Mind foolishly run up and down from one contrivance to another spending thy precious time in tireing thy Mind and Body and foolishly consuming the strength of them both Wherefore do thou receive all and every thing whensoever or howsoever they come upon thee with an even temper in silence and tranquility as reach'd forth to thee by the hand of the Paternal Divine Providence Divest therefore thy self of the Images and Phantasms of all Bodily things according to the Exigence of thy State and Profession that with a naked and simplified mind thou may'st sincerely cleave to him to whom thou hast so frequently and entirely devoted thy self that there may be nothing to mediate or interpose between thy Soul and him that so with a pure and fixed view thou mayest raise thy self from the Wounds of his Manhood into the Glorious Light and Charity of his Godhead CHAP. V. Concerning Purity of Heart which is to be endeavoured above and before all things IF so be therefore thou dost desire and endeavour by a strait safe and short path to arrive to the end of true Bliss here and hereafter of Grace and Glory then do thou with an intent mind earnestly aspire after continual cleanness of Heart and Purity of Mind with a constant calm and tranquillity of thy Senses and recollecting the Affections of thy Heart continually fix them above on the Lord thy God withdrawing thy self in the mean time from thy Familiars and Acquaintance and as far as lies in thee from all Men and from all things that might be a let or hindrance to thy holy purpose alwaies watching an Opportunity where and when thou may'st find place and time for sweet rest and contemplation and the enjoyment of the secret Pleasures of Silence avoiding the shipwracks of this present World and the noise hurry and confusion of it Wherefore let this be thy chief Study at all times how thou may'st attain to Cleanness Purity and Rest of Heart that so continually having shut the doors of thy Carnal Senses thou may'st turn into thy self and lock up thy Heart as far as is possible from the Representations of all Sensible things and the Imaginations of Earthly Objects It is this Purity of Heart that excels all Spiritual Exercises whatsoever as being the final Intention 〈◊〉 and Reward for all the Labours which a Religious and Spiritual Man takes in this Life Wherefore do thou with all Diligence Application and Endeavour rid thy Heart Senses and Affections from all these things that may impede its Freedom and from every other Concern of the World that hath the least Power to Allure Bind and Captivate thee And so strive to recollect and gather up all the wandring excursions of thy Heart and all the Affections of thy Mind into that One True Simple and Supreme Good and to keep them alwaies recollected within thy self as in one place and by this means endeavour alwaies to cleave with thy mind to God and Divine things and leaving thy Earthly Frailty behind strive to transform thy self continually into the pattern of the Heavenly things through thy inward Communion with and retirement into Jesus Christ Wherefore if thou makest it thy Business to strip and purifie thy self from all Images and Representations and with Trust and Confidence to simplifie and quiet thy Heart and Mind in the Lord thy God that thou may'st feel and take in the Fountain of the Divine Good Pleasure in all thy inward parts and by thy good will be united to God in thy Intellect or Understanding this Exercise alone will be sufficient for thee and serve instead of all Study and Reading of the Holy Scriptures and will advance thee to the Love of God and thy Neighbour according as the Anointing Teacheth thee Wherefore with all Study do thou labour and endeavour to simplifie thy Heart that being immoveable and at peace from any intruding vain Phantasms thou may'st always turn thy self to and stand fast in the Lord within thee to that degree as if thy Soul was got into the always present NOW of Eternity that is of the Deity in such a manner that for the Love of Jesus Christ from a Pure Heart a Good Conscience and Faith unfeigned thou may'st wholy forsake and leave thy self and entirely and fully commit thy whole self to God in all Tribulation and every Event whatsoever always desiring to be patiently resign'd and obedient to his Will and Good Pleasure Now to the end that thou may'st come to this State it is necessary for thee frequently to return to thine own Heart and to abide there ridding thy self as far as is possible of all things preserving the Eye of thy Mind continually in Purity and Rest voiding thy Intellect of all Images and Representations of inferiour things setting free the Affection of thy Will from all Earthly Cares and with a fervent Love from the very bottom and root of thy Soul cleaving to the True Supreme Good having thy Memory also continually lifted upwards and firmly fix'd and grounded in the same alone True Soveraign Essential and Uncreated Good to the end that thy whole Soul with all its Powers and Faculties being thus gather'd up into God may become one Spirit with him which is the highest Perfection attainable in this Life It is this Unity of Spirit and Love whereby Man is made conform in all his Desires and Wishes with the Supreme and Eternal Will so as that he becomes that by Grace which God is by Nature And here we are to observe that in that very moment wherein any Man by the Grace of God overcomes his own Will that is his inordinate Love and Likeing so as to dare fully and totally trust the Lord God with all his Needs and Concerns he does so highly please God that he freely bestows upon him such a degree of Grace by which he feels that true Charity and Love begot in him which expels all doubts and fears and gives him a sure and confident hope in God Wherefore nothing can he more happy or advantageous for us than to cast our All upon him in whom there is no want And seeing that as long as thou standest in thy self thou dost not stand fast cast thy whole self securely upon God and he will take thee up heal thee and save thee If thou doff but continually revolve these things in thy Mind thou wilt find them more conducive to a truly Happy Life than all the Riches Pleasures Profits and Honours yea and all the supposed Wisdom and Knowledge to boot of this deceiving and corruptible World yea tho' thou shouldst excel in all these all that ever were before thee CHAP. VI. That we must cleave to God with a naked Intellect and Affection WHerefore seeing that by how much the more thou shalt empty thy self of all Images and External Worldly and Sensible Intanglements by so much the more thy Soul will recover its Primitive Strength and Vigour and the use of its internal Senses to perceive and
Another is that his Words be few necessary simple and concerning Divine things the Third is that his whole life all his VVorks and whatever he doth be so compleat and blameless that in nothing he may be reprehended by any one And of the Internal the first is that his Thoughts be pure and Heavenly the Second that he purely seek and intend God alone the Third that he be able easily and readily without any Trouble to bid farewel to all for God that is that whatever befalls him an Unmoveable undisturbed and true Peace be in his mind that as Water not moved with any blast of wind is quiet so his Soul may in all things persevere calm and immoveable For as in water so long as it swells with VVaves and is stirr'd with continual motion no man can behold himself so that most simple and most pure Good which is God can never direct the Rayes of his Light into his Soul into his Spirit or Interior part so long as he is moved with prosperous or advers occurrences For no Prosperity or Honour tho never so great for no Riches or Friends or whatever fortunate accideâ—â— must our heart yield to Levity Dissoluteness 〈◊〉 vain Joys Again on the other side he must perâ—â—… undaunted and immoveable against all Adversiâ—… so that he be not disturbed or hindred in his Souâ— by any damage done him nor wish any Evil Withiâ— or without to any other whatever he suffers from him whether he deprive him of all his Goodâ— whether Honour or Friends or Commodities or aâ—… his comforts yea tho he pull out his Eyes fire 〈◊〉 House or whatever other mischief he do him hâ—… must by no means bear an Evil thought againsâ— him