the second blemish of contemplation mentioned cap. 4. which Image was so impalpable and spritely that the soule in the Inner will could never discover the same but stood alway perswaded that she saw this will in his owne Being without any forme or vaile at all Yea nor could she ever perceive that Image till she was cleansed thereof there being no imperfect thing imputed to him for imperfect that knowes nothing more perfect But the soul there knew no better because this Image was the highest and puresâ— that ever she saw Whence it was that shee could never know the same for imperfect though now she sees it to be so when she 's purged of it If any aske How then can she winde her selfe out thereof if shee cannot know it Answer That must be done by fervour of Love which is Gods own worke and not the soules anâ— which consists more in suffering then in doing This working oâ— the love of God is so inward mighty and powerfull that it worke more livingly in the soule then ever she felt before And this pull iâ— so violent that it ravishes her morâ— then ever without her selfe Thiâ— fire of Love is unquen chable thaâ— it consumes all her impurities And lastly so strict is this Union that shee is all exhausted in God in whom all her Imperfections be drown'd lost and brought to nothing And by the same worke shee gets a new Light and a far other Capacity then ever she had triall of and is thereby enabled to worke extatically and supernaturally without and above her selfe and all her naturall and humane Understanding wherein stands the second effect of this uncloathing Illumination For here she is made drunk and giddified with such abundance of Light that shee is covered therewith as with a garment transformed into it and made one with the Light it selfe For since in this most strict union God the fountaine and Well-spring of this universall inaccessible Light is more profound inward and nigh to the soule then shee to her selfe and that in this Lovely union no secret of the Bridegroom usefull for her to know is kept from her It followes that this mystery full of all joy and ravishment is revealed to her that her Bridegroome the Eternall God is found within her Him she beholds in her selfe after her hearts desire without vaile or Image seeing him as at full noon-day how he rests within her as in his owne Tabernacle exercising a sweet and familiar operation within her And whilst shee sees tastes and proves how he is nearer to her then her selfe and how she is more hee then shee is her selfe and that she possesses him not as something nor as her selfe but more then all things and more then her selfe According to this Light shee so demeanes her selfe that all her Joy Life Will Love and Sight are much rather in him then in her selfe and that because she knowes him farre more excellent and worthy then her selfe and hath found him more delicious and sweet then her selfe And lastly sees him more faire and glorious then her self And again having learned by proofe that he is all things and her selfe nothing and that in him is all beauty goodnesse and pleasure in her selfe nothing but bitternesse of evill In him alone she stayes in him she dwells in him she lives and nothing at all in her selfe Whence it followes that shee is all in God all to God all for God and all God but nothing in her selfe nothing to her selfe nothing for her selfe and nothing her selfe She all is conversant in the Divine Will Spirit Light and Power but nothing in her owne Spirit Will Light and owne or naturall working In that Power in that Spirit in that Light with an unmoveable eye shee beholdeth this Essentiall Will or Divine Being as 't is said In thy Light shall wee see Light Here she discovers hidden and unsearchable secrets Here lies her way open to Light unaccessible Here she unfolds unutterable Mysteries Here she viewes wonders Here she swims in endlesse joyes For being united with God none of these mysteries secrets and wonders can bee kept from her For since God hath shewed her himselfe how shall he hide any needfull secret from her And now having found within her selfe the fountaine of all sweetnesse and the Well-spring of all Pleasures Delights and Joyes how shall she but be drowned in the Sea of this spirituall Deliciousnesse and ingulft in the whirling torrent of this Celestiall Blisse Or how shall the abstrusest secrets of God be shut before her to whom he hath bared and laid open his Bosome Or how shall his Mysteries bee sealed up from her to whom he hath revealed himselfe face to face Who indeed is a secret God CHAP. VII The fourth Point Of the nearenesse or ever instant Vision and presence of the happy-making end THe fourth and last step of this Meane followes next after this Uncloathing of the Spirit i. The Propinquity or neare Assistance of this Being which is no other thing but the continuall presence or habit of Union passing between God and the soule where-through the soule being cloathed with God and God with the soule doe live mutually in themselves without any