command the Vertues of the Heavens absolutely govern the Fates of Men and Angels can render thee so rich contented in thy self so beautifull and adorable to the redeemed by thy Cross as this immovable Constancy this admirable Resignation this unparallell'd Tranquillity and evennesse of Mind But beware my Soul thou beest not mistaken for his words import that his will be not fulfill'd it is not then His will that is so constant and fixt yet His it is for were it His Fathers will by which he speaks he could not call it thine since he that speaks is to himself I and not thou and the will by which he delivers his Speech mine and not thine But how then can he say not mine of that which he will have done 'T is therefore His and more his then what he calls his yet he calls it not His and the opposite His. And were it not His it would do us no good for whom he does what he does For we have also contrary wills and yet we have not two wills following two natures as he had therefore even in him these two wills with one whereof he speaks and concerning the other are both of his humane nature that by them we might cure the contrariety we find in ours Why then is one of them his the other his Fathers why if not because the one he had from infirmity the other from strength the one from flesh and blood the other from heavenly inspirations what proceeds from weaknesse from defect from the odour of nothing is our own but what comes from vertue from strength from Being all that is Gods and to be acknowledged totally from him as Beginner and Perfecter of all things But is there no remedy for this distressed Soul must he alone tread the winepresse of sour grapes alone drink of this bitter Cup Ah! dearest SAVIOUR leave no means unattempted that possibly may bring thee at least some small refreshment arise and try whether thy old friends can afford thee any comfort those who were so delighted with thy glory on Mount Thabor who sung so cheerfully but five dayes since at thy triumphant entrance into Jerusalem who just now solemnly protested their readinesse to die with thee Alas they are all asleep so fast so dead asleep that neither chiding nor shame nor compassion on their dear Masters desolate condition can awake them to say so much as one short prayer for themselves O weak foundation of humane Friendship unhappy and already deceiv'd is he that builds on so false a bottome how farre better is it to trust in God then Man in the Maker of Princes then the mouldring hand-work O ill-requited Master is this the fruit of all thy teachings is this the reward for all thy benefits is this the profit of all those stupendious wonders thou hast done before them At least Judas was tempted by the glistering shine of silver that dazzles the eyes of all the world he was exasperated by the losse of the price of the Ointment and by the publick reproach of his treason whereas these thy beloved thy cherished Disciples have no plea to excuse them but their dulnesse but their coldnesse and want of love to their Master Though Earth fail Heaven may be true Renew thy complaints and let the fervour of thy prayers melt those azure floors the Angels tread And already behold a bright and suddain dawning from the East and the visible shape of a heavenly Messenger Come down thou long expected Embassadour of peace and fill this horrid desart with the charming musick of thy celestiall voice But oh he stayes at the gates of heaven and onely looks down afarre off as if earth now were become an abomination and unworthy to be approacht by sanctified persons no glory to God no peace to Men no harmonious note not so much as a cup of cold water to refresh the fainting bowels of this afflicted Sufferer O strange mutation how undutifull a disobedience is this in respect of the obsequious service tender'd him at his baptisme Are heavenly affections subject to change do Starres encrease and wane like sublunary meteors O no gladly would this Spirit of happinesse stoop low as Earth to raise the head and support the weak members of his Lord but that severe Fathers commands and narrow limited permissions allow onely so farre to relieve the oppressed heart that it may be able to drink up the very dregs of that bitter potion he has temper'd for him O Heaven now more cruell then Earth which charitably stupifies the sense and takes away the pain by encreasing the torment whilst tyrannicall heaven sends fresh supplies of strength onely to heap on a greater load of grief O my dear Lord all thy troubled thoughts seem'd wholly restored to their usuall calmnesse and by that noble act of Resignation all thy affections ran smoothly in their own channels but now again the storm is raised and louder and fiercer then before See how it beats against that strong barrier of Thy will be done See how the broken waves return with doubled fury to invade this Rock of patience whose firmnesse the more violently it is assaulted the more steddily 't is fixt and his prayer more extended to his eternall Father Hear him hear him fountain of Pitty if not for thy own goodnesse if not for respect to him at least that we may be encourag'd to call on thee that we may hope to be heard by thee Thou invitest us to come to thee shall this be our entertainment thou chid'st us for asking nothing in thy SON'S name yet shut'st thine eares against His voice begging for his own Soul Undutifull and wicked Reuben that had abominably defil'd his Fathers bed found compassion for his little Brother seeing the anguish of his heart when he humbled himself before them and after reproacht his brethren that his life was justly demanded at their hands and will not the cry of this innocent Abel's bloud reach up to heaven and mollifie the rigidnesse of those severe decrees But whither am I straid here on earth is subject enough to require my whole application Behold how his bloud boyles in his veins his flesh grows red and swells all or'e his body his sinews and arteries stretch as on a rack the pores of his skin open like a sive and in a moment more fountains then feed the Ocean break from this source of misery What 's this I see on that once-comely visage not crystall teares not a gentle and trickling dew but whole drops of ruddy and blackish sweat Wo is me they are â—â—â—â—ed and knotty berries of bloud Unfortunate fruit of this fair Tree Physicians and Naturalists you say thick humours cannot be purg'd by transpiration study me then how this is come to passe O the most beautifull and gracious among the sons of men Was it for this thy body was fitted to thee of Virgin-bloud untoucht by men and Angels Was it for this thou wert made the Top and Crown
