rest in thee 8. Of the soul also in this spirituall drunknesse it is said in the canticles he brought me into the winecellar and ordered Cant. 2. v. 4. in me charity there she was ouercome with the strength of those diuine liquours she became wholy drunke with loue she could goe no further nor part the place but fell into the armes and sweet embracements of her beloued who placed his left hand vnder her head and embraced her with his right by the left vnderstand his mercy keeping her from sinne least she should fall and by the right his loue couering her ouer with many graces blessings and fauours 9. O Blessed drunknes o happy foollishnes o diuine frensy o celestiall loue who can tell your worth O true louer of our soules Christ Iesu how forcibly with the odours of thy sweet oyntments do'st thou draw young Virgins to witt pious soules after thee if the loue of mortall creatures be so forcible as to depriue people of their witt and the vse of reason and euen to cause them run naked and sensles about the streetes what shall we say then of this diuine loue 10. These pious soules O Lord are in loue with thy infinit goodnesse they are rauisht with thy rare beauty they are ouer delighted with thy sweetnesse they are not themselues they are vnquiet and haue no rest without thee they feele inwardly a burning fire which doth consume them and what is it but that fire of charity which thou ha'st ordered in them they are by it strongly in loue yea drunke with loue and quite besyde themselues they doe loue and know not what but what they loue is that which thou art faine they would enioy thee entyrely and not by partes being their only good this they desyre this they inquire after but know not how it may be had which maketh them wholy restlesse vntill they rest in thee for whether sickly or healthy ill or well liuing or dead in heauen or hell they regard not so they may be with thee for they are wholy thyne 11. This diuine loue doth leaue them no other force or ability then to leaue themselues wholy to God and giue consent that he may dispose all and doe with them what he please and as he thinkes fitting in so much that then they cannot though they would apply them selues to any other thing but to adheare to God alone neither can they diuert themselues neuer so litle without great paine 12. Heere they cannot but be attentiue heare see and know his sweet whisper pleasant voyce and Holy will with great content heere they may say with Samuell the Prophet speake o Lord for 1. king 3. v. 10 thy seruant doth heare that is to say is attentiue to heare and know what thy will and pleasure is to obey and fullfill it and with Holy Dauid say I will heare Ps 84. v. 9. that is attend to what my Lord shall speake in me for he doth speake peace vnto his people as if he said I will giue care attentiuely to the words of my God for they are of that Maiesty and vertue that though my soul were in darknesse tempted and troubled the only sound of his voyce disperseth all on a sudden leaueth a light and inward peace to all my powers and senses with so great ioy and satisfaction that they are wholy recollected and setled and in a manner totally drowned in delight 13. VVonderfull are the effects that God worketh in the soul that is in this degree farre surpassing those of quiet prayer for besyde that she doth possesse his diuine Maiesty more entirely then in that and that her ioy and delight are greater her loue increaseth to a great height and her vertues are more solid and her inward change is noted by her outward behauiour which she cannot couer nor hyde for all her actions are more stayd and graue then formerly and she would not liue longer in this life if she could and her desyre is so great to be with him in endlesse rest that it were sufficient to end her if it were not that she doth think to doe him some seruice in suffering the miseryes and persecutions of this world for loue of him esteeming that as yet she did very litle or nothing in his seruice who is goodnesse it selfe and to whom she is so much obliged 14. Her intention to please and honour him is pure without any selfe interest she feare 's no trubles nor any thing of this world but to displease him in the very least imperfection she doth proceede with all fidelity and sincerity her conuersation is only and wholy in heauen with and for God she doth not affect her owne content or gust though neuer so spirituall so much as the honour of God and to doe his will in all things 15. O loue great is thy worth and greater thy worke they that doe possesse thee cannot but worke they aspire to great matters beyond theyr ability thinking all things possible to loue therefore S. Paul sayd I can doe all things in him Philip. 4. v. 13 who doth strengthen me Christ they are neuer better feasted neuer more ioyed and delighted neuer more sweetly comforted and contented then when they suffer troubles disgraces persecutions torments and euen death it selfe for their beloued therefore our Holy Mother S. Teresa was wont to say to In her life chap. 40. God with whose loue she was inflamed graunt me o Lord eyther to suffer or to dye for nothing but suffering for his sake could preserue her lyfe for in this she had some content and her compagnion in her troubles the venerable Father John a cruce allwayes desyred either to suffer or be contemned and thus God is truly wonderfull in his saints for what can be more admirable then to see one desyre and thirst after those things which are contrary yea destructiue to nature as to suffer torments and death it selfe but this is the priuiledg and efficacy of diuine loue which can haue no â—est but in the nest where it was bred and whence it came so God loued the world that he gaue them his only son who suffered death with loue of them 16. But you must obserue that though commonly in this degree the vnderstanding and memory are so well employed that they haue no ability or power to apply themselues to any other thing then beholding and enioying what our Lord is pleased to represent vnto them Yet some tymes his Maiesty whose captiues they are is pleased to set them free and at liberty and though the will doth remaine strongly vnited they may employ themselues in outward workes of vertue as to frequent the quire sing write read and other workes of charity according to their state of life which in deede is a great benefit for then Martha and Mary the actiue and contemplatiue life like two louing sisters doe walke hand in hand together for the will as Mary remayning in his sweet
