man pollutes and undoes himself He that will conduct souls to Christ and God must of necessity carry them through such ways as lead thither CHAP. 2. His Charity to his Neighbour taken in general HAving a purpose to speak of his Charity which his man of God had towards his Neighbour I shall speak first of it in general and say thus much that it was so great and enlarged that it seemed to have no bounds in that he loved not onely all Christians and faithful people but even all men not excepting any because he beheld motives in all of them of a true charity and sincere love looking upon them as creatures of God and his chief Workmanship for whom our Saviour became man and laid down his life whom he loved and desired to save these all he likewise loved and laboured their good Thy Commandment saith David is exceeding broad the same dimensions he prescribed to his charity loving the present and absent domesticks and strangers good and bad esteeming all according to their degree honoring all speaking well of and doing good to all and ill to none There was not any considerable publique good work done either at Paris and a great way off it wherein he had not a great share There was no undertaking there that rended to the honour of God or good of man of which he was not either the Author or Promoter or Finisher and very often all these together He was one at all the meetings for Piety and in many as the soul and primum mobile he kept correspondence through the whole Kingdom concerning works of charity received from all parts letters desiring his advice in all difficulties that occur'd in the erecting or advancing of Hospitals Seminaries of Religion Places of Devotion Fraternities of Vertuous Persons agreeing to associate together for the better applying themselves to their own and others salvation and for the managing of all sorts of good works One of good report writ thus concerning him from Caen Monsieur Renty was our support and onely refuge in the execution of all our designs which related to the service of God the saving of souls and relief of the poor and distressed To him we wrote continually as well for the settling of our Hospitals and houses for receiving of loose women converted as also for the suppressing the insolence of some Hereticks who shewed contempt of the blessed Sacrament too openly Finally we received counsel and succour from him in all like occasions in which he expressed a great zeal for the glory of God and extirpation of vice Since his death we have not met with any to whom we could have the like recourse about the things of God Another from Dijon wrote thus We cannot but acknowledge the great benefit this Province hath received from Monsieur Renty wherever he came wherein he hath wonderfully advanced all works of Piety We may truly say that his days were filled with the plenitude of God and we believe that he scarce lost one minute of time in which he either spake not or acted not something tending to his service He applied himself to the necessities of the English Irish and captives in Barbary and of the Missions into the Levant he took very great pains for the good of the Hospital at Marcelles for the relief of Galley-slaves and contributed much to the advancing of the affairs of new France in America he had a design likewise to purge all Trades and Manufactures from corruptions that had grown upon them to rectifie and sanctifie them that men might live upon them like Christians which thing he together with others had happily begun and perfected the same in two of them as shall be shewed hereafter Moreover as one of the great effects of Charity is Concord and Union so had he a wonderful care to conserve encrease and perfect it in himself and others wherefore he lived in perfect amity with all the world with Seculars Ecclesiasticks and Religious esteeming respecting and speaking honorably of them all and when any difference fell out among them he was greatly afflicted for it endeavoring by all means to pacifie and unite their spirits and to accord their divisions knowing that the God whom we worship is a God of peace who would have us live in peace and that never any discord comes from him but from the Devil the sower of Tares that nothing is more opposite to the spirit of Christianity that spirit of Union and Love than Division and Schismes in Charity making us not live like brothers but strangers and enemies that instead of profiting in vertue we multiply and encrease our sins and vices The spirit of the new Law is a spirit of such perfect Charity and intimate Union that as St. Paul saith it makes no distinction as to the heart of Jew nor Gentile of Barbarian nor Scythian of bond nor free but Jesus Christ is all to all to unite and close and oblige them all in himself According to which this true Christian writeth thus in one of his letters The words which we ought chiefly to imprint upon our hearts are those of mutual love which our Saviour bequeathed us in the close of his Testament this love should inspirit all Christians to perfect them in one and cause them to live and converse together as brethren and children yea as one sole childe of God And because this Union with Christ our Saviour to whom we all belong is the best and most necessary disposition in such as are employed about the good of their neighbor to the end that they may receive from him both light and strength to enable them according to his purposes together with his saving Spirit to assist and ground them in all vertues and especially such as qualifie a man for that purpose therefore his utmost endeavour was to unite himself intimately to him and in all things to act by his Spirit and to acquire these vertues and render himself perfect in them These vertues are set down by St. Paul in the first Epistle to the Corinthians upon which he made frequent reflections and long meditations and although he carried always the New Testament in his pocket yet that he might read and consider them often he wrote them down with his own hand carrying it apart about with him The Contents whereof were Charitas patiens est benigna est Charitas non aemulatur non agit perperam Non in flatur non est ambitiosa Non quaerit quae sunt sua non irritatur c. Charity is patient full of sweetness envieth not is not malicious nor hurtful is neither vain nor ambitious seeketh not her own interests is not froward nor cholerick thinks no ill but interprets all to a good sense rejoyceth not at the faults of others but on the contrary takes great content in others well-doing suffereth much believeth all things not out of feebleness of spirit but out of goodness and holy simplicity if its neighbor mend not presently
alliance he hath contracted with us in Jesus Christ This knowledge produceth in me as much astonishment as love And to tell you my sense of it a man possessed with these verities remains no more a man but becomes annihilated and all his desire is to be lost and melted on purpose to change his nature and enter into this Spirit of Jesus to act no less in him than by him I have conceived such great things of our Saviours Humanity united to the Divinity as cannot be uttered How hath this alliance of the Divinity most deeply abased the sacred Humanity into a self-annihilation and a sacrifice of love upon the sight of the greatness of God What an honour is this to the Humane Nature to be thus predestinated and What a glory to us to be chosen and called to an entrance into his favour and a rising to God and the everlasting enjoyment thereof through him It would spend me this whole day to write to you the view that I have had of the wisdom and bounty of God touching this mysterie of Love which he hath opened unto us in his Son And though he was truly devoted to all the mysteries of our Lord yet in a most special manner to that of his Infancy The occasion whereof was thus Being constrained to make a journey to Dâ—jon by reason of a suit of Law beforementioned he heard much talk of Sister Margaret of the blessed Sacrament a Religious Carmeline of the Covent of Beaulne on whom our Saviour had conferred particular favours who led a life very extraordinary grounded upon true and solid vertue And as our Lord hath several ways to sanctifie a soul and fit it for his sacred purposes so he was pleased to exercise this choice woman