wherein we judge amiss and whereupon wee ground our particular fears for that is the easiest way to remove them 8. Let us weigh the vertue of the Physick The vertue of the Physick which must cure us which must cure our Disease to wit First the infinit goodness of God and Christs merits And what Soul can fear having so gracious a God and so great a Ransome 2. The Credit and Compassion of the Blessed Virgin and the Prayers and Patronage of Saints and Angels who being secure for themselves are solicitous for us 3. The testimony and sweet promises of holy Scriptures For how often hath God told us I am prone to pitty I am ready to receive sinners I will help them who doe their endeavours If therefore he denys not his mercy to them that seek it and they seek it who doe what lys in them let us bee confident he will not deny us his mercy He also frequently calls on us Turn to me and I will turn to you Now he cannot but say truth aad fulfill his promise and doth not that soul convert her self to God who doth her best to get his grace and be reconciled unto him Who then can choose but be of good Comfort if he be of good Will By this Doctrine and these prescribed Remedâ—es it appears that the only way to overcome Scruples is 1. To obey our Spirituall Director 2. To doe our best endeavour But here arise two difficulties in this easy lesson The first is If our Directoâ—â— The first difficulty knowledge be small his experience lesse and his conscience not very good how dare we trust our souls upon his Warrant Gerson answers Thou wiâ—e Gerson's answer Judger I say thou errest and aâ—â— deceived for thou hast not committed thy self and thy soul to a man because of his discretion and learning but to God himself and for his love thou obeyest man because he is by him ordained thy Prelat and Superior Therefore our obedience wil be oftentimes so much more pleasing to God and profitable to our souls by how much more infirm and unworthy he is whom we refuse not to obey for Gods sake The other difficulty is If wee The second difficulty cannot satisfy our selves that wee doe our best Endeavours nor know that we have performed our duty S. Thomas answers We must St. Thomas answer first remove that which hinders grace to wit Sin 2. We must convert our hearts from creatures to our Creator In a word we must detest Sin and choose God and follow his ordinary means appointed in his Church for our direction and this is the Summary of our duty The 22. Doubt If we fear we detest not Sin sufficiently because we feel not so great sorrow for the offence of God as we doe sometimes for a temporall losse LEt us assure our selves First We can never have so much sorrow for our Sins as Gods justice in rigour requires 2. God doth not exact it of us because it is not in our power 3. True sorrow consists not in feeling but in Reason and Freewill 4. It is better to have sorrow sometimes only in desire than feeling 5. It is not necessary this corporall or sensible grief be so great for spirituall as for temporall loss but it sufficeth to use humane and morall diligence with firm purpose of a voiding Sin 6. It ls dangerous to make such comparisons and reflexions for weak and fearfull Consciences as If such a thing should happen what should I doe Should I rather chuse death than such a Sin and the like I say there is no obligation to make such acts The 23. Doubt If we cannot ground our selves in a firm Hope of mercy for that we are so frail and inconstant We sin daily and amend not our lives We receive Gods blessings and repay ill for good Wee promise protest and vow fidelity and practise nothing lesse TEll me afflicted Souls Should you see Christ dye daily for your daily sins would you despair of mercy Even so efficacious is his former death If you fall hourely rise again couragiously and purpose to stand more constantly and fear nothing but draw Humility out of your Frailty saying Whereof am I proud now Where are my strong Resolutions Why doe I judge others Who is so feeble sickle frail as I am O Lord this is the Worm that is so proud Then cast â—ll into Christs sacred wounds and leaving all there go on with as much quiet and Confidence as if you had not sinned The 24. Doubt If we go not on w th alacrity because we know not that our Sins are forgiven that our Confessions are good and that we are in state of Grace WE must take notice that in seeking these assurances we may oftentimes directly lose them 1. In seeking them too eagerly and unquietly 2. In being self-lovers and unwilling to be troubled 3. In being ignorant of what we are bound to know for it seems we conceive those works nothing worth which are performed without gust content satisfaction to our selves and quiet The way then is briefly this 1. To seek true peace 2. In God 3. From his mercy not our own industry 4. To be resigned to want peace if he please 5. To omit nothing we would or should do by reason of the trouble we feel The 25. Doubt Though we cannot in this life assure our selves infallibly to be in good estate yet if we could comfort our selves with most probable tokens of grace whereby we might feel the pulses of our hearts and somewhat ease our anguish SAint Thomas and S. Bernard assigne 4. Signs of a good conscience out of S. Tho. and Bernard these four signes of a good conscience 1. To feel a ready Willingness in our hearts to hear Gods word and to learn the means to love and serve him 2. To feel a Forwardness to do good Works 3. To feel a hearty Sorrow for the offence of God 4. To feel a firm Purpose to avoid all Sin Gerson adds a fifth Who so can A â— out of Gerson To pronounce these three verities pronounce heartily and sincerely these three Verities though he had committed all sins and should be prevented with sodain death let him secure himself he is in state of Grace The first Verity O Lord If in Oh! that we would often recite these three truths especially when we feel our consciences burthened What infinite profit and comfort would redound to our souls this or that I have sinned against thy goodness it truly displeases and grieves me and I am ready to do penance for it because I have offended thee who art worthy of all honor and have transgressed thy Law and Will which is most holy just and reasonable The second Verity O Lord I have a good purpose and desire by thy grace to take heed I fall not into sin again and to avoid to my power the occasions thereof and to mortify my passions and bad
up Christ's actions for our offences selfe in this sort First cast an eye upon thy sinnes and perceiving that thou canst not hope to pacify Gods wrath nor satisfie his divine Iustice by thine owne endeavours addresse thy selfe to thy Saviours life passion and death and fix upon some one or other action or suffering of his as upon his fasting or his praying or the effusion of his precious bloud then reflect that he offered that his action or passion to his eternall Father for thy sins and to reconcile him to thee as if he said I do now O my heavenly Father fully satisfie thy divine justice for the sins of this thy servant N. Oh let it please thee to spare him and to receive him into the number of thy elect 8. Doe thou also make the same oblation of thy deare Saviour to the eternall Father and humbly beg for thy selfe and others that in vertue of this offering and for his owne glories sake he will in his mercy pardon both thine and their offences And thou maist piously and profitably make use of this manner of spirituall exercise in any action or passage of our Lord and Saviours life or passion EXPLICATION Another maner of perfect oblation TO the end thy oblation of thy Christ here on earth offered not only himself selfe may be acceptable to the divine Majesty Consider that whilst our Saviour so journed here upon earth he perpetually offered up to his eternall father not onely himself and all his merits but also all us mortalls together with himself But also al us to his Father Make therefore thy Oblation in vertue and union of his yea make the self-same oblation of Jesus Christ in which he also comprehended thee Make thou the same oblation and let this thy oblation be without the least touch of propriety or selfe-wil neither regarding earthly goods nor heavenly graces but purely and precisely looking upon the divine pleasure and providence to which thou art entirely to submit and sacrifice thy selfe as a perpetuall holocaust and forgetting all things created say unto thy Lord God Behold ô my good God ô my great Creatour a small lump of mire and earth mixed together in the hands of thy eternall providence do with me what best pleaseth thee in my life at my death and after my death in time and in eternity And thou mayst give a How to know the sincerity of thy oblation probable guesse concerning thy own oblation that it proceeds from a sincere and disinteressed heart if thou canst perfectly practise it in time of adversity bearing it with true patience and being then ready to execute Gods holy will in all thy desolations and distresses This is the right way o my dearly beloved to make a beneficiall truck and traffick of thy self for thy Saviour who will give thee himselfe in exchange if thou bequeathest and sacrificest thy selfe thus totally to his divine Majesty CHAP. XXXIV How to petition for divine grace HAving made this perfect oblation Text. First encourage thy selfe with confidence in his goodnesse of this most precious treasure which is no lesse than Christ himselfe with all his glorious merits to the Eternall Father thou mayst appeare with Confidence before the throne of his mercy to petition for the supply of thy necessities And that thou mayst doe it with the more decency