mouths passed vpon one is as the other two former points set downe by S. Iohn much disliked and reprehended in the Scriptures for thus we read therein y As siluer is tryed in the fire by blowing to it so is a Man tryed in the mouth of him that prayseth For if the siluer be good it taketh no hurt by the â—yre but if it be base and not pure it resolueth all into sume so fareth it with a vayne-glorious man through prayse and commendation Iust reason therefore had King Dauid to auoyde all vayne glory resting in others speaches thus crying out against it Away z with this oyle and oyntment of sinners lâ—t is not come vpon my heade And the like iust reason had the Apostle to contemne the prayses of other men passed vpon him thus saying a I esteeme litle to be iudged of you or of the day of man Now the worth of this Vertue of Obedience is much celebrated in Gods sacred word For we read it to be preferred before Sacrifice the Prophet Samuel thus saying thereof b Obedience is better then Sacrifice which passage you Cosmophila could alledge aboue in a wrong sense And these words S. Gregory thus interpreteth Obedience c is better then Sacrifice because in Sacrifice the flesh of another thing by Obedienceour owne will is killed or as it were sacrifized to God Now the spirituall fruite springing from Obedience is great for first as S. Gregory sayth d Obedience is the only vertue which planteth all other vertues in the mind and preserueth them after they are once planted The truth of which assertion is proued seuerall wayes First because the liberall offer of a mans selfe to God which is made by the Vowe of Obedience prouoketh God to be bountifull and liberall towards that man againe For it is the peculiar goodnes and disposition of God neuer to suffer himselfe to be ouercome in bounty and loue therefore it followeth that whosoeuer giueth himselfe by Obedience vnto God which is done when a man resigneth his will by vow of Obedience to those who are substituted in Gods place he doubtlesly in recompence thereof receaueth from God all spirituall Graces and finally God himselfe Secondly Obedience is said to plant all other Vertues in the mind because in the practise of Obedience it followeth that we must practize them all Another fruite of Obedience is that it doth subiect vs and all our actions to the will and pleasure of God and this without any reluctation or resistance but with such perfection as that they are wholy dependant of him and guided or directed by him Since what action soeuer the Obedient religious person doth the same he doth for Gods sake Therefore in further proofe of the fruite and dignity of Obedience I will conclude this point with the testimony and words of the Blessed learned Cardinall Bellarmine he thus writing thereof e Quam ingens lucrum est c. How great a gaine is reaped by obedience as to merit with God in euery action for that man who doth nothing of his owne proper Will but by Obedience of his Prelate or Superiour doth in euery worke Sacrifice vnto God a most gratefull Sacrifice And which is altogether most admirable if the Superiour perhaps doth sinne in Commanding the subiect obeying his Commandement sinneth not but doth merit in obeying so long as the thing Commanded is not euidently a sinne Thus the Cardinall Now thus far Good Cosmophila I haue spread my selfe in discourse of the three essentiall Vowes of a votary lyfe to wit of Chastity Pouerty and Obedience And here now you see vpon what principall grounds a Religious lyfe is seated these three vertues being as it were the three mayne pillars which support the Edifice of a Monasticall and votary state and withall you may see what strong Reasons your sister Caelia hath for her continuance in her retired course and how litle Reason you haue for seeking to diuert and change her iudgment and will from the same Cosmophila Good Syr I yield And here I pronounce openly that neuer neuer more shall my tongue vtter any word of derogation touching the worth and dignity of a Religious lyfe But Syr I would intreate you to proceed to other Heads from whence this Heauenly life may be warranted with more store of Reasons in the iudgment of vs who be of the Laity Confessarius I am most ready thereto so willing I am to alter your iudgment herein being erroneous and to fortify and strengthen it being once rightly established and confirmed The next point then which I will take into my consideration is to shew the Antiquity of a Religious state seeing men much pryze Antiquity of things as we find they do in the beginning of Kingdomes priuate Families in points of fayth c. Now referring you to what is aboue said touching the Essenes being religious men among the Iewes I here further say that our Sauiour himselfe did first institute a religious lyfe since he first instituted the foresaid three essentiall points of that life I meane Chastity Pouerty and Obedience For besides what is deliuered aboue by the Apostles in commendation and warrant of these three vertues we find our Sauiour