excellent lesson coÌ„cerning the strict examinatioÌ„ of our coÌ„science as it were into the chapter-house with thy selfe towardes night and iudge thy selfe very particulerly as thou wouldest do any third person Reprehend thy selfe and punish thy selfe for thy faultes and preach thou more to thy selfe then to any other body how much so euer thou loue him and where thou findest most fault there procure to apply most remedy For belieue me that by the continuance of this examen and reprehension of thy selfe thy thoughts cannot continue long without being reformed And thou shalt ariue to a science which will doe thee much good and it will make thee weepe not swell and it will keep thee from that dangerous infirmity of pride which entreth euen insensibly by little and little a man thinking well and taking contentement in himselfe Be very watchful against the approach there of and preserue thy selfe with all care Take not thy selfe into good conceite but know by the light of truth how to reprehend be displeasing to thy selfe and so the mercy of God wil be neere thee in whose right they only are pleasing who are displeasing in their owne And he pardoneth their faultes with a great liberality of goodnesse who know them and who humble themselues for them with (d) But it must be a true one a true iudgement and who lament them by their will Thou shalt also hereby decline two other vices which are the ordinary companions of pride and they are ingratitude sloth For by knowing and misliking thy defects thou wilt see thy weakenesse and thy vnworthynesse and the great mercy of God in suffering pardoning thee in bestowing benedictions vpon thee who hast deserued misery and by this meanes thou wilt be gratefull And on the other side considering the little good thou doest the many sinnes which thou committest thou wilt be awaked out of the sleepe of slouth and wilt euery day begin with new feruour to serue our Lord seing the little that thou hast done hitherto For this and many other benefittes which grow from a mans knowing and reproouing himselfe a holy old man of ancient tymes being asked whether a man might be more secure by seruing God in solitude or in company of others did answeare That is he knew how to reprehend himselfe he might be euery where safe and if not that he would be euery where in daÌ„ger And because through the inordinate loue which we beare our selues we cannot know or reprehend our selues with that vnpartiall iudgement which truth requires we must (e) A hard lesson but by the goodnes and grace of our Lord Ieâ—â—â— it is learâ—ed practised by 〈◊〉 in the Catholike Church thanke that person that doth it for vs. And we must earnestly beseech our Lord that himselfe will rebuke vs with loue bestowing vpon vs light and truth that so we may belieue of our selues as we ought in very deed to belieue And this is that which the prophet (f) Ierem. 10. Ieremy desired saying Correct me o Lord in iudgement and not in sury least otherwise thou do turne me into nothing To correct with fury doth belong to the last day when God will send the wicked to hell for their synnes and to correct in iudgement is to reprehend his children in this world with the loue of a Father Which reprehension carrieth a great testimony with it that God loueth such a person Nor is there any other so sure an one as that nor which bringeth so good newes as being the preface to vs of our receiuing great fauours from God So doth S. Marke relate that our Lord Iesus Christ appearing to his disciples did (g) Mare 10. reprehend them of incredulity and hardnesse of hart and then he after gaue them power to doe wonderfull thinges And the prophet (h) Isa 4. Isay sayth That our Lord doth wash away the vncleanes of the daughters of Sion and the bloud out of the middle of Hierusalem in the spirit of iudgement and in the spirit of heate Giuing vs so to vnderstand that for our Lord to wash way our faultes by comming to vs is first to make vs know who we are and this is iudgement And afterward he sendeth in a spirit of heate which is loue and that prouoketh vs to griefe and so he washeth vs giuing vs pardon by his grace Of this we must not presume to allow our selues any part of the glory since it is he who first gaue vs to vnderstand our owne wickednesse and rashnesse Nor (i) A description of that true â—orrow for sinne which is of God yet art thou to conceaue that this reprehension is any afflictiue kind of thing which may excessiuely oppresse thy soule by making it offensiue to thee For any such disposition as this is eyther of the Diuell or of a mans owne spirit and it must be fled But it is a quiet knowledge of a mans owne faultes and as a iudgâ—ment of heauen which is pronounced in the soule which makes this earth of our infirmity quake with shame and feare and loue which clappe spurres into the sides to make it mende to serue our Lord with greater diligence Yea it giues a man much confidence that our Lord loueth him as his sonne since he exerciseth the office of a Father with him as it is written And (k) Prou. 3. whom he loueth he correcteth Be therefore carefull to behold and reprehend and to present thy selfe in the presence of God before whom an humble acknowledgement of our owne faultes is a matter of more security then the proude altitude of any other science And be not like some who loue to haue themselues in good estimation who because they are loth to thinke ill of themselues they take pleasure in spending much tyme to thinke of other deuout thinges and to passe lightly ouer the knowledge of their owne defects because they find no sauour in them since they take no pleasure in the contempt of themselues Whereas in very Truth there is nothing so safe nor which so maketh God withdraw his sight from our sinnes as for vs to see and to reprehend them with griefe and pennance As it is written If we did iudge our selues we should not be iudged by God CHAP. LXIII Of the estimation which we are to make of our good works that we may not fayle thereby in the knowledge of our selues and of true Humility and of the meruailous example which Christ our Lord doth giue vs for this purpose THE second thing that thou art to obserue concerning this knowledge is that although it be good and profitable since therby we come to haue a contrite and humbled hart yet hath it this fault that it is euer grounded vpon our hauing committed sinne And it is not to be much meruailed at if a sinner do know and esteeme himselfe to be a sinner For being such he should withal be a hideous monster if he would esteem
the excesse of admiration and amazement And if this would happen to such as in their owne person had not receiued this benefit from the King but by the only thinking what he had done for another man what may be belieued that it would worke in the hart of that very slaue vnlesse he were franticke for whome that King should so haue dyed Doest thou not thinke that such a knocke of loue as this would awake him would change him would so entitely captiue him to the loue of that King as that he could neuer get leaue of himselfe to conceaue his prayses nor thinke of his merits but with teares Nor employ himselfe vpon any other thing then the expressing of supreme gratitude and loue by doing and suffering for him all that possibly he could Hast thou heard this Parable which in the world did neuer take effect Then (m) A miserable man thou art if this do not mouethee to the very soule know That what the Kings of the earth haue not done that very thing hath beene done by Christ Iesus the King of heauen Of whom S. Iohn (n) Apoc. 19. sayth That in his thigh he carryed this title written King of Kinges and Lord of Lordes For euen as he is man as he hath taken humane nature which is signifyed by the word Thigh so great is his altitude as that it surmounteth all Lords Kings created not only them of this world but (o) The celestiall spirits also of heauen Enioying a Name which is aboue all Names and a height and power of dominion aboue all the highest men and Angells Behold this height which hath no equall and cast downe they eyes to behold that (p) The infinite God for base and sinnefull man basenes for which it suffers And thou wilt see as S. Paul sayth That (q) Rom. 1. we are weake and wicked and traitours against God and his enemyes Which titles are of so much dishonour basenes as that they cast a man backe and downe into the hindmost place and into the lowest price that can be set vpon any creature Since there is nothing so base as to be wicked nor nothing so wicked as a sinner is in respect that he is such Comparing therfore these extremes which are so different of so high a king and so wicked slaues behold now the much that he loued them Come (r) If thou refuse this inuitatioÌ„ thou art vndone hither into the hart of our Lord and if thou haue the eyes of an Eagle heere in matter for them to worke vpon Nay they will not serue thy turne to make thee sufficiently see the brightly burning high heaped loue which inhabited that most holy soule with such extent and latitude that although those highest Angells of heauen for the great power which they haue to Loue are called Seraphims which signifyeth that they are set on fire yet if they had come to mount Caluary at the time when our Lord did suffer there his excessiue loue would haue cast them into wonder in comparison whereof their owne would haue bin no more then meere tepidity For as that most sacred soule possesseth greater altitude and honour then can be had by any other eyther in heauen or earth for as much as instantly vpon the creation thereof it was vnited to the person of the Word of God so was the Holy Ghost infused into it beyond all measure and such degrees of grace and loue were giuen to it that neither they could increase nor could the soule contayne more So that it is with great reason applyed to this most holy soule which is written The (Å¿) Cant. 1. King did place me in the cellar of wine and in me he ordayned Charity Or as we read in another translation he placed his Ensigne or Banner of loue vpon me For in regard that this soule as soon as it was created did clearly see the Diuine Essence and was carryed to it with an vnspeakable force of loue the banner of holy loue was planted on it To giue vs to vnderstand that this soule was the most ouercome by loue that euer man or Angell was either in Heauen or on Earth And (t) They only conquer who are captiued by the loue of our Lord Iesus because in the warre of the loue of God he that is most ouercome is most worthy and most valiant and most happy therefore doth this most blessed soule carry the Ensigne of loue which standes vpon it That al they may know who either on Earth or in Heauen do pretend to loue God that they must follow the conduct of this Lord if they meane to do it well as the disciple would do his maister or the soldiar his captaine since he exceedeth them all in loue as he exceedeth them otherwise in dominion Now since so great a fire of loue was lodged in that most sacred soule it is (u) If thy hart loue deeply it will find meanes to expresse iâ— selfe not strange if the flame fly out and scorch and burne the cloaths which are his most sacred body which was loaden with such torments as giue testimony of the interiour loue For it is written Who shall be able to carry fire in his bosome and that his garment should not be burnt And when thou shalt see that in the exteriour they guide in his handes with cruell ropes thou art to vnderstand that within he is taken prisoner by the nets of loue which are so much stronger then those other as chaynes of iron are beyond threeds of flaxe This (x) Shall we not paâ— such loue with loue loue this was it which defeated him which ouer cam him which tooke him which tost him from Iudge to Iudge and from the torment of scourges to the torment of cruell thornes and which cast the Crosse vpon him first and which carryed him to Mount Caluary where he was after cast vpon the Crosse There stretcht he out his armes abroad to be crucifyed in token that his hart had beene opened by his loue and that so widely towardes all as that the brightly burning and puissant beames of loue did sally out from the center of his hart and went to determine themselues vpon euery (y) wherof thou and I are two man in particuler both such as were past such as were present such as were to come offering vp his life for the good of them all And if (z) Note the high Priest do exteriourly carry the names of the (a) Eâ—â—d 28. twelue Sonnes of Israel written both vpon his shoulders and vpon his breast much more excellently doth this Priest of ours carry men vpon his shoulders by suffering for men And he carryeth them also written in (b) And our Lord make vs able to write him iâ—â—â—tâ— his hart for he doth so cordially loue them that if the first Adam sold them all for an apple and if they sel themselues at a base price and if so
shalt now vnderstand that if this prayer be deuout and long continued and such as wherin gust is taken according to that diuine sweetnesse which it imparted to some such prayer I say is not only a weapon wherewith to fight but euen outright to cut the throat of this bestiall vice For the soule wrastling hand to hand with God by the armes of her deuout affections and thoughtes doth obteyne of him in particuler manner as another Iacob that he blesse her with a multitude of graces and with a profound internall sweetnesse Heereupon she remaineth strucken in the thigh which signifieth sensuall appetite this growing to be mortified in such forte as that from thenceforth she goeth lame on that side and she remayneth liuely strong in her spirituall affections being signified by the other thigh which was vntouched For as the delightfull gust of flesh and bloud maketh vs loose all gust and strength of spirit so if once we come to haue gust in spirit the gust of all flesh and bloud grows highly vnsauoury Somtymes (b) See how God vseth his true seruants the delightfull sweetnesse which a soule being visited by God doth tast is so great that the body cannot beare it and the same body remayneth so weake and so defeated as it might be at the end of some corporal infirmity which had held it long Though at other tymes it hapâ—eth that by the strength which is receiued by the soule euen the very body also is assisted and recouers new forces Making some experience in this exile of hers of that which shee is to find in heauen when the soule being happy in God full of inexplicable delightes there shall result into the body both strength and ioy and other most pretious endowements which our Lord will then impart O soueraigne Lord and how (c) How inexcusable they are who leaue God for the loue of creatures mightily without excuse hast thou made the fault of them who for the seeking of delight in creatures are content to forsake yea to offend thee vvhilest yet euery one of the delightes that be in thee are so massiue as that all they which are in the creatures being summed vp into one are in comparison of thyne no better then pure and perfect gall And this is so vvith great reason For the delight or ioy vvhich is taken from any thing is but the fruite of that thing whatsoeuer it be and such as the tree is the fruit is also Therefore is the ioy