fall away down under the Altar it self represented by their mindes from whence the fume of those fragrant Odours of Vocal and Mental Prayer is directed towards the wings of the Cherubims and so what is sweet in the Spirit ascendeth to Heaven and what is unclean in the Flesh falleth to the Earth and doth not remain as a foulness upon the Altar which is kept always bright and odoriferous And in these Temples of the Holy Ghost there is not onely a continual emission of fire from Heaven falling upon the Altar but even a fresh provision of materials to incense upon it that is to say new supplies of Meditations descending from the Father of light from whom the same beam imparteth at once the ardor of love and the light of Science so that this matter can never want that flame nor that flame ever want this fomentation O how incomprehensible is the clarity of the Divine Elsence whereof if the little light shed on us do shine so strangely even in us being as yet but dark lanthorns to carry it how much must those splendors of purity and sanctity radiate which never issue out of it self whereof we have but few or no glances in this imperfect state of Contemplation to wit little or no intelligible perception of the Mysterious light of the glorious Trinity consistent with that most simple Vnity in which the Trinity of persons is comprised and yet the simplicity of the Unity is not at all diminished In which speculative Verity the best plumed Sâ—raphins of our mortal Nature when they soar never so high on these two wings of Grace and Contemplation must cover their faces with these two other of Faith and Wonder singing with the Psalmist I shall be satisfied when thy glory appeareth and in thy light we shall see light §. II. The gradations whereby we ascend ordinarily up to this station I May well suppose that there will be many who being dazled by the radiancy of the faces of these Moses's we have exposed will with the people turn their heads away from this object And I may imagine that some as being taken with the beauty of this light will conclude with the Apostles That it is good to live upon this Mount and may perchance think of making Tabernacles for their abode in this place that is design all the powers of their mindes to the forming in themselves such a state of Contemplation wherefore it may be pertinent to look a little downward upon such subjacent stations as are the direct way up to the top of the Mountain whereunto the nearest conterminate part is that of Speculation and the next to that Lecture and after that Mortification which lieth indeed as the basis of all the elevation and as it hath this property of the ground-work to consist of the most gross matter so hath it this likewise of being the support of the whole erection and in that order I will re-ascend to the summity from whence I have dismounted While the Soul of Man receives no intelligible species but such as are raised from sensible matter and acteth onely by corporeal organs by Natural Reason it is evident why Mortification is requisite for the best extent of her intellectual powers as rendring these passages the clearer through which all images enter into our discursive faculty and also keeping that power the more free and active in all her exercises The purer the glass is the better we see all things in the room and the farther we may see out of the room when we look outward through the glass so both the species that enter into our mindes through clean and unobstructed organs are the clearer and the acts also of our discourse and speculation looking outward towards immaterialities are the more sharp and penetrating I shall not need to argue how much corporeal pleasures and sensualities do obscure the light received by the apprehensive faculty and clog the operations of the reasoning power of the Minde Wherefore even in this Natural respect a convenient suppression of the appetites of the Flesh seemeth the platform of all Spiritual exaltation but we have a firmer supernatural ground whereupon to raise this Conclusion of the requisiteness of Mortification towards speculative gifts the word of the Holy Ghost saying They that are in the flesh cannot please God and if they be removed even from Gods favor they must needs be very distantial from that grace and familiarity which is imparted to Contemplation Saint Paul was allowed so little to think of his body when he was raised to his highest point of illumination as he knew not whether he had any body about him or no at that time And we finde that he took the best course he could all his life to feel the least he might possibly of his body in order whereunto he saith He did not onely chastise his body and keep it in subjection but affirmeth likewise That he did dye daily It seemeth he found no means of clearing the operations of the Soul but by making as it were a quotidian separation between her and the Flesh And me thinks we may say of all Saint Pauls converted life notwithstanding his humility in owning infirmities that which he himself said of some part of it namely Whether this man in Christ lived in his body or out of his body we know not God knoweth so little sense we finde him to have had of his body in point of Mortification and so little impediment by it in Contemplative operations And doth he not say himself That it is not he that liveth but Christ in him and referring to us he declares the requisiteness of Mortification telling us That they that be Christs have crucified their flesh with the vices and concupiscences and if this kinde of crucisixion be requisite even for the practical part of Christianity whereunto all are called much more must it be pertinent to the perfect speculative state thereof to which so few are chosen I am therefore well warranted to lay Mortification as the ground or foot of this Mount of Moria which signifieth the Land of Visions whereunto all such as shall despise ascensions in their heart must take their rise from this foot and remember what was figured by Abrahams leaving his Servants and his Ass afar off when he saw the Mountain and the prohibition of any Beast to come near to Mount Sinai to wit that no carnal or sensual dispositions might presume to approach towards the mysterious lights of God So that whosoever aspired to go up to this mount Moria of Contemplation must be advised to follow Abrahams order to leave afar off all voluptuous and sensual appetites figured by the Servants and the Ass and carry in his hand the Fire and the Sword that is Zeal and Activity for the sacrificing of his Flesh and Blood to the honor of God This is the Fire that he who was typified by Isaac brought into the earth and
the solaces of the appetitive part of the Soul that is the seat of the Affections which though they are not always equally feasted with delectation yet are they for the most part entertained with a competent measure of gladness and exhileration and sometimes are recreated with an extraordinary jucundity in such a maner as the Prophet Elisha's trenches were filled with water without any appearance of wind or rain to produce this effect that is to say the inferior part of the Soul feeleth a sensible delight and refreshment without any inordinate emotion or alteration of those sensitive powers wherein this delight is excited insomuch as they finde the sweet effects of these two Affections both Love and Joy the first rising not from the wind of passion and the other not being instilled by the rain of any material fruition and thus the delights of these two Affections from to be in such mindes as they are in Angels and Souls separate from Bodies to wit as they are acts of the Will not alterations of the sensitive appetite How blessed is the state of such Souls when even the sensitive power of their Minde seemeth to operate as if their Spirits were totally abstracted or their Natures were Angelical and therefore may not improperly be said to measure this world with such a golden Reed as the Angel in the Revelation did the heavenly City that Saint John saith was the measure of a Man which is of an Angel for this squaring of their affections by the rule of pure Charity rendreth them in a great measure proportionate to the same Angelical operations And in this admirable maner doth the hand of their Maker square and model such choyce Souls to fit and adjust them for the filling up the vacant rooms of