haue among the which there is non more assured then this when we are resigned content that death if Gods blessed will were such should seaze vpon vs in this time this Article this worke we are a doing Consider whether you be ready or prepared or no to answere if God should call you at this instant like vnto holy Iob put your selfe often to this proofe examine your selfe frequently vpon this interrogation VVould you be content if you were presently to dy and if vpon this examination and tryall you find your selfe well content to be taken by death from that Action you do and that moment in which you make this reflection on it you haue good reason to thinke that all goes right well with you to be much comforted therewith but if one the contrary you do not find your selfe resigned immediatly to dy neither to aÌ„swer to the voyce of God if he should call you away in those circuÌ„stances those actioÌ„s and that time but that you could willingly require a further day to end som busines which you haue yet in designe doth import you much it is no good signe but rather a manifest proofe that you proceed with great negligence not with that care of your spirituall profit which becomes a good Religious man Seing as that holy man says if you had a good conscience you would haue no feare of death and consequently fearing it so much as you do it is a signe that the reckoning of your conscience goeth not well that it will be troubled to mak a good account VVe should rather feare sin then death That Steward who hath his accountes ready and faythfully made desires and wishes for to giue theÌ„ vp whereas he who hath them perplext and intricat feares nothing more then the time when he is to render them vp and seekes all possible excuses to differ and put it of B. Father Borgia was wont to say that it was a good exercise for a Religious to dispose himselfe to dye well one at least euery foure and twenty houres that so he should come to haue good successe in all his actions when he should say vnto himself euery day quotidie morior I dye euery day Let vs in like manner enter euery day into our selues and often exact an accoumpt of our selues according to this reckoning when if we find our selues nithat preseÌ„t moment and circumstance not well disposed to dy let vs begin then at least for to prepare our selues against its coÌ„ming and that article of time vpon which a whole eternity depends and imagin that God Almighty vpon our humble petition hath grauÌ„ted vs vnto this end a longer terme of life which we are therefore carefully to spend in such manner as if with euery Action we were to coÌ„clude our life Oh how happy is he who so liues as he would be content to be found wheÌ„ he comes to dye It is on of the profitablest things which we can commend in our sermons vnto secular people that they should liue in such manner as they desire to be found at the houre of their death that they shold not differ their conuersion and doing penance Thom. de Kempts Greg. hoâ— 12. â— Euangelâ—â— seing to morrow is vncertayne and who knowes whether he shall liue vnto it or no He who hath promited pardon to the penitent hath not promised to morrow to them when they sinne sayth S. Gregory vpon the occasion of that Example of Chrysaorius which he recounts who surprised by death which he had dallyed with and forsaken by the Angels whome he had contemned incompassed with Diuells whome he had followed and humoured and rowling his eyes fearfully about cryed out with a horrible voyce inducias vsque manè inducias vsque manè haue truce with me but till to morrow haue truce which me but til to morrow but al in vayne for before the next days light was he hurryed from the night of this world vnto that more terrible darkenesse of Hell and from this life wherin he had so much time for to do pennance vnto an eternity of torments worse then death it selfe there to bewayle for euer that pretious time which he had so vainly spent It is a common saying that there is nothing more certayne then death and nothing more vncertayne then the houre of it Luc. 12.14 and our Sauiour says yet more in the Euangell Be ready and prepared since the sonne of man shall come in an houre when you looke not for him where although he speake of the day of Iudgment we may notwithstanding vnderstand him as speaking of the houre of death since that presently vpon that all shall receaue their particular iudgment which sentence is the same as shall be confirmed by the Generall one without any mitigation or alteration at all Moreouer our Sauiour doth not only say that this houre is vncertaine that we know not when it shall arriue but also that it shall come when we least thinke on it and perhaps likewise when we are least prepared which is that which S. Paul saies 1. ad Tit. 5.2 Apoc. 3.13 It shall come like a thief in the night And S. Iohn in his Apocalyps I will come to thee like a thiefe and thou knowest not the houre when I shall come to thee When a thiefe intendes to goe to rob any place he watches his tyme vntill there is no suspition of any such matters when they are all otherwise busyed or a sleep and so our Sauiour Christ doth teach