not to be done without great fatigue to the Intellect nor does it stand in need of such ratiocinations since these serve only as a means to attain to believing that which it hath already got the possession of 123. The most noble spiritual and proper way for Souls that are Proficients in internal recollection to enter by the Humanity of Christ our Lord and entertain a remembrance of him is the second way eying that Humanity and the Passion thereof by a simple Act of Faith loving and reflecting on the same as the Tabernacle of the Divinity the beginning and end of our Salvation Jesus Christ having been Born Suffered and Died a shameful Death for our sakes 124. This is the way that makes internal Souls profit and this holy pious swift and instantaneous remembrance of the Humanity can be no obstacle to them in the course of internal recollection unless if when the Soul enters into Prayer it finds it self drawn back for then it will be better to continue recollection and mental excess But not finding it self drawn back the simple and swift remembrance of the Humanity of the Divine Word gives no impediment to the highest and most elevated the most abstracted and transformed Soul. 125. This is the way that Santa Teresa recommends to the contemplative rejecting the tumultuary opinions of some School-men This is the streight and safe way free from Dangers which the Lord hath taught to many Souls for attaining to repose and the holy tranquility of Contemplation 126. Let the Soul then when it enters into recollection place it self at the Gate of Divine Mercy which is the amiable and sweet remembrance of the Cross and Passion of the Word that was made Man and Died for Love let it stand there with Humilitie resigned to the Will of God in whatsoever it pleases the Divine Majesty to do with it and if from that holy and sweet remembrance it soon fall into forgetfulness there is no necessity of making a new repetition but to continue silent and quiet in the presence of the Lord. 127. Wonderfully does St. Paul favour this our Doctrine in the Epistle which he wrote to the Colossians wherein he exhorts them and us that whether we Eat Drink or do any thing else we should do it in the Name and for the Sake of Jesus Christ Omne quod cumque farit is in verbo aut in opere omnia in nomine Jesu Christi facite gratias agentes Deo Patri per ipsum God grant that we may all begin by Jesus Christ and that in him and by him alone we may arrive at perfection CHAP. XVII Of Internal and Mystical Silence 128. THere are three kinds of Silence the first is of Words the second of Desires and the third of Thoughts The first is perfect the second more perfect and the third most perfect In the first that is oâ— Words Virtue is acquired in the second to wit of Desires quietness is attained to in the third of Thoughts Internal Recollection is gained By not speaking not desiring and not thinking one arrives at the true and perfect Mystical Silence wherein God speaks with the Soul communicates himself to it and in the Abyss of it's own Depth teaches it the most perfect and exalted Wisdom 129. He calls and guides it to this inward Solitude and mystical Silence when he says That he will speak to it alone in the most secret and hidden part of the Heart Thou art to keep thy self in this mystical Silence if thou wouldest hear the sweet and divine Voice It is not enough for gaining this Treasure to forsake the World nor to renounce thine own Desires and all things created if thou wean not thy self from all Desires and Thoughts Rest in this mystical Silence and open the Door that so God may communicate himself unto thee unite with thee and transform thee into himself 130. The perfection of the Soul consists not in speaking nor in thinking much on God but in loving him sufficiently This Love is attained to by means of perfect Resignation and internal Silence all consists in Works The Love of God has but few Words Thus St. John the Evangelist confirms and inculcates it My little Children Epist 1. Chap. 3. v. 18. let us not Love in Word neither in Tongue but in Deed and in Truth 131. Thou art clearly convinced now that perfect Love consists not in amorous Acts nor tender Ejaculations nor yet in the internal Acts wherein thou tellest God that thou hast an infinite love for him and thou lovest him more than thy self It may be that at that time thou seekest more thy self and the love of thy self than the true Love of God Because Love consists in Works and not in fair Discourses 132. That a rational Creature may understand the secret desire and intention of thy Heart there is a necessity that thou shouldest express it to him in Words But God who searches the Hearts standeth not in need that thou shouldest make profession and assure him of it nor does he rest satisfied as the Evangelist says with Love in Word nor in Tongue but with that which is true and indeed What avails it to tell him with great zeal and fervour that thou tenderly and perfectly lovest him above all things if at one bitter word or slight injury thou doest not resign thy self nor art mortified for the love of him A manifest proof that thy love was a love in Tongue and not in Deed. 133. Strive to be resigned in all things with Silence and in so doing without saying that thou lovest him thou wilt attain to the most perfect quiet effectual and true love St. Peter most affectionately told the Lord that for his sake he was ready willingly to lay down his Life but at the word of a young Damsel he denied him and there was an end of his Zeal Mary Magdalen said not a word and yet the Lord himself taken with her perfect Love became her Panagyrist saying that she had loved much It is internally then that with dumb Silence the most perfect Virtues of Faith Hope and Charity are practised without any necessity of telling God that thou lovest him hopest and believest in him because the Lord knows better than thou do'st what the internal Motions of thy Heart are 134. How well was that pure act of Love understood and practised by that profound and great Mistick the Venerable Gregory Lopez whose whole Life was a continual Prayer and a continued Act of Contemplation and of so pure and spiritual Love of God that it never gave way to Affections and sensible Sentiments 135. Having for the space of three Years continued that Ejaculation Thy Will be done in Time and in Eternity repeating it as often as he breathed God Almighty discovered to him that infinite Treasure of the pure and continued Act of Faith and Love with Silence and Resignation so that he came to say That during the thirty six Years he lived after
Recollection or Acquir'd Contemplation The first is of beginners the second of Proficients The first is sensible and material the second more naked pure and internal 2. When the Soul is already accustomed to discourse of Mysteries by the help of imagition and the use of corporal Images being carried from Creature to Cteature and from Knowledge to Knowledge though with very little of that which it wants and from these to the Creator Then God is wont to take that Soul by the hand if rather he calls it not in the very beginnings and leads it without ratiocination by the way of pure Faith making the intellect pass by all considerations and reasonings draws it forward and raises it out of this material and sensible state making it under a simple and obscure knowledge of Faith wholly aspire to its Bridegroom upon the wings of Love without any farther necessity of the perswasions and informations of the Intellect to make it love him because in that manner the Soul's love would be very scanty much dependent on Creatures stinted to drops and these too but falling with pauses and intervals 3. By how much less it depends on Creatures and the more it relies on God alone and his secret documents by the mediation of pure Faith the more durable firm and strong will that Love be After the Soul hath already acquired the knowledge which all the meditations and corporal images of Creatures can give her if now the Lord raise her out of that state by stripping her of ratiocination and leaving her in divine darkness to the end she may march in the streight Way and by pure Faith â—et her be guided and not love with the scantiness and tenuity that these direct but let her suppose that the whole World and all that the most refined conceptions of the wisest understandings can tell her are nothing and that the goodness and beauty of her beloved infinitely surpasses all their knowledge being perswaded that all Creatures are too rude to inform her and to conduct her to the true knowledge of God. 4. She ought then to advance forward with her love leaving all her understanding behind Let her love God as he is in himself and not as her imagination says he is and frames him to her And if she cannot know him as he is in himself let her love him without knowing him under the obscure veils of Faith in the same manner as a Son who hath never seen his Father but fully believing those who have given him information of him loves him as if he had already seen him 5. The Soul from which Mental Discourse is taken ought not to strain her self nor sollicitously seek for more clear and particular knowledge but even without the supports of sensible consolations or notices with poverty of spirit and deprived of all that the natural appetite requires continue quiet firm and constant letting the Lord work his work though she may seem to be alone exhausted and full of darkness and though this appear to her to be idleness it is only of her own sensible and material activity not of God's who is working true knowledge in her 6. Finally the more the Spirit ascends the more it is taken off of sensible objects Many are the souls who have arrived and do arrive at this gate but few have passed or do pass it for want of the experimental guide and those who have had and actually have it for want of a true subjection and entire submission 7. They 'll say that the Will will not love but be unactive if the Intellect understand not clearly and distinctly it being a received Maxim that that which is not known cannot be loved To this it is answered that tho' the Intellect understand not distinctly by ratiocination Images and Considerations yet it understands and knows by an obscure general and confused Faith which knowledge tho' so obscure indistinct and general as being supernatural hath nevertheless a more clear and perfect cognition of God than any sensible and particular notice that can be formed in this life because all corporal and sensible representation is infinitely distant from God. 8. We know God more perfectly says St. Denis by Negatives Myst â—â— Theol. c. 1. â— 2. than by Affirmatives We think more highly of God by knowing that he is incomprehensible and above all our capacity than by conceiving him under any image or