Angels according to the design of him who hath said They shall be like the Angels of God iâ— Heaven Having conjoyned this sensitive portion unto the the rational we have exhibited this Contemplative stare in that accomplished beatitude this life admitteth And surely the Soul of Man in this mortal state doth as naturally cover the adjunction of this delectable part in her affections unto the other illuminated portion of her intellect as a Soul though glorified doth the addition of her Body And as by this last accession the Soul doth not augment her beatitude by way of intersion or exaltation but onely in point of extension and amplitude so doth the addition of this delight of the affections rather inlarge and dilate the blessedness of this state of Contemplation then elevate or heighten the vertue of the Soul in that condition the felicity whereof I may will leave sealed with this Signet of the Holy Spirit This is the gift of God and the possessor thereof shall not much remember the days of his life because God answereth him in the joy of his heart After this edition of the high Prerogatives of the true Contemplative life lest any one should conceive the inferior Vocations any way discredited I will present all the several stations of this world with this Consolation and Instruction of Saint Paul As God hath distributed to every one as the Lord hath called every one so let him walk For although the ear have not an absolute dignity equal with the eye yet in the dignity of proportions there is an equality between them Wherefore I will offer this excellent Conclusion of Saint Austine to all the engaged conditions of this world The love of Truth desireth a holy vacancy the pressure of Charity imposeth just occupations which charge if it be not laid on by some charitable obligation the best is to attend unto the perception and contemplation of Truth but in case of our being entred into a lawful Engagement that is to be born for the necessity of Charity but yet not so as the delectation of Verity be totally deserted lest that Religious Sâ—avity being substracted we â—e the easilier oppressed by thâ— other secular necessity This Advice may serve for a convenient direction to all such as are drawing in the yoke of any secular Engagement or are loose in the state of a tree Election of entring into this sweet yoke of Christ drawing in the Chariot of Contemplation Being now arrived at the farthest point of the Horizon of this state of Grace we cannot pass forward without entring upon the other Haemisphere of the state of Glory which I hope God will enable me to exhibite unto you in the other part of this Map I first designed which I will leave now divided by this Aequator severing the two halfs of that Spiritual Globe whereof I had first intended to give you an intire Edition But finding in the other part many Spiritual Positions according to the old Doctrine of the Suns moving and the Earths being fixed which Maximes would not well agree with the new Mathematical Discovery of the Earths moving and cotation I have thought better to publish at first this uncontroverted part of my Work and reserve the other till a farther decision of this question And since the whole Work was designed as a Sacrifice of a Leper in order to his cleansing the purgation being yet very imperfect I may not unfitly say That this is one of the Sparrows which I humbly offer up upon the running waters of a penitent Soul and promise That the other shall be let flye into the world hereafter when God shall be pleased farther to advance the emundation for the accelerating whereof I humbly request all their Prayers who shall be so benign as to conceive they owe me any thing for this Part or shall make any account of my owing them the other And I may fitly end this Semicircle of my Pen with the best half of Saint Pauls valediction to the Romans Now I beseech you brethren for the Lord Jesus Christs sake and for the love of the Spirit that ye strive together with me in your prayers to God for me that the oblation of my service may become acceptable in Jerusalem to the Saints Now the God of peace be with you all Amen Sicut portavimus imaginem terreni portimus imaginem coelestis 1 Cor. 15. 49. Nam prudentia carnis mors est prudentia spiritus vita pax Rom. 8. 6. FINIS Imprimatur NA BRENT Junii 12. 1647. An Alphabetical TABLE OF The most remarkable Points of Instruction in these TREATISES A AFfections planted in our sensitive nature for good use page 37. section 4. Advantages of conformity to vertue in our sensitive part of the minde p. 38. sect 2. Ambition consistent with Devotion p. 42. s 4. Ambitions ordinary acceptation p. 43. Advantages to be made of love to enemies p. 284. s 3. Advices for the best method of reading p. 355. Advantages which true contemplators have above other sorts of pious lives p. 387. B BEauty may be honored without offence to Piety p. 39. sect 2. Beauty's prerogatives allowed p. 39. s 3. Beauty
god-head she could in number have made up that losse of quality she brought in all the celest all bodies into the account of Divinity serving the Militia of Heaven instead of the maker and we may call to minde that as humane bodies grew Giants mindes seemed to shrink into dwarfs when they fell in love as I may say with the daughters of men that is the conceptions of their owne naturall Reason in this point of Divinity And we may well suppose that the Giants soules in the law of nature became so by espousing this daughter of God which we may properly call Grace whereby their heads passed the skie and touched Heaven it selfe in this beliefe of the unity of the godhead and by this conjunction with grace reason produced their issue of a rectified Religion hence is it that we finde the Patriarks frequently visited by celestiall spirits as the allies as I may say of this daughter of Heaven they had espoused and most doe conclude that all those who in the law of nature continued in a rectified belief and worship of God were maintained in that state by grace supplementall to the virtue of single Reason How far humane Reason may alone finde the way to rectified Religion is a question to exercise curiosity rather then excite piety and very commonly reason in the disquisition of faith doth rather sink the deeper into the earth by falling from her over aspiring then she doth six her selfe upward in her proper station and besides this danger me thinkes there is this difference betweene them that are working upon reason to extract Religion and those that are feeding upon sincere faith that the first are labouring the ground for that fruit which the last are feasting on or that the first are plowing while the last are gathering of Manna I shall indeavour therefore to serve in this spirituall refection ready to be tasted treating of faith already digested rather then to be provided by ratiocination for devotion is faith converted into nourishment by which the soul contracting a sound active strength needs not study the composition of that aliment it finds so healthfull §. II. Treating the best habit of mind in order to the finding a rectified Religion ME thinks Religion and Devotion may be fitly resembled to the Body and the Soule in Humanity The first of which issues from an orderly procession of nature by a continuing virtue imparted all at once to mediate causes the last is a new immediate infusion from heaven by way of a creation continually iterated and repeated So Religion at large as some homage rendred to a supreme relation flows into every mind along with the current of natural causes But Devotion is like the Soule produced by a new act of grace directed to every particular by speciall and expresse infusion and in these respects also the analogie will hold that as Religion hath the office of the body to containe Devotion so Devotion hath the function of the soule to informe and animate Religion And as the soule hath clearer or darker operations according as the body is well organized or disposed so Devotion is the more zealous or remisse proportionately to the temper and constitution of the Religion that containeth it Sutable to the Apostle Saint James his intimation to us that Pure Religion keeps us unspotted from the world I shall not take upon me the spirituall Physitian to consult the indispositions and remedies of differing Religions but relying more upon the Testimony of