Christians know but too much to doe solitle Ignorance may some tymes excuse but luke warmenesse idlenesse and negligence can neuer We know what a deare price was putt downe at Ierusalem for our ransome and what an inestimable reward is prepared for vs in the heauenly Ierusalem We knowe what endlesse torments are threatened if we liue not according to the knowledge and light of faith we haue We know that this day is yet ours an acceptable tyme a day of saluation wherin more may be done for a sith a teare a contrite and humbled harte then can be purchaced by the prayers of all the saintes in heauen this day of our life being once past Affection And is it yet possible my soule that after all these wholsome and certaine knowledges we still liue in a cold carelessnesse as tho there were nothing after this life either to be feared or hoped for Is it possible that we dare idly spend this day of ours lent vs to worke our saluation in and still make bold to take new dayes with God which were neuer promised vs for our couersion Is there any of vs so resolute as would not weepe were he assured that within three dayes he should be cited before the dreadfull Tribunall of a wrothfull Iudge and yet while we haue but one daye we can call ours or one present houre according to S. Paule we dare passe it in laughing languishing sleeping c. which leade to death and be like those hazardous soules who spend their dayes in delights and in a moment descende into Hell THE SECONDE POINTE. Because thou hast not knowne the tyme of thy visitation CONSIDER that our B. Sauiour declares that the cause of the vtter destruction of Ierusalem was because they did not know that is through ingratitude obstinacie and blindnesse they acknowledged not the speciall fauour of hauing the son of God sent to them in person to visite them to make them heare his sacred word from his owne mouth to worke multitudes of miracles in their sight c. Affection Alas my soule I feare we know but too much to performe so litle as we doe Ah! the seruant who knowes the will of his Lord and doth it not shall be beaten with many stripes And dare we deney that we knowe his will to be our sanctitie and that we ought to be perfect as our heauenly Father is perfect and yet how coldly doe we creepe on in that way Haue we not frequently had the honour of his heauenly visites heard his sugerred words and experienced in our deade soules the miracles of his grace Ah my soule let vs diligently call to mynde the tymes of those gracious visitations with the thankfulnesse of our whole hartes and singe those sweete mercyes for euer and euer THE FIRST MEDITATION FOR THE TENTH SVNDAY AFTER WHITSVNDAY The Pharisie standing prayed thus with himselfe Luc. 18. CONSIDER in this Parable the true discription of a proud Petitioner or rather of one that goes not so much to the Church to pray as to prayse himselfe He gaue God thankes indeede but with taking a vaine complaceance in his giftes esteeming himselfe so rich that he asked noe more nay he euen insulted at the poore publicane who asked He is not like the rest of men excepting none extortioners vniust adulterers nor is he like that publican wherin he addes rashe iudgement to his pride In fine halfe the lawe is but declining from euill and all that if you beleeue him he has performed Affection Beware my soule of this proud prayer which prouokes Gods wroth vpon vs. What haue we of grace or nature which we haue not receiued and if they be Gods gifts why doe we vainely glorie in them as though we had not receiued them Why doe we glorie in them and preferre our selues before poore sinners whom we looke upon with disdaigne who are happly farre better then we in the sight of God Let such as stand looke that they fall not Let our eyes be fixed vpon our owne defects leauing God to iudge our neighbour to whom he stands or falls THE SECONDE POINTE. I fast twice a weeke I giue tythes of all I possesse c. CONSIDER that pride still ascends and gaynes ground The Pharisie had alreadie in his owne esteeme freed himselfe from all stayne of sinne what rests for his pride but to preach his owne vertues that so Christian iustice might appeare accomplished in him I faste twice a weeke saith he I giue tithes of all I possesse not of the fruites of the earth onely according to the prescript of the lawe but euen of all without exception Affection Looke vpon this vaine boasting my soule with horrour and carefully striue to auoyde that dangerous shelfe of presumption vpon which so many apparently deuoute soules perish What euer good workes we doe how vertuous resolutions soeuer we make finde we neuer so much feruour facilitie and spirituall delight in the practise of vertue and goodnesse let vs still distruste in our selues hartily acknowledging that we are nothing we haue nothing we can doe nothing of our selues not so much as thinke one good thought but all our sufficiencie is from God hauing all-wayes in our mouthes with the holy Church Deus in adiutorium meum intende Domine ad adiunandum me festina THE SECONDE MEDITATION FOR THE SAME SVNDAY The Publican standing a farre off would not so much as lift vp his eyes towards heauen THE FIRST POINT CONSIDER in this poore Publican the perfect picture of a true penitent He stands a farre off as iudging himselfe vnworthy to come neere the Altar he dares not so much as lift vpp his eyes to heauen because shame and confusion had couered his countenance to haue offended so great a Maiestie he knockes his breast where sinne was conceiued and seemes to take reuenge of himselfe He beseeches God to be mercyfull to him a sinner exposing his miserie onely for Gods mercy to magnifie it selfe vpon Affection Let vs not my soule be ashamed to learne of this poore publicane what dispositions we ought to bringe with vs when we goe to sue to the dreadefull maiestie of God for remission of our sinnes Nay rather let vs blush that after so longe practise in spiritualitie we fall short of that poore sinner after so much light so many heauenly inspirations so many helpes and assistances which he neuer had And yet while our eyes lye open to euery distraction his with confusion are fixed vpon the ground not daring to looke vpon the heauens he takes reuenge vpon the breaste wherin sinne was conceiued and makes humbly confessed miserie alone pleade for mercy THE SECONDE POINTE. Be mercyfull to me a sinner CONSIDER the contrarie effects of the farre contrarie proceedings of the proude Pharisie and humble Publican The Pharisie came with his hart full swolne with proud iustice and returned with his hands emptie The publican came loaden with humble iniustice and an emptie hart and he returnes with
