nay rather it seemes to him that you lett him liue at greate ease and how soeuer you proceed with him he is very well satisfied that you treate him better then he deserues Humilitie is also a mightie meanes towards Patiēce And therefore the wiseman aduising him who meanes to serue Almightie God to prepare himselfe to suffer temptatiōs disgusts and to arme himselfe with Patience assignes him for the meanes thereof that he should be humble De prime cor tuum sustine Carry thy hart abased ād then suffer Omne quod tibi applicitū fuerit accipe in dolore sustine Receiue all that in good part which comes vpon thee though it be very contrary to thy gust and to thy sēce and indure it though it put thee to paine But how shall this be done What kind of armour is that which you meane to put vpon me to the end that I may not feele affliction or if I feele it that I may be able to support it In humilitate tua patientiam habe Possesse Humilitie and soe you shall haue Patience From Humilitie doth alsoe springe that kinde of peace which is so much desired by all which is so necessary for such as are Religious So saith Christ our Sauiour Discite à me quia mitis sum humilis corde inuenietis requiem animabus vestris Be humble and you shall possesse greate peace both with in your selues and with your brethren And as amōgst the proud there are euer contentions and disputes and brawles Inter superbos saith the wise man semper iurgia sunt so amongst such as are humble there can be no contētion or strife except onely that holy strife and contention who may be the inferiour may giue all kinde of aduantage to his fellow which was that blessed contention which occurred betweene S. Paule the Hermit and S. Anthony about who should first breake the bread one of them importuning the other to do it because hee was his ghest and the other him because hee was his elder and each of them procuring to honor and prefer his fellow Theife are good contentions and strifes which as they grow from true Humilitie and fraternall Charitie so do they also strengthen and conserue the same Lett vs now passe on to those three vertues which are proper and essentiall to à Religious man to which wee oblige our selues by the three vowes of Pouertie Chastitie and Obedience Pouertie hath so great coniunction and is so neere of kinne to Humilitie that they seeme to be sisters And so some holy wryters by that pouertie of Spiritt which Christ our Lord put for the first of the Beatitudes vnderstand Humilitie and others voluntary pouertie which is the fame that Religious men professe And it is necessary that Pouertie be euer accompanied by Humility for the one without the others is daungerous A spiritt of vaine-glory and pride is easily deriued frō base cloathing and from pride vses to grow a contempt of others And for this reason S. Augustine declined the vse of such apparrell as was extraordinary lyneane or base and tooke care that his Religious should weare decent and ciuill Cloathes the better to fly from that inconuenience Humilitie is alsoe necessary for vs to the end that we may not desire to be too well accommodated and that wee may not be too carefull to want nothing but rather that wee may content our selues with what soeuer they giue vs yea and with the very worst since wee are poore and professe Pouertie That Humilitie is necessary for the preseruing of Chastitie wee haue many examples in the histories of the fathers of the Desert of vgly and abhominable falls of men who had already spent many of their yeares in a solitarie and penetentiall life all which proceeded from want of Humilitie and from confiding and presuming on them selues which God is wont to punish by permitting men to falle into those other sinnes Humilitie is also so greate an ornament to Chastitie and pouertie that S. Bernard saith sine Humilitate audeo dicere nec virginitas Mariae deo placuisset I dare aduēturi to say that euen the virginitie it selte of our B. Lady would not haue bene pleasing to God without Humilitie Let vs now come to the vertue of Obedience wherein our H. Father requires as of the Society to excell A cleere truth it is that both hee cannot be truly obedient who is not humble and that he who is humble must meedes be obedient The humble man may be commaunded to do any thinge but so may not hee who is not humble The humble man frames no contrary iudgments but cōformes himselfe in all things to his Superiour and not onely in the worke but euen ni the will and vnderstanding also nor makes he any contradiction or resistance If now wee will comme to speake of Prayer vpon which the very life of a Religious and spirituall man relyes if it be not accompanined with Humilitie it is of no worth Whereas Prayer with Humilitie pierces heauen Oratio humilianus se nubes penetrabit donec propinquet non consolabitur non discedet donec altissimus aspiciat The Prayer of him who humbles himselfe doth penetrate heauen saith the wise man and he will not giue ouer till he obtaine all that which hee desires at the hands of God That holy and humble Iudith being shutt vp in her Oratory cladd with Sackcloath and couered with ashes prostrate vpon the earth cries out in theis wores Humilium mansuetorum semper tibi placuit