at the soules of men and not at the only tickling of their eares or the applause of their handes shoots at no lesse then the souls of meÌ„ them he conuinceth by so pregnant reasons and obligeth by so plaine demonstrations as to make them glad or or least he giues them cause why they should be so to cast away that loose liberty which made them slaues to their own passions to step or rather to leap into the chaines of the loue of God which will put them into a kind of soueraignity not only ouer all other thinges created but euen ouer their very selues And (y) The extraordinary great care wherwith he conducteth his Reader throughout the whole discourse in this he equalleth in my poore opinioÌ„ if he do not rather excel any other whom I haue read That he most carefully doth conduct the soule which he instructeth in the way of spirit accompanying his discourse with aboundance of caution so to saue his Reader from sliding into any extreme and being no lesse sollicitous to guide him straight then a tender mother or nurse would be to lead her only child by the sleeues or armes for feare least otherwise he might take a fall I (z) The occasion whereupon he wrote this booke will further premise to you vpon what occasion he wrote this Booke and to whom he did particulerly direct the same and then by way of preuention I will both make and answere an obiection to the end that your selfe may be kept from errour afterward There was a Lady called (a) The person for whom he wrote it Donna Sancba the daughter of the Lord of Guadalcaçar who for her beauty and other better parts was designed to serue the Queene of Spayne in quality of a Lady of Honour Already she was euen vpon the point of parting from her parents who had put her into an equipage which was to haue becom a Court But before her iourney she meant to arme her selfe with the holy Sacraments of the Church in the strength of that desire she went and cast her selfe at the feet of Doctour Auila in the way of Confession She would after say that he reprooued her a little sharply for bringing a hart which pretended to be penitent for sinne in a body set out ardorned too curiously too costly for such a busines What els passed between them in that priuate conference and Confession of hers God and they do only know but the sequele thereof was notorious to the world For she instantly did vnturne Courtier she grew quickly to cast away her vaine and sumptuous attires and she betooke her selfe though only in her Fathers house to a course of admirable pennance recollection which she accompanied with a Vow of perpetuall chastity wherein she dyed most holily and most happily some ten yeares after This Lady then as being the Child and Creature as it were in spirit of Doctour Auila was deare to him after an extraordinary manner And so for her both consolation and instruction he made this Booke of Audi Filia and she esteemed it as she ought for she neuer would know or call it by other name then of her Treasure But when she was gone to God he took the Booke againe to himselfe and enlarged it and enriched it to that proportion which at this day we see it beares Now in regard that he chiefely speakes therein to her as to a person who had giuen her selfe to God by a vow of chastity you (b) An obiection which it importeth much to be wel answered may seeke perhaps to make your selfe belieue that the doctrine therin conteined belongeth only to such as she But the answere is obuious and assured That howsoeuer it may import such as she was knowne to be in a more eminent manner then other Christians in regard that she had consecrated her selfe to our Lord Iesus as to the spouse of her soule by a particuler vow yet for as much as coÌ„cernes the obligation which we (c) The general obligation to which all good Christians are subiect all haue to abstaine from sinne to imploy ourselues in prayer good workes to despise the vanity of the world to resist the motions of sense to arme our selues against the temptations of the Diuel to which the promise euen of our very Baptisme bindes vs to loue God aboue all thinges to imitate the life and to practise the doctrine of our Lord Iesus and finally to be and to continue true children of his holy Catholique Church this doctrine I say doth so much and so mightily belonge to vs all as that none of vs shall euer get to heaueÌ„ but either by an exact obedience to it or a cordiall griefe for hauing swarued from it And so (d) Of the variety of addresse in the way of spirit which is to be found in this book for persons of al quality es if you may be intreated to obserue what variety of addresse for spirit the Authour giueth in the seueral parts of the worke you cannot chuse but discerne that it is not only meant for Virgins but for all others also if they be Christians yea and if they be not so much as that they yet will heer find reason to beg of God that they may grow so happy Let (e) How much it importeth that this booke be read with great attention deuotion vs also all beg hard for that whereof we haue most need That when heerafter at the day of Iudgment we shall meete Doctour Auila in the valley of Iosaphat there may be no cause to be reproached by our Iudge of so deep ingratitude as not to haue been the better for the great benefit which the godnes of God hath vouchsafed to mankind by means of this his deare and most deuout seruant But (f) In this valley there abouts is the vniuersall IudgmeÌ„t to be made Ioel. 3. that the seed which hath fructified so abundantly in Spayn in Italy in France in I know not how many other countryes by the translatioÌ„ of this booke into so many seuerall languages may also in England be of comfort to that good (g) Matt. â—â— husbandman of the ghospell and not be choaked by thornes nor supplanted by stones nor deuoured by the rauenous birds of the aire who are euer watching how to enrich themselues by our pouertie For so truly miserable are those damned spirits as to think themselues more happy in nothing then if they might draw vs into a society with them in torment though indeed euen our very torment would be sure to serue but for an increase of theirs Our Lord Iesus deliuer vs from that place of eternall malediction both for that which we know thereof by Fayth already and much more for that which we do not know and which I hope we shall neuer know by experience A RICH CABBINET FVLL OF SPIRITVALL IEWELLS CHAP. I. WHEREIN IS TREATED How necessary it is for vs
gather who liue well although they looke not for it And after the rate of the one increaseth the other Now from a contrary cause followeth a contrary effect as it is written The (u) Eccl. â— wicked hart giueth sorrow and from hence groweth disconfidence and other miseries in company thereof CHAP. XXIV Of two remedies for the getting of Hope in the way of our Lord and that we must not turne coward although the remooue of the temptation be differred and how there be certayne hartes which know not how to be humbled but by the knocks of tribulation and therefore that they must so be cured THE conclusion that thou must draw out of all this is That since it doth so much import to go on comforted with a good hope and with alacrity in the seruice of God thou must procure two thinges towards it The one is the consideration of his diuine goodnesse and loue which he hath manifested by giuing vs Christ Iesus for our owne The other that castng off all slacknesse and sloath thou serue our Lord with diligence and when thou fallest into any fault be not deiected with disconfidence but procure remedy and hope for mercy And if many tymes thou fallest procure thou many tymes to rise For (a) If this be not true what is no discourse of reason will endure that thou shouldest be weary of asking pardon since God is neuer weary of giuing it And since he commaunded vs to pardon our neighbours not only (b) Matt. â—â— seauen tymes in the day but seauenty tymes seauen which signifyeth that we must doe it without limitation much and much better will our Lord graunt vs pardon as often as it shal be asked since his goodnes is greater and is placed before vs for an example which we are to follow And if integrity of life and the remedy which thou desirest do not come so soone as thou couldest wish let not that make thee conceiue that it will neuer come Nor (c) Take heed that such a thought as this do not once enter into thy hart be thou like them that sayd If God send not remedy within fiue dayes we will giue our selues vp to our enemies For the holy (d) Iud. 7. Iudith reprehended such men as these with great reason and she sayd who are you that will thus tempt our Lord For such wordes as these are not to mooue him to mercy but rather to stirre vp his wrath and to kindle his fury Haue you perhaps appointed a tyme wherein our Lord is to shew mercy and haue you set downe the day according to your owne mind Learne to hope in our Lord till his mercy come and be not weary of suffering since patience importeth you as much as life And (e) Note if the straytes be great which weaken thy hope euen (f) A comfortable consideration for English Catholikes which ought to fill our soules with patience and with an humble peaceful expectatioÌ„ of the good will of God those very straites should in reason giue thee courage because they vse to be the very Eue and introduction of the remedy For the houre wherein our Lord deliuereth is when the tribulation hath lasted long and at the present afflicteth most As it appeareth plainly in the case of his disciples (*) Luc. 5. Whom he permitted to suffer during three parts of the night and in the last he gaue them comfort He also deliuered his people out of the captiuity of Egypt when the tribulation which they suffered was growne vp to the highest so wil he do with thee when thou thinkest not of it And if thou conceaue that thou wouldest faigne leade a holy life and perfect life and which all might be to the glory of God thou (g) Examine thy consciéce by this light and see if the case be not thyne art to know that there are some so proud and lofty that there is no humbling of them but vpon the price of temptations discomfortes and falling into sinne and so weake they are withall that they will not goe on in the way of God with diligence if they be not ridden vpon the spurre and their hart is so hard as that they must be hammered vpon with a great deale of misery Nor haue they any caution or discretion but vpon the experience of many of their owne errours In fine they haue a mind which is filled and puffed vp with a few graces and they haue need of many afflictions to make them proceed with humility in the sight of God and of their neighbours Thou seest already that the cure of these inconueniences cannot be wrought but with (h) If gentler pnisicke be not able to cure vs we must be cotent that God do play the Surgeon with vs. burning irons and by Gods permitting men to fall into desolations obscuritics of mind and euen into sinnes that so being much afflicted they may humble themselues and then be freed from their miseries The Prophet Micheas sayth Thou (i) Mich. 4. shalt goe as farre as Babylon and there thou shalt be deliuered and God will redeeme thee from the hand of thine enemies For by the confusion of this kind of life and by these falles in to sinne a man vseth to be humbled and both to seeke remedy of God and to find it which if he had not fallen he might perhaps haue lost by pryde or not haue sought with diligence and greâ—fe Eternall thankes be giuen to thee (k) Amen O Lord who out of such preiudiciall miseries art wont to draw these celestiall benefits and that thou art glorified as wel in pardoning sinners as thou art in making and keeping them iust and who sauest by the way of a contrite and humbled hart him who was not in disposition to serue thee with a hart of innocency and who makest a mans sinnes giue him occasion of being humble diligent and aduised that so as thy selfe did say He (l) Luc. 7. to whome more is forgiuen may loue more that so it may be fulfilled which the Apostle sayth Mercy in iustice maketh that iustice of thyne appcare more glorious as it maketh thy goodnesse seeme more in pardoning and sauing such as haue sinned and returne to thee In another place he also sayth That (m) Roun 8. all things prooue to the good of such as loue God Yea so do (n) Infinite goodnes of our God the very sinnes themselues which they haue committed as S. Augustine sayth But (o) Absâ—â— yet this must not be taken as a ground for thy tepidity or facility in sinning to buyld vpon for that must in no case be done But to the end that if thou fall into so great misfortune as to offend our Lord thou do not yet commit a greater sinne then that can be by dispayring of his mercy CHAP. XXV How the Diuell procureth to draw vs to despayre by tempting vs against fayth and the diuine mysteries of the remedies
a sinner to whom the spirituall being of grace is wanting must be accounted notwithstanding all the greatnesse and riches that he may haue otherwise for nothing in the sight of God S. Paul expresseth this in this manner If I should haue the guift of prophesy and should know all mysteries and all science and should haue all Fayth so far as to remooue mountaines from one place to another and yet withall I should not haue charity I were nothing Which sentence is so highly true as that a sinner is yet worse then nothing because an euill being is worse then a not being And there is no place so base nor so cast out of the way nor so despicable in the eyes of God amongst all the things that are and are not as a man that liueth in offence of him being disinherited of heauen and adiudged to hell And to the end that thou mayst haue somewhat to rouse thee a little vp in the consideration of the miserable staâ—e of a sinner hearken to this When thou shalt set any thing which is very contrary to reason and much out of order consider that it is a most vgly and abhominable thing to be in the displeasure and emnity of our Lord. Thou hast heard men speake of some huge theft or treason or some other wickednesse which some woman may haue coÌ„mitted against her husband or of some high irreuerence which a sonne may haue expressed towards his Father or some other crimes of this nature which in the eye of any ignorant person whatsoeuer will instantly appeare to be foule because they are against all reason But thou must know that to offend God by one only sinne is (c) There is no comparison betweene these two a greater deformity in being against the Commandment giuen by him and the reuerence which is due to him then all the wicked actions that can be wrought in consideration that they are against reason only And since (d) A naturall and reasonable addresse thou seeft that al they are so much disesteemed who commit wickednes of that kind do thou esteeme thy selfe for a most contemptible creature and sincke thou downe into that profound pitt of being despised which is due to a person who offeÌ„deth God And as for thy knowing that thou wert nothing thou didst call that tyme to mind wherein thou hadst no being so now for the knowing of thy basenes and vilenesse call to mind the tyme when thou didst liue in the offence of God Behold as in wardly as feelingly as profoundly as leasurely as thou canst when in the eyes of God thou wert displeasing and deformed and esteemed nothing and lesse then nothing For neither vnreasonable liuing creatures nor others which haue no life how vgly base soeuer they be haue committed any sinne against our Lord. Nor are they vnder the obligation of eternal fire as thou wert And thus despise thou and abase thy selfe the most deeply aduisedly that thou canst for (e) There is nothing more assuredly true then this thou mayst safely belieue that how much soeuer thou do it thou wilt neuer be able to descend so low into the very abysse of contempt as is deserued by him who is the offendour of an infinite good which is God For (f) Our Lord grant that we may see it there till in heauen thou shalt see how good God is thou wilt not be able out-right to know how wicked sinne is and what misery he deserueth that committeth it But yet when thou hast soundly felt in thy soule and drunke deeply of this disesteem of thy selfe cast vp thyne eyes to God considering his infinite goodnes who drew thee out of such a deep pit which for thee it was impossible to haue done and behold that supreme goodnes which with so great mercy drew thee out whylest thou didst merit nothing towardes it nay when thou didst greatly demerit For till God giue his grace though al that which a man doth be not sinne yet neither doth he nor can he do any thing which may deserue his forgiuenes grace Know that he who drew thee out of darcknesse into his admirable light and made thee of an enemy a friend and of a slaue a child and of a creature that was good for nothing to become acceptable in his sight he I say who did this is God And (g) There is no reason of interest in the loue of God to vs God graunt there be nomotiue of interest in our loue to him the reason why he did it was not any former desert of thyne Nor any regard which he could haue to the seruice which thou mightest do him afterward but it was for his owne only goodnesse and by the merit of our only mediatour Iesus Christ our Lord. For thyne owne thou art to esteeme the vile state wherein thou wert and thou maiest accompt hell to be the place so due to such sinnes as thou didest or wouldst haue committed vnlesse it had byn for God For that which thou hast more then this acknowledge thy selfe to be a debter to him and to his grace Hearken to that which our Lord said to his beloued disciples and in them to vs. You (h) Ioan. 15. chose not me but I you Consider what the Apostle S. Paul (i) Rom. 3â— saith You are iustifyed gratis by the grace of God by the redemption which is in Christ Iesus And lodge this in thy hart that as thou hast thy being from God without any reason at all to giue the glory of it to thy selfe so doest thou also hold thy well-being from God and thou hast both the one and the other to his glory And carry in thy tongue and in thy hart that which S. Paul (k) Cor. 19. saith by the grace of God I am that which I am CHAP. LXVI Wherein the aforesaid exercise is prosecuted in particuler manner CONSIDER thou moreouer that as when thou wert nothing thou hadst no power to mooue thy selfe nor to see nor heare nor taste nor vnderstand nor will any thing but God giuing thee a being gaue thee also these faculties and forces so not only is the man being in mortall synne depriued of that being which is acceptable in the sight of God but he is without all power to doe the workes of life which may please him When therfore thou seest some lame man without leggs or armes thinke that so is a man without grace in his soule and if thou see one who is blind or deafe or dumbe take him for a glasse wherein thou mayst behold thy selfe in all those sicke persons who were leapers or paralytikes who had their bodies crookedly bent towards the ground not being able once to looke vp with all that multitude of diseases which they presented in the presence of Iesus Christ our true physitian do thou vnderstanding that wicked men are as much defeated in their spirituall partes as those others were in their corporal And obserue that
purpose by some (a) Certaine bookes which instruct meÌ„ how they may examine their consciences for confessioÌ„ which are euery where to be sold in Catholike couÌ„treys Confessionary And after that he hath lamented them well he must declare them to some spirituall Phisitian who hath the power and knowledge to prescribe fit remedyes for that infirmity and who may lay his conscience as flat and euen as yf the man were that day to dye to be presented before the iudgement seat of God In this businesse he may spend some moneth or two dissoluing with bitter sighes the sinnes which he committed by wicked pleasures And for this purpose he may serue himselfe of the reading of some good booke such as I spake of (b) In the discourse of tâ—e knowledge of ones selfe longe before which may helpe him to thinke of his death and Iudgement and with his thought to descend aliue into that bottomles pitte of eternall fire to the end that he may not descend after he is dead to find the misery which there is felt It will also conduce to this purpose that beholding some Image of the Crucisixe or else remembring it he consider how himselfe by his sinnes was the cause why our Lord did suffer so great tormentes And (c) Woe will be to vs if we do it not let him behold him with attention from head to foot and ponder euery particuler payne of his by it selfe lament euery particuler sinne since the afflictions of our Lord do correspond to our crimes he suffering dishonour for the payment of our pride and of scourges and paynes in payment of our sensuall pleasures and so also in the rest And let him thinke that if a sonne should see his father cruelly scourged and tormented for a fault which not the Father but that sonne had committed and if he should heare this Proclamation made He that committeth such a sinne shall pay for it with such a punishment This Sonne would haue great compassion of his Father and great sorrow for hauing done any such thing as was to cost that Father so dear And if he were a true Sonne it would more afflict him to see his Father so punished then if they should haue punished himself And a straÌ„g thing it would be if he cryed not out through excesse of griefe confessing that himselfe was the guilty person that him they should punish and not the Father who had made no fault From hence let vs take example to conceans therby more griefe for hauing sinned For it is God who was offended and it is God who was punished for euery mischiefe which might haue growne to vs by euery sinne It is (d) Let euery one make this case his owne I O Lord that sinned but it is thou that payest the payne thereof My wickednes O Lord did put thee in prison and it made thee be proclaimed with infamy through those streets and at last it layd thee vpon a Crosse Let this be thy lamentation with desire to suffer all that for God which he shal be pleased to ordayne And when thou shalt haue made this Examen of thy conscience with sorrow satisfaction according to the aduice of thy Ghostly Father thou mayst after thy hauing receaued sacramental absolution haue confident hope of pardoÌ„ receaue comfort into thy soule CHAP. LXXII How the second pace towardes the bringing vs to God is the giuing of thankes which we owe him for his hauing so deliuered vs and of the manner how this is to be done by meanes of diuers Misteryes of the Passion which are to be meditated in diuers dayes VVHEN the soule is thus purged from the humours of sinne which gaue it death it must imploy it selfe vpon giuing of thankes for so great and so vndeserued a fauour Not (a) A greater blessing it is to be made the adopted Sonne of God then to be freed from the paines of hell only in respect that God hath forgiuen him the paynes of hell but because he hath receaued him for his Sonne and hath bestowed his grace vpon him and certaine interiour guifs by the merits of the true God Iesus Christ our Lord who dyed for our sinnes and rose againe for our iustification killing our sinnes and our old life by his dying and raysing vs vp to a new life by his resurrection And if Iob sayd That the body of a poore man whome he had cloathed would heap benedictions vpon the man who imparted that benefit with much more reason ought we to blesse Christ Iesus crucifyed when our soule doth find it selfe free froÌ„ misery conforted with fauours belieuing that all our good commeth from him for it is strangely against all reason to be vngrateful to such loue and for such benefits And although euery tyme that thou findest thy selfe well thou art instantly to prayse Christ Iesus with particuler gratitude yet to the end that this may be don the better and with more fruit it will be fit That as to thinke of thy sinnes I aduised thee to seeke some priuate or retyred place there to looke vpon thy selfe so now thou do with much more reason imploy another part of the day in thinking of the Passion of our Lord in giuing him thankes for the benefits which are come to thee by it crying out from thy hart I will neuer forget thy iustifications because in them thou didst giue one life The course then which thou shalt hold if no other better doe occurre may be this On (b) A distribution of the dayes in the Meditation of the PassioÌ„ of our Lord. Munday to thinke on the prayer of our Lord and the taking of him in the Garden and that which passed in the house of Annas and Caiphas On Tewesday the accusations which were presented against him and the processions that he made from Iudge to Iudge and of the cruell scourging which he endured when he was tyed to the piliar On Wednesday how he was crowned with thornes and what scorne they put him to by drawing him out in a red coate and with a Reede in his hand that all the people might see him and how they sayd Ecce Home On Thursday we cannot displace that most excellent mistery how the sonne of God with profound humility washed the feet of his disciples and gaue to them afterwardes his body and bloud for food of life Commanding both them and all (c) It was his Apostles and in their person to all lawfull Priests their successours whomour Lord coÌ„maunded to do the like and not to lay persons as the ProtestaÌ„ts imagine preistes who were to follow that they should doe the same in memory of him Doe thou make thy selfe present at that admirable Lauatory and in that most excellent banquet and then trust in God that thou shalt not depart from thence eyther defyled or dead of hunger Thou shalt thinke on Friday how our Lord was presented before the Iudge and sentenced to death
they grow indeed to hate themselues through the loue they haue of being wicked this enamoured Lord doth so highly prize them so much loue them that to redeeme them out of such a miserable captiuity he gaue himselfe as a price for them In testimony that he loueth them more then they are beloued by any other or then they know how to loue themselues CHAP. LXXIX Of the burning Loue wherewith Christ Iesus loued God and men for God from which loue as from a fountatine that did spring which he suffered in the exteriour and that also which he suffered in the interiour which was much more then the other IF the hart of man be so wicked as Ieremy (a) Ierem. 17. sayd as that God only can tell how to sift it that the more deep a man diggs in that rotten wall the more abhominable filthines is discouered as was shewed in figure to (b) Ezech. 8. Ezechiel with how much more reason may we say that since the hart of Iesus Christ our Lord is more good then any other can be wicked there is none who can wholy diue into it but only the same Lord whose it is It is worthy of admiratiō and which in reason ought to robbe vs euen of our very soules and to bind vs as slaues to God to consider the excessiue loue of his hart which did expresse it selfe in suffering the whole course of that Passion and death for vs as we haue shewed But if thou digge yet deeper with the light of heauen in thy hand and do looke neere into this (c) The hart of our Lord Iesus is the Reliquary the loue is the Relique Reliquary of God which is so full of vnspeakable secrets thou wilt discerne such effects of loue as will cast thee into more wonder then any outward thing belonging to the passion For this purpose thou art to remember how in the towne of Bethsaida our Lord being in the cure of a deafe man the Ghospell sayth That he cast vp his sacred eyes to heauen and he sighed deeply and that then he cured the patient That groaning sigh which carryed an exteriour sound was but one and it might passe in a short tyme but it was a witnes of another sigh yea and of many profound internall sighes and which lasted not only for a short tyme but for months yeares For thou art to vnderstand how that most holy soule in being created and infused into the body in that virgineall wombe of our Blessed Lady did then behold the diuine essence which for the height therof is called heauen with great reason as clearly as now it doth And in seeing it it did iudge that it was worthy of all honour and seruice and so it desired all honour to it with that vnspeakeable force of loue wherwith it was endued And although the ordinary law for such as see God clearly be this that they must be blessed both in body and soule and be subiect to no kind of payne yet to the end that we might be redeemed by the pretious afflictions of our Lord it (d) See the inuentiōs of the loue the God was ordeined that felicity and ioy should remaine in the superiour part of his soule should not redound into the inferiour part or into his body renouncing all that sense of happines which so iustly was due vnto it for the accepting and suffering of that paine to which we were liable Now if that most holy soule who cast the eyes of the vnderstanding vp to the heauen of the diuinity had not had any other thing but that to looke vpon it could not haue been capable of payne since God is such a Good that nothing can grow from the sight of him but loue and ioy But for as much as he saw all the sinnes which then had bin committed by men from the beginning of the world and (e) So that then he saw all and euery of my sins and al thy sinnes those also which would be committed euen to the end of it his griefe was fully as internall and as profound to see that heauen of the Diuine Maiesty offended as his desyre was that it should be serued And (f) The infinite desire which our Lord Iesus had that God should be serued as infinite griefe that he is offēded as no man is able to reach to the greatnesse of that defire so neither can any man arriue to the greatnes of that griefe For the holy Ghost which is figured in (g) Note this griefe loue fyre which was giuen him beyond all measure did inflame him to loue God with an incomprehensible (h) Ioan. 11. loue and the same Holy Ghost which is also figured in a (l) Luc. 19. Doue did make him bitterly lament to see him offended whome he loued after such an ineffable manner But to the end that thou maist see how this knife of griefe which passed through the hart of our Lord did not only wound him on the one syde but that it was doubly and most sharply edged remember that the same Lord who looking vp to heauen did deeply sigh did also weepe both ouer Lazarus and ouer Hierusalem And then as S. Ambrose saith it is not to be wondred at that he greiued for all since he wept for one So that to see God offended and to see men destroyed by sinne was a (k) Our Lord graunt vs one touch of this knife vpō our harts by the merits of his knife with a double edge which did most lamentably pierce his hart through the inestimable loue which he bare to God as God and to men for his sake desiring to make satisfaction to the honour of God and to obtaine a remedy for men how deerly soeuer it should cost him O (l) The vnspeakable affliction of our Lord Iesus in his sacred Passion most blessed Iesus to see thee tormented exteriourly in thy body doth euen breake the hart of a Christian but to see thee so tormented and defeated inwardly with such deadly griefe there is no eye there is no force that can endure it Three nayles O Lord did breake through thy handes and feet with excessiue paine and more then seauenty thornes they say did pierce thy diuine head thy buffetts and thy affrontes were very many and the cruell scourget which that most delicate body of thyne receiued they say did passe the number of fiue thousand By occasion of these and many other grieuous torments which concurred in thy passion which no man arriueth to vnderstand but thou that feltest them it was said in thy person long before O all you that passe by the way obserue and see if there be any griefe like myne And yet nowithstanding all this thou whose loue hath no limit didst both seeke and sind new inuentions for the drawing and feeling within thy seife certaine paynes which exceeded those nailes and scourges and tormentes which exteriourly thou didst endure and which continued
is distinct from that whereby Iesus Christ our Lord is iust For to belieue otherwise were to imbrace a very grieuous errour which (c) The erroneous opinion of impuâ—tiue Iustice doth extremly derogate from the great and tender loue of God to man in Christ our Lord. proceedeth from the want of knowing the loue which Iesus Christ doth beare to such as are in the state of grace Whome his bowells of mercy and loue would not permit that whyleft himselfe was iust and full of all good things he should say to such as he iustifyed Content your selues with this that I abound with these good things and esteeme them for your owne as they are in me although in your selues you remayne vniust impure and naked There (d) Think seriouly of this point is no head vvhich would hold such language as this to his liuing meÌ„bers nor one Spouse to another if he should dearely loue her and much lesse will that celestiall Spouse say so vvho is giuen for a patterne to the Spouses of this world that after his resemblance they may treat and loue their fellow-spouses You men sayth (e) Ephes 5. S. Paul loue your wines as Christ loued his Church who gaue himselfe ouer for it to sanctify it and to cleanse it by Baptisme and by the word of life If then he sanctify and wash and cleanse it and that with his owne bloud which is the thing that giueth power to the Sacraments to cleanse soules by that grace of his which they impart how can that soule remaine vniust and filthy which is washed and cleansed by a thing of so extreme efficacy Now this cleanesse God did promise that he would giue in the tyme of his Messias when he sayd I will powre forth cleane water vpon you and you shall be cleansed from all your filth And our Lord in the last supper did testify That eleuen of his disciples were cleane and not after an ordinary manner but that they were wholy cleane For the veniall faults which are caused in the soule by some inordinate affections which sticke like dust vnto our feet are remoued by help of the Sacraments and their good disposition that receaue them as corporall feet are washed by materiall water as our Lord then did vse it washing both without and within and leauing them cleane from al sinne according to this testimony of (f) â— Ioâ—â— 1. S. Iohn The bloud of Iesus Christ doth cleanse vs from all sinne This bloud was called by the Prophet (g) Mich. 7. Micheas long before it was shed the sea wherein all our sinnes are drowned And he sayd God will shoot off all our sinnes into the bottome of the sea Now if these and many other places of Scripture do giue testimony that a man is pardoned and cleansed from all sinne who is there that will presume to say That a man doth neuer come to be cleansed from it For to say that sinne remayneth in a man which really and truly shal be sinne and that yet for the loue of Iesus Christ our Lord the payne which is due to that sinne should be released to him is no (h) I beseech our Lord that the truth of this discourse may sin he as deeply into thy hart as there is cause such discourse as wil serue eyther towards the verifying of the Scriptures or for the doing of Iesus Christ sufficient honour For since the payne which is due to sinne is a lesse euill to any man then the guilt of the same sin the iniustice and deformity which is caused thereby it cannot be sayd That Christ doth saue his people from their sinnes if by his merit he only obtaine that they may not be imputed to them for their punishment vnlesse first he take the guilt away by the gift of his grace nor yet that he obtayneth purity and piety for men that so detesting sinne they may keep the law of God And if the doctrine of the holy Scripture be well obserued it wil be found that when the pardon of â—inne is graunted there is giuen with all a newnesse of life and a cleane hart as if it were newly created as Dauid did desire according to that which it was (i) Isa 50. â—geâ—h 11. prophesied that it should be I will giue you a new hart and I will place a new spirit in the middest of you And I will take away from you that hart of stone and I will giue you a hart of flesh and I will place my spirit in the middest of you and I will make that you shall walke in my commandments and that you shall keep and worke my iudgementes This doth God promise to such as formerly he had told that he would cleanse them from all their filth And afterward he sayth I I will saue you from them all To (k) Be attentiue giue vs clearely thereby to vnderstand That the sauing vs from our sinnes is not only to free vs from the paine but to impart an inward cleanesse and such a hart and such a grace and such a spirit as may haue power to enable vs to keepe the commaundements of God S. Iohn (l) Apec 3. affirmeth that our Lord saith I stand at the gate and I knocke if any man open to me I will enter into him and I will suppe with him and he with me Isay (m) Isa 55. inuiteth such as are hungry in the behalfe of God that they will eate and such as are thirsty that they will drinke Our Lord saith by the mouth of (n) 2. Cor. 6. S. Paul Get you out from the middest of the wicked and do not so much as touch any thinge that is vncleane and I will receaue you I wilâ—e a Father to you and you shal be my Sonnes my daughters By which places and many others it doth euidently appeare that the benefittes which are imparted to vs by iustification are more and better then Gods not imputing to vs that punishment which is due to sinne Since withall he giueth vs his grace and cleanesse of hart and vertues and infuseth the spirit of our Lord whereby we may keep his law and so that vnder the title of being his children and of exercising our selues in good workes we may eternally enioy him And because Christ did purchase these blessings for vs togeather with the pardon of the paine he may well be proclaimed with a full mouth to be the Sauiour of vs from our sinne and (o) We are infinitely more bound to God for freeing our soules from sin then if he had only forgâ—uen vs the punishment thereof that much more for the former respect then for the later Because in vertue of that former he freeth vs from the guilt and bringeth vs to a detestation of sinne and obteineth for vs a kind of participation of God at the present and a good title for our eternally possessing him in heauen Whereby he deliuereth vs from a greater mischeife and