which the Spouse cried so out for osculetur me osculo oris sui let him kisse me with a kisse of his mouth See the foure sacred fountaines of Paradise streame out Riuers of inestimable worth from his wounded hands and feete euerie droppe whereof being of more valew then all heauen and earth and in these Riuers are we ô my Soule permitted to bathe cure eternise ourselues O Sacred fountaines ô Ambrosian springs dulciora super mel fauum sweeter then honey and the honey combe He hath a tongue which in the beginning said fiat be it made and the whole Machine of the Vniuerse was presently raised out of nothing and with which be can still saie N. Salus tua ego sum I am thy Saluation vel hodie mecum eris in Paradiso or this daie thou shalt be with me in Paradice And what hart can wish a richer treasure a more wishfull and blissefull present He hath yet a tongue but it too must not passe without it's torment For they mixe gale amongst his foode and in his thirst they present vineger to drinke He hath yet a tongue intire and that too must be imployed euen amidst his greatest torments to pleade mans pardon reconcilement Father pardonne them for they knovv not vvhat they doe O miracle of mildnesse and mercie The persecuted becomes the persecutours Aduocate euen in the act of persecuting him The dying Lord turnes his dead and dying slaues Patron euen while he is bloodily striking at his hart Father He makes his addresse to him not so much in qualitie of God whom he knowes to be actually prouoked to reuenge as of Father whose bowells are all mercie for his prodigall children Father what confidence may not poore sinners conceaue when a father and such a father is sued to by a sonne and such a sonne Father I begge not reuenge for what I suffer but pardon for those for whom and by whom I suffer Father pardonne them I sue not that the world should be iudged for me but that it might be cleared and saued by me Father pardon them I doe not plead not Guiltie where I know sinne is great and spred vniuersally ouer the whole body of man and growen to a kind of infinitie but I am his Saluation and the price of my bloud which here I lay downe is infinite indeede let grace then through my merites superabound where sinne abounded Father pardonne them It 's pardon I demande and euen in that name the cryme is acknowledged I cannot excuse Pilates iniustice which is so much more cryminal by how much his owne conscience pleades guiltie against himselfe for condemning a person in whom he found noe guilte nor the Priests and Princes inueterate malice nor the soldiers crueltie nor the peoples false testimonies scornes and blasphemie But by how much their crymes are more cleare ther pardon is more necessarily petitioned for by how much their miserie is more desparatly great by so much thy great mercy is more absolutly to be implored haue mercy therfor vpon them according to thy great mercy and pardon them Pardon them I say heauenly Father for they know not what they doe The penall ignorance which runs all along through their actions though it excuseth not yet it much extenuates their transgression They know not they apprehend not that they arme their malice against that infinite charitie which flames vp so high amidst the same malice that all the floodes of their furie is not able to extinguish it They know indeede that they putt an innocent man to death but they know not that they Crucifie the God of glorie T is enough my dearest Lord thou hast powerfully pleaded and wunne poore man's cause which without thy plea and thy price was irrecouerably lost for euer Thou art heard for thyne owne reuerence and millions shall be giuen to thy prayers and merites 11. But ah my soule is it not true that as this lesson brings comfort to all Christian harts so it loades them with confusion and fixeth shame vpon their foreheades He couers in some sort the Iewes crymes and confusion with a plea of ignorance for had they had an absolute knowledge of what they did and to whome they had neuer crucified the Lord of glorie But we seeing knowing by the light of faith which is a more absolute assurance then any demonstration then all humane knowledge can afford and being bound standing readie in the preparation of our hart to putt downe our life for it that it was God man the verie God of glorie that they putt to death we I say make noe difficultie to crucifie him againe by our dayly crymes to treade the sonne of God vnder foote and to esteeme the bloude of the Testament polluted 12. We acknowledge that we are taught by the mouth of eternall truth it selfe vnlesse we haue renounced all Christianitie and we euen see it in his owne example that we are to returne Good for euill and we contrarily render euill for good hatred for loue disrespect for good offices neglect forcares ingratitude for greatest obligations We haue seene our Christ sadd to death betrayed taken bound abused reuiled scorned boxed spitt in the face whipped crowned with thornes blaspheamed crucified and we heare him from the same Crosse preach plead pray for pardon And yet we Christians alas who as we take our name from Christ so should his actions be the rules of our life and our conformitie to the same rules the perfection therof liuing as it were by the law of contraries run quite contre The Master cryes for pardon the scholler exacts reuenge The masters wisdome and charitie finds wayes to couer multitudes of enormious crymes and the schollers iniquitie and madnesse inuents meanes to make Molehills appeare montaines and to multiplie a few smale faultes into huge numbers The master by a Rethorique brought from Heauen endeuours to extenuate a visible iniurie by alleaging ignorance which though otherwise afected did in some sorte lessen the cryme The scholler by a Sophistrie inuented in Hell striues to aggrauate euen almost inuisible faults from the place in which it was done the tyme the manner c. And if none of these seeme vigorous enough he guesses at the intention of him that did it and will needes haue it to be such as his Passion hath framed it in his mynd In fine the scholler hath neither harte nor hand nor tongue to plead excuse to worke or wishe well too euen a seeming enemy though otherwise a true friend indeede He will not take the paines to consider that the misintelligence was but caused at most by ignorance inconsideration precipitation and to take it at the highest that it was but man sinfull man man subiect to all the same deseases that rather tooke then had offence giuen him While the Master neither hauing hand nor foote free but onely a hartfull of mercye and a tongue free and readie to expresse the same imployes it to begge pardon
this B. Sacrament was to testifie the greatnes of his loue to his faithfull according to that of S. Iohn Iesus knowing that his houre approched that he was to departe out of this world to his heauenly father wheras he loued his who were in the world he loued them to the end Wherby as in his incarnation he vnited our flesh to his diuinitie by an hypostaticall vnion so doth he in the Euchariste vnite the same to the said diuinitie Sacramentally and doth as it were incorporate it and render it diuine Affection O my euer dearest Rabboni what a huge fire of loue thon laiest to my hart Ah my poore soule must we not needes acknowledge that a deadly colde hath benummed thee if the blood of a God dyeing cannot recouer heate and life into thee He loued thee in the beginning he loued thee before the beginning he loued thee first he loued thee most he loued thee to the end yea after the end sith he applies the blood he powred out for thee daily to thy hart And to what end all this powerfull pressing but to gaine thy hart to loue THE XIII MEDITATION Tbe third Cause That he might remayne with vs. I. POINT CONSIDER that the third cause of the institution of the Blessed Sacrament was that so he might leaue himselfe to vs and be alwayes present with vs that we might familiarly conuerse and coferr with him consult him in all our doubts haue recourse to him in all our difficulties pressures temptations and tribulations making good in effect that of the Prouerbs My delights are to be with the sons of men S. Fran. It is a great miserie