to our good as S. Paule saith Infallibly that man shal neuer die of hunger who is fed by this loue of thine He shall feele noe nakednes he shall neuer finde want of any thing which this world can giue For possessing God by loue noe good thing can be wanting to him Let vs therefore O my beloued brethren be taken with a great desire of goeing to see this vision of the bush which burnes and yet is not consumed That is Exod 2 how they who loue God suffer iniuries and yet feele them not how in the middest of hunger they are full fed how they are cast of by the world and yet afflict not themselues thereat how they are assaulted by the fire of fleshly appetites and yet they are not scortched by it They are troaden vnder foote and yet they stand fast vpright they seeme poore and they are rich They seeme deformed but they are full of beauty They seeme straungers but they are citizens They are not knowne to men but they are familiarly acquainted with Almighty God All this and more is brought to passe by the noble Loue of our lord Iesus Christ in the hart where it is lodged But noe man can arriue vnto this vnlesse he put of his shoes that is to say his vnmortified affections which spring vp out of â—â—lselouâ— For this is the root of death as the loue of God is the cause of life A life which is spirituall holy admitts to weare aâ—e â—hâ—es that is to say noe desires of seâ—feloue He who loues Christ our Lord must abhorre himselfe He who will not be cruell to Christ our Lord lett him not be coÌ„passionate to himselfe They who dandle themselues shew vnkindnes to Christ our Lord and they who take soe much care of themselues cannot make God their businesse Let vs therefore giue our All that which we are which God knowes is but a little All for that other great All which is Almighty God Let vs giue ouer the following of our owne proper will and let vs betake our selues with diligence to follow the will of God Let vs esteeme all things as meer dung that soe wee may possesse that pretious pearle which is Christ our Lord. And to the end that we may see him in his beauty and glory let vs heere be content to embrace dishonour labour Infallibly he shall neuer finde himselfe deceiued who makes such an exchaunge as this But when God shall come with his Saints and shall come to reward euery one according to hiâ— workes then will that appeare to haue beene foolery which now is held in soe great account and then it will be their turne to lament who now shall haue spent their mortall liues in delight And he only will be avowed by Christ our Lord who shall haue liued according to his holy will O how great shall the ioy of good men bee at that day when receiuing high honour at the hands of God they shall be seated vpon those thrones which were prepared for them from all eternity and when in society of all the quires of Angels they shall sing prayses to their Lord and their God O how great will their ioy be who shall behould the king in his beauty In the contemplation whereof they will be soe happy that noe one of them shall bee without euen regorging through his being soe full of that pretious liquour and that soueraigne Balsamum which created all good thinges In comparison of this all beauty is deformity the very brightnes of the sunne it selfe is direct downe-right darknes the very topp of other delights is the very bitternes of gall And in fine that I may not reckon vp euery particular thing by it selfe in comparison of this beauty all the things of the whole world put together are not to be esteemed for any thing at all neither are they any thing in very deede O eternall God thou who art all thinges and yet who art none of these thinges and when shall that day arriue wherein we may bee soe happy as to see thee when is this earthen pott to be cracked which shuts vs vpp from enioying soe great a good When shall theese chaines be broken which hinder vs from flying vpp to thee who art the true repose of such as are to repose indeede Let vs not my Brethren looke any other way but onely vppon Almighty God Let vs call vpon him in our harts and let vs keepe him close imbraced by vs that soe hee may neuer part from vs. For woe be to vs wretched thinges what shall wee be able to doe without him but onely to turne againe into our nothing Let vs now at last cast this world behinde vs which yet wee carry before our eyes and let vs at last beginn to trye how sweete our Lord is Let vs runn after him who came running downe towards vs from heauen it selfe that he might carry vs thither Let vs goe to him who cals vs and who doth it with soe much loue from the topp of that Crosse with his flesh all torne and euen as it were broyled with the fire of loue to the end that it might be more sauoury to our taste O that we might feede thereon O that we might euen consume thereby O that we were all traÌ„sformed O that wee could growe to be one and the self-same spiritt with God Who is he that detaines vs who is he that hinders vs who is hee that deceaues vs soe as that wee cannot perswade our selues to draw neare to God If it bee our goods let vs cast them away if they be in our power if they bee not let vs keepe them though onely as soe much dunge which may bee layd vp with diligence for good vses but yet still without any loue at all to the thing it selfe If is be our wiues S. Paule lets vs know that wee must haue wifes as if wee had them not If it be our children let vs loue them but for the loue of God And let vs euen out of water bee able to kindle a fire whereby all that may be burnt vpp which shall pretend to deuide vs from Almighty God Let the teares of greife wash vs and the fire of loue consume vs and soe wee shall growe to be those holy creatures which were offered vpp to God with fire O eternall God whoe coÌ„sumest our couldnes and how sweetly doest thou burne and how dearely doest thou inflame and how delightfully doest thou consume vs O that wee all might altogether burne with thee Then would all our powers cry out and say O Lord who is like to thee For whosoeuer hee bee that sayth he knowes thee and yet loues thee not is a lyar Lett vs therefore loue thee and let vs alsoe knowe thee since loue growes from that knowledge And afterward make vs able to possesse thee since they who possesse thee are soe rich and possessing thee let vs be possessed by thee and soe let vs employ
glorify our most blessed Lord. And in this manner if you will you may encline your hart to the commaundments with respect to the retribution as the Prophet Dauid said Psal 118. But perhaps you will aske Who is he that can haue his soule awake to goe euer cheerfull and in delight reioycing still in her God since many tymes shee is soe tepid and soe sad that by noe meanes she is capable of any ioye what remedy may then be thought of that we may not faile of this perfect and supreme loue For this it was that I told you that you were to carry with you a desire whereby you must wish that our Lord might still be what he is in himselfe because Charâ—tie consists in this desire Which desire a soule may haue though it be neuer so tepid dry and sad as a man may desire that his father may liue happily though himselfe feele noe ioy And herein I onely take for graunted that we must suppose man to haue the grace of God which our Lord will neuer deny to one who striues to walke by this way I meane that although your selfe be sadd you must desire that our Lord may be what he is And as for the delight and ioy in our Lord which vses to follow heerevpon this indeede is a fruite of the holy Ghost Gal. 5. which growes from this charitie when our Lord is pleased to communicate himselfe more familiarly to a soule When his Maiestie bestowes this fauour let vs blesse him for it and when he doth not lett vs yet perseuer in that other exercice of euer blessing and adoring him who is so worthy of infinite glory and praise For it is a very great errour into which they fall who thinke that when there is noe sensible ioy that act of the will is worth nothing whereas Charitie doth yet consist in that act And for as much as the deuill knowes this well he is euer procuring to giue vs great tepidity and drynes that soe we thinking that we loose our tyme may giue ouer this holy exercise You must therefore perseuer in it and grow deafe to those temptations of the deuill For if you perseuer not you will not arriue to enioye that crowne and heauen which such as are proficient in this holy loue grow to obtaine euen heere on earth You must consider and looke with a hundred thowsand eyes that the end and scope of your loue bee to glorifie our Lord in whatsoeuer you doe For soe great was the wrench which our nature tooke by the sinne of our â—â—st father in wholly procuring our owne â—â—terest and good that if you stand not well â—wake in the watch-tower you will finde â—any tymes that you doe but seeke your â—â—lfe euen in this very deuotion hich preâ—ends wholly to cast out selfe-loue And you â—hall take your selfe in the manner with reâ—oycing that you loue our Lord after this sort â—ecause you shall acquire great rewards in â—eauen thereby and because your soule â—eceiues much consolation and for other â—easons of proper interest which though â—hey be not ill yet are they acts of Charity which is imperfect You see heere in short the Loue of God which you are to carry in your soule a Copie of that Originall which the Blessed Spiritts haue in heauen It now remaines that I declare to you the loue of your neighbour which growes out of this other profound Loue. The loue my good sister which you must carry to your neighbour must bee by desiring and louing all that good which you see in him because thereby our Lord God is glorified and adored And the more that is the greater must your ioy be as on the other side any offence or sinne which you shall discouer in your neighbour must be abhorred by your soule because he is offended whose honour and glory you desire And soe as I tould you that the loue of God consisted in our applause and will that our Lord should be the very thing which he is and that the ioye which is taken thereby is a particular guift of our Lord soe also doth the loue of your neighbour consist in the application of your will to desire the good of your neighbour which is to reioyce in his true good and to feele much griefe for the sinne which he committs This is a very particular fauour of our Lord which he bestowes vpon whome he will So that if you haue obserued the matter well you will haue seene that the marke at which both the loue of God and of our neighbour shootes is that God may be glorified and adored And heereby you will also perceiue how short he falls of true loue who greiues to see his neighbour growne vp apace in deuotion and vertue considering that himselfe is not so growne vp For though it be true that the true louer of our Lord will not faile to carry a knife about him which peirces him through at the very hart because he serues not our Lord so well as hee ought and might yet followes it not from hence that by seeing another seruant of God thriue faster in spirit then himselfe he must therefore be sorry for it or dismayed by it But rather the ease and comfort which is to serue you for a remedy against that much greife which your soule receiues because your selfe doe not serue our Lord soe well as you should must be to consider that though you through your weakenes doe not â—hat to which you are obliged yet there are others who comply with that very thing which you desire which is greatly to glorifie â—nd serue our Lord. But as for that other kinde of dismay to which some are subiect I conceiue that it growes but from selfe-loue for it is certaine that if the end why a true louer of our Lord desires much to serue him be that his God may be honoured and glorified who is glorified as well by the sanctity which is in the soule of another as if it were in his owne it followes that he is to haue much ioy to see that others goe increasing in the seruice of our lord though it be true on the other side that he may be in paine because he serues him not soe well You see heere my good sister what that is to which you must attend in this paradise of the millitant Church where our Lord placed you when he called you to his loue and to his grace if you will also goe on to enioye the fruite which is gathered from his hand in the triumphant Church of his glory In which I beseech our Lord that wee all may glorify him and praise him and enioye him for all eternitie Amen A letter of the Authour to a certaine poore man who was called Iohn of God He was of Granada and begged almes for the poore He animates him to the loue and seruice of poore people but yet soe as that he must not forgett his owne particular deuotions I Haue receiued
your letter and I will not haue you say that I acknowledge you not for my sonne For if you say that because you are wicked you deserue it not for the same reason I deserue not to be your father and therefore I may ill despise you who am my selfe more worthy to be despised But since our lord houlds vs all for his though we be soe miserably weake it is but reasonable that we learne to be mercifull one towards another that we support one another with Charitie as he doth I haue my good brother a great desire that you should be able to giue a good accounte of that which our lord hath recommeÌ„ded to you For the good and faithfull seruant must looke to gaine fiue other talents to the fiue which were giuen him at the first That so he may heare from the mouth of our lord Reioyce thou good and faithfull seruant thou hast beene faithfull in the few things which I haue recommended to thee Math. 25. and I will place thee ouer many You must take care of that which is recommended to you concerning others in such sort as that you forget not your owne soule But yet know that the man who of all others is most recommended to you is your selfe For it will profitt you but little though you should drawe all the world out of the durt if the while your selfe remaine therein And therefore I once againe encharge you that still you seeke out some fitt of-tyme wherein you may dispatch your owne deuotions and that dayly you heare Masse and vpon euery sunday the sermon And especially take heede that you conuerse not much with woemen For you cannot be ignorant that they be that snare which the deuill setts for the fall of such as serue God You know how Dauid sinned 2. kings 11. by looking vpon one of them and Salomon his Sonne sinned with many 3. Kings 11. and he walked soe farre out of his witts as to place Idolls in the temple of our Lord. And since we are soe much more weake then they lett vs be afraid to fall and take warning by the misfortunes of others Deceiue not your selfe with saying I desire to doe them good For vnder the mantle of these good desires doe those daungers lurke when prudence accompanyes not the same And God is farre from desiring that I should procure the good of another with the Spiriâ—â—â—ll hurt of my selfe Concerning those temporall necessities to which you are subiect I haue already written to you that there is euery where such abundaÌ„ce of waÌ„ts as that when we aske any releife they say that they haue enough more neere at hand whome they are to remedy And I thought that my Lord the Duke of Sessa had sent you that which might serue the turne because they tould me you had sollicited him for some releife If he haue not done it desire it of him a second tyme for he will send it He loues you much for the care you haue of the poore and if he doe not our Lord will prouide though hee make you stay a while I haue reioyced much in the charitie which you haue found in that other house whereof you speake Returne my salutations to him who sent them by you to mee And because I am now in my iourney I write noe more at this tyme but onely that you must remaine all fixed in Iesus Christ our Lord who will protect and fauour you And that you looke well to your selfe and that the deuill may haue noe cause to reioyce by hauing induced you to sinne but that God may take delight in your penance for that which is past in your amendment for that which is to come And soe the holy ghost be with you Amen A letter to one whoe had some desires to serue God but not the courage to beginn He animates her greatly to confide in God He teaches her how to loue certaine persons who had offended her and hee giues remedies both against scruples and vaine glorie I doe much reioyce at the holy desires which you haue to please our lord but I am in paine to consider your pusillanimitie in executing the same For I hould it to be a strange ill thing that one should presume to remaine in the vanitie of this life and not presume to aduenture vpon the making of a new match with God confiding in the same God For what maÌ„ was there euer since there were such things in the world as men who hoping in God and procuring to liue according to his comaundments was forsaken by him whoe euer inuoked him with an intyre and perseuering hart and was not heard by him Nay he goes seeking vs and inciting vs to serue him What possibilitie therefore is there but that since he is good and true of his word he must come forth to meete and cast his armes a bout our neckes an doe vs fauour when we make towards him He wil infallibly he wil and that incomparably more completely Heb. 9. as S. Paule affirmes then we know how to thinke Beginne you seruant of God cast your selfe vpon him and confide that he whoe gaue you the desire will giue you strength to worke courage to make an end For he calls not vpon such as sleepe to wake them but to the end that he may doe them many fauours when they are awake Beginne with diligence and feruour yea and with a kinde of strife for there is not a worse thing then a faint beginner who still takes much care to regale him selfe to content the world Shut your eyes against both humaine prayses dispraises for you shall quickly see both the prayser and the praised turned in to dust and ashes and him alsoe whoe is honoured and dishonoured An wee shall all be presented before the tribunall of our lord where the mouth of wickednes shall be stopped and vertue shall be highly exalted In the meane tyme lay you fast hould on the Crosse follow him whoe was dishonoured and lost his life vpon it for you And hide your selfe in those woundes that when our lord comes for you he may finde you there and may beautifie you with his graces and may giue him selfe to you as your reward for hauing left all things and your selfe with them for his sake But ô how little doth he leaue who euen leaues all since he leaues but that which he must quickly leaue whether he will or noe yea and euen the enioying it is a great misery since all that which is not God is but waight and sorrow to the soule God onely is sufficieÌ„t for you open therefore your hart and enioye him you shall finde him more sweete much more full of loue then you could haue thought Sometymes I wonder within my selfe to thinke how one either doth or can wish ill to another since Christ our lord is in the middest betweene them both How can he be disgusted with the body who loues or
amongst wicked persons did not curse them who cursed him nor did he reuenge himselfe though he had power enough ouer such as did him mischeife He despised honour and to be rich and to be regaled And to obey the will of his father he offered himselfe to the Crosse Hee who wants knowledge let him come to heere this Doctour as he is sitting in this Chaire He whoe will heare a good sermon let him come to Christ our Lord being in the pulpitt of the Crosse and he shall be free from errour because Truth which is Christ our Lord himselfe shall free him And if wee be chaungeable and weake in working let vs looke vpon this author of our faith and see how he is nayled to that Crosse both hand and foote and that immoueably to the end that by his grace we may be constant perseuerant in doeing well He who will goe to Christ our Lord for the cure of his inconstancy shall obtaine a perseuerance like that of Anna 1. kings 1. the mother of Samuell of whome it is said That she turned her countenance noe more towards seuerall wayes He who dwells in Christ our lord doth not wander hither and thither but stands fast in goodnes according to the Scripture which saith that such a one is euer cleere like the sunne Eccl. 27. and that his light is not diminished For hee who is in Christ participates of Christ And so as Christ is Iust he is alsoe Iust if Christ be firme he is alsoe firme though in a farre inferiour degree For as in one body there is but one spirit which diffuses it selfe through all the partes of that body and they all liue by one humane life and not one of them by the life of a man and another by the life of a lyon or any other beast soe all they who are in Christ our lord liue by his Spirit as the braunch liues by the life of the vine and as the members liue by the head And hee who possesses this Spirit is like to Christ our Lord and partakes of his conditions although as I said it be in a farre inferiour degree And hee who hath not the spirit of Christ Rom. 8 let him hearken to S. Paule who saith If any man haue not the spirit of Christ that man is not of Christ Lett a man therefore view and reuiew himselfe to see if he finde a conformity of his soule with that of Christ our Lord and if hee haue it it will be easy for him to keepe the commaundements of Christ since hee is of the same condition with him And though he be not yet of conformity with Christ lett him goe to Christ and beg his spirit of him whereby he may be strengthned according to that which Dauid desired thus Confirme mee with thy principall or cheife spirit For it will profitt mee little Psal 50. that Christ came into the world if withall he come not into my hart Christ brought downe goodnes peace and Ioy in the holy Ghost with many other benedictions If I liue in wickednes warre vngodly melancholy or inordinate delight Christ our Lord dwells not in my soule And it is in effect with mee as if he had not come into the world at all sauing that it will turne to my greater miserie for I shall be punished soe much the more because I would not admitt of that saluation which was offered mee with so good a will Christ our lord dyed for vs all and is ready to receiue vs all Let vs make towards him though it be but to doe him curtesy and let vs not permit that soe great and pretious labours and afflictions of his may remaine fruitelesse The price of them are our soules if wee will carry them to Christ Let vs cast our selues downe at his feete detesting our sinnes and our former wicked life distrusting our owne knowledge and worth and strength and so perseuering to beg to knock and to cry out he will fill vs with knowledge how to addresse our selues and with power to worke and with perseuerance that wee may not fainte as it is written Esay 40. They who confide in our Lord shall proceede from strength to strength they shall take the wings of an egle they shall fly and not faint And since there are more excellencies in Christ our Lord then there are miseries in vs let vs goe on towards him acknowledging that hee is our onely remedy for by this meanes we shall not dispaire through our owne miseries but take comfort and partake of his excellencies This my lord seemed sufficient to me for the addresse of a person who hath a minde to draw neere to God But because in your lordship there is the capacity of two persons your lordship will haue neede of two rules That which is said may suffice forasmuch as cōcernes your owne particular person but in respect that you are a man who haue soe great charge ouer soe many others it wil be necessary for you to haue more more care of your selfe For there are many who for as much as cōcernes their owne particular cōscience are good men yet they faile in being good Lords good Magistrats And this second parte is more hard and it is the worke of one who is a kinde of perfect man for it takes that first kind of goodnes for graunted and then passes further on For hee whoe forasmuch as concernes himselfe is not Iust will not be Iust in what he ought to doe towards others But yet it suffices not for one who hath charge ouer many that hee be Iust for as much as concernes onely his owne particular person Ely for his owne part was a good man but he was not good for as much as concerned his sonnes since he for boreto punish them therefore he was greiuously punished by almighty God So that great lords haue neede of a manyfold kinde of goodnes since they haue a manifold kinde of person As for this second part which to be concernes a cōmon or publique person me thinkes there is noe better glasse wherein a man who is a lord ouer others ought to looke then vpon that lord of men and angells whose person he represēts Hee who sitts in the place of another it is but reason that he haue the properties of him whose place he holds A lord of vassailes is a Lieutenant of God who ordaines that some shall gouerne and commaund and that others shall obey He who resists those former doth by the testimony of S. Paule resist she ordination of God Rom. 13. who disposes of all things according to subordination Now therefore lett a man consider what office God exercises towards man and soe a great lord shall know how hee is to carry himselfe towards his people God chastises such as erre without any acceptation of persons and in this he is soe strict that he hath not any who is so great a fauourit of his but that