which is deriued from creatures but short and vayne and filthy and compounded with sorrow because the tree from whence it is gathered is subiect to the same conditions But the ioy which is in thee O Lord what imperfection or decay can it be subiect to Since thou art eternall quiet most simple most beautifull immutable a Good which is infinitely complete The (d) The delights of this world are all but lyes tast which a partridge hath is of a partridge the gust which a man hath of any creature sauours of the creature and he that can say who thou art O Lord can say of what tast thou art Aboue all vnderstanding is thy being and so also is that sweet delight of thyne which is kept and hidden vp for them that feare thee and who to enioy thee do with their harts renounce the gust of creatures An infinite good thou art and so are thy delights also infinite And therfore although the Angels of heauen and the happy soules of men liuing there are euer to remayne enioying thee and (e) The ioyes of heauen are so greatâ— as that no soule would be able to subsist in them if it were not supernaturally enabled to it by Almighty God that with a proportion of strength which thou hast giuen them for that purpose which is not small and although incomparably many more were added also to them that in like maÌ„ner they might enioy thee and that with much greater strength then now they haue yet so boundlesse is that sea of thy diuine sweetnes as that they all wauing and swimming as being full euen inebriated with those delights there doth yet remayne so much more thereof to be enioyed as that if thou O Lord Omnipotent with the infinite powers which thou hast didst not possesse and enioy thy selfe those delights would carry with themselues a kind of complaint in that there would be want of such as might enioy all that which is there to be enioyned And thou O most wise Lord vnderstanding as being our Creatour that our inclinatioÌ„ carryeth vs to a loue of rest and ioy and that a soule is not able to continue long without a search of some consolation either good or bad thou (f) God is so deerely good that euen in this life he puts his faythfull seruants into a kind of paradise dost inuite vs by those celestial delights which are in thee that so we may not cast our selues away vpon the pursuite of sinneful pleasure in thy creatures Thy voice it is O Lord Come vnto (g) Matt. 11. me O all you that labour and are loaden and I will refresh you And thou didst commaund that this should be proclaymed in thy name O all you that are thirsty come to the waters And thou hast made vs know That (h) Isâ— â—s there are delightfull ioyes in thy right hand which continue to the end that of the same riuer of thy delight not by any limited taxe or measure thou giuest to thy seruants to driâ—ke in thy kingdome Yea sometymes thou vouchsafest a tast of some part therof to thy friends euen whylest they are yet on earth to whome thou sayest Come (i) Canâ— 5. eate and drinke and be inebriated O you my deerest friends Al this thou doest O Lord through a desire of drawing them to thee by meanes of ioy whome thou knowest to be so affected to it Let no man therefore lay the least imputation vpon thee O Lord as if there were any want of goodnes in thee to be loued or of true delight to be enioyed and let him neuer be hunting after any pleasing or delightfull conuersation out of thee since the reward which thou wilt giue to thy seruants is to bid them Enter into (k) Matt. 20. the ioy of their Lord. For of the same plate and out of the same cup whereof thou eatest and drinkest they shall eate and drinke and of the same which thou enioyest they shall enioy for thou hast already inuited them to eate at thy table in the (l) Luc. 21. kingdome of thy Father What canst thou haue heere to say (m) Hearken to this for he speaks home to thee if it be to thee O thou carnall man thou who art in so high a measure deceaued as that thou ariuest to prize these filthy pleasures of flesh and bloud which base and wicked persons and euen the very beastes of the field enioy more then that soueraigne
ignorant That (a) Eccl. 7. in the day of prosperity which we haue we must be calling those (b) A safe and most profitable aduice miseryes to mind which we may haue and that we must take in those diuine consolations by the weight of Humility accompanying it with the holy feare of God least otherwise he experience that which Dauid himselfe deliuered Thou turnedst thy face from me and I was troubled Another cause of his fall is giuen vs to be vnderstood in holy Scripture by saying that at such tymes as the Kings of Israel were wont to passe into the warres against the infidells King (c) 2 Reg. 1. Dauid stayed at home And walking vp and down vpon a tarrasse of his pallace he saw that which was the occasion of his adultery and of the murther also not only of one but many All this had byn auoyded if he had gone to fight the battailes of God according to the custome of other Kings and himselfe had done so other yeares If (d) A good lesson to vs Catholike to be sympathizing alwayes with the Holy Church our Mother both in sorrow and in spirituall ioy according to the diuersity of tymes occasions thou wilt be wandring vp and downe when the seruants of God are recollected if thou wilt be idle when they labour in good workes if thou wilt be dissolutely sending thyne eyes abroad whilest theirs are weeping bitterly both for themselues and others and if when they are rising vp by night to pray thou art sleeping and snorting and leauing of by occasion of euery fancy the good exercises which thou wert wont to vse and by the force and heate whereof thou wert kept on foote how doest thou thinke to preserue chastity being carelesse vnprouided of defensiue weapons and hauing so many enemies who are so stout laborious and compleatly armed in fighting against it Do (e) Note not deceiue thy selfe for if thy desire to be chast be not accompanied by deeds which are fit for the defence of that vertue thy desire will prooue vayne and that will happen to thee which did to Dauid Since thou art not more priuiledged more stout nor more a Saint then he And to conclude this matter of the occasions through which this pretious treasure of chastity is wont to be lost thou art to vnderstand that the cause why God permitted that the flesh shold rebell against reason in our first parents from whome we haue it by inheritance was for that they rebelled against God by disobeying his commandement He chastized them in conformity of their sinne and thus it was That (f) Note Lex Taliotus since they would not obey their superiour their inferiour should not obey them and so the vnbridled nesse of this flesh being a subiect and a slaue rebelling against her superiour which is reason is a punishment â—ayd vpon reason for the disobedience with she committed against her superiour which is God Be therfore very carefull that thou be not disobedient to thy superiours least God permit that thy inferiour which is thy flesh do rebell against thee as he suffered Adad to rebell against King Salomon (g) 3. Regâ— 12. his Lord and least he scourge persecute thee and by thy weakenesse draw thee downe into mortall sinne And if with the inward eyes of thy hart thou haue vnderstood that which heere with the eyes of thy body thou hast read thou wilt see how great reason there is that thou shouldest looke to thy selfe and consider what there is within thy selfe And (h) No man can see himselfe exactly but by light from heauen because thou art not exactly able to know thyne owne soule thou art to begg light of our Lord and so to sift the most secret corners of thy hart that there may be no ill thing there which eyther thou knowest or knowest not off by meanes whereof thou mightest through some secret iudgement of God runne hazard to loose the treasure of chastity which yet it doth so much import thee to keep safe by meanes of his diuine assistance CHAP. XIV How much we ought to fly from the vaine confidence of obteyning victory against this enemy by our owne only industry and labour and that we must vnderstand it to be the guist of God of whom it is to be humbly asked by the intercession of the Saintes and in particuler of the Virgin our Blessed Lady ALL that which hath byn sayd and more which might be sayd are meanes for the obtayning and keeping of this pretious purity But it happeneth oftentymes that as although we bringe both stone and wood and all other necessary materialls for the making of a house yet we do not fall vpon the buylding of it so also doth it come to passe that vsing all these remedies we yet obtayne not the chastity which we so much desire Nay there are many who after hauing had liuely desires thereof and taken much paynes for the obtayning of it do yet see themselues miserably fallen or violently at least tormented in their flesh with much sorrow they say We haue laboured all night and yet we haue taken nothing And it seemeth to them that in themselues that is fulfilled which the Wiseman sayd The (a) Eccl. 7. more I sought it the further off it fled away This (b) Take heed of trusting to thy selfe vseth oftentymes to happen by reason of a secret confidence which these proud labourers haue in themselues imagininge that chastity was a fruite which grew from their only endeauour and not that it was a guift imparted by the hand of God And for not knowing of whom it was to be asked they iustly were depriued of it For (c) God sheweth mercy sometyme euen in suffring vs to sal into â—â—nne it had byn of more preiudice to them to haue kept it since withall they would be proud and vngratefull to God then to be without it yet withall to be full of sorrow and humility and so to be forgiuen by pennance It is no small part of wisedome to know by whom chastity is giuen and he is gone a good piece of the way towardes the obteyning of it who indeed belieueth that it comes not from the strength of man but that it is the guift of our Lord. This doth he teach vs in his holy Ghospell saying All are not capable of this word but they to whome it is giuen by God And although the remedies already pointed out for the obtayning of this happinesse be full of profit and (d) We must both worke pray for neither of them both alone will serue the turne that we must employ our selues thereupon yet must that be with this condition that we place not our confidence in them but let vs deuoutly pray to God which Dauid did both practise and aduise by saying I did cast vp myne eyes to the mountayns from whence my succour shall descend my succour is of our Lord who made heauen
all thinges of the earth yea and of heauen it selfe are but very poore and vnworthy of being desyred or enioyed if from them we seuer the will of our Lord. And that there is no one thing how little soeuer or how bitter soeuer it be otherwise which if it be ioyned to the will of our Lord is not of extreame valew Better it is without comparison to be in affliction if our Lord require it then abstracting from his will to be in heauen And if once we did banish from our selues this secret couetousnes with resolution there would fall of withall many euill fruites which grow from thence and we should gather others in place thereof of more worth namely ioy and peace which vse to be deriued from the vnion of a soule with the will of God And so firme they would be withall that tribulation it selfe would not be able to take them from vs. For as much as although such persons do find themselues afflicted and forsaken yet are they not in despayre no nor greately troubled as knowing that to be the way of the Crosse to which they haue offered themselues and by which Christ did walke as it appeared when being vpon the Crosse he sayd to his Father O (o) Matt. 17. my God Why hast thou forsaken me But shortly after he sayd Into thy hands O Father I commend my spirit Our Lord had also sayd already Againe (p) Ioan. 10. Will I see you and your hart shall reioyce and no man shall take this ioy from you For if a man enioy this condition there is no tribulation which there in the most inward part of his soule doth much disquiet him because there within he is close vnited to the will of him that sendeth it If thus we would carry our selues we should deceaue the deceauer which is the diuell For as much as by not being dismayed nor retyring from our good course begun notwithstanding the euill language he speaketh but on the other syde taking that which our Lord doth send with obedience and giuing of thankes we depart without any hurt out of this skirmish although it should last as long as we liue Yea we come to greater profit then we had before since it gaue vs occasion to gaine more crownes in heauen in reward of that conformity which we had to the will of our Lord without respecting our owne euen in that which was very painefull to vs. CHAP. XXVII That the conquest of these temptations doth consist more in hauing patience to beare them and in the hope of the fauour of our Lord then inprocuring forcibly that they may not come THE conquest whereof we haue spoken proceedeth more from the stratageme of hauing patience at that which commeth vpon vs then in the force which we can vse in procuring that it may not come And for this did the spouse say in the Canticles Catch me those little foxes which spoyle our vineyards for our vine hath sâ—orished The vineyard of Christ is our soule which was planted by his hand and watered by his bloud It doth flourish when the tyme of sterility being past it beginneth to lead a new life and yealdeth fruite to him that planted it But because in such beginnings both these and other temptations of the crafty Diuell do lye in waite for vs therefore doth the noble spouse admonish vs that since our soule which is his vineyard is in flower we should procure to hunt those foxes out By which word it is giuen vs to vnderstaÌ„d that it must be done in the (a) Because the flowers come before the fruits morning as hath bin sayd By saying that they were foxes we are as good as told that they come disguised to deceaue vs seeming to byte on the onesyde they wound on the other and in saying that they are little he telleth vs that they are not so much to be feared by him that knoweth them for the knowing theÌ„ is to weaken theÌ„ if not to ouercome them out right In saying that they destroy the vines he signifyeth that they doe men much mischiefe who know them not For being frighted and not confiding to goe through with their businesse in the sight of God they leaue their way and following a lamentable perswasion they giue themselues openly to sinne conceauing that they enioy more peace in the broad way of perditioÌ„ then by the strayte one of vertue which leadeth to life The end of such persons if they returne not first to the right way many tymes is such as that it carrieth most certayne tokens of eternall perdition as the Scripture sayth He (b) Eccl. 〈◊〉 that passeth from iustice to sinne God hath prepared him for the instrument of iustice that is for hell They (c) Note should consider that as the Gabaonites were besieged and persecuted by their enemies for hauing made peace with (d) Iosue 10. Iosue and that Iosue being called vpon by them to giue them succour did relieue and free them making their case his owne because they were persecuted by their enemies in regard of the peace they made with him so they who beginning to serue God do enroll themselues in his band grow instantly to be persecuted by the Diuells which they were not before and this doth euidently appeaâ—e to be so because by forsaking the party of Christ the persecution which is made against them would cease and if they continue to suffer they suffer for holding vp the party of Christ Now this is a most particuler fauour which God doth as S. Paul (e) Phil. 1. affirmeth To you it is giuen by Christ not only to belieue in him but also to suffer for him And if the Angels of heauen were capable of enuying earthly creatures (f) The great nobility of suffering for the loue of God and for his will it would be for this that they suffer for God And although by the word of God a Crowne is promised to that man who suffereth (g) lac 1. temptations is prooued by them which reward it shal be fit for vs to consider and desyre thereby to get more spirit that we be neither tepide in working nor weake in suffering as it is sayd both of Moyses and of Dauid also that they had an eye to the reward yet the true and perfect louer of our Crucifyed Lord doth so much esteeme a being in conformity with him that he receiueth euen the very suffering it selfe as a great fauour and reward for as Saint Augustine saith A happy iniury is that wherof God is the cause And since there is not a man who will not succour another that suffereth by comming to his seruice much more may this be expected from that diuine goodnesse And that he will make that mans cause his owne as Dauid thus desyred that he would Rise vp o Lord and iudge thy cause remember the iniurious words with the foole hath vttered against thee all the day longe That businesse
