the breast of his comfort These be the cleane giftes and comforts which thy Bridegroome hath giuen thee which are sobs and teares He bringeth to thee drinke with teares in measure these teares are bread to thee day night bread truely strengthning mans heart swéeter then honny and the honnies Combe O Lord if these teares bee so sweete which are stirred vp through the remeÌ„brance desire of thee how sweet shall the ioy bee conceiued by the open and mâ—nifest sight of thée If it bee so sweete to weepe for thee how sweet will it be to bee glad and reioyce with thée But why doe we set forth in common these secret conferences of that Why doe we endeuor to expresse eternal affections in common words The vnexpert vnderstand not such things in the booke of experience whom the same annoynting teacheth And other wayes the outward leter profiteth not the reader any whit Litle sauory is the reading of the outward letter except it can take the exposition and inward sence from the heart How the Soule remaineth the feruency of the holy Ghost ceasing for a time O My soule wee haue a great while prolonged speech It were good for vs to be here with Peter and Iohn to beholde the glory of the Bridegroome and to tarry long with him But I would to bee made here not two or thrée tabernacles but one in which wee might bee together and take delectation together But as the Bridegroome saith let me depart for now riseth the morning thou hast receiued the light of grace and the visiting which thou didst desire Therefore the blessing being giuen the sinnow of the thigh mortified and the name changed from Iacob to Israel the bridegroome long wished for withdraweth himselfe for a little time He withdraweth himselfe aswell from the foresaid vision as from the swéetnesse of the Contemplation notwithstanding hee remaineth as much as to gouernment as much as to glory and asmuch as to peace and vnity Here is rendred a cause why the feruency of the holy Ghost leaueth the Soule a little time BVt thou maiest not be afraide Spouse nor dispaire neither thinke thy selfe dispised although the Bridegroome withdraw his face from thee a little while All is wrought for thy good and of his comming and going away thou gettest profite Hée commeth to thy comfert he goeth away as a warning to take héed least the greatnesse of consolation should heaue and puffe thée vp least if alwayes the Bridegroome should be with thée thou shouldest begin to contemne thy fellowes and attribute such continual visiting not to grace but to nature But the Bridegroome giueth this grace to whom hee will and when hee will it may not bee possessed by right of Inheritance It is a common prouerbe that too much familiarity breedeth contempt Therefore he goeth away least by too much continuance he should be contemned and being absent hee might be the more wished for and the more wished and desired he might the more ardently bee sought for Moreouer what is present life which in respect of future glory that shal be reueled to vs is like a riddle by which now wee know in part For wee haue not here an abiding Citie but we séeke one to come Therefore wee should not esteeme banishment for a country a token for a great sum of money The bridegroome commeth likewise he goeth away now bringing comfort then changing our generall state with infirmity a little while hee suffereth vs to tast how swéete he is and before we can fully féele it hee withdraweth himselfe and so as it were with spread wings houering ouer vs prouoketh vs to flie as though he would say Behold you tast a little I am swéet if you will fully bee satisfied with this swéetnes run yee after me in to the swéete sauour of my oyntments hauing your harts lifted vp where I am on the right hand of God the Father where you shall see me not by a glasse or in a ridle but face to face and where your hearts shall reioyce fully and your ioy no man can take from you A care and diligence of the Soule that it be not altogether forsaken of God BVt take héede thou Spouse how the bridegroome may turne away himselfe from thee Hee goeth not far and though thou séest not him yet he full of eies séeth thee before behind thou canst neuer hide thy selfe froÌ„ him He hath also about thee spirits his messengers most witty and prudent spies that they should marke how the Bridegroome absent thou behauest thy selfe and might accuse thée before him If they perceiue and finde in thée any signes of wantonnesse or scurrility this Bridegroome is ielous iâ— thou entertaine an other louer if thou fancy to please others he will presently seperate himselfe from thee and cleaue to other yong ones This bridegroome is delicate noble and rich goodly to beholde in beauty aboue the Sons of men And therefore hée doth not vouchsafe or thinke worthy to haue any other then a beautifull Spouse If he see in thee a spot or a wrinkle presently hee turneth away his face He cannot indure any vncleannesse Therfore be thou chast be thou modest and humble that so of thy Bridegroome thou maist desire often to be visited The office and effects of euery one of the degrees by repetition THerefore that those things that are difficultly spoken ioyned and vnited together may séeme the better let vs gather by repetition the summâ— of such thinges spoken of before like as