thus to speake of Chastity There be a Eunuches who haue gelded themselues for the Kingdome of God which words are spoken only of those who haue cut off all power of marrying by a perpetuall and solemne vow â—nd such as Religion obligeth vs vnto In warrant of Voluntary Pouerty Christ thus sayth Vnlesse b a man renounce all that he possesseth he cannot be my Disciple And hereupon as prescribing this Rule of Pouerty to his Disciples he commanded them that c they should not possesse either gould or siluer and did bid them as is aboue shewed that they should carry with them neither bug nor scrip nor meate nor any thing els when they went to preach to strange Nations Lastly Christ did institute Obedience in those words He d that will come after me let him deny himselfe which words all ancient and chiefe Fathers doe generally interprete of the Vowe of Obedience Now that the Apostles did follow Christ his Institution herein and profeiled a Religious life is proued from the words of S. Peter to Christ e Behould we haue forsaken all things and we haue followed thee which words do not declare only the Pouerty of the Apostles but also their Chastity seeing vnder the name of all things the wyues of the Apostles must necessarily be vnderstood Furthermore religious Obedience is gathered out of those last words of S. Peter aboue rehearsed And we haue followed thee since to follow another is nothing els but to live according to that others direction Caelia Reuerend Father you haue spoken fully of the Antiquity of a Religious life in generall as prouing it from our Sauiours tyme but I would intreate you to descend more particularly to the Antiquity of Religious
so hurtfull to it selfe as to preferte a temporall Father before a diuine Father Not For in this sense my carnall Father ceaseth to be my Father and heere are iustifyed those words of our Sauiour Call c no man Father vpon earth for one is your Father which is in Heauen Now as for your sensuall allurements of a Husband of Coaches rich apparell and such like vaine toyes for the loue I be are to my deare Redeemer I contemne them all Cosmophila Well Sister I grieue to find you so strongly enthralled to your owne IudgmeÌ„t Therfore the more easely to reclayme you from your setled Obstinacy pardon me for vsing towards you so vnkind a word I will be content you shall continue in this your Resolution if so I cannot giue you sufficient Reasons for your alteration thereof Only I expect that force of Reason once being discerned may take place in your Soule and that it may be of strength to voyd it of all partiaâ—ity of Iudgment Therefore Sister you must call to mynd that it was first your extraordinary and impatient desire of taking this your intended course which extorted and as it were wrunge out a consent from my Father and Mother for your comming into these parts For I haue often heard my Father talk of the dangerous state of a Religious life and how it is beset with many difficulties though the state of Religion as it is meerely considered in it selfe and abstracted from those difficulties he euer as being a Catholike did much approue and reuerence Therfore I will make bold with the good licence of your Lady Abbesse and Confessarius heere to relate to you so far as my weake memory will serue diuers of my Fathers speaches an he discoursed often with my Mother touching this subiect Abbesse We giue you free liberty therein hoping that our Father Confessarius will lay open and display the weaknes of all your Reasons ane Motiue impugning a Religious life which point being once performed will much fortify your Sisters allready imbraced Resolution and truly I partly feare by your ouerâ—ures and secret dislike of a retired course of lyfe that those words vsed by our Sauiour in the Gospell to the two Sisters it so a woman may without ouermuch boldnes alledge passages of Scripture may in part be verifyed of you and your Sister Martha * Martha sollicita â—â—erg a plurima Maria optimam partem elegit quae non auferetur ab ea Cosmophila Cosmophila you labour much about these worldly aduancements but your sister Calia hath chosen the best part which shall not be taken from her Cosmophila Well then My Father who you know iâ— a Schollar and was an Vniuersity man for many yeares did much insist in the difficulties and austerities necessarily accompanying a Religious lyfe as much fasting much praying rysing in the night Obedience to the Superiour Pouerty perpetuall Chastity and the like Things most aduerse to mans nature and such as they beget an horrour in the mynds both of men and women from vndertaking so rigid a course of lyfe To the vndergoing then of these vnsupportable burdens you tye your elfe good Sister if so you prosecute your lately begun state Therefore I hould it more secure both for your soule and body rather to withdraw back your foote in tyme then to goe on forward and in the middest of your dangerous iourney to faint and to say secretly to your soule O that I had not entred into this â—horny