since with one sole word he could have destroid the whole frame of this universe what needed he say that legions of Angels would vindicate his cause and gainstand his apprehenders as if he himself had been unable what need when he was fasting and hungry to take a little meat and as it were an almes from the Angels since the least word of his mouth could turne stones into loaves of bread He humbled himself to men being obedient subject to his mother and Ioseph He humbled himself to the wicked Princes Herod Cesar Caiphas Pilate by fulfilling their unjust commands obeing their decrees and impositions He humbled himself to the vilest of men and very servants as Malchus his executioners and others He humbled himself to all creatures permitting heat cold iron thornes reeds spittle the cross to exercise their rigour upon him He lastly subjected himself to the very divels in the time of his Passion he was delivered over to the power of darknes and he sufferd himself to be carried up by the divel to the pinnacle of the temple Ther 's no creature from the noblest to the meanest from the best to the worst to which my Creatour subjected not himself for my sake and he that made all things and was Lord of all would have nothing that he might have me he possessd no mannours he had no yearly revenues even of almes he took les then necessity exacted he went apparelld not like a philosopher or Doctour or nobleman but after the manner of a poor beggar he was also in penury of true friends in so much that no intreaty was made to save him from so much as one box on the eare he divested himself of his kingdom and principality he himself becoming the mask and guize of his own Majesty In as much also as he was God he gave us like documents of humility That redoubted infinitude and awful omnipotency is most conspicuous for its humility For mans sake it made choise of these things which have more of labour and les of credit when he created man he would not make him as he had done the rest of creatures by one commanding word of soveraignty but by serving moiling with his hands as if he had been some potter or labourer In the work also of our redemption he would not ransome us as he might by assuming some noble and refind nature as that of a Seraphin but he would espouse the meanest of all rationals infamous and in disgrace for the disloialty of our first parent and falling of it self into decay and ruin In his glorification when he is to satiate us with the glory of his majesty and as supreme Lord give a full and final reward he tels us he wil play the serving-man and wait For Christ is truly the Son of God and both taught and practisd the fashions of God in his manner of proceeding The Father acknowledging his spirit of humility in his Son deservedly said behold my servant I wil receive him I have breathd my spirit upon him We nevertheles who glory in being Christians and seek to be entitled the children of God shun those things which Christ the Son of God loved so dearly How could we hate poverty humility the cross more hartily if Christ should command it under paine of damnation then we now do when for them he hath promisd a reward of glory our eares are as open to the lies of the world and we as pliable to the suggestions of the divel as if he had bin crucifid for our sakes and we so loath Christs manner of life and set as little by his counsels as if some fool or raving buffoon had blabd them out at randome in the market place If any earthly king should offer far les pay to his soldiers they would without reply follow him through all kind of waies and weather especially if he should treat them no otherwise for diet lodging apparrel then he doth himself they would serve him gratis and meerly to avoid shame we can be mov'd neither by love nor shame nor fear nor gain to follow the king of kings and Lord of Lords O that I were as faithful to Christ as was that young esquier to Ionathas do said he whatsoever seems good to thy mind go whither soever thou wilt and I will wait upon thee through all He forced his passage through rocks through drawn swords through the enemies camp and all this that the kings Son might not go alone But Ionathas mounted the hil creeping upon his hands and feet and his esquier followd close after him Why do we leave CHRIST to tread the winepress alone and no body accompanies him in his labours and sufferings What we are ordinarily to undergo for Christ is nothing so formidable as what that esquier attempted for Ionathas What souldier would desert his king in the midst of an enemy army and could have the face to return home wel and jocund and would not rather chuse to fal by his side and why do we leave Christ all alone he complaines not without reason I have trod the winepress alone and of nations no one man assisted me Although a souldier by staying with his king could bring him no rescue nor himself relief yet he were not in duty to abandon him how much less oughtst thou since so great advantage accrues to thee so great comfort to the king of kings Christ Iesus in his sufferings and the end intended is accomplishd which is his imitation We must either renounce the name of a Christian or imbrace that which makes a Christian If thou refuse to follow Christ whom wilt thou follow it can be no other then the Prince of this world the divel He that traceth the foot steps of IESVS shuns such a leader and guide in so much that he ought to do so only to shun him he followes such a guide that he were to follow him although thereby he shund no other evil and how much more when these two are linkt together to follow what is best and shun what is worst to follow God and shun the divel It s only long of our own malice that we do not what Christ did and taught No body can excuse himself upon the pretence of impotency our salvation and perfection is placed in these things which every one may have if he list every one may be poor every one may be patient it s in every ones free choise not to be ambitious of honours This is the wisdom and love of God to make choise of those things that are obvious to all and which all may compass with smal labour He excludes no man from his kingdom neither would he have any one want what is requisite for its purchase If he had placed our salvation in honours riches and pleasures more would be damnd then now are for the number of the poor ignoble and oppressd are without number and in that case would yet be greater for
she nevertheless kissd the pictures of him which stood engraven here and there in his pallace and reverened them exceedingly for their beauty which not withstanding in comparison of the king himself were ugly nor did they intirely resemble all his features but one his eyes only another his hands a third his countenance and they being both together if he desird to imbrace her she turnd her back disdaignfully and loathing his person sought after his image Iudge now o mortals The Lord liveth because the woman that doth this is a child of laughter O I wish I could intrap thee in the snare of Nathan and make thee relent with the penance of David Thou o my soul art this woman This saith the Lord God of Israel I have annoynted thee o man king over all the creatures of the world I have created all things for thy use I have deliverd thee out of the hands of Saul and robbers to wit Lucifer and the divels out of the filth in which thou didst wallow out of the flames of hel to which thou wert sentencd I cleansed thee with my own blood I gave thee the heavenly mansion-house of thy Lord and God and all the delights of heaven together with it I appointed thee the house of this world as a kingly pallace and all creatures to be thy attendants and if these benefits of thy creation redemption and glorification be but slender ones I will heap far greater upon thee for which of all these dost thou persecute and contemne me do my kindnesses seem crimes to thee thou art angry at me and punishes me as men do malefactours who are chastizd with the instruments by which they offended thou abusest my very guifts condemning me in them as if I became criminal by my wel doing Which of my favours deserves these thy injuries tel me and I will amend it I le be thy revenger upon my self because I desird nothing more then thy good wil nor do I desire nor shall I. To make thee love me Iam ready to destroy the world if it were injurious to thee that I made it If I were faulty in dying for thee I le dye again to make satisfaction and come to an attonement If it were a crime that I prepard my glory and heaven for thee upon condition thou wouldst pardon me I would relinquish it once again and evacuate my self depriving my self of my Majesty and glory Why dost thou think those things which if they were done betwixt man and man would be accounted vertues worthy of praise being now done to thee by God to be crimes deserving nothing lesthen disgrace and death But if thou esteem those things as benefits which I have heapd upon thee with all the extent of my omnipotency and purchase of my sufferings why dost thou seek to affront me stil more and more Perchance my offence was in this that my benefits were so many and great for in each particular I can acknowledg no fault and therfore thou wilt punish me with the greatnes and multitude of contempts and strive to out number my kindnesses by thy affronts Behold thou alone hast pickt up the most notorious debaucheryes of the lewdest woemen against me thy lover to cast them into my dish Thou didst take complacence in the impudency of Putiphars wife and thou itching to practise the same against me covetest to play the harlot with the servants which I assigned thee to witt creatures and thou compelst them to this nor wilt thou learn by their loyalty who run from thee like Ioseph and eyther pass away