nor defire Revenge but taking all not from Man but from the hand of God render him devouâ— thanks that he is in any thing made conformable to him Yet notwithstanding we must know that there is none so happy or holy Christ only and thâ— Glorious Virgin excepted but he may sometimes suffer at least the first motions of passion for all the Saints have suffered them But as soon as ever they perceived them they knew how by the Grace of God so to suppress them so as that they could not easily be perceived either in their Countenance in their VVords or their Gestures Lastly to this Quiet condition this also is required that he be so affected so disposed that tho he be encumbered with Diversity and multiplicity of business is soon as ever he turns himself to God in Prayer no Image thereof no appearance not so much as any shadow of it may remain whence in his Intellect or mind he may become indisposed or hindered Our Lord Jesus Christ. Grant that to these things we may all in time attain Amen A TREATISE OF Albertus Magnus of adhering to God CHAP. I. Of the Vltimate and highest Perfection of Man as far as the same is attainable in this Life I Have purposed with my self with the greatest accuracy as far as it is possible in this our Exile and Pilgrim State to give a description of the Absolute and Plenary Abstraction from all things and our ready secure naked and firm adhering to our Lord God alone And this the rather because the very End of Christian Perfection is Charity or Divine Love whereby we cleave to and are made one with the Lord our God To which Divine Adhesion by Love every one is bound that hopes for Salvation and is performed by the observance of the Precepts and Conformity with the Will of God the observance whereof excludes whatsoever is repugnant to the Essence and Habit of Charity such as are all Mortal Sins But those that are in Religious Orders have over and above this bound themselves to the Practice of Evangelical Perfection and of those things which are matter of Evangelical Councel and Advice rather than strict Imposition and by means whereof we more readily arrive to our ultimate End which is God by the observance of which are likewise excluded all those things which clog and hinder the Activity and Fervor of Charity from carrying us up into our Lord God such as are the denying of all things yea even of our own Soul and Body for seeing that our Lord God is a Spirit they that would worship him Joh. 4.24 must do it in Spirit and in Truth That is with Knowledge and Love with the Understanding and Affection devoid of all Phantasms or Images To this purpose is that Command of our Lord But thou when thou Prayest Math. 6.6 enter into thy Closet that is the inmost retreat of thy Heart and when thou hast shut thy door viz. the door of thy Senses upon thee there do thou with a Pure Heart and Good Conscience and Faith unfeigned pray to thy Father which is in Secret in Spirit and in Truth Which is then best done when a Man being disentangled and divested of all other things and wholly retir'd within himself and having forgot and shut out all and every thing in the Presence of Jesus Christ the Mind alone doth in silence with Faith and Assurance lay open her Desires before her Lord God and thus by the entirest Affection of her Heart and Love doth most sincerely and fully pour forth and plunge her self into God with the inmost Marrow and Strength of all her Powers dilating inflaming and dissolving her self wholly into him CHAP. II. How a Man may despising all other things adhere to and intend Christ alone NOw whosoever Desires and makes it his Business to undertake and enter upon this State or kind of Life it is needful that he as it were shutting his Eyes and Senses do not concern or trouble himself with or be careful and sollicitous about any thing whatsoever but totally reject and renounce all things as impertinent hurtful and pernicious and in the next place that he wholly retire within himself and in that Retirement entertain no other Object but Jesus Christ alone and him Crucified and so press on through him into him i. e. through Man into God through the Wounds of his Humanity into the inmost recess of his Divinity and there without any further disputing readily and securely commit himself and all his Concerns to his indefatigable Providence according to that of St. Peter Casting all your care upon him 1 Pet. 5.7 who can do all And again Be sollicitous for nothing Phil. 4 6. And that of the Psalmist Cast thy care upon the Lord Ps 55.22 and he shall sustain thee And again But it is good for me to Ps 73.28 cleave unto God And again I have set the Lord always before me Ps 16.8 And with the Spouse in the Canticles Cant. 3.4 I have found him whom my Soul loveth because Wisd 7.11 as Wisdom saith All good things come together with it This is that hidden Heavenly Treasure and that precious Pearl which cannot be purchased Mat. 13.44 5 6. but
and to his Humility than to all his Labour and Study besides And he himself in effect saith or intimates as much when he saith in general Oratione Devotione plus acquiritur in Divinis Scientiis quam Studio And again Divina namque Sapientia imprimitur nobis ascendentious in Deum ad ipsam Sapientiam The like is reported of his Scholar Tho. Aquinas And to mention no more even in our own Age and Country of the Learned Dr. Hammond by the late Bishop of Oxford who wrote his Life And I doubt not but many could attest the same of their own Knowledge and Experience if they thought it fit And certainly the Neglect of this in the Education of Youth in our Universities is a principal Cause that they have produced no more solid and substantial Fruit of later Ages and that the Power of Religion is so much decayed in this Nation for Learning without it is a Lifeless and Pernicious thing as apt to distract the mind as any other of the deceitful Delights of the World The Neglect of this by such as satisfie themselves with a Form of Religion and employ more Time and Cost to adorn their Bodies and their Houses than to cultivate their Souls will prove a heavy Charge to a great Number of people one day Luk. 13.24 28. Mat. 25.8 12. And they who have unhappily encouraged the Neglect of Times appointed by Authority whether Divine or Humane for Religious Employments and the Profanation thereof by Sports and Idleness will then find whose Service they have therein promoted and a dismall Account they have to Answer The Author was one of the most Eminent Men of his Age both for Learning and Piety a zealous Man against all Vice and Wickedness especially of the Ecclesiasticks not sparing the greatest Prelates and even the Popes themselves proving from the Scriptures what great mischiefs to the Church and loss of Souls proceeded from the miscarriages of the Ecclesiasticks He was made Bishop of Ratisbon sore against his Will by Pope Alexander IV. but would not remit his former Austerities nor leave off his mean Apparel but visited his Diocess on foot committed the secular business to trusty men and applied himself mholly to the care of his Flock and Divine Contemplation and when Alexander was dead applied himself to his Successor and having obtain'd his leave resign'd his Bishoprick This Little Book above forty Years since was by Sir Kenelm Digby thought worthy not only of his perusal but pains to turn it into English and his Translation or rather as he saith Paraphrase was not long after Printed with a Commendatory Preface to his Mother but it came not to my hands till this was in the Press and besides being out of Print and a Paraphrase the stricter Translation was thought fit to be Printed and may possibly be more grateful to some Socrates Christianus A PREFACE to the two Treatises of Dr. John Staupitz JOhn Staupitz descended of a very Noble Family in Misnia was more Noble by his own Vertue being an early and a great Proficient in Learning and Piety and a great Favourer and Promoter of both in others and he wanted not advantages for it being Abbot of St. Peters in Saltzburg Vicar General of the Order of the Augustines in all Germany and in great Esteem with Frederick Duke of Saxony a Wise and Pious Prince who made use of Him chiefly in the ordering of the Vniversity of Wirtemberg which he founded in the Year 1502. He it was who sent for Martin Luther from Erford