as I haue said You aske me what preparation is best and what consideration is most profitable when you goe to celebrate the mistery of the body and blond of our lord and Sauiour Iesus Christ because you feare that the thing which of it selfe is soe helpfull may yet proue hurtfull to you for want of due preparation You know already that there are different complexions of mens bodyes and soe is there variety of inclinations in their mindes yea and soe alsoe are the guifts which God imparts to men very different Some he leades by one meanes and others by another and therefore there can be noe such common rule giuen as may square well with the generallity of all men concerning the consideration which may be most profitable for the aforesaid action But this is certaine that that consideration will be best for any man which God imparts and whereby a man findes himselfe to be moued most And he whoe hath any knowledge such as a man may haue in things like these whereof there is noe certaine faith nor cleere euidence that his Preparation or consideration growes from the impulse of God hath noe reason to chaunge it for any other till our lord chaunge it And this is to be tryed by giuing account thereof to some person who hath experience in these things together with prudence and soe to take the resolution But now there are others whoe finde not themselues particularly moued to vse this or that Consideration And yet it is alsoe necessary for these men to impart the notice of their inward disposition soe to trye whether they haue neede to be carryed by the motiue of Loue or feare they being either sadd or cheerefull and the remedy is to be applyed according to the necessities wherein they are And because I incline to thinke according to the relation which I haue receiued concerning you that the state wherein you are is of a person proficient in vertue and that it is fitter for you to exercise your selfe vpon he considerations which may prouoke you to the feruour of loue with reuerence then vpon others I say that to this purpose I know of none better then that which may giue vs liuely to vnderstād that our lord with whome we goe to treate is God and man and what the cause is why he comes to the altar Certainely Sir it is a blow of great force towards the awaking of any man to consider and say this to himselfe in good earnest I am now goeing to consecrate Almighty God to hould him in my hands to haue audience of him and to receiue him into my bosome Let vs ponder this well and if it sincke into vs by the grace and spiritt of our lord it will be sufficient and superabundant for the making that result towards vs whereof we haue soe much neede that soe according to our frailty we may performe that office as we ought Who is hee that can choose but be inflamed in loue by thinking I goe to receiue an infinite Good who will not tremble with an amorous kinde of reuerence at his presence before whome the powers of heauen tremble and who will not resolue neuer to offend him more but still to praise him and doe him seruice Who will not be confounded and euen mourne with greife for hauing offended that Lord whome hee hath present there who will not confide vpon such a pawne whoe will not take hart to goe through this desert by the way of pennance with such Prouision And finally this consideration when the hand of our Lord helpes it on doth wholly chaunge a man and taking him from himselfe doth euen swallow him vp some tymes by reuerence some tymes by loue and at other tymes by other most powerfull affects of the minde which are produced by the considerations of his Presence Which affects though they doe not necessarily flow from these Considerations yet are they a most ready helpe therevnto if the man as we vse to say will not be a stone Soe that you shall doe well to exercise your selfe in this thought Make account that you heare that voice Ecce sponsus venit Matth 2§ Deus vester venit Behold your spouse is coming your God is co ming And shutt your selfe vp in your hart and then open it to receiue that which vses to streame from such a lightning And desire you of the same Lord that for that very goodnes of his by which he hath vouchsafed to put him selfe into your hands for that same goodnes I say he will giue you a true feeling thereof that soe you may esteeme reueare and loue him as you ought Importune him that he permitt you not to be in the presence of such a Maiesty without feare reuerence and loue Accustome your selfe to thinke as you ought of the presence of our Lord although you should then entertaine noe other consideration but that Consider them whoe stand in presence of kings who though they say nothing yet see the modesty the reuerence the loue wherewith they stand if they stand as they ought But it is better to consider how those great ones assist in the Court of heauen in presence of that infinite greatenes all trembling at the reflection of their owne littlenes and burning in the fyre of loue like persons whoe are as it were consumed in such a furnace Make account that you enter amongst those Graundes whoe are soe richly adorned and soe well behaued and soe diligent in doeing seruice to their Lord. And then being placed in such society as that and in the presence of soe great a king thinke of it as you ought though as I was saying you haue not at that tyme any other consideration then that My meaning is that it is one thing for a man to haue what to say to the king and it is another to know which may be done with scilence how to stand in his presence and there to carry himself as he ought And this is that vnion of the soule with our lord which a man shall doe well to procure during the tyme of Masse and to hang wholly vpon him iust soe as when he is in his Cell vnited with our lord in the most secret retired corner of his hart And this in such sort as that the wordes which he reades may not be of any distraction to this vnion for he shall reape more fruite by it then by them though yet it be true that he is to haue regard alsoe to the wordes but he is to accustome him selfe whilest he hath his hart vnited and present with God to carry that attention withall to what he doth and saith as is conuenient Deere lord and what doth the soule of that man feele when hee carryes him in his hands who made election of our B. Lady enriched her with celestiall graces that she might be made fitt to liue and conuerse with God made man And when he compares her hands and armes and eyes with his owne
what confusion doth he grow to haue How straightly will he hould himselfe to be obliged for such a benefit what caution will he vse that he may keepe him selfe wholly for him whoe hath done him soe much honour as to put himselfe into his hands and to come to them by them wordes of Consecration Sir these things are noe bare wordes nor noe dead considerations but they be arrowes shutt stiffly out from the strong bowe of Almighty God which wound and wholly chaunge the hart and which make it desire that at the end of Masse it may at lardge consider that worde of our Lord Scitis quid fecerim vobis John 13. Doe you know what I haue done to you Deare lord that a man could conceiue quid fecerit nobis Dominus What our Lord had done for vs in that houre That a man might tast him with the palate of his soule O that a man had true weights where with he might weigh out this great benefitt How happy should he be euen in this world and how after the end of Masse would he loath euen the sight of creatures and would esteeme it to be a torment that he must treate with them And his ioy and life would consist in pondering Quid fecerit ei dominus what our lord had done for him till the next day that he should retourne to say Masse And if our Lord doe at any tyme giue you this light you will know what sorrow and shame you ought to carry in your hart when you approach to the Altar without the same For he whoe neuer enioyed it doth not know what a misery it is to want it You may add to this Consideration of the person whoe comes to the Altar the reason why he comes and you will there see a resemblance of the loue of the Incarnation of our Lord and of his holy Natiuity and of his life and death renewing that which passed heeretofore vpon his sacred person And if you shall enter into the most inward corner of the hart of our Lord and if hee vouchsafe to teach you that the cause of his coming is a violent and impatient kinde of loue which permitts not him whoe loues to be absent from the party beloued your soule will euen faint vnder such a consideration as that A man is indeede moued much by pondering after this manner Heere I haue Almighty God But yet when hee considers that he comes meerely out of the great loue which he beares like one betrothed who cannot liue a day without seeing and conuersing with his Spouse the man I say who feeles this would be glad to haue a thowsand harts wherewith to correspond with such loue and to say with S. Augustine O Lord what am I to thee that thou shouldest commaund mee to loue thee what am I to thee that thou shouldest soe much desire to make mee a visitt and to giue mee an embracement and that being in heauen with them who know soe well how to loue and serue thee thou yet vouchsafest to descend to this creature who knowes very ill how to serue thee but very will how to offend thee Is it possible that thou canst not content thy selfe O lord to be without mee Is it possible that thy loue of mee should draw thee downe Blessed maist thou bee for euer who being what thou art hast yet placed thy loue vpon such a creatures as my selfe And is it possible that thou shouldest come hither in thy royall person and that thou shouldest put thy seife into my hands as if thou wouldest say I dyed for thee once already and I come to thee now is lett thee know that I repent not my selfe thereof but if it were needefull I would dye for thee yet a second tyme. What launce could remaine in the rest after such a deare expression of loue as this Who O lord will euer be able to hide himselfe from the heate of thy hart which warmes ours with thy presence the sparkes fly out to all them who are neere it as out of some mighty furnace And as such a lord as this my good Father doth the God of the heauens come to our hands and we being such wretches as wee are doe yet conuerse with him and receiue him Let vs now conclude this good subiect which is soe sitt to be felt and put in execution And let vs beseech this lord of ours who hath already done vs one fauour that now he will doe vs another forasmuch as his blessings vnlesse we valew them and thanke him and serue him for them will not be of profitt to vs. Or rather as S. Bernard saith The vngratefull man by how much the better hee is by soe much hee is the worse Let vs consider well how wee liue throughout the whole day least els our lord punish vs in that tyme when we are at the Altar And throughout the whole day let vs carry this thought in our harts I haue receiued our Lord. At his table I sitt and to morrow I shall be with him againe By this meaneâ— wee shall be able to avoyd all ill and wee shall take hart towards the practise of all good For that which is done from the Altar our lord is wont to rewarde at the Altar To conclude I say you must remember how our lord complained of Simon the Pharisee for that Luc. 7 entring into his house hee gaue him noe water for his feete nor any kisse to his cheeke To the end we may know that he desires that in the howse where he enters we should giue him teares layd at his feete for our sinnes and loue which makes vs salute him with the kisse of peace I beseech our lord to bestow this peace on you both with your selfe and with your neighbours and soe as that it may spring from perfect loue which I desire may torment you heere for the offences which your selfe and others committ against our Lord. And in heauen I desire that he should make you enioye it esteeming the good of God for your owne and more then your owne because you loue him more then your selfe For his loue I begg of you that if in this letter there be either litle or much which needes amendement it may not want your helpe and if there be any thing good in it giue the thankes for that to our Lord and remember mee when you shall be at the Altar A letter of the Authour to some deare freindes of his who were afflicted by a persecution which was raysed against them he animates them much to a loue of the Crosse and the imitation of Christ our Lord whereof hee speakes with great tendernes BLessed be God the Father of our Lord Iesus Christ 2 Cor 1. the father of mercyes and the God of all consolation whoe comfortes vs in all our tribulation in such sort as that wee alsoe are enabled to comfort them who are in any kinde of affliction And this we doe in vertue
had no taste of spirituall benedictions which last for euer And let him triumph like a sott in the prosperities of this world who hath not felt in his hart how delightfull a thing it is to shed teares for hauing offended God and how happy a man is in relying vpon Christ our Lord and in liuing to him And since our Lord hath called vs to his mercy and hath giuen vs the knowledge of his Sonne Christ Iesus let vs not liue according to the flesh nor allowe of any counsell against this counsell That in a thing so manifest as it is that we ought to seeke and esteeme the contentment of Christ our Lord despising the world and all that is therein there is no neede of taking any man's opinion and we must not be moued by any vanities of the world how many Iohn 2. and how vsuall and how well receaued soeuer they may be The world passes with the delight thereof as S. Iohn saith but he who will doe the will of our Lord shall remaine for euer Who relyes vpon that which is vnstable shall fall downe togeather with it and he who will adore an Idoll shall growe like that very Idoll but he who loues Christ our Lord and that man loues him who hates the world he indeede is wise and worthy and shall be exalted to sitt in that kingdome with the same Iesus Christ our Lord as he sittes at the right hand of his Father It is much more worth to be the least there then to be the greatest heere If therefore it delight vs to raigne let vs desire to doe so in that eternall kingdome I beseech Christ our Lord to bestowe it on you Amen A Letter of the Author to a deuoted religious Friend of his who animates him to seeke God by obedience humility and he teacheth that recollection of minde must not be tyed to any certaine place I Haue receiued your letter and that which I am to answeare is this You must know that there is not any one in this life who can think to liue without troubles that to complaine of them is to complaine of being a man since we were borne to beare them And if it seeme to you that when you were shutt vp you carried your soule more recollected you are to cōsider on the other side that Obediēce in doeing those things which displease ones self and the humility of performing meane offices is noe small fruite to the soule And beleiue you this truth that the man who is carefull to recollect himself and who puttes his confidēce in God doth many tymes finde himself more recollected in streetes and publique places then if he were in his Cell And they who tye their deuotion to any particular kind of place doe instātly loose it when they leaue the place yea and many times in that very place it failes them And this growes in regard they are resolued to haue it there and striue not to finde it in all places and in all those workes to which they attend by theyr Obedience vpon this Obedience you must greatly procure to ground your self without choosing this or that Since Obedience is a thing soe acceptable to God that it exceedes all that which a man may doe vnder the conduct of his owne will how good soeuer it may seeme Father Lewis of Granada will passe shortly by you and I would haue you doe that with great confidence which he shall aduise you The Holy Ghost be euer with you I am such an enemy of these changings of place I hould the very desires thereof soe fitt to be suspected as that I am made slow in giuing answeare to what you write concerning them till by your prayers we may get more light to guide vs. For otherwise we shall goe as bad as blindefould and perhaps you may fall vpon worse encounters then they are which you would auoyd I beseech you sollicite the matter with our Lord when I shall haue satisfied mine owne hart I will impart it vnto you In the meane tyme I recommend to you much that you keepe your soule in peace For it happens to some that they both loose they re tyme and the good opportunity which God giues them by thinking much vpon that other which they desire to obtaine soe they growe to loose both the one and the other Make you accōpt that there is but one day of life left for you and that that day is the morning when you awake And spend you that as if it were your last with all the care that possibly you cā And when the desire of doeing any other thing occurres make this answeare Doe not thinke of to morrow and exercise your self in breaking your will For when a man flyes from the opportunity which he hath to breake it it is like flying out of the feilde And because such a one flyes like a coward and carryes his weakenes in his company therefore when the occasion presents it self afterward he findes that he is as farre from strength as before the reason heereof is because he changed his place but not his minde giue you a good accompt of that house and of the opportunity which there you haue and soe you shall gett a tongue wherewith you may aske a better at the hands of our Lord For otherwise they may say vnto you that he who conducts ill that which he hath already in his care to what end should one trust a greater matter in his hands A Letter of the Author to a deuout Lady animating her to fight against the Deuill and to resist his temptations I Beseech our Lord that you may find your self as I desire for it was not said in vayne that loue is full of a carefull kind of feare But in fine I haue confidence that our Lord as he saith to vs by the Prophet Ieremy will regard that loue wherwith he espoused himself in those beginnings of his and will remember how the people followed him without any high way in the Desart which was full of affliction to them and carryed a kind of resemblance of death God is very thankefull to such as serue him with loue and in the tyme of our weakenesses and when our strength is euen vpon the point to faile then doth he looke backe vpon the time when formerly wee had beene in vigour and to that amorous intention which wee had in former time releiuing our misery with the aboundance of his mercy Continue therefore with a harte full of courage and as S. Paule saith doe not loose your confidence Heb. 10 for there belongs a great reward to it And this is that which the Deuill would faine either take away from vs or weaken in vs so to pull vs downe who pull him downe and much more you being a woeman by whose hand he would esteeme it Iudges 9. more dishonour to be ouercome As Abimelech sayd to his second doe thou kill mee that soe it may not
to vs. Be sure therefore that you serue this lord with all the force you haue And if hitherto you haue done soe giue him thankes for it and if you haue failed thereof see you retourne to him with shame and firme purpose of amendment Comfort your self also with the holy Sacraments of the Church they beeing the remedies which he hath left And put your selfe into a new way and now at last learne to trip noe more vpon that at which you stumbled most before Soe that you may be of their number of whome S. Paul saith that all thinges cooperate to â—e good of them who loue God For howsoeuer they may fall Rom. 8. they are not bruysed to death because our lord conueyes his hand vnder them to receiue them In the middest of these thinges I beseech you call my miseries to mind that you may obtaine mercy for me of our lord And deliuer my salutations to all those persons in your house who serue our lord I beseech him to be your aeternall loue Amen A Letter of the Author to a freind of his whome God had called to lead a spirituall life by meanes of his preaching TO those many obligations into which you put me by your letters I answeare late and ill And though I be confounded therewith yet I hope Christ our lord hath giuen you some little crumme of Charity Now the first condition thereof is by the testimony of him who had store of it 2 Cor 1. and who knew it well Quia patiens est That it is patient I beseech that immense fountaine of Charity to encrease it in you till you be enabled thereby euen to lay downe your life for your enemyes as Christ our lord layd downe his for vs. You complayne of drynesse in deuotion though yet I conceiue you speake it not by way of complaynt but onely as relating to one who loues you the disposition wherein you finde your soule And I say that so longe as this drynes reaches not to weaken your desire or vertue it is noe such thing as ought to putt you to much payne For that which is questioned thereby is but the losse of a certaine sweetenes in the things of God though yet this is wont to be a spurre to make such men quitt themselues and to fly faster on towards our Lord who knowe how to make right vse thereof And because I desire all good to you whether it be in much or little I wish that you were endewed with a Loue of God which were both strong and wise and sweete also since a loue with all these qualities is due to him to whome wee owe our loue But yet if he impart that loue alone which is strong and wise it will be because he intends to doe vs other secret fauours by meanes which are vnknowen to vs and to vnty vs from our selues and to exercise our vertue whereof there will bee great neede for a man whoe treates with him who is infinitly wise and doth extreamely like that noe man should be so in his owne eyes Your care must therefore bee to follow on according to that strength which our Lord giues yow for his grace will not faile And yow must giue him thankes both for that which yow vnderstand and for that also which you vnderstand not and in this doth your safety consist And as you grow elder and to haue more experience of the very little which any man is able to doe towardes the contriuing of things how small soeuer they may bee you will be confirmed more and more in the good custome which you beginne to take to hould your peace And you will perceiue that a busines will then be well dispatched when wee speake at lardge with God and but a little with men This ignorancy of ours is an vnspeakeable kinde of thing and soe is our setting our selues out and our ignorant kinde of zeale to doe good And wee haue much and much a doe to beleiue it till wee haue bought this knowledge vpon the price of many errours which wee shall haue committed For wee inherit from our first parents a certaine fly and secrett desire of a kinde of diuinity Cen. 3. which cannot be sought without theft This makes vs imitate our first fathers therein and to denie that things may be done how and when wee list with certaine other deepe and most secret rootes of pride which are neuer to bee discouered without light from heauen and this cannot be obtayned without much Prayer As for the particular of those soules which you desire to reduce I tell you as I did before that you must cordially recommend the busines to our Lord and hope well that you shall haue good successe And be you not troubled or afflicted since you know that you haue a father in heauen who calls you towards him and he will be your guide in the way Spend your tyme at the present the best you can and as for the future doe not vexe your selfe but make account that nothing but your owne negligence cann take God from you Fight therefore against this negligence if you ouercome it you will finde by experience that the Exchaunge or Burse is a very Celâ— to you and that busines is but as a Riuer which may serue to wash you cleane The way wherein God hath placed you requires that more diligence bee vsed then that which your letter sayth you vse concerning the constancy of your deuotions And if I were with you I could tell you of straunge things which haue happened to men who had beene slacke in performing their good exercises Whereby you might perceiue that our Lord esteemes it not as any small infirmity for a man to be a Lunaticke sometymes doeing his duty and sometymes not A cleare signe it is of a soule in subiection to selfewill to doe a thing when the humour serues and afterward vpon mere humour to lett it alone And forasmuch as such men want the abnegation of themselues they are in fault both when they cease from doeing any thing and soe are they alsoe when they doe it because they liue butt in themselues And the punishment which our Lord inflictes vpon these men is that hee is not liberall of himselfe to them when they desire it because they are not liberall of themselues to him when he requires it Wee must therefore be sure to aske pardon for the little constancy which wee haue vsed in the seruice of our Lord and to reforme our selues with an entire resignation into his hands concerning the successe of our endeauours whether they be more or lesse Take courage once to loose your selfe for the loue of our Lord obeyng that which he commaunds and neuer looke vpon what is to follow vpon it For whether it be drynes or deuotion it cannot faile to be a fauour since it is sure to be the pleasure of our Lord. And by how much the more you shall be able to liue towards the
Iesus Christ cryes out in the demaunde of mercie for vs and that his crye is so lowde as that it drownes the crye of our sinnes so that it cannot be heard Doe you not know that if our sinnes should still remayne aliue notwithstanding that Christ Iesus dyed to defeate them his death should be of litle worth since it could not worke that effect Let no man sett a light price vpon that which was so highly valued by Almighty God that he holdes it for a sufficient yea a superaboundant discharge forasmuch as concernes his parte therein of all the sinnes of the whole worlde and of a thousand worldes if there were so manie They who are lost are not lost for want of payment but for want of seruing themselues thereof by meanes of Faith and Pennance and the Sacraments of the holie Church Settle once this truth in your hart and doe it soundly that Christ our lord tooke the businesse of our redemption to his owne charge as verily as if it had beene his owne and he calles our sinnes his by the mouth of Dauid saying Longè a salute mea verba delictorum eorum And he demaunded pardon for them though himselfe committed none and he desired with a most profound internall loue that his seruants might be beloued as if he had desired it for himself and as he desired it Iohn 17. he obtayned it For according to the ordinance of God he and we are so much one thing that either he and we must be beloued or he and we must be abhorred And since he neither is nor can euer be abhorred neither can we also be so if we be incorporated into him by Faith and Loue. But indeede because he is beloued we are also beloued and that iustly because he weighes more towards the making of vs to be beloued then we doe to make him be abhorred And the Father loues his Sonne more then he abhorres such sinners as are conuerted to him And as one who was much beloued by his Father he said to him to this effect Either loue them or loue not me for I offer myself in pardon of their sinnes to the ende that they may be incorporated into myself The greater loue ouercame the lesser hate we are beloued pardoned and iustified we haue great hope not to be forsaken there where there is so strong a knott of loue If through our weakenesse we be afflicted with excessiue feares as now you are conceiuing that God hath forgotten you our lord hath prouided you a comfort saying thus by the Prophet Isai 49. Shall the mother perhaps be able to forgett to take pittie vpon the childe of her wombe well if she doe yet will not I forgett thee for I carrie thee written in my hands O writing which art so firme whose penne be hard nayles whose inke is the bloud it self of him who writes and the paper is his owne very flesh and his word saith thus I haue loued thee with an eternall loue â—eve 31. and therefore I haue drawen thee towards me with mercie Such a writing therefore as this must not be litle esteemed especially when one findes in himself that his soule is drawen by the sweetenesse of good purposes which are signes of that eternall loue where with our Lord hath chosen and loued him Be not therefore scandalized or afflicted for any of these things which happen to you since they all are dispensed by those very hands which were nayled to the Crosse for you in testimony of the loue hee bate you And if you desire to vnderstand what you gett heereby in the inteÌ„tion of God who sendes them you must know that they are tryalls whereby you may be examined that afterward as one who hath beene faithfull in the conflict you may be crowned by the haÌ„d of our lord with a Crowne of Iustice And to the ende you may not thinke that the particulars which you endure are signes of reprobation and that they are sent by our Lord to none but wicked men heare what Dauid saith in his owne person and of many others who walked in the way of God I sayd in the excesse of my soule Psal 30. that I am cast of before the countenance of thine eyes And though this dismay of hart and the disfauour which wee finde in the middest thereof be a thing which doth much afflicte and that the soule can take no ayme of how it standes in the sight of God nor how it shall stande nor what ende that Crosse shall haue yet neuerthelesse there are few things in the world which are so forcible to purge sinnes or which teach a man soe manie tâ—utâ—es as doth this darke obscuritie and inward affliction which makes the soule sweate droppes of bloud Our lord sendes this to his seruants that they may not departe this life without feeling what crosses and tribulations are And therefore he wounds them in the spiritt wherein they liue For if he should but wound them in temporall things to which they are dead they would haue no sence at all thereof You must therefore be sure to giue a good accompt of that dangerous passage wherein God hath beene pleased to bestow you and you must adore his iudgements And being comforted through confidence in his goodnesse bowe downe that head of yours without anie more sifting into the matter and open the mouth of your hart to swallow downe this pill of darkenesse and desolation and disfauour of God through the obedience which you owe to the same God And knowe for certaine that vnlesse you haue a minde to breake your word and vnsay your self in this tryall which God sendes to you you must resolue to make yourself strong as the Angell did Iosue Ioâ—uâ— 1. and you must liue dying euerie day 1. Coâ— 15. as S. Paul did You must be baked in the fire of tribulation that so you may grow hard like anie bricke and fitt to resist the raynes and windes of temptation and troubles and that you be not soft like the dawbing of a wall which is instantly dissolued by water and no way fitt for a strong building For the people who are to be placed in that house of heauen must be beaten and hammerd here on carth by the knockes of manie tribulations and temptations as it is written Our lâ—â—dâ—ryâ—d them and found them worthie of him self Sap. 3. Learne you therefore to sustaine your self with strong foode and striue to conuerte these stones of tribulation into bread if you desire to haue the testimonie of being the childe of God And if he giue you an appetite to eate the white and new bread of consolation remitt it back againe to the will of our lord and be content with being sure that you shall haue so much of that in the next world as that the sweetnesse thereof will farre and farre exceede the recompence which might be due for anie bitternesse sustayned in this And in steede of those hard
