for practice keep exactly some certain times of silence every day which our calling considered we have enjoyned our selves unto Secondly to decline imperceptibly divers unnecessary and impertinent occasions extroversions affairs companies curiosities c. Thirdly to speak modestly and moderately in time of speaking Fourthly to yield easily to others and not contest in words For all consists in denying and humbling our selves Now in Contemplation there are three sorts of Silence 1. When all fancies imaginations In Contemplation there is a threefold Silence and species cease in the soul So that she is silent as to any created object desiring no worldly thing but driving from her all that is not directly God to whom only she is silently joyfully and quietly attentive 2. When in this great calm she fits with Mary at her Lord's feet in a certain spirituall idleness as it were saying I will hear what my Lord speaks within me to whom he answers Hearken my daughter and behold and forget thy people and thy fathers house 3. When she transforms her self all into God her Will tasting his sweetnesse and she slumbring in his bosome in absolute silence desiring nothing more because fully satisfied So that here is a threefold silence 1. When no creature talks to us as having no objects of them in our Understandings and Memories 2. When we talk not to our selves as totally forgetting our selves and converting our inward man to God alone with a receptive subjection climbing above our selves by the act of Faith whereby our Understanding is united immediately to God 3. When God talks not to us but leaves us in the enjoyment of this divine sweetness and elevation of our selves above our selves O heavenly silence This hath been by some â—xperienced but can be by none sufficiently explicated The 26. Maxim That the perfâ—ct love of God and hatred of our selves must be our constant and continuall employment WE cannot love God except we hate our selves and if How to know whether we love God and hate our selves we would truly know how far we are advanced in this love and hatred First wee must weigh how willingly we can and doe submit our judgement in things contrary to our naturall inclination Secondly how quietly we can and doe suffer such things as are opposite to our sensuality as hard usage pains confusions c. We must not conceive we have any degree of pure and perfect love untill our affections are so totally transformed into God that he freely and fully possessâ—s our spirit guides it enlightens it inflames it elevates it how and when he pleaseth His love being our only light and life and we desiring only two things in the world First to love see tast and enjoy God only Secondly to be humbled despised reviled rejected reputed reprobates for his love O sweet life O loving Lord Jesu What heaven what happiness is this We may stir up our souls to an ardent love of God by these and the like motives First What is the object of our Moâ—ives to love God love and who is the authour of all our good Is it not God only What have we nay what hath he that he hath not given us meerly of love and for love thereby to woo to win to wed our loves our souls our spirits to himself 2. Who created redeemed converted called and conserveth us untill this present What hath he not done and endured to purchase our love 3. What is the greatest love in the world of mother wife friend life soul c. Is not God more than all this to us yea all in all What did we ever best love Did we love God as much O let us blush sigh and be ashamed at our gross ingratitude Live henceforth O Jesu my only Lord and love 4. Whose image doe we beaâ— whose bitter death was our ransome whose body and blood is our daily bread and drink who suffred so much for us and from us expected us so patiently invited us so sweetly received us so mercifully O Lord what shall we doe or say We are bound in thy chains of charity We love thee We are all thine c. 5. Upon whom doe wee depend each moment for our whole being both of nature and grace Our bodies depend not so much on our souls nor our life on air as all things body life soul depend upon thee O powerfull Lord God! O that I had whole worlds to offer thee infinit bodies to suffer for thee and innumerable souls to love thee 6. Have we not an inclination to love For what were we created Can we better employ our love than upon God Doth any Creature better deserve it or more desire it than our amiable Creator 7. Can any thing else fully quiet us in this life or totally content us in the next O no Sweet Saviour thou art my only safety security sanctity Oh what did I ever love in the world which did not in the end bring me remorse and repentance Is not all mix'd with many occasions of sin and misery all vain inconstant fading foolish deceitfull Our souls ô Lord are created S. Augustin to and for thee and untill they turn and return unto thee they will never find perfect peace quiet nor content What quiet had the Prodigal child till he return'd to his loving Father Jerusalem Jerusalem return to thy Lord God Why wilt thou seek after puddle water when as thou mai'st freely quench thy thirst at the fountain head I thirst ô my Lord give me this water 8. To whom must we have recourse amidst all the distresses of this miserable life Who will or can comfort us in the pains and pangs of death Who must be our Judge after death Who must be our eternall bliss and beatitude Thou only O our Lord and love art only all this and all things else to our souls And shall we please a creature to displease thee our Creator No Lord we will dy to all creatures that we may live to thee eternally 9. O my soul Upon what canst thou employ thy whole stock of love more reasonably than upon him who for thy love freely forfeited his own life 10. To whom canst thou give up thy self more profitably than to him who promiseth eternal life for thy love and that he will be all thine if thou wilt be all his 11. To whom canst thou convert thy heart wed thy affections more necessarily than to him who threatens eternal death if thou love him not O King of glory why menacest thou us with hell if we love not Can there be a heaven without thy love or a hell with it Or is there any heavier hell or death than not to love thee Had we not better cease to live than leave to love Oh! what shall I answer if I love not 12. What can make a soul more truly honourable and happy than to love God as he commandeth What privilege to be admitted into privacy with God to enjoy his company
affection towards it So that these too cheif powers of man's soul miserably deceived and misled walk continually as in a circle from this darknesse into others and fall from one great errour into others more grievous 5. Take heed therefore of fastning thy affection upon any thing And the same caveat is necessary also in holy things whatsoever before it be wel weighed and examined by the Vnderstanding and recommended to God in prayer that so thou maist truly discerne whether it be good or evill And to this I exhort thee not only in all indifferent things but even in them also which are good and holy for though they are evidently good in themselves yet they may prove otherwise to thee by reason of some circumstance of time place measure or obedience Whence it often happens that many have endangered themselves in their most laudable and holiest exercises 6. Thou must also warily retain The Understanding is to be also weaned from Curiosity thy Vnderstanding from Curiosity lest it draw that into the soul which may retard it in the intended purchase of victory For a curious enquiry after earthly things which are impertinent to thy spiritual purpose though it may bee sometimes permitted yet t is generally the poyson of the spirit Restrain therefore thy Vnderstanding to thy utmost and strive to make it simple and foolish And made simple and foolish to worldly things As for the changes and chances in the world whether they be great or small if they concern thee not consider them not And when thou needs must heare or behold them let thy Will alwayes contradict them Yea even in the knowledge of heavenly things be sober and humble and content thy self in the onely desire to know thy crucified Saviour and his blessed life and death Abandon all other things for so thou shalt yield to thy Lord a most gratefull service who puts them into the list of his best freinds that desire no more knowledge than what is sufficient to inflame their hearts in the love of his goodnesse and hatred of their own wickednesse for in the search of all other knowledg nothing but self-love and a certain pernicious pride lyes secretly lurking 7. If thou thus weanest thy Vnderstanding How highly this conduceth to perfection from these curiosities thou shalt happily escape many ambushes of thy enemies For the wicked spirit marking the unchangeable will and resolution of those travellers tending to spirituall perfection not to yield their consent to sin layes his crafty plots first against their Vnderstanding that so he may by little and little get the mastery And how cunningly the devill plots against i◠over it and the Will together To this end hee suggests to the learned and sharpwitted sublime and subtile conceits that they may think themselves already united to the divinity so forget themselves and give over the correction of their own consciences the resignation of their wills and study of their own nothing And thus they are insnared By suggesting pride to our understanding with pride and make to themselves a certain Idoll of their own wisdome in their Vnderstandings and are so highly puffed up and perplexed in these vain thoughts that they now perswade themselves not to stand in any need of others counsell or direction 8. O the danger that these souls Which is far more dangerous and more difficulty cured than that of the Will are in and how hardly are they cured by reason that the pride of the Vnderstanding is far more perillous than that of the Will For hee that is proud onely in Will omits not all obedience but submits his judgement sometimes to others which he preferres before his own and beleeves it to be better But he that is puffed up with the pride of his Vnderstanding and assuredly believes his own opinion to be better than that of others ah what hope is there of his cure How shall he be brought to submit to anothers judgement when as he thinkes himself the wiser man For when the Vnderstanding which is the souls eye and should both see and correct its secret pride is it self blind and blowne up with presumption when light it self is become darknesse and the very Rule crooked thou easily conceivest what followes and what the end of those things is like to bee which depend upon such principles Wherefore take timely care to prevent this pride before it pierce thee to the marrow yeeld not up the reins to thy understanding but subject it to counsell and submit thine owne sense to others judgements become a foole in thy own conceit for the love of thy Lord and by this means thou shalt bee wiser than Salomon CHAP. V. Of the Will and the end to which we are to direct all our actions IF thou desirest ô dearly beloved 1. A will to do well sufficeth not to become one spirit with thy