same meats dyeting and lodging with them maintain'd by Alms having no certain aboad but most commonly among the poor and simple Fishermen Farther we see him weary thirsty hungry forgetting hunger for love of souls envy'd slander'd blasphem'd threatned now ready to be stoned now to be precipitated flying hiding himself troubled in spirit weeping for his friends weeping for his Countrey contradicted persecuted conspired against His confidents corrupted his followers excommunicated his friends sought to death others not daring to acknowledge him and a thousand such indignities But the State of Love shewes it self first in the Garden O the dolefull unheard cryes to Heaven O the bitter Agony and deadly Sweat of bloud O the ravenous throats of devouring Wolves led on by one of his own dearest houshold See with what outcryes and howlings and noyse they drag him through the streets of Jerusalem every one looking out at their windowes to fill their eyes with gazing at this strange wonder See how He is toss'd from one Tribunal to another here revil'd and buffetted there flouted and spit on every where despis'd and maliciously affronted But what wofull spectacle is that Pilate presents to the People which causes so great and loud cries The Stature is of a Man but the Head of a Monster A Crown of piercing Thornes bloody and bloodying all that is near it Hair such as ravish'd the heart of the delicious Spouse but clotted with gore sticking some to his Neck and Flesh some to the horrid Thorns all rudely ruffled in a hideous disorder A Face and Eyes able to subdue all hearts if stripes and buffets and bloud and swellings and marks of blind rage permitted them to beseen Well-shap'd Limbs but disfigur'd and hidden in their own bruises and tearings and shatters A red ragged Mantle and a Sceptre of a Reed to accomplish a King of sorrow calamity and scorn And why all this this ingenious cruelty to disguise a poor Man into so monstrous an Object of disdainfull Malice Alas all 's but to glut the blood-thirsty jaws of an unfaithfull and rebellious Multitude which no longer then five dayes since sung praises and Hosanna's to this very Person and strewed their garments and Palm-branches in his way A People infinitely oblig'd and no wayes offended by him A people that cannot accuse him of the least crime that have seen him cleered in all Tribunalls the Judge himself pleading His Innocence Yet no lesse then his heart's last drop will satisfie them though it be at the cost of their own and all their posterities Nor can they tell why more then that they are push'd on by those who abuse and pillage them and who have conceiv'd this implacable hatred against him only because he discovered their violences oppressions and tyrannyes over these very people that so furiously exclaim against him Well if there be no remedy charge those wounded shoulders with thy heavy Cross dear Saviour and shew us on Mount Calvary a greater and stranger Transfiguration able to dim That of Mount Tabor I see thy spread Arms thy nailed Hands and Feet thy rack't Sinews thy pierced Side thy bended Neck thy faln Looks thy torn Body thy pale and bloudlesse Flesh thy Company of infamous Thieves and thy miserable Favourite and forlorn Mother I hear thy last Words and breath'd-out Soul into the Hands of thy Father not as they command Heaven but as they reach to Hell O Love canst thou love or expresse it beyond this Yes heark and consider Those higher-endearing Charms of heaven The Father the most tender and perfectly-loving Father whose Essence is pure distill'd spirit of love He put his Onely-his Equall-his Intimate-his Co-essentiall Son with His own hands nay with This Son 's own commanded Will and hands to all these and infinite more unspeakable tortures and miseries for thy sake for thine my soul that thou mightest not complain thou wantedst an Object a Motive thou hadst not a Teacher a Pattern an Exciter an Enforcer to Love IF there be a Hall for all comers certainly there 's a Parlour too for select and choice friends where they may confer together of thine infinite perfections and often repeat with joy thy unspeakable bounties where they may retire from the noise and distractions of the World and entertain their thoughts with the sweet still-musick of contemplation where they may sit alone excluding even themselves and be chastly ravisht with the dear embraces of the Divine Spouse of Souls O what Droanes are our highest-strain'd Lovers whose memories in all languages affect immortality for their fantastick passions what dull buzzing of Beetles are their kindest expressions to the melting notes of this heavenly harmony But is there no further admittance O glorious King of Love for those who have so happily enter'd thy Palace I remember a large upper-room furnisht by thy self and richly prepared to give yet a more noble treatment and methinks I hear something within me bid me advance a few steps further What fair gilt door is that which dazzles so my sight to look on Sure 't is the holy place we seek sealed up for thy peculiarly beloved Open it some bright and flaming Seraphin O my God what do I see what 's this my eyes behold Manna raining from Heaven for those that can get to the shoar of that former Red Sea of loves flouds Truly my God my Lord Love has transported thee even to extasie it has made thee do extravagant and frenetick actions extravagant indeed and freneticall if measured by the narrow and short judgement of poor humanity but heights and depths and Abysses if referr'd to thy uncircled wisdome and unlimited reach of bounty and goodness Behold the Body that hang'd on the Crosse that was anointed in the Grave that rose again and ascended to the right hand of the heavenly Creator Behold It falls down in wheaten drops like Coriander Seeds to feed and feast the wretches descended from Adam Behold the Body the Blood the Soul the eternall Person the Deity the Trinity all couch'd as it were in a corn of Bread The Omnipotency that made Heaven the Wisdome that link'd all possibilities into the Chain of all Beings the Bounty that crowded into Natures teeming bosome all that was Best these all these lie here covered like a Chymical pill in a Sugared wafer Those looks from which Heaven and Earth amazedly flie in whose Presence the Princes of the celestiall hosts and the Pillars of the World tremble that Head on which depends the fate of Souls both past and to come that Tongue which shall doom in one word the Nations of all Ages All are here humbly stoop'd and subjected to me and other such wretches even to be abused by our wickednesse Yes yes all these are as truly Here as they are on thy Throne in Heaven as they will be in the midst of the blessed on the Day of thy Triumph over Nations What do I say as truly and not even more in a far more excellent manner
