holy grace Amen At the Creede The Declaration AFter the Gospel followeth the Creede to put vs in minde of the multitude of Gentils who by preaching and miracles receiued the light of faith Here eleuate your hart with much feruour to God and offer him this humble request The petition ILluminate my soule o Lord with a true knowledge in the diuine Mysteries of our most holy Faith and giue me constant courage in the faithfull profession thereof yea to the cheerefull hazard of my life and of what else soeuer may be dearest to me for thy sake Vouchsafe also I beseech thee through the sacred meritts of thy beloued sonne IESVS a speedy reduction of our poore English Nation to a happy reconcilement with his only deare spouse the holy Catholike Church O lett not the meritts of his most precious blood be further frustrated in those soe dearely redeemed soules by this soule destroying sinne of vnhappie Schisme and Heresie At the second Dominus vobiscum The Declaration THis Dominus vobiscum immediately after the Creed or after the Gospel when the Creed is not said signifies the presence of our Lord Sauiour vpon Earth working stupēdious miracles to establish his holy Faith in the harts of his followers We must here craue that by the presēce of Gods heauenly grace our life may be answerable to his holy example and that we contradict not by our actions what we professe by the Christian maximes of our Faith The petition GRant me good Lord the continuall memory of thy diuine presence since it belongs onely to thee to reward or punish my thoughts my words and my deeds according to their due desert O let me be the subiect of thy diuine iustice in this world that I may enioy thee by eternall mercy in the other Amen At the offertory The Declaration THe offertory or oblation which is made of the Host vpon the paten and of the wyne in the chalice signifies the great promptitude and feruent affection proceeding from a deliberate will which our Sauiour had during his whole life to offer himselfe vnto God his Eternall Father to suffer his most bitter death and Passion for our Redemption Here now in all due gratitude we are bound in vnion of this most holy oblation to offer our selues to God most redily for his sake to suffer whatsoeuer his blessed will and prouidence shall ordayne for his honour and for the good of our ow ne soules yea death it selfe for his greater glory if occasion should soe require the same and to this effect say from a feruent hart The petition ACcept o heauenly Father this holy oblation of the body blood of thy only begotten sonne IESVS-CHRIST which together with all the powers both of my body and soule I here most humbly present to thy heauenly Maiesty in due gratefull acknowledgment of thy great mercy and for the expiation of all my grieuous sinnes Amen At the Lauatorie The Declaration THe Priest washeth only the ends of his fingers to signifie that in this diuine action he ought to be pure and free euen from veniall sinne for as concerning mortall had he been guilty it is to be supposed he has bene purged from that by precedent repentance nor is he worthy saith diuine S. Dennis to be present at these sacred Mysteries who voluntarily and with a deliberate purpose shall continue in the least veniall sinne The petition CLeanse blessed Lord IESVS by thy most precious blood my defiled soule O immaculate and most pure Virgin obtayne me grace by thy powerfull intercession soe rightly to detest all sinne as that by true repentance being entirely reconciled to thy blessed sonne I may the more fruitfully assist at this diuine sacrifice make more a pleasing oblation to his Eternall praise glory Amen At orate fratres c. and at the secret prayers The Declaration THe matter for the holy sacrifice now being prepared the Priest turnes to the people and desireth their prayers that it may become an acceptable oblation to God both for himselfe and them By the ensueing secret prayers we are put in minde how our most milde and patient Sauiour was constrayned by the malitious Iewes to retyre himselfe from his beloued Hierusalem to the valley of Ephraim where priuately he informed the Disciples of his approaching death and passion Here say with a compassionate hart The petition O What incomparable great griefe oppressed thy tender hart o my most louing and deare Redeemer IESVS to see thy selfe most iniuriously excluded from thy beloued Hierusalem by these vngratefull Iewes From whence by due reflexion vpon my selfe I haue iust cause to be confounded with exceeding shame considering how often I haue by my enormous sinnes constrayned thee to abandon thy desired habitation in my soule Blessed Iesu for thy tender merci's sake vouchsafe that I neuer more be separated from thee but that in life and death in tyme in all Eternity thou maist be the sole possessor of my whole hart soule Amen At the Preface The