in ouercoming his gluttonous appetit We sayd and not without good reason that this meanes is the most proportionable to our weakenes since it goes by little and little sustayning incouraging vs to the attempt of that by little and little which all at once we should not dare to vndertake how euer if we were but feruent and couragious indeed truly inflamed with the loue of God there would be no need to entice vs on by such bayted wayes as these where all the laubour and difficulty is hid For a true seruant indeed of God Almighty neyther thinkes vpon the length of time or number of yeares but rather all time seems too short vnto him to serue God in all labour little and all difficulty delightfull and therfore there would be no feare to let such an one know vnto the full the vtmost difficulty of euery thing he did which S. Bernard excellent well declares Bernar. ep 253. ad Gar. He doth not saith he giue himselfe vnto the seruice of God for a yeare or for a certaine time like a Mercenary but for eternity without any prefixed end or reseruation with an inflamed will and affection Heare the voyce of the Iust saying Psal 118.93 v. 112 I will neuer forget your iustifications seing you haue animated me with them I haue inclined my hart to doe your Iustificatiōs for all eternity to do your will to fulfill your counsells commaundments and so for hauing taken a resolution and offred himself to serue God in an absolut manner without any limit or restriction and prefixe no certayne time vnto it nor entred on the account of any yeares therefore shall his reward likewise know no bounds but be extended vnto eternity that eternall hunger of the iust is deseruing an eternall refection Bern. vbi supra Sap. 4.15 In which sence S. Bernard explicats that of the Wiseman consumatus in breui expleuit tēpora multa a good and iust man liues in the short space of time or a few dayes the life of many yeares since his desire is so great out of the ardour of his loue of God to serue him that should he liue a hundred or if it were possible a thousand yeares he should neuer be weaary of seruing him nor euer thinke his seruice great inough And so by force of this desire he comes to the merits of so many yeares since God rewards ech one acording to his good desire These are men indeed these haue truly masculine spirits these may well be compared to Iacob who for the great loue he bare to Rachel thought it a thing of nothing to serue seauen yeares for her and afterwards seauen more Videbantur illi pauci dies Gen. 29.20 pre amoris magnitudine Of another means which is to accustome our selues to do our Actions well CHAP. VII THAT auncient great Philosopher Pythagoras Pythagoras counsailed his friends disciples vnto the end that they might both become vertuous that vertue might be delightful to thē to make choice of some good course of life and go forward with it without staying at any apprehensiō of difficulty or labour which might present it selfe in the beginning for to discourage them seeing with a little vse exercise the difficulty would passe away the practise of vertue become easy pleasant to them This meanes is of much importance ought to be put in practise by vs not so much because it is comended by this Philosopher as because indeed it is deriued from the holy Scripture as we shall presently declare also very efficatious for that which we pretend We haue made choice already of a perfect manner of life or rather God of his great goodnes hath elected vs vnto it Non vos me elegistis Ioan. 15.16 sed ego elegi vos for the which grace and fauour he is to be blessed for all eternity But in this state of life vnto which our Lord hath called vs we may haue more or lesse of perfection and be perfect or imperfect Religious men according as we shall do our actions perfectly or imperfectly Therefore if you meane to make any profit in Religion and to arriue vnto perfection you must accustome your selfe to do all the Actions and exercises of that Religion with perfection accustome your selfe to make your meditation well all the rest of your spiritual exercises to be exact in poynt of obedience to obserue your rules precisely to make esteeme of euery little thing Accustome your selfe to recollection and mortification to pennance modesty silence and the like be not any whit dismayed if in the begining you find difficulty seeing with a little continuance and vse that difficulty wil not only passe away but there will succeed to it a great contētment and satisfaction and you wil not know how to make an end of rendring thankes to God for giuing you perseuerance so farre as to arriue to so much contentment and felicity The holy Ghost hath taught vs this doctrin in diuers passages of the holy Scripture as in the Prouerbes Prouerb 4 11. Viam sapientiae demonstrabo tibi I will shew you the way of wisedome and learne you to find gust sauour in the knowledge of God For Sapientia or wisedome sayth S. Bernard is quasi sapida scientia a sauorous and delightfull knowledge of God Almighty and he professeth to teach vs the way to come vnto the tast the knowledge and the loue of God I will lead thee saith he by the paths of equity into which when thou shalt once be ētred thy wayes shall not be straightned and when thou runest thou shalt haue no hindrance Now the reasō why this way of vertue is called a path is because at the first entrance of it by reason of our ill inclinations it seems narrow and not to be passed without much difficulty but being but once a little entred we find it so delightfully inlarged as we go on cheerfully runne securely without any feare of let or hinderance And by this Metaphor the holy Ghost with diuine elegance hath taught vs how vpon the apperance of any difficulty in the entrance of the way of vertue perfection we are no wayes to loose courage and be dishartened but to go on with this assurance that we shall be shorthly past all that is hard and difficile and arriue to all happinesse and delight because I haue laboured a little and I haue found for my selfe much rest Eccl. 5.35 which is agayne reiterated in the 61. Eccl. 6.20 Chapter of Ecclesiasticus there is a little labour in the worke presently thou shalt eat of its fruit Heb. 12.21 and the Apostle S. Paul doth likewise teach vs the same Al discipline saith he for the present seemes not to be plesant but rather irksom tedious but afterwards it renders by the exercise of it a most peaceable fruit of the accomplisht Iustice neyther will it become