and a lamentable infirmitie that hauing him so present we yet should care for any other thing in the world Affection O God thou art truly our gracious Emmanuel our nobiscum Deus our God with vs. No other nations haue their Gods so neere as our God is neere to vs. Thou art alwayes with vs deare Lord and thou hast the words of eternall life to whom then shall we goe for Counsell for comfort for assistance in all our difficulties but to thee alone who hast giuen vs such assurances of thy singular loue and shewen in effect that thou wilt not leaue vs Orphants but wilt gather vs together as the henn gathers her chickens vnder her wings Remayne with vs then deare Lord and we will stay with thee nor will we euer depart or remoue our selues from 〈…〉 at blessed protection of thyne The fourth Cause c. Toleaue vs a representation of his Passion II. POINT CONSIDER that a fourth cause of the inst of the B. Sacram. was that by his last will he might leauevs an Idea formeor representation of his life and Passion which might continually refresh in euery one of vs the memorie of our Redemption purchaced at so deare a price as his owne pretious blood For while we looke vpon the species of the bread alone the dead body of our sweete Sauiour is represented vnto our mynds and by the species of the wine alone we are put in mynd of the effusion of his pretious blood whence S Paule as often as you eate this bread and drinke this cupp you shall announce or declare the death of our Lord till he come Affection O my soule le ts neuer forgett at how deare a price we were bought and thervpon glorifie and beare God about in thy breast This that appeares to thee vnder the species of bread alone is left to represent vnto thee and putt thee in mynd of the deade body of thy deare Master And this which thou seest vnder the species of the wine alone to renew to thee the effusion of his pretious bloud And both togeither crye loude to our hartes as frō his sacred mouth Christians friends at least you my spouses Remember my bloudie sweate Remember the scornes and contumelies I suffered Remember my patience and humilitie in the midst of them Remember my vineger and gale my huge torments my vtter abandonmentes and for loue of you As often as you doe this doe it in memorie of me THE XIV MEDITATION The fift Cause The exercise of all vertues I. POINT CONSIDER that a fift cause of the Inst of the B. Sacrament was to leaue a continuall occasion of the exercise of all vertues Our Faith is exercised while we beleeue that a whole God and man lyes hidd and is contayned really and truly though inuisiby vnder a smale hoste Our Hope while seeing him dayly and hourely bestowe himselfe we cannot despaire of obtayning any thing lesse then himselfe Our Charitie while we looke into his open side which is a fornace of inflamed loue Religion adoreing him with soueraigne worshipe or Latria Our obedience and humilitie while captiuating our vnder standing in obedience to faith we constantly beleeue maugre the suggestion of our senses and our naturall reason that God lyes truly hidd vnder these slender and meane accidens of bread and wine Affection Yes my soule here we may euery day comfortably and meritoriously exercise our faith where sight taste touche fayle Faith with eagles eyes lookes home and assures it is our hiddem Lord that is eleuated before vs. It is my Lord the verie Lord that made me and dyed for me Yes he himselfe tels it me saying This is my body And I imbrace his word adorc him And whom I adore present by a goodnesse which hath nothing like to it how should I not wholy conside How should I but hope in him whome I haue for a pledge in hand that he will himselfe be my reward for euer And how should I not loue him who so graciously stayes with me here below reserues himselfe for me aboue I doe ther-for confesse thee present confide in thee loue worshippe thee ô Lord and stoope downe to this admirable mysterie of Loue with all the humilitie and obedience my hart is able to conceiue The sixt Cause c. A memoriall to preuent obliuion II. POINT CONSIDER that the sixt cause of this Sacred Institution was to leaue a meanes to remoue the greatest mischeife that can befall a poore creature which is the obliuion of his Creatour They forgot God who saued them saith the Psalmist their harts departed from him who made them And what became of it but coruption and abomination corrupti sunt abominabiles facti sunt For by obliuion of God we loose diuine grace waxe vgly and deformed by the infection of sinne and become slaues to the Diuell Affection Ah my soule how should we euer be sovnhappie as to forgett him in whom we liue moue and haue beeing who while we yet were not raysed vs to what we are Who while we abused that beeing and strayed from him had for vs thoughtes of peace and not of affliction thoughtes of reconcilement and saluation Can a Mother saith that Louer of Men forgett the child of her body and though she should yet would I neuer forgett you Ah how should
we forgett him Isay who least he might haue bene forgotten by vs continues still with vs leauing vs noe lesse memoriall of himselfe then himselfe O be thou euer blessed and magnified my dearest Lord And be they euer accursed who forgett thee who art the fountaine of liuing waters flowing into life euerlasting THE XV. MEDITATION The seauenth Cause That being fedd with diuine foode we might become diuine I. POINT CONSIDER that a seauenth cause of the Institution of the Blessed Sacrament was to th end that being continually fedd and delighted with his heauenly body we might be wayned from and contemne the gliding delights of earthly ones with all their paynefull delights and concupiscences and therby leading a spirituall and heauenly not a terreane life that that of Saint Paule may indeede as it ought be verifyed of vs. I liue now not I but Christ liues in me Affection Such my soule should we be indeede persons quite wayned from the fleshpotts and vnions of Egipt since we are continually fedd with heauenly Manna With the true foode of the children of God with the foode which is truly God Our aymes are God our foster-father God our food is God And what should our thouhtes words and workes be but of God and for God Let vs then neuer proue so vnhappie as loathing this heauenly delicious and fattening foode to fall vpon windie and emptie huskes which indeede feede not fatten not saciate not The eight Cause The continuall presence of the Angells II. POINT CONSIDER as an eight cause of the Institution of the B. Sacrament the continuall presence of the B. Angells of heauen for as S Chrisostome saith Where Christe is in the Euchariste there are not wanting the frequent troopes of Angells Ambrose where this body is there the Eagles are gathered togeither fluttering about with their spirituall wings I saith he in another place the Eagles are about the Altar where the body is Affection Yes my soule we haue power by a vertuous life framed according to the life of Christ to take soretastes of heauen and to turne this base land we liue in into a heauenly Paradice The God of Angells is with vs and in vs when we please They come downe to vs and we mutually soare vp to them by our heauenly thoughtes and conuersation when we will They and we feede of one and the same foode though in a differēt manner loue and adore the same God singe the same Gloria's Alleluia's and Sanctus Sanctus Sanctus THE XVI MEDITATION Of the excellencie of