vs by this similitude with what watchfullnes we ought alwaies to attend the houre of death vnto the end it find vs not vnproued when it comes For be sure of this sayth he that if the Maister of the house knew what houer the theef would come he would certaintly watch not suffer him to breake into his house but because he doth not know what houre he will come whether at euening at midnight or before day breake or els in the morning therefore he stands always vpon his guard that his house may not be broken open August in Psal 144. super illa verba Misericors miserator Dominus his goods stolne away so ought we to be always ready since death comes when we least thinke of it The Holy Doctours do consider froÌ„ hence the great Mercy of God Almighty towards vs in keeping vs still in suspence and vncertayne expectation of the houre of death to the end Greg. hâ— 13. super Eu. lib. 12. moral cap. 20. that we may put our selues always in a redynes against its coming for otherwise if men knew for certayne how long they were to liue it would be the occasion of the great negligence grieuous offeÌ„ce of many Bonau de profect religios lib. 1. cap. 17. For they who can liue thus negligently and carles of their soules good when they are not certayne of one houres life what would they doe if
colour that you shall not remember that so well afterward which is then presented vnto you shal set vpō you euen frō thence may you perceaue that they are not thoughtes proceeding from God but from the enemy seeing that God is no friend of disorder and confusion but of peace quietnes and order and therfore consequently all such thoughts as bereaue you of your quiet and peace and put you in disorder come not from God Almighty but from the Diuell who is authour of such disquietnes and confusion Chase therefore all such tentations from your thoughts and haue a firme hope and confidence on God Almighty that he so long as you behaue your selfe as you ought will not be wanting in due tyme place to lend you all necessary ayd that with aduantage to the performance of your other affaires how euer there may present themselues vnto you at such tyme some circūstance or other with neuer so faire pretensions some forcible argument some witty answere yet cast all quietly out of your mind and assure your selfe you shall rather gayne then loose any thing thereby Scientia quae pro virtute despicitur per virtutem postmodum melius inuenitur sayth Saint Bonauenture Knowledge which for vertue is neglected is aftewardes by vertue better obteyned And M. Auila saith when the care of any businesse doth come into your mind at any vnreasonable time you are to say vnto it My Lord hath giuen me no commission to treat or thinke of this matter for the present and therefore you must excuse me when he shall be pleased that I shall deale about it there shall want no diligence of myne An other means to do our Actions well which it so to performe each on as if it were the last thing we were to doe CHAP. V. THE fourth means which the Holy Fathers teach vs to do our Actions well is so do euery particular thing as if it were to be the last Action that euer we should do in this life S. Bernard prescribing vnto Religious men in what manner they are to do their Actions says Let him demaund of himself in euery worke he doth if you were presently to dy would you do this or no And S. Basill saies Haue always the last day of your life before your eyes when you rise in the morning doubt whether you shall liue till the euening or no and when you do compose your selfe at night to rest do not confide to see the sunnes light any more and this to the end that you may the better refrayne your selfe from falling into sinne And with how much reason may we alwayes awayt for death our selues whome we see alwaies so conuersant with our neighbours This dyes with sicknesse an other is drowned at sea one is kild by theeues vpon the way an other by murtherers in the Citty many by Pyrats are made away in all places at all times and of all ages and conditiō death spars no man what a thing is this saith an other holy man what a thing is this men see nothing more frequently then death yet there is nothing which they lesse remēber Seeing therfore death lays wayt for vs at euery tyme we ought likewise in al places at al times and in all occasions to be ready for it this would be an efficatious meanes to make vs performe all our Actions well and is that of which S. Anthony made particular vse to stirre vp his Disciples vnto the study of vertue and perfection What shall we say of that Heathen whose sentence this is You will not be able to spend this day well vnles you imagine it to be the last of your life and that of the Poet Horace Omnem crede diem tibi diluxisse supremum Thinke euery day thou seest to be thy last If we did but informe all our actiōs with this same thought of death we should do them which more feruour perfectiō then now we do With what deuotion should I say Masse now if I knew for certaine it were the last Masse which I should euer say that I should haue no time beyond this to doe any thing or merit more With how much feruour attension