the soul loosing her forces and the vse of her powers and senses is like to yeald the Ghost and thus with loue and excesse of ioy both she and all the powers are not themselues but sopited and like to one as is said wholy senslesse and the ioy and content which is heere had by farre exceedeth that of the former degree yet his diuine maiesty with this not contented to manifest his loue the more to this his beloued spouse he bringeth her into a solitude beyond all that is created and this is the fourth step or degree called vnion where all are absorpt and drowned ouer head and eares for she and all the powers are wholy vnited to God and ingulfed in the depth of his diuinity and she is become one and the same with God quite forgetting all that is in heauen and earth and the very body which during the tyme of vnion is voyde of sense and in a manner dead neither doth she know whether she be in the body or no. in this vnion she doth not continew long perhaps halfe an hour or there about before some of the powers doe returne to them selues and often not finding the like content as one should say in their owne house they goe willingly back againe and are drowned in the same depth and burned with the same fire and in this coming and going some houres may be spent but not in the totall or perfect vnion of all for as our Holy Mother saith it is so strong and forcible that our weake nature is not able to endure it long but by degrees his diuine Maiesty doth enable the soul and make her capable for receiuing those supernaturall fauours and diuine communications 12. In this totall vnion the soul knoweth nothing as is said but enioyeth a content and happinesse surpassing sense yet what she doth enioy or how she vnderstandeth not but doth remaine absorpt and vnited to the diuine essence and thus she is become God's captiue tyed and chayned fast by loue and hath no power to free her selfe vntill his Maiesty be pleased to set her at liberty neither would she though she could esteeming it a greater captiuity to be left to her owne liberty and farre more liberty to be in that sweet and happy captiuity this is a greater and more eminent gift and fauour then all the former it is a most blessed vnion or coniunction a most diuine transformation a most happy death a true deification and most happy life in God 13. Note that in that quiet prayer the will only is vnited and not the other powers in that other of the sleepe of the powers the will and the powers are vnited but so that they are not perfectly vnited or wholy lost but in this vnion they are all wholy and perfectly lost vnited and in gulfed in the diuine essence and they are wholy dead to all the world drowned in vnspeakable delight and the profit of the soul in this degree is vnexplicable her loue is come to so great a height that nothing but the enioying of God wholy and perfectly can giue her content Therefore his diuine Maiesty doth lead her to an other step or degree farre beyond her selfe and all that hath beene sayd eleuating her spirit and opening her eyes to set and know somwhat of his greatnesse and the treasure of his celestiall glory with visions and reuelations of high matters hidden and most profund misteryes and this is called and exstasy or rapt where she vnderstands cleerly and plainly how all things created are a meere shadow and nothing compared with what she then doth enioy and see in God and this rapt some tymes is so forcible and vehement that it doth eleuat the very body with the soul from the earth and remayneth hanging in the ayre and it doth so participat of the inward ioy and glory of the soul that it doth loath to be longer on earth and faine would be inuested with immortality for all eternity and after these great raptes commonly when the soul returneth to her selfe the body as yet and perhaps for some dayes will not be able to vse its owne functions nor the powers and senses are themselues but all are out of order for they are as yet drunk with the memory of the glory and delight which they enioyed and the introuersion and application of the powers and senses is so great that they cannot but with difficulty attend as yet to any outward things and though they see and heare at those tymes yet they neither well see nor know what they see or heare this soul now is no more her owne but wholy belongeth to God for she hath consigned her selfe her will and the keyes therof vnto his diuine Maiesty so that she liueth not now but Christ doth liue in Gal. 2. v. 20. her in so much that she myndeth nothing but the honour glory and praise of God and heartely desireth and laboureth that all may loue and praise him for euer her vertues are solid and of great perfection her loue is so excessiue that her life on earth is a continuall martyrdome and death by reason of her forcible and languishing desyre to be dissolued and be with her beloued Christ Iesus in glory