Note towards the obteyning of an Vnion of the soule with God by the bond of perfect loue and these belong to the Vnitiue way And this they ordayne to the end that euery one may imploy himselfe in that exercise which is most agreable and fit for his owne disposition and state But yet know this the while that how perfect soeuer a man be he may safely exercise himselfe in sorrow for his sinnes and in desiring pardon of God for them and begging grace that he may neuer offend him and this wil be a very good Exercise of his mind and very acceptable to God And both he and that other man who is still procuring but to purge his soule from vice and inordinate affections he also who laboureth to obteyne Vertue may also exercise himselfe in acts of the Loue of God to make that other exercise which he is chiefly about more easy and sweete Therfore all men may imploye themselues sometymes in this purgatiue exercise by making such Acts as these O Lord that I had neuer offended thee Do not permit O my Lord thus euer I may offeÌ„d thee any more Let me dye as much as thou wilt but neuer let me sinne against thee Let is please thy diuine maiesty that I may rather die a thousand deaths them euer commit one mortall sinne At other tymes one may raise his hart to God by giuing him thankes for all his benefits both generall and particuler which he hath receiued or els by begging the gifte of some vertue sometymes profound humility at other tymes perfect Obedience at other tymes Patience at others Charity Agayne at other tymes a man may raise his mind to God by acts of loue and conformity to his most holy will saying this or the like Cant. â— 141 Luc. 22 4â— Psa 72.29 Dilectus meus mihi ego illi Non mea voluntas sed tua fiat Quid enim mihi est in caelo à te quid volui super terram These and such others are very good aspirations and iaculatory Prayers wherby a man may go alwayes in this exercise of the Presence of God Note And they vse to be the best and most efficacious which the hart being moued by Almighty God doth conceaue within it selfe although it be not done in words so well composed and ordered as those which we haue heere set downe And there is also no necessity at all that these iaculatoryes should be many in number For one alone being very often repeated and with great ardour of mind may suffice a man for the going in this exercise may dayes yea and euen all his life Note If you finde your selfe well with alwayes saying those words of the Apostle O Lord what wilt thou haue me do Or those other of the Spouse My beloued to me and I to him Or els those words of the Prophet What haue I to desire O Lord in heauen or in earth but only thee you haue need of no more deteyne your selfe here and entertayne your selfe herein and let this be your continuall Exercise and your going in the Presence of God CHAP. IV. The practise of this Exercise is further declared and heere a way is laid downe of going in the Presence of God very easy very profitable and of much Perfection AMONGST other Aspirations and Iaculatory Prayers which we may vse that one is a very principall one and very much to purpose for the practise of this Exercise 1. Cor. 10â— 31. which is taught vs by the Apostle Saint Paul in his first Epistle to the Corinthians Siue manducatis siue bibitis siue aliud quid facitis omnia ad gloriam Dei facite Whether you eate or drinke or whatsoeuer els you do let all be done to Gods glory Procure Note in all things that you do or at least the most frequently that you can to lift vp your hart to God saying For thee O Lord do I this To content thee and to please thee Because thou wilt haue it so Thy will O my Lord is mine Thy contentment is mine I haue no other will nor no other not-will but that only which thou wilt and that which thou wilt not This is all my delight all my contentment all my ioy the accomplishment of thy will to please thee and there is no other thing but this for which I care nor which I can desire nor which is worth so much as the looking on eyther in heauen or in earth This is a good way of going allwayes in the Presence of God and very easy and very profitable and of much perfection For it is to go in a continuall exercise of the loue of God And because I haue treated hereof else where Tract 3. cap. 8. Tract 8. cap. 4. I will only add in this place that this is one of the best and most profitable wayes of going euer in Prayer of all the wayes that can be thought For it seemes that there wanted no other thing to extoll and canonize this Exercise but only to say that by it we shal be in that continuall prayer which Christ our Lord demaunds of vs in the holy Gospell Oportet semper orare non deficere Luc. 18.1 For what better Prayer can there be then that one should be euer desiring the greatest honor and glory of God and to be euer conforming himselfe to Gods will Not hauing any other eyther will or not-will but that which God will and willeth not and that all his contentment and ioy is the contentment and good pleasure of our Lord God Therfore sayth a learned Doctour Dionis Richel l 1. de contempla cap. 25. and with great reason that he who shall perseuere with care in those affects and interiour desires shall reape so abundant fruite therby that in short tyme he will feele his hart all conuerted and changed and will find therein a particuler auersion froÌ„ the world and a singuler affection to Almighty God This is to begin already to be a kind of Cittizen of heauen and a standing seruant in the house of God Eph. 2.9 Iam non estis hospites aduenae sed estis ciâ—es Sanctorum domestici Dei. These are those Courtiers whome S. Iohn saw in the Apocalyps who carried the name of God written in their forheads which is the continuall memory and Presence of God Et videbunt faciem eius Apoc. 11.4 Phiâ—ip 3.2 Cor. 4.18 nomen eius in frontibus eorum For their conuersation and discourse is not now on earth but in heauen Nostra autem conuersatio in caelis est Non contemplantibus nobis ea quae videntur sed ea quae non videntur quae enim videntur temporalia sunt quae autem non videntur aeterna It is further to be considered in this Exercise Note that when we produce these Acts saying For thee O Lord do I this For thy loue Because thou wilt haue it so the like
