mercifully recalleth me and though both of us be against God yet he is against him that doth not seek him but I am against him that dyed for me Behold him whose Image I abhorred when as I may find my selfe in many things far more horrible MAN FLy Fly from me O horrible substance fly from thy selfe being terrified of thy selfe Thou shoutest not therefore without sorrow of thy heart endure thy horror If thou dost endure thou knowest not thy selfe This is not fortitude but dulnesse of understanding this is not health but an obdurate wickednesse SOVLE IF I should see my selfe it is an intollerable loathing if I should not see my selfe it is an inevitable death O how unhappy he is that is horrible to himselfe but yet he is much more unhappy who is sensible of death Eternall O most meek Father Saint Anselme in his prayers O most clement King J am not able to hide J cannot excuse and yet J do not a little blush to confesse Now J perceive the Cause of so many Evills now I acknowledge what heretofore evilly lay secret For my miserable heart so long as it hath not cared for the joy to come Saint Ber. in his Meditations nor hath sought after divine Councell hath been far estranged from it selfe and busied in the love of earthly things and as long as it hath departed from those and is involved in these Vanity hath deceived it Lvxurie hath defiled it curiosity hath withdrawn it Envy tormented it Anger did vex it Covetousnesse separated it Sloth did make it sorrowfull and thus it was overwhelmed with all vices because it hath forsaken thee our only good which was able to have satisfied it Let therefore O most mercifull God all my time-evilly spent be forgotten of thee and grant that the residue of my time perhaps too short and momentary may be to thee well pleasing to mee fruitfull and to my Neighbour Edification Now O most holy God for the greatnesse of the losse which I unhappy and miserable have miserably incurred I see and acknowledge that I am not able sufficiently to bewaile my selfe and my sinne as I have deserved seeing the detestation of sin not unworthily ought to be as great as the delight was in our miserable will MAN O My Soule if of thy selfe as thou affirmest thou art not able neither sufficient to lament thy fault it is necessary for thee to addresse thy selfe to the Sonn of God thy Saviour dost thou not know thou hast through him him a secure access to God the Father Thy Saviour doth shew his side and wounds to his Father Thinkest thou that there shall be any repulse where there is such an advocate In all dangers therefore distresses and also in doubtfull things think on God Let him not retire from thy heart let him not depart from thy mouth Following him thou canst not stray Imploring him thou canst not despaire Holding him thou canst not fall he protecting thou needest not feare he being thy guid thou canst not be faint if he be propitious thou shalt have pardon Doubt not O my soule Saint Anselm and though thou hast offended the Father and the Son both yet both are mercifull both most holy Let the guilty therefore flye from the anger of the just God to the mercy of his sonne and say O Son of God which art become the sonne of man that thou mayest satisfie for the sin of man either have mercy on me a wicked sinner or shew me one more mercifull to whom I miserable soul may address my self SOVLE O Man how cordiall thy councell is how comfortable thy speech is to me a miserable soule because when I rightly look unto my sinne then I find then I know that I have stained the Elements by my sinnes defiled the Heavens darkened the Starres thereof tormented the damned in Hell troubled the Saints in Heaven irreverently used the Angels ordained for my custody Wherefore I feare to seek help from all these And because the just have justly disdained me I do not presume to fly unto them MAN O My Soule too great is thy feare although thy humiliation be acceptable Knowest thou not that many of the Saints have sinned who have learned in their great offences how they ought to have pitty on us sinners Reflect on Moses that exceeding great Prophet doubting of the divine power Think on David the holiest of Kings sinning against the Divine Law in Adultery and Murther Remember Salomon the wisest adoring vaine and most wickd Idolls Call to mind Manasses the wickedst King who had sinned more then all the Kings of Israel who said I have sinned above the number of the sand of the Sea and I am not worthy to see the height of Heaven in respect of the multitude of my Iniquities reflect alwayes on these obtaining Pardon But to what end shall I say more of the Saints of the old Testament Consider now reflect on a few of the Saints of the new Testament Look upon the Matthew sitting in the Custom House the Publican sinner and received to be a Disciple Look upon Paul stoning Stephen and chosen to be an Apostle Look upon Peter denying Christ and by by obtaining pardon Look upon the Souldier crucifying Christ and yet not despairing of the divine mercy Look upon the Theef hangon the Crosse and obtaining pardon Last of all consider O my soule that that famous unclean sinner Mary Magdalen becomming so singular and speciall a lover of Christ For all how many soever they be which now raign with God have in times past either sinned like us or at least they might have sinned if the divine clemency had not preserved them from sinne Because to whom soever it was granted that he could not at all sinne this was not of nature but of Heavenly Grace SOVLE EVen now I securely implore the Prophets and Kings even now I boldly call upon the Apostles and Martyrs I constantly mediate the most blessed Sonne of God For I know that he is so Holy sweet and favourable that he cannot be named but hee inflames nor thought upon but he recreates the affection of them that love him For this is he that hath procured Health for all These St. Bern. and hath obtained reparation of the whole world O God my Saviour wonderfully singular and singularly wonderfull by whom the Elements are renewed the infirme are healed Saint Anselme men are saved and Angels are restored O my Redeemer from whose abundance of plenitude sprinkled about every Creature is revived O blessed fountaine of Life and Health by thee we have access to the through Grace and by thee even God himselfe doth receive us who hath given thee to us Let thy integrity excuse the fault of our Corruption to him let thy humility obtaine pardon for our vanity give us of thy grace here and vouchsafe to make us partakers of thy glory hereafter CHAP. III. How the Soule is reformed by Grace EVen
to be entangled with so great greifs Saint Augustine libro Confessionum Although without the love of Charity St. Hierome every one may rightly believe yet he cannot attaine unto Beatitude because such is the force of Charity that even Prophesie and Marytrdome without it are esteemed as nothing no Vertue can Equall Charity For Charity obtaineth the Excellency of all Vertues O my God give thy selfe unto me St. Aug. Render thy self unto me I love thee and if that be too little I will love more forcibly I am not able to limit that J might know how much J want of thy love to that which is sufficient that my life might runne into thy embraces and not to divert untill it were hidden in the secrets of thy Countenance This J only know that whatsoever J have without thee and all plenty which is not my God is poverty SOVLE NOw therefore O Man seeing as thou sayest J ought to love my beloved Lover for all these things tell me J pray thee how much and in what manner J may love him to the end J may repay the multiplicity of his so great an Affection MAN O My Soule St. Bern. although according to Saint Bern. the cause of loving God be God himselfe yet the method to love him is to love him without method notwithstanding we can find by the Revelation of holy Scripture a certaine method For he that hath given thee love hath shewed thee a manner how to love saying Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart with all thy soule and withall thy strength Love therefore O my soule with a singular love God the Father who hath so nobly created thee of nothing Love God the Sonne who so inestimably hath reformed thee in dying for thee Love God the Holy Ghost who so mercifully and so sweetly by often comforting thee hath preserved thee from sinne and hath strengthened thee in Good Love therefore God the Father valiantly that thou mayest not be dangerously overcome by any other strange love Love God the Sonne wisely that thou mayest not be craftily seduced by any other love Love God the Holy Ghost sweetly that thou mayst not be poysonously infected with any other strange love Or thus according to Saint Bern. Learn of Christ O Christian soule in what manner thou oughtest to love Christ Love sweetly wisely and valiantly Sweetly That all other love may be base to thee in respect of his love and let him only be to thee Honey in thy mouth melody in thy Eare and Jubilee in thy heart Love him wisely that thy love may continually burne in him only and in no other Love valiantly that thy frailty may joyfully undergo all sharp and bitter torments for him