for all Eternity 14. Thus deere Christian soul our Sauiour doth reward euen in this mortall and myserable lyfe the litle labour and endeauours of a louing soul O who would not labour for so great a good and willingly serue so good a Lord O who would not affect so true a louer and deere a frend o who would not freely forsake all this world for the loue of so bountifull and Gracious a God O Blessed Lord praysed and exalted for euer and euer mayst thou be who art so choyse of vs and ha'st prepared so great happinesse for such wormes of the earth as we all thy creatures loue and praise thee for euer more Amen THE II. CHAPTER Of Recollection and quiet Prayer more in particular 1. WHereas this recollection is so great and inward and the powers not troubled with the noyse of worldly and vaine thoughts and that God is there present what must the soul doe in this recollection first she must consider that he is there only attending to giue audience and ready then to heare her petition and that she can without any impediment speake to him being so neere for as our Holy Mother sayth the In her life chap. 27. soul seemes to haue other eares and tongue inwardly and needeth not speak loud or cry out with noyse of inward words or consider him in heauen or a farre of or without her selfe to be heard or vnderstood but she may rest there with him for he is not a frend of many words and accustome the vnderstanding to worke very slowly and as it were in silence carefully attending to what is said and with what reuerence and confidence she speaketh to him and if the vnderstanding can be kept quiet sweetly beholding that
presence of his diuine Maiesty without words or with Luke 18. v. 13. the Publican casting his eyes to the earth expecting with humility what shall be sayd to him it will be of great profit and increase vertuous desyres in the soul contempt of the world and strong resolutions to serue God and amend their liues and this the soul doth vnderstand by sweet inspirations and secret whispers by which he speaketh vnto her heere she doth offer her selfe and her will wholy to God to be employed euer after in his seruice 2. Though some yea religious after coming so farre and hauing forsaken the world and giuen themselues to God doe returne back to the flesh pots of Egipt and as a dog to his vomit to be more worldly then euer and to seeke for familiarityes and frendships and they take back againe from God euen against his will what formerly they freely gaue him THEIR VVILL which they did dedicat vnto his diuine Note Maiesty to be employed only in his seruice which againe they dispose of as of their owne and the world and what is in it which for his sake they forsooke they seeke after more earnestly then before they left it and thus they draw their mynd and affection from God applijng them selues to base vile and transitory things notwithstanding the experience they often had by many comforts and consolations of Gods goodnesse and loue when they did proceede sincerly 3. And one thing may be much admired to wit that these vngratfull people do goe to prayer as boldly and without all feare as if they had done no iniury to God nor wronged themselues and they are not ashamed to aske or expect spirituall comforts and fauours of his diuine Maiesty after so great an affront are these to be regarded or fauoured more by God certainly they deserue it not vnlesse with a humble submission and acknowledgment of their abuse and wrong committed they returne to his Maiesty forsaking all and restoring what was vniusty taken away without which this recollection is not had againe for it doth consist in this that the powers are introuerted and not troubled with any vaine or worldly thoughts as is formerly said But they who goe on with their endeauours to please God doe easily find how sweet and good our Lord is to those that loue and doe seeke after him 4. It is a comfortable thing to speake of the next degree to which they are brought after that recollection and of what passeth there and seriously to consider it is most ioyfull and pleasing but to feele it is in excesse delightfull this is in Quiet Prayer where the soul is placed to rest without labouring or discourse heere she is feasted with varietyes of heauenly comforts diuine consolations and ioyfull delights farre surpassing sense heere she doth begin to taste of the food of Angells and is reposed in the bed of sweet content certainly if all the honours pastines and pleasures of this world were in one and to continue and be enioyed for euer yet compared with one only moment of the ioy content and satisfaction which heere are had all that would appeere to be meere nothing for as farre as the heauens doe exceede the earth in greatnesse and perfection without any proportion so doe these spirituall comforts without any equality or proportion exceede all the others words cannot expresse what it is but those happy soules can best tell and declare it that by experience hath often knowen and felt the sweetnesse of it 5. This Quiet prayer doth consist in this that the soul and all the powers after labouring to find out whom she doth deerely loue are brought by his diuine Maiesty from that laborious discoursing and searching for him to the place of rest that is farre within her selfe where in great silence and peace of all the powers she doth enioy his presence and is vnited to him strongly by loue and doth remaine in his sweet embracements with great content and satisfaction and this is therefore called quiet prayer by reason there is no discoursing nor noyse of inward wordes vsed in it where with the soul and powers were often weryed searching to find him but all are silent and quiet not that they doe