should I pray if I knew it were the last prayer I should make that I should neuer haue that commodity agayne to beg pardon of God Almighty for my sinnes and implore his sauing Mercy Therefore it is become a Prouerbe If you would learne to pray go to sea when we haue death before our eyes we pray with otherguese feruour then now we do We read of a certaine Religious man a great seruant of God Almighty that he was accustomed to confesse himselfe euery day before he went to celebrat Holy Masse this holy mā once falling sicke his Superior perceauing his sicknes to be mortall told him in order to his duty how the case stood with him and therfore wisht him to prepare himselfe by a good cōfession vnto whom the Blessed man lifting vp his hands towards heauen blessing praying God Almighty answered for these thirty yeares and more I haue confessed my selfe euery day as if I were presently afterwards to dy which is the cause that for the present I haue only need to reconcile my selfe as if I were only to go to Masse It was most wisely done of him and an example worthy all imitation so ought we to go to holy confession and communion as if we were presently to dy and doing all our Actions in conformity to this we shall come to make our confession at the houre of death not with the anxiety of men now in dying but with that sweetnesse and comfort of men now going to the holy Communion this pace if we always kept death should neither ouer take vs before we were aware nor take vs vntimely out of this mortall life And this is the best prayer the exquisitest deuotion to prouid our selues so that death may neuer come vntimly to vs. Math. 2 ◠46. Blessed is that seruāt saith our Sauiour Christ whome his master when he comes shall find so doing so watchfull so prepared for to dy Iob. 14.14 This was the life of holy Iob. Euery day of this warfar of myne saith he I do expect when the change of me wil come I make account that euery day is the last of my life do thou call me and I will answere the O Blessed Lord call me away when you please behold me here prepared and ready for to answere and appeare before you at all times at all houres when you shall summon One of the best signes which one hath to know whether al stand right or no betwixt God and himselfe is if he be alwayes prepared and ready to aunswere in all times and occasions when God shall call him I speake not of any infallible assurance since there is non such in this life without some extraordinary reuelation but of probable and morall coniectures such as ordinarily we
his dayes in negligence and tepidity what hope of any remedy to mak him amend himselfe Since their eares are so accustomed to the hearing of these thinges discoursed of as that which commonly suffices and is enough to moue incite others to better life passeth only lightly by their eares and makes no motion or impression at all And this is the right vnderstanding of that so celebrated sentence of S. Augustine where he sayth Aug. Epis ad plebem Hiponensâ— From that tyme in which I begun to serue God Almighty as I haue rarely found any better men theÌ„ those who haue gone forwards in monasticall discipline so haue I neuer met with worse then those who haue falen and decayed in Monasteries S. Bernard doth also testify that rarely any of those Religious men who decay in spirit and fall from their first feruour do euer get vp againe recouer that degree from wheÌ„ce they fel but that rather they are still falling from worse to worse which is that sayth S. Bernard which the Prophet Hieremy deplores Bern. ser 3. infesto Apo. Pet. Pauli How is the gold obscured How is that best of colours changed How is this prime beauty decayd and withered They who were nourished in scarlat who were graced by God Almighty with all the fauours he could euen bestow vpon them in prayer Hierem. 4 1. v. 5. all the blessinges he could send them downe from heauen haue imbraced filth taken delight in all shamefull foulnes and misery And therefore commonly speaking there is but little hope of those who begin to decay and loose spirit in Religion which is a thing we ought to haue a liuely feeling and a great horrour of and the reason of it is that which we haue toucht vpon before because they grow worsewith frequeÌ„t vse of the remedies and become more sicke when those medicines are applyed vnto them which ordinarily bring health to other folkes what remedy can there be found out for such as these They hold with good reason his health for desperate who growes not better but rather worse with the medicines which should cure him and this is the reason which makes vs haue such an apprehension and horrour of the fall of a Religious man whereas we are not much moued with the impayring of seculars When a Physitian sees a sicke man very faint and languishing or finds him by his pulse broght low and weake it seemes no extraordinary thing vnto him but when he obserues the same symptomes or ill dispositions in a man that is strong and lusty he holdes it for a very dangerous signe since such an effect cannot proceed from any thing els then from some peccant humour predominating in the body which is