6. which groweth from the Reading of Spirituall bookes but I will only bring the Example of S. Augustine which conteyneth much doctrine That Saynt recounts how a certaine Cauallier an Affrican called Potitianus comming one day to visite him gaue him newes of the wonderfull things which the world was saying of S. Anthony And he added further that one euening while the was at Treuers imployed vpon seing certayne publique sports which were represented there himselfe with three other Courtiers friends of his went out to take the aire And that two of the fower did chance vpon the Cell of a certaine Monke and finding there a booke wherein the Life of S. Anthony was written one of them began to read it and instantly his hart was kindled with a holy kinde of loue And being all angry with himselfe he said thus to his friend Tell me I beseech thee what is that which we pretend to obteyne with all the paines we take What is that which we ayme at In the hope of what do we thus earnestly imploy our selues Can we perhaps haue a higher ambition in the Court then to be Fauorites of the Emperor And yet euen in that fortune what is there which is not top full of danger And by how many dangers do we still proceed towards some greater danger And how long shall we sweat in this pursuite But to be the friend and sauourite of God himsefe behold I am made so if I will euen at this very instant This he said and being growne bigge and swolne with the feruent desire of bringing forth a new life he restored his eyes to the booke and read on and was inwardly changed and his mind was wholy dispossessed of worldely cares as immediately afterwards appeared For whilst he was Reading and rowling vp and downe those waues of his vnquiet hart he would sometymes groane deepely and then agayne pawse a while And resoluing at last vpon a better course he said with a serene countenance to his friend Euen now haue I broken loose from those hopes wherby hitherto we haue beene seized I haue firmely resolued to be the seruant of God and I will set vpon it in this place and at this very instant As for thee if thou canst not be content to imitate me at least disswade me not But the other answered that he would gladly ioyne himselfe to him as a cōpanion in the prosecuting of so honourable a war the obteyning of so noble a pay And both of them did build vp that Spirituall Tower with the treasure which is only able to do it of forsaking all things and following Christ our Lord. And that which is as strange they both had Spouses who as soone as they knew what these men had resolued did consecrate themselues to God by a vow of Chastity This doth S. Augustine relate and this Example was of so great efficacy with himselfe that soone after he thus cryed out with great exclamation to another friend of his What is this which we indure What is this What haue we heard Surgunt indocti caelum rapiunt nos cum doctrinis nostris sine corde ecce vbi volutamur in carne sanguine The vnlearned men of the world teare heauen from betweene our hands and we with our great knowledge and learning behold how without braynes or courage we are contented still to wallow in flesh and blood But with this alteration and feeling the Saint relates how he entred into a Garden there adioyning and did spread himselfe at the foote of a certaine figtree and letting loose the reynes to teares he beganne with great affliction and sorrow of hart to cry out thus to God and say And thou O Lord how long How long O Lord Wilt to be angry with vs for euer Remember not Lord our old iniquityes And still he repeated these words How long How long shall I say To morrow Why not euen now Why euen at this instant is there not an end of my vncleanenesse Whilest he was saying this in the most bitter feeling of his hart he heard a voyce which sayd to him Take vp and read Take vp and read He then rose vp as himselfe relateth to take vp and read in that holy booke which lay before him For he had heard it related of the same S. Anthony Matt. 19.21 that by once Reading of the Gospell which he fell vpon as it were by chance which sayd Goe and sell all that thou haste and giue it to the poore and follow me and thou shalt haue treasure in heauen he determined to leaue all things and to follow Christ our Lord And so S. Augustine being moued much by this Example more by the voyce which he had heard sayth That he toooke vp the booke and read in it And there did God infuse so great a light into his soule that leauing all things of this world he deliuered himselfe wholy vp to the seruice of our Lord. The end of this Treatise of Mentall Prayer A TREATISE Of the presence of God Written by the same Authour CHAP. I. Of the excellency of this Exercise and the great benefits which are conteyned therein QVAERITE Dominum confirmamini quaerite faciem eius semper Psa 104 4. Seeke God sayth the Prophet Dauid with perseuerance and strength August super Psal 104. be euer seeking his face the face our Lord which as S. Augustine sayth is the Presence of our Lord and so to be euer seeking the face of our Lord is to be euer going in his Presence and conuerting our harts to him with desire and loue Isychius Bonau to 2. opusc li. 2. de profectu Religiosorum ca. 20. Isychius in his last Century sayth so doth also S. Bonauenture That to be alwayes performing this Exercise of the Presence of God is to begin to be blessed here on earth as the glorious spirits are in heauen For the felicity of those Saints consisteth in seeing God