Moral essays The fourth volumn. Contained in two treatises. The first concerning the four last ends of man. The second concerning the practice of Christian vigilance. Written originally in French, and now translated into English.

FIRST TREATISE , OF THE Four Last Ends of MAN .

BOOK I. Of Death ,

CHAP. I. That it is strange Men having Death always before their Eyes , and so great reason to think of it , do think nevertheless so little of it .

't is not onely of the Death of Martyrs that we may say with St. Augustine , De Civitat . Dei , l. 13. c . 4. That by the admirable Grace of our Saviour , the Pain of Sin is become the Instrument of Virtue ; 't is by the Death of all men . Death will be for them one of the most powerful means of their Salvation , and one of the greatest remedies of their Evils , if they can draw the advantages which the divine mercy will procure them by this chastisement which his Justice exercises over them .

Man dies not but because he has Sinned , and it would suffice to Sin no more to think well that he must die . The Scripture it self assures us of it , by discovering to us thereby this secret of Gods bounty towards Sinners . Ecles . 7.40 . Remember your End , and you will never Sin .

In effect what is more capable to make man think of himself , and more proper to make him out of Love with the World , to suppress his Pride , to strike him with a holy fear of Gods Judgements , than the thoughts of Death ? Also God who saw how much this thought was beneficial for us , hath pleased that it should be renewed in our minds by a number of different objects and actions , which presenting to us continually the Idea of Death , permits us not to forget it , lest we should turn our Eyes willingly another way .

We are not only advised by so many men that we must die , who ever and anon part out of this World ; by that of all other Animals to which we have been equalled in this point , in punishment for our sins ; by sicknesses which happen to us ; by continual weakness of the Body which we experience continually ; by infinite accidents which threaten us every moment : we are so likewise by a great part of our actions , which tending to avoid death , ought continually to place the Image thereof before our Eyes .

For what is mans life but a perpetual combat with Death ? We Eat only that we may not die for hunger . We Drink that we may not die for thirst . We Sleep that we may not die for want of it . We Labour to withstand Death , which want might cause . We take rest that we may not die with weariness . We are therefore at all turns grapling with Death . And being thus obliged to make continual endeavours to repulse it , it is very strange we should be able to hinder our selves from thinking of it .

Likewise God will not have the impression which Death makes upon the minds of men to be diminished by an artifice , which they make use of in regard of most truths which incommode them ; it is to palliate the Evidence and certainty thereof by affected doubts . For although there is nothing more hard to nature than the necessity of dying , yet is there nothing more sure . We do not flatter our selves upon this score with vain hopes . And the experience of so many Ages , in which we have seen so many Men yield to Death without exception or priviledge , does form in all Mens minds so clear a conviction , that even those who have desired to withdraw themselves from the rank of men , and make themselves adored as Gods , have never been so foolish as to think they should never die .

Every one therefore is perswaded he shall die . We receive from all parts continual allarms thereof . And moreover Christian Religion teacheth us , that this so unavoidable Death ought to place us for ever in a state of happiness , or misery , and that these two Eternities which are so different , the one so desirable , and the other so frightful , depend on the disposition of the Heart wherein that last moment shall find us : That it will give it self at that instant an irrevocable decree which will decide our Lott for ever , and what renders this decree favourable or contrary , is the use we make of our life here , which is only given us to prepare our selves for it .

Who would not imagin but that men who make a profession of believing these Truths , should be employed continually about these frightful objects ? And indeed 't is this which God pretends in placing them so frequently before our Eyes . 't is what Reason dictates to us , and what it makes us do in some Occasions of much less importance .

We need not advertise Criminals , shut up in Prison , in expectation of Judgment , where their Honour , their Goods , and their Lives are at stake , to think of the danger they are in , of the means to avoid it , of the ways to make their Judges favourable to them : Their State and Condition puts them in mind thereof , and their Thoughts incline them naturally thereunto , without any need of using endeavours to apply themselves to it . But how much more would they busie themselves about it , if they thought they could advance their Affairs by thinking on it , and that there were no better means to gain their Judges favour , and to render their Cause good , than by having the day of their Trial always in their minds ?

This is the Image of Man's Condition , but not of his Conduct . He is a Prisoner , like these Criminals we speak of : for the whole World is Man's general Prison , and we go not out of it but by Punishment , Death being one to which all Men are condemn'd by God's Justice . No Man dies properly of that which Men call a Natural Death . Every Death is the Execution of a Decree of God , who condemns us to it . Some are condemn'd to die by the Sword , others by Fire , some by Shipwrack , some by Poyson , some by the Plague , and Fevers , and by other Diseases ; and the death of these last , although accompanied with Circumstances less frightful to the Senses , is often more hard and troublesom than the others .

We are in expectation not onely of the Execution of the Decree of Death , which is already given against us ; but of another much more terrible , which is not yet pronounced , and which should make us happy or miserable for all Eternity .

We know that it might help us much to have the mind fill'd with these thoughts , and to represent to our selves often this last moment which will finish our lives and begin our Eternity . All that environs us puts us in mind thereof . And nevertheless the truth is , that there are very few who think of it , and a great many fewer that think seriously of it . Most Men on the contrary place all their care and study to banish all these objects out of their thoughts ; to see death the least they can , to drive away all that represents it lively , and they prosper so well therein , that they all come almost to death , without ever having thought or dreamt of it .

This blindness which men procure themselves is doubtless one of their greatest misfortunes ; and the Devil hath no greater means to destroy them , than to nourish them therein , and conduct them thus brutishly to death without reflecting or foreseeing . 't is this ought to incline those whose Eyes God opens sometimes to see the misery and danger of this State , to do all possibly they can to dissipate those clouds which hide these objects from us , of which it is so necessary for us to think ; and without doubt one of the best means to succeed therein is , to observe well the wiles which are used , either to banish absolutely out of the mind the remembrance of Death , or to think thereof onely in so weak a manner , that it may not be able to make any impression upon the heart , nor hinder any ways the course of its passions .

CHAP. II . Of the Artifice Men make use of to weaken the Idea of Death ; which is , to look upon their Lives as long and certain .

THere are hardly any People who can hearken without trouble to the Commandment which the Prophet Isaiah made in behalf of God to King Ezechias , ( Isa . 38.1 . ) to put his affairs in order , and to prepare himself for death : Dispone domui tuae . The Image of Death , when both near and certain , does make the most firm and undaunted to quake : And when any one is told , that he hath but very little or no time to live , he is much more troubled to moderate the fear he apprehends thereof , than to incline him to think of it .

Every one is moved in these occasions , and pressed not onely to order the affairs of his House , but also those of his Conscience . The most wicked and impious are troubled thereat , and not daring to die as they have lived , they find more safety in making the best use they can of the Actions of Religion they have neglected in their life-time .

't is not then through a constancy of the Soul , that Men are so little concerned , during their health , at the fear of death : 't is not because they can undergo the sight of it without fear , nor that they can hinder themselves from thinking of it when it presents it self to them with all it hath that's terrible : 't is because they represent it not to themselves in their Lives , but by so dim and so confus'd an Idea , that it is not possible to move or stir them .

To weaken and obscure thus the Idea of Death , they make use of divers Inventions , which it is necessary should be discovered . One of the principal ones is , that imagining their Lives very long , they look upon Death , which ought to terminate it , so far off , that it diminisheth infinitely the Impression that it might make upon their minds .

For how terrible soever an Object may be , we are generally little touched at it when we think it far off ; because the mind applying it self to this long Interval which is between us and it , perceives much more the Good of being freed from this Evil during all that time , than the Evil it has reason to apprehend after the expiration of it . We imagine moreover , in regard of these Evils at so far a distance from us , that there will be time enough to think thereof when they shall be nearer us ; but yet we can onely enjoy the rest which time permits ; and what we do in respect of death is properly there . No Man would die not having considered very well of it : But we imagine we shall think thereof one day or other , and that we shall have time to do it ; and upon this false assurance we take all our lives the boldness not to think of it at all .

The Devil speaks not now to us , as he did to our Forefathers , You shall not die ; this would be too gross a temptation , and no body would be deceived by it : But he tells them , You shall not die presently , you have yet a great while to live : And by this means he deceives almost all the World , because he finds in mens hearts an inclination to be flattered by these vain hopes , through a desire they have to enjoy more quietly some sensible things which they have a mind unto .

This Illusion includes two ; the one , That we conceive the space we promise our selves to live , like something a long time off ; the other , That we assure our selves , without reason , that this space will not be shortned by any of those so many accidents which threaten Mens Lives , and which make the greatest part of them to die much sooner than they thought of . So to dissipate it , we need onely consider , whether we have reason to look upon our Lives as either long or certain . And it is a very hard matter to examine these two Points truly , without being astonish'd at mens blindness .

CHAP. III . Of the shortness of Life , and the Idea we ought to have of it .

IT is not meant here to convince men of the shortness of their Lives : They cannot oftentimes withstand the evidence which persuades them to it ; and they complain somtimes of it , when they find it too short to execute their designs , or that it does not permit them to enjoy as long as they would the objects of their passions .

It is intended to persuade them , that this Life is short in relation to the end for which it is given us , which is to prepare us for Death and Eternity ; that in what Age soever we be touched with this thought , it is never too soon to apply our selves thereunto , although we should do nothing else all the remainder of our lives ; that we ought to make haste to do it ; and that it is a folly to put off this thought to another time : And as the Devil , to dissuade us from it , flatters us commonly with the Idea of a long Life , so we must endeavour to correct this Idea , and to see fully what right we have to promise it to our selves .

It would suffice for that to tell men , that labouring to enter into a state of Eternity , no Time that is given us to prepare our selves for it ought to seem long and tedious . There is no Time finite which hath proportion with Eternity , which is endless . A Month , a Day , an Hour , a Minute , have some proportion with thousands of Years ; because these thousands of Years comprehend onely a certain number of Months , Days , Hours , and Minutes : but thousands of Years have not any at all with Eternity ; because what Multiplication soever can be made , they will never make up the Measure .

Although God should have obliged us to consider many millions of Years upon Death , and to accompany this Consideration with all imaginable Austerities , and with a general renouncing of all Humane Satisfactions , it would be yet much less than to oblige some People , who ought to enter upon some considerable Charge , to think thereof , and to prepare themselves but for one hour .

There is but one Eternal Preparation which can have any relation to Eternal Happiness ; and God would be in the right to require it , according to St. Austin , in Psal . 36. if he would act towards us with an exact Justice . Whether it be that we consider the Goods God has prepared in Heaven for his Elect , or we consider the Evils wherewith he will punish the wicked , and which he desires we may avoid , by the use we shall make of Life ; all time is short to deserve the one , and to warrant us of the other .

But if we must needs prepare our selves eternally to obtain the Riches of Heaven , says this holy Doctor , ( Ibid . ) when will the time of enjoying it come ? It is therefore necessary that this Preparation be limited to a certain time , to the end that this time being past , we may obtain that Happiness which shall never end . But although limited it may be long , and God might have obliged us to long Labours and Miseries , to deserve to be eternally happy : Although those Labours and Miseries should be for a thousand years , put them in the Scale with Eternity , and you shall see they will be nothing compared with it . Nevertheless it is very requisite that this Preparation which God requires from us , be not so long . It is not stretched forth to each of those who begin to consider it , but to what of their Life remains . Now what is mans Life ? I do not speak of those whose Age or bad Health puts them every moment in mind of approaching Death : I speak of those who are in good health , and to whom Age permits them to promise themselves in their Life-time all that men can reasonably expect : And by how many think you ought that to be esteemed ?

Those who make Treatises , whose Gain or Loss depends on the length of mans Life , build them upon this Rule , confirmed by Experience , That 't is more rare , that any man , whatsoever he be , considered in any part of his Life , do live twenty years beyond the Age he is of , than that he should die before that term : that is , Take a certain number of men , of what age you will , there will be more of those dead twenty years after , than there will be living . So that each of these men would do prudently to renounce the hopes of a longer Life , provided they should be assured to live twenty years .

But as these Agreements are not in our power , each man ought rather to be persuaded , that he shall not be in this World at the end of twenty years from the time he counts from , than that he shall . And 't is from thence that one ought to judge whether there is reason to believe that the Life of Man is long , and whether there is not just grounds to prepare for Death .

For , is it possible that men can believe that 't is too much to prepare themselves twenty years for Eternity , and that they can imagine this space of time as too long for that Work ? How many several Employments are there in the World , which require as long Preparations ? Is there any one who would refuse to lead a laborious and troublesom Life twenty years , that he might become a Prince ? And the World , is it not full of People who live a long time in a very toilsom manner , for very small Recompences ? Will there be nothing then but Heaven for which we shall find every thing unsufferable ?

If men will know what twenty years Hardship is , let them reflect upon those they have already passed , and consider with what swiftness they are fled away . It is hardly a day ( said St. Augustine , in Psal . 3● . ) since Adam was chased from the Terrestrial Paradise : Many Ages are past since that time , it is true ; but what are become o● them ? If you had lived since Adam's Banishment until this time , you would think your Life had been but short : Therefore what is twenty years in our eyes ? I know very well , that we look upon those which are to come otherwise than those which are past : but 't is a deceit of our Imagination ; they will pass away with the same swiftness : The Torrent of the World hurries them away , and in a trice we shall be amazed to find our selves come to the end . Greg . Nazianz . Or. 17.

The Gospel , to explicate to us this brevity , represents to us the whole course of Ages under the Figure of One day , and reckons the time of the Law of Grace but as the Evening and One hour of the day , Novissima hora . What part then took up twenty years in this Evening , and in this Last hour ?

He who is but twenty years distant from death , is very near ; and in stead of concluding that 't is not yet time to think of Death , he ought to conclude , that 't is time not to think now of the World , and that what time he hath to live is not worth the Pains . For what is it to be twenty years , more or less , a little richer or poorer ; a little more at ease , or incommoded ; a little higher , or lower ; seeing that this time being ended , we ought to enter into a state of Eternity , where all these Differences will be destroyed , and where God will make other Differences amongst Men , which will be eternal ? Behold what deserves thinking of ; I do not say twenty years , but twenty millions of years , because by thinking thereof we may be much more able to contribute to assure and augment our Happiness ; and by deferring to think of it , at least we put our selves in danger of being eternally miserable , and we shall certainly be less happy .

CHAP. IV . Of the Uncertainty of Life .

GOD hath not onely commanded , that the time he gives men to prepare themselves for Death be short , but also that it be uncertain ; and that Death being able to surprise them at every moment , they had always reason to fear it . His design thereby hath been to render it always present to us , and to stir us up by this means to a continual Vigilance . 't is he himself who hath been willing to advertise us of it , by telling us in the Gospel , Watch , because you know neither the day nor the hour ; Vigilate , quia nescitis diem neque horam .

The Fathers , by following this Light , have drawn the same consequence of the incertitude of this Life : Seeing that Life is uncertain , say they , we must not put off being converted ; because God , who promised Pardon to those who returned sincerely to him , does not promise it the next day to any one .

't is God's great mercy , saith St. Austin , ( in Psal . 34. item in Psal . 101.144 . ) that in advertising us to live well , he hath hidden the day of our death from us , that we may promise our selves nothing for the time to come . For fear , says he , in another place , ( in Joan . tr . 33. ) that men through despair should precipitate themselves yet into more disorder , he has promis'd them the Port of Penance : And for fear that the hope of Pardon should be an occasion of their living evilly , he has made the day of their death uncertain .

But Men enchanted with the love of Wordly things find means to shift off this Counsel of Gods mercy to them . As they fear oftentimes , when there 's no reason to fear , they imagin and conceive assurances , when there is no cause to be assured . What Examples soever they learn every day from People who have been surprised by Death , either they will not make Reflection that as much may happen to them , or they suppose without ground , that they shall not be of the number of those miserable Creatures ; and thus forming to themselves a cloud which hinders them from seeing the danger which threatens them at every turn , they continue to follow their passions , without being the least amused at the fear of Death .

But they contemn those dangers by not seeing them , and on the contrary by acting in such sort as not to see them ; to deliver themselves from this illusion , they need only to open their Eyes , and consider seriously that life is as uncertain for us as for others .

There needs no proof to be convinced of this , a few Reflections concerning these things will suffice . There is nothing more common than Death ; nor nothing so rare as not to be surprised by it . Many are overwhelmed at once by suddain deaths , others fall into sicknesses which presently take away their reason , though they do not take away their lives so soon , and do the same effect as sudden Deaths in what relates to the hindring them from preparing themselves for Death . Gregor . mor . l. 25. c . 2. Subitum est homini quod ante cogitare non potuit .

But without any consideration of these accidents which are more rare , it may in one sense be said , that almost all Deaths are sudden and unprovided , because there are few that we have had time to foresee before hand .

The State of Health , and that of Sickness which brings Death is generally followed immediately , and is not separated by any sensible interval : So that the same day sometimes we are well and mortally sick in appearance .

We ordinarily foresee the Fall of Buildings , because we see almost all parts of it ; and there are certain Signs to be assured of it , when we doubt . But Mans Body is an Edifice which we cannot visit ; 't is a Machine whose Springs are hidden , and which may be all ready to break and to fall to ruine , without any ones being aware thereof . Such an one thinks he is far from death , who carries it in his Bosom ; and such an one is really far from it at this moment , who shall be struck with it the next .

The Machine of the Body is composed of so many little Parts , of so many Vessels and Springs , that almost any thing will disorder it , and hinder its Motions ; and those who know the Structure of it the most exactly , are so far from being surpriz'd that men die so soon and so frequently , that they are astonish'd that they can last for any time .

Let us joyn to the Consideration of the weakness of our Bodies , and this great number of Accidents and Sicknesses to which they are subject , the Consideration of God's Providence , which disposes Soveraignly of our Lives and Deaths , and whose Decrees are to us unknown ; we shall see more clearly how many Delusions there are to assure our selves of the length of this Life , and to put off thinking of Death to another time than that which God hath given us at present . For they are not properly Sicknesses which bring Death with them ; 't is the Decree of God's Will : We are dead before him from the very moment we were born , because he created us at a certain Instant , to make us die exactly at another .

All men , as we have said already , are condemn'd to Death by the Justice of God , and their Deaths are assigned to certain hours and moments . This Ordinance is executed every day upon a very great number of Persons up and down in the World . Who can then be assured of any day which shall not be his last ? We perceive not , said one , any Signs or any Presages of Death . It is very true : But amongst those who ought to die that same day , there are always many who are appointed to die without these Presages and Signs . And thus the confidence we may have not to be of that Number , is rash and groundless .

That which is strange , is , that we onely flatter our selves in this sort when we are busied in settling the Affairs of our Salvation : For when we are employed in Humane Affairs , we scarce want the remembrance of the incertainty of this Life ; and we are so much the more mindful thereof , as the Interests are greater . We resolve , for example , to hazard some small thing upon another Mans Life : but we are very careful in doing it when it concerns some great and considerable Sum : We will then have Security , because we know not , says one , what may happen . We prevent in these Contracts the Inconveniences that may arise from Mens Deaths , by a thousand Clauses and Precautions . In fine , we suffer oftentimes certain Losses , for not hazarding great Sums upon other Mens Lives , or our own : So much we are persuaded that there is nothing more uncertain than Life , nor nothing more frequent than to be surprized at Death . Nevertheless , by an incomprehensible subversion of the Mind , when it concerns Eternity , we stifle all fears , we are at quiet , we never dream of the incertainty of this Life , and we live as if it were exposed to no Accidents , and that we were fully assured that it must continue all the time we have promised to our selves .

It is impossible we should not condemn the indiscretion of this Conduct : But we must not stop there : Reason ought to correct the false Ideas wherewith our Imaginations are stuffed . And to hinder our selves from beholding Death at this deceitful distance , which robs it of what it hath that 's most terrible ; or with this false assurance of not being surprized by it , upon which we rest satisfied ; it ought to make us acknowledge , on the contrary , that it is indeed very near us ; that it importunes and besieges us on all parts ; that we have occasion to fear every moment and in every place to hear this frightful voice Echoing in our Ears : We must die , we must appear before God , and receive our sentence for all Eternity , there is no more delay . And from thence it is easie to conclude , that we cannot make too much haste to think seriously on it : That we have no time to lose , and that our trouble ought to be , that we have not always been mindful of it .

CHAP. V. How dangerous it is to put off thinking of Death till our last Sickness .

I pretend not to speak here of some Regular persons , who , having their imaginations too quick , are struck too much with the thoughts of Death : For we allow that these persons do well to bear with their weakness , and to nourish their piety by other objects .

I speak of those to whom these thoughts may be useful , and who nevertheless avoid them . And as their being so remote from thence , may yet proceed from diverse causes , we ought to judge thereof differently .

For there are some , in whom this remoteness is an effect of a simple and meer Negligence , and a natural shunning some malancholy Objects , and who yet lead a life exempt from crimes , practising many good works , and desiring sincerely to be with God .

There are some in whom it springs from an ill govern'd spirituallity , who love only what comforts or raises the mind , avoiding all that humbles it .

Likewise I will not deny that there are Souls who have no need at all of these thoughts , and which God draws to him by other ways .

But these three dispositions , joyned together , are not so ordinary as that which hinders the thinking of Death , because this Idea troubles the pleasures , and incommodes the passions . Most People omit thinking of Death as they omit to be Converted , and they put off the one and the other until their last sickness , because they can do it no longer .

In vain endeavour we to represent to them the brevity and the uncertainty of mans life . For sudden Deaths , which take away absolutely the means of thinking of it , are not so frequent as those which allow some time to prepare for it ; the love they have for worldly things , being always more strong than the fear of an Accident , which they look upon as seldom hapning , does never permit them to think of death , until some violent Sickness take away the means of deferring it any longer . 't is not that all that is distinct in their minds ; for they love to conceive these kind of things but confusedly : But it is easie to see that 't is in effect what hapned therein , and what caused the ground of their repose .

As this state and condition is very common , it is good to examine it particularly , and to endeavour to give it the just horrour which is due to it ; and 't is what these following Considerations may make appear .

First , It is evident , that this Disposition includes a resolution of hazarding Damnation , if we happen to be surprized by an unprovided Death , being we take no precaution against Death which overwhelms all at once . And this resolution is so Foolish in it self , that men never commit the like in respect of Wordly things . For example , have we seen a Prince so foolish to play his Kingdom against a Straw , to put Life and Honour in danger that he may gain a false Diamond ? Nevertheless these are follies infinitely less than that of exposing our selves to the hazard of being lost for ever , and becomeing everlastingly miserable , for any temporal thing whatsoever . 't is this nevertheless that all those do , who expect to think of them when they shall be dangerously sick .

't is not only a Follie , 't is a very Criminal one , which angers God by the Disdain which it offers ; which violates the Command he gives us of being converted : which abuses his Patience and Mercy , which deserves that he refuse at our Deaths the favours we have neglected in our life time .

Moreover this Follie is grounded upon divers Errors , which every one may easily discover if they will . It is true , that sudden Deaths are more rare than others . But how many are those , which Men call not sudden , to which they cannot prepare themselves by the Sacraments ? How many which do so overwhelm the mind by the violence of sickness , that it is impossible to think seriously of any thing , or to practise actions of Religion but after a brutish manner ?

Do men think that it is very easie for a Soul , whose whole attention is busied about the Sentiment of her corporal evils , to consider of objects whereunto she is absolutely a Stranger , to recollect with bitterness her whole life , to acknowledge and condemn all her former faults ? On the contrary , is it not clear , both by Experience and Reason , that almost all men are never less able to think of Death , than when they are nearest it ; and that most of their exterior actions of Piety in this Condition , may be indeed , in good men , marks of the disposition wherein Sickness found them , but in others nothing but the effects of Custom , which all those who make profession of any Religion , whatever it be , have , to die with the Ceremonies of their Religion ; and even oftentimes of the weakness which renders the Diseased incapable of resisting those who brought them thither ?

But although we had in this condition all the liberty of mind that we could desire or wish for , can we imagine we ought to have any great confidence in these testimonies of Conversion , which go but just before Death ? That is not the Judgment the Church has always given thereof : She , on the contrary , has always been doubtful of them , and has endeavoured to persuade her Children not to confide in them : She has sent those to do Penance she had reconciled in this condition , as if they had not received Absolution , esteeming almost as nothing all they have done during their being sick . Divers Reasons may be brought ; but I shall content my self with alledging one , which we have already made use of in another Treatise .

't is , That in the common way Mans heart does not change at once the Object and the End : We may well change in a moment our outward Actions ; but Love , which enjoys the principal place in the Heart , scarcely changes in a moment ; it is requisite that it be weakned by little and little , and that there be another to take its place by degrees . 't is thus that Humane Passions are changed ; and God , who will that the Operations of his Grace be not sensibly distinguish'd from those of Nature , observes ordinarily the same method : He begins to shake the Heart by Fear , before he touch it with his Love ; and oftentimes he touches it a long time by some Principles of Love , before he become Master of it by an overruling Love , which turns the Heart towards him as towards its last End , and which delivers it from the bondage of the Love of Creatures . Thus as the Conversion of dying Sinners cannot pass by these degrees , it must needs be miraculous to be true . The Church despairs not of this Miracle ; and 't is for this reason that she grants the Sacrament to dying Persons : but she fears very much that the Sentiments which appear in Sinners who are in this condition , are onely small beginnings of Fear , or of the Love of God , which are not sufficient for a true Conversion . 't is this which obliges Sinners not onely to labour , but also to labour seriously for their Salvation , that their Love may have time to encrease , and to arrive at a state wherein we may say they are truly converted .

Father Jurseus , of the Society of Jesus , in his Book of the Knowledge of the Love of Jesus Christ , ( lib . 2. sect . 19. ) does alledge another Reason against those who defer their Conversion until Death , which is worthy to be related here ; and it is in these Terms . My second Reason is , That thou oughtest not to put off thy Repentance , because thou knowest that to do it , whensoever thou dost attempt it , thou must necessarily have an efficacious Grace . And who has told thee that God will give it thee then ? Hast thou assurance from him that it shall not be wanting ? Expect also , that delaying to quit thy sin , and this sin sticking to thee by its proper weight , and swaying thee by a certain Moral Necessity to commit others , and so heaping sins upon sins , and crimes upon crimes , thou makest that God will be less disposed to give thee this Grace , and , as St. Paul says , Secundum duritiam tuam & cor impoenitens thesaurisas tibi iram in die irae ; Thou obligest him conformly by the hardness and the obstinacy of thy heart , to refuse it thee at the day that thou shalt precisely have need of it for thy Salvation .

Also God hath been so far from promising Sinners to give them at their death these sort of Graces , how necessary soever they may be to them for their Conversion , that he hath promised , on the contrary , in some manner , not to give them to them ; seeing he declares in the Book of Proverbs , that he will laugh at these sinners at the time of their death , Prov. 1.26 . Ego quoque in interitu vestro ridebo ; that he will laugh at them , & sub sannabo , and that he will not hear them when they call on him ; Tunc invocabunt me , & non exaudiam ; which denotes at the same time , both that these inveterated sinners do not forbear to practice outward Actions of Religion , and that they do not obtain God's Mercy by these Actions .

Finally , This Liberty of Mind which some have in their last Sickness , and which those we speak of look upon as an assured Means to their Salvation , is so far from being an help to repair all the past disorders of this Life , that it gives leave often to the greatest Temptation which is able to attack Men in this state , which is that of an excess of Terrour , which casts the Soul into astonishment and despair ; and there are none who are more exposed to it , than those who have never desired to think of death whilst they were in health .

't is a strange thing but to see our selves environed with deadly Griefs , to open at once our eyes and behold these terrible Objects , on which we have never dar'd to look , and to find nothing but Crimes in our Consciences . Those who have employed themselves most with the thoughts of death , do grant that there is an infinite difference betwixt seeing at a distance , and seeing near at hand .

The stoutest do give back when they are in this condition : What then must be the Convulsions of a miserable Soul , which , being voluntarily blind her whole life , thinking onely on what might divert her , comes on a sudden to discover Death , Devils , Judgment , and Hell ?

Thus there are nothing but bottomless Pits and Precipices on all sides , for those who defer thinking of Death until they are so near it : All things are equally dangerous to them , stupidity and liberty of Mind , forgetfulness and the remembrance of Death .

We are then so far from being able to look upon this Condition as favourable to recover the Grace we have lost , that , on the contrary , it is visible it puts us in great danger of losing it . We ought to be so far from dispensing with our selves from being prepared for Death during our Health , by putting it off until we be forced to it by Sickness ; that we ought , on the contrary , to think continually thereof whilst we are in health , that we may not be obliged to think of it being sick .

And lastly , We must be so far from expecting to repair by those Actions of Piety which we may do in this extremity , the Disorders in which we have passed this Life , that we must endeavour , on the contrary , to obtain from God , by long exercises of Piety , the Grace not to faint or lose courage in these last Tentations , but to practice with Piety these last Actions of Religion .

CHAP. VI . That the Thought of Death is not onely helpful to free us from Sin , but also a puissant Remedy to preserve us from falling into it . That 't is good to represent to our selves the state of Dying Men .

THE last inconvenience which happens to those who being unwilling yet to forsake Sin , banish out of their minds all thoughts of Death , and leave them to their last Sickness , is common with those who flye these thoughts through a wicked Delicateness , or a false Spirituallity , which gives them a taste only for the objects which comfort and puff them up . 't is for want of thinking upon Death , th●t they are deprived of one of the greatest succours , and one of the most efficacious means that God hath given us , to free us from the love of perishable things , to make us esteem those which are Eternal ; to Judge well of the World and all that is therein ; to moderate our passions , and lastly to flye Sin .

't is true , this may be said of all objects of fear which Religion proposes unto us , which are all needful to uphold the Soul against Temptation . But it is certain , that amongst these objects , that of Death has a particular force to pacifie the passions , by an impression of terrour : For it does not only comprehend the Ideas of Gods Judgement , and of Hell ; that is , of what is most terrible ; but it paints it likewise in the imagination by more lively and more sensible Images than those other objects , because it enters there by our senses , and being often spectators of Mens Death , we are also oftentimes Witnesses of the state dying Men are found in .

Now as those who have made Human Laws , having been willing to disswade Men from crimes by the fear of punishments , have had a care that they should be accompanied with certain dismal and tragical Pomps , the sight of which might cause Terrour in the Spectators ; God , who had likewise a design that Death , to which all Men are Condemned , should serve to keep them in their Duties , hath been pleased that the sight thereof should be frightful ; thereby to make them enter into themselves again , and consider what they are . Thus as it is necessary for this reason to assist at mens Death , so is it also to represent it to themselves , and to strike their imagination by Circumstances which accompany it .

There are divers sorts . But we will speak only of those which happen in Mens Deaths which are called happy , to the end nothing may be said which is not seen in all Deaths . Methinks there is not any more to be desired than that where we see Men die in their Beds , in the midst of their Children , and Kinsfolks , and Friends . Nevertheless there would be many things in this Spectacle which might be capable to frighten us , if we did not see it daily by an unfortunate Address in others , without dreaming that we our selves must suddenly pass through the same state .

It is more dreadful than we imagine to see them stretched forth upon a Bed , a Cross in the hand , expecting the stroke of Death , and the execution of the sentence given against all Men ; to see that not only those who environ us , but all Creatures together are unable to help us ; to feel Death which seizes upon us by little and little , trying to overwhelm us , and lastly , to see our selves perish and be anihilated in respect of this World .

It is good to consider , that we all see our selves before we die in the lowest rank of Men , that is to say , in a state the most vile that can be amongst Men . There is , for example , not any King whatsoever at the point of Death who would not wish to be the meanest of his Subjects . And there is not so miserable a Slave who would change his fortune for that of a Kings , if he had but a Quarter of an Hour to live : He is then in effect in this extream lowness . He is already deprived of all his Human felicity , and he has already experienced this Death , before that of the Body .

Thus all the Grandeurs and all the Pleasures have for limit , even from this life , the lowest degree of meaness and misery . That is the end which attends the most eminent life of this World . A dying Prince may say , that from that moment which begun his life even to Eternity , there is no more Human greatness nor pleasure for him . He does not only see them no more for the time to come , but he sees them not likewise in that which is past . These objects as to him change their nature , and appear to him only as vain phantomes which vanish a way ; and if he have some sense of Religion , it is rather a weight which overthrows him with the fears of the reckoning he is going to make to God .

All men then are reduced before they die to the last degree of poverty , that is to be deprived of all good , and all Human pleasure , and to see themselves in an entire lack of power of ever injoying them ; which does not happen in some extremity of misery whereto Man may be reduced , not being as yet ready to die .

These are only the outward marks of Death ; and I have no design thereby , but to terrifie the senses by the Image of the outward part of this state ; but the inward is much more frightful and terrible . Which is what we shall endeavour to unfold , to the end that the Idea of Death may have more force to stop our passions .

CHAP. VII . The First manner of considering Death , which is to look upon it as the destruction of the World for every dying Person . The terrible effects of this destruction upon the Soul .

BEsides the cunning which Men have ; never to consider Death but as as a great distance , or not to look upon it but in others , troubling themselves the least they can about dying mens condition , they have yet another which reaches very far ; which is , they imagine to themselves so gross and so confused an Idea thereof , that it hides all that is terrible from them .

For they scarcely conceive this state , but as a want of knowledge , and a separation from the commerce of this life ; so that when they say a Man is Dead , they mean only we see him no more , and that he has no concern as to the affairs of this World . In a word , they ground the Idea of Death , only upon what we cease to do in dying , and not upon what they begin to do and perceive at the hour of Death . Nevertheless this Idea is not far from representing to us what is most terrible in Death .

It is very true , that Death is a deprivation of life and human Actions , but 't is a privation which is perceived , and which produces very strange effects in the Soul .

To comprehend these effects , we must consider , that whilst the Soul is united to the body , her attention is divided by several sorts of sentiments , knowledges and passions , she perceives the objects which act upon the body , according to the divers ways of acting , and these different ways of perceiving them are called sentiments or actions of the senses . Upon this she forms the Ideas of all things . She is likened thereto by her passions , and she is always busied about many of these objects .

She is not only busied , but she builds and relies upon them , when she is not absolutely addicted to God . For being not made to be able to uphold her self , she must necessarily seek some means to do it out of her self ; she is born to know and love , and she does not find enough in her self whereby to satisfie these inclinations , she must therefore fill with something else the Vacuity she perceives in her self .

Some of these objects make very agreeable impressions upon her Sense ; others content her Curiosity and Vanity ; others comfort her , perswading her against those which are troublesome ; others nourish her hopes ; others hearten her against her fears . The Soul then is inclin'd towards all these objects : She relies thereon : She is bound to them so , that she cannot free her self from them without grief and trouble .

Oftentimes she is not aware of these Inclinations , but begins to feel them by little and little , when she comes to be separated from what she loves ; because she being deprived thereof makes her sensible in proportion as her Inclination is ; according to this Maxim of St. Austin , We lose not without grief any thing , except we enjoy it without passion ; Hoc sine amore aderat , quod sine dolore discedit .

There are very few who have not a great quantity of these Inclinations : And although they are not well known but by the actual separation from the Objects , we may be able to conceive something of them by separating them by thought , and by imagining that we are deprived of them by some accident .

If we thought , for example , not to put our trust in the Objects of Sight , and that they contributed nothing to the tranquillity of the Soul ; let us imagine in what state we shall be , if through blindness we were deprived of it , and we shall see , that we were effectively fixed to it , seeing that we look upon this state as one of the greatest Evils which can befal us .

The sole Sight of Men does comfort us , because we always see in them a certain ground of compassion capable of giving us some assistance in our necessities , which at least nourisheth our hopes . Now hopes cause a kind of joy , according to the Apostle , Spe gaudentes .

Things themselves which are troublesom to the Soul on one side , and which cause in her Motives of Fear , Aversion , Despite , Envy , do nevertheless buoy her up on the other , because these Passions are not all together brought to remain without action , and that the Imagination furnisheth them always with some means or hope of being satisfied . Now the diligent searching into these means , or the hopes of obtaining what we desire , by busying the Soul , diverts and comforts her .

't is something for her to strive or aim at something , seeing she can aim at nothing but what she looks upon as a Good ; and whilst she does so , she hopes to obtain it .

All those Objects to which the Soul is carried by her Senses , by her Imagination , by her Understanding , or by her Passions , are her Riches and her Wealth ; which shews that those we call poor , are yet very rich in these kind of Goods . Although they have no Palaces , and want even Houses , they have the Heavens , the Sun , and the Stars , the sight whereof is so excellent , that it hath caused St. Austin to say , That 't is a greater satisfaction for a poor man to see the Heavens and the Stars , than for a rich man to see his gilded Rooms .

We are encouraged in this manner whilst we live , by the loss of certain Goods , by means of others , true or false , which we have , or which we hope for . And as the Body finds always something which sustains it , even in falling to the ground through weariness , it finds there something to uphold it ; even so the Soul , when weak and feeble , makes her self always some Prop in this Life ; and when she has none that 's real , she forms imaginary ones , which , absolutely vain as they are , do nevertheless oversway her .

This need of Humane help is not particular to wicked men ; it is necessary in some degree for good men : For there is scarcely any one so perfect , who has not yet an inclination to something . The just are sometimes weak . Therefore the weak , saith St. Austin , in Psal . 40. endeavour always to repose upon some terrestrial thing , because a continual attention to God tires them too much : They seek therefore Humane helps , to refresh themselves thereby , as at divers Pauses . They are at quiet in their Houses , in their Family , Wives , Children , in their small Stock , their Lands , in a Close they have planted , and in a small Building which they have made .

Behold Mans state in this Life , and this state may help to comprehend what Death is , and what Effects it produceth . For we need onely imagine , that 't is nothing else but a Rupture of all that fixeth the Soul to Creatures ; that is , a general separation of all the Objects of the Senses , of all the Pleasures we find there , of all Humane Ties ; and lastly , that 't is an absolute deprivation of all that we love in this World . A man that dies does not lose onely what we call Riches ; he loses the Heavens , the Sun , and the Stars , the Air , the Earth , and all the rest of Nature : He loses his Body , and all his Sentiments , wherein the Soul took delight : He loses his Friends , Kinsfolks : He loses all Men : He loses all Support and Assistance , and generally all the Objects of his Passions and Desires .

In truth , if the Soul , which is yet so linked to these Objects , find her self bound to God by a holy Love , although the rupture of all these Ties cause in her some trouble , and that she bear the being deprived of Creatures with grief , by so much more , as because of some Inclinations which remain , she cannot yet reunite in God all the power she hath of Loving ; she will nevertheless not fall into despair . This excessive Inclination buoys her up ; and her Love towards God becoming stronger and more acting , comforts her through hopes of being reunited presently , and plunged into that Abyss of Bounty , which is onely capable to satisfie all the capacity which she hath to love .

But who can conceive the condition a miserable Soul finds her self in , which comes to be snatched away by Death from all the Objects of her Inclinations , and from all that upheld her in this Life ; and which finds nothing in her self which she can trust to ? The inclination she hath to love , and to enjoy what she loved , becomes without comparison more lively and more ardent ; and yet all she had loved leaves her , and flies away out of her sight with an eternal flight , no hopes being left of ever possessing it again . She loses all , and finds nothing ; all sinketh under her , all disappears , all vanisheth .

It is not possible in this World to comprehend perfectly so wretched a state : All that can be said to give an Idea of it , is , That it is a terrible Lapse of the Soul , by the substraction of all her Props ; that 't is an horrible Hunger , by the deprivation of all her Nourishments ; that 't is an infinite Vacuity , by the annihilation of all that replenish'd her ; that 't is an excess of Poverty , by the entire loss she hath of all Goods ; that 't is a dismal Solitude , by the separation wherein she finds her self from all Union and Society ; that 't is a frightful Desolation ; that 't is a cruel Destruction , by the sad rupture of all her Inclinations .

We must not fancy Death in most part of Men as a Privation of all Worldly things which may be insensible to the Soul . On the contrary , when she is addicted to the World , as almost all Men are , she is sensible of Death in so very a lively manner , that all the Griefs we experience in this Life are nothing , compared to that . For whereas when the Soul is in the Body , and that she acts dependently on her Organs , a multitude of Melancholy Objects scarce make more impression upon her than one single Object ; because not being able to conceive so many things at once , she must necessarily distribute her attention amongst divers Objects , or form to her self a certain confused Idea , which she esteems onely one . The Soul , on the contrary , having acquir'd by Death a quite contrary Activeness from that she had being yet in the Body , perceives distinctly and severally all her Losses ; the Sentiment of one stifles not that of another ; she applies her self to all : Each Inclination produceth its Vacuity and Grief , which is not diminished by the Vacuity and Grief which another produceth .

These griefs and bitternesses of Death which are produced by inclinations begin in some in this life it self in some degree , when they see themselves ready to be separated from some objects of their passions . And 't is that makes the Scripture say : Ecclus 41. c . 1. O Death ! how thy remembrance is bitter to a Man in peace and plenty of riches ! But there are some in whom they do not produce this effect during life , and who the yet quietly in appearance ; which is seen in Poor People , who die almost all without any regret to life , because being pressed by the sentiments of their evils , they think to find some ease in Death : It happens also to many others that they are not sensible of their pronenesses , because they have some others more prevalent which busie them . But after Death it will be otherwise . All pronenesses or propensities will be awakened . They will make themselves be perceived , and that in manner proportioned to the activity of the Soul , and the rigour of Gods Justice ; which will cause in them this continual Death which St. Austin would denote , when he said , We cannot say of them that they are either Dead or Alive , but that they die always . De Civitat . Dei , l. 13. c . 11. Nunquam Viventes , Nunquam Mortui , sed sine fine Morientes .

CHAP. VIII . Reflections arising from this manner of considering Death . That all we have to do in this World is to prevent our natural Death by an Evangelical one .

THe Consideration of this State , so dismal and so terrible , ought not to produce in our minds a barren and fruitless astonishment : We must endeavour to render it useful , by Reflexions which may be drawn from thence to govern Life by , and to judge truly of all that passeth in the World .

First , This Consideration makes us penetrate the sense of St. Paul's saying , Rom. 8.6 . Prudentia carnis mors est ; that is to say , The love of carnal things is death to the Soul : For that does not onely mean that this Love merits the death of the Soul , as a Chastisement or Punishment : Likewise as the same Apostle says , Stipendium peccati mors , Death is the stipend of Sin ; the meaning of this is , That this Love is the death or the punishment it self of the Soul ; because its Object coming to be taken away by the death of the Body , there needs nothing more to change it into Torment and Grief , seeing that Grief is nothing but the fear of wanting what we love . Thus the Propensities which Death finds in Souls are of themselves her Torments , and eternal Torments if they last always , as they do in wicked Persons .

This Consideration makes us comprehend what is said in the Book of Wisdom , chap. 1. v. 16. That the Impious call Death by their Works and their Words , they think it their Friend , and they make alliance with it . For what do we else in the World , but fix our selves the most we can to Creatures ? And what is that , but searching after Death more and more ?

What St. Paul says , 1 Tim . 6.10 . That Avarice is the root of all evil , and that some , abandoning themselves thereunto , engage themselves in many troubles , inserverunt se doloribus multis , hath yet the same sense : They engage themselves in many Troubles , because they are engaged in many Affections ; they are straitly linked to Creatures , and these Ties are the Sources of Griefs and Troubles , sometimes in this World , and always in the World to come .

