confounded together Now that wee may see what place is meete for the one and what for the other these 2 Annihilations make to a two-fold Love The Passive to an enjoying Love i. to a naked beholding Union and enjoyance of God The Active to a practicke Love i. to our Outgoing Lively and faithful working whether bodily or spirituall So then the proper place of the Passive Annihilation is when wee lye prostrate to the Fruitive Love Because the Passive reduces all Motions and workings to nothing avants all forms and Images and so leads us to the fruition of God The Place for the active Annihil is when we are to follow the Practick Love For by this Annihil as by a certain transcendence of the Mind all our works acts operations as wel of the body as soul are nothing'd so going out without going out working without working Being without Being living and yet dead we transforme the practick Love into the fruitive change the Active Life into the Contemplative Enjoy God by Faith in working and Action as fully as in rest and ease which is the Top and spire of Perfection And these are the proper places of the two Annihilations They erre therefore that disorder them and alter their right courses using indeed a Passive AnnihilatioÌ„ savoring Acts and Operations as some doe when they should faithfully worke in the Practicke Love And practising the Passive Annihilation producing Acts as many do when they should suppresse them and enjoy God by Fruitive Love The first run upon a false rest the other a hurtfull Activenesse Some thorow a too much Retirednesse hide their Talent Others through superfluousnesse of working fall short of God But that these two extreames may be combin'd and both the Mistakes amended it remaines that we now shew the times agreeing to these two Annihilations the not knowing whereof brings the two foresaid Errours There be three sorts of Active love or working Exteriour Interiour and Intimate Exteriour imployed in bodily labours Interiour in discourses and studies Intimate in renewing of workings and prayer For the first Though bodily works they be only yet are they not to be neglected when obedience engagement love or discretion â—alls and requires them In which thing we are to sticke close to the rule of the exterior Wil. And if that Rule require them not it shall be no wisedome to forsake the Fruitive Love to goe to doe them For though the Active Annihilation reduces all to Nothing yet such â— Liberty is not expedient as runs â—s wittingly upon Impertinencies He that loves danger shall perish thereiâ— And hee that linkes hard tyes not â—rong Yea he that willingly sets himselfe aworke about needlesse things cannot duely practise this Annihilation But if on the other side hee refuse to doe such workes after the same Rule he incurres a dull rest the more to be feared because vailed with a false vizard of Contemplation concerning the Interiour working as Studies discourse or giving ones selfe to the Spirit The limits of necessity are not to be transgrest superfluities warily to be avoyded the which are never free from Passions Affections and Negligence wherein if we be not watchful no small Immortification vexation arises in the soul which encrease swel there the more the lesse we account them such being dawb'd over with a vain Tincture of perfection Whereout of necessity arises an inordinate dangerous liberty of Mind pouring it self forth into all kind of phantasticke thoughts and losing the bridle to fleshly Imaginations and ridiculous discourses whereout of necessity arises an inordinate and dangerous liberty of Mind pouring it selfe forth into all kind of phantasticke thoughts whereby all Passions have their free entry Pride Selfe-conceit Ambition Suspition Rash Judgment Contempt of our Neighbours the false Joy Sadnesse Feare Anger Envy and of Miseries what not which nathelesse a Dulnesse unsensiblenesse of the evill makes to be little troubled at all prick of Conscience being blunted wherto great heede is to bee taken But if it appeare by this Rule that the Wil of God requires his Industry in Studies Discourse c. and yet hee hangs backe therefrom 't is a sluggish faint-heartednesse though vail'd under pretext of of piety or addicting himselfe to the Spirit Touching the Intimate working as renewing of our practise in contemplation c. 'T is only then to bee produc't when by reason of Gods working withdrawn and our owne waxing faint or because of feeble and sluggish Nature the Minde is sunke as it were yawning and grows heavy and le ts fal from her memory this Blessed-making object Yet so long as by the Pul and Inworking of the Bridegroom or by strength or rowsing of the Minde or even by patient cleaving to God or by simple Remembrance she can persevere in Union with God in the Fruitive Love 'T is not best to forsake the Passive Annihilation and the Fruitive Love that depends thereon to take in hand by acts to practise the Active Annihilation provided that by simple Remembrance she stand to her part For there it is that the soule is so transported inlarg'd inlightned and united to God there she tasts the chaste embraces sweet entercourses and divine kisses there she sees her selfe sublim'd ennobled and glorified with Angels at the coelestiall Table There she relishes the fruits of her Mortification the treasures of her Repentance and the Comforts of all her Selfe-denyalls and of those weapons shee found out to make war upon her selfe for attaining the Kingdome of Heaven which is to be got by violence Let her not therefore I say forsake this Passive AnnihilatIon and the Fruitive Love descending therefrom No though she feel not those comforts but find this Fruitive Love so bare to her feeling that shee lose all her owne feeling and assurance of comfort which is the satisfaction of Nature And this is the true Rest wherein both her faithfulnesse is tryed and the soule is seated in a true poverty of Spirit patience and essentiall Resignation of her selfe There whatsoever of Man remaines in the soule is done away There the Death ended and the conquest atchieved There is the ghost given up betweene the hands of God and lastly there is the Man transformed whole into God For by this constancy and Death God lives and reignes in him and in him accomplishes all his workes By this Rest and ceasing from Acts is pure abstraction and Uncloathing of Spirit attained too wherein the Soule is spung'd of all errours and impurities and practises all vertues and perfections though essentially and without multiplicity For here is used a marvailous defence watchfulnes of heart which not only can endure no consent or delight but even not the least feeling or thought of Sinne they being open enemies to this Rest and Annihilation so that here all Passions are appeased Affections mortified and Motions restrained Here love is ordered Desire bridled Joy tempered Hate killed Sadnes mitigated Vain hope extinct