perpetually without euer once loosing the sight of him But now since we cannot see God in perfect charity nor as he is in himselfe for this is only proper to those glorious spirits yet at least let vs imitate them the best we can according to the vttermost of our frailty and let vs procure to be all wayes beholding respecting and louing him So that as our Lord God created vs to be eternally in his presence to enioy him in heauen so was it also his pleasure that here on earth we should haue an image modell of that blessednesse by walking euer in his sight reuearing and beholding him 1. Cor. 13.12 though in obscure manner Videmus nunc per speculum in aenigmate tunc autem facie ad faciem We now behold and see God by fayth as in a glasse but afterwards we shall see him cleerely and face to face Ista est meri um illa praemium That cleere vision as sayth Isychius is the reward and the glory and blessednes
for which we hope this other obscure sight is matter of merit to vs wherby we must growe to obteyne that other But yet still in fine we must imitate those blessed spirits to the best of our power whilst we procure not to loose the sight of God in the workes which we are doing Iust so as the holy Angells who are sent downe to our succour for our defence and help are in such sort imployed vpon those ministeryes as that yet withall they neuer loose the sight of God As the Angell Raphael said to Toby Videbar quidem vobiscum manducare bibere Tob. 12.13 Mat. 18.10 sed ego cibo inuisibili potu qui hominibus videri non potest vtor I seemed indeed to haue beene eating and drinking with you but I the while did serue my selfe of an inuisible meate and of a kind of drinke which cannot be discerned by humaine eyes They are euer susteyning themselues vpon God semper vident faciem patris mei qui in caelis est And so also although we eate and drinke and conuerse and negotiate with mē and though it seeme that we enterteyne and imploy our selues therein must yet procure that that be not our foode and entertaynement but another food and entertaynement which is inuisible and which men discouer not and this is That we be euer beholding and louing God and accomplishing his most holy will Great was the accounte and practise which the Saints and the ancient Patriarches made of going alwayes in the Presence of God Prouidebam Dominum in conspectu meo semper Psa 15.8 quoniam à dextris est mihi ne commouear The Royall Prophet did not content himselfe with praising God seauen tymes in the day but withall he procured to haue God alwayes present with him And so continuall was this Exercise with those Saynts that this was also their common phrase of speach Viuit Dominus in conspectu cuius sto 3. Reg. 17. Our Lord liueth in whose presence I am The benefits and profits are great 4. Reg. 3.14 which flowe from our going continually in Gods Presence whilst we consider that he is euer looking on vs and therefore did the Saynts labour in it so much This alone sufficieth to make that a man be very well ordered and composed in all his actions For tell me what seruant is there who will not carry himselfe exactly well vnder the eye of his Lord Who will not do that which he commaunds or who will dare to offend him to his teeth Or what theefe will presume to steale whilst the Iudge hath an eye vpon his hands Now therfore since God is so euer looking vpon vs Note and since he is our Iudge and since he is Omnipotent and can commaund that the earth may open and swallowe a man vp into Hell Yea and since he hath indeed done so sometymes to such as durst offend him what is he that will dare to offend him any more Aug. sol 14. And so S. Augustine sayth O Lord when I consider with attention that thou art euer looking vpon me and that thou art watching ouer me night and day and that with so great care as if there were neither in heauen nor earth any other creature for thee to gouerne but me alone When I consider well that all my deeds desires and thoughts lye open and cleere before thee I am all fulfilled with feare and ouer-whelmed with shame Without doubt we are cast into a very streight obligation of liuing with great rectitude iustice by the consideration of our doing all things vnder the eye of that Iudge who seeth all things and from whome nothing is able to hide it selfe If in this world the presence of a graue and qualifyed person will keep vs in order what will not the Presence of God be able to do S. Hierome vpon that place where God said to Hierusalem Ezech. 28. ◠by the Prophet Ezechiel Meique oblita es Thou hast forgotten me sayth thus Memoria enim Dei excludit cuncta flagitia The memory of God dismisseth and dischargeth all sinne The same also doth S. Ambrose say And els where S Hierome sayth againe Certè quando peccamus si cogitaremus Deum videre esse praesentem numquam quod ei displiceret faceremus The memory of God and the watching still in his Presence is a meanes of so great efficacy that if we did but consider that God is present and doth behold vs we would neuer aduenture to do that thing which might displease him This alone sufficed to make that sinfull woman Thais giue ouer her bad life and betake herselfe to a course of pennance in the wildernes Holy Iob said thus Nonne ipse considerat vias tuas Iob. 31.4 cunctos gressus meos dinumerat God stands beholding me and as a true ey-witnes counts the paces which I make and who then is that man who will presume to sinne or to do any thing amisse On the other side all the disorder Note and perdition of the wicked doth proceed from their not considering that God is Present beholdeth them according to that which the holy Scripture doth so often repeate in the person of wicked men Et dixisti Isa 47.10 Ierem. 