man is composed and compacted by so much more difficulty and violently is he dissolved hence it appeareth that the separation of my body and soule was more painfull than the death of others Also my blessed flesh by how much more it was freer from all spot or blemish of sin by so much also it became more sensible of torments Now concerning my Spirituall martyrdome which I suffered in my Soule as I said before unto thee it began at such time as I was first conceived in the wombe of my mother or that my Soule was infused into my body and continued without intermission 33. yeeres and a halfe till such time as my Soule was separated from my body upon the Crosse. So as I became a Martyr even in the Wombe of my Mother Wherfore I was not so much as one moment without the most bitter martyrdome of my Spirit Because whatsoever I suffered in the Night when I was taken or the Day following when I was slaine in mocking reviling spitting nayling and stretching upon the Crosse c. This throughly and wholly my most holy Soule long before suffered But thou art especially to consider that those dolorous piercing darts of the Virgin my blessed mother became the excessivest Object of my sorrowes who having a tender and respective eye to all my dolours in perfect Charity as became the condition of her motherly excellency so much grieved for my sorrowes as was sitting for such a woman to grieve And all the sorrowes of my Mother continually wounded my mind So as my Mothers Crosse ministred unto mee a new Crosse. Another Object of my continuall sorrow was all those martyrdomes which were at any time done or to bee done upon any of mine Elect for me So as in very truth I say unto thee that all those paines griefes tribulations persecutions and miseries which any man was to suffer or should suffer aswell in body as in soule from Adam even to the very last man that shall bee borne to the end of the World all these I suffered alwayes in my Soule must fully and through my compassion they did more hurt me and more sharply grieve me than any mans corporall paine which hee actually suffereth ever personally did And there are two causes which give sufficient testimony of the truth hereof One is because I in the glasse or mirrour of my Divinity did behold all things created and to bee created things past present and to come which were to me present And I from the very first instant of the infusion of my Soule into my Body began alwayes to observe till such time as I gave up my Ghost upon the Crosse all the paines which I was to endure and whatsoever all my Elect from the beginning of the world had at any time suffered and such as being not yet borne were to suffer even to the end of the world all this I suffered in the inferiour faculties of my Soule And in each of these was I more inwardly and grievously tormented in my Spirit than any one could be in his owne proper body at such time as hee is to suffer tortures or torments Another cause which procured so great paine in my Spirit was abundant love For love begetteth griefe and heavinesse in the spirit So as by how much thy love towards me was more intensive or greater by so much more is thy soule tormented with my Death and Passion And because I have alwaies and above comparison loved thee and every man more than hee can love himselfe therefore have I suffered greater paine than all that which any one hath ever suffered upon earth or was to suffer or shall suffer to the end of the world Thou knowest that when Paul had consented to the death and stoning of Stephen and did persecute Christians I said unto him Saul Why persecutest thou me And yet he persecuted not me in my owne proper person but in the persons of my beloved friends because what good or evill soever befalleth my friends befalleâ—h me And this proceedeth from the great love which I beare unto men Thus therefore maist thou consider how and by what meanes my Passion exceeded in paine the passions of all that ever suffered or shall suffer because I suffered both in my Body and Soule and that immaculate and by nature delicate and for so long time to wit for thirty foure yeeres did I suffer martyrdom in my Spirit both for my selfe and all my Elect. Laurence in one night was broyled on a gridiron Bartholomew in one day was slaine Katherine in one houre was broken on a Wheele c. All these tortures never hurt any one of them so much in their owne bodies as they tormented me in my Soule for thirty foure yeeres Whence Isay Truly he hath suffered for our infirmities and borne our sorrowes And therefore I could never laugh but often weepe appearing as one of forty yeeres when I was scarce thirty Which came to passe by reason of the continuall Justice which I incessantly bore for my Passion that was to come and the suffering of my