same is being performed in a Lay person and this by vertue of a Religious state That those who are truly Religious people do euer the Will of God That a Religious life as aboue is partly shewed cutteth off and preuenteth all occasion of sinne That by a Religious state we she the world and all the dangers thereof All these particular points I say I will pretermit to enlarge my selfe vpon and I will close this longe Passage touching the Fruits and benefits of a Religious life by heere shewing That one maine or chief Fruite thereof is that it promiseth a safe quiet and happy death The greatnes of which benefit what tongue can expresse or vnderstanding conceaue since Gods sacred writ assureth vs q Blessed are they that dye in our Lord Now for the better more full apprehension of this so inexplicable a benefit we are to call to mind that at the hower of our death three things are accustomed to afflict vs The 〈◊〉 Death it selfe the remembrance where of in regard that thereby we are to leaue the world and all its temporall pleasures begetteth euen a horrour in Mans Nature and therfore it is most truly said by the Wiseman that the remembrance * of Death is bitter The second reason making death so vnpleasing is that that is the tyme when the Deuill is most accustomed to tempt a Soule with his wicked suggestions The third and most dreadfull is the astonishing feare of the last Sentence oâ— doome of a Soule which instantly followeth after death Now the discontents and terrour of all these three things are much more mitigated sweetned and lessned in Religion then they are or commonly can be in the death of Lay persons To begin with the first This griefe in the Laity proceedeth that by death we are tâ— leaue all worldly Riches states honours yeâ— wife and children Finally that the soule 〈◊〉 leaue the body they two hauing liued so lonâ— as most deare friends Now most of this griefâ— is taken away in one dying in the state of Religious life And the reason hereof is tâ— cause when a Religious man or Woman by their professed state haue once forsaken the world they haue giuen then aforehand their last farewell to all Riches Honours neereneâ— of kindred and the like and then seeing theâ— haue parted with all these allurements afore aâ— their first entering into Religion it cannot 〈◊〉 any great griefe the second tyme to part with them to wit at the tyme of their death Now touching the second point which the Assaults and temptations with which 〈◊〉 Enemy of Mans Soule is accustomed to trouble ech one at his death we dare say That if there be any kind of men that are not troubled at that tyme or but very little with his wicked suggestions the Religious Man is that man And this is thus proued First in that the goodnes of God will not suffer himselfe to â—eaue and forsake that person in that last point of a most dangerous state vpon which person God hath in his lyfe tyme heaped so many spirituall graces and fauours as are necessarily concurring for ones entring into a Religious state Secondly I maintayne that it is most sorâ—ing and agreeable euen to the Iustice of God to protect and defend in that dangerous hower that person who with all sincerity and simplicity of hart hath vowed himselfe I meane both his Body Soule and all the powers thereof to a most strict seuere and Religious Course of seruing his diuine Maiesty Wherefore no good Religious person hath iust Reason to feare but that God at the hower of his death will couer him vnder the wings of his protection and will strengthen his Soule with internall comfort To the lessening or breaking of the forces of the former temptations of the Deuill at the tyme of a Religious Mans death we may add the comfort and consolation which euery Religious man at that hower receaueth of his Brethren euery Religious Woman of her Sisters This I meane by the assistance of their Brethren and Sisters which assistance consisteth in their exhortations Counsell and continuall prayers which allwayes but especially at the instant of death are very powerfull to animate vs in hope and to repell the fierce attempts of the Enemy Concerning the third last point which maketh death most terrible which is the learâ— of the dreadfull doome which immediatly followeth the separation of the body from the soule The feare of which doome is much diminished by the hope of Saluation which iâ— Religious man may more securely promise to himselfe then any Lay person for the moâ—â— part can And this Hope is grounded principally vpon two points First that it is presumed that a Religious Man is not guilty to himselfe of any mortall and grieuous sinne Secondly his Hope is confirmed with the remembrance of the aboundance of his good works during his lyfe tyme neither of which can be wanting in a Religious Course And hereupon we read S. Ierome exhorting Iuliaâ— to a Religious life thus to write to him r Happy is that man and worthy of all blessednes whom old age ouertaketh seruing Christ whom the last day shall fynd fighting vnder our Sauiour or to whom iâ— shall be