What a blindness is it then to look upon the Possession of Creatures , plenty of Riches , Humane Honours , great Employs , much Business , Pomp , Splendor , Reputation in the World , and all that flatters our Senses , and Mens Vanity , as a Happiness ? Alas ! are we happy by swallowing Poisons , and then must have our Bowels presently taken out ? Are we happy by fixing our selves to the Wheel upon which we ought to suffer Punishment ? What can produce in the Soul all these Objects of Covetousness , but , strong Ties and Obligations , but strait and strict Engagements ? And what will these Ties and Obligations produce , when Death shall come and separate us from these Objects , but terrible Griefs ? We love this Bed of Humane Consolations , whereon our Infirmity resteth ; and yet this Bed will become all Fire for those who shall not ●eave it before death . We love not the World Scot-free ; the Love of the World becomes necessarily a Punishment , because the World slips from us , and we cannot but be afflicted to lack what we love .

It is easie after this to understand why it is said in the Gospel , That the Kingdom of God belongs to the Poor of Spirit ; Beati pauperes spiritus , quoniam ipsorum est regnum coelorum : These poor People being those who are not tied to the World , and who desire nothing of it ; it is evident they have not onely right to the Kingdom of Heaven , as all just men have , but that they are in a state to possess it , and that nothing shall hinder them from enjoying it . Their Hearts shall not be torn in pieces by the deprivation of Creatures , whereto Death shall reduce them , seeing they shall not be linked to them ; and Love , which is prevalent in them towards God , finding nothing in them to be destroyed , will straightways possess it self of their Souls , and render them in this manner fully happy . It is not the same with those who shall be rich at their death , that is , who shall yet have strong Ties to Creatures : Although with them they may have the Holy Ghost in their Hearts , nevertheless the Kingdom of God is not yet for them , so long as they are in this State . If they have right to it , the possession of it is forbidden them , until these secret Ties be wholly unloosed .

Let Men do what they will , if they will enter into the Kingdom of God , they must be brought to Poverty , either in this World , or the next , seeing that this Kingdom belongs onely to the Poor , and no Cupidity can have entrance there . But there is this difference betwixt Poverty which may be acquired in this Life , and that whereunto the Just shall be reduced in the next , by the destruction of their Affections : The first costs infinitely less ; If it is accompanied with some Grief , 't is proportioned to the State of this Life , which is a time of Mercy , and of the condition of the Soul as yet united to the Body , which hath onely weak and languishing Sentiments . But the Griefs which shall purifie the Soul after death , being proportioned to the Activity of a Soul separated from the Body , and in the time of the other Life , which is a time of Rigour , will be quite otherwise lively and sensible .

We must not then believe that Death is equally hard to the Poor and Rich in Spirit : For the Pains of Death spring , as I have said , from the separation of Creatures ; this separation afflicts onely those who love them , and not those who do not : it is onely painful to those who have some Obligation to break , and not to those whose Obligations or Ties are already broken . Those who are dead to the World during this Life , die no more in dying ; Death is to them but a Source of Life : But those whom Death finds yet absolutely wedded to the World , feel necessarily the Pains of Death ; seeing that Love it self which lives in them , being deprived of its Object , becomes a Torment and a Death .

't is upon these so evident Truths that the Prayer St. Paulinus made to St. Austin , to teach him how to die before his death , by an Evangelical death , and to prevent , by a voluntary separation of Life , the Natural separation which shall be made of the Body and Soul by Death , is grounded ; Doceas me mortem istam Evangelicam prius emori , qua carnalem resolutionem voluntario praeveniamus excessu . Aug. Epist. 249.

't is in effect all we have to do in this World : For seeing we must necessarily die , and that it is so dangerous a thing to put off doing it to another time , our Interest it self does it not incline us to free our selves as much as we possibly can from all the Ties which link us to Creatures , and to avoid contracting any new ones , to the end we may not expose our selves in dying to these terrible Pains ?

CHAP. IX . The Second manner how to consider Death , which is to look upon it as the End of our Time in this World , and our Entrance into Eternity . Sentiments which this double Consideration will produce in the Soul .

ONE of the strangest Visions in the Apocalypse , is that of the Angel who will swear , as St. John says , Apoc . 10.7 . by him who lives World without End , That there will be no more time ; Quia tempus non erit amplius . Now if God do not give this Sentence by an Angel to every Soul which leaves the Body , he makes her know it by a lively impression of his Light , which makes her understand her time is finished , that there shall be no more for her , that the term wherein he has limited his Mercies is arrived , and that her State is stopped for all Eternity .

This Light causing her to make in a moment the just Comparison betwixt Eternity and Time , makes her see clearly , that all the Ideas she has had thereof even till then , were infinitely short of Truth ; that her Imagination had given to Time , and to things temporal , Length , and a phantastick Greatness ; and that she had , as it were , annihilated Eternity , and Eternal Goods , by the weakness and obscurity of the Ideas which she imagined and had formed thereof . The Soul condemns then all these thoughts ; she is astonish'd at her Blindness , and changes entirely her Prospects and Judgments .

Nothing that 's Temporal can seem Great to her , nor nothing that 's Eternal , Little ; she enters by a quick apprehension into the truth of what St. Austin said , De ▪ Civ . Dei , l. 12. c . 12. That all Finite Space , compared to Eternity , which hath no end , ought not onely to be little valued , but ought not to be valued at al● ▪

This Comparison of Eternity wit● Time , which the Soul makes at the moment of separation from the Body annihilates then in her sight the reality o● the present World , with all its Good and Evils , and suffers nothing to subsis● more , as real and solid , but the Goods or Evils which are immovable and eternal .

It will not onely be the Just and Elect who shall judge so of Eternity and Time : it will be the Wicked and Reprobate also : They will have almost the same understanding of Mind , but there will be nothing more different than the disposition of their Hearts .

Those who shall be perfectly Just , will not trouble themselves at all to see disappear from before them temporal Goods , because they love them not ; and they will be fill'd with joy at the ineffable Grandeur of Eternal Goods , which they shall enjoy without hinderance .

Those to whom there shall rest some Ties for the World , shall undergo very great Pains , by being deprived of these Goods , by the delay of their Beatitude , and by other means whereby it shall please God to purifie them . But amongst all these Pains , the Love they shall have for God will maintain them in perfect Peace , so that as they would willingly suffer all the Evils of this Life to advance one moment their Happiness , they would not for Felicity it self go out of the State wherein Justice shall have placed them , contrary to God's Order .

These will be the thoughts of the chosen in respect of Time and Eternity ; but these two objects will excite many others in the damned .

Truly they shall know the wretchedness of all temporal things they have loved , but they shall not forbear for all that to love them . And 't is that which shall produce this hunger whereof we have spoken .

They shall know the greatness and the solidity of Heavenly goods , and they shall see themselves wanting power to love them , also they know they cannot be possessed by any but those who love them .

For , as St. Francis Sales observes , lib . 10. of the love of God . Chap. 1. one of the greatest punishments which God will make the wicked suffer , will be to make them know in part the infinite perfections of his Divine Essence , by leaving their criminal Will without the power of loving them .

This ardent love for temporal things , will then be only in the wicked , and the love of Eternal things in the good : But the sight of wretchedness of all Temporal things , and the reallity of all that 's Eternal , will be common both to the good and to the bad . And 't is a general disposition into which all Souls enter when they leave the body .

Thus it is that Souls will look upon time , and all it comprehends , in seeing it in it self : But this same sight will produce another much different , which will discover to them the price of time in relation to Eternity .

Time is so far from appearing to them by this sight vile and base , that it will on the contrary appear the greatest and the most important thing in the World , as including Paradise and Hell , and all the effects of the mercy and justice of God . They will see that all this has been in their hands by the means of time ; it being only thereby that we can deserve by our good actions the goods which Gods mercy hath promised to his Friends , or bring upon us by our crimes the punishments which his Justice prepares for his Enemies .

At what price , think we , will a Soul penetrated by this light , and measuring time by this double Eternity of happiness and misery , value the least part of it ? And at the price of how many thousand years of the most rigorous Penance would she redeem some few hours and moments ?

Who then can conceive the state whereinto a miserable Soul falls , when having this Idea of grandeur , and the importance of time , she sees at once the good use she might have made , and the bad use she hath made of it , and that she knows by a lively impression of Gods light , that her time is past ; that she has no more to hope for ; that the door of his mercy is shut against her for ever ; that she must be judged according to her present state , without hopes of alteration ? Ah! if the just themselves , who shall not have made that use they ought of their time which God hath given them , and who shall have contracted some spots which shall delay their happiness , shall conceive a grief infinitely greater then all those they can experience in this life , tho comforted by the assurance God shall give them that they shall be cleansed from their staines ; what can be said of that of the wicked , who shall see that there will be no remedy at all for the terrible wickedness they shall have pulled upon themselves by the evil use of time ? What repentance for them , what tearing and renting of the heart , what Abiss of despair ?

CHAP. X. Reflexions which ought to be made in this life , upon the considerations that ought to be had then of Time and Eternity .

THese are not vain speculations . We shall all pass through some of these states . We shall all have these thoughts of the greatness of time in relation to Eternity , of the wretchedness of it in relation to what 's good and bad in this World . We shall all hear this decree which shall be pronounced to each of us at the hour of our Death ; There is no more time for you : and Death it self is only the execution of this decree . For to die is to finish the time which hath been given us , and which will never be given us again . Let us not then expect to know the price of time , 't is not needful we do . Let us not despise it , whilst we have it , to regret it eternally , when we shall have it no more . Let us prevent these thoughts and sentiments which we shall necessarily have then . These thoughts are not less true at present , than they will be at another day , and we shall be deprived of them one day because they have been always true .

What will be our thoughts when we shall have but an hour or two to live , and that it will come into our minds , In two hours my time will be ended , the door of Gods mercy will be shut against me ? Alas ! Why do not these thoughts at present make the same impression upon us ? For , is it not always true , that perhaps in an hour our time will be ended , perhaps in a year , in two , but assuredly in a certain number of years ? must this perhaps , or this small space of time , make so great a difference in our disposition ? These disproportions are only between finite greatnesses . But the difference betwixt finite and infinite is always the same . Infinity has nothing of time . We must therefore look always upon that moment , with the same fear , whether we be an hour , a day , a year , or many years distant from it . But let us not insist upon a frivolous fear which hath no consequence . Let us consider what we would then have done , in the midst of life what would we do if we were to live again , in the exercises of piety which we shall prescribe out selves , if it were in our choice to dispose yet once of our time , in the opinions which we had then of our former life ; let us at least dispose of what remains according to the considerations we shall have in that time .

Let us learn at the end of our time to judge of the price of time ; and from the price of time to judge of the life of the World and of our own . For to what end do we employ it , or to what end have we our selves employed it hitherto ? What do we with this so pretious time ? Some pass it in apparent disorders , others in vain amusements , others in chimerical designs and unprofitable labours , others know not what to do with it , and endeavour only to lose it . We part with it at the first coming . We suffer it to be taken from us without complaining . We are liberal of nothing but that . We think those wise men who waste it entirely , in hazarding their lives vainly , and those generous , who lose it through an opinion of Honour . Mens lives are at all prices , and they venture them often for nothing , that is , they venture them against a trifle .

The conduct of Wordly Men is founded upon this sensless commerce . The Devil in the shape of all visible Creatures offers them I know not what pleasures , I know not what honours and dignities . And for I know not what they give him their time , that is , their eternity , and their all . If we have formerly done it , let us forbear doing so hereafter , and think our selves happy that we have detected this illusion , haveing yet time to remedy it . But as it consists in making us forget the price of our life , let us mend and rectify this forgetfulness by thinking upon Death , that is to say , on the end of this time which makes known the value of it .

If we are accustomed to behold Death with this consideration , it will make a quite contrary impression upon our mindes . For from whence comes this indifferency , and this coldness with which we speak and hear men speak of Death , but only that we conceive almost nothing by the term of Death ? If we say , for example , such an one is Dead , or that ten thousand Men died in a battel , we have no other Idea in our mind , but that we shall never see those Men more , and that they are become incapable of either helping or hurting us . But doubtless we shall be otherwise concerned , if we considered that that favourable time wherein Gods mercy was open to them , was taken from them ; and that in regard of the greatest part of them , the same stroke which gave them Death shut the door against them . If we were , say I , full of these thoughts , we should have a quite contrary Idea of War then we have , and we should have great reason to sigh and lament , in those which are most necessary , most just , and most happy .

't is likewise by this way of beholding Death that we ought to endeavour to undeceive our selves of the imaginary grandeur we give to temporal goods , and to raise the Idea we have of eternal ones . And to the end we may be less concerned at one , and more at the other , we must apply often to the one and to the other the rule of eternity , which makes us comprehend the difference .

We must take delight in contemplating this rapid torrent which annihilates all things subject to time : Aug. in Ps. 58. Momenti transvolantibus cuncta rapiuntur , torrens rerum fluit . Either we pass by them if they have a little more solidity than we ; or they pass by us if we are more durable than they . Aug. in Ps. 122. Necesse est transeat aut ipse per res suas ; aut res ipsius per illum . But in fine , all is hurried away , and nothing of temporal remains .

Let us say then , whilst we can do it profitably , all things pass away , that we may not say one day , all is gone , Aug. in Ps. 32. Modo fructuose dicamus transeunt , ne tunc dicamus in fructuose transierunt . Let us say it of all that pleases and flatters us in the World , to the end we may despise it . Let us say it of all that appears hard and terrible therein , that we may not fear it .

Let all that disappears , all the alterations we have seen , all the Ages we have past through , all the parts of our life which continually slide away , renew in us without intermission the thought that all is ended , that there is no true good nor evil but in eternity , and that we are so near it , that we ought to reckon as nothing the small interval which separates us from it .

CHAP. XI . The Third manner of considering Death , which is to look upon it as a state wherein we begin to see and understand God .

ALthough what we partake of here in divers considerations , may be united into one single one , in a Soul which quits the Body , and that the same impression of light which makes her see that the World is lost as to her , that her time is finisht , that she enters into Eternity , discovers to her yet an infinite of other objects , which fills her with admiration , and produces in her divers sentiments , according to the disposition she findes her self in ; nevertheless it is very good to distinguish in divers considerations this great object which she comprehends all at once , because it is so vast and of such an extent that it cannot be known in this World but by being thus divided .

The greatest and considerablest part of this spectacle , is , without question , that at the very instant that the Soul is separated from the body , she begins to know God in a quite different manner than she did in this life .

For 't is a strange thing how weak and obscure the knowledge we have at present thereof is . God does all in the World : He is every where : All creatures have their being , their lives , and their motion from him . He guides and governs them according as he designes . They cannot go a j●t from the order of his Providence . And yet we see nothing at all of that . God hides himself always in this World under the vail of some Creatures which he presents to our senses , and gives no evident testimony of his presence : so being absolutely busied with Creatures , we never have any other than weak Ideas of the invisible power which moves them .

But it will not be so in the other life . From the very moment that the Soul shall be delivered from the prison of the body , she will begin to perceive the intimate and the essential dependance she hath on God , as to being , or acting , touching her happiness and misery . She will know Gods power and her own weakness . She will see that she cannot substract her self from his power , and that she must remain eternally in the state whereunto his Divine Justice shall reduce her .

't will be then that this saying of Isaiah will be accomplished , in respect of us ? cap . 2.11 . Exaltabitur Dominus solus in die illa . He is humbled at present before our eyes , because we know him not well ; but he shall be exalted in that day , because we shall acknowledge the infiniteness of his power , and our littleness and wretchedness .

That day wherein God shall be exalted according to the Prophet , is the day of eternity , which begins at our Death . From that moment all Men shall have a continual prospect of Gods infinite greatness , and of Mankinds wretchedness . They shall not be able to forget God , nor to mistake him ; and this double ignorance which the World is at present buried in shall be absolutely banisht in the other .

It is true , that this sentiment will be very different in the chosen and the reprobate . For he will cause eternal joy to the one , and eternal despair to the other . The chosen will place their happiness in seeing the greatness and powerfulness of God , because they will see at the same time his essence , his mercy , and his love , which will overwhelm them with joy ; but the reprobates seeing onely the inflexibility of God's Justice , and his hatred for them , and the infinite Power he has of punishing them , will find a great part of their Torment in this Sight .

They will not onely see this inexorable and all-powerful Justice armed to punish them ; but they will see it for all Eternity , without being able to avoid it . They will see God , saith St. Gregory of Nazianse , Orat . 21. like a Fire , because they would not see him as a Light : They shall see themselves in his hands , as it were in the hands of an Enemy , who will trample them under his Feet , without any hopes of delivering themselves from thence . Thus their Rage and Despair will be turned against God , as Author of their Misery . They will little consider all Creatures , and will be almost always busied about God in this miserable and detestable manner .

Behold the State of Men , both Chosen and Reprobate , for all Eternity . And this State teaches us what we ought to do in Time : For seeing we cannot be happy but by the Sight and Love of God , it being the End whereunto we ought to tend , and that 't will be our onely Employment and Occupation in all Eternity ; what ought we to do in this Life , which is onely a Preparation to Eternity , but exercise our selves to know and love God ? Exercise your selves to possess God , says St. Austin , in Psal . 83. desire a long time what you ought always to have : Ad capiendum Deum exercere : Quod semper habiturus es diu desidera .

We shall enjoy him in Eternity but as we shall have exercised our selves in the World to enjoy him , that is to say , to know and love him : We shall not possess him but in proportion as we shall have desired him : For , we cannot imagine , that having always had him far from our thoughts and hearts in this Life , he will discover himself to us in the other , in this manner , which will cause the Happiness of the Saints . No man , saith St. Austin , in Psal . 148. is in a condition to enter into this most happy Life , unless he hath exercised himself during this Life here : Nemo potest idoneus fieri futurae vitae , qui se ad illam modo non exercuerit .

Nevertheless , what do men in this World , and what do they employ themselves about ? What place hath God in their Thoughts , in their Designs , in their Discourses , and in their Conducts ? Do not most part of Men spend their Lives in the forgetfulness of God ? and do not they even place their Happiness in this Oblivion ? The Sight of God is never the Principle of any of their Actions , nor ever troubles the Conduct of their Lives .

They do not act thus in the affairs which regard the time present . If they foresee that they shall be obliged to live some part of their lives with such an one , and that their fortunes or their quiet depends of him , they endeavour to gain him , to manage him , to creep into his favour , and to adapt themselves to his humours . They are affraid to hurt or exasperate him . And yet although they know they shall be eternally in the hands of God , they will not so much as think of him , nor take any pains to obtain his friendship .

Let us have a horror for this unconceiveable folly ; and that our actions may be far remote from it , let us endeavour to imprint these truths livelily in our minds ; let us have only transitory ties with creatures , which are all broken by Death , and after Death let us be eternally separated from them , but let nothing be able to separate us from God ; for Death will only make us feel more sensibly the dependance we have on him ; for Man is so made for , and so related to him , that it is necessary that God cause either his happiness by his love , or his misery by his hate ; for in the one or the other manner God will be eternally present ; and so the sole means not to see him eternally his enemy , is to make it his principal care to render himself a friend during this life .

CHAP. XII . The Fourth manner of considering Death , as the entrance into the society of Spirits .

ALL that 's discovered by the Soul at the very moment of Death , is a very small thing in comparison of God , who manifests himself to her as we have already represented . But as the Soul is not always touched in this life according to the greatness of the objects , but in relation to the impression they make upon the imagination , it will not be amiss to consider yet the other parts of this great spectacle which presents it self to the Soul at her going out of the Body .

That which apparently makes the most considerable part after what we have already marked , is that great troop of Spirits , with which she finds her self at once infested , those Devils which she begins to see openly , that prodigious number of damned , and happy Souls whereof God has given her some knowledge in what State soever she be ; seeing that the book of Wisdom shews , that the damned know something of the happiness and the glory of Saints , which makes them cry out with rage and despair : Sap . 5.3 . Hi sunt quos habituus aliquando in derisum & in similitudinem improperii . The Soul then discovers in an instant this dreadful number of Creatures , and she perceives a total subversion of the World which she has quitted . She sees that most part of those who have appeared in that with most splendor and pomp , are reduced in this to the last degree of misery ; that those Kings and Princes who have made the whole World to quake , are only distinguished from other men in this , that they are often the most miserable of all : There is no more question in the society of the Dead , of riches , of nobility , of quality , of body nor of mind , nor of those other vain advantages by which Men endeavour to raise themselves here one above another , but that all there is regulated according to the Laws of a Sovereign and invariable Justice which placeth each in the rank of misery or happiness wherein he ought to be , and no one is able to go out of the place or rank which is assigned him .

But the principal difference she observes amongst these two Worlds , is , that that of the living is composed of divers societies , and as it were of divers combinations , whereby Men are united together , either to help and assist one another in their necessities ; or to resist their Enemies , or to set upon others . But in the World of Spirits there are no more societies nor combinations ; because they have no need nor dependance of one another . All there have an immediate relation to God . 't is he who governs all ; and each Spirit sees clearly that he is obliged by his order , and that 't is not in the power of any Creature to substract him from thence .

Thus in what number soever the Spirits may be , they are in an entire s●paration from one another . The Blessed love one another in truth with a perfect love ; and the happiness of each contributes to that of the others , through the joy they present thereby , which makes up the most holy and the most happy of all these societies ; but it is not a society of dependance nor of mutual succours . They all draw their whole felicity from the fame sourse . They find there all they desire or wish for . And thus their society neither hinders nor troubles their solitude .

The wicked , on the contrary , are in a solitude which has nothing but what is dismal and frightful . They all hate one another . They do not hope for either help or succour , or consolation from any Creature . They do not see in any either power , or desire to do them any good . Thus the sight of this croud of Spirits is for them only an encrease of desolation , and it does nothing but augment their despair , by giving them a more lively Idea of their weakness .

We cannot doubt but that the prospect of this spectacle , so different from the Ideas a Soul retains of what she hath seen in the World she lately left , may cause in her a great suprise , that she may conceive an extream disdain for all she hath esteemed most therein , that she may be pierced with grief , to have set her affections on so many vain things , and to have had little esteem for what was truly durable and solid .

But by how much this prospect , this surprise , and these regrets are unprofitable to the Souls of the Dead , because their lot is at once fixed by the decree of God , who assigns them their places ; by so much 't will be necessary for us to see these sentiments in this life , to busie our selves about this spectacle , to mingle our selves in Spirit with this croud of the Dead , to consider there these eternal places , and these constant distinctions , this happy or miserable solitude , to the end we may conceive a profound disdain for all grandeurs , all establishments , and all humane distinctions , and only make account of those secret differences which God puts in this world here amongst Souls by the gifts of his grace ; and which will have such great effects in the other .

CHAP. XIII . The Fifth manner of considering of Death ▪ which is , to conceive that at the hour of Death each Soul discovers the Devils , and their rage towards her and all other men .

ALthough the Devils make part of the Spirits , whereof we have spoken in the foregoing Chapter , nevertheless it is good to make some reflexions upon the sentiments the Soul conceives in perceiving clearly these wicked Spirits at the instant she forsakes this body . We know in general , by faith , that they go about us like roaring Lions , which only seek how to devour us , and employ all sort of Artifices to destroy us ; but we know not what these Artifices are . We have only a confus'd Idea of their malice and rage against Men , and even oftentimes we scarcely discern their voices from that of Gods .

All these clouds are dissipated by Death . We shall see in that moment an innumerable multitude of those wicked Spirits spread over the Earth , possessing and disquieting most part of mankind , endeavouring to surprise those which they do not as yet possess . We shall see in what manner they will deceive them , by presenting them some objects which will withdraw or irritate their passions , in procuring them the success which may entertain them in illusion , keeping them always out of themselves , and removing far from them all that shall make them know the miserable state wherein they are . We shall see them tied fast , haled along , imprisoned , wounded with a thousand wounds , and that these evil Spirits prepare in them the matter of their Condemnation and their Hell .

Although we shall make a difficulty of giving to Souls separated from the body so large a knowledge , yet we cannot deny but each will know at the moment of her separation from the body all the Snares the Devil has prepared for her , all the precipices he has forced her down , and all the illusions wherewith he hath amused her . Now if God , notwithstanding all these surprises , hath given her the grace to overcome the Devil in these essential things ; if she have avoided his worst snares , she enters into transports of joy , which the Prophet describes , when he makes a Soul say in the presence of this frightful number of snares she has avoided : Blessed be our Lord , who has delivered us from being a prey to be torn in pieces by their teeth . Our Souls have been saved even as a Bird saves her self from the F●wlers net . Ps. 126. v. 6.

But who can conceive the state of a Soul who comes to acknowledge that the Devil hath prospered in his wicked designes ; that she has been as an instrument against her self ; that she has seconded his desires , has delivered her self to her executioner , has laboured only to establish his Empire over her self ? Who can comprehend her despair , when he comes himself with his whole rage to take possession of his conquest , insulting over her , and placing before her Eyes how he seduced her to make her the companion of his misery ?

These are the insults and the scoffs the Propet feared when he said to God : Let not my Enemies deride me ; let them not say in their heart , Our desires are accomplisht ; let them not say , We have devoured him . Ps. 34.24 .

't is through fear of these so terrible objects that St. Bernard excited himself : De divers . Ser . 26. n . 6 : What , said he , will be thy fear , O my Soul , when being separated by Death from all those objects whose sight hath been so pleasing to thee , and familiarity so sweet , thou shalt enter alone into an unknown region , and that these horrible monsters shall come to thee unawares ? Who will assist thee in this so extream necessity ? Who will defend thee from these furious beasts ready to devour thee ? Who will comfort thee ? Who will guide thee ?

All these sentiments come from this prospect of Death we spoke of , which makes us foresee this dismal state of a miserable Soul ready at the moment of Death to discover these horrible creatures , and which is delivered to them by Gods Justice as a prey upon which they satisfie eternally their rage .

The Holy Ghost who hath so often inspired this consideration to the Saints , shews us that we ought to have it continually in our thoughts .

What is there in effect more capable of awakening in us this vigilance which is so much recommended to us by Jesus Christ and his Apostles , than the fear of falling into the hands of this cruel Enemy ? What is more proper to hinder us from following our passions , than to imagin that in following them , we follow the desires of the Devil , we labour to establish his Empire , we make him master over us , and we become his instruments and ministers against our selves ?

For we ought not to be deceived thereby . It is necessary that either God or the Devil Reign in us . There is no medium . Whoever does not endeavour that God Reign in him , endeavours to make the Devil his Master . God Reigns in us when his Spirit Reigns , when we act by his Spirit , when we have God in prospect , that is to say , Justice , Truth , and Charity . The Devil Reigns in us when we are governed by our passions , when we seek only our Glory and our proper satisfaction ; in a word , when there is only cupidity that acts in us .

Thus as Men do almost nothing all their lives but follow their own passions , it follows necessarily , they do nothing but labour for the Devil , and to further his designes . Horrible Employment ! detestable Ministry ! But w●o nevertheless comprehends all that 's done in the World by those who think they are the greatest and the happiest therein .

The best means to have a detestation for it , is to consider the end of it , and to place before our Eyes the rage of these Monsters , when they shall appear openly to a Soul , having maliciously deceived her . We ought often to represent them to our selves in this state whilst we live , to hearten us to withstand them , and not to follow their desires and their designs : And as there are no temptations wherein we may not be able to make use of this means , it may be said , that this manner of beholding Death , is a remedy against all temptations .

CHAP. XIV . The Seventh manner of considering Death , as a day that dissipates our lack of Light , and makes us see things such as they are .

WE say oftentimes of Death , That it will draw a Curtain , and make us see an Infinity of things which we are ignorant of ; and it is what we might have already seen , by all those several ways of beholding it which we have proposed . But what I pretend to explicate here , is , How we may make use of the Meditation of Death to correct the falsity of the Judgments we make of all things in the World , and principally concerning our selves , our Actions , and our proper Conduct .

We are born into the World environ'd with such thick Clouds of Darkness , that we know neither our true good , nor our true evil , nor the rules by which we ought to Judge of them . Our desires , our fears , and our other passions which spring from the bottom of our corruption , makes us conceive a vast number of false Ideas as to what they make use of as Objects ; and as we judge of these Ideas , the greatest part of these our Judgements are false . And so our memory becomes a Magazin of all sorts of falsities .

But what is yet worse , is , that these false Judgments do not only infect the mind , they infect the heart , fortify the passions from whence they spring , and produce all the sins Man is guilty of . For there is no sin without some false thought , seeing , as St. Austin saith , In Ps. 148. We cannot sin having onely good thoughts ; Non potest fieri ut habeat mala facta , qui habet cogitationes bonas .

Therefore as our greatest interest is to avoid sin which is the cause of all evils , we ought to labour with all imaginable care , to destroy those false Judgements which are the source thereof , and to fill our minds with those true thoughts from whence good actions do arise .

't is true , 't is from the light of faith we must expect it , seeing , as St. Paul saith , of our selves we are not capable of producing one single good thought . But this dependance does not exclude the application to certain objects which assist us to find out the truth , nor the practice of certain means which drive far away from us what hinders the discerning it .

This is the foundation of an advice which St. John Climace , Degr . 6. atributes to a Holy Father , and of which persons very learned , and far advanced in Holiness do recommend the practice . It is to look upon each day as the last of this life , and to enter , in regard of all affairs to which we are obliged , into the disposition we would desire to be in , if we were to give an account to God within five or six hours .

The reason of this advice , is , That nothing is more capable to put out of our mindes the false Ideas evil desires produce , than the thoughts of death , and what ought to follow . Methinks the passions dare not appear before this object , and that it awakens all that reason , light , and force we have . We see more clearly what ought to be done , and we execute it with greater resolution , and more intension , and more free from humane considerations .

But that we may draw more advantage from this practice , it is good not to judge simply of all things as if we were to die presently , but to have access as much as possible we can to the considerations and sentiments we shall have at the very moment of the Souls leaving the body .

It is most certain , that being Judged by God at that moment , He will place before our Eyes all the actions of our lives ; that the Soul will know what is Judged of her , and will in this manner form Judgements of all that hath passed through her mind during her abode in the body . That is to say , she will determine of all her Judgements and thoughts , and will condemn all falsities and injustices she shall have committed .

't will not only be the Souls of the Elect who shall know clearly , then , all their Erors ; but also the Souls of the Reprobate . For although the Scripture tells them they have erred and gone astray from the way of truth , and that the Sun of Justice has not shined upon them , it shews they shall be convinced of their digressions , and of the false lights whereby they have been guided .

If then they do not condemn the Judgements they have made during their lives through the love of Justice , they will condemn them through the love of themselves . They will be forced to grant they were full of folly . They will call themselves foolish Men : Nos insensati . Now they cannot do it , but they must judge that Wisdom would have them do quite contrary to what they have done .

The Judgements which the Souls have of their actions in that moment are not only true , but they are moreover eternal , and what they judge then , they judge it for ever , because there will be no more in them what is called variety in thoughts .

Now what will be true for all eternity , is so at present . All our care should be never to guide our selves by these transitory judgements , which only appear true when the passions are stirred ; but so to judge and act according to these stable , invariable , and eternal considerations , which we shall have after our Death .

Thus what secure object is presented to our selves , or strikes our imaginations , instead of consulting our senses , our passions , and our small interests , we ought , that we may judge truly , consider seriously what we shall judge of it after our Death ; what we would have done , when we shall be judged by Jesus Christ . What we think may be approved by this just Judge : Finally , what we our selves shall approve in eternity . Let Cases of conscience decide without trouble in favour of this light ! Let false subtleties vanish away ! Let vain phantomes disappear .

Happy are those who in this manner make themselves Disciples to Death , who make use of its light to dissipate the darkness of their hearts ; and who think at present what they shall consider hereafter : Truly , 't is to be dead to the World , to live in this manner , seeing that it is neither to think nor act any more according to the light of life , which is that of this World , but according to the lights of the other life which are those of eternity .

We ought not then , after all the advantages which we have shewn may be drawn from the thoughts of Death , be astonisht , that St. John Climace hath said , Degr . 6. That as of all foods Bread is most necessary , also of all Spiritual practices the meditation of Death is most useful ; it makes the Religious who live in community to undertake the labours and exercises of Penance , and find the greatest pleasure in being humble and disdain'd ; and as to those who live in solitary places , far remote from all tumult and trouble of the World , it produceth in them an entire relinquishing of all Earthly cares , continual praying , and an exact vigilancy over their thoughts .

In a word , it may be said of this holy excercise , that 't is the source of lights whereby to know what is our duties , an universal remedy against all our passions and vices , a powerful help against temptations , a School of Virtues , and a means to sweeten all the mischiefs of this life .

And to end where we have begun , It is , according to the wise Man , an efficacious means to avoid all sins . Now as he who sins not is just in this World , and will be happy in the other , it follows , that the meditation of Death is the way to holiness and beatitude .

FIRST TREATISE , OF THE Four Last Ends of MAN . BOOK II . Of Judgement , and of Hell .

CHAP. I. How necessary it is to think of Judgment . Why the Church proposes commonly to her Children the Universal Judgment , rather than the Particular .

WHat St. Austin saith to his People , in one of his Sermons upon Psal . 147. That he ought to speak to them continually of Judgment ; shews , that we should always think thereof , being the Pastors ought not to speak to us of it , but that we ought to have it in our Memories .

We are obliged so much more to do it , by how much we shall want means to do it after this Life . For , as this Holy Doctor saith , Epist. 70. the last day of the World we shall be in the same state wherein we shall find our selves the last day of our Lives : And such as we shall be when we come to die , such we shall be judged in that terrible day . So it is true , as he yet adds , the day of death is esteemed by each as a day of Universal Judgment , because Death fixeth the State wherein we shall be judged .

From hence it follows , that as every Christian is obliged to be upon his guard , that he may not be surprised by the Day of judgement ; according as Jesus Christ commands in the Gospel , he ought not to watch with less care of that of his Death . 't is what we may conclude of the belief wherein the Church is , that the damnation of the wicked , and the recompence of the good , are not put off to the Day Judgment , as some of the ancients have believed ; but that the Souls who have no more to expiate , enter at the very instant which follows Death into possession of glory , and those whose sins deserve Hell , begin to suffer torments when they leave the body . For it follows clearly from hence , that as God will not punish the one , nor crown the other , not having been judged , and judged by Jesus Christ , to whom all judgement hath been given , we must believe that Jesus Christ will judge each Soul in particular at the moment she shall be separated from the body .

Seeing therefore that we have so short and uncertain a space in this life to prepare us for eternity , which shall be d●cided by the decree which Jesus Christ shall pronounce at the day of our Death , and that this decree will be the same with that he will pronounce at the last day , is it not the greatest imprudence and the greatest folly that can be , to stuff the minde with all other things , and never to think of this one ?

We need not very much reason to consent to this truth ; but there wants something besides reason to practise it . We are oftentimes convinced that we ought to fear , but we do not fear effectively ; and that there is but one thing to think of , yet we scarcely ever think of it in effect . Our hearts follow not reason , and it continues often cold and without motion even when the mind is most persuaded that it ought to be livelily touched .

Doubtless there is nothing but grace that can remedy this coldness , and soften this hardness . But as God bids us to have recourse at the same time to outward means , which contribute thereunto when aided by grace , it is good to approach as near as we can these objects with our imagination , and to force it to apply it self often thereunto , instead of banishing them when they present themselves , as most People do .

This is the reason the Church hath to make us call to mind the last Judgment in divers Gospels . She begins by this means the preparation to the coming of Jesus Christ , whereinto she pretends to make the Christians enter in the time of Advent . This is one of the first objects she shews to her Children to dispose them to the Penance of Lent . 't is whereby she finisheth the Ecclesiastical year , the Gospel of the Sunday which preceeds Advent being yet of Judgement ; thereby to shew us that we ought to begin and end all our works and all our life in the sight of Gods judgement , and that as our Penance ought to be continual , this object ought to be always before our Eyes .

But as the use of this meditation consists chiefly in exciting in our hearts the sentiments of fear which produceth true security , as St. Austin saith : Aug. in Ps. 146. Terror ille securitatem parit ; territi enim praecavemus , praecaventes securis erimus . The Church judging that these circumstances of the general Judgement are more capable to terrifie us , than those of a particular judgement , doth propose it ordinarily to us ; and it is by following her Spirit that the holy Fathers , and above all the primitive Christians , appear so busied therein .

't is this that made St. Gregory of Nazianze say , Orat . 9. p. 174. That the fear of future judgement , did not permit him to breathe , {αβγδ} .

And St. Ephraham , That he could not think of the last judgement without feeling a trembling in all his members , and an universal decay .

Other Saints have had the same thoughts and sentiments : And the primitive Christians had them so lively that they took Wars , Famin , and other Calamities which happened in their days , for those frightful signs which ought to be the forerunners of an universal Judgment .

And indeed , what is more capable to make impression upon our minds than mediating of Jesus Christs descending from Heaven , accompanied with all his Angels , to declare to all men united together in the midst of the Clouds , the judgment which shall decide their state for all eternity .

Who would not be affrighted , in considering the subversion of all Nature which shall accompany this judgment , whereof Saint Peter says , That in the noise of a terrible tempest , the Heavens shall pass , the Eliments inflamed shall be dissolved , the Earth with all it contains shall be consumed by Fire ?

If the sight of one Angel reduced Daniel unto such a weakness , which made him say : In visione tuae dissolutae sunt compages meae : What will be the state of a miserable reprobate , in whom fear , horror , and the other passions cannot be lessened by the decay of the body , and in whose Soul there shall be no force to uphold the impressions of this dismal spectacle , but to feel them more lively ?

The Fathers did not make their Spirituallity to consist in dispersing these objects from their minds , to entertain themselves with sweet and comfortable meditations . They thought they were of the number of those who had need to be affrighted thereat , and they have made very great use of them for themselves , and for others .

I am afraid , says St. Gregory of Nazianze , ( Orat . 15. ) of the saying of the Prophet , who cried out : What shall we do at the day wherein God shall enter into a reckoning and into judgment with us : When he shall convince us of all our crimes , present to our faces all our sins as cruel accusers , and place the iniquities whereof we shall have rendred our selves guilty , in opposition to the good deeds we should have received of him ? When he shall demand an accompt of us of the Majesty of his Image he had imprinted in us , and which we have quite spoil'd and disfigured ●y our disorders ? when he shall make us co●demn our selves , and shall reduce us not to be able even to say , that we suffer unjustly ? Who shall be our Advocate before this judge ? By what pretences , by what false excuses , by what artificial colours , by what invensions , how subtile soever , shall we be able to disguise the truth before this Sovereign Tribunal , and avoid the invariable rectitude and justness of this judgment ? He shall put our actions , words , and thoughts , into the Scale . There shall be weighed the good and the bad , to the end , that having seen those which outweigh , there may be proposed a Decree after which there shall be no Appeal , no superior ●udge to whom we can have recourse unto , no means to destroy these wicked actions by contrary ones , no Oyle to be bought of the wise Virgins , or of those who sell it to light the extinct Lamps with : All will be terminated at this last only and dreadful Decree , more just yet than terrible , and so much more terrible as it 's more just . It shall be when the Thrones shall be placed ; that he whom the Scripture calls the Ancient of days , will be seated in the first : That the Books shall be opened : That we shall see roull a flood of fire ; that the light shall be on one side , and darkness on the other , ready to receive those who shall be precipitated thereinto .

It would be too long to relate the descriptions which the other Fathers , but but above all St. Ephram makes , of this judgment , and it may suffice to propose what St. Bernard says thereof , ( Ser . 16. in Cant . ) who comprehends in few words what the others do . I fear , saith he , the sight of this Judge , able to make the Angels themselves to tremble . I fear the wrath of this mighty God . I fear the marks of his fury . I fear that destruction of the World turned topsy-turvy ; that conflagration of the Elements ; that dreadful tempest , that voice of the Arch-Angel ; that hard and ●●●rible word . I tremble in thinking of the teeth of that infernal fiend ; of the Gulf of Hell ; of those devouring Lyons , ready to devour their prey . I am struck with horror with the Image of that worme which gnaws the Wicked , with the fire which burns them , with this Smoke and sulfurious vapour ; with those impetuous winds and outward darknesses . Who will pour upon my head a source of water , and who will give to my eyes a fountain of tears , to prevent by my cryes those eternal ones , and those horrible gnashing of teeth , those cruel bonds , and the weight of those chains which shall overwhelm , inclose , and burn the damned , without consuming them ?

But although these circumstances be so terrible , they are yet much less in effect than the impression which God makes upon the Souls by the knowledge he will give them of their sins , of his justice , and of all other things upon which the eternal decree , which he shall pronounce upon each of them , shall be grounded . And as this impression happens also in the particular judgment , by which God makes the Soul know the place which belongs to her , and by what actions she deserves it ; it is to meditate at the same time each judgment , to endeavour to comprehend as much as we can in this life , what this light of God discovers to the Soul when he judges her ; 't is what we shall particularly insist upon in the following Chapters .

CHAP. II . Of the consideration we shall have of the multitude of our sins . Concerning the two judgments .

ALL Christians believe that God will make the Soul know all her sins , whether in the particular judgment he will make of them , when she leaves the body , or in the publick judgment he shall pronounce at the end of the world in the sight of all men . All flesh rings at this threat , that there is nothing so secret in our actions , in our thoughts , in the motions of our hearts , which may not be discovered , he will place all that before our eyes , and he will make thereof a very rigorous examination . Nevertheless , hardly any one will be concerned at this so terrible a truth . It seems that 't will not concern us , and that 't is not we who ought to be examined so severly .

It happens to us in regard of this truth , what happens to all others . We are at first a little affrightened , but at length we become accustomed to them , and learn to hear them without any concern . It is not either that these truths change , or that our minds are fortified by custom . What is terrible , will be always so , if we conceive it always in the same manner . But the effect of custom is to change our Ideas , to render them more superficial and confused , and to cause the mind to apply it self thereto more lightly . To remedy this evil effect , it is requisite we conceive sometimes these truths in themselves by some Images which may render them more sensible , and perchance that which we shall make use of here will contribute something thereunto .

Let us then imagin a vast Room , but yet obscure , and that a man labour his whole life to fill it with Vipers and Serpents : Let him bring daily a great quantity , and employ divers persons to assist him to make a heap of them ; but that as soon as these Serpents are in the Chamber , they are benummed , being heaped one upon another , in such a manner that they permit this man to lie upon them , without stinging or doing him any harm . Let this state continue for a considerable time , that this man is accustomed to it , and that he apprehends nothing of harm from this heap of Serpents . But when he shall think the least thereof , the Windows of this Chamber chance to fly open suddenly , and admit in a great Light , all these Serpents waken immediately , and cast themselves upon this miserable Man , they pull him in pieces by their bitings , and not one of them but makes him feel his Venom . How terrible soever this Image is , 't is only a weak draught of what men do commonly , and what happens to them at the day of their deaths .

Man lives here plunged in so thick clouds , that he has much a-doe to perceive the most gross faults , and yet he forgets them frequently as he commits them . His conscience is this obscure place where he heaps them , and he does almost nothing but augment and encrease their number , because he does all for himself and nothing for God Almighty .

Often likewise he makes use of other mens assistance , as if he had a design to gather a greater number together , For there are many , who besides their own sins , charge themselves with other mens , and who have under them an infinite of persons who sin , if I may say so , on their account ; because the sins they commit are imputed to them by Gods justice .