Lord God 't is not enough to have a pious and prompt will to doe good works but even that good thou doest must by his divine help and motion be totally referred to Gods honour and to please him onely In But our actions must be performed only to please God this thou must look to have a strong conflict with thine own nature which in all her actions and omissions seeks her own commodity and complacence especially in things spirituall Hence it is that when any good thing is proposed to be performed as from Gods will and pleasure shee readily undertakes to perform it but yet not as a thing pleasing to God or proposed by him but rather because she considers the commodities and content which man reaps by doing the will of God 2. Wherfore to the end thou Which that thou maist attain to maist wrest thy selfe out of this dangerous snare of the Devil and pernicious stumbling block cast in the way of perfection and by degrees get a custome to doe or not to doe because God will have it so and with an intention to please him only who should be the entrance and end of all our actions listen diligently to these following advices 3. When a thing is presented unto Apply thy understanding to Gods will thee to bee performed which is agreeable to the divine Will first lift up thy Vnderstanding unto God before thou appliest thy Will to execute it thus thou shalt clearly discern that it is his divine pleasure thou shouldest perform it and that thou shouldst doe it solely for his Honour and good liking And that thy will is drawn and moved by the divine will to effect this work for this onely end and intention because God will have it so for the honour and glory of his own most sacred Majesty 4. So likewise when thou wouldst omit or refuse the things not willed And take heed of being deceived by God resolve not rashly upon this omission untill thou hast directed the eye of thy Vnderstanding to the divine will as is even
by the means of the most glorious and ever-blessed Virgin and Mother of our Lord Jesus Christ Wâ—ich thou mayst thus easily practise First fix thy mind and meditation upon God the Eternall Father then upon Jesus Christ his deare Son and our sweet Saviour and lastly upon Mary the First fix thy minde and meditation upth ' eternall Father ever-blessed Virgin-Mother 2. In thy meditation of the Eternall Father take these two points for thy subject and offer them up to his Divine Majesty First the great liking and content hee had in himselfe from all eternity concerning this perfect creature the Virgin before she had a being Secondly the wonders hee wrought in her and the content he took in her when she was borne into the World 3. And as for the first of these considerations Soare aloft and Considering the content he had in himselfe concerning her from all eternity exalt thy thoughts beyond all time and above each thing created penetrating the very eternity of the Deity and then consider what celebrity of joy and delight the Divine Majesty had within himselfe concerning this sacred Virgin and her high perfections And there finding thy Lord amidst these joyes and delights lay hold of the opportunity and addresse thy Petition unto him with full hope and confidence that for this his great joys sake hee will impart bountifully some Grace Strength and Courage unto thee whereby thou mayst be enabled to encounter and conquer thine enemies especially this vice which now chiefly tempts and troubles thee 4. Hence proceede to the consideration of those admirable vertues great gifts and singular graces conferr'd upon this most glorious Virgin And the wonders he wrought in her when shee had a being and sometimes present the whole bulke of them to the view of the eternall Father other-times choose out some particular perfection to lay open before him imploring and intreating for his owne boundlesse goodnesse sake and in respect of these vertues and merits of this his dearly beloved Spouse that hee will graciously heare and mercifully grant what thou so greatly needest 5. Then turne thy thoughts towards the Sonne of God our Lord Secondly upon God the Son Jesus and represent before him the sacred wombe of his Virgin-Mother which enclosed and carried him for nine moneths space as also the singular reverence wherewith shee received him from her wombe into her bosome when he first appeared in the World assisting him and acknowledging him true man and adoring him as eternall God as her own poore child and as her powerfull Creatour Put him further in minde of her eyes of compassion towards his poverty of her sacred Armes which so often embraced him her Kisses wherewith shee cherish'd him her Milk wherewith shee nourish'd him her labours suffered for him all his life time and her dolours at his Death by which and the like relations from the deare Mother thou shalt use as it were a certaine violence to her beloved Son to grant thy Petition 6. Lastly come to the sacred Virgin Lastly come to the sacred Virgin her selfe lay open before her her owne privileges prerogatives and perfections how shee onely amongst all Virgins and Women was especially elected by the eternall Power Prudence and Goodnesse of God to be a Mother of Gâ—ace and of pitty to be an assistant and advocate of all mankinde and that next to her dearly beloved Sons humanity wee can apply our selves to none but her for better supplies of our necessities or truer solace in our sorrowes or greater hopes of happinesse Tell her also of that true and tryed saying that no one did ever faithfully call upon her who received not a mercifull answer and present assistance by her holy Prayer and Patronage Lastly put before her eyes all her Sons sorrowes and sufferings upon Earth and beg of her for his sweet sake for his onely honour and for his glory that thou mayst impetrate by her pious intercession the effect of this thy Petition which that thou mightst obtaine he patiently underwent his so bitter Death and Passion CHAP. XXVI How to pray and meditate by means of the holy Angels and Heavenly Citizens 1. ANother powerfull meanes to obtaine thy Petition is by the Angels and blessed Saints in Heaven which is also practised two manner of ways First apply thy thoughts First addresse thy selfe to the eternall Father to the Eternall Father and present before him the Love Honour and Praise wherewith his Heavenly Court worshâ—ps and exalts him and withall lay open all the miseries labours and molestations which his Saints suffered and by his grace surmounted here upon Earth 2. The other way is by applying thy selfe to these glorious spirits as Next unto the glorious Angels and Saints themselves to them who not onely remember us amidst their joys but earnestly desire our perfection beg therefore their faithfull assistance in thy fight against vices and sometimes implore their ayd and assistance at the houre of thy Death against thy dreadfull enemies 3. Other times reflect upon those excellent gifts and graces wherewith their Lord God indued them exciting in thy soule a lively feeling of love and joy that they possesse these high perfections as much yea more than if they were thine owne since such was the good will and pleasure of the Divine Majesty 4. And that thou mayst more Dividing them into Quires according to the days of the weeke easily and orderly performe and practise this pious exercise divide the Quires of this blessed company according to the week-days in some such manner as followeth Upon Sunday meditate upon the nine Quires of Angels Upon Monday of the holy Apostles Upon Tuesday of the glorious Martyrs Upon Wednesday of the blessed Bishops Upon Thursday of the holy Doctors Upon Friday of the holy Confessours Upon Saturday of the sacred Virgins 5. But let no day passe without But every day praying to the B. Virgin To thy particular Patron some speciall devotion to the most glorious Virgin Mary to thy Proper-Angel and to that particular Saint and Patron to whom thou owest singular duty and Veneration EXPLICATION AMongst which I perswade thee to place S. Joseph the deare Spouse of the sacred Virgin who as experience and contemplative persons testify will assist thee by And to S. Joseph his holy Prayers in all thy temporall and spirituall necessities and particularly advance and direct thy Soul in its spirituall Exercises of Prayer and Contemplation And surely if our loving Lord so highly esteemes his other Saints because they yielded him his due honour and obedience upon earth how much more doth hee value this most humble and happy Saint and how prevalent are his prayers like to be with that Divine Sonne who honoured served and obey'd him upon Earth as his Father CHAP. XXVII How to meditate upon the holy Crosse and Christ our Saviour hanging thereon to excite and move our affections 1. I Have before shewed thee O my
them all as a sink of sin and filthiness I will be desirous to be esteemed and used as dross among metalls chaff among grain a Wolf among Sheep and as Satan amongst the children of God I acknowledge my self unworthy of all grace and comfort from God or man and worthy of all pain punishment crosses contradiction confusion desolation death damnation I will be henceforth ashamed to complain of any aggrievances and be content to suffer whatsoever the world the devil and hell it self can inflict upon me 2. And to strengthen this my resolution I will rationally consider before thee ô my Lord what I really am what I was and what will become of me both touching my body my soul and my whole being Ay me I have a body all clay a soul all sin a life all frailty and a substance all nothing And this is all I have to vaunt of in thy presence ô my Lord and my maker My material part is but slime of the earth the very worst part of the unworthyest element Ah poor man and canst thou look so big who cam'st from so base an extraction be ashamed to lift up thy head vile mud and dirt since thy pedigree is so well known and the ingredients of thy being are so mean and contemptible And when I consider what this my body was in the womb how it was conceived in concupiscence nourished with filthiness and brought up in darkness I am ashamed to own my own beginning which is so horrid and lothesome and who then can justly boast of state strength beauty or nobility since the ground-work of all is but a little dung and corruption Ah poor worm what a dismal prison wert thou detained in for nine months space of thy time what nasty and poysonous food was thy diet how wretched was thy birth how weak and wofull thy infancy and what art thou in thy best and most flourishing condition in the world but a clog and cage to thy inthrall'd soul a painted sack or pargetted sepulcher full of filth froth and ordure O my Lord give me grace to frame an impartial judgement of what I am and then how soon shall I check all risings of pride and presumption 3. I came into this world ô my Lord with groanes and tears I live in it with griefs and cares I shall go out of it with pangs and fears and lastly I must become a horror to the eyes of my dearest friends a prey of veâ—min and a companion of rottenness Ah! how canst thou be proud of thy perfections poor clay and ashâ—s why shouldest thou look to be so highly priz'd so daintily pampered thou stinking puddle