ignorant That (a) Eccl. 7. in the day of prosperity which we haue we must be calling those (b) A safe and most profitable aduice miseryes to mind which we may haue and that we must take in those diuine consolations by the weight of Humility accompanying it with the holy feare of God least otherwise he experience that which Dauid himselfe deliuered Thou turnedst thy face from me and I was troubled Another cause of his fall is giuen vs to be vnderstood in holy Scripture by saying that at such tymes as the Kings of Israel were wont to passe into the warres against the infidells King (c) 2 Reg. 1. Dauid stayed at home And walking vp and down vpon a tarrasse of his pallace he saw that which was the occasion of his adultery and of the murther also not only of one but many All this had byn auoyded if he had gone to fight the battailes of God according to the custome of other Kings and himselfe had done so other yeares If (d) A good lesson to vs Catholike to be sympathizing alwayes with the Holy Church our Mother both in sorrow and in spirituall ioy according to the diuersity of tymes occasions thou wilt be wandring vp and downe when the seruants of God are recollected if thou wilt be idle when they labour in good workes if thou wilt be dissolutely sending thyne eyes abroad whilest theirs are weeping bitterly both for themselues and others and if when they are rising vp by night to pray thou art sleeping and snorting and leauing of by occasion of euery fancy the good exercises which thou wert wont to vse and by the force and heate whereof thou wert kept on foote how doest thou thinke to preserue chastity being carelesse vnprouided of defensiue weapons and hauing so many enemies who are so stout laborious and compleatly armed in fighting against it Do (e) Note not deceiue thy selfe for if thy desire to be chast be not accompanied by deeds which are fit for the defence of that vertue thy desire will prooue vayne and that will happen to thee which did to Dauid Since thou art not more priuiledged more stout nor more a Saint then he And to conclude this matter of the occasions through which this pretious treasure of chastity is wont to be lost thou art to vnderstand that the cause why God permitted that the flesh shold rebell against reason in our first parents from whome we haue it by inheritance was for that they rebelled against God by disobeying his commandement He chastized them in conformity of their sinne and thus it was That (f) Note Lex Taliotus since they would not obey their superiour their inferiour should not obey them and so the vnbridled nesse of this flesh being a subiect and a slaue rebelling against her superiour which is reason is a punishment â—ayd vpon reason for the disobedience with she committed against her superiour which is God Be therfore very carefull that thou be not disobedient to thy superiours least God permit that thy inferiour which is thy flesh do rebell against thee as he suffered Adad to rebell against King Salomon (g) 3. Regâ— 12. his Lord and least he scourge persecute thee and by thy weakenesse draw thee downe into mortall sinne And if with the inward eyes of thy hart thou haue vnderstood that which heere with the eyes of thy body thou hast read thou wilt see how great reason there is that thou shouldest looke to thy selfe and consider what there is within thy selfe And (h) No man can see himselfe exactly but by light from heauen because thou art not exactly able to know thyne owne soule thou art to begg light of our Lord and so to sift the most secret corners of thy hart that there may be no ill thing there which eyther thou knowest or knowest not off by meanes whereof thou mightest through some secret iudgement of God runne hazard to loose the treasure of chastity which yet it doth so much import thee to keep safe by meanes of his diuine assistance CHAP. XIV How much we ought to fly from the vaine confidence of obteyning victory against this enemy by our owne only industry and labour and that we must vnderstand it to be the guist of God of whom it is to be humbly asked by the intercession of the Saintes and in particuler of the Virgin our Blessed Lady ALL that which hath byn sayd and more which might be sayd are meanes for the obtayning and keeping of this pretious purity But it happeneth oftentymes that as although we bringe both stone and wood and all other necessary materialls for the making of a house yet we do not fall vpon the buylding of it so also doth it come to passe that vsing all these remedies we yet obtayne not the chastity which we so much desire Nay there are many who after hauing had liuely desires thereof and taken much paynes for the obtayning of it do yet see themselues miserably fallen or violently at least tormented in their flesh with much sorrow they say We haue laboured all night and yet we haue taken nothing And it seemeth to them that in themselues that is fulfilled which the Wiseman sayd The (a) Eccl. 7. more I sought it the further off it fled away This (b) Take heed of trusting to thy selfe vseth oftentymes to happen by reason of a secret confidence which these proud labourers haue in themselues imagininge that chastity was a fruite which grew from their only endeauour and not that it was a guift imparted by the hand of God And for not knowing of whom it was to be asked they iustly were depriued of it For (c) God sheweth mercy sometyme euen in suffring vs to sal into â—â—nne it had byn of more preiudice to them to haue kept it since withall they would be proud and vngratefull to God then to be without it yet withall to be full of sorrow and humility and so to be forgiuen by pennance It is no small part of wisedome to know by whom chastity is giuen and he is gone a good piece of the way towardes the obteyning of it who indeed belieueth that it comes not from the strength of man but that it is the guift of our Lord. This doth he teach vs in his holy Ghospell saying All are not capable of this word but they to whome it is giuen by God And although the remedies already pointed out for the obtayning of this happinesse be full of profit and (d) We must both worke pray for neither of them both alone will serue the turne that we must employ our selues thereupon yet must that be with this condition that we place not our confidence in them but let vs deuoutly pray to God which Dauid did both practise and aduise by saying I did cast vp myne eyes to the mountayns from whence my succour shall descend my succour is of our Lord who made heauen
what we are to do when we beginne to treat any businesse since he in that first businesse of his did pray and that in so great length From hence it is that S. Denis saith that at the entrance into any workâ— we must begin by prayer S. Paul exhorteth vs to be instant and earnest in prayer and our Lord saith (t) Luc. 1â— That we must euer pray and not giue ouer which signifieth that this worke must be performed with frequent diligence and care For they who thinke it will serue their turns to take heed to themselues in doing workes pleasing vnto God yet make no accompt of vsing prayer do swimme and fight with one only hand and do walke with one only foot For our Lord did teach vs that two thinges are necessary when he sayd (u) Matt. 26. Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation And the same did he aduise when he said (x) Luc. 21. Watch in prayer at all tymes that you may escape from these thinges which are to come and that you may be able to appeare before the sonne of the Virgin And S. Paul (y) Ephes â— doth couple these two thinges when hearmeth the Cauallier of Christ towards the spirituall warre which he is to make against the Diuell For as a man how well soeuer he fare yet vnles he rest and sleepe he wil be weake run hazard of going out of his wits so wil it happen to one that worketh prayeth not for (z) Prayer is that to the soule which rest is to the â—ody prayer is that to the soule which repose is to the body There is not any estate so great which will not be brought to an end if there be euer spending and no getting nor are there any good workes which will last without praying For thereby that light and spirit is gotten for the recouery of that feruour of charity interiour deuotion which is diminished by businesse though it be good How necessary it is to pray seemeth plaine by the instance and fastes wherewith the prophet (a) 1. Reg. 2. Samuel prayed our Lord That (b) Marke this well he would deliuer the people out of the captiuity of Babylon although the seauenty yeares which our Lord had appointed for the terme vpon which he would deliuer them were accomplished And if in that which God hath promised that he will do or giue there be yet neede to begge it by earnest prayer how much more will it be needfull to do it in such case as wherein we haue no particuler promise from him S. Paul desyreth the Romanes to pray for him that all impediments being remooued he might be able to visit them wherevpon Origen saith that although the Apostle had said a little afore I know that when 〈◊〉 shall go to you my going wil be in the aboundance of the benediction of Christ yet notwithstanding all this he knew that prayer was necessary euen for the thinges which we expressely know shall happenâ— and (c) Because our Lord ordayneth the giuing of his graces by meanes of Prayer if there were no prayer without doubt there would be no accomplishment of that which is foretold Doth it not seeme to thee that he had reason who (d) S. Gregory said that prayer was the meanes to obteyne what the omnipotent God had ordained in eternity to bestow afterward in tyme And againe That as plowing and sowing is the meanes for the getting of corne so is prayer for the obteyning of the fruits of spirit and therefore we are not to meruayle yf we gather so few since we pray so little A (c) Note this souÌ„d certayn reason most certaine thing it is that by conuersation with a good man it doth follow that one will loue him and he will conceaue desires of being vertuous And so if we did conuerse with God with more reason we might hope for these and other aduantages by his conuersation As Moyses did who after he had treated in the Mount with God he came downe from thence full of splendour And from no other roote it growes that we are so wanting to shew pitty to our neighbours but because we frequent not this conuersation with our Lord. For the man who by night lay prostrate in the sight of God demaunding pardon for his sinnes and mercy for his miseries if vpon the day following himselfe sind another who asketh that of him which he begged of God he will not be able to choose but know those very wordes which himselfe vsed and he will remember the great affliction wherewith he spake them to our Lord and with how great desire to be heard and he will do by his neighbour as he desired that God should doe with him And to deliuer to thee what I conceaue of this in a word I represent to thy memory that which Dauid (f) Psal 65. said Blessed be our Lord who to the not my prayer nor his mercy from me Whereupon S. Augustine (g) Note saith Thou maiest well be secure that if God do not take thy prayer from thee neither will he take his mercy And remember yet againe what our Lord said (h) Luc. 11. That the heauenly Father will giue a good spirit to them that aske it And with this spirit we fulfill the law of God as S. Paul saith So that the mercy of God is neere vs and we fulfill his law by meanes of prayer Thinke (i) Note then what kind of Creature that will be to whom by the want of prayer these two thinges shal be wanting And I will aduertise thee of an errour of some men who thinke that because (k) Rom. â— S. Paul said I would haue meÌ„ pray in al places it should therfore not be necessary to pray long at once not in any particuler place but that it would suffice to enterlace our prayers with the rest of our workes A (l) The answere to an obiection good thing it is to pray in all places but that will not serue our turne if we meane to imitate Iesus Christ our Lord and to practise that which his Saintes haue said and done in matter of prayer And be thou well assured that no man wil be able to pray with profit in euery place vnles first he haue learned to do this duty in a particuler place and to imploy some space of time vpon it CHAP. LXXI That the pennance due to our sinnes must be the first pace whereby we come to God conceauing true griefe for them and making true Confession thereof and satisfaction THE first pace which the soule is to make in approaching towardes God is to be the pennance of her sins And to the end that this may be well performed it will profit much that a man disimploy himselfe from all businesse and from all conuersations and do attend with care to draw to his memory all the sinnes of his life helping himselfe for this
a longer tyme and which had sharper pointes wherewith to hurt thee Isay (m) Psal 53. saith Euery one of vs did loose himselfe in his owne way and God did lay the sinnes of vs all vpon the Messias And this sentence of the diuine iustice being so rigorous thy loue O Lord did find to be both iust and good and thou didst take vpon thyne owne shoulders and didst make a burthen for thy selfe of all the sinnes without the want of so much as one which all the men in the whole world eyther had committed or then did commit or would commit from the beginning thereof vntill the end That thou O Lord and our true loner mightst pay for them all with the sorrowes of thy hart Who then shal be able to count the number of thy soares since (n) Consider and know by this what our Lord suffered for thee or rather know that thou canst neuer know so much of it as is to be knowne there is no meanes to count the number of all our sinnes which caused them but only thou O Lord who didst endure them Thou being made for vs the man of sorrow and who knowest indeed what affliction is by sad experience One man alone doth say of himselfe (o) Psalm 3◠That he had more sinnes then bayres vpon his head and besides that he desyreth God to forgiue him those other sinnes which he had committed though be knew them not Yf then one man which was Dauid had so many sinnes who shal be able to reckon vp all the sinnes of all men amongst whome there were many who committed both more more grieuous sinnes then Dauid did Into what affliction didst thou cast thy selfe O thou lambe of God to take away the sinnes of the world in whose person it was said (p) Psal 3◠Many calues haue come round about me and the great bulls haue circled me about they haue opened their mouth agaynst me as a roaring lion who is feasting vpon his prey But although into that garden of Gethsemani there went a ful company of souldiers of the secular power besids them who were sent by the high Priests Pharisees who with much cruelty came about to take thee and did take thee yet he that should haue beheld the multitude and grieuousnes of all the sinnes of the world which did hedge in that hart of thyne will thinke that the people who went that night to take thy person were very few in comparison of these others who came to seize vpon thy hart What (q) This is that which gaue our Lord more torments a million of tymes then the paynes which exteriourly he suffered horrible spectacle O Lord What vgly representation how painefull would it be for thee to be compassed in by our great sinnes which are signified by those Calues and those others which are you more grieuous and which are signifyed by those Bulls Who O Lord shall be able to recount what vgly sinnes haue beene committed in the world Which being set before thy vnspeakable purity and sanctity would put thee vpon astonishment and like Bulls with open mouths set vpon thee demanding at thy handes O Lord the payment of that torment which so great impiety had deserued With how much reason is it sayd afterward That thou wert spilt like water by those exteriour torments and That thy hart was melted a way like waxe by that fire of inward anguish Who O Lord will say that the number of thy sorrowes may be told since the number of our sinnes is past-telling CHAP. LXXX Wherein is prosecuted the tendernes of the loue of Christ towards men and of that which caused his interiour griefe and gaue him a Crosse to carry in his hart all the dayes of his life BY that which is sayd thou wilt haue seene how many and how grienous the sorrowes of our Lord were since our sinnes by which they were caused were so many so grieuous But if we will dig into the most deep part of that hart of our Lord we shall find sorrow therein not only for the sinnes that men committed but sorrow also for the sinnes which they committed not For as the pardon of the former fell (a) We owe all to the passiō of our Lord both the pardon of all those sinnes which we haue cōmitted the preuentiō of all them which we haue not committed and al the graces which we haue receaued all the good deeds that we haue done vpon thee O Lord so the preseruation of men from the later did cost thee dolours and death Since thy grace and those diuine fauours which preserue men from sinne are not giuen to any soule for any reason but only vpon the price of thy pretious payne So that all men lay heauy load on thee O Lord both great and small and past and present and they that are to come They who haue sinned and they also who haue not sinned They who haue sinned much they who haue sinned little For they all being considered in themselues were the children of wrath without the grace of God enclined to all manner of sinne and exiled from heauen And if they be to receaue pardon if they be to receaue grace if to auoyd sin if to be the Sonnes of God if to enioy him in heauen for al eternity al this O Lord is to be done at thy cost by thy enduring bv thy paying for our misery and by thy purchasing of our felicity Yea and all this is to be at that cost of thyne so far as that thy sorrowes are to be proportionable in number and greatnesse to that which these other thinges are worth And yet further is thy price to exceed the thing which thou doest buy that so thou mayst shew vs thy loue and that our redemption and consolation may be more firme How (b) Infinit is the glory of our Lord but it cost him deere extremely deare O Lord doth that name cost thee which Isay (c) Isa 9. put vpon thee of being The Father of that age which was then to come since as there is no man according to the generation of flesh which is called the first age who commeth not from Adam so neither is there any of the second generation which is of grace who commeth not from thee But Adam was an ill Father who by wicked pleasure did murther both himselfe and his sonnes whereas thou O Lord didst purchase the name of Father at the price of those dolorous lamentations wherby as a Lyonesse that were roaring whilest she bringeth forth her yong ones thou giuest life to them whome the first Father killed He drunke that poyson which the serpent gaue so was made a Father of serpents for by his engendring them they became sinners But yet all his sonnes which being cōsidered in themselues are venemous serpents did lay hold O Lord vpon thy hart gaue thee such pinches of paine as were neuer felt before nor since and
his hauing been pleased to performe them first He hath commanded vs as hath beene sayd that we should heare him and behould him and encline our eare vnto him which is all most reasonable and easy For such a maister who will not heare Who will not be delighted in beholding such a delightfull light Who will not encline his eare to that infinite wisdome But (a) The example of the holy life of our Lord Iesus to the end that the thing which is light might be yet more light he was pleased to passe by the same law which he hath imposed vpon vs he performed it with great diligence He heareth vs he seeth vs he enclineth his eare to vs to the end that we may no loÌ„ger say there is none who looketh towards me none who hearkneth to my complaintes A (b) Look attentiuely to this consideraon great comfort it is for one that is in distresse to haue some body who at all tymes of both day and night will be at good leasure and in good humour to heare his difficultyes related and if without the fayling of any moment he stand looking vpon his miseryes and infirmityes and if he doe not so much as say I am weary of seeing those afflictions thy wounds and soares do turne my stomacke And although such a person were hard of heart we would yet be glad that he should euer heare and see vs. For we would hope that the gutter of our sorrowes which would fall vpon his heart by the conduit of his eares and eyes would one day eate into him and breed compassion since how hard soeuer he were he would not be more hard then stone which yet is wrought vpon by the fall of water although sometimes that water cease to fall And although we knew that he were not able to relieue our miseries yet should we comfort our selues much by the only compassion which he might haue of our case Now (c) The case applyed if we should owe much gratitude to such a person how great must that be which we owe to our Lord And how ioyfull ought we to be in that his eyes and eares are bent vpon the sight of our afflictions and that he doth not at any tyme retire them from vs. And this is done by him not with any hardenesse of hart but with internall and profound mercy and not with mercy of the hart alone but with entire power to relieue our necessities Be (d) God doth euer heare our coÌ„plaints he is inclined to pitty our ease he is highly able to help vs. thou O Lord eternally blessed who art neither deafe nor blind to our afflictions since thou doest euer heare and see them Nor art thou cruell since of thee it is said Our Lord is a worker (e) Psal 10â— of mercies and he is of a mercifull hart he expecteth vs and he is very mercifull Nor is he weake withall since all the miseries and sinnes of the world are both weake few if they be compared to his infinite power which hath no end nor measure We read that in tymes past God gaue a meruailous victory to King (f) 4. Reg. 10. Fzechias ouer his enemies who as some relate did not yield those thankes and sing those praises to our Lord which were both due and accustomed to be presented in such cases For which offence God (g) A great example of â—ods mercy and mans misery did cast him into a sicknesse and that so dangerous that humanely speaking it could expect no cure And least through a vayne hope of life he might forget to set his soule in order the Prophet Isay was sent to him and he said by the commaundment of God This saith our Lord Dispose of the affayres of thy house for know that thou shalt dye and not line The King being frighted by these wordes turned his face towards the wall and wept with great lamentation imploring the mercy of our Lord. He considered how iustly he had deserued death since he had not bin gratefull to him who had giuen him his life and he reflected vpon the sentence which had already passed on him which said Thou shalt not line Ho found not that there was any thing superiour to him who had passed that sentence that so he might procure to haue it reuersed And although there had bin any such yet would not his title haue bin good For from the man who is vngratefull that is iustly taken away which was mercifully afforded to him He saw that he was but a man of middle age and that the line of Dauid was to fayle in his person for then he was to haue dyed without children And besides all this he was assalted by all the sinnes of his life past the feare wherof is wont to presse men most in that last houre And by these things his hart was euen broken with griefe and troubled like a tempestuous sea and which way soeuer he looked he found reasons of sorrow and feare But (h) They are sure of remedy who haue recourse to prayer especially if they resort to it immediately after the occasion is ministred yet in the middest of so many miseries the good King met with a remedy and it was to aske physicke at his handes who had made him sicke and security of him by whome he had bin frighted and to conuert himselfe to him by hope and pennance from whome he had fled before through pride Yea and of the iudge himselfe he desires that he will become his aduocate and he falls vpon an inuention how to appeale from God not as to any other more high then he but from himselfe being iust to himselfe being mercifull And the reasons of his defence are no other then the accusations of himselfe and the Rhetorike that he vseth are but sighes and teares And by these meanes he is able to preuaile so farre in that court of Chancery of the diuine mercy that before the prophet Isay who was the proclaymer of the sentence of his death could go but haâ—fe way ouer the Kings chamber our Lord sayd to him Returne and say thus to King Ezechias that Captaine of my people I haue heard thy prayer and I haue seene thy teares I grant thee health and I giue thee moreouer fifteene yeares of life and I will deliuer this Citty out of the handes of thine enemies What is this O Lord So soone doest thou sheath thy sword agayne so soone doest thou turne thy anger into mercy Can a few teares which are shed not in the Temple but in the corner of a bed whilest the eyes looke not vp to heauen but vpon a wal make thee so soone reuoke that sentence which thy maiesty had giuen and commaunded to be notifyed to that guilty person What (l) The pardon of God to man is instant and amorous without vpbrayding is then becomâ— of coppying out the whole processe what of the costes of the suite what of the
