vncertaine our youth may deceiue vs as it hath done many our manhoode or middle age is not priuiledged our ould age cannot last longe What then must we doe but with S. Augustine quitt the vncertaine and forth-with fixe vppon the certaine meanes a good penitentiall life to preuent the danger of that which cannot otherwise be auoyded by mortall man THE SECONDE POINTE. Nothinge more certaine for the thinge nothinge lesse certaine as to the manner Consider that as we are most certaine that dye we must as vncertaine when soe are we noe lesse ignorant where and how this irreuocable sentence is to be executed Shall it be in France or in England at Paris or in the Coūtry at home or abrode in our chābers or in the Church or Garden Shall it be by a violent accidentall or naturall death Shall we be found dead in our beds as we haue seene some heard of many Or else be wrought downe by a lōge and lingeringe disease in the presence of many Shall we finally haue the benefit of the Sacraments which we now haue with soe much ease yea want not without blame To all this the wisest amonge men is not able to answer That dye we must is appointed by a reproachlesse iustice but when but where but how mercy saith S. Augustine hath concealed that we might expect attend prouide for it in all times places occurrences AFFECTION and RESOL. If certainely we must dye my soule yet neither Know when where nor how and if vppon that certaine vncertaine houre an eternity of blisse or woe depends what a necessity is put vppon vs if we will not for moments loose eternities to be ready in all tymes places We Know not my soule we Know not when where or how death may surprise vs onely this wee Know that we haue yet an houre left vs to rise out to four slumber and it is now his present houre Now then without further delay will we by Gods grace dye to that that that c. that death findinge vs already dead may not be able to hurt vs but onely translate vs to à life which Knowes nor feares not death THE II. MEDITATION FOR THE SAME DAY Nothing more dreadfull to the obstinate sinner then death THE FIRST POINTE. COnsider that as death contaynes the greatest certaintie and withall the greatest vncertaintie imaginable so it bringes alonge with it the greatest dreade and the greatest comforte possible That to the obstinate sinner this to the humble penitent The sinner vpon the approche of death hath all the sinnes of his whole life placed before his eyes which he still placed behinde his backe and would neither see them nor sorrowe for them which now the vile Tempter aggrauates and makes appeare in their vttermost inorminitie And hence the sinner begins before hand to suffer the tormentes which he alwayes beleeued tho fruitlessely through his obstinacie to be due to his crymes And thus Knowing his guilt and the punishment most iustly due to the same he deeply apprehends it a thinge full of horrour to fall into the hands of a liuing God Thence he rages and despaires seeing himselfe vpō the verie brinke of endlesse perdition and readie to be deliuered vp into the hands of his cruell Tormenteres for all eternitie AFFECTION and RESOLVT O horrour which hath nothing equall to it To apprehend ones selfe to be vpon the verie brinke of eternall perditiō O daunting dreade incomparably surpassing all that ought to be dreaded To be within a moment of falling into the hands of that euer-liuing Maiestie which is able to throw both the body and soule into Hell fire What riches honours pleasures were they neuer so opulent superlatiue and prosperous and remayned they too till that moment in their full possession wheras indeede they all are vanished away like nightly dreames were able to conteruayle so daunting and damning a disaster O my soule those accursed wretches shall then say with in themselues repenting and sighing too late for anguish of spirit What hath pride profited vs Or what aduantage hath the vaunting of riches brought vs Or what comfort hath the most prosperous pleasure of our whole life now left vs. Alas alas none at all but contrarilie a comfortlesse fruitlesse endlesse peniteri THE II. POINTE. Nothing more confortable to the humble penitent Consideration But when the innocent and iust soule or the poore humble penitent perceiues death to creepe vpon her she lifts vp her lōge deiected heade with ioy because her redemption is euen at hand She had vsed her best endeuours mournfully to purge her sinnes in the bloud of the lambe who was slaughtered for vs and thence she cōceiues an humble confidence to meere with mercy and to be ioyfully admitted in to that celestiall mariage of his In fine she eyes death as the immediate obiect of her ioy since it alone has power to deliuer her out of her loathed prison of flesh and to deliuer her vp into