Re: Spam these pricks!
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this day. But religion remained here, and I believe in some other
places, the main subject of conversation for several months after. And
there were some turns, wherein God's work seemed to revive, and we were
ready to hope that all was going to be renewed again; yet, in the main,
there was a gradual decline of that general, engaged, lively spirit in
religion, which had been. Several things have happened since, which have
diverted people's minds, and turned their conversation more to other
affairs; particularly his Excellency the Governor's coming up, and the
Committee of general court, on the treaty with the Indians. -Afterwards,
the Springfield controversy; and since that, our people in this town
have been engaged in the building of a new meeting-house. Some other
occurrences might be mentioned, that have seemed to have this effect.
But as to those who have been thought converted at this time, they
generally seem to have had an abiding change wrought on them. I have had
particular acquaintance with many of them since; and they generally
appear to be persons who have a new sense of things, new apprehensions
and views of God, of the divine attributes of Jesus Christ, and the
great things of
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occasion as before. And thus, while the present never satisfies us,
experience dupes us and, from misfortune to misfortune, leads us to death,
their eternal crown.
What is it, then, that this desire and this inability proclaim to us, but
that there was once in man a true happiness of which there now remain to him
only the mark and empty trace, which he in vain tries to fill from all his
surroundings, seeking from things absent the help he does not obtain in
things present? But these are all inadequate, because the infinite abyss can
only be filled by an infinite and immutable object, that is to say, only by
God Himself. He only is our true good, and since we have forsaken him, it is
a strange thing that there is nothing in nature which has not been
serviceable in taking His place; the stars, the heavens, earth, the
elements, plants, cabbages, leeks, animals, insects, calves, serpents,
fever, pestilence, war, famine, vices, adultery, incest. And since man has
lost the true good, everything can appear equally good to him, even his own
destruction, though so opposed to God, to reason, and to the whole course of
nature.
Some seek good in authority, others in scientific research, others in
pleasure. Others, who are in fact nearer the truth, have considered it
necessary that the universal good, which all men desire, should not consist
in any of the particular things which can only be possessed by one man, and
which, when shared, afflict their possessors more by the want of the part he
has not than they please him by the possession of what he has. They have
learned that the true good should be such as all can possess at once,
without diminution and without envy, and which no one can lose against his
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53. A carriage upset or overturned, according to the meaning. To spread
abroad or upset, according to the meaning. (The argument by force of M. le
Maitre over the friar.)
54. Miscellaneous.--A form of speech, "I should have liked to apply myself
to that."
55. The aperitive virtue of a key, the attractive virtue of a hook.
56. To guess: "The part that I take in your trouble." The Cardinal did not
want to be guessed.
"My mind is disquieted." I am disquieted is better.
57. I always feel uncomfortable under such compliments as these: "I have
given you a great deal of trouble," "I am afraid I am boring you," "I fear
this is too long." We either carry our audience with us, or irritate them.
58. You are ungraceful: "Excuse me, pray." Without that excuse I would not
have known there was anything amiss. "With reverence be it spoken..." The
only thing bad is their excuse.
59. "To extinguish the torch of sedition"; too luxuriant. "The restlessness
of his genius"; two superfluous grand words.
SECTION II: THE MISERY OF MAN WITHOUT GOD
60. First part: Misery of man without God.
Second part: Happiness of man with God.
Or, First part: That nature is corrupt. Proved by nature itself.
Second part: That there is a Redeemer. Proved by Scripture.
61. Order.--I might well have taken this discourse in
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uncertainty of all our knowledge. For the knowledge of first principles, as
space, time, motion, number, is as sure as any of those which we get from
reasoning. And reason must trust these intuitions of the heart, and must
base them on every argument. (We have intuitive knowledge of the
tri-dimensional nature of space and of the infinity of number, and reason
then shows that there are no two square numbers one of which is double of
the other. Principles are intuited, propositions are inferred, all with
certainty, though in different ways.) And it is as useless and absurd for
reason to demand from the heart proofs of her first principles, before
admitting them, as it would be for the heart to demand from reason an
intuition of all demonstrated propositions before accepting them.
This inability ought, then, to serve only to humble reason, which would
judge all, but not to impugn our certainty, as if only reason were capable
of instructing us. Would to God, on the contrary, that we had never need of
it, and that we knew everything by instinct and intuition! But nature has
refused us this boon. On the contrary, she has given us but very little
knowledge of this kind; and all the rest can be acquired only by reasoning.
Therefore, those to whom God has imparted religion by intuition are very
fortunate and justly convinced. But to those who do not have it, we can give
it only by reasoning, waiting for God to give them spiritual insight,
without which faith is only human and useless for salvation.
283. Order.--Against the objec
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because they misunderstand it. They imagine that it consists simply in the
worship of a God considered as great, powerful, and eternal; which is
strictly deism, almost as far removed from the Christian religion as
atheism, which is its exact opposite. And thence they conclude that this
religion is not true, because they do not see that all things concur to the
establishment of this point, that God does not manifest Himself to men with
all the evidence which He could show.
But let them conclude what they will against deism, they will conclude
nothing against the Christian religion, which properly consists in the
mystery of the Redeemer, who, uniting in Himself the two natures, human and
divine, has redeemed men from the corruption of sin in order to reconcile
them in His divine person to God.
The Christian religion, then, teaches men these two truths; that there is a
God whom men can know, and that there is a corruption in their nature which
renders them unworthy of Him. It is equally important to men to know both
these points; and it is equally dangerous for man to know God without
knowing his own wretchedness, an
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teach right doctrine and right morality. But through Jesus Christ, and in
Jesus Christ, we prove God, and teach morality and doctrine. Jesus Christ
is, then, the true God of men.
But we know at the same time our wretchedness; for this God is none other
than the Saviour of our wretchedness. So we can only know God well by
knowing our iniquities. Therefore those who have known God, without knowing
their wretchedness, have not glorified Him, but have glorified themselves.