Dust thou art to dust thou must return Hast thou not alwayes before thy eyes these ashes for thy glass and death for thy mistress why then dost thou suffer so many sparkles of vanity to arise from this thy caitiff condition And thou my poor soul the spiritual part of my composition O what shall I say of thee to thy great Lord and maker What thou â—â—st hitherto been I wel know wretched wicked sinful What thou now art I know not being uncertain of Gods grace and love What thou shalt be hereafter I am altogether ignorant because doubtfull of thy correspondency with grace and fearful of thy perseverance in goodness Ah sad condition I came ô my Lord into this world in originall sin I am bred up in actual sin and if death and deadly sin meet together I shall feel the smart of them both eternally O how much need have I then of thy grace ô merciful Lord God to avoid sin since I cannot eschew death O let me rather admit a deadly wound than commit a deadly sin 4. What art thou then ô my whole man consisting of body and soul What wert thou ô N. from all eternity before thy conception in the womb and birth into the world Nothing Ah poor nothing what is less than nothing where dwels this nothing who can describe a nothing which more differs from the least atome in the Sun than Gods infinit greatness from the least of his creatures O proud nothing What hast thou that thou hast not received Nothing Why then art thou puffed up with it as if thou hadst not received it I acknowledge my whole being to be from thy only bounty O my great good and glorious maker and since I possess nothing but what I have from thee since I shall also necessarily fade away into my first nothing if thou withdraw from me thy conserving hand but a moment I will no longer glory in that which is none of mine but I will here lay the foundation of my spiritual edifice upon this sure and solid ground of thy All and my own Nothing I will endeavour to frame a true conceit of my own misery frailty insufficiency and nothing that so I may fully speedily and solidly come to this desired self-knowledge and humility I will run over my lesson repeat my questions learn my answers and strive to grow skilful in this necessary and sacred science What have I received that I have not abused Nothing Body soul will judgement memory understanding affection senses meat drink company habit books prayer Sacraments all creatures Can I then be proud of Sin Filthiness rottenness labour grief infirmity blindness obstinacy corruption death and damnation which are worse than nothing Shall I boast of thy gifts O my God which are not mine or of my own abuses and ingratitudes The one is to rob thee of thy honor the other is to be honoured for thy dishonour 5. What creature ever sinned so grievously as I have done and yet sorrowed so little and suffered less Who ever forsook so great and good a God for so little and vain a toy as I have done What sinful soul is there now in hell that would not have been a glorious Saint in heaven if it had the helps favours feelings and visits which I have both had and abused Who ever received so many mercies so sweet comforts and so great graces from thee O bountifull Lord God and made so little and bad use of them as I have done If I deny all this my conscience witnesseth against me If I confess it oh why am I not more humble Finally If such great troubles temptations and tribulations had hapened to me as have done to others I should by consenting have ere now burned in hell fire but thou O meek and merciful Creator hast spared me because thou knowest my weakness and sent me small crosses because I cannot bear greater c. Wherefore Not unto me O Lord but to thee be all honour for time and eternity O that I could know thee and know my self O that I could truly see my own nothing and totall dependancy on thee my misery and malice and thy perfection and total goodness Ay me weak and wretched N What are my forces that I should rely on them I have nothing O my Lord but what is
thine my merits are thy mercies my goods thy graces yet I neither have been thankfull for receiving them nor faithfull in using them O! when did I trust in my own strength and was not foiled and confounded Grant therefore O my Lord ô my only hope and help O my sole safety and security that I may totally trust to thee and distrust my self truly acknowledge thee and deny my self entirely love thee and hate my self 6. I confess ô my Lord that I am the poorest ungratefullest unprofitablest and unworthyest worm of the earth a thing altogether useless to the world and only active to offend thee and to do wickedly in thy sight and is it possible that I can harbor any thought of self-love or self-I king O God of infinite glory greatness and majesty before whom the powers of heaven do tremble what are all creatures in thy sight and what am I the meanest of them all O what proportion is there great God between me and thee between thy All and my Nothing And yet have I infring'd thy laws disobey'd thy commands contemned thy Counsels resisted thy callings and contradicted thy will to prefer my own O monstrous impiety and ingratitude And shall I not willingly submit to all pain punishment contradiction and contempt which thou ô my highly offended creatour shalt suffer thy creatures to inflict upon me Behold O my Lord I debase humble and annihilate my self under all things that have a being I will henceforth utterly hate distrust and detest my self and wholly love thee and relie upon thy mercy O holy self-knowledge O sacred humility thou art the key of all perfection the door of all solid vertue piety and devotion 7. I now cleerly see by the light of thy divine goodness O gracious Lord God what hath hitherto been the cause of my â—on-proficiency in the way of the Spirit and why the path of vertue seemed and so unpleasant thornie tedious and troublesome to my deceived soul It was because I had not learned to leave loath deny and distrust myself and to rely wholly on thee O my only comfort and support I will therefore henceforth faithfully practise what I perceive so necessary I will profoundly humble my soul both inwardly in thy presence O my Lord and outwardly to the whole world I will joyfully and voluntarily embrace all injury indignity contempt correction and confusion which can befall me with as much pleasure as I have formerly any cherishings and kindness I will utterly destroy ruine and root out all self-love self-liking self-seeking self-praise and self-complacencie I will cast my self under the feet of the vilest creatures take pleasure in the meanest employments and obey them most willingly whom my nature most distasts and dislikes I will walk before thee O my Creator as thy needy naked desolate and destitute vassal acknowledging my self void of all vertue and attributing to my self nothing but sin ingratitude defects failings imperfections I will fully perswade my self that no one can contemn confound persecute and punish me as I deserve I will not regard whether I am honored or hated but imagine my self as a thing dead forgotten or as that which never had a being and is now truly nothing I will be contented to be accounted an hypocrite in my sincerest actions and to be thought full of inward impatience secret grudgings and desires of revenge against them who shall any way mortify or misuse me though my heart be never so free from it Finally I will have these and the like thoughts and words alwayes in my heart and mouth I am nothing I have nothing I do no good I am an unprofitable servant I utterly hate and distrust my self and totally rely upon thee O my Lord my love and my All. FOR WEDNESDAY To obtain Remission of our Sins The Third Exercise 1. WHo will give water to my head and fountains of tears to my eyes And I will weep day and night for my sins which cover me all over like an incurable ulcer from the soal of the foot to the crown of the head Where art thou O my wretched and wicked soul In what labyrinths dost thou walk In what sinks of sin and puddles of uncleaness dost thou wallow Awake arise lament repent how long wilt thou sleep why wilt thou dy when wilt thou shake off thy fetters Ah return silly sheep to thy good Pastour return poor prodigal to thy pious Father whose goodness so lovingly invites thee whose mercy hath so long expected thee O great and glorious God the mighty Monarch of heaven and earth King of Kings and Lord of Lords behold a poor and penitent Publican who is ashamed to lift up his eyes to heaven and unworthy to take thy sacred name into his sinfull mouth humbly knocking at thy gate of mercy clipping thy holy feet and craving thy accustomed pity and compassion O merciful Lord hide not thy self from me shut not the door against me Oh! one crum of comfort one dram of devotion to my sad and sick soul to my dry and desolate spirit 2. I am conscious of my ingratitude against thee O supream majesty and my sin is always before me and confounding me But whither should I retire my self from thee To whom should I have recourse but unto thee Art not thou my Father my Father of mercies which have neither limits nor measure Art not thou my Maker my preserver my governor my deliverer my King my Pastor my Physician my Priest and my Sacrifice If thou art not all this and more to me and if I am nothing to thee refuse me reject me and relinquish me a prey to be swallowed up by thy enemies But it is time O my Lord that heaven and earth take notice of what thou art to me and what I am to thee It is time thou enter into thy right And I must now either give my self to thee or thou must take me unto thee Not that I aspire to those excellent prerogatives of thy dearest servants No my Lord it sufficeth me to be in the out-rank of thy meanest slaves to be only stamp'd with thy mark and link'd fast in thy chains that I may never more have the power to fly from thee O grant me this favour most merciful Father which thy dear Son hath purchased for me by the price of his death and passion I am fall'n without thee by my own frailty but can never hope to rise but by thy mercy O my Lord and only support I am sick without thee but cannot be cured without thee my heavenly Physician I am dead without thee but can never be revived but by thee ô life of my soul So true it is that to make me come to thee thou ô most gracious Lord God must first come to me O the admirable goodness of my loving Lord Even this little I am doing is rather thine own work than mine Thou O my Lord puttest repentance into my soul desires into my heart sighs into my brest