loaden vvith sinne by vvay of conuersation and compassion it is the lesse wonder if his words vvere like so many burning coales which might serue to seare those soules which are full of festred soares and to set such others as are sound on fire vvith the loue of Almighty God And in the same spirit he hath also written a large Booke of Sermons vpon the B. Sacrament and vpon some festiuityes of our B. Lady as also a Booke of Epistles to seuerall persons vpon seuerall occasions vvhich I would to God some Reader who hath knowledg of that language would take the paines or rather pleasure to translate For I am much deceaued if there be any vertue to be obtayned or any vice to be auoyded or any necessity to be remoued or any affliction to be asswaged wherein a man may not find some excellent addresse for his purpose in the reading of those works aforesaid which he was inspired to write by the loue for the loue of God This loue of God being in him so hoat did make him profoundly loue that which God loued so much the ardent desire which he had to (i) How hethirsted after the saluation of soules gaine such which were the soules of men for whom Christ dyed to God made him employ the credit which he found with some great Prelates and other great persons as the vvriter of his life relates in procuring them to found (k) Life of D. Aiâ—laâ—-part cap. 2. some Colledges for such as might instruct youth in learning and vertue and others vvhich might be as Seminaryes for the education intertaynment of vvorthy exemplar Priests And speaking often of this subiect he vvas vvont to say I (l) Out of the feare which then he had that it would not be satisfied before his death perceaue I shal dye with this desire But after when the Institute of the Fathers of the Soc ty of Iesus came to his knowledg he did greatly reioyce in his very soule perceauing how for that which he was not able to compasse but only for some short tyme with no small difficulty our Lord had prouided a (m) The high veneration wherein 〈◊〉 had B. F. Igâ—atius whom he compared to a mighty strong man and himself to a child who was not able to moue that great Stone which the other was able to take vp and weild at his pleasure and to lay it in the proper place By this Stone he uÌ„derstaÌ„ds the worke of wining soules Vide hist Soc. Iesu l. 14. fol. 464. man who should go through with it in a perfect manner and with a perpetuity of continuance and strength and these are the very vvordes of (n) Supra part 3. c. 2. the Life This Booke is framed and the considerations which the Authour hath fallen vpon are drawne from his contemplation of that (o) The ground or Argument of the Booke verse of the psalme which is prefixed by way of argument before the first chapter The (p) An addresse to the particuler discourses that he makes in this work particulers wherof he treates are many and the heades of them shall go in a page apart between this Preface the Book But the maine drift of the Authour is to make vs know (q) The chiefe drift of the Authour both God and our selues and that not by the lying glasse of fancy but by the cleare and sweete beame of Truth Our selues that we may see our misery and fly at full speed from the cause thereof which is our pride and other sins And God that we may tremble vnder that infinite Maiesty belieue that infallible Verity and hope for a part of that inexhausted Mercy and euen as it were furiously loue that incomprehensible Abysse of Charity and Beauty This charity of God the Authour doth gladly make appeare vpon all occasions and by great variety of most iust motiues but especially doth his soule euen regorge againe when he enters into speach of the (r) He excelleth himselfe whensoeuer he growes to speake of the Incarnation Life and Passion of Christ Iesus our Lord. Incarnation Life Passion of our Lord Iesus Which he pondereth so coÌ„templatiuely and yet so sensibly so profoundly and yet so plainly so strictly and yet so tenderly as is able to make euen brasse to blush and iron to burne and lead to melt for the greife and shame of the much that we haue sinned and for loue of him in respect of the infinite that he hath suffered for vs. That so in fine we may heerafter make the consideration of the sacred Passion of our Lord a great part of our busine in this life since it is by it that we must be happy in the next vnles we haue a mind to remayne in torment for all eternity And that we may at length both with our hart and tongue make this prayer to the diuine Maiesty to which our Author exhorts (s) A holy prayer which he makes in this Treatise following vs in his discourse vpon the Passion That the mercy of God may not permit vs to be so miserable as not to be content so much as to thinke or meditate vpon those vast affronts tormeÌ„ts which the Son of God being the King of glory and God himselfe was content not only to consider but to suffer Yea and so to suffer as that the infinite desire of loue wherewith he suffered them may euen put the things theÌ„selues as it were to silence how lowd soeuer they otherwise deserue to be crying out in the eares of our hart And this he did without all interest of his owne and only for our eternall good as the Author doth excelleÌ„tly declare that so insteed of enemyes and rebels most wicked slaues which naturally by our descent from Adam we were in the fight of God we might be translated into the condition of being made his seruants his friends his adopted sonnes vpon the price of his owne pretious life This is the nayle that he beats most vpon and I beseech our Lord that our harts may be euen riuetted to his diuine hart thereby In the meane tyme you the Reader must not spend your hope vpon the meeting heer with (t) Concerning the stile any curious or elaborate stile For though euen in this kind the Author be far inough froÌ„ fault yet composition was the thing which he might well disdaine to affect as knowing that the inualuable stone which he was exposing did deserue to be most highly esteemed though it were not artificially either cut or set Nor (u) Concerning the quality of the Authors conceptions yet are you heer so much as to think of encountring certain flourishing fading coÌ„ceits though I am much deceaued if the most fastidious mind wil not heere find matter whereupon to feed with great delight But the Authours ayme was at a fairer marke It is not the clapping of handes which he begs he (x) He shootes
seeke myne owne honour and doe thou after the same manner And (e) Note if thou wilt rayse vp the eares of thy soule to heare that lamentable Edict with attention which was made against innocency it selfe proclayming Iesus Christ our Lord throughout those streets of Hierusalem for a malefactour thou (f) Sure I am that we ought to be so wilt be confounded when thou seest that thou art honoured or when thou shalt desire so to be And thou wilt say with a deep cordial sigh O Lord. art thou proclaymed for wicked and I praysed for good What is there that can giue vs greater griefe And not only wilt thou loose the hungar of wordly honour but thou wilt couet greedily to be despysed in conformity of our Lord whome to follow as the Scripture (g) Eccles â—â— sayth is great honour And then wilt thou say with S Paul God forbid that (h) Galat. â— I should receaue honour but in the Crosse of Iesus Christ our Lord yea thou wilt desire to fullfill that which the same Apostle sayth els (i) Heb. 13. where Let vs go out and seeke Christ in the campe and let vs imitate him in his dishonour Now if this passion of vayne glory be a powerfull kind of thing much more powerfull is the remedy of the example and grace of Christ Which (k) The bloud of our Lord worketh wonders vpon the proud hart of man doth in such sort ouercome roote it out of the hart as to make it find that it is a thing to be abhorred for a Christian to see the Lord of Maiesty abase himselfe to such contempt whilest he vile worme swelleth vp with the loue of honour Therefore is it that our Lord inuiteth encourageth vs by his example saying Haue confidence for I haue ouercome the world As if he had sayd Before I came hither a hard point it was to wrastle with the deceitpfull world casting away that which flourisheth therein and imbracing that which it contemnes but after that it imployed all the forces it had against me inuenting new kinds of torments and dishonour all which I endured without once turning my face aside it is now not only growne weake for hauing encountred with one who was able to suffer more then that but it is euen ouercome outright to your benefit since by my example which I gaue you and by the strength which I haue gayned for you you may at case subdue and trample it vnder your feet Let the Christian man consider that since the world dishonoured the Blessed Sonne of God who is Eternall Truth and our Soueraigne Good there is no cause why any man should esteeme or belieue it in any thing Nay seeing (l) A demonstration why we ought to beleeue the world no more that it was deceaued in not discerning such a light of extreme clarity and in not honouring him who is most true and perfect honour let the Christian man reiect that which the world allowes let him prize loue that which the world doth despise hate Flying with much care from being esteemed by that (m) The World which did despise his Lord and holding it for a great signe of being beloued by Christ to be despised by the world with him and for his sake Out of which this resultes That as they who are of this world haue no eares wherewith to hearken to the truth and doctrine of God nay rather they despise the same so (n) The seruant of our Lord ought at least to be as careful to please him as the seruants of the world are to please it he who taketh the part of Christ is to haue none wherewith to hearken to or to belieue the lies of the world For in fine whether it flatter or persecute whether it promise or threaten whether it speake frightfully or fayre it doth euery where deceaue and hath a mind to doe so and with such eyes we are to looke vpon it And (o) Note this for a most certaine truth it is certayne that for so many lies and false promises wherein we haue taken it tripping if any man should haue told vs but the one halfe we would trust him now in nothing yea hardly should we credit him althogh he might chaunce in other things to say true That (p) If the world do either promise or threaten it lyes which the world can do is indeed neither good nor bad since it cannot eyther giue or take away the grace of God Nay euen in that ouer which it seemeth to haue power it is yet not able to do any thing since it cannot reach to the least hayre of our head without the will of our Lord. And if it tell vs any other tale of it selfe we must not belieue it And who then will not dare to encounter an enemy who hath no power at all CHAP. IV. In what degree and to what end it is lawfull for a man to desire Honour in the world and of the extreme danger which there is in holding places of Authority and Commaund THAT thou mayst the better vnderstand what hath byn sayd thou art to know that it is one thing to loue honour and humane estimation for it selfe as resting therin this is euil as hath byn shewed But another thing it is when these things are beloued for some good end and this is not euill It is a cleare case that a person who hath coÌ„mand holdeth place may for doing good to others desire that honour and estimation which is fit for the discharge of his employment therby the more to do good (a) Men of authority may desire to be well reputed so that it be to a good end For if men haue him who commaundeth in meane account they will not much esteeme of his commaundement though it be iust And not only this kind of persons but all Christians ought to practise that which is writreÌ„ Take (b) Eccles 41. care of thy good name Not as if he were to rest in that but because a Christian ought to be such a kind of man as that whosoeuer should vnderstand or behould his life (c) Note might giue the glory to God as we vse to do when we see a rose or a tree full of shade fruite This is that which the holy Ghospell requires That our light may so shine before men that they seing our good workes may giue glory to the celestiall Father from whome all good things proceed This ayme at the honour of God and the profit of men did mooue (d) 1. Cor. 4. S. Paul to recount those great and secret fauours which our Lord had done him without holding himselfe for a transgressour of that other (e) Prou. â—7 Scripture which sayth Let the mouth of another prayse thee and not thine owne For (f) He might safely do so but other men must take heed he recounted his own prayies so much without the sticking of
it is somewhat els which suggested and represented them to his mind When you haue these or such other signes as these be well assured that it is a persecution of the Diuell and that howsoeuer you may suffer it in your flesh and bloud yet is it not from thence that it proceeds This warre is more dangerous then the other through the much euill which he wisheth vs by whome it is made and for that he is an enemy that is neuer weary of fighting when we are eyther waking or sleeping at all tymes and in all places The remedy of this inconuenience is d To put thy selfe vpon some honest busines is a good diuersion to procure some good imployment which may put vs into thought and care making vs thereby cast off those impure imaginations S. Hierome for this purpose as himselfe relates gaue his mind to the study of the Hebrew tongue with much labour but not without much fruit and he sayth Let the Diuell euer find thee well imployed Speaking also in conformity of this how profitable the manner of life which is lead in Monasteryes was to this purpose he instructeth it saying thus e S. Hierome was no Protestant See that euery day thou performe whatsoeuer thou hast in charge and be subiect to whome thou wouldest not and go well weary to thy bed yea and so that euen as thou art walking thou mayst be ready to fall downe a sleep Be thou also inioyned to rise before thou hast slept thy fill and recite thy Psalme when it commeth to thy turne and serue thy brethren and wash the feet of strangers and when thou art wronged hold thy peace and as for the f So that in S. Hieromes tym there were Abbots and Monasteries Abbot of the Monastery see thou feare him as if he were some great Lord and see thou loue him as if he were thyne owne Father and beleeue that all g Vâ—les euidently it should contayne some sin Such is the religious obedience which is practised in the holy Catholicque Church and such a Papist as you see was S. Hierome that which he commandeth thee is fit for thee to obey him in and take not thou vpon thee to iudge of thy superiours since thy office is but to obey and to comply with that which is commanded according to that which Moyses sayth Hearken O Israel and hold thy peace Being thus imployed vpon diuers thinges there will be no place for euill thoughts and when thou art to passe from the doing of one to another haue that only in thy mind which thou art then about This is sayd by S. Hierome and according to this it was then the vse of Monasteryes to exercise their younger men more in these good imploymeÌ„ts theÌ„ in solitude large Prayer through the dangers which by flesh and bloud and passions as yet vnmortifyed both might and did grow vpon them Though yet this rule is subiect to an exception through the diuersity of dispositions and the particuler gifts of God (h) Men must not be restrained from liberty to make much prayer but vpon very particuler reasons Vpon which motiues there may be reason to allow a large tyme of prayer to a yong man and to abridge another who is more in yeares When I sayd before that yong men did not imploy themselues in large prayer I vnderstand that to haue beene large wherein almost all his tyme was spent and as if in effect he had no other office but that For not to let him haue some good spaces for it should be a very great errour by reason of the benefits which he should loose therby and (i) There is nothing which maks our miseries and burthens so light as the frequentatioÌ„ of Prayer because euen for the well going through any other imployment it is necessary that he gaine strength and spirit in his Prayer For otherwise they who are exteriourly imployed are wont to be still complaining and vntoward like (k) Marke this comparison for it is a good one a cart that is loaden without hauing the wheeles made easy towards turning by the tendernesse of deuotion Let beginners be aduertised that the Diuell doth particulerly procure to trouble them with these impure imaginations in the tyme of their prayer that so they may be induced to leaue it the Diuel himselfe may so take his ease the whyle For although the Diuell doe much weary vs by these tentations much more doe we weary and euen add fyre to him by our deuout (l) Prayer is a scourg to the Diuell prayers therfore he procureth that we eyther make them not at all or not well But we on the otherside ought euen as it were for spight against him to labour with al possibility that so we may not giue ouer that holy exercise since euen by the very persecution it selfe which he bringes vpon vs we may see how profitable it is And if the warre should presse vs so hard whilest we are praying mentally as that we might find much danger by impure imaginations the least that we must doe is to put our selues into vocall prayer and to beate our breastes to punish our bodies to cast our armes into the forme of a Crosse to rayse our hands and eyes towards heauen desiring succour of our Lord in such sort as that howsoeuer the tym which we deputed for prayer may be wel imployed We must else do somewhat that may diuert vs and especially procure to speake with some good man that may giue vs hart Though (m) He meanes that we must not giue ouer our Prayer for the going to aske couÌ„sayle but we must do that afterward this last should not be done at that tyme til we can no more that so we may not discouer our weakenesse in not being able to ouercome otherwise then by flight and least our enemy do so make vs quit the field and distrust our forces For in fine our Lord who is both full of pitty and full of power will impose silence vpon our aduersary when it shal be fit for vs that he may not interrupt the priuate and friendly conuersation which we were wont to hould with him CHAP. VII Of the great peace which our Lord God giueth to them that fight manfully against this Enemy of the much that it importeth vs for the ouercomming of him to fly from familiarity with women ALL these skirmishes are wont to be made in the warre against chastity when our Lord permitteth it for the triall of his Caualliers whether indeed they truly loue him and chastity for which they fight And after that he hath found them faithfull he sendeth downe his omnipotent fauour and commaundeth our aduersary not to giue impediment to our peace and priuate speach with him Then doth a man taste the fruite of his labours and they are full of sauour to him and more full of merit It is also necessary and very necessary for the