omit to worke but it is so sweetly done that it is scarcely perceiued by reason they are in contemplation and with one simple looke they are in admiration with great ioy and doe feelingly vnderstand more in an instant then they could attaine to with all the discourses possible let not any thinke that the soul doth see any image or shape wherein God doth appeere when his presence is named heere but only that she hath a fixt memory with a liuly faith that he is there and that by the effects which she doth find in her selfe it appeeres as a great ioy and inward satasfaction of all the powers Also a light which procureth a most humble and reuerentiall respect in the soul with a kind of certainty of his presence with which she is so contented delighted as if nothing more rested to be desyred in this world and this content doth redowne euen to the body which is neuer wery whiles that quit content doth hold 6. And obserue that as it is former 's said the will being only vnited the other powers which are not so doe keepe he often in warre and doe molest her much endeauouring to bring her from her rest and content to passe the tyme as we may say with themselues but their labour is in vaine and the contrary doth often happen for she doth cause them to returne to their quiet rest with her for she doth labour to keepe in that litle spark of fire of the loue of God esteeming it as of right she ought of great worth for thence if she be not in the fault in tyme may proceede a great fire and flames of diuine loue for she doth now by experience well know how great good it is to adheare to God who giâ—â—th that small begining as a liuly token of his affection and earnest penny to bind the bargaine and confirme the agreement betwixt them to wit that she must not be longer of this world though liuing in it but of those whose conuersation is in heauen and dispose her selfe for greater and higher matters and to be disposed of only by his diuine Maiesty who hath now chosen her to be of his priuat chamber and to seeke after nothing but what shall be to his honour and glory O admirable dignity and happinesse 7. Let not any soul that is come to this state vnderualue her selfe nor think it want of humility to conceiue that she is fauoured by God for one will be more thankfull that he knoweth the greatnesse of the gift or benefit and dignity of the person that giueth it then if they did not marke it or did forget it or would not acknowledg it but she must with an humble submission and holy presumption acknowledg that she
repose and delightfull contemplation they as Martha are well employed in outward actions and some laudable occupations yet they are not so attentiue outwardly that they doe wholy forget the inward and we may compare them to one who hath one eye looking on what is outward and the other to what is inward for they doe well know that the will which is their principall part doth remaine there vnited in ioy and that there their most attendance ought to be so that they are not perfectly in the one nor in the other but this good that memory and cast of the eye to what the will is a doing bringeth to the soul that when the outward employment is ended they quickly desyre their former solitude and are easily retyred and recollected with the will and then the soul doth remaine in great quietnesse tranquility and inward peace with admirable content and satisfaction by reason all doe concurre and assist her more seriously compleatly and perfectly to enioy her only good and praise her God without impediment 17. At other tymes his diuine Maiesty is pleased to keepe the will and vnderstanding captiues and vnited leauing the memory and imagination free at liberty and they finding themselues alone and not regulated or directed by the vnderstanding are very vnquiet and troublesome and doe endeauour to disturbe the soul from her peaceable content and rest desirous to bring the other powers to themselues but though it be a cruell warre they are able to effect nothing wanting the assistance of the vnderstanding and will yet howsoeuer they doe molest her much and the imagination doth present so many things runing from one to an other that the poore soul cannot doe what she would by reason whereof she doth often lament and make her moane to his diuine Maiesty that she is so diuided and not wholy vnited in his loue and praise and at length he causeth them for her comfort to be vnited with the other powers and to burne in and with the same fire in which the others are almost consumed loosing in a manner their naturall being and liuing supernaturally in him In this and the like cases and occasions when any of the powers are at liberty and troublesome you must doe as is formerly said of quiet prayer not regard them nor attend to what they doe but as a wiseman taketh no notice of what a foole saith or doth so she must doe with them and remaine as much as she can possibly in her sweet rest and repose this is of importance to be knowen by such as are come to these degrees of prayer 18. And when a soul is come so farre as to begin to be wholy dead to all things of the world and liue to God alone her desyre to be with him and enioy him is to vehement and her paine thence so great that if his diuine Maiesty by a speciall way had not preuented it and preserued her it were more then sufficient as is said to seperat the body from the soul for she can think vppon nothing desyre nothing is satisfyed with nothing but God alone and the enioying of him in his kingdome of glory which she cannot haue being a prisoner in the miserable and corruptible body and therefore there is no death so cruell that could be offered but she with vnspeakable ioy would endure that set