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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A96266	The narrow path of divine truth described from living practice and experience of its three great steps, viz Purgation, illumination & union according to the testimony of the holy scriptures; as also of Thomas a Kempis, the German divinity, Thauler, and such like. Or the sayings of Matthew Weyer reduced into order in three books by J. Spee. Unto which are subjoyned his practical epistles, done above 120 years since in the Dutch, and after the author's death, printed in the German language at Frankfort 1579. And in Latin at Amsterdam 1658. and now in English.	Weyer, Matthias, 1521-1560.; Spee, J.	1683 (1683)	Wing W1525A; ESTC R231717	176,738	498

THE NARROW PATH of Divine TRUTH DESCRIBED From Living Practice and Experience of its three great Steps viz. Purgation Illumination Vnion According to the Testimony of the holy Scriptures as also of Thomas a Kempis the German Divinity Thauler and such like Of the SAYINGS of MATTHEW WEYER Reduced into order in Three Books by J. Spee Unto which Are subjoyned his Practical Epistles done above 120 years since in the Dutch and after the Author's Death Printed in the German Language at Francfort 1579. And in Latin at Amsterdam 1658. and now in English London Printed for Ben. Clark in George-Yard in Lombard street 1683. A. D. To the Reader If Job and the Psalms Reader thou dost know Then the same truth these lines to thee will show God thee enlighten to sind the Cross-way out Which Christ hath trod thy way to Heav'n no doubt THE PREFACE TO THE READER Courteous Reader I Have determined to collect and put together some of the more Notable Sayings of the Holy Scripture which make for the better understanding of this Book that whosoever shall please to consider them or such like he may be able thereby more easily and without scruple to turn over this small Treatise especially if he come to those places by which the most illuminated Matthew Wyer complained of his Inward Pains and anguish which throughout the Book he frequently did lest the Reader thereby be frighted from them or should account such Pangs and Desertions for absurd and fantastical Therefore by means of these he will remember and consider that this way of the Cross although now adaies it be almost utterly unknown and forsaken was e'n to Christ and all his true members alwaies accustomed and trod in For this is that narrow way and that straight gate by which we must enter into life yea by this same way viz. by sorrows sufferings streights and death our Fore-runner Jesus Christ thorough the whole course of his life walked even to his sepulcher and hath made it plain to and for us all whom he would have to be Imitators of himself for it behooved him to suffer and so to enter into his glory Of him Isaiah saith He had no form nor comeliness and we saw him and he was not of an aspect so as that we could be delighted in him a man despised and the least of men a man of sorrows and knowing infirmity c. Observe and consider O thou devout Reader together with all those who truly love Jesus Christ and desire to be Imitators of him how narrow and sharp and how many Pangs and Desertions is this way filled with which yet Christ entred into after his last supper and has left to us for an ensample For then it was that his Soul was sorrowful even to the death then it was that for very agony he sweat drops of blood and prayed to his heavenly Father thrice that if it were possible that cup might pass from him nor yet was he heard nor w●●● any helper present with him The wine-press was to be trodden and the cup to be drunk down the flood was to be waded thorough and obedience to be yielded unto the Father even to the very death of the cross upon that he was hanged naked between two Thieeves as the incendary trumpeter of the seditious presently after they divided his Garments by lot even before his eyes many also shaking their heads at him so that nothing else incompassed him round but Ignominy and Reproach and one sorrow trod upon the heels of another Then the Waves of afflictons were so many that they entred even into his soul because he was deserted of his Father that out of meer pressures and dereliction he cried out with a loud voice My God My God why hast thou forsaken me All which are found described at large in the Evangelists Prophets and in the Psalms especially in the 22 Psalm where the Prophet complains in the person of Christ My God I called unto thee all the day but thou wouldst not hear I a am worm and no man Also in Psalm 60. Save me O God because the floods have entred into my Soul I am stuck fast in the deep mire and there is no bottom and so on to the end of the Psalm Moreover in Psalm 88. My soul is filled with evil and my life approacheth unto the grave or Hell c. By which and the like sayings expressing the torments of Christ the whole Psalter with the Prophets are perfectly filled But now if thou shalt say Christ indeed as the Scriptures do testifie did suffer all these things and fulfilled them in his example yet is it impossible that any one can imitate him in such streights and desertion it is answered Christ himself hath said He that taketh not up his Cross and cometh after me cannot be my disciple nor is he worthy of me Also Peter hath said Christ hath suffered for us leaving us an example that we might follow his steps Now if this were impossible would not these and the like Sayings read every where up and down the Scriptures be in vain But what doth