Selected quad for the lemma: heart_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
heart_n	able_a	lord_n	spirit_n	2,051	5	4.7627	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A64409	The flaming hart, or, The life of the gloriovs S. Teresa foundresse of the reformation, of the order of the all-immaculate Virgin-Mother, our B. Lady, of Mount Carmel : this history of her life, was written by the Saint herself, in Spanish, and is newly, now, translated into English ...; Vida de Santa Teresa de Jesus. English. 1642	Teresa, of Avila, Saint, 1515-1582.; Matthew, Tobie, Sir, 1577-1655.	1642 (1642)	Wing T753; ESTC R33913	394,344	744

mee a very great deale of harrassing wearines to my self iust so as if some ordinarie person had been fighting with some strong Giant afterward I should finde my self very weary But at other times it was altogeather impossible for me to hinder it for my Soule would be carried absolutly away and ordinarily euen my head as it were after it yea this sometimes so farre as that my whole Bodie would be transported so as to be raised-vp from the ground This last hath happened rarely to me but once it was vpon the very point to ariue whilst we all were assembled togeather in the Quire and I being then vpon my knees as at the point of going to receaue the Blessed Sacrament it put me to an extremitie of trouble because it seemed to be a very extraordinarie thing and that instantly there would be much note of it and so I commanded my Religious-woemen for at that time I was growne to be Prioresse that they should not speake of it to anie creature But at other times when I beganne to discerne that our Lord was going about to doe the same againe and once in particular when diuers principall Ladies were present and it was vpon the Feast of our Vocation when there was a Sermon I did euen spread my self all along vpon the ground and though the Religious woemen came then about me to keep my Bodie downe yet the thing was easily perceiued Vpon this I humbly prayed our Lord in most particular manner that by no meanes he would doe me anie such Fauours as might carrie anie of these exteriour demonstrations with them for already I was very wearie of being necessarily so wary and watchfull ouer my self for that such kind of Fauours could not possibly be done me by his Diuine Maiestie but so that euerie bodie would come to know it And it seemes that through his goodnes he hath been pleased to heare my Prayer for since that time I neuer had anie Rapts of that kinde and to that proportion but it is true that it is notlong since I had the last But yet now so it is that when I had a minde to resist these Rapts there seemed to be somewhat of so mightie force vnder my feet which raised me vp that I know not to what to compare it but it came with much more impetuositie then anie of these other things of Spirit and so I was euen torne as it were to peices for the combat and strife is great but in fine all helped little for when our Lord hath a minde to doe anie thing no power is able to stand against it At other times he is pleased to content himself with letting vs see that he is disposed to doe vs that Fauour and that there is no auersion in his Diuine Maiestie and that we opposing our selues for Humility's sake there follow yet the self-same Effects as if we had wholy consented Now these Effects are great For first the mightie power of our Blessed Lord is made apparant thereby and that when his Diuine Maiestie is pleased to dispose of things otherwise we are no more able to detaine our Bodies then our Soules nor are we Lords therof but we must in despight of our harts acknowledge that there is a Superiour and that these Fauours come from him and that of our selues we can doe nothing in nothing and so a great impression of Humilitie is made vpon the Soule by this meanes And further I confesse that it bred also a great feare in me and at the first an extreame great one to see that a massie Bodie should be taken-vp from the earth For though the Spirit be that which drawes it after it and though it be with great suauitie and delight if it be not resisted yet our Senses are not lost thereby at least I for my part was so perfectly in my Senses that I was able to vnderstand that I was raised There doth also heerby appeare so great a Maiestie in him who can doe this that it makes euen the verie haire of the head stand on end and there remaines a mightie feare to offend so great a God but yet so as that it is wrapped vp in an excessiue kind of loue which she beginns to conceaue euen newly and freshly againe towards him whome she finds to carrie so great a loue to such rotten wormes as we are For now he seemes not content with drawing the Soule only to himself in so particular and so certaine a manner but that he will needs also draw the verie Bodie too euen whilst it is so very mortall and composed of so filthie earth as we haue made it by our Sinnes This also leaues in the Soule a very