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A34223
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The life of the Lady VVarner of Parham in Suffolk, in religion call'd Sister Clare of Jesus written by a Catholic gentleman.
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Scarisbrike, Edward, 1639-1709.
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1691
(1691)
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Wing C574; ESTC R22893
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139,162
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320
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THE TRUE PICTURE OF the LADY WARNER IN RELIGION CALD SISTER CLARE OF IESUS WHO DYD AT GRAVELING IAN 26 1670 IN the 5th YEAR OF HER ENTRANCE INTO RELIGION AND THE 33 OF HER AGE N. de L'argillerre pinâ—â—it P. Van Schaâ—ppen fe 1690. The Graver tells what shee was heer below Angels and Saints must tell what shee is now THE LIFE OF THE LADY VVARNER OF PARHAM in SUFFOLK In RELIGION Call'd Sister CLARE of JESUS Written by a Catholic Gentleman LONDON Printed by Tho Hales in the Year 1691. TO THE QUEEN MADAM THE follovving Work being a just and faithful Relation of the most remarkable occurrences in the Life of my Lady VVarner I hope for an easie Pardon of my Presumption in offering it to Your Majesty The Memoires of Heroical Persons vvhose efforts have been to make the Science of Saints their chiefest study and their heighest ambition to excel in Vertue cannot but find a gracious acceptance under the Protection of Your Royal Name since Your Majesty not only by vvords but by an unparallel'd examples has so openly declar'd in favor of Vertuous Actions before all other Titles even to Crovvns and Scepters Amongst these Great Souls this Lady vvhose Life I Write must be Registre'd vvhose Vertues so long conceal'd by a signal Providence have taken air and are come to light The Monastry of Graveling in vvhich she liv'd and Crovvn'd her Merits by a happy Death vvas alvvays look'd upon as a Nursery of eminent Sanctity but Humility seems to be their darling Vertue For these Humble Virgins being hid from the Eyes of Men that they might be more conspicuous to those of God and his Angels vvere never vvilling to transmit to Posterity vvhat othervvays might justly deserve the highest esteem and veneration and consequently the Orignals I have made use of in compiling the Actions of this holy persons Life have by the importunity and Authority of the Honorable Lady Anne Nevil of happy Memory late Abbess of Pontoise been rather extorted from the Monastry of Graveling than freely offer'd so that I am beholden to my Ladies Zeal for the greatest part of the Memoires vvhich she had industriously got together vvith design to have put them into such a Method as might fit them for the Press yet all that either my Lady Abbess vvhilst she liv'd or I since her Death have been able to procure are so fevv in comparison of those many Vertues my Lady VVarner practis'd that I can give my Reader but a faint Idea and small Scantling of them After all my endeavours I knovv these small Essays vvill not escape hard Censures and no Precaution can secure me from severe Challenges upon this Subject The refin'd Policy of Worldlings vvill never be able to brook this Hidden Treasure nor look this Lady in the Face vvho in the flovver of her Youth so generously slighted the Charms of a plentiful Fortune of a loving Husband and of her dearest Children to make her self an intire Sacrifice to God These proceedings I say especially in a Pretended Reformation vvill be traduc'd as the highest Folly and greatest piece of Bigotry vvhen indeed the follovving Evangelical Counsels has alvvays been one of the Discriminating Tests and Distinctive Signs of the true Religion For this reason Madam I make again my humble Addresses to beseech Your Majesty to vouchsafe to receive this small Treatise under Your Royal Protection 'T is true Vertue is very povverful but Obloquies are like to be so great on the one side and my endeavours to dravv her true Lineaments to the Life so vveak on the other that Your supporting hand vvill be vvanting to encounter the first and sustain the second The Picture of my Lady in the Frontispiece of this Book is vvithout Flattery very Lovely But vvhoever Reads her Life must confess the Features of her Soul vvere incomparably more Amiable For my part I vvonder not that Vertue vvas Hereditary to her because if a good Tree must needs bear good Fruit 't is not to