for thy Body is in Heaven as in another and different thing but in the Sacrament substantially in It as mans Soul and Body are in Man as the adored Person of God is in my Lord Jesus Christ as every thing is in its self or in its whole Thou art therefore my Jesus both in Heaven and in the Sacrament truly but in one more properly in the other more excellently Reallity is in both but the Manner different Wherefore I cannot complain thou hast left us by thine Ascension and bereaved us of that comfortable Presence whose force was so magneticall in thy life-time No no I see Thee as truly as they did then I feel thee as corporally as did That Master of Touching who sought thy Side and Wounds to embalme his Sense in I Tast Thee as really as the Chanaan-Feaster did the Wine Thou sentst him Thou deludest not my Senses by making me onely seem to See Feel and Taste when indeed I do not Thou entertain'st me not with other things or Qualities which are with Thee but not thy self No no the White I see is Thou the Body I hold in my hand or mouth is Thine and Thou that which yeelds Savour to my tongue and palate is thy-self and no other thing This thou hast told me this thy Church has ever apprehended and taught this I believe and confesse to Thee But oh can I conceive without trembling or speak without horrour Does Man's Hand break the Body of my Saviour do Mans teeth rend and mangle the Sacred vesture of Deity Yes yes my Soul fear not to confesse the Wonders and Mercies of thy Lord and God they may be hard to understand but they are the Words of Life So farre has He subjected his glorious Body to our use that what other bread can suffer may be wrought upon Him Not that we can tear a Finger from his Hand or his Hand from his Arm or any one member from another but as when we break bread every piece is still bread so when we divide his Body both parts remain his whole Body for it was not one part that became one part of the Bread and another the rest but all succeeded to each part of bread Let great Clerks in their Schools with their subtilties search how this can be effected for seeing it is done in bread it is not against Nature nor unintelligible even by That to me let it suffice the Church has taught me 't is so and that 't is the greatest benignity and most gracious condescence that God himself could expresse to have it be so And is this more perhaps then that thy immortall flesh should nourish my mortall Carcase that it is mingled with Mine as Wine with Water as two melted Waxes incorporate themselves Let none tell me 't is Quantity that is digested into my body for then it is not Thou that nourishest me and I will not forgo those precious expressions that Thou feed'st me with Thy Flesh and giv'st me Thy Bloud to drink So thy Words sound so thy Church has taught so I believe How this can be done without thy being turn'd into me or how thy Substance can unchangedly be chang'd into mine that thou mayest endue my Flesh with a quality of Immortality let the Sages question but I 'm sure 't is so this I know is the way of Love and the most charming Mystery and inchanting Riddle that ever love-spent bowels were able to sing or sigh out ANd now my Soul having thus perfunctorily Alas viewed the excessive benefits of Almighty God 't is time to reflect a little upon thy Duty and consider what motions and affections they should stirre and work in thee First Thou hast seen how all thou hast are gifts and not onely all but wholly If any friend has done thee kindnesse He prepar'd that Friend he gave him the power the occasion the will to serve thee he blest his endeavours with efficacy successe If thou thy self hast done any thing to thine own improvement or advantage He gave thee not onely Body and Soul with all their powers and faculties not only matter opportunity strength will liberty choice but every least imaginable perfection of the very stroak of choise and liberty insomuch that there is nothing no considerability of it so from thy self that even its being from thee comes not from the Almighty in comparison to whom no Friend no creature ever did or can do any thing for thee Shall then the friendship or love of any Creature have power to draw my affection from God permit it not my great Creatour but thorowly perfect thy work Why am I good by half 's since I am entirely thy Designe I professe before Thee who seest my very heart and before Angels and Men that I ought not to be so that 't is folly and madnesse to be so Give me then thy grace utterly to abhorre and detest so injurious so unworthy an ingratitude And since Thou vouchsaf'st thus clearly to convince me that 't is a great indignity and against all reason and truly-naturall inclination to join any with Thee grant me ever with all exactnesse to observe this duty That as no Creature has the least part in doing me good but merely so farre as it has it from Thee no not I my self so none none may share with Thee in my Love but just so farre as thy love thine order thy direction applies it to them Next my Soul thou hast seen how the Benefits of God are not onely all thou hast but that they are in an excessive Measure wide as the World uncountable as the sands of the Sea great as the Creatures can be since neither the eminentest Men nor highest Angels are exempt from being ministring spirits employed for thy salvation nay God himself in the two Persons of the Son and Holy Ghost has condescended to wait on Thee So various and superabundant they are that they comply not onely with thy necessity but serve even thy delights and recreations So that thou art neither able to conceive the multitude and greatnesse nor comprehend the worth and pleasingnesse of his favours What then canst thou say but onely lie gasping with admiration of so vast so unknown a Goodnesse and sigh out in the centre of thy Heart My sole-Good my All I thought before I was bound to acknowledge thy Benefits and love Thee for them but now I renounce both for he that acknowledges makes a shew as if he were able to esteem and he that loves seems as if he would render somewhat Not so I my great Master not so But I protest my self infinitly below all thy mercies unable to value the least of thy Blessings much lesse to repay Thee any thing for them since had I any thing worthy thy acceptance it were all thine and I could offer Thee nothing but thine own What then shall I do but throw my heart at the feet of thy bounty all-open all-melted without any self-will or power
