had drawn out all my Misery from the bottom where it lay hid to present it to the Eyes of my Heart there arose a great Tempest which was followed by a great Shower of Tears This weeping does not always come from a Sense of Sin 't is sometimes caused by a jarring diversity of Thoughts and a confusion of good Emotions which cast the Soul into a sort of Disorder but which is much better than the greatest Calm Meditation HOW were it to be wisht that men were as holy as they are Eloquent and knowing pourtraicts they make but where shall we find the Originals I see plainly that the characters of true Devotion are curious and ravishing but alas the more I enter into this Meditation the more do I continue confus'd When I consider what I ought to be to be devout and I examin what I my self am I find that I am nothing or that I am not just what I should be I do not find in my self those ardent desires to be with my God and to converse with him by holy Prayer and Meditation My Soul languishes but it is not after the house of my God nor after the solitude of my Cabinet It languishes for it is feeble and weak in all the motions of Piety I do violence to my own heart in drawing it out of the clutches of the World to put it into the hands of God I enter into my Closet to do my Exercises of Piety rather to acquit my self of a Duty which I have imposed on my self than to follow my own inclinations Where is that Joy which I ought to taste in the Acts of my Devotion Where is that being unbound from the World renouncing of all carnal thoughts where is that Fervour and Alacrity the Extasies the Flames the Illuminations of that heavenly fire whereof I am a reading the description All is dead in me If I would quit the World to enter into my Closet I carry it still along with me In all the faculties of my Soul I feel a monstrous weight and dulness which arrests all my Elevations and makes me tumble down back again to the Earth my Jertings up are feeble and of a short Durance they hardly go half Way to Heaven Prayer HAve pity on my sad Estate my Father and my God Draw me and I will run after thee Why should I remain in the shadow of Death Thou Sun of righteousness that carriest healing in thy Wings raise me up and quicken me Let the East from on high visit me with the Bowels of his Mercy Let my heart burn within me whilst I read thy Scriptures and hear thy Word Let my Prayers be ardent and my Piety constantly sustained by the force and flames of thy Grace and loving kindness And thou my Soul do not attend this loving kindness with Arms across go meet it call and say Come Lord Jesus come quickly O God of my Salvation awaken my heart Awake thou that sleepest and arise from the dead and Christ shall give thee Life Chase away sloath let it no longer lye in the bed of security banish all coldness rid thy self of that burthensome weight that oppresses thee Take the Wings of an Eagle and to Heaven fly into the bosom of thy Saviour and thou shalt find Sweets which thou hast never yet tasted never seen never heard of and which never enter'd into thy Imagination to conceive CHAP. III. The great necessity of Devotion WHO can doubt on 't and is it not sufficient barely to know and to describe it to perswade us to it Devotion is the Soul of the Soul and the very Life of Piety 'T is that which sets a price and value upon the Duties and the Worship of a faithful Soul A due Preparation is necessary to every thing An Orator who is to speak in publick first amasses his matter together and then assays to put it into a good Form A Souldier being to fight prepares his Army and rouzes his courage He that goes to a Marriage puts on a Wedding Garment And why then do we take upon us to present our selves before God in Prayer in reading or in hearing his Word in imploring his Assistance or rendring him Actions of Gratitude without having the holy disposition of Piety and Devotion that are before him of so great Price We do ever that thing well which we do heartily but when the Heart is no Party in the business it avails nothing The Souldier who carries not his Heart along with him turns his back in the day of battle and the Orator whose Heart is not toucht with what he says will never touch that of others If without the Heart we cannot perform the works of the Tongue and of the Hand how shall the work of the heart it self be done without the Heart This is what I call the Exercises of Piety and the Service of God A Lute can it be plaid upon unless it be string'd and tun'd can a Bow shoot unless it be bent the Heart is an Instrument and a Lute the sound whereof charms the Ears of the Almighty but it must be strung with all its Vertues as with strings and Devotion must be to it a kind of Soul that makes every thing else to act Prayer is an Arrow that flies to the Heav'ns but Devotion only gives it both strength and Feathers Prayer is a Sacrifice and an offering of the Heart We must not therefore present common Riches to God without preparation and choice and the Passover-Lamb was separated from the Flock four days before its Immolation Let not the Sinner then offer to God dirty and soyl'd Prayers but pure and devout ones let him separate his heart from the vanities of the World and the Folly of his vain thoughts if he will be well-pleasing to God Without Devotion the Soul is dead the heart is but in its Body as in its Grave What rashness then to lay a dead and corrupted Beast upon the Altars of God will not God say I hate your Oblations the Peace-Offerings of your fat Beasts and the perfume of your Incense I cannot away with them Devotion is a Fire without which our Sacrifices could not be consumed It 's a Fire coming down from Heav'n it 's an emanation of the Rays of the Sun of Righteousness it s what must lift up the Smoak of our incense to Heay'n Assure thy self thou Christian Soul that thy offerings are in the right way and that the Flames of Devotion are alone capable of piercing those Clouds thickned by Iniquity that separate us from God The matter that makes thunder-bolts so massy and heavy would not alwayes be mounted in the middle Region of the Air from whence we see 'em hurl'd down upon the Earth were it not carried upon the Wings of some inflamed Exalations In like manner our Earthly Prayers as well as our hearts would not be able to mount the Skies did not the flames of Devotion lift them up So that we ought to put our
