understand the Spirit of the Book by the Spirit of the Author I have describ'd as much of the Qualifications of that Excellent Person as I could collect from the French Preface the perusal whereof I assure thee good Reader is worth thy pains and consideration THE Author's Life Extracted out of the French PREFACE THE worthy Author of this Excellent Treatise was a Person whose Life was answerable to his Writings a true Interiour Christian elevated by God's Holy Spirit to Sublime Contemplation making it his Business to have his Conversation in Heaven while he was upon Earth 'T is said of Moses that after he had Conversed familiarly with God and descended from the Mount that his Face did shine with an extraordinary Glory So this excellent Christian came from his Prayers as it were from Heaven all enflamed with Divine Love raising a holy Fire in their Breasts who enjoy'd the Happiness of his Conversation But his Goodness was more Diffusive for many of his absent Friends received wonderful Benefit and Advancement in a Spiritual Life by his Heavenly Instructions and Divine Letters Which were so many as that from those Writings was extracted this Interiour Christian not long after he had left men to live with Angels by a Person of Worth and Quality who was so touched to the heart by reading some of his Letters that he thought himself oblig'd in Charity to make them Publick for the Common Good Especially in this Corrupt Age wherein alas we find more Formal than Interiour Christians And doubtless it was the Will of Heaven this Treatise should not lie hid but be expos'd to the View of the World having in a short time enriched the Hearts of many with inestimable Good who entertain it with great Joy and Satisfaction He was in the right who said Loquere ut te videam If once I hear you speak I shall know what you are For 't is impossible to read this Book without some Knowledge of the eminent Perfection of the Authour for what Soul unless irradiated with extraordinary Beams of Heavenly Light could make such Discoveries or give such Directions in Spirituality It was from hence that the Humiliations and Dolorous Bloody Sufferings of Jesus Christ so terrible to Nature did appear to him with a Ravishing Beauty being taken with nothing more in his Devotions than Jesus Suffering For he had a singular Devotion to the Humiliations of Jesus and thought himself a Person cull'd out by Providence to honour his Sufferings He did much affect to lead his Life in Abjections and yet notwithstanding his profound Humility he was much esteemed and admired by all who had the Happiness to know his Virtues Though he lookt upon himself as an unprofitable Servant yet God was pleas'd to treat him as a faithful Friend Though he desir'd the Bitterness and Rigour of the Cross yet God did oftentimes so visit his Soul with extraordinary Consolations that sometimes he would cry out When then good Jesus shall I suffer for you Though he desired to follow Jesus on Mount Calvary yet God was pleased to lead him to Mount Tabor and vouchsafe him the Glimmerings of Glory on this side Heaven Though too many make it their Business to find out wayes to please their Sensuality he made his Body a Continual Victime of Mortification hardly abstaining from Austerities when his Weakness required a Relaxation He earnestly desired that after the Example of Jesus he might finish his Life on the Cross and on the day the Church celebrates the Invention of the Cross God was pleased to rob the World secretly of so great a Treasure lest if his Sickness had been known publickly the holy Importunity of many Prayers might have prevailed with Heaven to defer his Happiness He wanted no long Preparation for his Death by a Languishing Disease but being Fruit-ripe for the Harvest of Glory by the constant Dews of Heaven and Fervour of Charity upon short warning with wonderful Content commending his Soul into the hands of his Saviour he joyfully embraced Death to live Eternaly This shew'd the extraordinary Triumph he had made over the World and Himself by the Power of Grace For though some even Great Saints who had left the World for Christ's sake to avoid it's Contagion seem'd timorous at their Deaths yet He with an invincible Generosity contemning the World without forsaking it did conquer Satan in the midst of Temptations and smile on Death as a Friend to his Happiness Though he chang'd not his Secular Habit yet he had fully banisht the World from his heart and without engaging in any other Profession than that of a perfect Christian he spent his dayes in the Exercise of the most Austere Religious And this was more admirable in him than in those Fountains which conserve their Sweetness in the midst of Salt Waters because he did not only keep the Purity of the Spirit of Christianity among the Infections of a Corrupt Age but without any great noise he made notable Conquests over the Powers of Darkness seeing by his Pious Endeavours he chang'd many