that thou mayest say My suffering is scarce the space of an houre or if it were more I feel it not for the love I owe him These Saint Bern. Thus let a Christian by love towards Christ continually resolve Saint Hiero. that he may willingly endure all things for him untill he shall come unto him Let us love Christ and alwayes seek to cleave fast to his embraces and every thing shall seem easie that is difficult Saint Ambrose O my soule alwayes keep in thy mind how sweetly Christ loved thee in his Incarnation how wisely in his Conversation and how valiantly in his Passion There is no love greater no Charity more sincere no Affection stronger the Innocent hath dyed for thee finding nothing in thee that he might love SOVLE TEll me I pray thee O man under favour I ask not out of curiosity but of humility not of presumption but rather of Devotion what is it that I love when I love my God Hugo de S.V. MAN O My soule if thy Question were presumptuous then it were too vitious but because it hath it originall from devotion it deserveth a devout answer Heare therefore In his Book of Confessions what that great Lover of God Saint Augustine saith When I love my God saith he I love not a form or comelinesse not time nor the Candor of that light which is lovely in sight nor â—weet Melodies nor unguents fragrantly senting nor Manna nor Honey nor bodyes acceptable to the Embraces of the flesh These things I love not when I love God But what do I love I love a certaine light a certaine voice a certaine odour a certaine food a certaine Embrasing of my inner man Where there is something shyneth to my soule which no place can comprehend where there is something soundeth which time is not capable of where there is something casteth an odour which a blast cannot disperse where there is something savours which Appetite cannot diminish where there is something cleaveth fast which saciety cannot pull away SOVLE TEll I pray thee O man yet a little of the vertue of Charity which being known the mind may more strongly be enflamed in the love of God MAN TRuely O my Soule the fruit of Charity is great but hidden For according to Saint Augustine it endureth adversity it mitigateth prosperity it is strong in hard suffering pleasant in good works most safe in temptation most liberall in Hospitality amongst true friends most mercy amongst false most patient It is secure among reproches liberall to them that hate it pleasant in time of Anger innocent among treacheries weeping at iniquity taking comfort in truth St. Aug. in praise of Charity O happy love from whence ariseth strength of Manners Saint Bern. purity of affections subtilty of understanding sanctity of desires clearnesse of works fruitfullnesse of Vertues dignity of merits sublimity and height of rewards and honours O sweetnesse of love O the happy love of sweetnesse let my heart feed on thee and let the bowells of my soule be replenished with thy Nectar O my soule how sweet is the food of Charity which refresheth the weary strengtheneth the weak and exhilerateth the sorrowfull For it maketh the yoak of truth sweet and his burden light I confesse O Lord I have not sustained the waight and heat of the day but I carry a sweet yoak and a light burden For my work is scarce the space of an houre and were it more I perceive it not in respect of thy love But what is more O my soule such is the force of love that it is necessary thou be like unto that which thou lovest and to whom thou art joyned by affection in some sort by the society of love thou shalt be transformed in to its similitude The end of the first part The Second Exercise How the Soule by mentall Exercise ought to convert her contemplation to things that are externall that she may know 1 How unstable worldly wealth is 2 How mutable worldly Excellency is c. 3 How miserable worldly Magnificence is CHAP. I. How unstable worldly wealth is SOVLE NOw I see how miserable every soule is setting her heart on worldly things which are attained with labour possessed
turne thy face from me For though I have Judged my selfe unworthy to eat of the bread of thy Children yet I have expected with earnest desire to eat at the least of the Crummes falling from their Table but alas though with with open mouth I have earnestly expected yet I have alwayes been frustrated MAN O My soule the former things which thou hast most lamentably complained of happen by a two fold reason Sometimes of the very pious and wholsome dispensation of the divine goodnesse In his Morals Whereupon Saint Gregory The just God is wont to deferre the complaints of them that Petition him for a time that their desires might encrease to that end they may rather be heard for their good by how much the sooner they are not heard at their desire Holy desires encrease by delayes Item in Homilia for if they faint at the denyall thereof they were not desires For although God of his goodnesse is most clement notwithstanding sometimes it happeneth that he protracteth that which he most willingly would give that thou mayst learne earnestly and ardently to desire great things and more carefully to preserve them obtained with thanksgiving Also sometimes he prolongs his benefits by reason of the inordinate disposition of the Asker Hee is altogether our of the way that thinketh any one can mix that Heavenly sweetnesse with this dust that divine Balsome with this poisonous joy those Graces of the Holy Ghost with the allurements of this World But now O my soule that I may not longer keep thee in dalliance nor longer afflict thee by expectation cleanse thy understanding from vaine and unprofitable Phantasies from naturall and curious reasons from extravagant and overmuch curious employments in the sciences Also cleanse thy affection from sinne from the sequell of sinne and from the occasion or cause thereof Lift up thy reason dilate and declare thy affection enter into the joy of thy Lord which neither Eye in this life hath perfectly seen nor eare hath heard nor hath it ascended into the heart of man Be vehement therefore O my soule in the love and desire of the supernall life of the Saints where there is action not laborious rest not Idle or slothfull where there is life without defection or revolt divine prayse without cessation Haec Aug. Saint Bern. Rejoyce therefore and be glad and consider the reward of thy labour which truly is so much that it cannot be numbred so great that it cannot be measured so pretious that it cannot be terminated SOVLE O Man thou hast now spoken much in generall tell me I pray thee of all in particular because wee understand those things better which are particularly distinguished then those which a generally related MAN O My Soule What can I say when I behold the future joy Now I almost faint with admiration because the joy shall be within us and without us under us and over us nigh us and round about us Thou shalt therefore rejoice in all thou shalt rejoice of all Thy joy I beleive is prefigured in the Apocalipse by that blessed woman which was clothed with the Sun and the Moon was under her feet and a Crown of twelve Stars about her head This woman as I think is a blessed Soule the Daughter Bride and Queen of the eternall King A Daughter by the Creation of Nature a Bride by the Adoption of Grace a Queen by the Collation of Glory This Soule is well sayd to be clothed with the Sun because shee is adorned with the Splendor of divine cleerness crowned with the Dignity of eternall felicity In which happiness for the speciall comliness there are 12 Joyes figured by the Stars by which the Celestiall happines is beautified and adorned These joyes O my Soule thou oughest dayly devoutly to contemplate seek no consolation of thy present misery sojourning in hope patiently and joyfully to sustain all tribulation of this present life O my Soul thou shouldst not be perplext if evil men flourish in this world and thou sufferest Beda that they shall rejoyce and that thou shalt be vexed Alas wicked men have no share in the celestiall joy neither shouldest thou care if thou shouldest have no share in this world but by the hope of that joy at which thou aimest thy Affection may joyfully and patiently endure whatsoever hapneth to thee in the way of adversity Haec Beda St. Ber. O my Soul if at any time worldly joyes the false glory the short and frail power thereof delight thee recall thy mind from them and thou wilt esteem all as dung St. Hierom. Run therefor O my Soul not with the paces of the body but with affection and desire because not only the Angells and Saints but also the Lord and Master of Angells and Saints epxects thee God the Father expects thee as his most beloved Daughter God the Son expects thee as his sweetest Bride God the Holy Ghost expects thee as one most dearly beloved unto him God the Father expects thee that he may constitute thee the Heir of all good things God the Son expects thee that hee may offer thee to God the Father as the fruit of his Nativity and the price of his most precious blood God the Holy Ghost expects thee that he may make thee partaker of his eternall Beatitude and Swetness That most blessed Family of all the Celestiall Spirits of the