haste brought me to the vnderstanding of truthe casting away the darknes of ignorance and whereby thou haste drawen me out of the foolish bitternes of this world and so accompanyinge it with the sweetnes of thy charity thou haste made it delightfull and deer to me I doe with a lowde voice inuoke thee O blessed Trinity with that sincere loue which groweth out of Faith which Faith thou haueing nourished euen from my cradle did'dst inspire by the illustration of thy grace and which thou hast encreased and confirmed in me by the documents of my Mother the Church I inuoke thee O holy and blessed and glorious Trinity in Vnity the Father the Sonne and the Holy Ghoste our God our Lord and our Paraclete Charity Grace and Communication the Father the Sonne and the Illuminator the Fountayne the Riuer and the Irrigation or wateringe All things by one and all things in one from whome by whome in whome all things The liuing life the life proceeding from the liuing life the life liuing One from himselfe One from one and One from two One being from himselfe One being from another and One being from two other The Father is true the Sonne is Truth and the Holy Ghoste is Truth Therfore the Father the Sonne and the Holy Ghoste are one essence one power one goodnes one beatitude from whome by whome and in whome all things are happie what things soeuer are happie CHAP. XXXII That God is the true and souuereigne life O God the true and Souuereigne life from whome by whome and in whome all things doe liue which haue any true and happy life O God who art that goodnesse and that beauty from whome by whome and in whome all things are faire and good which haue any beauty or goodnesse in them O God whose faith doth excite vs whose hope doth erect vs and whose charity doth vnite vs O God who requirest that we seeke thee and who makest vs finde thee and who openest to vs when we knocke O God from whome to be auerted is to faâ—l and to whom to be conuerted is to rise and in whom to remayne is to be immoueable O God whome noe man looseth but he who is deceaued no man seeketh but he who is admonished and noe man findeth but he who is purged O God whome to know is to liue whome to serue is to reigne whome to praise is the ioy and saluation of the soule I praise thee I blesse thee and I adore thee with my lipps with my hart and with all the whole power I haue And I present my humblest thanks to thy mercy and goodnes for all thy benefitts and I sing this Hymn of glory to thee Holy Holy Holy I inuoke thee O blessed Trinity beseechinge that thou wilt come into me and make me worthy to be the Temple of thy glory I begge of the Father by the Sonne I begge of the Sonne by the Father I begge of the Holy Ghoste by the Father and the Sonne that all vice may be farr remoued from me and that all holy vertue may be planted in me O Immense God from whome all things by whome all things in whome all things both visible and inuisible are made Thou who doste inuiron thy workes without and fillest them within who dost couer them from aboue and dost susteyne them from belowe keepe me who am the worke of thy hands and who hope in thee and who onely confide in thy mercy Keepe me I beseech thee here and euery where now and euer within and without before me behinde me aboue and belowe and round about that no place at all may be left for the treacherous attempts of my enemies against me Thou art the Omnipotent God the keeper and the Protector of all such as hope in thee without whome noe man is safe none freed from danger Thou art God and there is noe other God but thou neyther in heauen aboue nor on earth belowe Thou whoe performest workes of prowess and so many wonderfull and vnscrutable things which exceed all number Praise is due to thee honor is due to thee and to thee Hymns of glory are due To thee doe all the Angells the heaueÌ„s all the power therof sing Hymns and praises without ceaseing and all creatures and euery spiritt doth praise thee the holy and indiuiduall Trinity as it becomes the creatures there Creator the slaues their Lord and the souldiers their King CHAP. XXXIII The praises of men and Angells TO thee doe all the Saintes and they who are humble of hart to thee doe the spiritts and soules of iust persons to thee doe all the Cittizens of heauen and all those orders of blessed spiritts sing the hymn of honor and glory adoreinge thee humbly without end All the Cittizens of heauen doe praise thee O Lord after a most honorable and magnificent manner and man who is an eminent parte of thy Creatures doth also praise thee Yea and I wretched sinner and miserable Creature that I am doe yet labour with an extreame desire to praise thee and wish that I could loue thee with excessiue loue O my God my life my strength and my praise vouchsafe to lett me praise thee Grant me light in my hart putt thou the word into my mouth that my hart may thinke vpon thy glory and my toÌ„gue may singe thy praises all the day longe But because it is noe hansome praise which proceeds out of the mouth of a sinner And because I am a man of polluted lipps Clense thou my hart I beseeche thee from all spotts sanctify me O thou Omnipotent sanctifier both within and without and make me worthy to sett forth thy praise Receaue with benignity and acceptation from the hand of my hart which is the affection of my soule receiue I say the sacrifice of my lipps and make it acceptable in thy sight and make it ascend vp to thee in the odour of sweetnes Let thy holy memory and thy most diuine sweetnes possesse my whole soule and draw it vp at full speed to the loue of inuisible things Let it passe from the visible to the inuisible from the earthly to the heauenly from the temporall to the eternall and lett it passe on so farr as to see that admirable vision O eternall Verity O true Charity O deer Eternity thou art my God to thee doe I sigh day and night to thee doe I pant at thee doe I ayme to thee doe I desire to arriue He who knowes thee knowes Truth and he knowes Eternity Thou O Truth dost preside ouer all things We shall see thee as thou art when this blind and mortall life is spent wherein it is said to vs where is now thy God And I also said to thee Where art thou O my God In thee am I refreshed a little when I power out my soule towards thee by the voice of my exultation and confessioÌ„ which is as the sounde of a man who is bankquetting end celebratinge some great festiuity And
thou be my God or noe And it answered also thus with a loud voyce I am not thy God but I am by him He made mee whom thou seekest in mee Seeke him aboue mee for he gouerneth mee who made thee By the question which I aske of these inanimate creatures I meane nothing but a profound consideration of them and by my sayeing that they make such or such an answere I meane but the attestation which in in they re seuerall kindes they make of God For they all cry out in this manner it is God who made vs. For as the Apostle saith The inuisible things of God are discerned and vnderstood by considering the creatures of this world Then I returned to my selfe and I entered into my selfe and sayd who art thou And I answered my selfe thus A man rational and mortall And I begun to discusse what this might be and I sayd Whence cometh such a liueing creature O Lord my God VVhence but from thee who madest me not I my selfe VVho art thou then by whome I liue thou by whome all things liue VVho art thou Thou O Lord art my true God and onely Omnipotent and eternall and incomprehensible and immense who euer liuest and nothing dyeth in thee for thou art immortall and dost inhabite eternity Thou art admirable in the eyes of Angells vnspeakable inscrutable and vnnameable thou art the true and liueing God terrible and powerfull admittinge in thy selfe nether beginning nor end but being both the beginning and end of all things who art before the first ages and before the very first beginnings of them all Thou art my God and the Lord of all those good things which thou hast created and with thee doe stand the causes of all things which are stable yea and the beginning of all things which in themselues be mutable are yet and doe remayne immutable with thee And the reasons of all things not onely which are eternall and rationall but euen of such as are temporary and irrationall doe yet liue eternally with thee tell O my God this humble seruant of thyne tell ô mercifull God this miserable creature of thine whence groweth such a creature as man but from thee O God Is man perhaps of skill enough to make himself Is his beeing and liueing deriued from any roore but thee Art not thou the supreme beeing from whome all beeing doth proceede For whatsoeuer is is of thee and nothing is without thee Art not thou that fountayne of life from which all life doth flowe for whatsoeuer liueth liues by thee and without thee nothing liues Therefore thou ô Lord diddest make all things and now do I aske who made mee Thou ô Lord diddest make mee without whome