First encourage thy selfe with confidence remembring his benefits bounty and liberality towards thee for nothing can more strengthen thy hope of obtaining new supplies than than the reflection upon Gods former favours in time of necessity And know that this confidence gives the whole efficacy to thy petition so that without it never expect to obtain from God any thing which thou demandest 2. Secondly Take speciall care that Secondly join humility with it this Confidence be coupled with humility distrusting totally thine owne merits and relying boldly upon Christs mercies Not that I advise thee to become fearfull and pusilanimous upon pretence of humillity so as not to beg large benefits from Gods bounty For though it behooves to know thine own basenesse and to consider how litle thou deservest yet thou must beware of distrusting the divine bounty or undervaluing his liberality No be not dejected for as thou deservest nothing so thou hast greater occasion to demand much since Gods gifts are not grounded upon thy deserts but upon Christs merits which are Thirdly presse thy petition with fervent desires of infinite worth and dignity 3. Thirdly Endeavour to presse thy petition with frequent and fervent desires that is that thou aâ—dently wish to obtain what thou askest for since thou petitionest a most pious father for a supply of thy necessities who not onely bids thee ask great things but is also angry if thou askest not and hath past his promise to perform thy petition why shouldst thou not have inflamed desires â—o obtain what thou demandest 4. And indeed we most commonly The want whereof hinders the effect of our demands faile in the effects of our demands because we want this fervour in our desires and make our petitions tepidly rather because faith and reason dictate unto us that such things are needfull for us than that we zelously covet to receive them The true cause of which tepidity is for that our affections being fastned to earthly things we prize them in our wills though we sleight them in our understandings and consequently though we know in our judgement that our minds are to be raised up to higher objects yet we doe not seriously seek to be separated from them whereas if we verily and vigorously humbly and heartily desired it our prayers would soon return us a happy effect 5. Lastly provide that thy petition Fourthly Let not thy petition want Charity want not First Affection of charity to thy neighbours for it should not suffice thee to pray fervently for thy self but to extend thy piety in petitioning the divine grace for all others Secondly Perseverance For our Perseverance loving Lord useth sometimes to prolong and to put off the fulfilling of our petition for our greater profit and the better encrease and enkindling of our holy desires as may be exemplified in the Cananean woman and Evangelicall widdow Thirdly Resignation of thy will Refignation For thou art to represent thy desires to thy deare Lord as if thou rather expectedst the fulfilling of his divine pleasure than of thy petition So Christ prayed in the garden not to have his owne will but his heavenly Fathers accomplished CHAP. XXXV Some short observations concerning meditation FIâ—st Before thou betakest thy self 1. 1. Read overnight the matter of thy meditation to thy nights rest read attentively and considerately that mystery of thy Saviours life or that argument which thou meanest to meditate upon the morning following and contracting it into two or three points or heads commit it to thy memory 2. When thou awakest from sleep 2. Reflect
of for your own satisfaction And look down with your other eye upon your bottomless nothing see there your own base indignity and brutish ingratitude your great impurity and gross impiety and be ashamed to desire any temporal esteem who so truly deserve eternal damnation 6. Other knots of the same To self-love appertain also all the passions of our inferiour nature love hatred c. snare are all those passions which have their residence in our inferiour nature love hatred joy grief hope and fear with their severall attendants these raise up broiles to disturb our inward tranquillity to discompose our Reason and interpose their earthy exhalations between our superiour will and the grace of God Peace of heart is the secure refuge To which we must oppose Peace of heart against all these peevish Passions do but cast your whole care upon your Creator and call away your inordinate affection from creatures and what then can punish or perplex you Remit and refer all accidents whether adverse or prosperous sweet or sowre good or bad to Gods high power and holy providence comfort your selves in his mercy content your selves in his all-sufficiency and quiet your selves in his love Ah! how poor how vain how vile how unregardable Read the 4. ch num 3. of the conflict are the best of worldly blessings how is it possible that things in themselves so contemptible can have the least entrance or admittance into a soul setled in Gods pure love and presence O let the children of this world who place their final felicity in such fading fooleries who have their souls buried in this earth and swallowed up in sensuality be solicitous to seek them glut and burst themselves in the enjoying of them and be dejected to be deprived of them but we O souls aspiring to perfection whose master is God whose aym is vertue whose reward is heaven what have we to do with these inferiour passions Away with these Mammons My heart is signed with the signet of Gods love my hatred is only bent against sin and my self my joy is in God my Saviour my grief is that I am not all his my fear is to offend him and my hope is to enjoy him 7. Lastly all adhering to our proper will and judgment appertains to this ambush of our enemy The adhering to our own wills and preferring of our own judgments are also points of self-love Read the 5. ch of the Conflict This draws us off by degrees from doing our duty diverts us from following divine motions and superiours commands daunts us from relying entirely on Gods providence and fulfilling perfectly his holy pleasure we dare not disobey this master nor will we venture to destroy this Idol of our hearts 't is death to be cross'd in our conceits or contradicted in our exercises which we have chosen according to our private fancy accustomed with self-complacency and keep with unpardonable propriety Perfect obedience breaks through Which must be cured by obedience submission and resignation this snare and a totall resignation to Gods good will pleasure is the secure refuge against this deceit How can a soul be disquieted to receive or refuse act or omit that which she truly conceives to proceed both in substance and circumstance from the divine providence and permission How can that person go astray who is perfectly obedient to God and his superiour gives up himself wholly to the guidance of Gods holy Spirit and the government of a discreet directour observes each beck of the divine call first examined and approved by them who are incharged with their souls and waits upon the divine will as the shadow on the body 8. Where you are to take notice Note a triple obediencâ— 1. Of vow of a triple obedience One is of vow another of conformity and a third of union The first concerns all religious people and imports an external exact and necessary performance of that which is commanded The Second concerns all spiritual 2. of Conformity souls and consists in their inward promptitude and readiness to execute Gods will manifested by faith and their ghostly guide purely for himself and precisely for his own sake without the least touch of proper interest or self-seeking The Third concerns all perfect 3. Of Vnion persons and consists in so entire a connexion of their wills to the will of their Lord God that they seem both one hence it is that they embrace all that happens to themselves or others good or bad life or death for time or eternity as immediatly proceeding from his divine goodness and as the very best that could happen Here the soul elevated above it self and all things into God and stedfastly fixed in divine contemplation patiently expects and obediently attends to what he speaks wills and acts within her remaining ever ready and really resigned to suffer outward pains or inward pressures to receive comforts or endure crosses as the supream providence best knows permits and pleases being fully content with all and faithfully constant in all The Second Ambush Immoderate affection to creatures 1. THis infects distracts disquiets and diverts our minds from their pure and perfect tendance to our Creator Ah! what have we whose inheritance is heaven to do This affection to creatures distracts us from our Creator with the poor and perishable commodities of this world yet our subtil enemy strives to make us serious in searching after them solicitous to keep them and impatient to part with them Against this we must provide true poverty of spirit which consists Again which must prâ—vide Poverty or spirit in a perfect denudation of our souls from all propriety of love to any corruptible creature whatsoever we must use them only and not rest in them we may enjoy them but take no joy in them if Superiours command them from us we must cheerfully part with them if any accident bereave us of them we must willingly let go our hold saying Our Lord gave them our Lord Read the 13. ch of the Conflict hath retaken them his name be ever praised his will always performed Farewel uncertain and unsatisfying profits wellcome sweet and secure poverty We must throw away couragiously all such cloggs as retard our soul's flight to perfection Away with superfluities Oh! that we could live with the only love of our naked and crucified Jesus That we could support our feeble Nature without the supplies of any creatures that so our souls disingaged from the depressing necessities of flesh and blood might soar aloft and sweetly repose in the bosom of divine love 2. Nor is the overmuch tenderness of affection to any person Affection to persons corrupts our judgements whomsoever under what pertext soever any other thing than a meer ambush of our enemy for it corrupts our purest actions and vitiates our most pious intentions it is the bane of Gods love the poyson of our hearts and the venome of
