Chapter VIII: Part II (1)

VIII. Maximilian Deza now shows how St. Andrew is a blessed
child of the Cross. He shows how that to him the Cross was as
a second mother, guiding him through life, sustaining him and
embracing him in death.

IX. The love of Christ’s Cross regenerates us, assures us of
our sonship, and is an earnest of our inheritance.

At our birth into this world we are placed in divers positions
by the will of God and by no appointment of our own. So
some are born to be kings, some to be slaves, some to be
philosophers, others to be fools.

But at the regeneration it will not be so. Our position then
will be regulated by our own selves, for we shall be nearer to,
or more remote from, Christ; be princes or subjects according
to our love for the Cross of Christ during our earthly
existence, according to the closeness of our walk in the bloody
footprints of our Master, bearing our crosses after Him, in the
season of our probation.

And in conclusion, Deza makes an eloquent and earnest appeal to his hearers to _redeem the time because the days are evil_.

* * * * *

The following is a translation of the seventh section of this most striking sermon, which exhibits at the same time his power and his weakness, his merits and his defects:—

“Behold!” will say the Judge, with threatening voice, to that great throng of accused; “behold! on this Cross I poured forth all the treasures of My love—producing blood for your welfare; to you though was that most precious stream counted but as dung, squandered recklessly for some fleeting vanity. From this My Cross with last and dying voice, with tears breathing nought but piety, I called you to penitence, but as deaf adders you stopped your ears and hardened your hearts to the sweet incantations of love. On this Cross, full of sorrows and of confusion, painfully I suffered death, that I might recover eternal life for your souls; and you, meanwhile, before the countenance of God dying for you, did laugh with the scribes, mock with the Pharisees, sport with the soldiers. This My Cross was a noble pulpit from which I, the Master of humility, of patience, and of charity, taught you the love of your enemies, praying to the Father for My foes and My persecutors. But you! what did you take in, what did you learn? Answer, what? The implacable madness and rage of a Saul, the boastings of a Goliath, the impieties, and crimes, and vengeance of a Cain, a Joab, or an Absalom. And what! were your hopes too rash to calculate on finding safety in that Cross? Ah, wretched ones! Are ye not those to whom the withering roses of this world were more acceptable than My thorns? Are ye not those who sucked in the sweet poison from the cup of Babylon, but rejected the chalice of My passion? Are ye not those who, fleeing the embrace of My Cross, rushed into the arms of lust which polluted you, of the world which betrayed you, of Satan who erects his trophies upon your ruin? These, these were your lovers, these the idols of your heart, these the deities ye idolatrously worshipped—commend yourselves now to them, let them arise and help you. In Me remains no hope for you, no more bowels of mercies,—Depart from Me, ye cursed! This Cross is your condemnation; this gallows-tree is your scourge, this wood will rack and consume you more fiercely than the flames of hell. Depart from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire.”

But oh, happy elect! to whom on the contrary the holy Cross has been the bow of peace eternal, the ladder of Heaven, the pledge of glory, the unfading palm of lasting triumph. “Come, ye blessed of My Father!” Oh, sweet words! best-loved invitation! most pleasant reception, long-looked-for glimpse of Paradise so near! “Come, ye blessed of My Father. Ye innocents by your sweat, ye penitents by your tears, ye martyrs by your blood, did water the tree of My Cross; come now, gather the fruits of safety, life, and happy immortality. Come, ye blessed of My Father. Ye who followed My blood-stained traces up the hill of Calvary, even ye shall ascend with Me to the topmost height of the heavenly Sion, where this Cross is exalted to be the trophy of your victories. Come, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. By nature were ye My subjects, but by grace My sons; and as sons of a reigning Father My kingdom shall be your patrimony, and My Cross the sceptre of a deathless realm. My charity bore it, out of love for you; your gratitude bore it, out of love for Me; now has come the season for both Me and you, that to patient love should succeed love beatifying. As long as I am God, that is, for eternity, ye shall also be happy, shall be likewise glorious, triumphant, princes of Heaven with starred diadem on your brows, and monarchs of the universe.”

FRANCIS COSTER.

The subject of this memoir was born at Malines in the year 1531; he was one of the first to join the new Society of Jesus, and at the age of twenty-one was received into it by the illustrious founder himself.

St. Ignatius soon discovered the remarkable talents and the deep spirituality of the young man, and he stationed him at Cologne, placing him in the van of the army of the Church, and in the thick of the fight then waging between Catholics and Protestants. He was admirably adapted for his position, and fully justified the confidence placed in him by Loyola. The Lutherans and Calvinists found in him an enemy of no ordinary power, and quite invulnerable to their blows. His knowledge of Scripture was as thorough as, and was sounder than, their own. Their arguments were dissected, and the fallacies exposed, by Coster, in a manner so clear and so conclusive that he stung them to madness.

Volume after volume passed through the press from his pen, many of them composed in the vernacular, so as to be read by the vulgar. He is said to have brought back multitudes to the Church who had fallen away at the first blush of Protestantism, and to have strengthened numerous souls which wavered in doubt.

He taught astronomy and lectured on the Holy Scriptures in Cologne. He was afterwards Rector of several Colleges, thrice Provincial, and present at three General Congregations of the Order.

After a life of controversy, yet with a soul full of peace and goodwill to men, Francis Coster entered into his rest in 1619, aged eighty-eight years; of which he had spent sixty-seven in the Society of Jesus. He died at Brussels.

His works are too numerous for me to give a list of them here. A complete catalogue will be found in the _Bibliothèque des Écrivains de la Compagnée de Jésus, par Aug. et Alois Backer_, vol. i. pp. 218-224. I mention the sermons alone.

