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.

CHAP. II.

Containing the Manner, how we must behave our selves in pro∣curing our Salvation.

HE who desires any thing efficaci∣ously, labours to obtain it seriously, diligently, and with perseverance; which are the three Conditions to be ob∣served in this work of our Salvation.

The first Manner or Condition.

We must labour in it seriously, accor∣ding to the example of our Blessed Savi∣our, who out of zeal to convert the Sa∣maritan Woman, travelled half a day in the heats of the Sun, with great wea∣riness

and thirst to be at the place whi∣ther she was to come, to meet with an opportune occasion for her Conversion: To make, of another Sinner, a Peni∣tent, he went to a banquet, and expected there her coming; and he travelled up and down, and frequented the company of sinners to effect this great business, which was the end of his coming into the world. St. Paul had the perfect knowledg and practice of this truth, and therefore travelled seriously with the whole application of his Spirit, for the Salvation of his Brethren. Hear how he speaks unto them, [2 Corinth. 12.] Ego autem libentissime impendam, & su∣perimpendar, pro animabus vestris; I will gladly spend, and be spent for your Souls sake: There is not any thing which I will not do, to advance your Salvati∣on, which is so dear and pretious to me, that I am ready to give my self to pro∣cure it. Upon which, is that of St. Am∣brose; Non solum sua, pro eis impendere paratum se dicit, sed etiam seipsum pro sa∣lute animarum: He is not only content to

give those things which are his, but also to expose and give himself for the salvation of their Souls. This Zeal of his, he more fully expressed in that to the Ro∣mans, [Cap. 9.] Optabam, ego ipse, Anathemaesse a Christo, pro fratribus meis. I did desire to be separated from Christ, for the Salvation of my Brethren. His own interests drew him to be with Christ as his Cupio dissolvi, I desire to be dissolved, sufficiently testifies; but for the Salvation of his Brethren, he was content for a time, to be separated from the glory of Christ, and to remain here on Earth, to labour in this work.

By this we may easily apprehend how we ought to employ the things of this world, and expose our life too, if it be necessary for our Salvation, our great af∣fair in this world. But this which con∣cerns us so much is so slightly passed o∣ver, that we may justly complain with those Prophets, [Jerem. Daniel. Osee.] Desolatione desolata est omnis terra, quia non est qui recogitet corde; The whole Earth is become desolate, because there is not any

one who seriously considers in his heart. We may find many who think of their Salvation, but it is only superficially, not with the heart, and so their thoughts are cold and barren; cold, because they produce not an ardent desire to execute what they think; they are barren, be∣cause they produce not holy motions and actions. The Devil and Reprobate have the like; the thought of their Beauti∣tude lost, is continually present to them, they know the excellency of it, by suf∣fering the privation thereof; but this is not with the heart, with a consideration which is affective, ardent, effective: When we Will a thing efficatiously, it doth not only busie our thoughts, but employs our hands, and industry, to la∣bour, our tongues frequently to speak of it; the heart, the hand, the tongue, are joyned in this work; the heart to medi∣tate, the hand to execute, the tongue to publish it. Ex abundantia cordis os lo∣quitur: Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh.

The second Manner or Condition requisite in this work.

From the Zeal and serious considera∣tion of our Salvation, ordinarily pro∣ceeds an exquisite diligence for the pro∣curing of it; which is the second Conditi∣on necessarily required in this work.

Our B. Saviour hath given us an ad∣mirable example in this kind; the sa∣cred Scripture [Heb. 10.] saith of him, that entring into the world by the miste∣ry of his Incarnation, he said unto his Heavenly Father, You Will not the Sacrifices of the Law, therefore I offer up the body you have given me for a Victime, to honour your Majesty, to satisfie your Justice, to appease your Anger. He did not delay his sufferings to the end of this life, but the first moment he entered in∣to the world as Man, he presented him∣self as a Victime. And when he was then adored by the Angels, at the command of his Heavenly Father, even then he would honour him as his Servant and

Victime. In the whole course of his life, he travelled in this affair with such diligence, as the Psalmist resembles him to a Gyant exulting to run his course, with an incredible vigour in all the wayes, wherein he might work our Salvation. His Espouse admiring this in her Canti∣cles, [Cant. 2.] compares this course of his to the swiftness of a Roe and Hart. The Angels descended and ascended in Jacobs Ladder without repose, in the ex∣ercise which they continue indefatigably for the Salvation of men. Job by his own example shewed us with what fer∣vour and diligence we should proceed in this affair, [Job 29.] Causam quam ignorabam diligentissime investigabam: If I did not understand the rights between parties to accord them, I used most exqui∣site diligence to understand it.

I did not defer till to morrow what I could do to day, but apply'd my self with∣out delay to all the good works I could perform for the advance of my Salvati∣on.

