best but one in all that heauenly Paradise of God She is the true mother of Pearle but yet withall she is a Pearle and the richest after that other which doth adorne the Throne of the Diuinity She is the woman whome in the Apocalips Apoc. 1â—â— S. Iohn saw cloathed with the sunne and he also saw in his Ghospell of Verbum caro factum est Ioan. 11 that the Sonne was cloathed and kept warme by her She is also said to be like the sunne in brightnes yet not glareing or dazeling but togeather with the brightnes of a sunne she hath the sweetnes of a neuer-wayning or changing Moone She is sweet but strange after the example of Christ our Lord Sap. 8. Qui disponit omnid suauiter pertingit â fine vsque ad finem fortiter And for this she is also said to be Terribilis vt castrorum acies ordinata as terrible as a battell placed in good array The terrour which a complete Army giues is great but that is only to the enemies for to friends it is a spectacle both of security and glory She (e) The most sweet condition of our B. Lady Cant. 4. conquers with curtesy and mercy or if she do it by force yet is it not to kill but to take prisoners to enchaine them in the armes of her protectioÌ„ She is that stroÌ„ge Tower of Dauid but yet withall she will needs be so weake as to yield herselfe vpon the call of any afflicted creature In (f) How our B. Lady was allied lincked with all the three Persons of the B. Trinity fine she had God the Father for her Father and God the Sonne for her Sonne and God the holy Ghost for her Spouse Her Sonne was wholly his Sonne in one of his natures his Sonne was wholly hers in the other and yet it was but one and the selfe same SoÌ„ne of theÌ„ both Who as he did infinitely after a sort enrich that Humanity which he receiued from her so it became his Maiesty and greatnes and wisedome goodnes besides his filial reuerence and loue to impart himselfe to her as hath bene said in the most abundant manner and withall those priuiledges graces which any meere creature could receaue Of the seuerall deuotions that wè are to carry to our B. Lady CHAP. 93. NOW therfore this glorious Virgin being giuen vs by the gratious hand of our Lord God to be our mother and she withall being a mother of such Soueraigne excellency as we haue seene it will remaine for vs to acknowledge the infinite obligation which we haue to our B. Lord for such a (a) How enriere deuotion we are to carry to our B. Lady benefit and to consider how great deuotion and humble affection we ought to carry towards her that so we may obtaine the more abundant blessing at her hands This (b) Wher in that deuotionâ— doth consist deuotion and humble affection will consist and ought to be expressed by our procuring to haue her much and with a mighty estimation in our memory To congratulate reioyce withall the powers of our soule for her glory To dilate and spread the fame of her excellency To implore her ayde of our misery And lastly chiefly to imitate her Humility her Purity her Charity with all the rest of those diuine vertues which triumphed and raigned in her holy soule We Catholikes do all esteeme her as we ought and I will perswade my selfe that such as are not so if yet withall they will pretend to belieue in Christ our Lord will begin to do it If any of vs had interest but a little-little peece of one of the corruptible garmeÌ„ts of Christ our Lord how happy and how rich would he esteeme himselfe in the part which he might haue in such a iewell And if that peece were of that garment in particular which he had worne next his owne sacred flesh how much more would he glory in such a treasure Now although we haue no such Relique of our owne as this yet by the prouidence of God his seamelesse coate is extant in the hands of the Church And because it had the honor to touch his sacred body there is no Monarch in the world who ought not to adore God for that fauour and who may not licke the dust of that ground vpon which so pretious a iewell were conserued What are we then to thinke and what to do In Hypopante Domini apud Canisium towards this Relique of God the B. Virgin of whome it is sayd by Methodius that excellent learned holy Saint and Martyr who was celebrated so greatly by Saint Hierome That she was the garment and cloake of Christ our Lord which he being the true Elias did leaue to vs when he ascended vp to heauen that so his spirit and grace might doubly come downe vpon vs. For not only had he touched her and beene cloathed by her but he lodged also in her pretious wombe many moneths and alone it was that himselfe had taken a body which might be touched He was then in effect but one and the selfe same thing with her and so truly are (c) The streight vnion betweene the mother the Sonne the mother and the child reputed both to be then but one that they haue both but the good Angell of the mother and the child hath none of his owne till he be seuered from her by his birth And yet euen afterward it is rather a separation in respect of place then a diuisioÌ„ in respect of nature for in that consideration they are in effect still the same With what an admirable tender and most