strange kind of loosning and casting it self off from all the things of this world whereof I know not how to expresse well what it is but me thinkes I may well say that it is not only in some sort a different but also a greater kind of thing then those others which worke vpon the onlie Spirit import For though in those other Visitations also there be a kind of totall vntying and loosning it self from all things for as much as concernes the Spirit yet heer it seemes our Lord is pleased that euen the Bodie also it self shall put this point in practise And it breeds in anie Creature such a new kind of shynesse and mislike in order to the things of this world that it makes euen our verie life much the more painefull to vs. It giues also such another paine as we can neither tell how to procure when we haue it not nor free our selues from the same when we haue it And I would be extreamly glad to be able to giue this to be vnderstood but I belieue I shall not know how to doe it though yet I will say somewhat if I be able But now it is to be noted that these things come vpon me when I am as it were in the verie Euening of the day after all those Visions and Reuelations whereof I will write after the time when I vsed to hold that Prayer wherein our Lord was wont to allow me so great Regalo's and gusts And though yet these things doe not cease with me at some times yet doth this Paine more often and more vsually seaze vpon me which I will now declare It hath sometimes of the more and sometimes of the lesse and now I will apply my self to speake of it as when it hath of the more For though I will treat heerafter of those great impetuosities which they vsed to bring vpon me before our Lord was pleased to giue me those Rapts yet they had in my opinion no more to doe by way of Comparison one with another then there is between things Corporall and Spirituall And I beleiue that I doe not exaggerate the matter a whitt by saying so because that Paine seemes to be such as that although the Soule doe feele it yet it feeles it

the effects whensoeuer the Soule hath Light for manie times as I haue sayd our Lord is pleased that it should remaine in darknes and not see this Light and therefore it is not so strange a busines which so wicked a Creature as my self may come to see On the other side it is but euen now that it hath hapned to me to be eight dayes in such a case as that I seemed neither to haue knowledge of what I owe to Almightie God not yet anie memorie of his Fauours but only that my Soule was euen halfe besotted and estranged and employed vpon I know not what nor how Not yet vpon anie ill thoughts but I was so very vntoward in respect of good ones that I did euen as it were laugh at my self and tooke a kind of gust to see the great basenes of a Soule whensoeuer our Lord vouchsafes not to be working in it But she yet vnderstands very well that she is not without possessing him euen in this State for it is not as I haue formerly sayd as it vses to be in our great afflictions but though we bring wood thither and doe also all that verie little which we are able to doe on our part there is yet no such thing in the world as the kindling at that time of anie fire of the loue of our Lord in our harts And it is no small mercie of his that we can so much as find that there is anie smoake for at least we know thereby that she is not dead and our Lord returnes to kindle it againe afterward But then this Soule of ours though we breake our verie heads in blowing and wearie our selues also otherwise in ordering and composing the wood seemes to be in such a condition as that euerie thing serues to choake vs the more And so I thinke the best of our case to be then to render our selues wholy vp and to know that we are able to doe nothing of our selues and then to apply our endeauours to the doing of some externall meritorious things Yea and perhaps our Blessed Lord is pleased to take Prayer from vs at that time to the end that the Soule may exercise her self in those other actions and so vnderstand at length by good experience how little she was able to doe of her self But now I haue this verie day regaled my Soule with our Lord and presumed to complaine to his Diuine Maiestie euen against himself to this effect How comes it to passe O my God that it seemes not enough for thee to keep me in this miserable life and that I resolue to endure it all for thy sake and that I content my self to be where all is vexation and trouble and that I may not so much as enioy euen thee but that I must also eat and sleepe and dispatch businesse and treat with euerie Creature according to the occasion and that I suffer all this for the loue of thee And now O my Lord thou knowest that this is an extreame torment to my hart and that yet in those few little moments of time which remaine to me for the enioying thee thou yet art pleased to hide thy self after this manner from me And how can this be compatible with thy mercie and how