to this Vniversity 1508. having taken special notice of him for a Man of Parts Learning and Zeal for Religion and 15â—2 made him take the degree of Doctor And Luther greatly esteemed Him always used to call Him his Staupitz and often said He was a Great Man and not only Learned and Eloquent in Schools and Churches but also acceptable and venerable at Court and amongst great Persons He might have been preferred to the greatest Dignities had he not industriously studio omni avoided it Though he was himself made Doctor Obraram Eruditionem yet was he no less studious of the Practice than of the Knowledge of Divinity And the very Year that Luther was made Doctor by his means he ordered in all the Monasteries subject to his care that the H. Scripture should be read at Meals in the place of St. Augustine that the Friars might be better acquainted with them And he it was who began the first motion of the Reformation in the Year 1517. For He was the Man who first complained against the Abuses of the Preachers of Indulgencies and resolving with all his might to oppose them out of all his Friars and all his Doctors in that Vniversity made choice of Luther to preach against them and gave him all the Encouragement and assistance he could afterwards so that he was in truth the first Beginner of the Reformation And though this alone was enough to recommend these Tracts of his to all Protestants yet there are two Considerations more which do not a little enhance the value of them the one that they are an Evidence of the Piety and Devotion of a Person so primarily concerned in the Reformation which may serve to answer the calumny convince the uncharitableness of those Papists who would impute the beginning of the Reformation to an Emulation of the Augustines against the Dominicans for Temporal Advantage the other that as in them may be observed the true Spirit of the first Reformers so by them we both may perceive how much we are now degenerated from their Piety and Devotion and are admonished and directed to return thereunto which is the very End and Designs intended in the Translation of these Authors And therefore tho' this was none of those antient Christian who were first intended to be translated yet is he so Primitive a Christian in respect of the Reformation that he mâ—… very properly serve the Design as to the of the Reformed Churches and no Subject can be more proper in order to thâ— end designed for all Christians that this which he treats ADVERTISEMENT WHen this Book Entitled The Greaâ— Duty of a Christian was printed the Translator knew nothing of Johâ— Staupitz the Author of the latter part oâ— this Translation which being since mâ—… with hath occasioned the printing of thiâ— Preface The above-mentioned and following Books may be had at John Coughens in Plumtree-Court near Fleet-Bridge in Holbourn The Way to the Sab-bath of Rest Quarto By Mr. Tho. Bromley The Mark of a true Christian or the Golden Rule of a Godly Life Translated out of High-Dutch Octavo Some short Rules of Christian Perfection by Henricus Lovaniensis HE who will be perfectly his Gods given up to him must observe Six things whereof Three are External and as many Internal Of the External the First is that his Clothes and his Exterior State be such whereby he may desire to please none at all but God alone
by the parting with all that we have which being preferred before all in the Strength of the Spirit is to be sought for with humble Confidence most instant Endeavours and quiet Silence even to the loss of all outward Conveniencies and Advantages of Praise or Honour in the Strength of the Spirit For what Advantage will it be to one that hath dedicated himself to God if he gain the whole World but at the same time suffer loss in his Soul Or of what profit is the highest Profession of Religion or a seeming Holy Conversation without living in the Spirit of Truth and Humility wherein Christ dwells through Faith wrought and formed by Love wherefore we are told that the Kingdom of God is within us Luke 17.21 which is no other than Jesus Christ himself CHAP. III. Wherein the Perfection of Man in this Life doth consist SUre it is that the more sollicitously busie the mind is in thinking and managing these Inferiour and Humane Affairs at the greater distance it puts it self from Superiour and Heavenly Objects and true inward Devotion and on the contrary the more fervently she recollects her self from the Memory Affection and Understanding of things here below and betakes her self to those above the more perfect will her Prayer be and the more pure her Contemplation because it is impossible she should be perfectly intent on both these together they being as opposite as Light and Darkness For he that cleaves to God is and walks in the Light but he that sticks to the World gropes in the Dark Whence the most sublime Perfection of Man in this Life is this to be so far united to God that his whole Soul with all its Powers and Faculties be to that degree gathered up into the Lord his God that he may become one Spirit with him so as to Remember nothing but God to feel or Understand nothing but God and that all his Affections being united and centred in the Joys of Love may sweetly repose in the sole Fruition of their Creator For the Image of God impress'd on the Soul consists in these three Faculties viz. Reason Memory and Will And as long as these do not wholly receive their Stamp and Impress from God the Soul is not Deiform according to the intent and scope of its first Creation For God is the form of the Soul by whom the Soul must be impress'd as the Wax is by the Seal Now this can never be fully performed until Reason be according to its capacity perfectly illuminated with the knowledge of God who is the Soveraign Truth and the Will be perfectly bent and taken up in loving the Supreme Good and the Memory be wholly employ'd in the beholding and enjoying of Eternal Happiness and in a sweet and delightful Repose and Acquiescence in the same And forasmuch as in the Consummate Possession of these consists the Glory of the Bliss of Heaven it is evident that the true beginning and anticipation of these is the Perfection of this Life CHAP. IV. How the Activity of Man ought to be in the Intellect alone and not in the Senses HAppy therefore is the Man who by a continual effacing of all Phantasms and imaginary Representations and by Introversion and the lifting up his mind into God doth at last in a manner forget and leave behind him all I mages and by this means consequently operating inwardly with a Naked Simple and pure Intellect and Affection about the most Pure and Simple Object God Wherefore thou must reject and cast out of thy mind all Phantasms Representations and Images and the forms of all things besides God to the end that thy whole Exercise about God within thee may depend only of thy naked Intellect Affection and Will For indeed the true End of all thy holy Exercises is this that thou do intend and repose in the Lord God within thee by the purest Act of Intellection and the devoutest Affection without all Representations or Intanglements whatsoever Now this Exercise cannot be discharged by any corporal Organs or the external Senses but by that part in Man by which he is Man Now that which constitutes a Man is Understanding and Love And therefore as long as Man sports it with his Imagination and Senses and fixeth there he is not yet got beyond the Motions and Bounds of his Bestial Nature that is of that part within him which he hath common with Brute Beasts forasmuch as they do perceive and are affected with such sensible Representations and no other because the power of their Soul reacheth no higher But the case is otherwise with Man who is Created in the Image of God according to his Intellect Affection and Free-will which must be immediately purely and nakedly imprest by God and become united and firmly cleave unto him Wherefore also the Devil doth with all possible diligence endeavour to hinder and disturb this Exercise as far as in him lies forasmuch as he knows it to be an Entrance and Anticipation of Eternal Life which makes him to envy so great a Happiness to Man For which reason he always endeavours to estrange and alienate the mind of Man from his Lord God sometimes by one Temptation sometimes by another sometimes