with his roaring as S. Peter sayth Brethren (a) 1. Pet. 5. be temperate and vigilant for your Aduersary the diuell walketh his round seeking whom he may denoure whom you must resist being strong in fayth They must not be intemperate or inconsiderate who are subiect to haue such an enemy and the sheep who find themselues inuironed by such a roaring Lion are much to watch and pray to our true pastour Iesus Christ. But what are the weapons by which this enemy is ouercome that so he may goe confounded out of this warre as he did out of the last These weapons are fayth as S. Peter and S. Paul haue sayd For when a foule through the loue of God which is the life of fayth despiseth both the prosperity and aduersity of the world and doth belieue and confide in God whom she doth not see the diuel must not thinke to haue an entrance there And besides inâ—egard that this light of faith teacheth men that are in daÌ„ger to confide in the mercy of God yf he that is assaulted will serue himselfe well thereof he shall get great courage to fight against the diuell which is a thing very necessary for this warre For (b) Note if the faint-harted man be not fit to fight euen against visible enemies for which reason God commaunded that such persons should retire from the warre how much lesse shall they be so to fight not against flesh and bloud but against Diuells who are the Princes of darknesse as Saint Paul saith And although in the high presence of God we are to be prostrate and in feare least he abandone vs for our sinnes yet in tyme of warre when we are assaulted by our enemy it is wholy fit that we be full of courage despising him and imploring the assistance of our Lord. In this sort do we read that our Lord himselfe prayed to his Father before his apprehension being prostrate and full of anguish and from thence he went so full of courage as that himselfe passed out to meete his enemies The prime intention of the Diuell in this battaile is to depriue our hart of courage to the end that so we may giue ouer the good course begun This he procureth by taking sometymes the figure of a Dragon or of a Bull or some other beast disturbing our prayer with noise or hindring the quietnesse of our repose as we read him to haue done to Iob and casting a man into a profound internall feare which maketh him tremble though he be neuer so valiant and sometimes he will euen sweat with anguish And other effects there are like these which giue restimony how that infernall wolfe is not far off It is plaine that since all the mystery of his warre workes by feare the principal weapon that we are to haue is strength of hart being encouraged not through our confidence in our selues but by a faithfull trust in our Lord. This is the thing which in this warre doth make vs victorious for confidence ouercommeth feare as it is written I (c) Isa 12. will do it confidently and will not feare And be well assured that thou shalt neuer repent thy selfe for hauing placed thy firme trust which is a couragious kind of hope in God neither shalt thou be able to say He hath deceiued me since it did not succeed as I hoped For hope as S. Paul (d) Rom. 5. sayth putteth not to shame nor shal he that hopeth in our Lord be confounded Neuer (e) A vertuous life is the ground of giuing coÌ„tiouaÌ„ce to a good hope doth if fayle a man if he be not wanting to himselfe but then only it faileth when he looseth charity which is the life of hope and of all vertue And those (f) I he old Hetmiâ—â— Ancients of the desert knowing how neceslary a hart full of courage was towards a not being ouercome in these skirmishes against the Diuell which amongst them were very vsuall they went by night to pray alone amongst the sepulchers of dead men that so they might purchase a being free from feare the dominion of which feare ouer vs doth vse to bring vs extrem preiudice If we wil take the counsell of Christ we shal liue very secure from this feare for he taketh it fioÌ„ vs saying I (g) 〈◊〉 â—0 will tell you whom you are to feare him feare who after the body is dead hath power of casting into hell feare him He that feareth not God shall by reason of his euill conscience feare the world and the Diuell but he that feareth God feareth not the Diuell for to feare him is in some sort to be subiect as to one that can do him hurt And (h) Note because he hath not power to reach euen to a hayre of a mans head vnlesse God giue him leaue there is no cause why we should feare him but our Lord by whom the leaue may be giuen For this reason it is that we always must be humble and with holy feare in the presence of God but with the Diuell we must be full of courage through our hope in God and full of a holy kind of pride And how much more full he is of brauing so much more feare thou God and recommend thy selfe to him and so much lesse must thou feare the Diuell So do we read of S. Anthony that great conquerour of Diuells who seing himselfe enuironed by them in the forme of cruell beastes which seemed as if they would haue swallowed him Yf you had saith he any power any one of you would be able to ouercome a man but because you are defeated God hauing taken your forces from you you procure to ioyne many togeather and so to fright vs. Yf our Lord haue giuen you power â—uer me heere I am come and swallow me vp but if not why do you labour thus in vayne And so this Saint vsed to say that against Diuells the signe of the crosse the faith of our Lord which somtims signifieth Confidence is a wall vnto vs that cannot be scaled And though our forces being compared with that of the Diuell are very slender and weake yet faith doth tell vs if we be not deafe That God is the defendour of all such as hope in him And since he is so good as to promise vs his defence and succour and to plant his hart and eyes vpon the Church which is figured in the temple of Salomon and is both true of his word and of power to performe his promises there being none eyther in heauen or earth that can refist eyther him or any man who is assisted by him that Christian should not esteeme of God nor of his sincerity nor goodnesse nor power as a ChristiaÌ„ ought if he belieued not of him that he for his part performeth well the promises of his succour But these and the like thinges which he doth must be vnderstood with this condition that a man at that tyme be in the state of grace or
procure to be so not only by belieuing the promises in generall nor yet by belieuing that in particuler they are applied to him but by pennance also other meanes which are taught by the Catholike Church Not but that we do neuerthelesse assuredly belieue that many in the same Church are in the state of grace to whom without all doubt God fulfilleth the promises of being their defendour who hope in him but yet for as much as no man can be infallibly sure without speciall reuelation that himselfe is in that state of grace he is to belieue by the Catholike fayth that the diuine assistance is neuer wanting on the part of God but himselfe may and must feare that it will not perhaps take effect in him through his fault or negligence in doing his duty So that with some feare of himselfe and by confidence in our Lord he must procure to encourage and help himselfe by the word of God who promiseth succour to such as fight for him And (i) Note this feare or vncertainty in which God hath left vs of not knowing assuredly that we are in his fauour though it may seeme painefull is very profitable towardes the conseruing of our humility and the not vndervalewing of our neighbours and to spur vs vp towardes good workes And with so much the more caution and consideration must we do it as we are lesse certaine whether we be pleasing to our Lord or no. But do not for all this conceaue that thy hart must be dismayed with vaine feare for as much as this truth which I haue told thee did not keep Dauid from saying If (k) Psalâ— 15. whole armies shall rise against me yet shall not my hart be afraid if warre shal come vpon me yet wil I hope in God So also doth S. Paul (l) Heb. 13. admonish vs that we should serue our selues of those wordes which God sayd I will not forsake thee I will not abandon thee in such sort as that we may confidently say Our Lord is my helper and I will not feare what man can do These and the like wordes do not wholy take away all the feare which a Christian for his owne part ought to haue but it taketh away all excesse thereof by the confidence which is to be placed in God And thus we are to walke between hope and feare and so much more as the loue increaseth so much doth the hope also increase and so much also is feare diminished And (m) An excellent rule therefore if thou haue a mind to feele in thy selfe that courage of mind and the little feare which perfect men do find cast thou away al tepidity from thy selfe take the businesse of vertue to hart and then in that very hart of thyne thou shalt read that courage which now thou readest but in Bookes Then shalt thou be able to fight boldly against the Diuell although he circle theâ— round about to deuoure thee for thou shalt haue a hope to be defended by Iesus Christ who is the strong Lyon of Iuda He alwayes ouercommeth in vs if we do not loose our confidence and if like cowards we do not deliuer vp our selues with our hands bound behind vs to our enemies without resoluing to fight Our Lord doth not suffer these warrs and temptations to come to his friendes but for their greater good as it is written Blessed (n) laâ— 1. is the man who suffereth temptation for he being so proued shall receaue the crowne of life which God promiseth to such as loue him He was pleased also that patience in troubles and the standing fast on foot for his honour in tentations should be the touchstone whereby his friends were to be tryed For (o) Note it is no signe of a true friend if he only accompany another in occasions of case but to stand fast by him in tyme of tribulation And as all men would be glad to haue approued friends to stand fast by them in the tyme of affliction and triall accounting of it as their owne iust so doth God desire to haue his and like a thankfull person he sayth to them You are the men who haue remayned with me in my temptations And as an aboundant rewarder he sayth further to them I (p) Lue â—â— dispose of my kingdome to you as my Father disposed of it to me that you may eate and drinke at my table in my kingdome companions heere in payne and afterwards in the Kingdome of glory Thou must encourage thy selfe to fight manfully in the warrs which are made against thee to deuide thee from God since he is thy helper on earth and thy reward in heauen Remember how S. Anthony being cruelly vvhipped and beaten by the Diuells lifting vp his eyes to heauen saw the roofe of his Cell all open whereby a beame of so admirable light did enter as at the presence thereof all the Diuells fled away and the payne of his wounds forsooke him with profound internall sighes he sayd to our Lord who then appeared to him Where wert thou O my good Iesus where wert thou when I was so ill handled by the enemies why wert thou not heere in the beginning of my combat that so thou mightest haue preuented or cured all my soares Wherunto our Lord answered Heere I was froÌ„ the very beginning but I stood looking on to see how thou diddest carry thy self in thy combate And because thou hast fought manfully I wil euer help thee thou shalt be famous throughout the whole earth By these wordes and by the vertue of our Lord he rose vp so full of courage as to find by experience that he had gotten then more strength then he had lost before In (q) A most comfortable and true doctrine this sort doth our Lord treat his friends and he leaueth them oftentimes in traunces of so great danger as that they scarce know where to set a foot nor do they find one hayre of strength by which they can take hold nor are they able to help themselues by the memory of those fauours which in former tymes they had receaued of God but they remayne as if they were naked and in profound darcknes being giuen ouer to the persecution of their enemyes But suddainly when they least looke for it our Lord doth visite them and deliuer them and leaue them with more strength then they had before thrusteth those enemies vnder their feet And the soule howsoeuer it be more weake in nature then the Diuell doth feele in it selfe such a powerfull strength that it seemeth to teare him euen in pieces as a thing that is but weake and without resistance and not only groweth it not able to fight against one but against many Diuells so great is the courage which it feeleth to haue comfreshly towards it from heauen and wherewith it doth not only defend it selfe but it sayth with Dauid I will persecute my enemies and I will take them I will
hill full of horsemen and chariots round about Elizaeus who were the Angells of our Lord who came to defend the Prophet In such sort that if we will take the part of God we shal haue a multitude of Angells on our syde one of which number is able to do more for vs then all the powers of hell against vs. Therefore so great assistance should make vs able to despise the diuell and to lay all vaine feare aside and to giue vs the courage of â—ions â—gainst him in the vertue of Christ Who (u) The sweet and stronge power of our Lord Iesus was a meeke Lambe in deliuering himselfe to death was a Lion in dis-peopling hell ouercomming and binding the diuells and with his arme defending his beloued flock And if any man shall thinke that I haue been to prolixe in this argument let him attribute it to the desyre I haue that thou maiest not be one of the many whom I haue seene who for feare of the Diuell haue giuen ouer the seruice of God I well know that by this enemy some other warres are made euen more cruell then the aforesayd And I also know that in the very extremity of tribulation when already there is growne to be no strength in him that suffers nor wise knowledge in him that guides the shipp and when the infernall Lion and Beare meanes to swallow vp the poore sheep it growes to be comforted and that pitious Dauid Iesus Christ taketh the sheep without harme out of the mouth of the Lion cutting in pieces him that was carrying it away My selfe am a witnesse of greater tribulations then I could possibly haue belieued if I had not seene them and of the meruailous and pitious prouidence of God who doth not in afflictioÌ„ abandon them that seeke him although it be with many frailties and faultes And (x) Note this for thy comfort although I haue seene many of them who feared God to haue byn grieuously assaulted in these fightes I neuer saw one that ended ill And therefore whosoeuer shall find himselfe in these traunces although he seeme conueyed euen into the very belly of the whale let him cal euen from thence vpon Iesus Christ and let him serue himselfe of the good aduise which his Ghostly Father shall giue him And let both of them haue good hope in that good sheephard who gaue his life for his sheep who killeth and quickneth who placeth men as it were in hell and draweth them out aliue from thence For although at one tyme he send troubles at another tyme he taketh them away and that to the great aduantage of him that suffereth the tribulation CHAP. XXXI That the first thing which we are to heare is diuine Truth by meanes of Faith which is the beginning of all spirituall life and which teacheth vs so high things as that they exceed all humane discourse ALL that hitheâ—to is sayd hath byn to giue thee to vnderstand whom thou art not to â—eare and to help thee to these directions which thou hast read It remaineth that now I tell thee whom thou art to heare that so thou mayst fulfill the first word which the prophet speaketh Hearken O Daughter And know that he who deserueth to be hearkned to is only Truth But because there are many Truths the hearing or knowing whereof doth make little to our purpose I tell thee since heere we are to speake of the (a) Note well that when the Authour throughout his whole discourse of Fayth doth speake of Christianity or Christiâ—s he meaneth only such as beleeue professe the holy Catholikâ— Aposâ—olik Roman Fayth as appeareth elswhere aboundantly especially Cap. 4â— Catholike faith which by vs Christians is imbraced that thou art to heare and learne that which God speaketh in his holy Scripture and in his Catholike Church This faith is the beginning of a spirituall life and therefore as I sayd before it is with much reason that we are first admonished by the prophet of that which first it is fit for vs to do since S. Paul (b) Rom. 10. affirmeth That faith comes by hearing This fayth is the first reuerence whereby the soule adoreth her creatour belieuing most highly of him as is fit to be belieued of God For although some things of God may be ariued to by reason which S. Paul (c) Roâ—â— 1. doth call The manifest of God yet the Mysteries which faith belieuedâ— cannot be reached out-right by reason Therefore we say that faith belieueth that which it seeth not and doth firmely adore that which lieth hid from reason And this is giuen vs to be vnderstood by the two Seraphims which couered the face of that great Lord in the Temple which Isaias (d) Isa 6. saw and so also when Moyses came neere to treat with our Lord vpon the mountayne the (e) Ixod â—4 Scripture sayth That he entred into the obscurity or cloude where our Lord was A strang thing it may seeme that God should place his dwelling in darknes since he is most pure and perfect light which endureth no darknesse as S. Iohn (f) 1. Ioâ—â— 1. saith But because he is a light so very bright and so ouershining that as S. Paul (g) 1. Tim. â— doth witnesse he dwelleth in light which is ineccessible he is sayd to dwell in (h) The true reason why we cannot arriue to see God darknesses because no eye created eyther of man or angelâ— can arriue to his mysteries by the force of reason And (i) Note for this cause in regard of such eyes the light is called darknes Not because such light is obscure but for that it is a light which doth infinitly exceed all vnderstanding As when we see that a wheele doth moue with extremity of speed we vse to say that it stirreth not And we speake in this manner because our eyes are not able to hold pace with so swift a motion not because there is indeed any want of motion but for that it doth outstrip the ability of our sight Not only doth our Fayth reuerence God by beleeuing that which reason cannot reach but besides it doth professe him to be so high that howsoeuer God be clearely seene by his owne light in heauen there is yet no vnderstanding either humane or Angelicall which of him can see all that is to be seene No will no delight although they al should be ioyned in one are able to loue him or enioy him as much as there is reason in him both of loue and ioy Only (k) God only truly vnderstandeth God God is he that comprehendeth himself and creaturs when they haue seene and loued and enioyed and praysed him withall the powers of their hart they do reuerence him also by knowing further that in comparison of that which he is and of that vvhich remayneth to be sayd of him and of that seruice which is his due all that which they know of him and which they do for him
arriue to man Hereby God gained more honour then by hauing created heauen and earth and all that is therein And therefore this worke is for the eminency and excellency of it called the work of God as our Lord sayd This is my foode to do the will of my Father in my finishing his worke which is the redemption of men Not but that God hath wrought other workes but because the Inâ—ernation and redemption which follow hereupon is the greatest worke of them all and that which he prizeth most as the thing whereby he receiueth most honour For (h) The same excellent discourse continued although to haue scourged Egypt for the loue of his people and to haue drawne it out from thence to haue conducted it through the desert did giue honour to God as Isaias saith yet already thou canst not chuse but see which is the more high and heroicall act of loue for God to whip his enemies for the loue of his people or to suffer himselfe to be scourged in his owne flesh for the loue both of his domestiques and of strangers and both of his friends and of his enemies One thing it is for God to carry his children through the desert like an eagle that would teach his yong ones how to fly taking them vp vpon his shoulders when they are weary that so they might vnweary themselues whylest yet God groweth not weary thereby and another thing it is to ouerloade his owne shoulders with a heauy Crosse which did euen flea them of their skin togeather with all the sinnes of the whole world which like the beame of a wyne-presse did straine him so far as to depriue him of life vpon the same Crosse and this to the end that men might be out of paine Who is he that will not discerne that this was a most excellent heroicall act of loue the like whereof was neuer seene which gaue more honour to God then all that was past That other was to him but a common thing and there was no need of so great loue for the doing of it But this later was a busines that would haue byn imbraced by few and hardly wil there be found a man vpon earth who would suffer himself to be publikely whipped or put to death for any good man or any frend And yet if such a man could be found there would still be no comparison to be made betweene that and the much that our Lord did loue and suffer for vs. For he hath no equal Nor is it to be greatly meruaâ—led at if a Lion carry himselfe like a Lion but that a Lion should be content to suffer like a Lambe and that the only cause therof should be his loue this is a busines of a strang extent and worthy of eternall honour And since in former tymes they sayd Let (i) Exod. 15. vs sing vnto our Lord for he hath byn magnified in a glorious manner Let vs also say with a most profound gratitude Let vs sing vnto our Lord who hath byn magnifyed in a most humble manner For as much as formerly God did neither abase himselfe nor take paines in the ease which he gaue vs nor although he imparted riches did he impouerish himselfe but here he impouerished himselfe he did sweat yea he abased himselfe to death and death of the Crosse to raise his seruantes from sinne and to conduct them to heauen and he preuailed in his enterprize and that which Isaias (k) Isa 55. sayd was fulfilled that insteed of the little shrubbe there should grow the Firre-tree and insteed of the nettle there should grow the myrtle And that our Lord should be renowned by an eternall token which shall neuer be taken away For the honour which God did gayne in placing of of this signe which is the Crosse and to dy thereon and to make men good of bad shall last for euer and there shall none be able to ouerthrow it CHAP. XLI That not only the glory of our Lord doth shine in the humble thinges of God which our Faith teacheth but also our owne great profit our strength and vertue NOT (a) He stil prosecuteth the same excelleÌ„t discourse in an excellent manner only doth the honour of God shine after an excellent manner in the workes of his humanity and humility but from thence also doth result the great profit and glory of man whome nothing doth so much exalte as that God hath put himselfe into Brotherhood with him Nor is there any thing which doth so much strengthen his hart against the swooning afflictions which sinne causeth in it as to see that God died for the remedy thereof and that he gaue himselfe to man as his owne Nor is there any thing which can so mooue him to loue God as to see himselfe beloued by him euen to the death nor to make a man despise prosperity or suffer aduersity nor to humble himselfe to God and to his Neighbour nor indeed to any good thing be it great or smal as to see God abased humaned that he was pleased to passe through these thinges giuing vs commandements to performe examples to behold and strength to go through And since this way of remedying our humility and basenes turneth more to the glory of God and to the good of men it is a signe that this is a worke of God since in that which God worketh he pretendeth the manifestation of his owne glory and mans good And therefore he that either denyeth this worke or hindreth it is an enemy of God and of all mankind Since thereby he will depriue God of the greatest honour which by his workes can come to him and man of the greatest glory and benefit that can be imagined And since he declareth himself as an enemy both to God and man it is but reason that he be punished and that with eternall death in hell And the answere that he will be able to giue when God shall aske him this question Why (b) Read this with great attention didst thou not belieue those high things of me must be this Because O Lord they seemed so high to me that I did not thinke thou hadst been so high And being asked why he did not belieue those mysteryes of his humanity and humility since they were the testimonyes of his goodnes of his loue he must answere That he did not thinke the loue and goodnes of our Lord to haue beene so great that he could find in his hart to do and suffer so much for the loue of men So that he stumbleth both vpon the high and vpon the low And the roote of all is because he thinketh basely of God And that he tooke his height and his goodnes to be a limitted kind of thinge Which root and that which proceeds thereof shall iustly burne in the fire of hell as being iniurious to the most high God whom it doth diminish and confine with in a certaine narrow compasse How much better
