if, unworthy as I am, I were not convinced, and you were not
likewise fully convinced, that the Lord of heaven hath entrusted
me with his word, and that it is in his name I declare his will ?
" Why marvel ye at this ? Or why look ye upon us ?"
Yet though it be true, that all preachers, in consequence of their
mission, are ambassadors from God, and the organs of his w r ill, may
we not make choice of one before another, and be more attached
to one than another ? Yes, Christians ; and a choice of that nature
may be good and profitable ; but then it should be made with a
view to salvation, and regulated according to the rules of prudence.
Thus Ananias the disciple w^as chosen, preferably to all others, to
be the teacher and master of him who was to be the teacher of all
nations. Thus God himself inspired St. Augustin, as yet a sinner,
with a desire of receiving instruction from St. Ambrose, and atten-
tively considering the rules he should dictate. Thus, beloved
bearers, perhaps God hath resolved to work your conversion by the
ON THE WORD OF GOD. Ill
ministry of some preacher, and hath furnished him with grace for
that purpose ; for, things of this kind happen every day, nor is any
thing more ordinary in the ways of Providence.
But if you desire to choose in such a manner, that the honour
due to God's word may be preserved, and you may reap, yourself,
advantage from it, I shall here lay down two important admoni-
tions, which you needs must observe. First, among the ministers
of God's holy word, prefer not one, so as to despise another. For
as they are all of them sent by God, you must honour them all ;
and perhaps your contempt would fall upon one appointed by
heaven to convert a whole people. Now Providence hath ordained,
that there be preachers for this people, as well as for you. Secondly,
in your choice, have nothing in view but your own perfection, and
spiritual advancement : that is, in fixing your choice on a preacher,
be influenced solely by the desire of salvation ; for, things must be
desired to their proper end. Now the word of God hath no other
end than our sanctification. When for bodily health I make choice
Gf a physician, I examine not whether he be orator, or philosopher ;
whether he converse like a well-bred man, or deliver his thoughts
with propriety and elegance : but I require that he have expe-
rience, and understand his business ; I require that he have skill
to find out the nature of my constitution, and can cure my disor-
der ; and this is enough. If, therefore, I meet with a minister of
the gospel, wdiose discourses edify me, who makes an impression
on me, w T ho is gifted with the method of moving my heart, who
bears me efficaciously and strongly toward God, such discourses I
ought to hear with unwearied assiduity. This is the man whom
God hath deputed to make me know his will ; this is his ambassa-
dor from him to me. Though nature may have bestowed her qua-
lifications on him with a sparing hand, yet he moves me, and con-
verts me, and that is sufficient, By hearing his minister, I hear God
himself; and my happiness is, that by hearing in his minister God
himself, I draw down upon me the most powerful graces, and raise
a strong fence against that fatal hardness of heart and reprobation,
whither obstinate resistance to the word of God leads, as we now
shall see in the third and last part.
Part III. There are certain tilings, the use of which is pro-
fitable to us in such a manner, that without detriment they may
become unprofitable. But others there are, which, when unpro-
fitable, by a woful fatality become prejudicial. Of this nature are
112 ON THE WORD OF GOD.
aliments and medicines. Food turns to poison, it fail? to nourish ;
and physic is baneful that helps not to cure. Now, beloved Chris-
tians, the same may be said of the w T ord of God. In the order of
grace, it is the source of Hfe ; but when it gives not life, by inevi-
table necessity, it causes death. Wonder not (says St. Bernard)
that God, in the scripture, professes it as nourishment and as a
sword. For, it is nourishment to those w r ho find it wholesome ;
but to those who receive no benefit from it, it may with equal pro
priety be called a sword, of which the strokes are mortal. And
thus Almighty God (adds the same holy doctor) perfectly verifies
what he said by Ins prophet : "So shall my word be that goeth
out of my mouth, (a word, of which my preachers are the organs
only,) it shall not return imto me void, but shall (notwithstand-
ing the iniquity of men) accomplish what I please." Isaiah lv.
But in what sense are we to vmderstand, that the word of God
is always attended with the execution of the orders of God himself?
Is not the virtue of it perpetually impeded by our refractory spirit,
and Avant of docility? No matter; (replies the angelical St.