also might take part thereof And as in thee there was the loue of a Father and that no barren loue but fruitfull of many blessinges so thou O Lord being pleased to make vs thy companions herein didst pray (m) Ioan. 17. the Father in this manner That (n) If this be well penetrated inough is sayd in few wordes the loue wherewith thou hast loued me may be in them and with this loue those other blessinges whereof one did both for himselfe and for those others who were to enioy them speake after this manner Reioycing I will reioyce in our Lord and my soule shall ioy in God For he hath clad me with the robes of saluation and he hath hemm'd me in with a garment of iustice as the man who is a spouse is honoured by wearing of a crowne and as the spouse who is a woman may be adorned with curious and rich dressings Which (o) Reade heere the true state of this question betweene Catholiks and Protestants Confession with such others as are made in the holy Scripture of those benefits which come to vs by Iesus Christ doth certainly ascribe more honour to him then That neither the vertue of his bloud nor of his grace nor the vse of his Sacramentes nor the infusion of the holy Ghost nor the incorporating a man to Christ himselfe are sufficient to deliuer him from sinne but only that he may not be condemned for it What (p) An opinion most iniurious to Almighty God is this but to thinke wickedly of God the Father Who promising togeather with his only sonne to send an entiere remedy against sinne and that sin in his tyme was to be brought to an end doth not yet performe what he promised Since although his Sonne be come yet sinne remaineth euen in very them who participate with the same Sonne of his How then can that word be accomplshed which sayth I (q) Ezech. 36. will powre cleane waters vpon you and you shal be cleansed from all your filth if yet indeed they cleanse me not but that they cast a cleane mantle ouer me by saying That the iustice and purity of Iesus Christ our Lord is imputed to me as myne owne Now this is rather to couer my vncleanesse then to take it away And he that affirmeth this vntruth doth consequently deny Iesus Christ our Lord (r) An opinion most dishonourable to christ our Lord for it alloweth him to be but a Sauiour by halues to be the messias who was promised in the law and he must therefore expect an other who may deliuer him not only from the condemnation due to sinne but from the sinne also it selfe Since it is cleare that he who should deliuer vs from both were to be a better Sauiour then he that were to do it but from one To these huge and headlong precipices doth the blindnesse of pride conduct such persons as are gouerned by it CAAP. XCI How some passages of holy Scripture are to be vnderstood wherein it is said that Christ Iesus is our Iustice and such other propositions as that is for the better declaration of the precedent Chapters THE (*) Ho prosecuteth the same discourse in excellent manner and it conuinceth manner which the holy Scripture holdeth in saying that Christ is made vnto vs Wisdome (a) 1. Cor. 1. Iustice Sanctification and Redemption should not giue any body occasion to thinke that iust men haue not a iustice in them which is their owne For if we be only iust because Christ is iust and not for the iustice which is in vs as well may we say that there is no wisdome in vs whereby we are wise neither yet any sanctification or redemption S. Iohn (b) 1. Io. 2. saith That the vnction of the holy Ghost which teacheth vs concerning all thinges is in the Iust S. Paul (c) 1. Cor. â— saith you are sanctifyed And S. Peter (d) 1. Pet. 1. saith you are redeemed from your vaine conuersation Now (e) He doth euidently shew at large by many places of Scripture that the ProtestaÌ„t interpretation of this concerning iustification is not only vntrue but most absurd for as much as Christ was not redeemed as hauing not committed sinne this redemption is to be in vs whereby we are said to be redeemed notwithstanding that the Scripture affirmeth that to vs Christ is made redemption For in this and those other manners of speach the thing which it would say is this That thâ—se thinges are giuen vs by his merit The Apostle (i) Cole â— 3. saith That Christ is our life but it will not follow heereupon that iust persons do not liue in respect that our Lord sayth he that eateth me lâ—ueth by me Nor should he haue the reason of a man who because he might heare it sayd That God is the beauty of the Rose or the strength of the Lyon or the like would therfore deny that these creaturs haue a kind of beauty or strength which is distinct from the strength or beauty of God The holy (g) Deut. 30. Scripture sayth God is thy life and the length of thy dayes which manner of speach doth but imploy that God is the efficient cause of these thinges and he that giueth them to vs. Neither yet must errour take away encouragement from this other speach of holy Scripture That we are made the iustice of God in Iesus Christ and that the Father made vs acceptable to himselfe in his beloued senne and the like For this manner of speach is but to make vs know as was sayd before the mystery of Christ his being the head and that iust persons are his liuing members who relye vpon him to the end that the good which he bestowed vpon them may both be conserued and increased For if by such manner of speach we would vnderstand that iust persons had these good thinges in them no otherwise then because Christ Iesus hath them what could we answere to what S. Paul (h) Rom. 3. sayth That iust persons are iustified by the redemption which is in Christ Iesus whylest yet as he was in no captiuity so could not he be capable of redemption and therefore it must be in them who are iustifyed although it be procured for them by our Lord. The same Apostle (i) Rom. 8. sayth Who shall separate vs from the loue of God which is in Christ Iesus but it followeth not vpon this that the loue of God is not in vs and euen deeply in vs since he sayth elsewhere That (k) Rom. 5. the loue of God is powred into our harts by the holy Ghost which is giuen vs. The same manner of speach doth he also hold when he sayth of naturall blessinges That (l) Act. 17. in God we liue and moue and haue our being Yet will no man say That we haue no being or life or distinct operations from them of God The Scripture vseth this manner of speach to
come to know by our owne weakenesse and by seing our selues in so groâ—â— hazard and that we are euen vpon the very hornes of the bull as that if the hand of God did neuer so little abandone vs we should fall into that fearefull 〈…〉 of mortall sinne And till this weakenesse be euen from the roote therof acknowledged and experimented by thee the temptations of sense will not giue thee ouer which are as so many tempestuall showers and blowes that may cause thee to acknowledge that this blessing is not to remayne in thee vnlesse it be graunted thee from aboue If thou wert a faithfull seruant of God the more thou wert combatted by thy flesh the more would thy soule encourage her selfe to the conseruation of chastity so the temptations should be as knockes which might help thee to giue thy purity a deeper roote and thou shouldst see the wonderfull thinges of God For (q) The great goodnes of God shines fair in our wickednes his strength in our weaknes as by occasion of our wickednesse the goodnesse of God appeares the more so by the weakenes of our flesh he bringeth strength into our soule the spirit giuing the No to that which the flesh enticed it to and the loue of chastity doth vnite and fortify it selfe with new spirits as often as the flesh solliciteth the mind to put it away Thus by meanes of one troublesome and base contrary God perfects another which is noble and pretious and this is chastity Remember that a good warre is more to be desired then a wicked peace and that it is better for vs to labour that we may not consent thereby to please our Lord then for the taking of a little bestiall pleasure which euen as soone as it is taken leaues a (r) Sinnefull pleasure is a bitter payne disguised double sting behind it to cast him into indignation against vs whome we ought with all our powers both to loue and please Call thou with humility and with confidence vpon him who will not fayle to succour one that fightes for his honour And in the end he will so ordayne that thou shalt come rich out of this skirmish and he will esteeme of the affliction which thou hast byn in as of a kind of martyrdome For as the Martyrs chose rather to dye then to deny their fayth so thou choosest to suffer what thou sufferest rather then to violate his holy will And he will make thee a companion in glory with them since thou art so heere in thy afflictions In (s) Note the meane tyme comfort thy selfe with hauing in thy hart so good a proofe that thou louest God since for loue of him thou leauest that which thy flesh liketh CHAP. XVI How the guift of Chastity is graunted to some not only in the interiour part of the soule but in the sensuall part also and this after two manners TO others our Lord giueth this blessing of Chastity more abundantly For not only doth he grant a detestation of these delightes to the soule but euen in the sensitiue part and flesh they haue so much temper as that they enioy great peace and do scarce know what a painefull temptation doth meane Now this hapneth after two manners Some haue this peace and purity euen by naturall complexion but others by election and fauour of God They who haue it by naturall complexion are not greatly to applaude themselues for the peace that they find nor to contemne such as they see are tempted For (t) The greater the temptation is the greater is the vertue in ouercomming it the vertue of chastity receiues not her measure from the hauing of this peace but from the mainteyning in the soule a firme purpose not to offend our Lord by the contrary sinne And if one being tempted with sense make good the purpose of Chastity in his soule with greater strength then the other who is not called into that warre more chaste shall this person be who is assaulted then the other who is not sollicited Neither yet are those well complexioned persons to goe out of countenance by saying I doe little or I gayne little by being chaste But they must serue themselues of their good inclination and make choice of chastity by discourse of spirit to please our Lord to which they are inuited by their owne inclination And by this meanes they shall serue God vvith the superiour part of the soule by a vertuous election and with their sensitiue part by their obedience and good inclination Others (u) A more noble kind of chastity there are who not by naturall inclination but by fauour of our Lord are so chast as that they feele in their soule a most profound internall detestation of that basenesse and in their seâ—sitiâ—e part so greate obedience that it goeth not dragging after the commaundment of reason but obeyeth with gust and speede and they both enioy an entire peace At this excellent condition did those Philosophers point who sayd That some men there were so excellent who had their minds so well purged that not only they did operate vertuously without any warre of their passions but that euen those passions being so absolutely ouercome they forgot that they had any and that not only their passions did not conquer but not so much as assault them But (x) Few Philosophers were euer chasts and neuer any was truly humble that which the Philosophers were talking of and neuer had for without grace there is no true vertue that good Christians do possesse to whome God is pleased to impart this perfect guift Not purchased by their own force but graunted by his strong and celestiall holy spirit which is bestowed through Christ Iesus our Lord in resemblance of the same Lord who kept the entirenesse of Virginity in mortall flesh This heauenly spirit infuseth perfect chastity into whom he wil. And this he worketh in them That as the superiour part of the soule is with perfect obedience most subiect to God from him receaueth powerfull strength and most excellent light being so perfectly vnited with him and so ruled by his will that he may say with the Apostle He (y) 1. Cor. 〈◊〉 that commeth close to God is made one spirit with him so this efficacy of God which infuseth force and giueth to the sensitiue part this disposition doth procure that wholy forsaking bestiality and that fiercenesse which naturally it hath it may be obedient and yield it selfe very subiect to reason And although they are of different natures the one being spirituall the other sensuall yet doth the sensitiue draw so neare to reason and takes the bridle into her mouth so well that she goeth tamed and in order And howsoeuer it be not that thing which reason is yet doth it proceed according to reason not hindering but rather helping the spirit as a faithful wife would do her husband And (z) Euen the reasonable part of a carnal mans soule
he that shal begin such a warre cannot bring in his company a thing of greater preiudice then pusillanimity of hart For he that hath this will be put to flight euen by shaddowes With much reason did God command in tymes past That when his people were in the warres his Priests should encourage them before they began to fight not by humane reasons of the multitude of their men and strength but by thinking vpon the (f) Firrne hope in God is the only souÌ„d receite against hart-breaking protection of the Lord of hoastes who holdeth victory in his hand and who is wont to conquere lofty Giants by little grasse-hoppers for the glory of his holy Name And agreably to this which God commanded the valorous S. Paul sayth to them who were entring into the spirituall warre Comfort (g) Ephes 4. your selues in our Lord and in the power of his strength that so being hartned you may fight the battailes of God with cheerefullnesse and courage So is it read of Iudas Machabaeus who fought with cheerefulnes and so he conquered And S. Anthony a man well experienced in theses piritual combats was wont to say That this spirituall cheerefullnesse was an admirable thing and a powerfull remedy towards the ouercomming of our enemyes For certain it is that the delight which is taken in doing of any worke doth increase a mans forces towards the doing of it Therefore (h) How necessary it is to haue alacrity and courage in the seruice of God doth S. Paul aduise vs thus Reioyce alwayes in our Lord. And we read of S. Francis that he reprehended such of his fryars as he saw to go sadly vp and downe as if they were ill contented and he would say to them He that serneth God should not be after this fashion vnles it were for hauing committed a sinne and if thou haue committed any confesse it and returne to thy former alacrity And of S. Dominicke it is also read That there appeared in his face a kind of cheerefull serenity which gaue testimony of his inward ioy This is wont to grow out of the loue of our Lord and from a liuely hope of his mercy whereby they are able to carry their Crosse vpon their backes not only with patience but euen with pleasure as they did whose goods were stolne yet they remayned content the reason of that was because they had lodged in their harts a better kind of riches in heauen Experimenting that which S. Paul sayd Being ioyfull in hope and patient in tribulation for (i) It is hard to haue patience in a longe-liued Crosse without hauing a great hope in God without the former men can hardly ariue to the later But when this vigour and alacrity fayleth it deserueth great compassion to see how men that walke in the way of God are full of vnprofitable sadnesse their harts being discontented and without gust in things that belong to God and vntoward euen to themselues and to their neighbours and with so little confidence in the mercy of God that there wanteth not much to make it none There are many amongst these persons who commit no mortall sinnes or very rarely But they say that because they serue not God as they ought and as they desire and by reason of the veniall sinnes which they commit they liue in such a fashion as we see But (k) A worse effect of an euil cause if the effects of superfluous sadnes be such as these they do men more harme then the faults themselues which they committed And that which they might preuent and cut off if they had discretion and courage they make to increase and so they fall out of one euill into another Such as they ought to procure and labour to serue God withal diligence if they see they fall let (l) This is indeed good counsaile them weep but not distrust and knowing that they are weaker then they thought let them humble themselues more and demand more grace and liue with greater caution taking help of the tyme past for the tyme to come There (m) Excessiue sloath doth sointymes also cast men afterward vpon despayre are many who on the contrary syde are carelesse and slothfull in seruing God and when they fall into sinne they know not how to help themselues but they go down into the pit of disconfidence and of greater negligence Whereas in very deed for the auoyding of despaire we must auoyd to be lukewarme and negligent in the seruice of God For (n) No man can haue a good hope who endeauours not to lead a good life otherwise as long as a man hath these rootes within him he cannot though he would neuer so faigne haue that vigour and strength of minde which (o) Note this point well groweth from a good and diligent life And if such persons would consider that they endure more (p) The Diuells Martyrs trouble by these sadde and despairing thoughtes which grow from melancholy then they should in cutting vp by the roote those cuill affections and dangerous occasions which hinder them from seruing God with feruour they would especially since they loue to fly from payne make choyce of those troubles which are annexed to the perfection of vertue to fly those others which follow vpon the want thereof S. Paul (q) â— Tâ—â—â— 4. sayth That the end of the law is Charity which proceedeth from a pure hart and vpright conscience and a fayth vnfeigned And he meaneth this vpright conscience to be hope as S. Augustine sayth giuing thereby to vnderstand that vnlesse there be a good conscience hauing fayth and loue and good works which flow from thence there (r) There may be in such men a fond daÌ„gerous kind of presumption such as the Sectaryes are acquainted with but no true Christian hope which is pleasing to God wil be no liuely hope which may giue vs alacrity and if there be any want at all of good conscience there wil be also want of cheerefulnesse and consclation which are caused by a perfect hope For although such a fearefull man be not slayne perhaps by sinne but do liue in state of grace yet he shall worke but weakely So as they who tell thee Belieue that God doth pardon thee and loue thee and then thou shalt be pardoned and loued with such other words as these doe (s) As Luther and Caluin hauedone their followers grieuously deceiue thee and they giue testimony that they speake by imagination not by experience or according to the doctrine of fayth And (t) A most certaine a most soueraign truth the not vnderstanding whereof makes so many cast themselus away by violent death such braueries as those for as much as they are not of God cannot hold a man vpon his feete when tribulation coÌ„meth if it be a sound one Strength of hart and the ioy of a good conscience are the fruites of a good life which they
thing which the Diuell went about though he went by a kind of circling way by bringing in thoughtes of a different nature Now (b) Note thy course must be rather to increase in thy well doing then to decay as if one would do it euen of purpose to make the Diuell retyre with loste when he thought to haue gone on with gaine And if thou want tendernesse of deuotion do not trouble thy selfe for that for as much as our seruices are not to be measured otherwise then by the rate of our loue which (c) Note this well and belieue it for it is a certaine truth consisteth not in tendernesse of deuotion but in a francke offer and resolution of our will to doe that which God and his Church commaundeth and to endure that which his pleasure is that we should suffer for his coÌ„tentment Yf some who may seeme to haue left their pleasures of the world for the seruice of God did leaue also the inordinate desyre of sweet and sensible deuotions of the soule they would liue with more alacrity then now they haue and the Diuell should not be able to fynd certayne (d) We must take care that the Diuell haue no hold to take vs by haires of appetite to take hold of and thereby to turne their heads about and to deceyue hurt them Christ Iesus died naked vpon the Crosse and naked we should offer our selues to him And we should care for no other cloths then the doing of his holy will as it is declared to vs by the commaundments of himselfe and of his Church and to receiue with an (c) Pray for this blessing for it is a great one amorous kind of obedience that which he shal be pleased to send how hard soeuer it be with equality of mind we are to take from his hand eyther affliction or consolation and to giue him thankes both for the one and the other S. Paul (f) Ephesâ— 5. saith That in all thinges we are to giue thankes to God because as it is the marke of a good Christian to loue one that doth him hurt for the loue of God since euery one loues him that doth him good so to be (g) 5. Note thankfull to God in aduersity not regarding the rough exteriour that it carrieth but the hidden fauour which God doth send vs vnder that superscription is the signe of a man who beareth other eyes in his head then of flesh and bloud and that he loueth God since in that which is painefull to him he doth yet conforme himselfe to Gods will And (h) A soueraigne receit against all miseries of mans life both interiour and exteriour so we must not seeke to fasten our selues to the weake boughes of our owne desyres though they may seeme good but to the strong pillar of the diuine will to the end that obeying it as hath bin sayd we may participate according to our possibility of that peacefull rest and immutability which resideth in that Will and that we may decline those many changes which in our hart we shal be sure to find if it giue accesse to this kind of (i) Of spirituall gust couetousnesse There is in very deed little difference betweene seruing Christ for money or els for consolation and spirituall gust of thy soule whether for heauen or for earth if the last marke that I ayme at be this couetousnesse Euen Lucifer according to the opinion of many Doctours did desyre true felicity but because he desired it not as he ought and of whom he ought that it might be giuen him when it should haue pleased God it serued not his turne to haue desyred that which was good but he sinned by not desyring it well for so it came to be couetousnesse no good desyre In the same manner therefore do I declare that we must not fasten our selues to an earnest and disordered appetite of spiritual gustes but offering our selues to the Crosse of our Lord we must be glad to take what he shal be pleased to giue whether it be sweete hony or vinegar and gall Nor (k) Note haue I yet sayd this as if these gustes were euill or vnprofitable of themselues if men know how to make true vse thereof and if they receiue them not as to dwell in them but to procure more breath and hart in the seruice of God especially for beginners who ordinarily according to their age haue need of milke like children And (l) How great a blessing it is to meet with a guyde who hath the guift of spirituall prudence he that would nurse them with the food that is fit for men and seeke by that meanes to make them perfect vpon a suddaine should commit a great errour and insteed of helping would do hurt Euery age hath a seuerall condition and degree of strength according to which the food and nourishment is to be applied And as the well experienced and holy Bernard sayth We must not fly but walke forward in the way of perfection and let no man thinke that it is the same thing to vnderstand it and to possesse it And therefore it our Lord impart these comfortes let them be receiued towards the carrying of his Crosse with greater force For as much as it is his custome to comfort his disciples in Mount Thabor that so they may not be disquieted in the persecution of the Crosse And ordinarily before the gall of tribulation come vpon vs he sendeth the hony of comfort And I neuer knew any man mislike or vndervalow spirituall Consolations but such an one as by whose soule they had neuer passed But if our Lord be pleased to guide vs by the way of discomforte and that we must needes heare the harsh and (m) Of dâ—abohâ—al tentatâ—os and disolations paynefull language wherof we were speaking yet must we not be dismayed at any thing that he sendeth but with patience we must drinke the Chalice which the Father giues euen because he giueth it and we must beg strength of him that our weakenesse may yielde obedience thereunto Nor yet on the other side must thou conceaue that I teach thee not to haue ioy when our Lord doth visit or not to haue a sad feeling of his absence when we find our selues deliuered ouer to our enemies to be tempted or afflicted by them But that which I would say is this that according to the force which God shall giue vs we must procure to conforme our selues to his holy will with obedience and equality of mind and in no case to follow our owne which infallibly wil be accompanied with discomfort and disconfidence such things as these Let (n) We ought to carry a most cordiall and profound loue to the accomplishment of the holy aâ—â—e will of God in all things vs beseech our Lord that he will open our eyes for then we shal more cleerly see then now we do the very light of the sun that
him So God is not solitary but in the vnity of Essence there are three persons Nor is he couetous or barren since there is a communication of an infinite Deity Neither must thou forbeare to belieue that so it is although thou know not how it commeth to be so since euen because it is so high it carryeth a kind of trace or sent to be a thing of God And because it is better to be so then not euen for this very reason it is a thing which it is fit for God to haue and that so we should belieue it since of God we are to thinke according to the greatnes of God that is the highest that possibly we can imagine CHAP. XL. Wherein answere is made to thē who obiect against the receauing of our Faith that it teacheth meane and low thinges of God and how in these meane things which God teacheth most high glory is contayned NEITHER yet is there any reason to stumble at the humility which the most high God took vpon him abasing himselfe to become man to liue in pouerty and to dye vpon a Crosse For these workes are not only not to be sayd vnworthy of God but they are most worthy if they be well vnderstood Indeed if he had abased himselfe because he could not chuse or if by that abasement he had lost the height which he had before or if he had been moued to it by any interest of such an abasement But neither did he leaue to be what he was by taking that which he was not nor came he from heauen to earth by any constraint nor was he induced by regard of profit since God cannot increase in being rich But (a) Note this well discourse and learne to loue God greatly by it he was moued to it by his owne only goodnes and by the loue which he bare to men and the desire which he had to recouer them by such meanes as might be of most glory to himselfe and of most aduantage to vs. And such was the meanes he tooke by making himselfe man and dying vpon a Crosse For there is not a greater signe of loue then that a man should dy for his friends Which loue so excellent did not spring from any desert of theirs but from his owne excellent goodnes So that his lownesse and his death do not argue in him any want of power or goodnesse For as much as he being omnipotent and wholy wise might haue giuen vs remedy by many meanes besides this but it argueth in him an immense excesse of loue and goodnes and this so much the more as God who loueth and suffereth this is the greater and as that which he suffered was more grieuous and painefull and they for whome he suffered were the more vnworthy and base And since in louing such persons his excellent goodnesse is manifested this worke is to be called a great height since in spirituall things high and good are all one and when it is the more good so much the more great and high it is And since the greatest honour which we can do any man is to hold him for good more then for being valiant or wise for as much as no mā who is sensible of honour doth not so desire it it is euident that since these workes do manifest his goodnes and loue more then all the rest they giue him consequently more honour and they giue it better then all the rest And (b) In true account nothing doth so exalt Christ our Lord as his abasement if in the opinion of ignorant persons the abasement which God hath made of himselve take honour from his dignity and height it ought in the iudgment of wise men to extoll the honour of his goodnes and consequently of his height and greatnes and so he looseth neither the one nor the other And not only doth his goodnes shine in these workes more then others but so also doth his wisedome and power other his most wonderfull attributes appeare therin For amongst all the workes which God hath wrought or is to work there is none equall in being moruailous nor is there to be found so great a miracle as that God should make himselfe man and suffer afterward for man And whosoeuer belieueth not this doth his best to take from God the greatest honour he hath and greater then if he should take the honour that is due to him for all the other workes which he hath made or is to make in (c) Since the Creation of the world Tyme Consider well of this and thou shalt discerne how the omnipotency and wisedome of Goth doth shine in making two so different extremes to meet in one as are God and man in the vnity of one person And note that his power is more declared in combatting and conquering our sinnes and death by the armes of our weaknes then if he had ouercome them with the weapons of his owne omnipotency as we sayd before whylest we were speaking of despaire And (d) An excellent discourse consider that when God continued in his greatnesse he had but a small people that serued him and the same went also dayly from him to adore strange Gods and euen when it did not so it serued him yet with much weakenes But when God abased himselfe so far as to be man and to dy for him it made such deep impression vpon the minds of men as that they who were high did abase themselues and the weake became strong the wicked good and finally there grew so great a change ouer the world as well in the destruction of idolatry as in the renouation of life and manners that the accomplishment of the word which our Lord spake was plainely seene (e) lo. m. 1◠When I shall be exalted from the earth and placed on the Crosse I will draw all things to my selfe And so it appeares that he obteyned that victory ouer the hartes of men by basenesse weakenes tormentes and death which he obteyned not whylest he remained in the height of his Maiesty And thus was that fullfilled which S. Paul (f) t. Cor. 1. sayth The weaknes of God is more thē the strength of men And so it also appeareth that God doth not only gaine the honour of goodnesse but of wisedome power also by taking vpon him our basenesse and by working that thereby which he wrought not by his greatnes For this it is that S. Paul (g) Rom. 1. sayth That he is not ashamed to preach the Ghospell since it is the vertue of God for the sauing of men For although this humanity hunger dishonour torment death be truly affirmed of God yet there is no cause for a Christian to be ashamed thereof since by meanes of these thinges God obteined the conquest ouer other thinges that were so mighty as are sinne and death and procured that man might obtayne the grace of God and his Kingdome which are the greatest things that could
arriue to man Hereby God gained more honour then by hauing created heauen and earth and all that is therein And therefore this worke is for the eminency and excellency of it called the work of God as our Lord sayd This is my foode to do the will of my Father in my finishing his worke which is the redemption of men Not but that God hath wrought other workes but because the Inâ—ernation and redemption which follow hereupon is the greatest worke of them all and that which he prizeth most as the thing whereby he receiueth most honour For (h) The same excellent discourse continued although to haue scourged Egypt for the loue of his people and to haue drawne it out from thence to haue conducted it through the desert did giue honour to God as Isaias saith yet already thou canst not chuse but see which is the more high and heroicall act of loue for God to whip his enemies for the loue of his people or to suffer himselfe to be scourged in his owne flesh for the loue both of his domestiques and of strangers and both of his friends and of his enemies One thing it is for God to carry his children through the desert like an eagle that would teach his yong ones how to fly taking them vp vpon his shoulders when they are weary that so they might vnweary themselues whylest yet God groweth not weary thereby and another thing it is to ouerloade his owne shoulders with a heauy Crosse which did euen flea them of their skin togeather with all the sinnes of the whole world which like the beame of a wyne-presse did straine him so far as to depriue him of life vpon the same Crosse and this to the end that men might be out of paine Who is he that will not discerne that this was a most excellent heroicall act of loue the like whereof was neuer seene which gaue more honour to God then all that was past That other was to him but a common thing and there was no need of so great loue for the doing of it But this later was a busines that would haue byn imbraced by few and hardly wil there be found a man vpon earth who would suffer himself to be publikely whipped or put to death for any good man or any frend And yet if such a man could be found there would still be no comparison to be made betweene that and the much that our Lord did loue and suffer for vs. For he hath no equal Nor is it to be greatly meruaâ—led at if a Lion carry himselfe like a Lion but that a Lion should be content to suffer like a Lambe and that the only cause therof should be his loue this is a busines of a strang extent and worthy of eternall honour And since in former tymes they sayd Let (i) Exod. 15. vs sing vnto our Lord for he hath byn magnified in a glorious manner Let vs also say with a most profound gratitude Let vs sing vnto our Lord who hath byn magnifyed in a most humble manner For as much as formerly God did neither abase himselfe nor take paines in the ease which he gaue vs nor although he imparted riches did he impouerish himselfe but here he impouerished himselfe he did sweat yea he abased himselfe to death and death of the Crosse to raise his seruantes from sinne and to conduct them to heauen and he preuailed in his enterprize and that which Isaias (k) Isa 55. sayd was fulfilled that insteed of the little shrubbe there should grow the Firre-tree and insteed of the nettle there should grow the myrtle And that our Lord should be renowned by an eternall token which shall neuer be taken away For the honour which God did gayne in placing of of this signe which is the Crosse and to dy thereon and to make men good of bad shall last for euer and there shall none be able to ouerthrow it CHAP. XLI That not only the glory of our Lord doth shine in the humble thinges of God which our Faith teacheth but also our owne great profit our strength and vertue NOT (a) He stil prosecuteth the same excelleÌ„t discourse in an excellent manner only doth the honour of God shine after an excellent manner in the workes of his humanity and humility but from thence also doth result the great profit and glory of man whome nothing doth so much exalte as that God hath put himselfe into Brotherhood with him Nor is there any thing which doth so much strengthen his hart against the swooning afflictions which sinne causeth in it as to see that God died for the remedy thereof and that he gaue himselfe to man as his owne Nor is there any thing which can so mooue him to loue God as to see himselfe beloued by him euen to the death nor to make a man despise prosperity or suffer aduersity nor to humble himselfe to God and to his Neighbour nor indeed to any good thing be it great or smal as to see God abased humaned that he was pleased to passe through these thinges giuing vs commandements to performe examples to behold and strength to go through And since this way of remedying our humility and basenes turneth more to the glory of God and to the good of men it is a signe that this is a worke of God since in that which God worketh he pretendeth the manifestation of his owne glory and mans good And therefore he that either denyeth this worke or hindreth it is an enemy of God and of all mankind Since thereby he will depriue God of the greatest honour which by his workes can come to him and man of the greatest glory and benefit that can be imagined And since he declareth himself as an enemy both to God and man it is but reason that he be punished and that with eternall death in hell And the answere that he will be able to giue when God shall aske him this question Why (b) Read this with great attention didst thou not belieue those high things of me must be this Because O Lord they seemed so high to me that I did not thinke thou hadst been so high And being asked why he did not belieue those mysteryes of his humanity and humility since they were the testimonyes of his goodnes of his loue he must answere That he did not thinke the loue and goodnes of our Lord to haue beene so great that he could find in his hart to do and suffer so much for the loue of men So that he stumbleth both vpon the high and vpon the low And the roote of all is because he thinketh basely of God And that he tooke his height and his goodnes to be a limitted kind of thinge Which root and that which proceeds thereof shall iustly burne in the fire of hell as being iniurious to the most high God whom it doth diminish and confine with in a certaine narrow compasse How much better