Declaration THe Preface or entrance into the sacred Canon of the Masse which is said with a loude voyce and ends with that high exclamation to Christs honour and praise of Hosanna in Excelsis signifieth the solemne entrance of our Blessed Sauiour vpon Palme-sunday into Hierusalem with that generall cry and applause of all the people Blessed is he who commeth in the name of our Lord Hosanna in the highest Here say with true feruent affection The petition LEtt shame and iust confusion ouerwhelme my soule considering with what ioy the Iewes receiued this our most louing Redeemer they hauing had neither Faith nor certaine knowledge that he was the true Messias of the law whereas I hauing both remaine yet voyde of all true feruent loue piety or deuotion towards this my soueraine Lord whom the Angels praise Dominations adore and whose heauenly glory the Powers Virtues and Seraphins magnifie with mutuall gladnesse with whome lett vs also now ioyne our prayers and prayses saying Holy holy holy Lord God of Sabbaoth the Heauens and Earth are full of thy glory blessed is he that commeth in the name of our Lord. Hosanna in the highest At the Canon of the Masse which beginnes at Te igitur c. The Declaration NOw followes the Canon of the Masse so called because it is a constant Rule and order which the Church obserueth in the celebration of this her highest sacrifice for it changeth not like other partes of the Masse which dayly differ according to the seuerall feastes and Mysteries which we celebrate but this being the principall part of the sacrifice is immutable as is the holy sacrifice it selfe and it puts vs in minde of the bloody agonie of our Blessed Sauiour in that prayer which he made in the garden sweating water and blood the night before his bitter passion forsaken of all his dearest friends but in most perfect conformity vnto his heauenly Fathers will In vnion and homage whereof say
Humility it is first necessary to vnderstand in what that vertue consists to the end that when we would produce the acts thereof we may doe them in the interiour spirit of that vertue and conformably to our knowledge thereof otherwise how should we be able rightly to practise a vertue which we doe not vnderstand or how can we produce the acts thereof with anie feeling or vnderstanding of that vertue which we exercise And to make this cleare in our former example of Humility we must first place our selues in the interiour dispositions of this vertue and so likewise of all the rest at which we ayme Then secondly we must make an esteeme of God aboue all things and thinke most meanely of our selues and euen desire our owne abiection and contempt And this is to lay a true ground and right foundation in our soule whereby in her exercise of the exteriour act of Humility shee stirrs vp in her hart a thought and feeling of true Humility and awakeing in her selfe the dispositions both conuenient and proper to that particular vertue shee accompanies the exteriour act of that vertue with an interiour esteeme and pure desire of true Humility and with a low and base esteeme of herselfe And to performe an act of vertue in this manner is to doe it in the spirit and in the true and right disposition of that vertue which we exercise And therefore whosoeuer aspires to true perfection must labour not only to produce the exteriour acts of that particular vertue at which he aymes but also and principally he must endeuour to roote out of his hart the opposit inclination and euill habite there vnto for little would the exteriour act of Humility auaile if voluntary Pride should remaine at the bottome of the hart And whosoeuer giues almes with a hart possessed with Auarice and obduratenesse he catches only at an empty shadow is deceiued by a meere body without a soule Yea manie falsely conceiue themselues greatly aduanced in vertue by some new punctuality in the obseruance of exteriour practises of piety proposed to themselues who notwithstanding after their long punctuall exercise therein make verie small aduancement in that holy perfection at which they aymed and the reason is manifest and verie plaine because they neglect the interiour and seek not the spirit of that vertue for which they so labour but in vaine and consequently they doe not practise it with the necessary conditions which those vertues doe require All this now finally both experience and reason makes verie manifest for how can we hope to obtayne the vertue of Humility although we practise it by a thousand exteriour acts we neither vnderstanding what it is nor hauing anie interiour feeling thereof but rather quite contrary dispositions to the same It is therefore most necessary to frame in our selues the disposition of that vertue which we exercise and before all things else we must labour to forme our interiour and rightly to direct it for he who hath a