the forerunner of some great sicknesse or ineuitable death And so is it in this for if a secular man chaunce to fall into any sinne it is no new thing nor strange for one who passeth his life in so great negligence confessing but once a yeare liuing among such frequent occasions of falling into sinne but if a Religious man who is sustayned with so much frequency of Sacramentes so many prayers and such a number of holy exercises if he I say come once to fall it is a signe of a decayed vertue of a long rooted weaknes and of approaching ruine and therefore with good reason is it to be feared so much Bernard vhi supra But I say not this sayth S. Bernard to discourage you especially if being fallen you desire presently to aryse againe knowing that the longer you differre your amendment you render it to effect the more hard difficille but only to refraine you from sinning from falling and from decaying in spirit Notwithstanding if any one should through frailty chaunce to fall or stumble we haue a good Aduocate our Sauiour Christ to plead our cause with his eternall Father who can do that which to vs is impossible Deare children sayth S. Iohn I write this vnto you Ioan. 2.1 to the end you may not sinne but if any one shall chaunce to sinne we haue an Aduocate with the Father Iesus Christ and therefore no man is to despaire seeing that if he hartily conâ—â—â—t himselfe to God there is no doubt of his obtaining mercy If the Apostle S. Peter after so long a discipline in the schoole of Christ and so many graces and fauours receaued of him did notwithstanding come to fall so grosly and from so low a fall as the denying of his Lord and Master come againe to rise vnto so high and excellent estate who shall dispaire hereafter being once fallen for to get vp againe Haue you sinned Whilest you were in the world sayth S. Bernard could your sinne be more grieuous then S. Pauls Haue you sinned since your comming to Religion Can it be more enormious then Saint Peters Seeing then these holy Saints by harty sorrow pennance haue not only obtayned pardon of their sinnes but merited to arriue vnto so high and eminent perfection as we know doe you but imitate their sorrow and their pennance and you shall not only recouer that state in which you were but also proceed vnto a higher and more excellent perfection How much it imports Nouices to bestow the tyme of their Nouiciat well and to accustome themselues then to do their Actions well CHAP. IX VVE may gather from that which hath been sayd how much it importes Nouices to make good vse of their tyme of Nouiciate to accustome theÌ„selues from that their beginning to do al the exercises of Religion exactly and with great diligence The first rule of the Master of the Nouices in the Society declars this cleerely vnto vs in a briefe manner which is not directed only vnto vs but also to all other Religious persons in general Re. 1. Magistra Nouitiorum He shall vnderstand says the Rule that there is a thing of great moment comitted vnto him For the prouing of which two weighty reasons are alleadged to make the Master of the Nouices more vigilant ouer his charge and more sensible of the importance of the thing committed to his care the first is because on the first institution of the Nouices for the most part dependes their ensuing profit the other Because the hope of the Society in our Lord doth likewise consist therein And to declare these two reasons more in particular I say first of all that on this first education and habit of vertue which the Nouices first put on depends morally speaking all their aduancement or detriment in spirit all their feruour or remisnesse as we haue said in the precedent chapter For of one who passeth ouer his Nouiciat tepidly with negligeÌ„ce there is scarcely any reason we caÌ„ haue to hope that he will become more feruent or obseruant hereafter but on the contrary there are many presumptions pregnant reasons to doubt the contrary But to explicat more clearly this verity
Brothers and the rest of the family the Apostles and Disciples of our Lord she came to do her workes with exceeding diligence and cheerefulnes hauing her thoughts in the middest of all the drudgeries of the Kitchin only vpon Iesus Christ her spouse Hier. super illud Isaiae cap. 38.10 Ego dixi in annidio inioying his presence alwayes and being continually in his company within that holy of Holyes in her soule And so would she frequētly afterwardes when her Ghostly Father had any iourney in hand or were otherwise much pressed with busines Greg. l. 35 mor. c. 35. super illud Iob. 42. Mortuus est Senex plenus dierum giue him the like counsaile saying Father build a cell within your selfe neuer go out of it Let vs also doe the like and we shal not find our selues distracted with exteriour functions but they will rather help vs to be euer in prayer and Meditation How good and profitable it is to doe our Actions in the foresayd manner CHAP. X. SVCH workes as we haue spoken of are called full and perfect workes and those who liue in such manner according to S. Hierome S Gregory are sayd by the Holy Scripture to be full of dayes although they haue