can the loue thou bearest me permit it I beleiue O my deare Lord that if it were a possible thing for me to hide my self from thee as thou dost thy self from me I thinke I say and I beleiue so much of the loue thou bearest me as that thou wouldst not endure it at my hands But thou art still with me and euer seest in what case I am Yet permit not longer O my Lord that this kind of course be held but I humbly beseech thee to consider that it is a kind of wrong to proceed after this manner with one who loues thee so much This and the like hath occurred to me to say though yet I considered first how that place which had been prouided for me in Hell was appointed me after a kind of fauourable way in comparison of what I had deserued But yet sometimes the loue I beare to our Blessed Lord is so very extrauagant that I scarce can tell what I doe and then with all the little vnderstanding I haue I make such cōplaints as these and our Lord endures them all at my hands and therefore let so good a King as this be euer praised But now might we perhaps be able to approach anie King of this world with such audacities as these And yet I wonder not much that we may not presume to talke after this manner to our Earthly Kings whome we haue so much reason to feare yea or euen to such great Lords as are the superiour parts of the State For now we find the world so changed that our verie liues should be longer then now they are to the end that we might haue time enough to learne the Punto's and new customes and fashions of good Manners of the world if there be anie meaning withall that we should also haue anie time to spend in the Seruice of Almightie God For my part I euen blesse my self to see what happens for the truth is that euen already I scarce knew how to liue in the world when I came to this place For now it passes I can assure you for no ieast whensoeuer there is any little omission to treat men euen with much more Stile and ceremonie then they deserue but they doe really so take it for an affront that you must forsooth interpret your intention and professe your desire to make satisfaction if there be as I was saying anie omission yea and I pray God that they will vouchsafe to beleiue you But in the meane time I returne to affirme that really I did not know how to liue so miserably doe these things afflict a poore ouerlaboured Soule For she sees that on the one side they command her to employ her whole thought vpon God and that it is necessarie for her to doe so to the end that she may be deliuered from manie dangers and on the other side she also finds that it concernes her not to loose a Punto euen in the Puntilio's of this world vpon the price of not chanceing to minister occasion of giuing temptation and trouble to them who place their Honour in these Punto's For as for me they tired me euen outright and I could neuer be at an end of making satisfactions for it was neuer in my power how much soeuer I endeauoured it to forbeare the making manie faults in this kind which as I sayd are not held to be little in the account of the world And it is true that in Religious Orders which in all reason should be excused and discharged in such kinds as these there is really a very true discharge Not yet that they affirme that our Monasteries ought to be a kind of Court for good breeding and to know what belongs to good Manners

Hovv manie yeares she had continued in that dangerous state And in fine hovv she conceiued that her proper place and particular torments vvere prepared for her in Hell it self for the euerlasting punishmēt of her Sinnes which she faith she felt in Spirit Whereas yet in realitie and sinceritie of truth it may be cleer enough to such as vvill vnpartiallie consider vvhat they are to iudge and not looke through the mist or clovvde of that too great insatisfaction and seueritie vvhich she vvould be sure to carrie tovvards her self that she vvas alvvaies farre from committing anie Mortall Sinne in all the course of her Life Now the difference in point of Iudgement betvveen our Saint and others may well seem to haue proceeded from this occasion vvhich follovves They looked vpon her vvhole life vvith the eyes of a Religious kind of reason And she vvith those euen of a kind of inordinate passion as a man may say of deuotion They looked vpon her as men vvho being informed euen by her self of the Case are most fitt through their indifferēcie to be the Iudge Whereas she looked vpon her self as a meer Partie vvho must not in her ovvne Case be trusted by anie meanes so vvell as her Iudge especially vvhen that Iudge knovves all things as vvell as her self since she declares them to him Besides that she expresses cleerly hovv diuerse vvho vvere her Ghostlie Fathers at the times of her greatest imperfection declared to her in very positiue tearmes that she vvas farre from commiting Mortall Sinne. And note that they passed such a Iudgement vpon her at times vvhen her self professes that she Confessed