simply and nakedly answer that at the present you are wholly taken up with another business So by this means you will by little and little alienate and estrange your self from men Doctor If preaching be forbid me there is nothing then Son that I have to employ my self in what therefore shall I do Layman Betake your self to your Cell and there perform your hourly Prayers and as oft as you can do the same in Quire with others Likewise every day except some just occasion hinder you perform Divine service and celebrate the Mass Afterward what ever time remains you shall spend it in meditating of the Life Death and Passion and example of Christ diligently considering how unlike your Life is to His. Isa 32. Here call to mind and in the bitterness of your Soul think of the years and all the time past in which you have sinfully loved your self taking notice how little your love hath been to God and contrary-wise how great his love hath been to you Of these things Sir let your study humbly be for hereby it may so come to pass that by degrees you may attain to true humility and change your old conversation and antient Custome into a better Furthermore when that time shall come which God well knows he will on a sudden change you into a new and another man But before this regeneration can be wrought in you you must first sell all whatever you possess and humbly resign all unto God Namely you ought wholly to renounce and deny all your curiosity and subtility of your sences and understanding and whatever it be by which you may acquire honour or delight to your self and lastly all that delight which hitherto you have possest in your nature and in which according to your nature you have falsly and inordinately found rest Luk. 7.10 and with blessed Mary Magdalen humbly cast your self prostrate at the Feet of your Lord. For indeed you must totally dye to all these things forementioned Now if you shall begin to set upon these things you will render your self a pleasant and acceptable spectacle to Almighty God who indeed cannot behold these things without delight and it is probable he will not leave but will drive and compel you to such tryals as were of old that you may so much the more be proved and be throughly purified as gold in a furnace It may be I say he will reach out to you in some measure that cup of love which he gave to his only begotten Son which is that it may so fall out that whatever you do or leave undone yea and your whole course of life may be disesteemed and despised of all and those who have hitherto been wont to confess themselves to you may stand a far off from you as one destitute of sense and reason yes and all your friends and a great part of your Brethren that live with you in your Monastery may be offended and scandalized at your life and may say one to the other that you have taken up a strange and unusual way of life such as hath almost rendred you a dolt or fool Wherefore when as these things shall happen unto you see Sir that by no means you be terrified but rather triumph in your God because your Salvation is nigh Notwithstanding your frail nature without doubt will be something terrified at this but do you stoutly trust in God who will by no means forsake you Furthermore when you shall be brought into this distress it can hardly be but that at sometime or other it will come into your mind to ask and desire of God that he would vouchsafe unto you some supernatural consolation and make you to taste some sweetness which when it shall happen to you be sure such a desire is not from God but from hence rather that as yet there is some pride lurking in your nature For truly it is great presumption for any to be so bold as to ask of God such supernatural Gifts And therefore if this should befall you that you should perceive any such desire to arise in you instantly set your self against it with your whole strength and supress it with very great and humble resignation saying both with heart and voice Ah most Merciful God it doth extreamly and from the bottom of my heart grieve and displease me and I very much lament because I perceive so great and high a desire to arise in me when as I clearly perceive I am altogether unworthy of such great gifts yea and unworthy that the Earth should bear me And when you shall utter these words with your mouth although as yet you be not so perfectly sensible in your heart be not much terrified but only as oft as such like desires shall arise in you you must punish your self with Rods. But if neither by such means such thoughts will cease then endure them as a temptation so long as God pleaseth you should bear them Finally worthy Sir if you resolve to undergo this course of life you will perceive nothing more profitable to you then that with a profound and couragious resignation you humbly commit your self to God in all things which shall happen to you whether they be sweet or whether they be bitter whether they delight or whether they torment so as that you may be able truly to say unto God O most Merciful God and most worthy to be adored although it were thy Will that I should remain in this life and in this heavy pressure even till the last day of Judgment yet I would by no means forsake thee but constantly and