more freely united to him But the mynde that is partly purged of it although she tend to her beginning and be in some sorre illustrated from above by the brightnesse of eternall light yet notwithstanding because all impediment is not taken away she cannot have free passage nor flowe to nor be swallowed up in the bottemlesse depth of eternall light that is shee cannot freely be united to God her principall and greatest good Furthermore although God out of his bounty be pleased sometimes to lift up some to his love by a more easy way without many temptations yet let noe man although enriched with spirituall gifts easily beleeve that he hath attayned to the perfect resignation of himselfe unlesse in very deed he have endured many moste grevious adversities and have keept a perfect quietnesse and liberty of mynde in the toleration of them There are many that as long as they feele noe checkes noe injuries noe losses noe temptations noe troubles doe seeme devout patient and humble But assoone as they are but once touched by them they proudly shew by murmuring indignation and impatience howe little they are mortified Wherefore before any one can be thought to have attayned to the true abnegation of himselfe he must necessarily endure many adversityes with a voluntary and quiet mynde And as for him that hath been exactly tryed by God in afflictions let him thinke that he hath not yet gone soe farre as that he is able to endure them For if he had without doubt he should not want occasions of diverse tribulations For God rejoyceth to adorne the soule more secretly and perfectly joyned to him with many fold afflictions as it were with soe many pretious pearles and soe to bring it to the true similitude of JESUS-CHRIST He therefore that rejecting propriety in all things conformeth his will to the divine will and ordination being equally prepared to undergoe any adversity confusion subtraction of internall sweetnesse for Gods sake as he would the affluence of any prosperity honour and devotion he I say that is come to that passe that he can endure all temptation and tribulation with a certaine internall sweetnesse and joy this man hath founde a pretious pearle this man hath attayned to the highest degree of perfection he is every where and in all occasions united to God and most sweerly powreth his soule to him He doth purely quietly simply joyfully and sweetly walke all the day long in the light of our Lords countenance and can adhere to highest contemplation when he pleaseth with the same facility that he doth live and breath What in this vaile of misery he may receave from heaven and to what God will be pleased familiarly to admitt him it lyeth not in our power to speake for indeed they are things unspeakable Let him that is such glorifi God and confesse that JESUS-CHRIST hath raised up the needy from the earth and lifted up the poore out of the dung sithence that of an impure man here on earth he hath made an angell like to God CHAPTER XII A Monke or Nune by vertue of their profession is bounde to tend to perfection YOu will peradventure say O this perfection is too much above me therefore will I not streich my selfe nor endeavour to apprehend it least I should labour in vaine But my answere is that if you doe according to your words you are no Monke For although you are not bounde to attaine to perfection yet are you bounde asmuch as in you lyeth to endeavour to attaine to it Flatter your selfe howe you will perswade your selfe as you will faine and pretende what excuses you will you are bounde with might and mayne to tend to perfection It is even soe and noe otherwise If hitherto you have been ignorant of it henceforth ignorance cannot excuse you you have bound and obliged your selfe and soe you shall remaine But you will say I cannot attaine to such perfection what meane you by this distrust Are you ignorant that the divine power can doe mo-more then humane infirmity can imagine I confesse that of yourselfe you are not able to abaine it but God is able to bring you Beleeve God hope in God not in your selfe Trust in the grace and helpe of God not in your owne endeavours Neverthelesse that God may be with you be not you wanting to your selfe by sloath Doe what lyeth in your power putt forth your hands stretch out your armes confirme your mynde to the destruction of vice to the perfect abnegation of your selfe recollect your heart produce affection elevate your mynde to the contemplation of those things that are eternall and accustome your selfe every where to attend the presence of God Which that you may the better performe propose to your selfe according to the above demonstrated example every day some parte of our Lords passion and carefully caste your internall eye sight upon the same in the meane time sweetly conversing with JESUS or with your soule concerning him Alwayes I say busi your cogitations asmuch as commodiously you may in some divine matter Lett this be your scope let this be the determination of your mynde labour for this without rest with a quiet and pleasing care And although every moment as I may say you be distracted and stray from your intention be not dejected let not that breed pusillanimitie but be constant and ever returne to what you eare resolved By your infatigable labour you shall overcome all trouble of difficultie Nay in a little while you will finde this labour more easi and pleasant and being regenerate to the newnesse of an unknowen light you will begin to tast of the delights laid up for the saints you will not be the same that you were before but being happily changed into another man and clothed with angelicall grace you will highly esteeme what before you dispised and dispise what before you highly esteemed That which before did evilly please you will nowe displease you what before evilly displeased you will nowe please