all her Sinnes so entirely as not to omitt so much as euen all those Veniall Sinnes vpon vvhich she could reflect So that clearly by the verie vvorst of her case if anie such thing as she had euer done vvere doubtfull if her Ghostlie Fathers assured her then that it vvas not Mortall as indeed they did what reason could she haue to be so very highly and irreconciliably vnsatisfyed vvith her self But the truth is she pearced so deeply by meanes of Celestiall grace into that endlesse spotlesse Mine of the Puritie of Almightie God and the vnlimited Excellentie of his High Maiestie and the vnspeakable deformitie of the least Imperfection or frailtie when once it should be brought to appeare before that incomparable Claritie of the King of Glorie And on the other side she vvas endued vvith such a strange internall kind of knovvledge of her self that it made as I vvas saying before those Moates of her Imperfections seem Mountaines vvhen once they vvere to appeare as in God's presence She vvas also of so very sensible a nature vvhich I must needs touch againe aftervvard and so easily obliged and so inseparably engaged vpon the receauing euen of poore vveake little seruices from mortall Creatures much more vvhen Celestiall Fauours distilled dovvne so very fast tovvards her from that neuer-failing Fountaine of Diuine Mercies that for her to find her self anie vvay vngratefull yea or so much as euen vnmindfull thereof and yet much more if she should proue so inhumanly vnkind as in stead of paying seruices to commit faults hovv light soeuer they might be such errours vvould seem in those eyes of hers vvhich still vvere fed from that inflamed hart to be really not very much lesse then almost as so manie halfe Sinnes against the Holie-Ghost And from this composition of her Minde both in the Naturall and Supernaturall vvay did grovv those profound detestations of her self those high exaggerations of her Imperfections and Frailties those lovvde exclamations against her supposed ingratitudes and vnkindnesses tovvards Almightie God vvhich broke as it vvere euen her ovvne verie hart vvhilst she vvas thinking and deliuered ouer such feeling arguments of her sad remorse vvhilst she vvas vvriting as are able to strike the vvater of teares out of the stonie harts of her Readers like the Rod of Moyses vvhich droue vvater out of the Rock vvhen once they lend their sight though neuer so little to behold that svveet Obiect of her enamoured thoughts and expostulations against her selfe From hence it is I say that she accused her self after a kind of obstinate manner vvhensoeuer she reflected vpon God her self in order to his Bounties on the one side her discorrespondences on the other Whilst yet vvhen her thoughts vvere bent but to expresse the plaine order of things after a manner meerly abstracted from those superiour Considerations she deliuers such truths concerning her self as makes all these imputations vvhich fell so fiercely vpon her Soule out of her ovvne mouth appeare to be farre different from that vvhich she would desire that they might be thought And so in conformitie vvith this you my Reader shall doe vvell to consider in serious manner how she vvho spoke after a sort erroneously vvhen she vvould partially iudge of her actions in order to the spotlesse Puritie of Almightie God and his strict Iudgement did yet vnfold her self most litterally truly vvhen she expressed her self Viâ facti and related her affections and actions as it were in the Historicall way Obserue therefore hovv in this vvay she saith of her self That she vvas euer very carefull not to commit anie Mortall Sinne That she had great care of her Conscience still forasmuch as cōcerned anie thing of that kind and that if euer she would be so vnhappie as to commit anie such sinne that she should neuer be in quiet till she vvas disburthened of it That she seldome receaued the B. Sacrament but vvith abundance of teares That after she had once tasted of the Regalo's of that Celestiall Banquet vvhich she beganne to doe vvhen she vvas young she neuer omitted to Confesse anie thing vvhich she might conceaue to be a Sinne though it vvere but Venial That she had euer great remorse whensoeuer she committed anie offence against Almightie God That she did naturally detest all dishonestie and that she conceaued not that there was either anie occasion or anie person in the whole vvorld vvho could possibly ouercome that resolution in her That difficulties grew after-vvard vpon her by occasion of some Conuersations vvhich she had vvhereof yet she Confessing her self by way of doubt as I haue insinuated before her Ghostlie Father made her know that she did not offend God therein For the truth of the case vvas this She vvas then a Secular vvoeman and the inclinations vvhich she had to the person vvere capable of being concluded in a Marriage besides that really on her part there vvas neuer so much as one impure thought That another Spirituall man vvith vvhome she also consulted shortly after about matter of her Soule by occasion of some feares into vvhich she grevv then to fall declared to her that though she vvere in the state of neuer so high Contemplation yet such conferences and conuersations as those vvere not to be inconuenient for her That she also vnderstood by

