perform such excesses of Corporal and External Penance to whom he moves the great love of God which they do conceive in the internal darksom and cleansing retirement of 'em because 't is not good to spend the Body and the Spirit all at once nor break their strength by rigorous and excessive Penances seeing they are weakned by internal mortification For which reason St. Ignatius Loyola said very well in his Exercises That in the cleansing way Corporal Penances were necessary which in the illuminating way ought to be moderated and much more in the unitive 116. But thou wilt say That the Saints always used grievous Penances I answer that they did 'em not with indiscretion nor after their own proper judgment but with the opinion of their Superiours and Spiritual Directors which permitted 'em to use them because they knew 'em to be moved inwardly by the Lord to those rigours to confound the misery of sinners by their examples or for many other reasons Other times they gave 'em leave to use them to humble the fervour of their Spirit and counterpoise their Raptures which are all particular Motives and make not any general Rule for all CHAP. XVI The great difference between External and Internal Penances 117. KNow that the Mortifications and Penances which some one undertakes of himself are light although they may be the most rigorous which hitherto have been done in comparison of those he takes from another's hands because in the first he himself enters and his own will which abate the grief the more voluntary it is whilst at last he doth but that which he is willing but in the second all that is indured is painful and the way also painful in which it is indured that is to say by the will of another 118. This is that which Christ our Lord told St. Peter St. John 21.18 When thou wast young and a beginner in vertue thou girdedst and mortifiedst thy self but when thou goest to greater Schools and shall be a proficient in vertue another shall gird and mortifie theeâ— and then if thou wilt follow me perfectly altogether denying thy self thou must leave that cross of thine and take up mine that is be contented that another crucifie thee 119. There must be no difference made between these and those between thy Father and thy Son thy Friend and thy Brother these must be the first to mortifie thee or to rise up against thee whether with reason or without reason thinking the vertue of thy Soul cheat hypocrisie or imprudence and putting stumbling-blocks in the way of thy holy Exercises This and much more will befall thee if thou wilt heartily serve the Lord and make thy self pure from his hand 120. Hold it for certain that however good those Mortifications and External Penances be which thou shalt undertake of thine own self thou wilt never by those only purchase perfection for although they tame the Body yet they purifie not the Soul nor purge the internal Passions which do really hinder perfect Contemplation and the Divine Union 121. 'T is very easie to mortifie the Body by means of the Spirit but not the Spirit by means of the Body True it is that in Internal Mortification and that of the Spirit it much concerns you for conquering your Passions and rooting up your own Judgment and Self-love to labour even to death without any manner of sparing your self although the Soul be in the highest state and therefore the principal diligence ought to be in Internal Mortification because Corporal and External Mortification is not enough though it be good and holy 122. Though a man should receive the punishments of all men together and do the roughest Penances that ever have been done in God's Church yet if he do not deny himself and mortifie himself with interior mortification he will be far from arriving at perfection 123. A good proof of this truth is that which befel Saint Henry Suson to whom after 20 years of rigorous Hair-cloth Discipline and Abstinence fo great that even to read 'em is enough to make ones hair stand on end God communicated light by means of an Extasie by which he arrived at the knowledge that he had not yet begun and it was in such a manner as that till the Lord mortified him with temptations and great persecutions he never could arrive at perfection his Life chap. 23. Hence thou wilt clearly know the great difference that there is between External and Internal Penances and Internal and External Mortification CHAP. XVII How the Soul is to carry it self in the Faults it doth commit that it may not be disquieted thereby but reap good out of it 124. WHen thou fallest into a fault in what matter soever it be do not trouble nor afflict thy self for it for they are effects of our frail nature stained by Original Sin so prone to Evil that it hath a necessity of a most special Grace and Priviledge as the most holy Virgin had to be free and exempt from Venial Sins Council of Trent Sess 6. Can. 23. 125. If when thou fallest into a fault or a piece of neglect thou dost disturb and chide thy self 't is a manifest sign that secret pride doth still reign in thy Soul didst thou believe that thou could'st not more fall into faults and frailties if God permits some failings even in the most holy and perfect men it is to leave 'em some remnant of themselves of the time that they were beginners to keep 'em more secure and humble it is that they may think always that they are never departed from that state whilst they still keep upon the faults of their beginnings 126. What dost thou marvel at if thou falâ—est into some light fault or frailty humble thy self know thy misery and thank God that he has preserved thee from infinite sins into which thou must have infallibly fallen and wouldst have fallen according to thy inclination and appetite What can be expected from the slippery ground of our nature but stumps bryers and thorns 't is a miracle of Divine Grace not to fall every moment into faults innumerable We should offend all the World if God should not hold his hand continually over us 127. The common enemy will make thee believe that as soon as thou fallest into any fault thou dost not go well grounded in the way of the Spirit that thou walkest in Error that thou hast not in earnest reformed thy self that thou didst not make well the general confession that thou hast not true grief and therefore art out of God and of his favour and if thou shalt sometimes commit again by misfortune a venial fault how many fears frights confusions discouragements and various discourses will the Devil put into thy heart he will represent to thee that thou employest thy time in vain that thou dost just as much as comes to nothing that thy Prayer doth thee no good that thou disposest not thy self as thou oughtest to receive the holy