reuerent loue must we therfore resort to this mother of God who was once one thing with the Humanity of the same God and who neuer after grew so much lesse one in the way of corporall vnion as she did by moments go increasing in the vnion of her spirit with his We see what respects are carried euen to Reliquaries made of metall if the Reliques which they keep be well authorized of some Glorious Saint And much more we know that the sacred Chalice is not so much as to be touched but by Ecclesiasticall persons for reuerence of the B. Sacrament which it contayned therein Deere (d) Our B. Lady is the Reliquary of God himselfe Lord and how highly reuerently are we then to touch this Reliquary of the diuinity of God since the matter wherof it was made gaue matter out of it selfe for the making of his humanity which was the very Relique it selfe How Religiously are we to approach to this Custodia which did minister the Corne wherof that bread of heauen was baked by the fire of the holy Ghost wherwith the whole world is to be fed for euer For then do we approach to this Custodia then we touch it when we aspire towards her with our pious affections deuout prayers which are the
both extremely laborious withall very lickerish after all the delightfull obiects which it lookes vpon And for listening gazing it growes first to cheapning then to buying by the disorder distēpered heate therof it blowes with vehemet desire vpon them And so it rayseth a dust into the eye of the vnderstāding wherby it is made as blind almost as the blind will it selfe And wherby it growes persuaded that how deere soeùer that cōterfeit ware do cost it may proue a kind of sauing bargaine to vs in the end Now what a case are we therfore in if our Loue being so restles a thing as it is so resolued to be euer feeding vpon some obiect or other we suffer that to be such a one as besides the endles tormes of the next life can neuer bring vs to any true rest in this For the soule can neuer rest in the possession or fruition of any creature The reason heerof is playne because the rest of any thing consisteth in the attayning inioying of that last end to which it was ordayned in the creation therof And therfore the soule of man being made for the fruition of God whose glorious vision is only able to make vs say It is inough what meruaile is it that it can take no lasting true contentment in any thing which is lesse then God The holy S. Bernard sayth heervpon to this essect It is no meruaile that the soule of man can neuer be satisfied with the possessions honours pleasures of this world For the soule desires to feed vpon such a meat as may carry proportion to it selfe Now the entertaiments of this life carry no proportion at all to the soule in the way of giuing it entiere satisfactiō For the soule is spirituall immortall and all these obiects are either temporall or carnall And therfore as he who were ready to starue for lacke of meate would be ridiculous if he should thinke to kill his hungar by going to a window gaping there like some Camelion to take in the ayre which ayre is no cōpetent and proportionable food for a body of flesh bloud iust so a man who shal pretend to satisfy fulfill the desires of a spirituall immortal substāce as we know the soule to be by feeding fowly vpon the Carrion of Corporall thinges is at least as very a foole as the former And besides his folly his losse of labour in the meane time he wil heerafter grow to suffer by it so much more hē the otherr as the eternall dānation of a soule is a matter incōparably more considerable then the death of a mortall body No it is God alone who can quēch the infini e appetite of his reasonable creatures He alone made the whole world for vs vs for himself he only is our Center place of rest He only is that first Truth which our vnderstāding should aspire to know the only Good which our Will should be so inflamed to Loue. And because as hath bene said the question is but of the Meanes wherby we must tend to this most perfect End and for that by the treachery of our sēses we are induced to place our harts the affectiōs therof vpon dāgerous vicious obiects it is therfore shat I am procuring to set that one before vs which is the most strōg sweet perfect meanes which may not only inuite but assist vs also admirably otherwise towards the ariuing to our last End The line which leades to this faire full point the way which guides vs to this eternall habitation is that top of beauty and excellency Iesus Christ our Lord vpon whom if we can perswade our selues to fasten the rootes of allour Loue we shall not only be happy there but euē heere And to the end that we may consider the innumerable inualuable reasons which we haue to loue this Lord of ours I haue laboured first to shew the vnspeakeable dignity of his person then the infinite loue it selfe which he hath borne to vs. And this I haue deduced out of the principal misteries of his most sacred life bitter death as they haue bene deliuered to vs in holy Scripture And although whilst I treate of the Loue of our Lord to vs in euery one of the particular mysteries I do also shew the