absoluâ—ely in the mysterie of our Saviours Infancy and through that pipe to convey into her soul a torrent of grace and extraordinary gifts not onely for herself but others as may be seen in her life now in writing by a person most worthy of such a work Monsieur Renty had a desire to go to Beaulne being but seven leagues from Dijon to recommend himself to the prayers of this holy Virgin And though when he came thither he neither spake to her nor saw her she having by a particular conduct of our Saviour been retired for thirteen years from the speech of any secular person yet notwithstanding he received much benefit from his journey as he expressed in a Letter writ back from Dijon to the Prioress of that place I want words to express the mercies I received by my journey to Beaulne Sister Margaret hath marked me out in the holy Infant Jesus such a divesting of my self of all worldly things that it appears to me my rendezouz where I must strip my self naked of all things else The year after he made a second journey where God having altered her resolution for speech and converse with others he had the happiness to discourse with her and contracted at that time a very intimate alliance of grace receiving great gifts by means thereof The chiefest and source of all the rest being that our Saviour engaged him as he had done her in a more particular devotion to the mysterie of his Infancy and imprinted in him the lineaments of the like Graces and Spirit This holy man whose judgement may be highly esteemed by us considering his extraordinary insight into spiritual matters greatly valued this Religious woman approving exceedingly her directions and testifying how great a blessing he reckoned her acquaintance and what benefit he had reaped from her even after her death To which purpose he writ thus to me the eighteenth of June 1648. the year of her death The holy Infant sweet Jesus hath taken to himself our good Sister Margaret whose death was consonant to the dispositions of her life and miraculous graces I have received from her since her death great comfort That grace I reâ—eived according to my present estate and weakness to enter into the Infancy of our Saviour hath since been renewed to me and I have understood it more solidly About a moneth after I received these lines from him I had yesterday by the singular bounty of God a view of his Divine Majestie of S. John Baptist and Sister Margaret of the B. Sacrament so clearly represented to me in my spirit that I cannot suspect the truth of it O what effects were produced by their presence and what love by these sights I am wholly renewed in my respects to that great Saint my Patron and to that glorious servant of God who honoured him very much whilst she was living and from whom without doubt since her death she hath beggâ—d to be my Protector It is mâ—st certain that the work of God in her was one continued prodigie of grace and a master-piece of his hand But let us return to his application made to the Infancy of our Saviour chiefly begun in his second journey to Beaulne Of which we may understand something from this Letter written to a Father of the Oratory Confessor to the Carmelines there I must needs tell you that upon my first journey which I made to you above a year agoâ— I brought back with me a great esteem and devotion to the Infancy of our Saviour but I was not yet well settled in it I attempted it from time to time but could not yet make it my principal food Since which the holy Infant by a supernatural grace hath manifested and opened himself to me and now I finde every thing in him and am remitted thither for all And to the Prioress he writ thus I must acquaint you that the holy Infant Jesus will grant me the favour to apply my self pâ—rticularly to his honour to give my self to him and to his holy dispositâ—ons ordering my life and the sacrifice of my self by the conduct of his Spirit In order hereunto he cousecrated and gave up himself thereto in these terms a copy whereof written with his own hand and in his own blood he sent to Sister Margaret which is kept with great devotion in that Covent And another something more inlarged to his Ghostly Father to which he wrote his name onely in blood in these words To the honour of my King the Holy Infant Jesus I Have consecrated my self this Christmass-Day 1643. to the holy Infant Jesus offering up to him my whole Being my Soul my Body my Free-will my Wife my Children my Family the Estate which he hath given me and finally all that I am concerned in having beseeched him to enter into full Possession Property Jurisdiction of all that I am That I may live no more but in and to him in the quality of a Victim separate from every thing of this world and challenging no more share thereof than according to the applications which he shall give and shall allow me Insomuch that from henceforward I shall look at my self meerly as an instrument in the hand of the holy Infant
touched him so near in that he never spake word to me of it nor of his mother save onely to desire that they both might be recommended to God And from the beginning that I had the honour to speak to him when I gave him notice of the offers that divers persons had made us to ferve him he thankt me most heartily for my good will with great acknowledgment towards those persons and without speaking any more thereof he fell upon discoursing of God never after opening his mouth about that business which evidenced a wonderful disengagement and death to every thing though of never so sensible an interest There past also many other things at Dijon and since at Paris during these differences even to the death of his mother yea and after which required an extream deal of patience and which he practised in an Heroical perfection even to the astonishment of those who were acquainted with the business But it is enough of this matter we have spoken sufficiently and I doubt not Monsieur de Renty who is now as his eminent vertues give us sufficient ground to believe in the place of perfect Charity doth approve of my design in not speaking more thereof and of using reservedness towards that Lady to whom all his life he bore so much love and respect CHAP. 6. Of his Mortification WHat we have spoken hitherto in this Second Part of the Austerities of the Poverty Humility and Patience of Monsieur de Renty makes appear evidently to what height he was mortified and that he was a true grain of that mysterious wheat mentioned by our Saviour which by dying brings forth much fruit yet besides all this we shall touch here some other effects of his Mortification The grand secret of Christian-life consists in the destruction of what our nature hath in it vitious the better to give way to grace in crucifying the old man that Jesus Christ may live there who hath taught us that this is not acquired but by continual Mortification and to that end hath told us that if any man doth not take up his Cross and that dayly he cannot be my disciple This excellent Scholar of that great Master having well learnt his lesson employed all his care in the beginning of his Conversion to mortifie himself in every thing to subdue his passions to regulate his motions Interior and Exterior to annihilate his desires and to dye to all the inclinations of corrupt nacure with so great faithfulness and constancy that as soon as he perceived her to carry him to any thing with some imperfection and that his natural will enclined one way he did the quite contrary And he told an intimate person that having undertaken the endeavour to oppose his nature in each thing by the grace of God he had always surmounted it insomuch that in all things he proceeded with a spirit of death and continual sacrifice making no further use of his passions senses nor of any thing in him but with an eye always open to hinder the operations of malign nature and whatever she brought thereto of her own following the conduct of our Lord saying that a man must disengage himself from himself and every creature that God onely may be his object And accordingly he performed it exactly for when in his sickness he endured most sharp pains he was so taken up with God and abstracted from them that he thought not of them It was impossible to finde a man more reserved in speaking of that which troubled him