Fathers sake The Solemnity being over one askt her how it was possible that beholding the great Commotion and Tears of so many about her she could remain so chearful and unconcern'd as she seem'd to be during the whole Ceremony She Answer'd with a Spirit as full of Ingenuity as Humility That this constancy and chearfulness took their rise from no other source than the Divine Goodness which during the whole Ceremony had fil'd her heart with so great an Interior peace and comfort as she had never felt before in all her Life Which was a due reward for that generous oblation she had that Day made of her self to Almighty God Had the Person who askt her this Question propos'd the same to any one of the Religious they would have given an Answer quite different from hers which her Humility would not permit her to give The Religious had seen with how much Industry even from her first entrance into Religion she had made it her chief endeavour to suppress and overcome the Sallies and Efforts of Nature and had beheld her comportment in several other occasions and seen with how great a Courage she had behav'd he self in other tryals which God thought fit to send her during her Noviship to dispose her to a due performance of this great act of Love and therefore they were not so surpriz'd as those were who had only seen that one action of hers they having been Eye Witnesses of divers evidences she had given of her perfect and intire resignation to Gods Holy Will even in the greatest afflictions and most sensible tryals that could have happen'd to her Now the Reader that may the better perceive how she carry'd her self in them I will here set down a Relation of her behaviour and perfect Conformity to Gods Will at the Death of two of her dearest friends The first tryal of her Conformity was given her by the Death of Reverend Mother Luisa Taylor Abbess of the Monastry The History of whose Life deserves a Volum being a person of an absolute and consummated Vertue This Holy Abbess being suddenly seiz'd with violent symtoms of Death was piously expecting her last happy moment and all the Religious were sent for and came without the least delay except Sister Clare who being advertis'd by one of the Religious that came in great hast to her Cell that Reverend Mother Abbess was a dying and that if she did not come quickly she would never see her alive Sister Clare joyning her hands without the least surprize made a bow to her expressing thereby her gratitude for the Message she brought her it being their Custom never to speak in their Cells and without making any such hast as might occasion the omission even of the least or most inconsiderable Ceremony of Religion she first put on her great Veil then kist the ground and afterwards with a modest and graceful gate follow'd the Religious to the Infirmary where Mother Abbess lay a dying as if this sad News had not at all come unexpected or given her the least affliction She came into the Chamber where her dear Friend and tender Mother lay ready to expire and where she found all the Religious bath'd in Tears like so many tender hearted Children bemoaning the loss of their dying Mother yet she who was like to sustain as great a loss as any having had a great dependance upon her and receiv'd great comfort from her Counsels beheld her ready to leave her without shedding a Tear whilst all the rest seem'd to be in a very great affliction and general consternation and so concern'd as if all their happiness had depended on this Abbesses Life Sister Clare knew her great Vertues and worth and had no less respect and affection for her than they which the many Obligations she had receiv'd from her justly deserv'd yet for all this she shewed not the least outward sign of grief And when one of the Religious exprest hers by her many Tears for Reverend Mother Abbesses Death she efficaciously stopt them by the following words VVeep not so much Dear Sister 't is the VVill of God you love so well Her bearing this cross with so admirable a Conformity mov'd Almighty God to reward her by sending another equally sensible and at the same time to give her his Divine Grace to bear it with no less constancy It was the Death of her Mistress of Novices Sister Mary Bonaventure Carleton who thô she had had a long experience in training up the Novices in perfection yet us'd to say She learnt more from this than ever she had taught the rest finding her perfect even before she enter'd into the way of perfection which made her have a very great esteem of her confidence in her and affection for her looking upon her as sent from Heaven rather to perfect her than be perfected by her Sister Clare being of a grateful nature was no ways backward in her returns and looking upon her as the best of friends and plac'd her confidence in her as in a Mother But God by her surprizing Death almost as soon snatcht away this comfort as he had given it which cross Sister Clare supported with the like courage as she did the former even without the loss of a Tear Insomuch that being ask'd by a Person of Quality Madam Flavecoeur the Governors Lady of Graveling If she were not very much concern'd for the Death of her Mistress She Answer'd Yes Madam I have a great feeling of it and indeed more than I can well express These words and the manner of delivering them struck the Lady with admiration to see such a temper as did not shed a Tear when she had thus renewed the sorrowful thoughts of the loss of her Mistress and mov'd her to urge the matter a little farther and ask her How it was possible she could forbear weeping at the Remembrance of the loss of such a friend The good Novice for then she was not Profest told her after her sweet and affable way Madam nothing but God deserves our Tears who is so good as to hinder me from paying them where they are not due Such as knew not of how excellent and sweet a disposition Sister Clare was might perhaps think so great an insensibility as appear'd in such moving circumstances as I have related effects of an ill hard and ungrateful nature which was insensible of kindness and knew not either what friendship was how to value it what gratitude it requires or how much a Spiritual friendship exceeds that of Nature ordinarily grounded upon Sympathy Natural inclination or Interest and therefore perhaps might not much wonder at her comportment in the occasions I have related But those who by Reading her Life are made better acquainted with her humor and have seen how solidly she grounded her friendship how warily she engag'd her affection and with what constancy and tenderness upon all occasions she exprest it to those she had made choice of for