said Thou hast receaued ill things in thy life but now shalt reioyce Hitherto worthy Cosmophila I haue laboured both for your owne and your Sister Caelia her spirituall good in discoursing of a Religious state And briefly to recall to our memory what hath passed in our former words thereof euen from the beginning of our speach First you may remember that I did discoueâ—â— the weakenes and insufficiency of all those Reasons and Obiections insisted vpon by â—ou with which your Father so much laboâ—ed to impugne at least to disesteeme and disâ—alew a Votary and Monasticall lyfe After that shewed the worth of that kind of life by seting downe the three Essentiall Vowes I meane of Chastity Pouerty and Obedience wherupon a Religious life is grounded or seated That done I did spend diuers passages of â—each in laying open the Excellency Antiquity â—onour Splendour and Dignity of the same kind â— life And now in this last place I haue ranâ—ed togeather diuers of the chiefest and most â—rincipall Fruits and benefits euer necessarily â—â—tending vpon a Religious state So as now I how not what more can needfully be said â—uching this subiect That your Sister Caelia hath by these my words strengthened and fortifyed her pious resolution for imbracing this course of lyfe I â—â—st fully assured Now what operation my â—eaches haue found in you Cosmophila will â—est appeare by your owne relation Only I â—ould be glad as through some words by â—ou aboue vttered I partly hope if so by force these my speaches your Iudgment might fully induced only to haue a true and worâ—â—y conceite of a Religious life Cosmophila Only to haue a true and worthy conceite of a Religious life O God if so I
the other both in mind and outward worke We may adde hereto what S. Ierome speaketh to wit x Not only the shedding of bloud is to be accounted Martyrdome but the vnspotted behauiour of a deuout mynd is a daily Martyrdome So far S. Ierome Now to compare a Religious life with Martyrdome of the body It is then to be obserued that as in many things Martyrdome surmounteth a Religious life so also a Religious life in some some things euen excelleth Martyrdome To instance this Martyrdome of the body surpasseth a Religious life in that it vndergoeth far greater paines and torments yet the greater the torments are they must therein be the shorter and sooner bring the tormented party to Heauen But in Religion though the paines be not so violent yet they are of greater and longer endurance Againe Martyrdome is to be preferred in that by meanes thereof a man layeth downe his owne life which is the dearest pledge that one can performe for another Religion though wanting this glory yet it hath the continuance of a most holy life and store of merits this for many yeares which doth aduance a man very highly in the fauour of the diuine Maiesty and reward him with many degrees of glory and eternall happines in the Heauenly Ierusalem And according hereto we may safely affirme that many yeares spent in holy conuersation and retirednes of life wil be attended with a greater increase of Reward then the loosing of ones life by only one short Act of Martyrdome shall procure Now this Aduantage Religion hath aboue Martyrdome To wit that a Religious Course is a more safe way to gayne Heauen then the expectation thereof by Martyrdome And the reason hereof is in that many Christians at the tyme when they should suffer Martyrdome for the profession of their Religion haue shamefully falne from their fayth for the auoyding of their torments And this is euident out of the writings of S. Cyprian y who relateth the miserable falles of seuerall hundreds who as he sayth were ouercome before the battaile and ouerthrowne before the encounter Now Religion lyeth not open to this danger since a Religious life more sorreth to a mans disposition then Martyrdome doth and there be many things in it which as aboue is shewed asswage the hardnes of that Course Another priuiledge which a true Religious life hath aboue Martyrdome is that where as Religion is euer at hand and ready to be imbraced at all tymes Martyrdome seldome happeneth since Martyrdome is not in our power for neither ought we to kill our selues nor to prouoke others to kill vs for either of these were an Act of great presumption and most displeasing to God Now I will conclude the resemblance betweene Martyrdome and a Religious life with this ensuing obseruation That as without death there is no Martyrdome of the body so a Religious life may be said to suffer a certaine kind of death For seeing death depriueth vs of our wealth of our friends and of all manner of things in this world we in like manner find that a Religious Cause doth depriue a man of all the same things and this so wholy that a Religious man can no more enioy these things then if he were truly really dead Yet here is a disparity which maketh in behalfe of Religion which is that when by Martyrdome we dye our bodily death it is an easy matter to want all these worldly things because we then going to