A wonderfull historie of the death of a gentleman who died of Loue vpon the Mount-Oliuet chap. 12. pag 435. That the Sacred Virgin mother of God died of the loue of her Sonne chap. 13. 441 That the Glorious virgin died of an extreamely sweete and calme loue chap. 14. 445 THE TABLE OF THE Eight Booke OF THE LOVE OF CONFORMITIE by which we vnite our Wills to the Will of God signified vnto vs by his Commandements Counsells and inspirations OF the loue of Conformitie proceeding from holy Complacence chap. 1. pag. 451 Of the conformitie of Submission which proceedes from the Loue of Beneuolence ch 2. 455 How we are to conforme our selues to the Diuine will which is called the signified will chap. 3. 458 Of the Conformitie of our will to the will which God hath to saue vs. ch 4. 462 Of the Conformitie of our will to Gods will signified in his Commandements chap. 5. 465 Of the Conformitie of our will to Gods signified vnto vs by his Counsells chap. 6. 469 That Gods will signified in the commandements doth moue vs forwards to the loue of Counsells chap. 7. pag. 472. That the contempt of Euangelicall Counsells is a great sinne chap. 8. 478 A continuation of the precedent discourse how euery one ought to loue though not to practise the Euangelicall Counsells and yet how euery one is to practise what he is able chap. 9. 482 How we are to conforme our selues to Gods will signified vnto vs by inspirations and first of the truth of the meanes by which God enspires vs. chap. 10. 487 Of the vnion of our will to Gods in the inspirations which are giuen for the extraordinarie practise of vertues and of perseuerance in ones vocation the first marke of the inspiration chap. 11. 491 Of the vnion of Mans will to Gods in the inspirations which are contrarie to the ordinarie Lawes and of the peace and tranquillitie of heart the second marke of Inspiration chap. 12. 497 The third Marke of the Inspiration which is holy obedience to the Church and Superiours chap. 13. 501 A short methode to know Gods will chap. 14. 505 THE TABLE OF THE Ninth Booke OF LOVE OF SVBMISSION Whereby our will is vnited to Gods OF the vnion of our will to the will of God which is the will of good pleasure chap. 1. pag. 509 That the vnion of our will to the will of God is principally caused by tribulations chap. 2. 513 Of the vnion of our will to the Diuine will in spirituall afflictions by resignation chap. 3. 518 Of the vnion of our will to Gods will by Indifferencie chap. 4. 521 That holy indifferencie is extended to all things ch 5. 525 Of the practise of the louing indifferencie in things belonging to the seruice of God chap. 6. 528 Of the indifferencie which we are to haue in our Spirituall aduancement chap. 7. 533 How we are to vnite our will with Gods in the permission of sinne chap. 8. 539 How the puritie of indifferencie is practised in the actions of holy Loue. chap. 9. 542 A meanes to discouer when we chang in the matter of this holy Loue. chap. 10. 545 Of the perplexitie of the heart in Loue which doubts whether it please the Beloued chap. 11. 549 How the soule amidst these interiour anguishes knowes not the Loue she beares to God and of the Louely death of the will chap. 12. 553. How the will being dead to it selfe liues entirely to Gods will chap. 13. 557 An explanation of that which hath bene saied touching the decease of our will chap. 14. 561 Of the most excellent exercise a man can make in the interiour and exteriour troubles of this life In sequele of the indifferencie and death of the will chap. 15. 565 Of the perfect stripping of the soule vnited to Gods will chap. 16. 570 THE TABLE OF THE Tenth Booke OF THE COMMANDEMENT OF louing God aboue all things OF the sweetenesse of the Commandement which God gaue vs to loue him aboue all things ch 1. 5â—5 That this Diuine Commandement of Loue tends to Heauen yet is giuen to the faithfull in this world chap. 2 pag. 580. How notwithstanding that the whole heart is imployed in sacred Loue yâ—t one may Loue God diuersly and also many other things together with him chap. 3. 582 Of two degrees of perfection in which this Commandement may be kept in this mortall life chap. 4. 387 Of two other degrees of greater perfection by which we may Loue God aboue all things chap. 5. 592 That the Loue of God aboue all things is common to all Louers chap. 6. 598 An illustration of the former chapter chap. 7. 601 A memorable historie wherin is more clearely seene in what the force and ExcelleÌ„cie of holy loue consisteth cha 8. pag. 605. A confirmation of that which hath bene saied by a notable comparison chap 9. 612 That we are to Loue the Diuine Goodnesse soueraignely more then our selues chap. 10. 617 How holy Charitie brings forth the loue of our neighbour chap. 11. 620 How loue produceth Zeale chap. 12. 624 That God is Iealous of vs. chap. 13. 626 Of the Zeale or Iealousie which we haue towards our Sauiour chap. 14. 632 An aduise for the direction of holy Zeale chap. 15. 637 That the exaÌ„ples of diuerse saints which seemed to exercise their Zeale with Angâ—r make nothing against the aduise of the precedent Chapter chap. 16. 643 How our Sauiour practised all the most Excellent acts of Loue. chap. 17. 650 THE TABLE OF THE Eleauenth booke OF THE SOVERAIGNE AVTHORITIE whicâ— sacred loue holds ouer all the vertues actions and perfections of the soule HOw much all the vertues are aggreeable vnto God chap. 1. pag. 656 That Diuine Loue makes the vertues more agreeable to God by excellencie then they are in their owne nature chap 2. pag. 661 That there are some vertues which Diuine Loue doth raise to a higher degree of excellencie then others chap. 3. pag. 665 That Diuine Loue doâ—h yet more excellently sanctifie the vâ—rtues whiâ—h are pracitsed by his ordinance and Commanâ—ment chap. 4. pag 668 How sacred â—â—ue doth spread it's worth through all the o her vertues which by that meanes are â—erfected chap. 5 pag 972 Of the excâ—llent worth which holy Loue bestowes vpon the actions whi h issue from it selfe and to those which proceede from other vertu s. chap 6. pag 6â—â— That perfect vertues are neuer one without tâ—e other chap. 7. pag. 682 How Charitie containes all vertues chap 8. pag. 683 That vertues haue their worth from sacred Loue. ch 9. pag. 693 A digression vpon the imperfection of the Pagans vertues c ap 10. pag. 697 How humaine actions are without worth being without Gods Loue. chap. 11. pag 7â—4 How holy Loue returning into the soule doth reuiue alâ— the works w ich sinne had sl yne chap 12. â—09 How we are to reduce all the exercise of all the vertu s and all our actions to â—oly Loue chap
without being rauished or prophecying as one may also be rauished and prophecie without hauing Charitie but I affirme that he that in his Rapture hath more light of vnderstanding to admire God then heate of will to loue him is to stand vpon his garde for it is to be feared that this extasie may be false and rather puff vp the mind then edifie putting him indeede as another Saule Balaam and Caiphas amongst the Prophets yet leauing him amongst the reprobate 3. The second marke of true Extasies consisteth in the third species of Extasies which we touched aboue an Extasie wholy sacred wholy amiable and which crownes the two others and it is the Extasie of the worke and life The entire obseruance of Gods commaÌ„dement is not within the bounds of mans strength yet is it within the the confins of the instinct of mans mind as being most conformable to naturall light and reason so that liuing according to Gods Commandements doth not put vs by our naturall inclination yet besides God's CoÌ„mandmets there are certaine heauenly inspirations to the effecting of which it is not onely requisite that God doe raise vs aboue our owne strength but also he must eleuate vs aboue our naturall instincts and inclinations because allbeit these inspirations are not opposite to humane capacitie yet doe they exceede it surmounte it and are placed aboue it in such sort as we doe not then liue a ciuill honest and Christian life onely but a supernaturall spirituall deuoute and extaticall life that is a life which in all respects is without the compasse and aboue the condition of our nature 4. Not to steale not to lye not to commit luxurie to praie to God not to sweare in vaine to loue and honour ones Father not to kill is to liue according to mans naturall reason but to forsake all our fortuns to fall in loue with Pouertie to entitle and obserue her in the qualitie of a most delightfull Mistresse to repute reproches contemptes abiections persecutions martyrdomes Felicities and beatitudes to containe ones selfe within the termes of an absolute chastitie and in fine to liue amidst the world and in this mortall life contrarie to the worlds opinions and MAXIMES and against the currant of the worlds floode dayly by resignatioÌ„s renunciatioÌ„s and abnegations of our selues is not to liue naturally but supernaturally it is not to liue in our selues but with out and aboue our selues and because none is able to raise himselfe in this manner aboue himselfe vnlesse the Almightie draw him thence it is that this kind of life is a perpetuall rauishment and a continuall Extasie in action and operation 5. You are dead saied the great Apostles to the Rodians and your life is hidden with IESVS CHRIST in God Death seperats the soule from the bodie and the confines thereof What will then these words of the Apostle saie THEO you are dead it is as much as though he had saied you liue not in your selues nor with in the compasse of your naturall condition your soule doth not now liue according to her selfe but aboue herselfe The Phenix is Phenix in this that by the helpe of the Sunne beames she doth annihilate her owne life to exchang it for one more sweete and vigorous hiding as it were her life vnder the dead cinders Silke-wornes doe chang their beeing of wormes becoming butterflies Bees are bred wormes then they turne Nymphes and creepe and finally they become flying bees We doe the like THEO if we be spirituall for we forsake our naturall life to liue a more eminent life and aboue our selues hiding all this new life in God with IESVS CHRIST who alone sees knowes and bestowes it Our new life is heauenly loue which doth quicken and animate our soule and this Loue is wholy hidden in God and Godly things with IESVS CHRIST for as the sacred Euangelicall Text saieth after our Sauiour had a while showen himselfe to his Disciples in mounting to heauenwards at length he was eÌ„uironed with a cloude which tooke him and hid him froÌ„ their view IESVS CHRIST theÌ„ aboue is hidden in God And IESVS CHRIST is our loue which is the life of our soule Therefore our life is hidden in God with IESVS CHRIST and when IESVS CHRIST who is our Loue and coÌ„sequeÌ„tly our spirituall life shall appeare in the day of IudgmeÌ„t we shall theÌ„ appeare together with him in glorie that is IESVS CHRIST our Loue will glorifie vs coÌ„municating vnto vs his felicitie aÌ„d brightnesse How Loue is the life of the soule with a continuation of the extaticall life CHAPTER VII 1. THe soule is the first act and principle of all the vitall motions of man and as Aristotle expresseth it the PRINCIPLE wherby we liue feele and vnderstand whence it followes that from the diuersitie of motions we gather the diuersitie of lifes so that beastes that haue no naturall motion are entirely lifelesse Euen so THEO Loue is the first ACT or PRINCIPLE of our deuote or spirituall life by which we liue feele and moue and our spirituall life is such as are the motions of our loue and a heart that wants motion and affection wants loue as contrariwise a heart possessed of loue is not without Loue-motions As soone therefore as we haue set our affection vpon IESVS CHRIST we haue consequently placed in him our spirituall life Now our Loue is hidden in God aboue as God was hidden in it while he was heare belowe Our life therefore is hiddeÌ„ in him aÌ„d wheÌ„ he shall appeare in glorie our life and our Loue shall likewise appeare with him in God Hence S. IGNATIVS as S. Dâ—NIS reporteth affirmed that his Loue was crucified as though he would haue saied my naturall and humane loue with all the passions that depend of it is nailed to the crosse I haue put it to death as a mortall Loue which made my heart liue a mortall life and as my Sauiour was crucified and died according to his mortall life to rise againe to an immortall life so did I die with him vpon the Crosse according to his naturall loue which was the mortall life of my soule to th' end I might rise againe to the supernaturall life of a loue which in that it can be exercised in Heauen is also immortall 2. When therefore we see a soule that hath Raptures in Praier by which she goes out of her selfe and mounts vnto God and yet hath no Extasies in her life I meane leades not an exemplar life vnited to God by abnegation of worldly desires mortification of the will and naturall inclinations by an interiour calmenesse simplicitie humilitie and aboue all by a continuall Charitie beleeue it THEO all these Raptures are exceedingly doubtfull and dangerous These are Raptures fit to stirre vp men to admiration but not to sanctifie them For what can it profit the soule to be reared vp in rauishment to God by Praier while in her life and conuersation she is rauished by earthly foule and naturall
to Egipt ād from Egipt to Iudea Ah who can then doubt but this holy Father being come to the period of his dayes was reciprocally borne by his diuine Nurse-child in his passage from this to another life into Abrahams bosome to translate him from thence to Glorie in the daie of his Ascension A Saint that had loued so much in his life could not die but of loue for his heart not being able to loue his deare IESVS so much as he desired while he continued amongst th◠distractions of this life and hauing alreadie performed the dutie which he ought to his non-age what remained but that he should saie to the Eternall Father O Father I haue accomplished my charge and then to the Sonne ◠my child as thy heauenly Father put thy tender bodie into my hands the daie of thy cōming into this world so doe I render vp my soule 〈◊〉 thyne this daie of my departure out of this world 2. Such as I conceiue was the death of this great Patriarch a man elected to performe the most deare and louing offices that euer was or shall be performed to the Sōne of God saue those that were done by the Sacred Spouse the true naturall mother of the saied sonne of whom it is not possible to make a conceit that she died of any other kind of death then of loue A death the most noble of all and consequently due to the most noble life that euer was amongst creaturs A death whereof the very Angels would desire to die if die they could If the primatiue Christians were saied to haue but one heart and one soule by reason of their perfect mutuall loue If S. Paule liued not himselfe but IESVS CHRIST liued in him by reason of the close vnion of his heart to his Maisters wherby his soule was as dead in the heart which it quickened to liue in the heart of the Sauiour which it loued O Good God how much more true it is that the Sacred Virgin and her Sonne had but one soule one heart and one life so that this heauēly mother in liuing liued not but her sonne liued in her She was a mother the most louing and the most beloued that euer could be yea louing and beloued with a loue incomparably more eminent then that of all the Orders of Angels and men like as the names of an onely Mother and an onely Sonne are names passing all other names in matter of loue and I saie of an onely mother and an onely Sonne because all the other sonne◠of men doe diuide the acknowledgment of their production betwixt their Father and mother but in this sonne as all his humane birth depēds of his mother alone who alone contributed that which was requisite to the vertue of the holy Ghost for the cōception of this heauenly child so to her alone all the loue which sprung from that production was rendred as due In such sort that this Sonne and this mother were vnited in an vnion by so much more excellent as her name in loue is different and aboue all other names for which of the Seraphins can saie to our Sauiour thou art my true Sonne and as such I loue thee And to which of his creaturs did our Sauiour euer saie Thou art my true mother and as my true mother I loue thee Thou art my true mother entirely myne and I am thy true sonne wholy thyne And if a louing seruant durst and did indeede saie that he had no other life then his Maisters Alas how confidently and feruently might this mother proclame I haue no life but the life of my Sonne my life is wholy in his and his wholy in myne for there was not a meere vnion but an vnitie of hearts betwixt this mother and this sonne 3. And if this mother liued by her Sonns life she also died of her Sonns death for such as is the life such is the death The Phenix as the report goes growen very aged gathers together in the top of a mountaine a quantitie of aromaticall woods vpon which as vpon he bed of honour she goes to end her dayes for when the Sunne being at his highest doth streame out his hotest beames this most singular bird to contribute the aduantage of action to the Sunns ardour ceaseth not to beate with her wings vpon her bed till she haue made it take fire and burning with it she consumes and dies in those odoriferous flames In like manner THEO the virgin Marie hauing assembled in her heart all the most amiable Mysteries of the life and death of her sonne by a most liuely and continuall memorie of them and withall RECTA LINEA receiuing the most ardent inspirations which her Sonne the Sonne of Iustice darted vpon mortalls euen in the heate of his charitie And further of her part making a perpetuall motion of Contemplation in the end the sacred fire of this heauenly loue did wholy consume her as an Holocaust of sweetenesse so that she died of it her soule being altogether rauished and transported into the armes of her Sonns loue O death louingly vitall ô Loue vitally mortall 4. Many sacred Louers were present at our Sauiours death amongst whom such as did most loue did also most greeue for Loue was then sleeped in griefe and griefe in Loue and all such as were feruent in loue towards their Sauiour fell in loue with his passion and paine But the sweete mother who passed all in loue receiued a deeper wound from the sword of griefe then all the rest Her Sonns paine was then a sharp sword which rāne through his mothers heart it being glewed ioyned ād vnited to her sonns in so perfect an vnion that nothing could hurt the one which did not as deeply hurt the other Now this motherly heart being in this sort wounded with loue did not onely not seeke to haue her wound cured but euen loued her wound better then all cures dearely conseruing the darts of sorrow which she had receiued in her heart because it was loue that shot them at her and continually desiring to die of thē as her sonne died thereof who as the holy Scripturs and all the Doctours doe witenesse died amidst the flames of Charitie a perfect HOLOCAVST for all the sinnes of the world That the Glorious virgin died of an extreamely sweete and calme loue CHAPTER XIV 1. OF one side it is saied that our B. Ladie reuealed to S. Mathilda that the sickenesse whereof she died was no other thing then an impetuous assault of loue Yet S. Brigit and S. Iohn Damascen doe witnesse that she died an exceeding peaceable death and both are true THEOTIME 2. The starres are wonderfull delightfull to behold and cast out pleasing shines yet if you haue noted it they bring forth their rayes by way of gatterings sparklings and dartings as though they were deliuered of their light by trauell at diuers essayes whether it be that their weake light cannot keepe a continuall equalitie of action or
him to be vnited vnto him and enioyâ— his Loue But all in vaine she shall be as a womaÌ„ who in the panges of child-birth after she haue endured violent paines cruell conuulsions and intollerable panges dies in the end without being deliuered For as soone as the cleare and faire knowledge of the heauenly Beautie shall haue penetrated the vnderstandings of those infortunate wretches the Diuine Iustice shall in such sort depriue the will of her force that she can in no wise loue this obiect which the vnderstanding shall propose vnto her and make cleare to be so amiable and this sight which should beget in the will so great a Loue in lieu thereof shall engender an infinite desolation which shall be made eternall by a memorie of the Soueraigne Beautie they saw which shall for euer liue in these lost soules a memorie voyd of all good yea full of vexations paines torments and endlesse desperations For so much as in the soule shall be found both an imposiblitie yea and a dreadfull and euerlasting auersion and repugnance to loue this so wishfull an Excellencie So that the miserable damned shall liue for euer in a desperate rage to know so soueraignely amiable a perfection without all hope of euer being able to enioye or loue it because while they might haue loued it they would not they shall burne with a thrist so much more violeÌ„t by how much the remeÌ„braÌ„ce of this source of waters of eternall life shall more egge their ardour they shall die immortally as dogges of a famine by so much more vehement by how much their memorie shall more sharpen the insatiable crueltie thereof by calling to mind the heauenly banquet of which they were depriued The damned soules in foming rage Shall wither vp and drie away And nothing shall their griefe asswage VVhat ere their daring hearts essaye I dare not affirme for certaine that the view of Gods Beautie which the damned shall haue in the maÌ„ner of a flash of lightning shall be as bright as that of the Blessed yet shall it be so cleare that they shall see the sonne of maÌ„ in his Maiestie they shall see him whom they pierced and by the view of this glorie shall learne the greatnesse of their losse Ah if God had prohibited man to Loue what a torment would that haue bene to generous hearts what paines would they not vndertake to obtaine permission to Loue him DAVID entred into a very dangerous Combat to gaine the kings daughter and what did not IACOB doe to espouse RACHEL and the Prince SICHEM to haue DINA in marriage The damned would repute them selues Blessed if they could entertaine a hope euer to Loue God And the Blessed would esteeme themselues Damned if they harboured a thought that they should euer be depriued of this sacred Loue. 4. O Good God THEO how gustfull is the sweetenesse of this Commandement seeing that if it pleased the Diuine will to giue it to the damned they would in a moment be deliuered of their greatest misfortune and since the Blessed are not Blessed but by the practise of it ô heauenly Loue how louelie thou art in the fight of our soules And blessed be the Bountie of God for euer who so earnestly commands vs to Loue him though his Loue be otherwise most to be desired and necessarie to our Happinesse and that without it we must necessarily be vnhappie That this Diuine Commandement of Loue tends to Heauen yet is giuen to the faithfuâ—l in this world CHAPTER II. 1. If the law be not iÌ„posed on the iust maÌ„ because he preuenting the lawes and without the laâ—es sollicitation doth performe Gods will by the instinct of Charitie which raignes in his soule how free are we to esteeme the Blessed in Heauen from all commandements since that from the possession of the Bountie and Beautie of the Beloued in which they are a sweete yet ineuitable necessitie to Loue for euer the most holy Diuinitie doth streame out and runne vpon their hearts We shall Loue God aboue THEO not as being tyed and obliged by the law but as being allured and rauished with delight which this so perfectly an amiable obiect shall yeeld vnto our hearts Then the force of the Commandement will cease to the end it may giue place to the force of contentmentâ— which shall be the fruite and crowne of the obseruance of the Commandement We are therefore ordained to the contentment which is promissed vs in the immortall life by meanes of the Commandement giuen vnto vs in this our mortall life in which truely we are strictly bound to obserue it because it is the fundamentall law which the KING IESVS deliuered to the Citizens of this militant HIERVSALEM whereby they may merite the BVRGVERSHIP and ioye of the triumphant HIâ—RVSALEM 2. Certes aboue in heauen we shall haue a heart free from all passions a soule purified from all distractions a Spirit infranchised from contradictions and forces exempt from opposition and therefore we shall Loue God with a perpetuall and neuer interrupted affection as it is saied of the foure sacred beasts which representing the Euangelists doe incessantly praise the Diuinitie O God what a ioye when we being established in those eternall Tabernacles our Spirits shall be in this perpetuall motion in which they shall enioye the so much desired repose of their eternall dilection Happie who in thy Mansion liue And in all Seasons praises giue But we are not to aime at this Loue so exceedingly perfect in this life of death for as yet we haue neither the heart nor the soule nor the Spirit nor the forces of the Blessed It is sufficient for vs to Loue with all the heart and force which we haue While we are little children we are wise like little children we speake like children we Loue like children but when we shall come to our perfect groth aboue we shall be quit of our infancie and Loue God perfectly Yet are we not for all this THEO during the infancie of our mortall life to leaue to doe our best according as it is commanded since it is not onely in our power but is also most facile the whole Commandement being of Loue and of the Loue of God who as he is soueraignely good so is he soueraignely amiable How notwithstanding that the whole heart is imployed in sacred Loue yet one may Loue God diuersly and also many other things together with him CHAPTER III. 1. HE that saieth all excluds nothing and yet a man may be wholy Gods wholy his Fathers wholy his mothers wholy his Princes wholy his coÌ„mon-wealth's his children's his friend 's so that being wholy euery on 's yet he is wholy to all which happens for that the dutie by which a man is wholy on 's is not contrarie to the dutie by which a man is wholy an others 2. Man giues himselfe wholy by loue and with proportion to his loue he bestowes himselfe He is therefore in a soueraigne manner giuen to God when
when it dies to it selfe nor euer so much death as when it liues to it selfe 8. We haue freedome to doe good or euill yet to make choyce of euill is not to vse but to abuse our freedome Let vs renounce the accursed libertie and let vs for euer subiect our free-will to the rule of heauenly Loue let vs become slaues to Loue whose seruants are more happie then kings And if euer our soule should offer to imploye her libertie against our resolutioÌ„s of seruing God for euer and without reserue ô in that case for Gods sake let vs sacrifice our freewill and make it die to it selfe that it may liue to God He that in respect of selfe loue will keepe it in this world shall loose it in respect of eternall Loue in the other world and he that for the loue of God shall loose it in this world shall coÌ„serue it for the same loue in the next He that giues it libertie in this world shall find it a slaue in the other and he that shall make it a seruant to the Crosse in this world shall find it free in the next where being drunk vp in the fruition of the Diuine goodnesse libertie will be conuerted into loue and loue into libertie but libertie of an infinite sweetenesse without violeÌ„ce paine or repugnance at all we shall vnchangeably loue the Creatour and Sauiour of our soules Of the motiues we haue to holy Loue. CHAPTER XI 1. SAINT BONAVENTVRE Father Granado Father Lowis of Poâ—t Stella haue sufficiently discoursed vpon this subiect I will onely somme vp the points which I haue touched in this Treatise 2. The Diuine Goodnesse considered in it selfe is not onely the first motiue of all but withall the greatest the most noble and most puissant For it is that which doth rauish the Blessed and crowne their Felicitie How can one haue a heart and yet not loue so infinite a goodnesse This subiect is in some sort proposed in the 1. and 2. chap. of the 2. booke and from the 8. chap. of the 3. booke to the end and in the 9. chap. of the 10. booke 3. The 2. motiue is that of Gods supernaturall Prouidence creation and conseruation towards vs according as we haue saied in the 3. cha of the 2. booke 4. The 3. motiue is that of Gods supernaturall Prouidence ouer vs and of the Redemption which he prepared for vs as it is explicated in the 4. 5. 6. and 7. chap. of the 2. booke 5. The 4. motiue is to consider how God doth practise this Prouidence and Redemption giuing euery one the grace and assistance which is requisite to their Saluation which we handle in the 2. booke from the 8. chap. and in the 3. booke from the beginning till the 6. chap. 6. The 5. motiue is the eternall glorie prouided for vs by the diuine goodnesse which is the accomplishment of Gods benefits towards vs and is in some sort touched from the 9. chap. to the end of the 3. booke A profitable methode whereby we may imploy these methods CHAPTER XII 1. NOw to receiue from these motiues a profound and powerfull heate of loue we are after we haue once considered one of them in coÌ„mon to applie it in particular to our selues For example O how amiable this great God is who out of his infinite goodnesse gaue his sonne for the whole worlds redemption alas I for all in generall but also for me who am the first of offenders Ah he hath loued me yea I saie he hath loued euen me yea euen me my selfe such as I am and deliuered himselfe to death for me 2. Secondly we must consider the Diuine benefits in their first and eternall source O God Tâ—â—O what loue can we haue sufficiently worthy of the infinit goodnesse of our Creatour who froÌ„ all eternitie determined to create conserue gouerne redeeme saue and glorifie all in generall and in particular Ah what was I then when I was not my selfe I saie who now being some thing am yet but a simple and poore worme of the earth while yet God from the Abisse of his eternitie thought thoughts of benediction in my behalfe He considered and designed yea determined the houre of my birth of my baptisme of all the inspirations that he would bestow vpon me in a word for all the benefits which he would doe and offer me alas is there a sweetenesse like to this 3. Thirdly we must consider the Diuine benefits in their second meritorious source for doe you not know THEO that the high Priest of the law wore vpon his backe and bosome the names of the children of Israel that is the precious stones vpon which the chiefe of the Israelites were engraueÌ„ Ah behold IESVS our High Priest and consider him from the very instant of his conception how he bore vs vpon his shoulders vndertaking the charge to redeeme vs by his death and death of the Crosse ô THEO THEO this soule of our Sauiour knew vs all by name and surname but especially vpon the day of his passion when he offered his teares his praiers his blood and life for all he breathed in particular for thee these thoughts of loue Ah my eternall Father I take vpon me and to my charge all poore THEO sinns to vndergoe torments and death that he may be freed from them and that he may not perish but liue Let me die so he may liue let me be crucified so that he may be glorified ô the soueraigne Loue of IESVS his heart what heart can euer blesse thee so deuotely as it ought 4. So within his fatherly breast his Diuine heart foresaw disposed merited and obtained all the benefits which we haue not onely in generall for all but also in particular for euery one and his sweete dugges prouided for vs the milke of his motions draughtes inspiratioÌ„s and sweetenesse by which he doth draw conduct and nurish our hearts to eternall life Benefits doe not in â—â—ame vs vnlesse we behold the eternall will which ordaines them for vs and the heart of our Sauiour that merited them for vs by so many paines especially in his death and passion That the Mount of Caluarie is the true Academie of Loue. CHAPTER XIII 1. NOw in finall conclusion the death and PassioÌ„ of our Sauiour is the sweetest aÌ„d yet most violent motiue that caÌ„ animate our hearts in this mortall life And it is the very truth that mysticall Bees make their most excelleÌ„t honie within this Lyon's wouÌ„d of the Tribe of Iuda but chered rent and torne vpon the Mount of Caluarie and the children of the Crosse glorie in their admirable Probleme which the word vnderstaÌ„ds not Oâ—t of all deuouring death râ—se the life of our consolation and out of death which is the strongest of all things the honie sweetenesse of our loue did issue O IESVS my Sauiour how amiable is thy death since it is the soueraigne effect of thy Loue. 2. And indeede aboue in heauenly glorie next to the motiue of the diuine goodnesse knowne aÌ„d coÌ„siâ—erâ—d in it selfe that of the death of our Sauiour shall be the most powerfull to rauish the hearts of the Blessed with the loue of God in signe whereof MOYSES and HELIE in the Transfiguration which was a scantling of glorie spoke with our Sauiour of the Excesse which he was to accomplish in Hierusalem but of what excesse if not of that excesse of Loue by which life was forced from the Louer to be bestowed vpon the beloued So that in the eternall Canticle I imagine that ioyfull acclamation will be iterated each moment Lâ—ue IESVS liue whose death doth prooue What is the force of heauenly loue 3. THEO the mount Caluarie is the mount of Louers All loue that begi s not from our Sauiours Passion is friuolous and dangerous Accursed is death without the Loue of our Sauiour Accursed is Loue without the death of our Sauiour Loue and death are so mingled in the passion of our Sauiour that one cannot haue the one in his heart without the other Vpon Caluarie one caÌ„not haue life without Loue nor loue without the death of our Redeemour But out of that all is either eternall death or eternall Loue Christian wisdome consisteth in making a good choice and to assist you in that I vndertookâ— this Treatise my THâ—O While this short day doth last Make choice ô man thou mayst To liue eternally Or else for ere to dye It is the Heauens Decree There should no middle be O eternall Loue my soule doth desire and make choice of thee eternally ah come ô holy Ghost and inflame our hearts with thy Loue Either loue or die die or loue To die to all other Loue to liue to that of IESVS that we may not eternally die but that liuing in thy eternall loue ô Sauiour of our soules we may eternally singe VIVE IESVS I loue IESVS liue IESVS whom I loue I loue IESVS who liueth and raigneth for euer and euen Amen 4. These things THEO which by the grace and helpe of Charitie haue bene written to your Charitie I beseech GOD they may take roote in your heart that this Charitie may find in you the fruits of holy workes not the leaues of prayses Amen God be blessed Thus I shut vp this whole Treatise in the words with which S. AVGVSTINE ended his admirable sermon of Charitie made before an illustrious assemblie The end of this present Treatise ERRATA Pag Lin Faults Coâ—rectâ—â— 9 28 it being desired if being desired 28 7 Hâ—rodiadas Herodias 45 16 this in this 51 22 Alliance Couenant 58 23 expired breathed out 63 33 Principale prâ—nciple 64 9 soules soule 88 33 peace peece 128 8 her herselfe 169 14 or where 188 21 begiues giues 109 4 light a True God Light true God 209 18 their his 237 28 Seeing a Seer 266 17 owes ewes 293 11 deseased deceased 332 3 for for we neuer loue that which 334 8 uen heauen 359 14 exteriour interiour 381 27 Pallas Pallace 393 32 And to it this And this is it 430 1 Maisters Maisters Passion 461 12 Epthitheme Eâ—itheme 479 19 Pipins Kernells 546 18 at and 568 30 to Gods submissioÌ„ to God submissioÌ„ 592 24 Sauâ—our out Sauiour brought him out 603 6 God good 660 13 honie oyle 694 7 Charitie Chastitie 788 17 word world
faith ch 13. 121 Of the feeling of the Diuine loue which is had by faith chap. 14. 126 Of the great feeling of loue which we receiue by holy hope chap. 15. 130 How loue is practised in hope ch 16. 133 That the Loue which is practised in hope is very good though imperfect cha 17. 137 That loue is exercised in penance and first that there are diuerse sorts of penance ch 18. 141 That Penance without loue is imperfect ch 19 146 How there is mixture of Loue and sorrow in Contrition chap. 20. pag. 148 How our Sauiour louing inspirations doe assist and accompanie vs to faith and charitie chap. 21. 154 A short description of Charitie cha 22. 159 THE TABLE OF THE Third Booke OF THE PROGRESSE AND Perfection of Loue. THat holy loue may be augmented still more and more in euery of vs. chap. 1. pag. 162 How easie our Sauiour hath made the encrease of loue ch 2. pag. 166 How a soule in Charitie makes progresse in it chap. 3. pag. 170 Touching holy perseuerance in sacred Loue. ch 4. 178 That the happinesse to die in heauenly Charitie is a speciall gift of God chap. 5. 182 That we cannot attaine to a perfect vnion with God in this mortall life ch 6. 186 That the Charitie of Saints in this mortall life doth equalise yea sometimes passe that of the Blessed chap. 7. pag. 189 Of the incomparable loue of the mother of God our B. Lady chap. 8. 191 A Preparation to the discourse of the vnion of the Blessed with God chap. 9. 196 That the precedent desire shall much encrease the vnion of the Blessed with God ch 10. 200 Of the Vnion of the Blessed soules with God in seeing the Diuinitie chap. 11. 202 Of the eternall vnion of the blessed spirits with God in the vision of the eternall birth of the Sonne of God chap. 12. pag. 206 Of the vnion of the Blessed with God in the vision of the Holy Ghost's production ch 13. 209 That the Light of Glorie shall concurre to the vnion of the Blessed with God chap. 14. 213 That there shall be different degrees of the vnion of the Blessed with God chap. 15. 215 THE TABLE OF THE Fourth Booke OF THE DECAY OR RVINE of Charitie THat while we are in this mortall life we may loose the loue of God chap 1. pag. 219 How the soule waxeth coole in holy Loue. chap. 2. pag. 223 Hâ—w we forsake heauenâ—y loue for that of Creaturs chap. 3. pag. 227 That heauenly loue is lost in a moment chap. 4. pag. 232 That the sole cause of the decay and slackening of Charitie is in the creaturs will chap. 5. pag. 235 That we ought to acknowledge the loue we beare to God to be from God chap. 6. pag. 239 That we must auoide all curiositie and humbly repose in Gods most wise prouidence chap 7. pag. 244. An exhortation to the affectionat submission which we are to make to the Decrees of the diuine prouidence chap. 8. pag 249 Of a certaine remainder of loue which oftentimes stayes in the soule t at hath lost Charitie chap. 9. pag 254 How dangerous this imperfect loue is chap 10. pag 258 A meanes to discerne this imperfect Loue. chap. 11. pag. 260 THE TABLE OF THE Fift Booke OF THE TWO PRINCIPAL EXERcises of holy loue performed by complacence and beneuolence OF the sacred Complacence of loue and first in what it consisteth chap. 1. pag. 264 How by holy complacence we are made as little children at our Sauiours breasts chap. 2. pag. 269 That a holy complacence giues our heart to God and makes vs feele a continuall desire in enioying him chap. 3. pag. 274 Of a louing condoling by which the complacence of loue is better declared chap. 4. 280 Of the commiseration and Complacence of loue in our Sauiours Passion chap. 5. 284 Of the Loue of Beneuolence which we exercise towards our Sauiour by way of desire chap. 6. 288 How the desire to exalte and magnifie God doth separate vs from inferiour pleasures and makes vs attentiue to the Diuine perfections chap. 7. 291 How holy Beneuolence doth produce the Diuine well-beloueds Praises chap. 8. 294 How Beneuolence makes vs inuoke all Creaturs to God's Praise chap. 9. 300 How the desire we haue to praise God makes vs aspire to heauen chap. 10. 303 How we practise the Loue of Beneuolence in the praises which our Sauiour and his mother giue to God chap. 11. 307 Of the soueraigne praise which God giues vnto himselfe and how we exercise Beneuolence in it chap. 12. pag. 312 THE TABLE OF THE Sixt Booke OF THE EXERCISES OF HOLY Loue in Praier A Description of mysticall Diuinitie which is no other thing then praier chap. 1. pag. 317 Of Meditation the first degree of Praier or mysticall Diuinitie chap. 2. 323 A description of contemplation and touching the first difference that there is betwixt it and meditation chap. 3. pag. 329 That loue in this life takes his origine but not his excellencie from the knowledge of God chap. 4. 331 The second difference betwixt meditation and contemplation chap. 5. 336 That we doe contemplate without paine which it a third difference betwixt it and meditation chap. 6. 340 Of the louing recollection of the Soule in Contemplation chap. 7. 345 Of the repose of a soule recollected in her well-beleeued chap. 8. 350 How this sacred repose is practised chap. 9. 354 Of diuers degrees of this repose and how it is to be conserued chap. 10. 357 A continuation of the discourse touching the diuers degrees of holy repose and of any excellent abnegation of a mans selfe practised therein chap. 11. 360 Of the melting and liquifaction of the soule in God cha 12. pag. 365 Of the wound of loue chap. 13. 370 Of some other meanes by which loue wounds the heart chap. 14. 375 Of the amourous languishment of the heart wounded with loue chap. 15. 380 THE TABLE OF THE Seauenth Booke OF THE VNION OF THE SOVLE with her God which is Perfected in Praier HOw loue vnits the soule to God in Praier chap. 1. pag. 388 Of the diuers degrees of the holy vnion which is made in Praier ch 2. pag. 395 Of the soueraigne degree of vnion by suspension or rauishment ch 3. 400 Of Rapture and of the first species of the same chap. 4. pag. 406. Of the second Species of Rapture ch 5. 409 Of the signes of a good Rapture and of the third species of the same ch 6. 412 How Loue is the life of the soule with a continuation of the extaticall life ch 7. 417 An admirable eâ—â—â—ertation of S. Paule to the extaticall and supernaturall life ch 8. 420 Of the supreame effect of affectiue loue which is the death of Louers and first of such as died in loue chap. 9. pag. 425 Of some that died by and for Diuine Loue. chap. 10. pag. 429. How some of the heauenly Louers died euen of Loue. ch 11 pag 431.