confession into my mouth prayers into my lips remorse into my memory resolutions of amendment into my will T is Thou O gracious God who chiefly actest all this good in me by me and for me O my All do then all in me that thou desirest And particularly overwhelm I beseech thee my whole interiour with perfect contrition not coming from a slavish and servile fear but from a faithful and filial love Grant me a true and intire grief for having offended thee not because of thy promises or threats but because thou art in thy self good amiable adorable 3. Or if mercenary interest do yet more move thee O my sensual and sinful soul For how hainously dost thou take a small injury how deeply dost thou resent a little disgrace the loss of a dear friend of health of honour or the like temporall and perishable commodities O whence is it then that thou so little apprehendest thy loss of grace and thy eminent and imminent danger of eternall damnation Is it a small matter to be Gods enemy To lose the good will of all heaven To destroy Gods image To cut up life root and branch To side with the accursed devils thy Creators sworn enemies to hatch Treason enter Conspiracie with the damned Yea and to kill as much as in thee lyes him who by his own death gave thee life O brutall and unnatural ingratitude Surely the annihilating of heaven The reason is Because the least degree of a higher order surpasses the highest degree of the lower order earth Angels men and all Nature cannot be compar'd with this malicious evil and willfull destruction of thy grace O Lord in my soul O eternal God! what a monster have I then been in grace what a prodigie in nature who have so little car'd to commit such enormous sins But O my Lord I will even now change my life I here detest all sin I make firm purpose of amendment I have a ful confidence in thee my Creator a good wil to do satisfaction and a totall resignation to thy divine pleasure 4. I am the woful criminal O just judge of my soul and I will be also the accuser and witnes the advocate and executioner in this tribunal I summon you therefore O detestable pride O abominable envy O execrable avarice O beastly lubricity and all you accursed crew of sins how long will you reign on earth how long will you dispeople Gods inheritance who brought you in amongst Gods children T is the perverted Will of man O dread Soveraign which hath done all these mischiefs Rectify ô my Lord I beseech thee this my crooked Will and murder these horrible monsters in me and grant that I may henceforth rather expose my body to a thousand deaths than my soul to one deadly sin Thy Saints will rejoyce ô God at my amendment and thy Angels will make a Feast but thy own resentment of joy will be infinite because thy love is infinite which goes hand in hand with thy essence and comprehends all love in supream eminency I will therefore expect from thee O heavenly Father the exact remembrance from thee my Redeemer the perfect knowledge from thee ô holy Spirit a true repentance and from thee ô Sacred Trinity an intire absolution and plenary indulgence from all my iniquities The grief I feel for my past offences the hatred I have against each sin at this present and the resolution I make to avoid all iniquity for the future are not equivalent in me to their enormity and hainousness I therefore humbly crave ô holy Lord God! that thou wilt accept thine own hatred against sin for that which I should and would have and in stead of the sorrow I want I offer that of thy Son my sweet Redeemer with the Sacrifice of his immaculate life and innocent death And since I cannot be impeccable by nature O my Lord nor dare presume to ask to be so by grace give me leave to prostrate my self before thy infinite bounty and clemency and beg by the merits of Jesus Christ thy dear Son and by the desires of thy essential love the blessed holy Ghost that though I may not be impeccable yet I may never sin more and if I must somtimes sin through my frailty yet that I may never sin mortally This thou desirest O Lord this thou demandest this thou commandest O give me what thou commandest and command me what thou pleasest 5. O my good Lord Jesu who art Lord of my life and shouldst be the love of my soul had I not like an ungracious and ungratefull wretch given my heart and sold my affection to fond frail filthy and fading creatures and comforts which are so far from bringing me eyther quiet of mind peace of conscience purity of soul or perfection of spirit that they leave me nothing but trouble confusion and remorse with a world of disquiet and desperate thoughts violent passions and vitious inclinations I find no other refuge or remedy but to return to thee my Centre to convert my self to thee O my good Lord and Master to cast my self in all humility at thy sacred feet and heartily to beg thy mercy pardon and reconciliation O mercifull Father I truly acknowledge my prodigality and humbly confess my treachery and am sorry from my heart that ever I offended thee who deservest so much love and service from me Beseeching thee as a guilty prisoner to be pitifull to thy poor creature and mercifully to forgive me the manifold rebellions and grievous iniquities that I have committed against thy Divine Majesty and goodness and for the love of thee I freely forgive all them who have any way offended or contristated me sincerely acknowledging that I deserve no comfort from any creature but all contempt and confusion and not only to be troubled by all on earth temporally but even to be tormented by the Devils in hell eternally 6. O how ungratefull a child have I been to offend so often and so grievously so loving and liberal a Father so meek and mercifull a Redeemer and so â—weet and soveraign a Majesty who hath always shew'd himself so benigne and bountifull to me tolerating me in my sins and expecting me to his mercy wooing me to his love and calling me to his service by a thousand means all which I have either rejected or neglected and still nevertheless given me time and opportunity to do penance O my poor soul how blind and bewitched hast thou been to leave the bread of Angels and to feed on the husks of swine for vanities villanies shadows and nothings to abandon God and all goodness on whom depends all thy hope and happiness quiet and comfort for time and eternity O blindness O folly O frenzie Would God I had never sinned Oh that I might never sin more O my God what have I done Would I had suffered on the Cross pains of body and pangs of soul when I thus N. sinned Oh what can I say or do more
I abhor and detest whatsoever I have done said thought or desired contrary to thy holy will O my Lord and my love I renounce all company and occasions which may induce me to offend thee 7. I cast my self at thy sacred feet to be thy slave for ever with a firm resolution to bear thy Cross till death and to do penance and satisfaction for my past pride and pleasure desiring nothing but to live at thy feet like the penitent Magdalen in solitude silence submission O good Jesu Out of thy infinit mercy merits and meekness suffer not me thy poor creature to be damned and separated from thee eternally O amiable eternity O eternall amitie of God! Shall I leave and lose thee for filthy pleasures frail creatures fond friendships fading honours No dear Lord No Lâ—â— it please thee rather to take my soul out of my body than thy love out of my soul let me rather dy miserably then sin mortally Let me pass on the rest of my pilgrimage in thy grace and fear that I may end my dayes in thy friendship and favour which I beseech thee to grant me O most powerfull and mercifull Savior by the love of thy sweet heart by the merits of thy bitter death and passion by the intercession of thy Blessed Mother and by the suffrages of all holy happy and devout souls Upon all which relying as upon so many sure anchors of my hope I commit and resigne my self to thy disposition and providence for time and eternity O my Lord my love and my All fully trusting that thou wilt mercifully pardon my sins carefully assist me in my wants and weaknesses and in the end happily bring me to eternall bliss by such means as thy divine wisdom knows most convenient for me FOR THVRSDAY Of Subduing Sensuality to Reason The Fourth Exercise 1. MY Spirit is willing O most glorious and gracious Lord God to serve thee love thee honour thee and follow thee but my flesh is weak frail and refractory I do not what I desire O my God and what thou demandest but I act that which I hate and what thou forbiddest I feel O my Lord a law of sensuality contradicting the law of my mind captivating my reason clouding my judgement and continually striving to cast me down headlong into sin and perdition Unhappy man that I am Who will free me from this body of death Ah my brutish body ah my burdensom flesh Thou art my dangerous and deadly enemy 'T is thy weight that depresseth my soul thy earth that clogâ— and corrupts my ayr thy contagion and perversity which infects and debaseth my better part and heavenly portion thy sensuality which draws on endangers and almost destroys my reason 2. Ah Sensuality the source of all my misery how justly do I now hate thee and how willingly would I leave thee At my first acquaintance with thee thou defiledst me with original sin In my infancy thou mad'st a beast of me And now in my riper years thou still pursuest me proclaimest open war with me blindest my Understanding with darknes ignorance and errours mak'st my Will refractory to good and ready to all evil distractest my Memory with vain and vile fancies and perpetually tossest me to and fro between love and hatred joy and grief hope and fear and the rest of thy numerous and enormous irascible and concupiscible powers and passions Ay me how sad is my state how deplorable my condition Oh! how long Lord must I dwel with these devils how long must I endure the violence of these passions O my Lord my strength and my salvation break these fetters for me Command a calm O thou only Ruler of Sea and winds and appease the surges of these my unmortified appetites Oh! restore me to my self again reduce reason to her lost dominion in my soul and bring back me thy poor creature to thee my powerfull Creator O let not this passenger perish amidst these boysterous billows nor suffer utter shipwarck in these fearfull tempests I suffer violence O my Lord answer for me the companion which thou hast given me hath deceived me Sense hath corrupted and conquered my Judgment Oh! how I am dragg'd up and down by my al-mastering appetites commanded by my servants and fettered by my slaves O tyranny O indignity Ah my soul O noble spirit fair as the angels formed to thy Creators lovely resemblance stampt with his divine character and heir apparent to his glorious kingdom To be thus subject to the base and brutall desires of flesh and blood O intollerable bondage O unworthy servitude 3. O Father of mercies and only Physician of my soul Thou art almighty and al-mercy and I am all weakness and all misery There is no part left sincere in my whole body and soul from the contagious poyson of passion from the infectious leprosy of sin and sensuality All is out of order O my Lord I acknowledge it to my own shame and confusion each sense is gone astray each member of my body is corrupted each power of my soul is perverted My Understanding is obscured with self-love my Memory distâ—acted with sensual â—bâ—ects my Will posses'd with peevish inclinâ—tions My affections are vain my passions violent my dispositions vitious My body is burdensome my imagination troublesome my life irksome These are my wounds O my heavenly Surgeon O put to thy helping hand I beseech thee see fear and search them before the gangren enter and the grief grow incurable My soul is sick even to death if thou wilt O my Lord thou canst both cleanse and cure me To this end thou descendedst from Jerusalem to Jerico O pious Samaritan from heaven to earth O compassionate Saviour where thou findest me in this pitifull plight sore beaten wounded half dead and utterly despoiled of all natural and spiritual riches by theeves and robbers which are the senses of my body and the faculties of my soul O pass not by me sweet Jesu but mercifully bind up my bleeding wounds with the swathing bands of thy death and passion powre upon them the wine of thy pretious blood and supple them with the oyl of thy heavenly grace 4. I intend ô my Lord strengthen me in this hour I intend O sweet Saviour a total reformation of life and manners an intire mortification of my corporeal senses and spiritual faculties an absolute change in my whole man O grant me I beseech thee my loving Lord the powerful assistance of thy special grace for the performance of this great and good purpose Teach me now ô my blessed Master to live inwardly piously spiritually as I lov'd formerly to live outwardly vainly sensually O let me henceforth yield to thy divine motion obey thy call imitate thy example and follow thy will O let me never more act or omit any thing be it never so little for my own liking but purely and perfectly for thy love 5. Grant ô good Jesu that at each word of my mouth at each glance