Elect which I alwaies clearly beheld and painfully suffered by strength of imagination Whereupon I oftimes said unto my Father Many are my grones and my heart is sorrowfull To thee likewise doe I say that thou maist bee moved with compassion and affection towards mee that my life is waxen old with heavinesse and my yeeres with mourning Sinner Surely O my good Jesu as I have heard and understood no conceit can sufficiently apprehend the depth of those anguishes and sorrowes of thy most holy Soule nor griefes and passions of thy Body But a very deepe question doth trouble my mind to wit how heavinesse paine or anguish could befall thy blessed soule seeing it was alwaies in great joy through Contemplation of thy Divinitie which was so amiable to behold that if the damned in Hell could but behold the amiable countenance of God as the blessed Spirits doe in the Kingdome of Heaven they could bee tormented by no griefe nor heavinesse either by the fire of hell or sight of the Devils in hell Christ. It is true that my pure and blessed soule was glorified albeit my Body was mortall For my Soule from the very instant of her conception and ever after even when I was upon the Crosse was as glorious and in as great joy and delight in respect of her superiour faculties as she is at this day in heaven sitting at the right hand of God my Father But in respect of her inferiour faculties she was in a continuall and incessant heavinesse and sorrow for the causes aforesaid Which could not bee by course or order of Nature that in one and the selfe-same soule together and at once there should be so great joy and so great heavinesse for this was miraculous and supernaturall Because according to the course of nature joy and delight doe expell sorrow and griefe so as they cannot suffer together in one and the
my Crucifying in their manners who imprint the signe of my Crosse for their defence in their foreheads that by his Law they may bee formed by whose Faith they are armed For otherwise he disloyally beareth the stampe of his King whose will he doth not observe Neither doth hee rightly protect himselfe with his signe whose command he doth not obey Sinner O good Jesu vouchsafe to bestow on my hearing a fuller joy by recounting to mee thy most unworthy Sinner the rest of those benefits and fruits arising from the dayly remembrance of thy most holy Passion Christ. The memory of my death by a dayly ruminating thereof ought to burne upon the altar of thy mind for many reasons First because thou canst doe nothing more acceptable unto mee than to exercise thine heart in my most holy Passion with love compassion reverence and imitation Whereof thou canst not doubt being assured thereof by many authorities of holy Scripture Wherefore I doe advise thee to stamp my painfull love and loving paine in thy soule and to be thankfull unto me saying Set me as a signet upon thine heart As if he should say Love mee as I love thee Remember not onely how great things I have done for thee but how sharpe and unworthy things I have suffered for thee and see if thou doest not give mee an ill requitall if thou doest not love mee For tell mee who loves thee as I doe Who desireth to be loved of thee as I doe Set me therefore as a signet upon thine heart that thou maist love me with all thy strength upon thine arme that thou maist performe those things which please mee with all thine affection upon thine heart that whatsoever is deare unto thee thou maist set aside for me and alwaies preferre me and alwaies more and more love me Secondly thou oughtst continually to remember my Passion because by it thou art led by the hand to the love of God For by my Passion I have shewne to thee the quantity of my affection And love deserveth love againe Understand what I say I would not reedeme man with praier for so oft times man freeth man from captivity Nor with the price of gold and silver for so sheep and Oxen are bought but with the price of my bloud that by the price of the thing bought my love might bee weighed Do not therfore dis-esteeme thy worth consider oft times thy price If I had redeemed man with gold or silver it might have beene thought that the soule of man had beene comparable â— to temporall riches That which is redeemed is more precious than that by which it is redeemed Therefore the soule of man is more precious than my bloud Thirdly â—or stirring of devotion Whence it was that Sampson found an Honeycombe in the mouth of a dead Liâ—n I am the Lion of the Tribe of Iudâ— in whose death the honeycombe of devotion is found wherewith the spirit of man is refreshed O that thou wouldst seriously consider how upon the Crosse my mouth appeared like one halfe-alive open and my tongue bloudy surely if thou hadst an heart of iron it would have melted