not therfore absolutely blame à man for consulteing with diuerse for one cannot take councell enough in à thing of soe greate importance as saluation on which depends an Eternitie Nor the haueing diuerse Directors at one time as we haue in the Ecclesiastick and Politick state many Superiours ouer vs though subordinate one vnto the other and of an vnequall power for as I sayd before when à Director hath à greate height and eminencie much eleuated aboue the Confessor as well in the Theorique as the Practique there is neuer any debate because the greatest light obscures the lesser and in that respect there needes no deliberatioÌ„ which councell to followe But excepting this case I saye and think therin to speake according to the spirit of God who is life and veritie that this occurrence is daungerous vnto à Soule which findes it self sometimes betwixt two yrons and as it were wauernig in such sorte that it knowes not which way to tourne it selfe seeing euill euery where and good on no side though many tîmes it is not so nor can there be à more tedious torment then that of an erronious conscience CHAP. VI. The surlie Director THe person of Whom I speake was in this state for though her DIRECTOR made more noyse and was in more vogue by his preacheing I knowe not whether he yeelded more fruite then her CONFESSOR à man full of zeale in the seruice of soules who did many good workes without soundeing the trumpett serueing God with his substance and with couered dishes as our sauiour commaunds in the Gospell This I knowe and with assurance that he had farr more experience in the conduct of soules at the Tribunall of Penance then the DIRECTOR though he beleeud it not and that the DIRECTOR contrarywise esteemed himself much more fitt then he and endeuored like à Pedant vpon all occasions to gouerne both him and the penitent Soule with à browe farr more humbleing then humble and who had much more of the Pharisie then of the Publican When this good Preist gaue vnto this pious Soule some spirituall aduise which he conceiued profitable she presently related it vnto the DIRECTOR as vnto her touch-stone yf it pleased not this Preacher he declamed against it with full voyce and with such scornefull and despiseing tearmes no lesse vnbeseemeinge the mouth which vttered them then honorable vnto the modestie and patience of him vnto whom they were addressed How ofte had the austeere Empire of this sufficient DIRECTOR caused the Penitent person to forsake her CONEESSOR yf he had not bene affrayed to loose the absurd practise of his loftie Theorie and that the streames of this source should haue bene spent vpon other Meadowes then those of his owne house And then seeing himself to haue gotten the absolute dominion both ouer the spirit of the Penitent and the CONFESSOR it delighted him to ouerthrowe with the impetuous blast of his mouth all whatsoeuer the other had endeuored to buid vp solid and to pluck vp whatsoeuer he had planted before it had taken any deepe roote seldome giuing any other reasoÌ„ then the ignorant condition of this poore Confessor and of à man litle versed in these Anagogies for this word pleased him of the superessentiall supereminent life Hee treated him as one of à meane spirit litle illuminated and no wayes skillfull in the interiour and contemplatiue life not so much as vnderstandeing those fayre tearmes of the misticall Theologie which with their emphasie astoinsh the World and which are more like the laÌ„guage of Angells rather then of men so farr are they aboue the base and lowe stile of the Earth To conclude he made vse verie authentically of the priuiledge which the Apostle giues vnto the spirituall man which is to Iudge all others and not to be Iudged by any When I had discouered this whole misterie which certes was not of iniquity yet where I noted à manifest injustice I placed my self on that side which I esteemed the more lust according to the imitation of our sauiour who vpheld the penitent Mary against the censure of the Pharisie I took parte with the Confessor oppressed by this Rabby whose wine he dimolished aÌ„d dissipated sometimes like the boare sometimes like the fox to the greate trouble and damage of this Soule which was incomparably better counselled and directed by her owne prudent capable and charitable Confessor who cheerely vnderstood her whole interiour then by this imperious Director who onely beholding the superficiall parte and that which he could onely gather by à bare conference made himself growe into an Arte wherof he had no practise neither could he exercise it being restrained by his Institute I tooke then this creature off from this double torture and leaueing her in the ordinary question of the judiciary seate which God hath established in his Church I freed her from the extraordinary question of this vnexperienced Director wherof she found her selfe much eased as of à troublesome yoake or rather of an insupportable burthen à burthen which he himself who layd it on would not perchaunce haue so much as touched with the tip of his finger CHAP. VII Subiect of Murmure THis passed