Quia... non cognovit per sapientiam... placuit Deo per stultitiam
praedicationis salvos facere.92
548. Not only do we know God by Jesus Christ alone, but we know ourselves
only by Jesus Christ. We know life and death only through Jesus Christ.
Apart from Jesus Christ, we do not know what is our life, nor our death, nor
God, nor ourselves.
Thus without the Scripture, which has Jesus Christ alone for its object, we
know nothing, and see only darkness and confusion in the nature of God and
in our own nature.
549. It is not only impossible but useless to know God without Jesus Christ.
They have not departed fro
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A cipher has a double meaning, one clear and one in which it is said that
the meaning is hidden.
678. Types.--A portrait conveys absence and presence, pleasure and pain. The
reality excludes absence and pain.
To know if the law and the sacrifices are a reality or a type, we must see
if the prophets, in speaking of these things, confined their view and their
thought to them, so that they saw only the old covenant; or if they saw
therein something else of which they were the representation, for in a
portrait we see the thing figured. For this we need only examine what they
say of them.
When they say that it will be eternal, do they mean to speak of that
covenant which they say will be changed; and so of the sacrifices, etc.?
A cipher has two meanings. When we find out an important letter in which we
discover a clear meaning, and in which it is nevertheless said that the
meaning is veiled and obscure, that it is hidden, so that we might read the
letter without seeing it, and interpret it without understanding it, what
must we think but that here is a cipher with a double meaning, and the more
so if we find obvious contradictions in the literal meaning? The prophets
have clearly said that Israel would be always loved by God and that the law
would be eternal; and they have said that their meaning would not be
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And, as it is alike necessary to man to know these two points, so is it
alike merciful of God to have made us know them. The Christian religion does
this; it is in this that it consists.
Let us herein examine the order of the world and see if all things do not
tend to establish these two chief points of this religion: Jesus Christ is
end of all, and the centre to which all tends. Whoever knows Him knows the
reason of everything.
Those who fall into error err only through failure to see one of these two
things. We can, then, have an excellent knowledge of God without that of our
own wretchedness and of our own wretchedness without that of God. But we
cannot know Jesus Christ without knowing at the same time both God and our
own wretchedness.
Therefore I shall not undertake here to prove by natural reasons either the
existence of God, or the Trinity, or the immortality of the soul, or
anything of that nature; not only because I should not feel myself
sufficiently able to find in nature arguments to convince hardened atheists,
but also because such knowledge without Jesus Christ is useless and barren.
Though a man should be convinced that numerical proportions are immaterial
truths, eternal and dependent on a first truth, in which they subsist and
which is called God, I should not think him far advanced towards his own
salvation.
The God of Chris
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dispute, or, if it has been contested, there has been the Pope, or, failing
him, there has been the Church.
850. The five propositions condemned, but no miracle; for the truth was not
attacked. But the Sorbonne... but the bull...
It is impossible that those who love God with all their heart should fail to
recognise the Church; so evident is she. It is impossible that those who do
not love God should be convinced of the Church.
Miracles have such influence that it was necessary that God should warn men
not to believe in them in opposition to Him, all clear as it is that there
is a God. Without this they would have been able to disturb men.
And thus so far from these passages, Deut. 13, making against the authority
of the miracles, nothing more indicates their influence. And the same in
respect of Antichrist. "To seduce, if it were possible, even the elect."
851. The history of the man born blind.
What says Saint Paul? Does he continually speak of the evidence of the
prophecies? No, but of his own miracle. What says Jesus Christ? Does He
speak of the evidence of the prophecies? No; His death had not fulfilled
them. But he says, Si non fecissem.213 Believe the works.
Two s
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of languages, and with physical exercise; and they are made to understand
that they cannot be happy unless their health, their honour, their fortune
and that of their friends be in good condition, and that a single thing
wanting will make them unhappy. Thus they are given cares and business which
make them bustle about from break of day. It is, you will exclaim, a strange
way to make them happy! What more could be done to make them
miserable?--Indeed! what could be done? We should only have to relieve them
from all these cares; for then they would see themselves: they would reflect
on what they are, whence they came, whither they go, and thus we cannot
employ and divert them too much. And this is why, after having given them so
much business, we advise them, if they have some time for relaxation, to
employ it in amusement, in play, and to be always fully occupied.
How hollow and full of ribaldry is the heart of man!
144. I spent a long time in the study of the abstract sciences, and was
disheartened by the small number of fellow-students in them. When I
commenced the study of man, I saw that these abstract sciences are not
suited to man and that I was wandering farther from my own state in
examining them than others in not knowing them. I pardoned their little
knowledge; but I thought at least to find many companions in the study of
man and that it was the true study which is suited to him. I have been
deceived; still fewer study it than geometry
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and by that of these curious investigators of accepted customs. But from a
contrary mistake men sometimes think they can justly do everything which is
not without an example. That is why the wisest of legislators said that it
was necessary to deceive men for their own good; and another, a good
politician, Cum veritatem qua liberetur ignoret, expedit quod fallatur.43 We
must not see the fact of usurpation; law was once introduced without reason,
and has become reasonable. We must make it regarded as authoritative,
eternal, and conceal its origin, if we do not wish that it should soon come
to an end.
295. Mine, thine.--"This dog is mine," said those poor children; "that is my
place in the sun." Here is the beginning and the image of the usurpation of
all the earth.
296. When the question for consideration is whether we ought to make war and
kill so many men--condemn so many Spaniards to death--only one man is judge,
and he is an interested party. There should be a third, who is
disinterested.
297. Veri juris.[44] --We have it no more; if we had it, we should take
conformity to the customs of a country as the rule of justice. It is here
that, not finding justice, w
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to talk. Otherwise we would not take a sea voyage in order never to talk of
it, and for the sole pleasure of seeing without hope of ever communicating
it.
153. Of the desire of being esteemed by those with whom we are.--Pride takes
such natural possession of us in the midst of our woes, errors, etc. We even
lose our life with joy, provided people talk of it.
Vanity: play, hunting, visiting, false shame, a lasting name.
