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
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
not therefore troubled when vehement temptation scourgeth you but as if you receaved a tooken of his love remayne faythfull and invincible in your agonies saying with blessed Job Although he shall kill me I will trust in him during this storme it will be somewhat hard for you to be present at the divine office by reason of the too much instability and cloudinesse of your mynde Not withstanding be patient and gently do what lyeth in your power The night will passe away darknesse will be dispersed and light will take place againe But as long as it is yet night take heed you be not found idle and negligent if you have no list to pray sing or meditate then read If your minde loath reading write or manfully exercise your selfe for the time in some other externall worke in the meane time diligently rejecting the troubles of vaine cogitations If drowsinesse doe unseasonamolest you so that it greviously depresse you you shall peradventure time and place permitting do better if somewhat pertinently to the honour of God leaning your head somewhere you slumber a little then if inexorably you resist it for if by labour you thinke to drive it away as long as you labour you shall be free But that once paste and you betaking your selfe to your spirituall exercises it will easily returne if you sleepe lett it not be deepe nor long soe that it last no longer then one may read one or two or three Psalmes for so your spirit being as it were renewed will arise with more expedition and alacrity They that knowe not howe to behave themselves soberly in eating drinking and the custodie of their sences if thy fly to this remedy it is to be feared least they rather aggravate then alleviate this disease and falling into a deepe and long sleepe miserably loose their time by sluggishnesse watch carefully against those temptations by with the devill endeavoureth to encline the mynde to those things that are indecent and vitious Be sure to reject them in the very beginning before they take possession of you with in for unlesse you repell the adversary at the first onset if he gett entrance he will presently clap bolts on your soule and you being destitute of liberty and force will hardly be able to resist But if you have behaved your selfe negligently and he fetter you doe not yeild soe but deny your consent and strive against him even by creeping on the ground and pray to our lord in the strength of your spirit that freeing your bonds he will restore you to liberty or at least preserve you from giving consent But knowe that many times you shall more easily overcome the adversary suggesting any filthy impious and absurd thing if you contemne and sett light by his barking and soe passe them over then if you strive long with him and with great labour endeavour to stop his wicked mouth But if he over much importune you and being repelled once or twise do still come on a fresh you must meete with him on playne termes that being overthrowne in plaine grounde he may fly away with disgrace Nowe he setteth on us many wayes for sometimes he seeketh to ensnare us secretly and under pretence of piety sometimes he setteth uppon us openly and with open fury sometimes he creepeth by little sometimes he breaketh forth sodenly and unlooked for sometimes he layeth siege to us by spirituall and internall meanes sometimes by corporall and externall adversayes or prosperities wherefore we must alwayes have recourse to the aide of our lords passion and cry to God with teares But as I have already said soare not too high by reason of the grace which peradventure you have For what have you that you have not receaved why doe you glory as if you had not receaved take heed therefore that by noe meanes you open the windowe of your heart to the blast of vaine glory or the aire of selfe complacence see you brag not see you boaste not abroade of what you have receaved But keepe your secret to your selfe let it abide with you unlesse you happen to reveale it humbly and modestly to some intimate and secret friend for spirituall utility or consolation or that you be compelled by obedience or other manifest necessity or great profitt See that you beleeve not that you have receaved the gift of God by your owne merits and labours but rather judge your selfe unworthy as indeed you are of all grace and consolation and worthy of all confusion and dereliction Compare your selfe with those that are more holy that by consideration of their perfection you may the better acknowledg your owne imperfection humble and deject your selfe place your selfe unfaynedly belowe all men but you will say howe can I doe this considering that many with out feare or shame live moste debauchedly which I neyther doe nor will doe what shall I cast my selfe belowe them shall I place them above me I say you shall CHAPTER VIII A very good meanes to obtayne humility FOr if you consider that these who to day are soe bad may to morrowe be more perfect then your selfe and that if they had receaved the gifts that are granted you from above they would leade a farre more holy life then your selfe and that you would sinne more greviously then they if you were not prevented by a more abundant grace I say if you consider these things you will easily observe howe fitt it were that you should preferr every sinner before your selfe O if you did knowe the secret of God howe willingly would you give place to others howe gladly would you take the lowest place howe joyfully would you lay your selfe at the feete of others with what alacrity would you attend the sicke howe devoutly would you honour all howe affectionatly obedient would you be without any delay or complaint But yet I require a more excellent thing of you viz that you place your selfe not only belowe all men in your heart for Gods sake but also belowe each creature reputing your selfe as moste abject dust esteeminge your selfe unworthy to tread on the earth or to enjoy the benefitt of light looke more exactly into your selfe howe ingratefull tepid unstable miserable and vile you are and by that meanes you will attaine to that moste humble submission of mynde if the old enemy knocke importunatly at the dore of your heart putting into your conceit that you should thinke your selfe some body that you should vainely glory and compare your selfe with others repell the subtill villany locke the dores against him and although you feele some pestilent immissions beware alwayes of giving your consent for if you consent if you let in the impostour and incline your mynde to his unlawfull allurements you have broken your faith and vow which you have made to the bridegroome of your soule you have polluted the bed of your beloved which before flourished neyther can you be admitted to his most blessed familiarity unlesse you cast out