endeavouring conformity in all his proceedings O what a comfort it is to one that loves thee o IESVS to operate not only to please thee but because it is pleasing to thee this is the prerogative of obedience that so the obedient may not be frustrated of any part of the reward which he expects not only from the work but which he finds in it he obtaining his end in the beginning which is to please God and this depends not on any future thing it being anticipated by obeying O most welcome task of obedience why do any complain or seek to be excused from it for this reason that if they obey with humility and promptitude more is enjoind them for superiours are wont to be more forward in commanding them that are most prompt in complying with their commands It is a very fond complaint when we complain of what we ought to wish for A king is thought to do one a favour if he commit any businesses to his trust and the more and weightier they are the greater is the favour esteemd if God proceed after this manner with us why do we complain masters for the most part employ those servants about their commands who are most deare and intimate with them and of whose fidelity they have good proof why do we resent that God treats us as such o God of my hart if thou heldst this favorable manner of proceeding with thy own Son in this world who was obedient even unto the death of the cross shal I dare presume that any favour wil be shewed me of a higher strain o IESVS thou who becamest obedient in all grant that I may never refuse any compliance with obedience Thou atchievedst all by being obedient from thy nativity to thy very death thou wert no les subject to Caesar and Pilate then to it There was also a time when thou wouldst subject thy self to the powers of darknes giving way to the divels and permitting thy self with great obedience to the fury of hel in the executioners and malice of the Iewes and because thou couldst not become Incarnate by it thy Humanity being not as yet existent thy Mother supplied for this she conceiving thee by that rare act of obedience and submission of mind O most welcome task of obedience since it is most certain that nothing is better or more grateful to God Adam with drawing himself from it knew good and evil obedience is most innocent it not only knowes not good and evil but is also ignorant of good and better for all the works of obedience are in the superlative degree that is best in comparison of which the acts of other moral vertues carry no comparison in this that none of them is to be preferred before commands for though one practise all the rest but yet do against obedience they all avail nothing yea he does evil But if he omit them for it he shal have the merit of them all The obedient man knowes no such comparative discourses as it is better to do this then that but that it is best to do what is commanded He that hath obedience hath all other vertues in a compendious abridgment he that is obedient wil be both chast and a lover of poverty Adam after he became refractory felt presently the stings of the flesh and sought a garment to conceal them while he was obedient he was most chast and remained a Virgin being content with his own nakednes he stood in an exact poverty O most welcome obedience to him that is emulous of vertue and makes God the sole object of his love Comfort thy self o my soul who covetest longest so much to see his face which the Angels love to contemplate comfort thy self in the interim and reverence thy superiour whosoever he be as an apparent Christ and visible God God is not worshipped in himself only but in every superiour also Perswade thy self that the divine goodnes in its eternal love and providence hath ordained and decreed thee this Prelate that by him and no other he might communicate his grace and enrol thee one of the predestinate Gods autority resides in him enquire not why he commands this or that Gods wil stands for a reason and so it must be in him who is here his vice-gerent Why demandst thou a reason for putting thy self into the hands of God Tell me what was the reason he created not another man who perchance would have been better when he created thee and gave thee to thy self if thou canst not assigne any why demandest thou one for resigning thy self to God with all the latitude of thy will it is an unspeakable glory and content to the heavenly spirits to be alwaies praysing God but it is far more considerable that it is a property inherent to him inbred then if it proceeded only from their mouth The XIII Chapter How great harme proceeds from daily and light defects VVHy dost thou contemne in thy own soul what men affect so much in their bodies they providing not only for lifes maintenance but also for health and comelines It would be held an unsufferable misery to be alwaies sick and a horrid deformity to have ones body composed of man and beast Thou must not only stand in horrour of great sins but also dread the very desires and thoughts that are culpable yea any imperfection How unseemly an object would it be if a serpents mouth stood upon thy face and yet every smal word whether but lightly detractive or offensive or idle is far more deformed O truth o immense goodnes I beg of thee by the merits of Christ that thou wilt remove this veile from before my eys that I may throughly know how stupendious an evil is involved in the malice of the least default o man how monstrous a creature wouldst thou seeme to the eyes of men if thou shouldst at any time appeare with the head of an oxe or horse in thy humane body and yet it is far worse if before God and his Angels thou conceive in thy soul deified by divine grace disproportioned and idle thoughts of terrene things a brutish longing after thy own commodity nay there is more proportion betwixt a mans body and that of a beast which are in the same degree or order of things then there is betwixt grace and any sin even the smallest Wherfore the deformity of the least venial defect exceeds all monstruosity and corporal mishapednes whatsoever not only what is now extant but also imaginable or possible I beseech thee o zealot of Christ by his most sacred blood pause here a while and ponder what I say with an unbiazd judgment and thou who wouldst not have the least blemish in thy body permit not to thy utmost these monsters in thy soul the spouse of IESVS Employ all the faculties of thy mind set all the inventivenes of thy imagination on work and frame a deformity as ugly as thou canst such a mishapdnes as
Men glory in those things of which they ought to be ashamd it lies against all experience in telling them that their riches wil be permanent since they pass through so many hands to come to them who now possess them It holds those things forth for good each one wherof is no less then a triple torment the number of evils and vexations are in such an excess that it affords more then two real afflictions for one seeming happines Ther 's no one thing of all we possess but rackd us with toile and sollicitude how we might compass it and having compasd it we are no les tormented with fear and iealousy of it and when it is lost with grief for its absence and privation O heavenly truth what great God a mercy if I do not covet this meer chaos of deceitfulnes and vexation if I contemn for thy sake a thing so contemptible which were to be contemnd if not for it self at least for my self many heathen Philosophers quitted the world for their own quiet and why shal not a Christian do it for his and thy glory They left it because despicable in it self and why shal not we do it because thou art inestimable and the glory which we hope for invaluable Although the world were good yet it were folly to prefer it before that which containes all good The XI Chapter How Peace is to be obtained THou canst not live wel unles thou dye forthwith and overcome thy nature Thou canst not enjoy peace unles thou make war upon thy self this is the way to purchase true liberty Be readier alwayes to comply with anothers will then thy own thou shalt not know what it is to be at jars love rather to have little then much and thou shalt have no occasion of complaint chuse alwayes the meanest place and to be every ones underling and thou shalt scarse ever be sad have a desire to suffer and undergo somthing for thy IESVS sake and thou shalt think no body burdensome seek God in all things that his will may be fulfilld in thee and thou shalt never be disquieted If thou ought to accommodate thy self rather to anothers wil then thy own why not to the divine wil and rejoyce that it is fulfilld by thee keep these things in thy hart that thou mayst enjoy an uninterrupted peace True tranquillity of mind cannot be obtaind but by a contempt of the world and conquest over our selves This may be done two manner of wayes either by forcing thy self contrary to what seems good and delectable in the world and nature or by knowing them to be nought and weighing all things in the ballance of truth this latter way is the sweeter and more permanent although it must alwayes be accompanyd with a fervorous contradiction of our appetite He nevertheles who in faith and spirit is convined of the verity and vanity that is in things shal with much facility overcome himself and dispise the world Nothing conduceth more to a happy progress then to frame an unbyazd judgment of things and to relish them according to the doctrine of IESVS What hearst thou pronouncd by that most holy mouth of truth it self blessed are the poor of spirit blessed are they that mourn blessed are they that suffer persecution Why wilt thou esteem those things harsh and burdensome which the truth of God held and deliverd for beatitudes how canst thou avoid being deceivd if thou account those things evil which faith teaches us to be good and to render us happy we believe the mystery of the most B. Trinity because Christ reveald it to us the same IESVS also reveald that those things which the world so much abhors poverty sorrow injuries are not bad but good neither is he to be ratherd is believd in this point by him that knowes he taught so then when be teacheth the unity and Trinity of almighty God Let us then make a true estimate of truth and frame our dictamens point blank opposite to worldly maxims O eternal truth grant me grace that according to thy doctrin I may judg all temporal things meer lyes and those far from containing great good which bring so much hurt Grant me that I may not live in an errour by prizing those things highly which I ought to have in hatred If it be a matter of faith that poverty humiliation affliction are not only good but beatifying why do