Paul say I can do all things through Christ that strengthneth me and Christ saith That that which is impossible with men is possible with God For he worketh in us both to wil and to do Yield thy self therefore to God and commit thy cause unto him O man and hope in him that he will perform and fulfill all things in thee for he alwaies even from the very beginning of the World even to this very day hath put an end to the combats of his People● and he is faithful and suffereth no man to be tempted beyond what he is able to bear Never yet did such misery touch his Elect but he still together with the Temptation found out a way to escape As it is made manifest in the Example of the Patriarchs Prophets and Apostles who all as also the Author of these Sayings were led through Fire and Water through miseries and streights and through a total desertion yet every one according to his measure so as they became as Gold purified in the fire and were purged from their sins Alas how vastly great was that micsey in which David cried out ●nd complained the sorrows of death have compassed me about and the torments of Hell have made me affraid the snares of death have laid hold upon me Also when Jeremiah for meer anxiety and desertion cursed the day of his nativity as we may read them in their own places And who can express in words that both internal and external misery wherewith Job was afflicted from the Lord. Who will give unto me this saith he that thou mayest cover me in Hell or the Grave My dwelling is in Hell or the grave and I have made my bed in darkness c. Also in another place by reason of his continual desertion he openly cursed the day of his birth as did Jeremiah to many more such

then ●nto the understanding his salvation also ●n go no further then into the under●tanding and reason so that it must at last needs dye in that death that is so necessary to all Christians viz. wherein Reason is destroyed for in this death there remains nothing but the Soul or mind only But if it be objected that our faith and knowledge do penetrate even into the most inward regions of the Soul and mind I answer thereto That then also it is necessary that this our Soul and mind when it shall live with such an estrangedness from the flesh that it cannot but with great Nauseousness and tedious disdain bear in its self all the desires and lusts which spring from the nethermost parts of the flesh so as it would rather dye infinite deaths and to be freed from them then with pleasure even once to perform them in the verv act Behold my G. this brief proposal how every one ought to prove and try h●● faith If any man believeth in Chri●● from the very bottom of his Soul 〈◊〉 must need be wracked with great do●lours in his Soul by reason of sin so th● he will account of sin for the most grievous torture that can be found in all th● world and for his greatest enemy and how then for the sake of acting it can he enter into a friendship with it Although therefore the Vulgar knowledge of those who glory in the Gospel may say on this wise Sin if so be it is not perpetrated in the very act though it should lurk in the heart doth us no hurt yet do thou I pray hear how Christ doth nevertheless assert that he who looketh on a woman to lust after her is already guilty in the sight of God by which words surely Christ excuseth not but accuseth the lusting of a man and will really have it accounted for sin in the sight of God Dearest G. I beseech thee do not despond in thy mind because of this hard saying for all things are possible to God I only write this of purpose that thou mayest seasonably learn to judge of all things least thou shouldst consume thy youth unprofitably and that thou mayest bear fruit to God ●in thy own soul they in the mean time who are of the dregs of the Vulgar though they may have knowledge yet they lye down tired in sloth nor do they oppose sin with the least burning zeal or brea●● its impetuous assaults Nor yet doth this external abstinence from sins and the debilitating of them suffice for it 's necessary to descend to the very bottom it self when even the thoughts are to be judged in the presence of God Far therefore be it from us to commit sin in the very act Also this my Letter intends this at least that thy young limbs be stirred up both night and day to the worship of God by continued prayers in temperance purity meekness of heart long-suffering lov● of thine Enemies as also in the Reading of Scripture in holy proficiencies an● in other virtues conducing to Christian discipline Concerning which thy ow● Conscience will afford to thee a testimony all which being performed thou wi●● every day rejoyce in thy great success i● the work of the Lord that at last whe● thy most miserable condition is known thou wilt be a terrour to thy own sel● and therefore thou wilt so much th● more diligently call upon God for help that his most powerful right hand ma●● at length gratiously support thy Soul and conquer the power of the enemy in a real victory The Lord have mercy on us all and heal our diseases and effectually cause us to hunger and thirst after his righteousness least we be left naked in our own impurity EPIST. VIII How any one who is studious concerning the way of the Lord ought dayly to exercise himself MOst beloved Neece Because I understand that thou earnestly desirest such a disposition of heart as truely to walk in the ways of the Lord I could not withhold my self but must write to thee these few things for thy greater confirmation in them that thou being once entred into this