a short Idaea of that consummate perfection she at length arriv'd too which cannot be better perform'd then by seting down those generous Resolutions I find in her own hand amongst the rest of her Papers O Most Sacred and undivided Trinity Three Persons and one Essence cast a glance of your All-seeing Eye upon my unworthy wretched and wounded Soul groaning under the burthen of her own Abyss of misery trembling at the consideration of your secret judgments confounded at the memory of her former disloyalties and ingratitude all cover'd with shame and pieret with sorrow Humbly prostrating her self before the Throne of your dreadful Majesty and tendering her Petition to your infinite Mercy You have been pleas'd O benign Lover of all Souls to expect her hitherto most patiently You have most efficaciously terrifyed her with your threats you have most earnestly invited her and powerfully drawn her with your promises you have given her a strong confidence in your goodness and mercy You have induced her to an absolute expiation of her Crimes and a perfect reconciliation by a sincere Contrition intire Sacramental Confession and prompt satisfaction you have given her strong resolutions of an intire Reformation This is the change of your right-hand and the only effect of your goodness to whom be ascribed all honor and praise And now my powerful Creator my unfetter'd Soul aspires to a high flight she covets a nearer conjunction with your infinite perfections and excellencies the only Object of her Love and repose of her desires O! who will give her the wings of a Dove that she may Soar up to her beloved and spend the rest of this Pilgrimage in the sweet Contemplation of Heavenly Mysteries by a perpetual retirement and divorce from those many turbulent distractions she has been incumber'd withal and from all sollicitude and care of any thing below Infuse therefore O Divine attractor of Souls your efficacious Grace strengthen her desires and confirm her resolutions in so high an interprize for the Reliques of sin have yet an overswaying Power over her feeble Will her cruel Enemies lye in wait to obstruct her free passage into this happy State of repose The sensual propensions of Flesh and Blood are in a continual conflict to subdue reason and the enticing allurements of Worldly objects in her imagination endeavour to blind the interior Eyes of her Soul and divert her from beholding the beauty of Vertue from considering her own misery and ingratitude and from contemplating your infinite beauty and love towards her Let therefore your Powerful strength break afunder all these strong bonds of Iniquity and let the same force that has so happily dispossest Satan of the Empire he had in her re-invest you in your just inheritance and habitation Embelish her with all solid Vertues and Perfections make her a Paradise of delights by leting her behold you in all things and then re-assume her to your self who are her Creator Preserver and Redeemer Amen Having gather'd out of her own Memoires how far she was advanced in all the ways of an interior Life and to what a pitch of the Union of God she was arriv'd it follows that we take notice of those steps by which she mounted up to this so eminent degree of Perfection Which her Ghostly Father and several of the Religious take notice of in the Characters they by request gave of her since her Death from her first entrance into a Religious State of Life Viz. that she had so deep an apprehension of her own Nothingness that of all Vices she seem'd to fear that of vain-glory the least All the extraordinary favors she receiv'd from Heaven serv'd only to increase the bad Opinion she had conceiv'd of her self From this Humility and profound acknowledgment of her own unworthiness sprung as from their source all those other Vertues so singular in her As to her Recollection besides what I have already said of this subject she trod the paths of the most Illustrious Saints always walking in the sight of God which holy exercise became so habitual to her that she once ingeniously acknowleged That since her entrance amongst the Poor Clares she had but twice lost the Divine Presence and that for about the space of an Ave Maria each time being taken up with too great sollicitude for her Children No wonder then she had as many unquestionable Witnesses of a Recollected Spirit as there were persons who dayly convers'd with her Her looks as they said and that Heavenly Air which appear'd in her Countenance was sufficient to strike Reverence and Devotion into the most wandring and dissipated imagination There was no need of studying her humor or observing her times her temper was always equal as was her mind those Graces and Excellencies of an even and pleasant humor never fail'd her so that no accident thô never so surprizing prizing and strange could make the least visible impression upon her Her Vertue was not of a faint or fading Nature like that of some tender Constitutions which changeth with every blast but strong and permanent not to be alter'd by any vicissitudes or various events of this Life The change of weather the infirmity of sickness the Death of friends had no influence upon her constancy this golden vein of indifferency that ran through the whole body of her actions made her Superior to all events that are wont to move and work upon others nothing but what was in God from God and for God was any part of her care in a word not to run this Topic out into a Volum she had obtain'd by a Mastery over her natural inclinations and passions so perfect an union with Almighty God that her whole Life seem'd to be one continu'd Act of love and Adoration This Communication with God was attended with that high degree of Prayer which according to Divines consists in passively receiving the impressions of the Divine Spirit insomuch that her first Abbess Reverend Mother Taylor who had spent several Years in that Holy practice affirm'd That it was so supernatural and sublime that all she had either read or heard upon that subject came short of her Prayer which thô she could never conceive or understand the depth of yet she was fully convinced it was from God as having so irrefragable a Testimony against Delusion as was her humble Obedience and submission to her Ghostly Fathers in laying it aside as long as they judged sit thô in the mean time she felt so great desolation dryness and darkness as she was better able to suffer then to express which was a second proof and no less convincing than the former of the Truth and Goodness of her Prayer and of the Spirit that conducted her in it CHAP. VI. The Excellency of her Prayer gather'd from it's fruits IF the Rule the Eternal Wisdom gives us how to make a right judgment of any thing by it's fruits be infallable as certainly 't is we cannot miss the making a right
the Oratorian was with us but it lasted all along our Journy Except only when she Sung the Divine Office or Read a Spiritual Book for she had an excellent French Book with her which she turn'd into so good English for the benefit of her Companions that I verily thought it had been in that Language she Reading it so currently and without the least stop or he sitation till such time as accidentally taking it up to Read to my astonishment I found it French Her desire of Mortification and Austerity in her Journy was extraordinary and if I had permitted her to act according to her Inclination she would certainly have prejudic'd her health At length he concludes Whatever I observ'd in any Saints Life that was great and good I think truly I faw it Coppy'd out exactly in Sister Clare Her patience and resignation to Gods Will in all the dissasters of the Journy which were not a few her Humility and Charity to her Companions and her Obedience to me were admirable and manifested the true Spirit of God in her Soul It was my good Fortune thô unworthy of it to be her Confestor this little time and I am oblig'd to thank God as long as I live for conferring such a favor upon me Indeed whilst I was in her Company I thought my self in a Religious House She never omitting any of her Conventual Observances as before said but constantly keeping the same distribution of time for all her Actions as if she had been in the strictest Inclosure Being arriv'd at St. Omers Father Michael Kinsman came thither from VVatten to meet and conduct her from