consider of many others as absurd and foolish as this is into which both in other tymes and these also such persons haue fallen as grew lightly to beliâ—ue that the notions or instinctes of their owne harts did come from God CHAP. LI. Of the way wherein we are to carry our selues that we may not erre by such illusions and how dangerous the desire is of Reuelations and such things as those THROVGH the desire I haue that thy soule may not be one of these I recommend to thee much that thou profit as the prouer be sayth by anothers harme and that thou be very carefull that in thy selfe there be no consent either great or small to any desire of these singular or supernaturall things for it is a signe either of pride or at least of curiosity which is full of danger There was a tyme when (a) Marke this Exemple S. Augustine was assaulted by this temptation his wordes are these By how many subtilties of temptation hath the enemy procured with me O Lord that I should beg some miracle at thy hands but I beseech thee for the loue of our Lord Iesus Christ and of our Citty the heauenly Hierusalem which is pure and chaste that as now all consent to this temptation is farre from me so it may euer be farre and further off S. Bonauenture sayth that many had fallen into great follies and errours in punishment of their hauing desired such things as these and he sayth further that they are not so much to be desired as feared If any such extraordinary things happen to thee without any desire of thyne be thou afraid and do not giue them credit but instantly haue recourse to our Lord beseeching (b) A holy wise and safe aduice him that he will be pleased not to carry thee by this way but that he will suffer thee to worke thy saluation in his holy feare and in the vsuall and plaine way of such as serue him Thou art especially to do this when any such Reuelation or instinct shall inuite thee to admonish or reprehend a third person of any thing that is secret much more if he be a Priest or Prelate or the like to whome particular reuerence is due In such case as this thou art to cast away these things withall the hart thou hast and to depart from them with saying that which Moyses sayd Send him O Lord I beseech thee whome thou art to send And Ieremy sayd I am but a child O Lord I cannot speake and both these did hold themselues for insufficient and fled from being sent to reproue others Do not feare least by this humble resistance God should be made angry or to absent himself if the businesse be his but (c) There is no danger of loosing any thing with God by doing acts of humility rather he will draw nearer to thee and he will assure and settle the thing in question For he that giueth grace to the humble will not take it away for an act of humility and if it be not of God the Diuell will fly away as being strooke with the stone of humility which giueth a blow that breaketh his head like that of Golias And so it happened to a Father that remayned in the Desert who vpon the appearing of the figure of a Crucifixe he would neither adore it nor belieue it But (d) See the sweet safe simplicity humility of thâ—se holy Ermites shutting his eyes sayd I will not see Iesus Christ in this world it shall serue my turne to see him in heaueÌ„ Vpon which answere the Diuell fled away who was desirous to deceaue him vnder that forme Another Father answered to one that told him that he was an Angell sent to him on the behalfe of God I haue no need nor am I worthy to receaue messages by the mouth of Angels and therefore consider well to whome it is that thou wert sent for it is not possible they should send thee to me Nor will I so much as heare thee And so with this humble answere the proud Diuell fled away By this way of humility and by a most cordiall driuing away such things as these many persons haue beene free through the mercy of God from great snares which by this meanes the Diuell had prepared for them Experimenting so in themselues that which Dauid (e) Psal 12. sayth Our Lord keepeth the little ones I humbled my selfe and be deliuered me And on the other side a false instinct or Reuelation of the Diuell finding any vaine contentment in the hart of him that doth receaue it taketh roote and force from thence to deceaue men out right God permitting it with iust iudgment For as S. Augustine sayth Pryde deserueth to be deceaued Thou must therfore be free from this vaine inclination and from thinking that thou art capable of these Reuelations that so thy hart may not vary the compasse in the least point from that humility wherein thou wert before vnder the holy feare of God And so carry thy selfe in them as if they had not come to thee And if notwithstanding this answere of thyne the matter do still go on giue thou instantly account to them that may tell thee what is fit although it will be better done to giue notice of it instantly after first it happened and to help him by meanes of prayer fastes other good works who is to giue thee counsaile that God may declare the truth to him in a matter that is of so much difficulty For (f) A great strayte if we hold the good spirit of God for the wicked spirit of the Diuell it is a great blasphemy and we shall so be like to those miserable Pharisees the contradictours of the truth of God who attributed to an euill spirit the workes which Christ Iesus our Lord did by the Holy Ghost And on the other side if with facility of beliefe we accept of the instinct of an euil spirit as if it were of the Holy Ghost what greater misery can there be then to seeke darkenesse and errour insteed of truth and which is worse the Diuell for God On both sides there is great danger eyther in holding God for the Diuell or the Diuel for God And how great necessity there is to be able to distinguish and to iudge of these thinges as indeed they are I thinke there is none who doth not see But as euident as this necessity is so difficult and hidden a thing it is to get assurance and light wherewith to cleare this doubt And therfore as it belongeth not to all men to prophesy or to worke miracles or to impart such other graces but to them to whome the Holy Ghost is pleased to impart them so also is it not giuen to the spirit of man how wise soeuer it be to iudge with certainty and truth of the difference of spirits vnles it were in a matter which were euidently (g) For in that ease
holy places good works for so it is fittest for young folks Do not plunge thy selfe into transitory cares when thou hast done working som what with thy hands which being moderately vsed will do thee good both in soule and body hauing complyed with thy obligations either of necessity or Charity according to that rule of life which hath been prescribed to thee take as much tyme as thou canst to be shut vp in thyne Oratory And although at the first it may chance to go against thy stomake thou wilt come to find that they are the affaires of heauen which are treated there and that thou takest not so much gust in the expence of any tyme as that which thou spendest there in peace CHAP. LIX Wherein he prosecuteth the exercise which conduceth to the knowledge of ones selfe and how we are to profit in the vse of reading and of Prayer HAVING then found out this priuate place retire thy selfe into it twice euery day at the least Once in the morning to thinke vpon the sacred passion of Iesus Christ our Lord as I will shew thee afterward and once againe in the euening at the shutting vp of the day to attend to the exercise of knowing thy selfe and let thy way to that be this Take first some booke of good instruction wherein as in a glasse thou mayest see thy faultes and that thy soule may therewithall receiue such food (a) A most excellent aduise how spirituall books are to be read with great profit of the soule as to be encouraged in the way of God This reading must not be vsed with any trouble nor by turning ouer many leaues but with raising vp the hart to our Lord to beseech him that he will speake to it with his liuing and powerfull voyce by meanes of those words which there thou readest And that he wil giue thee the true vnderstanding thereof and with this attention and reuerence obserue and hearken to God by those wordes which thou readest as if thou heardest himselfe preach when he spake heere in the world In such sort that although thyne eyes be cast vpon the booke do not thou fasten thy selfe to it with so great an anxiety of mind as to make thee not so well to thinke of God but conserue a moderate and peacefull attention which may not enthrall thee nor hinder the free and superiour kind of attention which thou art to yeald vnto our Lord and reading thus thou wilt not grow weary By this meanes our Lord will giue thee the liuing sense of the wordes which in thy soule may worke sometimes repentance of thy sinns at other times a confidence in him and his pardon of them and he will open thy vnderstanding towards the knowledge of many other thinges although thou read not many lines Sometymes it wil be fit to interrupt thy reading to thinke of somewhat which resulteth from thence and then to returne againe to read and so at once thou shalt profit both in reading and prayer And with a hart thus deuout and recollected thou mayest beginne to enter vpon the exercise Of the knowing of thy selfe then vpon thy knees thou shalt thinke to what an excellent and soueraigne maiesty thou art going to speak Which yet (b) How we are to thinke vpon God when we go to pray thou must not conceaue to be farre from thee but that he filleth heauen and earth that there is nothing wherein he is not and that he is more within thee then thou thy selfe And considering thyne owne poorenes make thou a profound internall reuerence humbling thy hart as if it were a kind of Ant in the presence of an infinite Essence and desire that thou mayst haue leaue to speake Begin first to speake ill of thy selfe and make thy confession in generall and particulerly also if it occure to thee demand pardon of that wherein thou mayst haue offended him that day Resort then to some of those (c) Some few vocal prayers wherein moderation is to be vsed deuotions to which thou art accustomed but let thē not be so many as that they may breake thy braynes dry vp thy deuotion nor yet do thou leaue them altogeather because they serue to stir vp the soule to piety and for the offering also of that seruice of our tongue to God in token that he gaue it to vs. For this reason S. Paul teacheth vs That we must pray and sing with the spirit both of the voyce and of the soule And these prayers must serue to obtaine fauours of our Lord not only for thy self but for them to whom thou hast particuler obligation and for the whole Church of Christ the care whereof thou art to haue deeply fixed in thy hart For if thou loue Christ it is reason that thou be neerely touched by that for which he shed his bloud Pray as well for them that liue as for the soules that are in Purgatory and for all that infidelity which is depriued of the knowledge of God beseeching him to bring al vnbeleeuers to his holy Fayth since he desireth that they should all be saued And these prayers or the most of them are to be addressed two wayes By the one to our (d) Our B. Lady must be deuoutly prayed to by vs as a great intercessour with her Sonne our Lord for the pardon of our sins but especially Christ Iesus our Lord who is the only hope of our saluation Blessed Lady towardes whome thou must be sure to carry a very cordiall loue and to haue entiere confidence that she will be a true mother to thee in all thy necessityes and the other to Christ Iesus our Lord which also must be a most familiar refuge in thy troubles and the only hope of thy saluation CHAP. LX. How much the Meditation of death doth profit towardes the knowledge of a mans selfe and of the manner how it is to be meditated for as much as concerneth the death of the body AFTER (a) If this Chapter and the two next do not mooue thee I know not what will this giue ouer to pray vocally and conuaye thy selfe into the most inward part of thy hart and make account that thou art appearing in the presence of Christ Iesus and that there are no more in the world but thou he Consider that before thou camest into the world thou wert nothing and how that Omnipotent goodnes of our Lord God drew thee out of that profound bottome of not being and made thee his creature and that not after an ordinary manner but he made thee a reasonable creature Consider how he gaue thee a body and a soule to the end that with them both thou mightest labour in doing seruice to him Make account that thou art then in the very passage out of life into death and hauing the most true feeling of it that may be say to thy selfe This houre of my end is once to arriue and I know not whether
discourse both ouer thy body and thy soule and thinke how thou wert obliged to reuere him and to be gratefull to him and to loue him with thy whole hart seruing him with entiere obedience and obseruing the commaundements both of him and of his Church with all the power thou hast Consider how he hath conserued thee by a thousand other benefits that he hath bestowed vpon thee as many miseries from which he hath deliuered thee and aboue all things remember how to inuite thee to be good by his example and loue the same Lord of the world came into it by making himselfe a man and for the reliefe of thy miseryes and the remouing of the blindnes wherein thou wert would needs endure many afflictions and first did shee l many teares and afterwards his very bloud and he did cast away his precious life for thee All (e) Our Lord giue vs all grace to make great vse of this certaine truth which ponderation in the day of thy death and of the iudgement which must passe vpon thee shal be placed in one ballance laying it to thy charge as that which thou hast receaued and an account shal be demanded at thy handâ— how thou hast serued thy selfe of so great fauours and how thou hast carryed thy selfe in the seruice of God and with what care thou hast kept correspondence with that so great goodnes wherewith God hath desired and procured to saue thee Consider well and thou shalt see how much reason thou hast to feare since not only thou hast not answered by doing seruices according to thy debtes and obligations but thou hast payed him with euill for good and hast despised him who hath valewed thee at so high a rate turning thy backe and flying from him who did so fast follow thee for thy good What thanks doth it seeme to thee that thou art to giue him who by his infinite mercy hath deliuered vs from hell we hauing so iustly deserued it What shal we offer him for a present who hath so often stretched forth his hand towardes vs that the Diuells might not strangle and carry vs instaÌ„tly away to hel And to vs who haue been cruell offendours of his Maiesty he hath been a piteous Father and deare defendour Consider that (f) Yea without Perhaps perhaps there are soules in hell who haue committed fewer sinnes then thou And in such sort weigh thy selfe and serue God as if for thy sinnes thou hadst already entred into hell and that he hath fetched thee out from thence For it comes to the same account for him to haue hindred thee from going thither as thou didst deserue or to draw thee out from thence through his great (g) Nay the former is the greater mercy mercy after thou shouldst haue beene entred in And if by comparing the blessings which God hath affoarded thee and the sinnes which thou hast committed against him thou do not yet find in thy selfe that shame or sorrow which thou desirest be not yet afflicted therewith but continue in this discourse and lay before the eyes of God thy hart which is so wounded and so indebted to him and beseech him that he will tell thee who thou art and what account thou art to make of thy self For the effect of this exercise is not only to vnderstand that thou art wicked but to feele it and to tast it with thy will and to take fast hold of thy sinnefulnes and vnworthynes as a man would clap the stincking carren of a dead dogg to his nose Therefore are not these considerations to be certaine fleeting thinges not the work of one day alone but they are to be of good length and to be vsed with much quietnes that by little and little the will may go drinking vp that contempt and vnworthynes which by thy vnderstanding thou dost iudge due vnto thy self this thought of thyne thou art to present before God beseeching him that he will lodge it in the most internall part of thy hart And from thenceforth esteeme thy selfe with great simplicity and verity for a most wicked creature deseruing all contempt and torment though it were euen that of hell And (h) The true vse which is to be made of these considerations be thou ready for the patient suffering of any labour or neglect which shall occur considering that since thou hast offended God it is but reason that all the creatures should rise against thee to reuenge the iniuryes that are done to their Creatour By (i) Note this this patience of thyne thou shalt vnderstand if in very deed thou thinke thy selfe a sinner and worthy of hell saying within thy selfe All the mischiefe that they can do me is very little since I haue deserued hell Who is he that will complaine of the byting of flyes when he hath merited eternall torments And thus go thou wondering at the infinite goodnes of God how he can perswade himselfe not to cast off such a stincking worme but to maintaine it and to regale it and to powre blessings downe vpon it both in body and soule but al this must be for his glory and not that we haue any thing to glory in CHAP. LXII That the dayly examination of our faults helpeth much towardes the knowledge of our selues and of other great benefits which this practise of Examen doth bring and of the profit which commeth to vs both by the reprehension of others and those also which our Lord doth interiourly send vs. TO end the Exercise of thy knowing thy selfe two things there remaine for thee to heare The first that a Christian ought not to content himselfe with entring into Iudgment before God for the accusing himselfe of those sinnes which in former tymes he had committed but of them also which he committeth dayly because thou wilt hardly find a thing so profitable for the reformation of thy life as to take account how thou spendest it and of the defects which thou dost fall into For that soule which is not carefull to examine her thoughtes and wordes and deeds is like to some lazy husbandman who hath a vineyard and who as Salomon sayth passed by it and saw the hedge fallen downe the vineyard it self full of thornes Make account that they haue recommended the daughter of some King to thee of whome thou art to haue continuall care that she be well taught and that at night thou take account of her reprouing her for her faults and exhorting her to practise vertue Consider thy self (a) The great obligation which we haue to looke to our souls as a thing recoÌ„mended to thy self by God and teach thy selfe to know that thou art not to liue without a law or rule but in a holy kind of subiection and vnder the discipline of vertue that thou shalt (b) Marke this well neuer do any one thing that is iâ—â— but thou shalt be sure to pay for it Enter (c) An earnest an
should exalt him yet would he not exalt himselfe But as a true iust person he depriueth himselfe of that honour which he findeth not to be his owne and he giueth it to our Lord whose it is And in this light he findes that the more high he is the more he hath receaued of God and the more he oweth him and the more poore and base he is in himselfe For (k) This is a most pure and perfect truth he that doth truly grow in other vertues doth so also in humility saying to God Thou must increase in me and I must decrease in my selfe dayly And if euen with al these considerations already meÌ„tioned thou find not the fruite of the contempt of thy selfe which thou desirest be not yet dismayd thereat But call vpon our Lord with continuance of prayer for he knoweth how and he is accustomed to teach both interiourly and by way of exteriour comparisons the little that all thinges created are to be esteemed And in the meane tyme till this mercy come liue in patience and know thy selfe for proude which is a kind of humility as for one to hold himselfe humble is a kind of pride CHAP. LXVIII Wherein he beginneth to treate of the consideration of Christ our Lord and of the mysteries of his life and death and of the great reason we haue to exercise our selues in this consideration and of the greâ—â— fruites which grow from thence THEY (a) He beginneth heere and continueth till the the 8â— Chapter a discourse vpon the meditatioÌ„ of the sacred Passion of our Lord Iesus as excellently written perhaps as any hath been seene in this age I am sure I neuer saw any that I liked so well who are much exercised in the knowledge of themselues in respect that they are coÌ„tinually viewing their defects so neer at hand are wont to fall into great sadnes and disconfidence and pusillanimity for which reason it is necessary that they do exercise themselues also in another knowledge which giueth comfort and strength much more then the other gaue discouragement And against this inconuenience there is no other knowledge which may compare with that of Iesus Christ our Lord especially if we consider how he suffered and dyed for vs. This is the cheereful newes which in the new law was preached to all such as are of broken hart and hereby is ministred a kind of Physicke which is more efficacious towards their comfort then they can be discomforted by the woundes and soares of their ownesoules This crucifyed Lord is he who cheereth them vp whom the knowledge of their owne sins afflicteth and he it is that absolueth whome the law condemneth maketh them sonnes of God who were slaues of the Diuell This Lord they must procure to know and they who are subiect to the spirituall debtes which they haue made by finne and they who find straitnes and bitternes of sorrow at their hart when they consider themselues must approach to him and they shal find themselues well therewith as heeretofore others that were afflicted and indebted did resort to Dauid and found help in his society For as we vse to giue counsaile that they who are to passe a riuer should looke vpward or at least out of the water least their heads may els be subiect to some trouble by staring vpon the running streame so whosoeuer shall find himselfe dismaid by the contemplation of his own miseryes if he will cast vp his eyes to Iesus Christ vpon the Crosse he may recouer strength For it was not sayd in vaine My soule was troubled within me and for this reason I remembred thee of the land of Iordan and of the hilles of Hermon of the little hill For the mysteries which Christ did worke in his Baptisme Passion are able to quiet any tempest of distrust which riseth in the hart of man And so it doth both for that reason aforesayd as also because there is no (b) This is the booke of Bookes booke so efficacious towardes the instructing of a man in al kind of vertue nor how hartily sinne ought to be abhorred and vertue loued as the Passion of the Sonne of God And againe because it is an extreme ingratitude to put such an immense benefit of loue into obliuion as that was in Christ to suffer for vs. It is therefore fit for thee after the exercise of the knowledge of thy selfe to imploy thy mind vpon the knowledge of Christ Iesus our Lord. S. Bernard teacheth vs this by saying whosoeuer hath any feeling of Christ doth know how much it belongeth to Christian piety and how necessary it is and what fruit it bringeth to the seruant of God and a seruant of the redemption of Christ to remember with attentioÌ„ for at least the space of one houre in a day the benefits of the Passion and Redemption of Christ Iesus our Lord to enioy it sweetly in our soules and to settle it faythfully in our memoryes This S. Bernard sayd this he did And besides this thou art to know That God when he was pleased to communicate the riches of his Diuinity to men imbraced the meanes of making himselfe a man that by such basenes and poorenesse he might conforme himselfe to the small capacity of such as were base and poore and by ioyning himselfe to them he might raise them vp to his owne height so that the way by which God hath vsed to communicate his Diuinity to men hath beene by meanes of his sacred Humanity This is that gate by which whosoeuer entreth shall be saued and it is the staire by which we must ascend to heauen For God the Father is pleased to honour the humanity and humility of his only begotten Sonne so far as not to make friendship with any creature who belieueth not in him nor to grant his familiar conuersation but to such as meditate vpon him with much attention Since therefore there is no reason that thou shouldst forbeare to desire so great blessings see (c) If we meane not to be wholy miserable we must become slaues to the PassioÌ„ of Christ our Lord. that thou make thy selfe a slaue to this sacred Passion For as much as by it thou wert deliuered from the captiuity of thy sinnes from the torments of hell and those other blessings do also come to thee by this Do (d) Note and be ashamed of thy ingratitude not esteeme it a trouble to thinke of that which he through his great loue of thee did thinke no trouble to endure Be thou one of those soules to which the Holy Ghost speaketh in the (e) Cant. 3. Canticles Go forth you daughters of Sion and behold Salomon the King with that garland vpon his head wherewith his Mo ther crowned him in the day of his espousall and in the day of the ioy of his hart In no place of the Holy Scripture is it read that King Salomon was crowned with any crowne or garland by the handes
afflictions most gladly didst thou resolue to suffer them because thereby thou diddest remoue ours Thou art he who saidst to thy beloued (b) Lue. 22. Apostles a little before thy Passion With (c) Note wonder at these wordes desyre haue I desyred to cate this paschall with you before I suffer Thou art he who saidst before (d) Lue. 12. I came into the world that I might bring fyre what do I desyre but that it should burne With a baptisme I am to be baptized and how am I straitned till it be effected This fyre of the loue of thee which thou desyrest may be kindled till it may inflame and burne vs wholy vp and till it transforme vs into thee thou still art blowing by the blessings which by thy life thou bestowedst on vs thou makest it burne by the death which thou enduredst for vs. And who amongst vs is so well natured as that he would haue loued thee vnles thou hadst died for the loue of vs therby to giue vs life who are dead for lacke of louing thee But now who wil be wood so cold and moist as that seeing thee so faire and flourishing a tree wherof whosoeuer doth eate shall liue to be thus kindled vpon the Crosse burnt vp by that fyre of tormentes which they gaue thee and yet more by that loue wherewith thou sufferedst them he will not yet be kindled now at last to loue thee and to do it euen to the death Who wil be so deadly obstinate as to shut himselfe vp against that importunate (e) Our Lord Iesus doth make no other suit to vs but that we will loue him only it must be with true loue request wherein thou didst persist from the tyme that thou wert borne of the wombe of the B. Virgin and that she tooke thee into her armes and layd thee in the maunger till the same handes and armes of hers tooke thee agayne when being dead thou wert taken from the Crosse and wert deliuered ouer to the holy Sepulcher as into another wombe Thou (f) Note didst burne thy selfe that we might not freeze in the cold Thou didst weep that we might reioyce Thou didst suffer that we might repose and thou wert baptized euen by the sheading of thy bloud that we might be washed from our sinnes and yet thou saydst withall O Lord How do I liue in the straitnes of affliction till this Baptisme be accomplished Giuing vs thereby to vnderstand what an imflamed desire thou hadst to giue vs remedy though thou knewest that it would cost thee thy life And as the Spouse desireth the day of his marriage that he may enioy his end so doest thou desire the day of thy Passion to deliuer vs by thy paynes from our miseryes One houre O Lord did seeme to thee a thousand years till thou camest to dye for vs conceauing that thy life would be well imployed if it were laid downe for thy seruantes And because that which is desired doth carry ioy after it when it is accomplished it is no meruaile if the day of thy Passion be called the day of thy ioy since it was so desired by thee And (g) The vast loue of God in Christ our Lord. although the griefe of that day were excessiue in so much as it is sayd in thy person O all you that passe by the way attend and see if there be any griefe like myne yet the loue which flamed in thy hart was incomparably greater For if it had been needfull in respect of our good that thou shouldst haue passed throgh a thousand tymes as much as that and that thou shouldst haue continued vpon the Crosse till the end of the world thou didst place thy selfe vpon it with firme determination to do and suffer whatsoeuer might haue beene necessary for our remedy So that thou didst loue more then thou didst suffer and more was thy loue able to preuaile with thee then the want of loue in those wretches that did torment thee So then did thy loue remaine conquerour and that being so liuely a flame those great riuers of many afflictions that came against thee were not able to quench it And therefore although the torments gaue thee sorrow and sound griefe yet thy loue tooke pleasure in that benefit which we were to receaue thereby For this it is called the day of the ioy of thy hart this day did AbrahaÌ„ see he reioyced not that he wanted compassion of thy paines but because he saw that the world was to be redeemed by them In this day therefore Go forth you daughters of Sion you being the soules who behold God from the tower of Fayth to see your peace-making King who by his affliction goeth no conclude the desired peace Looke I say vpon him since your eyes were giuen you for that purpose And amongst all the ornaments of his espousall which he weareth looke vpon that crown of thornes which his diuine head doth carry Which although it were platted and put on by those of the Court of Pilate who were Gentills yet is his Mother sayd to haue placed it vpon his head which Mother in that sense was the Synagogue of the race wherof Christ descended according to the flesh For by the accusation of the Synagogue and at the will therof Christ was so tormented Now (h) A strange kind of marriage if any man say that this is a new kind of ornament for a spouse to weare a dolorous crowne insteed of a garland for ornaments of handes and feet sharpe nayles which might passe and pierce them through scourges insteed of a girdle and the hayre of his head and face glued togeather with his owne bloud his sacred beard pulled off from his cheekes and they discoloured with buffeting and that soft bed which in the case of persons newly espoused vse to be filled with pretious odours being conuerted into a bitter Crosse and that erected in place where malefactours were put to death what hath this extreme abasement to do with the ornaments of an espousall What hath this being accompanied by theeues to do with being in the society of friends who should ioy in doing honour to the new spouse What fruit or musickâ—â— or pleasure may it be which heere we see since the Mother and the friends of the spouse do ease griefe and drinke teares and the Angells of peace weepe bitterly There is nothing further off from an espousall then all that which heere appeareth But yet this nouelty is not to be wondered at because the Spouse and the manner of the espousall is all new Christ is a new man both because he is without sinne and because he is both God man and we are they whome he espouseth to himselfe we who are deformed poore and full of misery and this he doth not to permit vs to remaine so but to kill that which is euill in vs and to impart to vs that which is good in him For this
a Prouerbe which saith Yf thou canst not pray get thee to sea because the many dangers wherein they are that sayle make them cry out to our Lord. But for my part I see no reason why all of vs should not vse this exercise and that with diligence since whether we go by sea or by land I am sure we we are in danger of death eyther of the soule if we fall into mortall synne or of soule and body if we do not rise by pennance from that into which we may fall And (e) The miserable blindnes of man if the care of transitory things and the dust which we beare about in our eyes did giue vs leaue but to consider to reflect vpon the necessityes of our soules without faile we should go crying out to God saying with our whole harts Suffer vs not to fall into tentation O Lord (f) Psalm 34. depart not from me such other wordes we would vse as these agreeable to the present necessity But all our praying dependeth vpon that which passeth in our mindes which vseth to be some temporall good or euill and yet euen vpon those occasions we resort not (g) It draweth a mighty disaduantage vpon vs that although we go to God by Prayer yet for the most part we do it late speedily to prayer but are like people whose last confidence is placed in our Lord and the first and chiefest in themselues or others Whereat our Lord is wont to be much offended and he sayth Where (h) Deut. 3â— are thy Gods in whome thy trust is put let thy friends deliuer thee whome a blast of wind will carry away See therefore O Virgin that these things may not besayd of thee but keep thou quicke that feeling in thy soule whereby thou mayst tast this truth That thy true misery consistes in thy not seruing and thy true felicity in seruing God When (i) How we are to carry our sâ—lues in the desire of any temporall good at the hands of God thou askest any temporall thing let it not be with that kind of anguish and affliction which vseth to proceed from inordinate loue And whether the question be of much or little let thy first confidence be in our Lord the last in those meanes which he shall addresse thee to And be thou greatly thankefull for this benefit that he hath giuen thee leaue to speake and conuerse with him and do thou serue thy selfe of it both in thy prosperityes and afflictions with much frequency and care since by meanes of this speach and conuersation with the most high the seruants of God haue beene enriched and relieued in all their necessityes For they vnderstood that the dangers wherein God left them was to the intent that being straitely assaulted thereby they might haue recourse to him and so the blessinges vvhich he affoarded them did make them go to giue him thankes We (k) Of the great power deuout prayer read of the Gabaonits that they being in great danger vvhen they were besieged by their enemyes sent a messenger to Iosue to whose friendship they had recommended themselues by occasion wherof they were grown into that danger but they found fauour and assistance by demanding it And although those fiue Kinges of whome the Scripture speaketh vvere ouercome in the valley called Siluester and their Cittyes were sackt yet because a young man who had escaped out of the battayle went to carry the news of this defeate to the patriarke Abraham those Kings and their fiue Cittyes obtayned remedy by the hand of Abraham vvho succoured them So that by meanes of one only messenger who goeth to aske fauour of him that hath a power vvill to giue it there is more to be obtayned then by a multitude of fighting men vvhich are either in the Citty or in the Campe. And vvithout doubt so it is that whosoeuer shall send the messenger of an humble and faythfull prayer to God howsoeuer he may be besieged and defeated and thrust euen into the very belly of the Whale shall find our Lord to be (l) Psalm 144. present vvho is neere to all such persons as do vvith sincerity call vpon him And if they know not yet vvhat they are to do by meanes of prayer they find light For with this confidence it was that King Iosaphat sayd When (m) Paral. 20. we know not what to do one remedy we haue which is to lift vp our eyes to thee And S. Iames (n) Iac. 1. sayth That whosoeuer hath need of wisedome is to aske it of God And by this meanes vvere Moyses and Aaron taught by God in those things which they were to negotiate vvith the people For as they vvho gouerne others haue need of double light and to haue it very neere at hand and that at all tymes so haue they also need to make double prayer and to be perfect in it that they may performe it vvithout difficulty and that so they may come to know the vvill of our Lord concerning that which particulerly they are to do that they may obtayne streÌ„gth to perform it And the knowledge which is so obtayned doth as far exceed all that which vve compasse by our owne discourse and coniectures as he goeth more certainly who seeth his vvay then another who goeth groping in the darke And the good purposes also and strength vvhich is gotten in prayer vse to be incomparably more efficacious and to proue more solidly true then they which are obtayned out of prayer S. Augustine as one who was able to speak by experience sayd that doubts were better dissolued by prayer then by any other study And for feare of wearying thee and because it would be impossible to reckon vp all the particuler fruits of prayer I say no more theÌ„ that which the supreme Truth sayd That (o) Luc. 11. the celestiall Father would giue a good spirit to them that aske it And it ought to suffice thee that all the Saints did frequent this exercise of prayer For as S. Chrysostome sayth Which of the Saints did not ouercome by praying And he sayth againe That there is not a more puissant thing then the man that prayes And (p) The excelleÌ„cy necessity of prayer shewed by the examples of Christ our Lord. it should be inough and more then inough for vs to know that Christ Iesus the Lord of vs all did pray in that night of his tribulation so hard as that it cost him a sweat of bloud and he prayed in the (q) Luc. 21. mount Thabor before his body was traÌ„sfignred he prayed before he raysed Lazarus (r) Ioan. 11. from the dead and sometymes he prayed so at large that the whole night did passe away with him in prayer And after such a long prayer as this S. Luke (Å¿) Luc. 10. relates that from out of his Disciples he chose his twelue Apostles Whereby he taught vs as S. Ambrose sayth