not I rather chuse to have litle then much to be dispisd then praysd to be afflicted then swim in delights He that walks in faith and truth accounting those things truly good which CHRIST judgeth such ought to be so far from being contristated for any want or vexation that he should covet them with his utmost desires and rejoyce in them and abhor wholy and not in part only all things which the world loveth and embraceth and admit and desire with his whole hart with his whole soul with all his strength with all his mind what soever IESVS loved and embracd Like as worldlings who follow love and seek with great earnestnes those things which belong to the world to wit honours fame and the opinion of a great name upon earth as the world teacheth and deceives them so those that make a progress in spirit and truth doe seriously follow love and ardently desire whatsoever is altogether opposite to these that is to be clad with the same livery and ensignes of contempt which the Lord of glory wore Insomuch that if it could be done without any offence of the divine Majesty and sin of their neighbour they would suffer contumelies false witnes affronts and be thought and accounted fooles they giving nevertheles no occasion of it because they desire to resemble and imitate in some manner the Son of God For this purpose let thy chief aym and study be to seek thy own greater abnegation and continual mortification as much as thou canst in all things Why wilt thou live in guile and deceit making no reckning of those things which God prizd and honored so highly that he thought them worthy of his best beloved and only begotten Son Verily although they were not raâ—kd amoÌ„g good things yet for this sole reason that IESVS chose them for himself they are honored sufficiently and worthy to be sought by us with the whole extent of our hart and for this sole cause that he dispisd all worldly goods though men have them in so great esteem they are to be held base and infamous and deservedly to be abhord more then death it self IESVS overcome with love of us made choice of these things the world hateth and why shal not we for his sake at least accept them What do I say for love of IESVS we ought to do it for love of our selves He that loves his soul and his life let him love to dye even while he yet liveth If thou lovest life why wilt thou not rather love an eternal and happy one then this wretched and momentary
he would be touched with a sense of compassion and how much more if he did see his own child in such a calamity o most mercyful Father how can that venial fault be tearmed little which it is unseemly for thee to compassionate though thou seest thy own children by grace whome thou affectest so tenderly so scorched and tortured in that piaculary fornace and yet for them it was thou gavest thy life pretious blood Neither paternal bowels replenished with pitty nor infinite wisdome was wanting in thee thou art not an ignorant God who can be deceived in the estimate of a fault nor a cruel one who takes content in punishing but against thy wil wherfore if thou tormentest him so rigorously whome thou lovest so tenderly it must needs be a vast evil towards which mercy it self is so unmerciful Let us imagin a man void of all knowledg of hel or purgatory and beholding only by revelation the state of some one soul pittifully afflicted by those flames for a venial sin but wholly ignorant what might occasion such a punishment what I beseech thee would he guess to cause it any smal or petty trifle or rather some huge exorbitancy which so benigne a God resolved to chastize with so much rigour Again shal that be tearmed little which he in this life punisheth with the greatest of all punishments death If God cannot err in inflicting penalties since he inflicts so dreadful ones how great must that needs be for which he inflicts them behold for one venial sin he punished his own servants Moyses and Aaron with death for one venial sin also as is probably thought Oza and lots wife were suddainly struck with the like disaster For one venial sin the Abbot Moyses was deliverd over to the divel and for a space possessed by him and in very deed it were a les evil to have a thousand legions of divels in ones body and be vext by them then to have the least venial sin in his soul and take complacence in it The divel laboured tooth and nail for 40 yeares together to make a certain servant of God commit but one venial trespass Is the divel such a fool that he would wait and lie in ambush so long to surprize him for a matter of smal moment why shal not we be watchful at least one day to avoid so great mischief o most pure truth purify my impure spirit from such an evil and illuminate me that I may not esteem it light because I regard it but lightly since the divels themselves take it so to hart but let me esteem that great which is done against a God so great nor let me repute that contemptible and sleight which I a contemptible sleight and inconstant creature commit by sinning upon all occasions and constantly but therfore let me hold it great because I who am vile and contemptible dare do it against a God the best and greatest How great must that needs be which rather then we must but once commit deliberately it is better to embrace a thousand deaths it is better that heaven and earth returned to their first nothing and all mankind were sentencd to damnation If choise were given to the Virgin Mother while she stands at the foot of the cross bewailing the torments and death of her beloved Son whether she would have him released from these paines and disgraces and behold him presently seated at the right hand of his Father and the salvation of a thousand worlds accomplished at that instant or consent to one sole venial sin she would chuse not to do this latter and would also perswade me to do so too nay rather then this she would chuse to see her Son and the Son of God once more naild to the cross yet without any default at all and if it were needful and lawful would strike in the nailes with her own pious hand and sacrifice him with greater charity then Abraham did his Tel me I pray would it be a slender courtesy and comfort to the Virgin her Iesus if some one man were found who would put himself upon the mount Calvary in the room of Christ and be crucified and suffer in his steed perswade thy self for all this that they would rather desire a greater comfort at thy hands which is to eschew all venial sin Consider now whether that would be little which should preponderate such a piece of service nor do thou deny this solace to thy suffering Christ and his compassionate Mother Let us then cancel and abolish this opinion that that evil can be light or little which the Virgin Christ God his Father deem so great and punish so exemplarly That is not little which hinders things orderd to a great and sublime end which lessens the love of God in this life and delaies his vision in the other It is no smal rub which puts as it were a stop and let to the most speedy and powerful mercy of God and his desires Would it be accounted a smal violence that should suspend a millstone falling from heaven in the aire while it were poasting to the earth its center it is therfore no smal sin which suspends the divine munificence and the ardent desires of an enamoured soul that they cannot reach their center God and the promisd holy land of beatitude but detaines it in the flames of purgatory That is not a little displeasing to God which hinders him from giving out of hand what he hath such a mind to give and we so willingly would receive That is not little which stops the current of Gods great favours and even in this life obstructs the outlets of his profuse liberality Let us tremble at such an evil and to the very utmost of our power use all possible diligence to avoid it not enduring to brook the shame and disgrace which the name of a fault imports How can that soul take complacence in the name of a servant or a child or a spouse which is not carefull to please God and comply in all things with his sacred will how naughty a servant would he be thought that would do nothing as he ought unles his master threatning death stood over him with a drawn sword and can upon no other tearms neither by faire meanes nor foul be brought to his duty how untoward a child who is allwaies crossing his parent and seeks to please him no further then meerly to keep himself from being disinherited for the rest is wholly wrechles in accomplishing his wil and desire and is lead in all with a spirit of contradiction how disloial a spouse who should only so far forth shew her self faithfull and loving to her fellow spouse as not to provoke him to take her life in other things perpetually crossing and vexing him and were she never so often corrected shewd no signes at all of amendment what argument of love would it be in a child or spouse to say I really love my parent or fellow spouse
esteem for as art commends it self most when it comprehends great skill in a little compass and we admire nature for compleating in each minute creature all the requisites of life so it is loves masterpiece to bestow its whole mind upon little things and shut up in them an ample and enflamed affection and such a diligence is much more praiseworthy the want of greatnes being supplied by our affection and that is it which adds worth and only is prizable No true estimate of things is made but according to ones affection the least service is great when the affection is great but that many times is greater in little things and therfore an exactnes and compliance with our duty in them will not be les acceptable Great things of their own nature stir up to attention and are les troublesome because les contingent smal things make les impression upon the mind nor awake it so throughly and because more frequent therfore more noisome wherfore the mind that is exact in them takes them more to hart makes it her task to be more vigilant more constant and perseverant in obeying Wherfore he will be held no great zealer of Christ who zeales only great things he will be esteemd no great lover of God who hath relinquished the world and himself in things of higher concernment unles he also do it in minute The perfection of a statuary consists not in unbarking a piece of wood or hewing it into great blocks any rude hand can do this but he only is a cunning artist who leaves not a superfluouschip who carues it to a complete shape the least bit not escaping him unaccomplished Any novice-painter can lay the first grounds or shadowes of a tablet but to bring it to perfection is the task of a skilfull hand and subtile