way of Religion but had liued a good Catholike in England Confessarius Women out of their want of reading and specially young Nouices such as our Sister Caelia is are perhaps not able to solue all the obiected Arguments made by sensuall men against a votary lyfe Therefore I being the Confessarius to this vertuous Monastery hould â—t my duty and function to refute all such vrâ—ed Reasons To this then your first obiection I say I yield that the votary lyfe hath â—s difficulties but these difficulties proceed â—ot from the nature of the lyfe it selfe but â—ur owne corrupt flesh not subiecting it selfe â—o Reason is the cause of them For certaine it is since a strict seruice of God is sortable tâ—Reason that therefore this seruice is pleasing to a Man of Reason I further answere thaâ— there are two things which much sweete the paynes of a Religious lyfe First principally the Merit therof the subiect of which Merit is the enioying the eternall felicity oâ— Heauen So true is that saying in Scripture d The Passions of this tyme are not worthy of the glory to come which shal be reuealed vnto vs And vpon this ground we read that S. Ignatius the Martyr had iust reason thus ioyfully to cry out in these fiery words e Let fire the Cross deuouring Beasts the cutting of my body asunder iâ— breaking of my bones the dissipation of all my members the distraction of all my body Yea let all the scourges and torments of the Deuill come vpon me that I obtaine Iesus Christ But what are all the afflictions incident to a Religious lyfe to be compared for the enioying of Christ to the Torments so earnestly thirsted after by thiâ— Blessed Martyr Since these afflictions can bâ— but short whereas the enioying of Christ for euer and certaine it is that nothing iâ— compare of Eternity is long which is measured with the yard of tyme The second thing which much less neiâ— the apprehension and feeling of Monastica austerities is the internall comfort and consolation with which God doth oftentymes viâ— his seruants to make them more couragiousâ— hould out in their begun conflict And the in the sweetnes of this spirituall Wyne taste by the seruants of God all the sowry accâ—dents belonging to a Monasticall Lyfe are wholy absorpt and drowned Hence it is that our Sauiour sayth f My yoake is sweet and my burthen light And God the Father thus â—ollaceth a man for Iustice sake g I am with him in his tribulation Finally the Apostle out of his experience in tasting of Gods most comfortable hand in the throng of his troubles spent in the seruice of God thus bursteth forth h I am replenished with Consolation do exceedingly abound in ioy in all our tribulations What say you now Cosmophila Are the asperities of a religious Lyfe such as they are not much sugred by God for the better supporting and bearing of them These passages and testimonies alledged by me are the Written Ward of God Either they are true or God in his holy Scripture which God forbid that any ChristiaÌ„ should so dreame is false But if it please you you may passe to your next imaginary bug-beare seruing only to affright Children against a votary and virginall life Cosmophila Indeed Good Syr I cannot deny but that these two spirituall Medicines so to call them are able much to aswage the paynes endured in Religion But seeing it is your pleasure I should proceed
course and consequently to ease and pacify their minds And indeed as concerning my selfe in particular it seemes to me that you Reuerend Syr do in some sort stand obliged to performe what I here desire For since it is the force of your pious and vertuous discourse which hath first wrought so much vpon my Soule as to induce it I hope irreuocably to the vndergoing of a Religious life that therefore you are euen in your owne reputation bouÌ„d to giue my Father by your letters full satisfaction for the warranting of this my chosen State Confessarius Good Cosmophila I will not be wanting in any thing to satisfy your desire or to aduance your spirituall good Therefore I will not only write to your parents in both your behalfs howsoeuer I know not how they will respect the letters of a meere stranger but I will withall send to them in writing the whole Discourse which hath passed betweene you Cosmophila and my selfe to trye thereby if it may in any sort sway with them All which shal be sent together with your owne letters to them But now you must giue me leaue to acquaint you before you and I do write to your parents with a custome which we generally hould with euery one who desireth â—o enter as Religious into this our Monastety It is this We do giue to euery such one certaine Points of deuotion to meditate vpon in which they vsually spend some few dayes By this when this short Spirituall Exercise for so it is commonly called is ended both themselues and the Gouernours of their â—oules may be better assured of the certainty and firmenesse of their vocation and whether their vocation proceed from God or from the â—nemy the Prince of darkenes who sometimes