excellent lesson coÌ„cerning the strict examinatioÌ„ of our coÌ„science as it were into the chapter-house with thy selfe towardes night and iudge thy selfe very particulerly as thou wouldest do any third person Reprehend thy selfe and punish thy selfe for thy faultes and preach thou more to thy selfe then to any other body how much so euer thou loue him and where thou findest most fault there procure to apply most remedy For belieue me that by the continuance of this examen and reprehension of thy selfe thy thoughts cannot continue long without being reformed And thou shalt ariue to a science which will doe thee much good and it will make thee weepe not swell and it will keep thee from that dangerous infirmity of pride which entreth euen insensibly by little and little a man thinking well and taking contentement in himselfe Be very watchful against the approach there of and preserue thy selfe with all care Take not thy selfe into good conceite but know by the light of truth how to reprehend be displeasing to thy selfe and so the mercy of God wil be neere thee in whose right they only are pleasing who are displeasing in their owne And he pardoneth their faultes with a great liberality of goodnesse who know them and who humble themselues for them with (d) But it must be a true one a true iudgement and who lament them by their will Thou shalt also hereby decline two other vices which are the ordinary companions of pride and they are ingratitude sloth For by knowing and misliking thy defects thou wilt see thy weakenesse and thy vnworthynesse and the great mercy of God in suffering pardoning thee in bestowing benedictions vpon thee who hast deserued misery and by this meanes thou wilt be gratefull And on the other side considering the little good thou doest the many sinnes which thou committest thou wilt be awaked out of the sleepe of slouth and wilt euery day begin with new feruour to serue our Lord seing the little that thou hast done hitherto For this and many other benefittes which grow from a mans knowing and reproouing himselfe a holy old man of ancient tymes being asked whether a man might be more secure by seruing God in solitude or in company of others did answeare That is he knew how to reprehend himselfe he might be euery where safe and if not that he would be euery where in daÌ„ger And because through the inordinate loue which we beare our selues we cannot know or reprehend our selues with that vnpartiall iudgement which truth requires we must (e) A hard lesson but by the goodnes and grace of our Lord Ieâ—â—â— it is learâ—ed practised by 〈◊〉 in the Catholike Church thanke that person that doth it for vs. And we must earnestly beseech our Lord that himselfe will rebuke vs with loue bestowing vpon vs light and truth that so we may belieue of our selues as we ought in very deed to belieue And this is that which the prophet (f) Ierem. 10. Ieremy desired saying Correct me o Lord in iudgement and not in sury least otherwise thou do turne me into nothing To correct with fury doth belong to the last day when God will send the wicked to hell for their synnes and to correct in iudgement is to reprehend his children in this world with the loue of a Father Which reprehension carrieth a great testimony with it that God loueth such a person Nor is there any other so sure an one as that nor which bringeth so good newes as being the preface to vs of our receiuing great fauours from God So doth S. Marke relate that our Lord Iesus Christ appearing to his disciples did (g) Mare 10. reprehend them of incredulity and hardnesse of hart and then he after gaue them power to doe wonderfull thinges And the prophet (h) Isa 4. Isay sayth That our Lord doth wash away the vncleanes of the daughters of Sion and the bloud out of the middle of Hierusalem in the spirit of iudgement and in the spirit of heate Giuing vs so to vnderstand that for our Lord to wash way our faultes by comming to vs is first to make vs know who we are and this is iudgement And afterward he sendeth in a spirit of heate which is loue and that prouoketh vs to griefe and so he washeth vs giuing vs pardon by his grace Of this we must not presume to allow our selues any part of the glory since it is he who first gaue vs to vnderstand our owne wickednesse and rashnesse Nor (i) A description of that true â—orrow for sinne which is of God yet art thou to conceaue that this reprehension is any afflictiue kind of thing which may excessiuely oppresse thy soule by making it offensiue to thee For any such disposition as this is eyther of the Diuell or of a mans owne spirit and it must be fled But it is a quiet knowledge of a mans owne faultes and as a iudgâ—ment of heauen which is pronounced in the soule which makes this earth of our infirmity quake with shame and feare and loue which clappe spurres into the sides to make it mende to serue our Lord with greater diligence Yea it giues a man much confidence that our Lord loueth him as his sonne since he exerciseth the office of a Father with him as it is written And (k) Prou. 3. whom he loueth he correcteth Be therefore carefull to behold and reprehend and to present thy selfe in the presence of God before whom an humble acknowledgement of our owne faultes is a matter of more security then the proude altitude of any other science And be not like some who loue to haue themselues in good estimation who because they are loth to thinke ill of themselues they take pleasure in spending much tyme to thinke of other deuout thinges and to passe lightly ouer the knowledge of their owne defects because they find no sauour in them since they take no pleasure in the contempt of themselues Whereas in very Truth there is nothing so safe nor which so maketh God withdraw his sight from our sinnes as for vs to see and to reprehend them with griefe and pennance As it is written If we did iudge our selues we should not be iudged by God CHAP. LXIII Of the estimation which we are to make of our good works that we may not fayle thereby in the knowledge of our selues and of true Humility and of the meruailous example which Christ our Lord doth giue vs for this purpose THE second thing that thou art to obserue concerning this knowledge is that although it be good and profitable since therby we come to haue a contrite and humbled hart yet hath it this fault that it is euer grounded vpon our hauing committed sinne And it is not to be much meruailed at if a sinner do know and esteeme himselfe to be a sinner For being such he should withal be a hideous monster if he would esteem
thee a true and reall being and consider thy selfe not as a thing of thyne owne making but as a present which (d) Our creation is of God God was pleased to bestow vpon thee and looke vpon thyne owne being as a thinge as farre from thy strengh to compasse as thou lookest vpon another mans belieuing that thou couldst as little create thy selfe as him And as little couldst thou haue come out of that darcknesse of not being as they can who remaine therein And those thinges which are not at all be equall to thee for as much as concerneth thy selfe and it is God to whom thou must attribute the aduaÌ„tages which thou hast aboue them Be (e) Our conseruation is of God sure not to thinke now that thou art created that thou doest conserue thy selfe in thy selfe For thou hast no lesse need of God in euery moment of thy life to the end that therein thou mayst not agayne loose the Being which thou hast then thou hadst before to the end that of nothing thou mightest come to the being which now thou hast Enter into thy selfe and consider that now thou art a certaine thing which hath both being and life Aske thy selfe this question Is this creature depending vpon it selfe or vpon some other Doth it susteine it selfe or hath it need of some other hand And S. Paul will answere thee (f) Act. 17. That God is not farre from vs but that in him we liue and mooue and haue our being And doe thou consider God who is the being of all that which is and without him nothing is And he is the life of all that which liues and without him all is death And he is the strength of all that which hath any power and without him all is weakenesse And he is the entiere good of al that which is good without whom the least of good things can haue no goodnesse in it Therefore doth the Scripture (g) Isa 40. say All nations are before God as if they were not and they are reputed as vanity and as nothing in his presence And in another place it is written He (h) Galat. 6 who thinketh himselfe to be somewhat whereas indeed he is nothing doth but deceaue himselfe And the prophet (i) Psal 3.8 Dauid speaking to God did say In thy sight I am as nothing By which passages thou art not to vnderstand that creatures haue no being or life or operations which are not proper euen to them and distinct from those of the Creatour but because that which they haue they hold not of themselues nor are able to conserue it but only of God and in God they are said not to be because they hold their being strength from the hand of God and not from their owne Learne therefore to sound well into the bottom of the being and power which thou hast and giue not ouer till thou arriue to the (k) which is the power and wisdome goodnes of Almighty God very first foundation thereof which as being most firme and neuer fayling nor being founded vpon any other but being the foundation of all the rest doth mainteyne thee that so thou mayst not fall agayne into that profound pitt of Nothingnesse out of which he drew thee before Know that the protection which he hath of thee and the hand which he carrieth ouer thee keeps thee still on foote and confesse thou with (l) Psalm 138. Dauid Thou O Lord didst make me and thou didst place thy hand aboue me And know that thou doest so hang vnder this power of God that at the same instant wherein that should fayle thee thou wouldest also fayle as the light which was in a chamber would fayle if the torch which gaue it were remoued or as all light is retired from the presence of the earth by the absence of the Sunne Thou (m) Our Lord Iesus make vs able to do it must therefore adore this Lord with profound reuerence as the sole beginning of thy being and thou must loue him as the perpetuall benefactour and preseruer of it and say to him both with thy hart and with thy tongue Glory be to thee for euer O thou Omnipotent power by which thou doest maintaine me There is nothing O Lord for me to seeke out of my selfe since thou art more internally to me then I am to my selfe and by myselfe through my selfe it is that I must first passe that so I may enter into thee Come close with thy hart and vn â—e it to him in an amourous manner say to him (n) Psalm 13â— This is my ioy for all eternities heere will 〈◊〉 dâ—ell because I haue chosen is And (o) Nâ—te this well begge of God that thou may est â—augrace 〈◊〉 practise 〈◊〉 from thence forward know how to carry the presence of God in thy selfe withall reuerence since he is most present to thee And as thou hast vnderstood by that which passeth within thee that it is God who hath giuen thee thy being and thy working so art thou to vnderstand the same in all the creatures And considering God in all things they all will serue thee for a bright glasse which may represent their Creatour to thee and so thy soule may go well vnited to God and deuoutly singing of his prayses if thou seeke nothing but God in the creatures CHAP. LXV How the exeâ—cising of our selues in the knowledg of the supernaturall being which we haue of grace doth serue towards the obteyning of Humility IF thou haue byn carefull to resolue by the knowledge of thy selfe for as much as concerneth thy being to giue the glory thereof to God much more must thou attend to know that thy well being is not of thy selfe but that it is a gracious guift of our Lord. For (a) A necessary coÌ„sequence if whilst thou ascribest the glory of thy being to him by confessing that not thy selfe but his hands did make thee thou shouldst appropriate the honour of thy good works to thy selfe conceauing it to be thy selfe that made thee good thou wouldst take so much more honour to thy self theÌ„ thou didst giue to God as a good or happy being is a more excellent thing then a mere being It is therefore necessary that with extraordinary diligence thou do attend to know God and to acknowledge him for the cause of all thy good Liue thou in such a fashion that there may not be so much as a seame or stitch of foolish (b) There is nothing which more properly doth belong to Pryde theÌ„ that it is a fooliâ—h thing pride in thy soule but as thou knowest that thou canst not haue the least being that can be thought of if God do not giue it so also know that thou canst not possesse in thy selfe the least good thing if God do not open his hand to bestow it on thee Consider also that as that which is nothing hath no naturall being amongst the creatures so
a sinner to whom the spirituall being of grace is wanting must be accounted notwithstanding all the greatnesse and riches that he may haue otherwise for nothing in the sight of God S. Paul expresseth this in this manner If I should haue the guift of prophesy and should know all mysteries and all science and should haue all Fayth so far as to remooue mountaines from one place to another and yet withall I should not haue charity I were nothing Which sentence is so highly true as that a sinner is yet worse then nothing because an euill being is worse then a not being And there is no place so base nor so cast out of the way nor so despicable in the eyes of God amongst all the things that are and are not as a man that liueth in offence of him being disinherited of heauen and adiudged to hell And to the end that thou mayst haue somewhat to rouse thee a little vp in the consideration of the miserable staâ—e of a sinner hearken to this When thou shalt set any thing which is very contrary to reason and much out of order consider that it is a most vgly and abhominable thing to be in the displeasure and emnity of our Lord. Thou hast heard men speake of some huge theft or treason or some other wickednesse which some woman may haue coÌ„mitted against her husband or of some high irreuerence which a sonne may haue expressed towards his Father or some other crimes of this nature which in the eye of any ignorant person whatsoeuer will instantly appeare to be foule because they are against all reason But thou must know that to offend God by one only sinne is (c) There is no comparison betweene these two a greater deformity in being against the Commandment giuen by him and the reuerence which is due to him then all the wicked actions that can be wrought in consideration that they are against reason only And since (d) A naturall and reasonable addresse thou seeft that al they are so much disesteemed who commit wickednes of that kind do thou esteeme thy selfe for a most contemptible creature and sincke thou downe into that profound pitt of being despised which is due to a person who offeÌ„deth God And as for thy knowing that thou wert nothing thou didst call that tyme to mind wherein thou hadst no being so now for the knowing of thy basenes and vilenesse call to mind the tyme when thou didst liue in the offence of God Behold as in wardly as feelingly as profoundly as leasurely as thou canst when in the eyes of God thou wert displeasing and deformed and esteemed nothing and lesse then nothing For neither vnreasonable liuing creatures nor others which haue no life how vgly base soeuer they be haue committed any sinne against our Lord. Nor are they vnder the obligation of eternal fire as thou wert And thus despise thou and abase thy selfe the most deeply aduisedly that thou canst for (e) There is nothing more assuredly true then this thou mayst safely belieue that how much soeuer thou do it thou wilt neuer be able to descend so low into the very abysse of contempt as is deserued by him who is the offendour of an infinite good which is God For (f) Our Lord grant that we may see it there till in heauen thou shalt see how good God is thou wilt not be able out-right to know how wicked sinne is and what misery he deserueth that committeth it But yet when thou hast soundly felt in thy soule and drunke deeply of this disesteem of thy selfe cast vp thyne eyes to God considering his infinite goodnes who drew thee out of such a deep pit which for thee it was impossible to haue done and behold that supreme goodnes which with so great mercy drew thee out whylest thou didst merit nothing towardes it nay when thou didst greatly demerit For till God giue his grace though al that which a man doth be not sinne yet neither doth he nor can he do any thing which may deserue his forgiuenes grace Know that he who drew thee out of darcknesse into his admirable light and made thee of an enemy a friend and of a slaue a child and of a creature that was good for nothing to become acceptable in his sight he I say who did this is God And (g) There is no reason of interest in the loue of God to vs God graunt there be nomotiue of interest in our loue to him the reason why he did it was not any former desert of thyne Nor any regard which he could haue to the seruice which thou mightest do him afterward but it was for his owne only goodnesse and by the merit of our only mediatour Iesus Christ our Lord. For thyne owne thou art to esteeme the vile state wherein thou wert and thou maiest accompt hell to be the place so due to such sinnes as thou didest or wouldst haue committed vnlesse it had byn for God For that which thou hast more then this acknowledge thy selfe to be a debter to him and to his grace Hearken to that which our Lord said to his beloued disciples and in them to vs. You (h) Ioan. 15. chose not me but I you Consider what the Apostle S. Paul (i) Rom. 3â— saith You are iustifyed gratis by the grace of God by the redemption which is in Christ Iesus And lodge this in thy hart that as thou hast thy being from God without any reason at all to giue the glory of it to thy selfe so doest thou also hold thy well-being from God and thou hast both the one and the other to his glory And carry in thy tongue and in thy hart that which S. Paul (k) Cor. 19. saith by the grace of God I am that which I am CHAP. LXVI Wherein the aforesaid exercise is prosecuted in particuler manner CONSIDER thou moreouer that as when thou wert nothing thou hadst no power to mooue thy selfe nor to see nor heare nor taste nor vnderstand nor will any thing but God giuing thee a being gaue thee also these faculties and forces so not only is the man being in mortall synne depriued of that being which is acceptable in the sight of God but he is without all power to doe the workes of life which may please him When therfore thou seest some lame man without leggs or armes thinke that so is a man without grace in his soule and if thou see one who is blind or deafe or dumbe take him for a glasse wherein thou mayst behold thy selfe in all those sicke persons who were leapers or paralytikes who had their bodies crookedly bent towards the ground not being able once to looke vp with all that multitude of diseases which they presented in the presence of Iesus Christ our true physitian do thou vnderstanding that wicked men are as much defeated in their spirituall partes as those others were in their corporal And obserue that
