fountaine of Eternall light the torrent of true pleasure That it may alwayes desire thee seek thee and may find thee and sweetly rest in thee But what madnesse what infernall furies so long time hath hindred such things and such comforts of my mind such joyes and mellifluous banquets from me Tell me J pray thee O man what is the cause of so great evill what is the reason of so much danger what is the occasion of so great losse MAN I Perceive O my soule that now thou art wearied with labours now vexed with sorrow that thou art not further able to find to whom thou mayst ascribe the great evill brought upon thee J desire therefore that thou wilt heare me with patience if J shall demonstrate to thee the cause of so great a losse if J show thee the Enemy of so great an evill Now somewhat in part thou hast discovered the enemy yet perhaps for greif of mind thou hast not considered that thou hast O my soule a domestick enemy an Enemy that is thy friend an adversary thy Neighbour which hath rendred thee evill for good and under pretence of friendship being thy crueller foe hath deprived thee of all these and many more infinite good things This enemy under favour is thy unhappy and miserable flesh yet very much beloved and pleasant unto thee This when thou hast pampered thou hast raised against thee thy worst enemy This when thou hast honoured thou hast armed against thy self the cruellest adversary This when thou hast adorned with various and pretious Garments thou hast robbed thy self of all internall ornaments knowing not what blessed Saint Gregorie saith in his Homilies From whence saith he the flesh for a time lives sweetly from thence the spirit for ever shal be tormented lament and bewaile And contrarily by how much the more the flesh is oppressed by so much the more the spirit rejoyceth in Heavenly hope Wherefore for so great an injurie offered to us by thee I am not able to containe my self any longer but will reprove so great an evill hitherto in silence dangerously passed over J know saith Saint Bernard a certaine one who for many years hath lived with thee hath sate with thee at Table hath received meat from thy hand and hath slept in thy bosome when she pleased hath had discourse with thee this one by Hereditary right is thy own servant but because thou hast too delicately fed her and hast spared the Rod she hath lifted up her heel against thee and despised thee brought thee into servitude And he further addeth O miserable soule and to be pittied who shall deliver thee from the bond of this disgrace Let God arise and let the armed fall and let the enemy be bruised This enemy J say is the contemner of God the friend of the World the worshipper of Satan What thinkest thou of her if rightly thou conjecturest J beleive thou wilt say with me Shee iâ— guilty of death let her be crucified Do not therefore dissemble do not defer doe not spare crucifie her crucifie her But on what Cross on the Crosse of our Lord Jesus Christ in which there is our health life and resurrection Call to mind therefore O my soule thy first beginnings consider that thou art marked with the Jmage of God adorned with his similitude espoused by faith endowed with hope pre-elected by Charity redeemed with his blood partaker of grace cepable of Beatitude what hast thou to do with flesh that thou sufferest these things if thou diligently weigh its Condition thou hast never seen a viler dunghill If thou wouldest number its miseries how it is laden with sinnes itching with Concupiscences busied with passions polluted with illusions full of confusion and replete with ignominie what other thing hast thou of it but obscene and uncleane thoughts These Saint Bern. O divine soule which art from Heaven blush to be transformed into the similitude of a Swine blush to wallow in the Mire The same Author on the Canticles O my soule so long as thou art in the flesh thou art conversant among thornes and it is necessary that thou greivously suffer the troubles of temptations and the stings of resistance Wherefore it is said to thee in the Canticles As the Lillie amongst Thornes so is my beloved among the Daughters O faire Lillie O tender and delicate flower unbeleiven and subverters are with thee and thou hast thy habitation with Scorpions See therefore how warily it behoveth thee to walk among thorns The flesh and the World are full of thornes to walk among these and not to be hurt is of divine grace and not of humane power These Saint Bernard And there is another strong and cruell enemy which by his wonderfull craft dissolveth the Customes of all breatheth cares searcheth the affections and there alwayes seeketh cause to hurt where he shall observe any one more studiously to be busied For this old Serpent being an enemy of mankind hath known from the begining to whom he may insinuare the inticements of gluttony to whom he may poure in the poison of Envy to whom he may lay the baits of faire perswasions unto luxurie to whom he may promise the vaine allurements of Pride he knoweth whom he may oppresse with feare whom he may deceive with joy whom he may seduce with admiration He hath also some obliged unto him whole Wit and Language he maketh use of to the deceiving of others O Soule fraile to resist easie to fall difficult to rise how shalt thou be able to escape the snares of this cruell