that before noted may be séene in the foresaide examples how those steppes and degrées may agrée together and as ioyntly and seuerally they may surpasse or excell eyther other For reading as it were a ground worke and chiefe meane first offereth it selfe and in matter being ministred sendeth vs to meditation And then Meditation diligently inquireth what is worthy to bee sought for and as it were digging findeth treasure and sheweth it But when it cannot obtaine of it selfe it sendeth vs to Prayer Prayer lifteth vp it selfe with all vehemency when it findeth by the sweetnes of conteÌ„plation the treasure worthy to bee desired Comming to this when it moistneth the thirstie soule with the dew of heauenly swéetnes it rewardeth the labour of these thrée before So then reading is an outward exercise Meditation an inward perceiuing Prayer a desire and Meditation aboue al sense The first degrée is of beginning the second of profiting the third of deuoutnes the fourth of blessednesse But these degrées are so linked together and are so seruiceable in supplying helpe one to another that those going before without those that follow profite little or nothing and those that follow without those that goe before seldome or neuer profite For what profiteth it to vse the time with continuall reading to run ouer the great acts writings of holy men except in breaking and chewing on them wee may sucke the iuyce and passe it through in swallowing it euen to the most inward
Therefore let the body bee subiect to the soule and the soule to GOD and it shall be one spirite with him so that it remaine in humility and acknowledge the grace and fauour of him the Creator of it by whom it is to be exalted and glorified CHAP. VII For what cause the soule is vnited to God IT is his commaundement that wee should abide in his loue Abide you saith hee in my loue For my loue he hath coupled man vnto him that hee should haue him alwaies and should euer remaine in him delighting reioicing and magnifying of him and in him Man is coupled by loue vnto his Creator for it is the onely bond of loue that bindeth them together By the loue of God all of vs cleaue vnto him by the loue of our neighbor we are all one together that the goodes of all should become the goodes of euery one and whatsoeuer any one hath not of himselfe hee should possesse it by another Charity and loue is the way of God to men and the way of men to God for through loue God came to men hée came into men and hee was made man By charity and loue men loue God they chuse him aboue all thinges they flie vnto him and liue to him So familiar is charity with God that hée will haue no abiding place where Charity is not Then if thou hast loue and Charity then hast God because God is charity CHAP. VIII A perswasion to loue God WRetch that I am how much ought I to loue my Lord my God who made mée when I was not redéemed me when else I had béene lost and perished I was not yet hee made me of nothing neither stone nor trée nor birde nor any of the brute creatures But his pleasure was to make me a man he gaue mee life senses and discretion I had perished hee descended to mortality he tooke vpon him mortality hée suffered his passion hee ouercame death and so restored mee I had perished and had béen cast away because I was solde in my sinnes Hée came after mée to redéeme mée hée weighed the price of his precious blood for mee and by that meane brought mee backe from exile and redéemed mée from bondage Also hee called mée by his name that the memoriall of him should alwaies bée with mée He annoynted me with the oyle of gladnesse with the which hée was annointed and that of Christ I should bée called a Christian So his grace and mercy hath alwaies preuented me Hée my God hath often deliuered mée from many perils and dangers When I erred hée led me forth of it When I was ignorant hee taught me When I sinned bee corrected mée When I was sadde hée comforted me When I dispaired be strengthned me againe When I fell he reared me When I stood hée helde mée When I went hée ledde mee When I came hée receiued mee This and many other things my Lord my God did for mée of which his goodnesse swéete it is to mée euer to speak of alwayes to thinke of and alwaies to giue him thanks for And I desire him that for all his benefites I may for euer prayss him and loue him for as he is an aider to euery one filling and satisfying euery one hauing care ouer all and aswell prouident to euery one as to all so I sée him wholy busied for my safety So that if I will regard mine owne safety hée is as though forgetfull of all men and would attende onely on me He sheweth himselfe euer present offereth him selfe euer ready if hée might finde mée ready Whither soeuer I turne my selfe he forsaketh mée not except I first forsake him Whersoeuer I will be hée departeth not because he is euery where So that wheresoeuer I goe I may find him with whom I may be Likewise whatsoeuer I shall doe hee standeth by as if he were a cōtinuall ouerséer of all my thoughts purposes and déedes When I doe diligently consider these thinges I am confounded both with fear great shame because I beholde him euery where present with me séeing into all my secrets for there bee many things in mee before his eyes of which I am ashamed and