two proofes by two reprochlesse witnesses that STOIKES were touched with Feare and with Feare which doth leaue it's effects in the Eyes Face and Countenance and is consequently a Passion 5. Ah greate follie to wish to be wise by a wisdome which is not possible Truely the Church hath cōdemned the Follie of this wisdome which certaine presumptuous ANCORITS would haue long agoe introduced against which the whole Scripture but especially the great APOSTLE crieth out That we haue a law in our bodie which resisteth the law of our mind Amongst vs Christians saieth that great S. AVGVSTINE according to holy Scripture and Sound doctrine the Citizens of the sacred Citie of God whose liues are agreeable to Gods owne heart in the pilgrimage of this world doe Feare Desire Greeue Reioice Yea euen the soueraigne King of this Citie did Feare Desire Greeue Reioice euen to teares palenesse trembling sweating of blood though in him these were not the motions of Passions like to ours whence the great S. HIEROME and after him the Schoole durst not there vsurpe the name Passions for reuerence of the person in whome they were but the respectfull name PRO-PASSIONS to testifie that sensible motions in our Sauiour held the place of Passions though they were not such indeede seeing that he suffered or sustained nothing by them saue that which was thought good to him and in manner which liked him best gouerning and guiding them at his pleasure which we sinners cannot doe who suffer and endure these Motions with disorder against our wills to the great preiudice of the good estate and pollicie of our soule That loue rules ouer all the affections and passions yea gouerns the will albeit the will hath also a dominion ouer it CHAPTER IIII. 1. LOue being the first complacence which we take in good as we will presently shew certes it preceedes desire and in deede what other thing is it which we Desire but that which we Loue It forerunes Delectation for how could we reioice in the fruition of a thing if we loued it not it goes before Hope for we hope for nothing but the Good which we loue it preuents Hatred for we hate not euill but in respect of the good which we loue nor is euill euill but because it is contrarie to good And THEOTIME it is the like touching all other passions and affections for they doe all flow from loue as from their source and roote 2. For which cause the other passions and affections are good vitious or vertuous according as the Loue whence they proceede is good or bad For Loue doth so bedewe them with her owne qualities that they seeme to be no other then very Loue it selfe S. AVGVSTINE reducing all these passions to foure as did also BOETIVS CICERO VIRGIL with the greatest part of the Auncients Loue saieth he tending to the possession of that he loues is termed Concupiscence or Desire hauing and possessing it t' is called Ioie flying that which is contrarie to him is named Feare but if Loue perceiue it arriued he puts on the name of Griefe and consequently these passiōs are Euill if the Loue be Euill Good if it be Good The Citizēs of the heauēlie Citie doe Feare Desire Greeue Ioie and because their loue is iust all their affections are also iust Christian doctrine doth subiect the Reason to God to th' end he should guide and succour it and to the Reason all the passiōs that it may bridle and moderate them so that they might be conuerted to the seruice of iustice and vertue The rectified will is the good loue the disordred will is the euill loue That is to saie in a word THEOTIME Loue hath such dominion ouer the will that he makes her iust such as he is 3. The wife doth ordinarily change her condition into that of her Husband becoming noble if he be noble Queene if he be King Dutches if he be Ducke The will doth also change her condition into that of Loue which she espouseth if he be carnall she becomes carnall if spirituall she turnes spirituall and all the affections Desire Ioie Hope Feare Griefe as issues of the mariage betwixt Loue and the will doe consequently receiue their qualities frō Loue to be short THEOTIME the will is not moued but by her affections amongst which Loue as the PRIMVM MOBILE and prime affection giues motion to all the rest and causeth all the other motions of the soule 4. Nor doth it follow hence that the will doth not also rule ouer Loue seeing that the will doth not Loue but in willing to Loue and that of the diuersitie of Loues which present them selues she can apply her selfe to which she list otherwise Loue would neither be prohibited nor commanded She is then Mistresse ouer Loues as a Dāfelle ouer her Suters amongst which she may make election of whom she pleaseth But as after the mariage she looseth her libertie and of Mistresse becomes subiect to her Husbands power remaining taken by him whom she tooke so the will which at her owne pleasure made election of Loue after she hath embraced any one she remaine subiect to him And as the wife is still subiect to the Husband which she hath chosen so long as he shall liue doth after her Husbands death regaine her precedent libertie to marrie an other so while one Loue liues in the will it reignes there and the will is subiect to his motions but if this Loue come to die she can afterwards take an other And againe there is a libertie in the will which a wife hath not and it is that the will can reiect her Loue at her pleasure by applying her vnderstanding to motiues which makes it disgustfull and by vndertaking to chainge the obiect For in this manner to make the diuine Loue liue and reigne in vs we ought to mortifie Proper Loue if we cannot altogether annihilate it at least we must weaken it in such sort that though it liue yet it doe not reigne in vs. As contrariwise in forsaking Diuine Loue we may adheare to that of creaturs which is that infamous adulterie wherewith the Diuine Loue doth so often reproch sinners Of the affections of the will CHAPTER V. 1. THere is no lesse motion in the Intellectuall or Reasonable appetite which is called the will then there is in the Sensitiue or Sensuall but those are customarily named Affections these Passions The Philosophers and Pagans did in some sort loue God their Common wealth Vertue Sciences they hated Vice aspired after Honours expected not to escape Death or Calumnie were desirous of knowledge yea euen of Beatitude after Death They did encourage them selues to surmount the difficulties which did crosse the way of Vertue dreaded Blame fled diuers Faultes reuenged publicke Iniuries disdained Tyrants without any proper interest Now all these Motions were seated in the Reasonable part syth that neither the Senses nor consequently the Sensuall appetits are capable of application to these obiects and therefore
Mother of faire Dilection and altogether most entirely perfect There were also for certaine others some speciall fauours After this the soueraigne Bountie poured an abundance of graces and benedictions vpon the whole race of mankind and the nature of Angels with which all were watered as with a light which illuminateth euery man comming into this world euery one receiued their portion as of seed which falls not onely vpon the good ground but vpon the high way amōgst thornes and vpō rockes that all might be vnexcusable before the Redeemour if they should not imploy this most aboundant Redemption for their soules health 2. But albeit THEOTIME that this most aboundant sufficiencie of grace be thus poured vpon all humane nature and that in this we are all equall that a rich aboundāce of benedictions is presented to vs all yet the varietie of these fauours is so great that one cannot saie whether the greatnesse of these graces in so great a diuersitie or the diuersitie in such greatnesses be more admirable For who sees not that the meanes of Saluation amongst Christians are greater and more efficacious then amongst Barbarians and againe that amongst Christians there are People and Townes where the Pastors are more profitable and capable Now to denie that these exteriour meanes were benefits of the diuine Prouidence or to doubt whether they did auaile to the saluatiō and perfection of soules were to be vngratfull to the diuine Bountie and belye certaine experience by which we see that ordinarily where these exteriour helpes abound the interiour are more efficacious and succeede better 3. Certes as we see that there are neuer found two men perfectly resembling th' one thother in naturall giftes so are there neuer any found wholy equall in supernaturall ones The Angels as great S. AVGVSTINE and S. THOMAS assure vs receiued grace with proportion to the varietie of their naturall conditions Now they are all either of a different species or at least of a different condition being they are distinguished one from another therfore according to the diuersitie of Angels there are different graces And though grace is not giuen to men according to their naturall conditions yet the diuine sweetenesse ioyeth and as one would saie exulteth in the production of graces infinitly diuersifying them to the end that out of his varietie the faire enamell of his Redemption and mercy might appeare whence the Church vpon the Feasts of euery Confessour and Bishop doth sing There was not found the like to him and as in heauen none knowes the new name saue him that receiues it because ech one of the Blessed hath his owne a part according to the new beeing of glorie which he attained So in earth euery one doth receiue a grace so particular that all are diuerse Our Sauiour doth also compare his grace to Pearles which as Plinnie saith are otherwise called Vnions because euery one of them are so singular in their qualities that neuer two of them are found perfectly like And as one starre is different from another in brightnesse so shall one passe another in glorie a sure signe of their aduantage in Grace Now this varietie in Grace or this grace in varietie composeth a most sacred beautie and most sweete harmonie reioysing all the holy citie of the heauenly Hierusalem 4. But we must be very warie neuer to make enquirie why the supreame wisdome bestowes a GRACE rather vpon one thē another nor why she makes her fauours abound rather in one behalfe thē another No THEOTIME neuer enter into this curiositie For hauing all of vs sufficiently yea abundantly that which is requisite to saluation what reason can any creature liuing haue to complaine if it please God to bestow his graces more amply vpon one then another If one should demand why God made MELONS greater then STRAWBEARIES or LYLIES greater then VIOLETS why ROSMARIE is not a ROSE or why the Clouegillow flour is not a Turnesole why the Peacocke is more beautifull then the Rate or why the Figue is sweete and the Lemmā sourishe one would laugh at such demandes and saie poore man sith the beautie of the world doth require varietie it is necessarie there should be difference and inequalitie in things and that the one should not be thother For which cause the one is little th' other great the one bitter the other sweete the one more the other lesse faire Now it is the same in supernaturall things euery one hath his gifte one thus and another thus saieth the Holy Ghost It is then an impertinencie to search why S. PAVLE had not the grace of S. PETER or S. PETER that of S. PAVLE why S. ANTONIE was not S. ATHANASIVS or he S. HIEROME for one would answere these demands that the Church is a garden diapred with infinite flowers it was necessary then they should be of diuerse quantities diuerse coulours diuerse odours in fine of different perfections euery of them haue their worth grace and beautie and all of them in the collection of their varieties doe make vp a most gratefull perfection of beautie How much God desires we should loue him CHAPTER VIII 1. ALthough our Sauiours Redemption be applyed vnto vs in as many different manners as there be soules yet so notwithstanding that the vniuersall meanes of our Saluation is Loue which goes through all and without which nothing is profitable as elsewhere we shall declare The Cherubin was placed at the gate of the earthlie Paradice with his firie sword to teach vs that none shall enter into the heauenlie Paradice who is not pearced through with the sword of loue For this cause THEOTIME the sweete IESVS who bought vs with his blood desireth infinitly that we should loue him that we might eternally be saued and desires we might be saued that we might loue him eternally his loue tending to our saluation and our saluation to his loue Ah saieth he I came to put fire into the world to what end but that it should burne But to set out more to the life the vehemencie of his desire he commandeth vs this loue in admirable termes Thou shalt loue saieth he the Lord thy God with all thy heart with all thy soule with all thy force this is the first and greatest Commandement Good God THEOTIME how amourous the diuine heart is of our loue had it not bene sufficient to haue published a permission by which we might haue had leaue to loue him as LABAN permitted Iacob to loue his faire RACHEL and to gaine her by seruices ah no! he made a further declaration of his amourous passion of loue to vs and commandes vs to loue him with all our powre least the consideration of his maiestie and our miserie which puts vs in so great a distance and inequalitie or other pretext whatsoeuer might diuert vs from his loue In which THEOTIME he well shewes that he did not leaue in vs a naturall inclination to loue for nothing For to th' end it might not
be idle he vrgeth vs by this generall commandement to imploy it and to th' end this commandement might haue effect he furniseth euery liuing creature abundantly with all meanes requisite thervnto The visible Sunne toucheth euery thing with his liuely heate and as the common louer of things belowe doth impart vnto them requisite vigour to produce And euen so the diuine goodnesse doth animate all soules and encourage all hearts to her loue none at all being shut vp from her heate The eternall wisdome sayeth Salomon preacheth in publicke she makes her voice resoūd amōgst the places she cries ād recries before the people she pronoūceth her words in the gates of the Citie saying ô children how long will it be that you will loue your infancie how long will fooles desire hurtfull things and the imprudent hate knowledge Conuert your selues returne to me vpon this aduertissement ah behould how I profer you my spirit and I will shew you my wordes And the same wisdome pursueth in EZECHIEL saying Let no man saye I am dead in sinne and how cā I recouer life againe Ah no! for harke God saieth I am liuing and as true as I liue I will not the death of a sinner but that he be conuerted and liue Now to liue according to God is to loue and he that loues not remaines in death See now THEOTIME whether God doth not desire we should loue him 2. But he is not content to denounce in this manner publickly his great desire to be loued so that euery one might receiue a part of the seedes of his loue but he goes euen from doore to doore knocking and beating protesting that if any one open he will enter and suppe with him that is he will testifie all sorts of good will towards him 3. But what would all this saie THEOTIME but that God doth not onely giue vs a meere sufficiencie of meanes to loue him and in louing him to saue our selues but euen a rich ample and magnificent sufficiencie and such as ought to be expected from so great a bountie as his The great Apostle speaking to the obstinate sinner Dost thou contemne saieth he the riches of the bountie patience and longanimitie of God art thou ignorant that the benignitie of God doth draw thee to penāce But thou according to thy hardnesse ād impenitēt heart dost heape vp against thy selfe anger in the day of Anger My deare THEO God doth not therfore exercise a meere sufficiencie of remedies to conuert the obstinate but imployes to this end the riches of his bountie The Apostle as you see doth oppose the riches of God's goodnesse against the treasurs of the impenitēt hearts malice and saieth that the malicious heart is so rich in iniquitie that he despiseth euē the riches of Gods mildnesse by which he drawes him to repentance and marke that the obstinate doth not onely contemne the riches of God's goodnesse but euē riches attractiue to repentance Riches wherof one cānot well be ignorant verily this rich heape and abundant sufficiencie of meanes which God freely bestoweth vpon sinners to loue him doth appeare almost through the whole Scripture For see this diuine Louer at the gate he doth not simply beate but stayes beating he calls the Soule goe to rise my well-beloued dispach put thy hād to the locke to try whether it will open When he preacheth amidst the places he doth not simply preach but goes crying out that is he continues his crie and when he proclaims that euery one should conuert themselues he thinkes he hath neuer repeated it sufficiently Conuert your selues conuert your selues doe penance returne to me liue why dost thou die ô house of Israel In conclusion this heauenlie Sauiour forgets nothing to shew that his mercyes are aboue all his workes that his mercy doth surpasse his Iudgment that his Redemption is copious that his loue is infinite and as the Apostle saieth that he is rich in mercy and by consequence that his will is that all men should be saued none perish How the eternall loue of God doth preuent our hearts with his inspirations to th' end we might loue him CHAPTER IX 1. I Haue loued thee with a perpetuall charitie ād therfore haue drawen thee vnto me hauing pitie and mercy vpon thee and againe I will reedifie thee and thou shalt be built againe virgin of ISRAEL These are God's wordes by which he promiseth that the Sauiour coming into the world shall establish a new raigne in his Church which shall be his Virgin-spouse and true spirituall Israëlite 2. Now as you see THEOT it was not by any merit of the workes which we had done that he saued vs but according to his mercy his auncient yea eternall charitie which moued his diuine Prouidence to draw vs vnto him For if the father had not drawne vs we had neuer come to the Sonne our Sauiour nor consequently to saluation 3. There are certaine birds THEOT which Aristotle calls Apodes for that their legges being extreamly short and their feete feable they haue no more vse of them then though they had none at all so that if at any time they light vpon the groūd they are caught neuer after being able to take flight because hauing no seruice of their legges or feete they haue no further power to rayse and regaine themselues into the ayre but remaine there peuling and dying vnlesse some winde fauorable to their impotencie sending out his blastes vpon the face of the earth sease vpon them and beare them vp as it doth many other things For then making vse of their winges they correspond to this first touch and motion which the winde gaue them it also continewing it's assistance towards them bringing them by little and little to flight 4. THEO Angels are like to the birds which for their beautie and raritie are called birds of Paradice neuer seene in earth but dead For those heauenlie spirits had no sooner forsaken Diuine loue to be fixed vpon Selfe loue till sodainely they fell as dead buried in Hell seeing that the same effect which death hath in men seperating them euerlastingly from this mortall life the same had the Angels fall in them excluding them for euer from eternall life But we mortalls doe rather resemble Apodes For if it chance that we quitting the ayre of holy and diuine loue fall vpon the earth and adheare to creaturs which we doe as often as we offend God we die indeede yet not so absolute a death that there resteth in vs no motiō together with legges and feete to wit some weake affectiōs which enableth vs to make some essaies of loue yet so weakly that in trueth we are impotēt of our selues to reclaime our hearts from sinne or restore our selues to the flight of sacred loue which catifs that we are we haue perfideously and voluntarily forsaken 5. And truely we should well deserue to remaine abandoned of God sith we haue disloyally abandoned him but his eternall charitie doth often not
of Paula and they stood in neede of a thousand sundrie kinds of assistāces according to the varietie of the aduenturs of their Pilgrimage and the sharpnesse of it 4. Howbeit Perseuerance is a gift the most to be desired of any thing we can hope for in this life and which as he Councell of Trent saieth we cannot haue but from the hand of God who onely can assure him that stand's and helpe him vp that falls Wherfore we must incessantly demand it making vse of the meanes which our Sauiour hath tought vs to the obtaining of it Praier Fasting Almes deedes frequenting the Sacraments conuersation with the good the hearing and reading of pious lessons 5. Now sithens the gift of Praier and deuotion is liberally granted to all thar freely doe consent to diuine inspirations it is consequently in our power to perseuer Yet not so that I would hence inferre that Perseuerāce hath her beginning from our power for contrariwise I know she doth spring from God's mercy whose most precious gift she is but I would saie that though she doth not proceede frō our power yet comes she within the compasse of it by meanes of our will which we cannot denie to be in our power for be it that Gods grace is necessarie for vs to will to perseuer yet is this will in our power because heauenly grace is neuer manting to our will while our will is not wanting to our power And indeede according to the great S. BERNARD'S opinion we may truely saie with the Apostle That neither death nor life nor Angels neither depth nor hight can separate vs from the Charitie of God which is in Iesus Christ no for no creature can take vs away by force from this holy Loue but we onely can forsake and abandon it by our owne will nor is there any other thing in this behalfe to be feared 6. So THEO following the aduise of the holy Councell we ought to place our whole hope in God who will perfect the work of our Saluation which he hath begun in vs if we be not wanting to his grace for we are not to thinke that he who saied to the Paralitike goe and sinne not gaue him not also power to auoide that which he did prohibit him and surely he would neuer exhort the faithfull to perseuer if he were not ready to furnish them with power required therto Be faithfull till death saied he to the Bishop of SMIRNA and I will giue thee a crowne of Glorie be diligent and remaine in faith labour couragiously and comfort your selues doe all your workes in Charitie runne so that you may obtaine the Prise We must eftsonnes with the great king demand of God the heauenly gift of Perseuerance and hope that he will grant it vs. Doe not permit thy seruant 's fall O Lord my onely HOPE my ALL In th-winter of this mortall day But when vntired time shall hasle To render back to th-earth the waste Of what I was be thou my stay That the happinesse to die in heauenly Charitie is a speciall gift of God CHAPTER V. 1. VVHen the heauenly king hath brought the soule which he loueth to the end of this life he doth not cease to assist her also in her blessed departure by which he drawes her to the mariage bed of eternall glorie which is the delicious fruite of holy Perseuerance And then deare THEO this soule wholy rauished with the loue of her well-beloued putting before her eyes the multitude of fauours and succours wherwith she was preuented and helped while she is yet in her pilgrimage she doth incessantly kisse this sweete helping hand which cōducted drew and supported her in the way and confesseth that it is of this diuine Sauiour that she holds her felicitie seeing he had done for her all that the Patriarch IACOB wished for his iorney at such time as he saw the Ladder to heauen O Lord saieth she then thou wast with me and guided me in the way by which I came Thou fedst me with the bread of thy Sacraments thou clothed'st me with the wedding garment of Charitie thou hast happily conducted me to this MANSION OF GLORIE which is thy HOVSE ô my eternall Father What remaines ô Lord saue that I should protest that thou art my God for euer and euer Amen O God my Lord my God for euer deare Thy hand hath bene my stay thy sacred grace My surest Guide and did me vpwards reare To the honour of thy heauenly MANSION PLACE Thus then we walke to eternall life for the accomplishment of which the Diuine Prouidence ordained the number distinction and succession of graces necessarie to it with their dependance of one another 2. He willed first with a true will that euen after the sinne of ADAM all men should be saued but vpon termes and by meanes agreeable to the condition of their nature endewed with free-will that is to saie he willed the saluation of all those that would contribute their consent to the graces and fauours which he prepared offered and distributed to this end 3. Now amongst these fauours his will was that VOCATION should be the first and that it should be so accommodated to our LIBERTIE that we might at our pleasure accept or reiect it and such as he saw would receiue it he would furnish with the sacred motions of PENANCE and determined to giue Charitie to such as should second these motions to those againe that were in Charitie he purposed to supplie with helpes necessarie to PERSEVERANCE and to such as should make vse of these diuine helpes he resolued to impart finall Perseuerance and the glorious FELICITIE of his eternall Loue. 4. And thus we may giue a reason of the order which is found in the effects of PROVIDENCE tending to saluation descending from the first to the last that is from the fruite which is GLORIE to the roote of this faire tree which is our Sauiours REDEMPTION For the Diuine Bountie doth follow MERITS with GLORIE CHARITIE with merits PENNANCE with CHARITIE OBEDIENCE to the first Vocation with Penance The VOCATION with obediēce to the vocation and our Sauiours REDEMPTION with a vocation vpon which Iacobs mysticall ladder doth rest as well towards heauē it ending in the louing bosome of the eternall Father in which he doth receiue and glorifie the Elect as also towards the earth being planted vpon the besome and pearsed side of our Sauiour who for this cause died vpon the Mont-Caluarie 5. And that this continuance of the effects of Prouidence was thus ordained with the same dependance which they haue of one another in the eternall will of God the Holy Church in the preface of one of her solemne Praiers doth witnesse in these words O ETERNALL and Almightie God who art Lord of the liuing and dead and art mercifull to all those whom thou foreseest are to be thine by faith and works as though she had acknowledged that Glorie which is the encrease and fruite of Gods Mercy towards
admirable in their Maiestie if they were set at a lesse distance with our capacitie 4. Let vs crie out then THEO in all occurrences but let it be with an affectionat heart towards the most wise most puissant and most sweete prouidence of our eternall father O the depth of the riches wisdome ād knowledge of God O Sauiour IHESVS THEOT how excessiue are the riches of of the diuine goodnesse His loue towards vs is an incomprehensible Abisse whence he hath prouided for vs a rich sufficiencie or rather a rich abundance of meanes proper for our saluation ād sweetely to applie them he makes vse of a soueraigne wisdome hauing by his infinit knowledge foreseene and knowen all that was requisite to that effect Ah what can we feare nay rather what ought not we to hope for being the children of a father so rich in goodnesse to loue and desire to saue vs so vnderstanding to prouide meanes cōueniēt so wise to applie thē so good to will so cleare sighted to ordaine and so prudent to execute 5. Let vs neuer permit our minds to flutter by curiositie about Gods iudgemēts for as little Butterflies we shall burne our wings ād perish in this sacred flame These iudgmēts are incōprehensible or as S. GREGORIE Nazianzen saieth inscrutable that is one cannot search and sound the motiues the meanes and wayes by which he doth execute and finish them cannot be discerned and knowen And though the power of smelling be neuer so perfect in vs yet shall we at euery turne be at default not finding the sent for who can penetrate the sense the vnderstanding and intention of God Who was euer his Consellour to know his purposes and their motiues or who did euer preuent him with seruice Is it not he contrariwise who doth preuent vs in the benedictions of his grace to crowne vs with the felicitie of his glorie ah THEO all things are from him as being their Creatour all things are by him as being their Gouernour all things are in him as being their Protectour To him be honour for euer and euer Let vs walke in peace THEO in the waye of holy loue for he that shall enioye diuine loue in dying after death shall enioye loue eternally Of a certaine remainder of loue which oftentimes stayes in the soule that hath lost Charitie CHAPTER IX 1. THe life of a man who languishing on his deathes bed by little and little decaies doth hardly deserue to be termed life sith that though it be life yet is it so mingled with death that it is hard to saie whether it is a death as yet liuing or a life dying Alas how pitifull a spectacle it is THE but farre more lamentable is the state of a soule which vngratfull to her Sauiour goes hourely backward withdrawing her-selfe from God's loue by certaine degrees of indeuotion and disloyaltie till at length hauing quite forsaken it she is left in the horrible obscuritie of perdition and this loue which is in it's declining and which fades and perisheth is called imperfect loue because though it be entire in the soule yet seemes it not to be entirely that is it hardly keepes in the soule any longer but is vpon the point of forsaking it Now Charitie being separated from the soule by sinne there remaines oftentimes a certaine resemblance of Charitie which doth deceiue and put vs into a vaine muse and I will tell you what it is Charitie while it is in vs produceth many actions of loue towards God by the frequent exercise whereof our soule gets a habit and custome of louing God which is not Charitie but onely an impression and inclination which the multitude of actions leaues in our hearts 2. After a long habit of preaching or saying Masse deliberatly it happens often that in dreaming we vtter and speake the same things which we would saie in preaching or celebrating so that custome and habit acquired by election and vertue is in some sort afterward practised without election or vertue sith the actions of such as sleepe generally speaking haue nothing of vertue saue onely an apparent image and are onely the similitudes or representations thereof So charitie by the multitude of actes which she produceth doth imprīt in vs a certaine facilitie to loue which she leaues in vs euē after we are depriued of her presence I remember when I was a young scholler that in a village neare Paris there was a certaine well with an ECHO which would repeate the words that we pronoūced by it diuers times And if some Idiote without experience had heard this repetition of words he would haue beleeued that there had bene some bodie in the botome of the well who had done it But we had euen then knowen by Philosophie that none was in the well to reiterate our words but that there were onely certaine concauities in some one whereof our voices were assembled ād not finding through passage least they might altogether perish and not imploy the force that was left them they produced secōd voices ād they gathering together in an other cōcauitie produced a third the third a fourth ād so consequetly to the eleauenth so that those voices heard in the well were not now our voices but resemblances and images of the same And indeede there was a great difference betwixt our voices and those For when we made a long continuance of words we had but some few of them rendred by the ECHO shortning the pronunciation of syllables which she slightly passed ouer with tones and accents quite different from ours nor did she begin to forme her words till we had quite pronounced them In fine they were not words of a liuing man but as one would saie the words of any emptie and vaine Rocke which notwithstanding did so well counterfeit man's voice whence she sprung that a simple bodie would haue bene misled and beguiled by her 3. Now this is it that I would saie when holy CHARITIE meets a pliable soule wherein she doth long reside she produceth a second loue which is not a loue of Charitie though it issue from Charitie but it is a humane loue which is yet so like to Charitie that though she leaues behind this her picture and likenesse which doth so represent her that one who were ignorant would be deceiued therein not vnlike to the birds on Zeuxis his painted raysins which they deemed to be true raysins so generally had Art imitated nature And yet there is a faire difference betwixt Charitie and humane loue which she doth beget in vs for the voice of Charitie doth pronoūce denoūce and worke in our hearts Gods Commandments humane loue which remaines after her doth indeede pronounce the commandments and denounceth sometimes all of them yet doth neuer effect them all but some few onely Charitie doth pronounce and put together all the sillables that is all the circumstances of Gods commandments humane Loue alwayes leaues out some of them especially straightnesse and puritie of
how can this be vnderstoode that the Angels who see the Redeemour and in him all the mysteries of our saluation doe yet desire to see him THEO Verily they see him continually but with a viewe so agreeable and delicious that the complacence they take in it doth satiate them without taking away their desire and makes them desire without remouing their Sacietie the fruition is not lessened by the desire but perfected therby as their desire is not cloied but sharpned by the fruition 5. The fruition of a thing which doth continually content doth neuer fade but is renewed and flourisheth incessantly it is still agreeable still amiable The continuall contentment of heauenly louers produceth a desire perseuerantly content as their continuall desire doth beget in them a contentment perseuerantly desired The good which is finite in giuing the possession doth end the desire and in giuing the desire doth dispossesse while it cannot at once be possessed and desired But the infinite Good makes desire raigne with possession and possession with desire finding a way to saciate desire by a holy presence and yet make it liue by the greatnesse of its excellencie which doth nourish in all those that possesse it a continually contented desire and a contentment continually desired 6. Consider THâ—OT such as hold in their mouth the hearbe SCITIQVE for following report they are neither hungrie nor thristie so doth it saciate and yet doe they neuer loose appetite so deliciously doth it nourish them When our will meetes God she reposeth in him taking therein a soueraigne complacence yet without staying the motions of her desire for as she desires to loue so she loues to desire she hath the desire of loue and the loue of desire The repose of the heart consisteth not in immobilitie but in hauing want of nothing Not in not mouing but in not hauing neede to moue 7. The damned are in eternall motion without all mixture of rest we mortalls who are yet in this pilgrimage haue now motion now rest in our affections The Blessed haue continuall repose in their motion and continuall motion in their repose onely God hath repose without motion because he is soueraignely on substantiall and pure act And though according to the ordinarie condition of this mortall life we rest not in motion yet notwithstanding when we make essaies of the exercises of the immortall life that is when we practise the acts of holy loue we find repose in the motion of our affections and motion in the repose of the complacence which we take in our well-beloued receiuing hereby fore-tastes of the future Felicitie to which we aspire 8. If it be true that the Cameleon liues of aire wheresoeuer he goes in the aire he finds foode aÌ„d though he stirre from one place to another it is not to find wherewithall to be satiated but to exercise himselfe in his element as fishes in the sea Who desires God in possessing him doth not desire him to search him but to exercise affection euen in the good which he enioyes for the heart doth not make this motion of desire as pretending the fruition of a thing not had sith it is already had but as dilating it selfe in the fruition which it hath not to obtaine the Good but to recreate and please it selfe therein not to enioye it but to reioyce in it No otherwise then we moue our selues and goe to some delicious garden where being arriued we cease not to walke and stire our selues yet it is not to come thither but being there to walke and passe our time we went to enioye the pleasantnesse of the garden being there we walke to please our selues in the fruition of it Let not in length of time be found a space In which we cease to search t'Almighties face We alwayes seeke whom we alwayes loue saieth the Great S. AVGVSTINE Loue seekes whom it hath found not to haue him but to haue him still 9. Finally THEO the soule who is in the exercise of the loue of complacence cries continually in her sacred silence It suffiseth me that God be God that his Goodnesse be infinite that his perfection be immence whether I liue or not it little imports me sith that my deare well-beloued liues eternally a triumphant life Death it selfe cannot attristate a heart who knowes that its soueraigne Loue liues It is sufficient for a heart that loues that he whom it loues more then it selfe is replenished with eternall happinesse seeing that it liues more in him whom it loues then him whom it doth animate yea that it liues not but its well-beloued liues in it Of a louing condoling by which the complacence of loue is better declared CHAPTER IV. 1. COmpassion condoling commiseration or mercy is no other thing then an affection which makes vs share in the sufferaÌ„ces and griefes of him whom we loue drawing the miserie which he endures into our heart whence it is called MISERICORDIA as one would saie MISERIA CORDIS as complacence doth draw into the louers heart the pleasures and contentments of the thing beloued It is Loue that workes both the effectes by the vertue it hath to vnite the louers heart to the beloued by this meanes making the good and euill which they haue coÌ„mon betwixt them And that which happens in compassion doth much illustrate that which toucheth complacence 2. Compassion takes her grouth from the loue whence she proceedes So we see mothers doe deeply condole the afflictions of their onely children as the Scripture doth often testifie How great was the sorrow of Agars heart vpon the griefe of her Ismael whom she saw well nigh perish with thirst in the Desert How much did DAVIDS soule commiserate the miserie of his Absolon Ah doe you not marke the motherly heart of the great Apostle sicke with the sicke burning with zeale for such as were scandalized with a continuall dolour for the losse of the Iewes and dayely dying for his deare spirituall children But especially coÌ„sider how loue drawes all the paines all the torments trauells sufferances griefes wounds passioÌ„ crosse and death it selfe of our Redeemour into his most sacred Mothers heart Alas the same Nailes that crucified the bodie of this diuine child did also crucifie the mothers heart the same thrones which pearced his head did strike through the heart of this entirely sweete mother she endured the same miseries with her sonne by commiseration the same dolours by condoling the same passions by compassion to be short the sworde of death which transpearced the bodie of this best beloued sonne did stricke through the heart of this most louing mother whence she might well haue saied that he was to her a POSIE OF MIRRHE amidst her breastes that is in her bosome and in the midst of her heart IACOB hearing the sad though false newes of the death of his deare IOSEPH you see how he is afflicted with it ah saied he in sorrow I will descend to hell that is to saie to Lymbo into
ABRAHAMS bosome after this child 3. Commiseration is also great according to the greatnesse of their sufferances whom we loue for how little soeuer the frieÌ„dshipe be if the euells which we see endured be extreame they cause in vs great pitie This made Cesar weepe ouer Pompey and the daughters of Hierusalem could not stay themselues from weeping ouer our Sauiour though the greater part of them did not much affect him as also the friends of IACOB though wicked friends made great lamentation in beholding the dreadfull spectacle of his incomparable miserie and what a stroke of griefe was it in the heart of IACOB to thinke that his deare child was dead of a death so cruell as to be deuoured by a sauage beaste But besids all this commiseration is much strengthened by the presence of the obiect in miserie this caused the poore Agar absent her selfe from her languishing sonne to disburden her selfe in some sort of the compassionate griefe which she felt saying I will not see the child die as contrariwise our Sauiour weepes seeing the sepulchre of his well-beloued Lazarus and beholding his deare Hierusalem And the good IACOB was struck with griefe when he saw the bloodie Robe of his poore little IOSEPH 4. Now as many causes also doe augment complacence As a friend is more deare vnto vs we take more pleasure in his contentment and his good doth enter more deeply into our heart which if it be excellent our ioye is also greater but if we see our friend while he enioyes it our reioycing becomes extreame When the good IACOB knew that his sonne liued ô God what ioye his heart returned home he reuiued yea as one would saie returned to life But what is this he reuiued returned to life THEO SPIRITS die not their proper death but by sinne which seperateth them from God who is their true supernaturall life yet die they sometimes by anothers death and this happened to IAGOB of whom we speake for loue which drawes into the heart of the louer the good and euill of the thing beloued the one by complacence the other by commiseration drew the death of the louely IOSEPH into the louing IACOBS heart and by a miracle impossible to any other power but loue the minde of the good Father was full of the death of him that liued and raigned deceiued affection forerunning the effect 5. But as soone as he had knowen that his sonne was a liue Loue who had so long detained the presupposed death of the sonne in the good Fathers heart seeing that he was deceiued speedely reiected this imaginarie death and made enter in its place the true life of the saied sonne Thus then he returned to a new life because the life of his sonne entred into his heart by complacence and animated him with an incomparable contentment with which finding himselfe satisfied and not esteeming any other pleasure in comparison of this it fufficeth me saieth he if my child IOSEPH liue But when with his proper eyes he experienced his deare childs greatenesse in Gessan hanging vpon him and for a good space weeping about his necke ah now saieth he I will die ioyfull my deare SoÌ„ne sith I haue seene thy face and thou dost yet liue ô God what a ioye THEO and how excellently expressed by this old man For what would he saie by these words now I will die contented sith I haue seene thy face but that his content was so great that it was able to render death it selfe ioyfull and agreeable being the most discomfortable and horrible thing in the world Tell me I pray you THEO who hath more sense of IOSEPHES good he that enioyes it or IACOB who reenioyes it Certainly if good be not good but in respect of the content which it affordeth vs the father hath as much yea more then the Sonne for the sonne together with the dignitie of VICE-ROY whereof he is possessed hath coÌ„sequently many cares aÌ„d affaires but the Father doth enioye by Complacence and purely possesse all that good is in this his sonnes greatenesse and dignitie without charge care or trouble I will dye Ioyfull saieth he Alas who doth not see his contentment if euen death cannot trouble his ioye who can euer chang it if his content can liue amidst the distresses of death who can euer bereeue him of it Loue is strong as death and the ioyes of loue doe surmount the anoyes of death for death caÌ„not kill but doth reuiue them so that as there is a fire which miraculously is feed in a fountaine nere Greenoble as I surely know and S. AVGVSTINE doth attest so holy Charitie is so strong that she doth nourish her flames and consolations in the saddest anguishes of death and the waters of tribulations cannot extinguish her fires Of the commiseration and Complacence of loue in our Sauiours Passion CHAPTER V. 1. VVHen I see my Sauiour vpon the mouÌ„t Oliuet with his soule sad euen to death O Lord Iâ—SVS saie I who could haue borne these sorrowes of death in the soule of life if not loue who mouing commiseration drew thereby our miseries into thy soueraigne heart Now a deuote soule seeing this abisse of sorrow and distresse in this Diuine louer how can she be without a holily louing griefe But considering on the other side that none of these her well-beloued's afflictions proceede from any imperfectioÌ„ or want of force but from the greatnesse of his most deare loue she cannot but melt with a holily dolorous loue so that she cries out I am blacke with griefe by compassion but I am faire with loue by Complacence the anguishes of my well-beloued haue changed my hew for how can a faithfull louer see him so tormented whom she loues more then her life without becomming appalled withered and dried vp with griefe Nomades tents perpetually exposed to the outrage of weather and warrs are almost still beaten and couered with dust and I open to sorrows which by commiseration I receiue from the excessiue suffrances of my diuine Sauiour I am quite couered with anguishe and split with griefe but because his griefes whom I loue proceede from his loue as much as they afflict me by compassion they delight me by Complacence For how must not a faithfull louer needes haue an extreme coÌ„teÌ„t to see her selfe so much beloued of her heauenly Spouse And hence the beautie of loue appears in the foulenesse of griefe And though I weare mourning weedes for the Passion and death of my King deformed and blacked with griefe yet am I not without an incomparable delight to behold the excesse of his loue amidst the panges of his sorrowes And the tents of SALOMON brodered and wrought with an incomparable diuersitie of worke was neuer so goodlie as I am content and consequently sweete amiable and agreeable in the varietie of the essaies of loue which I feele amongst these griefes Loue doth equalize the louers ah I see this deare louer who is a burning fire in a thornie