the deare hands and diuine imbraces of her dearest spouse whom she loues alone AFFECTION and RESOLV Sitt downe seriously my soule and count to what a high degree of consolation it will then amounte to heare those heauenly inuitations of the heauenly spouse saying come come my spouse thou shalt be Crovvned Crowned I say vvith that crovvne of iustice vvhich is layd vp for and by a iuste Iudge shall be rendered to them that loue his coming The shewers of repentāt teares are now blowen ouer the sharpe winter of temptations tribulations vexations and crosses which we willingly endured for the loue of God are quite gone ryse vp my friend and come O what excesse of deare delight shall that happie soule inioye at that houre THE FIRST MEDITAT FOR THE FIFTH DAY Of Iudgment THE FIRST POINTE. COnsider that dye wee must that is this soe much neglected soule of ours must be turned out of the body which was pampered caressed too carefully looked to by vs presently after death Iudgment saith the great Apostle we must all of vs be brought and be made manifest before Christs Tribunall that euery one beare away accordinge to his woorks We haue left the world vnwillingly while willingly the world leaues vs the dearest freind that euer we had will not goe alonge with our abandoned soule nor euen permitt the body which they loued to ly foure and twentie houres in the Roome with them They that offended with vs will not answer for vs but leaue vs alas to answer all alone AFFECTION and RESOL. Aye me vppon what is it that we fixe our hopes is' t vppon our selues but alas these muddle walls fall the immortall inhabitant is turned our Vppon the freinds that we haue purchased by sinne or other wise but they haue left vs our body is throwne into the earth our poore soule is left alone to be iudged Ah how much better were it saieth S. Augustine to chuse him for our freind aboue all
vs and we so vngratefull to him as greatly and frequently to haue offended his diuine Maiestie Since he so souuerainly hates sinne wherâ—of we stand guiltie Since death is so vncertaine iudgement so dreadfull Hell so intolerable and the ioyes of Heauen prepared for vs so ineffablely great consider I say what a necessitie is put vpon vs if our hartes be touched either with dreade of vnspeakable torments or loue of Beatitude To make a good vse of the tyme which by Gods mercy we yet haue to redeeme tyme lost to make hay whyle the sunne shines and to treasure vp the celestiall Manna before the sunne sett AFFECTION and RESOLV Noe my soule we will dare noe loÌ„ger to be so audaciously aduenterous as to triffle our pretious tyme with cold cras crasses But euen at this verie moment I will striue to conclude an eternall peace with God It is dreadfull to come too late to heare verily verily I know you not and to finde the dore shurt My conuersation therfor shall henceforth be in heauen and heauenly thinges I will descende into Hell aliue to obserue the horride torments of that gastly denne I will expect death at all houres since none knowes the houre indeede in which it may surprise me I will iudge my selfe without flatterie that I may not be more rigourously iudged I will endeuour in earnest and with my whole harte to hate sinne which God so soueraignely hates And the residue of my life shall be spent that by true and hartie pennance the onely true refuge after sinne I may take reuenge of my selfe according to S. Paule for hauing offended so gracious a Benefactour and so dreadfull a Maiestie THE SECONDE POINTE. Hovv vve are to returne to God by pennance according to S. Augustine Consider that the way to returne to God by pennance prescribed by S. Augustine is First as to the tyme to returne speedily and without all delay because he who promised pardon to the repentant sinner promised noe certaine tyme for him to repent in but willed him not to delay his conuersion Secondly as to the manner mournfully and with confusion Euery one ought to lament ouer himselfe as ouer a deade corps and expresse huge grones vpon his deade soule Thirdly in qualitie of Iudge Mounte into the Tribunall of your owne harte proue your owne Iudge and exercise iustice vpon your selfe And in the first place take your selfe from behind you where you endeuoured to hide your faults and not to be seene and stand araigned before your selfe Let feare torture you till a true confession burst out from an humbled harte and say to God I achnovvledge myne iniquitie and my sinnes are continually before myne eyes AFFECTION and RESOLVT My soule hauing thus speedily mounefully and with the iustice and rigour of an vnpartiall Iudge discussed our selues let vs presently humbly and confidently haue recourse to God for the rest We haue an vnhappie power in our selues to commit sinne Thy perdition