I beare to my creatures I couer it for whome nothing is so good as not to know any thing which concernes themselues but to remitt themselues wholy to me In that ignorance doth their knowledge consist in that suspence their strength and in that subiection their dominion And it ought to suffise a soule that it lyes in no other hands but mine which are also hers since for her they were nayled vpon the Crosse Yea they are more hers then mine since they laboured more for the purchase of her good then of mine owne And to the ende that I may draw her out of all self conceipt and make her follow my direction it is I who conduct her into this darkenesse that so she may know nothing of herself But yet still if she putt her confidence in me and departe not from my seruice I will deliuer her and I will glorifye her and all this will I performe to her Be faithfull to death Psal 90. and I will giue thee the Crowne of life This sayth our Lord to all faithfull soules and this he sayth to yours which I pray God to keepe Amen A Letter to a Lady who was a Religious woman and in great affliction He shewes how troubles are the proofe of Faith and Loue in the seruants of God and how confident they ought to be of his Diuine Maiesly in the middest of their troubles AS soone as I receiued your letter I offered thanks to our lord for hauing giuen you a signe that your vocation came from his hand and this signe is that you haue suffered tribulation You must not be a little glad of this since our Lord loues you Nor yet must you be slack since you are in the midst of many dangers butt carry your eye towardes him whoe hath called you with soe great loue You must alsoe haue a strong hart For he called you not with intention to giue you ouer in the midst of your iourney but to guide you vnder the protection of his owne wings till he may haue conducted you to heauen where you shall see his face Let not the Faith of Christ our Lord nor the loue you owe him sleepe in you for he neuer sleepes when there is question of doeing you anie good These are tokens which he vses to sende to whome he loues to trye if they also loue him in their afflictions and if they confide in him in their dangers That spouse is not worthy of thankes who loues her fellow-spouse but onely when he is present with her nor doth it cost her much to confide in him when she findes herselfe regaled by him But the matter is that when he absentes himself from her yea and when he seemes to haue forgotten her she must loue him so much the better as he is further absent from her and confide in him so much the more as she hath fewer exteriour signes of his fauour It is enough for you my good sister to haue knowen alreadie by experience how louing our lord hath beene to you by his hauing drawen you to the knowledge of himself And be you not crauing new testimonies of his loue but make yourself sure enough thereof and be not troubled although he correct you and though it seeme as if he estranged himself from you and forgott you but rather say thus He hath a minde to trye me and not to oppresse me You must loue our lord though he correct you you must confide in him though you feele no comfort from him Seeke him though he hide himself suffer him not to rest till you haue waked him and till he confesse that you are faithfull in his absence and thus you shall finde him to returne to you with so much aduantage as that when you enioy his presence againe you will esteeme your former afflictions well employed Procure great courage wherewith to suffer for after the rate of your sorrowes shall your comforts be Be not a louer of yourself but be a louer of God loose yourself and soe you shall bee sure to finde yourself And if once yow would bud trust God home and if once you would offer yourselfe to him with true loue there could nothing happen which would fright you All bitter frozen afflictions proceede but from distrust in God And for this our lord sayde Let not your harts bee troubled and doe not â—eare You beleiue in God beleiue also in me So that Faith and loue is the cause of peace and quietnesse to the hart There is no one thing which is so necessarie for you towards the making you able to arriue at the ende of that dayes worke wherein God hath placed you as to confide in him with loue Our lord hath manie proofes to make of you and manie tribulations shall growe where you looke least for them but if you stand armed with Faith and loue you shall ouercome them all Num 13. Doe but remember how the children of Israel when they were issued out of the land of Egypt by meanes of so manie miracles and were passing through so manie afflictions before they arriued at that land which our lord had promised them sayd thus The people which possesse this land is greater and stronger then we they haue mightie Citties whose walles doe euen threaten the skye we cannot ouercome such a stoute nation as this to what ende doe we putt ourselues vpon this iournie And though some amongst them who had Faith did encourage the rest by saing that since God was on their side they should easily be able to euercome as they had done till then yet feare preuailed so farre as that they offended our lord thereby and through their litle confidence they lost the land and God destroyed them in the desert without suffering them to enioy that for which they had laboured and which himself had promised Let vs take warning Psal 147. my good Sister by the danger of others and let vs knowe that our Lord hath gust in such as feare him and hope in his mercie and is offended with such as doe not so It is he who drew you out of the captiuitie of Egypt when hee inspired your hart with a desire of being his and he leades you still through this desert which is so vnpleasant where sometimes you want the bread of doctrine for lacke of such as might breake it to you At other times you want companie which may speake of spirituall things that so your way might bee made to seeme the shorter At other times you doe want the trees of other recreation which might giue you shade and thus in steede of these commodities you haue a thousand discomforts Now temptations rise against you from within and then from without now from strangers and then from domestiques Butt yett attende you onely to your businesse For he who did that for you which was more can neuer fayle to do that for you which is lesse He who made you a friend of an enemie will better
CERTAIN SELECTED SPIRITVALL EPISTLES Written by that most Reuerend holy man Doctor I. de Auila a most renowned Preacher of Spaine Most profitable for all sortes of People whoe seeke their saluation Benedictus Deus qui talia dona dedit hominibus Blessed bee Almighty God who hath giuen such guifts to men At Roüen by the widdow of Nicolas Courant Permissu Superiorum 1631. THE PREFACE IT is an excellent saying which we finde in that diuine booke intituled THE FOLLOWING OF CHRIST The felicitie which is to be obtayned in this life consists not in the being able to preuent or auoid miseries and crosses which daily occurre but in the patient and humble acceptation and sufferance thereof For indeede there is no such thing as thâ— not being encountred and crossed some in one kinde and some in another some by desolations of minde some by infirmities of bodie some by want of temporall meanes some by vnkindenesse of freinds some by detraction against fame some by suites in law and some by persecution for Religion For these things lye as so manie snares whereby to intrappe our patience in this great Hospitall of the world and some men are subject to more of them and some to fewer but there is no man who at one time or other is not subiect to some The businesse therefore must be to supporte both such as Almighty God shall either send for the punishmeÌ„t of our other sinnes or for the greater purification and perfection of our owne soules or for the aduancemeÌ„t of his owne glory otherwise and such others also as for the greater punishment of wicked men he shall permitt them to inflict vpon vs and to supporte them so through the fauour of God as not onely thereby not to forfeite heauen in the next life but to enable vs in the midst of all our miseries to obtaine a kinde of heauen euen in this For I account it to be a kinde of heauen in the crowde of trouble not to be ouerweighed with the burthen but to accept be content with the good will of God and to aspire towards an imitation of the Passion of Christ our Lord to know and feele in our very harts the substantiall sauorie truth of that diuine saying of S. Iean Chrisostome It is a more glorious thing for a man to suffer for Christ then to raigne with him But now as this doctrine is diuine so the lesson whereby we are to learne it is hard and therefore we shall doe well to vse the best meanes we can to take it out And for my parte I must confesse that I haue neuer mett in anie Authour with so manie so weightie so easie and practicable considerations and inducements towards not onely the patient but euen the ioyfull sufferance of all those crosses and afflictions which can finde the way to vs in this world as are deliuered by FATHER AVILA in his Epistles whereof I haue selected the chiefe and choice and made them speake with our tongue to the end that we may be the better taught to beare those burthens of affliction which may otherwise proue too hard and heauie for our soft shoulders of flesh and bloud And I am confidently perswaded that besides the entertainement which the reader will finde therein otherwise for his delight and gust it will be impossible for him to haue had or haue a crosse of anie kinde for which he shall not heere finde store of remedies and comforts brought to his hand So that he will owe a diligent and deuout reading to this Collection if not for the Author 's or Translator's sake yet at least for his owne A LETTER OF THE Authour to a deere freind of his He shewes how great blindenes it is to loose eternall blisse for temporall delights THE peace of our Lord Iesus Christ be euer with you I receiued a letter of yours some daies past written in Seuill whereof though I were very gladd yet should I haue reioyced much more to be there to enioy your conuersation which I haue soe long desired I beseech Christ that wee may see one another in heauen where all our desires will be at an end possessing him who is the true fulfilling of them all Sir I would extreamely desire that the smoâ—ke of theis temporall things did not blinde our harts and hinder vs from the sight of such as are eternall What an ill exchange doth hee make who Looses that which may be interiourly possessed and which indeede is the true fruite for that which is exteriour and which is noe better then the shell or crust Woe be to that man who hath more care of his goodes then of his conscience and who puts the soule in hazard to secure the life of his body Not soe Gen. 39. ô you men not soe but rather as Ioseph did whoe to secure his chastity left his vper garmeÌ„t in the hands of her whoe would haue robbed him of that treasure It is the sentence of Christ our Lord Matth. 5. that if our right eye be an occasion to vs of sinne wee must pluck it out and cast it from vs. The right eye is the loue which we carry towards goods or honour or life or freinds which if by the inordinate aboundance thereof it be an occasion to vs of sinne wee are to estraunge our selues from it and to cutt it of least otherwise we be estraunged from God Wee must loue nothing soe well as that wee may not treade it vnder foote if it hinder vs from being well with God There is noe such thing as holding freindship with that soueraigne king but onely such a man as will confesse that heauen is had very cheape though it should chance to cost him his life They who will thinke to comply both with their owne proper affections and with the loue also of our Lord are mightily deceiued For theis men loue not God but soe as they alsoe loue many other things whereas God will be loued aboue them all O errour of the sonnes of men and who hath thus deceiued them and whoe shall be able to vnbeguile them who hath pluckt out their eyes to leade them blinde-fould in a ringe like another Sampson Iudges 16. liuing according to the suggestion of vice and in the displeasure of our Lord Who shall be able to make them vnderstand that they are straungely deceiued in seeking riches in the first place and vertue in a second Yea and if it soe fall out that both of them cannot be kept men are content to be without vertue soe that they may not be without money And thus put they light into the place of darkenes and darkenes into that of light O that our Lord would open the eyes of theis men and how bitterly would they weepe seeing how badd exchaungers they had beene Is not perhaps the freindship of God which is obteyned by the exercise of vertue of more valew then all the rest of things which can be wished Are
constrayned him since there was noe remedy but that he would become man that he must needes be borne in soe hard and soe bitter a tyme of the yeare and in a country where he was a straunger and insteede of a house that it must needes be in a stable and all this in soe great pouertie and basenes that he well deserues compassion at our hand Certainely noe other thing but Loue could haue brought him as it were all bound from heauen to the most pure wombe of our Blessed Lady and from that wombe it brought him to that hard manger and from thence to many other afflictions and soe at last to the Crosse where louing vs with much truth of loue he procured that we might truely loue him as himselfe had said before If I be exalted from the earth I will draw all things vp to my selfe Iohn 3 â—um 21. Exalting from the earth signifies to dye vpon the Crosse as he did And then drew he all things to himselfe by meanes of that mighty loue which he kindled in the hart of man For looking towards this true louer some haue beene content to forgett their countries and to liue in continuall pilgrimage others to forsake their estates and to liue in pouerty others haue offered themselues to seuerall afflictions yea and to death it selfe desiring rather to suffer for Christ our Lord then to be delighted any way but in him And let his mercie be praised for euer for that amongst them whoe through the noble loue of the Crucifix haue forgotten all their fortunes and themselues withall your selfe is growne to be one not of your selfe but by him whoe workes his owne glorie in you And therefore he will not leaue you in the weake hands of your selfe alone since he not you begin the worke You therefore my good lady may well reioyce you may reioyce in God since you are well protected vnder a mantle which is both soe soft and soe stronge Stronge to defende you from your enemies and from your selfe whoe are the greatest enemie you haue and soft or sweete to comfort you in your aflictions and to feele them as if they were his owne and to giue you part of his hart which is soe greately wounded with loue for you How could our Lord haue expected drawne or guarded or susteyned you if he had not loued you with great truth of loue How is it possible that your sinnes would not haue prouoked him to wrath if there had not beene as much loue in him as serued to make him shut his eyes towards them and to open them towards the doeing you fauour But you will say How come I to be soe happie as that the eternall king should loue mee and for that reason should endure mee and doe mee soe much good insteede of ill I will answeare you when you shall first haue tolde mee why the fire burnes and why the sunne shines and why the water refreshes and why euery thing is endewed with his owne nature And if you say the fire burnes because it is fire soe doe I alsoe tell you that because God is God therefore doth hee loue vs freely and shewes mercy to such as deserue it not Our pride hath nothing noe it hath nothing whereof to glory but the shame and dishonour must be ours and the honour his The good wee may enioye but the glorie must be his Luke 2 For soe the angells sunge when the blessed Infant was borne Glory be to God in the heauens and peace to men of good will Lett vs giue the glory to the Lord of vs all for the mercies which we haue receiued at his hand Glory be to him because he hath deliuered vs with soe much power from the hands of them to whome we had deliuered our selues with soe miserable a resolution Glory be to him whoe drew vs to grace wee being out of his grace and who sustaines vs and crownes vs with mercy and with many mercies and whoe giues vs to vnderstand that hee will finish that in vs which hee hath begunne For he is wont to haue the charge and care of any busines to whome the honour must result and he whoe reapes the honour must be content to take the care And now since this Blessed Lord of ours will be glorified in vs and will take the honour of our victorie to himselfe he will alsoe take the care of our combatt and hee will enable vs to passe through it to him and will tye vs to himselfe with soe stronge a knott of loue that neither life nor death shall diuide vs. He will enable vs to looke vpon himselfe with open eyes and to shutt them towards all other things and he will imprint himselfe soe fast vpon our harts that for the loue and memory of him wee shall forgett not onely all other things but our very selues alsoe This will he doe whoe is soe pittious soe powerfull and his name is holy and hee it is whoe loues vs more then we can either say or thinke For his workes exceede all created vnderstanding To him be glorye for the eternitie of all eternities Amen As for that which you aske mee concerning my health it goes ill with mee since I am vnworthy of sicknes For if I were not very vnworthy our Lord would not haue taken my paine from mee soe soone as he hath taken it And as for the rest of your letter I answeare that a great fire by how much the more it is shutt vp and concealed soe much the hotter it burnes Christ our Lord make you his true and faithfull disciple that soe you may in some sort correspond to that vnspeakeable and diuine loue of his as I cordially desire of him for you A letter to a reuerend and religious person encouraging him towards the perfect loue of God and representing to him some meanes for the obteyning thereof REuerend father Pax Christi Since our Lord Iesus Christ is not pleased that at this tyme I should be where I might enioy the communication of your selfe and of those my Maisters the Collegialls as I had wished lett his name be blessed for all and in the meane tyme I must endure it with patience Wherein yet mee thinks I shall not be performing a small penance for it is a hard thing for vs to endure to be diuided from the persons whome wee loue And in very truth I did neuer soe much desire to be assisted by you in some things as now For I conceiue that it might haue proued greatly to the seruice of our Lord. But yet since by one that loues all things are well taken I will speake a little to you in absence till our Lord ordaine that wee may be present Sir I much desire that we may seeke God who is our totall Good and that not after any ordinary manner but like some one whoe seekes a great treasure which is much esteemed and for loue whereof he sells all that hee is
whoe can remaine in fire and not growe warme at least to some proportion O that we could dwell there and how happye should we be therein what is the reason that we depart thence soe soone Because we take not vp those fiue lodgings in that high mountaine of the Crosse where Christ our Lord was transfigured indeede though not towards beauty but towards deformitie basenes and dishonour which lodgings are granted to vs nay we are desired to take them though those other three tabernacles which S. Peter desired were denyed to him If some little sparke of this fire be kindled in our harts let vs take great care that the winde blowe it not out since it is soe little Let vs couer it with the ashes of humilitie let vs hould our peace and hide it and soe we shall finde it still aliue Leuit. 6 And we must dayly add some wood to it as God commaundeth his Preists to doe And that signifies to vs the doeing of good workes and the not loosing of any tyme and aboue all things we must approach to the true fire which may kindle and enflame vs and this is Iesus Christ our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament Let vs open the mouth of our soule which is our desire and let vs goe all gaping towards the fountaine of liuing water for soe without doubt if we take hony into our mouths we shall haue some taste thereof And in fine if the fire be in our bosome it will heate vs. But both before and after we communicate we must vse some preparations and reflections and there cannot be any better then a liuely Faith that we goe then to receiue Iesus Christ our Lord together with a consideration and loue of his passion since that misterie was instituted in memory thereof Being thus refreshed lett vs then prouide our selues for our communicating the next tyme after For he whoe onely prepares himselfe for the present tyme shall seldome finde himselfe well prepared Let vs therefore runne after God for we may be sure enough that he will not flye from vs. He is nayled vpon the Crosse and infallibly we shall finde him there Let vs conveigh him into our harts and then shutt the doore that he retyre not thence Let vs dye to all visible things since there will come a tyme when we must leaue them perforce Let vs renew our selues in newnes of spirit since we haue liued soe longe according to the old man Eph. 4 Let vs be growing in knowledge and loue of Christ our Lord who is the soueraigne good And all this is to be obteyned by humble prayer and perseuerant endeauour More is receiued into the soule from without the soule then doth proceede of the soule It is more for it to be moued and disposed then to worke when that is done And therefore let vs remoue all impediments and compose our owne harts within our selues expecting Christ our Lord there who enters when the gates are shutt to visit and comfort his Disciples and soe without doubt he will come to vs. For Dauid saith of him Psal 144. Our Lord heard the desire of the poore and his eares harkened to the preparation of his hart And since Christ our Lord is principally he who must worke this in vs Psal 9. we haue noe reason to distrust but taking courage and confidence in such a conductor as he is let vs beginne to runne that course with feruour which ends not but in the obteyning of God And if we cannot soe soone make our harts as subiect to vs as we would lett vs yet endure it with patience till God rise vp and soe our enemies may fall and till he awake and commaund this sea to calme it selfe But then on the other side his expresse pleasure is that we haue confidence in him euen in the greatest temptations yea though our little barkes should be vpon the very point to sincke Let vs not therefore be disturbed or dismayed Let vs not put others to paine for the trouble which this continuall warre giues vs in threatning that we shall be ouercome The day will arriue when God will put this country of ours into peace when wee shall sleepe without any body by to wake vs. And now since this peace cannot be obteyned yet it will be a better course for vs to goe sweating and striuing to roote out our passiōs then to keepe our selues in ease and to content our selues with leading a tepid life for the auoyding of that paine which the seeking of perfection would put vs to But first lett vs vtterly distrust ourselues and confide in God and let vs beginne in the name and power of the omnipotent And this begining of ours shall be humilitie which is figured in the ashes that we take and our end shal be loue which is figured in the resurrection of our Lord and soe we shall inioye both a good lent and a good Easter In the meane tyme I kisse the hands of all my Masters your Collegialls and I recommend my selfe to their prayers And say you to them in my name that I beseech them that we may loue both God and our neighbours in great measure That soe at the day of iudgment we may know well how to answeare and that we may be made doctours be receiued into the Colledge of the Angells and Saints where we shall euer study the booke of life which is God himselfe who will for euer stand open before our eyes that we may knowe him loue him and for euer be in possession of him Our Lord Iesus remaine euer with you Amen A Letter of the Author to a certaine lady Hee shewes how the hunger of our hart cannot be satisfied but by the spirit of our lord who that hee may lodge himselfe therein requires that it bee free from all affection to creatures And how tepid and negligent persons greiue that spirit how the Feast of the holy Ghost is a very good preparation for the Feast of Corpus Chisti which followes MADAM I desire to know how your hart standes affected at this tyme. For if wee looke to the weeke wherein wee are it is belonging to the holy Ghost whose property is to giue light to the vnderstanding and to infuse loue into the will and euen strength into the body alsoe by meanes of which three loaues of bread we shall haue some what to set before our freind who comes hungry and weary from the high way For the hunger that our hart feeles which walkes as it were out of it selfe whilest it imployes it selfe vpon creatures this holy Ghost is wont to take away and to giue vs the bread of fulnes and satisfaction And woe be to vs if we feele not that great defect which is in things created and if we conuert nor our selues to god in our very harts at least now when they are weary with finding imperfections wants in those things wherein we hoped that they might obtaine repose
