THE THIRD PART OF THE SOVL'S DELIGHT Collected and composed out of the workes of the GLORIOVS VIRGIN St. TERESA OF IESVS Author of the reformation of the Holy Order of the B. V. MARY of the MOVNT CARMELL BY THE R. F. PAVL OF St. VBALD RELIGIOVS OF THE SAME ORDER For the comfort of those that are more spirituall and haue supernaturall Prayer Sine intermissione Orate Pray without intermission 1. Thesal 5. v. 16. Meditatio cordis mei in conspectu tuo semper The meditation of my heart is allwayes in thy sight psal 18. v. 15. IN ANTWARP By WILLIAM LESTEENS in Hoochstrat at the signe of the Pellican 1654. THE THIRD PART Of the soul's delight wherein is treated of supernaturall prayer and seuerall degrees thereof THE FIRST CHAPTER A briefe relation of supernaturall Prayer 1. OVr Holy Mother S. Teresa in her life and her other woorkes doth declare and explicat this matter so well that I neede not speake much of it But by reason her workes or bookes cannot be had by euery one I will briefly say somwhat of it out of her for the comfort of pious soules and to encourrage many to goe forward in this Blessed exercise of mentall prayer seing to what great happinesse they may attaine by it 2. For the better vnderstanding of what is to be sayd you must obserue that as there are vertues which we call acquired by reason they are gayned by our labour industry and practise there be also vertues which we call infused that is not gained by our industry or labour but are giuen vs by the meere gift of God which are certaine habits of vertues that doth cause vs promptly and with facility to vse and produce vertuous acts these are infused into the soul she not knowing how but that she finds by the effects that it is a speciall gift of God which is suddenly perceiued and to which she could not attaine with the labour of many yeares 3. In like manner there is prayer acquired or naturall and infused or supernaturall that naturall is gayned by the long practise of it as we get other artes or trades by the dayly vse of them but this infused is in an instant giuen vnto vs by God and it doth cause vs to worke in a more perfect manner and more knowingly and more feelingly we not knowing whence or how it came and therefore it is called supernaturall being beyond our reach but sometyme this prayer is giuen only for that present and perhaps at other tymes yet it is not habituall because it is not permanent though supernaturall and this doth produce great and good effects in the soul but the other cometh with a presence of God so perfect that going to prayer though you were in diuerse occasions of businesse instantly before which were sufficient to distract a man a whole day suddenly set on your knees in prayer with a looke on that presence of God you are recollected and haue sufficient matter to employ the powers in so that the soul is in a great content with the inward satisfaction which she doth feele and this is not without contemplation and though the naturall contemplation delighteth the mynd and adorneth the soul much yet this other giueth more content and satisfaction in an instant then that is euer able to reach vnto with all industry possible 4. This is commonly giuen only to soules that are pure and after long labour in the practise of the other prayer mortification of their senses and passions and pennance for their sinns are wery of the world and doe loath the vanityes and pleasures thereof and doe aspire to the loue of God and true perfection these soules doe now desire solitude and doe betake themselues from all occasions into the most secret places they can find fit for their purpose to giue themselues to holy reading prayer and other spirituall exercises as the antient saints did into the wildernesse solitary and desart places to be employed and familiar with God alone 5. For these places are most fit for recollection and contemplation and the spirit of God hath this property that it desireth to be in priuat employed only in heauenly things and such as are eternall and this doubtlesse was the cause that in former tymes when there were more saints in the Church then now the Abbayes and monasteryes were built in remote and solitary places farre from the noyse of people where all things and euen the very solitude most did moue and inuite them to recollection and contemplation of diuine matters 6. For euery creature there doth teach vs to know our selues our creatour and his perfections for there we shall see nothing but the heauens ouer vs the earth vnder the water ebbing and flowing going and coming the trees hearbs and flowers now springing then faire soone after withering decaying and fading away the beasts feeding and bellowing the byrds flying and singing all of them in their kind manifesting and praising their common Lord the creatour of all things 7. The earth when we looke downe telleth vs that we are dust from it and must returne to it againe be we neuer so powerfull or great this dayly experience doth confirme the water and its courses shewes the vncertainty mutability and vnconstancy of the life of man and his vaine desyres the trees flowers and the rest doth shew how long a man is coming to perfection and on a sudden is gon by death the beastes tell vs with all others that we are not of our selues but haue a God who gaue vs our being infinit wise and prouident preseruing and prouiding for all in their owne kind when we looke vpwards we see the heauens and they tell vs that there is the place and seat of all felicity and happinesse where God and his Angells in glory are resident and that we are created to enioy God there and therefore ought to tend thither and labour to compasse it by seruing and praising him who hath so created vs and prouided for vs as to be with himselfe in all ioy and glory for all eternity this good and much more solitude affordeth in those desart places the soul then that is desirous of perfection and therefore doth retyre her selfe from occasions and in that solitude doth giue her selfe to more reading and praying to come to the more perfect knowledg and feeling of God that she may loue and serue him in a better and more eminent way then euer before must resolue to seeke after God alone all other things whatsoeuer neglected and forsaken which the great God of mercy and goodnesse obseruing and seing how that poore soul doth labour in prayer with her vnderstanding and will to find him by loue and is often tyred vsing great diligence heerein at length taketh compassion vppon her and eleuating her spirit doth set her at rest with great sweetnesse in a deepe recollection farre within her selfe in a solitude of an other kind where she enioyeth so perfect a feeling