created beauty according to our rude understanding A greater esteem and love then will flow from this confused obscure and negative than from any other sensible and distinct way because that is more proper to God and abstracted from creatures and this on the contrary the more it depends on creatures the less it hath of God. Second Advertisement Declaring what Meditation and Contemplation are and the difference that is betwixt them 9. Lib. 3. de fide c. 24. ST John Damascene and other Saints say that Prayer is a sallying out or elevation of the mind to God. God is above all Creatures and the Soul cannot see him nor converse with him if it raise not it self above them all This friendly conversation which the Soul hath with God that 's to say in Prayer is divided into Meditation and Contemplation 10. When the Mind considers the Mysteries of our holy Faith with attention to know the truth of them reasoning upon the particulars and weighing the circumstances of the same for exciting the affections in the will This mental Discourse and pious Act is properly called Meditation 11. When the Soul already knows the truth either by a habit acquired through reasoning or because the Lord hath given it particular light and fixes the eyes of the mind on the demonstrated truth beholding it sincerely with quietness and silence without any necessity of considerations ratiocinations or other proofs of conviction and the will loves it admiring and delighting it self therein This properly is called the Prayer of Faith the Prayer of Rest Internal Recognition or Contemplation Which St. Thomas with all the mystical Masters says is a sincere 2. 2. q. 180. Art. 3. p. 4. sweet and still view of the eternal truth without ratiocination or reflexion But if the Soul rejoyces in or eyes the effects of God in the creatures and amongst them in the humanity of our Lord Christ as the most perfect of all this is not perfect Contemplation as St. Thomas affirms ibidemâ— since all these are means for knowing of God as he is in himself And although the humanity of Christ be the most holy and perfect means for going to God the chief instrument of our salvation and the channel through which we receive all the good we hope for nevertheless the humanity is not the chief good which consists in seeing God but as Jesus Christ is more by his divinity than his humanity so he that thinks and fixes his contemplation always on God because the divinity is united to the humanity always thinks on and heholds
many occasions they feel Resistance and Temptations yet they become presently Victorious because being already Souls of Proof and indued with Divine Strength the motions of Passions cannot last long upon 'em and although vehement Temptations and troublesome Suggestions of the Enemy may persevere a long time about 'em yet they are all conquer'd with infinite gain God being he that Fights within ' em 4. These Souls have already procured themselves a great Light and a true Knowledge of Christ our Lord both of his Divinity and his Humanity They exercise this infused Knowledge with a quiet Silence in the inward entertainment and the superiour part of their Souls with a Spirit free from Images and external Representations with a Love that is pure and stripped of all Creatures they are raised also from outward Actions to the love of Humanity and Divinity so much as they enjoy they forget and in all of it they find that they love their God with all their Heart and Spirit 5. These blessed and sublimated Souls take no pleasure in any thing of the World but contempt and in being alone and in being forsaken and forgotten by every body They live so disinterested and taken off that though they continually receive many supernatural Graces yet they are not changed no not at those inclinations being just as if they had not received 'em keeping always in the in-most of their Hearts a great lowliness and contempt of themselves always humbled in the depth of their own unworthiness and vileness In the same manner they are always quiet serene and possessed with evenness of mind in Graces and Favours extraordinary as also in the most rigorous and bitter Torments There is no News that chears 'em no Success that makes 'em sad Tribulations never disturb 'em nor the interiour continual and divine Communication make 'em vain and conceited they remain always full of holy and filial Fear in a wonderful Peace Constancy and Serenity CHAP. II. Pursues the same 6. IN the external Way they take care to do continual Acts of all the Vertues one after another to get to the attainment of 'em They pretend to purge Imperfections with Industries proportionable to Destruction they take care to root up Interests one after another with a different and contrary Exercise But though they endeavour never so much they arrive at nothing because we cannot do any thing which is not Imperfection and Misery 7. But in the inward Way and loving Entertainment in the Presence Divine as the Lord is he that Works Vertue is established Interests are rooted up Imperfections are destroyed and Passions removed which makes the Soul free unexpectedly and taken off when occasions are represented without so much as thinking of the good which God of his infinite Mercy prepared for ' em 8. It must be known that these Souls though thus Perfect as they have the true Light of God yet by it they know profoundly their own miseries weaknesses and imperfections and what they yet want to arrive at Perfection towards which they are walking they are afflicted and abhor themselves they exercise themselves in a loving Fear of God and contempt of themselves but with a true Hope in God and Disconfidence in themselves The more they are humbled with true contempt and knowledge of themselves the more they please God and arrive at a singular respect and veneration in his Presence Of all the good Works that they do and of all that they continually suffer as well within as without they make no manner of account before that Divine Presence 9. Their continual Exercise is to enter into themselves in God with quiet and silence because there is his Center Habitation and Delight They make a greater account of this interiour Retirement than of speaking of God they retire into that interiour and secret Center of the Soul to know God and receive his Divine Influence with fear and loving reverence if they go out they go out onely to know and despise themselves 10. But know that few are the Souls which arrive at this happy State because few there are that are willing to embrace Contempt and suffer themselves to be Refined and Purified upon which account although there are many that enter into this interiour Way yet 't is a rare thing for a Soul to go on and not stick upon the entrance The Lord said to a Soul This inward Way is tread by few 't is so high a Grace that none deserves it few walk in it because it is no other than a Death of the Senses and few there be that are willing so to Die and be Annihilated in which disposition this so soveraign a Gift is founded 11. Herewith thou wilt undeceive thy self and perfectly know the great difference which there is between the external and internal Way and how different that Presence of God is which arises from Meditation from that which is Infused and Supernatural arising from the interior and infused Intertainment and from passive Contemplation and lastly you will know the great difference which is between the outward and inward Man. CHAP. III. The means of obtaining Peace Internal is not the Delight of Sense nor Spiritual Consolation but the denying of Self-love 12. IT is the saying of S. Bernard That to serve God is nothing else but to do Good and suffer Evil. He that would go to Perfection by the means of Sweetness and Consolation is mistaken You must desire no other Consolation from God than to end your Life for his sake in the state of true Obedience and Subjection Christ our Lord's way was not that of Sweetness and Softness nor did he invite us to any such either by his Words or Example when he said He that will come after me let him deny himself and let him take up his cross and follow me St Matth. 24.26 The Soul that would be United to Christ must be conformable to him following him in the way of suffering 13. Thou wilt scarce begin to relish the sweetness of Divine Love in Prayer but the Enemy with his deceitful Craftiness will be kindling in thy Heart defires of the Desert and Solitude that thou mayest without any bodies hindrance spread the sails to continual delightful Prayer Open thine eyes and consider that this Counsel and Desire is not conformable to the true Counsel of Christ our Lord who has not invited us to follow the sweetness and comfort of our own Will but the denying of our selves saying Abneget semetipsum As if he should say He that will follow me and come unto Perfection let him part with his own Will wholly and leaving all things let him intirely submit to the Yoke of Obedience and Subjection by means of Self-denyal which is the truest Cross 14. There are many Souls dedicated to God which receive from his Hand great Thoughts Visions and mental Elevations and yet for all that the Lord keeps from 'em the Grace of working Miracles understanding hidden Secrets foretelling future