reason it was fit according to the diuine ordinance that he should pay for vs taking vpon him our place and resemblance to the end that by seeming a debter which he was not and by enduring that bitter chastisement which he deserued not he might take away our deformity and might communicate his beauty riches to vs. And (i) The difference of Christ our Lord the spouse of our soules carthly spouses because no man who seeketh a Spouse can make her good if she be euill nor celestiall if she be infernall nor can he giue her a beautifull soule if it be deformed therefore is it that men seeke spouses which are already vertuous beautifull and rich and vpon the marriage day they go well adorned to enioy those aduantages which the others haue and which themselues did not giue But this Spouse ours doth find no soule either good or faire vnles he make it such And that which we are able to giue him as a Dowry is the debt that we haue contracted by our sinnes And because he was pleased to abase himselfe to vs we haue (k) He tooke our misery that so he might cōmunicate to vs his glory apparelled him so as we our selues were apparelled and he hath so cloathed vs as he is clad For destroying the (l) Sinne. old man vnder the habit which he tooke of a man he hath placed in vs a new and celestiall man after his image And this he brought to passe by these ornaments which seeme to be deformity and frailty but are indeed most high honour and greatnesse since they were able to defeate our so obdurate and inueterate synnes and to bring vs to the grace and friendship of our Lord which is the toppe of all that which can be aymed at This is that glasse wherein thou art often to behold thy selfe euery day to beautify thereby whatsoeuer thou seest deformed in thy soule And this is that figure which is placed on high to the end that whosoeuer shal be bitten by any serpent may looke vp to it and so his woundes may be cured And whensoeuer any thinge which is good doth grow to thee it wil be conserued by thy looking hither giuing thankes to our Lord by the meanes of whose affliction all our blessings are deriued to vs. CHAP. LXX That the exercise of prayer is most important and of the great fruit which is reaped thereby SINCE thou hast already heard that the light which thy eyes are to looke vpon is God humaned and crucifyed it remaineth for me to tell thee what meanes thou art to vse in looking on him Since the thing must be done by way of deuout considerations and by that inward speach which is vsed in prayer But before I tell thee of the course that thou art to hold in thy prayer it wil be fit that I let thee know how profitable this exercise is and especially for (a) The Lady to whom he wrote this booke was not a religious womā in clausure but she liued deuoutly in her owne house yet in state of Virginity and great pennance she was Don̄a Sancha daughter to the Lord of Guadalcaçar thee who hauing renounced the world hast offered thy selfe wholy to our Lord with whome it wil be fit for thee to haue familiar and straite communication if thou desyre to enioy the delicious fruit of thy holy state By prayer we do heere vnderstand A secret and interiour speach whereby the soule doth impart it selfe to God whether it be by way of thinking or by crauing or by thanking or contemplating and in a word all that which doth passe betweene the soule and God in that priuate kind of speach For although to euery one of these particulers there do belong a seuerall reason yet my intent in this place is but only to deliuer in generall how important a thing it is that the soule do intertayn this choyce kind of speach and cōmunication with her God For (b) Pōder this well belieue the truth thereof and put thy selfe vpon the practise proofe whereof it would suffice if men were not wholy blind to tell them that God giueth liberty that all men who will may enter into speach with him once in a moneth or in a weeke and that most willingly he would giue them audience and redresse their miseries and enrich them with fauours and that there should be betweene him and them a friendly kind of conuersation as betweene a Father and a sonne And if he would permit that they might speake to him euery day and if yet further he would suffer that euery day they might do it often and lastly if they might haue leaue to be in conuersation with our Lord the whole day and night or as much of this tyme as they could and would and if he would be well content therewith what may that man be vnles he were a man of stone who would not be highly thankefull for such a liberall and profitable licence as this And who would not procure to serue himselfe thereof as much as it were possible for him as of a thing most conuenient for the gayning of honour by being to treate with his Lord and of delight by the enioying of his conuersation and of profit also for as much as they can neuer come empty handed from him And how shall not this be much esteemed which the most high doth offer vs since it would be set at so high a rate if it were offered by some temporall king who in comparison of this most High and of that which may be obtained by conuersation with him the king is a worme and that which any of them or all of them is able to giue is a handfull of dust Why do not men ioy to be with God (c) Prou. ◠since the delight of God is to be with the sonnes of men His cōuersation hath no bitternesse belonging to it but alacrity and ioy nor is there incident to his condition any petty or paltry miserablenesse to deny the thinge that is asked of him and in fine our Father he is in whose conuersation we were to ioy though no other aduantage did acrew thereby But (d) A strange progresse of Gods loue to wicked stupide man if thou wilt accompany all the other considerations with this that he doth not only giue vs leaue to speake with him but that he begges it at out handes and counsailes and sometimes commaunds it of vs thou wilt see both how great his goodnesse and thirst is that we would conuerse with him and what wicked thinges we be who will not go being desired and hired to that which we ought to go beseeching that we might haue leaue and offering to pay whatsoeuer were demaunded for it Heereby thou mayst discerne how little feeling men haue of their spiritual necessities which are the true ones for as much as he who truly feeleth them will truly pray and desyre remedy thereof with great instance There is
knowledge of ones selfe Then read that mystery of the Passion which thou art about to meditate in some booke that treates thereof This (b) The manner of reading spirituall bookes will serue thee for two purposes The one to teach thee what did happen in that mystery that so thou mayst be able to thinke vpon it for as for the life death of our Lord thou art to know them and that soundly knowne The other for the recollecting of thy hart to the end that when thou meanest to thinke vpon the Passion thou mayst not haue wandring or tepide thoughtes And although thou do not read at one tyme all that which the booke deliuereth of that part of the Passion thou wilt be at no losse thereby because vpon the same dayes of the weekes following thou wilt come to an end thereof And as I told thee before thy reading must not be such as to make thee weary but to stirre vp the appetite of thy soule and to prepare matter for thee to thinke and pray vpon The bookes which may profit thee in the thought of the Passion are amongst others the Meditations of S. Augustine in Latin and those of the Father Lewys de Granada in Spanish and the (c) Diâ—â—ysius Carthusianus Carthusian who writeth vpon al the Ghospells When thou hast ended thy reading cast thy selfe vpon thy knees and hauing first recollected thyne eyes doe thou beseech our Lord that he will send thee light of the Holy Ghost which may impart to thee an amorous and compassiue feeling of that which Christ with such dearenesse of loue did suffer for thee Be very (d) Obserue this excellent discourse with great attention importunate with him not to permit in thee so great ingratitude as that thou being bound to imitate his passion shouldest hardly find in thy hart to thinke vpon it Then place the image of that Mystery which thou wouldst meditate within thy hart and if this succeed not with thee yet esteeme at least that thou hast it neere thee And (e) A necessary aduice this I say to let thee know that thou art not to carry thy thoughts to contemplate our Lord at Hierusalem where the Passion was accomplished for this would do thy head great hurt and dry vp thy deuotion But make account that he is present to thee and place thou the eyes of thy soule vpon his feet or on the ground neere to him and behold with all reuerence that which passeth as if thou wert present at it and hearken to that which our Lord did say with all attention Aboue all (f) Our Lord make vâ— fit to do so thinges behould with a pure and quiet sight his most sacred hart which so aboundeth with loue towards vs and which did so much excell in comparison of that which he suffered exteriourly thogh euen that were also vnspeakable as the Heauen doth exceed the Earth But take heed that thou doe not afflict thy hart with any forced griefe which vseth to fetch out some (g) Take heed of forcing thy selfe to teares few teares with violence for this doth hinder that quiet repose which is wholy needfull in the exercise of prayer as the Abbot Isaac was wont to say they dry vp the hart make it vnfit for the receauing of the visitation of Gods spirit which requireth peace and rest Yea and they vse to preiudice euen our bodily health and to leaue the soule so frighted with the disgust which therein it found that it feareth to returne againe to praier as to some painefull thing But if with a quiet thinking of these things our Lord do giue thee teares and compassion other deuout affections of mind thou art to take them vnder this condition That the excesse thereof be not such as to ouerworke thee to wardes the notorious preiudice of thy health or that thou becommest vnable therby to resist them and to hinder crying out or by other such exteriour signes to make shew of what thou findest within For yf thou doest vse thy selfe to this thou wilt grow to make those expressions amongst others and with greate note to which thou art accustomed in thy Oratory without being able to resist them but from this it is reason that thou fly So (h) How we are to carry our selues when we haue tears tender motions of the mind as thou art to receaue these spiritual gustes and teares in such sort as that thou do not greatly go after them least (i) That pious thought which was the cause of teares is to be cherished and the teares tâ—es lues neglected in the pursuit thereof thou loose that pious thought or spirituall affection by which they were caused But vse thou great diligence that the thought continue and as for the other exteriour and sensible feeling let it take the chance and by this meanes thou mayest continue a long tyme togeather in a spirituall and deuout gust of mind Whereas that other which may be accompted but as corporall to touch vpon the sensible part of the soule cannot last Nor yet will it suffer the spiritual affection to continue vnles it be withheld from following the other which is more corporall Only (k) IndulgeÌ„ce may be vsed towards beginners to such as are new beginners a little leaue may be allowed that so they may taste of this sweet kind of milke a little more then such as are proficient For (l) In this true deuotion doth consist these later haue an ayme to feele in their soule the high dignity of him that suffers and the deepe indignity of him for whom he suffers and the mightily much that he suffers and yet that the loue wherewith he doth it is still greater and (m) Do this and liue they desire to imitate this loue and this passion with all the strength that our Lord shall giue And if herewith he giue them the aforesaid gustes they driue them not away nay rather they are thankfull for them but not as for the more principall And (n) Both these loues of God are excellent but generally speaking men excell in the former and women in the later although I make no doubt but that there is a certaine kind of loue of God so inflamed and so fyery as that it doth not only not prouoke teares but it hindreth them and dries them vp so do I also aduertise thee that there is another tender kind of loue which procureth those aforesaid gustes in the sensitiue part of the soule and in the eyes of the body which yet is not blame-worthy since the doctrine of Christ is not a doctrine of Stoickes who condemne euen the passions which are good And because Christ our Lord did weepe and was sad that sufficeth to make vs belieue that these thinges are good yea euen in the most perfect men O how much hurt hath bin done by certaine vnlearned men both to themselues and to others by their taking the businesse of
aduised that this second thought may not come by some fraud of the Diuell that so thou making the leap of a Pye from one thing to another he may depriue thee of the fruit of prayer Or els that it proceed not from the leuity of thyne owne hart which finding not that which it desireth in some one thought disposeth it selfe to make triall of some other and yet another Thou art not therefore to forsake lightly thy former thought vnles thou be effectually inuited to do it from within and that with such a (i) Thou must not faile to aduise heerein with thy Ghostly Pather kind of satisfaction to thy selfe as the hart vseth to feele when God inuiteth it and when he interposeth himselfe And by asking light of our Lord and by taking accoumpt afterward what profit thou hast gotten by often taking of experience thou wilt grow to do thy duty in this busines To this (k) An aduise cōcerning reading and vocal prayer purpose it also maketh that if thou be reading or praying vocally and that our Lord do visit thee with any profound internall feeling thou art to cease from that which thou wert doing and to feed vpon the bit which our Lord hath sent thee and when that is done thou mayest begin againe where thou didst leaue For since this exteriour deuotion doth serue but to stir vp the interiour we must be sure not to vse it so as that it may be a meanes to hinder the other Nor would I speake of so many particulers if I had not seene some people so tyed to certaine rules and so resolued to taske themselues in such a fashion that although there were reason for them to belieue that our Lord would haue them interrupt a thought yet they will not do it And if he will conduct them by one way yet they will needs go by another relying vpon their owne prudence Whereas (l) Humility is th◠best disposition towardes Prayer notwithstanding it is an infallible Truth that nothing is more contrary vnto this Exercise then for men to thinke that they are able to play the maisters in it And I haue seene many men abound in rules cōcerning prayer to be talking of great secrets and the same men to be very empty in the practise of it For to rest vpon those rules and to reflect much vpon them in tyme of prayer depriueth them of that humility and simplicity of a child whereby this businesse is to be treated with God as I haue said before Yet (m) Note do I not deliuer this to disswade men from vsing that reasonable diligence which on our part we are to bring especially when we are beginners in it but only that we may performe it with such a kind of liberty as not to hinder vs from depending vpon God in expectation of his blessing in such sort as he shal be pleased to giue it And (n) Who are sure to profit most in being able to vse mentall Prayer be thou well assured that in this exercise he profits most who doth humble himselfe more and who doth vse more perseuerance and who sendeth out more deep sighes to our Lord and not he who hath more rules without booke CHAP. LXXVI That the end of the Meditation of the Passion is to be the imitation thereof and what is to be the beginning and ground of greater things which we are to imitate TO the end that thou mayst know how to profit by this exercise thou art to be aduertised that the end of the meditation of the passion is to be the imitation thereof and the accomplishment of the law of our Lord. And (a) A truth most necessary to be knowne this I tell thee because some there are who make much reckoning of the houres which they spend in prayer of the gust and sweetnesse which they find therein but they take no accompt of the fruit which they gather by it They conceaue with an erroneous iudgement that he that prayeth most and with greatest sweetnesse of delight◠that he forsooth is the greatest saint wheras indeed that other man is so who togeather with the profoūd (b) The perfection of a Christian consisteth in hauing profound humility ardent charity contēpt of himself hath the greatest charity wherin consisteth the perfection of Christian life and the fulfilling of the whole law And he that liueth well and he that prayeth well must do it all to this end and not content himselfe with only hauing spent such a piece of his tyme well in confessing or communicating or deuout praying or any other thing of the like nature We read of Moyses that hauing been fourty dayes and fourty nightes vpon the top of mount Sinay in continuall conuersation with the most high God and descending afterward to conuerse with men he told them no storyes or vistons or reuelations or curious secrets but he carried much light in his face and two tables of stone in his handes In the one whereof those (c) He deuideth the commandements by three seauen as we do and as S. Augustin did and not by foure and six as the Protestāts do three commaundements were written which appertaine to the honour of God and seauen in the other which belong to our duty towards our neighbour Giuing (d) The right fruit of Prayer thereby to vnderstand that he that treates with God by the tongue of prayer must haue light in his vnderstanding thereby to know what he is to do and then a fulfilling of the will of God put in execution as if the law were in his handes And since he hath the office of one that prayes he may also haue the life of one that prayes which must be such as that in all his actions it may appeare (e) If this proue not so in som proportiō thou dost loose thy labour that some part of that soueraigne truth and supreme purity wherewith he had so much to do hath stucke vnto him For they who employ a fit of tyme in weeping and in lamenting those buffetts which they gaue our Lord in his passion if departing from thence vpon the offer of the least of those affronts which were put vpon our Lord they haue yet little patience as if they had learnt nothing in prayer but to be able to suffer nothing I know not to whome I should compare them but to such as when they are sleeping do conceaue that they are doing some great matter who yet when they wake are found to haue done the expresse contrary What (f) A vicious and a foolish thing more absurd and foolish thinge can there be then that when I do so much esteeme the patience of our Lord in his paine I will yet haue none in myne But I will say Carry thy Crosse alone O Lord though it be deadly heauy for I haue no mind to help thee by carrying of mine though it he very light The Apostles had compassion and
of the other Yet be not thou dismaid but present thy selfe with them all before ou◠Lord though not without groaning sighes (i) A sweet and significāt comparison as the Child would do who letteth the mother see where the thorne hath haspt it self into his hand and he beggeth of her with teares that she will pull it out and so will our Lord do with thee For as he is a glasse to declare thy faults so by his example and helping hand he is the true remedy thereof And now considering through how great shame he was content to passe for the loue of thee thy hart wil be kindled towards the casting away off all affection to honour and his patience will kill thy anger his gall vinegar will cure thy glottony and thy seeing him obedient to his Father euen to the death of the Crosse will tame thy necke towards the obedience of his holy will euen in those thinges wherin thou mayst find the greatest difficulty And when thou shalt behold how that most high God humaned the Lord of the heauens and of the earth all that which they conteine did (k) See heer whether or no thou haue any reasō to be impatient or proud obey those wretches when they were pleased to strip him starcke naked and then to apparaile him againe and when they bound him and when they vnbound him and when they commaunded him to spread himselfe vpon the Crosse and to stretch out his armes that they might be nailed thereunto I am deceaued if it will not giue thee a desyre and that with the deepest sighes of thy hart if it be capable of any feeling to be obedient not only to thy betters and equalls but to thy inferiours also and to submit thy selfe for the loue of God as S. Peter (l) 1. Pet. 2. sayth to all the reasonable creatures in the world and that so farre as euen to be ill vsed by them By this meanes also will couetousnesse come to dye in thee if thou behold those handes boared through for the good of men that they may accomplish that which formerly he commaunded when he said (m) Ioan. 13. Loue you one another as I haue loued you And in a word thou wilt find by experience that S. Paul (n) Rom. 6. said true when he told vs that our old man was crucified with Christ. Yf thou do not fynd this cure and conquest ouer thy selfe to grow instantly as thou wouldest desyre be (o) We are so wicked that we had need to haue much patience with our selues not yet dismaid and giue not ouer thy good beginnings But (p) If we haue little feeling of those thinges at the first we must not yet despaire but be humble diligent in prayer as now thou art come to know that the hardnesse of thy hart and thy wickednesse is greater then thou couldst haue thought so do thou sigh out so many more groanes and with so much the more humility begge thou of our Lord that his mercy may not permit thee to remaine sicke since he being God did suffer and dye to make thee whole And haue thou hope that he will not make himselfe deafe who hath commaunded thee to cry out vpon him and that he will not carry such bowells of cruelty about him as to see thee sicke to hear thee cry out at that gate of the hospitall of his mercy which are his wounds but that some one day or other he will take thee in to cure thee But (q) The perfect cure of thy soule wil not be wrought vpon a suddaine I aduertise thee of this that it is not a businesse to be dispatched in so short a tyme. And although S. Paul (r) Gal 18.9 said in few wordes That they who were of Christ had crucified their flesh with the vices and desires thereof yet such as are not content with departing only from mortall sinne but haue a desire to obtayne a perfect victory ouer themselues by ouercomming those seauen generations of enemyes which haue taken possession of the land of promise do find by experience that the thing which is sayd in one word is not completely performed in many yeares But our soueraigne Lord is wont to giue such persons hope of perfect health vouchsafing them now and then the cure of some particuler infirmity We (ſ) A place of Holy Scripture excellently applyed read of the Captaine Iosue that hauing ouercome fiue Kinges he sayd thus to his souldiars Set (t) Iosue 10. your feet vpon the neckes of these Kinges and do not feare but take hart and comfort for as our Lord hath ouercome these so will he also all those others whome you fight against Do (u) If thou consider the reward euen in this life which is heer mentioned thou wilt not think thy labour ill imploied and therefore resolue vpon the word of this holy Authour which is Either to conquer of dye thou in this manner and resolue either to conquer or to dye for if thou obtayne not the victory ouer thy passions thou wilt not be able to proceed in the exercise of this familiar conuersation with our Lord. For it is not reason that the most sweet repose which is taken with ioyfull peace in the armes of our Lord be affoarded but to them who first haue fought and with difficulty haue ouercome themselues Nor can they obtaine to be the quiet Temples of that peaceable Salomon if first they be not hammered by the blowes of the mortification of their passions and by the breaking off their wills For (x) The smoake of the passions depriue the soule of being able to see that sweetnes and sublimenes Gods beauty the smoake which vnmortified passions raise vp in the soule do not suffer the sight to be so cleare as it fit for the beholding of the King in his beauty Nor doe they permit the soule to haue that purity which is requisite for the vniting of it with God like a chast Spouse and in a manner which is particuler and secret kept safe for them to whom our Lord vouchsafes to giue it after they haue laboured many yeares as Iacob did for Rachel CHAP. LXXVIII That the most excellent thing which we are to meditate and imitate in the passion of our Lord is the loue where with he offered himself to the Eternall Father AFTER hauing entred into the first exteriour part of the Temple of this true Salomon which is to consider Christ in the exteriour man and after hauing sacrificed thy disordinate passions by the knife of the word of God which office was executed in that part of the Temple which was called Holy it remaines if we meane to proceed in our way that we procure to enter into the Sancta Sanctorum the Holy of Holyes which is a more pretious place and the period of all the rest If now thou aske me which is this place (a) The pretious hart of