straite obligation into which we are cast of returning loue for loue to him yet I procure to do it more expresly towards the end of the book in the two last Chapters The holy ghost be he who by sweetly breathing vpō our soules may inable vs to do this duty well which hath bene so highly deserued of vs which only is able to make vs happy OF THE LOVE OF OVR LORD IESVS CHRIST declared by shewing his Greatnes as he is God CHAP. 1. THE Loue of our Lord Iesus Christ to this wretched and wicked creature Man is such a Sea without any bottome and such a Sunne without all Eclipse that not only no fadome can reach it must not so much as any eye behould it as indeed it is And whither soeuer we looke either vp or downe or towards any side we shall find our selues ouer wrought by the bulke and brightnes thereof Now (a) The quality of the persōs which loue each other giueth price and value to the loue it selfe because the loue of any one to any other doth take a tincture from the quality of the persons betweene whome it pasles therefore the loue of our Lord to vs is proued heereby to be infinite and incomprehensible because the dignity and Maiesty of his person is incomprehensible and infinite It will therefore be necessary to declare some part of the excellency of his person And for his sake who loued vs with so eternall loue I beg in this beginning an exact attention Because (b) The reason why exact attention is heere required what I am to say in this place being the ground whereon the rest of this discourse must rise will both giue it clearer light and greater weight and more certaine credit Nor can any thing which shall be deliuered in the progresse heerof be so high or deep or wide or hard to the beliefe whereof the soule wil not be able to flye at full ease and speed betweene the wings of faith and loue when it considers and ponders well who it is of whō we speake Our Lord Iesus Christ being perfect God and perfect Man as God is the only begotten eternall sonne of his Father and wholy equall to him And because (c) The generatiō of the Son of God he is begotten of him by an act of Vnderstanding proceeding out of that inexausted fountaine of his wisedom as if it were out of a wombe he is therefore called the Wisedome begotten the Word the Image and the Figure of his Father from whome togeather with the Sonne the Holy Ghost proceeds And for as much as the Father could communicate to his Sonne no other nature but
loue wherwith our Lord did make the way thither so easy to them We may well be assured of the truth of that testimony of S. Iohn Baptist when he said Ma. That he who should baptize after him would doe it in the holy Ghost And we may safely say that it was the holy Ghost which could eleuate such a poore peece of nature as common water is to an immediate instrument as now we find it for the washing saÌ„ctifying of all our soules For instantly after the Baptisme of Christ our Lord and the prayer which was made vpoÌ„ it he saw that the very heauens did open which had beene shut till then by the sinne of Adam Ibid. and the holy Ghost descended on him in a visible forme Which our Lord IESVS obteyned not for himselfe who was already full of it Ioan. 1. beyond all measure but he obteyned it for vs for of his fulnes we all receaue and so there is none of vs baptized vvhose soule is not highly visited by the holy Ghost And no meruaile if heauen hauing neuer bin seene open before that time such an aboundance of the holy Ghost vvere then communicated to the vvorld vvhich till then vvas little knovvne The promises and blessings of that old lavv vvere temporall terrene and a land slowing with milke and hony vvas (b) The seruile coÌ„dition of the people of God vnder the old law the fairest Lure vvherby that Carnall people could be made to stoope to any obedience to the commaundements of God But novv the earth vvas grovvne too poore a token for his diuine Majesty to send to then vvho vvere so beloued by his only begotten sonne that sonne vvho in contemplation of their good had performed such an act of heroicall call vertue in this holy Baptisme of his And therfore heauen vvas set open and the most pretious treasure therof Confes l. 13. cap. 7. sent dovvne to dravv men vp For the vncleanes of our spirit as S. Augustine sayth dissolueth it selfe downeward through a loue of cares and the sanctity of Gods spirit doth rayse vs vpward by a loue of secure repose That so our harts may ascend vp towards thee O God where thy spirit is carried ouer the waters and that we may arriue to that supereminent rest when our soules shall haue passed through these waters wherupon we can ground no rest But euen in respect of Christ our Lord himselfe though his soule vvere then already so full of grace as not to be capable of addition yet vvas it most agreable to the vsuall stile and the infinite iust goodnes of God that the humility of this action should be ansvvered and acknovvledged vvith vnusuall glory And therfore that he vvho had so abased euen as it vvere buried himselfe vp in vvater Ioan. 1. and submitted his head to one who was not worthy to vnty his shoe should be auovved