R. P. Costeri Conciones in Evangelia Dominicalia a Dom. Adventus usque ad initium Quadr.; Coloniæ, Ant. Hierat. 1608, 4to. Conciones ab initio Quadr. usque ad Domin. SS. Trinitates; ibid. id., 1608, 4to. Conciones a Domin. post Fest. SS. Trinit. usque ad Adventum; ibid. id., 1608, 4to.

R. P. Fr. Costeri Conciones in Evangelia; ibid. id., 1613, 4to.; 1626, 8vo., 3 part., 4 vol. This last the best edition.

Vyftien Catholiicke Sermoonen op t’Epistelen end Evangelien; Antwerp, 1617, fol., 4 vols.

Catholiicke Sermoonen op alle de heylichdaghen des jaers; Antwerp, 1616, fol., 2 vols.

Sermoonen op d’Epistelen van de Sendaghen,—met twee octaven; Antwerp, 1616, fol.

Francis Coster differs in style from all the other preachers whom I have quoted. He is neither eloquent nor impressive as a speaker, he is immensely long, and must have been desperately tedious in the pulpit; and yet I question whether a priest could possess a more valuable promptuarium for sermon composition or catechetical lecture than Coster’s volumes. Coster is rather an expositor of Scripture than a preacher; his insight into the significance of the sacred utterances is perfectly marvellous.

Coster relates numerous stories of different merit and point. He seldom indulges in simile. He says sharp and _piquant_ things in a quiet unassuming manner; and unless the reader is quite on the alert, he may miss some very happy remark couched in a few pregnant words. For instance: he says on the subject of Profession not Practice, that Christ lived thirty-three years on earth, and He did many great works; but we know of only one sermon that He preached. The arms are long, the tongue is short; the hands are free, the tongue confined behind the prison bars of the teeth; to teach us that we should work freely, but talk little. Those who profess great things and practise little what they profess are in a bad spiritual condition; the clock whose hand stands at one whilst the clapper goes twelve, is wrong in the works.

The stories Coster tells are very unequal. There is one delightful mediæval tale reproduced by him which I shall venture to relate, as it is full of beauty, and inculcates a wholesome lesson. There is a ballad in German on the subject, to be found in Pocci and Göres’ _Fest Kalender_, which has been translated into English and published in some Roman children’s books.

The story was, I believe, originated by Anthony of Sienna, who relates it in his Chronicle of the Dominican Order; and it was from him that the preachers and writers of the Middle Ages drew the incident. With the reader’s permission I will tell the story in my own words, instead of giving the stiff and dry record found in Coster.

There was once a good priest who served a church in Lusitania; and he had two pupils, little boys, who came to him daily to learn their letters, and to be instructed in the Latin tongue.

Now these children were wont to come early from home, and to assist at mass, before ever they ate their breakfast or said their lessons. And thus was each day sanctified to them, and each day saw them grow in grace and in favour with God and man.

These little ones were taught to serve at the Holy Sacrifice, and they performed their parts with care and reverence. They knelt and responded, they raised the priest’s chasuble and kissed its hem, they rang the bell at the sanctus and the elevation; and all they did, they did right well.

And when mass was over, they extinguished the altar lights, and then taking their little loaf and can of milk, retired to a side chapel for their breakfast.

One day the elder lad said to his master—

“Good father, who is the strange child who visits us every morning when we break our fast?”

“I know not,” answered the priest. And when the children asked the same question day by day, the old man wondered, and said, “Of what sort is he?”

“He is dressed in a white robe without seam, and it reacheth from his neck to his feet.”

“Whence cometh he?”

“He steppeth down to us, suddenly, as it were from the altar. And we ask him to share our food with us: and that he doth right willingly every morning.”

Then the priest wondered yet more, and he asked, “Are there marks by which I should know him, were I to see him?”

“Yes, father; he hath wounds in his hands and feet; and as we give him of our food, the blood flows forth and moistens the bread in his hands, till it blushes like a rose.”

And when the master heard this, a great awe fell upon him, and he was silent awhile. But at last he said gravely, “Oh, my sons, know that the Holy Child Jesus hath been with you. Now when He cometh again, say to Him, ‘Thou, O Lord, hast breakfasted with us full often, grant that we brothers and our dear master may sup with Thee.’”

And the children did as the priest bade them. The Child Jesus smiled sweetly, as they made the request, and replied, “Be it so; on Thursday next, the day of My ascension, ye shall sup with Me.”

So when Ascension Day arrived, the little ones came very early as usual, but they brought not their loaf, nor the tin of milk. And they assisted at mass as usual; they vested the priest, they lighted the tapers, they chanted the responds, they rang the bell. But when the Pax vobiscum had been said they remained on their knees, kneeling behind the priest. And so they gently fell asleep in Christ, and they with their dear master sat down at the marriage supper of the Lamb.

This story reminds me of another, to be found in one or two mediæval sermons.

A little boy once made an agreement with an aged priest that they should say Prime together.

So, on the first morning after the arrangement, the child rose, and descended to the church, where he lighted the candles. He waited long for the priest, and pulled the bell; but the old man turned in his bed and would not rise. Then the lad looked from the window, and the land was dumb with snow. He thought, I will run forth, and sport in the snow, for the father comes not to Prime. But he resisted the temptation, and he recited the office by himself in choir.

On the second morning he descended again, and rang the bell, and lighted the tapers; but the priest came not. Then the boy thought, I will go forth and slide on the frozen pond. But he overcame the temptation, and recited the office by himself in choir.

On the third morning he turned in his bed, and thought, It is so cold, I will not rise; the father will not leave his bed, nor will I. But he resisted the temptation to lie in bed, he dressed and came down to the church, he pulled the bell, he lighted the tapers; but the priest came not, so he sang the office by himself in choir.

And this continued for six mornings; each morning was the child tempted, each morning did he overcome the temptation. Each morning the priest lay in bed, and the little boy sang the office by himself in choir.