by one Passion and sometimes by another sometimes by superfluous solicitousness and indiscreet carking sometimes by Disturbance dissolute Conversation and unreasonable Curiosity sometimes by the study of curious and subtile Writings impertinent Discourses Reports and News sometimes by Adversity and sometimes by Prosperity Which though sometimes they may seem to us to be very light and in a manner no Sins at all are nevertheless great lets and hindrances to this holy Exercise and Work And therefore however they may represent themselves to us as profitable and necessary yet are immediately to be rejected and disowned as hurtful and pernicious whether they be small or great and to be wholly expelled and cast out of our Senses Accordingly it is highly necessary that all things heard seen done or spoken and other such like be received by us without any Phantasms Images or dwelling upon them and that neither afterwards nor before nor at the perceiving of them we do form of feed any Representations and when thus a Phantasm does not enter the Memory and the Mind then can it neither hinder a Man in his Prayer Meditation and singing of Psalms or in any other Spiritual Operation or Exercise whatsoever neither will it ever again obviate and disturb him Thus do thou readily and securely commit thy whole self and all and every one of thy Concerns in silence and rest to the infallible and most certain Providence and wise disposal of the Divine Majesty who himself will appear for thee in this Combate and fight for thee and will with more Honour and Sweetness deliver and comfort thee than if thou should'st continually night and day hammer upon the Anvil of thy thoughts and Imagination about it and with a vain vagabond and yet captiv'd
relish those things that are above do thou endeavour to quit all Phantasms and imaginary Representations of Bodily Things because nothing is more pleasing and acceptable to God than a Mind divested of all such like Forms and Images for his Delights are with the Sons of Men that is such who with a Calm Mind Purified and Simplified from all these Occupations Distractions and Passions do intend apply and cleave to him making this their whole business For otherwise if thy Memory Imagination and Thoughts be often busied about these things it must needs be inveigled either with some new things or the remains of some formerly entertained or be variously affected and distracted with other occurring Objects Wisd 1.5 For the holy Spirit of Discipline as the Wise Man saith removes its self from thoughts that are without Understanding Wherefore a true Lover of Jesus Christ must be so united in his Intellect through good Will to the Divine Will and Goodness and be so naked and stript of all Phantasms and Passions as not so much as to take notice whether he be derided and flouted at or Loved and Honoured or whether any thing else happen to him For a good Will makes up all and is above and beyond all Wherefore if there be a good Will and that the same in the Intellect be purely conform and united to God it can do no hurt tho' the Flesh or Sensuality and the outward Man should incline to Sin and be backward and dead to that which is good yea even though the inward Man also should be dead and listless to any thing of Devotion for in this case it is sufficient for a Man by Faith and good Will nakedly to cleave to God in the Intellect or Supreme part of the Soul And this he will do if he throughly perceive and be sensible of his own imperfection and nothingness and know that all his good consists and is in his Creator and if with all his Powers and Faculties he abandon himself and all Creatures and totally plunge his whole self into his Creator so as to direct all his Actions purely and entirely to his Lord God as the sole end and scope of them all seeking nor desiring any thing besides him in whom he perceives himself to have found all Good with all Happiness and Perfection And by this process he becomes in a manner transformed into God to that degree that he can neither think nor understand nor love nor remember any thing but God and the things of God nor doth he see himself and other Creatures save only in God Neither doth he love any thing save God alone nor remember or make mention of them or of himself but in God Now this knowledge of the Truth makes a Soul very humble judging it self but not another whereas on the contrary the Worldly Wisdom makes the Soul proud Vain Arrogant and pufft up with Wind. Let us lay down this therefore for a Spiritual and Fundamental Doctrine that he who would draw near to the Knowledge Service and Familiarity or Communion with God and that would really possess him must of necessity wholly strip and divest his Heart from all sensible Love not only of every Person whatsoever but of every Creature to the end that with a simple and entire Heart he may reach forward and press into the Lord God his Creator freely without all Duplicity Care or Sollicitousness with a full assured Trust and Confidence in his Providence as to all his Concerns CHAP. VII How the Heart is to be gathered up or recollected into it self MOREOVER as it is said in the Book of the Spirit and Soul Chapter 21. To mount up to God iâ— to enter into ones self For he who inwardly entring and intimately penetrating into himself gets above or beyond himself he truly mounts up to God Let us therefore gather up our Hearts from the various Distractions oâ— this World and recall them to the joyâ— within that we may at last be able to fix them in the light of Divine Contemplation For this is the true Life and Rest of our Heart when by Desire it is fix'd in the Love of God and sweetly refresh'd with his Divine Comfort But the reason why in the experimental taste and relish hereof we are manifoldly hindered so as that we can by no means reach to him is plainly this because the Mind of Man being distracted with solicitousness doth not enter into it self by the Memory being overshadowed clouded with Phantasms doth not retire into her self through the Intellect being allur'd by Lusts and Concupiscence doth not turn in to her self through the desire of internal sweetness and Spiritual joys and being thus wholly taken up with these sensible and present Things she can never enter in to her self viz the Image of God in her self It behoveth therefore above all things and is necessary that with humble Reverence and great Confidence the Mind raise it self above it self and every Creature by a total denying and renouncing of them all and say within her self he whom of all things before all things and above all things I seek love long for and desire is neither sensible nor imaginable but above every thing that is sensible and intelligible too He is not to be perceived by any sence but wholly desirable by full and perfect desire neither is he figurable or representable but to be most perfectly long'd for by the most intimate affection He is not to be rated or valued but wholly to be affected with a pure heart as being above all things amiable and delectable and of infinite Goodness and Perfection And thus she is carried into the darkness of the Mind and becomes higher raised within her self and enters deeper into her self And this manner of ascending to the Aenigmatical or obscure Vision of the most Holy Trinity in Unity and Unity in Trinity in Jesu Christ is by so much the more fervent by how much the power of Elevation is more intimate to the mind and so much the more fruitful and profitable by how much it is nearer and stronger in Affection For in Spiritual Things those are accounted higher which are more inward as to Spiritual Experience Wherefore do thou never leave never rest until thou get a taste of some Pledges or foretastes of the fulness that is to come and 'till thou perceive the sweetness of the Divine Loveliness by some little first Fruits and do not cease running after her in the perfume of her good Ointments unti thou come to see the God of Gods in Sion For in thy Spiritual Progress and in this Union with and cleaving to God within thy self thou must neither desist nor give back until thou hast obtained what thou lookest for whereof we may take an Example from those who are going up an high Hill For if in this ascent our Spirit through Lust and Desire comes to plunge it self into the Transitory Things here below it immediately is led out of the way