heart into a good condition to hope a good success of its worship Tho never so much prepared it cannot be too good for him to whom we ought to present it It will be an acceptable thing to be receiv'd in this Estate And what on the contrary can we expect in presenting to him an indevout Soul but a shameful and sad refusal God does not hear our prayers unless the Heart be disposed to make them Seek and ye shall find saith our Lord but seek with zeal otherwise ye shall not find God said once I was found of them that sought me not But this does not happen every day this is but one of those singular events whereby general Rules are not established But the Law in common bears Ask and it shall be given Lay hold on the Kingdom of Heaven and thou shalt obtain it To what is not Devotion useful It is of use in all Places all times and all things as well in the Closet as the Church thereby we hear the Word pronounced by men as if it were truly the word of God and receive it as the dry and chapped Earth does the rain Hereby the Consecration of the Divine benefits touches us the thought of God's love inflames us his promises comfort us his threatnings terrifie us and his Consolations have their Efficacy upon us Without this the word which ought to be a two-edged Sword recoyls and turns its edge on the hardness of our hearts and without this we joyn the Sin of Insensibility to that of Impenitence By this we look upon every thing in the Church with veneration the Preacher as the Embassador of the Gospel his Word as the voice of Heaven The Faithful as the Children of God and as it were a Troop of Angels that always rejoyce in his presence the Sacraments as precious vessels the appearance whereof is contemptible but which do contain the Treasures of his Grace and Mercy It 's Devotion that makes our Closets to become little Churches whether the Divinity descends and upon which it extends its Wings like the Cherubims over the Mercy-seat where God speaks to our heart as we speak to his ears where he makes us understand his Oracles and taste his Consolations where he says to us in a still small voice My Son or my Daughter Be of good chear arise thy Sins are forgiven thee Oh! how blessed is the faithful Soul that God honours with such sacred Entertainments Now he does never do this but when call'd upon if not forced by an ardent Devotion These desires of Devotion may be the Eyes of the Spouse whereof it is said Turn away thine Eyes from me for they have overcome me Far be from hence those prophane Wretches that know not the use of Devotion They say that Valour is the Rampart of Estates and the Tutelary Angel of the Publick and of Privates that Liberality sweetens the misfortunes of the miserable that Justice is the nurse of Peace and the ligament of Society that Temperance causes tranquillity of mind and health of Body But say they Devotion 't is alone that is good for nothing but to render the mind weak and effeminate and to depress the Spirits Do not call so universal a Vertue unprofitable without which all the rest are meer shadows for he that having not a habit of Devotion does not refer all his vertues to the Glory of God is a bad good man Do not call that an useless Virtue which appeases the wrath of God and turns away the Tempests flying over States a Virtue which had drawn Sodom out of the Fire had there been found there but ten devout Persons like Abraham who would have Devoutly with him interceded for it a Virtue which saves the Church so often from ship-wrack a Virtue which in the Conscience raises up and establishes a profound Peace and a Divine Light Do not fay that it softens the Mind seeing it confirms the Courage makes men run to death as to a Feast makes 'em to despise Perils and in its occasions mannages nothing wherein the Glory of God is not concerned Meditation SEE one of the causes of my luke-warmness and one of the reasons why my Soul is little devout The necessity of Devotion it comprehends not whereas it knows that Food is necessary for the conservation of its bodily Life It desires nourishment with a great ardour and searches after it with a marvellous diligence But negligent it is in all those things which serve to nourish Piety and the flames of Devotion since it does not beleive that 't is of any great use Thou see'st O my Soul some who save themselves with a languishing Piety and go to Heaven at a very slow pace Thou persuadest thy self that God will not be more rigorous to thee and that there will not be more exacted from thee than from others But alas what an errour and fallacy is there in this reasoning Such an one as thou believest to be in the way to Heaven is a marching towards Hell There is such a way that seems right to man the end of which nevertheless is Death These chill Devotions wherewith People believe God is well paid are oftentimes very fruitless They may think it fine one day to say we have prayed to thee we have invok'd thy Name we have served thee The Lord will not fail to answer I do not know who ye are go far from me ye that are neither cold nor hot I will cast you up out of my mouth Prayer MY God conduct my Soul in the surest path I know not how to sound thy Mercy nor do I know how far the severity of thy Juctice will carry it self and no further I know not whether thou wilt pardon so many People that serve thee with so little Zeal and so much indevotion That which I know is that they are unworthy of thy clemency anâ— that they cannot be saved unless they sincerâ—ly repent of having served thee with so much indifference Let the Candle of my Soul thâ— holy Spirit which has inlightened thy Church in all ages and the faithful at all times inspire me with such frankincense of Devotion as with which I know that one may be saved and without which I know not if one caâ— be saved Kindle my heart that it may be an Altar where an eternal Fire may burn in which all my sacrifices may be consumed and which may make all my prayers as thâ— Perfumes of incense to mount up in thy Presence CHAP. IV. That Devotion is extremely rare and neglected HERE is an Exception to the general Rule that things rare are esteemed nothing in the World more rare than Devotion and nothing more neglected Herein men do not sin through Ignorance they know very well what we have said in the precedent Chapter that without these devout dispositions or Prayers they cannot please God Nevertheless one cannot Express the horrible negligence with which they perform this pious Duty as well as all others
and we have need of a free mind They make real Joys and Griefs to spring up for imaginary Adventures Into the Mind they put Idea's and into the Heart vain Motions which ruine the holy Dispositions that we would establish in a devout Soul The same I say of a Play a Fury which agitates men like a kind of Demoniac Spirit A Man sees his Life and his Death that I may so speak his Fortune and his Misfortune a rouling with inconceivable Transports and Inquietudes His Soul is agitated at the same time with a thousand Passions with Fears Desires Hopes and his Heart is entirely put besides the Seat Is such a Man in a Condition to lift up his Soul to God Such fine Devotions as these are they which are made after having past half the Night in this exercise The Tempest has been over great a long time will the Waves be moving the Soul will be a good while levelling it self and yet after this the Sweetnesses Devotion will not be according to the Palate for thâ— they are not carnal Pleasures of which alone it sensible Whence it comes to pass that young Peâ—ple are very rarely fit for the Elevations of Devotion They are but lately come into the World and all 〈◊〉 it appears mighty fine These Pleasures they gâ—â— down by long Draughts and nothing appears pleasâ—â— unto 'em but what flatters Flesh and Blood whiâ—â— boils in their Veins Hence also it comes that thâ— Constitution where the Blood has the Ascendaâ—â—â— which is the Temperament of the World's Joy is 〈◊〉 proper for Devotion than that which has the Ingredâ—ents of Earth and Melancholy the former is like 〈◊〉 Matter extreamly combustible which takes fire 〈◊〉 the least Sparkle but the latter being more difficuâ— to be moved is less sensible of what charms other and