you you will promptly and willingly endure what before seemed insufferable O pleasant metamorphosis O change proceeding from the right hand of the moste high At last this laudable custome growing into a second nature and the divine love more perfectly possessing you within you will not feele any labour and as before without labour you did thinke on filthy impure absurd foolish vaine and dreame like things soe nowe you will without labour adhere to God and divine things For of necessity the mynde must dayly reflect on that which the harte dearly loveth Woe woe unto perverse tepid and negligent Monkes Monkes in name but not in life who contemning the reverence of their state and violating their vowes are neyther ashamed nor feare to wallowe in the dirt and dung of sloath vanity and passions But blessed yea ten times treple blessed are those Monkes and Religious men who albeit they are of little estimation and imperfect doe notwithstanding with might and mayne aspire
obedience ought to be in the first place you if peradventure you demande in what prayers and meditations you should in private cheifly exercise your selfe if you will credit me after you have accused your selfe and craved perdon for you sinnes you shall cheifly beseech God to mortifie your evill passions and vitious affections and quite and cleane to strip you of all inordinatenesse and that he will be pleased to grant you grace joyfully and patiently to endure all tribulation and temptation Aske of him profound humility and most fervent charity Beseech him to vouchsafe alwayes to direct teach illuminate and protect you in all things These things in my judgement are most necessary for you And indeed they are great and high neither can they otherwise be obteyned then by prayer persever therefore continually knocking and without doubt our lord will at length open unto you and will give you asmuch bread as your necessity shall require But soe you neglect not willingly to give thankes for what you have receaved For nothing displeasesh God more then forgetfulnesse and ingratitude for received benefitts And that you may the more willingly and sooner incline Gods benignity unto you pray attentively for the state of the whole church commending unto God all the faithfull both alive and dead and every reasonable creature Will you further hearein what with pro fitt you may exercise your selfe I will tell you singing of psalmes is profitable the godly meditating in other parts of scripture is profitable the consideration of creatures compared to their creatour is profitable CHAPTER V. Howe powerfull and efficacious the remembrance of Christs life and passion is ALl prayers singing of hymnes thankesgiving and holy meditations are profitable But by consent of all the remembrance of christs humanity and especially of his most sacred passion is most profitable and only necessary and whorthily For it is the present extermination of passions and inordinate affections a fitt refuge in temptation and surest safegard in dangers a sweete refreshing in distresse a freindly rest from labour a gentle repressing of distractions the true dore of sanctity the only entry to contemplation the sweet consolation of the soule the indeficient flame of devine love the sawce of all adversities the fountaine of all vertues from whence they flowe to us to conclude the absolute example of all perfection the haven hope trust merit and salvation of all christians I knew a monke whose custome was to propose to himselfe every day some parte of our lords passion as for example one day he would sett before his eyes Christs being in the garden And withersoever he went that day whersoever he chanced to be if not troubled with any other serious and necessary cogitation whatsoever he did outwardly he tooke a speciall care to direct his internall eye to our lord suffering diverse distresses in the garden and thus would he talke with his soule and my soule behould thy God Behould daughter attend see and consider most deare behould thy God behould thy Creatour behould thy father behould thy redeemer and saviour behould thy refuge behould thy defender and protectour behould thy hope trust strength and health Behould thy sanctification purity and perfection behould thy helpe merit and reward behould thy tranquillity consolation and sweetnes behould thy joy thy delights and thy life behould thy light and thy crowne and thy glory behould thy love and thy desire behould thy treasure and all thy good behould thy beginning and thy end whether art thou scattered thou wandring daughter Howe long wilt thou leave the light and love darknesse Howe long wilt thou for sake peace and involue thy selfe in troubles Retourne retourne thou Sunamite retourne daugthter retourne and recollect thy selfe most deare leave many things and embrace one for one thing is necessary for thee Abide with thy lorde place thy selfe by thy God goe not from thy master sitt in his shadow whome thou lovest that his fruite may be sweet to thy throate It is good for thee to be here daughter For hither the enemy cannot make his approach heare are noe snares no dangers noe darknesse All things are heare safe all things calme Reside heere willingly most deare For heere thou shalt be safe and free thou shalt be merry and joyfull Heere are roses lillyes and violets heere flowers of all vertues doe smell most pleasantly Heere thou shalt see a brightnesse sweetly inligtning all things with his rayes Heere thou shalt finde true consolation heere thou shalt finde peace and rest to conclude heere thou shalt finde all good With such short sentences he would both sharply and sweetly spur forward his soule and call her home when shee was wandring abroad and force her to apply her selfe to the cheifest good Of these little sentences he would take sometimes more sometimes fewer sometimes only one