wōders of their differrent proprieties which manifest their makers power so that this diuine royall Psalmist hauing composed a great number of Psalmes with this inscription Praise God after he had rūne through all the creaturs holily inuiting them to blesse the diuine Maiestie and passed ouer a great varietie of meanes and instruments fit to celebrate the praises of this eternall Bountie in the end as falling downe through shortenesse of breath he closeth his sacred song with this Eiaculation Let euery spirit praise our Lord that is let all that hath life nor liue nor breath but to blesse their Creatour following the encouragement he had elsewhere giuen VVith high and animated straine Let 's striue to celebrate amaine Euen who can best th Eternall's fame Let shirlest voice awakt by Loue Beare vp the starrie vaults aboue The Peeleresse glorie of his name So the great S. FRANCIS soung the Canticle of the Sunne and a thousand other excellent benedictions to inuoke the creaturs to aide his languishing heart in that he could not according to his desire praise the deare Sauiour of his heart So the heauenly Spouse perceiuing her selfe almost to sound amidst the violent essaies she vsed in blessing and magnifying the well-beloued king of her heart ah cried she out to her companions the diuine Spouse hath led me by contemplation into his wine-celler making me taste the incomparable delightes of the perfections of his excellencie and I haue so moistened and holily inebriated my selfe by the holy complacence which I tooke in this abisse of beautie that my soule languisheth wounded with a louingly mortall desire which vrgeth me euerlastīgly to praise a goodnesse eminent Come alas I beseech you to the succour of my poore heart which is vpon the point of falling downe dead For pitie susteine it and vnderprope it with flowres solace it and enuirone it with aples or else it will fall in a trance Complacence drawes the diuine sweetes into her heart which doth so ardently fill it selfe thereof that it is ouer charged But the LOVE OF BENEVOLENCE makes our heart sallie out of it selfe and spend it selfe in vapours of delicious perfumes that is in all kinds of holy praises And yet not being able to doe it with the aduantage which it desires ô saieth it let all creaturs come and contribute the flowres of their benedictions their aples of thankesgiuings honours and adorations so that on euery side we may smell odours poured out to his glorie whose infinite sweetenesse doth passe all honour and whom we can neuer worthily enough magnifie 2. It is this diuine passion that brings out so many sermons makes the Zaueriuses the Berzeses the Antonies with a number of Iesuites Capucins and Religious and other Churchmen of all sorts passe the pikes in India Iaponia Maraig to th' end the holy name of IESVS may be knowen acknowledged and adored through out that vaste nation It is this holy passion which penns so many spirituall bookes build's so many churches altars and pious houses and to conclud which makes so many of God's seruants watch labour and die in the flames of Zeale which doe consume and spend them How the desire we haue to praise God makes vs aspire to heauen CHAPTER X. 1. THe soule in Loue perceiuing that she cānot saciate the desire she hath to praise her well-beloued while she liues in the miseries of this world and knowing that the praises which are giuen in heauen to the diuine goodnesse are sunge in an aire incomparably more delightfull ô God saieth she how praiseworthie the praises are which are poured fourth by those blessed spirits before the throne of my heauenly king how blessed are their blessings ô what a happinesse is it to heare this melodie of the most holy eternitie where the delicious concurrence of vnlike and wholy different voices doth make these admirable accords wherein all the parts redoubling one vpon another by a continued succession and an incomprehensible combination and pursute perpetuall Allelui'as doe resound from euery side 2. Voices which for their sound are compared to thunder trumpets or to the noyse of a troubled seas waues yet voices which for their incomparable delight and sweetenesse are compared to the melodie of harpes delicatly and deliciously touched by a most skillfull hand And voices which doe all accord in one to sing the ioyfull Pascall Cāticle ALLELVIA praise God Amē praise God for know THEO that there is a voice heard from the diuine Throne which ceaseth not to crie to the happie inhabitants of the glorious heauenly Hierusalem Praise God ô you that are his seruants and you that feare him great and little at which all the innumerable multitude of Saints the quires of Angels and men with one consent doe answere in singing with all their force ALLELVIA praise God But what is this admirable voice which issuing out from the diuine Throne doth announce the ALLELVIAS to the Elect if not the most holy complacence which being receiued into the heart makes them feele the sweetenesse of the Diuine perfections wherevpon a louing beneuolence the source of heauenly praises is bred in thē so that complacence cōming from the Throne intimateth Gods greatnesse to the Blessed and beneuolence excites them mutually to pouer out the odours of praise before the Throne And so by way of answere they eternally sing ALLELVIA that is praise God The complacence come frō the Throne into the heart and Beneuolence goes from the Throne 3. O how amiable is this TEMPLE wholy resounding with praise ô what content haue such as liue in this sacred Residence where so many heauenly Philomels and Nightingails doe sing with strife of loue the Canticles of eternall delight 4. The heart then that in this world can neither sing nor heare the diuine praises to it's liking falls into incredible desires of being deliuered from the bands of this life to passe to the other where the heauenly well-beloued is so perfectly praised and these desires hauing taken possession of the heart doe often times become so strōg and powrefull in the heauenly Louers heart that banishīg all other desires they make all terreane thīgs disgustfull and render the soule languishing and loue-sicke yea sometimes the holy passion goes so farre as if God permitted one would die of it 5. So the glorious and Seraphicall Louer S. FRANCIS hauing bene long wrought with this strong affection of praising God in the end towards his death after he had had assurance by a speciall Reuelation of his eternall saluation he could not conteine his ioye but waisted dayly as if his life and soule had fumed out like incense vpon the flamme of ardent desires which he had to see his Maister incessantly to praise him So that these flames dayly encreasing his soule left his bodie by a force which he made towards heauen for it was thought good to the Diuine prouidence that he should die pronoūcing these sacred words O Lord drawe my soule out of this prison
God What is she this might one saie of her who ascends though the Desert as a cloud of perfumes of Mirrhe of incense and of all the pouders of Perfumers and indeede it was the desire of secrecie that moued her to make this petition to her Spouse come my well-beloued let 's goe into the fieldes let vs soiourne in the village for this reason the heauenly spouse is stiled Tourtle a birde which is delighted in shadie and solitarie places where she makes no other vse of her voice but for her deare mate ether in life wooeing him or after his death plaining him For this respect in the Canticles the diuine Spouse and the heauenly Spouse represent their loues in a continuall discourse and if their friends men and women doe sometimes speake in it t' is onely by the by without interrupting their speach Hence the Blessed mother S. TERESA of IESVS found in the beginning more profit in the misteries where our Sauiour was most alone as in the Garden of Oliuet and where he expected the Samaritaine for she thought he being alone would with more ease admitt her into his companie 8. Loue loues to be secret yea though Louers haue no secret to impart yet are they delighted in speaking secretly and it is partly if I be not deceiued because they will speake onely to themselues nor doe they thinke to speake to themselues onely while they speake high partly for that they doe not deliuer coÌ„mon things in a coÌ„moÌ„ maÌ„ner but by particular wayes and such as relish the affection with which they are spoken Loue language for the words is comon yet in manner and pronounciation is so particular that none but Louers vnderstand it The name of a Friend vttered in common is no great thing but being spoken a part secretly in the eare it imports wonders And by how much more secretly it is spoken the signification is so much more delightfull O God what a difference is there betwixt the lâ—nguage of the auncient Louers of the Diuinitie Ignatius Cyprian Chrysostome Augustine Hilarie Ephrem Gregorie Bernard and that of lesse louing Diuines We vse their very wordes but with them they were words full of fire and the sweetes of Loues perfumes but with vs they are cold giuing no sent at all 9. Loue speakes not onely by the tongue but by the eyes by sighes couÌ„tenances yea it makes vse of mute silence in lieu of words My heart hath saied vnto thee ô Lord my face hath sought thee ô Lord I will search after thy face My eyes haue failed saying when wilt thou comfort me Heare my praier ô Lord and my demaund heare with thy eares my teares Let not the aple of thy eye cease to speake saied the desolate hearts of the inhabitants of Hierusalem to their owne Citie Doe you marke THEO how the silence of afflicted Louers speakes by the aple of their eyes and their teares Certainly the cheife exercise in mysticall Diuinitie is to speake to God and heare God speake in the bottom of the heart and because this discourse passeth in secrete aspiratioÌ„s aÌ„d inspirations we terme it a silent conference The eyes speake to the eyes and the heart to the heart and none vnderstands what passeth sauing the sacred louers who speakes Of Meditation the first degree of Praier or mysticall Diuinitie CHAPTER II. 1. THis word is frequent in the holy Scrip. and imports no other thing then an attentiue and reiterated thought apt to bring forth good or euill affections In the 1. Psalme the man is saied to be blessed whose will is in the way of our Lord and in his law will meditate day and night but in the 2. Psal why did the Gentils rage and people meditate vaine things MEDITATION therefore is made as well for euill as good ends Yet whereas in the holy Scripture the word MEDITATION is put ordinarily for the attention which we haue to holy things to th' end to stirre vs vp to loue them it hath as one would saie bene canonized by the common consent of Diuines with the word ANGELL and ZEALE as contrariwise the word DEMON or DIVEL hath bene defamed so that now when one names meditation we vnderstand a holy thinge and that by which we begin mysticall Diuinitie 2. Euery meditation is a thought but euery thought is not meditation for we haue thoughtes to which our mynd is caried without aime or pretention at all by way of a simple musing as we see flies flie from one flowre to an other without drawing any thing from them And be this kind of thought as attentiue as it may be it can neuer beare the name of meditation but must be called a simple thought Sometimes we consider a thinge attentiuely to learne it's causes effectes qualities and this thought is named studie in which the mynd is like locustes which promiscuously flie vpon flowres and leeues to eate them and nourishe themselfes thervpon but when we thinke of heauenly things not to learne but to loue them that is called to meditate and the exercise thereof Meditation in which our mynd not as a flie by a simple musing nor yet as a locust to eate and be filled but as a sacred Bee flies amongst the flowres of holy mysteries to extract from them the honnie of Diuine Loue. 3. So diuers meÌ„ are alwayes dreaming aÌ„d busying themselues in vnprofitable thoughtes without knowing in a manner what they thinke vpon and which is admirable they are onely attentiue for want of attention and would be rid of such thoughtes Wittnesse he that saied my thoughtes waste themselues tormenting my heart Others there are that studie and by a most laborious trade fill themselues with vanitie not being able to withstand curiositie But few there are that meditate to kindle their heart with heauenly loue In fine thoughtes and studies may be vpon any subiect but meditation in our present sense hath reference onely to those obiectes whose consideration tend's to make vs good and deuote So that meditation is an attentiue thought iterated or voluntarily intertained in the mynd to excitate the will to holy affections and resolutions 4. Verily the holy word doth admirably well explicate by an excellent similitude wherin holy meditation consisteth Ezechias when he would explicate in his Canticle the attentiue consideratioÌ„ which he had of his annoyes I will crie saieth he like a young swallow and meditate as a doue for my deare THEO if euer you tooke notice of it the younge swallows doe gape wide in their chirping and contrariwise the doue of all the birdes doth murmur with her neb shut and clos'd rowling her voice in her weesell and and crope nothing passing outwardly but a certaine resounding or eccho-like sound and this close murmuring doth equally serue her in the expression of her griefe and loues Ezechias then to shew that in his calamitie he made many vocall Praiers I will crie saieth he as a younge swallow opening my mouth to lay before God in many
amiable as his was amiably dolorous nor can we neuer loue him as his loue and death requireth There is yet another wound of loue when the soule knowes well she loues God and he treates her in such sort as though he knew not she loued him or were diffident of her loue for then my deare THEO the soule is put into an extreame anguish it being insupportable vnto her to see or perceiue any apparence that God distrusts in her The poore S. PETER found his heart full of loue towards his Maister and his Maister making shew not to know it Peter quoth he dost thou loue me more then these Ah Lord saied the Apostle thou knowest I loue thee But Peter dost thou loue me replied our Sauiour My deare Maister saied the Apostle truely I loue thee thou knowest it But this so cote Maister to proue him and as shewing a diffidence of his loue Peeter saied he dost thou loue me Ah Sauiour thou woundest this poore heart who much afflicted cries out louingly yet dolorously Maister thou knowest all things indeede thou knowest well I loue thee Vpon a certaine day while a possessed person was exorcised the wicked spirit being vrged to tell his name I am quoth he that accursed creature DEPRIVED OF LOVE and S. CATHARIN who was there present sodenly perceiued all her bowells moued and disordered in onely hauing heard these words PRIVATION OF LOVE pronounced for as the Diuels doe so hate the diuine loue that they quake in seeing the signe of it hearing it named that is in seeing the crosse or be a rāg the name of IESVS pronoūced So such as doe entirely loue our Sauiour doe tremble with griefe ād horrour when they see any signes or seen by worde that doth brīg to mīd the priuatiō of this holy loue 2. S. PETER was certaine that God who knew all could not be ignorant how much he was loued by him yet because the repetition of this demaund Peter dost thou loue me hath some apparence of diffidence S. PETER is much afflicted in it Alas the poore soule that is resolued rather to die then offend her God and yet feeles not a sparke of feruour but contrariwise an extreame coldnesse which doth so benume and weaken all her parts that she frequently fals into very sensible imperfections this soule I saie THEO is all wounded for her loue is exceeding dolourous to see that God doth not seeme to see that she loues him leauing her as one that appertaines not to him and she apprehēds that amidst her defaults distractions and coldnesse our Sauiour doth strike her with this reproach how can'st thou saie that thou loue'st me seeing thy minde is not with me which is as a dart of sorrowe through her heart but a dart of sorrowe which proceedes from loue for if she loued not she would not be afflicted with the apprehension she hath that she loues not 3. Sometimes loue doth wound vs in the very memorie we haue that there was a time in which we loued not our God O how late I haue loued the auncient and new beautie saied that Saint who for thirtie yeares was Hereticke Life past is a horrour to his life present who passed his life past without louing the Soueraigne Goodnesse 4. Sometimes loue doth wound vs with the meere cōsideration of the multitude of those that doe contemne the loue of God so that hereby we sownd with griefe as he who saied my Zeale ô Lord hath withered me with griefe for that my enemyes haue not kept thy lawe And the Great S. FRANCIS thinking he had not bene heard wept vpon a day sobed and lamented so pitifully that an honest man ouer hearing him ranne to his succour as thinking some had offered to kill him and finding him all alone asked of him why dost thou crie so heard poore man Alas quoth he I weepe to thinke that our Sauiour endured so much for the loue of vs and none thinkes of it and hauing saied thus he begun againe to weepe and this good mā fell also a sobbing and weeping with him 5. But howsoeuer this is admirable in the woundes receiued from the diuine loue that their paine is delightfull and all that feele it consent to it and would not change this paine for all the pleasures of the world There is no paine in Loue or if any it is a beloued one A Seraphin on a day holding a golden arrowe from the heade whereof issued a little flame he darted it into the heart of the B. Mother Teresa and offering to drawe it out this virgine seemed to haue her bowells drawen from her the paine being so excessiue that she had onely force to cast out weake and smale sighes but yet it was a paine so amiable that she desired neuer to be deliuered of it Such was the arrowe that God sent into the heart of the great S. CATHARIN of Genua in the beginning of her conuersion whence she became another woman dead to the world and things created to liue onely to her Creatour The well-beloued is a posie of bitter Myrrhe and this posie is also the well-beloueds who remaines dearely seated betwixt the breastes of his well-beloued that is the best-beloued of all the well-beloueds Of the amourous languishment of the heart wounded with loue CHAPTER XV. 1. IT is a thing sufficiently knowne that humane loue doth not onely wound the heart but euen weaken the bodie mortally because as passions and the temperature of the bodie hath a great power to encline the soule and draw her after its so the affections of the soule haue great force in stirring the humours and changing the qualities of the bodie but further loue when it is violent doth beare away the soule to the thing beloued with such impetuositie and doth so wholy possesse her that she is deficient in all her other operations be they sensatiue or intellectuall so that to feede and second this loue the soule seemes to abandon all other care all other exercises yea and her selfe too whēce Plato saied that Loue was poore trent naked barefoote miserable without house that it laie without dores vpon the hard ground alwayes in want It is poore because it makes one quit all for the thing beloued It is without a house because it vrgeth the soule to leaue her owne habitation to follow hī cōtinually whō she loues It is miserable pale leane and ruinous for that it makes one loose sleepe meete and drinke It is naked and barefoote sith it makes one forsake all other affections to embrace that of the thing beloued It lies without vpon the hard ground because it laies open the heart that is in loue making it manifest its passions by sighes plaintes praises suspicions iealousies It lies all along at the gate like a begger because it makes the louer perpetually attentiue to the eyes and mouth of the beloued hanging continually at his eares to speake to him and begge of him some fauours wherwith it is neuer saciated
vnion doth vrge and aide vs towards the spirituall vnion of which we speake Of the soueraigne degree of vnion by suspension or rauishment CHAPTER III. 1. VVHether therefore the vnion of our soule with God be made perceptibly or imperceptibly God is alwaies the Authour thereof for none can be vnited to him but by going vnto him nor can any goe vnto him vnlesse he be drawen by him as the Heauenly Spouse doth testifie saying none can come vnto me vnlesse my Father drawes him which his holy Spouse doth also protest saying Drawe me and we will runne in the odour of thy perfumes 2. Now the perfection of this vnion consisteth of two points that it be pure ād that it be strong May not I goe towards a man with intention to behold him better to speake to hī to obtaine some thīg of him to smell the perfumes which are about him to be supported by him and in that case certainly I goe towards him and ioyne my selfe vnto him yet my approch and vnion is not my principall pretention but I onely make that a meanes and way to the obtaining of another thing But if I approch and ioyne my selfe vnto him for no other end then to be neere vnto him and to enioye this neighbourhood and vniō it is then an approch of pure and simple vnion 3. So many doe approch vnto our Sauiour some to heare him as Magdalen some to be cured by him as the sicke of the fluxe others to adore him as the three kinges others to serue him as Martha others to vanquish their incredulitie as S. THOMAS others to anointe him as MAGDALEN IOSEPH NICODEMVS but his diuine Sunamite seekes to find him and hauing found him desires no other thing then to hold him fast and holding him neuer to quit him I hold him saieth she and I will neuer let him goe IACOB saieth S. B RNARD hauing fast hold of God will let him goe so he may receiue his benediction but the Sunamite will not let hī depart for all the benedictiōs he can giue her for her aime is not the benedictions of God but the God of benedictiōs saying with Dauid what is there for me in heauen or in earth what can I pretend but thy selfe thou art the God of my heart and my part for euer 4. Thus was the glorious Mother at the foote of her sonnes Crosse Ah! what dost thou search ô mother of life in this Mount of Caluarie in this place of death I am looking would she haue saied my child who is the life of my life And why dost thou looke him to be close by him But now he is amidst the dolours of death Ah! it is not mirth I seeke it is himselfe and my heart in loue makes me looke all about to be vnited vnto that amiable child my tenderly beloued In fine the pretention of the soule in this vnion is onely to be with her Louer 5. But when the vnion of the soule with God is most strict and most close it is called by Diuines an INHESION or ADHESION for that the soule thereby is taken fastened glued and nayled to the Diuine Maiestie so that she cannot easily loose or drawe her selfe backe againe Looke I praie you vpon a man taken and locked by attention to the delight of a harmonious musike or else which is idle to the fopperie of a game at cardes you would drawe him from it but cānot what businesse soeuer attend him at home there is no forcing him thence in it euen meate and drinke is forgotten O God THEOT how much more ought the soule that is in loue with God to be fastened and locked being vnited to the Diuinitie of the infinite Sweetenesse and who is taken and wholy possessed by this obiect of incomparable perfection Such was the soule of that great vessell of Election who cried-out To th' end I might liue with God I am nayld to the Crosse with IESVS-CHRIST and with all he protests that nothing no not death it selfe can separate him from his Maister This effect of loue was also practised betweene Dauid and Ionathas for it is saied that the soule of Ionathas was glued to Dauids to conclud it is a famous AXIOME amongst the Aunciant Fathers that Friendshipe that can know end was neuer true Friendshipe as elswhere I haue saied 5. See I beseech you THEO the little childe cleeuing to and colling his mother if one offer to take him thence to laie him in his cradle it being high time he delaies and essaies by all the meanes he is able not to forsake that amiable bosome and if one make him loose one hand he claspes hold with the other but if one carrie him quite away he fals a crying and keeping his heart and his eyes where he cannot keepe his bodie with shrikes he pursues his deare mother till by rocking he is brought a sleepe So the soule who by the exercise of vnion is come to be taken and fastened to the Diuine Goodnesse can hardly be pulled from it by force ād a great deale of paine It is not possible to make her loose hold if one diuert her Imagination she ceaseth not to apprehend her selfe taken by the vnderstanding and if one loose her vnderstanding she cleeues by the will or if yet by some violent distraction they vrge her will to quit her hold from moment to moment she returns towards her deare obiect from which she cannot be entirely vntyed but she striues all she can to linke together againe the sweete bands of her vnion with him by the frequent returns which she makes by stelth experiencing in it S. PAVLES paine for she is pressed with two desires to be freede of all exteriour imploiment to remaine with IESVS-CHRIST in her interiour and yet to put hand to the worke of Obedience which the very vnion with IESVS CHRIST doth teach her to be requisite 6. And the B. S. TERESA saieth excellently that the vnion being arriued at this perfection as to hold vs taken and tyed to our Sauiour is not distinguished from a rauishment suspension or hanging of the Spirit But that it is called onely vnion suspension or hanging when it is short and when it is long Extasie or rauishment because indeede the soule which is so firmely and closely vnited to her God that she cannot easily be drawen thence is not in her selfe but in God as a crucified bodie is not in it selfe but vpon the crosse or as Iuie grasping the wall is not in it's selfe but vpon the wall 7. But to auoyde all equiuocation know THEO that Charitie is a place and a place of perfection and he that is endued with more Charitie is more straitly vnited and fastened vnto God And we speake not of that vnion which is permanent in vs by manner of habite be we sleeping or waking we speake of the vniō made by action which is one of the Exercises of loue and Charitie Imagine then that S. PAVLE S. DENIS S. AVGVSTINE
euen as the flame began to sease hpon her the Eagle came in with a quicke flight and beholding this vnlooked for and sad spectackle strooke through with griefe she loosed her talons let fall her prey and spred herselfe vpon her poore beloued Mistresse and couering her with her wings as it were to defend her from the fire or for pities sake to embrace her she remained there constant and immoueable couragiously dying and burning with her the ardour of her affection not giuing place to the ardour of flames and fire that by that meanes she might become the VICTIME ād HOLOCAVSTE of her braue and prodigious loue as her Mistresse was already of death and fire 3. O THEO to what a high flight this Eagle moues vs our Sauiour hath bred vs vp from our tender youth yea he formed vs and receiued vs as a louing Nource into the armes of his Diuine Prouidence euen from the time of our Conception Not beeing yet thy holy hand did make me Scarce borne into thy armes thy loue did take me He made vs his owne by Baptisme and by an incomprehensible loue doth tenderly nourish both our bodie and soule to purchace vs life he suffered death and with his owne flesh and blood hath fed vs Ah what rests then my deare THEO what Conclusion are we to draw from hence but onely that such as liue should liue no more to them selues but to him that died for them that is to saie that we should consecrate all the moments of our life to the Diuine Loue of our Sauiours death bringing home to his glorie all our preys all our conquests all our actions all our thoughts and affections Let vs behold THEO this heauenly Redeemour extended vpon the Crosse as vpon a funerall Pile of honour where he died of Loue for vs yea of loue more painefull then death it selfe or a death more pleasant then loue it selfe Ah doe we not spiritually cast our selues vpon him to die vpon the Crosse with him who for the loue of vs freely died I will hold him should we saie if we had the Eagles generositie and will neuer depart from him I will die with him and burne in the flames of his loue one and the same fire shall consume the Diuine Creatour and the miserable creature My IESVS is wholy myne and I am wholy his I will liue and die vpon his breast nor life nor death shall euer separate me from him Thus is the holy Extasie of true loue practised while we liue not according to humane reason and bent but aboue them following the inspiration and instinct of the heauenly Sauiour of our soules Of the supreame effect of affectiue loue which is the death of Louers and first of such as died in loue CHAPTER IX 1. LOue is strong as death death doth seperate the soule of him that dies from the bodie and from all earthly things Sacred loue doth seperate the Louers soule from the bodie and all earthly things nor is there any other difference sauing that death doth that in effect which loue ordinarily doe onely in affection I saie ordinarily THEO because holy loue is sometimes so violent that euen in effect it causeth a separation betwixt the bodie and the soule making the Louers die a most happie death much better then a thousand liues 2. As it is proper to the Reprobate to die in sinne so is it proper to the Elect to die in the Loue and Grace of God yet in a different manner The iust man neuer dies vnprouided for to haue perseuered in Christian Iustice euen to the end was a good prouision for death He dies indeede sometimes sodainely or a sodaine death For this cause the most wise Church in her Litanies doth teach vs not onely to demand to be deliuered frō sodaine death but sodaine ād vnprouided death It is no worse for being sodaine if it be not withall vnprouided If some weake and common soules had seene fire frō Heauen fall vpon the great S. SIMEON Stilits head and kill him what would they haue thought but thoughts of scandall yet are we to make no other conceit of the matter then that this great Saint hauing perfectly sacrificed himselfe to God in his heart already wholy consumed with loue the fire came from Heauen to perfect the Holocauste and entirely burne it for the Abbot Iulian being a dayes iorney off saw his soule ascend to Heauen and thervpon caused incense to be offered in thankesgiuing to God The Blessed man Good Cremonius on a certaine day set vpon his knees most deuotly to heare Masse rose not at the Ghospell according to custome whēce those that were about him looked vpon him and perceiued he was dead There haue bene in our time most famous men for vertue and learning found dead some in the confession seat others while they heard the Sermon yea some haue bene seene falling downe dead at their going out of the Pulpet where they had preached with great feruour and all these deaths were sodaine yet not vnprouided And how many Good people doe we see die of Apoplexies Lethargies and a thousand other wayes very sodainely others of madnesse and frensie without the vse of reason and all these together with children who are baptised died in Grace and consequently in the Loue of God But how could they die in the Loue of God since they thought not of God at the time of their departure 3. Learned men THEO loose not their knowledge while they are a sleepe for so they would be vnlearned at their awaking and be forced to returne to schoole The like it is of all the habits of Prudence Temperance Faith Hope and Charitie They are continually in the iust mans heart though they be not alwayes in action While a man sleeps it seemes that all his habits sleepe with him and when he awakes awake with him So a iust man dying sodainely or oppressed by a house falling vpon him kill'd by Thunder or stifled with a catarre or else dying out of his senses by the violence of a hote Ague dies not indeede in the exercise of holy Loue yet dies he in the habit thereof wher-vpon the wise-man saieth if the iust-man be preuented by death he shall be in a place of refreshing for it sufficeth to obtaine eternall life to die in the state and habit of loue and Charitie 4. Yet many Saints haue departed this life not onely in Charitie and with the habite of heauenly loue but euen in the act and practise thereof S. AVGVSTINE deceased in the exercise of holy contrition which cannot be without Loue. S. HIEROM in exhorting his deare children to the loue of God their neighbours and vertue S. AMBROSE in a Rapture sweetely discoursing with his Sauiour immediatly after he had receiued the holy Sacrament of the Altar S. ANTONIE of Padua after he had recited a hymne of the glorious virgin-mother and while he spoke with great ioye to our Sauiour S. THOMAS of Aquine ioyning his
forsaketh flesh and blood to be vnited to her Beloued Now it is the most violent effect that a loue worketh in a soule and which requires a great precedent puritie from all such affections as may detaine the soule prisoner either to the world or to the bodie so that like as fire hauing by little and little seperated the Essenâ—e from its masse and wholy purified it at length it also driues out the QVINT-ESSENCE euen so holy Loue hauing retired mans heart from all fantasies inclinatioÌ„s and assions as farre fourth as may be doth at length vrge the soule out to the end that by that passage pretious in the sight of God she might passe to eternall glorie 2. The great S. FRANCIS who in the matter of heauenly loue comes still before myne eyes could not possibly escape dying by loue by reason of the manifould and great langours Extasies and tranâ—es which his loue to God who had exposed him to the whole worlds view as a MIRACLE OF LOVE would not onely haue him die for loue but euen of Loue. For consider I beseech you his death Perceiuing himselfe vpon the point of his departure he caused himselfe to be laied naked vpon the ground where hauing receiued a habite for God's sake which they put on him he made a speach to his bretheren encouraging them to loue and feare God and his Church made our Sauiours passioÌ„ be red and then with an extreame feruour began the 141. Psalme With my voice I haue cried to our Lord with my voice I haue Praied to our Lord and hauing pronounced these last words o Lord bring forth my soule out prison that I may praise thy holy name the iust expect me till thou reward me he died the 45. yeare of his age Who sees not I besseech you THEO that the Seraphicall man who had so instantly desired to be martyred and to die for loue died in the end of loue as in another place I haue explicated 3. S. MAGDALEN hauing for the space of 30. yeares liued in a caue which is yet to be seene in PROVINCE rauished seuen times a day and borne vp in the aire by Angels as though it had bene to sing the seuen Canonicall houres in their Quire in the end vpon a Soneday she came to Church where her deare Bishop S. Maximinus finding her in contemplation her eyes full of teares and her armes stretched out he communicated her and soone after she deliuered vp her blessed soule who once a gaine for good and all went to her Sauiours feete to enioye the BETTER â—Aâ—â— which she had already made choice off neare belowe 4. S. BASILE had contracted a strict friendshipe with a Phisition a Iewe by nation and religion with intention to bring him to the faith of IESVS CHRIST which neuerthelesse he could not effect till such time as decaied by youth old age and labours being vpon the point of dying he enquired of the Phisition what opinion he had of him coniuring him to speake freely which the Phisition refused not but feeling his pulse told him there was no remedie quoth he before the Sunne let you will depart this life But what will you saie replied the patient if to morrow I shall be aliue I will become Christian I promisse you laied the Phisition With this the Saint praied to God and obtained a prolongation of his owne temporall life for the good of his Phisitions spirituall life who hauing seene this Miracle was conuerted and S. Basile rysing couragiously out of his bed went to the Church and baptised him with all his Familie then being returned to his chamber and gotten to bed after he had passed a good space with our Sauiour in Praier he holily exhorted the assistants to serue God with their whole heart and finally seeing the Angels approch pronouncing with an extreame delight these words ô God I recommend vnto thee my soule and restore it into thy hands he died But the poore conuerted Phisition seeing him thus deceased colling him and melting into teares vpon him ô great Seruant of God Basile quoth he indeede if thou hadst list thou had'st no more died to day then yesterday Who doth not see that this death was wholy froÌ„ loue And the Blessed S. Teresa reuealed after her death that she died with an impetuous assault of loue Which had bene so violent that nature not able to support it the soule departed towards the beloued obiect of her loue A wonderfull historie of the death of a gentleman who died of loue vpon the Mount-Oliuet CHAPTER XII 1. BEsides that which hath bene saied I haue light vpoÌ„ a historie which being extreamly admirable is yet more credible to sacred Louers since as the holy Apostle saieth Charitie doth easily beleeue all things that is she doth not easily suspect one of lying and vnlesse there be signes of apparent deceite in that which is proposed she makes no difficultie to beleeue it but especially when they are things which doe exalt and magnifie God's loue towards man or man's loue towards God because Charitie being the Soueraigne Qâ—eene of vertues following the manner of a Princâ—sse who takes coÌ„teÌ„t in things that are for the renowne of her Empire and dominion And beit the relation I am to make be neither so much diuulged nor confirmed as the greatnesse of the miracle which it containes would require yet is it not therefore voyde of truth for as S. Augustine saieth excellently well scarcely can we know miracles though most famous euen in the places where they are wrought and euen though such as haue seene them relates them we haue difficultie to giuâ— credit vnto them yet are they no lesse true for all this and in matter of Religion well borne soules take more delight to beleeue those things which containe difficultie and admiration 2. A valiant illustrious and vertuous knight went vpon a time beyond â—ee into Palestin to visit the holy Land where our Sauiour performed the work of our Redemption and to begin this holy exercise worthily he first of all confessed and communicated deuotely immediatly after went straight to Nazareth where the Angell announced vnto the most Sacred virgin the Blessed Incarnation and where the most adorable conception of the Eternall word was finished and there this worthy Pilgrime set himselfe to the contemplation of the heauenly Bounâ— is depth who daigned to put on mans nature to recouer him from perdition from thence he passed to Bethleem the place of the Natiuitie where it is not to be spokeÌ„ what an abundance of teares he poured forth in contemplation of those wherewith the Sonne of God the virgins little babe had watered that holy stable kissing and rekissing a thousand times that sacred earth and licking the dust vpon which the prime infancie of the Diuine child was receiued in Bethleem He went into Berthabara and from thence to that little place in Bethania where calling to mind that our Sauiour was there vnuested to be baptised he also
our fâ—â—ble â—ight cannot constantly and steaddily behold them by reason of the great distance So ordinarily Saints that die of loue experience in themselues a great varietie of accidents and symptomes thereof before they come to their eÌ„d many sobings many assaults many extasies many laÌ„guors many agonies and one would thinke that their Loue brought forth their happie death by trauell and 〈◊〉 endeuours which happens by the weaknesse of their loue which is not as yet perfectly perfect so that it cannot continew affection with an equall steadfastnesse 3. But in the B. Virgin it was a quite other thing for as we see the faire AVRORA encrease not at diuers essayes and ierts but by a coÌ„tinued dilatation and encrease which is in a sort insensibly sensible so that she is indeede seene to encrease her light yet so softly that no interruption seperation or discontinuation can be apprehended therein So God's loue did euery moment encrease in the Virginall heart of this glorious Ladie but by a gentle smooth and continued encrease without agitation tosse or violence at all Ah no THEO we must not admit any forcible agitation in this celestiall loue of the virgins motherly heart for loue of it selfe is sweete gracious peaceable and calme And if it doe sometimes assault and make force against the mind it is because it meetes with opposition But when the passages of the soule lye open to it without oppositioÌ„ or coÌ„tradiction it peaceably makes progresse with an incoÌ„parable sweetenesse Thus then holy loue exercised its force vpon the virginall heart of the Sacred mother without force or violent boisterousnesse because it found therein neither stop nor staie For as we see great riuers froth and flash back againe with a great noise in craggie corners where the points or shelues of rockes doe oppose themselues and hinder the waters course while contrariwise they dâ—ie smoothly without violence glid and steele ouer the plaines So diuine Loue meeting with many impeachments and oppositions in humane hearts as in truth all hearts haue them though differently makes force fighting against naughtie inclinations beating the heart thrusting the will forwards by diuers shuggs aÌ„d sundrie essayes to make way be made to it selfe or at least to ouerpasse the obstacles But all things in the B. Virgin did helpe and second the course of heauenly loue making in her a greater progresse and encrease then in all other creaturs yet a progresse that was infinitly sweete peaceable aÌ„d calme No she sownded not with loue or compassion at the foote of her crucified sonne though there she had the most hote aÌ„d stinging fit of loue that euer heart could thinke for though it was an extreame fit yet was it equally strong and sweete powerfull and calme actiue and peaceable composed of a sharpe yet sweete heate 4. I doe not denie THEO that there were two portions in the B. Virgins soule and consequently two appetits the one according to the Spirit and superiour reason the other according to sense and inferiour reason so that she could feele the oppositions and contrarieties of both the appetits for this trouble did euen our Sauiour her sonne endure But I affirme that all affections were so well ordered and â—anged in this heauenly mother that diuine Loue did most peaceably exercise in her its power and dominion without being troubled by the diuersitie of wills and appetits or contrarietie of the senses because the oppositioÌ„s of the naturall appetite and motion of the senses did neuer come to be so much as a veniall sinne but contrariwise all these were holily and faithfully imploied in the seruice of diuine Loue for the exercise of other vertues which for the most part cannot be practised but amongst difficulties oppositions and contradictions 5. Thorneâ— in the common opinion are not onely differeÌ„t from flowers but contrarie to them and it seemes it were better if there were none in the world which made S. Ambrose thinke that but for sinne there had bene none at all But yet â—ith there are some the carefull husbandman doth fetch profit out of theÌ„ making there hedges and inclosurs about his closes and springing trees being their defence and rampire against cattell So the Glorious virgin hauing had a part in all humane miseries sauing such as doe directly tend to sinne she imploied them most profitably to the exercise and encrease of holy vertues of Hope Temperance Iustice and Prudence Pouertie Humilitie Sufferance and Compassion So that she was so farre from hindring that she did euen assist and strengthen heauenly loue by continuall exercises and aduancements And in her Magdalen did not trouble the attention wherewith she receiued from her Sauiour the impressions of loue for all Martha's heate and sollicitude She hath made choice of her Sonn's loue and not any thing doth depriue her of it 6. The ADAMANT as euery one knowes THEO doth naturally draw Iron vnto it by a secreet and most wonderfull vertue yet 5. things there are which doe hinder this operation 1. a too great distance 2. a DiamaÌ„t interposed 3. if the IroÌ„ be greesed 4. if it be rubbed with an onyon 5. if it be too waightie Our heart is made for God who doth continually allure it neuer ceasing to throw his baits into our hearts But fiue things doe hinder the operatioÌ„ of his draughtes 1. Sinne which puts vs at a distance with God 2. affection to riches 3. sensuall pleasures 4. Pride and vanitie 5. self-loue together with the multitude of inordinate passions which it brings forth and are to vs an ouercharging load bearing vs downe But none of these hindrances had place in the Glorious virgins heart 1. she was perpetually preserued from all sinne 2. perpetually most poore of heart 3. perpetually most pure 4. perpetually most humble 5. perpetually a peaceable Mistresse of all her passions and exempt from the rebellion which self-loue raiseth against the loue of God And therefore as Iron if it were quit of all obstacle yea euen of its owne waight were powerfully yet softely aÌ„d with aÌ„ equall draught drawne by the AdamaÌ„t yet so that the draught should still be more actiue and forcible as they came nearer the one to the other and the motion nearer to its end So the most holy Mother hauing nothing in her which hindred her Sonns diuine Loue she was vnited vnto him in an incomparable vnion by gentle extasies without trouble or trauell Extasies in which the sensible powers ceased not to performe their actions without disturbing the vnion of the mind as againe the perfect application of her mind did not much diuert her senses So that this virgins decease was more sweete then could be imagined drawen delightfully by the sent of her Sonns perfums and she most amiably springing after their sacred sweetenesse euen into the bosome of her Sonns Bountie And albeit this holy soule did extreamely affect her most holy most pure and most amiable bodie yet did she forsake it without paine