ought to loue the head doe you not know that when our lord rose from death to life appeared to his disciples he placed him selfe in the midst of them Luke 24. and not at the head or els where And this vpon what reason but to make vs vnderstand that he is in the midst of vs and that we cannot doe yea or euen desire to hurt any body but that first it must passe through him He who loues not his neighbour loues not Christ our lord and as for him whoe loues not Christ our lord it were better for such a one not to haue beene borne since he arriues not to know for what he was created which was to loue our lord Conceiue that your neighbours are a certaine thing which meerely coÌ„cernes Christ our lord that they are his Images and the creatures for which he gaue his blood And therefore say How shall I wish ill to him whom my lord loues How shall I be able to desire death to him to whom my lord will giue life My lord dyed for those persons and would yet againe returne to dye for them if it were needefull and shall I then faile to loue that man who is soe much bâ—loued by him what doth it import mee if they doe me ill offices for I loue them not for what they are nor for any thing which they doe to mee I loue them for Christ's sake and what then haue their ill deedes to doe towards the making me take that loue from them which I carried to them for Christ's sake I beseech God they may be great in his presence that they may enioy him and he them that soe there may be more temples wherein my lord may dwell more soules which may praise and serue him and more harts which may loue him for he deserues them all And whensoeuer you see them say O lord doe thou possesse those soules and lett them be onely thine O lord lett them enioye thee for thou hast a minde to coÌ„municate thy selfe to all O lord they are soe many Images of thee make them like to thee more and more both to them mee to all giue pardon grace glory If your tongue will not say this yet let your spirit say it and lift vp your hart to our lord demaunding succour of him and saying O lord for thy loue and not for theirs and by little and little you shall finde your selfe in peace And if there chance to be any warre bee not ouercome therein and doe not say or doe any thing which may be against their good and consent not to any thing in your hart which be of disaduantage to them The scruples coÌ„cerning your coÌ„fessions are a temptation wherewith the deuill tormeÌ„ts you depriues you of the sweetenes of your soule and leaues you without gust in the things of God For the creature who is scrupulous is not fit either to loue God or to confide in him nor doth he like the way which God houlds with him and then he goes to looke other wayes which may please him selfe better because he findes not that in Gods wayes which giues him gust And this scrupulous person hath the fault of all for he raises the storme where there was a calme and hee found it in his owne way and not in the way of God which is very smooth and plaine Make you a Iest of such things submit your selfe to that which your ghostly-father shall ordaine be not carryed a way with scruples nor with your owne conceipt but say my lord God is not scrupulous Iohn 4 Psal 17. I doe that which they comaunde me in his name and I am to accounte to him for noe more Shall I be plaine with you make hast make hast to loue and these scruples will fall away which rise but from a fearefull hart For perfect loue casts feare out of doores Pray to our lord say Deus meus illumina tenebras meas And confide you in his mercie that seruing him he will be good to you and will dayly be giuing you to vnderstand your faults that you may mend them I would alsoe haue you laugh at the temptation of vaineglory and say to it Neither will I doe it nor leaue to doe it for thee O lord to thee it is that I offer what souer I can doe or say or thinke And when vaineglorie comes againe say to it thus Thou comest too late for it is already giuen to God It is a good aduise that beginners are to doe nothing exteriourly which may seeme to be of much sanctity for being younge and tender and all their busines being but yet in flower the winde will doe them hurt and it is better for them to hide their graces then to shew them And soe must you doe for as much as possibly you can and that which you cannot conceale doe freely and without feare And straite cast vp your hart to our Lord and say Non nobis Domine non nobis sed nâ—â—nâ—ni tuo da gloriam Or els you may say Gloria Patriâ— Filio Spirituâ— sancto And for conclusion I recommend to you that you cast all that out of your hart which is not God and that in this world you loue teares sollitude humilitie and penance and lett your eyes be euer turned to our Lord that your feete may be deliuered from the snare Put the law of God in practise and you shall see how he will sweeten your way and how he will cast your enemies vnder your feete And by working you shall grow to vnderstand that which you knowe not how to conceaue either by speaking or hearing For in this way of God these tepid and talking people learne little and they whoe are diligent in putting the hand to worke learne much Our Lord lesus Christ goes before you follow him heere with your Crosse and one day you shall be with him in heauen A Letter of the Authour to a freind whome he animates to serue God in good earnest He shewes the vanity and misery of the world and the happines which is obtained by seruing God AS he whoe hoping for the good successe of what he desires reioyces when he sees some likelyhood thereof and although that likelyhood be not very great yet it giues him noe little ioye through the excesse of his desire soe my soule is filled with comfort by your Letter for me thinkes the wordes conteyned therein giue me a hope and taste of somewhat which hath reason to make mee gladd and which if it might once take full effect would breede a ioy in mee soe very great as would be equalled by few others My good Sir I desire to see that soule of yours vnbeguiled and discharged from the many vanities which are affected and frequented in this world and that you would beleeue with a faithfull hart that your true repose consists not in any other then in him whoo created all things that you
who being sent about busines would needes stay to passe his tyme and play with other boyes or els loyter for seeing of some vaine show and neither did that which he was commaunded nor soe much as remembred where about he went till returning home at night without any answeare coÌ„cerning his busines he is receiued with reprehensions and stripes by him who sent him Let vs awake whilest wee haue tyme and lett vs haue an eye to that which imports vs most and which is to last for euer And lett vs leaue vanity to vaine persons for both it and they shall perish Let vs raise our eyes to wards him who gaue vs the life and being which wee haue and afterwards gaue his owne life to the end that we might not loose ours And with great labour he taught vs the way whereby we were to walke and by a death which was full of torments and reproaches did he encourage and strengthen vs towards the purchase of vertue and he obteyned grace for vs whereby we might be able to serue and please almightie God Lett vs search into the most hidden corners of our harts and lett vs cure that in it which is wounded Lett vs vntye the fetters of our sinnes Let vs procure to redresse our selues in that which giues vs most cause of feare And let vs appease the clamorous remorse of our Conscience with doing that which God commaunds by the Dictamen thereof that soe all things being once well ordered and agreed we may like true and watchfull seruants expect the coming of our Lord and that we may be found with tapers lighted in our hands and with our loynes girt and that we may heare that sweete word Reioyce thou good and faithfull seruant Luk. 12 Matth. 25. whoe hast benâ— faithfull in lesser things I will place thee ouer greater Enter thou into the ioy of thy Lord That is the daye for which good christians hope and in coÌ„templation whereof they who liue heere in paine doe in tyme passe through it with much patience And this expectation of that crowne giues them hart to endure the combatts of this world and of the flesh Making election of abasement heere for that eternall aduancement and of this short lamentation For that delight which shall haue noe end of loosing their will heere that they may haue it euerlastingly vnited to the will of God in heauen Where they shall haue nothing which may disgust them but all that shall be done which may content them For they shall possesse almightie God as their most rich treasure in whome is conteyned all Good If our Lord haue yet begunne to visit that soule of yours you will vnderstand what I say and you will profitt by it If not which God forbidd it will be but the hearing of a story which is instantly forgotten I desire that Christ our Lord may be the Loue of you and of my lady your wife whose desire to see mee I pray God reward But thinke no more of your coming this way till first God shall haue soe disposed that I may goe thither to you the rather because I alsoe desire that it may be soe A letter to an afflicted lady whose sicknes hindered certaine deuotions which shee had beene wont to vse He teaches her how to finde peace and true repose which is noe where but in God And of the great care wherewith she was to prouide that the forbearance which she vsed of her exercises of spirit in her sicknes might not proceede from tepiditie THE best comfort in those afflictions which come vpon vs against our will is not to haue committed any fault which might occasion their coming For a conscience which stands right will easily beare any weight which you can lay vpon it but to a conscience which is impure any little burden is intollerable If men knew as well how to seeke the meanes of true repose as they know how to desire the thing they should enioye it and not remaine with the sole desire thereof It is the expresse lawe of God that they who haue desires of any other thing then him shall be subiect to torment whether the thing be obteyned or not obteyned For supposing the thing be had which they desired yet can they not compleately enioye it through the remorse which their conscience brings and if it can not be had they are racked by the delay of the thing desired The pure desire of God is very contrary to this Psal 104. For if Dauid say Lett the hart reioyce which goes but euen in search of God what kinde of thing will it be to finde him out If the hunger of seeking giue them ioye what will the being satisfied at that table doe He therefore who desires to finde peace and true repose must resolue to forgoe his owne appetytes must boldly and faithfully lodge himself in the will of our Lord and soe he shall neither be tumbled vp and downe in the darke nor be afflicted otherwise by the arriuall of strange euents But who will now procure that the sonnes of men may attend to that which God exacts at their hands How longe will you be heauy harted and loue vanity Psal 4. and seeke after lyes who shall vnbeguile such men and free them from their blindenes as goe seeking peace and finde warre yea and by the same way wherein they seeke it they loose it Let the whole world vnderstand once for all that as there is noe more then one God soe is there noe more then one true repose And as without the true God there is noe God soe out of his repose there is noe repose Certainely the mountaines were lyers and soe was the multitudes of the valleys and onely in our Lord God there is true saluation This say they whoe after they are well wearied vpon the experience of their owne vaine desires arriue to know at length both what God is and what hee is to them who seeke him Madam we haue not in our house a bitt of bread which wee may giue our freind to eate who is coming from abroad vnlesse we goe borrow it of our neighbour who is God made man and one who withall is soe neere vs as that he is our head and both our father and our brother He who will lift his eyes vp to him and depend vpon his hand he who will be a begger at his gate he who will be in desire of him and growe euen fainte through hunger after him shall be refreshed by the aboundance of him which doth as farre exceede the satisfaction which creatures giue as God him selfe exceedes them But out of God lett noe man presume to haue any hunger For as S. Augustine saith where soeuer flesh and blould shall expect to finle a suâ—â—nes amongst the creatures it will finde it selfe deceiued Soe that a man may vnderstand by experience what difference there is betweene the Creatour and the creatures and soe being vntyed from them since in
them by any meanes Be not faint in labouring for the loue of our lord since true loue knowes not what it is to be remisse as you are to be compassionate pious to wards your beloued soe are you to be seuere and nothing delicate towards your selfe Your ladyship shall doe well to call to minde what heroicall acts the loue of Christ our lord hath wrought in this world in those harts where it hath dwelt It hath made them endure prisons torments dishonours and that with much ioy whilest the great worth of the beloued hath beene placed before the eyes of the louer And since it hath wrought soe great effects in others let it not be soe weake in your ladyshipp as that it cannot enable you to passe through a little affliction for the pleasing of soe high a Lord by whome you shall be soe much the better accepted as you shall come to him with more affliction Yet soe as that our Lord is not desirous of our paine but onely of our loue but yet it is still true withall that the truth of loue is hardly knowne but in somewhat which puts vs to paine Eccl. 6. For the freind who stands fast in tyme of tribulation he is the true freind indeede And though God doe well know what wee are without making any particular experiment yet he loues to trye vs that wee may know it too that soe wee may haue comfort in finding our selues faithfull to him in point of loue and soe may liue in hope that wee shall goe to enioye our beloued for Patience breedes Hope Rom. as S. Paule saith So that this must be your method till you haue perfect health that when you are free from your vomitts paines you may exercice your minde in spirituall things and at those tymes you must alsoe beseech our Lord to giue you light to know when it is the flattery of flesh and blood and when it is Iust necessitie which hinders you For he who vses the knowledge well which he hath shall obtaine light for that which he knowes not But as for others with what face can they aske new light since it may be answeared them thus why desirest thou to know further what my will and pleasure is since in that which thou knowest already thou complyest not And when you are in any ease though it bee not much let your mind alsoe bee in some exercise of spirituall things though it be not much nor with much attention but onely recording your desires and presenting your selfe before our Lord. And by this and withall by not letting your hart sincke for euen the very life of the soule consists in that your ladyship shall passe on vntill that God prouide otherwise The woman of Samaria asked where she was to pray Iohn 4. and our Lord answeared her that it was euery where to be done and that in spiritt And soe is the christian to doe who in all his workes is to pray to our Lord not in the mountaine or in the temple alone but in eating drinking and sleeping in health and in sicknes referring all to God and ioying in all things because he receiues them from that holy hand Your ladyship is to haue great care that you straighten not the goodnes of God since he is immense Doe not thinke that you are to seeke him and to finde him but onely in such an expresse place or determinate worke He is euery where and you are with him and if you seeke him euery where Sap. 7. you shall euery where be sure to finde him I reioyced saith the wise man in all things because this wisedome went before mee And soe doth hee alsoe reioyce whoe in all things behoulds God performing that which he commaunds and euer keeping the hart in attention towards him and from the contrary flowes sadnes and disgust and deiection of minde which is a thing to be auoyded Eccl. 30. with much diligence For as it is written There is no profitt in such sadnes Nay it brings much hurt both to our body to our soule and to our neighbour Whereas ioy and comfort giue strength and perseuerance makes our spirituall enemies grow sadd it cherishes the spirit of God which dwells in such as are his seruants For his spiritt in cheerefull Besides this your ladyship shall doe well to receiue the Body of our Lord now and then And since the lodging which he takes vp is in the hart you are not to be in paine for that your body is noe better And though there may be some impediment why wee cannot labour yet there can be none why wee may not loue So much the more must wee loue our Lord because hee is both omnipotent and very desirous to giue strength to that hart which seekes to loue him for this tends to the accomplishment of that very thing which he likes best of all others both in heauen and earth and that is Loue. Wherewith I desire that your ladyship may soe abound on earth that you may deserue to be lodged neerè our Lord in heauen Amen A Letter of the Author to a Lady whome he had greately in charge and who feared her selfe to be troublesome to him He takes all feare from her and animates her to perseuer in the way of vertue which she had begun and adnises her to the seruice of her neighbours as a good meanes whereby she might obtaine the guift of Contemplation IF you knew how great ioy I haue felt in my soule by your letters I beleeue you would write often to mee how carefull soeuer the deuill might be to discourage you And if you knew how great fauour you doe mee in letting me see that you are c̄ofident of my truth to you and if withall you would be pleased to make tryall of mee I beleeue you would cast away a great number of those imaginations which the deuill brings to you about the making you thinke that you are troublesome to mee I for my part haue not taken vpon me so in iest that charge of you which our lord hath put into my hands as that any difficulty could make me weary of it how great soeuer it might bee and how much lesse can I bee weary when the thing it selfe is not painefull to mee but delightfull I beseech you for the loue of our lord that you will aske him whether I loue you or noe For I hope for soe much fauour at his hands as that he will tell you I doe forasmuch as he is a freind of truth and hee knowes that the thing indeede is soe Doe you not already vnderstád that this is but a tricke of the deuill vnderstád that this is but a tricke of the deuill whereby he would pull downe weake persons Doe you not know how much hurt this conceite doth to some of your neighbours when they beleiue it you know well enough how to chide them who will not conceiue that they are beloued by their freinds
and how to take the part of such as are absent But now why take you not that counsaile for your selfe which you giue to others why will you needes tire me out with your incredulitie as others doe For the loue of him who was crucified for vs let not things passe in this manner but be confident that our lord loues you and imparts true loue to mee for the doeing of all that which is necessary for you that this must last till you shall haue gayned the crowne to which our lord hath called you which is not to be any little one nor doe I finde in my selfe any little ioy that I am helping you to gaine the same You must alsoe forbeare both to say and thinke that the state wherein you are is a state of condemnation For that is a meere temptation of the deuill who desires nothing more then that you may leaue your manner of life that soe he may carry you away with him And if it seeme to you that you haue not that recollection which you ought for my part I am glad that you desire it and sigh for it But yet you must not doe it soe as withall to conceiue that you are not pleasing to God in doeing what you doe Many tymes men serue God more whilst they haue noe recollectió soe that yet withall they procure it then with hauing it For sometymes yea and many tymes the pleasure of God is that to the end wee may vse Charitie to his children we shall forsake the sweetenes of attending to himselfe alone And the Patriarch Iacob was enamoured of Rachell Gen. 29 who was faire he serued seauen yeares that they might giue her to him for his wife and at the end thereof they gaue him Lia the sister of Rachell against his liking And when he complayned thereof they tould him that it was not the fashion of that country to bestow their youngest daughters first as he desired But they wished him to marry this other at that tyme and that if indeede he loued the yonger as much as he said he should labour seauen years more for that and then they would alsoe giue her to him and this hee did and soe he obteyned her Hee who hath a minde to giue himselfe as it were in marriage to the beautifull life of recollection and deuout prayer desires that which is very good But he must bestow himselfe in marriage to the life of action and labour And first hee must employ himselfe vpon the good of his neighbours and afterwards by perseuerance he shall obtaine the other when our Lord shall finde it fitt for him But in the meane tyme hee is contented with vs if we will sigh for this and if we will attend to that Neither is he in the right who is gladd of busines and imployments neither yet is that other in the right whoe when he is in the middest thereof goes still complayning But he alone complyes with that which God commands whoe bestowes his hands and workes vpon the seruice of his neighbours and his desires vpon the seruice of our Lord with more desires vpon the seruice of our Lord with more recollection Yet still I say not soe farrâ— as that this desire must make him complaine or be disgusted But he must haue patience in his busines and in his desire and loue he must haue quietnes his hands in one of them and his eyes vpon the other He obeys in the one and he sues for the other And as I haue said else where God serues himselfe of some in the first life of labour rather then in the second life of repose because wee vse to disguise that desire which indeede we haue to be at liberty and to follow our owne will not to be put to endure the impertinences and vexations of others vnder the colour of giuing our selues to Contemplation Our Lord therefore who knowes soe much better then our selues what is good for vs and sees that the desires of our hart some tymes are such as I haue said hath care to conduct our life according to that which he iudges to import vs most And soe his seruants must yeilde obedience to him and accept of that with thankesgiuing which he imparts And if any man confesse that the employment which he hath is good but that hee for his part is weake and that he serues not God therein soe well as he ought or as he would I acknowledge that he saith true and I desire that he will belecue and say soe still For woe be to that soule which presumes to thinke that he may contest with God any other way then by begging mercie Know you your selfe for wicked and God will wrapp you vp warme in the mantie of his goodnes and mercic And euery day he will growe in doeing you greater fauours And conceiue that such as you are euen now our lord vouchsafes to like and loue you but see that you must continue in the warre without turning your backe to his seruice and then youst must esteeme that both hee and I are contented with you And since both your father who is in heauen and your spirituall father who is on earth are contented with you you must alsoe be contented with your selfe Not soe as that you may giue ouer to proceede and profitt in the seruice of our lord but that you may not be discouraged or dismayed in the manner of life which now you hould And d ee you alsoe confidently beleeue that our Lord is serued by your aboade where you are and this I declare to you in his name and that he will comfort you much and vouchsafe to doe you very great fauours And remember this word well Be faithfull to God and turne not your backe towards him Beleeue not the counsaile of the deuill nor yet of flesh and bloud Be bould to trust and to offer your selfe to dye for God rather then to forbeare what you haue begunne For you shall quickly see how well God deales with them who stand fast in fighting for his honour The holy ghost be your conseruer and comforter Amen A Letter to a deuout freind of his wherein he shewes how weake man is without God and how full of strength when he is placed in the hidden part of his face and what this face is THE peace of our Lord be euer with you Soe great is our weakenes and soe crafty and strong are they who wage warre against vs that it is noe maruaile if some tymes we be ouercome but it is rather strange if we ouercome at any tyme. Or rather in very deede wee neuer ouercome but Christ our lord ouercomes in vs Apoc. 5. who is the strong lyon of luda and whoe if he should leaue vs we were instantly to be swaâ—â—â—wed vp Psal 17. as Daâ—id saith But he forsakes vs not because he loues vs and especially such as place men hope in him as the same Dauid saith Ibidem
thy body embrodered ouer with soe many stripes as that it was noe casye thing to nunber them Hee whoe beholding thee shall loue himselfe and not thee shall doe thee an extreame wrong Hee whoe seeing thee in such a plight shall flye from that which may make him like to thee and hee whoe hath but little desire to suffer for thee doth not know thee with perfect loue For hee whoe soe knowes thee doth euen dye for loue of thee when he considers that thou dyedst for him and he more desires dishonour for thy sake then hee esteemes honour then all that which the whole world which is both a deceiuer and doth deceiue can giue Away with it away let it all hould his peace in comparison of thy Crosse whatsoeuer it be in this world which florishes most and yet is soe soone withered And let worldly people be euen confounded with shame since thou soe much to thy cost hast fought ouercome by thy Crosse Yea and lett them euen alsoe be ashamed who are held for seruants of thine and yet reioyce not in that which is contrary to the world notwithstanding that thou wert soe reproached and abandoned and contradicted by this blinde world which neither doth nor yet can see that Truth which is Thy selse For my part I am resolued to hould thee fast though all other things be wanting to mee which yet in true account can neither deserue the name of all things nor indeede of any thing but of perfect misery and a meere nothing rather then I will remaine of any other colour then thou art though otherwise the world wherein I liue might be all mine For all those things which are not the thing which thou thy selfe art are rather affliction and burden then true happines but in thy being ours and our being thine consists our true ioy and riches for thou alone art all our true good I had forgotten my selfe my deere brethren in that whereof I beganne to speake and to beseech and admonish you in the name of Christ our Lord that you be not troubled nor brought to wonder at a straunge thing and not familiarly knowne by the seruants of God at these persecutions or rather the shadowes thereof which are come vpon vs. For this hath beene nothing but a tryall and examen of that lesson which we haue beene learning continually by the space of fiue or six yeares saying that we must suffer we must suffer for the loue of Christ our lord Behould wee are now at the very gates Let vs not be troubled like children whoe are not willing to repeat their lesson But comfort your selues in our Lord and in the strength of his power who loues you and whoe will defend you And though he be but one yet he can doe more then all the rest for hee is omnipotent You neede not alsoe feare that hee wants knowledge how to doe it for he can be ignorant of nothing And now consider whether it be reason that any man should be moued whoe is tyed to Almightie God with those three soe hard knotts of an infinite power an infinite wisedome and an infinite loue Let not the menaces of them who threaten you breede you any trouble For I for my part giue you to vnderstand that I vallew not all their threates at the weight of one single haire For I am noe where but in the hand of Christ our Lord and I haue great compassion of their blindenes For the ghospell of Christ our Lord which I haue preached in that towne is hidden from their eyes 2. Cor. 4. and S. Paule affirmed that the God of this world which is the deuill did blinde the soules of the Infidells to the end that the glory of the ghospell might not shine vpon them But I desire much and I cordially begg of our Lord that he will haue mercy on them and that he will heape benedictions vpon them in liew of the curses which they cast on mee and glory for the dishonour which they doe mee or to speake more truely for that which they desire to doe mee For as for mee I am fixed in this that there is noe honour for a man vpon this earth but to be dishonoured for Christ our Lord. Doe you alsoe my deere freinds after the same manner and be Disciples of him whoe gaue a kisse of peace to that person and called him freind who had sould him Matth 20. to his enemyes And vpon the Crosse he said Pardon them Father Luc. 23. for they know not what they doe Consider in all your neighbours how they are the creatures of God and that God desires their saluation and then you will take heede of wishing ill to that man to whome God desires soe much good Remember how often you haue heard from my mouth that wee must loue our enemyes and that with great repose of minde and without speaking ill of any Passe ouer this fitt of tyme for our Lord will quickly bring on another And be very well awake that you may not goe backe to reuerse any one lott of that good which you haue begunne for this would be extreamely ill done But settle this truth in your hartes that he whome you haue followed is the lord of heauen and earth and of life and death And that in fine though all the world should say nay his truth must preuaile Labour you to follow that truth and whilest you are doeing soe doe not onely forbeare to feare men but feare not deuills noe nor euen Angells if it were possible for them to be against you Be very carefull to be silent amōgst men but be sure that your hartes speake much in prayer to God from whome all our good is to come And his pleasure is that we should obtaine it and especially by meditating vpon the passion of Iesus Christ our Lord. And if you suffer any thing by the tongues of euill men for in fine you suffer nothing els take it in discharge of your sinnes and as a particular fauour of God whoe will make you cleane by the tongues of those euill men as it might be with some brush or rubber for those tongues will be fowle thereby since they vtter fowle things and your selfe will grow cleane by suffering and you will be sure of happines in the other world But in the meane tyme I will not by any meanes that you esteeme your selues for better then them whome thus you see to goe in errour Because you know not how long your selues may continue in doeing well nor they in doeing ill But worke your saluation in feare and in humility and soe hope that your selues shall gett to heauen as not to iudge with all that your neighbour is not to goe thither And soe value the fauours which God hath done to you as that withall you touch not vpon the imperfections of your neighbours For you know what happened betweene the Pharisee Luc. 18. and the Publicane by which example we