154. I have no friends to your advantage.
155. A true friend is so great an advantage, even for the greatest lords, in
order that he may speak well of them and back them in their absence, that
they should do all to have one. But they should choose well; for, if they
spend all their efforts in the interests of fools, it will be of no use,
however well these may speak of them; and these will not even speak well of
them if they find themselves on the weakest side, for they have no
influence; and thus they will speak ill of them in company.
156. Ferox gens, nullam esse vitam sine armis rati.20 --They prefer death to
peace; others prefer death to war.
Every opinion may be held preferable to life, the love of which is so strong
and so natural.
157. Contradiction: contempt for our existence, to die for nothing, hatred
of our existence.
158. Pursuits.--The charm of fame is so great that we like every object to
which it is attached, even death.
159. Noble deeds are most estimable when hidden. When I see some of these in
history, they please me greatly. But after all they have not been quite
hidden, since they have been known; and though people have done what they
could to hide them, the little publication of them spoils all, for what was
best in them wa
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but it came upon me unexpected; I did not look for it at that time, and
in that manner; it came as a thief -- Death outwitted me: God's wrath
was too quick for me. Oh, my cursed foolishness! I was flattering
myself, and pleasing myself with vain dreams of what I would do
hereafter; and when I was saying, Peace and safety, then sudden
destruction came upon me."
God has laid himself under no obligation, by any promise to keep any
natural man out of hell one moment. God certainly has made no promises
either of eternal life, or of any deliverance or preservation from
eternal death, but what are contained in the covenant of grace, the
promises that are given in Christ, in whom all the promises are yea and
amen. But surely they have no interest in the promises of the covenant
of grace who are not the children of the covenant, who do not believe in
any of the promises, and have no interest in the Mediator of the
covenant. So that, whatever some have imagined and pretended about
promises made to natural men's earnest seeking and knocking, it is plain
and manifest, that whatever pains a natural man takes in religion,
whatever prayers he makes, till he believes in Christ, God is under no
manner of obligation to keep him a moment from eternal destruction. So
that, thus it is that natural men are held in the hand of God, over the
pit of hell; they have deserved the fiery pit, and are already sentenced
to it; and God is dreadfully provoked, his anger is as great towards
them as to those that are actually suffering the executions of the
fierceness of his wrath in hell, and they have done
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dominantur.[16]
88. Children who are frightened at the face they have blackened are but
children. But how shall one who is so weak in his childhood become really
strong when he grows older? We only change our fancies. All that is made
perfect by progress perishes also by progress. All that has been weak can
never become absolutely strong. We say in vain, "He has grown, he has
changed"; he is also the same.
89. Custom is our nature. He who is accustomed to the faith believes in it,
can no longer fear hell, and believes in nothing else. He who is accustomed
to believe that the king is terrible... etc. Who doubts, then, that our
soul, being accustomed to see number, space, motion, believes that and
nothing else?
90. Quod crebro videt non miratur, etiamsi cur fiat nescit; quod ante non
viderit, id si evenerit, ostentum esse censet.17
91. Spongia solis.--When we see the same effect always recur, we infer a
natural necessity in it, as that there will be a tomorrow, etc. But Nature
often deceives us, and does not subject herself to her own rules.
92. What are our natural principles but pri
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Rev. Mr. Marsh, was thus blest about the same time as we in Northampton,
while we had no knowledge of each other's circumstances. There has been
a very great ingathering of souls to Christ in that place, and something
considerable of the same work began afterwards in East Windsor, my
honored father's parish, which has in times past been a place favored
with mercies of this nature, above any on this western side of New
England, excepting Northampton; there having been four or five seasons
of the pouring out of the Spirit to the general awakening of the people
there, since my father's settlement amongst them.
There was also the last spring and summer a wonderful work of God
carried on at Coventry, under the ministry of the Rev. Mr. Meacham. I
had opportunity to converse with some Coventry people, who gave me a
very remarkable account of the surprising change that appeared in the
most rude and vicious persons there. The like was also very great at the
same time in a part of Lebanon, called the Crank, where the Rev. Mr.
Wheelock, a young gentleman, is lately settled: and there has been much
of the same at Durham, under the ministry of the Rev. Mr. Chauncey; and
to appearance no small ingathering of souls there. Likewise amongst many
of the young people in the first precinct in Stratford, under the
ministry of the Rev. Mr. Gould; where the work was much promoted by the
remarkable conversion of a young woman who had been a great
company-keeper, as it was here.
Something of this work appeared in several others towns in those parts,
as I was informed when I was there, the last fall. And we have since
been acquainted with something very remarkable of this nature at another
parish in Stratford, called Ripton, under the pastoral care of the Rev.
Mr. Mills. There was a considerable revival of religion last summer at
Newhaven old town, as I was once and again informed by the Rev. Mr.
Noyes, the minister there, and by others: an
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in order to excuse the most wicked.
The heathen sages erected a structure equally fine outside, but upon a bad
foundation; and the devil deceived men by this apparent resemblance based
upon the most different foundation.
Man never had so good a cause as I; and others have never furnished so good
a capture as you...
The more they point out weakness in my person, the more they authorise my
cause.
You say that I am a heretic. Is that lawful? And if you do not fear that men
do justice, do you not fear that God does justice?
You will feel the force of the truth, and you will yield to it...
There is something supernatural in such a blindness. Digna necessitas.231
Mentiris impudentissime.232
Doctrina sua noscetur vir...[233]
False piety, a double sin.
I am alone against thirty thousand. No. Protect you, the court; protect,
you, deception; let me protect the truth. It is all my strength. If I lose
it, I am undone. I shall not lack accusations, and persecutions. But I
possess the truth, and we shall see who will take it away.
I do not need to defend religion, but you do not need to defend error and
injustice. Let God, out of His compassio
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For we think either of the misfortunes we have or of those which threaten
us. And even if we should see ourselves sufficiently sheltered on all sides,
weariness of its own accord would not fail to arise from the depths of the
heart wherein it has its natural roots and to fill the mind with its poison.