On the seventh morning the priest was roused by the bell, but he turned in bed and fell asleep again. Then he had a dream. He beheld in his dream the Lord Jesus standing by the treasury in Heaven; and in His hand He bare seven crowns of pure gold. “Oh, my Lord, are these for me?” exclaimed the sleeper. “Nay!” replied the Blessed One, “not for thee, but for thy little acolyte. Seven times has he been tried, and seven times has he overcome; therefore have I prepared for him seven crowns. _Blessed is the man that endureth temptation, for when he is tried he shall receive the crown of life._”

But leaving these stories, let us turn to a sermon of Coster’s, and analyze it thoroughly. It will be seen how pregnant it is with thought, how exhaustive it is as a commentary on a passage of Scripture, how suggestive it is of matter for a modern preacher.

I shall choose the sermon for the First Sunday in Lent, curtailing it in only a few points, where the conclusions drawn seem unwarranted, or where the doctrine enforced is distinctively Roman. These omissions I have made from no wish to misrepresent the preacher, but simply to reduce the bare skeleton of the sermon to moderate limits, the entire discourse filling forty-seven pages of quarto, close print, double columns, and occupying about 5000 lines. I tremble to think of the time it must have taken to deliver, if it ever were delivered.

First Sunday in Lent. Lessons from the Gospel.

Matt. iv. _And Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness._

He was _led_. Here note—

1. That God is our leader into all good works.

2. That He leads, but does not constrain.

_By the Spirit._ Here note—

1. That in our Lent fast, we should follow the Spirit’s
leading. Now the Spirit leads and guides—

α. By the voice of the Church.

β. By the voice of conscience.

2. That our works are alone acceptable to God, if done
through the grace and impulsion of the Spirit.

_Into the wilderness._ Here note—

1. That Christ went into the wilderness to make expiation
in His body for our excesses; to endure poverty for our
luxury, want for our abundance.

2. That Christ went into the wilderness immediately after
baptism, to teach us that, by baptism, we are called to
renounce the world, and to lead a life of mortification.

3. That Christ sets us an example of retirement from the
world and its turmoil, at seasons.

4. That Christ, by His example, has sanctioned and
sanctified the life of the eremite.

_To be tempted of the devil._ Here note—

1. That, in order to be able to resist the devil, we must
be furnished with the Holy Spirit.

2. That God suffers us to be tempted for wise purposes—

α. To bring out our hidden virtues; thus He brought out
the virtue of faith in Abraham by tempting him to slay
his son, and the virtue of patience in Job by suffering
him to be afflicted with loss of substance, health, and
friends.

β. To keep us vigilant. (1 Pet. v. 8.)

γ. To reward us finally for our merit in resisting
temptation. (James i. 12.)

3. A. The word ‘to tempt’ has three significations in Holy
Scripture. It signifies—

α. To bring out hidden graces; and thus is used of God
tempting us. (Gen. xxii. 1.)

β. To lead into sin; and thus is used of the devil
tempting us. (1 Cor. vii. 5.)

γ. To provoke to anger; and thus is used of our
tempting God. (Ps. xcv. 9. Acts v. 9. Heb. i. 12.)

B. God tempts us in Lent, drawing out of us a proof—

α. Whether we love ourselves better than Him.

β. Whether we love our souls better than our bodies.

γ. Whether we love our present corruptible bodies
better than our future incorruptible bodies.

δ. Whether we love to obey the Church better than to
follow our own wills.

4. Christ endured temptation from the devil—

α. That He might prove the force of every temptation by
which we are assailed.

β. That He might show us how to meet temptation.

γ. That He might break the force of temptation.

δ. That He might teach us to expect temptation.

_And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights._

Note that Christ fasted, though there was no need for Him
to mortify His body, in that His body was free from sin.

_Forty days and forty nights._ Here note—

1. That forty represents the law as amplified by the
Gospel, 10 × 4.

α. Forty days did the rain descend to flood the world.
(Gen. vii. 4.)

β. Forty days were corpses dressed with aromatic herbs
before consigning them to the grave. (Gen. l. 3.)

γ. Forty years did Israel wander in the wilderness.

δ. Forty days did Moses spend, on two occasions, in the
mount. (Exod. xxiv. 18; xxxiv. 28.)

ε. Forty days did Goliath defy the armies of the living
God. (1 Sam. xvii. 16.)

ζ. Forty days did Ezekiel bear the iniquities of the
children of Israel. (Ezek. iv. 6.)

η. Forty days did Elijah fast in the desert. (1 Kings
xix. 8.)

θ. Forty days did Nineveh afflict itself in sackcloth
and ashes. (Jonah iii. 4.)

ι. Forty days was Christ with His Apostles after the
resurrection. (Acts i. 3.)

2. We keep forty days of Lenten fast—

α. That we may represent in the Christian year the
fasting of our Lord, as we also represent His birth,
His death, His resurrection, and His ascension.

β. That we may appease God’s wrath against us; making
satisfaction to the best of our power for our fallings
short during the rest of the year.

γ. That we may practise and test our strength, so as to
be able to exert it when temptation arises.

δ. That we may fulfil Christ’s words, _When the
Bridegroom is taken away, then shall ye fast in those
days_.

ε. That we may worthily prepare for the great solemnity
of Easter, suffering with Christ that we may also be
glorified together.

3. The advantages of fasting are,—

α. It keeps the body under, and brings it into
subjection; giving us the habit of obtaining a mastery
over our appetites.

β. It disposes the soul for prayer, and the mind for
meditation.

γ. It makes reparation for past offences. (Jonah iii.
5-10.)

δ. It is meritorious, being one of those three works of
which Christ has said that it shall be openly rewarded.
(Matt. vi. 18.)

_And when the tempter came to Him, he said._ Here note—

I. α. The devil is called tempter, as one who builds is
called a builder, and one who paints is called a painter:
from the work upon which he is constantly engaged.