not to affect them nor reinuest our heart therewith saue onely so farre forth as we discerne it to agree with God's good pleasure And as Iudith wore still moorning weedes except onely in this occasion wherein Gods will was that she should be in pompe so are we peaceably to remaine vested in our miserie and abiection amidst our imperfections and infirmities till God shall exalt vs to the practise of excellent actions 3. One cannot long remaine in this nakednesse voide of all affection Wherefore following the aduise of the holy Apostle as soone as we haue turn'd off the garments of the old Adam we are to put on the habits of the new man that is to saie of IESVS CHRIST for hauing renounced all yea euen the affection to vertues neither desiring of these nor of other things a larger portion then may beare proportion with God's will we must put on againe diuers affections and peraduenture the very same which we haue renounced and resigned vp yet are we not therefore to resume theÌ„ for that they are agreeable profitable honorable and proper to content our selfe-love but because they are agreeable to God profitable to his honour and ordained to his glorie 4. Eliezer carried eare-jewels bracelets and new attire for the mayde whom God had prouided for his Maisters sonne and in effect he presented them to the virgine Rebecca as soone as he knew it was she New garmeÌ„ts are required to our Sauiour's Spouse If for the Loue of God she hath bereft her selfe of the auncient affections which she had to Parents Countrie Father's house and allie she must take a span new affection louing euery of these in their ranke not now accorcording to humane considerations but because the heauenly Spouse doth will command and intend it so and hath established such an order in Charitie If one haue once put off his old affectioÌ„ to spirituall consolations to exercises of deuotion to the practise of vertues yea to his owne aduancement in perfection he must put on another new affection by louing all these graces and heaueÌ„ly fauours not because they perfect and adorne our minde but for that our Sauiours name is sanctified in them his kingdome enriched his good pleasure glorified 5. So did S. PETER vest himselfe in the Prison not at his owne election but at the Angels command He puts on his girdle then his Sandales and afterwards the rest of his garments And the glorious S. PAVLâ— bereft in a moment of all affections Lord quoth he what wilt thou haue me doe that is what is thy pleasure I should affect since throwing me to the ground thou hast deaded me to myne owne will Ah Lord plant thy good pleasure in the place of it and teach me to performe thy will for thou art my God THEO he that hath forsaken all for God ought to resume nothing but according to Gods pleasure he feeds not his bodie but according to Gods ordinance that it may be seruiceable to the Spirit all his studie is to assist his neighbour and his owne soule according to the Diuine intention he practiseth not vertues as being according to his owne heart but according to God's 5. God commanded the Prophet Isaie to stripe himselfe naked which he did going and preaching in this sort for three dayes together as some hold or for three yeares together as others think and then the time prefixed him by God being expired he resumed his clothes Euen so are we to turne our selues out of affections little and great as also to make a frequent examine of our hearts to discouer whether it be willing to vnuest it selfe as Isaie did his garments as also to resume in their time the affections necessarie to the seruice of charitie to the end we might die with our Sauiour naked vpon the crosse and rise againe with him in newnesse of life Loue is as strong as death to make vs quit all it is magnificent as the Resurrection to adorne vs with honour and glorie The end of the ninth booke THE TENTH BOOKE OF THE COMMANDEMENT OF LOVING GOD ABOVE ALL things Of the sweetenesse of the Commandement which God gaue vs to loue him aboue all things CHAPTER I. 1. MAN is the perfection of the Vniuerse the Spirit the perfection of man Loue the Spirits and Charitie the perfection of Loue. WheÌ„ce the Loue of God is the end of perfection and the Excellencie of the vniuerse In this THEO doth consist the hight and primacie of the Commandement of Diuine Loue called by our Sauiour the first and greatest Commandemet This Commandement is as a Sunne giuing luster and dignitie to all the holy lawes to all the Diuine â—ordonances and to all the holy Scripturs All is made for this heauenly Loue and all tends to it Of the sacred Tree of this Commandement all consolations exhortations inspirations and euen all the other Commandements haue dependance as it's flowres and eternall life as it 's fruit and all that tends not to eternall Loue tends to eternall death O great Commandement whose perfect practise remaines euen in the euerlasting life yea it is no other thing then life euerlasting 2. But marke THEO how amiable this law of Loue is ah Lord God was it not sufficient that thou shouldst permit vs this heauenly Loue as KABAN permitted IACOB to Loue RACHEL without daigning farther to inuite vs to it by exhortations and vrge vs to it by thy Commandements Nay more ô Diuine Goodnesse to the end that neither thy Maiestie nor our miserie nor any other pretext at all might delay our loue to thee thou dost command it vs. The poore APELLES could neither abstaine from louing nor yet aduenture to loue the faire COMPASPE because she appertained to ALEXANDER the Great but wheÌ„ he had once leaue to loue her how much did he hold himselfe obliged to him that did him the grace He knew not whether he should more loue the faire COMPASPE granted him by so great an Emperour or so great an Emperour who had granted him the faire COMPASPE O sweete God THEO If we could vnderstand it what an obligation should we haue to this Soueraigne good who doth not onely permit but doth euen command vs to loue him Alas my God I know not whether I ought more to loue thyne infinite Beautie which so great a Bountie hath ordained that I should loue or thy Diuine Bountie which ordaines that I should loue so infinite a Beautie O Beautie how amiable thou art being granted vnto me by a Bountie so immense O Bountie how amiable thou art in communicating vnto me so eminent a Beautie 3. God at the day of Iudgment will imprint after an admirable maÌ„ner in the hearts of the damned the apprehension of their losse for the Diuine Maiestie will make them clearely see the Soueraigne Beautie of his face and the Treasures of his Bountie and vpon the sight of this Abisse of infinite delights the will desires with an extreame violence to cast her selfe vpon
reseruation at all and I saie with a greatest care because there are men who would couragiously forsake their goods honours yea life it selfe for our Sauiour who yet will not leaue for his sake things of farre lesse consequence 2. In the raigne of the Emperours VALERIANVS and GALLVS there liued in Antioche a Priest called SAPHRICIVS and a secular man named NICEPHORVS who by reason of their long and exceeding great familiaritie were esteemed brothers and yet it fell out in the end I know not vpon what occasion that this friendshipe failed and according to custome was followed with a deeper hatred which raigned for a time betwixt them till at length NICEPHORVS acknowledging his fault made three diuers essayes to be reconciled vnto SAPHRICIVS to whom now by one of their common friends now by another he signified in words all the satisfaction and submission that heart could haue wished But Saphricius in no wise answering to his inuitations did still repulse the reconcilement with as great inhumanitie as Nicephorus besought it with humilitie In so much that the poore Nicephorus apprehending that in case Saphricius should see hiÌ„ prostrate at his feete begging pardoÌ„ he would be more touched to the heart with it he goes and finds him out and couragiously casting himselfe groueling at his feete Reuerend Father quoth he ah pardon me I beseech thee for the bowels of our Sauiour IESVS but euen this humilitie was disdaigned and reiected together with his former endeuours 3. Meane while behold a hote persecution arose against the Christians in which Saphricius with others being apprehended did wounders in suffering a thousand thousand tormeÌ„ts for the CoÌ„fessioÌ„ of his Faith but especially wheÌ„ he was rudely turned and tossed in an instrument made of set purpose after the manner of a Presse without euer being quailed in his constancie whereat the Gouernour of Antioche being extreamely irritatated he adiudged him to death wherevpon he was publikly led out of prison towards the place where he was to receiue the glorious crowne of Martyrdome which Nicephorus had no sooner vnderstoode but sodainely he ranne and hauing met his Saphricius throwing himselfe vpon the ground Alas cried he with a lowde voice ô Martyr of IESVS-CHRIST pardon me for I haue offended thee whereof Saphricius taking no notice the poore Nicephorus getting againe before him by a shorter passage set vpon him a new with the like humilitie coniuring him to pardon him in these termes ô Martyr of IESVS CHRIST pardon the offence which I haue committed against thee being a poore man subiect to offend for loe a crowne is alreadie bestowed vpon thee by our Sauiour whom thou deneyedst not yea thou hast confessed his holy name in the face of many witnesses But Saphricius continuing in his insolencie gaue hiÌ„ not one word in answere but onely the Executioner admiring the perseuerance of Nicephorus neuer quoth he to him did we see so great an Asse this fellow is going euen at this instant to die what hast thou to doe with his pardon To whom Nicephorus answering thou knowest not quoth he what it is I demand of this Confessour of IESVS CHRIST but God kowes Now in the interim Saphricius arriued at the place of execution where yet againe Nicephorus hurling himselfe vpon the grownd before him I beseech thee quoth he ô Martyr of IESVS CHRIST that it would please thee to pardon me for it is written aske and it shall be granted you Words which could not at all bowe the flintie and rebellious heart of the accursed Saphricius who obstinatly denying mercy to his neighbour was himselfe depriued by the iust iudgment of God of the most glorious Palme of Martyrdome for the Headsman commanding him to put himselfe vpon his knees that he might behead him he begun to be daunted and to condition with him making in the end this deplorable and shamefull submission Ah for pitie doe not behead me I will submite my selfe to the Emperours ordonance and sacrifice to the Idols Which the poore good man Nicephorus hearing with teares in his eyes he begun to crie Ah my deare brother doe not doe not I beseech thee transgresse the law and denie IESVS CHRIST Forsake him not for loue loose not the crowne of glorie which with so great paines and torments thou hast atchiued But alas this miserable Priest coÌ„ming to the Altar of Martyrdome there to consacrate his life to the eternall God had not called to mind what the Prince of martyres had saied If thou carrie thy offering vnto the Altar and remember that thy brother hath somewhat against thee leaue thy offering there goe and be reconciled vnto thy brother and theÌ„ come and present thyne offering Wherefore God reiected his present and withdrawing his mercy from him permitted that he lost not onely the soueraigne felicitie of Martyrdome but euen fell headlong into the miserie of Idolatrie while the humble and meeke Nicephorus perceiuing this crowne of Martyrdome vacant by the Apostasie of the obdurate Saphricius touched with an excellent and extraordinarie inspiratioÌ„ put faire for â—â—ying to the officiers and the headsman I am a christian my friends I am in truth a ChristiaÌ„ and doe beleeue in IESVS CHRIST whoÌ„ Saphricius hath denied put me therefore I beseech you in his place smite of this head of myne At which the officers being wonderfully astonished they carried the tidings to the Emperour who gaue order for Saphricius his libertie and that Nicephorus should be put to death which happened the 9. of Feb about the yeare 260. of our Sauiour as Metaphrastes and Surivs recounteth A dreadfull historie and worthy diligently to be pondered in the behalfe we speake off for did you not note my deare THEO the Couragious Saphricius how bold and feruent he was in the defence of his faith how he suffered a thousand torments how constant and immoueable he was in the confession of our Sauiours name while he was roled and crusht in that presse like machine how readie he was to receiue death's blow to fulfill the highest point of the Diuine lawe preferring God's honour before his owne life And yet because on the other side he preferred the satisfaction which his cruell heart tooke in hating Nicephorus before the Diuine will he came short of the goale and while he was vpoÌ„ the point of attaining and gaining the prise of glorie by Martyrdome vnprofitably strumbling and falling into Idolatrie broke his necke 4. It is therefore true my THEO that it is not enough for vs to loue God more then our owne life vnlesse we also loue him generally absolutly and without reserue more then all we doe or can loue But you will saie vnto me did not our Sauiour designe the furthest point of our Loue towards him in saying that a man could not haue a greater charitie then to expose a mans life for his friends It is true indeede THEO that amongst the particular acts and testimonies of Diuine Loue there is none so great as to vndergoe
adhered and ioyned himselfe so neerely indissolubly and infinitly to our nature that neuer was any thing so straightly ioyned and pressed to the humanitie as is now the most sacred Diuinitie in the person of the Sonno of God 4. he ranne wholy into vs and as it were dissolued his greatnesse to bring it downe to the forme and figure of our littlenesse whence he is instyled a Source of liuing water dewe and rayne of Heauen 5. He was in extasie not onely in that as S. DENIS saieth by the excesse of his louing goodnesse he became in a certaine manner out of himselfe extending his prouidence to all things and beeing in all things but also in that as S. Paule saieth he did in a sort forsake and emptie himselfe drayned his greatnesse and glorie deposed himselfe of the Throne of his incomprehensible Maiestie and if it be lawfull so to saie annihilated himselfe to stoope downe to our humanitie to fill vs with his Diuinitie to replenish vs with his goodnesse to rayse vs to his dignitie and bestow vpon vs the Diuine beeing of the children of God And he of whom it is so frequent written I LIVE SAIED OVR LORD pleased afterwards according to his Apostles language to saie I liue now not I but man liues in me man is my life and to die for man is my gaines my life is hidden with man in God He that did inhabit in himselfe lodgeth now in vs and he that was liuing froÌ„ all eternitie in the bosome of his eternall Father becomes mortall in the bosome of his temporall mother He that liued eternally by his owne Diuine life liued temporally a humane life And he that from eternitie had bene onely God shall be for all eternitie man too so did the loue of man rauish God and draw him into an Extasie 6. Sixtly how ofteÌ„ by loue did he admire as he did the Centurion and the Cananee 7. he beheld the young man who had till that houre keept the Commandements and desired to be taught perfection 8. he tooke a louing repose in vs yea euen with some suspension of his senses in his mothers wombe and in his infancie 9. he was wonderfull tender towards little children which he would take in his armes and louingly dandle a sleepe towards MARTHA and MAGDALEN towards Lazarus ouer whom he wept as also ouer the Citie of Hierusalem 10. he was animated with an incoÌ„parable Zeale which as S. DENIS saieth turned into iealousie turning away so farre as he could all euill from his beloued humane nature with hazard yea with the price of his blood driuing away the Deuil the Prince of this world who seemed to be his Corriuall and Competitor 7. He had a thousand thousand languors of Loue for from whence could those Diuine words proceede I haue to be baptised with a baptisme and how am I straitened vntill it be dispatched The houre in which he was baptised in his bloode was not yet come and he languished after it the loue which he bore vnto vs vrging him therevnto that he might by his death see vs deliuerâ—d from an eternall death He was also sad and sweate blood of distresse in the garden of Oliuet not onely by reason of the exceeding griefe which his soule felt in the inferiour part of reason but also through the singular loue which he bore vnto vs in the superiour portioÌ„ thereof sorrow begetting in him a horrour of death yet loue an extreame desire of the same so that there was a hote combat and a cruell agonie betwixt desire and horrour of death vnto the shedding of much blood which streamed downe vpon the earth as from a liuing source 8. Finally THEO this Diuine Louer died amongst the flames and ardours of Loue by reason of the infinite charitie which he had towards vs and by the force and vertue of Loue that is he died in Loue by Loue for Loue and of Loue for though his cruell torments were sufficient to haue kild any bodie yet could death neuer make a breach in his life who keepes the keyes of life and death vnlesse Diuine Loue which hath the handling of those keyes had opened the Port to death to let it sacke that Diuine bodie and dispoyle it of life Loue not being content to haue made him mortall onely vnlesse it had made him die withall It was by choice not by force of torment that he died No man doth take my life from me saieth he but I yeeld it of my selfe and I haue power to yeeld it and I haue power to take it againe He was offered saieth Isaie because he himselfe would and therefore it is not saied that his Spirit went away forsooke him or separated it selfe froÌ„ him but coÌ„trariwise that he gaue vp his Spirit expired rendred vp the Ghost yeelded his Spirit vp into the hands of the eternall Father so that S. ATHANASIVS remarketh that he stooped downe with head to die to the end he might consent and bend towards deaths approch which otherwise durst not haue come neere him and crying out with a lowde voice he gaue vp his Spirit into his Fathers hands to shew that as he had strength and breath enough not to die so had he so much Loue that he could no longer liue but would by his death reuiue those which without it could neuer eschew death nor pretend for true life Wherefore our Sauiours death was a true sacrifice and a sacrifice of Holocaust which himselfe offered to our Sauiour to be our Redemption for though the paines and dolours of his Passion were so great and violent that any but he had died of them yet had he neuer died of them vnlesse he himselfe had pleased and vnlesse the fire of his infinite Charitie had consumed his life He was then the Priest himselfe who offered vp himselfe vnto his Father and sacrificed himselfe in Loue to Loue by Loue for Loue from Loue. 9. Yet beware of saying THEOTIME that this death of Loue in our Sauiour passed by way of rauishment for the obiect which his Charitie had to moue him to die was not so amiable that it could force this heauenly soule therto which therefore departed the bodie by way of extasie driuen on and forced forwards by the abundance and force of Loue euen as the Myrrhetree is seene to send foorth her first iuyce by her onely abundance without being strayned or pressed according to that which he himselfe saied as we haue noted No man taketh my life away from me but I yeelded it of my selfe O God THEO what burning coles are cast vpon our hearts to inflame vs to the exercise of holy loue towards our best Sauiour seeing he hath so louingly practised them towards vs who are his worst seruants The Charitie then of IESVS-CHRIST doth presse vs. The end of the Tenth Booke THE ELEAVENTH BOOKE OF THE SOVERAIGNE authoritie which sacred loue holds ouer all the vertues actions and perfections of the soule How much all the vertues are aggreeable
its vâ—rtue and beare its influence vpon the actions which we practise afterwards but so farre forth as in the exercise of them we applie the motiue of Loue in particular by dedicating them in a speciall manner to the glorie of God Yet doe all confesse with SAINT BONAVENTVRE who hath the generall approbation of all in this behalfe that if I haue determined in my heart to giue an huÌ„dred crownes for Gods sake though afterwards I make the distribution of this somme at leasure hauing my mind distracted and without attention yet is all the distribution made through Loue because it proceedes from the first proiect which Diuine Loue made me make of giuing the whole 6. But I praie you Tâ—EO what difference is there betwixt him that offers an hundred crowneâ— to God and him thâ—t offers to him all his actions truly there is none at all but that the one offers a somme of money the other a somme of actions And why I praie shall they not then be doth esteemed to make the distribution of the parcells of the somme in vertue of their first purpose and fundamentall resolutions And if one that distributs his crownes without attention be not depriued of the influence of his first purpose why shall not the other in the distribution of his actionâ— enioye the fruit of his first intention He that purposely hath made himselfe a louing seruant of the Diuine goodnesse hath by consequence dedicated all his actions to the same goodnesse 7. Grounding vpon this truth euery one should once in his life make a good recollection thereby to cleane his soule from all sinne and vpoÌ„ it to make an inward and solide resolution to liue wholy to God as we haue giuen instructions in the first part of the Introduction to a deuote life And afterwards at least once euery yeare to make a suruey vpon ones conscience and a renouation of the first resolution which we haue put downe in the fift part of the same booke to which in this behalfe I remit you 8. Certes SAINT BONAVENTVRE doth auoutch that a man that hath gotten so great an inclination and custome of well doing that he doth it frequently without any speciall intention looseth not the merits of such actions which are enriched by Loue from whence they spring as from their roote and originall source of thire blessed habit facilitie and promptitude Of certaine other meanes whereby we may applie our workes more particularly to the Loue of God CHAPTER IX 1. VVHen the Pea-hen hatcheth her egges in a white place her youÌ„g ones are also white And when our intentions are in the loue of God when we proiect some good worke or vndertake some certaine vocation all the actions which doe issue thence take their worth and deriue their nobilitie from the Loue whence they descended for who doth not see that the actioÌ„s which are proper to my vocation and requisite to my designe doe depend of this first election and resolution which I made 2. Yet THEO one must not staie there but to make an excellent progresse in deuotion we must not onely in the begining of our conuersion and afterâ—ards once euery yeare addresse all our life and actions to God but we must euen offer them vnto him euery day following the morning exercise which we haue taught Philothie for in this dayely renewing of our oblation we spread the vertue and vigour of our loue vpon our actions by a new application of our heart to the Diuine glorie by meanes whereof it is still more and more sanctified 3. Besides this let vs an hundred and an hundred times a day applie our life to Diuine Loue by the practise of iaculatorie praiers eleuations of the mind and spirituall retreats for thâ—sâ— holy exercises casting and bearing vp our minds to Gâ—d doe also in the end draw all our actions thither and how should it come to passe I praie you that a soule which doth euery moment dart vp herselfe at the Diuine Goodnesse and which doth incessantly breath words of Loue to th' end she may keepe her heart continually lodged in the bosome of her heauenly Faâ—her should not be thought to doe all her good workes in God and for God 4. She that saieâ—h ah Lord I am thyne my beloued is wholy myne and I am wholy his My God thou art my all O IESVS thou art my life ah who will doe me the fauour that I may die to my selfe to th' end I may liue onely to thee O to loue to goe to die to a mans selfe ô to liue to God! ô to bee in God! ô Lord whatsoeuer is not thy very selfe is nothing to me She I saie doth she not continually dedicate her actions to her heauenly Spouse ô how blessed is the soule who hath once stripped and perfectly resigned herselfe into the hands of God Almightie whereof we spoke before for afterwards she will onely neede one little sight aÌ„d view of God to renew and confirme her stripping resignation and oblation together with her Protestation that she will haue nothing but God and for God and that she neither loues herselfe nor any other thing in the world but in God and for the Loue of God 5 The exercise then of continuall aspirations is very proper for the application of all our works to Loue. But principally it is abundantly sufficient for the small and ordinarie actions of our life for as for heroicall workes and maters of consequeÌ„ce it is expedient if we intend to make any great profit to vse the ensuing methode as I haue alreadie giuen a touch elsewhere 6. Let vs in these occurreÌ„ces eleuate our heart aÌ„d spirit to God let vs burie our consideration and exteÌ„de our thoughts into the most holy and glorious eternitie let vs behold how in it the Diuine goodnesse did tenderly cherish vs preparing all conuenient meanes for our saluation and progresse in his Loue and in particular the commoditie to doe the good which doth at that present presente it selfe vnto vs or to suffer the euill which befalls vs. This done displaying if we may so saie and eleuating the armes of our consent let vs embrace dearely feruently and most louingly as well the good which presents it selfe to be done as the euill which we are to suffer in consideration that God willed it so from all eternitie to please him and to obeye his prouidence 7. Behold the great S. CHARLES when his Diocese was infested with the plague he lifted vp his heart to God and beheld attentiuely that in the eternitie of Gods Prouidence this scourge was determined and prepared for his flocke and that the same Prouidence had ordained that in this their scourge he should take a most tender care to serue solace and cordially to assist the afflicted sith that in this occurrence he chanced to be the Ghostly Father Pastour and Bishope of that Prouince Wherevpon representing vnto himselfe the greatnesse of the paines toyles and hazards which he was necessarily
of cōcupiscence Loue of concupiscence is that by which we loue things with pretention of profit Loue of beneuolence that by which we loue a thing for it's owne profit For what other thing is it to loue one with the loue of beneuolence or good will then to will him good 2. If he to whom we will good haue already obtained and possest it then we wish it him by the pleasure and contentment which we haue to see him possessed of it and hence springs Loue of complacence which is onely an act of the will by which it is ioyned and vnited to the pleasure content and good of an other But in case he to whom we wish good haue not yet obtained it we desire it him and thence that loue is termed Loue of desire 3. When Loue of beneuolence is exercised without correspōdance of the beloued it is called Loue of simple beneuolence but when it is practised with mutuall correspondance it is called loue of friendship Now Mutuall correspondence consisteth of three things to wit a mutuall loue a mutuall knowledge of the same conuersation and priuate familiaritie 4. If we loue our friend without preferring him before others t' is Simple familiaritie if with preference then this familiaritie turnes to be Dilection or as one would saie A loue by election as making choice of this from amongst many things we loue and preferring it 5. Againe when by this Dilection we doe not much preferre one friend before others t' is called Simple dilection but if contrariwise we much more esteeme and greatly preferre one before another of the same ranck then this friendship is called Dilection by excellencie 6. But if the esteeme and preference of our friend though great and without equall doe yet enter into comparison and proportion with others the friendship shall be called Eminent dilection but if the eminencie therof doe without proportion incomparably passe all others then it is graced with the Title of Incomparable soueraigne and supereminent dilection and in a word it shall be Charite due to one God onely And indeede in our lāguage the word deare dearely indeared doth testifie a certaine particular esteeme prise or valewe so that as amongst the people the word HOMO is almost appropriated to the male-kind as to the more excellent sexe and the word ADORATION is in a manner due to God onely as it 's prime obiect so the word CHARITIE is appropriated to him as to the supreame and soueraigne dilection That charitie ought to be named loue CHAPTER XIIII 1. ORIGIN saieth that the holy Scripture in his opinion vsed the word Charitie and Dilection as termes more honest least the word Loue might giue occasion of euill thoughts to the weaker sort as being more proper to signifie a carnall passion then a spirituall affection But S. AVGVSTINE hauing deeplier weighed the vse of Gods word clearely shewes that the word Loue is no lesse sacred then the word Dilection and that as well the one as the other doe sometimes signifie an holy affection as sometimes also a depraued passion alleading to this purpose diuerse passages of holy Scripture But the great S. DENIS as chiefe Doctour of the PROPRIETIE OF DIVINE NAMES goes much further in fauour of the word Loue teaching that the Diuins that is the Apostels and their first Disciples for this Saint knew no other Diuins to disabuse the vulgare and tame their Phansie who took the word Loue in a profaine and carnall sense the more willingly imployed it to signifie diuine things then that of Dilection and though they thought that both were indifferently taken for the same thing yet some of them were of opinion that the word Loue was more proper and agreeing to God then the word Dilection Hence the diuine IGNATIVS left these words written MY LOVE IS CRVCIFIED And as these Auncient Diuins made vse of the word Loue in heauenly matters to quit it of the touch of impuritie wherwith in the worlds imagination it was suspected so to expresse humane affections they pleased to vse the word Dilection as exempt from all suspition of dishonestie Whervpon some of them as S. DENIS reporteth saied thy Dilection hath made entrie into my soule as the Dilection of women In fine the word Loue doth signifie more feruour efficacie and actiuitie then that of Dilection so that amongst the Latins Dilection is much lesse significatiue then Loue. CLAVDIVS saieth the great Oratour bears me Dilection and to saie it more excellently He loues me and therefore the word Loue as the more excellent hath iustly bene imposed vpon Charitie as principall and most eminent of all Loues For these reasons and for that I pretended to speake of the Acts of Charitie more then of her habits I haue intitled this small worke A TREATISE OF THE LOVE OF GOD. Of the conueniencie betwixt God and man CHAPTER XV. 1. AS soone as a man takes the Diuinitie into his consideratiō with a little attētion he feeles a certaine delightfull leaping of the heart witnessing that God is God of man's heart and that our vnderstanding is neuer so filled with pleasure as in this consideration the least knowledge wherof as saieth the prince of Philosophers is more worth then the greatest of other things as the least Sunne beame is brighter then the greatest from the Moone or starres yea is more lightsome then the Moone and starres alltogether so that if any dreadfull accident assaie our heart it hath presently recourse to the Diuinitie protesting therin that when all other things faile him that onely stands his friend and when danger threateneth that onely is his soueraigne good and can saue and warrant him 2. This confidence this pleasure which man's heart naturally takes in God can spring from no other roote then from the conueniencie which is betwixt God and man's soule a great but secrete conueniencie a conueniencie which each one knowes but few vnderstands a conueniencie which cannot be denied nor yet be well founded we are created to the similitude and likenesse of God what is this to saie if not that we haue an extreamely great proportion with the diuine Maiestie 3. Our soule is spirituall indiuisible immortall vnderstands willeth and that freely is capable of discourse iudgment knowledge and of vertues in all which it resembles God It is all in all and all in euery part of the bodie as the Diuinitie is all in this our All and all in euery part therof man knowes and loues himselfe by acts produced and expressed by his vnderstanding and will distinguished in them selues remaining notwithstanding inseparably vnited in the soule and in these faculties from whence they proceede So the Sonne proceedes from the Father as his knowledge expressed and the Holy Ghost as loue expired and produced from the Father and the Sonne both the Persons being distinct in them selues and from the Father and yet inseparable and vnited or rather one same sole simple onely indiuisible Diuinitie 4. But besides this conueniencie of
hath left in man deepe markes of his anger yea euen a middest the graces of his Mercy as for example the necessitie of death sicknesse labours the rebellion of the sensualitie yet the Diuine Assistance hauing the vpper hand of all these takes pleasure to conuert these miseries to the greatest aduantage of such as loue him making Patience rise out of their trauailes the Contempt of the world out of the necessitie of death a thousand victories ouer Concupiscence and as the Rainebowe touching the Thorne ASPALATHVS makes it more odoriferous then the Lillie so our Sauiours Redemption touching our miseries makes them more profitable and amiable then Originall Iustice could euer haue bene The Angels in heauen saieth our Sauiour doe more ioy in one penitent sinner them in nintie nine iust and so the State of Redemption is an hundred times better then that of Innocencie Verily by being watered with our Sauiours Blood caused by the Isoppe of the Crosse we are reduced to a whitnesse incomparably more excellent then the snow of innocencie returning out of the Flood of health with NAMAN more pure and vnspotted as though we had neuer bene Leprous to th' end that the diuine Maiestie as he hath also ordained we should doe might not be ouercome by euill but ouercome euill by good that his Mercy as a sacred oyle might keepe aboue Iudgment and his commiseration surpasse all his workes Of certaine speciall fauours exercised by the diuine prouidence in the Redemption of man CHAPTER VI. 1. CErtainly God doth admirably show the riches of his incomprehensible power in this great varietie of things which we see in Nature Yet doth he make the Treasurs of his infinite Bountie more magnificently appeare in the incomparable varietie of benefits which we acknowledge in Grace For THEOTIME he was not content with the holy excesse of his Mercy in sending to his people that is to Mankind a generall and vniuersall Redemption by meanes wherof euery one might be saued but moreouer he diuersified it in so many sorts that his Liberalitie did shine amiddest that varietie and that varietie againe did mutually imbellish his Lliberalitie 2. And following this he first of all prepared for his most holy Mother a fauour worthy the loue of a Sonne who being most wise omnipotent and good was to prouide himselfe of a Mother to his liking and thefore he ordained that his Redemption should be applied to her by way of a preseruatiue to th' end that sinne which ranne from generation to generation might stop before it came at her so that she was ransomed in so excellent a manner that although the Torrent of originall iniquitie came rolling her vnfortunate waters vpon the Conception of this sacred Lady euen with as great impetuositie as against the daughters of ADAM yet being arriued there it did not dare a further passage but made a sodaine staie as did of old the waters of Iordaine in the daies of IOSVE and for the same respect for the flood stopt his course in reuerence of the Ark of Alliance which passed and originall sinne made his waters retire adoring and dreading the presence of the true Tabernacle of Eternall Alliance 3. In this sort then God deturned all bondage from his glorious Mother giuing her the good of both the states of humane nature retaining the Innocencie which the first ADAM had lost and enioying in an excellent sort the Redemption which the second did acquire Whence as a garden of election which was to bring fourth the fruite of life she was made florishing in all sorts of perfections This sonne of eternall loue hauing thus decked his Mother with a Robe of gold wrought in faire varietie that she might be the Queene of his right hand that is to saie the first of the elect which should enioy the delightes of God's right hand so that this sacred Mother as being altogether reserued for her Sonne was by him infranchised not onely from damnation but euen from all danger of damnation giuing her Assurance of grace and the Perfection of grace not vnlike an Aurora who beginning to appeare encreaseth continually in brightnesse till perfect day light Admirable redemption Master-pece of the Redemour and Prime of all Redemptions by which the sonne with a truly filiall heart preuented his Mother in the benedictions of sweetnesse he preserued her not onely from sinne as he did the Angels but euen from all danger of sinne and euery thing that might diuert of hinder her in the exercise of holy Loue. Protesting that amongst all the reasonable Creaturs he had chosen this Mother was his onely Doue his entirely perfect his wholie deare well beloued without all paragon and comparison 4. God also appointed other sauours for a small number of rare Creaturs whom he would assure from the perill of damnation as certainly he did S. IOHN BAPTIST and probably IEREMIE with certaine others which the Diuine Prouiuidence seased vpon in their mothers wombe and stated vpon them a Perpetuitie of Grace by which they might remaine firme in his Loue though subiect to delaies and veniall sinnes which are contrarie to the perfection of Loue not to Loue it selfe and these soules in regard of others are as Queenes continually crowned with Charitie holding the principall place in the loue of their Sauiour next to his Mother who is Queene of Queenes A Queene not onely crowned with Loue but with the Perfectiō of loue yea which is yet more crowned with her owne Sonne the soueraigne obiect of Loue being that childrē are theire Fathers and Mothers crownes 5. There are yet other soules which God determined for a time to leaue exposed to the danger not of loosing their saluation but yet in perill to loose his Loue yea he permitted them to loose it in effect not assuring them Loue for the whole time of their life but onely for the periode therof and for certaine precedent times Such were the APOSTLES DAVID MADELAINE and diuerse others who for a time remained out of God's grace but in the end being throughly conuerted they were confirmed in grace vntill death so that though from thence they continued subiect to imperfections yet were they exempt from all mortall sinne and consequently from danger of loosing the Diuine loue and were as the heauenly spouse his sacred soules adorned indeede with a wedding garment of this holy loue yet for all that not crowned a crowne being an ornament of the head that is of the prime part of a man now the first yeares of the Soules of this ranck hauing bene subiect to terreane loue they were not to be adorned with the crowne of heauenly loue but it is sufficient for them to weare the Robe which renders them capable of the marriage-bede with the heauenly Spouse and to be eternally happie with him How admirable the diuine prouidence is in the diuersitie of graces giuen to men CHAPTER VII 1. THere was then in the eternall Prouidence an incomparable fauour for the Queene of Queenes
diuerse soules which come to this perfection but few passe further and I know not the cause of it certainly the fault is not on Gods side for sith his diuine maiestie doth ayde vs and giues vs the grace to arriue at this pointe I assure my selfe he would not be deficient to assist vs further if it were not our fault and the impediment which we of our part put Let vs therefore THEO be attentiue to aduancement in the loue which we owe to God for his to vs can neuer faile That diuine inspirations leaue vs in our libertie to follow or repulse them CHAPTER XII 1. I Will not heare speake my deare THEOT of those miraculous graces which haue almost in an instāt transformed wolfes into shepsheards Rockes into waters persecutors into preachers I 'le leaue a part those all-powerfull vocations and holily violent draughts by which God hath brought some elect soules from the extreamitie of vice to the extreamitie of grace working as it were in thē a certaine TRANSSVBTANTIATION morall and spirituall as it happned to the great Apostle who of SAVLE vessell of persecution became Sodainly PAVLE vessell of election We must giue a particular rancke to those priuileged soules vpon whom it pleased God to exercise not a meere abundance but an inundation and if one may so saie not a liberalitie onely or a meere owerflowing but euen a prodigalitie and lauishing out of his loue The diuine iustice doth chastise vs in this world with punishments which as they are ordinarie so they remaine alwaies in a manner vnknowen and imperceptible yet sometimes he sends out Deluges and Abisses of punishments to make knowen and dreaded the seueritie of his indignation In like manner the diuine Mercy doth ordinarily conuert and gratifie soules so sweetely gently and delicatly that his motion is scarcely perceiued and yet it happens againe that his soueraigne bountie ouerflowing his ordinarie bankes as a flood swollen and ouercharged with the aboundance of waters which breaketh ouer the plaine streames out his graces so impetuously though louingly that in a moment he doth water and couer a soule with benedictions that the riches of his loue may appeare and as his iustice proceedes cōmonly the ordinarie way and but seldome the extraordinarie so his mercy exerciseth liberalitie vpon the cōmon sort of men the ordinarie way and but vpon some few onely the extraordinarie 2. But which are then the ordinarie lines wherby the diuine prouidence is accustomed to draw our hearts to his loue Such truly as he himselfe doth designe describing the meanes which he vsed to draw the people of Israel out of Egipte and out of the desert vnto the land of Promisse I will draw them saieth he by OSEE with lines of humanitie charitie and loue Doubtlesse THEOT we are not drawen to God by Iron chaines as Bulls and Bufflers but by enticements delicious touches and holy inspirations which in some are the lines of ADAM and humanitie that is proportioned and squared to humane hearts where libertie is naturall the property of mans heart is delight and pleasure we show Nuts to children saieth S. AVGVSTINE ād they are drawen in louing them they are drawen by the line not of the bodie but of the heart Marke then how the eternall father drawes vs by teaching he delightes vs not by imposing vpon vs any necessitie he easteth into our hearts delectatiōs ād spirituall pleasures as sacred baits by which he sweetely drawes vs to take and tast the sweetenesse of his doctrine 3. In this sort then dearest THEO our free-will is in no wise forced or necessitated by grace but notwithstanding the most powerfull vigour of Gods mercifull hand which toucheth enuironeth and ties the soule with such a number of inspirations seades and draughtes this humane will remaines franke and free and exempt from all constrainte and necessitie Grace is so gracious and so graciously seaseth our hearts to draw them that she offends nothing in the libertie of our will she toucheth powerfully but yet so delicatly the parts of our heart that our free will receiues no force therby she hath forces not to force but to entice the heart she is holily violent not to violate but to make our libertie beloued She acteth strongly yet so sweetely that our will doth not remaine oppressed by so powerfull an action she presseth but oppresseth not our libertie so that amiddest these forces we haue power to consent or dissent from her motions according to our liking But that which is no lesse admirable then true is that when our will followeth the draught and consents to the diuine motion she followeth no lesse freely then freely she doth resist when she resisteth although the consent to grace depends much more of grace then of the will and that the resistance of grace depends vpon the will onely so amiable is Gods hand in the hadling of our hearts so dexterous it is in communicating vnto vs its force without depriuing vs of libertie and in imparting vnto vs the motiō of his power without impeachmēt to the motion of our will adding power to sweetnesse in such sort that as in good things his power doth sweetly giue vs force so his sweetnesse doth mātaine powerfully the freedome of our will If thou knew the gift of God saied our Sauiour to the Samaritane and who he is who saieth vnto thee giue me to drinke thou thy selfe peraduēture wouldst haue asked him and he had giuen thee liue-water See I praie you THEO the touch of our Sauiour when he signifies his drawings If thou knewst would he saie the gift of God doubtlesse thou wouldst be moued and drawen to demand the water of eternall life and perchance thou wouldst demand it as though he had saied thou shouldst haue power and motion to demand yet in no wise be forced or constained but onely perchance thou would demand it for thy libertie would remaine to demand or not demand it Such are our Sauiours words according to the vulgar edition and according to S. AVGVSTINE vpon S. IOHN 4. To conclud if any should saie that our free-will doth not cooperate in consenting to the grace with which God doth preuent her or that she could not reiect and denie it consent he should contradict the whole Scripture all the auncient fathers experience and be excommunicated by the Concell of Trent But when it is saied that we haue power to reiect the diuine inspirarions and motions there is no such meaning at all as that one may hinder God to inspire vs or touch our hearts for as I haue already saied that is done in vs without our helpe These are fauours which God bestowes vpon vs before we haue once thought on them he awakes vs when we sleepe and consequently we find our selues awake before we thought on 't but it is in our power to rise or not to rise and though he haue awaked vs without vs he will not raise vs without vs. Now not to rise is to resist