thence to Graveling where he was then Director or extraordinary Confessor Here she together with her Sister and Kinswoman receiv'd the Bishop's Benediction and his permission also to Enter at Graveling As they pass'd thither they Din'd at VVatten where Brother Clare was then a Novice who on purpose absented himself having beforehand agreed with her to do so From thence she arriv'd at Graveling betwixt Eight and Nine a Clock at Night the Third of August 'T was design'd that she should be Cloath'd at her first arrival at the Monastry but coming so late the Ceremony was defer'd till next Morning Perhaps Providence so order'd it to give her an occasion of entring upon that course of Life with a greater Act of Mortification the better to prepare her self for it than otherwise she would have had which a Servant of the Monastry discover'd One may easily imagine how weary she was after the fatigues of so long and tiresome a Journy and without doubt her tender and delicate Body must necessarily have been much weaken'd and her strength almost exhausted by the heat of the weather the heaviness of her Habit and the practice of such Austerity as she had obtain'd leave for upon the way yet she would not accept of those Poor preparations and conveniencies which were provided by the Poor Clares for her repose For as soon as she thought all were retir'd she forsook her Bed and lay all Night upon the bare Boards denying that ease and solace to her wearied Limbs which they seem'd indispensably to require and which such a Lodging as she left might have afforded But not content with this the Servant heard her take a long and sharp Discipline suteable to her fervor and as I suppose to dispose her self the better for such a Life of Mortification as the next Day she was to undertake The next Morning she and her two Companions were privatly Cloath'd changing only one Religious Habit for another For she would by no means admit of any public Ceremony this time because the confusion which she had receiv'd at her Cloathing at Liege was yet too fresh in her Memory Providence at their Cloathing gave them such Names as shew'd their united desires and endeavours to attain to the hight of Perfection My Lady VVarner had given her the Name of Clare of Iesus Mrs. Elizabeth VVarner her Sister-in-law Mary Clare and Mrs. Frances Skelion her Kinswoman that of Frances Ioseph CHAP. IV. Sister Clare of Jesus begins her Noviship amongst the English Poor Clares at Graveling her Humility Zeal Courage chearfulness and blind Obedience in this her new enterprize SIster Clare of Iesus enters upon her Second Noviship with no less fervor than chearfulness and with far more contentment than she had done the first The Austerity and fervor of the Religious together with their constant alacrity animated her with a new Spirit of Devotion and their frequent Spiritual Discourses gave her Soul it 's desir'd food That neatness joyn'd with extream Poverty which they practis'd was an extraordinary comfort to her and gave her great encouragment in her new thô hard enterprize She now resolv'd to lay a solid foundation of Virtue and to acquire a perfect knowledge of her self by a self-denyal The Industry which she shew'd in seeking low and abject Offices sufficiently declar'd her great Humility And lest that respect and kindness which the good Religious at Liege paid her should be renew'd here she beg'd to be looked upon and imploy'd as the last in the House And thô soon after her Cloathing the Plague broak out in Graveling yet it was no manner of discouragment to her for she still maintain'd the same evenness of temper and all her actions were done with the same vigor and diligence as before And lest Brother Clare should be concern'd for that which did not in the least trouble her she desir'd leave to Write to him which she did as follows Dear Brother Clare It is by Obedience that I now Write to assure you of all our healths I beseech you joyn with us in thanking God Almighty for his wonderful preservation of us I have not receiv'd by change of Habit or any thing else the least cold or distemper God can strengthen when and where he pleases I. desire you for his sake not to let that Charitable concernment you have for me cause the least trouble since I assure you that as to health I was never better and for contentment of Mind I now enjoy that by God's great Mercy which I never was acquainted with before in my whole Life The least fear of the Sickness never yet seiz'd me however Pray for me that I may be well prepar'd to receive it and then it shall be most welcome to me But here are too many great Servants of God to fear any danger among them against which they make so many good Prayers I need not tell you that I Pray for you since you have oblig'd me to do it by Obedience and I engage you to do it for me by Charity By the practice of which two Virtues I hope we shall one Day meet where we shall never any more part From Graveling August 12. 1666. Your unworthy Sister in Christ CLARE of JESUS One clause of the foresaid Letter wherein Sister Clare saith That she had no cause to fear any thing against which
so many Servants of God Pray'd so much gives me an occasion to make a short digression which I the more willingly take because I am sure it will be to the Readers satisfaction Thô I fear 't will be displeasing to the persons it relates to to whom I know nothing is so Mortifying as a Relation of what redounds to their praise yet I hope they will pardon me since the passage it self tends so much to God's Honor and Glory Whilst the Plague rag'd at Graveling one of the Religious fell Sick with all the Symptoms of that dangerous distemper A Sister whose Office it was to attend the Sick came to Mother Abbess and desir'd that she might be remov'd out of the Common Infirmary for fear of infecting others Mother Abbess reply'd That there was no need to remove her and that she might stay where she was without any damage to the rest But the Zeal which this good Sister had in her Office mov'd her to urge it the second time which Mother Abbess refus'd as before yet so great were the Sisters importunities as at last to extort this extraordinary Reply from the Abbess Good Sister be not afraid for if our Blessed Lady be in Heaven none of my Religious shall take any harm from this infection She as well as all that heard it receiv'd this Answer with astonishment and thô they found it afterwards true yet they could never tell from whence their Abbess receiv'd such an assurance as she here exprest till after her Death when her Confessor told them that when the Plague began our Blessed Lady appear'd to her with all her Religious under her Mantle assuring her that she would protect and preserve them from the Plague The Reader would not wonder at the Relation of this Passage had he been acquainted with the extraordinary Sanctity of Mother Taylor the foresaid Abbess but what I shall have hereafter an occasion to relate of her will give him such a knowledge of her Piety and confidence in God that he will not think it strange he should reward it with so singular a favor But to return to take a view of the Example of the Novices Humility She was never heard to say any thing in her own defence whereby she might extenuate or excuse any imperfection but was still ready to own and take any fault upon her even where there was none Her Modesty would never suffer her to admit of any commendation from others nor her Humility from her self Thô she was often put upon such Discourses