they shed teares for the Passion of our Lord but because they fled from the imitation thereof they were cowards and offended God thereby like euill Christians Thou art not therfore to consider the Passion and to haue compassion of out Lord as one that would looke vpon a businesse in the nature of a meere looker on but as one who is to accompany our Lord in the point of sufferance And by looking vpon him procure thou to get strength to drinke of his Chalice with him though it be neuer so bitter Let (g) He aduiseth to corporall pennance as a disposition to the mortification of our passions the beginning and foundation of greater matters wherein thou art to imitate him be in exteriour austerities and the mortification of thy body That so thou mayest carry some resemblance to his diuine flesh which was so full of affliction tormentes farre greater then can be expressed Behold him with stiffe attention how he tasteth of vinegar and gall behold in how straite a bed he is lodged and how bare he is of clothes and how thicke he is apparelled with torments from head to foot and get thou force from hence to fly from the delicacies and ornaments of thy body in thy clothes in thy bed and in thy food And in this and in all the rest which thou canst do without much inconuenience afflict thy body and make it liue vpon a Crosse and that which thou canst not do let indeed thy hart desyre and begge strength of our Lord for it and lament in that he being vpon the Crosse thou deseruedst not to accompany or to imitate him These must be the desires of a Christian who exerciseth himselfe vpon thinking on the Passion if he haue a mind to imitate it For (h) If ther had beene any better way to Heauen then that of the Crosse our Lord Iesus would haue taught vs how to find it but he taught no other when our Lord came from heauen to earth to conuerse with men and to teach them the best and most secure way to heauen and when he was borne did make choice of pouerty of cold and of banishment and as he increased in yeares so did he increase in affliction and the end of his life was the addition of others which were greater then they He honoured these thinges though of themselues they were base and by ioyning them to himselfe he gaue them such a stampe of greatnesse and such tokens of security beauty as to make them grow to be desired For (i) Note this comparison for is doth conuince if a temporall king by apparelling himself in such or such a fashion do instantly make it honourable and to be thought worthy of imitation by all his vassalls how much more shall this be done by that soueraigne King of Kinges whose worth is infinitely more then of all the creatures how high soeuer And he that followeth not this dictamen should be no true vassall of this Lord since he holdes it not for a point of honour to be like him A delightfull thinge it is as saith S. Bernard to imitate the dishonour of him that was crucified but this only belonges to such as are not vngratefull to him And (k) Note this excellent comparison receaue that light and heat which God is willing to grant thee by means thereof now tell me if a King should go on foote and that bare and weary and sweating through the sharpenesse of the way hauing his backe loaden with sackcloth his face with teares and all this to mooue compassion as Dâ—nid did what seruant of his could there be who eyther for loue or shame would not also go on foote and vnshod and as like his King as hâ— were able And so the Scripture saith that all thâ— seruants of Dauid did and all the people that went 〈◊〉 his company But if such a King should commaunâ— any of his seruantes that wayted on him to takâ— horse and to ride at ease a cruell commaundâ—ment would that be to such a seruant And froâ— the roots of his hart he would beseech the King not to put such a huge affront vpon him as that a Royall Maiesty being treated in such a fashion his servant should be seene so contrary to him And if yet notwithstanding the King should persist in the Commandment the seruant indeed would obey him but with so much payne as that placing his eyes vpon the affliction of the King his hart would take no contentment in that ease which exteriourly he was at but esteeming himselfe for more weake and lesse fauoured then the rest he would reckon it amongst the greatest of his misfortunes that he might not go more like his Lord. And that which he should want to do indeed he would not faile to perform with the deepest wishes of his hart taking that ease of his owne in patience but in his desire hauing sufferance Such doubtles is Christ crucifyed to those harts which imploy themselues in looking on him if yet withall they be gratefull as S. Bernard sayth for so great a benefit as it is for God to haue abased himselfe so far as to walke throgh this desert with such misery as neuer man endured For (l) But it will fall downe as we must do by great abasement of our selues for the loue of our Lord Iesus where there is this gratitude no launce can remayne in the Rest any longer and both within and without there is an internall profound desire to clap this Crucifixe as a seale vpon his hart and vpon his arme as a thing whereby he is not only not afflicted or to hold himselfe thereby lesse honoured but as S. Iames sayth They haue it in the place of entâ—â—re and perfect iâ— that affliction may â—e offered them for his sake Such (m) The great nobility of a true Christian hart is the height of theÌ„ who are grateful to this Lord as that with the knife of the lous of him being crucified they do valiantly destroy those (n) Exod. 22. Idolls of Aegypt which worldly persons do so prize loue whether they be honours or treasures or pleasures giuing him thankes that he vouchsafes to admit them into his company And they go in search being all inflamed with lâ—ue after as many wayes as they can thinke on to suffer more like Elephants being as it were enraged with seeing that the bloud of their Lord is spilt And if it happen to concerne the seruice of the same Lord that they take their ease or possesse the honours and riches of this life they accept them only by obedience and they vse them with feare And you had need giue them much comfort if you will make them content to go on horsebacke when they see him on foot whome they loue so much more then their owne liues Such I say is the altitude of the state of Christian men and such a change hath Christ wrought in thinges since the tyme
our Lord Iesus is the Sancta SanctornÌ„ I answere That it is the hart of Iesus Christ our Lord who is truly the Holy of Holyes For as he did not content himselfe to suffer only in the exteriour but with a cordiall loue so thou art not to stay vpon the seeing and imitating that which exteriourly appeares but thou must enter into his hart to behold imitate the same And to the end that this entry might be more easy for vs and that which was locked vp in his hart more manifest he permitted after he was dead that howsoeuer he then felt no paine his hart should be (b) By the point of a launce disclosed that so as by an open gate wherby we might discouer a world of admirable mysteryes men might be induced to enter into it might be inuited as to a thing wherein they were to behold that strange beauty which was there conteined But who is able with a tongue to speake therof since he that hath entrance thither and lookes vpon them cannot reach to the greatnes And eueÌ„ that which he reacheth he is not able to expresse S. Iohn (c) Apoe 11. deliuereth in figure of this that the temple of God was opened and that the Arke of the Testament was seene therein for in the hart of Christ the law of God is fulfilled and there is kept the Manna of celestiall bread and that pretious and complete (d) By the incarnation passion of Christ our Lord. sweetning of God which was signified by that couerture of gold of the ancient Arke And all this in so great excellency that it far exceedeth the very highest pitch of all our thoughtes Dauid (e) Psal 39. sayth Many meruailes hast thou wrought O Lord my God and in those thoughtes which thou hadst for my good there is none like to thee Meruailous (f) Marke this gradation is all that which God hath done and more meruailous is all that which he hath suffered But yet if thou consider the thoughts of his (g) O bottomles Abysse of the lou of our Lord Iesus to mankind hart which euen whilest lest he was suffering did through his loue think as it were but little of any thing except the same very loue thou wilt cry out with a loud cry of thy soule There is none O Lord like to thee Do thou desire him O Virgin when thou shalt see him suffer his handes and necke to be tyed when thou shalt see him endure buffets thornes nailes and death to do thee the fauour to let thee know why being so strong and so powerfull he should suffer himselfe to be treated as if he were so weake without ability of making resistance To this S. Iohn (h) Aâ—oc 2. wil answeare thee in his name He loued vs and he washed vs from our sin with his bloud Ruminate well vpon these wordes and lodge them deepely in thy hart and entertaine thy selfe in thinking what an admirable and excessiue loue that is which burneth so in his hart as to flame out by suffering such thinges in the exteriour Say within thy selfe What (i) Obserue well the gradations of this chapter which tend towards the making thee all enamoured of our Lord Iesus it is the top of any thing that I haue seene in this kind person might there be in the world for whom I or such an one as I would endure such miseryes without pretending any proper interest but only for pure loue of that other person and thou wil see that to suffer all that which our Lord suffered is not such a kind of thing as which we may looke to find elsewhere for there would be no forces fit for so heauy a burthen To endure some small part of what he endured might perhaps be found betweens fathers and sonnes brother and brother friend and friend man and wife or the like to whoÌ„ either necessity or bloud or friendship may giue strength to suffer yea and to dye though this of dying but very rarely But to suffer for strangers without any interest of a mans owne without being obliged to it yea and to dye and that for nothing but for meere loue was a thing neuer seene And yet if it should be seene that a slaue should offer to dye for a King and that before his death he wold be scourged endure some of the many tormentes which our Lord did suffer it would be such an act of prowesse as that the slaue might deserue a Pardon although he had committed many faultes And all men would iudge that he had merited many fauours at that Kinges handes if he were able to impart any in the other life Nor would this famous action depart froÌ„ the mouths of men for a long time yea the King himselfe would recount it both with much thankefullnes and much tendernesse But (k) Giue great attention now let vs turne the story the other way and conceaue that the King himselfe after hauing suffered greiuous tormentes and extreame reproach would needs dye for his slaue from whom he had receiued no seruice but great offences which deserued a most cruell death that the cause of the Kinges dying were the meere nothing but the loue which he bare this slaue This would be a thing neuer seene and neuer heard before and it would betoken such an excessiue kind of loue as would cast them that heard of it into a horrible kind of amazement and would furnish matter to men for publishing the goodnesse of that King al the dayes of their liues And so admirable so new and so sublime a loue would this be that some men of superficiall vertue and weake vnderstanding would be scandalized thereat and would not make such a iudgement of this worke as were conuenient affirming it to be a kind of absurd excesse that the maiesty of a King full of all power and vertue should so cast away his pretious life to the end that his wicked slaue might liue who had most iustly deserued death And (l) Be still attentiue for these are circuÌ„stances of high importance if moreouer it were added to this story that this King were so wise and so powerfull as that with much facility and without suffering the least inconuenience and without doing the least iniustice to any he could deliuer that slaue of his from death and that yet neuerthelesse he would make vp his loue into so huge a heape and would giue him to vnderstand that he were resolued to endure such and so many miseries as neuer any man endured and all this for no other reason but because that so it would be better for the slaue most certaine it is that few eyes would be found in the world which could be able to behold such a bright sunne of burning loue as this And if any maÌ„ should haue so good an apprehension as to thinke thereof as the thinge deserued he would escape well if he kept his wittes through
the excesse of admiration and amazement And if this would happen to such as in their owne person had not receiued this benefit from the King but by the only thinking what he had done for another man what may be belieued that it would worke in the hart of that very slaue vnlesse he were franticke for whome that King should so haue dyed Doest thou not thinke that such a knocke of loue as this would awake him would change him would so entitely captiue him to the loue of that King as that he could neuer get leaue of himselfe to conceaue his prayses nor thinke of his merits but with teares Nor employ himselfe vpon any other thing then the expressing of supreme gratitude and loue by doing and suffering for him all that possibly he could Hast thou heard this Parable which in the world did neuer take effect Then (m) A miserable man thou art if this do not mouethee to the very soule know That what the Kings of the earth haue not done that very thing hath beene done by Christ Iesus the King of heauen Of whom S. Iohn (n) Apoc. 19. sayth That in his thigh he carryed this title written King of Kinges and Lord of Lordes For euen as he is man as he hath taken humane nature which is signifyed by the word Thigh so great is his altitude as that it surmounteth all Lords Kings created not only them of this world but (o) The celestiall spirits also of heauen Enioying a Name which is aboue all Names and a height and power of dominion aboue all the highest men and Angells Behold this height which hath no equall and cast downe they eyes to behold that (p) The infinite God for base and sinnefull man basenes for which it suffers And thou wilt see as S. Paul sayth That (q) Rom. 1. we are weake and wicked and traitours against God and his enemyes Which titles are of so much dishonour basenes as that they cast a man backe and downe into the hindmost place and into the lowest price that can be set vpon any creature Since there is nothing so base as to be wicked nor nothing so wicked as a sinner is in respect that he is such Comparing therfore these extremes which are so different of so high a king and so wicked slaues behold now the much that he loued them Come (r) If thou refuse this inuitatioÌ„ thou art vndone hither into the hart of our Lord and if thou haue the eyes of an Eagle heere in matter for them to worke vpon Nay they will not serue thy turne to make thee sufficiently see the brightly burning high heaped loue which inhabited that most holy soule with such extent and latitude that although those highest Angells of heauen for the great power which they haue to Loue are called Seraphims which signifyeth that they are set on fire yet if they had come to mount Caluary at the time when our Lord did suffer there his excessiue loue would haue cast them into wonder in comparison whereof their owne would haue bin no more then meere tepidity For as that most sacred soule possesseth greater altitude and honour then can be had by any other eyther in heauen or earth for as much as instantly vpon the creation thereof it was vnited to the person of the Word of God so was the Holy Ghost infused into it beyond all measure and such degrees of grace and loue were giuen to it that neither they could increase nor could the soule contayne more So that it is with great reason applyed to this most holy soule which is written The (Å¿) Cant. 1. King did place me in the cellar of wine and in me he ordayned Charity Or as we read in another translation he placed his Ensigne or Banner of loue vpon me For in regard that this soule as soon as it was created did clearly see the Diuine Essence and was carryed to it with an vnspeakable force of loue the banner of holy loue was planted on it To giue vs to vnderstand that this soule was the most ouercome by loue that euer man or Angell was either in Heauen or on Earth And (t) They only conquer who are captiued by the loue of our Lord Iesus because in the warre of the loue of God he that is most ouercome is most worthy and most valiant and most happy therefore doth this most blessed soule carry the Ensigne of loue which standes vpon it That al they may know who either on Earth or in Heauen do pretend to loue God that they must follow the conduct of this Lord if they meane to do it well as the disciple would do his maister or the soldiar his captaine since he exceedeth them all in loue as he exceedeth them otherwise in dominion Now since so great a fire of loue was lodged in that most sacred soule it is (u) If thy hart loue deeply it will find meanes to expresse iâ— selfe not strange if the flame fly out and scorch and burne the cloaths which are his most sacred body which was loaden with such torments as giue testimony of the interiour loue For it is written Who shall be able to carry fire in his bosome and that his garment should not be burnt And when thou shalt see that in the exteriour they guide in his handes with cruell ropes thou art to vnderstand that within he is taken prisoner by the nets of loue which are so much stronger then those other as chaynes of iron are beyond threeds of flaxe This (x) Shall we not paâ— such loue with loue loue this was it which defeated him which ouer cam him which tooke him which tost him from Iudge to Iudge and from the torment of scourges to the torment of cruell thornes and which cast the Crosse vpon him first and which carryed him to Mount Caluary where he was after cast vpon the Crosse There stretcht he out his armes abroad to be crucifyed in token that his hart had beene opened by his loue and that so widely towardes all as that the brightly burning and puissant beames of loue did sally out from the center of his hart and went to determine themselues vpon euery (y) wherof thou and I are two man in particuler both such as were past such as were present such as were to come offering vp his life for the good of them all And if (z) Note the high Priest do exteriourly carry the names of the (a) Eâ—â—d 28. twelue Sonnes of Israel written both vpon his shoulders and vpon his breast much more excellently doth this Priest of ours carry men vpon his shoulders by suffering for men And he carryeth them also written in (b) And our Lord make vs able to write him iâ—â—â—tâ— his hart for he doth so cordially loue them that if the first Adam sold them all for an apple and if they sel themselues at a base price and if so
thy prayses with great ioy and to serue thee with most ardent loue Nor doest thou content thy selfe O Lord to open thyne eares towards our prayers so to heare them with attentiue speed but as one that loues another in all truth of affection and doth take pleasure to heare him speake or sing so thou O Lord doest say to the soule which is redeemed by thy bloud Shew (y) Canâ— â— 2. me thy face let thy voice sound in myne cares for thy voyce is sweet thy face is very faire What is this O Lord which thou sayest That thou desirest to heare vs and that our voyce is sweet How doth our face seeme fayre in thyne eyes which we hauing defiled with many sinnes committed by vs euen whylest thou wert looking on are a shamed to let thee see Infallibly it is true that eyther we merit much in thy sight or else thou doest loue vs much But (z) The true humility which is taught by the doctrine of the holy Catholike Church far be it from vs O Lord far be it froÌ„ vs that out of thy mercifull proceeding we should draw a reason of being proud Since that whereby we please thee and are acceptable to thee is thyne owne grace which thou didst giue vs. And besides that thou doest regale and thou doest reward thy seruants more aboundantly then becomes any merit of theirs Let glory therfore begâ—uen to thee O Lord from whom all our good proceedeth and in whome all our good consisteth to vs in vs let confusion be for our vnworthynesse and wickednes Thou art our ioy and thou art that glory wherein we glory and this we do not vniustly but vpon great reason For a high honour it is to be beloued by thee and so beloued as that thou wouldst deliuer thy selfe ouer for our sakes to the tormentes of the Crosse from whence all blessings are deriued downe vpon vs. CHAP. LXXXVI Of the great loue wherewith our Lord doth behold such as are iust and of the much that be desyreth to communicate himselfe to creatures and to destroy our sinnes which we must behold with detestation that God may looke vpon them with compassion NOvv that thou hast vnderstood the speed wherwith God heareth the prayers of such as are iust it remaineth for thee to know the great loue wherwith he behouldeth them that (a) God heareth seeth our prayers as he requireth vs to looke vp to him to giue eare to his holy inspiratioÌ„s so he may entirely performe in himselfe that of hearing and seeing which he commaundeth of vs. The eyes of our Lord saith Dauid are vpon the iust to deliuer them from death but the face of our Lord is vpon the wicked that he may cast out the memory of them from the earth Heereby it appeares that our Lord placeth his eyes vpon the iust as the pastour doth vpon his sheep that they may not perish And so also doth he place them vpon the wicked to the end that they may not passe without the punishment which their sinnes deserue Two (b) What God made and what we make thinges there are in vs one which God made and that is the creature consisting of a Body and Soule with all the good that we haue the other which our selues did make and that is sinne Now if we did not accompany that good which we haue of God by somewhat else which is an euill of our owne there could be nothing in vs which our Lord would behold with the eyes of Anger but only of Loue since it is a naturall thinge for any cause to loue the effect of it selfe But now though we haue defiled and destroyed that which the beautifull God had made fayre in vs yet will he not totally cast vs off Nor can our wickednesse hinder his supereminent goodnes which for the recouering of that which he made good resolueth to destroy that euill which our selues did make For (c) An excellent comparison set forth with great life of circumstance if we see that this corporall sunne do with so liberall a hand impart it selfe and goeth as it were inuiting men to receiue it bestoweth light and heat vpon all them who giue no impediment thereunto yea when they do yet doth it as it were euen become obstinate in making them remooue the same and if it meete with any chinke or crany how little so euer it doth by that conuey it selfe and fill the whole house full of light what shall we say of that supreame diuine goodnesse which with so great anxiety as it were and force of loue doth go circling round about the creatures that he may bestow himselfe vpon them and fill them with liuely and diuine splendours What occasions doth he seeke of doing good to meÌ„ And to many for some smal seruices he hath vouchsafed to do no small fauours What entreaties doth he vse to them who depart that they will returne againe What imbracementes doth he giue them when they come backe What seeking of such as are lost What addressing such as are gone astray What pardoning of sinnes without reproach What ioy in restoring men to saluation Letting them know that he more desireth to graunt a pardon then they care to sue it out And therefore it is that he sayth to sinners Why (d) Ezech. 33. will you needs dye Know that I desire not the death of a sinner but that he may returne and liue Returne to me and you shall liue Our (e) Note this excellent consideration death consisteth in our departure from God and therefore to returne to him is to liue Whereunto we are inuited by Almighty God whose principall intention is not to lodge the eyes of his wrath vpoÌ„ the worke of his hands which is our selues but vpon the worke of ours which are our sinnes These would God faine destroy if we did not hinder him but this we do when we loue our sinnes giuing them life by our loue which by being loued do murther vs. And so great is the hungar which that soueraigne bounty hath towards the destruction of our wickednesse to the end that so his creature may not be destroyed that (f) Let all the Angels prayse our Lord for so infinite goodnes when soeuer a man will and how oft soeuer he will and how great soeuer the sinnes be which he hath committed if he will dispose himselfe to do pennance and to begge pardon of our Lord for his part he is ready to receaue vs. Forgiuing that which we haue deserued curing that which we made sicke straightning that which we made crooked and giuing vs grace to abhorre those thinges which formerly were by vs beloued Yea in such sort doth he destroy our wickednes and deuide it from vs that Dauid (g) Psalâ— 102. sayth Looke what distance there is betweene the rising and setting of the Sunne so far hath he separated our sinnes from vs. So that the beginning and first
handes And this they expect vnder such a title of more iustice as that if he deny them any thinge they are complaining in their hartes and do hold themselues agrieued why lest they forsooth seruing him so well he doth them not iustice by denying them any thing Let not this wicked pride seize on thee for (h) How God abhorreth Pride it is now long since God complaineth of it by Isay (i) Isa 58. saying They demaund the iudgements of iustice at my handes and they come to God and say Why haue we fasted and yet thou hast not behold vs we haue humbled our soules and thou hast not appreoued it But to the end that this so dangerous poison may not infuse it selfe into thy soule with others which do also flow frō thēce thou art to lay hold vpon that excellent doctrine which our Lord Christ Iesus deliuered in S. Luke after this manner Which of you hauing a seruant who goeth to plow feedes the cattell and your selfe comming from the field you say instantly to your seruant Goe thy wayes and take thyne ease and doth not rather say Go dresse my supper and make thy selfe ready to come and serue me till I haue eaten and drunke and then thou also shalt cate and drinke Doth peraduenture that maister stand thanking of his seruant for doing those thinges which he commaunded I thinke not Well then let it be so in your case and when you haue performed all those thinges which are inioyned say We are vnprofitable seruants and we did but that which we were obliged to From these wordes thou art to fetch a knowledge of how profitable a consideration it is for a Christian to hold himselfe the slaue of God since our Lord commaundeth vs so to call our selues And yet this must not be done with that kind of hart wherewith the slaue vseth to serue which is a hart of feare and not of loue For as S. Paul (k) Rom. 8. sayth You did not againe receaue the spirit of seruitude in feare but you receiued the spirit of adoption of the sonnes of God wherein you cry out to God say Father Father For as S. Augustine saith the difference betweene the old law and the Ghospell in a word is that which is betweene feare and loue Leauing therefore a part (l) To serue God for feare is lesse good to do it for loue is excellent this spirit of seruility because it belongeth not so properly to the sonnes of God and the spirit also of (m) He speaketh heere of filial fear feare as lesse perfect though it be not cuill since it is the gift of God to feare him euen for the punishments which he inflicteth do thou vnderstand by the name of seruant a person who is subiect to God by more strong and iust obligation then any slaue can be to his Lord how deare soeuer he haue cost him And (n) A faythfull and louing seruant well described looking euer vpon this whatsoeuer he doth well eyther within himselfe or exteriourly he will do it for the glory and to giue gust to God as a true-harted slaue will giue a iust account vnto his Lord of whatsoeuer he is able to gaine So also wil he forbeare to be slack or sluggish in seruing him vpon the present day notwithstanding that he had serued many yeares before Nor will he hold himselfe disobliged from the doing of one seruice in respect that he hath done another But as the holy (o) Luc. 17. Ghospell saith he carrieth a continuall hungar and thirst after iustice For he esteemeth all to be little considering both the much that he hath receaued and which the Lord in whose seruice he is hath merited By this meanes doth he accomplish that which S. Paul (p) Philip. ◠saith of himselfe That forgetting those things which were past he gaue himselfe new spirites towardes the pursuite of that which was then to come He doth also know that from those thinges which he is able to do how great so euer they may be no profit accreweth vnto God nor is God obliged to esteem that which he doth if the works be considered as growing from our naturall power and strength since a man is not able to pay euen what he oweth And therefore doth the holy (q) Luc. 17. Ghospell say When you haue done all those thinges which you haue beene commanded say We are vnprofitable seruants and we did but that which we were bound to do I say (r) How the best man is indeed an vnprofitable seruant and in what sense againe he is not so vnprofitable in respect of God but for as much as concerneth themselues they gaine life eternall as shal be shewed in the next Chapter And in this sort vnderstanding the name of slaue thou wilt find it to be a name of humility of obedience of diligence and of loue And this feeling thereof had the sacred Virgin Mary when being taught by the Holy Ghost she (s) The vnspeakeable humility of the incōprehensible virgin Mary the B. Mother of God answered Behould (t) Luc. 1. heere is the slaue of our Lord let that be fulfilled in me which is agreeable to his word She confesseth her owne basenes she offereth vp her loue and seruice with a liberall hart without ascribing any thing vnto her selfe by way of any other honour or interest then only in being carefull to serue as a slaue in that which our Lord was commanding her for his glory All this did she feele within and this did she outwardly expresse by deliuering her selfe in the name of slaue S. Paul doth call himselfe and prize himselfe by this name when he (u) Rom. 1. sayth Paul the slaue of Iesus Christ And in a word so are al they who serue God to acknowledg themselues whether they be high or low vnles they be content that euen the seruice which they are doing proue to be of more preiudice then aduantage to them Procure therefore to profit by this truth and thou shalt find a powerfull remedy against the danger which groweth by occasion of good workes not (x) There is no danger in good workes but in the vanity of mans hart who doth them from the workes themselues but by the imperfection of such as do them And vse thou to say both with thy mouth and with thy hart very often I am (y) A iust and true acknowledgement which ought to be made by the hart and tongue of all true Christiās the slaue of God and I am so because God is that which he is and for a thousand millions of benefits which I haue receaued from his hand And how much soeuer I might do for him I should neuer be able to pay the least of those paces which he being made man did make for me nor the least of those torments which he endured for me nor the least sinne which he hath pardoned nor any other which he hath preuented
nor any good purpose which he hath giuen me towardes his seruice nor one day of heauen which I expect heereafter and as (z) Gen. 31. Iacob affirmed I am lesse then any of the mercyes of God And if our Lord do say that they who do all that which they are commanded are yet to humble themselues and affirme that (a) Luc. 17. they are vnprofitable seruants that they did but that which they were bound to do how much more then am I to humble my selfe since I fall into so many faults by ignorance by weaknes or by malice A slaue I am and a wicked slaue and I serue not God so much as I am able and much lesse as much as I owe him And if he had cast his eye vpon that which I haue deserued of him a long tyme is past since he would haue throwne me into hell for the sinnes which I haue committed and for many other also into which he might iustly haue permitted me to fall Let this be therfore the feeling which thou hast of thy selfe let this be the place wherein thou mayst put thy selfe since this is that which for thy part thou dost deserue And let thy care be to serue our Lord the best thou canst without reflecting greatly vpon how much it is and without conceauing that God is bound to thank thee for it or that thou art able as Iob (b) Iob. â— sayth To answere him one for a thousand of what thou oughtst him And when thou hearest men speake of the much that good workes deserue let not thy hart grow vaine vpon it but say It is thy mercy O Lord thankes be giuen to thee who hast imparted such dignity to our vnworthy seruices And by such meanes as this be thou euer sure to remayne in thy true place of being a negligent vnworthy slaue CHAP. CXIII That a man being humbled and abased by the contents of the last Chapter may enioy that greatnes which our Lord vouchsafeth to impart to the workes of such as are iust with confidence and gratitude THY soule being thus secured from the aforesayd daungers by this consideration which our Lord doth teach vs thou mayst securely enioy the greatnes and dignity which he giueth to such as are his and thou art to blesse him in regard that euen to such as naturally are but slaues he infuseth his grace whereby they are made the adopted sonnes of God and if sonnes they are heyres togeather with Christ as S. Paul (a) Rom. 8. sayth Now because it is reason that such as are receaued for the sonnes of God should liue and worke according to the condition of the Father our Lord giues them the Holy Ghost and many guiftes and vertues whereby they may serue him and performe his law and giue him gust And they who for any seruices which they could do how great soeuer they were being considered in themselues did not passe aboue the roofe of their owne houses haue now drunke deeply of the water of grace And (b) How grace doth dignify our works by what meanes this growes this is so powerfull that it maketh a fountaine euen in the bowells of them which sproutes vp as high as eternall life by the valew whereof their good workes how little soeuer they be do also rise vp reach to eternall life because they deserue it for the reasons which are already touched And now reflect vpon the difference that runs between thee being considered in thy selfe and thee when thou art considered in God and in his grace Of thy selfe thou art but a huge bill of debt and how much soeuer thou doest thou art not only vnable to deserue eternall life but not so much as to pay what thou owest whereas in God in his grace the selfe same seruice which thou art bound to do is receaued into accompt for merit of eternall life And our Lord without being obliged so much as to thanke thee and much lesse to pay thee for that which thou doest for him doth yet ordayne thinges in such sort as that the good workes of his seruantes may be rewarded by their possessing him in heauen And though God owe nothing to any man for that which man is able to do for him yet he oweth it (c) How diuinely did S. Augustin expresse this by saying that Deus is debitor bonitati suae I he debtour to his own goodnes to himselfe whose ordination is in all iustice and reason yea and that most entirely to be accomplished Giue therefore glory vnto God for these fauours and know that if he had not bin a Father of mercy to S. Paul in giuing him a life which was full of merits S. Paul would not haue presumed to say when he was neere his death That the iust iudge was to giue him a crowne of iustice God (d) God sheweth his mercy in first giuing his grace and then his iustice in rewarding it according to his promise and it all redoundeth to his glory crowned him by iustice but first he gaue him the merites of grace and so doth all redound to the glory of God eyther vnder the title of a iust Rewarder of that which we haue done well or as a mercifull and primitiue Imparter of the good which we haue done and no man can deny this but he that will depriue God of his honour Put thy selfe therefore into thyne owne true place and esteeme thy selfe worthy of hell and of all miseries and vnworthy of the least good And (e) See heere the excellent immaculate doctrine of the holy Catholik Church yet be not dismaied by this consideration of thyne owne basenes but discharging all kind of pusillanimity hope thou in the mercy of God that since he hath placed thee in his way he will strengthen thee so farre as to proceed therein till thou mayst gather the fruit of eternall life from those good workes which heere by his grace thou didst performe CHAP. XCIIII That from the loue which we beare our selues we must draw a reason of louing our neighbours SINCE already thou hast vnderstoood with what eyes thou art to looke both vpon thy self and vpon Christ our Lord it remaines for the fulfilling of the prophets wordes which bid thee See that thou know with what eyes thou art to looke vpon thy neighbours that so on all sides thou maiest haue light and that no darknes may find thee out And for this purpose thou art to note that he beholdeth his neighbour well who beholdeth him with eyes which (a) The only good payre of spectacles through which we are to looke vpon our Neighbours first did passe both though himselfe and through Christ our Lord. My meaning is this When a man findeth trouble and paine for as much as concernes his body or else affliction ignorance and frailty for as much as concernes his soule it is playne that he feeleth incommodity and his sicknes troubleth him and he desireth nothing lesse then