at liberty she might the better and without any impediment possesse for euer whom she doth so deerely loue our Holy Mother doth affirme that the paine and agony that the soul hath in this degree with that desyre to be dissolued and liue with Christ where he is seene cleerly face to face is such that the soul hath neede to haue great courrage to beare and endure it Therefore she aduiseth that the soul in this occasion must resolutly cast her selfe wholy into Gods hands and care and leaue her selfe to his Holy disposing in all things for she doth know that she cannot doe litle or much in this case neither hath she other ability but to giue her consent and resigne her will to receiue those fauours and embrace such gifts as his diuine Maiesty is pleased to bestow vppon her 19. To this happinesse ordinarily they only come who are mortified voyde of selfe interest diligent in Gods seruice feruent in his loue prompt to doe his will carefull and sincere in all that is to his honour glory and praise these are they that his Maiesty bringeth into the wynecellar to drinke of the choyse and best to eat at his owne table to be in his priuat chamber to rest in the place of repose and bed of delight o how sweet is their conuersation how diuine their embracement how strong their loue he said to his spouse with perpetuall charity I loued thee Heere he giueth her a taste a begining and a feeling of those ioyes Ieremy 31. v. 3. and glory which are eternall O who would not labour to attaine to so great happinesse which is so easily granted and had 20. Come deere Christian soul to him by the practise of this Holy exercise of prayer put on once a good resolution and though perhaps in the begining you may haue some difficulty and be in darknesse yet in tyme with your perseuerance you shall be illuminated and eased come to him I beseech you though neuer so heauy loaden with sinne be not a shamed nor a frayd for he is truly in loue with the least and worst of vs all and I belieue farre more forward with loue of vs then we can be with loue of him this his coming from heauen to earth his Bitter Passion his Pretious Blood shed and his painfull death on the crosse for vs doth testify come therefore with confidence to him and you shall not be confounded nor get a deniall nor repulse the manner how to come to him King Dauid doth declare saying with all my heart I sought after thee and not Ps 110 v. 145. with a diuided heart that is that he loued nothing else but God for he resolued not to admit any other loue into his v. 145. heart but his and in an other verse of the same psalme he said I cryed vnto thee o Lord with all my heart and therefore he was heard for his prayer like incense ascended vnto God from the altar of his penitent and louing heart and it was so gratefull to his diuine Maiesty that the 1. kingâ— 13. v. Scripture saith that he was a man according to God's owne heart 21. Be not thou then daunted come to this thy louing Lord take delight in prayer in his holy conuersation and seruice come with all thy heart and then aske what thou wilt for thy good and doubtlesse it will be granted the petions of thy heart he will regard and if thou wilt dispose thy selfe well and be perseuerant thou mayst obtaine this happy degree of prayer and at last his diuine Maiesty seing thee according to his owne heart will crowne thy
liue but a painfull life or rather a tormenting Martyrdome and lingering death so that all her desyre is to be dissolued and be with Christ yet though the paine which she doth suffer is very great her inward ioy is no lesse if not more but you shall see what she speakes of rhese degrees 5. The first after vnion is when the soul like vnto a flame proceeding or ascending from a well kindled fire burning with the fire of diuine loue goeth out of her selfe ascending vpwards and some tymes it goeth to a great height farre beyond the fire whence it doth proceede and this doth seeme to those that went no further to be the same with vnion but it differs much For vnion is like to the fire which only burneth inwardly not giuing any flames ascending vpwards but this going out of her selfe is like flames ascending vpwards from the fire and not to the fire it selfe so that this fire increasing and not able by reason of its vehemency to containe it selfe from blasing foorth the sweet wynd of the Holy Ghost blowing on it the soul is eleuated out of her selfe and as this firye flame increaseth it doth more and more consume in her all terrene affection and leaueth her farre purer and with greater freedome and liberty then in vnion and though she knoweth not how it came to passe yet she cannot but admire to see such an alteration and change in her selfe and her profit to be farre greater and with very great ioy 6. At other tymes his diuine Maiesty is pleased that the soul be struck and wounded at the very heart with a fearefull noyse in the most inward of her substance by a certaine delicat subtile and penetratiue impulse and as it were with a firy dart or bolt on a sudden proceeding from a thunder she not knowing how or by whom it came and though she hath hence great paine her ioy and comfort is farre greater then in the former and though this noyse is not heard with corporall eares for it is inward and a very silent noyse yet instantly heard and vnderstood by the soul and she doth cleerly and perfectly know that she is so called vppon by God as with a whistle and that she cannot but heare it and suddenly feele a great certainty of his presence and it is of that Maiesty and efficacy that it causeth all the powers and senses instantly to be recollected attentiue and giue their attendance though at that present they were much distracted and they