to vs to winne our hartes by our owne free choyce to renounce that dangerous libertie which might happly haue proued our ruine to imbrace the true libertie of the children of God which is neuer so free or euen truly free indeede but vnder the seruitude of that most pious Kinge of glorie according to that of S. Augustine Libertie is neuer greater then vnder a pious Kinge whom to serue is indeede to raigne and happie is that blessed necessitie vvhich compells vs to the better Our false libertie then is turned into a necessitie but it is to be truly free to haue nothing common with the world not to be tortured with the greedie desire of vaine toyes to haue noe commerce with wickednesse to passe our tyme in innocencie Our fortunes are noe more ours noe but they are gaynfully spent vpon the purchace of the riches of Heauen The disposition of our body is not in our owne hands true but it is to imitate the Angells The goods of our mynd our verie will is at anothers dispose Yes but it is that by wanting it for a tyme we may inioy it for an eternitie THE II. MEDITATION FOR THE THIRD DAY Of the vovve of pouertie THE FIRST POINTE. COnsider that if humilitie be the basis and fundation which secures all that is built vpon it pouertie must be at the charges to rayse the walls But with what treasure will pouertie performe this worke Marrie with noe other as S. Augustine hath told vs but with relinquishing of all we either haue or can hope for So is the toppe and perfection of our spirituall building to be attained to as wisdome it selfe assures vs saying if thou wilt be perfect goe and sell all that thou hast and giue it to the poore and take vp thy crosse and come and follovv me AFFECTION RESOLVT O glorious and rich pouertie which alone art able to vndertake and accomplish so great a worke The riches of a kingdome are scarcely sufficient to finish one princely Louure and yet the pouertie of one poore free giuing harte is able to rayse a stately Towre reaching into the sight of God and to possesse it selfe of his kingdome O gaynfull cōmerce ô diuinely-rich trading Ingenious pouertie is able to improue her smale talent to an hundred-fold aduantage and to the sure possessiō of life euerlasting He sayes it whom we dare not misbeleeue euery one that hath left house or landes for my names sake shall receiue an hundred fold and shall possesse life euerlasting THE II. POINT That Euangelicall pouertie ought to be learnt of Christ Consider that though diuers Phylosophers both praysed and in some sort practised pouertie as not reputing him worthy of God who did not contemne riches yea and some among them qualified it laeta paupertas ioyfull pouertie Yet hardly should we either haue tasted the ioy of it or haue put our selues to the practise therof had we not had a better Master to haue proposed it to vs by way of counsell preached it to vs with a blissing vpon it and practised it in his owne sacred person all his life longe who being rich became poore to inrich vs by his owne pouertie He was poore in his natiuitie being borne in a poore caue or stable wrapped vp in poore clothes layd on a poore locke of hay lodged in a poore manger accompaigned with a poore oxe and asse All the course of his life was spent in pouertie and want neuer hauing any possession noe not so much as a place to shrude his heade and at his death he was stript naked vpon the crosse AFFECTION and RESOLVT And yet was he not eternall prouidence and foresawe all this Was he not eternall wisdome and so could haue preuented it all Was he not the riches of heauen and our God who could stand in want of nothing that is ours Conclude then my soule with much ioy and consolation either are we making a good choyce of this poore life we intende to leade or els the wisdome of heauen may seeme to haue mist in his choyce But wisdome could not deceiue nor be deceiued reioyce then my soule to haue made so sure so happie so Christlike a choyce And let vs neuer cease to vse our vttermost endeuours to imitate his extreame pouertie in his natiuitie in his life and at his death THE FIRST MEDITAT FOR THE 4. DAY To vvhat this vovve of pouertie doth absolutly binde vs THE FIRST POINTE. COnsider that the pouertie to which you oblidge your selfe is accordinge to S. Augustins Rule That is not to mendicitie not to penurie or extreame want of necessaries in meate drinke or clothes c. But to possesse what you possesse in common according to that Apostolicall and primitiue Christian proceeding in the fourth of the Actes All thinges vvere common vnto them neither vvas there any needie among them and to euerie one vvas deuided according as euery one had neede From these blessed first fruites of Christianitie did your holy father as himselfe declares take the model of your life So that as you can haue nothing of your owne nor euen the power to call it so so on the other side you haue right to your share in the comon distribution of the whole AFFECTION