sometimes two sometimes three according to the fervour of his devotion and the pleasure of the holy Ghost and he would often times iterate and repeat them He would also force his soule to the remembrance of those things which our saviour did and suffered for her in the garden in the meane time one while exciting her to the consideration of our saviours unsearchable humility mildnesse patience most fervent and incomprehensible charity another while to take compassion on our lord of infinite majesty soe humbled and afflicted and then againe to thanke him for soe great benefitts and piety an other while to repay love with love and anon to aske perdon for her sinnes and then to beg this or that grace he would often convert his speech to these or the like affectionate and fervent aspirations and my soule when wilt thou be ready to followe the humility of thy lord when wilt thou imitate his mildenesse when shall the example of his patience shyne in thee when wilt thou be better when wilt thou be free from passions and vitious affections when shall evill be quite distroied in thee when shall all inordinatenesse bee blotted out in thee when wilt thou peaceably and gently endure all tribulation and temptation when wilt thou perfectly love thy God when wilt thou intimately embrace him when wilt thou be wholy swalowed up in his love when wilt thou be pure simple and resiened before him howe long will it be ere thou be hindered no more from his most chast embracings and that thou wert immaculate and that thou didst fervently love thy God And that thou didst inseparably cleave unto thy chifest good And then directing the eye of his heart to heaven or to the depth of eternall light he would frame these aspirations and my soule where is thy God where is thy love where is thy treasure where is thy desire where is thy totall good when shalt thou see him when shalt thou most happily enjoy him when shalt thou freely prayse him with all the citticens of heaven these and the like aspirations would he secretly speake either mentally or with his lips taking sometimes
be prepared But you are happy if by grace you have proceeded soe farre that all greife and affliction whatsoever become truly pleasing to you for Gods sake what thinke you brother is my glasse bige nough or is not this yet sufficient for you but you yet desire to heare in more expresse tearmes more abundantly and fully howe to compose your selfe within and without or howe according to reason you ought to order every day before God CHAPTER II Howe wee ought to bestowne our time from our first rising to mattins in the moring AS soon as you are wake and ready to rise to mattens devoutly arme your selfe with the signe of the crosse and breifly pray to God that he will vouchsafe to blot out the staynes of sinne in you and be pleased to helpe you Then casting all vayne imaginations out of your mynde thinke upon some other thing that is spirituall and conceave asmuch puritye of heart as you can rejoysing in your selfe that you are called up to the prayse and worship up of your creatour But if frailty of body if heavinesse of sleepe if conturbation of spirit depresse you be not out of heart but be comforted and force your selfe overcominge all impediments with reason and willingnesse for the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence and the violent beare it away certainely according to the labour with you undergoe for the love of God such shal be your recompense and reward being come of from your bed commend and offer your selfe both body and soule to the most high make haste to the quire as to a place of refuge and the garden of spiritual delights untill devine office begin study to keep your mynde in peace and simplicity free from troubles and the multiplicity of uncertaine thoughts collecting a godly and sweete affection towards your God by sincere meditation or prayer In the perfourmance of the devine office have a care to pronounce and heare the holy wordes reverently perfectly thankefully and attentively that you may taste that your lord is sweete and may feele that the word of God hath incomprehēsible sweetnesse and power for whatsoever the holy Ghost hath dictated is indeed the life procureing foode and the delightfull solace of a chast sober and humble soule remember therfore to be there faythfully attentive but avoide too vehement cogitations and motions of mynde especially if your head be weake least being hurt or wearyed confounded and streightened internally you shutt the sanctuary of God against your selfe reject likewise too troublesome care which commonly bringeth with it pusillanimity and restlesnesse and persever with a gentle quiet and watchfull spirit in the praises of God without singularity But if you cannot keepe your heart from evagations be not dejected in mynde but patiently endevour patiently doe what lyeth in your power committing the rest to the divine will Persever in your godly affection towards God and even your very defects which you are noe way able to exclude will in a manner beget you consolation For as the earth which is of a convenient nature doth by the casting of dunge ostentimes more fruitfully send forth her seeds soe a mynde of good will out of the defects which by constraint it susteyneth shall in due time receave the moste sweet fruit of divine visitation if it endure them with patience And what profitt do you reape by being impatient doe you not heape callamity upon calamity doe you not shew your wante of true humility and bewray in your selfe a pernitions propriety As long as you do reverently assist and are ready with a prompt desire of will to attende you have satified God neyther will he impute the inordinatenesse of this instability to you if soe be by your negligence you give not consent unto it and before the time of prayer you sett a garde over your