eternall King do expect thee that they may receive thee into their Colledg therefore desire thou their Society above all things thou shouldest come thither with great modesty if thou hadst loved it in this vale of tears As often therfore as the vain Ambition of this VVorld delighteth thee as often as thou shalt behold any glorious Creature therein presently fly up to Heaven and begin to be what thou art to be Truly I beleive O my Soule if thou wouldest continually keep these heavenly joyes in thy mind thou wouldest build a certain Suburbs of the celestiall Kingdome in his Exile wherein dayly thou mightest spiritually by Assay taste that eternal sweetness for when we settle in our thoughts any thing that is eternall even then we dwell not in this world but in Heaven So great O my Soul is the force of thy love that thou livest there more truly where thou lovest by contemplation then where thou art but by Essence This O most dear Soul is the kingdome of God which is within us which alas we miserably neglect when outwardly we are given to idle and vain things We disperse St. Grego our selves abroad in not caring for the Kingdom of God which is within us we seek abroad for Consolation frome idle things and deceitfull Fopperies so that now wee have lost the Devotion of our ancient Religion even so that we retaine not the forme thereof Thou therefore O my Soule the Daughter of the Eternall King hear with a devout mind and incline thy Eare to holy and health-bringing councells Behold by
contemplation the comfort of the Celestiall Kingdome forget by contempt and detestation thy People and thy Fathers house that is to say the World the Devill thy selfe and vain Ambition See therefore and devoutly consider how those divine and Heavenly Spirits which have escaped the danger of this present life and misery although they can never convert themselves from that splendour of that eternall Sonne sometimes notwithstanding they convert the light of their contemplation to things below them sometimes to things above themsometimes to things interiour somtimes to things exteriour They convert themselves I say to things below them and rejoyce for three reasons First That they have overcome by the divine power such impious horrible and cruell enemies Secondly that they have avoided all their defects and sins either by the divine wisdome or long ago have amended their faults transgressions Thirdly That they have escaped such lamentabe and eternally interminable torments by the divine mercy and clemency O my Soul With how great Joy thinkest thou do they daily rejoice when they perceiue so many to be overcome of the flesh the world and the devill so many to be defiled with such diversity of sins of which they shall never obtain pardon so many without end eternally to be damned Truly then I beleive to have passed from death to life redoubleth the joy of life O Lord God if the danger in war be now so greivous how great shall the joy be in Triumph when after the world is overcome and utterly vanquished wicked Pharoah and his Army being drowned in the Red Sea all the Elect shall hold their Timbrels playing singing praising and blessing our Lord saying with one voice Let us sing unto our Lord for glorious c. Then two Cherubims shall be framed that is to say two quiers of the elect to wit the Innocenes and Penitents the one answering the other Holy Holy Holy Lord God of the Sabboth Holy God the Father that hast powerfully delivered us from the world the flesh and the devill Holy God the Son which hast so wisely justified us both from the sinne and punishment Holy God the Holy Ghost which hast so mercifully preserved us from the Eternall Torments All the Earth is full of his Glory who hath called us from the misery of the world to the joyes of the celestiall Kingdome O my Soule what a one shall that day be unto thee when thou shalt be assumed into this quier when all thy torments if thou shalt live well if thou wilt patiently suffer shal be converted into Eternall Jubisee Then thou shalt praise with exultation the Lord thy God for all these things saying I will sing the mercies of our Lord for ever Then which Song according to Saint Aug. that is fung to the praise of the glory of Christ by whose precious blood wee are delivered nothing shall be more pleasant to that City nothing more sweet Thou therefore when thou art tryed with Temptations when thou art overcom with Persecutions and when thou art molested in this World with divers Tribulations then mentally fly into Heaven and consider that this is no other thing but the Subject of eternall joy and then the consideration of the Reward lesseneth the violence of the punishment If we would consider what and how great the Rewards are which are promised us in Heaven all things on Earth would seem vile in our mind and truly not only the goods which delightfully we possesse but also the evills which lamentably wee sustain The troubles of this world are not equivalent to the fault past which is forgiven to the present Grace which is bestowed and for the future glory which is promised which thou then O my Soul with joy shalt possess when thou perfectly understandest that thou hast lived in the world with so great danger wherewith the most are oppressed that thou hast overcome the deceitfull wiles of Satan wherewith many are deceived that thou hast escaped the eternall torments wherewith innumerable are afflicted CHAP. II. Of the ineffable Delight SOVLE O Man how sound and wholsome is thy Consolation for when I consider these things which thou hast proposed by hope I receive very much comfort But O Lord God what thinkest thou shal then that be when I shall truly possess that which now I but hope for MAN O My Soule These are but little which thou hast heard yea comparatively they are as none which thou hast mentally perceived but erect the eyes of thy understanding a little and weigh and devoutly consider how great the joyes are which thou shalt perceive by these which are nere unto thee Attend therefore and consider the beautiful place which the divine wisdome hath built for thee Consider also the delicate food the curious bravery the precious Treasure which the eternal power hath gathered for thee Consider likewise the renowned Colledge with whom thy mind shall eternall rejoice by the divine clemency O my Soul consider how glorious how renowned how gladsome that house of God is the Heavenly City the secure mansion the Countrey coutaining all that delighteth Consider how clear how light how glorious that City is which needeth neither Sun nor Moon that they may shine therein but the Lord himselfe the Sun of Justice the Candor of Eternall light is the light thereof and the Lamb is the Lamp thereof O my Soule consider how high and how spacious how fair and how beautifull how comely and how renowned that City is which the most blessed Trinity of himself adorneth O City of God how glorious are the things which are spoken of thee O Israel how magnificent is the house of God and great is the place of his possessions O my Soule contemplate there the Tabernacles of the Patriarcks and Prophets the Habitacles of the Apostles and Martyrs the stately and lofty Chambers of the Confessors and Virgins the Palaces of the most heavenly Spirits that most beautifull Throne of the most blessed Trinity O my Soul though thou art here corporally yet be there mentally O my Soul fly over all things search all things visit all things enter into all the Gates in order untill thou shalt come into the Palaces of the highest King let thy mind St. Aug. be there and here shall be thy rest O my Soule willingly endeavour to be stayed willingly to be conversant in that holy City because there is life without death youth without old age light without darknesse peace without disturbance For my People shall sit in a Tabernacle of confidence and in a rich rest saith our Lord. Secondly consider the delicate food the curious bravery and the pretious treasure And who shall there be out food but that most blessed Lamb that pure and Immaculate Jesus the Son of God the Father of whom they shall administer most excellent dainties to the holy spirits in all sufficiency very excellent truly of the most pure humanity but most of the more then most blessed Divinity For then the soule