things are nothing and though a Man have the knowledge of this nothing of their Annihilation yet may he want the practise Wherefore both these points are equally necessary in this matter as wee said before that God alone may be seen alwayes who is the end of this Annihilation But now to practise this thing duely First I admonish the Reader to pluck up his spirits here that they may worke more supernaturally and I say not further from sense then before but flat contrary thereto For where before he annihilated them when they were absent here he must also annihilate them present Which to doe and that this Annihilation may bee cleare and apparent we will here distinguish it into Active and Passive Passive is when the man himselfe and all other things are cast asleep vainly und be made nothing I call it passive because 't is onely suffered The Imperfections whereof wee have blowne away in the former Chapter The Active Annihilation is when the Man himselfe and all other things are annihilated not onely sufferingly as in the Passive but doingly I meane by Light in the Understanding as well naturall as supernaturall wherein he sees and most infallibly knowes that all those things are nothing and rests upon this knowledge in despight of feeling The one of these Annihilations lives when all Image and feeling of the Creatures is gone The other continues also firme and sure even whilst they remaine after sense and yet by means of this light are seene to bee nothing The one consists in Knowledge drawne from Experience when a man sees himselfe brought to nothing as 't is said I am brought to nothing The other consists in Knowledge true indeed yet not seeming so after sense but after understanding Of these two the Active is more perfect for two reasons Strength and Duration For strength because together with it selfe it nothings all other things Not onely when it sailes with the actuall blast and breath of this Will or Divine Being but even then also when the soule feels drought and barrennesse annihilating all things felt as well as those which be gone and vanisht The which point requires carefull Attention For thus it annihilates as well all things that remain after feeling as also that same which annihilates them i. the owne Understanding and Knowledge with all manner of working thereof Not enduring that any thing whatsoever Image nor feeling remaine but only God For strength also because neither a multitude of outward affaires nor abundance of inward or intellectuall workings can hinder this Annihilation or distract the man himself For strength againe Because 't is not onely farre distant from sense but flat contrary thereto So that it annihilates things not onely when the minde in abstractions rides above them but even then when 't is conversant among them looking on them as if it looked not whence necessarily arises Duration which is the second perfection of Active Annihilation And both these perfections are not so perfectly found in the Passive Annihilation which stayes alwayes the Actuall Lure of God There be many that both know and practise the Passive but few the Active And so they no sooner fasten on any worke bodily or spirituall but they easily sinke fall downe and become divided and so live alwayes in languishing and unsatisfiednesse of spirit These two Annihilations make to a two-fold Love fruitive and practick whereon stands the whole spirituall Life The Passive tends to the Fruitive Love the Active to the Practick For in as much as these two Loves are never perfect till in the Practick love wee can enjoy God even as in the Fruitive 'T is therefore expedient that this Active Annihilation mediate to annihilate the Acts of this Practick Love which otherwise might hinder that enjoying and raise so many middle walls between God and the soule As therefore the Passive Annihilation nothings all things by deading all our feeling of them and transchanging them into enjoying Love So the Active annihilates them also still remaining though in sense wee feele them transforming them into fruitive Love So that the Love which without this Active Annihilation were meerly Practick may thus become fruitive And so by this Active Annihilation we shall continually enjoy God whether we worke and produce Acts or no. But as the same falls not under sense but is onely spirituall and supernaturall So the enjoyance to which it leads us is not perceived in our feeling but in spirit and transcends nature CHAP. XII That this Active Annihilation consists in equalling the Passive The practise of it in Light and Remembrance THE Perfection of this Active Annihilation consists in equalling the Passive in a Death of all things and in a Passive Annihilation after the spirit though not after feeling And the signe shewing it to be absolutely perfect is when it annihilates the things which we perceive by sense as verily as if wee perceiv'd them not And even in the face of all these sensibles brings as Invincible faith peace and union with God as among those things which are already lost and nothing For thus a man seeing sees not when hee holds not the same Formes in Meditation and Debatement And so he lives in a perpetuall Death and dyes in an eternall Life buried in Triumph of Conquest like that valiant Champion Eleazar intomb'd in the glory of his victory when crusht with the fall of the Beast he ended his dayes For this Beast which hee slew is the whole sinsible world which when wee kill and bring to nothing we also slay and annihilate our selves and so are buried as it were thereunder and our Life is hid with Christ in God The summe of the practise of this Annihilation consists in two things Light and Remembrance The use of the Light is generall The use of Remembrance is to raise us again when we forget and grow distracted For the first This Light is no other but a pure simple naked and habituall Faith which Reason helps Experience ratifies and confirmes Nor falls it under sense nor hath any acquaintance therewith yea it resists the same But it resides in the Crowne of the soule and beholds God without any Meane I say 't is pure excluding all help of the senses so as all in vaine should any prop or assurance bee groped for from them which are utterly to bee renounc'd First because the helpe of that Devotion which is had from the senses endures not but this Faith is lasting Secondly because when sensible Devotion is had 't is not certaine but variable But this Faith is conâ—ant Nor is it sufficient to renounce the senses unlesse we also annihilate them because they be erroneous and lying perswading â—s to believe that things arâ— Conâ—â—ariwise this faith is lightsome and points us to walk in the spirit Secondly I call it simple to cut of all multiplicity of Reasoning as a thing repugnant to the purity of this Faith First because it makes it humane where it
