the call and sleepe againe seeing we were called onely to th' end we should rise We cannot hinder that the inspiration thrust vs not on and consequently put vs not into motion but if as it driues vs forwards we repulse it by not yeelding our selues to its motion we then make resistance so the winde hauing seased vpō ād mounted our Apodes will not beare thē vp very farre vnlesse they display their winges and cooperate raising themselues and soaring vp a loft into the aire toward which the winde began their motion but if contrariwise taken as it happens with some pray they espie vpō the ground or befium'd with their delay there in lieu of seconding the winde they keepe their winges foulded and doe cast themselues againe vpon the earth they receiued indeede the motion of the winde but in vaine sith they did not helpe themselues therby THEO inspirations doe preuent vs and euen before they be thought on make themselues be felt but after we haue felt them it is in our hand 's either to consent to them to second and follow their motiō or else to dissent and repell thē They cause themselues to be perceiued by vs without vs but without vs they doe not force consent Of the first feelings of loue which diuine inspirations cause in the soule before she yet receiue faith CHAPTER XIII 1. THe winde that raiseth the Apodes blowes first vpon their fethers as parts most light and capable of agitation by which it giues the beginning of motion to their winges extending and displaying thē making vse therof as of a hold by which it may sease the birds and waft them into the aire And if they thus mounted doe cōtribute the motiō of their winges to that of the winde the same winde that first enter'd their motion will still ayde them more and more to fly with ease Euen so my deare THEO when an inspiration as a sacred gale blowes vs forward in the aire of holy loue it first laies at our will and by the sense of some heauenly delectation moues vnfolds and extends the naturall inclination which she hath to good so that it serues it selfe of this inclination as a hold to fasten vpon the soule and all this as I haue saied is done in vs without vs for it is the diuine fauour that doth preuent vs in this sort But if our will thus holily preuented perceiuing the winges of her inclination moued displaied extended stirred and agitated by this heauenly winde doe in any measure contribute her consent ah how happie she is THEO for the same inspiration and fauour which hath seased vs mixing their action with our consent animating our feeble motions with their vigour and giuing life to our weake cooperation by the puissance of their operation they ayde conduct and accompanie vs from loue to loue euen vnto the act of most holy faith requisite for our conuersion 2. Sweete God THEO what a consolation it is to consider the sacred methode with which the Holy Ghost pouers into our soules the first rayes and feelings of his light and vitall heate O IESVS how delightfull a pleasure it is to marke how the diuine loue goes by little and little by degrees which insensibly become sensible displaying his light vpon a soule neuer disisting till he haue wholy couered it with the splendour of his presence endewing it in the end with the perfect beautie of his day ô how cheerefull faire amiable and agreeable this day-breake is Neuerthelesse true it is that either this breake of day is not day or if it be day it is but a beginning day a rising of the day and rather the infancie of the day then the day it selfe In like manner without doubt these motions of loue which forerunne the act of faith requisite to our iustifition are either not loue properly speaking or but a beginning and imperfect loue They are the first verdant blossomes which the soule warmed with the heauenly Sunne as a mysticall tree begins to put fourth in spring time which are rather presages of fruite then fruite it selfe 3. S. PACOMIVS as then a young souldier and ignorant of God enrolled vnder the colours of the armie which CONSTANCE had leuied against the Tyrant MAXENTIVS came with the Companie with whom he was to lodge nigh a little towne not farre distant frō Thebes where not onely he but all the armie were in extreame want of victualls which the inhabitants of the little towne hauing vnderstoode being by good fortune Christians and consequently friendly and charitable to their neighbours they sodainly succoured the souldiers in their necessitie and that with such care courtifie and affection that PACOMIVS was strucke with admiration therat and demāding what natiō it was that was so bountifull amiable and gracious it was answered him they were Christians and enquiring againe of what law and manner of life they were he learned that they beleeued in IESVS CHRIST the onely sonne of God and did good to all sorts of people with a firme hope to receiue euen of God himselfe an ample recompense therof Alas THEOT the poore PACOMIVS though of a good nature was then laied a sleepe in the beed of his infidelitie and behould how vpon a sodaine God was present at the port of his heart and by the good example of these Christians as by a sweete voice he calls him awakes him and giues him the first Feelings of the little heate of his loue for scarcely had he heard as I haue saied the sweete law of our Sauiour intimated till filled with a new light and interiour consolation retiring himselfe a part and hauing for a space mused he lifted vp his hands towards heauen and with a profound sigh fell into this speach Lord God who made heauen and earth if thou deigne to cast thine eies vpon my basenesse and miserie and giue me the knowledge of thy diuinitie I promisse to serue thee and obey thy commandements all the daies of my life From this praier and promisse the loue of the true good and pietie did so encrease in him that he ceased not to practise a thousand thousād acts of vertue 4. Verily me thinkes I see in this example a Nightingale who waking at the peepe of the day begins to stirre vp and strech her selfe vnfould her plumes skipe from branch to branch amidst the thickets and chirpe out her delicious notes For did you not note how the good example of the charitable Christians did excitate and stirre vp by manner of surprise the blessed PACOMIVS Truly the amaisement of admiration wherwith he was taken was no other thing then his awaking At which God touched him as doth the Sunne the earth with a raie of his heate which filled him with a great feeling of spirituall pleasure For which cause PACOMIVS did a little diuert himselfe To th' end he might with more attention and facilitie recollect and relish the grace he had receiued withdrawing himselfe to thinke thervpon then he extends
not for all that to be daughter and a beloued one to the Diuine Pleasure it loues her as much as consolation which yet in it selfe is more gracious yea it Loues tribulation more for that it sees nothing amiable in it sauing the signe of Gods will If pure water onely be my desire what care I whether it be serued vp in a golden bolle or in a glasse since I am to haue the water onely yea I would rather haue it in a glasse because it hath no other colour then that of the water which also I haue at a fairer view What doth import whether Gods will be presented vnto vs in tribulation or in consolation since I pretend nothing in either of them but Gods will which appears so much the better in that there appears no other beautie then that of the eternall pleasure 3. Heroicall yea more then heroicall was the indifferencie of the incomparable S. PAVLE I am pressed saied he of two sides hauing on the one side a desire to be freede from this bodie and to be with IESVS-CHRIST which is incomparably better yet on the other side a desire to liue for your sake Wherein he was followed by the great Bishop S. MARTIN who being got to the periode of his life pressed with an extreame desire to goe to God did yet testifie that he would most willingly remaine amongst the trauaills of his charge for the good of his flocke so that hauing ended this Canticle How wishfull are thy Tents How much belou'd O dreadfull God of Hosts My soule is mou'd VVith an extreame desire And sense doe sownd To be where ioyes abound My heart leapes and flesh makes strife After thee ó God of life He fell vpon this exclamation O Lord if I may yet be seruiceable to thy peoples saluation I refuse not Labour thy will be done Admirable was the indifferencie of the Apostle admirable that of this Apostolicall man They see heauen stand open for them in earth a thousand toyles they are indifferent in the choice of either nothing but the will of God can conterpoise their hearts Heauen appears no more pleasant then worldly miseries so Gods GOOD PLEASVRE be equally in them both Labours are a heauen to them if Gods will be found in theÌ„ and heauen is a Hell if it be not found therein for as Dauid saieth they desire not any thing in heauen or earth but that Gods GOOD PLEASVRE might be accomplished O Lord what is there in heauen for me or what can I desire in earth saue thyne owne selfe 4. The indifferent heart is as a balle of waxe in the hands of its God readie to receiue all the impressions of the Diuine pleasure It is a heart equally disposed to all hauing no other obiect of its will then the will of its God which doth not place its affection vpon the things that God willeth but vpon the will of God that willeth them Wherevpon when it meetes with Gods will in diuers things it chooseth that cost what it will wherein it appeares most Gods will is found in marriage and in virginitie but because it is more in virginitie the indifferent heart makes choice of virginitie though it should cost her her life as it did S. PAVLS deare spirituall daughter S. Tâ—CLA S. CECILIE S. AGATHA with a thousand others Gods will is found in seruing as well the poore as the rich but yet somwhat more in seruing the poore the indifferent heart will choose that part God's will is in modestie exercised in consolations and in patience practised in tribulations the indifferent heart preferres this as hauing more of Gods will in it To conclud Gods will is the soueraigne obiect of the indiffereÌ„t soule Wheresoeuer she espies it she ruÌ„nes to the odour of its perfumes directing her course still thither where it most appeares without any other respect She is coÌ„ducted by the Diuine will as in a beloued string which way soeuer it takes she makes after it She would prise hell more with Gods will to boote then heauen without it Nay she would euen preferre hell before heauen if she perceiued onely a little more of Gods will in that then in this So that if by supposition of an impossible thing she should apprehend her owne damnation more agreeable to God then her saluation she would quit Heauen and runne into Hell fire That holy indifferencie is extended to all things CHAPTER V. 1. Indifferencie is to be practised in things belonging to the naturall life as in health sicknesse beautie deformitie weacknesse and streÌ„gth in the affaires of the spirituall life as in honours place riches In the varietie of the spirituall life as in drinesses consolations gusts aridities In actions in sufferances and finally in all sorts of euents Iob in his naturall life was wounded with a most horrible soare that euer eye beheld In his ciuile life he was scorned baffled contemned and that by his nerest allie In his spirituall life he was oppressed with languors gripings conuulsions andguishes darknesse and with all kinds of intollerable interiour aggreeuaÌ„ces as his coÌ„plaints and Lamentations doe witenesse The great Apostle doth denounce vnto vs a generall indifferencie to shew our selues the true seruants of God in wants anguishes wounds in prisons seditions trauailles in watchings fastings in chastitie in knowledge in longanimitie and sweetenesse in vertue of the holy Ghost in vnfained Charitie in the word of truth in the vertue of God by the armes of Iustice to the right and left hand by glorie and abiection by infamie and good name as seductours and yet iust as men vnknowen and yet acknowledged as men dying and yet aliue as chastised and yet not slaine as sorrowfull and yet still continually ioyefull as needie and yet enriching many as hauing nothing and yet possessing all things 2. Note I pray you THEO how the life of the Apostles in their bodies was afflicted with wouÌ„ds in their hearts with anguishes in their ciuile life by infamie and prisons and in all these ô God what indifferencie they had Their sorrows are ioyfull their pouertie rich their death liuely their dishonours honorable that is they are ioyfull to be sad content to be poore reenforced to liue amongst the dangers of death and glorious to be disesteemed for such was the will of God 3. And whereas the will of God was better knowen in sufferances then in the acts of other vertues he rankes the exercise of patience in the front saying let vs appeare in all things the seruaÌ„ts of God by great patience in tribulations in waÌ„ts in anguishes and then towards th' end in chastitie in Prudence in longanimitie 4. In like manner our heauenly Sauiour was incomparably afflicted in his ciuile life being condemned as guiltie of Treason against God and maÌ„ bet buffetted scourged and in his naturall life tormeÌ„ted with an extraordinarie ignominie dying in the most cruell and sensible torments that heart could thinke In his spirituall life enduring sorrowes feares amazements