nothing was made Thou art my maker and I am thy worke I giue thee thankes ô Lord my God by whome I liue and by whome all things liue for haueing made mee I giue thee thankes ô thou my framer because thy hands haue made and faschioned mee I giue thee thankes ô thou my light because thou hast illuminated mee and I haue found both thee and my selfe where I found my selfe there I knewe my selfe where I found thee there I knewe thee where I knewe thee there thou didest illuminate mee I giue thee thankes O thou my light because thou hast illuminated mee But what is that which I sayd when I affirmed I knewe thee Art not thou God incomprehensible and immense the King of Kings and Lord of Lords who onely possessest immortality and dost inhabite an inaccessible light whome noe man hath euer seene or can see Art not thou that hidden God of inscrutable Maiesty the onely perfect knower and admirable contemplator of thy selfe who did euer perfectly knowe that which he neuer sawe and thou hast sayd in thy truth Noe man shall see mee and liue Thy Apostle did also say in the Truth Noe man did euer see God VVho hath therefore knowen that which he neuer sawe Thy Truth also it selfe hath sayd Noe man knoweth the Sonne but the Father and noe man knoweth the Father but the Sonne The Holy Trinity is perfectly knowen to it selfe alone and that knowledge farre passeth the vnderstanding of man VVhat is therefore that which I sayd I who am a man made all of vanity in saying I knowe thee For who knoweth thee but thou thy selfe For thou alone art God Omnipotent superlaudable and superglorious and superexalted and supreme and thou art named superessentiall in these most holy and most diuine Scriptures Because thou dost exceede all essence which is intelligibile or intellectuall and sensible And thou art knowen to be aboue all the names which can be named and that not onely in this world but in the future superessentially and superintelligibly Because by this hidden and superessentiall diuinity thou doest dwell within thy selfe inaccessibly and inscrutably beyond all created reasō vnderstanding and essence VVhere there is an inaccessible brightnes an inscrutable vnspeakable and incomprehensible light to which noe other light arryues because it it beleeued to bee incontemplable and inuisible and superrationall and superintelligible and superinaccessible superunchaungeable and superincommunicable which noe Angell euer did see or euer shall be able to see perfectly This is that heauen of thine O Lord that heauen of the heauens that supersecret superintelligibile superrationall and superessentiall light whereof it is sayd the heauen of the heauens to our Lord. The heauen of the heauens in respect whereof these other materiall heauens are but a kinde of earth because that former heauen is superadmireably exalted aboue all materiall heauene and the Empireall heauen it self is but as earth in respect of it For this is that heauen of the heauens to our Lord because it is not knowen by any but by our Lord to which noe men ascendeth but he who descended from heauen because noe man knoweth the Father but the Sonne and the Holy Spirit of them both and noe man knoweth the Sonne but the Father and the Holy Spirit of them both Thou O Trinity art entirely knowen to thy self alone Holy Trinity truly superadmireable superinessable superinscrutable superinaccessible superincomprehensible superintelligible superessentiall and superessentially surpassing all sense and reason all vnderstanding all intelligence all essence euen of the most supercelestiall mindes which it is wholy impossible euen for the Spirit of Angells to speake of or to knowe it or to vnderstand it or euen to thinke perfectly thereof How therefore haue I knowen thee O Lord my God who art most high ouer all the earth and aboue all the heauens whome nether Cherubin nor Seraphin doe exactly knowe but they re faces are vayled with the wings of theyr contemplation before him who sitteth vpon that high Imperiall Throne cryeing out and sayeing Holy Holy Holy Lord God of hoasts The Earth is full of thy glory As for thy Prophet he was all in trembling and he sayd Woe be vnto mee for I haue held my peace because I am a man of polluted
in him might not perish but haue eternall life And this is eternall life that we may knowe thee our true God and whome thou hast sent Iesus-Christe by right faith and by works which are worthy and sutable to that faith CHAP. XV. Of the immense charity of the eternall Father towards mankinde O Immense Piety O inestimable Charity that thou might free thy slaue thou haste deliuered vpp thy Sonne God is made man to the end that wretchd man might be drawen out of the prower of the Diuell How inspeakably a benigne louer of man is thy Sonne our God to whose bowels of mercy it seemed not sufficient that he should diminish himselfe so much as to be made man of the true Virgin Mary vnlesse withall he had vndergone the torment of the Crosse shedding so his Blood for vs and for our saluation Our mercyfull God came downe he came through his owne pitty and goodnesse he came to seeke and saue that which was loste He sought his lost sheepe he sought and found it and he brought it home vpon his owne shoulders into his folde Being a mercifull Lord and extreamely deare Pastour O Charity O Piety who euer heard of such things as these who is he that vpon the disclosinge of these bowels of mercy will not be amazed who will not wonder who will not reioyce for that excessiue Charity of thyne wherewith thou louedst vs Thou didst send thy Sonne in the likenesse of the flesh of sinn that by sinn he might condemne sinn and that we might be made thy iustice in him For he is the true vnspotted lambe who hath takē away the sinns of the world who hath distroyed our death by dyinge and restored our life by his Resurrection But what can we returne to thee O our God for the benefitts of thy mercy which are so greate What praises and what thanks can we giue For althouge we did possesse that knoweledge and power which the Angells haue yet should we be vnable to make returne of any thing which might be worthy of thy mercy and goodnes If all the parts of our body were conuerted into tongues this meanesse of ours would neuer yet be able to answeare thee with due praise For that inestimable Charity which thou haste beene pleased to shew to vs vnworthy Creatures through thyne onely pitty and goodnes doth farr transcend all our knoweledge For thy Sōne our God did not assume the Angelicall nature but the seed of Abraham being made like to vs in all things except sinn And so our Lord takeinge the Nature not of Angells but of men vpon him and glorifying it with the Stole of holy Resurrection and immortality he exalted vs aboue all the Heauens aboue all the Quires of Angells and aboue Cherubine and Seraphine placeing it at thy right hand And this Nature doe the Angells praise and the Dominations adore and all the Vertues of Heauen tremble to behold aboue them all God-Man This is all my hope and all my confidence For there is in Iesus-Christe our Lord himselfe a portion of the flesh and blood of euery of vs. Where then any parte of me reignes there I am confident I also reigne Where my flesh is glorified there doe I conceiue my selfe to be glorious Where my blood doth beare Dominion there do I finde my selfe to rule Though I be a sinner yet I cannot diffide not to participate in this grace Though my sinns keepe me back yet my substāce calls me on Though my offences shutt me out yet my communion of nature with him reiects me not For God is not so cruell that he can forgett man and not remember the thinge which he bears about himselfe and which for my sake he tooke vpon him which for my sake he sought No our Lord God is full of meekenesse and benignity and he loues his flesh his body and his bowells in the same God and Lord Iesus-Christe who is most sweete most benigne and most clement in whose person we are already risen and are ascended into heauē and are already seated in those heauenly habitatiōs Our owne flesh loueth vs and we haue the prerogatiue of our blood in him We are his members and his flesh and he in fine is our head and of these parts the whole body is made as it is writen Bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh and they shal be two in one flesh And againe No man did euer hate his owne flesh but he cherisheth and loueth it This is a great mystery I say in Christ in his Church saith the Apostle CHAP. XVI Of the twofolde nature of Christe our Lord who pittieth and prayeth for vs. I Giue thee thankes O Lord our God with my lipps and with my hart and with the whole power I haue for thy infinite goodnesse and for all those mercyes by which thou didst vouchsafe to succour vs poore creatures after an admirable manner by thy Sonne our Sauiour and Redeemer who dyed for our sinns and rose for our iustification and now liueinge in eternity doth sitt at thy right hand and interceedeth for