All these sins are as it were senceless during this life , because they do not perceive them . They suffer them without trouble . They take their rest . They apprehend nothing . They take no care to get rid of them . And on the contrary only encrease every day the number of them .

Death then finds most men in this wicked excercise . 't is this which brings in this light which awakens all these sins . The light God gives to the Soul at the instant of death withdraws her from this insensibleness , and being thus awakened comes of a sudden to discover all these monsters which death inclosed in her bosom . She does not only discover them , shee feels the mortal stings . She is cruelly torn , there not being any of her sins which does not make her feel it .

Who can comprehend the multitude of them ? All those man has known in committing them , and which afterwards he would willingly have forgotten ; all those he has dissembled ; all the vain thoughts he has insisted upon ; all the evil actions he has consented to ; all his omissions , the neglect of his duty , the scandals he has given , and the evil consequences of them , all these will be set before his eyes distinctly , how unwilling soever he may be to see them . That is to say , he will see for the most part that he has done nothing all his life but sucked up poison , been oppressed with new troubles ; and prepared new punishments for himself .

There is no sinner who ought not to tremble at the fear of this horrible spectacle , which Gods justice will discover to him at the hour of his death : But there are none who ought to be more affraid than those who are in eminent places , who are to give an account to God , not only for their own sins , but also for the sins others commit who are under their charge .

What a throng of Crimes present themselves at the hour of death to the Soul of a Bishop who came wrongfully to his Charge , and hath continued all his life to abuse his Ministery ? And who can conceive in what excess of despair he enters ; when he sees himself charged at the Judgment Seat , with as many Sacriledges as he hath offered Sacrifices , as he hath adminstred the Sacraments , and performed Episcopal Functions ; and that he acknowledges moreover , that Gods justice imputes to him all the Sacriledges of the Priests he hath ordained rashly , all the precipitated Absolutions they have given , all the Scandals they have caused ; and lastly , that she judge him guilty of as many Spiritual homicides , not only as there are Souls , to whom he hath brought death by the scandal of his life , or by that of his Ministers he hath chosen , or suffered by negligence , but also of as many as these evil examples have been able to cast away , although the grace of God hath upheld them : Because as many as have relied on him , he has destroyed , as St. Austin saith : Aug. de Paster . c . 4. Non sibi ergo blandiatur quia ille non est mortuus , & ille vivit & iste homicida est : So that a wicked Bishop shall be treated by God as a Murtherer of all the Souls of his Diocess .

But it is not necessary to have recourse to these Examples , to be frightned at this multitude of sins which the Soul discovers in appearing before God . Those who have lead the most retired lives , and the freest from the commerce and corruption of this World , have but too much reason to fear it , and it ought to suffice them to conceive the just fear we ought to have thereof , to know that they are to render an account of the use they have made of all the favours they have received , of all the truths they have heard , of all the Sacraments of which they have participated , of all the good examples they have seen , of all the good works they ought to have done , and lastly , how they have made use of their time , of their Souls and Bodies .

What care soever , saith St. Gregory the Great , Mor . in Job . l. 24. c . 7. most People have had to avoid all the sins they could call to mind , when they consider yet that they are to appear before a severe Judge , they are seised with fear , chiefly because of some sins they may be guilty of without knowing them . For who can comprehend the number of faults they commit by the restless and unconstant thoughts to which they are subject ? The actions of sin may be avoided : But there is nothing harder than to guard the heart from these wicked , dishonest , and unlawful thoughts . And yet it is written : Miserable are you , who entertain your selves about unprofitable thoughts . Behold the subject of most just mens fear . Now how much greater reason have those who lead a loose life to be in continual fear and trembling ?

CHAP. III . How terrible both judgments are by the anihilation which will be made of all human works which flatter men .

IF Gods judgment be so terrible , by what appears to us therein , it is not less by what disappears , and which is destroyed and anihilated . I speak not of grandeur , titles , pomps , praises , and all other things men see themselves absolutely robbed of in the other World . I speak of all apparent good works which make up a considerable part of their support , confidence and rest .

For every one desiring to be at peace with himself , is naturally swayed to fancy a kind of conscience , and to gather together what ever is best in this life to be able to bear a favourable judgment of it . But as we do not make this Examen with a design of pleasing God , but to procure our selves human peace , we do not observe therein any great exactness . We judge of our selves for the most part by the outward man , by the body of our actions ; by the esteem and approbation of other men , by the example of some honest men who have done the same things as we have ; by putting away of some certain wicked considerations which have not been observed in us ; by crimes which we abhorr'd , and which we have not committed ; by comparing our selves with others whom we thought more wicked than our selves , and who act what we would not ; and above all we raise a certain Edifice of this life to our selves , wherewith we are content , and which we think may subsist with Gods judgment , and even deserve some recompence . For in effect , divers good works enter by this means ; Prayers , receiving the Sacraments , outward works of piety . Those who are in the Ministry of the Church may add thereto preaching , directions , and instructions , which make them hope for the Reward God hath promised to those who have done and taught these things .

But who will be able to express how many of these Edifices will be ruined , when they come to pass through the fire of this judgment , which shall consume , as St. Paul saith , all the Straw , Hay , and all the Wood which shall be found there ; what shall be the astonishment of a deceived Soul , who having placed her hopes therein shall acknowledge clearly , by the light of God , the vanity and miserableness of all her works ?

't will be there , saith St. Bernard , De Divers . ser . 26. n . 6. that what we take for Gold shall be changed into Dross , that the impurity of all our works will be discovered , and that the time of truth being come , after that given us by God is past , shall judge our justness . 't will be there that all our upright dealings which flatter us , shall appear horrible to us ; that all we look upon as small , all we neglect by a wicked dissimulation shall be consumed by those revengeful flames .

It sufficeth to make us conceive what we have to fear , to say , that there will be nothing but what we have done by the motive of the Spirit of God , which will subsist at the judgment , and that Gods Spirit acts only in us what hath God for its end , and is ruled by the light of his wisdom ; that thus all that we do only for our satisfaction ; for our honour ; for our quiet ; for our own interest ; and by some other motive than that of the true love of God , is no more than Hay , Wood , or Straw .

That which is more terrible , is , that those works whose source is corrupted , are not destroyed but in the false appearance of good works , and subsist as sins . All these false Virtues being unmasked will appear in their natural deformity . So , instead of being the prop and support of the Soul in this judgment , they will only serve to depress and overthrow her .

How many who think they are rich in good works , are reduced then to a shameful poverty , seeing all they have put their confidence in , had only for Principle , interest , vanity , and the desire of mens good opinions ; and what they thought an inspiration of God , nothing but a suggestion of the Devil , who only endeavoured to dazle them by a false splendour of their actions , that he might hinder them from thinking seriously of themselves .

Happy are those who in this fire , which shall destroy all human endeavours , shall find they have the solid foundation of Jesus Christs love , which cannot be destroyed ; and some little of this Gold and those precious Stones which shall subsist , and become more famous .

But miserable are those who shall have neither this Gold , nor those precious Stones , nor this solid Foundation , and whose whole Labour shall be consumed by the devouring fire of Gods justice .

It is certain that this so frightful misery will happen to a great many , who shall have walked in those paths which the wise man speaks of , which appearing streight to those who walk in them , do nevertheless lead them to death : and that there are many who shall find in the examination that will be made of their actions , that all their life hath been a continual illusion , and that those pains which got them mens esteem , were only grounded upon the love of themselves . And it is moreover certain , that no man can know with any certainty whether he be not of the number of the wicked ; whether his works be not such as have only the appearance of Piety ; without truth or essence ; whether he have not some poison hid in him which spoils and poisoneth them at the root ; and whether he shall not see the ruine and firing of them at the day of judgment .

We know certainly that we are full of sin , but we know but imperfectly that we have any good works . We know that we have some fewel for the fire of the other life ; and we cannot certainly know that we have any thing that can subsist there .

't is likewise this consideration which hath held the Saints in a continual trembling , and given them a holy diffidence of all their Labours . I will have a care , saith St. Bernard , lest I take Tares for good Grain , and Straw for Wheat . I will examin all my ways ; that he who shall come to examin , not the Babylon of the world which is already judged , but Jerusalem it self , and who will judge it by the light of his Lamps , may find nothing in me which hath not been examined . Who will do me the favour , that I may detect and penetrate now in such sort the great number of debts I am accountable for , that I may have no reason to doubt or fear the piercing Eyes of Almighty God ? But alas ! he sees me , but I see him not ; nor do I see my self . That Eye which sees all does not discover it self . 't is then this secret Judge concerning what is most secret in our Souls that I ought to fear . 't is this Judge who says , he will judge upright dealings , and who sees at this present that infinite number of debts , which I know not .

How much more cause have we , saith St. Bernard , to be distrustful of our works , and to apprehend the judgment God shall give of them ? Yet instead of being always dejected and cast down under the Majesty of our Judge , we live in a stupid repose , and act as if we were absolutely certain of our Salvation .

CHAP. IV . How terrible the judgment of God is by the sight we shall have of his rigour and justice .

IF the form of our Eyes , which now makes us see bodies in a certain greatness , happened suddenly to be changed in that of a Microscope , so as to represent worms to us like unto Elephants , and Elephants like Mountains , without doubt this new spectacle would cause in us an extream surprise , and yet more if we had the liberty to take this new manner of seeing these objects for the true , and of beholding these such as we saw them before , as an illusion of our senses .

The World would be quite new to us . We should acknowledge nothing therein , and we should have much adoe to comprehend how this could come to pass , that we should lessen in this manner such great Bodies , as to form such little Images .

Now what never happens in respect of the Eyes of the Body , does in respect of those of the Soul , in a more frightful manner . For there would always be some proportion betwixt these two different ways of seeing the same Bodies . But there is none at all betwixt the Idea we have of sins during this life , and the other .

We must then suppose that the light which God gives to a Soul when he sets it before her Eyes , does not only discover to her an innumerable multitude of sins she never thought of , but it discovers to her the least of these sins in so monstrous a greatness , that it exceeds all our imaginations .

The cause of this small Idea we have of them in this life , is the little knowledge which we have here of Gods justice ; and the cause on the contrary of this prodigious greatness we shall see them in the other life , is the clear sight God gives us of this justice . We shall see even to what point sin is hated by God , the terrible deformity it causeth in the Soul , the horrible disorder it includes , the opposition it hath to holiness and the justice of God . We shall all be convinced of the rigour and the inflexibility of this justice . And this prospect will be so dreadful to the wicked , that 't will make them wish for Hell to hide themselves in . They shall be reduced there according to the thoughts of a holy Soul as to a place which is most agreeable to them , and where they shall be the least penetrated by the burning rayes of this light which shall chace them from all other places , and which will only permit them that Abyss .

Who can then deplore enough the extream blindness of men ; who receive in their hearts these monsters , not only without trouble , but even with joy : who open all the doors to them , who likewise often commit vanity ?

To tell a man that he loses his fortune , or that he ruins his health by some action , is to oblige him . But to tell him he loses his Soul , his eternity , his God , and his all , is to offend him mortally . We employ all our power to hinder these discourses , and we make our grandure to consist in being more private than others , and to damn our selves with less contradiction . You see here what the World aspires to , and whereof it endeavours to possess it self by all sorts of ways .

But to conceive yet more lively how the sight of Gods justice shall be for the reprobates so great a torment , that to substract themselves from his sight , they will cast themselves into Hell , it must be considered that they will see nothing in nor out of God which may not help to convince them of the enormity of their crimes , and which it does not arm in some sort against them , by the just repoaches it draws from thence .

It will arm the power of God against them , by letting them see that the more force God hath to punish sinners , the more insolency they have to refuse to obey him . For who is able to express , saith St Austin , the greatness of a crime a creature commits when she does not obey so great a power , and is not stopped by the fear of so terrible punishments wherewith God threatens her ? Quis enim satis explicet verbis quantum sit mali non obedire tantae potestatis imperis , & tanto terrenti supplicio ?

This sight of Gods justice will do the same by his knowledge , his eternity , his immensity , his holiness , his title of Creator , Conservator of men , and Soveraign Good , and Last End. But above all , it will make use of his bounty and mercy to confound them .

For the more they shall have felt the effects thereof , the more they will judge themselves guilty in the abuse they have made thereof . Thus all the effects of Gods bounty will rise in judgment against them . They are so many witnesses which Gods justice prepares against the wicked , according to those words of Job : Instaurat adversum me testes suos . And as all these witnesses will convince them of the greatness of their crimes , there shall be a terrible increase of their misery and punishment .

't is in this manner that this threat of the Scripture will be accomplisht , all the whole World will oppugne the foolish : Sap . c . 5. v. 21. Est pugnabit orbis terrarum contra insensatos .

For Creatures having been given to men , only to incline them to glorifie , love , and to fear God , they become culpable and guilty of injustice in making use of them for any other end : So that all these Creatures being marks and proofs of their crimes , they will serve as instruments of Gods justice to punish them .

The Scripture exempts none , saying , That the whole World will oppugne them , because they will be convinced to have abused all creatures , not making use of them to glorifie God . They will see they have not only abused Heaven , the Earth , and all the Elements ; but that generally they have made bad use of all that is sweet and comfortable in the World , and of all that is hard and bitter ; they have abused the good turns and the chastisements of God ; his menaces and his promises ; their Friends and Enemies ; good and bad Examples ; the Angels and the Devils ; Paradise and Hell ; and finally , they have abused their Souls and Bodies , their lives and beings . For there is nothing in all these that they might not have made use of to excite them to praise , admire , to fear and obey God .

If the good turns themselves , shall cover the reprobates with confusion ; what will it be with those they have received of Jesus Christ in quality of Redeemer , and what use will the justice of God make against them concerning his whole Life , Actions , Sufferances , his Blood , his Mysteries , and all his Sacraments and Favours which have been offered and given them , and which their sole malice hath hindered them from participating of ?

This is the reason why St. Austin thinks it is probable , that Jesus Christ will conserve in his judgment the marks of his wounds , and shew them to the wicked , Aug. de . Symb . 2. Cath . lib . 2. c . 8. and Serm . 179. de . Temp . as it is mentioned in the Scripture : They have seen him whom they pierced . Viderunt in quem transfixerunt . Behold , will he say , the wounds you have given me : See here the side you have pierced . 't is for you , and by you it hath been opened , and yet you would not enter . Videtis vulnera quae inflexistis . Agnoscitis latus quod pupugistis quoniam & per vos , & propter vos apertum est , nec tamen intrare voluistis .

't will not be only the Jews , but all the wicked , who shall then see that they have put Jesus Christ to death , that they are guilty of the inutility of his death for them . That death and those wounds which have caused other mens happiness , shall be for ever the object of their despair . Jesus Christ will upbraid them with them , in making them know the enormity of the Crime by which they have slighted his favours . This is that terrible wrath of the Lamb spoken of in the Apocalypse , which will cause Princes and Potentates of this World to say : Apoc . 66.16 . Mountains fall upon us , and hide us from the sight of him who sits on the Throne , and from the wrath of the Lamb .

This wrath of the Lamb will be to shew to them , and expose to their Eyes all his Mercies , to make them know by that the excesse of ingratitude with which they have despised them , and what this disdain deserves according to the immoveable and inflexible rules of his Justice .

O incomprehensible spectacle of horror ! that Jesus Christ himself can be the weight which casts down the wicked , his Mercy the measure of their Crimes and Punishments , and that this so sweet and comfortable an object can become for them the height of their misery and confusion !

There will then be no need to dispute , whether they are faulty for not having had the same help as the Elect , they shall go out from before the Judge condemned by themselves , and they shall not have , saith St. Gregory of Nazianzen , Orat . 15. p. 229. the satisfaction of saying , they suffer something ●njustly . They will all be convinced that they are unjust , and that God is just ; that their malice is the cause of their ruine , and that God hath no share therein ; that they can complain of none but themselves , and that 't was their own faults they did not participate of the graces of Jesus Christ . And although , as St. Austin saith , his coming hath been as happy for the Elect , as it hath been dreadful to the Wicked ; they will see nevertheless clearly , that 't is through their fault , and a voluntary corruption of the heart ; that they are able to impute nothing of it to Jesus Christ ; but that he , on the contrary hath right to impute to them the inutility of his Sufferings and Death .

So which way soever the Wicked cast their eyes , they will see nothing but the cruel reproaches of their injustice , and they will meet every where Gods justice as it were an enemy pursuing them .

If the sence we have in this life of a single reproach given us by some considerable person , be sometimes so lively and piercing , that it carry the Soul even to despair ; what shall be the violence of that which the Wicked shall receive of God , and all Creatures joined to ●od ?

Shall we wonder after that , That those to whom God hath been pleased to shew , in this life , some small part of this spectacle , may be inclined to some extraordinary resolutions , even to lead the remainder of their lives inclosed within four walls , that they may have no other object in their minds but this , as St. John Climachus reports of a solitary person of his acquaintance : And shall we not rather wonder that men are so insensible , that they are yet in a con●ition to busie themselves in the World about so many trifling things ?

In truth there is something so wonderful in mens stupidity , and in the bewitchings which link them to the World , that human reason cannot comprehend it . For if we knew not by experience the way how they live , and that consulting reason simply , we would conjecture in what manner People govern themselves , who believe with an infallible certainty that in a short time they are to undergo this terrible judgment , that they shall appear before God to give an account of all their actions , and shall see all we have lately represented ; we should never imagine that the greatest part of those who believe all this should almost never think of it at all ; that it were the least of their fears , and had no care to prepare themselves for this judgment . There is nothing but the sensible experience we have of it , from others , and from our selves , which can render this dreadful insensibility believeable by us ; and nothing doubtless can make us know this obscurity of the mind , and corruption of mans heart better .

CHAP. V. That it is necessary to apply the mind to consider the judgment of God .

PErchance if we were moved too violently with the fear of Gods judgments , we might be advised not to insist too long upon so terrible an Object : But there are very few who have need of this precaution . The common People are tempted only with forgetfulness and insensibility in regard of this judgment . Thus nothing is to be feared , but that we may not apply our selves thereunto with diligence .

If we had a care to do it as we ought , we should find by experience that there is no object more capable to humble the Soul to Gods Majesty , to make her re-enter into her wretchedness ; to take from her the esteem of Worldly things ; and that there are many temptations whereof this thought is the most natural remedy .

For example , there are few things which make more impression upon our minds , than the judgments men have of us whether in good or evil . It is strange what a relation these judgments have with our Actions . Their suspicions , their rash judgments , their disdain trouble us , exasperate us , and disturb us . Their praises , their approbation , their constancy , their affection gain us , uphold us , raise us , and bring us joy . We rely thereon , we trust thereunto , and by this means we think we are stronger .

All these oblique Considerations whereby the Soul is swayed towards mens judgments , always divert her from God , make her lose the merit of her Actions , and reduce her unawares to a shameful poverty , even when she thinks her self rich in good works .

Those therefore who weigh well their salvation , ought to be extreamly careful of these secret corruptions , and the best way to do it , is to consider often of the small account we shall make of all mens judgments , when we shall appear before God .

't is by this means that St. Austin opposed the desire of mens praises . That man , said he to God , who desires to be praised by men when you blame him , shall not be defended by them , when you shall judge him , nor be secure from your wrath , when you shall condemn him . Qui laudari vult ab hominibus vituperante te , non defendetur ab hominibus judicante te , nec eripietur damnante te .

't is true , as this Holy Doctor saith , that having to do with a just Judge , who will condemn us upon the Testimony of our conscience , we need fear nothing but our cause . Inter judicem justum , & conscientiam tuam , noli timere nisi causam tuam . And it is also true , that we have nothing to hope in but our cause , and that all men together will signifie nothing to us . Their disallowing will not hurt us , neither will their approbation do us any good . All that will come to nothing before our Eyes . We shall see that we have no need of any thing but God , that our dependance is only on him , and that there is nothing but his judgment which can make us either happy or miserable . This is the State we shall then be in , and that wherein we ought to endeavour to establish our selves in this life , by the consideration of this dreadful judgment .

What is there that can help us more to disperse the clouds of self love , and to discern , for example , whether the engagements whereunto we feel our selves inclined , and the designs to which we have a propensity are truly useful for our Salvation , than to represent our selves before the Tribunal of Jesus Christ ; and to examin whether it be more advantageous for us to appear there in the State we propose , than in another where it is free for us to place our selves , or to continue . For it is indubitable , that what shall be the best then , is so at present , and that what shall be for us at that time a cause of repenting , ought to be regarded in this life it self as a misery . How many Priests , Bishops , Magistrates , and great Persons of the World , would not be placed in eminent places whereto their ambition hath carried them , if they had performed this Examen exactly .

The Author of the imperfect Comment upon St. Matthew , who hath gone for a long time under the name of St. Chrysostom , holds that those who labour under hand for Bishopricks do believe nothing of the judgment of God , that is to say , that he believed that the faith of the judgment cannot subsist with the ambitious searching after Ecclesiastical Dignities .

And it is by the same consideration that St. Bernard saith generally , that the knowledge of the last Judgment , Ber. Ser . 3. in Vigil . Nativ . is not of all , nor of many , but of few . Non omnium ista est scientia , sed nec multorum paucorum est . Do you think , adds he , those who rejoyce at their crimes , and place their pleasure in their disorders , know or have in their minds that Jesus Christ will come ? When they shall say , beware of believing them ; because that man who saith he knows God , and keeps not his Commandments , is a lyar .

Lastly , Jesus Christ teacheth us in the Evangelists , that there is no motive more pressing to stir up vigilance in us , and to excite us to Prayer , and to move us to forsake Worldly things , than the thought of his judgment . For 't is that which he proposeth to us to incline us to these essential duties of piety : Luc . 21. v. 34. Watch , saith he , and have a care that your hearts be not made heavy with excess of Wine and good Chear , and with the cares of this life , for fear that this day surprise you suddenly . For this day will be like a snare , whereinto all those will fall who dwell upon the face of the Earth , when they shall think the least of it . Therefore watch and pray at all times , that you may be able to avoid all these misfortunes .

Seeing then that we must watch and pray continually , to avoid being surprised at this day ; we must therefore have it always in our minds . Thus the thought of judgment is the source of vigilance and prayer . And as vigilance and prayer are the source of all favours we receive from God , we may say that this thought is in us the first principle of all our good .

The meditation of judgment ought not only to cause us to watch , but also to act . For it is now the time wherein we may do something to render it favourable . 't is the conclusion which St. Austin teacheth his People , in one of his Sermons . This Judge who is Justice it self , saith he , is not to be gained by favour . He will not be touched with pity . He will not be corrupted with presents . He will not be mollified by excuses . Let the Soul then do for her self all she can , whilst ther is yet Mercy . For then she will have no more to do or act . Because this will be the time of justice . Let her do pennance here , that the Judge may change his Decree . Let her give Alms here , to receive . Salvation hereafter , Let her do acts of mercy here , that she may deserve pardon in the time to come . Hîc agat anima poenitentiam , ut illic possit mutare sententiam : Hic det panem ut accipiat postmodum salutem . Hic faciat misericordiam ut ibi inveniat indulgentiam .

CHAP. VI . Of Hell . What is related of Hell in Scripture .

IT has not been possible for us to speak of Death and Judgment without speaking often of Hell , because what renders Death and Judgment terrible , is that Hell always comes after them , in regard of the Wicked .

Nevertheless it will not be amiss to reduce all these several Treatises into one Draught , and to observe directly this hideous conclusion of all the Wicked , without mingling other Ideas which may disswade us from it .

My design here is not to draw a Picture of it according to fancy , nor to gather together without choice all the evils which the imagination may conceive , to compose this state of Soveraign misery , which is called Hell . I will give no other Idea of it than what the Scripture does . All that I pretend to do , is to unfold it , and to endeavour to make it be conceived such as it is .

Let us see then what the Scripture speaks of it in the several places wherein it threatens the Wicked .

Saint John beginning to Preach of penance , to prepare men to receive the publication of this new Kingdom , which had not yet been published clearly to the Jews , discovers to them at the same time , what is the punishment which attends those who shall not take pains to appease God by worthy fruits of penance .

He hath , said he , Math . 3.12 . speaking of Jesus Christ , the Fan in his Hand : He will cleanse perfectly his Flour , he will heap up his Corn in the Granary , but he will burn the Straw in a Fire which shall never be put out .

Jesus Christ made the same threat in ch . 13. of the same Gospel . And this Eternal Fire is also denoted , Math 25.41 . in that terrible Decree which he will pronounce at the last day , in these words : Go ye accursed into everlasting Fire , prepared for the Devil and his Angels . After which it is said , that these shall go into everlasting punishment , and the just into life everlasting .

Saint John in the Apochalypse calls Hell , a pond of Fire and Brimstone . ch . 20.10 .

These words give yet only an Idea of some horrible pains which the Wicked shall feel in their bodies ; but there are others which denote the interior pains wherewith at the same time they shall be torn in pieces in their minds . St. Thomas , after the other Fathers , believes that they are expressed by that Worm which never dies , wherewith Christ threatens the Wicked , in these words : Mark 9.46 . It were better for you , that having but one Eye you might enter into the Kingdom of Heaven , than to have two and be cast headlong into Hell , where the Worm that gnaws them never dies , and where the Fire never goes out .

It is true that St. Austin saith , De Civ . Dei . l. 21. c . 11. That it is not without appearance , that it must be understood by these words , of true Worms and Serpents which shall live in the Fire like the Damned , and that so it is not a meditation altogether groundless , to imagin that in this pond of Sulphur , there will be Serpents which will cause the Wicked to suffer in all the parts of their bodies , griefs and pains proportioned to their Crimes .

But besides that , this Father seems to approve more than we understand by this Worm , the remorse of conscience ; if these inward pains are not clearly marked by this word , they are at least very neatly expressed by those which the Book of Wisdom speaks to the Wicked . Sap . 5. The Wicked , at this sight of Glory and happiness of the just , shall be seised with trouble , and horrible fear , they shall be surprised and amazed , seeing the just at once saved in spite of their endeavours .

They shall say within themselves , being touched with regret , and sighing from the bottom of their hearts . These are those whom heretofore we have had in derision , and whom we gave for example as persons worthy of all sorts of reproach .

Fools as we were , their lives seemed to us a folly , and their deaths shameful , and yet behold them raised to the Degree of the Children of God , and their shares are with the Saints .

We therefore have erred from the way of truth , the light of justice hath not shined unto us , and the Sun of understanding hath not risen upon us .

We have tired our selves in the ways of iniquity and perdition . We have walked in crooked ways , but the way of our Lord we have not known .

If those are not their words , at least they are the sentiments of their hearts : And by this means we learn that there will be not only Corporal punishments in Hell , but Spiritual ones also ; that the Wicked will be in trouble and fear ; that they will be tormented by envy and jealousie against the Saints , they will condemn their former wandring , and will be seised with a bitter grief to see themselves deprived of the Glory and Felicity of the just .

We may add to this , that 't is yet certain they shall be subject to the Devils , they being called , the Kings of all misbelievers , and the Apostle declares that whosoever is conquered by another becomes his Slave . I will suppose no other principles than these to shew the inconceiveable greatness of the torments of Hell . I pretend only to explicate them by some considerations .

CHAP. VII . That the Souls shall have in the other life a quite contrary understanding than they have in this .

TO shew the extent of a Souls understanding in the other life , I need only one single proof ; 't is that which furnisheth the general judgment , and that Book of life , by which the dead shall be judged according to their Works . The whole Church believes , with the Holy Fathers , that that Book is nothing but the light by which God shews every Man all his actions , and generally all that 's necessary as a foundation to the judgment God shall make of him . We must understand , saith St. Austin , by this divine Book , a certain divine force , De Civit . Dei . l. 20. c . 14. by which every mans actions , as well good as bad , shall be called again into his memory ; So that the mind shall know them all with an admirable exactness , that the conscience shall be convinced thereof by a certain knowledge . And all in particular and general shall be judged after the same manner .

This prospect , by which the Soul shall know all the thoughts which have passed through her mind , all the motions her heart hath formed , all the actions these motions have produced , all the consequences these actions have had , and shall know them with an evidence which will not leave her the least doubt , demands yet a prodigious extent of knowledge , and which surpasseth infinitely the ordinary ability of Mens minds . But yet this is but the least part of what God will make him know at this great day .

For he will not cause this great Assembly of all mankind to judge them simply in the same place , but to the end they may all be witnesses of the judgment he shall give to each of them . He will justifie fully his conduct before them , and convince them all of the justness of all his Counsels as to Creatures .

Now for this 't is necessary , that not only all men , as well the Elect as the Wicked , know one another mutually ; but further that they know what each of them hath done , and why he is judged in such a manner . This knowledge is necessary for the just to glorifie God in the chastisement of the Wicked ; and for the Wicked that they may be convinced that 't is but just that God recompence the Elect . This is what is observed by the words of St. Paul , 1. Cor . 4. v. 5. That God will discover what is hidden in the dark , and that he will make manifest the secrets of the heart . For it is not for himself that he will discover them , because nothing can be hid from him ; 't will be for others , to whom he will make appear by his light the most secret thoughts of other Men . Theodoret and Theophilact conclude the same thing in this other passage of the same Apostle : We must all be made manifest before the Tribunal of Jesus Christ . And the Divines have made it an opinion expressed by Liranus in these terms : Judicium apparebit omnibus justum , singulis videntibus bona vel mala aliorum .

But this is not all . For , Saint Austin adds , De . Civit . Dei . l. 20. c . 2. That God will not make appear only in this day the equity of the judgment which he shall pronounce upon every Man , but also that of all the particular judgments he hath made in all Ages .

That is to say , we shall then know why this Man hath been rich , that poor ; this a slave , that free ; this happy , that miserable ; why this man lived a long time , this but a short time . Why God sends sometimes prosperities to the just , and Temporal evils to the Wicked ; which as St. Austin says , is more incomprehensible than when he sends evils to good Men in this life , and temporal good to the Wicked ; and in a word , we shall know the secret reasons of all that shall happen to each Man , whether good or bad . Now as all the accidents in the World are the effects of Gods secret counsels , it is evident that this knowledge includes all that 's arrived since the beginning of the World to the end .

See here what will be the spectacle God will expose to all Mens minds , and by consequence to the Wicked , and which he will make them perceive so clearly , that they shall not have the least doubt .

If they shall have need of some small space of time to run over successively this prodigious multitude of different objects , as St. Thomas believes ; we should always suppose that their minds shall have an unconceivable nimbleness . But it seems that reason inclines to conclude , that they shall see them all in an instant , and by a single sight of the mind .

For the end why God will make them know all their own actions , and those of others , by little and little , will be to convince them of the justness of the Decree he shall pronounce against every one . Nevertheless if the sight of these actions were successive , that is to say , if the Soul conceived them but one ofter another , and that she had forborn to conceive one when she conceived another , it would be impossible that she should be able to see at once the proportion the Judges sentence shall have with all these actions : This comparison not being to be made without knowing at the same time , and in the same moment the two terms which we compare .

It is very true , that in this life we cannot be convinced of the equity of a Decree given against Criminals , without remembring all the crimes upon which it is grounded : But at least we must have a confused Idea of them . And that which causeth that we have no need of a more distinct one , is because the proportion of the punishments ordered by the Judges of this World , is neither precise nor indivisible , and that they order oftentimes the like for very unequal crimes . And so it sufficeth to know confusedly those crimes to judge of the equity of the punishments . Besides that , the judgments of Men , being grounded only upon these confused knowledges , never have any obsolute evidence .

It will not be so with the judgment God shall give of the Wicked . For there will be a proportion and a relation very particular and precise , as to all the differences of their crimes . There shall be , saith St. Austin , as much diversity betwixt the punishments , as there shall be betwixt the sins . God will measure the chastisements , saith Origen , according to the quality , the number , and the Degree of sins . Nothing therein shall be omitted . There shall be no difference in the sins , how little soever they be , to which God hath not a regard in the chastisement .

2. This admirable proportion of the punishment of Crimes , wherein the Justice of this judgment consists , shall be clearly known by every one of the Wicked . Now to know it , it seems necessary at the same time they shall comprehend the Decree and perceive the punishments , that they do see at the same instant all that 's useful thereunto as a foundation .

The same reason which proves that every one shall know in an instant all things for which he shall be judged , to the end he may be able to know the justice of what God will judge him for , shews likewise that to know the judgments God will give of other Men , every one ought to know all the ground thereof .

But as God will not shew his justice of condemnation to the Wicked , to the end he may convince them for a moment , but that they may never doubt of it , it seems that there is reason to conclude , that what they shall know then shall never be blotted out of their memories , and that the spectacle of the last judgment will be always present to them , without ever being able to forget it .

We may say likewise , that 't is a necessary consequence of the state of the other life , which is firm , invariable , and opposite in that to the state of Travellers , where all is subject to changing . For as the Soul will not change the Will then any more , it appears not that she can change her Knowledge . What she loves she will always love . What she hates , she will always hate . All her passions will be Eternal , and by consequence all the knowledges which her passions shall form will be so likewise .

Also there is not any reason to believe that the sentiments of the Wicked , expressed in the Book of Wisdom , can be transitory ones . They say , and always will say in their hearts , what the wise Man made them say . They shall be in a perpetual trouble of envy against the just , in a continual repentance of their former life . They will never cease condemning themselves , and consequently they will always be mindful of their digressions and their sins . Now if they remember their sins , they will remember all . For why should they forget some , seeing they shall be judged for all , and shall suffer punishment for all ?

It is evident by the same reason , tha●… they will be mindful of all the sins o●… others . For the confusion wherewit●… God will cover the Wicked , in makeing their crimes known to all Men by his judgment , shall not be transitory . And therefore David to express that which he feared , and which he hoped to be delivered from , said to God that he should not be confounded for ever . Non confundar in eternum .

Now as this confusion happens in the Wicked from the manifestation of their Crimes to all men , it is clear that this manifestation subsists . For if men came to forget them and to think no more of them , this cause of confusion would be taken away from the Wicked , and consequently their confusion would not be eternal . Thus every one of them conserves the knowledge of other mens crimes , seeing that this knowledge is part of their punishment , which ought to be eternal .

That which makes us change our knowledge in this life , even when our passions subsist , is , that acting dependently of the Organs of the body , and the Organs being tired , it is necessary that the mind be separated from its object , and that it pass on to others which it knows by different impressions . Moreover the Soul , being tied to the body , is constrained to have certain sentiments which hinder the continuity of her actions . We must Eate , Drink , and Sleep , otherwise we fall into sickness . All these interrupt the actions of the minde , and when they are interrupted , other objects take place of those wherewith she was busied . If she comes to be struck again anew , she does not always look upon it with the same face , nor receive the same impression .

But it is not so with a Soul separated from the body , or reunited to the body by the Resurrection . She hath none of these dependences . She sees always the objects in the same manner , and by all their faces . She has always the same passions , and in the same Degree . Thus these passions applying always their imagination in the same fashion , it is necessary that she see the same objects , and always in the same Degree of perspicuity .

If that were not , it would follow that the Soul would be unequally miserable at divers times . For doubtless there is amongst those objects some which touch her more than others ; for being unequal amongst themselves , we ought not to suppose they will stir up in those Souls sentiments alike violent . So by passing from one object to another , forgetting one to think of another , she will be sometimes more , sometimes less miserable . Now as the Wicked are always equally guilty , it seems that 't is against Gods justice that they should be unequally punished .

Lastly , It is very hard to comprehend what should stir up an Idea when the Soul shall once have ceased to apply her self to it , and wherefore amongst these Ideas there should be some more durable than others : So that although there be some difficulty to conceive in the Wicked this terrible extent of the mind in so many different objects , there are fewer yet to suppose an actual and invariable application of the minde to all objects which shall torment them , than to imagin that they can apply themselves now to one and now to another , without seeing any cause of this variety , or that it can be made to accord with their state .

It seems then more reasonable to believe , that the sight which God shall give to each of the Wicked at the day of judgment of all their actions , and of all those of others ; of the deformity of the Soul , of the enormity of her offences , of the contrariety there will be with the justice of God , of the happiness they shall have lost , of the punishments they shall be condemned to , and of all other things which he shall make them know at that moment , shall not be a transitory sight , but an eternal one . What is that dreadful cry wherewith he threatens the Wicked in Isaiah ? c . 42 v. 14. Sicut parturiens loquar . By which he will break silence which he hath kept towards them during their whole lives , by letting them follow their passions , and live in ignorance of the state of their Souls , and the grandeur of their sins ; and thus there is this difference betwixt Gods silence , and this cry of God , that this silence ends with this life , whereas this terrible Language shall be eternal , being nothing then but the constant and permanent impression , by which he will make them know for ever what they are , and what they deserve .

CHAP. VIII . Of the prodigious violence of the motions of the Soul of the Wicked .

IF it be true , as it seems we cannot doubt , that the Souls knowlege separated from the body is far more lively , clear ▪ and extended than that of the Souls which are in the body ; we ought not to question but that the passions do increase in the same proportion , and incline towards their objects with a violence which surpasses all our thoughts . We should be out of the body to comprehend exactly how much the Body out-weighs the Soul ; how much it slackens all her motions , in darkening all her Ideas ; but we may very well conceive in this life that there will be an extream difference betwixt these two states .

The Soul is only love . That 's her Nature and Essence . She cannot be without love . She likewise understands not but to love . But her love is as it were a-sleep in this life , through the obscurity of her knowledge . As she penetrates little good or ill of objects , she is not carried thereunto with all her force . Her stupidity acts in regard of her passions , what Sleep doth in regard of the griefs of the body . She feels them but little , and she has only cold and languishing motions . But when death shall have as it were awakened her from this dulness , when her eyes shall be opened , when she shall have lively Ideas of all things , 't is not to be conceived in what sort her love will increase , and with what impetuosity it will tend towards its object . 't will be like an unbent bow , or a weight freed from what kept it in , and which begins to tend towards its center with all its activity and force .

When I speak of her love , I understand all her passions ; for love comprehends them all . So this name includes her desires , her fears , her hatred , her despair , her jealousies ; all her passions being only diverse forms which love takes according to the several relations it hath with its objects .

Now as the Wicked die void of the love of God , it is evident that their Souls will not be found filled with any other love than that of themselves and of Worldly things , and a general desire of Felicity . So that becomming immoveable by death , all these passions will also become immoveable , and will act in them according to the impetuosity of the nature and state of the Soul . Thus , as they shall know at the same time that they are for ever excluded from this felicity they desire , that they shall never enjoy those Temporal things they love , that they shall never have this elevation , this honour , and this excellence they wish for , but that ●n the contrary they shall be for all eternity in reproach , in dejectedness , and in the griefs wherein they shall see themselves , it is impossible to conceive the excess of despair they shall be in . And all that can be said , is , that the violence of these sentiments will be conformable to the greatness of their loss , and the frightful circumstances which accompany it .

For as they shall know clearly these circumstances , so these circumstances will act upon them , and stir up griefs proportioned to the greatness of the object they shall see , and to the clearness with which they shall see it .

They will know that they have lost by their faults this happiness which they shall see themselves excluded from ; that others have not lost it like them ; that 't is Gods justice which has banisht them by an irrevocable Decree , and that they are deprived thereof by the searching after vile and perishable Goods . They will see that they love these Goods , and that they cannot chuse but love them . And all these sights , being lively and penetrating , will produce motives of rage , fury , and envy , against the Just , of hatred against God , and themselves , which surpass infinitely all that can be conceived , or be said thereof .

This is what may help to comprehend the Doctrine of St. Austin , whereof we have spoken already in another place , that God being the Soveraign Beatitude , and the Soveraign Glory , does not from himself draw the inward chastisements wherewith he punisheth the Soul , but effects by the marvellous Counsel of his Wisdom , that the same things which have served as instruments to men to Offend him , serve him to punish them withall . Conf . 67. Ut quae fuerunt delectamenta homini peccanti , sint instrumenta Domino punienti .

And for this , there needs no more , but that the Soul know her true state , to abandon her to her passions , and to hinder her from satisfying them . The Soul does the rest , she makes her Hell , and she makes it by her proper passions which become her Executioners , and tear her in an unconceivable manner . All the Ideas which we can fancy thereof are infinitely short of what it is in effect . Nevertheless we may increase a little , by these following considerations , those which are made ordinarily thereof .

CHAP. IX . Divers considerations which may help us to consider the greatness of the inward pains of the Damned .

THE mortality and weakness of the body necessarily moderate all the griefs , whether interior or exterior , that can be suffered in this life , because if they pass a certain measure , they destroy the body ; but there is no measure for those of the other life . The Objects conceived by an immortal Soul act upon her according to all the force they have , and the decay of the Subject does not at all weaken the impression ; the Soul being through her misfortune uncapable of growing weak ; and it is easie to judge thereby that the thoughts she hath at present have no proportion with those she shall have in the other life .

II .

The minde of man in this World is not always applyed to the Objects which afflict it . It is oftentimes withdrawn , and though it desired always to be fixed to it , it would be hindered by the necessities of this life , and by the weakness of the body . But all the griefs of the Damned shall be in such a manner continual , that the Soul shall never cease from being glued and applyed to the Object of her pain , without being able to free her self one single moment .

III .

The multiplication of the evils do not always augment the sentiment in this life , because the Soul forms only of these evils one confused Object , which makes but one single Object , and the connexion she hath with the body makes her uncapable of suffering any more than one certain measure . But it is not so in the other . For the Soul being free and disingaged , cannot see things other than they are , she fancies no more these confused Ideas . So as much distinct knowledge as she shall have of afflicting Objects , so much shall she have of distinct Griefs which shall be as lively as her knowledge , her Will not being less vast nor less great than her Understanding .

IV .

We scarcely feell any evils in this life , but such as have something that 's evil at the very moment we feel them , and at most what they may have thereof in the space of this life , which is not long . Although our imagination encrease them often , it nevertheless places limits thereunto , because it extends them no farther than this life . But what causes in the damned an increase of grief which cannot be expressed , is , that they join to each of these evils the weight of Eternity . They prevent it by their thought , and unite in the time present what they ought to suffer in the continuance of their torments , which makes each of these evils in some sort infinite .

't is the effect of grief to apply the Soul to the small parts of time . The application to agreeable things , makes time slip away without being aware thereof . It seems as if many parts thereof past away all at a time . An hour , a day , a year of pleasure are all nothing ; but a day , nay even an hour of grief is very long and tedious , and so much the longer as the grief is violent . If that of a man who is cut , should last a quarter of an hour , no man could withstand it , nay even no man would expose himself thereunto . What length then will the time be to those who shall be in great griefs , and what will it be for them but an eternity of griefs , seeing that a small space of time will appear to them an eternity . We reckon days in moderate evils , hours in those that are more violent , minutes in sharp griefs . But those of the damned being extream , they will reckon in some sort moments , and there are an infinite in the least part of time .

VI .

There are no evils in this life which may not be ballanced by a great number of benefits which uphold the Soul . If a Friend forsake us , there are others we may rely upon . At least we see a great many People who do not hate us , and that serves to moderate our sadness ; when we shall see our selves even abandoned and hated of all , we shall see yet a haven in death . Moreover the evils are not universal , nor deprive us of all our happiness . There remains always divers Objects upon which we may cast our eyes without being troubled . We may be comforted in the loss of one sence by the pleasure of another . Who sees not colours , hears voices and sounds . He who hath one kinde of sickness hath not all others , nor all the evils of this life ; and the applying the mind to these goods which always remain in great number to the miserable , weakens , even without their thinking thereof , the violence of their evils .