Carnal Men into Spiritual Christians We may say without Vanity that the World never had a more Dangerous Enemy He stay'd in it the better to discover its Designs and convert Worldlings exposing himself to combate its Allurements that their Weakness might be known and to testify to the World that one may be a Perfect Christian in despite of this great Enemy of God and Godliness His Example hath made it manifest to all Persons of Quality that one may live like a Hermit in the midst of a City and may love Evangelical Poverty though not practise it in the Possession of Riches and that true Self-contempt is not impossible to such whose Birth or Imployments have advanced them to Honour and that without being an Apostle or Preacher one may be an Evangelist And lastly that throughly to establish the Maxims of Christianity solid Practice is more efficacious than thundring Eloquence And though the Graces which beautifyed his Soul did most incline him to deep Retirements and Contemplation yet he was so wonderfully dexterous in the affairs of God's Service abroad that his Eyes fix'd on Heaven did not hinder him from affording a Helping hand to the good of his Neighbour neither was his Zeal herein confin'd to one onely Kingdom His Piety was so ingenious that he found out wayes to be at the same time one of the greatest Solitaries and yet much ingaged in the Labours of them who endeavour'd the enlargement of Christs Kingdom His way of expressing himself is conform to his Thoughts and both of them to the Gospel where such who chiefly hunt after Eloquence and vain Curiosities will find nothing that will please their Palate But a Soul which relishes Evangelical Truths cannot but find a Gust in the Expressions of this Book which breaths forth nothing but the Spirit of Christianity And God grant that they who take it into their hands may find it working
the Treasures of the Earth We ought daily according to our abilities to examine our selves to the end to purifie our hearts from all affections that tend not to this supernatural Life It resides in the superiour part of the Soul and therefore we must not wonder if the inferiour part has degusts and aversions from it We must expect that Nature Sense Friends the World and ordinary Christians will keep a noise and trouble our ears with many Arguments against it But to all this it is enough to answer in few words with St. Blandina Christiana sum Christiana sum I am a Christian Let us say to such who endeavour to divert us I have undertaken to lead this supernatural Life I will never abandon it maugre all the contradictions of worldly Maxims and the repugnances of sensual Nature I know to become a perfect Christian I must be turn'd up-side down destroy'd annihilated according to my natural inclinations hate in a manner all that the world naturally loves Riches Honours Pleasures yea though innocent and love what the world naturally hates Poverty Contempt and Sufferings This is a great attempt but we have powerful helps for we can do all things through Christ strengthening us CHAP. III. That we ought with St. Paul to convert our selves wholly to God I Am now resolv'd in good earnest to convert my self wholly to God to be taken solely with his Divine Beauty and Infinite Goodness forsaking all Creatures which heretofore have too much taken up my time and affections O my God! deal with me as you did with your Apostle strike me down to the ground humble me make me blind to all things but to You who are in the interiour of my heart beaming forth Lights which discover sufficiently your Divine presence This makes me ask you O my God what you will have me to do And methinks you answer That this manifestation of your presence in me should make such an extraordinary impression on me as to change my life and conform my self wholly to your Divine will and pleasure Behold it seems to me this is what you would have me to do First Not to persecute the sentiments and inclinations I have to a Christian Life by taking part with the struglings of old Adam in me St. Paul persecuted Jesus Christ in persecuting the Primitive Christians and I also persecute the same Jesus when I stifle the motions of Grace in me and will not suffer my Soul to live his life which he did lead here for me to follow Pardon me good Jesus I will no longer persecute you by stifling your holy Inspirations I desire to be a Christian and your Disciple I will profess Christianity in the face of the Sun and only be asham'd to live after the Law of old Adam To be a Christian this is my Glory this is my Life this is my Delight Poverty Contempts Pains Humiliations I will no more be affraid of you but make much of you seeing Jesus hath loved you even to death To live this Life we must become blind and have no other light than what the rays of Faith afford us For Nature cannot teach us the Grandeur Excellence and Eminency of Christianity St Paul after his Conversion suffered a thousand hardships He was