Soliloquies Meditations and Prayers of St. Bonaventure Cross fecit THE SOLILOQUIES OF St. BONAVENTVRE Containing his four MENTAL EXERCISES AND Also his Treatise called A Bundle of Myrrh Concerning THE PASSION OF OUR SAVIOUR With XIII Spirituall Exercises of the said St. Bonaventure London Printed for H. Twyford and R. Wingate 1655. The Epistle to the Reader upon the Soliloquy of S. BONAVENTURE THIs little work which is no less full of learning then devotion ministreth most copious matter to him that is willing to cherish the light of contemplation and the fire of charity For the Authour induceth the Soul and the inner Man interchangeably the one asking and the other answering and with very many sentences of holy Fathers being intermixed of which as he sayth he hath compiled this Treatise This hee saith that he may easily teach every one how by mentall Exercise converting the eye of contemplation unto those things which are within him unto those that are without him unto those that are below him and to those things that are above him the mutable good being despised he may pursue the Immutable Eternall good with all the perfection of his mind For this Soliloquy hath many things taken out of that work of Hugo de S. Victore de Arrha Animae to which it is very like The Sum of the 4. Mental Exercises of this little Work are as followeth The First Exercise HOw the Soul ought by Mentall Exercise to reflect the Beams of Contemplation to those things which are within her that she may see how she is formed by nature deformed by sinne and reformed by Grace The Second Exercise How the Soul by mentall Exercise ought to convert her Contemplation to to those things that are externall that she may know how unstable worldly wealth is how mutable worldly Excellency is and how miserable worldly magnificence is The Third Exercise How the Soul by mentall Exercise ought to convert the Rays of contemplation unto those things that are below her that she may understand the inevitable necessity of mans death the formidable austerity of finall judgement the intollerable pain of infernall punishment The Fourth Exercise How the Soul by mentall Exercise ought to convert the light of Contemplation unto those things which are above her that she may know and understand the inestimable value of celestiall joy the unspeakable delight and the interminable Eternity The Preface I Bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ of whom the whole Family of Heaven and Earth is named That he would grant you according to the riches of his glory to be strengthened with might by his spirit in the inner man that Christ may dwell in your hearts by Faith that ye be rooted and grounded love may be able to comprehend with all Saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God Eph 3.14 to the 20. Paul the Apostle the Vessel of eternall Election the Treasury of divine Sanctification the Mirrour and Example of heavenly contemplation in his former words sheweth us the Beginning Object and Fruit of mentall Exercise For mentall Exercise to the end it may become pious and wholsome it is necessary that it have a power supernaturally strēgthening a wisdom regulating and a clemency comforting let therefore the devout Soul inflamed with the love of divine contemplation bow the knees of her mind before the Throne of the most blessed and Incomprehensible Trinity let her humbly knock and discreetly desire The strengthening power of God the Father lest wearied with labour she be seduced The directing Wisdome of God the Son lest seduced with error she wander from the truth The comforting Piety and Clemency of the Holy Ghost lest overcome with wearisomness she faint For every good thing that is given and every gift that is perfect is from above descending from the Father of lights and according to S. Augustine all our good is either God or from God he therefore in the beginning of every good worke is fit to be implored from whom originally every good thing proceedeth by whom every good thing exemplarly is produced and to whom every good thing finally is addressed This is that ineffable Trinity the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost which the Apostle speaks of when he saith I bow my knees c. unto that place That ye may be able Secondly he sheweth the Object of this wholsome mentall Exercise The Object truly of the Exercise of a devout mind is said to be internall and externall superior and inferior For the devout Soule ought by mentall exercise to reflect the light of contemplation first to her interior thoughts that she may know 1. How she is formed by Nature 2. Deformed by sin 3. Reformed by Grace Secondly she ought to convert the light of contemplation unto those things which are without her that shee may know 1 How unstable worldly wealth is 2 How mutable worldly Excellency is And 3 How miserable worldly Magnificence is Thirdly she ought also to convert the light of her contemplation unto those things that are below her that she may understand 1 The inevitable necessity of mans death 2 The formidable austerity of finall Judgement 3 The intollerable paine of infernall punnishment Fourthly she ought to convert the light of Contemplation unto those things that are above her that she may know and tast 1 The inestimable value of Heavenly Joy 2 The Ineffable delight And 3 The Interminable Eternity This is that blessed Cross terminated with foure ends whereon O Devout Soule thou oughtest continually by meditation to suffer with thy most sweet Bridegroom Christ Jesus This is that fiery Chariot consisting of foure wheels wherewith thou oughtest dayly in contemplation to mount up unto the Palace of Heaven to find out thy most faithfull friend This is that foure-fold Region East West North South which thou O my Soule oughtest daily by Perigrination to enter into and to seek and find out therein by speculation thy most dearest beloved that thou mayest say with the spouse In my Bed I have sought him by night whom my soule loved These foure the Apostle seemeth to insinuate when he addeth That ye may be able to comprehend with all Saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height The fruit of this wholesome Exercise if it be worthy and laudably put in practise is eternall felicity which is the best and fairest thing and of it selfe most sufficient wanting no other thing besides it selfe Wherein we shall see and shall love shall call upon and laud in Eternity and beyond Eternity him that is blessed for ever This fruit the Apostle promiseth when he concludeth his speech saying That ye mighe be filled with all the fulnesse of God Wee shall then find this fulnesse when God shall be to our will plenty of Peace to our reason fulnesse of light to our
memory a continuation of Eternity For then God shall be All in All when from reason all errour from will all griefe from Memory all feare shall depart and that shall succeed which we hoped for wonderfull serenity divine pleasure eternall security This Treatise my Conscience instigating me I have compiled for the more ignorant in plaine Phrases out of the works of holy men in forme of a certaine Dialogue wherein the Devout soule a Disciple of the Eternall truth by Meditation asketh Questions and the Inner man mentally speaking answereth But that we may the better attaine to the inestimable Contemplation of this mental exercise First let us begin and humbly by Invocation approach unto the Father of lights Let Vs devoutly bow the knees of our heart before the Throne of the Eternall Majesty and with teares and groans before the Royall seate of the Judiciall Trinity let Vs incessantly pray that God the Father by his blessed Sonne would grant us the grace of mentall Exercise in the Holy Ghost that we may know what is the breadth and length and depth and height that by this we may attaine to that which is the end and complement of of all our desires AMEN The first Exercise How the Soul by mentall Exercise ought to reflect the Beams of Contemplation to those things that are within her that she may see 1. How she is formed by Nature 2. Deformed by Sin 3. Reformed by Grace CHAP. I. How the Soul is formed by Nature TEll me I pray thee after devout invocation of the divine magnificence and after an humble imploring of the Eternall wisdome and last of all after a meek supplication of the supernal piety and clemency if I might obtain the grace of mental exercise concerning the fourfold matter to wit longitude latitude sublimity and profundity tell me I pray thee O man in what order I should begin lest I should lose the worth of this Exercise if I should ignorantly proceed with an unbefitting course for according to S. Ambr. ignorance or want of Order perturbs the form of merits nor is it accounted according to the same Author that there is in us no perfect knowledge of the thing when we know what is to be done and are ignorant in what order to proceed Man O My Soul according to S. Bernard let thy consideration begin with thy selfe lest in vaine thou search into other things thy selfe being neglected Idem Many men knew many things and know not themselves they look into others and forsake themselves seeking God by those things that are externall leaving their internall in whom God is interior Wherefore I will return from the externall to the internal and from the internall I will ascend to the supernall that I may know from whence I came or whither I go from whence I am or what I am and so by the knowledge of my selfe I may ascend to the knowledge of God In like manner S. Chrysostom upon S. Mathew saith That the knowledge of a mans self is not the least part of Philosophy * Item Ambrosius in Hexameron Know thy self O man what thou art look that thou consider what enters into thee in thy thought what passeth from thee in thy discourse Examine thy life therefore O my Soul by a daily discussion consider diligently how much thou profitest how much thou art deficient what thou art in manners what thou art in affection how like or dislike how near or far off thou art to