β. The devil probably came in human form, as angels
when appearing to men assumed human forms. It seems
likely that Satan had not fathomed that mystery,
which angels desired to look into, the mystery of the
Incarnation, and that he did not know that Christ was
Incarnate God: yet was he filled with vague alarm.

γ. Christ’s temptations came from without; they could
not proceed from within, as His nature was sinless.

II. We also learn—

1. That solitude is not freedom from temptation, but
rather a time for it.

2. That Satan expends the whole force of temptation on
those who are leading a life of high vocation.

3. That Satan suits his temptation to the occasion.

4. That if Christ endured temptation, no man must
expect to escape it.

5. That if Christ suffered Satan to approach Him with
temptation, He will not reject us drawing nigh unto Him
in prayer.

6. That temptations come to us in disguise: the evil
one seldom presenting himself to us in his naked
deformity.

_If Thou art the Son of God._ Here note—

Satan had heard the voice from Heaven, proclaiming Christ
to be the beloved Son of God; but he may have considered
Him as a son in some sense as Adam, who was called a son
of God. That he could have grasped the mystery of the
hypostatic union is impossible. Sin produces blindness, and
Satan could not have seen and comprehended God’s purposes.
Had he believed Christ to be very and eternal God, it is
inconceivable that he should have thought it possible to
tempt Him into sin, unless the eyes of his understanding
were so obscured by his pride that he had lost belief in
all good, that he actually could imagine the Godhead to be
peccable, just as a prostitute disbelieves in the purity of
the most spotless virgin.

_If Thou art._ Note—

I. That Satan tempts even by that little word _if_;
implying a doubt whether God had meant what He said when
the voice came from Heaven; by this word _if_ Satan
endeavoured to drive Him into—

α. The sin of pride: by causing Him to perform a
miracle, so as to prove Himself to be the Son of God,
and thus to dispel the doubt of the querist.

β. The sin of doubt: by causing Him to question the
declaration from Heaven; for Satan’s _if_ implied that
God, had He meant that Christ were His Son, would not
have left Him to starve.

II. That it does not behove us to question the dealings of
God’s providence, though He suffer us to want, nor if He
refuse to hear our petitions. Perhaps we ask for what is
wrong, unsafe, or contrary to His will.

_Command that these stones be made bread._ Here note—

1. God wills to draw us from temporal things to things
spiritual, but the devil obtrudes carnal matters, to draw
us from spiritual things to things temporal.

2. The temptation of Christ bears some analogy to that of
our first parents. Eve was tempted by the sight of the
fruit which was good for food, Christ by the cravings of
natural hunger.

3. Satan tempts us through our need for the necessaries of
life. Thus some steal, others cheat, others live unchaste
lives, under the excuse that they do it for a livelihood.

4. If Christ by a word can change stones into bread, can
He not change bread into His true and sacred Flesh?

5. Satan tempts Christ to make more than was necessary,
_these stones_, so that He might fall into the sin of
gluttony.

6. Satan tempts Christ to a false humility, by urging Him
to make bread, the plainest food of the poor, instead of
costly viands.

7. Satan never offers what can satisfy. The prodigal son
was given but the husks, and here Satan presents nought but
stones.

8. Christ left Satan still in doubt as to whether He were
the Son of God or not: teaching us pious reserve on the
subject of spiritual favours.

_And He answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by
bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth
of God._ Here note—

1. Christ implies that God’s power is not limited to the
means prescribed by Satan. God can satisfy His own sons in
ways of His own devising.

2. Christ passes over the challenge, _If Thou art the Son
of God_, teaching us that our spiritual privileges are not
to be proclaimed, but rather concealed, that pearls are not
to be cast before swine, nor the children’s bread to be
given to dogs.

3. Christ’s words imply the full inspiration of Scripture:
He says, that man shall live by _every word_; not by the
general sense.

4. Christ’s words are prophetic: they indicate the fact
that He Himself was to be the true food of man, He being
the Word of God, He to be present as man’s spiritual food
and sustenance in the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar, until
the end of time.

5. Christ answered in the words of Scripture, teaching us
that in Scripture, as in an armoury, are the weapons of our
spiritual warfare. The sword of the Spirit is the Word of
God.

_Then the devil taketh Him up into the holy city, and setteth
Him on a pinnacle of the temple, and saith unto Him._ Here note—

1. In the first temptation we have Satan coming to our
Blessed Lord as a man moved with compassion for His
famished condition. In the second, he appears as an angel
of light, bearing Him to the holy city, as the angel bore
Habakkuk to Babylon, and the Spirit of the Lord caught away
Philip to Azotus. In the third, he presents himself as a
god demanding worship.

2. Christ’s great love is noticeable here, in suffering
Himself to be borne hither and thither, whithersoever the
tempter listed. So did He afterwards suffer Himself to
be dragged by the wicked Jews from the judgment hall to
Gabbatha and to Calvary. So too now does He suffer His
sacred body to be in the hands and mouths of unworthy
priests and lay communicants, and to be offered in the
meanest chapel, and to be carried to the filthiest hovel of
the sick.

3. Temptation to spiritual pride is severe to those who
are leading a high spiritual life; temptation to pride is
common to all who are placed in high positions, whether in
Church or State.

4. We must not be scandalized at the manner in which
Episcopal appointments are made, whether by intrigue, or by
State interference; Christ was exalted to a pinnacle of the
temple by the devil, and many a holy man may be elevated to
the dignity of the Episcopacy by the vilest of means.