ever adhere and cleave to thee Verily Sir I sufficiently in the Grace of God understand that this thought now is in your heart that you may justly inwardly say to your self that what ever hath hitherto been spoken by me is extream hard and difficult And therefore I before made this protestation If it shall happen that you start aside from what is proposed to you as did that Young man fore-mentioned then I will be free from all blame Master It is dear Son very true which you say and moreover this your last speech seems to me yet more hard Layman And yet Sir you intreated me to shew you the nearest way to the highest perfection attainable in this life And truly I know no way more secure then that which leads to the imitation of the example of the most Holy Humanity of Christ Wherefore I sincerely advice you to take sufficient time of consideration and betake your self into your self and whatever by Divine inspiration you shall understand ought to be done by you that you may safely set upon Master I like well Son your counsel and intend to follow it and as I shall be able I will take heed by the assistance of Divine Grace to overcome my self What afterwards befel the Doctor How he endured grievous pressures in his nature and underwent the contempt of men insomuch that his strength
humbly bow and incline her self and offer up her whole self unto him saying both with heart and voice Ah most sweet Lord and Bridegroom thou knowest the hearts of all therefore I do with my whole heart profess unto thee that I will freely and with a willing mind do all whatever I shall know or be able which thou teaching me I shall see to be acceptable and pleasing to thee neither will I ever depart from thee but perpetually and with all my might cleave unto thee When therefore the Spouse hath thus bethrothed her self the Bridegroom now turning his face to her begins to behold her and commands that some rich Jewel be given her you will ask me what Jewel I answer such an one as this namely That she be sussered to be exercised both inwardly outwardly with divers temptations as his manner is to do with all his singular and choice Friends Then it falls out that if the Spouse be yet somewhat tender and delilicate she strait addresses her self to her Bridegroom saying Ah my most merciful Lord these are exceeding strange and unusual things and too too heavy such as I never felt the like and they make me greatly fear how I shall be able to bear them and subsist under them Wherefore I earnestly entreat thee most dear Lord to take off this burden and free me of it The Bridegroom answereth her Tell me my beloved Spouse doth it seem equitable to you that the Spouse should fare better then her Bridegroom thou must first of necessity in some measure follow him And certainly it is altogether comely just and also tollerable that the Spouse should endure something at least for the love of her Bridegroom When this the pleasure of the Bridegroom is made known the Spouse is stricken with terrour and trembling saith to the Bridegroom Oh! my Lord and Bridegroom I beseech you be not angry with me for I am now ready to obey thee Therefore suffer what thou pleasest to fall upon me I will through the assistance of thy grace bear all for thy sake willingly and contentedly When the Bridegroom hears this he conceives a greater love to his Spouse And therefore bestows upon her yet a more excellent gift namely that all her performances exercises wayes and all her works yea and at least whatever she does or leaves undone although they be all good in themselves yet they seem to her self wholly unsavoury Furthermore she accounts her whole time lost whatever she spends it about though that which she doth be good and that in all she offends the Bridegroom and continually fears that after this lise she shall suffer grievous punishment for all Furthermore this gift is granted her that she be had in derision by most and that her whole life and conversation as meer folly be vilified and set at naught by men But by this means the Spouse becomes much weakned in her nature so that she thinks every hour she shall dye no other death And whereas she is yet tender faint-hearted and fearful she is exceeding terrified Wherefore she earnestly calls upon her Bridegroom saying Why is it most sweet Bridegroom that thou leavest me in this sad condition when thou notwithstanding knowest full well that I cannot possibly undergo it but it will cost me my life The Bridegroom answers her Why how now my chosen Spouse if thou wilt go forth to meet the Bridegroom it is equitable and congruous that thou shouldst at least in some things at first follow him and travail part of the journey he went Whereas therefore the Bridegroom suffered death for the love of his Bride and endured most direful torments and innumerable pains 33 years think you it not congruous to reason and every way fitting that the Spouse also out of love should endure some hazard of death Certainly if your love were great faithful toward your Bridegroom it would easily shut out all such fear from you The Spouse fearing such or the like answers from the Bridegroom is ceased upon with exceeding great fear and shame and speaks thus from her most inward bowels with heart and mouth