1◠4 non est qui videat me Et non videbit nouissima nostra And so did S. Hierome note it vpon the seauenth Chapter of Ezachiel Hierome where the Prophet reproouing Ierusalem for the many vices and sinnes which it was subiect to growes to say That the cause of them all was for that that Citty had forgotten God And he assigneth also the same cause whē he interpreteth many other places of scripture For as a horse without a bridle and a ship without a sterne runs vpon precipices and rockes so if you take this bridle out of the mouth of man he rums headlong after his owne inordinate appetites and passions Non est Deus in conspectu eius inquinatae sunt viae illius in omni tempore Psa 9.26 sayth the Prophet Dauid He carrieth not God before his eyes he considereth him not as present before him and therefore are his ways which are his workes all defiled still with sinnes The remedy which the blessed S. Basil giues in many places of his workes against all temptations Note and troubles and for all the occasions and necessityes which may present themselues is the Presence of God And therfore if thou desire a ready and compendious way for the obteyning of perfection and which may conteyne and lock vp in it selfe the force efficacy of all other meanes this is that And for such Gen. 17.1 did God giue it thus to Abraham Ambula coram me esto perfectus Walke before me thou shalt be perfect The holy Scripture doth here as in many other places take the Imperatine for the Future to expresse home the infallibility of the successe It is so certaine that thou shalt
resorting to God beseeching him with his whole hart to be fauourable to him and that he will help him out of all his dangers necessities according to that which King Iosaphat said wheÌ„ he fouÌ„d himself hem'd in by his enemyes 1. Paral. 10. â— Cùm ignoremus quid agere debeamus hoc solùm habemus residui vt oculos nostros dirigamus ad te Since we are so weake since we are so poore and needy and know not which way to turne our selues we haue no other remedy but onely to cast vp our eyes to God Celest ca. 9. contra Pelagium and with our harts to beg of him those things wherof we are in so great neede And so Pope Celestine in one of his Decretall Epistles to teach the importance of Prayer speaketh thus I know not what better thing to say to you then that which Zozimus my Predecessour sayd Quod est tempus in quo eius auxilio non indigemus in omnibus igitur rebus causis negotijs exorandus est Protector Deus What tyme is there wherein we haue not necessity of the help of God There is no such tyme. If that be so then are we at all tymes and in all occasions and in all affayres to resort to God by Prayer with desyre that he will protect vs. SuperbuÌ„ est enim vt humana natura aliquid de se praesumat For a great pride it is that a frayle and miserable man should presume any litle vpon himselfe S. Thomas proues the necessity of Prayer S. Tho. 2.2 q. 8â— ar 2. Damase l. 3. fidei ca. 24. Aug. l. 2. deser Domini cap 7. ser 230. de tâ—mp Basilius in Iul. mart Chrys ho. 30. in Geâ— sim Gre. l. â— dial â— 8 by a very solide and substantiall reason and it is the doctrine of the Saints Damascen Augustine Basill Chrysostome and Gregory These Saints declare that the things which God by his diuine wisdom and disposition did determine from all Eternity to giue to soules he would impart in time by meanes of Prayer and that by this meanes he had resolued vpon the redresse the conuersion and the saluation of many soules and vpon the progresse and perfection of many others in such sort that as God disposed and determined that by meanes of marriage mankind should be multiplyed and that by plowing and sowing cultiuating the ground otherwise there should grow abundance of bread and wine and other fruits of the earth and that by meanes of Artificers and materialls houses and buildings should be erected So did he also ordayne to worke great effects in the world and to communicate many graces guifts to soules by this meanes of Prayer And so did Christ our Redeemer assure vs in the Ghospell Petite dabitur vobis quaerite inuenietis pulsate aperietur vobis Matt. 7. omnis enim qui petit accipit qui quarit inuenit pulsanti aperitur Aske and it shal be giuen seeke and you shall finde knock and it shal be opened vnto you for he who asketh receyueth he who seeketh findeth to him who knocketh it shal be opened So that Prayer is the meanes maister-conduit wherby our Lord wil be pleased to releiue our necessityes to inrich our pouerty to replenish vs with benedictions and graces Wherby we see well the great necessity which we haue of frequenting Prayer And so the Saints do frame a very fit comparison when they affirme that Prayer is as a Chayne of Gold one end wherof is hooked vp in heauen the other end reacheth downe to the earth and that by this chayne all celestiall graces are deriued and drawne downe to vs and by the same our selues ascend mouÌ„t vp to God And we may also say that this is a kind of Iacobs Ladder which reacheth from heauen to earth and wherby the Angells do ascend Gen. 28.11 Aug ser 226. and descend The glorious S. Augustine sayth that Prayer is the Key of Heauen which is made to open all the gates therof and of all those coffers which are full of the treasures of God Aug exhort de salutaribus monitis ad queÌ„dam Comitem ca. 28. without excepting any one Oratio iusti clauis est caeli ascendit precatio descendit Dei miseratio And els where he sayth That looke what breade is to the body that very thing is Prayer to the soule Sicut ex carnalibus escis alitur caro Nilus ca. 95. de orat â—n bib SS PP 10. â— ita ex diuinis eloquijs orationibus interior homo nutritur pascitur And the same is affirmed by the holy Martyr Abbot Nilus One of the most principall considerations wherby the Saintes declare the value and estimation which we ought to make of Prayer on the one side and on the other the great necessity which we haue therof is because Prayer is a very principall and efficacious meanes to order and