and RESOL. How happie are we my soule to haue fixed vpon so happie a proceeding where we are neither to haue nor want riches to witt we neither suffer the danger of hauing them not the incommoditie of wanting them Happie condition which frees vs from the perill of riches which makes the way of heauen almost impossible and yet subiects vs not to the incommoditie of the want of them wherby life becomes loathsome and necessitie compells to vnworthy and base thinges This golden meane was certainly the production of the holy Ghost in those boylinge primitiue hartes whence it was deriued downe to vs and wherby we can ioyfully pronounce with the Apostle vve haue nothinge and yet vve possesse all thinges by the harmelesse vse which we are permitted to make of thē THE II. POINTE. What pouertie a true Religious ought indeede to ayme at Consider that though the possessing of nothing in proper or want of proprietie be all that you canonically promisse or are bound to yet your aymes indeede are the contempt of riches and of the verie desire of them It is not gold and siluer that the Apostle tearmes the roote of all euil but the inordinate coueting of them Nor are rich persons alone subiect to danger but those also that couet to be riche vvho saith he fall into snares and temptations The pouertie which our sauiour preacheth with a benedictiō vpon it is spirituall pouertie or pouertie of the d'isinterrest mynde which neither has them nor cares for them nor seekes the commodities and pleasures they bringe with them further then a meere necessarie liuelyhoode as we see in our B. Sauiours example which is our patterne indeede AFFECTION and RESOL. The actuall want of riches
THE FIRST MEDITAT FOR THE SIXTH DAY Of Heauen THE FIRST POINTE. COnsider what this Kingdome is which is prepared for the Blessed and which they are called to possesse come possesse the Kingdome prepared for you and this at least we shall finde that whateuer this possession may be it is greater then we haue any capacitie to comprehend Let vs looke vpon all the beauties and magnificencies that euer our eyes beheld and they are not it Le ts make reflection of all that euer we haue heard of honours riches pleasures and all of them are not it Let vs by helpe of imagination put all togeither that we haue either seene or heard and euen adde to them millions of millions more and yet we are not arriued at it Noe for S. Paule assures vs that neither eye hath seene nor eare hath heard nor hath it entred into the mynde of man vvhat God hath prepared for those that loue him AFFECTION and RESOL. O my most bountifull Lord and Master Hath thy good-nesse made me capable of a Kingdome which thy wisdome hath not inabled me at present to comprehend O too too happie we could we truly vnderstand our owne happinesse But ô more then most vnhappie we if we permitt sinne to robbe vs of it or that we otherwise make it a way for a messe of potage or the bitter Mandragores of mixt moments of painefull pleasures for such inconsiderable toyes I meane as are daylie obiects to meanest eyes and fill euery eare Nay euen for the greatest thinges our hartes can conceiue since in a smale tyme they vanish away like dreames and leaue nothinge in our hands Alas were it not a strange miserie and madnesse to make away such inconceiuable permanēt possessions for such knowne transitorie toyes THE II. POINTE. What heauen is Consider againe what this Kingdome or possession prepared for vs may be and we finde it is a state of life perfectly accomplished with the whole collection of all good thinges Not a passage but a state a permanencie without change without end without irkesommesse Perfectly accomplished not by halues and peecemeales With the vvhole collection of all good thinges Not with a few as here below and those good and ill paines and pleasures mixt togeither but with the whole collection of all good thinges so that what euer we desire shall be present and all thar we desire not shall be absent eternally AFFECTION and RESOL. We haue Gods word for it my soule and it cannot fayle vs that he will shew vs all good that is all that is aduantagious gaynefull and rich in steede of the transitorie riches of this world all that is beseeming honorable and illustrious in lieu of the vaine and vadinge honours here belowe all that conteynes in it selfe any cause of ioy and iubilie and and all that is deare and delightfull to witt that ineffable vnmeasurable eternall waight of glorie according to S. Paule in place of those short light deluding and euen painefull pleasures as Salomon and S. Augustine experienced them for which poore man looses himselfe Thus my soule doth faith assure vs let not then follie perswade vs the contrarie THE II. MEDITATION FOR THE 6. DAY Of Heauen againe THE FIRST POINTE. COnsider the kingdome prepared for vs is Beatitude come ô you blessed and Beatitude is noe other thinge then to know what is best and to inioy the same And