the two precedent Wils are to be drawn and reduc'd to this whereof we now treat And all our actions outward and inward bodily and spirituall to be perfected in this Will 1. viz. To wit or that is to say In the unity of the Divine Being without any backsliding at all And if this word Will seeme to stumble any man by raising some Image or bringing to minde some other Object then may he at his pleasure let it fall and hold fast the word Being or God though indeed not so much matter need bee made of the word as for the simplification of the minde which in these three words Will Being God discerns one and the same thing Now betwixt the Interiour and Essentiall Will â—s this difference The one goes before the other followes The one is the mean the other the end The one interiour the other intimate the one unitive the other transformative The one almost essentiall the other altogether The one hath certaine Images yet very subtil the other is pure naked and without all forms In the one the soul yet moves somwhat in the other shee 's at perfect Rest In the one shee 's active in the other passive as receiving the influence and intimate operation of her Bride-groome And as the Interiour arises from the Exterior so the Essentiall arises out of the Interiour CHAP. II. That this Essentiall-Will may not be come to by any meane of Man with Reasons assuring the same HAving now understood the Nature perfection height of this Will it followes that wee prescribe a mean to attaine thereto A meane I say without meane For 't is impossible that any act meditation thinking aspiring or working can bee of sufficient force thereto No discourse exercise nor Rule nor any meane to bee here enterposed betwixt God and the Soule But even this onely End without any meane to draw us to it and raise us to the blessed vision and contemplation thereof And this accordeth with St. Bon. who saith that here the highest speculation of all others as that of the Trinity by St. Dyon is to bee left Not that the same is not good and excellent but because there is another more supreme apprehension in the mind of Man by which only the highest spirit is most wonderfully arrived in the Eye of the understanding must be strongly borne downe because in this Contemplation 't will alwaies apprehend that which the affection tends to whence it is that the greatest stay in our Rising is the strong-cleaving of the understanding to the Desire the which must nethelesse bee strongly borne downe because it conceits either phantastically circumscriptibly or in some limited manner And still as much as in this Rising the understanding mixes it selfe with the desire so much impurity is there And againe as far as the eye of the understanding is blindfolded which will not bee done without hard practise and labour so much is the eye of the desire in her reach mounted more freely and eminently without compare And now the desire is to forsake all consideration and love of sensibles also the beholding of all Intelligibles and rise up pure without admixttion of the understanding to that satisfyer of her longing whom in her extent shee knowes that she may bee the more intimately united to him For since this being is plainely supernaturall it falls not within the bounds of sense or understanding surpassing mans capacity it cannot bee comprehended 'T is not laid hold on but without us but when we bend to any yearnings or acts whatsoever we remaine within our selves 'T is not receiv'd but when Man suffers But the Soule producing acts is agent This being is above us but our owne acts below us And therefore saith St. Bon. wee are here to desist from all naturall incurvation and perception All thinking in operation how spritely soever it be is lesse then wee But this being is greater The double looke is quickly gone The single eye stands fixt in one He therefore that stoops to the Creature I meane to any Meane act or operation perceives not the Creator That this being may bee received it onely must be minded but intellectuall discourses glide us away 'T is then only comprehended when it comprehends and possesses us which befalls not so long as wee are entangled in our owne thinkings acts and workings 'T is most simple therefore unconceivable to any other but a throughly refined understanding No searching knowledge is able to transforme This is the office of Love onely So often as the senses or understanding are distracted about any working the soule is also posted to the same object and must needes consequently bee writhen bended below her selfe and cannot therefore flye above her selfe And thus 't is evident that in this matter no help of any Mean of Man is to be sought Nor is it once to be thought that this Being may be approached by any Reason or discourse of the Understanding but contrariwise such discourses acts are to be utterly abandoned and all working of the Understanding to be strongly held below as Dion to Timothy See saith hee that in rising to mystical Visions viz. The Divine Being thou forsake thy wits by a strong contrition and all workings of thy understanding and all knowables and invisibles and arise as unknowingly as may be possible to the Vision of him which transcends all substance and knowledge I therefore conclude That since all aspirings meditations and discourses are here of no use and since the wit judgement and reason of Man must fall before the Divine Glory And since all acts and workings of the Understanding are to be forsaken I conclude I say that no humane or active Meane may be found to attaine thereto This Being can no otherwise bee comprehended then as it gives it selfe to be comprehended Nor otherwise understood then as it opens it selfe to be understood Nor be seen in any other manner then as it gives it selfe to be seene Noâ— be tasted knowne possessed but as it gives it selfe to bee tasted knowne and possessed It suffers it selfe to be comprehended when how and by whom it pleaseth It offers it selfe to be understood tasted and enjoyed when how and by whom it lusteth But our intellectuall powers are unusefull and good for nothing CHAP. 3. Of the first Mean A Mean to be found without a Meane Passive not Active nor consisting in Acts of the Minde And the same two-fold ALthough as we have shewed no meane of Man is of sufficient power to attain the Vision of this Being yet a divine Mean may be found able to compass the same And though not Active or Actual wherein Man may doe somewhat yet passive or essentiall wherein Man doing nothing suffers By reason of which resting from action I call it a Meane without Mean For as thereby 't is granted us to attaine our highest felicity and therefore it may be rightly termed a Meane So inasmuch as all workings of the Minde are