the Blessed Sacrament I. POINT CONSIDER that our Sauiour Iesus Christ as a most tender gratious bountifull father made a most excellent and admirable will and testament and left vs thereby a legacie more pretious and better then heauen and earth to witt his most sacred bodie for our daylie food and his Blessed blood for our drinke Affection O sacred and soueraigne food ô most admirable mysterie ô diuine and deare inuention ô all you that loue God come come make haste and see with admiration and astonishment praise proclaime and magnifie for euer the name of our gracious God who hath daigned to worke such thinges in our days and in vs in vs poore miserable wormes of the earth II. POINT CONSIDER that though it were an ineffable dignation farr passing the inuention of men and Angells that he who was in the beginning with God and was euen God himselfe should build himselfe a cottage of our clay and become man like one of vs indeede yet doth it farre surpasse that againe to see the same not only take our humanitie but bestowe vpon vs also his diuinitie conioyned and vnited with the same humanitie to dwell in vs to take vp his delights and suppe with vs and euen to become our repast and nourishment Affection O what thought of man of Angells is in any measure able to diue into the infinite Abysse of the burning charitie which our Sauiour Iesus Christ meant to expresse in this most venerable Sacrament his pious fatherly hart could deuise nothing so sublimely and soueraignely good as himselfe and therefore himselfe hee bequeathes to leaue our harts charged with the demonstration of the greatest excesse of loue imaginable THE XVII MEDITATION I. POINT CONSIDER that though to giue all one hath be an argument of great loue yet to giue ones selfe is farr greater but incomparably the greatest of all to giue what we haue and what we are in such a manner and for such an end for we receiue him not now as a father and companion a brother a price but as our foode by which being worthily receiued we are made one with him not that wee chāge this diuine foode into our nature but we are rather changed and transformed into it euen as fire changes the nature of wood into it selfe Affection Ah whose hart is not stirred to deuotion and euen burnt vp with loue when he seriously considers with what excesse of loue and charitie with what solicitude as it were that Lord of Maiestie that powerfull King of glorie striues to gaine our hartes to his loue hartes which are but earth and ashes full of frailtie viciousnesse and indignitie and farr vnworthie to be chosen to be the habitacles and temples of the adorable Trinitié II. POINT CONSIDER how God could neither haue depressed himselfe lower or raised vs higher then that the bread of Angells should become the poore pilgrimes food then that the Creatour should be the creatures meate then that he who fills heauen and earth with the glorie of his diuine Maiestie should be receiued and handled and eaten by our miserie the highest heauens are not able to comprize his Magnitude and yet he will please to inhabite the narrow spaces of our howses of clay Affection Is it possible then may we not only saie with Salomon that God doth dwell with or amongst men but more is it possible that God hauing taken a humane nature vpon him and become man should also become mans food and dwell not only with man but euen in him there to cure our diseases languors and infirmities not with an infinitie of other meanes which his wisedome could inuēt but euen by the presence ' and application of his owne pretious body and blood III. POINT CONSIDER that Christ comes vnto vs accompayned with a thousand blessings for he brings into the soule that worthily receaues him what euer vertue he practised in his life all the fruite of his Passion Resurrection and Ascension the beatitude of his most Blessed bodie the efficacie of his most pretious blood and the merits of his most excellent soule and in a word all that euer can be desired or imagined Affection What is there then ô man which thou standest not possessed of what is it thou wantest if thou be not wanting to thy selfe in either not worthily preparing thy selfe to receiue so great a guest or hauing receiued him in not worthily entertaining him That man is euidently conuinced to be
in him shall not be confounded for euer Hearke how comfortably he cryes to vs loose the shakles of thy necke captiue daughter of sion Why art thou worne away with sorrow for nothing were you sold and without syluer you shall be redeemed But are our proud hearts happly raysed into mountaines of presumption vpon the view of our owne vertue Downe with them vpon the sight of a God humbled fall downe groueling vpon him and protest to him since omnipotencie is become impotent as it were and lyes at our Feete miserie rottennesse wormes meate shall not dare to aspire Resolution Humbly begge of him that all weake and lowlie soules may be filled with the multitudes of the blissings he bringes downe for man and that all swollen hearts may share in the same and learne of him who is myld and humble of heart That both of them may meete with the ioyes of these blessed tymes and find rest to their soules ✚ IHS THE FIRST MEDITATION FOR THE FOVRTH SVNDAY IN ADVENT Prepare the wayes of our Lord. THE WORDS OF THE GOSPELL THE FIRST POINTE. CONSIDER how this voyce of one crying in the Deserte this holy Euangellicall preacher S. Iohn teacheth vs how worthily to prepare our selues against the coming of his and our diuine Master saying prepare the way of our Lord. And how doth he teach vs First by his example by an absolute retreate from the world to liue in a vaste wildernesse by austeritie in meate drinke and clothes secondly by his preaching the penance which he had first practised admirable humilitie and contempt of honour publikly professing himselfe to be nothing Affection None my soule is duely prepared to receiue our diuine Sauiour who doth not first renounce the world at least in affection if not in effect and exercise acts of a penitentiall life Vnlesse we doe pennance we shall all perish togeither None is fit y prepared to receiue the humble sonne of the hūble mother but he that feares not to make publike professiō of humilitie and contempt of honours with S. Iohn saying I am not Christ I am not Elias I am not the Prophete whom you seeke nay contrarily my soule we for our parts are poore miserable sinners We are not worthy that thou ô Sauiour of the world shouldst enter vndter our roofes THE SECONDE POINTE. The voyce of God was made vpon Iohn the sonne of Zacharie in the Deserte CONSIDER that it was in the Deserte that the word of God descended vpon this great Prophete that is there it was that he was replenished with diuine inspirations sacred conferences and heauenly doctrines And there it is too that we ought to heare our lord as he doth promise by O see I will leade her the sinfull soule into the wildernesse and I will speake to her heart Affection If we desire in good earnest my soule to be instructed from heauen and to haue diuinelie sweete conferences with our heauenly spouse our hearts must turne deserts that is things forsaken by the world and freely forsaking it that in solitude and silence we may truly say speake ô lord for thy seruant heares say to my soule I am thy saluation but say it so that I may heare it That good God ceases not amidst the multituds of our follics and vanities to speake to vs but