the soul loosing her forces and the vse of her powers and senses is like to yeald the Ghost and thus with loue and excesse of ioy both she and all the powers are not themselues but sopited and like to one as is said wholy senslesse and the ioy and content which is heere had by farre exceedeth that of the former degree yet his diuine maiesty with this not contented to manifest his loue the more to this his beloued spouse he bringeth her into a solitude beyond all that is created and this is the fourth step or degree called vnion where all are absorpt and drowned ouer head and eares for she and all the powers are wholy vnited to God and ingulfed in the depth of his diuinity and she is become one and the same with God quite forgetting all that is in heauen and earth and the very body which during the tyme of vnion is voyde of sense and in a manner dead neither doth she know whether she be in the body or no. in this vnion she doth not continew long perhaps halfe an hour or there about before some of the powers doe returne to them selues and often not finding the like content as one should say in their owne house they goe willingly back againe and are drowned in the same depth and burned with the same fire and in this coming and going some houres may be spent but not in the totall or perfect vnion of all for as our Holy Mother saith it is so strong and forcible that our weake nature is not able to endure it long but by degrees his diuine Maiesty doth enable the soul and make her capable for receiuing those supernaturall fauours and diuine communications 12. In this totall vnion the soul knoweth nothing as is said but enioyeth a content and happinesse surpassing sense yet what she doth enioy or how she vnderstandeth not but doth remaine absorpt and vnited to the diuine essence and thus she is become God's captiue tyed and chayned fast by loue and hath no power to free her selfe vntill his Maiesty be pleased to set her at liberty neither would she though she could esteeming it a greater captiuity to be left to her owne liberty and farre more liberty to be in that sweet and happy captiuity this is a greater and more eminent gift and fauour then all the former it is a most blessed vnion or coniunction a most diuine transformation a most happy death a true deification and most happy life in God 13. Note that in that quiet prayer the will only is vnited and not the other powers in that other of the sleepe of the powers the will and the powers are vnited but so that they are not perfectly vnited or wholy lost but in this vnion they are all wholy and perfectly lost vnited and in gulfed in the diuine essence and they are wholy dead to all the world drowned in vnspeakable delight and the profit of the soul in this degree is vnexplicable her loue is come to so great a height that nothing but the enioying of God wholy and perfectly can giue her content Therefore his diuine Maiesty doth lead her to an other step or degree farre beyond her selfe and all that hath beene sayd eleuating her spirit and opening her eyes to set and know somwhat of his greatnesse and the treasure of his celestiall glory with visions and reuelations of high matters hidden and most profund misteryes and this is called and exstasy or rapt where she vnderstands cleerly and plainly how all things created are a meere shadow and nothing compared with what she then doth enioy and see in God and this rapt some tymes is so forcible and vehement that it doth eleuat the very body with the soul from the earth and remayneth hanging in the ayre and it doth so participat of the inward ioy and glory of the soul that it doth loath to be longer on earth and faine would be inuested with immortality for all eternity and after these great raptes commonly when the soul returneth to her selfe the body as yet and perhaps for some dayes will not be able to vse its owne functions nor the powers and senses are themselues but all are out of order for they are as yet drunk with the memory of the glory and delight which they enioyed and the introuersion and application of the powers and senses is so great that they cannot but with difficulty attend as yet to any outward things and though they see and heare at those tymes yet they neither well see nor know what they see or heare this soul now is no more her owne but wholy belongeth to God for she hath consigned her selfe her will and the keyes therof vnto his diuine Maiesty so that she liueth not now but Christ doth liue in Gal. 2. v. 20. her in so much that she myndeth nothing but the honour glory and praise of God and heartely desireth and laboureth that all may loue and praise him for euer her vertues are solid and of great perfection her loue is so excessiue that her life on earth is a continuall martyrdome and death by reason of her forcible and languishing desyre to be dissolued and be with her beloued Christ Iesus in glory for all Eternity 14. Thus deere Christian soul our Sauiour doth reward euen in this mortall and myserable lyfe the litle labour and endeauours of a louing soul O who would not labour for so great a good and willingly serue so good a Lord O who would not affect so true a louer and deere a frend o who would not freely forsake all this world for the loue of so bountifull and Gracious a God O Blessed Lord praysed and exalted for euer and euer mayst thou be who art so choyse of vs and ha'st prepared so great happinesse for such wormes of the earth as we all thy creatures loue and praise thee for euer more Amen THE II. CHAPTER Of Recollection and quiet Prayer more in particular 1. WHereas this recollection is so great and inward and the powers not troubled with the noyse of worldly and vaine thoughts and that God is there present what must the soul doe in this recollection first she must consider that he is there only attending to giue audience and ready then to heare her petition and that she can without any impediment speake to him being so neere for as our Holy Mother sayth the In her life chap. 27. soul seemes to haue other eares and tongue inwardly and needeth not speak loud or cry out with noyse of inward words or consider him in heauen or a farre of or without her selfe to be heard or vnderstood but she may rest there with him for he is not a frend of many words and accustome the vnderstanding to worke very slowly and as it were in silence carefully attending to what is said and with what reuerence and confidence she speaketh to him and if the vnderstanding can be kept quiet sweetly beholding that
counter fit or appeere with that maiesty light cleernesse and liulynesse with which our Sauiour doth appeere for he doth come so resplendent and glorious and his person is so beautifull that the soul cannot but know that it is he and often his glory and her ioy at his presence are so great that she is wholy rauished and depriued of all forces and this doth leaue in her a true feeling knowledg that he alone is absolute Lord of heauen and earth and with this she is extreamly comforted hauing a liuly impression of him printed in her vnderstanding euen after he is parted which the deuil cannot effect let him doe what he can In this manner his diuine Maiesty was present for some yeares with our Holy Mother wheresoeuer she went But in the intellectuall vision which is more euident eminent and more secure from all deceit being very supernaturall and representing the Angelicall manner of knowing or vnderstanding without words formes or shapes or any image by a notion so diuine with admirable light and cleernesse she doth know and see in the very center of the soul the most Blessed Trinity and in this manner the three persons remayned in our Holy Mother as wittnesses of what she did and they did often admonish and forewarne her to preuent some imperfections into which in occasions she had fallen if she were not foretold of them and she was so replenished with knowledg of diuine Misteryes and those chiefely of our Holy faith that she was able to dispute and conuince the most learned protestants shew their errours and make the truth plainly and euidently appeere this she doth write at which I thinke none can admire she being full of diuine wisdome taught and instructed by the truth it selfe 9. And obserue that these high and great visions are not as a certaine presence of God or some influence of the diuinity which in quiet prayer vnion or other degrees of supernaturall prayer are had but in these is the blessed body and proper person of Christ himselfe true God and man the very son of the Glorious and immaculat Virgin Mary of which the soul cannot doubt neither can the deuil as is said represent such great