not without Murmure the vse wherof is no lesse frequeÌ„t amongst those of the other world then that of the Windes and the Waues on the sea according to the testimonie of S. Bernard But what imports it if men blaspheme vs or speake euill of vs so that God giue vs his blessing Whether by reproch or by good fame so as his diuine goodnes be serued therin we haue our onely end The cause of Quipps was not so much the zeale of the Soule as the bitter and contentious zeale about the priuation of certaine commodities which proceeded from this precioús Direction For there is this difference betweene zealous persons that some are eaten vp with the zeale of the spirituall good of their Neighbour but the zeale of the others consumes their Neighbours goods Shall I say prouided I breake not the bond of concord nor yet the chayne of Perfection I loue certes Plato and Socrates but I loue much more the truth so that it be charitable and respectfull because it is à testimony that the same proceedes from à Charitie which is true and full of respect I will say then that this person of whom I speake was aged without children in state of Widow hoode and which is the pointe well accommodated with the goods of fortune And who by à liberalitie truely magnificent distributed à greate parte therof to the needy so that one might say of this person as doth the Psalmist happie is the man who mercifully giues Almes for thereby prepares he the way to receaue in the day of judgement à fauâ—urable sentence because the mercifull shall obteine mercy And the eternall sentence Come ye blessed of my father shal be giuen in the examination of the works of Charitie Thus goes on the Psalmist sayeing he who distributeth and largely giueth
the very diuision of the Soule of the Spirit of the Marrowe and of the nerues But it is needefull that this direction should be allwayes amiable and that mercie should swime aloft aboue this act of Iustice It is needefull that this authoritie exercised ouer Soules voluntarily submitted and who offer voluntary sacrifices vnto God at the feete of his Ministers should bee seasoned with much respect and dilection and since it is the authoritie of God which is reuerenced in Directors they ought therfore to practise it with the spirit of God with is Charitie it self For in conclusion they haue not power to authorise themselues but to authorise God in soules and to cause him to reigne in them by dilection Wherfore the good are called the children of diuine dilection Neither doe I knowe whether this spirituall authoritie consigned to Director without the act of the keyes which bindeth or looseth be giuen them to performe the act of authoritie but I knowe well that it is giuen them to performe the act of Charitie The sonne of God whose preistood is eternall being à Preist for euer according to the order of Melchesedech and to whoÌ„ all power is giuen in heauen and in earth and all right of iudgement is well called à Lion for his authoritie but he is also tearmed à lambe for his Charitie yet à lambe dominator of the earth to shewe with how much Charitie and Humility he hath tempered his authoritie reigning by the woode of his crosse which was accursed and infamous before it became sanctified and glorious And beareing his key to witt his scepter on his shoulder And what is this scepter but the crosse on which being exalted he gaue testimony aâ— the same time of his extreme Charitie drawing all vnto himself his humilitie annihilating him therto as à tender worme the reproach of the world and the refuse of the people and his authoritie eclipseing the sunne made the earth to tremble the stones to splitt the graues to open the dead to rise againe and astonished all nature But who seeth not what à thunderclapp his authoritie hath made euen to draw veritie out of the mouth of his enimies who were constrained by so forceable and conuincing testimonies to acknowledge him for the sonne of God causeing the confession of him to issue out of the same place from whence came blasphemie that his Charitie and humilitie are yet become more famous because they are much more esteemed in the holy scripture which onely speaks of this excesse of Charitie which caused him to giue his life for the propitiation of our sinnes and of his annihilation and humiliation which made him obedieÌ„t eueÌ„ to death and death of the crosse This â—ayd he himself like à good Pastor and Prince of Pastors and Bishop of our soules and Director of Directors that he came to serue and not to be serued hauing for that cause taken vpon him the likenes of à slaue in becoming man and speakeing to his disciples I am sayd he in the midst of you as à wayter at table not as sitting with you In this spiritt not of authoritie but of Humilitie the greate Apostle would be vnderstoode by the faythfull in so many places where he cales himself not onely à seruant of Iesus-Christ but for Iesus-Christ à seruant of all those who beleeue in him and who desire his comming Then sayth he lett euery man regards vs as seruants and ministers of God and dispensers of his misteries Besides he addeth