confession into my mouth prayers into my lips remorse into my memory resolutions of amendment into my will T is Thou O gracious God who chiefly actest all this good in me by me and for me O my All do then all in me that thou desirest And particularly overwhelm I beseech thee my whole interiour with perfect contrition not coming from a slavish and servile fear but from a faithful and filial love Grant me a true and intire grief for having offended thee not because of thy promises or threats but because thou art in thy self good amiable adorable 3. Or if mercenary interest do yet more move thee O my sensual and sinful soul For how hainously dost thou take a small injury how deeply dost thou resent a little disgrace the loss of a dear friend of health of honour or the like temporall and perishable commodities O whence is it then that thou so little apprehendest thy loss of grace and thy eminent and imminent danger of eternall damnation Is it a small matter to be Gods enemy To lose the good will of all heaven To destroy Gods image To cut up life root and branch To side with the accursed devils thy Creators sworn enemies to hatch Treason enter Conspiracie with the damned Yea and to kill as much as in thee lyes him who by his own death gave thee life O brutall and unnatural ingratitude Surely the annihilating of heaven The reason is Because the least degree of a higher order surpasses the highest degree of the lower order earth Angels men and all Nature cannot be compar'd with this malicious evil and willfull destruction of thy grace O Lord in my soul O eternal God! what a monster have I then been in grace what a prodigie in nature who have so little car'd to commit such enormous sins But O my Lord I will even now change my life I here detest all sin I make firm purpose of amendment I have a ful confidence in thee my Creator a good wil to do satisfaction and a totall resignation to thy divine pleasure 4. I am the woful criminal O just judge of my soul and I will be also the accuser and witnes the advocate and executioner in this tribunal I summon you therefore O detestable pride O abominable envy O execrable avarice O beastly lubricity and all you accursed crew of sins how long will you reign on earth how long will you dispeople Gods inheritance who brought you in amongst Gods children T is the perverted Will of man O dread Soveraign which hath done all these mischiefs Rectify ô my Lord I beseech thee this my crooked Will and murder these horrible monsters in me and grant that I may henceforth rather expose my body to a thousand deaths than my soul to one deadly sin Thy Saints will rejoyce ô God at my amendment and thy Angels will make a Feast but thy own resentment of joy will be infinite because thy love is infinite which goes hand in hand with thy essence and comprehends all love in supream eminency I will therefore expect from thee O heavenly Father the exact remembrance from thee my Redeemer the perfect knowledge from thee ô holy Spirit a true repentance and from thee ô Sacred Trinity an intire absolution and plenary indulgence from all my iniquities The grief I feel for my past offences the hatred I have against each sin at this present and the resolution I make to avoid all iniquity for the future are not equivalent in me to their enormity and hainousness I therefore humbly crave ô holy Lord God! that thou wilt accept thine own hatred against sin for that which I should and would have and in stead of the sorrow I want I offer that of thy Son my sweet Redeemer with the Sacrifice of his immaculate life and innocent death And since I cannot be impeccable by nature O my Lord nor dare presume to ask to be so by grace give me leave to prostrate my self before thy infinite bounty and clemency and beg by the merits of Jesus Christ thy dear Son and by the desires of thy essential love the blessed holy Ghost that though I may not be impeccable yet I may never sin more and if I must somtimes sin through my frailty yet that I may never sin mortally This thou desirest O Lord this thou demandest this thou commandest O give me what thou commandest and command me what thou pleasest 5. O my good Lord Jesu who art Lord of my life and shouldst be the love of my soul had I not like an ungracious and ungratefull wretch given my heart and sold my affection to fond frail filthy and fading creatures and comforts which are so far from bringing me eyther quiet of mind peace of conscience purity of soul or perfection of spirit that they leave me nothing but trouble confusion and remorse with a world of disquiet and desperate thoughts violent passions and vitious inclinations I find no other refuge or remedy but to return to thee my Centre to convert my self to thee O my good Lord and Master to cast my self in all humility at thy sacred feet and heartily to beg thy mercy pardon and reconciliation O mercifull Father I truly acknowledge my prodigality and humbly confess my treachery and am sorry from my heart that ever I offended thee who deservest so much love and service from me Beseeching thee as a guilty prisoner to be pitifull to thy poor creature and mercifully to forgive me the manifold rebellions and grievous iniquities that I have committed against thy Divine Majesty and goodness and for the love of thee I freely forgive all them who have any way offended or contristated me sincerely acknowledging that I deserve no comfort from any creature but all contempt and confusion and not only to be troubled by all on earth temporally but even to be tormented by the Devils in hell eternally 6. O how ungratefull a child have I been to offend so often and so grievously so loving and liberal a Father so meek and mercifull a Redeemer and so â—weet and soveraign a Majesty who hath always shew'd himself so benigne and bountifull to me tolerating me in my sins and expecting me to his mercy wooing me to his love and calling me to his service by a thousand means all which I have either rejected or neglected and still nevertheless given me time and opportunity to do penance O my poor soul how blind and bewitched hast thou been to leave the bread of Angels and to feed on the husks of swine for vanities villanies shadows and nothings to abandon God and all goodness on whom depends all thy hope and happiness quiet and comfort for time and eternity O blindness O folly O frenzie Would God I had never sinned Oh that I might never sin more O my God what have I done Would I had suffered on the Cross pains of body and pangs of soul when I thus N. sinned Oh what can I say or do more
and securing lesson Leave all things and thou shalt find one thing which is all in all Take courage and fight valiantly against thy own bad nature pray suffer stoop bear repugnances swallow down contradictions disgest injuries the Kingdom of heaven suffers violence The end thou aymest at is perfection the reward of thy conqucst is eternall love eternal life eternall happiness Behold ô my Lord my strength and my salvation I am fully resolv'd to lay the ax to the root of this wicked tree Help me I beseech thee with thy grace from above that I may hew my self out of my self that I may kill crucifie and mortifie my inveagling sensuality cut off my evil inclinations rectifie my disordered passions and root out each thought or desire which tends not directly to thy honour will and love O my Lord and my God! 3. I know Lord that it is bootless to study perfection without the practice of mortification I confess I can never love thee truly but in as much as I hate my self really such is the antipathy between self-love and thy holy affection Ah! how can a spirit distracted with contrary inclinations be freely and fully vacant to thy divine contemplation Put therefore I beseech thee a sluce to my unmortified passions put a bound to my distraught heart and powerfully keep back those innumerous concupiscences and corrupt imaginations violently succeeding each other that my united affections may intend thee only the only object of all happiness Gather ô my Lord the dispersed forces of my soul from all multiplicity of worldly affections to the union of thy only love Keep I beseech thee my understanding will memory imagination and all my inward and outward sences from roaming abroad that carefully attending and entertaining thy divine presence in my soul I may attain true introversion simplification and union of my Spirit with thine Reform ô my Lord all the naturall corruptions of my outward man and redress all the spirituall infirmities of my inward man destroy and disperse all internal and external enemies and opposers of thy holy love possess me perfectly and dispose of me entirely according to thy divine will and pleasure 4. To this end O bless my weak endeavours al-mighty and al-merciful Lord God I will subtract all superfluities from my body and accustom it to all sorts of sufferings that so I may fit it up for thee O holy Spirit who dwellest not with them that are sensuall and subject to sin Alas I have not yet resisted to