But it is not the same with the Damned ; what way soever they turn their Souls , they see no Objects but such as afflict them . They are deprived of all consolation and pleasure . Nothing appeases their evils and every thing encreases them .

This privation from all good is a dreadful thing for a Soul who lives and upholds her self only by the enjoyment thereof , and whose essence consists in seeking and loving it , and we do not reflect enough upon the excess of the desolation which will spring necessarily from the clear knowledge these miserable Souls shall have , that there is not any more good for them to expect in eternity , and shall see nothing but what afflicts them .

VII .

The power man hath of deceiving himself in this life adds much to the diminishing the thought of his evils If we condemn him justly , he is perswaded that 't is unjustly , and thus gives away the good which was taken from him . He flatters himself by these hopes , and asswages his fears through some rash assurances . He thinks he is esteemed when disdained . He dissembles his faults . He takes uncertain things for certain . He sees only what he has a mind of ; and imagins he sees what indeed he sees not . But 't will be quite otherwise in respect of the Wicked . God will not permit them to be ignorant of their evils . His sight will open their Eyes in spight of them . They must necessarily see themselves such as they are , and their evils likewise , without any power to diminish the least part by the error of their imagination .

VIII .

Wrath and indignation which Men conceive in this life find a kind of consolation in the designs of vengance they fancy , whether real or chimerical . They flatter themselves in these miseries , by the Idea that they shew compassion to some one , or that they have not deserved them , that they are the effects of hazard or of a misery wherein they have no share . Even despair and rage have I know not what pleasure in the confused Idea of substracting themselves either from the fight of Men , or from life it self . But the Wicked shall have none of these consolations how miserable soever they be . They shall see clearly that they want absolutely power to hurt those they hate . They shall be convinced that they deserve all the Ills they have suffered , that they have drawn them upon themselves by their own faults ; and they shall hate the justice which condemned them thereto . They shall no ways hope to be able to forbear being and living . They shall know the inflexibility of their judge , and of their hearts , and by consequence the immutability of their evils , and this thought unable to render them more constant therein , because they shall see nothing whereupon they can build their hopes .

IX .

If Mens pride trouble them in this life , because they think always that Men do not render them what is their due , nor judge favourably enough of them , it comforts them on the other side , by the portraicture it makes them draw of themselves , which is always pleasing . But the pride wherewith the Wicked shall be possessed in the next life will not give them this comfort . They shall see nothing in themselves that is pleasing . All will fright them and cover them with shame .

One single man who hates us is so troublesom an Object that we can scarcely suffer him . And when we apply our selves thereto a little lively , this thought is capable to take away the sentiment of all other human Goods we possess . The consideration that Haman had in the Kingdom of Ahassuerus , and all the Goods he enjoyed there , caused him much less joy , than the disdain he thought Mordecai had for him did cause vexation . What then will be the state of a Soul , who , desiring love and esteem with a much more violent passion than that we can have in this World , shall see her self the Object of hatred , not of one single Man , but of God , of the Angels , of the Saints , of the Wicked , and of the Devils , and that she shall see no sentiment of affection , esteem , or compassion for her ?

XI .

Who can conceive what it is to hate an Enemy with an unreasonable hatred , to wish his destruction , and yet to see himself for ever in his hands , subject to his power , thrown under his feet , in an absolute insufficiency of resisting him ? 't is the condition wherein the Wicked shall be eternally , in respect of God . They shall hate eternally his power and Justice . They could wish that he were not at all , and yet they shall see themselves eternally in his hands , unable to avoid any of the chastisements which this justice shall make them suffer .

XII .

There is no afflicting Object which acts a little lively upon the mind , but causes so unsupportable a pain , that it could wish to be no more so it may be separated from it . Therefore all the lively passions have swayed these who have been agitated thereby to take away their own life . Some have killed themselves , to avoid seeing a victorious Enemy , others not able to suffer reproaches ; and others have killed themselves to fly the shame of some crime . If this sentiment spring in Men , whose evils are so small , and counterpoised by so many goods which remain , what will it be with the Wicked , who shall have nothing but evils , and horrible evils , without any good . We must not then doubt but they wish with an excessive passion the destruction of their being , and that when their Souls shall be reunited to their bodies , they will endeavour to forsake them ; which caused St Austin to say , Aug. de . Civit . l. 21. c 3. That the first death chaseth away the Soul from the body whether she will or no , and the second keeps her in the body . Prima mors animam nolentem pellet de corpore . Secunda mors animam nolentem tenet in corpore . Behold then the state of the Wicked . They will haste to death and to annihilation with an insatiable impetuosity , and yet cannot arrive at it . They shall hate their lives , and beings but shall not be able to destroy them . Lastly , they shall always the without ever dying . They shall be tormented , saith St. Gregory , l. 15. Moral . c . 11. but these torments cannot destroy them . They shall die , and they shall live at the same time . These shall endeavour not to be , but they shall subsist . These are terrible things to hear . But how much more terrible shall they be for those who shall experience them ?

XIII .

The source of all interior pleasures and griefs is in the will , according as these desires are satisfied and opposed . Who then can comprehend the miserable condition of a Soul which shall not be satisfied in any of her desires , but contradicted in all . The Will shall be then Soveraignly acting , but she shall have nevertheless no motion which afflicts her not . She shall obtain nothing at all of what she shall desire . She shall suffer all that she hath an horror for . This is the argument St. Bernard makes use of to shew the excess of this misery : Lib . 5. de . Consid . c . 1. Quid tam poenale quam semper velle quod nunquam erit ? Quid tam damnatum quam voluntas addicta huic necessitati volendi nolendique , ut ad utrumlibet . Jam sicut non nisi perverse ita non nisi misere moveatur . In aeternum non obtinebit quod vult ; & quod non vult in aeternum nihilominus sustinebit .

CHAP. X. Of the pain of Fire .

AS Men have a very great Idea of grief which Fire causes , the imagination can scarcely advance any further ; they are inclined to lessen this Idea , by changing the Fire wherewith God threatens the Wicked into a Spiritual and Metaphorical Fire , which they think is not near so grievous .

This hath caused the opinion of those who have pretended , as St. Austin reports , that Hell Fire shall be no other thing than a trouble for the loss of eternal happiness , wherewith the Wicked shall be afflicted ; which they ground , in respect of the Devils and Souls separated from the body , upon this argument , that 't is impossible for a material Fire to act upon Beings absolutely Spiritual , as the Devils are .

But it is easie to shew that this opinion is as little solid , according to the light of reason , as it seems contrary to Scripture and Tradition . For how little soever we examin what it is we call grief , we shall find that 't is altogether as conceivable , that Spirits without bodies are as susceptible thereof , as Spirits joyned to bodies .

Some ask how the Fire can act upon the Devils ? And I demand how it can act upon living Souls , which are no less Spiritual than Devils and Angels ? For 't is not the body that feels pains . Let the Soul be applyed elsewhere , you may burn the body if you will , it will feel nothing of pain , as it happens in certain extraordinary sicknesses . It is true , that this pain passeth from the Body to the Soul , that is to say , that the motion which is made in the Body , stirs up in the Soul this sentiment which is called grief . But it is not through a necessary consequence of this corporal motion , which has no connection with this sentiment ; 't is by the Decree of Gods Will , who hath establisht that this sentiment should be excited in the Soul , at the same time as this corporal motion should be in the Body . 't is impossible to find any other reason for it , and there is no more to be done but to make use of it to shew how the Devils may feel the impressions of a material Fire . For likewise 't is only to say that God hath ordained they shall have this sense of grief when such and such a motion shall be made in the substance wherein they shall be inclosed .

There is then no necessity , even according to reason , to conceive another Fire than what we know , nor another grief than what we experience when acting upon the body .

The Devils are as susceptible thereof as Men , and so 't is not strange at all that the Reprobates and Devils may be threatned with the same Fire by the Decree of their Judge : Ite maledicti in Ignem aeternum qui paratus est Diabolus & Angelis ejus .

By taking therefore this Fire which shall cause the punishment of the Wicked for a true and corporal Fire , it seems that we ought not to be much troubled to augment the Idea of grief it may cause , seeing that we conceived it already as something unsupportable , and that the crueltie of the most barbarous Men were not able to invent greater torments .

Nevertheless the Fathers assure us that this Fire hath infinitely more force and activity than ours , and that the pain this ordinary . Fire causes is nothing in comparison to that Hell Fire causeth . Non erit iste Ignis sicut focus tuus , saith St. Austin . And reason inclines us to conclude it from some circumstances of the state of the other life .

For the grief this Fire causeth , is not a simple action of the Fire upon the Body . It is the application of the Soul to this motion . If she did not apply her self to it at all , she would suffer nothing at all , and she feels more of it in proportion as she applies her self more to it . Now 't is certain , the application of the Soul in this life is always weak because of the Organs of the body whereof she depends , which being weak and delicate will destroy themselves by too violent action . But in the other life the organs of the Body being incorruptible , the Soul will apply her self to the objects which will cause her grief with all the activity of her nature .

The Fire of this life never acts universally upon the whole body ; otherwise it would destroy it in a moment , and would hardly cause any grief or pain . It must , to the end we may feel it lively , act only upon some few parts , and render them in a short time insensible , by consuming them . But if it did act upon all the parts without destroying the body , it would doubtless be a redoubling of the pain . And it is properly what shall come to pass in Hell . They shall be , saith the Evangelist , absolutely penetrated with Fire , as flesh salted is penetrated with Salt . Omnis enim Igne salietur , & omnis victima sale salie●ur . The Fire will act upon all the parts of their bodies , as it acts upon all the parts of a red hot Iron . There will be neither nerves , fibres , nor tendons , which shall not be moved , and cause a violent pain . And as none of these parts will ever be consumed by the Fire , but will remain always in the same agitation , the punishment will always subsist in the same violence .

This pain will be so much greater , as it is properly that which shall be imposed upon them by Gods justice , and where it shall act by it self , all other pains being nothing but consequences of their wretchedness and malice , except God act there otherwis● than by leaving them to themselves .

I shall make no difficulty to relate here what St. Teresa said of a Vision by which God shewed her something of the punishment of Hell ; and I am not afraid to say , that 't would be a violating of the mind not to be affrighted at it , and to think it but an imagination . We should be assured that 't was one , to have reason to slight it . Now we are very far from being able to have this assurance in respect of some Visions which she relates . On the contrary , we may truly say , that there being two things which may be doubted of in these kind of things ; First , If the person who relates them be sincere ; Secondly , Whether it is not an illusion of the Imagination ; persons of sense who shall examin without prevention the works of this illustrious Saint , will be presently fully convinced of the first , which is her real sincerity ; and in regard of the other , they will have much ado to persuade themselves , that imaginations put Souls in a state and condition so Holy and so Divine as that wherein it seems God placed ▪ her by these visions , nor that God was willing to joyn so many miraculous effects to Phanatical Illusions .

See then in what sort she tells what God shewed her concerning the pains of Hell . Life of St. Teresa , c . 32.

Being one day in Prayer , said she , I found my self in an instant in Hell , without being sensible how I was carried thither . I only comprehended that it pleased God I should see the place which the Devils had prepared for me , and my sins deserved . That lasted but a very short while . But although I should live yet many years , I do not believe that it would be possible for me to forget it .

The entrance apeared to me like one of those little narrow long Streets which are shut at one end , and such as would be that of an Oven , very low , very close , and very obscure . The bottom seemed to me to be as it were very filthy dirt , of an insupportable stench , and full of a great number of venomous creeping creatures . At the end of this Street was a hollow made in the Wall , in form of a Niech , wherein I saw my self lodged very close . And although all I have now said were yet much more frightful than I represent it , it may pass for pleasing in comparison of what I suffered when I was in this kind of Niech .

This torment was so terrible , that all that can be said cannot represent the least part of it . I felt my Soul burn in so horrible a Fire , that I had much ado to describe it such as it was , seeing that I could not even conceive it . I have experienced the pains the most unsupportable by relation of Physicians , that can be endured in this life ; as well by this contraction of the nerves , as in many other ways , by other evils than the Devils have made me feel ; but all those pains are nothing in comparison to what I suffered then , joyn'd with the horror I had to see that those pains were eternal ; and even that is yet but little , compared to the pain and agony wherein the Soul finds her self . She thinks she is choaked , strangled ; and her affliction and despair go to such an excess , that I should undertake in vain to relate them . 't is nothing to say that it seemed she was torn in pieces , because that would be a strange violence which would take away her life , whereas 't is she that tears and cuts her self in pieces . As to that interior Fire and despair which are as it were the heighth of so many horrible torments , I confess I am less able to represent them , I know not what made me endure them ; but I felt my self burn and as it were hacked in pieces ; which me thought was the most terrible pain of all .

In so frightful a place , there remains not the least hopes of receiving any consolation , nor is there room enough either to sit or to lie down in . I was there as in a hole made in the Wall , and these horrible Walls ( against the order of nature ) squeeze and press what they inclose . All is stifled in that place . There are nothing but thick clouds without any mixture of light , and I do not comprehend how it can happen , that whereas there is no light there , we should see what is most troublesome to the sight .

Although it be about six years that what I even now related happened , I am yet so frightned at it in writing it , that methinks my Blood is Frozen with fear in my veins . Thus what evils and pains soever I experience , I cannot remember what I suffered then , but all that can be endured here must seem nothing . It seems to me that we complain without cause . And I consider as one of the greatest favours , that God hath shewn me a thing so terrible as that which I have related , when I consider how much it hath profited me , as well to hinder me from apprehending the afflictions of this life , as to oblige me to suffer with patience , and to give God thanks , for that I have cause to believe that he will deliver me from these terrible and dreadful pains , whose continuation will be eternal .

Doubtless God shewed to this Saint only the Image of a part of Hell , and so much as was requisite for the good of her Soul . So we have reason to conclude that Hell in all reallity is quite another thing than this Image she hath drawn thereof .

CHAP. XI . Consequences that ought to be drawn from the considerations of these pains .

I Do not pretend to shew at large here all the consequences which reason may draw from this frightful state which we have newly represented , and wherewith all Men are threatned ; for there is hardly any thing in morality which does not follow it . I pretend only to shew some of the most gross and most sensible of them , and principally those which the Fathers themselves have drawn from thence .

The first of these thoughts which ought to be given us , is , that 't is not only Faith and Religion that condemns the conduct of those who believing that there is a Hell to be feared , do not make it their principal care to avoid it ; but that it ought to appear intirely unreasonable according to the ordinary understanding of common sense .

Truly there is something in the vanity of human mind which may incline ●o approve and esteem a Man who seeing himself condemned , and no hopes of avoiding it , nor any consideration of the other life , should employ three or four hours which he shall have at the time of execution , in playing and diverting himself . And this is that which makes us not troubled at the praises Seneca gives to a Roman named Canius , who expecting that Caligula's Ministers should come to execute the Decree of death which he had given against him , was busied about playing at Chess .

But if on the one side the punishment of this Man was horrible , and if on the other he might avoid it by employing three or four hours in doing juster and lawful actions , is there any Man would not count him a fool and an extravagant fellow , if the love of a ridiculous pastime should hinder him from embracing so lawful means to avoid so shameful and cruel a death ?

However this resolution which we never take in regard of Temporal death , is taken daily in regard of Eternal . We expose our selves thereto , we throw our selves headlong thereinto , for pleasures , interests , for honnors , which have not so much proportion to this dreadful misery where ▪ to we engage our selves , as three hours of play have to a cruel death . Also St. Austin having represented in one of his Sermons the excess of this disorder of Mans mind , concludes expressly , that Faith must be blotted out of them .

Hell Fire , saith this holy Doctor , shall not be lîke to that which you may feel here below . And yet if you be threatned to have your hand burnt , you will use all your endeavours , how bad soever , to avoid it . God to oblige you to do well , tbreatens you Eternal mischief , if you do not , and yet you do not do it . The threats of some evil , what ever it may be , should not be able to engage you to do ill , no more then hinder you from doing well : And God himself does not threaten you with any thing less than Eternal Fire , if you do ill , and do not do good . From whence then comes it that you make so little account of these threats ? 't is doubtless because you have not faith .

Indeed we must believe nothing at all of that Faith which makes impression upon the heart : But it may be done yet , and it happens even very often , that we do not cease to believe it by another perswasion which is only in the mind . Thus we believe it and we do not believe it . The heart causes in the minde false judgments conformable to its inclinations . It makes it prefer the present before that that 's to come , and to look upon the goods and evils of this life as some thing more real than all that can be said of the goods of the other , and reason suffers not at the same time to conclude the contrary , but after so cold and speculative a manner , that it is not capable to with-hold the inclinations of the heart .

Nevertheless , when we are careful to fortifie our Reason in applying it more to these objects , the fear we have of it becomes capable thereby to retain at least the hand , if it does not cure the heart , and so cut off the outward effects of the passions , if it do not stop the inward motions ; and in separating us thus from the objects which encrease concupisence , it prepares the place for charity .

't is by means of this fear , a●imated by the hopes of recompences w●i●h God promises to the just , that we are capable of disdaining all the promises of Men . Tremble , saith St. Austin , at he evils wherewith the Almighty threatens you . Love what he promiseth you , and you will not value Mens promises nor threats . ( In Epist. Joan . tr . 3. ) Exhorresse quod minatur Omnipotens . Ama quod promittit Omnipotens , & vilescit omnes Mundus sive promittens sive terrens .

For all this we ought to labour stronly to establish our selves in this principle , whereof reason cannot doubt , provided that it give attention to it , that the evils of the other life being so horrible and so far surpassing the greatness of all the goods and evils of this present life , they ought to serve us as a rule and measure to judge of these here , and that this we ought not at all to behold under the Idea of good , but under the Idea of a great evil , all that leads to Hell .

't is then by this means we must judge of the difference of the states and conditions of this World . All t●ose wherein it is difficult to save our selves , ought to appear misfortunate to us , and we ought on the contrary to look upon as advantageous all those which are favourable to salvation .

It is by this we ought to rule our joy and sadness , in all successes and in all accidents that happen to us . For to know whether we have reason to rejoyce or to be afrighted thereat , we need only ask our selves whether they render salvation easy or difficult to us .

These are common truths . But 't is not a common thing to have them livelily imprinted in the mind , to conform our judgments and actions thereunto ; to look upon all Worldly things by a light which we draw from thence .

't is also a very common thought to say as St. Austin did , that we ought to make use of the consideration of Hell to despise and set at nought all the ev●●s of the Body . Tem . 9. de verbis Excid . c . 4. Unusquisque Christianus quando aliquam afflictionem Corporis patitur , Gehennam cogitet , & videat quam leve est quod patitur . But 't is not very common to reduce it into practice .

What St. Austin saith in another place upon this Subject , gives us reason to add , that as Hell ought to make us despise all the evils of this life , so the evils of this life ought to make us remember Hell , and to make use of it as a continual advertisement to think seriously how to avoid it . For this holy Doctor doth teach us in one of his Sermons , that light chastisements in this life only tend to put us in mind of amending , to the end that God may have reason to punish us in his rigor ; that this Sovereign Judge may make us know thereby that he will come presently , and that this conduct is an effect of the design he hath , that we may not be absolutely lost . If he had a design , saith he , to condemn us , he would be silent . Never any one , having a design to strike another , cries out unto him , Have a ●are .

Thus as it is evident that the Earth is ●●ll of Gods chastisements , and that there is none who sometimes does not experience them , it follows , that God makes this terrible but wholsom voice Eccho over all the Earth , That Hell is at hand , and the Judge comes . Mortals , saith he to them thereby , have a care of your selves , and banish from your hearts all that may condemn you to the Eternal Fire Behold what these Scourges God sends over the Earth , these Wars , these Plagues , these Famines , these Calamities both publick and particular , signify . They are like Sparks which exalt themselves from Hell Fire , which is the treasury of Gods wrath . But 't is by counsel of mercy he permits them to go out , that he may give us notice by that means to shun these terrible Fires wherein he will cast the Wicked headlong in the other life .

Even when these prospects of Hell shall not be necessary to make us fly sin , and that we shall arrive to that Degree where Charity banisheth all fear , which is very rare in this World , and where it is very dangerous to imagin to arrive when God has not as yet raised us thereunto ; they would nevertheless be useful and necessary for us , as well to entertain in us the sentiments of of acknowledging that we ought to have them , as to excite thereby a compassion we ought to have for Souls who precipitate themselves into this Abyss of evils . And it is but reading what St. Teresa said upon this Subject with that inimitable eloquence which sprung from the zeal of her Charity , to judge what this consideration should produce in us if we had as much Charity as she .

How , saith she , Meditat 11. upon the Command . can I be able to express what my grief is , when I represent to my self the state of a Soul , who having seen her sef in the World always considerable , always loved , always obeyed , always caressed , always respected , at the very moment she leaves this life , shall see she is lost for ever , and shall clearly comprehend that her misery shall never have end ; that it will assist her nothing at all to divert her mind with the truths of Faith , as she was accustomed to do ; she shall see her self seperated and as it were forced from her recreations and pleasures , even when she shall think she hath not as yet begun to taste them , because in effect all that 's acted in this life is nothing but a blast and a vapor ; she shall see herself environ'd with this so hideous and cruel company with which she must suffer Eternally ; she shall see her self plunged into a stinking Lake full of Serpents which shall exerecise upon her all their rage and fury ; and lastly , she shall find her self as it were swallowed up in this horrible obscurity , which having nothing but a darksom flame as a light , shall not permit her to see any thing but what may maintain for ever her pains and torments .

O how inconsiderable is what I say to what it is ! O Lord ! and who then hath cast in this manner dirt into the Eyes of the Soul , that she hath not percieved this dismal state until she should see her self reduced thereunto for ever ? Who hath stopped their Ears in such a manner , that they cannot hear what has been told them a thousand and a thousand times of the greatness and the eternity of these torments ? O life , eternally miserable ! O punishments without end ! Is it possible that those do not fear you at all , who fear the least inconveniencies of the body , that they cannot suffer with patience one nights lodging in a hard bed ?

O Lord ! how I regret the time wherein I have not comprehended these truths ! But , O God , seeing thou knowest the displeasure I suffer in seeing the great number of those who will not understand them , make at least , I conjure thee , that thy light may illuminate some Soul which may be capable to inlighten many others . I do not ask thee , O my God , to do it for the love of me being unworthy thereof : But I beg it through the merits of thy Son . Cast thy Eyes , O my God , upon his wounds . And when he hath pardoned them , pardon us also the sins we have committed against thee .

Thus as it appears by the example of this Saint , the fear of Hell is not only the introduction of Charity , when it is not as yet mistress of the heart ; it is not only the guardian thereof , when it is yet very feeble and imperfect ; it is also the nourishment thereof , when it is purest and most perfect , with this sole difference , that in the two first states it looks up●n us more than others , and in the third upon others more then us .

FIRST TREATISE , OF THE Four Last Ends of MAN . BOOK III . O Paradise , or Heaven .

CHAP. I. That it is profitable to treat of Heaven having treated of Hell . How much the knowledge of these two great Objects is linked to that of Mans nature .

AFter the fear of torments , nothing makes more impression upon Mens minds than the hopes of recompence , which has given occasion to those who made Laws , to joyn ordinarily these two motives together , to keep Men in their duty .

God follows almost the same order in the operations of his grace . For having shaken the heart by the fear of torments wherewith he threatens the Wicked , he draws it to him self by the hopes of the glory he promiseth to the just .

To follow then the same Dgrees , reason commands , that having proposed the fittest Objects to fill the Soul with terror , which are Death , Judgment , and Hell ; we propose to them those which are the properest to attract their desires , which are the ineffable and eternal goods God hath reserved for his Chosen .

It is much more necessary to joyn these Objects together , by how much we know not how in any sort to conceive them well separately . For the principal part of the Misery of the Wicked consists in the loss of the Happiness of the Just ; and the deliverance from the miserable state of the Wicked , causeth a considerable part of the Felicity of the happy Souls .

Not only the knowledge of each of these two Ends is inseparable from that of the other ; but they are both so strictly tied by the Nature of Man , that we cannot know them well without knowing Man , nor know Man well without the knowledge of them .

Truly if we examine the Source of all the vain Fancies of Philosophers touching Sovereign Happiness and Misery , we shall find these Fancies have had no other rise than the ignorance they were in concerning the Nature of Man . For it being imagin'd that the Soul was not capable of other Actions than those they observed in her in this Life ; as those Actions are all weak and languishing , they were of opinion that she could not be fully satisfied with a fading Happiness , such a one as that which we have in this World ; and that she hath no other Evils to fear but those she may feel here .

But had they well apprehended , that this Soul which is at present in this languishing state of Darkness and Obscurity , must be by Death placed in another state , where her Knowledge will be infinitely larger and clearer , and her Desires more impetuous and violent ; they would have changed all their Idea's , and by following this Light they would have come very near the knowledge of Heaven and Hell .

For by this 't is clear , that the Soul coming to be separated from the Body , and placed in a state of Liberty , will begin to tend towards the Objects of her Love with quite another vehemency than that wherewith she is carried at present ; and thus casting her self towards these Objects with this violence , either she will enjoy them , and consequently she will have a Joy so much greater as her Love shall be violent ; or she will not enjoy them , and then she will be melancholy proportioned to the vehemency of her Love ; seeing that Sadness is only the Sentiment of being deprived of the Object we love .

This concludes already , That the Soul must necessarily be at the hour of her Death in a State of extreme Joy or Sadness ; and that by her Nature she is uncapable of indifferent Sentiments .

But we shall urge these Consequences further , if we add thereto two Principles which Reason and Faith render evident . The first is , That 't is impossible God's Justice can grant to the Soul in the other Life , which is fixt and immovable , the Enjoyment of her Desires which shall be disorderly and criminal . The second is , That not being made to enjoy the Creatures , all desire she shall have to enjoy them is wicked and disorderly .

From whence it follows , That all the Souls who go out of this World , and shall have no love but for Creatures , shall be deprived thereof for ever ; because God cannot permit that this Desire , being bad , may be satisfied with the enjoyment of their Objects ; and consequently , they shall fall into a terrible Sadness : And that , on the contrary , all those who shall love God , who is the only legitimate Object of their Love , shall be united to him , and enjoy him , because if they should not enjoy him , they would be miserable ; and as it is unjust that they be joyful in loving what they ought not to love , it would be unjust that they should be sad in loving what they ought to love .

See here in what manner the knowledge of Mans Nature conducts us to conceive Hell and Heaven . And it may be said also , That the knowledge of Heaven and Hell makes us know what Man's Nature is : For , the necessity there is of partaking of the one or the other of these two Ends , is an evident proof of its Greatness ; for it shews that God designs it nothing of mediocrity ; it must be either very happy or very miserable , there is no medium for it : It is born to be heaped with all sorts of Good , without any mixture of Evil ; or overwhelmed with all sorts of Evil , without the least tincture of Good : and thus it is not made for the World , because all there is a mixture of Good and Evil ; and the Good or Evil which may be had there , is not very great .

This Life through which we ought to pass , is not given it but to make choice of the one or the other of these two states ; and this choice is the only employment and the only exercise of this present Life : For 't is not done by one single Action ; they contribute all thereunto , and serve all to advance it towards the one or the other .

There is only this difference , upon this Point , betwixt Hell and Heaven ; That to fall into Hell , it sufficeth to take the way that leads thereunto , without any need of desiring it ; but to arrive at Felicity and Happiness , we must have a sincere desire for it . So , as we cannot desire it without knowing it , our first care ought to be to labour to acquire this Knowledge : And it is what this Book is intended for .

CHAP. II . That 't is a strange thing that true beatitude is so little desired by Men . Heresie of the mind , Heresie of the heart upon this Subject .

ALthough there is nothing so different as Heaven and Hell , and methinks that if the horror which causeth the consideration of the first of these Objects , hinders Men from thinking thereof , the fulness of all the good which is discovered in the other should withhold and stop their thoughts there ; it is nevertheless true , that Men scarcely think more of Heavn than Hell , that they are as little concerned for it , and that they live very near in a equal oblivion of the one and the other .

This ought to appear presently more strange than the first , ( Aug. De . Trinit . l. 13. c . 4. ) The most stirring , and the most essential desire Man hath is that of being happy . This desire is imprinted in the bottom of Nature , and disperseth it self into all its actions . Man aims only at this end , he acts nothing but for that purpose , nothing can please him but through this consideration . Man hath never been without this desire , there hath been none , there could have been none , saith St. Austin in Ps. 128. m . 1. and in Ps. 32. without it . It is not necessary to excite it in them . Finally , though this inclination be the source of all the divisions of Mankind , by the bad use they make thereof , there is nothing in which which they can be more uniform than in this inclination .

Saint Austin adds in another place That this desire of Beatitude is so ingraven in the heart of all Mankind , that although sin and misery be inseparable , they are not inclined nevertheless to sin , but that they may avoid being miserable . Cum sit malitiae individua comes miseria , isti perverti non solum mali esse volunt , & miseri nolunt , quod fieri non potest ; sed ideo mali esse volunt ne miseri fiunt .

Nevertheless it is true , that this erring is more easie to be comprehended in those who being ignorant of the lights of faith apply this general desire of being happy through error , to some objects which render them effectively miserable .

But what is more surprising , is , that those on whom God has bestowed the incomparable favour of declaring to them this great and happy news of the Kingdom of Heaven , and the inconceiveable happiness he has promised to those who shall be partakers thereof , which he had kept hid the space of four thousand years from all the World , are nevertheless so little touched therewith , that this great object is that whereon they think the least , and which makes the least impressions upon them .

For does it not seem , that this violent inclination which they have of being happy , should unite all their passions and all their desires towards this ineffable happiness God discovers to them ? They seek it with disquiet and trouble ; they have experienced , a thousand ways , that they can find on Earth nothing but false happiness : we shew them a true and solid one ; they grant they believe it . From whence comes it then that they do not make it the most agreeable and the most continual occupation of their minds ? 't is doubtless whereunto reason inclines them ; but they have in them a principle stronger than reason , which hinder them , which is the corruption of the heart .

For it is to be observed , that there 〈…〉 upon this Subject two kind of Heresie●… the one may be called the Heresies 〈…〉 the mind , because the mind approv●… them , consents thereunto , and ma●…tains them with all its light : The othe●… may be called the Heresies of the hea●… because they spring from the passio●… which force the mind to frame Ide●… and judgments which are conform ther●to , although there be at the same tim●… in this mind contrary lights which bel●… these false judgments .

The divers judgments of Philosophers touching beatitude , are of th●… nature of those which we have nam●… Heresies of the mind . This matte●… hath appeared to them very fit t●… exercise their subtlety and eloquence●… They have divided themselves upo●… this point into divers Sects . Some have placed happiness , I mean beatitude , in the body ; some in the mind ; others i●… both . Varron joyning some circumstances thereunto , makes the number o●… their opinions amount to 288. and St. Austin reduceth them to twelve , b●… cutting off the unnecessary difference●…

Christian Religion hath had no tro●…ble to destroy these Imaginations o●… Philosophers , whereof the most part served rather as Subjects to their Discourses and Disputes , than as an End to their Desires , or Rule to their Actions .

But it hath not rooted out with the same facility the Heresies of the second kind , which we have named the Heresies of the Heart . Christian Religion hath found one of this nature upon the Subject of the Beatitude , diffused into all Men , which makes them establish the Sovereign Good in this Life , in the Enjoyment of sensual Pleasures , of curious Objects , of Honours , of the Glory and Power of the World , and of all that leads thereunto .

This Heresie is nothing but the tripple Concupiscence to which St. John doth reduce all Mens Passions and Actions , when he says , cap . 1. ver . 16. All that is in the world is concupiscence of the flesh , concupiscence of the eyes , and pride of life .

So this is the general Heresie of Mankind , which first corrupts the Hearts of Men , and after that their Minds .

We need only seek in this universal Heresie the cause of this coldness and this insensibility , which is observed in most Men in respect of true Beatitude . Christian Religion finds it established and domineering in their Hearts ; and although it banish it by its Light of the Mind from some , and that it cure likewise their Heart from what is mortal and criminal ; yet it destroys it not entirely : so that there remains always some root at the bottom of the Soul , until Death , which always produceth therein some gust for the Goods of the Earth , and some disgust for those of Heaven .

Those Goods which Religion proposeth to us are not present Goods , and Concupiscence de●●●es present Goods : It must expect them ; and Concupiscence being hasty and violent , will not expect : We do not see them by the Senses ; and Concupiscence is concerned at nothing but what toucheth the Senses : We cannot have Honour in the World ; and 't is this Honour of the World Concupiscence covets : Lastly , To arrive thereunto , we must be separated from those sensual Objects , and renounce Honours ; which is what Concupiscence cannot suffer .

Concupiscence opposes the seeking and the Meditation of the Goods of the other Life , as it were the annihilating its own . It spreads disgust upon all the Actions by which the Soul would incline thereto . It draws it low , when it should raise it self aloft , and by an horrible subversion represents this Source of all the true Good , and true Joy , under black , sad , and melancholy Idea's .

Those whose Hearts it possesseth , understand not likewise what is said thereof ; the Fever of Iniquity has made them lose this Taste . What will you have me to do to you , saith St. Austin to them , in Psal . 30. seeing that you cannot taste the true Goods , I am not able to make you comprehend them . Give me a Heart which may love them , and understand what I say . Give me a Heart to desire them , which may hunger after them ; who sees it self in the Desart of this World , as out of its Country ; who sighs with an ardent desire after this Fountain of our eternal Country : Give me , say I , a Man in this disposition , and he understands what I say ; but if I speak to a cold and insensible Heart , it cannot tell what I say . Se frigido loquor nescit quod loquor .

't is Concupiscence which spreads this cold and distaste over the Heart ; and as it is more strong and lively in some than in others , it disperses it unequally , and in different degrees . It makes some entirely bent against Discourses and Thoughts of the other Life ▪ It makes others tire themselves presently with it . It hinders others from applying themselves thereunto , furnishing them with other Objects .

Behold its Propensity and Inclination , and we need but sound a little our own Hearts , to acknowledge them in some degree in our selves : But it is good at first to consult the Lights of Reason , to learn in what manner we ought to consider this Malady , which with reason we have called the Natural and Universal Heresie of depraved Man , even then principally when it is so strong , that it stifles entirely in us the desire of Heavenly Goods .

CHAP. III . That 't is a Criminal Condition not to desire the Beatitude of the other Life .

WE consider very ordinarily the Beatitude which Faith promiseth to the Just , as a Good which should be the principal Object of all Mens desires ; and we condemn , as an unanswerable Stupidity , the pronity they have to worldly things , which hinders them from thinking thereof . But we scarcely regard this desire of a happy Life as a disposition both essential and necessary to arrive thereat : nor the being deprived of this Desire , by an Inclination to this present Life , as a state of Sin which renders us Criminals . Few Persons examine themselves upon this Point , and we hardly see any who reviewing their former Lives , consider it as a great disorder , to have spent part thereof without desiring the other , and hating this .

Nevertheless , as there are some Actions which of themselves are mortal , and exclude those who commit them out of the Kingdom of Heaven ; there are also states and dispositions which of themselves are incompatible with this Kingdom .

Now betwixt these Dispositions , the Fathers have placed this , of finding themselves well in this World ; of contenting themselves with the Goods they enjoy therein , and of not desiring the happy Life which Jesus Christ promiseth them in the other Life .

't is St. Austin who did it expresly : 't is , saith he , after the heavenly Jerusalem we sigh , in considering our selves as it were Strangers and Captives under the foot and bondage of a mortal Body . 't is after this same Object we shall sigh in our Pilgrimage , by forbearing to rejoyce in our Native Country . But he who laments not as a Stranger on Earth , shall not rejoyce as a Citizen in Jerusalem , because the desire of a happy Life is not in him . Qui non gemit ut peregrinus , non gaudebit civis , quia desiderium non est in illo . St. Aug. in Psal . 148.

This holy Doctor saith the same thing in another place , in a more short manner , in explicating these Words of the Apostle , Infoelix ego homo . Let that man , saith he , in Psal . 146. hope for felicity who acknowledged himself miserable in this World : Ille speret foelicitatem qui confitetur infoelicitatem . That is to say , That he who doth not acknowledge himself miserable , ought not to hope for Felicity . And therefore he decides neatly elsewhere , That whosoever is happy in this World , or rather whosoever believes himself happy , and lets himself be transported by the sensual Pleasures he enjoys , by the temporal Goods he possesseth , and by the felicity wherewith he is enviro●●d , hath the voice of Ravens and not of Doves ; because Ravens make a great noise with their Cries , whereas the Doves do nothing but sigh and lament : Habet vocem Corvi , vox Corvi clamosa est , non gemebanda . St. Aug. in Joan . tr . 6.

't is by the same Principle he hath always considered the Love of this present Life , by which we would almost always remain as it were opposite to the Love of God . That Man , saith he , in Psal . 85. to whom his Pilgrimage is sweet , loves not his Country . And if our Country be sweet to us , it must necessarily be that our Pilgrimage is hard and troublesom .

But is the Love of God compatible with this deprivation from the desire of the other Life ? No , saith St. Austin , in the place before cited : And it is by this means he would have us try whether we belong to God , or no . Do not consult the Flesh , saith he , consult the Spirit ; interrogate thy Heart , and hearken what it answers . Give ear to Faith , Hope , Charity , which have begun to be in thee . If thou hadst received assurance of being always filled with temporal Goods , and that God should say , Behold thy share , but thou shalt not see my Face ; wouldst thou rejoyce at those Goods ? Is there any one would be glad of this Share , and would say in his heart , Behold me in an abundance of temporal Goods , I esteem my self happy , I desire nothing at all more ? That Man who should say so , hath not yet begun to love God , nor to sigh and lament as a Stranger on the Earth . Nondum coepit esse amator . Dei , nondum coepit suspirare tanquam peregrinus .

If he who loves not God , is yet under the Anathema pronounced by St. Paul , 2 Cor . 16.11 . Qui nos amat Dominum Jesum Christum , sit Anathema : If he be not separated from the Children of the Devil , nor received into the number of those of God , seeing that according to St. Austin , in Epist. Joan . tr . 15. there is only the Love of God which distinguisheth betwixt the Children of God and the Children of the Devil : Sola dilectis discer●t inter filios Dei & inter filios Diaboli : If he hath not received the Spirit of Adoption , which makes us Heirs ; Si filii & haeredes , Rom. 8.17 . And lastly , If he is in death , as St. John saith , 1 Joan . 3.14 . Qui non diligit manet in morte : Who can doubt that this deprivation from the desire of heavenly Beatitude , incuding that of the Love of God , is not a Criminal Disposition ?

Not to sigh as a Stranger , nor to love God , are two inseparable things , according to St. Austin : Nondum coepit esse amator Dei ; nondum coepit suspirare tanquam peregrinus .

He who loves not God , does not sigh after Life everlasting ; he who sighs not after Life everlasting , does not love God . Now he who loves not God , belongs not to the New Law , nor can he have a part in the Recompences thereof .

The first Effect of God's Spirit in us being to make us pray , his first Effect is to make us lament and figh ▪ For the Prayers of the Holy Ghost are Sighs and Lamentations . He prays for us , saith St. Paul , by Sighs which cannot be related : Postulat pro nobis gemittibus inenarrabilibus . Now to sigh , we must find our selves ill where we are , and desire another State : So he who does not sigh and lament , prays not ; and he who prays not , obtains nothing from God .

Prayer is therefore a Proof that the state we speak of is a state of Sin ; and whoever finds himself in this condition when he is a dying , cannot expect the Kingdom of Heaven . For Prayer is a necessary Means to obtain this Kingdom , in respect of those who have the use of Reason . 't is likewise a Duty to beg it , seeing it is one of the Demands of the Pater noster . Now whoever does not desire it , does not ask it : For Prayer consists not in Speech , it consists in the Desire , and it is likewise nothing else but a holy Desire , according to St. Austin . He that desires always , prays always ; and he who desires not , never prays .

Thus those who have no desire of the Life of Heaven , which is the Kingdom of God , not demanding this Kingdom , it is not strange they do not obtain it , being they do not vouchsafe to ask it .

Christian Hope being also absolutely necessary for Salvation , furnisheth yet another Proof of this Truth . For Hope includes the desire of what we hope for ; seeing that as Desire is only a Love which enclines towards an absent Object , so likewise Hope is only a desire of this absent Object ; which is looked upon as a thing which may be acquired . If to destroy Hope , be to take away the thought of obtaining what we desire , 't is yet to destroy it more , to take away the Love and the Desire . It is then clear , that he who is content with this present Life , and who does not desire the Felicity of the other , hath not Christian Hope , and that thus he is not less out of a state of arriving at Salvation , than if he had no Faith .

In fine , This Doctrine is nothing else than what all Divines teach after St. Austin , That 't is a mortal Sin to establish his last End in any Creature whatsoever . For it is very visible , that he who does not desire a happy Life , which consists in the possession of God , doth not establish his End therein ; seeing it is by Love and by Desire that we establish it there , and not by an Action of the Understanding . It is necessary then that we establish it in the Enjoyment of some Creatures ; we must love them as our last End , and as the Object of all our Desires . Now there is no question but this Disposition is criminal , and that it renders even the Affections criminal , which otherwise were not so . Therefore St. Thomas examining how these venial Sins can become mortal , decides expresly , That the venial Affections or Inclinations for Creatures become mortal as soon as we establish our End and our Sovereign Happiness therein : and it is clear that we establish it therein , when we desire nothing more ; it being impossible , that Man can be without some principal End whereto he relates his Actions and himself .

CHAP. IV . That most part of Christians are in this Disposition .

ALL the Principles whereof this Doctrine is a necessary Consequence , being acknowledged by all the World , there will be found doubtless very few who will dispute it : But I cannot tell whether there will be many who can perceive how many there are to whom it gives leave to mistrust their state and condition ; and fear or judge even with reason , that they are in this Disposition incompatible with Salvation , as we have just now represented .

I speak not of those who are engaged in manifest Crimes ; for those , in leaning to the Actions to which God hath fastned the exclusion of his Kingdom , do clearly make appear , that they prefer the Pleasures they take therein , before the possession of this same Kingdom which they banish ; and even their crimes consist in this preferring creatures before the possessing of God . I speak of those who in appearance lead a more orderly life , and to whom no actions visibly Criminal can be imputed , and I say there are many who have great reason to believe that they have not in their hearts this desire of a happy life , without which they cannot arrive at Heaven .

For example , Can we believe , that those who hardly so much as ever think thereof ; that harken only with distaste to what men say of it ; that have their minds busied with nothing but the thoughts of fortune , and being fixed in this World , can have a hearty desire for the other life , a dislike for this ?

Can it be imagined that those whose lives are only a chain and a circle of divertisement , and whose great business is to make their pleasures succeed one another , without any interuption save that whe● is necessary to refresh and recreate them , can pass their lives in this lamenting and sighing condition , without which , according to St. Austin , there is no pretending to the joy of the Citizens of Jerusalem ?

It is true , that trouble and disgust do not forbear to find them in the midst of their pleasurs ; but this disgust comes from the desire of the Goods of another nature . 't is a disgust which springs from the greatness of their cupidity , and not from their weakness . It happens because they are not yet content with the pleasures they enjoy , and because they would have still greater . 't is a disgust which comes from the ardency with which they covet earthly goods , and not from the desire nor the Idea of Heavenly goods , on which they do never think at all .