presently or perish they all are ful of a deep resentment and replenishd with sorrow for the throwes and pangs of those that being violated by thee are ready to be delivered it being much against their will that thou sinnest with them or art enamoured upon them to the prejudice of thy spouse and their Lord and Soveraign But thou heaping iniquity upon iniquity slanderst them for giving thee the slip and complainst of them for running away This is the common complaint of mortals that their Gods are mortal that creatures are fading and perishable Thou criminatest them for being the occasion of thy adultery when they as innocent faithfull to their God and thy wel wishers fly from thee that thou mayst not commit it by loving them with an inordinate affection But thou repliest saying if I were wealthy if I had riches if I enjoyd this or that commodity I would serve God peaceably nor desire more but because I have lost all and the goods of this would fly me I can not but doe thus want compels me to sin poverty puts me upon unlawful desires to the great prejudice of my own spirit Leave of complaining cease to blame them and rather give eare to creatures who teach thee thy duty better then Ioseph Behold say they our Lord forgetful of himself gives thee all neither is there any thing which he hath not subiected to thy power to doe with it what thou wilt this onely excepted not to love us how canst thou be so il-naturd as to offend thy God how can we admit of this thy love which thy Creatour hath reservd to himself He hath given us to thee that thou mightst give thy self to him we serve thee that thou mayst serve him learn of us to serve him to death and play not the adulterer We are destroyd that thou mayst subsist for we have neither scandalizd thee nor given thee il example we covet not to be loved by thee but rather wish thee to give him the best thing thou hast to wit thy love Love him and praise him as we doe Learn zeale of us for to the end thou mayst do so we willingly suffer our selves to be destroyed Learn to dye that the glory of God may live for to the end thou mayst live we dye Learn humility of us for being thy sisters equal in noblenes of parentage yea elder by birth we disdain not to serve thee even in abject things that thou mayst reign with thy spouse and love him That thou mayst live eternally with him we are turnd into filth and corruption nor do we detrect any the meanest offices for thy sake with manifest hazard of our destruction only we cannot brook that on the altar of God that is thy hart idols of us should be placed through a disorderly affection towards us thou thinking oftner upon us then him and sacrificing to us not beasts but thy own soul Fy fy be ashamd to make a celestial soul the victime of a piece of earthly mettal or vain honour or momentary pleasure in it divine grace by that eternal glory Thou tookst content moreover o soul in the treachery of Dalila and forthwith attemptedst to practise the like upon me thy God and thy lover Thou betraydst me into captivity like Samson to my greatest enemies and madest me a slave to the Philistians of thy sins for thou madest me serve thee in them thou madest
be damnd are not turnd into roses so to mitigate the miseries they are to suffer But on the contrary it is more to be wonderd that under the feet of those who are to be saved they are not changd into thornes and leaping from thence upon their heads do not punish them for their offences such unspeakable fruit shal they reap of their so short labour What is the reason since Christs redemption is most copious that it took away sin and would not also take away those annoinances which in this life arise from sin but because afflictions are beneficially salâ—tiferous How should we ever aspire to eternal life if this momentary were pleasant and caseful since we now love it though ful of miseries and conceive but remiss desires of the others beatitude That blessed and elevated man F. Baltazar Alvarez said very well that tribulations are so many wingd horses to carry us a main pace towards heaven How much the more we debar our senses of their delights by suffering sorrowing or sicknes so much the more are we forced to fly to God and seek true goods in heaven The tops of trees if the under branches be cut away reare themselves much higher and our mind by depressing and keeping sense under flourisheth and taketh better growth After the lapse of Adam God found out the rare invention of suffering a heavenly devise against sin An invention worthy of God was labour and affliction that we might be in our body as if we were bodiles and by that meanes our rellish might be the purer our mind being disaffected to sense and the pleasures of the flesh that by suffering it might be preservd from all contagion by its passions and desires It is a heavenly devise to supply the commodity and prerogative of death that we may not be taken with these fading sensible things Patience was extolld by the Philosophers because they esteemd suffering which it mitigates an evil but because suffering is extreme good therfore I say that patience is good it making us not shun but persist in what is good God is neither ignorant nor unwise far be such a blasphemy from us but the refinedst wisdome nevertheles he chose afflictions for his best-beloved Son he chose them for his Mother for the Apostles companions of his Son and others his friends That zealous and devout Father Christopher Rodriguez was wont to say that he would have no body to compassionate him in his sorrowes and sufferings but rather congratulate and jointly with him give thanks to God for as one friend shakes hands with another and pressingly wrings them in token of friendship til they ake again so God with his hand presseth his friends and wrings them which is an argument of signal love Punishments many times are greater tokens of benevolence then guifts and benefits because in that case the punishments themselves are the greatest favours and most beneficial Reprehension and chastizement is a more pregnant signe of charity then indulgence and cockering One benevolous to foraigners and aliens wil be found more easily then a reprover and rebuker but chastizement is only usd towards friends and domestiques Indulgence and liberality extend themselves even to enemies correction only to children and familiars wherfore the punishments of this life are surer pledges of love then the favours of fortune Tribulations are not alwaies the penalty of delinquency although no fault precede they are good and do thou beare them patiently whether they be inflicted immediately by God or by men and take them so much more joyfully by how much less thou seemst to have deservd them Even as we ought to rejoyce much more if God afflict us and not for our sins so ought we also to be more patient and joyful when we are persecuted slanderd and revild by men if we be conscious of our own innocency and that we suffer without desert What cross wouldst thou rather chuse and with whome to dye with the theives on theirs or with Christ on his The thieves crosses had their merits they were punnishd for their sins but the cross of Christ was a cross of innocency it was not erected for delinquency that were horrid blasphemy therfore thou must glory in no cross but that of our Lord Iesus Christ Our nature fel in its fal it lost its rectitude and uprightnes it must be repaird renewd and rectifyd by hard and heavy duties The hammer is hard and heavy but it moulds and fashions pieces of plate which it makes beautiful to the eye and rectifies what was crooked and amiss Tribulation carries a kind of divine autority a long with it in so much that the H. Ghost breaths more effectually many-times by it then by the Prophets and H. Scriptures We are sometimes refractory to the word of God and the good admonitions of H. Fathers and Doctours but tribulations I know not how make God when he speaks be so applauded that without any more ado we yeald obey He that desires to be heard speaking by knocking with his fist or making a noise with his hand â—bids silence and gaines his auditory so God striking with his makes us attentive to what he sayes Pharao resisted him speaking by his servant Moyses he became plyable and obedient when he afflicted him by any contemptible creature The people would not hearken to Ieremy til captivity at length made them relent No body is deaf nor obstinate to tribulation it is Gods eloquence and the chaire of the H. Ghost it is a sacred thing and as it were the Altar and throne of God although harsh and repugnant to flesh and blood O how awfull and terrible is that place but in very deed it is no other then the house of God and gate of heaven the sanctuary of vertues whether we fly from vice as into a sacred place of refuge Go to then o soul dear to Christ fly not affliction as if it were venimous it cannot hurt thee thy IESVS hath already tasted it it is neither evil nor untoothsome when God is there to season it how can the bitternes of a drop of gal be perceivd in an Ocean of hony whatsoever God sends or howsoever he dispose of me I shall never want this comfort that it is pleasing to him Let this be a solid comfort to thee and yet if thou suffer without comfort do not shun it Let it confound us that we love God les then dogs do their masters Although a dog be chid away although beaten although ston'd yet he cannot be kept of but comes more and more he followes him he fawnes upon him so must we serve and approach to God by how much the more we are beaten and afflicted for if these should cease our chief occasion of meriting would cease nor could we give a sufficient proof that we truly love him and not serve him as mere hirelings OF ADORATION IN SPIRIT AND TRVTH THE II. BOOK THE FIRST CHAPTER Of diligence in Prayer I Am