Religious man much wondering and desiring to be instructed in the mystery that blessed soule deceast told him that the first whō he had seen bearing their crosses vpon their shoulders were such as entred Religion when they were well in yeares the second sort who bare them in their hāds were such as came into Religion in the flower of their youth the last who went so cheerfully and so lightly on whilest their crosses were borne in the handes of Angels were such as had entred Religion in their tender yeares and had sooner forsaken left the world thē knowne it FINIS Ad maiorem Dei gloriam THE THIRD TREATISE OF THE RIGHT AND PVRE INTENTION WITH WHICH we ought to doe our Actions Composed in Spanish by the R. F. ALFONSVS RODRIGVEZ of the Society of IESVS Translated into English Permissu Superiorum M.DC.XXX THE THIRD TREATISE OF THE RIGHT AND PVRE INTENTION With which we ought to do our Actions That we ought principally to shune all vaine glory in our Actions CHAP. I. THERE is nothing in our Rules Constitutions so oftē repeated or more recommended to vs then that we should endeauour to haue a right Intention in all our actions therfore almost in euery leafe and rule are these words repeated To the greater glory of God Or these other in effect the same hauing always regard vnto Gods greater seruice Our Blessed Father Saint Ignatius had this desire of the greater honour and glory of God so deeply rooted in his heart and was so accustomed to direct all his actions vnto this end that he repeated these words for out of the aboundance of the heart the mouth speaketh most frequently on all occasions Math. 12.34 Luc 6.45 This hath beene euer as the Deuice the soule life of all his actions as is amply declared in the History of his life and therefore with good reason are these wordes Lib. 1. c. 3. vita P. Ignatij Ad maiorem Dei gloriam subscribed vnto his picture This is his Armes this his Deuice and Motto in this short sentence is his whole life and all his actions in such manner comprehended as we cannot entitle him to more prayse and honour then these few wordes make him inheritour of This must likewise be our Scutchion Motto and Deuice to the end that like dutifull and legitimate children we may be in all things like vnto our Father Neither is it without cause that he commends this so much vnto vs Tract 2. cap. 1. seeing that all our progresse perfection cōsists in those works which we are to do for according as they shall be good and perfect so likewise shall we be better perfecter the more right and pure our intentions are the more sublime and perfect shal be their end for this is that which giues soule and being to our aactions according to that of our Sauiour in the Ghospell Math. 6.22 23. The lampe of your body is your eye if that your eye be pure simple your whole body shall be inlightned but if your eye be naught your whole body shall be obscure Greg. l. 38 Moral c. 3 The Holy Doctours commōly vnderstand in this place by the eye the intentton as that which before hand markes considers what it is to do by the Body the operation which presently followes the intention as the whole body followes the direction of the eyes Moreouer Christ our Lord sayes that our works and operations receaue all their light luster from the intention which we haue in doing them that the worke is good or bad according as the intention is good or bad with which we do it so likewise sublime perfect as the end shall be sublime perfect for which it is done Which the Apostle S. Paul giues to vnderstand where he sayes Rom. 11.16 Si radix sancta rami The tree its fruit take well or ill according to the roote for what els can we expect from a tree which hath an ill root but wormeaten and vnpleasant fruit Whereas on the contrary if its root be good and sound both the tree shall be good and the fruit proceeding from it S. Gregory writing on these words of Iob Iob. 38.6 Greg. l. 18. Moral c. 28. Super quo bases illius solidatae sunt sayth that like as the edifice of some substantiall building vseth to be sustained by rewes of Pillars and that those pillers are supported by their basses and foundations so also our spirituall life is sustained by vertues and these vertues depend vpon a right and good intention But that we may proceed heerein with order we will first treate of that vitious end which we are to auoid fly from in our actions that they may not be done out of vaine glory or any other humane respect and after proceed to set downe that good perfect end and intention with which we ought to doe and to performe them for first we must fly euill and then do good according to that of the Prophet Diuerte à malo fac bonum Psal 33.15 All the holy Doctours doe principally aduise vs to take heed of vaine glory for that it is according to their saying a sly and crafty thiefe which sets vpon vs at vnawars and spoiles or to speake more properly robbs vs of our good works and penetrates so secretly and insensibly into our soules that it oftentimes hath ransackt and bereaued vs of all before we tooke any heed or notice of it Saint Gregory sayes Greg. cap. vlt. mora l. 9. c. 13. that it is like a thiefe disguised who puts its selfe into our cōpany as we trauaile making shew as if it went the same way with vs vntill at length when we are least aware of it it sets vpon vs bereaues vs both of life and goodes togeather I confesse sayth that holy Pope that it seemed to me when I first examined my intention in the writing of this worke that I had no other in the vndertaking of it but only to please Almighty God and neuerthelesse in the processe of it I haue discouered a certaine desire of delighting men and a kind of vaine complacence so subtlely crept in that although I know not how nor in what māner it got entrāce yet this I find that the further I go in it the lesse free it is from the drosse of vanity he sayth moreouer that it happeneth with this as it doth with eating for we begin most commonly to eate out of pure hunger necessity but afterwardes there creepes in Gluttony and complacence so subtilly withal that we proceed to do that out of meere delight and gust which we begun out of necessity to satisfy our nature sustaine our life Euen in this manner we begin well oftentimes our spirituall functions of preaching and the like with intention only to apply them to the help of soules but by little little
kakleing when it lays it to shew that it is iust so with those who desire that others should see their good works when they do them and perhaps rather then faile do tell of them themselues Greg. lib. 22. mor c 9. But a faithfull seruant of God Almighty saith Saint Gregory is so farre from this that he is not content to tarry there do nothing els but that which may come for to be seene of others for so he esteemes himselfe in a manner to haue receaued reward for them but he labours further to ad an ouerplus of such other Heroicall acts as may neuer come vnto the knowledge of men S. Hierome writes of S. Hilarion that he seing such a world of people following him all men honouring him for the multitude and greatnes of his miracles was very sad and did nothing els but weep and when his Disciples demaunded of him the reason of his teares that vnwoonted sadnes he answered it seemes to me Deere brothers that God is rewarding in this life those slender seruices which I haue done him since he permits me so to be honoured of men this is another reason a very fit one which we may make vse of against vaine glory Looke that you haue no desire to be esteemed of men for feare least God pay you in this mony for your good works if perhaps you haue done any and after this life answere you with the rich Glutton Remember sonne how you haue receaued good in your life tyme. Luc. 16.25 This is one of the reasons why the Saints counsaile vs to shunne al extreames singularities since those actions which are aboue the ordinary straine vse to be obserued weighed spoken of by others Qui facit quod nemo mirantur omnes Gerson Guiel Parisâ—ens and commonly serue vnto no