This sighing whereof we speak , is not a dislike of certain pleasures : 't is a dislike of all pleasures . It does not include a disdain for certain honours and certain grandeurs of this World , but a disdain for all Worldly honours and grandeurs . 't is a dislike which makes us believe our selves miserable , being separated from God , being out of our Country , being subject to sin , being every moment in danger of losing the happiness whereunto we aspire . What is it that afflicts the heart , saith St. Austin ? 't is for that it is not with Jesus Christ , for that it is out of tis Country .

't is this made that holy Doctor say , That this present life is a continual affliction for vertuous Men . If you behold your self therein , saith he , as a stranger , either you scarcely love your Country , or you must be afflicted there . For who would not be troubled that he is not with him he desires ? From whence comes it that you do not resent this affliction ? 't is for want of love ; love the other life , and you will soon find bitterness in this , with what prosperity soever it may flatter you , or what delights soever it may be replenished with . Ama alteram vitam , & videbis quia ista vita tribulatio est , quacunque prosperitate fulgeat , quibuscunque deliciis abundet atque circumfloreat . Aug. in Ps. 131.

It is very true , that this affliction and this sighing does not exclude all sort of affection for Worldly things ; but it includes nevertheless such a preference of Eternal life before Temporal , how happy soever we may think it , that we account as the greatest of miseries , the enjoyment of all earthly things , and the being eternally deprived of the sight of God .

But perchance we shall find this sighing and this desire more easily in poor folk then in rich ; amongst the miseries and the labours of this life , than amongst pleasures and divertisements : we should have doubtless cause to believe it , if it were sufficient to find sighs and tears ; for we find them in great abundance in the World , as we do miseries . But for all that , it is not enough to sigh and weep . We must sigh and weep , not because we are deprived of Earthly pleasures , but for being deprived of Heavenly pleasures . Covetousness hath its tears as well as Charity . And there are many , saith St. Austin , in Ps. 136. who shed Babylonian tears , because they know only Babylonian joys . Multis fle●● fletu Babylonia quia gaudent gaudiis Babylonis .

Many may be found , saith this same St. in Tr. 6. in Joan . in Ps. 48. who sigh under the weight of the afflictions of the Earth , or because they have lost their Goods , or are forced to prison and chains , or cast down with sickness , or forced to submit to the artifices of their Enemies : But they do not sigh like Doves , because it is not the love of God , nor the Holy Ghost which makes them to sigh . Therefore you see that when these persons are delivered from these afflictions , they cast forth great cries , and make appear by their transports they were Ravens and not Doves .

God does not distinguish the poor and the rich by the outward Goods : he distinguisheth them by their desires . 't is by their heart , saith St. Austin , he examins them , not by their Chests and Houses , in Ps. 51. Divites & pauperes in corde interrogat Deus , non in Arca & Domo . What doth it avail you , saith he again , for that you are void of earthly goods , if you burn with a desire to have them ? Quid tibi prodest quod eges facultate , si ardes cupiditate ? He makes the same distinction of sighs and tears , and he placeth in the rank of those who have their consolation upon earth , those who weep and sigh that they have it not ; those who thirst not after justice , but after Wordly goods , and who hate this life only because it is not permitted them to enjoy it as they would .

And 't is this which gives leave to conclude , that this sighing is not less rare amongst the poor and miserable , than amongst the rich and happy ; because if we see more miseries there , we see not less concupisence ; they think no more of the other life , and they are not less filled with the desire of the goods of this .

If we will know whether there be many who desire sincerely life everlasting , 't is but examining whether there be many we can say who lay up their treasure in Heaven , seeing that , according to the Evangelist , Mans heart is where his treasure is . Note , It is certain , according to the same Evangelist , that we have not our treasure in Heaven , but when we treasure it in Heaven , and not up the Earth ; that is , when we heap up good works , which we send before us to nourish us in eternity , when we transport what we can of our goods thither , as those do who would establish themselves in another Country by leaving their own . 't is for this reason we may acknowledge what is the place we look upon as our Country , or rather , 't is this makes us see there are few who look upon Heaven as their Country , seeing there are very few who transport their goods thither , or make there a treasure of good works ; but that , on the contrary , we see that all the cares and all the actions of the commonalty of the World tend only to the Earth , and are only for the Earth .

To desire life everlasting , is to desire Justice , is to be in a thirst after it . For life everlasting will consist in the possession of perfect Justice . Now I know not whether , considering the life of the commonalty of the World , and seeing how little we are concerned at our faults , how little care we have of avoiding them , how little we dream of advancing our selves in piety , it may very well be believed , there are many who be in this thirst and desire of Justice .

All this shews that we have no greater interest than to make this desire of the felicity of Heaven spring up in us , and this sighing for our exile , if we have them not , and to nourish them if we have them . But as these sentiments have two considerations ; one towards this present life , which is a consideration of disdain and aversion ; the other towards the life of Heaven , which is a consideration of Love and Desire ; it is clear , that to excite them it is necessary to know the miseries of this present life , and the incomprehensible goods of the other very well , which is what we shall endeavour to represent in the sequel of this Book .

CHAP. V. Of the Exterior miseries of this life .

THE heighth of misery , saith St. Austin , is to be miserable and not to be concerned for it . Quid miserius misero non miserante seipsum ? Nevertheless this heighth of misery makes the common state of Men , and nothing almost happens more generally to them , than to be absolutely cast down with , and insensible of those evils which overwhelm them .

This insensibility happens not in them from the disdain they have for the miseries of this life ; but by their blindness , and the being carried away by their passions . For see here in what manner they procure to themselves the rest and joy they seem sometimes to possess . First , in respect of past Evils , they think no more of them . They esteem as nothing all future Evils , and without all those solid reasons Philosophers have endeavoured to furnish them with , they deliver themselves from the fear they may have of them , either through rash hopes , or simply by not thinking at all on them .

They know not the greatest part of their spiritual Evils , and they make very few Reflexions upon those they do know . Their self-love dissipates from their sight most of those Objects which should make any Impression upon their Minds : And by this means they become capable of applying themselves to some of the Objects of their Passions , which they see but by halves , and whose dismal Consequences they do not at all consider : And this is what Men call Pleasures , and the Joys of this World .

With all these miserable Consolations which their Blindness or their Passions procure them , they cease not to be often dejected by Sadness and Melancholy ; because there are infinite of Evils in this Life , which they cannot avoid seeing and feeling ; but there is this difference betwixt their Goods and Evils , that their Goods appear such only by a mistake of their Imagination , and their Evils have commonly more reality than they are aware of .

If this Ignorance wherein they are , of the most part of their Miseries , had no bad Effects , perhaps we should be tempted to look upon it as a kind of Good ; but there lacks a great deal of that coming to pass . This false Idea they have of the Goods and Evils of this life , entertains their affections , nourisheth their passions , and hinders them from thinking of themselves . And thus nothing is of more importance than to be undeceived , and not to palliate the real and effective Miseries of humane life .

It would be an endless discourse to pretend to represent here all these miseries , we must be content to trace out a small pourtraicture of them . We shall chiefly borrow it of St. Austin , who having been much taken up with this Object , has made divers pictures thereof in his works .

He begins it ordinarily with the state of Children ; Behold , saith he , Children , and consider with how many Evils they are overwhelmed . Amongst how many Vanities , Errors , and Frights they are educated . Aug. cont . Julian , l. 4. c . ult . Intuere parvulos quot & quanta mala pati●ntur , in quibus vanitatibus , erroribus , terroribus crescant . Although we may be accustomed to observe their state without horror , as imagining they will come out thereof , however it is such that there is no Man who is discreet and wise who had not rather die than be reduced to this Weakness , Ignorance , and Imbecillity of Mind and Body as is seen in Children . Aug. de Civit . Dei . l. 21. c . 24. Thus we begin our whole life in a state which we judge worse than death , and this so wretched state compleats a great part of this life .

't is true , that Reason unfolding it self by little and little , we forget some of our Childish weaknesses by means of instruction . But that , saith St. Austin , De . Civit Dei . l. 28. c . 12. is not done without a great deal of care and pains . How necessary are threats and chastisements to keep Children within their limits , and to fit them for something that 's useful ? And how seldom it prospers , in regard of the greatest number , notwithstanding all these chastisements ? The torrent of natural corruption carries away the most part of them , and the obscurity and dulness of Mind hinders others from comprehending what we would gladly shew them . 't is a misery to remain in Ignorance and Brutality , which we bring with us from our Birth ; and 't is another misery to free our selves from them by such painful and laborious means .

The only advantage Children have , is , that they are Miserable without knowing it , or without discerning their Evils , if that may be called advantage ; but this is taken away by the encrease of Age , which giving them a more distinct sentiment of their inclinations , renders them also more miserable ; as being always deprived of some part of what they desire .

We would not die , nor have any pain of Body or Mind ; we desire not to be deceived ; Non mori , non offendi , non falli ; yet we are every hour exposed to death , to griefs , and to errors .

Who can , saith St. Austin , I doe not say express , but comprehend all the Miseries whereunto Men are subjct , and which are consequences of their Miserable conditions ? What apprehension and what grief does the death of Neighbours , the loss of Goods , condemnations , treacheries , false suspitions , violences , which we suffer , as Robing , Captivity , Fetters , Imprisonment , Banishment , Tortures , loss of Limbs , Infamies and Brutalities , and a thousand other horrible things , cause in us , which very often happen ? Who can rely upon his innocence to be free from the insults of the Devils , seeing that sometimes they torment Children so cruelly who are newly Baptised ; God , who permits it , teaching us thereby to deplore the misery of this life , and to desire the felicity of the other ? What shall I say of the Sicknesses which are in such great numbers , that even Physical Books cannot contain them all ? And the most part of remedies which are administred to heal and cure them , are so many torments , so that a Man cannot be cured of one grief but by another .

The ordinary state and condition of Mankind is nothing but a continual Sickness , which hath need of remedies , and these remedies are other kind of Diseases , which afterwards we must endeavour to cure . Hunger and Thirst would kill us , if we did not put a stop thereto by nourishments and drinks . We become weary if we stand long , and we are refreshed by sitting down ; but this remedy begins presently to be troublesome to us , and we cannot sit any long time . We are weary with Watching , Standing , Walking , Sitting , Eating , and which way soever we turn our selves to take some rest , we find there weariness and trouble . Quidquid nobis providerimus ad refectionem , illic rursus invenimus defectionem .

't is true , that all these Evils may serve as exercise to Virtue , but if Virtue can make good use of them , and can suffer them , nevertheless it cannot love the Evils it suffers , nor ought not to love them . For that is not the natural state of Man ; 't is a consequence of sin , and as we must desire the destruction of it , we must also wish and desire that of its consequences . 't is a state of War , which permits us to enjoy no Peace : Yet it is just to incline to the first order , and to this peace which sin hath disquieted . The state of War can be neither Natural nor Eternal , for every thing tends to Peace . In a word , it is lawful and conform to the order of God , and his Eternal Law to desire to enjoy it without any trouble or disturbance of Body or Mind , seeing 't is what he has designed Man for , and that he must be Miserable out of this order , in which and for which he hath created him .

CHAP. VI . The Image of Mans inward Miseries in this life .

BUT all outward Evils , whereof Man is continually a mark in this World , compose only a small part of the Miseries of this life . Those which ●●●flict his Mind , ought to have infinitely more power to make him hate it . Al●hough there should be only this horrible uncertainty of the grace or the ●atred of God , doubtfulness of our Salvation or of utter loss , wherein we ●ost absolutely pass this life ; should it ●ot be sufficient to fill it with bitter●●ss ? What Criminal was ever pleased in a Prison , wherein he was confin'd , and there to expect a Sentence which ought to decide either his death or his ●●fe ?

Now if we open our Eyes to see these continual dangers wherein we are of being lost Eternally , the precipices which environ us , the snares which our ways are full of , the malice , force , and the tricks of our Enemies , our weakness and want of light ; must we not be stupified not only to believe our selves happy in this state , but also not to esteem our selves most miserable ?

It is true , that the grace and light of God might be our defence against all these dangers , and a support to our weakness against such terrible Enemies : But alas ! what do we do to deserve it ? What are our Prayers which ought to gain it ? What weight or charge does not the Soul experience , when she would raise her self up to God ? How much doth this mortal and depraved body cause her of trouble and obstacles , which call her to the Earth and withdraw her from God ? What innumerable crouds of Phantomes and Tentations come to molest and disturb her ? and does she not feel in her self as it were a multitude of Worms gnawing her , which spring from the bottom of her corruptions ? Aug. in Ps. 102.

What Misery to be Master neither of Mind nor Body , and to see the one busied with a thousand ridiculous and disorderly thoughts , and the other agitated with an infinite of evil desires and corrupted sentiments , and not able to stop this miserable crowd ! to be obliged to live with this throng of interior Enemies , always at variance with them , and never able to exterminate them !

To cast our selves away , there needs nothing but that we deliver up our selves to them , and that we give over opposing them ; and we cannot warrant our selves , but by continual resisting . It behoves us , saith St. Austin , de Civit . Dei , lib . 22. cap . 23. to watch continually , for fear lest a false appearance deceive us , lest an artificial Discourse surprize us , lest some Error make it self Master of our Minds , lest we take Good for Bad , or Bad for Good , lest Fear dissuade us from doing our Duties , lest Passion precipitate us to do what we should not do , lest the Sun go down upon our Wrath , lest Hatred sway us to render Evil for Good , lest excessive Sadness deject us , lest we be unthankful for a good turn done , lest evil Sayings trouble us , lest we commit rash Judgments , lest those which are made of us do molest us , lest Sin reign in our mortal Bodies , by inclining us to second its desires , lest we make our Members serve as Instruments of Iniquity to Sin , lest the Eyes follow their disorderly Appetites , lest a desire of Revenge oversway and provoke us , lest we fix our Looks and Thoughts upon unlawful Objects , lest we take delight in hearing some injurious or dishonest talk , lest in this War , so painful and so full of dangers , we do promise our selves the victory by our proper forces , or attribute it to our selves , in lieu of attributing it to the favour of him of whom the Apostle saith , Thanks be given to God who gives us victory , through our Lord Jesus Christ .

Who can deny that 't is not a great Misery to be thus devided and torn in our selves , and obliged to this continual combate . The Spirit carries us aloft , says the same St. Austin , the weight of the flesh forceth us downwards . So in these two different strifes , whereof one elevates us , and the other humbles us , there is a continual War in us , and this War is properly the Affliction and Misery of this life . Spiritum rursum vocat , pondus carnis deorsum revocat . Inter duos conatus suspensionis & ponderis colluctatio quaedam est , & ipsa colluctatio pressura nostra est .

Behold the condition of this life , but how troublesom is it ? How many visible and invisible wounds receive we thereby ? How much reason have we to fear the event of it , seeing there needs but one single sight , and one single consent to destroy us ?

Likewise we cannot regard with certainty the favours which we have received of God , and the good works which they have done us . We spoil them , we sully them , and we lose them often , in fixing our Eyes stedfastly thereon , as well as in exposing them to others . And how troublesom soever the Spectacle of these our Evils and Defects may be for us , it is yet less to be feared than that of our good and our virtue .

What if in diverting our Minds a little with our inward Miseries , we pretend to comfort our selves by the commerce of Creatures , and by a prospect of what passeth in the World ? we shall not find therein any thing but occasions of hating this life . For what do we discover therein but interest , injustice , violent passions , oppressions of truth and justice , blindness , errors , preventions , wiles , disguisements , and vanity ? Wherein is reason harkened unto ? Where are Men guided by true interest ?

Not only , as the Prophet saith , there is no truth , mercy , nor knowledge of God upon Earth , that is to say , in the World : But the small number of People who have the Mercy , Truth , and Justice of God in their heart , know not how to practice it in respect of People of the World . We know not how we ought to receive them , nor what we ought to say to them . We must fear angering and hurting them , instead of assisting them , we must likewise fear wanting the Charity which is due to them . This double fear keepeth the Mind in a continual agitation and uncertainty , and what precaution soever we apply , oftentimes we cannot avoid seeing our selves engaged with them in Wicked contestations .

It is a hard thing , Brethren , saith St. Austin , in Joan . tr . 35. to be at quiet with all the World , and to contest with no Man . God calls us to an agreement , he commands us to be peaceable . 't is the mark we ought to aim at , and we ought to use all our indeavours to arrive at perfect peace . Nevertheless it happens often that we fall into dispute with those we would serve . A Man is in an error , you desire to lead him back into the way of life , he resists you with a sharp wit . 't is thus the Pagans and Hereticks resist those who oppose the Errors and Doctrines of the Devil , whereunto they cleave so fast . A bad Catholick will not live well , and you are obliged to reprove him though he be in the bosom of the Church . What troubles have we not to seek out ways to correct him , to be able to give a favourable account of him to a common Master ? How many see we spring thus in all parts from the occasions of contests and disputes ? It happens often then that being cast down with trouble , we say within our selves , What have I to do to suffer so many contradictions on the behalf of those who return me bad for good ? I will procure their happiness , and they will lose themselves . I consume my life in contesting , I have no Peace nor Quiet , I do nothing but procure my self Enemies , of those who should have an affection for me , if they did consider that which I have for them , why do we always continue in these troubles and sufferings ? Were it not better to busie our selves about our own occasions , to rob our selves of all , and to be content in praying to God ? But shut up your self in your self as much as you will , if you have begun to follow God , you will find a contradiction there ; and what contradiction ? The Flesh strives against the Spirit , and the Spirit against the Flesh .

If it be a difficult thing to serve Men , it is no less to defend our selves from them . For there is nothing in the World which may not be contagious , its Maxims , Spirit , Passions are communicated insensibly to those who live therein . We find our selves , without thinking thereof , covered with its dust , and we lose truth in the obscurity it causeth .

The sight of a Person absolutely Worldly imprints I know not what Evils in the Soul of a good Man . For there is as it were a hidden Air in the Minds of all Wicked Men , which communica es it self more insensibly into Souls which have some commerce with them , than the Air of Bodies infected with the Plague doth communicate it self to those who approach it . Letter of M●de S. Ceran . tom . 1. l. 56. See ▪ tom . 2. Letter . 1.

Those who have known the World very well , represent it to us as a great Fire , or rather as a source of Fires made of the tripple concupiscence which reigns there , whose flames spreading themselves over all parts , do devour Souls by the boisterousness of the Fire which issues out . These boisterous storms enter by the Eyes and the Ears into the Substance of the Soul , and makes her lose the life of the Spirit , in leaving her that of the Body , and they enter in divers and sundry manners , according to the ●everal passions they excite in the heart . Sometimes they poison it by a mortal sweetness , sometimes they cast it down by a criminal timidity , sometimes they exasperate it by hatred and wrath . For all is dangerous in the World ; its friendship as well as its hatred , its carresses as well as its persecutions . All this serves to tempt the Soul , and often occasions scandal and a relapse .

If the World wherein the Devil reigns were separated by some sensible marks from that where he reigns not , perhaps we might take some Measures to guide our selves therein surely . But it is not so : All is covered with darkness in this Life : The good and bad are not only mingled , but confounded there : They are only distinguished by the bottom of the Heart , which is not seen , and whereof it is not permitted to judge . Thus by thinking to be united to honest Men , and to find amongst them true Friends , we many times find our selves united to wicked and envious Men , and indeed Enemies .

To become such , they need only discover sharp and wicked Passions against us , it sufficeth that they have Intentions contrary to ours . Who , saith St. Austin , can doubt , but that they are our Enemies , seeing they have a design to render us Companions of their Punishments ? And 't is a great thing , adds he , to be struck every day with their Discourses , and not go aside from the way of God . For the Soul often willing to go to God , is seized with fear , and staggers in the way ; she dares not accomplish her Desires which are good , for fear of shocking those with whom she lives , who love and seek transitory and perishable Goods . Et magnum est inter eorum verba versari quotidie & non excidere de itinere praeceptorum Dei . Sepe enim mens tutens pergere in Deum , concussa in ipso itinere trepidat , & plerumque propterea non implet bonum propositum , ne offendat eos cum quibus vivat , alia bona peritura & transeuntia diligentes .

Nevertheless we must grant , that there is some consolation in the obligation or strict alliance we may have with vertuous Men ; and 't was the only one St. Austin found in this Life . But with how many Bitternesses is this Consolation mingled ? Even when we have the most reason to be satisfied with them , they only then render us most miserable ; all their Evils becoming common to us . So Humane Friendship of it self is only an extension of our Miseries , because we are exposed thereunto not only in our proper Persons , but also in that of our Friends . 't is a multiplication of Fears , Sadnesses , and Melancholy . But what is more troublesom , is , That as those with whom we contract these strict Ties are Men , we are often deceived by them , and we often discover in them afterwards some incommodious Defects , which we scarcely expected . What care soever we apply , not to shock them , we see them oftentimes wax cold towards us upon these Suspicions , these Reports , and these ill-grounded Imaginations . They let themselves be tired sometimes with us , through a pure Inconstancy , or by new Passions wherein they are engaged . If we be reserved towards them , they complhin ; if we be too free , they abuse it . It sufficeth them often to have an aversion for us , to believe that we have no esteem for them . So after a Familiarity of many years , we find our selves many times less united , than if we had never seen them . And there are few Contracts among Men which are not terminated , and which are not reduced at last to meer simple Civilities by this means , without any true Union .

Where can we find Persons who concern themselves seriously about our Salvation ; who insinuate themselves into our Spiritual and Temporal Occasions ; who dream of preventing what may hurt us , and to uphold us in our Weaknesses ? Every one thinks of himself in this World , and is as it were quite separated from others . We see almost no where any true Union ; and we see but too much amongst Christians the accomplishment of the Threat which Jeremiah made to the Jews , c . 9. v. 4. That every brother should set snares for his brother ; and that every friend should use deceit and artifice : Quia omnis frater supplantans supplantabit , & omnis amicus fraudulenter incedit : And that they should render Jerusalem as a heap of sand , Jer . 9.12 . Et dabo Jerusalem in acervos arenae . For the Church indeed is almost composed of nothing but a heap of Sand , that is to say , of dry Members , which are not united together by an interior Union of Gods Spirit , but by an exterior Composition , forming a kind of Society which edifies little , and which is ready to be disunited at every blast of Wind .

What is yet stranger , is , That this disunion hath not only place in the great Society of the Church , because of the Wicked who fill it , but we observe it in almost all particular Societies , and even i● that of the most Religious Men . All there is filled with interior Divisions of Mind and of Sentiments , and exterior Peace is conserved thereby only because every one hides himself , husbands himself , and dissembles his Thoughts from others .

In fine , Although we have found Friends exempt from all faults , we ought always to fear lest they change , saith St. Austin , in Psal . 85. as we ought to fear our selves . Thus as wicked mens malice is a continual cause of grief , the uncertainty of good mens perseverance is a continual cause of unquietness . Who will be astonish'd after that that St. Austin maintains , That pious men are always afflicted in this Life , and that we need only to walk in the way of God to be persecuted ? Ambulet per viam Angustam & incipiat pie vivere in Christo , & necesse est ut persecutionem patiatur ; since that being afflicted as they are with the disorders and scandals of the World , and the instability of good men , these kind of Persecutions can never be wanting to them .

't is true , there are very few who resent these Pains in this nature ; and the Wicked , who make up the greatest number , are no ways moved thereat : But they are so far from being happy thereby , 't is that which on the contrary causes the heighth of their misery . For this insensibility comes from the blindness of the Understanding , and the obdurateness of the Heart . They are all covered with horrible and mortal Wounds ; they are deprived of all true Good ; they are the Object of God's Wrath ; they are the Pastime of the Devils , who domineer over them , who move them , who lead them into Hell , and they neither see nor perceive any thing thereof .

Although they should enjoy with that all Earthly Goods , and be exempt from all Evils of this Life , they should nevertheless be very miserable , and their false Felicity ought to pass for nothing but a true Misery . Falsa foelicitas vera miseria , saith St. Austin , in Psal . 85. But often also they are not temporally happy : God's Justice does not cease to make them feel it , and to trouble their miserable Pleasures . The World hath its Bitternesses for them , as well as for vertuous Men . They are no more exempt from Losses than others , from Maladies , and Sicknesses , and other Accidents , to which Men are exposed ; and they are so much more sensible thereof , by how much more they love the Goods which are forced from them by these Accidents . They are pure Evils for them , as finding nothing in them whereby they can receive any comfort . They can neither go out of themselves , because they find nothing but Afflictions ; nor enter into themselves , because they find nothing that 's Good . Non est quo exeat quia dura sunt , non est quo intret quia mala sunt . Even when they shall not have outwardly any cause of Affliction , their Passions make Troubles arise within them , which permit them not to enjoy any true repose . Thus although it may be generally true of all Men , as well good as bad , that 't is impossible in this Life to be free from Fear , Labour , Grief , and Danger ; this nevertheless is principally true of the Wicked : They are incapable of Rest , of Peace , and Joy ; and their Lives are so much more miserable , and so much more to be complained of , by how much less they know their Miseries , and are concerned for them ; tanto magis flenda , quanto minus fletur .

CHAP. VII . The first manner of conceiving Heavenly Felicity , by the exemption from the Evils of this Life .

THE Prospect we have of the Miseries of this Life , ought not only to free us from and make us hate them ; it ought also to be to us as a Rule to raise us to the knowledge of the Heavenly Life , seeing that the exemption from these Miseries makes up a part of the Happiness which we expect . And therefore the Scripture often represents it to us under this Idea . It makes us consider , that thereby we are delivered from the necessity of Death , and from all occasions of Tears which we have in this World . God , saith Isaiah , cap . 25. v. 8. will destroy death for ever , and our Lord God will dry up the tears of all eyes , and will blot out from the face of the earth the reproach of his People ; for 't is our Lord who hath spoken : It promiseth an absolute deliverance from all our Enemies , that is to say , from the Devils , from the Wicked , from our Passions , and from our Sins . You shall hear speak no more , saith the same Prophet , cap . 60. ver . 8. of violence in your Land , nor of destruction and oppression ; salvation shall environ your walls , and praises shall ring at your doors . It makes us hope for an ex●mption from all Necessities which spring from our Mortality , and which render the Souls dull and heavy . They shall have no more , saith he , hunger nor thirst , heat nor the Sun shall not burn them , because he who is full of mercy for them shall conduct them , and lead them to drink at the fountain head . Your Sun shall set no more , and your Moon shall suffer no more decrease ; because our Lord will be your eternal torch , and the days of your tears shall be finished .

't is upon this Model St. Austin , in divers places of his Works , makes the exemption from Miseries and Necessities of this present Life appear in the pourtraicture of Beatitude , whereof he endeavours to imprint a Love and Desire in Christians . We shall , saith he , de Symb . ad Catech . lib . 2. cap . 22. have no more need of Clothes in this most happy Life , seeing we shall there be clothed with Immortality ; we shall not want Food , seeing our Souls shall there be satisfied with the presence of the Bread of Life , which is descended from Heaven for our Salvation ; we shall have wherewith to quench our thirst , being we shall be neer unto the Fountain of Life . There we shall be free from Heat , because we shall find our Refreshment under the Wings of him who will protect us for all Eternity . There we shall suffer no Cold , being we shall there have a Sun which will warm our Hearts by the heat of his Love . There we shall never be weary , because we shall have him with us who is our Strength . There will be no Traffick , no Slavery , no troublesom nor laborious Works .

Wherefore , saith he , in another place , is Man renewed again ? 't is to desire heavenly and eternal things , and to sigh after this divine Country , where we may enjoy a full Security , where we no more shall lose our Friends , where we shall fear no Enemies , where we shall be filled with holy affections , where we shall be without care for any thing , where no Man is born , because no Man dies there , where goods grow no more , because they receive there no dimunition ; where we have neither hunger nor thirst , but where we shall be filled with immortallity and nourished with truth it self .

After he hath represented in his Sermon upon the 84. Psalm , That there is ●o peace in the World , that we must be there always at strife with the Devils , with our concupiscences , with tentations , with evil thoughts and desires , with hunger and thirst , with weariness and sleep , having shewn that the comforts and miseries which spring from our mortality , will become mortal by their continuation , that to die 't is sufficient continually to eat , to fast , to sit , to walk , to watch , and to sleep ; that so we may not hope for peace , but Death shall be swallowed up by our Victory , which will give us eternal rest , he cries out , O Brethren , we shall be in a certain City , of which I would never cease speaking , principally when scandales are augmented . Who would not wish for this place of peace , from whence no Friend will ever depart , and whereinto no Enemy shall be able to find entrance ; where there be no more tempters , no more seditious Men , nor none who divide the People of God , no more Diabollical Ministers who tire and trouble the Church of God , being that the Prince himself shall have been cast into everlasting Fire , with all those who follow his designs , and are not separated from him ? 't will be then there will be a perfect peace for all Gods Children , because they shall love each other perfectly , seeing themselves replenisht with God : when God shall be all in all , when she shall be the common spectacle , the common possession , the common peace of all his Elect , and that he himself shall be all things to us .

't is through the difference there is ●etwixt an Earthly and Heavenly life , that he delivers this in another place of the same work . In Ps. 49. We do , saith he , good Works in this life , in giving Bread to those who want , receiving Strangers into our Houses , &c. but all that , is it not mingled with misery and affliction ? For we cannot practice mercy , if there be no miserable People ; then seeing there must be miserable People to exercise it , is it not a quite contrary happiness to be in a place , where none needs assistance , because none have need of nourishment ? where there are no Strangers to be lodged in their Houses , no Naked to Cloath , no Sick to visit , no Quarrels to compose ? where all is perfect , all in health , all is true , all eternal ? where Justice will be our bread , Wisdom our drink , Immortallity our cloathing ? where we shall have Heaven for our eternal House ? where weariness shall not make us yield to sleep ? where there will be no more death , no more divisions , but where we shall enjoy everlasting peace and quiet , and joy and justice ?

This makes him conclude , That there is nothing but Poverty in this World , Sickness , Infirmities , Weakness , Imperfection , Necessity , and that true Health and perfect Justice are only in Heaven .

In this holy City , there will be true riches , because there we shall want nothing , and effectively we shall need nothlng . There we shall have perfect health , because death shall be destroyed there , and this Corruptible body shall be cloathed again with Incorruptibility . There we shall have true justice , because there we cannot do any bad or Wicked action , and we shall be also uncapable of having any evil thoughts . Aug. in Ps. 122.

If the Saints proposed to themselves these objects without fear of altering the purity of their love ; who ought to scruple proposing them to themselves ? and who ought not to acknowledge that 't is a great fault to be so little entertained with these thoughts , and to sigh so little after this happy state , so different from ours , where we shall enjoy an unalterable peace , no Enemies to contend with ; where we shall be troubled no more with either inward or outward temptation ; where the Body shall contend no more against the Spirit ; the Soul shall be no more pressed down by the weight and the inclinations of the flesh ; the Spirit no more troubled nor busied with cares , inquietudes , or with vain and unprofitable thoughts ; the Heart shall be ●o more separated and torn by so many different desires ; where there shall be no more scandals , infidelities , artifices , suspicions ; where we shall no more see things in this thick cloud , which discovers only to us as it were a confused shadow of truth ; and lastly , where God shall reign absolutely over us , and shall be the perpetual object of our knowledge and love ?

CHAP. VIII . That we ought not to form to our selves the Idea of a Carnal Beatitude .

ALthough the holy Fathers have approved that Christians should comprehend the deliverance from the Evils of this present life by the Soveraign happiness which is promised us in Heaven , and that they themselves have given us the example to desire this perfect peace , which shall not be troubled with any disquiet , nor any grief , and which shall place the Soul in a full and entire joy ; yet they have found that we may abuse these words , and take occasion from thence to frame an Idea of a felicity quite carnal , by not proposing to our selves other Goods in the other life , than those we may enjoy in this , as riches , honours , Magnificent shews , quietness of the Mind , and lastly , pleasures which spring from self-love .

Therefore they have had a care to destroy these false Ideas , to enable us to form true ones .

Worldly Men , saith St. Austin , in Ps. 86. are all transported by their pleasures and divertisements . Nevertheless our Lord God let s us know that the Wicked are incapable of joy . 't is because there is another pleasure and another joy , which the Eye hath not seen , which the Ear has not heard , and which the Wit of Man can never conceive . 't is the joy of those who dwell with thee , O my God . Let us prepare our selves for this joy , of which we may find some footsteps in the World , but which are far short of truth . Let us be very careful not to propose to our selves pleasures like to those we taste upon Earth ; otherwise all the mitigation whereby we abstain from Worldly pleasures , would only be a kind of avarice . There are some Persons who fast only to prepare themselves for better chear . Fasting is a great thing , the intention of it is to moderate concupiscence ; and yet sometimes we make use of it to satisfie our inordinate desires . If you believe then , Brethren , that in this Country , whereunto we are called by the Heavenly Trumpet we ought to have pleasures like those of this World , and that now we abstain from them only to enjoy them more plentifully in the other life , you resemble those who fast to dispose themselves for a great feast , and who are temperate through a greater intemperance . Banish from your thoughts these base and carnal imaginations , prepare your self for some ineffable thing , purifie your heart from all terrestrial and secular affections . We shall see an object which will render us happy , and this single object will suffice us .

We shall be replenisht with the Goods of your House , saith he , in another place , In Ps. 64. But what are the goods of this House ? shall we imagine , Brethren , a magnificent Palace , filled with all sorts of riches , Gold and Silver Vessels , Officers , Horses , and shall we fancy to our selves Pictures , Marble , Wainscoting , Columns , and rich Appartments ? There are some who love these things , but these things belong to Babylon . Lop off all these desires , O ye Citizens of Jerusalem , and if you will return to your Country , do not place your joy in your Banishment and Exile , covet the House of God , covet the Goods of this House , but do not covet the like to those which you might have seen and which you may desire to have for your House here upon Earth , either for your Neighbour , or for your Friend . The Goods of the House of God are not of this Nature . We shall be replenisht , saith the Prophet , with the Goods of your House , your Temple is Holy , it is wonderful in Justice . Behold the Goods of this House ! He does not say that this Temple is admirable in Columns , in Marble , in Wainscoting ; but that 't is admirable in Justice . You have exteriour Eyes to see Gold and Marble , but the Eye by which we see Beauty and Justice is interior .

We must not therefore deceive our selves , nor stretch forth concupiscence ●ven to Heaven , by desiring there the ●●joyment of it . God will only be the portion of his Elect . He alone will compleat their felicity . Their only joy shall be to see him , love him , to be subject to him , to see him rule over them , and to have nothing in them opposite to his Justice . See here what the ground of their happiness will be , they will not consider all the rest , but in relation to this essential good .

CHAP. IX . A larger explication of the Essential Beatitude of the Saints .

't is a very strange thing that we must be obliged to prove to Men that the sight and love of God are capable to make them happy . For 't is like proving to them that the light is able to illuminate them ; since that God being essentially the Soveraign good , produceth also by his possession necessarily perfect happiness , as light necessarily chaseth away darkness . However , it is true , that although Christians have no need of reasons and proofs , to believe in general that ●heir happiness consists in seeing and loving God , they have need thereof to be made concerned for this truth . The lively Idea they have of sensual pleasures , makes them be but little sensible of Spiritual ones ; they are troubled to conceive how we may be happy by a sight and love which shall have nothing that 's sensible .

't is then necessary to assist them in this point , to guide them as it were by degrees to the knowledge of true felicity , and see here how St. Austin does it ordinarily . There are very few amongst those who have any love for piety , who may not sometimes be touched with sensible affection for persons in whom they have seen great and eminent virtues : And as it is not the shape of these Persons they love , nor their natural Wit , it is evident that what they like in them , is the excellency of their Justice and Charity , and Virtue If Justice , saith St. Austin , in Ps. 64. had no beauty , how could a just and virtuous old Man be beloved ? What presents he to our Eyes that can be pleasing ? Crooked members , a Wrinkled Forehead , an universal weakness ? But perhaps being uncapable to please the Eyes , he has wherewith to satisfy the Ears . By what words , by what charm is he able to do it ? Although he might have had a voice in his younger days , Age may have robed him of it ; scarcely can he be heard , so that he is far from being able to please in speaking . Nevertheless if this old Man be just , if he do not desire other mens Goods , if he give wise counsel , if he have a right judgment of things , and if he be ready to deliver his body broken as it is , for the truth , as many Martyrs have done in this age , we cease not to love him ; and as we shall discover in him nothing that 's Beautiful to the Eyes of the flesh , we ought to conclude from thence , that there is a certain Beauty of Justice , which is seen with the Eyes of the heart , and which Men have very much loved in the Martyrs , even when their members were rent in pieces by Wild Beasts ; when they were covered all over with Blood ; when their Entrails were torne by the teeth of Mad Beasts , Eyes saw nothing which did not give them horror . What then was it which made these Martyrs loved in this state , if it were not the beauty of Justice which remain'd entire in those mangled Members ?

Now if Justice may be beloved , there may be joy in the contemplation of it . Because there is a pleasure in seeing and knowing what we love ; and there is so much more thereof , by how much the love is greater , and the knowledge more clear . If the contemplation of Justice do not touch us very sensibly in this life , 't is because we know it not well , and love it but weakly . But yet it is easie to comprehend that by augmenting this love and this knowledge , the pleasure of the Soul ought to encrease proportionably .

Now 't is what properly happens in the other life . We shall there see Justice it self , not in troubled rivolets , and disfigured Images , but in its own source . It will manifest it self to us in all its beauty , in all its Grandeur , and in all its Majesty .

And as this Justice is God it self , this prospect will excite transports and ravishments of love and joy , so lively and ardent , that no Human capacity can be ●ble to comprehend the impetuosity and the violence of it . But what we may comprehend , is , that their enjoyment of this love , which is in the possession of its Object , ought to produce by necessity an ineffable joy and pleasure in the Soul , or rather it is it self this joy and pleasure , being that joy is nothing but a love enjoying what it loves .

By this 't is also evident , that the love of God which shall cause the felicity of the Saints , shall have nothing of mercenary nor interested , but shall be perfectly cleansed from all mixture of self-love ; for this love being the love of Justice , it does not relate God to Man , but Man to God . The Spirit of the happy will be quite struck through with the infinite excellency and greatness of God , and the meanness and the wretchedness of creatures , with the Justice of the right God hath over them , which obliges them to relate all their being and all their actions to his glory , with the dismal unjustice of a creature who substracts himself from his order , who withdraws him self from his dependance , and w●o makes himself his own destruction . And these lights wherewith they shall all be filled , being joyned to the ardent love of this Justice which prescribes them these duties , will incline them to annihilate themselves continually before the Majesty of God , and to prefer him before themselves through an eternal love , as St. Austin says . They shall place their happiness in a condescending to his will , and they shall be by this means uncapable of the least seeking of self-interest .

But in not seeking themselves at all , they shall not be less happy . Gods greatness , glory , and his felicity will cause their joy , and God communicating himself to them with an ineffable effusion , shall unite them so strictly to his Being , that they shall be as it were plunged in him , and they shall participate of his greatness and of his felicity .

Mens Minds are feeble in this Life to comprehend the Joy which the possession of God will produce in the happy Souls . Therefore St. Paul expresses it no otherwise than by saying , The eye hath not seen , nor the ear hath not heard , what God has provided for those who love him , 1 Cor . 2.9 . We can only judge that it shall be something inconceivable , seeing 't will be the effect of God's Magnificence , and the accomplishment of his eternal Love for his Elect .

Nevertheless , to form some Idea thereof , it is good to conduct the Understanding through these Degrees . Although we see Creatures only in company and separately , and that the knowledge we have of them be extremely limited ; yet it cannot be denied but that there is some pleasure in contemplating Beauty .

This pleasure would be greater , if our Minds becoming larger could conceive many of them together .

What would it be then , if it were able to comprehend them all at a time , and contemplate the marvelous relations they have together to frame the beauty of the whole Universe ?

It seems that this spectacle might be capable to satisfie and fill Mans Mind , and yet 't is nothing in comparison of that which the happy Souls enjoy . They see all creatures in God , but moreover they see the God of all creatures , and this sight makes all Creatures appear to them but as nothing , and that they disappear presently , so much they are filled with the greatness and the excellency of their Creator .

Saint Austin hath not disdained to make use of these degrees , to raise us to the knowledge of a Soveraign good . Consider , saith he , In Ps. 84. That all you see that 's faire and excellent in the World , all therein that draws your hearts , is nothing but the handiwork of God ; now if these things have so much beauty , what ought we to judge of God ? If there be so much greatness in his works , what is the greatness he possesseth in himself ? Si haec pulchra sunt , quid est ipse ? Si haec magna sunt , quantus est ipse ?

If you find so many pleasures , saith he , in another place , in Ps. 26. in what you call wealth , in that wealth , say I , which of it self is no wealth , because it is moveable , and nothing that 's moveable can be wealth of it self ; what then will be the pleasure in the contemplation of unchangeable and eternal wealth , which remains always in the same state ; seeing all things which you call wealth , cannot please you , if it be not wealth , and it cannot be wealth except it be borrowed from the bounty of him who is it of hims●lf ?

If all creatures be in respect of God , but as a drop of Water is to the main Ocean , what can all the consolations be which Creatures are able to give us , but a small share or part of this drop , which entring into the heart of Man , leaves him as small as he was before ? But when God shall enter in the same manner as he shall enter by glory , 't is an impetuous River , 't is a torrent of delights , according to the Scripture . It enlargeth and dilateth Mans heart . It extends and raiseth it infinitely beyond the boundaries of its nature , that it may receive this abundance of joy , wherewith it will take pleasure to inebriate it , as the Prophet speaks ; In●briabuntur ab ubertate Domus tuae .

The possession of God will replenish in such a manner all the necessities and and all the desires of the Soul , that all her capacity of loving , desiring , and enjoying , will be absolutely drained , and she will be unfit to desire and to love any thing without God , because she will find there all , and God will be all things to her . Gold , saith St. Austin , In Ps. 33. is not the same here as Silver , nor Wine the same as Bread , Light is not Drink : But God is all to those who possess him . He will be our Food , by warranting us from Hunger ; our Drink , in satisfying our Thirst ; our Light , in enlightening our Darkness ; our support , in preserving us from becoming Weak . He will possess us absolutely , in giving himself to us . We shall not do one another wrong by possessing him . Every one shall possess him thus entirely , but he shall not hinder another likewise from possessing him , because we shall all be but as one , and God shall possess us all in unity and totally .

But what Idea soever may be formed of this Soveraign happiness by the means of these Images , it must be allowed that all is nothing , and even that the Soul is not capable in this life neither to conceive it , nor to undergo it . For it must needs be , that God to render her susceptible of these divine communications , and of this torrent of delights he reserves for her , raise her to another state , and render her resembling him , in a manner so divine , that St. Austin is not affraid to say , that when this ineffable joy shall be acknowledged by us , humane understanding shall perish , and become divine : In Ps. 35. Cum accepta fuerit ista ineffablis Laetitia , perit quodammodo Mens Humana , & fit divina . St. Gregory of Nazianze , In Or. 15. P. 302. saith , That the Trininy , disperseth it self into all our Souls , {αβγδ} . And he expresseth in many places the state of the Blessed , by that of being made divine .