_Holy city_, so called because—

1. In it was the temple of God.

2. Christ was present in the city to sanctify it.

3. It was a shadow of the Heavenly Jerusalem.

_If Thou be the Son of God, cast Thyself down._ Note—

This temptation followed the other as though deduced from
it. Satan implied, “You have done well in showing your
reliance on God; perfect your reliance, prove how complete
it is.” Observe also that—

1. Christ’s temptation is not only to spiritual pride, but
also to vain-glory, in that the prospect was before Him of
being seen by men, supported by angelic hands, and thus of
establishing His position as a prophet, at the outstart of
His ministry.

2. Satan not only makes use of our natural wants, but even
of our virtues, as means of temptation; urging us to carry
them to excess. But virtue consists in moderation, in
neither doing too much nor too little. Thus liberality lies
between avarice and prodigality, and compunction is the
mean betwixt assurance and despair.

3. Satan has no power to cast us down without the consent
of our own free wills. He may urge to fall, but he cannot
compel man to fall.

4. Satan endeavours to cast down to earth, whilst Christ is
ever striving to draw man from earth, to lead man _to seek
those things which are above_. (Col. iii. 2.)

5. We are guilty of casting ourselves down from the
pinnacle upon which we are placed, whenever—

α. We presumptuously neglect the natural means of
support with which God has supplied us.

β. We deliberately fall into sin, with the purpose of
expiating it afterwards by confession.

γ. We undertake any unprofitable task. For a Christian
should set before him nothing upon which to expend his
time and energies but what is of utility.

δ. We do evil that good may come.

_For it is written, He shall give His angels charge concerning
Thee: and in their hands they shall bear Thee up, lest at any
time Thou dash Thy foot against a stone._

I. Satan placed two dangers before our Lord: that of being
dashed to pieces, and that of committing a sin.

To remove the fear of either committing the sin, or of
exposing Himself to danger, Satan quotes Scripture. He does
this on two grounds—

1. To exhibit himself in a favourable light, as though
he were the angel of God sent to bear Christ up.

2. To remove the fear of injury, on the authority of
Scripture promises.

II. Satan endeavours to remove the prospect of danger,
so as to make the thought of committing the sin less
alarming. For many are deterred from crime by fear of its
consequences; and if the fear be removed, then they are
ready to commit the sin.

Eve was prevented from disobeying God by the fear of the
consequences (Gen. iii. 3); Satan removed the fear when he
said, _Ye shall not surely die_; and then at once the woman
fell. So when Satan removes the fear of death, as something
doleful to think upon, when we are in health, we are ready
enough to sin. Whereas fear is salutary; as says Scripture,
_To fear the Lord is the beginning of wisdom_. Ecclus. i.
14. 16. Matt. iii. 7. Luke xii. 5. Examples of the fear
of the Lord deterring from sin in Gen. xxxix. 9. Hist.
Susanna 23.

III. Satan quotes Scripture for his own vile purposes,
to screen himself under the semblance of piety. We have
a warning here against those renegade Catholic priests
and monks who desert the Church and the authority of the
Bishops, that they may give themselves up to heresy and to
unclean living, sheltering themselves all the while under
Scripture texts distorted to serve their own purposes.

IV. Satan garbles Scripture in quoting it.

1. He distorts the sense. Christ needed not angelic
hands to sustain Him, and therefore the passage is not
applicable to Him, but refers to His people. (Acts i.
9. Heb. i. 3.)

2. He omits passages which did not suit his purpose.
The words are, _They shall keep Thee in all Thy ways_,
i. e. in the ways of God’s commandments, not in
breaking those commands. He also omits, _Thou shalt go
upon the lion and adder: the young lion and the dragon
shalt Thou tread under Thy feet_, because those words
referred to himself as overcome by Christ.

V. Note also how great is the dignity of the true servant
of God, upon whom, by God’s command, the angels wait. Hence
we may learn:—

1. Not to regard ourselves as of no value, for we are
so highly esteemed of God that He commissions His own
ministers to attend on us.

2. To entrust ourselves altogether to their guidance,
for they will keep us in perfect peace.

3. To lead such a life as will make the angels surround
us, and be our constant attendants. As bees swarm about
a bed of flowers, so will they gather around those
who bloom with Christian graces. Thus, the Bride is
spoken of as _terrible as an army with banners_, that
army of the living God, the angelic hosts of _chariots
and horses of fire_ surrounding the faithful. Around
the bed of Solomon were _threescore valiant men_. And
angels are about our bed watching and protecting us.

_Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God._
Note here that—

I. Christ does not enter into a long discussion with the
devil, but at once silences him, knowing his obduracy.
(Tit. iii. 10.) He teaches us thereby not to parley with
diabolic suggestions, but at once to suppress them.

II. Christ answered in the words of Scripture, to show us
how to meet the assaults of the evil one; not with weapons
of our own devising, but with those taken from the armoury
of God’s Word.

III. Christ met and overcame Satan with his own weapon.
Thus did David slay Goliath with his own sword; thus was
Haman hanged on his own gallows; thus did Christ triumph at
the last over Satan by a tree, wherewith Satan had ruined
man.

IV. We tempt the Lord our God, whenever—

1. Presumptuously we require Him to alter the course of
nature on our behalf.

2. We rush needlessly into danger.

3. We thoughtlessly cast ourselves into prayer, without
having prepared our minds as to what we shall ask.
(Eccles. xviii. 23.)

4. We persevere in sin that grace may abound,
postponing repentance, stopping our ears to the calls
of God.

5. We tie God down to means, as the princes of Bethulia
tempted God, when they said that they would give up the
city in five days. (Judith viii. 11.)

6. We attempt to excogitate the meaning of Scripture,
with regard to doctrine, for ourselves, without
following the direction of our divinely-constituted and
infallible guide, the Church.

7. We stifle the promptings of conscience.

8. We neglect the appointed means of grace for those of
our own choosing.

_Again the devil taketh Him up into an exceeding high mountain,
and showeth Him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of
them_; and St. Luke adds, _in a moment of time_.