wheras none but God himselfe is our summum bonum or optimum our cheife good or our best it followes that God himselfe the father sonne and holy Ghost is our Beatitude or the Kingdome prepared for vs accordinge to that I my selfe vvill be thy exceeding greate revvarde Him we shall see face to face and in that sight our vnderstanding meets with all truth him we shall see and in seeing him our will meetes with all good Hence the vnderstanding hauing noe more to seeke and the will noe more to loue they fall as it were into a blessed necessitie of truly seeing what they loue and louing what they see for all eternitie AFFECTION and RESOL. Forgett not then ô man thy dignitie By Gods mercy and the merits of Christ thou art made the sonne of God coheire with Christ to share in his heauenly inheritance to possesse the same Kingdome with him that is to knowe the prime truth and loue the cheife good for euer and euer Let not then the fables fictions and vaine lyes of the world take vp thyne vnderstandinge made to knowe so great and diuine a Truth nor the vaine loue of creatures ingage thy will made to loue so souueraigne à Good But crye incessantly here belowe with holy S. Augustine Let me knovv thee ô Lord and knovv my selfe and let me loue thee as much as I desire and as much as I ought Thus my soule may we in some measure while we liue amidst our miseries begin before hand to possesse our Beatitude which consists in knovving louing and inioying our chiefe Good which is God himselfe THE II. POINTE. Hovv Heauen is to be purchased Consider out of the Gospell that the Kingdome of heauen suffers violence and the violent beare it avvay Yes but we must learne of S. Ambrose how we are to make this violence We are to assault it not with swords with clubbe or stone but with myldnesse with good workes with chastitie These are the armes which our faith makes vse of in that onsett But yet to make a right vse therof we must first of all make force against our owne flesh and bloud that so gayning dominion ouer our selues we may imploye all our abilities to force Heauen as it were out of the stronge hands of the Almightie We are not to hope saith S. Gregorie to come to great honours but by great labours and paines We must mortifie our members and all the mutinous people of our hartes our vnrulie passions and badd inclinations So did all the saintes of God scale and winne his Kingdome So did that greate Doctour of the Gentiles beare it away I chastise my body and bringe it into seruitude So did the sainte of saintes enter into his owne Kingdome He suffered and so entred into his owne Kingdome AFFECTION and RESOL. Let vs not hope my soule that we who are but younger and adoptiue children should find any other safe way to heauen then that which the naturall sonne of God and all his saintes were to passe That is through tribulations contumelies and contempts If vve suffer vvith him vve shall raigne vvith him Noe noe the pure wheate reserued for the heauenly granaries must be winnowed the gold found worthy to haue course in that celestiall Kingdome must passe through the hotest fires Sweete S. Augustine putts it at the lowest rate that euer it can be expected and yet according to him it will cost vs noe lesse then all we are The Kingdome of heauen saith that excellent Sainte is vvorth as much as thou art giue thy selfe and thou shalt haue it Doe not
arriue at that vvhich he beleeues AFFECT and RESOLVT Blessed be our good God who doth not alone freely and without obligation or debt bestowe a power vpon vs by Faith to see all good things a farre off but by Hope maketh them in a manner present and as certaine as though alreadie possessed Thou dost not onely giue vs a sight and by that sight begetst in vs an appetite of a most excellent GOOD but dost possesse vs also with a certaine expectation of that future BEATITVDE grounded vpon thy grace and our owne merits by the ayde there of II. POINT Consider with the same saint how our Hope is to be grounded and confirmed in vs and you will find that it is to be done by a good conscience Let him saith he vvho hopes for the Kingdome of heauen haue a good conscience and to haue a good conscience let him beleeue and vvorke AFFECTION and RESOLV Let vs not then ô my soule remayne secure in the certaine knowledge we haue of God by Faith nor in the strong confidence we haue to obtayne it by the helpe of Hope but let vs further in good earnest putt our hand to the worke least a good Faith and Hope turne our aduersaries and confound vs while we produce no actions proportionable to the infallible light and certaine expectation which we had by Gods gifts which were not to be buried III. POINT Consider whervpon we are to fixe our Hope and he will tell vs that it is not to be placed in present things for they post on to passe by nor in aduersitie a kind of death nor in prosperitie for that is deceiptfully fawning not in the whole earth since we see that is turned