of Loue and vnion with Almighty God Psa 6.7 as if you were already perfect Deale first in clearing and washing well your bed with tears Lauabo per singulos noctes lectum meam lachrymis meis stratum meum rigabo And then be diligeÌ„t in adorning that bed of yours with the flowers of vertues and so you may induce the Spouse to come to it as the Spouse in the Canticles inuited hers Deale first about the Kisse of his feete by humbling your selfe and by much lamenting your sinnes and then about a Kisse of his hands which is by offering good workes to God and by procuring to receaue from his holy hands all true and solide vertue And as for that third Kisse of his mouth which is that most high Vnion leaue that for such tyme as when our Lord shall vouchsafe to raise you to it It is related of a very spirituall Father that he remained twenty years in the practise Doctour Aracâ— and exercises of the Purgatiue way but we do instantly growe weary wil be rising vp in all hast to that Kisse of the mouth to the Exercises of the Loue of God A body had need of a deep foundation for the raising of so high a building And moreouer here is in the Exercises of the Purgatiue way besides many other helpes benefits wherof we shall speake afterward this one of being a great remedy and a medicine very preseruatiue Tract 8. c. 21. p. 2. Tract 7. c. 4. against falling into sinne For he who goeth coÌ„tinually in actuall detestation of him and in being wounded confounded for hauing offended Almighty God in tyme past wil be very far from committing new sinnes in the present tyme. And on the contrary part the Saints haue obserued and deliuered vnto vs Note that the cause why some haue fallen who seemed to haue beene very spirituall men of Prayer and peraduenture were so indeed hath beene for want of this Exercise and because they gaue themselues in such sort to others and to certayne sweet and gustfull considerations that they forgot the Exercise of the knowledge of themselues and the consideration of their sinnes and so they came to be to secure not to be so wary and timerous as they ought and by these degres they came to fall Because they forgot so soone their owne basenesse they fell from that height where they conceyued themselues to be It will therefore be fit for vs that our Prayer be imploied for longe tyme in the bewayling of our sinnes as the Wiseman sayth Luc. 14.10 till our Lord reach vs forth his hand and say to vs Amice ascende superiùs Let vs now cast an eye to see what kind of thing that high and most excellent Prayer is which our Lord doth giue when he is pleased The Wiseman sayth presently Eccl. 39.8 Si enim magnus Dominus voluerit spiritu intelligentiae replebit illum If he will for this is no right of inheritance but a grace which is meerly gracious of great liberality thou shalt be sometymes in Prayer it wil happen to thee to haue a beame come from heauen and a flash of lightning wherby thou art shewed the way to vnderstand things truely thou doest grow to prize and value that which before thou didest not vnderstaÌ„d This is the guift of Prayer How often had you passed such or such a Truth and neuer reflected vpon it as then you do The holy Scripture calls it a Spirit of Intelligence because it seemeth to consist but of one single and simple apprehension so quiet and setled is a man with such a light as this It happens to one heere as when he chauÌ„ceth vpon some exquisite and curious Picture to be looking vpon it long togeather without stirring so much as an eye without any discourse of mind but with a guste with a suspension and with a great admiration and the eye is neuer satisfyed with beholding it Of this sort is this kind of Prayer and this high sublime Contemplation Or to say better this ConteÌ„plation hath somewhat of the maÌ„ner of that which the glorious soules inioy in heauen by the vision of God The felicity of glorious soules coÌ„sisteth in the Vision and Contemplation of God and in heauen we shal be all absorpt and ouerflowed by seeing and louing God for all eternity with one simple Vision of that Maiesty enioying his presence and his glory without vse of discourse and without being euer weary of beholding him Nay for euer that Song of ours and that diuine Manna will be new vnto vs and still we shal be taken as it were with new admiration In this very manner is that high and perfect Prayer which is called Contemplation wheÌ„ our Lord is pleased to bestow it For the man is neuer satisfyed with beholding and contemplating God without any discourse or wearinesse but onely with one simple sight The Scripture sayth Replebit illum Apoc. 14.3 because this grace is so copious and superabundant that it ouerflowes and cannot be comprehended in such a small vessell And it addeth instantly Note that which followeth vpon this Et ipse tanquam imbres mittet eloquia sapientiae suae in oratione confitebitur Domino From hence grow instantly those Colloquiums will God This is the proper tyme for treating with his diuine Maiesty when the soule is moued and instructed and sublymed by that celestiall light and wisdome And so B. Fa. Ignatius sayth P. N. Ignatius lib. Exercit. spirit in repetit 1. 2 Exercit primae â—ebdomâ—dae that this is the time when the Colloquiums are best made Occurrente nobis spirituali motu ad Colloquia veniamus Let that word be well noted When first we haue holpen our selues by the discourse of the powers of our mind in Meditation and consideration of the mistery and when that Meditation is growen already to haue inflamed our hart and when we find our selues throughly moued to it then is the tyme of Colloquium and of familiar treaty with Almighty God and of our suits negotiatioÌ„s with him For the Prayer which springeth from that hart which already is touched by Almighty God is the Prayer which he heares and which findes a good dispatch at the hands of his maiesty For as S. Augustine sayth When God moueth a man to aske any thing of him it is an euident signe that he meanes to grant that which is asked This is that most excellent Prayer which God giueth to whome he will Si enim Dominus magnus veluerit Aug. l de verbis Dom. ser 5. 29. spiritu intelligentiae replebit illum If our Lord who is great powerfull will we may easily vse this high aduantagious kind of Prayer But if our Lord will not be pleased Note to raise vs vp to so high Prayer as this we must not sayth S. Bernard afflict our selues or be dismaid Bern. ser 46.