tedious to it because they speak not of the Internal Sweetness that is in its Heart though it know it not The fourth that though it find it self destitute of ratiocination yet it hath a firm purpose of persevering in Prayer The fifth is that it will experience a sense with great confusion of it self abhorring guilt and entertaining a higher esteem of God. 28. The other Contemplation is perfect and infused Wherein as St. Teresa says God speaks to a man sequestrating his intellect questioning his thought and seizing as they say the word in his mouth so that if he would he cannot speak but with great pain He understands that without the noise of words the Divine Master is instructing him suspending all his powers and facultâ—eâ— because if at that time they should operate they would do more hurt than good These rejoyce but know not how they rejoyce the Soul is inflamed 〈◊〉 love and conceives not how it loves it knows that it enjoys what it loves and knows not the manner of that enjoyment well it knows that that is not enjoyment which the intellect longs for The Will embraces it without understanding how but being unable to understand any thing perceives it is not that good which can be merited by all the labours put together which are suffered upon earth for gaining of it It is a gift of the Lord of the Soul and of Heaven who in the end gives as he is and to whom he pleases as he pleases such is his Majesty in this that it does every thing and his operation is above our nature All this we have from the Holy Mother in her Way to Perfection chap. 25. From whence it follows that this Contemplation is infused and freely given by the Lord to whom he pleases Fourth Advertisement The Burden of this Book consisting in rooting out the Rebellion of our own Will that we may attain to Internal Peace 29. THe way of Inward Peace is in all things to be conform to the pleasure and disposition of the Divine Will. Hugo Cardinalis in Psal 13. In omnibus debemus subjicere voluntatem nostram voluntati divinae haec est enim pax voluntatis nostrae ut sit per omnia conformis voluntati divinae Such as would have all things succeed and come to pass according to their own fancy are not come to know this way Psalm 13. Viam pacis non cognoverunt and therefore lead a harsh and bitter life always restless and out of humour without treading in the way of Peace which consists in a total conformity to the will of God. 30. This conformity is the sweet yoak that introduces us into the regions of internal peace and serenity Hence we may know that the rebellion of our Will is the chief occasion of our disquiet and that because we will not submit to the sweet yoak of the Divine Will we suffer so many streights and perturbations O Soul if we submitted our own to the Divine Will and to all his Disposition what tranquillity should we feel what sweet peace what inward serenity what supreme felicity and earnest of bliss This then is to be the burden of this Book May it please God to give me his Divine Light for discovering the Secret Paths of this Inward Way and Chief Felicity of Perfect Peace THE Spiritual Guide Which leads the Soul to the fruition of Inward Peace The First Book Of the Darkness Dryness and Temptations wherewith God purges Souls and of Internal Recollection CHAP. I. To the end God may rest in the Soul the Heart is always to be kept peaceable in whatsoever Disquiet Temptation and Tribulation 1. THou art to know that thy Soul is the Center Habitation and Kingdom of God. That therefore to the end the Sovereign King may rest on that Throne of thy Soul thou oughtest to take pains to keep it clean quiet void and peaceable clean from guilt and defects quiet from fears void of affections desires and thoughts and peaceable in temptations and tribulations 2. Thou oughtest always then to keep thine Heart in peace that thou mayest keep pure that Temple of God and with a right and pure intention thou art to work pray obey and suffer without being in the least moved whatever it pleases the Lord to send unto thee Because it is certain that for the good of thy Soul and for thy spiritual profit he will suffer the envious enemy to trouble that City of Rest and Throne of Peace with temptations suggestions and tribulations and by the means of creatures with painful troubles and grievous persecutions 3. Be constant and chear up thine heart in whatsoever disquiet these tribulations may cause to thee Enter within it that thou may'st overcome it for therein is the Divine Fortress which defends protects and fights for thee If a man hath a safe Fortress he is not disquieted though his enemies pursue him because by retreating within it these are disappointed and overcome The strong Castle that will make thee triumph over all thine enemies visible and invisible and over all their snares and tribulations is within thine own Soul because in it resides the Divine Aid and Sovereign Succour Retreat within it and all will be quiet secure peaceable and calm 4. It ought to be thy chief and continual exercise to pacifie that Throne of thy Heart that the Supreme King may rest therein The way to pacifie it will be to enter into thy self by means of internal recollection all thy protection is to be Prayer and a loving recollection in the Divine Presence When thou seest thy self more sharply assaulted retreat into that region of Peace where thou 'lt find the Fortress When thou art more faint-hearted betake thy self to this refuge of Prayer the only Armour for overcoming the enemy and mitigating tribulation thou oughtest not to be at a distance from it in a storm to the end thou mayest as another Noah experience tranquillity security and serenity and to the end thy will may be resigned devote peaceful and courageous 5. Finally be not afflicted nor discouraged to see thy self faint-hearted he returns to quiet thee that still he may stir thee because this Divine Lord will be alone with thee to rest in thy Soul and form therein a rich Throne of Peace that within thine own heart by means of internal recollection and with his heavenly grace thou may'st look for silence in tumult solitude in company light in darkness forgetfulness in pressures vigour in despondency courage in fear resistance in temptation peace in war and quiet in tribulation CHAP. II. Though the Soul perceive it self deprived of Discourse or Ratiocination yet it ought to persevere in Prayer and not be afflicted because that is its greater Felicity 6. THoul't find thy self as all other Souls that are called by the Lord to the inward way full of Confusion and Doubts because in Prayer thou hast failed in Discourse It will seem to thee that God does no more assist thee
and united unto him with Reverence Humility and Submission beholding him in the most inward recess of thine own Soul without Form Likeness Manner or Figure in the view and general nature of a loving and obscure Faith without any distinction of Perfection or Attribute 65. There thou art to be with attention and a sincere regard with a sedate heedfulness and full of Love towards the same Lord resigning and delivering thy self up into his hands to the end he may dispose of thee according to his good Will and Pleasure without reflecting on thy self nay nor on Perfection it self Here thou art to shut up the Senses trusting God with all the care of thy Welfare and minding nothing of the affairs of this Life Finally thy Faith ought to be pure without Representations or Likeness Simple without Reasonings and Universal without Distinctions 66. The Prayer of Internal Recollection may be well typified by that Wrestling which the holy Scripture says the Patriarch Jacob had all Night with God until Day broke and he Blessed him Wherefore the Soul is to persevere and wrestle with the difficulties that it will find in internal Recollection without desisting until the Son of internal Light begin to appear and the Lord give it his Blessing 67. No sooner wilt thou have given thy self up to thy Lord in this inward Way but all Hell will conspire against thee seeing one single Soul inwardly retired to its own Presence makes greater War against the Enemy than a thousand others that walk externally because the Devil makes an infinite advantage of an internal Soul. 68. In the time of the recollection Peace and Resignation of thy Soul God will more esteem the various impertinent troublesome and ugly thoughts that thou hast than the good purposes and high sentiments Know that the effort which thou thy self mayest make to resist Thoughts is an impediment and will leave thy Soul in greater anxitie The best thing that is to be done is sweetly to despise them to know thine own wretchedness and peacefully make an Offering to God of the Trouble 69. Though thou canst not get rid off the anguish of Thoughts hast no Light Comfort nor spiritual Sentiment Yet be not afflicted neither leave off recollection because they are the Snares of the Enemy Resign thy self at that time with Vigour endure with Patience and persevere in his Presence for whil'st thou perseverest after that manner thy Soul will be internally emproved 70. Doest thou believe that when thou comest away from Prayer dry in the same manner as thou began it that that was because of want of Preparation and that hath done thee no good That is a Fallacy Because the fruit of true Prayer consists not in enjoying the Light nor in having Knowledge of spiritual things since these may be found in a speculative Intellect without true Virtue and Perfection it only consists in enduring with Patience and persevering in Faith and Silence believing that thou art in the Lord's Presence turning to him thy Heart with tranquillity and purity of Mind So whil'st thou perseverest in this manner thou 'lt have the only Preparation and Disposition which at that time is necessary and shalt reap infinite fruit 71. War is very usual in this internal Recollection which on the one hand will deprive thee of sensibility to try humble and purge thee On the other invisible Enemies will assault thee with continual Suggestions to trouble and disquiet thee Nature her self apparently will torment thee she being always an Enemy to the Spirit which in depriving her of sensible Pleasures remains Weak Melancholy and full of Irksomness so that it feels a Hell in all Spiritual Exercises particularly in that of Prayer hence it grows extreamly impatient to be at an end of it through the uneasiness of Thoughts the lassitude of Body importunate Sleep and the not being able to curb the Senses every one of which would for its own share follow its own Pleasure Happy art thou if thou canst persevere amidst this Martyrdom 74. That great Doctoress and Mystical Mistriss Santa Teresa confirms all this by her heavenly Doctrine in the Letter she wrote to the Bishop of Osmia to instruct him how he was to behave himself in Prayer and in the variety of troublesome Thoughts which attack us at that time where she says 8. of her Epistolary There is a necessity of suffering the trouble of a Troop of Thoughts importune Imaginations and the impetuosities of natural Notions not only of the Soul through the dryness and disunion it hath but of the Body also occasioned by the want of submission to the Spirit which it ought to have 73. These are called drynesses in Spirituals but are very profitable if they be embraced and suffered with Patience Who so shall accustom himself to suffer them without repining will from that Labour draw vast advantage It is certain that in recollection the Devil frequently charges the Soul more fiercely with a Battalion of Thoughts to discomfit the quiet of the Soul and alienate it from that most sweet and secure internal Conversation raising horrours to the end it may leave it off reducing it most commonly to such a state as if it were led forth to a most rigorous Torment 74. The Birds which are the Devils knowing this said the Saint in the above-cited Letter pricks and molest the Soul with Imaginations troublesome Thoughts and the Interruptions which the Devil at that time brings in transporting the Thought distracting it from one thing to another and after he hath done with them attacking the Heart and it is no small fruit of Prayer patiently to suffer these Troubles and Importunities That is an offering up of ones self in a whole burnt Sacrifice that 's to say to be wholly consumed in the Fire of Temptation and no part spared See how this heavenly Mistress encourages to suffer and endure Thoughts and Temptations because provided they be not consented to they double the profit 75. As many times as thou exercisest thy self calmly to reject these vain Thoughts so many Crowns will the Lord set upon thy Head and and though it may seem to thee that thou do'st nothing be undeceiv'd for a good desire with firmness and stedfastness in Prayer is very pleasing to the Lord. 76. Wherefore to be there concludes the Saint without sensible profit is not lost time but of great gain whil'st one toyls without Interest and meerly for the Glory of God and though it may seem to be toyling in vain yet it is not so but it is as with Children who toyl and labour under the power of their Father though in the evening they receive not the wages for their day's work yet at the year's end they enjoy all In fine you see how the Saint confirms our document with her precious Doctrine CHAP. XII A Sequel of the same Matter 77. GOD loves not him who does most who hears most nor who shows greatest affection but who suffers most if he