beauty glory and Maiesty with which our Sauiour doth appeere for all the glory that can be imagined is but a darke cloud compared with this and heere also is the most Holy Trinity it selfe the very diuine essence one God and three persons and each of them doe speake to her and she to them and of euery of them she doth begg and obtaine some speciall fauour or gift 10. And note that some tymes there are wordes without any vision the party not knowing how or whence they come but they are heard with the corporall eares other tymes inwardly in the very depth of the soul but cleerly and perfectly vnderstood also there are visions and no words yet the soul doth get great benefit thereby and there are visions and words to gether But in what kind so euer they be the soul by the signes and effects mentioned will easily know whether they be good or no true or false which is a very great comfort to her moreouer when the visions and speeches are true they worke so effectually in the soul that she doth find her inclination to vices and imperfections decay and true vertue taking roote in her which the deuil with all his witt and wyles is not able to doe Blessed be God who hath prouided so well for his owne seruants he is truly wonderfull in all his workes and as he is omnipotent so nothing is to his diuine Maiesty vnpossible 11. But though these signes heere layd downe by which one may discerne the true from the false and the good from the bad are very good yet she doth aduise In her life chap. 19. though the fauours be great that none must trust litle or much to himselfe or his owne iudgment but in all and euery thing be circumspect and prudent only acquainting his Ghostly Father or directour with what visions or other fauours God doth grant vnto him and both of them must not diuulge any of them but vse all secrecy and silence commending it to God vntill tyme doth try the truth or his diuine Maiesty by some other way doth make it manifest and knowen if he will haue it so for the deuil is apt to tempt and deceiue and our nature is prone and inclined to proper esteeme and vaine glory on small occasions much more in these like 12. And such as are desirous of true perfection must be carefull not to affect or seeke after supernaturall gusts visions and reuelations for it is a true token of an vnmortifyed spirit litle humility and much presumption and to these God doth not commonly giue those fauours but to the humble that thinke themselues altogether vnworthy of any such for humility in this way of Spirit doth preuaile much with God and gayneth all 18. Moreouer if in these supernaturall degrees you find your prayer allwayes after one manner and your gustes and quietnesse of spirit at all tymes to be the same your prayer is to be suspected not to be right but from Sathan and in visions if you can for a long tyme without alteration behold that which doth appeere whether it be our Sauiour or any Saint it is to be esteemed an illusion and deceit of the deuil for all these great vnions rapts and visions are of no continuance but speedily doe alter and passe away that is to say they doe not continew in that height of Maiesty or glory though they may continew in a more obscure manner and be present and perfectly perceiued for a very long tyme. 14. And you must obserue that in these visions of our Sauiour and his saints you must haue a great respect vnto them though they be from the Deuil and make your spirituall profit of them for you are not to hate or contemne a sweet picture that representeth one whom you deerely loue because it is made by a painter of an euil life but rather loue it by reason it doth put you in mynd of your beloued which is a comfort to your mynd euen so though the deuil being an excellent painter should frame or represent in vs the forme or image of our Sauiour or any Saints we must not disrespect it because it is framed by him but vse it for our profit with humility and reuerence for their sakes whom we loue and it doth represent 15. Also you must not thinke them the holyest that haue consolations visions and reuelations for many are great saints that neuer had any of them and others that had visions and gusts are not therefore saints for true sanctity as I often said doth consist in solid vertue and true conformity of our will to the will of God in all things but the visions and gusts are good when they are from God yet not to be affected or desired and the best and most
presence of his diuine Maiesty without words or with Luke 18. v. 13. the Publican casting his eyes to the earth expecting with humility what shall be sayd to him it will be of great profit and increase vertuous desyres in the soul contempt of the world and strong resolutions to serue God and amend their liues and this the soul doth vnderstand by sweet inspirations and secret whispers by which he speaketh vnto her heere she doth offer her selfe and her will wholy to God to be employed euer after in his seruice 2. Though some yea religious after coming so farre and hauing forsaken the world and giuen themselues to God doe returne back to the flesh pots of Egipt and as a dog to his vomit to be more worldly then euer and to seeke for familiarityes and frendships and they take back againe from God euen against his will what formerly they freely gaue him THEIR VVILL which they did dedicat vnto his diuine Note Maiesty to be employed only in his seruice which againe they dispose of as of their owne and the world and what is in it which for his sake they forsooke they seeke after more earnestly then before they left it and thus they draw their mynd and affection from God applijng them selues to base vile and transitory things notwithstanding the experience they often had by many comforts and consolations of Gods goodnesse and loue when they did proceede sincerly 3. And one thing may be much admired to wit that these vngratfull people do goe to prayer as boldly and without all feare as if they had done no iniury to God nor wronged themselues and they are not ashamed to aske or expect spirituall comforts and fauours of his diuine Maiesty after so great an affront are these to be regarded or fauoured more by God certainly they deserue it not vnlesse with a humble submission and acknowledgment of their abuse and wrong committed they returne to his Maiesty forsaking all and restoring what was vniusty taken away without which this recollection is not had againe for it doth consist in this that the powers are introuerted and not troubled with any vaine or worldly thoughts as is formerly said But they who goe on with their endeauours to please God doe easily find how sweet and good our Lord is to those that loue and doe seeke after him 4. It is a comfortable thing to speake of the next degree to which they are brought after that recollection and of what passeth there and seriously to consider it is most ioyfull and pleasing but to feele it is in excesse delightfull this is in Quiet Prayer where the soul is placed to rest without labouring or discourse heere she is feasted with varietyes of heauenly comforts diuine consolations and ioyfull delights farre surpassing sense heere she doth begin to taste of the food of Angells and is reposed in the bed of sweet content certainly if all the honours pastines and pleasures of this world were in one and to continue and be enioyed for euer yet compared with one only moment of the ioy content and satisfaction which heere are had all that would appeere to be meere nothing for as farre as the heauens doe exceede the earth in greatnesse and perfection without any proportion so doe these spirituall comforts without any equality or proportion