monte contemplat at the rich mans doore and with what diligence he goes where he knowes there is any almes to be giuen And as this poore and naked forsakē creature stands before the rich-man asking him almes and hoping for the remedy of his necessity with great humility and reuerence so are we to place our selues before God in Prayer representing to him our Pouerty our necessity and our misery hoping for some remedy therof at the hands of his liberality and bounty Psa 112.2 Sicut oculi ancillae in manibus Dominae suae ita oculi nostri ad Dominū Deum nostrum donec misereatur nostri As the eyes of the slaue stand hanging vpon the hands of her Lord expecting what he will bestow vpon her so are our eyes to be hanging depending vpon our Lord God till such tyme as we may obteyne mercy of him We find in that story which is recounted of the Abbot Paphnutius who liued in the most inward part of the desert Pratum spiritual how that hauing heard of that loose woman Thais that she was the snare and perdition of many soules and the cause also of many quarrels and the death of many he did with desire to conuert her and drawe her to God take the habit of a secular man and money and he went to the Citty where she dwelt and conuerted her And he tooke the occasion from some words of hers when he seeming to desire that she would allow him some more priuate place she said Thou art safe inough heere from the eyes of men who cannot see the heere From the eyes of God indeed thou canst not hide thy selfe how secret soeuer the place may be The story is large but to come to that which makes to our purpose The woman being conuerted he conducted her to the wildernesse and did shut her vp into a cell and made it fast with a seale of leade leauing only an ouerture in a very little window which there was to the end that daily they might therby giue her a little bread and water And Paphnutius leauing her she asked him only how she was to pray to God To this the holy Abbot answered Thou doest not deserue to take the Name of God into that impure mouth of thine but the manner of thy Prayer shal be this Thou shalt put thy selfe vpon thy knees and thou shalt turne thy selfe towards the East and thou shalt repeal these words many tymes Qui plasmasti me miserere mei O thou who madest me haue mercy on me In this manner she continued three years without euer presuming to take the name of God into her mouth but alwayes carrying her many grieuous sinnes before her sight and demaunding mercy and pardon for them of our Lord in those words which the Saint had taught her And this Prayer was so acceptable to Almighty God that the Abbot Paphnutius demaunding of the blessed Saint Anthony at the end of those three years if he thought that God had pardoned her sinners S. Anthony called his Monks about him and required them that euery one should remaine all the next night following by himselfe in Watching and Prayer to the end that our Lord might declare that to some one of them which was demaunded by Paphnutius Being therfore all in Prayer Paul the monke who was the chiefe amongst the disciples of S. Anthony had a vision of a bed in heauen adorned with most pretious furniture and which was attended by foure virgins As soone as he saw so rich an obiect he instantly said within himselfe This grace and fauour cannot be reserued for any other then for my father S. Anthony As he was in these thoughts a voice descended from heauen and said This bed of glory is not prepared for thy Father Anthony but for Thais the sinner And fifteene dayes after our Lord was pleased to carry her to enioy that glory or celestiall bed of state Do you the while content your selues with making this Prayer know that you deserue to make no other And perhaps you may please God more by this then if you made that other which you imagine In a certayne spirituall Discourse which is a manuscript made by a religious Monke of the Carthusians concerning spirituall Communion he recounteth a certayne passage of our B. F. Ignatius and his companions which he affirmeth himselfe to haue vnderstood from a person worthy to haue beene belieued How that whilst they were trauelling as they vsed to do on foote with their little bags and such like necessaryes vnder their armes and going towards Barcelona there was a good honest man trauelling also in the same way who saw them and tooke pitty of them besought them with great instance that they would giue him their little bags saying that he was lusty and strong and would carry them well And although they refused to do so yet at last being importuned they were content and so went on their way all together Whē they arriued at their lodging the Fathers euery one of them did procure to find out his corner to recollect and commend himselfe to God in Prayer That other honest man seeing them do so did procure a corner also for himselfe and cast himselfe downe vpon his knees like them And proceeding afterward in their way they asked him once Brother what do you vse to do in that corner of yours He answered That which I do is to say O Lord these men are saints and I am but their beast Looke what they do and that will I also do And this sayth he am I offering vp to God And the Story further sayth that the good man did profit so much by meanes of this Prayer that he grew to be a very spirituall person and to be of high Prayer afterward Now who is he that cannot vse this forme of Prayer if he will My selfe did know a very ancient Father of the Society of Iesus and a very great Preacher whose Prayer for a long tyme was to say with much humility and simplicity to Almighty God O Lord I am but a beast and know not how to vse Prayer do thou teach it me O Lord. With this he profited much grew to haue most high Prayer that of the Prophet Psal 72.23 being accomplished in him Vt iumentum factus sum ego semper tecum Do you therfore humble your selues become in the sight of God as if you were but poore beasts and our Lord wil be with you It doth much import in the sight of God that one do humble himselfe for great matters are negotiated and obteyned in this manner at the hands of his diuine Maiesty And heere the Saints do note a thing of much importāce That as Humility is the meanes to obteyne Prayer Note so Prayer must be the meanes to obteyne Humility and to go increasing in it And so they say that when a man hath made good Prayer he euer goes a way much humbled