men was onely ordained for those whom the Diuine wisdome had foreseene that in tract of time seconding their vocation they should attaine a liuely Faith which work 's by Charitie 6. Finally all these effects haue their absolute dependance of our Sauiours Redemption who did merit them for vs IN RIGOVR OF IVSTICE by the louing obedience which he exercised euē till death and death of the crosse which is the source of all the graces which we receiue we who are the Spirituall graffes ingraffed in his stoke and if being ingraffed we remaine in him we shall beare without doubt by the life of grace which he will impart vnto vs the fruite of Glorie prepared for vs. But if we prooue broken sprigges and graffes vpon this tree that is if by resistance we breake the progresse and successe of the effects of his Clemencie it will not be strang if in the end we be wholy cut of and be throwen into eternall fires as fruitlesse branches 7. God doubtlesse prepared heauen for those onely whō he foresaw would be his Let vs be his then THEO by faith and works and he will be ours by Glorie Now it is in our power to be his for though it be a gift of God to be Gods yet is it a gift which God denies no bodie but offers it to all to giue it to such as freely doe consent to receiue it 8. Nay marke I pray you THEO how ardently God desires we should be his sith to this end he hath made himselfe entirely ours bestowing vpon vs his death and his life his life to exempt vs from eternall death his death to possesse vs of eternall life Let vs remaine therefore in peace and serue God to become his in this mortall life more his in that immortall That we cannot attaine to a perfect vnion with God in this mortall life CHAPTER VI. 1. RIuers doe restlesse rūne and as the wiseman saieth returne to their source The Sea which is the place whence they spring is also the place of their finall repose all their motion tend's no further then to vnite themselues to their fountaine O God saieth S. AVGVSTINE thou hast created my heart for thy selfe and it can neuer repose but in thee But what haue I in heauen saue thee ô my God or what else in earth can I desire yea Lord for thou art the Lord of my heart thou my part and portion for euer Howbeit the vnion which our heart aspires to neuer attaines to it's perfection in this mortall life we may commence our Loues in this but neuer consummat them till the next world 2. The heauenly Spouse makes a delicate expression of it I haue found him at length saieth she him whom my heart loues I hold him nor will I let him goe till I haue led him into my mothers house and into her chamber who brought me fourth The well-beloued hath gotten him then For he makes her feele his presence by a thousand consolations she holdes him these feelings causing in her strong affections by which she doth holde and embrace him protesting neuer to release him O no! for these affections turne into eternall resolutions yet cannot she perswade her selfe that she giues him the mariage kisse till she meete with him in her mothers house THE HEAVENLY HIERVSALEM as S. PAVLE saieth But see THEO how this Spouse thinks euen to keepe her beloued at her mercie as slaue in Loue and so leade him at her pleasure bringing him to her mothers happie abode though indeede she her selfe must be conducted thither by him as was REBECCA into SARA'S chamber by her deare ISAAC The heart pressed with loue doth still gaine ground towards the thing beloued And the Spouse himselfe confesseth that the Beloued hath forced his heart hauing tyed him with one onely heire of her head acknowledging himselfe her prisoner by Loue. 3. This perfect coniunction then of the soule with God shall onely be in heauen where as the Apocalypse saieth the Lambs marriage-banquet shall be made In this mottall life the soule is truely espoused and betrothed to the immaculat Lambe but not as yet married vnto him They haue passed their words and promisses but the execution of the marriage is differred so that we haue alwayes time though neuer reason to disclame from it our faithfull Spouse neuer abandoning vs vnlesse prouoked by our disloyaltie and vnfaithfulnesse But in heauen the marriage of this diuine vnion being celebrated the tye of our hearts to their soueraine PRINCIPLE shall neuer be vndone 4. It is true THEOTIME that while we expect the kisse of this indissoluble vnion which we shall receiue of the Spouse aboue in glorie he begiues vs some few kisses by a thousand touches of his gratfull presence for vnlesse the soule were kissed she should not be drawen nor would she runne in the odour of the Beloued's perfumes whence according to the originall Hebrew Text and the 70. Interpreters she wisheth many kisses Let hī kisse me saith she with kisses of his mouth But whereas these little kisses of this present life haue reference to the ETERNALL KISSE of the life to come the holy vulgar Edition hath piously reduced the kisses of grace to that of Glorie expressing the spouse her desires in this wise Let him kisse me with a kisse of his mouth as though she should saie of all the kisses of all the fauours that the friend of my heart or the heart of my soule hath prouided for me ah I doe not breath after or aspire to any other thing then this great and solemne marriage-kisse which remaines for euer and in comparison whereof the other kisses merit not the name of kisses being rather signes of the future vnion betwixt my beloued and me then vnion it selfe That the Charitie of Saints in this mortall life doth equallise yea sometimes passe that of the Blessed CHAPTER VII 1. VVHen after the trauailes and dangers of this mortall life the happie soules arriue at the Port of the eternall they ascend to the highest and vtmost degree of Loue to which they can attaine and this finall encrease being bestowed vpon them in recompence of their merits it is distributed vnto them not onely in good measure but is euen pressed and thrust downe and yet doth scatter on euery side as our Sauiour saieth So that the Loue which is giuen for reward is greater in euery one then that which was giuen for to merit 2. Nor shall euery one in particular onely haue a greater loue in heauen then euer he had in earth but euen the exercise of the least Charitie in heauen shall be much more happie and excellent generally speaking then that of the greatest which is hath bene or shall be in this fraile life for aboue all the saints doe incessantly without any intermissiō exercise loue while heare belowe God's greatest seruants racked and tyrannized with the necessities of this dying life are forced to suffer a thousand and a thousand distractions which oftentimes
by which we consider him as source of Grace so will he bestow vpon vs the LIGHT OF GLORIE by which we shall contemplat him as fountaine of Beatitude and eternall life but a fountaine THEOT which we shall not contemplate a farre off as we doe now by faith but we shall see it by the LIGHT OF GLORIE being couered and swallowed vp in it The Duckers saieth Plinie who fishing for precious stones diue into the water doe take oile in their mouthes that by scattering it they might haue more day to see in the waters where they swime THEO the Blessed hauing diued and plunged themselues into the Ocean of the Diuine essence God will poure into their vnderstandings the sacred LIGHT OF GLORIE which will giue them day in the Abisse of this inaccessible light that so by the LIGHT OF GLORIE they may see the LIGHT OF THE DIVINITIE In God the fountaine is Of Life and heauenly blisse His brightnesse shall appeare To vs in th'-rayon cleare Of his day which shall be Our day of IVBILIE That there shall be different degrees of the vnion of the Blessed with God CHAPTER XV. 1. NOw this light of Glorie THEO shall be the measure of the sight and contemplation of the Blessed and according as we shall haue lesse or more of this holy splendour we shall see more or lesse clearely and consequently more or lesse happily the most holy Diuinitie which as it is beholden ād diuersly looked vpō so it will make vs diuersly glorious Certes in this heauenly Paradise all the SPIRITS see all the Diuine Essence yet no one of them nor all of them together doth or can see it entirely No THEO for God being most singularly one and most simply indiuisible one cannot see him without seeing all But being infinite without limite without bounds or measure at all in his perfection there neither is nor can be any capacitie out of himselfe who can euer totally comprehend or penetrate the infinitie of his Goodnesse infinitly essentiall and essentially infinite 2. This created light of the visible Sunne which is limited and finite is in such sort all seene of all those that doe behold it that it is neuer totally seene of any one of them nor of all together It is in a manner so with all our senses Amongst many that heare excellent musike though all of them heare it all yet some heare it not so well nor with so much delight as others according as their eares are lesse or more delicate MANNA had all tasts to all that eate it yet differently following the diuersitie of their appetits who tooke it yet was it totally tasted of none for it had more different tasts then the Israelits had varietie of gusts THEO we shall see and taste in heauen all the Diuinitie but neuer any of the Blessed nor all together shall euer see or taste it totally This infinite Diuinitie shall still haue infinitly more excellences then we sufficiencie and capacitie and we shall haue an vnspeakable content to know that after we haue satiated all the desire of our heart and fully replenished the capacitie thereof in the fruition of an infinite good which is God neuerthelesse there will remaine in this infinitie infinite perfections to be seene enioyed and possessed which his diuine Maiestie knowes and sees it onely comprehending it selfe 3. So fishes enioye the incredible vastnesse of the Ocean but neuer any fish nor yet all the multitude of fishes euer sawe all the armes of the Sea or wet their sinnes in all its waters Birds doe sport in the open aire at their pleasure but neuer any birde nor yet all the flok's of birds together did euer beat with their winges all the regions of the aire or arriue at the supreame region of the same Ah THEO our soules shall freely and according to the full extēt of their wishes swime in the Ocean and soare in the aire of the Diuinitie reioycing eternally to see that this aire is so infinite this Ocean so vast that it cannot be measured by their winges and that enioying without all reserue or exception all this infinite Abisse of the Diuinitie yet shall they neuer be able to equalize their fruition to this infinitie which remaines still infinitly infinite beyond their capicitie 4. And at this the Blessed SPIRITS are rauished with two admirations first at the infinite beautie which they contemplate secondly at the Abisse of the infinitie which remaineth to be seene in this same beautie O God how admirable is that which they see but ô God how much more admirable is that which they see not And notwithstanding THEO the most sacred beautie which they see being infinite it doth entirely satisfie and satiate them and enioying it with content according to the rancke which they hold in heauen because God's amiable prouididence hath so determined it they conuerte the knowledge they haue of not possessing or not being totally to possesse their obiect into a simple complacence of admiration in which they haue a soueraigne ioye to see that the beautie they loue is so infinite that it cannot be totally knowen but by it selfe For in this doth the Diuinitie of this infinite Beautie or the Beautie of this infinite Diuinitie consist The end of the third Booke THE FOVRTH BOOKE OF THE DECAY OR RVINE OF CHARITIE That while we are in this mortall life we may loose the loue of God CHAPTER I. I. WE make not these discourses for those great soules of Election whō God by a most speciall fauour doth so maintaine and confirme in his loue that they runne no hazard of loosing it We speake for the rest of mortalls to whom the Holy Ghost doth addresse these aduertisements he that stands let him take heede that he fall not hold what thou hast be carefull and labour that by Good workes you may assure your vocation in sequele whereof he makes them make this Praier doe not cast me from before thy face doe not take from me thy SPIRIT and leade vs not into temptation to th' end they may worke their saluation with a holy trembling and sacred feare knowing that they are not more constant and strong to conserue Gods loue then was the first Angell his followers and Iudas who receiuing it loosed it and in loosing it loosed themselues for euer nor then Salomon who hauing lost it holds the whole world in doubt of his damnation nor then ADAM EVE DAVID S. PETER who being children of Saluation fell yet for a space from the loue without which there is no saluation Alas THEO who shall then haue assurance to conserue sacred loue in the nauigation of this mortall life sith as well in earth as heauen so many personages of incomparable dignities suffered so fearefull shipwrakes 2. But ô eternall God how is it possible will you saie that a soule that loues God can neuer loose it for where loue is it resisteth sinne and how comes it to passe then that sinne gets entrie there sith
that loue is strong as death sharpe in battaile as hell how can the forces of deth or hell that is sinne vanquish loue which at least doth equalize them in strength and doth passe them in friends and right Yea how can it be that a reasonable soule that hath once relished so great a sweetenesse as is that of heauenly loue can euer willingly swallow the bitter waters of sinne children though children being fed with milke with butter ād honie abhorre the bitternesse of wormewoode and Orpin being readie to fall downe with weeping when they are constrained to take them All then o true God the soule once ioyned to the goodnesse of the Creator how can she forsake him to follow the vanitie of the creature 3. My deare THEO the heauens them selues stand amazed their ports doe burst with feare and the Angels of peace are lost in astonishment at this prodigious miserie of mans heart abandoning so amiable a good to ioyne it selfe to things so deplorable But haue you neuer seene the little marueill which euery one knowes and yet few knows the reason of it when a full barrill is broched the wine will not runne vnlesse it haue aire giuen from aboue which yet happens not to barrels already drawen on for they are no sooner open but the wine runnes Certes in this mortall life though our soules abound with heauenly loue yet are they neuer so full therwith that by temptation this loue may not depart but in heauē when the sweetenesse of Gods beautie shall occupie all our vnderstanding and the delightes of his Goodnesse shall wholy satiate our wills so that there shall be nothing which the fullnesse of his loue shall not replenish no obiect though it penetrate euen to our hearts can euer draw or make rūne one sole drope of the precious liquour of our heauenly loue And to think to giue aire aboue that is to deceiue or surprise the vnderstanding it shall no more be possible for it shall be immouable in the apprehension of the soueraigne TRVTH 4. So wine well purified and separated from the lees is easily keept harmelesse when it is tossed and troubled but that which is vpon the lees is in continuall danger and as for vs so long as we are in this world our soules are vpon the lees or tartar of a thousand humours and miseries and consequently easie to be changed and turned into their loue But being in heauen where as in the great feast described by Isaie there shall be wine purified from the dregges we shall be no longer subiect to change but shall be inseparably vnited by loue to our soueraigne good Here in the twie-light of day breake we are affraide that in lieu of the Spouse we fall vpon some other obiect which may delay and deceiue vs but when we shall find him aboue where he takes his repast and repose in the cleare day of glorie there will be no occasion to be deceiued for his light will be too cleare ād his sweetenesse will tye vs so closely to his goodnesse that we shall not haue the power to will to vntye our selues 5. We are like to Corall which in the sea the place of it's origine is pale-greene weake bowing and a pliable shrub but being pulled out of the sea as from it's mothers wombe it becomes almost a stone firme and impliable changing it's pale-greene into a liuely vermillion for so we being as yet amidst the sea of this world the place of our birth are obnoxius to strang changes pliable vpon euery occasion by inspiration to the right hand of heauenly loue by temptation to the left of terrene loue But if being once drawen out of this mortalitie we shall haue changed the pale-greene of our doubtfull hopes into the liuely red of assured fruition we shall neuer more be moueable but make a setled demoure for euer in eternall loue 6. It is impossible to see the Diuinitie and not loue it but here below where we doe not see it but onely haue a glimps of it through the cloudes of faith as in a myrror our knowledge is not yet so perfect as not to leaue entrie to the surprises of other obiects and apparant good which through the obscuritie mixed with the certaintie and veritie of faith doe insensibly steale in as little fox cubs and demolishe our florishing vine To conclude THEO when we haue charitie our free-will is deck't with her wedding garment which as she can still keepe on if she please in well doing so she can put it of if she please in offending How the soule waxeth coole in holy Loue. CHAPTER II. 1. THe soule is often contristated and afflicted in the bodie yea euen to the forgoing of many of the members thereof which remaine depriued of motion and sense though she neuer forsake the heart where she is still entirely till the periode of life So charitie is sometimes so quelled and made to languish in the heart that it doth scarcely appeare in any action though yet the remaine entire in the supreame region of the soule And then it is that vnder the multitude of veniall sinns as vnder finders the fire of holy Loue remaines couert its light being smothered though not deaded or extinguished for as the presence of the Diamant doth hinder the exercise and action of the Adamants propertie in drawing iron ād yet doth not depriue her of it hauing her operatiō as soone as the obstackle is remoued so the presence of veniall sinns doth in no sort depriue charitie of her force and power to worke yet doth it as it were benume and depriue her of the vse of her actiuitie So that she remaines sterill and barren without action Certes nor veniall nor yet the affection to veniall sinne is contrarie to the essentiall resolution of charitie which is to preferre God before all things because by this sinne we loue things besides reason not against reason we deferre a little too much and more thē is conuenient to creatures yet doe not we preferre them before the Creator we make more delay then is fitting in terrene things yet doe we not for all that forsake heauenly things In fine this kind of sinne doth impeach vs in the way of charitie but doth not put vs out of it and therefore veniall sinne not being contrarie to Charitie it neuer destroies her either wholy or partially 2. God signified to the Bishope of Ephesus that he had forsaken his prime charitie when he saieth not that he was without charitie but onely that he was not such as in the beginning that is that he was not now prompt feruent flourishing and frutefull as we are wount to saie of him who was braue cheerefull and frolicke and afterwards becomes harsh dull and lowtish that he is now the same man he was for our meaning is not that he is not the same in substance but onely in his actions and exercises And euen our Sauiour saieth that in the later daies the
about to beleeue And in another place the same Sainte speaking of sinners whereof God doth leaue the on in his iniquitie raysing th' other Now why he retaines the one and not t'other it is not possible to comprehend it nor lawfull to make inquests into it syth we know it is from him we stand and not from him we fall and againe this is couered and remoued from manes reach at least from myne 7. Loe THEO the most saintly way of Philosophyzing in this behalfe and therefore I haue allwaies reputed the learned modestie and most wise humilitie of the Seraphicall Doctor sainct Bonauenture admirable and amiable in the discourse which he makes of the reason why the Diuine prouidence doth ordaine the Elect to eternall life Peraduenture saieth he it is by a foresight of the good works which will be done by him that is drawen in so much as they proceede in some sort from the will but to be able to declare what good workes they are which by their foresight moue Gods will I know not perfectly nor will I make inquisition thervpon there are no other reasons then certaine conueniencies so that we might assigne one while it were another Wherefore we cannot with assurance point out the true reason nor the true motiue of Gods will herein for as S. Augustine saieth notwithstanding that the truth of it is most certaine yet is it so remoued from our thougts that we can speake nothing assuredly of it vnlesse it be reuealed by him who knowes all things and wheras it was not expedient for our saluation that we should haue knowledge of these secreets but was more profitable we should be ignorant of them to keepe vs in humilitie God would not reueale them yea the holy Apostle durst not inquire of them but testified the insufficiencie of our vnderstanding in that matter when he cried out ô depth of the wisdome and knowledge of God! could one speake more saintly THEO of so saintly a mysterie and indeede they are the words of a most saintly and prudent Doctor of the Church An exhortation to the affectionat submission which we are to make to the Decrees of the diuine prouidence CHAPTER VIII 1. LEt vs loue then THEO and adore in humilitie of SPIRITE this depth of Gods iudgments which as S. AVGVSTINE saieth the holy Apostle discouers not but admires when he cries out ô the depth of Gods iudgment Who can counte the sands of the sea the drops of raine and measure the largnesse of the Abisse saieth that excellent S. GREGORIE of Nazianzen and who can sound the depth of the diuine wisdome by which all things were created and moderated as she pleaseth and iudgeth fit For indeede it sufficeth that by the Apostles example we should admire it without sticking in the difficultie and obscuritie thereof ô depth of the wisdome and knowledge of God! ô how inscrutable are his iudgments and how inaccessible his wayes who hath knowen the sense of our Lord and who hath bene his counsellour THEO the reasons of Gods will cannot be penetrated by our wit till we shall see his face who toucheth from the one end to the other powerfully and disposeth all things sweetely doing all that he doth in number waight and measure and to whom the Psalmist saieth Lord thou hast done all things in wisdome 2. How often doth it happen that we are ignorant why and how the workes of men are done And yet saieth the same holy Bishope of Nazianzen the Artificer is not ignorant though we be ignorant in his Arte nor are the things of this world rashly and imprudently done though we know not the reasons of them Entering into a Clok-makers shoppe we shall sometimes find a cloke no greater then an Oringe which yet hath in it an hundred or two hundred peices whereof some serue for the style others to stricke the houre or giue the morning ALARME you shall see in it little wheeles one turning to the right another to the left hand one aboue another belowe and the plumbs which with a mesured pace doe balance its motion on euery side and we admire how Art could ioyne together such a number of minute peices with so iust a correspondance neither knowing what each little peice serues for nor to what purpose it was made in that sort vnlesse the Maister tell it vs knowing onely in grosse that all is either for shew or to stricke It is reported that the good Indians will stand whole dayes musing vpon a cloke to heare it strike at the time prefixed and not being able to gesse how it is done they doe not for all that saie that it is without Art or reason but are taken with loue and respect towards their keepres admiring them as more then mortalls THEO we see in this manner the vniuerse but especially humane nature a clocke composed of so great varietie of actions and motions that we cannot but be astonished at it And we know in generall that these so diuersly ordered peices serue all either to point out as a hand God's most holy iustice or as a bell of praise to sound the triumphant mercy of his goodnesse But to know the particular vse of euery peice how it is ordered to the generall end or why it is made so we cannot conceiue vnlesse the soueraigne workman instruct vs Now he conceals his Art from vs to th' end that with more reuerence we might admire it till in heauen he shall rauish vs with the sweetenesse of his wisedome where in the aboundance of his loue he will discouer vnto vs the reasons meanes and motiues of all that passed in the world to the aduantage of our eternall saluation 3. We resemble saieth yet againe the great Nazianzen those who are troubled with a giddinesse or turning of the head for they thinke that all rūnes roūd with them topsie turnie though it be but their braine and imagination which turne not the things about them for so when we meete with any euents whereof the causes are vnknowen vnto vs we deeme the world is gouerned without reason because we are ignorant of it Let vs beleeue then that as God is the maker and father of all things so takes he care of all things by his prouidence which doth imbrace and sustaine all the Machine of creatures But especially let vs beleeue that he doth rule our affaires ours who know him though our life be tossed with so great contrarietie of accidents whereof we know not the reasons to th' end by chance that not being able to attaine to this knowledge we might admire the soueraigne reason of God surpassing all things for with vs things easily knowen are easily despised but that which out-tops our wit by how much it is more hard to be knowen by so much it excites a greater admiration in vs. Truely the reasons of the diuine prouidence were low placed if our smale wits could reach vnto them they should be lesse amiable in their sweetenesse and lesse
bush of griefe and euen so I I am wholy inflamed with loue amōgst the thornie thickets of sorrow I am a Lillie enuironed with thornes doe not onely looke vpon the horrours of my pinching griefes but behold the agreeable beautie of my loues Alas this Diuine well-beloued louer doth suffer insupportable griefes this it is that toucheth my heart and makes me sound with anguish but he takes pleasure in suffering he loues his torments and dies with ioye to die with griefe for me wherefore as I greeue in his griefe so am I rauished with ioye in his loue I doe not onely sorrow with him but glorie in him 2. It was this loue THEO that drew the Stigmats vpon the louing Seraphicall S. FRANCIS and vpon the louing Angelicall S. CATHERINE of Scienna the vrgent wounds of her Sauiour the louing Complacence hauing sharpened the point of the dolourous compassion as honnie make the bitternesse of Wormewoode more pearcing and sensible as cōtrariwise the daintie smell of Roses is refined by the neighberhoode of Garlike which is planted neare the Rose-trees for so the louing Complacence which we haue taken in the loue of our Sauiour makes the compassion which we haue of his dolours more forcible as also passing from the compassion of sorrowes to the complacence of loues we take a more ardent and high content Then the griefe of loue and the loue of griefe is practised then the amourous compassion and dolourous complacence as another ESAV and IACOB striuing who should striue more puts the soule into incredible conuultions and agonies and as it were an extasie amourously dolorous and dolourously amourous And according to this the great soules of S. FRANCIS and S. CATHERINE felt incomparable loues in their dolours and matchlesse dolours in their loues when they were stigmatized perceiuing loue ioyfull to endure for a friend which our Sauiour exercised in the highest degree vpō the tree of the Crosse Thus is the precious vnion of our soule with God made which as a mysticall Beniamin is a child of griefe ād loue together 3. It cannot be expressed THEO how much our Sauiour desires to enter into our soules by way of this dolourous Complacence Alas saieth he open me the dore my deare sister my friend my doue my all-faire for my head is all to bedewed and my heires with the dropes of the night What is this dewe what are these dropes of the night but the paines and torments of his Passion Pearles as we haue many times saied are no other thing then dewie dropes which the nights freshnesse shewers downe vpon the face of the sea receiued in the shelles of Oysters or mother-pearles Ah! would the diuine louer of the soule saie I am oden with the paines and sweat of my passion which almost all passed either in the darknesse of the night or in the night of darknesse which the eclipsed sunne caused at the hight of the day Open then thy heart towards me as the mother-pearle doth hers towards heauen and I will poure downe vpon thee the dewe of my passion which shall turne into pearles of consolation Of the Loue of Beneuolence which we exercise towards our Sauiour by way of desire CHAPTER VI. 1. THe loue which God exerciseth towards vs is alwayes begun by beneuolence willing and effecting all the good that is in vs in which afterwards he takes complacence He made DAVID according to his heart by beneuolence because he found him according to his heart by Complacence He first created the world for man and man in the world indewing euery thing with such a measure of goodnesse as was proportionable to it out of his pure beneuolence then he approued all that he had done finding that all was very good and by complacence reposed in his worke 2. But contrariwise our loue towards God begins from the complacence which we haue in the soueraigne Goodnesse and infinite perfection which we know is in the Diuinitie then we come to the exercise of beneuolence And as the Complacence which God takes in his creaturs is no other thing then a continuation of his beneuolence towards them so the beneuolence which we beare towards God is nothing else but an approbation and perseuering in him 3. Now this loue of beneuolence towards God is practised in this sort we cannot with a true desire wish any good to God because his goodnesse is infinitly more perfect then we can either wish or thinke Desire is onely of a future good and no good is future to God sith that all good is so present to him that the presence of good in his Diuine Maiestie is no other thing then the Diuinitie it selfe Not hauing therefore power to make an absolute desire for God we doe make imaginarie and conditionall ones in this manner I haue saied ô Lord thou art my God who being full of thy owne infinite goodnesse can haue no wāt neither of my riches nor of any other thing but if by imagination of a thing impossible I could thinke thou had'st neede of any thing I would neuer cease to wish it thee euen with the losse of my life beeing and of all that the world hath And if being what thou art and which thou cannot but still be it were possible that thou couldst receiue any encrease of good ô God what a desire should I haue that thou hadst it In that case ô eternall Lord I would desire to see my heart conuerted into wishes and my life into sighes to wish thee such a good ah yet would I not for all this ô thou sacred well-beloued of my soule desire to haue power to desire any good to thy Maiestie yea I hartily please my selfe in this thy supreeme degree of goodnesse to which nothing can be added neither by desire nor yet by thought But if such a desire were possible ô infinte Diuinitie ô Diuine infinitie my soule would be that desire and no other thing then that so much would she be desirous to desire for thee that which she is infinitly pleased that she cannot desire seeing that her impotencie therein proceedes frō the infinite infinitie of thy perfection which outstrips all desire and cogitation Ah! ô my God how dearly I loue the impossibilitie of being able to desire thee any good sith that ryseth out of the incomprehensible immensitie of thy abundance which is so soueraignely infinite that if there be an infinite desire it should be infinitly saciated by the infinitie of thy Goodnesse which would conuert it into an infinite cōplacence These desires then by imagination of impossibilities may be sometimes profitably practised amongst great and extraordinarie feelings and feruours Thus as it is reported did the great S. AVGVSTINE often behaue himselfe pouring out in excesse of loue in these words Ah! Lord I am AVGVSTINE and thou art God but howbeit if that which neither is nor can be were that I were God and thou AVGVSTINE I would in changing my condition with thee become AVGVSTINE to the
to the end I may praise thy holy name the iuste expects me till thou restorest vnto me my desired repose Behold THEO I beseech you this soule who as a heauenly Nightingale shut vp in the cage of his bodie in which it cannot at wish sing the benedictions of his eternall loue knowes that he could better recorde and practise his melodious ditties if he could gaine the aire enioye the freedome and societie of other Philomels amongst the gaie and flowrie hillockes of the Land of the Blessed and thence he cries alas o Lord of my life ah by thy wholy sweete bountie deliuer my pouertie out of the cage of my bodie free me from this little prison to th' end that released from this bondage I may flie to my deare companions who expect me aboue in heauen to make me one of their Quiers and enuirone me with their ioye the Almightie according my voice to theirs I with them will make vp a sweete harmonie of delicious aires and accēts singing praising and blessing thy mercy This admirable Saint as an Orator who would end and cōclude all he had saied in some short sentence made this the happie periode of all his wishes and desires whereof these last words were a Breefe Words to which his soule was so fixed that in breathing them he breathed his last My God THEO what a sweete and deare death was this a happily louing death a holily mortall loue How we practise the LOVE OF BENEVOLENCE in the praises which our Sauiour and his mother giue to God CHAPTER XI 1. VVE ascend then stepe by stepe in this holy exercise by the creaturs which we inuite to praise God passing from the sensible to the reasonable and intellectuall and from the Church militant to the triumphant in which we raise our selues vp to the Angels and Saints till aboue them all we haue met with the most sacred virgin who in a matchlesse manner doth praise and magnifie the Diuinitie more highly holily and deliciously then all the other creaturs together are able 2. Being two yeares agoe at Milan whither the veneration of the fresh memorie of the great Archbishope S. CHARLES had drawen me with certaine of our Church-men we heard in diuers Churches diuers sorts of musike but in a Monasterie of Nunnes we heard a Religious woman whose voice was so admirably delicious that she alone filled our minds with more delight incomparably then all the rest together which though otherwise excellent yet seemed they to serue onely to giue luster and raise the perfection and grace of this singular voice So THEO amongst all the Quires of men and Angels the most sacred Virgine's loftie voice is heard which raised aboue all renders more praise to God then doe all the other creaturs And indeede the Heauenly king inuites her to sing in a particular manner shew me thy face saieth he my well-beloued let thy voice sound in my eares for thy voice is entirely sweete and thy face wholy faire 3. But the praises which this Mother of honour and faire dilection together with all the creaturs giues to the Diuinitie though excellent and admirable come yet so short of the infinite merite of Gods goodnesse that they carrie no proportion with it and therefore albeit they meruellously please the louing heart 's holy beneuolence to the well-beloued yet doe they not saciate it Wherefore it goes forward and inuites our Sauiour to praise and glorifie his eternall Father with all the Benedictions which a Sonnes loue can fournish him withall And then THEO the soule is put to silence being able onely to admire O what a Canticle is this of the Sonne to his Father ô how faire this deare well-beloued is amongst all the children of men ô how sweete is his voice as issuing from the lipps vpon which the fulnesse of grace was poured All the others are perfumed but he is the perfume it selfe the others are embaumed but he is Baulme poured out the eternall receiues others praises as smells of peculiar flowres but vpon the odour of the praises which our Sauiour giues him doubtlesse he cries out ô these are the odours of my sonns praises as the odour of a field full of flowres which I haue blessed I my deare THEO all the Benedictions which the Church militant and triumphant offers to God are Angelicall and humane benedictions for beit they are addressed to the Creatour yet proceede they from a Creature but the Sonns are diuine for they doe not onely tend to God as the others but they flow from God the Redeemour being true God they are not onely diuine in respect of their end but of their beginning diuine because they tend to God diuine because they issue from God God prouokes the soule endewing her with sufficient grace for the production of other praises But the Redeemour being God produceth his owne himselfe and thence they are infinite 4. He that in a morning for a good space hauing heard in the neighbour woods the sweete chaunting of a great companie of Canarie birdes Linnets Goldfinches and such like little birdes should in the end heare a Maister Nightingale who in perfect melodie would fill the aire and eare with her admirable voice doubtlesse he would preferre this one grouie Chaunter before the whole Quires of the others So hauing heard all the praises which so many different sorts of of creaturs in emulation of one another renders vnanimously to their Creatour when at length one markes that of our Sauiour they find in it a certaine infinitie of merite valour sweetenesse which passe all hope and expectation of heart and the soule as awaked out of a deepe sleepe is then sodenly rauished with extreamitie of the sweetenesse of that melodie ah I heare it ô the voice the voice of my well-beloued The Queene-voice of all voices a voice in comparison wherof all the other voices are but a dume and sad silence See how this deare friend doth spring out see how he comes tripping ouer the mountaines transcending the hills his voice is heard aboue the Seraphins and all other creaturs he hath the sight of a Goate to penetrate deeper then any other the beautie of the Sacred obiect which he desires to praise He loues the melodie of the glorie and praise of his Father more then all the rest and therefore he takes his Fathers praises and benedictions in a straine aboue them all Behold this diuine loue of the Beloued as he is clothed in his humanitie making hīselfe to be seene through the holes of his wounds and his open side as by windowes and as by lattises by which he lookes vpon vs. 5. Yes The Diuine Loue being seated vpon our Sauiours heart as vpon his royall Throne beholds through the passage of his pearced side all the hearts of the sonnes of mē for this heart being the king of hearts keepes his eye still fixed vpon hearts But as those that looke through a lattise doe plainely discouer others and yet are not
soule saieth she melted as soone as my well-beloued spoke The loue of her Spouse was in her heart and breast as a strong new wine which cannot be contained within the peece For it ouerflowed one euery side and the soule being led by her loue after the Spouse had saied thy breastes are better then wine streaming out precious ointments she addes Thy name is oile poured-out and as the Spouse had poured out his loue and soule into the heart of the Spouse so she againe turnes her soule into the Spouse his heart and as we see a honie-combe touched with a hote sunne-beame goe out of it selfe forsaking its forme doe also flowe on that side where the sunne toucheth it so the soule of this louer runns that ward where her well-beloued is heard going out of her selfe and passing the limits of her naturall beeing to follow him that spoke vnto her 3. But how is this sacred liquifaction of the soule into the well-beloued practised An extreame complacence of the Louer in the thing beloued begets a certaine spirituall impotencie which makes the soule not finde any more power to remaine in her selfe And therefore as dissolued Baulme that hath no more firmenesse or soliditie she permits her selfe to slide and runne into the thing beloued for she neither casteth her selfe by way of iaculation nor locks her selfe by way of vnion but lets her selfe gently glide as a liquide and fluent thing into the Diuinitie which she loues And as we see cloudes which thickned by the winde at Noonetide resoluing ād turning into raine cannot containe themselues but doe fall and showre downe and mixe themselues so inly with the earth which they moisten that they become one thing with it so the soule which though otherwise in loue remained before in her selfe goes out by this sacred liquifaction and saintly flowing and forsakes her selfe not onely to be vnited to the well-beloued but to be entirely mingled and moistened with him 4. You see then deare THEOT that the liquifaction of a soule into her God is a true extasie by which the soule trenscendes the limits of her naturall behauiour being wholy mixed absorpt and engulfed in God Hence it happens that such as attaine to these holy excesses of heauenly loue afterward being come to themselues can finde nothing in the earth that can content them and liuing in an extreame annihilation of themselues remaine much weakned in that which toucheth sense ād haue perpetually in their hearts the B. Mother Teresa her Maxime ALL THAT IS NOT GOD IS NOTHING And it seemes that such was the louing passion of the great friend of the well-beloued who saied I liue now not I but IESVS-CHRIST in me and our life is hid with IESVS-CHRIST in God For tell me I praie you THEOT if a drope of Elementarie water throwne into an Ocean of liue water were liuing could speake and declare it's condition would it not crie out with ioye O mortalls I liue indeede but I liue not I but this Ocean liues in me and my life is hidden in this Abisse 5. The soule that runnes into God dies not For how can she die by being shut vp in life but she liues without liuing in her selfe because as the starrs without loosing their light shine not in the presence of the Sunne but the Sunne shines in thē and they are hid in the light of the Sunne so the soule without loosing her life liues not being mixed with God but God liues in her Such as I thinke were the feelings of the great S. PHILIPPVS NERIVS and S. FRANCIS ZAVERIVS when ouercloied with heauenly consolations they petitioned to God that he would withdrawe himselfe for a space from them sith his will was that their life should a little longer appeare vnto the world which could not be while it was wholy hidden and absort in God Of the wound of loue CHAPTER XIII 1. All these termes of loue are drawne from a certaine resemblance which is betwixt the affections of the minde and the passions of the bodie GRIEFE FEARE HOPE HATRED and the rest of the affections of the soule enters not into the heart but when loue doth drawe thē after it We doe not hate euill but because it is contrarie to the Good which we loue We feare future euill because it will depriue vs of the good we loue Though an euill be extreame yet doe we neuer hate it but according to the opposition it hath to the good which is deare vnto vs. He that doth not much affect the Commonwealth is not much troubled to see it ruin'd He that doth not much loue God doth also not much hate sinne LOVE is the first yea the Source and origine of all the Passions And therefore it is LOVE that first enters the heart ād because it doth penetrate ād that well nigh to the very bottome of the will where his seate is we saie he wounds the heart It is sharp-pointed saieth the Apostle of France and enters the heart most deeply the other affections doe also enter but by the meanes of loue for it is he that pearcing the heart makes passage The onely point of the dart woundeth the rest of it doth but enlarge the wound and encrease paine 2. Now if it wound it doth consequently put vs to paine Pomegranats by their vermillion colour by the multitude of their cornes so close set and rancked and by their faire crownes liuely represēting as S. GREGORIE saieth most holy Charitie all redde by reasō of her ardour towards God crowned with the varietie of all vertues and who alone doth beare away the crowne of eternall reward 's but the iuice of Pomegranats which as we know is so delightfull as well to the sound as sicke is so compounded of sweete and soure that one can hardly discerne whether it delights the taste more by it's sweetish tartnesse or tarte sweetenesse Verily THEOT Loue is in like sorte bitter-sweete and while we liue in this world it hath neuer a sweetenesse perfectly sweete because it is not perfect or euer purely saciated and satisfied and yet it leaues not to be maruelous agreeable to the tartnesse thereof correcting the Lusshiousnesse of it's sweetenesse as the sweetenesse thereof sharpens the delight of it's tartenesse But how can this be there haue bene young men seene enter into conuersation free sound and frolicke who not taking care of themselues plainely perceiued lōg before they could get cleare that loue making vse of glaunces gestures words yea of the haire of a weake and fraile creature as of so many darts had smote and wounded their poore hearts so that you shall see them sorrowfull sad and dismaied Why I praie you are they sorrowfull With out doubt because they are wounded and who hath wounded them LOVE but loue being the child of Complacence how can it wounde and aggreeue Sometimes the beloued obiect is absent and then my deare THEO Loue woundes the heart by the desire which it excits which while it
cannot be saciated it doth much torment the mind 3. If a Bee had stung a child it were to sweete pourpose to saie to him ô my child the very Bee that stung thee is the same that makes the honie which likes thee so well for it is true might it replie her honie is very pleasant to my taste but her sting is painefull and while her sting stikes in my cheake I shall neuer be at rest and doe you not marke that my face is all swollen with it THEO Loue is indeede a Complacence and by consequence very delightfull so that it leaues not in our heart the sting of desire for when it leaues it there is left with it a great paine True it is this paine proceedes from loue and therefore is an amiable and beloued paine Heare the painfull yet louelie eiaculations of a royall Louer My soule thrisleth after her strong and liuing God Ah! when shall I come and appeare before the face of my God my teares haue bene bread to me night and day while it is saied vnto me where is thy God And the sacred Sunamite wholy possessed with dolorous loues speaking to the daughters Alas saieth she I coniure you if you meete my beloued tell him my griefe because I languish with the wound of loue Delaied hope afflicts the soule 4. Now the painfull wounds of loue are of diuers sorts 1. The first touches that loue giues our heart are called wounds because the heart that was sound entire and it 's owne before it loued being strook with loue begins to separate and diuide it selfe from it selfe to giue it selfe to the beloued obiect nor can this separation be made without paine seeing paine is no other thing then a separation of liuing things that were vnited 2. Desire doth incessantly sting and wound the heart in which it is lodged 3. TAEO speaking of heauenly loue in the practise of it there is a kind of wound giuen by God himselfe to the soule which he will perfect for he giues her admirable feelings and incomparable touches of his soueraigne goodnesse as pressing and soliciting her to loue him and then she forcibly bears herselfe vp as to soare higher towards her diuine obiect but lighting short not being able to loue with proportion to her desire ô God she feeles a paine without paragon At the same instant that she is powerfully drawen to flie towards her deare and well beloued she is powerfully retained and cannot flie as being chained to the seruile miseries of this mortall life and out of her owne impotencie she wisheth the winge of the doue to flie to her repose but finds it not So that she is roughly tormented betwixt the violencie of her desires and her owne impotencie ô miserable wretch that I am saied one of those that had tried this tormēt who will deliuer me from the bodie of this death And then if you marke it THEO it is not the desire of a thing absent that doth wound the heart for the soule perceiues that her God is present he had already led her into his wine celler planted vpon her heart the banner of loue but howbeit though already he see her wholy his he vrgeth her and from time to time toucheth her with a thousand thousand darts of his loue shewing her by new meanes how much more louely he is then he is beloued And she who hath not so much force to loue as loue to force her selfe seeing her forces so weake in respect of the desire she hath to loue him worthily to whose worth no force of loue can reach alas she finds her selfe stroock with an incomparable torment for in the same measure that she sobbs out more deeply the longings of her coueting loue the panges of her paine are augmented 5. This heart in loue with God desiring infinitly to loue sees notwithstanding that it can neither loue nor desire sufficiently Now this vnaccomplished desire is as a dart in the breast of a generous spirit yet the paine which proceedes from it is amiable because whosoeuer desires earnestly to loue loues also earnestly to desire And would esteeme himselfe the most miserable man aliue if he did not continually desire to loue that which is so soueraignely good Desiring to loue he receiues delight but louing to desire he is paied with paine 6. Good God THEOT what am I going to saie The Blessed in heauen seeing that God is more to be beloued then they loue him would sownd and eternally perish with a desire to loue him more if God's holiest will did not impose vpon theirs the admirable repose which they enioye for they so soueraignely loue this soueraigne will that the desire thereof doth quiet theirs and God's contentment doth content them being willing to be limited in their loue euen by that will whose Goodnesse is the obiect of their loue If this were not their loue would be equally delicious and dolourous delicious by the possession of so great a good dolourous through an extreame desire of a greater loue God therefore continually drawing arrowes if we may saie so out of the quiuer of his infinite beautie wounds the hearts of his Louers making them clearely see that they doe not loue him nigh so much as he is worthy to be beloued what mortall soeuer desires not to loue the Diuine goodnesse more loues him not enough sufficiencie in this diuine exercise doth not suffise him that will make a stand in it as though it suffised him Of some other meanes by which loue wounds the heart CHAPTER XIV 1. NOthihg doth so much wound a louing heart as to perceiue another heart wounded with the loue of it The Pellican builds her nest vpon the ground whence serpents doe often sting her younglings Now when this happens the Pellican as an excellent naturall Phisition with the point of her beake doth woūd her poore younglings on euery side to cause the poyson which the Serpents sting had spred ouer all the bodie to depart with the blood and to get out all the poison she lets out all the blood and consequently permits the little troope of Pellicans to perish in this sort but seeing them dead she wounds her selfe and spredding her blood ouer them she doth reuiue them with a more new and pure life her loue wounded them and fourthwith by the same loue she wounds her selfe Neuer doe we wound a heart with the wound of loue but we our selues are straight wounded with the same When the soule sees her God wounded by loue for her sake she receiues from it a mortall wound Thou hast wounded my heart saied the heauenly Spouse to the Sunamite and the Sunamite cries-out tell my well-beloued that I am wounded with loue Bees neuer wound but themselues are wounded to death And we seeing the Sauiour of our soules wounded by loue for vs to death and death of the crosse how can we but be wounded with him yea I saie wounded with a wound so much more dolorously