adversary whom thou knowest to be endowed with so many subtilties SOVLE NOw I see now I first perceive that as Saint Anselme saith it is the Custome of sinne which is not easily known of him who is pressed therewith but presently when any one shall begin to alienate himselfe from it then at last he knoweth in how great obscenity and pollution he hath continued Therefore because I now somewhat begin to alienate my selfe from sinne and thereby I come to acknowledge my selfe and my sinne I am not further able to containe my selfe from lamentation O Lord my God thou hast impressed in me thy most lovely image and J have deformed it with a most hatefull Diabolicall similitude Alas alas miserable man that J have imprinted the Image of the Devill on the Jmage of God why have J not hated the imitation of him whose name J do abhorre He hath fallen of his own accord J willingly have gone astray He with the bare punishment preceding proudly hath sinned J having seen his punishment contemning it have sinned He was once created in Jnnocency J often times have been restored He hath raised himselfe against him that made him J have raised my self against him that hath made me a new He hath forsaken God that permitted him to fall but I have fled from that God that sought after me He remaineth in malice being reprobated of God I runne from God that
contemplation the comfort of the Celestiall Kingdome forget by contempt and detestation thy People and thy Fathers house that is to say the World the Devill thy selfe and vain Ambition See therefore and devoutly consider how those divine and Heavenly Spirits which have escaped the danger of this present life and misery although they can never convert themselves from that splendour of that eternall Sonne sometimes notwithstanding they convert the light of their contemplation to things below them sometimes to things above themsometimes to things interiour somtimes to things exteriour They convert themselves I say to things below them and rejoyce for three reasons First That they have overcome by the divine power such impious horrible and cruell enemies Secondly that they have avoided all their defects and sins either by the divine wisdome or long ago have amended their faults transgressions Thirdly That they have escaped such lamentabe and eternally interminable torments by the divine mercy and clemency O my Soul With how great Joy thinkest thou do they daily rejoice when they perceiue so many to be overcome of the flesh the world and the devill so many to be defiled with such diversity of sins of which they shall never obtain pardon so many without end eternally to be damned Truly then I beleive to have passed from death to life redoubleth the joy of life O Lord God if the danger in war be now so greivous how great shall the joy be in Triumph when after the world is overcome and utterly vanquished wicked Pharoah and his Army being drowned in the Red Sea all the Elect shall hold their Timbrels playing singing praising and blessing our Lord saying with one voice Let us sing unto our Lord for glorious c. Then two Cherubims shall be framed that is to say two quiers of the elect to wit the Innocenes and Penitents the one answering the other Holy Holy Holy Lord God of the Sabboth Holy God the Father that hast powerfully delivered us from the world the flesh and the devill Holy God the Son which hast so wisely justified us both from the sinne and punishment Holy God the Holy Ghost which hast so mercifully preserved us from the Eternall Torments All the Earth is full of his Glory who hath called us from the misery of the world to the joyes of the celestiall Kingdome O my Soule what a one shall that day be unto thee when thou shalt be assumed into this quier when all thy torments if thou shalt live well if thou wilt patiently suffer shal be converted into Eternall Jubisee Then thou shalt praise with exultation the Lord thy God for all these things saying I will sing the mercies of our Lord for ever Then which Song according to Saint Aug. that is fung to the praise of the glory of Christ by whose precious blood wee are delivered nothing shall be more pleasant to that City nothing more sweet Thou therefore when thou art tryed with Temptations when thou art overcom with Persecutions and when thou art molested in this World with divers Tribulations then mentally fly into Heaven and consider that this is no other thing but the Subject of eternall joy and then the consideration of the Reward lesseneth the violence of the punishment If we would consider what and how great the Rewards are which are promised us in Heaven all things on Earth would seem vile in our mind and truly not only the goods which delightfully we possesse but also the evills which lamentably wee sustain The troubles of this world are not equivalent to the fault past which is forgiven to the present Grace which is bestowed and for the future glory which is promised which thou then O my Soul with joy shalt possess when thou perfectly understandest that thou hast lived in the world with so great danger wherewith the most are oppressed that thou hast overcome the deceitfull wiles of Satan wherewith many are deceived that thou hast escaped the eternall torments wherewith innumerable are afflicted CHAP. II. Of the ineffable Delight SOVLE O Man how sound and wholsome