is from thy selfe ô Israel but our saluation is from God alone To his mercy therfor which is aboue all his workes let vs betake our selues saying in the bitternesse of our harte Grant mercy ô Lord to that miserable wretch whom thou so longe sparedst in his crymes O immense pietie take compassion vpon a confessing cryminall O publike mercy looke vpon him with the eye of pitie who hath proued cruell against his owne soule ah I should apprehend my case in a manner desparate did I not bewaile it in the fight of an infinite goodnesse and conceiue my wounds incurable had I not recourse to an all-souueraigne Physition Let me perceiue the effects of thy myldnesse hauing so longe mercifully suspended the sword of reuenge and let the multitudes of my miseries be drunke vp in the multitudes of thy drainelesse mercyes THE II. MEDITATION FOR THE SAME DAY Hovv vve are to returne to God by the example of the Prodigall child THE FIRST POINTE. COnsider that the poore prodigall hauing consumed all his substance and rysing by Gods preuenting grace out of the sleepe of sinne where he had longe layd he said in himselfe hovv many hyrelings are there in my fathers house vvho haue bread in aboundance vvhile I lye staruing herevvith hunger I vvill therfor goe to my father and say vnto him Father I haue offended against heauen and against thee nor am I vvorthy to be called thy sonne treate me onely as one of thy hyrelings This was all the rhetoricke he vsed to witt a true acknowledgment of his owne miserie and offences and the plentie which was found in his fathers house And so tooke a pious resolution with the harte of a contrite and humbled child to returne to a gracious father and confesse his fault willing for his punishment to loose the title of a sonne for that of a poore hirelinge AFFECTION and RESOL. Thus it is my soule that we ought to enter into our selues by comparing the honour and plentie which we inioyed in our fathers house where a quiete conscience heauenly comforts benedictioÌ„s and graces doe abounde with the disasters disgrace and abandonments which experience made vs find and feel when like fugitiues we wandred abroad and were reduced at length to that excesse of miserie as to feede with swine Thus it is that we are to returne home againe by an humble confession of our faults to God and his Ministers hartily acknowledging that we are noe longer worthy of that noble Title of domestikes of God sonns of God coheires and spouses of Christ but onely of poore hirelings which we willingly imbrace Thus doe my soule and we shall infallibly be receiued into the open bosome of a tender father whose bowells are more prone to mercy then our miserable harts readie to craue it as we ought THE II. POINTE. Hovv vve are to returne to God by the example of B. Marie Magdalene Consider that that mirour of true penitents returned to God in the best manner imaginable that is with humilitie and loue mixed with teares c. Vt cognouit saith the Euangelist as soone as she knevv that Iesus vvas sett dovvne to table in the Pharisies house c. she entred with a pious impudence where she was not inuited and placed her selfe behind him at his feete she began to water his feete with teares and wiped them with the haires of her heade and kissed them c. She delayed not to witt the grace of the holie Ghost knovves noe sluggish delay She blushed not because the confusion which she felt within perswaded her that outward shame was not to be valued She spoke not where she knew that the language of a contrite harte was better heard and her teares the while more effectually spoke her errand So that she wrought her wrothfull Iudge to turne her pious Aduocate and to pronounce a fauourable sentence for her Thy sinns are forgiuen thee AFFECTION and RESOLV These indeede my soule are the blissed dispositions which leade vs to a perfect
is the most comon and dangerous desease of the banished sons of Eue. For who knowes not the eye which scandaliseth and inticeth vs to sinne and yet who hath the courage to pull it out Who sees not the hand which leads vs to iniquitie and yet who resolues to cutt it off indeed I meane the companions and occasions of euil nay we imbrace and hugge them and seeme to haue our hart sliced in peeces if we be deuided from them O how strangly peruerse and senselesly mad is the hart of man Make a firme Resolution of a contrarie proceeding THE III. MEDITATION A CONTINVATION OF the same subiect 1. POINT COnsider that we are not senselesse of our euil onely and fall in loue with our miserie but from the peruersenes of the same loue grovves lust by often yealding to lust vve make a custome and by not opposing to this custome which is a certaine law of sinne vve grovv subiect to a kind of necessitie vvherby the mynd of