withdrawing back-sliding or interspace For he that dwells in Love dwels in God and God in him Where the soul followes her Bridegroom so light and swift so strong and eager and runs after him with such earnestnes thirst and unsatiablenesse clinging to him with a full Inclination of love and bond unloosable that they be as the body and the shadow she following the Lamo whithersoever he goes whose savour sweetnesse and lovelinesse have so enamoured ravisht and invincibly stole her away that in the depth of her heart she conceives a horror of herself utterly abandoning all her own thoughts of her self and all sense of sweetnes from her selfe that she may suck in the sweetnesse of this substance that she may eternally cast her self thereinto and lose her selfe there never to be found againe resting even there that for the naked love of the same Being Whence it is that she deadly hates all whatsoever brings therwith the least feeling of delight in her selfe or casts in so much as a thought of her selfe or that sayes shee 's one and her Bridegroome another In whom she so exposes her selfe to be dissolved wasted and annihilated together with all created things that in comparison thereof shee disdaines to live Here she opens her selfe and entertaines this Being not as a vessell receives what it holds but as the Moon does the shine of the Sun Here she throwes abroad her white and Lilly armes to fold and close-inchaine her Lover but much closer is shee embrac't and inchained by him Here she enlarges all the circumference of her Minde to draw in this Infinite but on the other side she feeles her selfe most ravishingly swallowed up in it Nor can she finde what to doe to rebound the assault and conquest of this Love but only yeeld
by the tempests violence Paul seems to write nothing but the Passion in Preaching to extol no other thing but the Passion in the Passion alone to seek matter of rejoycing to glory only in the Crosse and to be all-transformed into this Divine Passion yea acknowledgeth himself to know no more but Jesus Christ him crucified CHAP. XVII That God and Man is to be beheld in the Passion the God-head Manhood seen together with a single eye as one not as two ANd here the Manhood is not to be beheld alone but also the Godhead therewith wherin many faile looking either on the Manhood alone or sometimes on it and sometimes on the Godhead as on two divers objects And so it comes that some begin to falter thinking it to be in manner no other Mysterie but only in beholding the Manhood to phansie a Man tortured with cruel torments upon a Crosse and after to finde the Godhead forsaking the same object they presse up to some other whereby to behold the Godhead not beleeving they can bee rais'd to both at once the which indeed pertaines to the highest practise For to see God and Man in one simple sight is not unlike to that knowledge whereby God and Man is seene to make one and the same person This Contemplation of God Man seemes prefigured in that brazen Serpent whose alone sight cur'd the beholders of their bitings by other serpents A miracle indeed that God should give such power of healing to the looke of a Serpent Nor doubt I but he would insinuate to us thereby the admirable vertue inclosed in that coelestiall Serpent which is Jesus Christ crucified as he cals himselfe inasmuch as when wee rightly behold the Manhood crucified we instantly behold his Godhead which is God himselfe the small cure of all evill For how can we continue sensible of sorrow or crosse when we see God himselfe bearing the same Crosse Blessed are the pure in heart saith our Lord because they shall see God The which divers holy men affirm to be wholly in the next life and partly in this If therefore we see God on the Crosse we are entred on part of our Blisse in this Life and consequently cannot feel the pangs of the Crosse 'T was a thing unheard of and which with many transcended all beliefe that out of a hard rocke at the second smite of the Rod such plenty of water streamed out This Rocke is Christ Jesus But the Rocke was Christ whose Passion though it appeare so stonie that at the first sight it yeelds no more but all harsh hard and full of afflictions yet if you smite the same twice by Contemplation of the Godhead and Manhood you shall finde an overflowing Inundation of waters of Comfort a torrent of Joy a swift gushing river flowing from the face of God Ezekiel saw a Booke written without and within intimating to us thereby that Jesus Christ the Booke of Life is written within and without both sides containing the same perfections O ravishing Booke O Miracle O prodigy O new and unusuall thing transcending and passing all Reason and far surmounting the territories of Mans capacity that all the Attributes of God proper to his Divine Majesty should bee described in our mortall flesh That all the internall perfections of God should be depainted in Man and to know that person as perfect as God yea to be God himselfe O booke I say beyond admiration even to astonishment