whipt banish'd despis'd mock'd imprison'd tormented us'd as if he was the filth and off-scouring of the world which is as much as to say St. Paul after his Conversion was a Christian to death nothing could deter him from living the life of Jesus Christ Let us then O my Soul be true Christians that is let us be content to live in Sufferings Persecutions Mortifications and the Ignominies of the Cross of Jesus Christ Let us embrace the wisdom of the Word Incarnate and become as Fools in the eyes of the world who persecute true Christians that is those who die to themselves and all things else to live to Jesus Poor Christian Life little art thou known how ill art thou treated in the world Thou dwell'st in the lips of many but few afford thee a place in their heart I am fully persuaded that a Soul truly converted loves God entirely that this entire love of God is a perfect union with his goodness that such a union implies a universal detachment from the Creature that such a detachment cannot be got without the profession of Virtues and among the rest Poverty and Self-denial by which we are interiourly disengaged from earthly things and exteriourly when God pleases contentedly suffer miseries sickness loss of Goods and whatever the world naturally abhors as evil but by the work of Grace are for our greater good because they advance our union with God When we abound with Riches and Honours we live in a continual fear of having too great an affection for them but in sufferings a Soul possesses a stronger assurance of Divine Love Nothing but Grace can teach us these verities and a greater Grace can only make us relish and practice them the weight of our natural inclinations still hindring us from rising to so great Perfection When we give up our selves to God with resolutions daily to advance in Virtue we can more easily conceive what this perfection is than practice it However let us take courage nothing is impossible to God and we shall find doubtless this Jewel by a perfect abnegation that is possessing nothing not the very means of serving God but with a spirit of resignation To follow Jesus naked on the Cross we must divest our selves of all Creatures that we may be solely united to him Yea dear Jesus my desire is only to be for you my resolution is to serve you and in what manner you please be it by action or by suffering or contemplation I will be attached to nothing but You my desire is to be dis-engag'd from all Creatures to find You and possess You as my only happiness CHAP. XV. Of the Alliance we must make with the holy Folly of the Cross AFter many illustrations of Grace which have cleared up to me the beauty of the sacred Folly of the Cross after many proposals and reviews I have at last espous'd it saying with fervour the same words which Christ us'd to his Spouse in the Canticles Sponsabo te in aeternum My Friend my Spouse my Sister I have espoused thee for ever Methinks I say these words for ever but yet faintly my infinite frailties making me fearful I may become an inconstant Lover Notwithstanding I say for ever with a real heart in hope that by virtue of that immense Love whereby the Divinity hath for ever espoused our human Nature and this same Humanity hath espoused the Cross sufferings and abjections our blessed Saviour will vouchsafe me some part of the Grace of this Divine Alliance to enable me to walk his way and live his life in annihilation humiliations and self-denial Let us then O my Soul live this life of the Son of God any other life is but a real death Jesus
Desarts This makes one a Citizen of the whole world every place is indifferent to such a Soul for being not attach'd to any Creature God alone is what she desires whom she knows is all in all and his presence alike in every place When we are sad for the absence of any Friend 't is for want of light from Heaven seeing our greatest Friend is continually with us And indeed 't is injurious to God present in us to be troubled at the absence of any Creature and it is as much as if we should say to God You alone are not sufficient for me 'T is an excellent means to bring us to a denudation of all Creatures to be willingly content with their absence yea hardly to think upon them by reason of the veneration we have of the grandeurs of God who being infinitely present with us we cannot voluntarily be taken up with any thing else without some sort of injury to his infinite Majesty 'T is a great Mercy when Divine Providence orders our affairs so as to bring us off from vain occupations seeing we can never possess God fully unless we be dead to worldly things As long as they flatter us and go on as we desire they take us up too much and we easily forget God but his amiable Providence has a thousand ways to make them disgustful to us by losses by maladies by falseness of friends by ill success of affairs by the substraction of sensible favours and by a distast and bitterness which at last we find in all