Galilee, and Jesus, with his mother and disciples, was invited to it: here, at the request of his mother, the wine failing, he changed the water into wine, which Transubstantiation was his first miracle; and thence forward he began to preach the gospel, and work miracles without number, throughout all Jewry and Galilee, the Jews flocking in tribes to see his miracles, and hear his doctrine; and now his fame was spread into all the neighbouring countries.

EXHOR. Learn, O christian, from St. John Baptist, to lead a life of innocency, purity, humility, and penance, that you may increase the grace you have already received. Learn from Christ, who, after his victory over the tempter, was served by the hands of angels, that it is by mortification and fasting, you are to overcome the temptations of the bad angels, as well as to arrive to the society of the good ones: be obedient then to the fasts of the church, and accept them as from Christ, in imitation of his fast; it is by prayer and fasting all devils are cast out. The first miracle of our Saviour, at the marriage of Cana, was to confer a blessing, and this at the request of his mother; and all his miracles afterwards were blessings: consider the miracles of grace he has since done for you, and the many spiritual blessings he has conferred upon you, and beg he would increase them through the intercession of Mary, particularly those that are most wanting to you. Bear a particular devotion to her; if she had so much influence on her son when upon earth, the same surely she has now in heaven.

Q.

SECT. V.

Of the Doctrine of Christ.

S the doctrine and law of Christ more excellent

I than that of Moses," of. It is Q. In what? A. It reveals the mysteries of faith more clearly; it teaches greater virtues; and gives grace to put the law in practice.

INSTRUC. The law was given by truth by Jesus Christ, St. John i. 17.

Moses, grace and
Although the old

Testament and the new are both from the same God, yet the new law is more excellent than the old; because the old law was given to a people who are compared to children in their minority, under their tutors, who are not capable of the same perfection as men; but the new law is given to teach all that perfection which we can attain to in this life; so the old law was perfect only comparatively to the people and the times for which it was given, perfectly well ordered for them, but not so absolutely perfect as the new. In the old law, the Jews had the belief of one God, Creator of heaven and earth; but the mystery of the blessed Trinity was not then clearly and explicitly revealed: this was reserved to the only begotten Son, who is the bosom of the Father, who without leaving the bosom of the Father, came into the world, and revealed this high mystery, that the divine nature subsists in three persons, and that God is Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, three distinct persons and one God. Hence he commanded his apostles to baptize all christians in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; declaring hereby that all three are equal, since he would have all people consecrated to God in the name of the three. He also teaches in clear terms, I and the Father are one, St. John x. 30. the very Jews hereby perceiving that he made himself equal to God: and if the Son be one God with the Father, because he proceeds from the Father by generation, and has the divine nature communicated to him by that procession, then, since the Holy Ghost also proceeds from the Father and the Son, and has the same divine nature with them, all three are equal and one God.

The Jews also in the old law had the faith of a Messias to come; but they did not clearly know that he was to be God incarnate; and as this was the most essential thing for the world to know, and nothing at that time more necessary, after the belief of a God than a faith in him who came to be the world's Redeemer; hence in the gospel this is the next mystery revealed, that be himself is the Messias, foretold by Moses and the phets, and that he is the the only begotten Son of the Father, equal and the same God with him, and as such

pro

he says, I and the Father are one, St. John x. 30. that he is also true man, and in that quality, he says, The Father is greater than I. St. John xiv. 28.

And because many of the Jews, even of the Sanhedrim, as the Sadduces, at that time, denied the immortality of the soul, and the resurrection of the body, in which point the very wisest of the heathens were ever wavering; he proceeds to reveal clearly the dignity, the immortality, the true nature and felicity of the soul, and future resurrection of the body, and the life of the world to come.

