beginning of this mayne passage Yf a Religious life be so worthy in it selfe and of such efficacy as being a state of Continuall Penance as that by it a Religious person may labour daily to cancell his sinnes and to escape the paines both of Hell Purgatory how weake then is the iudgment of all those who sleight and prize litle the priuiledges granted by God to such a life And on the contrary syde how happy Cosmophila is your Sister Caelia in choosing this her retired and votary life for her better auoiding of all the former threatned dangers Abbesse Reuerend Father Confessarius and you Cosmophila with both your good leaues I will make bold to relate one Fruite or benefit of a Religious life and hereto I am the more willing in that out of my owne experience and gouerment ouer others I find the Fruit by me here vnderstood to be most exactly practized by all those religious sisters who liue vnder my charge This benefit whereof I here speake is an Humble lowlines of mind in the Professours of a votary life And the greatnes of this vertue is of so large an extent as that S. Bernard houlds it to be a signe of predestination who in one of his Sermons turneth his speach to his owne Brethren and thus speaketh Dearely n beloued perseuer in the Course allready vndertaken that by Humility you may ascend to Sublimity This is the way and there is no other way but it He that goeth otherwise doth rather fall for Humility exalteth Humility leades to life Thus S. Bernard The truth whereof from experience appeareth seeing we may daily obserue that that Man or Woman who is most poore in spirit that is most humble is commonly most rich in the guifts of the spirit and according hereto if so I remember the words the Prophet Dauid thus speaketh Our o Lord is high and regardeth humble things Now for the further displaying of the great fruit of Humility we may call to mind that it preuenteth many dangers of the soule vnto which dangers high minded persons lye open Humility also ministreth many helpes to eternall Saluation for they that are in honour Elation of state are euer in great danger of a headlong falling whereas a good humble Soule reposeth it selfe most willingly in the lowest place and is thereby more remote from any spirituall slipping downe And by this we may gather how much we are obliged to Religion whereby keeping vs out of the trafficke and commerse of the eyes of men and from all worldly aduancements we rest in a holy and wholesome place of Refuge we being by this meanes made meere strangers to the World and the World to vs And touching the practise of this precious Vertue of Humility if I may speake it in all sobriety of iudgment it is most exactly and daily put in execution by the Sisters of this our poore Monastery For though I say it there are diuers Sisters here worthily for their parentage descended and yet they euen striue contend through a pious and religious Emulation which of them shall performe the most and lowest workes of Humility How often to my owne great edification haue I commanded such or such a Sister of no meane Descent to vndergoe this or that meane office in out house Yea so willingly hath ech of theÌ„ with a ready smiling consent performed what I appointed as that thogh I be their vnworthy Gouernesse yet I may bouldly pronounce that they are my Instructours in the practise of this Vertue And for the more certainty hereof I dare appeale to the iudgment of you Sister Caelia whose eyes are able to depose the daily truth of what I heere say but though I be their Superiour heerin I will not glory in our selues but according to the Apostles words I p will glory in our Lord Caelia I freely auerre that my owne sight since my first entrance in to this holy House hath obserued strange and vnexpected Examples of this kind And indeed to speake vnder both your licences I do find not only Humility but many other Vertues to be daily exercised among our Sisters to the great strengthning and encouraging of me in this my selected life So as I may iustly terme this Monastery and no doubt all other well gouerned Monasteries either of Men or Women a very Schoole of Vertue For besides the three Theologicall vertues to wit Fayth Hope and Charity as also besides the three essentiall vowes of a religious life I meane of Chastity Pouerty and Obedience finally besides Humility aboue spoken of what other vertue sorting to a Christian life is there not practised by the blessed Nunnes of this Monastery and this in a high degree The due Consideration of which point I grant hath increased my thirst in imbracing this most happy life and in loathing the world and all the fruitles pleasures thereof O deare Sister Cosmophila I would to God I were daily to endure no small paines of my body and this for no thort tyme that you had so fully seene in this place the practize of vertue as I haue done and that the sight thereof had made so deep an impression both in your Vnderstanding and Will as to my infinit comfort through the vnspeakable goodnes of his diuine Maiesty it hath done in mine Then Good sister I shold be assured that you would not so much depresse and vnderuâ—lew the state of a Religious life as in the beginning of this discourse you did Yea I would not be altogether in dispayre but that your selfe for the Eternall good and wellfare of your soule with a pious contempt of all those trifling allurements