at length open our eyes And if prosperitie did once tell vs that there was somewhat heere which might content vs let now the gall of tribulation be applyed to our eyes and giue vs light to see that in this world wee are truly miserable and that we are not in our owne Country but in a very painefull banishment and soe raysing first our hartes to heauen let our conuersation be alsoe there This is the end why our Lord hath punished you that you may make more and more account of him the more you see your selfe in want otherwise doe not conceiue that God takes pleasure in your paine but because he is mercifull he hath a tender feeling of your teares Onely he will put this touch of wormewood into your cupp that soe hauing discharged your hart of all humaine comfort you may haue your leaning place vpon him alone God hath taken one comfort from you but it is to giue you another for soe he is wont to doe He hath made you a widow but it is that he may make himselfe your Father since Father of the forsaken Psal 67. is his name Many afflictions will not faile to offer themselues to you in this widowhood and in many things you will finde the want of him who was wont to remedy you in them And in many of your freinds you shall finde little helpe and little fidelity and lesse gratitude but in all these things God will haue you make recourse to him and conferre with him about the troubles you shall be in and that as with a true Father you ease your hart with him And if with that hart you call vpon him and trust your selfe in his hands infallibly you shall meete with a sure refuge in all your difficulties and a perfect guide in all your wayes And in any tymes without your knowing by whose meanes or how it comes to passe you shall finde your busines done to your hand much better then you could haue imagined and you shall then vnderstand by experience how great a freind God is to the afflicted and how truely he dwells with them and makes himselfe a solicitour of their causes And if at any tyme he doe not giue you that which you desire it will be to giue you that which shall be fitt For so doth this celestiall phisitian proceede with them who goe to him for their recovery and whoe haue a greater desire to be cured then that their taste be pleased Depart not you from his hands and cure though it should put you to much paine Desire him not to doe what you will but what he will Let your weapons be your prayers and your teares and they not lost teares for that which our Lord hath taken from you but liuing teares for that our Lord may be pleased to pardon him and to saue you For what doth that superfluous paine serue which they tell mee you giue your selfe but onely for the adding of sinne to paine But now you know that as wee haue no liberty to laugh idely or vainely soe neither haue we any to weepe superfluously But both in the one and in the other we must be obedient to the holy will of our Lord. Why doe you complaine why I say doe you complaine Either you are a sinner and then you are to be clensed by this affliction or els you are a iust person and then you must bee tryed that you may be crowned whether it be the one or the other you must giue thanks to our lord with your whole hart and resolue to loue the end and reason of this correction though the thing it selfe be vnpleasing This we are taught by holy Scripture Hester 5. which relates how Hester kissed the end of Assuerus rod. Let not your tyme passe away in glutting your eyes with teares but for the loue of our Lord apply your selfe to send your hart vp to him and to prepare your selfe for that passage whereby you see others march before It is enough Lady it is enough that you haue already made soe large a feast to flesh and blood Dry your eyes at last and let not that tyme passe in bewayling death which was graunted you for the gayning of life Call to minde that our Lord droue them out of the howse who lamented the death of a yong maide and he said that she was not dead but that she slept For indeede amongst Christiās to dye is but to fall a sleepe till that day come when we shall awake againe to take our bodyes and so to raigne with Christ our Lord both in body and soule And confider that hee for whome you weepe is not dead but sleepes and that in a sleepe of peace since he both liued end dyed a good Christian Why should it trouble you soe much that our lord would draw the man whome you loued out of this place which is soe miserable and would carry him into the way of saluation And if he haue left some troubles to you take them vp with a good will soe that he may goe on to his repose And if his absence afflict you much yet be comforted with this that shortly you shall see him againe since our dayes in this life are soe very fewe and one of vs hath soe little aduantage ouer the other in dying a little sooner or later You shall doe alsoe well to conceiue that our Lord tooke him away because hee was well prepared and that he hath lest you heere to the end that you may well prepare your selfe And since you serued our Lord with alacrity in the state of matrimony serue him now in the state of widowhood and in the trouble of that state with patience That soe if then you gayned thirty fold you may now gaine sixty And soe you shall leade a life if not of gust yet at the least of great profitt towards the purging of your sinnes towards the imitation of the Crucifixe and towards a most certaine purchase of his eternall kingdome But for the obteyning of all this you must demaund grace of our Lord with prayers with teares with vsing to read deuout bookes and with receiuing the celestiall bread of the most Blessed Sacrament And soe lift vpp your deiected hart and walke roundly on For before you can gett to heauen you will haue a longe way to make And if you be to enter there this will not be the last affliction which you shall haue For the Iewell which you expect is of soe inestimable a valew it being God himselfe that how much soeuer it cost it can neuer be deere And since you are one day to possesse it you are now to reioyce in the hope thereof And complaine not of your afflictions but say soe great is the good for which I hope that I feele not the misery which I haue Let Iesus Christ our Lord accomplish all this in you as I desire and begg of him Amen A letter of the Authour to a virgin whoe was disposing
he should haue done And this is to walke according to truth giuing that to God which is his That is to say all manner of good without the least mixture of any ill And by this consideration being rooted well in the bowels of a man's hart as a truth which were deliuered by the very mouth of God a man rises from leaning vpon himselfe as from some broken reede and he euer goes leaning vpon him who vphoulds all things He behoulds himselfe and hee sees nothing but that which is to be lamented and he behoulds God in whose goodnes he confides without any feare to be forsaken And for asmuch as God is soe faithfull as that he neuer leaues them whoe goe to him and for that he hath soe great care of them as that infinitely sooner there will be want of water in the Sea and of light in the sunne then of mercy in him therefore doe they runne and fly because God carryes them and they falle not because be sustaines them and they wander not because he directs them and they shall not be condemned because our Lord giues his kingdome to such as become like little children Bee therefore sure my freind that thou vnderstand thy selfe right since our Lord doth soe much expect it of thee And of all that which passes in thee lay the glory aside for God and take the shame and dishonour to thy selfe And place thy hope of being able to proceede as thou hast begun in that Lord who put thee in the way with noe meaning I assure thee to leaue thee in the middest thereof but to carry thee on to enioy the society of his spouses in heauen There doeth he intend to doe thee extraordinary honour and therefore procure not thou to be honoured heere For being taken by the sēt of such an excellēt feast as that it is vtterly against all reason that thou shouldst glutt thy selfe with the basenes of any thing which this world affoardes For there is nothing vpon earth which can sauour well in his mouth who hath tasted though but a litle of that celestiall foode Turne thy backe to all things which thou art soone to leaue place not thy hart on that which is soe instantly to passe away It is very litle which heere thou art able to endure for God yea though thou alone shouldest endure all that which can be endured heere For considering hell which thou hast deserued and heauen with which he meanes thou shalt be rewarded since he hath placed thee in the way thither and againe waighing that which heere he hath endured for thee it is not to be accounted of noe nor so much as to be greately considered which thou either doest or mayest endure for him Esteeme thou God for soe pretious a thing that whatsoeuer he growes to cost thee thou maiest still beleeue it to bee very little yea though he cost thee thy life yet doest thou buy him very cheape In the next world thou shalt see that thou wert not deceiued in the exchaunge which thou hast made but finding them to be treated like madd fooles and miserable persons who lodged their harts and besotted themselues vpon this present world and forgot the promises which God made concerning the future thou wilt giue praises to our Lord in that thou being once deceiued he vouchsafed to vndeceiue thee and whilest thou wert casting thine eyes downe to earth he was pleased to raise them vp to heauen and thou being a slaue to vanity hee made thee a sonne of his owne and when thou wert liuing without any hope of diuine promises he grew to place thee in that way wherein thou maiest hope that he will helpe thee now to liue well and afterwards to dye well And that when this exile is ended he will conduct thee to the land of the liuing which is the cleere fruition of the face of God Where thou shall enioy soe great happines that it belongs to God alone to know it perfectly as to him alone it belongs both to be able and to be willing to giue it And this will our Lord doe not for thy sake but for his owne because hee is good and his mercy endures for euer To whome for all and of all and in all be glory and praise for all eternities of eternities Amen A Letter of the Authour to a person whome he exhortes to bee gratefull and carefull to preserue the guift of the Grace of God It seemes he was in some feare that the partie was returning to sinne I Remember you often and the loue I beare you makes me neuer thinke of you without some feare and trembling at my hart considering the many dāgers wherein your soule may be for which our Lord hath done so much that if he were still in case to be weary without doubt he would now be very weary But he was weary once for all when he tooke our mortall flesh vpon him and from those wearynesses of his doth result that care which now without any wearinesse at all he takes of such as he is drawing to himselfe O Sir how much reason haue you to be gratefull for the good which you haue receiued and carefull at the least to keepe it and fearefull least it should slippe out of your hāds And I sayd Carefull at the least to keepe it because he who can make coniecture that he hath receiued the guift of Iustification must employ himselfe like a diligent negociatour that with fiue talents he may gayne other fiue Improuing that good which God beganne in his soule and getting euery day a new parte in heauen since the gate is open for our getting more and more in euery minute of our life It is most certaine that if we should tell a man that there were a very long way in the steppes whereof there were great felicity to be obtayned yea and that for the making of one single pace they would giue him the worth of a whole kingdome and that though a man should goe all his life time in that way they would neuer depriue him of his rewarde but that still it should holde on after the rate of the first pace which he had made I doe not thinke that in the whole world there is any one worldly man who in this case would not be so great a walker as that he would hardly be euer perswaded to sitt still Now if couetousnesse of visible things be able to worke so great effects what will it be fitt that the loue of that which is inuisible and eternall should worke in our soules but a vigilant care to be still walking on in the way of God with resolutions as liuely and more then they were which we entertayned the first day when we entred into his seruice Who is he that can be so absurdly inconsiderate as not to holde himselfe a deepe debter to Almighty God for the many guifts which he hath receiued from him in recompence as I may say of so many sinnes of
to the feeling of flesh bloud but according to faith which ouercomes and fooles all such discourse This Madam is the wisedome of the Crosse which makes the soule with shurt eyes submitt it selfe to the holy will of God And by thus not iudging but confiding in him it growes wise beyond the wisedome of the whole world For let him who desires to know and please God not rayse his eyes but let him abase them with humility and not sifte his iudgments and that man shall arriue to true knowledge and shall finde that our lord of power is entirely sweete towardes his seruants and doth then endue them with the greatest blessings when to the eyes of flesh and bloud hee may seeme most to haue forsaken them It is now long agoe since your ladyship hath sung this song My beloued to mee Cant. 2. and I to him But it is now that you should especially singe it for these delicate warbling notes are best vsed in these tunes of trouble Your beloued lookes vpon you and takes care of you looke you also vpon him and confide in such a taker of care He is your Father though he scourge you be you his daughter in receiuing his correction with obedience and giuing of thanks And if you be in much payne whilst you feele the scourge let it be tempered by considering the hand from whence it comes your beloued he is and he loues you more then he is beloued by you He corrects you with loue doe you also receiue it with loue that so you may answere our lord in the same tune wherein he speakes He hath a minde to purify you by fire do not fly of from the Crusyble whatsoeuer payne it may put you to For it is better to become pure from the vncleanes of earth which is ones owne will and withall to bee broken in pieces then to be whole otherwise Sing you thus to our lord Ps 16. Thou hast tryed my hart and thou hast visited mee by night thou hast examined mee with fire and thou hast not found wickednes in mee For thus doth God purify his elect and he who is not proued and purifyed thus is noe Sonne and shall be noe heire of his And for as much as it is now soe long a time since your ladyship hath soe fayre euidence that you are borne to inheritt procure you to pay with readines that rent charge which is layd vpon your land This inheritance is very rich and glorious but the heires thereof must suffer much tribulation in this world They are to be vntyed and taken of from the Crosse heere when they goe vp to raigne there and men must not think of goeing from one pleasure to another The bulls which are of a generous kind goe all darted and wounded out of the Place but such as are base and cowardly retourne home in whole skinnes Iust soe is the good Christian who is to be pierced on all sides And when tyrants and executioners are wanting they shall haue enough to suffer in they re owne houses by they re children they re husbands and they re freyndes who will by certayne sweete and and smooth wayes torment them worse then those others It is most certaine that to see one suffer whome wee loue is a very knife at our harts and loue is our executioner and the more loue there is soe much is the executioner more cruell Butt yett lett vs not turne away our face from him For this loue was the executioner of Iesus Christ our lord which putt him to more payne then all those visible executioners and this was the executioner of his blessed Mother alsoe and of as many elect as God hath had I would haue your ladyship prepare your head to be cutt of and your harte to be tormented by this executioner and you must procure to fight stoutely in the presence of God and of all his coelestiall court since such an excellente Crowne of glory is prepared for you Our lord who sends you this tribulation knowes the time which is most fitt for comforte and hee will prouide it for you when it shall be best In the meane time I beseech him to giue your lady ship patience and to remayne with you for euer Amen A Letter of the Authour to a Religious woman who was his ghostly childe Of the mercy which God shewes to such as he calles to Religion and of the exercices and obligation of a Religious woman SERVANT OF IESVS CHRIST I Haue beene thinking sometimes whither our lord might not ere this haue taken you out of this life to giue you the fruition of himselfe For to be aliue and to remaine soe long without letting me know how your soule doth seemes to me a kind of incredible thing Though yet it be true that our lord some times giues a soule soe great feeling of himselfe that it remembers nothing els because it is wholy employed vpon him who is all thinges I beseech his goodnes that this may haue beene the cause of your silence For then I shall not onely not complayne but greatly reioyce For what other thing can I soe well desire for your soule which in our lord I loue as to see it all employed in louing and in being beloued by him This is the end of all the paines which he hath taken with your soule and of all the fauours which he hath bestowed vpon it Tell me O spouse of Christ our lord how you doe Doe you loue him much and doe you hould him fast in your bosome is you heart euen wounded with the care you haue to keepe him content and to seeke his holy will though it be in contradiction of your owne For though the loue of our lord be the ioy and solace of our soules yet on the other side it suffers them not to repose but like a continuall spurre is solliciting and vrging them on that soe euery day they may please him whome they loue more and more For this reason this loue is compared to fire which neuer is at rest but the liuely flame thereof is euer working and striuing vpward This loue will haue nothing to doe with slackenes nor knowes it how to take any rest but in our lord And this is the loue of a Loyal sponse which it is reason that you be in performance since you are soe in profession since you haue an inward vocation to put that in practise to which you were called Doe not forgett the day on which you offerred your selfe to your spouse by the hand of your Prelatt Nor that other day when your spouse conueyed his hand into your heart making you vnderstand both your selfe and him He said in your soule let light be made and then all darkenes and sorrow fled away and now like one who sees the light of heauen you liue in ioy because you know which way you may goe without danger of falling For if you be carefull to keepe those dayes in mind you
we list Let vs giue itt to him who will haue goodnes to tolerate it and wisedome to conduct and cure it And certainely our lord would thereby vndergoe the weight as a man may say of a heauy end vnsufferable burden if his loue were not incomprehensible It is a great help towardes out denyeing of our selues when we consider that we are our owne enemies and our very being soe miserable may well serue to keepe vs from being so couetous to enioy our selues and to make vs cast our selues away and turne our selues out of house whatsoeuer it cost vs. And yet the truÌ„pet of the diuine goodnes soundes this out in our eares that Dauid goes forth into the field as being persecuted without any fault of his and that the poore people who were much in debt and such as were in anguish and bitternes of heart ioyned themselues to him Blessed be our lord Iesus Amen who is soe rich and patient in goodnes that his father thought fit to trust such poore sheepe as we are in his handes But that which is lamentable is that we are soe blinde withall that he begging that we will be his and binding himselfe to be ours vpon that condition yet woe woe be to vs we still resolue to seeke Quae nostra sunt non quae Iesu Christi Those thinges which are our owne 1. Cor 13. and not these things of Christ our lord And we will needes possesse our selues still without any reason at all but onely through blinde affection and without once resoluing to trye how sweet how iust and how profitable a thing it is to belong entirely to Christ our lord and to walke in the way of his holy will Christ our lord giue you light in all Amen and be wholy with you A Letter of the Authour to a great man his freind who entred into the state of Religion in the Society of Iesus HAuing vnderstood of the chaunge which you haue made I haue giuen many thankes to the immense bounty of our lord who hath so earnestly taught you soe mercifully found you and so powerfully conducted you thither where without any impediment of other employmeÌ„ts you may present him with your whole hart for a quiet peaceable habitation wherein he may conuerse and take delight as he vses to doe with his elect These are not sleight fauours nor must wee passe them ouer without particular acknowledgment and gratitude For this I hould to be that sacrifice which our lord expressely requires in recompence of his fauours and for want thereof he hath depriued very many of those which formerly he had imparted Soe much more must you haue a care of this as the fauour was greater through the great dangers which threatened you by reason of the greatenes of your person the many imployments which accompanyed you in the world And therefore as our lord hath not performed a lesse act in giuing you light that so leauing all things you may goe in pursuit of him then he did in fauour of the three Magi whome he enabled by a starr to doe the same you must bee sure to adore God to spread your self all prostrate vpon the ground acknowledging your owne nothing before that high Maiesty and giuing him thankes from the very bottome of your hart for the fauour you haue receiued and offering your self as an euerlasting present to him whose you are by so many Titles As for me I esteemed it not for one of the least that he hath voutchsafed to seeke the Post childe and that he hath placed him in the ranckâ— of them who are most honoured in his house and all this through his owne onely goodnes What hart is there in the world which would not melt into tendernes by the coÌ„sâ—deration of such a fauour as this to see himselfe pâ—â—euented by such a hand and so as if the question and doubt had beene whether God's mercy â—â—r our misery should preuaile but he hath mightilâ—â— happilly ouercome And not being conteâ—ted to send vs messengers both within and from without himselfe takes vs by the hand like another Lott Gen. 1 and drawes vs out of the place of danger vp the hill where wee may be saued Doe not you forget this goeing out of Egypt for it is a certaine thing where many wonderfull things of God are seene And this departure of ours is not obtayned for vs but by the bedding of the bloud of the lambe which â—ath cryed out before the Father with desiâ—e that it may bee applyed to our soules Cleansing them from all earthly appetites and consecrating them wholly to the desire of his diuine loue Christ our Lord hath beene heard whilest he was praying for you as wee may very well beleiue Giuing this stone to his Father that so of vilde and basâ— he may make it pretious and that it may bee sett and worne in the head of Christ our Lord as a fruite of those great afflictions which hee endured for the good of soules Great was that warre and hee conquered therein for he giues soules â—o his Father who may runne after him and adore him vt vinctis mambu post â—â—lâ—â— Câ—â—iant Prepare your selfe to receiue our Lord since you are redeemed by him you are already belonging to him you are the spoyles of his victory a piece of lande you are which is come to him by lott that he may câ—ltiuate and water it and make it fruitfull O how happy are you if you can but valew your owne happynes and consider from whome and through whome it hath proceeded Beseech him that since he hath done you soe much fauour without all desert of yours his goodnes may neuer permitt that your hart should serue any but him nor your eyes behould any other beauty then the beauty of God who hath beene so good to you A great burden it is which herein they haue Layd vpon you in exchaunge of those many other burdens whereof they haue eased you For now you are growne a deepe debtor of a most profound internall loue and of diligent seruice to that Lord who hath eased you of all those other obligations and giuen you the speede of a slag wherewith to â—unne in his wayes Thinke you vpon this and bee thankfull for this Abâ—â— 3. And since you are as poore towards paying as you were vnworthy towards receiuing you shall make an act of renounciation of all your goods into the hands of our Lord. Beseeching him that he will accept you all for his and soe take you vpon his owne accompt to serue himselfe of you according to his owne gust and desiring that he will dispose of you as shall please him best I beleiue I haue already sayd too much to a soule to which our Lord is already speaking For to such soules all humane discourse is accounted tedious and troublesome and it hath reason to be soe But the ioy which in our Lord I haue conceiued and the commandment which you sent