confessed experiments then the subtilty of that litigious art I shall prescribe one receipt to all Christian tempers which is to acquire the habit of Piety and Devotion for this in our spirituall life is like a healthfull aire and a temperate diet in our naturall the best preservative of a rectified faith and the best disposition to recover from an unsound Religion for the Almes and Prayers of the Centurion were heard and answered when they spoke not the language of the Church and the Angel was sent to translate them into that tongue in which God hath chose onely to be rightly praised that which his Eternall Word Christ Jesus hath peculiarly affected and annexed to his Church this shews the efficacie of piety and the exactnesse of Gods order who hath inclosed his eternall graces within those bounds into which he brings all that shall partake of them and so doth naturalize all such strangers as he intitleth to them doth not allot any portions to aliens but reduceth all them he will endow into that qualification he requireth which is into the rank of fellow-citizens of the Saints and of the houshold of God he leaves none with a dispensation of remaining forreiners The Angel that called the Centurion directed him to the gate of the Church Saint Peter did not bring him a protection to rest in his owne house with the exercise of his naturall pieties and so for those that are straying without the inclosure of the Catholique Church if they walk by the light of naturall charity morall piety and devotion in their religious duties this is the best disposition towards the finding of the way the truth and the life of whom the Psalmist sayes He is neere to all those that seeke him and those who are thus far advanced in morality may be said to be in atriis Templi in the Church-yard which is in a congruous disposition for farther advance into the body of the church I shall endeavour then to affect every one with the love of purity and holinesse of life for to those that are already rooted and growing in the Church this disposition will be are that fruit the Apostle soliciteth for them that their love may abound more and more in knowledge and in all judgement And in those who are yet strangers and forreiners as he calls them this reverentiall feare of God seemes to chase the wax for the seale of the holy Spirit for Prayers and Almes doe as it were retaine God for their Counsel and as his Clients open their cause to him in these tearms of the Psalmist Lord cause me to know the way wherein I should walk for I lift up my soule unto thee And such may be said to be halfe way towards their end that doe worship in a zealous spirit and are likely never left there but helped on to the other part of worshipping in truth by him that hath ordained our worship to consist of Spirit and Truth so that devotion sincerity in any Religion are the best Symptomes of our designation to the true and sincere Religion Wherefore having made this generall presentation of piety and virtue to all parties I shall not stay to wrastle in the Schooles but rather strive to set such Church-musick as all parties may agree to meet at the service and this I presume may sound in tune unto most eares that where consort and harmony in faith appeareth it is a good note of that
nature and over-pay by good security of sincere secular joy what may seeme taken away in that adulterate species wherein our fancies use to accept the receites of our contentment For surely Devotion doth assigne the minde a rectified joy in the use of temporall goods instead of that vitious and counterfeit which our three enemies pretending to be our stewards bring into our fancy that is prone to take all whatsoever hath but the image of sensible pleasure without examining the substance which facility to be deceived the Prophet reproacheth in us saying We sell our selves for nothing Should a traveller passing through a forreign countrey finding the coyne of the place raised to an excessive value exchange into it all the good species of his own thinking to make gain by this traffique because the coyne is currant in his passage as soon as he were passed that dominion he would quickly repent his inconsiderate mistake This seemeth to be the familiar case of man who while he is in his transition and passage through this world findeth the temporalities thereof which are the currant species of the place cried up to such an over-value as he is perswaded to turne all his affections into that species of joy and at its issue out of this forreign region he findeth the irreparable losse he hath made by the debatement of his talents in this exchange And it is against this delusion not against all commerce with secular joy in our journey that Devotion issueth to us her inhibitions lest by this ill husbandry in their way when they come to account with their great Creditor they be reduced to give a worse answer then he who brought back his talent unimproved I shall therefore exhibite to our minds which must needs negotiate in their passage through this world the true Intrinsique value of those joyes uttered in the commerce with the creatures that taking none but such as are allowed in their last audict their traffique may bring home into their native countrey not their Bonds forfeited but rather Bils of exchange payable upon their Masters joy In answer then of the desire of having the truest happynesse of this life specially determined I declare that the felicity of this life consisteth in a constant rejoycing in truth This is the assertion of Saint Augustine and is easily verified to all rationall dispositions The first reply the world is like to make to this proposition is Pilates question What is truth to which I answer Truth is a perfect and edequate similitude or likenesse imprinted in our understanding of the nature of the thing we conceive So that when our conception is just equall to the being and property of the thing we conceive we are said to understand truth Wherefore the truth of knowing is as it were the mould cast off from the truth of being or the print of that seal and so the image of the true being of a thing is the figure of truth seated in our minds But this which may seem a fair impression of the nature of truth may perchance appear but a dark Character of the form of happynesse to my auditory unto whom indeed I do not intend to assigne onely the speculative notions of verities for the subject of their satisfactions but I will open farther this store of joy the rejoycing in truth and shew how it containeth the Prophets wine and milk which he offereth to all for fetching it From hence the contemplative life draweth that wine whereof King David saith My chalice inebriating how goodly is it and the active sucketh that milk which the Apostle saith is proper for their vocation which nourisheth their minds with more sensible delectation issuing from the true use and ordinate love of the creature And this is that I may not unpleasantly call the milk which these Gentiles love best to whom I present my breast The preference of the contemplative life before the active is inferred from this respect of affording a more clear and serene light for the perception of Supernatural verityes For contemplation is a fixure of the mind on the aspect and presents of truth and although this act of contemplating be purely Intellectuall yet the terme and end thereof rests in the affections as the possession of our pursuits induceth joy whereby this is demonstrated that the happynesse of the contemplative life consisteth in the rejoycing in truth This sensible delight in contemplation flowing from the Superior portion of the mind down upon the Inferior is a good Image of mans consummate Beatitude in Heaven where the glory of the body is derived from the excesse and redundancy of the joy and blessednesse flowing from the soul and in this order the delight imparted to our affections by contemplation fals from a superfluence of truth in our understanding And thus what may be said to be light in the Superior region of the Soul seemeth fire in the lower The first reporting to truth and the latter to joy which as it is a passion in our nature may be said to be more materiall then the other in the same degree as flame is lesse pure then the radiancy of the Sunne but the comparative degrees of purity between the acts of our Intellect and our affections are