with compassion and devotion The fourth fruit arising from the memory of my Passion is that in it is found a guard of defence against all Enemies Whereupon my Apostle Peter Christ suffered for you arme your selves likewise with the same mind And I say Enter into the rocke As a Souldier who unable to withstand his enemy in the field flyeth to his Tents Briefly the Enemy shall prevaile nothing against him whom the daily exercise of my Passion doth delight The fifth is because with no exercise is man so much enriched as with my merits applied to him and made his by the hand of faith for the foundation of all grace and the root of merit as it hath sole relation to me and derived to man by Faith in me consisteth in the sorrow of heart and body for my Crosse. For this cause mine Elect Apostle said I have esteemed my selfe to know nothing but JESUS CHRIST and him crucified And that devout sonne of my blessed mother Bernard It is my highest philosophy said hee to know CRIST JESUS and him Crucified But thou oughtst to grieve because there are many enemies of my Crosse. For the lovers of pleasures are my persecutours they are guilty of my death not as authors or fautors but as contemners 〈◊〉 my death These are they who make the merit of my Passion in them of no effect who make themselves unworthy of mine heavenly blessing unspeakable glory who living in their delights laugh at the mysterie of my Passion who tread mee the Sonne of God under their feet and lay reproach upon the Spirit of Grace A carnall life is an injury unto God contempt of my Crosse and redoundeth to the contumely of all the blessed Trinitie The sixt is the allaying of the labours and dolours encountring man in his way of repentance and life of Religion For a devout faithfull Souldier hath no feeling of his owne wounds when hee seeth the wounds of his loving Captaine And to this end have I contemned all earthly goods that I might shew how they were to bee contemned and sustained all adverse things that I might teach how they were to bee sustained The seventh is the extinguishing of carnall desires for with the sight of my Passion whatsoever is carnalâ— decreaseth The eighth is the stirring of compunction and repentance for sinues For who is he that grieveth not highly when he recals to mind how his sinnes were so odious to God the Father that for taking them away he would have his beloved Sonne crucified and put to death The ninth is the begetting of good hope and considence For in my Crosse the Sinner hath his Sanctuary as a murderer flying for refuge to the Church-yard Nothing is so bitter even unto death which may not be cured by my death I have changed the sentence of thy eternall punishment into the crucifying of my Body subject to a dolorous languishment For I in that sentence which Pilat pronounced against me taking upon me the person of all Sinners to purge their sins wherein they had long laboured was adjudged to death for all Sinners Sinner I conceive and contemplate by this which thou my good Jesu hast said that albeit this sentence was very unjust and therefore execrable in respect of thee because man had no power over God the wicked over the just yet in respect of us it was manifold common modious and profitable and the reason hereof is amiable and venerable because hee wholly reversed that sentence pronounced upon the first man for sinne For the sentence of a dolefull exclusion was denounced against him Whence it is written The Lord cast out man from the Paradise of pleasure and set an Angell to keepe the way of the tree of life But happy and honourable was thy sentence because 〈◊〉 called back a banish'd man for by this
to goe back Let it not then delight thee to stand in the course of piety but endevour alwaies to walke in the way of the Lord. In thy conversation bee cheerefull to all distastefull to none familiar to few Live to Godward devoutly to thy selfe chastly to thy Neighbour justly Use thy friend as a pledge of affection thine enemy for a triall of thy patience all men to a well-disposed benevolence and wherein thou maist more effectually worke to beneficence While thou livest dye dayly to thy selfe and to thy vices So in thy death maist thou live to God Let meekenesse appeare in thy affection mildnesse in thy countenance humility in thy habit modesty in thy habitation patience in tribulation Let facility be in thine accesse decency in thy dresse humility in thy presence affability in thy discourse benignity in thy wayes charity in thy works Let constancy be in thine eie content in thy chest temperance in thy cup. Observe moderation in thy desires discretion in thy delights Think alwaies of those 3. things past Evil committed Good omitted Time mis-speÌ„ded Think alwaies of these 3. things present â—he shortnes of this