that which pierces through them negligentâ—â— passes it by We ought therefore to draw Men out of this erroâ— They imagine they can divide themselves betwiâ—â— heavenly and earthly Joy but it is impossible In thâ— Rank of unclean Creatures the Law plac'd those Amphibious Birds which both swim and flye and live in 〈◊〉 double Element of Air and Water This is the Eâ—â—blem of worldly Men evermore they swim in fleshly Pleasure and sometimes by weak Soarings they try to get out thence and reach Heaven but it happenâ— to 'em just as it does to those Aquatic Fowls whose flight goes no further than to touch and curle the Superficies of the Water with their Wings and then they forthwith fall down again Delicate and rare says St. Bernard is the Divine Consolation 't is a chast Woman but jealous who deserving only to be beloved cannot give her self to him that runs after strange Women Wherefore Solomon pronounceth Vanity upon all the Pleasures of the Earth whereof he had made a very large Experience It 's for this also that David declares so of ten that he will not have any other Pleasure than that of his God To draw near to God is my Good to be united to him is my All. Forsake all says St. Austin and thou shalt find all for that Man will find all in God that despises all for God's sake Behold here one of the main Counsels which can be given to pious Minds which undertake to dispose themselves to Devotion Renounce renounce thou devout Soul all the Pleasures of the Earth and make choice of Spiritual ones let reading in holy Writings charm thee as worldly-minded People are charmed by their ill Books let religious Assemblies and preaching of the Word divert thee as much as they divert themselves by their criminal Shows let the Works of Mercy toward the Poor and Afflicted be used by thee as the men of the Age use their vain Courses their Sports and their Converse and if thou takest any Recreations and Refreshments let Honesty and severe Vertue be the Governess of all thy Pleasures Meditation HOW unhappy art thou O my Soul to be born in Aegypt and not to be ensible of the blessings of the true Canaan or this reason thou turnest thy eyes so ofâ—en upon the World and at the same â—our that thy Heart should be intite in â—eaven at the time of thy Devotion and â—ravers thou thinkest on Onions Garlick â—nd Flesh-pots which thou didst eat when thou wast the Slave of the Devil and thâ— World Thou hast not yet tasted thâ— delights of Pious and Devout Souls that say I am satisfied as with Marrow and Fatnesâ— Oh! how good the Lord is I have tasted him He brought me into his Banquetting-House His Love is sweeter than Wine and thâ— Honey Let him kiss me with the Kisses 〈◊〉 his Mouth Would to God I were honoured with these secret communication whereof my Saviour makes some Priviledged Souls to partake which fill them witâ— Joy even in the midst of Torments anâ— make them find musick in Prisons and 〈◊〉 the rattling of their Irons Learn O mâ— Soul learn to seek thy Pleasures and Dâ—lights in God he is the Source All Joâ— that comes not from him terminates aâ— length in grief saddness lamentations dâ—spair and gnashing of Teeth What doâ— my heart wish for what does it hunger anâ— thirst after dost thou love Beauty In Goâ— thou wilt find it and God will give it thâ— thy self for thou wilt become glorious anâ— full of light by the commerce thou shaâ— have with him Dost thou love Life anâ— Health He is the well of Life and in 〈◊〉 Light shall we see Light and he will communicate a Life to thee ever healthful and vigorous that is Eternal Life Dost thou love pleasures Lo he will make thee drink at the Stream of his Delights He will fill thee with the Wine prepared by the Divine Wisdom that saith I have mixt my Wine I have killed my fat Beasts He will cause thee to see such Objects as will ravish thee He will make thee hear a sweet and charming Musick in the consort of Angels and Saints who eternally sing the praises of our God After so many Blessings either already received or already possest in hope can I still be at all sensible of the vain Pleasures of the Earth Prayer O My God my divine Saviour come and fill my Soul with those sweetnesses that thou communicatest to thy faithful servants give me the bread which came down from Heaven the true Manna and bread of Angels that makes me taste of pleasures which stifle and choak the sense of worldly pleasures and the taste of sublunary divertisements Let thy Sabbaths be my Feast days Let thy word be sweeter to me than Honey and than the drops of Honey And let the meditation of those joys which thou preparest for me in Heaven ravish me in such a manner that I may be no more either the World's or my own but be intirely Thine Make Heaven to descend upon Earth in my favour Enlarge my heart Make there a little Paradise Shed down upon it so great an abundance of thy Light of
of his Closet we may say he shuts the door to the World saying to himself Get ye gone ye worldly Thoughts retire ye Objects of Vanity and approach not near this place let me rejoyce in the quiet of this secure Sanctuary and suffer me to give my self wholly up to my God The pious Soul after this manner dies many times a day for Death does not more efface the Images of worldly things than Devotion when it takes a Christian out of the World This Soul may say at such a time The World is crucified unto me and I unto the World I live yet not I but Christ liveth in me and the Life which I now live in the Flesh I live by the Faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me We need not wonder if the World quits the place in this moment since I suppose that it before took up but very little Room in the Soul whereof I speak God comes to possess it wholly of which he had before the better for the devout Heart ventures to say The whole is in God and God is in every part In this state if by peradventure it casts its Eyes upon the World it looks down from on high and with an Eye of Contempt Alas What are these same Riches says the faithful Soul these Honours and Advantages which frequently terminate in eternal Death to compare with the Riches that God here bestows upon me But near to God himself whom I possess these earthly Goods will vanish and be lost but I will never lose him who holds me and whom I hold and Death which will disrobe the Living of their Pomp will invest me with new Glory The fourth Effect of Devotion is an Alacrity in running and advancing in the Practise of Piety A General flies to the Combat when he sees an assured Victory but the devout Person has other kind of wings which make him fly whither Devotion conducts him He knows not that 't is the drooping and weight of the Body that retains them who are call'd to Travel he has not the Sentiments of the Sluggard who rouls upon his Bed as a Gate upon its Hinges who fight Battles with his Boulster and wages Wars with Sleep and Idleness with a Design to be vanquished He is one of those Eagles of which some think our Saviour spoke Where the dead Body is thither will the Eagles be gathered together He knows that he shall find his Jesus once dead but now alive either in the Church or in his Closet he flies thither with the Swiftness of an hungry Eagle nothing is capable of stopping him Friends Enemies Employs Occupations Prayers Menaces Fears and Dangers