loue of God may be kindled in it a desire be produced of humility of mortification and the rest of the vertues you are not to giue ouer till you haue kindled and bred this fire Although Meditation be very good and necessary yet the whole tyme of Prayer is not to passe away in discourse and consideration of the Vnderstanding neither are we to dwell in that for this would be rather study then Prayer But all the Meditations and considerations which we are to haue must be taken but as a meanes for the awaking and kindling these affects and desires of vertue in our hart For the sanctity and perfection of a Christian life doth not consist only in good thoughts nor in the intelligence of holy things but in sound and solide vertue and especially in the acts and operations therof S. Tho. 1.2 q. 3. art â— wherin as S. Thomas sayth the last perfection of vertue doth consist and so we must principally imploy our selues and insist vpon the procuring of this in our tyme of Prayer This is therfore to be our first principle in this matter Note Yea and euen the Philosopher sayth which is alledged by Gerson Inquirimus quid sit virtus Gerson super Magnificat alphab 86. litera D. non vt sciamus sed vt boni efficiamur We go inquiring and searching after the knowing what vertue is not to the end that we may be more learned but that we may become good and vertuous Thogh the needle be necessary to sow withall yet it is not the needle which sticheth two things togeather but the thred And so should he be very indiscreet who would passe the needle in and out without thred for this should be to labour in vayne And yet this very thing they do who in Prayer attend only to meditating and vnderstanding and little to louing Meditation is to be as the needle which is to enter first but it must be to the end that the thred of loue and the affection of our will may follow after wherby he must ioyne vnite our selues to Almighty God Our B. F. Ignatius doth put vs in mind herof after a very particuler maÌ„ner After he had placed the Poynts which we are to meditate with some very short considerations vpon them he then sayth these words And I am to apply all this to my selfe to th' end that I may reape some fruite therby In this the Fruite of Prayer doth consist that men may know how to referre apply that which they meditate to themselues euery one according as he hath need Born serm 23. super Cantion The glorious S. Bernard sayth very well that as the Sunne doth not heat euery one whome it illuminates so Knowledge and Meditation althouh it teach that which is to be done yet doth it not moue all men nor breed an affection in them to do that which they are taught One thing it is to haue notice of great riches and another to possesse them That which makes men rich is not the hauing notice of riches but the possessing them So is it sayth he one thing to know God and another thing to feare and loue him and the knowing many things of God doth not make vs true Saints and spiritually rich but the louing and searing of God He bringeth also another good coÌ„parison to this purpose That as he who is hungry shall help himselfe but a little by placing before himselfe a large table full of exquisite and choyce meates if he eate none of them so he who vseth Prayer shal be litle the better for hauing a sumptuous and curious table set before him full of excellent and choyce considerations if he do not feed thereupon by applying them to himselfe with his Will That we may descend a litle more to particulers Note I say That the thing which we are to draw out of Meditation and Prayer is to be Holy affections and desires which are framed first interiorly in the hart and afterwards are put in practise in due tyme. The Blessed S. Ambrose sayth Ambros in Ps 128. super illud Et meditabar in praeceptis tuis Ezech. 1.8 That action is the end of Meditation Meditationis praeceptorum caelestium intenâ—io vel finis operatio est Those holy Mysterious beasts which the Prophet Ezechiel saw amongst other conditions of theirs had wings as he sayth and vnder them they had the hands of a man Et manus hominis sub pennis eorum to giue vs to vnderstand that the flying and discoursing with the Vnderstanding must be directed to working We must therfore setch from Prayer affects and desires of humility despising our selues and desiring to be despised by others Desires of suffering paine and troubles for the loue of God and being glad of such as at the present lye vpoÌ„ vs. Desires of pouerty of spirit wishing that the worst things of the house may be for vs and that something may be wanting to vs euen of those which are necessary Griefe and contrition for sinnes and firme purposes rather to burst then to sinne againe Gratitude for benefits receiued and true intiere resignatioÌ„ into the hands of God And finally a desire to imitate Christ our Lord and our Maister in all those vertues which shine so brightly in his life To this must our Meditation be addressed and ordeyned and this is the fruite which we must draw from thence Vpon this it followes Note That since we take Meditation and the discourse of our Vnderstanding for a meanes to moue our Will to these affections that this is the end of this businesse we must so far vse Meditation and the discourse of our Vnderstanding as shall be fit for this end and no further For the meanes are to carry a proportion and to receaue their measure from the end and so when we finde our Will moued and mollified with some good affection to any vertue as namely to griefe for sinnes contempt of the world loue of God desire to suffer for his sake or the like we must presently cut off the thred of the discourse of the Vnderstanding as a man would draw a Bridge from before a passenger and we must detayne our selues and pause vpon that affection and desire of our Will till such tyme as we be satisfyed till we haue drunke it deeply downe into our soules This is a very important aduise P. N. Ignatius lib. Exercitiorum spiritual addit 4. our B. Father doth place it in his booke of spirituall Exercises where he sayth That as soone as we haue found that deuotion and feeling which we desire we are then to pause and to deteyne our selues therein without hauing anxiety of passing towards any thinge els till we remaine fully satisfyed Iust so as the Garduer Note when he will water a peece of ground as soone as the water is entred in vpon it he deteynes the thred of the current and giues it meanes to
other aduersityes which may happen wil be better disposed and prouided for them when they come and we shall growe to find that these are things which giue more feare in the beginning then they bring hurt in the end S. Gregory deliuered this excellently well Greg. hoâ— 35. supeâ— Euang. Minus enim iacula feriunt quae praeuidentur The blow wounds not so deeply when you were expecting it and had halfe swallowed it before it came as when it surpriseth you vpon the sudden The example for this purpose is excellent which we read of our B. F. Ignatius When once he was sicke Li. 5. 〈◊〉 8. vitae P. N. Ignatij the Phisitian willed him that he should not giue place to sorrow nor to pensiue thoughts Vpon this occasion he began to thinke attentiuely within himselfe what kind of thing might happen to him so vnsauory vntoward as to afflict and trouble the peace and rest of his soule And hauing passed the eyes of his consideratioÌ„ ouer many things one only occurred which stuck neerer to him then the rest it was If perhaps the Society should come to be dissolued He proceeded on to examine himselfe how long the affliction and paine were likely to hold him in case such a thing as that should happen And it seemed to him so that it should happen without his fault that within one quarter of an houre wherein he might recollect himselfe and be in Prayer he should be deliuered of that disquiet and should returne to his accustomed tranquillity and peace of mind And he yet added further that he would hope to holde that quietnesse and tranquillity although the Society should be dissolued and defeated euen as a graine of salt is in the water This is a very good and a very profitable kind of Prayer The Apostle S. Iames â—â—c 5.13 in his Canonicall Epistle