of resistance at every pulse of my breath repeating this onely Burden Do thy pleasure upon me Again Thou hast seen my Soul that far beyond all created Essences God has been so liberall as to bestow Himself on thee He bowed the Heavens and came down rendring his sacred Person subject to all the miseries of Humanity He laid aside all the prerogatives of his most noble and most perfect soul exposing it to labours to teares to griefs to those stupendious throwes in the Garden even to such a height that it admired it self in those expressive words My God my God! to what a point hast Thou let me be brought And in fine to be commanded even to Hell He abandoned his Body to heat to cold to weaknesse to hunger and thirst to wearinesse to torments to death and not content with this after the Resurrection in Its state and season of Glory he sent it again into the World to be subject to a thousand more indignities scorns and abusings Here now my soul compare seriously thy sufferings with His and consider First Since nor health nor wealth nor any other good thou possessest is thine or from thy self but onely vouchsaf'd thee during his pleasure and discretion all thy sufferings can be but a not-enjoying any longer what is no way due to thee but He was incapable of any wants in himself if his own Will had not taken upon him both a Nature that could want and its necessities Again what commodities He at any time seem'd to have he held them from himself and His purely they were wherefore He truly suffered when they were ravish'd from him whereas we through ignorance attribute to our selves what we possesse being really but Trustees not Masters of the least pile of grasse Farther yet our mis-call'd sufferings if rightly used are indeed blessings for if we lose our Fortunes alas they made us not know our selves if our Health 't is to disaffect us to this world if we prove unhappy in our Children what greater distraction had we from the love of our hoped glory then our care and tendernesse to them But Christ's sufferings could have no such advantagious effects no they were chiefly to shew us the straitest Path to that life He promis'd us and to assure by his own Example who could not but know and embrace what was best that the way of Tribulation is the high-Road to Heaven And canst thou my Soul after this think any Crosse heavy and affliction hard to endure canst thou chuse but be vexed and enraged at thy Flesh and Blood which against all evidence will force thee to esteem unfortunatenesse an Evil O my great and sole Good suppresse these unreasonable follies which boyl in my breast Make me know whatever happens good or bad to me is securely my best because it comes from Thee whilst my onely care ought to aim at this how to improve it to my best advantage Make me understand that whatever I beare with patience I suffer for thy sake because I take it as from Thee because I do as Thou commandest because 't is in imitation of Thee and lastly because it is to obtain Thee my chief my onely my most entire Treasure O rich Treasure O masse of Glory in proportion to whose attainment all the labours and tribulations that Men and Devils can heap on me are nothing nothing considerable not deserving even the slightest esteem Lastly My Soul thou hast seen with what ambition and exaggeration of Courtship with what unparallel'd addresse and exquisite inventions thy Lord has sought and woo'd thy love First He gave thee heaven and Earth with all their Creatures for thy Motives to know and love Him Next He made Himself thy Fellow and Brother in flesh and bloud that thou mightst not strain thy self but familiarly conversing be caught with his love Beyond that He has pass'd all those fabulous imaginations of dangers and misfortunes in which idle witts have fram'd Errant Ladies to have engaged their Servants for proof of their fond obstinate loyalty He has heap'd on thee all the names and titles of endearment which either nature or use have introduc'd among Mankind He is thy Maker thy Father thy Spouse thy Brother thy Ransomer out of thraldome thy Deliverer from danger thy Saviour from misery and death thy Friend even thy very Play-fellow He has gone beyond all this He is thy Food thy Drink thy Self for since when thou eatest Him His Flesh becomes thine as truly as the bread whereof we encrease and nourish our substance which by the power of matter and conformity of quality remains in us how can we chuse but be his Members so that if we dishonour our body we dishonour His how can we chuse but have a share of Him perpetually in us and in plain truth be Reliques of Him of His glorious Flesh and immortall Bloud O Eternall Wisdome how truly didst Thou say It was thy delight to be with the Sons of Men Can Angels boast of such priviledges of such tendernesses of such Extasies of Thy love No none but so weak a Nature as ours was able to necessitate Goodnesse it self to so deep a condescendence as this and none but all Goodnesse could so appropriate it self to all Infirmities O melting Goodnesse that fillest every corner and chink Thou findest capable of thy perfections wave not this poor soul of mine but make it understand the unmeasurablenesse of thy bounties and Mercy Shall I for ever apprehend my past sinnes still in fear whether they are forgiven Shall I not rather in the very moment of terrour turn me to Him of whose readinesse to receive me I cannot doubt Mark how easy thou art to pardon thy self and consider thou art one of his Members whence be assured as soon as thou sayest I have sinned thou shalt hear thy sin is taken away Shall I fear that I am not in state to receive his Body when the very preparing my self and having a true will to go meet Him puts me in state Shall I seek outward Medicines for my wounds whose ulcerousnesse onely consists in bereaving me of Love O my dearest Lord make me love and joy in thee make me take pleasure to come even corporally to Thee but much more to delight and solace my self in thinking of thee in remembring how Thou lov'st me how Thou art my Friend my Spouse my Father and whatever dear name by which Thou hast been pleased to expresse so blest a relation Make me place my chief felicity in contemplating how happy I shall be when once I see Thee face to face and familiarly converse with Thee as a Friend does with his Friend Mean while establish firmly in my soul this absolute judgement that the greatest pleasure and advantage this world can afford me is often and long and heartily to practice here on earth that sweet and holy conversation which is to be consummated in Heaven What Maid whose Parents have promis'd her a person compleatly qualified for