to be despised or cast of for his infirmityes but to be endured pittied and relieued Now by that which passeth in himselfe as well in suffering afflictions as in desiring the redresse thereof let him learne to know what his neighbour feeleth who is made of the same frayle nature and let him behold and support and releeue him with the same compassion wherewith he beholdeth and desireth that himselfe may be releeued in like case and so shall that be accomplished which the (b) Eccles 31. Scripture sayth The thinges of thy neighbour vnderstand thou of thy selfe For otherwise what thinge can be more abhominable then for a man to haue pitty of his owne infirmities and to shew rigour towards them of others to desire that al men should endure him with a great deale of patience his owne errours seeming small whylest himselfe will haue no patience with others but make of euery moate of theirs a beame A man who desireth that all men would looke on him and comfort him whylest himselfe will be carelesse and curst to others deserueth not to be called a man since he beholdes not men with the eyes of a man which it becomes to be full of pitty The holy Scripture (c) Prou. 10. sayth To haue a weight and a weight a measure and a measure is an abomination before God Giuing vs so to vnderstand that he who hath (d) Note a great measure wherewith to receaue and another little one wherewith to giue is disagreable to the eyes of his diuine Maiesty And his punishment shall be that since he would not measure to his neighbour with that mercy wherewith he would be measured to God will measure to him with that cruell and straite measure wherewith he measured to his neighbour For it is written That (e) Matt. 7. with the same measure wherewith you measure it shal be measured to you agayne and iudgement without mercy shal be shewed to him who sheweth not mercy And (f) An excellent aduice therefore thou O Virgin in whatsoeuer condition thou seest thy neighbour consider what thou wouldst feele in thy selfe and what thou desirest that others should feele concerning thee if to thee that thinge should happen and with the same eyes which passe through thy selfe haue thou compassion of him and giue him remedy in what thou mayst and so God will measure vnto thee with the same measure of piety wherewith thou measurest to him According to his owne wordes Blessed (g) Matt. 5. are the mercifull for they shall obteine mercy And thus shalt thou draw the knowledge of thy neighbour out of the knowledge of thy selfe and thou wilt be compassionate towardes all men CHAP. XCV That from the knowledge of the loue which Christ beareth to vs we are to draw a reason for louing our neighbours CONSIDER (a) By the consideration of the loue of Christ our Lord to our Neighbours we shall be draâ—n to loue them teâ—derly now how thou art to draw this loue of thy neighbours out of the knowledg of Christ Consider with how great mercy the sonne of God made himselfe man for the loue of men and with how great care he did throughout his whole life procure their good and with how excessiue both loue and griefe he offered his life for them vpon the Crosse And as by reflecting vpon thy selfe thou didst behold thy neighbour with humane and gentle eyes so considering Christ thou wilt behould him (b) An excellent consideratioÌ„ sweet and solid with Christian eyes that is with such eyes as wherwith he was pleased to behould thee For if Christ remaine in thee thou wilt haue the same sense or feeling of thinges which he had and thou wilt see with how great reason thou art obliged to tolerate thy Neighbours fraylty whom he loued and esteemed as the head doth his body as the spouse his fellow-spouse as a brother his brethren and as an indulgent Father his children Beseech thou our Lord that he will open thyne eyes wherewith thou mayst see that inflamed fire of loue which burnt in his hart when he went vp to the Crosse for the good of all men little and great good and bad past present and to come yea euen for them who then were in the act of crucifying him And consider again that this loue of his is not growne cold but that if the first death were not sufficient for our remedy with the same loue would he dye againe wherwith then he dyed And as he offered himselfe corporally once to his Father so doth he often make this oblation by actes of will and with the selfe same loue Come (c) He lâ—ueth not Christ who loueth not his neighbour whome Christ did so deerely loue now and tell me who is he that can find in his hart to be cruell to them to whome Christ was so full of pitty How shall he find a way to desire euill to one whose good and saluation is so desired by God It cannot be spoken nor written what a profound and tender loue is engendred in the hart of a Christian who considereth not his neighbours according to externall respects such as are riches or kinred or the like but as parts of the very bowels of Christ Iesus and as a thing knit to Christ by all the bandes both of kinred and friendship How then can it seeme much to thee that a man who is a louer of Christ shold loue his neighbours considering that they are his very mysticall body and that the same Lord hath sayd by his owne mouth That the good or bad which he shall do to his Neighbour our Lord receaueth it as done to himselfe And from the deep consideration of these words the (d) A man that considereth christ our Lord in his neighbour will not only loue that Neighbour but reuere him good Christian growes to conuerse amongst his neighbours with a certaine profound reuerence and with a deep and tender loue and with a smooth kind of meeknes by hauing patience with them and by a watchfull care not to offend or hurt them but rather to profit and please them For it seemeth to him that he is conuersing with Christ himselfe since he beholdeth him in them to whome in his very hart he doth esteeme himselfe more a slaue then if they had bought him by some mighty summe of money For considering that deere price which Christ Iesus payd for man when he purchased him vpon the Crosse with his precious bloud what can such an one be able to do but to offer himselfe all to the seruice of Christ desiring that some occasion were presented wherin he might expresse the gratitude and loue he beareth to him And when he heareth this from the mouth of God If thou loue me feed me sheep and againe He that receaueth one of these little ones receaueth me and He that sheweth workes of mercy to one of them doth shew them to me he I say doth esteeme it for
loaden vvith sinne by vvay of conuersation and compassion it is the lesse wonder if his words vvere like so many burning coales which might serue to seare those soules which are full of festred soares and to set such others as are sound on fire vvith the loue of Almighty God And in the same spirit he hath also written a large Booke of Sermons vpon the B. Sacrament and vpon some festiuityes of our B. Lady as also a Booke of Epistles to seuerall persons vpon seuerall occasions vvhich I would to God some Reader who hath knowledg of that language would take the paines or rather pleasure to translate For I am much deceaued if there be any vertue to be obtayned or any vice to be auoyded or any necessity to be remoued or any affliction to be asswaged wherein a man may not find some excellent addresse for his purpose in the reading of those works aforesaid which he was inspired to write by the loue for the loue of God This loue of God being in him so hoat did make him profoundly loue that which God loued so much the ardent desire which he had to (i) How hethirsted after the saluation of soules gaine such which were the soules of men for whom Christ dyed to God made him employ the credit which he found with some great Prelates and other great persons as the vvriter of his life relates in procuring them to found (k) Life of D. Aiâ—laâ—-part cap. 2. some Colledges for such as might instruct youth in learning and vertue and others vvhich might be as Seminaryes for the education intertaynment of vvorthy exemplar Priests And speaking often of this subiect he vvas vvont to say I (l) Out of the feare which then he had that it would not be satisfied before his death perceaue I shal dye with this desire But after when the Institute of the Fathers of the Soc ty of Iesus came to his knowledg he did greatly reioyce in his very soule perceauing how for that which he was not able to compasse but only for some short tyme with no small difficulty our Lord had prouided a (m) The high veneration wherein 〈◊〉 had B. F. Igâ—atius whom he compared to a mighty strong man and himself to a child who was not able to moue that great Stone which the other was able to take vp and weild at his pleasure and to lay it in the proper place By this Stone he uÌ„derstaÌ„ds the worke of wining soules Vide hist Soc. Iesu l. 14. fol. 464. man who should go through with it in a perfect manner and with a perpetuity of continuance and strength and these are the very vvordes of (n) Supra part 3. c. 2. the Life This Booke is framed and the considerations which the Authour hath fallen vpon are drawne from his contemplation of that (o) The ground or Argument of the Booke verse of the psalme which is prefixed by way of argument before the first chapter The (p) An addresse to the particuler discourses that he makes in this work particulers wherof he treates are many and the heades of them shall go in a page apart between this Preface the Book But the maine drift of the Authour is to make vs know (q) The chiefe drift of the Authour both God and our selues and that not by the lying glasse of fancy but by the cleare and sweete beame of Truth Our selues that we may see our misery and fly at full speed from the cause thereof which is our pride and other sins And God that we may tremble vnder that infinite Maiesty belieue that infallible Verity and hope for a part of that inexhausted Mercy and euen as it were furiously loue that incomprehensible Abysse of Charity and Beauty This charity of God the Authour doth gladly make appeare vpon all occasions and by great variety of most iust motiues but especially doth his soule euen regorge againe when he enters into speach of the (r) He excelleth himselfe whensoeuer he growes to speake of the Incarnation Life and Passion of Christ Iesus our Lord. Incarnation Life Passion of our Lord Iesus Which he pondereth so coÌ„templatiuely and yet so sensibly so profoundly and yet so plainly so strictly and yet so tenderly as is able to make euen brasse to blush and iron to burne and lead to melt for the greife and shame of the much that we haue sinned and for loue of him in respect of the infinite that he hath suffered for vs. That so in fine we may heerafter make the consideration of the sacred Passion of our Lord a great part of our busine in this life since it is by it that we must be happy in the next vnles we haue a mind to remayne in torment for all eternity And that we may at length both with our hart and tongue make this prayer to the diuine Maiesty to which our Author exhorts (s) A holy prayer which he makes in this Treatise following vs in his discourse vpon the Passion That the mercy of God may not permit vs to be so miserable as not to be content so much as to thinke or meditate vpon those vast affronts tormeÌ„ts which the Son of God being the King of glory and God himselfe was content not only to consider but to suffer Yea and so to suffer as that the infinite desire of loue wherewith he suffered them may euen put the things theÌ„selues as it were to silence how lowd soeuer they otherwise deserue to be crying out in the eares of our hart And this he did without all interest of his owne and only for our eternall good as the Author doth excelleÌ„tly declare that so insteed of enemyes and rebels most wicked slaues which naturally by our descent from Adam we were in the fight of God we might be translated into the condition of being made his seruants his friends his adopted sonnes vpon the price of his owne pretious life This is the nayle that he beats most vpon and I beseech our Lord that our harts may be euen riuetted to his diuine hart thereby In the meane tyme you the Reader must not spend your hope vpon the meeting heer with (t) Concerning the stile any curious or elaborate stile For though euen in this kind the Author be far inough froÌ„ fault yet composition was the thing which he might well disdaine to affect as knowing that the inualuable stone which he was exposing did deserue to be most highly esteemed though it were not artificially either cut or set Nor (u) Concerning the quality of the Authors conceptions yet are you heer so much as to think of encountring certain flourishing fading coÌ„ceits though I am much deceaued if the most fastidious mind wil not heere find matter whereupon to feed with great delight But the Authours ayme was at a fairer marke It is not the clapping of handes which he begs he (x) He shootes
vnder foote that so this most vayne honour may not be lost but that it may be esteemed aboue all things yea euen aboue God himselfe O thou vayne honour which wert condemned by Christ vpon the Crosse vpon the price of his so extreme dishonour and who is he that gaue thee place in the Temple of God which is the hart of a Christian and this with so great aduantage as that after the manner of Antichrist thou wilt more be prized then the most high God Who made thee a competitour with God yea (d) Pride makes a man esteeme himselfe more then God and that thou shouldst euen outstrip him in the harts of some by being more esteemed then he So renewing that vast affront which was done him when they preferred (e) Matth. 27. Barabbas before him We must perforce confesse that thy tyranny is great ouer such harts as make themselues thy subiects and with great expedition and facility do they performe thee seruice whatsoeuer it cost them Aaron (f) Exod. 32. made him self belieue by demanding the golden eare-rings of their wiues children who asked an Idoll at his hands that rather then to see such as they loued to be disadorned they would desist from their wicked desire of a false God But so it fell not out for those things were no sooner askt then giuen Nor did they then nor do men now take care of what is needfull for house or Children so that they may haue an Idoll of honour to which they may offer sacrifice Oftentimes it happens that euen some of them who serue thee doe yet vnderstand well inough how vayne and shaddowy a toy thou art and what a wofull thing it is to follovv thee and being able if they would to deliuer themselues from thy heauy yoake by breaking from thee all at once yet (g) A miserable case is their infirmity misery so great that they rather choose to burst and to proceed against the honour of God then to doe God honour and be at rest by flying from thee God did cast this out for a curse against thē who serued false Gods That (h) Sin makes men slaues they should serue them day and night and this is punctually fulfilled by such as do adore this Honour S. Iohn speaking of some principall people of Hierusalem which belieued in Christ but durst not declare themselues for his in respect of men doth say of them with great reproach (i) Ioan. 12. That they loued the honour of men more thē that of God Which with much reason may be verifyed vpon these louers of honour since we see that they despise God rather then they wil be despised by men and that they are ashamed to performe his law rather then to be ashamed in the sight of men But let them be doing as long as they list let them honour this Honour euen to the outside of all their power yet firme and fixed doth that sentence stand which was pronounced against them by the soueraigne Iudge Christ Iesus when he sayd He that shal be ashamed of me and of my words of him will the Sonne of the Virgin be ashamed when he shall come in his maiesty and the maiesty of his Father with his Angells And then shall al those Angells and all the saints singe out Iust (k) Psal 118. art thou O Lord thy iudgments are iust For if this vild worme were ashamed to follow the King of Maiesty be thou O Lord ashamed thou who art Honour and Altitude it selfe that a thing so base and so wicked should remayne in company of thee and thyne O (l) Read tremble with what a powder shall the honour of this Babylon be then shot down into the profoūdest pit of Hell to be tormented in company of the proude Lucifer since these men would needes be his companions in the sinne of pryde Let no man offer to make a ieast of this or esteeme that the loue of worldly honour is a sinne of small importance since our Lord who searcheth the hart said thus to the Pharisies (m) Ioa◠5. How can you belieue in me since you seeke to be honoured by one another seeke not that honour which proceedes from God alone And now for as much as this vicious affection is so powerfull as that it sufficed to make men forbeare the belieuing in Iesus Christ what mischeife is that which it will not be able to effect who will not blesse himselfe from the same S. Augustine therefore sayd that no man knowes what force he hath more or lesse to conquer the loue of Vayne-glory but he only who maketh warre against it CHAP. III. Of what remedies we are to serue our selues towards the contempt of the Vayne-glory of the world And of the greate force which Christ our Lord doth giue for the ouercomming thereof VVE ought to esteeme it as a great remedy against this mischiefe that it is condēned by the very light of Nature For as much as euen that doth teach vs That man is to do workes worthy of Honour but not for Honours sake That he should deserue it but not valew it and that a (a) True nobility noble courage ought to despise both the being esteemed and disesteemed and that nothing should be held in high account but vertue But (b) Note if notwithstanding all this a Christian haue not the hart to contemne this vanity let him rayse his eyes vp to his Lord being placed vpon a Crosse and there he shall see him so surcharged with dishonour that if it be wel considered it may enter into competition with the grieuousnes of those very torments which he there endured Nor did our Lord without cause make choice of a death which might be accompanyed with extreme dishonour but for that he knew what a powerful tyrant this loue of honour was was likely to be in the hart of many who would make no difficulty to expose themselues to death but yet would flye from the manner of the death if it were dishonourable Now to giue vs to vnderstand that neither the one nor the other ought to fright vs he (c) Our Lord chose reproach to confound and reforme our pride chose the death of the Crosse whereupon extreme torments with excessiue dishonour did ioyne hand in hand Behould then if thou haue eyes wherewith to do it how Christ is esteemed for the meanest of men and abased by deep dishonours some of which were brought vpon him by that very death of the Crosse since that was the most infamous of all deaths and others also whereby they outraged our Lord in particuler manner for as much as there was no kind of people which did not imploy it selfe vpon despising iniuring and blaspheming him with certayne fashions of dishonour which neuer were found out before Thus shalt thou perceaue how entirely that was fullfilled which he whilest he was preaching sayd (d) Ioan. ◠I do not
seeke myne owne honour and doe thou after the same manner And (e) Note if thou wilt rayse vp the eares of thy soule to heare that lamentable Edict with attention which was made against innocency it selfe proclayming Iesus Christ our Lord throughout those streets of Hierusalem for a malefactour thou (f) Sure I am that we ought to be so wilt be confounded when thou seest that thou art honoured or when thou shalt desire so to be And thou wilt say with a deep cordial sigh O Lord. art thou proclaymed for wicked and I praysed for good What is there that can giue vs greater griefe And not only wilt thou loose the hungar of wordly honour but thou wilt couet greedily to be despysed in conformity of our Lord whome to follow as the Scripture (g) Eccles â—â— sayth is great honour And then wilt thou say with S Paul God forbid that (h) Galat. â— I should receaue honour but in the Crosse of Iesus Christ our Lord yea thou wilt desire to fullfill that which the same Apostle sayth els (i) Heb. 13. where Let vs go out and seeke Christ in the campe and let vs imitate him in his dishonour Now if this passion of vayne glory be a powerfull kind of thing much more powerfull is the remedy of the example and grace of Christ Which (k) The bloud of our Lord worketh wonders vpon the proud hart of man doth in such sort ouercome roote it out of the hart as to make it find that it is a thing to be abhorred for a Christian to see the Lord of Maiesty abase himselfe to such contempt whilest he vile worme swelleth vp with the loue of honour Therefore is it that our Lord inuiteth encourageth vs by his example saying Haue confidence for I haue ouercome the world As if he had sayd Before I came hither a hard point it was to wrastle with the deceitpfull world casting away that which flourisheth therein and imbracing that which it contemnes but after that it imployed all the forces it had against me inuenting new kinds of torments and dishonour all which I endured without once turning my face aside it is now not only growne weake for hauing encountred with one who was able to suffer more then that but it is euen ouercome outright to your benefit since by my example which I gaue you and by the strength which I haue gayned for you you may at case subdue and trample it vnder your feet Let the Christian man consider that since the world dishonoured the Blessed Sonne of God who is Eternall Truth and our Soueraigne Good there is no cause why any man should esteeme or belieue it in any thing Nay seeing (l) A demonstration why we ought to beleeue the world no more that it was deceaued in not discerning such a light of extreme clarity and in not honouring him who is most true and perfect honour let the Christian man reiect that which the world allowes let him prize loue that which the world doth despise hate Flying with much care from being esteemed by that (m) The World which did despise his Lord and holding it for a great signe of being beloued by Christ to be despised by the world with him and for his sake Out of which this resultes That as they who are of this world haue no eares wherewith to hearken to the truth and doctrine of God nay rather they despise the same so (n) The seruant of our Lord ought at least to be as careful to please him as the seruants of the world are to please it he who taketh the part of Christ is to haue none wherewith to hearken to or to belieue the lies of the world For in fine whether it flatter or persecute whether it promise or threaten whether it speake frightfully or fayre it doth euery where deceaue and hath a mind to doe so and with such eyes we are to looke vpon it And (o) Note this for a most certaine truth it is certayne that for so many lies and false promises wherein we haue taken it tripping if any man should haue told vs but the one halfe we would trust him now in nothing yea hardly should we credit him althogh he might chaunce in other things to say true That (p) If the world do either promise or threaten it lyes which the world can do is indeed neither good nor bad since it cannot eyther giue or take away the grace of God Nay euen in that ouer which it seemeth to haue power it is yet not able to do any thing since it cannot reach to the least hayre of our head without the will of our Lord. And if it tell vs any other tale of it selfe we must not belieue it And who then will not dare to encounter an enemy who hath no power at all CHAP. IV. In what degree and to what end it is lawfull for a man to desire Honour in the world and of the extreme danger which there is in holding places of Authority and Commaund THAT thou mayst the better vnderstand what hath byn sayd thou art to know that it is one thing to loue honour and humane estimation for it selfe as resting therin this is euil as hath byn shewed But another thing it is when these things are beloued for some good end and this is not euill It is a cleare case that a person who hath coÌ„mand holdeth place may for doing good to others desire that honour and estimation which is fit for the discharge of his employment therby the more to do good (a) Men of authority may desire to be well reputed so that it be to a good end For if men haue him who commaundeth in meane account they will not much esteeme of his commaundement though it be iust And not only this kind of persons but all Christians ought to practise that which is writreÌ„ Take (b) Eccles 41. care of thy good name Not as if he were to rest in that but because a Christian ought to be such a kind of man as that whosoeuer should vnderstand or behould his life (c) Note might giue the glory to God as we vse to do when we see a rose or a tree full of shade fruite This is that which the holy Ghospell requires That our light may so shine before men that they seing our good workes may giue glory to the celestiall Father from whome all good things proceed This ayme at the honour of God and the profit of men did mooue (d) 1. Cor. 4. S. Paul to recount those great and secret fauours which our Lord had done him without holding himselfe for a transgressour of that other (e) Prou. â—7 Scripture which sayth Let the mouth of another prayse thee and not thine owne For (f) He might safely do so but other men must take heed he recounted his own prayies so much without the sticking of
any part therof vnto himselfe as if he had not spoken therof at al. Thereby fulfilling that which he had already sayd to the Corinthians (g) â— Cor. 7. That they who had wines were to haue them as if they had them not and they who wept were to be as if they did not weep the like Wherby he had a mind to say That he vseth temporall things as he ought whether they be prosperous or aduerse whether they be of consolation or affliction who suffers not his hart to stick vnto them but it passeth by as by a thing which is transitory and vayne And certaynly S. Paul when he related those things of himselfe did speake of them with a hart which was not only a despiser of honour but a louer of contempt and dishonour for Iesus Christ his sake whose crosse he held for the highest honour Such hartes as these may well be trusted with taking honour and may relate such things as will purchase it for they wil neuer do so but wheÌ„ it shal be necessary for some good end But as it is a point of much vertue for a man to possesse a thing as if he had it not and so as that the honour which is imparted to vs by others should not cleaue vnto our hartes so (h) The more need we haue to vse all diligence is it also a matter of much difficulty and to which very few arriue For as S Chrysostome sayth To be in the middest of honour and that the hart of him that is so honoured should (i) Both these cases are full of daunger not be affected by it is as if a man were to conuerse amongst fayre women without euer behoulding them with vnchast eyes And experience hath taught vs that honourable and high place hath seldome made men better of worse hath very often made men bad of good For to beare the weight of honour to resist the occasions which grow in company thereof a man had need of much strength Because as S Hiâ—rome sayth The highest mouÌ„taynes are assaulted by the greatest winds This is certayne that greater vertue is requisite for commaunding then for obeying And not without cause great cause did our soueraigne Mayster Lord who knoweth al things fly away (k) This point deserueth great ponderation from being made a King Now since it was not possible for him to run hazard in any estate how high so euer it is playne that this doctrine was deliuered for the help of our weaknesse and that we ought to fly from that which is daungerous since he fled who was out of daunger And if it be a very great boldnesse and against the example of Christ to receyue a place of honour when it is offered what then shall it be to desire it and what againe to procure it For as for the mischeife which it bringes to purchase such a thing with money there liues not the man that can declare it We should find it very strange that a man who might walke securely vpon firme land would rather choose the daungers of going by sea (l) We should thinke that he were mad and that not in fayre weather but in a perpertuall tempest For as S. Gregory sayth What other thing is the power of honour but a tempest of the soule And besides these troubles and the daungers which are euer found in eminent place are followed by that terrible menace sounded forth by God though it be hearkned to vnderstood by few A (m) Sap. 6. most seuere iudgment shall passe vpon sâ—ch as command What kind of thing shall this be wheÌ„ (n) Let men of power commaund consider this euen the ordinary iudgment of God is such as that the men who are most refin'd in vertue do tremble thereat and say (o) Psal 141. Enter not O Lord into iudgment with thy seruant And yet there are persons so blindly bold as (p) For want of faith and the consideration of the next life that they choose to enter into his iudgement and that not such a one as may be accounted ordinary but into the most straite and hard that God affoardes And considering that Saul (q) 1. Reg. 10. the King to whom that kingdome was offered by the order of God without his prizing it or making much account thereof yea he declined it by hiding himselfe but was poynted out and shewed by the hand of God yet neuerthelesse that height of dignity with the circumstances therof treated him so ill that although God made choice of him and himselfe desired to be excused he yet passed through so wicked a life and ariued to so wretched a death that it ought to cast apprehension and feare vpon such as enter into place of honour though they be called in by the right doore and far far more vpon such others as go not in by so good a way Verily (r) A strange blindnes or rather madnes it is to be wondered at that there are persons to be found so strait-harted in the seruice of our Lord that if they be aduised to do any thing therein though it be clearely good yet do they go considering reconsidering whether or no the doing of it do oblige vnder the payne of mortal sin that so indeed they may forbeare to do it For they say that they are but weake they will not ingulfe themselues into matters of great perfection but tread in the playne beateÌ„ way And yet these very men who are so voyd of courage in the search of true vertue which by the grace of our Lord it would be no hard matter for them to obtayne are on the other side so audacious as to put themselues into dignity honour and places of Command For the innocent vse whereof without the hurt of him that hath them there is need of perfect and tryed vertue which they make themselues belieue that they haue and that forsooth they will giue a good account of the forward ranke they hold without hazarding any thing of conscience wherein yet others haue runne so much hazard So (s) How mightily doth the loue of honour intoxicate the brayne deeply doth the desire of honour and command and other humane interests blind men as to make them who dare not set vpon an enterprize which is secure and easy attempt other thinges which are accompanied with difficulty and danger Yea they who do not confide in God that he will help them in those good workes which only do concerne themselues do promise themselues with strange boldnesse that God will guide them by the hand towards those things which concerne the gouernement of others Whereas indeed he may answeare them with great reason That since they would needs plung themselues into that danger let them looke to their owne carriage therein For of such as these it is that God did say They raigned but not by my direction They were Princes and I knew
puffe vs vp with Vanity and Falsehood and afterwards to pull vs downe by giuing vs a reall and a miserable fall He puffes vs vp with thoughtes which incline vs to an estimation of our selues so he maketh vs fall into pryde And for as much as he knoweth by experience that this sinne is so (a) The power which pryde hath to do mischeife great that it sufficed to make himselfe of an Angell a Diuell he labours all he can to make vs partakers with him therein to the end that we may also partake with him in the torment that he is subiect to Full well he knowes how displeasing Pryde is to God and that it serues the turne to make vnprofitable whatsoeuer a man hath how good soeuer it seeme And he laboureth so hard to sow this vile seed in our soule that (b) Marke the craft of the Diuell and learne to â—â—y him he will not stick many tymes to speak truth and to giue good counsayle and feelinges of deuotion only to induce vs thereby to pryde making small account of what he looseth in that one doe some one good work that so he may gayne him to himselfe in grosse and others also who follow him by the sinne of pryde For as a King goeth accompanied with muoh people so doth pride with many other sins The scripture sayth The beginning of all wickednesse is pryde and he that hath that shal be full of maledictions That is to say both of sinnes and punishmentes We read of a solirary person to whom the Diuell appeared for a long tyme in the figure of an Angell of God and gaue him many reuelations and euery night made his cell resplendent as if there had byn some great light or lampe But at the end of all this he persuaded with him to kill his owne sonne that so he might be equall in merit to the Patriarch Abraham Which the solitary person being deceyued prepared to put in execution but that the sonne who had suspicion thereof fled away To another also he appeared in figure of an Angell and for a long tyme told him many truths thereby to gaine credit with him and afterward he told him a great lye against fayth which the other being deceyued did belieue So (c) A feaâ—ful example also do we yet read of another whom after he had liued fifty yeares in very singular abstinence and with more straite obseruation of solitude then was obserued by any of the rest in the wildernesse the diuell in forme of an Angell did persuade that he should cast himself into a deep wel that so he might know by experience That neither that nor any other thing could do hurte to one that had serued God so long and so well as he had done All which he belieued and put the same in execution And being with much difficulty taken out of the well euen halfe dead and being aduised by those other holy old men of the wildernesse that he should repent himselfe of so great a sinne being suggested by an illusion of the Diuell he would not belieue or do as they required him And that which is worse although indeed he died the third day after so deepely had that deceit conuayed it selfe into his heart as that notwithstanding he euen saw himselfe dye by reason of that fall he still neuerthelesse belieued that it had byn a reuclation of an Angell of God O (d) Be not high minded but feare how necessary is it for such as hauâ— euen profited in vertue that they liue with a holy feare of themselues as men who although they may make coniecture that they are well with God yet (e) We may haue great hope but no certainty of being in the state of grace can they haue no certainty thereof Nor do they know whether they be worthy of louâ— or hate euen at the present tyme and much lesse what they are to be in the rest of the life which they will lead And especially they ought to be very carefull not to belieue themselues Pryde deserueth to be deceiued And if as I haue related to you the deceites of men in former tymes I should also recounte such as haue happened in these dayes of ours neither would they be written in a small volume nor couldst thou read them without much labour On the one syde the case standeth thus according to that which we may iudg That (f) See the great reason that we haue both to loue God and to feare him God doth rayne vpon the hartes of many the water of particuler mercyes in vertue whereof they bring forth many fruits which euen to the exteriour are good but the same men haue a kind of interiour communication with our Lord and that so familiar that it can hardly be beleeued On the other side we haue also experience that by the permission of God the Diuel doth in these tymes vse particuler diligence for the deceauing by false motions and false speaches both interiour and exteriour and by appearing with false light to the vnderstanding of such as are proud and addicted to their owne opinion with conceit that it is the will of God And so also doth he suffer the Diuell to exercise by diuers wayes such as serue him in humility And therefore in these tymes when it seemeth that Satan is broken loose as S. Iohn sayth it is necâ—ssary for them that serue God to vse double diligence that they may not easily beleeue such thinges as those and to procure profound humility and holy feare that God may not permit them to be deceaued They must also endeauour with speed to giue account of what they find and feele in themselues vnto their Prelates and Superiours who may instruct them in the truth The Prophet sayth That vnder the tongue of wicked persons is the poyson of vipers how much more then will it be in the language of the Diuel who is the most wicked thing of all things that are wicked And if he shall puffe vs vp by occasion of the vertues that we may haue we are to humble our selues and to consider the ill which we dayly do and the sinnes which we haue committed Which were so many as that if our Lord had not beene close at hand and had not come into that way wherein we did walke with so much desire to forsake him as he did to S. Paul we should haue beene multiplying our wickednes to such a proportion as that euen the torments of hell would haue beene too little for our punishment O (g) An excellent admiration of Gods mercy thou Abyssus and euen bottomlesse pit of mercy and what could moue thee to cry out to our hart euen from heauen and to say Why doest thou persecute me with thy ill life By which wordes thou didst pull downe our pride and didst make vs profitably feare and tremble that with griefe for hauing offended thee and with desire of pleasing thee we might say O Lord
