Apostle sets our Saviour for our pattern of whom he said in the former part Exinanivir seipsum He emptied himself If you ask how long and to what degree I answer even from the instant of his conception to his death Behold this is our Rule our Patron and our general Rendezvouz from all sides And to a third If we understood truly how the real divesting our selves of all rendred us capable of union with God we would incessâ—ntly beg this grace offering great violence to our selves to arrive at this state of Death and Abnegation to which every Christian must endeavour that aims at union with God and ascend to perfection I received some years since great illumination upon this verity giving me to understand that the treasure hidden in the field mentioned in the Gospel is no other but this estate of Death and Annihilation taking away from us our selves to give us to God emptying us of all creatures to be replenished with the Creator the Fountain of all good Our Saviour tells us there that he that found it went and sold all to buy it If we understood the true value of this precious treasure we would freely part with our liberty with all we are and all we have to purchase it Really this should work in us great confusion that such precious things and such forcible motives obliging us to tend to this Abnegation we arrive at it so slowly and most men so seldom O how few truly annihilated persons are to be found few that do not live according to the corrupted life of the old man producing actions accordingly when ever occasions of honour or profit or pleasure are presented Few that attain to lose and renounce themselves in such points as tend to their perfection Let us therefore employ all our forces to arrive at this happy estate O the spirits that are thus dead what an admirable life do they live I and hereby become rare instruments in the hands of God capable to act great matters tending to his glory These are intimately united to him wholly transformed and annihilated in God and by this gainful loss and happy annihilation arrive t the height of perfection they enjoy a setled peace a pure and solid contentment incomparably surpassing all sensuall pleasures These are so far advanced above all earthly greatness above that Idol-Honour which the world so much admireth that these are become their contempt and scorn They make no difference betwixt the pomps of Emperors and Spiders-webs they value Diamonds and Precious Stones equal with common Pibbles they neither take health for happiness nor sickness for misery they think that poverty should not be termed a misfortune nor poor men be deemed miserable they weigh not Beatitude in silver scales nor measure it by the ell of Pleasure but repute that all these things do much resemble running waters which in their courve wash the roots of trees and plants as they pass but make no stay with any of them flowing continually towards the end and place appointed them Of these illustrious dead men and most divinely annihilated souls the Angel speaks in the Apocalypse Write blessed are they that dye in the Lord from henceforward for they rest from their labours And indeed this verity should be writ in Letters of Gold in Characters of Saphyrs and Rubies Blessed are the dead who dye thus to themselves and to all created things to live onely to their Redeemer The Holy Ghost hath said it and assured them that at the instant of this precious death they finde rest from all their labours because their former pains and troubles of spirit now have an end for that they have now rooted out the causes of them and dried up the fountain which according to S. James are our lusts and concupiscences Monsieur de Renty had arrived to this pitch as may be seen in what we have mentioned deserving to be put in the list of those truly happy I mean those happy ones of the state of grace and possessors as of the Paradise of this life CHAP. 10. Of his Corporal death MOnsieur de Renty having now finished his mystical death must now also look for to enter into the way of Glory to receive that recompence of the reward which God had prepared for him in the Heavens necessarily dye the death of the body and so he diâ—â— 't is this day that I writ this two years ago which fell out in that manner as I shall now relate One the 11 of Aprl 1649. he found himself very ill and having concealed his sickness for five days was constrained immediately after a journey he had taken about some acts of Charity to keep his bed where he endured great pains all over his body with which his spirit likewise was so much affected that he professed his fancy to be so much disturbed with absurd and raving imaginations that if Gods grace had not assisted him to undestand the ground of them and preserved him under them he should have spoken more extravagancies than any mad man that there was much therefore in such an evil to desert and humble him but it was the duty of a sinner to honour God in all conditions in which he should put him During these great pains and torments both of body and minde and during the whole course of his sickness his ordinary employment consisted in affectionate elevations of his minde to God in thoughts and words of blessing praise and submission to whatsoever was laid upon him of meekness and perfect obedience to all that attended and had the care of of him with such a humble and contented spirit that he thought all well done though sometimes it was otherwise He exprest a wonderful patience which ever gave a check to any complaint still saying that