man euen not vvilling is dravvne and held as in chaynes in bitter seruitude AFFECTION and RESOLV Thus farre was our Augustine gone being carried downe by those stepps euen to the verie bottome of Hell And hither doe we also but too often finde our selues borne downe by the force of the streame But oh what a labour had he and haue we to row backe againe how did he turne and wind himselfe to breake his chaynes and yet was still deteyned and was suspended betwixt a dying to death and a liuing to life whilst he so feared least he should be deliuered from all impediments as he ought to haue feared the being hindred by them whilst begging for chastitie he was astrayd to be heard least he should haue bene instantly deliuered from the desease of concupiscence Whilst the violent custome of sinne shooke the garment of his soule made of flesh and blood and spoke softly to him in this sort Is it possible that thou canst thus dismisse vs And from this instant shall we neuer more be with thee And from this instant shall it neuer more be lawfull for thee to doe this or that any more for euer II. POINT Consider that while the violence of bad custome kept him captiue in sins Gaole he mett with nothing but extreame miserie want and famine His noble and vaste vnderstanding was afforded nothing but huskes of swine to feed vpon and yet was barred to be satisfied euen with such trash thas is idle perswasions of God and godly things emptie fancies glorious fictions which were serued vp deuoyde of that truth which alone is able to saciate it AFFECTION and RESOR Alas how often doe we hope to feed and fill our selues with such like trash in lieu of solide and saciating truth and we are therby onely puffed vp and swelled with the wind and smoke of vanitie which happens as often as we desire rather to appeare knowing then well doing or aspire to high things aboue vs with the neglect of the more profitable knowledge of our selues Let me know thee ô thou who knowest me let me know thee and know my selfe and let all other knowledges which lead not to these vanish like smoke III. POINT Consider that as his vnderstanding discouered no true light while he liued amidst that seruile darkenes but was ouer-wrought with the inquirie of Truth without attayning to the knowledge therof so did his will racke it selfe to meet with and inioye Good and yet could onely light on vnrest and disquiete My soule hath turned and tossed it selfe vp and downe vpon the backe vpon the sides and vpon the breast and it hath found all things hard For when I grew to obteyne my vnchaste desires in the midst of my iollitie I was tyed by miserable chaynes that so I might be beaten with the burning rodds of iealousies suspicions feares angers brawles c. AFFECTION and RESOLV And ô God how good thou wert to him and how good thou art to vs in so doing while being mercifully cruell thou sprinklest all our vnlawfull pleasures with extreame disgusts that so we may be drawne to the desire of seeking true pleasures which haue no mixture of disgusts so that we can find no permanent rest euen in the most prosperous delights the world can boast What meane we then still to trauaile and trudge on through these hard and paynefull wayes where by one torment we purchace another for we see and feele that the burden of sinne doth certainely and heauily oppresse vs. We will therfore returne into our owne harts and be reconciled and vnited to him that made vs we will stand with him that we may stand fast and repose in him that we may be truly at rest THE IV. MEDITATION Hovv he returned to his heauenly Fathers house and by vvhat stepps I. POINT COnsider that if Idlenes bad compagnie and neglect of good counsell did vnfortunately lead our B. Saint from his Fathers house he returned as happily backe againe by the quite contrarie stepps Run but ouer in your mynd the innumerable Treatises and volumes which he wrote and you will be so farr from cōceiuing he could be idle that you will much wonder when he could find tyme the actions necessarie to his function as preaching praying c. and the tyme spent in accōmodating neigh bour-iarrs being considered euen in a manner to write them ouer if you did not vnderstand by himselfe that he was forced to steale it from his rest I droue two workes at once saith he the one by day the other by night tyme when other imployments crouding in vpon me on all sides did euen permitt me so to doe AFFECTION c. See my soule see how now no moment is mispent but contrarily by the good imployment of tyme he redeemes lost tyme. The day is not enough to pay the malice of his lost dayes but the night must contribute to it too He takes the busines of the whole world vpon his shoulders He espouseth the solicitude of all the Churches with Saint Paule and