Buâ— as the Graine though the form pâ—rish yet continues in substance â— also the Desires though in formâ— they be no more yet live for eâ— in Being And as the Graine â— the end it may produce the effeâ— must of necessity lose the fornâ— so must the Desires And againe the substance of the graine perishâ— not but lives in the effects aâ— continues alive the same befalls also in these Desires For even as the graine is changed into corne so the Desire is transformed into the thing desired And though the Desires and Acts be no longer but vanish yet their being is preserved in God For as Ice through the form perisheth yet the substance remains in water into which t is melted So though the Desires and Acts vanish as touching their forms yet their being for ever perseveres in God into whom they dissolve And these three be the points whereby a change is made of the Desire into the thing desired and of the Act into the object it wrought upon i. The Manifestation of the thing desired the satisfaction of the desires and a Rest of the same Desires c. which points doe necessarily follow each other by course Blessed Soule that in her self proves this Manifestation this Satisfaction and this Rest Blesseâ— Soule that sees her Bridegroome sâ— cleerly in her selfe and is so absolutely contented with him anâ— lets all her longings and particular Acts flow into him But far away most blessed Soule that in thiâ— Manifestation sees where and hoâ— he rests at Noon-day even in Heaâ— of Love and superabundance oâ— brightnesse In such a Satisfactioâ— she sees her selfe rapt up and enjoyed by her Bridegroome whâ— so seizeth upon her that thenceforth all her Mights are expos'd to receive him are hallowed to him and are wasted in clipping and embracing him till being with chilâ— to him she extolls the condition of a Spouse ready to be delivered of her first borne even as having conceived Jesus as himselfe saith Whosoever doth the will of my Father which is in heaven the same is my Mother c. In such a Rest of Desiring she is div'd in the Infinite abyss of the deity of her so much long'd for beloved Bridegroom She wants no comlines after such Manifestation no sweetnesse after such Satisfaction Nothing can stay her from Union after such a Rest By this Manifestation she sees her selfe behold her God uncloathed by this Satisfaction shee receives him into her selfe and by this Rest shee meetes him naked In these is all Beauty set before the Brides eyes stounding her with amazement All sweetnesse is infused into her Bowells overflowing her with admirable deliciousnesse All secrets are disclosed to her fixing her in astonishment Nothing above this Vision nothing more joyous then this sweetnesse Nothing more arct then thiâ— embracement then to behold thâ— Kingly nakednes of the Divine Bâ—ing What can possible be so lovelâ— as when the soule unites her self tâ— God opening him a Resting plaâ— betweene her Breasts what work is of so high excellency and dignâ—ty as his sole delightfull and ravâ—shing touches within her she onlâ— suffering his Inaction ô what uâ— expressible glory shines in this Viâ—on where cleerly appeares the faâ— of God tru-lovingly smiling upoâ— the soule ô what Joyes does shâ— taste when all vaile blowne away they both chaine themselves mutually in linckt embracements whâ— endlesse sweetenesse flowes down into all her faculties when her Lovers left hand supports her head his Right hand embracing her when he infuses himselfe into heâ— and by lively and divine toucheâ— poures himselfe into her inmost bowels None there is that can know such beauty or conceive such sweetnesse or imagine so high rapture but he that at some time hath had tast thereof in himselfe Nor yet he at any other time but when he actually proves the same CHAP. VI. The Third Point Of the perfect uncloathing of the Spirit UNcloathing of the Spirit is a a certaine Divine working purifying the Soule and stripping her of all formes and Images of all things as well created as uncreated and enabling her so naked and simplified to contemplate without helpe of formes First I call it a Divine working to include all humane since no humane working can uncloath her because no working of Man nor acts of his understanding can possibly bee without all forme and Image For first necessarily they bee formed and cloathed with some Image before they be produc't All things also worke according to the condition of their owne Nature But all humane working is imaginative ergo works by Images and consequently can never effect this uncloathing and clearnesse froâ— Formes For as one contrarâ— cannot produce another for instance sake Darknesse Light â— So can neither imaginary working produce that which is frâ— from Images and without aâ— forme Yea so far is it from thiâ— that he that thus strives most shaâ— finde himselfe furthest off Foâ— as one treading on soft earth tâ— make it smooth makes the same more uneven with the prints of his footing So hee that by his own Act takes in hand to smooth polish and uncloath his soule from all Images shall by the signes of his his owne acts adde more to those he hath already And as water the more stirring it is the further it is from calme and rest So the more a soule is stirred with her owne Action the further is the distance from abstraction Andas water the more stirring it is to the end it may become calme and smooth must cease from motion So the soule that she may be made naked and bare must rest from her owne working But this standing still or resting from Action cannot bee accomplisht by the soule alone with fruit and in God For it is the worke of the Holy Ghost to raise and suspend the mights of the soule that they may cease from all naturall operation and as it were dye in God Where many soules are grossely deluded which without the raising and pull of the holy Ghost resting from all working doe reâ— indeed in a kinde of abstraction but pure naturall and in their owâ— spirit yet thinking the same supernaturall taking that false Reâ— to be union with God c. Further I adde purifying thâ— soule and enabling her so nakeâ— simplified to contemplate without helpe of formes Which wordâ— containe two effects of this uncloathing Purgation and Illumination Purgation because it stripâ— the soule naked of all Images anâ— illumination because it enableâ— her to discerne spirituall thingâ— without helpe of any Image Yâ— as we shall see hereafter the object of the Humanity and passion of our sweet Saviour Jesus is never to be forsaken which how it may stand with the same Annihilation and uncloathing wee shall shew hereafter Moreover this uncloathing by the first effect of Purgation besides all other impurities doth principally cleanse the soule from one and that a most hidden Image of the wil of God which she alwayes retained being