they shed teares for the Passion of our Lord but because they fled from the imitation thereof they were cowards and offended God thereby like euill Christians Thou art not therfore to consider the Passion and to haue compassion of out Lord as one that would looke vpon a businesse in the nature of a meere looker on but as one who is to accompany our Lord in the point of sufferance And by looking vpon him procure thou to get strength to drinke of his Chalice with him though it be neuer so bitter Let (g) He aduiseth to corporall pennance as a disposition to the mortification of our passions the beginning and foundation of greater matters wherein thou art to imitate him be in exteriour austerities and the mortification of thy body That so thou mayest carry some resemblance to his diuine flesh which was so full of affliction tormentes farre greater then can be expressed Behold him with stiffe attention how he tasteth of vinegar and gall behold in how straite a bed he is lodged and how bare he is of clothes and how thicke he is apparelled with torments from head to foot and get thou force from hence to fly from the delicacies and ornaments of thy body in thy clothes in thy bed and in thy food And in this and in all the rest which thou canst do without much inconuenience afflict thy body and make it liue vpon a Crosse and that which thou canst not do let indeed thy hart desyre and begge strength of our Lord for it and lament in that he being vpon the Crosse thou deseruedst not to accompany or to imitate him These must be the desires of a Christian who exerciseth himselfe vpon thinking on the Passion if he haue a mind to imitate it For (h) If ther had beene any better way to Heauen then that of the Crosse our Lord Iesus would haue taught vs how to find it but he taught no other when our Lord came from heauen to earth to conuerse with men and to teach them the best and most secure way to heauen and when he was borne did make choice of pouerty of cold and of banishment and as he increased in yeares so did he increase in affliction and the end of his life was the addition of others which were greater then they He honoured these thinges though of themselues they were base and by ioyning them to himselfe he gaue them such a stampe of greatnesse and such tokens of security beauty as to make them grow to be desired For (i) Note this comparison for is doth conuince if a temporall king by apparelling himself in such or such a fashion do instantly make it honourable and to be thought worthy of imitation by all his vassalls how much more shall this be done by that soueraigne King of Kinges whose worth is infinitely more then of all the creatures how high soeuer And he that followeth not this dictamen should be no true vassall of this Lord since he holdes it not for a point of honour to be like him A delightfull thinge it is as saith S. Bernard to imitate the dishonour of him that was crucified but this only belonges to such as are not vngratefull to him And (k) Note this excellent comparison receaue that light and heat which God is willing to grant thee by means thereof now tell me if a King should go on foote and that bare and weary and sweating through the sharpenesse of the way hauing his backe loaden with sackcloth his face with teares and all this to mooue compassion as Dâ—nid did what seruant of his could there be who eyther for loue or shame would not also go on foote and vnshod and as like his King as hâ— were able And so the Scripture saith that all thâ— seruants of Dauid did and all the people that went 〈◊〉 his company But if such a King should commaunâ— any of his seruantes that wayted on him to takâ— horse and to ride at ease a cruell commaundâ—ment would that be to such a seruant And froâ— the roots of his hart he would beseech the King not to put such a huge affront vpon him as that a Royall Maiesty being treated in such a fashion his servant should be seene so contrary to him And if yet notwithstanding the King should persist in the Commandment the seruant indeed would obey him but with so much payne as that placing his eyes vpon the affliction of the King his hart would take no contentment in that ease which exteriourly he was at but esteeming himselfe for more weake and lesse fauoured then the rest he would reckon it amongst the greatest of his misfortunes that he might not go more like his Lord. And that which he should want to do indeed he would not faile to perform with the deepest wishes of his hart taking that ease of his owne in patience but in his desire hauing sufferance Such doubtles is Christ crucifyed to those harts which imploy themselues in looking on him if yet withall they be gratefull as S. Bernard sayth for so great a benefit as it is for God to haue abased himselfe so far as to walke throgh this desert with such misery as neuer man endured For (l) But it will fall downe as we must do by great abasement of our selues for the loue of our Lord Iesus where there is this gratitude no launce can remayne in the Rest any longer and both within and without there is an internall profound desire to clap this Crucifixe as a seale vpon his hart and vpon his arme as a thing whereby he is not only not afflicted or to hold himselfe thereby lesse honoured but as S. Iames sayth They haue it in the place of entâ—â—re and perfect iâ— that affliction may â—e offered them for his sake Such (m) The great nobility of a true Christian hart is the height of theÌ„ who are grateful to this Lord as that with the knife of the lous of him being crucified they do valiantly destroy those (n) Exod. 22. Idolls of Aegypt which worldly persons do so prize loue whether they be honours or treasures or pleasures giuing him thankes that he vouchsafes to admit them into his company And they go in search being all inflamed with lâ—ue after as many wayes as they can thinke on to suffer more like Elephants being as it were enraged with seeing that the bloud of their Lord is spilt And if it happen to concerne the seruice of the same Lord that they take their ease or possesse the honours and riches of this life they accept them only by obedience and they vse them with feare And you had need giue them much comfort if you will make them content to go on horsebacke when they see him on foot whome they loue so much more then their owne liues Such I say is the altitude of the state of Christian men and such a change hath Christ wrought in thinges since the tyme
is a distinct thing from that wherby Christ is iust And from hence it commeth that although the workes which we did before were meane and of aâ—â— imperfect kind of goodnesse and which had noâ— in them any true iustice nor could deserue 〈◊〉 haue it as being of our owne stocke and store yet those thinges which now we do being oâ—â—â— in the state of grace are of so high valew and are workes so truely iust as that they deserue an increase of iustice according to that of (n) Apocâ— 22. S. Iohn He that is iust let him be yet more iust and they are worthy to obtaine the kingdome of God as it was sayd by (o) 2. Tim. 4. S. Paul That the Crown of iustice was kept for him This vnspeakable benefit do we owe to Iesus Christ but (p) See heer how honourable to Christ our Lord the doctrine of the holy Catholike Church is in the point of workes this is not all For as it is the ordinance of God that no man shall obtaine grace and iustice but by the merits of this Lord so is it also that none of them that haue it is able to increase or euen to conserue it but by their being vpheld by this Lord as a liuing member is by his head as the fruitful branch is by his vine and as the building is by his foundation For although by gayning grace and iustice for them he gaue them as hath beene sayd a good (q) Because God through Christ our Lord would haue it so title by the way of merit to the kingdome of heauen as also that they should obtaine by prayer that which they would aske as they ought yet if they had a mind to enioy the same and to vse it rightly they must not do it like people which would disband from their captaine or deuide themselues from their head or as if they could go vpon their owne feet alone without the help of any other No a soule must rely vpon and be vnited to this (r) Christ Iesus our Lord. blessed head to the end that (f) See the excellent immaculate doctrine of the holy Catholik Church Grace may be conserued to it and that from thence a certaine spirituall strength may come which may proceed and accompany and follow the good works that it shall do and without which those good workes cannot be meritorious as is declared by the Councell of Trent And by this meanes the prayers which that iust person shall make will be worthy of the eares of God and to obtaine that which the man desires Salomon (t) 2. Para. 6. did begge of God That he who should pray in the Temple which he had made on earth might be heard by God from heauen granting that which should be desired And the true and most excellent Temple of God is Iesus Christ our Lord in respect that he is man in whome as S. Paul sayth The accomplishment of diuinity doth corporally remaine That is it remayneth in him not only by way of grace as it doth in the Angells and in holy men but in another fashion of more weight and valew by the way of the personall vnion whereby that sacred humanity is raised vp to haue the dignity of being personated in the word of God which is one of the three persons of the Blessed Trinity This is that Temple whereof Dauid sayd God heard my voyce from his holy Temple And he that in this Temple shall vtter the speach of prayer which is inspired by his spirit and resting vpon him as a liuing member which demandeth succour by the merits of his head which is Iesus Christ this man I say shall be heard by God in the title of iustice as Dauid was and all iust men were who vvere euer heard But the prayer vvhich is made without this Temple (u) That is we must be members of Christ our head by being in the state of grace which requireth that we resort to the sacrament of pennance with harty sorrow for that sin which is past a firme purpose to coÌ„mit no more for otherwise insteed of receauing a Sacrament we should commit a sacriledg by whomesoeuer it be made is a oarse and prophane prayer and vnworthy of the ares of God And not being inspired by Iesus Christ it carryeth not that broad seale whereby 〈◊〉 should be warranted and held for iust in the â—btaining of what it askes And to the end that Christ in the quality of our aduocate may giue â—ispatch to our petitions it is necessary that on â—arth we be his liuing members and inspired to â—ray by him For although his mercy is so great â—hat many tymes he maketh the petitions of his â—ead members to be heard which are they that â—old the fayth of his Church but are not in state â—f grace yet heere we speak only of those which being made in Christ haue the dignity and the â—erit of obtayning what they aske And the hoâ—y Church our Mother well knowing the necessity that we haue of Christ in our prayers is wont â—o say to the Eternall Father at the end of hers Graunt vs this or that O God through Iesus Christ â—ur Lord. This did she learne of her spouse and maister when he (x) Ioan. 16. sayd Whatsoeuer thing you aske the Father in my name he will giue it you Let thankes O Lord be giuen to thy name â—ince through thee we are heard For thou doest not content thy selfe only with being our Mediatour to merit that grace for vs which we receaue by thee nor with being our head which instructeth and moueth vs to pray by thy spirit as we ought but thou also wilt be our (y) He obtayneth that we may be heard by our selues when we aske in his Name Bishop in heauen that so representing to thy Father that sacred humanity which thou hast and the passion which thou didst receaue thou mightst obtayne the effect of that which we desire on earth by our inuocation of thy Name So that as the holy Gâ—ospel sayd When (z) Matt. 3. Marc. 1. Luc. 3. our Lord was baptized the heauens did open themselues to him and although many haue followed in thither after him yet they are opened to none but by his meanes so may we also say that the bowels of his eternall Father which open themselues for the graunting our petitions are opened to Christ And he is the person heard by his Father since the fauour grace vvhere with we are heard we haue by him For if it were not for this as no man would be iust in himselfe so no man could be heard for himselfe And as through the great loue which our Lord did beare vs he tooke our miseryes vpon himself as his owne and he payed for them by his life death so with the same loue vvhich he carryeth towards vs although now he be in heauen if any little one of his be either naked or clad