the effusion of my blood and should I spill each drop of blood in my body in this holy quarrel how little ought I to regard it in respect of the great good I expect I will therefore crucifie thee O my flesh with all thy concupiscences I will mortifie my outward senses the windows by which death steals into my soul the hinderers of my hearts tranquillity the destroyers of true devotion the dispersers of inward recollection and the utter ruiners of all the good desires which I conceive and kindle in my prayers Ah how soon is this divine fire cooled and quenched not only by sin but also by the distracting images of outward objects I will keep a speciall and strict watch over my tongue on which depends my spirituall life or death and cheerish thee ô beloved silence which art the key of piety the keeper of innocency and the preserver of purity I will trample down my inferior This is the chief exercise of Gods children not to be carried away with affections of flesh and blood but to conduct themselves according to Gods Spirit nature with all it 's evil affections and motions of love hatred joy sadness desire fear hope Anger c. I will order dispose and direct it according to the laws of reason and thy divine inspirations ô my Lord and my God Grant me courage I beseech thee to quell and curb this most dangerous and my greatest enemy which is the source of all my miseries the citadell from whence sin assails me and Satan fetcheth his forces to fight against me Grant good Lord that I may Therefore every one must strive to know his own natural inclinations and then imploy all his forces and apply all his prayers and spiritual exercises to quel them never yeild to this wicked Eve persuading Adam my Superior will to eat the forbidden fruit to consent to unlawfull pleasures O that I could tame these cruel beasts my naturall passions how soon should I be master of all morall vertues O that I could so till this vineyard so delve this garden so purge it from all ill weeds of affections and prune all superfluous surgeons and shoots of passions that the seed of thy grace ô heavenly husbandman might only there take root increase and fructifie 5. I will also mortifie my Superiour and rationall part with all the curious and fruitless speculations of my Understanding all conceits of self-wisdom naturall prudence proper judgement and good liking of my own proceedings All vain and foolish reflexions of my Memory And all petty desires and affections of my Will which relate not to thee the only object and Lord of my love I am resolved ô my Lord to nip off each budding passion as soon as it peeps up in my soul to trouble it in its true repose and to hinder its liberty and tendance to thy love I will by thy gracious assistance proceed faithfully and sincerely in the hatred denial and mortification of my self and in the prosecution of thy divine love And in order to this only end and aym I make in thy presence and from the very bottom of my heart and soul these particular acts following I renounce ô my Lord for the pure love of thee all affection to worldly things Give them unto me ô gracious God or take them from me as best liketh thy divine Majesty I resign up all my interest in any thing though never so near and dear unto me Behold ô my Lord and lover I uncloath my soul from all affections whatsoever to creatures and desire nothing but thy self-alone O happy nakedness O rich poverty of Spirit O pure obedience to the divine will in all things Be you my hearts delight my whole pleasure and patrinony 6. I renounce all self-seeking Ah! my corrupt nature I abhor thee Adieu all private-interest profit praise and preferment I will henceforth performe all my actions and exercises O my Lord God for thy only pure perfect love I will seek to please and praise thee with an inward ardent and amorous affection for thy self only and not for thy gifts or graces I renounce all sensuality whether it be in meat drink sleep apparel curiosity of my five senses or any thing else whatsoever O my Lord I will make no other use of any thy creatures than I am absolutly compell'd to by necessity of nature I look for no solace but from thee alone My only comfort and content I renounce all
prerogative is it to have one Will and spirit with God Is not this to be a Saint an Angel a little Christ or a little God Did not Christ say Those that do the 〈◊〉 of my Father are my Brethrâ—n sisters mother and kindred Oh who would not change Wills with God 2. All things come from God and for our good 2. What can befall me sin only excepted which is from my will but from thee my most sweet Lord loving Father Good and bad comfort confusion life and death are from thee And what can happen to me from thee but for my good If my Father be my Physician shall I not drink the chalice he tempers for me What better sacrifice can I offer up to thee than my will In all other oblations I give but a part of my self or somthing belonging to my self But in this I give the principall leaving no right to my self nay I am no more my self but thy servant and slave 3. Why were we 3. This is the end of our life and being placed in this world ô my soul but to perform the will of God Why entred we into the school of perfection but to learn to practise it purely and perfectly To what end are all our prayers communions exercises c. but to know Gods holy will and to follow it What profit have we reaped by following hither to our own will What will become of us if we continue in it What means is there to amend it for the future but humble obedience and absolute submission of our will in all and to all leaving all to God doing all for God and receiving all from God that he only may be all in all What can endamage me but my will what will past present or to come The past I detest my present is that Gods will be done for time to come I desire this my will may stand irrevocable for ever How often have I done the will of others for my own ends to please them or pleasure my self and shall I not do now as much to please my Lord God Yes Lord I will what thou wilt neither more nor less without exception without reservation withoâ—t delay 4. What fruits shall I reap by this 4. The profits of this exercise Conformity of my Will 1 Having no will I can neither sin erre nor be deluded 2. There is neither judgement nor hell for me 3. â— shall find peace and rest and remaâ— constant and content amidst aâ— chances and changes and so begâ— my Paradise of delights in this 〈◊〉 of tears 4. I shall be freed from all troublesome fears scruples dâ—quiets indiscretions and illusions both in prayer and in the practâ—ce of vertue All which are deriv'd from the disorder of my Will and for want of this true conformity and indifferency 5. This gives every thing I doe leave or suffer a double grace merit and crown O only sweet short and sure way who would not leave yea loath his own Will for so many profits and pleasures 5. What doe heaven and earth Angels and Saints but Gods Will 5. All Creatures doe the will of God What doe the souls in hell but suffer for having done their own Wil What did Christ Jesus and Blessed Mary upon earth The one said I came not to doe my own Will but his that sent me The other said Behold O Lord thy handmaid doe with me as thou wilt I say also with heart and mouth O my Lord I am entirely thine put me where thou wilt give me what thou wilt use me how thou wilt so thou wilt goe with me and give me leave to bear and embrace thee with the two arms of perfect conformity and lively Confidence 6. What made the Apostles 6. Examples of this Conformity Martyrs Virgins so constant and content amidst their torments and trials What made those Saints so couragiously to defy the devils flocking about them like so many Lions and Monsters If God S. Antony others have given you power and permission over us take us devoure us hurry us headlong into hell we will not contradict his Will but if not why doe you labour in vain What made Job so patient on his dunghill Abraham so resolute to sacrifise his son And finally what made Christ in his bloody sweat to cry out Not my will O Father Lu. 22. 42. but thine bee done All this was caus'd by the Will of God which they desired to follow and fulfill to the last gasp and drop of their blood O holy and happy souls When shall I imitate you O my sweet God that thou wouldst say of me as thou didst of that thy servant I have found a man David according to my heart who will doe whatsoever I will Or that I could say as heartily as he did My heart is ready O God to accept and execute thy holy Will in all things whatsoever O my Lord let all sâ—lf-will and self-love hereafter dye in me and let thy only Will and love remain and reign in my spirit For I am most sure till I faithfully follow this rule I shall never find reall peace or content The 29. Maxim That Vnquietness of mind is the bane of Devotion and curse of Contemplation FOr it is not a single and simple Disquiet is not a single evill temptation but a source whence many spring a monster with many heads and the greatest evill sin only excepted which seizes on the soul Let us therefore shun it with all possible speed and dilligence and refuse to give it the least entrance into our hearts upon what pretence soever If we perceive our selves inclin'd How to prevent it to be easily troubled let us duly practise these two points First carefully fore-arm and fortifie our interiours against all future contrarieties crosses and contingencies by devoutly performing our morning prayers and exerciâ—es of Recollection Secondly prudently put off company and occasions of extroversion bridle our tongues till the tempest be blown over hide our selves in a corner turn our souls to our Saviour read something of devotion and in matters of moment impart our minds to some vertuous friend c. If we will alwaies keep internall A rule to keep inward peace peace we must observe these three rules First We must doe nothing only to edify others without a further end of God's honour nor any thing which may justly displease distast dis-edify or contristate them Secondly wee must not be eager eurious or solicitous to please or satisfy our selves yea or to perform our duty 's to God-wards by doing all things in print perfectly and exactly Thirdly All our pleasure must be to please God yet wee must not please our selves in the pleasure wee find in serving and pleasing him For generally it suffiseth that wee are heartily willing and quietly carefull to serve our Creator please him in all things and displease neither him nor any one in any thing and so