that not only during the space of eightteen houres which passed in the tyme of thy sacred Passion but for the whole course of three and thirty yeares from one fiue and twentith of March when thou didst become incarnate till another fiue and twentith of March and eight dayes after when thy life did leaue thee vpon the Crosse Thy (d) The great loue of God to vs is exempliâ—ied by diuers comparisons and proofs of holy Scripture selfe did call thy selfe a Mother when speaking to Hierusalem thou didst say How often (e) Watt 23. would I haue gathered thy children vnder my winges as the Hen doth her chickens but thon wouldest not And to giue vs to vnderstand that thy hart doth carry a particuler loue and tendernes towards vs thou didst compare thy selfe to a Hen which is the creature that is content in extraordinary manner to cast away her comfort and to afflict her selfe for that which concerneth her little ones Nor only art thou like the Hen in this but thou exceedest both that all other mothers in the world as by (f) Isa 49. Isay thy selfe didst say A mother perhaps may forget the sonne of her wombe well yet though she forget him I will not forget thee for I haue written thee in my handes and thy walles do euer stand before me Who O Lord shall be able though he dig neuer so deep to discouer those vnspeakable secrets of loue and sorrow which are in thy hart Thou doest not content thy selfe O Lord with carrying the lone of a Father towardes vs which might only be strong and patient in suffering the afflictions and troubles of a Father but to the end that no delightfull comfort might be wanting to vs not no vexation to thy selfe thou wouldst needs be also a Mother to vs in the tendernes of thy affection which causeth an vnspeakable kind of loue towards her children Yea and more art thou to vs then a Mother for of no Mother haue we read that to the end she might stil remember her sonne she hath written a booke whereof hard nayles of iron were the pen and her owne handes the paper and that by pressing those handes and passing them through with the nayles bloud may issue out insteed of inke which with grieuous payne may giue testimony of the great internall loue not suffering that to be forgotten which still she carryeth in her hands And if this which thou didst endure vpon the Crosse by hauing handes and feet so nayled to it be a thing which exceedeth all loue of Mothers who (g) Christ lesus our Lord became vpon the Crosse as it were a woman in trauaile shall recount that great loue and great griefe wherewith thou drewest all men into the wombe of thy hart groaning deeply for their sins with the groanes of labour like them of child-birth And that not for an houre nor for a day alone but for the whole tyme of thy life which lasted three and thirty yeares till at length like another Rachel thou diedst of trauell vpon the Crosse to the end that (h) Genes 35. Beniamin might be borne aliue The serpents which thou carriedst within thy selfe did giue thee O Lord such gripes that they made thee burst vpon the Crosse to the end that at the price of thy paines those serpents might be conuerted into the simplicity mildnesse of lambes and that in exchange of thy death they might obtaine a life of grace How iustly O Lord mayst thou cal men if thou considerest what thou hast suffered for them the Sonns of thy griefe as Rachel called her sonne since the griefe which their sinnes gaue thee was greater then the pleasure which they tooke by committing them And greater was thy humility and that breach of thy hart then the irreuerence and pride was which they expressed against the most high God when they offended him by breaking his law that so thy paines might ouercome our sinnes as the greater do the lesse More (i) The incomparable griefe of Christ our Lord for sinne is excellently desaâ—ibed O Lord did the sinnes of others grieue thee then any man hath bin euer grieued for his owne And if we read of some who had so great repentance for their sinnes as that their hart not being able to conteyne such griefe it did cost them their liues what sorrow was prouoked in thee by that vnmeasurable loue which thou didst carry both to God and man since one sparke of the same lone being cast into the harts of those others did oppresse them in such sort that it made them breake as if they had bin blowen vp with powder Of many we reade and we know that by hauing heard a newes which was very painefull to them did loose their liues And tell vs now O Lord for thy mercy how thou hadst force to out-liue such a bitter newes when all the sinnes of all mankind were first presented to thee thou louing men much more then any man euer loued another yea or euen himself Especially when thou didest coÌ„sider know that the misery which was hanging ouer theÌ„ for the same was greater then any other that could happen And where O Lord didst thou get strength to endure to see thy diuinity oftended and yet to liue since the loue which thou bearest both to it and men did exceed all measure Yet didst thou liue O Lord when thou heardst this newes yea and thou didst liue with the griefe thereof all the dayes of the life But vnles particuler force had bin giuen thee for the enduring of such sorrow it would not haue fayled to haue brought death vpon thee as lesse sorrow hath brought it vpon others So that O Lord they are many and not one only debt which I owe thee And although in regard of these sorrowes which as a mother thou didst endure for men with much reason thou mayst tearme them the sonnes of thy griefe as hath bin said yet as thou also art their Father thou mayst call them also the sonnes of thy right hand as (k) Gen. 35. Iacob did Because (l) The reformation of men doth manifest the power of the Crosse of Christ our Lord. in them is expressed and declared the greatnesse of thy hand which is thy power since thou drawest them out of sinne and dost place them in the state of grace euen in this life and at the later day shalt ranke them vpon thy right hand that so they may accompany thee in glory Being seated there in great security of repose as thou art O Lord at the right hand of thy Father where thou wilt esteeme all that which thou hast laboured and suffered for them to be well imployed CHAP. LXXXI Of other profitable Considerations which may be drawn out of the Passion of our Lord and of other meditations which may be made vpon other pointes and of some directions for such as cannot easily put that which hath bin said in practise YF thou
is a distinct thing from that wherby Christ is iust And from hence it commeth that although the workes which we did before were meane and of aâ—â— imperfect kind of goodnesse and which had noâ— in them any true iustice nor could deserue 〈◊〉 haue it as being of our owne stocke and store yet those thinges which now we do being oâ—â—â— in the state of grace are of so high valew and are workes so truely iust as that they deserue an increase of iustice according to that of (n) Apocâ— 22. S. Iohn He that is iust let him be yet more iust and they are worthy to obtaine the kingdome of God as it was sayd by (o) 2. Tim. 4. S. Paul That the Crown of iustice was kept for him This vnspeakable benefit do we owe to Iesus Christ but (p) See heer how honourable to Christ our Lord the doctrine of the holy Catholike Church is in the point of workes this is not all For as it is the ordinance of God that no man shall obtaine grace and iustice but by the merits of this Lord so is it also that none of them that haue it is able to increase or euen to conserue it but by their being vpheld by this Lord as a liuing member is by his head as the fruitful branch is by his vine and as the building is by his foundation For although by gayning grace and iustice for them he gaue them as hath beene sayd a good (q) Because God through Christ our Lord would haue it so title by the way of merit to the kingdome of heauen as also that they should obtaine by prayer that which they would aske as they ought yet if they had a mind to enioy the same and to vse it rightly they must not do it like people which would disband from their captaine or deuide themselues from their head or as if they could go vpon their owne feet alone without the help of any other No a soule must rely vpon and be vnited to this (r) Christ Iesus our Lord. blessed head to the end that (f) See the excellent immaculate doctrine of the holy Catholik Church Grace may be conserued to it and that from thence a certaine spirituall strength may come which may proceed and accompany and follow the good works that it shall do and without which those good workes cannot be meritorious as is declared by the Councell of Trent And by this meanes the prayers which that iust person shall make will be worthy of the eares of God and to obtaine that which the man desires Salomon (t) 2. Para. 6. did begge of God That he who should pray in the Temple which he had made on earth might be heard by God from heauen granting that which should be desired And the true and most excellent Temple of God is Iesus Christ our Lord in respect that he is man in whome as S. Paul sayth The accomplishment of diuinity doth corporally remaine That is it remayneth in him not only by way of grace as it doth in the Angells and in holy men but in another fashion of more weight and valew by the way of the personall vnion whereby that sacred humanity is raised vp to haue the dignity of being personated in the word of God which is one of the three persons of the Blessed Trinity This is that Temple whereof Dauid sayd God heard my voyce from his holy Temple And he that in this Temple shall vtter the speach of prayer which is inspired by his spirit and resting vpon him as a liuing member which demandeth succour by the merits of his head which is Iesus Christ this man I say shall be heard by God in the title of iustice as Dauid was and all iust men were who vvere euer heard But the prayer vvhich is made without this Temple (u) That is we must be members of Christ our head by being in the state of grace which requireth that we resort to the sacrament of pennance with harty sorrow for that sin which is past a firme purpose to coÌ„mit no more for otherwise insteed of receauing a Sacrament we should commit a sacriledg by whomesoeuer it be made is a oarse and prophane prayer and vnworthy of the ares of God And not being inspired by Iesus Christ it carryeth not that broad seale whereby 〈◊〉 should be warranted and held for iust in the â—btaining of what it askes And to the end that Christ in the quality of our aduocate may giue â—ispatch to our petitions it is necessary that on â—arth we be his liuing members and inspired to â—ray by him For although his mercy is so great â—hat many tymes he maketh the petitions of his â—ead members to be heard which are they that â—old the fayth of his Church but are not in state â—f grace yet heere we speak only of those which being made in Christ haue the dignity and the â—erit of obtayning what they aske And the hoâ—y Church our Mother well knowing the necessity that we haue of Christ in our prayers is wont â—o say to the Eternall Father at the end of hers Graunt vs this or that O God through Iesus Christ â—ur Lord. This did she learne of her spouse and maister when he (x) Ioan. 16. sayd Whatsoeuer thing you aske the Father in my name he will giue it you Let thankes O Lord be giuen to thy name â—ince through thee we are heard For thou doest not content thy selfe only with being our Mediatour to merit that grace for vs which we receaue by thee nor with being our head which instructeth and moueth vs to pray by thy spirit as we ought but thou also wilt be our (y) He obtayneth that we may be heard by our selues when we aske in his Name Bishop in heauen that so representing to thy Father that sacred humanity which thou hast and the passion which thou didst receaue thou mightst obtayne the effect of that which we desire on earth by our inuocation of thy Name So that as the holy Gâ—ospel sayd When (z) Matt. 3. Marc. 1. Luc. 3. our Lord was baptized the heauens did open themselues to him and although many haue followed in thither after him yet they are opened to none but by his meanes so may we also say that the bowels of his eternall Father which open themselues for the graunting our petitions are opened to Christ And he is the person heard by his Father since the fauour grace vvhere with we are heard we haue by him For if it were not for this as no man would be iust in himselfe so no man could be heard for himselfe And as through the great loue which our Lord did beare vs he tooke our miseryes vpon himself as his owne and he payed for them by his life death so with the same loue vvhich he carryeth towards vs although now he be in heauen if any little one of his be either naked or clad
or hungry or wel fed he sayth it is (a) Matt. 25. himself that is so So that As soone as we were he was in vs as S. Augustine sayth and when we are heard by God he sayth that he is heard through the (b) The vnspeakable vnâ—oÌ„ of Christ Iesus our Lord with his seruantâ— and his infinite loue to them vnspeakable vnion which is between him and his which is signifyed by the name of the Spouse the fellow spouse and of the head in respect of the body which he loued so much that howsoeuer in ordinary course we see that a man exposeth his arme to receaue the blow for the sauing of the head yet this blessed Lord being the head would needs meet that blow which was giuen by the hand of the iustice of God and so dyed vpon the Crosse to giue life to his body which is our selues And after that he hath quickned vs by the meanes of pennance of the Sacraments he doth regale vs and defend vs and maintayne vs as a thing so much his owne that he is (c) Note not content with calling vs his seruants and friends brothers and sonnes but to teach vs yet better how much he loueth vs and that so he may rayse vs vp to greater honour he endueth vs with his (d) An vnspeakable honour it is if we had the grace to weigh it well to be called ChristiaÌ„s yea as it were one Christ owne name For by this vnspeakable vnion of Christ the head with the body which is the Church he and we are called one (e) 1. Cor. 12. Christ And this most sweet mystery full of all consolation doth S. Paul giue vs to vnderstand in those wordes when he said That (f) Ephes 2. the heauenly Father did make vs acceptable in his beloned Sonne and that we were created in good workes in Iesus Christ. And to the Corinthians he said You are in Iesus Christ Which manner of speach by the word In doth point vs out to this vnion of Christ and his Church So also our Lord saith by (g) Ioin 11. S. Iohn He that is in me and I in him beareth much fruit for without me you are able to do nothing Thanks (h) A holy conclusioÌ„ of this chapter be giuen O Lord to thy loue and goodnesse who by thy death didst giue vs life And thankes be giuen to thee also because by thy life thou consernest ours and thou doest imbrace vs so close to thy selfe in this exile of ours that yf we will perseuere in thy seruice thou wilt carry vs to geather with thy selfe and wilt keep vs for euer in heauen where thou art as thy selfe hath said Where I am my selfe there shall my seruant also be CHAP. LXXXV How lowd Christ cryed out and doth euer cry out for vs before the Eternall Father and with how great speede his Maiesty doth heare the prayers of men and bestoweth benefitts vpon them by meanes of this out-cry of his sonne THov mayst already see by what is sayd how great necessity all men haue of the fauour of Christ Iesus to the end that their prayers may be heard as acceptable in the presence of God But it is not so with Christ himselfe for he hath no need that any other should speake for him He it is and he alone whose voyce is heard in respect of it selfe For as S. Paul (a) Hebr. 8. saith he is able to go to his Father himselfe to pray for vs he also saith That Christ in the dayes of his mortall life offering prayers to his Father with a lowd cry and with teares was heard for his reuerence Christ desired his Father that he would deliuer him from death not suffering him to remaine therein by raysing him vp to a life immortall And as he desired so was it granted to him He also offered vp teares and prayers to his Father many times which proceeding from a hart which was full of loue are said to haue bin made with a loud cry And although that loue which made him cry was euer all alike in him for as much as euery teare he shed and euery (b) What infinite loue therfore was that and what loue ought ours to be in answer of it pace that he made was performed with as much loue as when he laid himself downe vpon the Crosse yet considering the exteriour and the nature of the worke it selfe which was wrought so much difference there was betweene the offering of his most holy body vpon the Crosse and the offering vp prayers for vs as there is betweene suffering yea and suffering death on the one side and praying or speaking on the other Remember that which God (c) Gen. 4. said to Cain The voyce of the bloud of thy Brother Abel doth cry out to me from the earth And of that also which S. Paul (d) Hebr. 12. said to vs Christians You are come to aâ—hedâ—ing of bloud which cryeth out better then that of Abel For (e) The difference betweene the bloud of Christ our Lord and the bloud of Abel that of Abel cryed out to the diuine iustice demaunding vengeance against Cain who spilt it but the bloud of Christ which was shed vpon the earth cryed out to the diuine mercy demaunding pardon The former calleth for anger the later for pitty the former for indignation the later for reconciliation that of Abel asketh vengeance against Cain alone this other asketh pardon for all the wicked men that euer were or will euer be so farre forth as they shal be ready to receiue it with (f) Pennance such a disposition as is fit yea it asketh pardon euen for them which shed it The bloud of Abel was able to profit no man because it had no such power as to pay for the sinnes of others but the bloud of Christ did cleanse both the heauens the earth and the sea as the Church doth sing and drew out such as were detayned in the very pittes of Limbus as the Prophet Zachary affirmes Without fayle the cry of the bloud of Christ desiring mercy is a great cry since it hindred the hearing of that other cry which was made by the sinnes of the world and which demaunded vengeance against the committers thereof Consider thou O Virgin if (g) And thou also who art no virgin consider of it for it speakes to all the world that one only sin of Cain made such a noyse by asking vengeance what noyse what cryes what shouting out do all the sinnes of all men make demaunding the same and greater vengeance in the eares of the iustice of God But yet neuertheles how loud so euer they cry incomparably more loud crieth the bloud of Christ in the eares of the diuine mercy demaunding pardon And it makes that those others are not heard that the noise of our sinnes may be so little and so low as that God may be to them as if he
after it was obteined that they might bring forth workes which (l) Al this originally by the only goodnes and promise of God through the meriâ—s of Christ our Lord carry a condignity to the deseruing of eternall life as a iust reward of such seruices and as an inheritance duly deriued vpon sonnes And if it seeme a thing disproportionable to the basenes and weakenes of mankind to do a thing which carryeth a proportion of merit to the sublimity and eternity of that heauenly kingdome (m) Note and be no longer scandalized at thyn own conceits for the Catholike doctrine being rightly vnderstood will giue thee no cause thou art not heere to looke vpon a man as of himselfe but as being honoured and accompanied with that celestiall grace which is infused to his soule and so made (n) These are great wordes but it was the holy Ghost which spake theÌ„ partaker of the diuine nature as S Peter (o) 2. Pet. 1. saith And do thou consider him as a liuing member of Iesus Christ our Lord which being incorporated to him doth liue and worke by that spirituall inffluxe which commeth from him and whereby he doth partake his merits Now (p) Note these thinges are so high as that they carry an equality with those other thinges which are hoped for and they are sufficient to enable vs to say with truth That such as liue so do fullfill the law of God and do that which S. Paul required of the (q) Col 1. Colossians and the (r) I hâ—sâ— 1. Thessalonians when he aduised them To liue worthy of God Of (s) Note this inference whome he would neuer haue expected the discharge of so that by the meanes aforesayd it might be performed and that it was more the worke of God then of men For instantly the same Apostle giueth thanks to God For making them worthy of the portion of the Saints in light And what kind of portion this is the Prophet Hieremy (t) Threâ—â— declareth saying My portion is our Lord and therefore I will hope for him And Dauid sayth of God Thou art my portion for euer Of this portion he is worthy who doth (n) Et facere pati magn Christianis est accomplish the law of God by those workes aforesayd and who is found faithfull in those trialls that God doth send him as it is written Our Lord did try them and he found them worthy of himselfe And both for these and those it is also written That God will giue them the hire of the labours of his Saints CHAP. XC That the graunting that there is perfect cleanesse from sinne in such as are iust by the merits of Christ Iesus doth not only not diminish his honour but much more declare it LET no (a) A wise confortable and wel grouÌ„ded discourse man feare to attribute the height of spirituall honour and the aboundance of spirituall riches and perfect cleanes from sinne to them whom the heauenly Father doth iustify by the merits of Iesus Christ our Lord. Let no man thinke that the qualifying of such persons so doth put the honour of the same Lord to any preiudice For since all that which they haue descendeth vpon them by his meanes not only doth not their being so full of dignity dishonour him but it doth publish magnify his honour Since it is euident that how much more iust and more beautifull they are of so much more valew do the merits of him plainely appeare to be who purchased so great a blessing for them which of themselues they neither had nor could procure The Scripture sayth That (b) Thâ—en 14. where the manger is full the strength of the Oxe is made apparent the reason is because by his labour he filled the same full of meate And S. Paul (c) 1. Thes 2. sayth to some whome he had holpen forward by his doctrine and by his labours That they were his honour his crowne in the sight of our Lord. And then how much more will they be the crowne of our Lord Iesus himselfe They who by him are drawn to the honour of being his sonnes and to be full of treasures and blessings which honour is so much the more as those blessinges are the greater Our (d) Our aduersarves make him such a one wheÌ„ they conceaue that he alloweth not that the Saints should be honoured by our inuâ—cations whylest yet themselues do giue the same honour to sinnefull men Lord is not like some persons who are in paine or at least not greatly pleased with the honour or vertue of their seruants as conceauing that it doth obscure their owne or like certaine vaine women who fly from being attended by fayre seruants least so the flowre of their owne beauty should be blasted But make thou no doubt but that Iesus Christ our Lord hath a certaine kind of Charity which exceedeth all humane conceit as S. Paul sayth in (e) In infâ—â—itevâ—n chating of God esteeming our good as his owne and to the end that we might be made rich in graces he left his most worthy life vpon the Crosse The naturall sonne he is of God and we are sonnes adopted through him and he being the only sonne did exalt vs to the title of brother hood giuing vs his God for our God and his Father for our Father as himselfe said I (f) Ioan. â—0 ascend to my Father and to your Father to my God and to your God And so as (g) Ioan. â— S. Iohn saith speaking of the same Lord we saw the glory of him as the glory of the only begotten sonne And he saith also of him That he is full of grace truth Therfore the honour and spirituall riches of these adopted sonnes must be such as becommeth the sonnes of a Father who is God And if grace and truth were made by Iesus Christ as S. Iohn (h) Ioan. 1. saith it was not made that it might remayne alone in him but that it might be deriued downe vpon vs and that we might take some part of his fulnesse and this in such abundance that S. Paul (i) 2. Cor. 9. calleth it a gift which as now we are cannot be related by vs. And to the end that we may know the riches of that inheritance which in his company we may hope to enioy the same S. Paul (k) Ephes beseecheth God To giue him the spirit of wisdome and of reuelation because that blessing is greater then our reason is able to reach vnto Glory and grace and thankes be to thee O Lord for euer who so hast honoured and enriched vs with present giftes and hast comforted vs with the hope of being the heyres of God togeather with thy selfe and who didst carry so great loue to vs as that it wrought better with thee then it did with (l) Iob. 41. Iob That thou mightst not cate thy bitte of bread alone but that the orphane