liued but a litle tyme and dy in their young yeares Sap. 4.13 following this sentence of the Wisemā Hauing finished in a short space he hath fulfilled a long tyme. But how can a man in a short space liue many yeares Would you know how By doing full and compleate workes and liuing whole dayes Et dies pieni inuenientur in eis Psal 24.17 This second place doth explicate the first and a good Religious man and faythfull seruant of God Almighty from morning vntill night from the euening to the next morning liues a complete day of foure twenty houres since that he imployes all that tyme in the fullfilling of the will of God and he euen passes vpon the account of God Almighty his tymes of eating recreation and taking his naturall rest since he doth them not but only as they are the will of God directs them all vnto his greater glory He doth not eate for any gust or pleasure which he takes in it as the beastes do neither seeks he his own satisfactiō and content in those other thinges but would willingly be without them if it were Gods blessed will O Lord that men could but liue without eating drinking and passing sometime in decent recreation That they might alwayes loue thee without need of hauing recourse vnto these miseries of the body De necessitatibus meis erue me Psal ibid. O Lord deliuer me from these necessities and miseryes that I may be wholy imployed in louing thee that I may bestow my selfe vpon thee alone But I see well that this is not to be hoped for in this life and that the iust man ought to beare patiently though with griefe the condition of this calamitous state of ours Let vs demand of some such holy persons as Iob Dauid were how they did carry themselues in like occasions and then one wil answeare vs I sighed before I eate Iob. 3 24. and mingled my drinke with teares The other I will wash my bed euery night Psal 100.10 Psal 6.7 and will water my couch with teares And in this māner must we weep when we go to rest and say O deare Lord must I be heere so long without being mindfull of thee Heu mihi quia incolatus meus prolongatus est Alas that my captiuity is yet prolonged VVhen will you recall me from this banishment Psal 119.5 VVhen will you set me free from this Captiuity Erue de custodia aenimam meam Psal 141. O my God when will you lead me out of the prison of this body that I may wholy bestow my selfe vpon you Oh when shal this be Alas why doth this houre differre to come Greg. l. 35 moral c. 15 Behold heer those full dayes and compleat workes we spake of in this manner a iust man in a little tyme liues long and makes of a few dayes of life many yeares of merit Whereas he who hath liued ill and mispent the dayes of his life dyes void and empty of dayes although otherwise he were aged Iob. 7.3 and had liued long tyme. Habui menses vacuos this because he had spent vnprofitably his yeares and dayes Gen. 47.9 and therfore may say with good reason The dayes of my yeares are few and nothing worth S. Hierome vpon these wordes of King Ezechias when he was deliuered frō his sicknes by the Prophet Isaias Isa 38.10 I haue sayd in the middest of my dayes I will goe to the gates of hell obserues that the Saints and holy men alwayes accomplish their dayes as Abraham Gen. 25.8 of whome the holy Scripture sayes That he dyed in a good old age and full of dayes but that the wicked dye alwayes in the midest of their dayes yea they doe not arriue so farre Psalm 54.24 according to that saying of the Prophet Bloody deceitfull men shall not liue the one halfe of their dayes because they haue passed ouer their yeares vnprofitably And so the holy Scripture calles a sinner of a hundred yeares Puer centum annorum Isa 65.20 a child of a hundred yeares and addes that such an one shal be accurst Because a child of a hundred yeares shall dy and a sinner of a hundred yeares shall be accurst Since he hath not liued like a man but as a child Whence it comes that death alwayes cuts off the wicked vntimly as it were before they are ripe and so such at the arriuall of death do ordinarily say Oh that I had at least but one yeare more to liue for to doe pennance in and so likewise it happens with tepide negligent Religious men who although it be many yeares since they haue worne the habit haue yet but liued a few dayes in Religion 3. part l. 8 cap. 27. Hist Min. de F. Gerardo We read in the Chronicles of S. Frācis Order of one of those holy Religious who being demanded of another how long he had beene Religious answered not one minute and the other being much amazed to heare it not vnderstanding what he meant by it he tould him I know that I haue worne the habit of a Miny-brother this threescore fiue yeares but for as much as concernes the workes of one I doe not know whether I haue beene a minute God graūt that but too too many of vs may not say with truth what this good holy man said out of humility We must not make account of our long being in religion but our well liuing in it Diuers sayth Thomas of Kempis count the yeares of their conuersion but often times there is but little amendment a few dayes of a good life are more worth then many yeares of an ill and negligent For