the second blemish of contemplation mentioned cap. 4. which Image was so impalpable and spritely that the soule in the Inner will could never discover the same but stood alway perswaded that she saw this will in his owne Being without any forme or vaile at all Yea nor could she ever perceive that Image till she was cleansed thereof there being no imperfect thing imputed to him for imperfect that knowes nothing more perfect But the soul there knew no better because this Image was the highest and puresâ— that ever she saw Whence it was that shee could never know the same for imperfect though now she sees it to be so when she 's purged of it If any aske How then can she winde her selfe out thereof if shee cannot know it Answer That must be done by fervour of Love which is Gods own worke and not the soules anâ— which consists more in suffering then in doing This working oâ— the love of God is so inward mighty and powerfull that it worke more livingly in the soule then ever she felt before And this pull iâ— so violent that it ravishes her morâ— then ever without her selfe Thiâ— fire of Love is unquen chable thaâ— it consumes all her impurities And lastly so strict is this Union that shee is all exhausted in God in whom all her Imperfections be drown'd lost and brought to nothing And by the same worke shee gets a new Light and a far other Capacity then ever she had triall of and is thereby enabled to worke extatically and supernaturally without and above her selfe and all her naturall and humane Understanding wherein stands the second effect of this uncloathing Illumination For here she is made drunk and giddified with such abundance of Light that shee is covered therewith as with a garment transformed into it and made one with the Light it selfe For since in this most strict union God the fountaine and Well-spring of this universall inaccessible Light is more profound inward and nigh to the soule then shee to her selfe and that in this Lovely union no secret of the Bridegroom usefull for her to know is kept from her It followes that this mystery full of all joy and ravishment is revealed to her that her Bridegroome the Eternall God is found within her Him she beholds in her selfe after her hearts desire without vaile or Image seeing him as at full noon-day how he rests within her as in his owne Tabernacle exercising a sweet and familiar operation within her And whilst shee sees tastes and proves how he is nearer to her then her selfe and how she is more hee then shee is her selfe and that she possesses him not as something nor as her selfe but more then all things and more then her selfe According to this Light shee so demeanes her selfe that all her Joy Life Will Love and Sight are much rather in him then in her selfe and that because she knowes him farre more excellent and worthy then her selfe and hath found him more delicious and sweet then her selfe And lastly sees him more faire and glorious then her self And again having learned by proofe that he is all things and her selfe nothing and that in him is all beauty goodnesse and pleasure in her selfe nothing but bitternesse of evill In him alone she stayes in him she dwells in him she lives and nothing at all in her selfe Whence it followes that shee is all in God all to God all for God and all God but nothing in her selfe nothing to her selfe nothing for her selfe and nothing her selfe She all is conversant in the Divine Will Spirit Light and Power but nothing in her owne Spirit Will Light and owne or naturall working In that Power in that Spirit in that Light with an unmoveable eye shee beholdeth this Essentiall Will or Divine Being as 't is said In thy Light shall wee see Light Here she discovers hidden and unsearchable secrets Here lies her way open to Light unaccessible Here she unfolds unutterable Mysteries Here she viewes wonders Here she swims in endlesse joyes For being united with God none of these mysteries secrets and wonders can bee kept from her For since God hath shewed her himselfe how shall he hide any needfull secret from her And now having found within her selfe the fountaine of all sweetnesse and the Well-spring of all Pleasures Delights and Joyes how shall she but be drowned in the Sea of this spirituall Deliciousnesse and ingulft in the whirling torrent of this Celestiall Blisse Or how shall the abstrusest secrets of God be shut before her to whom he hath bared and laid open his Bosome Or how shall his Mysteries bee sealed up from her to whom he hath revealed himselfe face to face Who indeed is a secret God CHAP. VII The fourth Point Of the nearenesse or ever instant Vision and presence of the happy-making end THe fourth and last step of this Meane followes next after this Uncloathing of the Spirit i. The Propinquity or neare Assistance of this Being which is no other thing but the continuall presence or habit of Union passing between God and the soule where-through the soule being cloathed with God and God with the soule doe live mutually in themselves without any withdrawing back-sliding or interspace For he that dwells in Love dwels in God and God in him Where the soul followes her Bridegroom so light and swift so strong and eager and runs after him with such earnestnes thirst and unsatiablenesse clinging to him with a full Inclination of love and bond unloosable that they be as the body and the shadow she following the Lamo whithersoever he goes whose savour sweetnesse and lovelinesse have so enamoured ravisht and invincibly stole her away that in the depth of her heart she conceives a horror of herself utterly abandoning all her own thoughts of her self and all sense of sweetnes from her selfe that she may suck in the sweetnesse of this substance that she may eternally cast her self thereinto and lose her selfe there never to be found againe resting even there that for the naked love of the same Being Whence it is that she deadly hates all whatsoever brings therwith the least feeling of delight in her selfe or casts in so much as a thought of her selfe or that sayes shee 's one and her Bridegroome another In whom she so exposes her selfe to be dissolved wasted and annihilated together with all created things that in comparison thereof shee disdaines to live Here she opens her selfe and entertaines this Being not as a vessell receives what it holds but as the Moon does the shine of the Sun Here she throwes abroad her white and Lilly armes to fold and close-inchaine her Lover but much closer is shee embrac't and inchained by him Here she enlarges all the circumference of her Minde to draw in this Infinite but on the other side she feeles her selfe most ravishingly swallowed up in it Nor can she finde what to doe to rebound the assault and conquest of this Love but only yeeld