nor any good purpose which he hath giuen me towardes his seruice nor one day of heauen which I expect heereafter and as (z) Gen. 31. Iacob affirmed I am lesse then any of the mercyes of God And if our Lord do say that they who do all that which they are commanded are yet to humble themselues and affirme that (a) Luc. 17. they are vnprofitable seruants that they did but that which they were bound to do how much more then am I to humble my selfe since I fall into so many faults by ignorance by weaknes or by malice A slaue I am and a wicked slaue and I serue not God so much as I am able and much lesse as much as I owe him And if he had cast his eye vpon that which I haue deserued of him a long tyme is past since he would haue throwne me into hell for the sinnes which I haue committed and for many other also into which he might iustly haue permitted me to fall Let this be therfore the feeling which thou hast of thy selfe let this be the place wherein thou mayst put thy selfe since this is that which for thy part thou dost deserue And let thy care be to serue our Lord the best thou canst without reflecting greatly vpon how much it is and without conceauing that God is bound to thank thee for it or that thou art able as Iob (b) Iob. â— sayth To answere him one for a thousand of what thou oughtst him And when thou hearest men speake of the much that good workes deserue let not thy hart grow vaine vpon it but say It is thy mercy O Lord thankes be giuen to thee who hast imparted such dignity to our vnworthy seruices And by such meanes as this be thou euer sure to remayne in thy true place of being a negligent vnworthy slaue CHAP. CXIII That a man being humbled and abased by the contents of the last Chapter may enioy that greatnes which our Lord vouchsafeth to impart to the workes of such as are iust with confidence and gratitude THY soule being thus secured from the aforesayd daungers by this consideration which our Lord doth teach vs thou mayst securely enioy the greatnes and dignity which he giueth to such as are his and thou art to blesse him in regard that euen to such as naturally are but slaues he infuseth his grace whereby they are made the adopted sonnes of God and if sonnes they are heyres togeather with Christ as S. Paul (a) Rom. 8. sayth Now because it is reason that such as are receaued for the sonnes of God should liue and worke according to the condition of the Father our Lord giues them the Holy Ghost and many guiftes and vertues whereby they may serue him and performe his law and giue him gust And they who for any seruices which they could do how great soeuer they were being considered in themselues did not passe aboue the roofe of their owne houses haue now drunke deeply of the water of grace And (b) How grace doth dignify our works by what meanes this growes this is so powerfull that it maketh a fountaine euen in the bowells of them which sproutes vp as high as eternall life by the valew whereof their good workes how little soeuer they be do also rise vp reach to eternall life because they deserue it for the reasons which are already touched And now reflect vpon the difference that runs between thee being considered in thy selfe and thee when thou art considered in God and in his grace Of thy selfe thou art but a huge bill of debt and how much soeuer thou doest thou art not only vnable to deserue eternall life but not so much as to pay what thou owest whereas in God in his grace the selfe same seruice which thou art bound to do is receaued into accompt for merit of eternall life And our Lord without being obliged so much as to thanke thee and much lesse to pay thee for that which thou doest for him doth yet ordayne thinges in such sort as that the good workes of his seruantes may be rewarded by their possessing him in heauen And though God owe nothing to any man for that which man is able to do for him yet he oweth it (c) How diuinely did S. Augustin expresse this by saying that Deus is debitor bonitati suae I he debtour to his own goodnes to himselfe whose ordination is in all iustice and reason yea and that most entirely to be accomplished Giue therefore glory vnto God for these fauours and know that if he had not bin a Father of mercy to S. Paul in giuing him a life which was full of merits S. Paul would not haue presumed to say when he was neere his death That the iust iudge was to giue him a crowne of iustice God (d) God sheweth his mercy in first giuing his grace and then his iustice in rewarding it according to his promise and it all redoundeth to his glory crowned him by iustice but first he gaue him the merites of grace and so doth all redound to the glory of God eyther vnder the title of a iust Rewarder of that which we haue done well or as a mercifull and primitiue Imparter of the good which we haue done and no man can deny this but he that will depriue God of his honour Put thy selfe therefore into thyne owne true place and esteeme thy selfe worthy of hell and of all miseries and vnworthy of the least good And (e) See heere the excellent immaculate doctrine of the holy Catholik Church yet be not dismaied by this consideration of thyne owne basenes but discharging all kind of pusillanimity hope thou in the mercy of God that since he hath placed thee in his way he will strengthen thee so farre as to proceed therein till thou mayst gather the fruit of eternall life from those good workes which heere by his grace thou didst performe CHAP. XCIIII That from the loue which we beare our selues we must draw a reason of louing our neighbours SINCE already thou hast vnderstoood with what eyes thou art to looke both vpon thy self and vpon Christ our Lord it remaines for the fulfilling of the prophets wordes which bid thee See that thou know with what eyes thou art to looke vpon thy neighbours that so on all sides thou maiest haue light and that no darknes may find thee out And for this purpose thou art to note that he beholdeth his neighbour well who beholdeth him with eyes which (a) The only good payre of spectacles through which we are to looke vpon our Neighbours first did passe both though himselfe and through Christ our Lord. My meaning is this When a man findeth trouble and paine for as much as concernes his body or else affliction ignorance and frailty for as much as concernes his soule it is playne that he feeleth incommodity and his sicknes troubleth him and he desireth nothing lesse then
sort as that the many waters of the euill turnes that shal be done thee may not be able to quench it but it will prooue victorious and ascend vpward as a flame doth which liues indeed thou wilt conuerse with thy neighbours without stumbling vpon them and without loosing thy vertue by desiring their preiudice And so Dauid saith Great peace haue they O Lord who loue thy law and (f) The true seruants of God turn all to good they stumble at nothing Which law is that of charity whereby indeed the whole law is completely performed as S. Paul (g) Rom. 1â— Galat. 5. saith He that loues his neighbour hath fulfilled the law And this estimation of our neighbour whereby we honour him as an adopted sonne of God and as a brother of our Lord Iesus Christ and this loue which we are to carry to thinges which do so truly belong to Christ is that which S. Paul recommendeth to the (h) Philip. â— Philippians and in them to vs saying Conceaue your selues humbly to be inferiours to one another make no reckoning of your owne interest or ease but consider what it is fit to do for your neighbours and do this after the example of Christ Iesus who hauing the substance of God did for our benefit humble himselfe so farre as to take vpon him the forme of a seruaÌ„t And these two things namely humility and loue of our neighbours our Lord himselfe did teach and recommend to vs in that admirable action which he was pleased to performe so neare his death by (l) loan â—â— washing the feete of his disciples For (k) Humility and Charity are the bottome the top of all Christian buildings therein humility was expressed to vs by the basenes of that office and charity by the help it gaue to others His will is that we should learne these two thinges of him we who are little seruants and disciples of his when he who was the Lord and maister would needes shew vs the way Being therefore encouraged by this example by the rest which hath bin said do thou weigh thy neighbours with the (l) These are true scales which wil neuer deceaue vs. scales of their being the adopted sonnes of God and consider that Christ Iesus gaue himselfe for them vpon the Crosse and do thou prize and honour them whome God hath honoured so much and loue them who are ioyned to him as a most beloued spouse might be and as the partes of the body are vnto the head And so thou shalt carry a strong and firme loue tow ards them for whatsoeuer springeth not from this fountaine is but weake and wil be quickly weary dry it falleth instantly to the ground vpon the least occasion of encounter that offers it selfe as a house would do whose foundation had beene layd vpon sand CHAP. XCVII He beginneth to treate of that word of the verse which sayth Forget thy people And of the two sorts of men which there are good and bad and of the names which are giuen to euill men and of their seuerall significations HEERE followeth now this other word which sayth Forget thy people and the house of thy Father For the declaration whereof it is to be noted That all mankind is deuided into one of these two different parties or Cittyes one of the good and the other of the bad Which Cittyes are not diuersified by any difference of place for the inhabitants of them both do liue in the same towne yea and euen in the same house but they are distinguished by the diuersity of affections For as S. Augustine sayth Two (a) A consideration most worthy of the great S. Augustin Loues did build vp two Cittyes The loue of a mans selfe which maketh a man despise God doth erect the earthly Citty The loue of God which maketh a man despise himselfe doth build vp that Citty which is celeâ—tiall The first is raysed vp in it selfe the second not in it selfe but in God The first will needs be honoured by men the second holdes it for honour inough to haue a conscience which is cleare in the sight of God The first doth lift vp the head in the glory of it selfe the second saâ—th to God Thou art my glory and he that doth exalt my head The first is desirous of commaund and dominion in the second one serueth another for charity the superiours do benefit the inferiours and the inferiours obey their superiours The first doth attribute the â—â—rength to his owne forces doth glory in them The second sayth Let me loue thee O Lord my streÌ„gth In the first they who hold themselues for wise do seck for no other good thinges then such as are created or if they knew the Creatour they did not honour him as such but became giddy-headed in their own vayn thoughts and saying that they were wife turned fooles but in the second there is no wisedome but the true seruice of God which expecteth no other reward but to honour the same God in company of the Saints and Angells that so God may be all in all Of the first all the sinners of the world are inhaâ—itantes Of the second all the iust And because all they who descend of Adam excepting only the Sonne of God and his Blâ—â—sed Mother became sinners euen by their very being begotten we must all therfore go for naturall inhabitants of this Citty of ours out of which Christ draweth vs by grace that so we may be the inhabitants of his This (b) Of the naâ—es properties of the ciâ—ty of ignorance and sinne wicked Citty which is no vniting of streets or houses or market places but of men that loue themselues and presume vpon themselues is called by seuerall names which signify the wickednethereof It is called (c) Sinne leades or keeps vs in darkenes Aegypt which signifyeth darcknes or misery because they who dwell in this Citty either haue not the light of the knowledge of God through the want of fayth or if they haue it as those Christians haue who liue wickedly yet is it dead through want of charity which is the life thereof For this doth S. Iohn (d) â— Ioan. 4. say That he that loues not God knowes not God because God is loue He meaneth That such an one hath not that kind of enamoured (e) The knowledg of God will not saue vs vnles it be accompanyed by loue knowledge which is necessary for saluation And so one sort of them liuing in the darknes of infidelity and the other in the obscurity of other sinnes they haue no ioy at all but all is anguish and affliction For as Tobias (f) Tob. 5. sayth What ioy can I haue who cannot see the light of heaueÌ„ It is also called (g) Sinne leades vs into confusion Babylon which signifyeth confusion This name was imposed on it wheÌ„ that proud people had a mind to erect a Tower which might reach as it
and I will be their God and they shal be my people and therefore I haue come out of the middest of them And Depart sayth our Lord and touch not any thing that is vncleane and I will receiue you and I will be your Father and you shal be my Children saith our Lord omnipotent Hauing heard these promises thou art to procure with courage to make thy selfe a meerâ— stranger to this people both for the good which is promised and for the euill which thereby thou shalt auoyd It (e) The extreame danger of ill coÌ„pany is no safe thing for thee to remayne vnder a house which infallibly will fall and ouerwhelme as many as are in it And we would not giue him meane thankes who should aduertise vs of such a danger which we might decline Well (f) Hearken well for heere it is the Angell of God that speakes then know thou for certayne and I aduertise thee of it on the part of God that the day will come wherein that vision shal be spiritually accomplished which S. Iohn (g) Apoc. â—8 saw concerning this wicked people when he said I saw another Angell that descended from heauen who had great power and he made the whole earth become all light by his bright splendour and he vttered a voyce with great strength and sayd Babylon the great is fallen it is fallen and it is made the habitation of Diuells and of euery impure spirit and of euery horrible and vncleane bird And afterward he sayd That an Angell tooke vp a huge stone like such an one as they vse in milles and threw it into the sea and sayd with this force shall the great Citty of Babylon be plunged into the sea and it shal be heard of no more And to the end that such as haue a desyre to saue themselues may not grow carelesse by conceauing perhaps that the scourge of God will not lay hold vpon them whilest they are in company with the wicked the same S. Iohn affirmeth that he heard another voyce which sayd thus from heauen Get thee out from Babylon O my people and be not partaker of her sinnes and do not receaue of her markes for her sinnes haue reached vp to heauen and our Lord hath remembred her impietyes And (h) In what maÌ„ner the society of the wicked is to be fled although it be a thing very profitable to a good man euen corporally to fly the company of the wicked and for such an one as is but a beginner in goodnesse it is euen necessary vnlesse he meane to vndoe himselfe yet that going out of the middest of Babylon which heere is commanded by God is to be vnderstood as S. Augustine saith for a going out with the hart from amongst the wicked louing that which they abhorre and abhorring that which they loue For if wee looke but vpon that which is externall Hierusalem and Babylon may be not only in the same Citty for as much as concerneth corporall presence but euen in the same house But if we respect their harts they wil be found to be far a sunder and Hierusalem which is the Citty of God wil be found to be in the one Babylon the Citty of the wicked in the other Forget therefore thy people and get thee vp to the people of Christ being well assured that thou shalt neuer be able to begin the leading of a new life vnlesse with griefe thou first forsake thy old Remember how S. Paul (i) Heb. â—3 saith That our Lord Iesus for the sanctification of his people by his bloud suffered death without the gates of Hierusalem And since that is so let vs goe towardes him out of our tentes and let vs imitate his dishonour This saith S. Paul giuing vs this lesson thereby That Christ did therefore suffer without the Citty to giue vs to vnderstand that if we meane to follow him we must also go our of the Citty whereof we haue spoken which is the congregation of such persons as (k) The very root of all sin loue themselues after an inordinate manner Christ our Sauiour could easily haue cured the blind man in (l) Marc. â— Bethsaida but he chose to draw him out and so to giue him his eyesight and thereby to make vs also know that when we shal be retyred from that common life which is lead by the multitude we are to be cured by Christ in following that (m) Matt. 7. straite way wherein truth it selfe hath told vs that few do walke Let (n) If we pretend to serue christ our Lord we must forsake and forsweare the seruice of the wicked world no man deceiue thee Christ will none of them who will both performe his will and the will of the world And by his owne blessed mouth he hath assured vs That (o) Matt. 6. no man can serue two maisters And since he sayd That he was not of the world that his disciples were not of the world and that his kingdome was not of the world it is not reason that thou be of it if it were but for feare of not comming to such an end as ouertooke the disobedient (p) 2. Reg. 1â— Absolom Who being hanged by his hayre vpon an oak was transpierced with three lances by the hand of Ioab and so as he was hanging he dyed For thus shall it happen to the man who is disobedient to our Lord of heauen Which Lord he doth euen persecute by his wicked life and whose affections thoghts like so many haires of the head do hold him hanging vpon this world For all his ambition is how he may be made great vpon earth and that he may haue faire dayes in this transitory life of his But what can he get by this since the tree whereon he hanges is an (q) Remember the story of the prodigal son Oake which yealdes no fruit but for swine And so this world giues no contentment or fruit at all but to bestiall men whome the Diuell doth passe through with three lances pride of life the desires of the flesh and concupiscence of the eyes the (r) How miserably sinners at treated by the diuell not only in the next life but euen in this Diuell I say who is called the prince of this world because he ruleth and commandeth wicked men whilest yet he treateth his followers in such a fashion as that he fills them not with so much as the food of swine but like as to another (Å¿) Iud. 1â— Adonibesech he cutteth off the endes of their feet and of their hands to disable them from doing any thing that is good and then he casteth them vnder the table that they may feed yet still not vpon full dishes but vpon the crumms that he knoweth not how to bestow elsewhere He keepeth them hungry for the present and he will carry them afterward with himselfe to a place where there will be eternall hunger in company of other torments