addresse our life and to explayne or ouercome all those difficultyes which may offer themselues to vs in the way of vertue And so they say that vpon it depends the gouermeÌ„t of our life that when Prayer is well made the life is well led and that when Prayer is discomposed the life groweth also into disorder Rectè nouit viuere qui rectè nouit orare Aug. ho. 4. ex 150. quae eius nomine circumf sayth S. Augustine He knoweth how to liue well who knoweth how to pray wel And S. Iohn Climacus sayth that a seruant of God deliuered a memorable speach to him and it was this By the very beginning of the morning I do already know what kind of dayes worke it will be Climacus Giuing to vnderstand therby that if he complyed well with his Prayer in the morning all the rest would succeed well and so that it would fall contrarily out if either he did not comply with it at all or els did it not so well as he could And the same rule holds with all the rest of a mans life Our selues do take daily experiment herof so that when we make our Prayer well we go so well in order so cheerfull so full of good purposes and desires that it is to make one wonder and contrariwise if we take no care of our Prayer all the good which we had gotten is in the way to be lost S. Bonauenture sayth Sine isto studio omnis religio est arida Bonauen de progres religionis ca. 7. imperfecta ad ruinaÌ„ promptior By not resorting to Praier all goes backward and by and by comes in tepidity and then by litle and litle the soule begins to grow weake and to wither and to loose that vigor and breath which it had before And then I know not how those holy purposes and first thoughts grow to vanish and then begin to awake and reuiue all our passions Soone after will a man finde himselfe to become much
world in euery minut of time shold be making suites For he is rich towards all desires to inrich vs all without leauing to be as rich as he was before And as his riches are infinite so also his mercy is infinite towards the redresse of al the miseryes of vs all And he desires that we should beg often and that we should euer be resorting to him It is reason therefore that we acknowledge and shew all gratitude for so great a benefit and fauour and that we serue our selues well of such a large and profitable leaue procuring to be very assiduous in the vse of Prayer For as S. Augustine sayth Ps 65.20 vpon these words Benedictus Deus qui noÌ„ amouit orationem meam misericordiam suam à me you may hold for certaine that if our Lord do not take the vse of Prayer from you as litle will he take from you his Mercy To the end therefore that our Lord may not deuide his Mercy from vs let vs procure that we neuer leaue the vse of Prayer nor deuide it from our selues CHAP. IV. Of two Kinds of Mentall Prayer LEAVING a part Vocall Prayer which is an Exercise so holy so much frequented by the Church of God I will now only treat of that which is Mentall wherof S. Paul the Apostle speakes 1. Cor. 14. when he writes to the Corinthians Orabo spiritu orabo mente psallaÌ„ spiritu psallam mente I will pray I will sing and I will cry out with my spirit and with my hart Two Kinds there are of Mentall Prayer The one is common and plaine the other is most especiall extraordinary and of particuler priuiledge with indeed may be said rather to be receiued theÌ„ to be offered or made for so those ancieÌ„t Saints who were well versed in Prayer did vse to expresse themselues S. Dionysius the Areopagite Dionys l. 2. de Diuin nominib sayth of his Maister Hierotheus Quòd erat patiens diuina Wherby he meant to say that he did not so much operate as receaue that which was giuen him by Almighty God There is a very great difference betweene these two kinds of Prayer For the former may be taught in some sort by wordes but we are not able to teach the later Apot. 2.17 because wordes are not able to declare it Quia nemo scit nisi qui accipit It is a kind of hidden Manna wherof no body knoweth what it is but he who tastes it Yea and euen he cannot declare how it is neither doth himselfe vnderstand how it growes Cassian notes very well and brings for this purpose Cassian collat 9. Abbatis Isaac c. 3 1â— a sentence of S. Antony the Abbot which he calleth celestiall diuine Diuina caelestis plusquaÌ„ humana sententia Non est perfecta oratio in qua se Monachus vel hoc ipsum quod orat intelligit It is no perfect Prayer saith this Saint when one remembreth himself or vnderstandeth exactly what he prayeth This high and sublime rich Kind of Prayer doth not permit to him who prayes that he consider then what he is performing nor that he make reflection vpoÌ„ what he is doing or to speake more properly what he is not so much doing as suffering As heere below it happeneth many tymes that a man wil be so absorpt Note inebriated as it were with a businesse that he remembers not himselfe nor considers where he is nor makes reflection vpon what he thinkes nor obserues in what sort he thinks it And iust so in this perfect Kind of Prayer a man is so taken and absorpt in God that he remembers not himselfe nor knowes not how that is nor by what way it comes nor by what way it goes nor cares he then for any Inuentions nor Preambles nor Points nor considers he whether this or that be fit to follow in hi Prayer This arriued to the foresaid S. Anthony by the relation of Cassian who put himselfe to Prayer in the euening and continued therein till the Sunne of the day following strucke his eyes and he complayned of that Sun for rising so early and taking from him that other light which our Lord interiorly bestowed vpon him Bern. in ser in Dominie am infraâ—octa Epiphan S. Bernard sayth of this Kind of Prayer Rara hora breuis mora This hower comes but seldome and when it comes the tyme seemes short wherin it lasts For how long soeuer it be it seemes to haue passed assoone as a breath of wind