by infinite Distractions and crooked winding Paths and being manifoldly divided is scatter'd in it self according to the multiplicity of the Objects its Concupiscence desires Whence necessary follows Motion without steadiness Running without attaining and Labour without Rest But if on the other side our Heart and Spirit do withdraw it self by Desire and Love from the infinite distraction of inferior Things here below wholly quitting them and by little and little gathering up her self into that one Unchangeable All-sufficient Good learn and accustom her self to stay at home and with her whole affection do inseparably cleave unto it so much the more she is gathered up into one and fortified by how much she is elevated by understanding and desire to the Things that are above and becomes so habitually fixed and established in the true Supream Good within her self 'till at length she be made altogether immutable and arrive to that true Life which is the Lord God himself so as that perpetually without any vicissitude of Change or Time she now reposeth her self in that inward Quiet and secret Mansion of the Deity being perfectly fix'd and setled within her self in Christ Jesus who is the Way to those that come to him John 14.6 the Truth and the Life CHAP. VIII How a Devout Person must Commit himself to God in all Events and in all his Concerns I Suppose that from what hath been already said thou dost perceive that the more thou shalt divest thy self from Images and all Worldly and Created Things and by Good Will be united in thy Intellect to God the nearer thou wilt approach to the State of Innocence and Perfection Than which what can be conceived better more happy or more delightful To which purpose nothing can be of more avail than that thou keep thy mind naked of all manner of Phantasms and Images and from all Intanglements whatsoever so as not to be concerned or trouble thy self neither about the World nor about Friends or Relations nor about Prosperity or Adversity neither about any thing past present or to come either in thy self or in others No nor over much about thine own Sins but with a certain pure simplicity suppose thy self to be naked and alone with God without the World for if thy Soul were already launched into Eternity and separated from the Body surely it would not be busied about Secular Matters nor would it be concern'd about the course of the World neither about Peace nor War fair or foul weather or any other Temporal Thing but would uniformly and totally intend be at leisure for and cleave to God alone In like manner do thou now according to the present possibility leave thy Body and all Creatures present and to come and steadily fix the view of thy Mind and Spirit according to thy utmost power nakedly and readily upon that increated Light that thy Spirit may be so stript and divested from all Phantasms and from all Intanglements and clowdy overshadowings as may be suppos'd that of an Angel tyed to a Body who is not hindred by the activity of the Flesh neither is intangled with vain and hurrying Thoughts Let thy Spirit therefore fortifie it self against all Temptations Vexations Injuries and Affronts whatsoever so that with the greatest unconcernedness and evenness of Temper it may immoveably persevere in God in Adversity as well as Prosperity And when any thing of trouble listlessness to any thing that is good or confusion of Mind do chance to seize thee do not thou therefore think strange or be discouraged neither run thou upon this account to vocal Prayers or other ways of comfort but let this only be thy exercise that thou awaken and stir up thy self through good will in the Intellect that so thou mayst cleave to God with thy mind whether thy sensual Part will or not For a Devout and truly Religious Soul ought to be so intimately united to God and to have and make his Will so conform to the Divine Will that it may not busie it self with nor cleave to any Creature whatsoever any more than she did before she was Created and as if there were nothing at all besides God and the Soul and that it may with an even temper take all and every thing that happens to it securely and infallibly from the gracious hand of the Divine Providence in all things uniformly suffering the Lord in Patience Tranquility and Silence Wherefore it appears that to strip the mind of all Phantasms doth above any other Exercise whatsoever avail and conduce to a Spiritual Life in which by good will thou mayst be united to and become like to God in thy intellect For by this means there will be nothing to mediate or intervene betwixt thee and God Consider therefore how greatly thou dost degenerate from the Nobility of thy Being and how highly thou Sinnest against the Lord thy God and against all his Righteousness if thou with thy Will and Love do cleave unto the Creature rather than to the Creator by this means preferring the Creature before the Creator CHAP. IX That Divine Contemplation is to be preferr'd before all other Religious Exercises whatsoever FOrasmuch therefore as all things besides God are the Effect and Work of the Creator having their Power and Being and whatsoever they are or can stinted and limited and as at first they were produc'd out of Nothing so are still surrounded with nullities and nothingness and of themselves tend to nothing it follows that they must necessarily every moment receive their existence conservation activity and whatsoever else may be in them from the Soveraign Workman God as being in and of themselves insufficient for themselves and others to whose Divine Working they being compared have the same proportion as Nothing to Something or a Finite thing to that which is Infinite Wherefore let all our Contemplation Life and Operation be in him alone and about him and for him and to him who with one hint of his Will is able and knows to produce things infinitely more perfect than those Creatures we now see There can be therefore neither with respect to the Intellect or to the Will any Contemplation and Fruition of Love more profitable perfect happy and delightful than that which hath for its Object the Creator the true and Soveraign Good from whom in whom through whom and to whom are all things who alone is infinitely sufficient for himself and all things Who most simply fully and supereminently contains and has concentred in himself from Eternity the Perfections of all things in whom there is nothing that is not himself with whom and through whom the Causes of all unstable things have their lasting subsistence and establishment In whom are the Immutable Ideas and Principles of all Mutable Things and in whom the Eternal Reasons of all Rational and Irrational and Temporal Things do live for ever who fulfills all and essentially fills all and every thing with himself and who is more intimately
present by his Essence to every thing than the thing is to it self in whom all things are united and one and in whom they live Eternally Moreover if by reason of weakness or the unaccustomedness of the understanding any Man be oblig'd to Meditate or Contemplate on the Creatures then this will be the best truest and most profitable way for him that at least in all his Contemplations and Meditations whether about Creatures or about the Creator a delight in the Creator himself the One and Trine God may arise within him and that the fire of Divine Love and true Life may thence flame forth in himself and in others for the obtaining of Eternal Felicity And here we may observe the difference there is between the Contemplation of Christian Believers and that of the Heathen Philosophers For the Contemplation of Philosophers is intended only for the perfection of the Contemplator and therefore stops in the understanding and so their end herein is intellectual Knowledge But the Contemplation of the Saints is taken up for the Love of him whom they Contemplation that is of God and therefore does not stop in the Intellect by Knowledge as in its ultimate end but passeth over into the affection by Love Wherefore the Saints in their Contemplation have the Love of God for their principal end and aim because it is far more happy and blissful to know and have the Lord Jesus Christ Spiritually by Grace than without Grace