vs. And together with thee he taketh pitty of vs because he is God of thee his Father coeternall and consubstantiall with thee in all things wherby he may for euer saue vs. But for as much as he is man in those respects wherein he is lesse then thou all power is giuen him both in Heauen and in earth that at the name of Iesus euery knee may bowe celestial terrestrial and infernall and euery tongue my confesse that our Lord Iesus Christe is in thy glory Omnipotent God the Father He indeed is appointed by thee to be the Iudge of the quick and the dead but thou iudgest noe man but thou haste giuē all iudgement to thy Sonne in whose brest all the treasures of wisdome and knowledg are layd vp and hidd But he is both the witnes and the Iudge A Iudge and witnes he is from whome noe sinfull conscience can fly for all things lye open and naked to his eyes That very he who was iudged vniustly shall iudge the whole worlde in equity and the people in Iustice I doe therefore blesse thy holy name for all eternity and I glorify thee with my whole hart O mercifull and Omnipotent Lord for that admirable and vnspeakable coniunction of thy diuinity and humanity in the vnity of one person not that God might be one and Man another but that one and the same should be God and Man man and God But although The word was made flesh by a strange graciousnesse and mercy yet nether of those two Natures is changed into another substance There is no fourth person added to the mistery of the Trinity for the substance of the Worde of God and Man was vnited and not confounded that so that might be assumed to God which he had taken from vs and yet that which had beene before might still continue the same it was O wonderfull mistery O vnspeakable kinde of
vp enough Let my life runn on towards thyne imbracements and lett it neuer looke aside till it be all hidden vp in the hidden ioy of seeing thy face In the meane tyme this I know that it goes ill with me when I want thee O Lord. And not onely is it ill with me in respect of the things which are without me but in respect of them also which are within me For whatsoeuer plenty there may be in the world which is not my God is noe better to me then meere beggery For it is thou alone who canst not be changed either into better or worse thou who indeed and simply art alone thou to whom it is not one thing to liue and an other thing to liue happily beccause thou art thyne owne Beatitude But thy creature to nhom it is one thing to liue and another thinge to liue happily must not attribute eyther happy life yea or so much as life to any other thing then thy grace Therefore is it that we stand in need of thee and not thou of vs. For although we had noe beeing at all yet there would be nothing wanting to thee of that compleat good which thou art It is necessarie therfore that we adhear still to thee O Lord that by thy continuall assistance we may be able to liue holyly and vprightly For we are drawē downe fast enough by the waight of our frailty but by thy guifte we are kindled and carried vpward and we are inflamed and we fly on whither we are goeinge which is towards the peace of Ierusalem For I haue reioyced in those things which haue beene said to me let vs goe into the howse of our Lord. There hath a rectifyed and good will placed vs and so as that we can desire noe more but that we may remaine there for euer But because whilest we are in this body we wander as pilgrims from thee therefore we haue not here any permanent Citty but we expect another which is to come for our habitation is in Heauen And therefore by the conduct of thy grace doe I goe into the most retyred corner of my hart and I sing loue songs to thee O my Kinge and my God groaninge out certaine groanes which indeed cannot be described in this place of my pilgrimage where thy lawe is the song in which I delight my selfe And calling Ierusalem to minde I extend and stretch the whole power of my hart towards it Ierusalem which is my Country Ierusalem which is my Mother And towards thee also who art the ruler the illuminator the father the tutor the defendor the pastor the chaste and strong delight therof the solide ioy all wnspekable good things yea all of them together because thou art the onely supreame and true good Nor will I be drawen aside from this exercice till thou O my God and my mercy shalt draw together all that which I am from this despersion and deformity wherein I finde my self and till thou shalt conforme me to thy selfe and confirme me therein for all eternity in the communion of that most deere Mother of mine whither the flower and first fruites of my spiritt are already gone before CHAP. XIX He distinguisheth betweene that wisdome which is called the house of God and that other wisdome which is supremely diuine THis is that howse of thine O God noe earthly howse nor yet built of any corporeal thinge in heauen but I meane that spirituall howse which is partaker of thyne eternity because it is for euer to remaine without spott For thou hast appointed that it should remaine for euer and for euer thou haste imposed a precept and it shall not passe away Yet that creature O God is not eternall as thou art eternall because it was not without beginning for it was made Of all the Creatures this Wisdome is that which was created first I meane not that Wisdome which was absolutely coeternall and coequall with God the Father wherby all things were created and in which Beginninge heauen and earth was made but I meane the Wisdome which is created namely that spirituall nature which by the contemplation of thy light is light for euen this although it be created is called Wisdome But as much difference as there is betweene the light which doth illuminate and that which groweth to be light by being illuminated so much difference also there is betweane thee who art the supreame wisdome creatinge all things and this other which is created as also there is betweene that Iustice which iustifieth which is thy selfe O our God and that Iustice which is produced in vs by our beinge iustified For we also are called the Iustice of God the Father in thee who art his Sonne our Lord by the testimony of the Apostle Though therfore the first of all the creatures was a kinde of Wisdome Which was made to be a rationall intellectuall mind inhabiting thy holy Citty our mother which is aboue and which is free and eternall in the Heauens what Heauens but those Heauens of the Heauens which praise thee because this is that wherof it is said The Heauens of the Heauens to our Lord although we finde no Tyme before that Creature because it was before the creation of Tyme as being the first of all the creatures yet neuerthelesse thou art before it O Eternall God the Creator of all things from whome as soone as it was made it tooke a beginninge though not indeed of Tyme because Tyme was not then created but yet a beginninge of that nature which it was come to haue It came therfore so from thee O Lord our God as that it is cleerly another thing then thou art For although I finde noe Tyme neither before it nor in it it is yet neuertheles fitt to behold thy face neither is it euer diuerted from thence Hence it comes that it is not subiect to any change Yet a kinde of mutabillity is still in it wherby it would growe all darke and cold vnlesse by adhearing to thee with an excessiue loue it did like a sunn which were euer bright as noone day both shine and boile vp with heat towards thee In fine that creature doth so adhear to thee our true God who art truely eternall that although it be not coeternall to thee yet neuerthelesse it is not discharged nor distracted from thee into any variety or vicissitude of tyme. But it reposeth in the most true cōtemplation of thee alone For to such an one ô Lord as loues thee as much as thou commandest thou dost cleerly discouer thy selfe and it sufficeth him And from hence it growes that the Angells doe neuer decline either from thee or from themselues but perpetually they remaine in the same state incessantly beholding thee and incessantly loueinge thee who art the true light and the chaste loue O how blessed and sublyme is this Creature of Creatures most happy in eternally adhearing to thy beatitude happy and excessiuely happy in haueinge thee