the will of man cease to do ill and there wil be no more vse of hell But as it is the most profitable of all thinges to deny a mans owne will so (o) There is no taming of the will but by the hand of God is it also the hardest of the whole world Yea and how much soeuer we may labour we shall neuer arriue to the obtaining of it if that Lord who commaunded the grauestone of the dead and buryed Lazarus to be remooued do not also remooue this hardnes which oppresseth such as it lieth vpon and vnlesse he kill this strong Golias whome none can conquere but only he who is inuincible But though we are not able of our selues to retyre our neckes from vnder these massy chaines yet (p) Our owne endeauour must not be wanting must we not fayle to vse our best endeauour according vnto that proportion of strength which our Lord shall giue vs. Whome also with our hartes we must inuoke for his assistance and withall consider the mischief that we fall into by following it and the blessinges that we obtaine by flying it Consider also the sublime example of Christ our Lord who sayth thus of himselfe I (q) Ioan. 6. came downe from heauen not to do myne owne will but his that sent me And this he did not in matters only of smal importance as some do but in cases of great affront which might euen arriue to the very soule Such was Christs enduring of the Passion for vs but therein he conformed himselfe to the will of his Father casting away the inclination of flesh and bloud which might haue beene not to suffer To giue vs an example heereby that nothing ought to be so beloued by vs which if God do so command we will not be ready to cast away and that nothing also may be so painefull which we may not for loue of him imbrace CHAP. CI. Of a kind of practise in the denying of our owne will and of the obedience that we owe to our Superiours which is a way how to obtayne the abnegation of our will and how a superiour is to carry himselfe with his subiects Now because we cannot get vp to the top if we begin not below I do aduertise thee that to the end thou mayst arriue to the height of denying thy will in greater matters thou must accustome thy selfe to do it in thinges that are small Not to rest therein but to passe on by them to such others as are of more importance Doe not performe or say yea (a) There is great difference betweene a bare thinking a thinking with consent or thinke any thing with consent which may be directed to the end of performing thyne own will pleasure But as soone as thou findest thy selfe carryed with much mind to any thing let that serue thee for a rule that thou art not to do it For (b) An excellent truth which enricheth that soule by which it is faithfully put in practise exteriour thinges ought not to take and carry thee prisoner to them but thou with (c) This is another manner of Christian liberty then that of Protestants ChristiaÌ„ liberty art to bring them home to thy selfe Before thou eatest thou art to (d) A directioÌ„ full of profit and fit for practise mortify any appetite which thou mayst haue to gluttony and ordaine thy meale as an act of obedience to God who commandeth thee to eate for the maintenance of thy life So before thou go about any businesse of gaine thou art first to mortify thy couetousnes and then to goe about thy businesse because God commaundeth it towardes the reliefe eyther of thine owne necessityes or of thy neighbours And by these examples thou mayst learne how to put away the propriety of thy will in all thinges and to do them because God or thy Superiours command them Remember that this is the manner wherin those old Fathers of the wildernes did breed vp their disciples depriuing them of that which they desired and making them do that which they misliked to the end that they might wholy grow to an abnegation of their will And such persons as they had satisfaction of in this particuler they hoped would arriue to perfection and of others they had an ill opinion as thinking that they who would faile in tâ—â—fles would doe it more in greater matters For a will which is accustomed to doe what it hath a mind vnto in thinges of little moment will find it to be very rebellious when in greater matters it should contradict it selfe I would therefore haue thee abase thy selfe and become subiect to (e) This doctrine is very high and hard but it is most true all creaturs as S. Peter sayth and be content that any one might passe ouer and tread vpon thee and contradict thy will and vse thee like a handfull of durte And whosoeuer shall assist thee most in this him loue and be gratefull to him because he helpeth thee to ouercome thyne enemyes which are thine owne opinion and thy will Make therefore account that (f) He speaketh heere to such as are religious professed by vow thy Abbesse is thy mother whome thou art to obey with profound humility and without being weary And be not as some are who in taking a kind of grauity vpon them grow vnruly and cast off all that obedience which they owe to their parents and Superiours not submitting themselues to them euen whylest they are in house togeather Yea some do part house without leaue and all vnder pretense of seruing God whereas indeed there is nothing more contrary to that then the thing which these persons doe Christ (g) The admirable obedience of Christ our Lord. our Lord was obedient to his Father both in life and death and so also did he obey his most holy Mother yea and S. Ioseph also as is related by (h) Luc. 2. S. Luke And let no man think that without obedience he shal be able to please him who was so great a friend to this vertue as that rather then loose it he would lay downe his life vpon a Crosse And do not wonder that I so earnestly recommend obedience to thee For as the greatest danger that thy state is subiect to is that thou art not in religious clausure so vnlesse thou prouide well for thy selfe by denying thyne own will to be subiect to anothers thou wilt haue added one danger to another and it will go ill with thee in the end for (i) Neither wil al this serue vnles extraordinary recollection be vsed withal according to the iudgement of this Authour in diuers places of this booke of S. Ambrose S. Hierome and all the Fathers thy security must consist in the renunciation of liberty Do not therefore content thy selfe with obeying thy parents only but do it also to the rest of the house who are thy elders And if perfectly thou wilt be obedient obey
requireth that great care be had in all thinges and of the example which they are to loâ—ke vpon both in the exteriour and in the interiour of their soule who haue a desire to enioy this dignity HEREBY thou wilt haue seene that the great honour which it is to be a spouse of Christ doth not go alone nor is it to be conserued without care But as in it selfe it is the most high Title that can be expressed so doth it exact a greater circumspection then any other for the keeping therof as it is fit Do (a) The great obligation of a soule which professeth to be espoused to God not thinke that because thou hast not a husband of this world that therefore thou mayst liue after thyne owne fancy But rather know that thou art obliged to take heed to thy selfe so much more yet more by how much thy Spouse is greater and the particuler respects which he demaundeth at thy handes are of many kindes A woman may comply with her husband and yet still be full of faultes but it proues not so with the celestiall spouse vnles thou loue him withall thy hart and withall thy force And one fit of time idly spent yea or a word that shal be vndecent is not to passe without punishment Nor yet let this seeme rigorous vnto thee For euen (b) Note in this inferiour world it goeth somewhat after this maÌ„ner and a woman is bound to be so much the more punctually a good wife as she obtaineth a more noble spouse Well now consider if thou canst who that is whom thou hast taken for thy spouse or rather who hath taken thee for his and thou wilt see that (c) Whatsoeuer coÌ„meth froÌ„ God by way of commandement and whatsoeuer goeth to wardes him by way of offence is after a sort infinitely great how little soeuer it be in it selfe although the thing which he commaunded were smal yet because it is he who commaundeth it no commaundement is small and no sinne also is small which is committed against it as S. Hierome saith And to the end that thou mayst not possesse such a dignity as this vnworthily and that thy honour may not grow into shame I will set a patterne before thee whereupon I would haue thee looke and according to which I wish that thou wouldst draw thy selfe It (d) A faire patterne of a noble Roman Virgin is of a Roman virgin called Asella of vvhome S. Hierom speaketh thus There was nothing more cheerefull then her grauity nor nothing more graue then her alacrity Nothing was more sweet then her sorrow nor more sorrowfull then her sweetnes Her face was growne wane which gaue a signe of her great abstinence but it was not to make any ostentation Her speach was silent and her silence was speaking Her pace was neither very swift nor very slow her habit was euer after the same maÌ„ner Her cleanlinesse was without being studyed she was clad without curiosity adorned without any ornament of dressing And for the pure and perfect goodnes of her life she deserued that in euen the Citty of Rome where there (e) And yet in the middest of all this pompe and loxe S. Hierom affirmed the church communicating with the church of Rome to be euen then the only true Church of Christ and that whosoeuer should be found out of that Arke would infallibly de drowned he that should eate the paschall Lambe out of that house was a profane person so as dissolutenes of manners in any particuler place or person is not alwayes a good argument against that entire truth of Religion is such aboundance of pompe where humility is esteemed for misery good men speake well of her and wicked men dare not presume to do otherwise This is that patterne which I would haue thee behold for as much as concerneth the exteriour For as for the interiour there is no other but that of Iesus Christ as he is placed vpon the Crosse To whome thou art to conforme thy self so much the more as thou enioyest the name of a straiter vnion which ariueth to be euen that of marriage CHAP. CV That the dignity of this State must not dismay Virgins for as much as their Spouse who is our Lord doth giue them that which is necessary for it And of the aduise by which they are to vndertake it and of the cheerefullnes wherewith they are to vndergoe it and of the great blessings which are contayned in it BVT take heed thou be not dismayd by the consideration of that great sanctity which thy state requires by hauing more feare then ioy therein When thou hearest men aduise thee to such high things as these thou must not deiect but encourage thy selfe For as the obligation and vndergoing the charge which is incident to marriage doth not chiefly rest vpon the wiues shoulders but she complyeth with her duety if she keep that wel which her husband hath gotten especially if she also labour according to the little strength she hath so (a) We cannot confide too litle in our owne strength nor too much in the goodnes of God do not think that our Lord tooke thee for his spouse so to leaue vpon thyne owne shoulders the labour of keeping thy soule aliue for neither wouldst thou be able to effect it nor will he be content that the honour of thy being that which thou oughtest to be (b) Make thou this prayer to our Lord Iesus froÌ„ thy very hart and he will mak thee happy shall be thyne I beseech God that thou mayst know how to giue him thy hart and to answere the inspirations which he will send thee that thou mayst not either by tepidity or negligence or indiscreet feruours or pride pollute that pure water which he will raine downe vpon thy soule And as for the rest let thy hart repose not in the confidence of thy selfe but of thy spouse who hath skill and power and will to mainteine thee well if voluntarily thou wilt not leaue his house Yea concerning those things which before I sayd that thou wert to do do not expect them of thy selfe alone but beseech our Lord that he will help thee For in all thinges thou shalt find him to be both a piteous Father and a tender Spouse The (c) Perpetuall chastity must not be vowed but with maturity and after good experience of ones selfe especially by such as stil do liue in the world for as for such Religious as are inclosed the meanes of keeping chastity are so great as that they may sooner vndertake that course though still great prudence must be vsed heerin state of virginity which thou hast imbraced ought not to he lightly vndertaken vpon euery fit of deuotion which may happen nor yet because thou knowest not where to find a husband But as a thing of mighty importance it must be considered of with much aduise and experience is to be taken of ones selfe and
it for it walkes in darknes and it is obscured beyond (b) Thren 4. the black of coales according to that lamentation of Hieremy Least of all hath it the fourth condition since there is nothing so miserably little as to be a sinner who is nothing and lesse then nothing So that all the conditions of beauty being wanting to such a soule it will not faile to be deformed And because all those soules which are infused into the bodyes that descend of Adam be (c) Christ our Lord our B. Lady are excepted and therefore he vseth the word ordinary to oppose it to that other way which is extraordinary ordinarily sinners it will follow that they are all deformed CHAP. CVII How the deformity of sinne is so wicked a thing as that no force or law of Nature or of Scripture were sufficient to abolish it but only Iesus Christ in vertue of whome sinne was euer taken away and grace was giuen THIS deformity of sin is so hardly or indeed so impossibly to be taken away by the force of any creature that all of them togeather are not able to beautifye any one deformed soule Our Lord declareth this by the Prophet (a) Hier. 2. Hieremy saying If thou shalt be washed with salpetre and with abundance of sope yet art thou defiled in my presence The meaning whereof is That for the taking away of sinne neither the salpetre or the reprehensions of the Prophets nor the rigorous punishmentes of the old law nor yet the faire speaches and promises which God did make at that time were sufficient Men were defiled then in the middest both of their punishmentes and of their comfortes of threatninges and of promises For no man was iustified in the sight of God as S. Paul (b) Gal. 3. sayth by the works of the old law and therfore the soule could not haue such beauty in it as to make it desirable by Almighty God because there was a want of iustification which is the cause of beauty in a soule Now if in that law and in those sacrifices which were giuen by God himselfe beauty could be imparted to the soule it is euident that it must lesse haue bin in the law of Nature for as much as that had not so great remedyes against sinne and in particuler it had no written law But (c) No soule was euer purged for sinne but by the precious bloud of our Lord Jesus the beauty which then inhabited the soules of men as well vnder the law of Nature as that other which was written was obtained by the shedding of the bloud of that pretious lambe Iesus Christ our Lord who as S. Iohn (d) Apoc. 13. doth teach vs was slaine from the beginning of the world For although he dyed vpon the crosse in the latter dayes thereof for so the Apostles doe call the time of the comming of Christ yet is he sayd to haue beene slaine from the beginning of the world because euen from that tyme did (e) How the bloud of our Lord thē did worke before it was shed his death beginne to obtaine pardon and grace for them who grew to haue it So taking that vp as a man would say vpon trust which he would after pay vpon the crosse For God ordeined that as there was one Father who was the head and fountaine of sinne and death to all such as were to descend from him in an ordinary course so in like māner there should be one by whome all such as desired might be free both from that mischiefe wherin the other had placed them and from those others also which they should bring vpon themselues So saith Saint (f) Rom 5. Paul That as by the inobedience of one many were made sinners so by the obedience of one many should be made iust And (g) Let the Protestant note this truth without passion as the obedience which Iesus Christ performed to his Father euen to the death yea and the death of the Crosse doth not only make men iust by a kind of resemblance but by giuing of true iustice so the hurt that Adam did vs was not by giuing vs an example only of sinne but by making vs through his sinne true sinners And so that which (i) Act. 4. S. Peter sayd That there is no other name vnder heauen then that of Iesus Christ wherein we may thinke of being saued is not only to be vnderstood from the time that God became incarnate but from the beginning of the world as hath beene sayd Since they who at any time haue beene in grace with God were so by the merits of this our Lord by (k) Fayth pennāce are the meanes of applying the merits of Christ our Lord to a soule meanes of fayth pennance And although by the circumcision of Children Grace were giuen whereby they became iust and their originall sinne was pardoned yet was it not the circumcision alone which gaue the grace for that precious gift was reserued for the Sacramentes of the new law but (l) What that was which gaue grace in the old law it was A protestation of Faith in the Messias who was afterwards to come which protestation was to be made vnto him then And when after being growne in yeares they came to loose their grace by any mortall sinne they offered vp some such beast as God commaunded the bloud whereof was to be shed in the Temple Not to the end that it might iustify for that it had no power to do but that the sinner might protest the Faith which he had in that Lord who was to come And by this saith and by that inward sorrow for his sinns which God inspired he was made partaker of that pretious bloud of Christ which for the pardon of sinnes was to be shed Not (m) The same bloud of our Lord was the remedy also of sinne vnder the law of Nature only was there a remedy in the written law against sinne by faith and internall pennance as we haue said but also in the law of nature although it were not then required that their faith in our Lord should be so explicite But so also were there such exteriour protestations of their Faith as our Lord who would haue all men saued did inspire To the end that although the nations were diuers and their (n) In seuerall places seuerall externall rites may be vsed by the members of the same Church so that the Church allow the same as we see it is in Milan and many other places but the doctrine must be euery where alike externall rites were different yet the Sauiour and Mediatour betweene God and man as (o) 1. Tim. 2. S. Paul affirmeth might be but one CHAP. CVIII That Christ our Lord taketh away the deformity of the soule by his bloud and that it was conuenient that rather the Sonne should become man then either the Father or the holy Ghost and of the great force of
may be a light not only to the Iewes who belieued vpon his preaching to them in person but to the Gentills also who liued in idolatry far off from God And then was it fulfilled which (f) Luc. 2. Simeon that holy Swanne did singe when he said out of his desire to dye Now Lord thou lettest thy seruant depart in peace according to thy worde for myne eyes haue seene thy saluation which thou hast prepared in the sight of all Nations A light to the Gentills and a glory to thy people of Israel If we consider that Christ was placed by the hand of Pilate to be seene first by that people in his owne house and afterward from the top of the Crosse in Mount Caluary it wil be euident to vs that although in respect there came to the Paschall men of all conditions and Tribes as well of naturalls as strangers there must needes be great store of people yet was not Christ therefore placed in the view and presence of all people as Simeon in his Canticle had sunge And therefore Christ was placed in the view and presence of them all when he was preached through the world by the Apostles and their successours Of whome Dauid (g) Psalm 18. said That their sound went out through the whole earth and that their wordes did reach to the very endes thereof For (h) Our Lord is the light both of Iewes and Gentills Of the Iewes he is more particulerly the honour because he tooke their flesh in the pure wombe of the perpetuall Virgin Christ being thus preached was light then and is so now to those Gentills who will belieue in him and so he is both light and honour to the Iewes who also will belieue in him as S. Paul expresseth speaking of them of whome Christ came according to the flesh who is God being blessed aboue all thinges for all eternity Let vs now consider how farre otherwise this was ordeined by God from that which Pilate did intend He conceaued that he but placed Christ in the presence of that people no more and he said Behold heere the man and he thought when they would not let him dismisse him but demaunded that he might be crucified that he should neuer more haue byn seene by any But (i) How different the thoughts of God are from the thoughts of men because the eternall Father saw it was not reason that such a spectacle as that was of his only begotten Sonne being the image of his owne beauty should be beheld by so few and those so wicked eyes or should be presented only to so hard hartes as theirs he ordained that another voyce more loud then that should be sounded forth throughout the world by the mouth of many and they most holy publishers thereof who should also say Behold the man The voyce of Pilate could not sound far off for it was but one and a wicked one inspired by feare through which he sentenced Christ to death He deserued not to be the proclaimer of this word Behold the man and therefore did God command it to be proclaimed by others And that so far from any feare of theirs that rather they did desire and rather they do resolue to dye then to faile of one (k) The courage of the Apostles of Apostolicall men tittle in preaching and confessing the truth and glory of Christ Iesus Pilate was a prophane and foule person for he was a sinnefull and an vnbelieuing man But of the other proclaymers of this word Behold he man I say prophetizeth (l) Isa 52. saying How beautifull vpon the mountaynes be their feet who preach the good newes of peace and of benediction and who say In Sion thy God shall raigne The God of Sion is Christ Iesus in whose person Dauid prophetizeth saying Psalm 2. I am made King by the handes of God ouer Sion that holy mountaine of his preaching his commandment And this King who preacheth the Fathers commandment which is the word of the Holy Ghospell began to raigne in Sion and he was receaued vpon Palme-Sunday for the King of Israel in the Temple which was placed vpon Mount Sion And to the end we may vnderstand that this Kingdome was to be ouer spirituall things it is said by Dauid that he was made King ouer Mount Sion which is the mountain where that Temple stood wherein the worship of God was performed And (m) How the spiritual kingdome of Christ our Lord grew to increase afterward when vpon the same Mount Sion our Lord sent the Holy Ghost vpon his disciples and he was preached publikely in the middest of Hierusalem and in the eares of the High Priests and Pharisees and when by the first sermon of S. Peter (n) Act. 2. vpon the point of three thousand men were conuerted then was this Kingdome of his increased And when more people were yet cōuerted the Apostles did preach and say to Sion Thy God shall raigne As if a man had sayd Though yet this Lord of ours be knowne but by a few yet shall his kingdome euer go increasing till such tyme as that at the end of the world he may raigne ouer all men rewarding the good with mercy and punishing the wicked with the iron rodde of his rigorous iustice This is the voyce of the preachers of Christ which saith Thy God shall raigne And (o) If a preacher will profit others he must begin with himselfe because Christ raigneth not in the hart of an vncleane person for as much as sinne raigneth therein it is not fit that he should preach the Kingdom of Christ to others who will not giue him leaue to raigne in his owne soule Therfore is it that Isay (p) Isa 5◠sayth The feet of such as preach peace vnto vs are beautifull By the feete which are to be beautifull are signifyed the desires of the soule And therfore Christ would not haue the feet of those preachers couered with shoes on (q) These are Sandalles which still are vsed by many holy Orders in the Catholique Church the vper part because God doth place the beauty of them in publike for the example of many But yet whosoeuer hath his feet cleane is to be very carefull not to thinke that himselfe made them so but he must giue thankes to him that washt the feet of his disciples with visible water vpon Holy Thursday and who washeth the soules of all them which euer come to be washed with his sacred bloud It was not therfore reason that so cleane a king as Christ was should be proclaimed by such a filthy mouth as that of Pilate or that there should be but such a proclaimer as could speake no louder and who was but one to publish a spectacle wherein so many and so great wonders were to be declared as were in Christ when he was brought forth to be seene by the people And though (r) The difference betweene a Pilate and a pious