deprecatio The Prayer of the humble and meeke of hart was euer pleasing to thee O Lord. Respexit in orationem humilium non spreuit precem eorum God beheld the prayer of the humble and desprised not their petitions Ne auertatur humilis factus confusus Neuer thinke that the humble man shall be driuen a way or that hee shall depart out of countenāce he shall obtaine what he askes God will heere his prayer Doe but cōsider how highly that humble prayer of the Publican of the Ghospell pleased God he who presumed not so much as to list vp his eyes to heauen or to approach the Altar but disposing himselfe farr of into a corner of the Temple and knockinge his brest with humble acknowledgment of himselfe he said O Lord haue mercy vpon me for I am a greiuous sinner Dico vobis descendit hic iustificatus in domum suam ab illo I tell you of a truth saith Christ our Redeemer that this man went iustified out of the Temple and that proude Pharisie who held himselfe for a Saint went condemned In this very manner might wee goe discoursing of the rest of the vertues and therefore if you desire to goe the next way for the hettinge of them all and to learne a short and compendious document for the speedy obteyning of perfection this is it Be humble Of the particular necessitie which they haue of this vertue whoe professe
carefull as were sitt which is a daungerous course and hath bene the fundation roote of of many fearefull and great ruines O how many men whoe were very spirituall and whoe seemed to be sublimed as high as heauen in the exercise of prayer and contemplation haue cast them selues downe headlonge by this precipice O how many who really were Saints and great Saints haue come by this meanes to haue most wretched falls Because they forgott them selues because they made them selues too sure through the fauours which they had receiued from God They grew to be full of confidence as if there had already bene noe more danger for them and soe they came miserably to distruction Wee haue bookes which are full of such accidents S. Basill saith that the cause of that miserable falle of king Dauid both into adultery and Murther Was the presumption which once he had when he was visited by the hand of God with abondance of consolation soe farr as that he presumed to say Ego dixi in abundantia mea non mouebor in aeternum I shall neuer be altered from this state Well stay a while God will a little take of his hand those extraordinary fauours and â—egalos shall cease and you shall see what will happen Auertisti faciem tuam a me factus sum conturbatus God leaues you in your pouerty and then you will be like your sel e and you shall know to your cost when you are once fallen that which you would not know whilst you were visited and sauoured by Almightie God And S. Basill alsoe saith that the cause oâ— the fall denyall of the Apostle S. Peeter was the confiding and presuming vaynly in himselfe Etiam si oportuerit me mori tecum non te negabo si omnes scandalizati fuerint in te ego nunquam scandalizabor Because he said with arrogancy and presumption that thouhg all men should be scandalized yet would not he be scandalized but would rather dye with Christ For this did God permitt that he should fall that soe he might be humbled and know himselfe Wee must neuer giue way that our eyes may waÌ„der from our selues nor euer be secure in this life but considering what we are we must goe euer on with great care of our selues and with great doubt and seare least the enemy whome we carry still about vs put some tricke vpon vs and prouide some snare into which he may procure vs to fall So that as we must not stay vpon the knowledge of our owne miserye weakenes but passe instantly on to the knowledge of the goodnes of God soe neither must we stay vpon the knowledge of God and his mercies fauours but returne with speede againe to cast our eyes downe vpon our selues This is that Iacobs ladder whereof one end is fastned to the earth in our knowledge of our selues and the other reaches vp to the very hight of heauen By this ladder must you ascend and descend as the Angels ascended and descended by that other Rise vp by the knowledge of the goodnes of God but stay not there least you grow into presumption but descend to the knowledge of your selues yet stay not also there least you fall into despaire but still returne againe to the knowledge of God that so you may haue confidence in him In fine the businesse consists in that you be still ascending and descending by this ladder Thus did S. Katherine of Siena vse this exercise to free her selfe from seuerall temptations which the diuell brought against her as she herselfe relates in her Dialogues when the diuell would tempt her by way of confusion desiring to make her beleeue that her whole life was nothing but errour and abuse For then she woud raise her selfe vp but yet still with humilitie by the coÌ„sideration of the mercies of God and she would be saying to this effect I confesse o my Creator that my whole life hath bene led in darkenes but yet I will hide my selfe in the wounds of Christ Iesus Crucified and I will bath my selfe in his blood and soe my wickednes shal be consumed and I will reioyce in my Creator and my lord Lauabis