to inhabite and to illuminate it and that for euer Nor can I finde what I may more fittly call this heauen of the heauens to our Lord then that howse of thine which is contemplateinge thy delighte without any defect at all and without the least inclination to departe from that to any other that pure minde most intirely one that establishemēt of those blessed spirits in the foundation of peace in those heauens aboue which are yet aboue these heauens which we see Hereby my soule whose pilgrimage is so far of from thee may vnderstande if now it thirst affer thee if now her teares are not made her bread if now she desire that one thinge and begg it agayne and agayne that she may inhabite thy howse all the days of her life And what is the life of that howse but thou thy selfe and what are the dayes therof but thy eternity as thy years are which neuer faile Let therfore the soule vnderstand here as well as it can how sublymely thou art Eternall before all tymes since that howse of thyne which neuer wandred from thee although it be not coeternall with thee yet by reason that it adheareth to thee without any failing or euer faintinge vndergoeth noe variety of tyme but sucking vp thee her immutability with a perpetuall perseuering purity of minde she doth at no tyme and in noe place depart from thee to whom she cleaues with vnseparable loue to whom thou art euer present And so haueing no future which it may expecte nor any transitory thing passing by which it may remember it is not varied to and fro by turnes nor extended into future tymes CHAP. XX. Here man prayeth that the said spirituall howse of God may pray for him O Thou bright and beautifull howse of God I haue loued thy comelynesse and the place of the habitation of the glory of my Lord God who did both build thee and doth possesse thee Lett this pilgrimage of myne send sighes to thee day and night lett my hart pant towards thee lett my minde thinke on thee and lett my soule desire to attayne to the Society of thy beatitude I say to him who made thee that he would possesse me in thee for it is he who made both thee me Or rather doe thou desire and beseeche of him that he will make me worthy of the participation of thy glory For I doe not challenge thy holy Society nor thy admirable beauty by any meritt of mine but I despaire not to obteine it by the Blood of him who redeemed me Onely let thy meritts help me let thy most holy and most pure Prayers which cannot but be effectuall with Almighty God succour my sinfulnesse I confesse that I haue wandred like a lost sheepe and my habitation here is prolonged and I am cast farr of from the face of my Lord God into this blindenesse of banishment where being driuen from the ioyes of Paradise I am dayly lamentinge with my selfe the miseryes of my captiuity and I singe a mornefull songe and I make huge lamentations when I remember thee O Ierusalem who art my mother whilest I finde my feete standinge in thy outward Courts O thou faire and holy Sion but am not able so much as to looke into those interior parts of that Temple But yet I hope that I shall once be brought into thee vpon his shoulders who is my Pastor and who was thy builder that I may triumphe with thee in that inspeakable ioy wherewith they reioyce who stand with thee before God our Sauiour himselfe who discharged our enmytyes in his flesh and who pacifyed all things which are both in Heauen and in earth by his blood For he is our peace who made both to become one and who ioyned in himselfe those two walls which went by contrary ways Ordeyninge thy permanent felicity and promissing that he would giue himselfe to vs accordinge to the same measure sayinge And they shal be equall to the Angells of God in Heauen O Ierusalem thou eternall house of God be thou after the charity of Christe our Lord my ioy and my comfort and let the sweet memory of thy blessed Name be a solace to my sorowes and heauinesse of hart CHAP. XXI How full of biternesse this life of ours is O Lord I am extreamely weary of this life and of this woefull pilgrimage This life this miserable life fraile life vncertaine life laborious life vncleane life Life which is the lady of wicked men the queene of proude men full of miseryes and errours which deserues not to be call'd a life but a death since we are dying in euery moment by diuers kinds of death through the seuerall miseryes and changes which we are subiect too Doth therfore this which we liue in this world deserue to be called life when humors make vs swell and greife extenuates and vnnaturall heat dryes vp and impressions of the ayre infect Meat maketh fatt fasting maketh leane mirth makes dissolute sorrowes consume care straitneth security makes dull Riches puffs vs vp pouerty casts vs downe youth extolls vs and old age makes vs stoope sicknes breakes sorrow oppresses vs. And to all these miseryes furious death succeeds and at a clapp doth so impose an end vpon this miserable life that as soone as it hath left to be it is scare beleeued that euer it was This vitall death and this mortall life although it be all sprinckled with these and many other bitter miseryes alas alas it doth yet take very many by the inticeinge pleasures therof and it deceiues them by the false promisses which it makes And although of it selfe it be so very biting so bitter as that it cannot be concealed from her blinde louers yet are there an infinite nomber of fooles in the world whome she intertaynes inebriates with the golden chalice which she hath in her hand Happy are they but they are to fewe who refuse her familiarity who dispise her sleight entertaniements and ioys who forsake all society with her lest they be forced to perish together with her who deceiued them CHAP. XXII Of the felicity of that life which our Lord hath prepared for them that loue him O Thou life which our Lord hath prepared for them who loue him O thou vitall life happy life quiett life secure life beautifull life pure life chaste life holie life life which knowes not what belongs to death which knowes not what belongs to sorrow life without spott without greife without anxiety without any perturbation without corruptiō without variety and mutation life toppfull of all excellency and dignity where there is noe aduersary to impugne vs noe inticeinge baite of sinn to allure vs where there is perfect loue noe feare an euerlastinge day and one spiritt of vs all where God is seene face to face where the soule is full fedd with this food of life without all defect I am resolued to looke earnesly towards thy light Thy felicity
blessings BEhold mee I beseeche thee let thy great mercy stand open to me Illustrate mee yet more with thy light that soe it may be discouered to me more and more For by these little workes of thyne wee growe to comprehend thy great ones and by thy visible workes we are enabled to take some ayme at thy inuisible workes O Lord our God the holy and good Creatour of vs all For if O my Lord whilest we are in this body which is soe corruptible and ignoble thou dost imparte to vs so great and euen innumerable benefits by meanes of the heauens and of the ayre of the earth and sea of light and darkenes of sunne and shade of dew and gentle rayne of wyndes and stiffe showers of birds and fishes of beasts and trees of the multiplicity of herbes and plants of the earth by meanes of the ministry of all thy creatures which doe successiuely serue vs at due and seuerall times to ease vs thereby of that trouble and fastidiousnes which otherwise wee might be subiect too what kinde of benefits I beseeche thee and how greate and euen innumerable will they be which thou hast prepared for such as loue thee in that celestiall country where we shall behould thee face to face If thou doe vs soe much honour in this prison what wilt thou doe in thy pallace Greate and innumerable are thy workes O Lord thou King of the heauens For since these of the lower rancke which thou hast deliuered ouer to be vsed promiscuously here both by good an badd be all of them very excellently good delightfull what kinde of things shall they proue to be which thou hast onely treasured vp for them alone who are good If thy guifts be soe diuers and euen innumerable which now thou bestowest both vpon thy freinds vpon thyne enemyes how greate how innumerable how dearly sweete and how delightfull are they to be which thou wilt onely bestow vpon thy freinds If the solace be so greate which thou giuest vs in this day of our tears what wilt thou giue in that day of our espousalls If this place of exile and restraint afford such pleasures what I beseeche thee will our Country doe The eye cannot see without thee what thou hast prepared for such as loue thee For according to the greate multitude of thy magnificence soe also the multitude of that sweetenes is great which thou hast hidden vp for them that feare thee For thou O Lord my God art great thou art immense there is noe end of thy greatenes there is noe number of thy Wisedome there is noe measure of thy benignity there is neither end number nor measure of the reward which thou bestowest But as thou art great so are thy rewards great for thou thy selfe art the reward and the guift which thou bestowest vpon all such as shall valiantly haue fought thy battayles CHAP. XXII That the diuine sweetenes taketh away all the present bitternes of the world THese are those great benefits wherewith thou O Lord God the sanctifyer of thy Saints wilt satisfy and remoue the want of thy hungry children For thou art the hope of the desperate the comforte of the desolate thou art that very crowne of hope which is adorned with the glory prepared for such as ouercome