exceede all the others words cannot expresse what it is but those happy soules can best tell and declare it that by experience hath often knowen and felt the sweetnesse of it 5. This Quiet prayer doth consist in this that the soul and all the powers after labouring to find out whom she doth deerely loue are brought by his diuine Maiesty from that laborious discoursing and searching for him to the place of rest that is farre within her selfe where in great silence and peace of all the powers she doth enioy his presence and is vnited to him strongly by loue and doth remaine in his sweet embracements with great content and satisfaction and this is therefore called quiet prayer by reason there is no discoursing nor noyse of inward wordes vsed in it where with the soul and powers were often weryed searching to find him but all are silent and quiet not that they doe omit to worke but it is so sweetly done that it is scarcely perceiued by reason they are in contemplation and with one simple looke they are in admiration with great ioy and doe feelingly vnderstand more in an instant then they could attaine to with all the discourses possible let not any thinke that the soul doth see any image or shape wherein God doth appeere when his presence is named heere but only that she hath a fixt memory with a liuly faith that he is there and that by the effects which she doth find in her selfe it appeeres as a great ioy and inward satasfaction of all the powers Also a light which procureth a most humble and reuerentiall respect in the soul with a kind of certainty of his presence with which she is so contented delighted as if nothing more rested to be desyred in this world and this content doth redowne euen to the body which is neuer wery whiles that quit content doth hold 6. And obserue that as it is former 's said the will being only vnited the other powers which are not so doe keepe he often in warre and doe molest her much endeauouring to bring her from her rest and content to passe the tyme as we may say with themselues but their labour is in vaine and the contrary doth often happen for she doth cause them to returne to their quiet rest with her for she doth labour to keepe in that litle spark of fire of the loue of God esteeming it as of right she ought of great worth for thence if she be not in the fault in tyme may proceede a great fire and flames of diuine loue for she doth now by experience well know how great good it is to adheare to God who giâ—â—th that small begining as a liuly token of his affection and earnest penny to bind the bargaine and confirme the agreement betwixt them to wit that she must not be longer of this world though liuing in it but of those whose conuersation is in heauen and dispose her selfe for greater and higher matters and to be disposed of only by his diuine Maiesty who hath now chosen her to be of his priuat chamber and to seeke after nothing but what shall be to his honour and glory O admirable dignity and happinesse 7. Let not any soul that is come to this state vnderualue her selfe nor think it want of humility to conceiue that she is fauoured by God for one will be more thankfull that he knoweth the greatnesse of the gift or benefit and dignity of the person that giueth it then if they did not marke it or did forget it or would not acknowledg it but she must with an humble submission and holy presumption acknowledg that she
to communicat himselfe to soules and bring them to his diuine loue are many and farre beyond our reach and vnderstanding and he is powerfull to giue them great gifts and vnknowen fauours though it is vnpossible for vs to expresse by words the fauours which we doe receiue in prayer being supernaturall vnlesse his diuine Maiesty be pleased to giue vs the ability to know the gift and how to make it to be vnderstood by words for there is great difference betwixt feeling and vnderstanding what we feele and as our Holy Mother saith it is one fauour to receiue a gift and an other to cause vs to vnderstand the supernaturall gift which we receiue In her life chap. 17. and an other to know how by words or examples to expresse it and cause it to be vnderstood by our directour 3. And this as a speciall fauour was In her life Chap. 30. granted vnto her by God aboue any that I haue seene or read that wrote of those diuine communications for the very cleerest of them all is obscure enough but she as one well experienced and instructed by the holy Ghost hath so plainly and clearly declared the seuerall wayes that in euery degree of prayer God worketh in the soul and what effects he doth produce in her and what in these occasions the is to doe and how to behaue her selfe that the directour knoweth reading her writings what to examin and the penitent how to vnderstand and declare herselfe that her directour may be well informed of her spirit and conceiue things aright which otherwise though neuer so learned without the experimentall knowledg of them he could not vnderstand nor she expresse and so the penitent soul by the Ghostly Father not vnderstanding her might suffer very much and be hindred of her spirituall profit as our Holy Mother and others that she writ of were and put rather backward then forward in prayer and vertue 4. Now to speake more of this degree then is spoaken in the first chapter seemes superfluous but deere Christian soul the more that such matters as these are repeated and some litle thing giuen better to be vnderstood the more profitable they are and not in any way superfluous therefore out of her workes I will adde to what is formerly said of these degrees and of this in particular that which I haue obserued which may be the better vnderstood by this example 5. A young chield desyring somwhat that he doth want not able to help himselfe doth fall a crijng and is not at rest vntill his Mother or nourse doth take him into her lappe or armes and giueth him the brest to suck with this he is silent and quiet and when he hath taken sufficiently and his belly is full as we may say he begins to slumber and fall a sleepe and at last he is soe heauily and deadly a sleepe that she takes the dugge out of his mouth and placeth him where she please to rest he not knowing nor feeling what is done to him or with him In like manner the soul in meditation is the child crijng for somwhat that she doth want and is not at rest vntill his diuine Maiesty doth take compassion vppon her seing her weryed and almost tired by the labour of the vnderstanding and will seeking to find him then taking her into his lappe he giueth her the teat of his holy presence which is supernaturall by which she begins to suck the sweet milk of deuotion and diuine consolation and is thereby made silent and contented this is quiet prayer then hauing taken sufficiently of that celestiall nectar in that quiet content with the dugge in her mouth as we may say or that diuine presence she is so ouer delighted and satisfyed and all the powers so ioyed that by degrees they begin to slumber or fall a sleepe forgetting by litle and litle all things of the world where they are and what they doe this is called the sleepe of the powers yet is not the soul in a dead sleepe for she holdeth the dugge as yet in her mouth and doe not omit to worke somewhat at last she is so replenished with that diuine liquor as one drunke and quite ouercome she falls into a dead sleepe she looseth the dugge and forgets absolutly all whatsoeuer is in heauen or earth and then she is put to rest yet where or how or by whom she knoweth not being drowned and in gulfed in the diuine essence with all her powers vnited the poore body for that present left quite forgotten