wherein the eternall omnipotency is described in externall impotency Immortality in Mortality Spirit in Body Glory in Ignominy Freedome in Bondage and God in Man A booke where without is written and displayed to the eyes of all men whatsoever the Eternall Father from everlasting either said or thought A booke shewing us the Crosse a Tribunall the Passion a Throne and Death the Triumph of Je Christ A book-wherof one saith O wondrous power of the Crosse O unspeakable glory of the Passion wherein is both the Throne of our Lord the judgment of the World and conquest of Christ crucified This is the booke wherein all contrary propositions are reconciled without distinction made all one where the outer thing is truly knowne the inner bodily spiritual weaknes strength Sorrow Joy Contempt Majesty Shame Glory Littlenesse Greatnesse Poverty Richnesse Bondage Freedome and Torments Delights But out alas for pity who beleeves all this Or who is it that with a simple heart gives credit to these things where is wisedom found or what place is left for understanding Here is Wisedome and Patience of the Saints even in seeing and practising those things which belong to the Passion And here God prâ—â—â—d them at the waters of contradâ—ction which waters of Life they exâ—ract out of that Celestial flinty rocke whilst they smite it with the rod of Christian Discipline Who is wisâ— and he wil keepe these things It may truly bee said that 〈◊〉 booke and passion is no other but the gate of Heaven and the house of God And though in this Pasâ—ion he made darkenesse his Paviliâ—n neverthelesse as is his darkeâ—esse so also his light Jacobs Ladder though the one â—nd toucht heaven and the other â—rth yet both made but one Ladâ—er even so the person of Jesus Christ which liv'd on earth by his Manhood and endured those torâ—ents in his Passion was no other â—hen that selfe-same second person â—n the Trinity living ever glorious in the Heavens Moses saw God in the middest of the thorny bush signifying to us that God himselfe is found in his painefull and thorn-crowned Passion and not to be sought without the same No marvell then if Saint Paul the Doctor of the Gentiles and trumpet of truth al over the world exhausted all his wisedome from no other fount but out of the Abysse of this wisedome and knowledge as himselfe acknowledgeth saying I desire to know nothing among you but Iesus Christ crucified Which yet was so farre from vailing him from high Revelations that as himselfe witnesseth he was rapt to the third Heaven Whence it is cleerer then the Noone-day Light that in the crucified Manhood he also saw the boundlesse depth of the Godhead But the Centre of all this Difficulty consists in the right sending forth of this Simple sight whereby God and Man is seene neither omitted For in failing of either we incurre a like losse The depth of the Mysterie being founded in both one and not in each apart For first to behold God Omnipotent and then a miserable and forlorn Man which he became by his Incarnation This worketh somewhat in the soule by way of Consideration But to see both one as wee have said and to behold it with a single eye and naked aspect that strikes the soule with amazement and bereaves her of all her forces And this is that simple and perfect Contemplation which our Lord extolls with so many prayses in his Spouse in the Cantic Thy eyes â—re Doves eyes i. simple ones And againe
189. to 200 It is better to feele then imagine Christ crucified p. 200. to 210 Chap. Nineteenth CHrist most abased most to be imbraced p. 210. to p. 220 Chap. Twentieth THe Godhead is knowne in God-man alone p. 220 to 224 God humaniz'd is the divine mystery pag. 224. to 228 The flesh cloathed God-head is suited to our capacity p. 228. to 229 The signe of the God-head drawes not from the manhood p. 230. to 238 The fulnesse of the God-head in the suffering of the man-hood p. 238. to 241 If God were as verily found as man upon the crosse and both knowne to make but one person wee should aspire no higher then the cross of Christ pag. 241. to the end THE THIRD PART of the Rule of PERFECTION Of the Essentiall Will of God practis'd in the Life Supereminent CHAP. I. That the Essentiall Will of God differs nothing from God The difference betwixt it and the Interiour Will NOw having finisht what wee had to say of the two first parts Exteriour and Interiour comprising the Lives Active and Contemplative wee come to the third part pertaining to the Essentiall Will and containing the Supereminent Life This Essentiall Will is all Spirit and Life cleare abstract and pure of it selfe denuded and unclothed of all formes of all Creatures bodily or spirituall subject to time or Eternall Nor is it apprehended by any sense Judgement or Reason of Man but it transcends all humane conceit and capacity inasmuch as 't is nothing distinct from God himselfe and iâ— neither a thing separated from God nor a thing conjoyned or united with him but precisely Goâ— himselfe and his owne true Being For whereas this