Thou art the eternall satiety of such as haue bene allmost starued and thou art to be bestowed vpon such as hunger after thee Thou art that euerlasting consolation who bestoweth thy selfe vpon them alone who despise the comforts of this world for that euerlasting consolation of thyne For they who looke for theyr comfort here are esteemed vnworthy of thy comforts but they who are afflicted here are comforted by thee and they who partake with thee in thy Passion shall partake with thee also in thy consolation Noe man must thinke to be comforted both in this and in the other world nor must he thinke to be in ioy both here and there but he must necessarily loose the one who will possesse the other When I consider these things O Lord my comforter my soule refuseth the comforts of this life that soe it may be held worthy of thy eternall consolations For it is high reason that any man should loose thee if he make choyse to be comforted more in any other then in thee And I beseech thee euen by thy selfe O thou supreme Truth that thou permitt me not to be comforted by any vayne consolation but that it may onely be in thee And I beg that all things may growe bitter to me that thou alone mayest appeare sweete to my soule thou who art that inestimable sweetnes whereby all bitter things are made sweete For thy sweetenes is the thing which made that torrent of stones sweete to Steuen Thy sweetenes made that burneing gridyron sweete to blessed Laurence Through thy sweetenes the Apostles went reioyceing from the Councell because they were held worthy to suffer reproach for thy Names sake Andrew went both with security and ioy to the Crosse because he hastened to taste of thy sweetenes And this sweetenes of thyne did soe fill the two Princes of the Apostles that for it the wood of the Crosse was chosen by one of them and the other was not affrayed to submitt his head to the murtheringe sword For the purchasse of this sweetenes Bartholomew sold away his very skinne And to haue a taste thereof the vndanted Iohn drunke off that poysened cupp And as soone as Peter had tasted of it he forgott all other things and cryed thus out like one who were inebriated saying O Lord it is good for vs to be here Let vs here make three Tabernacles Let vs dwell here let vs contemplate thee For we neede nothing else It is enough for vs O Lord to see thee It is enough saith he to be satiated with soe great delight And the reason was this Because he had tasted some one dropp of diuine sweetenes all other sweetenes was lothed by him What then shall wee thinke that he would haue sayd if he had once tasted of the great multitude of the sweetenes of thy diuinity which thou hast hidden vp for them that feare thee That Virgin had also tasted of this vnspeakeable sweetenes of thyne of whome wee read that she went topp full of ioy and glory to the prison as if she had bene inuited to some marriadge Feast And of this I suppose he also had tasted who sayd That the multitude of that sweetenes of thyne O Lord was great which thou haddest hidden vp for them that feare thee and who also aduised men thus Taste and see how sweete our Lord is For this is that beatitude O Lord our God which wee expect by the guift of thy hand for which wee fight as in a warfare vnder thee O Lord for which wee are mortifyed to thy honour all the day long that at last wee may liue to thee in that life of thine CHAP. XXIII That all our hope and
and where that fountayne of life is and that inaccessible light and that peace of God which passeth all vnderstanding There doe wee adore and belieue thee O Iesus Christ to be true God and man confessing that thou hast God for thy Father and that from heauen wee expect thee to come as Iudge in the end of the world to iudge the quicke and the dead that thou mayest render eyther reward or punishment to all men eyther good or badd according to those workes which they shall haue wrought in this life that soe they may be eyther in rest or eternall misery For all those creatures who haue receiued a humane soule into that flesh which here they haue carryed about them shall rise at that day in the voyce of thy strength to the end that the whole man may receyue eyther glory or torments according to his merits Thou art that life and resurrection it selfe whom wee expect to be our Sauiour Iesus Christ our Lord who will reforme this poore meane body of ours by conformeing it to the body of his clarity I haue knowen thee also to be true God O thou one holy Spirit of the Father and the Sonne proceding iointly from them both to be consubstantiall and eternall with the Father and the Sonne to be our Paraclete and Aduocate who diddest also descend in the shape of a doue vpon the same God Iesus Christ our Lord and diddest appeare vpon the Apostles in tongues of fyre who also from the beginning hast taught all the elect Saints of God by the gifte of thy grace and hast opened the mouth of the Prophets that they might relate wounderful things of the Kingdome of God who together with the Father the Sonne art adored and glorifyed by all the Saints of God Amongst whome I also who am the sonne of thy handmayd doe glorify thy name with my whole harte because thou hast illuminated mee For thou art that reall light that light which tells vs truth the fyre of God the Doctour of soules the very Spirit of Truth which teacheth vs all truth by thy vnction without which it is impossible for vs to please God For thou thy self art God of God and light of light proceeding from the Father of lights and from his Sonne our Lord Iesus Christ after an ineffable manner with whome thou being coequall and coeternall art glorifyed and dost raigne ioyntly with them superessentially in the essence of the same Trinity I haue knowen thee my one liueing and true God the Father the Sonne and the Holy Ghost three in persons but one in essence whome I confesse adore and glorify with my whole harte as my onely true Holy immortall inuisible vnchaungeable and vnscrutable God that one Light one Sunne one bread one Life one Good one Beginning one End one Creatour of heauen and earth by whome all things liue by whome all things subsist by whome all things are gouuerned ordered and quickened which are in heauē on the earth and vnder the earth and besides whome there is noe God either in heauen or in earth I haue knowen thee by thy faith wherewith thou hast inspired mee O thou my light and the sight of myne eyes O Lord my God the hope of all the ends of the earth the Ioy which doth recreat my youth and the good which strēgtheneth my age For in thee O Lord do all my bones excessiuely reioyce and say O Lord who is like to thee Who amongst the Gods is like thee O Lord. Not they who are made by the hands of men but thou by whome the hands of men are made The Idolls of the Gentiles are gold and siluer the worke of mens hands But soe is not the maker of men All the Gods of the nations are Deuills but our Lord made the heauens and this Lord is God As for those Gods who made not heauen and earth let them perish both from heauen and earth But let heauen and earth blesse that God who made heauen and earth CHAP. XXXIII Of the Confession of our owne basenes WHo O Lord is like thee among the Gods Who is like thee O thou who art magnificent in thy sanctity who art terrible laudable and doeing wonderfull things Too late I come to knowe thee O thou true light too late am I come to knowe thee But there was a greate and darke cloude before these vayne eyes of myne soe that I could not see the sunne of Iustice and the light of truth I was wrapped vp in darkenes my selfe being the childe of darkenes and this darkenes of myne I loued because I did not knowe the light I was blinde and I loued blindenes and by darkenes I walked on to further darkenes Who brought me out from thence where I blinde creature was sitting in darkenes and in the shadow of death who tooke mee by the hand and led me out VVho was he that did illuminate mee I sought not him but he sought me I called not vpon him and he cryed out vpon mee But who is he that did all this It is thou O Lord my God the Father of mercyes and the God of all consolations it is thou O holy Lord and my God whome I confesse with my whole harte giueinge thankes to thy Name I sought not thee but I was sought by thee I inuoked not thee and thou calledest mee Thou calledst mee by thine owne Name thou diddest thunder thus downe into the inward eare of my harte with this mighty voyce Let Light be made and light was made and that greate cloud flew away that darke thicke cloud was dissolued which had closed vp myne eyes And I sawe thy light and I knew thy voyce and I sayd O Lord that thou indeed art my God Who hast drawen mee out of darkenes and out of the shadow of death and thou hast called me into thy admireable light and behold I see Thankes be giuē to thee O thou who art the Illuminator of my soule And I looked backe and sawe the darkenes wherein I had bene and that profound blacke pitt wherein I had lyen and I did all quake and shiuer and I said Woe woe be to that darkenes wherein I lay Woe woe be to that blindenes wherin I was not able to see the light of heauen VVoe woe to that former ignorance of myne when I had noe knowldege of thee O Lord. But I giue thee thanks O thou my illuminator and deliuerer because thou hast illuminated mee and I haue knowen thee Yet still I am come too late to knowe thee O thou antient Truth too late I am come to knowe thee O thou eternall Truth Thou wert in the light and I in darkenes and I knew thee not because I could not be illuminated without thee nor indeede without thee is there any light at all CHAP. XXXIV A consideration of the diuine Maiestie O Thou holy of holyes thou God of inestimable Maiestie the God of God and the Lord of Lords who art admirable inexplicable