Thus so wretched is man that he would weary even without any cause for
weariness from the peculiar state of his disposition; and so frivolous is he
that, though full of a thousand reasons for weariness, the least thing, such
as playing billiards or hitting a ball, is sufficient to amuse him.
But will you say what object has he in all this? The pleasure of bragging
tomorrow among his friends that he has played better than another. So others
sweat in their own rooms to show to the learned that they have solved a
problem in algebra, which no one had hitherto been able to solve. Many more
expose themselves to extreme perils, in my opinion as foolishly, in order to
boast afterwards that they have captu
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prophets have foretold the Christians; Saint John, Jesus Christ.
700. It is glorious to see with the eyes of faith the history of Herod and
of Caesar.
701. The zeal of the Jews for their law and their temple (Josephus, and
Philo the Jew, Ad Caium). What other people had such a zeal? It was
necessary they should have it.
Jesus Christ foretold as to the time and the state of the world. The ruler
taken from the thigh, and the fourth monarchy. How lucky we are to see this
light amidst this darkness!
How fine it is to see, with the eyes of faith, Darius and Cyrus, Alexander,
the Romans, Pompey and Herod working, without knowing it, for the glory of
the Gospel!
702. Zeal of the Jewish people for the law, especially after there were no
more prophets.
703. While the prophets were for maintaining the law, the people were
indifferent. But, since there have been no more prophets, zeal has succeeded
them.
704. The devil troubled the zeal of the Jews before Jesus Christ, because he
would have been their salvation, but not since.
The Jewish pe
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mathematics to which they are unused.
The reason, therefore, that some intuitive minds are not mathematical is
that they cannot at all turn their attention to the principles of
mathematics. But the reason that mathematicians are not intuitive is that
they do not see what is before them, and that, accustomed to the exact and
plain principles of mathematics, and not reasoning till they have well
inspected and arranged their principles, they are lost in matters of
intuition where the principles do not allow of such arrangement. They are
scarcely seen; they are felt rather than seen; there is the greatest
difficulty in making them felt by those who do not of themselves perceive
them. These principles are so fine and so numerous that a very delicate and
very clear sense is needed to perceive them, and to judge rightly and justly
when they are perceived, without for the most part being able to demonstrate
them in order as in mathematics, because the principles are not known to us
in the same way, and because it would be an endles
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the cause of their heresy; and ignorance that we hold the other truth causes
their objections.
1st example: Jesus Christ is God and man. The Arians, unable to reconcile
these things, which they believe incompatible, say that He is man; in this
they are Catholics. But they deny that He is God; in this they are heretics.
They allege that we deny His humanity; in this they are ignorant.
2nd example: On the subject of the Holy Sacrament. We believe that, the
substance of the bread being changed, and being consubstantial with that of
the body of our Lord, Jesus Christ is therein really present. That is one
truth. Another is that this Sacrament is also a type of the cross and of
glory, and a commemoration of the two. That is the Catholic faith, which
comprehends these two truths which seem opposed.
The heresy of to-day, not conceiving that this Sacrament contains at the
same time both the presence of Jesus Christ and a type of Him, and that it
is a sacrifice and a commemoration of a sacrifice, believes that neither of
these truths can be admitted without excluding the other for this reason.
They fasten to this point alone, that this Sacrament is typical; and in this
they are not heretics. They think that we exclude this truth; hence it comes
that they raise so many objections to us out of the passages of the Fathers
which assert it. Finally, they deny the presence; and in this they are
heretics.
3rd example: Indulgences.
The shortest way, therefore, to prevent heresies is to instruct in all
truths; and the surest way to refute them is to declare them all. For what
will the heretics say?
In order to know whether an opinion is a Father's...
863. All err the more dangerously, as they each follow a truth. Their fault
is not in following a falseho
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to do to all men! For is it right that we should deceive men?
There are different degrees in this aversion to truth; but all may perhaps
be said to have it in some degree, because it is inseparable from self-love.
It is this false delicacy which makes those who are under the necessity of
reproving others choose so many windings and middle courses to avoid
offence. They must lessen our faults, appear to excuse them, intersperse
praises and evidence of love and esteem. Despite all this, the medicine does
not cease to be bitter to self-love. It takes as little as it can, always
with disgust, and often with a secret spite against those who administer it.
Hence it happens that, if any have some interest in being loved by us, they
are averse to render us a service which they know to be disagreeable. They
treat us as we wish to be treated. We hate the truth, and they hide it from
us. We desire flattery, and they flatter us. We like to be deceived, and
they deceive us.
So each degree of good fortune which raises us in the world removes us
farther from truth, because we are most afraid of wounding those whose
affection is most useful and whose dislike is most dangerous. A prince may
be the byword of all Europe, and he alone will know nothing of it. I am not
astonished. To tell the truth is useful to those to whom it is spoken, but
disadvantageous to those who tell it, because it makes them disliked. Now
those who live with princes love their own interests more than that of the
prince whom they serve; and so they take care not to confer on him a benefit
so as to injure themselves.
This evil is no doubt greater and more common among the higher classes; but
the lowe
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taunts and indignities.
4. In working for the uncertain; in sailing on the sea; in walking over a
plank.
325. Montaigne is wrong. Custom should be followed only because it is
custom, and not because it is reasonable or just. But people follow it for
this sole reason, that they think it just. Otherwise they would follow it no
longer, although it were the custom; for they will only submit to reason or
justice. Custom without this would pass for tyranny; but the sovereignty of
reason and justice is no more tyrannical than that of desire. They are
principles natural to man.
It would, therefore, be right to obey laws and customs, because they are
laws; but we should know that there is neither truth nor justice to
introduce into them, that we know nothing of these, and so must follow what
is accepted. By this means we would never depart from them. But people
cannot accept this doctrine; and, as they believe that truth can be found,
and that it exists in law and custom, they believe them and take their
antiquity as a proof of their truth, and not simply of their authority apart
from truth. Thus they obey laws, but they are liable to revolt when these
are proved to be valueless; and this can be shown of all, looked at from a
certain aspect.