all useless for in posting he can surmount all Obstaeles in the way Another Effect of Devotion is a certain Elevation of Soul which I cannot term otherwise than a sort of Extasie whereby the Soul is as it were ravish'd from its self 'T is so knit to the Contemplation of Coelestial Objects that not only it has no more intelligence of earthly things but it has no Sense no Ears no Eyes it sees not it understands not St. Peter while he prayed saw the Heavens opened and a certain Vessel descending to the Earth as it had been a great sheet knit at the four Corners St. Paul in Prayer was ravished even to the third Heaven and the Devout even at this time of day have their Extasie They see with Stephen the Heavens opened they are lifted up to Heaven with St. Paul for they enter into a secret Commerce with God The Soul inwardly is so taken up that it sees nothing at all of what passes without and contributing its whole force to the Contemplation of God no Wonder it has no more for other Objects Blessed are they says St. Basil who are fill'd with and infolded in the Contemplation of this true Beauty since being bound to it by the Cords of Charity and of an heavenly and divine Love they forget their Parents Friends Houses they forget even the necessity of eating and drinking And now why should it not be so in the Offices of Piety when ev'ry day this happens to us in the Affairs of the World While we are strongly fixt to Reading to disintangle a crabbed and knotty matter while we answer an Adversary a thousand Objects pass before our eyes whereof we do not take notice The devout Soul is so shut into it self so well gathered up and compacted that no external thing is able to move it If it prays it is intirely in Heaven if it hears it is wholly tyed up to the Tongue of him that speaks if it reads its heart is always where the eyes terminate themselves if it meditates it is all over plunged in it's subject and if a Flock of Birds of vain and light Thoughts come to soil its Sacrifice as that of Abraham it scares them away incontinently This is that which I understand by the Extasie of Devotion otherwise if you take this term for effectual Ravishments which were the Priviledges of the Prophets and Saints of the first Order I must take an infinite deal of pains to believe that the Holinesses of the Roman Cloyster do oblige God as some would fain perswade us so ordinarily to communicate such extraordinary Graces Now a days we do not see those Devotions which lift up not only the Souls but make the Body to lose its Earth and raise it to the very Clouds Nevertheless if we would believe some who call themselves good Authors there is nothing more common The last Effect of Devotion that I shall mention is a certain Fire that warms the Heart One cannot well conceive it unless one had felt it and I cannot express it otherwise than in the words of holy men Did not our Heart burn within us while he talked with us and while he opened to us the Scriptures My Heart was hot within me while I was meditating the Fire burned then spake I with my Tongue We are told how the Faces of the Saints have been oftentimes seen to be bright and inflamed in the midst of their Devotions which could not proceed but from the glowing and fiery affection of the Heart which manifests it self accordingly in the Countenance This Fire we may call a Fermentation of the Spirits of Piety which not seldom make Impressions even in the eyes And hence it may be came the shining of St. Stephen's Face of which it is said that his Enemies saw it as if it had been the Face of an Angel his Zeal and his Devotion were evident in his Eyes and render'd 'em sparkling Now this Lightning is not without its Rain I mean that this Fire is ordinarily accompanied with Tears The Heart is heated blows up that Heat makes it grow bigger then it self grows tender and at last the Eyes melt into Tears St. Austin represents himself in one of these Illuminations or rather Inflamations of Heart After says he that a strong Meditation
my self before thee with little reverence PART II. Of the Sources of Indevotion CHAP. I. Of Impurity of Life The first Source of Indevotion SInce Indevotion is so great an evil let us try to find out its sources that we may cut up this evil by the very Roots Now one of the principal ones is Impurity of Life nothing disconcerting an heart so as an evil Estate of Conscience nothing more extinguishing the fire of Piety than the loathsom and muddy waters of Sin Fire does not easily take in things soak'd in water Devotion cannot easily be brought to fit Souls penetrated with Vice one flame puts out another and the fire of Covetuousness choaks that of Zeal as the flame of Gunpowder extinguishes that of a Candle Devotion is a certain alacrity of heart that disposes us to draw neaâ— to God with confidence but how should we have this Disposition when we are guilty of the Vice in going to present God with such offerings as we our selves know ought to be abominable to him for we know that God does not care for a sullied and unclean Sacrifice Go says he I hate I despise your solemn feasts your meat-offerings and sat beasts I receive them as the price of Whoredom as the bloud of a Swine and as a Dogs head Alas the most spotless man is not enough so to present himself before God with Assurance and the Prophet could say Wo is me for I am undone because I am a man of unclean lips mine eyes have seen the King the Lord of Hosts 'T is impossible therefore that he who has not the Wedding-Garment on whose Vestment is stained with the spots of the Flesh must needs be put into a vast consternation in thinking of him before whom the Stars and the Angels are unclean And how can this Fear or to speak better this Horour agree with Devotion which is all love and all assurance Let us go with confidence says the Apostle St. Paul to all devout Souls to the Throne of Grace that we may find mercy in the time of need To bring to God a criminal Conscience is to bring to him a witness against our selves to make our own process 't is to deliver us up into the hands of his severe Justice We need not therefore be startled if the wicked be Indevout and fly the presence of God And since Impurity of life wou'd do nothing else than take away the Hopes of being heard This would be enough to hinder and stifle all Devotion All the Vertues are interessed and he that would take away hope takes their very life away How then can a wicked creature that knows God will not hear him pray devoutly When you spread forth your hands I will hide mine eyes from you yea when you make your prayers I will not hear your hands are full of Blood It is for this reason that St. Paul would have us lift up pure hands without wrath and murmuring And David says If I had Iniquity in me the Lord would not have heard me 'T is for this cause he professes elsewhere that he washes his hands in Innocency before he goes to Gods Altar And why should God have any regard to the Prayers of those that have none for his Commandments upon these Principles the wicked man says to himself why should I present my self before God Have not my Iniquities barr'd up against me the Gates of Heaven and why should I go to ask of him that is resolved to refuse me Unprofitable Devotions wou'd these be and submissions that wou'd only