Now the eyes eares and mouth are the gates of the soule In fine the condition of its life is to be still indigent for if euer it be saciated it leaues to be ardent and consequently to be loue 2. True it is THEO that Plato spoke thus of the abiect vile and foule loue of worldlings yet are the same properties found in diuine and celestiall loue For turne your eyes a litle vpon those first Maisters of christian doctrine I meane those first Doctors of holy Euangelicall loue and marke what one of them who had laboured the most saied vntill this houre saieth he we doe both hunger and thrist and are naked and are beaten with buffets and are wanderers we are made the refuse of this world and as the drosse or skume as though he had saied we are so abiect that if the world be a Pallas we are held the sweepers thereof if the world be an aple we are the parings What I praie you had brought them to this state but Loue It was Loue that threwe S. FRANCIS naked before his Bishop and made him die naked vpon the ground It was Loue made him a begger all his life It was Loue that sent the great S. FRANCIS ZAVERIVS poore needie torne vp and downe amongst the Indians and Iaponians It was Loue that brought the great Cardinall S. CHARLES Archbishop of Milan to that extreamitie of pouertie amidst the riches which he had by the right of blood and his dignitie that as Maister Panigaroll the eloquent Orator of Italie saied he was as a dogge in his Maisters house eating a peece of bread drinking onely a little water and lying vpon a little strawe 3. Let vs heare I beseech you the holy Sunamite who cries almost in this manner although by reason of a thousand consolations which loue giues me I be more faire then the rich Tents of my Salomon I would saie more faire then heauen which is the lifelesse Pauillion of his royall Maiestie seeing I am his liuing Pauillion yet am I black torne squalled and spoiled with so many wounds and blows giuen me by the same Loue ah respect not my heu for I am truely browne because my beloued who is my Sunne hath streamed the raies of his loue vpon me raies which by their light doe illuminate yet by their heate I am sunn-burnt and made brownish and touching me with their splendour they haue berefte me of my colour The passion of loue hath done me too much honour in giuing me a Spouse such as is my King but the same passion which is a mother to me seeing she alone gaue me in mariage not my merits hath other children which doe wonderfully assault and vexe me bringing me to such a langour that as of one side I am like to a Queene who is beside her king so of the other side I am as a Vineyard-keeper who in a miserable cabinet lookes to a vine and a vine that is not his owne 4. Truely THEOT when the wounds and strokes of loue are frequent and strong they put vs into lāgour and into Lou's well-beloued sicknesse Who could euer describe the amourous langours of a S. Catharin of Sienna and Genua or a S. Angelo Folini a S. Bernard a S. Francis And as for the last his latter dayes were nothing but teares sighes plaints langours pinings Loue-traunces But in all this nothing so strange as the admirable communicatiō which the sweete IESVS had with him of his louing and precious paines by the impression of his wounds and Stigmats THEO I haue often pondered this wonder and haue made this conceipt of it This great Seruant of God a man wholy Seraphicall beholding the liuely picture of his crucified Sauiour represented in a glittering Seraphin which appeared vnto him vpon the Mount-Aluernus grewe softer then is imaginable taken with a soueraigne consolation and compassion For beholding this bright Myrrour of loue which the Angell could not saciate himselfe in beholding alas he sownded with delight and contentment but seeing also the liuely representation of the markes and woundes of his Sauiour crucified he felt in his soule the impetuous sworde which stroke through the sacred breast of the Virgin-Mother the day of the Passion with as much inward griefe as though she had bene crucified with her deare Sauiour O God THEO if the picture of Abraham fetching deaths blow ouer his deare onely-begotten to sacrifice him a picture drawen by a mortall hand had the power to soften and make weepe the Great S. GREGORIE Bishop of Nisse as often as he beheld it ah how extreamly was the Great S. FRANCIS softened when he beheld the picture of our Sauiour offering himselfe vpon the Crosse A picture which not a mortall hand but the Mistresse hand of a heauenly Seraphin had drawen and copied out of the originall it selfe representing so to the life and nature the heauenly king of Angels brused wounded murdered crucified 5. His soule then being thus mollified softened and almost melted away in this deare paine was therby greatly disposed to receiue the impressions and markes of the loue and paine of his soueraigne louer for his Memorie was wholy engaged in the remembrance of this Diuine Loue his imagination forcibly applied to represent vnto himselfe the wounds and wane blowes which his eyes then saw so perfectly well expressed in the present picture The Vnderstanding receiued from the Imagination infinitly liuelie Species And finally loue imploied all the forces of the will to take pleasure in and conforme her selfe to the Passion of her well-beloued whence without doubt the soule found herselfe trāsformed into a second Crucified Now the soule as the forme and Mistresse of the bodie exercising her authoritie vpon it printed the paines of the wounds with which she was strook in the partes correspondant to those wherein her Louer endured them Loue is admirable in edging the Imagination to penetrate to the exteriour Labans yewes while they were a ramming had so strong an imagination that it hit home vpon their Lambkins with which they were to make them become white or motley according to the rods they beheld in the troughs where they were watered And women with child hauing their Imagination refined by loue imprinte what they list vpon the child's bodie A strong Imagination makes a man waxe white on a night disturbing his health and humours Loue then droue out the inwarde torments of this great Louer S. Francis and wounded the bodie with the dart of sorrowe with which he had wounded the heart But loue being within could not well make the holes in the flesh without and therefore the burning Seraphin comming to helpe darted the raies of so penetrating a light that it really printed in the flesh the exteriour woundes of the Crucified which loue had imprinted interiourly in the soule So the Seraphin seeing Isaie not daring to speake because he perceiued his lips defiled came in the name of God to touch and purifie his lips with a burning
hands eleuating his eyes towards Heauen raising his voice very high and pronouncing by way of iaculation with great deuotion these words of the CaÌ„ticles the last which he had expounded Come vnto me my dearly beloued and let vs goe toge-into the fields All the Apostles and in a manner all the Martyrs died in Praier The Blessed and Venerable Bede hauing foreknowne by reuelation the time of his departure went to Euensong and it was vpoÌ„ the Ascension day and standing vpoÌ„ his feete leaning onely vpon the rests of his seate without any disease at all ended his life with the end of the Euensong as it were directly to follow his Maister ascending vnto Heauen there to enioye the bright morning of eternitie which knowes no euening Iohn Gerson Chancellour of the vniuersitie of Paris a man so learned and pious that as Sixtus Senâ—nsis saieth one can hardly discerne whether his learning outstripped his pietiâ— or his pietie his learning hauing explicated the fift proprietie of diuine loue recorded in the Canticle of Canticles three dayes after making shew of a very liuely countenance and courage expired pronouncing and iterating by way of iaculatorie Praier these holy words drawen out of the same Canticles ô God thy loue is strong as death S. MARTINâ— as is knowen died so attentiue to the exercise of his deuotions that he could not speake another word S. Lewis that great king amongst Saints and great Saint amongst kings being infected with the plague praied still and then hauing receiued his heauenly VIATICVM casting abrode his armes in maÌ„ner of a Crosse his eyes fixed vpon Heauen yeelded vp the ghost ardently sighing out these words with a perfect confidence of loue ah Lord I will enter into thy house I will adore thee in thy holy Temple and blesse thy â—ame S. PETER Celestine wholy possessed with afflictions which one can scarcely speake off being come to the periode of his daies began to sing as a sacred Nitingale the last Psalme making these louing words the close of his life and song LET â—VERY SPIRIT PRAISE OVR LORD The Admirable S. EVSEBIVS surnamed the stranger deceased vpon his knees in feruent Praier S. PETER Martyr writing with his owne finger and blood the Confession of Faith for which he died and vttering these words Lord into thy hands I commend my Spirit And the great Iaponian Apostle S. FRANCIS Zauerius holding and kissing the image of the Crucifix and repeating at euery turne of a hand this Eiaculation of heart O IESVS the God of my heart Of some that died by and for diuine Loue. CHAPTER X. 1. All the Martyrs THEO died for the Loue of God for when we saie many died for the faith we meane not that they died for a dead faith but for a liuely faith that is quickned by Charitie And the confession of Faith is not so much an act of the vnderstanding and of Faith as of the will and of the Loue of God And thus the great S. PET R conseruing Faith in his heart the day of his Maisters did yet quit Charitie refusing in words to professe him to be his Maister whom in heart he acknowledged to be such But there were yet other Martyrs who died expressely for Charitie alone as our Sauiours great Forerunner who was martyred for brotherly correction and the glorious Princes of the Apostles S. PETER and S. PAVLE but especially S. PAVLE was put to death for hauing reclamed those women to a pious and pure life whom that infamous Nero had wrought to lewdnesse The holy Bishops Stanislaus and S. THOMAS of Canterburie were slaine for a matter that touched not Faith but Charitie In fine a great part of sacred Virgin-Martyrs were put to slaughter for the Zeale they had to conserue their Chastitie which Charitie had caused them to dedicate to their heauenly Spouse 2. But there are some of the Sacred Louers that doe so absolutly giue themselues ouer to the exercises of Diuine Loue that holy fire doth wast and consume their life Griefe doth sometimes so long hinder such as are afflicted froÌ„ eating drinking or sleeping that in the eÌ„d weakened and wasted they dye whervpon it is a common saying that such died of Griefe but it is not so indeede for they died through euacuation and defect of strength True it is sith this faintnesse tooke them by reason of griefe we must auerre that though they died not of griefe yet they died by reason of griefe and by griefe so my deare THEO when the feruour of holy loue is great it giues so many assaults to the heart so often wouÌ„ds it causeth in it so many langours so ordinarily melts it and puts it so frequently into Extasies ad Raptures that by this meanes the soule being almost entitely occupied in God not being able to affoâ—d sufficient assistance to nature coÌ„ueniently to disgâ—st and nourish the sensible and vitall spirits begâ—n by little aÌ„d little to faile liâ—e is shortned and death approcheth 3. O God THEO how happie this death is How delightfull is this loue-dart which wounding vs with the incurable wound of heauenly loue makes vs for euer pining and sicke with so strong a beating of the heart that at length we must yeeld to death How much doe you thinke did these sacred langours and labours vndergone for Charitie shorten the dayes of the Diuine Louers S. Catherin of Sienna S. Francis Little Stanislaus Bosca S. Charles and many hundreds more who died in their youth Verily as for S. FRANCIS from the time he receiued his Maisters holy Stigmats he had so violent and stinging paines gripes conuulsions and deseases that he had nothing left on him but skinne and bones and he seemed rather to be an Anatomie or a picture of death then one liuing and breathing How some of the heauenly Louers died euen of Loue. CHAPTER XI 1. All the Elect then THEO deceased in the habit of holy loue but further some died euen in the exercise of it some againe for it others by it But that which belongs to the soueraigne degree of loue is that some die of loue aÌ„d theÌ„ it is that loue doth not onely wouÌ„d the soule aÌ„d thereby make her languish but doth euen pearce her through hitting directly on the midst of the heart and so deeply that it forceth the soules depaâ—ture out of the bodie which fals out in this manner The soule powerfully drawen by the diuine sweetenesse of her Beloued to complie of her part with his deare allurements forcibly springs out and to her power tends towards her desired attracting friend and not being able to draw her bodie after her rather then to staie with it in this miserable life she quits it and gets cleare lonely flying as a faire doue into the delicious bosome of her heaueÌ„ly Spouse She throwes her selfe vpon her Beloued and her Beloued doth draw and force her to himselfe And as the Bridgroome leaues Father and mother to adheare to his deare Bride So this chaste Bride
vnuested himselfe and going into Iordaine washing himselfe and drinking the waters thereof he thought he saw his Sauiour receiuing Baptisme at his Precursors hand and the holy Ghost descending visibly vpon him in the forme of a doue the Heauens remaining open from whence as it appeared to him the voice of the Eternall Father issued saying This is my beloued Sonne in whom I am pleased From Bethania he takes his way towards the Desert where he beheld with the eyes of his mind the Sauiour of the world-fasting fighting and vanquishing the Enemie together with the Angels who serued him with admirable foode From thence he makes towards the Mount THABOR where he saw our Sauiour transfigured thence to the mountaine of SION where he saw our Sauiour againe as he apprehended vpon his knees in the last supper washing the Disciples feâ—â— aÌ„d then distributing vnto them his sacred bodie in the holy EVCHARISTE he passeth the Torrent of CEDRON and betakes himselfe to the Garden of GETHSEMINâ— where with a most amiable dolour his heart dissolued into teares while he proposed vnto himselfe his deare Sauiour sweating blood in the extreame Agonie which he there endured and soone after takeÌ„ corded aÌ„d led to Hierusalâ— whither also he goes throughly to follow the footesteps of his Beloued and saw him in Imagination haled hither and thither to ANNAS to CAIPHAS to PILATE to HERODE whipped buffetted spit vpon crowned with thornes presented to the people sentenced to death loden with his Crosse which he carries and in carrying it met his dolorous mother and the daughters of Hierusalem bewailing him Finally this deuote Pilgrime mounts vnto the MouÌ„t Caluarie where he sees in Spirit the Crosse laied vpon the ground and our Sauiour quite naked whom they throw downe and most cruelly naile him to it hand and foote He goes on contemplating how they reare vp the Crosse and crucifie him in the aire blood flowing out from euery part of his diuine bodie He lookes vpon the poore sacred virgin traÌ„spearced with the sword of sorrow and then againe he eyeth his crucified Sauiour whose 7. last words he marks with an incomparable loue and at the length he saw him dying soone after dead Then receiuing the wound of thâ— Lance and by that holes passage shewing his Diuine heart then taken downe from the Crosse and carried to his Sepulcher whither still he followes him sending out a Sea of teaâ—es vpon the ground which was watered with his Redeemours blood he enters into the sepulcher and buries his heart with his Maisters bodie afterwards rising with him he goes to Emaus and sees what passed betweene the Maister aÌ„d his two Disciples In fine returning by the Mount Oliuet where thâ— Mysterie of the Ascension was accomplished and there seeing the last prints and footesteps of his heauenly Sauiours feete falling groueling vpon them and kissing theÌ„ a thousand thousand times with the sighes of an infinite loue he begunne to draw towards him the force of all his affections as an Archer the string of his Bowe when he is about to shoote then raising himselfe and stretching his eyes and hands to heauenward O IESVS saied he my sweete IESVS I haue now no further to search and follow thee in Earth Ah then IESVS IESVS my LOVE grant vnto my poore heart that it may follow thee and flie after thee to Heauen and in these feruent words he presently breathed out his sole to Heauen as a blessed arrow which he as a diuine Archer shot at the white of his most happie Obiect But his fellow 's and seruants who saw this Louer so sodainly fall downe as dead amaised at the accideÌ„t raÌ„ne with speede for the Doctor who when he came he found him quite dead and to giue a certaine Iudgment of so sodaine a death he made enquirie of what complection nature and dispositâ—on the deceased partie was and he found that he was of a most sweete aÌ„d amiable nature maruellous deuote and feruent in the loue of God Wherevpon quoth the Doctor doubtlesse his heart split with excesse and feruour of loue And to confirme his iudgment the more he opened him and found this generous heart open with this sacred Motto engrauen in it IESVS MY LOVE Loue then plaied Deaths parte in this heart seperating the soule from the bodie without the concourse of any other cause S. Bernardin of Sienna a learned and pious Authour relates this Historie in the first of his Sermons of the Ascension 3. An other Authour also well neare of the same Age who out of humilitie concealed his name worthy to be named in a booke intitled A MYRROR OF THE SPIRITVALL makes mention of an historie yet more admirable for he saieth that in PROVINCE there liued a Lord much addicted to the Loue of God and exceeding deuote to the Blessed Sacrament Now vpon a time being extreamly afflicted with a disease which caused him coÌ„tinually to reÌ„der the Holy CoÌ„munioÌ„ which was brought vnto him who not daring to receiue it least he might be forced to cast it vp againe he besought the Pastour to applie it at least to his breast and with it to make the signe of the Crosse ouer him This was done and in a moment his breast inflamed with Diuine Loue opened and drew into it selfe the heauenly foode wherin his beloued was contained and at the same instant departed life I must in very deede confesse that this historie is extraordinarie and such as would require a more waightie testimonie yet after the true historie of S. CLARE DE MONTE PALCO which all the world may euen to this day see and that of S. Francis his STIGMATS which is most certaine my soule meets with nothing which is hard to be beleeued amongst she effects of Diuine Loue. That the Sacred Virgin mother of God died of the loue of her Sâ—nne CHAPTER XIII 1. ONe can hardly well doubt but that the great S. Ioseph died before the Passion and death of our Sauiour who otherwise had not commended his mother to S. Iohn And how can one imagine that the deare child of his heart his beloued Nurse-child did not assist him at the houre of his departure Blessed are the mercifull for they shall obtaine mercy Alas how much sweetenesse Charitie and Mercy did this good Foster-father vse towards our little Sauiour at his â—ntrie into this world and who can then beleeue but at his departure out of it that diuine child rendred him the like with an hundredfold filling him with heauenly delights Storks are the true representations of the mutuall pietie of children towards their parents and of parents towards their children for being flitting birds they beare their decrepit parents with them in their iorney as their parents had borne them while they were yet young in the like occasion While our Sauiour was yet a little babe the great S. Ioheph his Foster-Father and his most glorious Virgin-mother had many a time borne him but especially in their iorney from Iudea
or resistance at all as the Chast Iudith who though she maruellously loued the habits of Penance and widowhood forsooke them notwithstanding and freely put them off to put on her marriage garments when she went to be victorious ouer Holofernes or as a Ionathas when for the loue of Dauid he did the like Loue had made her feele at the Crosses foote the deepest sorrow of death and therefore it was but reason that at length death should possesse her of the soueraigne delightes of loue The end of the Seauenth Booke THE EIGHT BOOKE OF THE LOVE OF CONFORMITIE BY WHICH WE VNITE OVR WILLS TO THE will of God signified vnto vs by his Commandements Counsells and inspirations Of the loue of Conformitie proceeding from holy Complacence CHAPTER I. AS good ground hauing receiued the seede doth render it in its season with an hundred fold so the heart that hath taken complacence in God cannot hinder it selfe from presenting another complacence to God None pleaseth vs whom we desire not to please Fresh wine doth for a time refresh the drinkers but as soone as it is heated in the receiuers stomake it mutually heats it and the more the stomake heat's it the more it heat's the stomake True loue is neuer vngratefull but striues to please the in whom it is pleased and theÌ„ce is that louing conformitie which makes vs such as those that we loue The most deuote and most wise king Salomon became foole and Idolater while he loued women that were fooles and Idolaters and serued as many Idols as did his wiues For this cause the Scripture termes those men effeminate that desperatly affect women in qualitie of women because Loue metamorphiseth men into women in manners and behauiour 2. Now this metamorphosâ—s is made insensibly by the complacence which hauing got entrie into our heart begets another to present it vnto him of whom we had it They saie there is a little land beast in the Indies which takes such a delight to accoÌ„painie fish in the sea that by often swimming with them it becomes a fish and of a beast of the land a beast of the sea So by often delighting in God we become conformable to God and our will is transformed into that of the Diuine Maiestie by the complace which it takes therein Loue saieth S. Chrysostome either finds or makes similitude The example of such as we loue beares a sweete and imperceptible rule ouer vs an authoritie not to be perceiued It is necessarie either to imitate or forsake them He that being taken with the delight of perfumes enters into the perfumers shop receiuing thence the pleasure which he takes to smell those odours perfumes himselfe and going out communicats to others part of the pleasurs which he receiued spreeding amongst them the sent of the perfumes which he had contracted our heart together with the pleasurs which it taketh in the thing beloued drawes vnto it selfe the qualitie thereof for delight opens the heart as sorrow shuts it wherevpon the holy Scripture often vseth the word dilate insteede of reioyce Now the heart being opened by pleasure the impressions of the qualities whereof the pleasure depends finds easie passage into the heart and together with them such others as are in the same subiect though distastfull vnto vs creepe in through the throng of pleasurs as he that wanted his marriage garment got into the banquet amongst those that were adorned So Aristotl's schollers were delighted in stutting with him and Plato's went crooked in the back in imitation of their Maister There was a certaine woman as Plutarke reporteth whose imagination and apapprehensioÌ„ through sensualitie laye so open to all things that beholding a Blackamors picture she conceiued a child all black by a Father extreamely white and the fact of Iacobs yewes will serue for a proofe of this In fine the pleasure which one takes in a thing is a certaine Herbinger which lodgeth the qualities of the thing which pleaseth in the Louers heart And hence it is that holy CoÌ„placeÌ„â—â— doth traÌ„sforme vs into God whoÌ„ we loue and by how much greater the complacence is by so much the transformatioÌ„ is more perfect so the Saints that loued ardently were speedily and perfectly transformed loue transporting and translating the conditions and qualities of the one heart into the other 3. It is a strang yet a true thing put two Luts together which are vnison that is of the same sound and accord and let one play vpon the one of them the other though not touched will resound to that which is played on the conuenieÌ„cie which is betwixt them as by a naturall loue causing this correspondance We haue difficultie to imitate such as we hate euen in good things not would the Lacedemonians follow the good counsell of the wicked vnlesse some honest man pronounced it after them Of the contrarie side one cannot be keept from coÌ„forming himselfe to such as he loueth In this sense as I thinke the great Apostle saied that the Law was not made for the Iust maÌ„ for in truth the Iust maÌ„ is not Iust but inso much as he hath Loue and if he haue Loue there is no neede to presse him by the rigour of the Law Loue being the most pressing Doctour and Sollicitour to vrge the heart which it possesseth to obay the will and intentioÌ„ of the Beloued Loue is a Magistrat which executs his authoritie without voicing it without PursuiuaÌ„ts or Sergants by this mutually complacence by which as we take pleasure in God so also we desire to please him Loue is the Abridgment of all Diuinitie which made the ignorance of Paules Antonies Hilarioâ—s Simeons Francises so holily learned without bookes Maisters or Art By vertue of this holy Loue the Spouse may pronounce with assurance My Beloued is wholy myne by the Complacence wherwith he doth please and feede me And I by Beneuolence am wholy his wherewith I pleasâ— aÌ„d feede him My heart is fed in taking pleasure in him and his is fed in that I take pleasure in him for him He feeds me iust as a holy shepheard his deare yewe amidst the Lillies of his perfectioÌ„s in which I take pleasure And I as his deare yewe paie him the milke of my affections by which I striue to please him Whosoeuer doth truely feede in God desires faithfully to please God and to conforme himselfe vnto him to th' end he might please him Of the conformitie of Submission which proceeds from the Loue of Beneuolence CHAPTER II. 1. COmplacence then drawes into our hearts the feelings of diuine perfections according as we are capable to receiue them like as the Myrrour receiues the SuÌ„ns picture not according to the excellencie and amplitude of this great and admirable Lampe but with proportion to the glasse its largnesse and capacitie and therby we become conformable to God 2. But besids this LOVE OF BENEVOLENCE brings vs to this holy conformitie by another meanes LOVE OF COMPLACENCE drawes God into our hearts
this kind of fauour one could desire no more and as the sunne-beames remaine Sunnne-beames notwithstanding that they are reiected and repulsed by some obstacle so God's signified will remaines the true will of God though it be resisted true it is it hath not the effects which it would haue being seconded 4. The conformitie then of our heart to the signified will of God consisteth in this that we should will that which the diuine goodnesse doth signifie vnto vs to be his intention beleeuing according to his doctrine hoping according to his promises fearing according to his threats louing and liuing according to his ordinances and aduertissements to which all the protestations which we make thereof in the holy Ceremonies of the Church doe tend Hence we stand while the Gospell is red as being readie to obay the holy signification of Gods will contained therein Hence we kisse the booke at the Gospell side in adoration of the sacred word which doth declare his heauenly will Hence many Saints meÌ„ and women carried in the old time in their bosoms the Gospell written as an Ephitheme of Loue as it is reported of S. CICILE And indeede S. MATHEWES Gospell was found vpon S. BARNABIES breast written with his owne hand Wherevpon in the auncient Councells in the midst of the assemblie of Bishops they erected a Throne and put vpon it the Booke of the holy Gospells which represented the person of our Sauiour king Doctour Directour Spirit of all the Councells and of the whole Church so much did they reuerence the signification of Gods will expressed in this holy booke Certes that great Myrrour of Pastours S. CHARLES Archbishop of Milau neuer studied the holy Scripture but bare head and vpon his knees to testifie with what respect we are to reade and heare the signified will of God Of the Conformitie of our will to the will which God hath to saue vs. CHAPTER IV. 1. GOd hath signified vnto vs so diuersly and by so diuerse meanes that his will was that we should all be saued that none can be ignorant of it to this purpose he made vs to his owne Image by Creation and himselfe to our Image and likenesse by his Incarnation after which he suffered death to ransome and saue all mankind which he performed with so much loue that as the great S. DENIS Apostle of France racounteth he saied vpon a day to the holy man Carpus that he was ready to suffer an other passion to saue maÌ„kind and that this would be pleasant vnto him if it could be done without any mans offence 2. And although all are not saued yet is this will the truâ— will of God who doth worke in vs according to the condition of our and his nature For his Bountie moues him liberally to communicate â—nto â—â— the succours of his grace to bring vs to the felicitie of his glorie but our nature reqâ—â—â— that his liberalitie should leaue vs in libertie to make vse of it to our saluation or to neglect it to oâ—r damnation 3. I haue demanded one thing saied the Prophet and it is that which I will demand for euer that I may see the delightes of our Lord and visite his temple But what are the delightes of the soueraigne Goodnesse but to poure out and communicate its perfections Verily his delightes are to be with the children of men to showre his grace vpon them Nothing is so agreeable and delightfull to free Agents as to doe their owne will Our Sanctification is the will of God and our Saluation his good pleasure nor is there any difference at all betwixt good pleasure and Good liking or consequently betwixt good-liking and goodwill yea the will which God hath to aduantage man is called good because it is amiable propitious fauorable agreeable delicious and as the Grecians after S. PAVLE saied it is a true PHILANTROPIE that is a beneuolence or a will entirely affectionate to men 4. All the celestiall Temple of the TriumphaÌ„t and Militant Church doth resound on euery side the delicious Canticles of God's loue towards vs. And the Sacred bodie of our Sauiour as the most holy Temple of his Diuinitie is wholy adorned with markes and tokens of this Beneuolence so that in visiting the Diuine Temple we behold the louely delightes which he takes to doe vs fauours 5. Let vs then a thousand times a day behold this louing will of God aÌ„d grounding ours therein let 's deuotely crie-out O Bountie infinitly sweete how amiable is thy will How desirable thy fauours Thou created vs for an eternall life and thy motherly breast swolen in the sacred dugges of an incomparable loue abounds in the milke of mercy whether it be to pardon sinners or perfect the Iust Ah why doe not we then glew our wills to thyne as a child is locked to the nible of his mothers dugge to lucke the milke of thy eternall benedictions 6. THâ—O we are to will our Saluation in such sort as God will's it and he wills it by way of desire must not we then following his desire incessantly desire it Nor doth he will it onely but in effect enables vs with all necessarie meanes to attaine it we then in sequele of the desire we haue to be saued must not onely desire but in effect accept all the graces which he hath prouided for vs and presents vnto vs. It is sufficient to saie I desire to be saued yet it is not sufficient to saie I desire to embrace the meanes conuenient to the attaining of saluation but we must with an absolute resolution desire and embrace the grace which God bestowes vpon vs for our will must necessarily correspoÌ„de to God's And whereas Gods will giues vs the meanes to saue our selues we ought to receiue them as we ought to desire saluation in such sort as God desires it and vs. 7. But it fals often out that the meanes to come to Saluation considered in grosse and in generall are according to our hearts liking but considered by peecemeale and in particular they are dreadfull to vs for haue we not seene the poore S. Peter prepared to vndergoe all kind of torments in generall yea death it selfe to follow his Maister and yet when it came to the deede doing and performance waxe pale tremble and at the word of a simple maide denie his Maister Euery one deemes himselfe able to drinke our Sauiours CHALICE with him but when indeede it is presented vnto vs we flie and forsake all Things proposed in particular make a more strong impressioÌ„ and more sensibly wound in the Imagination And for this reason we gaue aduice in the INTRODVCTION that after generall affections one should descend to particular ones in holy Meditation Dauid accepted particular afflictions as an aduancement to his perfection when he sunge in this wise O Lord how good it is for me that thou hast humbled me that I might learne thy iustifications So also did the Apostles reioyce in their tribulations in that they
Heauen I Lord thy will be done in earth where we haue no pleasure which is not enterlaced with some paine no Roses without thornes no day so cleare that is not followed with a night no summer that was not vsshered in by a precedent winter In the earth ò Lord where consolations are thinne sowen desolations thicke let yet ò God thy will be done not onely in keeping thy Commandements Counsells and Inspirations which are to be practised by vs but also in the sufferance of afflictions and paines which are to fall vpon vs so that thy will may doe by vs for vs in vs and with vs what is thought good to thee That the vnion of our will to the will of God is priâ—câ—pally caused by tribulations CHAPTER II. 1. PAines considered in themselues cannot indeede be beloued yet beheld in their source that is in Gods will and prouidence which ordaines them they are infinitly amiable Behold Moyses his rod vpon the ground it is a hideous serpent looke vpon it in Moyses his hand it is a rod of wonders Looke tribulations in the face they are dreadfull behold them in the will of God they are loues and delights How often doth it fall out that the potion or plaster presented by the Phisition or Apoticarie is loathsome vnto vs which being offered by some friends hand Loue surmounting our loathing we receiue with delight Certes Loue doth either free labour from all difficultie or makes its difficultie delightfull It is reported that there is a riuer in Boetia wherein the fishes shine like gold but taken out of those waters the place of their origine they haue the naturalll colour of other fishes Euen so afflictions if they be looked vpon out of God's will they beare with them their naturall bitternesse but being contemplated in this eternall will they are all gold louely and precious beyond conceite 2. If Abraham had beheld a necessitie to slaughter his Sonne out of Gods will thinke THEO what panges and conuulsions his poore heart had felt but seeing it in Gods GOOD PLEASVRE it appeares all gold and he doth tenderly embrace it If the Martyrs had looked vpon their torments out of this GOOD PLEASVRE how could they haue sunge in chaines and flames The truely louing heart loues Gods GOOD PLEASVRE not in consolations onely but in afflictions also yea it loues it better vpon the crosse in paines and difficulties because it iâ— the prime effect of Loue to make the Louer suffer for the thing beloued 3. The Stoicks especially the good Epictetes placed all Philosophie in abstaining and sustaining bearing and forbearing in forbearing and abstaining froÌ„ terreane delightes pleasures aÌ„d honours in sustaining and bearing wrongs toyles and discoÌ„modities But Christian doctrine which is the onely true Philosophie hath three principles vpoÌ„ which it doth ground all its exercises Abnegation of ones selfe which is farre more then to abstaine from pleasures Bearing of the crosse which is farre more then to tolerate it following of our Sauiour not onely in the point of renunciation of a mans selfe and bearing of his crosse but euen in the practise of all sorts of good works Yet is there not so much loue testified neither in the abnegation nor in the very deede doing as in suffering Certes the holy-Ghost in the holy Scripture puts downe the death and passion which our Sauiour suffered for vs as the highest straine of our Sauiours Loue towards vs. 4. First to loue Gods will in consolations is a good loue when the loue of God is indeede loued not the consolation in which it is found howbeit it is a loue voide of contradiction repugnance and difficultie for who would not loue a will so worthy in a subiect so wellcome SecoÌ„dly to Loue the will of God in his CoÌ„mandemeÌ„ts CouÌ„sells aÌ„d inspiratioÌ„s is a secoÌ„d degree of loue and much more perfect for it leades vs to the renouncing and quitting of our owne will and makes vs abstaine and forbeare many pleasures yet not all Thirdly to loue sufferances and afflictions for the loue of God is the highest point of holy Charitie for there is nothing therein to gaine our affection saue the onely will of God Our nature feeles a great contradiction in it and we doe not thereby forsake pleasures onely but we euen eÌ„brace paines and torments 5. Our mortall enemye knew well what was Loue 's furthest tryall when he had heard from the mouth of God that IOB was iust rightuous fearing God hatting sinne and stable in innocencie he made no account of all this in comparison of bearing afflictions by which he made the last and surest essaye of the loue of this great seruant of God aÌ„d to haue theÌ„ in an extreamitie he composed them of the losse of all his goods and all his children of the entire reuolt of all his friends and of an arrogant opposition of his greatest Confederates and his owne wife and of an opposition full of despight mockerie and reproch to which he added the whole collection of almost all humane diseases namely a cruell stinking horrible vlcer ouer all his bodie 6. And yet behold the great IOB as king of all the miserable creaturs vpon the face of the earth seated vpon a dunge-hill as vpon the Throne of miserie adorned with soares vlcers and matter as with royall robes suteing them in the qualitie of his royaltie with so great an abiection and annihilation that if he had not spooken one should not haue descerned whether IOB was a man reduced into a dounghill or the dounghill a corruption in forme of a man Behold there I saie the great Iob crying out If we haue receiued good things from the hand of God why shall we not also receiue that which is bad ô God how this word is great with Loue He ponders THEO that it was from the hand of God that he had receiued the good testifying that he had not so much loued good because it was good as that it came from our Sauiours hand which being so he concluds that he is louingly to support aduersities since they proceede from our Sauiours hand equally to be loued when he distributs afflictions and when he bestowes consolations Each one doth easily receiue good things but to receiue euill is a worke of perfect Loue which loues them so much the more for that they are not amiable but in respect of his hand that giues them 7. The Trauailler that is in feare whether he hath hit vpon the right way walks in doubt looking about him in the countrie where he is and stands in a muse at the end of almost euery feild to thinke whether he goes not a straie But he that is sure of his way walks on iocundly boldly and swiftly Euen so the Loue that deâ—ires to walke to Gods will through consolations walkes still in feare to take the wrong path and in steede of louing Gods good liking to fall in loue with the pleasure which is in the consolation but
the Loue that strikes straight through afflictions towards the will of God walkes in assurance For affliction being in no wise amiable in it selfe it is an easie thing to Loue it onely for his sake that send 's it The hounds in spring time are euery foote at default finding hardly any sent at all because the hearbes and flowres doe then smell so freshly that the freshnesse put downe the rowt or sent of the Hart or hare In the spring time of consolations Loue is scarcely acquainted with Gods pleasure because the sensible pleasure of the consolation doth so allure the heart that it troubles the attention which it ought to haue to the will of God S. CATHARINE hauing from our Sauiour her choice of a Crowne of gold or a crowne of thornes choosed this as better suteting with Loue. A desire of sufferance saieth the B. ANGELA FOLIGNY is an infallible marke of Loue and the great Apostle cries out that he glories onely in the Crosse in infirmitie in persecution Of the vnion of our will to the Diuine will in spirituall afflictions by resignation CHAPTER III. 1. THe Loue of the Crosse makes vs vndertake voluntarie afflictions as for example fasting watching haire-shirts and other tamings of the bodie renouÌ„ce pleasures honours aÌ„d riches aÌ„d loue in these exercises is very delightfull to the beloued yet more when we receiue with patience sweetenesse and mildnesse the paines torments and tribulations by reason of the Diuine will which sends vs them But Loue then is at its hight when we receiue afflictions not with patience and sweetnesse onely but we doe euen cheerish loue and embrace theÌ„ in regard of the Diuine will whence they proceede 2. Now of all the essayes of perfect Loue that which is practised by the repose of the mind in spirituall tribulations is doubtlesse the most pure and highest The B. ANGELA OF FOLIGNY makes an admirable description of the interiour panges which sometimes she felt saying that her soule was tortured like to one who being tyed hand and foote should be hung by the necke without being strangled but should hang in this estate betwixt death and life without hope of helpe and neither being able to keepe herselfe vpon her feete nor assist herselfe with her hands nor crie out nor yet sigh or moane So it faires THEO the soule is sometimes so ouercharged with interiour afflictions that all her faculties and powers are oppressed by priuation of all that might releiue her and by apprehension and impression of all that might attristate her So that at the imitation of her Sauiour she begins to be troubled to feare to be disamayed and at length to waxe sad with a sorrow like vnto that of one dying Whence she may rightly saie My soule is heauie euen to death and with her whole hearts consent she desirs petitions supplicats that if it be possible this Calice may passe hauing nothing left her saue the very supreame point of her Spirit which cleeuing hard to the Diuine heart and will saieth in a most sincere submission O eternall Father ah not myne but thy will be done And which is diligently to be noted the soule makes this resignation amidst such a world of troubles contradictions repugnances that she doth euen hardly perceiue that she makes it at least it seemes to her to be done so coldly that it is not done from her heart nor as it were fitting since that which passeth there in fauour of the Diuine will is not onely done without delight and contentment but euen against the pleasure and liking of all the rest of the heart whom loue permits to bemoane her selfe at least to moane that she cannot bemoane herselfe and to sigh out all the LAMENTATIONS of IOB and Hieremie yet with charge that a sacred peace be still conserued in the very bottome of the heart in the highest and most delicate point of the Spirit and this submissiue peace is not tender or sweete nor yet in a manner sensible though otherwise sincere stroÌ„g inuincible aÌ„d full of Loue aÌ„d it seemes to haue betakeÌ„ it selfe to the very eÌ„d of the Spirit as into the dungeoÌ„ of the Fort where it remaines corragious though all the rest be taken and pressed with sorrow And by how much the more Loue in this case is depriued of all helpes forsaken of all the aide of the vertues and faculties of the soule by so much it is more to be prised for conseruing constantly its fidelitie 3. This vnion or conformitie to the diuine pleasure is made either by a holy resignation or a most holy indifferencie Now Resignation is practised with a certaine force and submission one would willingly liue in lieu of dying yet since it is Gods pleasure that die we must we yeeld to it We would willingly liue if it pleased God yea further we would willingly that it were his pleasure to prolong life we die willingly yet more willingly would we liue we departe with a reasonable good will yet would we stay with a better IOB in his afflictions made an act of resignation since we haue receiued the good saied he from the hand of God why shall we not sustaine the the toyles and vexations which he doth send vs marke THEO how he speakes of sustaining supporting enduring as it hath pleased our Lord so was it done our Lords name be praised These are the words of resignation and acceptance by way of sufferance and patience Of the vnion of our will to Gods will by Indâ—fferencie CHAPTER IV. 1. REsignation preferrs Gods will before all things yet doth it Loue many other things besides the will of God but Indifferencie passeth Resignation for it Loues nothing but meerely for the Loue of Gods will in so much that nothing at all can stirre the indifferent heart in the presence of the will of God True it is the most indifferent heart in the world may be touched with some affection while yet it discouers not where the will of God is Eliezer being come to the fountaine of HaraÌ„ had a full view of the virgin Rebecca aÌ„d without doubt saw her too too faire and pleasing howbeit he staied himselfe in an indifferencie till he knew by a signe from God that the Diuine will had ordained her a wife for his Maisters sonne for then he presented her with the eare-iewels and bracelets of gold Contrariwise if IACOB had onely loued in Rachel the alliance with Laban to which his Father Isaac had obliged him Lya had bene as deare vnto him as Rachel they being doth Labans daughters and consequently his Fathers will had bene as well fulfilled in the one as in the other But because beyoÌ„d his Fathers will he coueted to satisfie his owne liking taken with the beautie and louelinesse of Rachel he was troubled to Espouse LYA yet by resignation tooke her against his owne liking 2. But the indifferent heart stands not thus affected for knowing that tribulation though she be hard-fauered as another LYA leaues