pencil and to consummate such a piece the least limb must be elaborate in like manner Gods image in us is compleated by the least duties of a vertuous compliance That is no absolute picture which hath only a head belly and feet but in which all the parts are wrought to an exact proportion why wilt thou present thy self to God a rude and deformed image for want only of some petty trifle O infinite and most absolute Lord what can I deem little which causeth the least similitude or dissimilitude with or from thee why shal I repute little what thou wishest me to do or avoid why shall omit the least thing that may redound to thy majesty or glory not accomplish all since thou wert pleasd to embrace all without exception for my vile unworthynes and sin O remiss spirit if an Angel from heaven should come and tell thee that God for his greater glory and in thanksgiving for all the benefits conferred by Christ upon mankind would have thee suffer the torments of S. Laurence how ungratefull wouldst thou shew thy self if perchance thou shouldst sleight the favour and make but small reckning of it Behold what wilt thou say God exact not now of thee the girdiron or racks or imprisonment or other torments but only that thou apply thy self to the performance of this petty action and do it not perfunctoriously esteem this a main busines the will of God is that thou do this and it sufficeth Martyrs are esteemd Saints for their patient sufferance of great torments Confessours acquire sanctity by a patient shunning of little faults The former tolerating great pain eschewd the fault the latter tolerating no faults eschewd the paines of Purgatory much greater The XV. Chapter That self praise is to be avoyded HE that loves to be praysed loves an impossibility Prayse proclaimes one good but for this very reason that thou wilt be praised thou art not only void of all good but full of great evill to wit a diabolical evil pride and ambition Although thou hearst thy self praised not thou shalt be praysed but another Praise is only for the good but thou art stark naught who covetest to be praysed He cannot be good or prayse worthy who is so vain as to hunt after commendation Wherfore he ceaseth to be prayse worthy who seeks to be praysed and if he be not prayse worthy he is wholly uncapable of prayse for that will not be for the future which could not be for the time precedent If thou smilest upon thy prayser thou dost in reality applaud thy disprayser because thou art most unjust whether thou thinkest thy self just or no for if thou holdst thy self not such thou rejoycest at a lye if thou holdst thy self just this is unjust enough that thou be preferd before others who art nothing When thou hearest men say thou art extreme just extreme good he that really is such receiveth prayse not thou who neyther art just nor good and so to thee it is rather a dispraise The praise of the just is the dispraise of the unjust For this very reason he is unworthy of commendation and worthy of contempt for grieving at his being contemned and vilified or vainly puffed up with self esteem he that doth not hold himself contemptible pleads an excuse for his contemners Self conceit is the daughter of a lye and Mother of ignorance confusion shame danger self humility is the daughter of truth and mother of merit and instruction whether will be better to be confounded and deceived or to merit and be instructed love only to be praise worthy not praised and this sufficeth Thou shalt only be praise worthy by seeking solely the praise and glory of God and thy own vilification Why hadst thou rather seem good then be so since thou ceasest to be good by labouring to seem such and be vainly esteemd Why lovest thou more to deceive and see others deceived then to frame a true estimate of thy self Why dost thou vilify thy self below a stone thou procuring not only that it be of a sparkling brightnes but that it be not a counterfeyt insomuch that each one is ashamed to wear for an ornament a spurious gem O most laudable truth o glory of creatures with what face durst I so much as once seek my own praise and credit who have so often contemned thee with what face do I seek to be esteemd who although I had been but once negligent in procuring thy greater glory deserve eternally to be vilified how notoriously impudent or rather frantick would he shew himself who should covet to partake of the honour and credit he got who dishonoured thee by buffetting thee or calling thee blasphemer or mocking thee with a reed in the time of thy Passion I am worse then all these and am convinced to be a lyar if I prefer my self before any of them how then dare I so much as think of self praise and esteem what madnes and wickednes is it to seek it nay what impudence o faint harted spirit not to judg thy self worthy of all disgrace nor wish to be contemned by all Thou shalt not therfore be really good because
to all power and princes though never so wicked what Christ made choise of and esteemd do not thou contemne and vilify The XVII Chapter VVhat things ought to humble man and that he can have nothing besides God alone TWo things there are which ought to make thee humble thy own basenes and the basenes of creatures honours Although thou thy self wert great yet thou shouldst contemne all wordly dignities as little vile and unworthy of thee and though they were great thou oughtest to reject them because thou art base and unworthy of them Thou art nothing but forgery and sin deceive not thy self nor seek to excuse thee thy iniquities will proclaime thee such Being so overcharged with sin why dost thou extol thy self for some one work but apparently good an eagle could not scare on high if she had but one only feather The peacock though beautifull in his displayd train is soon quaild for the sole deformity of his feet thou being full of defects how darest thou wax proud for some one feignd vertue remember that even from thy cradle thou art infamous for original sin as one that is branded with ignominy appears in an assembly of noble men so must thou stand in the presence of the unspotted Angels Thy sins have made thee a parricide of the Son of God and thy own brother IESVS the wicked Cain was quite out of countenance and doth thine become more brazen account thy self allwayes his equal and behold not thy most loving Father but with the eyes of fear and shame Thou who hast contemned the word of God and his Son why standest thou so much upon the words of men what makes thee so presumptuous since hitherto thou hast done little or nothing who when thou hast done all wilt stil be but an unprofitable servant yea this title is too great and much above thy desert since thou hast nothing where with to serve God all being his already he rather serving us Thou art so wretched and needy that thou neither hast any thing nor canst have which if thou understandest aright thou wilt at first be much contristated seing more clearly then the sun thy own poverty and despairing to be able to have any thing of thy own but thou wilt soon be replenishd with unspeakable joy beholding the riches of God and how he possesseth all I rejoyce o Lord that it is impossible for me to have any thing because it is impossible for thee not to have all Why am I sorry that nothing is mine if it be in my power to make God mine what an ineffable joy is it that I can have nothing no not so much as my self besides God alone a pregnant sign wherof is for that it is not lawfull for me to have any thing in fruition besides him alone I must only use the rest of creatures and my self as anothers not enjoy them He is not master of a thing to whome the use of it is granted only for a time that is rather said to be possessed which one may enjoy for all eternity He that hath only the use of the world shal have the issues and profits of the Lord of the world I congratulate with my self o Lord that I have nothing to offer in oblation to thy sacred majesty for what worth can accrue to things for being mine to make them appeare in thy sight but because I have of thine wherwith to offer it wil have worth for being thine on that account be acceptable How can I have any thing of my self who am nothing yea for this very reason that thou esteemst thy self something o proud spirit thou must repute thy self more vile and abject While a sickman keeps his bed he perceives not so wel his own imbecillity but when he is upon recovery and sits up then he feels his own weaknes not being able to stand by himself The more thou appliest thy self to the service of God and advancest in the way of vertue the more humble and circumspect must thou be then thou wilt discover thy own basenes While a sickman keeps his bed he needs not fear falling but when he rises and begins to walk about then conscious of his own infirmity he trusts not to himself but mistrusting a fall leanes upon another Why then dost thou so magnify thy self since for this very respect that thou dost so thou art more debased Thou art in a manner more ridiculous then Lucifer himself since thou magnifiest thy self upon far les grounds What is thy nature compared with that of the Cherubins what is thy sanctity in comparison of the sanctity of that grace wherwith the first Angel was enriched by God what wouldst thou seem to be and appear to others thou canst have nothing of thy own and that which thou canst least of all have is honour All glory is only due to God who though he impart other things to men yet it he will not If thou dost wel it is sufficient that he knowes it that he see and approve it who is to reward it and whome thou intendest to please Certainly if thou didst love God fervently and wert a faithful servant thou wouldst wish if it were not altogether impossible to do something for his sake which he were not to remunerate nor to come to the knowledg of making it thy sole ayme to be loyal to him never regarding the reward at all Among faithful friends one is careful of another and does him good offices though he be wholly ignorant of them yea many times he conceales them from him for he aymes at no other salary besides fidelity and obsequiousnes towards his friend so he that loves God sincerely desires no recompense more then to serve him and comply with his trust Let me o Lord imitate thy fidelity towards me who am so perfidious who dost me so many good offices who heapest so many benefits upon me wholly ignorant of them though thou knowst that I am alwaies ungrateful When men commit acts of wickednes they desire not to have thee an eye witnes I o Lord will recant from this and change my manner of proceeding wherfore as often as I trespass which will be very often I covet thee a spectatour to the end thou mayst chastize me and assist me that I fall not into a relapse but when by thy assistance I do good I had rather thou didst not see me at all then that men did If the fervent lover of God do not good for the testimony of God how deceitfully wil he love who seeks the approbation of men The XVIII Chapter How much we owe to the grace of God and Christ IT wil be an act of pride in thee to esteem thy self dust and ashes since thou art nothing but imposture and sin Thou hast nothing good why dost thou stand in opposition with God thou art replenishd with evils why dost thou not blush even before men thou art capable of having all evil why art thou not in perpetual
