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A31208 The Christian pilgrime in his spirituall conflict and spirituall conqvest; Combattimento spirituale. English Scupoli, Lorenzo, 1530-1610.; CastaƱiza, Juan de, d. 1598.; T. V. (Thomas Vincent), 1604-1681.; A. C. (Arthur Crowther), 1588-1666. 1652 (1652) Wing S2166A; Wing C1218; Wing C1219; Wing C1220; ESTC R19031 259,792 828

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strivest to undermine my Perseverance But take courage ô my soul thy time of enduring will soon end and thy ensuing joy will be without end Hearken not to thy sworn enemies enchantments sit not stand not sleep not but pray watch and walk whilst thou hast light and life that the darkness of eternal night and death overtake thee not And since thy Loving Lord is both able and willing to succour and support thee and to turn every thing to thy advantage ●ven thy imperfections frailties and failings For thou art warranted that so Rusbrochius sure as God is God so sure it is that he will permit nothing to befall us but for our greatest good and his own glory and that it is most gratefull unto him we so judge of him doubt not of his providence and protection not fear to permit him to deal with thee as he best pleaseth and to remain in a perfect indifferency to all his divine ordinances and dispositions saying Since it is thy will O Lord it is certain to be n●y good be it so I am as sure thou lovest me as that thou livest with me A way then all diffidence disloyalty inconstancy How many Saints have you perverted how many souls have you damned Without thee O holy Perseverance all is lost with thee all is se●ure Grace till the end Glory without end Welcome holy Confidence the main support of my life and the life of my Perseverance I am content O my Lord to be conducted by thee for time and eternity as thou best pleasest Lead me by land or water by desolation or devotion by darkness or day by sickness or health I will adhere to thee constantly If it be thy blessed will O Loving Lord that I creep as a snail towards Perfection I will neither be troubled nor dismayed I desire not to fly faster than thou enablest me I quiet my self with the grace thou givest me which I acknowledge to be not only beyond my deserts but better for me than my own desires Finally I here make a generall Resolution and a generous Resignation of my whole self into thy holy hands hoping that it will give worth and value to all my actions and sufferings O my Soveraign and sweet maker A form of generall Resolution my whole Will and desire according to my great obligation former profession and present protestation is to serve and love thee and to fulfill thy blessed Will in all things and to be wholly thine at all times and in all things whatsoever 'T is thy Honour I only aym at thy Glory I only intend and thy Will I only seek to accomplish To thee alone I render and wish all benediction and eternall praise and with cordiall Joy I say Amen to all that is possessed by thy most amiable and perfect goodness and joyning my humble desires and devotions with all those that love thee I implore that we may be all thine and that thou wilt be All in us all And now O my soul since thou hast in some sort happily begun a course of Prayer Recollection Abnegation and Humility according to Obedience and supported by Confidence For further helps to perseverance read the 22. 23. 24. ch of St. Teresa's life Written by her self And her book entitled The way to Perfection Let the Devill storm let Flesh and blood rebell let the World murmure Answer them all Quod scripsi scripsi my Vows and Promises must and shall stand I am content to sign it with my blood I will sooner dye than swerve from my well-setled Resolutions or cancell the free deed and gift of my self to my Saviours service Darkness Desolation Death and Devill shall never make me change Live my good Purposes to love my dear Lord unchangeably irrevocably eternally Cant. 2. 16. My beloved is mine and I am his 2 Tim. c. 4 v. 7 8. I have fought a good fight I have finished my course I have kept the faith Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness which our Lord the righteous Judge shall give me at that day and not to me only but unto them also that love his appearing James 1. 12. Blessed is the man that indureth temptation for when he is tried he shall receive the crown of life which our Lord hath promised to them that love him Revelation 2. 10. Be thou faithfull untill death and I will give thee the crown of life FINIS Errata In the Conflict PAge 32. line 2. for from read form p. 45. l. 15. for weary r. wary p. 69. l. 25. for mediations r. meditations p. 143. l. 28. for his r. he p. 143. l. 29. for its r. his p. 161. l. 29. for ordinary r. ordinarily p. 201. l. 2. for pleasure r. please p. 277. l. 2. for many r. may In the Conquest PAge 3. l 29. for some r. son In the Exercises Page 103. l. 12. for ●at his r. eat a● his In the Maxims