strivest to undermine my Perseverance But take courage ô my soul thy time of enduring will soon end and thy ensuing joy will be without end Hearken not to thy sworn enemies enchantments sit not stand not sleep not but pray watch and walk whilst thou hast light and life that the darkness of eternal night and death overtake thee not And since thy Loving Lord is both able and willing to succour and support thee and to turn every thing to thy advantage â—ven thy imperfections frailties and failings For thou art warranted that so Rusbrochius sure as God is God so sure it is that he will permit nothing to befall us but for our greatest good and his own glory and that it is most gratefull unto him we so judge of him doubt not of his providence and protection not fear to permit him to deal with thee as he best pleaseth and to remain in a perfect indifferency to all his divine ordinances and dispositions saying Since it is thy will O Lord it is certain to be nâ—y good be it so I am as sure thou lovest me as that thou livest with me A way then all diffidence disloyalty inconstancy How many Saints have you perverted how many souls have you damned Without thee O holy Perseverance all is lost with thee all is seâ—ure Grace till the end Glory without end Welcome holy Confidence the main support of my life and the life of my Perseverance I am content O my Lord to be conducted by thee for time and eternity as thou best pleasest Lead me by land or water by desolation or devotion by darkness or day by sickness or health I will adhere to thee constantly If it be thy blessed will O Loving Lord that I creep as a snail towards Perfection I will neither be troubled nor dismayed I desire not to fly faster than thou enablest me I quiet my self with the grace thou givest me which I acknowledge to be not only beyond my deserts but better for me than my own desires Finally I here make a generall Resolution and a generous Resignation of my whole self into thy holy hands hoping that it will give worth and value to all my actions and sufferings O my Soveraign and sweet maker A form of generall Resolution my whole Will and desire according to my great obligation former profession and present protestation is to serve and love thee and to fulfill thy blessed Will in all things and to be wholly thine at all times and in all things whatsoever 'T is thy Honour I only aym at thy Glory I only intend and thy Will I only seek to accomplish To thee alone I render and wish all benediction and eternall praise and with cordiall Joy I say Amen to all that is possessed by thy most amiable and perfect goodness and joyning my humble desires and devotions with all those that love thee I implore that we may be all thine and that thou wilt be All in us all And now O my soul since thou hast in some sort happily begun a course of Prayer Recollection Abnegation and Humility according to Obedience and supported by Confidence For further helps to perseverance read the 22. 23. 24. ch of St. Teresa's life Written by her self And her book entitled The way to Perfection Let the Devill storm let Flesh and blood rebell let the World murmure Answer them all Quod scripsi scripsi my Vows and Promises must and shall stand I am content to sign it with my blood I will sooner dye than swerve from my well-setled Resolutions or cancell the free deed and gift of my self to my Saviours service Darkness Desolation Death and Devill shall never make me change Live my good Purposes to love my dear Lord unchangeably irrevocably eternally Cant. 2. 16. My beloved is mine and I am his 2 Tim. c. 4 v. 7 8. I have fought a good fight I have finished my course I have kept the faith Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness which our Lord the righteous Judge shall give me at that day and not to me only but unto them also that love his appearing James 1. 12. Blessed is the man that indureth temptation for when he is tried he shall receive the crown of life which our Lord hath promised to them that love him Revelation 2. 10. Be thou faithfull untill death and I will give thee the crown of life FINIS Errata In the Conflict PAge 32. line 2. for from read form p. 45. l. 15. for weary r. wary p. 69. l. 25. for mediations r. meditations p. 143. l. 28. for his r. he p. 143. l. 29. for its r. his p. 161. l. 29. for ordinary r. ordinarily p. 201. l. 2. for pleasure r. please p. 277. l. 2. for many r. may In the Conquest PAge 3. l 29. for some r. son In the Exercises Page 103. l. 12. for â—at his r. eat aâ— his In the Maxims
future And for an acknowledgment of thy extraordinary obligation for thy Saviours sufferings undergone for thy sake with a resolution of amendment thou wilt resolve to serve him love him and suffer for him hereafter The third profit is that thou wilt fall out with thy perverse inclinations The third a persecution of our passions The fourth an imitation of Christs vertues and passions and persecute them to death be they never so little The fourth is that thou wilt force thy selfe to the utmost of thy power to imitate the virtues of thy deare Saviour who endured all this not onely to save thee and satisfy for thy Sinnes but also to give thee an example to follow his sacred steps Another way to meditate on the Passion And now my beloved I will here declare unto thee another method of meditating upon Christs passion which thou maist make use of as thy devotion and occasion shall suggest unto thee If thou desirest for example to obtain patience in imitation of thy Redeemer consider these points following First What the afflicted soule of thy Saviour doth towards his heavenly Father By considering Secondly What the Father doth towards this soule of his Sonne Thirdly What this soule doth towards it selfe and its sacred body Fourthly What doth thy Saviour towards thee Fifthly What shouldst thou doe towards thy Saviour First therefore Consider how the soule of Jesus Christ being totally First how Christs soule carries it selfe towards his heavenly Father intentive upon God Is amazed to behold this infinite and incomprehensible Majesty in respect whereof all things created are as a pure nothing submitted though immutable in his glory to the sufferance of such unworthy usages upon earth for man from whom he never received any thing but disloyalty and injuries And how it afterwards adores thanks and offers up it self intirely to the disposition of the divinity Secondly how the Father towards him Secondly Consider how God willeth and exciteth the soule of thy Saviour to suffer for thy sake all those blowes buffets scourges spittles blasphemies thorns and death upon the Crosse giving him to know how well it pleaseth him to see him thus replenished with all sorts of affronts and afflictions Thirdly passing on to the soule of thy Saviour Christ Consider how with his understanding which is all Thirdly how the soule towards it selfe and its sacred body light knowing how highly his passion pleased God and with his will which is al fire loving the divine Majesty beyond measure which thus invited him to suffer for thee he disposeth himself readily joyfully contentedly to obey his sacred will and pleasure And who can dive into the depths of those desires which this pure and loving soule of thy Saviour had to suffer for thy sake It found it selfe as it were in a Labyrinth of troubles casting about to encounter new wayes of sufferings and therefore freely gave up it selfe and it 's innocent body as a prey to the pleasure and cruelty of the most lewd and worst sort of villains Fourthly Consider in the next Fourthly how thy Saviour carryes himselfe towards thee place thy sweet Saviour amidst his bitter torments fixing his eyes full of teares and tendernesse upon thee and conceive thou hearest him thus expostulating with thee Behold my Child whither thy immoderate desires and unmortified affections have brought me because thou wouldest not use a little violence to thy selfe See and consider how much and how willingly I suffer for thy love and to give thee a pattern of perfect patience I beg of thee ô my deare child and I conjure thee by all these my sufferings and sorrows that thou wilt willingly embrace and cheerfully carry this Crosse and any other which I shall think fit to lay upon thy shoulders and that thou abandon thy selfe intirely into such hands as I shall permit to persecute thee in body or fame how vile contemptible and cruel soever they be O didst thou but conceive the greatnesse of the comfort I should receive in this thy patience and courage But thou mayst read it in these my wounds wherein my love to thee is written in bloudy characters and which I willingly receive as so many precious pearles to enrich thy poore soule with all sorts of vertues and perfections because I love it