326. Injustice.--It is dangerous to tell the people that the laws are
unjust; for they obey them only because they think them just. Therefore it
is necessary to tell them
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optationes erroris ut credant mendacio.204
As in the passage of Moses: Tentat enim vos Deus, utrum diligatis eum.205
Ecce praedixi vobis: vos ergo videte.206
843. Here is not the country of truth. She wanders unknown amongst men. God
has covered her with a veil, which leaves her unrecognised by those who do
not hear her voice. Room is opened for blasphemy, even against the truths
that are at least very likely. If the truths of the Gospel are published,
the contrary is published too, and the questions are obscured, so that the
people cannot distinguish. And they ask, "What have you to make you believed
rather than others? What sign do you give? You have only words, and so have
we. If you had miracles, good and well." That doctrine ought to be supported
by miracles is a truth, which they misuse in order to revile doctrine. And
if miracles happen, it is said that miracles are not enough without
doctrine; and this is another truth, which they misuse in order to revile
miracles.
Jesus Christ cured the man born blind and performed a number of miracles on
the Sabbath day. In this way He blinded the Pharisees, who said that
miracles must be judged by doctrine.
"We have Moses: but, as for this fellow, we know not from whence he is." It
is wonderful that you know not whence He is, and yet He does such miracles.
Jesus Christ spoke
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sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites,"
&c. Thus it will be with you that are in an unconverted state, if you
continue in it; the infinite might, and majesty, and terribleness of the
omnipotent God shall be magnified upon you, in the ineffable strength of
your torments. You shall be tormented in the presence of the holy
angels, and in the presence of the Lamb; and when you shall be in this
state of suffering, the glorious inhabitants of heaven shall go forth
and look on the awful spectacle, that they may see what the wrath and
fierceness of the Almighty is; and when they have seen it, they will
fall down and adore that great power and majesty. Isa. 66:23,24. "And it
shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one
sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the
Lord. And they shall go forth and look upon the carcasses of the men
that have transgressed against me; for their worm shall not die, neither
shall their fire be quenched, and they shall be an abhorring unto all
flesh."
It is everlasting wrath. It would be dreadful to suffer this fierceness
and wrath of Almighty God one moment; but you must suffer it to all
eternity. There will be no end to this exquisite horrible misery. When
you look forward, you shall see a long for ever, a boundless duration
before you, which will swallow up your thoughts, and amaze your soul;
and you will absolutely despair of
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them. When they find themselves unaffected, while yet there is the
greatest occasion to be affected; and when they feel worldly
dispositions working in them-pride, envy, stirrings of revenge, or some
ill spirit towards some person that has injured them, as well as other
workings of indwelling sin-their hearts are almost sunk with the
disappointment; and they are ready presently to think that they are mere
hypocrites.
They are ready to argue that, if God had indeed done such great things
for them, as they hoped, such ingratitude would be inconsistent with it.
They complain of the hardness and wickedness of their hearts; and say
there is so much corruption, that it seems to them impossible there
should be any goodness there. Many of them seem to be much more sensible
how corrupt their hearts are, than before they were converted; and some
have been too ready to be impressed with fear, that instead of becoming
better, they are grown much worse, and make it an argument against the
goodness of their state. But the truth, the case seems plainly to be,
that now they feel the pain of their own wound; they have a watchful eye
upon their hearts, that they did not use to have. They take more notice
of what sin is there, which is now more burdensome to them; they strive
more against it, and feel more of its strength.
They are somewhat surprised that they should in this respect find
themselves so different from the idea they generally had entertained of
godly persons. For, though grace be indeed of a far more excellent
nature than they imagined, yet those who are godly have much less of it,
and much
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and negligence, and in the end to security. I think I have found that no
discourses have been more remarkably blessed, than those in which the
doctrine of God's absolute sovereignty with regard to the salvation of
sinners, and His just liberty with regard to answering the prayers, or
succeeding the pains, of natural men, continuing such, have been
insisted on. I never found so much immediate saving fruit, in any
measure, of any discourses I have offered to my congregation, as some
from these words, Rom. iii. 19. "That every mouth may be stopped;"
endeavoring to show from thence that it would be just with God for ever
to reject and cast off mere natural men.
As to those in whom awakenings seem to have a saving issue, commonly the
first thing that appears after their legal troubles, is a conviction of
the justice of God in their condemnation, appearing in a sense of their
own exceeding sinfulness, and the vileness of all their performances. In
giving an account of this, they expressed themselves very variously;
some, that they saw God was sovereign, and might receive others and
reject them; some, that they were convinced God might justly bestow
mercy on every person in the town, in the world, and damn themselves to
all eternity; some, that they see God may justly have no regard to all
the pains they have taken, and all the prayers they have made; some,
that if they should seek, and take the utmost pains all their lives, God
might justly cast them into hell at last, because all their labors,
prayers, and tears cannot make an atonement for the least sin, nor merit
any blessing at the hands of God. Some have declared themselves to be in
the hands of God, that He may dispose of them just as He pleases; some,
that God may glorify Himself in their damnation, and they wonder that
God has suffered them to live so long, and has not cast them into hell
long ago.
Some
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condition, so miserable that nothing can comfort us when we think of it
closely.
Whatever condition we picture to ourselves, if we muster all the good things
which it is possible to possess, royalty is the finest position in the
world. Yet, when we imagine a king attended with every pleasure he can feel,
if he be without diversion and be left to consider and reflect on what he
is, this feeble happiness will not sustain him; he will necessarily fall
into forebodings of dangers, of revolutions which may happen, and, finally,
of death and inevitable disease; so that, if he be without what is called
diversion, he is unhappy and more unhappy than the least of his subjects who
plays and diverts himself.
Hence it comes that play and the society of women, war and high posts, are
so sought after. Not that there is in fact any happiness in them, or that
men imagine true bliss to consist in money won at play, or in the hare which
they hunt; we would not take these as a gift. We do not seek that easy and
peaceful lot which permits us to think of our unhappy condition, nor the
dangers of war, nor the labour of office, but the bustle which averts these
thoughts of ours and amuses us.