corporally or essentially Now whilst the Soul thus abstracts it self from all things and reflects into it self the eye of Contemplation by this means becomes dilated and raiseth it self like a Ladder whereby she mounts to the Vision of God From which beholding the Soul becomes inflamed with the Love of Coelestial and Divine Good Things and looks upon all Temporal Things aloof as if they were just nothing Thus when we draw near to God by the way of Negation or removing from him all that is perceptible or comprehensible in the first place we remove from him all that is Bodily Sensible or Imaginable in the next place all that is Intelligible and last of of all Essence or Being it self as it is in the Creatures And by this means according to St. Dionysius the Areopagite we approach nearest to the Divine Essence and are in the ready way of being joyn'd to him And this is that thick Darkness where God is said to dwell and into which Moses entred and through it passed to his inaccessible Light But that which is Spiritual is not first but that which is Animal so that according to the natural and accustomed Order we are to proceed from the Labour of Action to the Rest of Contemplation and from the Moral Virtues to the Theorical and Speculative Wherefore O my Soul why is it that thou busiest thy self to no purpose about the many vain and superfluous Things where thou art always in want And dost not rather fix thy intention and love upon that one Best and Soveraign Good which contains all Good and is only sufficient for thee and all things Unhappy therefore yea thrice unhappy he who knows and has all things besides him but is ignorant of him For if a Man should be supposed to know all things and him yet would not he be the happier for knowing them but him only whence St. John tells us and this is Life Eternal Joh. 17. v. 3. Psalm 17. v. 15. that they know thee the only true God c. And the Psalmist I shall be satisfied at the appearance of thy Glory or according to the Hebrew when thy image or likeness shall awake in me CHAP. X. Actual and sensible Devotion is not so much to be minded as the adhering or cleaving to God with our Will MOreover do not thou greatly mind actual Devotion sensible sweetness or tears but let it suffice thee to be by good will in thy intellect with thy Mind united to God within thy self forasmuch as nothing is more pleasing to God than a Mind strip'd naked of Phantasms Images and Reptesentations of the Creatures It becomes therefore a truly devout Person to estrange himself from all Creatures that he may nakedly and readily intend apply himself and adhere to God alone within himself Wherefore deny thy self that thou mayest nakedly follow Christ thy Lord God who being truly Poor Obedient and Chast humbled himself and suffered for us and at whose Life and Death many were greatly offended as appears from the History of the Gospel Now as we see that a Soul separate from its Body doth not mind or take notice what becomes of it whether it be burnt hang'd abus'd or cursed and is not at all troubled or grieved for any injuries that are done to it but has all its thoughts fixed upon that ever present Now of Eternity and the one thing necessary our Saviour speaks of in the Gospel In like manner be thou also affected to thy Body being so unconcern'd with it as if thou wast already out of the Body and have always thy mind fixed upon the Eternity of thy Soul in God and earnestly direct and level thy thoughts at that one thing of which Christ saith But one thing is needful Luke 10.42 and by this means thou wilt feel great incomes and assistance of Grace for the attainment of true nakedness of Mind and simplification of Heart And most certain it is that this one thing is most present to thee and will appear so as soon as thou shalt have rid thy self from thy imaginary representations and all other intanglements and thou wilt soon find that now thou canst with a naked free and ready mind apply thy self and cleave to God and by this means thou shalt be invincible in all things whatsoever that can happen to thee as the Holy Martyrs Fathers and all the Elect and Blessed Saints were who despising and rejecting all things only minded the Eternal Salvation of their Souls in God And being thus armed within and united to God by Good will they contemned all the Things of the World even as if their Souls already had been actually separated from their Bodies Consider well therefore how great the power is of a good will united to God yea how by this impression of God upon the Soul as by its virtual and spiritual Division from the Flesh the Soul comes to look upon the outward Man as if it were none of hers and is so unconcern'd at any thing that is done to it or its flesh as if they were done to another Body for he that cleaves to God becomes one Spirit with him Wherefore do thou never dare in the least to think or imagine any thing in the presence of the Lord thy God within thee which thou wouldest blush that Men should hear or see and that because of the highest Reverence which is due to the Divine Majesty in his Holy Temple It is also fit and just that all thy thoughts be erect and lifted up to
ever to attain the supream Bliss and Beatitude but with the help of Love and Desire For Love is the true and genuine life of the Soul the Wedding-Garment and its utmost perfection in which all the Law John 13.34 Ch. 15.7 and the Prophets yea and our Lord's Commandment too are included as being the Center and Substance of them all And therefore St. Paul tells us in his Epistle to the Romans That Love is the fullfilling of the Law Rom. 13.10 1 Tim. 1.5 And in his first Epistle to Timothy That Charity is the end of the Cemmandment CHAP. XIII The Qualifications of true Prayer and the usefulness thereof and how the Heart is to be recollected and gathered up into it self AND forasmuch as we of our selves are altogether insufficient for these and all other good things and that we cannot of our selves render any thing to our Lord God from whom alone proceeds all good which was not his own before save one thing only according to what he himself with his Blessed Mouth and Example hath been pleas'd to instruct us viz. That we in all Cases and Events have continual recourse to Prayer as being Guilty Miserable Poor Beggars Weak Destitute Subjects Servants and Sons and wholly desolate in our selves and that we with the most humble prostration of our mind in Fear and Love recollectedly and composedly with a deliberate true naked affection of shame with earnest desire and fervency with inward groans of the Heart and with simplicity and sincerity of Mind should supplicate him and lay open before him with full Confidence all our impending dangers and readily securely and nakedly commit resign and offer up our selves totally and faithfully to him to our very last breath as being truly and entirely his reserving nothing to our selves that so the saying of the Blessed Father Isaak may be fulfilled in us In Cassian collat 10. c. 6. who speaking of this king of Prayer saith Then it is that we shall be one in God and our Lord God alone shall be all in all in us when that perfect Love wherewith he hath first loved us shall become the Love and Affection of our our Love all our desire all our study and our endeavour and lastly all our Thoughts yea and every thing that we see speak or hope for shall be God and when that Unity which now is between the Father and the Son and between the Son and the Father shall be transfus'd into our Sence and Mind to that degree That as he Loves us with a sincere pure and unchangeable Love So we also may be joyned to him by a perpetual and inseparable dilection being so intimately united to him that whatsoever we hope whatsoever we understand whatsoever we speak and pray for may be God This therefore must be the Purpose this the endeavour and end of a truly Spiritual Man to be found worthy to possess the Image of the future Beatitude in this Corruptible Body and to obtain a foretaste of that Celestial Bliss Conversation and Glory even in this Transitory Life This is the end of all Perfection that the Mind being purified from all the Dregs of Carnality may be sublimed to that pitch of Spirituality That its whole Conversation and all the outgoings of the Heart be nothing else but one continual never ceasing Prayer And when the Mind thus having shak'd off its Earthly Defilements and Intanglements Collat. 