perfectly perceive the abyss of my own nothing and naughtiness and rightly conceive the immensity of thy greatness and goodness whereby I may depress my self unfeignedly and exalt thee only in my soul Let me be content to be contemned by all creatures desire to be despised be willing to be troden on as dirt and dust and the very outcast of the whole world O let me really hate all honour and humbly pronounce with mouth and mind I am nothing have nothing deserve nothing desire nothing but only to please thee perfectly my Jesu praise thee perpetually love thee purely and live with thee eternally 3. Grant me also good Iesu by the merits of these thy wounds the vertue of perfect obedience O let me never tire in trampling down self-will in forsaking my own sense in subduing self-judgement in submitting my spirit inwardly to thy inspirations and outwardly not only to my Superiours injunctions but even to the commands of all thy creatures O let me have no propriety affection or affectation in my own proceedings but wholly mind thy holy pleasure in all things Let me lay down all my desires at thy sacred Feet O my Iesu saying Lord what wilt thou have me do so transforming my will into thine by an absolute forsaking denying and annihilating my whole self Let me receive O my Saviour as from thy secret providence and permission not only patiently but thankfully all pain all poverty all shame all sickness and all sufferings whatsoever acknowledging that I truly deserve worse and desiring willingly to endure more that so I may have a more perfect resemblance of thee my crucified Lord. Let me learn O my Lord by thy blessed example the holy lesson of discreet silence not only from ill and idle talk but even from all needless and unprofitable discourses Let me rather edifie by the purity of my life and conversation than by multiplicity of words and conceptions O give me sweet Iesu a free and frequent access to thy sacred Feet during the whole course of my life and a sure comfort in them at the hour of my death 4. From thy blessed Feet O my dear Lord I raise my humble devotion to thy al-holy Hands and beg leave to cast into the sweet fountain issuing from thy powerful right Paulm my manifold sins of malice and injustice with all my faults of hypocrisie and ingratitude falshood and infidelity rancor and revenge Renew O Lord God a right spirit within my bowels Let exact justice be the square of all my actions truth the touchstone of my words and sincerity the subject of my thoughts Let me be punctual in performing my duty to thee zealous in punishing my self and charitable in compassionating my neighbour Let me ever yield first unto thy sacred Majesty all honour and glory reverence and respect laud and love gratiâ—ude and obedience with my whole heart soul and strength next to my Superiors equals and inferiours and lastly to my own body soul and senses that which is my duty and each one of their respective dues O let me fully perform what I am bound to carefully eschew what is forbidden me and uprightly walk according to my calling O let me never presume to slight scorn suspect judge or condemn any person but sincerely serve succour and seek the temporal and spiritual good of all men whatsoever even of my profess'd and most peevish enemies Lord Iesu give me grace to imitate thy vertues to be gratefull for thy gifts and to make use of thy goodness in order to my souls advancement in the way of thy dear love and desired union with thy divine Majesty 5. And in the Sacred wound of thy left-hand I humbly intomb all my offences of Neglâ—gence tepidity sluggishness cowardise and pusillanimity all my covetous desires all impurity and all intemperance Purge me O my powerfull Lord purifie me O my merciful Savior Give strength comfort and courage to my feeble and frail nature that I may pass undauntedly through all difficulties and dangers to come to thee my Iesu to lay hold on thee and to repose in thee the only Centre of my desires Grant me O my Lord chastity of body and cleaness of heart temperance in my appetites and sobriety in my senses gravity in my deportment and moderation in all my proceedings that nothing may dislike thee in my soul nor dissolve the sacred knot wherwith thou hast fasten'd me unto thee Give me also O Iesu my Lord perfect poverty of spirit O permit not my soul intended to enjoy thee the only solid and satiating riches to be intangled with the least affection to the poor and perishable trifles of this world Behold I cast my self uncloathed from all creatures into thy naked embraces O crucified Saviour I desire to clip nothing in my folded arms but a breast burning with desires to please thee my Creatour and a heart melting away in thy love I make choice of thy bare Cross O Christ for my best inheritance I stretch out my opened folds to meet thy holy and heavenly huggings O let me never more be unclasped from thy blessed bosom Be thou O my great-little-naked-Iesu my rest during the short time of my life and my refuge at the dreadful hour of my death 6. And now O mercifull Saviour I humbly convert my eyes and contemplation to thy sacred Head crowned with thorns and thy divine Face all besmeared with gore and spittle for my sake Here I implore strength O Jesu for the weaknesses of my head and pardon for the wickednesses of my five wits and senses O my Lord I desire to bury in these thy innumerous wounds the enormous number of my iniquities and I beseech thee for these thy sufferings sake to adorn my weak capacity with so much solid wisdom as may fitly suit with my condition O let me never think speak or act any thing which is not seasoned with the salt of discretion Let me seriously weigh each circumstance and patiently wait thy leave and leasure before I leap into any work Inlighten me to see clearly thy will and pleasure and impower me exactly to fulfil and follow it Open the eyes of my Understanding to behold my own baseness and wickedness and give me thy gracious assistance to reform it Help me to form a right judgement of the real vileness and vanity of all transitory things and indue my heart with courage to contemn them Inebriate my affection ô amiable Iesu with the sweetness of thy love and let all worldly solaces savour of bitterness to my soul Let me be deaf blind and dumb to all things which are not thy self ô my crucified Saviour Let me prudently discern and piously perform each parcel of my duty in it's due circumstance of time place order measure and manner Let that holy and innocent simplicity which is the vertue of thy Saints shine in all my actions Let me not be curious to know much but careful to practise much and cordial to love thee much O
my only Lord and love Cleanse my Will from all self-seeking Keep my Memory from all superfluities Close up my Senses fâ—om all vanities that my happy soul separated from all sensible images may quietly tend to thee only sweetly repose in thee and continually enjoy thy blessed presence O let thy pure and perfect love dear Lord Iesu be the faithfull scout-watch over all my proceedings that no forreign affection no sinister intention no self-liking or self-seeking may steal into my heart and defraud or disturb it's happy enjoyment of thee and holy unity with thy divine Spirit Grant O my Lord that I may prudently turn all good events and all bad accidents to my spirituall profit by reflecting wherefore they befall me of what they warn me and how far they concern me Let me learn thereby gratitude to thy goodness fervour in prayer contempt of my self humility of spirit care of my actions resignation to thy will amendment of my life or what else thy holy Spirit shall please to intimate by these fatherly visitations O sacred Head of my crucified Saviour be thou my certain succor during my lives conflict and my sure place of retreat in my last agony with death 7. And lastly I reverently approch to thy dear Heart ô amiable Lord Iesu opened with a cruell launce in the sight of thy blessed Mother and thy beloved Disciple for the love of my soul O my Iesu I here implore thy pardon for all my perverse affections and irregular appetites Give me thy leave ô my loving Lord to creep into this sweet hole of the rock this sacred cleft of the wall this unlock'd closet of heavenly treasures this saving Ark of the new Testament and shut thou O Iesu the door from without that free from the deluges of all wickedness and dangers of the world flesh and devil I may sit solitarily silently and sweetly hearkning to thy divine whispers in my elevated soul Purge all my impurities ô my dear Saviour in the pretious blood streaming from thy patent side and replenish my heart with thy perfect love Oh! drown me wound me burn me and consume me in thy divine flames of affection that I may love thee strongly purely perfectly perseverantly O grant me to leave all things with alacrity for thee my beloved Iesu though never so great to lothe all things joyfully for thy love though never so good to do all things contentedly for thy honour though never so hard to suffer all things patiently for thy sake though never to painfull and to persever constantly in my pious practices for the sole satisfaction of thy holy will and accomplishment of thy blessed pleasure O let me be incessantly calling and knocking at this sacred gate of mercy Let me be still sighing and seeking after thee my Iesus my Saviour my Lord and my love Let me be alwayes thinking ever talking and perpetually tending to unite my heart to thine to conform it unto thine to transform it into thine that I may be all thine and thou all mine for time and eternity Grant also dear Iesu that I may truly love all others in thee and for thee O inflame my charity quicken my faith rectifie my intentions strengthen my confidence in thee destroy all complacence in my self establish me in all these my good purposes and let me be as often minded of my now-promised duty and incouraged to proceed forwards in the path of perfection as I shall eye the