Will is in God it followes that it is God because in God is nothing which iâ— not God For if in God were found anâ— thing which were not God then were there some imperfection in him since without exception all things are imperfect which are any wayes distinct from him But such a difference betwixt his Being and his Wil would leave him very unperfect for then hee could not be a simple Being and pure Act which all the Fathers affirme he is but must admit Composition attended with many Defects For so he should have somewhat in one part which in another hee wanted nor could hee have all in every part He should possesse some perfection in one part whereof he were destitute in another And so could he not be infinite in all kind of perfection Yea he were bereaved of his divine Nature if his Wil were separated from his Being because he should then be concluded finite in both For where his Will begun there should his Being end and there should his Will end where his Being begun Both because he should be concluded finite If finite limited if limited created if created a creature but not a Creator and God And againe because if he were limited hee must needs be limited by somewhat But if any have limited him then is there some greater then he And consequently he cannot be called God then whom a greater is found Furthermore if his Will could be separated from his Being by whom shall we imagine such separation to be made Not by the Creature for it could not Not by the Creator for he would not The Creature could not for there was no such God would not because in each part of him he loved himselfe alike If you say they were separated from the Beginning you make two Gods from the Beginning If by and by after the Beginning that crosses Reason and cannot be since the Alone-God inasmuch as he is one he cannot be separated no more then being one inasmuch as he is One he cannot be divided And if we may behold the very creatures as Fire and Water whose nature is no more than a beame or sparke of the perfection of this Divine Nature so to maintaine themselves in their Unitie and Intirenesse as not only not to separate themselves but also being separated to reunite and incorporate How much more then must we grant that perfection of Unity to that Nature which natures all these But let us grant that this Nature can be separated and that it hath indeede so come to passe neither of them can bee God because neither of them is infinite for asmuch as Infinite admits no second But to what purpose doe I alledge so many reasons to prove so palpable and known a Truth as that Gods Will is God himselfe when the generall Consent of all the Fathers witnesseth the same whereupon saith Saint Hilary God who is Light subsists not oâ— Compounds Nor who is strength is held together of weake parts Nor who is Light is made up of obscure pieces Nor who is Spirit is framed of unequalls All that is in him is One So that his Wil which is in him is himselfe and is his Being or Essence For whatsoever he hath is every way the same that he is Also the Master of the Sentences The simplicity and purity of this Being is such That there is not any thing in it which is not it but hee that hath and that which is had are the same Again the other saith God is not of Compounds as Man so that in him that which is had should bee one thing and he that hath it another But all is Life and Nature viz. perfect and Infinite and not composed of parts different but it selfe living through the whole And Boetius upon the same saith This is truly One in whom can be no number nor other thing in it but that which is it neither any thing subject to it Saint Augustine also saith In the Substance of God there is not another thing which is not Substance as if there Substance were one thing and accident another but whatsoever can there be understood is Substance But these things may easily be said and leeved but without a pure heart they can never be seene And in a-another place So is had in the Nature of every one of the three that he which hath is that which hee hath as an unchangeable and simple Substance Whereupon Isidorus saith God is simple whether in not losing what hee hath or because he hath not one thing which is not hee and another which is in him All which Authorities do largely prove that the Will of God is God himselfe Even the same simple and sole Being with him Wherefore first of all I admonish the Reader in his seeking and contemplating of this Essentiall Will not to have recourse to any Images formes or figures how subtil or spritely soever But contrariwise leaving them all as unworthy of this Will and altogether opposite thereto let him behold the same as in it selfe it is even the Being of God far transcending all created things and also himselfe Againe I desire that this point be carefully observed because the perverse habit of our understanding which cannot behold the same without some form makes this errour familiar Note also that