serve to hasten my Punishment I cannot have the impudence to desire any thing without promising to my self somewhat but I am resolved to bridle nothing within me and to continue in this way of living 'T is better therefore that every one holds where he is Devotion is of a great extent it takes up the whole heart it cannot dwell in a Soul divided betwixt Avarice Ambition Violence Pleasure and the love of the World Wherefore if you sometime see those worldly Persons who refuse nothing to their heart to have their Days of Devotion well regulated and even sometimes to shed more Tears and fetch up more sighs than the Faithful you may without hesitating conclude that these are Hypocrites and pretended Zealots who would pay God with Phisiognomy and Posture and cheat the World with fine Appearances Perhaps some there are who believe they are not such badly devout People when they attone for a Months Debauch with a day of fasting But they deceive themselves for true Devotion is not unequal nor full of Sallies It does not resemble those Summer-Torrents which roul with a head-long impetuosity and do not continue but for a day So that holiness of Life is a preliminary of absolute Necessity to obtain Devotion This Vertue is one of the most excellent Graces that we receive from Heaven one of the most precious Gifts of the holy Spirit but 't is a Pearl which is not to be cast before Swine 'T is an Ennamel only to be layed upon Silver or Gold 'T is in one word a Favour communicated only to priviledged Souls that is to say to the pure and clean in heart But as we shall have occasion to touch again upon this subject in another Rencounter we will not drain it dry here Meditation WHo can express the Evils and the Disorders that Sin has caused in my Soul Who can recount all the Mischiefs wherein the Impurity of my heart ingages me Over and above all other Evils it brings me this too it renders me incapable of Devotion Sin has put a separation between my God and my self and therefore I am dead for God is my life and the Soul of my Soul I am blind for God is my Light Separated from him I am poor for he is my Treasure and makes up all my Riches I am naked for he alone gives me Rayment Sick I am for my health and strength comes from that Sun of Righteousness who carries healing in his wings Sin has rob'd me of him and has ecclipsed him as to me and I continue languishing away being far from the Principle of my Life In this faintness I know not how to produce those vigorous movements of Devotion that elevate the Soul and carry it towards Paradice Sin is a thick foggy heavy Wet that sticks to my Wings it is a Weight which oppresses me arrests all my Soarings and renders all my efforts useless I feel a Laâ— in my Members which Wars and oppoâ—ses it self to the Law of my Mind and makes me the slave of Sin Insomuch aâ— I do not the Good that I would yet I do the Ill that I would not Prayer O Divine Sun of my Soul break out and Dissipate these Clouds Thou great Deliverer break these Irons open this Prison and free me from this Bondage and Captivity Thou art most pure let me not be unclean Almighty let me not be miserable All Life let me not be dead Draw
and which Death at least would have infallibly ravisht from thee Dost thou not know that the World and its Fortunes are all of Glass They shine but they are brittle The least blow shatters them and makes 'em to flye into a thousand pieces why then shouldest thou think it strange that Glass should break between thy Fingers Why art thou so sensible of Injuries and Offences And why dost thou make the malignity of another thy own misery why dost thou so bitterly lament the loss of some Persons that Death has taken up from thee they were not thine they were Gods who lent 'em thee and has retaken them In short Why art thou so prodigal of Tears whereof thou reapest no fruit that is to imploy ones Labour in that which profiteth not When thou bewailest O my Soul thy misfortunes thy tears do not make thy misfortunes to cease but mourn for thy Sins and thy Tears will destroy them They will whirl them away like a Torrent or a Deluge and they will be found no more Thy carnal anxieties trouble thy Devotion But the Grief which thou shalt have for thy Sins and Infirmities will augment it and God will comfort thee Prayer COme therefore thou Holy Ghost the Comforter who wert promised to us by the Son in behalf of the Father Come sweeten my bitter Anguishes by thy Delights and Mercies Come and recompence my losses by thy Riches Give me such joy as passes all understanding Give me Piety that I may have contentment of Mind and that the one and the other being joyned together may be great Gain to me and compose my soverign happiness Come and place my Soul in so firm a Seat and Posture that it may never be jogged or stagger'd even by the rudest blows Come and restore back to me what I have lost Goods Possessions Houses Husband Wife Children Kindred and my dearest Frinds Come my dear Saviour and let me possess thee perfectly instead of all things The World has taken away all it hath given me But it cannot ravish from me what thou shalt bestow upon me I make a Sacrifice to thee of all the Goods which I have lost If I have not lost 'em for thy Name yet at least I at present patiently suffer the loss of them for thy Name 's sake And therefore I hope thou wilt reward me as if I had lost them for thee In this Hope I banish my Cares and Troubles far from me to the end they may come no more to disturb and interrupt my Repose O my God make the Walls of my Closet impenetrable Ramparts such as cannot be pierced by the Darts of my persecuting Enemies So that I may be there in thy Presence as in a quiet and safe Haven against the Tempests wherein my Life is lost and that so the Commerce which my Soul would have with thee may not be interrupted by the remembrance of my Misfortunes but I may forget all my Griefs and Calamities in thy Presence CHAP. V. Of Excessive Business A fifth Source of Indevotion THIS is also another branch of the Love of the World and another let and hindrance to Devotion We love the World and give up our selves intirely to its Imployments One imploys himself in Traffique and thinks of nothing else Another he is oppressed with the Affairs of other men which he makes his own through interest He pleads as he saith for the defence of Justice but it is too often for iniquity and though he gains his Cause yet he loses his Conscience A physician Visits his Patients with a design to make 'em pay dear for his Services and Attendance The man of business is ever thumbing his Arithmetick The Mechanick exercising his Trade the Husband-man Agriculture And to these several ways goes the greatest and best part of their time And so much is the World corrupted as they think they deserve praises in that among the sundry ways of spending time this is the most innocent but it becomes criminal as soon as it robs us of our God and slackens our Piety The mind of man is so made as it cannot vigorously tend but to one Mark it cannot ardently will but one thing insomuch as if thou givest up the ardour and force of thy desires to thy Family and thy Occupations God will but partake of the Reliques of thy Soul and thy languishing motions I do not pretend here as if Persons of all conditions could give up