other end then to beget in vs a spirit of Pride and vaine Glory from whence proceedeth our contempt of others But seeing that it is not alwayes in our powers to hide our good workes whose vocatioÌ„ it is to help our neighbours by them the fift remedy is to rectify our intentions eleuating our hartes to God and offring and directing vnto him all our thoughtes our wordes actions as we shall presently declare and then if perchance vaine Glory shall seeke for entrance Magister Auila tom 2. epist. f. 59. we may say with Maister Auila You come too late I haue offred vp all my workes already to God Almighty or answeare it very profitably In vita S Bern. as S. Bernard did who when his thoughts once suggested to him as he preached Oh how well you say answered I neyther begun for your sake neither for your sake will I make an end We ought also to be very wary that we leaue not off our workes begun out of feare of vayne glory for that were too too palpable a folly but we must stop our eares and passe ouer the prayses of men as if we heard theÌ„ not In which S. Chrisostome saith Chrys l. 5. de Sacerd. that we are to carry our selues with the world as Fathers to their little children who if the child prayse him doth not much esteeme it if he disprayse him doth but laugh at him since he considers him as a child that knowes no reason for the one or the other And so must we be haue vs with the world consider it both when it speaketh the best or worst of vs but as a child which knows not what it saies P. Xauer lib. 6. cap. 15. S. Francis Xauerius that great Apostle of the East Indyes sayes yet more that if we would but seriously consider our sinnes and imperfections and what we are truly in the eyes of God we should belieue that men in praysing vs did no other then deride and mocke vs and take their commendations for our iniuryes The last meanes with which we will coÌ„clude this chapter is the knowledge of our selues which is the only counterpoise to all vayne Glory for should we but throughly search and diue into that which in truth we are we should vnderstand what smal fouÌ„dation we haue for to build Prid vpoÌ„ and how much cause to humble our selues and be ashamed of so many sinnes and imperfections And that not only by coÌ„sidering that which is ill in vs but euen by attentiuely marking those works of ours which seeme to vs the best and perfectest wherin we should find so much amisse as it were sufficient for to humble vs which S. Gregory saies and repeates often Lpeg lib. 9. moral cap. 11. All humayne Iustice saith he if it be strictly weighed is conuinced to be iniustice and if setting aside Gods goodnes we should be examined we should find those works of ours worthy of punishment for which we awayted to reyceaue reward And S. Iob testifies that he therefore feared in al the works he did knowing the multitude of those defects which vse to mixe themselues with their actions who haue not a wary eye vpon themselues Iob. 9.28 verebar omnia opera mea Which being so what cause or reason haue we to be prowd When if we examine our selues but with attention and call but to compt at night the Actions of the day we shall find nothing but a multitude of miseryes sinnes imperfections crept into all our thoughts and words and deeds we shall perceaue nothing but many good workes omitted and lastly if with Gods assistance we haue don any good we shall commonly see it so deformed with pride vaine glory negligence and many other defects which we do know and far more which we may presume are vnknowne vnto vs that we may haue iust cause to be ashamed of it let vs therefore enter into our selues haue recourse vnto the knowledge of our being nothing let vs I say looke vpon our feet which is the fowlnes and deformity of our workes and it will presently make vs let fall the feathers of that vanity pride which was lifted vp within our harts Of the good end intention which we ought to haue in all our Actions CHAP. VII VVE haue hitherto shewed how we are to fly vayne glory and humayne respects in doing of our workes now will we treate of the end and intention which we ought to haue in them which is Gods greater honour and glory S. Ambrose to this purpose brings that exaÌ„ple of the Eagle who for to try Ambr. l. 5. Hexam cap. 18 lib. de Salom cap. 2 whither her youÌ„g ones are truly bread or no bears them in her Talents vp into the ayre and there exposing them to the full shine of the sunne if shee perceaues that they winke and are not able to abide its beames she lets them fal and houlds them for none of hers but if with their eyes fixed they can abide its brightnes she beares them backe vnto the eyery againe and cherishes them with al tendernes In the
compare those who serue God out of hope of recompence to Simon Cyreneeus who was hyred at a set price to beare the Crosse of Christ for so do those who would not follow our Sauiour nor beare his crosse vnles there were the reward of heauen proposed they adde that we are not to be solicitous for our recompence nor alwayes thinking vpon what we gaine Like vnto vngratefull seruants who exact their wages keep a strict account which is more the part of a hyrling then a gratefull seruant we ought not to serue God in such vnworthy manner but as childreÌ„ purely out of loue there is great difference say they betwixt the seruices of a slaue a houshold and a child the slaue serues his Lord for feare of stripes and punishment the seruant for his wages and if his diligence be morâ— then ordinary it is but to comend hiâ— seruices vnto his Lord out of greater hope of profit and aduancement but the child serues his father only for loue and tendernes and is most careful of offending him not so much for feare of chastisement for he is lyable vnto none supposing he is past his infancy neither for hope of his inheritance but only out of loue and deare affection And so a wise good and vertuous child doth serue respect and honour his parent out of that only motiue that he is his Father although otherwise he be poore and able to leaue him nothing so say these holy Saintes we ought to serue God neither for feare of chastisement like slaues neither as seruants with our eyes and affection fastned vpon our gaine and interest but like true children since God hath been so good and graâ—â—â—s to vs to make vs such Ioan. c. 3. Behold sayth S. Iohn the Euangelist what loue the Father hath bestowed vpon vs for to be styled really to be the sonnes of God We are not only called the sonnes of God but are such truly and really and withall right cal God our Father and the sonne of God our Brother If we be therefore sonnes of God let vs loue and serue him like true children let vs honour him as a Father and as so great a father with truly louing him as wel because he is delighted with it as that he is worthy of it in being what he is and for his infinit goodnes which merits an infinity of hearts and bodyes continually to be imployed in louing and seruing him S. Chrysostome sayth admirably wel If by the grace of God you should be made worthy to please his diuine Maiesty should desire any other reward beyond this of being mad worthy for to please him Chrsost l. 2. de compunct you were certainly ignorant how great a good it were for to please God and if you