God Ever acknowledge this that it is much more commendable and better for thee if thou knowest thy self then if thy self being neglected thou knowest the course of the Stars the vertues of Hearbs the complexions of Men the natures of living creatures hadst the knowledge of all heavenly earthly things Render therfore thy selfe to thy selfe and if not alwaies yet at least sometimes Govern thy affections direct thy actions correct thy waies Therefore O my Soul keep the Councels of holy men and first of all convert the raies of contemplation to the East region that is to say to the consideration of thy own condition Diligently therefore consider how nobly thou art made of God by nature how vitiously by thy own will thou art deformed through sin how gratiously by the divine goodness thou art often reformed by Grace First therfore consider how nobly thou art formed by nature Thy naturall nobility as I conceive consists in this because that there is imprinted in thee naturally to beautifie thee the image of the most blessed Trinity whereupon S. Anselm in his Prosologie saith I confess O Lord and give thee thanks because thou hast created me according to thy own image that I might be mindfull of thee think of thee and love thee S. Bernard According to the interior man three things I find in me by which I call to mind behold and desire God These three are Memory Understanding and Will For when I am mindfull of God in him also I am delighted for the memory of him is upon one when with my understanding I behold him how much in himselfe he is incomprehensible because he is the beginning and end of all things In Angels desirable because they desire to behold him In all his Saints delectable forasmuch as continually they being happy do rejoice in him In all his Creatures admirable because he powerfully createth wisely governeth bountifully dispenseth all things When I look into these things him also I desire When I love God by my will I transform my selfe into him For this is the power or vertue of love that it maketh thee to be like unto that which thou lovest These S. Bernard Re-acknowledge therefore O my soule how wonderfull and inestimable a dignity it is not only to be a mark of the Creator which is common to all creatures but to be the very Image of him which is only proper to a reasonable creature Praise therfore O my soule our Lord praise thy God O Sion Awake and praise rejoice and be glad because thou art adorned with the image of God made comely with his similitude partaker or reason capable of eternall happiness But because these things perhaps not unworthily may be judged meane if they should end with death exult and praise because beside the aforesaid he hath bestowed on thee an immortall nature an incorruptible substance an interminable durance a perpetual life For thou shouldst not be the Image of the eternall Trinity if thou couldst be shut up within the bounds of death S. Aug. of the city of God O my soule consider that thy Creator after this being hath geven thee a perpetuall being after this he hath given thee power to live to perceive to discern he hath adorned thee with senses he hath enlightened thee with wisdom Attend therefore thy comliness that thou maist understand what beautie thou oughtest to love in thy selfe which if thou be not sufficient to contemplate thy selfe as it befits thee why then at least dost thou not
that hope in him for no deceit no snare or allurement shall be able to deject the mind relying on God through hope or overcome him persevering Now let humane despaire be ashamed and cursed be the feare of cowardlinesse which beleiveth that he can deny or withhold his benefits from them being rich and very liberall to all those that call upon him and put their perfect hope in him For hath not the eternall Father in whom there is no change of his sole exceeding great bounty sent his only begotten Son in whom he hath given all that he had all that he wold all that he was So that if his liberality should now diminish his infinite goodness perhaps our infirmity and weaknesse not unworthily would stagger But because he is good of himselfe and not by any accidentall good he is not by the communication of his goodnesse diminished nor by Addition of any others goodness augmented MAN O my soule Great is thy faith thou art very strong in hope and confidence And although the hope which proceeds from the promise of God and a holy life and conversation be worthy of praise and ought to be eternised yet truely I councell thee before thou scendest to get Inebriation into thee that thou first wholesomely descend below thy selfe by the consideration of thy selfe that thou mayest learne reverently to feare thy Spouse before that thou beginnest to enter into his secret Bed-chamber whom thou oughtest not only to feare when he is angry but also when he doth most sweetly and delicately cherish thee The end of the second part The third Exercise How the Soule by mentall Exercise ought to convert the beames of Contemplation to things below her that shee may understand 1 The Inevitable necessity of mans death 2 The Formidable austerity of finall Judgment 3 The Intollerable paine of Infernall punishment CHAP. I. Of the Inevitable necessity of Mans death SOVLE TEll me I pray thee O man what are those Inferiour things to which my consideration is to be converted I hasten to ascend I seek Inebriation of the divine comfort I am not able long to rest on those things which are below me Even now I desire O Lord my helper thy beloved Tabernacles I covet with all my strength to dwell in the Courts of our Lord. MAN THese are the Inferiour things O my Soul that thou mayst convert thy selfe unto and may see the inevitable necessity of Death and mayst lament all the infallible equity and truth of the Divine Judge and mayst tremble and be afraid of the intollerable austerity of infernall punishment Consider therefore often weigh and revolve diligently that death cannot be avoided that the hour of death cannot be discovered that the time pre-ordained of God cannot be altered Isidorus In humane things nothing is more certain then death nothing more uncertain then the hour of death it hath not any pity on Poverty it is not afraid of power it respecteth not the excellency of manners or kindred it spareth not youth or age it is at the old mans gate and at the young mans heels SOVLE I Understand that our life is nothing else but a passage to death Why then are temporall things loved which for such an uncertain time are possessed Why desire we this life to continue so long wherin by how much the longer we live by so much the more we sin by how much our life is prolonged by so much the more numerous is our transgression for daily evills encrease and good things are diminished For who is able to consider how many evills wee commit in a moment of time or how many good things we neglect For truely it is a great sinne when wee neither do good nor think of good but suffer our mind to wander after vain and unprofitable things MAN AS St. Gregory saith Carnall minds O my Soul for that cause love temporall pleasures because they consider not how fleeting this life is For if they should but look into the swiftness of the passage thereof truely they would not affect this so little enduring a prosperity My life is like to one sailing for whether I sleep or watch I am still hastning to my end O present life how many dost thou deceive which whilest thou flyest art nothing when thou art seen but a shadow when exalted but a fume to fools pleasant to wise men bitter they that love thee know thee not they that fly thee onely understand thee To some thou promisest thy selfe for a long season that thou mayst deceive them to others for a short time that thou mayst bring them into despair With continuall meditation let us exercise our understanding Author de spiritu Anima and let us consider our miseries With sorrow we entred this life with labour we live therin with fear go out therof St. Bern. How many of us have lived in this Region of the shadow of death in sickness of body in conflict and in the place of tentation if wee diligently take notice therof wee miserably labour with a threefold discommodity For we are easie to be seduced weak to resist and frail to operate SOVLE NOw I see that he lives unprofitably in this world that hastens not to gain that wherby he may live for ever Therfore it should not be any ones care to live long but rather that he may live well Because although it may be granted to any one that he live well yet it is certain that it is not granted to any that he may live long St. Bern. Therefore that is a secure life where the conscience is pure where death is expected without feare or trembling is wished to be at hand with delight and received with devotion MAN O My Soul if thou understandest these things to be so hear my councel and in this life so long as it lasteth prepare for thy self that life which lasteth eternally Whilst thou art in the flesh dy to the World that afterwards thou mayst begin to live in God Understand that there is no one that admitteth death approaching merrily and jocundly but he that hath prepared himself therto by good works whilst he lived give attention to that of Seneca The indiscreet man that is the sinner and the guilty man beginneth his death in dying but the wise man and virtuous overcometh death by death SOVLE O Man J perceive that the death of good men is blessed and the death of Sinners unhappy and miserable MAN O My Soul according to St. Bern. the death of the just man is good in respect of rest better in respect of change the best in respect of security Contrarywise the death of Sinners is most miserable and well may it be termed the worst evil in the loss of the world worse in the separation of the flesh but the worst in the double sorrow and suffering of the Worme and fire and that which is worst of all is in the privation of divine Contemplation CHAP. II. Of the Formidable austerity