fear thou art capable of doing all evil why dost thou not dread thy own condition thy own very essence is not thine but Gods yea what thou hadst before thy being was none of thine neither thou hadst then a mere nothing which had a possibility of being and even that thou hadst not of thy self but from God who if he were not thou couldst not be Why reputest thou thy self great since the very nothing which thou hadst before thy creation was not of thy self Therfore thou owest more then thy self to God for this also is a part of thy debt that when thou wast nothing he gave thee a possibility of being Thou receivedst the benefit of creation tell me what member was moulded by thy designment or to what joynt of any one fingar didst apply clay or afford materials wherof to frame it or by what prayer didst thou obtain of God to be created and calld out from among infinite natures and better individuals which sleep still in the dust of their own nothing what diligence of thine prevented that thou wert not born blind lame frantick or some savage barbarian dost thou glory in thy talents of wit handsomnes of body noblenes of birth yes thou mayst lawfully do so if God at thy suggestion made thee such But thou wilt say I glory not in being created but in being created such a one so industrious so witty and so toward of behaviour Tel me I pray if thou didst not advise God in the point of thy creatiō couldst thou advise him to create thee so witty and after such or such a manner if thou didst not suggest to him to endow thee with such a mind why dost thou boast of its piercing subtilty didst thou make choise of that mind and cunningly sift into that bottomles abyss of things possible extracting thence the best qualifyd I do not wilt thou reply brag of my natural endowments but of the vertuous practises I embrace while others sleight them I glory that I am better then they an upright man and one that fully complies with my duty Nay be ashamd that scarse once thou compliest with it and hast been neglective a thousand times O unjust and partiall sharer thou allottest to God the worst share to him thou attributest thy being and clay mest to thy self thy being good it is more to be good then only to be Why dost thou play the usurper in the better half since thou canst challenge no interest not even in the worst there is a larger distance betwixt being good and being a man then there is betwixt a man and being nothing God could make thee a man out of nothing only by commanding by acting by living but of a man to make thee good he was to serve to suffer to dye Thou art a most unjust distributer who ascribest nature to God and grace to thy self I never saw any body proud for his existency but almost all are for their being good and better and yet the former arrogance is more excusable for thou hadst had more supposing thou hadst any thing by having a being when thou wast not then after it in being good and just for we only not contributed to our creation but we moreover put a let and obstacle to our justification O most patient truth of God! how canst thou tolerate our lying arrogance were it not for its ridiculousnes while we make our selves the authors of what we most oppose and seek by all meanes to destroy If we carry our selves so modestly towards those things which are left in their nothing as not to vaunt over them for our being why are we so impudently vain-glorious against God for our being good and against men for our being better then they why takest thou pride o my soul in that which ought to put thee most to confusion for thy being nothing thou hast no reason to be confounded it is enough thou be not proud for that hath nothing of ignominy in it but thy being an impediment to God by thy sins that affords matter enough to plunge thee in a deep sea of shame and confusion The self-same that gave thee a being wil give thee a good being As thou hadst nothing of thy self towards thy existence so being created thou hadst nothing towards thy being good If thou hast nothing of thy self and in thy self towards nature so neither hadst thou towards grace Yea although thou didst nothing to deserve a being thou didst no evil to deserve a not being but to be good thou didst contribute nothing of thy own and not to be good thou didst contribute much evill Although humane nature had still remaind in that integrity and dignity in which it was created it would not preserve it self by it self but by God wherfore if it could not of it self preserve the grace which it received how can it repair what it lost and glory in that reparation Remember the infamy and corruption of our nature after its fall by sin if when it stood intire and in a flourishing condition it could do nothing of it self being now weakned and renderd contemptible what wil it be able to do A pot glories not in the presence of the potter of its forme and use fullnes though wel it may of its matter in which he had no hand thou hast nothing at all before God wherof to glory thou being moreover made of nothing why then dost thou glory of thy forme and usefulnes who mayst wel be confounded at thy misusage and canst not glory in thy matter because thou proceedest from nothing Thou hast no source which can derive any goodnes into thee because of nothing nothing is made as by way of causality If thou be nothing of thy self thou canst do nothing nor operate any thing of thy self for operation followes the being If thou be nothing of thy self if thou canst do nothing nor operate of thy self how much les any thing that 's good if what is nothing of it self have or can do nothing of it self then it is only powerful to sin which is a defect and nothing yea les and more contemptible then nothing The eye of it self hath capacity to darknes and to exclude sight or not to see but in order to actual vision it can do nothing without the assistance and concurrence of light That which is above nature and above thy self to wit an abnegation of nature and thy self thou canst not have immediately of thy self and nature but from God who is above both thee and nature If thou believest not reason in this point believe faith thou art nothing but imposture and sin of thy self is only thy perdition we are not sufficient to think any thing of our selves as of our selves but all our sufficiency is from God If we cannot so much as have a congruous thought how shal we be able to performe meritorious actions it may be born with that thou wouldst seem foolish but I cannot be perswaded that thou wouldst be
held an heretique why I pray dost thou dispise the world and conceive a love of things eternal because thou hast experienced the inconstancy of temporal things and beheld unexpected calamities as the death of wealthy and powerful men and the like Was it thou or God who combined things into such a series didst thou forecast the death of that king or Potentat which moved thee so feelingly by beholding the instability of humane things besides these self-same things passed in publick and were known to others why were not they as wel as thou stird up to a contempt of the world why when one is reclaimed doth another stil persist in his wicked courses thou must needs acknowledge some supernatural cause of this difference which neither is in us nor of us alone Perchance thou gloriest for thy being moved and not others as if it proceeded wholly from thy self Tel me I beseech thee how often have such like casualties nay more forcible then this happened and yet thou felst no such motion therfore that now it is effectual to thy conversion proceeds not from thy self but from some hidden and provident vertue from his love and sollicitude over thee who would not have thee detaind any longer in an error but excited thee sweetly to an acknowledgment of the truth and orderd things so as he knew they would move thee efficaciously Thou wilt reply that therfore now and not before thou art moved because some hurtfull friend of thine was absent or dead by whose company thou wert drawn to thy invererate and sinful proceedings or because a fit opportunity of committing them was not presented Wilt thou perchance acquiesce in this was the death or absence of thy wicked consort or this opportunity in thy own hand or was it not rather God who disposed things so and moreover furnished thee with vertuous company that thou mightst be incited by its imitation In like manner what good soever thou hast or dost or what evil soever thou wantest and shunnest it is because God disposing things for thy good removed all obstacles and seasonably gave thee incitements to goodnes moreover infused supernatural habits and helps to very many things which exceeded altogether the reach of nature What share hast thou in these if thou findst none what insolency is it to ascribe all to thy self eyther thou must acknowledg the grace of God and thy own nothing or together with Epicurus confine God and remove him from the government of the world leaving him no part of providence O most wise truth take compassion upon me most senseles who am like to doat much more then that Philosopher who never was so fond as so say that his own providence mannagd and orderd things for â—â— he would make himself better then God â—ut he that presumes upon his own force in a â—eritorious action besides that he takes away all providence from God he necessarily usurps it to himself because if there were another concurrence of things he would not exercise a good act but a vicious and although things were contingent by mere chance or carried with an inevitable destiny yet he had no reason in the world to attribute any thing to himself He that applauds himself only in the goods of nature denies that he is created by God but he that glories in his talents of vertue denies that the whole world and all creatures in it are made by him and disposed and ordaind for our good in the first he deprives God of the dominion of one only nature to wit his own in the