senslesse and in a manner dead and this is called vnion that is the soul and all the powers are vinted to the diuine essence and she becomes one with God or as our Holy Mother sayth he taketh her and shut's her vpp within himselfe in the height of this vnion the soul knoweth and vnderstandeth nothing but soone after for it holds not long she knoweth what a great good she did enioy wherin all goodnesse is But now to the sleepe of the powers I returne which are not lost yet the ioy of the soul is so great that she knoweth not what to doe with her selfe through the vehemency of loue and she cannot containe her selfe her ioy and glory is so great she faine would cry out to giue notice to all creatures of her delight and paine for this excesse of loue is not without a delightfull paine that all might partake thereof and praise God she doth feele those effects in her selfe so perfectly that they put her farre beyond her selfe 6. And then she doth speake many words of loue in the praise of God without any order not knowing what to say or doe the will seemes to be in a kind of frensy with loue the vnderstanding doth see so many things together that she knoweth not what to fix vppon but is kept suspended in admiration the memory myndeth nothing but what is present so that the soul in this spirituall frensy and strang disposition knoweth not what best to doe whether to be silent or speake to lough or weepe for she is in a restlesse quietnesse and a sweet rest lessnesse through loue then to thinke of returning to vse the things of this world againe is very odious to her to walke is troublesome to speake and not of him is very painfull to eate is a kind of death though nature doth require it Se her life chap. 37. to sleepe is worse in fine all things which may in any wise hinder her of the enioying so great a good though for a moment and for her very health doth molest her and giueth her no satisfaction nor content 7. She doth not desyre to see or speake with any in this world but with such as are in the same frensy or sick of the same disease faine she would enioy God wholy and know nothing but him it seemes that S. Augnstine was sick of this disease when he sayd our heart o Lord is allwayes vnquiet vntill it
repose and delightfull contemplation they as Martha are well employed in outward actions and some laudable occupations yet they are not so attentiue outwardly that they doe wholy forget the inward and we may compare them to one who hath one eye looking on what is outward and the other to what is inward for they doe well know that the will which is their principall part doth remaine there vnited in ioy and that there their most attendance ought to be so that they are not perfectly in the one nor in the other but this good that memory and cast of the eye to what the will is a doing bringeth to the soul that when the outward employment is ended they quickly desyre their former solitude and are easily retyred and recollected with the will and then the soul doth remaine in great quietnesse tranquility and inward peace with admirable content and satisfaction by reason all doe concurre and assist her more seriously compleatly and perfectly to enioy her only good and praise her God without impediment 17. At other tymes his diuine Maiesty is pleased to keepe the will and vnderstanding captiues and vnited leauing the memory and imagination free at liberty and they finding themselues alone and not regulated or directed by the vnderstanding are very vnquiet and troublesome and doe endeauour to disturbe the soul from her peaceable content and rest desirous to bring the other powers to themselues but though it be a cruell warre they are able to effect nothing wanting the assistance of the vnderstanding and will yet howsoeuer they doe molest her much and the imagination doth present so many things runing from one to an other that the poore soul cannot doe what she would by reason whereof she doth often lament and make her moane to his diuine Maiesty that she is so diuided and not wholy vnited in his loue and praise and at length he causeth them for her comfort to be vnited with the other powers and to burne in and with the same fire in which the others are almost consumed loosing in a manner their naturall being and liuing supernaturally in him In this and the like cases and occasions when any of the powers are at liberty and troublesome you must doe as is formerly said of quiet prayer not regard them nor attend to what they doe but as a wiseman taketh no notice of what a foole saith or doth so she must doe with them and remaine as much as she can possibly in her sweet rest and repose this is of importance to be knowen by such as are come to these degrees of prayer 18. And when a soul is come so farre as to begin to be wholy dead to all things of the world and liue to God alone her desyre to be with him and enioy him is to vehement and her paine thence so great that if his diuine Maiesty by a speciall way had not preuented it and preserued her it were more then sufficient as is said to seperat the body from the soul for she can think vppon nothing desyre nothing is satisfyed with nothing but God alone and the enioying of him in his kingdome of glory which she cannot haue being a prisoner in the miserable and corruptible body and therefore there is no death so cruell that could be offered but she with vnspeakable ioy would endure that set at liberty she might the better and without any impediment possesse for euer whom she doth so deerely loue our Holy Mother doth affirme that the paine and agony that the soul hath in this degree with that desyre to be dissolued and liue with Christ where he is seene cleerly face to face is such that the soul hath neede to haue great courrage to beare and endure it Therefore she aduiseth that the soul in this occasion must resolutly cast her selfe wholy into Gods hands and care and leaue her selfe to his Holy disposing in all things for she doth know that she cannot doe litle or much in this case neither hath she other ability but to giue her consent and resigne her will to receiue those fauours and embrace such gifts as his diuine Maiesty is pleased to bestow vppon her 19. To this happinesse ordinarily they only come who are mortified voyde of selfe interest diligent in Gods seruice feruent in his loue prompt to doe his will carefull and sincere in all that is to his honour glory and praise these are they that his Maiesty bringeth into the wynecellar to drinke of the choyse and best to eat at his owne table to be in his priuat chamber to rest in the place of repose and bed of delight o how sweet is their conuersation how diuine their embracement how strong their loue he said to his spouse with perpetuall charity I loued thee Heere he giueth her a taste a begining and a feeling of those ioyes Ieremy 31. v. 3. and glory which are eternall O who would not labour to attaine to so great happinesse which is so easily granted and had 20. Come deere Christian soul to him by the practise of this Holy exercise of prayer put on once a good resolution and though perhaps in the begining you may haue some difficulty and be in darknesse yet in tyme with your perseuerance you shall be illuminated and eased come to him I beseech you though neuer so heauy loaden with sinne be not a shamed nor a frayd for he is truly in loue with the least and worst of vs all and I belieue farre more forward with loue of vs then we can be with loue of him this his coming from heauen to earth his Bitter Passion his Pretious Blood shed and his painfull death on the crosse for vs doth testify come therefore with confidence to him and you shall not be confounded nor get a deniall nor repulse the manner how to come to him King Dauid doth declare saying with all my heart I sought after thee and not Ps 110 v. 145. with a diuided heart that is that he loued nothing else but God for he resolued not to admit any other loue into his v. 145. heart but his and in an other verse of the same psalme he said I cryed vnto thee o Lord with all my heart and therefore he was heard for his prayer like incense ascended vnto God from the altar of his penitent and louing heart and it was so gratefull to his diuine Maiesty that the 1. kingâ— 13. v. Scripture saith that he was a man according to God's owne heart 21. Be not thou then daunted come to this thy louing Lord take delight in prayer in his holy conuersation and seruice come with all thy heart and then aske what thou wilt for thy good and doubtlesse it will be granted the petions of thy heart he will regard and if thou wilt dispose thy selfe well and be perseuerant thou mayst obtaine this happy degree of prayer and at last his diuine Maiesty seing thee according to his owne heart will crowne thy