as would inevitably have forced another to it When by Holy Obedience she was desir'd to speak of her Conversion she was so far from Attributing any thing of it to her self that she would wave all her own endeavours and attempts and strive to perswade them that it totally proceeded from the good Counsel and Example of others Nor would she ever speak of her Family of any passage in the World of Brother Clare or her Children even when a fit occasion was offer'd unless she was Commanded and then with so much neglect and contempt of her self as created an esteem and wonder in those that heard her Her carriage was most submissive and respectful to her Superiors very affable and civil to her equals and so obliging to inferiors as if they had been above her and that she had ow'd a deference and obligation to them Many were her inventions to procure her own confusion Her ingenious Humility would make her find a fault in her self when there was none and be glad of any occasion that might give her a subject of Mortification When such kind of inventions fail'd her she cast about to be put upon some humble and abject Office and would strive to have it no less laborious than humble yet shew'd no less promptitude of Obedience in leaving the same employment when she was found in it and desir'd to do so She was a great lover of those things which carry repugnance to sense never shewing the least appearance of aversion but was as compos'd and recollected in doing them as if she had been at her Prayer or any other Spiritual Duty On all other occasions she carried the same Spirit of Humility and Gravity along with her beging that she might by no means be exempted from any thing that was to be done in the Community She was very often us'd to say with great affection That nothing however inconsiderable it was ought to be counted little which is capable of pleasing or displeasing God All these Humiliations were perform'd with an entire submission to her Superiors Orders She always lookt upon Obedience as a faithful Guide that could never mislead or as an Oracle which never deceiv'd and as the distinctive Mark and Character of solid Devotion Wherefore she never consulted her own thoughts or followed the heat of her own fervor without consulting those whom she reverenc'd as the Representatives or Vice-gerents of God Thô these Examples of her Humility were signal yet methinks they were transcended by the following instances of her Obedience Her chief endeavours were not only to execute what was Commanded but wholy to conform her Will to the Will of her Superior This was the Test by which she try'd all her actions The Voice or least Sign of a Superior was sufficient to make her break of the Letter just begun to quit any employment as if she never had enter'd upon it The least Rule or Ceremony seem'd great in her Eyes not considering so much what was Commanded as by whom This readiness in obeying was attended with a wonderful simplicity the more remarkable because as God had given her a ripe and solid Judgment so she by a constant Sacrifice had so Captivated her own sense and opinion that she arriv'd at the highest degree of Obedience call'd that of the Understanding There are so many singular passages of this kind in her Life and so many undeniable proofs of this Virtue that it would be no little injury done to this Holy Person not to set down some of them It is a custom amongst the Religious who are profess'd to have their black Vails new Dyed once a Year and all being order'd to give out their Vails for that purpose she with a Religious simplicity puts hers thô White as all those of the Novices are amongst the rest such was her blind Obedience and so exact was her endeavour to interpret and execute her Superiors Commands according to the Letter Another time Mother Abbess and she being in private together the former was on a suddain call'd away upon some urgent business to the Speakhouse who designing to return presently bid her stay there till she came back But the business she went about so took up her thoughts that she forgot her Command to the Novice and return'd no more This Obedient Soul stay'd here four Hours and thô in the mean time the Bells Rung to several Conventual Observances yet she remain'd fixt to the place where
design'd to give them as next to nothing because they were Abby Lands which never thrive with the owners but like a Moth by little and little insensiblely eat up the rest of their Estates Sir Thomas told him moreover that he easily perceiv'd what his design was in giving these Lands to his Daughters Viz. That out of a Scruple of Possessing them they should be in a manner forc't to make themselves Nuns that thereby they might restore them to the Roman Catholic Church to which they formerly belong'd Sir Iohn wonder'd that a Protestant as Sir Thomas was should Scruple at the Possessing of such Lands or have a doubt of the just Title of their owners which that he might free him from Sir Iohn gave him the same Answer he had receiv'd from his Master of Novices in the like doubt Viz. That these Lands came not to his Ancestors by gift but by Purchase and that the Pope had given Cardinal Pool his Legat in the Reign of Queen Mary Permission to dispence even with Catholics to enjoy Abby-Lands But these Reasons not satisfying Sir Thomas as they had himself Sir Iohn promis'd him to engage other Lands for the Payment of his Daughters Portions in ready Mony and gave order to his Lawyer to make the settlement accordingly Whilst he was thus busied in getting the Writings ingrost the Enemy still to retard the execution of his design to which the settelment was a necessary means rais'd another Storm far different from the former and far more surprizing and afflicting by reason he made use of his Lady to do it and mov'd her also by such pretences as were so much the more dangerous by how much they carried an appearance of Piety along with them And consequently were the more apt to deceive her who sought no less Gods greater Glory than her own greater contempt in all things Of all which Father Martin Green then Rector of VVatten inform'd Sir Iohn by a Letter in which he also desir'd him to desist from making any further settlement till he had heard again from him because the Enemy being not a little busie in disquieting Sister Clare he knew not whether his Malice might not end in perswading her to return again to the World having by crafty pretences dissatisfied her with the place where she was In the mean time Father Thomas VVorsley went to Graveling who had been for some time her Director to try if he could dissipate such difficulties as the Enemy had rais'd and endeavour'd to foment not much unlike those he had suggested at Liege Viz. That God call'd her still to a stricter Order than this was that here she found too much esteem and respect and therefore it would be more grateful to God to go amongst Strangers where she might be freed from the too great civility and kindness she experienc'd amongst the English That there were Orders still stricter than this where she could find no impediment of entering as she did among the Carthusianesses Hereupon she Mortified her self above what the Rule allowed thinking a Liberty in that kind lawful and upon this gave what scope she was able to those Austerities to which this Rigorous but false Spirit drew her upon pretence to gain light from Heaven All which without doubt could not be from God since the Austerity of this Rule was as great as her strength of Body