worldly contentments We who understand not his amiable designs do oftentimes our utmost endeavours to shun these things as no small miseries and yet this is indeed the Paradice of holy Souls whereby they find God who is most present to that heart where no Creature finds entertainment And when such a Soul tasts the sweetness of God she disgusts the Creatures and though they importune her she generously contemns them and 't is a punishment to give any attention to their allurements When a Soul does not engage her self in worldly affairs but by the order of God her Interiour will receive no prejudice for she is always in a state to return to God whom in a manner she does not leave in those employments And the same light which discovers to her the intime presence of God makes her see also the orders of God in respect of external affairs to which she yields a peaceable and ready obedience For she is for doing what God would have her though she must lose for some time that sweet repose which she possesses by the enjoyment of God What makes her retire into her internal quiet is not the quiet it self nor the sweetness thereof but the order of God who is pleas'd to unite a Soul to himself by intervals and gives her a gust by his presence that he is her centre and final happiness But when God will have it so she changes also her operations and leaves God in a manner to converse with Creatures She is so dis-engaged that she willingly moves not but by God's motions which carry her whither he pleases either to enjoy him or do good to others all is indifferent to her because she seeks nothing but to please God Nevertheless 't is true that a poor Soul enamour'd of the sweetness of God's presence and of the internal peace of this enjoyment does not without some regret return to exteriour Objects and sensual Functions She then neither speaks nor hears nor takes refection without some reluctance because being sensible of this infinite Good present with her and finding nothing in the Creatures but misery and dissatisfaction she cannot well quit this excellent Object to turn to the deceitful figure of sensual things Her Treasure being within her all her thoughts and her affections are there also I have sometimes felt in my self desires to be blind deaf and dumb to the end I might be more entirely separated from all Creatures and more intimately united to the Creator present in me experiencing with grief that my Soul oftentimes forgets this Divine presence when she makes sallies out upon the Creatures by the Gates of my Senses Well then I must keep them shut that my Soul being cloister'd up within her own walls may be wholly taken up with God alone CHAP. IV. That the presence of God is clearly seen in a purified Interiour THe Idaea of a Looking-glass is very pertinent to explicate this matter For God makes himself sometimes to be seen in the Interiour of the Soul as in a well-polish'd Glass in the same manner as the Sun or rather its figure is visible in a Fountain of pure Water The Soul sees not the face of God that is the priviledge of Glory but she beholds him there more clearly than elsewhere God painting his resemblance in her in the same sort as the Sun shews his visage in pure water But the purity and peace must be very great in the Interiour of such a Soul to present the impression of this presence For as the breath darkens the Looking glass in like manner voluntary imperfections sully the purity of the Soul And as the least motion that troubles the Fountain makes it lose the Image of the Sun so the extroversions and sallies out towards Creatures makes the Soul lose the sight of the Divine presence in her When God manifests himself so present to a Soul she must regard nothing but him otherwise she loses her happiness it being not possible to behold the Image of the Sun in the Fountain together with those that pass by the way We must let them pass without gazing on them whatever Friends they be otherwise we shall find that our Beloved will veil his face from whom we our selves have turned our eyes There is a time to speak and a time to be silent Let us therefore in this happy moment speak to no Creature and give this reverence to the presence of God in us as to regard It only and nothing else It sometimes happens that God permits the Devil to shew his visage in his place This is when the Soul is molested with black thoughts wicked representations foul temptations fond imaginations and then she must guard her self with patience in the acknowledgment of her unworthiness and confess that she deserves to be continually banish'd from God's presence But if our fidelity be great in this state of darkness and interiour disquiet it will not be long e'r God shew his face and make fair weather There be some who loved others so passionately while they were alive that they go to Magicians to procure a sight of them after death and are ravish'd to behold them in their enchanted glasses A Soul passionately enamour'd on God is ravish'd to behold him though but for a moment in her Interiour and fears no Motifications nor the loss of all Creatures if they do but purifie the glass to shew God to her According to the degree of