me super niuem dealbabor And soe also when the Diuell would offer to putt her vp to pride by tentations of a contrary kinde seekeing to make her thinke that she was perfect and pleasing to God and that there was noe cause why she should any longer afflict her selfe and lament her sinnes then would she humble her selfe and make the diuell this answere O wretched creature that I am S. Iohn Baptist neuer committed sinne was sanctified in his mothers wombe and yet notwithstanding all that was contynually doeing penance And I haue comitted for many defects and haue neuer lamented them no nor euen considered them aâ— they deserued With this the diuell not likeing to endure soe great humilitie or the one side nor soe great confidence on the other said thus to her Be thou accursed and he alsoe vhoe hath taught thee this for I know not how to make entrance heere since if I abase thee by coÌ„fusioÌ„ thou raisest thy selfe vp as high as heauen by the consideration of the mercy of God and if I raise thee vp towards presomption thou abasest thy selfe by the consideration of thy sinnes as low as hell by way of humilitie yea and thou persecutest me euen in hell it selfe Now after this very manner are we to vse this exercise and soe shall wee on the one side be full of circumspection and feare and on the other full of courage and ioy Fearfull in reguard of our selues and ioyfull through our hope in God Theis are those two lessons which as we are taught by that other Saint God giues dayly to his elect the one to make them see their defects and the other to make them see the goodnes of God who takes them from vs with soe much loue Of the great benefitt and profitt which growes by this exercise of a mans knowing himselfe CHAPTER IX TO the end that we may yet be more animated to this exercise of the knowledge of our selues we will goe on declaring some great benefitts and aduantages which are conteyned therein One of the cheife thereof hath bene shewed already namely that this is the foundatioÌ„ and roote of Humilitie and the necessary meanes both for the purchase and preseruation thereof One of those antient Fathers being asked how a man might doe to obtaine true Humilitie made this answere Si sua tantummodo non alterius mala consideret If he consider onely his owne sinnes sounding and digging deepe into the knowledge of himselfe this man shall obtaine true Humilitie This alone were sufficient to make vs attend much to this exercise since it imports vs soe very much towards the obteyning of this vertue But yet the Saincts passe further on and say that the humble knowledge of our selues is a more certaine way towards the knowledge of
detraberis ad profundum laci God alsoe created man and instantly the diuell strucke him with his owne leprosie and poyson Eritis sicut dij scientes bonum malum They fell gluttonously vpon what he tould them namely that they should be as God and then they broke the diuine comaundement and soe became like the diuell The Prophett Eliseus said to his seruant Giezi after he tooke the presents of the leprous Naaman Thou hast taken the goods of Naaman and behould his leprosie shall alsoe sticke to thee and to all thy descendents for euer This was the iudgment of God against man that since he would needes haue the riches of Lucifer which was his pride he should also haue his leprosie which was the punishment thereof You see therefore heere that man was alsoe vndone and made like the Diuell because he would needes be like God And what might now be fitt for the sonne of God to doe finding his eternall Father to be soe iealous and carefull to maintaine his owne honour Ecce inquit occasione mei creaturas suas pater amittit I see saith hee that by my occasion my father looses his creatures The Angells would needes bee as I am they ouerthrew themselues man would alsoe be soe and he was also ouerthrowne They all haue enuy at me and would fayne be such as I am Well then Ecce venio talem eis exhibeo me ipsum vt quisquis in videre voluerit quisquis gestierit imitari fiat ei aemulatio ista in bonum Behould saith the sonne of God I will goe in such a forme that who soeuer will from hence forth become like me shall not loose but gaine and for this came the sonne of God from heauen and made himselfe man O therefore lett such a bounty and mercy be blessed and praysed and glorified which moued Almightie God to condescend to that soe greate appetite which wee had to be like him for now wee may be as God not according to falshood and with a lye and according to what the diuell said but according to truth and not now with pride and mallice but with much sanctity and Humilitie Vpon those words Paruulus natus est nobis the same Saint saith Studeamus effici sicut paruulus discamus ab eo quia mitis est humilis corde ne magnus Deus sine causa factus sit homo paruulus Since God being soe greate made himselfe little for vs lett vs procure to humble our selues and make our selues also little that soe it may not be to noe purpose for vs that the great God made himselfe soe little as to become a Childe for vs. Quia nisi efficiamini sicut paruulus iste non intrabitis inregnum caelorum Because if you become not like this little Childe you shall not enter into