If we could have any knowledge thereof , it should be by those to whom God hath given sometimes even in this life some drops of this divine Water , wherewith he will inebriate the Saints in Heaven : And those who have made this happy tryal , do all declare , that all the joys of this World are nothing in comparison of those which he will cause Souls to feel in those happy moments . 't is but reading what St. Teresa , St. Bernard , St. Austin , and all those whom we have no reason to suspect , would distribute unto us , imaginations and dreams ; or rather , we need but read what the Evangelist saith thereof , when relating to us that light spark of Glory which Jesus Christ shewed to his Disciples upon mount Tabor , he represents them as out of themselves , and transported with what they saw .

Notwithstanding , if Humane joys be nothing in comparison of those which God gives to his Saints yet living , it is certain also , that all the joys of living Saints are yet nothing in comparison of those of the other life . It is always true to say , that we know not God here but as through a Glass and by an Enigm . Videmus per speculum & in Enigmate . But we do not see him openly ; and by the means of these Divine Tasts , all these Celestial joys that these Saints , Men and Women , have experienced , are only some drops of this Ocean whereinto the Blessed are plunged , little rays of this immense light which illuminates them , and light sparks of this great fire of love which inflames them .

CHAP. X. Of the eternal Employment of the Blessed .

AS Mens Pleasure consists here below in a variety of Action , and all long Employments tire their Spirits as well as their Bodies ; they are troubled at first to comprehend what is said concerning the Lives of the Blessed , that it will not have that vicissitude of Actions wherewith that of Men is divertised upon Earth : and the Fathers , who humble themselves sometimes even to di●… erse the most frivolous doubts , have ●… t been unmindful of this . St. Austin ●… reats thereof in divers places , and is always careful in giving us a true Idea ●f the eternal Employ of the Blessed , to go beyond these mean and humane Thoughts .

He does it sometimes more obscurely , as at the end of one of his Sermons de Temp . Ser . 153. where he speaks thereof in these Terms . When we shall be in the House of God , which is in Heaven , we shall not onely praise God during the fifty days of the Resurrection ; we shall have no ●ther Employ there for all Eternity : We shall see him , we shall love him , and we shall praise him : what we shall see will never lessen in our eyes : what we shall love will never perish : and what we shall praise shall never cease to deserve our praises . All will be eternal , and without end , in that Life .

These Words make us see at the same time , that a heavenly Life can never change , and why it is incapable thereof . It is impossible to see God , and not to love him ; nor to love him perfectly , without seeing him . So the Sight of God necessarily produceth Love , and Love Praises ; and all these Actions shall never end , because what inclines us to alter and change our Actions in this Life , shall not be found in the other .

We cease beholding certain Objects with pleasure , and we are inclined to change them , because we find therein some faults ; and all that is in the World being limited , we desire to see something more . It 's then the fault of the Objects which makes us weary of them . Now this never happens in seeing God : For we never observe there any Defects , nor any Limits ; so that we are never weary . Quid videbimus non deficiet . And as we are never weary of seeing him , and as he is always present with the Soul , she cannot cease to love him , nor consequently to praise him : 't is what this holy Doctor expresses in another place , in these Terms : Happy , saith he , are those who shall dwell in thy House . Beati quia habitant in domo tuae Domine . But what shall they do there ? They shall praise you , adds the Prophet , world without end . Thus all their whole Life shall be nothing but a continual praising of God , and an eternal Alleluia . And do not think , Brethren , they can find any disgust in this only Occupation , because you cannot praise God any long time : There are on the one side Necessities of Life which dissuade you ; and on the other , not seeing God , you are not so sensibly touched . If we could cease loving God in the other Life , we should also cease praising him : But Love being eternal , because we can never be filled with seeing the Beauty of God , do not fear ever ceasing to praise whom you cannot cease to love . Si deficias ab amore deficies a laude : si autem amor sempiternus erit , quia illa insatiabilis pulchritudo est , noli timere ne non possis semper laudare , quem semper poteris amare . August . in Psal . 81.

Therefore to express the Peace , Tranquillity , and Repose which shall accompany this eternal Action of the Blessed , he says in another place , That the business of Loving God will be the only Employ of those who shall have no other ; the only Labour of those who shall be delivered from all Labour ; the only Action of those who shall enjoy a perfect Repose ; and the only Care of those who shall be free from all sorts of Care and Inquietudes . Erit hoc otiosoram negotium , hoc opus vacantium ; haec actio quietorum , hae cura securorum . Aug. in Psal . 110.

But what shall be the cause of all these eternal Praises ? This is not hard to be understod . They shall praise God for what they shall see in him , for what shall ravish them , and for what shall fill them with Joy and Admiration : For their Praises shall be nothing but the effusion of their Transport and Raptures . They shall praise him for what he is , for his infinite Greatness , his Holiness , his Mercy , his Justice , and his Omnipotency . They shall praise him because of the Miracles he hath operated . They shall praise him for the Favours which he hath done them , for the Mercies he hath exercised upon them , and all his Elect . Each Elect shall praise for himself , and for all others . They shall joyn all together to sing for ever God's Mercies towards them , Misericordias Domini in aeternum cantabo . Lastly , They shall sacrifice continually in their Hearts as it were Holocausts of Charity ; and Jesus Christ joyning his to that of theirs , shall offer them without intermission as a Sacrifice of Love to his Father . Tota ista redempta civitas , hoc est congregatio societasque Sanctorum universale Sacrificium offertur Deo per Sacerdotem Magnum qui etiam seipsum obtulit pro nobis , ut tanti capitis corpus essemus . Aug. de Civ . Dei , l. 10. c . 6.

This is the Idea which ought to be formed concerning the Occupation of the Blessed ; and though we be far from comprehending this State , and this Life , yet we may easily comprehend , that they cannot be tired with so holy an Employment ; because we change Actions only to find out others than those we have , and thus the alteration can only be convenient for those who aim at Felicity , and not for those who possess it .

CHAP. XI . Of the Peace of a Heavenly Life .

WE have already given cause , by several things which we have said , to consider in the Lives of the Blessed a Sovereign Peace . But the Peace they enjoy is so great a Good , that it ought to be particularly considered ; and this Object is so capable of drawing our Hearts , that 't is just to represent it apart from the rest , to the end it may work a great Impression .

We see also , that 't is under this Idea that St. Austin represented generally Beatitude ; and likewise he inspired such a Love into his People of this heavenly Peace , that they could not forbear at the very name of Peace to make a shew of their Transport , by Acclamations which broke off the Discourse of those who spake to them . 't is what St. Austin observes himself with comfort , in the Sermon he made on the Psalm Lauda Jerusalem , Psal . 147. For having pronounced these Words , Qui posuit fines tuos pacem , he was interrupted by a noise of Acclamations ; whereupon he spake to them in this manner : T is a great comfort to me , Brethren , that the love of Peace can make you send forth these Acclamations from the very bottom of your Hearts . You have been surprized with a sudden and prompt Joy , I had as yet explicated nothing , but only pronounced the Verse of the Psalm , and behold you already transported . What is 't that forceth these Cries from you ? The Beauty of Peace hath shewn in your Souls , and struck your Hearts . There is no more need of my speaking , nor enlarging on these Praises ; the motions of your Hearts have prevented my Words . Let us put off the Praises of Peace , to the Habitation of Peace . 't is there we shall praise it fully , because we shall possess it perfectly . If we love it already with so much fervency , having only an imperfect Idea thereof , how shall we love it when we shall possess it in its perfection ? I will only tell you then , Beloved Children , O Children of the Kingdom of Heaven , O Citizens of Jerusalem , That the Word Jerusalem signifies , that we shall see Peace there .

This Idea was so familiar to him , that in another place he reduceth thereunto all Beauty . What , saith he , in Psal . 36. will be the Pleasures we shall expect ? They shall be accumulated with an abundance of Joy , answers the Prophet . Our Gold shall be the Peace ; our Silver shall be the Peace ; our Lands shall be the Peace ; our God shall be our Peace : This Peace shall be all things to us . And this Peace is God himself , as is said in the sequel .

But to lay open what as yet we see only confusedly in these general Terms , we must consider with St. Austin , de Civit . Dei , l. 19. c . 12. That as there is no man who desires not Joy , likewise there is none who wisheth not for Peace ; and that even those who make War with themselves , do it only to overcome , and by consequence only to arrive at Peace .

He saith also , Those who break the Peace , do not break it because they hate it , but to procure another according to their Fancies . Thieves and Robbers conserve Peace with their Companions , to the end they may disturb it Scot-free amongst others . All the World desires to live in Peace , with their Wives , Children , and Families : And even the severity which is used against those who disturb it , hath no other end but to maintain it . This desire of Peace is found amongst the Wicked , as well as amongst the Good . For they would have all things to ply and yield to them , that nothing resist them , which is a kind of Peace ; and at the same time that they break it with God , by revolting against him , they desire it in their Souls and Bodies , but cannot have it .

Now although this holy Doctor distinguishes afrerwards divers sorts of Peace , of the Body , of the sensitive Soul , and of the reasonable Soul , of the Soul and of the Body , and of the Soul with God , of Men amongst themselves , of a Town , of a State , of the Heavenly Jerusalem ; yet it is visible that the Celestial peace consists in being in a state where our desires may be fully satisfied , where nothing may be that may resist our wills , because all resistance and all oppositions to our desires do disturb and trouble the peace and tranquillity of the Soul .

If the wills of Wicked Men could be fully satisfied , they would enjoy Peace ; but this cannot be . For , besides desiring to be happy without God , is to desire an impossibility , moreover , Gods Justice opposes the accomplisment of their desires . They desire pleasure , and Gods Justice overwhelms them with griefs . They covet honours , and this Justice heaps infamies upon them : They are ambitious to have all subject to to them , and Justice makes all Creatures revolt against them , as a punishment for their disobedience .

The Stoicks bethought themselves of an ingenious means to compass Peace , if it could have been possible for Men , i.e. to desire nothing not in their power : And by this means Mans desires would have been fully satisfied , seeing they would have asked nothing but what they should be able to give themselves .

But they were not careful to consider that the Soul it not Mistriss of her desires : That there are some Natural ones which she cannot stifle : That she cannot but wish not to be deceived , not to suffer any harm , and not to die ; Non falli , non offendi , non mori : That she is made to love : That not finding in her felf a perfect good , she must seek it out of her self , and that 't is impossible that desiring this Good , she can be in Peace whilst she does not possess it , being her will is not satisfied , saith St. Austin , in Epist. 25. Ubi pax , ibi requies , ubi requies , ibi finis appetendorum . And consequently , not possessing what we wish as our end , there is no rest ; and where there is no rest , there is no Peace .

Thus the Stoicks Doctrine , which was the ground of all their Philosophy , was really but a thought without any solidity , and is not the thing wherein the Peace of the Blessed consists . They are not exempt from desires inseparable from Mans nature , but they are absolutely from all irregular and illegitimate desires : so God accomplishing all their just desires , they have none at all which are not absolutely satisfied : So that since the beginning of their happiness , even to eternity , they shall not know any contradiction , not any opposition , neither within nor without them , and this shall be their Peace .

They shall desire to be absolute Masters of their bodies , and that it may cause no harm to the Soul ; and God will grant them this request so amply , that they shall have nothing to do but to wish themselves in a place , to be there , as St. Austin saith , De Civit . Dei . l. 22. c . 30. Ubi volet Spiritus , ibi protinus erit Corpus .

They shall desire not to be deceived , and they shall have a clear knowledge of all things , without error , labour or difficulty , because they shall drink Wisdom even at the Fountain head . Rerum ibi omnium tam speciosa quam certa scientia , sine errore aliquo vel labore , ubi Dei sapientia de ipso suo fonte potabitur . Aug. de Civit . Dei . l. 21. c . 24.

They shall desire they may no● die , and they shall have an entire assurance of their Etermal happiness .

They shall desire perfect Justice , and they shall be so perfectly satisfied , that St. Austin saith , in comparison of this spring abounding with Justice , wherewith they shall be filled , all that we can have in this life will be in lieu thereof but as a drop of Dew given us to asswage the miseries of this life , and to thaw the Ice of iniquity . In Ps. 122. Quantumcunque justitiae in nobis fuerit ros est nescio quis ad illum Fontem , ad illam Saginam stillicidia quaedam sunt , quis vitam nostram molliant , & duram iniquitatem solvant .

They shall all be equally fill'd therewith , by the exclusion from all injustice , and all stain , all self-love , which will be incompatible with Beatitude , and would change Heaven into Hell .

It is true , they will not all be enriched alike with the gifts of God , and there will be among them several measures of Charity and Light , which will cause diversitie of dwellings in the Heavenly Jerusalem ; but each one , saith St. Austin , shall be perfectly content with his share , and shall not bear malice to those who shall have a greater abundance , because the unity of Charity will reign in them . Non erit invidia ●●paris Charitatis , quoniam regnabit in om●… ibus unitas Charitatis . Aug. Tract . 67. ●… n Joan .

't is yet , saith he else where , De Civit . Dei . l. 22. c . 30 one of the great ●●ods of this City , that they do not bear ma●●ce to those whom they see above them ; and we shall wish also as little to possess that we shall not have received , although ●e may be perfectly united to him who ●hall receive it , as the finger desires not to be the Eye , though the finger and the eye do enter into the structure of the same body . Every one will so possess there his share , one more , the other less , that he shall have the gift of not desiring more than what he ●hall have received .

This inequality of gifts shall not at all trouble the Peace of this Heavenly Jerusalem , nor shall it be altered by the consideration the just shall have thereof , the punishment of the Wicked , nor likewise by that of the digressions and of the sins of our former lives . They shall not see in all that , any thing but occasions of praising Gods Justice and Mercy eternally . They shall approve all his actions , both as to themselves and others , and joyning perfectly their wills to his , nothing will be opposite to their Wills , as nothing is opposite to Will of God .

CHAP. XII . Of the Unity of the Blessed .

DAvid does not only invite us to contemplate the Heavenly Jerusalem , but he proposeth to us moreover , as a motive the most capable to incline us thereunto , the Divine union of her Inhabitants : Jerusalem , saith he , which is built like a Town , whose Inhabitants are united together . Jerusalem quae aedificatur ut civitas , cujus participatis ejus in idipsum .

Indeed there is hardly any Object more sweet and comfortable , than this Union of the Society of the Elect . But yet to comprehend it better , we must extend our minds through all the Degrees of Disunion and Union which can be observed among intelligible Creatures .

Sovereign Disunion is found in the Society of the Wicked , whether Men or Devils : for it is exteriour and interiour , both together . Each Reprobate , as we have already said , is an Enemy to all the rest ; he hates them all , and is ●ated of all ; he knows their Hatred , and his is known to them . Therefore if there be any Society in them , 't is but a Society of Place and Torments , a Society the effect whereof is only to afflict one another , and reciprocally to contribute to each others Misery .

What comes nearest this horrible Disunion , is that which is found amongst Men , where the Devil reigns , and in the Kingdom of Concupiscence : For , besides the outward Wars and Divisions this Disunion produceth in many , they are all inwardly divided , as all seeking their own proper Interest .

Corrupt Man loves nothing but himself , and can love nothing but in relation to himself : so that when he finds not this relation , he ceases loving , and begins to hate . Therefore if he have not an actual hatred against all others , yet he has the Principle thereof . 't is but presenting him the Object , in shewing him that some one is contrary to his Designs , to his Desires , and to his proper Interests , to incline him to hate it actually .

But as this Hatred which Worldly Men have for others , is often included in its Principle ; and moreover as they do not know the Heart and Thoughts of one another , they sometimes think they are loved , or at least are not hated by other Men . Thus their interiour Disunion , although real , remains yet concealed under the appearances of exteriour Union , to which they are obliged by the several Necessities which render them depending on one another .

From this miserable Union we may proceed to an Union which may be stiled happy , but impossible : It 's that which is amongst the true Christians , who have the Holy Ghost in their Hearts : For it cannot be denied but that they are united , seeing they are animated by the same Spirit ; and this Spirit making them love God , makes them also love one another , God residing by his Grace in the Just . They assist one another by the mutual help of their Prayers ; and they all participate , in some sort , of the Goods and Evils of each other .

But although this Union may be the greatest Good belonging to Man in this Life , yet he must acknowledge that it is very defective , and mingled with a great quantity of Miseries .

For , in the first place , true Christians generally do not know one the other ; so they cannot tell that they are united , and they enjoy not the good of their Union . The number of true Christians which every man knows , is always very small , and we are not always outwardly very much united with those we know . The variety of Understandings , Prospects , and Humours , oftentimes produceth among pious Persons a kind of exteriour disunion , and the most strict Amities are subject to wax cold , and to be changed and altered by false Reports , Suspicions , and rash Judgment . When we shall have freed all these Faults from the Ties and Obligations we may have to vertuous Men in this World , there rest two which are inseparable from them in this Life ; the one , that we know not evidently the bottom of any Mans Heart ; the other , that we cannot be assured of a Perseverance in Amity with whomsoever it may be , no more than in other Virtues .

For 't is by the retrenchment of all these Defects , that we must conceive the Perfection of the Unity of the Blessed . They shall not only be all united inwardly and outwardly , but this Unity shall not be unknown to them . The Hearts of all the Citizens of this City of Peace shall be discovered to every of them . They shall not see in any of these Inhabitants any diversity in Opinions , Desires , or Intentions . They shall all love one another , and they shall all know they are loved by them ; they shall never fear that this Love can ever alter by any coldness .

In fine , All that the mind of Man hath possibly been able to invent , to form a perfect Idea of Friendship , is found there in a manner infinitely raised above all they have said thereof : For they have been very far from conceiving this mutual penetration of Minds and Hearts , this Unity of Lights and Desires , and this incredible ardour of Love which is found in Heaven .

Now if the greatest of all earthly Goods be to love a small number of People , and to know that one is loved , and even to open ones Heart to others with an entire confidence ; what Joy ought this perfect Union which it hath with all others , to produce in the Hearts of all the Elect ? To see in them the ardent Sentiments of Charity which they have for it , and to know also that they see theirs ; to love them perfectly , and to see them perfectly happy ? May not it truly be said , That they all enjoy thus a multiplied and redoubled Felicity , by that of others ; and that each Elect shall not only be happy in his proper Person , but in the Persons of others , being he shall look upon their Happiness as his own ?

What Joy to be united to so many Saints , of whom we hear spoken in the Church-Books ? to know the ways by which God hath conducted them to the Happiness they possess , and all the motions which he has formed in their Hearts ? to know all that 's passed betwixt God and them , and what remains unknown to Men ? to know entirely this innumerable Multitude , whereof we know so little ? to penetrate into the Hearts of the Patriarchs , Prophets , the Blessed Virgin , the Apostles , and all the Saints both known and unknown ? to know not only the History of the whole Celestial Jerusalem , which compriseth the whole Conduct of God upon the Elect , but to know it by themselves , and by the manifestation of their Hearts ? to see the End , the Progress , and the Accomplishment of all things , and in what manner all things have been made only for the Elect ? O History which only deserves to be the Object of Christians Curiosity , and which ought to blot out in them all other Curiosity ! O happy History , which only regards the happy , and whose knowledge renders us happy !

CHAP. XIII . Of the Dominion of the Blessed .

THere is no doubt to be made but the Blessed do all possess a Dominion or Authority , seeing that Jesus Christ himself declared them Kings , in his Judgment , when he said to them , Come , the well-beloved of my Father , possess the kingdom prepared for you from the beginning of the world . 't is also in consideration of this Supreme Honour whereunto they ought to be raised , that David cried out , How great , O Lord , is the glory wherewith you have honoured your friends ? How strongly is their Principality established ? Nimis honorificati sunt amici tui Deus , nimis confortatus est principatus eorum . Psal . 139.

How should not they be Kings in the other Life , seeing they are so in this , and St. Peter calls them , even in this World , Regal Priesthood , Regale Sacerdotium ? How should they not be so , seeing they are Coheirs , Brethren , and Members of Jesus Christ , to whom his Father hath made all things subject ? Subjecit es omnia , as St. Paul saith ; and they are associated to his Inheritance , to his Body , and by consequence to his Dominion ?

To know its Greatness , we need only compare it with that of Earthly Kings , and so consider the difference .

What we observe in the Power of Earthly Kings , is , That 't is terminated by their Deaths ; and so being annexed to their Lives , becomes as vain and as unsolid as Mens Lives .

Likewise they do not possess it all the time they have the Title : For what is the Sovereignty of a King who sleeps ? And who can believe , that a King who shall always have been asleep , had truly been King ? They are not then Kings effectively , when they do enjoy Sovereignty , and act not like Kings . Now how much time is there in the Lives of Kings , wherein they do not think of their Royalty , and act nothing but mean Functions ? But even when they think thereon the most , and would enjoy it the most , their Royalty does it exempt them from the miseries of this life and the infirmities of Nature ? Do not trouble and vexation go about to attaque and seise them even upon the Throne ? and do not they force them to forsake their Royal Imployments , to bring them down to very common Actions ? There must be small amusements which hinder them from thinking of them , to help them to bear the weight of this Crown , which they cannot maintain ▪ and with all these miserable Comforts , there are some who have not stuck to believe , that 't is more advantagious to free themselves absolutely thereof . If this resolution be rare , 't is perchance because 't is rare for Men to follow Reason . For who can recount the troubles and pains that those have , who appear the most happy , by maintaining their authority and power ? how many supports and helps stand they in need of ? how many Persons do they depend on ? So that it may very well be said , Dominion is never bought but at the price of an infinity of Slavery , that there are no People more tormented and less at liberty than Princes . We obey Caesar , saith Cicero , and Caesar is obedient to time . So as we cannot know whereunto he will oblige us , he knows not himself what the conjunctures of time will oblige him to . Nos illi servimus , ille temporibus . Ita nec ille quid tempora postualtura sint , nec nos quid ipse postulet scire possumus . Behold what this Idol of Humane Vanity and Ambition is , which Worldly Men look upon as the Sovereign felicity of this life .

't is but taking the contrary to all these defects and miseries , to conceive what this divine Kingdom , which God hath prepared for his Elect , is . It is a Kingdom which is not only Eternal in it self , but that renders those who possess it Eternal . As it cannnot be lost , there needs no trouble to conserve it . We do not enjoy it by intervals and divers interruptions . We are never attaqued by trouble , melancholy , nor by weariness . We are there free from all misery , bondage , and from all cares . 't is a Kingdom which is never troubled with any War , because there we are not attackable by any Enemy

Lastly , 't is a Kingdom possessed by an infinite of Kings , who are so far from diminishing the grandeur and the power one of another , that they encrease and augment it on the contrary , and fortify it , because they have all one and the same heart , one and the same Minde , and make all together but one King , which is Jesus Christ . 't is to this Kingdom we are called . 't is this Kingdom which is promis'd us upon so favourable conditions , that to obain it , 't is sufficient to desire it sincerely .

CHAP. XIV . What impressions Meditating of the Felicity of Heaven ought to make upon us .

AS we have hitherto only related the thoughts of the Fathers , to form the Idea of a Heavenly life , we will only follow them in the reflexions they have drawn from thence .

Saint Paul lays open one which is of great concern , in representing all the Labours and all the Pains which Champions endured to acquire a corruptible Crown , thereby to excite us to undergo with alacrity the labours of a Christian life , to obtain an incor●uptible Crown , and teaching us thereby , that the greatness of the good which we expect , ought to make us undervalue all the hardships of this life , whether we should suffer them when they happen to us , or that we should expose our selves to them when God engages us therein .

't is in following this overture that St. Austin makes use of the example of the Pains Men endure either to avoid Evils , or to acquire Temporal goods , that he may shew how much we ought to esteem as nothing the state of those we ought to suffer to gain Heaven . Men saith he , De verb . Domi . secundum Mat . Ser . 11. suffer the Iron and the Fire to be made use of to deliver them by a more short grief , but more violent , from those pains of an Ulcer , which though longer , would not have lasted continually . A Soldier useth his body to hardships of War , thereby to procure himself rest , which he enjoys much less time than he hath passed in the fatigues and miseries of this Profession . What shall I say of those who trade by the Sea ? To what dangers are they exposed , to gain Riches , which are nothing but vain and perishable , which we cannot consume without more dangers than we ought to undergo to acquire them ? Why should not Charity do to obtain Beatitude , what Coveteouness doth to gain Worldly Goods , which are nothing but real misery ?

He makes use of this same Reason after a more lively manner , in his Letter to Armantarius and Paulinus .

We expose our selves , saith he , to so many perils and dangers , to so many labours , and to so many losses , to prolong or to render this Life more agreeable , which must necessarily end one day , although we cannot be exempt from Death , but only put it back for some time . By how much more reason are we obliged to suffer all these pains to acquire everlasting Life , where Nature is not obliged to fly Death with so much care , nor Faintheartedness to fear it with so much infamy , nor Sagacity to support it with Courage ? For Death then will be no more dreadful , seeing then there will be no more Death . How then would you not be of the number of those chaste Lovers of this eternal and most blessed Life , being you see that this transitory Life , miserable as it is , hath such passionate Lovers ?

At what cost and labours do Men endeavour to prolong their Labours ? and by how many frights to fly Death , to the end they may be able to fear it for a longer time ?

What Griefs do not the Iron and the Fire make them suffer , who put themselves into the hands of Physicians to be cured ? 't is not yet that they may not die , but that they may prolong it some little time . The torments they suffer are certain , the hopes of prolonging their days uncertain , and the violence of the grief often brings those to death , who have only exposed themselves thereto through the meer fear of death . Thus having rather chosen to suffer death to avoid pain and grief , it happens that they suffer at once both grief and death ; not only because they find sometimes death in grief it self , to which they have had recourse to avoid death ; but also because having suffered so much to be healed , they are at last constrained to abandon Life , which though recover'd by a thousand torments , cannot always last , it being always mortal , nor endure any long time , it being so short , nor likewise in this short abode have a continuance which can be certain , it being always uncertain .

II .

This same Consideration may be applied to a thousand Objects which every day present themselves in the World , and which are able to convince us , that we do not do to obtain eternal Life , what worldly People do to gain a Fortune , or to satisfie their Passions .

For Example ; When we see those who would raise and put themselves forward into the World , so vigilant in managing all that may be for their purpose , so circumspect in avoiding all that may be prejudicial to them , so patient in suffering rebukes from those to whom they make their Count , so complying to adapt themselves to their Humours , so laborious to prosper in their Designs , so ill managers of their Health when employed in their Concerns , so full of Passion which possesseth them , and thinking continually of the means to prosper therein ; have we not reason to rebuke our selves of the negligence with which we seek eternal Life , and to cry out with St. Bernard , What shame and confusion for us ? They have more zeal for their misfortune , than we have for our good : They run with more violence and promptness to death , than we to life . St. Bern . Ser . de Temp . 53.

When we see the Evils Men undergo to satisfie some criminal Passions , a Mans Labour possessed with the Passion for Wealth , his care , his vigilancy , his unquietness , his watching , his renouncing of all sorts of Pleasures , the dangers and the fatigues wherein smoaky Honour engages Men , ought we not to say to our selves , That if Men take so much pains to damn themselves in this World , is 't not very reasonable they take some pains to save themselves ? And 't is a great shame that a base timerousness of some much less and very wholesom troubles , should make us fly from the way of God , at the same time that in the way of this World we must suffer some much more hard , which will stead us nothing . Cum in itinere Dei facili●ra & utilia ignava formidine fugiuntur in itinere soeculari duriora & sterilia aerumnoso labore tolerantur .

In fine , May not we say to our selves , seeing the difficulties there are in the World to prosper in the least Enterprises , to procure our selves any Establishment , to warrant the Friendship of the Great ones of this World , what St. Austin reports of a Worldly Man , ( Confess . l. 8. c . 6. ) who said to one of his Friends , having read the Life of St. Anthony , Tell me , I pray you , what do we pretend to arrive at by all our Labours ? what is it we aim at ? and what is it we have in prospect in all our Pretences ? Can we extend our Hopes further in the Life we lead at Court , than to have the Emperour's Ear ? And when we are come to that , how brittle and inconstant and perillous is it ? and how many dangers must we run , to arrive at a state yet more dangerous ? For how long time shall we live in this manner ? 't is but desiring heartily to be a Friend of Gods , and presently I shall become what I would be . He said it , and immediately he was so , having at the same instant quitted all worldly Pretences , to give himself wholly to God . Why does not this great Object of an everlasting Life , and the meanness of all worldly things we desire , make the same Impression upon us ? and wherefore at least do we not reproach our selves without intermission , for our ●owardise and baseness ?

III .

St. Austin does not only make use of ●is Consideration to animate Christians ●o suffer with courage all the Evils of ●is Life , but also to encourage them to ●●mble themselves in the good Actions they must practice to acquire eternal life , by shewing them that they do no ●ore to gain Heaven , than the Pagans did for their Country .

What is there more glorious , saith he , de Civit . Dei , l. 5. c . 8. than to disdain all the Charms of this present Life , for that Celestial and Eternal Country ; seeing that a Roman was able to set a Resolution to put his Children to death for an Earthly and Temporal one ? If the desire of procuring Liberty for Persons who ought to die , has been able to arm a Father against his own Children , what wonder if for a true Liberty , which makes us free from Sin , from Death , and from the Devil , we do not put our Children to death , but place the Poor of Jesus Christ in the number of our Children ?

If another Roman having delivered his Country from the fury of its Enemies , although it had so ill acknowledged this Service , as to banish him for following the Passion of his envious Foes , did nevertheless save it out of the Hands of the Gauls ; why should a Christian boast of himself , as having done a great thing , because perhaps having received in the Church some barbarous and infamous injury from his Enemies , he is not for all that numbred amongst the Hereticks ?

What tho' there have been found , who have put their Hands into a burning Fire , thereby to affright an Enemy King ? who will believe he hath done any thing which merits the Kingdom of Heaven , when to obtain it he hath abandoned , I do not say his Hand , but his whole Body , to the Flames of his Persecutors ?

What if some have offered themselves to death , to appease the Gods by their Blood ? Let not the Martyrs be proud , if through the heat of their Faith and Charity they have resisted even to the effusion of their Blood , for this Country where true and immortal Felicity is found ; and have not only loved their Brethren for whom they have shed it , but also their Enemies who shed it .

This holy Doctor urgeth these kind of Reflexions yet further ; bu●●hese are ●●fficient to shew , that if Eternal Life were in our thoughts , we should see nothing almost in the World which would ●ot help to animate and humble us : For , what is more just than to work to obtain Heaven , what worldly men do for secular things ? And what is there more base and unworthy , than to be negligent in doing what will make us eternally happy , which is no more than what worldly men do daily for frivolous and base Ends ?

IV .

Another Reflexion very natural , and of a very great extent , which the Consideration of eternal Happiness which we expect , ought to produce in us , is , That seeing this Happiness is in effect our sovereign Good and last End , it ought to keep that rank and place in our Hearts . Now the property , saith Saint Austin , in Ep. 56. of sovereign Good is , that we relate all things thereunto : Summum bonum id dicitur quo cuncta referuntur .

Let Eternal Life then be not only our End by Words , but let it be so really and truly . Let it be the principal Object of our Minds , the principal End of our Actions . Let it be the principal and the most active Cause of our Passions ; and let this Character be observed in our Life , That we prefer nothing before our Salvation , that we aim at Heaven , and that we sigh after other things than Terrestrial ones .

But because we cannot accomplish these Obligations , unless we love an Eternal Life ; nor love it , unless we think of it ; we ought therefore to make use of all holy Inventions , which may renew the Idea thereof , and engrave it deeper in our Hearts , and follow the Considerations which the Holy Fathers have given us . The Spirit of God which animated them , hath made their Piety to consist in raising them to the thought and to the desire of an Eternal Life , through all the States and Conditions , and all the Rencounters of this Life .

If they have been in Prosperity , and in the possession of any Temporal Goods , they have looked upon them as the Comforts of miserable and condemned persons , and not as recompences to to make us happy . Haec omnia miserorum s●nt damnatorumque solatia , non praemia beatorum . Aug. de Civit . Dei . lib . 22. cap . 24.

They have been careful not to consider these Goods but as refreshments which are granted us from God in the course of our Voyage , and not as those whereunto we hope to arrive at the end of our Voyage . God , saith St. Austin , in Ps. 34. comforts us in our way , provided that we comprehend we are in the way , and that all this life , and all things we make use of therein , ought only to be to us as a retreat for Travellers , and not as a House where we would dwell . Tota ista vita , & omnia quibus uteris in hac vita , sic tibi debent esse tanquam stabulum viatori non tanquam Domus habitatori .

If they have wished Temporal Goods for themselves or for others , they have had a care not to esteem them but in such a manner which had relation to a Heavenly Life . Let our Lord God , saith St. Austin , receive us into his Arms , to comfort us by the Goods of the Earth , and render us happy by the possession of Eternal Goods . Dominus nos suscipiat consolandos Temporallibus , Beatificandos aeternis . Even in the use they have made of them , they have always had other Goods in prospect , and have endeavoured to make these Humane Consosolations serve to stir themselves up to desire them . What shall the Heavenly Goods be , saith St. Austin , de Civit . Dei . l. 22. 24. seeing we find so much pleasure in Terrestrial ones ? Quid igitur illa sunt , si tot , ac talia , ac tanta , sunt ista ? Let these things , saith he elsewhere , in Ps. 84. which we love in this World , be a means to make us love God more , being he surpasses them so much in bea●ty and grandeur .

VI .

If they have seen these Goods of the World in the hands of Wicked Men , instead of taking occasion to bear them spite , they have been careful only to fortifie themselves in the love and the esteem of Eternal Goods .

What will he give , saith St. Austin , De Civit . l. 22. c . 24. to those whom he has predestinated to life , seeing he gives so much to those whom he has predestiaetned to death ? Quid dabit eis quos predestinavit ad vitam ; qui haec dedit etiam eis , quos predestinavit ad mortem ? And they are so far from esteeming Wicked Men more , because they possess Terrestrial Goods , that they have taken occasion to despise those Goods , as being possessable by the Wicked .

Those Goods , saith he , in Ps. 62. which God has given to the impious , are so vain , that they deserve very well to be possessed by them . Do not then look upon them as estimable , because you see the impious may have them . Quae donat & malis tam frivol● sunt , & haec & malis donari digna sunt ; ne tibi quasi magna videantur quae possunt donari & malis . If God did regard , saith he in another place , in Ps. 73. these Terrestial Goods as some thing of great value , he would not grant them to the Wicked ; but he gives them to the Wicked , that the Good may larn to beg what 's Good of him , which he gives not to the Wicked .

VII .

't is thus that Humane consolations do not hinder them from making Jerusalem the principal object of their joy and desires , as the Prophet saith : Si non proposuero Jerusalem in principio laetitiae meae .

But they have found in the afflictions and the Evils of this life yet more means to inflame themselves with a desire of Eternal life .

They have considered these afflictions and these crosses , which Men experience in the things they possess most lawfully , as advertisements God gives them to love nothing but Heaven , and not to consider as their Houses the transitory retreats where they rest as they pass by . Docetur amare meliora per amaritudinem inferiorum , ne viator tendens ad patriam stabulum habeat per Domo sua .

They have acknowledged that it was Gods Mercy to sow these bitternesses and disgusts amongst the sweets of Worldly , things to hinder thereby Christians from cleaving thereunto , and to incline them to seek with more eagerness this other life , whose sweets are holy and wholesome : Ideo autem huic vitae male dulci , miscet amaritudines & tribulationes , ut alia , quae salubriter dulcis est requiratur . Aug. in Ps. 43.

They have believed that 't was a great good , that God in regard of them should rob the World of what it had that was deceitful , to the end their love , which might have swayed them thereto , should convert them entirely to this repose , which is neither of this World , nor of this life . Aug. in Ps. 82.

They have made use of this to acknowledge the misery of this present life , Mans feebleness , and the instability of Worldly things , the blindness of those who cleave thereunto ; and they have endeavoured by this means to excite in them the desire of this Kingdom , whose least good is to be exempt from all these Evils . Aug. in Ps. 32.

They have endeavoured to perswade Men to desire for the other life , all they desire in this present , because they know all Goods are found there very excellent , and that the Sovereign Good which is enjoyed there comprises all . If you love Riches , saith St. Austin , in Epist. 54. lay them up where they cannot perish . If you love Honour , seek only that which cannot be had without deserving it . If you love Salvation , strive to get it in such a manner , that you may apprehend losing it . Lastly , if you love Life , become worthy of such an one which may never be terminated by Death . In fine , they have made use of the Heavenly felicity , to contemn all the Evils and all the Goods of this present life . Which made St. Bernard say , De Ass. Dom . Serm . 4. ● . 7. Happy is he who meditates always in the presence of our Lord , and who considers continually the happiness which he shall enjoy ! What is there that can appear hard to him who is continually employed with the thoughts that these Evils in this life have no proportion with the Glory we hope for ? And what can he desire in this corrupted World , whose Eye contemplates always the Goods of our Lord in the Land of the living ?

VIII .

It may also be said of the knowledge of the felicity of the Elect , as we have already said of the knowledge of the Misery of the Wicked , that it ought to serve as a rule to all the judgments which we make of the happiness or of the Misery of this World , as well as of its greatness and meanness . To be greet and happy , is to have right to the Kingdom of God , to be in the way that leads hither , to possess the Goods of Grace , which are the seed , the first fruits , and the pledge thereof . To be Poor , Miserable , and reduced to the last extremity , is to be Robbed of our right , and to deserve Hell .

All the differences which arise from Humane conditions and qualities , are nothing in comparison of those . Also Jesus Christ , to imprint in us this truth , would needs begin with this that marvellous Sermon of the Mountain , which contains all the maxims of his Gospel , Beati Pauperes Spiritu , saith he , quoniam ipsorum est Regnum Coelorum . That is to say , 't is that right to this Eternal Kingdom which renders them Blessed , and that 't is the loss of this right which renders them Miserable .

Finally , There needs but little Judgment to conclude from this great Idea that Religion gives us of the felicity of the other life , it being clear , that 't is the thing we ought to level all our actions at , and by the sight of which we ought to guide all our lives , that we ought to have an extream care to be well instructed in the way which leads thither , and not to be deceived in so important a matter , forasmuch as we are advised on the one side , that 't is a very easie thing to goe astray in this Way , and on the other , that whosoever goes astray engages himself in the way which leads to Hell , because all that tends not to Eternal life , tends to Eternal death , as St Francis Sales saith .

CHAP. XV . The Conclusion .

A Great Wit of the latter Ages , considering on one side the certainty of Christian Religion , and on the other , the Lives of those who make profession thereof , expresseth the astonishment wherein he was to see so little relation thereunto , in these Terms . 't is a great folly not to believe the Gospel , whose Truth is attested by the Blood of so many Martyrs , published openly by the Words of the Apostles , confirmed by the Testimony of the Elements , and confessed by the Devils themselves : But 't is yet a much greater one , not to doubt at all of the Truth of the Gospel , and to live as if there were no doubt of its falshood . Magna insania est Evangelio non credere , cujus veritatem sanguis Martyrum clamat , Apostolicae resonant voces , Elementá loquuntur , Daemonès confitentur : Sed longe major insania est , cum de veritate Evangelii non dubites , sic vivere quasi de ejus falsitate non dubitates . Pic . de Mirand .

Now what this Author says in general of Christian Religion , and of the lives of Christians , is particularly sensible in respect of the Points whereof we have treated in this Writing ; that is to say , of Judgment , Hell , and Heaven .

To make any question thereof , is a great folly ; seeing they are established upon the Authority of the Gospel , and this upon so many Miracles , and the visible accomplishment of so many wonderful Prophesies .

Jesus Christ , saith St. Austin , in Ps. 73. hath executed fully all he had promised . Shall we believe that he would have deceived us in what he has told us concerning his Judgment ? An vero exhibuit nobis omnia quae promisit , & de solo die Judicii nos fefellit ? All that hath been written , saith he yet , in Psal . 144. has been accomplished in course of time ; and after that , can we doubt he should not also accomplish the rest ? Per omnes generationes reddidit quae scripta sunt , & quod restat non ei credetur ?

There is no means that the Spirit can maintain it self in so unreasonable a pretension . We must believe , in spite of us , that there will be a Heaven and a Hell ; that there will be an everlasting Fire , and a Glory which the Eyes have not seen , nor the Ears heard . No Man can withstand these Truths . We embrace them , and we make a Profession of believing them . But what is 't this Faith produceth ? and what Consequences hath , it in the Conduct of Christians Lives ?

't is herein that this excess of Folly appears much greater than the defect of Faith . We believe a Hell and a Heaven , and we live as if we were certain there were neither . We walk with the same security , the same joy , and the same quiet in the way to Hell , as if we had a clear conviction , that all that 's said were only a Story ; and we lose the Kingdom of Heaven with as much indifference , as if we believed it only to be an Illusion .

We likewise advance Extravagancy , even to make it pass for a sign of strength of Mind or Wit , never to think either of the one or the other , and to go brutishly to death , without ever so much as reflecting what must follow . We are troubled to suffer our selves to be spoken unto thereof ; and those are oftentimes the Discourses the least hearkned to , which aim at placing these Objects before our Eyes . We know well , saith one , all that is said thereof ; but if you know it , why do not you do what this knowledge obliges you to do , without renouncing Reason ?

't is an easie thing to acknowledge the excess of Folly in the Life of this World ; and , which is strange , is , that it may be observed even in some Persons of Piety : For , in truth , there wants a great deal always to make these great Objects cause that Impression upon them which they should , and to make them live like People whose Voyage may be terminated at every moment by Heaven or Hell . It would be very easie to shew this in the most part of faults and weaknesses of pious Men ; but it will be sufficient to conclude here generally , in respect of all the World , That the most evident , the most sensible , and the most convincing of all Truths , being , That we ought not to live in such a sort as may bring us to the heighth of all Miseries , and deprive us of the sovereign Good ; every Man , who has never so little sense , ought to regulate his Life so , as that he may have cause to believe he is marching towards Heaven , and not towards Hell ; and that whosoever does not so , ought without intermitting rebuke himself : That he ought to judge hmself not only miserable , but out of his Wits : That he ought to sigh for his so miserable and unfortunate Condition , and acknowledge that all the World doth place it before his Eyes , to assist him to get out thereof . In a word , To be truly reasonable , is to labour seriously and only for Salvation . 't is yet to have some remain of Reason and Understanding , when we do it not at least to condemn our selves , and to desire an amendment of Life . But 't is an abolishing absolutely of Reason , to live in repose , without being concerned for what shall happen in the next World .

THE SECOND TREATISE , OF Christian Vigilance ; Containing Divers Means to keep our selves in the Presence of God .

CHAP. I. Wherein Christian Vigilance consists .

THE Authority of Jesus Christ , who recommends Vigilance so often to us , who employs , to incline us thereunto , Motives as pressing as the terrour of Death , and who has been pleased to signifie that he commanded it expresly to all , Marc . 13.37 . Omnibus dico vigilate ; is sufficient to shew , that there is no Duty belonging to a Christian-life which is more indispensible .

He does not only command it to all Christians , but he commands it them at all times , joyning it to the exercise of Prayer , which ought to be continual : Luc . 21.36 . Watch , saith he , and pray continually ; Vigilate omni tempore orantes . For these are two Duties which cannot be separated . We must watch , that we may pray ; and we cannot pray , but in proportion as we watch . They are as it were reciprocally in place of both Means and End one to the other . For , if it be necessary to watch that we may pray , we must pray that we may watch . We are disposed for Prayer by Vigilance . We obtain Vigilance by Prayer . And lastly , they include as it were each other in some sort , seeing that as he who prays watcheth , it is also true in some sort , that whosoever watcheth prayeth .