wherein consists their Felicity The Father is the source of Being the the Son the term of his Knowledge and the Holy Spirit of his Love The Son and Holy Ghost are from the Father The Father and the Holy Spirit know the Son The Father and the Son love the Holy Ghost These are the wonders that make Heaven Happy Firmly to believe them is our Blessedness on Earth and to Contemplate them continually brings solid consolation to the Soul I saw clearly that to dispose my self for this incomparable Happiness I was to purifie my Interiour and to mortifie some natural resentments which yet live in me As namely too great a fear about the loss of Worldly things or to be despis'd by others or ill success of Affairs besides too great a sense of humane respects and a backwardness to follow the instincts of Grace for worldly considerations I know God sometimes suffers these Imperfections to live in us for the exercise of Virtue and the Tryal of our Fidelity However his will is that we strive to be dead to the World and our selves having our affections so fix'd on Heavenly things as to live a Divine Life in Mortal Bodies Believe me 'till our Interiour be throughly purified we shall not not be capable of high contemplation nor arrive to much knowledge in the secrets of God Fourth Day IN my first Prayer I was principally taken up with the adorable Person of the Eternal Father Methought I saw how he was ravish'd with Infinite Joy in Himself with the Son and the Holy Spirit And what complacency he also took in the Suffering of the Humanity of Jesus Christ though he loves him with the same love wherewith he loves himself And because these sufferings were pleasing to his Divine Father as satisfactory for our sins he did thirst to suffer more to fulfill his will And therefore after such variety of dolorous sufferings dying on the Cross he cryed out Sitio I Thirst It much rejoyc'd my heart to see what Infinite Complacency the three Divine Persons took in the Divinity and said within my self O Sacred Trinity enjoy eternally these Infinite delights But I desire as much as I can to add to your Exteriour Contentments by imitating the suffering of my Blessed Saviour And herein I will not have so much an eye to the reward to please the Sacred Trinity whom I adore Behold then what hereupon it seems to me God put into my mind 1. To eat neither Fish nor Flesh but in case of Sickness 2. To Discipline every day 3. To be pleas'd with occasions of Contempt 4. To despise all Temporal things to follow the attracts of Divine Love 5. To lie down upon a hard Bed 6. To cut off all Worldly Visits and retire my self into a Solitude where the World may despise me I consider'd in my second Prayer that the Son of God in the bosom of his Divine Father in possession of Infinite Delights and Joys unspeakable out of love to his Father did quit his bosom and cloath himself with Mortal Flesh to plunge himself in the depth of Miseries abjection and sufferings that he might glorifie his Divine Father by his humane and suffering Life and teach us Men his Brethren that the way to enter into the Love and Glory of his Father is by the gate of Sufferings Is it You O only begotten Son of the Eternal Father is it You born in a Stable working in a Shop dying on a Cross You that are all Splendor and Glory the Light of the World and the Delight of Heaven Is it You that are so poor and abject so void of Friends so full of Disgraces so scorn'd and despis'd Is it You whom they esteem as the out-cast of men and not worthy to live on the face of the Earth O the Love of the Son towards his Father O the strange invention of the Son to advance the Glory of his Father O my Jesus how admirable are you in your Divinity But how amiable are you in your Humanity I desire O dear Jesus to follow you all the days of my life and seek no other Glory than in your Cross and Poverty your Humiliations and Sufferings Absit mihi gloriari nisi in Cruce Domini nostri Jesu Christi The Cross of Christ is my Crown and Glory We ought not to possess Honours Riches and Worldly Preferments without Fear and Humility Have we not cause to fear that in a state of Worldly greatness Nature will seek her self and not follow Jesus poor and humble which ought to be done either effectively or in affection A state of Suffering under the Cross is truly Glorious and full of Interiour Consolation In my third Prayer I consider'd that the union of the Father with the Son and of the Son with the Father is by the Holy Ghost a union Infinite and adorable O Holy Spirit seeing 't is your property to unite unite my heart so intimately to the adorable Trinity present in me that I may never suffer a seperation and that this adorable union may be frequent in my Thoughts