Why this is but nature whereas to go to Heaven 't is necessary we walke in a supernaturall Path much contrary to nature wherefore sure this cannot be right Light There are two things in Man which are call'd Nature one Reason which truly is his Nature ruling all his actions as he is Man and distinguishing him from Beasts The other is this frame of our Materiall Instruments which we call our Body consisting of Motion of Blood and Spirits which have a course in us so depending from other causes that neverthelesse a great part is in our power Of these two Natures Reason often contradicts the Inferiour and therefore Grace and our supernaturall way must do the same Whereas for Reason Grace never contradicts it but guides it and shewes it that many things which otherwise it would never have attain'd to are very reasonable and by force of reason it self ought to be enacted and put in execution For our supernaturall life is like a Graft which though it bear a better fruit then the Stock yet can it bring forth nothing but by means of that and in the season wherein the Stock of it self flourishes Soul Then I must employ my time in gaining knowledge and governing my self according to it but what should I seek to know Light Your enquiry may be fully satisfied if you confine your search to these two Heads To learn the things that concerne you in the next life which are chiefly Heaven and Hell in Heaven I comprehend all that belongs to Almighty God as well to his Godhead as his Humanity And secondly to study what in this life imports you which is the real valuation of those motives that govern mankind here and the true and straight way that leads to blisse hereafter Soul Surely this cannot chuse but be a pleasant and delightsome Method For what more pleasant then to know especially such truths as most are ignorant of what more delightsome then to enjoy a clear serenity of mind free from those errours we see our Neighbours tossed and turmoyl'd in But above all what can be so ravishing as to understand we are in the direct path towards those great felicities promised us in the next life Light If you take the right course and ply it diligently you shall instead of that anxious and troublesome way you walk possesse all this pleasure and much more whereof as yet you have no feeling nay which you little think your whole pursuit shall be after pleasures and those the highest this life can afford For since Reason is our Nature which hath the greatest stroak in all our actions and whatever is conformable to Nature the more powerfull Nature is the more pleasant that must be it follows the pleasures of Reason are greater far then those of Sense Now Grace being but an heightening of Reason what is conformable to Grace must be still more pleasing to Nature Soul I can easily apprehend the Contemplation of Heaven must be full of pleasure especially if the Contemplatour findes in himself hopes of attaining thither but I know not how the dreadfull consideration of Hell and Death and Judgement should be pleasing being of themselves such frightfull things Light As for those fearfull objects you need not trouble your self yet if you find the considerations of Heaven take hold of your Soul which when they are once settled and well possess'd of your heart will alone so entertain and fill you that you will be free and secure from the irksomenesse of other apprehensions but you must first strive to be in love with heaven and heavenly things if possibly you can Soul I confesse hitherto my considerations have been very dry I not being able to make any apprehension of what pleasure can possibly be found where all that gives us content here will be wanting The second discourse Light NOw if you were sure to find there the same pleasures you enjoy here in this only changed that what ever makes them short noysome tedious or allayes them here with any other discommodity is not there to be found so that the pleasure is there more clear more sweet perpetuall and never cloying you must of necessity make a good apprehension of a desirable place and lovely end to aim at Soul If you can make me see this I hope I shall be better affected to Heaven that with a naturall tye Whereas now I force my self to love a thing which I cannot understand what it is Light Well then do you take pleasure in company of friends with whom you can be free Soul Very much especially if their discourse be such as goes down with some smartnesse and delight Light At least then there 's one pleasure in heaven which you can relish for friends and acquaintance you cannot want there all that are in Heaven knowing all being familiar with all and their hearts lying open to all so that what delight you can imagine in conversation you shall have there a thousand fold multiplied above what it is here Soul But that which pleases me here is to be with a friend in a corner where no body may hear our discourse for it would be a great annoyance to have any one partaker of our secrets Light And why if you have reflected upon it is it troublesome to have overhearers of your discourse Soul Because some would laugh at my follyes or imperfections and jeere at my conceits different from theirs others would carry tales abroad and make a businesse of nothing others are indiscreet and altogether unable to give me either advice or comfort but talk nonsense and rather trouble me then do me good Light Then if the company were such that from every one you could promise your self all respect love prudence and such parts as should be fit to improve heighten the content you aimed at the plurality of those with whom you converse would rather strengthen your pleasure then any way diminish it Soul 'T is true but I cannot conceive if the company be greater then a certain proportion which by interchange may still keep life in the discourse but that the conversation must either be hindred by many speaking at once or dull by one party's speaking so seldome Light But on the contrary if you did apprehend the whole multitude without intermission speaking together and that he that speaks perfectly understood all the rest and himself also were perfectly understood by every one so that each continually declared his own mind without the least impediment to understand perfectly at the same time what all others said and this not onely to himself but any one to any other do you not see what the proportion of content by such discourse would be to the satisfaction you find here when you are in the fullest careere of joy that ever you experimented or can wish or even imagine according to the course of our conversation Soul If this were true I see an extreme increase of pleasure in Heaven over the greatest our