Philothie and both of them much different from that which I vsed in the defence of the Crosse know that in nine-teene yeares one learnes and vnlearnes many things that the language of the warrs differs from that of Peace and that a man vseth one manner of speach to young Prentises an other to old iorneymen My purpose is here to speake to soules that are aduanced in deuotion for you must know that we haue in this towne a congregation of young maides and widowes who being retired from the world doe liue vnanimously in God's seruice vnder the protection of his most holy mother and as their pietie and puritie haue often times giuen me great consolations so haue I striuen to returne them the like by a frequent distribution of the holy word which I haue announced vnto them as well in publike sermons as in spirituall conferences yea and that continually in the presence of diuerse Religious men and people of great pietie whence I was often to treate of the most delicate feelings of pietie passing beyond that which I had saied vnto Philothie And I owe a good part of that which now I communicate vnto thee to this blessed assemblie because she that is the mother of them and doth rule knowing that I was writing vpon this subiect and yet that scarcely was I able to accomplish it without Gods very speciall assistance and their continuall sollicitation she tooke a continuall care to praie and make me be praied for to this end and holily coniured me to gather together all the odde ends of leasure which she iudged might be spared here and there from the presse of my incumbrances and to employe them in this And because I beare a great respect to this good soule she had God knowes no little power to animate myne in this occasion I began indeede long agoe to thinke of writing of holy Loue but that thought came farre short of that which this occasion caused to be produced an occasion which I declare vnto you so nakedly and sincerely to the imitation of the Auncients that you may know that I wite onely vpon occasion and that I may find you more fauorable The Pagans held that Phidras neuer represented any thing so perfectly as the DIVINITIE nor Apelles as Alexander One is not alwayes alike happie If I fall short in this Treatise let thy goodnesse flie home and God blesse thy reading To this end I haue dedicated this worke to the Mother of dilection and to the Father of cordiall Loue as I dedicated the Introduction to the Heauenly Child who is the Sauiour of Louers and the Loue of the saued Certes as women while they are strong and able to bring forth their children with ease choose commonly their worldly friends to be their Godfathers But when their feeblenesse and indisposition makes their deliuerie difficile and dangerous they inuoke the Saints of Heauen and vow to make their children be christned by some poore bodie or by some deuote person in the name of S. IOSEPH S. FRANCIS OF ASSICIA S. FRANCIS OF PAVLA S. NICHOLAS or to some other of the Blessed who may obtaine of God their safe deliuerie and that the child may be borne aliue So I while I was not yet Bishope hauing more leasure and lesse apprehension to write I dedicated my little works to Princes of the earth but now being ouercharged with my charge and hauing a thousand impediments I consecrate all to the Princes of Heauen to th' end they may obtaine for me the ligâ—t which is requisite and that if so it may pleaâ— the Diuine will these my writings may haue a birth profitable and fruitfull Thus my deare Reader I beseech God to blesse thee and to enrich thee with his loue Meane while from my very heart I submit all my writings my words and actions to the correction of the most holy Catholike Apostolike and Romaine Church knowing that she is the Pillar and soliditie of truth wherein she caÌ„ neither be deceiued nor deceiue vs and that none caÌ„ haue God for his Father who will not haue this Church for his Mother ANNESSâ— the day of the most louing Apostles S. PETER and S. PAVLE 1616. Blessed be God THE TABLE OF THE CHAPTERS CONTAINED IN this Treatise The first number shewes the Chapter The second the Page THE TABLE OF THE FIRâ—T BOOKE CONTAâ—NING A PREparatioâ— to the whole Treatise THat for thâ— beautie of humane nature God gaue the â—â—uernment of all the faculties of the soule 〈◊〉 the will Chap. 1. pag. 1. How the wâ—â— diuersly gouernes the powers of the soule Chap. 2. pag. 4. How the will gouerns the â—suall appetite Cha. 3. pag. 7. That loue rules ouer all iâ— affections and passions yea gouerns the will albeâ—â— the will hath also a dominion ouer it Chap. 4. pag. 12. Of the affections of the will Chap. 5. pag. 15 How the Loue of God doth rule ouer other Loues Chap. 6. pag. 19 A description of Loue in generall chap 7. pag. 22 VVhat that coÌ„ueniencie is which doth excite loue ch 8. 28 That loue tends to vnion chap. 9. pag. 32 That the vnion which loue pretends is spirituall chap. 10. pag. 35. That there are two portions in the soule and how chap. 11. pag. 44. That in these 2 portions of the soule there are found 4. different degrees of reason chap. 12. pag. 49 The difference of loues chap. 13. pag. 53 That charitie ought to be named loue chap. 14. p. 55 Of the conueniencie betwixt God and man ch 15. p. 57 That we haue a naturall inclination to loue God aboue all things chap. 16. 61 That we haue not naturally the power to loue God aboue all things chap. 17. 64 That the naturall inclination which we haue to loue God is not without profit chap. 18. 67 THE TABLE OF THE Second Booke THE HISTORIE OF THE GENEration or heauenly birth of Diuine Loue. THat the diuine perfections are but one onely yet an infinite perfection chap. 1. pag 71 Touching the diuine prouidence in generall chap. 3. p. 79 Of the supernaturall prouidence which God vseth towards reasonable creaturs chap. 4. pag. 85 That the heauenly prouidence hath prouided man of a most abundant Redemption cha 5. 90 Of certaine speciall fauours exercised by the diuine prouidence in the Redemption of man chap. 6. 93 How admirable the diuine prouidence is in the diuersitie of graces giuen to men chap. 7. 97 How much God desires we should loue him chap. 8. 100 How the eternall loue of God doth preuent our hearts with his inspirations to th' end we might loue him chap. 9. pag. 104 How we often times repulse the inspiration and refuse to loue chap. 10. 108 That the diuine bountie's will is that we should haue a most excellent loue chap. 11. 112 That diuine inspirations leaue vs in our libertie to follow or repulse them chap. 12. 116 Of the first feelings of Loue which diuine inspirations cause in the soule before she yet receiue
men was onely ordained for those whom the Diuine wisdome had foreseene that in tract of time seconding their vocation they should attaine a liuely Faith which work 's by Charitie 6. Finally all these effects haue their absolute dependance of our Sauiours Redemption who did merit them for vs IN RIGOVR OF IVSTICE by the louing obedience which he exercised euē till death and death of the crosse which is the source of all the graces which we receiue we who are the Spirituall graffes ingraffed in his stoke and if being ingraffed we remaine in him we shall beare without doubt by the life of grace which he will impart vnto vs the fruite of Glorie prepared for vs. But if we prooue broken sprigges and graffes vpon this tree that is if by resistance we breake the progresse and successe of the effects of his Clemencie it will not be strang if in the end we be wholy cut of and be throwen into eternall fires as fruitlesse branches 7. God doubtlesse prepared heauen for those onely whō he foresaw would be his Let vs be his then THEO by faith and works and he will be ours by Glorie Now it is in our power to be his for though it be a gift of God to be Gods yet is it a gift which God denies no bodie but offers it to all to giue it to such as freely doe consent to receiue it 8. Nay marke I pray you THEO how ardently God desires we should be his sith to this end he hath made himselfe entirely ours bestowing vpon vs his death and his life his life to exempt vs from eternall death his death to possesse vs of eternall life Let vs remaine therefore in peace and serue God to become his in this mortall life more his in that immortall That we cannot attaine to a perfect vnion with God in this mortall life CHAPTER VI. 1. RIuers doe restlesse rūne and as the wiseman saieth returne to their source The Sea which is the place whence they spring is also the place of their finall repose all their motion tend's no further then to vnite themselues to their fountaine O God saieth S. AVGVSTINE thou hast created my heart for thy selfe and it can neuer repose but in thee But what haue I in heauen saue thee ô my God or what else in earth can I desire yea Lord for thou art the Lord of my heart thou my part and portion for euer Howbeit the vnion which our heart aspires to neuer attaines to it's perfection in this mortall life we may commence our Loues in this but neuer consummat them till the next world 2. The heauenly Spouse makes a delicate expression of it I haue found him at length saieth she him whom my heart loues I hold him nor will I let him goe till I haue led him into my mothers house and into her chamber who brought me fourth The well-beloued hath gotten him then For he makes her feele his presence by a thousand consolations she holdes him these feelings causing in her strong affections by which she doth holde and embrace him protesting neuer to release him O no! for these affections turne into eternall resolutions yet cannot she perswade her selfe that she giues him the mariage kisse till she meete with him in her mothers house THE HEAVENLY HIERVSALEM as S. PAVLE saieth But see THEO how this Spouse thinks euen to keepe her beloued at her mercie as slaue in Loue and so leade him at her pleasure bringing him to her mothers happie abode though indeede she her selfe must be conducted thither by him as was REBECCA into SARA'S chamber by her deare ISAAC The heart pressed with loue doth still gaine ground towards the thing beloued And the Spouse himselfe confesseth that the Beloued hath forced his heart hauing tyed him with one onely heire of her head acknowledging himselfe her prisoner by Loue. 3. This perfect coniunction then of the soule with God shall onely be in heauen where as the Apocalypse saieth the Lambs marriage-banquet shall be made In this mottall life the soule is truely espoused and betrothed to the immaculat Lambe but not as yet married vnto him They haue passed their words and promisses but the execution of the marriage is differred so that we haue alwayes time though neuer reason to disclame from it our faithfull Spouse neuer abandoning vs vnlesse prouoked by our disloyaltie and vnfaithfulnesse But in heauen the marriage of this diuine vnion being celebrated the tye of our hearts to their soueraine PRINCIPLE shall neuer be vndone 4. It is true THEOTIME that while we expect the kisse of this indissoluble vnion which we shall receiue of the Spouse aboue in glorie he begiues vs some few kisses by a thousand touches of his gratfull presence for vnlesse the soule were kissed she should not be drawen nor would she runne in the odour of the Beloued's perfumes whence according to the originall Hebrew Text and the 70. Interpreters she wisheth many kisses Let hī kisse me saith she with kisses of his mouth But whereas these little kisses of this present life haue reference to the ETERNALL KISSE of the life to come the holy vulgar Edition hath piously reduced the kisses of grace to that of Glorie expressing the spouse her desires in this wise Let him kisse me with a kisse of his mouth as though she should saie of all the kisses of all the fauours that the friend of my heart or the heart of my soule hath prouided for me ah I doe not breath after or aspire to any other thing then this great and solemne marriage-kisse which remaines for euer and in comparison whereof the other kisses merit not the name of kisses being rather signes of the future vnion betwixt my beloued and me then vnion it selfe That the Charitie of Saints in this mortall life doth equallise yea sometimes passe that of the Blessed CHAPTER VII 1. VVHen after the trauailes and dangers of this mortall life the happie soules arriue at the Port of the eternall they ascend to the highest and vtmost degree of Loue to which they can attaine and this finall encrease being bestowed vpon them in recompence of their merits it is distributed vnto them not onely in good measure but is euen pressed and thrust downe and yet doth scatter on euery side as our Sauiour saieth So that the Loue which is giuen for reward is greater in euery one then that which was giuen for to merit 2. Nor shall euery one in particular onely haue a greater loue in heauen then euer he had in earth but euen the exercise of the least Charitie in heauen shall be much more happie and excellent generally speaking then that of the greatest which is hath bene or shall be in this fraile life for aboue all the saints doe incessantly without any intermissiō exercise loue while heare belowe God's greatest seruants racked and tyrannized with the necessities of this dying life are forced to suffer a thousand and a thousand distractions which oftentimes