and vnconceiuable before whome the Angelicall power of heauen doe euen shiuer whome the Thrones and Dominations doe adore and in whose presence all the Vertues of Heauen doe euen quake of whose power and Wisedome there is noe number who hast layd the foundations of the whole world vpon nothing who hast tyed vp the Sea as if it were in some skinne who art most Omnipotent most Holy and the most powerfull God ouer all the spirits of all mankinde From whose sight the heauen and earth doe fly away to whose becke all the elements are subiect let all thy creatures adore and glorify thy Name And I the Sonne of thy handmayd doe by faith bowe downe the necke of my harte vnder the feete of thy Maiestie presenting thee with thankes for that thou hast voutchsafed to illuminate mee by thy mercy True Light holy Light delightfull Light admirable Light superlaudable Light which illuminateth euery man comeing into this world and the eyes also of the Angels Behold now I see and I thanke thee for it Behold I see the light of heauen there is a beame which striketh brightly downe from the face of thy light vpon the eyes of my mynde and it filleth all the powers of my soule with ioy But O that once it might be perfected in mee Encrease I beseech thee O thou author of light encrease I beseech thee that which soe brightly striketh through vpon mee Let this light be dilated I beseech thee let it be dilated by thee What is this which I feele what fyre is this which heates any harte what fyre is this whereby my harte is stroken through with beames O fyre which euer burnest and art neuer quenched doe thou kindle mee O light which doest euer shine and art neuer darkened doe thou enlighten mee O how very fayne would I been flamed by thee O Holy fyre how sweetely doest thou heate how secretly doest thou shine and how delightfully dost thou burne Woe be to them who doe not burne by thee VVoe be to them which are not illuminated by thee O thou light which teachest truth to men illuminating all the world which is filled by the beames thereof VVoe be to those blinde eyes which see not thee thou being the sunne illuminating both heauen and earth VVoe be to those weake and daseling eyes which cannot looke on thee VVoe be to those eyes which turne themselues away from seeing truth and woe be to those eyes which doe not turne them selues away for feare least they behold vanity For eyes which are acustomed to darkenes haue not strength wherewith to behold the beames of soueraigne truth nor can they make any true iudgment of light whose habitation is wont to be in darkenes They see darkenes they allow of darkenes they loue darkenes and soe goeing from darkenes to darkenes they fall headlong and they knowe not where Miserable creatures they are who knowe not what they loose though yet more miserable are they who knowe what they loose and who yet fall with open eyes and dropp downe quicke into Hell O most blessed light which canst not be beheld but by eyes which are pure and wholly purged Blessed are the pure of harte for they shall see God Doe thou clense mee O thou clensing power cure my sight that I may contemplate thee with strong eyes For they are none but strong eyes which can looke on thee Putt away I beseech thee O thou inaccessible splendour the skales of that auntient mistynes by the beame of thy illumination that soe I may be able to looke on thee with certayne casts of my eye which may not be checked and beaten back and that I may see light in thy light I giue thee thankes O my light for behold now I see I beseech thee O Lord that it may be spred abroade by thee Vnuayle myne eyes that I may consider the wonderfull things of thy lawe thou who art wonderfull in thy Saints I giue thee thankes O my light for behold I see though as yet it be but by a representation as in a glasse But when will it be face to face when will that day of ioy and exultation arryue when I may enter into the place of that admireable Tabernacle the very house of God that so face to face I may see him who seeth mee and so my desire may be fullfilled CHAP. XXXV Of the desire and thirst of a soule towards God AS the harte desireth the fountaynes of water soe doth my soule thirst after thee O God My soule hath thirsted after thee O God who art the liueing fountayne when shall I come and appeare before thy face O thou fountayne of life thou vayne of liueing waters when shall I arriue to those waters of thy sweetnes from this barren vnhaunted and dry earth that I may see thy power and thy glory and that I may appease my thirst by the waters of thy mercy I thirst O Lord O thou fountayne of life satisfy mee for I thirst O Lord I thirst towards thee who art the liueing God When O Lord shall I approache and appeare before that face of thyne doest thou thinke that at length I shall see that day that day I say of delight and ioy that day which our Lord hath made to the end that wee may reioyce and exult therein O sweete and beautifull day which hath noe euening and whose Sunne hath nothing to doe with setting wherein I shall heare the voyce of prayse the voyce of exultation and confession wherein I shall heare this word Enter into the ioy of thy Lord enter into eternall ioy into the house of thy Lord and thy God where there are greate and vnsearcheable and wounderfull things whereof there is noe number Enter into ioy without sorrow which containeth eternall ioy where all good shall be without any kind of euill Where whatsoeuer thou wilt haue shall be and where nothing shall be which thou wilt not haue Where there will be a life which is vitall sweete amiable and eternall Where there will be noe enemy assaulting nor noe false delight allureing but a supreame and certayn security secure tranquillity a quiet ioy a ioyfull felicity a happy eternity and eternall beatitude a blessed Trinity a Trine Vnity a sole Deity a happy vision of that Deity which is the ioy of thy Lord and thy God O ioy vpon ioy ioy which excelleth all ioy without which there is noe ioy when shall I enter into thee that I may see my God who dwelleth in thee that soe I may there partake of this greate vision What is it which deteyneth mee VVoe be vnto mee because my habitation here is perlonged VVoe be vnto mee and how long shall it be sayd to mee where is thy God How long shall it be sayd to me Expect and reexpect But now what shall I expect Is it not thee O Lord my God VVee expect a Sauiour our Lord Iesus Christ who will reforme this poore meane body of ours and conforme it to
the one and indiuiduall essence of the supreme Trinity For to see the face of the liueing God is to possesse the soueraigne good It is the ioy of the Angells and of all the Saints the reward of eternall life the glory of spirites the eternall Ioy the crowne of beauty the prize of felicity the rich repose the beauty of peace the internall and externall Ioy the celestiall Ierusalem the Paradise of God the happy life the fullnes of felicity the delight of eternity the peace of God which passeth all vnderstanding This is that full beatitude and that totall glorification of man to see the face of his God to see him who made heauen and earth to see God who made him who saued him and who glorifyed him He shall see him by knoweing him he shall apply himselfe to him by loueing hym and he shall praise him by possessing him For he is the inheritance of his people of the people of Saints of the people which he redeemed He is the possession of they re felicity he is the reward recompence of they re expectation I will sayth he be a great and excessiue reward to thee For great things become great persons Indeed O Lord my God thou art excessiuely great beyond all Gods and thy reward is excessiuely greate For it cannot be true that thy self should be great and thy reward litle but as thou art great so thy reward is great for thy reward and thy self are not two seuerall things But thou thy self artexcessiuely great and thou thy self art that reward which is soe excessiuely great Thou thy self art he who crowneth vs who art the crowne thou thy self art he who maketh the promise and who art that very promise it selfe