I. Whereas St. John was shown the kingdoms of the world
become the kingdom of the Lord and of His Christ, in
ecstatic vision, here in vision are the kingdoms of the
world shown to Christ as bowing under the rule of Satan.

II. Note also, how that—

1. Satan exhibited all the kingdoms to tempt Christ,
whilst to tempt us one jug of wine, one fair woman, one
handful of gold, are deemed quite sufficient.

2. Satan showed the _glory_ of the kingdoms of earth,
but not their emptiness, their troubles, their
fleetingness.

3. Satan spreads the net of ambition before those who
are leading a life of high spirituality. Thus the
Apostles, who had forsaken all for Christ, yet strove
amongst themselves as to which of them should be the
greatest. (Luke xxii. 24. 2 Kings xxiv. 2.)

4. Satan showed the glories of earth, not of Heaven,
trying by this temptation also to withdraw Christ’s
mind from things above to things below.

5. Satan did not show the real kingdoms, but only a
semblance of them. So he offers us, not those things
which will satisfy, but things which have no substance.
(James iv. 14.)

Whatsoever there is in this world of glory, of beauty,
of majesty, is but the shadow of _good things to
come_. Satan tries to urge us to clasp the shadow, that
we may lose the substance.

6. Satan showed all _in a moment of time_; we learn
thereby—

α. That his temptations come upon us with great
suddenness.

β. That the things he offers us are fleeting
and without stability. In this world nothing is
enduring. (1 Cor. vii. 35.) If Satan gives us what
we desire, he removes it from us speedily. (Ps.
lxxvi. 5. Prov. xiii. 11.)

_And saith unto Him, All these things will I give Thee, if Thou
wilt fall down and worship me._ Here note—

I. Satan no longer says, _If Thou be the Son of God_, for
he is now presenting himself as God, and might therefore be
supposed to know all things.

II. Note here also, that—

1. The devil’s motive in tempting man is still his
unconquered pride. Still does he desire to be equal
with God. But one of the three things which God hateth
is, _a poor man that is proud_ (Ecclus. xxv. 2); and
who is poorer than the devil, yet who more proud?

2. All sin leads to the worship of Satan, and the
breach of the First Commandment. For sin is a
turning from the obedience of God to the bondage of
corruption, a leaving the kingdom of grace for the
slavery of sin, an electing of eternal death in the
realm of outer darkness in place of resurrection to
eternal life in the kingdom of Christ. All sin leads to
this, for—

α. Sin must inherit death and damnation.

β. Sins lead to infidelity. (Ps. xiv. 1. Prov.
xviii. 3.)

γ. They make gods of mammon or the belly. (Tobit
iii. 3. Phil. iii. 19. Eph. v. 5.)

3. Satan is like a merchant offering wares in exchange
for souls; like the king of Sodom who said, _Give me
the souls, and take the goods to thyself_. (Gen. xiv.
21, Vulg.) But _what shall it profit a man, if he shall
gain the whole world and lose his own soul?_

4. Satan tells here three lies.

α. He claims the world and its kingdoms as his own,
whereas they belong to God. _The whole world is
Mine, and all that therein is._

β. He says that he gives kingdoms to whom he will
(St. Luke); whereas God says, _By Me kings reign_.
(Prov. viii. 15. Dan. ii. 21. John xii. 31.)

γ. He says that he has power to bestow things,
whereas he has no such power whatever.

5. Satan tempts Christ to fall down: and so—

α. His deceptions have all one object: the
accomplishment of our fall.

β. No man can worship Satan, without falling first
most grievously.

6. Satan begins with small temptations, and ends with
great ones; begins with a matter of bread, and ends
with an offer of kingdoms. This teaches us not to
despise small temptations; they are the forerunners
of greater ones, the _little foxes_ which spoil _the
vines_. (Cant. ii. 15.) Give an inch, and Satan will
take an ell. St. Peter began his fall by mixing with
bad company about a fire; he ended by denying his
Master with oaths and curses.

_Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan; for it is
written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only
shalt thou serve._

I. Hitherto Christ has answered with gentleness, as the
shafts of the devil were aimed simply at Himself as man;
but now that Satan casts the arrow of blasphemy against
God, He is kindled with zeal: thereby teaching us to bear
our own injuries with meekness, but to resent with the
flame of indignation any affront offered to the majesty of
God. So Christ endured patiently being called a gluttonous
man and a winebibber, but He was fired with zeal when He
saw His Father’s house made a house of merchandise.

II. Christ said not, _Get thee behind Me, Satan_; but, _Get
thee hence, Satan_: for to Satan there was left no place
for repentance, whilst to Peter, all that was needed was a
following of Jesus in His humiliations and sufferings.

III. The weapons wielded by Christ in His temptation, were,
pure trust in God, the Word of God, and hatred of the devil.

IV. It is of advantage that when we are tempted, we should
recognize the tempter through his disguise. Temptation
loses half its power when it is recognized as a temptation.
When Christ showed Satan that He knew him, at once Satan
took to flight. (1 Cor. xi. 14. 2 Cor. ii. 11. 1 John iii.
4.)

V. Christ made no allusion to Satan’s offer, but passed at
once to the condition, to show us that we should not suffer
his allurements to find the smallest lodgment in our minds.

VI. Christ made use of the words, _Thou shalt worship the
Lord thy God_, instead of _Thou shalt fear the Lord thy
God_, Deut. vi. 13, from which He quoted, to show that in
Him we have passed from the bondage of fear to the liberty
of love, from the fear of servants to the reverence of
children, that we have come to the _perfect love_ of the
New Covenant, which _casteth out fear_ of the Old Law.

VII. Christ teaches us that God demands _worship_ and
bodily reverence, that reverence of falling down on the
knee which Satan asked for himself.

