‘Talis decebat ut esset nobis Pontifex, sanctus, innocens. Hebr. ch. 7. v. 26.’ ‘It was fitting we shou'd have such a Bishop, holy, and innocent.’

THese words are part of that Divine Character which the Apostle gives of Jesus Christ, the Su­pream Pastor and Bishop of our Souls, distinguishing him from the [Page 2]High Priests of the Levitical Race, and establishing his eternal Priesthood ac­cording to the Order of Melchisedec, Sanctus, Innocens. For, as it was fitting that a new Law-giver shou'd publish a new Law; so was it necessary he shou'd create a new Priesthood, more perfect then the former, more excellent, not only in Power and Efficacy, but also in San­ctity and Innocence. And since this Law was to be so confummated in all Points, that it shou'd never be repeal'd or ex­cluded by a posterior Law more per­fect then it self; so was it fitting we shou'd have such a Bishop, so replenish'd with Holiness and Innocence, as all who were to succeed him in the Pontifical Dignity, and Direction of Souls, might abundantly receive of his fulness, and some in every Age shou'd actually en­joy a larger, and more conspicuous share of his Holiness and Innocence.

Of this number was the eminent Pre­late, to the memory of whose innocent [Page 3]Life, and holy Conversation, the Church has appointed the present Solemnity. A Bishop so holy and innocent, that, as he was the glory, so is he the reproach of this corrupt Age. For if the worst of Times, and the most barren Soil, cou'd produce Innocence, and nourish Holi­ness, and bring Vertue to the highest Maturity, how fond and frivolous are our Excuses? how do's our Justification aggravate our Offence, when we strive to lay our own Burthen upon our Neighbours Shoulders, and charge our voluntary Depravations upon the Ini­quity of the Times? But I argue wrong: For since we are so ready to catch at every shadow of an Excuse, to palliate our Vices, and to shelter our Cowar­dice, not daring to offer at a good Life, or desponding, and falling back as soon as we have made the first step; therefore, Decebat ut talis esset; it was fitting we shou'd have such a Pastor to guide us, such a Conqueror to lead us on, such a Bishop to encourage us, [Page 4]such a Doctor to teach us, and such an Orator to perswade us, that the Land of Promise is not so inaccessible as false Spies represent it, that the In­habitants are not inhospitable, that Sanctity, and Innocence are not such impracticable Vertues as the World wou'd have us believe. We have it from his Doctrine, we have it from his Practice; we cannot find a more faith­ful Account of it then in his Writings, nor can we in reason exact a more au­thentick Testimony then his Life, which mutually support, and witness to one another; his Life was holy and inno­cent, because conformable to his Do­ctrine; and his Doctrine is prov'd to be so, because attested by his Life. They who admire the sublimeness of his In­structions, when they read them, will find them not above their own level, when they see him practise them: and such as despair of rising to that height, when they read his Performances, will be con­vinc'd, when they consult his Rules, that [Page 5] every honest State of Life is capable of per­fection, that is, of Sanctity and Innocence. Facere & Docere, Acting and Teaching was the two-fold Innocence, the two-fold Sanctity of this Holy Man, and therefore shall make the two Parts of this Dis­course, after we have begg'd light from above by the Intercession of the Mother of Innocence, Addressing to her more then Angelical Purity, with the Angeli­cal Salutation, AVE MARIA.

Part. II If Innocence be the characteristical Vertue of the Saint and shines in every action which he did; it flashes in every Line which he writes: If it was the Soul which animated his Works, it was the Intelligence which dictated his Words, and as a great Saint speaks of a perfect Re­ligious man, vita ejus erat sermo facti ejus, the purity of his Doctrine is only an ac­count of the purity of his Life, and both together only one continued, uninter­rupted series of a Practical, and an Af­fective Innocence. If we regard his Life, we shall find it so estranged from the World, as if he knew it not: But if we [Page 13]look upon his Writings, we shall find there so dismal, and yet so exact an ac­count of it, as if he had Travelled thro' all its corruptions. He knew it there­fore only to condemn it, and like Moses from the top of Mount Nebo took a view of that Country he was never to enjoy. God having reserv'd for him a better hope; yet not taking the present pos­session out of his hands, but keeping it from his Heart. He did not call him in­to the frightful desert with a St. Paul, a St. Anthony, a St. Bennet; he did not Command him to Sell all, and give to the Poor, with a St. Francis. The Divine wisdom knew very Well that in an age, so enervated, and softened with ease, and Luxury, few wou'd take that word, which in the best of us begets only a steril admiration; and by the most is look'd upon as so impracticable, that it is hardly credible. For tho' we are expell'd Paradise, yet we expect God should converse with us as before in our own likeness; we are asham'd to embrace [Page 14]a Vertue that is not in a fashionable dress, and if that great Queen wou'd have us follow her, she must appear in her natu­ral Garb, and easie Way, in fine Linnen and soft Garments; as she was habited before sinners forced her to put on Sack­cloth.