Thou art he who bestowest the guift and who art the guift it self Thou thy self art the rewarder and thou art the reward of eternall felicity Thou art therefore he who crowneth and thou O my God art the crowne and diademe of my hope which is ad orned with glory Thou art that recreatiue brightnes that reuiuing light that gracefull beauty thou art my great hope the desire of the harte of thy Saints and desired by them Thy vision therefore is the totall pay the totall reward the totall Ioy which wee expect For this is eternall life this I say is thy wisedome This is eternall life that wee may knowe thee onely true God and Iesus Christ whome thou hast sent VVhen therefore wee shall see thee the only God the true God the God liuing Omnipotent simple inuisible incomprehensible not to be circumcribed and thy onely begotten Sonne Iesus Christ our Lord who is consubstantiall and coeternall with thee whome thou hast sent into the world for our saluation in the vertue and power of the Holy Ghost they being Trine in persons and one in essence one onely Holy God besides whome there is noe God Then wee shall enioy what now wee seeke which is eternall life and euerlasting glory which thou preparest for them who loue thee and hidest vp for them who feare thee and wilt impart to them who seeke thee them who seeke thy face for euer And thou O Lord my God who framedst mee in the wombe of my mother who recommended mee ouer to thy hand do not permit mee any longer to be distracted into many thinges from thee who art one But gather mee vp from exteriour obiects into my self and then take mee from my self into thee that my hart may be euer saying to thee my face hath sougt thee O Lord I will seeke thy face The face of our Lord power wherein alone of the totall eternall glory of blessed soules doth consist the vision whereof is the eternall life euerlasting glory of the SS t s Let therefore my hart reioyce that it may feare thy name let the hart of such as doe but euen seeke our Lord reioyce but much more let them reioyce who finde him For if Ioy be taken in the search of him what ioy will that be which is felt in findeing him Therfore I will be euer seeking thy face ardently and without giueing ouer to see if once at length that doore and gate of Iustice may perhaps bee opened vnto mee that I may enter into the Ioy of my Lord. This is the gate of our Lord and the Iust shall enter into it CHAP. XXXVII A prayer to the blessed Trinity O You three coequall and coeternall persons who are one true God the Father the Sonne and the Holy Ghost thou who alone dwellest in eternity and inaccessible light Who hast layd the foundations of the earth with thy power and who gouernest the world with thy wisedome Holy Holy Holy Lord God of Sabaoth terrible and powerfull Iust and mercifull admireable laudable and amiable One God three persons one essence power wisedome one onely vndeuided Trinity Open thou the gates of Iustice to mee who am crying out after them and being once entered by them I will confesse to thee O Lord. Behold I who am a poore begger doe knocke at thy doore O thou who art the soueraigne Master of the house command that it may be opened to me thou who say dest knocke and it shall be opened to you For the desires of my bowells which do euen roare againe and the cryes of the teares of myne eyes are they who knocke at thy gate O most mercifull Father Before thee is my whole desire and my groanes are not hidden from thee And thou O Lord turne thy face noe longer away from mee and decline not in thy wrath from thy seruaunt O thou Father of mercyes hearken to the loud crye of thy poore childe and reach forth thy best helping hand that it may drawe me out of the profound pitts of water and out of the lake of misery and out of the durt and dregs that I may not perish whilest the mercy of thyne eyes is beholding mee and the charity of thy bowells is lookeing on But enable mee to escape to thee who art my Lord and my God that I may see the riches of thy kingdome and may behold thy face for euer and may sing prayse to thy holy name O Lord thou who workest wonderfull things thou who makest my hart ioyfull by the memory of thee and who illuminatest my youth doe not despise my old age but fill my bones full of ioy and renew my grey heires as that of an eagle is renued All glory all prayse all strength all power all magnificence all beatitude all mercy be ascribed to God the Father and the Sonne and the Holy Ghost Amen The end of the Soliloquia Deo gratias THE MANVALL OF S. AVGVSTINE THE FIRST CHAPTER Of the wonderfull essence of God THov O Lord dost fill heauen earth carrying all things and yet they are no burthen to thee Thou fillest all thinges without being shut vp by them Thou art euer working yet euer quiet gathering togeather yet thou needest nothing seeking yet wanting nothing louing yet
and delightes drawe me to thee with a greedy hart The more I consider thee the more doe I languish with thy loue and with a vehement desire of thee and I am extreamely delighted with the sweete remembrance of thee I am therfore resolued I am resolued to cast vp myne eyes to thee to erect the state of my minde and to conforme the affections of my will to thee I am resolued to talke of thee to heare speake of thee to write of thee to conferr with others of thee daily to read somewhat of thy felicity glory when I shall haue redd it to reuolue it very often in my hart that at least by this meanes I may passe on from the burninge heats and dangers toyling labours of this mortall dying life to the sweete refreshing of that vitall aire of thyne and that I may proceede at last when I shall lay my selfe downe to sleepe to repose my head a little in that bosome of thyne To this end I enter now and then into those sweete feilds of thy holy Scriptures and whilest I am turninge ouer those leaues I gather the fresh flowers of sentences from thence By reading them I eate by frequenting them I ruminate and by gathering them vp at last I lodge them in the deepe receptacle of my memory that by this meanes haueing taken a taste of thy sweetnes I may feele the biteernes of this most miserable life so much the lesse O thou most happy life O Kingdome which art truely blessed free from death and farr from haueing an end to which noe tymes shall euer succeede where that day which is still continued without night admitts of noe Tyme where the conquering souldiers being associated to those chantinge quires of Angells sing that Canticle of the Canticles of Syon to Almighty God without ceasinge the garland of triumph imbraceinge their glorious heads that for euer I would to Christe that my sinns beinge once forgiuen me and then this burden beinge layd downe I might be assigned to eternall rest might enter into thy ioyes within those excellent and beautifull walls of thy Citty receiuinge the crowne of glory from the hand of my Lord. That I might be present with those most holy Quires of Angells That together with those blessed Spiritts I might concurre to glorify our Creator that I might veiwe the present face of Christe our Lord that I might for euer behold that supreame vnspeakable vncircumscribed light and that so not being subiect to any feare of death I might for euer reioyce in the euerlastinge endowment of incorruption CHAP. XXIII Of the felicity of that holy soule which departeth hence HAppy is that soule which beinge discharged from this body of earth goes freely vp to heauen and is in peace safetie not fearing either any enemy or death it selfe For it will then haue present and shall for euer behold that most beautifull Lord whom it hath serued and whom it hath loued and to whom at length it arriueth all full of glory and ioy This glory of so great beatitude noe tyme shall diminish nor wicked enemy be able to bereeue vs of The Daughter of Syon saw this soule and did publish it to be most happy The queenes and the concubines sawe it sayinge Who is this which goeth forward like a riseinge morninge faire like the Moone bright like the Sunn and terrible like a pitched feild of armed men How ioyfully doth she goe forth make haste and runn when with astonished eares she hears her spouse say thus Rise vp and make haste O thou my freind and my beautifull creature and come with me for now the Winter is ouer-past the Storme is gone and hath hidd it selfe the flowers haue appeared in our Land the tyme of pruninge is now come the voice of the turtle hath beene heard in our land The figg tree hath brought forth her younge fruite the vines are in flower and send forth theire odour Rise vp maKe haste O thou my freind my faire Creature my doue in the holes of the RocKe in the lowes places of the wall Shew me that face of thyne let thy voice sound forth in my ears for thy uoice is sweete and thy face is full of comlinesse and grace Come my elected and my beautifull Creature my doue my immaculate my Spouse Come and I will place my throne in thee because I haue had a greedy desire