Despair rejected Fear put to flight Presumption abased Wrath paâ—ified and shortly to stay here all Inordinatenesse of the Soule is rectified and reformed But if even the least passion affection or Inordinatenesse get head there is then no perfect rest no Passive Annihilation till they be conquered If we seek Vertues How profound humility is it thus to nothing our selves How invincible Patience thus to waite How strong constancy thus to persevere How lovely Long-suffering to attend God so long with so fixt and faithfull an eye How chast Virginity to present our selves thus simple Lastly what Faith livelier whaâ— hope surer what Love more ardenâ— then is found in this Annihilatioâ— and Rest Though indeed all these Vertues suckt up as it were in the Infinite of Divinity are there practised more essentially as in their Fount and wel-spring then actually They erre therefore who being forsaken of a perceivable or experimentall Union turne their bach straightway upon this Annihilation Death and expyration leaping backe to themselves and rebetaking them to their own actâ— refuse to endure this Rest Emptinesse and poverty of Spirit this will of God and All-spritely entercourse Supercelestiall or Essentiall Illumination though indeed the true and Divine Wisedome and naked seeing of God is only attained in this Annihilation Rest Expiration and Death So that in this their flying backe returning to themselves they doe no other but far estrange themselves from all pure and empyreall knowledg and from al union and transformation into God and so bide alwaies â—raitned within themselves and their owne bowels and in the fetâ—ers of the old Man as wee have clearely shewed But they that be otherwise minded that they may the better pamper nature and their owne feeling are pleased to let themselves be deluded under a false â—ew of vertue saying that in this Annihilation they ought to coâ—perate with God and not to rest when indeede the more they rest thus the more they worke and lesse the lesse they rest though unexperienc't ones can hardly beleeve it For this way of working is spirituall and Godlike and far from feeling and common working of Man which can never unite the soule to God immediately But let them say what they please If they would throughly search the depth of their minde they should finde that no other thing but selfe-love unfaithfulnes faint-heartednesse selfe-seeking and impatience of spirit calls them backe from this Annihilation how much soever nature bulwarkes her selfe under a faire pretence of Vertue Some there be who in this Annihilation have many yeares hung â—â— the doore of persecution withouâ— assaying to enter because when by ceasing from their owne Acâ—â— and by Annihilation of themselves they should have anchored in God they returned back into their own Countrey by renewing their owne Acts and humane workings who neverthelesse being shewed their failing have easily found passage through this gate But though the greatest part of Spiritualls incline to this extreame yet it may bee â—â—d some there are that lean the other way to a rest too much taking â—â—â—reames for meanes and the false â—est for the true We will therefore â—â—ke each of theÌ„ known froÌ„ other The false Rest is Rest taken in â—â—ture not in God wherein neiâ—â—er in Nature nor yet in God â—y operation is exercised And â—us it may bee knowne from the â—â—e and good rest The false is â—deede a Rest but not Annihilaâ—on and it nourisheth in it selfe â—ch selfe Love The good Rest is absolute Annihilation perfecting the whole man The false is turn'd from God reflected upon it selfe The true is turned from it selfe reflected upon God The false seeks consolatioÌ„ solace the true content with God alone le ts goe all other things The false is busied about an Imaginary death Annihilation the true about a Reall one The false eanes more then too much upon the old Man and selfe-will the true counts it selfe altogether vile The false sets down it selfe as the end wherein to rest the true is taken as a meane to come to God The false makes the soule dull darke and ignorant in vertues the true inriches her with the contrary ornaments The false-loosens and benumnes the conscience clumpsing making it heedlesse of grosse imperfections â— the true sharpes it and makes it sensible of the least blemish The false presents sadnesse and impatience when duties of obedience or love are to bee undergone the true teaches Resignation and Joy The false having little sound Mortification takes paines more in hiding then in subduing imperfections witnesse their life that follow it sitting downe without the true Rest the true rejoyces in true MortificatioÌ„ heâ—rtily rooting out all imperfections Lastly the false puffes up with Ambition and suggests a high conceit of it selfe the true holds low with humility bringing in Selfe-contempt And to conclude the one without any cleaving to or Remembrance of God makes the highest end the owne ease never intending to produce any inward act how much soever it sees it selfe sunke falne asleepe and degenerate into pure nature The other is never without some cleaving to God and Remembrance of him but is ever armed with some though very spirituall and alwaies disposed to reare it selfe againe whensoever it feeles it selfe sliding or slipt into pure nature through heavinesse of the Mights and drowsines of the faculties of the soule And these bee the differences betweene these two Rests and the signes whereby they may be knowne And above the rest the last is the chiefe being a most remarkable difference and plaine and sufficing by it selfe without more Neverthelesse if here a little forgetfulnesse of God creepe on us through frailty yet are wee not therefore to waver and cast all away as a false rest but onely for so much not for all i. for that space of time wherein wee persevered forgetfull of God but for no longer And by diligent watch to redeeme the time and not by heavie faint-heartednesse to give over all No nor can that bee the false rest if that heavinesse proceed of frailty and against the Will For the false rest is voluntary Loe there the three kindes of working Exteriour Interiour and Intimate the extreames and the meanes The inordinate working which is the false-liberty The Idle-ease which makes the false rest And that which comes in due time wherein consists the holy Activenesse according to the course and exercise of the Active Annihilation as abovesaid And when the time requires not that wee goe forth to such action and practise of Love by the Active Annihilation then is it right that we bide rooted and grounded in Vnion enjoying love by the Passive Annihilation And thus you see the proper times of these two Annihilations as before you saw the places CHAP. XV. The manner of passing forwards in the three kinds of Working Exterior Interior and Intimate Where is shewed the drawing of the Active and Contemplative Life to the Supereminent And the Practise of