The Necessity of Vigilance being then thus established , there is nothing in question but to know the means how to practise it ; and for that , 't is necessary to know in what Vigilance consists .

Watching is opposite to Sleeping , as well in Grace as in Nature . Now , those who sleep , saith the Apostle , sleep in the night ; Qui dormiunt nocte dormiunt . If they should sleep in the day time , they would make Night of Day , because this Sleep would deprive them of the sight of the Light .

To be asleep , according to the Spirit , is then to be deprived of the true Light , and to have the spiritual Senses benumbed . But as in the same time those who sleep according to the Body are deprived of the Light , and of the thoughts of real Objects , they have yet certain obscure ones , and apply themselves to the false Representation wherewith their Imaginations are filled , taking them for true and real , not thinking , whilst they sleep , that there can be any other Objects more real and more solid . Likewise those who are asleep according to the Spirit , being deprived of the sight of Objects which may truly be called real , do for all that please themselves with temporal things , which have much less reality in comparison of spiritual Objects , than the vain and false Representations , which compose our Dreams , have in comparison of the outward Objects they represent to us .

By this 't is clear , that to watch is to have the Eyes of the Spirit open to spiritual Light , which discovers to us the Objects of the other Life , that is to say , God , Hell , Heaven , and Eternity , the Use we ought to make of Creatures to be saved , the Use the Devil makes of them to damn us , the Ends God hath in giving us them , the Designs of the Devil in representing them to us , the Obligations they put us in of praising , thanking , and praying to God .

Now as those who watch have not the Eyes only open to discover the Objects which are represented , but also the Ears to hear what can be said to them ; Watching , according to the Spirit , is also to have the Ears of the Heart attentive to the Voice of God , to hear all he says to us by himself , by his Creatures , and by all Objects , as well Spiritual as Temporal , which our Capacity is able to conceive . For God speaks to us by all things , and there is nothing but our deafness which hinders us from hearing . This is the Idea we ought to have of Christian Vigilance . Let us now proceed to the Practice and the Profit of it , in the Sequel of this Treatise .

CHAP. II . How profitable it is to have often in our Minds the remembrance of God . Fundamental Reasons about the Usefulness of this Practice .

SPiritual Light , which , as we have said , distinguisheth those who watch from those who do not , being nothing else but God himself , as St. Austin saith very often after the Scripture ; all those who follow it have in some sort God present , and practice so what God ordered to Abraham , in these Words , Ambula coram me , & esto perfectus .

But besides this presence of God more general , and which is included in all the Prospects and all the Knowledges which God's Light gives us , there is one more particular and express , by which the Spirit knows God more distinctly , looks upon him as God , endeavours to render him Homage , Adoration , and the Worship which is due to him . This presence of God is only that continual remembrance of God which the holy Fathers , who have given Rules of Christian Life , recommend unto us as the only Means to live in Piety . We must , saith St. Basil , watch for the guard of our heart with all sort of diligence , and not suffer the remembrance of God , which ought to be continually in us , to be blotted out of our minds . We must always have the Idea of God imprinted as an indelible Character in our Souls . 't is by this means that we obtain ordinarily that Charity which will excite us to observe the Commandments , and which is conserved by observing them . S. Basil . Reg . fus . disp . int. 5. See Reg . Brevior . 21 , 2● , & 306.

St. Gregory of Nazianze ( Orat . 33. p. 531. ) does not speak less vigorously of the usefulness of this Practice : It ought to be to us , saith he , as frequent a thing to be mindful of God , as to breathe : Or rather , it ought to be our only Occupation . 't is our duty to think of God day and night , morning , and evening , and at midday ; to bless and praise him at all times , going to bed and rising , walking , and in all our other Actions ; thereby to purifie our Souls by this continual remembrance .

All the other Fathers speak the same Language ; and there is no Counsel hath been proposed with more uniformity among all those who have given Rules of a Spiritual Life .

But to comprehend even from the beginning the importance and necessity of this holy Practice , we must consider , that the first and most general of all the Temptations is that of forgetting God , because it springs from all the Objects of Sense , how innocent soever they may be .

For , the state wherein we live in this Life , is , that these Objects stricking upon the Organs of the Body , force the Soul to apply her self to them , without being able to defend her self from them . They advertise themselves of their presence , and they have no need at all to be known , to be aided with an interiour Reflexion which may excite the Idea of them : And as their Impressions are lively and continual , they sway the Soul to fill her self with them , and to forget every thing else .

But as by a publick and known institution , or by a natural relation , some of these Objects , besides the Idea of their Being which they form in the Mind , are yet tokens of divers motions of the love which we can easily conceive in others , because we feel them often in our selves : it happens from thence , for Example , that by receiving the impression which the outward Man may make upon us , we conceive moreover the Idea of their thoughts , whether it be by their words , by the alteration of the countenances , or by other signs of institution . And so although those thoughts may be Spiritual , they agree nevertheless in that with Corporal Beings , that by the favour of some signs to which they are annexed , they enter into the Soul whether we will or no , and they procure her application .

Besides these outward Principles , which withdraw in some sort the Soul out of her self , she is yet violently carried thereunto by the disorder of her passions , by the propensity she hath to pleasures , and for all that flatters her Ambition and Pride ; by the indigency wherein she finds her self within her self , which she endeavours to replenish by outward means . Thus she is carried thereunto with vehemency , she follows with greediness the impressions she receives from Corporal things , she plunges her self thereinto headlong , and she gives them by her imagination a greatness and a solidity which of themselves they have not .

't is quite contrary with Spiritual things . What greatness and what reality soever they may have , they do not act at all by themselves upon our senses , nor admonish in this manner the Soul to think thereof . And though by the means of certain signs , the Soul may be sometimes warned thereof , nevertheless as we conceive them imperfectly , so the Ideas we have of them are very weak , and the impressions of Worldly things do continually attract the Soul , it follows from hence that almost all Men do live in the oblivion of God , and that even those who desire to be his , stand in need of a continual strength to uphold themselves from falling thereinto , and to withstand the impression of sensible things , which tend to apply the Soul to outward things , and to disswade her from Spiritual Objects .

Thus howsoever we may be perswaded , speculatively , of the truth , reality , and the grandure of the Spiritual World , nevertheless we feel in our selves a weight and an inclination which sways and over-rules us from conceiving any other grandure , and almost any other being than that of those Objects which strike our senses . And what appears more strange , is , that even when we are overpowered and become inclined to busie our selves with Temporal things by Gods order , by the motive of his Grace , and the obedience which we owe him , and that we relate , first , to his Honour and Glory , the application which is given to these objects , the inclination which we have thereunto , blots out by little and little this first intention , and makes us cleave thereunto through a pleasure we take therein , in such a manner that these outward Employs though undertaken by Gods order , disswade us insensibly from him , and fills us with Creatures ; unless we use great endeavours to stop this impression .

Behold the principal temptations of this life , and the source of all the others , or rather 't is a temptation which is universal , which is included in all particular temptations .

't is very visible by what has been said , that the most natural remedy against this general temptation , should be to render Spiritual things more present than they are ; and to conceive them in a manner which might make us comprehend their greatness better ; to renew continually the thought of them in our Minds , and thereby to stifle that so violent impression which Corporal and transitory things make therein . But as these Spiritual Objects do not present themselves of themselves , and that the connexion they have with Corporal things is not sensible , the Soul must be supplied thereby , by all possible means she can find out .

These means are reduced to two , a general and a particular one . The first is , to force and compel the Mind by a strong and lively Will to apply it self to God , and to withdraw it self as it were by force from the sight of Creatures , to fix it to that of Spiritual Objects .

The Second is , to act in such a sort by a holy industry , that all the Objects which environ us , and which strike our senses , may renew therein the Idea of God , and make us remember what he is , and what we owe him .

To be prevalent in this last means , which involves the practices of the first , we must endeavour to imprint lively in our Minds the diverse relations that outward Objects have with God , and to enchain these Ideas together , that the things of this World may never present themselves to us , without stirring up those of God in us .

There is no need to bring this about , of inventing arbitrary contracts . There is no more but to see what it is . That is to say , but to conceive that God replenisheth , upholds , moves , and guides the visible World ; that he speaks to us by all Cretaures ; that he is the only and inviolable rule of our actions ; and that 't is he alone can , defend us from the temptations which these cause in us , and bring upon us ; and accustom us thus to see Creatures no more , without seeing at the same time in them and by them , that to which they have so intimate and so essential a relation .

CHAP. III . The first manner how to keep our selves in the presence of God , drawn from the dependence of the being of Creatures on God

THE qualities of Creatures may be different , and so have diverse relations with God ; but as they all agree in the being , they have all , by this being which they have received and do receive continually from God , an intimate connexion with him , through the dependence they have thereon .

Thus every Creature by its Being ought to put us in Mind of God , and is a natural sign thereof . But to imprint this truth more lively in our Minds , it is good to consider , that all Bodies which strike our senses , which appear to have much so Splendour and Beauty , which we take almost for real Beings which are in the World , there being only these beings which advertise us that they are there , do nevertheless participate of being but in a very imperfect manner . They have not in them the cause of their subsistance . If the Almighty hand which hath created them , did not maintain them , and draw them continually from their nothingness , they would fall again into nothing at every turn , only because he would cease to give them their Being . And this same Being which they receive is so limited in every thing , that it relies much more of its nothing than of its Being , since we perceive therein an infinite want of all perfections which they have not . Being moreover destitute of intelligence , they are in respect of themselves as if they were not ; and if they are for us , they are not for themselves .

If from Bodies we pass to created Spirits , we shall find there the same deficiency of subsisting by themselves , and the same necessity of receiving continually a Being from the hand of God . 't is true , they have not the defect of not knowing themelves , and their knowledge doth extend it self to some Objects ; but the boundaries are so strait , that what they know is almost nothing in comparison of what they know not .

The imperfection of the Being of Creatures , ought to serve us as a step to conceive , besides these material Beings and these limited Spirits , that there is an immaterial Being unlimited , which is the source of every Being and every Knowledge ; which depends upon nothing , and whereon all depends ; which is immense , infinite , necessary , and all-powerful , which is great without quantity , good without quality , eternal without vicissitude of time ; which produceth all alterations without changing , which is always acting , yet always in quiet ; which is every where , without being included in any thing ; which is more intimate with us than we our selves , and which g●ves us without intermission , as St. Paul saith , Life , Motion , and Being .

This infinite Being is the God we adore . All Creatures point him out to us , seeing they come from him , and receive from him all they have . But as we are swayed by th● weight of our Corruption to insist upon the effects , without considering of the all powerful Cause which produceth them , and to fill our heads with the vain splendour of Creatures , forgettting the Sovereign Beauty from whence they borrow that little which they have ; to withstand this miserable blindness , we ought to tell all Creatures which environ us , all that 's Beautiful and Charming in the World ; thou art not my God , 't is not from thee we have our being , and that thou hast nothing but what is given thee by God , who is hidden in thee , and whom we do not see .

We ought to consider often God as an infinite Sea , which conserves all things ; and our selves as Fishes , or rather as Atoms which are engulfed therein , and whose Being disappears , in some sort , in the immensity of this Sovereign Being which swallows them .

If we were well accustomed to these thoughts , Creatures would be so far from making us unmindful of God , that they would place him continually-before our Eyes . We should adore him without intermission by secret looks and motions . We should annihilate our selves in his presence , at the sight of his greatness and of our littleness . We should make use of all sensible Objects to renew to him our homages . As he is every where , we should find him every where , in Heaven , on Earth , and in Hell it self : Si accendero in Coelum ut illic est , & si descendero in infernum ades . in Ps. 130. The whole universe would represent to us the magnificence of his Glory , and it would be a Temple for us , which would excite us to make us observe the respect due to the greatness of him for whom it is consecrated . We should never imagin we are alone , when we should see our selves always in the presence of God , and all our Actions , and all our Thoughts , and all our motions exposed to his divine Eyes . Lastly , we should at least endeavour to imitate the modesty , the reservedness , the respect , and the attention of those who are in the presence of Earthly Kings , and not dare to do , in the presence of God , any thing that may draw upon us his wrath , as we see no Body who would willingly do in the presence of Kings , what he knew disagreeable to them , and for which he might presently be punished .

There is nothing so common as these thoughts , but there is nothing more rare than the making a right use of them , and to make them serve to withdraw the Mind from the dissipation which the sight of the World may cause in it to hinder it from delivering it self to the objects of the sence , to compose the inward and the outward Man , and to be in a condition we would be in if God were visibly present .

This happens not because we seldom think of these truths , we conceive them but weakly , and we are not livelily penetrated with them . 't is then what we ought to beg of God , and what we ought to labour for , by continual reflections which may be able to imprint them strongly in our Minds and Hea●●s ▪

CHAP. IV . The second Manner how to keep our selves in the presence of God , which is to consider his Providence in all things .

FAith does not only discover to us God in the World , maintaining all his handyworks , and giving them continually a being , in quality of Creator ; Faith makes us see him him as King ing his Kingdom , regulating and guiding even all smaller things with so absolute an Empire , and so invincible a force , that no Creature can withstand his orders , nor hinder it self from contributing whatsoever it can do , good or bad , to the execution of his Will .

This truth giving us leave to behold all things and all Creatures as instruments in the hands of God , gives us means consequently to raise our selves by this towards God , and to adore him as the true Author of all that happens in the World .

Goods and Evils are equally proper to renew this Idea . For God is the true Author of both .

He is the Author of the good which we receive by the Ministry of the Creatures , it being he that appoints and procures them for us by an express order of his Will and Pleasure , without which the affection and good will of all Men together must necessarily be unuseful to us . And he is not less Author of the Evils which happen , it being his Justice that condemns us to them , and employs either Men , or some secondary causes , for the fulfilling this his Pleasure upon us .

We should then change our Language , or at least our thoughts , and in lieu of busying the Mind about Creatures , relating all , and attributing all unto them , it would be very just to raise our selves upon all occasions , to the true Cause of all these accidents , and to give to God in our thoughts that part which he hath effectively in all that happens in this World .

We should not then think at all that such a Man is dead by such or such an accident ; that one was taken away by a Feaver , another by the Plague ; but we should look upon God in Mens deaths , as making use of these several means for the executing the Decree he has pronounced against them .

Likewise we should never say that we have lost our Wealth , through ●he injustice of another ; but that God has made use of the malice of an Enemy to take away from us what we deserved to lose .

Be very circumspect , saith St. Austin , of relating your afflictions to any but to God . For the Devil himself cannot do you the least harm without his permission who possesseth the Sovereign power , and who makes use thereof either to punish or correct Men ; to punish the Impious , to correct his Children . Prorsus , saith St. Austin , in Ps. 32. ad Deum refer flagellum tuum , quia nec Diabolus tibi aliquid facit , nisi ille permittat , qui desuper habet potestatem , aut ad poenam , aut ad disciplinam , ad poenam impiis , ad disciplinam Filiis .

By this means we shall see God every where , and in all things , there being nothing but what is regulated by his providence , and what is wonderful , we shall see therein nothing in one sence but what 's just , because nothing happens but by the order of his providence , which is always just .

Thus all Histories will be to us Histories of God , all Men Ministers of God , ●ll Events Decrees of God , in which by consequence we shall never find any thing whereof we can justly complain . M●ral . Essays f . 1. tr . 2. 2. par. n . 16.

What Peace , what Submission , what Assurance ought not this truth to produce in our Minds ? Ought we to fear being in a Vessel whereof God is the Pilot ? Now this is what is in the World in regard of all Men . God conducts them to the end to which they are ordained , by infallible ways ; and from whence none ever is diverted .

't is true , he inclines some , others he does not ; because he is the Author of some Mens ways , and others he permits to walk in the ways they have chosen of themselves . But these permissions do not hinder us from adoring him , and submitting our selves to his orders less than the effects he produceth of himself , and where Creatures have less share , seeing that he makes use of them for the execution of his designs , and regulates and limits them in such a measure as is necessary to make them succeed .

To the end that the consideration of the divine providence may produce in us this continual attention to God , whereof we are now speaking , we must not be contented to acknowledge and adore it in the great events , but as extending it self to all , and that there is not so small a chance which is not ordained by God , we must accustom our selves to honour this divine providence in all , and relate to it the smallest accidents which happen to us .

't is not then enough to say with David , in the great calumnies publisht against , and the great outrages done to us , that God has commanded those who dealt thus with us to use us so barbarously , and to calumniate us ; that is to say , he has permitted it for our good ; but we must say in the small incommodities of this common life , that 't is by the order of God that Men speak harshly and uncivilly to us , rail at us without a cause , that Friends neglect us , forget us , and cross us ; that we be wearied with incommodious visits , and importun'd by unjust and unprofitable intreaties .

We ought likewise acknowledge this order of God in the least good turns we receive from Creatures ; the least good success which happens to us or our Friends ; in the least friendship done us ; in the least accidents which shock or favour our desires ; and lastly , we must acknowledge it in things whose good or evil we cannot discover , not forbearing to honour therein the admirableness of Gods Judgments , which sometimes fixeth the execution of his most important designs , to rencounters which seem casual and indifferent , and in which Humane prudence can discover neither advantage nor disadvantage .

By this means we shall conserve our selves in a kind of continual praying , by seeing God act in all things , and adoring in all the conduct which it pleaseth him to keep over us and all Creatures .

CHAP. V. The Third Manner how to keep our selves in the presence of God , which to consider what all Creatures have from God , and above all Persons with whom we deal .

AS God has painted himself in all his Works , has dispersed the draughts and characters of his divine perfections , and has done it even with a design that we may make use thereof as steps to raise us up to him , 't is to second his intentions , to observe in each Creature what it has from God , to acknowledge God in it , and by it to climb to the top of these perfections , which is God himself .

I will not speak here of the Image of the divinity which might be found in Creatures deprived of reason , although it might be just , having been so often employed by Scripture to set forth the divers Attributes of God , we make use of the relation they have thereunto , to excite in us the remembrance of what they represent .

I shall content my self to explicate in what sort God may be seen and honoured by Men , and made use of to keep our selves in his presence , whereas oftentimes there is nothing disswades us more from it than our commerce with Men , because they fill our Minds not only with the Image of their Body , but with the Ideas of their judgments and passions , which often produce the same in us .

All Men generally , as Men , do assist us to know God , as having engraven his Image in their Nature it self , as being all capable of possessing him , and as not knowing from any one that he is not of the number of the predestinated , we may look upon them all before hand as to be eternally transformed into God .

But besides this general quality which is common to all , we see and distinguish God in the diverse states of Mankind , by particular Characters which imprint a more lively Idea in us .

We may easily acknowledge them by these principles which Scripture furnisheth us with . Rom. 13.1 . That all power comes from God . Jo . 3.17 . That Man can have nothing but what 's given him from Heaven . Jac . 2.17 . That every excellent Grace , and every perfect Gift , comes from above , and descends from the Father of lights . 1. Cor . 3.16 . That we are the Temples of the Holy Ghost . Eph. 1.11 . That the Church is the Body of Jesus Christ : That what is done to the members of Jesus Christ , is done to Jesus Christ himself , Math . 25.40 .

By the help of these divine lights , God may be found and honoured in Kings , Princes , Magistrates , Ecclesiastical Superiors , and even in unjust and violent Men , because his power may be found there , where Men may be the Instruments and the Ministers , but yet never appertains or belongs to him . And therefore Judith acknowledged it in Holofernes , in telling him , That he had in him the power of God to chastise the Wicked : Virtus Dei qua in te est ad eruditionem insipientiam

When Riches are seen in Rich Mens hands , it may be imagined they are the Oeconomers and the distributers thereof , but never the Proprietors and the Masters ; because the Dominion belongs always to God , who may take it from them , and give it to others when he pleaseth , by an inalienable right of his Sovereignity . So in seeing them the Mind ought to be elevated to him who ●ath establisht them dispensators and disposers of these Goods , and who will make them render an account of their administration .

We do not only see God in the Wicked , by the share they may have in his Power , his Riches , and his other Gifts , which may be common to them with the good . Jesus Christ is also in them in many other ways . He is in them , as an excellent Author saith , Treatise of Piety , to . 2. pag . 321. to punish them in his wrath . And where is the Servant who trembles not when he sees his Master in wrath , and that he condemns to chains and even to death the wicked Servant , chiefly if he himself deserve to be rebuked , and perceive himself guilty ? He is in them to accomplish his designs which we are ignorant of . And who will not have a regard to the secret orders of a Prince , when he sees all is altered , and knows not what he will do ? He is in them to try us , and to know whether or no we are faithful to him . Who will not be watchful of himself , and keep within the boundaries of modesty in this time of temptation ? He is in us to advance us , because we stay too much , and because their commission moves us to make haste . And who shall dare to complain thereof , and will not rather endeavour to recover the lost time ? He is in us to cure us . And who ought not receive the remedy from God with Submission and Patience , without insisting upon the Rasor which cuts , which he must consider as an instrument of health , and honour the hand that employs it ? There are some who kiss the medicine which is given them , so well they receive it , in hopes they may have no more . He is in them , in fine , to recompense us ; these are they who place the Crown upon our heads . Ought we to be offended then , if they do it a little rudely , seeing that thereby they augment our recompence ?

But if God may be seen even in the Wicked ; how much more easily may he be seen in the good , and those who are just ? He is not in them only , he acts there , he speaks there . When the members of Jesus Christ are fill'd with his Spirt , he is there almost without any vail , and in a manner palpable , because he may be seen as it were with Eyes , being we know that 't is he who acts in them all the good they do : Domine dabis pacem nobis , omnia enim opera nostra operatus es in nobis . Their sweetness is his sweetness , their patience is his . When they speak he regulates the motion of their Tongues . When they burn with Charity , 't is he kindles it . He is their Charity and their Virtue .

Why then are we not careful to vary our motions towards God , according to the several Graces which we observe in the Souls of the just ? And lastly , why does not the sight of all Christians excite in us the remembrance of Jesus Christ who is their head , who hath united them to his body , and who has made them his Brothers and Coheirs ? Are we not then very much to blame , if we should forget God , being he presents himself to us in so many fashions , and is every where before us , at all times and in all kind of conditions ? He presents himself to us , saith the abovesaid Author , in the great ones , to astonish us . He presents himself to us in the Poor , to shew compassion . He makes use of the aversion of those who love us not , to gain us more . He makes use of the occasion of Nature , and those who love us , to begin to make us love him . He shews himself in unknown persons , and who are indifferent to us , to the end that being without passion in what regards them , we may see him more easily , and that nothing may make us turn away from him . He is in all his Members , he is every where , that we may see him every where : And every where we shut our Eyes , that we may not see him .

We should then endeavour to look upon all those with whom we have any commerce , by some of these Characters , to help to raise us to God , and to beseech the favour from him to speak to them as we ought , and to hearken with more sweetness , docility , and respect to all they say to us , which would render all our conversations holy and edifying .

CHAP. VI . The Fourth Manner of keeping our selves in the presence of God , which is to be attentive to the instructions he gives us as to all we see and hear in the World .

CHristian vigilance does not only direct the Eyes of the Soul to Spiritual Objects , it opens also her Ears to the instructions God gives us . There are some which are in some sort heard through all the World , and they are those which aim directly at us , as advertisements which are given us by Preachers , or by those who are so charitable as to mind us of our Duties , and to make us know our faults . And the effect of Christian Vigilance , as to them , is , that it does not make us look upon them and receive them as coming from Men , but as from God by their Ministry , according to this undoubted principle in St. Austin's Divinity , That God is the only Master of truth , in what manner soever he makes us know it .

But there are other instructions which God gives us , which are more hidden and harder to be understood , which are those the Scripture speaks of , saying that Wisdom cries from without , and her voice is heard in the Streets . Sapientia foris praedicat , & in plateis dat vocem suam . Prov. 1.20 . These are those , say I , which are engraven in the passions , and in the common actions of Men , and in all the accidents which happen to them . God speaks by all this , and he speaks very lively , very vigorously , and very efficaciously , but 't is to none but those who sleep not , who are attentive to his voice , and who desire to hear him . He does not only speak , but speaks continually , because there is nothing in the World that happens , which may not be proper to instruct a vertuous Man , who is vigilant of himself , and has a care to relate to his edification all he sees or learns .

As for example , what do we see in the World , but vices , or virtues ; good or evil ; prosperities , adversities ; elevations , ruines ; passions , wandrings ? and what is there in all this whereby God speaks not to those who hearken to him ?

He exposes virtues to our sight to encline us to imitate them , to shew us how far we are from them , and to give us hopes to obtain them . And 't is , as if he said : Behold what we must do , but do not do it . Behold what you ought to hope . Cur non poteris quod iste & iste ? He shews us by the rarity of these virtues that Grace is rare , that we ought to beg it with zeal and perseverance , that we fear losing it ; but not despair of obtaining it .

He instructs us by vices and sins , whereof he permits us to be spectators , with the corruption and weakness of Man . He shews us what we are of our selves , and the state and condition we ought to dread falling into .

He makes us see by the Goods of this World wherewith he enriches some , the nothingness and vanity of this Temporal felicity , by giving us means to consider the miseries which are annexed to them , and which serve as matter to the divine reflexions which the Holy Ghost made Solomon write in the Book of Ecclesiasticks . He discovers to us these prosperous People plunged into a disgust of their happiness , subjected under a thousand troubles and cares , and striving vainly to stop one felicity which escapes them every moment , and is always ready to finish .

He shews us the blindness it produceth , the aversion for truth which accompanies it , the by-ways wherein it engages , the hardness of the heart it causes , the entrance it gives to all sorts of vices , and the obstacles it puts to all means of Salvation .

So many miserable Men wherewith the World is full , and that strike upon our Eyes at every turn , should be to us according to the Gospel , so many Preachers of pennance ; seeing they give us occasion to make the same reflexion that Jesus Christ made to the Jews touching the punishment of certain Galileans , and the death of those who were thrown down by the Tower of Silo . Luc . 13.3.5 . Think you , said he to them , that these Men were more faulty than other Men ? They were in no manner so . If then you do not pennance you shall all perish as well as they . We should say thus to our selves , at the sight of so many who sigh under the weight of their miseries . Is it because we think our selves less culpable than they ? What reason shall we have to believe it ? There is then no other way but pennance which can make us avoid these dismal chastisements which the Justice of God reserves for sinners , and whereof these evils , which he exposes to our Eyes in this life , are only small and trivial beginnings .

God does not only tell us by Mens miseries , that 't is thus that the proud deserve to be treated : That we have many other chastisements to fear in the time of his rigor , being he punisheth already Men so severely in the time of his mercy ; but he tells us moreover that this World , fill'd with so many Evils , does not deserve to be loved ; that 't is a prodigious blindness to be fixed thereunto , being so miserable as it is , and not to make use of these inevitable miseries to procure eternal happiness .

What do so many dead say to us which we see every day , but that we ought to prepare our selves continually for this end , so near and so terrible ; and that whereas our senses being struck with these Objects become thereby insensible by custom , our reason on the contrary ought to be so much more touched by how much more they are frequent , because it is admonisht thereby , that death threatens us every moment , and that all the World is surprized thereby .

But nothing can instruct us more than the reflexions which we may make upon the passions of Men , upon the clouds they produce in their Minds , which takes from them the sight of truths the most clear and sensible ; upon the false lights , by which they seduce them , by letting them see only a part of what ought to serve as a foundation to their Judgments ; upon the activity they give them to arrive at their mark ; upon the fatigues and evils they make them endure ; upon the vanity for that they make them seek it with so much eagerness ; upon the miseries , the troubles which they cause over and above , to those who abandon themselves thereunto ; upon the torture and despairing which they produce , either when their Object escapes them , or when the heart is divided by divers contrary desires .

And that is what permits us to see , as it were in a Picture , the holy blindness which the desire of being with God ought to produce in us , for all humane reasons which should be able to dissuade us from it ; the Zeal with which we ought to tend to this end ; the activity with which we ought to embrace all the means which may conduct to it , the patience with which we ought to suffer all the ills which may be met with in this way , the solidity and incomparable greatness of the good to which we incline .

't would be a strange thing to observe in particular all the instructions which may be drawn from the commerce with Men , and the considerations of their Actions .

't is sufficient to say in general , that there is no Book which does furnish so great a number , nor so lively ones , and that the best Books consist almost only in the reflexions which learned Men make concerning Mens conduct , and which we may make like them , if we were applyed thereto ; that they are not drawn only from the example of Illustrious Persons , nor from great Actions , but from the meanest ; that we may learn to know Men and our selves by the conduct of their Servants , by the discourse of Country-Men , Artificers , Men , Women , and of the smallest and the most limited Wits .

But to the end that these reflexions may be truly useful to us , and serve us to keep our selves in the presence of God , we must look upon them as coming from God , who is the Doctor of all truth , as St Austin saith , and who discovers it to us by his light , that is to say by himself , and in himself ; we must beseech him at the same time to grave them in the Heart , to do us the favour that we may make use of them for our guide , and to free us from the faults which he makes us to take notice of , to make us firm in the truths he discovers to us , to put them into our Minds and Hearts , when he shall present any occasion to practise them , and not to permit that they be stifled nor obscur'd by our passions .

We should only be faithful in this practice , to conjoyn the offices of Martha and Mary , to be always at the feet of Jesus , when we are most employed about outward things , to be able to say truly that we hearken to God at the same time we give ear to Men , seeing that we shall in some sort understand only the voice of God in that of Men , and only see God in them .

It is true , that what God says thus of Men , is often very far from the immediate sense of their Words . As for example , when they entertain us with vain and frivolous discourses , God tells us by these same discourses what David said by these words : Ps. 118. The Fables which the Wicked relate to me , are far from the solidity of your Law . But that does not hinder but that these Words from Men may be the means God makes use of to make us understand this truth , and that may help us to apply our selves to God , and to pray to him , provided that in understanding them , we be attentive to the inward light which teacheth us to Judge of them according to truth , and which is the voice whereby he makes himself understood by us .

CHAP. VII . The Fifth Manner , which is to consult the eternal Truth upon each Action of the day .

BUT among all the several Manners of keeping our selves in the presence of God , there is not any more necessary than this , which consists in consulting him continually about all that 's presented to our thoughts , and principally about our Actions , as the eternal and unchangable Rule by which we ought to Judge of them .

't is in this that St. Austin makes the Idea of the Wise man to consist , whereof he speaks in the Third B●ck of the Trinity , and of which he saith , That consulting the Law of God about all his Actions , he did not any one but what he saw in this truth ought to be done .

't is wherein St. Bernard placeth the first Degree of Contemplation , which doubtless is the most necessary , and the least subject to illusion . Ber. Ser . 5. de Diver . n . 5. Primus contemplationis gradus est ut incessanter consid●remus , quid velit Dominus , quid placeat ei , quid acceptum sit coram ipso .

And St. Bazil in his great Rules , sheweth , that 't is the principal means to live Christian-like , to conserve in his Mind the remembrance of God , and to observe what David saith . I had my Lord God continually before my Eyes . Regul . fusius , disp . inter . 5.

But to comprehend the necessity of this means , and the method of practising it , we must know that being obliged by many titles , to do nothing but what tends to God , to Judge of things as God Judges of them , to have the sentiments he commands us to have for them ; this relation of our Actions to God , and this conformity of our opinions to his truth , consists not in barren desires , nor in ineffective Oblations , nor in imaginary directions of the intentions , but to do nothing but only because God orders us to do it , and effectively to rule our opinions and motions according to his Truth and Justice .

But as this Justice and this Truth are not always known to us ; as the Characters which were engraven in Mans heart have been disturb'd and half blotted out by sin , and as thus it has been very hard to consult them in many affairs ; God who cannot dispense with Men from living according to his Truth , which is their essential and unchangable Rule , hath been pleased to facilitate a means to them to follow it , to cause his Laws to be written in th● Scriptures , and principally in the N●w Testament ; to the end that by reading them he might be able to imprint them in their Minds .

So to advise with God concerning our Actions , is only to consult the Rules of the Gospel , to acquit our selves in all occurrences of what God commands us therein . For it cannot be imagined , that there is any time where it is absolutely free to live according to ones fancy , and which is not regulated by by some Laws : and if a Pagan hath said well in following Natural Reason , That there is always some duty to be accomplisht in all parts of our lives . Nulla pars vitae vacare officio potest . It may a great deal better be said in following the Rules of Christian Religion .

Even when we are swayed to use some indulgences which God permits , we ought not to incline thereunto only because God permits it , but because we are feeble , and have not force to aspire to the pitch of Evangelical counsels . And so we ought always to consult Gods Laws , that in what sort soever we act , it may be Truth and Charity which guides us , and not our sensuality and our capriciousness .

It is true , we are often obliged to obey Human Laws and Customs establisht by Mens fancies , and so to practise several things , which being indifferent in themselves , are only prescribed us by positive Precepts , which have an uncertain and a variable Truth : But the obligation of obeying these Laws comes not to us from these Laws themselves ; it comes from a Superior Law , that is from an eternal Law , which makes us subject to Human Laws , with certain conditions ; so that when we observe them with such a Spirit as we ought , we obey Gods Justice effectively , when we seem only to obey Men .

The principal exercise of a Christian , who is disposed to pass a day Christian-like , is to foresee as much as he can all the Actions he ought to do , to regulate them by the Maxims of the Gospel , and not to be swayed , but to observe these divine Laws . But 't is not sufficient to consult them once a day , we must renew this duty towards the Law of God , at least in all the Actions which depend upon some new Rule , on which we have not made one express reflexion .

So we ought to form no new d●sign , nor enter upon any proposition , not having consulted the rule of our du●y , and beg'd the Grace of God to know what we ought to do in this affair . And this ought not to be understood only of some great designs and important engagements which are very rare , but of all small engagements which present themselves , and all the small affairs wherein we have any part .

We should not , for example , ever make visits , having not consulted whether they are in the order of our duty , and whether there be any reason of Charity or Justice which engages us thereunto . We should never read any Book , never write any Letters without this reflexion . We should never give , buy , or receive any thing . Likewise we should say nothing , but examine at the same time , whether what we say be good for any thing , and whether it be conform to the Laws which God has given us to guide our selves , our actions , and our words by .

But there are many more things to be considered in this examen , not to be deceived therein , and to be able to assure our selves , that our Actions are conform to their rules .

We must not only consider how things must be done , but whether they ought to be done . And to examin this point , we must not have regard only to the justice and to the goodness of the things in themselves , but to the particular duty that engages us thereto . God does not demand all sort of good at the same time , nor from all sorts of persons ; and there are no Persons who ought not as well to think of performing the duty of their States and Conditions , as of freeing themselves from the State which obliges them to these duties .

Although it may seem that this examen , before it be made with mature deliberation , cannot have place in the course of the occupations of a days labour , yet it is not so hard a thing as we would believe .

For either he who examines whether he ought to incline to some Action in relation to his condition , is assured before hand , as much as is possible for him , by a serious examination , whether he is in the Employment and State wherein God would have him ; or he is convinced he is not , or else he has reason to doubt of it .

If he be assured that he is , it is easie for him to judge of most things , whether the Action which presents it self be conform thereto . If he be convinced that he is not , he ought to repent presently for the rashness of his engaging , and resolve with himself to leave that state if it may be left , and examin afterwards whether the Action ought to be done by a person ill entred and engaged in this condition . For there are some conditions which ought never be undertaken , and others which may be , by expecting till they may forsake the Employ .

A Priest , for example , ought to quit the Administration of the Sacraments , except in case of absolute necessity , from the very moment he is convinced that he is ill entred , and that the fault of his vocation is not repaired .

On the contrary , a Religious who hath an ill vocation ought to fulfil the obligations of his condition , what fault soever there may be in his entrance . And it is the same with Married Persons .

We ought to Judge almost in the same manner of him who should doubt , whether his vocation be good or not , as of those who are assured that 't is bad . For there are things which ought to be done by expecting till they can be examined , and others which ought to be let alone just after this examen ; and often this determination is no hard thing .

It is then true , as has been said elsewhere , Moral . Essay , t . 1. tr . 2. 2. p. n . 37. That in what State soever a Man may be , in what bad Employment he may be entred , in what time and what moment he may make reflexions upon himself , and acknowledge his misfortune , there is always a way whereby to return to God , who begins this State and this Moment , which is terminated in Heaven : that is , that there are a sequel of Duties and Actions which the Divine Wisdom prescribes him to bring himself out of this state . And what he is obliged to do so soon as he knows it , is to practise this duty which is the nearest to him and which begins this way . When he shall have satisfied it , he ought to search for the Will of God , concerning what he ought to do the next hour , and practise it faithfully ; and by Acting thus he will infallibly return to God .

But when the examination of vocation of the state wherein one is , hath been made with a great caution , it is not necessary to reiterate it every Moment , and therefore those who have an assurance of being in the place where God would have them , are obliged only to examine the things which are presented , and on which they may deliberate .

They ought to Judge of them as has been said , by consulting the Rule . But 't is not enough that they see in this Rule that the things are good in themselves , nor in relation to their state and condition . It is necessary that they see therein , that they be good in relation to their inward disposition , and to all their other duties .

For there are a great quantity of good Actions , which being not necessarily fixed , or having no connexion with our duties , though they are not contrary , should not be undertaken , because they surpass the force of our virtue ; because they excel , because they expose us too much , and engage us to a too great dissipation .

There be others in regard of which we must expect Gods time , which is not always ready , as Jesus Christ teatcheth us in the Gosp●l .

Likewise there are some Actions of duty , which cease being so , because they hinder satisfying some more important duty . And it 's this which often causes some doubts and troubles to the greatest Saints , who having in the heart a desire of following Gods pleasure in all things , are sometimes hindred from discerning what are the Actions they ought to prefer .

Saint Austin , Epist. 65. expresses this difficulty in one of his Letters to Saint Paulinus : 't is , saith he , an intricate and troublesom business wherin I often find my self , and which causes my disturbance , in which it is very hard not to commit faults . Sometimes we are unwilling to forsake the Action which we have proposed to our selves . However though not bad in it self , it oftentimes becomes so , as hindring us from performing some more great and pressing necessitie which presents it self , and which should make us leave what we are doing . How hard a thing it is never to be deceived upon these occasions , and how we experience thereby the truth of these words of the Prophet ? Who is he who comprehends the number of his faults ? Hic omnino non falli difficile est . Hic omnino vox Prophetica praevalet ; delicta quis intelligit ?

The reason of this , he says , is , that 't is neither by Heavenly voices , nor by Prophets , nor by Revelations and Extasies , but by Events that we are advertised that our designs and resolutions are not conform to the will of God . We have for example , saith he , sometimes a design to make a Voyage : And yet in consulting Truth , there happens a thing which we think ought not to be forsaken . Or on the contrary we would willingly be at quiet , when truth obliges us to make a Voyage against our inclinations . And as these chances are often and frequent , and trouble those who seek God , St. Austin desires Saint Paulinus to impart his thoughts upon this Subject to him , and to tell him how one ought to govern himself in the like occasions .

He observes yet the same trouble and perplexity in his Book concerning the Catechising those who are not well instructed , and he teacheth at the same time in an admirable manner the Rule we ought to follow in these occurrences .

We ought , saith he , to regulate and dispose by our light the consequence of the Actions which we ought to do , and if we can observe this order , we ought to be glad , not that we have done what we would have done , but that we have cause to believe that we have done what God hath commanded . But if there happen some necessity which obliges us to disturb this order , let us be flexible , and ply rather than break , by taking for our order that which God shall have preferred . For it is much more just to be conformable to his will , than to desire that he should conform to ours . When he is busied in chusing an order in our Actions , is it not reasonable , that what is most excellent be esteemed before what is not so ? Wherefore then do we complain , that God who surpasses us so much in goodness and excellence , be esteemed above us ? And why would we be disorderly , to conserve our Rule ?

But not being forced by any particular necessity , this ought to be a reason to prefer one employment before another , because it is prescribed us in the regulating our days work , as having this advantage over another , that by preferring it , we avoid inconstancy , disorder , and variation , and so we have cause to believe that we act after a more conformable manner to the will of God , whereunto all works are ordained .

't is this has made St. Austin establish this important Principle ; which is the ground of all order which is observed in well governed Societies , and even among all those who would live orderly . Aug. de oper . Mon. c . 13. The best Government , is that all daily occupations be distributed in a certain order , and assigned to certain times , that they may not trouble the Mind by their confusion and disorder . Ea est optima gubernatio , ut omnia suis temporibus distributa ex ordine gerantur , ne animum humanum turbulentis implicationibus involuta perturbent .

But it is not sufficient to cast an Eye upon the Law of God , to regulate the body of actions , and to decide whether we ought to incline thereunto or no ; we must consult it also to learn thereby with what Spirit they ought to be done , what dispositions they demand , that we may endeavour in doing them , to enter into these dispofitions .

If , for example , we entertain a Person who hath need to be gently spoken unto , with reservedness , and in a serious and edifying manner ; who cannot endure to be jested withal , who is vexed at too free censures , although true and solid , we must first consuelt the Rule of Charity which prescribes these devoirs to us , pray to God that he may make us capable of observing them .

Each occupation of this life has its Rules and Dispositions . They ought to be every one animated with a certain Spirit , and 't is truth which instructs us with them . We must then consult truth without intermission , and look upon it as the model and original which we ought to coppy out and represent by our Actions .

But as we are not only applyed to our selves , but also spectators of other mens Actions , and of what happens to them , which cannot be done without forming divers Judgments , and having different motions upon their score , we must still govern them by truth and Justice , because they are not less capable of being true or false , just or unjust , since they purifie the Soul if they are equitable , and defile it if they be not so ; and appearing often outwardly , they are ordinarily the source of scandal , or of the edification which we cause .

We should for this reason accustom our selves to Judge all things according to truth , and suffer nothing in us but the motions which truth produceth , to make nothing appear outwardly but the Judgments and Motives which are governed on truth . And for this end it is necessary to know it , and as much as is possible not to let it go out of sight , that we may avoid those illusions which Worldly things cause , when we behold them not in relation to this Rule

To practise perfectly this Rule , is to be truly wise , and St. Bernard had no other Idea of it : In Cant . Ser . 50. n . 8. Give me , said he , a Man who loves God with all his heart , and who prefers him above all things , who loves himself and his Neighbours , because they love God ; and who loves his Enemies , because they are capable to love him , whose heart is inclined towards his near kinsfolks , with a more tender affection , by reason of a tie of Nature ; towards those who have instructed him according to the Spirit , with a more abundant affection , by reason of the excellence of Grace he hath received by their means ; who embraceth thus , with a love regulated by truth ▪ all other Objects of Charity ; who contemns the Earth ; who hath his Eyes lifted up towards Heaven ; who makes use of this World as if he used it not at all , and who distinguisheth by a certain inward taste the Objects which he must enjoy from those which he must only use ; who applies himself to transitory things only transitorily , as he ought , in consideration that he must do so . But who is linkt to Eternal things by a firm and an Eternal love ? Give me , say I , a Man who hath these dispositions , and I shall make no scruple of calling him wise , because he tasteth every thing according as it is , and may say of himself , with truth and security , that God hath ordered and given him Charity : But where shall we find this Man , and when shall we be in this disposition ? I tell you this with tears in my Eyes . How long will this happy state be known to us but by an inconstant order , which comes to us as from far , without being able to taste it effectively ? We see our Country as it were at a distance , but we do not possess it . O truth , Country of the exiled , and the end of their exile , I see thee , but I cannot enter , being with-held by the Flesh ; I am not worthy to be admitted into thy bosom , being polluted with sin : O veritas Exulum patria , exilii finis ! Video te , sed intrare non sinor , carne retentus , sed nec dignus admitti peccatis sordens .