than he For as he knew that nature is apt to seek and comfort it self in discoursing of that which hurts her so he deprived her of that satisfaction and content lifting up in the mean while his heart to God and offering him his pain without otherwise dwelling upon it being glad that Gods work went forward that the body of sin was in destroying his sacrifice advancing He that is baptized said he ought to be dead in Jesus Christ and to lead a life of suffering and in this suffering of application to God let us march on to our end which is sacrifice in each thing in the manner that God will have it upon the bottom of obedience to his orders and of the annthilation of our selves in the imitation and by the Spirit of Jesus Christ Let us be so many Victims entertained and taken up with these Interior dispositions and sentiments that Christ had from his conception to his death and to the last period of his offering up Hence it was he had often in his mouth these words Sacrifice Vnion minding to say thus that we ought to study and enforce our selves to dye in each thing to our selves and for the attaining thereof to sacrifice to God our spirit our judgement our will our thoughts our affections our desires our passions and all in the union and after the manner of Jesus Christ In these apprehensions he wrote to a person that he had great devotion to these words which the 24 Elders sang in the Revelations to the Lamb which is our Lord prostrate before his Throne Thou hast made us Kings and Priests and we shall reign upon the earth In that this divine Lamb causeth that God establisheth his Kingdom in us by reigning in our souls and in our bodies by his grace that we are Priests to offer up our selves to him in sacrifice and that by this means we shall reign for ever with him in the land of the living So that this excellent man in all occasions where it behoved him to deny something to his nature and to dye to himself cast his eyes upon this estate of sacrifice and of victime to offer up himself to the glory of God by the pattern of his Son our Lord. This great and continual care which he had to mortifie himself in each thing brought about that he had so tamed his passions so regulated the motions of his soul and body so changed his inclinations and subdued his nature that at length he came to such a point of Mortification passive and of death that he felt no more in the spirit any opposition to any thing painful and was not mortified with any thing whatsoever From thence came it that writing to his Director concerning his disposition he said that he understood not that which they call Mortification because that where there is no contradiction nor resistance there is no mortification and when there befel any thing of a much mortifying nature and would have touch'd him much if he had been as yet alive to himself if any familiar person spake to him of the pain thereof he said smiling that the thing went well and that we must gain upon our selves that nothing may mortifie us any more and that we be as it were insensible to each thing He came to this pass not by the goodness of his nature nor by a kinde of stupid indifferency which sometimes is found in certain sleepy spirits but by
formerly and made them himself before them in the place Commonly he came thither alone somtime in company of some Noblemen of good quality who encouraged by such an example strove to imitate it in some sort and to have a part in such holy actions Neither did he onely visit the sick but they likewise sought him and would finde him out where ever he came if they were able to go abroad At Dijon they would come to him in troops for all sorts of sicknesses and distempers In the year 1642 going to his estate in Normandy he spent about four moneths in these works of mercy administring Physick and Chyrurgery to all sick of that Countrey in such sort that from all quarters they came to him and in such multitudes daily that one could scarce come near him This puts me in minde of that we read of our Saviour how from all parts they brought to him all that were sick of all diseases to be healed by him which seems to be represented in some measure by this his servant and true disciple in that the sick the weak the lame or otherwise in firm came to him from all sides and we have seen him compassed about with a throng of them some to be let blood some for his oyntments some for his powders or other medicines some for counsel or consolation some for an alms or for ease in some case or other Treating all with the like diffusive Christian Charity with the like bowels of pitty and compassion the like spirit of love as wherewith the Son of God of whom he received it had pitty upon us And stood in the midst of them with the like goodness and patience endeavouring to do good and minister comfort to them all SECT 3. A further prosecution of the same Charity and the success BEyond all these his Charity yet ascended higher even to the care and cure of such diseases as were very troublesome and which to nature carried much horror and aversion along with them At his Castle at Beny he entertained poor people infected with scall'd heads lodging them in a chamber fitted and furnished for them where himself visited them plucking off their scabs with his plaisters attending and feeding them till their recovery At Paris likewise he visited the same in the Suburbs of S. Germains which was their usual abode carrying them some collections of Alms joyning Humility also with his Charity forasmuch as he hath been seen standing in the midst of these noysome sick folks bare-headed attending to a Sermon which he had procured for them A credible witness testifieth thus of him I have seen Monsieur Renty in his Hall at Beny dressing a Cancre which a man would not look upon at some distance without aversion and horror which he having mastered all such squeamishness of nature did handle with pleasure and respect During his abode at Dijon he met with a Wench who had been taken with the Souldiers by whom she had gotten the foul Disease some charitable people had perswaded the Religious Nuns the Vesulines to take her into their care who lodged her in a poor neighbours house Her body was in a very sad condition even nothing but â—ottenness casting out such a stinking infectious smell that none could come near her and the house she lodged in were ready to turn her out of doors so that she was in a forlorn condition had not the Superiour there a woman of great vertue bethought herself to confer with Monsieur Renty to whom she bore a very great respect about the means of relieving this poor creature This good mans Charity like a perpetual motion giving him no rest or truce not for a moment carried him instantly to visit this poor creature and to provide for her extremity In the first place he hireth a woman to attend her and deals with her Host to keep her there after this he provides her Dyer-drinks and Physick proper for her disease bringeth her broths his own self with all other convenient nourishment stayeth by her a long time at each visit and whilst she was in a sweat wipes her with his own handkerchief using the same himself afterward a thing more admirable than imitable Moreover having as great a care of her soul as body instructs and comforts her taking the pains once in a day to read her a Lecture out of some Book of Devotion enduring with much courage and delight all the difficulties of trouble and inconvenience that so noysome a disease could present by its stench and rottenness at all which his heart leapt as if it had been entertained by some delicate perfume which was no doubt the sweet odour of Jesus Christ whom he look'd upon in these poor people as we have said before which perfumed all their infections and caused him to finde delicacies in the greatest loath-someness In fine by his care he retrived this poor creature from misery and the very jaws of death brought her into the state of a good Christian insomuch that she spent the rest of her time very vertuously and when ever she came to the Monastery of the Vesulines she could not hold from relating with great fâ—eling the unparalel'd Charities of Monsieur Renty together with her deepest obligations which she every where published with the highest recognition of her gratirude to so worthy a person