that the cheefe pointe is to finde amongst so many dispensors one faythfull What meanes this to finde out one faythfull but such à one as putts not his hand to the portion of his Maister and who like Ioseph toucheth not his spouse with is Glorie Glorie which God reserues to him self with such à Ielosie that he protestes neuer to giue nor communicate it to any Now is not this to touch the apple of his eyes and there where he is most sensible and to say with the first rebellious angell I will place my seate vpon the North and I wil be like vnto the highest which then is done when the Director assumes appropriats to himself the reuerence giuen him for the authoritie of God of whom he is the Image in his function of remitting sinnes and of the guidance of soules And deserues he not the same intertainement which the asse in the embleme receiued who gloried in the adorations which the idolaters made to the goddesse Ises whose image he carried as if those honours had bene addressed to him It is not vnto you ô Directors to whom so much respect is borne it is to him who beares the keyes of death of hell and of life and who hath made you the porters in giueing you the vse of them and whathaue you which you haue not receiued of this soueraigne Lord to whom onely thanks are due and in whose name you preach remissioÌ„ of sinns he remitting them by your ministry when that you vntâ—e those who are loaden with heauy chaines of inquition Were it not an impertinent thing for à treasurer of à Prince if he would that he vnto whom he deliuers à somme of money by order from his Maister should remaine his debtor Is it fitt for the instrument to attribuâ—e to it selfe the honour of the workman and for the pensile to appropriate to it self the glory of the Painter An Angell in his splendor appearinge on à time to S. 〈…〉 hn who takeing him for God would haue adored him sayd doe not this Iam but thy sellow seruant O vaine man who art no Angell but à counfeller of the earth and made of earth and shalt retourne to earth what à shamefull lesson doth this celestiall spirit giue to thy vanitiâ— Wherof canst thou boast dust and ashes And who art as the dust the shittle-cock of the winde which â—osseth thee hither and thither whirleing about thee Retourne retourne into thy self and remeÌ„ber to say reflecting on the Soules which put them selues vnder thy conduct they are reasonable spirits Christian spirits reasonable spirits which are not to be led with à bridle and sharp Caueson like vnto horses nor bruised with à barr of Iron as earthen potts With the same measure that I shall measure vnto them I shall one day be measured my self This will asswage thy haughtie humour which carries thee to great thinges and will make thee tend the eare of thy heart to those words of the Prince of the Apostles Aboue all things haue à continuall Charitie one towards another because this vertue couers the multitude of sinns Assiste one another without murmure Let every one according to the grace which he hath receaued from God communicate the same as à good dispensor vnto others If any one speake let it be as the wordes of God If one exercise any ministry let iâ— be by the vertue which God hath giuen him to the end that in all things God may be glorified by IESVS-CHRIST vnto whom
expresse permission of this I knowe nothing but that she suffers it I see and it is that which stayes me and that which makes me as in matter of fayth to render my vnderstanding captiue and reduce my reason into seruitude Possibly one will say that in founded communities there are store of Lay-brothers oblates Conuerts Seruants call them as you please who liue of the seruice which they reÌ„der vnto those of the Quire And for à particular example they holde by auntient traditioÌ„ in the Abbay where S. Bernard was Superiour that in the time of this eminent person one of the greatest lights which hath appeared in the Church since the Apostles there were 700. Cenobites 300. of the Quire and 400. Lay-brothers which is gathered euen by the number of chaires or fomes which are in the Quire 300. for those that attend to the psalmodie and the diuine offices and 400. which are in the body of the Church where the Conuerts were seated But there is à great chaos and an extreame difference in this poynt betweene the founded Cenobites the Mendicants For the founded liue of their owne be it by the good husbandry of their ancestors be it of that they haue brought vnto the stocke of the Communitie be it of their proper labour be it of certaine donations or pious legacies giuen by great Lords or rich persons They make the best of their lands they cultiuate their possessions gather their rents and in summe without being chargable either to publique or particulars they liue as priuate families in the world of their reuennues In case of warr famine or plague of tempests firings robbings and many other losses and misfortunes wherof this life is full they fast suffer and susteine these disasters without other assistance then from their frinds parents without burthening the publique Euen vnto Clareuallis it