topsie turuey and is in a perpetuall agitation not in man nor consequently in ones selfe since we are but men Where then Transcende thy selfe and put thy selfe in his hands who made thee AFFEC and RESOL. Alas no our hopes are not fixed but tossed while they are placed vpon sublunarie and transitorie things which are subiect to a perpetuall vicissitude and change and therfore that which is placed vpon them must needs be subiect to the same motion and alteration Where are the delights vpon which yesterday we placed our Hopes I say not where will they be when the world is past with its concupiscence but where are they euen now one moment after the possession Where are they Yesterday is turned out of dores by this day present this present moment is pushed away by a succeeding one and with it that is snacht from vs wheron our dearest hopes were fixed wherwith we thought to haue fedd but indeed famished our deceiued hart In thee therfore ô Lord from henceforth will I repose my whole confidence and I will not be confounded for euer Thou art that vnchangeable GOOD which is aboundantly satisfactorie and yet art subiect to no change Thou art that Truth which can nether deceiue nor be deceiued THE XII MEDITATION What Christians are to hope for in this vvorld I. POINT COnsider that if we be true Christians indeed we ought to expect for nothing in this world but pressures and persequutions without hope of better tymes being assured by the Gospell that in the latter dayes many euils scandalls pressures and iniquities shall abounde This is the condition of our present state and vocation that therby being wayned from the loue of this world our hopes might be wholy sett vpon a better AFF. and RESL What we suffer then is no surprise made vpon vs how strangly soeuer we looke vpon it It is but the ignorance or not reflection of what we are or ought to be which makes vs impatient of our present condition We are Christians my soule we were admitted vpon no other condition then to be followers of Christ If they persequuted him they will persequute vs too The seruant is not greater then the Master Truth deceaued vs not when he foretold vs and willed vs to remember that he had foretold vs so that for his sake the world should hate vs that for his name we should be lead before Kings c. Nor can he deceaue vs when he saith Blessed be they that suffer persequution c. because theirs is the Kingdome of Heauen II. POINT Consider that if in the midst of thes tribulations and pressures we lodge our confidence in the bosome of Gods prouidence or in the wounds of our Sauiours side not man nor diuell will be able to hurt vs Nether the one nor the other doth any thing but what God permitts them nor doth he permitt them to attempt any thing against vs but for our aduantage AFFECTION and RESOL. In thee ô Lord will I hope and I will not be confounded for euer I will logde as in an impregnable Castle in the sacred holes of thy side there will I repose without feare there will I securely sleepe If the wicked make warre against me in this I hope If the flesh make head against me to this will I flie If the Diuell barke and bale before my hart by these holes will I haue recourse to the hart of my Sauiour he will be with vs in the midst of our tribulations because we call vpon him he will deliuer vs and glorifie vs replenish vs with the length of dayes and shew vs his saluation III. POINT Hence let consider and euen put downe and print in a Christian hart for a prime and infallible truth that we Christians were not made for the world nor for the goods of the tyme present nor for that bewitching felicitie which makes men forgett God but for a certaine happines which God promiseth for the present but man is not now capable of because of it is said Nether eye hath seene c. AFFECTION and RESOL. Alas no my hart nether are these momentarie Goods which we see our true Goods nor these euils which we suffer our euils indeede No for of these goods we see the wicked most plentifully possessed with these euils we see the iust most powerfully oppressed Our Good indeed is the cheife Good that onely we are to hope for that to loue alone and our euil too is the souueraigne euil that alone we are to feare and flie Whence we are warned not to feare them that can onely kill the bodie and can reach no further but to feare him vvho can caste both body and soule into eternall fire THE XIII MEDITAT What motiues he tooke to confirme Hope I. POINT COnsider that the first motiue of our Hope yea euen the sourse of all our motiues is the infinite goodnes and Charitie of God wherby he was moued to conuerse amongst vs. We ought not to be without Hope but rather to presume in Christ with a great confidence because if through charitie he is with vs in earth by the same charitie we are with him in heauen according to that of the Apostle Your life is hidden vvith Christ in God Therfore he is yet below we are alreadie