shall enter in to tast the Divinity shall go forth to tast or assay the humanity and she shall find a Pasture full of all sufficiency and satiety O how blessed are they that shal be called to the marriage e-Supper of the Lamb. There also a blessed life is drunkin its fountaine Whereupon sometimes part thereof is sprinkled as it were on this our humane life whereby we may become in temptations stronger mere Juste temperate and wiser There alwayes thirst and satiety are joyned together but after a wonderfull manner necessity shall be far from thirst and loathing far from satiety For they shall be inebriated with the plenty of thy house and thou shalt give them to drink of the Torrent of thy pleasure according to the Prophet SOVLE ANd when shall this be MAN I Beleive nor before that time Manciple untill when that sweet dispenser of the highest King the splendour of the Paternall glory the candour of the eternall light the Figure of the divine substance the mirrour without spot of the extraordinary Godlike clearnesse on whom all those celestiall spirits desire to look when such a one and so great a one shall gird himselfe and shall make them to sit down and personally passing by them shall minister unto them O my soule here devoutly consider how great joy those good spirits shall then conceive of so stupendious a dignity of him that serves them of so admirable a charity of every particular companion banqueting of the plenty of very delitious dainties of the numerous Assembly of the servitours of the sweet sounding-Eccho of the Musicall Instruments and of others playing singing and praysing the King of Glory God the Son of God In this great Celestiall and admirable banquet thou shalt hear Angels rejoycing Virgins dancing Apostles singing Martyrs sporting Confessors praysing Patriarchs and Prophets making merry all the Saints and Elect of God unanimously collauding the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost and with one voyce saying Holy Holy holy Lord God of Sabath all the Earth is full of thy Glory O how glorious is that Kingdome wherein all the Saints raigne with Christ cloathed with white stoles following the Lamb which way soever he shall go O my soule how can there be the want of any good when there is such variety of matter for the rejoycer For then shall be opened all those treasures of the Eternall God where there are all riches all delights laid up and divers and pretious gifts shall be given to every one according to their deserts But if yet these are not sufficient consider in the third place all the Colledge of Saints nere unto thee which the Divine clemency hath assembled together for an addition of thy beatitude Because the possession of any Good is not pleasant without a Companion as saith Seneca See then what tongue or what vnderstanding is able to conceive how great the joyes are of that supernall City to be present with the Quiers of Augels alwayes to assist with the most blessed Spirits the glory of our Creator and never to depare from the most blessed society of them but continually with them and of their joy to rejoyce for ever Saint Anselme For there all are known of every one there every one are known of all Nor shall it be a secret to any of them to know of what Country of what Nation of what kindred every one is borne For there shall be so blessed and perfect a charity of the Just that every one of them will love his Neighbour as much as himselfe Whereof that inestimable good shal follow that every one shall so rejoyce at the joy or good of another as though it were of his own merit Therefore when there is such an innumerable number of the Elect who thinkest thou is sufficient to declare the joy of the blessed St. Hierome describing these Joyes saith Go forth I pray hee O my soule In the end of an Epistle to Eustochius a little from the Pavilion of thy body that standing in the doore thou mayest perceive the Glory of God passing by and before thy eyes describe the reward of thy present labour What a day shall that be unto thee when out Lord shall meet thee accompanied with his Heavenly Quier when the Spouse himselfe shall meet thee with all his Saints saying Arise come make hast my beloved my deare my Dove now the Winter is over the shower is gone and past Then the Angels shall admire at thy Glory saying Who is this that ascendeth from the desert flowing with delights and leaning on her beloved The Daughters of Sion shall see thee and praise thee Then those 144 thousand in sight of the Throne and Elders shall hould their Harps and sing a new song Then thou shalt flye securely into the embraces of the Spouse saying with Jubilation I have found him whom my Soule loveth I have held him and will not let him depart Haec Hieronimus Then those seven Sonnes of that great Job who is more excellent then all that remaine in the blessed Easterne Region every one on his proper day shall make Feasts and shall invite thee their Sister thee their Companion And every one of them shall say unto thee Drink now and sit down with pleasure for thou hast found favour of the highest Prince And thou shalt answer with Joy saying I will drink and become merrier because to day my soule is magnified more then all the dayes of my life O truely unheard of magnificency O joyfull and pleasant Excellency the like whereof was never heard on Earth I beleive that all the Pompe of this World in comparison thereof would scarce be as a little drop SOVLE O Man now I have long held my peace now I haue been sufficiently silent because those things which thou hast proposed I have heard with exceeding much delight and admiration Do not prolong me I pray thee but expound to me more particularly and perfectly something of this banquet of the Heavenly spirits for that a little before thou hast touched something thereof but hast passed them over toe quickly MAN O My Soul I would rather again passe over with silence what thou requirest then with a polluted tongue utter the least thing of the Celestiall secret mystery yea or conceive in mind because I that am alas as yet too often entangled with worldly superfluous things that am alas as yet with other worldlings fed O pitty with husks of swine I very much blush and am confounded to discourse of such familiar operations of the divine Spirit Yet because I am not able to contradict thy pious desires I will speak breifly what some times the Holy Ghost instigating me though unworthy I often mentally thinke of For although in that celestiall Court where fulness of all good is perfectly in all of them although there for the difference of merits some things are bestowed in excellency yet nothing shall be possessed according to Sr. Gregory there
their God unlesse I bee whence shall they be satisfied I will be whatsoever is honestly desired of all De Civitate Dei he is the end of our Desires who shall be seen without end shall be beloved without contempt shall be praised without wearisomness this Gift this Affection this Action shall truly be All in All. I thinke notwithstanding that I may not overlong protract thee although truly that bee an inestimable and unspeakable joy yet I conceive iâ—proceedeth of a threefold cause and a triple joy shall make glad and delight those blessed Spirits for they shall delightfully rejoice in the perfect and most excellent contemplation of the divine clearnes they shall sweetely rejoice in the mellifluous and most pleasant taste of the divine goodness they shall eternally rejoice in the quiet and most secure imbracing of the divine Majesty For thou knowest O my soul that thou excellest in thy substance with three naturall powers for thou hast a rationall power which is not perfectly illuminated but by the manifest knowledg of the first Truth and a concupiscible power which is not satisfied but by the perfect love of the cheifest goodness also an irascible power which is not quieted but by the secure comprehension of the Divine Majesty Of these three blessed Saint Bernard speaketh upon the Canticles He that replenisheth thy desire with good things shall be to thy reason fulnesse of light to thy will fullnesse of peace to thy memory a continuation of Eternity Why art thou sad O my soule and wherefore dost thou trouble me hope in God because yet I will confesse unto him when all errour shall depart from thy reason all griefe from thy will