was able to bear And that you may the better judge of this I will give you here a short account of their strict and severe manner of living The Convent is Commodiously and Neatly Built but a true Emblem of Poverty Their Cells are not long enough for one of an ordinary Stature to lye at full length and therefore when they sleep they almost sit upright in their Beds which are not two foot and a half broad and the Cell is no broader besides what the Bed takes up than to give room enough for a single person to go in and out All their furniture is a little low Stool to sit upon and a Straw-bed and Bolster or if Sick a Pillow of Chaff upon which they lye in their Habits having a Blanket to cover them They wear no Linnen go bare-foot having only Sandals rise at Midnight abstain all their life time from Flesh and keep such a Fast all the Year except Sundays as we do in Lent Their Cells were then only separated with Bricks without any Plaistring upon them but the present Bishop of St Omers in his last Visit gave order to have them Plaister'd Their Tables in the Refectory are never cover'd and they Eat only in Earthen Dishes Notwithstanding this extream Poverty the Neatness that is observ'd in their Dormitory Quire Refectory and Cell is such as Charms the Eyes of all that by the Bishops leave are permitted to enter And the chearfulness of these Mortified Souls their fresh colour the healthful and youthful looks even of Ancient Persons are such as strike admiration into those that behold and converse with them One would have imagin'd that Sister Clare needed not to have thought of any other Rigorous Life than what she found here and that she could not think of greater Austerity than was here practis'd However at length Father VVorsley convinced her that this seeming Call to greater Mortification was only a deceit of the Enemy to hinder her from the happiness of a Religious State she so much desir'd to embrace Which he endeavour'd first to make her defer that he might have the more time to exercise his Malicious design upon her of making her quite lay aside what she had so Piously undertaken These Reasons so successfully mov'd her that howsoever cunningly the Train was laid by the Enemy it took no effect for she following the advice of her Confessour resolv'd for the future to regard such thoughts as Temptations and that nothing hereafter should ever hinder her from a speedy execution of what she had before so earnestly desir'd Viz. The making of her Profession in this place Whereupon finding again that Peace of Mind return she had lost ever since she had given way to these Temptations she was mov'd to express her submission to the Will of God declar'd to her by her Confessour in this following humble and submissive Act which finding in her own hand amongst her Papers I thought it would not be ungrateful to the Reader to set it down at large having a Scruple to shorten what I found so solid and moving Her Act of Submission O most merciful Lord God the Refuge of all distressed Souls when I consider that Immense Ocean of your Prerogatives and Divine Perfections in Relation to my own nothing and demerits I am wholy confounded and utterly asham'd to appear before your dreadful Majesty or to lift up mine Eyes towards Heaven But your infinite Goodness and Mercy gives me confidence to acknowledge my Imperfections for when my stubborn and disobedient Will was in the full Career of my misted Life your powerful hand was
with bad Mony and indeed we have no other make a Divine Commerce an Eternal Bargain with God whereby your Will which is a free Spiritual and an Immortal Power Mistress of her self and of all the other Powers does from this moment for ever destine imploy and apply all the parts and peices of your Being to be as the hand of a Dial that shows the hour a perpetual Remembrance Congratulation Thanksgiving and Iubilation for all the Praises Homages Respects and Adorations which all Creatures give or shall eternally give to God for the love he bears to himself to the end you may Adore and Glorifie him in this Spirit and love him with that eternal love which alone is worthy of him And God will shew you as much good will and give you as great a reward for it as if you your self did give all the Offerings Sacrifices and Blessings which Men and Angels give him in Heaven and Earth Nay the Will that has an Infinity for it's Object may make all the Individuals of Human and Angelical Natures all the motions of Soul and Body Nay even all Created Beings to an Atome or grain of Sand concur to so noble a work Good God how admirable profitable and Divine is this exercise which costs nothing at all and may be compleated in a moment And what Treasures of Glory does a Man loose that is either ignorant of it or neglects it Whilst he is busied in so many things whilst he is sad or joyful upon account of different accidents without referring them to God as their Origin Since in him they are eternal infinite and most perfect and out of him they are nothing but vanity and lys that is finite corruptible and subject to an infinity of changes Dear Sister stop a while here view this Spirit of Vnity which is the Spirit of God himself which gathers divided and dis-united things into one to draw us out of multiplicity and the imperfection of nature into this holy Vnion with a Transformation into himself Which makes one contrary to be found in the other the Creature in God Perfection in Imperfection Vnity in Multiplicity Light in Darkness Peace in War Recollection in Distraction Sweetness in the Cross Abundance in Poverty Life in Death Corporal in Spiritual God in All and All in Him Do not mistake me I beseech you in thinking that because God changes so often his manner of proceeding with you he is not still yours and you his dive by the light of Faith into the darkness where he hides himself penetrate the Veiles of Bodies and Spirits with which he covers himself see him act in all his Creatures giving them their determinate motion who is properly their Life and Being Not a Hair presents it self unto our Eyes without his sight and permission to the end that that lively and active Faith of yours may see him in his Images and Characters as we see a Saint in his Cloaths or a Friend in Imagination whilst we behold his Picture that repairs the weakness of our Memory Dear Sister make the last effort imitate a King who to Establish himself and to Reign peaceably in a Kingdom newly Conquer'd fills every place with horror and desolation Puts to the Sword not only such as oppose his designs but even rids himself of his suspected Friends for fear of some Treasonable surprize In like manner do you kill and destroy all your Sworn Enemies Annihilate all your desires and Passions take leave even of what appears Vertue and Perfection because they make a noise and pudder and cause more Smoak and distracttion than they augment the fire of Love Bid Love enter into it's source cause Humility to keep love Company or debase it self below Lucifer and desire your Friends to sleep and take their repose since the Son of Man goes to be abandoned forsaken and Crucified to Establish God alone in All and through All. His Dominion and Empire in a Soul in Grace is the Creating Essence or the very Essence of the Creator I have made an Epitome of the Nothing of all things and of the All of God which Practice will better explain than reason I hope this at present is sufficient to assure you of the Affection of him who is as much as any one in the World except your Brother Clare Dear Sister Your most humble and most affectionate Servant in God RUISSON Herke Iuly 13. 