to wit divine grace merited for us by his Passion and remaining inherent in us He satiates our hungar with his own Body he quencheth our thirst with his sacred blood he enricheth our penury with the ample treasure of his inexhaustible merits If thou wilt know how much Christs merits are thine how thou maist employ them to gaine grace offer them to God to obtaine mercy hence gather it to wit because he reput'd thy sins his It was said in the person of Christ the words of my offences Yet we must not think his merits so to be ours as that it is not needful to have any of our own but may be saved by sitting stil doing nothing for Iesus died not that we might be negligent but fervent and zealous in the divine service Even as the soul of Christ could not suffer damnation for thy sins unles he committed some himself which was impossible so neither shalt thou be saved by the merits of Christ unles thou do good works and have grace inherent in thee which nevertheles is also from Christ He gave us then his merits that we might use them as our own to appease Gods wrath and indignation no otherwise then he took upon him our sins as his own to make satisfaction he grieved he deplored them he satisfyd for them as if they had been his own delinquencies He gave us not his meer naked works but cloathd in their robes of dignity that is as performd by a divine person insomuch that as he took upon him our sins as committed by most vile and abject creatures his servants so we should partake of his merits as treasurd up by the Son of God equal to his heavenly father Let us imitate Christ in as much as he appropriated to himself our faults that we may learn how to use his merits and appropriate them to our selves Deem o sinner Christs merits thine and upon that account make thy demands with great confidence for this is to ask in the name of Christ His merits given to us are far more available to this then if we had done the same our selves had been crucifyed for the glory of God for in that case they would not be the works of God but man a sinner Lo then how much thou art obligd to Christ who took upon him thy sins and gave thee his merits who quitted thee of so great evil and bestowd upon thee so great good These two scores upon which he demands this satisfaction of thee are infinitly obligatory to wit that as he satisfyd for thy sins as if he had committed them so thou must not offer the merits of Christs otherwise to God and procure grace by them then as if they were thy own O most sweet IESV that I could but understand what benefit and advantages have do accrue to us so wretched from thee we were monsters of horrour and now by thy meanes we are become a spectacle grateful to God we were in the very mud and bottom of hel and now we are in the bosome I wil not say of Abraham the father of nations but of God thy father we were in the throat of the infernal dragon now we are in the hart of God himself we were an object unworthy of the divine eyes now we are worthy of his embracements we were slaves comdemnd to the prison of hel now by thee we shal be crownd kings of heaven Who can conceive whither we had precipitated our selves and to what thou hast exalted us our misery ought to have been throughly contented if thou hadst only freed us out of hel but not thy mercy unles thou hadst also elevated us above the heavens and so many Angels thou hadst done too-much when we were involud in an irreparable misery and so desperately that all redress seemd wholy impossible if thou hadst only obtaynd of thy father a surcease of his anger but thou gottest us also our pardon thou hadst done too much in getting our pardon but thou moreover ga inedst us his good will his love and his favour thou hadst done too-much and a thing deserving admiration if thou hadst only won his good will but thou obtainedst for us also guifts and graces thou hadst done too much and what might worthily make us amazd if thou hadst obtaind for us but the least guift at Gods hand but thou hast gotten us his kingdom and thy own inheritance thou hadst done too much if thou hadst effected this but once but thou hast effected that it should be given us innumerable times if we faulterd so often supposing we had recourse to thee by true pennance lastly thou obtainedst for us whatsoever God possesseth vouchsafedst to admit us as loathsome abominable as we wer to share with thee in thy patrimony Behold o man from whence Christ hath deliverd thee and where he hath installd thee if thou unwittingly and at hap-hazard hadst freed another not from death but some casual distress what thanks and gratitude wouldst thou expect from him savage beasts are grateful even for some benefits a fierce lion for one thorn pulld out of his foot was mindful of the good turn after a long time and requited it and why make we the immense benefits conferrd on us by Christ of an inferiour rank to those of wild beasts and rather stand not amazd and at a nonplus through desire of gratitude but perchance Christ was obligd to do for us what he did or did it with case and with out expense nay we were his enemies and the busines was most difficult and desperate and the atchieving it cost him no less then the price of his blood and pretious life O Immense charity of God what hast thou done for hatefulman when we were in an impossibility of salvation and knew not which way to turne our selves thou o most merciful God foundest out a remedy a devise a stratagem of stupendious mercy and when the compassing of it was out of our reach thou thy self wouldst execute the design But what kind of remedy was it what captive durst wish much less ask of his king that to gain his freedom he would become prisoner Thou o my IESVS wert content for our sakes to do more then we durst either hope or wish Thou being the king of glory wert bound for us hand and foot and treated as one that pleads guilty yea condemnd and executed for us thy enemies that stood impeachd of high treason It were an act worth admiration if an Emperour should daigne to visit a peasant cast into prison for his misde meanours and how much more if his own betraier what if he should quit his throne for him and in a disguisd habit remain prisoner while the malefactour made an escape Thou didst this o most loving IESVS His praise is never sufficiently renownd who made himself captive to redeem his friend nor that servant who to rescue his king exposd himself both to his enemies death nor that parent who
much as thy own for although that thou didst thus offend be not a thing above thy reach yet that thou didst not share in others transgressions is a peculiar favour from God above nature and thou art peculiarly endebted to him upon this account because it is more remarkable that he preserved thee from them then if he had pardoned them being committed Wherfore if thou be not guilty of punishment at least thou art of greater gratitude and humiliation What sins soever thou hearest committed by others deem thy self forthwith guilty of them The Virgin Mother had greater motives of humbling her self for being preserved from sin then Magdalen who had so many and such enormous ones forgiven her yea although she were dispossessed of 7. divels Our wretchlosnes also in the omission of many good deeds must in like manner humble us as wel as those which we performed for the first are totally ours the second Gods alone No man can justly boast of what belongs wholly to another but ought to be confounded at his own ingratitude and double his diligence for the obligation We moreover mar many good actions and do them after a superficial and imperfect manner besides that they are both very inconsiderable and few But who is there that proposing to himself what thou o humble IESVS didst for our sakes dare glory in his own good deeds compare o ungrateful Spirit thy goodly and ridiculous action for which thou art so vainly puffed up with the infinite work of the Incarnation of the Eucharist and Passion Wilt thou be able to shew thy face and not blush for shame God who is all fulnes evacuated himself for thee and thou who art nothing holdst thy self some body in opposition to him though all thou dost for so loving and zealous a Lord be far from eyther fervour or zeal If any one would bethink himself what God hath forborn to do on his behalf would he not humble himself for his not precipitating him into hell after his first sin as he did the delinquent Angels O man the bain and infamy of creatures what hast thou of thy self that is honorable or why layest thou claim to any thing and makest not forth with an oblation of all to God to whom thou art endedted for so many benefits If we had store of things which were really our own it were our duty to offer and give them all to him for what he hath been pleasd to bestow upon us how then are we so senseles ungratefull and unjust as to appropriate to our selves what is absolutely his which if we could truly own as ours it would be an unsufferable impudence not to make them his What wonder if thou givest some petty toies to God since he gave all things and himself to thee I wish thou hadst much to offer him but since thou hast not rejoice so much the more and glory in thy poverty beholding all to be his already which if they were thine thou wouldst make his rejoice that thy desire is his nature It is a thing of greater confusion that sometimes we glory in our misdeeds as if they were good and present God with our corrupt actions as if we intended therby to oblige him What greater phrensy imaginable then to think to oblige him whom thou canst not pay to do it by those things which render â—hee more obnoxious to punishment but if â—ny of thy good works were intire perfect â—â— hath not that compleatnes from thee and â—â—erfore thou oughtest not so stile it thine