all his tyme is spent in putting a helping hand to their aggreeuances II. POINT Consider that as he imployed an admirable good husbanding of tyme to recouer tyme lost so doth hefly to good companie and counsell for a remedie against the infection of the badd companie and the neglect of good counsell which he had vsed To Saint Ambrofe first who plentifully dispensed antidores or counterpoysons against the infections of bad companie and counsell or rather starued him with emptie huskes Saint Ambrose fedd and filled him with the flovver of Gods vvheate which doth fatten Wheras that made him stubborne and stiff necked S. Ambrose brought him to be supple and tractable vvith the smoothnes of Gods oyle Wheras that with vennimous cupps did intoxicate him Saint Ambrose with the sober delight of Gods wine begetteing virgins doth ingage his hart and regayne him Next to Simplicianus Saint Ambrose his Father and to Potitianus who recounting to him Saint Anthonies life which
day It highly behoues vs then to run ouer our life past in the bitternesse of our harts and obserue whether our holy professions haue bene seconded by answerable practises and whether due performances followed our solemne promises Haue we indeede my soule renounced the Diuell and all his pompes Or rather haue we not left Christ and followed his wicked allurements Vpon what follies haue we not feasted our eyes To what highth hath not our thoughtes aspired Of what impurities and disloyalties haue not our hartes at least bene brimme full Obserue and lament our miseries THE II. POINTE. Of the seconde obligation vvhich vve contracte in Baptisme Consider that the seconde obligation which we cōtracte in Baptisme is to be listed among the soldiers of Iesus Christ to fight vnder the banner of the Crosse and openly to professe his lawe That Sweete lawe of loue which conteynes all Christian dutie the loue of God incomparably aboue all other thinges as being infinitly louelie and comprisinge in himselfe all the motiues and obligations of loue and the loue of our neighbour as our selues that is in order to God in God and for God All the loue we can afford to the rest of the creatures is but onely for solaces to our necessities and pouerties as prouisions for the way of our pilgrimage to be vsed not to be inioyed not to haue our hates fixed vpon which are wholie due to God and our neighbour AFFECTION and RESOL. Ah my soule had we bene to haue made choyce of what lawe we our selues had most desired not to haue receiued it from the hand of our almightie maker who had full power to impose what lawe he pleased vpon the workes of his hands what other lawe would we haue wished but that which we haue A lawe by which we are not permitted onely but euen commanded to loue our Kinge the Kinge of Kinges the Kinge of glorie What more honorable To loue him wholy from whose loue and bountie we haue all that we haue What more reasonable To loue him from whose liberalitie we expect all that we yet want the possession of his heauenly Kingdome the inioyment of himselfe for all eternitie What more profitable And as to the other parte of the lawe what poore liues should we not leade nay what deathes and Hells should we not suffer did we in lieu of loue to our neighbour afford him onely neglect scorne and hatred Let me loue thee then ô my deare Lord and my neighbour in thee and for thee for euer THE FIRST MEDITAT FOR THE SECONDE DAY Of the third obligation contracted in Baptisme THE FIRST POINTE. COnsider that the third obligation that we contracted in Baptisme was that we are bound to liue the life of Christ according to that of S. Paule I liue not novv I but Iesus Christ liues in me for vve are buried togeither vvith him by Baptisme and ought also to ryse with him and walke after him in newnesse of life because he left vs an example and his will is that we should followe his foostepps that is that we should walke in the lowlie pathes of humilitie pouertie and abiection as he did from his verie first steppe into this world in labours hunger and thirst from his youth in suffering reproches contumelies and outragious contēpts all his life longe in being abandonned at his death by his Apostles and euen by his heauenly Father my God my God vvhy haste thou forsaken me AFFECTION and RESOL. The life of Christ my soule is our paterne the imitation of it is our obligation and the liuely expression of it is our perfection Let vs seeke noe other nor other way then by humbly following his footestepps To that he calls vs learne of me vvho am mylde and humble in harte not to high speculations with are more apt to fill vs with vanitie then feede vs with solide foode Caluarie was left vs for the imitation of his vertues Thabor onely to admire his Maiestie He is our Alpha and