pray with faith and reverence believing that he is in the divine presence The truth is to take from the Soul the prayer of the senses and of nature is a rigorous martyrdom to it but the Lord rejoyces and is glad in its peace if it be thus quiet and resigned Use not at that time vocal prayer because however it be good and holy in it self yet to use it then is a manifest temptation whereby the enemy pretends that God speaks not to thy heart under pretext that thou hast not sentiments and that thou losest time 78. God hath no regard to the multitude of words but to the purity of the intent His greatest content and glory at that time is to see the Soul in silence desirous humble quiet and resigned Proceed persevere pray and hold thy peace for where thou findest not a sentiment thou 'lt find a door whereby thou mayest enâ—eâ— into thine own nothingness knowing thy seâ—â— to be nothing that thou can'st do nothing nayâ— and that thou hast not so much as a good thought 79. How many have begun this happy practice of Prayer and Internal Recollection and have left it off pretending that they feel noâ— pleasure that they lose time that their thought trouble them and that that Prayer is not for them whil'st they find not any sentiment of God nor any ability to reason or discourse whereas they might have believed been silent and had patience All this is no more but with ingratitude to hunt after sensible pleasures suffering themselves to be transported with self-love seeking themselves and not God because they cannot suffer a little pain and dryness without reflecting on the infinite loss they sustain whereas by the least act of reverence towards God amidst dryness and sterility they receive an eternal reward 80. The Lord told the venerable Mother Francesca Lopez of Valenza and a religious of the third Order of St. Francis three things of great light and consequence in order to internal recollection In the first place that a quarter of an hour of Prayer with recollection of the senses and faculties and with resignation and humility does more good to the Soul than five days of penitential exercises hair cloaths disciplines fastings and sleeping on bare boards because these are only mortifications of the body and with recollection the Soul is purified 81. Secondly that it is more pleasing to the Divine Majesty to have the Soul in quiet and devote Prayer for the space of an hour than to go in great Pilgrimages because that in Prayer it does good to it self and to those for whom it prays gives delight to God and merits a high degree of glory but in pilgrimage commonly the Soul is distracted and the Senses diverted with a debilitation of vertue besides many other dangers 82. Thirdly that constant Prayer was to keep the heart always right towards God and that a Soul to be internal ought rather to act with the affection of the will than the toyl of the intellect All this is to be read in her Life 83. The more the Soul rejoyces in sensible love the less delight God has in it on the contrary the less the Soul rejoyces in this sensible love the more God delights in it And know that to fix the will on God restraining thoughts and temptations with the greatest tranquillity possible is the highest pitch of praying 84. I 'll conclude this Chapter by undeceiving thee of the vulgar errour of those who say that in this internal recollection or prayer of rest the faculties operate not and that the Soul is idle and wholly unactive This is a manifest fallaey of those who have little experience because although it operate not by means of the memory nor by the second operation of the intellect which is the judgment nor by the third which is discourse or ratiocination yet it operates bâ— the first and chief operation of the intellect which is simple apprehension enlightened bâ— holy faith and aided by the divine gifts of thâ— holy spirit And the will is more apt to continue one act than to multiply many so that aâ— well the act of the intellect as that of the wiâ—â— are so simple imperceptible and spiritual thaâ— hardly the Soul knows them and far less reflect upon them CHAP. XIII What the Soul ought to do in Internal Recollection 85. THou oughtest to go to Prayer that thâ—â— mayest deliver thy self wholly up intâ— the hands of God with perfect resignation exerting an act of faith believing that thou aâ— in the divine presence afterwards setling iâ— that holy repose with quietness silence and tranquility and endeavouring for a whole dayâ— a whole year and thy whole life to continue that first act of contemplation by faith and love 86. It is not your businesses to multiply theâ—â— acts nor to repeat sensible affections because they hinder the purity of the spiritual and perfect act of the will whil'st besides that these sweet sentiments are imperfect considering the reflection wherewith they are made the self-content and external consolation wherewith they are sought after the Soul being drawn outwards to the external faculties there is no necessity of renewing them as the mystical Falcon hath excellently expressed it by the following similitude 87. If a Jewel given to a friend were once put into his hands it is not necessary to repeat such a donation already made by daily telling him Sir I give you that Jewel Sir I give you that Jewel but to let him keep it and not take it from him because provided he take it not or design not to take it from him he hath surely given it him 88. In the same manner having once dedicated and lovingly resigned thy self to the will of God there is nothing else for thee to do but to continue the same without repeating new and sensible acts provided thou takest not back the Jewel thou hast once given by committing some notable fault aganist his divine will though thou oughtest still to exercise thy self outwardly in the external works of thy calling and state for in so doing thou do'st the will of God and walkest in continual and virtual oration He always prays said Theophylact who does good works nor does he neglect Prayer but when he leaves off to be just 89. Thou oughtest then to slight all those sensibilities to the end thy Soul may be established and acquire a habit of internal recollection which is so effectual that the resolution only of going to Prayer awakens a lively presence of God which is the preparation to the Prayer that is about to be made or to say better is no other than a more efficacious continuation of continual Prayer wherein the contemplative person ought to be settled 90. O how well did the venerable Mother of Cantal the spiritual daughter of St. Francis of Sales practise this Lesson in whose Life are the following words written to her Master Most dear Father I cannot do any act it seems to
though he does not without intending so you 'l clearly find besides that this Traveller with one single and explicit of the Will and Intention travels speaks hears sees reasons eats drinks and does several other things without any interruption to his first intention nor yet of his actual journying to Rome 112. It is just so in the contemplative Soul A man having once made the resolution of doing the Will of God and of being in his Presence he still perseveres in that act so long as he recals not the same although he be taken up in hearing speaking eating or in any other external good work or function of his Calling and Quality St Thomas Aquinas expresseth all this in few words Contra Gentiles l. 3. c. 138. Un 2. Non enim Oportet quod qui propter deum aliquod iter arripuit in qualibet parte itineris de Deo cogitet actu 113. Thou 'lt say that all Christians walk in this Exercise because all have Faith and may although they be not internal fulfil this Doctrine especially such as go in the external Way of Meditation and Ratiocination It is true all Christians have Faith and more particularly they who Meditate and Consider But the Faith of those who advance by the inward Way is much different because it is a lively Faith universal and indistinct and by consequent more practical active effectual and illuminated insomuch as the Holy Ghost enlightens the Soul that is best disposed most and that Soul is always best disposed which holds the Mind recollected for proportionably to the Recollection the Holy Ghost Illuminates And albeit it be true that God communicates some light in Meditation yet it is so scanty and different from that which he communicates to the Mind recollected in a pure and universal Faith that the one to the other is no more than like two or three Drops of Water in respect of an Ocean since in Meditatation two or three particular Truths are communicated to the Soul but in the internal Recollection and the Exercise of pure and universal Faith the Wisdom of God is an abundant Ocean which is communicated in that obscure simple general and universal Knowledge 114. In like manner Resignation is more perfect in these Souls because it springs from the internal and infused Fortitude which grows as the in ternal Exercise of pure Faith with Silence and Resignation is continued In the manner that the Gifts of God's Spirit grow in contemplative Souls for though these divine Gifts are to be found in all those that are in a State of Grace nevertheless they are as it were dead without strength and in a manner infinitely different from these which reign in contemplative Persons by reason of their illustration vivacity and efficacy 115. From all which be perswaded that the inward Soul accustomed to go daily at certain hours to Prayer with the Faith and Resignation I have mentioned to thee walks continually in the Presence of God. All holy expert and mystical Masters teach this true and important Doctrine because they have all had one and the same Master who is the Holy Ghost CHAP. XVI A Way by which one may enter into internal Recollection through the most Holy Humanity of our Lord Christ. 