consolatioÌ„s or else to be occupied in vaine delight farre remote from true Loue and to mistake the honie of Heraclea for that of Narbone Of the perplexitie of the heart in Loue which doubts whether it please the Beloued CHAPTER XI 1. THe Musician which I mentioned being fallen sicke tooke no delight in his owne musicke saue onely that now and theÌ„ he perceiued his Prince attentiue to it and please himselfe in it O how happie is the heart that Loues God without pretence of any other pleasure then a strife to please God for what more deare and perfect pleasure can a soule euer take then that which is takeÌ„ in the Diuine pleasure Yet this pleasure to please God is not properly Diuine Loue but the fruit thereof which may be separated from it as the Lemmon from the Lemmon tree For as I haue saied our Musician did continually sing without reaping any contentment of his song whereof his deefenesse made him incapable and often also did he sing without hauing the pleasure to please his Prince who after he had giuen him Order to begin would withdraw himselfe or goe a hunting neither taking leasure nor pleasure to heare bim 2. O God while thy benigne looke doth testifie vnto me that thou art pleased in the song of my Loue ah how I am comforted for is there any pleasure comparable to the pleasure of pleasing thee But when thou turnes thyne eyes from me not daigning me a feeling of the delightfull fauour of the complacence which thou takest in my song good God what panges my soule endures without leauing off for all that â—â—â—ally to Loue thee and continually to sing the Hymne of thy Loue not for any delight she finds in it for she finds none at all but for the pure Loue of thy will 3. I haue seene a sicke child of that disposition that he would couragiously haue eaten whaâ— his mother presented him though with an incredible loathing for a pure desire he had to giue her content In this case he eate his meate without taking any pleasure in it yet not without a pleasure of a higher rate and ranke which was the pleasure of pleasing his mother aÌ„d in perceiuing her coÌ„tent But another who without seeing his mother by the meere knowledge he had of her desire tooke all that was brought to him by her order he eate without any pleasure at all for he neither had the pleasure of eating nor yet the contentment to see his mother pleased but did it onely purely and simply to doe her will The contentment of our Prince who is present with vs or of any partie that we Loue earnestly makes watchings paines and trauailles delicious and begets in vs a Loue of perill But nothing is so discomfortable as to serue a Maister that knowes it not or at least if he know it yet giues no signe that he takes it in good part Loue must be strong in this occurrence because it runnes alone without being sustained by any pleasure or pretention 4. Thus it comes to passe often times that we haue no consolation in the exercise of holy Loue for that being like deafe singers we heare not our owne voices nor eÌ„ioye the melodie of our soÌ„g yea further we are pressed with a thousand feares frighted with a thousand false Alarmes which the Enemye giues round about our heart suggesting that peraduenturs we are not in grace with our Maister and that our Loue is fruitlesse yea that it is false and vaine since it brings forth no comfort And then THEO we labour not without pleasure onely but with an exceeding distresse being neither able to discouer the profit of our labours nor his contentment for whom we labour 5. But that which in this case doth augment our difficultie is that euen the Spirit and highest part of Reason cannot all asswage our griefe for this poore superiour portion of Reason being beset round about with the suggestions of the enemie she is euen all in teares and hath her hands full in keeping the GARD least sinne by surprise might get consent so that she can make no SALLâ—â— to disengage the inferiour part of her Spirit And albeit she haue not lost heart yet is she so desperatly set at that though she be not guiltie of fault yet is she not free from paine for that her griefe might be full she is depriued of the generall consolatiâ—n which doth ordinarily accompanie vs through all the other calamities of this life to wit hope that they will not be of long continuance but will haue an end so that the heart in these spirituall troubles falls into a certaine impotencie of thinking to see an end of them and consequently of hoping to be eased of its burden Faith indeede which resides in the top of the Spirit assures vs that these troubles will haue end and that one day we shall enioye expected repose But the lowdnesse of the shoutes and outcries which the Enemie makes in the rest of the soule about the inferiour Reason's Quarter will scarely permit the aduise and Remonstrance of Faith to be heard And we haue our Imagination filled with this heauie presage Alas I shall neuer be ioyfull 6. O God my deare THEO now it is that we are to shew an inuincible courage towards our Sauiour seruing him purely for the Loue of his will not onely without pleasure but euen floting in the midst of sorrows horrours astonishments and assaults as did his glorious mother and S. IOHN vpon the day of his passion who amongst so many blasphemies sorrows and deadly disasters remained constant in Loue yea euen in thaâ— instant in which our Sauiour hauing drawen all his holy ioyes to the very top of his Spirit left no ioye or consolatioÌ„ at all in his heauenly couÌ„tinaÌ„ce and when his eyes languishing and couered with the darke vaile of death did onely cast vpon them a looke of sorrow as did the Sunne send out beames of horrour and daunting darknesse How the soule amidst theâ—â— interiour anguishes knowes not the Loue she beares to God and of the Louely death of the will CHAPTER XII 1. THe night before the great S. PETER was to sufâ—er Martyrdome an Angell came to the Prison and filled it with splendour awaked S. PETER made him arise girt himselfe put on his shooes and clothes freede him of his bonds and shackles drew him out of Prison and led him through the first and second garde till he came to the iron gate in the high way towards the towne which opened at their coÌ„ming and hauing passed a streete the Angell left the glorious S. PETER in full libertie Behold a great varietie of very sensible actions and yet S. PETER who was at the first awaked did not apprehend that which was done by the Angell was done indeede but esteemed in â—n imaginarie vision He was awake and yet did not thinke so he put on his clothes and shooes not knowing that he had done it he walked and yet
thought he walked not he was deliuered and beleeued it not And all this because the wonder of his deliuerance was so great and it did engage his heart in such sort that though he had sense and knowledge enough to doe what he did yeâ— had he not enough to discouer that he did it really and in good earnest He saw indeede the Angell but could not discerne whether it was a true and naturall vision Wherevpon he tooke no consolation in his deliuerie till such time aâ— coÌ„ming to himselfe Now quoth he I know for certaine that God hath sent his Angell and hath deliuered me out of Herods hands and from all the Iewes expectation 2. Now THEO euen after the same manner it goes with a soule which is ouercharged with interiour anguishes for be it that she hath the power to beleeue to hope and Loue her God yet her distresse doth possesse her and make head against her so desperatly that she caÌ„ get no time to make a retreate into her owne quarter and see what is done at home Wherevpon she is conceited that she hath neither faith Hope nor Charitie but onely the shadowes and fruitlesse impressions of the saied vertues which she apprehends in a manner without apprehending them and as strangers not as the Familiars of the soule And if you will but take notice of it you shall find our soules alwayes in this estate when they are fiercely set vpon by some violent passion for they performe many actions as though they were in a dreame with so little feeling that they can scarcely beleeue that the passage is reall Which moued the Psalmist to expresse the greatenesse of the Israelits consolation in their returne from Babilon's Captiuitie in these words VVhen't pleas'd great Sions king to grant Vs freedome from our thrall VVe sâ—em'd to dreame so were we tooke VVith thoughts extaticall And as the holy latine version following the Seauentie hath we were made as men comforted that is the admiration of the good which befell vs was so excessiuely great that it hindred vs from feeling the consolation which we receiued and it seemed to vs that we were not truely comforted nor had any true consolation but onely in a figure and a dreame 3 Such are the feelings of the soule which is tossed in the midst of Spirituall anguishes which doe exceedingly purifie and refine Loue for being stript of all pleasure by mediation whereof she might be ioyned to God she is ioyned and vnited to God immediatly will to will heart to heart without the least mediation of content or any other pretention Alas THEO how the poore heart is afflicted when being as it were abandoned by Loue it lookes round about aÌ„d yet seemes not to find it It is not found in the exteriour senses thy not being capable of it nor in the Imagination which is cruelly tortured by sundrie onsets nor in the vnderstanding distracted with a thousand obscurities of strang discourses and apprehensions and though at length it be found in the top and supreame region of the Spirit where it doth still reside yet doth the soule mistake it and conceiues that it is not it because the thicknesse of darkenesse and distresse doth not permit her to taste the sweetenesse thereof She sees it without seeing it meetes it but doth not know it as though it passed in a dreame onely â—â—r in a Type In this sort Magdalaine hauing met with her deare-Maister receiued no comfort from him for that she did not apprehend that it was he indeede but a Gardener onely 4. But what is the soule to doe that finds her selfe in this case THEO she wots not how to behaue herselfe amidst so many vexations nor hath she any strength left but euen permits her will to die in the hands of Gods will imitating her sweete IESVS who being come to the top of the paines of the Crosse which his Father had ordained and not being able any further to resist the extreamâ—tie of his torments did like the Hart who when he is ruÌ„ne out of breath and oppressed by the hounds yeelding himselfe vp into the huntsmans hands with teares trickling downe sends out his last brayings for so this Diuine Sauiour neere vnto his death and giuing vp his last breath with a loude voice and aboundance of teares Alas quoth he ô Father into thy hands I commeÌ„d my Spirit This was the last word THEO and that by which the beloued sonne gaue a soueraigne testimonie of his Loue towards his Father When therefore all failes vs when our extreamities are growen to their hight this word this disposition this rendring vp of our soule into our Sauiours hands can neuer faile vs. The sonne commended his soule to his Father in this his last and incomparable anguish And we when the conuulsions of spirituall paines shall bereaue vs of all other sort of solace and meanes of resistance let vs commend our soule into the hands of the eternall sonne our true Father and making our hearts in a quiet submission stoope to his good pleasure let vs make ouer our whole will vnto him How the will being dead to it selfe liues entirely to Gods will CHAPTER XIII 1. VVE speake with a singular proprietie of the death of men in our French tongue For we call it an OVERPASSING and the dead theÌ„selues OVERPASSED intimatiÌ„g that DEATH amongst men is but a PASSAGE from one life to another and TO DIE is no other thing but to OVER PASSE the confines of this mortall life to arriue at the immortall True it is our will can no more die then our soule yet doth she sometimes out goe the limits of her ordinarie life to liue wholy in the Diuine will Then it is that she neither cann or will desire any thing at all but giues her selfe ouer totally and without reserue to the good pleasure of the Diuine prouidence moistening and incorporating her selfe with this good pleasure that she is not seene but is hid with IESVS CHRIST in God where she liues not she but the will of IESVS CHRIST in her 2. What becomes of the brightnesse of the starres when the Sunne appeares in our Horison certainely it doth in no wise perish but is drunke vp and spent in the Sunnes singular light with which it is happily mixed and allied And what becomes of mans will when it is entirely deliuered vp to God's pleasure It doth not altogether perish yet is it so drunke vp and dispersed in the will of God that it appeares not nor hath it any other will then the will of God Propose vnto your selfe THEOT the glorious and neuer sufficiently praysed S. Lewes who embarkes himselfe to saile beyond Sea and behold the Queene his deare wife ebarking her selfe together with his Maiestie now if one should haue demanded of this braue Princesse Madame whither doe you tend she would without doubt haue replied I goe whither the king goeth but if one should haue demanded againe saying but doe you know Madame
that is vnions recollections and the reposes of loue whereof we spoke in the 5. and 6. booke Marry they doe not enioye them in qualitie of Spouses because the superfluitie with which they affect good things hinders them from a frequent entrie into these Diuine Vnions with the Spouse being busied and distracted in louing that out of him and without him which they ought not to Loue but in him and for him Of two other degrees of greater perfection by which we may Loue God aboue all things CHAPTER V. 1. NOw there are other soules that neither Loue superfluities nor yet with superfluitie but loue onely that which God will and as he will Blessed soules who loue God their friends in God and their enemyes for God they Loue many things together with God but none at all saue in God and for God It is God that they Loue not onely aboue all things but euen in all things and all things in God resembling the Phenix growne young againe and come to her perfect strength which is neuer seene but in the aire or vpon the tops of mountaines that touch vpon the aire for so these soules Loue nothing but in God though indeede they Loue many things with God and God with many things S. LVKE recounts that our Sauiour inuited a young man to follow him who indeede loued him dearely but he had also a great affection to his Father and therevpō had a mind to returne home to him But our Sauiour out of this superfluitie of Loue and excited him to a Loue more pure that he might not onely Loue our Sauiour more then his Father but that he should not euen Loue him at all but in our Sauiour Leaue the care of burying the dead to the dead as for thee who hast met with life goe and preach the Kingdome of Heauen And these soules as you see THEOT hauing so great a connection with the Spouse they merite to participate of his ranke and to be Queenes as he is King being they are entirely dedicated to him without diuision or seperation at all hauing no affections out of him or without him but onely in him and for him 2. But aboue all these soules there is yet one Onely-one who is the Queene of Queenes the most louing the most Louelie and the most beloued of all the Friends of the Diuine Spouse who doth not onely Loue God aboue all things and in all things but euen Loues nothing but God in all things so that she Loues not many things but one onely thing which is God himselfe And whereas it is God alone that she loueth in all that she loueth she Loues him indifferently in all things according as his good pleasure may require out of all and without all If it be onely HESTER that Assuerus loueth why should he more Loue her being perfumed and deckt then in her ordinarie attire If it be my Sauiour onely that I Loue why should I not as much affect the Mount Caluarie as the Mount Thabor since he is as well in the one as in the other and why should I not as cordially pronounce in the one as in the other IT IS GOOD FOR VS TO BE HERE If I Loue my Sauiour in Egipt without louing Egipt why shall I not Loue him in Simon the Leporous his banket without louing the Banket and if I Loue him amidst the blasphemies which are poured vpon him not louing the blasphemies why shall I not Loue him perfumed with Magdalens pretious oyntment without either affecting the oyntment or the sent thereof It is a true signe that we Loue onely God in all things when we Loue him equally in all things since that he being in himselfe immutable the mutabilitie of our Loue towards him must needes proceede frō some thing that is not himselfe Now the sacred Louer Loues her God no more with the whole world to boote then though he were all alone without the world because all that is out of God and is not God is as nothing to her An entirely pure soule Loues not euen Heauē but by reason that her Spouse is loued therein but a Spouse so soueraignly beloued in his Heauen that if yet he had no Heauē to bestow he would neither appeare lesse amiable nor be lesse beloued of this generous louing heart who cannot Loue the Heauen of her Spouse but onely her Spouse of Heauen and who puts no lesse price vpon Caluarie while her Spouse is there crucified then vpon Heauen where he is glorified He that waighes one of the little bullets of S. Clare of Monte-falco finds it as heauie as all the three together So doth perfect Loue find God as amiable all alone as together with all the creaturs for as much as the creaturs are onely loued in God and for God 3. Soules in this degree of perfection are so thinne sowen that each of them are called their Mothers onely one which is the Diuine Prouidence and each of them is called the onely doue because she onely loues her mate she is termed perfect for that by loue she is made the same thing with the Soueraigne Perfection whence she may saie in a most humble truth I am not but for my beloued ād he is wholy turned towards me Now there is none saue the most Blessed Virgin our Ladie that is perfectly arriued at this hight of excellencie in the loue of her dearely beloued For she is a DOVE so singularly singular in Loue that all the rest being compared to her are rather to be termed Dawes then Doues But let vs leaue this Peerelesse Queene in her matchlesse eminencie There haue yet bene other soules that haue found themselues so happie in the state of this pure loue that in comparison of their companiōs they might take the ranke of QVEENES of onely DOVES of perfect FRIENDS of the SPOVSE For I praie you THEO in what degree must he needes haue bene who from his very heart sung to God To what in Heauen but thee can I aspire Or what in earth but thee can I desire And he that cried out I doe esteeme all things as dung that I may gaine IESVS CHRIST did he not testifie that he loued nothing out of his Maister and that out of all things he drew arguments of his Maisters Loue And what could be the feeling of that great Louer who sighed all the night my God is my all Such was S. AVGVSTINE S. BERNARD the two S. Catharins of Sienna and Genua and diuers others by whose imitation euery one may aspire to this diuine degree of Loue. O rare and singular soules which resemble not at all the birds of this world no not the Phenix her selfe though so singularly rare but are onely represented by the bird who for her excellent beautie and noblenesse is saied not to be of this world but of Paradice whereof she beares the name for this daintie bird disdaining the earth doth neuer touch it but liues aboue in the aire yea euen when
loose it 3. Put me saied the Diuine shepheard to the Sunamite put me as a seale vpon thy heart as a seale vpon thy arme The Sunamits heart was full of the heauenly Loue of her deare Spouse who though he possesse all yet is he not content in that but by a holy distrust of iealousie he will be set vpon the heart which he possesseth and will haue her sealed vp with himselfe least any of the loue due to him might escape out or any thing get entrie which might cause a mixture for he is not satisfied with the loue in which the Sunamite is compleat vnlesse she be also vnchangeable purely and onely his And that he may not onely enioye the affections of our heart but also the effects and operations of our hands he will also be as a seale vpon our right arme that it may not be streched out or imployed saue in the works of his seruice And the reason of the Diuine Spouse his demande is that as death is so strong that it separats the soule from all things yea euen from her owne bodie so sacred loue which is come to the degree of Zeale doth diuide and put the soule at a distance withall affections and doth purifie her from all mixture for as much as it is not onely as strong as death but it is withall sharpe resolute stife and pitilesse in punishing the wrong done vnto it in the admittance of Competitors together with it as Hell is violent in punishing the damned And euen as Hell full of horrour rage and crueltie admits no mixture of loue so doth iealous loue tollerate no mixture of another affection striuing that the whole should be reserued for the Beloued Nothing is so sweete as the Doue yet nothing so mercilesse as he in his iealousie towards his hen If euer you tooke notice THEO you haue seene that this milde birde returning from his flight and finding his mate amongst her companions he is not able to suppresse in himselfe a certaine sense of distrust which makes him churlish and humourous so that at their first accosting he circles about her with a soure and out faceing countenāce trampling vpon her and beating her with his wings though he haue otherwise assurance that she is loyall and sees her snowie white in innocencie Vpon a certaine day S. CaTHARINE of Sienna was in a Rapture which did not bereeue her of her senses and while God was shewing her wonders a brother of hers passed by and with the noise he made diuerted her so that she turned towards him and eyed him one onely moment This little distraction which did on the sodaine surprise her was neither sinne nor disloyaltie but an onely shadow of sinne and an onely resemblance of disloyaltie and yet the most holy mother of the heauēly Spouse did so earnestly chide her for it and the glorious S. PAVLE did so confound her in it that she thought she should haue melted away in teares And Dauid reestablished in grace by a perfect loue how was he treated for the onely veniall sinne which he had committed in taking a List of his People 4. But THEO he that desires to see this Iealousie put downe in a delicate and excellent expression let him read the Instructions which the Seraphicall S. CATHARINE of Genua made in declaration of the proprieties of pure Loue amongst which she doth instantly inculcate and presse this which ensueth That perfect Loue that is Loue which is come to the perfection of Zeale cannot endure any mediation interposition or the mixture of any other thing not euen of God's gifts yea it is in this hight of rigour that it permit's not euen the loue of Heauen but with intention to loue more perfectly therein the Goodnesse of him that giues it So that the Lampes of this pure Loue haue neither oyle weeke nor smoake but are all fire and flame which no worldly thing can extinguish And such as carrie these burning Lampes in their hāds haue the saintly feare of holy Spouses not the feare of adulterous women Both feare indeede but differently saieth S. AVGVSTINE The chast Spouse feares the absence of her Spouse The adulrous the presēce of hers That feares his departure this his staie That is so deeply in Loue that it makes her iealous this is not annoy'd with iealousie because she enioyes not Loue This feares to be punished but the punishment which that feares is that she shall not beloued enough yea rather in very deede she feares not not to beloued as is the custome of the Iealous who loue thēselues and will needes be beloued but her feare is that she loues not him enough whom she sees so loue-worthy that none can loue him to the worth ād accordīg to the large measure of loue which he merit's as before I haue faied Wherefore her Iealousie is not a IEALOVSIE OF PROPER INTEREST but a pure Iealousie which proceedes not frō any concupiscence but from a noble and simple friēdshipe A Iealousie which extends it selfe to our neighbour together with the loue whence it issueth for since we loue our neighbour as our selues for Gods sake we are also iealous of him as of our selues for God's sake so that we would euen die least he might perish 5. Now as Zeale is an inflamed ardour or an ardent inflamation of Loue it hath also neede to be wisely and prudently practised otherwise vnder the cloake of it one may violate the termes of modestie and discretion and easily slipe out of Zeale into anger and from a iust affection to an vniust passion wherefore this not being the proper place to put downe the markes of Zeale my THEO I aduise you that for the execution thereof you haue alwayes recourre to him whom God hath giuen you for the direction of your deuote life Of the Zeale or Iealousie which we haue towards our Sauiour CHAPTER XIV 1. A certaine Caualeere gaue order to a famous Painter to draw him out a horse rūning and the Painter hauing represented him as in a curuet with him vpō his backe the Caualeere began to storme whervpon the Painter turning the picture vpside downe be not angrie Sir quoth he to change the postures of a horse in his Carriere into a horse in his curuet a man is onely to turne the Table vpside downe He that desires to discouer what iealousie or Zeale we are to exercise towards God he is onely to expresse to life the iealousie we haue in humane things and then turne it vpside downe for such will it be as that which God for his part requires at our hands 2. Imagine THEO what comparison there is betwixt those who enioye the light of the Sunne and those who haue onely the glimps of a Lampe they are not enuious or iealous of one an other for they plainely see that that great light is abundantly sufficient for all that the ones fruition doth not impeach the others and that nones possession in particular is lesse for that all in
resisted the glorious S. PETER his Superiour in his face Certes euery one is not a S. PAVLE to know how to doe those things in the nicke But hot harsh presumptuous and reprochfull spirits following their owne inclinations humours auersions and the high conceits they haue of their owne sufficiencie draw the vaile of Zeale ouer their iniquitie and vnder the name of this sacred fire permit themselues to be burnt vp with their proper passions It is the Zeale of the health of soules that makes the Prelatshipe be sought after if you will beleeue the ambitious man that makes the Monke ordained for the Quire course about if you will giue credit to his disquieted spirit that causeth all those censures and murmuratiōs against the Prelates of the Church and tēporall Princes if you will giue eare to the arrogant You shall heare nothing frō him but Zeale nor yet see any Zeale in hī but onely opprobrious and rayling speaches hatred ād rācore disquiete of the heart and tōgue 5. Zeale may be practised three wayes first in exercising high actions of Iustice to repell euill and this belongs onely to publike officers to correct censure and reprehend in the nature of a Superiour as Princes Prelates Magistrats Preachers but whereas this office is worshipfull euery one will vndertake it euery one will haue a fingar in it Secondly one may vse Zeale in actions of great vertue for the good example of others by suggesting the remedies of euill and exhorting men to applie them by working the good that is opposite to the euill which we desire to banish which is a thing that belongs to euery one and yet it hath but few vndertakers Finally the most excellent vse of Zeale is placed in suffering and enduring much to hinder or diuert euill and scarce will any admit this Zeale A specious Zeale is all our ambition vpon that each one willingly spends his talant neuer taking notice that it is not Zeale indeede which is there sought for but glorie ambition's satisfaction choler churlishnesse and other passions 6. Certainly our Sauiours Zeale did principally appeare in his death vpon the Crosse to distroy death and sinne in men wherein he was soueraignly imitated by that admirable vessell of election and dilection as the great S. GREGORIE Nazianzen in golden words represents him for speaking of this holy Apostle he fights for all saieth he he poures out praiers for all he is Zealously passionat towards all he is inflamed for all yea he dared yet more for his brethren according to flesh so that if I may dare also to saie it he desires through charitie that they might haue euen his owne place nere our Sauiour O excellencie of an incredible courage and feruour of Spirit He imitats IESVS CHRIST who became a curse for our Loue who put on our infirmities and bore our deseases Or that I may speake a little more soberly he was the first after our Sauiour that refused not to suffer and to be reputed wicked in their behalfe Euē so then THEO as our Sauiour was whip't condemned crucified as man deuoted bequeathed and dedicated to beare and support all the reproches ignominies and punishments due to all the offenders in the world and to be a generall sacrifice for sinne being made as an ANATHEMA forsaken and left of his eternall Father so according to the true doctrine of this great Nazianzen the glorious Apostle S. PAVLE desired to be loden with ignominie to be crucified left abandoned and sacrificed for the sinnes of the Iewes that the curse and paine which they merited might fall vpon him And as our Sauiour did so take vpon him the sinnes of the world and became a curse was sacrificed for sinne and forsaken of his Father that he ceased not continually to be the well-beloued Sonne in which his Father pleased himselfe So the holy Apostle desired indeede to be a curse and to be separated from his Maister to be left alone to the mercy of the reproches and punishments due vnto the Iewes yet did he neuer desire to be depriued of Charitie and the grace of God from which nothing could separate him that is he desired to be vsed as one separated from God but he desired not in effect to be separated or depriued of his Grace for this cannot be piously desired So the heauenly Spouse confesseth that though loue be strong as death which makes a separation betwixt the bodie and the soule Yet Zeale which is an ardent loue is yet stronger for it resembles Hell which separats the soule from our Sauiours sight but it was neuer saied nor can euer be saied that Loue or Zeale was Like to sinne which alone separats from the grace of God And indeede how could the ardour of Loue possibly make one desire to be separated from grace since Loue is grace it selfe or at least cannot consist without grace Now the Zeale of the great S. PAVLE was in some sort practised by the little S. PAVLE I meane S. PAVLINE who to deliuer a slaue out of bondage became himselfe a slaue sacrificing his owne libertie to bestow it vpon his neighbour 6. Happie is he saieth S. AMBROSE who knowes the gouernment of Zeale The Deuil will easily scofe at thy Zeale if it be not according to science let therefore thy Zeale be inflamed with Charitie adorned with science established in cōstancie True Zeale is the child of Charitie as being the ardour of it Wherefore like to Charitie it is patient benigne not troublesome nor contentious not enuious or spightfull but reioycing in Truth The ardour of true Zeale resembles that of the huntsman being diligēt carefull actiue industrious and eager in the pursuit but without choler anger or trouble for if the huntsman's labour were cholerike harsh and wayward it would not be so earnestly loued and affected Zeale in like manner hath extreame feruours but such as are constant solide sweete laborious equally amiable and infatigable whereas contrariwise false Zeale is turbulent confused insolent arrogant cholericke wauering no lesse impetuous then inconstant How our Sauiour practised all the most Excellent acts of Loue. CHAPTER XVII 1. HAuing spoken at large of the acts of Diuine Loue that you may more easily and holily conserue the memorie thereof I present you with a collection or abridgement of it The Charitie of IESVS CHRIST doth presse vs saieth the great Apostle Yea truly THEO it doth force or vse a violence against vs by its infinite sweetenesse which shines in the whole worke of our Redemption wherein appeared the benignitie and loue of our Sauiour towards men For what did not this Diuine Louer doe in matter of Loue 1. he loued vs with a LOVE OF COMPLACENCE for his delightes were to be with the children of men and to draw man to himselfe becōming man 2. he loued vs with a LOVE of BENEVOLENCE enriching man with his diuinitie so that man was God 3. he vnited himselfe vnto vs in an incōprehensible coniunctiō whereby he
the perfections which she meetes withall as it finds greater perfections it doth great lier perfect them like as suggar doth so season conserued fruits with its sweetnesse that sweetening them all it leaues euery of them different in relish and sweetenesse as they haue a diuers taste in their owne nature Nor doth it euer render the Peech and the Nut so sweete and pleasing as the Appricot and the Myrabolan plumme 5. True it is notwithstanding that if the Loue be ardent powerfull and excellent in a heart it will also more enrich and perfect all the vertuous workes which shall proceede from it One may suffer death and fire for God without Charitie as S. PAVLE presupposeth and I declare elswhere by better reason may one suffer them hauing a little charitie Now I saie THEO that it may come to passe â—hat a very little vertue may be of greater value in a soule where sacred Loue doth feruently raigne then Martyrdome it selfe in a soule where Loue is languishing feeble and slow As the least vertues in our B. Lady in S. IOHN in other great Saints were of greater price before God then the greatest of diuers inferiour Saints as many little eiaculations of Loue in Seraphins are more inflamed then the greatest in the Angels of the last orders as the singing of a young Nightingale is incomparably more harmonious then that of the finest Goldfinch 6. PIRCIVS towards the end of his dayes painted onely in little formes and trifeling things as Barbar's and Cobler's shops little Asses loaden with grasse and the like triuiall toyes which he did as PLINIE coniectures to lay his great renowne whence in the end he was called the Painter of small wares and yet the greatnesse of his art did so appeare in his small workes that they were sould at a higher rate then others greatest peaces Euen so THEO the little simplicities abiections and humiliations in which the great Saints tooke so great content to hide themselues and put their hearts into Harbour against vaine glorie hauing bene practised with a great excellencie of the Art and ardour of heauenly Loue were found more gratefull in the sight of God then the great and illustrious workes of diuers others which were performed with little Charitie and deuotion 7. The sacred Spouse doth wound her Spouse with one of her head haires of which he makes so great accompt that he compares them to the flockes of the Goates of GALAAD and hath no sooner commended the eyes of his deuote Louer which are the most noble parts of the face but presently he fals a praising her head haire which is the most fraile vile an abiect That we might learne thereby that in a soule taken with holy Loue actions that seeme very poore are highly agreeable to the Diuine Maiestie Of the excellent worth which holy Loue bestowes vpon the actions which issue from it selfe and to those which proceede from other vertues CHAPTER VI. 1. BVt you will aske me what this worth is which holy Loue bestowes vpon our actions ô God THEO I Verily I should not dare to speake it if the Holy Gost himselfe had not declared it in expresse termes by his Apostle S. Paule who saieth thus That our tribulation which is presently momentarie and light worketh aboue measure exceedingly an eternall weight of glorie in vs. For the loue of IESVS let vs ponder these words Our tribulations which are so light that they passe in a moment worke in vs the solide and stable weight of glorie I beseech you behold these wonders Tribulation produceth glorie lightnesse giues weight moments worke eternitie But what is it that can enrich these fleeting moments and light tribulations with so great worth Scarlet and purple or fine crimson violet is a precious and royall cloth yet not by reason of the woole but the die Christian workes are of that worth that Heauen is giuen vs for them but THEO it is not in that they proceede froÌ„ vs and are the woole of our hearts but because they are died in the blood of the sonne of God I meane for so much as our Sauiour doth sanctifie our workes by the merits of his blood The twigge of a vine vnited and ioyned to the stocke being not forth â—ruit in it's owne vertue but in vertue of the stocke Now we are vnited by Charitie vnto our Redeemour as members to their head and thence it is that our fruit and good workes drawing their worth from him doe merit life euerlasting AARONS rod was withered and incapable of it selfe to bring forth fruit but as soone as the name of the high priest was written vpon it in one night it brought out leaues flowres and fruit We in our selues are withered bowes vnprofitable fruitlesse not being sufficient to thinke any thing of our selues as of our selues but our sufficiencie is of God who hath made vs meet and fit ministers of his will and therefore as soone as by holy Loue the name of our Sauiour the high Bishop of our soules is engrauen liâ—â— our soules we begin to beare delicious fruits for life euerlasting And as seedes which of them selues doe onely bring forth vnsauorie Melons would bring forth sugared and musked ones if they were steeped in sugared or musk't water so our soules which of themselues are not able to proiect one onely good thought towards God's seruice being watered with holy loue by the holy Ghost which doth inhabite vs they produce sacred actions which doe tend and doe carrie vs to immortall glorie Our works as proceeding from our selues are but miserable reeds yet these reeds become gold by Charitie and with the same we suruey the Heauenly Hierusalem which is giuen vs by that measure for as well to man as Angels glorie is distributed according to Charitie and her actions So that men and Angels measure is one and the same and God both hath and will reward euery one according to his works as all the holy Scripture doth teach vs which assignes vs the felicitie and eternall ioyes of Heauen in reward of the labours and good works which we haue practised in earth 2. A magnificent reward and such an one as doth sauour of the Maisters greatnesse whom we serue who in truth THEO if so he had pleased might most iustly exact our obedience and seruice without proposing vnto vs any prize or reward at all since we are his by a thousand most legitimate titles and that we can doe nothing that is worth any thing but in him by him for him and dependently of him Yet did not his Goodnesse so dispose but in consideration of his sonne our Sauiour he would deale with vs at a set price receiuing vs at wages and engaging himselfe by his promise vnto vs that our hire yea an eternall one shall answere to our workes Nor is it that our seruice can either be necessarie or profitable vnto him for when we shall haue accomplished all his commands we are yet to professe in a most humble
truth or a most true humilitie that indeede we are most vnprofitable and vnfruitfull seruants to our Maister who by reason of his essentiall superabundancie of riches can haue no profit by vs but conuerting all our works to our owne aduantage and commoditie he makes vs serue him with as little profit to him as much profit to our selues who by so small labours gaine so great rewards 3. He was not then bound to paie vs for our seruice if he had not passed his promis for it yet doe not thinke THEO that he would so manifest his goodnesse in this promise as to forget to glorifie his wisdome yea contrariwise he did most exactly obserue the rules of equitie mixing comelinesse with liberalitie in an admirable manner for though our works are indeede very small and in no wise for their quantitie cōparable to Glorie yet in regard of their qualitie they are very proportionable therevnto by reason of the Holy Ghost who by Charitie dwelling in our hearts workes them in vs by vs and for vs in so exquisite a manner that the same workes that are wholy ours are more wholy his sith as he doth produce them in vs so we againe produce them in him as he doth them for vs so we doe them for him as he operats them with vs so we cooperate them with him 4. Now the holy Ghost doth dwell in vs if we be liuely members of IESVS CHRIST who herevpon saied vnto his Disciples He that abids in me and I in him he brings forth much fruit and it is THEO because he that abids in him is made partaker of his diuine Spirit who is in the midst of mans heart as a liuing fountaine of water springing vp vnto life euerlasting so the holy oyle which was poured vpon our Sauiour as vpon the head of the Church militant and triumphant doth spread it selfe ouer the societie of the Blessed who as the sacred beard of this heauenly Maister is continually fastened to his glorious face and doth drope vpon the companie of the faithfull who as clothes are ioyned and vnited by loue to the Diuine Maiestie the one and the other troope being composed of naturall brethren hauing hereby occasion to crie out Behold how good and how pleasant a thing it is for brethren to dwell in one as oyntment on the head which ranne downe vpon the beard the beard of Aaron which ranne downe vpon the hemme of his garment 5. Our works therefore as a little corne of mustard are in no sort comparable in greatnesse to the tree of glorie which they produce yet haue they the vigour and vertue to worke it for that they proceede from the holy ghost who by an admirable infusiō of his grace into our hearts makes our works his and yet withall leaues them our owne since we are members of one head whereof he is the Spirit and ingraffed in a tree whereof he is the sape and whereas he doth in this sort act in our actions and we after a certaine manner doe operate or cooperate to his operation he leaues vs to our part all the merite ad profite of our seruices and good workes and we againe leaue him all the honour and praise thereof acknowledging that the beginning the progresse and the end of all the good we doe depends of his mercy by which he hath come vnto vs and hath preuented vs he came into vs and assisted vs he came with vs and conducted vs finishing what he had begun But ô God THEO how mercifull is this Bountie vnto vs in this diuision we render him the glorie of our praises alas and he giues vs the glorie of his possession In somme by these light and passing labours we obtaine goods permanent for all eternitie Amen That perfect vertues are neuer one without the other CHAPTER VII 1. The heart is saied to be the first part of a mā which receiues life by the vnion of the soule and the eye the last as contrariwise in a naturall death the eye begins first to die the heart the last Now when the heart begins to liue before the other parts be animated life is feeble tender and imperfect but still as it gets further possession in the other parts of the bodie life is more vigorous in each part but particularly in the heart and we see that life being interressed in any one of the members it is weakened in all the rest If a mans foote or arme be agreeued all the bodie is disseased stirred troubled and changed If our stomake paine vs the eyes voice and countenance are sensible of it Such is the agreement amongst all the parts of man for the enioying of this naturall life 2. All the vertues are not gotten in an instant but one after another as reason which is as the soule of our heart rids it selfe now of one passion now of another to moderate and gouerne them and ordinarily this life of our soule takes it's beginning in the heart of our passion which is Loue and branching it selfe ouer all the rest it doth euen quicken the very vnderstanding by contemplation as contrariwise morall or spirituall death makes its entrie into the soule by the consideration Death enters by the windowes saieth the sacred Text and its last effect is to distroy the good Loue which once perishing all our morall life is dead in vs so that though me may indeede haue some vertues seperated from others yet are they but at most languishing imperfect and weake vertues since that reason which is the life of our soule is neuer satisfied or at ease in a soule vnlesse it occupie and possesse all the faculties and passions of the same and being once agreeued or hurt in any one of our passions or affections all the rest loose their force and vigour and strangly doe pine away 3. Marke THEO all the vertues are vertues by the proportion or conformitie they haue to reason and an action cannot be named vertuous if it proceede not from the affection which the heart beares to the decencie and beautie of reason Now if the loue of reason doe possesse and animate the mynd it will be obedient to reason in all occurrences and consequently will practise all the vertues If IACOB loued RACHEL in respect that she was Laban's daughter why did he despise LIA who was not onely the daughter but euen the eldest daughter of the saied LABAN But because he affected RACHEL by reason of her beautie he could neuer equally loue the poore LIA though a fruitfull and wise maide not being so faire in his eye He that loues a vertue for the loue of the reason and decorum that shines in it he will loue them all since he will find the same motiue in thē all and he will loue each of them more or lesse as reason shall appeare in them more or lesse resplendēt He that loues Liberalitie and not Chastitie shewes sufficiently that he loues not liberalitie for the beautie of reason for that is