above all things created And if I thy Lord and Creatour am reduc'd to this extremity for thy love why ô my deare Spouse wilt thou not consent to endure a little to satisfie my hearts desire to supple my wounds and to mitigate these my pains caused by thy impatience which more afflicts my soule than these grievous torments doe my body Fiftly Consider well who he is Fiftly how thou shouldst carry thy selfe towards thy Saviour that speakes thus unto thee and thou wilt find that he is the King of glory Iesus Christ true God and true Man Mark also the greatnesse of his grief the variety of his torments and the manner and indignity of his disgraces too bad for the worst of men or most infamous malefactor in the world Yet thou seest thy Saviour amidst all these affronts and afflictions not onely unmoveable mild and patient but even joyfull and content as if hee now kept his marriage-banquet And as a little water rather strengthens than extinguishes a full kindled fire so by the increase of his torments which were small in respect of his excessive love his content and desire of suffering farre greater was more and more enkindled and augmented Consider further that he endured all this by no externall violence nor for any self-interest but as he told thee for thy love and that thou mightst imitate him and exercise thy selfe in the vertue of patience And then penetrating into that which he desires thou shouldest doe and into the content thou shouldest afford him by this thy practice of patience produce acts of a passionate will to beare not onely this Crosse patiently and joyfully but any greater that so thou maist imitate him more perfectly and content him more abundantly And imprinting in thy mind a lively image of these his sufferings and of his constancy therein be ashamed to thinke thy patience so much as a shadow of his or that thy affections are really any at all being compared with his and tremble that the least thought of not enduring for the love of thy Lord should remaine in thy heart Thy Crucified Jesus my beloved is the best book thou canst read in Christ crucified is the best book to read in and the liveliest image thou canst look upon to draw the perfect pourtrait of all vertue For it being the book of life it not onely informs thy understanding by words but also inflames thy will by example The world is full of books yet all of them together cannot so speedily and perfectly teach the true means of obtaining all vertues as doth the right contemplation of Christ upon his Crosse But they And to learne all
source of all goodnesse thank him for all his benefits and blessings for the inspirations he hath sent thee and the good desires of vertue he hath given thee for his deliverance from dangers and defence against thine enemies CHAP. XL. Being a Conclusion of the whole Worke. 1. MUch more might be said of This short booke weâ—l practised is sufficient these important matters but let this which is here delivered according to my poore Talent suffice for the present which surely if thou endeavourest to keepe in thy memory and accomplish in thy actions thou hast sufficiently learned and laboured 2. But in respect of thy weake capacity and my proposed brevity it will be necessary that thou use a studious diligence in often revolving and meditating upon these foregoing Precepts For by frequent consideration and continuall exercise thou wilt certainly increase thy inward strength whereby to conquer all thine enemies EXPLICATION ABove all things beg incessantly of the Divine Goodnesse the gift of perseverance in thy unwearied endeavours against thy passions and imperfections it being the chiefe weapon in this spirituall warfare against thy never-dying enemies which like ill weeds are ever budding and breaking forth so long as the Earth hath any life in it to nourish them 3. Resolve therefore to betake thy Texâ— If thou resolvest to fight manfully selfe to these proposed Armes of defence and to fight stoutly manfully and constantly because no man can avoid this combat without endangering the losse of the conquest Nor can there be any hope of Peace with such enemies which endommage them most who most dâ—sire to enter league and friendshâ—p with them 4. Neither be thou terrified at And not to be terrified at thy enemies power their seeming power and cruelty since all their force and fury is in the more powerfull hands of that Supreme Captaine for whose honour thou art ingaged in the battail wherein none can be vanquished but they that will themselves And if thy Lord for whom thou wagest this war doth seem sometimes to withdraw his Assistance and delay thy conquest over thine enemies for a time yet be not thou faint-hearted but fight on couragiously being most certain and secure that his Goodnesse Power and Providence directs all events and more especially all adversities to the best profit of his souldiers 5. These thoughts will beget in Though the victory seems to come slowly on thee a generous spirit and a constant heart to resist and fight with courage and therefore though the victory comes slowly on beleeve firmly that this deferring is either to free thy soule from secret pride and conserve thee in true humility Or else to perfect thee in vertue and to teach thee to become a tryed Souldier by these long continued conflicts Or surely for some other good of thine which thy Lord then conceales from thee for thy greater merit and improvement 6. Go on therefore O my dearly beloved and enter these lists with a cheerfull and heroick minde lest thou seem ungratefull to thy loving Lord God who so much tendred thy good that he suffered death for thy sake And attend carefully to every Counsell and Command of thy Captaine Christ Jesus that thou mayst totally rout and ruine all thine enemies For if thou permittest but one only to live and lurk in thy Soul it will be as a moat in thy eye and as a Launce in thy bowels and prove a perpetuall impediment in the progresse of so glorious a Victory APOC. 2. 7. To him that overcommeth I will give the hidden Manna 1. KINGS 15. 18. Thou shalt fighe against them untill their utter destruction The generall Table containing the severall Chapters of this Treatise as they stand divided into numbers And being a brief compendium of the whole worke The Spirituall Conflict Or The Arraignment of the Spirit of Self-love and Sensuality at the bar of Truth and Reason Chap. I. WHerein Christian perfection consists The importance of this knowledge is very great Numb 1. Some place perfection in austerity 2. Others in reciting many prayers 3. Others in exact observance 4. All which are good meanes but not directly tending to perfection 5. And they that rest in these lower exercises are in great danger 6. As may appeare by the rest of their actions 7. And especially by their want of resignation in time of affliction 8. True perfection therefore consists in the knowledge of God and our selves In the love of God and hatred of our selves In resignation to God's will and denying our owne 9. All which Christ hath taught us by word and example 10. And we must also do it if we meane to purchase victory 11. Nor is there any thing more glorious to our selves or more gratefull to God 12. But to obtaine it we wust provide foure necessary weapons 13. Chap. II. First Distrust of our selves which is gotten by a deep sense of our owne nothing 1. By Prayer 2. And by often reflecting upon our owne weaknesse 3. And this self-knowledge is a lesson must be well learn'd 4. And we must be carefull to rise speedily after our fall 5. The great necessity of this distrust in our owne strength is inforced by the corruption of our nature and the frailty thereof and by considering how much this acknowledgment pleaseth God and presumption displeaseth him 6. Chap. III. Secondly Confidence in God which is obtained 1. By prayer 2. By considering the divine power wisdome and goodnesse by which he can knowes how and is willing to help us 3. By meditating upon holy writ 4. Another means is by thinking on our owne frailty and Gods omnipotency at the beginning of each action Whereby we shall not be foolishly dejected at our frequent failings 5. A necessary Caveat for all spirituall people 6. By Gods assistance we can doe all things But many are deceived in presuming upon their owne strength 7. Chap. IV. Thirdly Continuall Exercise 1. Which consists in the right use of the Understanding 2. Which is to be kept from Ignorance by prayer and by a diligent discussion of our own actions judging things according to their true worth And this will open our eyes to see the meannesse of all worldly vanities 3. A necessary caution to keep the will from sixing its love untill the Understanding have first pondered the object 4. And the same caution is necessary also in holy things 5. The understanding is to be furthermore weaned from curiosity 6. How highly this conduceth to perfection and how cunningly the Devill plots against it by suggesting pride to our Understanding 7. Which is farre more dangerous and more difficultly cured than Pride of the Will 8. Chap. V. Of the Will and the end to which we are to direct all our actions A will to doe well sufficeth not But our actions must also be performed onely to please God 1. Which to attaine to Apply thy Understanding to know Gods will 3. And take heed of being deceived because nature is