1669. To show with what Humility and how briefly and solidly she reply'd to this excellent Letter I will here set down her Answer Translated out of French which contains a great deal of substance in a few words SIR I Confess 't is a good while since I receiv'd your welcome Letter which my indisposition hinder'd me till now from Answering Please but to obtain for me some of that true and pure love of God which you so well discourse of and so faithfully practice that animated thereby I may be able to suffer sickness or whatever God pleases to send me with such a perfect submission and Vnion to his Divine Will as that I may become intirely his and then I shall be better able to converse with you for at present I am unworthy of such a Conveâ—sation but must own that when 't is God's Will to move you to Write to me I both receive and read your Letters with a great deal of comfort yet cannot desire this or any thing else but that his Holy Will should be done in all things Amen SIR Your most unworthy Servant CLARE of JESUS For the Love of God and the Blessed Virgin Pray for me CHAP. VIII A Short Account of some remarkable passages in the Life and Death of Mr. Ruisson SInce Mr. Ruisson's Letter set down in the foregoing Chapter as you have seen contains so much Spirit and Devotion I think it will be no unpardonable digression if I add a word or two concerning himself that the Reader may be convinced that this Servant of God practized what he Taught and thereby be induc'd to set a high value and estimate as well upon his Person as upon his Doctrin and also conceive a higher esteem of Sister Clare since a Person so Illuminated and favor'd by God as he was exprest so high an esteem of her and such a Zeal to serve her in so earnestly promoting her advancement in Perfection and the service of God Take for a mark of his Humility a Vertue that is the foundation of all Perfection the humble Letter he Writ to Brother Clare then Studying Philosophy at Liege in which he inclosed the foresaid Letter unsealed where after all the pains he had taken in Writing it and in obtaining light from Heaven without which such a Letter could not be Writ left the sending or burning it intirely to him confiding more in the Judgment of others than his own a great mark of Humility and of the true Spirit of God His Letter follows Translated out of Latin in which it was Writ Dearest Brother in
they shall never want a Mother in what lies in my Power to serve them and I shall always look upon it as an obligation and pledge of that Treasure their dear Mother whom God has been pleased to deprive us â—f I must confess my weakness in not well bearing so great a Cross and our Community is in such a melancholly temper that we are incapable of giving them any comfort upon her death For this reason I sent for Reverend Father Rector of Watten who has acted the part of a Comforter both to them and us I keep her Beads Reliquary and Proffession Ring which she so highly esteem'd for you to dispose of who I hope this Summer will give us a Visit which will be the greatest comfort that your sweet Children and this Community can receive especially my self who am Dear Brother Graveling Ianuary 27th 1670. Your obliged and humble Servant ANNE BONAVENTURE Abbess CHAP. IV. A Letter to Brother Clare from Reverend Father Warren Confessour to the Poor Clares of Graveling concerning the Death of Sister Clare in which he also takes notice of some particular Vertues she excell'd in THO' the foresaid Letter confirms what we have hitherto said concerning Sister Clare yet I hope the Addition of another from her Confessour who had a more intimate knowledge of her than Mother Abbess could have Sister Clare being accustom'd to disclose to him the most hidden secrets of her heart will not seem tedious since it more efficaciously shews the Truth of what I have already Writ than any other Testimony that has been yet given he being the fittest Person to give us a knowledge of that eminent Perfection she had in a short time arriv'd to which joyn'd with that of so Prudent Vertuous and Experienc d a Superior as I have related must needs convince the Reader of Sister Clares most eminent Vertue Honour'd Sir THE happiness I have had in being acquainted with Sister Clare whose Name I can scarce write or even think of without Tâ—ars is a reward sufficient for what service I have been able to do her She was indeed the Pattern and Mirror of a true Religious Soul there could not possibly be any one more dis-engag'd from all things here below than she was for that short time that God was pleas'd to lend her to us nothing but God nothing but Heaven was in her Heart and Month. All other Discourses and entertainments were tedious to her as I am confident you know very well yet notwithstanding all these gusts and comforts that her Soul tasted in thinking of her Heavenly Spouse she seem'd as she thought to be perfectly forsaken by him in her last Sickness wherefore I cannot be perswaded but God us'd this means to purifie her Soul that it might fly directly into his loving embraces where 't is at present absorpt in Eternal delights But because the Iudgments of God are secret I will never cease to remember her dayly in my Poor Devotions But I cannot end this sad subject without speaking a word or two of her Perfections for your comfort First her Humility and perfect Contempt of her self which is the foundation of all other Vertues was such as that the most Ambitious Person could not more earnestly seek after Honor than she sought in all things her greatest Abnegation and Humiliation neither was she content to have this low and mean esteem of her self but earnestly desir'd to imprint the same in the minds of all others taking all occasions she was able of doing it and when she found her endeavors had not the desir'd effect but according to our Saviors promise Qui se humiliat exaltabitur He that humbles himself shall be exalted that the more pains she took to lessen the more she gain'd esteem it cannot be imagin'd what an affliction this was to her which the Enemy took an occasion to push on to such an excess that had she not had that submission to her Directors which was admirable in her and follow'd their advice rather than her own inclinations this affliction had caus'd her to leave this place to go amongst Strangers The only fault she found with it being the too much esteem and respect she receiv'd from the Religious which was to her humble Spirit as great a Mortification as the want of it can be even to the proudest heart Her Love and Practice of Mortification and Abnegation was also very extraordinary Nor would permit her to rest satisfied with the ordinary Austerities of the Rule which were even too great for her delicate and tender Complexion to suffer unless she added others to them and my refusing her leave to practice the Pennances she so earnestly desir'd I believe was a greater Mortification than they themselves could have been to her I often thought whilst she as earnestly Petition'd for leave to practice extraordinary Mortifications as if she had beg'd for her Life of the agreement of her Spirit with that of St. Teresa's her great Paironess who beg'd of God so earnestly Either to permit her to suffer or to die and that which mov'd Sister Clare chiefly to this ardent desire of suffering for God was her extraordinary Love of him better exprest as she thought