it reaches but to our eares onely the noyse of the world hinders our heart to heare those heauenly inuitations come my loue my doue my spouse and thence it is we answer not as we ought my beloued is myne and I am his THE SECONDE MEDITATION FOR THE SAME SVNDAY OF ADVENT Make his pathes straight Luc. 3. THE FIRST POINTE. CONSIDER that the great kinge of heauen is daigning to come to vs and it is butt fitting that we prepare his way by making his wayes right and straight that nothing may hinder his gracious accesse to our hearts nothing doth more hinder his coming to vs then our duplicitie and crookednesse of hart our indirectnesse of intention for a double tongued mouth he doth detest but loues to meete with the simplicitie of a doue I know saith Dauid my God that thou prouest the hearts and louest simplicitie Who walkes simply walkes confidently and our lord protects him and directs his wayes Affection It is the great kinge of heauen my soule who by an excesse of goodnesse is readie to come into the earth to comfort vs to instruct vs to redeeme vs. Not now in Maiestie to fright vs but in humilitie in simplicitie in abiection in the forme of a seruant to teach vs in his owne person to be simple and right and fearing God Let euerie mountaine and hill then be humbled all lightnesse of harte be subdued all harshnesse be banished all duplicitie be corrected The humble mylde and simple lambe will onely lodge in an humble mylde and simple breast THE SECONDE POINTE. Who art thou the Gospell CONSIDFR that howeuer this question was put by the Pharisies to S. Iohn captiously it may be or out of some curiositie yet may it be profitably proposed to each one of vs for our spirituall aduantage Who art thou A Christian or one honored with the name of Christ Further who art thou An English Christian Catholike that is one who is not onelie honored with the name of Christ but also blessed for being called to suffer for that name But who art thou finally Not onely a Christian an English Catholike Christian but euen one by a singular dignation called to be the spouse of Christ Affection Good god my soule what titles of honour and dearenesse has not heauen bestowed vpon vs which haue not bene granted to thousands of others But alas may not these honours rather cause feare then ioy for as gifts are increased doe not also our accompts ryse higher By the title of Christian we are bound to be imitatours of Christ and to expresse his life in ours By English Catholikes we are pointed out as the peculiar champions of Christs truth And by spouses we ought to be intirely and without reserue his Alas haue our liues bene answearable therto Haue we not fayld in such and such thinges c. with firme resolution of amendement THE FIRST MEDITATION FOR THE FIRST SVNDAY AFTER THE EPIPHANIE Iesus remayned in Ierusalem and his parents knew it not Luc. 2. THE FIRST POINTE. CONSIDER that as it happened here to Marie and Iosephe so it chanceth often not onely to sinners by mortall sinne but euen to most vertuous and deuoute soules that Iesus some tyme seemes to be lost while he absents himselfe without their knowledge that is while he withdrawes for a tyme the delicious consolations of his presence to trye whether their loue be chaste that is free from selfe interest in that they loue not for any temporall commoditie or any spirituall solace but for his owne infinite goodnesse alone Nor can they oftentymes whithout much patience labour and sorrowe find him againe Affection Here in it is my soule that
knowledge to tempt and teache him Le ts first beleeue in him that he is the sonne of the liuing God because without faith it is impossible to please him and learne of him to be mylde and humble of harte and so we shall finde rest to our soules which in high and proude questions can neuer be found THE SECONDE POINTE. Thou shalt loue thy Lord thy God from thy whole harte with thy whole soule and with thy whole mynde This is the greatest and first commandement CONSIDER that this commandement of the loue of God aboue all thinges is most iustly called the first and greatest The first because it ought to possesse the first place in our harte The first againe because it ought to be in mans soule what the first … oouer is in the heauens which giues first motion to all the rest And it is the greatest because its whole ayme is summum bonum the souueraigne Good the greatest too because it comprises all Gods Lawe and all the vertues in a most eminent manner Affection O my soule how sweete how heauenly sweete is this lawe of loue which either finds all thinges easie or makes them such How gracious is this diuine Law giuer who deliuers vs so sweete a Lawe What is man ô Lord thou shouldst so magnifie him and place thy heauenly harte vpon him What is man to thee I say that thou shouldst commande him to loue thee yea and to be angrie and threaten to lay huge punishments vpon him if he loue thee not Alas is it not of it selfe punishment great enough if he doe not loue Alas should poore subiects who holde all of the Kinges of the earth neede any such threates to induce them to loue them THE SECONDE MEDITATION FOR THE SAME SVNDAY Thou shalt loue the Lord thy God with all thy hart c. THE FIRST POINT CONSIDER in what manner and with what measure we ought to loue our Lord God And we are told by S. Bernard that the measure of louing God is to loue him without measure from our whole harte saith our blessed Sauiour by placing all our affections vpon him With our whole soule not permitting any of the passions to contest with it With our whole mynd by making choyce of the best meanes imaginable to accomplish his blessed will in the most perfect manner that man is capable off here belowe Affection This is the onely thinge my soule wherin there can be noe excesse He is infinitly more louely then we are able to be louinge O what a happinesse it is to be oppressed with the abundance of goodnesse Le ts dilate our narrow hartes dare as much as we are able breath after him incessantly and yet humbly acknowledge that we fall infinitly shorte of what is due saying with S. Augustine let me loue thee ô Lord as much as I wishe and as much as I ought wherin that I may not fayle proue as the Authour of the precept so the giuer of the grace to performe it giue what thou commandst ô Lord and command what thou wilt THE SECONDE POINTE. And the seeonde commandement is like to this Thou shalt loue thy neighbour as thy selfe CONSIDER that our B. Sauiour had noe sooner established that right of loue which is indispensably due to his heauenly Father but he falls vpon the dutie of his adoptiue brethren to one another which he also places in loue saying thou shalt loue thy neighbour as thy selfe With this difference notwithstanding that the measure of the loue of God is to loue him without measure and the measure of the loue of our neighbour is to loue him as our selues that ought to be exhibited to God because he is infinitly Good this to our neighbour be he good or badd because it was commanded vs by an infinite Goodnesse Affection O deare God how good thou art to men of right hartes O diuine wisdome how wisely and sweetly thou disposest of all thinges My soule if man had bene left to wishe what he would what other lawe could he haue wished then what he has a lawe of loue Wherin God and mans interests are so wouen togeither that the one will not be admitted without the other In vaine doe we professe to loue God