Teresa and of those happie Daughters of hers vvho already beganne to liue vnder her Rule And these are his verie vvords I neuer saw nor knew the Blessed Mother Teresa of Iesus vvhilst yet she vvas in this world but now vvhen she liues in Heauen I know her and doe in effect continually see her in two liuing Images or Pictures of her self which she left amongst vs and those are her Daughters her Bookes vvhich serue also in my opinion for very faithfull witnesses and superiour to all kind of exception concerning the proofe of her great vertue For if I had but seen the figure and features of her face they vvould haue informed me but of that part of her Bodie And if I had heard her speake and discourse that might also haue declared some part of the vvorth of her Minde But the first vvould haue been common to others the second might haue been subiect to errour to vvhich these other are not subiect in vvhich I see her now For as Salomon saith A man may be knovvne by his children And the fruits vvhich anie one leaues behind him vvhen he goes out of the vvorld are the true testimonies of the life vvhich he led vvhen he vvas heer And so we see that Christ our Lord himself vvhen he was pleased in the holie Ghospel to put a difference between the Good and the Bad addresses men to consider their Fruits for By their Fruits saith he you shall knovv them So that the Vertue and Sanctitie of Mother Teresa vvhich might perhaps haue seemed questionable doubtfull to me vvhen I should haue seen her heer the same I hold to be both very euident and very certaine whilst now I see her not by the view vvhich I haue of her both in her Daughters in those Bookes vvhich she hath left behind her For by the vertue vvhich shines so brightly in all those Daughters of hers vve come to know vvithout anie errour at all the great abundance of grace vvhich it pleased Almightie God to vouchsafe to her whome he would ordaine to be the Mother of this new Miracle And really that deserues to be held for no lesse then a Miracle vvhich vve see our Blessed Lord to be doing daily both in them and others by their meanes Nay if that must goe for a Miracle vvhich happens beyond the naturall course order of things there are in this particular so manie of them vvhich are both new and extraordinarie as that to call them but a Miracle vvere to say little for they are rather an assemblie and heape of Miracles For it is one Miracle that a single Woeman alone should haue reduced an Order both of Men Woemen to Perfection And a second that the Perfection to vvhich she brought them vvas so great and high And a third to find to vvhat a huge encrease it is growne in so very few yeares from so small beginnings And now euerie one of these three is a thing vvhich deserues particular consideration For if it belong not to Woemen to teach but to be taught as S. Paul affirmes it growes instantly to be a kind of Miracle that a weake sicklie Woeman should be so full of courage as euen to vndertake so great a vvorke as that and vvithall should be so full of vvisdome and efficacie as finally to preuaile therein and should be also able to steale the verie harts out of the bodies of them with who me she treated that so the might be able to giue them to Almighty God and carrie such multitudes of people after her towards the embracing of all such things as are apprehended and abhorred most by flesh and bloud Whereby me thinkes it appeares that in a time vvhen the Diuel pretends to triumph in the multitude of those Infidels vvho follow him and in the obstinacie of diuerse Hereticall Nations vvhich take part vvith him amongst the manie vices of loose Catholiques who range themselues also on his side the Maiestie of Almightie God vvould be pleased for the greater contempt and scorne of the Diuel to aduance and set before him not a Man who should be valiant learned but a poore single Woemā vvho should raise-vp and plant a Banner of Defiance against him and should publiquely draw people togeather vvho might conquer him and trample vpon him and euen turne him in fine out of doores And certainly he vvas also resolued that it should serue for a demonstration to the vvorld and that in a time vvhen so manie thousands of men vvere seeking to venture vpon the spoile of his Kingdome some by their erroneous vnderstandings and others by their depraued life and manners to proue how Mightie and Omnipotent he was by his introducing enabling a Woeman vvho should both illuminate the mindes and compose the affections and reforme the actions of manie and that her Children should daily grow-vp into greater numbers towards the reparation of those ruines Now in