THE CHRISTIAN PILGRIME IN HIS Spirituall CONFLICT And CONQVEST AT PARIS M.DC.LII APPROBATIO UTI finis Praecepti it a Consilii Charitas de corde puro Conscientia bona et Fide non ficta Ad quam cum facilitate assequendam securius retinendam compendiosam Regiam viam sternunt Documenta quae in hoc libro cujus Titulus est The Christian Pilgrim in his spirituall Conflict and Conquest continentur quia in illo nil Fidei Catholicae repugnans aut bonis moribus contradicens invenitur sed Doctrina pia sana solida ad quam legendam sequendam omnes qui repleri consolatione superabundare gaudio fervere spiritu crebro suspicere in Caelum puras manus in oratione levare suas solicite observare conscientias Sanctorum sequi Vestigia cupiunt sunt invitandi Datum Duaci Januarii 17. anno 1652. Stilo Novo Fra RUDESINDUS BARLO Sacrae Theologiae Doctor Professor in Collegio Vedastino Duaceno The same Approbation Englished THE End of the Counsell as well as of the Commandement is Charitie out of a pure Heart of a good Conscience of Faith unfeigned Which to obtain with facility and retain with security the Documents contained in this book intituled The Christian Pilgrim in his Spiritual Conflict and Conquest Shew a plain and compendious way For therein nothing is found dissonant to our Catholique Faith or repugnant to Piety but a holy sound and solid Doctrine To the perusall and practise whereof all they are invited who desire to be replenished with comfort to overflow with joy to be fervent in Spirit to aspire frequently towards Heaven to lift up pure hands in prayer to preserve their Consc●ences unspotted and to follow the steps of the holy Saints Given at Doway January the seventeenth 1652. Stilo novo Br RUDESIND BARLO Doctor and Professor of Divinity in the Vedastin College Doway 1 Pet. 5. 8. Be sober be vigilant because your adversary the Devill as a roaring Lion walkes about seek●ng whom he may devour whom resist stedfast in Faith THE SPIRITVAL CONFLICT OR The ARRAIGNMENT of the Spirit of Selfe-love and Sensuality at the Barre of Truth and Reason First published in Spanish by the Reverend Father John Casta●iza a Benedictin Monk of ON A Afterwards put into the Latine Italian German French and now lastly into the English Tongue according to the Originall Copy With many profitable Additions and Explications The Second Edition Job 7. 1. Mans Life is a Warfare upon Earth AT PARIS M.DC.LII Ephesians 6. 10 11. MY brethren be strong in our Lord and in the power of his might Put on the Armour of God that you may be able to stand against the Wiles of the Devill James 4. 7. Be subject to God resist the Devill and he will flee from you Matth. 26. 41. Mark 13. 38. Watch and pray that you enter not into temptation 1. Cor. 16. 13. Stand fast in Faith quit you like men be strong c. Hee shall not be crowned who fights not valiantly 2. Tim. 2. 5. A Lively pourtraict of the Spirituall Conflict To the right Reverend Fathers Religious Dames and devout Brothers and Sisters of the holy Order of Saint BENNET THIS little book is presented unto You not because the Translator follows the epidemick custome which enforceth the complement of a Dedication or expects any return of temporal profit from you or stoops you to so low a Patronage as to become Gossipps to this adopted child which are the vulgar ends of almost all presents of this nature wherby the Receivers are rather engaged than gratified But meerly as an humble oblation of Filial duty and respect For he pretends not to cast in his mite or bring a gift to your spirituall treasury but only to pay a little parcell of his larger debt and to give you an account of some houres of his time which he acknowledgeth should be all employed in your service Besides he but restores unto you what was your own before by another and a nearer title of Confraternity and only new cloath's a Spanish Monk of St. Bennet's holy Order with your English habit a thing both usuall and hitherto very succesfull unto you hoping thereby to make him the better welcome and not doubting but he will speedily easily and efficaciously insinuate himself into your affections whose dayly practices have so great sympathy with his divine doctrine For what are or surely should be the continuall endeavours of a true Benedictin Monk and indeed of all devout Christians but to quell and conquer the world the flesh and the Devill according to the Principles of Truth to subdue sense to reason to make his very passions by taming them usefull and his affections by fixing them upon the right object instrumentall to the attaining of perfection and to study self-knowledg practice self-hatred and persevere in self deniall that God may be the sole possessor of his heart the only mover of his affections and the all ruler in his whole man having now no self-will left to hinder his holy operation And this is the only drift of this devout Treatise which may therefore fully serve you and all pious Pilgrims travelling to their heavenly home for a clear glass wherein you may see your own souls without flattery discover your spirituall blemishes without partiality learn the rare secret of rooting out vices implanting vertues improving all accidents to your best profit and trimming up your interiours to your highest advantage for the sweet entertainment of your beloved Spouse without overmuch pains or prolixity You are I say to look upon this small book as upon a Compendious summary of Christian perfection or as a little store-house well