to her Bridegroom Now most loving Bridegroom I fully understand that I have done unjustly and evilly and I am even overcome with fear and do grieve truly with my whole heart because I have not resigned my self faithfully unto thee even unto death And behold hence-forward I commit my whole self to thee That whatever thy will and pleasure is the same may be mine whether it be sweet or whether it be bitter whether it be health or whether it be sickness whether death or life or whatever it be that thy pleasure is shall come upon me shall be welcome to me And so for the future I wholly renounce my own will and so surrender and offer it up to thee as never-more hereafter to re-call it or desire it Thou also most merciful Bridegroom do with me a sinful wretch whatever thou wilt both in Time and in Eternity For as much as of me is I plainly understand that I am unworthy that the earth should bear me When now the Bridegroom perceives so resolved so constant perfect a will in his Spouse What do you think he doth to his Spouse Even this 〈◊〉 hath mercy on her but how you will ask Why thus He will then first reach out to her an excellent and glorious Cup namely this That over and above all the pressures temptations and straights in which already she is held he permits that far more and far more grievous then ever she suffered before to fall upon her The Spouse by this time understanding this to be the pleasure of her Bridegroom suffers all willingly and freely for the love of him And bowing her self humbly to her Lord saith Even thus most dear Bridegroom is it most fitting and meet that not what I will thou shouldst will but what thy Will and Pleasure is that I should will Wherefore for thy sake I will freely and with a willing mind take off this Cup and receive this gift of thine let it torture and afflict my nature as much as it will nevertheless I accept of it as at thy hand Whilest therefore the Bridegroom in his Eternal Wisdom beholds this will and resolution in his Spouse she is rendred above measure dear unto him So that even out of superabundant love he permits her to suffer through her whole nature by the said Cup of pretious affliction given unto her until she be throughly purged and cleansed from all her spots sins and imperfections But then he saith unto her Arise now my beautiful and comely Spouse for now thou art all fair and there is no spot in thee and withall looks upon her so amiably and kindly as is far above all Expression After this the Eternal Father of the Bridegroom cometh also to the nuptials and joyfully saith to them Arise quickly make haste It is time that they be led to the Temple and joyned together
on me And if it would not be too tedious to you I would tell you some things which would be not a little congruous to this place and would be profitable for you to hear it Then very many of the People altogether with one voice said Speak assuredly Sir for you shall find us patient and benevolous hearers I rehearse therefore unto you Beloved a thing that befell my self Upon a certain time I sat alone in a Cell and when I had began to think of the wonderfull things of God and how strange the state of the Church was at this time how all good order was too much neglected and went to rack In the midst of these meditations I heard a certain voice with my bodily ears speaking to me although I saw no body at all But after this manner it spake Arise now you must experience some things wherby you may be enabled so much the more certainly to speak the truth openly to your neighbours And at this last word I were deprived of all my sensual discerning and being taken into an extasie I was in that very rapture permitted to see into Purgatory where I beheld the torments of multitudes of men many of which I knew so painfull and so intolerably bitter and so immense punishments and sorrows so intense and fearfull that no reason no understanding is sufficient to express them In brief take it for certain that I beheld there so many so various and divers kinds of torments in a wonderfull manner painfull that such a terrour and trembling hath seized upon me that all the natural joyes of this life can in no wise make me merry and if I should live yet an hundred years I think I should never be merry except God should make me so by some supernatural means But I beseech you Beloved let not any be offended at this that I would relate such things as these are unto you Truly I fear that some peradventure do think that in divulging these things I seek glory to my self But let me assure you I seek or wish the praise of no man nay nor the wealth of any one for this reason for I am abundantly contented with those things which in our Monastery according to the custom of the Covent are provided for me Nay I am never without fear lest peradventure I should take that which is superfluous of those things which are set before me in our Hall And certainly I believe that there is not one here present who if he had seen and experienced those things which I have seen and experienced namely such horrible and fearfull punishments but would peradventvre have been better contented with a small provision and allowance than I am Therefore let none of you be scandalized at my words fore-spoken