Neither were these generous acts of his Charity enclosed within the walls of Dijon several other places and Hospitals bearing witness of the like which we have heard from divers and have good cause to believe To which we may add his ardent desire for the erecting of an Hospital for the infected with the Kings Evil there being none such in Paris nor in all France Thus did this great servant of God imploy himself about diseases and those the most noysome And now let us consider what blessings and success God gave to his endeavours and Medicines which will appear little less than miraculous Being in low Normandy much busied amongst his sick people men were astonished to see how he cured all diseases even the most desperate and extraordinary and that with remedies sometimes which scarce appeared to have any thing in them which made those that took notice of them apt to believe that the cures were wrought not so much by any natural power of the Medicines as by Grace and Miracle The same opinion they had at Dijon of the cures he wrought there that they were healed by some way supernatural To which purpose I cannot let pass the discourse he had with the Prioress of the Carmelites a great Confident of his whom he visited often to whom he related how a little before a woman in child-bed had been sick unto death and given over by all the Physicians whom he visited notwithstanding and tryed whether in so great extremity his remedies might minister any ease I went to her said he and made up the best Medicine I had yet such as I could not imagine to
There is need of zeal and severity and yet withal sometimes of Clemency where there is promise of amendment with appearance of repentance 9. A Chief Justice may upon good information without form of Process commit a man to Prison for 24 hours with bread and water for blasphemy or any other notorious vice and afterward admonish him that if he continue he shall be proceeded against according to form of Law 10. Some persons are reclaimed sooner by a mulct of the purse than by corporal punishment such are to be fined without remâ—ssion when found guilty 11. Scandalous offenders ought to be deprived of the priviledges and favours of the Court yea and are to be burthened in taxes and other cases where they are in a common condition with their neighbours that they may understand thereby that they speed the worse for their vâ—cious life On the contrary vertue is to be cherished and countenanced with priviledges and publique favours and protection 12. Offices ought to be bestowed gratis that thereby fit and able Officers may more easily be chosen and be prevented from the least pretence of Bribery and Injustice 13. Lords should give good example by refusing presents from their Tenants for freeing such from common services or from those who have business depending before them or from the poor shewing themselves disinterested noble and uncorrupted whereby their Authority may be preserved and both their Officers and Tenants kept in strict obedience and respect For Royalties 1. They ought to recommend it to the Gentlemen their neighbours and observe it themselves not to hunt or hawk unseasonably to the prejudice of poor mens corn 2. They ought not to introduce any such custom upon Countrey people of keeping their Hounds 3. That Coney-warrens be not maintained or erected to the prejudice of their Tenants except such as are of ancient standing For payment of Taxes 1. They are to take care that the rich lay not the burthen upon the meaner sort 2. That their Officers and Bailiffs be not unnecessarily multiplied to the burthening of their Tenants 3. That they set not Lands at too high rents upon pretence that by their power they can remit their taxes A thing very much to be considered by reason of some priviledges Lords have in this kinde whereof the excess tends to great injustice 4. That the taxes be equally assessed according to mens abilities it being usual with Assessors to receive money of the meaner sort to return them insufficient and non solvent To prevent which they should give order that the tax be laid so justly that what returns are afterward made of insufficiency in any be imposed upon the Assessors themselves For the Church 1. It were convenient for the Lords often to visit the Pastors that the people might thereby take notice of the respect they give him and learn thereby their own duty And likewise to know of them if any abuses be committed to be remedied by the Civil power of which there are some things mentioned in the Articles for Officers and in particular what reverence is observed in the Church whether the people are attentive at the prone whether they send their children to be catechized and come themselves at which also you and your family shall be present 2. Whether the Church stock be improved and the Church-wardens quit themselves well in their accompts clearing them at the years end and that the Churches stock be not made use of for paying of taxes or other publique charges and in case it be so to prevent such abuses by complaint to the Bishop 3. To review the former accompts and provide necessaries for the Church a Chalice of silver a decent Tabernacle for the B. Sacrament with comely Ornaments 4. To learn of the Curate who are the poorest in the Parish to take a note of them and consider them in the first place 5. I would never take place of the Priest especially in sight of the people These are such Instructions as I have collected rudely and think fit to be observed besides which the bringing in of Missions is most excellent for the planting of the Spirit of Christianity in the hearts of the people to which every one should contribute their best assistance Moreover the Gentlemen of the Countrey shall do well to meet once a moneth to confer about their duty and encourage one another in the service of God who may also settle in Villages petty Societies of well devoted persons to take care for preventing abuses and the occasions of sin and to relieve and comfort poor people who are ashamed to beg There might be found also a way to settle amongst good Women an association of Charity for instructing comforting and succouring the poor and sick But above all a company of pious Clergy who may meet once a moneth to confer about the faithful discharging of their weighty function upon which depends the universal good of the people Certain Directions for Ladies and Gentlewomen THe way of God is to cause grace to superabound where sin hath abounded The first woman brought death into the world and the Virgin Mary hath given the Church occasion to sing that it was a happy fault since by it was occasioned our alliance with her Son and his union with the Deity But this is not all for if the first woman brought so much evil into the world it seems to have pleased God to make use of women for the reparation thereof having by his wisdom ordained that they should have the education of children and care of the family whilst men being of a stronger constitution are more employed abroad they more sedentarily disposed attending within doors where they have the knowledge and oversight and conduct of all From whence it follows since all orders of Clergy Nobility Magistracy and people are raised out of private Families as their common Nursery that to this Sex is deputed by God a business of the greatest consequence in the world viz. The nurturing of souls in the spirit of their Baptism preserving them unspotted tables to receive the impressions of Gods will and holy vocation to what future estate he shall design them for his glory and their own eternal good Wherefore it highly concerns them to make frequent reflections upon this since the greatest good and most eminent evil of mankinde in part depends on them for which they must render one day a strict account 1. Wherefore they ought to take great care of the education of their children in their tender years correcting by vertue and a gentle hand what nature discovers in them reprehensible Remembring that for the most part vice grows up through their esteeming it to be little and out of taking pleasure in whatever they see children do by which compliance their errours grow up with them until heat of blood and youth render them uncapable of correction 2. That they be vigilant in instructing their domesticks shutting the door against all blasphemy impurity all unlawful games