Wherefore the Divine goodness con­descending to our infirmity, and (as the Prophet speaks) softening the Yoke by abundance of Oyl, Esai. 10.27. sets a Pattern of Ho­liness before our Eyes in the Person of St. Francis Sales, so easie to Imitate, and Copy out, so adapted to all states, and conditions, that it flashes like light in every ones Face, Ps. 19.7. nec est qui se abscondat à calore ejus, and breaths such a gentle warmth upon every Heart; that we are blind, if we do not see it; that we are insensible if we do not feel it; and in­excusable if we do not follow it.

If I should propose to the Nobility the Example of a Paulinus, or a Cassiodorus, [Page 15]suing to be discharg'd of their Honours and Imployments, as so many Fetters, and Impediments in their way to Hea­ven; I might disgust, but should never perswade: But when I bring evidence that Greatness in this World is not inconsistent with Humility, and to serve your King and Country in the most eminent stati­ons excludes neither Sanctity nor Inno­cence, why do you not imitate?

If I should propose to the Courtier the Example of an Arsenius crying to you as the unknown voice did to him, si vis salvus esse fuge: If you wou'd be saved flie in­to Solitude, and hide your self in the co­vert of a Rock, you wou'd think I de­serve that desert whether I invite you. But while my Saint commands me to tell you, that your estate is not desperate, tho' it be dangerous, and that the Lilly may florish among Thorns, that you may be Innocent in the midst of Cor­ruption, why do you abandon your selves as those that have no hope?

If I shou'd propose to the Ladies a Paula melting in a continual stream of Tears, a Magdalen in her Grott, a Mary of Aegypt feeding upon Roots, a Fran­cisca covered with Sack-cloth, and add to it, hoc fac, & vives, this you must do to be Saved; I shou'd turn this Chappel into a valley of Tophet, the Preachers voice wou'd be drown'd with execrations upon his head, and acts of despair wou'd eccho from every Breast.

But while my Saint commands me to set before your Eyes a Philothea nobly Born, St. Franc. Sales directs all his In­structions in the Book of the Intro­duction to a Devout life, to every pi­ous Soul un­der the name of Philothea. nicely Bred, easie and gentle in her Behaviour, neither scrupling a decency in Cloaths, nor in Attendance, allowing her self an inoffensive cheerfulness in Dis­course, and other Recreations not unbe­coming either her Sex, or Condition; and all this without any prejudice to her Innocence, reflection upon her Reputati­on or impediment to her Sanctity; what [Page 17]colour of excuse is left you to cover that of your Confusion? Why are you not merry without dissolution, affable without effrontery, gentile without profuseness? Such was Philothea. She allows you Vi­sits, and Recreations; but not at the ex­pence of your Innocence: She allows you a good Table, but not that your Neigh­bours fame shou'd be the Salt to every Meat, and every thing tast insipid, which do's not relish of the Satyr. Philothea did not so. Why do you corrupt your lawful Diversions into criminal excesses? your Apparel into a subject of Vanity, and oc­casion of Scandal? and turn those Riches into Ostentation, which ought to be hid in the bosom of the poor, if you wou'd ei­ther preserve your Innocence, redeem your offences, or perfect your Sanctity. And this was the Practise of Philothea. In a word, decebat ut talis esset, so sitting and even so necessary was it to all states and conditions, that when Vice began to establish his Throne upon the ruins of Piety, when Relaxation Invaded the [Page 18]Rights, and Usurped the Title of Religion, when Vertue was Pictured like a fury, with Scourges in her Hands, and was as much apprehended as she was before neglected, so fitting and even so neces­sary, I say, it was the Divine providence should shew such a Bishop to the World, whose Authority might convince an in­credulous Generation, and whose Ex­ample might encourage the weak, whose meekness might soften the most obdu­rate, whose advices might strengthen the languishing hand, and inspire the de­jected heart; and in fine, whose pathe­tick Exhortations might melt down the Heart of stone, and fetch Waters out of the hardest Rock; when he teaches us both by Word and Example that the way to Heaven, is neither so craggy nor so steep as the discent of Hell: that you may climb the one with less pains then plunge down the other: that there are pleasures attending Innocence to which the most indulged Appetites can never ar­rive; that Vertue has more Charms then [Page 19]Vice; that Sanctity is but high Reason, and when you live like Gentlemen you commence Saints. For what can be so reasonable as to live soberly, justly, and piously in this World? What more gen­tile? What more sordid and base then the contrary Vices? Yet in these Three Heads our Saint after St. Paul summs up all your Obligations, renders them fa­miliar by his Practice, and softens them in his instructions.