descent of effects from causes draws out this long Play that has so many Ages been acting upon the stage of this world there you shall discern the golden threads whereby the just retrive themselves out of the Labyrinth of sinners you shall penetrate the Adamantine chain with which the wicked are confin'd to eternall flames In all you shall see the glorious Liberty casting out its Rayes in God and his Saints strengthned with an undeceivable force of Light in the wayes of Men struggling in a perpetuall Agony with contingency and servitude except where in few souls the supernall light more and more hinders the instability of its estate The seventh discourse Soul TEll me no more of these great pleasures for I feel my self already full I can endure no longer I pant for breath and languish through excessive heat of desire I doubt not henceforth but the state of eternall Blisse contains farre more and higher joyes then ever entred into mortall hearts to conceive Nor fear I whensoever I enter this great field but for ever to find a most pleasant and delightfull feeding and eternally drink of the torrent which inebriates the City of God Light You are too tender Remember that the kingdome of heaven suffers violence and the violent onely can be Masters of it You must look for a strong Purgatory of love and desire if you walk this way you must not give over without resisting even to blood As yet you are scarce got out of the Circle of Man 't is time now to cast your eyes on the rest of this glorious frame we call the World and see what pleasure it affords It is the whole whereof mankind is but a little though a principall Part. It is a thing in a manner above us in a manner our end If our understanding be but a hunger of truth and truth but the perfect possession of a thing without us you see this great machine the world is a principall end to which nature has design'd our application And truly when we reflect that the universall Masse of Beings is the most full expression of Almighty God's Essence which nature can attain to what doubt remains but that our felicity in a notable degree consists in the perfect contemplation and knowledge of it Soul This I easily believe For when I have the good fortune to hear a strange discovery of some secret of nature such as Philosophers and Astronomers use to look into I cannot understand the joy I feel in mine heart 'T is not of that kind which I have when I laugh and am taken with some witty conceit 'T is not such as when I encounter any welcome news of some advantage to my self or friends but of a higher strain mixt with admiration methinks I am better and greater then I was before methinks they who know these things are more then men and are a kind of Demi-gods And I observe that Poets and persons of great brain and capacity having spent their youth in vain and worldly pursuits desire ordinarily to consecrate their riper yeares to these Sciences Light Reflect then upon the wonders which are stored up in Nature for your content Place before your eyes the admirable government of this great Fabrick the World Consider the courses of the Sun Moon Planets and fixed Starres and hope one day to know what causes and wheels they turn upon See the Globe of the Earth and Men heels to heels walking round about it without any nayls or glew to fasten them to it yet how laborious it is to remove from it Really the serious consideration of the Antipodes renders the mystery so strange and hard to be believ'd that though we are assur'd by experience of the truth yet if we should alwayes strongly imagine our selves so walking we could not but fear still falling into the Clouds when we travail'd to one another See the perpetuall floating of the Sea like a monethly or yearly Clock warning us of the seasons with as great exactnesse as do the Moon and Starres See the various Climes with all their affections The bounds of Seas and Lands The difference of temperature in the same proportions to the Sun The diversity of Beasts Birds Fishes and Plants according to the variety of their habitations Men themselves here black there white in some parts tawny some red and their very Wills and Affections following the temperament of their bodily qualities When you are weary of these wonders look into particular Natures The mixture of Metals and Stones How Juices and Liquids penetrate all and incorporating themselves frame these strange multiplicities of things we converse with Plants more wondrous then these who can choose but be delighted to see a little Flower or Meal hidden in the earth and peep out again now green then take body and strength disperse it self into branches bud forth leaves and flowers and fruit and at last other such bags of Meal as it self was Yet Living creatures are furnisht with a farre greater plenty of wonders The Wormes the Flies the Birds the Beasts the Fishes every one affording a world of admiration and variety But above all MAN the End and Master of all is a subject of amazing contemplation Who would not think a life spent in delight to understand what composition that should be which turn'd into blood becomes first one part of a heart afterwards a whole heart what should make it spring and shoot out into other vitall parts how can a poor heart frame such a variety of Members as are necessary to the perfect body of a man What should set two Armes two Legs two Eyes just such a number of Fingers and Toes upon every man so many different parts so various in their Nature Figures Use and Service and all these to agree together and Man compos'd of all to keep so long in tune and harmony the deeper we go the greater's the admiration though the words fewer But