fufes grace into the hearts of the faithful; it prefuppofes not perfection, but is an efficacious means to obtain it; but if you receive, without a refolution to correct your faults, and to break off all dangerous engagements, without a desire to tend to perfection, and a purpose to use the means, it is better to abftain. O my God, let thy holy Sacrament fanctify my foul; and transfufe life and vigour into this mass of clay, that weighs me down to earth, and hinders my flight to heaven. I ask pardon a hundred times for having fo feldom participated of thy body and blood, and for having dared to approach thy holy table with fo little devotion, and fo great indifference. GOSPEL of St. Mark, Chap. xvi. Verse 1. And when the fabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, bad bought fweet spices, that they might come and anoint him. 2. And very early in the morning, the first day of the week, they came unto the fepulchre at the rifing of the fun. 3. And they faid among themselves, who fhall roll us away the ftone from the door of the fepulcbre? 4. (And when they looked, they saw that the ftone was rolled away) for it was very great. 5. And entring into the fepulchre, they faw a young man fitting on the right fide, clothed in a long white garment; and they were affrighted. 6. And be faith unto them, Be not affrighted: ye feek Jefus of Nazareth, which was crucified : be is rifen, he is not here: behold the place where they laid him. 7. But· 7. But go your way, tell his difciples and Peter, that he goeth before you into Galilee: there fhall ye fee him, as he said unto you. The MORAL REFLECTION. WE have already been entertained with the tragedy of our Saviour's death; he appeared paffible, that he might fuffer, and by a real death fhew'd he was true man. But now we must fhift the fcene, and reprefent him in more glorious circumftances, in a state of glory and immortality; conqueror not only of fin, but of death: Chrift being rais'd from the dead, dieth no more, death bath no more dominion over bim, Rom. vi. 9. He dy'd by man's cruelty, but arofe from death by his own power: that was an argument of his love, this of his omnipotence; the one of his humanity, the other of his divinity; and both together of a perfect and fuperabundant redemption. I intend not to infift upon the circumstances of this glorious mystery, but to fuggeft some thoughts, to entertain your piety, and move you to a fpiritual refurrection. Our bleffed Saviour foretold his fufferings, and particulariz'd almost every circumftance of his death, that his difciples might not be fcandaliz'd; but then at the fame time he affur'd them of his refurrection the third day, that they might not despond; and told them, that he, who had power to raise himself from death to life, from ignominy to glory, could restore their bodies to a more refin'd life, than that they were afterwards to factifice for his fake. They pafs'd their time between hope and fear, and the defire they had to enjoy the prefence of their dear Mafter, increafed their impatience: yet, tho' their love for him was great, their cowardife was greater; they durft not appear in publick, much lefs repair to his fepulchre; fo that they rather chose to expect the event in fecret, than to enquire with hazard. But three women, who had courage enough to accompany Chrift to the cross, had love enough to follow him to the fepulchre: and they prepared perfumes to embalm his dead body. If they were not fo happy as to adore him alive, they brought Sweet Spices, that they might anoint Jefus. But a difficulty occurr'd in the way, they had no leisure to think of before: Who shall roll us away the ftone ? This put them to a ftand, they would not return, yet thought it to no purpose to go on. For how could they enter, unless the stone was removed, and this was a task beyond their strength; for it was very great. But however, tho' their love could not folve the difficulty, they contemned it; and, perchance, reflecting on our Saviour's promife, thought their faith might remove mountains, tho' their arms could not So that, drawing near, they faw, with no less joy than astonishment, the door open and the stone removed. Methinks these womens conduct represents to the life those Chriftians, who would willingly bend all their care to acquire perfection, but startle at the difficulties. They cry out with these pious women, Who shall roll us away the ftone? Who will remove those fubs that lie in our way to virtue? Nature weighs heavy upon us, ill habits heavier, and the devil throws more weight upon the burthen; the world charms, temptations follicit, companions drive into diforder. To bear croffes with patience is hard, to feek them impoffible. How can flesh and blood remove these incumbrances? For they are infupportable: it is difficult to take them away, and impoffible to break through them: what a life, to hang continually upon the torture? To live in difcord with ourselves? To fet one half of us against the other? And to be fure to be conquered, whenever we overcome? These imaginations fcare us from our pious re folutions; and, because we fancy perfection to be a hard purchase, we never pretend to it. But go on as these pious women did, and you will find these obftacles almoft removed to your hand; they faw the ftone roll'd away. You will experience, that felf-denial has its pleafure as well as enjoyment, and the names of mortification and croffes are more ungrateful to nature than the things themfelves. I grant indeed, in the beginning these things are diftafteful; but this comes from ourfelves; we confult, we dispute whether we fhall give ourselves up wholly to the government of grace. We will, and we will not; our refolution is weak, the attractives to perfection languishing and feeble: this contest between the fuperior part of the foul and the body, between nature and grace, raises a civil war within us, and engages in the quarrel all the fenfitive faculties on the one fide, and all the reafonable on the other. Our heart at the fame time would fain enjoy fenfual pleasures, without being deprived of fpiritual and divine; it would ferve Christ, and yet not quite fall out with the world; and because it fees it impoffible to reconcile these two defires, and that it can only chufe one, it falls into fits of melancholy, and feels all the pangs of labour and travail: but if, by a firm and efficacious refolution, it would bid adieu to fenfual delights, grace would lead it, not only without pain, but even with pleasure, to fpiritual ones. The foul, that that will serve God with all fidelity, finds difficulty only in deliberating whether she shall abandon herfelf wholly to his fervice, and the pain ends fo foon as an efficacious refolution begins. Thus we fee, when men are perfuaded, the pur chase of any thing will turn to their advantage, they bufy themselves in the purfuit, not only without torment, but even with a tranfport of pleasure. Jacob labour'd fourteen years like a flave for his beloved Rachel; he fuffered the parching heats of fummer, and the nipping frofts of winter, without complaint; the vehemence of his love carried him through all difficulties, and the defire of poffeffing his beloved object gave wings to time, and plea fure to his labours. What contentment, then, what fatisfaction muft a foul feel, wholly devoted to the fervice of God; that expects for recompence, not a fading beauty, but God himself; and when it is fure this enjoyment will be eternal? But, befides, in the pursuit of temporal things, the fuccefs depends not upon our care and industry; we may lay designs with prudence, carry them on with refolution and caution, and, after all, fall fhort of our expectation. But thofe, who practise mortification for heaven, cannot miscarry unless they will; it depends not upon exterior contingencies, but upon themselves, affifted by grace, which will not be wanting; fo that their reward is infallible as well as eternal, if they betray not their intereft and turn enemies to themselves. Seeing therefore the acquifition of heavenly goods is more fure than that of temporal, and the goods themselves beyond all proportion greater, worldly men cannot take fo much content in feeking them, as fpiritual men in contemning them, nor fo much joy in poffeffing them, as thofe who lodge their defires and hopes in heaven. A a 2 Did |