our selues in praysing thee since all the powers of the heauens confesse and prayse thee for God Trine and One the infinit king wise powerfull good and beautifull the pardoner of them who are conuerted towards thee the vphoulder of them who approach to thee the glorifier of them who serue thee that God of whose perfectioÌ„ there is noe end For thou surpassest all tongues and all vnderstandings and thou art onely knowne in perfection by thy selfe To thee be glory through the eternities of all eternities Amen A Letter of the Authour to a Cauallier who went to study at Salamanca where they made him Rector of the Vniuersity Hee shewes that in the busines of seruing our Lord faynt desires are not sufficient but there must bee deeds Hee also shewes the hurts which multiplicity of busines brings to such as are but beginning to serue God I Pray God that both your goeing to that Vniuersitie your aboad there and your retourne from thence may be happy to you you knowe already that in this affaire of seruing Christ our Lord it is not enough to haue certaine faint desires but they must be accompanied with solide workes and sometimes with sweat euen as it were of bloud And I much feare least the difficulty of the way should fright you and least you might grow to loose the sweete of the kirnell because the skinne and shell is bitter The gate is straite whereby wee must enter into the way of God but after wee are entered Prou 4. wee finde that to be true by experience which is written Ducam 〈…〉 â—emitas aequitatis quas cum ingressus sueris non arctabuntur gressus tui I will leade thee by the wayes of equity into which when thou shalt bee entred thy paces shall not bee straitned And then a man findes that the yoke of Christ is not heauy to him since he reaches now his haÌ„d to theÌ„ who haue suffered temptations for his sake and he comforts them who are in teares and cures them who haue broken harts A happy affliction is that though noe other comfort did succeede it which is endured by vs because wee hould the standart of Christ our Lord vpright resoluing rather to endure the sharpe blowes of temptation then to enioy an ill peace and to haue warre with God You must humble your selfe much before our Lord and lament your owne misery in the sight of his mercy For there is not meanes whereby any good may come to vs but onely by the fauour of heauen And there is noe way to obtayne this fauour but onely the profounde knowledge of our misery crying out from the very bottome of our harts to that lord who dwells on high and driues not such persons from him as are ouerwrought with the burden of their miseries and who euen swelt in the lake as the Prophet Ieremy saith with a weighty stone vpon their backs I like well that you resolue to make acquaintance with those Fathers For that good opinion which they of your Citty doe now conceiue of them that haue I conceiued long agoe Onely you are to looke that the good example which you see in others may not be vnprofitable to you And I beseech our Lord that he will be pleased to lett mee passe a little that away though it be but to giue contentment to you The excuse which you make for hauing accepted the Rectorship of the Vniuersitie is iust since you were aduised to it by persons soe well qualifyed and soe many as that they did euen oblige you to it But I beseech you Sir be not negligent now that you are putt to sea since it was not without cause that you feared euen soe much as to imbarke yourself For my parte I am full of thought least our aduersary haue traced out this course soe to hinder your proceeding in the way to God which you were taking For many imployments though euen about good things should not be committed to young beginners because they vse to trouble such persons as haue not yet sett all those things in order which concerne themselues And soe our Aduersary hath done much hurt to many by this meanes and brought them to the passe of some poore little swallow which goes forth to fly before she is well in strength and then hauing not power to prosecute her flight vp aloft nor yet to retourne to her nest from which she went shee falls downe into the hands of boyes and they play with her a while and then kill her This busines is soe much the more subtile perplexed as it comes cloaked with good zeale And new beginners must be watchfull in this case little lesse then they would be when there were question of theire coÌ„mitting a sinne For if there be any true zeale in them it is fitt that first they be zealous of their owne good And zeale of others which wants zeale of a man's self hath beene the fearfull ruine of many soules I desire that you will conceiue a very great feare care in those things which may seeme good to you For in such cases as those doth that deuill who is called Meridâ—an deceiue them at high noone Psal 90. whome he was not able to deceiue in expresse darknes And doe not precipitate your self vpon the making of great reformations nor conceiue that you are there for that purpose but rather feare least it be for the punishment of your owne sinnes And if your hart offer to giue you that you shall doe great matters in this Office beleiue it not but rather lay it prostrate before our Lord with feare beseeching him to keepe it still that he permitt you not to loose the little which he hath giuen you of the knowledge of himself And if yet indeede you must execute any thing let it not be till first you haue recommended it earnestly to our lord and let it not be of that nature through the difficulty thereof as that you must probably thinke it is like to cost your minde much vnquietnes and in the end that the profitt will be vncertaine Some other man may doe those things or els your self at some other time But now looke you into your owne soule consider your wayes well and direct your feete rightly in them And because you haue little oyle in your lampe Matth. 23. answeare them thus who shall desire oyle of you Ne forte non sufficiat nobis vobis I can spare you none for perhaps there is not enough for vs both And with this religious feare euen in those things which are good and with calling vpon our Lord from your hart and with plying your study hard you may perhaps goe through this dangerous passages without harme I beseech Christ by the meritt of his bloud to graunt you this fauour Amen A Letter of the Authour to a lady wherein he tells her that of all those things which a body might choose for the seruice of God the suffering
for his loue is the most high and safe MAdam In this so greate hast which our life is making to leaue vs it is but reason that we make election of that which may be best for our addresse in the seruice of Christ our lord and to put it in practise with diligence least otherwise we may haue cause to repent our selues for not hauing beene faithfull seruants to that lord whoe hath beene so faithfull to vs and at whose hands wee expect that hee will be soe still Eccl. 15. There are many things in this life wherevpon we may cast our eyes since God hath giuen vs libertie that soe we may lay hould either vpon this or that But amongst soe many what shall wee choose Shall it paraduenture be pleasures which passe away like smoake and which leaues ten tymes as much affliction behinde them as they brought delight Or shall it perhapps be the dung of riches which is wont to blinde the eyes of the owners and which makes the entrance into heauens gate soe hard Madam Mat. 9 there is noe looking towards any thinge of this life with hope that it will make one happy For though a man possessed them all they would serue him but fot an affliction of spirit and for an impediment to his proceeding Eccl. 1. and in fine it is vanitie of vanities and all vanitie Happy therefore is hee who remoues his eyes from that which makes such haste to passe away and who places them vpon that which neuer ends and where delight is pure and true because it is taken in truth it selfe which is God And where the treasures are certaine since they all consist in enioying him who alone suffices to enrich his possessors with inestimable beatitude But now to the seruice of this God there are many seuerall wayes and some carry an affection to one and some to another euery one according to his inclination Some like the actiue life and others the contemplatiue Some excell in abstinence others sett vp their rest vpon Chastitie And soe wee see that diuers Saints haue flourished with seuerall vertues and guifts of God But Madam amongst all the things of this world wherein our lord may bee pleased by vs let vs make choise of suffering for his loue for this is both most high and most safe And this did the Maister of truth whoe is Christ our lord teach vs when coming into the world he principally exercised himselfe in this and to this he hath inuited vs. This is a pointe of securitie and not a thinge made of dust or strawe For it is not of conformitie with our sensuallitie but of contrarietie therevnto And onely the loue of Iesus is able to make affliction sauour well in our mouthes and he alone is sufficient to make vs encounter and embrace that which of it selfe is vnpleasant and driues men from it What did it signifie that Moyses seeing a serpent before him Exod. 4. grew into feare and beganne to flye but that men who considering what they suffer actually or els foreseeing what they are to suffer are frighted and would not onely suffer it but not soe much as see it But God commaunded that he should returne to that from which he had fled and not onely returne towards it but to take it vp into his hand And he obeying the voice of God founde in those hands noe more now a serpent to bite him but a staffe to support him Thus doth it dayly happen to men who in their afflictions obeying the will of our lord who sends them and taking them into their hands that is to say taking hould of the occasions which are offered and accepting them with obedience that they finde noe such discomfort or disquiet as is wont to weary the soule with complayning butt comfort and support and strength Confiding that since God sendes them tribulations he will place himselfe neere about them according to his promise and that he lodges his loue in them since he treates them like his beloued children and as he hath treated as many freindes as euer he hath had in this world Thus doth tribulation breede patience and patience Rom. 5. is the proofe of that loue and faith which we haue in Christ our lord And this patience workes hope because God hath promised to make them participate of his glory whoe are participant of his Crosse And thus doth tribulation turne into a staye and staffe to our weakenes because it makes vs confide in our lord more and more and it takes from vs that kinde of vnquietnes and complayning which affliction was formerly wont to giue vs like a kinde of seruant Be you therefore well aduised by making choice of that which is pleasing to God and be not one of them whome the Apostle S. Paule reprehends saying Heb. 5. It was reason that you should haue growne greate spirituall Maisters after soe long a tyme wherein you had serued God and yet you still continue but very babes whoe haue neede of new instruction in the principles of those things which concerne God and you are rather fitt to sucke milke then to eate the breade with the crust which is the foode of such as are growne stronge Madam you must consider that that scholler doth not please his Maister who hauing beene taught a thing at many seuerall tymes is still as grosse and rude as at the first And that phisitian growes weary who findes that he giues noe helpe through the patients fault by some receipt of phisick which he hath ministred often And soe our lord is not pleased that we should still continue in taking the milke of comforts and delights but that we should runn nimbly towards him although it could not be done without passing the pikes and that the fire of our loue must consume whatsoeuer shall stand before vs since there is nothing which it imports vs soe much to haue as loue And this loue cannot receiue soe good a proofe as by tribulation and paine Now whosoeuer loues Christ our lord should not desire to be without some tryall or proofe whether indeede he loue him yea or noe And though that proofe may paine one much yet it giues him cōfort to perceiue That God hath examined him with fyre and that he hath not found wickednes in him Psa 16 and that it made him not turne backe from the enterprise which he had in hand A great honour it is to stand constant in that which much troubles vs and we cannot yeild a seruice to God which pleases him better then when with a very willing hart we be afflicted for his sake and when wee drinke that challice in his company who drunke so deepely of it for vs. Vpon this you must place your eyes since God is pleased to choose this meanes whereby to bring you vp towards him Doe not turne coward in fighting the battailes of the generous loue of the celestiall kinge nor hould you any tyme to be well
imployed but that wherein you suffer something for your beloued which alone ought to giue you comfort and ground to thinke that you loue our lord For as for other things though you should be taken vp to the third heauen you knowe not whether you loue your selfe therein or him For perhaps it is but the delight in hauing that fulfilled which you desire and not purely because that is done which is pleasing to God And since you are already dedicated to the loue of God and are redeemed by him see that you still be doeing your duty exactly well that soe like a good huswife you may appeare at the day of iudgment all rich with loue and euen cut in pieces in this warre after the imitation of Christ our lord who dyed in this battaile by the hands of loue Inuiting as many as loue him to suffer of that which he suffered and to answere with loue to his loue and being ready to giue himselfe as an eternall reward to them who passe through these amorous aflictions for his sake and your ladyship shall be one of them by the greate mercie of him who hath made election of you for this purpose A Letter of the Authour to a Cauallier his freind who was sicke and desired to enter into Religion The Authour shewes that the carrying of the Crosse in the company of Christ our Lord is exercised best in sicknes when it is borne with patience He also defends the Fathers of the Society of Iesus aduifing him also to esteeme them the rather because he had beene instructed by them YOu doe well in being contented to serue in that house of our great Lord in the Office of being sicke For to passe from doeing to suffering is a signe that Christ our lord aduaunces his seruants raises them from belowe the staires to attend aboue Certainly there is nothing in this exile of ours which is soe fitt for vs as to carry the Crosse in company of our lord who did soe loue it who for loue dyed vpon it Now this is better exercised in sicknes which is soe vnsauoury to flesh and bloud and which caÌ„not cause vain glory in the patieÌ„t then in health how well soeuer it be employed Great were the workes which Christ our Lord performed in this mortall life but in his sufferring he exceeded them all all the world That soe wee might vnderstaÌ„d what the Apostle S. Iames saith Brethren â— Iames 1. esteeme it as a reason of supreme ioy to see your selues in many afflictions And the same Apostle saith that the worke of patâ—ence is perfect Soe that you must be gratâ—full to our lord for hauing sent you sicknesse and if you beare this Crosse burden well he may perhaps aduaÌ„ce you to the carrying of others which are more interiour and irkesome and which he prouides for such alone as are his nearest freinds that so they may comforme themselues to him whose Crosse was extremely great euen in that which was to be seene but incomparably more extreame in that part thereof which was inuisible And though it may seeme to you that God hath taken away your other Offices or imployments because you gaue him not a good account thereof yet forbeare not to be thankefull to him who hath ordered the matter as now wee see For to be corrected by the hand of such a father and with soe great loue puts vs rather into neede of humility for the moderating of our ioy and comfort then of patience wherewith to endure the punishment But yet neuertheles I am in some feare that perhaps you may not profit by this feauer of yours For some beginners are wonte to giue liberty to the soule in the infirmities of their body though yet they be not such as threaten daunger or death It is a thing very contrary to reason for a man to turne Phisick into poyson and to take occasion of growing worse by that which was sent a man by our Lord to make him better Call therefore vpon him with your hart and beseech him that since he strikes you Gen 33. in the strength of your body it may be to make you goe more lightly towards him with your soule And forasmuch as this siâ—â—enes is sent you that your body by the payne thereof may pay for that sinne which hath beene committed by the same body you must not suffer it to be the occasion of your incurring new debts since it was meant that it should discharge the ould You must liue with great reflection vpon your self and giue noe credit to flesh and blood in all that which it shall desire of you but offer it to the Crosse of our lord in the company of his owne holy spirit And he who was content to let his Crosse be sided by the Crosses of two murdering theeues will not driue you from him And since you cannot now continue your custome of meditation or spirituall reading as you would yet faile not to be doeing somewhat the best you can so that it be without euident disaduantage to your health For our lord is soe powerfull and soe good as that he giues strength to such as haue a mynde to take paines And sometimes he bestowes more fauour vpon sick men in they re beds who cannot pray then vpon others who spend many houres in that holy exercise And perhaps he will vouchsafe this mercy to you since it costs him noe more then his very will And I beseech you for the loue of our lord Eph. 4. Vt non circumferaris omuivento doctrinae that you be not whirled about with euery wynde of doctrine and that you esteeme of those persons by whose meanes our lord hath shewed mercy on you Imitating the man who was borne blinde in the ghospell Iohn 9 From whome noe persuasion of any man could take the good opinion which he entertained of that person who had cured him of his continuall blindnes He tooke that benefitt for a great token of the goodnes of his Maister when he sayd si peccator est nescio vnuÌ„ scio quod cum cacus essem modo video whether or noe he be a sinner I cannot tell but one thing I knowe that I who was blinde doe now see And though he said as we haue heard yet he beleiued well that his Maister was a iust person as may appeare by the holy kinde of earnestnes which he vsed towards the Iewes and besides by our lords making himself knowen to him in the temple in reward of that faith which he defended My selfe haue heard some things which are said by such as oppose and emulate those Fathers but I find not yet that any one of them is grounded vpon reason neither doe I beleiue that there is any but yet I like well that yet when you defend them it bee rather with meekenes and few words then otherwise For our lord hath these thinges in great recommandation and his pleasure is that they should be carried
sweetely and with patience I beseech our Blessed lord to remayne with you since he dyed for you A Letter of the Author to a disciple of his He treates of the security which is greater when God is serued in the way of affliction then when in the way of Consolation I Haue receiued some of your letters I haue payed my thankes to our Lord both for hauing giuen you health and his blessed help withall to be in fauour with him continuing that good which alreadie he had begun in you and soe you must confide that he will doe euen to the end for his workes are perfect This which he will doe for you is a fauour of his and noe meritt of yours Nor will he leaue the care and gouerment of you in your owne hands But he for his glory will take the busines of your saluation to himselfe Now this he doth as a most wise Physitian sometymes by making much of you sometymes by shewing signes of disgust giuing you sometymes the light of comfort and at other tymes the worme-wood of sorrow Now hyding himselfe from you for the tryall of your faith and then shewing himselfe to you for the encrease thereof And by a thousand other meanes which he knowes how to vse hee will giue you your soule saued without in a manner your perceiuing how you come by it till you haue it Be not disordered in your iudgment eyther by way of valewing your selfe the more when you thinke your busines goes well or yet on the other side must you giue sentence of condemnation against your selfe conceiuing that all is already lost when you conceiue that you haue reason to be disgusted with your self The hart of man is wicked and cannot be searched and sifted but by the wisedome of God himselfe and to him and to his iudgment you must remitt the sentence concerning the case in which you stand And you must walke on both with great confidence of his mercy and with a religious feare of his high maiesty Depart neyther to the right hand nor to the left Doe not beleeue that there is any Sanctity at all where there is any want of this chast and holy feare which makes a man grow hūble For thereby he knowes that the good which he hath depends vpon another and it makes him hang as it were vpon the eares of God beseeching him with continuall prayer that though he may without iniustice depriue him of the good he gaue him yet that through his goodnes he will not doe it Nor must you beleiue any Spirit which by meanes of any temptations or Spirituall discōforts may come to you nor yet if any darkenes or anguish which may be conueyed into your soule shall pretend to dismay you or perswade you to disconfidence in our Lord who loues you But tell that Spirit that if it had wished you to disconfide in your selfe it should haue had all reason because you are nothing but meere weaknes But in saying that you must not hope for safety at his hands who is the common saluation of all the world tell him he lyes and therein you shall but say a truth Christ our Lord loues you more then you can thinke onely it is fitt sometymes that he hide it from you For perhaps if you knew it you might fall into a greater occasion and danger of vanity then the suspition you haue of your not being beloued by him may be of your despayre for without doubt they are fewer who can enioy prosperity without any mixture of vanity or inordinate delight in the sweet meates which are giuen them then there are who can beare the bitternes of tribulation without despaire Cōceiue you therefore that our Lord keepes you safe in the hauen of security vnder the sharp rocke of tribulation to the end you may not putrify with too much sweetnes but be preserued by the bitternes of myrh And at this you are not to be troubled For of your self you should make election of that which will be good for you in Eternity rather then of that which may afford you some little temporall gust Yea and euen in spirituall consolations we reap not sometymes soe much profitt as we doe delight Nor will you be demaunded at the last day what comforts you shall haue enioyed but what discomforts you haue suffered without fayling eyther in point of faith or loue And beleiue you that God receiues that for seruice which being contrary to your sensuality and selfe will you did yet accept as being conquered by his loue and not that which a man how sensuall soeuer he might be would be glad to enioy For if to be regaled by Almighty God were to doe true seruice to his diuine Maiesty he would not haue soe few seruants since there are soe many who by this way that way and euery way are seeking comforts But they vnderstand not how farre it is from God to be able to abstaine from comforting his afflicted and deiected seruants when it is best for them And as farr also he is from liking them who taking of theire eyes from his tormenting Crosse send them in search after Comforts as conceiuing that the more they haue thereof the more beloued and more happy they are And they neuer consider how poore they shall be found at that day when God will sifte Ierusalem with the light of Lampes whē he will call vs to account whether we loue him from the profoundest part of our hearts Soph. 1. and our selues for him in him and through him or els whether we haue loued him for our selues to our owne vse And then will many of those workes appeare to haue beene carnall infected with selfe loue and interest which shined like soe much fine gould in their eyes who performed them You are therefore more secure from interest or complacence when such thinges come to you as cause bitternes But thē let the loue of God a lone perswade you to endure them till he prouide otherwise In whom you must haue so much strength of the holy Ghost as may make you abound in charity and peace and ioy treading your passions vnder foot and hauing your soule euen all enbalmed with grace Yet when you shall be in ioy doe not enioy it for your selfe but employ it with greater strength vpon him who gaue it fetching also reason from thence why it should make your loue encrease I beseech that Lord who remembred you when you forgot him to giue strength vnto your inward man that soe you may know how to adore obey and loue him and that he will send his holy Spirit into your heart that it may guide you into that land of Eternall light Amen A Letter of the Authour to a Religious woman a spirituall child of his He shewes that it is noe assured signe of disfauour for God to estraunge himself sometimes that our safety depends more vpon his goodnes then our deserts and he persuades her to