by suffering than any way else and therefore what she could not get leave to practice exteriorly she interiorly supply'd by violently contradicting and overcoming her passions and even lawful inclinations in such a manner as to keep her self constantly upon the rack never giving the least way to Nature but curbing it upon all occasions so that her dayly Conversation with her Children which seem'd to others a comfort was to her without doubt a great occasion of suffering it giving nature an occasion of a continual conflict over which she constantly got the Mastery Her Conformity to God's Will and Abnegation of her own appear'd no less admirable in her blind and prompt Obedience than in receiving from his hands whatever his Providence vouchsaft to send by others and what was most contrary to Flesh and Blood seem'd always most pleasing and welcome to her By these steps of Humility Mortification and Conformity she had rais'd her self to such an Vnion with God as was wonderful walking always in his presence which no employment or accident could deprive her off And all the time she had free to her self she spent in a profound Contemplation or Communication with his Divine Majesty who was not wanting on his part in replenishing her Soul with such extraordinary Lights and Graces as still animated and strengthned her in the constant pursuite of the highest Perfection Nor was she so absâ—rpt in the Love of God as to permit that to her Neighbor to be less fervent and active her Love to his Image was like that to himself always in action on all occasions assisting every one with that Zeal that Humility that Chearfulness and Comfort as if what she did to them had been actually done to himself And her compassion whilst she assisted those who
manner of any other Imperfections or Temptations that come into my mind thô I know not whether I have consented to them or not So much for her Vertues in General CHAP. VI. A more exact Relation of her Vertues in particular THO' in the former Chapter the Religious whom she convers'd with have given as you have Read an ample Testimony of her Sanctity yet they seem rather to reduce what they affirm to General heads than descend to particulars upon a stricter scrutiny I find her Vertues more distinctly set down by several informations I receiv'd from Graveling They begin first with that of her Prayer in which she was so recollected as if God had been visibly present before her or she had spoken to his Divine Majesty This Holy Spirit of Prayer and Recollection whereby she exprest her Love towards God was strangely animated and increas'd by her Charity towards her Neighbor which God gives for a Mark of our Love towards himself All her Actions and designs were nothing else but so many Acts of Charity and her chief employment when she did not entertain her self with God was to assist the necessities of her Neighbor and comfort the Afflicted A whole Cloud of Witnesses and indeed as many as there were persons in that Holy Community in which she liv'd unanimously Testifie that Sister Clare of Iesus did so much excel in Charity towards her Neighbor that she scarce enjoy'd her self whilst she perceiv'd another to be in any trouble or affliction so that their sorrow prov'd hers and made her even ready to part with her own content and happiness to make them chearful There are a Hundred instances in this kind of her extraordinary Charity in which she so abounded that she made it properly her business to do good to all and like St. Paul become all to all behold an act of Charity one of the Religious recounts There were several of the Community who did not understand French wherefore Sister Clare who had several excellent French Books lent her for her own use was not content to enjoy that benefit alone but most willingly imparted the advantage she receiv'd by them to those who knew not how to make use of them For this end she obtain'd leave of the Superior to Read an hour in the Work-house every Sunday and Holy-day to those who had a mind to hear her They who attended to her Reading affirm that the bare explicating to them the sense of the Book was more moving than any Sermon and that they found themselves transported to see the Devotion with which she relish'd every word which she exprest with such a Grace and Emphasis as made a deep Impression in their Souls Nor was she contented with the Practice of this act of Charity whilst she was well but even when she was Sick of a Quartaine Ague which had reduced her to so very low and weak a condition as forc't her to keep the Infirmary understanding that one of the Lay-Sisters was troubled that she lost the hearing of what was Read at Table out of a French Book which was much commended by the Religious that heard it she being employ'd at that time Sister Clare earnestly desir'd leave of Reverend Mother Abbess as weak as she was that the Sister might come to the Infirmary when her employments would permit her and that she might dayly Read to her there what had been Read at Table The Touch-Stone of true Love and Charity to our Neighbor is said to be the Guard of the Tongue how free she was from a censorious Spirit the unhappy Temper of too many of this Age may be observ'd from hence that she was never heard to utter the least word or to offer the least insinuation in dispraise or dislike of another a Habit she had got from a Child and practis'd not only before her Conversion as hath been said but ever after in such perfection that the good Name of every one seem'd as tender to her as the Aple of her Eye and more esteem'd by her than herown wherefore she set a strict guard not only upon her Lips but even upon her very thoughts knowing how the one does influence the other because according to the abundance of the Heart the Mouth speaks wherefore it made her endeavour not only to banish from her own mind all rash surmises or censures but to hinder as much as she was able that the like should not either enter into or make any abode in the thoughts of others wherefore if she heard any thing said less to anothers advantage if she could not excuse the fact that was recounted of them which she endeavour'd to do in the first place she always excus'd their intention and by these her Charitable endeavours either chang'd the Discourse or turn'd it to the advantage of the persons that were spoken of by taking occasion of praising them for some extraordinary Vertue she had taken notice of in them To this degree of Charity she arriv'd by a certain agreeable sweetness in her Nature for 't was observ'd that her word were always season'd with terms of compassion and love so operative that they heal'd the most secret infirmities of the mind Being at work with a Sister whom she understood to be not only sick in Body but also in some Interior trouble of mind which proceeded from a tedious indisposition she kindly embrac'd her and said Dear Sister calling her by her Name take Courage God sees and will reward your sufferings This Charitable expression out of the time alotted for Recreation utter'd with so much affection and by her who was so exact an observer and lover of silence gave the Sister no less cause of wonder than of joy and comfort The love of God mov'd her to the love of silence the better to attend to his Divine inspirations which nothing could make her break but the love of her Neighbor with which he inspir'd her and which she knew was no less pleasing to him when exercis'd for his sake towards his Image than when perform'd towards himself All bounds were too narrow for that overflowing goodness and zeal she had for the Conversion of Souls her Tears were in a continual manner spent upon this account she never made an end of urging her Children to offer up their Innocent Devotions for this end nor was the unkind return of an angry Father able to diminish the Zeal she had for his Conversion and concern for his Eternal Happiness The End of the Fourth Book The Authors Protestation IN Obedience to the Decâ—ee of Our Holy Father Pope Vrban the VIII of happy Memory Dated the 13th of March in the Year 1625. in which he Ordains that whosoever Composes the Life of any Person of eminent Vertue should make the following Protestation I Protest that I understand all that I have Writ in the foregoing Life of the Lady VVarner to have no other force and credit than what is grounded upon human Authority without the Churches