sacred image of thy crucified humanity Elevate my desirous soul unto thy self ô Iesu my Lord above all chances changes and creatures Oh! let it be so totally attentive to thy presence so intirely taken up in thy contemplation and so wholly absorpt in thy love that no outward objects may touch or trouble it no inferiour cares or cogitations may intangle it nothing may impede the free intercourse of thy heavenly friendship nothing may stop the sweet influence of thy divine graces or any way interrupt it 's happy quiet and holy tranquillity O dear and opened Heart of my dying Lord Jesus be thou my sweet comfort during this lives pilgrimage and my sure Sanctuary in it's last period FOR SVNDAY Of perfect Union with God The Seventh Exercise 1. O Infinite immense and unmeasurable abyss of all bounty O ever-flowing fountain of mercy O undraynable Sea of love O my Lord my Soveraign my Saviour and my Sanctifier Behold I return into thee the sweet source of my beginning I run into thee the gracious preserver of my being and I desire to rest in thee the only hope of my souls happiness Be thou henceforth O my Creatour the sole subject of my thoughts and the only object of my love Be thou ô God of my heart heart of my life life of my soul and soul of my love my part and my inheritance for ever I choose thee only I offer up my self wholly I consecrate my self heartily and dedicate my self eternally to thy love honour and service Ah good God! where dwellest thou which is the pleasant plaee of thy abode ô King of glory and comforter of my soul I seek nothing but thy lovely presence I desire nothing but the presence of thy love My soul sighs to see thee my heart covets to have thee my love longs to enjoy thee and I can expect no perfect content untill I am totally united unto thee If I now beg a glimpse of thy divine face O my glorious Lord then a drop of thy heavenly grace and afterwards a dram of thy dear affection Yet in all this it is thy self O sweet God which I demand thy whole self is the only satiating object of my boundless desires and unlimited affections 2. I desire to love thee ô only amiable Lord God by all means and beyond all measure until I am totally transformed into thee by love O do thou freely and fully possess my spirit guide it govern it inlighten it inflame it elevate it inform it and transport it how and when thou pleasest Oh! Let all adulterate love be quite banished all multiplicity vanish away and all impurity and self-seeking swallowed up Let thy love be my light my liberty my life Lord I desire but two things in this world To love see tast and enjoy thee my best beloved and to be humbled despised rejected and esteemed a reprobate for thy love O sweet life O loving Jesu what a heaven what a happiness is it to love thee O how lovely how loving and yet how little loved is my God O source of all goodness and centre of all good souls What is the greatest love of mother friend life or any thing else Art not thou my God all this to me and all in all Ah my soul what didst thou ever best love And didst thou love thy Lord God as much I blush O my dear Lord I sigh and am ashamed to answer I will henceforth do any thing suffer any thing and leave all things for thy love I will not live but
possess my heart that there were no room at all remaining for any bastard or base love of things created Good Jesu how truly happy and holy should I be if I could clearly behold my own nothing in thy all if I could embrace crosses as crowns and swallow down all contemprs and confusions as milk and hony O when shall I be so elevated in spirit above my self by extasie of love as to be able and willing to humble my self under all creatures without repugnancy Alas shall I never be content to forsake all and be forsaken by all Yea having lost and left all foâ— One to be left by that One who iâ— my All and so remain quiet iâ— my own nothing How long shall I he wallowing in flesh and blood how long shall I delay and dally in false loves How long shall I sigh and not enjoy seek and not find live and not love Come my Lord and love Lord Jesu come quickly Let the fire of thy sweet love so consume in me aâ—l dross of self-love and so transform my spirit into thee that I may take all from thee indifferently give all to thee liberally and rest and repose in thee â—ternally Lord let me be thine or nothing Love or not live The third Part is the Conclusion which consists also of three Acts. 1. Contrition which is a hearty and humble sorrow for our sins ingratitâ—des disloyalties tepiditie c. O my God! how little did I love 3. Part. 1. Contrition thee when I so carelesly offended thy Majesty Oh! that I had never sinned mortally though it had cost me my life immediately O that I were sure never more to swerve from thy sacred will and commandements Let me henceforth endure dear Jesu a thousand deaths of my body rather than admit one deadly sin again into my soul O pity and pardon my past follies and frailties and prevent me with thy gracious blessings against future fallings How great ô Lord is my obligation to serve and please thee were it but for thy favours conferr'd thy benefits bestow'd and thy love powr'd out upon me and yet ungrateful wretch that I am how poorly have I corresponded Oh! that I had so deep a sense of my sins that my heart might break with sorrow Hide not ô Lord thy face from me shut not up thy mercy gates against me for though I have most grievously gone astray yet I am resolv'd upon an entire amendment correction reformation of my whole man this strong resolution which is thy gracious gift grounds my hope in thy goodness emboldens my confidence in thâ— mercy and gives me courage and comfort in thy love 2. Resignation in all our wanâ—â— wishes desolations and distresses â—â— the divine will and pleasure I am indifferent O my dear Lord 2. Resignation to sickness and health to light and darkness to delight and desolation I am thine sweet Jesu put me where thou wilt do with me as thou wilt send me what thou wilt I am content not only to have nothing but to be nothing so thou â— my Lord be all things unto me I acknowledge my self unworthy to beg and less worthy to obtain and therefore I resign my self still to beg and yet still to want even that which I most wish which is all light all liberty all love all comfort all content yea even all vertu peace and perfection so long as it shall please thee O father I am thine ever thine all thine body and soul for time and eternity Live Jesus only 3. Complacence and confidence the first that our God is what he is the next that he will heal our wounds supply our wants satisfie our wishes and turn all to our good I am glad ô my glorious Lord 3. Complacence and Confidence God that thou art so worthy of all love though I of all others am not worthy to love thee I am as joyful for what thou art o great God as if all thou hast were all mine and I will love thee in all I am and have as being all thine Thy Cross is my comfort thy Will my well fare and thy love my life so that if I can but suffer for thee do thy will and follow thy love I shall do all that is necessary I am indeed dry dark and desolate but since it is thy will I am sure it is my good and therefore sufficient for me and satisfactory to thee I hope thou wilt one day compleat thy own heavenly design in my soul healing my wounds supplying my wants fulfilling my desires and filling my yet empty heart with thy sweet presence and perfect love In the mean space I will say and sing Live Jâ—sus Live my Lord my love my life my all whose name bâ— blessed by all whose will be accomplishâ—d in all whose honour be advanced above all An advertisement touching the precedent Exercise 1. We must perform it dayly diligently discreetly and with great confidence and courage 2. Yet without propriety that it may neither hinder the operation of the Holy Ghost within nor works of due obligation and obedience without 3. If in the practise of this introversion we find dryness and feel little devotion we may somtimes fitly resume in lieu of the second part or consideration our wonted exercises whereto our minds are more addicted ending the same with the Conclusion here prescribed being ever duly disposed to follow the holy Spirits invitation to higher matters If we faithfully observe these things we shall infallibly receive comfort and speedily perceive our own unspeakable profit and progress by the practise of this pious exercise as being indeed the end of all other externall devotions and the short sure simple and Râ—gia via leading to a spirituall devout and divine life The third Maxim That of all internal Prayer the affective is most noble necessary and profitable FOr the end and drift of all discoursive Prayer is to move inflame and enkindle our affections in the love of God and vertue and therefore all discourses must be left by little and little as our souls can more and more live in Faith and simplifie themselves from materiall objects images and conceptions and only tend to God by a sweet and secret motion of the will an amourous correspondency to the Divine operations and inward impulses of his holy Spirit treading down and transcending all things under God by discreetly forgetting and unknowing them The fourth Maxim That Meditation is a seeking Contemplation a seeing of God PRayer in generall according to As is more amply declared in our Introduction to the Spiritual Pilgrimage the known division is either Vocall or Mental Mentall Prayer is An Elevation of our spirits into God For as our Creatour is elevated above all creatures so our souls cannot see talk and treat with him purely and perfectly but by leaving them all and lifting up themselves above them all This Elevation is by means of Meditation Contemplation Thanksgiving and Petition Which