haue confidence in God I Haue receiued many of your letters since I saw you last And in some of them you tould mee that your soule was troubled and in others that our lord had begunne to giue you comfort Yea and I thinke you sayd in some one of them that the peace and comfort which formerly you had receiued was entirely retourned I answeared none of those letters eyther because my sinnes hindered mee from the grace of giuing you comfort or els because I knew you had sufficient confidence in mee without receiuing my answeares But now at last I receiue a letter from you whereby you tell mee that you are as much afflicted as euer if it be not rather more and you desire mee to write I am in paine through your paine and this hath moued mee to entreate that for the loue of Christ Iesus crucified you suffer not your selfe to be blinded by that darknes which superfluity of sadnes is wont to drawe ouer our soules but remember how faithfull that lord is to whom you haue offered yourselfe And that it is an vsual thing with his infinit wisdome to saue the soules of his seruants by meanes which they cannot reach to vnderstand hiding his loue from them sometimes and shewing them a countenance of some rigour and all this not because he is cruell but out of pure and perfect mercye Because he knowes that our infirmityes are better cured when wee are layd vnder the scourge of tribulation then when we are carryed vp in the hands of prosperity and comfort You tell me that desolation wherein you are seemes very bitter to you and that you cannot beare the rigour of that angry face of our lord which you say he shewes to you and that absence alsoe from him wherein you liue But I tell you my good sister that though tribulation may be of as much daunger to you as you declare yet the state of comfort is still subiect to as much Nay prosperity is much more to be feared then aduersity For in the former the soule runnes hazard to depart from God but in the latter though it suffer payne yet that very payne it selfe incites one to drawe nearer to him And if you say that the great weight of discomfort doth sometimes put the soule in daunger of sinning through impatience you say nothing but truth But yet you must knowe withall that much oftener and by assaults of greater daunger the soule is brought into daunger by the sweetnes of gust Remember the Apostle saint Paule who through the grace of him who was crucifyed did esteeme it for glory to suffer the afflictions of the Crosse Cor. 7. And though he were enuironed by warrs without and feares within yet his soule was safely kept as in a hauen most secure But soe great was the daunger which he rann by the faire and cleare weather of consolations and reuelations that if God had not permitted him to be seized vpon by the tempest both of inward and outward troubles which layd such load vpon his neck as made him stoope that great Saint might haue beene in daunger through the occasion of comfort whom soe many discomforts could not once pluck downe 1. Cor. 12 By this meanes the bitter was the cure of the sweete and the Angel of Satan was the occasion of benefit to him to whom that great communication of Almighty God might haue beene the occasion of falling if through humane frailty he had puffed vp himselfe If now this might haue happened to that vessel of election and if it were necessary for him to suffer that soe he might bee freed from the daungers of comfort how can you meruaile if God haue watered your ioy with teares if your harpe be set to sad tunes and if those sweet communications Iob 18. which you had before with Almighty God be turned into such an vnsauoury departure from him His eyes are able to discerne that which your cannot And hee knowes full well the vanity of that hart of yours which would not perhapps be able to endure the weight of diuine fauours Or els perhapps he may see that you are likely to suffer decay of health by the excesse of the sweetnes of that diuine gust which he gaue you Or else that you esteemed more of your selfe then you did of others who want these comforts Or els in fine it may haue happened for any one of many other faults which may haue taken hould of the imperfection of your hart Iere. 17. which cannot be throughly sifted by any but by that God alone who made it Yea and if you should not be in any necessity of this kind of phisick because though our lord should comfort you still yet perhapps you were not to fall into these inconueniences yet there are many other reasons why our lord may thinke fit to treate his seruants after this manner All which are grounded vpon his loue to vs though in the blind eye of flesh and bloud they may seeme to grow from disfauour You know it is a common saying He who loues thee will make thee cry And the holy scripture saith that a wound giuen by a freind is better then the treacherous kisse of an enemy And beleiue you for certaine that our lord loues you and therefore doth he treate you after this manner For it is written Heb. 12. our lord punnishes whom he loues and he corrects such a one as he receiues for his sonne And as in former times God sent most hideous Martyrdomes to his beloued seruants by the hands of base and bloudy executioners ingaging them in bitter warrs that afterward he might honour them with pretious crownes soe now when those exteriour Martyrdomes are ceased he sēdes others which bee interiour And these how soeuer they are not visible be yet as great or greater then those For then men tormented them and God gaue them comfort and by the strength of this Omnipotent God those torments were ouerwrought and maistered which were inflicted on them by weake men But now he who discomforts is our Lord who hides himselfe and the Deuils like cruell executioners doe by a thousand deuices torment the minde which is farr more sensible then the body And from that torment doth many times redound a torment euen to the very body it selfe And soe the whole man both within and without is layd vpon the discomforts of a Crosse And he sighes and grones and askes succour of our Lord. And our Lord the while makes himselfe deafe and is more hiddē from the soule then if there were seauen wals betweene him and it Yea and it doth alsoe expresly feele that our Lord hath absented himselfe from it and that not onely in the way of not doeing it any fauour Matth. 15. but rather expresly seeming to disfauour it As he proceeded with the Cananean when at the first he did but forbeare to answeare but afterward he compared her to a dog That indeed is an hower
of mighty anguish when the soule findes noe repose in any thing to which it can apply it selfe As when a man is drowning in a profound sea without finding soe much as any little rest for the feete Or like one who is bound fast hand and foot and would faine rise vp but knowes not once how to stirr For as he who is highly comforted by Almighty God cannot be discomforted by any paine or torment soe can nothing comfort him who is discomforted by Almighty God And yet must these seruants goe after their lord through such a desart as this which is euen a very image of death and by such darknes and distresse they must passe on to the place of rest This Martyrdome I say must be endured for loue of the Spouse by that soule which desires to carry the Embleme of Loue in her hart and amōgst these thornes shee must make her nest if shee will be conforme to her Head who was crowned with thornes And these draughts must shee swallow downe into these sweates must shee bee cast who resolues to keepe that Lord company who being in fierce agony vpon that holy Thursday at night did sweate drops of blood from his whole body in testimony that his soule was truly sad euen to the very death Did you thinke perhapps that it was some dainty and delightfull thing to serue Christ our Lord or that you vndertooke some trifling busines when you began to place your loue on him They who fight the battailes of loue must dye dayly as S. Paule did And they must bee euen cruell against themselues as a man who were carelesse of soe many base and broken pots to the end that they may neuer faile of fidelity to the Loue of our Lord. Which Loue was neuer complyed with well by any who was eyther negligent or inconfident For the former of these two seekes his owne Regalo whereas it were his part to seeke the contentment of his beloued And the latter faints in his loue because he cannot beleiue that he is beloued But Faith being ioyned to Obedience frees vs from such mischeiues as these making vs beleiue that God loues vs and then most when he most hides his loue from vs and when he seemes to be most rigourous and cruell towardes vs. For the condition and property of true faith is to beleiue not onely vpon those signes and pawnes which may be giuen but as well without them and not onely without them but euen against them And herein it doth but resemble euery other vertue which then declares best of what strength and beauty it is when it is put on by the fewest helpes and when it is encountered by the greater impediments That is true loue which loues a person who euen deserues not to bee beloued And that is true Patience which suffers impertinences and endures wrongs And then doth Chastity deserue a rich and gallant crowne of glory when in despight of seuerall temptations it standes fast And soe you must learne to know the true valew of true faith which beleiues and puts confidence in the truth and goodnes of God against that distrust or despaire which humane reason or the senses of flesh and bloud might pretend to cause By this Faith wee see that which is inuisible how deepe soeuer it be hidd And euen through the midst of these pikes which are the disfauours of God the sharpe points whereof we feele sticking in vs wee yet enter and passe on into that most retired secret of the hart of our Lord and there wee finde that indeed he loues vs though hee shew vs signes which looke as if they proceeded from disaffection And then soe wee esteeme and vse them as wee ought when we take them for the tryal of our Faith and for the exercise of our Loue and for the encrease of our Crowne and for matter wherevpon our Obedience to God must worcke If you beleiue mee not I pray you tell me how shall the chast woeman be tryed but by contradictions and combates against Chastity And how shall your Faith be tryed but by receiuing these tokens of disfauour which pretend to depriue you of confidence Be not troubled to finde that your Spouse is thus resolued to make tryall of your fidelity to him For this is a very vsuall thing betweene Spouses and the fruite thereof vses to be but an encrease of loue which it is not fit to keepe idle for in our employment and exercise thereof doth our life and treasure consiste And now God made choice of you to discharge this office towardes him And if indeed you would exercise it well it must be by louing him though you feele not your selfe to be beloued by him and by following him whome you conceiue to be flying from you For he who loues not but onely when hee finds himselfe to be beloued is indeed noe true louer but his respects runn all towards himselfe And heereby it will appeare whether you be that true Cananean or noe if when you heare hard language and be cast of by our lord you doe yet importune him and if following him who flyes from you and humbling your self to him who treats you noe better then some base vnre asonable creature you doe yet proceede to loue him as sincerely and purely as if you tasted of great delights and Regalos at his hands For in the end hee will answeare you thus O woeman greate is thy faith let that be done which thou desirest But in the meane time be you resolute in continuing faith full and say to him with your whole hart O Lord I will loue thee though thou shouldest not loue me I will seeke thee and looke chearfully towards thee though thou flye from me Let me loue thee still vpon that condition doe with me what thou wilt By this meanes the disfauours of our lord shall be conuerted into the exercise of true loue and herein you are to remaine more contented then you are to be in paine for being disfauoured Nor shall you onely please our lord by this meanes but more ouer you will obtaine a crowne in heauen which will be straungely greate For by the measure of your discomforts that robe of glory is to bee cut out wherewith you must be vested in heauen and from the seede of teares we must gather the sheaues of ioy And we are not to be crowned for hauing beene in deuotion and consolation but for hauing beene as it were threshed with variety of temptations and for hauing beene content with the taste of such gall as carried the very image of hell with it and of the torments thereof and for bearing all these things with an equall minde and for beleiuing that they are light and few 2 Cor. 4. in comparison of that superexcellent weight of glory which is to be reuealed in them who shall be humbled and mortifyed after this manner And wee must thinke our selues happy in being obedient to the ordinance of our lord God
from his hand and this signe is that you haue suffered tribulation You must not be a little gladd of this since our Lord loues you Nor yet must you be slacke since you are in the middest of many dangers but carry your eye towards him who hath called you with so great loue You must alsoe haue a stronge harte For he called you not with intention to giue you ouer in the middest of your iourney but to guide you vnder the protection of his owne wings till he may haue conducted you to heauen where you shall see his face Let not the faith of Christ our Lord nor the loue you owe him sleepe in you for he neuer sleepes when there is question of doeing you any good These are tokens which he vses to send to whome he loues to try if they alsoe loue him in their afflictions and if they confide in him in their dangers That Spouse is not worthy of thaÌ„kes who loues her fellow spouse but onely when he is present with her not doth it cost him much to confide in him when she findes her selfe regaled by him But the matter is that when he absents himselfe from her yea and when he seemes to haue forgotten her she must loue him soe much the better as he is further absent from her and confide in him soe much the more as she hath fewer exteriour signes of his fauour It is enough for you my good sister to haue knowne already by experience how louing our Lord hath beene to you by his hauing drawne you to the knowledge of himself And be you not crauing new testimonies of his Loue but making your selfe sure enough thereof and be not troubled though he correct you and though it seeme as if he estraunged himselfe from you and forgott you but rather say thus Hee hath a minde to trye me and not to oppresse mee You must loue our Lord though he correct you you must coÌ„fide in him though you feele noe comfort from him Seeke him though he hide himselfe suffer him not to rest till you haue waked him and till he confesse that you are faithfull in his absence And thus you shall finde him returne to you with soe much aduantage as that when you enioye his presence againe you will esteeme your former afflictions well imployed Procure greate courage wherewith to suffer for after the rate of your sorrows shall your comforts be Bee not a louer of your selse but be a louer of God loose yourselfe and soe you shall be sure to finde your selfe And if once you would but trust God home and if once you would offer your selfe to him with true loue there could nothing happen which would fright you All bitter frosen afflictions proceede but from distrust in God And for this our Lord said Let not your harts be troubled and doe not feare You beleiue in God beleiue alsoe in mee Soe that faith and loue is the cause of peace Iohn 14 and quietnes to the hart There is noe one thinge which is soe necessary for you towards the making you able to arriue at the end of that dayes worke wherein God hath placed you as to confide in him with loue Our lord hath many proofes to make of you and many tribulations shall growe where you looke least for them but if you stand armed with faith and loue you shall ouercome them all Doe but remember how the children of Israell Num. 1 when they were issued out of the land of Egypt by the meanes of soe many miracles and were passing through soe many afflictions before they arriued at that land which our lord had promised them said thus The people which possesse this land is greater and stronger then wee they haue mightie Citties whose walis doe euen threaten the skye we cannot ouercome such a stout nation as this to what end doe wee put our selues vpon this iourney And though some amongst them whoe had faith did encourage the rest by saying that since God was of their side they should easily be able to ouercome as they had done till then yet feare preuailed soe farre as that they offended our lord thereby and through their little considence they lost the land and God destroyed them in the desert without suffering them to enioye that for which they had laboured and which himselfe had promised Let vs take warning my good sister by the danger of others and lett vs know that our lord hath gust Psal 147. in such as feare him and hope in his mercie and is offended with such as doe not soe It is he whoe drewe you out of the captiuity of Egypt when he inspired your hart with a desire of being his and hee leades you still through this desert which is soe impleasant where sometymes you want the bread of doctrine for lacke of such as might breake it to you other tymes you want company which may speake of spirituall things that soe your way might be made to seeme the shorter At other tymes you want the trees of other recreation which might giue you shade and in steede of these coÌ„modities you haue a thousand discomforts Now temptations rise against you from within and then from without now from strangers and then from domesticks But yet attend you onely to your busines for he who did that for you which was more can neuer faile to doe that for you which is lesse He who made you a freind of an enemy will better keepe you now when you are his freind He who did not abandon you when you fled from him will much lesse fly now from you when you follow him Who is he that can say with any truth that God did not helpe him if he were desired See you haue noe feare o you seruant of Christ in any thing which may happen to you but confide in him who Loued you soe well as to dye for you It is true that you haue but one who protects you but that one is of much more power then all they whoe contradict you Doe not thinke of how great the giants and how stronge the Citties are which you must encounter for it is not you who must fight Numb 14. But hold you your peace and our lord will fight for you Doe not fly from the warre nor abandon your selfe as one who were ouercome and soe you shall see the fauour of our Lord â—â—wards you For in this warre he onely looses the battaille Exod. 14. who quitts the feild It is true that you are weake but in that weakenes of yours God will shew his strength It is true that you know not much but God himselfe will be your guide By your miseries God will make his mercies appeare Whoe are you that you should be able to passe through such difficulties but yet say with Daâ—id Pâ—â— 17. In the strength of my God I will leape ouer a wall Who are you that you should be able to fight but yet say with him
for that person with whome your lordship willed mee to speake I haue not done it yet for I haue now kept my bed ten or twelue dayes together But yesterday I rose and I will take great care to doe what you cōmaund very shortly and you shall knowe what I finde Since you went from hence our lord hath beene pleased to giue mee a much more particular care to recommend you into the hands of his mercy I did not then vnderstand the cause it is like to be this that there is more neede thereof Be it what it will your lordship is to animate your self with new courage to offer your self vp to the will of our lord like one who performes seruice to his father who is some great man whome hee loues much your lordship was not borne for your self but for God For euen before you were borne you were already purchased by Iesus Christ who bought vs with himself a price of inestimable valewe to the end that wee who liue might as S. Paul sayeth not liue to our-solues but to him Who is hee that will pretend to remayne his owne now that he sees himself to haue beene bought by Almighty God and by the price of God himself There are men who offer themselues to the losse of their liues in some warr for slight causes and shall wee be soe destitute of courage as not to giue our-selues to God he gaue himself for vs into the hands of those base executioners and shall not wee aduenture to putt our-selues into his He did it that he might die and wee are to doe it that wee may liue I would not haue your lordshipp to be nigardly herein but make now this account There is a God and for that misery which he hath endured for mee and for those sinnes which he hath forgiuen mee and for those blessings which he hath vouchsafed mee I owe my self to him three thousand times ouer If hitherto I haue not giuen him the entire dominion ouer my self I am sorry for it From this instant I giue my self free and without any impediment or obligation otherwise that he may treate me wholy according to his will and that mine may submitt it self to his as well in the doeing of any thing which he commaundes by his holy lawe as in the suffering of any affliction which he shall either continue or add to mee Where can I be kept better then in the hands of God into which I putt my self since he suffers not his creatures to be lost and was content to loose his life that I might be enabled to doe this He would not aske it of mee if he did not like it and he would not take pleasure in itt if he did not desire it For it is not a proceeding for God to vse to desire vs to giue him that which he hath noe mind to receiue any more then it is his custome to commaund that wee aske and yet he forbeare to giue And since he hath notified his deare will to vs wherewith he desires our good and consequently that wee may bee his let vs not doubt to belciue but that he who is so carefull to demaund and he who demaunds with the menace of hell if it be not graunted and with promise of the kingdome of heauen if it be will not be slacke in receiuing that very thing which he demaunds Let it not seeme to your Lordship that the sinnes of your former life ought to diuert you from this amorous embracement of Almighty God since he stands crying out to a sinner with his armes all open and since he doth so before the sinner calles on him For thus he saith Fornicata es cum amatoribus multis Ierem 3. tamen reuertere ad me ego suscipiam te Thou hast committed fornication with many louers but yet returne to mee and I will receiue thee The shepheard will not easily be weary in seeking his lost sheepe nor the falkoner in procuring to recouer his hauke and when he findes her he takes her and returnes home with much ioy I say this because by what I conceiue of your lordship you are endewed with a greater measure of the knowledge of your self then of the knowledge of God and therefore that you will be more subiect to feare then to hope and loue I wish you not to retract the ill opinion you haue of your selfe confesse and beleiue that you haue cause and doe not seeke to remoue your feare with false hopes and lyes to diminish your miseryes by that meanes This would not indeed proue any diminution but an addition of one mischeif vpon the backe of another and the latter would be worse then the former and an impediment in steed of a remedy since God neuer graunts his pardon and mercy but to such a one as vnderstands his owne miserie But beleiue that as wee are more wicked then wee can arriue to knowe soe is God more good then wee can possibly imagine Another kind of hart hath he then wee conceiue and especially in pardoning which men knowe very ill how to doe because they knowe not well how to loue And from hence it growes that they are not able to reach to that height of mercy which God vouchsafes to sinners For as they know nothing by experience of themselues but anger against such as offend them and if they pardon there yet remaynes a thousand reliques of the disgust and withall a great cooling of they re loue therfore doe they iudge of God as they would doe of themselues and if they say with they re mouths that there is difference betweene God and man and that they forgiue as well as they can yet theyr harts doe not beate to the same time When your lordships sonnes shall bee more growne and shall haue giuen you some disgusts you will haue had some sent and taste of this The father doth not vnloue the sonne although that sonne make him angry but he correctes him and still carries the hart of a father towards him And soe is our lord wont to proceede and whensoeuer the sinner hath a mind to returne to him he refuses not to receiue him into his paternall hart Yea and euen when he retournes not he is desiring that he would retourne and all his sinnes are not able to quench this desire in him fort his loue is that which still exceeds Now wee gayne this loue and this retreate in to the hart of God by him who is the Mediatour betweene God and men Iesus Christ our lord Who being the naturall sonne did gayne the adoption of sonnes for vs and that God should haue the hart of a father towards vs his sonnes whensoeuer wee would dispose our selues to enioy this benefitt by meanes of pennance and the Sacraments This loue is as the roote from whence it proceedes that Almighty God is content to expect vs to call vs to receiue vs to pardon vs and to saue vs. For if wee consider well the hart
for it is not fitt that eyther you or I should haue an eye to our owne ease but that although wee should know that after this life wee must suffer paine yet heere we must also take courage to suffer afflictions for loue loue is content with nothing but loue Christ our lord suffered for our loue Christ our lord carried the Crosse and lett vs help him to cary it on Christ our lord is dishonoured and I renounce honour Christ our lord suffered torments and therefore they shall be welcome to me He was subiect to many necessityes and I submitte my selfe to the same For me he made himselfe a stranger and I desire not to be the owner of any single thing wherein my heart may rest He dyed for me and lett my life be a continuall death for the loue of him Gal. 2. Let me liue yet now not me but let Christ our lord liue in me and that Christ who was crucified exhausted abandoned by all the world and receiued alone by Almighty God This Christ I loue vpon the Crosse will I seeke him and from thence haue I noe desire to finde him Let him dispose of me how he will for my part I will suffer affliction for him Let him choose whether he will giue me any reward or noe for the very suffering it selfe is an abundant reward And if he would graunt me a great suite I would desire noe other then to haue afflictions for thereby I may know that I loue him and that he alsoe loues me since he layes me vpon the Crosse where himselfe lay For though I haue noe ayme at mine owne profitt yet I know full well that if I continue vpon the Crosse he will cary me to his Crowne To him be glory through the eternity of all eternityes Amen A Letter of the Authour to one who formerly had beene a disciple of his and then being of the Society of Iesus was growen to be at the poynt of death He congratulates his departure hence and his goeing to enioy the fruites of his labour in his Order and he giues him great hope of the eternall kingdome by meanes of the bloud of Christ our Lord. THE grace of the holy Ghost be euer with you Though heere they say that you are vpon the point of passing into the land of the liuing soe as a man may thinke that whilest I am writing this you may already be enioying the deare imbracements of our allswcete Iesus yet I thought it not amisse to venture this letter towards you congratulating with you your promotion to that Prebēd in the Church of the celestiall Ierusalem where without all ceasing God is praised and seene face to face Goe in a good houre most deare father goe I say in a good houre both to see all Good and to possesse it for all eternity Goe in a good houre to the bosome of the celestiall father where he entertaines those lambes of his with glory which heere he fed with his grace and corrected with his discipline Now my good Father shall you see the fauour which God did you in calling you to a Religious life and in giuing you grace in the strēgth whereof you dispising the world might follow him by the way of the Crosse For now in recompence thereof he will giue you heauen for your Religious Order and glory for that Crosse which you haue borne for his sake Blessed be our lord Iesus Christ who hath goodnes enough to induce him to giue such glory to such wormes of the earth raising vp the poore man out of the dust that he may sitt amongst the Princes of his people Happy is the houre of our corporall death since thereby wee are exalted intitled to take our seate amōgst those princes who liue eternally in the high presence of God O day which is the end of labours and the end also of sinnes and in which wee ascend to serue our Lord in good earnest and not as wee are wont to doe heere below where wee are all discomforted through the imperfections of those seruices which we performe to God For heere a man goes halting faynting with hunger through his desire to please that diuine Maiesty to serue him with all the soule But in heauē this desire is perfected that in so cōpleat a manner that all the whole man is imployed in the seruice praise of God without being subiect to the least impedimēt which may interpose it self Blessed be God who hath soe soone beene pleased to gather you vp into his granary least mallice might els haue chaunged your mind and to shew you the riches of his bounty Sap. 4. who for soe few yeares of seruice imparts an eternity of reward Sir this is God this I say is God this is the fruit of his passion this is the valew of his grace this is our happy encounter to haue fallen into the hands of such a Lord to know him to loue him though it be with many imperfections But he washes them away by his bloud making vs partakers of his Sacramēts And the paternall loue which he beares vs both makes him easily encline to pardon our faults to be very copious in rewarding our seruices And he cōducts vs through the middest of the red sea Psal 102. to the land of promise diuiding vs from our sinnes as farre of as the East is from the West and drowning them in his bloud Soe that although wee may see them still yet wee shall see them dead they will serue but to giue vs matter reason to praise our Lord Exod. 14. who hath cast both the horse and horseman into the sea Goe Sir with the benediction of our lord God to enioy the riches of your deer Father which he gayned for you with the launce in his hād by shedding his owne bloud who neuer fay les to succour all such as place theire hope loue in him It is true that wee shall misse you that wee shall thinke our selues to be all alone when we are heere without you but since God hath desined you to this great happynes let vs who loue you hould it for our owne And wee who in our owne right shall lament will yet reioyce with you in yours like the brothers of Rehecca who is goeing to be espoused with Isaak which signifies i◠And therefore wee say to you you are our brother and wee desire that you may encrease to thousands of thousands Gen. 24. and that your seede may possesse the gates of your enemyes I doe not pretend to tell you how you must prepare your self for this Feast for there you haue them who can doe it and who will helpe you to passe on out of the hands of men into the hands of God And let our lord who came into the world for you and who ascended vp to the Crosse for you Ps 22. be he who succours you in such sorte that though you