I said Emptying of the Desires into God because they are preserved in him Nor did I call it a preservation of the Desires but an Emptying Intimating thereby that they are not afterward felt in the soule for that they be sublime also because of the lively sweet working of God in the soule who thus transformes the Desire into the thing desired Also this change contains three things A cleer Manifestation of the thing desired A full satisfaction of the Desires and a Rest of the same For the first this Manifestation of the thing desired which is God comes not all at once but successively and as it were by steps according to the Increase of our Love For first God abideth in the Soul but shee knows him not Then he declares himselfe to her but obscurely Then more clearly and as it were in full Noon-day All which steppes are exprest by the Spouse in the Canticles For first 't is plaine by these words I sought him but found him not where wee may see two things One that God was in her the other Shee knew him not Whereof the first is apparent in the words I sought since 't is wel known and Augustine affirmes shee sought him no where without herselfe neither could she The other That shee knew not that he was in her is cleare in the words following I found him not The second step of this Manifestation is when God declares himselfe to be in the soule yet obscurely and more by certain effects such as fervent desires and holy inspirations then by any essentiall knowledge The which appears in these words of the Bride I caught him Nor will I let him goe For in saying I caught him shee shews shee doubted not but she had him Yet in adding Till I bring c. shee intimates that possession was not sure enough insinuating that her Desires were not yet filled with the Beholding end enjoying of him but that should be when shee had brought him into her Mothers house And this is when the Bridegroom doth not only present himselfe as a Lord but even as a very Bridegroome not only by whispering Inspirations but also by secret Touches trayning the Soule not as a Tutor by Rules but as an affianc't Lover by amorous allurements Yet since this Enjoyance and Vision of her Dearest hath not yet reacht the top of her extent she ceases not to cry to him Who shal give me thee my brother sucking the Duggs of my Mother that I may finde thee abroad and kisse thee The which at length she attains to in the third step of this Manifestation much cleerer and excellenter then the former and which is then ascended when as the Bridegroome drawes so neere his Bride that shee sees his very shadow even his God-like Image whereunder she curiously surveyes him keepes company with and muses on him chusing there to set up her Rest saying I sate under the shadow of him whom I loved There she hears him There she adores him There shee entertains his familiar parleyes amorous discourses and sugred expressions There shee receives the promises of Life the token of contract and full assurance of solemnizing of the Wedding There shee imbosoms and kisses him There she gets the Jewels Chains and Wedding Garments And lastly there she 's inabled to stand the Essential spritely entercourses of her Bridegroome under whose shadow shee sits till the day dawn and the shadows decline Yea even till the Wedding day and Essentiall Vision when that vaile or shadow whereunder she saw him shall vanish and passe away For which Wedding and happy Vision day shee waites with deepe sighes hanging on him with undenyable Importunity Show mee thou whom my soule loves where thou lyest in the Noone-day ô my Joy ô Center of my Heart where and how I shall find thee ô my God naked without vaile without Image shadow or obscurity Which lowly desire her inflamed Lover not able to withstand strips himself before her according to her wishes letting her see him in a manner not only unutterable but also incomprehensible And this makes up the fourth step which againe is so much eminenter then all the rest that not only they that have never proved cannot conceive it but even others that sometimes have tasted it are not able to comprehend the Lustre thereof since it transcends all Imagination working of the Understanding wit reason and judgment of Man because 't is done without Man For as the Bridegroome humbles himselfe below himselfe So his Bride rebounds herselfe above herselfe mutually meeting to celebrate the Marriage In this step she sings I turned to my Beloved and he to me that she might declare their Actuall Union and their Mutuall enjoyance of each other in Spirit and Trueth And againe in another expression thereof shee saith My Beloved shall lodge beâ—weene wy Breasts Next after this full Manifestation follows a full Satisfaction oâ— the Desires by necessary consequence The more this Manifestation is encreased the more is thâ— desire filled So that when the Manifestation is in her full cleernesse then is the desire compleatly satisfied First in that vehement longing desire God was though hâ— shewed himselfe but obscurely Thâ— more that Desire blazed the moâ— did God discover himselfe therein aswell