dare not then moue or stire and this celestiall call impulse or firy dart doth so inflame her that she is burning and a consuming with the fire of diuine loue penetrating through her very bowells and the very inward substance of the soul and her paine by reason of the wound and the vehemency of loue is so great that she cannot containe her selfe but lament and with most sweet and amorous words complaine of her paine not being able to doe otherwise to her deerely beloued whom she knoweth to be present and will not manifest himselfe which is a spurre to forward and augment both loue and paine and though this paine is with vnspeakable delight it doth not continue long but cometh and goeth and allwayes doth leaue the soul inflamed with diuine loue her desyre to please him and serue his maiesty in great matters doth increase and her only feare is least she should become vngratfull for this and his other great fauours and benefits which doth encourrage her dayly to better her life to content him the more 7. Note that in this rapt the powers and senses are not suspended nor drowned but all stand in admiration to see the soul in so great paine worthy of compassion and yet with vnspeakable delight they wonder much what this should be and they can neither helpe nor disturbe her but remaine in their attendance with admiration In these degrees it doth happen that the soul hath many strong and sudden motions when one doth heare a good sermon or God well spoaken of or praised or musick or at the sight of some sweet and deuout picture and this cometh with an impulse in the depth or most inward of the soul so vehement sudden and swift that she cannot resist it more then a chyld to a Gyant but away she is taken and eleuated sometymes aboue all that is created where she hath the visions and reuelations formerly mentioned and with the greatnesse of the glory and Maiesty which she beholdeth in God she is much terrified and doth conceiue a reuerentiall feare which causeth the very haires of her head to stand and then she doth grieue that she or any other euer offended à Lord of so high and incomprehensible a dignity power and Maiesty and some tymes it is so excessiue that the body in the rapt is eleuated forcibly a great height from the earth as loathing all things on earth and tending to the place where it doth expect to be in endlesse happinesse 8. Neither is the soul and powers for a long tyme after these great rapts perfectly themselues for they are not yet out of that sweet sleepe or risen from that delightfull drunknesse for they had Ps 35. v. 9. taken plentifully of the varietyes and abundance of his house and drunke without measure of the torrent of those diuine liquours with so excessiue delight that they for a tyme after know not where they are or what they doe 9. Also when they returne to themselues all things of this world are so disgustfull and displeasing to them by reason of the great ioy they had that they haue an auersion from them and would not daine if they could to vse the least of them 10. She declareth an other degree or sort of rapt which she doth call a flight of the soul farre different from the rest and greater this she doth compare to a fire that suddenly falling doth fire and burne all whence proceedeth a great flame so as the soul is suddenly fired all ouer and doth burne so strongly with the fire of diuine loue that her spirit like vnto a great flame with a most swift flight getteth out of herselfe in such a delicat and subtile manner that it is admirable and in an instant she is placed where she doth see and vnderstand many great misteryes together with all clearnesse and truth and she doth not only see the Holy Trinity and speake with euery person but also doth obtaine some particular fauour of each of them 11. Likewise she doth relate that God doth shew how all creatures are contayned in his diuine essence and may be seene as in a faire christiall glasse suppose saith she that there were a great round cristiall glasse greater then all the world without which there is nothing and in which all things are included and seene very cleerly the same conceiue of God in whom really and truly all things are contayned and euen the very thoughts words and deedes of euery
one in particular may be plainly seene she sayth that this vision was one of the greatest fauours which God did vnto her and that a soul hath great neede of a strong courage to behold what are there chiefly the horrid and foul sinns committed against his diuine Maiesty and the many abuses and iniuryes which dayly are done to him in the world this is able and sufficient she sayes to cause a separation and an absolute diuision of the soul from the body if God had not giuen her strength to bere it or disposed of her otherwise 12. She doth also speake of an other sort of rapt farre beyond the rest and saith that it is more then a rapt for it is a very vehement and eminent rapt and of great value and worth this suddenly at the hearing God well spoaken of or calling to mynd that he is absent whom she doth loue most entirely and often without any of both she doth find in her selfe a vehement motion and desyre to be with him which is so forcible that in an instant it doth penetrat the soul wholy she knoweth not how it is but doth feele it and is not able to resist it and she is taken and powerfully carryed beyond all that is created and placed in a strang solitude desolat and destitute of any comfort from heauen and earth and she doth conceiue that none of any of both would keepe her company or be a comfort to her in that desolation neither doth she desyre any comfort or company from them but would there willingly suffer and dye 13. And it doth happen