could once but apprehend it you would neuer desire other extrin secall reward or benefit And truly what greater good can we pretend or wish for then to content please Almighty God Eph. 5.1.2 Be imitators of God fayth S. Paul like to his dearest children walke in loue and dilection as Christ hath loued vs. Bonau to 2. opusc in fascic c. 8. And S. Bonauenture sayes Consider that God your benefactour hath so bestowed his benefits vpon you as to aske none of them backe againe who hath â—o need of you or any other creature Yea he doth not only receaue no profit from vs nor commodity for al those fauours he bestowes vpon vs but he affoardes them vs at so great expence and charges of his owne as is his owne deare life and bloud which he layd downe shed for our redemption In this manner purely and without all mixture of proper interest are we to serue and loue almighty God neither which is more are we so much as to desire any vertus and supernaturall guifts for our owne pleasure and comodity but only for God and for his greater glory and to the end to store our selues with somewhat that may be pleasing to his diuine Maiesty yea and in this manner we are to desire glory in so much as when we set before the eyes of our soule to giue it heart and courage to performe its actions well the greatnes of the reward which is annext to euery good it doth it ought in no ways to haue this its ayme end in vndertaking any thing but only the pure desire of further pleasing and glorifying God in that the more glory we shall haue the more shall God be honoured and glorifyed This is the true loue of charity the true and perfect loue of God and this is purely to seeke God and his greater glory and all besides is but to seeke loue our selues which will the better appeare if we consider the difference which Philosophers and Diuines doe make betwixt that perfect loue which they call the loue of amity the loue of concupiscence The first loues his friend for his friends good and out of vertue without regarding his owne interest or gaine but the loue of concupiscence is when one loues another not so much for himselfe as for the profit and comodity which he hopes for from him as when one serues loues a rich man because he hopes for aduaÌ„cement and assistance from him We see apparently that this is no perfect loue but wholy compounded of selfe loue and interest since you loue not your friend so much as your own selfe and proper comodity So we say that we loue bread and wine with the loue of concupiscence because we loue neither the one nor the other for its selfe but only for our selues and particuler endes And in this manner doe they loue God who serue him out of feare of punishmeÌ„t or hope of recompence it being no other then to loue God with a loue compounded and wholy consisting of selfe loue priuate ends not seeking of him purely nor with a liberall mind which our Sauiour hath giuen vs to vnderstand by S. Iohn who after he had wrought that great miraracle of feeding fiue thousand men besides woemen and children with fiue loaues and two fishes being followed sayth the Euangelist by a world of people Ioan. 6.26.27 sayd vnto them You seeke me not because you haue seene wonders but because you haue eaten of the loaues and are satiated Not because you belieue me to be God but because you seeke your owne comodities VVorke and seeke not that food which perisheth but which remayneth in eternall life which is Christ and to do purely the wil of God That holy seruant of God Almighty shewed a right M. Gerso pure intention in his answere who liuing a wondrous and austere life and giuing himselfe wholy vnto prayer the Diuell enuying so great a vertue and seeking to withdraw him from his vertuous course of life by bringing him into doubt of his predestination tould him that he laboured and wearyed out himselfe in vaine for he should neuer be saued nor come to inioy
earth to rayse great buildings on but notwithstanding they are the stay and foundaâ—ion of all the edifice and such vnto vs is our intention The second thing which is required to the perfection of our works is to confer all our care and diligence vnto the doing of them well and perfectly for it is not inoughe only to haue a good intention nor to say you do theÌ„ all for God Almighties sake but it is requisit that you performe your actioÌ„s with all possible diligence to render them more acceptable to God Let this then be the first means of doing our actions wel to do them purely for the loue of God wherby we shall arriue to do them perfectly and with our vtmost indeauour as doing theÌ„ for God Almighty although neither our Superiour nor any one els do looke on take account of our performance of them Our B. F. Ignatius asked a certayne brother once who was a little negligent in his office wherefore he did those things the brother answered for the loue of God whereupon our B. Father told him that if he did his things so negligently againe he would giue him a good penaÌ„ce for his payns For said he if you did them for any men the fault would not be so great to performe them with so much neglect and carlesnes but to do them in such a manner for so great a master is a negligence not to be borne with all The second means which the Holy Saints do commend vnto vs which indeed is the most effications of al is coÌ„tinually to walke in the presence of God Almighty Seneca although Heathen was wont to say that a man who was desirous to becom vertuous and to do all his Actions well laudably could arriue vnto it by no speedyer way then to imagin himselfe when he did or sayd any thing in the presence of some graue honourable person vnto whom he bare respect reuerence Sic viue tanquam subalicuius boni viri ac semper presentis oculis Now if the bare imagining ones selfe in presence of another man hath power sufficient to make him do his ActioÌ„s wel what a more efficatious meanes ought it to be to consider our selues always in the sight of God to frame an imagination of him euer present to perswade our selues that he sees all whatsoeuer we do especially seing it is no faynd imaginary thing like that other of Seneca's but really true as the Holy Scripture often testifyes The eyes of the Lord are clearer theÌ„ the sunne ouerseeing al the wayes of men Eccl. 13.18 and the deepest of the Abisse and beholding the harts of men in the most secret partes and corners of them But of this exercise of walking in the presence of God Almighty we shall treat more amply particularly here after and declare how excellent and profitable it is and with all how much praysed and recoÌ„mended by the Holy Saints and therefore for the present we will only for as much as concerns our present Argument declare in passing how much it conferres vnto the well performing of our ordinary Actions which is of such consequence that as we shall in its place declare we are not only to insist vpon that verity that we are in the presence of God but we are to serue our selues of it to do our workes the better and perfecter in such sort notwithstanding as should we reflecting on the presence of God remayne doing our actioÌ„s imperfectly and negligently it would not be a good deuotion but rather an illusion and deceyt And some ad yet further say that that presence of