Christ I Receiv'd your Letter with the inclosed from Dearest Sister Clare which I here send you to let you see her great Humility 't was to me a true Spur to Vertue perceiving thereby she adhears only to God this being her sole aime this her only desire And to express her Humility the more she asks of me altogether ignorant of this Vnion or Transformation some directions to obtain it or rather a method of removing all impediments of that she her self possesses but knows not she does so And rather than not satisfie her great Humility I am most willing to discover my own ignorance and have therefore said what occur'd on this high but profitable subject easier learnt by Practice than taught by Rules If you approve of them please to send them and that she may like them the better and receive them rather from the hand of God than that of a Sinner thô her Humility will not permit her to reject them upon this account please to shew them to some experienc't persons of your Colledge that they may have their approbation especially to some of those who have treated with her and therefore can best judge whether they will be profitable for her If they disapprove them burn them for I had no other aime in Writing them than to shew that there was nothing more grateful to me than by serving her to express my esteem and affection for so great a Servant of God as I esteem her to be For to serve her is a greater happiness and treasure to me than any this World can afford me I recommend my self and Family to your Prayers and am from the bottom of my heart Dearest Brother Your most humble and unworthy Servant RUISSON His Son the chief hopes of his Family being now grown up in Years and having had an Education suitable to his Birth and Quality Mr. Ruisson design'd presently to Marry him that he might see him happily settl'd in the World before he left it and therefore made it his business to find out a Match that was convenient for him But whilst the good Father was thus contriving to settle his Son in the World his Heavenly Father called him out of it not immediately to himself but to a Religious Life the best and next way to him for his Son finding himself inspir'd by God to enter among the Discalc't Carmelites was fearful of proposing it to his Father knowing his designs look't another way and believing it impossible to gain his consent and chose rather first to enter into Religion and then acquaint his Father with it Which he did presently after in a very Dutiful Letter assuring him that the too great affection he bore him made him not discover his Inclinations to Religion apprehending on the one side least his compassion in being a Spectator of his Fathers afflictions might be so great as even to make him stagger in his Vocation and on the other fearing he should be wanting in his gratitude to God for having given him so gratious a Call to the most happy State of a Religious Life if he did not first embrace the happiness God call'd him to before he acquainted his Father with his design Wherefore he beg'd his pardon for so bold an attempt for he hop't his prefering what he thought Gods Will before his would not appear a Crime and that it might not he desir'd him rather to Attribute his not asking his advice to the diffidence he had in his own strength to resist his kind and powerful perswasions than to a want of due confidence in him assuring him that in all other things he should make it his utmost endeavour to contribute to his greater comfort and satisfaction and thereby express his due Obedience to his last breath Mr. Ruisson was indeed as his Son expected much surpriz'd at this Letter but 't was with a joyful not sorrowful surprizal for contrary to his Son's apprehension he congratulates with him for his happy choice by which he had rais'd his felicity above whatever he could have hop't to compass for him in this World should he have been able to have left him the Universe And as for what concern'd his and his Families advancement by the Match he had in prospect for him he look't upon it as unworthy of his thoughts in comparison of the comfort he took in seeing him so happy by the choice he had made Assuring him he should be better pleas'd to have his Family end this way than to leave him Master of it Because by his quitting these transitory goods he had put-himself into a secure way of gaining not only a Hundred-fold in this life according to our Saviours promise to those that quit Father or Mother House or Lands c. for his sake but an Everlasting Inheritance and an Eternal felicity in the next And therefore he rather Congratulated and envy'd his Pious undertaking than dis-approv'd or repin'd at it And in a Letter to Brother Clare not long after this had happen'd he Writes as follows VVhilst my thoughts were taken up about Marrying my Son behold a wonderful effect of Providence a change wrought by the powerful hand of the highest more pleasing to me than the gaining an Empire He without acquainting me or any of his friends with his design is enter'd to be Religious amongst the Carmelites Expressing hereby such a contempt of the VVorld as it truly deserves VVherefore pardon me if I have recourse to yours as I have to the rest of my friends Prayers that the mercy of God would vouchsafe to cherish that Seed of his Grace he has cast into his Heart and not permit my unworthyness to be any impediment to the continuance of his mercy towards him Not long after his House at Herke near Mountague was casually set on Fire and happening in the Night 't was so late discover'd that all endeavours they could use towards the quenching of it prov'd in-effectual nor were they able to save any thing considerable of his Goods He was all the time as busie as any one in his endeavours both to suppress the Fire and secure what he could of his Goods but when he found the Fire had got the upper hand and all his endeavours were in vain he went and warmed himself it being Winter time with as much unconcernedness tranquillity and chearfulness of mind which visibly appear'd in his Countenance as if it had been a Bone-fire which one of his Neighbors took great notice of and extreamly wondering at this his extraordinary comportment asked him how it was possible to suffer so great a Cross with so much calmness and chearfulness as he exprest by his looks To which he Answer'd That he looked upon what had happen'd to be the VVill of God who had abundantly recompensed his loss by giving him a greater comfort and satisfaction in seeing his blessed VVill perform'd in this manner than he could have receiv'd had he bestow'd upon him an infinity of Earthly Treasures and