the kingdome of heauen Of some humane considerations and reasons whereby we are to helpe our selues for being humble CHAPTER XIX FRom the very begining of this Treatise we haue bene declaring many considerations and reasons which may helpe and animate vs much towardes the getting of the vertue of Humilitie showing that it is the roote and foundation of all the vertues the short way to acquire them the meanes to coÌ„serue them and that in fine if we possesse this we shall be Masters of them all But yet that it may appeare that wee meane not to carry it all by the onely way of spiritt it will not be a misse that we deliuer some humaine considerations and reasons which may be more proportionable and connaturall to our weakenes to the end that being soe conuinced not onely by vay of spiritt and of perfection but euen of natural reason alsoe wee may haue both more courage and more affection to the contempt of honour and estimation of the world and to proceede in the way of Humilitie for all this will be needefull for the acquiring of a thing soe hard as this and so it will be well that wee helpe our selues of it all Let it therefore be the first that we put our selues to consider and examine at good leasure and with attention what thing this honour and estimation of men is which makes soe still warre against vs and giues vs all soe much to doe Lett vs see what weight and bulke it hath that soe wee may esteeme it noe better then it deserues and may animate our selues to despise it and not contynue in soe much errour as now wee finde our selues subiect to Seneca said very well that there are many things which wee hould to bee great not because indeede they are great but because our poorenes and wretchednes is such that the small seemes great and the little much to vs. And he brings the example of that weight which is ordinarily carryed by Ants wâ—â—ch in respect of their body is very great being yet very small in it selfe and iâ—st soe it is with the honour and estimation of the world If you deny it I would aske whether you be indeede either the betâ—er because others esteeme you or the worse because they esteeme you not Infaillibly you are not Saint Augustine saith Nec malam conscientiam sanat praeconium laudantis nec bonam vulnerat conuitiantis opprobriuÌ„ Neither is the ill man made good by being esteemed and praysed nor the good man made ill by being discommended and reproached Senti de Augustino quicquid libet sola me in oculis Dei conscientia non accuset Thinke of Augustine what thou wilt that which I desire is that my conscience may not reproach me in the sigth of God This is that which imports the rest is soolery for it neither giues nor takes away This is that which that other Saint saith What is a man the better for being praysed by another And as much as any man is in the sight of God soe much indeede he is and noe more as the humble Saint Francis said or rather as was said by the Apostle Saint Paule Non enim qui se ipsum commendat illi probatus est sed quem Deus commendat Sainct Augustine brings a good comparison to this purpose Est enim superbia non magnitudo sed tumor quod autem tumet videtur magnum sed non est tamen Pride and estimation of the vorld is not greatnes but swelling and winde And as when any parte is swelled it seemes but is not truely great soe proud men whoe are valued and esteemed by the world seeme as if they were great but they are not soe because that is not greatnes but swelling There are certaine sickly men whoe sometymes are thought to be vpon recouery because they seeme to looke fatt and well but that fattnes is not sound and good but it is rather sickly and swelling Soe saith Saint Augustine is the applause and estimation of the world it may puffe you vp but it cannot make you greate If then it be soe that the opinion and estimation of the world is not any thing
know and see in themselues soe greate guifts which they haue receiued from God can with truth esteeme themselues below all and affirme of themselues with all that they are the greatest sinners of the whole world When our lord conducts a man by that other way of hiding his guifts that so he sees no vertue in himselfe but all his faults and imperfections the difficultie is not so great but in theis others how can it be Notwithstanding all this it may be very well Be you humble like S. Francis and you shall know how His coÌ„panion pressing to vnderstaÌ„d how he could thinke and say soe of himselfe with truth that seraphicall father made this answere Really I vnderstand it as I speake it and I beleeue that if God had shewed those mercies and imparted those graces to any murdering theefe or to the greatest sinner in the whole world which he hath vouchsafed to mee he would haue bene much better and much more gratefull then I. And on the other side I conceiue and beleeue that if our Lord should take off his hand from me and not hould me fast I should committ greater sinnes and should proue the most wicked man in the whole world And for this reason he saith I am the greatest sinner and the most vngratefull of all mer And this is a very good answeare and a very profound Humilitie and it carried doctrine in it of admirable instruction This knowledge