were unexpectedly suggested unto me Hoc sentite in vobis quod in Jesu Christo c. Let the same minde be in you as was in Christ Jesus But chiefly was I affected with these words Semetipsum exinanivit formam servi accipiens He emptied himself taking upon him the form of a servant and those that follow Factus obediens usque ad mortem Being made obedient even to death And light was given me to understand how that these words carry with them the proof of that which I had contemplated three days before of the right way and proceeding of this my Saviour who in his Infancy humbled himself even to the form of a servant and all the rest of his life to death being obedient to the Cross following the decrees of his Father not by election but by submission and patience This second view confirmed me further and after another manner in this mysterie The Infancy therefore of our Saviour is an estate where we must dye to all things and where the soul in Faith Silence Reverence Innocence Purity and Simplicity doth attend and receive the orders of God making it his daily work in Abnegation neither looking before nor behinde but being united to the holy Childe Jesus Who with an absolute Resignation received orders from his Father for his visitation by the Shepherds and Wisemen for his Circumcision going up to Jerusalem flying into Egypt his return back his journey to Jordan to be baptized into the Wilderness to be tempted for his Preaching and finally his Death upon the Cross Resurrection Ascexsion and Consummation in Glory Thus Father ought we methinks to follow Jesus our Model in these steps through the grace of this Infancy This is it he wrote to his Director concerning this Mysterie and why he chose it before others and which appears also in a Letter to another For this reason ought we to address our selves to the Infancy rather than the Cross or any other Mysterie because he emptied himself as saith the Apostle of his own good pleasure and chose the Manger but not the Cross to which he was conducted by his obedience To teach us to chuse of our selves Annihilation and after to suffer our selves willingly as little children to led into Egypt the Desart the Cross and the Crown Besides these solid enlightnings relating to this Mystery he had moreover others touching the three Verrues of Purity Innocence and Simplicity in which chiefly consists the spirit of this Mysterie and which it produceth in a soul that is united unto it Thus he expressed uimself concerning them I have beheld my soul upon the Bulwark of Innocence and upon the Foundation of Death Annihilat on and Nakedness to live in Divine Purity with the holy Infant Jesus But because this is somewhat obscure he writ thus more clearly to his Director I have vâ—ewed my soul upon its Scituation of Death Annihilation and Nakedness that is to say purged and stripped out of its self and of every creature For when the soul is suspended as in a desart from beholding any thing at all and without any prop to rest upon God draweth her straightway to himself by the cords of pure love which he letteth down from heaven as saith S. Katherine of Genoa and this cord is no other than the Infant Jesus in union of whom we ought to render unto God all the rights of a perfect Sacrifice which in Purity Innocence and Simplicity is sacrificed and consumed for his glory It hath often been declared to me and this is my very basis as far as my infidelity may permit me to say it that I ought to act no further save by the conduct of the Infant Jesus having still before me his sacred actings his unspotted love to his Father his sacrificing himself for his Glory and the destruction of sin his submission to all his Decrees which he understood distinctly waited upon with patience and executed in their several seasons In the Manger in his flight into Egypt in his thirty years Concealment in his travels till his death acting nothing by his own but according to the perfect will of his Father Whereby I am taught my duty to work in the same purity of spirit 〈◊〉 For the conservation of which Innocence and Simplicity are communicated unto me like two Bulwarks to uphold me therein Innocence is one Bulwark of this Purity or if you please a bright Chrystal through which I behold all things without offence that is to say without receiving infection from them so that the vices and disorders of men do not fix or make any impression upon me This Innocence carries me forth to my neighbour with exceeding great benignity and sweetness and is an incredible relief and succour to me in all imployments by reason of the multitude of mischiefs and sins I daily meet with it being my Saviours pleasure I should fly to this for remedy against them Innocence therefore applies it self to what is before me in all my actions to the end that Purity should receive no trouble in its operation that is to say in the respect it hath towards God Simplicity is the other Bulwark and Guard of Purity and hath its influence chiefly upon what is past and done separating my soul from all duplicity and multiplicity and reflections upon what hath been done or seen Thus is my soul happily inclosed betwixt two Bulwarks and two Walls whereof the one viz. Innocence preserveth her against the present and the future the other of Simplicity from what is past and behinde her Happy are those souls that are called to this Mysterie and to be acquainted with and enjoy God made man in the Manger From which no doubt they receive great blessings in the penetration and possession of the Purity Innocence and Simplicity of this Divine Babe in the same manner as men finde it more easie to obtain favours on the Birth-day or Coronation of a great Prince than at other times Thus this man of God and Infant of Grace declared his sense touching these three Vertues and such the noble and divine uses which he made of them Purity having influence on his intentions ruling in all his Interiour and Exteriour actions so that thereby he singly aimed at the glory and interest of God Just as an infant worketh simply according to nature in looking crying hearing eating and sleeping performing all these purely according to natures principles both for the efficient and final cause of each of them In like manner doth the childe of Grace produce all his actions by the instinct of Grace and hath it for his ultimate end purely aiming at Gods glory in imitation of Christ Jesus who behaved himself in the same manner in the Manger towards God his Father even as a sucking childe by innocence he looketh upon every object with a pure and innocent eye not engaged upon any thing but abstracted and free from all malice all impressions of their Species or Idea's much more from
honour or disgrace that passed not through my spirit and which my soul would not readily have embraced for the advancement of his glory Here a man would be content to be a King to govern all or the meanest Beggar or most miserable Wretch to suffer all for him and this without reason through an excess of reason It is an impossible thing to understand how in so short time the soul should wish such different things and a large discourse would be too narrow to declare one circumstance thereto belonging All I could do in this condition was to give up my liberty to God writing the Deed in paper and signing it with my own blood See here the zeal of a man all on fire with the love of God where likewise his conformity to his will an infallible mark of this love is very observeable Those persons who knew him perfectly report that this intimate union of his will to Gods will was one of his singular graces and himself declared that he was constantly in this blessed frame to which he had applied himself more particularly for several years in which he made it evidently appear that the object and end of all his actions was the Divine will into which his own was wholly absorpt He writ thus to one concerning the sickness and death of the Countess of Castres to whom he had as we have formerly mentioned a very near relation founded upon grace I must tell you that during my absence from the Countess of Castres my heart was tenderly sensible of her pain knowing that she suffered very much But my desire submits to the Order of God and when