transformes himselfe in shew into an Angell of light That labour then being once happily finished with a Generall Confession of your whole life to this very tyme we will â—resâ—ntly send our letters with the former Disâ—â—unse to your Parents Cosmophila O deare Father this is more then euer I heard of but I like it wonderfully well This course â—ierceth euen to the hart of the Soule and no â—oubt so good a ground worke cannot be atâ—â—nded on with any euill Euent Therefore Good Father command me herein what you will I am most ready to obey Confessarius Well then seeing Cosmophila you are yong and not experienced in this kind of Exercise Therefore that this worke shall not become ouer fastidious and wearisome vnto you will content my selfe with appointing you to meditate on these foure points following which are commonly called the Quatuor Nâ—nissima Of which the holy Scripture thâ—â— sayth z In all thy works remember Nouissima thy later End and thou shalt not sinne for euer 1. Death 2. Iudgment 3. Hell 4. Heauen The manner and forme of meditating these points which I would wish you to follow and which is particularly obserued bâ— the Religious of this our Monastery is sâ— downe by the late Holy Bishop of Geneua iâ— his booke entituled An introduction to a deuouâ— lyfe These former points are so fully and mâ—â—ingly disposed in that booke and for the better begetting in the Readers Soule a Contrâ—tion and loathing of sinne as that I will taâ— the paines to write the said Meditations dowâ— for you omitting diuers others for your greater ease euen in the same words without any alteration as they are deliuered by the for â—â—id Booke For to alter them in any sort an that perhaps to the worse were by deprauing is booke euen mightely to wrong the worthy and pious Author Therefore you may â—editate on them as they shal be in Order set â—owne and you may bestow a whole day at seuerall chosen houers to meditate only â—n one of them so as within the compasse of â—esse then one Weeke you may performe the Meditations of them all The Lady Abbesse will â—llot to you a retired roome as more fitting â—or meditation where you are to stay from the â—ompany of all others during the tyme of these your Meditations And she will assigne one to â—ttend vpon you for all necessaries belonging â—o your body and herselfe at least once a day will visit you and further you with her directions in this your spirituall labour to see and you proceed therein Cosmophila I am most ready to follow your prescribed â—â—me and indeede I am most willing that â—our Reuerence and my good Lady Abbesse hould euen mould me a new as both of you â—hall thinke best presuming it will turne to â—e honour of God and benefit of my owne Soule Therefore I will now leaue you for the â—yme Good Father and attend you Madame or your shewing me the place of my retirement Abbesse Follow me then hopefull Cosmophila and will bring you to it Come in Doe this is you Chamber where for some few dayes you aâ— to stay alone during the performance of you Meditations You shall haue a sister to attenâ— you with all necessaries my selfe will moreouer visit you euery day at diuers tymes to your greater encouragement in so pious and profitable spending of your howers And with this for the present I will leaue you and send you instantly the forsaid transcribed Meditations which 〈◊〉 Confessarius hath wished you to peâ—use and seriously to ponder Cosmophila Well Deare Lady I commend my selfe first to Almighty God and to all the Blessed Saints in Heauen and then to Your and Father Confessarius good prayers that I may reape such spirituall benefit by the said ensuing Meditations as may most comfort my Soule and strengthen it in prosecuring with all â—eruour and true fortitude my intended Course of life The first Meditation of Death The Preparation 1. Place your selfe reuereutly in the presence of God 2. Pray him to inspire you with his grace 3. Imagine your selfe to be extreamely sicke lying vpon your death-bed without any hope of recouery Considerations 1. Consider the vncertainty of the day of your Death O my poore soule thou must out of this body one day but when shall that day be Will it be in Winter or in Summer In Citty or Countrey By day or by night Shall it be vnawares or with aduertisement By sicknesse or by casuality Shalt thou haue leasure to confesse thee or not Shalt thou haue the assistance of thy Ghostly Father or not Alas O my Soule of all these things we know not one only certaine it is that dye we must and alwayes sooner then we imagine 2. Consider that at that tyme the whole world shall haue an end so far forth as concerneth thy selfe that is there shall be no more worlds for thee yea it will turne vpside downe before thine Eyes for then the pleasures the vanities the worldly ioyes the fond affections of thy life will seeme vnto thee like flying shadowes and fading cloudes Ah! wreethed Captiue that I am for what trifles and bables haue I offended almighty God Thou shalt then euidently see