latter he deprives him of the dominion of the whole universe in the first he robs him of his omnipotency in the latter of his wisdome also and goodnes denying that his fatherly providence had with due forecast orderd things so for our advancement towards salvation What shal I say of them that glory in those vertues which are above all nature being rankd in the highest class carry a kind of proportion with God eyther make us as it were Gods in a divine degree or at least suppose us such by a sublime participation of the deity it self as also in those which have God for their immediate object faith hope charity in which whosoever glories he must necessarily eyther deny God to be above nature or think himself of himself equal or better then God The XIX Chapter That man must not only esteem himself nothing but also a great sinner THOV art far short of being truly humble if thou thinkest only that of thy self thou hast no good thou must also hold thy self very bad Saint Paul stild himself the first of sinners and that mouth of the H. Ghost could not tell a lye wilt thou perchance hold thy self better then such an Apostle or think thou speakest very modestly or with exaggeration if thou call thy self the ring leader of the wicked esteem thy self in good earnest the first among sinners and the last among creatures because thou must prefer thy self before none at all No body ever had meaner perswasives tâ—â—n thou to incline Gods mercy towards thee do not esteem it an act of modesty to think thus for divine faith teacheth that no good at all preceded Thou hast no ground nor reason to think that any other who had experienced the like mercy and favors from God that thou hast done would have been les grateful then thou art neither is it lawful to judge so rashly of another who shouldst hold it almost impossible that greater ingratitude can be found any where then thou evidently acknowledgest in thy self If thou wert truly compunct for thy sins thou wouldst be seriously of this opinion He that is tormented with an intense and stinging pain thinks no other so great as it and that no body els suffers such anguish the affection to wit inclines and overwayes the judgement If thou didst bear any love to humility thou wouldst easily judg thy self the worst of all others The proud man out of a desire of being exalted prefers himself before all as also because he regards not so much in others their perfections as defects thou if thou wert truly humble wouldst account thy self the worst of all thou wouldst consider thy own imperfections not anothers fixing thy eye wholly and solely upon their vertues O majesty of the supreme truth what needs any interpretation I consess before thy Angels before men malign spirits without any tergiversation that I am the unworthyest of all creatures the moral dignity of a rational creature which grounds his chief praise worth and vertue consists in the knowledg and advertence of his obligation and his proceeding according to it these in no body are obnoxious to greater abuses then in me Although many vertuous men have been more illuminated and some to the outward appearance have for number outgone my sins but this juncture to have sind more grievously and les cooperated with my obligations in such knowledg of them such remorse of conscience such
glorify God O Lord let all be as dung to me upon condition I may gain thee let me esteem this one thing in all if I know them base in comparison of thee if I seek thee alone in them in my self All things are nothing in thy sight why then shal I prefix any other end to my actions besides thee who art all shal I not 〈◊〉 good as nothing and all I do will be to â—mall purpose o light of truth grant that 〈◊〉 of my mind may be sincere beholding theâ— simply singly in all that my whole body may be lightsome and all my works â—cceptable to thee Deceive not thy self o ignorant spirit he that errs in his intention â—â—rs small and he that performes a laudable work if the intention of Gods honour be wâ—â—â—ing he will reap but smal fruit for he that mistakes his way the further he goes the more he mistakes He that after a long journey â—â— navigation hath â—issed of his desired port and knowes that he is out of his way by finding himself in a contrary coast how sensibly and deeply is he afflicted o how often after the course of this life do many find themselves in an error frustrated of all their conceived hopes and dispoiled of all their good works because a zeale of the divine glory was wanting If thou wilt not be deceived seek Gods glory and not thy own To the king alone of ages immortall and invisible be honour and glory it is honour enough for me that thou wilt o Lord be honoured by me Let me esteem it a great honour to see thee honoured Honour exhibited to a parent redounds to his child respect done to the head of an unjuersity or rector of a college hath influence into all their members and subjects Thou art the head and source of all things thou art the rector of this universe thou art my parent all thy honor is also mine A creature cannot truly be said to receive honour otherwise then by participating of the honour of his Creator Let me see thee o Lord honoured and I shall be honoured let me seek thy glory and I shal be glorious Not only my profit o Lord but also my honour is linkd with thine grant that as thou didst seek in all thy works only my honour and my profit so I and all creatures may only seek thy honour and from thence alone will redound to us both honour and profit Whatsoever I shall do say or think I sacrifice it all to thy glory If I chance through negligence or inadvertence to do otherwise even from this moment I retract it and blush at it The Angels apply themselves with all their affection to sing thy praises they highten their voices and rest notwithstanding still confounded how then shal not I be ashamd of my tepidity and great negligence O man consider the dignity to which thou art raisd from the deepest pit of non-entities from an abiss of nothing from thy native dirt and clay to the glory of a God of infinite excellence and purity Raise thy intention purify it deceive not thy self thou wilt perswade thy self sometimes that thou seekest the pure glory of God and thou tacitly desirest thy own gust and commodity What makes thee so anxious and out of patience when things fall not out as thou didst intend but because thou soughtest thy self the glory of God is peaceable it is joyfull it is never frustrated of its effect in those that seek it Although things happen not as the just man expected yet they will happen as he desired to wit as the will of God disposed them and that sufficeth If I loved God with the whole extent of my affection in all and through all I should desire only his goodnes seek his praise be replenished with zeale and breath his glory He that is past breathing is dead and he is no better then a dead man who does his actions for any other end but God All time is lost which is not spent in seeking eternity How can we chuse but loose the future eternity which is not ours if we loose the present time which is ours by not working with a pure intention THE III. BOOK The I. Chapter How carefull we must be to do our actions wel THY whole dayes task must be a doing of good sufferance of evill make it thy whole employment to suffer evil and do good Neither is it enough that thou be chearfull prompt to this but thy alacrity must extend it self even to evil and harsh things that thou be not affrighted with their greatnes and noysomenes as also to patience in good and laudable things that thou be not cloyd with their multitude continual exercise The necessity of patience is more transcâ—ndental then any function or casualty of our whole life Vpon all occasions there is a necessity of suffering but it ought to be pleasant and according to thy pallat to suffer in order to the doing of good in this there is a twofold merit both of patience and the good work Thou canst never shun the undergoing of some labour and indeed without labours nothing exquisite will be aâ—chieved We often faulter in our vertuous purposes out of a hope of non-suffering which leaves us in the lurch while it makes us forbear to imbrace the labour and difficulty which accompanies our good purpose as if perchance at another season the way of vertue would be less thorny Thou deceivest thy self if thou be not persuaded that it is more necessary to suffer then to live or that there can be any part or parcell of our life void of sufferance One affliction is heyre to another if thou eschewest this another will not be wanting to succeed be throughly possessed of this and a false hope will not make thee remiss in thy pious endeavours by presuming upon some fitter opportunity wherin thou thinkst to accomplish thy vertuous exercises with less pain and toile It is impossible to live with out some labour do â—oâ— refuse any that is fruitful of vertue if thou declinest this thou wilt be forced to imbrace another more harsh and untoothsome We can only exchange labour not avoid it Thou maist notwithstanding eschew many defects and faults if thou seekest not curiously to avoid what is unavoidable labour is certain either it must be embraced with patience or repentance or pain and punishment Love and repentance is not sufficiently perfect and such as beseems thee and the infinite goodnes and mercy of God exacts at thy hands unles thou be content to suffer for many yeares space and as much as in thee lies the very paines of hell for the least venial transgressionâ— yea to render one venial trespass uncommitted thou oughtest willingly to undergoe all the torments of the damned If therfore it be behoofful to embrace such a hell to render undone what is done what must thou do by way of prevention eer it be done that it be not done at