sences if you cannot offer a perfect dutifulnesse offer at least a goodwill offer a right intent in the spirit of humility and soe the devill shall not finde anie occasion to cavill against you Although you have nothing else to offer but a readinesse in body and spirit to serve our lord in holy feare be sure of it that you shall not loose your reward But woe to your soule if you be negligent and remisse and care not to give attendance for it is writte Cursed is the man that doth the worke of God negligently Be diligent that you may perfourme what you are able if you be not able to perfourme what you desire upon this security be not troubled when impediments happen and you be not able to perfourme asmuch as you would when I say distraction of your sences dejection of mynde drynesse of heart greife of head or any other misery and temptation afflicted you beware you say not I am left our lord hath cast me away my duty pleaseth him not these are words befitting the children of distrust endure therefore with a patient and joyfull mynde all things for his sake that hath called and chosen you firmely beleeving that he is neare to those that are of a contrite heart For if you humbly without murmering carry this burden layde on you not by mortall tongue to be uttered what a deale of glory you heape up for your selfe in the life to come You may truly say unto God As a beast am I become with thee Beleeve me Brother if being repleat with interne all sweetnesse and lifted up abone your selfe you fly up to the third heaven and there converse with angells you shall not doe soe great a deed as if for Gods sake you shall affectually endure greife and banishment of heart and be conformeable to our saviour when in extreame sorrowe auginsh feare and adversity crying unto his father lett thy will be done who also being thrust through his hands and feete hanging on the crosse had not wheron to leane his head who also most lovingly endured for thee all the griefes and disgraces of his most bitter passion Therefore in holy longanimity conteine your selfe and expect in silence untill it shall please the most high to dispose otherwise And certainly in that day it shall not be demanded of you hove much intetnall sweetnesse you have heere felt But howe faith full you have bin in the love and service of God CHAPTER III. God hath too sorts of servants and the description of both AMonge those that are called the servants of God many serve him unfaythfully few faithfully indeed unfaithfull servants as long as they have sensible devotion and present grace of teares doe serve God with alacrity they pray willingly joyfully goe about good workes and seeme to live in deepe peace of heart But assone as God hath thought it good to with drawe that devotion you shall see them troubled chafe become malicious and impatient and at last neyther willing to be att theyr prayers nor amy other divine exercises And because they feele not internall consolations as they desire they perniciously betake themselves to those that
more sometimes fewer according to the internall motion of the holy Ghost he would also often accuse his soule that it was too slowe stuggish tepid ingratfull hard insensible unstable miserable and unhappy Againe he would comfort it being dejected with pusillanimity or feare and would encourage it with these or the like words dispaire not my soule take comfort daughter and be confident most deare If thou hast sinned and art wounded behould thy God behould thy phisitian is ready to cure thee He is most courteous and most mercyfull and therefore willing he is omnipotent and therefore can pardon thy sinnes in a moment Peradventure thou art afraid because he is thy indge but take heart for he that is thy indge is also thine advocate He is thy advocate to defend and excuse thee doing peanance he is therefore also thy indge to save not to condemne thee being humbled His mercy is infinitly greater then thy iniquity either is or can be which words I say not that persevering in evill thou should de make thy selfe unworthy of his mercy but that being averted from evill thou shouldest not dispaire of indulgence and forgivenesse thy God is most gentle most sweete he is wholy amiable wholy desireable and wonderfully loveth all things which he hath created when thou thinkest of him or conceivest him in thy memory far be all imagination of terrour austerity and bitternes from thee When we say he is terrible it is not in respect of himself but of those that abuse his patience and deferr to doe peanance Whose most bitter and poysonons sinnes as contrairy to his most sweet and pure goodnes he repelleth and punnisheth let not thime imperfections discourage thee too much for thy God doth not dispise thee because thou art imperfect and infirme but loveth thee exceedingly because you desirest and labourest to be more perfect he will also helpe thee if thou persist in thy good intention and will make thee perfecter yea peradventure which thou little hopest for wholy fayer and every way pleasing to him Thus and innumerable other wayes would he frindly talke with his soule and invite her by chast speeches to the chast love of her beloved he would also turne his speech to our lord and aspiring to him by holy love would say and good JESU pious Pastor sweet master king of eternall glory when shall I bee immaculate and truly humble before thee when shall I truly dispise all sensible things for thee and when shall I perfectly forsake my selfe when shall I bestript of all propriety For vulesse there were propriety in me there would not bee selfe-will in me passions and inordinate affections would have no place in me I should not seeke my selfe in any thing propriety only maketh thee impediment and medium betweene thee and me propriety only doth hinder thee from me when therefore shall I cast of all propriety when