sayth Tristatur aliquis vestrum oret when you feele your selfe in affliction or discomfort resort to Prayer and there you shall find comfort and remedy And so did the Prophet Dauid Psa 76.4 Renuit consolari anima mea memor fui Dei delectatus sum When he found himselfe discomforted he remembred God and raised vp his hart to him and presently his soule was filled with this ioy and consolation This is the wil of God so he will haue it which is the contentment of all contentments Now as after the arriuall of the occasion of trouble it is very good expedient to resorte to Prayer for the bearing of it well so also doth it much importe to take this remedy by way of preuention and preseruatiue to the end that afterward it seeme not new and hard but gentle light S. Chrysostome sayth Chrys ho. de auaritia that one of the principall causes why the Holy Iob continued so firme and constant in all his aduersityes and troubles was because he had prouided himselfe for them by way of imagination and premeditation and actuation vpon them as vpoÌ„ a thing which might happen according to that which himselfe relateth Quia timor quem timebam euenit mihi quod verebar Iob. 3.25 accidit But now if you be not prouided for it before haÌ„d if eueÌ„ in the bare desire you finde difficulty what will become of you in the worke it selfe And if yet whilst you are in Prayer when you are far from the occasion you find not hart and courage inough in your selfe to imbrace such an action and occasion and contempt and trouble as is on foote what will become of you when you are gone from Prayer and when the difficulty of the occasion action is at hand And when you are remoued from the meditation consideration of the example of Christ our Lord which giues you breath and hart When you are sometymes in Prayer you are carried to the desire of such occasions as those and yet when the occasion is offered you faile what will become of the busines Tho. de Kempis if euen in the tyme of Prayer you desire it not If he who purposeth do often faile how sure will that other man be to faile who late or neuer will so much as purpose By this meanes we giue a man very copious matter to continue perseuere in Prayer concerning the same thing and with the same affect or desire many howers togeather many dayes Note For the particuler cases which may occurre to vs and to which we may descend are without number to be able to make head to all will finde vs worke inough to do And when you shall arriue to thinke that you finde strength inough in your minde for all and that you can performe it with a good will do not yet conceiue that your businesse is already brought to an end You haue yet a loÌ„g way to go For there is a great deale of difference betweene doing and saying and betweene the desire the deed It is clere that the deed is farre more difficult then the desire For in the deed or worke the obiect it selfe is present but in the desire there is nothing present but the imagination of the deed And so it happeneth to vs many times that in Prayer we are full of feruour and it seemes to vs as if nothing were able to stand in our way And yet afterward when the occasion is offerred and that it calls vs to put our hand to worke we find our selues far from what we thought It sufficeth not therfore that you finde those good desires in your selues but you must procure that they may prooue so full of efficacy that they may extend or reach to the very worke for this is the true touch of Vertue And if you see that your deeds agree not with your desires but that when an occasion is offered you discerne your selfe to be another man then when you were in Prayer be confounded with shame to find that all goes away in bare desires Or rather confounde your selues with shame because those desires by all probability were not true ones but conceits and imaginations since so poore and so weake a thing can put you afterward into disorder disgust can make you turne backe where you were before And as the Smith when his worke prooues not well returnes yet once againe to his Anuile to redresse accommodate it that it may come right so are you to returne to this Anuile of Prayer that so you may beate your desires into a better mould giue not ouer till your desire and your deed shake hands together and so as that there be no more falling out Yea and yet euen when you shall arriue to this Note that you conceiue your selfe to beare the occasions which are offered you with vertue do not yet make your selfe belieue that all the businesse is brought to an end For in the selfe same worke there are many degrees and steps wherby to rise before you can arriue to
goe Now this is the very meanes wherby we are to learne this Science of Prayer And although it be very true that for the obtayning of the guyft of Prayer or any other which is supernaturall no labour of ours is sufficient but it must come from the gratious and liberall hand of God Prou. ◠Quia Dominus dai sapientiam ex ore eius prudentia scientia because it is our Lord who giueth wisdome and prudence and science proceedeth out of his mouth Yet his diuine Maiesty is pleased that we should exercise our selues therein as carefully as if we were to obteyne it only by that meanes For he disposeth of all things sweetly Sap. 8.1 Attingit à fine vsque ad finem fortiter disponit omnia suauiter And so he disposeth of the workes of Grace aswell as of the workes of Nature And as other arts sciences are obteyned by practise so is also this of Prayer By playing on the lute a man learnes to play by going to goe and by Praying a man learnes to Pray And so Gerson sayth that the cause why at this day there are so few Contemplatiues is through the want of this practise We find that anciently in those Monasteryes of Monkes there were so many persons of great Prayer and Contemplation and now you shall haue difficulty to find a man of great Prayer and when you shall speake to men of Cōtemplation it seemes to them as if you were talking of Metaphisicks or Morisco's which is not to be vnderstood The cause hereof is for that anciently those holy Monks did exercise themselues much in Prayer and the young men who entred into those Monasteryes were presently tasked and instructed therein and were made to practise it much as we read in the rule of S. Pacomius other Fathers of those Monks And so Gerson giues this aduise as very important for Monasteries That they are to haue amongst them certayne persons of spirit who may be learned and of great practise in Prayer and who may instruct young men from their very entrance into Religion how they are to exercise themselues in Prayer And our B. Father 3. p. Constit c. 1.12 4. p. c. 10.7 tooke this Counsell so much to hart did leaue it so well recommended in the Constitutions that not only at the first in their houses of Nouitiate there should be some to instruct such as enter newly but in all the Colledges also and Professed Houses of the Society he commaunds that there be a Prefect ouer spirituall things who may attend to this and obserue how euery one proceedeth in Prayer for the great importance wherof he tooke that pointe to be Another thing also is to help vs much towards our continuance in this exercise of Prayer and to perseuer in it much and this is to haue a great loue to God and to spirituall