would do S. Augustine feeling this kind of Prayer in himselfe sayth thus to God Aug. Confess lib. â—0 cap. 40. Aliquando intromittis me in affectum multum inusitatum introrsus ad nescio quam dulcedinem quae si perficiatur in me nescio quid erit quod vita ista non erit Sometimes thou drawest me into an interior most vnusuall affection of mind to a sweetnes which is beyoÌ„d all expression and which if it might be continued and perfected in me I know not what that felicity might be which would not be conteyned in such a life as this In this most speciall kind of Prayer and Contemplation Note S. Bernard placeth three degrees The first he compareth to Eating the second to Drinking which is done with more facility delight then Eating for there is no trouble in the chewing and the third in being Inebriated And he brings to this purpose that of the Spouse in the Canticles Cant. 91. Comedite amici bibite inebriamini charissimi He sayth first come Eate secondly come and Drinke and thirdly come and Inebrietate your selues with this Loue. This last is the most perfect And this is rather to receaue then to impart Somtimes the Gardiner drawes the water out of the Well by the strength of this armes and sometymes whilst he holds his hands one by the other comes a shower froÌ„ heauen which sincks into and softens the earth the Gardiner hath then no more to do but to let it come and to addresse it to the roote of those trees to th' end that they may bring forth fruite So it is with these two Kinds of Prayer For the one of them is sought with industry being yet assisted by Gods grace but the other is ready made to the hand In the first thou goest labouring and begging and feeding vpon that very beggery But the second doth furnish thee with a full table which God himselfe hath prepared for thee to free thee from all hunger a table full of riches and abundance Introduxit me Rex in cellaria sua sayth the Spouse Cant. 1.3 And I say the Prophet sayth Laetisicabo cos in domo orationis meae I will recreate and regale them Isa 56.7 in the house of my Prayer This Kind of Prayer is a most particuler guift of God which he bestoweth vpoÌ„ whome it pleaseth him Somtymes in payment of those seruices which they
be perfect if alwayes thou wilt goe beholding of God and considering that he is euer beholding thee that euen from this instant thou maist account that thou shalt be perfect For iust as the Stars do from the aspect of the Sunne with is present to them draw light wherby they are resplendent both within and without their owne bodyes and do also get other vertues wherby they make influence vpoÌ„ the earth so do iust and vertuous men who are as so many stars in the Church of God from the sight of God and by considering him euer present and by conuerting their thoughts and desires to him draw light wherby in their interior which God sees they shine with reall solide vertues in their exteriour which men see they shine with all innocency and decency and they draw strength and force from thence for the edification and profit of others There is nothing in the whole world which doth so properly declare the necessity that we haue of continuing euer in the Presence of God as this which followes Note Behould the dependance which the Moone hath vpon the Sun the necessity to which it is subiect of being euer in prefence of it The Moone of it selfe hath no clarity but receiues it all from the Sunne according to the proportion of the aspect which it hath from thence And it worketh vpon inferiour bodyes according to the rate of clarity which it receaues from the Sunne and so do the effects therof increase or faile according to the full or wayning of the same light And when any thing doth place it selfe aboue the Moone which may depriue it of the sight view of the Sunne at that instant is the lustre and clarity therof ecclipsed therewith withall a great part also failes of the efficacy which it had to worke by meanes of the Sunne Now in the selfe same manner doth it passe betweene the soule and God who is the true Sunne of the soule For this cause it is that the Saynts do so earnestly recommend this Exercise to vs. S. Ambrose and S. Bernard discoursing of the continuance perseuerance which we are to vse herein say thus Amb. lib. de dignitatâ— con Sicut nullum est momentum quo homo non vtatur vel fruatur Dei bonitate misericordia sic nullum debet esse momeÌ„tum quo eam praesentem non habeat in memoria As there is no pointe or moment of tyme wherein man enioyeth not the goodnesse and mercy of God so ought there not to be any pointe or moment of tyme wherein he ought not to haue God present to him in his memory And S. Bernard sayth els where In omni actu vel cogitatu suo sibi Deum adesse memoretur omne tempus quo de ipso non cogitat perdidisse se computet A Religious man must procute in all his thoughts and in all his deeds to remember that he hath God present with him and all that tyme wherein he thinketh not of God he is to hold for lost God doth neuer forget vs it is but reason that we procure to be neuer vn mindfull of him S. Augustine vpon the 31. Psalme Firmabo super te oculos meos Aug. Psa 31.8 sayth Non à te auferam oculos meos quia tu non aufers à me oculos tuos I will not O Lord withdraw myne eyes from thee because thou dost not withdraw thine eyes from me Continually will I lodge them fixed firme vpon thee as thy Prophet did who said Oculi mei semper ad Dominum Ps 14.15 Mine eyes are euer vpon our Lord. S. Gregory Nazianzen sayth Gregor Naz. in ora Theologica Non tam saepe respirare quà m Dei meminisse debemus As often ought we to remember God yea and more often then we fetch our breath For as we haue need of respiration for the refreshing of our harts and for the tempering of our naturall heat so are we in continuall necessity of resorting to God by Prayer for the restraint of that inordinate heate