9. c. 5. doth breath out it self to God in whom alone the intention of a Spiritual Man ought always to be fixed from which Soveraign Good the least Separation ought to be look'd upon as present Death and the most pernicious Destruction and that she the Mind being well founded and rooted in foregoing Peace and Tranquility and set loose from the Bands of all Carnal Passions and by a most resolute and tenacious purpose cleaves to that one Soveraign Good then I say she will be able to fulfil that Command of the Apostle 1 Thes 5.17 Pray without ceasing and in all place 1. Tim. 2.8 lifting up Holy Hands without Wrath and doubting For the Sence of the Mind being as it were wholly absorpt by this Purity and Transformed from its Earthly State into a Spiritual or Angelical likeness in this condition whatsoever she takes in whatsoever she handles whatsoever she does will be the purest and truest Prayer Wherefore if thou shalt without interruption continue this Exercise as has been here set down from the beginning it will be as easie and obvious to thee in thy introversion and Recollection to contemplate and enjoy as it is for thee to live in Nature CHAP. XIV In all Judgments that are made of us we are still to have Recourse to the Testimony of our Conscience MOreover to attain to this Spiritual Perfection Purity and Tranquillity of Mind in God it will be of no small Advantage to us that in all things which may be spoke or judged of us or acted towards us we always silently betake our selves to the inmost retreat of our Minds and there being abstracted from all other things and totally recollected within our selves place our selves before the Tribunal of Truth within us where we shall plainly find and see that it is not only of no Advantage but a great hinderance to us to be Praised and Honoured from without when according to the knowledge of Truth in our selves we are indeed culpable and guilty And as in this Case it is of no Advantage at all to a Man to be Praised outwardly by Men when his Conscience accuseth him within so neither on the contrary is it any the least hurt or hinderance to a Man if he be despised reviled blamed and persecuted from without when he is inwardly innocent unreproveable and harmless Yea rather he hath great Reason in Patience silence and Peace to rejoyce in the Lord on this account forasmuch as no adversity can hurt where iniquity doth not prevail And as no Wickedness ever goes unpunished so no good can be without its reward Neither let us be willing with Hypocrites to expect or receive our Reward or Recompence from Men but of our Lord God alone not at present but hereafter not in this Transitory time but in Eternity It is evident therefore that there is nothing of greater Moment or better for us than alway in every Tribulation and Event to retire to the inmost secret of our Minds and there to call upon the Lord Jesus Christ himself who is our helper in Temptations and Tribulations and there to be humbled before him Confessing our Sins and to Praise God and our Father who as he bruises and chastens so he also Comforts and Heals us And over and â—bove all this to take and accept of all and every thing readily and securely happening to our selves or others whether Prosperous or Adverse with an even quiet Temper of Mind from the Hand of his unerring Providence and orderly disposing of all Things from the faithful
discharge of which Exercise and Duty will follow the Remission of our Sins the Expulsion of all Bitterness the Collation of Sweetness Peace and Security the infusion of Grace and Mercy the attraction and strengthening of Familiarity and Communion with most abundant Comfort in him and firm cleaving to and Union with him But by no means let us be willing to imitate those who through Hypocrisie and Pharisaical Pride make it their Endeavour to be seen esteemed and to appear more Holy outwardly before Men than the Truth within them bears Witness to which certainly is a piece of the extremest Folly and Madness to desire and long for Humane Praise and Glory from ones self or others when at the same time we are inwardly full of the flickering inticements of this World and most Grievous Sins And certainly whoever pursues these most vain things the foresaid Goods will fly from him and he will fall into Shame and Disgrace Wherefore have thou always before thine Eyes thy manifold Sins and Wickedness and thy unfitness for any thing that is good and endeavour to know thy self that thou mayst be Humbled and don't refuse or be afraid to be esteemed and judged by all as the vilest unworthiest and most abject Off-scouring and Filth because of thy most Grievous Sins and great Iniquities Do thou therefore repute thy self amongst others as Dross amongst Gold as Tares amongst Wheat as Chaff amongst Corn as a Wolf amongst Sheep and as Satan amongst the Sons of God Neither do thou in the least desire to be Reverenc'd or Honour'd by Men or to be preferr'd before others but rather with thy whole Heart and Spirit flee from the Infections of this Pestilence the Poyson of Praise and the Pride of Boasting and Ostentation Psal 10.3 lest the Wicked should be Praised in the desire of his Heart and so be in the condition of those of whom the Prophet faith Isa 3.12 O my People they which call thee Blessed cause thee to erre and overturn the way of thy going or fall under that Curse of our Lord Luke 6.26 Wo unto you when all Men shall speak well of you for so did their Fathere to the false Prophets CHAP. XV. How we may arrive to a thorough Contempt of our selves and how profitable it is THE more therefore that any Man knows his own Vileness the more distinct and clear is his View and Vision of the Divine Majesty and the more Base and Vile any one appears in his own Eyes for God Truth and Righteousness the more Precious he is in the Eyes of God Wherefore let us strive with the total Effort of our desire to think our selves the Vilest of all Men and to believe our selves unworthy of every Benefit to displease our selves and to please God alone and be willing to be judged by others the most inconsiderable and despicable Creatures Moreover let us endeavour not to be moved by any Tribulations Afflictions or Injuries nor to be troubled at those that bring them upon us nor to entertain any hard Thoughts or to have indignation against them but with an even and quiet Mind to believe that we do well deserve all Injuries slightings Chastisements and Derelictions For certainly he who truly Mourns and is Penitent according to God he abhorrs to be Honour'd or Belov'd by others and doth not avoid or refuse to be hated trod upon and wholly despis'd to the end that he may be truly humbled and with a Pure Heart may sincerely cleave to his Lord God alone Now that we may arrive to this Loving of the Lord God alone and the abhorring of our selves above all Things and to the desire of being despis'd by othess there is not required any outward Labour or Health and Strength of Body but rather solitude of Body Labour of the Heart and Quiet of the Mind That by Labour of the Heart and Affection of the inmost Mind we may raise our selves above and Bodily withdraw our selves from these inferious Things and so rise and mount up to those that are Heavenly and Divine For doing this we change our selves into God And this is then chiefly done when we choose from our Hearts without any judging Condemning or Contemning of our Neighbour to be esteem'd by all Men as meer Off-scouring Filth and Reproach yea to be abhorred and trampled upon by all as the Dirt in the Streets rather than to abound in Pleasures and Deliciousness or to be Honoured and lifted up by Men or to enjoy any Corporal and Transitory Health or Advantages Or to desire any other Comfort in this present Mortality and Bodily Life but to Mourn Lament and bewail our Offences Faults and Sins without ceasing perfectly to set at naught and Annihilate our selves and to be esteemed daily still Viler and Viler by others and appear daily more unworthy in our own Eyes That we may please God alone Love him only and cleave unto him Being unwilling to be Affected with any thing save only with our Lord Jesus Christ himself not being sollicitous or careful