as Henricus à Gandava censures Albertus Magnus, (in his book of Ecclesiastical Writers 8), "whilst we follow too much the subtlety of secular philosophy, we cloud the splendour of theological purity." We must remember that we are men, and that our understandings are but shallow which ought not therefore to venture boldly into such depths as that of the divine essence. There is nothing so much becomes us, when we think of God, as an holy fear and reverence, producing in us low thoughts of ourselves: without which we are not like to be illuminated from above; nor can we, should we know never so much, be acceptable to God. Quid enim prodest alta de Trinitate disputare, si careas humilitate, unde displiceas Trinitati? (as Thomas à Kempis honestly speaks:) 'For what will it profit thee to dispute loftily of the Trinity, if, through want of humility, thou displeasest the Trinity?' The way to ETERNAL LIFE, it is certain, lies in that road; which we shall be in danger to miss, if we give ourselves too great a liberty of disputing about things so much above our reach. We ought to be aware of this artifice of the grand deceiver: who is wont to draw us secretly from attending to our known duty, while we are amusing ourselves with sublime speculations. Which the holy fathers of the church have carefully observed, and cautioned us against by their severe reproofs. "What means (saith St. Gregory Nazianzen h) this ambitious humour of disputing, and itch of the tongue? what new disease and unsatiable appetite is this? While our hands are bound, why do we arm our tongue? Hospitality, brotherly love, conjugal affection, virginity, are no longer praised. Feeding the poor, psalmody, nocturnal stations, tears are not now in request. We do not bring under the body by fastings; nor leave it a while, to go to God by prayer. We do not bring the worse in subjection to the better; the dust, I mean, to the spirit. We do not make our life a meditation of death. Our passions are not mastered. Forgetting our heavenly original, we let anger swell and rage; and take no care to suppress that pride and haughtiness which will at last lay us low. We do not chastise irrational sadness, nor foolish pleasure, nor unchaste laughter, nor disorderly aspects, nor unsatiable hearing, nor immoderate talking, nor absurd thoughts, nor any of those things by which the evil one takes advantage against us to our ruin. There is nothing like to this; but quite contrary, we give liberty to other men's evil affections, and (like princes when they have got the victory), require nothing of them, but only that [Cap. 43. p. 170. in Biblioth. Eccles. per Miræum, part. i.] h Orat. xxxiii. p. 533: [ed. Ben. orat. xxvii. § 7. tom. i. p. 492 C.] they be on our side, and take our part: though they oppose God the more impiously and audaciously." These things, it seems, were then too manifest to be denied; and notwithstanding these reproaches of holy men, the humour propagated itself to after times. For the cure or prevention of which, nothing is so necessary to be believed and preserved perpetually in mind, as that counsel which the same great Doctor gives in another placei. Boúλel deóλoyos yíveσdai; &c.: 'Wouldst thou be a divine, and worthy of God?' Tàs evroλàs púλaoσe, ‹ Keep the commandments: go in the way of God's precepts. Practice is the best step thou canst take to contemplation.' Which is the surest advice for all Christians to follow, who must not think by any other means to arrive at that blissful sight of God; in which our knowledge of him will be perfected in the other world. Of which Beatifical Vision I have not adventured to say much in the ensuing treatise, because "our manner of living (as St. Augustine speaks in an epistle of his upon this very subject k), is of more consideration in this inquiry than our manner of speaking. Nam qui didicerunt a Domino Jesu mites esse et humiles corde, plus cogitando et orando proficiunt, quam legendo et audiendo: for they that have learned of the Lord Jesus to be lowly and humble in heart, profit more by meditation and prayer than they can by reading and hearing." But something I have said, as far as I could find any directions in the holy Scriptures: which warrant us to conclude, that participation we have of God now shall be so improved in the other world, that whatsoever we enjoy of him here, we shall in a higher and after a more perfect manner, with the addition of immortality, enjoy when we rise from the dead. We are now the sons of God by faith in Christ Jesus; who bids us be confident of it, and rejoice in it. And yet he mentions this as a special privilege belonging to us after the resurrection; when we shall not marry nor die any more, but be equal to the angels, and be vioì roû Oeoû, the sons of God, being the children of the resurrection1. Just as it was with our Lord Christ himself, who was in a more special and excellent manner called the Son of God, after his rising from the dead; when God said to him, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee: (advanced him, that is, to a more excellent degree of likeness to him in power and dominion, putting all things under his feet:) so it shall be with all those sons whom he brings unto glory. They shall be i Orat. xxix. p. 493. [ed. Ben. orat. xx. § 12. p. 383 C.] k Epist. cxii. ad Paulinam. [ed Ben. epist. cxlvii. tom. ii. col. 473 G.] more nearly related to God at the resurrection, and resemble him more exactly; whose image they now bear in wisdom and goodness. But how much he will then impart of himself to us, the apostles themselves were not able to inform us. We are now the sons of God, saith St. John, but it doth not yet appear τí éσóμeda, how we shall be τί the sons of God in the other world. We now find (I may add by a parity of reason) a great pleasure in holy thoughts; we feel the joys of ardent love; are ravished with the melody of songs of praise, and with the sweet violence of a glance of light from heaven upon us; and we are sure we shall be so happy as to have a great increase of this pleasure when we remove from hence. But it doth not appear how we shall think, nor what will be the satisfaction of heavenly love; nor what new songs shall be put into our mouths; nor how God will look in upon us, when we shall see him as he is. We must be content to know, that all these will bear a proportion to the infinite goodness of him who is omnipotent, and hath loved us so much as to purchase us with a great price, and to give his holy Spirit to us; and according to the love of him that died for us, and is gone to prepare a place for us, that where he is, there we may be