this as it vvere old age of his Church he hath been also pleased to shew vs that his Grace is not growne old and vveake and that the strength and vertue of his Holie Spirit is not lesse powerfull at this day then it was formerly in those happie times of the Primitiue Church Since now by certaine meanes vvhich are of an inferiour and vveaker kind then before he doth either the same or in effect the verie same vvhich he did then For to passe from the first Miracle to the second the Life vvhich your Reuerences lead and the Perfection vvherein your Holie Mother hath placed you vvhat is it but a picture of the Sanctitie of the Holie Primitiue Church For really that of vvhich vve read in the Histories of those times the self same thing doe vve see now vvith our verie eyes in your conuersation and proceeding And your Life demonstrates that by your actions and vvorkes vvhich hath lately through the little practise thereof seemed to be only found in papers and vvords And that vvhich being read makes men wonder yea and euen flesh and bloud doth hardly know how to beleiue we see to be all accomplished and performed by your Reuerence and your holie Communitie For how absolutly are you all vntyed and freed from vvhatsoeuer in fine is not God And how haue you offred your selues vp into the armes of your Celestiall Spouse in vvhome you howerly embrace one another vvith mindes of valiant men though in the bodies but of weake and delicate Woemen And how doe you put in execution the most high and generous kind of Christian Philosophie vvhich euer vvas so much as thought of by men and so ariue by your actions in order to a perfect life to the exercise of all Heroicall Vertue vvhere euen the witts of men haue scarce ariued with their Imagination For you make litter of all the riches of this world you haue Libertie in hatred Honour in contempt and you loue Humilitie and Mortification and all your attention and studie seemes euer

to that iourney for that onlie purpose For himself told me afterwards that he had no occasion at all to come but only by haueing heard of this busines and that he grew to know of it meerly by chance He stayed heer as long as was necessarie and when he was returning home he procured by certaine meanes which he vsed that our Father Prouincial should giue leaue both that I and some others also might come to stay at our new Monasterie which yet seemed a kind of impossible thing for him to grant so soone yea and that I might also doe the office of teaching and instructing such as were there already But the day when I got thither was of extreame comfort to my hart For being in Prayer in the Church before I entred into the Monasterie and being in a kind of Rapt I saw Christ our Lord appeare and me thought he receaued me with great loue and put a Crowne vpon my head gaue me thākes for the Seruice which I had done to his Mother At another time also we being all in the Quire and in Prayer after Compline I saw our B. Ladie in excessiue glorie with a white Mantle vpon and about her and she seemed to shelter and protect vs all vnder that Mantle and I vnderstood how high a degree of glorie our Blessed Lord would vouchsafe to the Religious of that House When we came once to celebrate the Office of the Church the deuotion which the people beganne to carrie towards vs was very great and already there grew to come more Religious to vs and our Lord beganne also to incline euen them to doe vs most fauour and most bountifully to impart all things to vs who had persecuted vs most And they came to approue that which they had misliked before and so by little and little they let their Suite fall And they sayd that now they were come to vnderstand that it was the worke of Almightie God since his Diuine Maiestie had been pleased that it should proceed and prosper in despight of so great contradiction Yea now there is not a Creature who conceaues that it had been well done to desist from the Worke and accordingly they take much care to prouide vs with Almes euen without our desiring anie thing at anie time of anie bodie So that it seemes our Blessed Lord stirres them vp to send it to vs of themselues and so we passe without the want of anie thing in the world which is necessarie and I hope in our Blessed Lord that it shall for euer be so For being so few as we are if withall we shall doe our dutie as now his Diuine Maiestie giues vs grace to doe I make my self very sure that we shall want nothing and so haue no occasion to be troublesome or importunate towards anie Creature but that as I was saying our Lord will take care of vs heerafter as he hath been pleased to doe hitherto And for me it is an excessiue comfort to see my self setled heer with such Seruants of Almightie God as are so totally vntyed from all the persons and things of this world Their conuersation and discourse is only how they may be able to proceed best and fastest in the Seruice of his Diuine Maiestie Solitude is the greatest Solace