if we hate our neighbour whom he commands vs to loue Nay saith the louing S. Augustine this must be putt downe for a certaine truth that there is noe surer way to attaine to Gods fauour then the loue of man to man Ama fac quod vis THE FIRST MEDITATION FOR THE XVIII SVNDAY AFTER WHITSVNDAY Iesus c. said to the sicke of the palsey haue a good harte sonne thy sinns are forgiuen thee Matt. 9. CONSIDER that Gods goodnesse and bountie is so greate that he often giues vs not onely what we aske but euen other thinges which we aske not which are farre greater and better The poore sicke of the palsey aymed onely at a temporall blessing the cure of his infirmitie and behold he meetes with farre more the remission of his sinnes from the mouth of truth saying haue a good harte sonne thy sinnes are forgiuen thee Affection Such is the goodnesse of our good and bountifull God my soule that when we haue an humble recourse to him in simplicitie of harte he grantes vs often not onely what we desire but what he sees we most neede As at other tymes in exercising his mercy he refuses vs what we desire to grante vs thinges more conducing to our eternall good being still equally good as well in what he giues as what he denyes If we pray then day and night and be not heard as it happened to our blessed Sauiour himselfe let vs rest assured that what we asked was not for our aduantage acquiescing therin to Gods wise prouidence and desiring aboue all thinges to heare sonne thy sinnes are forgiuen thee THE SECONDE POINTE. CONSIDER that this wise Physitian of ours doth not onely shew his goodnesse and liberalitie in the care of the poore mans corporall and spirituall infirmities but manifestes his wisdome also in the manner of the cure to witt he first takes away the cause which is sinne By sinne it was saith the great Apostle that death and consequently all deseases leading to death gott first footing in the world and this woefull cause being once remoued from the soule he proceeds to the cure of the bodie Arise take vpp thy bedd and goe into thy house Affection Let vs learne then my soule of wisdome it selfe to be wise when we endeuour the cure of our deseased soule Le ts obserue the causes and occasions wherin we find our selues It is still in such and such circumstances I finde my fall It is in such companies I continually meete with the desease or death of my soule Let vs in tyme iudge our selues that we may not be more rigourously iudged That eye of scandall must necessarily be plucked out and throwne away without the reach of danger which who loueth shall perish in
then to bee esteemed as a naturall foole And this he would vndergoe for loue of vs and can we proue so vnkind as not to requite him in what we are able shall not the white habites we weare for his sake be deare vnto vs in memorie of his white garment shall wee not willingly indure the gibes and scornes of others while our owne conscience assures vs we doe well c. Cons 2. Consider what a contemptible conceipt the wicked Iewes had of our sweete Sauiour not only equalising a wicked rogue with him but without all hesitation and delay preferring him before him straight answering Pilat non hunc sed Barrabam We demande pardon not for this man but for Barabbas O strange blindnes ô vn happie choice non hunc sed Barrabam not a louing Sauiour but a damnable villaine not the mildest of creatures an innocent noe but a nocent a rogue a theefe See the iudgment of the world and learne hence what credit you are to giue to it the treasure of heauen once before sold for 30. pence now esteemed at lesse then nothing the price of a Rogue for harke they persist in their vngracious choice crying out with one voice tolle tolle Crucifige Crucifige Away with him away with him Crucifie him Crucifie him Affect Haue we not good reason then alwaies to suspect yea neuer to trust the worlds opinion for verily one is exceeding blind that cannot discerne the sonne by his splendant rayes Well could I curse their sinfull and foule mouthes their hellish harts their blind choice but woe is me the conscience of a like contempt stopps my mouth for haue we not my soule in earnest haue we not or at least haue not our actions often said non hunc sed Barabbam while this or that fond affection this or that light and momentarie delight hath been deliberately preferred before Gods pleasure or at least these imbraced that neglected ay mee therefore THE XIII MEDITATION Hovv Iesus vvas vvhipped at Pilates Cons 1. ANd now see Barbarous furie armed with authoritie Pilat giues him ouer into their hands to be scourged into the hands of vile desperate slaues what vsage may you easily thinke he had Marrie they binde him with cordes to a pillar though he had neuer yet made resistance no not so much as in one high word or distempered looke they bind him with cords I saie haueing already stripped him quite naked I leaue it to your consideration how much contrary to his virginall bashfullnes so hard that they force blood to spring out at his fingers ends ô God! what a pittifull paine must this needes be in so delicate a complection Affect And all this for his too much loue to vs vngratfull vs ô my soule t was our loue that tied him so fast to loose the tye of our sins no other cord could haue held him that was only stronge enough to tye Omnipotencie And shall not the same cord be stronge enough to tye vs to him to tye our hands from sinning so that we may answere our passions our vnlawfull desires I cannot I cannot the loue of my sweete spouse hath tyed my hands I cannot In fine shall not this confounding manner of suffering make such and such acts of humiliation seeme farre more tollerable when I consider that the innocent sonne of God indured worse for my loue Cons 2. See now alas how vnhumanly they teare his delicate and sacred bodie not leauing a place whole for a new wound see how the blood streames downe nay the skin falls off nay yet more peeces of his blessed flesh dropp downe ah pittifull sight quo nate Dei quó tua flagrauit charitas ah sonne of God how high did thy Charitie flame out behold your spouse with compassion in his wedding garment died in rich scarlet die nor was it anie meruaile sith as S. Bonauenture saith he receaued more then 5000. woundes verè vermis erat non homo opprobrium hominum abjectio plebis He was truly a worme and not a man the reproche of men and the scorne of the people Affect Looke Angels looke is this your King looke Queene of heauen is this thy child looke my soule looke is this thy spouse that euen now was so diuinely faire I I t is euen he true said the Prophet vidimus eum reputauimus quasi leprosum We saw him we sawe him and we reputed him as a leaprous person Ah me what cruell hart vsed my loue thus ah let vs run to imbrace him for t is euen he Le ts wash his deformed face with our teares ò sweete Iesus ô loueinge Lord ô deare spouse my sick hart can indure no longer to see thee thus abused THE XIV MEDITATION Hovv Iesus vvas crovvned vvith thornes c. Cons 1. COnsider how scarcely yet the torne Iesus in that his extreame wearines had sought out and put on his garments till behold a new torment a new contempt is inuented for him so without end are his sufferings And what ah goe out yee true daughters of Sion and see your true Salomon in the diademe in which his mother crowned him in a diademe of thornes sharp thornes peircing skin and skull euen to the braines as S. Bernard saith in a thousand