what astonishment will it be to discover the subtil nets wherewith Power and Act as Metaphysicians call them are forbidden parting to penetrate the divisibility of substance it self to sing the loves of Matter and Form and see how by the Influence of the Overflowing Being they become the Basis and Foundation of this fair Pageant Shall I seek into the rationall Soul and see the union of the two worlds or search the Conduits and passages by which knowledge is conveyed through the Body to the Spirit How the beating of divers weights and figures upon our senses can beget the skill of knowing all things Shall I ask why the Spirit being subsistent within our limbs seems dead or asleep and can do nothing but by the impression it receives from the body But what will it be to make this an occasion of passing into the next world there to contemplate the state of so many separated souls all different yet all like one another then still to mount up higher to the never-bodied Spirits and see their Being their
her Spouse is not pleased to sit by her self and stedily fix her thought upon him wishing for the day she shall once meet and enjoy him till then love and honour him in his Picture see him in every one that has seen and known him and be overjoyed with all Tokens that come from him Whereof what variety my soul hast thou from thy God All we have hitherto discours'd is nothing else Heaven and earth and all that is in them His Divinity his Humanity his Body Blood and Soul Thy self all thou hast all thou dost all thou hast done or ever shalt do Se Nascens dedit socium Convescens in Edulium se Moriens in Pretium se regnans dat in Praemium But retire thy self a little my soul from the multitude of the Creatures His benefits to thy more united thoughts for Love's Palace to be compleat must have a with-drawingroom Thither then retire and consider this Great Courtier that makes so many Embassyes to thee for thy Love Know who He is whether He be the best worthy thy Affections First what 's His Extraction Is He Noble and of an ancient race He is the First of things whence all Nobility derives its esteem His Ancientnesse is Eternity higher driven then Time His Creature and Off-spring which yet is the measure of all other Auncestry True it is He is the First of his House but the Last too His nobility is not by derivation from others and a participation of their worth 't is entirely His Own out-wearing the long Pedegrees of Mankind's successions by the never-changing greatnesse of His Own Person Is He powerfull All things except himself are his Creatures and the Works of his Hand they depend for their being all they have all they are worth on his breath and would perish if he did not perpetually drop them from his omnipotent Fingers He works them and turns them as he lists with a Fiat and none can breath a wish to resist him but by his permission nor is Himself able to make a Thing of such strength that it can break his least Order or Will Is He rich Sea and Land and all their Treasures are His Beasts and Birds Fishes and Trees and Plants are the store of his Basse-Court the mines of the Earth and the Jewels of the Ocean are the refuse of his plenty All that lies hidden behind the dazling starres whose riches we cannot imagine all 's His. There 's no end of his Wealth and his Creatures are not able to make use of the least part of it All this is well But peradventure He is a great way off and I cannot come near Him He is every where He makes Place it self He is in all Things and their Places to be separated from him is to be Nothing and No where He is in thy very Heart and in the bottome of thy Soul the inmost thing thou canst finde in thy self is He nor canst thou look upon any thing without or within thee but He is to be found and seen in it if thou hast Eyes turned towards him and a Mind to discern him Thou canst never want his light but by thine own fault never be excluded from his Presence but when thou turnest thy back to him which yet can be but from his favours not from his Power With all this is he wise The Device of the World is His He contriv'd the Order of Heaven and Earth The Planets roul by his measures Night and Day proceed by his direction the Waters in the Sea expect his beck turning and winding just as he pleases He joynted the Beasts every one to his peculiar motion and frames the Little-ones in the Damm's Wombes He prevents and casts the counsels of Men catching those who think themselves crafty in their own snares and over-reaching them in their most premeditated projects He changes Kingdomes and States making Tyrants the instruments of their own ruine In a word He governs the Fates of Men and Angels and brings them to those Ends he thinks fittest Is He Bountifull and magnificent Behold the Earth we walk on all this he gave to One Man Alas we but trample on the out-side and fill a small part of it there 's a thousand times more we never come to see and of this surface we inhabite what vast Deserts are possest onely by Beasts and Birds whilst all the Sea covers is stor'd onely with Fishes Think what abundance of Plants Beasts Birds and Fishes live and die without the knowledge of Men yet all bestowed on them and created for them Remember what a heap of Benefits thou found'st laden upon thy self and know that Others have no lesse See the Sun and Moon lighted like Torches to wait upon us one farre greater the other not much lesse then the whole Earth See in a fair night how the huge world about us is bestudded with glorious Gemms that serve for nothing but witnesses of his great Magnificence and unbounded Prodigality to us But Is He Purely Loving and has no Ends in all He does When no Creature had a Being He was brim-full of Glory and infinitely satiated with his own happinesse being Essentially Joy and Pleasure to Himself to Himself Honour and Praise and all He could wish He could desire nothing nor aim at obtaining any thing Now He has made Creatures He 's never the better for them his Heart is not touch'd with their praises or good-works no more then 't is molested with their dispraises or mis-deeds nor can any possible Creature have force to move his Will more then my weaknesse has to change the course of the Sun and Moon He made all Creatures therefore not for any good in them or love conceiv'd from them but meerly out of the Intrinsecall Goodnesse of His Own Nature and the strong Inclination which Himself is to do Good because He is what He is an Inclination stronger and more