present life the difficulty of being saved the fewnesse of those that are to be saved Think alwayes of these three things to come Death than which nothing is more horrible Judgement than which nothing is more terrible the paine of Hell than which nothing more intolerable Let thine Evening Prayers redeeme the sinnes of the forepast day let the last day of the weeke reforme the offences of the dayes gone before Thinke in the Evening how many soules are that same day thrown head-long into Hell and give thankes unto God for that hee hath given thee time to repent in There be three things above thee which ought never to depart from thy memory That Eye which seeth all things that Eare which heareth all things and those bookes wherein all things are recorded Wholly hath God communicated himselfe to thee communicate thy selfe likewise wholly to thy neighbour That is the best life which is wholly employed to the behoofe and benefit of others Render to thy superiour obedience and reverence to thy equall counsell and assistance to thy inferiour succour supportance Let thy body be subjected to thy mind and thy mind to God Bewaile thy evils past disesteeme thy goods present covet with all the desire of thine heart those goods to come Remember thy sin that thou maist grieve Remember thy death that thou maist cease from sinne Remember Gods justice that thou maist feare Remember Gods mercy lest thou despaire Withdraw thy selfe as much as thou canst from the World and devote thy selfe wholly to the service of God Thinke alwayes how chastity is endangerd by delicacy humility by prosperity and piety by employments transitory Desire to please none but Christ feare to displease none but Christ. Beseech God alwayes that as he bids what he would so he would doe what hee bids that hee would protect what is done and direct in what is to bee done Endevour thy selfe to bee what thou wouldst have thy self thought to be for God judgeth not according to the outward semblance but according to the inward substance In thy discourse beware of much speech because account shall be required of every vaine word Whatsoever thy works bee they passe not away but as certaine seeds of eternity are they bestowed if thou sow according to the flesh from the flesh shalt thou reape corruption if thou sow after the Spirit from the Spirit shalt thou reap the reward of eternall retribution After death neither shall the honours of this World follow thee nor heaps of riches favour thee nor pleasures enjoy thee nor the vanities of this World possesse thee but after the fatall and full period of this life all thy works shall follow thee As then thou desirest to appeare in the day of judgement appeare such in the sight of God at this present Thinke not with thy selfe what thou hast but rather what thou wantst Pride not thy selfe for that which is given thee but rather become humbled for that which is deni'd thee Learne to live now while thou maist live In this time is eternall life either got or lost After death there remains no time for working for then begins the time of rewarding In the life to come is not expected any worke but payment for the worke Holy Meditation may beget in thee knowledge knowledge compunction compunction devotion devotion may produce prayer Great good for peace of the heart is the silence of the mouth By how much more as thou art divided from the World so much more acceptable art thou unto God Whatsoever thou desirest to have aske it of God whatsoever thou already hast attribute it to God He is not worthy to receive more who is not thankfull for what he hath received Then stops the course or current of Gods grace to man when man makes no recourse by thankfulnesse to God Whatsoever befals thee turne it to good so often as prosperity comes upon thee thinke how occasion of blessing and praising God is ministred unto thee againe so often as adversity aâ—â—ayles thee thinke how these are admonitions for the repentance and conversion of thee Shew the force of thy power in helping the force of thy wisdome in instructing the force of thy wealth in releeving Neither let Adversity bruise thee nor Prosperity raise thee Let Christ be thy scope of thy life whom thou art to follow here in the way that thou maist come to him there in thy countrey Amongst all other things let profound humility ardent Charity be thy greatest care Let charity raise thine heart unto God that thou maist cleave unto him Let humility depresse thine heart lesâ— thou becom proud so leave him Esteem God a Father for his clemency a Lord for his discipline a Father for his sweet power a Lord for his severe power Love him as a Father devoutly feare him as a Lord necessarily Love him because he will have mercy Feare him because he will not suffer sin Feare the Lord and trust