As to the moral precepts of the old law, he did not come to destroy the obligation of them, but to fulfil them more exactly; and therefore, at the beginning of his gospel, he expresses the esteem he had of the law of nature, expressed in the writings of Moses and the prophets, by declaring that those who break any point thereof shall be as nothing in his kingdom, whether in the church militant or triumphant; but that he who fulfils it, and teaches others to fulfil it, shall be great among the great in heaven for as the law of nature is not suf ficient, without revealed religion, to make it binding, and add perfection to it, so neither would any religion be sufficient, that did not include the law of nature, and sanctity of morals; hence he makes it an essential condition, in his gospel, for obtaining life everlasting, to keep the commandments of God; especially the two great commandments, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength; and thy neighbour as thyself: declaring hereby, that the love of God is our most essential good, and that this is preserved in our hearts only by fulfilling every other point of his law; as the love of our neighbour is by works of charity and mercy, by feeding the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty, cloathing the naked, &c. by doing good for evil, by forgiveness of injuries, by praying for our enemies and secutors, by doing good both to good and bad, the just and unjust, as God does good to us; in all things doing as we would be done by, and wishing both friend and enemy the same eternal happiness as ourselves.

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The heathens themselves knew the definitions of moral virtues, but as the knowledge of virtue is not virtue, unless it be reduced to practice, which cannot be done, unless corrupt nature, which violently draws us from it, be subdued, hence he gives many precepts in the gospel of self-denial, mortification, fasting, carrying the cross, and this in order to withstand that corrupt nature; otherwise we shall be virtuous only in speculation, but never in practice.

As this divine law of Christ teaches every virtue, so he forbids every sin, even the least; not only the outward acts of sin, as the Pharisees, but inward desires and wilful thoughts of evil. He represents sin to us, as the foulest thing of all others, the greatest evil, the work of the devil, the most odious to God, and most destructive to our essential good, to be avoided at the hazard of life and all things; commanding a separation from every thing that may give occasion to it, whether father, mother, brother, sister, or wife, though it be as dear to us as an eye, and as necessary as our righthand; and as the love of the world is the root of most of our sins and temptations, by inflaming our passions, he pronounces many woes to the rich and carnal Jews, who confined their hopes to the earth; teaching his disciples to despise all things here, to fix their hearts upon God alone, and the joys above, as the highest point of wisdom; declaring the steps by which we are to ascend into eternal beatitude, to be those very things which are opposite to what the world calls Beatitude. At the same time he represents sin as the foulest thing in the world, and an eternal evil to the impénitent; he represents God as infinitely merciful, ever ready and inclined to pardon all who are willing to return to him; declaring openly, that he came into the world to seek and save those that were perished; in confirmation whereof, many persons are represented in the gospel as restored to happiness through penance; the adultress forgiven; Magdalen absolved; the publican justified; the prodigal restored to honour; Peter received in favour after his fall; the thief, in the last moments of life, promised paradise; to shew that

through him, who died for us, there is pardon for the · penitent to the last moment.

To induce us to the practice of his doctrine, he proposes the highest motives to us; and eternity of torment for the wicked, which he represents as a gehenna of fire, a hell, a place of darkness, of weeping, and gnashing of teeth; a fire that will never be extinguished, a worm that never dies; and an eternity of joys for the good, which he represents as a banquet, a marriage-feast, a kingdom, a heaven, a paradise, where delights and joys will be without end, in the sight and enjoyment of God.

But because the letter of the law and doctrine alone is not sufficient for us, especially in our infirm state, who being born in sin, with a corrupt nature, can neither avoid sin, or do any thing worthy of eternal life, or even believe in God, or come to his service, without grace, which is a supernatural help that flows. immediately from God; for this reason, the most excellent property of the new law is to give grace by the sacraments, which are few in number, easy in practice, and powerful in effect.

As this law and doctrine of Christ is to remain to the end of the world, and to be succeeded by no other gospel, by no other religion, by no other law more perfect; since herein is taught as great perfection as we can attain to in this life, and by the greatest master; accordingly he established a church for the propagation and perpetuity of it, which is to be succeeded by no other church; with a positive command for all to hear and obey it; and with a promise that the gates of hell shall not prevail against it; that the truth shall remain in it for ever; and that himself will be ever present with it, till the world shall end.

"Of this his church he made his apostles the first pastors, with a power to ordain their successors; and of the apostles he made St. Peter the head, with a commission to feed the whole flock, both the sheep and the lambs; to be the apostle both of the Jews and Gentiles; and gave to him the keys of the kingdom of heaven, which power descends to all his successors. The church