fraught with the Originall seeds and simples of all spirituality from whence other devout druggists cunning in compositions have since furnish'd their larger shops and extracted many ample and indeed some excellent volumes But because Art is long Life short and this life is lent us to learn the Art of living well what pity is it that our lives should be more spent in reading than profiting that men should take more delight in writing than instructing and that we must be forc'd to seek a few precepts in many sheets which may be plainly set down in a few pages Yet such is the strange itch of writers now a days that the number of books which are extant upon all subjects seems to exceed that of the readers whose arms may be as well tired in turning over the vast multitude of volumes as their brains confounded in studying them So that it were to be heartily wished that that grave * S. Thomas of Aquin who being asked which was the speediest and best way to become learned Answered To read only one Book Doctors advice were now revived and followed by spirituall persons which is That they would only or at least chiefly betake themselves to the serious perusall of some one good Authour for their Guide Governor and
languish not breathe but burn by reason of extasie and excess of love 3. O fire O flames Burn consume annihilate Alas Beauty of Angels how late and how little do I love thee O come into my soul behold a poor lodging yet such as it is it is all thine I conceal nothing I reserve nothing heart soul spirit all is thine own compose all dispose of all depose all unruly passions impose what penance thou pleasest I accept it o my Lord only repose peaceably in my soul and let no foul or false affection interpose it self or disturb this blessed union O that I could please and praise thee purely perfectly perpetually Oh that I could love thee faithfully freely and fully in all and above all things ô my all and only love I acknowledge my self bound ô Lord in thy chains of charity I am burned in thy fire I am wounded and won to thy love But what shall I say What can I give All I have is not worthy of thee and yet is thine already Ask my sweet Lord and have choose and take make me such as thou desirest and then take me to thy desire Give thy self ô great God to my soul and then take my soul with thy self in it My life liberty love and all is thine own My last will is already made in which I bequeath all to thee Thine own death and passion all thy mercies and merits all the praises and perfections of thy dear Mother and the blessed Saints and Angels and all the goods glories and splendors of all thy creatures All that I am have and can both spirituals and temporals kindred friends riches health honors estates offices devotion all is at thy disposition I am resolute ô my Lord I am resigned and indifferent to have them increased or diminished to use them to thy glory or to lose them altogether 4. I give thee back ô merciful Maker my whole being either to be what thou wilt or to be nothing at all to love thee or not to live at all I offer to thee ô pious Redeemer my sins to pardon my works to perfect my will to purifie I offer thee my wounds to cure my soul to cleanse and my spirit to comfort I offer to thee O holy Spirit my intentions to rectifie my inclinations to sanctifie my affections to deifie Finally I offer all for one I give all to one and all I desire is to be all one with thee my all and only Lord and love Thou hast given me O my bountiful Creator the whole world in free-hold for one penny of Rent saying Child give me thy heart O Lord Let this penny never want the superscription of thy grace and let me never want thy grace to pay this rent O my Lord all that I have is but two small mites I cast them into thy hands and had I more I would give more Dispose of them both dear Lord of my body and soul as best pleaseth thee that thy will may be perfectly performed and thy name purely sanctified in both O sweet God of my heart Let me embrace thee in the two arms of profound humility and perfect charity O let my heart faint and melt away in the fire of thy divine love let me lose my self to find thee be out of my self to live in thee and be empty of my self to be full of thee O fun of Justice dissolve with a beam of thy brightness the frost of my heart and resolve it into tears of affection 5. O beautiful and best-beloved of my soul I am weary of this wretched world and I breathe thirst and sigh after thee the sweet fountain of life-giving and soul-saving waters O thou true rest and refresher of my faint and feeble heart out of whom there is neither comfort nor content Let me shroud my self under the shadow of thy wings untill iniquity and infirmity have an end Come Lord Jesu Speak thy sweet words of love to my languishing soul for thy servant hears thee Give me courage alacrity fervour and fidelity in thy service the few remaining moments of my wretched and wearisome pilgrimage O rest long expected and much sighed after where shal I seek thee and when shall I find thee where sleepest thou O dear Spouse at midday in the heat of love Where is thy secret cabinet of Contemplation which thou hidest from the wisdom of worldling and revealest to little