be admir'd that a good Child should be Born of a good Mother My Ladies Mother had so svveet an Air and so vvinning a Comportment that she gain'd the Hearts of all vvith vvhom she converst Nay our late Queen of happy Memory Henrietta Maria Mother to Our Gracious Soverain vvas so far taken vvith her that she chose her to be one of her Maids of Honor. Hovv far more advantagious is the Fortune or the Daughter since Your Majesty has been Graciously pleas'd to allovv the best Actions of her Life to be Addrest to Your Self They must needs Live for ever by this Immortal Favor being reflected on by those Rays of Majesty vvhich suffer no Eclipse and which by the opposition of a Malign Darkness give rather a greater Light For a Queen to be truly Great is alvvays to be the same vvhether Fortune smiles or frovvns upon Her neither Elevated in Prosperity nor Dejected in Adversity but shevving the Greatness of Her Soul in despising all things beneath it This Golden Mean this equal Temper the Christian World has alvvays admir'd in Your Majesty but never more than in this present Conjuncture Hence Madam I humbly conceive Your Majesties Name the most Proper under Heaven to Countenance such a Work as designs by dravving the Picture of a Vertuous Lady to publish and praise the Contempt of an unconstant World For vvhat can speak so efficaciously as Your Example the instability of all Human Felicity For as Your present State offers forcible Motives tovvards the disparaging of all Worldly Greatness so the consideration of Your Royal Patience and unshaken Constancy cannot but comfort the most afflicted and heal the vvounds even of the most desperate These Vertues Madam grounded on Christian Humility must necessarily at length be Crovvn'd 'T vvas Prudence in not vvrestling vvith the merciless Waves and furious Tumults of an ungrateful People vvhich has sav'd us the best of Kings the best of Queens and the most hopeful of Princes The humoring of a Storm is often the best vvay to Steer a Vessel securely into the Haven 'T is not for me to search into the Mysteries and Decrees of the Highest I knovv as they are inscrutable in their Secret Courses so they are to be Ador'd and Reverenc'd in their surprizing Effects But vvhen I reflect on such a Series and uninterrupted Succession of Miraculous Deliverances vvhich both before and after the Subversion of the Government have attended the Royal Family I cannot be persvvaded but that the speedy return of Your Majesty into Your Kingdoms is nigh at hand I dont rely upon the Flight or Singing of Birds as the Heathen Augurs did but take my Measures from better Omens The Iustice of Your Cause the Over-ruling Providence vvhich never leaves the Iust the Povver of a Most Christian King backt by the greater force of Heaven vvhich his Zeal in supporting Religion and Iustice cannot but obtain foretel the certain and speedy ruin of Vsurpation and Rebellion Methinks I
Approbation I do moreover declare that by the Title of Saint which upon occasion I have given her or any other Person whose Vertues I have related I intended only to signifie thereby that they were endow'd with a more than ordinary Vertue and design'd the word should be taken in no other sense than what St. Paul meant it when he apply'd it to the more Vertuous amongst the Primitive Christians and had no intention to ranck them amongst Beatified or Canoniz'd Saints which power only appertains to the Holy See Apostolick Having nothing more to add to the foregoing Memoires I heartily wish the Reader may find as much comfort in their perusal as I did in Reading and putting them together and that whatever I have here Writ may redound to Gods greater Honor and Glory Amen The End of the Life THE CONTENTS OF EACH BOOK OF THE Life of the Lady WARNER The First BOOK Contains her Life to her Entrance into Religion CHAP. I. HER Birth and Family her inclination even from her tender Years to a Religious Life both in France and England Pag. 1. CHAP. II. Her Pious designs are crossed by her Mother-in-law and what happen'd to her till the time of her Marriage Pag. 9. CHAP. III. The first interview between her and Sir John Warner her Marriage and behaviour in the World Pag. 15. CHAP. IV. The first beginning and occasion of her Conversion Pag. 30. CHAP. V. A Relation of Sir John Warners Conversion and how both he and his Lady resolve to enter upon a Religious course of Life Pag. 49. The Second BOOK Contains her Life from her Entrance into Religion till her Profession CHAP. I. She takes the