God Almighty which we should procure to haue and which the holy Scripture and Blessed Saints so much recommend vnto vs is this well and perfect performance of our works in such manner as they may wortihly appeare before the face of God and haue nothing in them to displease his holy eyes in briefe that they may be such as may become vs to do in the presence of so high a Maiesty And it seems that S. Iohn in his Apocalyps would haue vs vnderstaÌ„d so much from the description Apoc. 4.8 which he makes of the proprieties of those holy Spirits which he saw standing before the Throne of God readily awayting what he should command them of whome he sayes that they were full of eyes without within and round about them hauing eyes in their feet handes eares and lippes and in their eyes themselues to represent vnto vs that those who desire to serue God perfectly to appeare worthy of his presence must haue especiall regard in about euery thing that they doe nothing which may not beseeme so diuine a preseÌ„ce They are to be ful of eyes both within without to be watchfull ouer euery action to see how they goe to consider how they speake to marke how they heare to looke how they see and how they thinke how they will and desire any thing vnto the end that among all their workes there may not be found one which may be offensiue to the eyes of God in whose sacred presence we are continually This is an excellent manner of walking in the presence of God Almighty and so Ecclesiastes Gen. 5.24 Eccl. 44.16 Heb. 11. â— and S. Paul the Apostle in place of that which is sayd of Enoch in Genesis And he hath walked with God which is the same as before God and he hath not appeared because God hath taken him away doe say Enoch pleased God and was translated into Paradise declaring expresly vnto vs that to walk with God before God and to please God are but three formes of speech of one signification by their explicating the one by the other And S. Augustine and Origen after this manner expound that place of Exodus where it is sayd that when Iethro came to see his kinsman Moyses Aaron the Elders assembled theÌ„selues to eat with him before God Exod. 18.12 vt comederent panem cum eo coram Deo saying that it is not meant that they were assembled to eat before the Tabernacle or the Arke for as then there was none but that they met to feast to eat and drinke and reioyce with him with so much sanctity piety and so religiously composed as if they had beene to eat before God being exceeding wary not to doe any thing in his diuine presence which might beget offence In this manner do iust and perfect men walke before the eyes of God in the performance of all their actions euen in those which are indifferent and necessary for the sustaining of their liues as eating drinking sleeping and the like Let the iust feast sayth the Prophet Dauid and exult in the sight of God Psal 67.4 and be delighted in ioy and gladnes but all this in the sight of God and so as his holy eyes may without offence looke on nothing may be lesse beseeming his diuine presence The Holy Fathers say that in this
they were assured for to liue some yeares S. Bonauenture sayth that God hath left vs the houre of our death vncertayne that we may learne to contemne all these temporal things and not count them worthy of our care which in euery moment we are in danger to loose As our Sauiour sayd to that rich Miser in the Ghospel of S. Luke foole this night they will demaund they soule of thee and then whose shal all that wealth be which those hast gathered together Let vs therefore prouide our selues of such riches as can neuer be taken from vs. We ought with good reason to do that our selues which we preach and commend to others according to that of S. Paul thou therefore who teachest others dost not teach thy selfe Rom. 8.21 it is one of the frequentest tentations which the Diuel vses in deceiuing man to depriue them of their eye sight in such manner as not to see this verity and truth by bringing them into a dead forgetfulnes and making them belieue that they haue time inough for to doe this or that and that afterwards they may haue oportunity inough for to amend their liues and to prepare for death And this tentation euen extendes vnto Religious men making them differre their aduancement in vertue and spirituall profit with cold purposes that after they haue ended their studys or are discharged of this office or haue acquitted them of that affayre that then they wil begin to liue better and more holily and to fall in good earnest to penance and mortyfiyng themselues Miserable as you are if you should chaunce to dy before you haue ended your study vnto what end would all your learning serue you for the attayning of which you haue neglected your profit in vertues then to make fuell and as the Apostle sayth hay stuble to burne you in the other world withal 1. Cor. 3.12 Lut. 4.23 Let vs then make our profit of that which we preach to others Medice cura teipsum cure our selues seeing our need is so great with the same remedys which we apply to others Of another meanes to do our Actions well which is to take care only for the present CHAP. VI. THE fifth meanes which wil help and encourage vs much to do our Actions well and with perfection is ōly to take thought for the presēt And although the practise of this seems to be all one with the former yet there is not a little difference betwixt thē as we shall declare in that which we are now to say One of the thinges which doth fright very many maks thē go on but fayntly in the way of vertue which indeed is a tentatiō of which the Diuell makes gaynfull vse is to propose vnto them that it is impossible they should continue their whole liues in such warynes and recolection What shal it say is it possible that you should liue so many yeares with so much reseruation and circumspection With such prudence and exactnes in euery thing do you thinke that you shal alwayes keep the ruls discipline of the house wherin you liue always be mortifiyng your selfe and neuer do any thing as you desire These are comonly the apprehensions in which the Diuell appeares vnto vs in such fearefull manner making all things seeme more terrible then they are and religious life a kind of Matyrdome perpetuall dying And so we read that when our B. F. S. Ignatius retired himselfe to Mauresa for to do pennāce Lib. 1. cap 6. vitae P. Ignati◠one of the tentations with which the Diuel assaulted him was this saying vnto him how is it possible that you should lead such an austere life for threescore yeares together as you haue now begune Now this remedy whereof we speake doth answer in diamiter vnto this same tentation which is neyther to make account of diuers yeares nor dayes but only to haue a care to passe the presēt well This means hath good proportion to our humaine fraylty it will not suffer vs to attempt any great matter there is non who only for a day at least would not strayne himselfe for his owne good and spirituall profit to liue well this is the same which our B. Father prescribes vnto vs in the particular examine where he counsells vs from on halfe day to an other to renue our good desirs purposes of being modest keeping silēce or bearing all things patiently and the like and in this manner