as formerly that the exercise of Prayer is not in thy power that thou losest time whilst hardly and with great trouble thou can'st make one single Ejaculation as thou was wont to do 7. How much confusion and what perplexities will that want of enlarging thy self in mental Discourse raise in thee And if in such a juncture thou hast not a ghostly Father expert in the Mystical Way thou l't certainly conclude that thy Soul is out of order and that for the security of thy Conscience thou standest in need of a general Confession and all that will be got by that care will be the shame and confusion of both O how many Souls are called to the inward way and the Spiritual Fathers for want of Understanding their case instead of guiding and helping them forwards stop them in their Course and ruin them 8. Thou oughtest then to be perswaded that thou mayest not draw back when thou wantest expansion and discourse in Prayer that it is thy greatest happiness because it is a clear sign that the Lord will have thee to walk by Faith and Silence in his Divine Presence which is the most profitable and easiest Path in respect that with a simple view or amorous attention to God the Soul appears like a humble Supplicant before its Lord or as an innocent Child that casts it self into the sweet and safe Bosom of its dear Mother Thus did Gerson express it Though I have spent Fourty Years in Reading and Prayer yet I could never find any thing more efficacious nor compendious for attaining to Mystical Theology than that our Spirit should become like a young Child and Beggar in the presence of God. 9. That kind of Prayer is not only the easiest but the most secure because it is abstracted from the operations of the Imagination that is always exposed to the Tricks of the Devil and the extravagancies of Melancholy and Ratiocination wherein the Soul is easily Distracted and being wrapt up in Speculation reflects on it self 10. When God had a mind to instruct his own Captain Moses Exod. 24. and give him the two Tables of the Law written in Stone he called him up to the Mountain at what time God being there with him the Mount was Darkened and environed with thick Clouds Moses standing idle not knowing what to think or say Seven days after God commanded Moses to come up to the Top of the Mountain where he show'd him his Glory and filled him with great Consolation 11. So in the Beginning when God intends after an extraordinary manner to guide the Soul inter the School of the divine and loving Notices of the internal Law he makes it go with Darkness and Dryness that he may bring it near to himself because the Divine Majestie knows very well that it is not by the means of ones one Ratiocination or Industry that a Soul draws near to him and understands the Divine Documents but rather by silent and humble Resignation 12. The Patriarch Noah gave a great instance of this who after he had been by all men reckoned a Fool floating in the middle of a rageing Sea wherewith the whole World was overflowed without Sails and Oars and environed with wild Beasts that were shut up in the Ark walked by Faith alone not knowing nor understanding what God had a mind to do with him 13. What most concerns thee O redeemed Soul is Patience not to desist from the Prayer thou art about though thou can'st not enlarge is Discourse Walk with firm Faith and a holy Silence dying in thy self with all thy naturaâ— Industry trusting that God who is he who is and changes not neither can err intends nothing but thy good It is clear that he who is a dying must needs feel it but how well is time employed when the Soul is dead dumb and resigned in the presence of God there without any clutter or distraction to receive the Divine Influences 14. The Senses are not capable of divine Blessings hence if thou wouldst be Happy and Wise be Silent and Believe Suffer and have Patience be Confident and Walk on it concerns thee far more to hold thy Peace and to let thy self be guided by the hand of God than to enjoy all the Goods of this World. And though it seem to thee that thou dost nothing at all and art idle being so Dumb and Resigned yet it is of infinite fruit 15. Consider the blinded Beast that turns the Wheel of the Mill which though it see not neither know what it does yet does a great Work in grinding the Corn and although it taste not of it yet its Master receives the fruit and tastes of the same Who would not think during so long a time that the Seed lies in the Earth but that it were lost Yet afterwards it is seen to spring up grow and multiply God does the same with the Soul when he deprives it of Consideration and Ratiocination Whil'st it thinks it does nothing and is in a manner undone in time it comes to it self again improved disengaged and perfect having never hoped for so much favour 16. Take care then that thou afflict not thy self nor draw back though thou can'st not enlarge thy self and discourse in Prayer suffer hold thy peace and appear in the presence of God persevere constantly and trust to his infinite Bounty who can give unto thee constant Faith true light and divine Grace Walk as if thou wert blindfolded without thinking or reasoning put thy self into his kind and paternal hands resolving to do nothing but what his divine Will and Pleasure is CHAP. III. A Sequel of the same Matter 17. IT is the common opinion of all the holy Men who have treated of the Spirit and of all the Mistical Matters That the Soul cannot attain to perfection and an union with God by means of Meditation and Ratiocination Because that is only good for beginning the spiritual Way to the end one may acquire a habit of Knowledge of the beauty of Virtue and ugliness of Vice Which habit in the opinion of Saint Teresa may be attained to in six Months time and according to S. Bonaventure in two 18. In prolog de Mist Theol. page 655. O how are in a manner infinite numbers of Souls to be pitied who from the beginning of their Life to the end employ themselves in meer Meditation constraining themselves to Reason although God Almighty deprive them of Ratiocination that he may promote them to another State and carry them on to a more perfect kind of Prayer and so form any years they continue imperfect and in the beginning without any progress or having as yet made one step in the way of the Spirit beating their Brains about the frame of the Place the choice of the Minutes Imaginations and strained Reasonings seeking God without when in the mean time they have him within themselves 19. St. Austin complained of that in the time when God led him to the Mystical Way