is thy Consolation for when I consider these things which thou hast proposed by hope I receive very much comfort But O Lord God what thinkest thou shal then that be when I shall truly possess that which now I but hope for MAN O My Soule These are but little which thou hast heard yea comparatively they are as none which thou hast mentally perceived but erect the eyes of thy understanding a little and weigh and devoutly consider how great the joyes are which thou shalt perceive by these which are nere unto thee Attend therefore and consider the beautiful place which the divine wisdome hath built for thee Consider also the delicate food the curious bravery the precious Treasure which the eternal power hath gathered for thee Consider likewise the renowned Colledge with whom thy mind shall eternall rejoice by the divine clemency O my Soul consider how glorious how renowned how gladsome that house of God is the Heavenly City the secure mansion the Countrey coutaining all that delighteth Consider how clear how light how glorious that City is which needeth neither Sun nor Moon that they may shine therein but the Lord himselfe the Sun of Justice the Candor of Eternall light is the light thereof and the Lamb is the Lamp thereof O my Soule consider how high and how spacious how fair and how beautifull how comely and how renowned that City is which the most blessed Trinity of himself adorneth O City of God how glorious are the things which are spoken of thee O Israel how magnificent is the house of God and great is the place of his possessions O my Soule contemplate there the Tabernacles of the Patriarcks and Prophets the Habitacles of the Apostles and Martyrs the stately and lofty Chambers of the Confessors and Virgins the Palaces of the most heavenly Spirits that most beautifull Throne of the most blessed Trinity O my Soul though thou art here corporally yet be there mentally O my Soul fly over all things search all things visit all things enter into all the Gates in order untill thou shalt come into the Palaces of the highest King let thy mind St. Aug. be there and here shall be thy rest O my Soule willingly endeavour to be stayed willingly to be conversant in that holy City because there is life without death youth without old age light without darknesse peace without disturbance For my People shall sit in a Tabernacle of confidence and in a rich rest saith our Lord. Secondly consider the delicate food the curious bravery and the pretious treasure And who shall there be out food but that most blessed Lamb that pure and Immaculate Jesus the Son of God the Father of whom they shall administer most excellent dainties to the holy spirits in all sufficiency very excellent truly of the most pure humanity but most of the more then most blessed Divinity For then the soule
thou condemnest me in the time of judgment True it is These St. Anselme in his meditations that my Conscience hath deserved damnation my repentance sufficeth not for satisfaction yet certain it is that thy mercy is above every offence Do not O Lord St Aug. in his meditations so look into my evil that thou mayst forget thy owne goodness O good Lord if I have committed that wherby thou mayst condemn me thou hast not lost that wherwith thou mayst save me St. Gregory in Hom. O if man could but understand how admirable that is Behold the Spouse cometh How pletsant Those that were prepared entred with him to the marriage How bitter And the Gate was shut O my Soule what is more Consider how great an evil it is to be separated from the face of Christ to be excluded from that joy of divine Contemplation to be deprived of the most blessed Society of all the Saints to dye an everlasting life and to live an eternall death to be plunged in the bottom of a restless Gulph for ever to be torne in peeces with consuming worms and yet the torments not to end to suffer the noise of raging flames to be blinded with the bitter myst of the sulphurous smoaking Pit not to perceive that which enlightneth but to perceive that which tormenteth St. Aug. Such shall be the power of grief in the infernal deep that it admitteth no other intention of thought within it self SOVLE NOw I tremble with fear now I faint with the horrour therof Tell me I pray thee O man to what purpose is so lamentable a Meditation MAN O My Soul I think that the continuall and devout meditation of the prescribed is the sinners medicine and wholsom encourager and provoker to do all good things and to sustain all evil Thou fearest watching and the labour of thy hands St. Bern. inquadam Epistola but these are but easie to any one meditating on perpetuall flames The remembrance of that darkness maketh a man not to abhor Solitude yet if thou leasurely thinkest on a future discussion of thy words silence shall not displease thee that weeping and gnashing of teeth being often brought before the eyes of thy understanding do render unto thee equall rest and peace St. Aug. inquodam sermone A mans understanding being overcome with the inticements and concupiscences of this world flyeth all labour desireth pleasures can scarce be brought to this that hee can refrain the customes of his former life But when hee shall begin to think on the necessity of future judgment he induceth a voluntary war on his passions moved either by hope of reward or for fear