in him acknowledge thy misery and declare his mercy O God thou who hast given us to will give us likewise to performe THE SORROWFULL Soules solace Gathered from Saint Augustine in his Tract Upon the 62. Psalme Upon these words My Soule thirsteth for thee my Flesh also longeth after thee BEhold here how the Soule thirsteth and see how good it is for the Soule that thirsteth to wit because shee thirsteth after thee There are who thirst but not after God Every one that would in his owne behalfe have ought performed is in heat of desire till he have it effected and this desire is the thirst of the Soule Now see what various desires are in the hearts of men One desireth gold another silver one desireth possessions another inheritances one store of money another stock of cattle one a faire house another a wife one honours another children You see
thy wearied soule in the greene pastures of spirituall comfort to bath thy panting soule in the pure chrystalline streames of eternall solace to refresh thine hungry spirit with Heavenly Manna to tune thy voyce to an holy Hosanna Oh then leave to love the world before thou leave the world Redeeme the time because the dayes are evill Avoid the occasion lest thou become void of reason Examine thy wayes thy words thy works Subtract an houre from thy sleeping to adde to thy praying Mans security is the Devils opportunity Watch therfore for thou knowst not when the Theefe will come The holy Hermit S. Antâ—onie who became first professor of an Eremiticall or solitary life when he had read that divine sentence of holy Scripture Goe and sell all that thou â—â—st presently conceiving it to be meant by him hee did so Goe and doe thou likewise Follow thy sweet Saviour in a devout contempt of the world from the Cribbe to the Crosse from mount Olivet to mount Calvary and from the tree of his Crosse hee will reach thee a Crowne of glory Follow I say with fervour the steps of thy Saviour Say with holy Hierom It my mother should hang about mee my father lye in my way to stop mee my wife and children weep about mee I would throw off my mother neglect my father contemne the lamentation of my wife and children to meet my Saviour Christ Jesus My heart is ready my heart is ready doe what thou biddâ—st and bid what thou wilt But above all things that thou maist bee at peace with thy Maker and more gracious in the sight of thy Saviour make the Evening the dayes Calendar Say to thy selfe O my soule what hast thou done to day What sinne hast thou healed in thee wherein was God honoured by thee How hast thou increased or decreased profited or failed Doing thus thy Conscience shall not accuse thee but defend thee thy Memory shall not witnesse against thee but for thee thy Reason shall bee a Judge to acquit thee not condemne thee thy Will shall not restraine thee but free thee no Feare shall affright or come nye thee no Delight shall torment thee but as thy delight was in the Law of the Lord â—o thy delight shall bee in the House of the Lord for ever Even so come Lord Iesus come quickly Upon these Miscellane Meditations with other mixt Subjects conteined in this precedent Tract A clozing Sonnet MOrall mixtures or Divine Aptly cull'd and coucâ—â—d in order Are like colours in a shrine Or choice flow'rs set in a border Or like dishes at a Feast Each attended with his sallet To delight the curious Guest And give relish to his palat Store of colours they are meet When wee should ones picture take One choice flow'r bee 't neere so sweet Would no pleasing posie make One Dish be it neere so precious To the Sent or to the Tast Though at first it seeme delicious It will cloy the Sense at last Here are Colours permanent Objects which will cheere the eye Here are Flowers redolent Which will bloome and never dye Here are Dishes of delight Such delights can never cloy To renew the appetite And to new-revive your joy Muse not then if here you see In this various Worke of mine Such a mixt variety Sorting with this hum'rous time Though the Sunne shine in our Sphere Cloud or Night invelop it But the Sunne shines ever here Darting forth pure rayes of wit Now the frâ—uit I wish to gaine Is your profit for my paine FINIS A reply to a rigid Precisian objecting that flowers from Romish Authors extracted became lesse wholesome and divinely redolent SIr it was your pleasure positively to conclude touching Flowers of this nature that they lost much of their native beauty vigour and verdure because called from a Roman border wherein I referre you to that sententious Poet to returne you answer Flores qui lambunt terrae vapores Non magis tetros referunt odores Nec minus suaves redoleâ—e Flores TIBRIDIS oris Which I have thus rendred in true currant English fearing lest that Latine metall might disrelish your more