not our Theam Certaine it is that all the sensible delectation of the contemplative life streameth from the springs of Supernatural verities we will therefore stay no longer on the top of Mount Sinai which may seem all cloud to those that are below while the Moseses that are upon it find all splendor and clarity and may not unfitly be said to see the hinder parts of that verity in seeing the face whereof consists the consummate rejoycing Comming then down into the Camp of the active life it will be no hard task to prove the happinesse of that state likewise seated in the rejoycing in truth which hath so gratefull a savour even to our sensitive appetite as I may say none wish for quailes but they desire to tast this Manna in them I mean no body affecteth any sensible fruition but as it is under the form of a true good For as Saint Augustine reasoneth let any be asked whether he had rather joy in truth or in falsity and the answer will bear no doubt For although there be many would deceive others in their happinesse there are none would be deceived themselves in it there is such a signature of the light of the countenance of verity stamped upon the reason of man as his understanding can propose nothing to his affections as matter of joy but under the colour at least of truth So that the object of all our affections is true delight though the errour be never so great in the subject of our joy For no body can rejoyce under this notion of being deceived the instinct of man is such in order to truth as he must present that object to his Imagination even out of the
to viz. whether they make that cozening advantage by them or no with the creature they must answer for as much to the Creator as they projected to make of them and thus as the Prophet saith As much Wind as they have sowed so much Tempest they shall reape §. VI. Presumption upon our vertue discussed and the danger thereof remonstrated THere are many Lovers who when they find no direct design of impurity at first in their passions conclude them competent with their salvation and care not how neare the wind they steere nor how many boards they make as long as they believe they can reach the Port with this wind which is so faire for their senses therefore they pretend they need not stand so strait a course as making Jobs covenant with their eyes nor setting Davids watch over their lips provided they set a guard over their heart that no foule possession enter upon that seate thus do they expose many faire models of their love which in speculation may seem designed according to the square of Religion but how hard it is to build adequately to the speculative measures in this structure none can tell that presume to know it our senses are not inanimate materials that obey the order of the spirits designe but rather labourers which are easily debauched to worke contrary to the measures and rule of the Spirit hence it is that they who will undertake in this case all they can argue possibly for humane nature render it impossible by their undertaking it for they reckon not their presumption as any impediment which in the practise as being an irritation of God out-weighs all the other difficulties and the more alwayes the lesse it is weighed in the designe therefore as Solomon saith The wise man declineth evil and the foole heapes on and is confident The beliefe of impossibility is the most prudent supposition in such experiments as cannot be essayed without some desperate exposure of our selves it may be demonstrate by reason that we may have halfe of our body over a precipice so the centre of the weight be kept in an exact aequilibrium that part which is pensile can never weigh down the other which is supported but we should thinke one mad that would try this conclusion when the least motion changeth the Position and consequently destroyeth the practicer of this speculation so those that pretend to keept their soules equally poised in the just measures between piety and prophane love their eyes hanging over the precipice of temptations which do so easily turne their heads and then alter all the positions of their mind adventure upon just such a spirituall experiment He that seeketh danger shall perish in it is attested by the unhappy president of the wisest of men and it is superfluous to instance other testimonies of this truth When David and Solomon the two brazen pillars of the Temple being the direction and fortitude of the Princes of Israel were melted and poured out like water as David himselfe confesseth by the ardors of his flesh and so they seem to stand in holy record as two high eminent markes set upon these sands to advertise the strongest vessels not to venture to passe over them and if Saint Paul that vessel of election after his having seen the beauty of Heaven to possesse his heart thought himselfe hard matched with the Angell of Sathan and cryed out to heaven for helpe against him shall any presume to entertain and cherish this ill Angell and hope to overcome him with flattery and civility for they make this tryall who lodge in their thoughts and serve with their fancies strong impressions of humane beauty and propose to keepe their body in order even by the vertue of such a guest pretending that the very object infuseth a remembrance and reverence of purity With this and the like glittering conceipts do many vain Lovers fondly satisfy and abuse themselves which is to answer the question of the Holy Spirit that the fire they carry in their bosomes preserveth them from being enflamed by it we may fitly say to such in answer from the Prophet God laughs at you when all Gods advices are that there is no security against this bosome enemy but violence and diffidence there is no meane between the flesh's being slave or master this treaty of Friendship between it and the spirit proves but Dalilahs kind holding of Sampsons head in her lap while she is shaving him How often do we see the Spirit thus betraid and lye bound by this confidence And truly all those chaines which vain Lovers forge for the figuring out the powerfulnesse of beauty may be said to be those irons the flesh hath cast off and set upon the Spirit which is truly captivated alwayes by the others liberty This considered let none presume that while they deny the 〈…〉 eyes nothing which they covet they can deny their hearts any undue cupidity for this seemeth such an experiment as if one of the children of Israel should have carryed a fiery Serpent in his bosome presuming that while he looked upon the Brazen Serpent he could not be stung sure such a perverted confidence would not have proved safe to the projector So those who believe while they have the love of God before their eyes they may expose them to all the fiery darts of lustfull eyes seem to tempt God by such a vain presumption these are such of whom we may fitly say with the Apostle that Erring themselves they lead others into errour and have a forme of Godlinesse but deny the Power of it being lovers of pleasure more then lovers of God Let no body then trust to any confederacy between the flesh the spirit which is of humane loves making for of all reconciled enemies the flesh is least to be trusted after the accord and love the least for the arbitration therefore let none believe their souls out of danger because in the first paces of their passion they meet no insolent temptations that face them and declare the danger of their advance for the Devill keepes likely his first Method still with those he findeth in the state of innocence he taketh the shape of the serpent and creeps up by insinuation and then changeth his shape into the figure of his power and this transmigration of the evil spirits from one body into another is truer then the fancy of Pythagoras for we find often this Metamorphosis of the devill from the form of a dove unto a serpent from a lamb into a lion since it is the same spirit that moves in the poetical doves of Venus as was acting in Eves serpent thus what hath at first in our love an innocent form passeth quickly into a venemous nature Wherefore severe caution and repulse of the first motions of our sensitive appetite is the onely guard our soules can trust against our bodyes in this case for certainly many lovers sink into temptations in