In good earnest I find no other cause why God would have me to see such things but because of my sins and iniquities that I might both reform my self and the more boldly speak to others the truth which I have certainly known and in no wise flatter their wickednesses and sins And hence if I were sure for this cause to be put to death I should nevertheless speak the naked and simple truth Truly I saw some in those most vehement pains and was taken with extream admiration that they should desire to remain so long in so great anguish sith some of them had departed this life many years before who whilst they lived I did believe were both good and pious and yet they did undergo in those places of Purgatory so great and ineffable punishments that no man can in this life ponder or understand them as they deserve Wherefore this I from my heart do counsel all that we slight not Purgatory but be speedily converted and seriously reform our selves Certainly if you did know how above measure valuable and profitable the present time is you would not esteem it so little nor suffer it to passe away so foolishly for truly when we are brought out of this transitory time into things future and eternal there exceeding speedy simple right and rigid judgment passeth upon those who suffer this present time foolishly to pass away But what shall I say Beloved for if I attempt to speak any thing to you of divine Justice that is so immeasurable strict and rigid that I fear some of you may take occasion of despair from hence If contrariwise I would discourse of his infinit mercy how ready he is to shew it to all in this life I fear on the other hand some would presume so upon it that they would live worse and more foolishly and so may admit of some such sin as it were to be feared God would not pardon either here or hereafter I fear truly Beloved lest I have been too tedious although many things yet remain to be spoken of divers sorts of men and divers affairs because that we have gone too far astray from the right way And in truth if I did laying aside all things else attend only the duty of Preaching for this whole year I think I could in no wise sufficiently lay open all our defects and sins But when the Lord shall order it I will further speak of this matter Arise now and say the Lords Prayer with the Angels Salutation After these things it fell out on a certain time that the Master made a journey to a certain Inclusory in which there abode five Inclusis which earnestly entreated him to preach to them a Sermon of the true and perfect secluse life To whom he said that he would willingly do what they desired if the Lord so ordered it upon the Lords day next following When therefore that Lords-day was come there came together to that place a multitude of men and the Master began his Sermon thus The following Sermon was preached upon the Lords day of Sexagesima the subject of it was this namely Why St. Paul kept in silence his Rapture into the third Heaven so many years That the Gifts of God come by afflictions or at least are confirmed by afflictions Of a twofold Self-denial one of Nature the other of the Spirit Lastly What belongs to a true Incluse I knew a man in Christ above forty years ago c. 2 Cor. 12.2 SAint Paul Beloved hath delivered unto us in his Epistles to day a wholsom and necessary instruction But because the said Epissle is too long I will not rehearse to you all of it but only part of it The Apostle therefore saith speaking of himself I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years since such a one whether in the body or out of the body I know not God knoweth taken up even into the third Heaven Here my Beloved take notice I beseech you how the holy Apostle kept in silence this his Rapture for full fourteen years together neither would he bring it forth in publick until it was permitted him so to do by God Against rash bablers of their visions He did not
THE â—ISTORY OF THE â—IFE and DEATH 〈◊〉 that Antient Father of the Church Dr Joh. Thauler 〈◊〉 lived at Colen in Germany in the year of â—…r Lord 1346. where he was in a â—iraculous manner turned from his vain â—onversation to an extraordinary degree â—f holiness of life â—…ther with many of his Precepts Positions and â—ermons but especially the Means and Manâ—…r how he came to be so highly Illuminated â—…d to the understanding of the secret Mysteries 〈◊〉 â—he Gospel c. â—aithfully Translated out of Latine â—rinted for Lodowick Lloyd and are to be 〈…〉 â—is Shop at the Castle in Cornhil 1663. THE HISTORY Of the Life of the sublime and illuminated Divine Dr. John Thauler who at Colin where he lived was in an Extraordinary and Miraculous manner turned from his vain Conversation to an Extraordinary degree of Sanctity and Holiness of Life IN the year of our Lord One thousand three hundred forty six there lived a Doctor of Divinity in Colin in Germany a frequent Preacher exceedingly followed and famous for his Doctrine far and near A certain Layman aboundantly endowed and anointed with Divine Grace hearing his fame and being thrice warned in a Dream to go to the City where the Doctor lived which was at the least thirty mile distance from the place where then the Layman was resolved with himself to Travel