for which I greatly feare to displease him Neither haue I for al these things anything to render him but onely I will loue him for there is nothing better or more becomming then to render that by loue which was giuen for loue CHAP. IX Of the inward sense and the outward THere are two senses in man one inward and an other outward and eyther of them hath his good in which it is recreated and comforted The inward sense is refreshed comforted in the contemplation of diuinitie the outward sense in beholding of matters belonging to men Wherefore God was made man that hée might make blessed the whole man in himselfe and that the whole conuersion of man might be to him and that all the loue of man should bée in him But this is al the good of man that whether hee should goe in or goe out hee should finde comfort in his maker comfort abroad in the flesh of his Sauiour comfort inwardly in the Godhead and diuinity of his creator But there is an euill following this great good because the good lost that was within the soule is gone forth to straying goodes that are abroade and made a couenant with the delights of the world reposing vpon them not regarding the absence of his inward good in that that hee possesseth his consolations in strang goodes For whilest the outward carnall sense vseth his good the inward sense of the minde lyeth as it were asléepe for he doth not know the goodes of the inward sense which is taken and insnared with the iolity of outward things For he that delighteth in the flesh liueth and abideth therin fléeing the griefes and sorrowes thereof by all possible meanes but of the woundes of the soule hée is vtterly ignorant neyther séeketh hee any remedy for them But here in this world if he be not clensed of that fleshly sense the same flesh being put off the soule shal féele the paines of those wounds it hath receiued by the pleasures of the outward sense in what worldly thinges soeuer CHAP. X. That a man may know how hee is disposed to good or euill THere be two things necessary to vs by which wee should know our selues that is to say how wee are disposed to euill and how to good Prone wee are to euill and if the mercy of God kéepe vs not likely we are of our selues to fall into euery vice nor to rise from them except the mercy of God follow vs at hand to holde vs vp The Prophet well knew this when he said Thy mercy O Lord is before mine eyes which kéepeth mée and let thy mercy follow me that it may sustaine me Weak and vnable wee are to goodnesse neither without the grace of God to doe any good or able to perseuere in any good thing This also the
part of the heart that out of them wee may diligently consider our state or order of life and study and indeuor to doe their workes whose déeds and writings we couet to reade often Bubow shall wee conceiue these things in minde or how may wee take héede least in meditating on some of them falsly and vainely wee should passe the bounds set downe of the holy Fathers except first we shall be instructed by reading or by hearing for bearing after a certain manner belongeth to reading Whereupon wee were wont to say not only to haue read those books which we read to our selus and others but also those which we haue heard of our Masters Also what profiteth it a man when he may perceiu what may bee done by meditations except he getteth helpe by prayer and Gods grace to obtaine to them Euery good gift and euery perfect gift is from aboue comming from the Father of Lights without whom we can doe nothing It required prayer of the Samaritane woman when he said if thou knewest the gift of God and who it is that sayeth to thée giue me drinke thou wouldest haue asked of him and hée would haue giuen thee water of life The woman hearing this as if she had beene instructed by reading meditating in her heart to bee good and profitable for her to haue this water Therefore inflamed with desire of hauing it turned her selfe to prayer saying Sir giue me of that water that I may not thirst neither come hither to draw Note the hearing of the word of God and the meditation vpon it incited or stirred her vp to prayer For how might she bee carefull and earnest to aske except first meditatioÌ„ had moued her Or what had meditation going before profited her except prayer following did shew what she had requested to attaine to Therefore to the end that meditation bee profitable it behoueth that deuout prayer should follow the effect of which is as it were the swéetnesse of Contemplation Here are declared all these degrees so to bee conioyned that they are inseperable OVt of these we may gather the reading without meditation is barren Meditation without reading is erroneous Prayer without Meditation is nothing earnest Meditation without prayer vnprofitable Prayer with deuoutnesse and obtainer of Contemplation The obtaining of Contemplation without Prayer is very rare or miraculous For God of whose power there is no number or ende and whose mercy is aboue all his workes readeth vp Sonnes to Abraham out of fiue stones whilest or as yet hard and vnwilling hee bringeth them together to assent that they may be willing And so as prodigall as it is a coÌ„mon saying he draweth the Oxe by the horne wheÌ„ not called he putteth in himselfe Which thing and if when wee reade to