themselves wholly to contemplation This contemplative Life is the Life of Angels and not of men and since that we are in part Body we must also live after a manner partly corporal A Bird let its wings be never so strong cannot always be flying A Soul has not strength enough to be evermore lifted up to Heaven I know moreover we ought to serve the necessities of Nature In a word I do not oppose the Order that man has received from God to eat his Bread by the sweat of his Brows and by his labour six days in the Week all I aim at is that the imployments of Martha may not hinder the work of Mary and that the Body being the worse Part of us may not carry away the better part of our time If there be any thing wherein we ought to laud and praise the great condescention of God to us it is in this all our time is his but he pleased to give us six parts in seven Six days shalt thou labour and on the seventh rest Seeing he has forgone so much we ought at least to be very exact to pay him this Tythe of our time one day in seven one hour in seven Six hours therefore should not slip by in a day without returning to God to give him the seventh Do more and imagine not you can do too much since you owe him all Why will you not have the same regard and consideration for the Soul as you have for the Body On it you bestow Refreshment and Rest and for this you intercept your most important Concerns that you may repair the decayed forces of Nature Take heed there be not made too great a dissipation of the Spirits of Grace call the Soul to its exercises of Devotion as to repasts which renders it vigorous and as to sleep during which it lyes in the Arms of its God labour often in this Divine Recollection and to withdraw the Soul from those wandring courses it makes in humane affairs Meals and repasts hastily taken are followed with a difficult digestion and very little nourishment and therefore we repose our selves while we eat let not any one tâ—en imagin he can serve God whilst he is doing something else These stirrings and turbulent Devotions are of ill consequence and instead of nourishing do load and clog the Conscience We must therefore in our ordinary imployments set aside some hour wherein our Souls may retire themselves as it were in an Haven to rejoyce over a Calm after a boysterous Tempest Whilst the Water
ought to be the first thing in our Hearts so he must be the last too for he saith I am Alpha and Omega the Beginning and the End Let him open the door of our thoughts in the morning and shut it up in the Evening This will be a Seal which the Devils will respect tho we be disarmed all while asleep they will tremble at our sight and will not dare to come near us The destroying Angel in passing by will reverence this Impression and this fruit of the Blood of the Lamb. These Evening-Devotions will be an holy Seed cast on good Land which will not fail to spring up in the morning since the heart will find it no trouble to begin the present Journey where it had ended the preceding one And in as much as 't is true that the Soul abandon'd to its self in sleep is naturally carried to the last Objects of its waking we need not doubt but the dreams will be happy and the Images which arise from those last impressions which Piety had made upon the Heart will be very sweet ones The night it self is perfectly a friend to Devotion 'T is there that recollectings are very easie the Soul being not dissipated by present Objects Nothing is sweeter than to fill the heart with God when void of other things God is well pleas'd if a faithful Soul makes an Altar of its bed and makes him its vows in a retreat where are no witnesses Let thy body be laid provided thy Soul be elevated and thou fall upon the knees of thy Heart as Clemens Romanus phrases it These nightly Communications with God seem more near and strict since laying our selves down in our beds we bid fare-well to the World and banish its cares and troubles from us to give repose to the body The Soul finds it self in a blest estate and at its waking being disengaged from the World it hath all manner of Liberty to mount up to God Thus we see that a great â—â—rt of David's Psalms were compos'd in the night I will bless the Lord says he in the sixteenth Psalm who â—ath given me Counsel my reins also instruct me in the night â—eason He assures us in the sixth Psalm that he waters is bed with his Tears and the spouse saith by night I â—ught him whom my Soul loveth In a word we learn â—â—om History that Antony the Patriarch of the Hermits â—omplain'd very frequently of the Sun's return very â—ear in these Terms Why comest thou O Sun to trouble the rest of my Soul why risest thou so soon to tear me away from the service of my God why comest thou to rob me of the sight of my true Sun Meditation THE measure of God's love is to have neither measures nor bounds it is to contain all the degrees of Love The true rule for the hours of Devotion is to consecrate all our hours to him This is what thou oughtest to do O my Soul but thou canst not For thou draggest after thee a bodily prison which is an hindrance to thee Thy Affections cannot be tam'd so far thou art subject even to worldly necessities which will not suffer it How happy wilt thou be then when thou art in such a place where thou mayst give up all thy hours to thy Creator and Redeemer There being deliver'd from the bonds of Flesh thou wilt serve the father of Spirits in perfect Liberty But now thou dividest thy time betwixt thy Employments thy Divertisements thy Repasts and thy Devotions But then these four things shall not be distinct they shall all be blended together Thy continual occupation shall be to sing the praises of thy God and to contemplate his Glory Thy meat and drink shall be to do the will of thy Father which is in Heaven Thy Pleasure and Divertisement will be in a most intimate injoyment to possess him who is the Source of all Joy Thou shalt have no more hours of Devotion for this fourth thing will be mixt in the three others Thou shalt be ever all Flame and all Fire for the service of thy God in this will consisithy chief happiness wouldst thou then here belowâ— approach near the Glories of Paradice multiply and continue as far as thou canst thy Commerces and Communications with God If thou wert always with God God would be always with thee Now where God is there is Paradice When thou enterest into thy Close with most devout Dispositions God enters there with thee and after him a whole troop of Angels Cherubims and Seraphims for he incamps his Angels about them that fear him and especially at such times as they fear and serve him No Object is more charming to the Angels who seek the good and well-sare of Men than to see a person truly devout falling on his Face to the Earth bathing his Couch and Bosom in Tears breathing the most ardent sighs towards Heaven carrying his Eyes thither where his heart is and stretching forth pure hands to God that he may embrace him There is Joy in Heaven for one devout Soul as well â—s for one penitent sinner Wherefore it is Heaven seems to descend and come down as it were to this Spectacle Labour then O my Soul to be ever prastising Devotion as well as Repentance that Heaven may be glad and thy God come often to thee By these frequent Communications thou wilt become