and Meditations Blessed be your Holy Name my God that you are pleas'd to be so merciful unto me as to take up my thoughts with this incomprehensible Mystery O how do I begin too late having been too long amuz'd with vain trifles My past Life displeases me and the course of the World is troublesome unto me seeing it hinders me from conversing with you as I desire Natural Necessities as to Eat to Sleep to Recreat are burdensom unto a Soul quickened with your Spirit strongly inclining us to live here on Earth as in Heaven in a perfect and perpetual union with your Goodness The consideration which took up my thoughts in my fourth Prayer was that the Eternal Son and Holy Spirit seem'd to have more commerce with men then the Eternal Father because they appeared to us by external Missions the Son being made Man for to die for us and the Holy Spirit taking divers forms for the Service of man and to enflame our hearts with Divine Love The Eternal Father seem'd always to remain in himself ravish'd with his own Infinite Beauties and Perfections O adorable Mansion of the Eternal Father within himself O wonderful Missions of the Son and Holy Spirit towards us Men and for our Salvation eternal matter of Adoration O my God when shall I go out of my self to elevate my heart to you and converse with you I see very well that to enter into a Spirit of Prayer Retirement is requisite Abstinence and Spiritual Exercises And to conserve the same temper of Soul we must practice silence as much as our condition and affairs will permit If the Son of God and Holy Spirit did appear here upon Earth only for our good certainly we ought to endeavour to have our Conversation in Heaven and adore the most Sacred Trinity for these Infinite Mercies Fifth Day MY first Prayer past in acknowledgment and admiration of the Fulness of
he ought nor lov'd with thankfulness He loves us so as to die for us and we make no reciprocal returns O the prodigious insensibility of men Is then Jesus Christ a stranger to us and not our God and Saviour Does the History of his holy Passion pass with us as a profane or indifferent thing Ought not the bloody Tragedy of Calvary fill all Christian hearts with love and sorrow For my part I could hide my head with shame that I have so little compassion and love for Jesus dying on the Cross for our Salvation O my Jesus I confess my fault in that I have so little known my infinite obligations to you But seeing your Grace discovers now to me more clear than heretofore what you are I will never more lose sight of you I will love nothing more than You and esteem nothing more than to do you honour You are my true Father my true Brother true Friend true King true Redeemer O how great a truth is it that you are all in all unto me O that I have been so long without knowing you aright O Jesus how Happy am I that I have found you O let me never so much loose my self as to forsake you For my fourth Prayer I stood at the Sepulcher of Jesus and seeing his precious Body dead and covered with Wounds I made this Epitaph Here lyes Love Yes yes here lyes Love indeed for his excessive Love to us brought him to this state and condition A state full of horror and wounds Blood and Infamy But a state well pleasing to God as satisfying his Justice for mans Redemption I embraced his precious Body and kiss'd his Sacred Wounds I adored Jesus in this state and said O my Soul we must either cease to Love Jesus or die with him seeing Love equalizes Lovers and makes them alike My Soul then chose to die with Jesus and after many sighs and desires to please her Beloved she died with Jesus never willing more to live a Natural and Humane Life but a Life Divine and Supernatural as that of Jesus And I made for her this Epitaph Here lyes a Soul dead of Love Behold in what consists the death of my Soul 't is to live no longer according to the natural Inclinations but according to the motions of Grace which are the Love of Poverty Contempt and Sufferings While these dispositions live in a Soul she is dead to Sensual desires and lives a Life of Grace a Life Supernatural Therefore for the future I will never hunt after Honours or Pleasures or Riches willingly and by Election but I will either heartily forsake them or if I use them it shall be upon Divine Motives for the good of my Neighbour or for pure necessity seeing That is the Will of God the surest rule of all our Actions Tenth Day Jesus risen from Death and Glorious IN my Morning Prayer I consider'd the Glory of Jesus Christ in the state of his triumphant Resurrection O Jesus how Glorious are you How well does this become you Verily 't was a strange state whither your Love had brought you A state of Misery Shame and Sorrow This was well for us Criminals but in no sort agreeing to you who are Innocence it self For what belongs to you is Majesty and Glory What joy did swell my heart to see Jesus Glorious My Tongue cannot express what my Heart feels This great Feast of the