way shouldest not desist from vigorously proceeding forward and to adhere to the Lord with thy whole heart together with a total suppression of thy carnal part Be therefore diligently studious that thy diligence be not tired out in reading in humanity in Silence in meekness in temperance forbearance patience and compassion also learn to exercise thy self in all studyes of virtues that thou being found faithful in little things mayest be made ruler over much greater for if thou shalt not be faithful in these few things assuredly thou wilt never be entrusted with more But I hope that thou wilt receive wisdom and prudence from the Lord that thou wilt have a care of and diligently attend unto thy own self least some bitter root should spring up in thee and so thou and thy Soul tumble head-long into destruction for the flesh doth very subtilly assault a man to beguile him and turn him away from Godliness Wherefore making a strict watch upon thy life and conversation carefully incompass thy self round having cut off the world and all wantonness of life speech and thoughts preferring every one with all gentleness and patience not only the good but also the evil and the immodest Learn also to bridle in thy self and to humble thy self being always turned to the Lord in thy heart Never let vain evil and unworthy thoughts arise in thy mind but always oppose them with great earnestness pouring out to the Lord fervent prayers and if thou gettest any spare time on holy days or otherways employ it in reading the holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament or else of that little book intituled Of the imitation of Christ and in these exercise thy self and learn to ponder them often in thy mind If thou readest any thing which thou doest not understand call upon the Lord with ardent sighs and dayly tears that he would open to thee the true sense of his most holy word for to be the Necessary food of thy Soul for the more thou shalt follow the Lord the more thou shalt understand of holy Scripture and by how much the less thou art intent to wait upon the Lord by so much the less shalt thou understand Scripture Therefore let thy constant endeavours be to approve thy self faithful in these things which are viz. made known to thee in and by mortification and a continual access to God by prayer nor let any time slip by thee in vain and withou● thus doing If thou repliest that thou understandest not what thou readest again say that though thou mayest no● understand all yet is it incumbent o● thee to exercise thy self in the sacred word of the Lord as also to be unwear●edly sollicitous about it For by thes● exercises thou shalt sooner be amended then by idleness and these are the be●● means of instituting and of exercising an● man

cross i● tolerable and not only tolerable but also pleasant because it cometh from God When a man yieldeth himself up to God and commits himself to his will all anguish and pain become tolerable to him and every hell an Heaven But these things come not to pass at first when ●his state beginneth but they then come at last when one hath been for some time therein and exercised therein It 's necessary that the will of God should become as pleasant to thee in the desertion of God as is God himself The ●ew creatures or men translated into God are so subtile and tender that for meer subtile spirituallity they can scarce ●ear the least word and yet it behooveth ●em to hear see and suffer every violent ●ssault and sharp usage A man born again chooseth the good ●ut refuseth the evil and steps down into he commotion of an evil not from his award foundation but from without ●et that commotion is a cold one and ●anting strength it is presently supprest ●nd the good is chosen for its quiet sake 〈◊〉 which the man standeth and is yielded up unto God's will from whose hand he raceiveth all things and those things which are difficult he can bear them without the motions of envy anger or hatred as springing forth from his foundation for he turns his eyes from all intermediate things upon God alone and owns all things for good yea for God which happen unto him nor doth he desire them to be averted from him for even as God willeth so he desires to bear the thing and though it be hard for him yet he so acquiesceth in the divine will that he would not have it otherwise then God would seeing he well knoweth that nothing happeneth unto him but what God hath decreed willed and destinated should come upon him Those whom God advanceth to perfection are despoiled of all things in such a manner as if they should say to those things in their mind look no more upon us for your end is come Men perfected in age can rightly use a knif which an infant cannot Therefore ought not infants to imitate the perfect in all things which they do The grown do fear to give a knif into ●he hands of infants also they can keep ●hemselves clean and unpolluted and be●ng free from dirt they can do that which infants cannot do The Perfect ●o with grief and terrour speak of things ●erfect and sublime and could more ●illingly hold their tongues yet are they ●ften times forced to break out into words They had rather speak of more simple ●hings yea of such they more willingly ●●eak and when they must speak of sub●me things they are in streights When 〈◊〉 man cometh into God and God into ●im then he acknowledgeth himself 〈◊〉 be unworthy that the earth should bear ●im All persons are swallowed up when a ●an cometh into God and they are 〈◊〉 found in God When a man is no ●●nger his own but standeth under