â—ow canst thou oblige thy Lord and satisfy â—â—y creditour with what is not thy own but â—others Nay if the good work were totally ours God had no hand nor share in it why dost thou boast of it and think therwith to make him full satisfaction since what measure thou affordest others the self same shal be afforded thee if this proceeding be held with men why not with Almighty God thou measurest his guifts with a very short ell hast thou such a mean conceit of what he hath done for thee that thou thinkst to recompense it with such a slender piece of service we must measure God with a larg ell and deem him so great that all we do falls hugely short of his humility and passion to say nothing of his majesty and beneficence He that is not meanly conceited of his own actions both for number and worth is injurious to God esteeming him only worthy of smal services Make God the pattern of thy humility who after so many benefits heaped upon thee thinks he hath don nothing behaving himself so towards thee and rewarding thy merits which without him had bin none as if he had contributed nothing to them why then wilt thou ascribe thy services and good works to thy self as if they proceeded wholly from thee God had no hand in them when nevertheles all is chiefly depending on him why dost thou also vaunt thy self better then others since thou shouldst rather be contristated that they have less goodnes then they ought and must recken their want thy loss neither is the charity nor clarity of God conspicuous in thee if thou fixest thy eyes rather upon thy own perfections then thy nothing Stars when they are in a remote distance from the sun and partake not so fully of his light one seems to exceed another this is when they shine clearly but all this proceeds from the darksomenes of the night for in the day-time though they more approach the sun as being in the same hemisphere with him and one then exceed another and share more copiously of his light yet we cannot see which shines brighter yea none of them all is exposed to our view they are then as if there were no star in the firmament but all a mere though pretty vacuity He wanders as yet among his own imperfections and cannot be cald an illuminated soul on whom heaven derives its light but sparingly He that is in the night of self love and self seeking dares think himself some body and much better then his neighbours but Saints which adheer to God though they be loaden and chargd with merits prefer themselves before none but esteem themselves a meer nothing fulfilling with their IESVS all justice that is all humility The just man is humble because he will not admit nor have any thing that is anothers fatherd upon himself He that esteems himself nothing how can he wrong his conscience by being unjust either to his neighbour as thinking himself better then him or against God as being highly conceited of his own goodnes for no body is good but God alone and if none good certainly none better Thou hast no reason at all to prefer thy self before others whom thou beholdest poor humble ignoble for any goods of fortune but shouldst rather have them in great veneration for the resemblance of CHRIST which shines in them IESVS was poor humble accursed of the Iewes obscure he subjected himself
all o wretched spirit be confounded be confounded it will not cost thee so deare to eschew sin it will be enough to shake of slothfullnes Many make but a slender advance because they perswade themselves that such an endeavour towards perfection is not requisite to salvation O ungrateful and pusillanimous creature why dost thou frame such a miserable conceit of thy beatitude or settle such dangerous principles concerning thy eternal weal and have so narrow ignoble thoughts of Gods glory which is immense I beseech thee if thy salvation depended not only upon the keeping the commandments but also the counsels and on it did hang the salvation of all men Angels and the most sacred Virgin and Christs reprievement from the cross wouldst thou not use all possible endeavour to compass it certainly thou wouldst consider then that something of main consequence to witt the glory of God and his good will pleasure which is of higher concernment then the salvation and happines of the whole world considerd by it self then the life of Christs humanity exacts perfection at thy hands If then it be so very important have a care to be exquisite in each minute action and this according to the manner of Gods proceeding whose workmanship is most admirable in little things as an emmet a gnat a bee and the cunning he shewed in the composure of the heavens and stars surpasseth not them in point of art Commence each action with a resolution to performe it Christs grace assisting thee more perfectly then ever hitherto to the benefit of the Church militant to the glory of the Church triumphant to the greater honour of God as if he expected no other benefit from the creation of the world from the redemption of man from the goodly furniture of heaven where he is to be glorified by all the blessed besides this action of thine no otherwise then if thy salvation the weal of the universe and glory of the divinity depended upon each thy least work as if thou wert not to iterate it again nor hence forth to do any other but forth with to give up the ghost Be not sparing then of a little labour with loss of such a commodity God desires that thou shouldst performe this work most exactly and if thou considerest this his desire thou wilt shew thy self extremely perverse if thou compliest not with it or darest reflect upon any annoyance of thy own Sufferance is of it self desirable only to imitate Christ our Saviour without the juncture of any other good neither will it be less acceptable towards the avoiding some fault and accomplishing all most absolutely to Gods greater glory Mans emploiment is doing good for this end hadst thou thy beeing to do good but remember that man is born to labour because without it no good work can be durable or of continuance Do not frustrate thy self of thy end but endeavour by the assistance of Gods grace to imitate the brave attempts of nature which strives alwaies what it can to yeald thee her fruits most complete that thou mayst serve God in the compleatest manner thou canst Be allwaies mindful that thy services are in all respects extreme slender nor carry any proportion at all with that glory which is promisd thee nor with the paines of hell which thou hast deserved by thy sins nor the labours which thy redeemer did undergo for thy sake nor the divine benefits which he hath heapt upon thee nor the immense goodnes of that God to whom thy services stand consecrated The II. Chapter That we must shake off all negligence BE ashamed o lukewarm spirit to sit still upon the race when time and place requires thy running Behold how puddles standing pooles do putrify and iron that lies useles becomes rusty go to the way of spirit is like the eagarnes of racers one must not lag and how much les stand still how will one have leasure to sit when he hath time neither to be weary nor so much as to fall All indeed run but one only wins the prize run so as to reach the goale If God had created all men at the same instant endowed with the use of reason and equal in the enrichments of grace and shewd to them all on the one side the treasures of heavens glory and on the other the hideous torments of hell and let them know by revelation that one onely of all that number were to be saved to wit he who served God with most fervour and diligence who surpassed the rest in sanctity and charity and that all others were to be sentenced to damnation which of all these contemplating the horrour terrour of that infernal pit would not bend all his forces to excel his competitors in sanctity and so escape those dreadful punishments and obtain happines becoming that one who were to be saved with how much zeale of serving God would each ones hart be replenished Every one striving to exceed others none would be found who would not employ his whole endeavour to the end he might out do the rest There would be no place then for loyterers tepidity would not dare to shew her head But with how much more powerful incentives oughtest thou to be inflamd to serve God with greater fervency then any saint hath hetherto ever been who trod the paths of this mortal life The glory of God and compliance with his holy wil ought in reason to be beyond all comparison a stronger motive and more pressing endearment to the service of God then that incumbency of thy salvation O eternal truth why should my profit move me more then thy wil why should self love be more urgent then love of thee it is a benefit incomparably greater that many are entitled to heaven and for this my obligations to thee are much hightned why then art thou now o infirme spirit so tepid and sloathful be mindful of the labours which Christ embraced for thy sake put before thy eyes so many youths who forestall thy victory and tender Virgins who lead the way behold the fervour of the ancient Fathers the pennance humility charity and torments of Martyrs why art thou so lazy since thou hast so many precedents Yea although thou aymedst more at thy own commodity then the glory of God yet it behooud thee not to slacken the raines so much to tepidity Thou needst not fear least thy advantage be les then if thy fervour were eminent above all others and thou that one who were to be saved nay it impots thee now to be more fervourous and more intensely bent upon Gods glory No services now are frustrated of their salary and the better they are the greater glory wilt thou purchase This would not be so in case one onely man were to be saved since one might undergo great labours and reap no profit at all neyther would a greater reward be corresponding to greater services which as then would run hazard of being null and ineffectuall though they