aboue mentioned by you as Mariage splendour in apparell attendance and the like might perhaps imbrace the same religious Course of life with me But Reuerend Father to turne my speach to you your Reuerence may proceede further if so you shall thinke good in vnfoulding the fruits and benefits of Religion My sister seemes by her words to take no small delight therein and as for my selfe to the greater nourishment of my spirituall life I doe euen feed vpon these your vertuous and religious discourses Confessarius I will not be sparing of my labour herein But because this Scene of myne in setting downe the benefits and commodities arysing by a Religious life hath beene somwhat long therefore I will passe ouer many fruits thereof As that a man doth discharge his debt in giuing himselfe wholy to God in Religious state That Gods peculiar care and protection is ouer those who liue in a Religious lyfe That the prayers of Religious persons are easely heard That among religious people there is mutuall communication of Good workes That in a Religious state the Commvndements of God bynding vnder the penalty of damnation are far more easely kept then in the state of the Layty That there is greater merit of one and the same good worke performed by a Religious person then the
THE ENGLISH NVNNE BEING A Treatise wherein by way of Dialogue the Author endeauoureth to draw yong vnmarried Catholike Gentlewomen to imbrace a Votary and Religious Life Written by N. N. Heereunto is annexed a short Discourse by way of Conclusion to the Abbesses and Religious women of all the English Monasteries in the Low-Countreys and France Enter you by the narrow Gate meaning of Austerity that leadeth vnto Life because large is the Way that leadeth to Perdition Matth. 7. Present your selfe a chast Virgin vnto Christ 2. Cor. 11. Permissu Superiorum M. DC XLII THE EPISTLE DEDICATORY To the young and vnmaried Catholike Gentlewomen of England WORTHY and vertuous young Gentlewomen My Penne for your spirituall good is willing in these ensuing leaues to spread it selfe You are all Catholikes in Fayth and profession and therefore the more apt to receaue if so Gods Grace be not wanting the impression of the Aduice CouÌ„sel which in this Treatise is giuen My mayne proiect at this present is since you all to whom I wryte as yet remayne in your Chast and Virginall state free from Mariage to perswade you what in me lyeth to abandone this Wicked World and to imbrace a Votary and Religious life A hard labour no doubt in your iudgments but facile and easy to such of you who haue a feeling true apprehension of the ioyes of Heauen and torments of Hell I do not speake this as if one in a maried state could not arryue to Heauen and auoyde Hell Noe God forbid For I acknowledg with the Apostle a Mariage to be honourable but withall I hould Virginity to be more honourable I here only propound the most secure way to come to Heauen and escape Hell And here I demand if any of You were married and after the death of your husbands were to enioy a great and rich Ioynture of a thousand or two thousand pounds yearely would you not be desirous that besydes the common Course of making Ioyntures which perhaps might be subiect to some danger to take by your learned Counsell the best meanes for the ratifying and better securing of your Right to your said Ioynture I know you would be most solicitous herein You all pretend Title to the kingdome of Heauen a kingdom infinitly surpassing in worth all worldly Iointures that the whole Earth can affoard and will you then content your selues to seeke by the common and ordinary Course of a Secular lyfe to obtaine this kingdome in which state as I grant many liuing haue gayned it so incoÌ„parably far many more haue lost it but that rather you wil enter into that Vocation how seuere how strict how crosse soeuer to flesh and bloud it shall seeme which may giue you greater assurance and more strengthen your Interest and Title to that most Blessed Kingdome This Treatise I haue composed in forme of a feigned Dialogue as hoping that thereby you will be sooner induced to the reading and perusing it at full then if it were written in one long continued speach without any vicissitude or change of Persons In the Persons here feigned by supposall I haue thought good to incorporate all the Reasons as deliuered by them chiefly mouing to a Religious retired Life as also such obiections as commonly are made against that most happy Course as you may be more fully instructed by perusing the Argument or subiect hereof next following And seing the chiefest barre â—et in women to a Monasticall lyfe is desire of Mariage hope of children I will besides what is treated therof hereafter insist heere a little discouering the insufficiency of this Motiue shewing that the accustomed miseries of a married lyfe and of hauing issue ought much rather to sway with women for their forbearaÌ„ce of Marriage And first whereas Lyfe is the dearest thing to man or woman yet we find that besides the certaine great paines of Child-birth Lyfe it selfe in young married women is for the most part euery one or two yeares greatly endangered to be lost witnesse heereof is the daily experience of women dying in Childbed What true desire then can a woman haue to vndertak that course of life wherein lyeth so great a perill of loosing that I meane heâ—Lyfe which is most