A guide to salvation, bequeathed to a person of honour, by his dying-friend the R.F. Br. Laurence Eason, Ord. S. Franc. S. Th. L.

The second Consideration and Motive.

The second is taken from our own proper Interests, which is no less than our Salvation; the loss of which, ren∣ders us miserable for all Eternity.

We will begin this consideration with those remarkable words, with which the Wise man concluded his Ecclesiastes, Deum time; fear God and observe his Commandements: hoc est omnis homo; for this is every man; or as St. Jerome translates it, This is the end of every mans Birth and Being; from which St. Ber∣nard draws this Consequence, Ergo absque hoc nihil est homo; then without this, man is nothing: Popes are not in the world to be Popes, nor Kings to be

Kings, nor Wise men to be Learned, and the like; but all universally to be saved. All the conditions and employ∣ments which possess the Spirits of men, ought to give place to this, and aime at it, as their proper object and end, without which they are in vain. This our Blessed Saviour affirms in those words of St. Matthew, [cap. 16.] quid prodest ho∣mini; what will it advantage a man, to gain the whole world, and to suffer detri∣ment in his Soul? what will it profit a man to have all the pleasures of the vo∣luptuous? all the riches the world can afford him? all the honours that men can confer upon him? if he were abso∣lute Monarck of the whole world, if at last he loseth his Soul. If he had all the knowledg of things natural and Divine; all the beauty that the body is capable of, such health for so long a time as he could desire, all the advantages of the world which men so ardently thirst after; all these, in the judgment of Christ, the Divine Wisdome of his Father, will be unprofitable if he comes not only to

lose, but to suffer detriment in his Soul: For this reason, the Royal Prophet stiles his Soul, his Darling, or his One; Erue a framea Deus animam meam, & de manu canis unicam meam: Deliver my Soul from the power of the Sword, and my One from the hand of the Dog: He calls his Soul his One, not only because as o∣ther men, he had but one Soul, but be∣cause it was most dear unto him, he lo∣ved it, and procured the conservation of it with all the care and diligence; which one imploys to preserve things; the rarity and worth of which, renders them preti∣ous and amiable. This caused St. Chry∣sostome [Hom. 12. de po.] to say, God hath given us two Eyes, two Ears, two Hands, two Feet, that if any Misfortune deprive us of the use of one, we may help our selves by the use of the other. Animam vero unam dedit nobis; but he hath given us but one Soul; if we lose this, we lose all irrevocably.

The Prophet David [Psal. 116.] well considered this, when he said Ani∣ma mea in manibus meis semper; my

Soul is always in my hands, to hold it fast, that I might not lose it, but exercise it in good works, defend it from all Enemies who would ruine it, and always consider the condition of it, according to that of St. Bernard, Non facile obliviscimur; We do not easily forget those things which we hold in our hands: the care of our Souls should always thus be present to us. That Holy Father thus continues his discourse about this subject; If thou art so sollicitous as not to neglect small things, so vigilant to preserve thy Corn, thy Cattel, thy Money, thy Earthly possessi∣ons, such inferiour and transitory things; art thou not then foolish and unreasonable to neglect the Salvation of thy Soul, which is thy true treasure? This as St. Gregory speaks, is to pervert Reason into extream Folly.

The excellence of true reason and judgment consists, in discerning the price of things, and esteeming them ac∣cording to their worth, and consequent∣ly to make more acccount incomparably of the Soul than of the Body; of things

Eternal than Temporal; of the affair of his Salvation, than of all other things; and he who doth not do this, is as one without sence and judgment, seeing he judgeth so ill of things, which with such an excess are disproportionable in va∣lue. Plato said true, that the effect of true Wisdom, is, to be Wise for one's own good. Solomon affirmed [Pro. 9. 12.] as much before him, Si sapiens fueris, tibimetipsi eris; true Wisdom consists in being Wise to ones self. The Devil hath more knowledg than all the Learn∣ed men on Earth, but not one grain of true Wisdom, being miserable for E∣ternity, and so infinitely distant from essential Wisdom, which is God himself. For this reason, Sinners unmindful of their Salvation, of what spirit and know∣ledg soever they be, are stiled in sacred Scripture, Fools and Insensible Creatures; so great is the concern for the Salvation of our Souls, that it is stiled by the A∣postle, and commended by him to the Thessalonians [1 Thes. 4.] as properly and particularly our affair; ut vestrum

negotium agatis, that you may do your work: as though we had but only this to attend to; for other things, about which we employ our labour and care, deserve not this name; they are affairs in which the success oftentimes doth not corres∣pond with our designs; affairs which pass away with little profit, and often contrary to the grand affair of our Sal∣vation.

This great affair of our Salvation would make us admire that manner of speech so frequent amongst us, when seeing any one busied amongst the intri∣gues of Courts, in the commerce of Mer∣chandize, in the negotiation of treaties and alliances, and the like; we use or∣dinarily to say, that he is a man of great businesse and affairs; it is an improper speech to give this name to imploy∣ments, which are but petite amusements, in which one for the most part loses his time, and often Heaven. We do not give the name of affairs to the employ∣ments of Children; as when they build their little houses of dirt, when they

ride upon a stick, and contend with such earnestness to carry away the glory, and to be Kings in their sports; these pueri∣lities and pastimes deserve not the name of affairs, being in themselves so little, and so momentary: In like manner the enterprises of men, to build houses, to purchase honours, to amass riches and the like; being not much more greater and durable than those of Children, de∣serve not the name of affairs: All men in the world have but one affair, about which they ought continually to imploy themselves, which is their Salvation; and if they mind this, then one may say, they are wise and able men, and busied about a grand affair.

This Tertullian well considered, when he said, In me unicum negotium: I have but one business in the world to at∣tend unto, which is the Salvation of my Soul: I abandon what the world calls af∣fairs, I decline the intrigues of the Court, the School of Philosophy, the company of Friends, to be vacant to this one affair, which I treat of with my self, and con∣cerning

which I am interessed. Our Blessed Saviour confirms all this, in call∣ing the young man in the Gospel to follow him; for when he required leave, first to go bury his Father, our Blessed Savi∣our replyed, Dimitte mortuous sepelire mortuos; let the dead bury the dead: as if he should have said, as St. Peter Chry∣sogolus observes, to bury the body of your Father, is not the most important affair you have to do; it is to follow me, and to look after your Salvation, which ought to be the first in execution, as it is in worth and merit; Terrenus pater post ponendus est patri coelesti, as that Holy Father concludes, The care of a Tempo∣ral Father is to come after that of our Heavenly.