Thomas) for, God, in ordaining his word to be declared, hath
two different wills, of which one is substituted in such a manner to
the other, that if the first fail, the second of necessity must have
its effect. His meaning is this : God would have his word produce
grace and salvation ; and this is his first will : but in the supposition
that these effects are not produced, he will have it produce others,
which are justice and WTath ; and this is his second will. It is in my
power to hinder either the one or the other of these two wills from
being carried into execution ; but it depends not on me to stop
them both together, or to obstruct the accomplishment of the one
or the other. That is, I may make it, as I choose, a word of life or
of death, because I may, as I choose, hear it with a rebellious or
submissive mind. But to hinder it from having either one or other
of these two qualities, is beyond my power. And this is what
God tells us every day with great truth : "It shall not return
unto me void, but shall accomplish what I please''* But what are
the effects of that justice which is annexed, as often as we resist it,
io the word of God? They are clearly specified, beloved Chris-
tians, in the sacred page. The sinner's obduracy, and his con-
demnation at God's tribunal — effects, which stand in direct
opposition to the designs of God, in making us participate of his
snored word. For, the view of God, (continues this angelical
ON THE WORD OF GOD. 113
doctor,) was, that it should soften and bend our stony hearts ; but
unfortunately it hardens them by the resistance we make. The
view of God was, that it should work our justification ; but pro-
portionably as this resistance increases, it impeaches and condemns
us, in order, one day to confound us thoroughly before the supreme
Judge. Once more, let me crave your attention.
1st. Sometimes the Almighty, without prejudice to any of his
divine attributes, particularly his sanctity, hardens the hearts of
men. This himself declares : " I will harden his heart, the heart
of Pharaoh " Exod. iv. But the manner in which he who is
charity itself, contributes to this obduration, is a mystery I revere,
but shall not in this place attempt to examine. For me the doc-
trine of faith is sufficient : and the same faith which teaches me,
that the Lord " hath mercy on whom he will," lets me also know,
that he " hardeneth the heart of whom he will." Now I hold that
the worldling is precipitated by nothing into this woful state, more
effectually than by despising the word of God ; and of this I draw
the proof from the example of Pharaoh. Endeavour, dear Chris-
tians, to understand it thoroughly ; and acknowledge that what
visibly happened in the person of that reprobated prince, is in-
wardly renewed every day in those sinners whom St. Paul calls
vessels of wrath and damnation.
The Lord God replenishes Moses with his Spirit ; he puts his
word into his mouth, and tells him: " Thou shalt speak all that
I command thee, and Pharaoh shall not hearken to thee, but I
will harden his heart." Exod. iii. Correspodent with this direful
threat is the effect. The holy legislator faithfully executes the
mandate given him ; but as often as he speaks in the name of his
God, the sacred text adds, that "the heart of Pharaoh is har-
dened." It is the God of Israel (says Moses) who commands you
to set free his people, and deliver them from the bondage in
which you have detained them so unjustly and so long. But who
are you, (answers Pharaoh,) and who is that God, whose authority
you allege ? "Where are the proofs and tokens of your mission ?
You shall bear witness to them, (replies the envoy of heaven) ;
and smiting the ground with the mystical rod, which he held in
his hand, covered Egypt with darkness, and filled the whole land
with those other scourges, which the scripture depicts in such
frightful colours. Is it not surprising, that Pharaoh, notwith-
standing all these prodigies, should obstinately persist in his dis-
114 ON THE WORD OF GOD.
obedience ? No, Christians, it is not to be wondered at, because
it was thereby that God took vengeance for the horrid affront
put upon his word, and because so extravagant and outrageous a
resistance as that of Pharaoh's, ought not to be attended with a
less chastisement. Ah ! never punish us, O Lord, in that manner ;
and rather than give us up to so fatal an obduracy, pour down
upon us every other kind of vengeance. Send us, as you sent to
the obstinate Pharaoh, adversities, calamities, and humiliations.
If we be but actuated ever so little by the spirit of Christianity,
we shall bow down and submit to them without reluctance. But,
O my God, preserve us from that execrable hardness of heart,
which would make us insensible to the influence of your grace,
and to every tiling relating to our eternal welfare. Oh ! banish
far from us a heart of stone.