thou being therby refined and purified thy spouse trimming thee up in such a dress as may wel beseem his bedchamber If he leave it then wholly in thy power to love God what cause of tergiversatioÌ„ since he leaves arbitrary to thee what thou wishest and desirest where thou hast opportunity to suffer and love there is no just ground of complaint If it were put to thy choise whether thou wouldst sleep or die for half an houres space a soul truly inflamed with the ardours of charity would of it self prefer death that it might not be reduced to a cessation of love yea it would not thirst more after the resurrection of the body then after avoiding all unnecessary excess of sleep though but for a quarter of an hour as much as might be without impairing its corporal health For the mean of discretion is every where to be observed and we must take a necessary repose though against our will that the functions of our mind may be vigorous and masculine fitly disposed for all enterprizes to Gods glory as also for praier least if we indiscreetly deprive our selves of it we be heavy at our devotions too drowzy and languishing and so by little and little quite benumd and what then wil be the issue but that we perform them with little fruit But to be too indulgent to sleep beseems the dead rather then the living and a soul weighing things in themselves that is with an impartial ballance and siezd with the heat of divine love to avoid this inconvenience all acts of love and prayse surceasing for that interim it would perchance rather make choise of a perpetual death of the body because in that case one may love enjoy God which alone sufficeth and is the chief desire of an enamoured soul but being so charmed and stupifyd it cannot although one wil not easily conceive this who doth not experience in himself the avaricious incentives of divine love and its restles longings and motions nor how contemptibly an enflamd hart spurns at all self commodity But we must not measure the ardour of true love and a devoted affection by the ell of our lukewarmnes rather by what we behold in those that fondly doat even to madnes upon a perishable beauty we may guess at the feelings and flames of a pretender to an eternal and never fading one But if thy breast harbour not fuel for such a heat shun at least as much as thou canst the chilnes of tepidity and sleepines If it were intimated to thee that forthwith thou must be annihilated such tydings would fil thee with horrour why then wilt thou so joy in sleep it being all one as if for such a respit thou wert annihilated Apprehend the incommodities of sleep which is an evil manifold death it being very opposite to a 4. fold life for sleep deprives us of the chief life of our body in which it is equivalent to death it self it takes away the life of our soul which is then as if it were not at all in this it surpasseth death sleep is also in some sort injurious to the life of grace and the eternal life by causing such an interruption of merit What then can be more prejudicial to us wherfore one that burnes with the true flame of divine love and is siezd with an ardent desire of praysing so great a good is hugely covetous of the least advantages of time and deems any unnecessary expense in that kind an irreparable loss and consequently he goes to sleep with much regret accepting with patience this necessity imposed by God upon life and making to him an oblation of it taking in good part since his holy wil is such to be deprived for this interim of what he much more covets which is to love prayse God and be restles in his service and as much as in him lyes he covets not to sleep but rather busy himself in the former actuations thinking every hour a day til he return to his wonted employment Thou also must put on this disposition of wil and offer it to God compose thy self like one ready to give up the Ghost saying with Christ into thy hands o Lord I commend my spirit By thus behaving thy self thou shalt after a manner merit by that death and vacancy of sleep so untoothsome and distastful to thy rellish Conceive also ardent desires of that ever during life when without interruption thou shalt enjoy God and bewail the miseries of this life since thou must seek repose and relaxation for thy exhausted spirits in a thing of all others most burdensome to thee and prejudicial to all to wit sleep How can life it self chuse but be noysome its very rest being so restles and its advantages so disadvantageous it is a lamentable thing that life must be repaird at the very charges and expenses of life since the lover of God esteems somtimes a short sleep more dammageable then the loss of a long life When thou art laid to repose endeavour to seal up thy eyes and hart with the ferventest act of love which ever thou didst make in thy whole life and even before thou fallest a sleep desire to rise as soon as may be purposing at thy first waking to unseale thy hart and actuate it in more fervent eâ—aculations then hitherto thou hast done so to compass in that instant a new purchase of grace It wil not a little conduce to this to beg the concurrence of thy Angel Guardian as also to use a spare and frugal diet Strike up this bargain with thy body in the meane while repose take thy penny-worths but be sure to rise as soon as the bell calls thee to work Like as the soul for the good of the body dies as it were by night and is buried so must the body die by day for the good and benefit of the soul while it is awake let the body be dead to this world as when the soul is a sleep it is dead for that respit to heaven that is to meritorious actions and pious thoughts Procure in the meane while that thy body as much as may be supply the elevations and obsecrations of thy soul the which not being as then in a capacity to pray the body must do it by lying modestly in a be seeming posture and for more decency not right upward We compose coarses and embalm them against corruption though they must shortly be the food of wormes and spoile of time so let us compose and dispose our selves in this death of sleep that we may be fit for the chast embracements of Christ Lye with thy armes or fingars a cross such treasures as these must thou coffin up together with thy self till the morning revive thee for treasures were wont to be buried and deposited with the dead Be sure thou never desert the cross but whilst thy mind cannot cling to it thy body must carrying alwayes about with it the mortification of IESVS Christ when
upon thee by name when it stood â—ritten in the front of the book that he was to do the will of God he said o heavenly Father even for that contemptible Caytif Iohn will I also undergo a whipping a crowning a cross ignominy even death it self I give I offer I sacrifice my self wholly for his salvation And will it not be also thy duty to reflect upon Christ and say o my God this day for my Saviours sake wil I embrace all corporal labours and anguish of mind that I may love serve and glorify him with all the extent of my affection If God had created thee in the state of grace in an ample freedome of will and had by divine revelation indoctrinated thee in all the mysteries of our faith and thou didst see thy self dear to him and his B. Son become man and crucified with unspeakable love for thy sake were it not thy duty in these circumstances to give thy self wholly to God and power thy self forth upon him it is all one as if he had but just now created thee be oâ— good courage thou shalt awake in the state of grace behold thou findst thy redemption accomplishd to thy hand by the death and torments of thy God and this with so early a love that Christ sufferd for thee a thousand and so many yeares before thou wert born that he might have plenty of grace in store for thee Neyther Adam nor S. Michael nor Gabriel nor any other of the Angels no nor their queen her self the sacred Virgin found such preventing diligence such a feat of love to wit that God had already died for their releasment Be inflamed then forth with with a recipocal love and burning desires towards so magnificent a goodnes so speedily provident over thy affaires and do not contemn such an anticipation in what concerns thy eternal weal. Adam stood in expectation of this benefit the space of 4000. yeares but the benefit it self hath expected thee already above 1600 and it is neyther right nor reason that thou requite such sedulity and quicknes with so much sluggishnes and delay Procrastinate no longer thy conversion to God who hath so long expected thee in a great deal of patience Put case a proffer of coming to life were made to the soules which now are only in a possibility of existence and this upon the same conditions helps and favours which God hath daignd to bestow this day upon thee how would they joy how happy would they esteem themselves how officiously would they spend that day how would they in the very entrance of life sacrifice themselves to such a benefact or And what if he should make this proffer to those whom this very night he hath sentenced to hel fire while he so lovingly stood centry over thee in thy repose with what incredible fervour would they at their first return to life consecrate themselves to Almighty God as also the remnant of that day and their whol life if they did but once behold themselves adornd with divine grace with supernatural habits and such opportunities of serving so beneficial a God Be thou confounded for not sacrificing thy self more fervently to him who is much more munificent towards thee it is a greater matter to have preserved thee from damnation then to have reprieved thee being once condemned Spur up thy self to outstrip the