of punishment hee doth violence to his former desires and earnestly contendeth to overcome himselfe Whence cometh these Verses O foelix mortale Genus si semper haberet Aeternum prae mente bonum finemque timeret Right happy is that man that ever hath The eternall good in 's mind and fears his death The fourth Exercise How the Soul by mentall Exercise ought to convert the light of Contemplation to those things that are above her that shee may know and understand 1. The inestimable value of Celestiall Joy 2. The unspeakable Delight and 3. The interminable Eternity CHAP. I. Of the Inestimable value of Celestiall Joy SOVLE EVen now O man thou hast sufficiently affrighted me miserable soule being prostrated in this vale of teares although thou hast taught me not unprofitably have mercy also now on mee most miserable and do what thou long since hast promised Speak a little of the perpetuall felicity if happily I may be able to receive thereby some comfort of mind for that it is delightfull to use change because according to Saint Aug. It is alwayes well done whether it be by punishing or pardoning or by terrifying or comforting so that there by the life of man may be amended Consider O man how noble the mind of man is often times it is more easily perswaded with easie and pleasant things then by terrible and adverse oftentimes it is more allured by promisses and things comforting then it is enforced by threats and terrours Wherefore our Sister the Spouse desired to be drawn with the odour of Celestiall Unguents with the savour of divine graces and so to runne with the Spouse and now not out of feare but love delightfully to walk in the way of his Commandements MAN O My Soule it is true I confesse which thou sayest but alas there are many which will not imitate God in Prosperity Wherefore it is convenient that they be terrified in Adversity For there are many which either for blindnesse understand not the divine Graces or for negligence loose them in vaine Employments Wherefore as I beleeve God out of the abundance of his Infinite goodness would alwayes be ready rather to favour them with Consolations then to affright them with austerities if men were rightly disposed that they might receive his divine consolation which is so pretious and delicate that by no means it is fitting or expedient that it should be indifferently bestowed on all Thou therefore if thou aspirest after all these things proposed unto thee see that thou have a pure understanding and a well disposed affection because the chiefest good is not discerned according to Saint Aug. but by the clearest understandings and I think it is much lesse tasted but by very well disposed affections For it is of many men in this life clearly discerned of whom neverthelesse it is in no wise tasted Wherefore Saint Aug. saith O Lord mak me I desire thee to taste that by affection which by my intellect J understand make me to perceive that by love which J perceive by knowledge SOVLE TEll me J pray thee O man what dispositions ought to proceed in affection and understanding that at least to a little Excess of mind J may be able to tast in contemplation the Celestiall sweetnesse For J have long agoe exercised my mind in speculation and alas as yet my feare is that J have never felt the least drop of that Heavenly sweetnesse J have read many things of the lives and conversation of Saints many things of Nature of the operations and orders of Angels also I have read some things of the inestimable unity of the Divinity of the Incomprehensible Trinity of the Godhead more of the inestimable happinesse of all the blessed and when with all my endeavours I have employed my mind to the former studies alass I have remained yet Hunger-starven and empty and have alwaies cryed out with blessed Saint Aug. Make me O most mercifull Father to tast by affection what I perceive by my understanding and yet I have not profited Also oftentimes being wearied with long study and angry at my self I have cryed out with the Prophet expecting the Crummes which fall from the Table of their Lord in that Heavenly Court How long O Lord wilt thou forget me for ever How long dost thou
Mother of the Creator of all our Brother in times past lost abject and despised now found now returned now Raigning now commanding all O that thou wert as my Brother sucking the breasts of my Mother when I should find thee without I should kisle thee with the kisses of devotion I would embrace thee with the embraces of love yet â— should not be despised I â—â—ould lead thee into a Chambeâ— with delight of the sweetest fruition This fruition that devout St. In his Meditations Anselme desired when he said O most sweet Infant when shall I see thee when shall I appeare before thy face when shall I be sarisfied with thy comelinesse when shall I behold thy wished for Countenance on whom the Angels desire to look woe be to that soule that loves not thee that seeks not thee who if she love the World she is a slave to sinne she is never quiet or content never secure Let nothing I beseech thee please me without thee let nothing be sweet unto me nothing comely let no pretious thing content mee besides thee Let all things be vile unto me except thee Whatsoever is against thee let it be troublesome unto me and let thy will and pleasure be my indefatigable desire Let