a better lyfe shall haue no need of them whereas seeing in this life we haue need of them we forbeare the fruition and enioying of them with greater difficulty and resistance of Nature Therefore impasse no further in this subiect I conclude in respect of all that aboue said that by Martyrdō a man dyet to his Body by Religion he dyeth to himselfe Heere now Cosmophila you may behold the splendour and worth of a Religious life which as it is surpassed in some respects by Martyrdome so in others it exceedeth it I say it exceeds Martyrdome the suffering whereof euen our Sauiour himselfe so much celebrateth in these words Greater z love then this no man hath that a man yealdeth his life for his friends Caelia O good Father You much strengthen my resolution with the sweetnes of these your discourses But now it comes to my mind that you one day in discoursing to our Religious Sisters of the dignity of a Religious state did call it a Sacrifice to God your meaning therein I did not I confesse nor yet do perfectly vnderstand I would desire your Reuerence to expresse your selfe more plainly that so my sister Cosmophila and my selfe may be the better instructed therein Confessarius Well then to come to that point I did then say nothing but what I will proue at this present And first in warrant of that my Assertion that Religious persons are a continuall Sacrifice to God in respect of the oblation which they make of themselues to God I do produce S. Austin thus teaching a A man consecrated vowed to the Honour of God is a Sacrifice in regard that he dyeth to the world that he may liue to God When we chastice our body by temperance if we do it for God as we ought to do to the end not to yeald our members weapons of Iniquity but weapons of Iustice to God it is a sacrifice Yf therefore our body which is but as it were a seruant and instrument of our soule be a sacrifice if the good and pious vse thereof he directed to God How much more then shall a soule be a Sacrifice when it deuoteth it selfe to God to the end that being inflamed with the fyre of his loue it may destroy in it selfe the forme and impression of all worldly Concupiscence and be reformed according to his vnchangeable likenes subiect vnto him and this Sacrifice shall be so much the more gratefull by how much it partaketh of his beauty Thus far doth S. Austin discourse of this point With whom agreeth S. Gregory thus speaking b We offer our selfes in Sacrifice to God when we dedicate our lyfe to his diuine Seruice Thus these Fathers to whom I could alledge the like authorities of many other of them And now from hence I may infer That if it be a Sacrifice for vs to offer any thing vp to God then doubtlesly to offer vp our selues to God is truly a Sacrifice the true Nature and essence whereof cōsisteth in the absolute oblation of our selues I meane of our bodies and soules and of all the powers of our Soules and particularly in offering vp the power of our will especially in such an oblation as being once offered vp it is not in our power to recall Now how most acceptable the sacrifizing of our Soule body is to God is proued by this reason following Yf the Sacrifices of the Old Testament consisting in offering vp to God a Heiffer of three yeare old or a
Superiours and you Vertuous Sisters my pen here makes bould in place of a Conclusion to the former Treatise to salute you all What I haue aboue deliuered in the Dialogue proceedeth from the great respect I beare to your blessed Course of life and therefore I did hould my selfe partly euen obliged in Conscience to promote and aduance by my writings what I could the Worth and Dignity of your euen Heauenly State here vpon earth and to encourage such others who are carefull of their Soules Good and whose state of life is compatible with a Religious Order to impath themselues in that most secure tract and way O what pitty is it to see many yong Gentlewomen so to sleight and smally regard their owne happines And therefore God hath bestowed vpon you greater measure of his grace who breaking through all the worldly entanglements wherewith others remayne shackled haue actually begun to tread the most safe path to Heauen Yf a man could by certaine labours acquire and procure to himselfe a Thousands pounds would he rest satisfyed by seeking after a Hundred only Or what woman would be content to become a Mayde of Honour to any Princesse might she become a Princesse her selfe And yet no lesse is the ouerâ—ight oâ— such yong Gentlewomen who may purchase to themselues not transitory Goods but an eternall Kingdome and yet will not and may without attendance to any temporall Princesse how great soeuer arriue to be Queenes themselues for all women that shall gaine Heauen shal be Queenes in Heauen and yet do greatly shew their neglect thereof Thrice happy therefore are you most Vertuous and Religious Sisters who haue ouercome your naturall desires of temporall pleasures dignities and raised your thoughts and endeauours to the gayning of that most blessed Kingdome which