Here the Bishop learns how to support with ease, the formidable burthen of his charge; the Ecclesiastick to perform the Duties of his Character; the Religious to maintain the Innocence of his Life; and the Secular Man experiences the facility of Vertue: The Great, and the Rich are taught the advantage of their condition, by having the power to do good to o­thers; a Godlike capacity: The Virgin is instructed how to secure that great Trea­sure, an Angelical purity: The Married Person has methods laid down, how to [Page 20]extract Antidotes out of Poyson, and as Fish live in Salt-water without drawing the Brine, so to converse in the great Sea of the World, without taking in either its Vanities or Corruption.

If you be a Man, i. e. St. Francis Sales's ad­mirable treatise of the Love of God. you have a Theoti­mus for your Pattern; a Philothea if you be a Woman; if you aspire to perfecti­on, what better guide can you chuse then his love of God which rises every line till it lose both the Reader and it self in an Ocean of Charity, till it plant the imitator in the Third Heaven? If you cannot follow so great a flight, des­pond not; you have his Introduction to a Devout life, so accommodated to all Capacities and Conditions, that we may without Impiety apply to it what St. Gre­gory said of the holy Scripture, ubi agnus ambulat, & Elephas natat, where the Lamb walks and the Elephant swims; the more simple Reader is satisfied, and the more elevated understanding is transport­ed. If you are unsettled in matters of [Page 21]Religion, read his Triumph of the Cross, and you will sit down abundantly con­tented, and more than sufficiently con­vinced. If the care of others be com­mitted to you, what so moving as his Sermons? What so persuasive as his In­structions? Smooth as the profound cur­rent, perspicuous as the shallow, resem­bling the Nile flowing with sweetness, and faecundity, but comparable only to themselves.

If you want spiritual comfort or ad­vice, let his Entertainments and Letters be your Counsel, which solve every e­mergent difficulty, dispel every scruple, satisfie your doubts, and set the most perplext cases in the clearest light.

To conclude, as out of the abundance of the Heart the Mouth speaketh; so out of the Innocence and Sanctity of his Life, he Copied his Instructions. His Writ­ings are his Obelisk, his own Panegyrick: and if you imitate they are yours too, [Page 22]if you desire to imitate they are most excellent directions; but if you will not they are your Sentence and Condemna­tion.

For is it not as much your duty to em­brace Innocence, and to press forward to Sanctity? Is it not as much your Interest? Have you not the same Capacity, the same Encouragements, and Assistance? Do you want either Liberty or Grace? Neither. Do you want Knowledge, or In­struction? You cannot pretend it: But if you want Will, and Application, who can you blame, but your selves? Perdi­tio tua ex te O Israel; if you fall, you cast your selves down the precipice; if you perish, it is by your own hands; Why will you die O House of Israel? for your per­dition is from your selves.

Our B. Master assures those who tread the paths of his Sanctity and Innocence, that at their Journeys end, they shall re­pose upon Thrones, and sit judging the [Page 23]Tribes of Israel; not by pronouncing sentences of death upon them, says St. Jerom, but by making it evident to all mankind by the comparison of their Lives, that such as wou'd not follow the tract they had beat and smoothed with their own feet, shou'd have nothing to say for themselves, why judgment might not pass upon their convicted crimes, quia vobis credentibus illi credere noluerunt.