and consideration is that which made the Saints diue downe so low vnder the earth and cast themselues at the feete of all men and really esteeme themselues for the greatest sinners of the whole world for they had that roote or Humilitie which is the knowledge of their owne misery and frailty well planted and deepely rooted in their harts and they knâ—w very well how to penetrate and ponder both what they were and what they had of themselues and this made it easy for them to beleeue that if God should not hould them fast but once take of his hand from their heads they would haue proued the greatest sinners of the world and so they held themselues for such And as for those guifts and graces which they had receiued from God they beheld them not as any thing of their owne but as the goods of another and onely leâ—t to them And not onely did the hauing of all theis guifts not distract or hinder them from remayning intire in their poorenes and basenes or from esteeming themselues below all others but it rather helpt them on towards that end because they thought they profitted not thereby as they ought to haue done So that which way soeuer we turne our eyes whether we cast them inward vpon what we haue of our selues or whether we cast them vpward vpon what we haue receiued of God we shall finde occasion enough to be humbled and to esteeme our selues below all Saint Gregory to this purpose ponders those words which Dauid said to Saul aâ—ter he might haue killed him in the caue into which Saul had entred And when Dau d spared his life and lett him goe he yet went after saying Quem persequeris Rex Israel quem persequeris Canem mortuuÌ„ persequeris pulicem vnum Whome dost thou persecute O king of Israel thou persecutest a dead dogge and a single flea as I am The S. ponders it thus very well Dauid was already annoynted for king and had vnderstood from the Prophett â—amuel who anoynted him that God would take the kingdome from Saul and giue it him and yet neuerthelesse he humbles and lessens himselfe before him though he know that God had preferred him and that in the sight of God he was a better man then Saul Whereby we may learne to esteeme our selues lesse then them of whome we know not in what condition or degree they stand in the presence of Almightie God That this third degree of Humilitie is a good meanes to ouercome all temptations and to obtaine the perfection of all the vertues CHAPTER XXXV CASSIANVS saith that it was a tradition of those antient fathers as it were the first principle amongst them that a man could not obtaine puritie of hart and the perfection of vertue if first he did not conceiue and know that all his industrie diligence and labour would not be sufficient for that purpose without the especiall fauour helpe of God who is the prime authour and giuer of all good things And he saith more ouer that this knowledge of his must not be onely speculatiue and because we haue heard it or read it or because it is a doctrine of Faith but we must know it practically and by experience and be soe conuinced soe resolued and setled in this truth as if we saw it with our eyes toucht it with our hands and this is litterally the third degree of Humility whereof now we treate And of this kinde of Humilitie it is that the authorities of holy Scripture speake and which promise so great and euen innumerable blessings to such as are humble And for this reason the Saints assigne it for the last and most perfect degree of Humility and say That it is the foundation of all vertue and the preparation or disposition for receiuing all kinde of graces and guifts from God And Cassianus prosecuting this pointe more in particular saith concerning Chastitie that no endeauour of ours will serue for the obteyning thereof till we certainly vnderstand that it is not to be had but from the liberalitie and mercy of Almigthie God And Saint Augustine agrees very wel heerewith For the first and cheife meanes which he deliuers for the acquiring and conseruing the guift of Chastity is Humility that soe we may not thinke that our owne diligences will suffice for this for if we rely and rest vpon them we deserue to loose it But we must know that it is the guift of God and that it must come to vs from aboue and that we must place our whole confidence in him And soe one of those ould Fathers said that a man would be tempted with carnall thoughts till he come to know very well that Chastity is the guift of our lord and no acquisition of our owne Palladius confirmes this by the example of Abbot Moyses whoe hauing bene a man of a strange corporall strength as alsoe of a most vicious minde was conuerted afterward to God with his whole harte At the first he was grieuously tempted especially concerning impuritie and by the aduise of those Fathers he imployed his best meanes to ouercome it He prayd so longe as that he passed six yeares in prayer yea and spent the greatest parte of the whole nights in prayer remayning still vpon his feete He vsed much handy labour he eate nothing but bread and that in smalle quantity he went carrying water to the old Moncks in their Cells and vsed many other greater mortifications and austerityes But yet with all this he came not to be free from