of thy beauty Come that thou maist reioyce in my presence with my Angells whose society I haue promissed thee Come after many dangers and labours and enter into the ioy of thy Lord which none shal be able to take from thee CHAP. XXIV A prayer to the sanites to secure vs in our dangers HAppy are all you O Saynts of God who now haue passed through the sea of this mortality and haue obteyned to arriue at the gate of eternall quietnesse security peace your selues beinge peacefull and secure and perpetually full of triumph and ioy I beseeche you by your owne Charity you who are secure concerninge your selues be yet solicitous concerning vs. You are secure concerninge your owne incorruptible glory be you solicitous of our manifold misery By him I beseech you who chused you who made you what you are in the fruition of whose beauty you are satiated by whose immortality you are now immortalized by whose most blessed vision yow are continually in ioy be you also continually mindfull of vs. Helpe vs miserable creatures who in the salt waters of this life are tossed with stormes rounde about vs. You are those most beautifull gates who haue beene erected to a huge altitude O giue some helpe to vs who are noe better then a base pauement lying so farr vnderneath you Stretch forth your hand raise vs vp vpon our feete that we recouering out of our infirmity may become strong and fitt for warr Interceede pray with constancy and perseuerance for vs miserable and most negligent sinners that by your Prayers we maybe ioyned to your holy society for otherwise we shall not be saued For we are extreamely frayle and of no strength or vertue miserable base wretches beasts who care but for the belly the slaues of flesh blood in whome the very shadow of goodnes doth scarce appeare And yet not withstandinge beinge placed vnder the confession of Christe our Lord we are borne vp by the wood of his Crosse whilest we saile through this great and spatious sea where there are creepinge creatures without number where there are wilde beasts great and small where there is á most cruell dragon euer ready to deuour vs where there are places full of dangers as Scylla and Charybdis and innumerable others where carelesse persons and they who are of a waueringe faith suffer shipwracke Pray you to our Lord pray O you who are full of pitty pray all you troopes of Saintes and all you compagnies of blessed Spiritts that beinge assisted by your Prayers and meritts we may with our shipp
hatest in me and ingrafte in me the spiritt of chastity continency that whatsoeuer I may chance to aske of thee yet in the very askeing of it I may not offend thee Take from me that which hurts and giue me that which helpes Giue me O Lord some Phisicke whereby my woundes may be cured O Lord giue me thy feare compunction of hart humility of minde and a pure conscience Grant O Lord that I may euer maintayne fraternal charity and that I may not forget mine owne sinne nor busy my selfe with those of other men Pardon my soule my sinns my crymes visite me who am weake cure me who am sicke strengthen me who am languishing and reuiue me who am dead Giue me a hart O Lord which may feare thee a will which may loue thee a minde which may vnderstand thee eares which may heare thee and eyes which may see thee Haue mercy on me O God haue mercy on me and looke downe on me from that holy seat of thy Maiesty and illuminate the darknes of my hart with the beame of thy splendor Giue me O Lord discretion that I may discerne betweene good and bade and grant that I may haue a vigilant minde O Lord I begg of thee the remission of all my sinns from whome and by whome propitiation may be granted me in the tyme of my necessity and of my greatest streights O holy and immacutate Virgin Mary the Mother of God the Mother of our Lord Iesus Chirste vouchsafe to interceede of me with him whose Temple thou deseruedst to be made Holy Michaell holy Gabriel holy Raphael O you holy Quires of Angells and Archangells of Patriarches and Prophetts of Apostles and Euangelists Martys and Confessors Preists and Leuitts Monckes and Virgins and of all the Saints I presume to begg of you hy him who chose you and by the contemplation of whome you are in such ioy that you will vouchsafe to make supplication to God himselfe for me that I may obteyne to be deliuered from the iawes of the Deuill and from eternall death Vouchsafe O Lord to grant me eternall life according to thy Clemency and most benigne mercy O Lord Iesus Christe grant concord to Preists and to Kings Bishopps and Princes who iudge iustly giue tranquillity and peace O Lord I beseech thee for the whole holy Catholike Church for men and woemen for Religious and secular people for all the gouernors of Christians and all such as beleeuing in thee doe labour for the holy loue of thee that they may obteyne perseuerance in theyr good workes Grant O Lord O Eternall Kinge chastity to Virgins continency to such as are dedicated to thee O Almighty God sanctimony to maried follâ—es pardon to sinners releife to orphans and widowes protection to the poore safe arriual to such as are in iourney comfort to such as mourne euerlasting rest to the faithfull soules departed a safe hauen to such as are at Sea to thy best seruants that they may continue in their vertue to them who are but indifferently good that they may growe better to them who are wicked and sinfull as to me poore wertch that they may quickly reforme themselues O most sweete and most mercyfull Lord Iesus Christe the Sonne of the liueinge God the Redeemer of the world I confesse my selfe to be a miserable sinner in all things and aboue all men but thou also O most mercifull and supreame Father who takest pitty vpon all doe not suffer me to become an alien from thy mercy O God thou King of Kinges who haste giuen me this truce of liueing till now grant me deuotion to reforme my selfe stirr vp in me a minde which may earnestly desire and seeke thee and loue thee aboue all things feare thee and doe thy will thou who art all euery where in Trinity and Vnity and that for euer Especially therefore I beseech thee O Lord O Holy Father who art glorious and blessed for euer that all they who remember me in their Prayers and who haue commended themselues to my vnworthy ones and who haue performed any office of charity or worke of mercy towards me and they also who are ioyned to me by kindred and by the naturall affection of flesh and blood and as well all they who are now aliue as those others who are departed may be mercifully and graciously gouerned by thee that they perish not Vouchsafe to giue succour to all the Christians who liue grant absolution with eternall rest to the faithfull who are dead And moreouer I doe in most particuler manner begg of thee O Lord thou who art Alpha and omega that when the last day and pointe of my life shall arriue thy selfe will vouchsafe to be my mercifull Iudge against that maligne accuser the Deuill and be thou my continuall defend or against the sleights of that ancient enemy of mine and make me continue in that holy heauen of thyne in the society of al the Angells and Saints thou who art blessed for euer and euer Amen CHAP. XLI A Prayer in memorie of the Passion of Christe our Lord. O Lord Iesus Christe my Redemption my mercy and my saluation I praise thee I giue thee thanks though they carry noe proportion to thy benefits Though they be very voide of deuotion though they be leane in respect of the fatnes of that most sweete loue of thee which I desire yet such as they are not such I confesse as I owe but such as I am able to conceaue my soule is now paying to thee O thou hope of my hart and thou vertue of my soule and the life and end of all my intentions lett thy most powerfull dignity supply that which my most fainte weaknes doth endeauour And if I haue not yet deserued so much of thee as to loue thee so much as I ought yet at least I haue an earnest desire to performe the same O thou my light thou seest my conscience because O Lord all my desires are before thee And if I endeauour to doe any thing which is good it is thou who bestowest it vpon me If that be good O Lord which thou inspirest or rather because the inclination which I haue to loue thee is good grant me that which it is thy will that I should desire and grant that I may obteyne to loue thee as much as thou requirest I giue thee praise and thankes for what I haue lest otherwise thy gnift might proue vnfruitfull to me which thou hast bestowed of thyne owne free will Perfect that which to hast begunn and giue me that through thy mercy which thou madest me desire without any merit of mine Conuert O most benigne Lord my dull heauinesse into a most feruent loue of thee To this O my most mercifull Lord my prayer my memory my meditation of thy benefitts doe all tend that thou maiste kindle thy loue in me Thy goodes O Lord created me thy mercy when I was created did cleanse me from original sinn thy patience after that