about any thing but him under whose Rule and Providence all things subsist and have their Course Know then that henceforward it is not for thee to delight thy self but to Mourn with thy whole Heart wherefore if so be thou dost not yet Mourn Mourn for that and if thou dost Mourn Mourn and Lament the more for that thou hast brought upon thy self this Cause of Grief and Sorrow because of thy most Griveous Offences and Infinite Sins For as a Malefactor who receives his Sentence of Death is not concern'd about the ranging of the Sherifs Men or the Multitude of the Spectators So he who in good earnest Mourns and Bewails his Sins cannot give his Mind to Pleasures or Anger or vain Glory or Indignation or any other such like And as the Habitations of Citizens and Condemned Malefactors are very different So the State Manner and Behaviour of those that Mourn for being Guilty of Sins that bind them over and make them obnoxious to Punishment ought to be very different from those who are Innocent and not Guilty For otherwise there would be no difference made between a Guilty and Innocent Person by reward and Punishment and Unrighteousness would be more free than Innocence So that all things are to be denied all things are to be Contemned all things are to be cast away and avoided That with full Faith a good and sure Foundation may be laid for the Sorrow of Repentance Wherefore he that Loves Jesus Christ in Truth and that Mourns after him and that bears him in his Heart and in his Body that truly Mourns for his Sins and Offences and earnestly seeks for the Kingdom to come and in true Faith possesseth the Memory of the Torments of Hell and of Eternal Judgement and imprinteth firmly and perfectly in his Heart the Sense and Fear of his own Death such a one will no farther strive care or be sollicitous about any other thing whatsoever
Children Brothers and Sisters yea even his own Soul and loseth himself wholely and altogether in this World that he may find himself in his Beloved He is got beyond self choosing and his own Works and only waits upon what God will be pleased to choose think speak and work in him with total profound Obedience and perfect Resignation He lives even as if he lived not for his Spirit cleaves so fast to God that he becomes one Spirit with him Fear takes no place in him his Labour is without Weariness and his Sufferings are become his Joy Triumph and Exultation But to whom are we to ascribe all these great strange and wonderful Works To Man Surely no That be far from any Christian Mind God himself is the Worker the Holy Ghost is that Fire which totally consumes Man and burns him to Ashes yea wholely and altogether annihilates or brings him to nothing that so he alone may remain the All in All in him and in All things Let every Soul in this Station carefully take heed not to attribute or appropriate any thing of activity or operativeness to her self But let her rejoyce in her most faithful and most loving God who hath drawn her out of her self and hath of Free Grace favoured her to live in himself in his own Spirit And therefore let such a Soul examine her self whether she finds those Fruits in her which spring from the foresaid highest degree of Love whether or no she be that Tree which God himself hath planted for whatsoever God hath not planted must be plucked up by the Roots cast away and burnt in the Fire Wherefore the Great Duty of the Soul in this state is to have an Eye to two things more especially the one is that she be never without good Thoughts Words or Works the other is that she in her inactivity or ceasing from her Works do find her self to be wrought upon by the Holy Ghost from whence proceeds the Divine Adoption as St. Paul tells us Rom. 8.14 for they who are Led and actuated by the Spirit of God are the Children of God and cannot Sin an St. John saith 1 John 3.6 9. For the Holy Ghost bears witness with their Spirit that they are the children of God Heirs of God and Joint-Heirs with our Lord Jesus Christ Rom. 8.15 16. He who hath this witness in himself he doth not own his Works to be his own but the Holy Ghosts to whom it is impossible to sin and therefore wholly leaves Nature and acknowledgeth himself to be a Child of Grace as having by the new Birth passed out of Nature into Grace CHAP. XV. The Degrees of the Love of God above all things have a mutual Subordination and Respect to one another but yet are not all given by God in the same Order FRom Imperfection according to the order of Nature we advance and go on to Perfection and nothing grows Great which has not before been little in all cases where the order of Nature is kept But when Perfection comes from abroad and is a free gift then it is wholely in the Power of him that bestows it to give it in a lower or higher Degree as pleaseth him best For he that hath a mind to bestow a thousand pounds upon any one of his free Will he may at first give him one pound at another ten at another an hundred and so on or if he please he may invert this Order and give at first an hundred next ten and afterwards one or else may give the whole thousand pounds at once as best liketh him Forasmuch therefore as to love God above all things is a free Gift of the Holy Ghost it depends wholely of his Will to bestow the same in the highest or lowest Degree sooner or later or all the Degrees of it together and at once according as it seems good in in his Eyes for notwithstanding the Beginners Love be in it self inferior and less the Proficients better and the Love of those who are Perfect best of all yet is it one and the same thing with him to make a Sinner Perfect in Love at the first as to make him a Beginner according as frequently he has done Thus verily we see that the Repentance of Paul Peter and Mary Magdalen were perfect Works in which Paul was caught up into the third Heaven Peter became melted into sweet tears of Love and Mary Magdalen with Joy of heart washed the feet of God with her Tears and wip'd them with the hair of her head notwithstanding that Repentance in it self be the work of Beginners Many Persons likewise experience in themselves that at their first taking leave of Sin by true Repentance they find in themselves a readiness to forsake themselves and all the World which is a Work of Perfect Love and yet two or three days after it may be the same persons find great difficulty and opposition to deny themselves in parting with the least part of their Goods or some filthy Lust which is the weak and defective Work of Beginners Sometimes at the Beginning of our Conversion we are able to bear an hundred weight which belongs to those that are Proficients when it may be sometime after we are not able to bear a pound weight which is a state beneath that of Beginners The reason of this alteration is because we do not bear our burthens by our own strength but by the Might and Power of the most High who imparts the same unto us when and how he will not according to our but his own good Pleasure and Liking This discovers the great Folly of those who think by their good Deeds to move and incline God according to their Will and Pleasure who in their own conceit would make themselves lovely and acceptable to God and allure God to them by their Vertue and Goodness as they lure Hawks with a Bait by which perswasion they rob the Divine Mercy of it's due Priviledg and Prerogative and carry blasted Oats to Market they would fain purchase Gold with Dung and be saved by their own Righteousness and to defend their Folly alledg the Sayings of the Holy Fathers which they never yet understood And are also extremely displeased with those who cannot comply with them in this their Folly O Folly beyond all Folly To mistake about the number of the Stars the Height of Heaven the Depth of the Sea and such like is no great damage or loss but to mistake in those things that concern our Salvation is a Loss inestimable and irreparable and more especially in the Love of God for he that mistakes in this Love mistakes in all things that are necessary to Salvation whereas he who is not mistaken in this cannot err in any thing that of necessity conduceth to Salvation Would to God that all the Books were lost wherein Men have taught us to practice Vertues so that Love alone were but found by us for then every one would do what he ought But