delight the owners of it shewing what a reall blessing beauty hath by being made by God one of the best opticke glasses for the helpe of mans spirituall eye by report from his corporeall in the speculation of divinity for by this inference of the Wise-man he may argue If we are delighted with these materiall beauties we may judge how much more beautifull and lovely is the Lord and Creator of them adding that by the greatnesse of the beauty of the creatures the heathens were inexcusable that they did not find the truth of one Creator We may remarke a speciall providence of God in the order of nature providing against the pervertiblenesse of this great blessing of beauty for the most vehement cupidity of our nature ariseth not before the use of reason the abuse of beauty and the use of reason are both of an age whereby we have a defence coupled with the time of temptation and our reason when it is seriously consulted for our safety hath the voyce of the holy cryer in the desart and directeth us to a stronger then her selfe which was before her though it appeared after her this is Grace which we may call in to our succour in all the violencies of our nature so as with these pre-cautions I propose beauty to be truly honoured in that highest degree of nobility which God hath been pleased to rank it among his materiall creatures preserving religiously the Prerogative Rights of the Soveraign of our hearts who demandeth not the putting out of the right eye as the Ammonites did for a mark of slavery but proposed it onely as a medicine in case of scandall when the liberty of the whole body is indangered by it whereby we see devotion doth not infringe any of the rights of humanity in the valuation of materiall blessings for in not admitting vain passion it doth rather defend then diminish the liberties of humane nature which are truly inslaved by the tyrannies of passion Now in answer to that question concerning friendship with women I professe to intend so little the discrediting of reall friendship with them as I approve it for an excellent preservative against the contagiousnesse of passion for as passion hath been well said to be friendship runne mad so friendship may be properly styled sober passion since it hath all the spirit and cordiality of the wine of love without the offensive fumes and vapors of it and so doth the office of exhilarating the heart without intoxicating the braine Insomuch as we finde that our friendship with the proprietor of what we are tempted to covet doth often even by the single virtue of morality suppresse those unruly appetites Therefore when the power of Christianity is joyned to re-inforce it we may expect it should much the easilier correct frailty of nature It hath been well said of friendship that it is the soule of humane society and if our friendship hold this Analogy with the soul to be equally intire in every part of the body it is very safe with women if the love be no more in the face then in the feet as long as it is like a soule thus spiritually distributed equally in the whole compound of body and mind it is not in danger of the partiality of passion which never maketh this equall communication of it selfe but lodgeth solely in the externall figure of the body and friendship thus regularly spirituall may find a sensible as well as a lawfull delight in the beauty and lovelynesse of the person for beauty hath somewhat that affecteth and taketh our nature which methinks is somewhat like to that we call the fire or the water in diamonds which are certain rayes of luster and brightnesse that seem the Spirit of the whole matter being equally issued from all parts of it and so there may be a kind of spirit and quicknesse of joy and delight that may shine upon us from the object of a beautifull person whom we may love so spiritually as to consider nothing in the person severed from the whole consistence and virtuous integrity of soul and body no more then we do the fire of a diamond apart from the whole substance Thus beauty may innocently raise the joy of friendship whiles sincere friendship doth suppresse the danger of beauty which is onely the kindling of passion wherefore if it be rightly examined passion which pretendeth to honour beauty more then friendship will be found but to vilifie and debase it for passion useth this diamond but as a flint to strike materiall sparkles of lust out of it whereas friendship lookes upon the fire of this diamond as delighted only with the luster of nature in the substance of it which reflects alwaies the splendor of the Creator unto a Pious ' and religious love But this high Spirituall point of friendship with women where we have no defence by consanguinity against the frailty of flesh and blood is not so accessable as we should presume easily to reach it many loves have stray'd that pretended to set out towards it therefore we cannot be too cautious in this promise to our selves of security in such difficulties for our spirit can make no such friendship with our flesh as to rely upon the fidelity thereof without his own continuall vigilancy wherefore S. Peters advise is very pertinent in these intelligences Converse in feare in this time of your sojourning for otherwise I may presage to you in the termes of the Prophet Evil shall come upon you and you shal not know from whence it riseth for friendship doth often when it is too much presumed upon rob upon the place it did first pretend to guard being easily tempted by the conveniency our senses finde in that trust And as those theeves are the hardliest discovered that can so handsomely change their apparencies upon the place as they need not flie upon it so friendship when it is debaushed into passion is very hardly detected For when it is questioned by Gods authorized examinants it resumeth the lookes and similitude of innocent friendship and so remaineth undiscovered not onely by the exterior inquest but very often it eludeth a slight interior search of our own conscience thereby proving the most dangerous theef in the familiarities with women For this reason I must charge this admission of friendship towards women with this clause of Saint Paul While you stand by saith presume not but feare for in this case we may warrantably invert the rule of Saint John and say that perfect love bringeth in feare wherefore I will conclude this case with Solomons sentence Blessed is the man who feareth alwayes he that hardneth his heart shall fall into mischiefe § VIII The Conclusion framed upon all the premised Discourse and our Love safely addressed NOw then upon these evidences we may fairely cast passion in this charge of Treason against the Soveraign of all our love and consequently all libertine discourse and familiarities with women
may justly be noted as Malignants which legally in Religion ought to be sequestered nay even friendship it selfe with persons to be feared lyeth under some cloud as requiring a continual suspitious eye upon it to keepe it safe from all intelligence with sensual appetites in so much as when it is sincerest it must be watched with great prudence to be kept safe for which cause in stead of all these perillous commerces of our love I will preferre so secure an object to it as Saint Augustine saith of it Love but and do what you will this is the increated beauty of God in which there is not only no feare to be had of our over-loving it but even there is no fear of our not being out-loved by it and so our love is alwayes secured to us Therefore O Soule Why doest thou halt and hesitate about the loving him who must needs love thee faithfully and art so prone to love that which if it love thee at all must do it perfidiously either deceiving thee or some other thou shalt alwayes be unhappy in loving such which if another love thou shalt be offended or if they love another thou shalt be tormented The love of God is exempted from all griefe or care for in his loving of others thou shalt joy and that all may be in love with him thou shalt wish This is the transcendent sufficiency of Gods good that he may love all and be beloved of all without any detriment or diminution of either the lover or the beloved but with a fuller joy of both All other things are infirme scanted and indigent which are not sufficient for the loving of two or the being beloved by two without defrauding of one of them You then that by love seeke contentment why do you love that which even the loving of is disquiet O love him who even in the