the two former Wills in the third HAving now shewed the Time and Place of working it remains that we declare the manner And first for the Exteriour and Interiour working whose Time Place though they be the same in this Essentiall as in the Exterior Will after the Rule of things Commanded Forbidden and Indifferent whether bodily or spirituall which Law is never to be abrogated under any cloake of Perfection whatsoever yet in the manner of working they differ as far as the Supereminent Life excels the Active For he that is a Worker in this third is also to accomplish the Duties of the first and yet not to descend nor give backe thereto Wherefore in the practick Love and outward workings as in bodily Workes as also in the inward Love or Working as to labour for vertues to meditate to repell vices and temptations to quench passions and affections none of these are to be done as in the Exteriour Will by setting before our selves this Essentiall Will and divine Being or because God is or that God may be Assuredly knowing that thus a dwelling is prepared for God who will thus shine in the soule where contrariwise by our Selfe-will and Darknesse we should neither enjoy God nor behold this Being So that when we doe any outward Good works either by embracing Vertue or rejecting Sin and Passions we doe it not here by directing any Intention but by knowing most surely simply and plainly that so God will be Where in working contrary not God should be but we our selves so far forth as in us lay nor for us No nor yet as touching God himselfe so far sorth as we could withstand it And thus through our Sinne and Selfe-will and by preventing God we should set up our selves and so advance our owne Sinne and Passion for a God and an Idol But take heed that I say not in doing these or these things God will be there i. in those things or then and at such a time but simply and indefinitely God will be For the word Being or God abstracts from here and now so that thee is not onely in such a Good worke but every where as that Soule most plainely proves that sees her selfe by this Practise swing'd along in a strange Maze without herselfe in this Being and rapt therewith as in a Dissolution of all things thereinto Nor knows she whether she touch the ground Neither say I The Soul should then see God but simply see him iâ— not as beginning from thence forwards but as being from the beginning or rather without all beginning For in him she sees eternity without beginning and end Besides since all Active Life as exercise of Vertues and contention against Vices as also the Contemplative Life are drawn to this Essentiall and since consequently the practise of them consists in these two points wee are here no lesse to take heart never to slide away from this All and this Nothing then wee were in the other two lives to persevere in the Divine Will and Selfe-denyall Resting ever assured that as oft as we lose the Divine Being and finde our selves as some-what so often we stray from the Divine Will Perfection and follow our owne will and evill We should therefore alwayes hold fast this All and this Nothing but chiefely when wee practise any thing which is of Vertue and perfection or avoid any thing tending to errour and Imperfection Nor are our Affections and Passions to be pampered under cloake of Active Annihilation by conceiting a false hope of making them nothing thereby For that cannot be done because the very Affection it selfe the Passion and false being is the absence of the true Being So that To be willingly imperfect and also to be annihilated do no lesse contradict each other then to be and not to be both at once For to be subject to passions is that being which diametrally â—hwarts Annihilation Not-being Such Annihilation therefore is counterfeite and good for Nothing but to excuse excuses in sins Yet this I mean only of those Passions and Temptations whereto free consent is given For otherwise those Passions and Temptations whereto our Reason renounces to give consent though wee feele them sticke never so strong in the Soule yet are they to be nothingd by mean of the Active Annihilation And so we neede confesse nothing in them but this All as in the first part wee acknowledged nothing but the will of God Where note that if a Man really and truly beare downe all passions and imperfections by his owne nothing and the Divine All he shall at length returne victorious in a finall and triumphant Conquest of them all and become so throughly stablisht fortified and inthron'd iâ— this practise that hee shall tast infinite more pleasure from this mortification of himselfe then he ever before tasted in slavery to his own will and lust For to him that attaines hither all the paine contradiction and sorrow which hee suffered in fighting against his owne will and desire is suddenly changed into Joy and Blisse whilst in stead of himselfe he enâ—oyes not any grace or vertue but God himselfe for whose alone sake he thus denyes himselfe And thus it is cleere what manner of working is to bee observed in the Outer and Inner Operation i. That they are not to be produc't in the Exterior Will or according thereunto but through and in the Essentiall Will which is God himselfe Not that Outward works are to be despis'd on neglected but done after a perfect manner bodily turned into spirituall and the Active Life drawn up to the Contemplative â—nd the Exteriour and Interiour Wills to the Essentiall And this shall suffice for the place time and â—anner of working For the second Interiour Will â—â—d working therein I know no need here to speake thereof both because 't is but as an effect of the â—â—st and also because 't is contained as perfectly in these two as a â—â—ane within two extreams Now having seen the way of practick Love or working outward and inward we come to the Intimate working the use whereof useth to befall in Prayer when the Soule as we have said finds her self foyl'd and forgetfull of God But now how pure how simple and spritely this working ought to be how little acquaintance it should have with our Senses is manifest from the very name and epithite of Intimate For since hare Intimatenesse Purity and Spirituality are but one and the same thing it followes that inasmuch as nothing is more inward then that which is intimate that nothing is more pure or spirituall And therefore there is such exceeding purity and spritelinesse required in this working lest it should disturb the soul from the Union and Fruitive Love sinke her too neer to Nature and writhe her too much into her self but contrariwise rather immediately fix her in Union and seat her in the Divine Being far distanc'd from her selfe and transcending Nature Many faile in this Rule of