116. THere are two sorts of Spiritual Men Diametrically contrary to one another The one say That the Mysteries of the Passion of Christ are always to be Considered and Meditated upon The others running to the opposite extream teach That the Meditation of the Mysteries of the Life Passion and Death of our Saviour is not Prayer nor yet a Remembrance of them but the exalted Elevation to God whose Divinity Contemplates the Soul in quiet and silence ought onely to be called Prayer 117. It is certain that our Lord Christ is the Guide the Door and the Way as he himself hath said in his own Words John 14. I am the way the truth and the life And before the Soul can be fit to enter into the Presence of the Divinity and to be united with it it is to be Washed with the precious Bloud of a Redeemer and Adorned with the rich Robes of his Passion 118. Our Lord Christ with his Doctrine and Example is the Mirrour the Guide of the Soulâ— the Way and the onely Door by which we enter into those Pastures of Life Eternal and into the vast Ocean of the Divinity Hence it follows that the Remembrance of the Passion and Death of our Saviour ought not wholly to be blotted out nay it is also certain that whatsoever high elevation of Mind the Soul may be raised to it ought not in all things to separate from the most holy Humanity But then it follows not from hence neither that the Soul accustomed to internal recollection that can no longer ratiocinate should always be meditating on and considering as the other Spiritualists say the most holy Misteries of our Saviour It is holy and good to Meditate and would to God that all men of this World practised it And the Soul besides that meditates reasons and considers with facilitie ought to be let alone in that state and not pushed on to another higher so long as in that of Meditation it finds nourishment and profit 119. It belongs to God alone and not to the spiritual Guide to promote the Soul from Meditation to Contemplation because if God through his special Grace call it not to this state of Prayer the Guide can do nothing with all his Wisdom and Instructions 120. To strike a secure means then and to avoid those two so contrary extreams of not wholly blotting out the remembrance of the Humanity and of not having it continually before our eyes we ought to suppose that there are two ways of attending to the holy Humanity that one may enter at the Divine Port which is Christ our well-being The first is by considering the Mysteries and meditating the Actions of the Life Passion and Death of our Saviour The second by thinking on him by the application of the Intellect pure Faith or Memory 121. When the Soul proceeds in perfecting and interiorizing it self by means of internal recollection having for sometime meditated on the Mysteries whereof it hath been already informed then it retains Faith and Love to the Word Incarnate being ready for his sake to do whatever he inspires into it walking according to his Precepts although they be not always before its Eyes As if it should be said to a Son that he ought never to forsake his Father they intend not thereby to oblige him to have his Father always in sight but only to have him always in his Memory that in time and place he may be ready to do his Duty 122. The Soul then that is entered into internal recollection with the opinion and approbation of an expert Guide hath no need to enter by the first door of Meditation on the Mysteries being always taken up in meditating upon them because that is
replenish them with Himself Many do continually Read in these speculative Books because they will not submit to him who may tell them that such Reading is not convenient for them whereas there is no doubt but if they do submit and the Guide be a man of Experience he will not allow it them And then they would profit and not mind such Studies as the Souls do who are submitted have Light and make improvement Hence it follows that it contributes much to inward Quiet and Security to have an experienced Guide who may govern and instruct with actual Light that the Soul may not be deluded by the Devil nor by its own Judgment and Opinion However we do not condemn the Reading of spiritual Books in general seeing here we speak in particular of Souls purely Internal and Mystical for whom this Book is written 10. All holy and mystical Masters confess that the Security of a mystical Soul consists in a cordial Submission to its Ghostly Father communicating to him whatever passes within it And therefore he who lives after his own Opinion without applying himself to a spiritual Director though he take himself to be and is reputed Spiritual opposes himself to the Doctrine of the Saints and of enlightned Souls because the more a Soul is illuminated and united with God the more humble submiss subjected and obedient to the spiritual Guide it ought to be For proof of this truth I 'll relate what the Lord said to Donna Marina d'Escobar It is reported in her Life that being Sick she asked the Lord If she should be Silent and omit the acquainting her spiritual Father with the extraordinary things that happened in her Soul that she might not tire herself nor trouble the same Father To whom the Lord answered That not to give an Account of them to her Ghostly Father would not be well done for three Reasons First Because as Gold is tried in the Furnace and the value of Stones known by touching them with the Touch-stone so the Soul is purified and the worth of it known when the Minister of God tryes it by the Touch-stone Secondly Because to avoid Errour it was convenient that matters should be governed according to the Order instituted by God in his Church in the Scriptures and in the Doctrine of the Saints Thirdly That the Mercies which his Divine Majesty shews to his Servants and pure Souls may not be concealed but made manifest that so Believers may be encouraged to serve their God and he be glorified in them 11. In the same place she hath the following words conform to the aforesaid truth My Confessor being Sick and having enjoyned me that I should not make a full Discovery of all things that happened to me to him to whom in the mean time I Confessed my self but onely of some with prudence I bewailed my condition to the Lord that I had not one to whom I might communicate my Affairs and his Majesty made me answer Thou hast one already who supplies the want of thy Confessor tell him all that happens to thee I presently replied Not so Lord not so Lord. Why said the Lord. Because my Confessor commanded me that I should not give him Account of all and I ought to obey him His Majesty said to me Thou hast pleased me by that answer and that I might hear thee say so I said what thou hast heard Do so yet still thou mayest acquaint him with some things as he himself bad thee 12. What Santa Teresa said of herself comes in very pat in this place When ever says she the Lord commanded me any thing if my Confessor told me another I turned to the Lord and told him that I must obey my Confessor Afterward his Majesty returned to him to the end he might enjoyn it me of new This is sound and true Doctrine which secures Souls and dissipates the illusions of the Devil CHAP. III. The indiscreet Zeal of Souls and the disordinate Love of our Neighbour disturb internal Peace 13. THere is not a more acceptable Sacrifice to God In Ezechiel Hom. 12. says St. Gregory than the ardent Zeal of Souls For that Ministery the eternal God sent his own Jesus Christ into the World and ever since it hath been the most noble and sublime of Offices But if the zeal be indiscreet it brings a notable obstacle to the progress of the Spirit 14. No sooner does thou find in thy self any new and fervent light but thou would'st lay thy self wholly out for the good of Souls and in the mean time it's odds but that that is self-self-love which thou takest to be pure zeal This uses sometime to put on a garb of a disordinate desire of a vain complacency of an industrious affection and proper esteem all Enemies to the peace of the Soul. 15. It is never good to love thy Neighbour to the detriment of thine own spiritual good To please God in purity ought to be the only scope of thy Works this ought to be thy only desire and thought endeavouring to moderate thy disordinate fervour that tranquility and internal peace may reign in thy Soul. The true zeal of Souls which thou oughtest to strive for should be the true love of thy God. That is the fruitful efficacious and true zeal which doeth wonders in Souls though with dumb Voices 16. St. Paul recommended to us first the care of our own Souls before that of our Neighbour 1 Timoth. 4. Take heed unto thy self and unto thy Doctrine said he in his Canonical Epistle Struggle not to over-do for when it is time convenient and thou canst be any way useful to thy Neighbour God will call thee forth and put thee in the employment that will best suit with thee That thought belongs only to him and to thee to continue in thy rest disengaged and wholly resigned up to the Divine Will and Pleasure Do'nt think that in that condition thou art idle He is busied enough who is always ready waiting to perform the Will of God. Who takes heed to himself for God's sake does every thing because one pure Act of internal Resignation is more worth than a hundred thousand exercises for ones own Will. 17. Though the Cistern be capable to contain much Water yet it must still be without it till Heaven favour it with Rain Be at rest blessed Soul be quiet humble and resigned to every thing that God shall be pleased to do with thee leave the care to God for he as a loving Father knows best what is convenient for thee conform thy self totally to his Will perfection being founded in that inasmuch as he who doeth the Will of the Lord Mat. 12. is his Mother's Son and Brother of the Son of God himself 18. Think not that God esteemeth him most that doeth most He is most beloved who is most humble most faithful and resigned and most correspondent to his own internal Inspiration and to the divine Will and Pleasure CHAP. IV. A