he suffered nothing although his pains were extraordinary And when his keeper which was a Sister of the Hospital of Charity with whom he had visited so many poor and sick solks did importune him to declare his grief O Sister said he how doth the love of God wipe away all pain The Servants of God-fuffer nothing Another friend demanding of him if his pain was not great He answered No. The other replied That he thought it was It s true saith he that I am much clogged with my disease but I feel it not because I do not think of it Being urged by their sister to take some sweet things he refused saying These conduce little either for life or death and are not at all needfull Yet he refused not Physick though it was very bitter which he took with a chearfull countenance and swallowed it with great difficulty without leaving any The day before his death one told him of an excellent medicine which had done great cures He answer'd Patience is a soveraign remedy intimating his unwillingness to try it yet when it was brought he took it without any reluctancy or once asking what it was evidencing his mystical death to any thing
Saviour to speak to her by his mouth which really was not without cause if we duly consider the passage I shall now relate The Lady speaking to him one day about procuring some relief of a most pressing excessive pain with which her spirit was afflicted and not finding any comfort from whatsoever he said she was moved to cast herself down upon her knees to deliver up her own will to our Saviour and by a perfect resignation to enter into what designs his good pleasure had decreed concerning her which she did accordingly And after rising from her knees she no more beheld Monsieur Renty but in him our B. Saviour shining with a very great splendor saying to her do what my servant directs thee Which words at that very instant wrought such a wholesome and divine effect upon her that her pain vanished she remaning filled with God in joyning a perfect tranquillity of spirit accompanied with a lively repentance for her sins and an absolute contempt of the world and of herself Though this happy intercourse betwixt him and this Lady accompanied with such signal blessings from God had contracted a strict and perfect amity betwixt them yet he was very wary wise and reserved in his addresses visiting her onely when the work of God did require and making no longer stay nor discourse with her than what was precisely necessary Which the Lady thinking to be a little harsh bemoan'd to a friend whom she knew to have some power with this holy man in these words Monsieur Renty doth extreamly mortifie me with his civilities and reservedness I have great need to see him often and yet cannot obtain it yea when we are together he will not sit down except it be when I am sick or that I am not able to stand any longer and always with his hat in his hand I beseech you tell him what out of that great respect I owe him I dare not my self what pain and inquietude I suffer to see such his carriage toward me who ought be continually under his feet The party acquainted him with thus much and received this answer I proceed in this manner because my duty to God and to the Countess of Chastres require it and moreover since my Saviour doth oblige me to treat with her I must do no more than what is necessary and so retire to which this posture is most convenient If we sit down we should forget our selves and talk more than is needful and perhaps pass on to things unprofitable Wherefore we both ought to stand upon our guard I being a lay man and a sinner do not speak to her but with great confusion though I know it to be the will of God and am certified by several pious and judicious men that it is my duty Those that undertake the conduct of souls ought seriously to ponder this prudent answer and perswade themselves that the business consists not in speaking much to them but in disposing them to speak to God and in making them fit for God to speak to them to beget in their souls the substantial Word his Son And after wholesome counsel given consonant to their state and disposition in putting them upon its execution with good courage vertue consisting not in words but deeds Thus you have the course he took in directing this Lady who thereby arrived to great perfection making most excellent use of all her great sufferings of body and minde attaining to so great contempt of the world that she dyed with a design notwithstanding her great infirmities and sickness to become a Carmeline in the Monastery of Beaulne And that we may have a taste of his skill in conducting several other persons of great vertue let us consider these following Rules of great Perfection which he gave to them and which without doubt were drawn from his owne private observation I have protested in the presence of the blessed Sacrament that I will live according to the Maxims and Counsels of Jesus Christ and to that end 1. Never to desire or endeavour directly or indirectly to increase my fortune in riches or honour neither to consent to any advantages which my friends would procure for me unless in obedience to and advice of my Ghostly Father and Director of my Conscience 2. To study the contempt and hatred of worldly riches and honours to speak of them no longer according to the flesh but according to the spirit of Christianity and for the better establishing of its Maxims in my soul to avoid as much as I can the conversation of such as are guided by contrary Rules 3. To entertain no Suit in Law either