and united unto him with Reverence Humility and Submission beholding him in the most inward recess of thine own Soul without Form Likeness Manner or Figure in the view and general nature of a loving and obscure Faith without any distinction of Perfection or Attribute 65. There thou art to be with attention and a sincere regard with a sedate heedfulness and full of Love towards the same Lord resigning and delivering thy self up into his hands to the end he may dispose of thee according to his good Will and Pleasure without reflecting on thy self nay nor on Perfection it self Here thou art to shut up the Senses trusting God with all the care of thy Welfare and minding nothing of the affairs of this Life Finally thy Faith ought to be pure without Representations or Likeness Simple without Reasonings and Universal without Distinctions 66. The Prayer of Internal Recollection may be well typified by that Wrestling which the holy Scripture says the Patriarch Jacob had all Night with God until Day broke and he Blessed him Wherefore the Soul is to persevere and wrestle with the difficulties that it will find in internal Recollection without desisting until the Son of internal Light begin to appear and the Lord give it his Blessing 67. No sooner wilt thou have given thy self up to thy Lord in this inward Way but all Hell will conspire against thee seeing one single Soul inwardly retired to its own Presence makes greater War against the Enemy than a thousand others that walk externally because the Devil makes an infinite advantage of an internal Soul. 68. In the time of the recollection Peace and Resignation of thy Soul God will more esteem the various impertinent troublesome and ugly thoughts that thou hast than the good purposes and high sentiments Know that the effort which thou thy self mayest make to resist Thoughts is an impediment and will leave thy Soul in greater anxitie The best thing that is to be done is sweetly to despise them to know thine own wretchedness and peacefully make an Offering to God of the Trouble 69. Though thou canst not get rid off the anguish of Thoughts hast no Light Comfort nor spiritual Sentiment Yet be not afflicted neither leave off recollection because they are the Snares of the Enemy Resign thy self at that time with Vigour endure with Patience and persevere in his Presence for whil'st thou perseverest after that manner thy Soul will be internally emproved 70. Doest thou believe that when thou comest away from Prayer dry in the same manner as thou began it that that was because of want of Preparation and that hath done thee no good That is a Fallacy Because the fruit of true Prayer consists not in enjoying the Light nor in having Knowledge of spiritual things since these may be found in a speculative Intellect without true Virtue and Perfection it only consists in enduring with Patience and persevering in Faith and Silence believing that thou art in the Lord's Presence turning to him thy Heart with tranquillity and purity of Mind So whil'st thou perseverest in this manner thou 'lt have the only Preparation and Disposition which at that time is necessary and shalt reap infinite fruit 71. War is very usual in this internal Recollection which on the one hand will deprive thee of sensibility to try humble and purge thee On the other invisible Enemies will assault thee with continual Suggestions to trouble and disquiet thee Nature her self apparently will torment thee she being always an Enemy to the Spirit which in depriving her of sensible Pleasures remains Weak Melancholy and full of Irksomness so that it feels a Hell in all Spiritual Exercises particularly in that of Prayer hence it grows extreamly impatient to be at an end of it through the uneasiness of Thoughts the lassitude of Body importunate Sleep and the not being able to curb the Senses every one of which would for its own share follow its own Pleasure Happy art thou if thou canst persevere amidst this Martyrdom 74. That great Doctoress and Mystical Mistriss Santa Teresa confirms all this by her heavenly Doctrine in the Letter she wrote to the Bishop of Osmia to instruct him how he was to behave himself in Prayer and in the variety of troublesome Thoughts which attack us at that time where she says 8. of her Epistolary There is a necessity of suffering the trouble of a Troop of Thoughts importune Imaginations and the impetuosities of natural Notions not only of the Soul through the dryness and disunion it hath but of the Body also occasioned by the want of submission to the Spirit which it ought to have 73. These are called drynesses in Spirituals but are very profitable if they be embraced and suffered with Patience Who so shall accustom himself to suffer them without repining will from that Labour draw vast advantage It is certain that in recollection the Devil frequently charges the Soul more fiercely with a Battalion of Thoughts to discomfit the quiet of the Soul and alienate it from that most sweet and secure internal Conversation raising horrours to the end it may leave it off reducing it most commonly to such a state as if it were led forth to a most rigorous Torment 74. The Birds which are the Devils knowing this said the Saint in the above-cited Letter pricks and molest the Soul with Imaginations troublesome Thoughts and the Interruptions which the Devil at that time brings in transporting the Thought distracting it from one thing to another and after he hath done with them attacking the Heart and it is no small fruit of Prayer patiently to suffer these Troubles and Importunities That is an offering up of ones self in a whole burnt Sacrifice that 's to say to be wholly consumed in the Fire of Temptation and no part spared See how this heavenly Mistress encourages to suffer and endure Thoughts and Temptations because provided they be not consented to they double the profit 75. As many times as thou exercisest thy self calmly to reject these vain Thoughts so many Crowns will the Lord set upon thy Head and and though it may seem to thee that thou do'st nothing be undeceiv'd for a good desire with firmness and stedfastness in Prayer is very pleasing to the Lord. 76. Wherefore to be there concludes the Saint without sensible profit is not lost time but of great gain whil'st one toyls without Interest and meerly for the Glory of God and though it may seem to be toyling in vain yet it is not so but it is as with Children who toyl and labour under the power of their Father though in the evening they receive not the wages for their day's work yet at the year's end they enjoy all In fine you see how the Saint confirms our document with her precious Doctrine CHAP. XII A Sequel of the same Matter 77. GOD loves not him who does most who hears most nor who shows greatest affection but who suffers most if he