happen to some men as to Paule and some others yet notwithstanding wee ought not as in a manner of tempting God to take vpon vs diuine things but to doe that which belongeth vnto vs that is to read and to meditate in the law of God To pray to him that he wold helpe our infirmities and consider our imperfections Which hee teacheth vs to doe saying aske and yee shall receiue séeke and yee shall finde knocke and it shall be opened vnto you For now the Kingdome of heauen suffereth violence and the violent taketh it by violence Sée if the properties of the foure degrees aforesaid in their agreeable distinctions can bring to passe how they may agrée together and what euery one of them may effect or accomplish in vs. Blessed is the man whose mind is at leasure from other businesses hee alwayes desireth to be exercised in these foure degrées who althings that he hath being solde buyeth that fielde in which lyeth hid the treasure long wished for Marke yee and consider how swéete the Lord is Who that is exercised in the first degrée héedful circumspect in the 2. deuout in the 3. in the 4. lifted vp aboue himselfe he doth asceÌ„d by these which he hath disposed set in order in his heart froÌ„ vertue to vertue vntill hee may sée the Lord of Lords in Sion Blessed is he to whom it is graÌ„ted to remaine in this highest degrée euen a small time for he may truely say behold I féel the grace and fauor of God behold I contemplate with Peter and Iohn behold with Iacob I am often times delighted with the imbracings of Rachel But let this man beware least after this Contemplation in which hee was lifted vp to heauen hee fall downe by any disordinate occasion into the bottomlesse pitt nor after that visiting ended he bee turned into lasciuious déeds of the world and inticements of the flesh When in truth the weake sight of mans minde cannot long indure the brightnesse of the true light let it descend easily orderly to some one of the thrée degrées by which it had ascended and by course turne now in one now in another it may stay as in consideration of the place and time then is it by so much the nearer to God by how much it is the further from the first steppe or degrée But alas â—he fraile and miserable condition of man beholde wee apparantly sée by the leading of reason and the testimonies of scriptures the perfection of good life to bee contained in these foure degrées And in these spiritual good things mans exercise ought to bee imployed But whois he and we wil praise him To wil is present with many but with a few to performe and would to God wee were of that few Foure Causes which draw vs from these foure degrees BUT there are Foure causes which draw vs often times froÌ„ these foure degrées that is to wit vnauoidable necessity Commodity of honest businesse Humane infirmity and worldly vanity The first excusable the second tolerable the third miserable the fourth culpable For those whom such cause withdraweth from a holy purpose had béene yet better not to know the glory of God then known afterwards to goe backe What excuse shall we haue for sin for iustly can the Lord say what should I haue done for thee and haue not done it Thou wast not and I haue created thée thou hast sinned and madest thy selfe the seruant of the Diuell and I haue redéemed thée thou diddst runne a race of the world with the wicked and I haue chosen thée When I gaue thee grace in my sight would make an abiding with thée thou despisedst me and not onely hast cast behinde thée my wordes but my selfe and hast walked after thine owne concupiscenses But O good God gentle and méeke a swéete friend a wise councellor a strong hâ—lper how vain how rash is he that renounceth thée that putteth back so milde and quiet a guest from his owne heart O vnhappy and dangerous change to put away his Creator and to receiue hurtfull cogitations Yea that secret seate of the holy Ghost the secret of the heart which a litle time before bent and
according to the Image likenes of God that it may know the creator by his Image loue him because of his likenes for according to the image of God it hath reason and according to his likenes it hath loue or charity for as the creator which created mā according to his own Image is charity good and iust pacient méek pure and pitiful with other notable and holy vertues read of him So a man is created that hée should haue charity that hée should bee good and iust patient and méeke pure and pitifull Which vertues any man by how much the more hee hath them in himselfe by so much the nearer he is to God and beareth the greater likenes of him his Creator But if any man by the wrong wayes of vices and the crooked turnings of euils doth out of kinde wander from this most noble likenes of his creator then it shall become of him as it is written A man when hee was in honor did not vnderstand c. for what greater honour may there bee to a man then to bee made according to the likenesse of his creator and to bee adorned with the same robes of vertues that he is of whom it is reade The Lord is King and hath put on glerious apparell c. Which is that he is glorified with al the shining of vertues and garnished with the honour of all goodnesse What greater disgrace may there be to man or vnhappier misery that this glory of his Creator