by which we consider him as source of Grace so will he bestow vpon vs the LIGHT OF GLORIE by which we shall contemplat him as fountaine of Beatitude and eternall life but a fountaine THEOT which we shall not contemplate a farre off as we doe now by faith but we shall see it by the LIGHT OF GLORIE being couered and swallowed vp in it The Duckers saieth Plinie who fishing for precious stones diue into the water doe take oile in their mouthes that by scattering it they might haue more day to see in the waters where they swime THEO the Blessed hauing diued and plunged themselues into the Ocean of the Diuine essence God will poure into their vnderstandings the sacred LIGHT OF GLORIE which will giue them day in the Abisse of this inaccessible light that so by the LIGHT OF GLORIE they may see the LIGHT OF THE DIVINITIE In God the fountaine is Of Life and heauenly blisse His brightnesse shall appeare To vs in th'-rayon cleare Of his day which shall be Our day of IVBILIE That there shall be different degrees of the vnion of the Blessed with God CHAPTER XV. 1. NOw this light of Glorie THEO shall be the measure of the sight and contemplation of the Blessed and according as we shall haue lesse or more of this holy splendour we shall see more or lesse clearely and consequently more or lesse happily the most holy Diuinitie which as it is beholden ād diuersly looked vpō so it will make vs diuersly glorious Certes in this heauenly Paradise all the SPIRITS see all the Diuine Essence yet no one of them nor all of them together doth or can see it entirely No THEO for God being most singularly one and most simply indiuisible one cannot see him without seeing all But being infinite without limite without bounds or measure at all in his perfection there neither is nor can be any capacitie out of himselfe who can euer totally comprehend or penetrate the infinitie of his Goodnesse infinitly essentiall and essentially infinite 2. This created light of the visible Sunne which is limited and finite is in such sort all seene of all those that doe behold it that it is neuer totally seene of any one of them nor of all together It is in a manner so with all our senses Amongst many that heare excellent musike though all of them heare it all yet some heare it not so well nor with so much delight as others according as their eares are lesse or more delicate MANNA had all tasts to all that eate it yet differently following the diuersitie of their appetits who tooke it yet was it totally tasted of none for it had more different tasts then the Israelits had varietie of gusts THEO we shall see and taste in heauen all the Diuinitie but neuer any of the Blessed nor all together shall euer see or taste it totally This infinite Diuinitie shall still haue infinitly more excellences then we sufficiencie and capacitie and we shall haue an vnspeakable content to know that after we haue satiated all the desire of our heart and fully replenished the capacitie thereof in the fruition of an infinite good which is God neuerthelesse there will remaine in this infinitie infinite perfections to be seene enioyed and possessed which his diuine Maiestie knowes and sees it onely comprehending it selfe 3. So fishes enioye the incredible vastnesse of the Ocean but neuer any fish nor yet all the multitude of fishes euer sawe all the armes of the Sea or wet their sinnes in all its waters Birds doe sport in the open aire at their pleasure but neuer any birde nor yet all the flok's of birds together did euer beat with their winges all the regions of the aire or arriue at the supreame region of the same Ah THEO our soules shall freely and according to the full extēt of their wishes swime in the Ocean and soare in the aire of the Diuinitie reioycing eternally to see that this aire is so infinite this Ocean so vast that it cannot be measured by their winges and that enioying without all reserue or exception all this infinite Abisse of the Diuinitie yet shall they neuer be able to equalize their fruition to this infinitie which remaines still infinitly infinite beyond their capicitie 4. And at this the Blessed SPIRITS are rauished with two admirations first at the infinite beautie which they contemplate secondly at the Abisse of the infinitie which remaineth to be seene in this same beautie O God how admirable is that which they see but ô God how much more admirable is that which they see not And notwithstanding THEO the most sacred beautie which they see being infinite it doth entirely satisfie and satiate them and enioying it with content according to the rancke which they hold in heauen because God's amiable prouididence hath so determined it they conuerte the knowledge they haue of not possessing or not being totally to possesse their obiect into a simple complacence of admiration in which they haue a soueraigne ioye to see that the beautie they loue is so infinite that it cannot be totally knowen but by it selfe For in this doth the Diuinitie of this infinite Beautie or the Beautie of this infinite Diuinitie consist The end of the third Booke THE FOVRTH BOOKE OF THE DECAY OR RVINE OF CHARITIE That while we are in this mortall life we may loose the loue of God CHAPTER I. I. WE make not these discourses for those great soules of Election whō God by a most speciall fauour doth so maintaine and confirme in his loue that they runne no hazard of loosing it We speake for the rest of mortalls to whom the Holy Ghost doth addresse these aduertisements he that stands let him take heede that he fall not hold what thou hast be carefull and labour that by Good workes you may assure your vocation in sequele whereof he makes them make this Praier doe not cast me from before thy face doe not take from me thy SPIRIT and leade vs not into temptation to th' end they may worke their saluation with a holy trembling and sacred feare knowing that they are not more constant and strong to conserue Gods loue then was the first Angell his followers and Iudas who receiuing it loosed it and in loosing it loosed themselues for euer nor then Salomon who hauing lost it holds the whole world in doubt of his damnation nor then ADAM EVE DAVID S. PETER who being children of Saluation fell yet for a space from the loue without which there is no saluation Alas THEO who shall then haue assurance to conserue sacred loue in the nauigation of this mortall life sith as well in earth as heauen so many personages of incomparable dignities suffered so fearefull shipwrakes 2. But ô eternall God how is it possible will you saie that a soule that loues God can neuer loose it for where loue is it resisteth sinne and how comes it to passe then that sinne gets entrie there sith
the eternall loue of God towards men It is the vniuersall Sense of the Church our mother who with an ardent iealousie will haue vs to acknowledge our saluation and the meanes to it to proceede from our Sauiours meere mercy to th' end that in earth as in heauen and to him alone be honour and glorie 2. What hast thou which thou hast not receiued saieth the diuine Apostle speaking of the giftes of knowledge eloquence and other the like qualities of Church men and if thou hast receiued them why dost thou glorie in them as though thou hadest not receiued them It is true we haue receiued all from God but especially the supernaturall goods of holy loue And being we haue receiued them why should we take glorie in them 5. Certainly if any should extoll himselfe for hauing made progresse in the loue of God Alas caitife man would we saie vnto him thou layedst in the traÌ„ce of iniquitie hauiÌ„g neither force or life left in thee to rise As it happened to the Princelie in our parable and God by his infinite Goodnesse ranne to thy succour and crying with a loude voice open the mouth of thyne attention and I will fill it he himselfe put his fingers betwixt thy lipps and vnlocked thy teeth casting into thy heart his holy inspiration and thou receiued it and then being brought to thy senses he went on by diuers motions and different meanes strengthning thy heart till at length he infused into it charitie as thy liuely an perfect health 4. Now tell me miserable creature what dist thou in all this of which thou canst boast Thou consented I know it well the motion of thy will did freely follow that of heauenly grace But what is all this but to receiue the diuine operation without resistance and what is there in this saue what thou receiuedst I poore wrech which thou art thou receiuedst the reception in which thou gloriest and the consent whereof thou vauntest for tell me I praie thee wilt thou not allow me that if God had not preuented thou hadst neuer perceiued his Goodnesse nor in consequence consented to his loue No nor yet hadst thou thought a good thought of him His motion gaue beeing and life to thyne and if his libertie had not animated excited and prouoked thy libertie by the powrefull inuitations of his swetenesse thy libertie had bene for euer vnprofitable to thy saluation I confesse thou didst cooperate with the inspiration by consenting but if thou be ignorant I will teach thee that thy cooperation tooke beeing from the operation of grace and thy free-will together yet so that if grace had not preuented and filled thy heart with her operation neuer had it had nor power nor will to cooperate 5. But tell me againe I beseech thee vile and abiect man art thou not ridiculous when thou thinkest to haue part in the glorie of thy conuersion because thou repulsed not the inspiration is not this the tricke of a robber or Tyrant to think to haue giueÌ„ life to such as they haue not depriued of it And is it not a franticke impietie to thinke that thou gauest the holy efficacie aÌ„d liuely actiuitie to the diuine inspiration because by resistance thou didst not hinder it We can indeede hinder the effects of the inspiration but we can giue it none it takes force and vertue from the Diuine Goodnesse whence it proceedeth and not from mans will where it arriueth Would not a man be moued to wroth to heare the Princesse of our Parable boast that it was she that gaue vertue and soueraigntie to the cordiall waters and other medecins or that she cured her selfe because if she had not receiued the remedies which the king gaue her and poured into her mouth at such time as being halfe dead there remained hardly any sense in her they had had â—o operation Yea might one saie to her vngratefull wretch thou mightst haue bene obstinate and not haue receiued the remedies thou mightest after thou hadst receiued them into thy mouth haue cast them out againe yet is it not true for all that that thou gaue them force and vertue for these were their naturall proprieties onely thou consented to receiue them and that they might operate and yet thou hadst neuer consenteÌ„d if the king had not first reenforced thee and then sollicited thee to take them neuer hadst thou receiued them had not he assisted thee to receiue them opening thy very mouth with his fingers and poureing the potion into it Art thou not then a Monster of ingratitude to offer to attribute to thy selfe a benefit which by so many titles thou owest to thy deare Spouse 6. The admirable little fish called ECCHINES REMORA or STAY-SHIPPE hath indeede the power to stay or not to stay a shippe sailing in the broad sea vnder full saile but it hath not the power to hoise saile to make the shipe saile or arriue it can hinder motion but cannot giue it our free-will can stay or impeach the course of the inspiration and when the fauorable gale of Gods grace doth swell the sailes of our soule it is in our power to refuse consent and therby to hinder the effect of the winds fauour but when our soule lancheth out and happily sailes it is not we that make the gale of the inspiration blowe vpon vs nor we that make our sailes swell with it nor we that giue motion to the shippe of our heart but onely we receiue the gale sent from heauen consent to its motion and let our shippe saile vnder it not hindring it by the Remora of our resistance It is the inspiration then which doth imprinte in our free-will the happie and delightfull influence whereby it doth not onely make vs see the beautie of Good but also doth heate helpe strengthen and moue vs so delightfully that therevpon we encline and runne freely towards good 7. The heauens in spring time do prepare the fresh dew-drops and shewers them downe vpon the face of the sea and the mother pearles that open their shells receiue them and they are conuerted into pearles But the Mother-pearles which keepe their shells shut doe not hinder the dewes falling vpon them yet doe they hinder their falling into them Now the heauens did they not let fall their dewe as well vpon the one as the other pearle Why did then the one and not the other in effect produce the pearle The heauens were as bountifull to her that remained sterill as was requisite to impearle and beget in her a faire vnion but she hindred the effect of the heauens fauour by keeping herselfe close aÌ„d couert And as for her who conceiued the pearle and was left bigge with dewe she hath no part in that worke which she receiued not from heauen not her verie opening wherby she receiued the dewe for without the touches of the mornings rayes which did gently excitate her she had not risen vp to the tope of the sea nor yet opened her
our condition and so proper to testifie the respectfull loue we beare him that he hath ordained we should render and yeeld all honour and glorie vnto him 3. Thus then the soule who hath taken a great complacence in God's infinite perfection seeing that she cannot wish him any encrease of goodnesse because he hath infinitly more then she can either wish or conceiue desires at least that his name may be blessed exalted praised honoured and adored dayly more and more And beginning with her owne heart she ceaseth not to prouoke it to this holy exercise and as a sacred Bee flies hither and thither amongst the flowers of the diuine workes and excellencies gathering from them a sweete varietie of complacences whereof she works and composeth the honnie of heauenly benedictions praises and honourable confessions by which as farre as she is able she magnifies and glorifies the name of her well-beloued following the great Psalmist who hauing enuironed and as it were in Spirite runne ouer the wōders of the diuine goodnesse sacrificed vpon the Altar of his heart the mysticall Hoste of the out-cryes thereof in Canticles and Psalmes of admiration and Benediction My heart flies here and there Borne vp on fancies winge In admirations aire She heauenlily doth singe A Sacrifice of praise And on the Harpe she plaies A BENEDICITE To Sions heauenly Kinge But THEO this desire of praising God which holy Beneuolence doth excite in our hearts is insatiable for the soule that is touched with it would wish to haue infinite praises to bestowe vpon her well-beloued because she finds his perfections more then infinite so that finding her selfe to fall farre short of her aime she addes force to her affection to praise at least in some measure this most praiseworthy goodnesse and these endeauours of Beneuolence are meruellously augmented by complacence for according as the soule finds God good tasting more and more his sweetenesse and taking complacence in his infinit goodnesse she would also raise higher his benedictions and praises And againe as the soule waxeth hote in praising the incomprehensible sweetenesse of her God she enlargeth and dilateth the complacence she takes in him and by this enlargmēt she doth animate her selfe more earnestly to praise him So that the affection of complacence and that of praise by their reciprocall motions and incitements doe aduance one another with great and continuall encrease 4. So Nightingales according to Plinie takes such complacence in their songes that by reason of this complacence for fiue dayes and fiue nightes long they neuer leaue warbling forcing themselues to sing better in despight one of the other so that when they chirpe the best thy take a greater complacence and this encrease of