naturall then any Lover in this world can have with as much advantage as God's Nature has over a Creatures So not without reason is His Love but totally Reason as not kindled by thinking or casting to obtain any End but perfectly from Nature and Essence and no more to be wrested from Him then can His own Being yet neverthelesse most perfectly free and rationall This is much But He Loves a great many so that I fear I shall have a small portion in His Affection O no His Heart is whole where it is and as He comprehends perfectly all things with so high an eminency that he knowes every one as well as if there were nothing else to be known so He loves every one as dearly as if there were no other He is with one without parting from another He fills one without emptying another and as a Rainbow in a Multitudes Eyes or Thunder in all the Worlds Eares He is Whole in All and Whole in Every one His Affection his Care his Tendernesse is intire indivisible to every one the Multitude of those
of Mankinde thy senses the most quick and delicate that could be sifted from the finest dust of Adam Was it for this thou wert nurst by the purest of Women and carried in the hands of Angels lest thou shouldst at any time offend thy tender feet Were all these diligences used all these priviledges bestowed onely to prepare thee a body for the rack a subject to practise on a thousand intolerable affronts a person to be made the unparallell'd example of prodigious calamities Such ought the Lamb to be that 's brought to the Altar for sacrifice without blemish without spot A just and reasonable Law but here too severely interpreted too cruelly applied O unfortunate Adam now the effects of thy fond disobedience are become too sadly evident now thou art cleerly convinc'd the unnaturall murtherer of thy Posterity now that mortall wound thou gavest mankinde is rendred incurable Rise up with all thy numerous children about thee whose repentance expects a blessed eternity force the gates of Limbo with your sighs and let your strong groans tear the bowels of the earth that opening a wide passage towards heaven and this Garden fruitfull in miseries your cries and exclamations may be heard Protest to God and Angels and Men and all creatures that Hell is too gentle a pain eternity too short a time to punish your misdemeanours Let the Devils invent some more exquisite torture then their wits and malice have yet devis'd and stretch the measure of time beyond infinity that you may pay your debts and dis-engage this immaculate Lamb of God this inestimable pearl of the Deity Contest the Judge of righteousnesse to lay the punishment where he findes the fault charge him with his word that 't is not his part to chastise the innocent with the wicked but every one bear his own burthen But why do I cry and murmure I hear my complaints contradicted by Him they most concern I hear him in that weak voice is left him humbly say How then shall the Scripture be fulfilled My Father has promis'd can he deny himself my Father is all Truth dare I offer to falsifie his Word my Father is essentially Goodnesse can I make him go lesse No no let us march on confidently towards my Passion for behold him at hand who is to betray me And now my Soul Thou who hast been a witnesse of this great spectacle a searcher of this profound mystery Thou who hast discover'd the source of this impenetrable secret and knowest God had no need of us took not our nature on him to please himself but we and I in particular were the chief mark he aim'd at and all these excesses and heights of incomparable goodness contriv'd to exalt our affections towards him nor this because our loves refresh or better him but purely for this sole motive that they are our good and contain in them our eternall felicity If thou art able to look at so glorious a light to balance so great a weight to judge of and value so infinite a Charity tell me what I have to do After this can I love any thing but my Lord JESUS CHRIST can I love any thing but the Love of my blessed SAVIOUR Father and Mother Brothers and Sisters Kinsfolk and Friends what is 't you have done for me what goods have you wisht me what wishes can you make to deserve the least share in my Affection Health and Pleasure Riches and Honour what charmes have you comparable to this ravishing object of love dull and fleeting appearances take away your deceitfull flatteries Turn thou thy face to me sweet JESUS that I may every day still more and more understand and admire thy love Make it the businesse and delight of my life to study how much thou lovest me Set me in solitude to consider thy works upon me to repeat thy benefits to me Let nothing but desires and affections towards thee entertain my thoughts nothing but strains and tunes of thy Bounty and Goodnesse sound in my Eares The End ERRATA Page 115. line ult for set set read only set p. 132. l. 1. for rishes read rishest The STATIONER to the READER THough the equality and strength not-to-be-counterfeited which evidently shines in what ever proceeds from this prodigious Brain will sufficiently secure all considering persons that is all that deserve to read him against mistaking for His any of those lesse generous Issues born frequently into the world of Parents honour'd with the same name yet aswell to render that security both more easie and universall as readily to addresse those whom a happy familiarity with this tempting Branch may have rais'd to the ambition of a farther acquaintance with the numerous rest of its Family and Bloud by a singular prerogative all perfectly agreeing together all worthy such a Father I have thought it a duty of civill Charity to subjoin this Catalogue which both the learned and devout World longs and hopes to see much enlarg'd A Catalogue of the severall Books written by Mr. THO. WHITE THe learned Dialogues DE MUNDO in Latine printed at Paris 4o. The elaborate Preface before Sir Kenelm Digbyes DEMONSTRATIO IMMORTALITATIS ANIMAE printed also at Paris in Folio INSTITUTIONES PERIPATETICAE c. first printed at Paris and afterwards at London in 8o. INSTITUTIONES SACRAE c. in 2. Tom. printed at Paris in 8o. QUAESTIO PRAEVIA Mens Augustini de Gratia in 12o. Villicationis suae de MEDIO ANIMARUM STATU Ratio at Paris in 12o. MEDITATIONES in Gratiam Sacerdotum Cleri Anglicani c. in 16o. RICHWORTH'S DIALOGUES or the judgement of Common sense in the choice of Religion two Editions at Paris in 12o. A CATECHISM in English c. in 24o. MEDITATIONS in English in 12o.