things And so said the Royall Prophet Quomodo dilexi legem tuam Domine tot a die meditatio mea est Psal 118.97 How much O Lord do I loue thy Lawe I am not satisfyed with thinking on it all day and night This is my only intertainment and delight Et meditabar in mandatis tuis quae dilexi Psal 118.47 So that if we did loue God much we also would be glad to be thinking of him day and night and we should not want matter wherof to thinke Oh with how good a will doth the mother stand thinking of that Childe of her wombe Note whome she tenderly loues And how little need hath she of discourses or considerations to comfort herselfe in the thought of him If you speake but one word of that Child her very bowels are instantly in a commotion and the tears of ioy are streaming downe frō her eyes without any more discourses or considerations Do but begin to talke to a widow of her husband deceased whome she most dearly loued and you shall see how instantly she will sigh and weep Now if these effects can be wroght by this naturall kinde of loue why do I say Naturall loue nay if we see that the furious loue of some lost and wretched creature doth carry him so absorpt and inebriated vpon the person whome he loues as that he seemes vnable euen to thinke of any thing els how much more should the supernaturall Loue of that infinite Goodnesse and Beauty of our Lord God be able to produce these effects For more powerfull is grace then eyther nature or vice If God were all our treasure our hart would instantly fly vp to him Mat. 6.21 Vbi enim est thesaurus tuus ibi est cor tuum All the world thinkes willingly of him Pro. 31.18 whome it loues and of that wherein it takes delight And therfore the holy scripture sayth Gustauit vidit Gustate videte Psa 31.9 quoniam suauis est Dominus The Gust may precede the seeing but the seeing causeth more guste and more loue And so S. Thomas speaking of this S. Tho. 2.2 9.160.7 ad 1. sayth That Contemplation is the daughter of Loue because Loue is the roote therof And he also sayth that Loue is the end of Contemplation for by the louing of God a man is inclined to thinke and contemplate vpon him and how much more he contemplates so much more he loues him For good thinges haue this property that when they are seene they inuite to loue the more we se them the more we loue them and the more do we ioy in continuing to see and loue them CHAP. XVIII It is shewed after a practicall manner how it is in our power to pray euer well if we will and to gather Fruite from thence THAT most excellent and extraordinary Prayer Cap. 4. seqq wherof we spake before is a most particuler guifte of God which he imparteth not to all but only to such as it pleaseth him But this ordinary and playne Mentall Prayer wherof now we treat our Lord denieth to none And it is the errour of some that because they obteyne not that other rich Prayer and Contemplation it seemes to them that they cannot pray at all and that they are not fit for this holy exercise whereas yet euen this is a very good and very profitable kind of Prayer and with it we may become perfect And if our Lord be pleased to impart that other high Prayer vnto vs this inferiour kind of Prayer is a very good and a very proper disposition for the obteyning of it I will therefore now declare how with the grace of our Lord it is in our hand to make this Prayer euer well and to gather Fruite from thence which is a matter of much comfort By two meanes we may very well inferre thus much vpon that which hath beene said The first is because the manner of Prayer which our B. Father hath taught vs is to exercise therein the Three powers of our soule placing with our
our mouthes those words Cum quibus nostras voces vt admitti iubeas deprecamur supplici confessione dicentes Sanctus Sanctus Sanctus c. O Lord that which they say I say and that which they do I would â—aine do iust as they praise and loue so would I fayne blesse and prayse and loue thee And sometymes it wil be also good that we remit our selues euen to our selues as we were at some former tyme when we conceiue our selues to haue beene in good Prayer saying O my Lord that which I did then and as then I offered my selfe wholy to thee so do I offer my selfe now and as then I grieued for my sins so do I grieue now and as then I desired Humility Patience and Obedience in the same manner O Lord do I craue and beg it of thee now But aboue all it is a most singular good practise to vnite our workes with those of Christ our Lord and to supply our faults imperfections by the merits of his most sacred Passion aswell in that which concerneth our Prayer as in our other actions offering to the eternall Father our Prayers in vnion of the loue and seruour wherewith Christ our Lord did pray to him and praise him here on earth and our Fasts in vnioÌ„ of those Fasts which he made beseeching him that he wil be pleased to supply our Impatience with the Patience of Christ our Lord our pride with his Humility and our Malice with his Innocency Blosius c. 9. instituâ— spiritual This practise as Blosius relateth was reuealed by our Lord to some deare seruants of his to the end that we may so make our workes of much worth and merit relieue our pouerty by his meanes through the infinite treasure of the merits of Christ our Lord. CHAP. XX. That we must content our selues with this Prayer wherof we haue spoken and not goe with complaint and griefe for not being able to obtayne that other Prayer which is more high ALBERTVS Magnus sayth that the true humble man Albertus magnus de adhaerendo Deo doth not presume to lift vp his hart to a desire of that high and rich Prayer and of those extraordinary fauours which our Lord doth vse Note sometymes to coÌ„municate to his deare seruants For he esteemeth so little of himselfe that he holdeth himselfe vnworthy of all fauour and spirituall consolation And if at any tyme without any desire of his our Lord do visite him with any comfort he receiueth it with feare acknowledging that he deserueth not those visitations and that he knowes not how to profit by them as he ought And if we had true Humility we would content our selues with any of those kinds of Prayer wherof we spake Nay rather we should hold it for a particuler fauour of our Lord that he leades vs by the way of Humility For therby we shall conserue our selues and by that other way we might perhaps growe light-headed and so be lost S. Bernard sayth Bern. ser 5. quadrag that God doth carry himselfe towards vs as the Fathers of this world do towards their little children That when the Childe asketh bread Note they giue it him with a good will but when the Child asketh for a knife wherewith to cut his bread they will not giue it him because they see it is not necessary and that perhaps it might do him hurt by cutting his fingers But the father takes the knife and cuts the bread that so the child may neither be put to any trouble nor made subiect to any danger in this forte doth our Lord proceed He giues you the bread already cut and will not giue you those gusts and consolations which are in that most high Prayer because perhaps you would cut your selues they would do you hurt by making you wanton and guiddy and to hold your selues for spirituall persons and to prefer your selues before others Our Lord doth you a greater