VIII. Christ says not only, _Thou shalt worship the Lord
thy God_, but also, _Him only shalt thou serve_: to teach
us that bodily and spiritual worship is insufficient,
unless it is followed by obedient service; that acts of
devotion must go hand in hand with observance of the
commandments.

_Then the devil leaveth Him, and behold angels came and
ministered unto Him._

_Leaveth Him_, St. Luke adds, _for a season_; for Satan
returned to Him with provocations throughout His life, and
finally afflicted Him on the cross. It was of his coming to Him
then that Christ spoke, when He said, _The Prince of this world
cometh, and hath nothing in Me_. (John xiv. 30.) It was then on
the cross that Christ endured the last assaults of Satan: then,
when He made that offering of a sweet-smelling savour, which,
_when the evil spirit had smelled, he fled into the uttermost
parts of Egypt, and the angel bound him_. (Tobit viii. 3.)

Note here likewise that—

The devil leaveth Christ: thus does he also leave us, after
having tempted us,—

α. In the hopes of returning with seven other spirits
to take up a permanent abode in man’s heart, if found
empty of the love of Jesus.

β. That he may plot some new form of temptation;
retiring to gather strength. We must use this time
of freedom for recruiting our forces and collecting
additional arms of defence.

γ. That he may throw us off our guard, luring us into
false security and spiritual sloth:—tempting us by his
very absence.

_Angels came and ministered unto Him_, when the temptation
was ended. In like manner will angels minister to us if we
successfully resist.

Observe also that—

I. This brings great consolation to the religious, who
have pledged themselves to the angelic life of poverty,
chastity, and obedience.

1. Christ overcame the temptation of the flesh when He
rejected the offered stones.

2. Christ overcame the temptation to disobedience and
self-glorification when He remained on the pinnacle of
the temple instead of showing a form of _will-worship_
and _voluntary humility_ by casting Himself down. And
so should religious occupy any position to which their
superior appoints them without seeking to desert it.

3. Christ overcame the temptation to avarice when He
rejected the offered kingdoms of the world: electing
rather, poverty.

II. Angelic consolation follows retirement: the angels
ministered to Christ in the wilderness. It follows victory
over temptation: the angels ministered to Christ when the
temptation was ended.

III. Conflict with Satan does not lead to conquest: Christ
took no spoils by His triumph. It is rather the victory
of successful defence, of having _lost_ nothing in the
struggle, not of having gained aught.

Now I ask any candid person whether this is not a marvellous sermon, abounding in thought, overflowing with suggestions? Having read it, will he take up Scott, or Matthew Henry, or D’Oyly and Mant, and see what those luminaries have to say on the passage of Scripture thus wrought out by the Jesuit preacher?

I have not the least doubt as to the opinion he will form on the contrast.

We may truly say of the majority of Protestant commentators, that—_Their minds are blinded: for until this day remaineth the veil—upon their heart—in the reading of the Old_, or New, _Testament_. This is more applicable, of course, to foreign reformed theologians—if I may use the term theologian of those who are ignorant of the first principles of theology—than to our own divines. The English Church has always studied the Fathers, and has loved them; there is no great gulf fixed between us and the Mediævals, as there is between the Church and Protestant sectaries, and gleams of patristic light are reflected in the pages of our great divines. But there are commentators among us, such as Scott, who, scorning the master-expositors of early and Mediæval days, go to the study of God’s Word with the veil of their self-sufficiency on their hearts, and become hopelessly involved in heresy.

Scott affords us a melancholy example of a mistaken vocation. A commentator on Holy Scripture should be a man of profound theological learning, and of great intellectual power. Scott, a most amiable and pious clergyman, was neither a well-read man, nor were his abilities at all above par. His voluminous Commentary is accordingly, though overflowing with pious sentiment, of small theological value.

Protestant clergy commenting on Scripture, amidst the bustle of their ministerial avocations and their connubial distractions, without referring to the great works of early and Mediæval theologians, whose whole lives were spent in prayer and Scriptural studies, stand the chance of blundering as grossly as would a farm labourer if he undertook to excogitate, for himself, a system of astronomy, without reference to any treatises on the science already existing, or qualifying himself for the study, by a mastery of the rule of three, but regarded with unmitigated contempt all the discoveries made by those who have spent their lives in the exclusive study of the stars, and rejected as useless all the appliances of art invented to facilitate this investigation.

FOOTNOTES

[1] I have been obliged somewhat to modify these expressions here; the originals are too profane for reproduction.

[2] The manner in which these and other points are deduced from the text cannot be explained here; suffice it to say that it exhibits great ingenuity and subtlety in the preacher.

[3] Notice the gentle and loving spirit of the Jesuit here; he avoids giving offence without retiring from his position.

[4] I believe he quotes Juvenal twice, Ovid once, and the Æneid twice.

[5] Valderama, however, is not to be commended; he is vulgar, pompous, and irreverent.

INDEX.

Absurd sermons, 18-21. 70-73

Alberti, Leander, 19

Anecdotes
of F. de Neuilly, 11
told by Balzac, 12
of Cambridge preacher, 43, 44
of Franciscan preacher, 44
of Chaussemer, 45
of the Père Seraphim, 45
of Felix trembling, 47, 48
of a long sermon, 55
of Jerome de Narni, 57
of St. John Capistran, 57
of a public confession, 57
of a usurer, 58
of the Devil preaching, 81
of Hannibal, 143