from heauen vvith the Curtaines open dravvne To be the beloued sonne of God Matt. 3. And so a certaine and solemne instance vvas giueÌ„ of that truth vvhich may goe for the dayly and standing miracle of the Christian Catholike Church That as soone as a soule shall haue truly humbled it selfe for the loue of God euen then it receaues and feeles a revvard from heauen vvhich fills the hart full of ioy Glory then I say vvas due to his humility and for as much as nothing can pay loue but loue the attribute of Beloued was also due and best deserued by his loue And because his loue for the loue of God was so immense to man the holy Ghost it selfe which is the al and only infinite loue was sent downe vpon him in a visible manner by whome it was afterward to be conueyed to men And euen the very shape wherin God was pleased that it should appeare may serue to make vs know that all the actioÌ„ did begin end in loue For it was of a doue (b) The fruytes of the holy ghost are figured fitly in a Doue what creature is more apt for loue then this What creature is more fruitefull more speedy more sweet more stronge more honest and yet more amourous then this Deteyning her mate when he would depart with more desire and expecting him when he is absent with more ioy The doue was therfore the signe of the holy Ghost which descended vpoÌ„ Christ our Lord as soone as he was baptized to shew that his hart was ouerwhelmed with loue both to God and man Whilst for the pure glory of the one and the perfect good of the other he submitted himself to paine and shame for the sanctifying of sinners and that by a most sweet easy means to vs he cared not though he were accounted one himselfe Yea not being content to be only thought so heere by men the restlesnes of his loue did worke so fast vpon him as to make him not disdaine to be mistaken therin by the diuells also and to be tempted in the wildernes by the Prince of darcknes as the next discourse will declare Of the vnspeakeable Loue to vs which our Lord Iesus shewed in his being tempted in the wildernes by the Diuell CHAP. 23. IT is full of truth which hath bene said Omnis Christi actio vitâ—e nostrae est instructio Euery action of our Lord may serue for an instruction to vs in this life of ours Or rather it is most true that there is no action at all of his which instructs vs not many wayes (a) All the actions of Christ our Lord are as a hidden Manna to our soules which is not a kind of hidden Manna deliuering to euery hungry and thirsty soule a tast of that particular vertue which it needs That Christ our Lord would be baptized was to be enroled in the list of sinners according to the iudgment of men but in sine they were men who would make that iudgment with men he loued and he was come into the world to procure their good and at last he knew that he would deliuer them from that errour But for the sonne of God who was also God to abase and as it were forget himselfe so farre as to submit that superexcellent soule of his which was adored by al the Angells of heaueÌ„ to be subiect for the manifold benefit of man so farre as to be tempted by that damned spirit doth betoken such a strange loue to vs as puts all discourse to silence and the best created vnderstanding that euer was may be halfe excused if it shall loose the very witts with wonder If the difference be great betwene one man and another euen amongst good men homo homini quid praestat if it be great betwene a good maÌ„ a bad if it be yet greater between a most wicked man a most glorious Saint what difference shall we thinke there is betwene God and the diuell And what scales can haue the strings long enough to giue scope that one
is that of Genesis Mira est profunditas c. Confes l. 12. c. 14. Wonderfull saith the Saint is the profoundnes of thy words wherof yet behold the superficies or appearance doth euen smile vpon vs little ones But yet the profoundnes therof in the same holy Scripture Proleg 2. fol. 10. as is aboundantly proued by Salmeron and amongst other instāces he sheweth how the Prophet Osee saith of his owne prophecy in the end therof Who is wise that he may vnderstand these things and who is intelligent that he may know them Which implyeth not yet an impossibility but only a great difficulty Iu Proaem l 1. Comment in Ose 2. Pet. 3. as S. Hierome notes And S. Peter affirmeth that there were some passages in the Epistles of S. Paul hard to be vnderstood which vnstable vnlearned people did peruert towards their owne perdition as they also did other scriptures So they also doe in these dayes whersoeuer heresy hath set her clouen foote And that complaint is most iustly made in these sad tymes of ours Epist 13. ad Paul which S. Hierome made in his tyme. Agricolae Coementarij fabri metallorum c. Clownes Daubers Smythes Wood-cleauers Butchers Dyers and the like cannot learne their trades without a teacher But euery prating old woman euery doting old man and euery wrangling Sophister and in fine who will may presume to lay hold vpon holy Scripture and to tosse it and teach it before they haue learnt it And for my part I confesse that in my life I haue