shall I freely resigne my selfe to thy divine pleasure when shall I serve thee with a cleane quiet simple and calme mynde when shall I perfectly love thee in the armes of my soule when shall I love thee with most fervent desire when shall all my tepidity and imperfection be swallowed up by the immensity of thy love and my desire my treasure ô my totall good ô my beginning and end O my God ô sweetnesse of my soule ô my consolation my life my love O that my soule might enjoy thy most sweet embracings O that were indisolubly bound with thy love would it were perfectly united to thee For what is to me in heaven And besids thee what would I upon earth God of my heart and God my portion for ever When shall the world be silent to me when shall the impediments troubles and vicissitudes of this life cease to me when shall my pilgrimage be ended when shall my sejourning be consummate when shall the miserable captivity of this bannishment be disolved when shall the shadowe of mortality decrease and the day of eternity draw neare when shall I lay downe the burden of this body and see thee when shall I praise thee with thy saints without impediment happily and eternally O my God my love my totall good He was often wont to use such aspirations knowing that by the exercise of them humane spirit is more effectually united to the divine spirit and that there by man attayneth the sooner to the perfect mortification of himselfe He had then ready every where But if at any time he had more sufficient leasure he would then sitting as Mary Magdalen did rejoyce to linger more freely and that more to the honour of God then to the inordinate pleasing of himselfe he would not in the meane time omitt with a certaine internall effusion of heart by a sincere and sweete affection to adore blesse give thankes and pray Moreover tourning his speech to the blessed virgin the mother of God as to a most mercifull lady and most liberall stewardesse of heavenly treasures he would ingeminat his pions complaints before her and with an holy importunity extort a benediction Another day he would sert before himself howe our saviour betrayed by Judas was taken and concerning this point he would iterate his foresaid exercises and so would goe through with the passion in order and having ended would begin agayne And about that part of the passion which did represent Christ hanging on the crosse he did not employ himselfe in order and in his proper day but every day at least breifly if so be he thought it convenient exciting his soule to the earnest contemplation of these things On every solemnity of our saviour or the blessed virgin he would if he thought it good propose to the eyes of his mynde the representation of that feast in steed of parte of our lords passion which otherwise was that day to be frequented And would performe his internall exercises or frindly discourses with his soule and about the worke cause mistery and joy of that festivity He was also much delighted with singing the psalmes And I knowe that by the continued custome of this holy exercise he reaped great consolation and singuler profitt of his labours I vvill sett downe an example imitate of it if you please For by this meanes you shall be accustomed to apprehend the presence of God by this meanes you shall begin to have your sences sober watchfull exercised and calme by this meanes you shall prepare your selfe away to the highest contemplation and perfection thus wheresoever you are you shall spend your time profitably vayne and instable cogitations being caste forth out of the corners of your heart and such as are serious being entertayned in their place you may frame your selfe meditations and aspirations in other termes then wee have if you perceave the looking in your booke to hinder your mynde where by you are the lesse able to reach to God and to be united to him lay a side your booke againe if you perceave it doth further your exercise make
affectionately say lord if thou wilt thou canst make me cleane Or this O God be propitious to me a sinner or that have mercy on me JESUS sonne of David or that other ô lord helpe me Soe likewise lett him powre forth his heart before the Virgin Mary the mother of our lord and all the Saints of God humbly suing for their intercession CHAPTER VI. We must dayly call to munde the manifould sinnes which we have committed ANd very day or certaynly very often when occasion shall serve lett him recollect him selfe and with a profound humility firmely porposing amendment lett him call to mynde and particularly confesse before our lord the sinnes of his fore passed life but especially those by which he hath most greviously offended the divine goodnesse But it will be indiscretion to dwell long upon those that belong to the frailty of the flesh least the remembrance of them and the longer treating of the ould sin breed a newe sin by unlawfull delight In which confession contrition and sensible devotion lett him accustome to lament more that he hath behaved him selfs contumelionsly and ingratfully to words his Creator and father then that he hath brought him selfe in danger of eternall punishment In the formes of lamentation and godly complaints which we have prescribed he need not care for running over many sentences But let him take which he will and as many as he will observing no order if he make choice of only one or two or three which soever thy be he may repeate againe and againe he shall doe well We would that he should doe freely according to his devotion alwayes avoiding confusion and perplexity I knowe one that being externally busied in his conversion to our lords passion among chaste discourses tooke delight to call to mynde these few words or the like O good JESU ô pious Pastour ô sweet Master good JESU have mercy on me pious Pastour direct me sweet Master teach me my lord