And not only acknowledge thine owne basenesse but use thy selfe accordingly 7. And stick to this amidst all praise or applause of others 8. And let not the memory of thy good deeds puff thee up with vanity 9. For thou wilt find the best of them very imperfect 10. And that thou hast no colour to glory in them but to accuse thy want of duty 11. Learn therefore Humility which is the foundation of all vertues and without which thou art lesse than nothing 12. It being the onely way to find praise and please God 13. To whom thou art bound for permitting thee to be scorned as also to them that doe it 14. Be ever wary of the Devill and of thine owne inclination 15. Of Rash-Judgement which springs from Self-esteem and Pride 1. The Devill strives to keep open our senses upon our neighbours actions but we must be as diligent to shun as he is to lay his plots First by denying to give any sentence 2. Secondly by looking homewards upon our selves where we shall find some root of the same fault we blame in them 3. If the fault be manifest put a charitable construction upon it If monstrous have recourse to Gods secret judgements and tremble at the proceedings of his Providence 4. And know that all Charity proceeds from Gods good spirit and all Bitternesse from the Devill 5. Of the means to shield our selves against the attempts of our enemies at the time of Death The way to be then conquerours is to fall upon our enemies before hand 1. And to make timely preparation by studying now the answers of the foure challenges our enemies wil then sendus 2. The first is against Faith and the remedy is to retreat from thine Understanding to thy Will 4. And to give no answer to thy enemies questions 5. But to fix thy thoughts upon Christ crucified 6. The second assault is of Despaire where thou art to observe this certaine rule c. And to have a perfect hope and humble confidence in God 7. And never to distrust his mercy and the merits of his Passion 8. The Third is of Vain-glory which is conquer'd by distrust of thy selfe and trust in God 9. The Fourth is by Fâ—lâ—â— Illusions against which have recourse to the confession of thine owne nothing and admit of no apparences though they seeme to come from heaven 10. After these generall temptations follow others in particular 11. Chap. XX. That we must never flatter our selves as having subdued our enemies But ofteâ— renew our exercises for perfection is very high and hard to be obtained 1. 2. Chap. XXI Of Holy Prayer The Fourth maine Weapon in this spirituall warfare 1. Which must have these properties First a Desire to serve God Secondly Perfect Faith Thirdly Conformity to Gods will because thine own will is subject to error but the divine will is infallibly right Fourthly A connexion with practice Fifthly Thanksgiving for received favours Sixthly A reflexion upon Gods goodnesse and promise and upon Christs Passion Seventhly Perseverance Prayer must also be strengthned with hope And though God seems to reject thy prayer yet persevere knocking and alwayes gratefully thanking him as well when he deny's as grants thy request Chap. XXII What Mentall Prayer is and what Contemplation Mentall Prayer includes alwaies either a virtuall petition of something 1. 2. 3. 4. Or an actuall asking of it by words expressed in the mind 5. 6. Chap. XXIII How to joyne Contemplation to this inward Prayer By taking some points of Christs death or passion 1. And applying his actions to the vertue thou demandest As for example to Patience 2. Marking how meekly he suffered and learning thereby to suffer patiently thy smaller adversities 3. And compelling thy will to take up thy Crosse quietly 4. Chap. XXIV Of another certaine manner of Prayer by way of praying and meditating together 1. Considering Christs merits and the content his heavenly Father took in his obedience 2. And presenting them both to God 3. Chap. XXV Of a way of praying by the Intercession of the B. Virgin 1. First fix thy mind upon th' eternall Father 2. Considering the content he had in him selfe concerning her from all eternity 3. And the wonders he wrought in her when she had a being 4. Secondly upon God the Sonne 5. Lastly upon the sacred Virgin 6. Chap. XXVI How to pray and meditate by meanes of the Holy Angels and heavenly Citizens First addresse thy selfe to the eternall Father 1. Next unto the glorious Angels and Saints themselves 2. Dividing them into quires according to the dayes of the week 4. But every day praying to the Blessed Virgin to thy particular Partron and to S. Joseph Chap. XXVII How to meditate upon Christs Passion and to enkindle holy affections 1. By reflexion upon his love and goodnesse 2. How to get constant hope 3. And a spirituall joy 4. As also affections of sorrow and compassion 5. And contrition for thy Sinnes 7. With a perfect hatred of them 8. And to admire Gods bounty by considering First Who sufers Secondly For whom Thirdly By whom Fourthly What Fifthly How Sixthly When and where 9. A further Declaration of the profit which may be drawne from the Meditation upon Christ's Passion and particularly of the imitation of His Vertues The first profit is a Confusion at the sight of our imperfections The second a desire and demand of pardon with a resolution of amendment The third a persecution of our passions The fourth an imitation of Christs Vertues Another way to Meditate on the Passion By considering First how Christs Soule carries it selfe towards the Heavenly Father Secondly how the Father to-towards Christs Soule Thirdly how the Soule towards it selfe and it's sacred body Fourthly how thy Saviour carries Himselfe towards thee Fifthly how thou shouldst cary thy selfe towards thy Saviour Christ Crucified is the best Booke to reade in and wherein to learne all vertues if thou makest fit application to thy particular practice Chap. XXVIII Of sensible Devotion and Spirituall Drynesse Devotion is best knowne by the effects it produceth 1. How to make profit of all spirituall sweetnesse in Devotion 2. Three causes of Spirituall Drynesse The Devill Our selves and God 3. Search out the true cause thereof 4. And keepe on thy accustomed practices of piety without seeking outward comforts 5. Nor pray to have comfort in thy Crosse 7. Because to suffer for God is the best Prayer and makes thee truly devout 8. And not the feeling of sensible Devotion 9. Wherein many are deceived 10. What thou art to do in time of distresse and dereliction 11. Chap. XXIX That the worthy frequenting of the most Blessed Sacrament is an efficacious meanes to conquer our Passions 1. Meditate the Day before thy Communion of thy Saviours desire c. to come to thee 2. Who affirmes that his delights are to be with us 3. And moove thy Soule to a reciprocall desire and affection towards him 5. Then provoke thy passions to battail
remember What I am after so many signall benefits on thy part and serious promises on mine I am ashamed to think What I deserve I am afraid to call to mind What I desire I am ignorant how to ask Lord for thy mercies sake for thy Mothers sake by thy Bowels of mercy and her Breasts of meekness by all that thou hast suffer'd for me and she for thee by all that is dear to thee in heaven and earth forget and forgive what I have been my past folly and wickedness Pity and protect what I am my present frailty and weakness Be satisfi'd for what I deserve supply what I desire and be mindfull of me in life and death How much ô my God do I wish to leave all and lose my self to find thee to humble my self to please thee and to hate my self to love thee But these hard and high matters I dare scarcely promise how then and when shall I practise them Yet without thee ô sacred humility there is no solid centre to rest in no true sweetness to take gust in therefore ô my God I come to thy School to learn this necessary lesson teach me touch me wound me and win me unto thee 3. Pure intention to please and praise God only to be all his ever his in what manner and measure he best liketh both in this prayer and all things whatsoever Behold therefore ô my Lord how out of pure Obedience to thy Will 3. Pure Intention and confidence in thy mercy I now approach to please and praise thee Not to receive great matters from thee for I am unworthy nor to conceive great matters of thee for I am uncapable but to leave all for thee to be humble of heart beyond all and to love thee more than all this is both conform to my condition and obligation I come to prayer O my only Lord and love not to have much but to give up all to be thine all thine ever thine in life and death for time and eternity as thou best pleasest I come O my centre and sweetness to seek thee and sigh after thee yet I am content neither to find thee nor feel thee but only to see thee by faith and to suffer for thee with fidelity I am satisfied and content that thou art so good great glorious rich and happy in thy self and I am confident that thou in thy good time wilt make me rich in thy mercy and happy in thy love for in this Pilgrimage I desire no other happiness than true humility nor greater riches than naked charity The second part is Consideration shewing these three things first to our selves and then to our God as his poor beggers 1. Our wounds both internal and external to wit our sins ingratitudes daily faylings strong passions c. Ah! my sick and sinfull soul how 2. Part. 1. Our wounds weak and wounded are we in every degree in all parts in each member of body and faculty of mind 1. All is out of order all is pride and self-love how impenitent are we in sorrowing how impatient in suffering how unconstant in persevering and yet how importune in sinning 2. My Vnderstanding is blind to good clear-sighted to evil My Will is perverse peevish cold sensuall My memory is weak full of idle images subject to distractions 3. My affections are vain my passions violent my inclinations vitious 4. My Faith is little my Hope less my Charity least of all 5. So forward to extroversion and dissolution so