defectiue bottome in his soule or a vicious roote he cannot produce good fruit from it and therefore to exercise the exteriour acts of vertue without the interiour disposition required would be but to catch at the shadow of vertue and to remaine with a reality of the vice Thus much by way of needfull aduertisement for the profitable practise as well of these selected vertues here following as also for all others whatsoeuer to be practised by the vertuous soule desirous to make progresse in true Christian perfection And to proceed herein with due order I must in first place propose that vertue which is the proper instrument to aduance all the rest and this is the vertue Of Mortification AFter this generall aduertisment so verie necessary for the practise of vertue it will be now requisit to speake of the proper instrument required for the right exercise thereof and this is the verie same which you finde aboue proposed for the condition required to holy prayer to witt that most necessary vertue of Mortification without which as it there appeares that no prayer can be found in anie eminent degree so likewise and for the selfsame reason no eminent pourchace can be made of anie other vertue without the helpe of Mortification whereby renouncing our owne proper will and the naturall corrupt propension vnto flesh and blood we take vp our Crosse and embrace those contradictions of sensuality dispossessing our harts of that vnruly appetite for worldly contents and by a courageous and mortifiing act we subdue our vicious Passions which both blinde the eyes of our reason and doe also much weaken the will Which Passions and disordinate affections being subdued the vnderstanding becomes truly enlightned to iudge what is good and the will remaynes freely disengaiged to make choyce thereof By all which it appeares that Mortification is the verie ground of Perfection it disposeth the way vnto vertue is as the verie meanes needfull instrumēt required to put the same in execution For as Reason by originall sinne had rebelled against God so likewise in due punishment the sensuall appetite in vs rebelled euer since against Reason and so mainly inclines our corrupt nature to euill as vnlesse it be strongly kept in by the curbing bridle of Mortification and that rightly managed also by Gods holy grace we shall most assuredly be throwne downe by tēptation into the destroying precipice of mortall sinne which to preuent our surest remedy as S. Paul doth admonish vs will be by alwayes bearing about in our body the Mortification of IESVS 2. Cor. 4.10 For it is a vertue as necessary to preserue piety in our soules as are the garden-sheeres to keepe the borders and figures in due order which without often cutting and clipping away of those superfluities which nature doth continually produce no forme nor beauty would be left in the best planted knots in the garden In fine this vertue of Mortification is as needfull for the planting of holy vertues in our soule as is the hammer to frame the fashion which the workman is to introduce into the iron now disposed by the furnace and made plyable therevnto for be your minde neuer so well disposed by holy prayer yea though enflamed by diuine inspirations by spirituall lecture by good counsell or by anie other meanes whatsoeuer to the holy practise of Patience or of Humility to Conformity Prayer Abstinence or to the Exercise of anie other vertue whatsoeuer we shall finde that Mortification is the needfull instrument and meanes to put in execution those good resolutions against which our corrupted nature will spurne and make much reluctance and vnlesse our good purposes be hammered out by the strong blowes of Mortificaion all our former feruent good resolutions will soone become as coold stiff and vnplyable as is the verie iron it selfe when long detayned from the forgé nor shall we haue anie application at all to our former good purposes which not being then labored out
Catholike Church for sanctifiing the Saboth and holy Fast which is the subiect of THE THIRD PART Of this fifth Rule Shewing what is required of vs to comply with our obligation in obseruing the Fastes and Feastes commanded by holy Church MY chiefe ayme intention in composing these Christian Rules being to propose to the vertuous soule such points as are most requisit for her practise in that great worke and the onely thing necessary I meane of working her saluation I could not omit to speake of these two precepts so mainely conducing to that blessed end Fasting being the proper remedie against the great capitall vice of Gluttonie that verie source of surfeiting of drunkenesse all kinde of bestiality And by the rightly obseruing the Sabboth and other holy dayes the soule is nourished by vertuous practises and getts strength against all the fierce assaults of her ghostly enemies when chiefly exposed vpon the