of concupiscence which is mouing and intising vs to sinne CHAP. II. Wherein consisteth the Exercise or Practise of going alwayes in the Presence of God TO the end that we may serue our selues the better of this exercise or practise it wil be necessary to declare wherin it consists Note It consisteth in two Acts the one is of the Vnderstanding the other is of the Will Tract 5. cap. 7. The first Act is of the Vnderstanding For this is euer â—â—quisite and presupposed for the performing of any act of the Will as we are taught by Philosophy The first thing therfore is to be to consider with the Vnderstanding That God is both heere euery where els That he filleth the whole world and that he is all in all in euery parte and in euery creature how small soeuer it may be Of this an Act is to be made because this is a certayne Truth Act. 17.17 which Fayth propoundeth to be belieued by vs. Non enim longeest ab vnoquoque nostrum in ipso enim viuimus mouemur sumus sayth the Apostle S. Paul You are not to imagine or fansy God as one who were farre from you or as if he were without you for he is within you S. Augustine confesseth thus Confess l. 10. c. 27. I sought that without me O Lord which yet was within me Within you is God and more present and more intrinsecally more intimately is God in me then my selfe In him we liue and moue and haue our being He it is who giueth Life to all that which liues and he who giueth streÌ„gth to all which hath any strength and he who giues being to all that which is And if he were not present susteyning all things they all would leaue to be and returne to their nothing Consider therfore that thou art all full of God inuironed compassed in with God and as it were swimming in God Pleni suunt caeli terra gloria tua are very good wordes to this purpose The heauens and the earth are full of thy glory Some to help themselues more in this Note do consider all the world to be full of God as indeed it is and they imagine themselues to be in the middest of this infinite sea of God circled hemmed in by him in such sort as a sponge in the middest of the sea might be all bathed and full of water and besides compasted in and enclosed by water on all sides This comparison is not ill for the rate of our weake vnderstanding But yet it falleth short reacheth not by a great deale to declare that wherof we are speaking For that Sponge in the middest of the Sea if it mount vpwards it is at an end aboue if it descend downeward it findes an end below and it meets with a stay if it go eyther on the one side or the other but
we are to do them and say them as one who speakes to God already present and not as one who raiseth his hart or his thought to send it far off or without himselfe This aduise is of great importance in this Exercise For this is properly to go in the Presence of God and this is that which makes this Exercise easy and sweete and which makes it moue and profit more Yea euen in our other Prayers when we meditate of Christ vpon the Crosse or at the Pillar they who treate of Prayer giue counsaile that we should not imagine that to be at Ierusalem and that it passed a thousand and so many hundred yeares agoe for this wearyes more and moues lesse But we are to imagine it as present where we are that it passeth there before vs and that we heare the strokes of the scourges the knocks of the hammers And if we meditate the Exercise of death they say that we are to imagine that we are already vpon the point to dye and giuen ouer by the Physitians and with the holy candle in our hand How much more reason then shall it be that in this Exercise of the Presence of God we performe those acts which we haue named not as men who speake with an absent person and that far off from vs but as men who speake with God present since the very Exercise it selfe requires it and in reality of Truth he is Present CHAP. V. Of some differences and aduantages which there are in this Exercise of going in the Presence of God TO the end that we may the better see the perfection and profit of this Exercise and way of going in the Presēce of God which we haue shewed and to the end that it may be the more declared Note we will touch some differences and aduantages which there are therein The first is this In the other Exercises of the Presence of God which some vse to propound all seemes to be but an act of the Vnderstanding and all seemes to end in this that they imagine the Presence of God But this Exercise presupposeth this Act of the vnderstanding of fayth That God is present and then it goes further on and maketh Acts of the Loue of God and in these it doth principally consist And this doth euidently appeare to be better and more profitable then the former Iust so as we said in the Treatise of Prayer Tract 5. c. 14. that we are not to dwell in the acts of the Vnderstanding which is the Meditation and Consideration of things but in the acts of the Will that is in the affects and desires of vertue and the imitation of Christ our Lord and this is to be of the fruite of Prayer And so heere the chiefe and best and most profitable part of this Exercise consists in the acts of the will and this is that wherupon we must insist most The second benefit which followes vpon this Exercise Note is that it is more sweet and facill then the rest For to those others is necessary discourse and labour of the vnderstanding and imagination to represent formes before it which is the thing that vseth to weary and to breake the braynes and therfore it cannot last so longe Whereas towards this Exercise there is no neede of discourse but of affects and acts of the will which are produced without difficulty For although it be true that there is some act of the Vnderstanding euen there yet that is presupposed by Fayth without wearying vs therby And as when we adore the B. Sacrament we presuppose by Fayth that