that which perhaps would seeme intolerable and euen imposible if it were enterprised and apprehended in grose and altogether Tract 7. cap. 7. as I will neuer speake out of the appoynted time nor neuer goe but modestly and composed becomes to be easy and familiar to vs. In vita Patruum This was the remedy which that good Religious man applyed vnto the curing of himselfe who as we reade in the liues of the Father was so fiercely tempted as his appetit which was vp euery morning as soone as he did make him belieue that it was impossible for him to do any thing vnles that should be first satisfyed the holy man not to breake the ordinary fast of the Religious which was to eate nothing vntill the third houre for any importunity of his hunger did find this stratageme out for to delude it In the morning he would reason with his appetit in this manner Although your hunger be neuen so great yet you may fast well vntill the third houre and then you may freely eate and when the third houre was come he would say againe nay certainly I must needs ouercome my selfe so farre as to abstayne vntill the sixth houre now I see no reason but I may do it as well as I haue abstayned hitherto and so he would entertayne himselfe with some other thing the while and when the sixth houre or noon was come then would he steep his bread in water and say we must needs tarry now vntill the bread be soakt for since we haue had patience hitherto without doubt we will not breake the order of the other Religious to eat before the ninth houre now and so at last when the ninth houre was come after he had said the accustomed prayers he tooke his refection In this manner he continued for some dayes together ouercoming himselfe when once about the time of refectiō lifting vp the lid of the basket where he kept his bread he saw blacke smoake arising from thence which vanished out of the window of his cell which as the effect shewed was no other then that spirit of Gluttony which had tempted him for after that time he was neuer more troubled with those pangs of hunger and coūterfetted languishings with which he was formerly vext and molested in so much as from thēce forwards he could without any difficulty abstayne two dayes together from taking any food our Sauiour rewarding him with this particular grace for that combat which he had so couragiously sustayned
only facile easy but also pleasant and delightfull to vs. The same we find by experience in all other Artes Sciences for what is there more difficill in the beginning then learning study with what force constraint are children brought vnto it in so much as it is become a Prouerbe that knowledge comes with blood and violence yet after a little practise when they come to make some profit haue some vnderstanding and tast of what they learne they haue no greater recreation then to be always at their books and it is the like with those who go in the way of vertue and perfection S. Bernard explicats this excellent well vpon those words of Iob. Bern. l. 1. de consid ad Hu. Iob. 6.7 That which a little befor my soule would not touch is now through necessity become my food would you know sayth he how much custome and exercise can do how farre in time it winnes vpon vs first a thing shall seeme intollerable to you in processe of time if you accustome your selfe vnto it you will not imagine it so hard a little after you will euen feele it light shortly after not so much as feele it at all and after that be euen delighted with it in so much as you may wel say with holy Iob that which at first my soule could not looke vpon without horrour and detestation is now become the sauouryest food and nourishment I haue when soeuer you find any difficulty to obserue your Additions and those Instructions which are giuen you for the well making of our prayers examins be assured that it is only for want of vse and practise as also when you haue so much a doe to recollect your thoughts ouer night in such māner as to haue them in your power when you wake to make offer of thē vnto Almighty God in prayer For the reason of this difficulty is because at other times you take little or no care of the custody of your thoughts of keeping them ōly attent vnto that Mystery which you are to meditat Hence also is it that silence and recollection seems such a tedious melancholy thing vnto you since you neuer in earnest apply your selfe vnto it Your cell saith Tho. a Kempis becomes sweet vnto you if you continue in it and begets tediousnes if you seldome tarry in it frequent your chamber often and but accustome your selfe to keep with in and you will come to be delighted with its solitude This is the reason why secular persons find so much difficulty in fasting and meditation for they haue neuer vsed themselues vnto it 1. Reg. 17 38. King Saul armed Dauid with his owne Armes when he was to fight against the Philistim but Dauid because he had byn neuer vsed vnto them was forced to put them of againe notwithstāding we see how afterwards with vse he came to passe ouer whole moneths in armes proued a famous soldier And that which we say of good and vertue is likewise to be vnderstood of vice all defects vnto which if we giue but any way in the begining or incurre any ill habit through our owne negligence it will continue daily strengthning it selfe winning so much vpon vs as afterwards it will be very difficile to find out remedies forcible inough to free vs from it but we shall incur the daūger of always being subiect to the ill habits of it Vnlueri venusto neglecto callus obducitur eo insanabile quo insensibile fit old ranckled woundes do if we neglect them close vpon the out sid and so become the more incurable the lesse sencible we are of them If you had but accustomed your self from the beginning to haue don euery particular action well what a rich treasure of merit should you haue gotten together by this time what contentment should you haue found by experiēcing the facility sweetnes which is in euery vertuous action do but see what a pleasant life he leads who hauing had once a custome of swearing hath habituated himselfe agayne it ouercome it with how much facility and delight doth he auoyd the comitting of so many mortall sinnes Let vs therefore from this time forewards begin for it is better late then neuer to accustome our selues to do all our ordinary works and daily actions well since they are of so much consequēce applying vnto that end if neede should be our particular Examine which should be one of the best profitablest examines which we could make and so we should arriue vnto that happines to do al things wel with great facility Of how great importance it is that Religious men do not growe remisse and slacke in the way of vertue CHAP. VIII FROM that which we haue sayd it may be easily gathered how much it imports a Religious man to conserue himselfe in feruour deuotion and to make perpetuall progresse in the well doing of his Actions and how wary he is to be not to do them negligently and with tepidity least he should get such an ill habit as he should scarcely or neuer be freed of afterwards God can effect so much as to bring you after a great negligence vnto the feruent exercise of a holy and perfect life Bernard epist 96. but this would be