other dayes about her temporall affaires and most subiect then to danger and to the greatest temptations But now to treate of these two precepts in due order fasting must haue the first place it being a preparation and verie properly disposeth our soules to the right and profitable obseruatiō of the other this holy fast and abstinence hauing euer been the generall practise of all Gods greatest Saints and as the maine expedient to dispose their soules to heauenly contemplation and to be made thereby more capable of Gods diuine grace and fauours as will hereafter more particularly appeare by the reasons which mooued our carefull mother the Cath. Church to institute these fasting dayes vpon the eues or vigills of all such great solemne feastes as are to be most deuoutly obserued And for the better comprehending what now is meant by this holy Fast you must here obserue that there be three seuerll sortes of Fastes the naturall the ecclesiasticall and the spirituall or metaphoricall Fast The naturall fast consistes in the abstinence from all gustable things be it meate drinke or anie phisicall potion whatsoeuer which can morally be conceiued to haue descended into the stomacke And this fast for more reuerence sake is required for the holy Communion from midnight before the day of receiuing it vnlesse extremity of sicknesse or some other iust occasion permit the contrary The Ecclesiasticall fast is a voluntary abstinence from all flesh and from egges and whitmeate according to the order of holy Church or receiued custome of the place And as for the quantity but one meale a day is allowed with a collation at night of bread and fruit and that also but so sparingly as it may more properly serue for preuenting harme to our health then for the nourishment of our body And although drinking breaketh not this fast it chiefly seruing but to conuey and distribute the nourishment of our meate to the seuerall partes of our body and to refresh the blood yet by excesse therein the sinne of intemperance is frequently committed Fasting also though properly it be an abstayning from certaine corporall food and that according to the order of the Church yet by a Metaphor it is also vsed for true abstinence from sinne which is the spirituall or metaphoricall Fast and which the libertin sectaries of our tyme will haue only to obleige vs to be obserued decrying the other as superstitious for beleeuing our selues obleiged to that heauie yoake of the law from which as they pretende CHRIST by the liberty of their new Gospel hath freely deliuered them But this their bad pretence doth no more free them from the obligation of obeying their lawfull Pastors command of fasting then it doth from obeying the iust lawes of their temporall and souueraigne Prince and therefore as the pleading of such a prerogatiue to the liberty of their Cospel would not exempt them from the due punishment of their rebellion against their temporall Lord so neither doth it exempt them from being declared by IESVS-CHRIST to be guilty of a farr greater crime and punishment for their rebellion to the command of his holy spouse the Church Math. 18. which being gouerned in all things by his owne holy Spirit he will haue vs both to heare to obey it as himselfe Luke 10. Yeawe shall not haue God for our father vnlesse wee haue the holy Church for our mother as both S. Cyprian and S. Augustin assurevs And therefore this her command of the Ecclesiasticall fast is not to be neglected which shee ordaynes but as the meanes helpe for the better obseruance of the other spirituall Fast without which to obserue the former would little auaile vs as wanting its perfection and truest accomplishment which makes it both gratefull to God and verie fruitfull to our soules supposing it be regulated by the true Rule of prudence and vertue which require these following conditions First that it be according to the Apostle Rom. 12. reasonable that is discreet and without anie notable preiudice to our bodily health but rather destroying vice then our body for sometymes it happeneth that by transport of some suddaine feruour one may be carried vnto ouer violent exercise of penance beyond the strength of nature but such must permit themselues to be entirely ruled by the aduise of a prudent spirituall director and by no meanes be their owne guide therein 2. Our fast must be verie sober and frugall not riotous nor with such excesse of costly and dainty dishes as that it may seeme to equall or exceed our best furnish't tables at other tymes for that might be iustly esteemed but an exchainging the former dainties of the land for those much more costly perhaps of the water which truly is in effect but to delude much rather to make a verie mockery of our fast then to comply with the holy end and institution thereof And whereas we are aduised by S. Gregory to feed the poore