because of his great Lighâ— Glory and familiarity as of thâ— soules larger Capacity So thâ—â— when at length the Desire is streamed up to her highest pitch Goâ— also opens himselfe in full perfection Whereupon the soule beholding him in her selfe as in a manifest Vision hath whatsoever she câ—â— long for and her desire is fullâ— contented As wee see a Vessell oâ— Spunge that drencht in the Sea are filled to the Brim which when they be full are able to hold no more so the Desire being fulfilled and satisfied can wish for no more For since 't is true that nothing can let in more then it can containe according to that of the Philosopher All that is received is received according to the measure of the Receiver It followes that neither can the Desire stretch it self to wish for any more when 't is full For as the receipt of a Vessell is the measure of his hollownesse So the Capablenesse of the Desire is her Contention in desiring And as that hollownesse once filled the Vessell is full So this Appetite being satisfied the Desire can hold no more But surely this Appetite is satisfied by the Manifestation of God in the Soule and consequently the Desire is filled all particular Acts being brought to a fuâ— point and all working ended iâ— the end Whence necessarily arisâ— the third point that is the dyinâ— of the same Desires acts and woâ—kings because the desire being fuâ— vanishes and the acts working having reacht the Marke doe ceaâ— to bee For as the graine wheâ— once it hath brought forth cornâ— appeares no more so these Desireâ— Acts and workings having tooâ— their effect i. Fruition of Goâ— doe cease any further to be
it as a Serpent and to welcome it as a desired good Above all t is chiefely remarkable that to finde Christ in his Passion in us we must see nothing but dolours and afflictions For he that should seeke yea or entertain sensible Comfort should open a free passage to Illusions Let therefore all our paines and tribulations be welcommed not as crosses but as Jesus Christ Let him be considered and beheld as crucified in us Let all our sorrowes afflictions and evills whatsoever of body or of soule bee cast into the burning fornace and flames of the Torments of Jesus where they may be all consummate and united to his sorrowes So may we truly say with the Apostle I am crucified with Christ And follow his exhortation Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus Nor let any turn it to presumption thus to know behold God in our pains But rather let him see how that the Inventory of al vertues is infolded therein which Truth it selfe accompanies and confirmes And first a perfect Selfe-denyall here showes it self which not only constraines a Man setting aside all selfe-seeking to beare patiently afflictions reproaches and bitternesses but also to welcome them joyfully to accept them as high favours There appeares also in that soule an invincible Faithfulnesse towards her Coelestial Bridegroome inasmuch as she acknowledges him not only in himselfe but also in his Creature embracing him in the thicket of thorny afflictions in Littlenesse looking up to Greatnesse and adoring him in reproaches and forlornnesse And now I say what a wondrous resignation is found in this practise where the Cup is thus received What Unconquerednesse where t is thus supt off What a patience in this Endurance What undismaidnesse in thus casting her selfe among the Thorns What a flame of Love where thus she head-longs her selfe into the fornace of Tribulations What a strange constancy in thus refusing to goe forth Yea annihilating her self that God may be exalted in her heart as 't is said Man shall goe to a high mind and God shall bee exalted And lastly where that Christ may live the soule chuses to dye as they that said We received the sentence of Death within our selves Nor can Presumption take any place in us because there we discern the Passion of our Lord. For before we can so discerne him wee must be as farre estranged from our selves as from all other things by an absolute Selfe-denyall and by hearty embracing of bitternesse and affliction Nor can we there think our selves to be any thing because of the presence of God whom we behold within us Notwithstanding though I take this practise for the more perfect yet since divers men have divers devotions I would not tye al sorts of Soules to this way especially those that stand not yet in high favour in the Godhead though otherwise they have growne up in spirituall Life For such cannot perfectly discerne how God is in their Afflictions There be also some events wherin 't is requisite to behold the Passion of our Lord in himself as when no occasion presents it selfe of beholding his Passion in our selves neither by affliction bitternesse nor any contradiction For though an Illuminate Man can hardly want occasion to practise it in himselfe sometimes by acceptation of bitternesse sometimes by refusing of pleasure bodily or spirituall yet sometimes it happens that either no such is presented or else t is