labours with many diuine fauours and celestiall benedictions euen in this life and in the other in the land of the liuing with endlesse glory and felicity and thou shalt see him face to face where he is enioyed and shall be praised by his Holy Saints and Angells for all Eternity Amen THE IV. CHAPTER Of the Prayer of vnion 1. IN the former chapters you haue seene how God doth bring a soul from the cares and troubles of the world to a solitude formerly vnknowne a supernaturall state where in silence he speaketh to her heart Now from that silent and quiet rest and from that delightfull sleepe wherein the soul falleth a dijng to all things of this world through loue his diuine Maiesty taketh her wholy to himselfe and doth conclude a spirituall marriage betwixt them both in so much that she is perfectly dead to all the world that is to say her affection is wholy mortifyed hauing no inclination to any thing created and she is liuing only to and in God vnited to him by a celestiall coniunction that is by all her substance and powers to hs diuine essence and substance in which she is so farre carryed beyond her selfe not knowing how or whither that she cannot perceiue whether she be in the body or no in the world or out of it for she is sunke in the depth and altogether in gulfed in that incomprehensible ocean of his diuinity hauing lost the vse of all her powers and inward and outward senses and is become the same and one spirit with him and therefore it is called vnion because two distinct things are made one 2. In this vnion she knoweth nothing but that her ioy and satisfaction is excessiue great but afterwards she can well perceiue that her profit is farre transcending that of the former degrees and that her vertues are more solid and of higher perfection she in this vnion doth not labour more but God doth worke in her she is the patient and he the diuine agent who doth produce those wonderfull effects and make her admirable to the world she hath enough to doe to receiue those diuine fauours and celestiall gifts she is not satisfied with admiration seing the great goodnesse and liberality of God towards such as she is which doth cause so great humility and loue in her that she would euen an nihilat her selfe in the presence of so high a Maiesty she is so drowned that the body is quite forgotten and during that vnion it is voyde of hearing seing and feeling all her powers and senses are absorpt and in gulfed so deeply in it that there is no memory left of what they were meditating thinking reading or doing but their ioy cannot be exprest 3. Yet as it is formerly sayd this totall vnion doth not continew long before some of the powers are permitted to returne to their owne operations the will still remayning strongly vnited but they are so farre besyde themselues that they can get no content or rest vntill they returne to their principall againe and eat of the same meat and drinke of the same liquour and then they remaine suspended and vnited as formerly neither can they tell how long or short a tyme they are in that vnion and though it were long they are so swayed with ouer great delight that it seemeth to them but very short 4. I haue knowen one that was as yet but in the other degrees and when the hour of prayer was spent he could hardly be persuaded that it was so for he thought really that he had not beene more then the space of one Aue Maria in it not knowing what prayer he was in what shall we thinke then of this certainly the least part of it cannot be exprest by all the eloquence and rethorick of the world as it is much lesse the rest which is more 5. O how admirable and farre surpassing all vnderstanding it is to comprehend how Gods Holy diuinity doth enter in and penetrat the whole substance and essence of the soul leauing in her a perfect impression of himselfe that she is no more what she was but truly deified altogether in gulfed in the blessed diuinity now quite forgetfull of her selfe and all that is in heauen and earth for she is in possession of him who containeth all and is more then all and is her all so that in the other she may be well sayd to be a dijng but in this to be truly dead as you see but to God alone in whom she doth liue and who doth liue in her 6. This is a most happy state a blessed rest a sweet repose a heauenly drunknes a ioyfull alteration a louing embracement a delightfull vnion a diuine transformation a totall Deification and a blisfull marriage confirmed and signed with no lesse then his owne most Glorious diuinity that as a bride and bridegrome they are one spirit she is partaker of his glory looketh to his family and attendeth only to those things which belong to him and to his honour glory and praise and he hath care of her and of what doth belong to her now she is so burning with his loue and so solicitous of his affaires that she is neuer idle she doth thirst vehemently after the conuersion of sinners and saluation of soules as a thing belonging to her beloued and to his honour and glory and to vndergoe and effect this great and difficult worke she doth find her selfe stout and courragious and would giue a thousand liues most willingly if she could to gaine one soul and therefore her prayers to God are many and haue no end her teares and pennances for them are great no troubles can breake her no persecution feare her detractions doe not grieue her murmuration and diffamation doe not disquiet her she taketh contentedly and ioyfully all disgraces so she may gaine but one soul to God and in this she is continually labouring and to make his goodnesse knowen to all that they may loue and serue him and with greater feruour allwayes praise him and that they may dayly increase in all vertue and perfection 7. To heare any to flatter or praise her is a torment to her to see her selfe esteemed and honoured is her greatest affliction for she cleerly knoweth that she deserues it not and what good vertue or gift is seene in her is not from her selfe but from the fountaine of all grace mercy and goodnesse her heauenly spouse without any merit on her part and therefore to him she doth referre all honour and praise to whom alone it is due 8. The resolutions of such as come to this state to doe some heroyick workes for the loue honour and glory of God are as strange and admirable as the rest they know not what to doe with themselues they are so transported by loue beyond themselues and this loue doth enable them and strengthen them to doe what to others might seeme vnpossible hence our Holy Mother S. Teresia did In her life chap.