Bequest to Apollo, 13

Birds, 29-31

Bon-mots, 15, 16

Catholic preachers, 23-25

Classical allusions, 13, 14. 192

Commentators, 39, 235, 236

Conclusions, 56

D’Oyly and Mant, 40. 235

Effects produced by sermons, 56-58

Exordium, 13. 45-47

Flowers, 31-33

Friar-preachers, 17

Gratian de Drusac, 79

Henry IV., 16

Horæ Homileticæ, 54

James I., 43

Lapide, Cornelius à, 156

Lapide, Joannes de, 83

Lengthy sermon, 55

Louis XIV., 45

Love of nature, 28-33

Mademoiselle d’Entragues, 16

Marginal notes, 12

Mariolatry, 27. 84

Mystical interpretations, 37-43. 85. 124. 141. 187

Natural history, 84. 88. 94-97. 139

Nature, love of, 28-33

Oblates, 161

Open-air sermons, 11. 17

Parker, Matthew, 9

Preachers,
Adrien Mangotius, 59, 60
Alfric, 10
Ambrose, St., 8
Andrew of Crete, St., 10
André, le Père, 15
Andrewes, Bp., 60
Ange de Rouen, 19
Antonio Vieyra, 60
Athanasius, St., 7
Augustine, St., 8
Barlette, Gabriel, 16. 19, 20
Barzia, Joseph de, 27. 33. 134-154. 178
Basil, St., 8
Basil of Seleucia, 9
Bede, the Venerable, 10
Biel, Gabriel, 12. 61-68
Borgia, Francis, 132
Bourdaloue, 60
Brydaine, Jacques, 45-47
Cæsarius of Arles, St., 9
Camus, Bp. of Belley, 14
Capistran, St. John, 57
Celles, Peter of, 43
Chrysostom, St., 8
Claude, 54
Clement of Alexandria, St., 7
Coster, Francis, 206-236
Cyprian, St., 7, 8
Damascene, St. John, 10
Deza, Maximilian, 192-205
Ephraem Syrus, St., 7
Eucher, St., 9
Faber, Matthias, 31. 49-54. 100-115
Foulque de Neuilly, 11
Geminiano, John, 53, 59. 145
Gonthier, le Père, 16
Granada, Louis of, 12
Gregory the Great, St., 8
Gregory Nazianzen, St., 8
Guerin, le Père, 15
Guevara, Antonio de, Bp. of Mondoneda, 56
Harphius, Henry, 22. 158
Harrone, le Père d’, 60
Hartung, Philip von, 29. 43. 116-133
Helmesius, 26. 135
Imbert, Father, 19
Kempis, St. Thomas à, 22
Königstein, 25
Labat, 17
Langton, Stephen, 43
Latimer, Hugh, 60
Leo, St., 8
Macarii, the, 7
Maillard, Oliver, 12, 13. 43. 70
Marchant, Jacques, 40. 136. 155-176
Meffreth, 70. 81-99
Menot, Michael, 21. 70
Narni, Jerome de, 56
Narni, Philip de, 12
Neuilly, Foulque de, 11
Origen, 7
Osorius, John, 33, 34. 177-191
Pantænus, St., 7
Paoletti, 56
Polygranus, 26
Raulin, Jean, 69-80
Salvian, 9
Satan, 81
Savonarola, 12
Segneri, Paolo, 60. 134. 194
Simeon, Mr., 54, 55
Stella, 39, 40
Turricremata, John, 22
Valerian of Cemele, 9
Venerable Bede, 10
Vieyra, Antonio, 60
Wulfstan of York, 10

Protestant preachers, 23-25

Proverbs, 114, 115

Relation between Nature and Revelation, 28, 29

Scott the commentator, 39. 235, 236

Scriptural illustrations, 34. 37

Sermons for,—
First Sunday in Advent, 198-202
Christmas Day, 14. 25
St. John’s Day, 153, 154
Sunday after Christmas Day, 148-153
Epiphany, 70-73
First Sunday after Epiphany, 107-110. 119-125
Sexagesima, 85-87
Septuagesima, 64-68
Ash-Wednesday, 194-198
First Sunday in Lent, 213-236
Fourth Sunday in Lent, 103-107
Palm Sunday, 111-113
Good Friday, 169-171
Easter Day, 110, 111
Easter Monday, 172, 173
Low Sunday, 172, 173
Easter Tide, 161-167
Second Sunday after Easter, 126-131
Ascension Day, 173-176. 186, 187
Trinity Sunday, 181-185
Second Sunday after Trinity, 88-93
Fifth Sunday after Trinity, 140-144
Sixth Sunday after Trinity, 144-147
Fifteenth Sunday after Trinity,29-33
Eighteenth Sunday after Trinity, 137-140
Twentieth Sunday after Trinity, 36, 37
Feast of St. Andrew, 198-202
The Purification of our Lady, 27, 28. 148-153
The Annunciation, 28
St. Peter, 14
St. James, 189-191
Transfiguration of our Lord, 49-54
Nativity of our Lady, 28
Name of Mary, 17

Similes, 22, 23. 34. 74. 113, 114. 139, 140. 142. 181-186

Subjects of sermons, 47-54
Sermon on
Birds, 29. 31
Danger of neglecting trifling faults, 137-140
Example, bad, 148-153
Elect, small number of, 36, 37
Flowers, 31-33
Heaven, 126-131
Hell, 119-125
Judgment, 198-205
Resurrection of Lazarus, 186-189
Shortness of life, 194-198
Sower, parable of, 85-87
Supper, parable of, 88-93
Temptation, 213-235
Uncertainty of our future condition, 153, 154
Vanity of the work of sinners, 140-144
Wounded Side, 169-171

Tales related in sermons, 75
Beasts at penance, 75
Toad and his son, 77
Widow and her servant, 78
Hermit and the way of safety, 79, 80
Mice in the larder, 94, 95
Poor Robin, 97, 98
Hermit and the olive-tree, 98
Priest and capon, 99
Crab and oyster, 139
Hannibal, 143
Women and the clew of wool, 146
Children and the child Jesus, 209
Priest and the acolyte, 211

Texts, strange, 13. 43-45

Unction, 84

Viaud, Theophilus, 15

Violent denunciations, 70

Vitry, Jacques de, 11

THE END.

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