right like the Face of Moses The rays of that divine Sun will peirce and illuminate thee they will baâ—ish the Darkness out of thee and melt the Ice and Coldness that makes thee so heavy and neglectful And â—y beholding him often thou wilt become his Glass â—nd wilt be changed into the same Image from Glory 〈◊〉 Glory as by the Spirit of the Lord. Prayer O Sun of my Soul I seek thee with all my Strength hide not thy self from me and suffer no Eclipse disperse those Clouds which cover and separate thee â—â—rn me and rob me of the view of thy Light My sins â—confess continually raise thick filthy and malign vapours which may grow into Clouds and these Clouds afterwards â—â—duce the Storms and Thunders of thy severe Justice 〈◊〉 thou wouldst punish me as I deserve But from hence â—â—â—th O Lord hinder these Vapours from arising and dry 〈◊〉 their Source Let not my Heart be any more as a â—â—arsh full of unmoving and putrified Waters but let it be a living and pure Fountain Let it be no more an accursed Field abounding in Poysons but a fertile one in Flowers and Fruits of good-living and let none fly up to thee but sweet and kind Exhalations Prayers and giving of thanks that may cause a sweet-smelling Savour of atonement Let those sweet vapours be chang'd into sweet dews and let thy Grace falling upon my Soul like rain upon a thirsty Land make it to rejoyce and flourish and bring forth fruits of Righteousness Thou art my Light lighten me in the Darkness of the Night when I call upon thee in
that every moment we might be able to repeat them to our own Heart We should if it were possible habituate our Mind not to conceive its Thoughts and form its Meditations but in the terms which the Holy Ghost useth in the Psalms To the reading of Holy Scripture it will be profitable to add that of other good Books and herein I would give a Direction which some People have found very good which is to choose such Places and Chapters of Devotion which have once warmed you and to return often to the same places that your Heart may get an Habit of awakening it self at that view 'T is the ordinary Turn of all Minds to joyn certain motions of Heart with certain Images so as that assoon as the Images present ' emselves to the Mind those motions arise in the Heart for example if a Man has run an extream danger in a Wood the Image of a Forest will never offer it self to his Imagination but his Heart is seiz'd upon by some Chillness So our Heart having been once mov'd at the reading of some pious Discourse which had touch'd it to the Quick will not fail of being awaken'd at the presence of the same Thoughts in case we read them with a devout Intention and a design to be touch'd therewith This may be compar'd to what happens to barking Dogs which are quiet or otherwise as soon as they hear the Voice of those they are acquainted withal so the Heart being become familiar with those pious thoughts that had mov'd it oftentimes will evermore perceive in their Presence very near the same motions for it is not so with reading in holy Books as in Profane these please the first time the second the pleasure ceases but the third they are most insupportable The same thing perhaps may happen if you read a Book of Devotion for Divertisement to see there the neatness of Phrase and the beauty of Thoughts as this way of reading is for the Mind and not for the Heart one thing will not please you a second time This Thought discovers a Mystery to us somewhat obscure why that which touches some should not have the same influence over others Now the Reason is because all do not read with the same Dispositions and the same Intentions A Preacher that would preach an hour upon a pious Subject will read Books which may instruct him therein but if he has not a Soul naturally very devout they will have no great effects upon him because he comes with no Intention to be moved by them he only seeks for matter to fill up his hour Our Heart does very near what we would have it do insomuch as pious reading that it may be an help to Devotion ought to be done with a most devout Intention without which Condition it will be a very hard matter to make any progress in it But as much as the reading of good Books brings in Auxiliaries to Devotion so much it is ruined by the reading of bad ones 'T is a great shame to Christianity that now adays it makes more account of some mischievous Books than ever did the most corrupted Paganism Our Age and in particular this Kingdom might be justly noted with Infamy for that swarm of Romances which the effeminacy of our Hearts the corruption of our Minds and the wiles of the Devil have sent into the World We must needs be great Lovers of Lying since fifty Years have produced more Fables than six thousand Years could produce Histories and the Church must needs be very much corrupted to suffer and as it were to authorize such shameless Products so full of impure Imaginations Every devout Soul will have those Legends in Detestation for certain it is that nothing puts the Heart into greater Disorder I wish People be safe from the last Corruption and they proceed not even to the acting and imitating those irregular Examples in good earnest which they saw before in Jest however 't is sure that from the reading of these Books the Mind returns loaded with Images which grieve and drive away the Spirit of God and which are absolutely inconsistent with the Spirit of Devotion Meditation IF thou art ignorant O my Soul in the things which concern thy Salvation it 's wholly thy own fault Thy God opens two great books before thine Eyes where thou mayst be taught and instructed in the wonders of Heaven and of thy Salvation Often have I cast my Eyes upon Nature upon Heaven Earth the Mountains Rivers Fields and Forests oft have I carried my Eyes to the Planets and to the Stars But to my confusion I avow these Contemplations were barren done negligently without Application and Reflexion Do that therefore now O my Soul which thou hast never done yet view the Heavens and admire their Greatness and vast Extension Acknowledge the Greatness of the Maker his Strength his Wisdom his Power See how he has on purpose painted himself in all places and left his foot-steps wheresoever he hath past Look upon the Sun which pours forth so much fire which men call the Light of the World This is the Image of Thy God who is Light himself In thee is the Well of Life and in thy Light shall we see Light That innumerable multitude of fires that burn in the Firmament is the Emblem of those glorious Souls which shine in the highest Heaven of the blessed The rapidity of those vast and prodigious Machines which roul over thy head ought to make thee think of that robust Art which gives them their swing and impresses upon 'em their Motions The equality and justness of those Motions as regular as swift preaches to thee the Wisdom and Evenness of God's Actions who does nothing but what is just and reasonable The magnificence of those visible Heavens may without much ado conduct thy Meditation to the thought of another life and give thee some foretaste and conception of the Glory God prepares for thee in Paradice Those visible heavens so Splendid so Beautiful are but the threshold of that Palace where God makes ready an abode for thee Oh my Soul how Rich and Glorious must that house be whose very Avenues and Entries are so fine and pompous If from the heavens thou descendest into the Air which is the region of Storms and Tempests of Rains and Dews in the latter thou wilt see the Emblems of God's Favour and in the former the Messengers of his Vengance and the Instruments of his Fury The one will lead thee to the Consideration of his Justice and the other to the Consideration of his Mercy If thou descendest to the Earth thou wilt discover almost every where around thee an incredible multitude of sundry Objects that will instruct thee divers ways Some as well as the Heavens will speak to thee of God's Wisdom and Power Others will tell thee of thy own Weakness and Vanity of Death and the Necessity of dying of the Inconstancy of humane things and will give thee