me always that this is the most firm and secure disposition my spirit in the upper part is in a most simple unity it is not united because when it would perform acts of union which it often sets about it finds difficulty and clearly perceives that it cannot unite but be united The Soul would make use of this union for the service of Mattins the holy Mass preparation for the Communion and Thanksgiving and in a word it would for all things be always in that most simple unity of spirit without reflecting on any thing else To all this the holy Father answered with approbation perswading her to persist and putting her in mind that the repose of God is in peace 91. Another time she wrote to the same Saint these words Endeavouring to do some more special acts of my simple intuition total resignation and annihilation in God his divine goodness rebuked me and gave me to understand that that proceeded only from the love of my self and that thereby I offended my Soul. 92. By this thou wilt be undeceived and know what is the perfect and spiritual way of Praying and be advised what is to be done in Internal recollection Thou 'lt know that to the end Love may be perfect and pure it is expedient to retrench the multiplication of sensible and fervent Acts the Soul continuing quiet and resting in that inward Silence Because tenderness delight and sweet sentiments which the Soul experiences in the Will are not pure Spirits but Acts blended with the sensibilitie of Nature Nor is it perfect Love but sensible Pleasure which distracts and hurts the Soul as the Lord told the venerable Mother of Cantal 93. How happy and how well applied will thy Soul be if retreating within it self it there shrink into its own nothing both in its Center and superiour Part without minding what it does whether it recollect or not whether it walk well or ill if it operate or not without heeding thinking or minding any sensible thing At that time the Intellect believes with a pure Act and the Will loves with perfect Love without any kind of impediment imitating that pure and continued Act of Intuition and Love which the Saints say the Blessed in Heaven have with no other difference than that they see one another there Face to Face and the Soul here through the Veil of an obscure Faith. 94. O how few are the Souls that attain to this perfect Way of Praying because they penetrate not enough into this internal recollection and Mystical Silence and because they strip not themselves of imperfect reflection and sensible pleasure O that thy Soul without thoughtful advertency even of it self might give it self in Prey to that holy and spiritual Tranquility In bis Confess lib. 9. cap. 10. and say with St. Austin Sileat anima mea transeat se non se cogitando Let it be silent and do nothing forget it self and plung into that obscure Faith How secure and safe would it be though it might seem to it that thus unactive and doing nothing it were undone 95. I 'll sum up this Doctrine with a Letter that the illuminated Mother of Cantal wrote to a Sister and great Servant of God Diviâ—â— Bounty said she granted me this way of Prayer that with a single View of God I felt my self wholy dedicated to him absorpt and reposed in him he still continued to me that Grace though I opposâ—â— it by my Infidelity giving way to fear and thinking my self unprofitable in that state for which cause being willing to do something on my part 〈◊〉 quite spoil all and to this present I find my seâ—â— sometimes assaulted by the same Fear though 〈◊〉 in Prayer but in other Exercises wherein I am always willing to employ my self a little though I know very well that in doing such acts I come oâ—â— of my Center and see particularly that that simpâ—â— View of God is my onely remedy and help still 〈◊〉 all troubles temptations and the events of thâ—â— Life 96. And certainly would I have followed my internal Impulse I should have made use of no other means in any thing whatsoever without exception because when I think to fortifie my Soul with Arts Reasonings and Resignations then do I expose my self to new temptations and straights Besides that I cannot do it without great violence which leaves me exhausted and dry so that it behoves me speedily to return to this simple Resignation knowing that God in this manner lets me see that it is his Will and Pleasure that a total stop should be put to the operations of my Soul because he would have all things done by his own divine Activity and happily he expects no more of me but this onely View in all spiritual Exercises and in all the pains temptations and afflictions that may befal me in this life And the truth is the quieter I keep my Spirit by this means the better all things succeed with me and my crosses and afflictions suddenly vanish Many times hath my blessed Father St Francis of Sales assured me of this 97. Our late Mother Superiour encouraged me firmly to persist in that way and not to fear any thing in this simple View of God She told me That that was enough and that the greater the nakedness and quietness in God are the greater sweetness and strength receiveth the Soul which ought to endeavour to become so pure and simple that it should have no other support but in God alone 98. To this purpose I remember that a few days since God communicated to me an Illumination which made such an impression upon me as if I had clearly seen him and this it is That I should never look upon my self but walk with eyes shut leaning on my Beloved without striving to see nor know the Way by which he guides me neither fix my thoughts on any thing nor yet beg Favours of him but as undone in my self rest wholly and sincerely on him Hitherto that Illuminated and Mistical Mistress whose Words do Credit and Authorize our Doctrine CHAP. XIV Declaring how the Soul putting it self in the Presence of God with perfect Resignation by the pure Act of Faith walks always in virtual and acquired Contemplation 99. THou wilt tell me as many Souls have told me that though by a perfect Resignation thou hast put thy self in the Presence of God by means of pure Faith as hath been already hinted yet thou doest not merit nor emprove because thy thoughts are so distracted that thou canst not be fixed upon God. 100. Be not disconsolate for thou do'st not lose time nor merit neither desist thou from Prayer because it is not necessary that during that whole time of recollection thou should'st actually think on God it is enough that thou hast been attentive in the beginning provided thou discontinue not thy purpose nor revoke the actual attention which thou hadst As he who hears Mass and says the Divine Office performs