stand barganing my soule and grudging at the price The naturall sonne of God purchaced it at noe lesse a rate for himselfe and thee THE FIRST MEDITAT FOR THE 7. DAY A serious reflection to be made as vvell of Gods gracious gifts bestovved vpon vs as minaces pronounced against vs THE FIRST POINTE. COnsider by way of a serious reflection of all the former Meditations that since God hath bene so gracious to vs and we so vngratefull to him as greatly and frequently to haue offended his diuine Maiestie Since he so souuerainly hates sinne wher-of we stand guiltie Since death is so vncertaine iudgement so dreadfull Hell so intolerable and the ioyes of Heauen prepared for vs so ineffablely great consider I say what a necessitie is put vpon vs if our hartes be touched either with dreade of vnspeakable torments or loue of Beatitude To make a good vse of the tyme which by Gods mercy we yet haue to redeeme tyme lost to make hay whyle the sunne shines and to treasure vp the celestiall Manna before the sunne sett AFFECTION and RESOLV Noe my soule we will dare noe lōger to be so audaciously aduenterous as to triffle out pretious tyme with cold cras crasses But euen at this verie moment I will striue to conclude an eternall peace with God It is dreadfull to come too late to heare verily verily I know you not and to finde the dore shutt My conuersation therfor shall henceforth be in heauen and heauenly thinges I will descende into Hell aliue to obserue the horride torments of that gastly denne I will expect death at all houres since none knowes the houre indeede in which it may surprise me I will iudge my selfe without flatterie that I may not be more rigourously iudged I will endeuour in earnest and with my whole harte to hate sinne which God so soueraignely hates And the residue of my life shall be spent that by true and hartie pennance the onely true refuge after sinne I may take reuenge of my selfe according to S. Paule for hauing offended so gracious a Benefactour and so dreadfull a Maiestie THE SECONDE POINTE. Hovv vve are to returne to God by pennance according to S. Augustine Consider that the way to returne to God by pennance prescribed by S. Augustine is First as to the tyme to returne speedily and without all delay because he who promised pardon to the repentant sinner promised noe certaine tyme for him to repent in but willed him not to delay his conuersion Secondly as to the manner mournfully and with confusion Euery one ought to lament ouer himselfe as ouer a deade corps and expresse huge grones vpon his deade soule Thirdly in qualitie of Iudge Mounte into the Tribunall of your owne harte proue your owne Iudge and exercise iustice vpon your selfe And in the first place take your selfe from behind you where you endeuoured to hide your faults and not to be seene and stand araigned before your selfe Let feare torture you till a true confession burst out from an humbled harte and say to God I acknovvledge myne iniquitie and my sinnes are continually before myne eyes AFFECTION and RESOLVT My soule hauing thus speedily mournefully and with the iustice and rigour of an vnpartiall Iudge discussed our selues let vs presently humbly and confidently haue recourse to God for the rest We haue an vnhappie power in our selues to commit sinne Thy perdition is from thy selfe ô Israel but our saluation is from God alone To his mercy therfor which is aboue all his workes let vs betake our selues saying in the bitternesse of our harte Grant mercy ô Lord to that miserable wretch whom thou so longe sparedst in his crymes O immense pietie take compassion vpon a confessing cryminall O publike mercy looke vpon him with the eye of pitie who hath proued cruell against his owne soule ah I should apprehend my case in a manner desparate did I not bewaile it in the sight of an infinite goodnesse and conceiue my wounds incurable had I not recourse to an all-souueraigne Physition Let me perceiue the effects of thy myldnesse hauing so longe mercifully suspended the sword of reuenge and let the multitudes of my miseries be drunke vp in the multitudes of thy drainelesse mercyes THE II. MEDITATION FOR THE SAME DAY Hovv vve are to returne to God by the example of the Prodigall child THE FIRST POINTE. COnsider that the poore prodigall hauing consumed all his substance and rysing by Gods preuenting grace out of the sleepe of sinne where he had longe layd he said in himselfe hovv many hyrelings are there in my fathers house vvho haue bread in aboundance vvhile I lye staruing here vvith hunger I vvill therfor goe to my father and say vnto him Father I haue offended against heauen and against thee nor am I vvorthy to be called thy sonne treate me onely as one of thy hyrelings This was all the rhetoricke he vsed to witt a true acknowledgment of his owne miserie and offences and the plentie which was found in his fathers house And so tooke a pious resolution with the harte of a contrite and humbled child to returne to a