a wonder miracle S. Bernard handles this point excellently well writing vnto one Richard Abbot of Fontaines his Religious where God had wrought a miracle of this kind diuers of the Religious hauing liued long tyme in great neglect of religious discipline being afterwards drawn to a life more feruent and deuout at which the holy Saint much astonished and yet more reioycing congratulating their happines sayth This is the finger of God who shall effect so much that I may like another Moyses goe and see this great vision seeing it is not lesse wōdrous then that which Moyses saw in the bush which burned yet was not cōsumed It is a rare thing vpon earth to see any one in Religion get neuer so little higher in perfection then that degree to which he arriued first and you shall with more ease find diuers secular persons who doe wholy conuert themselues to good then any one among Religious men passe forwardes to a better state of life and the reason is because secular people haue not those many helpes nor continuall meanes to aduance themselues in vertue as Religious haue and therfore when they heare an excellent sermon when they behold the sudden disastrous death of any acquaintance or friend of theirs the nouelty of it startels and amazeth them and excits thē to alter and amend their liues but if a Religious who hath all these helpes in such aboundant manner who frequents the holy Sacraments so often who heares so many spirituall exhortations who meditates so often who speakes so frequently of death of iudgment hell the beatitude of heauen If he I say notwithstanding all this passe
From this first reason proceeds the secōd seeing if the progresse of the Religious consists in their first beginings and education the good of the Religion doth likewise depend theron For it is not the walles of the cloyster or colledge which makes the Religion but the persons who are cōgregated in thē and those who are now in the Nouiciat are they who are afterwards to be the body of the Religion and for this reason the Society thinkes it not enough to erect Seminaries Colledges where youth should be educated in vertue and learning together but it also designes peculiar houses for vertue only where the Nouices attend vnto nothing els then to the abnegation and mortification of themselues and to the exercise of true and solid vertue as a foundation of far more importance necessity then that of any learning or liberall science Vnto this end the Nouiciats are erected Pater Borgia in ep ad Societ which are as B. F. Borgia says like Bethleems for the Nouices which is interpreted the house of bread here they prouide them of Biscuit prouision for so long a voyage and so many daungers which do threaten them This is our haruest and our fruitfull season this those plentifull yeares during the which we must lay vp store with Ioseph for those yeares of famine and sterility to come If the Inhabitants of Aegypt could but haue appehended the necessity of making best vse of that same plentious time they would not haue so lightly exhausted their granaries of that prouision Genes 41 48. which Ioseph did so carefully buy vp If you could but imagin how much it imports you to go out of the Nouiciat well furnished stored with spirituall prouision without doubt you would be farre from being ioyfull when you were to go frō thence but rather you would be sad and much afflicted at the necessity of sending you away when you considered what small prouision of vertue and mortification you went away with al. And so B. F. Borgia was wont to say that those who desired or were glade to haue made an end of their Nouiciat did well shew that they had little vnderstanding of spiritual things and did not know the necessity which they had considering the daunger difficulty of their voyage to go out well furnished with prouision for it of how rich and well prouided of all vertue did our B. Father imagine that we should depart out of the Nouiciat 4. P. consti cap. 4.2 as he declares in the Cōstitutions he ordayns two years of probation experiment where the Nouices are to looke vpon no other booke nor attend to other study then that of their greater abnegatiō mortification and progresse in all vertue and perfection from whence he supposeth they will come out so feruent and spirituall such great friends of mortification recolectiō so addicted to prayer and to spirituall things that there would be more need of the bridle thē the spurre therfore he exhorts them when they come to Colledges to moderat their feruour during the time of their studyes and in no wise to follow its dictamen for as much as concerneth prayer and mortification as thinking that they are come out of the Nouiciat with such interiour light and illustration with such a knowledge of God and spirituall things ioyned with the contempt hatred of the world with such a tendernesse of deuotion and such exteriour interiour composition that ti was need to go by way of preuention to meet with that feruour which they were to bring from the Nouiciat with them the fruit of two complet years of probation Let vs thē procure to depart from the Nouiciat with an answerable feruour to this expectation of vs let vs make due vse of that so pretious time seeing so long as we liue we shall neuer haue the like time againe to make our profit of and to gayne store our selues with spiritual treasure let vs be wonderful wary of mispending it and letting the least moment of it be lost Eccl. 14 14. Non defrauderis à die bono particula boni doni non te pretereat One of the greatest graces fauours which our Sauiour doth to those whō he cals in their youth vnto Religion for which they are to render him infinit thankes is that it is very easy for them then to apply themselues to vertue Religious discipline The tree whilst it is yet in its first growth but a limber plant may be bowed which way you please and fashioned disposed to an excellent growth but after you haue suffered it once to grow knotted and awry it will be easyer to breake it then to straightē it but it wil remayne always as it is Adeo à teneris assuscere multum est it imports so much to be accustomed from the begining And this which is said of plantes is likewise found by experience in men who when they are young may easily be framed and fashioned to good and they come to haue a great facility in that vnto which they are trayned brought vp from their tender age and cōsequently lightly to perseuere in it as the woole which being dyed before it be wrought doth neuer come there after to loose its collour Who shall restore the wool which is once dyed scarlet to its natiue whitenesse againe saith S. Hierome and the Poet Horace S. Hier. Quo semel est imbuta recens seruabit odorē Testa diu ould vessels will tast of that liquor which they first did fill into them when they were new 2. Paras 1 34.3 King Iosias is praysed the holy Scripture for begining from his youth to serue God Cum adhuc esset puer coepit quarere Deum patris sui Dauid Humbertus a right venerable person and Master Generall in his life time of the Order of S. Dominicke doth recoūt how that one of the Religious being dead appeared som night after vnto an other Religious mā of the same Order in great brightnes and glory and leading him out of his cell he shewed him a vision of diuers persons in white resplendent habits who carying fayre crosses on their shoulders did in that manner march in procession towards heauen presently after he saw an other company but far more delightful shining with greater light then the former who bare each on a faire rich crosse in their hands and not one their shoulders as the other procession had done who went before shortly after he perceyued an other band of them shining with more admirable light without comparison then those who went before whose crosses were likewise far more riche and resplendent then any of the other which crosses they did not beare on their shoulders nor in their handes as the two other companies had done but each one of their crosses was borne by a seuerall Angell who lead them on whilest they in ioyfull manner followed after them At which vision the