affection is not perfect and ordinarily it is given to weak and nice Souls 103. Thou wilt say that thou feelest thy self indisposed without devotion without fervour without the desire of this Divine Food so as to ask how thou must frequent it believe for certain that none of these things doth hinder or hurt thee whilst you preserve this purpose firm not to sin and your Will determined to avoid every offence and if thou hast confessed all those that thou couldst remember doubt not but that thou art well prepared to come to this Heavenly and Divine Table CHAP. XIV Pursues the same Matter 104. THou must know that in this unspeakaable Sacrament Christ is united with the Soul is made one thing with it whose fineness and purity is the most profound and admirable and the most worthy of consideration and thanks Great was the pureness of him in being made Man greater that of dying ignominiously on the Cross for our sake but the giving of himself whole and entire to man in this admirable Sacrament admits no comparison This is singular favour and infinite pureness because there is no more to give no more to receive O that we could but comprehend him O that we could but know him 105. That God being what he is should be Communicated to my Soul that God should be willing to make a reciprocal ty of union with it which of it self is meer misery O Souls if we could but feed ourselves at this Heavenly Table O that we could scorch ourselves at this burning fire O that we could become one and the same spirit with this Soveraign Lord who withholds us who deceives us who takes us off from burning like Salamanders in the Divine fire of this holy Table 106. 'T is true O Lord that thou entrest into me a miserable creature but true also it is that thou at the same time remainest in thy glory and brightness and in thy self Receive me therefore O my Jesus in thy self in thy beauty and Majesty I am infinitely glad that the vileness of my Soul cannot prejudice thy beautyâ— thou enterest therefore into me without going out of thy self thou livest in the midst of thy brightness and magnificence though thou art in my darkness and misery 107. O my Soul how great is thy vileness Job 7 Chap. how great thy poverty What is man Lord that thou art so mindful of him that thou visitest him and makest him great What is man that thou puttest such an esteem upon him being willing to have thy delights with him and dwell personally with thy greatnesses in him how O Lord can a miserable creature receive an infinite Majesty humble thy self O my soul to the very depth of nothing confess thy unworthyness look upon thy misery and acknowledge the wonders of the Divine Love which suffers it self to be mean in this incomprehensible Mystery that it may be communicated and united with thee 108. O the greatness of love which the amiable Jesus is in a small host who is there subject in some manner to man giving himself whole and sacrificing himself for him to the Eternal Father O Sovereign Lord keep back my heart strongly that it may never more return to its imperfect liberty but all annihilated may die to the world and remain united with thee 109. If thou would'st get all Vertues in the highest degree come blessed Soul come with frequency to this most holy Table for there they do all dwell Eat O my Soul of this Heavenly Food eat and continue come with humility come with Faith to feed of this White and Divine Bread for this is the Mark of Souls and from hence Love draws its Arrows saying Come O Soul and eat this savoury Food if thou would'st get Purity Charity Chastity Light Strength Perfection and Peace CHAP. XV. Declaring when Spiritual and Corporal Penances ought to be used and how hurtful they are when they are done indiscreetly according to ones own judgment and opinion 110. IT is to be known that there are some Souls who to make too great advances in Holiness become much behind-hand in it by doing indiscreet Penances like those who would sing more than their strength allows 'em who strain themselves till they are tired and instead of doing better do worse 111. Many have fallen into this Precipice for want of subjecting their judgment to their spiritual Fathers whil'st they have imagined that unless they give themselves up to rigid Penances they never can be Saints as if sanctity did only consist in them They say that he that sows little reaps little but they sow no other seed with their indiscreet Penances than Self-love instead of rooting of it up 112. But the worst of these indiscreet Penances is that by the use of these dry and barren Severities is begotten and naturalized a certain bitterness of heart towards themselves and their neighbours which is a great stranger to the true Spirit towards themselves because they do not feel the sweetness of Christ's Yoke the sweetness of Charity but only the asperity of Penances whereby their nature becomes imbitter'd and hence it follows that such men become exasperated with their neighbours to the marking and reproving much their faults and holding of 'em for very defective for the same reason that they see 'em go a less rigorous way than themselves hence they grow proud with their exercises of Penance seeing few that do after 'em and thinking themselves better than other folks whereupon they much fall in the account of their Vertues Hence comes the envy of others to see them less penitent and greater favourites of God a clear proof that they fixed their confidence in their own proper diligences 113. Prayer is the nourishment of the Soul and the Soul of Prayer is internal mortification for however bodily Penance and all other exercises chastening the flesh be good and holy and praiseworthy so as they be moderated by discretion according to the state and quality of every one and by the help of the spiritual Director's judgment yet thou wilt never gain any vertue by these means but only vanity and the wind of vain-glory if they do not grow from within Wherefore now thou shalt know when thou art to use most chiefly External Penances 114. When the Soul begins to retire from the World and Vice it ought to tame the Body with rigour that it may be subject to the Spirit and follow the Law of God with ease then it concerns you to manage the Weapons of Hair-cloth Fasting and Discipline to take from the flesh the roots of sin but when the Soul enters into the way of the Spirit imbracing internal mortification corporal chastisements ought to be relaxed because there is trouble enough in the Spirit the heart is weakned the breast suffers the brain is weary the whole Body grieved and disabled for the functions of the Soul. 115. The wise and skilful Director therefore must consider not to give way to these Souls to