thither and try what it would please Divine grace to bring to pass then he takes his journey arrives at the City where the Doctor lived attentively heard him five times Preach In which while he understood in the Spirit that the Doctor was by nature an ingenuous Man of a mild sweet and courteous behaviour and excellently well skilled in the Letter of the Scripture but obscurely and glimeringly understanding it being without the Light of Divine grace The Layman exceedingly hereupon pittying his condition went to him and thus entered into discourse with him Reverend Sir I am come above thirty miles to sit at your feet and hear your Doctrine drawn by the fame of your excellent abilities and already have I heard five of your Sermons Therefore I beseech you for Gods sake vouchsafe while I stay here to be my Confessor The courteous Dr. refusing not the motion The Layman oft came to confession which he performed with much simplicity and humility and when ever he thought fit to receive the most sacred Body of our Lord he received it at the Doctors hands Twelve weeks in this manner beâ—ng spent the Layman came to the Doctor with a request which he thus uttered Reverend Master I beseech you for Gods sake teach us in a Sermon the most compendious way of attaining the highest degree of perfection that this Life is capable of What dost thou mean Son quoth the Doctor to what purpose would it be to Preach such sublime matters to you who I suppose would hardly be able to understand one word Though possibly answered the Layman I may not Reverend Sir be able to understand you yet at least I shall breath and pant after and with hearty and frequent Prayers desire those things you shall deliver Beside a great multitude of people come together to hear you now if but one of these shall rightly understand what you shall say your labour will not be lost I but said the Doctor if I should be put upon that you desire good Son it would cost me first much pains and study and a great deal of labour to gather what would be requisite to the business and to digest it into fit method But whatever excuses the Doctor made the Layman would not give over his entreaty till the Doctor passed his word that he would Preach such a Sermon as he desired It fell out shortly after that the Dr. Preach'd in a certain Monastry And Sermon being ended he told the Congregation that those whom other business hindred not might resort thither upon the third day following for I am desired quoth he to Preach a Sermon in which I must shew by what means one may most compendiously come to the highest degree of perfection attainable in this Life The third day being come very many flocked to the place among the rest betimes in the morning thither hastens the Layman that he might get a convenient place where he might the better hear and understand the Doctor The Doctor comes as he had appointed and begins this following Discourse In this following most excellent Discourse there are laid down four and twenty points by which may be known who are truly illuminated men and true contemplators SO great many things dearly beloved are to be handled at this time touching the Argument I lately promised to discourse upon that according to my constant custome I cannot take the Gospel of the day for my Text nor use many Latine words But notwithstanding those matters that I shall handle shall be such as may be easily confirmed out of Scripture In the first place beloved I would not have you ignorant how there are very many to be found who attain to a clear knowledge understanding and a rational decerning in Heavenly matters but it is altogether by Images and Forms in their fancy impressed there sometimes by the study of Scripture sometimes without it Many of these when this speculative Light of their own intellect by the aforesaid means either by the study of Scripture or some way else begins to shine they sit down in it abundantly satisfied but all such questionless are far enough from the top and highest degree of perfection but if any one such could be found who had pierced and passed through the fore mentioned attainment and were totally and centrally mortifyed to it and who had got above all sorts of Images and Forms in the fancy Such a one would infinitely be more dear and acceptable to God then an hundred thousand of the other sort of men who live in their own habitual institutions and modes taken up by themselves out of self-will and insensible and intelectual Images so totally taken up with them that they take no care to deny and mortifie themselves For indeed God is altogether hinder'd from entering into and possessing such by reason of their self will and their own proper working in their own strength by which they are detained in their own dearly beloved and delighted in intellectual imaginations But those that have passed through such and by a kind of dying have resigned up themselves to God and have gone out of all manner of imaginary comtemplations and finally with humble resignation have offer'd and given up themselves free and naked above all intellectual imaginations as St. Dionisius saith that the Light of Faith requires that a man should mount above the utmost power and capacity of reason or intellect such I say as have come to this state in them God finds a resting place where he may dwell and work all their works in them when where and in what manner he pleaseth For when as God