complacēce carrieth them to force themselues to a better quauering augmenting in such sort their complacēce by their songe and their songe by their complacence that often they are seene to fall downe dead spliting their weeseells with the violence of singing Birdes worthy the faire name of Philomele sith they die in this sorte of and for the loue of melodie 5. O God THEOT how the soule ardently pressed with affection to praise God is touched with a dolour greatly delicious and a delight greatly dolorous when after a thousand essaies of praises she finds herselfe to come short Alas this poore Nightingale striues still to lance out her accents higher and perfect her melodie the better to sing the praises of her well-beloued By how much more she praiseth by so much she is more delighted in praising and by how much greater her delight in praising is by so much her displeasure is greater that she cannot yet more praise him and yet to find what content she can in this passion she vseth all endeauours and amidst them falls in languishment as it happened to the most glorious S. FRANCIS who in the pleasures he had to praise God and sing his Canticles of loue shed a great abundāce of teares ād through faintnesse let often fall what at such times he had in his hands remaining in languishment as a sacred Philomele ād eftsones lost breath in breathing after his praises whō he could neuer praise sufficiētly 6. But marke a fine similitude vpon this subiect drawen from the name which this louing saint gaue his religious for he called them Cygales by reason of the nightly praises they sunge to God Cygales THEO haue their breasts set with pipes as though they were naturall orgaines and to sing the better they liue onely of dewe which they take not by the beake for they haue none but sucke it by a certaine weesel they haue in the midst of their stomacke by which also they sed out their tunes with such a noyse that they seeme to be nothing but voice Now this is the state of the sacred Louer for all the faculties of her soule are as so many pipes which she hath in her breast to resound the well-beloued's Cāticles ād praises Her deuotion in the midst is the tongue of her heart according to S. BERNARD by which she receiues the dew of diuine perfections sucking and drawing them to her as her foode by the most holy complacence which she takes in them and by the same tongue of deuotion she tunes all her praiers Praises Canticles Psalmes Benedictions according to the testimonie of one of the most famous spirituall Cygales that euer was heard who sunge thus Blesse Sions King my Soule Inflamed with heauenly flame My powers my thoughts and all Cease not to speake his name For is it not as though he had saied I am a mysticall Cygale my soule my spirits my thoughtes all the faculties that are met together within me are organes Let all these for euer blesse the name and resound the praises of my God Summing vp thyne endlesse glorie I 'le spinne out an endlesse storie In singing onely which I 'le rest And thou Myne Aide shalt pleasure take To heare it for thy Mercies sake And helpe a sillie heart oppress 't How Beneuolence makes vs inuoke all Creaturs to God's praise CHAPTER IX 1. THe heart that is taken and pressed with a desire of praising the Diuine Goodnesse more then it is able after many endeauours goes often times out of it selfe to inuite all Creaturs to helpe it in it's designe As did the three children in the furnace in that admirable Canticle of Benedictions by which they excite all that is in Heauen in earth and vnder the earth to render thankes to the Eternall God in Blessing and praising him soueraignely as also the glorious Psalmist wholy moued by a holily irregular passion to praise God goes without order leaping from heauen to earth from thence to heauen againe inuoking pel-mel Angels fishes mountaines Waters Dragons Birdes Serpents Fire Haile Fogges assembling by his desires all creaturs to th' end that they all might conspire piously to magnifie their Creatour Some in their owne persōs celebrating the diuine praise others affording matter of praise by the
without being rauished or prophecying as one may also be rauished and prophecie without hauing Charitie but I affirme that he that in his Rapture hath more light of vnderstanding to admire God then heate of will to loue him is to stand vpon his garde for it is to be feared that this extasie may be false and rather puff vp the mind then edifie putting him indeede as another Saule Balaam and Caiphas amongst the Prophets yet leauing him amongst the reprobate 3. The second marke of true Extasies consisteth in the third species of Extasies which we touched aboue an Extasie wholy sacred wholy amiable and which crownes the two others and it is the Extasie of the worke and life The entire obseruance of Gods commaÌ„dement is not within the bounds of mans strength yet is it within the the confins of the instinct of mans mind as being most conformable to naturall light and reason so that liuing according to Gods Commandements doth not put vs by our naturall inclination yet besides God's CoÌ„mandmets there are certaine heauenly inspirations to the effecting of which it is not onely requisite that God doe raise vs aboue our owne strength but also he must eleuate vs aboue our naturall instincts and inclinations because allbeit these inspirations are not opposite to humane capacitie yet doe they exceede it surmounte it and are placed aboue it in such sort as we doe not then liue a ciuill honest and Christian life onely but a supernaturall spirituall deuoute and extaticall life that is a life which in all respects is without the compasse and aboue the condition of our nature 4. Not to steale not to lye not to commit luxurie to praie to God not to sweare in vaine to loue and honour ones Father not to kill is to liue according to mans naturall reason but to forsake all our fortuns to fall in loue with Pouertie to entitle and obserue her in the qualitie of a most delightfull Mistresse to repute reproches contemptes abiections persecutions martyrdomes Felicities and beatitudes to containe ones selfe within the termes of an absolute chastitie and in fine to liue amidst the world and in this mortall life contrarie to the worlds opinions and MAXIMES and against the currant of the worlds floode dayly by resignatioÌ„s renunciatioÌ„s and abnegations of our selues is not to liue naturally but supernaturally it is not to liue in our selues but with out and aboue our selues and because none is able to raise himselfe in this manner aboue himselfe vnlesse the Almightie draw him thence it is that this kind of life is a perpetuall rauishment and a continuall Extasie in action and operation 5. You are dead saied the great Apostles to the Rodians and your life is hidden with IESVS CHRIST in God Death seperats the soule from the bodie and the confines thereof What will then these words of the Apostle saie THEO you are dead it is as much as though he had saied you liue not in your selues nor with in the compasse of your naturall condition your soule doth not now liue according to her selfe but aboue herselfe The Phenix is Phenix in this that by the helpe of the Sunne beames she doth annihilate her owne life to exchang it for one more sweete and vigorous hiding as it were her life vnder the dead cinders Silke-wornes doe chang their beeing of wormes becoming butterflies Bees are bred wormes then they turne Nymphes and creepe and finally they become flying bees We doe the like THEO if we be spirituall for we forsake our naturall life to liue a more eminent life and aboue our selues hiding all this new life in God with IESVS CHRIST who alone sees knowes and bestowes it Our new life is heauenly loue which doth quicken and animate our soule and this Loue is wholy hidden in God and Godly things with IESVS CHRIST for as the sacred Euangelicall Text saieth after our Sauiour had a while showen himselfe to his Disciples in mounting to heauenwards at length he was eÌ„uironed with a cloude which tooke him and hid him froÌ„ their view IESVS CHRIST theÌ„ aboue is hidden in God And IESVS CHRIST is our loue which is the life of our soule Therefore our life is hidden in God with IESVS CHRIST and when IESVS CHRIST who is our Loue and coÌ„sequeÌ„tly our spirituall life shall appeare in the day of IudgmeÌ„t we shall theÌ„ appeare together with him in glorie that is IESVS CHRIST our Loue will glorifie vs coÌ„municating vnto vs his felicitie aÌ„d brightnesse How Loue is the life of the soule with a continuation of the extaticall life CHAPTER VII 1. THe soule is the first act and principle of all the vitall motions of man and as Aristotle expresseth it the PRINCIPLE wherby we liue feele and vnderstand whence it followes that from the diuersitie of motions we gather the diuersitie of lifes so that beastes that haue no naturall motion are entirely lifelesse Euen so THEO Loue is the first ACT or PRINCIPLE of our deuote or spirituall life by which we liue feele and moue and our spirituall life is such as are the motions of our loue and a heart that wants motion and affection wants loue as contrariwise a heart possessed of loue is not without Loue-motions As soone therefore as we haue set our affection vpon IESVS CHRIST we haue consequently placed in him our spirituall life Now our Loue is hidden in God aboue as God was hidden in it while he was heare belowe Our life therefore is hiddeÌ„ in him aÌ„d wheÌ„ he shall appeare in glorie our life and our Loue shall likewise appeare with him in God Hence S. IGNATIVS as S. Dâ—NIS reporteth affirmed that his Loue was crucified as though he would haue saied my naturall and humane loue with all the passions that depend of it is nailed to the crosse I haue put it to death as a mortall Loue which made my heart liue a mortall life and as my Sauiour was crucified and died according to his mortall life to rise againe to an immortall life so did I die with him vpon the Crosse according to his naturall loue which was the mortall life of my soule to th' end I might rise againe to the supernaturall life of a loue which in that it can be exercised in Heauen is also immortall 2. When therefore we see a soule that hath Raptures in Praier by which she goes out of her selfe and mounts vnto God and yet hath no Extasies in her life I meane leades not an exemplar life vnited to God by abnegation of worldly desires mortification of the will and naturall inclinations by an interiour calmenesse simplicitie humilitie and aboue all by a continuall Charitie beleeue it THEO all these Raptures are exceedingly doubtfull and dangerous These are Raptures fit to stirre vp men to admiration but not to sanctifie them For what can it profit the soule to be reared vp in rauishment to God by Praier while in her life and conuersation she is rauished by earthly foule and naturall
affections to be aboue herselfe in Praier and belowe her selfe in life and operation To be Angelicall in Meditation and brutall in conuersation It is to hault on both sides to sweare by God and yet by Melchon In fine it is a true marke that such Raptures and Extasies are but fraudes and delusions of the diuell Happie are they who liue a supernaturall and extaticall life aduanced aboue themselues alltough in Praier they be not rauished There are many Saints in heauen who were neuer in Extasie or Rapture of contemplation for how many Martyrs holy men and women are mentioned in histories who neuer had other priuiledge in Praier then that of deuotion and feruour But there was neuer Sainte who had not the Extasie and Rapture of life and operation ouercomming themselues with their naturall inclinations 3. And who sees not I praie you THE that it is the Extasie of life ād operatiō that the great Apostle speakes off especially when he saieth I liue not I but IESVS CHRIST liueth in me for he himselfe doth expose it in other termes to the Romans saying that our old man is crucified together with IESVS CHRIST that we are dead to sinne with him and that we are also risen with him to walke in newnesse of life and not be any longer slaues to sinne Behold THEO how two men are represented in each of vs and consequently two liues the one of the old man which is the old life as we saie of an Eagle who being growen into old age is glad to drag her plumes not being after able to take flight the other is the life of the new man which also is a new life as that of the Eagle who being disburdened of her old feethers which she had shaken off into the sea recouers new ones and being growne young againe flies in the newnesse of her forces 4. In the first life we liue according to the old man that is according to the defaultes weakenesse and infirmitie contracted by our first Father Adams sinne and therefore we liue to Adams sinne and our life is a mortall life yea death it selfe In the second life we liue according to the new man that is according to the graces fauours ordinances and will of our Sauiour and consequently we liue to saluation and Redemption and this new life is a liuing vitall and quickning life but whosoeuer would attaine the new life he must make his way by the death of the old crucifying his flesh with all the vices and concupicences thereof interring it in the holy water of Baptisme or in penance as Naman did drowne and burie in the waters of Iordain his leporous and infected old life to liue a new sound and spotlesse life for one might well haue saied of him that he was not now the old leporous stinking infected Naman but a new neate sound and comely Naman because he was dead to leprosie but suruiued to health and integritie 5. Now whosoeuer is raised vp againe to this new life of our Sauiour he neither liues to himselfe in himselfe or for himselfe but to his Sauiour in his Sauiour ād for his Sauiour Thinke saieth S. Paule that you are truely dead to sinne but liue to God in our Sauiour IESVS CHRIST An admirable exhortation of S. Paule to the extaticall and supernaturall life CHAPTER VIII 1. BVt finally me thinkes S. Paule makes the most forceable pressing and admirable argument that euer was made to vrge vs all to the Extasie and Rapture of life and operation Marke THEO I beseech you be attentiue and ponder the force and efficacie of the ardent and heauenly words