fervor of many just soules and be thankful that thou findst not thy self this morning plungd in hell but freed from it as also from so many dangers and sins which innumerable others have this night incurd Do thou alone wish to give him if it were possible that glory which all the Saints will be still rendering through the great day of eternity which desire thou must unfaignedly iterate in the course of the whole day and that with sighs from thy very hart neither in the morning only but oftner as if then newly set on foot and created begin the journey of Gods service allwayes with a fresh and vigorous courage The V. Chapter That our daily fervour must be retained THOV providest but fondly for this dayes life neyther art thou secure of that if thou delayst it till to morrow If the use of this dayes life be granted thee live wel and perfectly for he only is said to live who lives wel Thou diest miserably being yet alive if thou leadest not a good life Each morning when thou awakest purpose to live that day as wel as possibly thou canst as if thou wert undoubtedly to dye the same night Delay not the amendment of any defect till another day which perchance thou wilt never see eyther the day or thy wil wil fayl thee The day to come wil go wel with thee if the present do One must never hazard a thing so good as is a good life but be alwaies in an active fruition of it Thou art industrious in avoiding any thing that may endanger life and why dost thou by delaying prepare and call danger to a good life Live to day and protract not to amend what is amiss after this week or month or the disposall of this affair To day God is our Lord and to day must thou be the servant of God for he is thy servant to day since he to day makes the sun rise to thy behoof He delaies not his guifts till to morrow neither must thou thy services To day God heaps benefits upon thee which thou canst not challenge be not thou wanting to services which he exacts The services of another day wil not suffice for the beneficence of their day why wilt thou have them satisfy for the day past and for the benefits of the present its own goodnes is not sufficient to pay its debt why wilt thou make it pay for the malice of another God especially redoubling thy debts and his graces to day God is God and to day thou art his creature to day Christ is thy redeemer and thou to day his redeemed IESVS is Christ yesterday to day thou hast a being to day and shalt perchance not have one to morrow To day and every moment art thou a debter to God who impends continually his omnipotency to thy behoof thou also must each moment impend all thy forces in his love and service How darest thou incur the loss of one hour since thou canst not make recompense for the least benefit which thou receivest this instant flowing from the ocean of Gods infinite love How darest thou suspend the quitting thy obligation for the interval of one day or hour for if God suspended his munificence but for a piece of an hour thou wouldst not be in the world or if he suspended his indulgence thou wouldst be in hell An eternal salary is promised thee thou must not merit by interrupted services If thou wilt truly live never intermit to live wel this is an eternal truth O Truth give me grace to serve thee truly henceforth for all eternity and that I may eternally
amidst the curses of so many infidels as if one should hear a nightingal warble amidst a confused quire of chattering sparrowes Thou demandest o Lord that thy voyce may sound in my eares how can I deny my voice to God speaking to me and giving his word O immense Father who gavest me thy Son thy word to be a revilement to all for my sake all my words are due to thee that thou mayst be praised in all by me By thy word thou gavest all things their being it is but equitable that by words at least we acknowledg and be grateful for what thy word did If I were a labouring beast I would carry a burden if a fat beast I would go to the shambles if an oxe I would stoop to the yoak I would comply with the duty of all these but because I am a rational creature I wil do what 's proper to me that is prayse God this is mans duty this is the task of a reasonable soul the song that it must sing and I wil invite all creatures on all occasions to joyn in quire with me My task is not a task of burden and labour but of tongue and song of that which lessens and easeth labour Husband men and artificers are wont to sing so to mitigate the irksomnes of their work why am I negligent in a thing so easy and delightfull If I were a nightingal I would take pleasure in singing and do my duty I am a man why shall not I take pleasure in magnifying God complying in this with my nature I will practise my self here in the school of humane miseries in this exercise of the B. Angels which must be my task through all eternity and now as it were by way of trial I am to shew how I will act my part in that scene of glory I will intrude my self into the quires of Angels that the jarring discords of my song may be drownd in the melodiousnes of their harmony If Angels have been seen to consort with men while they religiously sing in the quire I will consort my self with the quires of Angels and imagin my self present there while I sing divine prayses or among the Disciples and Christ when having supped they recited a hymn of thanks giving O most sweet IESV who will be able to imitate the affection with which thou saydst or sungst that hymn it was equivalent to that though it shewed not it self exteriourly which thou shortly after didst exhibite in thy bloody sweat when thou stoodst in need of an Angel to comfort thee eyther by praysing thee or compassionating thy case Grant o Lord that I may laudably performe the office of an Angel by praysing thee laudably Grant o Lord that in memory of thy passion I may at all times compassionate and comfort thee But thou much more covetest this smal solace of thy affliction to see me attentive humble fervently zealous in discharging thy prayses chiefly in the divine Office that I do it not with precipitation but at a fit and seasonable hour We must be allwayes praysing and magnifying thy holy name at al times what is the reason that no convenient time is allotted to that which requires all time all things have their season onely prayer and praysing thee which should have most are wont to find none at all Because the divine Office is recited in private that must not be a pretence to perform it more remisly or negligently but thou must endeavour by a devout observance to supply the fruit which redounds from prayer in common or publick in such sort that thy very reverence may attractively invite thither the Angels as did that devout servant of God Iohn Fernandius a Father of our Society who by a special favour from heaven said divine Office with an Angel do thou at least imagine one to be present and recite with thee that thou mayst learn reverence of him and how thou art to discharge that obligation both worthily and profitably O soul how useles art thou to God whilst neyther his prayse nor glory possesseth thy hart nor mouth he denyes himself to be the work of God who neglects to prayse God to whom each creature is barren that yealds not this harvest of prayse Divine prayse glory is the fruit of man God can or rather daignes to reap this increase and advantage his benefit from his creatures O immense goodnes to be magnifyd by all If thy creature owe thee prayse because he is the work of thy hands how much will he owe thee because thou praysedst him first thou createdst all things o Lord as wel as praysedst them by approving them as good and giving them thy blessing why shal not I bless thee and announce and see how good thou art how great a dignity is it o man that God should covet thy approbation and prayse thou must prayse him with as much seriousnes as if all his reputation depended upon thy prayse and approbation Procure to be good and just for prayse from the unjust is held by wise men disprayse and they account it the same to be praysd by the lecherous and for lechery One had good reason to say that our credit was les beholding to a slack and faint prayser then to a bitter detractor may it not happen now and then that a blind ignorant blasphemous heathen may les obstruct the exaltation of Christ and glory of God then some religious man who performes his dutyes of devotion with drouzines immodesty distraction irreverence A frigid commendation is esteemd among men no better then a plain reproach and perchance such an irreverend manner of praysing God may somtimes be held next to blasphemy The first inventer of prayse was God and the first doctrine he taught me was to prayse him the first benefit he bestowd upon creatures in their infancy was prayse and commendation of their goodnes O the dignity of prayse which God alone was worthy to invent he would have other inventions to be ascribed to man but he himself would own that of prayse Thou didst not only create us but also indoctrinate and instruct us in our duty which is to prâ—yse thy works and thee in them A tender â—arted parent doth not content himself to have be gotten his child but he moreover provides carefully for his education Thou o Lord didst prayse thy creatures as soon as thou hadst made them because they cannot retaliate prayse to thee â—â— being dumb they imposed this burden upon me for the services they do me to prayse thee in lieu of them they demand no other salary of me for their obsequiousnes then that I with my tongue supply for their infancy My prayse is the prayse of the elements and heavens as when one is thankful to a benefactour in an infants behalf the acknowledgment is attributed to the Infant Thou o Lord requirest my prayse as a reward of thy works let me not be so unjust as to defraud thee of so