fauour in giuing you the bread already cut then if he gaue you the knife wherewith to cut it If God with your Prayer giue you a great resolution and strength rather to dy then to commit sinne and if he keepe you through the whole course of your life without committing a mortall sinne what better Prayer and what better Fruite can you desire then this This is that answere which the Father of the Prodigall Sonne gaue to his elder brother Who seing that the Younger was receiued with so much feasting and ioy was deepely offended with it and already was refusing to enter into his Fathers house saying to this effect So many years are now past since I serue you and haue euer beene subiect to your commaundements and obsequious to your person and you haue neuer bestowed vpon me so much as a Kid to the end that I might make merry with my friends And as for that other who hath dissipated your state and beene disobedient to your selfe you haue killed the fat calfe and made him a sumptuous banquet with great musique and ioy The Father makes this answere Luc. 15. â—â— Fili tu semper mecum es My sonne know that I do not this as louing the other more then you You are euer remaining in my house and with my person It will also be reason that you know and esteeme worthily of that which I do for you Is it perhaps a small grace and fauour which I do you in continuing you euer about my selfe The same I say in your case Doth it seeme a trifle for our Lord to keepe you euer with himselfe and in his house It is a greater matter for our Lord to giue you the guift of perseuerance and to keepe you from euer parting from him and falling into sin then if after you were fallen he should lend you his hand as he did to the Prodigall Sonne It is more for him to keepe you from breaking your head then if he should heale it when it were broken If then our Lord with this Prayer which you haue do giue you this of what can you complayne If with this Prayer he giue you great promptitude towards al things which concerne his seruice and great indifferency with intiere resignation towards all the orders of Obedience what can you desire more If with this Prayer God conserue you in Humility and in his feare and in walking warily and in preseruing your selues from occasions out of the dangers of sinne what reason haue you to sigh for more This is that Fruite which you were to gather out of Prayer if it were neuer so high and sublyme And when our Lord were pleased to giue you many gusts and comforts in it to this end you were to addresse theÌ„ all Now this is that which God doth worke in this playne and ordinary Prayer He giueth you the end and the Fruite without those extraordinary meanes of eleuations and gusts and consolations as they find by experience who perseuere in it And therfore
therein and should esteeme it for an act of great ill-manners in himselfe to turne his back towards the Prince yea or yet to vse any impertinent discourse with him what shall that man do who attentiuely considereth that he stands in presence of the Maiesty of God and that he is looking on and that not only vpon the exterior but vpon the most secret and internall parte of his hart Who sayth he is that man that shall presume to diuert his eyes and his hart from that which he is doing and shall aduenture to turne his backe to God and passe his thoughts in that place towards impertinent things That great Monke Iacob as Theodoret recounts doth vse this following consideration to shew what a great irreuerence this would be Theodoret in historia Sanctorum Patrum c. 21. August super Psa 85. and it is also alledged by S. Augustine If I said he were the seruant of a man who is also of the same nature with my selfe and at the tyme when I were to serue him should leaue to bring him his dinner through the will which I might haue to be talking with some fellow-seruant of mine my Maister might reprehend and punish me with iust reason And if being before a Iudge to complayne of some body who had done me wrong I should leaue him euen as the word were in my mouth and should turne my backe towards him and stand talking with others who were there do you not thinke that he would take me to be a rude fellowe and commaund me to be cast out of the Tribunall where he were giuing sentence Now this is that which they do who going to treat with God in Prayer do yet distract themselues by thinking of impertinent things Our B. Father prescribeth also this helpe which followes Ignatius lib. exercitiorum spiritualium in one of the Additions or Aduertisements which he sets downe for Prayer Where he sayth that immediatly before we enter into Prayer we should for the space of a Pater noster lift vp our spirit to heauen and consider that the same God is present with vs heere and that he is looking vpon vs and that so we should begin our Prayer with great humility and reuerence And we are to procure that this Presence of God be not lost by vs in the whole tyme of our Meditation Psa 18 1â— Chrysost super illud Psal 4. Miserere mei exaudi orationem meam according to that of the Prophet Et meditatio cordis mei in conspectu tuo semper S. Chrysostome sayth Make account that when you go to Prayer you are entring into that celestiall Court where the king of glory is seated in heauen which is allimbrodered with stars and that King inuironed with innumerable angells and Saints that they all stand 1. Cor. 4.9 beholding vs according to that of S. Paul Spectaculum facti sumus mundo angelis hominibus Bernardus Climacus in scala spirituali gradu 4.8.18 S. Bernard counselleth how we are to carry our selues herein Veniens ad Ecclesiam pone manum tuam super os tuum dic Expectate hic cogitationes malae intentiones affectus cordis appetitus carnis tu autem anima mea intra in gaudium Domini Dei tui vt videas voluptatem Domini visites templum eius WheÌ„ thou shalt enter into the Church and recolect thy selfe towards Prayer lay thy hand vpon thy mouth say Stay you here at the gate you disordered thoughts and appetites thou O my soule enter into the ioy of thy Lord that thou maist see and do his holy will S. Iohn Climacus sayth That he who when he is in Prayer considereth in good earnest that he is standing in the presence of God is a firme coÌ„stant pillar which cannot be moued And he relates how that seeing at a certayne tyme a Religious maÌ„ who was more attentiue then the rest in the singing of Psalmes and that especially at the beginning of the Hymns he seemed by the manner and countenance which he held as if he had beene speaking with another he desired him afterward that he would tell him what the matter was The monke made him this answere At the beginning of the diuine Office I am wont to recollect my hart and thoughts with great care and calling them before me I vse to say Venite adoremus procidamus ploremus ante DominuÌ„ qui fecit nos Psa 94.6 quia ipseest Dominus Deus noster nos auteÌ„ populus eius oues pascuae eius Come let vs adore and prostrate our selues let vs weepe before our Lord because he is our Lord and our God and we are his people and the sheep of his pasture All these coÌ„siderations are very profitable and good to make vs pray with reuerence and attention Others giue this remedy to put our selues before the B. SacrameÌ„t if we be in place where we may do it Or if not to