necessary disquiets of this life can make you happy how idle is it to love such goods which by loving thou deservest to want and not to love that good where the act of loving is the fruition of it for God being beloved becommeth yours other goods when you love you become theirs and so indeed you want even your selfe by such loves God is only to be wanted by not being loved and all other things which you leave for God you find again in his Love O then love that only which alone is all things To conclude all you who have much to be forgiven for other loves transferre betimes all your affections upon him where you may hope with the blessed Penitent To have much forgiven you for loving much Thus only you can hope to attain to the state Saint Paul prescribeth to abstain from all appearance of evill that your whole spirit and soule and body may be preserved blamelesse to the comming of our Lord Jesus Christ and God grant that our soules may meet him with the lamps of the wise Virgins only lighted in them and then we shall be no more in danger of ceasing to love what we should when we enter into our masters joy which is eternall love The fourteenth Treatise The Test and Ballance of Filiall and Mercenary Love In five Sections §. I. Of the value of Love and Gods tolerating some mixture of selfe-respects in it WHen Esdras had cleared to the seduced people that the Law of God could not dispense with their retaining of such strange women of the Land as lay in their bosomes they pleaded for some time to make this painfull divorce saying It was not the worke of a day or two So methinks many who are convinced in this point of the prohibition of this alien and strange conjunction of our Love which is the child of God with vain passion the daughter of the earth pretend that by degrees they will sever this impurity from their loves because it requireth some time and much grace to make this division I confesse it is not the worke of a few good motions or remorses it asketh as it were a melting and liquefaction of our hearts to separate this drosse from the pure substance of love but we are so much furthered towards this operation as the fire we must worke it in costeth nothing but the asking It is that which the Spouse saith are coales of fire and have a vehement flame and hath a speciall vertue to purge and calcine our affections according to the Prophets advice of separating the pure from the impure and we may confidently call for this fire downe from heaven by the Spirit of our master to consume these his enemies the concupiscence of the eye and the concupiscence of the flesh that are the opposers of this purgation and refinement of our hearts which he demandeth of us as silver seven times tryed Reflecting upon the exactnes of this receiver of hearts if we resolve to trade with our loves for the Kingdome of heaven we must examine sincerely what temper of purity is currant with God for as passion doth both lighten and vitiate them in one kind so is there another sort of drossines in our nature which doth often too much imbase our love by an over-allay of selfe respect that rendereth it too mercenary and of too low a value it is very requisite then to be rightly enformed of the Standard by whose purity all our love that passeth for the purchase of the Kingdom of heaven must be tryed tested In our contract for heaven there is a strange singularity since both the paiment and the purchase are one and the same thing differing only in degrees of intension and purification for infirme and imperfect love is our price and love perfected and consummate is our possession namely God who is love is all as love is the best thing even in heaven as well as in earth it is consonantly appointed for the chiefe commerce between them wherefore God asketh but the heart of man even for all himself knowing that the heart in the most entire transaction of it selfe in this life can remit but imperfect and defective love we must examine severely what rates of imperfectnes God admitteth in our affections for in favour of our poverty he accepteth some part of our payment in that which is as I may say the base money of our nature mercenary love which he alloweth for the conveniency of our indigent and decayed estate Methinks by this allusion we may appositely explain what degree of allowablenes mercenary love may be accepted at for as base money is a meanes of commerce between the rich and the poore and is not commonly allowed in payments above some low summe so God in condescendence to the poverty and incommodity of our nature permitteth mercenary love in some proportion to be currant between his plenty and our penury but will not accept our totall discharge in it we may have some selfe-respect in our affections to God that may represent to us our rewards as a beneficiall traffique
ill an odour as their former Sacriledge If these Animadversions meet likewise with any such as are not urged by the pressure of their Consciences but rather solicited so much by their natural temper and disposition to privacy and retiredness as upon the least provocation of the world they are apt to break with it these humors are desired to stay and pause â—â—riouâ—ly and long on this suggestion for this may often be the operation of Melancholy which works this hasty promptitude And as Melancholy is the highest degree of choler in the Humors so in these hasty sallies out of the society of the world there may well be more Natural Humor then Spiritual Disposition and so this be rather a Disease then a devout Constitution Wherefore like sick men that forbear food long while the Humor is consuming these retreaters may for some time live quietly as long as this Humor of the worlds disrelish is wasting and spending it self but after that is digested the appetite of the world returns and likely gnaws upon their peace they having no natural food for it Hence is it that such complexions ought to be very advised in this their assigning of themselves according to the propensity of their Humors which perswades them often that what is indeed but the Ecâ—ho of their own voyce of Nature which speaks in them is a Spiritual vocation For their Natural Constitution raifeth that desire in their imaginative part which causeth a little repetition and answer of it in the Judiciary and Rational power of their minde but it is rather from the hollowness of their reason then the solidity of it that this Eccho is returned The result therefore of all these Examinations of several Cases must be Not to conduct our selves by the precedents of special extraordinary vocations of some whom Christ hath sent for out of the streets and by-ways of the world that is immediately from the foulness and immundicity of their lives and by his Messengers of Crosses and Afflictions compelled them to come into his house For these Cases are prerogatives of Gods Grace which do not alter the known Laws that are enacted by him by which Laws we ought to try our vocations to wit by the mature advice of those Judges he hath seated in his Tribunal upon Earth his Church and by their Sentences to make the tryal of all our own private impulses or motions of our Spirit to this dispossession and abnegation of the world Christ himself hath ruled this case in an excellent Parable of one that builds a Tower which is properly adopted to the design of a contemplative life as it is the erection of a frame of life raised high above the other parts of the Earth and intended for prospect and discovery so that none must undertake this edifice but after computation of the pertinencies requisite for the finishment lest they expose themselves to the reproach of having begun what they were not able to finish and this reckoning and account of our provision must be made by the consulting of a prudent Spiritual Surveyor not trusting to the Architecture of our own Spirit in which we must zealously often and humbly consult the eternal Architect of all Spiritual frames for a sincere discernment of his order in the regulating our own designs with this address of the cautious Spirit of Holy David Lord grant me to know the way wherein I should walk for I have lifted up my soul to thee This parting and separation from our own Will is the first leave we must take in our valediction to the world and this is not to be done by a hasty dismission of it for so it is but a weight thrown upward which