as Plaintiff or Defendant until all possible ways have been used for an accommodation without any humane respect In which I will submit to advice 4. To cut off all superfluities as well in what concerneth my own person as my family that I may be the better enabled to assist the poor For the better execution whereof I will once every Moneth after Communion examine my self therein as strictly as if I were then to give an account to God 5. Never to contest but to yield to all the world as much as I can both in point of Honour Precedency and of Opinion Dispute and of another Will which I ought to prefer before my own 6. To shun all delicacies not to do or desire any thing upon the motive of pleasure nor to admit of any such thing unless it be joyned with necessity or condescention to my neighbour or the health of my body or the refreshment and relaxation of Spirit 7. To bear with patience Contempt Injuries Contradictions Losses Oppressions and Affronts 8. To do all that with discreet zeal I can to hinder others from offending God or blaspheming his Holy Name or detracting or slandering their neighbour 9. To avoid and reject all kinde of tenderness and delicacy for the ease of the body yea to diminish and cut off as much as I can such commodities and conveniences as may be forborn without danger of health 10. To receive with all readiness and charity the requests of my neighbour and to supply his necessities in what I can possibly by my self or by others 11. To perform the duty of Fraternal correption with all Charity and Humility in the most prudent manner I can and to receive it most willingly from others 12 Once every Moneth at least I will examine my self upon the faults I have committed against these present Resolutions And once a year many may meer together to renew this Protestation and advise together of the way and means to accomplish it SECT 11. The great skill he had in the Interior matters of the Soul WE must of necessity confess that the knowledge of Interior things is most difficult and that the discerning of Spirits is without contradiction the most obscure of all Sciences And to be acquainted therewith requires eminent grace from God and a light no less than what flows from the
than to him that begins it In all affairs that concerned the service of God he had an unmoveable constancy and undaunted courage never flagging or yielding up himself And besides the force of his words there appeared in his countenance an extraordinary assurance although his ordinary deportment was always sweet and quiet which particularly appeared in all meetings where he manifested so much spirit and God invested him with such a force that those that beheld him felt themselves struck with an awful respect When he spake and gave his opinion his proposals carried so much light in them his judgement so much solidity his reasons so great force he taking every thing in its due place and observing each juncture of time that all were constrained to acquiess in his determination But if any approved not of his advice or disputed his reasons he knew how to inforce them with such arguments especially where he had any authority in the Assembly that at length they yielded But if they chanced to make another reply he gave not one word more but his very silence and the steadiness of his countenance and his other carriage restrained any further dispute And the meeting ended he would go to that party and crave his pardon with great humility Sweetly informing him that what he aimed at was not to make good his own opinion but for the cause of God to which by duty he was obliged But in other things that he was most ready to yield to every one We meet daily with those spirits that are very inconstant in business doing and undoing every hour very indecisive and mutable But he was of another temper quick-sighted to penetrate into a business judicious to determine it and constant not to vary in a resolution well grounded so that his word was his law and was taken by others as current as an obligation When his presence was requested at any consult he would be punctual at the time appointed that none should stay for him Where taking his place and that the lowest if it were possible his demeaner was so modest and composed that all were edified by it Listening to others with great attention and seriousness as if he had no other business And after his opinion given very brief and material his presence being no further useful he would take leave being a great husband of his time since other business for Gods service still attended him else where And notwithstanding the throng of business and though never so important he quitted not for them his Exercises of Piety nor his care of perfection which he preferred before all other his affairs knowing that as wholesome meat taken immoderately doth hurt and instead of strengthening the stomach weakens and suffocates its natural heat So these Exterior employments even the most holy if a man surcharge himself bring much prejudice and extinguish the ardour of Devotion Wherefore he was careful not to over-burthen himself with them being very vigilant that they should not distract and dissipate him nor quench the Interiour motions of the Spirit nor secularize his soul but ferve onely as means to elevate and unite him more to God In the multitude of business he was still recollected and as much alone in great meetings as the Hermites in their solitudes which might be gathered from his modestie and composed countenance evidencing his application