of this Apostle rauished and transported with the loue of his Maister Speaking then of himselfe and the like is to be saied of euery one the Charitie saieth he of IESVS CHRIT doth presse vs yes THEO nothing doth so much presse mans heart as loue if a man knowe that he is beloued be it of whom it will he is pressed to loue mutually But if an ordinarie fellow be beloued by a great Lord he is yet more pressed if of a powerfull Monarke how much more is he pressed And now I praie you knowing well that IESVS CHRIST the true Eternall God Omnipotent hath loued vs euen to suffering death for vs and the death of the crosse is not this ô my deare THEO to haue our hearts in the presse to feele them forceably pressed and perceiue loue squised out of them by violence and constraint which is so much more violent by how much it is more amiable and louelie But in what sort doth Charitie presse vs the Charitie of IESVS CHRIST doth presse vs saieth his holy Apostle waighing this matter But what doth these words waighing this matter import It imports that our Sauiours Charitie doth presse vs then especially when we doe waigh consider ponder meditate and remaine attentiue to this resolution of faith But what resolution marke my Good THEOT how he goes engrauing emplanting and forcing his conceite into our hearts Waighing this saieth he and what That if one be dead and IESVS CHRIST died for all Certes it is true if a IESVS CHRIST died for all all the are dead in the person of this onely Sauiour who died for them and his death is to be imputed vnto them since it was endured for them and in consideration of them 2. But what followes out of all this me thinkes I heare that Apostolicall mouth as a thunder making an outcrie to the eares of our hearts It followes then ô Christians what IESVS CHRIST dying for vs desired of vs. And what did he desire of vs but that we should be conformed vnto him to th' end saieth the Apostle that such as liue should henceforth no more liue to themselues but to him that died and rose for them Deare God THEO how powerfull a consequence is this in the matter of Loue IESVS CHRIST died for vs by his death he hath giuen vs life we doe not liue but in so much as he died he died for vs to vs and in vs. Our life then is no more ours but his who did purchase it vs by his death we are not therefore any more to liue to our selues but to him nor in our selues but in him nor for our selues but for him A yoūg Girle of the I le of Sestos had brought vp an Eagle with such diligēce as little childrē are wonte to bestowe vpon such emploiments the Eagle being come to her grouth began by little and little to find her winge and flie at bird's following her naturall instinct afterwards getting more strength she seased vpon wild beasts neuer failing faithfully to bring home the prey to her deare Mistresse as in acknowledgment of the breeding which she had from her Now it happened vpon a day that this young damsell died while the poore Eagle was rouing abrode and her bodie according to the coustome of those times and places was publickly placed vpon the funerall Pile to be brunt but
hands eleuating his eyes towards Heauen raising his voice very high and pronouncing by way of iaculation with great deuotion these words of the CaÌ„ticles the last which he had expounded Come vnto me my dearly beloued and let vs goe toge-into the fields All the Apostles and in a manner all the Martyrs died in Praier The Blessed and Venerable Bede hauing foreknowne by reuelation the time of his departure went to Euensong and it was vpoÌ„ the Ascension day and standing vpoÌ„ his feete leaning onely vpon the rests of his seate without any disease at all ended his life with the end of the Euensong as it were directly to follow his Maister ascending vnto Heauen there to enioye the bright morning of eternitie which knowes no euening Iohn Gerson Chancellour of the vniuersitie of Paris a man so learned and pious that as Sixtus Senâ—nsis saieth one can hardly discerne whether his learning outstripped his pietiâ— or his pietie his learning hauing explicated the fift proprietie of diuine loue recorded in the Canticle of Canticles three dayes after making shew of a very liuely countenance and courage expired pronouncing and iterating by way of iaculatorie Praier these holy words drawen out of the same Canticles ô God thy loue is strong as death S. MARTINâ— as is knowen died so attentiue to the exercise of his deuotions that he could not speake another word S. Lewis that great king amongst Saints and great Saint amongst kings being infected with the plague praied still and then hauing receiued his heauenly VIATICVM casting abrode his armes in maÌ„ner of a Crosse his eyes fixed vpon Heauen yeelded vp the ghost ardently sighing out these words with a perfect confidence of loue ah Lord I will enter into thy house I will adore thee in thy holy Temple and blesse thy â—ame S. PETER Celestine wholy possessed with afflictions which one can scarcely speake off being come to the periode of his daies began to sing as a sacred Nitingale the last Psalme making these louing words the close of his life and song LET â—VERY SPIRIT PRAISE OVR LORD The Admirable S. EVSEBIVS surnamed the stranger deceased vpon his knees in feruent Praier S. PETER Martyr writing with his owne finger and blood the Confession of Faith for which he died and vttering these words Lord into thy hands I commend my Spirit And the great Iaponian Apostle S. FRANCIS Zauerius holding and kissing the image of the Crucifix and repeating at euery turne of a hand this Eiaculation of heart O IESVS the God of my heart Of some that died by and for diuine Loue. CHAPTER X. 1. All the Martyrs THEO died for the Loue of God for when we saie many died for the faith we meane not that they died for a dead faith but for a liuely faith that is quickned by Charitie And the confession of Faith is not so much an act of the vnderstanding and of Faith as of the will and of the Loue of God And thus the great S. PET R conseruing Faith in his heart the day of his Maisters did yet quit Charitie refusing in words to professe him to be his Maister whom in heart he acknowledged to be such But there were yet other Martyrs who died expressely for Charitie alone as our Sauiours great Forerunner who was martyred for brotherly correction and the glorious Princes of the Apostles S. PETER and S. PAVLE but especially S. PAVLE was put to death for hauing reclamed those women to a pious and pure life whom that infamous Nero had wrought to lewdnesse The holy Bishops Stanislaus and S. THOMAS of Canterburie were slaine for a matter that touched not Faith but Charitie In fine a great part of sacred Virgin-Martyrs were put to slaughter for the Zeale they had to conserue their Chastitie which Charitie had caused them to dedicate to their heauenly Spouse 2. But there are some of the Sacred Louers that doe so absolutly giue themselues ouer to the exercises of Diuine Loue that holy fire doth wast and consume their life Griefe doth sometimes so long hinder such as are afflicted froÌ„ eating drinking or sleeping that in the eÌ„d weakened and wasted they dye whervpon it is a common saying that such died of Griefe but it is not so indeede for they died through euacuation and defect of strength True it is sith this faintnesse tooke them by reason of griefe we must auerre that though they died not of griefe yet they died by reason of griefe and by griefe so my deare THEO when the feruour of holy loue is great it giues so many assaults to the heart so often wouÌ„ds it causeth in it so many langours so ordinarily melts it and puts it so frequently into Extasies ad Raptures that by this meanes the soule being almost entitely occupied in God not being able to affoâ—d sufficient assistance to nature coÌ„ueniently to disgâ—st and nourish the sensible and vitall spirits begâ—n by little aÌ„d little to faile liâ—e is shortned and death approcheth 3. O God THEO how happie this death is How delightfull is this loue-dart which wounding vs with the incurable wound of heauenly loue makes vs for euer pining and sicke with so strong a beating of the heart that at length we must yeeld to death How much doe you thinke did these sacred langours and labours vndergone for Charitie shorten the dayes of the Diuine Louers S. Catherin of Sienna S. Francis Little Stanislaus Bosca S. Charles and many hundreds more who died in their youth Verily as for S. FRANCIS from the time he receiued his Maisters holy Stigmats he had so violent and stinging paines gripes conuulsions and deseases that he had nothing left on him but skinne and bones and he seemed rather to be an Anatomie or a picture of death then one liuing and breathing How some of the heauenly Louers died euen of Loue. CHAPTER XI 1. All the Elect then THEO deceased in the habit of holy loue but further some died euen in the exercise of it some againe for it others by it But that which belongs to the soueraigne degree of loue is that some die of loue aÌ„d theÌ„ it is that loue doth not onely wouÌ„d the soule aÌ„d thereby make her languish but doth euen pearce her through hitting directly on the midst of the heart and so deeply that it forceth the soules depaâ—ture out of the bodie which fals out in this manner The soule powerfully drawen by the diuine sweetenesse of her Beloued to complie of her part with his deare allurements forcibly springs out and to her power tends towards her desired attracting friend and not being able to draw her bodie after her rather then to staie with it in this miserable life she quits it and gets cleare lonely flying as a faire doue into the delicious bosome of her heaueÌ„ly Spouse She throwes her selfe vpon her Beloued and her Beloued doth draw and force her to himselfe And as the Bridgroome leaues Father and mother to adheare to his deare Bride So this chaste Bride
vnuested himselfe and going into Iordaine washing himselfe and drinking the waters thereof he thought he saw his Sauiour receiuing Baptisme at his Precursors hand and the holy Ghost descending visibly vpon him in the forme of a doue the Heauens remaining open from whence as it appeared to him the voice of the Eternall Father issued saying This is my beloued Sonne in whom I am pleased From Bethania he takes his way towards the Desert where he beheld with the eyes of his mind the Sauiour of the world-fasting fighting and vanquishing the Enemie together with the Angels who serued him with admirable foode From thence he makes towards the Mount THABOR where he saw our Sauiour transfigured thence to the mountaine of SION where he saw our Sauiour againe as he apprehended vpon his knees in the last supper washing the Disciples feâ—â— aÌ„d then distributing vnto them his sacred bodie in the holy EVCHARISTE he passeth the Torrent of CEDRON and betakes himselfe to the Garden of GETHSEMINâ— where with a most amiable dolour his heart dissolued into teares while he proposed vnto himselfe his deare Sauiour sweating blood in the extreame Agonie which he there endured and soone after takeÌ„ corded aÌ„d led to Hierusalâ— whither also he goes throughly to follow the footesteps of his Beloued and saw him in Imagination haled hither and thither to ANNAS to CAIPHAS to PILATE to HERODE whipped buffetted spit vpon crowned with thornes presented to the people sentenced to death loden with his Crosse which he carries and in carrying it met his dolorous mother and the daughters of Hierusalem bewailing him Finally this deuote Pilgrime mounts vnto the MouÌ„t Caluarie where he sees in Spirit the Crosse laied vpon the ground and our Sauiour quite naked whom they throw downe and most cruelly naile him to it hand and foote He goes on contemplating how they reare vp the Crosse and crucifie him in the aire blood flowing out from euery part of his diuine bodie He lookes vpon the poore sacred virgin traÌ„spearced with the sword of sorrow and then againe he eyeth his crucified Sauiour whose 7. last words he marks with an incomparable loue and at the length he saw him dying soone after dead Then receiuing the wound of thâ— Lance and by that holes passage shewing his Diuine heart then taken downe from the Crosse and carried to his Sepulcher whither still he followes him sending out a Sea of teaâ—es vpon the ground which was watered with his Redeemours blood he enters into the sepulcher and buries his heart with his Maisters bodie afterwards rising with him he goes to Emaus and sees what passed betweene the Maister aÌ„d his two Disciples In fine returning by the Mount Oliuet where thâ— Mysterie of the Ascension was accomplished and there seeing the last prints and footesteps of his heauenly Sauiours feete falling groueling vpon them and kissing theÌ„ a thousand thousand times with the sighes of an infinite loue he begunne to draw towards him the force of all his affections as an Archer the string of his Bowe when he is about to shoote then raising himselfe and stretching his eyes and hands to heauenward O IESVS saied he my sweete IESVS I haue now no further to search and follow thee in Earth Ah then IESVS IESVS my LOVE grant vnto my poore heart that it may follow thee and flie after thee to Heauen and in these feruent words he presently breathed out his sole to Heauen as a blessed arrow which he as a diuine Archer shot at the white of his most happie Obiect But his fellow 's and seruants who saw this Louer so sodainly fall downe as dead amaised at the accideÌ„t raÌ„ne with speede for the Doctor who when he came he found him quite dead and to giue a certaine Iudgment of so sodaine a death he made enquirie of what complection nature and dispositâ—on the deceased partie was and he found that he was of a most sweete aÌ„d amiable nature maruellous deuote and feruent in the loue of God Wherevpon quoth the Doctor doubtlesse his heart split with excesse and feruour of loue And to confirme his iudgment the more he opened him and found this generous heart open with this sacred Motto engrauen in it IESVS MY LOVE Loue then plaied Deaths parte in this heart seperating the soule from the bodie without the concourse of any other cause S. Bernardin of Sienna a learned and pious Authour relates this Historie in the first of his Sermons of the Ascension 3. An other Authour also well neare of the same