before God there is no reconing made of the yeares of our life but of the goodnes of it neither of the loÌ„g time which we haue bin in Religion but of that which we haue spent well in Religion of which the Holy Scripture affords vs a remarkable example It is said in the first book of Kings that Saul raigned two yeares ouer Israel 1. Reg. 13.2 Saul was a child of one yeare ould when he began to raigne and raigned two yeares ouer Israel where as it is certayne that he was King forty yeares for so Saint Paul sayes in the Actes of the Apostles Act. 13.21 Afterwards they demaunded a King God gaue vnto them Saul the sonne of Cis a man of the Tribe of Beniamin for fourty yeares How comes it then that in the Chronicles of the Kings he is sayd to haue raigned but two yeares the reason is because in the Annales and records of God Almighty there is no reckoning made but of only those yeares which we haue liued well and so he is said only to haue raigned two yeares because only in those he gouerned as a good righteous Prince we read in the Euangell Matt. 20.8 that those who came to worke in the vinyard at the eleueÌ„th hower were for one howers worke preferred to those who had laboured al the day since in that one hower they had done as much of true labour as those who had wrought froÌ„ morning vnto night Let vs then cast vp our accounts according to this reckoning and see by our good workes how long we haue bin in Religion This is excellently declared by Eusebius Emissenus Eusech ho. 9. ad MoÌ„ who from a Senator was afterwards Bishop of Lions We vse to count saith he Our yeares and the space of time which we do liue be not deceaued who soeuer thou art with the number of those dayes which you haue passed ouer since in body you haue left the world make account that you haue only liued that day in the which you haue denyed your owne will in which you haue resisted your ill affections and which you haue passed ouer without any transgression or breach of your rule make account that you haue liued that day which hath bâ—n inlightned with the beaÌ„es of purity and holy meditation with such dayes as these make vp if you can your computation of yeares and by those measure the time of your being Religious and feare otherwise least that should be said vnto you which was reproached to the Bishop of the Church of Sardis in the Apocalips Angelo Ecclesiae Sardis scribe Apoc. 3.1 scio opera tua quia nomen habes quod viuas mortuus es esto vigilans non enim inuenio opera tua plena coram Deo meo I know thy workes saith God although they are vnknowne to men Apoc. 5.2 you haue the name to liue and you are dead you beare the name of a Christian the habit of a Religious man but your works fit neither of them for they are not ful before my God but empty empty of God and of your selfe too full for you doe no other then seeke your selfe in them your owne commodity your honour and esteeme Let vs therefore be watchfull and make it all our labour to do full workes and liue full dayes to the end that in a little time we may liue long and merit much in the sight of God Almighty A MORE EXPRESSE DECLARATION of the vprightnes and purity of intention with which we are to do our Actions CHAP. XI THEY giue commonly a good aduise to those who coÌ„uerse with their neighbours touching the manner of their cariage in those functions which they exercise actions which they performe by the which it may be gathered how pure our intention ought to be how free and desingaged our selues and how sincerely we are to seeke God in all occasions And it is the Doctrine of the Holy Fathers and Doctors of the Church S. Hierome S. Gregory S. Chrysostome as we shal see afterwards They say that when we vndertake any action to the end our neighbour from thence may reap any generall or particular profit we are not to reflect vpon the fruit and good successe of it but only to fulfill the wil of God in doing it in such manner that when we heare confessions or when we preach or teach we ought not much to regard whither those you coÌ„uerse with all be conuerted amended or profited but oÌ„ly one our parts to do the will of God and please him in doing the bâ—st we can and for the successe of our actions as whither such an one be conuerted or profits by our sermons or becomes learned by hearing of our lessons that belongs not vnto vs 1. Cor. 3.6 but only vnto God Ego plantaui Apollo rigauit sed Deus incrementum dedit for vs saies the Apostle al that which we can do is but to plant and water like as that Iardiner doth but for to make the plants grow and the trees bring forth fruit belongs not to the Gardiner but to God the fruit of soules which is that they depart from their sinnes that they conuert themselues to God and that they go forward in virtue perfection doth only appertayne to God and the value and perfection of our Actions doth not depend vpon it This then is that purity of intentioÌ„ which we are to indeauour to haue in all our Actions that by this meanes we may attayne vnto a great purity in our intentions inioy a delitghful peace of mynd for those who do their ActioÌ„s in this manner are neuer troubled when the successe of their affaires comes by any chaunce to be thwarted or fayles of executioÌ„ or produceth not the fruits they hoped for for they proposed not this end vnto themselues neyther haue they placed their coÌ„tentmeÌ„t in it but only for to do the will of God performe al to please him vnto their vtmost Power for if when you preach heare confessions or do any other function for to helpe your neighbour you propose vnto your selfe beforehand to make great profit of it let this be your principall end in the performance of theÌ„ when any chaunce crosseth your designe in this you become troubled and disquieted And not only loose your peace of mynd but euen sometimes all patience if you proceed not further Our B. Father S. Ignatius declares this with an excellent example or similitude Lib. 5. c. 2 vitae B. P. Ignat. do you know said he how we are to carry our selues in those our functions wherein we imploy our selues vnto the helpe of our neighbour Iust so as the Angell Guardians do with those who are coÌ„mitted vnto their charge by God Almighty who neuer cease with all possible care to counsayle defend and gouerne theÌ„ to illuminate excite helpe them in all good but if through misuse of that freewill they haue they obey not to