be as neere the B. Sacrament as we can and there to lodge our hart It is also good to haue an eye vpon holy Images Others helpe themselues by looking vp to heaueÌ„ It is also very good to quicken a man when he is subiect to distractions and drynesse in Mentall Prayer Note to cast out some Iaculatory Prayers and to speake vocally to God representing our weakenes to him Isa 58.14 and thus demanding remedy thereof Domine vim patior Mark 10.47 Luc. 18. â—8 responde pro me O Lord answere thou for me for I suffer violence That Blinde man of the Gospell although Christ our Lord seemed to dissemble the care he had and did passe wide of him and although the people bad him hold his peace yet be neuer gaue ouer to cry out but raysed his voyce so much the more and exclaimed saying Iesu filij Dauid miserere mei IESVS the Sonne of Dauid haue mercy on me Iudi. 13.9 Confirma me Deus in hac hora. Strengthen O Lord and confirme this hart of mine in this hower to the end that it may be able to thinke of thee and to be firme and constant in my Prayer A holy woman gaue this Counsel S. Angela de Pulgin ca. 58. 26. If you caÌ„not speake to God with your hart fayle not to speake often to him with your mouth for that which is spoken so frequently doth easily giue heat and feruour to the hart And this Saint confesseth of her selfe that somtymes through failing to vse vocall Prayer she lost that which was mentall through her being so prest and hindred now and then by slouth and sleepe This also is our owne case A man now and then forbeares to speake in his Prayer out of very sloth and being halfe a sleepe whereas if he would speake he might awake and reuiue himselfe for Prayer Gerson sayth That it is a good remedy against Distractions Gerson to haue the Meditation well prepared and the Points
distinguished for Prayer Note For therby when one is distracted and reflects vpon it he hath already his Point which is certayne and determined to his hand to which he may retire And if that prooue not with him he may instantly passe to another of those Points which he had prepared returnes the more easily to spin on the thred of his Prayer And we finde by experience when we examine our selues that many tymes the cause of our being distracted and that we go wandring vp and downe to diuers things is because we haue not our Points well prouided and knowne vpon which we may make our Prayer and so we want a place to which we may retire our selues Moreouer not only the aduise which now I giue but that also which followes is very necessary to the end that we may go well prepared for Prayer Ignatius l. Exercit. spiritualium notabile 3. hebdomadae 4. And so our B. Father doth recommend it to vs in very serious words Magnopere iuuabit ante ingressum Exercitij tractanda puncta comminisci numero certo praefinire It will greatly help sayth he if before we go to praier we recapitulate the points whereupon we are to meditate and do appoint a certaine number of them And we read of him that himselfe vsed this methode and that not onely in his beginnings but afterward also when he was an old man Note And he prepared his Exercise ouer night and weÌ„t to rest with that care vpon him I relate this to the end that no man may thinke that this diligence is onely to be vsed by Nouices Yea and although a man do already know the exercise well as hauing meditated vpon it at other tymes neuerthelesse it wil be very well done for him to prepare himselfe againe For those words wherupon we pray being vsually of the holy scripture and therfore dictated by the Holy Ghost the very reading them with a quiet and reposed mind will rayse a new attention Bonauent in informat nouitiorum p. 1. c. 4. Cùm euigilas statim omnes cogitationes tuas abijce de corde tuo â—ffer Deo primitias cogitationum tuarum Climacus c. 21. and deuotion to meditate and profit by them so much the more Againe it wil be of much helpe if presently when we awake we giue no place to other thoughts but thinke of the Exercise which we are to make preparing our selues for Prayer by some consideration accommodated to that which we are to meditate Cassian S. Bonauenture and S. Iohn Climacus do hold this for a very important aduise And they say that the order of our Prayer and consequently the disposition of the whole day after doth much depend heerupon And S. Iohn Climacus doth obserue that wheras the diuell doth well see that this particuler is of much importance he is therfore very diligent and sollicitous in watching when we chance to wake to the end that instantly he may take vp his lodging with vs and so gather the first fruits of the whole day And he sayth that there is amongst those maligne spirits one whome they call the Precursor who hath the office to watch and set vpon vs by night at the tyme when we first awake out of our sleep yea and a little before we are fully awake when a man is scarce returned entirely vnto himselfe that so he may represent certaine deformed filthy things to our mind or at least things impertinent therby taking the possession for the whole day for he conceiues that the hart wil be his who is first possessed therof For this reason it will import vs much that we be full of caution in giuing no place to our enemy but that instantly when euen we haue scarce opened our eyes the memory of our Lord may be already planted in our harts before any other thought be lodged there Wherof our B. Father Ignatius li. exercitiorum spiritualium addit 2. prioris hebdomadae addit 5. secundae hebdomadae in 1. modo orâ—di doth also aduise vs he addeth moreouer that the same guard is after a sort to be held by vs ouer our selues when we are to make Prayer at any other houre by recollecting our selues a little to thinke Whither go I and before whome do I purpose to appeare and by recapitulating briefly the mystery whereupon you are to meditate like one who tunes the instrument before he playes And our B. Father said that generally the making of good Prayer and gathering store of Fruite therby did in great parte depend vpon the obseruation of these and the like aduises which he calleth Additions And our selues do very ordinarily find the truth of this by experience and that when we go well prepared and take care to follow these directions our Prayer proues very well and if not otherwise The holy Ghost sayth by the Wiseman Ante orationem praepara animam tuam noliesse quasi homo qui tentat Deum Eccl. 18.25 Before Prayer prepare your selues for it and be not like the man who tempteth God S. Tho. 2.2 q. 97. ar 3. ad 2. Bonauent in opusculo cui titulus est Regula nouistoruÌ„ ca 2. S. Thomas S. Bonauenture note vpon these words that to go to Prayer without preparation is to tempt God For to tempt God say the Deuines is to desire any thing without imploying the vsuall and necessary meanes of obtayning it As if one should say I will not eate because God can and will susteyne me without eating This should be a tempting of God and a demaunding of a miracle without necessity As Christ our Lord said to the diuell Note when he tooke him vp to a pinnacle of the Temple and perswaded him that he should â—ast himselfe downe and that God would command his Angells to take and carry him in the palmes of their hands For our Lord answered thus Matt. 4.7 Non tentabis Dominum Deum tuum Thou shalt not tempt thy Lord and thy God I may go downe by a ladder this other is a tempting of God and a demaund of a miracle without necessity Since therfore the preparation of our selues to Prayer is so principall so necessary a meanes to the thing it selfe that the Wiseman sayth That to resolue to haue Prayer without this preparation is a kind of tempting of God and a pretending to haue him shewe miracles with you our Lord is well pleased that we haue good Prayer and that we performe it with much attention and reuerence but yet he desireth that we should haue it by the ordinary meanes wherof we haue spoken CHAP. XXIII Of a matter of great consolation for them who are molested distracted in Praier FOr the comfort of such as are molested with this temptation Basil in constit monasticis ca. 2. S. Basil notes that in Prayer we onely then offend God by these distractions and thoughts when a man with his will and after reflection made vpon