they can enioy and to thinke that they shall see anie Creature but only such as may assist them towards the enkindling and inflaming their harts to the loue of their Spouse is the greatest trouble they haue yea though it should be from the neerest kindred they know And so there comes no bodie hither but such as loue to treat of that busines for neither would he content them nor they him And their language being only to speake of our Blessed Lord as it is they neither vnderstand nor be vnderstood vnlesse the same language be spoken We keepe and obserue the Rule of our B. Ladie of Carmel and this entirely as it ought to be without anie manner of relaxation but iust as it was ordained by Albertus Patriarch of Ierusalem and confirmed by Pope Innocentius the Fourth in the Fifth yeare of his Pontificate and in the yeare of our Lord God 1248. So as now me thinkes all the troubles and vexations which haue been endured about this Busines will fall out to haue been very well employed And though the Rule be of some rigour for they neuer eate Flesh without necessitie and they Fast eight moneths in the yeare and obserue such other things also as may be seen in the Originall Rule yet most of the particulars seem to be of little difficultie to the Religious they obserue also other things which haue seemed necessarie to vs for the more exact performance of the sayd Rule And I hope in our Blessed Lord that this which is begunne will proceed and prosper according to what his Diuine Maiestie hath told me The other House which the Beata of whome I spake before procured to erect is now already made in Alcalà and there wanted not also oppositions and great afflictions and troubles to them who laboured in it I know that all Religious Obseruance is performed there according to the first Institution of this our Rule and I beseech our Blessed Lord that all may turne to his honour and praise and of the Glorious Virgin Marie whose Habit we weare Amen I well beleiue that your Reuerence will haue been wearyed with the long Relation which I I haue made you of this Monasterie which yet in some respect will fall-out to haue been but very short considering the manie afflictions which were endured and the great wonders which our Blessed Lord wrought therein whereof there are manie witnesses who can auerre them by Oath And now I beseech your Reuerence for the loue of our Lord that howsoeuer you may teare what you will of all the rest that I haue written your Reuerence will keepe safe what I send you heer concerning this Monasterie and that when I shall be dead you will deliuer it ouer to the Religious heer For it will greatly serue to animate such as shall succeed in the Seruice of Almightie God and to make them procure not to let that fall to the ground which is begunne and so to be still passing further and further on when they shall see how carefully his Diuine Maiestie blessed it in the erection thereof by meanes of so wicked and base a Creature as my self And since our Blessed Lord hath shewed in so particular a manner that he was resolued to fauour both the beginning and finishing of this Monasterie it seemes to me that they shall doe very ill and that they will be seuerely punished by Almightie God who shall endeauour at all to slacken the perfection of this Rule For heer our Blessed Lord hath already begunne so to assist and strengthen vs as that this kind of Crosse is carried with extraordinary suauity and is very well discerned to be tollerable enough and that

times to vnderstand things but iust so as we haue a minde to vnderstand them our selues and euen they are wrested much from the true sense And so we also doe in things of this world and we will needs make our selues beleiue that we must tax euen our owne profit in Spirit according to the measure of the time wherein we haue had anie exercise of Prayer Nay it seemes that we haue had a minde to put a tax and limit vpon him who by no meanes will be subiect to anie when there is question of imparting his Fauours which he is wont to dispose when he will and who can impart more benedictions to one in six moneths then to another in a great multitude of yeares And this is a most certaine truth which I haue seen so expresly verifyed euen with my verie eyes vpon the instance of manie persons that I wonder how we can so much as detaine our selues in the least doubt thereof But I am very apt to beleiue that a man who hath anie talent in trying and knowing Spirits and to whome our Blessed Lord shall haue giuen true Humilitie will not be able to fall and continue in this errour For such a man will iudge of things by the effects and by the strong purposes and firme resolutions and loue of the party who is chiefly concerned And besides our Lord is wont to giue such a person light whereby he may be able to vnderstand it and by that verie light he also discernes the profiting and proceeding forward of Soules and not by the number of yeares wherein they haue attended to