it greive me to rejoyce without thee delight me to rejoyce with thee and to weep with thee O good Jesu if it be so sweet to weep with thee how pleasant is it to rejoyce with thee SOVLE O Man Now I languish with Love to see our Lord my Creatour I faint with ardent desire to see Jesus my Brother and my Redeemer now being wounded with desire I sigh and groan to behold that glorious Virgin Mother of my Redeemer O good Jesus when shall I see my Joy which I desire O when will his glory appeare which I hunger after O when will my Comforter come which I expect O that at any time I shall be inebriated with the plenty of his house for which I sigh after Now every Creature is troublesome to me to behold because far incomparably shal that beauty excell from which all these things proceeded MAN O My Soul expect with patience that thy desires may increase because it is written After a while and yee shall not see me and again after a while and yee shall see me SOVLE O Long while O a little too prolixe for although thy merits be little yet notwithstanding large are thy desires MAN O My Soul if thy desires seem unto thee large and great wherewith thou art inflamed to contemplate the Eternal glory and charity with how great a desire thinkest thou oughtest thou to be inflamed perfectly to love God the eternall goodness and eternally to possess the highest Majesty if thou shouldest not love all these things how canst thou rejoice in the Vision Although thou shouldest well see and understand them and shouldest not possess them securely how shouldest thou continue blessed St. Aug. There therefore we shall be at leasure and shall see shall see and love shall love possess for he is the end of our desires who shall be seen without end shall be loved without tediousness shall be praisâ—d eternally without wearisomness for there one and the whole virtue is to love what thou seest and the cheifest felicity is eternally to have what thou lovest there a blessed life is fully perfectly drunken from its very fountain wherefore after a certain wonderfull manner both an innated thirst and also a Satiety is delectably varyed by course but necessity is far repelled from thirst and loathing is far removed from satiety In fine prosologion But that I may not O my Soule now longer keep thee in suspence hear what that devout Anselmus saith of all the former Heavenly joyes stir up thy self now O my Soule and lift up thy whole understanding and as much as thou art able consider attentively how delightfull that good is which containeth the delectation of all good things If a created life be delightful how pleasant is the creating Essence if a made health be pleasant how pleasant is that health which maks all things If the knowledge of the creatures be amiable how pleasant is that knowledge which is of things created why therfor dost thou wander through many things seeking Goods created love one in whome are all If Beauty delight thee the Just shall shine as the sun if Liberty or strength they shall be like unto the Angels of God in Heaven if long and healthfull lifethere is eternal health if satiety or excess they shall be satisfied of the glory and they shall be inebriated with the fulness of the house of God if melody there the Angells do sing if society and freindship there is the society of the Saints all of them of one mind if honours and riches glory and riches are in his Court if security and certainty there is the eternall longitude of all times and ages O humane heart O poor and needy heart O heart experienced in cares yea overwhelmed with sorrowes how much wouldest thou rejoyce if thou shouldest abound in all these enquire of thy inmost thoughts if they be able to conceive there so great joy of their so great a beatitude But if man of so great a beatitude can scarce conceive his own joy how shall he be capable of so many joyes as is the number of the Elect where every one loveth his Neighbour as much as himselfe And doth so much rejoyce at his joy as he loves him so also every one doth more rejoyce without question of the Felicity of God then either of his own or of all the Elect. Because even as he loveth God with all his heart with all his soule and with all his power So the whole heart the whole Soule the whole mind is not sufficient to the fullnesse of that joy because they shall rejoyce so much as they loved they shall love so much as they shall behold Truly neither Eye hath seen nor Eare hath heard nor hath it entred into the heart of Man how much the Saints of God shall love thee and know thee I beseech thee O my God that I may know thee that I may love thee and that I may eternally rejoyce with thee And though I cannot fully in this life yet at least let my knowledge and love of the encrease here that there my joy may be full Here let that be in hope there let it be in possession O Lord and Father here thou commandest by thy Sonne yea thou councellest us to ask and promisest us we shall receive that our joy may be full I begg O Lord that which by thy admirable Councellour thou councellest to ask and promisest us to receive that our joy may be accomplished let my understanding meditate of this let my mouth discourse of this let my Tongue speak thereof let my Soule hunger after it let my flesh thirst after it untill it shall enter into the joy of my God who is the