that is signified to me he gives me grace to obey Coming to Paris I received the news of her death when I resigned my self wholly to God attending his good pleasure for what would follow Another time he writ thus to his Director I have been held these three weeks with a seavour together with a defluxion and an exceeding great weakness and my frame of spirit during this condition hath been a simple prosecution of and adherence to the will and pleasure of God I discover nothing in particular worth writing to you saving that I have a heart ready to receive any afflictions that can befall me I desire whatever is decreed from above and beg it with all my heart We have set down before how that in the year 1641. one of his children whom he dearly loved departed this life When the news was brought him he spake not one word nor shewed the least disturbance but absolutely submitted to the order of God corresponding thereunto in a perfect reconciliation of his own affection to the childe and his great loss of him At the end of the year 1643. his Lady fell desperately sick even to death being left of all her Physicians speechless and without sense but he notwithstanding the deep resentment of such a heavy loss and a business that touched him to the quick manifested such an absolute conformity to the will of God as brake forth into these words I cannot deny but my nature is deeply affected with the sense of so great a loss yet my spirit is filled with so wonderful a joy to see my self in such a state as to give up and sacrifice to my God a thing so near and dear to me that if civility did not forbid it I would make appear outwardly and give some publique testimony of my readiness thereunto By this heroick deportment he evidenced that the will of God was so absolutely his that he not onely will'd that which he will'd though never so difficult but that he willed it as God doth that is with much pleasure and content for so God doth not simply will and act things but wills and acts them with infinite it delight being in himself most infinitely happy But pleased God to restore his Lady to her health with respect as we may piously imagine to this heroical carriage of his faithful servant as likewise to avow he made to our blessed Lady for the obtaining thereof Neither did his conformity onely go thus far but advanced further yet even to things of a higher consideration referring to his perfection and salvation for notwithstanding that he earnestly aspired to Holiness and endeavoured thereafter with an unspeakable courage fervour and diligence yet all this was with an entire resignation of himself to the designs of God concerning himself For opening his case to this Director upon this point he writ thus My present condition consists in an adherence of my will to whatsoever God is pleasad concerning me and this I am sensible of from the bottom of my soul I have of late undergone very great aridities of spirit except some few intervals where all is said open and my soul resigneth herself to God in an inexplicable manner from which she remains full of certainty and of truths which will not easily vanish though they cannot without difficulty be unfolded Having writ and signed with his own blood a Deed of Gift of his Liberty as we have mentioned before he writ thus to the same person concerning it From that instant God hath bestowed upon me such a conformity to his will that as I acknowledge all things to be guided by his hand so likewise I receive every thing from it And to another intimate friend he writ thus The party meaning himself hath since that time felt such a wonderful great conformity to the will of God that he can will nothing but what God willeth neither can he understand how any man should will any thing else this makes every thing pass smoothly and currently This disposition of spirit made him look upon things not in themselves but as contain'd in the will of God and this he gave as a chief advice to attain to perfection It behoveth a soul saith he to give up it self to God walking on in simplicity in all its operations applying it self to every thing not for the thing it self but in order to the will of God not engaged at all to it but to God obeying and honouring him in every thing And from this perfect subordination to the will of God sprung his admirable Tranquillity of minde and from this fountain flowed those rivers of peace and profound repose which he possessed in so great perfection that from the most sudden surprizals his spirit was not altered one jot neither were his inferiour faculties of body put into any disorder as himself acknowledgeth For thus he writ to me one day I comprehend not that thing you call Mortification If one lives in this estate of Conformity for such finding no resistance in his spirit is not capable of it Who so willeth whatever God willeth is daily content let what will happen CHAP. 5. His great Reverence and Fear of God which produceth in him a most admirable purity of Conscience ONe of the most excellent dispositions of the soul in her Interiour life is that of great Reverence
Blessed be that littleness which is held for weakness and yet overthroweth all the Power and Prudence of flesh Treating with some Religious Persons he seemed as it were rapt on a sudden with the consideration of their happy condition speaking to them thus O how happy are you my Sisters After which falling upon a discourse of their Vocation he spake so effectually as wrought in them an ample acknowledgement of their obligation to God and a courage to proceed in well doing This following Letter he writ to a Gentlewoman newly entred into Religion who next under God did owe her calling to him I thank my Saviour with all Reverence for those good dispositions to your Profession signified in your Letter I understand and am sensible of abundant grace wrought in you whereby I assure my self of a noble pregress I am to expect from the bounty of God who is to that soul that gives herself to him Merces magna nimis Her exceeding great reward You have made a leap which puts you in a new world Blessed and adored be God who in the fulness of time out of his wisdom and love to a soul sends his Son unto it to redeem â—t from the Law of Servitude and translates it into the Adoption of his Sons This hath he now wrought in you in a more special manner and the excellentest way that could be You was never united to Jesus Christ as you are now by your holy Profession You had heretofore something to give that was never before engaged and he something to receive that was not formerly in his possession But now all is given and all is received and the mutual donation is accomplished No more Self no more Life no more Inheritance but in Jesus Christ He is all in all things until the time that according to the Apostle he delevering us up all and wholly to his Father his Faâ—her also shall be iâ— Jesus and in all his members all in all for ever Amen Fourthly he had a very great Devotion to all the Saints in Heaven but more partifulatly to S. Joseph and S. Teresa whom in the year 1640. he chose for his Patroness and above all the rest to the Saint of Saints the B. Virgin in testimony whereof he dedicated himself to her Service at Ardilliers then when he designed himself for a Carthusian And in the year 1640. he desired to be admitted into the Society erected to her honour in the house of the professed of the Jesuits of S. Lewis and for many years he wore a seal upon his arm with her Image graven wherewith he sealed all his Letters We have likewise mentioned how he gave to an Image of Nostre-Dame de Grace a heart of Chrystal set in Gold to testifie to that Admirable Mother as he used often to stile her his love and that with this heart he resigned up to her his own Finally this man of God most entirely honoured and loved the Spouse of Christ his Holy Church reverencing every thing that came from her making great account of all her ceremonies saying That he found a certam grace and particular vertue in the prayers and customs of the Church conforming himself most readily to her practises Being present commonly at High-Mass in Paris he would go to the Offering amongst the people and ordinarily with some poor man He assisted at ceremonies where it was rare to finde not onely men of his quality but far meaner