affection is not perfect and ordinarily it is given to weak and nice Souls 103. Thou wilt say that thou feelest thy self indisposed without devotion without fervour without the desire of this Divine Food so as to ask how thou must frequent it believe for certain that none of these things doth hinder or hurt thee whilst you preserve this purpose firm not to sin and your Will determined to avoid every offence and if thou hast confessed all those that thou couldst remember doubt not but that thou art well prepared to come to this Heavenly and Divine Table CHAP. XIV Pursues the same Matter 104. THou must know that in this unspeakaable Sacrament Christ is united with the Soul is made one thing with it whose fineness and purity is the most profound and admirable and the most worthy of consideration and thanks Great was the pureness of him in being made Man greater that of dying ignominiously on the Cross for our sake but the giving of himself whole and entire to man in this admirable Sacrament admits no comparison This is singular favour and infinite pureness because there is no more to give no more to receive O that we could but comprehend him O that we could but know him 105. That God being what he is should be Communicated to my Soul that God should be willing to make a reciprocal ty of union with it which of it self is meer misery O Souls if we could but feed ourselves at this Heavenly Table O that we could scorch ourselves at this burning fire O that we could become one and the same spirit with this Soveraign Lord who withholds us who deceives us who takes us off from burning like Salamanders in the Divine fire of this holy Table 106. 'T is true O Lord that thou entrest into me a miserable creature but true also it is that thou at the same time remainest in thy glory and brightness and in thy self Receive me therefore O my Jesus in thy self in thy beauty and Majesty I am infinitely glad that the vileness of my Soul cannot prejudice thy beautyâ— thou enterest therefore into me without going out of thy self thou livest in the midst of thy brightness and magnificence though thou art in my darkness and misery 107. O my Soul how great is thy vileness Job 7 Chap. how great thy poverty What is man Lord that thou art so mindful of him that thou visitest him and makest him great What is man that thou puttest such an esteem upon him being willing to have thy delights with him and dwell personally with thy greatnesses in him how O Lord can a miserable creature receive an infinite Majesty humble thy self O my soul to the very depth of nothing confess thy unworthyness look upon thy misery and acknowledge the wonders of the Divine Love which suffers it self to be mean in this incomprehensible Mystery that it may be communicated and united with thee 108. O the greatness of love which the amiable Jesus is in a small host who is there subject in some manner to man giving himself whole and sacrificing himself for him to the Eternal Father O Sovereign Lord keep back my heart strongly that it may never more return to its imperfect liberty but all annihilated may die to the world and remain united with thee 109. If thou would'st get all Vertues in the highest degree come blessed Soul come with frequency to this most holy Table for there they do all dwell Eat O my Soul of this Heavenly Food eat and continue come with humility come with Faith to feed of this White and Divine Bread for this is the Mark of Souls and from hence Love draws its Arrows saying Come O Soul and eat this savoury Food if thou would'st get Purity Charity Chastity Light Strength Perfection and Peace CHAP. XV. Declaring when Spiritual and Corporal Penances ought to be used and how hurtful they are when they are done indiscreetly according to ones own judgment and opinion 110. IT is to be known that there are some Souls who to make too great advances in Holiness become much behind-hand in it by doing indiscreet Penances like those who would sing more than their strength allows 'em who strain themselves till they are tired and instead of doing better do worse 111. Many have fallen into this Precipice for want of subjecting their judgment to their spiritual Fathers whil'st they have imagined that unless they give themselves up to rigid Penances they never can be Saints as if sanctity did only consist in them They say that he that sows little reaps little but they sow no other seed with their indiscreet Penances than Self-love instead of rooting of it up 112. But the worst of these indiscreet Penances is that by the use of these dry and barren Severities is begotten and naturalized a certain bitterness of heart towards themselves and their neighbours which is a great stranger to the true Spirit towards themselves because they do not feel the sweetness of Christ's Yoke the sweetness of Charity but only the asperity of Penances whereby their nature becomes imbitter'd and hence it follows that such men become exasperated with their neighbours to the marking and reproving much their faults and holding of 'em for very defective for the same reason that they see 'em go a less rigorous way than themselves hence they grow proud with their exercises of Penance seeing few that do after 'em and thinking themselves better than other folks whereupon they much fall in the account of their Vertues Hence comes the envy of others to see them less penitent and greater favourites of God a clear proof that they fixed their confidence in their own proper diligences 113. Prayer is the nourishment of the Soul and the Soul of Prayer is internal mortification for however bodily Penance and all other exercises chastening the flesh be good and holy and praiseworthy so as they be moderated by discretion according to the state and quality of every one and by the help of the spiritual Director's judgment yet thou wilt never gain any vertue by these means but only vanity and the wind of vain-glory if they do not grow from within Wherefore now thou shalt know when thou art to use most chiefly External Penances 114. When the Soul begins to retire from the World and Vice it ought to tame the Body with rigour that it may be subject to the Spirit and follow the Law of God with ease then it concerns you to manage the Weapons of Hair-cloth Fasting and Discipline to take from the flesh the roots of sin but when the Soul enters into the way of the Spirit imbracing internal mortification corporal chastisements ought to be relaxed because there is trouble enough in the Spirit the heart is weakned the breast suffers the brain is weary the whole Body grieved and disabled for the functions of the Soul. 115. The wise and skilful Director therefore must consider not to give way to these Souls to
But if thou O blessed Soul should'st know how much thou art beloved and defended by that Divine Lord in the midst of thy loving torments thou wouldst find 'em so sweet that it would be necessary that God should work a Miracle to let thee live Be constant O happy Soul be constant and of good courage for however intolerable thou art to thy self yet thou wilt be protected inriched and beloved by that greatest Good as if he had nothing else to do than to lead thee to Perfection by the the highest steps of love and if thou do'st not turn away but perseverest constantly without leaving off thy undertaking know that thou offerest to God the most accepted Sacrifice so that if this Lord were capable of pain he would find no ease till he has compleated this loving Union with thy Soul. 41. If from the Chaos of Nothing his Omnipotence has produced so many Wonders what will he do in thy Soul created after his own Image and Likeness if thou keepest constant quiet and resigned with a true knowledge of thy Nothing Happy Soul which even when 't is disturbed afflicted and disconsolate keeps steady there within without going forth to declare exteriour Comfort 42. Afflict not thy self too much and with inquietude because these sharp Martyrdoms may continue persevere in Humility and go not out of thy self to seek aid for all the good consists in being silent suffering and holding patience with rest and resignation there wilt thou find the Divine Strength to overcome so hard a warsare he is within thee that fighteth for thee and he is strength it self 43. When thou shalt come to this painful state of fearful desolation weeping and lamentation are not forbidden thy Soul whilest in the upper part of it it keeps resigned Who can bear the Lord's heavy hand without tears and lamentation That great Champion Job even he lamented so did Christ our Lord in his forsakings but their weepings were accompanied with resignation 44. Afflict not thy self though God do crucifie thee and make tryal of thy fidelity imitate the Woman of Canaan who being rejected and injured did importune and persevere humbling her self and following him though she were treated as she was It is necessary to drink the cup and not go back if the scales were taken from thine eyes as they were from St. Paul's thou would'st see the necessity of suffering and glory as he did esteeming more the being Crucified than being an Apostle 45. Thy good luck consists not in injoying but in suffering with quiet and resignation St. Teresa appeared after her death to a certain Soul and told it that she had only been rewarded for her pain but had not received one dram of reward for so many Extasies and Revelations and Comforts that she had here enjoyed in this World. 46. Although this painful martyrdom of horrible desolation and passive purgation be so tremendous that with reason it hath gotten the name of Hell amongst mystick Divines because it seems impossible to be able to live a moment with so grievous a torment so that with great reason it may be said that he that suffers it lives dying and dying lives a lingring death yet know that it is necessary to endure it to arrive at the sweet joyous and abundant riches of high contemplation and loving union and there has been no holy Soul which has not passed through this spiritual martyrdom and painful torment St. Gregory the Pope in the two last Months of his Life St. Francis of Assize two years and a half St. Mary Maudlin of Pazzi five years St. Rose of Peru fifteen years and after such miracles as made the world amazed St. Dominick suffer'd it even till half an hour of his happy exit CHAP. VI. 47. THE other more profitable and meritorious martyrdom in Souls already advanced in perfection and deep contemplation is a fire of divine love which burns the soul and makes it painful with the same love sometimes the absence of its beloved afflicts it sometimes the sweet ardent and welcome weight of the loving and divine Presence torments it This sweet martyrdom always makes it sigh sometimes if it enjoys and has its beloved for the pleasure of having him so that it cannot contain it self other times if he does not manifest himself through the ardent anxiety of seeking finding and enjoying him all this is panting suffering and dying for love 48. O that thou could'st but come to conceive the contrariety of accidents that an inamour'd Soul suffers the combate so terrible and strong on one side so sweet and melting and amiable on the other the martyrdom so piercing and sharp with which love torments it and the cross so painful and sweet withal without ever being in the mind of getting free from it whil'st thou liv'st 49. Just so much as light and love increases just so much increases the grief in seeing that good absent which it loves so well To feel it near it self is enjoyment and never to have done knowing and possessing it