all feare from thy memory and that shall succeed which we hoped for wonderfull quietnesse full sweetness and eternall security O my soule how much thinkest thou shall their joy and gladnesse be who perpetually contemplate this mirrour of Eternity wherein all things past present and to come which do appertaine to the chiefest beatitude are most manifestly beheld St. Aug. When we shall arrive at the supernall light of the Father of lights we shall understand al that can be in the creatures Then the Just shall know all that God hath made to be known And what is that they cannot know who see him that knowes all things Saint Anselme SOVLE ANd how can simplicity admit this MAN EVen as by a looking-Glass a threefold vision is demonstrated unto us Fulgen tius in that we see one selves the Glasse and whatsoever is present so by the mirrour of divine clearnesse we know God himselfe and whatsoever is present that is our selves and all creatures SOVLE O Blessed truth I now perceive that to be wise without thee is to be foolish and to know thee perfectly is to become wise MAN O My soule those things which thou desirest naturally to know earnestly endeavour to see in this mirrour seek continually to study and read therein because to have seen this once is to have learned all things Truly Plato's Contemplation 1 Theory 2 Theoremes 3 Scrutineis Aristotles Philosophy Empedocles Speculation Hypocrates Searches Ptolomies Astrology c. shall be seen there and accounted but foolishnesse Because whatsoever we understand here concerning the truth is the least part of those things which we are ignorant of But then O my soule thou shalt see and abound and thy heart shall admire and be enlarged SOVLE AND WHAT SHALL I SEE MAN THe King of Heaven in his Glory Beda The splendour of eternall pulcritude is of such and so great pleasantness and of so great sweetnesse that the very Angells themselves who are incomparably more clear then the Sunne cannot be satisfied therewith Therefore thou shalt then abound with delights in the admirable and wonderfull knowledge of the Divine cleernesse thou shalt admire at the delightfull consideration of thy own glory thou shalt be enlarged in the perfect speculation of all Creatures O stupendious and admirable Contemplation O sweet and delectable consideration O joyfull and unspeakable speculation O Lord my God how worthily is it spoken of thee One day in thy Courts is better then a thousand elsewhere Because according to Saint Augustine so great is the beauty of Justice so great is the pleasure of the Eternall light that although it were not lawfull to be delighted there in more then an houre of one day for this only innumerable dayes of this life though full of delights and on every side abundancy of temporall good things should rightly and worthily be despised For it is so beautifull and sweet that it being once seen nothing more can be desired and it excelleth all other desires SOVLE ANd is there no other thing whose Vision delighteth whose Contemplation maketh glad MAN O My Soule although these above be sufficient if there were no other thing there yet there remaines one thing though I should for beare to speak of the sweet and pleasant vision of all the others almost innumerable which wonderfully gladdeth the minds of all the Celestiall Spirits and after a certaine wonderfull manner I know not with what inestimable joy inebriateth every blessed creature to wit to see the exceeding glory of our Heavenly Father and the glorified humanity of his most blessed Sonne Who O my soule is sufficient as to think how great joy it begetteth to see the Viâ—gin Mary not now lying with her Infant crying in the Manger not now going about weeping seeking and saying Have ye not seen him whom my soule loveth when shee had lost her most beloved Infant for three daies but now looking on him with Eternall Joy For now shee shall not be troubled as flying into Aegypt from the face of Herod because he is ascended into Heaven but Herod into Hell Now she is not troubled about many things which the Jews have done to her Sonne because all things are subject to him Not now surely watching crying out complaining and saying Who will grant it me that I may dye for thee O my Sonne Absalon when she stood neere unto her only Son hanging and dying on the Crosse now not lamentably lamenting when the Disciple was given her instead of her Master a Servant in stead of her Lord a Creature in stead of the Creator as though it were a stranger instead of her only and most sweet Sonne But now she that in times past was so miserable for us being full of so great sorrow is inestimably exalted above every Creature raigning with Christ in the Pallace of the exceeding blessed Trinity singing rejoycing and saying I have held him and will not part from him And Christ himselfe saying Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy loaden and I will refresh you And this Come unto me all ye that desire me add ye shall be filled from my Generations O my Soule devoutly consider in thy mind what a joy full of all sweetnesse it is to behold a man the Creator of man a woman the
Mother of the Creator of all our Brother in times past lost abject and despised now found now returned now Raigning now commanding all O that thou wert as my Brother sucking the breasts of my Mother when I should find thee without I should kisle thee with the kisses of devotion I would embrace thee with the embraces of love yet â— should not be despised I â—â—ould lead thee into a Chambeâ— with delight of the sweetest fruition This fruition that devout St. In his Meditations Anselme desired when he said O most sweet Infant when shall I see thee when shall I appeare before thy face when shall I be sarisfied with thy comelinesse when shall I behold thy wished for Countenance on whom the Angels desire to look woe be to that soule that loves not thee that seeks not thee who if she love the World she is a slave to sinne she is never quiet or content never secure Let nothing I beseech thee please me without thee let nothing be sweet unto me nothing comely let no pretious thing content mee besides thee Let all things be vile unto me except thee Whatsoever is against thee let it be troublesome unto me and let thy will and pleasure be my indefatigable desire Let it greive me to rejoyce without thee delight me to rejoyce with thee and to weep with thee O good Jesu if it be so sweet to weep with thee how pleasant is it to rejoyce with thee SOVLE O Man Now I languish with Love to see our Lord my Creatour I faint with ardent desire to see Jesus my Brother and my Redeemer now being wounded with desire I sigh and groan to behold that glorious Virgin Mother of my Redeemer O good Jesus when shall I see my Joy which I desire O when will his glory appeare which I hunger after O when will my Comforter come which I expect O that at any time I shall be inebriated with the plenty of his house for which I sigh after Now every Creature is troublesome to me to behold because far incomparably shal that beauty excell from which all these things proceeded MAN O My Soul expect with patience that thy desires may increase because it is written After a while and yee shall not see me and again after a while and yee shall see me SOVLE O Long while O a little too prolixe for although thy merits be little yet notwithstanding large are thy desires MAN O My Soul if thy desires seem unto thee large and great wherewith thou art inflamed to contemplate the Eternal glory and charity with how great a desire thinkest thou oughtest thou to be inflamed perfectly to love God the eternall goodness and eternally to possess the highest Majesty if thou shouldest not love all these things how canst thou rejoice in the Vision Although thou shouldest well see and understand them and shouldest not possess them securely how shouldest thou continue blessed St. Aug. There therefore we shall be at leasure and shall see shall see and love shall love possess for he is the end of our desires who shall be seen without end shall be loved without tediousness shall be praisâ—d eternally without wearisomness for there one and the whole virtue is to love what thou seest and the cheifest felicity is eternally to have what thou lovest there a blessed life is fully perfectly drunken from its very fountain wherefore after a certain wonderfull manner both an innated thirst and also a Satiety is delectably varyed by course but necessity is far repelled from thirst and loathing is far removed from satiety In fine prosologion But that I may not O my Soule now longer keep thee in suspence hear what that devout Anselmus saith of all the former Heavenly joyes stir up thy self now O my Soule and lift up thy whole understanding and as much as thou art able consider attentively how delightfull that good is which containeth the delectation of all good things If a created life be delightful how pleasant is the creating Essence if a made health be pleasant how pleasant is that health which maks all things If the knowledge of the creatures be amiable how pleasant is that knowledge which is of things created why therfor dost thou wander through many things