Omega our begining and our end Let all our applications be to him and our dependences of him Let all our conuersations be with him our desires followe him our discourses of him our continuall cryes to him O my dearest Lord and sauiour thou my loue thou my life Let this couenant be made betwixt vs. Let me wholy dye to my selfe that thou alone mayst liue in me Let my passions be wholy silenced that thou alone mayst be heard in me Let all my sollicitous cares which are fruitlesse without thee wholy cease that thou onely mayst worke in me THE II. POINTE. Consider that notwithstanding all those former benefits and obligatiōs contracted therby we haue bene so vngratfull and neglectfull of our owne good as litle to mynde them Nay like true Prodigalls we haue dissipated and spent all those gracious and Godlike talents and forgetting our promesses and obligations we haue returned backe into the slauerie of the Diuell And here it was in deede that our good God magnified his mercyes towards vs. We run from him into a foraigne land and he leaues the ninetie nine to seeke vs. Wee strike at him by sinne and euen crucify him againe and he supportes vs with patience We steppe downe to hell and he brings vs backe He frequently knockes at our harts by his holy word preached to our eares by his internall voyce inculcated to our hartes by wholsome tribulations multiplyed vppon vs and breakes through our deafness And hauinge himselfe wrought all this in vs he crownes his owne mercyes by takeinge vs againe into his familiarity and he and all his courte reioyceth at our conuersion AFFECTION and RESOL. O thou God of mercy to what a length hast thou extended thy patience with me It was I that ran from thee into a Land of disproportion I that forsooke thee the fountaine of liueinge water and made to my selfe cisternes broken cisterns which could hold noe water I that turned the vse of thyne owne giftes to abuse by loueinge them more then thy selfe in such or such an occasion I that stept downe into Hell at such or such a time soe or soe often and thou the while ceasedst not to redouble thy cryes Why vvilt thou perish ô thou house of I sraëll Why dost thou loue vanity and seeke a lye loose thy chaynes from thy necke ô thou captiue daughter of Sion At least after all thy disloyaltyes call mee but Father Ah my soule be noe longer deafe to all these gracious inuitations but run though alas but too late to that Father of mercyes and say with a contrite and humbled hart Father I haue offended against heauen against thee I am noe longer vvorthy to be called thy Sonne deale with mee onely as with one of the hyrelings of thy house THE II. MEDITATION FOR THE SECONDE DAY The greeuousnesse of sinne THE FIRST POINTE. COnsider what sinne is and your holy father S. Augustine will teache you that it is noe substance at all but a miserable
your vowe and is absolutly necessarie AFFECTION and RESOLV O my soule if our owne reason were made the Rule of our obedience with what confusions and endlesse wranglings would not Monasteries be replenished They would not so much be found sacred and silent solitudes as cententious Academies It is at the death of our rebellious wills that pestilent source of mans miserie and mortall poison of a sprituall life that obedience aymes which is not effected by proude disputes but by humble submissions hauing continually in mynd that all povver is from God and he vvho resists povver resists Gods ordonnance Let vs then my soule humbly and promptly obeye God in our superiours person standing alwayes in a blissed indifferencie with S. Paule to heare him by their mouthes and to obeye him in their persons saying What is thy holy vvill I should doe THE II. POINTE. Of the diuers degrees of it Consider that tho necessarie obedience to which you are tyed by vowe consists in obeying Superiours cōmands according to Rule and Constitutiōs or what conduces to the due obseruance therof Yet are not the pious spouses of Christ to stoppe there but to be still striuing to emulate the better gifts and to render themselues wholy agreeable to their diuine spouse Be perfect as your heauenly father is perfect saith our sauiour by endeuouring still to obeye in the most perfect manner which that great seruant of God Ruisbrochius putts downe as followes In the first place it must be prudent and discreete 2. simple 3. cheerfull 4. prompt 5. couragious 6. deuoute 7. humble AFFECTION and RESOL. O what a blessed life is ledd where all these conditions meete O what a Heauen appeares in earth where earthly Angells thus liue Let this be our cheife endeuour my soule as it is the happinesse securitie and ornament of a religious life Let vs with prudence and discretion discerne Gods will by our superiours mouth and whether we be commanded