consumes its life it has food and drink near its mouth whil'st it wants either and cannot be satisfied it sees it self swallowed up and drown'd in a sea of love whil'st the powerful hand that is able to save it is near it and yet doth not do it nor doth it know when he will come whom it so much does desire 50. Sometimes it hears the inward voice of its beloved which courts and calls it and a soft and delicate whisper which goes forth from the secret of the Soul where it abides which pierces it strongly even like to melt and dissolve it in seeing how near it hath him within it self and yet how far off from it whil'st it cannot come to possess him This intoxicates it imbases it scares it and fills it with unsatisfiableness and therefore love is said to be as strong as death whil'st it kills just as that doth CHAP. VII Inward Mortification and Perfect Resignation are necessary for obtaining Internal Peace 60. THE most subtle Arrow that is shot at us from Nature is to induce us to that which is unlawful with a pretence that it may be necessary and useful O how many Souls have suffer'd themselves to be lead away and have lost the Spirit by this guilded Cheat Thou wilt never last the delicious Manna Quod nemo novit nisi qui accipit Apoc. ch 2. unless thou dost perfectly overcome thy self even to die in thy self because he who endeavours not to die to his Passions is not well disposed to receive the Gift of Understanding without the infusion whereof it is impossible for him to go in into himself and be changed in his Spirit and therefore those that keep without have nothing of it 52. Never disquiet thy self for any accident for inquietude is the door by which the Enemy gets into the Soul to rob it of its peace 53. Resign and deny thy self wholly for though true self-denial is harsh at the beginning 't
impossible thing to be sesparated from its beloved and his infinite treasure 145. There are six other steps of Contemplation which are these Fire Union Elevation Illumination Pleasure and Repose With the first the Soul is inkindled and being inkindled is anointed being anointed is raised being raised contemplates contemplating it receives pleasure and receiving pleasure it finds repose By these steps the Soul rises higher being abstracted and experienced in the Spiritual and Internal Way 146. In the first step which is Fire the Soul is illustrated by the means of a divine and ardent ray in kindling the affections divine and drying up those which are but humane The second is the Unction which is a sweet and spiritual Liquor which diffusing it self all the Soul over teaches it strengthens it and disposes it to receive and contemplate the divine truth and sometimes it extends even to nature it self corroborating it by patience with a sensible pleasure that seems celestial 147. The third is the Elevation of the Inner Man over it self that it may get fittest to the clear fountain of pure love 148. The fourth step which is Illumination is an infused knowledge whereby the Soul contemplates sweetly the divine truth rising still from one clearness to another from one light to another from knowledge to knowledge being guided by the Spirit Divine 149. The fifth is a Savoury Pleasure of the Divine Sweetness issuing forth from the plentiful and precious Fountain of the Holy Ghost 150. The sixth is a Sweet and Admirable Tranquility arising from the conquest of Fightings within and frequent Prayer and this very very few have experience of Here the abundance of Joy and Peace is so great that the Soul seems to be in a sweet sleep solacing and reposing it self in the divine breast of love 151. Many other steps of Contemplation there are as Extasies Raptures Melting Deliquium's Glee Kisses Embraces Exultation Union Transformation Espousing and Matrimony which I omit to explain to give no occasion to speculation And because there are whole Books which treat of these Points though they are all for him who finds nothing of 'em any more than a blind man doth of Colour or a deaf man of Musick In a word by these steps we get up to the chamber and repose of the pacifick King and the true Solomon CHAP. XVI Signs to know the Inner Man and the Mind that 's purged 152. THE Signs to know the Inner Man by are four The first If the Understanding produce no other Thoughts than those which stir up to the light of Faith and the Will is so habituated that it begets no other Acts of Love than of God and in order to him The second If when he ceases from an External Work in which he was employed the Understanding and the Will are presently and easily turned to God. The third If in entring upon Prayer he forgets all outward things as if he had not seen nor used ' em The fourth If he carries himself orderly towards outward things as if he were entring into the World again fearing to embroil himself in business and naturally abhorring it uâ—less when charity requires it of him 153. Such a Soul as this is free from the Outward Man and easily enters into the interior solitude where it sees none but God and it self in him loving him with quiet and peace and true love There in that secret center God is kindly speaking to it teaching it a new Kingdom and true Peace and Joy. 154. This spiritual abstracted and retired Soul hath its peace no more broken though outwardly it may meet with combats because through the infinite distance tempests do never reach to that serenest heaven within where pure and perfect love resides and though sometimes it may be naked forsaken fought against and desolate this is only the fury of the storm which threatens and rages no where but without 155. This secret love within hath four effects The first is called Illumination which is a savoury and experimental knowledge of the greatness of God and of its own nothing The second is Inflammation which is an ardent desire of being burnt like the Salamander in this kind and divine fire The third is Sweetness which is a peaceable joyful sweet and intimate fruition The fourth is a swallowing up of the powers in God by which immersion the Soul is so much drencht and fill'd with God that it can't any longer seek desire or will any thing but it s greatest and infinite good 156. From this fullest satiety two effects arise The first is a great courage to suffer for God. The second is a certain hope or assurance that it can never lose him nor be separated from him 157. Here in this internal retirement the beloved Jesus hath his Paradise to whom we may go up standing and conversing on the Earth And if thou desirest to know who he is who is altogether drawn to this inward retirement with enlightened exemplification in God I tell thee it is he that in adversity in discomfort of spirit and in the want of necessaries stands firm and unshaken These constant and inward Souls are outwardly naked and wholly diffused in God whom they continually do contemplate they have no spot they live in God and of him himself they shine brighter than a thousand Suns they are beloved by the Son of God they are the darlings of God the Father and Elect Spouses of the Holy Ghost 158. By three signs is a mind that is purged to be known as St. Thomas says in a Treatise of his The first sign is diligence which is a strength of mind which banishes all neglect and sloth that it may be disposed with earnestness and confidence to the pursuit of vertue The second is severity which likewise is a strength of mind against concupiscence accompanied with an ardent love of roughness vileness and holy poverty The third is benignity and sweetness of mind which drives away all rancour envy aversion and hatred against ones neighbour 159. Till the mind be purg'd the affection purified the memory naked the understanding brightened the will denied and set afire the Soul can never arrive at the intimate and affective union with God and therefore because the spirit of God is purity it self and light and rest the soul where he intends to make his abode must have great purity peace attention and quiet Finally the precious gift of a purg'd mind those only have who with continual diligence do seek love and retain it and desire to be reputed the most vile in the World. CHAP. XVII Of Divine Wisdom 160. DIvine Wisdom is an intellectual and infused knowledge of the divine perfections and things eternal which ought rather to be called Contemplation than Speculation Science is acquired and begets the knowledge of Nature Wisdom is infused and begets the knowledge of the Divine Goodness That desires to know what is not to be attained unto without pains and sweat This desires not to know
she did in depriving her of the Communion The Saint obeyed and in recompence of her obedience it seems the Lord making good the Voice of her Prophecy sent the Abbess a great fit of sickness which afflicted her much with continual and sharp pains till acknowledging her fault and that this chastisement befel her for her indiscreet zeal used to the Saint she sent for her and gave her leave to follow her holy custom and so the fault ending the punishment ended also and the disease which had brought her to a very sad condition Other persons also who in like manner used to keep a pother with the Saint about her often Communions repenting of what they had done askt her pardon And other of their complices in their prate and gossippings because they never laid to heart what they had said of her were punished of God with a sudden death In the third Book of St. Gertrudes Life chap. 23. 