We see with what ardor St. Bernard sighed after this state , and this ardor it self with which he desired it , ought to make us Judge that he made his piety to consist in continual Vigilance , to the end he might not suffer any motions in himself , nor any sentiments which should not be conform to the order of Charity which is prescribed us by the Laws of God .

It is very true , that 't is impossible during our abode upon Earth to have always reasonable thoughts and just motives , seeing that concupiscence , which lives always in us , being excited by Objects , will not cease producing ill desires and wicked thoughts .

But if we cannot hinder our selves from feeling them , we may at least condemn and disapprove them as soon as we feel them , and stop this tumult within us , without shewing it outwardly . 't is what truth orders us when we are thus agitated by some passions which we condemn . And we must not fear that there is any hypocrisie in shewing in this manner nothing but Peace and Tranquillity , when we are inwardly agitated and troubled . For 't is Christian prudence that prescribes us this artifice ; seeing there is no better means , as St. Austin says , in Ps. 75. p. 138. to teach Concupiscence not to rise any more , than to shew that it riseth unprofitably and in vain : Discat non surgere ; quia frustra surrexit .

It is not sufficient to be attentive to truth at the beginning of each Action , each Employ , and of each Enterprise ; but even in the pursuance of those which continue any time : we must observe them from time to time , to see that we do not sequester our selves from it . For 't is but too frequent to be engaged presently in certain Actions through a motive of pleasing God , and to fix our selves thereunto afterwards without any relation to God , either through the pleasure we meet therein , or through some Humane advantages which we find there . We begin by Charity , and we continue through Cupidity ; so much cunning has the Devil to substitute the Creature in the place of the Creator , without our taking notice of the alteration ; which can hardly be avoided but by often reflecting of the manner how we conduct our selves in the sequel of our Actions .

In fine , as St. Gregory the great recommends oftentimes , ( vide Gr. in Mor . in Job . l. 1. c . 8. and 17. c . 19. and l. 9. c . 10. and l. 12. c . 15. ) if it be necessary to watch thus over our Actions before we do them , and whilst we do them , it is no less necessary , after they are done , to make a small Examen touching the method how we have discharged our selves of our duty to God ; which obliges us to an humble acknowledgment of the faults we have committed , and sentiments of recognition , if God has done us the favour to surmount thereby some tentation . And so by consecrating to God by several means , the beginning , the middle , and the end of our Actions , all our whole life , which is only a series of these Actions , will be consecrated to him .

But to prevent these scruples which may arise in those , who having a great desire to act nothing which may be contrary to Gods Will , would urge too far what is in this Chapter about the Examen which ought to be made of these Actions before the doing them ; it is good to add here an advice of St. Francis Sales , which takes away the excess . 't is , that we ought not to amuse our selves in respect of small Actions , which are of no importance , to discern exactly whether they be more conform to the Will of God than others , when it does not appear manifestly .

I advise you ( saith he to his Theotime , lib . 8 of the love of God , c . 14 ) of a troublesome tentation , which often happens to Souls who have a great desire to follow in all things what is most according to the will of God . For the Enemy in all occurrences makes them doubt , whether it is the will os God , that they do one thing rather than another ; as for example , whether it be the will of God that they eat with a Friend , or that they do not ; whether they take for their Garments White or Black , whether they fast Friday or Saturday , whether they follow their Recreations or not , in which they waste much time . And whilst they are busied and puzled in discerning what is best , they unprofitably lose the occasion of doing many good things , the execution of which would be more to Gods Glory , than distinguishing of good and ill , for which they are so amused , would be .

We are not accustomed to weigh small Money , but only pieces of importance . Trade would be too troublesome , and would waste too much time , if we were forced to weigh pence and half pence , and such like . So that we ought not to weigh all sorts of small Actions , to know whether they be better than others . And even there is very often superstition in making this Examen . For , to what purpose shall we make a difficulty whether it be better to hear Mass in one Church than another , to make a Net or to Sew , to give Alms to a Man or to a Woman ?

It is then sufficient when these kind of doubts present themselves , to cast an Eye lightly upon the Rule ; and when it gives us no light , it is better to determine than to amuse ones self , to deliberate unprofitably .

't is true , that in proportion as Gods light encreases in the Soul , it finds some more curious and delicate differences betwixt Actions which appear equally good to persons less understanding . But as it is just to follow this light when we have it , we must not be torment - when we have it not , what is most conformable to Gods will in these small Actions .

CHAP. VIII . The Sixth Manner how to keep our selves in the presence of God , which is to open our Eyes to exterior tentations , to which we are exposed , and to have continually recourse to God to be preserved from them .

THE Vigilance which Jesus Christ prescribes to us in the Gospel , does not only shew us God as our Rule ; it shews us him as our only refuge and our only protector in all perils which environ us ; and at the same time lets us see those perils , that is to say , the tentations which attaque us , and put us in danger of losing the life of the Soul .

If Vigilance discover to us God acting in all Creatures , and instructing us by them ; it also discovers to us the Devil , employing all Creatures against us . For there is not one which he makes not use of sometime to deceive us , to poison us , to enflame our passions , to fix us to Worldly things , and to draw us from God .

Philosophers desire that we should be prepared for accidents , because they may all happen ; but we have a motive much more powerful , to prepare out selves against tentations , which is , that they certainly happen : In hoc positi sumus . For we have an irreconcilable Enemy , and the order of God it self is , that Men be tried by tentation : Which made the wise Man say , Eccl. 12. v. 1. that in entring into the Service of God , we must remain constant in Justice and Fear , and prepare the Soul for tentation .

We ought then in preparing our selves in the Morning for the Actions of the Day , to have in our thoughts that we shall be tempted , that the Devil will set upon us in divers manners ; which ought to fill us with sentiments of fear . For who would not fear going into a Town troubled and infected with the Plague , where he must expect every moment to be seised with that pestilential disease ? who would not be seised with fear , when sitting at a Table , where he could not forbear eating , and where nevertheless the most part of the Meat should be poisoned ? And lastly , who would not be affrighted , walking in the dark , in a place full of Snares and Precipices ? What care ought to be ●●d to free ones self from these Dangers ▪ Yet this is the state we are daily in , opening the Eyes to Worldly Objects , and entring into commerce with Men . The Devil hides himself in all Creatures ; he arms them all against us ; he endeavours to breath his poison into all our senses ; he pierces us on all sides with a thousand enflamed darts , as the Apostle saith ; he sets a thousand traps for us ; he opens a thousand precipices for us . We have but one single way to avoid all these dangers , which is to run continually and have recourse to God , to obtain his assistance : And nevertheless our blindness is so great , that 't is what we think least of .

If the Governor of a place of importance , knowing that 't is besieged with an Enemy , who thinks of nothing but surprising him , and that he cannot be surprised but he must lose his life , should nevertheless leave all the Gates open , and think of nothing but to divert himself , might he not very reasonably be taken for a Mad Man ? But how much more are we Mad , who knowing by faith , that the Devil goes round about us to get possession of our hearts , that he is stronger than we are , and that he ende●●●●rs only to cast us away eternally , we nevertheless think thereon so little , that this thought makes the least of our troubles and unquietness ?

't is a strange thing , said a very devout Man , that the Devil prays God in some sort to abandon Men to him ; Expectivit Sathanas ut cribraret vos sicut triticum , and that Men dream of all things but praying God to be their safeguard against so powerful an Enemy , and being careful to avoid the Snares he lays for them .

This negligence is so much more pernicious , by how much the principal means of not falling under these tentations is to know them , to prepare against them , and to have recourse to God . He commands us to discover them by Vigilance , and that this Vigilance incline us to prayer ; Vigilate & Orate . And as we are always attaqued in some place , and always in danger of being overcome , it follows , that our Vigilance and Prayers ought to be continual .

There are so many sorts , that 't is impossible to describe them all . But generally speaking , there are some that Men are exposed to in all states and conditions , and others which arise from a particular state , wherein each one finds himself . There are some which are very rare , and others which are very frequent . There are some which are favoured by our inclinations , and others we have no propensity to . There are some gross and visible , others cunning and hidden . There are some which have great and long consequences , and others which are less important and more transitory .

Seeing that we must resist all these tentations , it is necessary to be attentive thereunto ; but to the end we may make use of this tentation to keep our selves in the presence of God , we must apply our selves to those we meet withal in our exercises and in the course of our Actions .

This application will make us discover an infinite of them , which escape from those who think not of them , and we shall be surprised at the number of those which are met with in the most innocent Occupations . We shall find , for example , That the converse we have even with orderly Persons , is full of them ; we are tempted there to expose our selves too much , to cleave too much to them ; to forget God by th●s means ; to be out of possession of the Soul ; to say unadvisedly something to her advantage to get their praises . We are thereby tempted with impatience , if it happen that we are not of their opinion ; with arogancy , if we think we have some advantage over them ; with rudeness and bitterness , if they have something that 's troublesome ; with flattery , if we have interest to please them ; with curiosity to know things , either unuseful to us , or that they would not have us to know ; with scoffing , if they appear ridiculous to us upon some score . We are tempted with spite and indignation , if any thing be said which touches the pride we are addicted to ; with complacency , if Men approve of our Actions without our procuring it ; with envy for speaking too much , if what we hear said form in our Minds divers thoughts . We are tempted to despise others , if we meet with any defect ; or on the contrary , to imitate them in their defects , if we do not acknowledge them . We are tempted to embrace their passions , and to enter and follow their ways , which although good , is not perchance ours . We are tempted to side with a great many Judgments ill grounded , which are afterwards the source of rash discourses .

All these temptations , and many ohers which the light of God might discover to us in our discourses with Men , do shew that 't is a great rashness to enter into conversation with any one , whosoever it be , not having raised up our hearts to God to beg his succours , and that we cannot renew too often , in the pursuit of discourse , this attention towards God , to resist the temptations which happen .

Besides these temptations , which may be called Action , because they consist in the Actions and motions of the Soul , there are others which may be stiled Omission , which consist in omitting and neglecting the occasions which are presented of practising virtue in our Actions .

For to make use of the same example , if there be no converse where we are not tempted to commit many ill Actions , there is also none where we can do any good ones ; wherefore the omission by consequence is ill .

God may be honoured by all those which we see , in the manner he is there ; we may observe something there which may help us to correct our manners , and advance us in virtue ; we may practise . Humility by humbling our selves in regard of them , and by placing our selves in the lowest places , through a true and sincere sentiment . We may practice meekness , by bearing mildly the weakness which may be observed therein ; Charity , by comforting them ; Zeal , by reforming them ; Patience , by suffering them ; Goodness , by yielding to their just or indifferent desires . We may give ear to God , by hearkening to them with respect . We may profit by their virtues , in imitating them ; by their defects , making use of them that we may avoid them , and praying for them .

't is a great misfortune to lose so many occasions of practising virtue , and to do all things without reflexion , by following our natural inclinations . For 't is to deprive our selves of the means God hath given us to enrich our selves by , and we ought not to wonder after this if we be poor , seeing that passing through places full of riches , we do not vouchsafe to heap them up ; nor if we remain meagre and starved , seeing that being in plenty of food and nourishment , we are careless of taking what 's necessary for our sustenance .

We ought to consider two sorts of temptations in all Employs , Exercises , ordinary and extraordinary Occupations , which make up our lives ; as in eating , reading , praying , visiting , and in particular actions of our Vocation . And although oftentimes we dream not of them unless in a confused manner , yet this attention will suffice to make us avoid the most palpable and the most dangerous .

But in this general prospect which we ought to have of temptations which are met with in all Employs , the experience we have of our weakness , and of the faults into which we are accustomed to fall , does apply us generally to those which are most frequent to us , and which we have proposed to our selves to oppose . And thus in beginning these Actions we ought to renew the resolution we have made of resisting them , and the prayers we ought to have made to God , to obtain the Grace to overcome them ; and by this means our whole life will become a continual warfare against Vice , a continual praying , and a faithful execution of holy desires which God has inspired us with for our perfection .

One of the greatest profits of this practice , of seeing face to face in the things wherein we are obliged to deliberate , the temptations which accompany them , is , that it gives us means to judge more advisedly of all , and to have above all things sentiments more conform to Truth and Faith .

For the greatest source of Errors whereinto we fall in our Judgments , is , that generally we do not observe the Objects , but as they are sensible , and in relation to what they have to our concupiscence , which being very ready and lively in its Actions , makes us presently discover therein all that flatters or incommodes it . Nevertheless 't is not by this that we must judge of them ; but by the relations they have to ours and to other Mens Salvation ; that is to say , by the obstacles or the facility they atribute thereunto , there being nothing that 's good which is not assisting to it , nor nothing that 's bad but what 's a hinderance .

We cannot therefore well judge of things without diving into the temptations which they produce , and the use the Devil makes thereof to destroy us , seeing that 't is by these temptations that they serve as obstacles to our Salvation .

't is but practising this rule faithfully , to disarm in some sort the Devil , being he only deceives those for the most part who are negligent of themselves , by shewing them the Goods of this life , because they have something that 's attractive , and hiding what they have that's dangerous from them .

Who could desire , for example , great Fortunes , great Employs , and great Dignities , if they looked upon them in this manner , and considered those who are raised thereunto , as charged with an insupportable burthen , as obliged to walk in a straight path , and all environed with precipices , and as being in the miserable condition and necessity of being lost for ever , or offer to themselves much greater violences than other Men ?

In this manner , this prospect would discover to us a new World , where all would be turned topsie-turvy , where the happy would appear miserable , and the miserable happy ; mean People great , and great people mean ; what afflicts us in the outward World , would comfort us in this , with this difference , that the afflictions and consolations which would arise from the consideration of this new World , would be more real and solid than those which are produced by the Objects we regard only outwardly , which is what we call here the exteriour World .

Doubtless there is nothing can be more profitable to us than this consideration of all Worldly things , in relation to Eternal happiness or misery , provided that we would not stick there , but would make use thereof to raise us up to God by the several motives which this consideration ought to produce , sometimes beseeching him to assist those we shall look upon as exposed to these temptations ; sometimes blessing him that he has delivered us from them ; now , by considering the bent we have thereto , and by begging of God that he do not abandon us ; now , by considering how much Men are deceived in their Judgments , for want of penetrating to the bottom of things , and crying out with the Prophet , Filii hominum usque quo gravi corde , ut quid diligitis vanitatem & queritis mendacium . And by these several means we shall find in all the Objects which we shall perceive by the senses , or which are presented to us by Mens discourses , wherewithall to keep our selves in the presence of God and to entertain our selves in continual Prayer .

CHAP. IX . The Seventh Manner how to keep our selves in the presence of God , which is to be Vigilant over our inward temptations .

BUT if Christian Vigilance ought to apply us , as we have shewn it does , to discover the temptations which outward Objects might cause in us , it ought yet to render us more attentive to those which spring from within us , that 's to say , to the motives of our concupisence which corrupt and spoil our Minds , which infect our Hearts , which draw oftentimes the consent of our Will , and which spreads it self in the end outwardly by means of our Words and Actions .

There is need of a continual Vigilance , whether it be to hinder these ill effects , by correcting our thoughts , by putting a stop to our desires , and by refusing them the Ministry of the members of our bodies , as the Apostle ordains it us ; or to condemn them when they are arrived . For the defect of Vigilance causeth both the one and the other of these two evils . It suffers concupisence to act , and it hides what it does ; because a Soul that watcheth not is often absolutely lost , she Acts in a manner like an Animal , she suffers her self to be carried away by Objects , and she is ruled by them .

To possess the Soul and the Heart , is properly the contrary virtue to this subjecting of a Soul to the Objects to which she applies her self . And to comprehend in what it consists , we need but consider what 't is we call to be possessed of in relation to the World .

We say a Man enjoys himself when he sees himself Act , when nothing escapes him that he is not aware of , when he has all the regards he ought to have , when he is Master of his motions , and that he Rules them for that end which he proposed to himself .

So to enjoy ones self according to God , is to see himself Act , to be witness of his motions both inward and outward , and to regulate them by the sight of God . And , on the contrary , not to possess or enjoy ones self , is , either not to see ones self Act , or not to be able to with-hold his motions .

Interest and violent passions cause both , in regard of the World , in those who love it . For 't is a strange thing how much the desire of being advanced , and the fear of being hurt , renders them applicable to all ; how circumspect they are in all their Actions and Words ; even to what point they strive to break and master their humours .

But as Charity is often less active in good People , than cupidity in the Worldly , we often see them leave their station , to follow blindly some small and frivolous passions , and act without reflexion , by humor , and by a meer impression of Objects .

This is the fault Christian Vigilance ought to correct , by forcing the Mind to apply it self to what it does , placing before its Eyes the concerns it ought to have , by quitting its uncleannesses , by endeavouring to maintain the Soul in the same situation , by cutting away all inequalities of humors , and by endeavouring at least to sigh for all those which escape us .

And this is it Christian Vigilance cannot do , unless it hinder the Mind from abandoning it self , and delivering it self intirely over to the Objects which present themselves ; and unless it divide its attention , so that it give a part thereof to the Action , and make use of the other to consider what passeth in it self ; as if it had two Spirits , the one Acting , and the other Witness and Judge of its Actions .

It cannot be denied but that this reserve , as to one part of our attention , or rather this double attention , the one to the Objects of our Thoughts , of our Motions , of our Actions ; the other to the Thoughts , Motions , and Actions themselves , must be troublesome , and that the inclination of the Soul must Act without so many reflections , by giving it self entirely to what is pleasing , and only avoiding the more gross faults which mind and advertise us of themselves .

But the pains we find therein , ariseth only for that we are but little concerned for what relates to God ; because we have none at all when we are stirred a little violently , and all the respects we ought to have are then presented to the Mind . If , for example , we entertain any one in a place where we know we may be overheard by some considerable person , we should not forbear to regulate our Words concerning what might please him , and have as much attention to the Judgments he should make of what we say , as to those of the Persons with whom we should discourse . We should then need only to be lively penetrated with the presence of God , to have no more trouble for this double attention , and it is very just that we suffer this trouble , as being an effect of our want of virtue .

But if the sight of the presence of God sways us naturally to a Vigilance of our selves , and makes the practice of it easie ; a Vigilance of our selves inclines us also to keep our selves in the presence of God . For by discovering to us what passeth in us , the passions which arise thereby , the bad branches which our corruption puts forth daily , makes us prone to hasten to God , and to shew him our sores , to sigh before him for our miseries . So this sort of Vigilance is yet an excellent means of keeping our selves always in Gods presence by continual prayer , seeing that prayer consists chiefly , according to St. Paul , in a secret sighing and lamenting , which a Soul penetrated by her misery sends to God , thereby to beg her deliverance .

CHAP. X. Particular means how to keep our selves in the presence of God , by the exercise of certain virtues , which may be joyned to the most part of our Actions .

AS mans Mind is so weak in this life , that it hath need of some Variety in its exercise , and objects to which it applies it self , it is good to propose divers means to keep our selves attentive to God , that we may remedy the distaste and laziness which the uniformity of the same thoughts is accustomed to produce . I shall add then yet to those which I have already explicated , other particular practises which may be joyned to all Actions , and keep us always in the presence of God . Piety may make us invent divers sorts , and I propose these only as models of those which may be prescribed to us according to our different occasions .

For example , we may , to practise Humility , add or joyn to all those , the acknowledgment of our unworthiness , grounded upon our double wretchedness , one of which comes by Nature , and the other by the condition of sinners . For this double nothingness making us deserve nothing , gives us reason in all times , and in all places , and upon all occasions , to confess to God that we are unworthy of all .

We may then acknowledge with Truth and Justice , that we are not worthy of his favours , neither interior nor exterior ; that we do not deserve the assistance of Creatures , nor the honour which is given us , nor the friendship of honest Men ; that we are unworthy that any one apply himself to us , or treat us otherwise than with scorn , disdain , and with outrage ; that we are not deserving to see the light , nor to live ; that all this may be taken from us , and we have not cause to pretend that God does us any injustice .

Thus we may joyn this confession to all that happens to us , and renew an hundred times a day , in the presence of God , the consideration of our unworthiness .

But this protestation must be sincere , nor must we pretend , having done it , to complain of those who should treat us as we avow we deserve to be . If then we be unworthy , that there be an acknowledgement for us , as truth ought to make us confess , let us not complain at all that we had none . If we be not worthy to be esteemed , let us not think that we are injured because we are not esteemed .

We may likewise find means in all things to practice thanksgiving according to the Apostles precept ; In omnibus gratias agentes . For there is no time wherein we do not receive some Grace and some benefit from God , either by himself , or by his Creatures ; and in what sort soever we receive it , 't is always just to give him thanks for it .

This thanksgiving is not only in what Men call Goods , but also what they call Ills , because these Ills , such as they are , are always much less than those which we deserve ; and so they have more of the Sweetness and Mercy of God , than of his Rigor and Justice ; and moreover , if we know how to make good use thereof , they would give us means to avoid great Ills , and to deserve great Goods . So that as this is our fault if we do not make good use of them , they cannot pass , as coming from God , but as Silver which he gives us to pay our debts ; as seed which he grants us to convey to our Souls the fruits of justice ; as materials , whereof he makes us a present , to build our selves an Eternal Mansion-house .

Likewise , if we would entertain our selves with the desire of a Heavenly life , and with a sighing that our exile ought to cause in us , there is nothing which might not be able to excite and renew these motions . For the Goods and Ills of this life , the Virtues and Vices therein , are equally propper . The Goods of the Earth make us conceive the greatness of Heavenly ones , making us conclude , that if what God gives to the wicked be so agreeable , what he reserves for the just ought to be so incomparably more . And the ills of the Earth incline us more directly to sigh after that life , where we shall enjoy a perfect Peace exempt from all sort of Ills. The virtues of this life being but as some drops which fall from the Eternal Justice , ought to make us desire to quench our thirst at the Fountain it self of this Justice : And lastly , the sins which we commit continually ought to make us hate this present life above all things , being we shall not be delivered , but in Heaven , from the corruption which produceth them .

What is there in this life that is not capable of renewing in us the Idea of Eternity , seeing that we see nothing therein which does not vanish and slide away , and that this vanishing of Worldly things ought to make them all as nothing to us , and encline us to fix our hearts on nothing that is changeable , insubsistant , and not Eternal ? Avertere animum a temporalibus , & eum mundatum convertere ad aeterna .

It may also be said , that in what inward disposition God employs us in , provided that it be a little lively , it finds means to spread it self every where . So St. Bernard was continually excited by these Words : Bernarde , ad quid venisti ? And he found there a source of fervour and zeal , which emboldened him in all his Actions .

Others likewise found in certain little Verses of Scripture , some motives of stirring up continually the love of God in them ; and each ought to be careful to chuse some which he should often repeat , and which should contain as it were an abridgment of his Prayers , and of the dispositions whereunto he should tend .

This is what is called Aspirations or ejaculatory Prayers in the Books of devotion , and the practice of it is by so much more estimable , as it appears by St. Austin and by Cassian , that it was one of the principal devotions of those Egyptian Monasticks , who have made use of this model before all others . In Epist. ad Probram . 't is reported , saith this Doctor , that the Egyptian Monasticks make prayers very frequently , but very short , and make haste in some sort to send them up towards Heaven , for fear lest this attention which is so lively , so frequent , and so necessary in prayer , should come to slacken by a longer continuance .

CHAP. XI . Means to keep our selves in the presence of God , which is to represent to our Souls the Humanity of Jesus Christ .

I Have on purpose reserved for the last of these means of keeping our selves in the presence of God , this which is the most counselled by those who have treated of a Spiritual life , that is , to have Jesus Christ always in our thoughts , by representing him according to his Humanity in some of his mysteries ; that is to say , either as a Child , or as conversing with Men , or in some circumstance of his passion , or lastly , seated at the right hand of his Father , which is the state wherein the Apostle exhorts us to adore him .

We cannot in general doubt of the necessity of this practice , seeing that Christs Humanity is the true way to come to God . Also we see that the Church does what she can the year about to place Jesus Christ before our Eyes , in all the mysteries of his Mortal and Glorous life . St. Paul affirms particularly , that he had endeavoured to imprint in the Mind of the Galatians so lively an Idea of Jesus Christ suffering for us , that he did not fear to say that Jesus Christ had been Crucified before their Eyes : Gal. 3. v. 1. Ante quorum Occulos Jesus Christus praescriptus est in vobis Crucifixus . It also appeared that 't was the devotion of the first Christians ; which made St. Clement say , in the Elogium he made of the Corinthians , Epist. ad Cor . That the sufferings of God were before their Eyes .

't is , in particular , by this means that what St. Austin prescribed to the Ignoranter sort of Christians , may be practised . Brethren , said he , Aug. in Joan . tr . 2. behold the counsel I give you . If you will live like Christians , cleave to Jesus Christ according to what he has undertaken for our Salvation , that so you may arrive at what he is by his divine Nature . And this is what he includes in this maxim , that the Spirits who are not as yet capable of conceiving the divinity , ought to cleave to the Cross , to the Passion , and to the Resurection of Jesus Christ , and make use thereof as a Ship which may conduct them to what as yet they cannot see .

But this consideration of Christs Humanity is not only necessary for mean , but very profitable for great Men . The Cross of Christ , as this holy Doctor says , in Joan . tr . 98. is not only the Milk of Infants , but also the solid food of those who are advanced : Christus crucifixus & lac sugentibus & cibus proficientibus . So there are none to whom it is not very useful , to have in Mind Christs Humanity . And therefore St. Bernard counsels to pronounce without intermission the name of Jesus , to renew in the Mind the Idea of Jesus Christ God and Man . I cannot , saith he in Cant . Ser . 15. n . 6 , and 7. taste any writing , if I find not therein the name of Jesus . I cannot suffer discourses , if I do not hear the name of Jesus spoken of . Jesus is Milk in our Mouths ; he is agreeable Musick to our Ears . He is a source of Joy in our Hearts . He is a Physician for all our Diseases . If any one find himself sad , let him think of the name of Jesus , and let it pass from his Mind into his Mouth . Nothing is more proper than this name to repress the impetuosity of wrath , and to dissipate the swelling of Pride , to heal the wounds of Envy , to stop all the dissolution of intemperance , to extinguish the flames of concupiscence , to qualifie the thirst of avarice , to separate us from all shameful passions . Behold , O my Soul ! the excellent remedy which you have in reserve in the vessel of this sacred Name ; a remedy so wholesom , that there is not any Disease which gives not place thereto .

This is the profit St. Bernard found by thinking continually on Jesus Christ . For it would be nothing to pronounce the name of Jesus without thinking of him . But 't is not necess●●● for that to have always the Image of him painted in the Imagination , which is impossible for those who have it not , and dangerous for those who have it too lively . That which this Saint then recommends to us , is , to have Jesus Christ present in our Minds . Now we may think of Jesus Christ without imagining him to our selves . The imagination is nothing but a source for the thought . What if it should be found , that it were an obstacle by applying the Mind too much ; either it should be moderated in the use , or else entirely banisht ; there being certain persons to whom the lively representation of the mysteries of Jesus Christ ●●●wn by the imagination , might be a Subject of illusion and temptation , and to whom by consequence we ought to give counsel not to conceive them , but by faith ; as St. Francis Sales observes in one of his Letters . Book 2. Let . 22.

Lastly , as the World attracts us continually by all the Objects it presents to us , and the Devil has a thousand tricks to fix us to , and to fill us with them , so Piety ought to render us ingenious in finding means to fix us to God . And ' ●is by these sorts of inventions , whereof it is spoken in the Scripture , that the just live and are nourisht . Dicite juste quoniam bene , quoniam fructum ad inventionem suarum comedit .

CHAP. XII . That one of the greatest means of keeping our selves in the presence of God , is , to manage by Prayer all the interval of Actions .

AS Bodies are almost never so perfectly joyn'd , but that there is always some little intervals fill'd with air , which sepa●●tes them , so we cannot make so continued a series of Actions , but there will remain some small vacuities ; and these vacuities which are sometimes necessary for the freeing the Mind , may be usefully fill'd with some Prayers which would not oblige to a great attention , which would terminate rightly the precedent Actions , and prepare those which follow .

But Men have so little care of their Spiritual advancement , that generally there is nothing worse employed than that time which might be the best . For those vacuities are oftentimes only fill'd with vain thoughts and useless reflections ; and 't is by this means principally that the Devil casts so much venom into the Soul , finding less entrance thereinto when the Soul is busied .

Every one ought to accustom himself to mannage for God these small times ; to raise , for example , his Spirit to God , when his sleep is interrupted in the Night , when he awakes in the Morning , when he is dressing himself , and when he goes from one place to another . He would find by this means considerable times for prayer , and he would not have cause to complain so much that he is over-toil'd with labour , and that he cand find no time to bestow on God and himself .

I know very well that Nature , which searcheth every where its ease , will find it self charged , if it were made subject to a new attention in these intervals , and that it had rather give it self over to thoughts which come of themselves , and which seize it as soon as it applies it self to them : But if this practice is laborious at the beginning , it would become much less at the end ; and there are likewise many prayers which weary the Mind less , than certain thoughts whereunto we abandon our selves in the vacuities . After all , we cannot weary our selves abut any thing more useful , than to stop the entrance of the heart from the Devil , to purifie our Actions , and to nourish and sustain the Soul in the continual need she hath to repair her Spiritual forces , which are enervated as well as those of the Body , by the continuity of Actions .

't is by these means , and by all others that I have described in this Treatise , that the advice S. Paul gives us of praying always , may be practised . Sine intermissione orate . And by the practice of this advice we are prepared in an excellent manner for particular prayers which we make at certain times , because we find our selves absolutely disposed thereto when this time is come , and we have already before-hand the principal end of these prayers , seeing that we choose not these times for prayer in a more express manner , but only that the unction we receive thereby may be spread through all our Actions , and may cause at the end of our lives a contiual prayer .

CHAP. XIII . That the Practice of Christian Vigilance includes that of recollection .

THere is nothing that all those , who prescribe Rules for the guide of Souls , who aspire to a more perfect life than the generality of Christians , do recommend to them more , than what they call recollection , and they make deservedly the ground Work of this Christian perfection , to which they pretend to incline them , it being impossible that a Spirit dissipated and evaporated can ever make any progress in virtue .

But it would not be a small fault , nor an inconsiderable illusion , to believe this virtue necessary only for certain Souls more elevated and more perfect , and to believe that it is not for the common sort of Christians . For if Vigilance be a general virtue , and if it be for a all Christians that Jesus Christ said , Watch and pray lest ye fall into temptation : 't is also all Christians that he orders to be recollected , and not to be dissipated , seeing that the practice of Vigilance includes that of recollection , and that 't is impossible to watch and not to be recollected .

This is what is very easie to be comprehended , by considering what is understood by recollection . There is an interior and an exterior one . The exterior consists in the retention of the senses , in keeping silence and solitude as much as we can , in avoiding tumults and multiplicity of affairs , and principally those which dissipate and draw us out of our selves . The interior , consists in not entertaining our selves with vain and frivolous thoughts ; in being attentive to God ; in standing before him in a kind of continual adoration , in being busied about good thoughts , and principally about those which may serve us for Rules to do all our Actions in the sight of God .

It is evident now , that all we have said hitherto is nothing but the practice of inward recollection . For we cannot be more profitably recollected , than in adoring God inwardly in all Places , and in all Creatures , in hearkening to what he says , in consulting his pleasure , in beholding him always as our only Protector , and our only Refuge in all temptations which attack us , in watching all our motions as well exterior as interior .

But it is clear , that this recollection , which is inward , inclines us of it self to the outward . For if we consult Gods Law in the use we ought to make of our senses , we shall cut off presently all the use of sense , which only tends to pleasure , and which hath no necessity .

't is not a counsel of perfection . 't is the Eternal and unchangeable Law of God , which obliges Man to love none but him , to delight only in him ; to make use of Creatures , but with the moderation of him who makes use of them , and not with the passion of him who enjoys them : Utentis modestia non amantis affectu . We must not then believe that 't is permitted to any to let loose the Reins of his senses , how innocent soever the Objects may be . For 't is sufficient that the pleasures be not necessary , to abstain from them ; and this moderation , so necessary for all the World , does not only regard Eating and Drinking , but also all other sensual Objects . There must always be some other reason than that of seeking our propper satisfaction to excuse the use of it . And so whosoever hath a care to have Gods Law before their Eyes , and to follow it in their Actions , are obliged to be very circumspect in the manner of making use of their senses .

All Christians are obliged to pray , and those who live in the World are in some sort more obliged thereunto than others , because they have more strong temptations to combate , being exposed to greater perils , and having need of greater helps from God . They are then obliged to avoid what may hinde● the efficaciousness of their prayers , seeing 't is by these prayers they must obtain this help and assistance . And as there is nothing more opposite to a spirit of prayer , than the diffusion of the Soul into the senses ; and as 't is the ordinary source of those distractions which corrupt our prayers , and which make them uncapable of pleasing God , the same Obligation which binds them to pray , obliges them also to preserve their Souls from this dissipation .

What I have newly said of the evaporation of the Soul by the senses , may be applied to the dissipation which ariseth from Words . All the World is obliged to fly it , seeing 't is not only to the perfect to whom it is said , they shall give an account at the day of Judgment of their unprofitable and unnecessary Words , but generally speaking to all Mankind .

Whosoever therefore hath this Law of God before their Eyes , reduce themselves as much as they can to silence . Avoid frivolous conversations . Are perswaded , as the Apostle saith , that they ought to speak only before God and in Jesus Christ . And by the attention they have upon all their Words and Actions , they retrench all that tends not to God , and that springs not from his Spirit .

Now by retrenching both unprofitable divertisements and discourses , we are reduced by a necessary consequence to a kind of solitude , being we scarce go out from thence but through a desire to be entertained with Men , or to feed our selves with the sights , and other Objects of the senses .

In fine , there are some common Duties to be included in this Employ , not to charge our selves with too dissipating affairs without necessity , not to undertake what we cannot accomplish with a Spirit of prayer , to do all our Actions through some considerations of God , and not through Human and Worldly intentions . For 't is to all mankind that this advice of the wise Man is addressed , that we must not puzle our selves in a multitude of Actions . Fili ne in multis sint Actus tui . 't is to all mankind that 't is forbidden to overburthen themselves . And lastly , 't is to all mankind that 't is commanded to do all for the honour of Jesus Christ , and to love God withall their hearts , which obliges them to do nothing but for him , and by the motives of his love .

't is very true that this recollection ought to be practised differently , according to the different conditions , because it consists not in avoiding all the Words , and all the Affairs , and all the Companies , and all the Objects of the senses , but in keeping our selves , in respect of all these things , within the boundaries of necessity , and proportion to their inward forces .

But it would be also an error to believe that we might not be rocollected without an entire silence , an entire retreat , an actual separation from all Objects of the senses , and from all Affairs . Thus 't is visible , that being vigilant over our selves , as we have already said , we practice recollection as much as is necessary to satisfie the duty of Christianity , and to arrive even at the most eminent perfection .

CHAP. XIV . That Christian Vigilance inclines us to the exercise of all Virtues , and that 't is also an excellent preparatory to Prayer .

CHristian Virtue consisting in the practice of its Duties , in overcoming Temptations which disswade us from them , and in doing the one and the other in consideration of God , and for the love of Justice , it is evident , that what places this justice before our Eyes , what discovers these temptations , what makes us watchful over the motions of the heart , which are the source of our good Actions , and our falls according to the Gospel , what shews us at last from whence we may be able to obtain the succour which is necessary to uphold us in the exercise of all Christian virtues , doth engage us as it were necessarliy to practice them .

This is what will be yet comprehended , if we consider that those who have a true desire to addict themselves perf●ctly to God , are commonly disswaded from practising them only because they do not think of them , and because they do not apply themselves to distinguish the occasions of them . For having always a fountain of an evil Vigilance which opens their Eyes to seek their pleasures , and their interests , which is Concupiscence , they cannot hinder this ill Principle from dragging them by another Vigilance , which sets them as guard against all these diligent enquiries of self love . So whosoever is not Vigilant to mortifie himself , does not mortifie himself at all . For he never fails to perceive the occasions wherein his Senses and his Mind may find some pleasure , but he never perceives the occasions of mortifying them . 't is what Nature never makes us think of . So that it may be alledged as a certain truth , that a dissipated life is an unmortified life , and in which is mingled consequently an infinite secret enquiries about the satisfaction of the senses , the delights of the Body , and what may be able to satisfie Vanity .

What I have said of mortification , may be said of all other Virtues . We do not practice them at all , when we do not watch . And Concupiscence on the contrary , whose time is always ready , is never slack in acting when we are unmindful to hinder it . Thus for want of attention and Vigilance we lose a thousand occasions of exercising Christian virtues , even when we have a desire to do it in our Hearts .

't is by this means yet that Vigilance is an excellent disposition to prayer ; for all virtues prepare thereunto , and all faults are obstacles . The Union we have with our Neighbour , the desire of their welfare as of our own , the bearing with their faults , the forgetting , or even the agreeableness for what they may have done which might displease us , the Charity for the Church , and for all its Members , the Zeal for the Glory of God , the desire and eagerness for Eternal Goods ; all other virtues likewise , how good they may be in the heart , are employed to Rule the outward Man , as circumspection in speech , modesty in the countenance , mortification of all the senses ; all these virtues , I say , prepare for prayer , and render it more fervent . On the contrary , according to St. Ambrose , in Psal . 128. Sins burthen the Soul , and keep us separated from God , by hindering us from raising our selves up to him . Peccato gravescit oratio , & longe fit a Deo .

Saint Bernard does attribute particularly this ill effect to the sins of the Tongue and unprofitable discourses . There is not any instrument , saith he , more proper to drain the Heart , than the Tongue ; and I think in that the conscience of many among you renders Testimony of what I say ; for which of you is so perfect that he has not felt , after long discourses , his Mind empty , his Meditations without devotion , the affections of his Heart dry and withered , and his prayer without unction , because of the words he had spoken or understood ?

Not only the practice of virtues disposes us to pray , but it is even a prayer and a praising God , according to St. Austin . How , saith this Doctor , can a Man have the force to praise God all the day long ? I am going to teach you the secret . Let all you do be well done , and you will praise God . Quidquid egerit bene age , & laudasti Deum .

CHAP. XV . An Answer to a difficulty concerning divers means of keeping our selves in the presence of God .

I Do not question but those who shall read what has been written in this Treatise , have been often struck with this thought , that 't is very hard and even impossible to make all these reflections amongst a croud of Employments wherewith most part of the World are overwhelmed , and that if we should be troubled to apply our Minds to so many different prospects , by dwelling solitary in the house , and endeavouring to recollect our selves as much as possible we could , it is yet much more difficult to do it in the dissipation which is almost inseparable from a Worldly life , and in the application that we are obliged to have for the affairs which employ us therein .

And indeed we cannot deny but that these practices cause some constraint , above all at the beginning , seeing they ought to hinder the Mind from following its Natural propensity , to recall it often from its strayings which are agreeable to it , to apply it to some Objects which it hath a sensible dislike for , and to interrupt oftentimes that which it finds in those which are most familiar with it . But the difficulty thereof will appear notwithstanding much less , if we comprehend well whereunto it s reduced .

For we must not imagin , that at each Action we ought to make these reflections in a distinct , clear and extended manner . We pretend only that we must render them familiar , by express considerations in those times that St. Bernard advises to set a part every day for consideration , that we may be able to recall them all the day long , by looking upon them with a confused look , but sufficient yet to Rule our Actions , and to keep us in the presence of God .

They are not then so many express thoughts which we advise , but remains of thoughts ; whereof David said , Reliquiae cogitationum diem festum agent tibi . And this is what is no way troublesome to us in things which make a lively impression upon our hearts . For they present themselves to our Minds in the midst of our Employs ; they shew themselves whether we will or no , and we have much more trouble to rid our selves of , than to apply our selves to them .

When a Painter hath learnt the Rules of his Art , and strongly imprinted them in his imagination , he needs only to cast an Eye , to guide himself in his Works . It is not necessary that he run through this consequence of precepts which he did when he learned them , nor that he make long discussions in his Mind . He sees at first his Rule , and he follows it even without unfolding what he sees . The Mind has a way of Acting by it self much more prompt than that it makes appear to others in speaking to them : and oftentimes this l●ng consequence of Words is nothing but the expressi●g of what it hath conceived at once and in an instant .

It is the same with all other Arts which we exercise or put in practice . The Precepts which we have learnt with care and study guide afterwards our Actions , and become so present by the exercise , that we hardly distinguish the sight we have had of them , and it hinders not the Mind from applying it self to every thing else . It would be the same in respect of those considerations which ought to help us to govern our Actions , if we made our Art , our Trade , or our Profession to live like Christians , and if we were well perswaded that we had nothing to do but to follow God , and to rule our life by what he has made us know of his pleasure in the Gospel .

But as to follow the Rules of Art with facility , it is necessary to have learnt them carefully and laboriously ; likewise to follow Gods truths with some ease in the conduct of this life , it is necessary to have learnt them with a laborious application , and not to be discouraged at the difficulties which may be met with therein

And this is what ought to make us blush in this point of our curiosity . We would have the most important thing of the World , or rather the only important thing which may be in the World , to cost us nothing . We would find God without seeking him ; know all truths without giving our s●lves the trouble to learn them , and be Master of our selves and thoughts , without having had occasion for all that to do our selves any violence .

This is not the ordinary conduct of God over Man . He is found only by those who seek with pains ; he only puts into our Minds upon occasions the truths we have need of ; and his design in that , is , to hide himself in respect of us , to take from us the Idea of a supernatural Conduct ; and thereby to keep us in a low way , conform to the weakness of our virtue .

So to practice profitably all these means which we have proposed to keep our selves in the presence of God , we ought often to meditate on them by express considerations , and render them present to our selves in such a manner , that we may have nothing to do but to cast our Eyes upon them from time to time , to renew them all at once in our Minds .

Likewise we must not pretend , that God ought presently to make us enjoy them , and we ought to esteem our selves too happy , that he does us that favour of labouring therein our whole life , without disheartning us with the faults which we shall commit there , nor for our small advancement . Provided that when God shall take us out of this World , he find us yet bent to seek out his justice ; we ought to hope he will finish the rest in the other World . Now this diligent scrutiny is to seek and find out a means to have God always present in our Actions , and to endeavour to walk before his face , seeing that 't is practising what the Prophet recommends to us by these Words . Querite Dominum & confirmemini , querite faciem ejus semper .

It will not be amiss to advertise , that when we recommend here to make some endeavour to keep our selves in the presence of God , and to apply our selves all day long to the divers means we have given to practice this exercise , we do not pretend to counsel a violent application , 't is enough to turn mildly the Mind towards God by the different ways we have proposed , without discovering at each regard what will be presently discovered , except it be in the occasions we shall doubt of what we ought to do , in which case it is good to desist , that we may not act with inconstancy and by hazard . But besides that , a meer look and a simple elevation to God is enough , not only to Rule our Actions , but oftentimes also to obtain for us new lights , and to discover in Objects which shall present to us new truths , to which we have not as yet applyed our thoughts .

FINIS .