places saith S. Anselme iudge what an vnheard of paine this must needes be And see yet to add scorne to his torment they put a reede into his hand for a Scepter nay with it they beate the sharpe thornes deepor in-to his head Affect Vâ—ere langores nostros ipse tulit infirmitates nostras ipse portauit Truly he suffered our languours and tooke our infirmities vpon him Ours euen ours O my soule things that he was not subiect vnto but by his owne will Ah my hart see how heapes of gorie blood stand vpon his heade and temples see that fairest face of men or Angells all disfigured and this for loue of vs Come come all yee soules that are moued by loue come and see a louers extasie he hath giuen vs this sure argument of loue let vs not loose our affections vpon anie lesse then himselfe And thou my poore soule die rather then be so vngratefull as euer to lett this bloodie Picture which diuine loue made so be painted for loue of vs be blotted out of our hartes Cons Vpon the Ecce homo behold the man Consider that when Pilate could neither find cause of death in him nor meanes to saue his life so farre was the implacable rage of the people causeleslie insensed against him he brings him out with a crowne of thornes vpon his head and a purple garment vpon him hopeing by the aspect of a most miserable and despicable person to incline the most barbarous hart to pittie and compassion saying Ecce homo behold the man as who should say looke vpon one so disfigured that you can hardly find man in him and know him to be what indeede he is were you not told he is a man
forsaken him If our Aduocate be not heard be forsaken our case is desparate mans cause is lost for euer But be it not so dread Lord be it not so Looke vpon the louely deformed face of thy Christ which is therefore more louely because more deformed Looke vpon his bare breast sometimes lilly-white now all-redd and goared with blood Looke vpon his withered bowells his bright sweete eyes now languishing his extended armes his torne limms his imperiall head crowned with thornes his pearced hands and feete whenoe springes of pretious blood streames downe to bathe our infected soules The strangenesse of his plea my God my God vvhy hast thou forsaken me speakes onely the desparatnesse of our cause thou canst not forsake that onely deare sonne of thine nor he thee or vs whose suite he is resolued to winne with the losse of his life Aspice Deus respice in faciem Christi tui 2. Point Let vs weigh yet further these stupendious words My God my God vvhy hast thou forsaken me He complaines not of the excesse of the barbarous torments crowne of thornes nailes cruell extension vpon the Crosse and effusion of his pretious blood which he suffers in his bodie Nay he mentions not the contumelies contemps scornefull blasphemies which enter into his very soule but to see himselfe seeme to be quite abandoned by his heauenly father and left as a person forgotten or as one who had no credit or power in the midst of his barbarous enemies and euen in the hight of those torments which he suffers in obedience to his will and for his glorie Affection Cry out then my soule with S. Augustine what haste thou committed ô most sweete child that thou shouldst be so iudged What hast thou committed most amiable young man that thou shouldst be so treated What is thy trepasse what is thy cryme It is I it is I who am the wound which putt thee to that payne I the cryme which kills thee I the sinne wherof reuenge is taken I the man which seemes forsaken in thee who can indeede neuer be forsaken Noe my soule it is noe forsaking but a mysterie Man had forsaken God by sinne and God forsakes man in Christ that by Christ sinnfull man may be reconciled to God It is noe forsaking but a doctrine intimating noe despaire but a rigourous satisfaction and is indeede à souueraigne antidote which loue presentes to our sicke hartes Ah let vs engraue it deeply in the same hartes and neuer forgett that the desease must needes be hugely great which will not be cured but by the abandonnement torments and death of the most skilfull Doctour Ah my soule our leprosie was desparatly malignant which found onely the bathe of the bloud of so innocent a child souueraigne for its cure Resolution Neuer to despaire of Gods mercy and assistance seeme vve neuer so forsaken THE XXVI MEDITATION I thirst 1. Point COnsidera But harke my soule the fontaine of life is almost dryed vp and thy deare Lord drawes neere to his end The incessant labours of a most wearisome night and the immoderate effusion of his most pretious bloud in the garden at the Pillorie vpon the Crosse hath quite drayned his veyhes his vigour and strength as he foretold by the Psalmist is withered as a pott and his tongue cleaning to his iawes dolefully testifies that he is drye Affect O my soule what a deadly thirst is this which seemes to haue dryed vp the verie sourse of life and is readie to force the afflicted soule out of the withered body It is truth that sayes it and it issues out of that sacred mouth which sometymes said If any be thirstie let him come to me and drinke who am the fountaine of liuing water which flowes into life euerlasting And it is excessiue torment my soule in my crucified Loue which hath so withered and dryed him vp He is oppressed with the waight of my sinnes he is burnt vp with my intempetance and riotte and he seemes to say to our hartes children giue me to drinke And à true sense of his sufferances à compassionate hart a repentant teare is able to refresh him whether it be bestowed vpon his owne person or vpon any of his suffering members in his name Ah then let it neuer be reproched to our hartes I was thirstie and you gaue me not to drinke c. 2. Point Considera And though the extremitie of the torments which my Sauiour suffered were indeede forceable enough to draw this expression of corporall drinesse from his mouth yet was the drouth of his soule according to S. Bernard farre more ardent wherby he thirsted after the saluation of our poore soules and the honour and glorie of his heauenly father which he saw contemned My meate and drinke said he sometymes is that you accomplish the will of my heauenly father and what is his will but your sanctification or sanctitie Affect If we desire then truly to take compassion of our Sauiours extreame thirst and be willing to refresh him let our cheife care be to take pittie of our owne soules and to sanctifie them So shall we accomplish Gods blessed will pleasure so shall we honour and glorifie his heauenly father and so finally shall we afford Christ both meate and drinke How happie are we then my soule to haue our interests so inseparablie lincked with those of God the Father and the sonne that we neuer performe his holy will and honour him but the aduantage comes home to our owne soules nor euer againe attend to the aduantage of our owne soules but we honour and glorifie God and giue drinke to Christ in his greatest thirst Resolution I will be still carefull to glorifie God in seeking to performe his heauenly will since his glorie is my sanctitie my sanctitie his glorie THE XXVII MEDITATION They present Christ vvith vineger c. 1. Point COnsideration Consider that Christ his mercy myldnesse and sufferance and the Iewes crueltie maddnesse and malice goe on still at the same hight The myld lambe out of mercy to miserable man is so miserably racked and torne that all the radicall moysture of his body is dryed vp and he signifies his neede of drinke they presently run with malice accompaigned with mockerie and present him with vineger and gale Ah was there euer any I doe not say iust innocent patient meeke dying young man but euen any despicable theife cruel homicide or most cryminall villaine so vnhumanly treated as I see these barbarous tygers treate my deare Lord and master Affect Alas my soule Le ts change but the name of cruell Iewe into cold and vnworthy Christian and the storie is told and verified of vs. For are not indeede our words our workes our thoughtes mixed with vineger and gale And doe we not present them to Christ too who saith what you doe to those litle ones you doe to me We offer vineger and gale to Christ when we mixe his pure loue with terreane and