Son that these men are dead The Layman smiling said if they be dead it is the fault of you and the Bridegroom Master If the Bridegroom have a hand with me in the business we shall easily find a Remedy for this evil Layman You need not at all doubt Sir but that all these men shall live yet in time and I could wish that you would speak to the Holy Virgins of this Monastery that they would cause them to be carryed within the first Cloisters of their Monastery to some warm place least by reason of the damp ground they should catch harm Accordingly it was done the Virgins very modestly commanding them to be carried into warm Rooms and they told the Doctor that they also had one of their Sisters rapped into an exstasie and lying upon her Bed whither they had carryed her as one dead The Master answered them I beseech you Beloved be not troubled at this thing but when any of them comes to themselves give them if they will take it some kind of warm broth The Virgins answered him That they would willingly do And so the Doctor together with the Layman departed and went together to the Doctors Cell Where the Layman said to the Doctor What think you Reverend Sir did ever the like matter befal you since you were born you see now what great things God doth work by a fit Instrument And I doubt not but very many more will be sensible of this your Sermon and what was done at it For they will tell one another Wherefore I shall like it well if you please that you would suffer these your weak Sons and Daughters to rest a while For truly this Sermon will find them work enough for a long time But I verily think many would reap much benefit if you would likewise God permitting Preach to the secular men For now during this time of Lent they will more readily run to Sermons And I believe very many will flock together the more because of this Sermon which you preached to day Master If you advice me to it dear Son I will willingly follow your counsel And as I remember this next Sabbath day is the Feast of the Virgin S. Gartrude Layman And pray what is the Gospel appointed for that day Master It is concerning the Woman taken in adultry and brought to Christ But whatever the Gospel be for that day I intend not to stick only to that But will easily take from thence some sentence or other which shall be the scope of my whole Sermon and from it I will take occasion as Divine Grace shall assist me to set before Mens Eyes their sins and Iniquities Neither do I much care what becomes of me for so doing Though I easily believe that first this will be my portion my Brethren will do what they can to expel me out of the Monastery for I am resolved neither to flatter them nor any body else but will simply speak the naked truth as the Lord shall enable me neither will I balk that though I should be therefore to suffer death Layman Truly I believe Sir for these two or three hundred years or more by past there hath not been so much need to speak the naked Truth simply and seriously as now in these our days Wherefore be not at all moved with whatever can happen For if you be not suffered to abide here you may be some where else and wheresoever you be God will in no wise forsake you The Master therefore gave order to one that at the end of his Sermon he should give notice to the People that he intended to Preach the next Sabbath day which was consecrated to St. Gartrude When that day came a very great multitude of Men of divers ranks came together to hear the Doctors Sermon Who coming at the time appointed Thus began his Discourse A Sermon of the Doctors Preached to the People in which he sharply reproves Sin VVHat shall I say or where shall I begin my Discourse Dearly Beloved seeing 't is obvious to every Eye how ill it is with us in many things and unless we amend our Lives undoubtedly things will grow worse and worse and more dangerous But before I enter upon my Discourse I earnestly beg this of you all that none of you would take that grievously which I shall say unto you For truly it is more needful at this time to speak the Truth plainly and openly then it hath been any time these two or three hundred years or upwards Whereupon I have resolved with my self to reprove the Faults of us all in general and not at all to flatter any man but without any daubing obscure glosses or comments to speak simply and nakedly whatever the Lord shall teach or suggest to me being ready for the Love of God to undergo any thing that shall be laid upon me for this cause But if I shall be hindred by the shortness of the time to finish now what I have to say I shall at another time if liberty be granted me make an end of it Truly I have purposed to handle so many things in this Sermon that I will neither meddle with the Gospel for the day nor speak any thing of blessed Gartrude to whom the day is consecrated nor mingle any Latine sentences in my Discourse that so I may have the longer time to speak what I intend I have only taken for my Text a Verse or two out of this days Gospel upon which I will only insist The Words are these The Pharisees bringing