helpe me Another there was that did take delight torune over sometimes more sometimes fewer of the afor said lamentations and to expresse them in diversity of words recording to his affection Let our yoing beginner as I have said be free in these things and let him stirr himselfe to compunction and diligence in his spirituall purpose by meditating if he please upon death purgatory judgement hell and heaven Nowe after he hath in some measure reformed the image of God with in himselfe by healthfull bitternesse of mourning and contrition he may with greater confidence and profitt imitate the above proposed example of exercise Therefore lett him take courage and fervently prepare himselfe for a more intimate familiarity with the heavenly briedegroome But as long as he is weake or colde he shall kindle in himselfe the fire of divine love by serious meditating on the incarnation or passion of the only begotten sonne of God sweetly conferring with his soule concerning these things By which meditation being once inflamed let him compose himselfe by prayer and aspirations desiring by them to unite his spirit to the cheifest good If he often persist by this meanes to drawe his heart to the love of God he shall soone bring himselfe to that passe that presently at the first convention of his mynde or aspiration without any premeditation he may be able to separate himselfe from creatures and their imagination and plunge himselfe in the sweetnesse of divine love Then he shall not so much need to remember each particular sinne of his life past in his penance before God and with sorrowe to direct the insight of his heart unto him for soe might his freedome and affection towards good be hindred but rather let him amorously direct his heart to God himselfe detesting whatsoever may seperate or with drawe him from him neyther do we meane that he should negligently forget his sinnes but so to remember them that the remembrance hinder not a greater profitt therefore lett him confesse them dayly to God rather summarily then particulerle Truly we have a more present remedy against lesser sinnes when we turne to God by a sweete and effectuall affection of love then when we tediously bisi our selves in the consideration of them and severe punishment of them Let him therefore cast them away into the bottomlesse depth of Gods divine mercy and goodnesse that like a sparkle of fire in the midest of the sea they may there perish Let him endeavour to reject quite and cleane all inordinate pusillanimity and superfluons scruples of conscience and perplexed diffidence whensoever they arise For vnlesse they be presently lopped of they doe diverse wayes chooke up the alacrity of the mynde and very much hinder our internall going forward CHAPTER VII Every one ought to consider his owne ability and to proceede accordingly MOreover let him attempt nothing beyond his strength but be content with his lott If he cannot reach as farre as he desireth lett him reach as farre as he can And unlesse he flatter himselfe he may easily knowe what proceedings he is able to make Neverthelesse the devine bounty is liberall infusing it selfe wheresoever it findeth a mynde worthyly prepared Wherefore if our spirituall practitioner be not yet admitted to the sublimity of contemplation and perfect charity lett him thinke himselfe as yet not prepared for the receipt of soe great a good And what good would it doe him to receave that grace which he knew not howe to make good use of Lett him make haste to pull up all vice by the roote that he may be the fitter But still with this proviso that he strive not beyond his strength Lett him not impatiently try to forerun Gods grace but humbly to followe it Lett him not I say violently force his spirit thither whither he cannot reach least presuming which he ought not he tumble himselfe downe headlong by his owne violence and being crushed be punished for his rashnesse Lett him soe tend to perfection that unbrideled violence and turbulent solicitude beare no part in his indeavours Lett him attend the measure of grace given him and with all remember that he shall farre more easily safely quickly and happily attayne to the highest degree of contemplation it is to the comprehending of misticall divinity if he be touched and rapt by the meere grace of God then if he endeavour to attayne unto it by his owne labours Lett him alwayes therefore observe a meane with discretion least by excesse he rum into defects The bread of teares is good and many when they should refresh themselves surfet by it For they insist so long in teares and with so great cōfusion and agitation that both spirit and body are fayne to lye downe under the too much intent or extended exercise We confesse that many by discretion and the help of the holy Ghost can long and profitably mourne And there are many agayne that being internally inebriated with the torrent of pleasure which they take in God Do unseasonably urge and spur
of God performe your worke prudently devoutly and with alacrity but that also in those workes which you faithfully doe to the honour of God with Mary you direct your mynde being freed from the tumult of cogitations and the confused imagination of sensible things to God or those things that are divine especially if reasonable discourse or any other necessity hinder not CHAPTER X. Martha may serve as a mirour for imperfect Religious men Mary Magdalen for such as are growne to perfection MArtha because she is distracted in her externall actions and in her right intentions by the multiplicity of vaine cogitations and is troubled about many things although peradventure she bee not deformed yet is she not comely enough But Mary because she knoweth howe to forsake the troups of unstable cogitations and persisting in unity and tranquillity of mynde doth strive to cleave to goodnesse it selfe