Christ our Lord is present there and all our attention and imployment is in adoring reuering louing and begging fauours of that Lord whome we know to be present so it is in this Exercise And from hence also it is that the same being more facill one may continue and perseuere in it longer tyme. For euen to sick persons who are not capable of any other Prayer we are wont to aduise that they are often to lift vp their harts to God with some affects acts of the Will because they may be produced with facility And therfore although there were no other aduantage belonging to this Exercise but only that one may continue and perseuere in it longer tyme then in the rest we should haue reason to esteeme it much and therfore how much more are we to do it hauing so many aduantages besides The third and principall thinge that which we are to obserue very well is That the Presence of God is not only considered to the end that we may dwell in that but to the end that it may serue vs for a meanes to do those other things well which we are to performe For if we should content our selues with hauing an attention to the presence of God and therby did neglect our workes themselues and did performe them with faults this would be no good deuotion but an illusion We are alwayes to make account that although we carry one of our eyes towards his diuine Maiesty we must place the other vpon the worke it selfe that we may performe it well for the loue of him And our seeing that we stand in the Presence of God must be the meanes to make vs do all that which we are to do the better and with the more perfection And this is much better done by this Exercise then by others For in the performing of others the Vnderstanding is much imployed about those corporall sigures which a man hath a mynde to set before himselfe or about those conceytes which he will drawe out of that which he hath present to him and whilst he will needs drawe this or that good consideration from thence many tymes he markes not well what he is doing and so he falls out to do it ill But this Exercise since it busieth not the Vnderstanding doth not hinder any way the good performance of the workes but rather it doth greatly helpe that they may be exactly done For he is doing them for the loue of God and in the Presence of God who lookes vpon him And so he procures to do them in such sort and so well as that they may be fit to appeare before the eyes of that diuine Maiesty and that there may be nothing therein which is vnworthy of his Presence Concerning which Tract c. 3. we spake else where of another point which sheweth another way of going in the Presence of God which is very good and profitable and recommended by the Saynts and therfore we will forbeare to repeate it heere CHAP. VI. Certayne pious Considerations of Gods Immensity and of his Presence in all places and in all things 1. TO consider that God is so immense and great as he filleth all his creatures with his infinite Greatnes and is more inwardly present in all things then they be in their owne Essence And notwithstanding all this he is not imprisoned heere in the world and though there were many millions of worlds more yet should he be still infinitly greater then they in so much as it is impossible to fly frō him sith he is by his Essence Presēce and power in all places and all creatures be filled with his greatnes This consideration should make vs more present to our selues in all our actions both priuate and publike by representing to our selues that Gods eyes be vpon vs and making vnto our selues an Oratory in all places sith he is euerywhere We must excite in our selues affections of ioy and of admiration at so wonderfull a greatnes 2. We must consider our selues as liuing and doing our actions in God who enuironeth vs round as doth the water of the Ocean compasse in the fish that swym and liue therin And this consideration should keep vs from going and wandring out of our selues seeing we haue God present within vs as though we were his house or by considering our selues enuironed without penetrated within by God as though he were our owne and belonging vnto vs. 3. To consider how God sheweth himselfe in heauen to his Elect with vnuealed and open face working in them most glorious things and he giueth in some places on earth particuler signes of his presence as Iacob saw him on that mysticall ladder whereof the Scriptures make mention God also hath his aboad particulerly in the Churches and Oratories and in a more excellent manner in the iust with whome he abideth by his grace and worketh strange and wonderfull thinges in them But aboue all he is with some great friends of his in this life producing spiritually within them miraculous effects as illustrations discourses of the soule reuelations of diuine mysteries which be all signes and testimonyes of his particular presence All this ought to make vs the more attentiue and present to God and our selues and more composed both within and without THE COLLOQVY O my soule thou hast within thee all good things how doest thou not enioy them Within thee is thy soueraigne freind and Father reioyce to haue him with thee ioyne thee ioyntly with him and giue vnto him thy whole hart If thou art poore thou hast God with thee who is rich in mercy runne vnto him that he may impart vnto thee of his riches If thou art weake and pusillanimous thou hast God with thee who is fortitude it selfe and vnited with him thou maist doe all things in vertue of him wherfore then doest thou seeke without thee with anxietie helpe of the creatures hauing within thee the omnipotency of the Creator O my Creator my God and my all things perfect in me this strayte coniunctiō which thou hast with me vniting thy selfe also with me by the perfect vnion of grace that I also may conioyne my selfe with thee by the perfect vnion of charity Amen FINIS