these things Because some one Soule may as I sayd before haue obtained that in six moneths which another shall not haue been able to get in twentie yeares For as I sayd also before our Lord bestowes those things to whome he will and commonly he doth it to such as dispose themselues best to receiue them And in proofe heerof I see that there come now to this House of ours certaine Gentlewoemen and Ladies who are very young and yet when our Blessed Lord vouchsafes once to touch their harts and to giue them a little Light and Loue and when in a very short time he is pleased to allow and impart some Regalo and gust of Spirit to them they haue not stayed and pawsed nor was anie difficultie able to offer it self against them which could stopp them but they would be going on without so much as remembring that they were to liue by eating their meate and they shut themselues vp for euer in a House without hauing so much as anie Reuenue vpon which to liue like persons who put no manner of esteem vpon anie thing of this world for the loue of him who they know loues them And they giue ouer euen all things all at once nor haue they anie will at all which is meerly their owne nor doe they vnderstand it to be possible that euer they can receaue disgust by enduring such a straight shutting vp but all of them offer-vp their whole selues in Sacrifice to the honour and glorie of Almightie God And now how willingly and iustly doe I allow them to haue gotten the Start of me heerin and how mightily ought I to be ashamed and euen confounded in the presence of Almightie God to see that what his Diuine Maiestie could not finish in my Soule through my fault in such a multitude of yeares since I vsed Prayer and wherein he beganne to doe me Fauours he hath yet been able to accomplish in them within three moneths yea and euen with some of them in three dayes with doing them also farre lesse Fauour then to me Though yet withall it be very true that our Blessed Lord payes them so well for their paines that they are all very farre from being sorrie to haue done whatsoeuer they haue done for the loue of him For this purpose I could wish that we might call to minde how manie yeares they are since we made our Profession and haue vsed Mentall Prayer Not yet for the giuing them anie trouble by making them turne back who haue made a great deale of way in a short time and to get them to goe but our pace which is as much as it would be to make them who flye like Eagles through the Fauours which it hath pleased Almightie God to doe them to walke the slow dull pace of a shackled Hen but to the end that we may grow to carrie the honour of his Diuine Maiestie in our eye And then if we find these Sisters of ours to be humble whome we see to be so forward in the way of Spirit that we should giue them still the raynes For certainly our Blessed Lord who hath done them so great Fauours already will neuer suffer them to breake their necks by falling downe as from some dangerous rock They commit and trust themselues in the hands of Almightie God for this benefit doe they reape by the truth which Faith teaches them and shall not we also trust them there but must we limit and confine them by our narrow measure according to the meannesse straightnes of our owne poore mindes No no this must not be but rather if our selues cannot ariue to be owners of those strong affections and firme resolutions which abound in them for these things cannot be well vnderstood without experience let vs procure to humble our selues and not condemne them For els by seeming to haue a care of their aduantage and profit we shall depriue our selues of our owne and we shall also loose the occasion which our Lord shewes vs so faire for our owne greater humilitie and that we may the better vnderstand how much is wanting to vs as also how much more absolutly those other Soules are likelie to be vntyed and freed from worldlie things then ours and how much neerer they are approached to Almightie God then we since we see that his Diuine Maiestie is come so much closer vp towards them then vs. For my part I can vnderstand no more in this case neither indeed haue I anie desire to vnderstand more then that I had rather haue such Prayer as hauing been obtained and exercised but a short time might be found to haue great effects and which instantly appeare for it is impossible that a Creature should be content to throw away a whole world at once vpon the onlie reason of pleasing Almightie God without a mightie force of loue then such an other kind of Prayer as should haue continued manie yeares and yet neuer in fine haue made an end of resoluing vpon anie more at the last then at the first to doe aniething for the pure loue of Almightie God vnlesse it be some poore little fidling bable which is no bigger then a graine of Salt which hath neither bulke nor weight but is such as that anie Bird might be able to carrie it away in her Bill For I confesse we hold it not for a matter