persons as the consecrating of the Fonts in the Holy Week at long Processions in all extremities of weather Upon which occasion he writ one day to a friend Our Procession goeth this day into the Suburbs and since our Saviour hath favoured us with this great mercy to be of this little flock we ought to follow his standard and I take it for a signal honour to follow the Cross which way our holy Mother the Church leads us there being nothing in her but what is glorious since she acts in every thing by the Spirit of Religion in the presence of God whereby she unfolds great mysteries to those that are humble and respective From which expressions actions we may infer that he being a man of such quality and taken up with such a multitude of business had a very reverend esteem of all the ceremonies of the Church otherwise he would never have rendred such Obedience and Honour to them And though it be most true that he highly honoured these ceremonies yet he desired likewise that by the Exteriour pomp that appeared to the eyes Christians might be led on to the Interiour and more Spiritual complaining that the outward Magnificence wherewith Churches are adorned do often stay and amuse them and instead of carrying them on to God their chief end diverts them from him To this purpose he writ thus to a friend We should take notice of that simplicity in which the Divine Mysteries were conveyed to us that we may not be held too long with the splendour in which at this day they are celebrated These thoughts came into my minde in hearing the Organs and Church Musick and beholding the rich Ornaments used in the Divine Office we must look thorow this state at that spirit of Simplicity Purity and Humility of their primitive Institution Not but that these are holy and useful but that we should pass thorow it to the Simplicity and Poverty of Bethlehem Nazareth Egypt the Wilderness and the Cross But above all he was singularly devoted to an union of spirit and affection and universal communion of all good things whith all the faithful in all places of the world and to be admitted into the communion of Saints being an Article of our Creed very dear unto him Wherefore he highly valued all of each Nation and Profession without espousing any particular spirit or interest to respect one above others to magnifie one and derogate from another He honoured all Ecclesiasticks Secular and communicated with them concerning all his Exercises of Charity for his Neighbour he gave great respect to all Parish Priests was very serviceable to him of his own Parish he frequented the Societies of the Religious loved and made use of them for direction of his conscience And notwithstanding the great variety and several orders of them in the Church yet was not his heart divided but affected with an equal esteem and approbation and a general affection to all according to their degree being guided herein by one Spirit viz. that of Christ Jesus which enliveneth all the faithful as members of his body in the same manner as out bodily members notwithstanding they be different in sight figure and offices are knit together and all perfectly agree because they are all quickned by the same soul All misintelligence and disagreeing is a sign of two spirits that rule there and division is the principle of death Concerning this communion of Saints he one day suffered some difficulty Whereupon he writ this excellent Letter to his Directoâ— I
the spirit which is never so compleat as when it is alone Giving notice to a friend of the death of the Countess of Castres for whose spiritual good and perfection he had taken very much pains He writeth thus I was not in Paris but at Citry when she departed I was sent for post the day of her death which was Saturday but came two hours too late Entring the Town I understood the news from them that spake openly of it in the streets Presently I fixed my self to the will of God whereupon I found no more alteration in my soul than if she had been alive I see his order in this that I assisted her not at her death and make no doubt but that he permitted it for her advantage To a friend that had lost his Spiritual Director he writ thus Touching the remove of your Ghostly Father it would without question prove a great loss to you and all the Countrey from whence he went if the providence of God herein did not rather sanctifie and establish than destroy and if oftentimes by removing these petty visible and sensible supports he did not make way to settle us more firmly in our progress to which he designs us which is to dwell and to hold our selves in God together with Christ Jesus where we finde all truth and all power and who is so neer to us that he is even in the midst of â— and proportionably as our dependence upon creatures faileth through his providence he makes it appear aâ—d we experimentally finde that we are not left destitute thereby but that supply is made either by his Spirit that resideth continually in us for our relief or by the conduct of his Ministers which the fewer they are the more is that grace dilated and multiplied which we receive by them So great is the providence of our Heavenly Father as to take care of the meanest necessities of all his children who to him behave themselves as children Neither indeed ought we to be further engaged to those persons who assist us in our Spiritual conduct than as to Gods instruments whose help it is his will we should make use of but no longer than he pleaseth and when his will is either by death or otherwise to take them from us we ought not to be afflicted nor lose our courage but with submission and gratitude resign all to him which will be a good means to move him to provide others who perhaps with more advantage to us may understand the pulse of our souls In fine he was dead to all love of himself which he had so perfectly subdued that being naturally quick and hasty as we have formerly hinted he became so staid and equal in all his demeanor as caused admiration in those that knew him being naturally of a high spirit he had acquired a most profound humility of heart whereof he produced most evident actions exteriourly at all times and in all places And though his genius inclined him to wit and scoffing yet he so corrected it that none was more respectful and courteous to all even the meanest As for his passions those were so perfectly subdued and regulated that they never broke loose upon any occasion so that you might say he had none at all He had arrived to a perfect death in the superiour faculties of his soul his memory so emptied of all worldly things that it never presented any Idea's sufficient to distract his Devotions He made not any imperfection upon what was past as we have observed and our Saviour had endowed him with this singular grace not to be busied in his thoughts about those actions in which he was conversant which after they were done were obliterated wholly as to any care for them and quite blotted out of his memory that they might be no hindrance to what was in hand This Letter was writ to a familiar friend relating hereunto It is some while ago that finding my self in the midst of a world of people my spirit was enlightned and affected neither to desire to know any body nor to be known to any This hath wrought in me a wonderful separation from every thing and methinks herein consisteâ—h one of the chiefest points of a Spiritual Life which requires great purity of spirit wonderful estrangement and distance from the creature and which placeth the soul in this world as if it were no part of it in a state of perfect oblivion and ignorance of things which do not concern her that is no longer able to endure but onely what is necessary He was dead to his spirit reason and judgement living onely the life of Faith which is a Christians proper death It may be gathered from what hath been mentioned already that he acted nothing by this faculty of its self no more than if he had had no such power but wrought all by the moving of Christ Jesus who lived in him and operated by him Lastly he was annihilated and dead to his own will which we have placed after all as being the most important faculty in relation to Moral actions This therefore he had entirely resigned in conformity to Gods will not desiting absolutely any thing but in order