attempt things both unknown and uncertain why can we for love of vertue and the honour of God sustain nothing with constancy he that hopes for a continual and eternal good unjustly shuns labours in its pursuance he that is to be alwayes happy must be alwayes good for Each day condemns mans irreligious facts All seasons open are to vertues acts as saith S. Prosper The greatest grace of all other is to preserve the grace which is given thee and thy chief work not to surcease from doing works As a creature would be very deformed without head and life such a monster is a good life without a corresponding end We have received grace without any paines but we must conserve it both by grace and paines The beginning of a thing is accounted half its accomplishment but unles it end wel all comes to nothing In the matter of perseverance the end is all in all for nothing is done so long as any thing remaines undone It imports little to have laboured hard all ones life long if he faulter in the end The sole last moment of perseverance is more available then all the years by past for all their fruit proves rotten if it did not borrow thence a preserving soundnes Thou wilt think it a hard task to persever but it is much harder to begin again and much more then that to begin often Wherfore it is both more easy and more conducible to persever once then to begin often Horses force themselves les in a continued course of drawing a chariot then after having stood stil when they are to move it again Water which hath been once heated being taken of the fire becomes more cold then at first If fervour be wanting in thy proceedings thou also perchance wilt be more tepid then in the beginning Many grow faint-harted in the course of perseverance because they find difficulty in doing good but they do not therfore evade that difficulty for it is only perseverance that makes all easy If thou hadst the courage to begin a hard task thou mayst wel continue it that being much more easy Thou hast found so long by experience that it is neyther disproportioned to thy strength nor grace why then contrary to so long proof art thou now diffident thinking thy self unable to bear it what is eyther past or to come is not burdensome for the present do not grasp the difficulty all at once for it comes not so but by piece meale cōmensurate to the parts of time As thou wast able before to support it so art thou now and wil be henceforth It wil not be more noysome then it was but the heat of the difficulty wil remit by length of time and custome Accustome thy self to do wel and thou wilt forget to do ill Custome overcomes difficulty because it overcomes nature and what then wil grace do if custome overcome nature much more wil a wel-orderd charity in thee overcome the deordinations of nature It is better many times to fulfil a good purpose or consummate a work already begun then to begin another though otherwise more perfect because by inuring thy self yealding to a ficklenes of mind neither wilt thou performe that other Seldome can any work occur which is better then constancy in fulfilling a good purpose Good purposes are to be kept although they be not of any great regard because albeit in themselves it imports but little whether they be kept or no yet it is extremely important to be constant no wayes changeable Who is more constant in making good purposes then he who least intends to keep them If thou learnst a firm perseverance in one good against another thou wilt learn it more firmly against evil wilt not vary like time in this time of serving God O eternal truth grant me grace to serve thee eternally help o Christ my weaknes thou who with such indefatigable love tookest upon thee all our infirmities thou who never art weary with tolerating my impudent negligences grant that I may never be negligent any more nor desist impudently from thy service but may learn to brook swallow all morsels of difficulty Let me learn o Lord perseverance by thy love who when thou lovedst thine thou didst love them even to the end thou who didst persever hanging upon the cross and wouldst not desert it though the Iewes promised upon that condidition to believe in thee the Son of God who being ful of irksomnes anguish and a bloody sweat didst persist nevertheles and seeke redress by red oubling thy prayers Go too o remiss spirit tel me what must thou covet to do for thy IESVS who persevered for thee amidst the sorrowes of death and the cross who when he loved thee loved thee even to death what I say must thou covet but to do good and suffer evil These are the chief ambition of a soul that loves IESVS that which makes most for perseverance A good work presents it self what hinders thee from doing it but the trouble which accompanies it but mark wel that here concurs a second commodity of suffering evil and attend now that the good is doubled ther is superadded to this work both to suffer evil and do good Thou canst pretend no excuse for thy non-perseverance because that only hinders thee which ought to be the sum of thy desire to suffer for thy beloved If the love of IESVS were enkindled in thee all backwardnes tribulation and extrinsecal impediments would no more oppress thee then fire is with wood which forthwith more inflames it But if thou be so coldly chil that the love of God finds no fewel to feed on let thy own advantage and hope of future joy incite thee Dispair of coming off with life is wont to add valour to souldiers make them way through the thickest dangers divine hope of eternal life is yet more forcible and wil make thee more valiant and daring With this hope attempt thy enterprizes and persever cheerfully A cheerfull acceptance feels neyther labours nor trouble though otherwise the thing be laborious enough He that exerciseth himself in military games or at ball is wont to take more paines then one that hires himself forth to day-task and yet he feels it not because he takes it by way of pleasure and content If thou wilt conclude happily in the last hour be sure to begin each hour if thou intend to persever begin alwayes a new Excuse not thy negligence by indisposition of body self love for the most part deceives thee and makes thee do thy actions remisly Thy body is able to do more then thou thinkst if thy fervour of mind were but vigorous its force infusing strength even into weak and feeble limbs A lunatique person though exhausted with sicknes can do more then 4. that are sound the vigour of our mind sometimes communicates it self to the body If the infirmity of a malady can make one strong how much more the strength of grace and
wishes and desires for nothing befalls us more agreeably and to our harts-content then what is given without the expense of so much as a wish now what must that needs be which forestals all kind of expectancy what wil that be which could not so much as enter into our thought such a one is this benefit and unexpected Sacrament of our redemption which if any one before it was intimated to us had begd to be done after the manner it is done his prayers would have been thought blasphemy his hope a mad rashnes his wish a sacrilegious wil his fancy impiety An unexpected guift is most grateful what wil that be which was never so much as conceyted thy beneficence indulgently granted what our indigency fancyd impossible But above all the frontispice and inscription of love which this benefit carryes engraven that being the prizer and taxer of guifts doth most affect me all guifts are testimonials and credentials of love what more creditable then this Guifts are not rated according to their bulk but the remonstrance of love that accompanies them This is an immense favour which that it may stand in the rank of benefits not of disgraces it carryes in its front in capital letters the immense love of God O Lord if I be endebted to thee whatsoever I am for my creation what shal I owe thee for thy love I acknowledg my self to owe more then my self yea as much more as thy greatnes exceeds my nothing thou who gavest thy self to me in thy nativity in thy life in thy death in thy resurrection and lastly in that sacred banquet of thy most holy body Effect that whatsoever was thine by creation and thou repairedst by redemption I may make it all thine by love I were not able to make condigne recompense for the least of thy benefits though by way of thāksgiving I should endure all the paines of hell for all eternity the reason is because it proceeds from the infitude of thy love which infinitly exceeds any infinity of recompense from creatures what then shal I be able to do for so many those so signal and chiefly for this in which thy boundles charity reflects more perspicuously then do the sun-beames The IV. Chapter How deservedly God is to be loved and chiefly for himself I Wil sum up the titles by which thou most justly exacts my love and the delinquencies of my tepidity and ingratitude I ought with all ardency to love thee o most amiable Lord both because thou art good and because thou art loving both because thou art a benefactour and my benefactour both because thou art my maker a patient endurer of my imperfections God is so good and beautiful in himself that though he had not made us the object of his love nor the subject of his beneficence nor the issue of his creation yet he were to beloved above all lovers benefactours and Creators whatsoever yea although he should hate us and be injurious on our behalf for that bottomles Ocean of goodnes beauty would expiate any injury whatsoever and much more effectually then doth beneficence If God had beheld thee hereto fore as an object of hatred and being at enmity had offended and sought revenge wouldst thou not pardon and even love him he making so large satisfaction by so many benefits so far as not to spare his own son but give him up to death suffering a privation of that the absence whereof causeth the greatest grief one must pardon an injury in him who is beneficial for the force of a benefit ought to extinguish revenge and anger but Gods previous merits being so great he deserves more then pardon If then his beneficence would suffice to clear him of alinjuriousnes much more would his goodnes the cause of beneficence it being more noble and sufficiently effectual to make amends for all losses and injuries sustaind by him Gods goodnes is greater then his beneficence because this flowes from that and effects rather fall short of their cause then otherwise One said of an ill deserving man I have receivd no good from thee but much harm and yet for all that I cannot but love thee O true goodnes let me rather say of thee then thy image of clay I cannot but love thee although I should receive no good from thee but much evil what then shal I say now when thou lovest me without meane and art beneficial above measure We sometimes love men whom we never saw nor heard off nor they us nor do they rank us in the legend of their love but we affect them merely for the report of their honesty we could take content in their conversation rejoyce at their sight and honour the very memory of them can the goodnes of God be unworthy of that which a mere humane goodnes claymes as its due A mans honesty may be such as to deserve love without any obligation of piety he not being our parent without any obligation of thankfulnes he not being our benefactour without any obligation of love he not loving us at all and shal not the authority of the divine goodnes suffice of it self to the same effect who is