Age who out of humilitie concealed his name worthy to be named in a booke intitled A MYRROR OF THE SPIRITVALL makes mention of an historie yet more admirable for he saieth that in PROVINCE there liued a Lord much addicted to the Loue of God and exceeding deuote to the Blessed Sacrament Now vpon a time being extreamly afflicted with a disease which caused him coÌ„tinually to reÌ„der the Holy CoÌ„munioÌ„ which was brought vnto him who not daring to receiue it least he might be forced to cast it vp againe he besought the Pastour to applie it at least to his breast and with it to make the signe of the Crosse ouer him This was done and in a moment his breast inflamed with Diuine Loue opened and drew into it selfe the heauenly foode wherin his beloued was contained and at the same instant departed life I must in very deede confesse that this historie is extraordinarie and such as would require a more waightie testimonie yet after the true historie of S. CLARE DE MONTE PALCO which all the world may euen to this day see and that of S. Francis his STIGMATS which is most certaine my soule meets with nothing which is hard to be beleeued amongst she effects of Diuine Loue. That the Sacred Virgin mother of God died of the loue of her Sâ—nne CHAPTER XIII 1. ONe can hardly well doubt but that the great S. Ioseph died before the Passion and death of our Sauiour who otherwise had not commended his mother to S. Iohn And how can one imagine that the deare child of his heart his beloued Nurse-child did not assist him at the houre of his departure Blessed are the mercifull for they shall obtaine mercy Alas how much sweetenesse Charitie and Mercy did this good Foster-father vse towards our little Sauiour at his â—ntrie into this world and who can then beleeue but at his departure out of it that diuine child rendred him the like with an hundredfold filling him with heauenly delights Storks are the true representations of the mutuall pietie of children towards their parents and of parents towards their children for being flitting birds they beare their decrepit parents with them in their iorney as their parents had borne them while they were yet young in the like occasion While our Sauiour was yet a little babe the great S. Ioheph his Foster-Father and his most glorious Virgin-mother had many a time borne him but especially in their iorney from Iudea
but the LOVE OF BENEVOLENCE darts our hearts into God and by consequence all our actions and affections most louingly dedicating and consecrating thē vnto him for Beneuolēce desires that all honour all Glorie ād acknowledgmēt possible should be rendred vnto God as a certaine exteriour good which is due to his Goodnesse 3. Now this desire is practised according to the complacence which we take in God as followeth We haue had an extreame Complacence to perceiue that God i◠soueraignely GOOD ād therefore by the LOVE OF BENEVOLENCE we desire that all the Loues which we can possibly imagine may be imployed to loue this Goodnesse entirely We haue taken delight in the soueraigne excellencie of God's perfection and therevpon we desire that he should be soueraignely loued honored ād adored We haue bene ioyed to consider how God is not onely the first beginning but also the last end Authour Conseruour and Lord of all things for which reason we wish that all things should be subiect to him by a soueraigne obedience We see Gods will soueraignly perfect vpright iust equall and vpon this consideration our desire is that it should be the rule and soueraigne law of all things and that it should be obserued kept and obayed by all other wills 4. But note THEO that I treate not heare of the obedience due vnto God as he is our Lord and Maister our Father and Benefactour for this kind of obedience belongs to the vertue of Iustice not to Loue. No it is not this I speake off for the present for though there were no Hell to punish the wicked nor Heauen to reward the good and that we had no kind of obligation nor dutie to God be this saied by imagination of a thing impossible and scarcE imaginable yet would the LOVE OF BENEVOLENCE moue vs to render all obedience and submission to God by election and inclination yea by a sweete violence of Loue in consideration of the Soueraigne Bountie Iustice and equitie of the Diuine will 5. Doe not we see THEO that a maide by a free choice proceeding from the LOVE OF BENEVOLENCE doth subiect herselfe to her husband to whom otherwise she ought no dutie Or that a gentleman submits himselfe to a forraine Prince's command or else giues vp his will into the hands of the Superiour of some religious Order which he is content to vndertake 6. Euen so is our heart conformed to Gods when by holy Beneuolence we throw all our affections into the hands of the diuine will to be turned ād directed by it to be moulded ād formed to the good liking thereof And in this point the profoundest obedience of loue is placed which hath no neede of being spurred by minaces or rewards nor yet by lawes and commandements for it preuents all this submitting it selfe to God for the onely perfect goodnesse which is in him where by he deserues that all wills should be obedient vnto him subiect and vnder his power conforming and vniting themselues to his diuine intentions in and through all things How we are to conforme our selues to the Diuine will which is called the signified will CHAPTER III. 1. VVE doe sometimes consider God's will as it is in it selfe and finding it entirely holy and good it is an easie thing for vs to praise blesse and adore it and to sacrifice our owne ād all other creaturs wills to it's obseruāce in this diuine Exclamation THY WILL BE DONE IN EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN At other times we consider God's will in the particular effects thereof as in the euents that touch vs and accidents that befall vs and finally in the declaration and manifestation of his intentions And albeit that God in very deede hath but one most singular and most simple will yet doe we designe it by different names according to the varietie of the meanes whereby we know it by which varietie also we are diuersly obliged to conforme our selues to it 2. Christian doctrine doth clearely propose vnto vs the Truthes which God willeth that we should beleeue the goods that he will haue vs hope for the paines which he will haue vs to dread that which he will haue vs to loue the commandements which he will haue vs to obserue and the Coūcells which he desireth we should follow And all these are called God's SIGNIFIED WILL because he hath signified and made manifest vnto vs that his will and meaning is that all these should be beleeued hoped for feared loued and practised 3. Now for as much as this signified will of God proceeds by way of desire and not by way of absolute will we haue power either to follow it by obedience or by disobedience to resist it for to this porpose God makes three acts of his will He willeth that we should haue power to resist he desireth that we resist not and yet leaues it to vs to resist if we please That we haue power to resist depends of our naturall condition and libertie that we doe resist proceedes from our malice that we doe not resist is according to the diuine Bounties desire And therefore when we doe resist God contributs nothing to our disobediēce but leauing our will in the hand of her Libertie permits her to make choice of Euill But when we obay God contributs his assistance inspiration and grace for permission is an actio of the will which of it selfe is barren sterill and fruitlesse and is as it were a passiue action which acteth not but onely permits action desire contrariwise is an actiue action frutefull fertill which doth excite inuite and vrge Wherefore God desirous that we should follow his signified will doth sollicite exhort incite inspire aide and succour But in permitting vs to resist he doth nothing but simply leaue vs to our owne wills according to our free election contrarie to his desire and intention And yet this desire is a true desire for how can one more truely expresse the desire he hath to giue his friend a heartie welcome then to prouide for his sake a good and excellent banquet as did the king in the Euangelicall Parable and then to inuite vrge and in a manner to compell him by praiers exhortations pursuits to come sit downe at the table and eate Verily he that should by force of armes open his friends mouth crame meate into his throte and make him swallow it should not bestowe a friendly entertainemēt vpon his friend but should vse him like a beast and a cram'd Capon This kind of fauour would be offered by way of inuitation remonstrance and sollicitation not violently and forcibly thrust vpon a man and thēce it is practised by way of desire not of absolute will Now it goes after the same manner in the signified will of God for in it God doth desire with a true desire that we should doe that which he declares and to this effect he doth prouide vs of all things necessarie exhorting and vrging vs to make vse of them In
she is forced to vnwearie her selfe she will onely cleeue by the smale twigs of trees vpon which she hangs in the aire out of which or without which she can neither flie nor repose And euen so these great soules doe not in very deede Loue the Creaturs in themselues but in their Creatour and their Creatour in them But if they cleeue to any creature by the law of Charitie it is onely to repose in God the onely and finall aime of their Loue. So that finding God in the Creaturs and the Creaturs in God they Loue God indeede not the Creaturs as they that fishing for Pearles find them in their shelles doe esteeme their fishing made for pearles onely 4. For the rest I doe not thinke that there was euer any mortall Creature that loued the heauenly Spouse with this matchlesse Loue so perfectly pure except the Virgin who was his Spouse ād Mother both together but cōtrariwise as touching the practise of these foure differences of Loue on can hardly be any long time without passing from one of them to another The Soules which as young wenches are as yet intangled in diuers vaine and dangerous affections are not sometimes without hauing the most pure and excellent touches of Loue but being but glimpse and passing lightnings one cannot therevpon rightly saie that such soules are got out of the state of young girles which are Nouices and Printises It happens also sometimes that the soules that are in the degree of onely and perfect Louers doe much relent and waxe cold yea euen to the committing and falling into troublesome veniall sinns as may be gathered by many bitter contentions stirred vp amongst Gods great seruants yea euen amongst some of the Diuine Apostles who as we cannot denie fell into some imperfections by which notwithstanding Charitie was not violated yet the feruour thereof was troubled Howbeit whereas ordinarily those great soules loued God with a Loue perfectly pure we are not to denie that they were in the state of perfect Loue. For how oft doe we see that good trees though they neuer bring forth any venemous fruit yet doe they produce raw and vnripe ones corrupted with misseltoe or mosse So the great Saints neuer fell into mortall sinne yet fell they easily into fruitlesse actions and such as are greene bitter harsh and ill tasted And as euen in these circumstances we must confesse that those trees are fruitfull otherwise they could not be called good so are we in no sort to denie that some of their fruit was fruitlesse For who cā denie that the misseltoe and mosse of trees is an vnprofitable fruit and who can also denie that smale angers and minute excesses of ioye of laughter of vanitie and of other the like passions are vnprofitable and vnlawfull motions and yet the Iust man brings them forth seauen times a day that is very often That the Loue of God aboue all things is common to all Louers CHAPTER VI. 1. Though there be so sundrie degrees of Loue amongst true Louers yet is there but one Commandement of Loue onely which doth generally and equally oblige euery one with a wholy like and entirely equall obligation though it be differētly obserued and with an infinite varietie of perfections there being peraduenture was few soules found in earth as Angels in Heauen perfectly equall in Loue seeing that as one starre differs from another in brightnesse so shall the Blessed in their Resurrection where euery one sings a Canticle of Glorie and receiues a name knowen to none but to him that receiues it But what degree of Loue is it to which the Diuine Commandement doth equally vniuersally and continually oblige all 2. It was a peece of the holy Ghosts prouidence that in our ordinarie version which his Diuine Maiestie hath canonized and sanctified by the Councell of Trent the heauenly Commandement of Loue is expressed in the word DILECTION rather then by the word LOVE for albeit that DILECTION be a kind of Loue yet is it not a simple Loue but a Loue of choice and election which sense the word it selfe carries as the glorious S. THOMAS doth note for this cōmandemēt doth inioyne vs a Loue chosen out of thousands like to him to whom it is due who as the beloued Sunamite markes him out in the Canticles is one elected out of thousands It is Loue that is to haue power ouer all our affections and is to raigne ouer all our passions and that which God exacteth of vs is that of all our Loues his may be the most cordiall bearing rule ouer our heart the most affectionate possessing our whole soule the most generall applying all our powers the highest replenishing our whole heart and the most solide exercising all our strength and prowise And whereas by this we doe choose and elect God for the Soueraigne obiect of our soule it is a Loue of Soueraigne Election or an election of Soueraigne Loue. 3. You are not ignorant THEO that there are diuers species of Loue as for example there is a fatherly Loue a brotherly Loue a filiall Loue and a nuptiall Loue a Loue of societie of obligation of dependance and an hundred more which are all different in excellencie and so proportioned to their obiects that scarcely can they be applied or appropriated to any other He that should affect his Father with the Loue of a brother onely should come short of his dutie He that should Loue his wife in qualitie of a Father onely he should not loue her sufficiently He that should loue his Lackey as his owne child would be esteemed impertinent Loue is as honour for as honour is diuersified according to the diuersitie of excellencies to which it is attributed so Loues are diuers according to the diuersitie of the GOOD which is loued Soueraigne honour is due to Soueraigne Excellencie and Soueraigne loue to the Soueraigne Good The loue of God is a loue without comparison because the goodnesse of God is incomparable Harke Israel Thy God is the sole Lord and therefore thou shalt loue him with thy whole soule thy whole vnderstanding thy whole strength For God is the onely Lord and his goodnesse is infinitly aboue all goodnesse and he is to be loued with a loue which is eminent excellent and puissant beyond all comparison It is this supreame loue that placeth God in such esteeme amidst our soules and makes vs repute it so great a happinesse to be gracious in his sight that we preferre him before and loue him aboue all things Now THEOT doe you not plainly see that he that loues God in this sort hath dedicated his whole soule and strength to God sith for euer and in all occurrences he will preferre Gods honour before all things keeping himselfe in a readinesse to forsake the whole world to preserue the loue which is due to the Diuine Goodnesse And in somme it is the loue of Excellencie or the Excellencie of loue which is cōmanded to all mortalls in generall and