seeking Goods created love one in whome are all If Beauty delight thee the Just shall shine as the sun if Liberty or strength they shall be like unto the Angels of God in Heaven if long and healthfull lifethere is eternal health if satiety or excess they shall be satisfied of the glory and they shall be inebriated with the fulness of the house of God if melody there the Angells do sing if society and freindship there is the society of the Saints all of them of one mind if honours and riches glory and riches are in his Court if security and certainty there is the eternall longitude of all times and ages O humane heart O poor and needy heart O heart experienced in cares yea overwhelmed with sorrowes how much wouldest thou rejoyce if thou shouldest abound in all these enquire of thy inmost thoughts if they be able to conceive there so great joy of their so great a beatitude But if man of so great a beatitude can scarce conceive his own joy how shall he be capable of so many joyes as is the number of the Elect where every one loveth his Neighbour as much as himselfe And doth so much rejoyce at his joy as he loves him so also every one doth more rejoyce without question of the Felicity of God then either of his own or of all the Elect. Because even as he loveth God with all his heart with all his soule and with all his power So the whole heart the whole Soule the whole mind is not sufficient to the fullnesse of that joy because they shall rejoyce so much as they loved they shall love so much as they shall behold Truly neither Eye hath seen nor Eare hath heard nor hath it entred into the heart of Man how much the Saints of God shall love thee and know thee I beseech thee O my God that I may know thee that I may love thee and that I may eternally rejoyce with thee And though I cannot fully in this life yet at least let my knowledge and love of the encrease here that there my joy may be full Here let that be in hope there let it be in possession O Lord and Father here thou commandest by thy Sonne yea thou councellest us to ask and promisest us we shall receive that our joy may be full I begg O Lord that which by thy admirable Councellour thou councellest to ask and promisest us to receive that our joy may be accomplished let my understanding meditate of this let my mouth discourse of this let my Tongue speak thereof let my Soule hunger after it let my flesh thirst after it untill it shall enter into the joy of my God who is the
Trinity and Unity blessed for ever Amen The end of the last part The humble and Contrite sinners thankfulness to Almighty God for his mercy and goodnesse towards him O Eternall God my Creator behold me wretched sinner thy poore Creature prostrate at the seet of thy mercy craving pardon most humbly of thy Divine Majesty for my horrible ingratitude towards thee in that being made by thee of nothing to thy owne Image and ordained to enjoy thee eternally I have made no account of thee but preferred every trifle before thee and heaped sinne upon sinne with extreame contempt of thy Justice and abuse of thy mercy longanimity and patience Therefore how admirable hath thy clemency been towards me in that thou hast forborne to poure downe thy vengeance upon me to strike me with suddaine death and to cast me headlong to Hell as thou hast done many others not so greivous sinners as I whiles neverthelesse thou hast spared me But seeing it hath pleased thee out of thy infinite goodnesse now to open my eyes and to discover unto me both the horrour of my own Conscience and the bottomless pit whereinto I was ready to fall vouchsafe I beseech thee to consummate and perfect thy owne good work in me giving me an humble and contrite heart that my eyes may be conduites and fountaines of Water to bewaile my sinnes that my teares may be my Bread day and night and that I may bring forth fruits worthy of repentance that thy Justice being satisfied by the merits of thy Son and my Saviour the inevitable and dreadfull houre of my death may serve me for a happy and sure passage to those everlasting and incomprehensible joyes whereto out of thy infinite mercy thou hast ordained me Amen F. Fits-Herbert A BUNDLE OF MYRRHE Concerning the Passion of Christ made by St. BONAVENTURE that famous Dr. of the Church This Tractate is devout and full of all piety wherein a Bundle of Myrrhe is put between the breasts of the spouse that the study of vertues and the desire of compassion to the sufferings of Christ may be increased The first Bundle Of our Lords Praying in the Garden and of his taking MY beloved is to me a Bundle of Myrrhe he shal rest betwixt my breasts The devout soule speaketh thus signifying the bitternesse of the passion of Christ that shee moreover continually beareth about this gathered to gether in her breast And as thou also whosoever thou art that desirest to reforme thy memory by the meditation of Christs passion mayest have these bundles in readinesse which may rest in thy memory The passion of Christ here handled we have compendiously compiled only in order of the Evangelists that from these few the work the manner and the Cause thou mayst have matter copiously to meditate and maist from these few collect many more Think therefore and consider how in that Sollemne Supper Above spoken of whereof it is spoken of before being celebrated and a hymn said Christ God and man seeing his time to approach rise up that hee might go to the Mount this is the work which he did Consider the manner how he carried himselfe within and without going he foretold the flight of his Disciples He affirmed that Peter should thrice deny him and other things he spoke and again consider this work Consider also how he declared those words with exteâ—iour love and with how great interiour affection he disclosed them Thus thou maist do every where neither is it needfull alwayes to repeat them Taking with him Peter James and John he saith my Soule is sorrowfull even unto death leaving them he prayeth alone on the Mount The third time of his prayer being ended through the imagination of death and internall griefe and feare his sweat is made like unto blood demonstrating his unspeakable pain thereby for we read no such thing of any other Then one Angell comforteth his Lord. Consider how Christ mett his Enemies and of his owne accord offered himselfe and with his word prostrated them upon the earth Afterward he is kissed of Judas apprehended by the Iews drawnbound and lead unto Annas house and all his Disciples fled And let this be one bundle for thee to keep in memorie And here if it pleaseth thee thou mayest look upon Christ what hee was that suffered these things and thou maist commit thy self unto him by assent of reason Beleeve there fore and think that he is truly the Sonne of God the Beginning of all things the Saviour of all People and the rewarder of all The Second Bundle Of the mocking of him before Annas and Caiphas and Peter denying him BEfore Annas speaking the truth he is smitten of a wicked Servant Think here of the work the manner and the cause or at least some of them as it liketh thee After this in Caiphas house where the Scribes and Pharisees expected him he is led scorned and strucken as if he were a blasphemer A false witnesse is sought for and is not found he is adjured of the high Priest thrice denyed of Peter But Christ looking back on Peter constrained him to go forth and to weep most bitterly morning being come he is brought bound unto Pilate Think on the manner how they brought him because it was in the worst kind as though he were a theef and a malefactor c. Judas perceiving that they intended to put Christ to death repented so much in himselfe that he had betrayed so good a man hanged and himselfe brought back the money wherewith a field was bought as the Prophet Hieremie foretold Before Pilate he is many wayes falsly accused he is sent unto Herod of him he is scorned at as a fool Here most diligently consider what he is that suffered and make thy selfe like unto him that thou mayest partake in sufferance with the most innocent most meek most loving and most noble And let this be the second bundle The third Bundle Of his Crowning and Crucifying AFter this at the Jews request Pilate dismisseth Barabbas and delivereth Jesus to be crucified being overcome by the importunity of the Iews and the feare of Caesar Then Iesus after the manner and form of a King is diversly scorned is roabed with a mantle crowned with Thornes strucken with a Reed and as a King is adored in scorne Here O man think on the manner consider the cause to wit how Christ carried himselfe and how the Jewes behaved themselves the cause why he suffered so great torments going that he might be crucified carrying his own cross the peopl following the women weeping to whoÌ„ he said weep not for me but weep for your selves He is crucified on Mount Calvarie And here diligently consider the manner of his Crucifying For they either first raised up the Crosse and Christ ascended thereon or surely they put the Cross on the earth and there fastened him thereon with nailes For there appeareth no other manner And here in the third place it is convenient more