into the divine light shee may confidently rely and repose And without this prop the higher shee ascends the lower will be her fall back again The tenth Maxim That in this high Exercise of Recollection the three Theological vertues Faith Hope and Charity must perfect and possess the three powers of our souls Vnderstanding Memory and Will IT is in the first place to be observ'd as an undoubted truth that a foul cannot in this life bee united to God immediatly by her understanding memory will imagination or any other sense power or faculty whatsoever but only by the means of Faith in her Understanding by Hope in her Memory and by Love in her Will. These three vertues must therefore Read F. Cisnerius ch 65. be introduced by our cooperation with the divine grace into the said three powers of our souls in the purest and perfectest manner that is possible if we will arrive at the height of divine Union 1. Faith must so possess our Understanding as to deprive it for that present of all other knowledge than that of God only 2. Hope must blot out of our memory all images and thoughts of possessing any thing but God only 3. Charity must uncloath our Wills of all affections joys contents satisfactions in any thing that is not God only For Faith tels us of things which cannot be understood by naturall light and reason Hope looks upon such things as we have not hold not possesse not and Charity retires our love from all creatures to employ it all on our Creator The three powers therfore of our soul must bee perfected by these three vertues our Understandings must bee informed with this pure Faith our Memories uncloath'd of all possession by this pure Hope and our Wils fill'd with divine affections by this pure Charity Thus refusing denying and emptying our whole souls of all that is not this perfect Faith hope and charity In this divine practice is found an absolute assurance against all the subtle snares of the devill and self-love for a soul which is thus entirely denuded and stripp'd of all active knowledge possâ—ssion and love of things created must needs remain in God in a certain tranquillity passivenesse cessation sleep annihilation absorption so that there can nothing be found out of God for Satan sin or sensuality to attempt against But to facilitate the intelligence and practice of this high matter upon which foundation stands the whole edifice of this holy Recollection and divine Union let us particularly deduce and exemplify how the Understanding is to bee placed in pure faith the Memory in pure hope and the Will in purâ— charity The eleventh Maxim That our Vnderstandings muâ— be setled in pure Faith THe practice of this point is thuâ— F. Cisnerius ch 28. Having conceived some mysterâ— of our Saviours Passion or the like for the subject of our prayer we ruminate a while upon it not â— much to admire our Lord Jesus aâ— imitate him and we desire to know his vertues that wee may practiâ—e them in our own particular by hiâ— perfect example Then we make an Act of Faith An act of Faith saying I firmly beleeve that this my suffering Saviour is not only a man but also my Soveraign Lord God I beleeve that he being Almighty submitted himself to Pilat being the creator became a creature being immortal became mortal and that in as much as he iâ— God he is with me within me without me about me above me beneath me and so in all creatures which have a being Afterwards we speak further to our Saviour O my dearest Lord and lover Teach me now my lesson that in requitall of what thou hast done for me I may keep thee company in thy sufferings And then we quit all discourses thinking we have no understanding at all left and looking on our sweet Saviour only by Faith which hath this property says S. Thomas to S. Tho. of Aquin. elevate the soul to God and free it from all creatures For so long as there are discourses in our Understanding images in our Memory joys or tenderness in our Will these powers have not pure God but sensible things for their object because God being above all sensibility must bee found without all creatures and consequently if we can be totally abstracted from all things created we shall infallibly lay hold on our Creator 'T is therefore impossible say's St. Denys the divine S. Denys to be truly united to God unlesse we leave all materiall operations both in sense and in spirit that is unlesse wee lay aside all senses all discourses all imaginations and all waies of humane wisdome Till wee can doe this let us not think to become perfect Contemplatives The twelfth Maxim That our Memories must bee setled in pure Hope WHich is done by forgetting all things created heaven earth our selves all being wholly taken up with God and absorpt in the Divinity So that by a simple remembrance that we are with God without looking back to reiterate the same reflexion we repose and slumber sweetly in him staying upon no image whatsoever even of our Saviour himself for as he in as much as concerns his humanity call'd Joh. 14. 6. himself the way so he thereby insinuated that we were not to remain in the way but to march on to our ways end which is his Divinity No mervail then if we find in The doctrine of mystâ—call Divines explicated the prescripts of mysticall Divines this doctrine That to arrive at the height of Contemplation we must leave off all sort of Meditation though it be on the life and death of our Lord and Saviour because in all Meditation there is ever something that is sensible to which nature applying it self hinders our souls from soaring up to the fineness and quintessence of Contemplation which is and can be only a pure spirituall and insensible thing 'T is true that the consideration of the life and death of our loving Saviour is a most powerfull means to mount up to this contemplation of his Divinity but let us not make that the end which is but the means and way to it The thirteenth Maxim That our Wills must be setled in pure Charity THis is done by withdrawing it from all sort of Joy proceeding from any natural supernatural or moral good Joy is a certain content which our wils take in somthing we prize How all Joy is to be quitted and this Joy is either Active when we may leave it or Passive when it is not in our power to quit it Now to take Joy and content in naturall goods as health wealth friends c. Or wit sagacity discretion c. Is a plain vanity To joy in moral goods as in the exercise of vertue c. Is to imitate the Pagan Philosophers who lov'd vertue for vertu's sake and made that their end which is only our way to it Supernaturall goods are either the gratuite gifts of God
and conversation enter into his secret cabinet eat at his table repose on his breast be his minion become all one with him O honour most admirable O holyness most amiable O happiness most Angelical O life O love The 27. Maxim That Confidence in Gods goodness is the main support of our Spiritual Edifice WE must be confident that our Loving Lord will First pardon our sins Secondly strengthen us in all necessities Thirdly bring us finally to eternall happiness And to strengthen this Confidence we must deeply ingrave these two Maxims 2. Maxims in our souls and then we shall easily be content to leave our selves in the arms of his paternall providence and lose our selves in the abyss of his piety First That what ever befalls us comes immediately Rusbrochius Read the Conflict c. 10. n. 3. 4 either from his will or his permission Secondly That he will turn all even our frailties and failings to our spirituall good We may further weigh what wonderfull cause Motives to put our Confidence in God First in heaven we have 1. Viscera misericordiae 2. Vulnera misericordiae of confidence and comfort we have First In heaven where we have 1. Bowels of mercy in God the Father we cry dayly to him as his Son taught us Our Father which art in heaven Will not a good father forgive the fault and forget the folly of his returning and â—epenting childe 2. Wounds of mercy in God the Son the least of which was sufficient to redeem a thousand worlds whereby we being reconcil'd and made his friends will he deny us any thing that is necessary Is not each drop of his dear blood a motive of loving confidence and able to melt us into a filiall dependency on him 3. Promises 3. Promissâ— misericordiae of mercy in God the Holy Ghost who hath assured us of his continued comforts till the worlds consummation 4. Words of mercy 4. Verba misericordiae when he said O why will you perish you of the house of Israel As I live I desire not the death of a sinner but that he turn to me and live What hard heart would not be touch'd with tenderness and say reciprocally As I live ô my Lord God I detest all sin and convert my self totally to thee that I may live with thee and love thee eternally O holy Conversion O happy contract 5. Brests of mercy in the 5. Vbera misericordiae Mother of Jesus O Jesu be to us a Jesus O Mother of Jesus be to us a Mother of mercies Let the care of thy honour be ever in our hearts and the care of our welfare always in thine 6. Castles of mercy in the Angels who are before and behind 6. Castra misericordiae us to watch over and protect us 7. Oracles of mercy the prayers and suffrages of all the Saints pitying 7. Oracula misericordiae our misery and purchasing pardon for us If we put all this together we shall find all heaven for us What matter then if hell be against us O thou of little faith whereof canst thou be doubtfull or fearfull c. Secondly On Earth in the Church Secondly On Earth militant what is not for us Sacraments Scriptures Examples Prayers If we go not to heaven where is the fault What could God do that he hath not done and what could we have more than we have for our consolation and salvation Who can choose but take courage comfort and confidence Thirdly Look upon Christ Jesus Thirdly In Christ 1. Why came he into this world 2. How did he carry himself in it towards sinners both in his life and death 3. Why was he called Jesus and tearmed a friend of Publicans and sinners 4. Why did he â—â—y That he came to call sinners and not the Just and to do mercy and not justice 5. What access and comfort gave he to all sinners 6. What was his last will and testament c 7. What his last words Father forgive c. Fourthly Ponder Gods Perfectious Fourthly Look on Gods perfections 1. He is our maker we the work of his hands Doth not each Artist love his own handy-work Hath not every one a naturall proneness to protect improve profit and perfect his own Even so our loving Lord takes care of us he hides and harbors us as the Hen her Chickens under her wings he defends us as the apple of his eye If a mother can forget the fruit of her womb yet will I never forget you say's our Lord because I have graven you in my hands and heart 2. He is All-mighty All-wisdom All-goodness Put these together I have a Father and Maker that loves me exceedingly he knows my necessities and what is best for me he is rich enough to provide for me Will he let me perish will he reject me Then reason thus further with your-self In whom shall I confide if not in God In my self or others We are all inconstant all ignorant of what is best all impotent and want means to help O how much better is it to trust in God than men Fiftly Reflect upon your own Fiftly our own experience Experience 1. Whom did God ever deceive in his promises 2. Who ever called heartily on him and was refused 3. Hath he not hitherto merveilously protected and preserved you and disposed all for your good Why then should you doubt or distrust his providence for the time to come No Lord Blessed is the man that trusteth in thee Heaven and earth may perish but no tittle of my hope in thee my Dear and only Saviour This shall be my Anchor and stay If he kill me I will trust in him I will rest Secure in his Divine providence and endeavour to get an habituall and stable trust in his paternall protection without any care or fear as doth a child in his fathers bâ—som This is the ready way to become unmoveable and immutable quiet and content Is he God Is he good Is he my God my Father my Jesus Jesus crucified Is his goodness infinit Doth he want power wisdom or Will to pardon protect and perfect me I must surely have little faith less hope and no love If I will not take thy words O Lord thy works thy wounds thy life and thy love for secure pledges of thy care towards me and sufficient motives to place my whole confidence in thee The 28. Maxim That the measure of our progress in Perfectionâ— is the Conformity of our Wiâ—â— with the divine will 1. FOr our perfection consists in love and the greatest signe of love is to have one and the same Will with the beloved So that look how much we have of our own Will so much less have we of Gods will and love and consequently are so much the further from the Union of our spirit with him 1. In this exercise of conformity consists all perfection O what holiness and happiness what privilege and