Reasons why we like the chase better than the quarry.
Hence it comes that men so much love noise and stir; hence it comes that the
priso
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unmindful of their wickedness, and does not resent it, that he does not
let loose his hand and cut them off. God is not altogether such an one
as themselves, though they may imagine him to be so. The wrath of God
burns against them, their damnation does not slumber; the pit is
prepared, the fire is made ready, the furnace is now hot, ready to
receive them; the flames do now rage and glow. The glittering sword is
whet, and held over them, and the pit hath opened its mouth under them.
The devil stands ready to fall upon them, and seize them as his own, at
what moment God shall permit him. They belong to him; he has their souls
in his possession, and under his dominion. The scripture represents them
as his goods, Luke 11:12. The devils watch them; they are ever by them
at their right hand; they stand waiting for them, like greedy hungry
lions that see their prey, and expect to have it, but are for the
present kept back. If God should withdraw his hand, by which they are
restrained, they would in one moment fly upon their poor souls. The old
serpent is gaping for them; hell opens its mouth wide to receive them;
and if God should permit it, they would be hastily swallowed up and
lost.
There are in the souls of wicked men those hellish principles reigning,
that would presently kindle and flame out into hell fire, if it were not
for God's restraints. There is laid in the very nature of carnal men, a
foundation for the torments of hell. There are those corrupt principles,
in reigning power in them, and in full possession of them, that are
seeds of hell fire. These principles are active and
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on what is to be done."
[140]John 19:15. "We have no king but Caesar."
141Is. 65:2. "Arebellious people, which walketh in a way that was not good."
[142]"They have pierced."
[143]Ps. 130:8. "from all his iniquities."
144Deut. 28:29. Et palpes in meridie. "And thou shalt grope at noonday."
145Is. 29:11. Quem (librum) cum dederint scienti litteras et respondebit:
Non possum. "Which men deliver to one that is learned... and he saith, I
cannot."
146Job 19:23-25. "for I know that my redeemer liveth."
147Luke 22:32, 61. "And when thou art converted, strengthen thy brother."
"And the Lord turned, and looked upon Peter."
[148]Is. 6:10. "Shut their eyes."
149"The man who exists makes you God."
150"It is written: 'You are Gods' (Ps. 80:6), and the Scripture cannot be
made naught of."
151"This weakness is not for life; it is for death."
152"John 11:11 and 14. "'Lazarus sleeps,' and later it says: 'Lazarus is
dead.'"
[153]Ps. 44:4. Gladio tuo- "Thy sword, O most mighty."
[154]Heb. 10:5. "When he cometh into the world."
[155]Joel. 2:28. "I will pour out my spirit."
156Ps. 21:28. "All peoples shall come and worship him."
157Is. 49:6. "It is a light thing that thou shouldst be my servant," etc.
158Ps. 2:8. "Ask of me."
159Ps. 71:11. "All kings shall fall down before him."
160Ps. 34:11. "Witnesses rise up."
161Lam. 3:30. "He giveth his cheek to him that smiteth him."
162Ps. 68:22. Dederunt in escam meam fel. "They gave me also gall for my
meat."
163Is. 49:6. "It is a light thing that thou shouldst be my servant," etc.
164Luke 2:32. "A light to lighten the Gentiles."
165Ps. 167:20. "He hath not dealt so with any nation."
166Matt. 26:27. "Drink ye all of it."
167Rom. 5:12. "for that all have sinned."
168Luke 12:32. "Fear not little flock."
169P
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exquisite sweetness, and rest of soul, that is to be found in the
exercise of resignation to God, and humble submission to His will. Many
express earnest longings of soul to praise God; but at the same time
complain that they cannot praise Him as they would, and they want to
have others help them in praising Him. They want to have every one
praise God, and are ready to call upon every thing to praise Him. They
express a longing desire to live to God's glory, and to do something to
His honor; but at the same time complain of their insufficiency and
barrenness; that they are poor and impotent creatures, can do nothing of
themselves, and are utterly insufficient to glorify their Creator and
Redeemer.
While God was so remarkably present amongst us by His Spirit, there was
no book so delightful as the Bible; especially the Book of Psalms, the
Prophecy of Isaiah, and the New Testament. Some, by reason of their love
to God's word, at times have been wonderfully delighted and affected at
the sight of a Bible; and then, also, there was no time so prized as the
Lord's day, and no place in this world so desired as God's house. Our
converts then remarkably appeared united in dear affection to one
another, and many have expressed much of that spirit of love which they
f
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without a break in a state. This is what Josephus admirably proves, Against
Apion, and also Philo the Jew, in different places, where they point out
that it is so ancient that the very name of law was only known by the oldest
nation more than a thousand years afterwards; so that Homer, who has written
the history of so many states, has never used the term. And it is easy to
judge of its perfection by simply reading it; for we see that it has
provided for all things with so great wisdom, equity, and judgement, that
the most ancient legislators, Greek and Roman, having had some knowledge of
it, have borrowed from it their principal laws; this is evident from what
are called the Twelve Tables, and from the other proofs which Josephus
gives.
But this law is at the same time the severest and strictest of all in
respect to their religious worship, imposing on this people, in order to
keep them to their duty, a thousand peculiar and painful observances, on
pain of death. Whence it is very astonishing that it has been constantly
preserved during many centuries by a people, rebellious and impatient as
this one was; while all other states have changed their laws from time to
time, although these were far more lenient.
The book whi
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considerate, so as to come to a conclusion in their minds, that it is
their best and wisest way to delay no longer, but to improve the present
opportunity. They have accordingly set themselves seriously to meditate
on those things that have the most awakening tendency, on purpose to
obtain convictions; and so their awakenings have increased, till a sense
of their misery, by God's Holy Spirit setting in therewith, has had fast
hold of them. Others who before had been somewhat religious, and
concerned for their salvation, have been awakened in a new manner; and
made sensible that their slack and dull way of seeking, was never like
to attain that purpose.