to watch to fast to pray or worke c. or els vpon occasions at their pleasure to leaue them off let it be done simply and with assurance that by how much more simply by so much the more fruitfully and excellently it s done Let that discreete simplicitie be secōded with quicke and cheesfull execution for God loues a free and merrie-harted giuer If the thinge commanded appeare hard yet imbrace it with a manly courage heauen is worth more and he who gaue the commande can giue strength to performe it Finally let all this be done with humilitie and deuotion not so much to please men as that our heauenly father may be glorified THE FIRST MEDITAT FOR THE 6. DAY Of the excellencies of Obedience THE FIRST POINTE. COnsider with deuoute Ruisbrochius that obedience is a vertue of so great excellēcie that the verie least worke be it of what kinde it will being done by vertue therof is much better and more acceptable to God then euen other geate workes done without it as for example hearing of Masse reading praying contemplating or any other worke you can thinke of Which lesson we are yet taught by a greater Master Kings 1.15 Will our Lord haue Holocausts and victimes and not rather that his voyce should be obeyd For better is obedience then victimes and to harken rather then to offer the fatt of rammes Because c. it is as it vvere the vvickednesse of Idolatrie to refuse to obey AFFECT and RESO It is not so much the greatnesse of the thinge then my soule we ought to looke vpon as the greatnesse of the obedience with which we are to performe it Commandes of great and herociall actions rarely occurre wheras obedience may be daylie exercised and merite increased in a number of smale matters Nor is it easily to be conceiued what riches are to be treasured vp for heauen therby Deuoute obedience knowes how to render the poore widowes myte a gratfull offering Industrious obedience negotiates vpon trifles and yet like the honie bee stores her hyue with huge riches Many other vertues daughters of Charitie gather maine heapes of treasure togeither yet obedience so farre outstripps them all that she makes her selfe more gratefull to God then a sacryfice THE II. POINTE. Of vvhom vve ought to learne Obedience Consider that we ought to learne this best of morall vertues of the best of Masters of moralitie Iesus Ch. Who is as well the Master as the Disciple of it He was the Master of it at his coming into the world while he liued in it and at his departure out of it At his coming S. Paule tells vs in his person in the heade of the booke it is vvritten of me that I should doe thy vvill then said I behold I come that I may doe thy vvill o God His whole life was spent in the doing the will of his heauenly father who sent him and in obeying his mother S. Ioseph and euen all creatures for his sake At his departure he vvas obedient euen vnto death and the death of the Crosse And he was the Disciple of it too sithens as S. Paule affirmes though he were the sonne of God he learnt obedience by the thinges vvhich he suffered and vvas made the cause of eternall saluation to all that obey him AFFECTION and RESOL. O what an excellent lesson of obedience hath the sonne of God left for the sonnes of men to imitate He who as God could be obedient to none being God-man becomes obedient to all men for his heauenly fathers sake All his life was a cōtinued obedience till by his painfull death he consummated the great worke of mans redemption for which he was sent Father I haue consummated the vvorke vvhih thou gauest me to doe saith that intirely obedient sonne The worke which we are to doe my soule which is as it were our whole businesse is to obey God in our superiours commandes and by such submission and their care to secure our blessed eternitie By their eyes we best discerne By their iudgements we most wisely iudge by their directions and orders we most surely walke to mans beatitude THE II. MEDITATION FOR THE 6. DAY That Charitie must be the roofe of this spirituall building THE FIRST POINTE. COnsider that be the foundationes neuer so deeply digged be the walls neuer so firme and confirmed and the interior partes neuer so fairely adorned yet if the roofe be not sutable to the rest and be not established aboue the rest it lyes but vselessely open to receiue winds and shewres and is vnfitt for the vse of man being indeede noe perfect buildinge but onely the materialls or ruines therof vpon which passers by looke with derision and say this man began to build but could not finish the same AFFECTION RESOLVT It is the end my soule that euery wise man acts for without which his worke is imperfect nor can he repose Pouertie indeede seemes more then humane Pure nature knowes noe such production Virginitie is truly Angelicall and diuine