And it is worth our serious and timely study to consider what Plea we shall be able to make, at the severe Tribunal a­gainst such a cloud of Witnesses, the Lives of so many Saints that will appear against us. Perhaps we were Ignorant of our Obligation: And have you not the same Law written in your Hearts, as you are Men, and the same Gospel Preached unto you, as you are Christians, And both the one, and the other revived and inculcated by their instructions, shewn to be practicable, and even easie by their Example? If it be true that qui [Page 24]ignorat ignorabitur, he that is wilfully unknowing in the great concern of his Salvation, shall not be acknowledged for a Disciple of Christ; he that neglects to learn either out of sloath or prejudice, or temporal interest, is wilfully Ignorant; he that shuts his Eyes against the Light, is as criminal as he that Rebels against it, and deserves as severe Chastisement.

But I cou'd not practice what I knew. Erubesce Sidon ait Mare, cover your Face that the World may not see you blush at such a childish and unmanly Excuse. Were not they of as noble a Birth, of as ten­der a Complection, of as nice an Edu­cation? Had not they the same Passions to bridle, the same Concupiscence to war against, the same Body of Sin to conquer? But they had Grace. And how often has it been given you? How often have you scornfully rejected it? Have you not the same supernatural Light, the same holy Inspirations? The same ef­ficatious Sacraments? As winning Exam­ples, [Page 25]as Pathetick Exhortations, as vigo­rous both interiour and exteriour Helps, What cou'd I do to my Vineyard that I have not done?

But I have pressing Avocations, a tide of business, an Estate to raise, a Child to Marry, a Law suit to follow, a Family to provide for; and in fine such impedi­ments as no body can imagin, and I can­not overcome. And are these the heads of your Excuses? Are these your particu­lar Difficulties? Why? They are every bodies Song, a meer Narrative which is in every bodies Mouth, and which the sloathful Man in the Proverbs delivers more compendiously, Leo est in via, There is a Lyon in the way. But they are so far from proving what you intend, an exemption from Holiness, and Inno­cence, that they are convincing Argu­ments you stand in greater necessity of practising those Vertues, and walking care­fully, Caute Am­bulate. (as the Apostle speaks) because you go upon a slippery pavement. They are Arguments indeed why you cannot [Page 26] renounce the World, and bury your selves in a Cloyster; but do not prove at all that you cannot live Innocent in the World. You cannot estrange your selves from Creatures; but cannot you with hold your affection? You cannot support great corporal Austerities; but cannot you keep the Rein upon your Appetites? You cannot spend whole days in Contempla­tion; but cannot you set apart an hour for Prayer? You cannot observe perpetual Silence; But cannot you refrain from broaching, or dispersing Scandal? Can­not you moderate the flippancy of your Tongue? You cannot distribute all your Goods to the Poor; but cannot you re­lieve their necessities out of your super­fluities?

You cannot suppress the eruptions of your Passions; but you may keep a watch over them. You cannot contain from Pleasures that are lawful; but you may abstain from the unlawful. You cannot depose the grandure of your [Page 27]Condition, nor quit the lustre of your State; but you may keep within the bounds of Christian modesty, and ab­Stain even from the appearance of Evil, as the Apostle commands.

This is the Summary of the Do­ctrine of our Saint, the Spirit of his Writings, the Sweetness of his Spi­rit: And how rigorous soever he was to his own Person, he commands me to tell you, if you practise these easie In­structions, you shall enjoy Innocence in the midst of Corruption; Holiness in the midst of Infirmities; Poverty in the midst of Riches; and Peace in the midst of Distractions; vade & tu fac similiter. But for your encou­ragement to believe, what your own experience can only perswade, It was fitting we shou'd have such a Bishop, Holy and Innocent, whose Holiness, tho' attested by unquestionable Mira­cles, yet in so corrupt an Age, his Innocence was the greatest Miracle. And if he that [Page 28]lives well (as St. Augustine assures us) can­not die ill; he that lives Innocent, can­not but die Holy; And therefore on the Feast of the Holy Innocents, he was call'd to the nuptials of the Lamb, and added to their Number. A Martyr of Love; an indefatigable Pastour; the Apo­stle of his Country; the Mirrour of Chasti­ty, Humility, Patience, and of all the gen­tile Train of peaceful Vertues; the very Manna which Heaven rain'd down upon this Age, savory and delicious to every Pallate that has any Taste of Devotion; and to con­clude his Elogium, the Holy Innocent of the declining Church, as the others were of the Infant Christianity; the later Crop, as the others were the first Fruits, col­lected into the Garners of Heaven: Whe­ther I beseech God that you may follow him, by a studious immitation of his Vertues, and an assiduous Lecture of his Writings;

In the Name, &c.