wherein we judge amiss and whereupon wee ground our particular fears for that is the easiest way to remove them 8. Let us weigh the vertue of the Physick The vertue of the Physick which must cure us which must cure our Disease to wit First the infinit goodness of God and Christs merits And what Soul can fear having so gracious a God and so great a Ransome 2. The Credit and Compassion of the Blessed Virgin and the Prayers and Patronage of Saints and Angels who being secure for themselves are solicitous for us 3. The testimony and sweet promises of holy Scriptures For how often hath God told us I am prone to pitty I am ready to receive sinners I will help them who doe their endeavours If therefore he denys not his mercy to them that seek it and they seek it who doe what lys in them let us bee confident he will not deny us his mercy He also frequently calls on us Turn to me and I will turn to you Now he cannot but say truth aad fulfill his promise and doth not that soul convert her self to God who doth her best to get his grace and be reconciled unto him Who then can choose but be of good Comfort if he be of good Will By this Doctrine and these prescribed Remedâ—es it appears that the only way to overcome Scruples is 1. To obey our Spirituall Director 2. To doe our best endeavour But here arise two difficulties in this easy lesson The first is If our Directoâ—â— The first difficulty knowledge be small his experience lesse and his conscience not very good how dare we trust our souls upon his Warrant Gerson answers Thou wiâ—e Gerson's answer Judger I say thou errest and aâ—â— deceived for thou hast not committed thy self and thy soul to a man because of his discretion and learning but to God himself and for his love thou obeyest man because he is by him ordained thy Prelat and Superior Therefore our obedience wil be oftentimes so much more pleasing to God and profitable to our souls by how much more infirm and unworthy he is whom we refuse not to obey for Gods sake The other difficulty is If wee The second difficulty cannot satisfy our selves that wee doe our best Endeavours nor know that we have performed our duty S. Thomas answers We must St. Thomas answer first remove that which hinders grace to wit Sin 2. We must convert our hearts from creatures to our Creator In a word we must detest Sin and choose God and follow his ordinary means appointed in his Church for our direction and this is the Summary of our duty The 22. Doubt If we fear we detest not Sin sufficiently because we feel not so great sorrow for the offence of God as we doe sometimes for a temporall losse LEt us assure our selves First We can never have so much sorrow for our Sins as Gods justice in rigour requires 2. God doth not exact it of us because it is not in our power 3. True sorrow consists not in feeling but in Reason and Freewill 4. It is better to have sorrow sometimes only in desire than feeling 5. It is not necessary this corporall or sensible grief be so great for spirituall as for temporall loss but it sufficeth to use humane and morall diligence with firm purpose of a voiding Sin 6. It ls dangerous to make such comparisons and reflexions for weak and fearfull Consciences as If such a thing should happen what should I doe Should I rather chuse death than such a Sin and the like I say there is no obligation to make such acts The 23. Doubt If we cannot ground our selves in a firm Hope of mercy for that we are so frail and inconstant We sin daily and amend not our lives We receive Gods blessings and repay ill for good Wee promise protest and vow fidelity and practise nothing lesse TEll me afflicted Souls Should you see Christ dye daily for your daily sins would you despair of mercy Even so efficacious is his former death If you fall hourely rise again couragiously and purpose to stand more constantly and fear nothing but draw Humility out of your Frailty saying Whereof am I proud now Where are my strong Resolutions Why doe I judge others Who is so feeble sickle frail as I am O Lord this is the Worm that is so proud Then cast â—ll into Christs sacred wounds and leaving all there go on with as much quiet and Confidence as if you had not sinned The 24. Doubt If we go not on w th alacrity because we know not that our Sins are forgiven that our Confessions are good and that we are in state of Grace WE must take notice that in seeking these assurances we may oftentimes directly lose them 1. In seeking them too eagerly and unquietly 2. In being self-lovers and unwilling to be troubled 3. In being ignorant of what we are bound to know for it seems we conceive those works nothing worth which are performed without gust content satisfaction to our selves and quiet The way then is briefly this 1. To seek true peace 2. In God 3. From his mercy not our own industry 4. To be resigned to want peace if he please 5. To omit nothing we would or should do by reason of the trouble we feel The 25. Doubt Though we cannot in this life assure our selves infallibly to be in good estate yet if we could comfort our selves with most probable tokens of grace whereby we might feel the pulses of our hearts and somewhat ease our anguish SAint Thomas and S. Bernard assigne 4. Signs of a good conscience out of S. Tho. and Bernard these four signes of a good conscience 1. To feel a ready Willingness in our hearts to hear Gods word and to learn the means to love and serve him 2. To feel a Forwardness to do good Works 3. To feel a hearty Sorrow for the offence of God 4. To feel a firm Purpose to avoid all Sin Gerson adds a fifth Who so can A â— out of Gerson To pronounce these three verities pronounce heartily and sincerely these three Verities though he had committed all sins and should be prevented with sodain death let him secure himself he is in state of Grace The first Verity O Lord If in Oh! that we would often recite these three truths especially when we feel our consciences burthened What infinite profit and comfort would redound to our souls this or that I have sinned against thy goodness it truly displeases and grieves me and I am ready to do penance for it because I have offended thee who art worthy of all honor and have transgressed thy Law and Will which is most holy just and reasonable The second Verity O Lord I have a good purpose and desire by thy grace to take heed I fall not into sin again and to avoid to my power the occasions thereof and to mortify my passions and bad
strivest to undermine my Perseverance But take courage ô my soul thy time of enduring will soon end and thy ensuing joy will be without end Hearken not to thy sworn enemies enchantments sit not stand not sleep not but pray watch and walk whilst thou hast light and life that the darkness of eternal night and death overtake thee not And since thy Loving Lord is both able and willing to succour and support thee and to turn every thing to thy advantage â—ven thy imperfections frailties and failings For thou art warranted that so Rusbrochius sure as God is God so sure it is that he will permit nothing to befall us but for our greatest good and his own glory and that it is most gratefull unto him we so judge of him doubt not of his providence and protection not fear to permit him to deal with thee as he best pleaseth and to remain in a perfect indifferency to all his divine ordinances and dispositions saying Since it is thy will O Lord it is certain to be nâ—y good be it so I am as sure thou lovest me as that thou livest with me A way then all diffidence disloyalty inconstancy How many Saints have you perverted how many souls have you damned Without thee O holy Perseverance all is lost with thee all is seâ—ure Grace till the end Glory without end Welcome holy Confidence the main support of my life and the life of my Perseverance I am content O my Lord to be conducted by thee for time and eternity as thou best pleasest Lead me by land or water by desolation or devotion by darkness or day by sickness or health I will adhere to thee constantly If it be thy blessed will O Loving Lord that I creep as a snail towards Perfection I will neither be troubled nor dismayed I desire not to fly faster than thou enablest me I quiet my self with the grace thou givest me which I acknowledge to be not only beyond my deserts but better for me than my own desires Finally I here make a generall Resolution and a generous Resignation of my whole self into thy holy hands hoping that it will give worth and value to all my actions and sufferings O my Soveraign and sweet maker A form of generall Resolution my whole Will and desire according to my great obligation former profession and present protestation is to serve and love thee and to fulfill thy blessed Will in all things and to be wholly thine at all times and in all things whatsoever 'T is thy Honour I only aym at thy Glory I only intend and thy Will I only seek to accomplish To thee alone I render and wish all benediction and eternall praise and with cordiall Joy I say Amen to all that is possessed by thy most amiable and perfect goodness and joyning my humble desires and devotions with all those that love thee I implore that we may be all thine and that thou wilt be All in us all And now O my soul since thou hast in some sort happily begun a course of Prayer Recollection Abnegation and Humility according to Obedience and supported by Confidence For further helps to perseverance read the 22. 23. 24. ch of St. Teresa's life Written by her self And her book entitled The way to Perfection Let the Devill storm let Flesh and blood rebell let the World murmure Answer them all Quod scripsi scripsi my Vows and Promises must and shall stand I am content to sign it with my blood I will sooner dye than swerve from my well-setled Resolutions or cancell the free deed and gift of my self to my Saviours service Darkness Desolation Death and Devill shall never make me change Live my good Purposes to love my dear Lord unchangeably irrevocably eternally Cant. 2. 16. My beloved is mine and I am his 2 Tim. c. 4 v. 7 8. I have fought a good fight I have finished my course I have kept the faith Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness which our Lord the righteous Judge shall give me at that day and not to me only but unto them also that love his appearing James 1. 12. Blessed is the man that indureth temptation for when he is tried he shall receive the crown of life which our Lord hath promised to them that love him Revelation 2. 10. Be thou faithfull untill death and I will give thee the crown of life FINIS Errata In the Conflict PAge 32. line 2. for from read form p. 45. l. 15. for weary r. wary p. 69. l. 25. for mediations r. meditations p. 143. l. 28. for his r. he p. 143. l. 29. for its r. his p. 161. l. 29. for ordinary r. ordinarily p. 201. l. 2. for pleasure r. please p. 277. l. 2. for many r. may In the Conquest PAge 3. l 29. for some r. son In the Exercises Page 103. l. 12. for â—at his r. eat aâ— his In the Maxims