These awakenings when they have first seized on persons, have had two
effects; one was, that they have brought them immediately to quit their
sinful practices; and the looser sort have been brought to forsake and
dread their former vices and extravagances. When once the Spirit of God
began to be so wonderfully poured out in a general way through the town,
people had soon done with their old quarrels, backbitings, and
intermeddling with other men's matters. The tavern was soon left empty,
and persons kept very much at home; none went abroad unless on necessary
business, or on some religious account, and every day seemed in many
respects like a Sabbath-day. The other effect was, that it put them on
earnest application to the means of salvation, reading, prayer,
meditation, the ordinances of God's house, and private conference; their
cry was, What shall we do to be saved? The place of resort was now
altered,
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thee if it occur.
"Let thyself be guided by My rules; see how well I have led the Virgin and
the saints who have let Me act in them.
"The Father loves all that I do.
"Dost thou wish that it always cost Me the blood of My humanity, without thy
shedding tears?
"Thy conversion is My affair; fear not, and pray with confidence as for Me.
"I am present with thee by My Word in Scripture, by My Spirit in the Church
and by inspiration, by My power in the priests, by My prayer in the
faithful.
"Physicians will not heal thee, for thou wilt die at last. But it is I who
heal thee and make the body immortal.
"Suffer bodily chains and servitude, I deliver thee at present only from
spiritual servitude.
"I am more a friend to thee than such and such an one, for I have done for
thee more then they; they would not have suffered what I have suffered from
thee, and they would not have died for thee as I have done in the time of
thine infidelities and cruelties, and as I am ready to do, and do, among My
elect and at the Holy Sacrament."
"If thou knewest thy sins, thou wouldst lose heart."
I shall lose it then, Lord, for on Thy assurance I believe their malice.
"No, for I, by whom thou learnest, can heal thee of them, and what I say to
thee is a sign that I will heal thee. In proportion to thy expiation of
them, thou wilt know them, and it will be said to thee: 'Behold thy sins are
forgiven thee.' Repent, then, for thy hidden sins, and for the secret malice
of those which thou knowest."
Lord, I give Thee all.
"I love thee more ardently than thou hast loved thine abominations, ut
immundus pro luto.
"To Me be the glory, not to thee, worm of the earth.
"Ask thy confessor,
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place.
22. Let no one say that I have said nothing new; the arrangement of the
subject is new. When we play tennis, we both play with the same ball, but
one of us places it better.
I had as soon it said that I used words employed before. And in the same way
if the same thoughts in a different arrangement do not form a different
discourse, no more do the same words in their different arrangement form
different thoughts!
23. Words differently arranged have a different meaning, and meanings
differently arranged have different effects.
24. Language.--We should not turn the mind from one thing to another, except
for relaxation, and that when it is necessary and the time suitable, and not
otherwise. For he that relaxes out of season wearies, and he who wearies us
out of season makes us languid, since we turn quite away. So much does our
perverse lust like to do the contrary of what those wish to obtain from us
without giving us pleasure, the coin for which we will do whatever is
w
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a vessel of wrath fitted to destruction; and there will be no other use
of this vessel, but to be filled full of wrath. God will be so far from
pitying you when you cry to him, that it is said he will only "laugh and
mock," Prov. 1:25,26,&c.
How awful are those words, Isa. 63:3, which are the words of the great
God. "I will tread them in mine anger, and will trample them in my fury,
and their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments, and I will stain
all my raiment." It is perhaps impossible to conceive of words that
carry in them greater manifestations of these three things, viz.
contempt, and hatred, and fierceness of indignation. If you cry to God
to pity you, he will be so far from pitying you in your doleful case, or
showing you the least regard or favour, that instead of that, he will
only tread you under foot. And though he will know that you cannot bear
the weight of omnipotence treading upon you, yet he will not regard
that, but he will crush you under his feet without mercy; he will crush
out your blood, and make it fly, and it shall be sprinkled on his
garments, so as to stain all his raiment. He will not only hate you, but
he will have you in the utmost contempt: no place shall be thought fit
for you, but under his feet to be trodden
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goodness.
497. Against those who, trusting to the mercy of God, live heedlessly,
without doing good works.--As the two sources of our sins are pride and
sloth, God has revealed to us two of His attributes to cure them, mercy and
justice. The property of justice is to humble pride, however holy may be our
works, et non intres injudicium, etc.; and the property of mercy is to
combat sloth by exhorting to good works, according to that passage: "The
goodness of God leadeth to repentance, and that other of the Ninevites: "Let
us do penance to see if peradventure He will pity us." And thus mercy is so
far from authorising slackness that it is on the contrary the quality which
formally attacks it; so that instead of saying, "If there were no mercy in
God we should have to make every kind of effort after virtue," we must say,
on the contrary, that it is because there is mercy in God that we must make
every kind of effort.
498. It is true there is difficulty in entering into godliness. But this
difficulty does not arise from the religion which begins in us, but from the
irreligion which is still there. If our senses were not opposed to
penitence, and if our corruption we
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Redeemer.
While God was so remarkably present amongst us by His Spirit, there was
no book so delightful as the Bible; especially the Book of Psalms, the
Prophecy of Isaiah, and the New Testament. Some, by reason of their love
to God's word, at times have been wonderfully delighted and affected at
the sight of a Bible; and then, also, there was no time so prized as the
Lord's day, and no place in this world so desired as God's house. Our
converts then remarkably appeared united in dear affection to one
another, and many have expressed much of that spirit of love which they
felt toward all mankind; and particularly to those who had been least
friendly to them. Never, I believe, was so much done in confessing
injuries, and making up differences, as the last year. Persons, after
their own conversion, have commonly expressed an exceeding great desire
for the conversion of others. Some have thought that they should be
willing to die for the conversion of any soul, though of one of the
meanest of their fellow-creatures, or of their worst enemies; and many
have, indeed, been in great distress with desires and longings for it.
This work of God had also a good effect to un
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the morality of Escobar.
916. Probability.--They have some true principles; but they misuse them.
Now, the abuse of truth ought to be as much punished as the introduction of
falsehood.