queasy palate Flow'rs which doe lick up from the Earth a vapour Yeeld to the nosthrils ne're the w rser savour Nor bee those Sooâ—s lesse redolent in odour Which groâ— by TIBER A Christian Diall By which hee is directed how to dispose of his houres while he is living how to addresse himselfe for the houre of his dying and how to close his dayes with a comfortable ending Faithfully rendred according to the Originall To the Generous Ingenious and Judicious Sir WALTER VAVASOR Knight and Baronet together with his Vettuously accomplished Lady R. B. Zealously consecrates this Christian Diall To your Grand-father have I welcom bin Receive this Gage in memory of him Whil'st no Sun-Diall may more truly give The houre o th' day than this the way to live THE LIFE of JOHANNES JUSTUS LANSPERGIUS a Carihusian Authour of these Meditations entitled A Christian Diall IOHANNES JUSTUS LANSPERGIUS borne of honest parents at Lansperge a Towne in Bavaria after such time as hee had finished his course in the study of Philosophy at Cullen hee gave there the name to the Order of the Carthusians wherein being growne Famous for the space of 30. yeares both by example of manners and piety as also by writing Books of Devotion and Sanctity he slept in the Lord the 4. of the Ides of August in the yeare of Christs Nativity M.D.XXXIX A Christian Diall By which he is directed how to dispose of his houres while he is living how to addresse himself for the houre of his dying and how to close his daies with a comfortable endâ—ng Faithfully rendred â—cording to the Originall A briefe Institution with an Exercise for an happy death expressed in a familiar Conference betwixt God and the Soule AS there is nothing O Soule which may make the love of the world more distastfull â—nto thee or that may bring thee to so great contempt of it and of all creatures in it as the consideration of the shortnesse of this life and certainty of death whereby all thy endevours all thine honours all thy pleasures thoughts desires and all thy joyes shall perish So is there nothing that may solace or refresh the loving Soule with greater joy than the beleefe and hope she hath to become associated to mee united to me and swallowed up in mee where there is hereafter no offence no sinne no separation no danger no feare no sorrow Where the Soule full of charity may alwaies praise mee alwayes magnifie me become most perfectly obedient most perfectly pleasant unto mee and that shee may bee with mee where shee may desire nothing love nothing feele nothing else beside me where she may wholly possesse me be wholly possessed by me These things forasmuch as they cannot firmly nor â—ully befall thee in this life but then onely when thou shalt bee with mee in my
and devout teares bee likewise verie acceptable unto me If thou canst not remember my most bitter Passion with watrie eyes doe it notwithstanding with a cheerefull mind for these unmeasurable good things which thou derivest from it But if neither joyfully nor dolefully thou canst meditate of it yet with a drie heart to my praise trace cursorily over it For so shalt thou performe an office of observance no lesse gratefull to me than if with teares of compassion and sweetnesse of affection thou shouldst wholly melt into a floud of devotion For by this means shouldst thou effect a work through love without respect unto thy selfe But to the end that this my Passion may pierce nearer thine heart and thou become more affected to it heare what I shall speake unto thee The soule which hath bound her selfe in many sins may with the treasure of my Passion so much enrich her and apply it to her that though she deserved a thousand yeares to be punished and with a thousand kinds of exquisite tortures to be afflicted in a short time both the sin and punishment due for the same may sue release and in her passage hence comfortably depart in peace and bee translated to heaven as her true resting place But this must be done by this meanes by weighing and discussing with a contrite heart frequently and fervently the greatnesse and multitude of those odious sins wherewith so irreverently shee â—aâ—h offended the eyes of her heavenly Father afterwards for works of Satisfaction as hee is not to omit them so is hee to disvalue them as such that if compared with his sins they are no more than one drop of water in comparison of the maine sea but hee is to advance and extoll wonderfully the greatnesse of my Satisfaction seeing the verie least drop of my pretious bloud which everie where streamed from my whole body had beene sufficient for taking away the sins of a thousand worlds of which Satisfaction of mine neverthelesse so much everie one applyeth to himselfe as hee conformeth himselfe to mee in suffering with mee and as hee humbly and