deare vnto her and that her body thereby shall before its prefixed tyme by God become meate for wormes Yf any one of you had a Iewels set with rich and Orient pearle valewed at some hundreds of pounds how carefull would you be in keeping of it how would your care be doubled from endangering the losse of it at any tyme And yet only for the enioying of a litle momentary pleasure attended after with multitude of miseries you can be content so often to hazard the losse of your owne lyfe the most precious Iewell that God Nature hath bestowed vpon you in this world O fondnes of Iudgment But to proceed Admit that a woman in bringing forth her Children should be freed from all danger of death yet to how many other insupportable afflictions doth she become thrall lye open For we obserue and this not seldome that the Husband becomes vnkind withdrawing his loue and affection from whence it is due placing it on others where it is not due Againe the Husband I meane no few number of them doth oftentimes dissipate and waste his Estate and Patrimony in sensuality and riot to the vtter ouerthrow or beggary in the end of Himselfe his Wyfe and Children But suppose the Husband be exempt from these disorders yet â—f the wyfe haue many Children falleth it not often out that the children through the negligence of their Father are brought vp in all liberty and dissolution to the inconsolable griefe of the poore Gentlewoman their Mother to the eternall Damnation of the Childrens soules And what comfort then can that womaÌ„ haue to be an instrumeÌ„t of bringing forth that Child who shall become for euer an Heyre of Hell-fyre O how many wyues are there in England who find by ouer late too dearely bought experieÌ„ce all this to be true which I here affirme of the frequent dangers griefes and afflictions of mynd commonly accompanying Marriage From all which languors of spirit that woman deliuereth herselfe who forbearing marriage doth determine to leade a Religious lyfe In proofe of the Truth her said I appeale euen to the certain knowledge of diuers of your selues who if you will but cast your â—es vpon some of your owne â—yndred and friends at least of our acquaintance that liue in â—ate of mariage must needs confesse that all or diuers of the aâ—â—re mentioned miseries and calamities do daily oppresse many â—f them You are yet free beware â—en of such dangers Nor will any further enlarge my selfe in â—his place vpon this Subiect but will refer you to the serious peruâ—ll of the Booke it selfe Yf this Discourse were a second Syr Philip Sidneys Arcadia reating of amourous Conceyts with what
and afflict them with imaginary dreames O how many worldlings enthralled either to Riches to Honours or Pleasures of the flesh find this to be true which now I speake and therefore these Vanities are called by the Prophet Ieremy h those Tyrants which will not affoard any rest neither night nor day To what hath been aboue said we may adioyne the seuerall miscryes which necessarily attend vpon these worldly pleasures I will insist only in one or two The first then may be that admitting these pleasures were in themselues to be much prized and desired yet obserue how their sweetnes is abated First by the Instability Vncertainty of enioying them for any long tyme and therefore how great a misery is it to a worldly man whose felicity wholy resteth in the fruition of these Vanities suddainly and vnexpectedly to be pulled from them And how an inexplicable a griefe was it to the Richman in the Gospell to heare that discomfortable message Stulte i hac nocte c. Foole this very night thou shalt dye and the things which thou hast prouided whose shall they be Another Attendant of the world is Discontentment which sowers and makes bitter all the pleasures thereof For cast your eye on euery seuerall temporall delight and obserue the sauce adioyned to it For example the pleasure of the flesh euen when it is lawfull and honest is as S. Paul affirmeth attended with tribulation k of the flesh this is for you Cosmophila if you intend hereafter to marry but if it be enioyed with sinne then infinitly more it is enuironed with seuerall anxietyeâ— of mynd in like manner the aduancement to Honours and Dignities stands subiect to all Vassallage and Seruitude that can be deuised aâ— also to the danger of being after cast downe into Disgrace and Contumely Briefly the possession of Riches lyeth open to feare of loosing them and vpon the suddaine to be pulled from them And the Truth of all this is so cleare and vndeniable as tht I could exemplify it not speaking of tymes past in diuers persons of these tymes and some of them of my neere and familiar acquaintance Now all this being most true I demand Of what iudgment or braynes is that Man or woman who for the enioying of such worldly fooleryes will forbeare the heaueÌ„ly Course of a Religious life And thus far of this subiect wherein I haue spread my selfe more largely by reason it seemes by your owne words Cosmophila that this Motiue of the World the pleasures thereof is one mayne impediment why your Father though otherwise a Vertuous good Catholike doth not giue that full approbation and allowance to a votary lyfe as could be wished Cosmophila Syr you haue spoken very fully and irrepliably and indeed euen till this present I did much prize the worldly allurements and felicities at a far higher rate then now