Habit at Liege amongst the English Nuns's call'd Sepulchrines of the Order of St. Austin Pag. 71. CHAP. II. How she came to be call'd to a more rigorous State of Life or to a stricter Order Pag. 78. CHAP. III. How she resolves to enter amongst the Poor Clares her departure and journy from Liege and her arrival at Graveling Pag. 87. CHAP. IV. Sister Clare of Jesus begins her Noviship amongst the English Poor Clares at Graveling her Humility Zeal Courage Chearfulness and Blind-obedience in this her new Enterprize Pag 101. CHAP. V. Her Interior and Exterior Mortification her singular Devotion to the Blessed Sacrament her modesty and recollection Pag. 109. CHAP. VI. The happy thô untimely Death of Mr. Francis Warner and how this and several other cross and unexpected accidents which happen'd to Sir John retarded her Profession to which the Enemy endeavour'd to make even hâ—r self instrumental and how she discover'd and generously overcame his crafty Temptations Pag. 120. CHAP. VII Her Letter in Answer to one Sir John Writ upon the news of her desires to leave Graveling new hindrances of her Profession by the delay of the execution of a Commission out of Chancery and Death of Mother Taylor Abbess of the Poor Clares Pag. 136. CHAP. VIII Her concern about her Children's Education her Letters to Sir John and the Abbess of Gant about their removal to Graveling Sir John's return from England their preparation for their Profession her Oblation of her self during the Exercise and their taking their last leave of each other the Night before they made their Vows Pag. 143. The Third BOOK Contains her Life from her Profession or the making her Vows to her Death CHAP. I. The Ceremony of their Profession at Graveling Pag. 161. CHAP. II. What effects this Ceremony wrought upon her self and those that were present at it the great Victory she obtain'd over her Passions manifested by her unconcernedness in this and on some other very moving occasions Pag. 177. CHAP. III. Her exact compliance with Mother Abbesses Orders in taking care of her Children in which she exprest more of a careful Mistress than a tender Mother and hereby manifested that pure Obedience the inclination of Grace and not affection to her Children the inclination of Nature mov'd her to accept this employment Pag. 185. CHAP. IV. Her Zeal for the Conversion of her Relations to the Catholic Faith her Prayer for them and ferverous Letters to the Father expressing her passionate love towards him by her fervent Zeal for his Conversion notwithstanding his great severity and unkindnesses towards her Pag. 190. CHAP. V. Her generous resolution of tending to perfection the Testimony of her Ghostly Father and others how diligently she puts these her resolutions in practice Pag. 199. CHAP. VI. The Excellency of her Prayer gather'd from it's fruits Pag. 204. CHAP. VII Mr. Ruisson's Letter to Sistâ—r Clare containing admirable directions for Prayâ—r and Vnion with God in which perfection chiâ—fly consists Together with her humble Answer Pag. 210. CHAP. VIII A short account of some remarkable passages in the Life and Death of Mr. Ruisson Pag. 222. CHAP. IX A Remarkable passage of her burning her Picture a little before her Death Pag. 230. CHAP. X. The foresiight God gave her of her Death her concern for her Fathers Conversion and her Letters to him about it Pag. 234. CHAP. XI Her Interior sufferings in time of her Sickness and the effects of her Childrens Visit Pag. 241. CHAP. XII Another tryal God gave her to compleat her Crown Pag. 245. CHAP. XII Her concern for her Father and Children she seeks her greater Mortification even to the last the declaration of her satisfaction in her State of Life a little before her Death Pag. 252. The Fourth BOOK Contains some passages that happen'd after her Death CHAP. I. Marks whereby God gave evidence of her Vertuous Life after her Death Pag. 257 CHAP. II. The Points of her Funeral Sermon in short together with her Burial and Epitaph Pag. 261. CHAP. III. The Letter of Reverend Mother Abbess of Graveling to Brother Clare concerning Sister Clares happy Death with an abrigment of her Vertuous Life Pag. 208. CHAP. IV. A Letter to Brother Clare from Reverend Father Warren Confessour to the Poor Clares of Graveling concerning the Death of Sister Clare in which he also takes notice of some particular Vertues she excell'd in Pag. 273. CHAP. V. A Description in General of the Sanctity of her Life Pag. 280. CHAP. VI. A more exact Relation of her Vertues in particular Pag. 284. FINIS