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COme, let us ascend to the house of our Lord, and celebrate this day with a holy Joy; imploring his Mercy in all we need, and blessing his Bounty for all we have: He is our God, and we are his People, Created by his goodness to be happy for ever: He is our Redeemer, and we his Pur∣chase,
restor'd by his Death to a for∣feited Happiness; to day let us adore our God that Redeem'd us. Praise our Lord, all you Nations of the Earth; Praise him with the Voice of Joy and of Thanksgiving; Praise him with the well-tun'd strings of your Hearts; Praise him with the sweetest Instrument, a chear∣ful Obedience: Let every one that pre∣tends to felicity, sing immortal Praises to the God of our Salvation: He is our full and all-sufficient Redeemer, he has perfectly finisht what he graciously un∣dertook; for all our Trespasses he has made satisfaction, for all our forfeitures he has paid the ransome: We by our Disobedience were banisht from Paradise, and he has received us into his own Kingdom: He has set up a Kingdom of Grace on Earth, to prepare us for his Kingdom of Glory: We wandred up and down in the wilderness of Errour, and he has guided us into the wayes of Truth: We were by nature Children of wrath, and he has mediated our Peace with his offended Father: We were be∣come the Slaves of sin, and he has bought our Freedom with his own Blood: We were in bondage to the dominion of Sa∣tan,
and he has overcome and confin'd his Power: We were in danger of sink∣ing into Hell, and he has sav'd us from that bottomless Pit: The gates of Hea∣ven were shut against us, and he went up himself, and opened them to all Be∣lievers; dissolving for ever the terrours of Death, and rendring it now but a passage into Life. O dearest Lord, who mad'st us first of nothing, and restor'dst us again when we had undone our selves! Who wouldst at any rate redeem us from Misery, at any rate procure our Felicity: How came we wretches to be so consider'd! How came we Sinners to obtain such Favour! that from thy Throne of Glory, where Seraphims ador'd thee, thou should'st descend on our Earth, where Slaves would affront thee: That thou should'st lead a Life of poverty and labour, and in perfect Innocence dye a Death of shame and sorrow: That thou should'st do all this for such contemptible worms as we, without the least concern or benefit to thy self; only to raise us up from our humble dust, and set us to shine amongst thy glorious Angels. O infinite Goodness, the bounteous Authour of all our hopes! What shall we say to
thy excessive Charity? O gracious Lord, and mighty deliverer from all our fears! What shall we render for thy unspeakable Mercies? We cannot chuse but search over all we have, but we can find no∣thing to return but what thou hast given us: We will therefore use the gifts thou hast bestowed on us, according to thy di∣rection, and give the Praise to Thee of what we do well: All the Glory of our Salvation we will ascribe to thee, and to thee alone, as the great cause who hast begun, alone, as and wilt at length finish it: By thee we will alwayes say we do good, and not lean to our own understandings; by thee we will expect our Reward, and never rely upon our own Merits.
PRoceed, my Soul, to celebrate the Praises of thy Lord, go on with fresh attention to remember the Mercies of thy God; whose Wisdom has contriv'd to save Mankind by so compendious a me∣thod as may be exprest in one short word: He saw the only cause of all our ruin, was our Love misplac'd on this present World: He saw the only remedy of all our Misery, was to fix our Love on the World to come: This therefore was his great intent, and in this concentred all his Merits; to possess us with Love, the end of Faith, and greatest of divine gra∣ces; to change the byass of our wrong∣set
hearts, by establishing among us new motives of Charity; such as might strong∣ly incline our Affections, and efficaci∣ously draw us to Love our true Good; such as might gain by degrees upon all Mankind, and render Salvation easie and universal: For this he came down from his Fathers Bosom, to teach us the rules of Eternal Life; that we might firmly believe those Sacred Truths, which God himself with his own mouth has told us: For this he Converst so long on our Earth, to encourage and provoke us by his own example; that we might confidently em∣brace those unquestionable Virtues, which God himself in his own Person had pra∣ctised: For this he endur'd so sharp and many Afflictions, and became at last obe∣dient to the Death; that we might pa∣tiently suffer whatever should befall us, when God himself was so treated by his Creatures: For this he so often Preacht of the Joyes of Heaven, and set them before us in so clear a light; that seeing so rich a Prize hang at the end of our Race, we might run, and strive with our utmost force to obtain it: For this he ordain'd all the means of Grace, and left us the Sacraments of his Body and Blood;
that he might breed and nourish in us the Life of Charity, and ravish our Hearts with the sweetness of his Presence: For this he establisht a perpetual Church, and sent the Holy Ghost to Inspire and go∣vern it; that it might be maintain'd through all Ages in Truth and Sanctity, and plant the same heavenly Seed over all the World: For this he assum'd those strange endearing Names of Friend, and Brother, and Spouse to us Wretches; doing far more for us, O wondrous Love! than all those Names import, than all our hearts can wish. Blessed, O Glori∣ous Jesu! be the Wisdom of thy Mercy, that has found so sweet and short a way to save us: Thou art, O Lord, the cause of all our Love, and Love the cause of all our Happiness: By Love we fulfil all thy Commands, and in keeping thy Com∣mands there is great reward: By Love we are reconcil'd from Enemies to Friends; by Holy Love we are translated from Death to Life; by Love we are deliver'd from the fear of Hell, by Love we are the regenerated Heirs of Heaven; by Love we are dispos'd for that blissful Vi∣sion; by Love we are secur'd of the en∣joyment of our God; who by the sole
perfection of his own free Goodness can never deny himself to those that love him; else would their very loving him be a cause of great misery; since the misery of a Soul is the want of what it loves: Indeed he that is possest with love, is so far already a partaker of a divine nature; for thou hast told us, O Lord, that God is Love, and he that dwelleth in Love dwelleth in God, and God in him. He then that loves must needs be proportion∣ably happy too, for so much as he has of God, so much he possesses of his true good. Thus, Lord Jesus, whatever thy holy books do record of thee, in expres∣sions suited to our low capacities: What∣ever they say of thy restoring all things; and repairing again the ruines of Man∣kind: All is exactly verified with this one line, which our thankful Hearts should repeat with joy: Heaven is attain'd by Love alone, and Love alone by thee.