so little and almost of no moment that it beates scarce any or no impression in the Soule so that the Passion of Jesus Christ cannot be discerned in her Also in making a long prayer For then such flouds of Divine influences streame into the Soul that all sense of affliction contradiction bitternes is spent no impressiō of them left in the Soule So that she cānot see the Passion in her self Lastly the Passion of Christ cannot be seene in our selves when the soule is so sublimely raysed and findes the Passion so perfectly in her selfe that she cannot but behold that Passion which Christ suffers in her and that which hee suffered in himselfe to be but only one For then shee sees his paynes sometimes in himselfe sometimes in her self without difference Eftsoons also almost al the stations of the Passion at once without multiplicity a matter of high moment yet nothing letted by variety of the formes because shee sees God alone in them all CHAP. XIX What this Image ought to be and how t is to be beheld NOw come wee to see what a one this Image ought to bee whereunder we behold the Passion And first I say if it bee the Image of the paines of Christ our Lord himselfe it need not be universall I meane of the whole Passion but of some particular part thereof that so it may bide printed in the heart and imagination without which impression it falls from the memory and so must that contemplation which depends thereon But if that Image be of his paynes in us then may it well be universall of all the dolours and afflictions inasmuch as the impression of our feeling makes us alwaies remember them yet chiefely wee are to apply ourselves to the heaviest of them for there will Jesus shew himselfe most because wee there finde our selves least Besides if wee deale with the Passion of our Lord in himselfe it must be imaginary but if wee behold it as it is in ourselves it is not then to be imagined but beheld just such as wee really feele in our selves But whether of the two soever it be wee must neither adde nor detract one jot from the forme thereof but without the least alteration to receive the same exactly as it offers it selfe Where many erre longing to change them both into another more exquisite sublime and godlike despising as it were that simple and naked forme of Christ crucified that first presents it selfe to the eye as too base earthly corporeall and having almost nothing divine or excellent therein where flat contrary the more vile and forlorne the image or forme is whereunder we behold the Almighty crucified the more stupendous will the mystery appeare and the soule bee the higher raised which is most remarkeable The same I say also of that forme which is in our selves not by imagination but by tasting of sorrow heavinesse and bitternesse bodily or spirituall that it behoves us to rest therein content neither altering it by our owne industry nor languishing to have it changed into another forme by infusion of any sweetnesse or consolation Where many deceive themselves who tossed with the waves of unfaithfulnesse sensuality seem to say to our Lord If thou beest the Son of God command that these stones of hard affliction bee made bread of comfort In this hunting for comfort appeares seansuality in saying If thou be the Sonne of God unfaithfulnesse shewes her selfe as indeede it befalls too often that the soule seeing such an image or bitternesse growes intangled and
Christ Jesus His Godhead illuminates us in Contemplation It is Manhood shewes Action And even as he grows slenderly in Contemplation that sees not his Godhead to draw Light therefro so neither in Action moves he rightly that proposes not his Manhood for direction And as in the whole course of our Life there is alway somewhat to be done so this Manhood is alway to be borne before our eyes Secondly in Contemplation of the Passion Fervour and lively flames stirre up to Conformity and operation but abstract Contemplation of the Godhead alone produceth no such effect Thirdly in the one God is found in stability of strength and practise as well outer as inner In the other he is only found in the Inner but as for the outer all growes cold when need requires we goe forth to operation especially when the same requires any length of time In the one the soule when shee should act is left naked by sinking from her object whence shee borrowed her Light but in the other shee 's not so left because she retaines the same object in Contemplation that she does in Action 5. The one acquires us an Interiour but no exteriour habite The other enriches us with both 6. The Contemplation of the Passion containes those two wayes leading to God Abnegation and Affection But the Contemplation of the Godhead kindles indeed the Affection but shewes no such practise of Abnegation How shall any man be thought to love Jesus Christ that turnes his back upon him hanging on the Crosse that so losing fight of him he may give himselfe to Contemplation of the Godhead For the second point wee are not only to cleave fast