backward to introversiâ—â— and compunction so full of imperfections and immortifications 6. So little confidence in thy mercy so little patience in my misery and almost no performance of mâ— good purposes 7. So curious tâ— censure others so careless to keep mâ—self and curb my own senses Fâ—nally all is self-love self-will self-conceit self-seeking pride propriety partiality which are my dayly and dangerous diseases O Father of mercies and only Physician of my soul Thou art almighty and all-bounty these are my wounds and impurities and if thou wilt thou canst both cure and cleanse me and if thou wilt not I will remain content as I am I am willing to continue weak so I be not wicked to be wearied and wounded so I be not utterly tired over-turned defeated and lose the victory Cut kill crucifie ô Lord only spare me for eternity 2. Our wants for we are not only needy but naked not only poor but beggers who neither know how to deserve an alms nor how to desire it O my poor soul What do we 2. Our wants want nay what do we not want 1. True light true liberty true love true life 2. A setled attention a simple intention a serious introversion a sincere conversion 3. Humility of heart conformity of will purity of soul indifferency of spirit 4. Wisdom to know Gods will strength to execute it patience to persever in it 5. Resolution to suffer for our Saviour devotion to sigh after him diligence to find him constancy to remain with him 6. Courage to endure all faith to forgo all hope to expect all charity to give all and Confidence to gain all Finally we want all we should have Yet our loving Lord is ready to bestow on us all that he hath O my God and all Thou art all that I want give me thy self and all my wants and wishes will be at an end Thou art all my safety and my only security all my refuge and my only centre Vntil I can return unto thee or wholly turn into thee let thy Cross be my Purgatory and thy will be my Paradise for other heaven upon earth I can never hope to find Vntill then I must be content to sweat and sigh under the burdeâ— of this mortal life to sit like Job upon a dunghil forlorn and forsaken by all full of soars and sorrows to remain a perpetuall and pitifull patient scarcely feeling patience in my self and finding no compassion in others 3. Our wishes and desires What can a wounded wretch wish but to be cared for and cured What can a naked begger desire but to be clothed and comforted with some few raggs and crumms What can a blind and cold person ask but light and love This O my soveraign and sweet 3. Our wishes Lord is the sum and substance of all my wishes and requests O that I could go out of my self and get into thee That I were dissolv'd from my loathed body to the end I might dilate my heart in thy love contemplate thy divine face in perfect liberty and please and praise thy Majesty eternally For in this prison of flesh and vale of tears I faint under the weight of my temptations I fall under the burden of my troubles and I continually fail in the prosecution of my pious purposes Oh! that thy will did so rule me and reign over me that it were a torment to decline never so little from it O that thy love did so freely and fully
Surely the proud have no true Isay 48. 2â— rest there is no peace to the wicked Let us Remedy it therfore by learning of Christ true humility and meekness out of which there is no hope of quiet 5. An indiscreet Zeal and 5. Indiscreet zeal over-greediness of perfection which makes us eat more than we can disgest and so cast it up again with great pain undertaking austerities exercises introversion c. beyond our capacities without counsel and so we remain afflicted being unable to go forward and ashamed to go backward Let us Remedy this by humble obedience to a discreet guide 6. Want of fervor in our vocation 6. Instability of heart instability of heart and inconstancy in our exercises leaving changing interrupting them through laziness or lightness This leaves a worm gnawing upon our conscience with continual disquiet and sadness Let us Remedy this with S. Bernards counsel Wilt thou never S. Bernard be sad live well A good man is alwayes merry and a good conscience is a continuall feast 7. Disordinate love and affections 7. Love to creatures to creatures Let us love all only for God and we shall be content and quiet in the loss of the most lovely and beloved creature in the world God alone will supply all other loves and losses 8. A jealous and envious eye 8. An enviâ—us eye This is a dangerous and lamentable cross For all the Perfections of oâ—hers are ours when we love them â—n others but when we hate them they are nails in our eys and thorns in our hearts which do extreamly torment us O madness Have we Parum tibi est si ipse sis foelix nisi alter sit infoelix not sufficient miseries at home in our selves but we must suck poyson like Spiders out of others Hony and what is their crown must be our cross What greater wickedness than to pine away with grief at others good The Remedy of this is by endeavouring to get true Charity the property whereof is to weep with the weepers rejoyce with the joyfull to love others good as our own Let us avoid Curiosity if we wil eschew Envy for a Curious eye is the fewel of an Envious heart let us remain like Bees in our hive of Introversion there make provision for the Winter of Death Eternity c. 9. Frequent failings in good 9. Frequent relapses purposes and relapses into sin We question whether our sins past are pardoned and are uncertain that our present Confessions are good This is of one evil to make two foâ— we have done amiss and now by losing Courage and confidence we make our selves unfit to do better Let us Remedy it by acknowledging our fault using violence to our selves and following direction Other Remedies against Sadness Orher Remedies against sadness Jam. 5. 13. 1. Prayer 1. Prayer is a soveraign Remedy Is any one sad amongst you Let him pray God is our only joy and comfort Let us lift up our hearts to him and lay open our wants and desires before him with Resignation who both can and will abundantly comfort us Ah! my poor soul why art thou sad and whence comes it that thou thus troublest me Is not our God good and gracious who hears thy sighs and sees thy sorrow what wantest thou which he cannot or will not give thee when he sees it most expedient for thee 2. Somtimes let us sing spiritual 2. Singing Songs which greatly confound the Devil 3. Other times we may fitly divert 3. Recreâ—tion our thoughts by some external Recreations or imployments 4. Let us endeavour to make 4. Fervent acts external and internal Acts with fervour though without gust as embracing and kissing a Crucifix and speaking reverently and lovingly unto it c. 5. A discreet taking of a Discipline 5. A discipline obtains wonderful comfort for the soul is called from the inward troublesom pensiveness to the outward pain and the Devil flyes away seeing his companion the Flesh so hardly handled 6. Frequent Communinn is an 6. Communion excellent cordiall strengthning our hearts and rejoycing our spirits 7. Let us discover the effects 7. Discovery of it and manner of our sadness to our spiritual guide and take his advice simply and humbly This is the remedy of remedies 8. Let us take heed of making 8. Indifferency use of these Remedies only that we may be at ease and avoid affliction but for the prevention of danger which may ensue and for the rest remain perfectly indifferent and resigned 9. If we will be free from Sadness 9. Few desires we must labour to keep far from us unquietness of mind if we wâ—ll have our minds quiet we must have few desires and those few only to love and please God 10. Finally let us beware of 10. Plain-dealing three things 1. Of following our Sensuality in meat drink talk ease c. 2. Of vain Complacence and self-opinion c. 3. And above all of Hypocondriacy Hypocrisy double dealing sleights with our guide for no mervail if he starves and pines away who lâ—es to the holy Ghost If we are simple as children our loving Father will give us sweet-meats Wo be to Hypocrites for it Mat. 23. 13. wil go il with them in the latter day Another Antidote against Melancholy and Pusillanimity The reason of our being so often Pufillanimity proceeâ—s from want troubled and shaken is because our spiritual edifice is not supported by these solid props 1. Faith For if we captivate 1. of Faith our Understandings to believe what God himself hath told us what his Church hath taught us and what our ghostly guides still preach unto us how can we chose but be comforted and satisfied 2. Abnegation For if we have 2. Of Abnegation made good Confessions have endeavoured to satisfy God and our guide and have a will to obey them in all things we may rest secure Let us not say What shall become of us Shall we persever for the desire to know this argues our hearts of secret pride and propriety Let us therefore deny our selves saying Gods holy will be done in and with us for all time and eternity and what ever becomes of us we will serve him till death because his love deserves it What need we seek a further security of Gods friendship towards us in this life than to find in our souls these two things First for the time past we have done penance consisting in Confession Contrition and Satisfaction Secondly for the time to come we give our selves totally tâ— God to serve and please him the residue of our life in the best manner possible Let us put our souls in this estate and go on with courage and never more trouble our selves 3. Solid Confidence For if we 3. of Confidence know God is mercifull and Jesus hath suffered enough for all sinners whereof we are the