for which we hope this other obscure sight is matter of merit to vs wherby we must growe to obteyne that other But yet still in fine we must imitate those blessed spirits to the best of our power whilst we procure not to loose the sight of God in the workes which we are doing Iust so as the holy Angells who are sent downe to our succour for our defence and help are in such sort imployed vpon those ministeryes as that yet withall they neuer loose the sight of God As the Angell Raphael said to Toby Videbar quidem vobiscum manducare bibere Tob. 12.13 Mat. 18.10 sed ego cibo inuisibili potu qui hominibus videri non potest vtor I seemed indeed to haue beene eating and drinking with you but I the while did serue my selfe of an inuisible meate and of a kind of drinke which cannot be discerned by humaine eyes They are euer susteyning themselues vpon God semper vident faciem patris mei qui in caelis est And so also although we eate and drinke and conuerse and negotiate with mē and though it seeme that we enterteyne and imploy our selues therein must yet procure that that be not our foode and entertaynement but another food and entertaynement which is inuisible and which men discouer not and this is That we be euer beholding and louing God and accomplishing his most holy will Great was the accounte and practise which the Saints and the ancient Patriarches made of going alwayes in the Presence of God Prouidebam Dominum in conspectu meo semper Psa 15.8 quoniam à dextris est mihi ne commouear The Royall Prophet did not content himselfe with praising God seauen tymes in the day but withall he procured to haue God alwayes present with him And so continuall was this Exercise with those Saynts that this was also their common phrase of speach Viuit Dominus in conspectu cuius sto 3. Reg. 17. Our Lord liueth in whose presence I am The benefits and profits are great 4. Reg. 3.14 which flowe from our going continually in Gods Presence whilst we consider that he is euer looking on vs and therefore did the Saynts labour in it so much This alone sufficieth to make that a man be very well ordered and composed in all his actions For tell me what seruant is there who will not carry himselfe exactly well vnder the eye of his Lord Who will not do that which he commaunds or who will dare to offend him to his teeth Or what theefe will presume to steale whilst the Iudge hath an eye vpon his hands Now therfore since God is so euer looking vpon vs Note and since he is our Iudge and since he is Omnipotent and can commaund that the earth may open and swallowe a man vp into Hell Yea and since he hath indeed done so sometymes to such as durst offend him what is he that will dare to offend him any more Aug. sol 14. And so S. Augustine sayth O Lord when I consider with attention that thou art euer looking vpon me and that thou art watching ouer me night and day and that with so great care as if there were neither in heauen nor earth any other creature for thee to gouerne but me alone When I consider well that all my deeds desires and thoughts lye open and cleere before thee I am all fulfilled with feare and ouer-whelmed with shame Without doubt we are cast into a very streight obligation of liuing with great rectitude iustice by the consideration of our doing all things vnder the eye of that Iudge who seeth all things and from whome nothing is able to hide it selfe If in this world the presence of a graue and qualifyed person will keep vs in order what will not the Presence of God be able to do S. Hierome vpon that place where God said to Hierusalem Ezech. 28. ◠by the Prophet Ezechiel Meique oblita es Thou hast forgotten me sayth thus Memoria enim Dei excludit cuncta flagitia The memory of God dismisseth and dischargeth all sinne The same also doth S. Ambrose say And els where S Hierome sayth againe Certè quando peccamus si cogitaremus Deum videre esse praesentem numquam quod ei displiceret faceremus The memory of God and the watching still in his Presence is a meanes of so great efficacy that if we did but consider that God is present and doth behold vs we would neuer aduenture to do that thing which might displease him This alone sufficed to make that sinfull woman Thais giue ouer her bad life and betake herselfe to a course of pennance in the wildernes Holy Iob said thus Nonne ipse considerat vias tuas Iob. 31.4 cunctos gressus meos dinumerat God stands beholding me and as a true ey-witnes counts the paces which I make and who then is that man who will presume to sinne or to do any thing amisse On the other side all the disorder Note and perdition of the wicked doth proceed from their not considering that God is Present beholdeth them according to that which the holy Scripture doth so often repeate in the person of wicked men Et dixisti Isa 47.10 Ierem. 1◠4 non est qui videat me Et non videbit nouissima nostra And so did S. Hierome note it vpon the seauenth Chapter of Ezachiel Hierome where the Prophet reproouing Ierusalem for the many vices and sinnes which it was subiect to growes to say That the cause of them all was for that that Citty had forgotten God And he assigneth also the same cause whē he interpreteth many other places of scripture For as a horse without a bridle and a ship without a sterne runs vpon precipices and rockes so if you take this bridle out of the mouth of man he rums headlong after his owne inordinate appetites and passions Non est Deus in conspectu eius inquinatae sunt viae illius in omni tempore Psa 9.26 sayth the Prophet Dauid He carrieth not God before his eyes he considereth him not as present before him and therefore are his ways which are his workes all defiled still with sinnes The remedy which the blessed S. Basil giues in many places of his workes against all temptations Note and troubles and for all the occasions and necessityes which may present themselues is the Presence of God And therfore if thou desire a ready and compendious way for the obteyning of perfection and which may conteyne and lock vp in it selfe the force efficacy of all other meanes this is that And for such Gen. 17.1 did God giue it thus to Abraham Ambula coram me esto perfectus Walke before me thou shalt be perfect The holy Scripture doth here as in many other places take the Imperatine for the Future to expresse home the infallibility of the successe It is so certaine that thou shalt