However, Christians, this is the case. By opposition to God, and
to his divine word, this heart of stone is gradually formed. Ask
me not (says St. Bernard) what a heart of stone is ? It is yours,
if you are not in agitation and terror ; for it must be a very hard
heart indeed, that is not filled with horror, as it hath no feeling of
its own condition. Accordingly, let a minister of the gospel
endeavour by every motive of intimidation, to prevail over and
rouse it, all is labour lost. Nothing affects it, neither promises,
nor menaces, nor rewards, nor chastisements.
2ndly. Wherefore, this word, which ought to be instrumental
towards the sinner's justification, is of no farther use than to for-
ward his condemnation. For, the more precious the talent which
was put into his hands, is, the more criminal he appears for not
having applied it to any good purpose ; the greater efficacy the
word of God had to move and convert him, the more culpable he
is for having destroyed its whole virtue. Upon this account it
was, that our Lord thundered out such terrible anathemas against
the hardened inhabitants of Bethsaida and Chorazin. And it
must (says Origen) have been a cursed soil, indeed, in which so
fruitful a seed as that of God's word could produce nothing. It
was for the same reason, that the Saviour of the world commanded
his apostles to leave towns and villages, where they should not be
hearkened to, and to shake the dust off their feet, at their depar-
ture, in order to convince the unbelieving people, that they were
rejected by Almighty God. In fine, it is in the same sense that
St. Augustin explains that important monition which is given us
ON THE WORD OF GOD. 115
by our Saviour : " Agree with thy adversary betimes, while thou
art in the way with him." Matt. v. This adversary (says the
forementioned father) is the word of God, which, by our resistance
to it, we raise up against us. It combats our vices, our habits,
and our passions. But let us endeavour, in consequence of our
blessed Lord's advice, to bring it over to our side. Let our morals
be strictly conformable to its maxims. Let us hear, love, and
practise its rules and documents, lest "perhaps the adversary
deliver us to the judge, and the judge to the officer." Matt. v.
Yes, Christians, this formidable adversary, this word of God,
will accuse you, will condemn you, will call out to God, and
demand solemn justice, for all the contempt, and all the abuse it
met with from you ; and God, who is always faithful to his word,
will do it to the full. Persons of two kinds will intervene at this
judgment, and will close with the word, in order to second it, to
wit, preachers and hearers : hearers, who honoured it, and were
sanctified by it ; and preachers, who delivered it, and whom God
replenished with his holy Spirit : the former represented by the
people of Nineve, the latter by the apostles. For, you know with
what readiness the Ninevites obeyed, when the prophet Jonas
preached penance to them : " The men of Nineve shall rise up in
judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it : because they
did penance at the preaching of Jonas." Matt. xii. Neither are
you ignorant, that the Saviour of the world promised his apostles,
and in them the faithful ministers of his word, that " they should
sit on twelve seats, judging the twelve tribes of Israel." Matt. xix.
Ah ! my Lord, shall I then be employed in this melancholy pro-
vince ? After having preached so often to this audience ? Shall
I be their accuser ? Shall I be their judge ? Shall I pronounce
reprobation against those I would save at the expense of my life ?
True it is, my God, it would be highest honour to be seated near
you at the bar of your justice ; but this high honour I should gain
at the expense of so many souls, for whom you spilt every drop of
your blood. Perhaps, too, in condemning them I should condemn
myself, being obliged, more than they, to practise those holy truths
I am preaching. Therefore I had rather have recourse, from this
moment, both for them and for myself, to the bar of your mercy.
I will earnestly supplicate you to shower down upon us the abun-
dance of your graces, that by the virtue thereof your word may be
to us a pledge of sanctincation and of life everlasting.
116
SEEMON VI.
ON FAITH.
" Jesus said to the centurion : Go thy way ; and as thou hast
believed, so be it done to thee." Matt. viii.
Is it not surprising, beloved Christians, that the Saviour of the
world, instead of attributing to his omnipotence itself, and to the
virtue of God, the miracles of his omnipotence, should in the
sacred page, for the most part attribute them to the faith of men ?