him at least in a found intention Who therefore would be angry with a man of good intention 116. So much nay more doth false humility displease God as true pride does because that is hypocrisy besides 117. The truely humble man though every thing falls out contrary to him is neither disquieted nor afflicted at it because he is prepared and thinks he deserves no less he is not disquieted under troublesome thoughts wherewith the Devil seeks to torment him nor under temptations tribulations and desertions but rather acknowledges his unworthiness and is affected that the Lord chastises him by the Devil's means though he be a vile instrument all he suffers seems nothing to him and he never doth a thing that he thinks worth any great matter 118. He that is arrived at perfect and inward Humility although he be disturbed at nothing as one that abhors himself because he knows his imperfection in every thing his ingratitude and his misery yet he suffers a great cross in induring himself This is the sign to know true Humility of heart by But the happy Soul which is gotten to this holy hatred of it self lives overwhelmed drowned and swallowed up in the depth of its own Nothing out of which the Lord raises him by communicating Divine Wisdom to him and filling him with Light Peace Tranquility and Love. CHAP. XII Inward Solitude is that which chiefly brings a Man to the purchase of Internal Peace 119. KNow that although exteriour Solitude doth much assist for the obtaining internal Peace yet the Lord did not mean this when he spake by his Prophet Hos 2.14 I will bring her into solitude and speak privately to her But he meant the interiour Solitude which joyntly conduces to the obtaining the precious jewel of Peace Internal Internal Solitude consists in the forgeting all the Creatures in disengaging ones self from 'em in a perfect nakedness of all the affections desires thoughts and ones own will. This is the true Solitude where the Soul reposes with a sweet and inward serenity in the arms of its chiefest good 120. O what infinite room is there in a Soul that is arrived at this Divine Solitude O what inward what retired what secret what spacious what vast distances are there within a happy Soul that is once come to be truly solitary There the Lord converses and communicates himself inwardly with the Soul there he fills it with himself because it is empty cloaths it with light and with his love because it is naked lifts it up because 't is low and unites it with himself and transforms it because it is alone 121. O delightful Solitude and Cifer of eternal Blessings O Mirrour in which the eternal Father is always beheld There is great reason to call thee Solitude for thou art so much alone that there is scarce a Soul that looks after thee that loves and knows thee O Divine Lord how is it that Souls do not go from Earth to this Glory How come they to lose so great a good through the onely love and desire of created things Blessed Soul how happy wilt thou be if thou do'st but leave all for God! seek him onely breathe after none but him let him onely have thy sighs Desire nothing and then nothing can trouble thee and if thou do'st desire any good how spiritual soever it be let it be in such a manner that thou mayest not be disquieted if thou missest it 122. If with this liberty thou wilt give thy Soul to God taken off from the World free and alone thou wilt be the happiest creature upon Earth because the most High has his secret habitation in this holy Solitude in this Desart and Paradise is injoyed the conversation of God and it is onely in this internal Retirement that that marvellous powerful and divine Voice is heard 123. If thou would'st enter into this Heaven of Earth forget every care and every thought get out of thy self that the love of God may live in thy Soul. 124. Live as much as ever thou canst abstracted from the Creatures dedicate thy self wholly to thy Creatour and offer thy self in Sacrifice with peace and quietness of Spirit Know that the more the Soul disrobes it self the more way it makes into this interiour Solitude and becomes cloathed with God and the more lonesome and empty of it self the Soul gets to be the more the Divine Spirit fills it 125. There is not a more bessed life than a solitary one because in this happy life God gives himself all to the creature and the creature all to God by an intimate and sweet union of love O how few are there that come to relish this true Solitude 126. To make the Soul truely solitary it ought to forget all the creatures and even it self otherwise it will never be able to make any near approach to God. Many men leave and forsake all things but they do not leave their own liking their own will and themselves and therefore these truly solitary ones are so few wherefore if the Soul does not get off from its own appetite and desire from its own will from spiritual gifts and from repose even in the Spirit it self it never can arrive at this high felicity of internal Solitude 127. Go on blessed Soul go on without stop towards this blessedness of internal Solitude See how God calls thee to enter into thy inward center where he will renew thee change thee fill thee cloath thee and shew thee a new and heavenly Kingdom full of joy peace content and serenity CHAP. XIII In which is shewed what infused and passive Contemplation is and its wonderful Effects 128. YOu must know that when once the Soul is habituated to internal Recollection and acquired Contemplation that we have spoken of when once 't is mortified and desires wholly to be denied its appetites when once it efficaciously embraces internal and external Mortification and is willing to dye heartily to its passions and its own ways then God uses to take it alone by it self and raise it more than it knows to a compleate repose where he sweetly and inwardly infuses in it his light his love and his strength inkindling and inflaming it with a true disposition to all manner of Vertue 129. There the Divine Spouse suspending its powers puts it to sleep in a most sweet and pleasant rest There it sleeps and quietly receives and enjoys without knowing it what it injoys with a most lovely and charming calm There the Soul raised and lifted up to this passive State becomes united to its greatest Good without costing it any trouble or pains for this union There in that supream Region and sacred Temple of the Soul that greatest Good takes its complacency manifests it self and creates a relish from the creature in a way above sense and all humane understanding There also onely the pure Spirit who is God the purity of the Soul being uncapable of sensible things rules it and gets the mastership