Resurrection is to be celebrated by all Creatures seeing 't is the day wherein Jesus appears as God O Feast of the Glory of Jesus O Feast of the Glory of Mary 'T was a Miracle she did not die of Sorrow at the Death of her Son and 't is another Miracle she did not die of Joy at his Glorious Resurrection O my heart be thou enlarged with Joy for 't is a general rule without exception that the Interest of the Creator is to be preferr'd before all Creatures And therefore O triumphant Jesus I more rejoyce that you are Glorious then that I hope to be Glorified with you Yea though I should never be raised your Glory does ravish me It glads me when I consider that damnation only concerns the Creature for the Interest of Jesus suffers not thereby seeing God is Glorified by the Reprobates as well as by the Saints in Glory 'T is also a certain rule that the Elect O Divine Jesus are Images of you and so necessarily must resemble you in your Sufferings if with you they will be Glorified 'T is a folly to think not to suffer here some way or other more or less seeing the way to Glory is by Sufferings O my Soul be thou united to Jesus Crucified and then thou shalt have part with Jesus Glorified To this end thou must love the Cross and desire of Jesus to die or suffer O World thy way is meer folly and nothing else In my second Prayer I was taken up with these words of Divine Jesus Ought not Christ first to suffer and so to enter into Glory I discover'd how all the Divine Perfections did wonderfully shine forth therein But above all the Wisdom of God doth ravish those hearts which contemplate the works of Grace and Mercy O Divine Wisdom how well is the Oeconomy of your Mysteries order'd to work our Salvation and bring us to Glory Every Mystery which I consider'd did raise a new Fire in my breast to inflame my affections with the Love of Jesus Sometimes they altogether did as with so many arrows pierce my heart and made me languish with Divine Love For seeing my self so Belov'd of good Jesus how could I but Love him again O Infinite Love of Jesus for whom shall I have a heart if not for thee O Love 't is for thee my heart is reserved Thy attracts are powerful enough do not redouble them so sweet and charming 't is enough my heart is for thee O Love except thou wilt have me die do not wound me any more Yet I will die willingly if thou wilt have it so on the Cross of Interiour and Exteriour Suffering that I may be conform to my Loving Saviour My third Prayer was a continuation of the Sentiments of the Love of Jesus I made use of the words of great St. Austin in his Confessions O my Jesus you have wounded my heart with the arrows of your Charity and I have devoted it to your Love Since that you have scatter'd my Darkness and made your self known unto me I have not forgot you Since I had the Happiness to know you I have imprinted you in my memory there I find you and I tast perfect Delights and receive extreme Joy and Contentment when I remember you My Soul feeling Divine Fires within her which did fill her with Pleasures I did sing extempore Canticles to my Beloved and though not methodical yet they better express'd her amorous languishings Though alone in my Chamber I spake of Jesus aloud as if I had had many Auditors to be partakers of my
obscurity of Faith She must therefore keep her self in an Indifferency rising and falling according to the conduct of Gods Holy Spirit Always esteeming her self unworthy of the least Grace and never pretend by forcing her Spirits to the extraordinary favours of high Contemplation But when she has a call to such elevations in Prayer the way to arrive thither is by a perfect death to all things and a Faithful imitation of Jesus Christ in his Crucified states of Abjection and Poverty with a Love of Solitude as much as our condition will permit There 's a great deal of difference between that Light and Fervour which is imparted to a Soul in the elevations of passive Prayer and that Light which is procured by the ordinary Grace of Meditation That is more in time and piercing and full of Heavenly Benedictions This however suffices to acquire Virtues and serve God in the state of our Vocation 'T is our duty to attend to our present condition with Peace and Humility and submission to the Divine Will and let God alone to order as he pleases the time of his Visits and our manner of Prayer Sometimes this will be by simple Thoughts sometimes by Discourse sometimes by Faith alone and sometimes by passive Illuminations But whatever is given us we must receive from the hand of the Divine Goodness with great respect and Thankfulness acknowledging our selves unworthy of the least good Thought That which a Soul ought to do both in and out of Prayer is to be very attentive to Gods Holy Inspirations and follow them with Courage and Fidelity If she find that God elevates her to extraordinary Contemplation let her yield to those Divine impressions If she be kept in an ordinary