As if there were two hells, one for sins against love, the other for those
against justice!
917. Probability.--The earnestness of the saints in seeking the truth was
useless, if the probable is trustworthy. The fear of the saints who have
always followed the surest way. (Saint Theresa having always followed her
confessor.)
918. Take away probability, and you can no longer please the world; give
probability, and you can no longer displease it.
919. These are the effects of the sins of the peoples and of the Jesuits.
The great have wished to be flattered. The Jesuits have wished to be loved
by the great. They have all been worthy to be abandoned to the spirit of
lying, the one party to deceive, the others to be deceived. They have been
avaricious, ambitious, voluptuous. Coacervabunt tibi magistros.228 Worthy
disciples of such masters, they have sought flatterers, and have found them.
920. If they do not renounce their doctrine of probability, their good
maxims are as little holy as the bad, for they are founded on hu
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His example.
738. The prophecies having given different signs which should all happen at
the advent of the Messiah, it was necessary that all these signs should
occur at the same time. So it was necessary that the fourth monarchy should
have come, when the seventy weeks of Daniel were ended; and that the sceptre
should have then departed from Judah. And all this happened without any
difficulty. Then it was necessary that the Messiah should come; and Jesus
Christ then came, who was called the Messiah. And all this again was without
difficulty. This indeed shows the truth of the prophecies.
739. The prophets foretold, and were not foretold. The saints again were
foretold, but did not foretell. Jesus Christ both foretold and was foretold.
740. Jesus Christ, whom the two Testaments regard, the Old as its hope, the
New as its model, and both as their centre.
741. The two oldest books in the world are those of Moses and Job, the one a
Jew and the other a Gentile. Both of them look upon Jesus Christ as their
common centre and object: Moses in relating the promises of God to Abraham,
Jacob, etc., and his prophecies; and Job, Quis mihi det ut, etc. Scio enim
quod redemptor meus vivit, etc.146
742. The Gospel only speaks of the virginity of the Virgin up to the time of
the birth of Jesus Christ. All with reference to Jesus Christ.
743. Proofs Of Jesus Christ.
Why was the book of Ruth preserved?
Why the story
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difficulty in making them felt by those who do not of themselves perceive
them. These principles are so fine and so numerous that a very delicate and
very clear sense is needed to perceive them, and to judge rightly and justly
when they are perceived, without for the most part being able to demonstrate
them in order as in mathematics, because the principles are not known to us
We must see the matter at once, at one glance, and not by a process of
reasoning, at least to a certain degree. And thus it is rare that
mathematicians are intuitive and that men of intuition are mathematicians,
because mathematicians wish to treat matters of intuition mathematically and
make themselves ridiculous, wishing to begin with definitions and then with
axioms, which is not the way to proceed in this kind of reasoning. Not that
the mind does not do so, but it does it tacitly, naturally, and without
technical rules; for the expression of it is beyond all men, and only a few
can feel it.
Intuitive minds, on the contrary, being thus accustomed to judge at a single
glance, are so astonished when they are presented with propositions of which
they understand nothing, and the way to which is through definitions and
axioms so sterile, and which they are not accustomed to see thus in detail,
that they are repelled and disheartened.
But dull minds are never either intuitive or mathematical.
Mathematicians who are only mathematicians have exact minds, provided all
things are explained to them by means of definitions and axioms; otherwise
they are inaccurate and insufferable, for they are only right when the
principles are quite clear.
And men of intuition who are only intuitive cannot have the patience to
reach to f
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difficulty. Then it was necessary that the Messiah should come; and Jesus
Christ then came, who was called the Messiah. And all this again was without
difficulty. This indeed shows the truth of the prophecies.
739. The prophets foretold, and were not foretold. The saints again were
foretold, but did not foretell. Jesus Christ both foretold and was foretold.
740. Jesus Christ, whom the two Testaments regard, the Old as its hope, the
New as its model, and both as their centre.
741. The two oldest books in the world are those of Moses and Job, the one a
Jew and the other a Gentile. Both of them look upon Jesus Christ as their
common centre and object: Moses in relating the promises of God to Abraham,
Jacob, etc., and his prophecies; and Job, Quis mihi det ut, etc. Scio enim
quod redemptor meus vivit, etc.146
742. The Gospel only speaks of the virginity of the Virgin up to the time of
the birth of Jesus Christ. All with reference to Jesus Christ.
743. Proofs Of Jesus Christ.
Why was the book of Ruth preserved?
Why the story of Tamar?
744. "Pray that ye enter not into temptation." It is dangerous to be
tempted; and people are tempted because they do not pray.
Et tu conversus confirma fratres tuos. But before, conversus Jesus respexit
Petrum.147
Saint Peter asks permission to strike Malchus and strikes before hearing the
answer. Jesus Christ replies afterwards.
The word, Galilee, which the mob pro
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must we think but that here is a cipher with a double meaning, and the more
so if we find obvious contradictions in the literal meaning? The prophets
have clearly said that Israel would be always loved by God and that the law
would be eternal; and they have said that their meaning would not be
understood and that it was veiled.
How greatly, then, ought we to value those who interpret the cipher and
teach us to understand the hidden meaning, especially if the principles
which they educe are perfectly clear and natural! This is what Jesus Christ
did, and the Apostles. They broke the seal; He rent the veil, and revealed
the spirit. They have taught us through this that the enemies of man are his
passions; that the Redeemer would be spiritual, and His reign spiritual;
that there would be two advents, one in lowliness to humble the proud, the
other in glory to exalt the humble; that Jesus Christ would be both God and
man.
679. Types.--Jesus Christ opened their mind to understand the Scriptures.
Two great revelations are these. (1) All things happened to them in types:
vere Israelitae, vere liberi, true bread from Heaven. (2) A God humbled to
the Cross. It was necessary that Christ should suffer in order to enter into
glory, "that He should destroy death through death." Two advents.
680. Types.--When once this secret is disclosed, it is impossible not to see
it. Let us read the Old Testament in this light, and let us see if the
sacrifi
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