gracious father and confesse his fault willing for his punishment to loose the title of a sonne for that of a poore hirelinge AFFECTION and RESOL. Thus it is my soule that we ought to enter into our selues by comparing the honour and plentie which we inioyed in our fathers house where a quiete conscience heauenly comforts benedictiōs and graces doe abounde with the disasters disgrace and abandonments which experience made vs find and feel when like fugitiues we wandred abroad and were reduced at length to that excesse of miserie as to feede with swine Thus it is that we are to returne home againe by an humble confession of our faults to God and his Ministers hartily acknowledging that we are noe longer worthy of that noble Title of domestikes of God sonns of God coheires and spouses of Christ but onely of poore hirelings which we willingly imbrace Thus doe my soule and we shall infallibly be receiued into the open bosome of a tender father whose bowells are more prone to mercy then our miserable harts readie to craue it as we ought THE II. POINTE. Hovv vve are to returne to God by the example of B. Marie Magdalene Consider that that mirour of true penitents returned to God in the best manner imaginable that is with humilitie and loue mixed with teares c. Vt cognouit saith the Euangelist as soone as she knevv that Iesus vvas sett dovvne to table in the Pharisies house c. she entred with a pious impudence where she was not inuited and placed her selfe behind him at his feete she began to water his feete with teares and wiped them with the haires of her heade and kissed them c. She delayed not to witt the grace of the holie Ghost knovves noe sluggish delay She blushed not because the confusion which she felt within perswaded her that outward
euen a good Christian It must so farre see as to be able to discerne Gods part because the Decree is without exception that vve ought rather to obeye God then men But where we doe not manifestly see that Gods right is trenched vpon or violated we ought absolutly to obeye a superiours commande in all things without reserue wherin he is superiour And this kind of obedience falls vnder your vowe and is absolutly necessarie AFFECTION and RESOLV O my soule if our owne reason were made the Rule of our obedience with what confusions and endlesse wranglings would not Monasteries be replenished They would not so much be found sacred and silent solitudes as cententious Academies It is at the death of our rebellious wills that postilent source of mans miserie and mortall poison of a sprituall life that obedience aymes which is not effected by proude disputes but by humble submissions hauing continually in mynd that all povver is from God and he vvho resists povver resists Gods ordonnance Let vs then my soule humbly and promptly obeye God in our superiours person standing alwayes in a blissed in differencie with S. Paule to heare him by their mouthes and to obeye him in their persons saying What is thy holy vvill I should doe THE II. POINTE. Of the diuers degrees of it Consider that tho necessarie obedience to which you are tyed by vowe consists in obeying Superiours cōmands according to Rule and Constitutiōs or what conduces to the due obseruance therof Yet are not the pious spouses of Christ to stoppe there but to be still striuing to emulate the better gifts and to render themselues wholy agreeable to their diuine spouse Be perfect as your heauenly father is perfect saith our sauiour by endeuouring still to obeye in the most perfect manner which that great seruant of God Ruisbrochius putts downe as followes In the first place it must be prudent and discreete 2. simple 3. cheerfull 4. prompt 5. couragious 6. deuoute 7. humble AFFECTION and RESOL. O what a blessed life is ledd where all these conditions meete O what a Heauen appeares in earth where earthly Angells thus liue Let this be our cheife endeuour my soule as it is the happinesse securitie and ornament of a religious life Let vs with prudence and discretion discerne Gods will by our superiours mouth and whether we be commanded to watch to fast to pray or worke c. or els vpon occasions at their pleasure to leaue them off let it be done simply and with assurance that by how much more simply by so much the more fruitfully and excellently it s done Let that discreete simplicitie be secōded with quicke and cheesfull execution for God loues a free and merrie-harted giuer If the thinge commanded appeare hard yet imbrace it with a manly courage heauen is worth more and he who gaue the commande can giue strength to performe it Finally let all this be done with humilitie and deuotion not so much to please men as that our heauenly father may be glorified THE FIRST MEDITAT FOR THE 6. DAY Of the excellencies of Obedience THE FIRST POINTE. COnsider with deuoute Ruisbrochius that obedience is a vertue of so great excellēcie that the verie least worke be it of what kinde it will being done by vertue therof is much better and more acceptable to God then euen other geate workes done without it as for example hearing of Masse reading praying contemplating or any other worke you can thinke of Which lesson we are yet taught by a greater Master Kings 1. 