one in particular may be plainly seene she sayth that this vision was one of the greatest fauours which God did vnto her and that a soul hath great neede of a strong courage to behold what are there chiefly the horrid and foul sinns committed against his diuine Maiesty and the many abuses and iniuryes which dayly are done to him in the world this is able and sufficient she sayes to cause a separation and an absolute diuision of the soul from the body if God had not giuen her strength to bere it or disposed of her otherwise 12. She doth also speake of an other sort of rapt farre beyond the rest and saith that it is more then a rapt for it is a very vehement and eminent rapt and of great value and worth this suddenly at the hearing God well spoaken of or calling to mynd that he is absent whom she doth loue most entirely and often without any of both she doth find in her selfe a vehement motion and desyre to be with him which is so forcible that in an instant it doth penetrat the soul wholy she knoweth not how it is but doth feele it and is not able to resist it and she is taken and powerfully carryed beyond all that is created and placed in a strang solitude desolat and destitute of any comfort from heauen and earth and she doth conceiue that none of any of both would keepe her company or be a comfort to her in that desolation neither doth she desyre any comfort or company from them but would there willingly suffer and dye 13. And it doth happen as she saith that his diuine Maiesty doth communicat him selfe to her in so subtile and admirable a way that it cannot be vnderstood lesse expressed by any but by himselfe but she hath so cleere a knowledge then left in her of his greatnesse and goodnesse and his other incomprehensible perfections that it doth increase her loue and augment her paine and torments loue doth burne and consume her her desyre to be with him is able to separat the soul from the body and she doth not know how to help her selfe but by death and therefore dye she would to enioy his blessed presence in glory this torment is the greater that the memory of him is so perfect and cleere notwithstanding he doth absent himselfe which addeth much to her affliction 14. In other degrees or rapts the ioy doth mitigat her paine but in this she is destitute of all ioy or consolation and left in the furnace of tribulation which is a very strong martyrdome and so painfull that as ioy and ouer much delight in the other degrees did suspend the powers and senses so paine doth in this and it is of so great vehemency that the very body doth partake with her of it and it is so disioynted that aâ— the members seeme broaken and for many dayes after no one member can be moued without great and vnexplicable paine 15. It is able to moue a stony heart to read how our Holy Mother doth describe it in her life and what lamentation In her life chap. 20. and loud cryes she giueth out to express her paine only desyrous to be dissolue and be with Christ and for her greate torment in that solitude she is put in mynd of that verse I watch and am as she Ps 101 v 3. solitary sparrow alone in the toppe or roofe of the house and she thinketh then that she is so and in that case and solitarinesse she doth remember these words Ps 41. v. 4. 12. without procuring it where is thy God as if it were said to her where is he in whom thou ha'st placed all thy confidence where is he why doth not he now helpe thee in this distressed case hath he so forsaken thee whom thou do'st so deerely loue and seeke after now he hath left thee destitute of all comfort and consolation if he had loued thee he would not forsake thee thus are all thy labours come to this that thou art left in desolation without comfort or helpe from heauen and earth where is thy God this God so permitting doth duble her paine and increase her desyre so vehemently to see and be with him that it is sufficient to take away many liues if she had them and that saying of S. Paul was represented vnto her I Gal. â— v. 14. am crucified to the world and the world to me so that she remaines in the greatest torment that may be imagined as it were crucifyed betwixt heauen and earth 16. Our Holy Mother doth compare this paine to the paines of Purgatory it is so excessiue and when the soul doth perceiue that his diuine Maiesty is to bring her into this solitude and anguishes of death for truly it is no other she naturally doth feare and tremble but once that she is in it she would not be out of it true it is that the sensitiue or inferiour part cannot but loath it being so ouer painfull and apt to separat the body from the soul yet the superiour or spirituall part taketh content in so suffering for the loue of God esteeming it as in deede it is of great value and profit fot in this she is most like vnto our Sauiour Crucified destitute of any comfort Math. 27. v. 46. from heauen or earth which caused him to say my God my God as what ha'st thou for saken me and therefore she doth reiect all that formerly were wont to comfort her to remaine in this paine and conformity to Christ our Sauiour suffering for as the gold by fire she in this is tryed purified and refined as if she were come from Purgatory her loue is now purer and so excessiue great that nothing can content or satisfy her burning desyre but the possession and enioying of God wholy as he is and not any particular part of him and since she cannot iustly procure her owne death to be with him with great tendernesse of heart she doth lament and bewayle her long bannishment resigning her selfe wholy to his diuine disposing and earnestly praying that her liuing as yet in this case may be very highly to his honour and glory which she doth allwayes and in all things regard more then her selfe and desyre rather then her ease or to be free from her paine though she were certaine it should continue to the world's end 17. In this paine dying life and excesse of loue towards God our Holy Mothers soul was commonly in her later dayes and the impulses of loue were so penetratiue and forcible in her that with the vehemency of one great impulse of loue her pure and blessed soul departed the body not of any other sicknesse and ascended into glory where she doth most happily enioy him whom she so deerely loued this she did declare appeering to the venerable Mother Catherin of Iesus Prioresse of Beas the very day of her death I beseech his diuine Maiesty to grant this diuine loue