God 〈◊〉 also belongeth to God so as that he ●anifestly yeldeth and giveth place to ●od Then God himself performeth all 〈◊〉 affairs of a man and all things open ●●emselves which before although ma●● questions were made about them yet could they not be comprehended He that is translated into God judgeth of all things rightly and all difference or distinction is manifested to him He who cometh into God he sees so many and great riches before his eyes of which hitherto he had never heard so that those riches which he hath now in God do appear to him few and small and therefore his whole life is in ascending continually nor can he ever come to the end and the●efore should he desire to live a thousand years he could not count or reckon all his sufferings because his whole life consists in a going forwards Also on the contrary he is so at rest in the divine will that he is prepared eve●● that very hour to dye if God so pleasseth And to speak it summarily The will of God is his will joy and life 〈◊〉 and therefore he is prepared to suff●●● whatsoever God shall impose upon him For he hath yielded up and commi●●● himself unto God But before this yielding up is performed how much an● how great misery and anguish does com● betwixt then at length one comes to a●● prehend when he once doth arrive at the very thing it self THE SAYINGS OF Mat. VVyer The Second Book CHAP. I. CHrist said of the Temple Magnificently built it must be destroyed so a there shall not be left one stone upon another Now he ●imself was this same very Temple in which he had appeared preached and taught And also he declared how one misery should follow another But th● destruction of the Temple denoteth the dereliction of the Elect For man plainly is to be destroyed and if he then knew that this was the will of God he would yet notwithstanding be comforted but this also is hid from his eyes When a man is reduced into a mee● nothing into dust and ashes it is his perfection That that which is proper to man comes under the judgment of God and is captivated under the power of God Just as one being led captive in the midst of an army desires not to fly away seeing he knows that that is in vain Thus also doth this man bow down himself and seeks not to escape because he is a captive under the power o● God which power he knows doth extend it self over all viz. in Heaven Earth and Hell But he which knoweth not these things he seeks to escape nor will he bow himself down but the other knoweth otherwise that he is kept bound under the power of God which no man● can escape from Then whatsoever is the proper enjoyment of Man is bowed under the judgment of God in which also it is consumed Moses saith The works of God are perfect all his ways are judgment And the Psalter saith My flesh is very much terrified through fear of thee and I greatly fear thy judgments Behold here the ways of the Lord are said to be a judgment in which all propriety is destroyed Here fear and terrour invade a man and the further he sees thereinto so much the more he is terrified When the Lord is to be feared his stroaks shall be soundly felt God indeed forgiveth sin yet he doth not leave it unpunished but comes upon it by his judgment When a man acknowledges that he is the most inferior of all and lets all above himself and that he is the most foolish unworthy and the most vain of all then is he nearest to his perfection and such as he beholds himself such also he is That a man hath great Illumitiation charity and wisdom is not his perfection but God is his perfection who is the same no less without him then in him Now when a man stands in his nothingness and is reduced into dust and ashes this is his perfection and

most bitter affliction so as his heart becometh as it were ground to powder For he that is not yet come to this poverty but is still rich cannot hold his tongue He that handleth himself severely that he may break his nature and becometh harsh to his own sel● can difficultly compassionate others whom he seeth not to be as severe as he is himself and therefore he so driveth others that they may be like him in state or condition and he is unmerciful nor also can he be silent although sometimes he hath his conscience pressed down with sollicitous care because his heart is not yet pierced quite thorough nor is digged down to its very bottom nor utterly broken with bitter affliction but he that hath h●s heart ground to power and deeply wounded with great and bitter misery he can hold his tongue yea he chooseth rather to be silent although sometimes necessity should require it otherwise then to speak unless God shall compel him thereunto For such a one cannot so readily convert himself towards outward things but what things soever are in such a man are turned to the affliction of his heart and all things are filled with sorrow CHAP. XXXIII I Never found so clear an understanding nor so great experience as in grief sorrow misery affliction and in the death and destruction of the flesh That time which is spent in the cross pain grief misery and streights is gained but that which is spent in pleasure joy delights and plays is lost The mind of a man that is still floating up and down and can still be moved at things pleasant or painful or in joy or in grief doth not yet belong unto God for in God there is no mutation because he is unchangeable Now when the mind of Man cannot be moved by the aforesaid things then is God present in that Soul and it is he who worketh that in the man Those six gifts of the holy Spirit must first be accomplished