not moved with some sense of benevolence towards Ionathas for the loyalty of his friendship notwithstanding the emulation of his Fathers kingdome or towards David for his clemency in sparing the life of his enemy Saul though it had purchased him no les then a good empyre who hath not some affection for Iudas Machabaeus for his singular love towards his law and country and it is not any allyance with them or other particular interest but mere vertue that gaines this good wil. Sum up into one man the perfections of all others and suppose him composed all of miracles let him have the wisdome of Salomon the fortitude of Sampson the beauty of Absolon the fidelity of Ionathas the meeknes of David the fortune of Iosue and as loving towards his people as Moyses who would not be ambitious of that mans friendship or covet once at least to treat and converse with him of how dul a rellish would that man be thought who did not take gust in his acquaintance even prescinding from all hopes of gain o immense God thou art an aggregate of all good things and the total sum of all goodnes why do not we love thee and aspire to thy familiarity o Lord he that loves not thee upon the mere score of thy goodnes how ill-rellished is he how baseminded how unwise he that admires not it alone to the full how ridiculous let us suppose our selves created independently of God and that we should hear of him as of one that ruld in another world what we now believe who would not covet to have such a God who would not admire and love his goodnes and carriage towards the men of that his world whose happines we might wel envy his goodnes then is not one whit the les for his being Creatour neyther ought
it Where is our ambition our desire if it do not display and power it self forth upon this harvest of joyes and magazine of true riches I should take it for no smal dignity to be a sharer of Christs ignominy what then wil it be to partake of his glory if the ignominy of IESVS be glory the glory it self of God what wil that be if he so magnifyd the contumely of the cross as to exalt it upon the diadems of Emperors if he did so honour his torments what wil he do to his faithfull friends if he impart greater honour to the bones of Saints here among us then all the Monarchs of the world enjoy how much â—il he impart to their soules while they are reâ—â—dent with himself wilt thou make a rude â—ssay of the greatnes of glory how much it â—xceeds our labours Calculate how much â—he celestial globe exceeds in magnitude the â—errestrial this latter being but a point in regard of the first heaven and the first heaven another point or rather nothing in regard of the highest in whose circumference to one fingers breadth of earth so vast is the disproportion thousand thousands of miles are corresponding in that heaven The self-same God is author both of grace and nature and in point of bounty he would have his guifts in heaven much exceed our labours on earth Let the expectation of this so great a good be to thee alwaies a satiating repast Whatsoever thou seest good on earth contemn it as perswading thy self that thou shalt enjoy others in heaven excessively greater What evil soever annoyes thee fear it not as hoping to be out of its reach for all eternity Whatsoever is violently plunderd from thee grieve not as believing that all is depositated for thee to be made good out of the treasures of heaven Whatsoever thou dost contemn or relinquish for the love of God deem it not lost or cast away as supposing that it is not onely to be layd up but also restord with a hundred fold seek not to shun transitory labour thou who hopest for a permanent good Thou whose desire should animate thee to suffer in conformity with Christ upon the Mount Calvary without all hope of quitting cross be sure not to quit patience that thou mayst be conforme to God in glory with an assurd confidence of arriving to so great joy If we believe all this to be true why put we not hand to work but stand like people in a dream How is it possible to have terrene things in any esteem if we make heavenly things a part of our belief Perchance we believe not so rightly as we ought Wilt thou know how thy mouth belyes thy hart when thou affirmest that heavenly things are only great if thy fortunes amounted to the value of a thousand pounds wouldst thou not willingly give them all if thou wert perswaded that by so doing thou couldst enhance them to a hundred thousand but how doth it appear that we hold heavenly goods more valuable since we are loath even being put in mind of the advantage to give what men both joyfully and of their own accord give for the base trumpery of the earth a hireling toyles all day long for a poor salary a souldier exposeth himself to a thousand deaths for anothers kingdome and we for the glory of God and our own purchase of the Empyre of heaven cannot watch somtimes one hour pray with Christ as it behooveth Let us despise base petty trifles that we may receive immense rewards It is not so estimable in it self to receive litle as to expect great matters O lover and zealot of God be sure to thirst breath after so great a good but regard not so much thy own repose and commodity as that thou shalt there securely love God without fear of interruption and the greater thy glory is the more shalt thou love him I am bound to thank thee o God of truth for joyning the reward of our labours with the love of thee and the desire of my wil which is nothing els but thy love The VII Chapter Of suffering death HOW much o Lord doth thy beneficence transcend mans hope and expectation since those very things which he accounts the greatest of evils and natures penalty prove to thy faithfull an unparalleld benefit He esteems it the worst of evils to dye and it is a great good without which we shal never arrive to the fruition of all good Thou dost very fondly o man in declining death which is indeclinable and not declining tepidity and faultines which may be declind For death hath no evil it which life gave not the sin of Adam caused in death but was not so powerful as to make it evil this dammage only proceeds from thy sin Avoid sin culpable negligence death wil be a thing desirable Men fear little and regard les the death of the soul which only is evil and may be avoided but the death of the body which is not evil and cannot be avoided they seek to shun though it be rather to be desird then that we adhere to this wicked world O the madnes of men who abuse play as it were bopeep with that precept of Christ about loving our enemyes while they care for none but the world who hates us is our professd enemy why do we affect this fleeting life which flyes us and do not affect that permanent life which expects us Why are we so sollicitous for our temporal life which we cannot retain and neglect eternal which we may obtain we may have life everlasting if we wil we shal loose this transitory whether we wil or no and notwithstanding all this men wil not do profitably for eternal what they do unprofitably for this temporal they covet not the first and they dread the death of this second as one would do a mischief Death moreover is a rare invention of Gods mercy for it easeth us of all the molestations of this life and takes away an eternity of miseries What a pittiful thing would it be if we were for all eternity subject to the necessities of rising daily and going to bed of eating of cold and heat of toyl and sicknes of seeking our sustenance of carking caring of suffering affronts or spending our whole life in a sordid and laborious drudgery what a misery would it be if one were to be a â—orter another a husband man a third a smith a fourth a servant and this for tearm â—ithout all end or respit many that were â—otoriously wicked sought death and made away with themselves merely to avoid these inconveniencies at least let us not dread it that it may be a passage to future felicity and for both these respects let us patiently accept it When God beheld us involved by the sin of Adam in such a labyrinth of woes he in his most indulgent clemency invented for our good the devise of dying that our calamities might not
fruition of good things is sayd to be casual because they happen casually but seldome so doth not the multiplicity of evils wherfore his joy wil suffer les interruption who joyes least in wordly solaces O what a content is it to disburden ones self of himself and to live exempted from all importune and carking care of self seeking interest I conceive that he who hath quitted and relinquished himself hath evaded in greatest part the miseries and vexations of this life Neyther is it a mean fruit of a serious and sincere hatred of our selves that it causeth us to love others Consider how insolent and powerful an enemy self love is it hath so much of the tyrant that it intrencheth upon charity and outing it supplies its functions both towards man and God himself it alone consuming and devouring all the affection intended for both He that loves himself disordinately knowes neyther how to love God nor his neighbour he that truly hates himself will love even those that annoy and persecute him he wil rejoyce if any one do wrongfully oppress him knowing that to be depressed in him which is his main obstacle opponent and ought in all reason to be hated and persecuted by him and since no body takes it ill if one jointly together with him molest and infest his deadly enemy but rather holds him worthy of thanks so he that is a hater of himself wil rather love then be otherwise affected towards one that lends a helping hand to persecute him Another and no sorry fruit of self hatred is that it makes us detest sin all that viperous brood descends lineally from self love which is the parent and nurse of all vice and concupiscence and from it all the rest of that gang derive their pedegree He that rejoyceth at an injury wil not offend by being angry nor he that covets to be contemned by pride nor he by impatience who esteems himself worthy of all punishment It is no mean fruit that it removes all impediments in the love of God it is no smal benefit that it subdues thee to thy self and puts thee in a full and peaceable possession of thy self Lastly if thou wilt know what huge advantages arise from self hatred thou must consider how much grace surpasseth sin and vertue vice it is so much more excellent to hate ones self out of vertue then to love out of vice If men even to their utter undoing hate those that have much les endammagd them then thou thy self thou who of all others hast been thy saddest foe must out of the motive of vertue prayse recompense do no les The XI Chapter How