as yet they of the (d) The children of Israel desert were obliged to belieue that God would giue them victory against those enemyes who were in the Land of promise if they would haue gone out to fight against them But at other tymes holy men and euen the common vse of speach doe call Belieuing the holding an opinion which is caused by reason or coniectures This do they call credulity and if it be vehement it is called fayth And this manner of credulity doth he possesse who belieueth by probable coniectures that he is pardoned by God that he is in state of grace and that God will help him in that whereof he shall haue need in the future and this which passeth in the vnderstanding doth help men to haue confidence hope which are in the will And therefore sometymes Incredulity is taken for Disconfidence and credulity for confidence And thus it may be sayd that he who because God had deliuered him out of other dangers and for other motiues also had reason to belieue though not with certainty that God will also deliuer him out of this danger is subiect if he do it not to incredulity not against the Catholike fayth but against that which riseth out of coniecturs But because the (e) The Caluinists were scarce known in this Authours tyme though their case be all one with that of the Lutherans LutheraÌ„s take one of these wordes for the other we Catholikes must speake distinctly calling fayth and confidence by their proper names declaring how we are to vnderstand either belieuing or being incredulous since (f) A wise proposition and being wel applyed will serue to many good purposes that which at some one tyme may be securely expressed by such words at some other tyme must be auoyded Returning therefore to our purpose thou must five from disconfidence and from being changeable which the (g) Eccles 17. Scripture reprehendeth in the foole who is as the Moone And procure thou to partake of that stability for which the iust man is praysed thus As the Sunne shall he remaine Which signifyeth that he shall be euer after the same manner Learne (h) Note by one tyme how thou art to carry thy selfe in others and as the Scripture sayth In (i) Eccles 11. the day of thy prosperity forget not that of thy aduersity and in the day of thy aduersity forget not that of thy prosperity That so tempering the prosperity of one with the aduersity of the other thou mayst grow to liue in an (k) A happy state of mind equality And that neither thou mayst be drawn down in the tyme of thy tribulation by the weight of disconfidence and sadhes nor yet grow giddy-headed by excesse of ioy in the tyme of spirituall consolations So do we read of that holy Anna the Mother of of the Prophet (l) 1. Reg. 1. Samuel who after hauing prayed in the Temple of God still kept her face the same way The meaning is that she conserued her hart in equality Isaias (m) Isa 4. sayth That one should haue such a habitation as might giue shade against the heate of the Sunne and security or defence against the storm and the raine And it were well that thou didst procure to liue in this (n) Happynes is euer in this house house that so hauing strength of hart and confiding in the mercy of God it might giue thee assurance in those places and passages of busines wherein there vseth to be (o) Of trouble danger As it was prophesied of the tyme of the new Law That (p) Ezech. 34. men should sleep securely in the thickest woodes And although it seem a strang thing to be at rest and to haue security in this place of our exile and indeed it must be very little in comparison of that which is in heauen yet if we ranke it by those feares which the vvicked of the world are subiect to it is very great and deserueth greatly to be esteemed And particulerly S. Paul (q) Heb. 6. sayth that the vertue of hope is as a firme and secure anchor of the soule Because although we haue an enemy of the Diuell who hath a mind to fright to discomfort vs by meanes of these combats we haue yet withall a friend who is both more stoute and more wise then he And if the former do abhorre vs much incomparably more doth Christ loue vs and if he sleepe not endeauouring still how to do vs mischiefe the blessed eyes of God do watch ouer vs to help vs to saue our selues as sheepe for which he gaue his pretious bloud Since (r) Note then we haue the arme of the Omnipotent why shall we feare the Diuell vvhose power is meere weakenes in comparison of the other How shall he be able to feare the Diuell who doth cordially belieue this truth if he vvill serue himselfe of fayth as vvas sayd before that the diuells can do vs no manner of harme vnles first they haue leaue from God Could the diuels peraduenture touch Iob or any thing that was his or could they drowne the swine of the Genesarits without first obtayning leaue Or shall he perhâ—ps who may not touch the swyne touch the children Do you therefore comfort your selues in our Lord as S. Paul requireth in the power of his vertue take in hand the weapons of God that you may standon foot against the craâ—ty enterprises of the diuel And hauing spoken of some of the particuler weapons he addeth saying In all things take to you the shield of faith whereby you may quench all those dartes that burne likeâ—â—re For as this enemy is of more strength then we so we must helpe our selues by the shield of faith which is a supernatural remedy defending our selues with some what that belongeth thereunto as with some worde of God or by receauing the Sacramentes or following some instructioÌ„ of the Church And beheuing firmely with the vnderstanding that al power is of God We must also be comforted with the head piece of hope so being offered vp to God by the loue of him taking with a good wil whatsoeuer he shall send and by which way soeuer it come we shal make a scorne of our enemy and we shall adore our Lord who gaue vs the victory against him and that not only by himselfe but by meanes of the succour of his holy Angells who fight for vs as was declared to the seruant of the Great (s) 4. Reg. 6. Elizaeus who being in much (t) An example to proue the assistance that we haue by the holy Angellâ— feare of a great army of men who came to take his maister the Prophet bad him not feare for fayth he there are more for vs then against vs. And whilst I lizaus prayed and sayd Open thou O Lord the eyes of this young man that he may see God did open his eyes and he saw that there was a
proceeding vertue many whereof were yet formerly in miserable case and made slaues to sinne and so passionatly affected to it that their harts did seeme euen to be transformed into the same And that with so great determination to follow wickednes that they wold passe as we vse to say the vory pikes for the committing thereof But (a) The powerfull grace which God imparteth in the holy Catholike Church these miserable captiues who were so weake in the deliuery of theÌ„ selues from so strong a tyrant haue sometymes by the hearing of one Sermon other tymes by making one confession other tymes by some one single inspiration of God and others by other meanes which doe abound in the Catholique Church haue found within themselues a most powerfull and mighty hand which putting those in captiuity who lead them captiue drew them out of the slauery of sinne wherein they were and made a change of their hart so truely changed that many tymes in lesse space then of a month yea and of a weeke they haue been seen to haue more abhorred wickednes then formerly they were louers of it Saying with their harts I haue abhorred (b) Psal 118. sinne I haue detested it and I haue loued thy law And this they do so truly as that they resolue not to commit a sinne neither for life nor death nor any thing created as S Paul (c) Rom. 1. saith Who is he that wrought this so strang and happy change in so short a tyme Who drew water out of so hard a rocke Who raysed vp such a miserable dead man bestowing such an excellent life vpon him No other certainly but the hand of God who is so belieued in and so beloued as the Christian Church belieueth in him and loueth him by those meanes which the Christian doctrine imbraceth and teacheth And if this manner of proceedinge with God doe passe on as in many it doth in such sort as that leauing all thinges they imploy themselues wholly vpon attending to God who brake their chaynes and if they began to walke by the solitude of a spirituall life and by that strayt way which leadeth to true life though many tymes they might see themselues in so great afflictions and fierce tempestes that as Dauid sayth it makes such as sayle loose their courage and their discourse yet by calling vpon their Iesus who is the guid of their way and at other tymes by receiuing the comfort of the Sacraments and at other tymes agayne by hearing or reading the word of God or by such other meanes as are in the Church they haue found themselues so wonderfully assisted in their tribulation as that seeing the sea of their hart to be growne so still vpon such a sudden it hath made them say with the Apostles (d) Matt. 8. Who is this to whom the sea and the winds obey Certainely this is the holy Sonne of God S. Bernard relateth how by experience he had found many tymes that the name of Iesus being cordially called vpon was a remedy and cure of all the infirmities of the soule and that which the Saint did say was approued in him by experience The same hath hapned to many others both before after him among whom S. Hierome may be one who is worthy of all credit He relateth as I haue sayd before that seing himselfe in tribulation of the flesh without meeting with remedy in any thing that he had thought vpon without knowing what more to do did find it out by casting himselfe at the feete of Iesus Christ and by calling vpon him with deuour prayer Whereupon his tempest receiued such a calme that he seemed to himselfe as (e) S. Hierome in Extasis if he were euen assisting among the quires of Angels For (f) Note the fauour which God is wont to do doth not only remooue the tribulatioÌ„ that a man is in which may happen sometymes by the turning of his thoughts some other way or by such other naturall meanes as that but it is a fauour which God doth whereby he planteth such a disposition in the mind as is directly contrary to that which was felt before Now this change and perfect deliuery and that vpon such a sudden is not in the power of any man to giue himselfe as (g) Or els let him neuer trust me he that shall try it will confesse From abroad it cometh from God it cometh and from such other Christian meanes it cometh and so experience is taken of that which S. Paul sayd That Christ Iesus crucified to them that were called by God was the strength of God and the wisedome of God Because they calling vpon him in the day of tribulation he giueth them light and force that so ouercomming all impedimentes they may proceed in their way and sing therein as (h) Psal 1â—7 Dauid doth Great is the glory of our Lord. And so they find in themselues that which the same Prophet (i) Psal 55. sayth In whatsoeuer day I called vpon thee I haue knowne that thou art my â—od For to remedy them so speedily and so powerfully is a great testimony and motiue to proue to them that God is the true God and that he hath care of them And here we speake not of celestial visions or reuelations which may rather passe amongst maracles but only those things which are more ordinary and which may be subiect to better proofe CHAP. XXXVII Of the many and great good things which God worketh in the soule that followeth perfect vertue and that this is a great proofe that our Fayth is true because that did teach vs meanes how to obtaine those graces NOT only do they who trauell diligently in the way of perfect vertue enioy the benefit of being deliuered by Christ from the dangers which present themselues but moreouer do they obtaine and possesse such graces in their soule as that we may say to them and that with much truth (a) Luc. 7. The Kingdom of God is within you Which as S. Paul (b) Rom. 14. sayth doth consist in hauing with in ones selfe iustice and peace and ioy in the holy Ghost And so these persons are so affectioned and such louers of that which is iust and good as that if the lawes of vertue which are written in bookes were lost we should find them written in their hartes Not because they haue them without (c) In their memory booke but for that the resolute loue of their hartes doth say the selfe same thing which the Law sayth exteriourly Their hart being already so transformed into the loue of goodnesse and to worke it with so much diligence and delight as that to follow that to which their hart inclineth is to follow vertue and to fly from vice they being made a liuing Law and a kind of measure of humane actions which euen Aristotle himselfe was ayming at And from hence doth spring a certayne ioy and contentment so complete as none
Iesus Lord but by fayth inspired as S. Paul sayth yet not doing that which our Lord commaunded they were not in state of grace it followeth cleerely that a man may haue Fayth without grace which S. Paul affirmeth also in another place where he fayth That if a man should haue the gifte of speaking tongues and should comprehend and possesse all knowledge and prophesie and haue all fayth so farre as that he could remooue mountaynes from one place to another and yet should be without charity all this were nothing And since it is certayne that the gifte of tongues with the rest which is there recounted is compatible vvith mortall sinne it stands not vvith reason that men should make it impossible for fayth to be without charity though it be true that charity cannot be without fayth They are the words of the diuine scripture That iustice is giuen by fayth but that it should be giuen by fayth alone is an inuention of men a very ignorant and peruerse errour Whereof our Lord did warne vs when he sayd to S. Mary Magdalen That many sinnes were forgiuen her because she loued much Which words are as cleare to shew that loue is requisite as there are any in the whol scripture to shew the necessity of fayth And that not only there must be loue in the iustification of a sinner but because loue is a disposition towards the obteining of pardon as fayth is they both must go hand in hand and of both did our Lord make mention in the conuersion of S. Mary Magdalen For at the end of the discourse he sayd Thy fayth hath saued thee go in peace Nor in that which our Lord sayd before That many sinnes were forgiuen her because she loued much would he say that it was because she belieued much giuing the effect the name of the cause since it is euident that our Lord hauing asked which of these two debters did loue him most who released the debt it was answered He to whom the more was released and not he to whome the lesse he was to haue concluded his discourse with speaking of loue and not of Fayth And if liberty may be taken for a man to say that he called Fayth Loue tearming the effect by the name of his cause let vs also take liberty to say that in those places of the Scripture where it is affirmed That man is iustifyed by Fayth Loue is to be vnderstood by the name of Fayth by considering in the cause the effect In plaine manner did our Lord speake heer vnles a man be disposed to hood wincke himself in so faire a light and he called fayth and loue by their owne names and both of them are requisite to iustification as we haue sayd already And our Lord did settle the same coniunction when he sayd afterward to his disciples The (c) Ioan. 16. Father himselfe loueth you because you haue loued me and haue belieued that I issued froÌ„ him And fince Fayth loue are both requisite to a man without doubt he will haue griefe for his sinnes as hauing grieuously offended God whome he loueth aboue all things as it is plaine by the example of S. Mary Magdalen and of other sinners who were comuerted to God Now (d) If this be well considered it wil ouerthrow the fancyes which the Caluinish haue concerning Fayth because both these thinges are requisite and others also which flow from them towardes the obtaining of Iustice therefore doth the holy Scripture sometymes name Fayth and sometymes Loue sometymes sorrow griefe of Repentance and sometymes The humble prayer of the penitent who sayth Lord haue mercy vpon me a sinner and sometymes the knowledge of the sinne it selfe I haue sinned O Lord sayd Dauid instantly he heard the word of pardon in the name of God But yet he who should be induced by this to say that sinne is pardoned by a mans only knowledge of the sinne should fall into no small errour since Cain and Iudas and Saul and many others did know their sinne and yet came not to obtayne pardon of it And so farre without all ground is it for them to say That by only Fayth it is obtayned in respect that the Scripture doth in some places make mentioÌ„ of Fayth alone as it is that for the same reason we might also exclude fayth out of this businesse as being vnnecessary because in other places the Scripture sayth That sinnes are forgiuen by pennance other meanes without making any mention at all of Fayth But (e) The doctrine of the Catholike Church concerning this point the truth of Catholike doctrine is this That both the one and the others are requisite as dispositions towards the obtayning of pardon and grace And if any man shall reflect vpon this That Fayth is named many tymes by way of attributing iustice to it and that by fayth we are made the sonnes of God and partakers of the merits of Iesus Christ and such like effects as do accompany grace and charity it is not because fayth alone is sufficient for it but because when the Scripture attributeth these effects to Fayth it is to be vnderstood of that Faith which is formed by charity and which is the life thereof Neither yet must these effects be attributed to Fayth as if necessarily vpon our hauing fayth we must haue loue because true fayth may remayne as hath beene sayd euen when grace and loue are lost which loue as S. Paul sayth is greater then either fayth or hope And when our Lord spake of fayth and loue as well in that passage of S. Mary Magdalen as in that other which we mentioned with his disciples he named loue before fayth giuing the precedent place of perfection to that which was the act of the will which yet after a sort is subsequent if it be compared with an act of the vnderstanding to which fayth belongeth It is also to be vnderstood that although the Sacraments of Baptisme and Pennance are necessarily to be receaued or at least a purpose of receauing them must be intertayned for the obtayning of that Grace which is lost the former by Infidells and the latter by belieuers who after Baptisme haue committed mortall sinne yet is there not in holy Scripture so frequent speach of them as of fayth for the reason which shortly I shall relate But yet neither is the mention of them forborne least any one should thinke that they were not necessary towardes the obtayning of Iustice S. Paul (f) Tim. 3. fayth That God saued vs by the Baptisme of regeneration and renouation of the holy Ghost and that Christ did cleanse his Church by the Baptisme of water in the word of life And it because the Scripture sayth That we are iustifyed by fayth we were to cast away the Sacraments as iustly were we to cast away saâ—th since it sayth That saluation and cleanesse is giuen by holy Baptisme But our Lord doth couple these
which was beginning to sly de into Spaiâ—e about his tyme and they were called Ilâ—umimati so farre did this deceite ariue that if this kind of interiour motion came not to them they would not stirre a foot towardes the doing of any thing how good soeuer and on the other side if they had a mind to do any thing that they would be sure to do though it were against the wil of God Belieuing that the humour which they found in their hart was Gods particuler instinct and the liberty of the holy Ghost which did enfranchise them from all obligation to the ordinary Commandments of God to whome they sayd they carryed such an entiere true loue as that euen by breaking of his commandments they lost it not They considered not that the Sonne of God did preach by his owne sacred mouth a doctrine very contrary to this when he sayd If any man loue me he will keep my word and he that holdeth and obserueth my Commandements he is the man that loueth me And againe If any man loue me he will keep my word and he that loueth me not will not keep it Giuing cleerely to vnderstand heereby that whosoeuer keepeth not his word doth beare no loue nor hold friendship with him For as S. Augustine sayth No man can loue that King whose Commandements he hateth Now as for that which the Apostle sayth That (d) Note how the obiection which is made by heretikes vnder the colour of this place of Scripture is soundly answered and at large to the iust man there is imposed no law and that where the spirit of our Lord is there is liberty This is not so to be vnderstood as if the Holy Ghost did free any man how iust soeuer he may be from keeping the commandments of God or of his Church or of his Prelates but rather how much the more this spirit doth communicate it selfe so much the more loue doth it infuse and by the increase of loue the care and desire doth also increase of keeping more and more the word of God and of his Church And as this spirit is most efficacious and maketh a man become a true and feruent louer of that which is good so it further putteth such a disposition into the soule when it imparteth it selfe aboundantly as that the keeping of the Commandements is not hard but very easy so full of gust as that Dauid sayd How sweet are thy wordes to my threate yea more then hony to my mouth Because when this spirit doth place in the will of man a most perfect conformity with the will of God making it to be one spirit with him and doth say as S. Paul doth That he hath the same mind to will and not to will it must necessarily follow that to such a man the obseruation of the will of God is to be full of gust since it is of gust to euery body to do that which they loue And this is so full of Truth as that if the very law of God could be lost it would be found writteÌ„ by the holy Ghost as it were in the bowells of these persons according to that which Dauid (e) Psal 39. sayth That the law of God is in the hart of the man that is iust that is in his will which is according to God And God himselfe sayd as much I (f) Ierem. 31. will put my law into the bowells of theÌ„ From hence it is that although there were no hell to threaten and no heauen to allure and no commaundment to oblige yet would this iust man do that which he doth for the pure loue of God For because the holy Ghost worketh in a man towards God that which nature worketh in the hart of a sonne towards his Father since by his gifte and by his grace we receaue the adoption of being the sonnes of God from hence I say it groweth that such a man like a tender harted Son doth reuere and serue God throgh the filiall loue which he carrieth towards him Vpon this doth also follow a perfect detestation of al sinne and a perfect hope which dispatcheth all feare sorrow away with speed as it may be done in this exile of ours and it enableth him to suffer paine and trouble not only with patience bâ—â— euen with ioy And by reason of the liberty which he hath both in respect of sinnes afflictions abhorring the former and louing the latter he may be called free and that vpon such a iust man there is no law imposed Euen so as if there were a mother who did much loue her sonne and would faine do much for him that law would be of no trouble to her which should commaund her to do those things towards him which her own maternall hart did induce her to And so this mother should not be placed vnder a law or vnder the trouble that she was put to but should rather be superiour to them since she performed that with alacrity which the law commaunded with authority In this sort do they of whom we haue spoken by fulfilling the law of Gods loue yea and there are many who do things to which they are tyed by no obligation their hart flaming vp into a hoater fyre of loue then the law doth any way oblige them to In this manner therefore that of S. Paul is (g) Gal. 5. to be vnderstood If you be conducted by the Spirit you are no more vnder the law Because (h) This liberty of Spirit is very different from the Protestant liberty of the ghospâ—ll by abhorring sinne and carrying a tender loue to that which the law commaundes and being ioyfull in tribulation which are all effects of being guided by the Spirit the law as hath byn sayd is no burthen to such But in breaking any of the commaundments of God or of his Church this Spirit doth instantly fly away as it is written That it departeth from the thoughtes of them who are without vnderstanding and that it shal be driuen out of a soule when sinne commeth into it And as then men are not carried by this holy Spirit so is it impossible but that they should be vnder that weight which the law imposeth vpon such as loue it not and who are weak in suffering affliction and subiect to returne to sinne Let (i) Heere ProtestaÌ„ts are playnly spoken to no man therfore affirme that when he breaketh the commaundment of God or of his Church he hath Iustice or liberty of spirit or loue of God in his soule since our Lord pronounceth him to be a slaue and no free man who committeth sinne And as there is no participation between light and darknes so neither is their any between God and him that worketh wickednes For as it is written The wicked man and his wickednes are detestable in the sight of God I haue giuen thee notice of this so blind errour in the nature of an example by meanes whereof thou maiest
rest be So great are the mischiefes which grow from pride that it troubleth al them with whom it hath to do for if men will defend their owne opinion in obstinate manner and be inseparable from it who shall be able to liue in peace And to the end that thou mayst fly cutse this vice know that it arriueth so farce as to make of them that were good Christians peruerse Heretikes Nor haue they beene nor are they such for any other reason now but because by giuing more beliefe to their owne iudgment then to that of the Church and of their Prelates they conceaue themselues to hit the birde in the eye and that whatsoeuer passeth in their hart is the worke of God that to belieue the opinion of others rather thē that which they find in their own hart were to forsake God for man But experience truth demonstrates to vs that the thing which they thought to be the spirit of Truth was the spirit of Errour which not being able to ouercome them otherwise did assault them after hauing transformed it selfe into an Angell of light vnder the appearance of Good so depriued them of the life of their soules for not being content to submit themselues to the aduice of others CHAP. LV. That we must fly fast from our owne opinion chuse some person to whome for the loue of God we must be subiect and be ruled by him and what kind of man he must be and how we must carry our selues with him BEING therefore afrayd and taking a warning by occasion of these fellowes I admonish thee that as thou art to be an enemy to thyn owne will so thou art much more to be so of thyne owne opinion and of resoluing to carry thinges by thyne owne iudgment since thou seest the euill conclusion which is made by selfe conceite Be an enemy thereof both within doores and without and follow it not euen in trifles For (a) Note this well thou shalt hardly find a thing which so much will disquiet the peacefull rest that Christ desireth to find in thy soule that so he may cōmunicate himselfe thereunto as to be obstinate resolute to carry the matter after thyne owne mind And better for thee it were not to haue that which thou desirest then to loose that wherof thou hast so much need for the enioying of God with intiere peace This I say is to be practised by thee if the ordering of the house do not belōg to thy care for in case it do thou must not forbeare to do that which seemeth best to thee though yet withall thou art to informe thy selfe well both by making prayer and taking counsaile according to the quality of the thing in question Thou (b) Whosoeuer will maister his will in great matters must be contēt to begin in small ones knowest well inough that they who are in dāger of receauing some great affront do beginne to make trial vpon enduring certaine toyes that so they may be exercised towardes the bearing of such as indeed are great ones And know thou assuredly that whosoeuer is accustomed to belieue himselfe and doth esteeme himselfe to haue a wise vnderstanding resoluing to beare himselfe out in small matters will find it very strang and hard to depart in greater from his owne opinion And on the contrary side a man who hath vsed to call his vnderstanding foole and to giue it little credit in trifles will find himselfe facilitated towards a subiection of himselfe to the pleasure of God and of his Superiours and not easily to iudge ill of his Neighbours And as I haue sayd that in thinges of smal importance thou shalt do well to forsake thyne owne and to follow another mans opinion without much examination of who it is that sayth or sayth it not so I tell thee that in the things which concerne thy conscience thou art much more to follow aduice neither trusting thy selfe therewith nor yet some such other man as thou mayst find at randome It will therefore be fit for thee to take for thy guide and Ghostly Father some person who is both (c) Both learning experience are wholy necessary to such as are to be the Ghostly Fathers of spirituall persons learned and of experience in thinges that belong to God For without both these qualityes speaking ordinarily he will not be for the purpose For learning alone is not sufficient to prouide for the particuler necessityes and prosperityes and temptations which happen to the soules of such as walke in a spirituall life and in these cases as Gerson sayth recourse must be had to men of experience And it will fal out many tymes to them who haue no more thē learning as it fell out to the Apostles who being one night in a tempest at sea thought that Christ comming towardes them was but some other idle apparition holding that for a deceit which yet indeed was a reall fauour the truth of our Lord. Some man will strike thee into excessiue feares condemning euery thing for euill And as their owne harts are very farre from the experience of any spirituall gustes and illuminations of God so do they speake therof as of a thing neuer heard of and can with difficulty be induced to belieue that nobler and higher thinges do passe in the harts of others then they find in their owne With others also thou shalt meet who are practised in matters of deuotion and who are easily carryed towardes any gust of spirit who make much account thereof And if any such thing be told them they hearken to it with great admiration esteeming him for more holy who hath more of them and he is light in giuing credit to them as if in them all were safe But because indeed it is not so many of these persons fall into errour and they suffer also them to fall whom they haue in charge for want of giuing them sufficient aduice against the craft of the Diuell and in this respect they are as vnfit to gouerne soules as the former But (d) Note this and learne thereby wherein true sanctity doth consist know thou that there are some of so good iudgement as to vnderstand that true sanctity consisteth not in such things as these but in the accomplishing of the will of our Lord and they haue experience in spirituall things and they also can tell how to doubt and to aske of others who may informe them Thou (e) Great experiēce with great humility goeth far in making a manable to guyde another in matters of spirit though there be not so great learning maiest trust these last although they haue no eminency in learning because that which they haue is inough since they haue no other employment but to looke to themselues And since it doth so much import thee to light vpon a good guide thou must with great instance beseech our Lord that he will direct thee by his prouidence to
excellent lesson coÌ„cerning the strict examinatioÌ„ of our coÌ„science as it were into the chapter-house with thy selfe towardes night and iudge thy selfe very particulerly as thou wouldest do any third person Reprehend thy selfe and punish thy selfe for thy faultes and preach thou more to thy selfe then to any other body how much so euer thou loue him and where thou findest most fault there procure to apply most remedy For belieue me that by the continuance of this examen and reprehension of thy selfe thy thoughts cannot continue long without being reformed And thou shalt ariue to a science which will doe thee much good and it will make thee weepe not swell and it will keep thee from that dangerous infirmity of pride which entreth euen insensibly by little and little a man thinking well and taking contentement in himselfe Be very watchful against the approach there of and preserue thy selfe with all care Take not thy selfe into good conceite but know by the light of truth how to reprehend be displeasing to thy selfe and so the mercy of God wil be neere thee in whose right they only are pleasing who are displeasing in their owne And he pardoneth their faultes with a great liberality of goodnesse who know them and who humble themselues for them with (d) But it must be a true one a true iudgement and who lament them by their will Thou shalt also hereby decline two other vices which are the ordinary companions of pride and they are ingratitude sloth For by knowing and misliking thy defects thou wilt see thy weakenesse and thy vnworthynesse and the great mercy of God in suffering pardoning thee in bestowing benedictions vpon thee who hast deserued misery and by this meanes thou wilt be gratefull And on the other side considering the little good thou doest the many sinnes which thou committest thou wilt be awaked out of the sleepe of slouth and wilt euery day begin with new feruour to serue our Lord seing the little that thou hast done hitherto For this and many other benefittes which grow from a mans knowing and reproouing himselfe a holy old man of ancient tymes being asked whether a man might be more secure by seruing God in solitude or in company of others did answeare That is he knew how to reprehend himselfe he might be euery where safe and if not that he would be euery where in daÌ„ger And because through the inordinate loue which we beare our selues we cannot know or reprehend our selues with that vnpartiall iudgement which truth requires we must (e) A hard lesson but by the goodnes and grace of our Lord Ieâ—â—â— it is learâ—ed practised by 〈◊〉 in the Catholike Church thanke that person that doth it for vs. And we must earnestly beseech our Lord that himselfe will rebuke vs with loue bestowing vpon vs light and truth that so we may belieue of our selues as we ought in very deed to belieue And this is that which the prophet (f) Ierem. 10. Ieremy desired saying Correct me o Lord in iudgement and not in sury least otherwise thou do turne me into nothing To correct with fury doth belong to the last day when God will send the wicked to hell for their synnes and to correct in iudgement is to reprehend his children in this world with the loue of a Father Which reprehension carrieth a great testimony with it that God loueth such a person Nor is there any other so sure an one as that nor which bringeth so good newes as being the preface to vs of our receiuing great fauours from God So doth S. Marke relate that our Lord Iesus Christ appearing to his disciples did (g) Mare 10. reprehend them of incredulity and hardnesse of hart and then he after gaue them power to doe wonderfull thinges And the prophet (h) Isa 4. Isay sayth That our Lord doth wash away the vncleanes of the daughters of Sion and the bloud out of the middle of Hierusalem in the spirit of iudgement and in the spirit of heate Giuing vs so to vnderstand that for our Lord to wash way our faultes by comming to vs is first to make vs know who we are and this is iudgement And afterward he sendeth in a spirit of heate which is loue and that prouoketh vs to griefe and so he washeth vs giuing vs pardon by his grace Of this we must not presume to allow our selues any part of the glory since it is he who first gaue vs to vnderstand our owne wickednesse and rashnesse Nor (i) A description of that true â—orrow for sinne which is of God yet art thou to conceaue that this reprehension is any afflictiue kind of thing which may excessiuely oppresse thy soule by making it offensiue to thee For any such disposition as this is eyther of the Diuell or of a mans owne spirit and it must be fled But it is a quiet knowledge of a mans owne faultes and as a iudgâ—ment of heauen which is pronounced in the soule which makes this earth of our infirmity quake with shame and feare and loue which clappe spurres into the sides to make it mende to serue our Lord with greater diligence Yea it giues a man much confidence that our Lord loueth him as his sonne since he exerciseth the office of a Father with him as it is written And (k) Prou. 3. whom he loueth he correcteth Be therefore carefull to behold and reprehend and to present thy selfe in the presence of God before whom an humble acknowledgement of our owne faultes is a matter of more security then the proude altitude of any other science And be not like some who loue to haue themselues in good estimation who because they are loth to thinke ill of themselues they take pleasure in spending much tyme to thinke of other deuout thinges and to passe lightly ouer the knowledge of their owne defects because they find no sauour in them since they take no pleasure in the contempt of themselues Whereas in very Truth there is nothing so safe nor which so maketh God withdraw his sight from our sinnes as for vs to see and to reprehend them with griefe and pennance As it is written If we did iudge our selues we should not be iudged by God CHAP. LXIII Of the estimation which we are to make of our good works that we may not fayle thereby in the knowledge of our selues and of true Humility and of the meruailous example which Christ our Lord doth giue vs for this purpose THE second thing that thou art to obserue concerning this knowledge is that although it be good and profitable since therby we come to haue a contrite and humbled hart yet hath it this fault that it is euer grounded vpon our hauing committed sinne And it is not to be much meruailed at if a sinner do know and esteeme himselfe to be a sinner For being such he should withal be a hideous monster if he would esteem