to the Passion willingly and with all our might and not to the Godhead alone But also none ought to let himselfe be drawne from it No though he had some Inclination and a doore seemed to stand open For if upon every call which seems to lure aloft the Passion should be left it would never be possible to search out discover the depth of this Mysterie which as it is grounded not only in the heigth of the Godhead but also in the forsakennesse of the Manhood so that it may be throughly sounded both must be beheld and not the Godhead alone For as one climing a Tree cannot consider the height of it if he stare at the Top only never looking at the rootâ— So he that by Contemplation ascends the high Tree of the Myâ—â—erie of the Incarnation 〈…〉 possibly discerne the height 〈…〉 of if he aym only at the Godheâ—â— overlooking the forsaken and despised Manhood And as those two be conjoyned in the same person so they are to be beheld with one simple sight and not appart Where in my judgement many erre very much who finding some Light by beholding the Passion when by meanes thereof they should dive into the same with a steadier eye and search deeper to the Intimatest secrets of this stupendous Mysterie there to finde that supreame God cloathed with Mortall Flesh beaten with stripes boar'd with nayles and cruelly fastned to a Crosse till the ravisht Soule roar'd out and were forc't to goe forth of her selfe they on the contrary straight forsake the Manhood and imboldned by that small glympse they have got presse to arise to his naked Godhead whither nathlesse they attaine not but leave it as fluttering in the ayre Or if they seeme to approach it the same is so little that the Soule soone faints little bettered thereby wandring Light-mindedly untempered to endure the fulgour of Divine Light but thence held off remains a Vagress growing in no knowledge either of the Godhead alone by abstraction or of the Godhead Manhood together by the Passion In the Passion we finde the glorious Godhead suited to our Capacity which of it selfe is a Light inaccessible For as he that would see the Sunne darts not his eyes immediately upon his glistering rayes but taking a bason or some other vessell of water fits the same to his fight So may we say of the Godhead which hee that desires to see must hehold it in the Manhood wherein 't is adapted to the sight of the Soule And as he that will looke full at the Sun rather dazles the quicknesse of his sight witnesse they that will look on him in his eclipse so those souls which overtopping the Manthood presse to adhere immediately o the Godhead do no other but blind themselves Nor let them thinke that God inviteth them to his Naked Godhead when hee imparts that Light But he gives that Light that they may the better behold his Passion and not that they should prye up to his naked Godhead For if the Manhood were so sleightly to be left to proceed to the Godhead alone then were it granted and concluded that the Passion is scarce at al to be minded for it requires some Light If then having received that Light wee must straight flye to the naked Godhead dismissing the Manhood What then shall become of the knowledg of this Mysterie and the Imitation of the pattern of our Life But God by imparting such Light to us is so farre from inviting us to behold his naked Godhead that contrariwise hee gives the Soul endeavouring the same a touch of her mistake saying Turn away thy eyes from me for they have drove me away As if he should say So long as thou lookedst on my Passion thou sawst me and enjoyedst me after thy hearts desire both Manhood and Godhead at once But since thou withdrewest from thine eyes the glasse of my Passion which proportioned me to thy capablenesse and hast betook thee to behold my God-head alone the lustre of whose sight thy weak eves are not able to endure I have withdrawne my selfe from thy sight and fled far from thee Turn then away thine eyes from me and from my sole Godhead and fasten them on my Passion there thou shalt find me abundantly We are not therefore by help of such Light to soare aloft though God impart that Light unto us unlesse the Attraction of the holy Ghost be so Majesticall that it suspend all the powers of the Soule as by repture or extasie For then the soule her weake forces spent must let goe her hold and yeeld to the Rapt The Angel having wrestled long and strong with Jacob at length spying light said Let me goe T is morning The Angell represents our Lord Jacob the Christian Their wrestle that lowly and love-sicke duel acted betwixt God and his Spouse who finding him in his Passion cryes out I found him whom my soule loveth God of God Light of Light very God of very God begotten not made consubstantiall with the Father by whom all things were made And seeing that great God thus cloathed in our flesh and therein tortured with Torments rapt in amazement and drunke with his Love fastning her eye on him in this Agony and now enflam'd with Zeale and Love shee vowes never to goe thence but embracing