to giue eare to God and of the admirable Language which our first Parents spake in the state of Innocency Which being lost by Sinne many ill ones did succeed in place therof Heâ—â—â—en O Daughter and behold Psal 4 4. and incline thine eare and forget thy people and the house of thy Father and the King shall with delight desire thy beauty THESE words O thou deuout Spouse (a) This Booke was writteÌ„ chiesly for the Lady DonÌ„a Sancha daughter to the Lord of Guadalcaçar who liued not in a Monastery but in her Fathers house though she consecrated her self to God by a vow of virginity of Iesus Christ doth the Prophet Dauid speake or rather God by him to the Christian Church aduising her of that which she ought to do that so the great King may be drawne to loue her by meanes whereof she may be endewed with all happines And because thy soule is by the great mercy of God a member of this Church I haue thought fit to declare these words to thee Imploring first the ayde of the Holy Ghost to the end that it may direct my pen and prepare thy hart that so neither I may speake vnfitly nor thou heare vnfruitfully but that both the one and the other may redound to the eternall honour of God the performing of his holy will The first thing that we are wished to in these wordes is that we hearken not without cause Because as the first beginning of our spiritual life is fayth this as (b) Rom. 10. S. Paul affirmes doth enter into the soule by meanes of hearing it is but reason that first we be admonished of that which we are first to put in practise For it will profit vs very litle that the voyce of diuine truth do sound exteriourly in our hearing (c) We must hear first practise after if withall we haue not eares which may hearken to the saâ—â— within It will not serue our turne that when we were baptized the Priest did (d) According to the ancient custome of the holy Catholike Church put his finger into our eares requiring them to be open if afterwardes we shall shut them vp against the word of God fullfilling so in our selues that which the Prophet Dauid sayth of the Idols (e) Psal 11â— Eyes they haue and they see not eares they haue and they d ee not heare But because some speake so ill that to heare them is no better then to heare the Syrens who kill their auditours it wil be fit for vs to see both whom we are and whom we are not to heare For this purpose it is to be noted that Adaw and Eue when they were created spake one only Language and that continued in the world till the (f) The confusion of tongues grew in punishment of the pride of man pryde of men who had a mind to build vp the Tower of confusion was punished Wherevpon insteed of one Language whereby all men vnderstood one another there grew to be a multitude of Languages which they could not mutually vnderstand By this we also come to know that our first Parents before they rebelled from their creatour transgressinge his Commaundement with presumptuous pride did speake also in their soules but one spiritual Language making a (g) A sweete happy Language perfect kind of concord which one mainteyned with another and each one with himselfe and so also with God liuinge in the quiet estate of Innocency the sensitiue part obeying the rationall and the rationall obeying God and so they were in peace with him in peace within themselues and in peace with one another But now when they rebelled with so bold disobedience against the Lord of heauen both they were punished and we in them In (h) The case is altered such sort that insteed of one good Language by meanes whereof they vnderstood one another so wel there haue succeeded innumerable other ill ones all full of such confusion and darkenes that neyther do men agree with others nor the same man with himselfe and least of all with God And although these Languages do keep no order in themselues since indeed they are but moore disorder yet to the end that we may speake of them we will reduce them to a kind of method and to the number of three which are the Language of the World of the Flesh and of the Diuell whose office as S. Bernard sayth is Of the first to speake vayne thinges Of the second delightfull things And of the third afflictiue bitter things CHAP. II. That we must not hearken to the Language of the World and Vayne-glory And how absolute dominion it exerciseth ouer the hartes of such as follow it and of the punishment that they shall incurre VVE must not hearkeÌ„ to the language of the VVorld for it is al but lyes and they most preiudiciall to such as credit them For they make vs forsake that truth which is indeed and to imbrace a lye which hath no being but only in appearance and custome Heereby man being deceaued presumes to cast Almighty God and his holy will behind his backe and he disposeth of his life according to that blind guide of pleasing the world and so he groweth to haue a hart all desirous of honour and to be esteemed amongst men He proues like those ancient proud Romans of whome S. Augustine sayth That (a) A strange and yet true state of mind for the loue of worldly honour they desired to liue and yet for loue of is they did not feare to dye So much do they prize it as not by any meanes to endure the least word that may be in preiudice thereof nor any thing which may tast or eueÌ„ sauour of neglect though neuer so far of Nay heerin there are such nyceties and puntillios that it is hard for a man to scape stumbling vpon some of them so the offending of this sensitiue worldly man yea (b) A miserable seruitude which pryd hath put vs in and often you shall fal out to offend him much against your wil. These men who are so facile to find theÌ„selues despised are no lesse vntoward and vntractable in passing ouer and pardoning the same And if one should yet of himselfe be disposed to do so what troupes of (c) Indeed they are truly sayd to be false freinds who perswade a man to the perdition of his soule false friendes and kinred will rise vp against him and alleadge such lawes and customes graunted by priuiledge of the world as whereby this proposition may be concluded That it is better to loose a mans fortune his health his house his wife and his children yea all this seemeth little to them since they do as good as say that he must euen loose the life both of body and soule and all the care that he hath both of earth and heauen yea that euen God himselfe and his law are to be contemned and troden
his passion and which doth worke in his most pretious (l) The benefit of the Passion of our Lord Iesus is conueyed to our soules by the Sacraments of the Holy Church sacraments is that we may thereby be able to pay all our debts to liue heere in the life of grace and afterwards in that of Glory But it is necessary that like the other Widdow we doe walke on maintayning good dispositions in our selues according to which euery one shall be sure to receaue the effect of his sacred passion which in it selfe is most sufficient yea and superaboundant CHAP. XIX Of the much which God the Father gaue vs in giuing vs Iesus Christ our Lord and how thankefull we ought to be and to help our selues by this fauour and to strengthen our selues thereby for the excluding of all desperation wherwith the Dinell is wont to assault vs. MVCH reason hath God to complaine and his Preachers to reproue men for being so forgetfull of this benefit which is so excellent as that for it we should giue thankes to God day and night For as S. Iohn sayth So God loued the world that he gaue his only begotten Sonne to the end that euery one who belieueth in him loueth him may not perish but haue eternall life All other blessings are locked vp in this as the lesse in the greater and as the effect in the cause It is a plaine case that he who gaue the sacrifice against sin did giue pardon to those sinnes for as much as concerned him and to whome our Lord gaue that he also gaue command ouer them And in (a) The great reason of our comfort fine he that gaue vs his Sonne and such a Sonne and so giuen and borne for vs will deny vs nothing that is necessary And he that hath not what is fit let him blame himselfe for to complaine of God he hath no reason For the vnderstanding heerof S. Paul sayth thus He that gaue vs his sonne will he not giue vs all things togeather with him Nay he sayd more He hath already giuen vs all thinges with him for in as much as concerneth the part of God all is already giuen pardon grace and heauen O (b) Lay vp these considerations at thy hart you men why do you loose such happinesse and why are you vngratefull to such a louer and for such a benefit And why are you slothfull in the preparation of your selues to receiue it Worthy it were of all reprehension that a man should goe naked vp and downe halfe dead with hungar and full of miseries and if when another had giuen him great legacies by his will whereby he might pay his debtes and depart from his wantes liue at ease he should yet remaine without enioying all this happines rather then trauell two or three leagues for the prouinge of that will Our redemption was made so copiously that although Gods forgiuing the offences which men coÌ„mit against him be a blessing which exceedes all humane conceite yet the payment which is made by the passion and death of Christ our Lord doth exceed the debt of man in valew much more then the highest part of heauen doth the lowest part of the earth as S. Augustine sayth It (c) This coÌ„parison in full of coÌ„sort to vs sinners was due to sinfull man that he should be fettered torne and killed and can you find in your hartes to thinke that these debtes are not well payd by the scourges tormentes and death of a man who was not only a iust man but man and God An inexplicable fauour it is that God doth adopt for his sonnes the sonnes of men who are but as so many little wormes of earth But to the end that we might not doubt of this fauour it is seconded according to (d) Ioâ—n 1. S. Iohn with another and a greater For he sayth The word of God is made flesh As if he had thus expressed himselfe you may not fayle to belieue that by spirituall adoption men are borne of God for in proofe of this wonder hearken here to a greater which is That the sonne of God 〈◊〉 made man the sonne of a woman So (c) Note also is it a wonderfull thing that a miserable little thing called man made of earth should arriue to heauen enâ—oying God and accompanying the Angells therein with vnspeakeable glory But yet a farre greater matter was it that God should be placed in the torment and ignominy of a Crosse and that he should dye betweene a couple of murthering theeues Whereby the diuine iustice was so entirely satisfied both by reason of the much that our Lord did suffer and chiefely because he that suffered it was God as that he both pardoned that which was past and doth further powre his benedictions vpon vs for the future But yet so as that our barrennesse must bring forth the fruite of good life worthy of heauen which is figured by the Sonne who was graunted to (f) Gen. 18. Sara when she was old and barren For the calfe which was sodden in the house of Abraham this being Christ Iesus crucified by the people who (g) The â—ace of the lewes descended from Abraham was of so much gust to God that of wrathfull he grew calme thereby and curses were exchanged into blessinges Because he receyued a certayne thing which contented him more theâ—â— all the sinnes of the whole world could displease him Why then O man dost thou despayre hauing for remedy of thy miseries for payment of thy debtes God himselfe humaned who is of infinite merit and who by dying put our sinnes to death much better then the (h) Iud. 16. Philistines were made to dye by the death of Sampson And (i) How infinitely good is God although thou hast committed as many sinnes as the very Diuell himselfe who thus would draw thee into despayre thou must take hart in Christ who is That lambe of God which taketh away the sinnes of the world Of whom it was prophesied That be would cast and as it were shoote all our sinnes into the lowest bottome of the sea and that he was to be anointed the holy of holies And that sinne should haue an end and then that Iustice should raigne for euer Yf then our sinnes be remooued be drowned and be dead vvhat cause can there be that such vveake and defeated enemies should ouercome and cast thee vpon despayre CHAP. XX. Of some meanes which the Diuell vseth against the remedy that is spoken of whereby to fright vs and how for this we must not fainte but animate our selues the more considering the infinite mercy of our Lord. BVT I already heare O Man that which thy weakenesse answeareth to what is sayd What (a) A shrewd obiection but mark the answear for it satisfyeth doth it profit thee sayest thou that Christ dyed for thy sinnes if the pardon therof be not applied to thee And though Christ dyed for
enemies and triumphing ouer them we shal say O death where is thy victory O death where is thy sting which sting is sinne in them where death is still in force whereby it doth wound as the Bee is wont to do with her sting for by sinne death entred into the world Both the one and the other enemy which were wont to gouerne and to wound the world remayne drowned in the blessed bloud of Iesus Christ and slayne by his precious death And in (u) See heer how copious the Redemption is which our Lord hath purchased for vs. their place succeedeth that euerlasting iustice whereby heere the soule is iustifyed and afterwards shall succeed the vision of God face to face in heauen and a life which shal be eternally blessed both in body and soule What shall we say to this O Virgin but that which S. Paul hath taught vs Thankes be giuen to God who hath graunted vs victory through Iesus Christ Him thou art to adore and with a gratefull and enamoured harte say to him Let all the earth adore thee and prayse thee and singe a hymne to thy name And see thou say this often euery day and especially when at the Altar his most holy body is eleuated by the hands of the Priest CHAP. XXIII Of the great mischeise which despayre doth worke in the soule and how we must ouercome this ene my with spirituall alacrity and diligence and feruour in the seruice of God THis despayre and loosing of hart is such a dangerous instrument of our enemy that when I remember the great mischeifes which haue growen by it to the consciences of many I desyre to speake a little more concerning the remedy thereof if perhaps any good may come thereby It (a) This is a case too common happeneth so that sometymes there are persons who be loaden with a multitude of great sinnes and neither know what despayre nor so much as a little feare is nor doth it once passe through their thought But they goe on as being assured by a false hope offending God and yet not fearing punishment for the same And (b) We see by lamentable experience that such as are not Catholiks do passe from one extremity of presâ—â—â—tion to the other of de peration without resting in true hope if once the mercy of God shine vpon their soules and they beginne to see the grieuousnes of their sinnes though it be reason that since they aske pardon of God with purpose of amendement and that they receiue the benefit and comforte of the Sacramentes they should be strengthned thereby both against that which is past and that also which in the seruice of God might afterward present it selfe yet fall they vpon the other extreame of feare as before they were subiect to that of false security Not (c) Note considering that they who oftend God and do not repent haue reason indeed to feare tremble though all the world smile vpon them because the wrath of the omnipoteÌ„t is prouoked against them which wrath there is no power that can resist and that they who humble themselues to God and receiue his holy Sacramentes and who will procure to do his will ought to haue the hart of Lions for as much as they are commaunded to confide in God by that token that God is with them Whome as they hold for an enemy to the wicked