15. Will our Lord haue Holocausts and victimes and not rather that his voyce should be obeyd For better is obedience then victimes and to harken rather then to offer the fatt of rammes Because c. it is as it vvere the vvickednesse of Idolatrie to refuse to obey AFFECT and RESO It is not so much the greatnesse of the thinge then my soule we ought to looke vpon as the greatnesse of the obedience with which we are to performe it Commandes of great and herociall actions rarely occurre wheras obedience may be daylie exercised and merite increased in a number of smale matters Nor is it easily to be conceiued what riches are to be treasured vp for heauen therby Deuoute obedience knowes how to render the poore widowes myte a gratfull offering Industrious obedience negotiates vpon trifles and yet like the honiebee stores her hyue with huge riches Many other vertues daughters of Charitie gather maine heapes of treasure togeither yet obedience so farre outstripps them all that she makes her selfe more gratefull to God then a sacryfice THE II. POINTE. Of vvhom vve ought to learne Obedience Consider that we ought to learne this best of morall vertues of the best of Masters of moralitie Iesus Ch. Who is as well the Master as the Disciple of it He was the Master of it at his coming into the world while he liued in it and at his departure out of it At his coming S. Paule tells vs in his person in the heade of the booke it is vvritten of me that I should doe thy vvill then said I behold I come that I may doe thy vvill o God His whole life was spent in the doing the will of his heauenly father who sent him and in obeying his mother S. Ioseph and euen all creatures for his sake At his departure he vvas obedient euen vnto death and the death of the Crosse And he was the Disciple of it too sithens as S. Paule affirmes though he were the sonne of God he learnt obedience by the thinges vvhich he suffered and vvas made the cause of eternall saluation to all that obey him AFFECTION and RESOL. O what an excellent lesson of obedience hath the sonne of God left for the sonnes of men to imitate He who as God could be obedient to none being God-man be comes obedient to all men for his heauenly fathers sake All his life was a cōtinued obedience till by his painfull death he consummated the great worke of mans redemption for which he was sent Father I haue consummated the vvorke vvhih thou gauest me to doe saith that intirely obedient sonne The worke which we are to doe my soule which is as it were our whole businesse is to obey God in our superiours commandes and by such submission and their care to secure our blessed eternitie By their eyes we best discerne By their iudgements we most wisely iudge by their directions and orders we most surely walke to mans beatitude THE II. MEDITATION FOR THE 6. DAY That Charitie must be the roofe of this spirituall building THE FIRST POINTE. COnsider that be the foundationes neuer so deeply digged be the walls neuer so firme and confirmed and the interior partes neuer so fairely adorned yet if the roofe be not sutable to the rest and be not established aboue the rest it lyes but vselessely open to receiue winds and shewres and is vnfitt for the vse of man being indeede noe perfect
other wise but they haue left vs our body is throwne into the earth our poore soule is left alone to be iudged Ah how much better were it saieth S. Augustine to chuse him for our freind aboue all our freinds vvho vvhen all forsake vs vvill be sure to make good his trust at the day of our death vvho vvhen all departe from vs vvill not leaue vs but vvill defend vs conduct vs by a countrie vvhere vve haue yet noe acquaintance Thou art my Iesu noe other be thou therefore my choyce in tyme in eternity THE II. POINTE. Cōsider in what a dauntinge anxiety dreadfull expectation the poore soule must needs be findinge herselfe all alone to be sentenced by a Iudge who is all knowinge all things lyinge open naked before his Eyes All powerfull for who resists his will all holy souerainly hates Sinne. Iustice it selfe which can neither be corrupted by bribes nor moued by prayes And to behold this knovvledge this povver this sanctitie this iustice armed with implacable vvroth and inflexable zeale against the sinner AFFECTION and RESOL. Alas and woe my soule whither shall we run for shelter To his mercy but her tyme is past she leaues the place to iustice To his sanctitie But our sinnes are quite opposite to the holynesse of that thrice Holy To his Iustice But alas our iniquitie stopps our mouthes Shall we call vpon the mountaines and rockes to hide vs But his power is a hammer bruising the rockes in sunder his knowledge penetrates the