is of more perfect beauty Wherefore howsoever you are externally occupyed love not only to be right and innocent with Martha but also to be cleare and simple with Mary Mary hath chosen the better parte which shall not be taken away from her And you have chosen the same which unlesse you keepe according to your power you produce not fruit worthy your profession Have therefore alwayes a charitable simplicity of mynde if you be yet a little one in Christ and are not able to followe Mary soaring soe high in mynde imitate her humility imitate her affectionate watring our lords feete with teares imitate her sweetly feeding on our lords words imitate her most amorously seeking our lord in the sepulcher For even in these she had simplicity of mynde she loved one thing She thought on one thing she sought one thing But imitate her not for your owne delight but to please our lord For if by spirituall delectation you doe principally seeke your selfe in these your soule is not the chast spowse of Christ but the most baise servant of sinne I might say the divells impure hackney you shall at length merit to be admitted to the apprehension of higher misteries by these that are more lowe if I may soe call them which indeed are not lowe but of a wondrous hight In all things that differ not from the sincerity of a monasticall life conforme your selfe to the community still avoiding vitious singularity And because you live amonge Monkes that live laudably according to the sweete austerity of a holy rule be not singular in abstinence and watching neyther exceede the rest of the Monkes therein unlesse by the revelation of the holy Ghost you knowe it to be the will and pleasure of God Neither attempt any thing without the counsell and consent of your superior least while you presume of your owne head to afflict your body beyoud measure you make your selfe unable for good workes and wholy deprive your selfe of the fruite of your labour God requireth of you purity of mynde not the overthrowe of your body He would that you should subject it to the spirit not that you should oppresse it Therefore as well in externall exercises as internall temper the fervour of your mynde with a holy discretion If your will being more slowe to vertue and remisse doe as it were sleepe rowse it up spur it forward But if having to much bridle it runne too fast represse and cheeke it Alwayes asist it with holy feare in the presence of God And let these words alwayes resounde in the eares of your heart looke to thy selfe Consider not over curiously the deeds of others what are their manners and behaviour unlesse it belong unto you as an officer Let your curiosity and businesse be about your selfe Howebeyt thinke not in this that I would have you make noe accompt of the excesses or finnes of others or neglect to amende them asmuch as in you lyeth or procure them to bee amended For we condemne curiosity not holy zeale of justice We discommend not what in this case is not against mature stability or contrary to the sincere love of your neighbour These vices that you see in others or heare of them either thinke them not to be simply true or interpret them in the better parte but if they be soe manifest that no interpretation can qualifie them endeavour to seperate your sight both of body and mynde from them and reflecting on your owne sinnes if you have leasure humbly pray to God both for your selfe and for them For soe shall you more easily avoide unquiet suspicions and rashe judgements But beware that with consent of reason you rejoyce not at anothers sinne though of smale moment or of any adversity but mourne for your brother before our lord calling to mynde that we are mēbers one of another all one body and redeemed all with the same blood Learne not to be angry but to pitty the defects of others and patiently to beare with them whether they be defects of body or mynde For it is written beare one anothers burdens and soe you shall fullfill the lawe of Christ Let not the heavenly grace with you observe in others excite you to satanicall envy but to a faithfull imitation and godly congratulation And although you have not the spirituall good that you knowe another to be blessed with yet rejoyce in heart that God is honoured by it as readily thanke our lord for it as if it were your owne And indeed it will be to your owne good and you shall be crowned for anothers as for your owne Nay more it shall become your owne soe order your mynde that you desire not to please the world nor feare to displease it In man although very neerly allyed love nothing but good or the grace and workmanship of good And agayne hate nothing but vice Le trompe tout le monde Ainsi 〈◊〉 la gloire du 〈◊〉 Nay esteeme noe man your enemie but love even your persecutors as the moste deare furtherers of your salvation What soever you see heare or perceave in creatures to be delightfull and worthy of singuler admiration either by their naturall disposition or the art and industery of man referre it to the praise of the great Creator or the use of eternall beatitude that you may be delighted in our lord Alwayes be afraide of sensuall delectation whencesoever it have its beginning For if you seeke your selfe by that and cleave to it you will be entangled and defiled utterly detest the love of all sinnes yea even of the very least By which not withstanding if peradventure being over reached you fall out of frailty afflict not your selfe unreasonable with inordinate pusillanity but humbly confesse your fault before our lord and renewing your good purpose and piously taking heart caste all your defects into the unsearchable profundity of his mercies or his moste holy wouds As long as you live in this clay building of your body you may mortifie in your selfe the affections of lesser sinnes but wholy avoide to slip into them you cannot godly