after your discourse thereof is finished I doe So much blinded I grant was my poore womanish iudgment in not truly ballancing and weighing of these matters before this tyme But yet Good Syr though you haue partly touched vpon that point aboue I meane that the pleasures and delights of this world haue their counterpoyze of Discontents adioyning to them yet if it shall please you to treat more largly thereof your paines therein I hope will be worthily bestowed and the rather seeing there are many persons persuaded that the carelesse Christian enioyeth his pleasures in all full manner wholy exempt from all anxieties of the mynd and that the vertuous do liue in a continuall sadnes and Melancholy full of Griefe and voyde of pleasure Confessarius I am content so to do And first then you are to know that both the Vertuous and Wicked haue their continuall Crosses as I may â—arme them and Afflictions in this world â—his through diuine Prouidence yet these two different sorts of men haue them after a most different manner as hereafter I will shew First that the Vertuous haue their desolations and Afflictions sometymes is euident out of the words of our Sauiour himselfe thus saying l He that doth not beare his Crosse and come â—fter me cannot be my Disciple To whome accords the Apostle in these words m All who will liue goodly in Christ Iesus shall suffer persecution So â—rue is that saying of S. Chrysostome n Tribulation is an and â—ssoluble and inseparable bonâ— of a Christian lyfe All which is from the immediate hand of God for the good the Soule of his Seruants Now to descend to the Wicked or loose Christianâ—â—l say that their men haue also such discontents and 〈◊〉 as well may be tearmed their Crosses For though the Wicked suffer no iniuries from the Vertuous yet are they seuerall wayes afflicted For first besides what is aboue briefly said of this point we find daily that one worldly or sensuall man receaue the griefe and vexation from another worldly oâ— sensuall man Secondly such men suffer Tribulation euen from their owne proper Vices to the which they become worse then Gallyslaues as wholy enchayned and enthralled to performe whatsoeuer along continued habit of these Vices shall command and exact from them they not being able to make any resistance or repugnancy thereto Thirdly the wicked suffer tribulation euen from their owne bad Consciences So truly doth S. Austin say speaking of the Worms of Conscience as the Scripture o calleth it No tribulation p is greater then the Conscience of ones sinnes But now let vs ballance a litle the aduersities or desolations of pious and Religious persons with the Afflictions of the Wicked so obserue thereby whether of these sorts of affliction were rather to be vndergone and suffered And first the Afflictions of the Iust are but short and momentary during only the tyme of their banishment in this world And therefore the Scripture sayth of Iust and pious men dying q Blessed are the dead who shall dye in our Lord Euen so sayth the spirit that they shall rest from their labours And againe that God r shall then wype from their eyes all teares But to proceed further to other priuiledges accompaning the Tribulations of Religious and vertuous persons First Christ himselfe auerreth that ineffable Comfort and Ioy doth euer attend the Tribulations of the Iust saying to his Disciples and in them to all other vertuous soules s You shall weepe and lament but the world shall reioyce And you shal be made sorrowfull but your sorrow â—halbe turned into ioy The truth of which words the Apostle S. Paul tryed in himselfe thus saying in the throng of all his Aduersities t I am replenished with Consolation I do exceedingly abound in all Tribulation The third priuiledge of the Crosses of the â—ust is that they are most Fruitfull and profitable to the soules of the pious since Tribulation is a meanes appointed by God for the obtayning of the kingdome of Heauen For thus we â—ead our Sauiour to
to encourage vs for not yealding our selfes as thrall to all the pleasures of the body O how terrible a saying will it be to a soule in Hell to heare those words spoken by Abraham to the rich Glutton then lying in Hell Thou b didst receaue good things in thy lyfe tyme but now thou art tormented Now then if one be of such nycenes and delicacy as not to endure any corporall affliction or mortification how then shall he endure the eternity of torments and paynes which are prepared for all loose delicate and sensuall Christians Let that soule then which wholy giueth way to all corporall pleasures solaces Indulgency of the body remember those most dreadfull words in the Gospell c Bynd him hands and feete and cast him into vtter darknes where there shal be weeping and gnashing of teeth Therefore to conclude this point euery one who hath holy Inspirations from God for the imbracing of a Votary and religious lyfe ought to cast their Eyes vpon all those who are gone afore vs and haue in far greater measure of mortification traced that course of lyfe of which we heere speake I meane they are to call to mind the religious lifes of S. Hilarion S. Ierome S. Benedict S. Bernard S. Francis and many hundred more all whose bodies were made of the same flesh and bloud of which our bodies are made and yet most valiantly they subdued their bodies to the spirit They in so doing did expect the same reward