as she saith that his diuine Maiesty doth communicat him selfe to her in so subtile and admirable a way that it cannot be vnderstood lesse expressed by any but by himselfe but she hath so cleere a knowledge then left in her of his greatnesse and goodnesse and his other incomprehensible perfections that it doth increase her loue and augment her paine and torments loue doth burne and consume her her desyre to be with him is able to separat the soul from the body and she doth not know how to help her selfe but by death and therefore dye she would to enioy his blessed presence in glory this torment is the greater that the memory of him is so perfect and cleere notwithstanding he doth absent himselfe which addeth much to her affliction 14. In other degrees or rapts the ioy doth mitigat her paine but in this she is destitute of all ioy or consolation and left in the furnace of tribulation which is a very strong martyrdome and so painfull that as ioy and ouer much delight in the other degrees did suspend the powers and senses so paine doth in this and it is of so great vehemency that the very body doth partake with her of it and it is so disioynted that aâ— the members seeme broaken and for many dayes after no one member can be moued without great and vnexplicable paine 15. It is able to moue a stony heart to read how our Holy Mother doth describe it in her life and what lamentation In her life chap. 20. and loud cryes she giueth out to express her paine only desyrous to be dissolue and be with Christ and for her greate torment in that solitude she is put in mynd of that verse I watch and am as she Ps 101 v 3. solitary sparrow alone in the toppe or roofe of the house and she thinketh then that she is so and in that case and solitarinesse she doth remember these words Ps 41. v. 4. 12. without procuring it where is thy God as if it were said to her where is he in whom thou ha'st placed all thy confidence where is he why doth not he now helpe thee in this distressed case hath he so forsaken thee whom thou do'st so deerely loue and seeke after now he hath left thee destitute of all comfort and consolation if he had loued thee he would not forsake thee thus are all thy labours come to this that thou art left in desolation without comfort or helpe from heauen and earth where is thy God this God so permitting doth duble her paine and increase her desyre so vehemently to see and be with him that it is sufficient to take away many liues if she had them and that saying of S. Paul was represented vnto her I Gal. â— v. 14. am crucified to the world and the world to me so that she remaines in the greatest torment that may be imagined as it were crucifyed betwixt heauen and earth 16. Our Holy Mother doth compare this paine to the paines of Purgatory it is so excessiue and when the soul doth perceiue that his diuine Maiesty is to bring her into this solitude and anguishes of death for truly it is no other she naturally doth feare and tremble but once that she is in it she would not be out of it true it is that the sensitiue or inferiour part cannot but loath it being so ouer painfull and apt to separat the body from the soul yet the superiour or spirituall part taketh content in so suffering for the loue of God esteeming it as in deede it is of great value and profit fot in this she is most like vnto our Sauiour Crucified destitute of any comfort Math. 27. v. 46. from heauen or earth which caused him to say my God my God as what ha'st thou for saken me and therefore she doth reiect all that formerly were wont to comfort her to remaine in this paine and conformity to Christ our Sauiour suffering for as the gold by fire she in this is tryed purified and refined as if she were come from Purgatory her loue is now purer and so excessiue great that nothing can content or satisfy her burning desyre but the possession and enioying of God wholy as he is and not any particular part of him and since she cannot iustly procure her owne death to be with him with great tendernesse of heart she doth lament and bewayle her long bannishment resigning her selfe wholy to his diuine disposing and earnestly praying that her liuing as yet in this case may be very highly to his honour and glory which she doth allwayes and in all things regard more then her selfe and desyre rather then her ease or to be free from her paine though she were certaine it should continue to the world's end 17. In this paine dying life and excesse of loue towards God our Holy Mothers soul was commonly in her later dayes and the impulses of loue were so penetratiue and forcible in her that with the vehemency of one great impulse of loue her pure and blessed soul departed the body not of any other sicknesse and ascended into glory where she doth most happily enioy him whom she so deerely loued this she did declare appeering to the venerable Mother Catherin of Iesus Prioresse of Beas the very day of her death I beseech his diuine Maiesty to grant this diuine loue