't is told that a certain Preacher or Confessor being a little warm'd with the zeal of God's Honour took a pet at some religious Women thinking that they were often communicated At this the Saint made a Prayer and askt the Lord Whether this were acceptable to him or no The Lord made her this answer It being my delight to be with the children of men and I having of infinite love left this Sacrament to be often received in remembrance of me and being in it to the faithful to the World's end whosoever shall with words or other ways of perswasion to go about to hinder any from taking it who are free from mortal sin doth in a certain manner hinder me and rob me of my pleasure and delight which I might have with ' em Some Ministers there are who have had a mind to restrain this matter too much as if the Sacrament were not instituted for Laymen or as if they had no right to ask it as often as they are disposed to receive it O as if Christ our Lord had instituted it with a limitation or precept that it should not be taken but by such and such men and on such and such days Expert Teachers do strangely wonder to see the scruple and cautiousness with which some Confessors speak about this matter as if the Communion were a very dangerous thing for Souls or through the too much frequenting of it the Honour of God or the Vertue of the Sacraments must needs be lost or lessened whereas the frequency of it is the very remedy and health of Souls and the work in which there is the greatest honour done to God and which they ought most to endeavour who desire his glory And if the Minister should at any time find himself dissatisfied at this let him peruse that holy Appointment of the Church De Consecr dist 2. Aug. in Ps 48. Non prohibeat dispensator manducare pingues terrae in mensa Domini And if the dispenser himself cannot hinder this much less can they hinder it who have nothing to do to dispense it and if this which has been said is notenough let him be afraid of those infinite Punishments which God has used upon those Ministers which have forbid it But for all this the Communion should always be used at the spiritual Father's order who neither ought to hinder nor delay it when he knows the Soul that desires it and reaps good of it to be so disposed as the Council requires And if another Confessor should order him the quite contrary let him follow the judgment of that ghostly Father who knows better than any other how his Conscience is and by whose Counsel he goes and acts safely CHAP. II. Answering the Reasons which those Ministers give which hinder the Faithful from Communicating and the Priest from Celebrating having their Consciences free from Mortal Sin. EIther the Communion must be forbidden to those that ask it and desire it without the guilt of Mortal Sin because they are not worthy of it or for the greater reverence of it or because much Familiarity breeds Contempt or else for Mortification and Penance The first reason of not being worthy is not sufficient because if they make a Christian forbear till he be worthy of the Communion then he must never receive it because no man is worthy to receive Christ no not Heaven it self Whereupon many holy men say that the Communion taken to day is a disposition for that to morrow Besides that Councils the Saints and Doctors do assure us that not being in Mortal Sin is that necessary worthiness and disposition which is required for the Communion we are not to go to it as worthy but as having need of it we do not go to sanctifie Jesus Christ but to be sanctified and healed by him by the means of the Sacrament as St. Ambrose tells us I who do continually sin ought continually to receive the Medicine of this Sacrament against the pestilent Disease of Sin. Ep. 208. Nor may a Christian be debarr'd the Communion for the second reason of greater reverence because 't is contrary to St. Austin's Doctrine who says Ep. 26. de verb. Dom. Serm. 28. that 't is better to communicate through Devotion than let it alone through Reverence Dionysius Carthusianus says the same thing 'T is better to communicate through Love than abstain from it through Humility and Fear De Euch. cap. 5. sect 6. There is not more devotion love and respect shewed to God by less frequent coming to the Sacrament but rather he loves and fears God most who without mortal sin and with a desire of his own spiritual advantage comes every day to it and the delaying of it is not a greater disposedness nor veneration but a manifest temptation By keeping away they think to find better devotion and fervour and in the mean time they are dry luke-warm and cold as we see by experience These people that will not communicate unless they be sensibly and actually devout are like those who are cold who will not come near the fire till they are warm or like those sick men that will not ask the Physicians counsel till they are grown well Christ's Body is like a spiritual fire let us approach towards it and it will warm us The flesh of Christ says Damascene is a live coal which heats and burns The third reason which some give for the hindring Christians the Communion that desire and ask it is a certain whimsey or capriccio which they imprint in their minds telling 'em that to go frequently to the Sacrament is too much familiarity and that this breeds contempt Nimia familiaritas parit contemptum O hurtful Deceit O pernicious Doctrine though taught by the Ministers with no bad zeal Is it possible that among so many Saints and Doctors of the Church which have written professedly upon this Point as is manifest by the former Chapter none of 'em should light upon the reason that these Ministers talk of 'T is well inferred therefore that 't
precept of the Church always looks at the benefit of the faithful and so great is our luke-warmness and the frailty of our times that a precept of Daily Communion would be an occasion of sin and ruine and therefore the Church does not injoyn Christians by precept any more than one Communion in a year though the desires that through devotion men would Communicate every day Many men shift off their coming daily to this Divine Banquet that they may not be taken notice of for it and that they may give no occasion to others to grumble and the Ministers hearing this reason hold their tongues and rest satisfied O hurtful silence must they permit for worldly respects that the faithful should lose so great a benefit Is it possible that they should let 'em live at a distance and separate from God and his sweet and loving friendship because the world should not censure ' em if there should be any great account made of what the world says not only the Soul would be lost but also the judgment Is it not known that the world makes it its business to speak ill of what good is and to persecute those that do not take part with it All those that serve great men do make open shew of the degree of their office greatness and dignity and shall a Christian think it a shame to himself to Communicate and be seen in the service of Jesus Christ If it were an evil work to Communicate every day it might breed scandal but if it be the best work that a Christian can do why should he keep from it through an idle fear of offending his neighbour The Jews were offended at the good works of Jesus Christ but for all that his Majesty never left off doing ' em He that doth ill and interprets the good that others do in an evil sense 't is he that gives cause for the scandal but to do well was never a scandal much less can so great a good as Communicating be one If a man should take offence by seeing us eat surely we would not for all that be such fools as to starve our selves We ought to take great heed of following vanities and worldly pleasures that we may not by them offend or scandalize our Neighbour from these vices we ought to keep our selves not from Daily Communion because this cannot cause scandal but will rather edifie our Neighbour and by our good example it may be he may come to change his life and resolve himself to frequent the Sacraments O how many people are there that are cheated by these worldly respects O unhappy men they are not ashamed to be base in their lives and yet they are ashamed to be Christians and to be known for such CHAP. III. Wherein are shewn some of the great benefits of which a faithful man is deprieved by being prohibited the Communion when he is sufflciently disposed for it THat the Minister may see and take good notice of the hurt which he does by deprieving the faithful of the Communion that desire and ask it without the guilt of Mortal Sin it will be necessary to lye before him some of those infinite benefits of which he defrauds 'em onely in one Communion that he may undeceive himself that deprieves 'em of infinite good for mortification sake First he deprieves such a one of the increase of grace and glory which he receives in the Communion whose effect is infallible ex opere operato though he should have venial sins about him He also deprieves him of the mortification of all his five senses and powers which he therein performs whilst his Eyes his Smelling his Tast his Touch his Imagination his Understanding and all his knowledge and capacity do tell him that that Host is Bread by all this he is humbled mortified and subdued whilst he believes that it is not that which he feels and tasts but that his God and Lord is in it He deprieves him also by taking the Communion from him of the cleansing of his sins and evil habits and being preserved from 'em for the time to come of many helps which are therein administred to him for the performance of every good thing and avoiding every evil one and it may happen that the Eternal Salvation or Damnation of a Soul may depend upon one of these helps He deprieves him of the lessening the pains of Purgatory which is participated in every Communion He deprieves him of the high acts of faith hope and charity which he exercises by believing that he receives that God whom he sees not nor feels and hoping in him whom he has not seen and being united with him by love God is goodness it self and he is willing to be communicated through love to Souls by means of the Divine and Sacramental Bread Is there a greater happiness in the world can there be a greater felicity and shall there be any Minister to deprieve the Soul of this benefit In this wonderful Sacrament Christ is united to the Soul and becomes one and the same thing with it In me manet ego in illo St. John 5. which fineness of love is the most profound admirable and worthy of consideration and gratitude because there is no more to give nor to receive and what Minister shall deprieve the Soul of this boundless grace All Blessings do here meet together in this precious Food here all desires of God are fulfilled here is the loving and sacramental Union here 's the Peace the Conformity the Transformation of God with the Soul and the Soul with God. By receiving Jesus in this Sacrament the Eternal Father and the Divine Spirit is also received here are all the Vertues Charity Hope Purity Patience and Humility because Christ our Lord begets all Vertue in the Soul by means of this heavenly Food and what a Heart must the Ministers have to forbid the Soul so great a Happiness If one onely degree of Grace is a gift of inestimable Value and so precious that 't is not to be bought for a thousand Worlds being a particle of God himself and a formal participation of the Divine Nature which makes us his Children and Friends Heirs of Heaven and the Habitation of the most Holy Trinity and if never so little Grace be worth more than all the Vertues Alms and Penances and the removing Mountains as St. Paul says and giving all away to the Poor is a meer Nothing without Grace How then can it be well to deprive the Faithful of the increase of Grace which he might find onely in one Communion How can the Minister deprive him of that and of many others that follow it without giving 'em other things equivalent to those they lose What can be of equal value with habitual Grace which a faithful Man might receive neither can the Humility which he may exercise nor the Reverence nor the Mortification upon the account of which he leaves off the Communion be worth so much