loue Chastitie by reason of its singular and delightfull puritie presently vpon this motiue we must poure out that of holy Loue in this sort ô most seemely and delicious candour of chastitie ô how louely thou art sith thou art so beloued of the Diuine Goodnesse and then turning towards the Almightie Ah! Lord I demand onely one thing of thee it is that which I aime at in Chastitie to see and practise thy good pleasure in it and the delightes thou takest therein And as often as we set vpon the practise of any vertue we must eftsons saie from our heart yes eternall Father I will doe it because so it was pleasing vnto thee from all eternitie In this sort we are to animate our actions with Gods good pleasure louing the decorum and beautie of vertues principally because they are agreeable to God For my deare THEO there are some men who impotently affect the beautie of certaine vertues not onely without louing Charitie but euen with contempt of Charitie Origin and Tertullian did so affect the puritie of Chastitie that in it they violated the greatest lawes of Charitie the one choosing to commit adolatrie rather then to endure an horrible vilanie whereby the Tyrans sought to defile his bodie the other separating himselfe from the most chast Catholike church his mother to establish the Chastitie of his wife more according to his owne fantasie Who knowes not that there were certaine beggars at Lions who to extoll beggarie excessiuely turned heretikes and of beggars became vagabund-rogues who is ignorant of the vanitie of the ENTHOVSIASTES MESSALIENS EVCHITISTES who forsooke Charitie to brage of their Praier And were there not Heretikes who to exalte charitie towards the poore depressed Charitie towards God ascribing mans whole saluation to Almes-deedes as S. Augustine doth witenesse Notwithstanding that the holy Apostle cries out that though a man giue all his goods to the poore and haue not Charitie it profits him nothing 4. God hath planted the Standart of charitie vpon me saieth the sacred Sunamite Loue THEO is the Standart in the armie of vertues all of it is ordered to loue it is the onely colours vnder which our Sauiour who is the true Generall of the armie makes them all sight Let vs therefore draw all the vertues to the obedience of Charitie Let vs loue the vertues in particular but principally because they are agreeable to God Let vs loue the more excellēt vertues in a more excellent manner not in that they are excellent but because God loues them more excellently So will holy Loue viuificate all the vertues making them all louing louely and more then louely How Charitie containes in it the gift of the holy Ghost CHAPTER XV. 1. THat mans heart might easily follow the motions and instincts of reason to attaine the naturall felicitie which it could pretend by liuing according to the lawes of honestie it is requisite to haue 1. Temperance to represse the insolent motions of sensualitie 2. Iustice to render to God our neighbour and our selues what is due 3. Fortitude to vāquish the difficulties which occurre in doing good and auoyding euill 4. Prudence to decerne what meanes are most proper to come vnto good and to vertue 5. Science to know the true good to which we are to aspire and the true euill which we are to flie 6. Vnderstanding throughly to penetrate the first and maine grounds or principles of beautie and the excellēcie of honestie 7. and finally Wisdome to contemplate the Diuinitie the prime fountaine of all good These are the qualities whereby the mind is made milde obedient and pliable to the lawes of naturall reason which is in vs. 2. In like manner the holy Ghost which dwelleth in vs to make our soule supple pliable and obedient to his heauenly motions and diuine inspirations which are the lawes of his Loue in the obseruance whereof consisteth the supernaturall felicitie of this presēt life he bestowes vpō vs seuē proprieties and perfections almost like to those seuē which we now spoke off called in in the holy Scripture and amongst the Diuines GIFTS OF THE HOLY GHOST 3. Now they are not onely inseparable from charitie but all things considered and properly speaking they are the prime vertues proprieties and qualities of Charitie For first Wisdome is in effect no other thing then the loue which tasteth relisheth and experiēceth how sweete ād delicious God is The 2. Vnderstāding is nothīg else then Loue attentiue to consider and penetraet he beautie of the truthes of Faith to know thereby God in himselfe and then falling from that hight to consider him in his creatures 3. Science on the other side is no other thing then the same Loue which keepes vs hard to the knowledge of our selues and the creatures to make vs reascend to a more perfect knowledge of the seruice which we owe to God 4. Counsell is also Loue in so much as it makes vs carefull attentiue and dexterous in choosing the meanes proper to serue God piously 5. Fortitude is Loue encouraging and animating the heart to put in execution that which Counsell determined should be done 6. Pietie is the Loue which doth sweeten labour and make vs cordially agreeably and with a filiall affection imploye our selues in things which please God our Father And 7. to conclud Feare is no other thing then Loue in so much as it doth make vs flie and auoyd that which is distastfull to the Diuine Maiestie 4. So THEO Charitie shall be another Iacobs ladder vnto vs consisting of the seauen gifts of the holy Ghost as of so many sacred steps by which Angelicall men shall ascend from earth to Heauen to be vnited to the bosome of the Almightie and whereby they shall descend from Heauen to earth to lend a helping hand to their neighbours to lead them to Heauen For in ascēding vpon the first step Feare makes vs forsake euill vpon the 2. Pietie incites vs to doe good vpon the 3. Science makes vs decerne the good which we are to doe and the euill which we are to flie vpon the 4. Fortitude doth encourage vs against all the difficulties which occurre in our enterprise vpon the 5. we make choice of conuenient meanes by Counsell vpon the 6. we vnite our vnderstanding to God to behold and penetrate the draughtes of his infinite beautie and vpō the 7. we ioyne our wills to God to taste and experienee the sweetenesse of his incomprehensible goodnesse for vpon the top of this ladder God bending towards vs giues vs the kisse of Loue and makes vs sucke the sacred dugges of his delight better then wine 5. But if after we haue delightfully enioyed these fauours of loue we desire to returne into the earth to gaine our neighbour to the same happinesse from the chiefe and highest step where we haue filled our will with an ardent Zeale and haue perfumed our soules with the perfumes of Gods Soueraigne Charitie we must descend to the second step
where our vnderstanding is englightened with an incomparable light and makes prouision of the most excellent grounds and Maximes to glorifie the Diuine Beautie and Bountie From thence we passe to the third where by the gift of Counsell we aduise by what meanes we may instill the gust and true estimation of the Diuine sweetenesse into our neighbours heart Vpon the 4. we take heart by the means of holy Fortitude to surmount the difficulties which might crosse this designe Vpon the 5. by the gift of Science we begin to preach exhorting all men to follow vertue and flie vice Vpon the 6. we striue to plant pietie in them that acknowledging God for their louing father they may obserue him with a filiall feare Vpon the last step we terrifie them with Gods iudgments so that mixing the feare of damnation with a filiall respect they doe with more feruour forsake the earth to asceÌ„d to Heauen with vs. 6. Meane while Charitie comprehends these SeueÌ„ gifts aÌ„d is like to a faire Lillie whose flowres are whiter then snow beset in the midst with fine little Hammaâ—s of the gold of wisdome which beate into our heart the gusts and louing tastes of the goodnesse of the Father our Creatour of the Mercy of the Sonne our Redeemour and of the sweetenesse of the Holy Ghost our Sanctifier And I place as you see this double Feare vpon the two lowest steps to reconcile all the traditions with the holy and sacred vulgare Edition for it is not without mysterie that the word FEARE is repeated twice but to shew that there is a filiall gift of Feare which is no other thing theÌ„ the gift of pietie and a gift of seruile Feare which is the beginning of our iorney towards the soueraigne wisdome Of the louing feare of spâ—uses a continuation of the discourse alreadie begune CHAPTER XVI 1. AH Brother IONATHAS saied DAVID thou wast deare to me aboue the loue of women as though he had saied thou didst deserue a greater Loue then that of wiues towards their husbands All excellent things are rare Propose to your selfe THEO a spouse with a Columbine heart which hath the perfectioÌ„ of marriage-Loue the Loue thereof is incoÌ„parable not onely in excellencie but also by reason of a number of singular affections and qualities which doe accompanie it it is not meerely chast but shamefast too it is strong but gracious with all It is violent and yet tender it is ardent but respectfull generous yet fearefull bold but obedient and all its feare is mixed with a delicious confideÌ„ce Such truely is the feare of a soule endowed with the excellencie of Loue For she hath such assurance in the goodnesse of her spouse that she feares not the loosing of him indeede she is afrayed that she shall not sufficiently enioye his diuine presence and that some occasion may make him absent himselfe though for an onely moment She is confident enough neuer to displease him but she feares she shall not loue him so much as loue requires Her Loue is too couragious to entertaine the lest suspicion of euer falling into disgrace with him but she is withall apprehensiue and fearefull that she shall not be vnited vnto him so much as she desires yea the soule doth sometimes arriue at such a desire of perfection that she doth not feare but she shall be sufficiently vnited vnto him Loue assuring her the continuance thereof but she feares that this vnion is not so pure simple and attentiue as her Loue makes her wish It is this admiring Louer who desires not to loue the gust delightes vertues and spirituall consolations least she might be though neuer so little diuerted from the singular loue which she beares to her beloued protesting that it is himselfe not his benefits which she lookes for and crying out to this purpose ah shew me my Beloued where thou feedest where thou lyest at midday least I might roue after the pleasures which are out of thee 2. With this holy feare of heauenly Spouses were touched those great soules of S. PAVLE S. FRANCIS S. CATHARINE of Genua and others who would not admit any mixture in their Loues but endeauoured to make them so pure simple and perfect that neither consolations nor vertues themselues might be enterposed betwixt their heart and God so that they might saie I liue not I but IESVS-CHRIST liues in me my God is my all that which is not God is nothing to me IESVS-CHRIST is my life my Loue is crucified and others the like extaticall words Now the loue of new beginners or appreÌ„tises proceedes from true loue but from a loue which is as yet tender feeble and beginning onely Filiall feare proceedes from a constant and solide loue and which alreadie tends to perfection but the feare of a Spouse springs from the excellencie and perfectioÌ„ of Loue alreadie acquired but as touching seruile and mercinarie feares they proceede not from loue at all but ordinarily they preceede Loue and serue it as Herbingers as we haue alreadie saied and are oftentimes very profitable seruants Howbeit THEO you shall oft see a good Ladie who not willing to eate her bread in idlenesse resembling her whom Salomon doth so much extoll will worke in silke vpon fine white Satine with a goodly varietie of colours to make a peece of embroderie consisting of many rare flowers which afterward she will richly raise with gold and siluer fitly suted the worke is wrought with the needle which she vseth all through to lay her silke siluer or gold yet is not the needle put into the Satine to be left there but onely to draw in after it and make way to the silke siluer and gold so that these being once layed vpon their grounds the needle is drawen out and taken thence Euen so the Diuine Goodnesse about to place a great varietie of vertues in mans soule and afterwards to raise them with his sacred Loue he makes vse of the needle of seruile and mercinarie Feare which commonly doe first pricke our hearts Yet is it not left in it but still as the vertues are placed and lodged in the soule mercenarie and seruile Feare departs according to the saying of the beloued Disciple That perfect Charitie casteh out Feare I verily THEO for the feare of being damned and of loosing Heauen is dreadull and full of anguish and how can it then stand with holy Loue which is wholy sweete and delightfull How seruile Feare remaines together with holy Loue. CHAPTER XVII 1. And albeit that the Lady we spoke off will not leaue her needle in her worke after it be once perfected yet as longe as there remaines any thing to be done about it if any other occurrence hinder her she will leaue the needle sticking in the Pincke the Rose or Paunsie which she embroders to find it in a readinesse when she returnes to her worke In like manner THEO while the Diuine Prouidence is about the embroderie of vertues and the worke of Diuine Loue