and for that themselues haue byn such they are in feare so it is all reason that they should hold him for a friend of the good and that in regard of the holy purposes which he hath inspired them with they may confide that he is also their friend and that so he will be giuing increase to the good seed which himselfe did plante and perfecting that which he hath begunne This is certainely true that when once a man coÌ„meth to say in earnest that which Dauid sayd I haue held vp my hands towardes the performance of thy commanamentes which I haue loued God putteth his eyes and hart where that man putteth his hands that so he may help him and as one who is good by an infinite goodnesse he taketh him into protection with care and ranketh that man on his syde who will fight for his honour making warre vpon himselfe to giue contentment to God And (d) The difficulties which vse to occur to such as begin to serue God although it be true that when a man beginneth to serue God through some particuler calling which may incite him with the contempt of all thinges to seeke that pretious pearle of the Ghosâ—ell by the perfection of a spirituall life there may grow against such a man such traines and warres of the Diuells both immediately from themselues and also by the meanes of wicked men and they lock him vp in such straytes that when he rayseth the first foote from ground and placeth it on the lowest of those fifteene steppes whereby men rise to perfection he is forced to say When I was in tribulation I called vpon our Lord and he heard me O Lord deliuer my soule from wicked lipps and from the deceitefull tongue which wicked lippes are they which doe expressely hinder that which is good and a deceitfull tongue is that which procureth in a disguised manner to deceyue and sometymes so great impediments are presented or at least it seemeth so towards the making one depart from his course begunne that they are like those great Giantes wherof the children of Israel sayd Compared with them we are no more then a few little grashoppers and the walles of the Citty which we are to assault seeme to threaten heauen with their height and the earth in that place seemeth to open to swallow vp her inhabitantes notwithstanding I say all this thou art to consider and let vs all consider it with well opened eyes how much that faint-hartednes despaire displeased God which the Sonnes of Israel were subiect to by the meanes aforesayd For as much as the sinns which they committed in the wildernes howsoeuer they were great many and one of them was that they adored a Calfe for God which seemeth to be the very outside of wickednes yet God endured all this at their hands and did them fauour towards the prosecuting of their enterprize begun But (c) Note how predominaÌ„tly despaire is displeasing to Almighty God he would not endure their disconfidence and despaire of his mercy and power and he sware to them in his wrath as Dauid sayth that they should not enter in to his rest and as he sware it so he performed it Doth it not seeme to thee that we haue reason to curse this vice which is opposite to the honour of the diuine goodnes That being so much greater then our wickednes as God is greater then man And be thou assured that as the way of perfect vertue is a kind of stiffe battaile made against our enemies who are full of strength both within vs and without vs yet
procure to be so not only by belieuing the promises in generall nor yet by belieuing that in particuler they are applied to him but by pennance also other meanes which are taught by the Catholike Church Not but that we do neuerthelesse assuredly belieue that many in the same Church are in the state of grace to whom without all doubt God fulfilleth the promises of being their defendour who hope in him but yet for as much as no man can be infallibly sure without speciall reuelation that himselfe is in that state of grace he is to belieue by the Catholike fayth that the diuine assistance is neuer wanting on the part of God but himselfe may and must feare that it will not perhaps take effect in him through his fault or negligence in doing his duty So that with some feare of himselfe and by confidence in our Lord he must procure to encourage and help himselfe by the word of God who promiseth succour to such as fight for him And (i) Note this feare or vncertainty in which God hath left vs of not knowing assuredly that we are in his fauour though it may seeme painefull is very profitable towardes the conseruing of our humility and the not vndervalewing of our neighbours and to spur vs vp towardes good workes And with so much the more caution and consideration must we do it as we are lesse certaine whether we be pleasing to our Lord or no. But do not for all this conceaue that thy hart must be dismayed with vaine feare for as much as this truth which I haue told thee did not keep Dauid from saying If (k) Psalâ— 15. whole armies shall rise against me yet shall not my hart be afraid if warre shal come vpon me yet wil I hope in God So also doth S. Paul (l) Heb. 13. admonish vs that we should serue our selues of those wordes which God sayd I will not forsake thee I will not abandon thee in such sort as that we may confidently say Our Lord is my helper and I will not feare what man can do These and the like wordes do not wholy take away all the feare which a Christian for his owne part ought to haue but it taketh away all excesse thereof by the confidence which is to be placed in God And thus we are to walke between hope and feare and so much more as the loue increaseth so much doth the hope also increase and so much also is feare diminished And (m) An excellent rule therefore if thou haue a mind to feele in thy selfe that courage of mind and the little feare which perfect men do find cast thou away al tepidity from thy selfe take the businesse of vertue to hart and then in that very hart of thyne thou shalt read that courage which now thou readest but in Bookes Then shalt thou be able to fight boldly against the Diuell although he circle theâ— round about to deuoure thee for thou shalt haue a hope to be defended by Iesus Christ who is the strong Lyon of Iuda He alwayes ouercommeth in vs if we do not loose our confidence and if like cowards we do not deliuer vp our selues with our hands bound behind vs to our enemies without resoluing to fight Our Lord doth not suffer these warrs and temptations to come to his friendes but for their greater good as it is written Blessed (n) laâ— 1. is the man who suffereth temptation for he being so proued shall receaue the crowne of life which God promiseth to such as loue him He was pleased also that patience in troubles and the standing fast on foot for his honour in tentations should be the touchstone whereby his friends were to be tryed For (o) Note it is no signe of a true friend if he only accompany another in occasions of case but to stand fast by him in tyme of tribulation And as all men would be glad to haue approued friends to stand fast by them in the tyme of affliction and triall accounting of it as their owne iust so doth God desire to haue his and like a thankfull person he sayth to them You are the men who haue remayned with me in my temptations And as an aboundant rewarder he sayth further to them I (p) Lue â—â— dispose of my kingdome to you as my Father disposed of it to me that you may eate and drinke at my table in my kingdome companions heere in payne and afterwards in the Kingdome of glory Thou must encourage thy selfe to fight manfully in the warrs which are made against thee to deuide thee from God since he is thy helper on earth and thy reward in heauen Remember how S. Anthony being cruelly vvhipped and beaten by the Diuells lifting vp his eyes to heauen saw the roofe of his Cell all open whereby a beame of so admirable light did enter as at the presence thereof all the Diuells fled away and the payne of his wounds forsooke him with profound internall sighes he sayd to our Lord who then appeared to him Where wert thou O my good Iesus where wert thou when I was so ill handled by the enemies why wert thou not heere in the beginning of my combat that so thou mightest haue preuented or cured all my soares Wherunto our Lord answered Heere I was froÌ„ the very beginning but I stood looking on to see how thou diddest carry thy self in thy combate And because thou hast fought manfully I wil euer help thee thou shalt be famous throughout the whole earth By these wordes and by the vertue of our Lord he rose vp so full of courage as to find by experience that he had gotten then more strength then he had lost before In (q) A most comfortable and true doctrine this sort doth our Lord treat his friends and he leaueth them oftentimes in traunces of so great danger as that they scarce know where to set a foot nor do they find one hayre of strength by which they can take hold nor are they able to help themselues by the memory of those fauours which in former tymes they had receaued of God but they remayne as if they were naked and in profound darcknes being giuen ouer to the persecution of their enemyes But suddainly when they least looke for it our Lord doth visite them and deliuer them and leaue them with more strength then they had before thrusteth those enemies vnder their feet And the soule howsoeuer it be more weake in nature then the Diuell doth feele in it selfe such a powerfull strength that it seemeth to teare him euen in pieces as a thing that is but weake and without resistance and not only groweth it not able to fight against one but against many Diuells so great is the courage which it feeleth to haue comfreshly towards it from heauen and wherewith it doth not only defend it selfe but it sayth with Dauid I will persecute my enemies and I will take them I will
is very little And therefore falling vpon their faces they adore him vvith a profound silence confessing that he only is his own perfect prayse to which they are not able to reach And this silence is an honour very fit for God for it is a confession that such prayse is due to him as cannot be expressed by all the creatures Of this honour Dauid (l) Psal â—4 sayth To thee O God is prayse due in Sion In such sort that although in heauen there be an incessant voyce of diuine (m) Isa 6. prayse saying Holy Holy Holy Lord God of hoastes with other admirable prayses which day and night they yeild to him yet do they also confesse in silence that our Lord is greater then they can either expresse or vnderstand For (n) Psal 17. he mounted aboue the Cherubim and he flew vpon the winges of the wind and there is none how speedy soeuer that must thinke to ouertake him And all they who shall know see him must be faine to say that which the children of Israel sayd when they saw bread comming from heauen Man-hu which signifieth what is this Admiring as the Queen of Saba did that infinite abysâ—us of light whereof although they shall see in heauen much more then they heard therof on earth yet can they not comprehend it all Such is the God whome vve haue and such doth our Fayth teach him to be singing that which Dauid (o) Psal â—0 sayth The heauen of the heauen is for our Lord because the secret of what he is after the aforesayd manner is for himself alone since he only comprehendeth himself CHAP. XXXII How agreable to reason it is to belieue the Mysteries of our Fayth although they exceed all humane reason ALTHOVGH thou hast heard that our Fayth belieueth certayne thinges which by reason alone cannot be arriued to yet take heed thou do not thinke that to belieue them is a thing either against reason or without reason For as it is very (a) For if he could it would not be fayth but knowledg farre from him that belieueth euidently to vnderstaÌ„d that which he beleeueth so is it farre from the beliefe of a Christian to be light or to wauer in belieuing For we haue such reasons to belieue as that we may dare to appeare and giue account of our Fayth before any Tribunall how exact soeuer as (b) 1. Pet â— 5. S. Peter doth aduise that we Christians should be prepared to do This thou shalt easily vnderstand by the similitude which heere I put If thou shouldst heare say that a man borne blind had suddenly recouered his sight or that a dead man were restored to life it is plaine that thy reason could not reach to the meanes of doing this because it would exceed the boundes of nature and reason doth not reach to supernaturall thinges But yet so (c) Note this well for it iustifyeth Catholike giueth ProtestaÌ„ts reason to be both more pious and more prudent many and so well conditioned witnesses might auow the hauing seene it that not only it would be no leuity to belieue it but it would be incredulity and hardnes of hart not to beleeue it For though reason cannot reach to know how a blind man may come to see or a dead man return to liue yet at least it reacheth to this That it is reason to belieue such and so many witnesses And (d) Obserue well these gradations for they are most reasonable and they are all in fauour of Catholiques if they should dye in confirmation of that which they affirmed there would be more reason to belieue it And if they should worke other miracles as great or greater then the former in confirmation thereof the fault of not belieuing it would then be great howsoeuer the thing which they affirmed to haue happened were very strange and high Iust so art thou to vnderstand that there is nothing which reason can lesse reach vnto theÌ„ the cleare vnderstanding of that which is belieued by Fayth nor is there yet any thing so agreable to reason as to belieue it and it is an extreme fault not to belieue it It is certayne that for the true miracles which Moyses wrought the people of Israel belieued him to be the messenger of God and that he spake with God and receaued the law at his handes as giuen by God And so also the Mâ—â—ves who are a bestiall kind of people belieued that Mahomet for a few and they false miracles which he wrought was a messenger of God and as from such an one they râ—ceaued the bestiall law which he gaue them Well then do thou consider the true miracles which haue byn wrought by Iesus Christ our Lord and by his Apostles and by other holy men in confirmation of our faith from that tyme to this and thou shalt find that as easily thou mayst count the sandes of the sea as the multitudes of them and that incomparably they do exceed al the others which haue byn wrought in the world both in quality quantity Three only dead persons were raised to life in the whol course of the old law which continued almost two thousand yeares And if thou consider the new law thou shalt find that S. Andrew alone did raise at once forty dead that so it might be fulfilled which our Lord sayd He (e) Ioan 〈◊〉 14. that belieueth in me shall do greater things then I. And that so his great power may be seene since not only by himselfe but in such other of his seruants as he is pleased to worke he can do what he will though it be nouer so wonderfull I haue related to thee that which one Apostle did at one tyme to the end that hereby thou mayest vnderstand the innumerable miracles which haue byn wrought both by that Apostle and by other both Apostles Saintes of the Christian Church And although in the beginning of the Church there were so many and so great miracles wrought for the confirmation of our faith that the proofe thereof is superabundant yet (f) That true miracles are wrought to this day and the causes why it pleaseth God to worke them so great is the desire which our Lord hath of the saluation of vs all and that we all may come to the knowledge of his truth and that they who do already know it may be comforted and confirmed therein that his prouidence hath care to renew or refresh (g) Of miracles which confirme the faith of Christ this kind of proofe and to giue testimony to the truth by new miracles And so is there hardly to be found an age wherein some Christian or other is not canonized for a Saint which (h) I would to God that any reasonable ProtestaÌ„t would but informe himselfe well of the exact and rigorous care which the Catholike Church doth we when there is question of Canonizing any Saint is neuer done without sufficient proofe of a