a Woman taken in Adultry to our Lord set her in the midst and accused her that she ought to be stoned The Lord said unto them He that is without Sin among you let him cast the first stone When they heard this they went one after another out of the Temple Verily Beloved if in these our days our Lord Jesus Christ should speak the same Words to us Christians I verily believe very few of us could remain behind who ought not to go forth And least whilst I am reproving others for their faults I should seem to pass by my own and the sins of our Order I will begin with my self and my Brethren the Preachers and Confessors How many think you of us would stay behind upon these Words of our Saviour who being conscious to themselves of no sin would not be compelled to go forth Truly we are called and accompted poor and live upon the Patrimony of the Crucifix that is upon the Almes of the faithful But how worthily in all things we answer this our calling the Lord knows and the Devil knows Truly I fear there are very few among us who in hearing confessions do purely love God and aim at his Glory Of which thing this is an evident Argument that for the most part we are more ready to hear the confessions of the Rich than of the Poor And that this is so is plain by this If any such of us be taking
prepared for his pure and naked essence for so it is necessary that the soul be naked and empty that it may be capable of his secret misteries Wherefore there is a necessity that every one endeavor to cut off all those things in which he findeth any thing of Self Of the DEATH of the MASTER and how after his Departure he appeared to his Friend the LAYICK giving him an account of his severe and horrible departure out of the body declaring that he endured that instead of his Purgatory and also assuring him of that huge Joy and everlasting Felicity which he had obtained from God by means of his wholsome Doctrine HEre we must by no means let passe how the oft before-mentioned Master did daily make proficiency in a true humble and spiritual life and encreased very much in vertue Yea verily he was made so prudent in the grace of God that whatever was to be done in that City or Country where he dwelt whether it had been Spiritual or Secular all much desired to make use of his Counsel and Wisdom because he was acceptable to them and they had confidence in him and puttrust in him and did obey his counsels He made also very many Sermons as well to Secular as Spiritual men after the form of those which we have already above recited And when he had laudably finished nine years in this so profitable and fruitful life and as it is said was acceptable and dear unto all in all that Country and Town These nine years being finished it pleased the most high God to receive unto himself this his Servant and beloved Friend and no longer to leave him in this exile And because he had decreed to translate him to the celestial Mansions without Purgatory he suffered him to fall into grievous and lasting pain and sickness of body so that he lay for twenty weeks sick of a Palsie and suffered very sharp torments When twenty weeks were now expired he by Divine Grace understood not obscurely that within a few dayes he should depart this world and that God would put an end to his torments Knowing this he desired his servants that they would take care to bring his Layick unto him and that they should acquaint him with his approach and departure and that he had no small desire to have him present with him when he died Without delay when the Layick knew hereof obeying the Master he came to him speedily and being very familiarly received he enquired how it was with him To whom the Master answered Truly I think that that day is not very far off wherein the Lord will take me out of this world Wherefore you may know that it will be very acceptable to me and no lesse comfortable if you will vouchsafe your presence with me when I die But saith he I would entreat you that you will take those Paper Books in which you shall find diligently written all whatever hath for a long time been spoken or transacted between us There is also something of my Life some things which God vouchsafed to work by me his miserable and unworthy Servant And if you shall see fit and the Lord grant leave compile them all into one little Book To these things the Layick gave this Answer Behold Sir I have by me five of your Sermons which I writ from your mouth if therefore you think fit I will put them in among your other Writings that of them all one little Volumn may be put forth under your Name To whom the Master answered I entreat and beseech you dear son with as much love as I am able That you put not out any thing for my sake nor under my name Neither indeed are they mine neither would I they should be known either in my life or after my death But they are all Gods who vouchsafed to do them by me a miserable wretch But yet if you do think that it may be profitable to my neighbours and make for their edification to publish those things I am not against it but that they may be set forth only with this caution that you mention not me or my name But you may write after this manner to wit The Master said or did this or that alwayes concealing my name