accords best with the will of God But in little and dayly exercises wherein the fault is nether of moment or irreparable what neede is there to chant a QVANTA PATIMVR by engaging ones attention in importune consultations To what end should I put my selfe vpon the racke to learne whether God would rather that I should saie the Rosarie or our Ladies Office since there can be no such difference betwixt them that a GRAND-IVRIE should be impannelled vpon it That I should rather goe to visite the sicke in the hospitall then to VESPERAS That I should rather goe to a Sermon then to a Church where there are Indulgences commonly there is no such remarkable thing in the one more then the other that the matter requires any great deliberation we must walke simply not subtily in those occurrēces and as S. BASILE freely doe that which licks vs best without wearying out our wits loosing our time and running hazard of disquiet scruples and superstitiō Now my meaning is alwayes where there is no great disproportion betwixt the two workes and where there occurrs no circumstance more considerable in the one then th' other 5. And euen in matters of moment we are to vse a great humilitie and not to thinke we can fish out Gods will by force of examination and subtilitie of discourse But hauing implored the light of the holy-Ghost applied our cōsideration to the search of his good pleasure taken our Directours counsell and of two or three spirituall persōs more if they chāced to be there we must absolutly resolue and determine in the name of God neuer after to call our choice in question but deuotely peaceably and constantly to vndergoe and improue it And albeit that the difficulties temptations and the diuersitie of euents which crosse the execution of our designe might make vs doubt whether we had made a good choice yet must we remaine constant not waighing all this Yea we are to consider that if we had made an other choice we had peraduenture bene an hundred times worse besides that we wot not whether it be God's will that we should be exercised in consolation or desolation in peace or in warre The resolution being once holily vndertaken we are neuer to doubt of the holinesse of the execution for vnlesse it be our fault there can be none to doe otherwise is a notable marke of selfe-Loue of childishnesse or bransicknesse The end of the eight booke THE NINGTH BOOKE OF LOVE OF SVBMISSION WHEREBY OVR WILL IS VNITED to Gods Of the vnion of our will to the will of God which is the WILL OF GOOD PLEASVRE CHAPTER I. I. NOthing excepting sinne is done but by the will of God called an absolute will and of GOOD PLEASVRE which cannot be hindred by man and which is not knowen vnto vs but by the effects yet being arriued they make manifest that God willed and determined them 2. Let vs conside◠in grosse THEO all that hath bene is and shall be and rauished with amazement we shall be forced to crie out with the Psalmist O Lord I will praise thee because thou are abundantly magnified thy works are wonderfull and my soule doth acknowledge thē very much thy knowledge is become admirable of me it is made great nor can I reach to it And from thence we passe on to a most holy Complacence reioycing that God is so infinit in WISDOME POWER and GOODNESSE which are the three Diuine Proprieties whereof the world is but a small taste or scantling 3. Let vs behold men and Angels and all the varietie of nature qualities conditions faculties affections passions graces and priuiledges which the diuine Prouidence hath established in the innumerable number of those heauenly INTELLIGENCES and humane creaturs vpon which Gods IVSTICE and MERCY is so admirably practised and we cannot containe our selues from singing with ioye full of respect and louing dread True Iustice and true Iudgment are The obiect of my dittie VVhich vnto thee I offer dare Most iust and full of pitie THEO we are to take an exceeding complacence to see how God exerciseth his MERCY by the sundrie benefits which he doth distribute amongst men and Angels in heauen and earth And how he practiseth his IVSTICE by an infinit varietie of paines and chastisements for his IVSTICE and MERCY are equally amiable and admirable in them selues since both of them are no other thing then the same most singular Goodnesse and Deitie But the effects of his Iustice being alwayes sharpe and and full of bitternesse to vs he sweetens them with the mixture of the effects of his MERCY conseruing the greene Oliue amidst the waters of the Deluge of his iust indignation and giuing power to the deuote soule as to a chast doue to find it in the end prouided alwayes that like to the doue she doth louingly meditate So death afflictions anguishes labours whereof our life is full which by Gods iust ordinances are the punishments of sinne are also by his milde MERCY made ladders to ascend to Heauen meanes to encrease grace and merits to obtaine Glorie Blessed is pouertie hunger thirst sorrow sicknesse persecution death for in truth they are the iust punishments of our faults yet punishments so seasoned or to vse the Phisitions terme so aromatized with Diuine sweetenesse benignitie and clemencie that their bitternesse is best beloued A strang yet a true thing THEO if the damned were not blinded with the obstinacie and hatred which they conceiue against God they would find consolation in their torments and see the Diuine MERCY admirably dispersed amongst their eternally-tormenting flames So that the Saints considering on the one side the torments of the damned so horrible and dreadfull they praise Gods IVSTICE in it and crie out thou art iust ô Lord thou art iust and iustice for euer raignes in thy iudgments But seeing on the other side that these paines though eternall and incomprehensible come yet farre short of the crime and trespasse for which they were inflicted rauished with Gods infinite MERCY ó Lord will they saie how good thou art since in the very heate of thy wroth thou canst not keepe in the torrent of thy MERCYES that it streame not its waters into the deuouring flames of Hell Goodnesse o Lord hath not thy soule forsooke Euen while thy iustest iustice vengeance tooke Midst hellish flames nor could sterne ire represse The torrent of thy wounted graciousnesse Thou still pour'st out and still dost enterlace Thy wrothfull strokes with strikes of grace And then turning our eyes vpon our selues in parcular and finding in vs diuers interiour and exteriour goods as also a greatest number of interiour and exteriour paines which the Diuine Prouidēce hath prepared for vs according to his most holy IVSTICE and MERCY and as opening the armes of our consent we doe most louingly embrace all resting in Gods most holy will and singing vnto him by way of a Hymne of an eternall repose Thy will be done in earth as it is in
Heauen I Lord thy will be done in earth where we haue no pleasure which is not enterlaced with some paine no Roses without thornes no day so cleare that is not followed with a night no summer that was not vsshered in by a precedent winter In the earth ò Lord where consolations are thinne sowen desolations thicke let yet ò God thy will be done not onely in keeping thy Commandements Counsells and Inspirations which are to be practised by vs but also in the sufferance of afflictions and paines which are to fall vpon vs so that thy will may doe by vs for vs in vs and with vs what is thought good to thee That the vnion of our will to the will of God is priâ—câ—pally caused by tribulations CHAPTER II. 1. PAines considered in themselues cannot indeede be beloued yet beheld in their source that is in Gods will and prouidence which ordaines them they are infinitly amiable Behold Moyses his rod vpon the ground it is a hideous serpent looke vpon it in Moyses his hand it is a rod of wonders Looke tribulations in the face they are dreadfull behold them in the will of God they are loues and delights How often doth it fall out that the potion or plaster presented by the Phisition or Apoticarie is loathsome vnto vs which being offered by some friends hand Loue surmounting our loathing we receiue with delight Certes Loue doth either free labour from all difficultie or makes its difficultie delightfull It is reported that there is a riuer in Boetia wherein the fishes shine like gold but taken out of those waters the place of their origine they haue the naturalll colour of other fishes Euen so afflictions if they be looked vpon out of God's will they beare with them their naturall bitternesse but being contemplated in this eternall will they are all gold louely and precious beyond conceite 2. If Abraham had beheld a necessitie to slaughter his Sonne out of Gods will thinke THEO what panges and conuulsions his poore heart had felt but seeing it in Gods GOOD PLEASVRE it appeares all gold and he doth tenderly embrace it If the Martyrs had looked vpon their torments out of this GOOD PLEASVRE how could they haue sunge in chaines and flames The truely louing heart loues Gods GOOD PLEASVRE not in consolations onely but in afflictions also yea it loues it better vpon the crosse in paines and difficulties because it iâ— the prime effect of Loue to make the Louer suffer for the thing beloued 3. The Stoicks especially the good Epictetes placed all Philosophie in abstaining and sustaining bearing and forbearing in forbearing and abstaining froÌ„ terreane delightes pleasures aÌ„d honours in sustaining and bearing wrongs toyles and discoÌ„modities But Christian doctrine which is the onely true Philosophie hath three principles vpoÌ„ which it doth ground all its exercises Abnegation of ones selfe which is farre more then to abstaine from pleasures Bearing of the crosse which is farre more then to tolerate it following of our Sauiour not onely in the point of renunciation of a mans selfe and bearing of his crosse but euen in the practise of all sorts of good works Yet is there not so much loue testified neither in the abnegation nor in the very deede doing as in suffering Certes the holy-Ghost in the holy Scripture puts downe the death and passion which our Sauiour suffered for vs as the highest straine of our Sauiours Loue towards vs. 4. First to loue Gods will in consolations is a good loue when the loue of God is indeede loued not the consolation in which it is found howbeit it is a loue voide of contradiction repugnance and difficultie for who would not loue a will so worthy in a subiect so wellcome SecoÌ„dly to Loue the will of God in his CoÌ„mandemeÌ„ts CouÌ„sells aÌ„d inspiratioÌ„s is a secoÌ„d degree of loue and much more perfect for it leades vs to the renouncing and quitting of our owne will and makes vs abstaine and forbeare many pleasures yet not all Thirdly to loue sufferances and afflictions for the loue of God is the highest point of holy Charitie for there is nothing therein to gaine our affection saue the onely will of God Our nature feeles a great contradiction in it and we doe not thereby forsake pleasures onely but we euen eÌ„brace paines and torments 5. Our mortall enemye knew well what was Loue 's furthest tryall when he had heard from the mouth of God that IOB was iust rightuous fearing God hatting sinne and stable in innocencie he made no account of all this in comparison of bearing afflictions by which he made the last and surest essaye of the loue of this great seruant of God aÌ„d to haue theÌ„ in an extreamitie he composed them of the losse of all his goods and all his children of the entire reuolt of all his friends and of an arrogant opposition of his greatest Confederates and his owne wife and of an opposition full of despight mockerie and reproch to which he added the whole collection of almost all humane diseases namely a cruell stinking horrible vlcer ouer all his bodie 6. And yet behold the great IOB as king of all the miserable creaturs vpon the face of the earth seated vpon a dunge-hill as vpon the Throne of miserie adorned with soares vlcers and matter as with royall robes suteing them in the qualitie of his royaltie with so great an abiection and annihilation that if he had not spooken one should not haue descerned whether IOB was a man reduced into a dounghill or the dounghill a corruption in forme of a man Behold there I saie the great Iob crying out If we haue receiued good things from the hand of God why shall we not also receiue that which is bad ô God how this word is great with Loue He ponders THEO that it was from the hand of God that he had receiued the good testifying that he had not so much loued good because it was good as that it came from our Sauiours hand which being so he concluds that he is louingly to support aduersities since they proceede from our Sauiours hand equally to be loued when he distributs afflictions and when he bestowes consolations Each one doth easily receiue good things but to receiue euill is a worke of perfect Loue which loues them so much the more for that they are not amiable but in respect of his hand that giues them 7. The Trauailler that is in feare whether he hath hit vpon the right way walks in doubt looking about him in the countrie where he is and stands in a muse at the end of almost euery feild to thinke whether he goes not a straie But he that is sure of his way walks on iocundly boldly and swiftly Euen so the Loue that deâ—ires to walke to Gods will through consolations walkes still in feare to take the wrong path and in steede of louing Gods good liking to fall in loue with the pleasure which is in the consolation but