Powerful in works and in words, he cast out devils, cured diseases,
raised the dead to life. But although of all this he might well
have reserved to himself the glory, while others reaped the benefit,
he gives it wholly to faith ; as though faith alone had operated
through him that which he alone operated for faith: " Go thy
way," says he, " and as thou hast believed, so be it done to thee."
This is the answer which he makes the centurion, who comes to
him, begging that he would restore to health his servant stricken
with a mortal palsy : and this is the answer which he made on so
many other occasions, relatively to so many other persons ; every
where admiring and extolling faith, he who, it should seem, ought
to admire nothing ; every where proclaiming its force and efficacy ;
every where giving to understand that it was capable to obtain of
him anything : " Go thy way, and as thou hast believed, so be it
done to thee."
From these premises, certain heterodox teachers of the two last
centuries drew this false consequence : that the whole business of
man's salvation rests solely upon faith ; an error which the church
of God hath proscribed, as tending directly to destroy among
Christians the practice and necessity of good works. But I,
beloved hearers, shall draw, without running into such an extreme,
a much more solid subject from the gospel ; a subject which is the
groundwork of all Christian morality. And adhering to the words
of the Son of God: " As thou hast believed, so be it done to
ON FAITH.
117
thee," I shall set forth the genuine effects of faith, as it concerns
salvation,
In whatever manner, beloved Christians, I mean to explain this
interesting subject, my design is not to seek ways and expedients
to reconcile the opinion of modern heretics with the doctrine of the
church, in regard to the efficacy and virtue of faith, as I learn
from St. Augustin, that there is no mean between error and truth,
but that it is incumbent on me to confess the one, and to abjure
the other. The opinion, or, more properly, the error of our
modern heretics is, that faith alone is sufficient to justify us in the
presence of God ; that good works, how perfect soever, contribute
in no measure or degree to salvation ; that life everlasting is granted
us merely by way of inheritance, not as a reward ; an inheritance,
which it is not in our power to merit, and of which, without having
acquired a right to it, we enter on the possession. Such is the
language of heresy ; but this is the language of orthodoxy. It is
an article of faith, that faith, of itself, is insufficient to save us ;
that our good works make a great part of our justification ; that
we acquire, in virtue of these good works, a right to the glory
which God prepares for us ; and that his glory, by a marvellous
effect of the grace of Christ Jesus, is at the same time (as St.
Augustin expresses it) the gift of God, and the merit of man.
But waving a controversy, beloved Christians, unsuitable to the
present time and audience, I advance two orthodox and incontes-
tible propositions, which shall make the division of this discourse.
1st. It is Faith that saves us.
2ndly. Oftentimes it is faith that condemns us.
They seem contradictory, at first view. But this seeming con-
tradiction will afford me an opportunity of developing the noblest
and most sublime theological principles and maxims relating to
this important subject. The righteous saved, the wicked con-
demned, by faith. That the righteous will owe their salvation to
faith, because their justification, in a special manner, arises from
faith ; you shall see in the first part. That the wicked will owe
their damnation to faith, because their reprobation proceeds from
faith, unattended with good works ; you shall see in the second.
Part I. It is faith that saves us. This proposition is too ex-
pressly set down in the scriptures to be called in question. But
the point is to know, in what manner, and in what sense, it is true
to say, that it is faith which saves. Whereupon I assert, that we
118 ON FAITH.
are saved by faith two ways — as the perfection of our good works'?
and as the principle of our good works : as the perfection of our
good works, because it is from faith that the efficacy and value of
our good works derive. As the principle of our good works,
because it is from faith that the holy ardour which impels us to
practise them particularly derives to us. The sequel will put these
two reflections in a clearer light. Bend all your attention to the
one and the other.
1st. In what manner soever divines explain the justification of
men, it is an undoubted truth, as the scripture informs us, that
in the sight of heaven our actions draw their efficacy and value
from faith ; so that faith is the perfection, as it were, of our vir-
tues, and all our good works. I cannot be saved, nor pretend to
the reward Avhich God hath allotted me, independently of the merit
of good works. This is indubitable. But I must likewise own,
that my good works can have no merit before God, but by faith.