Intimate Acts some more some lesse For some there be that make no end of producing fervent acts and naturall workings running thereby so much further from the true union and essentiall Contemplation as they thinke by doing to â—ome neerer And so much the more sticking in themselves and â—heir owne Nature as they thinke they live in God and his Being for such workings are neither â—ntimate nor pure but exteriour â—nd uncleane And these faile not onely in the â—urity and profoundnesse of worâ—ing but also in the Time For they alwayes act leaving no room for Fruitive Love Others worke with no lesse violence and tempest of Natural Motions then these doe but not so oft but only when they feele the heavinesse and drowsinesse of Nature and these erre in the Intimate working of this Life though they hold the due time Lastly some there are that produce Acts so halfe sleeping indeed much finer Acts then those others yet not pure enough for that Intimate purity here required But stiâ— they breath their own Motions â—â— Naturall strength and Langour â—â— satisfie Nature But in this place I take the moâ—â— pure intimate and perfect working to bee that which stands in a sole simple and pure Remembrance oâ— God and is produc't by pure anâ— naked faith whereof Chap. 12. because that alone is the true Meane twixt the said Extreames of false Rest and hurtfull Activity and is the sole Intimate working which immediately sets the soule in Union and enjoying Love and wasts her into the Divine Being For this Remembrance opposes it selfe against that false Rest Drowsinesse and Heavinesse of Nature ever â—owsing the Soule and making her attentive to her All. On the other side it opposes the hurtful Activenesse because it works not so much by Naturall Motion as by pure â—aith which is supernaturall and an infused vertue nor so much by Man as by this Being and this All who with his glory inspiration and Light smiting and allarming â—er up trumpets upon her walls I am here The Imperfections whereby we â—y faile in this pure Remembrance are declared Chap. 12. which may be all drawn to these 2. heads to Adde and to Diminish For to diminish i. to be lesse employed then in a sole pure and simple Remembrance is to slide into one of the Extreams the False Rest For no Man can doe lesse but hee that 's layd dull and halfe asleepe To adde also i. to joyne other Selfe-Acts whereby to come nigher to God then we thinke we can do by this Naked Faith and Remembrance is to fall into the other extreame of Hurtfull working For he that thus betakes himselfe againe to his own Acts goes as far backe as he that being unaccustomed to work nakedly and supernaturally by true pure faith and not finding there his old staffe of feeling grows male-contented with this pure and naked Remembrance and falls to redouble hiâ— owne manifold Acts and so withdraws this Being the further from him by seeking it after so uncouth a manner Yet if at first for the little practise a Man hath had in the production of such pure working any act hap to breake out more then a simple Remembrance the same may be nothing'd by Active Annihilation And the same directioÌ„ belongs also to them in whom this Remembrance seems to imitate Acts. And contrariwise hee that findes his pulse too slow let him recover by this simple Remembrance when his Soule is so falling and drowsie Which Remembrance though I may say t is rather to be received as the worke of God then as ours yet that hinders not but we may have it for seeking since this Divine Being and Light is ever present and stands at the Doore and knockes And because also that Naked Faith whereby wee behold the same bides alway in the soule and is habituall And thus the Intimate working is plaine For as in the foregoing chapter the due time and place are shewed where and when the three kinds of working in the practick Love are to be exercised So here is declared the manner they are to be done in And thus t is cleer how the two former Lives are drawne to and practised in this third without shrinking a Jot from the practise thereof down to the other For as the Philosopher is not to begin again and undergoe the Schooles and rules of Grammar So he that hath wonne the Tower of this Supereminent Will is not to sinke or slide to the two fore-past Lives Not that he should neglect outward Workes â—ut fulfill them perfectly in this â—hird Life and Will transforming â—odily into ghostly and the Aâ—tive Life into the Contemplative â—d that not without due respect â—o the Time Place and manner as before CHAP. XVI That the Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ is perpetually to be practised and alway to be had seene before the eyes of the soule AS for the Practise of the Passion according to the condiâ—ion of this Exercise it is alway â—o be held before our eyes as one and the same with this All associate to the Flesh and Nature of Man Where note well that I say one and the same For so shall the Contemplation thereof yeeld aâ—undance of fruit as shall appeare But because many conceit that this Practise and Contemplation of the Passion suites onely with young pupills and such as converse only in the Active Life but not in the Supereminent supposing it most excellent to adhere to the Deitie by perfect Union 'T is therefore a matter of high Consequence in our present purpose to say somewhat thereof And though the Brevity whereto I confine my selfe in this Manuall do scarse permit the thread of our discourse to be spun longer yet in asmuch as the Passion is so unevitable that it makes an Essential parâ— of this Rule I may not passe it in silence the rather because the Devotion of many and the wavering of some about the resolution hereof requires thus much And for the first point to secure them that the Passion ought alway to be had before our eyes t is plaine by that of Exodus And looke that thou make it like the Pattern shewed thee in the Mount Which say the Fathers is meant of the Passion of Christ And how ardently God desires to commend the Contemplation thereof to us appeares First by the word Looke which awakes us to a solid and profound Insight and consideration inasmuch as infinite secrets be there inclosed which bee hidden from the outer-eye and which reâ—aine invisible without a good â—xt watchfull long and through-lighted sight not in the Active and Illuminate Life but even in the Contemplative which also will â—carcely prove quickâ— and clâ—ere eâ—ough to comprehend them but â—ven twinkle â—or weaknesse in be â—olding and conceiving the same Besides since GOD is there though in form of Man t is most just and godly that every where we give him profound adoration and honour For what soule can endure when shee