is fastened to us and falls quickly back again therefore it must be loosened and severed by degrees and steeped as it were in the fresh springing water of Prayer and Mortification whereby it will peel and fall away the easilier Some perseverence in this disposition is requisite to blanch and whiten the intention perfectly St. Pauls advice for our preparation for the Holy communion is me thinks very properly applicable to this our preparation for participating of this Spiritual food for Religious Solitude is the Table of the Holy Ghost Therefore let a man examine himself and then eat of this bread of life for he that presumes to taste of it unworthily may be truly impeached as guilty of much irreverence to the Holy Spirit in venturing to come to the Communion of his Gifts and Graces rashly without a due consulting of his invitation I need not urge our precaution and advisedness in this case farther since our temerity in it is brought to be a kinde of Sin against the Holy Ghost Whereupon I will close up this Advertisement in St. Johns words Beloved believe not every Spirit but try the Spirits whether they be of God for many false promises of this Spirit of an happy Solitude are current in the world it being truer in no case then in this It is not of him that willeth nor of him that runneth but of God who sheweth mercy The nineteenth Treatise Of Violent Solitude or Close Imprisonment Divided into eight Sections §. I. How unwillingly our Nature submits to the loss of Liberty and Society IN the case we treated last the Will needed a premonition against the deception of sight for our Will in fits of Melancholy looketh commonly through the glass of our Imagination upon such objects as flatter that humor most This Perspective of our Fancy is often cut into such angles as represent various and false colours of perswasions wherewith the Will is inveigled such species proving not real when our Reason cometh strictly to oversee them Therefore in the election of Solitude the elective faculty was to be instructed against the falacies of discourse upon which the Resolution is to be grounded but this case requireth a different direction For here the best course the Will can take to rectitude is to be totally blinded and cieled that she may make the straighter mount upward to the eternal Will and not amuse or perplex her self by looking about with a solicitous inspection into second causes but may pitch at the first flight upon the primary cause of all Contingencies Our Nature requireth much precaution in this aptitude to intangle us under the pretext of infranchisement by the liberty of reasoning out the Causes of all advers Accidents for in this case of loss of Liberty and Company our Nature likely seizeth on curious disquisitions of all Humane Reasons as the next thing she takes hold on to make company out of them and the contrivement of issues out of these straights is a sort of freedom our Nature takes as some imaginary reparation in her necessity by reason wherof these are coÌ„monly the first occupations wherein our Fancy seeketh some divertisement and this entertainment may lighten the weight a little by removing it to and fro in our Fancy not
of whom I may say with the Apostle That in the midst of a perverse generation they have shined as lights in the world their mindes seeming to be kindes of Spiritual fixed Stars which never altered their distances from the Earth and intended onely the finishing their course at the same time imparting light unto the world by divers irradiations respective to their positions therein either of Prayer or other Edifications Wherefore of such habits of minde the Holy Spirit saith The path of the just is as the shining light that proceedeth even to perfect day which is Contemplation consummated when the day-Star whereby Saint Peter expresseth it shall be risen in our hearts whereof these acts of our intellect seem to be some inchoative or imperfect rays and to give you as fair a view as I can of this abstruse object I shall set it in the most luminous definition I can deliver it out of the mouth of S. Augustine Contemplation is a clear in t 〈…〉 on and a delightful admiration of perspicuous Verities so that the minde in that state may be said to walk in the meridional light of Faith towards the incomprehensible clarity of perfect vision and this light of Grace wherein a pure Contemplative Soul inhabiteth may me thinks be said to hold some such proportion to the purer light of glory she expecteth as the sight which the three Apostles had of Christs Body transfigured on Tabor holds to that they are to have of it glorified in Heaven for as the brightness of Lightning and the cand or of Snow did in some measure represent to them the far transcending lustre and beauty that was to be looked for in his Body beatified so these admirable intellectual Verities which are the objects of a true Contemplative Soul in this life do in some degree figure to it the unexpressible notions rising out of a fruitive Contemplation of the increated Verity insomuch as these elevated Spirits may be conceived to have such a kinde of advantage over others who may also be faithful in lower stations of Christianity as the three Disciples called up to Tabor had of them that were left below the Mountain For certainly this sight must have imprinted in their mindes a more lively and affecting image of the amiableness of glorified Bodies then the others could apprehend But as Christ admitted few even of his Apostles to this sight of him so doth God vouchsafe to select and elevate but very few to this superlative pitch of Contemplation of whom we may say with the Psalmist This is the generation of them that seek the face of the God of Jacob who we know was one of the most eminent in this high vocation feeding on this bread of Angels and having this Spiritual Manna showâ—red down upon him while he was feeding the flocks of others in a servile obligation And holy David in all his exterior bitternesses tasting of this Spiritual reflection saith as it were this Grace to it How great is the multitude of thy sweetness O Lord which thou hast hid for them that fear thee thou shalt hide them in the secret of thy face from the disturbance of men This expresseth well their state of minde which is covered from the sight of the world in the secret of Gods face that is in his most private and reserved kindenesses and as God hideth himself in his own inaccessible light so such Souls adhering unto God and becoming as the Apostle â—aith one Spirit are hid to the world in the excessive light of their Graces which common apprehensions cannot penetrate of such mindes we may most peculiarly say Who knoweth the things of such men save the Spirit that is in them which searcheth the deep things of God while their apprehensive faculty perfecteth it self by extracting the pure species of Truth and their affecting power is perfected by transmitting it self exteriorly upon the object that attracteth it Thus the understanding is never satiated by a continual receiving nor the affection ever diminished by an incessant issuing it self out upon the object but doth rather acquire by this perpetual Self-alienation In this admirable commerce doth the true Contemplative Soul negotiate with her own Maker while what is imported from him into the Understanding obligeth the Will to export unto him her faculty of loving and thus knowledge infused draweth forth love and love efused remitteth back fresh illuminations This Angelical correspondence with God the Contemplative Man entertaineth and hath in proportion to his Nature the same priviledge that Angels have when they assume apparent Bodies for their ministery on Earth namely to finde no intermission of their seeing God So in all the exterior offices which the Soul acteth by the ministery of the Body in such persons the Minde doth not remove out of that apprehended presence of God whereof her transitory state is capable insomuch as a profound Contemplator may be said to be never so much alive to this life as when he seemeth to be the most dead to it For in the image of Death when the other powers of his Minde cannot controul his Fancy that may introduce imaginations into him superfluously relative to this life and removed from the scope of all his reasonable cogitations which never move but in a presential reverence of God So that the Natural