then at length followeth that seventh gift viz. the spirit of fear of the Lord which puts a man into a sweet calm because this spirit of fear preserveth all the former gifts that they may remain pure and then it is that a man is in all respect struck with a great fear and trembling that he may rightly use them and keep them pure it is this last gift of the fear of God that keeps steady in all things that man that hath received it We are therefore earnestly to endeavour to act rightly in all concerns and to walk before God with holy fear Our conscience is our book into which we ought every day to look and in which to diligently and seriously read and study that we may most exactly perform that which it witnesseth Conscience is a thousand witnesses about which the old and new Testament is our rule of direction CHAP. XXXIV THis year proved more difficult or hard to me then it was ever before in all my life and yet I did most accurately weigh and ponder on that same time For by how much the more sublime any one ascendeth in affliction by so much the more accurately doth he weigh and count his time and it proves thereby more profitable to him All the foregoing time of mine which I had spent before this year vanished away and came to nothing even as this my present time also shall vapour away into nothing because my body is annihilated I have no support hence is it that times becomes so tedious to me but when time is spent in labour it produceth no difficulty But when I am deprived of all my strength I can neither pray nor desire nor lift up one thought to God Yea here I lye and corrupt in body mind and spirit as long as breath remaineth in me Yea as to my understanding also and my reason I am reduced to nothing As for my understanding I know nothing of it whither viz. I have an understanding or not for in this great gulfe of misery all things are reduced to dust and ashes Here I lye and am sensible of nothing but judgment death and condemnation And when one said to him is it so that when thou art accused presently judgment is at hand he answered Am I accused not as though I were so perfect as that I could not be accused but if it were possible for me to take up life in such a moment of time as that accusation might assault me in even in that very moment should I be blown into meer atoms But I have not so much time left me because as many moments of my life as yet remain so many judgments and deaths do I suffer I lye as it were in a thick dark cloud and see nothing oh how very small weak and dim is that poor ray of light that is round about me I cannot see far before me yea neither doth my way and path appear to my sight yea I am lead on where no way is and that which is life to another that is death to me and contrarily that which is anothers death is my life Judgment is so sharp to me as it is when one not thinking any thing layes his hand upon some place and presently some body knocks him on the fingers When any would reply upon him that this case was a certain kind of preservation from God because he laid his hand so faithfully upon thee he still answered True indeed this condition is the most safe before the eyes of God but the most afflicted one in my sight For if I should acknowledge this state to be safe forthwith another judgment is to be undergone by me For plainly I am lead without knowledge without being acquainted or understanding the way For he who hath experienced the thing its self and he that hath been lead in this way only notionally are vastly differing because true knowledge and understanding is such a life such a prop that a man comes then only to know them when God withdraws them from him Just as when one laboureth with great thirst and sees a pot stand before him yet for all that his thirst cannot but afflict him still but then if there should come one who should take the pot quite away then remaineth no hopes of ever attaining to drink thereof All the Elect are brought unto God thorough affliction but all do not tread this same path of the cross by which I am to pass CHAP. XXXV ALl things are transformed and changed whence I observe that ere long many wonderful things will happen and the strange things of God will spring forth I indeed have desired to see them but I shall not arrive at them for I see my end before my eyes yet I rejoyce because of the time to come which now is ready at the door and I rejoyce concerning that time when I look upon children Remember me my mind presageth not as if all I say were Gospel it will be that the glory and the knowledge of

God will more adundantly break forth hereafter But I must possess my end and departure hence and that is now at hand yet nevertheless I stand in the communion of those forespoken of God is a perfect and a pure God with whom that one may be united many things are requisite And therefore we must not cry out too plainly although we hear and see many great matters in a certain Man for all as yet may have an ill conclusion This I say for this end that we should always abide in fear CHAP. XXXVI Containing the last Exhortation of Matthew Wyer and his Departure out of this life ANd now I shall bid you farewel for perhaps it is determined that I may speak no more I will recommend my self to the Lord. See that ye labour and walk in all conscience before God Love your brothers and sisters as your own selves and take care of them otherwise judgment will come upon you This you must do that when you shall lye as I now lye ye may lye with a quiet heart Behave your selves in all things uprightly and