mountaines and his zeale and furie spares none Such certainly my soule and infinitly more dreadfull then we can imagine it will that dismale day be found Howbeit we are yet in a tyme of mercye we can yet safely flye from Christ to Christ from his iustice to his mercye from his power to his impotencie in his cradle c. From the zeale and wroth of Maiestie to the sweetnesse and myldnesse of the Lambe who comes to take away the sinnes of the world Finally we haue yet the meanes to hide our selues in the holes of the the saueing rocke and to saue our selues THE II. MEDITATION FOR THE SAME DAY Of Hell THE FIRST POINTE. COnsider that as mercy iustice are equall in God or euen God himselfe soe by the law of contraryes they will be followed with equall effects If God out of his mercy then haue possessed the blessed of the collection of all good thinges vnder his heauenly raigne which is beatitude he will throw the accursed into the possession of a collection of all euill vnder the tyranie of the Diuell which is damnation Let vs therefore imagine all that we are able of horrour of hope turned vnto dispaire of the loue of God and all we euer had deare into hatred detestation let vs add wormes which neuer dye weepinge wailing gnashinge of teeth brimstone and flouds of fire yet we must conclude that it is not that which the damned suffer which will indeede bee that which neither eye hath seene nor eare hath heard nor hath entered into the hart of man AFFECTION RESOLVT Ayme my soule into what a vast sea of misery disaster dispaire doth sinne cast downe poore man we imagine all that euer we can of terrour of horrour torment of im̄ortall wormes fire brimstone yet we fall short We adde the collection of all euills yet we cannot reach to it What is it alas what is it that lulles vs asleepe makes vs senselesse of things soe sensible O that we could descend into Hell aliue consider who amongst vs were able to liue in the midest of deuouringe flames And yet into such is the sinner throwne by the doome of eternall Truth Goe you accursed into eternall fire THE II. POINTE. Consider yet more particularly that as the accursed had misused all that God had giuen them for his seruice to offend him as body soule senses soe shall they all meete with theire seuerall tortures The body soule become fewell for deuouringe flames All the senses are replenished with obiects of horrour the eys are full of dreedfull gastly Ghosts the ears of howlinges roareings execrable maledictions blasphemies the smell of the stinckinge odours issuinge from the bodyes of the damned the taste is glutted with what can be imagined most bitter abbominably loathsome Finaly the sense of touchinge meets with nothinge but flouds of tormentinge flames AFFECTION RESOLVT O horrour consternation despaire O lamentation of lamentations woe woe woe woe to the corruptible body which waighed downe the poore soule woe to the soule that quickened that fleshly lumpe gaue way to its badd inclinations Woe to the eys eares which lay open to vanities franticke madnesse conueyed poyson into the harte Woe to all the rest of the senses members which conspired to the seducinge of the soule to bringe it themselues to lye tormented in this flame THE II. POINT Consider that if the miserable state of the damned be most vnhappie by the continuall presence of the whole collection of all euill What an infinite addition is made to it by the priuation of all good and that for an eternitie To be for an Eternitie separated from all the blessed were they neuer soe deare vnto vs while they liued with vs for an eternitie to be depriued of the peerelesse beautie of the Queene of Heauen the societie of all the Quires of Angells For an eternitie to be exiled from the glorious face of God which is man Angells essential beatitude to detest curse blaspheame it for euer Neuor to haue one moment of ease consolation or rest or euen the least hope of any for all eternitie AFFECTION and RESOL. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 O God of mercy now turned the Lord of reuenge what hart hath assurance ennough not to endure but euen to beholde this calamitous condition of the damned ouerwhelmed with all sortes of torments remoued from all hopes or euen desires of comfort not for some millions of millions of yeares but for an eternitie O eternitie eternitie how longe thou art Noe number of yeares are able to expresse thee the sands of the sea cannot equalise thee after all thou still remainest what thou art Eternitie Ah my soule let vs vse a timely preuention not make our selues away to eternall ' torments for light short delightes such or such c. nor yet for the auoydinge of such or such smale crosses afflictions or temporall losses Let vs couragiously plucke out the Eye and cutt of the hand which scandalises hazards our eternall losse conclude with holy S. Augustine Let me here be burnt let me here be cutt in peeces soe that I may not perish eternally