ones and humble of heart O shew me the bed of divine Union wherein thou reposest with the simple solitary and mortified soul O let my poor heart have the honour and happiness to rest in thee to remain with thee and to be united to thee O God of love wound my soul with thy sweet wounds of love which nothing can cure but death wean it from the worlds vanity and wed it to thy increated verity that treading all creatures under me I may be rapt into thee my Creator above my-self and there like the happy Dove in the secure Ark repose my weary and faint lims in the bosom of thee my Soveraign Lord and lover 6. O divine wisdom Lead me into the solitude speak unto my heart teach me thy holy will in all occurrences My deep sighs and secret desires are not hid from thee Thou knowest nothing can fully cure comfort and content me but thy self the one and only necessary thing O take my self and all and give me that one thing in whom are all things O sweet waters of divine Love which flow from the blessed bosom of the divinity and from the open side of my Saviours humanity Run into my bowels and like pure oyl penetrate and possess every parcel of my spirit Irrigate and inebriate it overflow and absorp it that it may be transformed and conformed to the divine Spirit so that all my actions cogitations and affections may be spiritual divine and Deiform O let my ravish'd soul full of life and fire break forth into these flames of joy and jubilation I have found him whom my soul loves I have him and I will hold him This is he which by reading I sought by meditation I found by prayer I desired and by contemplation I enjoy O how the earth stinks how loathsom are all creatures to me O tast O sweetness O true and solid pleasure O how great is the difference between this spiritual and all fleshly delights O the multitude of thy sweetnesses which thou hast laid up O Lord for them that fear and love thee O lights O delights O extasies of spirit Wound me O sweet God burn me consume me crucifie me Let me cry out with that Lover Retain O Lord the floods of thy grace or inlarge my heart for I can hold no longer I thirst Lord give me this water O when how long how much 7. O my soul how good is it for us to be here O sweet and secure home and harbour Let us remain and rejoyce here for ever I will keep thee O my dearly beloved and
into the divine light shee may confidently rely and repose And without this prop the higher shee ascends the lower will be her fall back again The tenth Maxim That in this high Exercise of Recollection the three Theological vertues Faith Hope and Charity must perfect and possess the three powers of our souls Vnderstanding Memory and Will IT is in the first place to be observ'd as an undoubted truth that a foul cannot in this life bee united to God immediatly by her understanding memory will imagination or any other sense power or faculty whatsoever but only by the means of Faith in her Understanding by Hope in her Memory and by Love in her Will. These three vertues must therefore Read F. Cisnerius ch 65. be introduced by our cooperation with the divine grace into the said three powers of our souls in the purest and perfectest manner that is possible if we will arrive at the height of divine Union 1. Faith must so possess our Understanding as to deprive it for that present of all other knowledge than that of God only 2. Hope must blot out of our memory all images and thoughts of possessing any thing but God only 3. Charity must uncloath our Wills of all affections joys contents satisfactions in any thing that is not God only For Faith tels us of things which cannot be understood by naturall light and reason Hope looks upon such things as we have not hold not possesse not and Charity retires our love from all creatures to employ it all on our Creator The three powers therfore of our soul must bee perfected by these three vertues our Understandings must bee informed with this pure Faith our Memories uncloath'd of all possession by this pure Hope and our Wils fill'd with divine affections by this pure Charity Thus refusing denying and emptying our whole souls of all that is not this perfect Faith hope and charity In this divine practice is found an absolute assurance against all the subtle snares of the devill and self-love for a soul which is thus entirely denuded and stripp'd of all active knowledge poss●ssion and love of things created must needs remain in God in a certain tranquillity passivenesse cessation sleep annihilation absorption so that there can nothing be found out of God for Satan sin or sensuality to attempt against But to facilitate the intelligence and practice of this high matter upon which foundation stands the whole edifice of this holy Recollection and divine Union let us particularly deduce and exemplify how the Understanding is to bee placed in pure faith the Memory in pure hope and the Will in pur● charity The eleventh Maxim That our Vnderstandings mu● be setled in pure Faith THe practice of this point is thu● F. Cisnerius ch 28. Having conceived some myster● of our Saviours Passion or the like for the subject of our prayer we ruminate a while upon it not ● much to admire our Lord Jesus a● imitate him and we desire