seek after the salvation of your Souls for salvation is of greater price then mony or all goods Mony with its goods perish together but salvation brings peace to the heart of Man Let me depart from you in freedom from my death as I hope a living motion will spring up in you I recommend you to the Lord who can freely bestow on you wisdom and understanding and all other necessaries in a hundred fold The Lord will presently give me rest I expect and wait for eternal rest I am to suffer so long as the Lord will have me If I had known this affliction before now I should have dyed for meer grief O inward desertion O desolation Wisdom 1. which now stands ready at hand I desire to be the most vile of all and only long for the crums which fall from the childrens table If I could have avoided this affliction yet I would not for my conscience hath bound me to abide by it Misery in affliction is great a man would willingly be lead with certainty but yet is he lead with uncertianty and it is as if one should journey by night and yet not know the way when besides the waters are out he may chance to fall and yet he must go forwards Yet is he secretly lead by God and when the morning arises he shall see that the business hath succeeded well enough In affliction nothing is known how that a man is sustained and taken care of but at last it is acknowledged and then it is known that God was always present even in his desertion The highest affliction doth manifest that selfishness or propriety which yet was before undiscerned and God prepareth a man for this highest of afflictions All things are snatched from me even before my face yet I know what I am to do I will beg of God a favourable death for my self O Lord behold thy miserable creature O Lord imbrace me for all things are from thee O Lord imbrace all my powers and strength and grant strength unto me in this my deepest misery Here I ly before thee like a most wretched worm All the affliction which I have hitherto suffered is nothing to this misery Having finished these words and commending his spirit into the hands of God he fell asleep in the Lord by a pleasan● and easy departure on the 25th April in the year 1560 about the 4th hour in the morning at Wesel in the year 〈◊〉 his age 39. Here end the Sayings THE EPISTLES OF M. Wyer Which he sent to his Familiar FRIENDS WRITTEN By the Author in the Low-Dutch and published after his Death Being afterwards turned into Latin and out of the Latin now at last into the English Tongue LONDON Printed for Benj. Clark in George-Yard in Lombard-street 1683. TO THE READER A brief Narrative concerning the Original of this small Treatise READER WHo art a Christian in good earnest before I shall begin to relate any thing of this little tract or of it's original or subject I am willing faithfully to exhort thee as also most earnestly to beseech thee that thou diligently callst upon God for illumination and for the opening of the Eyes of thy understanding whereby thou mayest be enabled according to his good pleasure rightly to understand that which is here proposed which being by the grace of God performed thou shalt in very deed experience that this book will be very useful and profitable unto thee seeing it is every where filled with the most excellent and choice expressions which are able to lead thee unto the true judgment of many points Nor does it only bring most notable advantage to thee only but also to all the Elect who duly and according to true knowledg have a zeal for God but to such as are perverse and behold all things with perverse and blind Eyes these things will without doubt seem to be full of dulness and foolishness O that our eyes were single then certainly we should easily perceive that these Epistles and sayings have not flowed from humane wisdome nor through the dead letter as to the more divine senses nor from the outward bark only but from the instinct of the holy Spirit and that he who wrote and spoke these to have been indeed a man divinely illuminated and a very intimate friend of God and that he learnt and drew these truths out from the book of his cross and by the means of his inward Sorrows in the School of Christ But let us make our approach nearer to the thing intended and that we may preface a few things concerning the original of this small treatise let the hearty Reader know that the aforesaid-friend of God wrote these Epistles to his familiars and friends seperated from his dwelling in divers places to every one according to his condition to stir up their zeale by no other means then the study of simplicity with no intention to have them afterwards printed and published insomuch as that after his death they being by some honest hearted searchers collected together were thus put together into one Volume But those sayings of his he himself wrote not but only uttered them orally And this was his faithful counsel that every one ought to seek the thing there where he himself had sought and found it and in which place only it can be found and gotten viz. In God the ever springing fountain of all wisdome and goodness and from whom flow these living streams neither may any one who is not willing to be deceived draw them from strange muddy Cisterns or Lakes Now by what means those his sayings were he not knowing it taken from his mouth and comprehended in one volume we shall briefly declare This most religious Matthew amongst those of his family bred up an honest young man whose name was John Spee filled with an earnest fervor and Zeale for the divine glory This person