it is cleerlynaught against the Scripture and the Church of God That light therefore of the Holy Ghost which is called Discretion of spirits is wholy necessary in this case by the inward and sweet light wherof the man who hath this gift doth rightly iudge which is the spirit of Truth and which of Errour And if the matter be of importance it must be related to the Prelate and his resolution is to be followed CHAP. LII Wherein some signes are giuen of good and bad or false Reuelations or Illusions BESIDES that which I haue sayd thou art to consider what fruit or edification these thinges do leaue in thy soule And (a) This ballance is to be held by a steedy hand yet I say not this as if by these or other signes thou art to become the iudge of that which passeth in thy selfe but to the end that when thou giuest him account of whome thou art to take counsell he may so much the more certainly know teach thee truth as thou shalt giue him more particuler information Consider therefore if these things help thee towardes the reliefe of any spirituall necessity which thou hast or for any thing concerning thy soule of notable edification For if a good man will not speake idle wordes much lesse will God do it who sayth I am the Lord who teach thee things which are profitable to be known and who gouerne thee in the way where thou art to goe But when thou seest that there is nothing of moment but intricate and vnnecessary thinges esteeme it as a fruit which the Diuel setteth before such a one as he seeketh to deceaue and to make him loose his tyme and the tyme of others to whome he relateth it and when the Diuell can get no more he contenteth himselfe with this gaine Amongst those thinges which thou art to consider whether they worke them in thy soule or no let the chiefe be this Whether it leaue thee more humble then thou wert before For humility as a Doctour sayth giueth such weight to the coyne of spirit as that it doth sufficiently distinguish the mettall which is massy from that which is light And S. Gregory sayth The (b) In what case then be all Heretikâ— most euident distinctiue signe of a man elect is his humility and of the reprobate his pride Consider then I say what trace is left in thy soule by this vision or consolation or spiritual gust and if thou perceaue thy selfe to remaine more humble and in more confusion through thyne owne faults and with greater reuerence and trembling vnder the infinite greatnesse of God and hast no light inclination to communicate that to other persons which hath happened to thee nor doest busy thy selfe much in considering or making account thereof but doest procure to forget it as a thing which may make thee esteeme thy selfe and if at any tyme when it commeth to thy memory thou humble thy selfe and dostâ—wonder at the great mercy of God in shewing so great fauour to so base creatures if thou findest thy hart as quiet and more settled then it was before in the knowledge of it selfe it hath some shew to be of God because (c) Note this reasoÌ„ it is agreable to the instruction and doctrine of Christ which is That a man should abase himselfe and become despicable in his owne eyes and that for the blessings which he receaueth from God he must know himselfe to be more obliged and confounded giuing the whole glory of it to God from whose hand all good thinges proceed And with this S. Gregory agreeth saying The soule which is full of diuine vnderstanding hath these for most euident fignes namely Humility and Truth both which if they perfectly ioyne in any soule it is a thing notorious that they giue testimony of the presence of the Holy Ghost But when it is an abuse of the Diuel it falleth out very contrary to this For (d) Humility or Pride are the distinctiue signes wherby to know the truth or falsh god of spirituall gustes c. either in the beginning or at the end of the reuelation of consolation the soule doth find it selfe vayne and desirous to speake of what it feeleth with some estimation of it selfe conceauing that God is to do great matters in it or by it and it hath no desire to thinke vpon the defects of it selfe or to be reproued by others but all that persons busines is to be talking and rowling vp and downe in his mind that which he hath felt and he would be gladd that others also should be talking of it When thou shalt see these signes or the like which shew a kind of leuity of hart it may be affirmed without any doubt that the euill spirit walketh that way And how good soeuer the thing appeare though it bring teares or comfort or knowledge of matters belonging to God yea although thou be hoysed vp to the third heauen yet if thy soule withall do not remaine with profound humility put thou no confidence in any such thing which may happen to thee nor do thou accept thereof For how much the more high it is so much is it the more dangerous and so much the greater fall will it giue thee Aske grace of God that thou mayst know humble thy selfe and that being the ground let him giue thee what is most pleasing to him but if that be wanting all the rest how precious soeuer it appeare is not gold but copper nor is it the meale or floure of nourishment but the ashes of pryde Pride hath this mischeife belonging to it that it despoyleth the soule of the true grace of God and if it leaue any thing that may seeme good it is but counterfaite so it is not acceptable to God but the occasion of greater ruine to him that hath it We read of our Redeemer that when he appeared to his disciples vpon the day of the Ascension he first reprehended their incredulity hardnesse of hart after that he commaunded them to go preach giuing theÌ„ power to worke many and great miracles Making vs vnderst and thereby that (e) God doth first abase such as afterward he meanes to rayse whom he rayseth to great matters he first abaseth in themselues giuing them knowledge of their own weakenesse to the end that although afterward they grow to fly aboue the heauens they may still be fastned to their owne basenes without attributing any other thing to themselues but their own vnworthinesse Let therefore the summe of all be this that thou do well obserue the effects which are caused in thee by such things as these not thereby to make thy selfe the iudge thereof but for his information whose counsell thou art to aske and follow CHAP. LIII Of the secret pride whereby many vse to be much deceiued in the way of Vertue and of the danger that such are in to be snared by the illusions of the Diuell
such a one and thou being once addressed put thy hart into his hand with great security hide nothing from him whether it be good or bad Not the good to the end that he may addresse it and aduise thee and not the euill to the end that he may reforme it And do not any thing of importance without his opinion placing coÌ„fidence in God who is a friend to obedience that he will put into the hart and tongue of that guide of thyne the thing which shal be fit for thy saluation By this meanes thou shalt fly from those two euills and extreames The one Of them that say I haue no need of mans counsayle God teacheth me and satisfieth me The other Of them who are so subiect to some man without considering any other thing but that he is a man as that the malediction layeth hold on him which sayth (f) Ierem. 17. Cursed be the man that confides in man But (g) The true middle way that is to be walked in do thou submit thy selfe to a man thou shalt haue escaped the former and do not confide in the knowledge or force of that man but in God who will speake to thee and strengthen thee by meanes of a man and so thou shalt haue declined the later danger And be thou well assured that how much soeuer thou seeke thou shalt neuer find any other way so straight or so secure for the knowing the will of our Lord as this of humble obedience which is so much adâ—â—â—ed to by all his Saints and so much practised by many of them as we find by the testimony of the liues of the holy (h) He meaneth chiefesly such as liued in that desert Fathers Amongst whom it was held for a great signe of a mans approaching towards perfection if he subiected himselfe much to the old man that was to gouerne him And amongst the many good things wherwith Religious Orders do abound thou wilt hardly find any other so good as that all of them liue vnder a Superiour whom they are to obey not only in exteriour actions but interiourly also in the opinion and iudgement Who if they haue confidence and do carry deuotion to the vertue of Obedience they shall lead a life both very safe and very sweet CHAP. LVI Wherein he beginneth to declare the second word of the verse and how we are to consider of the Scriptures and how we must restrayne the sight of our eyes that we may the better see with those of our soule which the freer they are from the sight of creatures the better shall they see God IF thou haue wel considered the words which already I haue spoken thou wilt haue seene how necessary it is to Heare that so thou maist please our Lord God Now hearken to the second word which is See It is not inough to be attentiue to the externall word of God or yet to the internall inspirations which are signified by hearing but it is also necessary to keep the eye cleare that it may see For the blind who do not see the light are no lesse reprehended by Christ then the deafe who do not heare the Truth But do not thinke when he aduiseth thee to see that he inuiteth thee to see sportes or entertainments of the world for that (a) A most necessary thing it is to haue the eyes well mortified kind of seing what is it else but a kind of blinding since it blocketh vp the sight of the soule It is inough for the eyes of the body if they behold the earth into which they must returne and if they cast themselues vp to heauen where the desire of their hart is lodged according to that of (b) Psal 8. Dauid I will behold the heauen that worke of thy hands the moone and the starres which thou hast framed And yet if thou haue a mind to looke vpon other creatures I haue nothing to say against it vpon this condition that such a sight may passe from them to God and that it be not to forget and loose God therby For of such sightes as that Dauid (c) Psal 118. sayd to our Lord O Lord â—uert myne eyes that they may not looke vpon vanity and quicken me in thy way This wise King knew well that inordinate looking is an impediment to speedy running the Carriere of God and vseth to make the burning hart of man grow coole and therfore it is that he sayth Quicken me in thy way For it is plaine to men of experience that how much more retired these exteriour eyes vse to be so much more clearely do men see with their interiour eyes And this sight is both more cheerfull and more profitable And it is but reason that a Christian man should easily belieue thing since we read of some Philosophers who did put out the eyes of their body that they might haue the eyes of their vnderstanding more recollected to contemplatioÌ„ Wherin we are to discard their errour in thrusting out their eyes yet we may serue our selues of their good intention by recollecting them and we are withall care to keep a guard vpon theÌ„ least such miseryes happen to vs as by dissolutenes of this kind are wont to rise From (d) Note how the immortification of the eyes was the occasion of the first great sin of Adam and Eue. whence doest thou thinke that the beginning of the perdition of the world proceeded I assure thee it came from one disordered sight Eue beheld the forbidden tree grew into an appetite of eating the fruit as seeming to her full of beauty and gust She did eate and she made her husband eate thereof and that bitt was death both for them and all their posterity There is no discretion to behould that which it is not lawfull to desire as is plaine by Dauid the holy King whose eyes tooke pleasure in looking vpon a woman as she was bathing in her garden and he grew to haue reason thereby to weep dayes and nights and to bathe his owne bed Royall couch with tears in so great aboundance that his eyes were as if they had been moath-eaten with much weeping And he that sayth Myne eyes haue powred out euen floudes of tears because the wicked haue not kept thy law had done better to haue shed them because himselfe did not keep it Good counsaile had it beene for his eyes not to haue taken gust in that which cost him afterwards so deare And so it will also be good for vs sinners since we are so loose of the feare as that where the eyes go before the hart with speed goeth after Let (e) Note well this whole discourse vs therefore put a vayle betweene vs and euery creature not fastning our sight wholy vpon any of them least being there taken vp we loose the sight of our Creatour That is those deuout considerations which we had of him And do thou belieue for certaine that one of the