as a stone by the weight which 〈◊〉 hath worketh downeward so through the corruption (a) That is the ill inclinatioÌ„ which it leaues behind euen after the remission thereof in Baptisme or original synne which we carry about vs we haue a most ardent inclination to the workes of sense of honour and of profit making idolls of our selues and doing that which we do not for the true loue of God but of our selues Most liuely we are towards the earthly things which concerne vs and all dead towards the taking of any gust in the thinges of God That (b) Because our appetite doth naturally now command our reason exerciseth authority ouer vs which should obey and that obeyeth which should commaund And so miserable we are that vnder the persons and priuiledges of men we harbour the appetites of beastes which lye hidden in vs and our harts are drawne downe towards the earth What shall I say to thee but that in as many weake and dry and deformed and disordered deeds as thou shalt see thou mayst obserue and conclude vpon the corruption and confusion which the man who is without the spirit of God doth carry in his actions and passions And (c) A good lesson as soone as thou behouldest any of them retire presently into thy selfe and ponder that thy selfe is the same thing for as much as concerneth thee if God had not giuen thee help And if thou be (d) Many do thinke that they are recouered who still are sicke indeed recouered thou wilt know that it was only God who opened thy hart to the feeling of him who subdued thy affections to the dominion of reason and who made that distastefull to thee which formerly was delightefull and who gaue thee an appetite to those things which before were so vnsauoury who operateth new workes in thee It was God as S. Paul (e) Philip. 〈◊〉 saith It is God who worketh in vs a will and an executing of it through his good will But (f) Take heed of this monstruous and vnmanly arrour and consider this place of Scripture well expounded by this Authour conceaue not vnder colour of this that the free-will of man worketh nothing in good workes for this should be a great ignorance and errour But it is said that God worketh the willing and the finishing because he is the principall operatour in the soule of him that is iustifyed And he it is who moueth and sweetly induceth the free will to worke and cooperate with him as S. Paul (g) â— Cor. 3. saith we are the helpers of God who doth procure by inciting and assisting a man that he may freely giue his consent to good workes And therefore doth he worke because by his proper and free will he willeth what he will and he worketh that which he worketh and it is in his power not to do it But God doth worke more principally in producing the good worke and helping the free will that it may concurre to the production therof and the glory both of the one and of the other is only due to God And therefore if thou wilt be sure not to erre be not curious in sifting out the blessings of nature and of thy free will what giftes of grace thou hast for this is fitter for such as are learned but go thou with thyne eyes shut after the direction of sound faith which admonisheth vs to giue the glory of them both to God and that we as of our selues are not sufficicient so much as to thinke one good thought Gonsider that which S. Paul sayth reprehending such an one as shall ascribe any good to himselfe What hast thou which thou hast not receaued and if thou haue receaued it of what doest thou glory as if thou hadst not receaued it As if he had sayd If thou haue the grace of God whereby thou pleasest him and whereby thou performest workes though neuer so excellent do not glory in thy selfe but in God who gaue it And (h) See how all kind of pride is euen in all reason to be for euer plucked vp by the roots if thou wouldest glory in the good vse which thou doest make of thy free-will and in consenting to those good inspirations of God and of his grace yet neither must thou glory in thy selfe for this but in God who wrought it by inciting and mouing thee sweetly and by giuing thee thy very free-will it selfe whereby thou mightest consent freely And (i) Note this excellent gradation if yet thou wouldst fayne glory because when thou couldest resist that good motion and inspiration of God thou didst not do it yet euen of this little thou art not to glory because first that were not so properly to do any thing as to leaue to do it next thou didst owe euen that to God For when he holp thee to consent to good he did incidently assist thee in not resisting it And whatsoeuer good vse thou hast made of thy free-will in that which concerneth thy saluation is all of it the guift of God deriued from (k) For which his holy Name be euer praysed that mercifull predestination whereby he determined to saue thee from all eternity Let therefore all thy glory be in God alone of whom thou holdest all the good thou hast And know that without him thou hast nothing of thyne owne stocke but vanity and impiety and indeed the thing which we call Nothing And in conformity of this there is a glosse vpon that Text of Saint Paul He (l) Galat. â— that thinketh himselfe to be somewhat whereas indeed he is nothing doth deceaue himselfe which sayth A man of himselfe is but vanity and sinne and if he be any thing better it is by our Lord God that he is so And agreably to this S. Augustine sayth Thou (m) See how humble the sublime S Augustin is O Light didst open myne eyes thou didst awake me illuminate me and I saw that the whole life of man vpon earth was but tentation and that no good man can glory in thy sight nor is any man so iustifyed that liueth For if he haue any goodnes great or little thy guift it is and that which is ours is but sinne In what then shall any man take glory Shall he peraduenture glory in euill This is no glory but misery Shall he glory then in the good he hath No for it belongeth to another Thyne is the good O Lord the glory must be thyne And agreably to this the same S. Augustine sayth els where O Lord (n) Loue and imitate this incoÌ„parable Saint our God I confesse my pouerty to thee and to thee be rendred all glory for all the good that I haue done is thyne I confesse according to that which thou hast taught me that I am no other thing then meere vanity A shaddow of death A deep and profound piâ—t An empty and barren soyle which without thy benediction doth bring
knowledge of ones selfe Then read that mystery of the Passion which thou art about to meditate in some booke that treates thereof This (b) The manner of reading spirituall bookes will serue thee for two purposes The one to teach thee what did happen in that mystery that so thou mayst be able to thinke vpon it for as for the life death of our Lord thou art to know them and that soundly knowne The other for the recollecting of thy hart to the end that when thou meanest to thinke vpon the Passion thou mayst not haue wandring or tepide thoughtes And although thou do not read at one tyme all that which the booke deliuereth of that part of the Passion thou wilt be at no losse thereby because vpon the same dayes of the weekes following thou wilt come to an end thereof And as I told thee before thy reading must not be such as to make thee weary but to stirre vp the appetite of thy soule and to prepare matter for thee to thinke and pray vpon The bookes which may profit thee in the thought of the Passion are amongst others the Meditations of S. Augustine in Latin and those of the Father Lewys de Granada in Spanish and the (c) Diâ—â—ysius Carthusianus Carthusian who writeth vpon al the Ghospells When thou hast ended thy reading cast thy selfe vpon thy knees and hauing first recollected thyne eyes doe thou beseech our Lord that he will send thee light of the Holy Ghost which may impart to thee an amorous and compassiue feeling of that which Christ with such dearenesse of loue did suffer for thee Be very (d) Obserue this excellent discourse with great attention importunate with him not to permit in thee so great ingratitude as that thou being bound to imitate his passion shouldest hardly find in thy hart to thinke vpon it Then place the image of that Mystery which thou wouldst meditate within thy hart and if this succeed not with thee yet esteeme at least that thou hast it neere thee And (e) A necessary aduice this I say to let thee know that thou art not to carry thy thoughts to contemplate our Lord at Hierusalem where the Passion was accomplished for this would do thy head great hurt and dry vp thy deuotion But make account that he is present to thee and place thou the eyes of thy soule vpon his feet or on the ground neere to him and behold with all reuerence that which passeth as if thou wert present at it and hearken to that which our Lord did say with all attention Aboue all (f) Our Lord make vâ— fit to do so thinges behould with a pure and quiet sight his most sacred hart which so aboundeth with loue towards vs and which did so much excell in comparison of that which he suffered exteriourly thogh euen that were also vnspeakable as the Heauen doth exceed the Earth But take heed that thou doe not afflict thy hart with any forced griefe which vseth to fetch out some (g) Take heed of forcing thy selfe to teares few teares with violence for this doth hinder that quiet repose which is wholy needfull in the exercise of prayer as the Abbot Isaac was wont to say they dry vp the hart make it vnfit for the receauing of the visitation of Gods spirit which requireth peace and rest Yea and they vse to preiudice euen our bodily health and to leaue the soule so frighted with the disgust which therein it found that it feareth to returne againe to praier as to some painefull thing But if with a quiet thinking of these things our Lord do giue thee teares and compassion other deuout affections of mind thou art to take them vnder this condition That the excesse thereof be not such as to ouerworke thee to wardes the notorious preiudice of thy health or that thou becommest vnable therby to resist them and to hinder crying out or by other such exteriour signes to make shew of what thou findest within For yf thou doest vse thy selfe to this thou wilt grow to make those expressions amongst others and with greate note to which thou art accustomed in thy Oratory without being able to resist them but from this it is reason that thou fly So (h) How we are to carry our selues when we haue tears tender motions of the mind as thou art to receaue these spiritual gustes and teares in such sort as that thou do not greatly go after them least (i) That pious thought which was the cause of teares is to be cherished and the teares tâ—es lues neglected in the pursuit thereof thou loose that pious thought or spirituall affection by which they were caused But vse thou great diligence that the thought continue and as for the other exteriour and sensible feeling let it take the chance and by this meanes thou mayest continue a long tyme togeather in a spirituall and deuout gust of mind Whereas that other which may be accompted but as corporall to touch vpon the sensible part of the soule cannot last Nor yet will it suffer the spiritual affection to continue vnles it be withheld from following the other which is more corporall Only (k) IndulgeÌ„ce may be vsed towards beginners to such as are new beginners a little leaue may be allowed that so they may taste of this sweet kind of milke a little more then such as are proficient For (l) In this true deuotion doth consist these later haue an ayme to feele in their soule the high dignity of him that suffers and the deepe indignity of him for whom he suffers and the mightily much that he suffers and yet that the loue wherewith he doth it is still greater and (m) Do this and liue they desire to imitate this loue and this passion with all the strength that our Lord shall giue And if herewith he giue them the aforesaid gustes they driue them not away nay rather they are thankfull for them but not as for the more principall And (n) Both these loues of God are excellent but generally speaking men excell in the former and women in the later although I make no doubt but that there is a certaine kind of loue of God so inflamed and so fyery as that it doth not only not prouoke teares but it hindreth them and dries them vp so do I also aduertise thee that there is another tender kind of loue which procureth those aforesaid gustes in the sensitiue part of the soule and in the eyes of the body which yet is not blame-worthy since the doctrine of Christ is not a doctrine of Stoickes who condemne euen the passions which are good And because Christ our Lord did weepe and was sad that sufficeth to make vs belieue that these thinges are good yea euen in the most perfect men O how much hurt hath bin done by certaine vnlearned men both to themselues and to others by their taking the businesse of
a longer tyme and which had sharper pointes wherewith to hurt thee Isay (m) Psal 53. saith Euery one of vs did loose himselfe in his owne way and God did lay the sinnes of vs all vpon the Messias And this sentence of the diuine iustice being so rigorous thy loue O Lord did find to be both iust and good and thou didst take vpon thyne owne shoulders and didst make a burthen for thy selfe of all the sinnes without the want of so much as one which all the men in the whole world eyther had committed or then did commit or would commit from the beginning thereof vntill the end That thou O Lord and our true loner mightst pay for them all with the sorrowes of thy hart Who then shal be able to count the number of thy soares since (n) Consider and know by this what our Lord suffered for thee or rather know that thou canst neuer know so much of it as is to be knowne there is no meanes to count the number of all our sinnes which caused them but only thou O Lord who didst endure them Thou being made for vs the man of sorrow and who knowest indeed what affliction is by sad experience One man alone doth say of himselfe (o) Psalm 3◠That he had more sinnes then bayres vpon his head and besides that he desyreth God to forgiue him those other sinnes which he had committed though be knew them not Yf then one man which was Dauid had so many sinnes who shal be able to reckon vp all the sinnes of all men amongst whome there were many who committed both more more grieuous sinnes then Dauid did Into what affliction didst thou cast thy selfe O thou lambe of God to take away the sinnes of the world in whose person it was said (p) Psal 3◠Many calues haue come round about me and the great bulls haue circled me about they haue opened their mouth agaynst me as a roaring lion who is feasting vpon his prey But although into that garden of Gethsemani there went a ful company of souldiers of the secular power besids them who were sent by the high Priests Pharisees who with much cruelty came about to take thee and did take thee yet he that should haue beheld the multitude and grieuousnes of all the sinnes of the world which did hedge in that hart of thyne will thinke that the people who went that night to take thy person were very few in comparison of these others who came to seize vpon thy hart What (q) This is that which gaue our Lord more torments a million of tymes then the paynes which exteriourly he suffered horrible spectacle O Lord What vgly representation how painefull would it be for thee to be compassed in by our great sinnes which are signified by those Calues and those others which are you more grieuous and which are signifyed by those Bulls Who O Lord shall be able to recount what vgly sinnes haue beene committed in the world Which being set before thy vnspeakable purity and sanctity would put thee vpon astonishment and like Bulls with open mouths set vpon thee demanding at thy handes O Lord the payment of that torment which so great impiety had deserued With how much reason is it sayd afterward That thou wert spilt like water by those exteriour torments and That thy hart was melted a way like waxe by that fire of inward anguish Who O Lord will say that the number of thy sorrowes may be told since the number of our sinnes is past-telling CHAP. LXXX Wherein is prosecuted the tendernes of the loue of Christ towards men and of that which caused his interiour griefe and gaue him a Crosse to carry in his hart all the dayes of his life BY that which is sayd thou wilt haue seene how many and how grienous the sorrowes of our Lord were since our sinnes by which they were caused were so many so grieuous But if we will dig into the most deep part of that hart of our Lord we shall find sorrow therein not only for the sinnes that men committed but sorrow also for the sinnes which they committed not For as the pardon of the former fell (a) We owe all to the passiō of our Lord both the pardon of all those sinnes which we haue cōmitted the preuentiō of all them which we haue not committed and al the graces which we haue receaued all the good deeds that we haue done vpon thee O Lord so the preseruation of men from the later did cost thee dolours and death Since thy grace and those diuine fauours which preserue men from sinne are not giuen to any soule for any reason but only vpon the price of thy pretious payne So that all men lay heauy load on thee O Lord both great and small and past and present and they that are to come They who haue sinned and they also who haue not sinned They who haue sinned much they who haue sinned little For they all being considered in themselues were the children of wrath without the grace of God enclined to all manner of sinne and exiled from heauen And if they be to receaue pardon if they be to receaue grace if to auoyd sin if to be the Sonnes of God if to enioy him in heauen for al eternity al this O Lord is to be done at thy cost by thy enduring bv thy paying for our misery and by thy purchasing of our felicity Yea and all this is to be at that cost of thyne so far as that thy sorrowes are to be proportionable in number and greatnesse to that which these other thinges are worth And yet further is thy price to exceed the thing which thou doest buy that so thou mayst shew vs thy loue and that our redemption and consolation may be more firme How (b) Infinit is the glory of our Lord but it cost him deere extremely deare O Lord doth that name cost thee which Isay (c) Isa 9. put vpon thee of being The Father of that age which was then to come since as there is no man according to the generation of flesh which is called the first age who commeth not from Adam so neither is there any of the second generation which is of grace who commeth not from thee But Adam was an ill Father who by wicked pleasure did murther both himselfe and his sonnes whereas thou O Lord didst purchase the name of Father at the price of those dolorous lamentations wherby as a Lyonesse that were roaring whilest she bringeth forth her yong ones thou giuest life to them whome the first Father killed He drunke that poyson which the serpent gaue so was made a Father of serpents for by his engendring them they became sinners But yet all his sonnes which being cōsidered in themselues are venemous serpents did lay hold O Lord vpon thy hart gaue thee such pinches of paine as were neuer felt before nor since and
that not only during the space of eightteen houres which passed in the tyme of thy sacred Passion but for the whole course of three and thirty yeares from one fiue and twentith of March when thou didst become incarnate till another fiue and twentith of March and eight dayes after when thy life did leaue thee vpon the Crosse Thy (d) The great loue of God to vs is exempliâ—ied by diuers comparisons and proofs of holy Scripture selfe did call thy selfe a Mother when speaking to Hierusalem thou didst say How often (e) Watt 23. would I haue gathered thy children vnder my winges as the Hen doth her chickens but thon wouldest not And to giue vs to vnderstand that thy hart doth carry a particuler loue and tendernes towards vs thou didst compare thy selfe to a Hen which is the creature that is content in extraordinary manner to cast away her comfort and to afflict her selfe for that which concerneth her little ones Nor only art thou like the Hen in this but thou exceedest both that all other mothers in the world as by (f) Isa 49. Isay thy selfe didst say A mother perhaps may forget the sonne of her wombe well yet though she forget him I will not forget thee for I haue written thee in my handes and thy walles do euer stand before me Who O Lord shall be able though he dig neuer so deep to discouer those vnspeakable secrets of loue and sorrow which are in thy hart Thou doest not content thy selfe O Lord with carrying the lone of a Father towardes vs which might only be strong and patient in suffering the afflictions and troubles of a Father but to the end that no delightfull comfort might be wanting to vs not no vexation to thy selfe thou wouldst needs be also a Mother to vs in the tendernes of thy affection which causeth an vnspeakable kind of loue towards her children Yea and more art thou to vs then a Mother for of no Mother haue we read that to the end she might stil remember her sonne she hath written a booke whereof hard nayles of iron were the pen and her owne handes the paper and that by pressing those handes and passing them through with the nayles bloud may issue out insteed of inke which with grieuous payne may giue testimony of the great internall loue not suffering that to be forgotten which still she carryeth in her hands And if this which thou didst endure vpon the Crosse by hauing handes and feet so nayled to it be a thing which exceedeth all loue of Mothers who (g) Christ lesus our Lord became vpon the Crosse as it were a woman in trauaile shall recount that great loue and great griefe wherewith thou drewest all men into the wombe of thy hart groaning deeply for their sins with the groanes of labour like them of child-birth And that not for an houre nor for a day alone but for the whole tyme of thy life which lasted three and thirty yeares till at length like another Rachel thou diedst of trauell vpon the Crosse to the end that (h) Genes 35. Beniamin might be borne aliue The serpents which thou carriedst within thy selfe did giue thee O Lord such gripes that they made thee burst vpon the Crosse to the end that at the price of thy paines those serpents might be conuerted into the simplicity mildnesse of lambes and that in exchange of thy death they might obtaine a life of grace How iustly O Lord mayst thou cal men if thou considerest what thou hast suffered for them the Sonns of thy griefe as Rachel called her sonne since the griefe which their sinnes gaue thee was greater then the pleasure which they tooke by committing them And greater was thy humility and that breach of thy hart then the irreuerence and pride was which they expressed against the most high God when they offended him by breaking his law that so thy paines might ouercome our sinnes as the greater do the lesse More (i) The incomparable griefe of Christ our Lord for sinne is excellently desaâ—ibed O Lord did the sinnes of others grieue thee then any man hath bin euer grieued for his owne And if we read of some who had so great repentance for their sinnes as that their hart not being able to conteyne such griefe it did cost them their liues what sorrow was prouoked in thee by that vnmeasurable loue which thou didst carry both to God and man since one sparke of the same lone being cast into the harts of those others did oppresse them in such sort that it made them breake as if they had bin blowen vp with powder Of many we reade and we know that by hauing heard a newes which was very painefull to them did loose their liues And tell vs now O Lord for thy mercy how thou hadst force to out-liue such a bitter newes when all the sinnes of all mankind were first presented to thee thou louing men much more then any man euer loued another yea or euen himself Especially when thou didest coÌ„sider know that the misery which was hanging ouer theÌ„ for the same was greater then any other that could happen And where O Lord didst thou get strength to endure to see thy diuinity oftended and yet to liue since the loue which thou bearest both to it and men did exceed all measure Yet didst thou liue O Lord when thou heardst this newes yea and thou didst liue with the griefe thereof all the dayes of the life But vnles particuler force had bin giuen thee for the enduring of such sorrow it would not haue fayled to haue brought death vpon thee as lesse sorrow hath brought it vpon others So that O Lord they are many and not one only debt which I owe thee And although in regard of these sorrowes which as a mother thou didst endure for men with much reason thou mayst tearme them the sonnes of thy griefe as hath bin said yet as thou also art their Father thou mayst call them also the sonnes of thy right hand as (k) Gen. 35. Iacob did Because (l) The reformation of men doth manifest the power of the Crosse of Christ our Lord. in them is expressed and declared the greatnesse of thy hand which is thy power since thou drawest them out of sinne and dost place them in the state of grace euen in this life and at the later day shalt ranke them vpon thy right hand that so they may accompany thee in glory Being seated there in great security of repose as thou art O Lord at the right hand of thy Father where thou wilt esteeme all that which thou hast laboured and suffered for them to be well imployed CHAP. LXXXI Of other profitable Considerations which may be drawn out of the Passion of our Lord and of other meditations which may be made vpon other pointes and of some directions for such as cannot easily put that which hath bin said in practise YF thou
is a distinct thing from that wherby Christ is iust And from hence it commeth that although the workes which we did before were meane and of aâ—â— imperfect kind of goodnesse and which had noâ— in them any true iustice nor could deserue 〈◊〉 haue it as being of our owne stocke and store yet those thinges which now we do being oâ—â—â— in the state of grace are of so high valew and are workes so truely iust as that they deserue an increase of iustice according to that of (n) Apocâ— 22. S. Iohn He that is iust let him be yet more iust and they are worthy to obtaine the kingdome of God as it was sayd by (o) 2. Tim. 4. S. Paul That the Crown of iustice was kept for him This vnspeakable benefit do we owe to Iesus Christ but (p) See heer how honourable to Christ our Lord the doctrine of the holy Catholike Church is in the point of workes this is not all For as it is the ordinance of God that no man shall obtaine grace and iustice but by the merits of this Lord so is it also that none of them that haue it is able to increase or euen to conserue it but by their being vpheld by this Lord as a liuing member is by his head as the fruitful branch is by his vine and as the building is by his foundation For although by gayning grace and iustice for them he gaue them as hath beene sayd a good (q) Because God through Christ our Lord would haue it so title by the way of merit to the kingdome of heauen as also that they should obtaine by prayer that which they would aske as they ought yet if they had a mind to enioy the same and to vse it rightly they must not do it like people which would disband from their captaine or deuide themselues from their head or as if they could go vpon their owne feet alone without the help of any other No a soule must rely vpon and be vnited to this (r) Christ Iesus our Lord. blessed head to the end that (f) See the excellent immaculate doctrine of the holy Catholik Church Grace may be conserued to it and that from thence a certaine spirituall strength may come which may proceed and accompany and follow the good works that it shall do and without which those good workes cannot be meritorious as is declared by the Councell of Trent And by this meanes the prayers which that iust person shall make will be worthy of the eares of God and to obtaine that which the man desires Salomon (t) 2. Para. 6. did begge of God That he who should pray in the Temple which he had made on earth might be heard by God from heauen granting that which should be desired And the true and most excellent Temple of God is Iesus Christ our Lord in respect that he is man in whome as S. Paul sayth The accomplishment of diuinity doth corporally remaine That is it remayneth in him not only by way of grace as it doth in the Angells and in holy men but in another fashion of more weight and valew by the way of the personall vnion whereby that sacred humanity is raised vp to haue the dignity of being personated in the word of God which is one of the three persons of the Blessed Trinity This is that Temple whereof Dauid sayd God heard my voyce from his holy Temple And he that in this Temple shall vtter the speach of prayer which is inspired by his spirit and resting vpon him as a liuing member which demandeth succour by the merits of his head which is Iesus Christ this man I say shall be heard by God in the title of iustice as Dauid was and all iust men were who vvere euer heard But the prayer vvhich is made without this Temple (u) That is we must be members of Christ our head by being in the state of grace which requireth that we resort to the sacrament of pennance with harty sorrow for that sin which is past a firme purpose to coÌ„mit no more for otherwise insteed of receauing a Sacrament we should commit a sacriledg by whomesoeuer it be made is a oarse and prophane prayer and vnworthy of the ares of God And not being inspired by Iesus Christ it carryeth not that broad seale whereby 〈◊〉 should be warranted and held for iust in the â—btaining of what it askes And to the end that Christ in the quality of our aduocate may giue â—ispatch to our petitions it is necessary that on â—arth we be his liuing members and inspired to â—ray by him For although his mercy is so great â—hat many tymes he maketh the petitions of his â—ead members to be heard which are they that â—old the fayth of his Church but are not in state â—f grace yet heere we speak only of those which being made in Christ haue the dignity and the â—erit of obtayning what they aske And the hoâ—y Church our Mother well knowing the necessity that we haue of Christ in our prayers is wont â—o say to the Eternall Father at the end of hers Graunt vs this or that O God through Iesus Christ â—ur Lord. This did she learne of her spouse and maister when he (x) Ioan. 16. sayd Whatsoeuer thing you aske the Father in my name he will giue it you Let thankes O Lord be giuen to thy name â—ince through thee we are heard For thou doest not content thy selfe only with being our Mediatour to merit that grace for vs which we receaue by thee nor with being our head which instructeth and moueth vs to pray by thy spirit as we ought but thou also wilt be our (y) He obtayneth that we may be heard by our selues when we aske in his Name Bishop in heauen that so representing to thy Father that sacred humanity which thou hast and the passion which thou didst receaue thou mightst obtayne the effect of that which we desire on earth by our inuocation of thy Name So that as the holy Gâ—ospel sayd When (z) Matt. 3. Marc. 1. Luc. 3. our Lord was baptized the heauens did open themselues to him and although many haue followed in thither after him yet they are opened to none but by his meanes so may we also say that the bowels of his eternall Father which open themselues for the graunting our petitions are opened to Christ And he is the person heard by his Father since the fauour grace vvhere with we are heard we haue by him For if it were not for this as no man would be iust in himselfe so no man could be heard for himselfe And as through the great loue which our Lord did beare vs he tooke our miseryes vpon himself as his owne and he payed for them by his life death so with the same loue vvhich he carryeth towards vs although now he be in heauen if any little one of his be either naked or clad
were deafe For incomparably more acceptable to God was the voyce of Christ and of his Passion and death which demaunded pardon then all the sinnes of the whole world are offensiue demaunding vengeance What doest thou thinke that (h) The profound silence of Christ our Lord in his sacred passion the silence of Christ did procure and that he made him selfe as deafe who did not heare and as a dumbe man who did not open his mouth when he was accused Without doubt since the sinnes of them who by their mouth accused Christ did make a noyse which was full of lyes against him who was not guilty and when he in the meane tyme would needes hold his peace who yet might haue answered them with all iustice it is but due that the rest of the world may not be accused of their sinnes by the Diuells though of it selfe this might be iustly done but that they should be dumbe because they had accused him who was innocent And that since he would needs be (i) Sicâ—â— mutus non aperiâ—â—s os suum deafe who yet was so well able to answere it is but reason that the diuine iustice to which Christ offered himselfe for vs should also make it selfe as deafe though we haue done thinges which require vengeance Reioyce therefore O thou spouse of Christ and let all sinners reioyce if indeed they be sorry for hauing sinned and if they dispose themselues to take the (k) Contrition ConfessioÌ„ and Satisfaction remedyes which are in the Catholike Church For God is deafe towards the punishment of our sinnes but hath his eares wide open towardes the hearing of our prayers with mercy Feare not thy accusers nor those outcryes although thou haue giuen cause thereof since Christ was accused and by his silence did strike dumbe the clamour of our sinnes It was (l) Isa 35. prophesied that he would be silent as the lambe is before the shearer But (m) The great profit which we reape by the silence that Christ our Lord did vse in his sacred Passion when most he was silent and did suffer most in the sight of men so much greater were the out cryes which he gaue to the diuine iust 〈◊〉 by paying for vs. And these out cryes were heard as S. Paul (n) Hebr. 5. sayth for his reuerence that is for his great humility and for the reuerence wherewith he humbled himselfe to his Father euen to death and that of the Crosse reuearing in as much as he was man that superexcellent diuine Maiesty and loosing his life for the honour of it He was heard I say by his Father of whome it was written He (o) Psal 102. regarded the prayer of the humble and despised not their petition Now who is so humble as our Blessed Lord who sayd Learne (p) Matt. 11. of me for I am meâ—ke and humble of hart And therefore he was heard as before it was prophesyed in his person Our q Psal 21. Lord did not remooue his face from me and when I cryed out he heard me And the same Lord of ours sayth in the Ghospell I giue (r) Ioan. 21. thee thankes O Father because thou doest euer heare me Now since the Father doth heare him when he prayeth for thee and that the obtayning of grace whereby thou mayst be made iust that so thou maist be heard by God did cost him so dear procure to get it if thou haue it not and if thou haue it employ it in offering vp prayers to God since to such prayers his eares are open And as we must heare our Lord with the Prophet Samuel when he sayth Speake (Å¿) 1. Râ—g â— Lord for thy seruant heareth so doth our Lord say to vs Speake seruant for thy Lord heareth thee And as we sayd long before that our hearing the voyce of God must not be the only hearing of the sound of the wordes but to belieue them and to be pleased in them to put them in execution so the eares of our Lord are opened by the loue of Christ not only to heare what we say for so also doth he heare the blasphemies which are spoken of him and which offend him but our Lord doth heare our petitions in such sort as to performe them And to the end that thou mayst see how true it is that our Lord doth heare the deep sighes that we present to him hearken thou to that which the â—aâ—â—â—e Lord sayth by (t) Isa 65. Isaias Before they call I will heare them O blessed be that holding thy peace O Lord for both within and without didst thou hold thy peace vpon that day of thy Passion Out wardly by not cursing or so much as answearing and in wardly by not contradicting but accepting with great patience those blowes and cryes and paynes of thy passion For thereby thou didst so speake in the eares of God as that we may be heard euen before we speake Nor is this any great meruaile for (u) The inestimable prouidence and goodnes of God in Christ our Lord. as much as we being yet nothing thou didst make vs and before we could aske thee any thing thou didst maintayne vs both within and without the wombe of our Mother and before we knew what it was that might do vs good thou gauest vs the adoption of Sonnes and the grace of the Holy Ghost in holy Baptisme And before we had beene ouerthrowne by sinne thou didst keep vs and when vve were fallen through our own fault thou didst raise vs vp and thou didst seek vs when we sought not thee And that which is more before we were borne thou hadst already dyed for vs and prepared heauen for vs. It is not therefore any wonder that of whome thou hadst so much care before they had any of thee thou haue it also in this particuler And that thou dost giue vs that many times wherof thou seest vs to haue need without expecting that we should weary our selues so much as to aske it since thou didst weary thy selfe so much both in asking and procuring it for vs. What shall we giue thee O most blessed Iesus for this silence which thou didst vse before them vvho did so hate and hurt thee And what shall vve giue thee for those loud cryes so full of loue vvhich thou gauest for vs before thy Father O (x) A deuout contemplation that it were pleasing to thy infinite goodnes to do vs so great a fauour as that we might be so silent towardes the offence of thee and so willing to suffer that which thou vvouldst do with vs as if we vvere so many dead men And that we vvere so full of life towardes the vttering of voyces in thy prayse that neither we whome thou hast redeemed nor the heauens nor the earth nor that which is vnder the earth nor any of that which is in them all might euer cease with the very extremity of all our strength and theirs to sing