thereto I adore saith he in one of his Letters so affectionately the will of God in whatsoever he pleaseth to make out for me that Hell it self should be my Paradise if he decreed me thither And in another thus Far be it from me to act in this business by my own spirit I would have it wholly annihilated that it might know no other language but Nothing and continually Nothing to follow in all the footsteps of the Divine will according to its measure and manner And to a third thus My Saviour hath graciously brought me into such a state of indifferency for every thing that I could be very well cortent all my life to be fixed to my bed a Paralytique not able to stir without making any reflection upon any service I might render to my neighbour or that I could render him no more all things according to the will of God being equal to me And in a fourth thus Of late I have been busied in such occasions both Exteriourly and Interiourly as were sufficient to have gravel'd such a weak mean spirit as mine had it not been absolutely resigned to the will of God It is upon him alone by this way of Abnegation that I bottom my self adoring with you and by your instruction the decrees of his Sacred and Divine Will who holdeth all things in his own hands to keep us subyect unto him by his justice and to sanctifie us also by love If the effects thereof upon us do evidence us to have the hearts of children that is 〈◊〉 Spirit of Christ Jesus to sigh after our heavenly Father and cry Abbâ— Peter SECT 2. Continuation of the same subject MOnsieur Renty was so absolutely resigned to God having quite lost and annihilated his own will into thâ—â— of God
Apostle sets our Saviour for our pattern of whom he said in the former part Exinanivir seipsum He emptied himself If you ask how long and to what degree I answer even from the instant of his conception to his death Behold this is our Rule our Patron and our general Rendezvouz from all sides And to a third If we understood truly how the real divesting our selves of all rendred us capable of union with God we would incessâ—ntly beg this grace offering great violence to our selves to arrive at this state of Death and Abnegation to which every Christian must endeavour that aims at union with God and ascend to perfection I received some years since great illumination upon this verity giving me to understand that the treasure hidden in the field mentioned in the Gospel is no other but this estate of Death and Annihilation taking away from us our selves to give us to God emptying us of all creatures to be replenished with the Creator the Fountain of all good Our Saviour tells us there that he that found it went and sold all to buy it If we understood the true value of this precious treasure we would freely part with our liberty with all we are and all we have to purchase it Really this should work in us great confusion that such precious things and such forcible motives obliging us to tend to this Abnegation we arrive at it so slowly and most men so seldom O how few truly annihilated persons are to be found few that do not live according to the corrupted life of the old man producing actions accordingly when ever occasions of honour or profit or pleasure are presented Few that attain to lose and renounce themselves in such points as tend to their perfection Let us therefore employ all our forces to arrive at this happy estate O the spirits that are thus dead what an admirable life do they live I and hereby become rare instruments in the hands of God capable to act great matters tending to his glory These are intimately united to him wholly transformed and annihilated in God and by this gainful loss and happy annihilation arrive t the height of perfection they enjoy a setled peace a pure and solid contentment incomparably surpassing all sensuall pleasures These are so far advanced above all earthly greatness above that Idol-Honour which the world so much admireth that these are become their contempt and scorn They make no difference betwixt the pomps of Emperors and Spiders-webs they value Diamonds and Precious Stones equal with common Pibbles they neither take health for happiness nor sickness for misery they think that poverty should not be termed a misfortune nor poor men be deemed miserable they weigh not Beatitude in silver scales nor measure it by the ell of Pleasure but repute that all these things do much resemble running waters which in their courve wash the roots of trees and plants as they pass but make no stay with any of them flowing continually towards the end and place appointed them Of these illustrious dead men and most divinely annihilated souls the Angel speaks in the Apocalypse Write blessed are they that dye in the Lord from henceforward for they rest from their labours And indeed this verity should be writ in Letters of Gold in Characters of Saphyrs and Rubies Blessed are the dead who dye thus to themselves and to all created things to live onely to their Redeemer The Holy Ghost hath said it and assured them that at the instant of this precious death they finde rest from all their labours because their former pains and troubles of spirit now have an end for that they have now rooted out the causes of them and dried up the fountain which according to S. James are our lusts and concupiscences Monsieur de Renty had arrived to this pitch as may be seen in what we have mentioned deserving to be put in the list of those truly happy I mean those happy ones of the state of grace and possessors as of the Paradise of this life CHAP. 10. Of his Corporal death MOnsieur de Renty having now finished his mystical death must now also look for to enter into the way of Glory to receive that recompence of the reward which God had prepared for him in the Heavens necessarily dye the death of the body and so he diâ—â— 't is this day that I writ this two years ago which fell out in that manner as I shall now relate One the 11 of Aprl 1649. he found himself very ill and having concealed his sickness for five days was constrained immediately after a journey he had taken about some acts of Charity to keep his bed where he endured great pains all over his body with which his spirit likewise was so much affected that he professed his fancy to be so much disturbed with absurd and raving imaginations that if Gods grace had not assisted him to undestand the ground of them and preserved him under them he should have spoken more extravagancies than any mad man that there was much therefore in such an evil to desert and humble him but it was the duty of a sinner to honour God in all conditions in which he should put him During these great pains and torments both of body and minde and during the whole course of his sickness his ordinary employment consisted in affectionate elevations of his minde to God in thoughts and words of blessing praise and submission to whatsoever was laid upon him of meekness and perfect obedience to all that attended and had the care of of him with such a humble and contented spirit that he thought all well done though sometimes it was otherwise He exprest a wonderful patience which ever gave a check to any complaint still saying that he suffered nothing although his pains were extraordinary And when his keeper which was a Sister of the Hospital of Charity with whom he had visited so many poor and sick solks did importune him to declare his grief O Sister said he how doth the love of God wipe away all pain The Servants of God-fuffer nothing Another friend demanding of him if his pain was not great He answered No. The other replied That he thought it was It s true saith he that I am much clogged with my disease but I feel it not because I do not think of it Being urged by their sister to take some sweet things he refused saying These conduce little either for life or death and are not at all needfull Yet he refused not Physick though it was very bitter which he took with a chearfull countenance and swallowed it with great difficulty without leaving any The day before his death one told him of an excellent medicine which had done great cures He answer'd Patience is a soveraign remedy intimating his unwillingness to try it yet when it was brought he took it without any reluctancy or once asking what it was evidencing his mystical death to any thing