being lost hee should slide and fall into the deformity and vnreasonable similitude of a bruite Beast Wherefore let euery man more diligently haue his minde fixed into the excellencie of his first state and condition and acknowledge in himselfe the most worshippfull Image of the holy Trinity and striue with himselfe to obtaine the true honour of the diuine likenesse by the noblenesse of good conditions and maners and the exercise of vertues that when hee shall appeare what he is then hee may shew himselfe like vnto him that maruailously made him to his likenesse in the first man and more marueilously renued him in the second CHAP. IIII. That the soule is no part of God THe soule is no part of God the mutability into which it runneth proueth that for God is immutable or vnchangeable The soule is often changed by reason of sinne and sometime changed by reason of paine and being damned becomes most miserable Yet nothing may hurt it but when it departeth from God It departeth when it sinneth wherupon the miserable runnagate frō God is tormented Seuered from one it is scattered into many things and by reason of the intemperance of it is made as it were sicke and corrupt and is become discomfited and grieued Therefore the bodily senses the memory béeing distempered or disturbed are disquiet and heauy they are made féeble and dismaide Then the flesh doth suffer then faintings begin and violent death houereth about Surely a man turned from God by sinning is froward and vnfortunate because he disagréeing with God is also at discord and discontent with himselfe and bringeth paine of himselfe into himselfe CHAP. V. That the soule is immortall A Man consisteth of body and soule and whatsoeuer is séene with these bodily eyes is made for the body the body for the soule but the soule for God that when the body returneth to the earth out of which it is taken the spirit may returne to God who gaue it The soule giueth life to the flesh when it commeth no other wayes then the Sunne giueth light to the day and it causeth death when it departeth yet death dooth not consume the body and soule once ioyned togither but parteth them vntill both of them come againe to their first originall or beginning And least any man should thinke the soule to be consumed by the death of the body let him heare what the Lord saith in the Gospell Feare ye not them sayth he which kill the body but the soule they cannot kill CHAP. VI. Of the loue and friendship betweene the body and the soule WOnderfull is the fellowship of the flesh and the soule the breath of life and the clay of the earth for thus it is written God made man of the clay of the earth and breathed into his nostrels the breath of life giuing to him sense and vnderstanding that by sense hée should quicken the clay assotiated to him and by vnderstanding he should rule and gouerne it and by that vnderstanding hée should enter inwardly into himselfe and behold the wisdome of God and that by sense hée should goe forth and behold the workes of his wisedome By vnderstanding hée hath enlightened man inwardly and to sense he hath abroad beautified and made things so faire that man might find delight and recreation in both of them felicity inwardly and outwardly and abroad pleasure and gladnesse But because the outward good things canot indure long man is commanded to returne from them to things inward and from those inward things to ascend to higher matters For of so great a dignity is the state and condition of man that no good thing besides the chiefe good may suffice him It is very miraculous that such diuerse contrary things one frō the other might conioine together in one Neyther lesse maruaylous is it that the euerlasting and liuing God hath ioyned himselfe to our molde and clay that God and clay should bee vnited together so great a highnesse and so much basenesse for nothing is higher then God and nothing more base then slime and clay Maruaylous was the first coniunction and maruailous the second nor lesse maruailous shall the third bée when men Angells and God shall bee one spirit For with the same goodnesse is man good with the which the Angels are good and with that selfe goodnesse both and either of them are blessed If so it bee that both doe desire the same thing with the same will and the same spirite For if God could ioyne such a differing and vnlike in nature as is of the flesh and soule to bée of one league confederacy and friendshippe no doubt it is as possible for him to exalt and extoll a reasonable spirite to the partaking of his glory which is brought lowe euen to the company of an earthly body that the same body being gloryfied it may bee to it a glory which was a burthen yea euen to the fellowship of those blessed spirits which haue continued still in their brightnesse and purity Very certainely the most highest hath created man to that purpose of his onely and méere loue without any necessity that hee might become partner of his happinesse If therfore so much ioy and so great gladnesse is in this temporall life which consisteth by the presence and company of the spirit in a corruptible body then how much more gladnesse and ioy shall there be in the eternall and euerlasting life which consisteth by the presence of the Godhead in a reasonable spirite