to wrake Were it not for the nerues muskles and sinewes the whole bodie would be entirely defeated and without Charitie the vertues can neuer stand together Our Sauiour doth still tie the performance of the commandements to Charitie He that hath my Commandements saieth he and doth obserue them he it is that loues me He that loues me not keepes not my Câ—mmandements He that loues me will obserue my words which the disciple whom our Sauiour loued repeating he that obserues the Commandements of God saieth he the Charitie of God is perfect in him and this is the Charitie of God that we keepe his Commandements And he that had all vertues would keepe all the Commandements for he that loued the vertue of Religion would keepe the three first Commandements He that had Pietie would obserue the fourth He that had the vertue of mildnesse and gentlenesse would obserue the fift by the vertue of Charitie one would obserue the sixt by Liberalitie one would auoyd the breach of the seauenth by Truth one would effect the eight by frugalitie and puritie one would obserue the ninth and tenth And if without Charitie we cannot keepe the Commandements much lesse can we without her haue all the other vertues 2. True it is one may haue some one vertue and liue some small time without offending God though he want Charitie But euen as we sometimes see trees rooted out of the ground growe as it were yet fadingly and for a short time so a heart seperated from Charitie may indeede bring forth some acts of vertue but that cannot continew for any long time 3. All vertues separated from Charitie are imperfect since they are not able without it to arriue at their end which is Beatitude Bees in their birth are little groubs and wormes without feete wings forme or fashion in tract of time they change and become little flies but afterwards waxing strong and being come to their groth then they are saied to be perfect and accomplish't Bees as being furnished of all necessaries to flie abrode and make honie Vertues haue their beginnings their progresse and their perfection and I doe not denie but without Charitie they may both be borne and growe but that they should come to their perfection and beare the name of formed fashioned and accomplished vertues is a worke of Charitie which giues them the force to flie home to God to gather vp his mercy the honie of true merite and the sanctification of the heart wherein they are found 4. Charitie is amongst the vertues as the SuÌ„ne amongst the Starrs she distributs to them all their luster and Beautie Faith Hope Feare and Penance doe ordinarily come before as Herbingers to take vp her Lodging in the soule and vpoÌ„ her arriuall they with all the traine of vertues doe obeye and waite vpon her and she with her presence doth animate adorne and quicken them all 5. The other vertues can mutually aide and excite one another in their labours and exercises for who sees not that Chastitie doth call vpon and stirre vp sobrietie and that obedience doth moue vs to liberalitie Praier and humilitie Now by this communication which they haue amongst themselues they participate one of anothers perfections for Chastitie kept by obedience hath a double dignitie it s owne and that of obedience yea it hath euen more of the dignitie of obedience then of its owne for as ARISTOTLE saieth he that robbeth to th' end he may commite fornication is more a Fornicatour then a Thiefe because fornication was his affection's onely ayme he made vse of stelth onely as of a passage thither euen so he that keepes his chastitie through obedience is more obedient then Chast since he makes Chastitie serue obedience howbeit from the mixture of Chastitie and obedience a perfect and accomplished vertue cannot issue being they both want their last perfection which is Charitie so that if it were possible that all the vertues were put in one man and that he wanted onely Charitie this assemblie of vertues should indeede be a most perfect and compleate bodie in all its members as Adams was when God with his omnipoteÌ„t hand had formed him of the slime of the earth yet should it be a bodie wanting motion life and grace till God breathed into it the breath of life that is holy Charitie without which nothing doth profit vs. 6. For the rest the perfectioÌ„ of diuine Loue is so soueraigne that it doth perfect all the vertues and can receiue no perfection from them no not by obedience it selfe which yet is that which is most able to giue perfection to the rest For although loue be commanded and that in louing we exercise obedience yet so that loue drawes not its perfection from obedience but from the goodnesse of that which it loueth loue not being therefore excellent because it is obedient but because it loues an excellent Goop Truely in louing we obeye as also in obeying we loue but that this obedience is so extreamely louely is because it tends to the excellencie of Loue nor doth its excellencie consist in this that in louing we obeye but in this that in obeying we loue So that euen as God is as well the last end of all that is good as the first beginning eueÌ„ so Loue that is the source of euery good affection is likewise the last end and perfection therof A digression vpon the imperfection of the Pagans vertues CHAPTER X. 1. THe auncient SAGES of the world made of old glorious discourses in the honour of morall vertues yea euen in the behalfe of Religion but that which Plutarke obserued in the Stoicks is yet more proper for the rest of the Pagans We see ships quoth he which beare famous inscriptions Some are called VICTORIE others THE VALOVROVS others THE SVNNE yet are they not for all that exempt from their subiection to the winds and waues So the Stoicks bragged that they were exempt from passions that they were without Feare Griefe or Anger being people immoueable and vnuariable yet are they in effect subiect to troubles disquiets boisterousnesse and other impertinences 2. I beseech you for Gods loue THEO what vertues could those people haue who voluntarily and of set purpose ouerthrew all the lawes of ReligioÌ„ SENECA wrote a booke against SuperstitioÌ„ wherein he repreheÌ„ds the PagaÌ„ impietie with a great deale of libertie But this libertie saieth S. AVGVSTINE was fouÌ„d in his writings not in his life since he aduised that in affection one should reiect superstition yet practise it in action for marke his words Which superstitions the Sage shall obserue as commanded by the law not as gratefull to the Gods How could they be vertuous who as S. AVGVSTINE relates were of opinion that the wiseman was to kill himselfe when he could not or ought not longer to endure the calamities of this life and yet would not professe that calamities were miserable nor miseries full of calamities but maintained that the wiseman was continually
conserue life after Charities death who gaue them life The Lake which profane authours doe commonly call Asphalitus and sacred authours MARE-MORTVVM hath so heauie a curse put vpon it that nothing that is put into it can liue when the fish of Iordaine doe come neere it they die vnlesse they speedily returne backe against the streame The trees vpon the brims of it produce nothing aliue and though their fruit be in apparance and autward shew like to the fruits of other countries howbeit when on puls them they are found to be skinne and core being full of asshes which flie away in the wind These be the markes of infamous sinns for the punishment whereof this Coūtrie which was peopled with three populous Cities was of old conuerted into a pit of filth and corruption and nothing was deamed better to represent the mischeife of sinne then this abominable Lacke which had its origine from the most execrable disorder that could be cōmitted by mans bodie Sinne therefore as a dead and mortall sea kills all that comes neere it nothing is found liuing in the soule which it possesseth nor all about it O God THEO nothing for sinne is not onely a dead worke but is withall so infections and venimous that the most excellent vertues of the sinfull soule doe produce no liuing action And though the actions of sinners haue oftentimes a great resemblance with those of the iust man yet are they indeede barkes onely stuffed with wind and dust whē they are truely looked into and are rewarded of God onely by some present benefits which are bestowed vpō thē as vpon the chambermaids children yet are they such barkes as neither are nor can be so tasted and relished by the Diuine Iustice as to be rewarded with an eternall crowne they die vpon the trees and cannot be conserued in the hand of God being voyd of true worth as it is saied in the Apocalypse to the Bishop of Sardis who was reputed a liuing tree by reason of diuers vertues which he practised and yet dead he was for that being in sinne his vertues were not true liuing fruits but dead barkes glorious to the eyes but no wayes sauorie to the palate so that we may all cast out this true voice following the holy Apostle without Charitie I am nothing nothing doth profit me and with S. AVGVSTINE saie Giue Charitie to a heart and all doth profit depriue it of Charitie and nothing doth profit it I meane towards life euerlasting for as we haue saied the vertuous works of sinners are profitable to our temporall life But my deare THEO what doth it profit a man to gaine all the world temporally if he loose his soule eternally How holy Loue returning into the soule doth reuiue all the works which sinne had slayne CHAPTER XII 1. THe works then of a sinner while he is depriued of Charitie are not profitable to eternall life and therevpon they are called dead works whereas contrariwise the good works of the iust man are saied to be liuing for that the Diuine Loue doth animate and quicken them with its dignitie And if afterwards they loose their life and worth by sinne they are held to be workes that are deaded extinguished or mortified onely but not quite deade especially in the Elect for as our Sauiour speaking of the little Tabitha Iarus his daughter said she was not dead but slept onely because she continued dead so small a time till she was resuscitated that it seemed rather to be a sleepe then a true death So the works of the iust man but especially of the elect who by the commission of sinne dyeth are not called dead works but onely deaded mortified stounded or put into a trance because vpon the next returne of holy Loue they either ought or at least may reuiue and returne to life againe Sinn 's returne depriues the soule and all her workes of life the returne of Grace doth restore life to the soule and all her actions A sharpe winter doth dead all the plants of the fields so that if it continued still they would still continew in the state of death Sinne the sad and daunting winter of the soule doth quayle all the holy workes that it finds there in and if it did alwayes continew neuer would any thing recouer either life or vigour But as in the returne of the pleasant spring not onely the seedes which are sowē by the helpe of this delightfull and fruitfull season doe gratefully bud and blossome euery one in his kind but euen the old plants which the rigour of the winter past had bitten withered and deaded waxe greene and doe resume new force vertue and life So sinne being blotted out and the grace of Diuine Loue returning into the soule the new affections which this spring of grace doth bring doe blossome and bring forth ample merites and blessings but the works that are dried vp and withered by the rigour of the winter of sinns ouer passed as being deliuered from their mortall enemye resume their force waxe strong and as risen from the dead they florish a new and store vp merits for the eternall life Such is the omnipotencie of Diuine Loue or the Loue of the Diuine omnipotencie If the impious turne away himselfe from his impietie and shall doe iudgement and iustice he shall viuificate his soule conuert and doe penance for all your iniquities and iniquitie shall not be a ruine vnto you saieth our Lord. And what is that iniquitie shall not be a ruine vnto you but that the ruine which it made shall be repaired So besides a thousand courtisies that the prodigall sonne receiued at his Fathers hands he was reestablished euen with aduantage in all his ornaments graces fauours and dignities which he had lost And IOB that innocent picture of a penitent sinner did in the end receiue the double of that which he had Verily it is the Councell of Trēts desire that we should encourage the penitents that are returned into fauour with God allmightie in these words of the Apostle Abound in euery good worke knowing that your labour is not vnprofitable in our Lord for God is not vniust to forget your worke and the Loue which you haue showen in his name God then doth not forget the works of those who by sinne hauing lost loue recouers it againe by penance Now God is saied to forget our workes whē they loose their merite and sanctitie by sinne committed and he remembers them when they returne to life and vigour by the presence of holy Loue. So that amongst the faithfull it is not necessarie to the reward of their good works as well by the encrease of grace and future glorie as by the enioying of life euerlasting in effect that one fall not into sinne but it is sufficient according to the Councell of Trent that one depart this life in God's grace and charitie 2. God hath promised an eternall reward to the works of a iust man but if the
Maiestie then our crucified Maister 's crowne of thornes his scepter of a Reed his robe of scorne which they put vpon him and the Throne of his Crosse vpon which the sacred Louers had more content ioye glorie and felicitie then euer Salomon had in his Iuerie Throne 5. So is Loue often times represented by the Pomegranate which taking proprieties from the Pome-granate-tree may be saied to be it's vertue as also the gift thereof which out of Loue it offers to man and its fruit sith that it is eaten to refresh mâ—ns taste and finally it is as it were its glorie and Beatitude bearing the crowne and diademe How diuine Loue makes vse of all the passions and affections of the soule and reduceth them to her obedience CHAPTER XX. 1. Loue is the life of our heart and as the couÌ„terpoise giues motioÌ„ to all the moueable parts of a cloke so doth Loue giue all the motioÌ„ the soule hath All our affections follow our Loue and according to it we desire we reioyce we hope we dispaire we feare we take heart we hate we flie we sorrow we fall into choler we triuÌ„phe Doe not we see men who haue giuen vp their heart as a prey to the base and abiect Loue of women that they haue no desires but according to this Loue they take no pleasure but in it they neither hope nor dispaire but for this subiect they neither dread nor enterprise any thing but for it they are neither disgusted with nor flie from any thing saue that which doth diuert them from this they are onely troubled at that which doth depriue them of it they are neuer angrie but out of iealousie neuer glorie but in this infamie 2. The like may be saied of couetous misers and glorie-hunters for they become slaues to that which they loue and haue neither heart in their breast nor soule in their hearts nor affections in their soules saue onely for this 3. When therefore Diuine Loue doth raigne in our hearts it doth in a kinglike manner bring vnder all the other Loues and consequently all the affections thereof for as much as naturally they follow loue this done it doth tame sensuall Loue and bringing it to subiection all the sensuall passions doe follow it For in a word this sacred Loue is the soueraigne water of which our Sauiour saied he that shall drinke of this water shall neuer thirst No surely THEO he that hath Loue in a certaine abundance he shall neither haue desire dread hope courage nor ioye but for God and all his motions shall be quieted in this onely celestiall Loue. 4. Diuine Loue and selfe loue are in our hearts as IACOB and ESAV in the wombe of REBECCA there is a great antipathie and opposition betwixt them and doe continually presse on vpon another in the heart Whereat the poore soule giues an outcrie alas wretch that I am who will deliuer me out of the bodie of this death that the onely Loue of God may peaceably raigne in me Howbeit we must take courage putting our trust in our Sauiours word who promiseth in commaÌ„ding and commandeth in promising victorie to his Loue and he seemes to saie to the soule that which he caused to be saied to REBECCA two nations are in thy woÌ„be and there shall be a diuision betwixt two people in thy intrailles the one shall surmount the other and the elder shall serue the younger for as Rebecca who had onely two childreÌ„ in her wombe whereof two people were to descend was saied to haue two nations in her wombe so the soule hauing two loues in her heart hath consequently two great troopes of motions affections and passions and as Rebecca her two children by the contrarietie of their motions made her suffer great conuulsions and paines of the wombe so the two loues of our soulâ— puts our heart as it were into trauaill And as it was saied of Rebeccas two children that the elder should serue the younger so was it ordained that of these two loues of our heart the sensuall should serue the spirituall that is selfe-loue should serue the Loue of God 5. But when was it that the eldest of thaâ— people which was in Rebecca's wombe serued thâ— youÌ„gest Surely it was onely wheÌ„ Dauid ouercame the Idumeans in warre and that Salomon ouerruled them in time of Peace When shall it then be that sensuall loue shall serue Diuine Loue It shall then be THEO when armed Loue being arriued at Zeale shall by mortification subiect our passions but principally when aboue in heauen Blessed Loue shall possesse our whole soule in peace 6. Now the meanes whereby Diuine Loue is to subiect the sensuall appetite is like to that which IACOB vsed when for a good presage and beginning of that which was afterwards to come to passe ESAV coÌ„ming out of his mothers wombe IACOB held him by the foote as it were to trample vpon to suppliant and keepe him vnder or as they saie to keepe him tyed by the foote after the manner of a Hauke such as ESAV was in qualilitie of a hunter and as he was a fierce man For so holy Loue perceiuing some passion or naturall affection to rise in vs must presently catch it by thâ— foote and order it to his seruice But what is it to saie take it by the foote it is to bind it and bring it downe to a râ—solution of seruing God Doe not you see how Moyses transformed the serpent into a rod by taking her onely by the tayle euen so by bestowing a good end vpon our passions they turne vertues 7. But what methode are we then to obserue to order our affections and passions to the seruice of Diuine Loue Methodicall Phisitions haue alwayes this APHORISIME in their mouthes Tâ—at contraries are cured by their coÌ„traries tâ—â— Alchymists haue another famous sentence contrarie to this Saying that like are cured by their like Howsoeuer we are certaine that two contrarie things make the light of the starrs disappeare to wit the obscuritie of nightly foggues and the greater light of the sunne and in like manner we doe fight against passions either by opposing contrarie passions or greater affections of the same sort If any vaine hope present it selfe vnto me my way of resistance may be by opposing vnto it this iust discouragement O senselesse man vpoÌ„ what foundatioÌ„ dost thou build this hope dost thou not see that the great one to whom thou dost aspire is as neere to his graue as thy selfe Dost thou not know the instabilitie weaknesse and imbecillitie of the spirit of man To day his heart in whom thy pretentions are is thyne to morrow another carries it away from thee vpon what then is this hope grounded Another way of resisting this hope is to oppose to it another more strong hope in God ô my Soule for it is he that deliuers thy feete out of the snares neuer did any hope in him and was confounded throwe thy thoughtes vpon eternall and permanent
as the bad but in the good it is moderated by submissioÌ„ and resignatioÌ„ to the will of God as is seene in Tobie who redred thaÌ„kes to the Diuine Maiâ—stie for all the aduersities wherewith he was afflicted and in â—OB who blessed the name of God in theÌ„ and in Daniel who turned his sorrowes into songes Now contrariwise in worldlings the same sorrow is an ordinarie dish with theÌ„ aÌ„d is changed into loathsomenesse dispaire madnesse for they reseÌ„ble Apes aÌ„d MoÌ„kies which are still peeuish sad and sottish in the wayning of the Moone as againe in the new of the Moone they hop dance and doe their apish trickes The worldling is froward harsh bitter and melancholie in the ebbe of his terreane prosperities but while they flowe he is almost continually in his brauado's iocund and insolent 6. Certes the sorrow of true Repentance is not so much to be termed sorrow as a dislike sense or detestation of sinne a sorrow which is neuer either harsh or peeuish a sorrow which doth not benume the mind but makes it become actiue prompt and diligent a sorrow which doth not abate the heart but doth reliue it by praier and hope and makes it make the stirrings of the feruour of deuotion a sorrow which in the hight of its bitternesse doth produce the sweetenesse of an incomparable consolation following the Precept of the great S. Augustine Let the penitent sorrow continually but let him also continually reioyce therein Sorrow saieth CassiaÌ„ which doth worke solide Penance and the wishfull repentaÌ„ce whereof a man doth neuer repeÌ„t him is obedient affable humble milde sweete patient as issuing and descending from Charitie so that extending it selfe to all the paine of the bodie and contrition of the heart it is in a certaine sort ioyfull quickned and streÌ„gthned with the hope of profit it retaines all the sweetenesse of affabilitie and longnanimitie as enioying the fruits of the holy Ghost recited by the holy Apostle now the fruits of the holy Ghost are Charitie Ioye Peace Longanimitie Goodnesse Benignitie Faith Mildnesse Continencie Such is true Repentance and such the good sorrow which is not properly sad or melancholie but onely attentiue and addicted to detest reiect and hinder the malice of sinne for the time past and time to come And indeede we meete often with Penetents sollicitous troubled impatieÌ„t mournefull soure groaning disquiet harsh and melancholie which are in the end found to be fruitlesse and are not followâ—d with any true amendement because they proceeded not from the true motiues of the vertuâ— of Penance but from naturall and self-selfe-loue 7. The sorrow of the world worketh death saieth the Apostle THEO we must be therefore carefull to auoyd and reiect it aâ—cording to our power if it be naturall we are to keepe it backe by withstanding its motions and by diuerting them by exercises proper for that end and by vsing the remedies and manner of liuing which the Phisitions shall aduise If it proceede from temptation we must fully disclose our heart to our Ghostly Father who will prescribe vs the meanes to ouercome it according to that which we haue deliuered touching this point in the fourtâ— Part of the Introduction to a deuote life If it be accidentall we must haue recourse to that which is saied in the eight booke to th' end we may see how delightfull temptations are to the sonns of God and that the greatenesse of our hopes in the eternall life to come all almost doe make all the passing euents of this mortall life of no consideration 8. For the rest amongst all the melancholies which can happen vnto vs we are to make vse of the authoritie of the superiour will to doe all thâ—t it is able in the behalfe of diuine Loue. Certes there are actions which haue so great a dependance of the corporall disposition and complexion that it is not in our power to doe them at our pleasure for the melancholie man cannot for his heart keepe neither his eyes speach nor countenance in the same grace and sweetenesse which they would haue if he were quit of this bad humour yet may he well though not with a grace speake gracious good and courtious words and may doe on despite of his inclination by force of reason what is conuenient in words and in the works of Charitie sweetnesse condescendance It is pardonable in a man not to be continually iocund for a man is not Maister of mirth to haue it when he list but he that is not continually gentle tractable and condescendant is not excusable for it is alwayes in the abilitie of our will nor is there any other thing required therevnto but a resolution to surmount the contrarie humour and inclination The end of the eleauenth booke THE TVVELFTH BOOKE CONTAINING CERtaine aduises for the progresse of the soule in holy Loue. That our progresse in holy Loue doth not depend of our naturall complexion CHAPTER I. I. A Famous religious of our age hath written that our naturall disposition doth much conduce to contemplatiue Loue and that such as are of an affectiue and louing nature are most proper for it Now I suppose his meaning is not that sacred Loue should be distributed to men or Angels in sequell and yet much lesse in vertue of their naturall conditions nor that he would saie that the distribution of diuine Loue is made to men according to their naturall qualities and abilities for this were to belye the Scripture and to violate the ecclesiasticall rule by which the Pelagians were declared Heretikes 2. For my part I speake in this Treatise of supernaturall Loue which God out of his goodnesse doth poure into our hearts and whose residence is in the supreame point of the Spirit a point which is aboue all the rest of our soule and is independant of all naturall complexion and withall though the soules that are inclined to Loue haue on the one side a certaine disposition which make theÌ„ more proper to loue God yet one the other side they are so subiect to set their affection vpon louely creatures that their inclination puts thâ—m iâ— as much danger of being diuerted from sacred Loue by a mixture of other Loues as they haue a facilitie in desiring to Loue God for the dangâ—r of louing amisse is annected to the facilitie of louing It is true that soules of this composition being once well purified from the loue of câ—â—atures they worke wonders in sacred Charitie Loue finding a great case to dilate it selfe in all the faculties of the heart and from thence proceeds a delightfull sweetenessâ— which appeares not in those whose soules are pâ—euish harsh melancholie and churlish 3. Neuerthelesse if two parties the one whereof is louing and sweete the other harsh and â—oure by nature had an equall Charitie they would loue God equally yet not both alike The heart naturally sweete would loue more easily more amiably more sweetely though neither more solidly nor yet more perfectly but the
loue that should spring vp amongst the brambles and repugnances of a harsh and drie nature would be more braue and glorious and withall more delightfull and gracious like to the other 4. It imports not much then whether one haue a naturall inclination to loue when supernaturall loue is handled by which one works onely supernaturally Onely this THEO I would willingly crie out to all men ô mortalls if you haue hearts addicted to loue alas why doe you not pretend celestiall and Diuine Loue But if you be harsh and hard hearted alas poore peopâ—â— sith you are depriued of naturall Loue why doe you not aspire to supernaturall Loue which shall be louingly bestowed on you by him who so holily calls you to loue him That we are to haue a continuall desire to loue CHAPTER II. 1. LAy vp treasures in heauen one treasure is not sufficient to the liking of this Diuine Louer but he desires we should haue it in such aboundance that our treasure should be coÌ„posed of many treasures that is to saie THEO that we are to haue an insatiable desire of Louing God adding continually loue vpon loue What is it that doth so much presse the Bees to encrease their honie but the loue they beare to it ô heart of my soule who art created to loue the infinite good what loue canst thou desire but this loue which is the most to be desired of all loues Alas ô soule of my heart what desire canst thou loue but the most louely of all desires ô Loue of sacred desires ô desires of holy Loue ô how much haue I desisired to desire your perfections 2. The disgusted sickman hath no appetite to eate yet hath he an appetite to haue an appetite he desires no meate yet he desires to haue a desire THEO to know whether we loue God aboue all things is not in our power vnlesse God himselfe reueale it vnto vs yet we may easily know whether we desire to loue him aÌ„d perceiuing the desire of holy loue in vs we know that we begin to loue It is our seÌ„suall aÌ„d animall part which couets to eate but it is our reasonable part that desires this appetite and because the sensuall part doth not alwayes obeye the reasonable part it happens that we desire an appetite and yet haue it not 3. But the desire of louing and loue depend both of the same will Wherefore as soone as we haue framed a desire of louing we begin to haue some Loue and euer as this desire encreaseth loue also encreaseth He that desires Loue ardently shall shortly loue with ardour ô God THEO who will make vs so happie as that we may burne with this desire which is the desire of the poore and the preparation of their heart whom God doth willingly heare He that hath no assurance to loue God is a poore man and if he desire to loue him he is a beggar but a beggar in that bleessed beggarie of which our Sauiour hath saied Blessed are the poore of spirit for theirs is the kingdome of Heauen 4. Such an one was S. AVGVSTINE when he cryed out ô to loue ô to walke ô to die to a mans selfe ô to come to God! Such S. FRANCIS his saying let me die of thy Loue ô thou friend of my heart who hast daigned to die for my Loue Such S. CATHARINE of GENVA and S. TERESA when as spirituall Does panting and dying with the thirst of Diuine Loue they sighed out this voice ah Lord giue me this water 5. Temporall couituousnesse by which we doe greedily desire earthly riches is the roote of all euill but spirituall auarice whereby one doth incessaÌ„tly sigh after the pure gold of Diuine Loue is the roote of all good He that doth desire to Loue well doth search it well and he that doth search it well doth find it well and he that hath found it out he hath found the source of life whence he shall draw the saluation of our Lord. Let vs crie night and day THEO come ô holy Ghost fill the hearts of thy faithfull and kindle in them the fire of thy Loue. ô heauenly Loue when wilt thou fill my soule That to haue the desire of saâ—red Loue we are to cut of all other desires CHAPTER III. 1. VVHy doe hounds thinke you THEO more ordinarily loose the sent or straine of the game they runne in the spring time then in other times it is as the Hunters and Philosophers saie because the grasse and floures are then in their vigour so that the varietie of smells which they send out doth so fill the hounds sense of smelling that they can neither take nor follow the sent of their game amongst so sundrie â—ents which the earth doth euaporate Certes those soules that doe abound still in desires designes and proiects doe neuer desire the holy celestiall loue as they ought nor can perceiue the delightfull straine and sent of the Diuine beloued who is compared to the Roe or to the little Faune of the Do. 2. Lilies haue no season but growe soone or late as they are deeper or lesse deepe set in the ground for if they be thrust three fingers onely into the ground they will presently florish but if they be put 6. or 9. fingers into the earth they come vp later proportionably If the heart that pretends Diuine Loue be deeply engaged in terreane and temporall affaires it will bud late and with difficultie But if it haue onely so much to doe with the world as its condition requires you shall see it blosome timely in Loue and send out a delicious odour 3. For this cause the Saints betooke themselues to deserts that being freede from worldly solicitudes they might more ardently bestowe themselues in the exercise of holy Loue Hence the sacred Spouse shut the one of her eyes to th'ed that she might fixe the sight of the other alone more setledly and withall aime more directly at the very midst of her Beloued's heart which she desires to wound witâ— loue And for this same reason she keepes her haire so plaited and foulded together in tresses that she seemes to haue one onely haire which she makes vse off as of a chaine to bind and beare away her Spouse his heart whom she makes a slaue to her Loue. 5. They that desire for good and all to loue God shut vp their vnderstanding from worldly discoursâ—s to imploye it more feruently in Diuine meditations and doe gather vp all their pretentions into that onely one pretention of onely louing God Whosoeuâ—r he be that desires any thing which he desires not for God doth in that lesse desire God 5. A Religious man dâ—manded of B. Giles what he could doe most gratefull to God and he answâ—red him by singing one to one that is one onely soule to one onely God So many desires and Loues in our heart are as many children vpon one dâ—gge who while they can not all sucke at once they thrust to it now one
now another by emulation making it in the end waxe withered and drie He that aimes at heauenly Loue must carefully reserue his times his spirit and affections for it That our lawfull occasions doe not hinder vs to practise Diuine Loue. CHAPTER IV. 1. CVriositie ambition disquiete together with inaduertance and inconsideration of the end for which we are in this world are cause that we haue a thousand times more impediments then affaires more hurrying vp and downe then worke more lets then businesse And these are the MAZES THEOT that is she witlesse vaine and superfluous vndertakings into which we runne our selues which doe hinder the loue of God not the true and lawfull exercises of our vocations DAVID and after him S. Lâ—WIS in the presse of his perils toyles and trauaills which he endured as well in peace as in warrs did not cease to sing from his heart What doe the Heauens admire Sauâ— God that I desire To what saue God beneath Can heart aspire or breath 2. S. BERNARD loosed not a foote of the progresse which he desired to make in holy Loue though he were in the Courts and Armies of great Princes where he laboured to bring matter of staâ—e to the seruice of Gods glorie he changed his habitation but he changed not his heart 3. And to vse his owne words these changes passed in him but were not caused by him sith that though his imployments were much differeÌ„t yet were all imployements indifferent to him and he different from them all not receiuing the colours of his affaires and couersations as the CAMELION those of the place where she is but remayning still wholy vnited to God still white in puritie still read with Charitie still full of humilitie 4. I am not ignorant THEOT what the wise mans counsell is He flies the CaÌ„pe the Court and Courtly strife Who seakes to sowe the seedes of holy life Vertue we see doth cause the soules encrease Faith and Pietie daughters are to peace And the Israelites had good reason to excuse theÌ„selues to the Babylonians who vrged them to sing the sacred Canticle of Sion Ay me but in what musike shall we sing In this sad sâ—yle and ruthfull banishment A Sions songe to Sions heauâ—nly King A Sions songe of heauenly wonderment But doe not you also marke that those poore people were not onely amoÌ„gst the Babylonias but were euen their Captiues Whosoeuer is a slaue to Courtly fauours issues in law and honour in warrs ô God all is past with him he hath no leasure to sing the Hymne of heauenly Loue. But he that is onely in the Court in warrs or in the Sessions-houses because his dutie calls him th ther God is his aide and the heauenly sweetenesse is as an EPITHEME vpon his heart to preserue him from the plague which raignes in those places 5. While the plague pestered the Milaneises SAINT CHARLES neuer made difficultie to frequent the infected houses and to touch the infected persons Yet THEO he onely frequented and touched them so farre forth as the necessitie of Gods worke required nor would he for a world haue thrust himselfe into danger without necessitie least he should haue commited the sinne of tempting God So that he was neuer touched with any infection Gods Prouidence conseruing him who reposed so pure a confidence in â—t that it had no mixture either of feare or forwardnesse In like manner God takes a speciall care of those who goe not to the Court Sessions or warre but onely to complie with the necessitie of their dutie and in that case a man is neither to be so scrupulous as to abandone good and lawfull affaires by not going nor yet to be presumptuously pushed forwards with a desire of going thither or staying there without the expresse necessitie of his dutie and affaires A delightfull example vpon this subiect CHAPTER V. 1. GOd is innocent to the innocent Good to the good cordiall to the cordiall tender towards such as are tender and his loue makes him often times vse certaine sacred and daintie deuises towards the holy soules which out of a louing puritie and simplicitie behaue themselues as little children about him 2. Vpon a day S. FRANCISCA was reciting our Ladies office and as it commonly happens that if there be any businesse to be done all the day long it presseth most in the time of Praier This good Ladie was called in her husbands name about a houshold affaire and foure sundrie times thinking to goe on with her office she was called from it againe and constrained to leaue off in the same verse till at length this blessed affaire for which they had so importunely interrupted her praier being finished returning to her office she found the verse which she had so often left off by obedience and begunne againe by deuotioÌ„ all written in faire golden letters Which her deuote Companion Madame Vannocie swore she saw written by the Saints deare Angell gardian to whom also S. PAVLE did afterwards reueale it 3. O what a sweetenesse is this THEOT of the heauenly Spouse towards this sweete and filiall louer We see notwithstaÌ„ding that euery ones necessarie imployments according to their vocation doth ot diminish Diuine Loue but doth euen encrease it and as it were doe gildâ— the deuote worke The Nightingale loues her owne melodie no lesse when she makes her rest 's then when she sings Deuote hearts loue not Loue lesse when they are distracted in exteriour necessities then when they praie Their silence their speach their action and their contemplation their imployments and their rests doe in them equally sing the Hymne of their Loue. That we are to imploye all the occasions that are presented in the practise of Diâ—ine Loue. CHAPTER VI. 1. THere are some soules that make proiects vnto themselues to doe excellent seruices to our Sauiour by eminent actions and extraordinarie sufferances but actions and sufferances whole occasion is not present nay nor peraduenture neuer will be present and vpon this they apprehend that they haue done a great matter in loue in which yet they are often deceiued As it appears by those who as they themselues thinke embrasing in desire greate future crosses doe vehemently flie the burden of such as are present though lesser Is it not a fearefull temptation to be so valiant in imagination and so cowardly in execution 2. Ah God preserue vs from those imaginarie feruours which doe often bread a vaine and secreete selfe esteeme in the botome of our hearts Great works light not alwayes in our waye but euery moment we may practise little ones with excellencie that is with a great Loue. Behold this Saint I beseech you who bestowes a cup of cold water vpon the ouerheated passinger he doth but a small matter in outward shew but the intentioÌ„ the sweetenesse the Loue with which he doth giue life to his worke is so excellent that it turnes this simple water into water of life and life euerlasting 3.
S. BERNARD S. FRANCIS S. CATHERIN of Genua or of Sienna were yet in this world and were fallen a sleepe being wearied with their many labours taken for the loue of God Propose to your selfe on the other side some good soule yet not so holy as they that were in the Praier of Vnion at the same time I would aske you THEO who is more vnited ioyned and fastened to God whether these great Saints that sleepe or that soule that praies Certes those are the admirable louers for they haue more Charitie and their affections though in some sort a sleepe are so engaged and tyed to their Maister that they cannot be separated from him But you will saie vnto me how can it be that a soule in Praier of Vnion euen vnto Extasie should be lesse vnited vnto God then such as sleepe be they neuer so Saintly Why marke what I tell you THEO that soule is more aduanced in the Exercise of vniō those in the vnion it selfe these are vnited not vniting thēselues being a sleepe but she is vnited ād is in the actuall practise ād exercise of vniō 8. Moreouer this exercise of vnion with God may euen be practised by short and passing yet frequent eiaculations of our heart to God by way of Iaculatorie Praier made to this purpose Ah IESVS who will giue me the grace to be one soule with thee In fine Lord reiecting the multiplicitie of creaturs I desire thyne onely vnitie O God thou art the onely vnitie and onely one necessarie for my soule Alas deare friend of my heart vnite my poore lone soule to thy most singular Bountie Ah thou art wholy myne when shall I be wholy thyne The Adamant drawes and vnites iron vnto it ô Lord my Adamant be my draw-heart locke presse and vnite my heart for euer vnto thy Fatherly breast Ah sith I am made for thee why am I not in thee Dip this drope of Spirit which thou hast bestowed vpon me into the Sea of thy Goodnesse from whence it flowed Ah Sauiour I seeing that thy heart loues me why doth it not force me to it I desiring it should be so Drawe me and I will runne seconding thy draughtes to cast my selfe into thy Fatherly bosome from whence euerlastingly I will not departe Of Rapture and of the first species of the same CHAPTER IV. 1. AN Extasie is called a Rapture for as much as God doth therby draw and reare vs vp to himselfe and a Rapture is termed an extasie in that we doe by it goe and remaine out of and aboue our selues to be vnited to God And although the touches by which God drawes vs be admirably sweete gustfull and delicious yet by reason of the force which the diuine Beautie and Bountie haue to drawe vnto them the attention and application of the mind it seemes that it doth not onely raise vs but that it doth rauish and beare vs a way As contrariwise by reason of the most free consent and ardent motion by which the soule rauished rūnes after the diuine touches she seemes not onely to mount and eleuate her selfe but that she doth breake out of her selfe and cast her selfe into the very Diuinitie It fals out after the same manner in the most infamous extasie or abominable Rapture of the soule who by the baites of brutall pleasures is degraded of her spirituall dignitie and placed below her naturall condition for in so much as she doth willingly follow this accursed pleasure and doth precipitate herselfe out of herselfe that is out of her spirituall estate she is saied to be in a sensuall Extasie but for as much as the sensuall baites and inticements doe forceably drawe her and as it were traile her into this vile and base condition she is saied to be rauished and transported because these beastly delightes doe depose her from the vse of reason and vnderstanding with so furious a violence that as one of the greatest Philosophers saieth a man in this case seemes to be fallen into the falling sicknesse so is the mind swallowed vp and as it were lost O men how long will you be so made as to debase your naturall dignitie voluntarily precipitating your selues and discending to the condition of brute beastes 2. But my Deare THEO as touching sacred Extasies they are of three kindes the one belongs to the Vnderstanding th' other to the Affection and the third to the Action The one is in Splendour th' other in feruour the third in the worke the one is made by admiration th' other by deuotion and the third by operation Admiration is caused in vs by the approch of an vncoth Truth which we neither know nor yet hope to know and if the vncoth Truth we meete with be accompaned with Beautie and Goodnesse the admiratition which proceedeth from it is vety delicious So the Queene of Saba finding more true wisdome in Salomon then she had imagined was filled with admiration And the Iewes experiencing in our Sauiour more knowledge then euer they had beleeued they were taken with a great admiratiō When therefore it pleaseth the Diuine Goodnesse to illuminate our heart with some speciall light wherby it is raised to an extraordinarie and sublime contemplation of heauenly Mysteries then discouering more beautie in them then it could haue imagined it fals into Admiration 3. Now admiration of pleasant things doth closely fixe and glew the mind to the thing admired as well by reason of the excellent beautie which admiration discouers vnto it as also by the noueltie of this excellencie the vnderstanding neuer thinking to haue gazed enough vpon that which it neuer sawe before and yet is so agreeable to the viewe Sometimes also besides this God doth impart to the soule a light not onely cleare but euen encreasing in clearenesse as the breake of the day and thē as such as haue found a goldē Myne doe still breake more earth still to finde more of that wished mettle so the vnderstanding doth still diue deeper and deeper into the consideration and admiration of his diuine obiect for euen as admiration was the cause of Philosophie and the attentiue studie of naturall things so it was the cause of Contēplation and mysticall Diuinitie ād whereas this admiratiō being strōg keepes vs without our selues ād aboue our selues by a liuely attētion and applicatiō of our vnderstāding to heauēly things it carries vs cōsequētly into Extasie Of the second Species of Rapture CHAPTER V. 1. GOd drawes mens minds vnto him by his soueraigne Beautie and incomprehensible GOODNESSE which two excellences are but one Supreame Diuinitie most singularly faire and good together Euery thing aimes at GOOD and FAIRE euery thing lookes that way and are stirred and staied by it GOOD and FAIRE is desirable amiable and deare vnto all for it all things doe and will whatsoeuer they will or doe And FAIRE because it doth attract and recall all things to it selfe the Grecians giues it a name which signifies to recall In like manner