a double degree of beatitude Purity is so beseemingly requisite in order to this Sacrament that the divine providence hath ordaind that even as it precedes the sacrifice of Christ it be propitiatory for our sins it having vertu to remit the very pain due to their fault Christ himself whom we receive is pleasd first of all to cleanse us as he did the feet of his Disciples cer he would give himself to us or deliver himself for us He shewd by that washing that not any kind of purity was sufficient but that a special one was necessary for he would not only have the hands of his Disciples clean which sufficeth for ordinary banquets but their feet also which signifyes a very extraordinary diligence God declard hereby that we are to come to the Eucharist not only with clean hands that is works devoyd of all fault but also with clean feet that is to say without so much as any print or sign of fault viz the paine due to tepid actions or sins remitted being quite abolished and in this sort grace proper to this sacrifice is powerful to cancel the penalty due to sin How shal I come worthily o Lord to receive thee what a treasure of sanctity was bestowd upon S. Iohn Baptist that his mouth might figuratively entertain not thee but thy name saying behold the lamb of God and he express the shadow of one of thy Sacraments but what purity ought to invest me who am to approach that venerable Sacrament and receive thee truly and really into my mouth o I wish I could entertain thee with as much reverence as the most B. Virgin Mother did in her sacred womb in that stupendious hour of thy Incarnation or as she embraced thy most H. Body in her bosome when it was taken down from the cross and thy heavenly Father received thy spirit at thy expiring when it was recommended into his hands What thou dividedst o Lord in thy death betwixt thy Father and Mother all that do I here adore in this Sacrament after thy resurrection for thy soul remaynes not separate from thy Body Thou affordest me that body which thou bequeathedst to thy Mother together with thy spirit which thou recommendedst to thy Father O that any one could have applyed his mouth to that of the expiring IESVS and gatherd thence his sacred breath worthy to be gatherd by the hands of God that it might animate and steer my body o that any one could with the effusion of his own blood wash the disfigured Corps of IESVS and make himself the viol of Christs blood shed for my sake to cleanse my soul so ill-favourd and ugly o that any one would hold his mouth to receive and tast the water blood which flowed from the side of Christ that not so much as one drop of it might fall to wast but thou o Lord desirous and desirable complyest with my wishes in this dreadful mystery How great joy did the Angels conceive in thy Ascension when thou entredst triumphant into heaven what longing desires preceded thy return thither o the desired of all the Hierarchyes of heavenly spirits with what jubily of hart ought I to exulâ— when thou entrest into my breast I alone upon many scores owe thee all the reverence which all the Angels exhibited when they entertaind thee returning from this world and passible life for thou frequently enterst into me that thou mayst delight me alone thou who once only enterd into heaven to cause joy to all the Angels Thou frequently dost for me alone what thou didst but once for all the quyres of blessed spirits If this favour were imparted to one alone of all the multitudes of men that once only through all eternity Christ should enter after this most amiable manner into his sole breast what a stupendious benefit would it be deemd whosoever should hear of it ravishd into extasy with this excess of bounty would scarse believe it he that received him absorpt in admiration would stand like one besides himself without voyce without motion yea without life through amazement fear joy and love unles he were miraculously sustaind by reason of such unheard-off benevolence why then do not I worthily reverence and admire a greater benefit conferd not once but often not on me alone but all wherein I acknowledg the favour done me much hightned O that I or any one could entertain thee o amiable IESVS becoming my guest as thy Father entertaind thee entring into heaven after a world of torments and death for the sanctity of all the Angels their devotion their joy pomp and celebrity fell far short I wil not say of thy majesty but even of that humility wherwith thou daignest to shut thy self up in the narrow cottage of my hart grant me grace by so rare an example to humble my self below nothing I that cannot humble my self sufficiently in respect of thy humility how can I do it in respect of thy majesty and glory o how happy is that soul that shal humble it self before this Sacrament what honour will accrew to it how wil the Angels reverence and honour such a one that it may receive its Lord with honour S. Teresa oftner then once beheld the Brothers of our Society when they went to communicate in our Church accompanyd with Angels and these holding a most rich and beautiful canopy over their heads that like royal and consecrated soules they might more honorably entertain their soveraign but when others approachd that heavenly Table she beheld no such obsequiousnes in these B Spirits and the reason was want of humility in their devotions Let us then procure with all humility devotion fervour and charity to receive that supersubstantial daily bread Let us so receive it daily as if we were never more to receive it though we come very frequently let us come so as if it were to be but once in our whole life Let our daily communion be so performd as it ought to be the first day of our life and last at our death The XII Chapter That in time of refection we must not be more indulgent to our body then necessity requires THE Angels expect thee at their supper glut not thy self like a beast with corruptible food He that is invited as a guest to anothers table eats nothing at home thou art invited a guest to heaven do not at least glut thy self upon earth If one that is cloyd with earthly food cannot be a competent guest at an earthly banquet how can he be at a heavenly one fulnes hinders the relish of material meats how much more then of divine the fasting Lazarus who could not so much as feed upon crums is now a constant guest at the heavenly supper but that glutton who cramd himself with exquisit daintyes is shut forth Men at a banquet abstain from several dishes reserving their appetite for some choyse one intending to make their repast upon that o Lord if I shal be satiated at the
of the divine honour thou oughtst in all reason to be more immeasurably cruel against thy self then against any enemy or the whol camp of hel although in effect and in the exteriour maceration of thy body a discreet mean is to be held according to the direction of thy superiours and ghostly Father and the prescript of right reason to the end that in this also thou maist seek Gods greater glory for whose sake it is expedient not to be immoderate in chastizing thy self as for the same reason and our own salvation we are forced to pardon our other enemies and afford them a place in the list of our charity for that which God exacts chiefly of us and wherein we ought to take revenge of our selves is the death of our will not of our body And according to this I say it is most evident that thou hast more reason to be displeased with thy self then all thy enemies and ill-wishers whatsoever Suppose a man who had many capital foes who sought his life were delivered into a strong and safe castle there to be kept and defended by his intimate friend one assured to him by all the tyes of alliance and friendship who alone were both esteemd and should be most faithful to him and that there were no sanctuary elswhere for that man nor place of refuge and that it were in his power to let no enemy hurt him nor wrong the least haire of his head unles that friend did introduce him thither and deliver to him the keyes of the castle giving his consent by subscribing letters with his own hand If he who ought to be both faithful and friendly should prove so perfidious as to unlock â—he gate to all his persecutours and give â—hem entrance with intent to let them abuse him wrong him and exercise the utmost of their cruelty upon him and he himself moreover who were to shield him should be more raging and malicious then the rest should impede any benevolence that were intended him permitting nothing good nor conducing to his health to come to his hands which he intoxicated not first with poyson or some other noxious ingredient against whom then ought this miserable man to conceive a spleen against some one of his enemyes or that friend and allye who proves so treacherous whose malice alone is equivalent to all the rest it being certain that without him all their hatred would have availed nothing at all What an incredible brand of perfidiousnes cruelty in humanity would fall upon that man he would incur the detestation of all as being much more blame worthy then all O most beneficent truth thou hast committed my safety only to my own trust as who would be trustyest to my self but I prove most dangerous above all others divels men hell the world all of them are my sworn enemyes but they all remain disarmd if I my self do not arme them they all wil be innocent if I to my self be not nocent All the prejudice I can receive is within the reach of my own power neyther can any body really hurt me but by my permission unles my wil be such unles I betray my self I alone am the Architect of all the injuries which befal me from others though I impute them falsely to others I stop the influences of Gods beneficence I hinder the effects of his guifts I infect his graces and