nor heard of many thinges which might make a man laugh and weepe both at once then that one passing once in a prison of London from one chamber to another with a candle in his hand which the winde blew out and stepping in hard by to light it in a little Sellar where Ale and Beare was to be sould he found the Tapster very grauely leaning vpon a barrell with his Byble lying open before him And forsooth he was in study of the Prophesy of Ezechiell So that I know not whether ignorāce be more blind or pride more bold But these kind of men may learne to be confounded when they consider that euen the B. Apostles after they had heard so many Sermons and Parables deliuered and expounded by Christ our Lord himselfe And after hauing inioyed his diuine cōuersation for the space of three yeares together were yet so farre from vnderstanding the sense of holy Scriptures that our Lord himselfe was fayne immediatly before his Ascension to appeare to them expresly for this purpose that he might instruct them and open their meaning to them Which may sufficiently serue to shew how full of difficulty they are in thēselues how impossible to be vnderstood but by the particular fauour of that Doctor of our soules How the holy Scripture growes to be so very obscure and of the infinite wise loue which our Lord hath shewed to vs euen therin CHAP. 38. I Will touch in a few words out of Salmeron the chiefe reasons which make the holy Scripture so very hard Proleg 2. fol. 14. that so I may come to shew how the tender loue of our mercifull Lord doth euidently appeare to vs euen therin This (a) The height of the misteries of Christian Religion difficulty is partly caused by the magnitude and multitude of the mysteries which are there deliuered surpassing all humane vnderstanding and which are able euen to amaze the minde As that of the B. Trinity the Predestination and Reprobation of soules The Incarnation death and Resurrection and Ascension of the sonne of God The Institution of the B. Sacrament such like The variety euen of literall senses wherof the very same words are capable and which are assigned by the holy Fathers themselues besides those other senses which are misticall and spirituall The (b) Predictions of future thinges Predictions of Future things which doe abound in holy Scripture and which as they be hard euen in their owne nature so heere they were much harder to be vnderstood because the holy Ghost had sometimes an expresse designe to hide thē vnder certaine metaphors to the end that on the one side they might lye close frō the notice of wicked kings who otherwise would haue put the Prophets to present death and on the other side that those mysteries might grow in fit tyme by meanes of prayer and other diligences to be conceaued and knowne by the faithfull people of God The seeming of euident contradiction which is in seuerall places of holy Scripture As where it is affirmed that God said vpon the first day let light be made and light was made and yet it is also said That the sunne was made vpon the fourth day The variety (c) Variety of tongues of tongues wherin it was written and into which it is translated euery one wherof hath seuerall manners of speach and seuerall Prouerbes and Parables The great multitude of (d) Multitudes of Tropes Figures Tropes and Figures of all kinds which euery where doe so abound that euen the most learned haue inough to doe The extent (e) The arts and sciences which holy Scripture doth comprehend of so many Arts and sciences as are comprehended by holy Scripture without the vnderstanding wherof it cannot also be vnderstood The (f) Vniuersall propositions which yet are not vniuersally to be vnderstood multitude of vniuersall propositions which yet are not vniuersally to be vnderstood as All things are lawfull to me but all things are not expedient c. The great number (g) Places subiect to variety of sonses by reason of diuersities of natures persōs of places which are subiect to an ambiguous sense both by reason of diuers distinct persons in one and the same diuine nature as in the B. Trinity as also of diuers natures in one and the same person as the diuine and humane nature of Christ our Lord. The (h) The different states of the Church two different states of the Church Militant and Tryumphant and the (i) The double comming of Christ our Lord. double comming of our B. Sauiour once in humility to redeeme vs once in Maiesty to iudge vs. The (k) The suddaine change from one person to another suddaine and instant change of the persons who are brought in to speake and the persons also of them to whome the speach is made which is very often vsed in the Prophets and Psalmes Neither (l) The limitation of thinges inioyned to some and not to others and yet no limitation expressed are all things meant to be inioyned to all but some things only to certaine and peculiar persons by the not knowing of which difference vnaduised men are led on to errour The (m) The easy passage which is made from the letter to the spirit and from temporall thinges to eternall easy and frequent passage from the letter to the spirit from carnall things