to know his vertues that wee may practi●e them in our own particular by hi● perfect example Then we make an Act of Faith An act of Faith saying I firmly beleeve that this my suffering Saviour is not only a man but also my Soveraign Lord God I beleeve that he being Almighty submitted himself to Pilat being the creator became a creature being immortal became mortal and that in as much as he i● God he is with me within me without me about me above me beneath me and so in all creatures which have a being Afterwards we speak further to our Saviour O my dearest Lord and lover Teach me now my lesson that in requitall of what thou hast done for me I may keep thee company in thy sufferings And then we quit all discourses thinking we have no understanding at all left and looking on our sweet Saviour only by Faith which hath this property says S. Thomas to S. Tho. of Aquin. elevate the soul to God and free it from all creatures For so long as there are discourses in our Understanding images in our Memory joys or tenderness in our Will these powers have not pure God but sensible things for their object because God being above all sensibility must bee found without all creatures and consequently if we can be totally abstracted from all things created we shall infallibly lay hold on our Creator 'T is therefore impossible say's St. Denys the divine S. Denys to be truly united to God unlesse we leave all materiall operations both in sense and in spirit that is unlesse wee lay aside all senses all discourses all imaginations and all waies of humane wisdome Till wee can doe this let us not think to become perfect Contemplatives The twelfth Maxim That our Memories must bee setled in pure Hope WHich is done by forgetting all things created heaven earth our selves all being wholly taken up with God and absorpt in the Divinity So that by a simple remembrance that we are with God without looking back to reiterate the same reflexion we repose and slumber sweetly in him staying upon no image whatsoever even of our Saviour himself for as he in as much as concerns his humanity call'd Joh. 14. 6. himself the way so he thereby insinuated that we were not to remain in the way but to march on to our ways end which is his Divinity No mervail then if we find in The doctrine of myst●call Divines explicated the prescripts of mysticall Divines this doctrine That to arrive at the height of Contemplation we must leave off all sort of Meditation though it be on the life and death of our Lord and Saviour because in all Meditation there is ever something that is sensible to which nature applying it self hinders our souls from soaring up to the fineness and quintessence of Contemplation which is and can be only a pure spirituall and insensible thing 'T is true that the consideration of the life and death of our loving Saviour is a most powerfull means to mount up to this contemplation of his Divinity but let us not make that the end which is but the means and way to it The thirteenth Maxim That our Wills must be setled in pure Charity THis is done by withdrawing it from all sort of Joy proceeding from any natural supernatural or moral good Joy is a certain content which our wils take in somthing we prize How all Joy is to be quitted and this Joy is either Active when we may leave it or Passive when it is not in our power to quit it Now to take Joy and content in naturall goods as health wealth friends c. Or wit sagacity discretion c. Is a plain vanity To joy in moral goods as in the exercise of vertue c. Is to imitate the Pagan Philosophers who lov'd vertue for vertu's sake and made that their end which is only our way to it Supernaturall goods are either the gratuite gifts of God
neighbours The practice of this spirituall uncloathing of our souls Behold ô my Lord and love I generally and totally renounce all things but thee casting my self into the arms of thy most holy disposition and protection O my soul return sweetly to thy seat of rest repose quietly and confidently in the bosom of Divine bounty Remain here without diverting or distracting thy self to other objects Rely securely upon his mercy and providence cutting off incontinently all superfluous cares and solicitudes and protesting thou desirest nothing but the advancing of his honour accomplishing of his will his love and himself Take courage my naked soul for if thou art uncloathed somtimes and deprived of thy Lovers embraces feelings of his comforts and pleasures of his presence it is only that himself alone may purely possess thee O my Lord and lover Look upon this soul which I have endeavoured to strip entirely from all sensuall affection therefore I have not only abandoned but hated Father Mother brethren sisters lands living liberty yea and my own life that I might become thy disciple And were it yet to do again I would cast off Mother and run over Father to come to thee my loving Jesus Confirm O Lord my courage Live O rich nakedness Live my beloved to me and I to him Let me see no one but only Jesus Let alone his other gifts though never so excellent and holy I am indifferent to leave them or keep them in the manner and measure he pleaseth 't is naked Jesus I only seek and sigh after Uncloath me then my Lord 1. Of all sin great and small 2. Of all affection to it even the least venial 3. Of all curiosity 4. Of all sensuality 5. Of all inordinate passion 6. Of all vanity 7. Of all self-love and self-will Let me be reduc'd to nothing Put off my self and put on me thy self crucified Deprive me of all that distasteth thee that thou mayest say of me This is my beloved son in Mat. 12. 