctity of the Church. Sure we ought to accuse our selves as defective causes, by putting obstacles to the effects of it; for we have free liberty to render unprofitable all the causes of good, presented unto us. The precious Body and Blood of Christ have an extream inclination to save us, an infinite Vertue to confer Graces and Succours; and in the mean while, we oppose Obstacles to them, and offer violence to Christ himself in this Mistery: This may happen divers ways: First, it may be, we bring not necessary dispositions to render this Sacrament efficatious; but rather we receive it in the state of Mortal Sin, and thus trample the pretious Body and Blood of Christ under our feet; he gives us his Sacred Body to be the Means and Cause of Grace, and we by a Sacrilegious Communion make the same Body the Instrument of our Sin; [Page 116] and so change the Sacrament of Love, into a Sacrament of our Rage and Malice; and as the Apostle says, we become Guilty of the Body and Blood of Christ. But suppose we come fee from Mortal Sin, and in the estate of Grace, as much as we can assure our selves, yet we come with a certain tepidity and negligence which hinder us from receiving the fervour of Charity, and the active quality of Grace, which gives not only the Power, but the Inclinations and Motions to good works. And again, If we are well disposed, and receive an encrease of Sanctifying Grace, and by the vertue of our Communions, God gives us the Succours of actual Graces; we may put another Obstacle to their efficacy, in not cooperating with them, by not seconding their influences, but rather refusing their impressions; and therefore no wonder if our Communions are so unprofitable. And thus truly one may say of us in this condition, as St. Paul said of the Infidels, Veritatem dei in injustitia detinent, [Page 117] [Rom. 1.] they detain the truth of God in injustice. Jesus Christ, the Truth, which we have received in Communion, his Grace, his Lights, and his Inspirations, we hold Captives in our hearts; and commit a high injustice by hindring them from produceing their effects in us.
A Last Reason of this sterility may be, because we consider not the Communion we have made, nor the Obligations it imposeth on us, to render them efficatious. After the use of Communion, we should often think of it, and amongst the occasions of sin, or doing of good, we should receive this Sacrament Spiritually, in our minds; saying, be pleased my Saviour, that I do not any thing unworthy your Pretious Blood; Live in me continually by your holy Operations, that I may one day receive from your hands, the recompence of it in glory. It is St. Chrysostom's Advice and Councel, [Hom. 60. ad pop.] to consider this our dignity in the occasions of sin, to the end that such a consideration may serve us as [Page 118] a Bridle to Curb our Passions, and as a Spur and excellent Motive to excite us to good; Quaenam erit nobis excusatio; what excuse can we have, that being partakers of such Mysteries, we commit such Crimes? So the Holy Father farther especially exhorts, that we ought to be Good and Vertuous before and after Communion; before, to render us worthy to receive the Sacrament; after, not to appear unworthy of having received it; And by this means, our Communions will produce in us Perseverance in Grace, and Consummation of a Spiritual Life, which is the last end of the Sacrament, and the Object of our Hopes.