But be careful of this that when you have compiled this Book you deliver it to no body in this City to read lest peradventure they should apprehend it to be mine but rather carry it away with you into your Country Finally the Master had many other good discourses with his Layick for eleven dayes together even to the hour wherein he gave up the ghost When that hour was come he said thus to he Layick I would fain dear son have on your part your consent That if it shall please God I may return unto you in spirit after my Death To whom the Layick answered If it shall said he seem good unto God I shall like it well that his will may be done in this matter Moreover when the Master was even at the point of death falling into an Agony he expressed such horrible and fearful gestures that his Brethren and as many as were present from the sight of those gestures fell into no small fear affright and sorrow And so at last he ended his last hour as much as can be gathered from external signs with great horror And when he was now dead almost all the City were moved because he was exceeding dear to them all universally Furthermore when as some of that place had taken notice how familiarly the oft-mentioned Layick stuck to him to the last they went about to honour him and invite him to their feasts But when he perceived this he presently fled from the City into his own Country Being onward upon his journey and travelling now upon the third day about Sun-set he came to a certain Village And because he could not farther travel by reason it began to be dark neither could find in that Village any publick Inn he requested a certain honest man whom by chance he met in the way to lodge him and his servant and bid him take of him what he pleased To whom the man answered that he was ready with a willing mind to do what he desired if he would accept of such entertainment as he could make him and accordingly took them in to lodge them he lodged the Layick after the best fashion he could but brought his servant into a barn upon straw After they were layen down the Layick being awake in the night heard a kind of slender voice near him yet could see nothing thereby he began to be a little affrighted Then the voice speak to him thus Fear not dear son for I am the Master When the Layick heard this he said I would very willingly know of you Sir if at least it be the will of the Lord how it is with you and what was the cause that as far as we could perceive you finished your life so horribly and fearfully Verily some of your Brethren began as it were to doubt of you and truly I fear lest your severe end hath offended some of them To which the voice of the Master answered thus I will even now open those things to you Be certain it was so decreed of God that my soul assoon as it was gone out of my body should be received by the holy Angels and by them be defended from the Devils that they should bring me no further trouble nor that I should any more see them nor have any thing more to do with them afterwards And therefore it behoved me to shut up my life with so fearful an end and to undergo it instead of Purgatory And in truth the malignant spirits did bind me fast with so great perplexities and did assault me with such subtile and crafty falacies and deceits that I thought I should have utterly despaired And if my voice had not been taken away I had sent forth such cryes that it had been wonderfull to have seen my calamity hence might my Agony which my Brethren did discern have been taken notice of But God Almighty rendered me a plentiful reward for that pain and torment for as soon as my soul was gone out of my body it was received by the holy Angels who brought it into Paradise telling me that there I must wait five dayes without fear or care neither fear that the Devil should henceforth do me any mischief and finally that I should undergo no more labour only I should want for those five dayes the glorious society of the heavenly Inhabitants which being performed I should be wholly clean and that then they would return with joy and bring me with great exaltation into inestimable never to be ended joyes More than this dear son enquire nothing of me for I have now told you what-ever I can tell you neither have I any licence to adde any thing further But I beseech my God that he would blesse you and that he would be your eternal rewarder in everlasting joyes for that faithful Instruction and wholsom Counsel you gave me Then the Layick said I beseech you my honored Master when you shall come unto God earnestly intercede with him for me After that whatever the Laick did either ask or speak it was in vain neither could he get so much as one answer more from him Which when he perceived he endeavoured as much as he could to take a little rest but in vain for he could not sleep one wink and so lay awake impatiently expecting day Day breaking he took his Pen and diligently wrote to the Prior and Brethren of the dead Master how he had appeared unto him and all his words he had spoke to him The eternal Truth our Lord JESUS CHRIST grant to us that we may conform our selves to his lovely and dilectable Image and follow it to our utmost power to his praise and glory Amen To God Almighty thanks FINIS