seriously crowneth the smalnesse of his satisfaction in the infinitenesse of my Expiation Of the holy Eucharist IN that selfe-same Dialogue of Suso the wisdome incarnate discoursing of the holy Eucharist saith to his Minister The least gift that proceedeth from mee in the venerable Sacrament shineth and beameth much more gloriously unto all eternitie than any splendour of this visible Sun and is much more brighter and clearer than the verie bright Day-star it selfe Briefly it adorneth thee much more excellently by a certaine eternall comelinesse beautie than at any time any Summer be it never so pleasant beautifieth the earth But dost thou not perhaps doubt whether this most illustrious Divinitie of mine be more bright than any Sun and my most excellent soule more sparkling than any Star and my glorious body more delightfull than the pleasantnesse of any Summer All which in verie truth thou conceivest in the Eucharist Where I am the Bread of life to the devout and well-prepared but to the unworthy who continue by affection or action in mortall sins I am a temporarie Plague here and an eternal curse hereafter for on these waiteth certaine damnation unlesse they be reconciled to mee by true repentance Surely if any one were endued with the naturall puritie of all the Angels renowmed with the the integritie and sanctitie of all the Saints and adorned with the good works of all mortall men yet though thus accomplished were not hee worthy to receive mee in the Sacrament But when man doth all that hee can nothing more is required at his hands seeing whaâ—soever is wanting through him I supply in him But far better it is to come to this venerable Sacrament in love than to abstaine from it through feare Of resigning denying and mortifying himselfe SVso likewise wrote these singular sentences touching resigning and denying ones selfe A perfect life consists not especially in this that thou abound in comfort but that thou submit and resigne thy will to the divine will That thou humbly obey his will in the bitter sop of affliction and the sweet syrupe of consolation and that thou place and debase thy selfe under the feet of all men For nothing is more pleasing to the supreme Angelicall spirit himselfe than in all things to satisfie the divine will In so much as if hee knew that it would redound to the praise of God to pull up nettles or other weeds by the root he would most desiredly performe this taske before all others There is no Resignation more perfect or excellent than to be resigned wholly in the forsaking of himselfe neither ought any one to bee too much grieved in mind if he have small experience of spirituall sweetnesse Let him rather think how hee is unworthy of it A true Resignation of himselfe to the will of God both in affaires certaine and uncertaine without all doubt freeth and secureth man from all perils and occurrents causing him to rejoyce with true peace in all things So great is the pietie and benignitie of God that hee can by no meanes at any time forsake him who with a confident heart relyeth on his goodnesse and recommendeth and resigneth himselfe wholly to his Divine Providence True submission depression and abnegation of ones selfe is the root of all verâ—ues of all health and happinesse It grieveth one surely to bee wise and eloquent and notwithstanding to be enjoyned silence to be by others disesteemed derided iujuried to heare himselfe calumniated and traduced and not to defend revenge his cause or for a wise and honourable man to give place to a naughtie wretch and one of no reckoning aâ—d not to withstand it and yet all this is nothing else surely than by deniall of himselfe to become conformable to the excellent patterne of Christ. Now albeit in suffering affliction wee be not alwayes of a mind equally resigned yet are wee not to conclude therefore that â—ope of salvation is taken away or the grace of God lost so that wee doe not kick and rebell against God with a stubborne mind Works exercises and instructions whether performed with our owne proper will or affection derived from it although they may seeme joyes yet are they of small consequence so long as denying and resigning of our selves bee not joyned with them It becommeth a man that is partaker of reason to doe these works not out of a naturall propension or appetite like bruit beasts following the instinct of nature but with reason to the praise of God and for the love of God so as hee in no place seek his owne private gaine delight praise reward but onely God So to deny morâ—ifie and relinquish our selves ought wee that wee may in no case refuse to bee disvalued or suffer adversitie for God that wee may diligently refraine both our tongue and senses suffering no inordinate delight to possesse us or the desire thereof