and tend to perfection For they are certainly the adopted sonnes of God whome our pious Saviour JESUS doth comfort saying feare not little flocke for it hath pleased your father to give you a kingdome they may securely expect death although they are yet but in the beginning of their holy purpose because it shall be pretious in the sight of our Lord securely may they expect death and yet not death but the sleepe of peace the period of death and the passage from death to life What say you Brother are you yet in doubt doe you yet stagger Take courage I pray you and being emboldned through soe great a confidence in our Lords goodnesse going on the way of salvation without feare preparing your soule against temptations Let noe manner of difficulty affright you In all adversity which you happen to endure either at home or abroade say gratefully the will of our lord be done Although you muste sweat much and long and wrestle strongly before you can overcome and supplant the owld man Let not that trouble you consider not the labour but the fruite of the labour Beleeve me the supernall piety will be present at your labours and will still most lovingly succour you will comfort you when you feare will confirme you when you stagger will defend you being assayled will uphold you when you slip will comfort you in your sorrowe and will nowe and then infuse the moste pretious ointment of internall sweetnesse into you If you persever the force of temptations must of necessity yeild to the force of divine love temptions and tribulations will noe more be grevious and bitter to you but light and sweet then shall you see all good and shall finde a Paradise even in this life This I say will come to passe if you persever and be not of the number of them that begin well but being deluded by the allurements of satan or wearied with the troubles of temptations and labours doe afterwards lightly leave their good purposes They will not be pressed with the weight of tribulation And therefore in time of affliction are scandalized in our Lord and going backe from him doe as it were seeme to say This saying is hard and who can beare it They build not on the firme rocke but on the unstable sand and therefore their buldings doe easily fall downe at every puffe of winde and pushes of the flouds And would to God they would consider their ruines and not soe give over but make haste to renew the decayed building noe more laying their foundation upon the sands but committing them to the firmity of the rocke Deare brother if which God forbid your building be fallen renew your overthrowne worke and build againe more happily then you did before If it fall twice or ten or an hundred yea a thousand times or more repaire it as often as it falleth never dispaire of Gods mercy For the innumerable multitude of horrible and hideous sinnes doth not make God soe implacably angry with us as desperation alone For he that despayreth of forgivenesse denyeth the mercy and omnipotency of God and blasphemeth against the holy Ghost We cannot be soe ready to sinne as our lord is to pardon if we abuse not his patience that is if we will truly and in time doe penance Thus ought every Christian to thinke But least prolixity make my treatise displeasing I thinke it best for me to with drawe my pen and to stop the course of my begun navigation In the meane time while wee take downe our sayles it will not be amisse breifly to touch what you ought to doe at every dayes end Every day therefore before you goe to bed seriously but without inordinate dissipation of mynde consider in what you have that day offended and aske pardon of our most mercyfull God purposing thenceforth to live better and more carefully to avoide all vice Then pray that he will vouchsafe to keepe you that night from all pollution both of body and mynde commending to him and to his sacred Mother and your holy Angell your soule and body to be guarded and kept Being gone to bed arme your selfe with the signe of our Lords Crosse and having honestly and chastly composed your body sigh to your beloved thinking upon somme good thing untill sleepe gently sease on you Which if it bee over deepe and rather a burthen then a refreshing to your body if likewise by frayle illusions it procure or produce any thing savouring of dishonesty be not over much greived theareat but humbly sigh before our Lord and with humble prayers beseech him to grant you sobriety of diet and sences to which sobriety of sleepe and purity of body are commonly companions This is all deare brother that I have to send you You desired a Mirrour or looking glasse see whether you have receaved one If I have any way satisfied your desire God be praysed if not howe soever God be praised I have given what our Lord hath given me But be they better or worse I desire you sometimes to reade them over Fare you well and pray for me FINIS A TABLE Of the thing contained in this treatife CHapter I. pag. 1 Chap. II. Howe wee ought to bestowne our time from our first rising to mattins in the moning 21 Chap. III God hath two sorts of servants and the description of both 33 Chap. IV. That for everye howr of the day wee ought to cleave to some setled exercise least our mynde growe sluggish 51 Chap. V. Howe powerfull and efficacious the remembrance of Christs life and passion is 67 Chap. VI. We must dayly call to minde the manifould sinnes which we have committed 107 Chap. VII Every one ought to consider his owne ability and to proceede accordingly 130 Chap. VIII A very good meanes to obtayne humility 154 Chap. IX 159 Chap X. Martha may serve as Mirour for imperfect Religious men Mary Magdalen for such us are growne to perfection 177 Chap. XI Perfect mortification is the certaine and only short way to perfection 194 Chap. XII A Monke or Nune by vertue of their profession is bounde to tend to perfection 209 FINIS