also. In this hope we may now rejoice (though we do not at present see our Lord) with joy unspeakable and full of glory. For I have proved, by undeniable arguments, that God the Father hath given power to his Son Jesus to make us more happy than we can now conceive; and that he will undoubtedly bring us to live with himself. What greater good can we desire than this? or what greater motive can be thought of, to persuade us sincerely to embrace the Christian religion; whose business it is (as Lactantius concludes his book Of a Blessed Life") to direct us to the eternal rewards of the heavenly treasure?"Of which that we may be capable, we must presently disengage ourselves from the ensnaring pleasures of this life, which deceive men's souls by their pernicious sweetness. And how great a felicity ought we to esteem it, to go, being delivered from the impurities of this earth, to that most equal Judge, and most indulgent Father; who, for our labours, will give us rest; for death, life; for darkness, light; for earthly short goods, those that are celestial and eternal! None of the sharpnesses and miseries which we endure here, while we are employed in the works of righteousness, are in any manner to be compared with that reward. Therefore, if we will be wise, if we will be happy, let us propose the worst things that n [Inst. Div. lib. vii. cap. 27. tom. i. p. 589.] m 1 John iii. 2. : can be to ourselves, and resolve to suffer them; since it is manifest, that this frail pleasure we have here shall not be without punishment, nor virtue without a divine reward. All mankind ought to endeavour, with all speed, to direct themselves into the right way; that having undertaken and performed the duties of a virtuous life, and patiently endured its labours, they may be worthy to have God for their Comforter. For our Father and Lord, who made and settled the heaven, who brought the sun and the rest of the stars into it, and out of nothing raised the rest of the world to this perfection wherein we see it, beholding the errors of mankind, sent a Leader, who should lay before us the way of righteousness. Him let us all follow; him let us hear; him let us most devoutly obey for he alone hath purged men's hearts by his truth, and set due bounds to their desires and fears; showing them the chiefest good, to which they should tend, and the way whereby it may be attained m.' Nor hath he only shown it, but he hath gone before us in it, lest any should shun the course of virtue because of the difficulty that attends it. Let the way of perdition and deceit therefore be forsaken; in which death lies concealed under the enticements of pleasure. And the nearer any man, by reason of his years, sees that day approaching in which he must depart this life, let him cast in his mind the more seriously how he may go away as pure as may be; how he may come innocent to his Judge; and not, as those whose minds are blinded, how he may satisfy his lusts more greedily before he go. Let every man deliver himself out of that gulf while he may, while he hath some power; and convert to God with his whole soul, that he may securely expect that day in which God, the Lord and Governor of the world, will judge every man's works and thoughts. Let him not only neglect, but fly from those things of which men are now so greedy. Let him look upon his soul as better than these fallacious goods, whose possession is uncertain and fading. For they go away continually more swiftly than they come; and if we could enjoy them to the last, they must be left to others. We can carry nothing away but a life piously and innocently led. He shall come rich and wealthy to God, whom continence, mercy, patience, charity, and faith shall wait upon. This is our inheritance, [From Lucretius : Veridicis igitur purgavit pectora dictis, Et finem statuit turpedinis atque timoris ; Exposuitque bonum summum, quo tendimus omnes, Qua possemus ad id recto contendere cursu. De Rer. Nat. vi. 23.] which can neither be taken from any man nor transferred to an other. And whosoever is desirous of it may have it, if he please. But let no man trust in riches, nor in dignity, nor in kingly power: these do not make us immortal. Let us give our mind to righteousness, which alone will be our inseparable companion, till it bring us to God. As long as we live let us continue our warfare unweariedly; let us keep our watch; let us valiantly encounter with the enemy: that, being conquerors, and triumphing over the vanquished adversary, we may receive from our Lord the reward of virtue which he hath promised." There is the greatest reason, I have demonstrated, to expect it with such a lively faith as was in the first Christians, (in whose words I have chosen to deliver these things, rather than mine own,) who confidently looked death in the face, in whatsoever shape it appeared, and were not in the least daunted at the sight of it. There were innumerable experiments made of it, not only in men, but in women and children; as the great Athanasius" justly glories: who takes this to be "no small token of the abolishing death, (so that it had no power, but was indeed dead itself,) that it was contemned by all the disciples of Christ: before whose divine appearing, poßepòs ἦν καὶ αὐτοῖς τοῖς ἁγίοις, it was dreadful to the saints themselves, who bewailed and lamented those that died, as if they were lost. But since our Saviour rose from the dead it is no longer terrible; but all that believe on him tread it under foot, as if it were nothing; and choose rather to die than deny the faith of Christ. For they know certainly that the dead do not perish, but that they both live, and shall also be made incorruptible by the resurrection. That evil one, the devil, who heretofore by death insulted over us, is himself alone now left truly dead: of which this is a sign, that, whereas before men believed on Christ, they looked on death as very formidable; since they embraced his faith and doctrine, they do so much slight it, that they run cheerfully to it, and become witnesses against him of our Saviour's resurrection. Mere children make nothing of it. The weaker sex, (so weak is he that had the power of death now grown,) who were formerly deceived by him, laugh him to scorn, as one that is dead and hath lost his power. Just as a tyrant, when a lawful prince hath vanquished him, and bound him hand and foot, is despised, and made a mocking stock by all that pass by him, who no longer fear his rage and cruelty even so is death, being overcome by our Saviour, trampled upon by all his * Ilep evavopwheels Toi Ad you, &c. p. 8o, &c. [ed. Ben. tom. i. p. 70, 71.] |