with what we spared in falting we by this ryotous excesse spend much more then we should haue done without such a fast And moreouer the soule which by bodily abstinence should also haue been enabled and made much more vigorous for prayer and all other spirituall good exercises of vertue is now rather by too much repletion made farr lesse apt for them both And though we sinne not by anie formall breach of the Fast yet we sinne by breacking the Rule of Temperance and offend God greately thereby such dilicate full feeders obseruing but the outward forme of the fast comply not with the holy end thereof which is as the lentne Preface tells vs to suppresse vice to eleuate the minde vnto Heauenly contemplation and to obtayne thereby of God both grace and reward But who with dilicate and full feed keepe nature pampered as before their Passions as strongly maintayned and their expence so excessiue as nothing is spared for the poore what proportion can such fasting haue to the true end of holy Fast nor are we to wonder that a soule takeing thus disorderly this spirituall phisick of
We haue now seen our obligation to obey this iust command of Fast and abstinence as also the manie conuincing motiues to induce vs therevnto for our owne great corporall and spiritual benefit Yet for that our loue vnto flesh and blood is so tenderly feeling euen of conceipted preiudice onely to our bodily health as that vpon the least pretence this wholsome fast must be neglected which notwithstanding is the true food of vertue and the most needfull nourishment to the soule therefore I thought it not vnfitting briefly to recompt to you out of Nicephorus lib. 17. cap. 31. what hapned about eleuen hundred yeares agoe and doth well manifest the religious and great veneration wherewith the zelous Christians of those more happy tymes obserued the holy Fasts In the tyme of Iustinian the Emperour there was so great a dearth as he caused the shambles throughout all the Citty of Constantinople to be opened and flesh to be freely sold vnto all in the second weeke of Lent yet such was the deuotion and zelous piety of the people towards the obseruation of that holy custome and tyme as that there was not one person amongst all that numerous multitude and seuerall sortes of all conditions of people who would make vse of that free and lawfull dispensation so much as once but to tast of the least bitt of flesh during the whole tyme of Lent although so greatly pressed vnto it by such an vrgent necessity O how farr is now our carnall and sensuall age from this great vertue and most laudable Christian temperance we now are glad of anie pretended yea euen of a halfe seeming cause to presse and importune for manie needlesse dispensations wherein neither the spirituall nor yet the corporall Phisitian can well finde anie sufficient probability to warrant theire giuing licence vnto those froward and stubborne children who oftentymes though to their preiudice both of their corporall and spirituall health would neuer be quiet nor pleased but by the gaining their owne froward will which is so verie nice as it cannot endure the least mortification of their owne sensuall and vnruly appetite neither for the loue of God nor for the satisfaction of their innumerable and most grieuous sinnes But the sensuall Sectaries and great enemies of holy Fast will tell you that IESVS-CHRIST himselfe assures vs. Math. 15. that not what entereth into the mouth defileth Man and therefore our fasting is but in vaine If this be so vnderstood I would then know of them from whence it was that our first vnhappy Parents were so fowly defiled and all their posterity in them by their only eating of that forbidden fruit in Paradise They say it was the transgression of Gods command to them which made their eating to be sinfull And we say the verie same in all transgressions of holy Fast and not that the creature which is eaten is in it selfe worse one day then an other but only our action is made sinfull by our disobedience vnto our holy Mother the Cath. Church whom IESVS-CHRIST so expresly commands vs and that vnder so seuere a punishment to obey Math. 18. But this discourse intending only instruction and exhortation to the true humble obedient child of the Church and not disputation with the libertine despisers of what may be a curb vnto their sensuality I will conclude with exhorting you to imitate his diuine Charity in offering vp your harty prayers for the conuersion of these obstinate contemners of the obleiging orders of his beloued spouse who vouchsafed euen to pray for them who were the sacrilegious executioners of that most bitter death which he suffered vpon the Crosse for the saluation of vs all The singular great profit to our soule by ioyning Prayer vnto voluntary Fast one day in each Month for our priuate deuotion and by way of a spirituall Retreate