in the affectiue but in the knowing powers as when the vnderstanding with a kind of alienation from the senses or with some intellectuall vision is eleuated and suddenly snatcht away or the phantasy or imaginatiue to some imaginary vision 13. The reason why rapts cannot be in the will is that the will is a kind of propension or inclination to that which is good and the more forcibly or violently it is drawen the more conformable it is to his inclination for that cannot be said to suffer violence which is moued according to its naturall disposition but the more forcibly it is moued towards its obiect the more delightfully it worketh So that the rapts by reason they come with violence against the naturall disposition cannot be in the will yet the vehemency of the affection of the will or sensitiue appetite is often the cause of rapts when the soul doth very forcibly adhere to those things which she doth affect for by that force she doth compell the knowing powers to attend to the obiects which she doth loue as it were with a certaine violence drawing them from all other things and the sensitiue appetite doth the same therefore they that naturally haue vehement inclinations or affections must diuert their mynd to some other thing when they find their desyre inflamed least they be deceiued thinking that to be from God which is from nature or the deuil for if it be from God though the soul endeauour to resist it all will be in vaine for it will take effect 14. Note that in this a rapt doth differ from an extasy that an extasy is without violence and therefore it is in the will as is formerly said for it is but a going out of it selfe by loue to what it doth affect and a rapt is allwayes with violence also the calling or inward touch of God and certaine abstractions by which his diuine Maiesty doth forcibly drawe the soul vnto himselfe as her Lord are the cause of rapts likewise by some light or inward flame also by some instillation of great sweetnes into the sensitiue appetite in like manner by a kind of secret whistle and many other vnknowen wayes God doth efficaciously drawe the soul to himselfe by which he doth giue her notice that he is absolute Lord and creatour of all 15. Moreouer rapts doe produce other effects in the body as its forces to faile to wax cold to fall into a kind of dead fit to be eleuated from the earth to hange in the ayre to be very light and agill as not hauing any weight There are other rapts which are not so forcible and are imperfect by which the soul is not so drawen from the senses but she may speake some words and giue out heany sighs and grones and somtymes the vehemency is such that they cast blood and the body doth tremble and shake with strang fits and they do leape runne and crye out by reason of the excesse of inward ioy this is that celestiall or diuine drunknes of which I spoake before To conclude loue is the prime and principall passion by which a man is drawen to all his operations therefore S. Augustine said my loue is my poise or weight and whither soeuer I am carryed thither I am carryed to wit where his loue is For all the rest of the passions doe follow loue as for example I desyre to haue a thing not for any other cause but that I loue it I doe not reioyce or delight my selfe but in that which I loue also I doe not hate a thing but because it is opposit and contrary to what I loue and therefore I doe flye and shim it likewise I doe not hope or fight but for what I loue nor grieue but for the euil which doth hinder me from what I loue and so of the rest 16. He therefore that intend's to acquire vertue and the true loue of God must heede carefully to what his loue doth tend whether to that which is truly good and not apparent or to that which is according to the lawes of God and not to the desyres of nature or to that which is truly vertuous and not vicious and if he find that it is not right with sweet persuasions and solid reasons let him allwayes endeauour to reduce it to piety and those things which are eternall as if it be moued by the beauty of any creature instantly say how farre more beautifull and worthy of all loue he is who made that beauty why then do'st not thou seeke after him who is eternall rather then after this which is to day and gone to morrow thy God is beauty it selfe from whom all beauty is he then is more worthy of thy loue then this which is but a shadowe of what is loue worthy in him O my sweet soul loue not that which brings thee to hell but what may bring thee to heauen and endles ioy See that what thou can'st loue most on earth will faile thee and decay being but momentary but if thou do'st loue God thy sweet and louing creatour and redeemer he will neuer faile thee but bring thee to enioy himselfe in endles glory thus sweetly you must in all occasions labour to induce your soul to the loue of God and those vertues which are contrary to your vicious inclination or loue 17. Deere Christian soul I wrote this chapter for the better vnderstanding of what is in the second and third part of this booke for there it is said that you must mortify your passions how can you mortify what you doe not know for though you feele the passion yet you know not what it is or whence it is which being knowen with more ease you may mortify it and preuent its swelling rage and so by degrees going from vertue to vertue from meditation to contemplation from contemplation to a true transformation in God you shall enioy the begining of true felicity in this life and compleatly in the other which I most humbly beseech God of his infinit goodnesse to bestow on thee and me Amen This booke is endend to the honour and glory of God and the most Blessed V. Mary this 8. of September 1651. and if there be any thing in it contrary to our Holy Faith I doe most willingly submit both it and my selfe to the censure of the Holy Catholick Roman Church By me S. B. natiue of the citty of Dublin THE TABLE OF THE CHAPTERS Of this Third Part of the Soul's Delight CHap. 1. p. 1. A briefe relation of supernaturall prayer Chap. 2. p. 19. Of Recollection and quiet prayer more in particular Chap. 3. p. 36. Of the sleepe of the powers Chap. 4. p. 55. Of the prayer of vnion Chap. 5. p. 62. Of Seuerall other eleuations of the spirit and how they differ from vnion Chap. 6. p. 78. Of the manner of inward speeches visions and reuelations and how to discerne the true from the false Chap. 7. p. 94. Of some obseruations for