self from whence we haue taken the example one may saye that their reuennues proceede rather of the labour and good husbandry of Cenobites as well CoÌ„uetrs as those of the Quire then of the liberalities of great men who truly haue giuen therevnto some thing but farr from the maine For then the brother seruants labouring coÌ„tinually without any proprietie or particular interest fasting and perpetually mortifying themselues and ayming at nothing but the seruice of God and the communitie this vnion was able to heape together enough to purchase à Prouince if they had not laboured according to the counsell of S. Paul to succour the needy to whom they had more care to giue almes then to inlarge their possessions Even they who are honoured with the dignitie of Preist-hood were not exempt from the labour of hands as is easily gathered out of many Homilies of S. Bernard which he cutts of in the middest of à discours in regard of the bell which called the community of Chorists to worke And in the very rule of S. Bennet it is sayed that the Scapular both common to Preists and Conuerts is à kinde of garment proper for the labour of hands Vnto all this I add that if à Conuent be founded with sufficient reuennues to mainteine its conuentualls they haue no more obligation to corporall labour then rich seculars the Conuerts satisfying their duty in seruing the Preists and Chorists of their howse performing their office since that their Instituts and founders onely oblige them to retirement closure solâ—tude silence prayer and contemplation not vnto the seruice of soules or clericall functions It is not so with the mendicant Cenobites who besides that they professe à more strict pouertie since it reacheth euen to the communitie which cannot possesse any immoueable are yet obliged by their Institutes to the seruice of the publique in the administration of the word of God and of Sacraments for the aide of Pastours and in consideration thereof they haue permission to demaund their necessities so that the people be not surcharged which may happen by the superfluous number of the brother-Conuerts and of those who onely serue in the Quire for which cause principally they were not established in the Church Besides in case of the three scourges of plague warr and famine when they finde not their necessaries in particular howses they repaire vnto the body of cities which haue receaued them to be mainteyned at the expence of the publique where they finde liberal assistance Obserue now by this difference whether they who serue but in the Quire amongst the Mendicants as also the Lay-brother or Conuerts who are onely imployed to begge for the Preachers and Confessors of their Orders satisfie by this seruice the foundation of their institute and the intention of the Church which approued them or whether they haue any obligation to worke I saye to gayne at least part of their liuing by the labour of their hands at times when they are not imployed in these seruices For put the case that à brother-seruant should not goe à begging but one day in the weeke and should rest the other sixe would he satisfye his rule or the commaundemnt of God which ordeyneth that one labour sixe dayes appoynting onely the seauenth for repose And if the Chorist after seauen howres alowed ordinarily for sleepe bestoweth three or foure in singing in the quire what shall become of the thirteene which remayne of the foure and twentie For foure houres of the alternatiue singing doe they require twentie to take breath Touching Preachers and Directors of soules it is not the same in so much as according to the quicknes or dulnes of spirits there be some to whom the function of preacing costeth litle time and study and others who labour strangely â—o performe it well and with fruite that holy imployement They haue alwayes theyr mindes bent vnto their sermons and there be such who spend all the yeare to pollish and prepare the sermons of one Aduent or one lent Concerning the Directors they are to tyed by the eares and occupied in such sort and if one may say so prostituted to all those that demaunde them and haue recourse vnto them diuiding to euery houre and pourpose the the waters of their science through places distributing the fountaynes of their doctrine according to the spirituall needs of soules which consult with them as they can onely dispose of some moments here and there spiritually if they be attentiue to visite prisoners the sicke miserable persons afflicted and who haue neede of consolation whereof there is alwayes abundance in the great cities Let vs saye then for the satisfaction of Chorists and brother-Conuers that if their conscience reprehends them not and that they finde themselues reasonably charged with profitable labour and which may redound to the aduantage whether spirituall or temporall of those from whom they demaund their maintenance they ought to remayne in peace and onely set before their eyes the cenobiticall state being à very liuely image of the terrestriall or celestiall Paradice according to the ample comparisons which S. Anthony in his