shall endure for all eternity Happy I say you are since by your Religious 〈◊〉 you flye from the world and from all the dangers thereof So fully haue you verified in your selues that SenteÌ„ce of the Royall Prophet Who will giue me the wings like a Doue and I will flye and take my rest So you by withdrawing your selues from the world are retired to a place and state of security Of this flight S. Ambrose thus writeth Let vs not be ashamed to flye for it is a glorious flight to fly from the face of sinne And indeed this holy Father speaketh with good reason For here to flye is to ouercome And this not only because we keep our selues safe and secure in bearing aâ— loose off and far distant from the Enemy but also by reason we giue the Enemy cause of discomfiture euen by our flight we being by this meanes far lesse subiect to those his spirituall Stratagemes where with he ouerthroweth so many Soules liuing in the world Therfore I may conclude that since a Religious State is most high in perfection and aboue the Earth and all Earthly things it may be truly termed a Mountayne whereunto the calamities and miseries of this world cannot ascend oâ— arriue What inexplicable consolation ioy then doe you all liue in who are securely seated vpon this high Mountayne But now my pen must take leaue of you during the space of some lynes in this Conclusion to turne it selfe by way of a warran table Digression to such yong vnmaried Catholike Gentle women who haue great portions left them by their Parents and yet cannot be induced by this my small labour nor by any other persuasions perhaps whatsoeuer to enter into the state of a Religious life but are absolutely and immoueably resolued to liue in the world in state of Lay persons As also my open here speaketh to such Catholike Gentlewomen and Ladyes of Worth and Dignity who aboúd with a fluency of rich estates and remayne Widdowes and therein haue full power to dispose at their pleasure of their Temporalities and yet cannot be drawne either through pretence of want of health or greatnes of yeares or through some other selfe conceited reasons to spend the small remnant of their liues in a Religious Course To you all of both these seuerall degrees I direct these ensuing lynes And hereby desire you all euen as you tender the good of your owne Soules that if so you cannot brooke to be Religious in profession yet at least resolue to be Religious in disposall of part of your temporall meanes O what spirituall treasure and riches might you board vp to your selues by distributing to good vses a reasonable portion of your worldly treasure How many Yong Catholike Gentlewomen are there in England who most gladly thirst after a Votary life and yet want sufficient portions for their Admittance into Religion Here now is presented to you all a large field wherein to sow your wheate Here is presented a most aduaÌ„tagious oportunity of making Nunnes though your selues will not be Nunnes My meaning is that you would lay in wayte to further and second by your most large Charity such Poore Gentlewomen as would gladly take a Religious Course and yet for want of meanes are debarred from thence Here were true Charity and here you might be iustly said to put your money out to Vsury euen to God himselfe according to those words Foeneratuâ— Domino qui miseretur pauperis He that hath mercy on the poore putteth out his money to our Lord Besides the state of these Poore Gentlewomen whose temporall abilities are not proportionable and sutable to their Religious designes I here also present to your Charitable view the state of some of our already setled English Monasteries of Women who resoluing to rely only vpon the prouidence of God haue no certaine temporall reuenewes belonging to their Houses but receaue all their maintenance and allowance from the Charity of well disposed Benefactours Which Charities and Beneuosences since they are meerely voluntarily given do fall oftentimes short so as the Poore Blessed Women suffer for the present some want Now here againe I say is offered to you a second way of making spirituall interest of the superfluity of your states or riches That is so out of true Christian Charity you would be pleased to open your purses largely for the better reliefe of such Vertuous Women whoâ— are both poore in Spirit and poore in State as willingly suffer these pressures for the loue they beare to the true seruice of God O how most acceptable would this your charity appeare in the sight of God being bestowed either of the two waves I meane either for the furthering of those most vertuously disposed yong Gentlewomen who want meanes for their procuring to enter into Religion or for the better relieuing of such English Monasteries of Nunnes who possesse no certaine proprieties but only rely vpon the Charity of Benefactours and other well disposed Almes-giues If it be most pleasing to God and a worke meriting of Heauen to dispose part of ones Goods and substance to such poore people who here liue in the world and commonly â—ead but