which other religious persons at this day do expect They now enioy Heauen and so may we hereafter by following though in a far lower proportion their austerities of body arriue to the same Heauen But to presse this point more particularly as concerning our owne Sex let vs remember those blessed Women Caecilia Agnes Agatha Barbara Dorothea Catharina and many more of former tymes who not only resisted through their intemerate and vowed virginity all the temptations and allurements of the flesh but also with most wounderfull constancy and fortitude endured glorious Martyrdomes for the loue Christ and sauing of their owne soules Therefore briefly let ech of vs in the middest of our Austerities take courage and say with the Apostle I d can do all things through Christ who strengthneth me Cosmophila Good sister this your spirituall Resolution in ouercomming your mortifications is far greater then I euer expected to haue found in you at which I much ioy But to turne my selfe to you good Father Confessarius I cannot deny but that you haue greatly discouered the weaknes and insufficiency of all my former obiected reasons against the imbracing of a retired and religious life Yet seeing it is the honour and priuiledge of Truth not only to be able to with stand and breake through the forces raysed against it but withall to fortify and strengthen it selfe with vnanswerable Arguments and Reasons for the patronizing and warranting of it selfe And further seeing diuers things there are which as they cannot be greatly impugned by Arguments so they haue few or no Arguments for their supporting though I presume the warrantablenes of a Religious lyfe is not of this Nature therefore I am to make bould both with you and with the Reuerend Abbesse here present for I am persuaded that her long gouerment experience in matters of this subiect do much enable her that both of you would insist in your future discourses in laying open the Dignity Antiquity prooffes priuiledges Benefits and other such preuayling Circumstances of a Votary life which may most forcibly conduce to the securing of the Resolution of such as may hereafter vndergoe that spirituall Course The Hart of euery one is in the hands of God and who knoweth how he will dispose of it Confessarius Both I and no doubt the Lady Abbesse will condescend to this your pious request since Charity bindeth as thereto And for my selfe I thinke it most expedient somewhat to enlarge my speach vpon those three mayne points which are Essentiall to a Religious lyfe I meane Chastity Pouerty and Obedience to the which all Religious persons are by solemne Vow obliged Now the more fully to know the dignity of these three points it will be fitting here to set downe the admonition of the Apostle Saint Iohn giuen to all Christians and then after to shew what particular reuerence these seuerall distinct Vowes do beare to his said Admonition Thus then that Apostle counselleth Loue e not the world neither the things that are in the world Yf any loue the world the Charity of the Father is not in him Because all that is in the world is Concupiscence of the flesh and Concupiscence of the eyes and pryde of lyfe Thus is the kingdome of this world deuided into these three parts as it were into three distinct Prouinces Now for the better vnfoulding and explaining the true meaning of this passage of Scripture we are to vnderstand that by the Concupiscence of the flesh the Apostle comprehendeth all sensuall pleasures of the body and other delights vsed in cherishing and pampering the flesh wherby the flesh may burst out into any vnlawfull and sinfull Actions By the Concupiscence of the Eyes he meaneth all beauty and brauery of Riches By pride of lyfe he signifieth the Vanity of Ambition consisting in worldly honour Estimation These three then are the most generall Vanities of this life I meane Carnall pleasures Couetousnes and Ambition By which three as by his strongest Nets the Deuill doth daily ensnare man ye poore Christians to his subiection to their Soules eternall perdition But now obserue how the malice and Venome of these three most pestilent diseases are cured by the vowes performed in a Religious life First then the Vow of perpetuall Chastity of body with the performance of the prescriptions adioyned thereto cureth the malady of the Concupiscence of the flesh The Vow of Pouerty destroyeth the disease of Concupiscence of the Eyes to wit desire of enioying riches the vnquenchable thirst of Auarice Lastly the Vow of Obedience cutteth away from the soule all pryde of life since he or she who willingly subiect themselues in all lawfull things to the direction of another is fat from offending in vayne Glory which the Apostle aboue calleth Pryde of lyfe By this then we may see how a Votary and religious lyfe being truly performed and led doth meete with all the mayne temptations of the Deuill ouer comming them and bearing them downe through the assistance of Gods Grace which is neuer wanting to such as by due appointed meanes do implore it at his hands And here it will be much conducing if besides what is allready touched thereof we insist longer in the displaying the Worth dignity of the obiects of the three former Vowes And to begin with Chastity Chastity then teacheth vs as the Apostle affirmeth how f to â—ossesse our Vessell in sanctification that is our body which is a Vessell or