STill, my Soul, let us repeat a few Lines more, to the praise of him whose Mercies are no fewer than infinite. Of him whose pity took us by the hand,
and kindly led us into his own light. Of thee, O Blessed Jesu, our Lord, our God, who alone art the source of all our Hap∣piness: The World till thou camest sate wrapt in darkness; and few discern'd so much as a shadow of thee: They fol∣low'd the Appetites of Sense and Hu∣mour; and plac'd their felicity in being prosperous here: Little considering the Life to come; and less the joyes that en∣tertain that Life: This was, alas! their miserable State; and which was worse than this, they had no power to help it. How could they believe what they ne∣ver heard of; or love what they never believed? How could they desire what they never lov'd, or be glad to receive what they never desir'd? It was thou, O Lord, didst first teach us our true end, the blissful Vision of the Eternal Deity. It was thou didst first teach us the true means to attain that end; by a hearty love and desire to attain it. O the blest change which thy hand has wrought! the happy improvements which thy com∣ing has produc't! Now every Woman, and illiterate Man can discourse famili∣arly of the highest Truths. The Crea∣tion of the World, and the fall of
Adam; the Incarnation of God, and Re∣demption of Man: the mystery of the Trinity, and Miracle of the Resurrecti∣on; the day of Judgment, and State of Eternity. All these we know, but it was thou, O Lord, who taught'st us; and by thy holy Church first spread them over the World. Now thou hast opened our Eyes, we plainly see what unassisted nature could never have reacht. We see the framing right of our Affe∣ctions here, is both cause and measure of our Happiness hereafter: If we su∣preamly esteem the goods of the future life, we shall find them there and be hap∣py. If we love Heaven with our whole Soul, and press on strongly with all our force, we shall enter its Glories with a strange surprizing delight; and pos∣sess them for ever in a perpetual exta∣sie: We see our Souls are made to know, and perfect themselves by the worthiest objects: We see their Na∣ture is free, and unconfin'd; and nothing can fill them but that which is infinite. All other knowledges enlarge our facul∣ties, and breed new desire to know still more; which if unsatisfi'd, we yet are miserable; since none can be happy who
want their desire. Only the sight of God fills us to the brim; and infinitely overflows our utmost capacities: It fills and overflows all the powers of our Souls, with joy and wonder and inconceiv∣able sweetness: O blest and glorious sight! when will the happy day appear, and open to my Soul that beauteous prospect! When, dearest Lord, shall I fee thee face to face! when shall I heartily at least, desire to see Thee! Thou art my full and high felicity; and only and alone sufficient for me.
O Most Gracious and adorable Jesu, who so lovedst this sinful World as to die for us, we cannot think thou wilt deny us any thing that we hum∣bly ask of thee according to thy will. Those that believing come unto thee, thou wilt in no wise cast out: Let me then obtain, I beseech thee, these im∣portant favours, and whatever else thou seest conducing to my Happiness. Teach me, I pray, effectually, that this low world can never make me happy, that I must set my affections on things above▪
Make me seek therefore in the first place the Kingdom of God, and the Righte∣ousness thereof; to love with my whole affections the enjoyment of God, since nothing but love can qualifie me for that enjoyment, and nothing without that enjoyment can ever render me hap∣py. O my God, make me ardently love thee that I may eagerly desire thee, and eagerly desire thee that I may with joy∣ful transport enjoy thee. Make me, O Blessed Jesu, so meditate on thy infinite Mercies, that my whole Soul may be fill'd with the memory of thy love; that the frequent remembrance of it may diffuse a vigorous love of thee into all my pow∣ers: let the mark and badge which they all bear, be the love of Jesus. Let eve∣ry step of thy love, dear Lord, in re∣deeming lost Mankind, confirm my Soul in Love and Duty: fortifie me thereby against all Persecution, and discourage∣ment; and so effectually draw me into thine own Kingdom of Glory, by thy Holy Life and precious Death and glo∣rious Resurrection: Make me to perse∣vere in thy obedience to the end, that I may die in thy favour, and rise again to rejoice with thee for ever: Who
with the Father and the Holy Ghost li∣vest, and reignest one God, World with∣out end.