to his Interiour and his union to God from whom he drew light and strength for the managing and prudent ordering of these buâ—nesses One day he wrote thus to his Director My recollection hinders no business at all but rather furthers it For without it I should have a solicitous desire of doing all my self whereas I act now in a most serene way in which I have no share for it is our Lord that doth all In another Letter thus Finding my self one day much burthened with divers-business I had a desire to draw off my minde wholly and at the same instant I found it Since which time they create me no trouble and I dispatch them more readily without thinking of them This grace hath been often renewed to me although in several manners which I acknowledge to be very great because it preserves me disingaged even in the multiplicity of business And notwithstanding he never omitted any thing of prudence or industry for the effecting his business yet the success he expected much more from Gods benediction than from his industry or any humane endeavours knowing well that what was undertaken for the service of God and good of his neighbour was to be accomplished by his grace Wherefore in every thing he had a great recourse to prayer instantly commending all his exercises to God and in all imployments and choice of persons which he made use of his eye was more upon grace than nature or any Exterior abilities And knowing that the affairs of God are not without their difficulties but meet with great oppositions even sometimes to be overturned he was armed with patience in the undertaking to suffer with courage not starting at the greatest dangers but still hoping of the success If they miscarried at any time he rested well satisfied after all fair means attempted on his part Thus he writ to a friend It is a great infirmity in our humane nature that she needs applause in matters of grace Wherefore I look at it as a great favour from God when I have the honour of executing any enterprize solidly undertaken and well approved of and acknowledged to proceed from the Spirit of God by those to whom he hath committed in his Church the judgement of such things notwithstanding the accomplishment of it meets with many crosses and contradictions In another thus We may take up good and holy designs and God doth often inspire them yet when he is pleased to permit a contrary event we must adore his secret will which brings with it more of mercy in the crossing of them than if they had succeded to our comfort We should always be jealous over our own spirit that it fix not upon any thing And again thus The sweet Jesus hath his designs which he conducts by such means as we would not at all make choice of and the reason is because he would thwart our wills and abate our dependancies upon earth And therefore often thwarts he our just undertakings being more jeolous of the Sacrifice of our hearts than of any thing else how specious soever But the principal rule which this holy man observed in these affairs was never to look at them in themselves but in the will and design of God and to proceed in view of this Whence it came to pass that he applied himself to business not as appearing glorious pleasant or profitable but as agreeable to the will of God to which he submitted his own making poor and mean imployments equally considerable and sometime preferred before greater Hence he took up things cast aside by others undertook charities out of the road
told him that of a long time he had left off the use of a sword and that after he had commended the business to God by prayer he should follow his inspiration assuring himself that his protection over us is much according to our relying upon him These words were found in one of his Letters to his Director My soul being armed with Confidence Faith and Love fears neither the Devil nor Hell nor all the stratagems of man neither think I at all on Heaven or Earth but onely how to fulfil the will of God in every thing He hath been noted to do very notable things through the strength of this Vertue even at such times when he hath been afflicted with great aridities in his Interiour In our aridities and privation of the sense and feeling of grace saith he in a Letter to a friend is manifested an heroick abnegation of our selves to the will of God when under Hope believing against Hope we shew our selves to be true sons of Abraham Isaac shall not dye though the knife be at his throat and in case the true Isaac should in fine be crucified it is but to make us conformable to the Cross and cut of our ashes to raise us to a true and better life Thus likewise he writ to his Director I have a very clear insight into the great want I have of my Saviour him I behold in his riches and my self in my deep poverty him I look upon invironed iâ— power and my self in weakness whereby my spirit being filled with content by the impression of these words Quid est homo quod memor es ejus What is man that thou art mindeful of him doth rest upon a total abandoning of its self into his bounty These words Longanimiter ferens bearing patiently have dwelt longe upon my spirit though I did not at first remember whence they were taken or what they meant onely this that I must wait with patience for the commands and approach of my Saviour without putting my self forward by my own inquest or endeavours but rest with faith and reverence begging his grace and hope in him But a few days ago taking up the New Testament in opening the Book I did light upon the sixth Chapter