THis is a deuotion practised by many vertuous persons to their great progresse in holy Perfection and therefore I most seriously recommend it vnto you For by thus ending the one Month in repentance for all your former offences you may begin with feruour to amend them in the other The last Saturday in each Month will be most conuenient for this deuotion it being a day of abstinence and auoyds thereby both the trouble of dyet as also of obseruation You hauing made choyce of the day the next is to resolue to sett all worldly busines for that tyme aside and so farr as your present condition will permitt you must be retyred from all companie and conversation which may be occasion to dissipate and distract your minde from true heauenly thoughts withdrawing your selfe by a true spirituall Retreate into the quietest place for your better vnion with God and as to a happy solitude there hart to hart alone to treate with him all your corporall and spirituall necessities This is so great a grace and so singular a mercy which he most fauorably affords you as had it been granted to manie who are now without redemption in Hell they would thereby haue made themselues happy for all Eternity Blesse therefore and adore Gods infinit great goodnesse to you for so gracious a fauour and resolue firmely to make good vse of it by spending that day in thanks-giuing for his so innumerable great benefits of your Creation and Redemption and for so manie powerfull meanes to bring you to that happy end of Blisse for which he made you And endeauouring to employ that day as if it were to be your last dispose your selfe to a preparation required to dye in the happy state of Grace Consecrate that day in honour of the holy retreates which IESVS-CHRIST so frequently vsed to make in prayer and solitude with his heauenly Father and let your comportment and conuersation be as in the diuine presence of God in imitation and adoration also of that great modestie recollection silence and feruent prayer of our said souueraigne Lord. You must not passe the spirituall exercise of this deuout day without the choyce of some fitting subiect for mentall prayer for which and for breuity sake I must referr you to those short but most solid and deuout meditations of that holy Bishop of Geneua in his Introduction to a deuout life part 2. ch 9 of Mans Creation c. or to a meditation vpon the 4. last to witt Death Iudgment Hell and Heauen which may be also a verie fitt and a compleat employment for this day or the like as your ghostly Father is best able to direct you which being seriously and deuoutly pondered they will stirr vp in your soule such affectiōs as may produce the fruit of generous resolutions for your increase in vertue and for vanquishing of your euill habits contracted Besides these Meditations which you must distribute for seuerall tymes of the day you may also make vse of some spirituall lecture out of the Imitation or following of CHRIST out of the Memoriall of Granada or some other spirituall good booke And
his Angells to spend tyme and cost in supplying this his naturall infirmity wherein he resembles only the brute and vnreasonable beastes and whereof the vaine delight is no longer enioyed then whilst the tongue is turning it in the mouth for the wyne is no sooner swallowed but it 's delight is past Ioel. 2. O how vnworthy then of a rationall and Christian soule is it to offend God for so base a content or to hazard her beatitude vpon so small an enioyment especially if we consider that verie meate be it neuer so dainty costly and pleasing to our tast is no sooner chewed and sent downe the throte but it becomes most loathsome and abominable to behold as experience will force vs to confesse when by anie infirmity we find our selues obliged to ease our stomakes of what we had eaten but immediately before These and the like reflexions made Iob and manie other vertuous people euen to sigh before their meales wherein notwithstanding meere sensuall men like verie beastes place so great content and pleasure that by sinfull excesse they of tentymes most grieuously offend and endanger the losse of their soules becomming also by surfeit and drunkennesse much worse then the brutest beastes and wholy incapable of the noblest functions of Man Now besides this great cuill of Intemperance by surfeiting and drunkennes considered in quality of sinne it is also a great enemie to the life of Man farr more dying by it as Salomon assureth then by the sword and whereas eating drinking is ordayned by God to preserue and prolonge our life sensuall persons abuse it to the contrary when they striue not to gouerne nor moderate their disordenate appetite nor to subdue it to the Rule of Reason And for this verie cause it is that rarely a gluâ—ton liues long or if some one chance so to doe yet his body will be made subiect to so manie infirmities