a sinner to whom the spirituall being of grace is wanting must be accounted notwithstanding all the greatnesse and riches that he may haue otherwise for nothing in the sight of God S. Paul expresseth this in this manner If I should haue the guift of prophesy and should know all mysteries and all science and should haue all Fayth so far as to remooue mountaines from one place to another and yet withall I should not haue charity I were nothing Which sentence is so highly true as that a sinner is yet worse then nothing because an euill being is worse then a not being And there is no place so base nor so cast out of the way nor so despicable in the eyes of God amongst all the things that are and are not as a man that liueth in offence of him being disinherited of heauen and adiudged to hell And to the end that thou mayst haue somewhat to rouse thee a little vp in the consideration of the miserable staâ—e of a sinner hearken to this When thou shalt set any thing which is very contrary to reason and much out of order consider that it is a most vgly and abhominable thing to be in the displeasure and emnity of our Lord. Thou hast heard men speake of some huge theft or treason or some other wickednesse which some woman may haue coÌ„mitted against her husband or of some high irreuerence which a sonne may haue expressed towards his Father or some other crimes of this nature which in the eye of any ignorant person whatsoeuer will instantly appeare to be foule because they are against all reason But thou must know that to offend God by one only sinne is (c) There is no comparison betweene these two a greater deformity in being against the Commandment giuen by him and the reuerence which is due to him then all the wicked actions that can be wrought in consideration that they are against reason only And since (d) A naturall and reasonable addresse thou seeft that al they are so much disesteemed who commit wickednes of that kind do thou esteeme thy selfe for a most contemptible creature and sincke thou downe into that profound pitt of being despised which is due to a person who offeÌ„deth God And as for thy knowing that thou wert nothing thou didst call that tyme to mind wherein thou hadst no being so now for the knowing of thy basenes and vilenesse call to mind the tyme when thou didst liue in the offence of God Behold as in wardly as feelingly as profoundly as leasurely as thou canst when in the eyes of God thou wert displeasing and deformed and esteemed nothing and lesse then nothing For neither vnreasonable liuing creatures nor others which haue no life how vgly base soeuer they be haue committed any sinne against our Lord. Nor are they vnder the obligation of eternal fire as thou wert And thus despise thou and abase thy selfe the most deeply aduisedly that thou canst for (e) There is nothing more assuredly true then this thou mayst safely belieue that how much soeuer thou do it thou wilt neuer be able to descend so low into the very abysse of contempt as is deserued by him who is the offendour of an infinite good which is God For (f) Our Lord grant that we may see it there till in heauen thou shalt see how good God is thou wilt not be able out-right to know how wicked sinne is and what misery he deserueth that committeth it But yet when thou hast soundly felt in thy soule and drunke deeply of this disesteem of thy selfe cast vp thyne eyes to God considering his infinite goodnes who drew thee out of such a deep pit which for thee it was impossible to haue done and behold that supreme goodnes which with so great mercy drew thee out whylest thou didst merit nothing towardes it nay when thou didst greatly demerit For till God giue his grace though al that which a man doth be not sinne yet neither doth he nor can he do any thing which may deserue his forgiuenes grace Know that he who drew thee out of darcknesse into his admirable light and made thee of an enemy a friend and of a slaue a child and of a creature that was good for nothing to become acceptable in his sight he I say who did this is God And (g) There is no reason of interest in the loue of God to vs God graunt there be nomotiue of interest in our loue to him the reason why he did it was not any former desert of thyne Nor any regard which he could haue to the seruice which thou mightest do him afterward but it was for his owne only goodnesse and by the merit of our only mediatour Iesus Christ our Lord. For thyne owne thou art to esteeme the vile state wherein thou wert and thou maiest accompt hell to be the place so due to such sinnes as thou didest or wouldst haue committed vnlesse it had byn for God For that which thou hast more then this acknowledge thy selfe to be a debter to him and to his grace Hearken to that which our Lord said to his beloued disciples and in them to vs. You (h) Ioan. 15. chose not me but I you Consider what the Apostle S. Paul (i) Rom. 3â— saith You are iustifyed gratis by the grace of God by the redemption which is in Christ Iesus And lodge this in thy hart that as thou hast thy being from God without any reason at all to giue the glory of it to thy selfe so doest thou also hold thy well-being from God and thou hast both the one and the other to his glory And carry in thy tongue and in thy hart that which S. Paul (k) Cor. 19. saith by the grace of God I am that which I am CHAP. LXVI Wherein the aforesaid exercise is prosecuted in particuler manner CONSIDER thou moreouer that as when thou wert nothing thou hadst no power to mooue thy selfe nor to see nor heare nor taste nor vnderstand nor will any thing but God giuing thee a being gaue thee also these faculties and forces so not only is the man being in mortall synne depriued of that being which is acceptable in the sight of God but he is without all power to doe the workes of life which may please him When therfore thou seest some lame man without leggs or armes thinke that so is a man without grace in his soule and if thou see one who is blind or deafe or dumbe take him for a glasse wherein thou mayst behold thy selfe in all those sicke persons who were leapers or paralytikes who had their bodies crookedly bent towards the ground not being able once to looke vp with all that multitude of diseases which they presented in the presence of Iesus Christ our true physitian do thou vnderstanding that wicked men are as much defeated in their spirituall partes as those others were in their corporal And obserue that
the will of man cease to do ill and there wil be no more vse of hell But as it is the most profitable of all thinges to deny a mans owne will so (o) There is no taming of the will but by the hand of God is it also the hardest of the whole world Yea and how much soeuer we may labour we shall neuer arriue to the obtaining of it if that Lord who commaunded the grauestone of the dead and buryed Lazarus to be remooued do not also remooue this hardnes which oppresseth such as it lieth vpon and vnlesse he kill this strong Golias whome none can conquere but only he who is inuincible But though we are not able of our selues to retyre our neckes from vnder these massy chaines yet (p) Our owne endeauour must not be wanting must we not fayle to vse our best endeauour according vnto that proportion of strength which our Lord shall giue vs. Whome also with our hartes we must inuoke for his assistance and withall consider the mischief that we fall into by following it and the blessinges that we obtaine by flying it Consider also the sublime example of Christ our Lord who sayth thus of himselfe I (q) Ioan. 6. came downe from heauen not to do myne owne will but his that sent me And this he did not in matters only of smal importance as some do but in cases of great affront which might euen arriue to the very soule Such was Christs enduring of the Passion for vs but therein he conformed himselfe to the will of his Father casting away the inclination of flesh and bloud which might haue beene not to suffer To giue vs an example heereby that nothing ought to be so beloued by vs which if God do so command we will not be ready to cast away and that nothing also may be so painefull which we may not for loue of him imbrace CHAP. CI. Of a kind of practise in the denying of our owne will and of the obedience that we owe to our Superiours which is a way how to obtayne the abnegation of our will and how a superiour is to carry himselfe with his subiects Now because we cannot get vp to the top if we begin not below I do aduertise thee that to the end thou mayst arriue to the height of denying thy will in greater matters thou must accustome thy selfe to do it in thinges that are small Not to rest therein but to passe on by them to such others as are of more importance Doe not performe or say yea (a) There is great difference betweene a bare thinking a thinking with consent or thinke any thing with consent which may be directed to the end of performing thyne own will pleasure But as soone as thou findest thy selfe carryed with much mind to any thing let that serue thee for a rule that thou art not to do it For (b) An excellent truth which enricheth that soule by which it is faithfully put in practise exteriour thinges ought not to take and carry thee prisoner to them but thou with (c) This is another manner of Christian liberty then that of Protestants ChristiaÌ„ liberty art to bring them home to thy selfe Before thou eatest thou art to (d) A directioÌ„ full of profit and fit for practise mortify any appetite which thou mayst haue to gluttony and ordaine thy meale as an act of obedience to God who commandeth thee to eate for the maintenance of thy life So before thou go about any businesse of gaine thou art first to mortify thy couetousnes and then to goe about thy businesse because God commaundeth it towardes the reliefe eyther of thine owne necessityes or of thy neighbours And by these examples thou mayst learne how to put away the propriety of thy will in all thinges and to do them because God or thy Superiours command them Remember that this is the manner wherin those old Fathers of the wildernes did breed vp their disciples depriuing them of that which they desired and making them do that which they misliked to the end that they might wholy grow to an abnegation of their will And such persons as they had satisfaction of in this particuler they hoped would arriue to perfection and of others they had an ill opinion as thinking that they who would faile in tâ—â—fles would doe it more in greater matters For a will which is accustomed to doe what it hath a mind vnto in thinges of little moment will find it to be very rebellious when in greater matters it should contradict it selfe I would therefore haue thee abase thy selfe and become subiect to (e) This doctrine is very high and hard but it is most true all creaturs as S. Peter sayth and be content that any one might passe ouer and tread vpon thee and contradict thy will and vse thee like a handfull of durte And whosoeuer shall assist thee most in this him loue and be gratefull to him because he helpeth thee to ouercome thyne enemyes which are thine owne opinion and thy will Make therefore account that (f) He speaketh heere to such as are religious professed by vow thy Abbesse is thy mother whome thou art to obey with profound humility and without being weary And be not as some are who in taking a kind of grauity vpon them grow vnruly and cast off all that obedience which they owe to their parents and Superiours not submitting themselues to them euen whylest they are in house togeather Yea some do part house without leaue and all vnder pretense of seruing God whereas indeed there is nothing more contrary to that then the thing which these persons doe Christ (g) The admirable obedience of Christ our Lord. our Lord was obedient to his Father both in life and death and so also did he obey his most holy Mother yea and S. Ioseph also as is related by (h) Luc. 2. S. Luke And let no man think that without obedience he shal be able to please him who was so great a friend to this vertue as that rather then loose it he would lay downe his life vpon a Crosse And do not wonder that I so earnestly recommend obedience to thee For as the greatest danger that thy state is subiect to is that thou art not in religious clausure so vnlesse thou prouide well for thy selfe by denying thyne own will to be subiect to anothers thou wilt haue added one danger to another and it will go ill with thee in the end for (i) Neither wil al this serue vnles extraordinary recollection be vsed withal according to the iudgement of this Authour in diuers places of this booke of S. Ambrose S. Hierome and all the Fathers thy security must consist in the renunciation of liberty Do not therefore content thy selfe with obeying thy parents only but do it also to the rest of the house who are thy elders And if perfectly thou wilt be obedient obey
ariue to repose in thee Now the reason why he passeth through such want and pouerty is declared by S. Paul who saith You know well O brethren the grace which our Lord Iesus Christ imparted to vs who being rich did make himselfe poore for vs that so we might grow rich by his pouerty And the while thou seest that the first condition of beauty which was to be complete is altogeather hidden and as it were dissembled by him since to him there was so much wanting vpon earth who in heauen was abundance it selfe If now thou wilt consider the second condition of the Beautifull word of God which is to be (d) The second condition of the beauty of our Lord was hidden by him in the passiō the most perfect image of his Father and proportionable to him and equall to him thou wilt find that on earth he dissembled this condition no lesse then the former For tell me what is the Father but Strength Wisdome Honour Beauty Bounty Ioy and such other excellencies which all togeather do make vp an infinite Good Well then do thou place on the one side this admirable Originall which is all glorious in it selfe adored by the Angells and (c) If euer thou wilt lend me thy attention and thy compassion I beg it now then call to mind that passage which in reason ought to passe yea and passe through the most internall partes of our very soules when this beautiful image of the Father Iesus Christ our Lord was brought out from the Tribunall of Pilate most cruelly scourged and vested with a purple robe and tormented with that crowne which was of scorne in their eyes that saw it and of insufferable payne in him that felt it His hands in the meane tyme were bound and a Cane or Reed was put into them His eyes full of teares and of bloud with all which ran downe from his head His cheeks pale and wanne and full also of bloud and defiled vvith filthy spittle vvhich they had darted out vpon his face And vnder this paine and shame vvas he brought out to be seeme by all the people and thus it vvas said Behold the man And this vvas done to the end that his shame might increase in being seene by them and that compassion might once grovv in their hartes vvhen they perceaued in vvhat case he vvas and so they might giue ouer the persecution of a man vvhō they saw in such a passion But (f) Infinit patience and loue of our Lord and inscrutable malice of the wicked Iewes O vvith hovv wicked eyes did they behold the paines of him vvho yet did feele more paine for their perdition then for those very paines of his owne since insteed of quenching that fire of their frantike malice with the water of the dishonour which they saw him in it burned but more and more like wild-fyre which burnes in water They would not hearken to that worde which was said to them by Pilate Behold the man for they cared not for seeing him there but sayd that they would see him vpon a Crosse But thou at least O soule which art redeemed by the torments of Christ do thou hearken and let all of vs hearken to this word Behold the man least otherwise we grow aliens from the redemption of Iesus Christ if we cannot find in our harts to be mindfull and gratefull to him in respect of them When we (g) A consideration which wil pierce the harts of al such as hauethen◠not of flint bring forth any thing to the end that it may be seene we are wont to dresse it the best we can that so it may enamoure the lookers on And when we bring forth any thing that we would haue to be feared we set it out with a shew of Armes Trophees and we accompany it with such other thinges as may make them tremble that behold it And when we make any representation that should moue a man to tears we apparail it in mourning and we giue it all those additions that may induce men to sorrow Then tell me what was the intention of Pilate in drawing Christ our Lord into the view of the people It was