to the Hebrews where the Apostle speaks of Faith and Patience whereby we obtain the promises qui fide patientia haereditabit promissiones who by faith and patience shall inheret the promises and to prove this brings in the example of Abraham sic longanimiter ferens adeptus est repromissionem and so waiting patiently obtained the promise This passage touched me to the very heart and relieved my languishing together with another passage of S. James which presented it self to my eye at the same time Patientes igitur estore fratres usque ad adventum Domini ecce agricola expectat preciosum fructum terrae patienter ferens Be patient therefore my brethren till the coming of our Lord behold the husbandman waiteth patiently till he receive the fruit of the earth Hereby I was settled in peace upon the solid foundation of Hope and Abnegation As this incomparable Vertue enricheth the soul that is perfectly stated in it with a profound repose a solid joy a wonderful courage and sets it aloft above all Terrestrial things with a generous contempt of whatsoever the world esteems and desires giving it a taste of the pleasures that are Eternal as it is not difficult for him that hath assured hopes of a glorious Kingdom to set at nought a Pad of straw so did it communicate to this holy man all these excellent treasures and imprinted in his soul all these noble reflections Whereby he was incited with all his strength to encourage others in the pursuit of this Vertue knowing by his own experience the inestimable benefits thereof understanding it to be our Lenitive in all disasters our staff and stay in all weaknesses and our secure haven in all tempests instructing them continually how that God to the end that he might drive us into this Port and cause us to rest in it doth frequently permit us to be assaulted with temptations and tryals the deeplier to engage us to have recourse to him begging his aid and succour and relying upon him with confidence The like instruction he gave to a certain person upon occasion of the Apostles amazement when they beheld our Saviour walking upon the waters and took him for a Chost Think you this was without a special providence that our Saviour suffered his Disciples to go alone into that ship and permitted a contrary winde to arise Who knows not that in the same manner he fashions the souls of the faithful by his absences and by their tryals that he may afterwards manifest his power upon the seas and tempests quickning thereby our Faith and shewing himself to be the Messias and true Deliverer of the world But observe we how many Christians in their sufferings are affrighted with the Apostles seeing our Saviour marching on the waters Every thing makes them afraid the winds the waves yea even Christ himself that is the anxiteies of their spirit their own disputings and also those good coursels that others give them for their establishment upon Christ Jesus before God All this appears but as a Ghost to amaze them unless Christ himself graciously appear yet more unto them to comfort and strengthen them Shall we always want confidence thus to think Christ a Phantasm Shall we not address our selves to him in all our necessities as to our Lord and Deliverer The Jews brought all their sick folks to him and he cured them What is he become a greater Physician of the body than of the soul No no our little Faith our little Love our little Confidence is the cause of our languishings and unfruitful anxieties of spirit Let us go strait to him and all will be cured CHAP. 4. His Love of God SEeing the Love of God is without contradiction the most excellent and perfect of all vertues and that which principally and above all the rest makes a man a Saint we cannot doubt that this holy man was possessed thereof in a very eminent degree and that he loved God with all his heart This Love he founded upon his infinite perfections and favours which may be perceived by what he writ to his Director in the year 1648. concerning this Queen of all Vertues Our Glorious Lord hath from time to time with his resplendent beams shone upon my soul quickning her therewith which have appeared in such several manners and have wrought such great things in a short time as would take up far more to write them which really I am afraid to undertake or begin They all concenter in this one point the love of God through Jesus Christ his communication of himself to us by the Incarnation of his Eternal Word and ours to him through the same Word becoming our brother conversing with us and erecting as it were a mutual society
that concerned him His sickness encreasing and afflicting him very sore yet he never call'd for any thing to refresh or relieve him and when they had forced lean sheets upon his bed and a pillow which he had formerly refused with great confusion and humility he said Lo here lies a Gentleman at his ease Feeling some natural affection of joy arise in him upon the sight of a person of his acquaintance with whom he had held a strict correspondence in spiritual matters who came out of the Countrey of purpose to visit him he straightway supprest it repeating these words three times over with great fervour I desire nothing more but God which demonstrated clearly his perfect disengagement from all created things He commended to this parties care the missions entreating him to labour eranestly in that business as an employment by which God was much glorified and the most profitable to the Church of any he knew in these words Promise me Sir that you will take pains