Man may be said to live in him no longer by the strength or power of his Nature but meerly by the infirmity of it that requireth such a suspension of the Spiritual Man which lives so powerfully in such a person as he seems fully in possession of Christs promise of his Fathers and his coming and making his abâ—de with him which according to the division made by the Holy Ghost of the whole Man may be conceived to be done in this maner The Father residing in that portion called the Soul as it importeth the Origine of all vital operations the Son resting in the Minde as that is the seat of our actual intelligence or understanding and both of them may be said to expirate and breathe forth the Holy Ghost into the Heart as that is taken for the continent of our affections and by this means the whole Man cometh as near the loving God with all his Soul with all his Minde and with all his Heart as this traverse and interposed vail of Flesh and Blood can admit him forgetting with Saint Paul the things that are behinde and stretching forth himself to those that are before by this constant Application preserving the whole Spirit Soul and Body without blame to the coming of our Lord Christ Jesus Considering then the properties of these golden vessels of Charity placed within the outward vale of the Temple and looking continually towards the Propitiatory seated within the inward vale which figured the beatifical vision even their Bodies may be well compared to the grate upon the Altar of Incense from which all the ashes of carnal appetites
those powers of my Minde form some digested Character of what I design which finished Draught of my own thoughts when I shall reade over I shall no longer work upon it but behold the Image I have framed out of the past divisions and compoundings of my thoughts and then my Minde will rest and enjoy my determined notions So that as I do now speculate and shall upon the finishing of these two Characters contemplate them without any farther agitation of my Minde In like maner the state of Speculation is a disquisition of sundry Divine Verities whereby to form some determined notions which are the objects that Contemplation is to be fixed upon in an acquiescent state when the discursive motion is arrived at the term of rest it pointed at and then contemplating the result of our former discoursings we do as it were reade over and enjoy this digest of our Imaginations wherefore as the act of our Comprehending doth excel that of our Reasoning in respect the intellect sees at one look or intuition what the Reason collecteth but by divers circuits of Discourse and so seemeth but a purveyor of what the intelligence possesseth in one instant In like maner the Contemplative state by the same reason transcends the Speculative and 〈◊〉 thinks in such a proportion as the intellect of Angels excelleth that of rational Souls for the first comprehendeth in one act without the tardity of discourse all intelligible species connatural to it and the last is fain to stay upon the abstracting of intelligible species from materialities and the conferring and co 〈…〉 of them with one another by ratiocination before it can settle conclusions wherefore Speculation seemeth to be a Humane act and Contemplation as it were an Angelical These lines have I hope drawn a fair parâ—ition between these two acts of a devout Soul whereby they appear not to be coincident as they are commonly misunderstood although they are co ordinate to one another not that I do presume that God hath obliged himself to this order of transfusing this grace of Contemplation always through the medium of studious Speculation For I am not ignorant of his immediate communicating this hand of intuitive fruition of his Verities to some choyce Souls unqualified for this preparatory course of Reading and Meditation God is admirable in his Saints in manifesting his Grace and Omnipotence by divers maners but as Saint Paul saith Though none 〈…〉 eth the minde of the Lord yet we have the minde of Christ wherefore I have given this direction as I said when I first entred upon it to conduct Travellers in this path which is Christs high way marked for us of Asking Seeking and Knocking and this is the beaten track of his Church which doth not circumscribe God within this method Sometimes the Spirit of the Lord catcheth up some humble illiterate Souls and setteth them immediately upon the top of this Mountain as he did Philip the Deacon at Azâ—â—us but for the most part he conveyeth those he calleth to this land of Visions as he did Abraham by these three days journeys I have gested to you before they come to this high station For God doth commonly carry these Spiritual discoverers which he calleth to take a little sey of the fruits of the Land of Promise all over this course of Spiritual exercises before they come to gather this fruit of Contemplation which seemeth to be a bunch of Grapes of that immense Vintage of Wine whereof the Psalmist speaking saith They shall be inebriated by the fulness of thy house For an inchoative state of Contemplation in this life is as it were a cluster of Grapes of the same Vine to wit the Grace of Christ which afterward is reduced into what was the last intent of the planter that is into the Wine of the Saints perfected Contemplation of the Divine Essence So that having given you clear and practicable instructions in order to the taking a right way towards this state of acquiescence the singular excellencies whereof I have with my best skill pourtraicted unto your judgements and affections I shall adde onely this laudative of the Holy Spirit as very appliable to this happy state of Contemplation Many daughters have gathered together riches but thou hast passed them all Upon these premised Considerations I may conclude the same order observable in the offering up this Spiritual Incense which was held in the preparing and burning the material Incense of the Tabernacle which act was a figure of this our Religious Duty we must then first by Mortification keep clean and fair the grate of the Altar by Lecture and studiousness we are to gather and mix the Gums and Spices of pious Conceptions by Speculation and meditating we must bear and pounce the Odours into a fine powder to wit collect pure and refined images of Verities and then by Contemplation we come to fire and exhale the perfume of the whole Composition By this method we erect our hearts according to those gradations designed by the Psalmist and the Law-giver shall give a blessing when they go thus from vertue to vertue the God of gods shall be seen in Sion §. V. Of the sensible delight springing from this Head of Contemplation as also the close of the whole Work HAving treated the blessedness of the intellectual part of this Contemplative state which may be said to stand for the Soul thereof there remaineth the adjoyning that portion which answereth to the Body in this compound of happiness which is the sensible joy wherewith the affections are replenished which delectable good affecting the sensitive powers is a redundancy or waste falling from the vertue of that Truth which overfloweth in the supremest portion of our Minde in some such maner as the beatitude of the Body is derived from the superfluent riches of the Soul in the state of glory and as the Soul shall then over-pay all the ministerial offices of her Body in this life by the mediatâ—on whereof her powers are now exercised imparting to the Body far more noble capacities So doth the intellect in this life when the minde is in the state of Contemplation superabundantly recompence the ministery of the Senses for the conveyance of those species whereupon the understanding acreth in Lecture and Speculation by far exceeding joys and â—uavities diffused upon the affections such indeed as are not to be conceived unless it be by those that have tasted them whereof the Psalmist saith Blessed is the people that knoweth jubilation upon which words St. Gregory noteth that the Holy Spirit saith Not speaks but knoweth this jubilation because it may be conceived but not fully expressed by the enjoyer of it The Soveraign Contemplator King David by the assistance of the Holy Spirit giveth us the fairest light we have of it when he saith My heart and my flesh have rejoyced in the living God the first whereof imports the satisfaction of the intellectual and the last