an hundred other Lessons But all this is nothing to compare with the Knowledge to be had from the reading of that other book which God hath dictated to his Prophets and Apostles 'T is there thou mayest see the Abysses of the Divine Wisdom the infinity of his Love and the depths of his Mercy Without engaging thy self very deep in these Abysses what Fruit canst thou not reap from the Death of my Saviour and the Contemplation of his Cross thou wilt learn there how thou art to love for that is the School of Love thou wilt view thy Divine Saviour eaten up with the zeal of God's House burnt with the Flames of Charity He so loved the World that he gave himself up to Death for the World and that to a shameful cruel and tormenting death even that of the Cross He expos'd himself to all the arrows of God's Wrath he suckt the venom and underwent the weight of his Indignation and for whom for his Enemies 'T is thus O my Soul thou must Love This is but a very small part of the things thou mayst learn in that heavenly Book Prayer BVT O Lord I read in vain I meditate without success O my Sun infuse thy Rayes into my Heart open mine Eyes that I may see the wond'rous things of thy Law Make thy Word to be in me like a two edged Sword piercing even to the dividing of my Soul my Joynts and Marrow Thy Word is truth sanctifie me by thy Truth Let my Heart burn within me when thou speakest and declarest to me the Scriptures Let me receive thy word with a thirsty Soul and let it become unto me a Spring of living Waters bubling up to Eternal Life that I may be conducted by the Rivers of thy Grace to the Ocean of Glory CHAP. IX The fourth particular help to Devotion The use of Prayer I Do not design here to make any Commendation of Prayer nor to display all it's Uses which both the Antients and Moderns have done very Amply I shall only say that 't is one of the surest means to purifie the Soul since there is no Action whereby we approach nearer to God no time wherein he communicates himself more to us He hath been very often observ'd to give his Extraordinary inspirations in Prayer In praying St Peter fell into an Extasie Paul was ravisht to the third Heaven Cornelius in his Prayers receiv'd the Vision of an Angel Monica St Austin's Mother after her Prayers and Tears for the Salvation of her Son had in her dream that excellent Revelation of his Conversion An Angel tells her Afflict not thy self thy Son is with thee As God is the Sun of our Soul and jets his beams perpendicularly into our Hearts he must necessarily clarifie and heat them he disperses the vapours of the Inferiour part and draws his own Image there Now this Communication of the Raies of Grace is never made more than in Prayer I shall not stay to examine any further the Conditions with which Prayers should be made to be Devout it 's already shown enough that they ought to be Attentive Persevering and Ardent I shall only give here two Advices the one to avoid Weariness the other to avoid Distraction First I say that few Souls are capable of long Prayers For to render a Prayer perfectly devout there 's need of an extreme Contention of Mind an extraordinary Elevation and an entire loosening ones self from the World Now these Actions do a kind of Violence to the Soul which naturally tends to a releasing of it self and therefore they cannot be of any long Continuance If we give no relaxation to the Heart it takes it and rambles some where or other in spite of our teeth so as I would have the exercises of Devotion to be long tho divided into little spaces of time that they have many parts and each of 'em be short Devotion is composed of three principal Acts Reading Meditation and Prayer each of these need not be done presently so as to follow one another but they may be mingled for we must allow some grains to the Souls Weakness and we must keep it from disgust by variety A little reading may be the first degree of it's Elevation a little meditation on that reading will lift it a degree higher and after the reading and meditation a short Prayer will lead it to the highest degree of forgetting the World after which it will return wholly new to reading and Meditation in the same order In Prayer it will fly through the Air by the force of its own Wings and at its return to reading it will do like those Birds that weary with flying come to repose themselves not on the Earth but some very high Tree of their own choice so our devout Soul will come to rest it self not by falling on the Earth for 't will never set foot there nor permit the mind to return to the World but it will continue elevated upon the Props of the holy Prophets and Apostles Vr and Aaron will sustain it lifted up towards the Heaven and from thence taking its flight it will by little and little rise upon the Wings of Meditation untill it return by Prayers whither it was first lifted up This method undoubtedly will give it time to renew its strength it cannot hold out long if its course be push'd on to the utmost of its vigour but by taking breath and marching fairly on from time to time it will make a very great advance in a day The other Direction I would give regards those who having not been busied about the operations of the Mind are less proper for the great Elevations These People ordinarily make their Devotions in Prayers pronounced by heart from which way Distractions are almost inseparable These I would counsel to endeavour to untye themselves from Words and hold only to the Sense I do not mean that in their Family-Prayers they should dispense themselves from their Forms I know very well that all the World has not the gift of forming their thoughts and putting them into an order which may edifie the Publick but for the Devotions of the Closet they are rather to be made by Heart than by the Tongue When the Imagination does not make some endeavour for the production of its Thoughts and the choice of its Words in following the beaten Road which it fears not to lose it never fails of going somewhither else as having nothing to do in the place where we would retain it but when it gives Attention to the manner in which is necessary to express the things which the Heart has conceiv'd the Heart and the Imagination uniting their Forces make up a compleat Attention I cannot endure to hear some say That all the World is not capable of composing all are not able to compose for Men but to compose for God they are able Let us make never such Efforts to speak well we stammer in the Mouth before the Lord and