therein and promote them with all pessible diligence O Sir it is a service well pleasing to God Reflecting upon the poor for whom he had always a most tender care he said to his Lady I recommend the poor to you will not you have a great care of them you will perform it better than I Fear nothing what you give to them will not lessen the rest Most part of the first week and some time also of the second that he lay sick were spent by him in works of mercy appointing several Alms and giving order for letters to be writ into several Provinces about businesses of Charity with which he stood charged and whereof he gave an exact account Many persons of quality came to visit him whom he received with much civility but not without some trouble by reason that most of those visits drew on discourse of worldly things and complements of which he complained saying They come hither to talk their Philosophy of which I have no need And another time his expression was A Christian should talk little A Lady of great worth and piety coming to visit him said Sir I would with all my heart lay down my life to save yours To whom he replied with a chearful look and his eyes lifted up to heaven To dye is not to be lost our conversation and union will hereafter be more near and intimate But Sir said she if God would restore your health and continue you longer with us do not you desire it St. Martin desired to live upon these terms He answered with much confusion O Madam there is no comparison betwixt a Saint and a sinner the will of God be done The third day of his sickness he desired that his Ghostly Father might be sent for Whereupon they took occasion to demand of him if he found himself much worse He answered No but that in a business of that consequence and where the memory and judgement were so subject to decay it were not safe to defer for fear of a surprisal and that it were very fitting to do that which he had so often advised others unto in the same condition The day after he made his Confession and then called for his Reliquary that he might enter more particularly into a communion with all the Saints The day after he confest again and almost every day till his death The Pastor of his Parish came to give him the Communion and observing him after receiving in a great silence not speaking one word but onely with profound humility saying My God my God pardon me I am a great sinner He asked him the reason why he spake so little and did not apply himself to those that stood by and were well pleased to hear him It is not fitting saith he to speak in the presence of the Word Incarnate which I have received nor take up any room in those hearts which ought not to be filled onely with God But he added besides That his spirit was then applied to that joy which a creature ought to have to see it self upon the point of being re-united to his first Principle and to its last end The same day after dinner one told him it was fit to use some diversion from his serious thoughts the Physicians judging his disease to have much of melancholly in it To whom he replied I never had any joy comparable to that I have felt this day He ask'd him upon what cause To think saith he that I am going to be united with my God repeating the words of the Apostle Cupio dissolvi esse cum Christo I destre to be dissoved and be with Christ and those also of the beloved Disciple The Spirit and the Bride say Come and let him that heareth say Come and he that thirsteth let him come Behold I come quickly Amen Come Lord Jesus Yet resigning himself as well for life as death unto the will of God One day about noon he desired that his Chamber window might be set open that he might behold the brightness of the day which being done he cryed out O bright day of Eternity how this Sun-shine chears me helping me to meditate on that day which shall never have night The more his sickness and pain encreased the more he strove to unite himself to God by prayer imitating his heavenly Master who in the strength of his Agony prayed the more earnestly And when the violence of his disease oppressed him more and he had need of greater straining to think upon God he cryed out Courage courage Eternity is at hand With many such like speeches uttered with incredible fervour but which could not be distinctly pronounced by reason of the extream dryness of his throat caused through the feavour till at last stopping his speech all on a sudden he fixed his eyes stedfastly on heaven for a quarter of an hour together with a smiling look and full of reverence as if he saw some extraordinary sight After which mustering up all his forces he sate up in his bed took off his cap and holding it in his hand he said as it were ravished and overwhelmed with this Contemplation with great straining and words half stifled in his throat as well by the ardency of his spirit as the weakness of his body I adore you I adore you The Curate having administred to him Extream Unction at the time appointed which he received with great devotion answering to each prayer and attending to what he said and repeating them a good while after He asked him if he would give his blessing to his children He answered How so good Sir shall I presume to give a blessing in your presence I should be happy to receive one from you But being urged thereunto and told that the Church allowed that laudable custom he lifted his hands and eyes up to heaven saying I pray God give it to you and may it please him to bless you and to preserve you by his grace from the malignity of the