as he will be forced to confesse that he payes deare interest for all the pleasure of his former excesse and gluttony S. Augustin may be an admirable example for vs in this vertue of temperance who tells vs that God had taught him so to moderate the takeing of his food and euen his affection therevnto as one takes phisick which is with that considerate moderation as he would not exceed the proportion conceiued necessary for his health But this must be done without all pensiue scrupulosity or vnpleasing sadnesse which according to the Royall Prophet is to be banish't from the table of the Iust where in the sight of God they must reioyce with alacrity Psal 67. All quarrels must there be lay'd aside and detracting discourse of the absent employing rather all our thoughts conuersation in prayse gratefull thankfulnesse to God who gives meate in due tyme opning his haÌ„d the fille euery creature with blessing Ps 144. In danger of excesse you may doe well to call to minde the bitter gall and vinagre giuen to our blessed Sauiour when he wanted refreshment by reason of his great thirst vpon the Crosse and to remember the great and vertuous abstinence of his chiefest Saints Raise firmely your hart to God and rectifie your intention in eating that thereby you may be the more able to serue him Say with a holy Eiaculation from the interiour of your hart O when shall I feed vpon the happy food of Angells in eternall Blisse vpon that beatificall vision in companie of his glorious Saints and Angells without end And by this meanes you may feed spiritually your soule as corporally you doe your body and your verie refection may be made thereby as pleasing to God as the saying your prayers Being now sett downe at the table with a sharp and hungry appetite make some little reflexion therevpon as considering with how small an appetite or desire you vsually feed your soule by prayer or by the practise of vertue which notwithstanding ought to be much more pleasing to vs then the daintiest feast Let the memory of Gods diuine Presence be a bridle to our vnruly appetite lett it also refraine vs from all vnfitting and detracting discourses for our corporall refection by this meanes may be made as profitable to the soule as it is necessary for the body it being taken by vs not for pleasure and delight but only as the remedy which naturall necessity requires at our hands Be not too curious singular or hard to be pleased in your dyet since it little imports whether the sensuall and greedy appetite be content or no. Moreouer what good signe can it be that we truly loue God and are willing to suffer for his sake if we cannot ouercome our selues sensuality in so small a matter as not to be able to endure some little vnpleasing morsell of meate which also being speedily to become so loathsome and foule an excrement what imports it saith S. Hierome of what matter it be made It was the saying of a holy Man to check thereby himselfe when be found his tast disgusted with some ill relishing meate how must they be content said he who would be glad of a hard and vnsauory crust of the coursest bread for all their cheere and thouart not content nor grateful to God for such variety of good and costly meate which by the sweate of other mens browes is so plentifully prepared for thy table Take occasion to confound your selfe thereat and command that some part of it may in satisfaction be reserued for the poore and sicke Call also to minde that it is your mortall Enemie which you pamper and therefore be verie wary that you make him not too strong for you by putting a dangerous weapon into his hand whereby he may worke your destruction He is now your slaue but will soone become your Maister if you pamper him too daintely Sathan hauing ouerthrown man and all his posterity by this temptation of gluttonie continues daily to assault vs with the self-same battery he knowing well that if he can get vs once but to place our affection vpon this excesse of sensuall Ryot he shall afterward verie easily diuert vs from all other chiefe occupations which most concerne the health of our soule Make good reflexion and ponder well at your meale especially if at a feast how manie pledges you haue there of Gods fatherly bounty goodnesse and great loue to you they being as manie as there be seuer all dishes of meate vpon the table and how manie harmelesse creatures haue lost their liues that you might feed vpon them O suffer not at such a tyme so gracious and louing a Lord to be offended either by scurrility detraction surfeits or by anie kinde of prophanenesse Call often to minde what will shortly become of that fraile flesh which is now so daintely fed when with Iob we shall say to corruption thou art my Father my mother and Sister to wormes Iob. 17. Finally to auoyde this dangerous excesse by moderating the vicious sensuality of our vnruly