way let her there abide If she be left in Aridities let her also sit down without complaining The great secret of a Spiritual Life is for a Soul to purifie her self so as to comply with the motions of God who is our Alpha and Omega our Origen and final end There are things sufficiently declared as the Commandments of God and the Church the Duties we owe to Obedience Charity or Necessity There 's no need to expect immediate Light from God for the performance of these things But only in such which are neither commanded nor forbidden And in these great Purity of Soul is necessary to discern the motions of Grace for fear we be deceiv'd by our own imaginations Those Saints who by the Impulses of Gods Holy Spirit have writ Spiritual Treatises to direct Interiour Christians in the wayes of God oftentimes affect us with their Thoughts and Sentiments because they Pray in Heaven for this Blessing on their labours on Earth and therefore t is Beneficial to read their Books to advance our Devotion But do what we can we shall never know what that Prayer is by what those Books write of it unless by the practice and Light of the same Prayer We know well enough in general that Prayer is the source of all Virtue in the Soul who leaves that off falls into Luke-warmness and Imperfections Prayer is a Holy Fire that warms the Heart and Affections which without it must of necessity grow cold in Devotion In Health or Sickness Joy or Sorrow we must always Pray except we have a mind to fall from Grace to our utter ruin CHAP. III. That we ought to be indifferent to what manner of Prayer God is pleased to give us WE ought to shun two Extreams equally vitious The one is to covet more Grace and Perfection than God intends us so as to be troubled and disgusted to see others more elevated in Gifts of Prayer than our selves The other is not to co-operate faithfully with the Grace vouchsaf'd us either for want of Courage in the Difficulties that occur in the practice of Virtue or of Attention to observe the Motions of Grace or being observed by too easily diverting our selves to other matters and so neglecting the Mercies of God When a Soul is well purified and hath experience of the Impulses of Grace in her and can distinguish them from the motions of Nature she must give free ingress to the rayes of this Light from Heaven that she may be throughly illuminated and warm'd in her Devotions For to do otherwise under a pretence of Humility and fear of deception is not to yield to the Conduct of God's Spirit who inspires when and whom he pleases 'T is then our Duty to be entirely passive that God may fully work his Will in us When these Divine Illuminations are withdrawn from a Soul for the Glory of God and her good and so left in darkness or when her own Imperfections have made her not so capable of supernatural Lights she must rest contented with these privations till it pleases the Sun of Righteousness to shine upon her A purified Soul is satisfied and resign'd on such occasions because God only is her joy and not his gifts which he by his infinite Goodness communicates to her when he pleases And this is the reason that she loves not her inward peace and joy when she is deprived of heavenly Irradiations and Gifts in Prayer He who gives himself up to his Prince for his sole interest and satisfaction without seeking his own peculiar concerns and contentment does not much matter what Service he renders and what Rewards he receives provided his Prince be well pleased and satisfied If he keep him near his person to caress him he is content not that he is caressed but because it is his Princes pleasure If he imploy him afar off in troublesome Affairs he is content not to be so far from his Person and in a hazardous Employment but because this is the Pleasure of his Prince whose Content he only had an eye to in giving himself up unto his Service This is the true case of a Soul that desires to serve God purely for the Love of God If God caress her in Prayer with Visits full of Sweetness she is content because this is his Pleasure if he affords not his Presence but leaves her in Darkness she is content because 't is the good pleasure of God If God call her to the exercises of Charity in a life more active and laborious than the contemplative she is content because this is the good pleasure of God which is the only thing she seeks and desires in his Service This indifferency disposes a Soul to receive great Graces for by this means she sometimes arrives to a total oblivion of her self and all creatures without any reflection on her own Interests Temporal or Eternal haveing nothing in her eye but the good pleasure of God and desiring him alone insomuch that if any thing of self creep in at any time as soon as she discovers it 't is distasteful to her This is a state of great Nakedness and entire Mortification and a perfect disposition to most sublime Prayer whether God elevates a Soul whom he sees ready to submit