bones which here they gaue you to be gnawed vpon by your soule you shall there be employed in feeding vpon that most sauorie bread of life which is God himself and thereof there will neuer be an ende And therefore hope for this and comfort yourself with this for the businesse whereof wee are now in question is not fitt for them who are either of a delicate life or a weake faith You will see yourself many times in such a kinde of state by these afflictions as that if you consider them with the sense of flesh and bloud you will thinke them to be the very markes of hell and euen a beginning thereof but yet you must suffer it with patience though it be without comfort yea and though you do not so much as feele your owne confidence that so you may knowe what it is to suffer in good carnest For as long as a man's confidence is very strong there is nothing which can afflicte him very much but when God hides his face and shewes the soule no fauour but disfauour and when it is persecuted by enemies and yet feeles not the helpe of her good friend then indeede is it pure suffering and hath a taste euen of the very torments of hell You will not then discerne any hope which you may haue to escape but you must content yourself with this that you despaire not and let that discomfort be accepted by you in penance for your sinnes wherein once you tooke delight and let it at length serue to make you clearely see how litle that is which you are able to doe of yourself It is but reason that he who sinnes by louing and liking himself should pay for it by being inwardly and profoundly disgusted with himself and that he who had confidence in himself may see to his cost that he is good for nothing Through this fire must you passe if you desire to enioy the rest of heauen In this warre must you ouercome if you will deserue the Crowne of that kingdome Consider how the holy Scripture saith Blessed is the man Iacob 1. who suffers temptation for when he shall haue beene tryed he is to receiue the Crowne of life which God promised to them who loue him If the Crowne contente you let not the tryall displease you and there can be no triall without temptation and no temptation of troubles can be coming towards you which passes not from the hand of God who is your father and who measures out so much thereof as may be fitt and neither to fall short in respect of your profitt nor to ouerflowe in respect of your weakenesse Feare not to drinke with patience of that which God dranke with loue And God himselfe saith to vs My sonne doe not cast thyself into anguish Prou. 3. when thou art corrected by Almightie God For hee corrects him whome he loues as the father doth the sonne in whome hee delights And elsewhere he saith Heb. 12 Eccl. 38 Doe not despise thyselfe in thy weakenesse but pray to God and hee will cure thee And now since we are commaunded on the parte of God that whatsoeuer happen we must not be dismayed let vs make our recourse to him vpon the confidence which we haue in his word and let vs beg his fauour which hee cannot fayle to afforde O sister and if we could but see how deare and precious we are in the eyes of God! Oh that we could but see how deepely he holdes vs lodged in his hart and how neare we are to him when we may perhaps conceiue our selues to be cast furthest of Blessed be our lord Iesus Christ for hee it is whome with a full mouth we proclaime to be our hope Nothing can so fright me as hee can secure me Let me be changed from deuout to slacke and tepide from goeing towards the comforts of heauen to goe towards the darkenesse of the blacke pitt of hell Let mee be enuironed by my sinnes which are past and by feares which may bee to come let the deuills accuse me and lay snares for me let men persecute and fright me let them threaten me with hell and lay ten thousand dangers before me and yet after all this by sighing and sobbing for my sinnes and by casting mine eyes vp to Christ our lord desiring helpe at his hands that lord who is so meeke so benigne so full of mercie and that most firme and faithfull louer of mine euen to death and I cannot be perswaded to disconfide especially when I consider that I was valued at so high a rate that God himself was giuen for me O Christ thou hauen of securitie for all them who being brused and battered by the tempestuous waues of their owne harts and flye to thee for succour O thou fountaine of liuing waters to those stags who are embossed and pincht by those spirituall dogs which are the deuills and their owne sinnes Thou art that profound internall rest the hope which neuer fayled Psal 103. the protection of orphans and the defence of widowes Thou art that firme house of stone which giuest receipt to those porcupines which are so full of roughnesse and sharpenesse through their sinnes if with groanes and desire of pardon they fly towards thee Thou defendest vs from the wrath of God to which we are subiect And although sometimes thou commaundest thy Disciples to enter into the sea without thee that so they may be weaned by litle and litle frō thy sweete conuersatiō though when thou art absent such tempests of the sea may rise Mani 6. as to putt the soule into hazard of being lost yet still thou forgettest them not Thou biddest them departe from thee and yet euen very then thou goest to pray for them They thinke thou hast layed them aside and that thou sleepest and then art thou vpon thy knees for them And when three partes of the night were already past and when it seemed to thy infinite wisedome that then thou hadst kept them long enough in paine through thy absence and that then they had continued in that tempest long enough thou descendest from the mountaines and as the true Lord of those vnconstant waues thou walkedst vpon them for all is firme vnder thy feete and thou drewest neare thy seruants when they thought thee farthest of from them and thou vtteredst these words of confidence to them Matth. 14. It is I be not afrayed O Christ our lord thou diligent and carefull pastour of thy sheepe and how much is that soule in errour who will not confide in thee and through thee from the most profound internall parte of the hart if withall he can be content to amende his life and to serue thee O that thou wouldst but let men know how much reason they haue who come to giue themselues to thy seruice not to be dismayed vnder the conduct of such a Captaine and that there is noe accident which ought to putt anie seruant of thine
such haste doe neither vnderstand it nor thankfully acknowledge it and there remayne noe more with them but the meere sound thereof Iohn 19 And some that is such as are Infidells blaspheme him for it because they stay not to looke at leasure vpon this mighty wonder of loue But the Christian who hath taken vp his lodging heere sayth and that from his very hart This is my rest for euer and for euer will I dwell heere because I haue chosen it And if the spouse shall not remaine with at least her hart nailed to that Crosse to which the body of her fellow spouse was nailed how will shee possibly bee able to escape the name of vngratefull and vnkinde There shall you finde remedye against the poyson of those false prayses which men giue you And you will profoundly bee ashamed to perceiue yourself honoured proclaimed for good wheÌ„ you see him who indeede is good holy to be proclaimed for wicked false There shall you see how little reason you haue to think that what you doe is vnworthy of estimation in any kinde forasmuch as concernes your part thereof since it is soe weake lame when it is coÌ„pared with that which Christ our Lord wrought vpon the Crosse yea euen with that which yourself as you are ought to doe Looke into this glasse and you will easily be able to discerne the spots which are in the face of your soule For when you haue beene the most meeke of all if you compare that meeknes with his your meekenes will be noe better then meere wrath and your obedience compared with his will be very disorderly and your humility very proud Yet the blind world will needes beleiue that there are noe other sinnes but those which it conceiues to be such Whereas the eyes of God are of another kinde and he measures vs by another rule whereby many times he findes that to bee faulty which seemed in the eyes of men to bee excelleÌ„tly and coÌ„pleatly done When therefore they shall deliuer out any of these poisoned smooth-lying prayses say you instaÌ„tly in your hart as S. Paule did â— Cor. 4. he who iudges me is our Lord. And make haste to call to minde how our Lord was proclaimed for a wicked person And beseech him not to permitt that you be published for one who is good be sure you hould your toÌ„gue for our lord will obserue how the world goes Nay procure you be carefull that when you are despised you may be very glad thereof and perhaps our lord doth not now permit any body to giue you ill words because he findes that you haue not strength wherewith to beare them He who desires any part of the Crosse of our lord must receiue it as he would doe some pretious Reliquâ— with great reuerence giuing of thankes And he must valew it more then he would all the treasures of the world And because there are soe few who esteeme of those Reliques of the Crosse as they ought therefore our Lord oftentimes doth not impart them whose-pleasure is that they be honoured and beloued and borne with ioy And for this reason it is that he leaues vs still in our infancy without putting vs to the taskes of men But how much more then are we to blame if we be drawne downe to impatience or superfluity of sorrow for any of those thinges which he sendes Soe that if you shall carry a great loue to the Crucifix he will giue you a part of his Crosse But then see that you embrace it as an enterprise of great honour according to what he sayth to the spouse Place mee as a seale vpon thy hart and vpon thine arme for loue is strong as death Cam. 8. And as for that paine wherein you are because you may not receiue the Body of our Lord in the blessed Sacrament soe often as you would be not troubled thereat For I haue already tould you that our Lord is resolued that it shall cost you some what And it is but reason that it doe soe since our soules cost him soe much Doe you thinke perhaps that by our Lords onely saying Let all soules â—ee mine they instaÌ„tly render themselues into his hands Doe you thinke that the loue which you carry to our Lord the dominion which he exercises ouer you cost him but toyes I can assure you it is not soe But he shed his bloud as any slaue might doe vpon condition that your soules might be his and he yours Iust soe must that soule doe which hath a minde to obtaine him that is it must sweate first it must weepe it must importune him it must endure ill wordes yea and alsoe euill deedes at the hands of others yea and it must seeme little to haue endured this but once And if it be not put to endure them at least it shall haue gained much in hauing disposed it selfe to suffer somewhat for him thus it proues noe fruitlesse thing to seeke God Negotiate your businesse with him for if he say Yea there is none who can hinder it and if any body offer to doe it it will not proue with him but yet if it chaunce to proue you may conclude thereby that you haue not negotiated well with our Lord. What shall I say to you Cry out louder to him Follow my counsaile and whensoeuer he giues you a great desire to communicate procure then to be iust as if you were communicating indeed And beseech our Lord since he is omnipotent that he will giue you that when you communicate spiritually which he would haue giuen if you had communicated Sacramentally For soe you shall bee pleasing to his goodnes and he will not suffer you to goe empty from him if you come well prepared and it were not the worse if it might be two or three dayes before Yett now you must not thinke that you may therefore faile to confesse your sinnes afterward to your Ghostly Father But till you haue meanes to declare them to him I aduise that you ralate them to our Lord. And aboue all things keepe your hart in peace and conserue yourself in the way of obedience and humility towards your Superiours and Prelates For this is the way of our Lord and you must take heede you leaue it not Take courage to passe on in your other deuotions For though when you are in them you thinke you make noe profitt by them I say you doe and afterwards you shall taste the fruite thereof And our Lord will find a time to looke back with pittye vpon such as shall haue made much way after him And one day of those when our Lord vouchsafes to looke back vpon vs is worth more then three of those others wherein we laboured to goe after him The crowne is prepared for you in heauen God will be your defendour and will not forget you Perseuer you in obedience till you see our Lord of all Lord in Syon
the Father gaue vs his Sonne and with him gaue vs himself and the Hoâ—iâ—-Ghost and all things Receiue this grace with giuing of thankes and enioy you God since he bestowes himself vpon you And if your demeritts fright you remember that one of the benefitts which the Father impartes to vs in Christ our lord is the payement of our debts and the sweetening and appeasing of that wrath which our sinnes deserued Why doe you doubt of a pardon since you doubt not of that Passion which he endured for our sinnes Pet. 2. What doth it profitt you to confesse that Christ our lord dyed for vs be who was lust for vs that were vniust if you beleiue not that his death killed our sinnes and now if they be dead why do you feare them For the Children of Israel Exod. 15. whome our lord drew out of Egypt seing that their enemies were drowned in the sea did not feare but sung praises to our lord taking occasion thereof from those very enemies who had persecuted them before and whome formerly they had feared And though we haue not so assured Faith that our sinnes are pardoned as we are sure that our lord dyed for them because we do not so certainly know that his merits are applyed to vs yet the new hart which God gaue vs when he called vs to himself may be a good signe of his friendshipp and pardon whereby we may well hope that our sinnes also are forgiuen And besides that spirit of being his children which he gaue vs when he imparted his loue as the loue of a Father to vs may well be taken for a particular assurance that in the hart of God we are esteemed as his sonnes since in our harts we esteeme him as our Father For it is blasphemie to affirme that I louing God he should not loue me since that loue wherewith I loue him is neuer giuen me but by his hand I beseech you thinke not of our lord Sap. 1. with a short hart a straite but in great beleife of his goodnesse as we are commaunded And cast vp your eyes to that signe of our saluation Curist our lord who is the assurance of our hope and who is so acceptable to his Father and by whose participation we are also made acceptable to him and we haue assured hope through his bloud to enioy eternall life before the Throne of God And if it seeme to you that your workes are weake and poore it is reason you should thinke so still But what reason is this why you should loose your confidence By Christ our lord we were made freinds of enemies and by him we are conserued in his friendshipp We had greater impediments to be well with God when we were subiect to our sinnes before we knew God then now we haue by the defects into which we fall So that if our former sinnes could not hinder that grace which was communicated to vs in Christ our lord much lesse shall our present faults be able to breake of this friendshipp we being now incorporated in Christ who is beloued by his Father A good thing it is for vs to feele our pouertie and miserie but yet it must be with condition that withall we beleiue highly of the bountie and riches of the mercie of God And let vs glorifye his goodnesse in our wickednesse since with so much loue he tolerates his children who are so faultie so weake and so miserable Why should you depriue God of the glorie to haue great latitude of loue towards his children For by reason of the faith and loue which wee carrie to his sonne he hath patience with the faults which we committ when once we haue bewailed them and done true penance for them Beleiue therefore now at length that as there is goodnesse enough in God to make you loue him so there is meritt enough in Christ our lord to make you be beloued for his sake and liue you with gratitude for the benefitts which you haue receiued as also for the pardon of those errours which you daily committ And be daily accepting of all good occasions and fight the warres of our lord with ioy as that Iudas Machabeus did And God giuing you that which he giues you may hope you shall enioy his kingdome though perhaps you may be putt to suffer in temporall fire for the hay and straw and wood which shall be found in your soule Be you euer breathing more and more towards Profitt in spiritt but yet so as that it may be accompanyed with quietnesse grounded vpon Confidence For though it should grow to be no more then now it is euen that being carefully kept will suffice for your saluation But if you looke onely vpon yourself we are all so full of faults that your soule will neuer bee without dismay nor will you perceiue that you are greatly beloued by our lord And then proceeding after such a manner as that how will you be able to serue him and giue gust to his holie spirit which is dwelling in you For this spirit is chearefull and we checke it by our anguish and dismay against which S. Paul thus disswades vs saying That we must not contristate the holie spirit of our lord The summe of all is this that you must know and consider your faults and that they must seeme very great in your eyes and you must bewaile and lamente them by Confession and Penance But yet still you must consider that those benefitts which we possesse in Christ our lord are greater by reason whereof you must confide yourself to be beloued and you must doe it with much thankefullnesse And if God doe no more but continue that to you which you haue alreadie euen that may suffise as hath beene sayd to make you hope for eternall life A Letter of the Authour to an afflicted woman He declares that afflictions come either through the fault of the partis or else for tryall and how one is to carrie himself in tribulation THe grace and peace of our lord Iesus be euer with you Amen The true loue wherewith I loue you in Iesus Christ hath caused so great compassion in me towards you in respect of what you suffer that it hath moued me to write this letter with desire that it may serue you to some purpose I know not my good sister whether I shall putt you into anie comfort or rather whether I shall not helpe you to weepe Nor doe I know whether or no I should tell you that the trouble which you haue is good and that you are to carrie it with ioy and that I should not graunt that it is ill as it seemes to you and that as such you are to fly from it I see that if manie good men endure such accidents as this there are also very ill men who endure the same And if to some it be a signe of loue to others it is an effect of the wrath of God Our lord punishes
some by these meanes and to others who deserue no punishment he sendes them as tryalls and he presentes them with an occasion of meritt And though the thing which you endure may proceede from either of these two causes vet I am not sorrie that you perswade yourself that it is not so likelie to be a proofe of your vertues as the punishment of some light fault if that fault may well be accounted light which deserues so heauie a punishment For if the saints themselues aknowledge that there is no goodnesse in themselues but manie faultes and much wickednesse how much more must you doe it who know yourself to be farre from sanctitie and so full of sinne And now if you holde it for more probable that these fruits growe from this roote the remedie must be that you examine well if you haue done anie thing for which you may deserue punishment And know that for the most parte it vses to be some litle dust of vaine-glorie and if you see not the true reason of it esteeme your case to be so much the worse when not withstanding you are so full of faultes you can discerne none But now since the blow is come humble-yourself vnder the mightie hand of God as knowing that you are worthie of greater torment Beseech him to haue mercie on you and that he cast you not of from himself Say O lord I haue sinned and anie punishment how sharp soeuer is in itself too light for me considering the greatnesse of my sinnes If thou be pleased to punish me here I am extende the hand o lord discharge the blow Cutt burne and kill onely permitt not that I be diuided and driuen away from thee If I haue sinned let not thy punishment be to let me sinne anie more for the naturall punishment of a fault is payne and not a second fault But now neuerthelesse I would not that by your thinking your faultes to haue beene the cause of your crosses you should discomfort yourself and be so farre dismayed as to make you fall and that as by some precipices into despaire I desire on the one side that you humble yourself beleiuing that your sinnes haue deserued them and on the other side that you be comforted by remembring that you are the childe of God and none of them who are forgotten since your father hath beene carefull to correct you as a childe for feare least else you would haue beene worse And beleiue me in one thing though I be no Prophet that if our lord in his mercie had not humbled you as he hath done you would perhaps haue fallen into some parte of Lucifer's pride which had beene infinitely worse and therefore hath he kept you so humble that you neither dare nor euer so much as can holde vp your head Giue thankes therefore to our lord for this fauour and be happie in that you haue his grace But alreadie I know you will say thus to me If I could be sure that I were his childe and not his enemie and that this were the correction of a father and not the punishment of a Iudge If I could perswade myself out right that I were in his fauour what could I wish for more then that But I verily beleiue that vnlesse it might be hell there is not so wicked a creature as I am to be found and how then can I possesse such a thing as grace This life of mine is not a life of the sonnes of God but it is a life or to speake more truly it is a verie death of the damned O my good sister if you know the guift of God and what kinde of people they are who for the most parte are putt to suffer such things as these you would perhaps reioyce If I saw that the enemyes onely of God did endure them infallibly I should be much afflicted but I finde that his best friends are tempted in this kinde and why then should I not be comforted thereby Iob the holie man Iob. 7. saw himself one day in so sad a case that he sayd I haue despaired Such things had passed in his hart that he seemed to be fallen into despayre But to the ende that we may see that indeede he did not despaire he instantly goes to aske mercie and he who askes mercie despaires not Dauid sayd as we all know Psal 30. that God had cast him cleane out of his sight and that he saw himself couered with obscuritie and darkenesse and enuironed euen by the sorrowes of death and the danger of hell And he sayth that such things happened to him as no man will vnderstand but he through whose hart they had passed I will omitt the tribulations of S. Paul which were caused by Satan and which made him hang downe the head for of these you haue heard many other times In the liues of those holie Fathers I haue read manie things which I should neuer haue beleiued if the Authour were not a man of much authoritie And euen at this day we heare and see strange things which arriue to certaine deuout persons and seruants of our Lord and he hath drawen them out of these temptations with great spirituall gayne Whereby we gather that a man in such cases Rom. 4. must like Abraham beleiue that which he sees not and hope euen against hope itself Tell me my good Sister haue you seene these potters heate their fornace Haue you seene that smoake which is so thicke black That kindling of fyre and euen the resemblance of hell it self which passes there who would beleiue but that the potts which stand there within would be mouldred euen to dust by the rage of that fyre Or that at least they would not grow to be as fowle as pitch by the grossenesse of the smoake And yet when that furie is past and the fire quenched and the time come when they vnfurnace the potts you see that though they were soft and made of durt they come forth as hard as stone and they who formerly were so very browne shew themselues as white as snow and so neate and daintie otherwise that they become the table of kings We are called by S. Paul Rom. 9. by the name of potts of clay and certainely with great reason since we are so soft and weake in suffering the knockes of affliction Make account that you also are some poore litle pott that they haue putt you out to bake For you were so weake as that you could not well retaine and conserue the liquour of grace which was infused into you by Almightie God They will bake you my good Sister and you must haue patience They haue trust you into the furnace of tribulation Endure now those fyres those foggye flames and those obscurities and by confiding in the wisedome and goodnesse of our good potter you shall not be turned into ashes which may be carried away by the winde nor disfigured by anie ill marke which may be