nor are they equivalent to that Grace onely which he loses and which he might have had by receiving that Communion And now le ts make up this Account If Restitution ought to be as all the Doctors say conformable to the Good which was taken from one's Neighbour what can he restore which deprives a faithful Man of God himself Would it not be great want of Charity to take from a Man a Mount of Gold onely to gather up a little Grain Onely for one Grain of Mortification if yet there is any in it the Ministers do deprive a Christian of a whole Mount of Blessings which are heaped up together in the Communion If there were no other way to mortifie and try the Soul but this it ought not to be used because by this Mortification they deprive him of a greater good but there are infinite ways of proving and mortifying the Soul besides without doing it so great a Spiritual Prejudice The Blessings of this Sacrament don't end here because besides the increase of Grace it sustains and gives new strength to the Soul to resist Temptations it satisfies the desires takes away the hunger of temporal things unites with Christ and his Members who are the Just and Righteous breaks the power of Satan gives strength to suffer Martyrdom pardons the Venial Sins to which he that Communicates doth not stand affected and keeps from Mortal Sins by vertue of the aid which it doth contribute The Body of Christ says St. Bernard In Serm. Dom is Medicine to the Sick Provision for the Pilgrim fresh Strength to the Weary it delights the Strong it heals the wounded it preserves the Health of Soul and Body And whoever is a worthy Communicant is made more strong to receive Contempt more patient to suffer Reproof more fit to indure Troubles more ready for Obedience and to return the Lord Thanks St. Leo Pope de praec ser 14. de pass Domini says that when a man is Communicated Christ comes to honour him with his Presence to anoint him with his Grace to cure him with his Mercy to heal him with his Blood to raise him by his Death to illuminate him with his Light to inflame him with his Love to comfort him with his infinite Sweetness to be united and espoused with his Soul to make him partaker of his Divine Spirit and of all the Blessings which he purchas'd us by his Cross Dost thou seek says St. Bonaventure de praec where God is thou must expect to find him in this Divine Sacrament which being worthily received do's pardon Sins mitigate Passions gives light to the Understanding satiates the Soul revives Faith encourages Hope inkindles Charity increases Devotion fills with Grace and is the rick Pledge of Glory This Sacrament says St. Thomas Opusc 58. de Sacr. cap. 21. 22 23. drives away evil Spirits defends us from Concupiscence washes off the Stains of the Heart appeases Gods Anger illuminates the Understanding to know him inflames the Will to love him delights the memory with Sweetness confirms the whole man in Goodness frees him from Punishment Everlasting multiplies the merits of good Life and brings him to his Eternal Country The Body of the Lord as he pursues it cap. 24. produces Three principal Effects First it destroys Sin. Secondly it increases Spiritual Blessings Thirdly it comforts men's Souls and in Chap. 25. he says it satiates the Spirit to follow what is good it comforts and strengthens the Soul to shun what is evil it preserves the Life always to praise the Lord. As it is a Sacrifice it remits the Sins of those who are alive and lightens the punishment of those who are in Purgatory and augments the accidental Glory of those who are in Heaven Lastly the Body of Christ is called the Sacrament of Charity because it makes us partakers of the Spirit Divine of the sweet Abode of Christ himself and the rich Transformation of God. 'T would be an endless thing to relate the Blessings which according to the saying of Saints they do receive from this Sacrament who come to partake of it without Mortal Sin and of all these doth the Minister deprive a Christian when he onely forbids him one Communion But more than this deprieving 'em of the Communion he deprieves all the Saints of Heaven all the Angels the most holy Virgin and Christ himself of that accidental glory which accrues to them by every Communion received in grace If the Saints in Heaven have a special accidental glory by every good work though never so small that is done here below as many pious Authors are of opinion with how much more reason will they have it by a work so sublime as the Communion is wherein there is included an immensity of all the wonderful works of God Memoriam fecit mirabilium suorum Psal 110. And if from one onely Communion there are so many blessings as are specified before to be obtained what will there be of the sacrifice of the Mass the gravest the highest work that is in Heaven or Earth And shall there then be Ministers who under pretence of Penance Mortification or the old way must hinder Priests so great so holy and so fruitful a sacrifice Saint Jerom said in Missis defunct Pavi c. 14 that at the least the Soul suffers not in Purgatory whilst Mass is said for it 't was well the Author did not point to us where this blind passage is in Saint Jeromes Works Saint Austin assures us Ballester in the Book of the Crucifix of S. Saviour f. 207. that the Divine Sacrifice is never Celebrated but one of these two things follow upon it either the Conversion of a sinner or the leting loose of some Soul out of Purgatory this is as much Saint Austins saying as t'other is Saint Jeromes William Altisiodorensis was not contented with one Soul but affirmed that by every Mass there were the Lord knows how many Souls that got away from thence Severus in Saint Martins Life gives an account that he set as many Souls at liberty with his Masses as persons assisted at the hearing of ' em Venerable Bede says that the Priest who being not lawfully hindred doth neglect to say Mass deprieves the most holy Trinity of glory and praise the Angels of joy Sinners of pardon the Righteous of grace and help the Souls in Purgatory of cooling and refreshment the Church of the heavenly benefit of Jesus Christ our Lord and the Priest himself of Medicine and help If every Mass therefore has all this of its own what Minister under the colour of zeal shall be so bold as to hinder and defraud the Trinity the Angels the Virgin the Church the Righteous Sinners the Souls in Purgatory and the Priests themselves that desire to celebrate so much glory and so much good without doubt though this be done with zeal yet 't is want of consideration and it will be well to premeditate and consider it better before any goes about to hinder it THE END THE CONTENTS CHAP. 1. No Minister ought to keep a faithful Person from the Communion that does desire and ask it whilst he doth not know his Conscience defiled with mortal Sin. Page 1 Chap. 2. Answering the Reasons which those Ministers give which hinder the Faithful from Communicating and the Priest from Celebrating having their Consciences free from Mortal Sin. Page 17 Chap. 3. Wherein are shewn some of the great benefits of which a faithful man is deprived by being prohibited the Communion when he is sufficiently disposed for it Page 31