in the affectiue but in the knowing powers as when the vnderstanding with a kind of alienation from the senses or with some intellectuall vision is eleuated and suddenly snatcht away or the phantasy or imaginatiue to some imaginary vision 13. The reason why rapts cannot be in the will is that the will is a kind of propension or inclination to that which is good and the more forcibly or violently it is drawen the more conformable it is to his inclination for that cannot be said to suffer violence which is moued according to its naturall disposition but the more forcibly it is moued towards its obiect the more delightfully it worketh So that the rapts by reason they come with violence against the naturall disposition cannot be in the will yet the vehemency of the affection of the will or sensitiue appetite is often the cause of rapts when the soul doth very forcibly adhere to those things which she doth affect for by that force she doth compell the knowing powers to attend to the obiects which she doth loue as it were with a certaine violence drawing them from all other things and the sensitiue appetite doth the same therefore they that naturally haue vehement inclinations or affections must diuert their mynd to some other thing when they find their desyre inflamed least they be deceiued thinking that to be from God which is from nature or the deuil for if it be from God though the soul endeauour to resist it all will be in vaine for it will take effect 14. Note that in this a rapt doth differ from an extasy that an extasy is without violence and therefore it is in the will as is formerly said for it is but a going out of it selfe by loue to what it doth affect and a rapt is allwayes with violence also the calling or inward touch of God and certaine abstractions by which his diuine Maiesty doth forcibly drawe the soul vnto himselfe as her Lord are the cause of rapts likewise by some light or inward flame also by some instillation of great sweetnes into the sensitiue appetite in like manner by a kind of secret whistle and many other vnknowen wayes God doth efficaciously drawe the soul to himselfe by which he doth giue her notice that he is absolute Lord and creatour of all 15. Moreouer rapts doe produce other effects in the body as its forces to faile to wax cold to fall into a kind of dead fit to be eleuated from the earth to hange in the ayre to be very light and agill as not hauing any weight There are other rapts which are not so forcible and are imperfect by which the soul is not so drawen from the senses but she may speake some words and giue out heany sighs and grones and somtymes the vehemency is such that they cast blood and the body doth tremble and shake with strang fits and they do leape runne and crye out by reason of the excesse of inward ioy this is that celestiall or diuine drunknes of which I spoake before To conclude loue is the prime and principall passion by which a man is drawen to all his operations therefore S. Augustine said my loue is my poise or weight and whither soeuer I am carryed thither I am carryed to wit where his loue is For all the rest of the passions doe follow loue as for example I desyre to haue a thing not for any other cause but that I loue it I doe not reioyce or delight my selfe but in that which I loue also I doe not hate a thing but because it is opposit and contrary to what I loue and therefore I doe flye and shim it likewise I doe not hope or fight but for what I loue nor grieue but for the euil which doth hinder me from what I loue and so of the rest 16. He therefore that intend's to acquire vertue and the true loue of God must heede carefully to what his loue doth tend whether to that which is truly good and not apparent or to that which is according to the lawes of God and not to the desyres of nature or to that which is truly vertuous and not vicious and if he find that it is not right with sweet persuasions and solid reasons let him allwayes endeauour to reduce it to piety and those things which are eternall as if it be moued by the beauty of any creature instantly say how farre more beautifull and worthy of all loue he is who made that beauty why then do'st not thou seeke after him who is eternall rather then after this which is to day and gone to morrow thy God is beauty it selfe from whom all beauty is he then is more worthy of thy loue then this which is but a shadowe of what is loue worthy in him O my sweet soul loue not that which brings thee to hell but what may bring thee to heauen and endles ioy See that what thou can'st loue most on earth will faile thee and decay being but momentary but if thou do'st loue God thy sweet and louing creatour and redeemer he will neuer faile thee but bring thee to enioy himselfe in endles glory thus sweetly you must in all occasions labour to induce your soul to the loue of God and those vertues which are contrary to your vicious inclination or loue 17. Deere Christian soul I wrote this chapter for the better vnderstanding of what is in the second and third part of this booke for there it is said that you must mortify your passions how can you mortify what you doe not know for though you feele the passion yet you know not what it is or whence it is which being knowen with more ease you may mortify it and preuent its swelling rage and so by degrees going from vertue to vertue from meditation to contemplation from contemplation to a true transformation in God you shall enioy the begining of true felicity in this life and compleatly in the other which I most humbly beseech God of his infinit goodnesse to bestow on thee and me Amen This booke is endend to the honour and glory of God and the most Blessed V. Mary this 8. of September 1651. and if there be any thing in it contrary to our Holy Faith I doe most willingly submit both it and my selfe to the censure of the Holy Catholick Roman Church By me S. B. natiue of the citty of Dublin THE TABLE OF THE CHAPTERS Of this Third Part of the Soul's Delight CHap. 1. p. 1. A briefe relation of supernaturall prayer Chap. 2. p. 19. Of Recollection and quiet prayer more in particular Chap. 3. p. 36. Of the sleepe of the powers Chap. 4. p. 55. Of the prayer of vnion Chap. 5. p. 62. Of Seuerall other eleuations of the spirit and how they differ from vnion Chap. 6. p. 78. Of the manner of inward speeches visions and reuelations and how to discerne the true from the false Chap. 7. p. 94. Of some obseruations for