Faith it is, that must impress them with the seal of eternal life,
which St. Paul excellently denominates " a seal of the righteous-
ness of the faith." Rom. iv. And St. Chrysostoni tells us, that
as a piece of coin which should not be distinguished by the prince's
mark, how valuable soever it might otherwise be, would be deemed
of no value, or use in the common intercourse of trade ; so what-
ever I do, though honourable, laudable, and even great and he-
roical, if I do it not in the spirit, and it bear not wholly the charac-
teristic of faith, it were presumption to suppose it conducive to
salvation. This, beloved Christians, hath always been held incon-
testible in our religion, and ought to be the rule of our whole
conduct. This is what the apostle inculcated to the Jews with so
much zeal. This is what St. Augustin proved against the Pela-
gians with such energy and solidity. This is what the fathers
remonstrated incessantly to the heretics of their times ; and this
is what the preachers of the gospel at this day, more than ever,
should make known to their audiences : that without faith, I say,
a sincere, humble, obedient faith, whatever we do is of no utility
toward a blissful eternity.
Observe, Christians, my way of reasoning. The Jews put their
trust in the works of the law ; that is, in the sacrifices which the
law of Moses commanded them to offer ; and provided that they
inviolably observed this law, they were thoroughly convinced, that
all the promises made to Abraham would be fulfilled in them.
ON FAITH. I [i)
You are mistaken, my brethren, (St. Paul tells them;) you will
not be saved by the practice of your law, but by the faith of Christ
Jesus. Immolate whatever victims you please, purify your bodies
ever so much, make what professions you will of an exact and
religious worship, if all these observances, and all these ceremo-
nies, be not sanctified by faith, they are to no purpose. You have
been justified by faith, and faith it is that must give you access to
the throne of God. Thus, this apostolical man spoke to them.
The Pelagians depended on their natural good works, which
they thought God regarded in the distribution of his favours, call-
ing some and not others ; making choice of some in preference to
others, for the good works of nature, to receive this grace of voca-
tion and election. And (with St. Prosper) it must be acknow-
ledged, that this error had something extremely specious in it.
But it was still an error ; and the great St. Augustin was raised,
by God, to encounter and destroy it. No, (cries this incomparable
doctor,) the case is not so. The natural good works, on which you
rely, are of no effect in regard to salvation. They incline not God
to grant us his grace ; neither will he consider them to all eternity.
The merit of our lives is annexed to faith ; and nothing without
it can bring us to him.
In short, the heretics of almost every age of the church, have laid
great stress on their good works ; and by a blind presumption,
flattered themselves that they lived in their sect more holily than
the Catholics, were more reformed, more austere, more addicted
to the pious exercises of charity and penitence ; and to judge only
by the exterior, their pretensions were sometimes not ill founded.
But the fathers answered, that their boasts were groundless, their
faith being unsound ; that all their vaunted works of piety, how
shining soever, were dead works, and all their virtues chimerical
phantoms, as however fruitful they had been with faith, they were
barren without it; that in no field, save in the field of the
universal church, could they reasonably hope to gather good fruit ;
that whosoever should sow in any other field, would be a loser and a
squanderer ; for here I make use of their own expressions :
that it was in this church, which being universal, was the
only depositary of true faith, God, according to the testimony of
David, was willing to be praised : " With thee is my praise in the
great church ;" (Ps. xxi. ;) that out of it he gave ear to no praise
or prayers ; and that if any one presumed, with a corrupt faith 1
120 ON FAITH.
to appear at his altars, in order to perform the duties of religion,
it was to him he addressed, in a special manner, these tremendous
words: " What hast thou to do to declare my justice ? or that
thou shouldest take my testament in thy mouth ?" Ps. xlix. That
good works, unaccompanied by faith, far from being a fund of
merit to sectaries, would rather be a cause of confusion before God,
as he not only would be well pleased or satisfied with the good
which they did, unless they believed what they were bound to
believe, but would judge them more rigorously for not having
believed what they ought to have believed, although they did the
good they were bound to do ; in a word, that in the Christian
world, it was not by the substance absolutely of works, but by the
quality of faith, that God discriminated the righteous from the
wicked. All this is taken from St. Augustin; wherefore he
inferred, *that a Christian, who should practise whatever is most