Iustice exacted satisfaction and his mercie found the meanes which to effect he spared not his owne onely sonne but deliuered him vp to death for vs all Nay but euen Christ himselfe too both accepted the hard commission and complyed with the painfull dutie and willingly offered himselfe vp If then sinne gaue the cause if mercy found out the meanes if transcendant chartiie executed the office by the death of a God deteste sinne my soule extolle that so admirable mercy and magnifie that boundlesse charitie for euer And least we who are most concerned may seeme least sensible let vs take a deepe share with all the creatures in this dolefull mourning If there be any sense of mans miserie left in vs if any gratitude for greatest mercy if any loue for most admirable charitie weepe my soule weepe If thou art a sunne for light brighnesse and beautie farre beyond all the other creatures eclipse thy glorie for a while in lamentations If a Temple of God burst in peeces If earth and ashes putt thy mouth into thy dust weepe in thy ashes and let thy earth quake to see thy God dye If thy hart be euen a rocke let it rend in peeces at least with the rockes laying a close seige to it make the Crosse the hammer and the nayles the wedges to riue it à sunder If it be yet harder then the rockes and be growen to the hardnesse of a diamāt which nothing but bloud can mollifie oh take the streames of the innocent bloud of the Lambe and applie it continually till it relent and bring out a shewre of teares at the king of heauens funeralls who dyed for our loue 2. Point Consideration O all yee that passe by the way attend and see whether there be any sorow like my sorowe cryes out our Sauiour by the mouth of mournefull Ieremie O all you spouses of Christ then ô all you Christian hartes doe not slightly passe by or passe ouer this saddest sight but make a stoppe ponder deeply feelingly obserue whether there was euer sorrowe comparable to the sorrow of your deare Lord and spouse who lyes deade for your loue deuoyde of all beautie and comelinesse For we haue seene him all disuigoured and deformed contemptible miserable and the last of men a worme and not a man a man of dolours and ouerloaden with all the extremitie of miseries We haue seene him like a leprous person to the eyes of all men strucken by God and made abiect Affect And yet my soule this last and most dolourous of men was in the Begining without Begining before the Angells yet were his owne souueraigne ioy and Beatitude O what a huge distance there is betwixt that Begining and this ignominious dolourous and dismale end He was there selfe-happie or happinesse is selfe here miserable and ablect There framinge all thinges all the vaste varietie of creatures of nothing here forsaken by all his creatures and reduced to nothing there before the day starre inhabiting an inaccessible light here dyinge and deade in darknesse O prodigious change of the Highest by the hand of the Highest O daunting disproportion betweene such a Begining and such an End O then at least le ts attend and see vvhether there be any sorovve like his sorrovve Resolution My beloued spouse shall be to me a posie of mirre and shall for euer dwell betwixt my breastes THE XXXII MEDITATION Our Sauiours side is opened by the Lance. 1. Point COnsider that as Christs loue and the iewes malice goe on and increase euen till death so rest they not there but euen out-liue death it selfe He is now subiect to noe more paines his soule being departed yet he is subiect to more iniuries his dead body is capable of more wounds markes of more malice in them and more dearenesse in him to whom nothing happened by accident Yet thy malice profits thee not ô cruell Iewe. since thou hurtest not him and thou profitest me All thinges concurre to the aduantage of those that loue him whom you hate Affect Ah deare Lord thy charitie is boundlesse It leades thee with ioy to death for ioy being proposed vnto him he sustayned the Crosse saith S. Paule It victoriously raignes in death and ouer death It out-liues death Ah was it not enough to haue payd the first droppe of thy pretious bloud which was more then sufficient to haue redeemed a thousand worlds vnlesse thou payedst the laste droppe too O too too plentifull a price O too too diuinely deare and prodigall a loue which payes an infinitie of millions more then is due prouing Christs loue to be incomparably greater then the Iewes malice and his mercy infinitly out-speaking mans miserie 2. Point Consideration We wanted not indeede streames of innocent bloud wherin to washe our leprosie and to cure the deepest wounds of our soule We wanted not deare argumentes and euen open conuictions of infinite loue since we saw our selues written as it were in his bored hands But we wanted as yet the best treasure which was left for Longinus his launce to open We wanted an open side for our languishing faith to enter into with incredulous Thomas his hand and grope out a God We wanted yet a passage to his hart wheras nothing can euer speake so much dearenesse or so absolutly subdue a hart as a kind hart lying open to it Affect Let vs then my soule yeald our selues vp to this last batterie which comes indeede the conquering way Let vs not fayle by this blessed breatch to find out our God and to adore him Dominum nostrum Deum nostrum our Lord and our God For by this blessed wound we gett free accesse to his fatherly tender bowells and learne the secreetes of his diuine hart Dominus meus Deus meus Here is my Lord here is my God indeede Here will I enter here will I adore him here will I loue him here will I rest here will I taste how sweete my God is Here finally will I safely singe his mercyes for euer Resolution As this open hart speakes powerfully to me my beloued is myne so shall my hart replye to him And I am intirely thyne for euer THE XXXIII MEDITATION 1. Point COnsider Iosephe of Arimathias great religion and courrage who went boldly to Pilate and demanded the body of Iesus He might iustly haue feared to haue mett with resistance from the Synagogue wroth and reuenge from the high Preists and a shamefull repulse at Pilates handes The cold prudence of the world would easily haue suggested that the best way was to lett their furie passe ouer least losse or ruine might haue followed Yet Gods prouidence for whose loue he vndertooke the worke so prouided that neither Synagogue preist nor Pilate either opposed refused or did any thing els to Iosephes preiudice Affect Learne my soule by Iosephs pious courage seconded with wished successe not to let thyne be shaken by imaginarie feares so thou be truly called vpon by the interests of Christs necessarie