certainely not to make them loue him nor to make them feare him and therefore they did neither beautify him nor set him out with Guardes Caualliers but he brought him forth to appease the cruell harts of the Iewes by that spectacle of our Redeemer And this was not to be done by the way of loue For well did Pilate know hovv cordially and profoundly they abhorred him but he had a desire to pacify them euen by the pure force of those excessiue torments which were indured by that delicate body of his so much to his cost For this it was that Pilate did dresse Christ our Lord with such a dressing of torments which were both so many and so great as might haue serued to moue compassion in al such as saw him how much soeuer they did detest him It (h) No Christian soule can doubt of this is therefore to be belieued that he brought him forth the most afflicted the most abased and the most dishonoured that he could deuise Making it his study how to deforme him as one would study to beautify and adorne some gallant birde that so he might appease the wrath of such as hated him since he found by experience that he could not do it by other meanes And now tell me if Christ was brought forth in such a fashion as might haue serued to quench the fire of hate in their harts that abhorred him how (i) It is more thē reason mightily is it reason that the sight and shew of him should kindle the fire of loue in their harts who know him to be God and who confesse him to be their Redeemer Isay the (k) Isa 5◠Prophet saw this passage long before it was brought to effect And being in contemplation of our Lord he sayd He (l) Heere giue thyn eares and thy hart to God hath no beauty nor delicacy we haue seene him and there was nothing to be seene in him and we desired to haue him despised and the most abased thing amongst men a man of griefe and who did euen possesse the knowledg of torments His face was as if it were hidden and despised and therefore we had him in no estimation It was truely he that bare our infirmityes and himselfe did suffer our paynes and we esteemed of him as some leaprous person and as stroken by the hand of God and so deiected If thou wilt weigh these wordes of Isay one by one thou wilt easily see how the beauty of Christ was all concealed in that day of his affliction for the beautifying of vs. The (m) Heere see the different christ our Lord grew to be from himselfe and it was all for our sakes Spouse speaking to Christ doth say in the (n) Cant. 5. Canticles Thou art faire thou
he hid the fourth condition of beauty which is to be great why was it but to make his greatenesse stick to vs by conforming himselfe to our littlenesse as it was figured in the great (g) 4. Reg. 4. Elizaeus Who to reuiue the little boye that was dead did shrincke vp into the making of himselfe a iust measure for the other and so he restored him to life For if as Saint Augustine sayth by louing of God we are made beautyful it is cleare that we are made more beautyfull by actes of greater loue Now wherein did Christ Iesus so much shew the loue which he carryed to his Father as in suffering for his honour as himselfe hath sayd That the world may know that I loue the Father rise vp let vs go hence But whither went he It is euident that he went to suffer And (h) This is excellently most truly inferred therefore since so much the better as a worke is so much is it the more beautifull for good is faire bad is foule it is plaine that the more Christ suffered so much the better was his worke And therefore the more abased and deformed he seemed the more beautyfull he is in the eyes of such as know him For he was not obliged to what he suffered but he endured it for the honour of his Father and for the good of vs. These are then the eyes wherwith thou art euer to Behold this man that he may euer seeme beautifull to thee as indeed he is As also to the end that Pilate may know in hell where he now remaines that God doth giue a kind of eyes to Christians wherewith they looking vpon Christ he appeareth so much the more beautifull to them as he endeauored to deforme him And now heare how all this is said by (i) S. Augustine was able to say this and more for in another place he affirmeth of himselfe that God had shot his hart quite through with the loue of him S. Augustine Let vs loue Christ and if we find any thing in him that is deformed though he found many deformities in vs and yet vs he loued but still I say if we finde any thing deformed in him let vs not loue him For whereas he was apparailled with flesh for which it is said of him We saw him and he had no beauty if thou confider the mercy wherewith he became man he will then appeare beautifull in thine eye For that which Isay (k) Isa â—1 said we saw him and he had no beauty he said in the person of the Iewes But why did they see him without beauty because they saw him not with vnderstanding But they who vnderstand that the Word is made man doe hold it for a high point of beauty And so it was said by one of the (l) The great S. Paul friendes of the spouse I glory in nothing but in the Crosse of our Lord Iesus Christ Doth it seeme a small matter to thee O Paul that thou art not ashamed of the dishonours of Christ but that further thou wilt needes glory in them But yet agayne why had Christ no beauty Because Christ crucified is a scandal to the Iewes and seemeth folly to the vnbelieuing Gentills But now on the other side How can Christ be said to haue had any beauty vpon the Crosse How but because the thinges of God (m) God is infinite in all thinges which seeme folly are more full of wisedome then the wisedom it selfe of all mankind And the thinges of God which seeme weake are more stronge then the strength of all mankind And since this is true let Christ thy spouse appeare beautifull in thyne eye since God is beautifull and that he is the Word of his Father Beautifull he also was in the wombe of his mother where he tooke his Humanity without losse of his Diuinity Beautifull was the Word when he was borne an infant for although he were an infant that spake not yet euen whilst he sucked and when he was carried in his Mothers armes the heauens did speake the Angells sung his praises the starre lead on the three wise Kinges and he was adored by them in the manger where he was layed as the food (n) Men who haue mortifyed affections and to such our Lord becometh food after an admitable maÌ„ner It is S. Augustine who speaketh thus of innocent and quiet beastes Beautifull then he is in heauen Beautifull vpon earth Beautifull in the wombe of his Mother Beautifull in her armes Beautifull in miracles Beautifull in those scourges Beautifull when he inuiteth vs to life Beautifull in despising of death Beautifull in leauing his soule when he expired Beautifull when he tooke it againe in his resurrection Beautifull in the Crosse and Beautifull in the sepulcher Beautifull in heauen and Beautifull in the vnderstanding of man on earth He is in fine the true and soueraigne Beauty and Iustice All this S. Augustine saith And certainly if thou wilt behold Christ our Lord with such eyes as these he will not seeme deformed to thee as he did to those carnall persons who put reproach vpon him in the passion But as it hapned to the holy Apostles who (o) Luc. 9. beheld him in Mount Thabor his face will seeme to thee as bright as the Sunne and his garments as white as the snow yea so white as S. Marke recordeth That no earthly Dyer could haue raised them to such a height of whitenesse Which signifyeth that we who are the (p) A noble and comfortable application of that place of Scripture garmentes of Christ because we go round about him and because we adorne him by belieuing and louing praysing him are so whitened by him as that no man on earth could haue giuen vs that beauty of grace iustice which he gaue vs. Let him seeme to thee as a Sunne and the soules redeemed by him to be white as snow Those soules I say which confessing and with griefe abhorring their owne deformity desire to be beautified in this (q) The precious bloud of our Lord Iesus is that only true Piscina which is able to recouer vs out of all diseases Piscina or Poole of the bloud of our Sauiour from whence they issue out so beautifull so iust and so rich through the grace and other gifts which they receyue by him that they are able to enamoure euen the very eyes of God So that these wordes aforesaid may be sung with great ioy and much truth The King will desire thy beauâ—â—ty FINIS THE TABLE OF CHAPTERS Conteyned in this Cabinet CHAP. I. Wherein is treated How necessary it is for vs to giue eare to God of the admirable Language which our first Parents spake in the state of Innocency Which being lost by Sinne many ill ones did succeed in place thereof pag. 1. Chap. 2. That we must not hearken to the Language of the World and Vaine-glory And how absolute dominion it exerciseth ouer the
thing which the Diuell went about though he went by a kind of circling way by bringing in thoughtes of a different nature Now (b) Note thy course must be rather to increase in thy well doing then to decay as if one would do it euen of purpose to make the Diuell retyre with loste when he thought to haue gone on with gaine And if thou want tendernesse of deuotion do not trouble thy selfe for that for as much as our seruices are not to be measured otherwise then by the rate of our loue which (c) Note this well and belieue it for it is a certaine truth consisteth not in tendernesse of deuotion but in a francke offer and resolution of our will to doe that which God and his Church commaundeth and to endure that which his pleasure is that we should suffer for his coÌ„tentment Yf some who may seeme to haue left their pleasures of the world for the seruice of God did leaue also the inordinate desyre of sweet and sensible deuotions of the soule they would liue with more alacrity then now they haue and the Diuell should not be able to fynd certayne (d) We must take care that the Diuell haue no hold to take vs by haires of appetite to take hold of and thereby to turne their heads about and to deceyue hurt them Christ Iesus died naked vpon the Crosse and naked we should offer our selues to him And we should care for no other cloths then the doing of his holy will as it is declared to vs by the commaundments of himselfe and of his Church and to receiue with an (c) Pray for this blessing for it is a great one amorous kind of obedience that which he shal be pleased to send how hard soeuer it be with equality of mind we are to take from his hand eyther affliction or consolation and to giue him thankes both for the one and the other S. Paul (f) Ephesâ— 5. saith That in all thinges we are to giue thankes to God because as it is the marke of a good Christian to loue one that doth him hurt for the loue of God since euery one loues him that doth him good so to be (g) 5. Note thankfull to God in aduersity not regarding the rough exteriour that it carrieth but the hidden fauour which God doth send vs vnder that superscription is the signe of a man who beareth other eyes in his head then of flesh and bloud and that he loueth God since in that which is painefull to him he doth yet conforme himselfe to Gods will And (h) A soueraigne receit against all miseries of mans life both interiour and exteriour so we must not seeke to fasten our selues to the weake boughes of our owne desyres though they may seeme good but to the strong pillar of the diuine will to the end that obeying it as hath bin sayd we may participate according to our possibility of that peacefull rest and immutability which resideth in that Will and that we may decline those many changes which in our hart we shal be sure to find if it giue accesse to this kind of (i) Of spirituall gust couetousnesse There is in very deed little difference betweene seruing Christ for money or els for consolation and spirituall gust of thy soule whether for heauen or for earth if the last marke that I ayme at be this couetousnesse Euen Lucifer according to the opinion of many Doctours did desyre true felicity but because he desired it not as he ought and of whom he ought that it might be giuen him when it should haue pleased God it serued not his turne to haue desyred that which was good but he sinned by not desyring it well for so it came to be couetousnesse no good desyre In the same manner therefore do I declare that we must not fasten our selues to an earnest and disordered appetite of spiritual gustes but offering our selues to the Crosse of our Lord we must be glad to take what he shal be pleased to giue whether it be sweete hony or vinegar and gall Nor (k) Note haue I yet sayd this as if these gustes were euill or vnprofitable of themselues if men know how to make true vse thereof and if they receiue them not as to dwell in them but to procure more breath and hart in the seruice of God especially for beginners who ordinarily according to their age haue need of milke like children And (l) How great a blessing it is to meet with a guyde who hath the guift of spirituall prudence he that would nurse them with the food that is fit for men and seeke by that meanes to make them perfect vpon a suddaine should commit a great errour and insteed of helping would do hurt Euery age hath a seuerall condition and degree of strength according to which the food and nourishment is to be applied And as the well experienced and holy Bernard sayth We must not fly but walke forward in the way of perfection and let no man thinke that it is the same thing to vnderstand it and to possesse it And therefore it our Lord impart these comfortes let them be receiued towards the carrying of his Crosse with greater force For as much as it is his custome to comfort his disciples in Mount Thabor that so they may not be disquieted in the persecution of the Crosse And ordinarily before the gall of tribulation come vpon vs he sendeth the hony of comfort And I neuer knew any man mislike or vndervalow spirituall Consolations but such an one as by whose soule they had neuer passed But if our Lord be pleased to guide vs by the way of discomforte and that we must needes heare the harsh and (m) Of dâ—abohâ—al tentatâ—os and disolations paynefull language wherof we were speaking yet must we not be dismayed at any thing that he sendeth but with patience we must drinke the Chalice which the Father giues euen because he giueth it and we must beg strength of him that our weakenesse may yielde obedience thereunto Nor yet on the other side must thou conceaue that I teach thee not to haue ioy when our Lord doth visit or not to haue a sad feeling of his absence when we find our selues deliuered ouer to our enemies to be tempted or afflicted by them But that which I would say is this that according to the force which God shall giue vs we must procure to conforme our selues to his holy will with obedience and equality of mind and in no case to follow our owne which infallibly wil be accompanied with discomfort and disconfidence such things as these Let (n) We ought to carry a most cordiall and profound loue to the accomplishment of the holy aâ—â—e will of God in all things vs beseech our Lord that he will open our eyes for then we shal more cleerly see then now we do the very light of the sun that