corrupt his vertues abusing both the one and the other how then shal I flatter my self who am so burdensome to my self how shal I cherish and sooth my self who am such a mortal enemy to my self All the hatred I can vent is not equivalent to my own injuriousnes How often have I cheated my self how many faults have I contracted I have defrauded my self of heaven I have neglected the blessings of Gods grace and not to number up all my spiritual losses which are without number what pensivenes of hart what affliction of mind what disasters in my goods what losses in my temporals how many bodily diseases contempts revilements derisions have I brought upon my self by the disordinatenes of my passions by my little circumspection and following the gust of my appetite If just occasion being given any one contristate me I am highly offended and why am I not so with my self since upon alloccasions I am injurious to my self If thou o lying man hadst but once catchd one in a lye thou wouldst never trust him afterwards and having so often belyed and cozend thy self thou yet trusts thy self and art not at all suspicious of thy proceedings But why do I recount my own injuries it is a sufficient motive to make me abhor and prosecute with a pious hatred whatsoever is mine for that all have proved as so many obstacles to retard my endeavours in loving God O most holy faithful truth I ought to loath and hate my self for being so wicked and disloyal to my self how much more for being wicked and perfidious to thee for my own sake it behoovd me to detest my self how much more o Lord for thine because I loved not my self orderly I should in reason have hated my self how much more because I loved thee not at all who alone should be loved in all I loved not thee because I knew not how to love my self yea I loved not my self because I loved not what in reality I was but some what else les considerable I loved not my soul which is my chief and noblest portion but only my body as if I were nothing but it which is absurdly false for I have also a soul for whose ransome the Son of God by way of exchange gave his To love a part of my self I loved not my whole self and what is more to be lamented I loved not that which to me is all in all God my Saviour If thou be carried with a zeal towards God o perfidious man thou canst not but be fraught with hatred towards thy self I permit that so far as thou hast prejudiced or wrongd thy self thou be indulgent to thy self there remaines yet sufficient cause of selfrevenge for not loving God and transgressing his commands Thou art not a litle moved when thou hearest the perversenes of Caiphas and the treachery of Iudas and the very naming them puts thee into chollar why then wilt thou be partial and soft-natured to thy self tel me o proud spirit if thou hast but one dram of true humility that is of truth dost thou not hold thy self the worst of all sinners nay this is nothing extraordinary since S. Paul framed no better conceit of himself Wherfore thou must deem thy self the perversest of creatures when thou hast done so thou proudly rankest thy self above thy degree Nevertheles I demand of thee if thou holdst thy self such then by consequence worse then Iudas or Caiphas or any other but if thou judgest so in very deed proceed consequently lest thou be taxed and derided by the Angels and either out of
Incarnate for love of thee was it such to remain with thee in the ever B. Sacrament was it such for thy sake to embrace death lo it is one the self same wil which hath done all this for thee and which now orders that thou suffer this affliction trouble griefe or injury He ordaines both out of the same motive of love and for the same end attending with much sollicitude what wil make most for thy good But if it made wel for thee that God daignd to suffer torments want and ignominy that thou mightest not suffer them thou must also perswade thy self when he calls thee into the lists of suffering that it is very expedient and wil prove for the good advantage of thy soul That most excellent act of his wil which made him become man for our sake merited throughly at our hands a preparation of mind to undergo some hard task if he should think it expedient why doth it not also merit that we be conformable to him since he covets nothing but for our good it was our duty to suffer much that in something at least we might comply with his wil we seing it now accomplished in much why shal we not willingly suffer somewhat what canst thou wish better then to wish and have what is best and this alone is that which he thy God who is best both in himself and to thee wils and covets God is infinitly powerful infinitly wise infinitly good and benevolent he loves thee far more then thou dost thy self he desires far more seeks thy good he knowes much better how to compass it he is of force to remove all obstructions and to effect what is conducing to that end what is thy meaning then when thou takest on and grievest for some cross event when thou repinest at some malady wrong vexation misfortune whether appertaining to thy self or another whether publick or private doth God err and is deceived or doth he afflict us out of enuy and malice did his omnipotency fall short that he could not go through with what he intended to avert this which thou deemst a loss it happend not through any weaknes in God or malice or deceit but out of his power providence and immense goodnes why dost thou reject and seek to annul what the divine attributes ratify and make the subject of their employment Put thy self into the hands of God that he who created thee to his glory may conduct and govern thee he orders all to this end and without all doubt wil bring thee thither unles thou frustrate his designes Covet not to be governd according to thy own fancy He that makes a journy by sea takes not upon him to steer the ship but leaves that entirely to the Pilot when a storm ariseth then is he most tractable and wil neyther do nor permit any thing to be done contrary to the others appointment Dost thou hold God les skilful in ruling the world then a pilot in steering his ship what thou permittest then to a man who is to land thee safely in thy harbour why wilt thou not permit to God who is to carry thee to the port of heaven God knowes most exactly wel how to mannage his family the world I mean he needs not thy advise leave all that care to him he wil carry thee to the land of salvation God is either propitious or angry when he sends thee these crosses so disrellishing if propitious why wilt thou not acquiesce to thy own good and add thy own suffrage to those things which make so much for thy advantage if he be angry thou must give way if it be but to mitigate it An angry man if any contradict him waxeth more angry if no body cross him he is presently calme in like manner God will be pacified if thou not only hold thy peace and brook it but also be conforme and thankful O sensles man how darest thou say I wil not have this or I wil have that being thou knowest not what wil make for thy good why dost thou refuse to suffer crosses injuries humiliations perchance thou hast forgotten that thou art a sinner or rememberst not that God can turn these afflictions and humiliations into instruments of glory the hatred of the brethren and that inhumane sale of his dearest child occasioned safety to Iacob and glory and a kingdom to Ioseph that was sold for although Consuming envy made the brethren sel Their brother to the just all falls out wel This is the work of grace c. as devoutly saith the great Alcuinus God in the heavenly chimistry of his beneficence knowes how to extract great good out of ewil and this is the chief art and master-piece of grace Why dost thou repine at the loss of thy health or goods or of any one 's that concerns thee for eyther they were to be laudably expended and then God wil accept of thy good wil in lieu of the fact and wil also augment the merit of thy patience or to be sin fully wasted in riot and vanity and then thou hast reason to congratulate with thy self because such a stumbling block of offence is to thy hand removed out of the way Esteem thy self to stand in a superiour degree to thy wil and content and that thou art created for much greater matters Thou art not made to thy own glory nor to enjoy thy own wil nor pleasure nor to save thy self alone nor to enrich thy self nor advance thy fortunes nay nor only to enjoy God in his kingdom thy end is more sublime then all this thou art to witt created to the glory of God which was the but and scope of his wil and power in creating all things O end of a high elevation and it maist thou compass by suffering whether it be in ordinary labours or extraordinary torments Thou art not thy own but Gods nor born to thy self but to him so neyther must thou aym at any thing but the glory of God and how to pleas him and that his wil be accomplished in thee That wil only prove fuel for the fire of purgatory whatsoever nourisheth in thee thy own wil. Covet nothing whether it be spiritual consolations or other guifts though very holy but what God covetteth above all since he wisheth thee more happines and sanctity then thou canst thy self by this meanes thou shalt enjoy though it be not to be sought for continual comfort All the afflictions and miseries which annoy man in this lifes intercourse consist in the wil because it stands not in a true conformity with the divine The harts of men are disquietted eyther because they have not what they would have or because they would not have what they have wherefore he that quits himself of all self wil quits himself also of all trouble He that stands parallel with God in willing or not willing shal possess perpetual joy because he shal perpetually enjoy his wish for that is alwayes