18 whom I please my self This is my disciple whom I Jesus love This is my rest for ever Here I will dwell because I have made choice of it In this heart is my harbor there you shall infallibly find me The 34. Maxim That Zeal and eagerness must be temper'd with Moderation and discretion WE must moderate our natural vivacity activity and agility of spirit by shunning all precipitation and indiscreet forwardness and fervour Soft and sure Let us look before we leap Let us take our eyes in our hands For that which is well done is twice done and a thing warily begun is well nigh half brought about Let us lend our hands and not give our hearts to any work Let us endeavor to perform all our actions with a free and disinteressed mind without which all is drudgery and slavery Let us not be over eager Perfection consists not in multiplicity of action but in simplicity of intention not in variety of exercises and devotions but in peace of mind and purity of heart not in saying or doing much but in suffering and loving much c. Let us sometimes check our importunate spirit as Jesus did Martha Martha Martha thou art Luc. 10. 41 troubled about many things when as there is but one thing only necessary which is A real cordiall and totall Abnegation of thy self in all things Let not indiscreet zeal serve for a cloak to cover our passionate hearts and inward hatred of others True Zeal is ful of compassion free from indignation and perfect charity either will not see what is amiss in others or seek out the best interpretation of it excusing the fault and pittying the party The 35. Maxim That we must never rely upon our own naturall judgement experience and knowledge THis hath deceived many and cast them headlong into confusion despair hence so many Apostasies rebellions dissensions divisions and scandals in Religion O how pleasant beautifull and edifying a thing is it to see persons of great perfection glorious endowments venerable for age honourable for learning renowned in dignity c. to be truly humble supple simple soft like Wax capable of any impression and condescending to others reason and command Blessed are the meek humble and obedient spirits for God will not permit them to goe astray or be deceived The 36. Maxim That we must seek no comfort in any creature FOr the practice of this We must The practice cheerfully forsake all and be content to be forsaken by all resting only in God by prayer patience and confidence Adieu friends familiars Confessours counsellours books exercises Angels Welcome solitude crosses eclipses shames wounds want● darknesses desolations deaths Yes O Father because thou so pleasest Is the creature in which I delight more loving lovely or beautifull than God my Creator Hath it been more bountifull or beneficiall tome Can it more justly require or more liberally requite my love Can it make me holy or happy quiet or content Shall I leave light for darkness life for death substance for shadows All for nothing Answer impartially and resolve effectually The higher practice of this The higher practice Maxim in order to Contemplation is To estimate things according to Read the Spir. Con. ch 4. n. 3. their reall value And then Alas what comfort can a devout soul which hath tasted the sweets of her beloved in Contemplation find in the best of creatures How far are they from affoording her any solid and substantiall satisfaction in her spirituall sorrows sadness or desolation Therefore shew wisely and carefully keeps her self to holy Recollection resigns her self absolutely to the divine pleasure continues stedfastly in the presence of her Creator seeks to treat with him one to one and leaves worldlings to follow their appetites as the horse and mule which are void of under standing Oh! how much more happiness is it to suffer in the sweet company of God than to enjoy all such false and phantasticall pleasures as all creatures can confer in the company of men My soul refuseth this comfort I remember my God and in him I am only delighted And indeed they who faithfully The true Contemplatives are never sad or solicitous and fervently addict themselves to spirituall Recollection are neither sad nor solicitous but only in shew For what can they want who are with God In him they find gardens to walk in fountains to bath in pallaces to dwell in dainties to feed on and all pleasures to delight in with such infinit advantages that they ravish'dly cry out My God and All These contemplatives need not your compassion O worldlings They are not so drownd in melancholy so plung'd in sorrow so little enjoying themselves as you esteem and censure No your own poor souls are seriously to be pitied which are so wide of wisdom and so wedded to sensuality as to relinquish true life and liberty sincere comfort and content for the shadows smokes of the world For this is