Tobias did often rise from the Table,

left his refection, quitted the Company of his Friends; to bury the dead, and to exercise works of mercy towards the poor and needy. Abraham stood in the common ways, to find and invite Pil∣grims to his house, where his Wife and Domesticks were busied in preparing a refection for them. St. Paul [Acts 5.] protested to the faithful, that he used all possible diligence in his Apostolical function. That which the examples of the Saints inform us, the Wise man Councelled in his Proverbs, Diligenter exerce agrum tuum; diligently cultivate thy field. We must not imagine that he speaks here of good Husbandry, but un∣der the symbol of a field, he insinuates that we should labour with diligence to extirpate vices, to acquire vertues; to increase in grace which God bestows up∣on us, to work out our Salvation by: Besides the Examples and Instructions of the Saints for our diligence in this af∣fair, reason perswades also this truth; we see that a man applyes himself with diligence, to affairs of importance, and

to things of consequence, which have an indeterminate and uncertain time, of which he knows not the length or short∣ness: Our Salvation hath these two cir∣cumstances, the thing is most pretious, and of the greatest concern; the time to compass it, is altogether uncertain; Death, after which we cannot work, often steals upon us, as a Thief in the Night, when we think our selves most secure of life; and therefore it concerns us to attend to our Salvation with all di∣ligence, lest we be surprised unexpect∣edly, as the foolish Virgins were, and the rich Glutton in the Gospel.

If we have a Suit in Law, for the gain∣ing of a possession, for the reparation of an injury, or the like, we apply all our endeavours, we regard not the rigour of the seasons, nor the suffering of our bo∣dies, nor length of ways; we move e∣very stone that might obstruct or further our designs; but for our Salvation, which is the greatest concern we have in the world, we think much to spend an hour at a Sermon, where we may be in∣structed

in this, and the means to obtain it; to spend half an hour in a day to hear Mass, or to Pray where we may re∣ceive grace to carry on this affair with fervour; we are loath to give an Alms to a poor body, to merit the divine suc∣cours; such is our blindness and stupidi∣ty. When we suffer any maladies in our bodies, as St. Chrysostom [Hom. 22. ad pop.] affirms, we presently send for Physitians, we think no cost much for the cure of them, Animam vero vitiis laborantem negligimus; But we suffer our Souls to corrupt and putrifie in sin. To procure a remedy, and to purchase an immortal life, for them we are ex∣tream negligent.

This unreasonable preferring of the Body before the Soul, the immortal and divine part of us ought to cover us with Confusion in this world, where we would appear judicious & wise; & in the mean time, we shew our selves to be un∣reasonable and senceless.

It was a complaint of St. Bernard, A∣spicio genus humanum; I behold mankind

walking from the rising of the Sun, to the going down of it, through the spatious Mart and Market of the world, where some hunt after Riches, others gape for Honours, many pursue Pleasures, most spend their time in Vanities and Imperti∣nencies; few mind the eternal good of their Souls, for which they came into the World. Seneca discovered this truth, si volueris attendere; if thou wilt consider, thou maist discern that a great part of mens lives pass away in doing Ill, the greatest part in Idleness and nothing, the Image of Death, and pomp of Vices; the whole in minding and doing another thing than which they came for. We read of a Phylosopher, who busied himself thirty years in observing the Oe∣conomie of Bees, of a Graver who spent his whole life in Carving and Pollishing one Statue of Isocrates, who studied ten years to compose an Oration which he was to pronounce at the Olympick Exer∣cises; of many Phylosophers, who Tra∣velled divers Countries, with many dangers and inconveniences to acquire

humane knowledg and experience; shall not these rise up in judgment and con∣demn us, if we think any time tedious to imploy in the affair of our Salvation?

The third and last Condition, necessary for this work.

If we desire efficatiously to be saved, we must labour with perseverance, accor∣ding to the example of our B. Saviour on the Cross, who would not descend from thence to put an end to his sufferings, and to the incredulity of the people who de∣sired it; but as he says himself, he would there finish and consummate the work his Father had recommended to him; which was the Salvation of men for his glory. The Wise-man said, that omnia tempus habent, there is a time for all things; a time to Sow, and a time to Reap, and the like; and out of these Seasons, they are not to be done.

But the affair of our Salvation hath no certain time assigned for it; but the whole course of our life, from the first

moment that we have the use of reason, to the last, is to be employed in it. Rea∣son perswades us this truth, and gives us to understand of what importance the assiduity of this work is; because our Salvation depends on the last action of our life; if that be good, meritorious and agreeable to God, it will save us; if bad, sure enough we shall be damned, for as the Tree falls, so it shall lie: But here our death is uncertain, and every moment of our life may be the last, and the fatal stroke may surprise us when we think least of it: have we not reason then to travel incessantly in the affair of our Salvation, to secure it as much as possi∣bly we can? for unless we persevere unto the end in it, we cannot be saved. And the breaking off this work, and declining out of the right way, though it be but for a time, may be the cause of our not persevering to the end, and consequent∣ly of our eternal perdition.

Many examples in this kind, Sa∣cred and Ecclesiastical History afford us; and happy are we, if we become so wise by them, as at all times to be vigilant about this affair.