of it communicating to it its illustrations and those sentiments which are necessary for the most pure and perfect Union 130. The Soul coming to it self again from these sweet and divine Embracings becomes rich in light and love and a mighty esteem of the divine Greatness and the knowledge of its own misery finding it self all changed divinely and disposed to embrace to suffer and to practice perfect Vertue 131. A simple pure infused and perfect Contemplation therefore is a known and inward manifestation which God gives of himself of his goodness of his peace of his sweetness whose object is God pure unspeakable abstracted from all particular thoughts within an inward silence but it is God delightful God that draws us God that sweetly raises us in a spiritual and most pure manner an admirable gift which the Divine Majesty bestows to whom he will as he will and when he will and for what time he will though the state of this life be rather a state of the cross of patience of humility and of suffering than of enjoying 132. Never wilt thou enjoy this Divine Nectar till thou art advanced in Vertue and inward Mortification till thou do'st heartily endeavour to fix in thy Soul a great peace silence forgetfulness and internal solitude How is it possible to hear the sweet inward and powerful Voice of God in the midst of the noise and tumults of the Creatures And how can the pure Spirit be heard in the midst of considerations and discourses of Artifice If the Soul will not continually dye in it self denying it self to all these materiallites and satisfactions the contemplation can be no more but a meer vanity a vain complacency and presumption CHAP. XIV Pursues the same Matter 133. GOD doth not always communicate himself with equal abundance in this sweetest and infused contemplation Sometimes he grants this Grace more than he doth at other times and sometimes he expects not that the Soul should be so dead and denied because this gift being his meer Grace he gives it when he pleases and as he pleases so that no general rule can be made of it nor any rate set to his Divine Greatness nay by means of this very contemplation he comes to deny it to annihilate and dye 134. Sometimes the Lord gives greater light to the understanding sometimes greater love to the will. There is no need here for the Soul to take any pains or trouble it must receive what God gives it and rest united as he will have it because His Majesty is Lord and in the very time that he lays it asleep he possesses and fills it and works in it powerfully and sweetly without any industry or knowledge of its own insomuch that before ever it is aware of this so great mercy it is gained convinced and changed already 135. The Soul which is in this happy state hath two things to avoid the activity of human spirit and interestedness Our humane spirit is unwilling to dye in it self but loveth to be doing and discoursing after its way being in love with its own actions A man had need to have a great fidelity and devesting himself of selfishness to get a perfect and passive capacity of the Divine Influences the continual habits of operating freely which it has are a hindrance to its annihilation 136. The second is interestedness in contemplation it self Thou must therefore procure in thy Soul a perfect devesting of all which is not God without seeking any other end or interest within or without but the Divine Will. 137. In a word the manner that thou must use on thy part to fit thy self for this pure passive and perfect Prayer is a total and absolute consignment of thy self into the hands of God with a perfect submission to his most holy will to be busied according to his pleasure and disposition receiving what he ordains thee with an even and perfect resignation 138. Thou must know that few be the Souls which arrive at this infused and passive Prayer because few of 'em are capable of these divine influences with a total nakedness and death of their own activity and powers those onely which feel it know it so that this perfect nakedness is acquired by the help of God's grace by a continual and inward mortification dying to it all its own inclinations and desires 139. At no time must thou look at the effects which are wrought in thy Soul but especially herein because it would be a hindrance to the divine operations which inrich it so to do all that thou hast to do is to pant after indifference resignation forgetfulness and without thy being sensible of it the greatest good will leave in thy Soul a fit disposition for the practice of vertue a true love of the cross of thy own contempt of thy annihilation and greater and stronger desires still of thy greater perfection and the most pure and affective union CHAP. XV. Of the two Means whereby the Soul ascends up to Infused Contemplation with the Explication of what and how many the steps of it are 140. THE means whereby the Soul ascends to the felicity of Contemplation and Affective Love are two the Pleasure and the Desires of it God uses at first to fill the Soul with sensible pleasures because 't is so frail and miserable that without this preventive Consolation it cannot take wing towards the fruition of heavenly things In this first step it is disposed by Contrition and is exercised in Repentance meditating upon the Redeemer's Passion rooting out diligently all worldly desires and vicious courses of life because the Kingdom of Heaven suffers violence and the faint-heard the delicate never conquer it but those that use violence and force with themselves 141. The second is the Desires The more the things of Heaven are delighted in the more they are desired and from thence there do ensue upon spiritual pleasures desires of enjoying heavenly and divine blessings and contempt of worldly ones From these desires arises the inclination of following Christ our Lord who said I am the way St. John 14.6 the steps of his imitation by which a man must go up are Charity Humility Meekness Patience Poverty Self-Contempt the Cross Prayer and Mortification 142. The steps of Infused Contemplation are three The first is Satiety When the Soul is fill'd with God it conceives a hatred to all worldly things then 't is quiet and satisfied only with Divine Love. 143. The second is Intoxication And this step is an excess of Mind and an elevation of Soul arising from Divine Love and satiety of it 144. The third is Security This step turns out all fear the Soul is so drencht with love divine and resigned up in such a manner to the divine good pleasure that it would go willingly to Hell if it did but know it so to be the will of the Most High. In this step it feels such a certain Bond of the Divine Union that it seems to it an