we are to love our neighbour O Amiable Truth grant that I may love thee above all and all others for thee give thy self and not riches nor deceitful goods unworthy of love to my friends and all those whom I wish wel Learn o infirm spirit to love creatures without being injurious Many times the manner of loving stands parallel with that of hatred or contumely Thou wilt do a friend whom thou lovest a great injury if thou wish him riches as a real and solid good for by so doing thou shewest thy self to love them better then him for them thou lovest as being all sufficient him as needy wherefore thou wilt rather chuse to want him then them Hence fortune is the umpyre of friendships and its vicissitude is the death of love and birth of treachery Hence an equal danger ariseth to sincere fidelity whether thou lovest thy friend for riches or riches in thy friend As it is also a like tenour of true friendship when thou lovest all for God when thou lovest him alone in them because he alone is the object of thy love Thou wouldst love nothing els but God in all if thou lovedst nothing but him This must be the touch stone of thy love to try whether it be true charity or no. He that loves not riches at all cannot love them as good to another Let God be the common benefit which thou intendest to bestow upon all whom alone if thou give thou wilt make them rich enough And be sure to regard more such benefits in which thou lovest all then such by which thou shalt be loved by all for he that loves all truly as it behooveth shal be saved but he shall not therfore be saved because he is loved by all We must not be so base-conceyted of love as to hold it saleable at any rate it must allwayes be given gratis He sels God who bestowes a charity upon another out of any other motive then charity Cast thy courtesyes into no bodies dish but as thou esteemst whatsoever is conferd upon thee by others as so many blessings coming from God and thankfully attributest them to him alone so must thou esteem it Gods blessing not thine whatsoever thou impartest to others yea reckon this as the greatest of all that he would be pleased to use thee for his instrument and Almner in dividing his benefits Ground thy love towards others not upon temporal motives but spiritual for that foundation which is layd upon them and not upon the H. Ghost is covetousnes not charity not love towards man but list and lust of creatures In like manner be as forward in doing good offices to others as thou wouldst have God to be towards thee proceed upon no other tearmes with others then he doth with thee Grant o love of loves that I may love all as thou lovedst me and all grant that I may love all for thee and none love me for my self I could rather wish if it might be done without sin that each one should hate me rather then love me if they would love me for my self for if each one did hate me I should have but my due if they loved me for my self I should usurp what is thine All that love is impure which is not purely for God The sole love of God alone is onely sincere and refind from â—ll dregs since it neyther mixeth it self nor suffers mixture with contrary affections Other loves are wont to occasion eyther envy or anger or hatred against the party beloved or some other the love of God is immutable and eternal other loves are flitting â—â—eeting Therfore I shal reckon it among my gaines to be loved for thee my God not for my self The XII Chapter That nothing is to be covetted but what God willeth VVHich is more conforme to reason that thou by conformity subject thy wil to the divine or that it servant-like become conforme to thine wilt thou perchance be so self conceyted as to think that thou eyther art better then God in thy wishes or more sound in giving advise remember how often thou hast preferd evil before good how often thou hast stood in thy own light and on the contrary what a sure and certain proof hath God given of his good wil was it perchance a sinister wil to become
love or hatred or zeal take severe punishment of thy self as being the ring-leader of all that crew Consider now out of this whether the sin of Iudas and those of Anti-christ deserve love yea or no if God had committed to thy charge the doing justice upon him who gave IESVS that injurious blow or him that spit first in that face on which the Angels love to gaze or on the accursed Arrius and Nestorius or the malignest of men Antichrist or the Father of lyes Lucifer to punish condignly their sins as justice and equity should dictate to thee how wouldst thou carry thy self towards them wouldst thou perchance sooth and flatter and seek to humour them to thy ability or rather strive to shew in the sight of all creatures how much the glory of God and his honour so often violated were prevalent to a just revenge thou oughtst to exercise no les severity against thy self for thou must needs hold thy self worse then any of them if thou makest not a counterfeyt estimate of thy own basenes and I suppose thou intendest not to cozen eyther God or thy self It behooves thee to be moved with a more severe and fruitful indignation against thy self then against the perversest of divels The divel committed one sole sin that in thought only for which he incurd eternal damnation thou hast committed innumerable and those of fact also He sind against God to whom his obligations were not so binding for an Angel did not become God nor did God suffer torments for them he did not at any time pardon them as he became man for thee shedding his most pretious blood for thy sake sealing thy pardon and ready to seal it for the future not seven times only but seventy seven more Consider now whether it would be accounted laudable to contract familiarity with that great Prince of divels seek his honour content in all why holdst thou too strict a friendship with thy self desiring thy honour procuring thy ease and seeking thy wil and pleasure in all I demand of thee once more if God should deliver into thy hands that malign spirit who hath so often deceived thee tempted thee and induced thee to sin misleading thee from the way of salvation then another who were les hurtful commanding thee to punish both according to the qualities of the losses wherewith they damnifyd thee against which wouldst thou be more cruel against him that were les noxious or the other who proved thy heavier enemy But how canst thou be so indulgent to thy self thou being more insolent towards thy self and more pernicious I do not say then the worst of these divels but then both since neyther of them could endammage thee in the least unles thou cooperatedst gavest consent thou hast often playd the seducer and enemy to thy self thou hast often tempted and proved a stumbling block of scandal to thy self I know not then with what eyes thou canst look upon thy self thou being more prejudicial and a greater undoing to thy self then Caiphas Arrius Antichrist or Lucifer O soul I conjure thee by the love of IESVS to consider these things whether they be not true if it be true that thou art a greater cross and loss to thy self then the accursed Lucifer could have been love not thy self disordinately if thou be touchd with any sense of promoting the honour of God or amplifying his glory for by how much thou swelst with the tyde of self esteem and self affection by so much in order to the effects of grace and vertues doth God flow in thee at a lower ebb and by how much thou drainest thy self of thy self by an humble self hatred so much the more wil God replenish thee with his waters of grace even to a great profundity Who then is a greater enemy to thy self then thou thy self who wilt not let God be exalted in thee But if thou wilt not hate thy self o unworthy man more then the rest of thy enemyes at least look upon thy self as upon an enemy and bear thy self as little good wil nor take too much complacence in that fit of self-prosperity and corporal delight When any adversity befals him whom thou owest a spite thou art not a little contented therewith and so must thou proceed with thy self when thy enemy is sleighted or derided it causeth joy and complacence in thee and so must it do when thou thy self art so treated One wil not make much of an enemy nor feast him at a table of delights neyther must thou do so with thy self One would alwayes be vexing and molesting an enemy sitting close upon his skirts and taking all occasions of revenge so must thou also do if thou wilt act that part for this is properly to be spiteful If thou dost not hold this tenour thou art pittifully seduced as thinking thy self not sick of self love Where Gods divine pleasure interposeth not it self thou must with a masculin courage for his greater glory kil all self affection in thee Yet out of the same motive in the practise of exteriour austerities one must permit himself to be guided by some discreet person zealous of the divine honour that so he may also offer in sacrifice an oblation both of his wil and judgment Yet thou must not frame such a conceit as if the life of self denying people and those that loath persecute themselves were harsh and insupportable yea of all others it partakes most of joy The love of God is much more light-harted then is self love If self hatred brought no other advantage besides loving God that were sufficient It is much more available that God love thee ardently then that thou love thy self God can be much more advantageous to thee and he takes content in communicating joyes to give us a fore-tast of his inebriating and beatifying sweetnes comforting us amidst the troubles of this life and recreating us by exhibiting an experiment of his deliciousnes The Apostles went rejoycing from before the face of the councel because they were made worthy to suffer a contumely for the name of IESVS Call to mind that admirable but true saying deem it all joy when ye fall into several remptations God could draw relief for the children of the Babilonian furnace from their very flames and turn their scorching heat into a refreshing dew he is also able to make adversities no wayes burdensome Further more if we rejoyce in their evils whom we hate thou wilt do no les in the miseries which befall thee and since thy crosses are much more numerous then thy crownes there must necessarily be more frequent occasions of joy then self love could ever minister Incommodities are allwayes ready and at hand commodities rare and long to be sought for wherfore he must needs have frequent occasions of rejoycing who rejoyceth in his adversities since he shal never want matter of suffering in this life Evil things are not so obnoxious to casualtyâ—s as good The