pace that the eyes of God do make is not against the man whome he created but against the sinne which we committed And whensoeuer he looketh vpon a man to his destruction it is then when the man will not suffer him to execute his wrath against sinne which he would (h) By drawing that soule to pennance fayne destroy But man would needs continue in sinne giue life to that which destroyed himself and displeased God It is therefore but reason that his death remaine aliue and that his life be for euer dead since he would not open the gate to him who for loue and with loue both could and would haue murthered his death and endued him with life But some will say what remedy shall I meet withall that God may not behold my sinne to punish but that he may looke vpon his creature to saue it S. Augustine (i) Hearken to the great and good S. Augustine doth briefly and truely answere thus Let thy selfe looke vpon thy sinnes that is do thou consider them and do pennance for them and God will not see them but if thou cast them behind thy backe then will God place them before his face Dauid did beseech our Lord to forgiue his sinnes saying thus Haue (k) Psal 50. mercy on me O Lord according to thy great mercy and he also sayd Turne thy face O Lord from my sinnes But what did he alleadge towards the obtayning of so great a fauour Nothing lesse then any seruice that he had done For he wel knew that if a seruant should commit a treason against his Lord his seruices would not be considered though he should haue serued many yeares before with diligence For if he serued before he was obliged so to do and he brought not his Lord in debt thereby but his treason is the thing that must be thought of which he was bound not to haue committed and therefore by paying that which he did owe before he came not to ransome himselfe from that penalty which afterward he incurred Neither yet did Dauid offer sacrifices as well knowing that God takes no pleasure (l) Vnles it were accompanied by a penitent Religious hart for if it were it was acceptable to God in the old law for so himself had ordained in the burning of beasts But he who could find no remedy eyther in seruices that were past or in pious external works which then vvere present did find it in an humbled contrite hart And he desired to be pardoned vpon this ensuing reason For I know my wickednes and my sinne doth euer stand before myne eyes An admirable power did God giue to this our beholding and profoundly sighing for our sinnes since Gods seeing of them doth follow to the end that he may dissolue them And we conuerting our eyes with griefe towardes that which vve did wickedly commit he conuerteth his towards the saluation and consolation of him vvhome he did create CHAP. LXXXVII Of the many and great benefits which come to men in that the Eternall Father doth behold the face of Iesus Christ his Sonne BVT some wil say whence commeth so great force to our looking and to our weeping that so instantly it should draw after it Gods seeing and that so as to forgiue vs. It is far from comming from our looking it selfe For the theef deserueth not to be pardoned the gallowes because he knowes that he did ill in stealing and how much and yet much more soeuer he lamenteth But this proceedeth from another sight which is more fauourable and withall so full of power that it is the cause and fountaine of al our good This is that whereof Dauid (a) Psal 83. sayth Behold O God our defendour behold the face of thy Christ. He twice beseecheth God to behold to giue vs therby to vnderstand with how much affection we are to thinke of this and how much it importeth vs to obtaine it For as the sight of God vpon vs doth bring all benedictions to vs so Gods looking vpon Christ doth draw the sight of God to vs. Do not thinke O Virgin (b) How Almighty God commeth to loue mankind that the gracious and amorous beames of the eyes of God descend in a right line vpon vs when he receaueth vs inâ—o his grace or euen when already we are in grace that they desceÌ„d vpon vs as vpon a differeÌ„t thing from Christ For if so thou thinke thou art no better then blind But know that first they addresse themselues to Christ and from thence to vs by him and in him Nor (c) No creature can obtaine the least cast of an eye of â—erev from God but only for the loue of Christ our Lord. will our Lord vtter one word nor cast one countenance of loue to any creature of the whole world if he see it separated from Christ but for the loue of Christ he so behouldeth all them as to pardon them who although they be neuer so wicked will behould and lament themselues in Christ he also behoâ—ldeth such persons for their preseruation and for their increase in the good which already they haue receaued Christ being beloued is the cause that we are receaued into grace And if Christ Iesus were not no creature at all would be acceptable or beloued in the sight of God as was sayd before Know therefore O Virgin what necessity thou hast of Christ and be thou (d) Al woe will be to such as are not so internally and profoundly gratefull to him For the good which thou hast came towardes thee by no other meanes then by Christ and in him is it to be conserued to thee and augmented by the eternall Father And this is that which was figured in the beginning of the world when the iust Abel that Pastour of sheep did offer a sacrifice to God out of his flocke which sacrifice was accepted as the Scriptore sayth For our Lord did looke on Abel and his guifts And this looking on him doth import that Abel was gratefull to him and for that agayne his guifts were gratefull And in testimony that so they were God sent downe visible fyre which consumed the sacrifice Now this is a figure of our iust soueraigne Pastour who sayth himself I (e) Ioan. 10. am the good Pastour and he is also a Priest consequently as S. Paul (f) Hebr. 5. sayth he is to offer guifts and sacrifices to God But what can (g) Leuit. 22. Deut. 22. he offer that shall be worthy of him Certainly not brute beasts and much lesse sinfull men for such do rather serue to prouoke the wrath of God theÌ„ to obtayne his mercy Nor without cause did God commaund in the old law that the beast which was to be offered should be male not female and of such an age neither too little nor too great nor blind nor lame nor subiect to any of those conditions which are there described to the end that the
thing which was to be offered for the taking away of sinne might be subiect to no imperfection or fault Now (h) The necessity which we were in that Christ our Lord should be sacrificed for vs. because no man was without synne this great Priest of ours had nothing else to offer but himselfe making him that was the Priest to be also the sacrifice offering vp himselfe to himselfe he being cleane that he might cleanse vs who were defiled he who was iust to iustify vs who are sinners he who vvas acceptable and esteemed to the end that we might be receiued into fauour Who in our owne respects were offensiue and vnbeloued And this sacrifice was of so high valew both in regard of the thing it selfe and in respect of him who did offer it which is al one that we who were separated from God like lost sheepe were brought backe all washed and sanctifyed and made worthy to be offered vp to God Not that we had any thing of our owne stocke which was fit to please him but being bedewed by the bloud of this Pastour and being adorned with the beauty of his grace and iustice which is bestowed vpon vs for our Lords sake and being incorporated to him we are cleansed from our sinnes and we are beheld by God and made acceptable to him as a sacrifice offered vp by this high Priest and pastour This did (i) 1. Pet. â— S. Peter thus expresse Christ dyed once for vs to the end that he might offer vs vp to God being mortifyed in the flesh and quickned in the spirit And so it appeares how our Abel doth offer vp an oblation out of his flocke which God beheld because (k) Agnus occisus ab origine inuâ—ds first he had beheld his most deare sonne And as there visible fire came downe vpon the sacrifice so also did fire come heere vpon the day of Pentecost in the forme of tongues And this hapned after Christ ascended vp to heauen where he might appeare to the face of God for vs. To the end that we might vnderstand that from the cast of the countenance of God vpon the face of Christ which as it is said (l) Hester â—worâ— of Hesther is full of grace came that fire of the holy Ghost which burnt those giftes which this great Pastour and Bishop offered vp to his Father and they were his disciples both such as were then present and such others as were to follow afterward And as God promised to Noë that whensoeuer it should raine much he was to looke vpon the bow which he placed in the cloudes in token of the league which he made with men not to destroy the earth any more by water so much more God beholding his Sonne being layd vpon the Crosse hauing his armes spread abroad in the forme of a bow doth take the arrowes which he was about to shoot out of that other rigorous bow of his and insteed of punishing he doth imbrace vs being more ouercome to shew vs mercy by this strong bow which is Christ then he was induced by our sinnes to punish vs. And howsoeuer we went wandring away with our backes turned towardes the light which is God and that we would not looke vpon him but passe our dayes in the darcknesse of sinne yet we are brought backe by him vpon his shoulders And because it is (m) It is only for the loue of Christ that God behouldeth sinners with mercy he that bringeth vs our Lord God looketh vpon vs and he maketh vs also looke on him And he hath so particuler care of vs that not for so much as any one moment of time doth he remooue his eyes from vs least other wise we should vndoe our selues Whence dost thou thinke did proceed this amourous word which God did speak to a sinner thereby to draw him to repentance I will (n) Psalâ—â— 21. giue thee vnderstanding and will teach thee the way wherein thou art to walke and vpon thee will I place myne eyes but only from that amorous countenance wherewith God beholdeth Iesus Christ who is the wisdome which teacheth vs the true way wherein we may walke without stumbling and the true pastour as he is man by whome we are beheld who as he is God beholdeth vs. Remoouing (o) Note heere a liuely and deare description of the innumerable wayes whereby Almighty â—od sheweth mercy towarde vs through Christ our Lord. the daungers that are before vs wherinto he knoweth that we would fall hereafter holding vs fast against such as do assault vs at the present and deliuering vs from them into which by our fault we haue fallen euer thinking of that which importeth vs though our selues be full of negligence remembring our good when we forget his seruice watching ouer vs when we sleepe keeping vs close to himselfe when we would faine be gone calling vs backe when we fly giuing vs imbracementes when we returne being euer the last in breaking of friendship and the first who begges the renewing of it though he were the person offended and carrying in all and throughout all such a watchfull amorous eye ouer vs as ordaineth all thinges for our good What shall we say or what shall we do for so great fauours but giue thankes to this true Pastour who to the end that his sheep might not be estranged from the eyes of God did offer his owne face to so many affrontes That his Father seing him so afflicted and yet vvithout all fault might behold such as indeed vvere faulty vvith the eyes of mercy And to the end that we might carry this word engrauen both in our harts and vpon our tongues Looke O Lord vpon the face of thy Christ. Knowing well by great experience that God doth much better both heare and see and encline his care to vs then we do to him CHAP. LXXXVIII How it is to be vnderstood that Christ is our Iustice least otherwise we should fall into some errour by conceaning that iust persons haue not a distinct iustice from that whereby Iesus Christ is inst SO much (a) I beseech the Protestát reader vpon my knees that he will reade this following discourse without passion is the cockle which our enemy hath sowed in their hartes who will belieue him that he induceth them to draw peruerse opinions out of the wordes of holy Scripture which speak of this most sweet mystery of Iesus Christ our Lord and of the benefits which we possesse by him and in him Whereof I thought it fit to aduertise thee that so thou mightest be free from danger Do not thou conceaue that because Christ is called our iustice or because it is sayd That (b) Ephes 2. we are made acceptable to God in him or in fine by such other wordes as these that therefore I say they who are in the state of grace haue not a iustice in them which is theirs whereby they become iust acceptable to God and which
(c) An incomparable fauour of God an incomparable fauour that he hath so close at hand so fit a means to shew and exercise the loue which he beareth to Christ Iesus the (f) He alludeth to Iacob seruing for Rachel labour seeming small which he endureth for his Neighbour and the yeares seeming short through the strength of that loue which he carryeth to Christ for himselfe and to others for the loue of him and in him And euer doth he carry at his hart that to which our enamoured Lord did so straitly enioyne vs when he sayd My (g) Ioan. 13. commandement is this that you loue one another as I haue loued you CHAP. XCVI Of another consideration which teacheth vs in excellent manner how we are to carry our selues with our Neighbours ADD thou to this another consideration of how thou art to behold thy Neighbours and it is That although on the one side it be a most certaine truth that our Lord doth not seek or expect any returne of retribution for the benefites that he bestowes yet in other respectes we find it true that he giueth nothing at all for which he expecteth it not Yet this is not in regard of himselfe who is so rich and who cannot increase in being so and what he giueth he giueth men for pure loue but the returne that he desires is in respect of our Neighbours who haue necessity to be esteemed beloued and succoured Iust as if a man had lent much money to another and done great matters for him and then should say For all that which I haue done for thee I haue no need that thou shouldest make me any payment but all the title that I make against thee I transferre and passe ouer to the person of such an one who is in necessity or who is my kinsman or my seruant Pay that to him which thou owest to me I shall hold my selfe for well satisfyed In this (a) A consideration of great force towardes charitable conuersation with our neighbours manner let a Christian enter into accoumpt with God and let him consider what he hath receaued of him as wel by the afflictions and death which the sonne of God endured for him as by the other particuler mercyes which since his creatiō were powred vpon him Not punishing him for his sinnes nor driuing him a way for his infirmityes but expecting him to come to pennance pardoning him as oft as he desired it giuing him benefits in requitall of the sinnes that he cōmitted with other innumerable blessings which exceed all possibility of being reckoned And let him thinke that this way of amorous trafficke of God towards him is to be a kind of (b) A good rule whereby we may grow to esteem loue our Neighbours patterne rule for the conuersation which a man ought to hold with his neighbour And that the intentiō wher with God imparted to him so many fauours was to giue him to vnderstand that howsoeuer his neighbour might not perhaps deserue to be tolerated or beloued or relieued for his owne respect yet God is pleased that the benefit which the other deserueth not for himselfe should be imparted to that other for the obligation whereby he is bound to God and that he should esteeme himselfe to be indebted and euen a very slaue to others whilest he looketh vpon God For God looking vpon men did not fynd that he ought any thing to any body and he will haue that person who is in necessity to demaund succour vnder this title Do thou this for me since God hath done the same for thee And (c) Apoint which it much cōcerneth men to consider let such a person be sure to take heed how he be vnkind or cruell towardes one that hath need of help least God be so towardes him depriuing him of the benefits which already he had imparted and punishing him as vngratefull for the pardon of his former sinnes as he proceeded with that wicked seruant who hauing receiued at the handes of his Lord a release for the debt of ten thousand talentes was of a cruell hart towards his neighbour casting him into prison because he ought him a trifle being neyther content to let him keep his liberty or yet to giue him day And that Lord of whome it is not read that he was so much as angry with his seruant for imbezeling so great a summe as that of ten thousand talents is but did shew such mercy towards him as that desiring time he gaue him time and liberty yea and he pardoned him his debt is now in so great indignation at the cruelty which he vsed towards his neighbour that seuerely he rebuked him saying thus Thou wicked seruant I pardoned thee all that which thou owedst me because thou didst desyre it at my handes (d) How displeasing it is to God that we be hard-harted one to another had it not therefore bin reason that thou shouldst haue shewed mercy to thy neighbour as I shewed it to thee And in this wrath of his he deliuered him ouer to the tormentours till he should pay euen that whole debt which already he had released to him Not that God doth punish the sinnes which he hath once forgiuen but he punisheth the ingratitud of the man who is forgiuen which ingratitude is so much the greater as his sinnes forgiuen were greater and more enormous And although it may well be thought that the seruant of whome I haue spoken did cry out for pardon vnto his Lord yet is it likely that he would answeare as it is written The man who shutteth his cares against the cry of the poore shall cry out himselfe and not be heard Resolue therefore thou O Virgin that beholding thy selfe and beholding in Christ both what he is and the benefittes which thou hast receiued at his handes it is reason that in thy hart there be engendred an estimation of loue towardes thy neighbour so very great as that nothing may be able to remooue it And when the inclination of flesh bloud shall say to thee What (e) The practise of this doctrine is of great force towards the indaming vs to the loue of our neighbours do I owe that person that I should affoard him this benefit or how can I loue him who hath done me such a mischiefe Make thou this answeare That perhaps thou wouldest giue eare to the motion if the cause of thy loue were no other then thy neighbour as he is considered in himselfe but since it is Christ who receiueth any benefit or pardon which is giuen vnto a mans neighbour as if it were giuen to himselfe what reason I pray you is there why my neighbours being this or doing that should haue power to hinder my affection the fruites thereo◠which are good workes since therein I pretend not to haue any thing to do with him but with Christ. And by this meanes will thy hart burne in charity in such
sort as that the many waters of the euill turnes that shal be done thee may not be able to quench it but it will prooue victorious and ascend vpward as a flame doth which liues indeed thou wilt conuerse with thy neighbours without stumbling vpon them and without loosing thy vertue by desiring their preiudice And so Dauid saith Great peace haue they O Lord who loue thy law and (f) The true seruants of God turn all to good they stumble at nothing Which law is that of charity whereby indeed the whole law is completely performed as S. Paul (g) Rom. 1â— Galat. 5. saith He that loues his neighbour hath fulfilled the law And this estimation of our neighbour whereby we honour him as an adopted sonne of God and as a brother of our Lord Iesus Christ and this loue which we are to carry to thinges which do so truly belong to Christ is that which S. Paul recommendeth to the (h) Philip. â— Philippians and in them to vs saying Conceaue your selues humbly to be inferiours to one another make no reckoning of your owne interest or ease but consider what it is fit to do for your neighbours and do this after the example of Christ Iesus who hauing the substance of God did for our benefit humble himselfe so farre as to take vpon him the forme of a seruaÌ„t And these two things namely humility and loue of our neighbours our Lord himselfe did teach and recommend to vs in that admirable action which he was pleased to performe so neare his death by (l) loan â—â— washing the feete of his disciples For (k) Humility and Charity are the bottome the top of all Christian buildings therein humility was expressed to vs by the basenes of that office and charity by the help it gaue to others His will is that we should learne these two thinges of him we who are little seruants and disciples of his when he who was the Lord and maister would needes shew vs the way Being therefore encouraged by this example by the rest which hath bin said do thou weigh thy neighbours with the (l) These are true scales which wil neuer deceaue vs. scales of their being the adopted sonnes of God and consider that Christ Iesus gaue himselfe for them vpon the Crosse and do thou prize and honour them whome God hath honoured so much and loue them who are ioyned to him as a most beloued spouse might be and as the partes of the body are vnto the head And so thou shalt carry a strong and firme loue tow ards them for whatsoeuer springeth not from this fountaine is but weake and wil be quickly weary dry it falleth instantly to the ground vpon the least occasion of encounter that offers it selfe as a house would do whose foundation had beene layd vpon sand CHAP. XCVII He beginneth to treate of that word of the verse which sayth Forget thy people And of the two sorts of men which there are good and bad and of the names which are giuen to euill men and of their seuerall significations HEERE followeth now this other word which sayth Forget thy people and the house of thy Father For the declaration whereof it is to be noted That all mankind is deuided into one of these two different parties or Cittyes one of the good and the other of the bad Which Cittyes are not diuersified by any difference of place for the inhabitants of them both do liue in the same towne yea and euen in the same house but they are distinguished by the diuersity of affections For as S. Augustine sayth Two (a) A consideration most worthy of the great S. Augustin Loues did build vp two Cittyes The loue of a mans selfe which maketh a man despise God doth erect the earthly Citty The loue of God which maketh a man despise himselfe doth build vp that Citty which is celeâ—tiall The first is raysed vp in it selfe the second not in it selfe but in God The first will needs be honoured by men the second holdes it for honour inough to haue a conscience which is cleare in the sight of God The first doth lift vp the head in the glory of it selfe the second saâ—th to God Thou art my glory and he that doth exalt my head The first is desirous of commaund and dominion in the second one serueth another for charity the superiours do benefit the inferiours and the inferiours obey their superiours The first doth attribute the â—â—rength to his owne forces doth glory in them The second sayth Let me loue thee O Lord my streÌ„gth In the first they who hold themselues for wise do seck for no other good thinges then such as are created or if they knew the Creatour they did not honour him as such but became giddy-headed in their own vayn thoughts and saying that they were wife turned fooles but in the second there is no wisedome but the true seruice of God which expecteth no other reward but to honour the same God in company of the Saints and Angells that so God may be all in all Of the first all the sinners of the world are inhaâ—itantes Of the second all the iust And because all they who descend of Adam excepting only the Sonne of God and his Blâ—â—sed Mother became sinners euen by their very being begotten we must all therfore go for naturall inhabitants of this Citty of ours out of which Christ draweth vs by grace that so we may be the inhabitants of his This (b) Of the naâ—es properties of the ciâ—ty of ignorance and sinne wicked Citty which is no vniting of streets or houses or market places but of men that loue themselues and presume vpon themselues is called by seuerall names which signify the wickednethereof It is called (c) Sinne leades or keeps vs in darkenes Aegypt which signifyeth darcknes or misery because they who dwell in this Citty either haue not the light of the knowledge of God through the want of fayth or if they haue it as those Christians haue who liue wickedly yet is it dead through want of charity which is the life thereof For this doth S. Iohn (d) â— Ioan. 4. say That he that loues not God knowes not God because God is loue He meaneth That such an one hath not that kind of enamoured (e) The knowledg of God will not saue vs vnles it be accompanyed by loue knowledge which is necessary for saluation And so one sort of them liuing in the darknes of infidelity and the other in the obscurity of other sinnes they haue no ioy at all but all is anguish and affliction For as Tobias (f) Tob. 5. sayth What ioy can I haue who cannot see the light of heaueÌ„ It is also called (g) Sinne leades vs into confusion Babylon which signifyeth confusion This name was imposed on it wheÌ„ that proud people had a mind to erect a Tower which might reach as it
were to heauen so to defend it self from the wrath of God if he should descend to drowne it a second tyme and that also by the setting vp of such a building their name might be celebrated throughout the world But our Lord did hinder their folly by giuing them different (h) Gen. 17. languages that so they might not vnderstand one another Whereupon they fell into brawles euery one conceauing that the other mocked him one man saying one thing and another answering him another and so the end of their pride was confusion vnquietnes and diuision Most (i) Why the name of confusion agreeth to sinners properly doth this name agree to the Citty of wicked persons For they would fayne sinne and not be punished and they wil not auoyd the iudgments of God by forbearing to offend him but if they could sinne decline the punishment either by force or sleight they would attempt it Proud people they are and al their end is but that their name may be renowned in the world and if they can they set vp the towers of vaine workes and if they cannot do it in deed at least they do it in desire God destroyeth such men as these euen when they are tasting the sweetest bit As it is written God (k) Iac. 4. resisteth such as are proud And because they would not liue in the vnity of one language performing obedience to God they are punished so far as that they shall neither vnderstand themselues nor vnderstand God nor vnderstand one another nor any one of the creatures for as much as when the wisedome of God is wanting they vnderstand nothing for their good as they ought How (l) A liuely description of the vayne variable hart of sinfull man many thinges do worke in the hart of wicked men which put them past their owne skill and they know not how to helpe themselues Sometimes they desire one thinge sometimes another yea sometimes they desire a thinge that is the contrary of the former Now they do and then they vndoe they weepe and they reioyce and all to no purpose Now they are ready to despaire and soone after they are vainely puffed vp They seeke a thing with much labour and when they haue obteyned it they are sorry that they did so much as seeke it They find not that which they imagined yea they desire one thinge and they do another being gouerned not by reason but passion And from hence it growes that man being a reasonable creature whose principall part is his soule whose office is to liue vnder reason whereas these men wil liue according to appetite it is plaine that they turne the wrong side outward since they lead a kind of life of beasts which is a life of bodies and not a life that is reasonable which is proper to men And vpon this it riseth that as God is a spirit and must be serued not by a beastiall maner of life but by a spirituall such persons as these do not serue him as hath bin said for their life is contrary to his law And since the vnion of Christians groweth from the vnion of themselues within themselues from the vnion of themselues with God these Cittizens being deuided from (m) How true do we find this by experience God cannot haue any good or stable peace with one another but rather certaine paltry quarrelles do spring from their discourses from their works and conuersations euery one liuing according to his owne fancy without caring to content any other body And on the other side they haue a quicke sense of any affront or iniury which is done to themselues without regarding that of others These (n) Selfe loue is the bane of Charity are the men who neither vse themselues nor other thinges to that end for which they were created but they vse both themselues and all other thinges to their owne aduantage making themselues the last end of all thinges And therefore with reason they are called by the name of Babylon since all goes contrary to the creatour They are also called sometimes Chaldâ—ans sometimes of Sodome and sometimes of Hedom with a thousand other names which decipher the wickednes of this people which names are yet all vnable to declare the malice thereof This is that people which is called world not because God created it so for the world is good as being created by him who is supremely good but because these men who are such as I haue heere described haue no other feeling nor no other loue but of the visible world which by (o) 1. Ioan. â— S. Iohn is called the pride of life the desyre of the flesh and the concupiscence of the eyes He that loueth these thinges shall perish as saith the same S. Iohn but he that will do the will of God shall remaine for euer And S. Paul (p) Rom. â— saith He that hath not the spirit of Christ is not of Christ and consequently he is to be of the world and S. Iames (q) Iac. 4. saith That the amity of the world is eâ—nity with God CHAP. XCVIII That it doth much import vs to fly from this Citty of the wicked which is the world and how ill it treateth the cittizens therof and of the sad end which they all shall haue THOV hast already heard sufficient reason to abhorre this people and to vnderstand how much God desireth that thou shouldst depart froÌ„ thence to saue thy selfe For this is that true spirituall Aegypt out of which God commaunded Israel to depart with speed and to go on though it were with a great deale of paines towards the Land of promise And this is that people out of which God commaunded Abraham (a) Gen. 12. to depart Go out of thyne owne countrey and from thy kinred and from thy Fathers house and come into the land that I will shew thee Which he accomplished with a simple and sincere obedience without knowing whither he was going as S. Paul (b) Hebr. 11. affirmeth Out of this very people and Citty God commaunded Let to go that so the punishments which he was resolued to inflict vpon that place might not lay hold vpon him and he commaunded him to saue himselfe in the mountayne by which the height of Christian Faith of good life may be vnderstood Finally (c) How the people of God is to carry it selfe and why this is the people whereof God saith to such as he will haue to be his owne Do (d) 2. Cor. â— not keepe company with infidells For what conuersation can goodnesse and wickednes or light and darknes haue togeather and what society can there be betweene Christ and Belial betweene a faithfull man and an infidell or what composition or agreement can there be betweene the Temple of God and that of Idolls For you are the Temple of the liuing God as God saith And I wil dwell amongst them and I will conuerse amongst them
for that is all that he can giue Such is the entertainment that he makes which were sufficient if men would but looke vpon it to make them fly from the Diuell and the World and to draw neere to God as the prodigall sonne did who finding himselfe put to so base an imployment as to keep swine and that he could not haue inough euen of the very food which they fed vpon he grew at last to get his wits againe and to obserue the difference which there was between being in the house of his Father and in that other house of the World and he left the ill condition wherein he was turning home and demāding mercy of his Father which he quickly found Do (t) How we must carry our selues towardes God if we desire to take comfort in his seruice thou also in like manner and if thou haue a mind that our Lord should receaue thee Forsake thy people And if thou wilt haue him remember thee forget thou it if thou wilt haue him loue thee do not inordinatly loue thy selfe and if thou wilt haue him take care of thee do not thou confide in the care of thy selfe and if thou wilt be acceptable to his eyes take no pleasure in thine owne and if thou resolue to please him do not feare to displease the whole world for him and if thou desire to find him make no difficulty to giue away thy Father thy Mother thy Brothers thy house and thy very life for him Not for that thou art to abhorre these thinges but because it is fit for thee to looke with truth and with entire loue vpon Christ and (u) The iust obligation of a Christiā not to faile of one haires breadth in pleasing of him though it be with the displeasing of that creature of the whole world which is most beloued by thee yea and of thy very selfe S. Paul (x) 1. Cor. 3. requireth That (y) We must do nothing nor haue any thing so much at the hart as to estrange vs from conuersing with almighty God they who haue wiues should haue them as if they had them not That they who purchase should be as if they possessed not That they who sell should be as if they had not sold They that weepe as if they wept not and They that reioyce as if they reioyced not And the cause that he addeth is this Because the figure of the world passeth quickly So then do I say to thee O Virgin that thou art to put the world and thy selfe away The (z) Note first because it passeth quickly and the second because it is none of thyne And so haue thou thy parents thy brothers thy kinred thy house and thy people as if thou haddst them not Not but that thou art to reuerence obey and loue them since grace doth not destroy the order of nature yoa and euen in heauen it selfe the child shall carry reuerence to his Father but (a) How this discourse is to be vnderstood to the end that it may not take vp and employe thy hart and diuert it from the loue of God Loue them in Christ and not in themselues For Christ did not giue them as meaning that they should be impediments to keep thee from that which thou shouldest euer be doing which is to serue him S. Hierome relateth of a certayne Virgin who was so mortified in the point of affection towardes her kinred that she cared not much to see a sister which she had though she also were a Virgin but contented her selfe to loue her in God Belieue me (b) A soueraigne truth and most fit to be so that as thou canst not write in parchment if it be not well and cleane taken off from the body of the beast that wore it so is not that soule prepared for our Lord to write particuler fauours in it till such time as the affections which rise from flesh and bloud be very well mortifyed We read how that in times past They placed the Arke vpon a carre to the end that two kine being yoaked in front might lead it on and the calues were shut vp in a certayne place And although the kine did low in the way of sighing for their calues yet did they neuer leaue the high way nor turne back nor degresse as the Scripture saith eyther to the right hand or to the left but by the will of God who so disposed therof They carryed the Arke to the land of Israel which was the place where God dwelt They (c) A figur of the old testament excellently applyed who haue placed the Crosse of Iesus Christ our Lord vpon their shoulders which is the Arke where he remaineth and wherein he is truly to be found must not giue ouer nor so much as slacke their pace for these naturall affections of the loue of parentes or children or houses or such other thinges as these Nor are they to be giddy-headed vpon the enioying of prosperity nor to be afflicted for aduersity For the former of these two is to turne out of the way on the right hand and the other on the left But thou art to follow on in the straight way with feruour beseeching our Lord to guide both the one and the other to his glory and to be as dead to such thinges as these as if they did nothing concerne thee or at least not to suffer thy selfe to be ouercome eyther with ioy or griefe howsoeuer they may be felt a little This was figured by those (d) 1. Reg. 6. kine which though they vttered certaine shewes of tendernes towards their calues yet did they not for all that giue ouer to conduct the Arke of God And if Fathers do see their Sonns serue God in some good (e) As when they make thēselues Religious men or women fashion which yet is not pleasing vnto them they must consider what is pleasing to God And although they may sigh deeply for the loue of their childrē yet let the loue of God ouercom that loue And let them offer them vp to God wherin they shal be like to (f) Gen. 22. Abraham who in obedience to God was resolued to kill his only Sonne not caring what his sensuality could say to the contrary And (g) How good is God only he wil be serued as God the naturall griefe which is felt in such traunces as these is to be endured with patience which yet shall not be without reward For as much as our Lord hath ordeined vs to carry those affections and for the loue of him it is that we ouercome them it is like the case of him that suffereth Martyrdome Forget therefore thy people O thou Virgin and be thou like to another Melchisedech of whome we reade not that (h) Heb. 7. he had any Father or Mother or any kinred whereby as S. Bernard saith an example is giuen to the seruants of God that they must so truly forget their
also thy inferiours so that yet the gouernement and order of the house be not disturbed thereby But yet if there be a necessity that thou shouldst command exteriourly at least hold thy selfe for inferiour in thy hart And for the doing of this with the more courage remember how our soueraigne Lord Maister did (k) Ioan. 13. kneele downe to the ground as if he had been an inferiour and subiect to wash the feet not only of them that loued him but of him who imployed those very feet being washed to giue vp into the hands of death that very man who had washed them with (l) The ineffable humility and chaof our Lord Iesus so great humility and loue Call this passage many tymes to mind and let the word which then he sayd be rooted in thy soule If I being your Lord and Maister haue washt your feet how much more ought you to wash the feet of one another And so loue thy inferiours which are in thy house as if thou wert their Father or Mother and labour for them as if thou wert their slaue taking the impertinency of their conuersation the superfluity of their speach yea and the iniurious works of their hands with patience Be not humble towards them who liue abroad and proud amongst them whome thou hast at home Practise vertue with them whome thou hast vnder thyne eye and neare at hand and make triall of thy selfe at home that thou mayst know how to conuerse abroad And remember that holy woman S. Catherine of Siena who was instructed by God and whose life I desire that thou shouldst read not to make thee couet her reuelations but to breed in thee an imitation of her vertues For although her parenas did hinder her in the way which she had taken towards the seruice of God she did neither trouble her selfe nor abandon them They cast her out of her little Oratory where she vsed to performe her deuotions and they appointed her to serue in the Kitchin But because she humbled her selfe and obeyed them she found God in the (m) God is euery where the rewarder of humility Kitchin as well or better then in her Oratory Do not torment thy selfe if at the time when thou hast a mind to pray thy parents or (n) He seemeth heere to meane the Ghostly Father Prelates would haue thee do somewhat else But offering that desire of thine to our Lord do that which is enioyned by thy Superiours with much humility and peace of mind being confident that in obeying thy superiours thou obeyest God it being so appoynted by him in his fourth commaundement Neyther yet is it forbidden hereby but that with humility thou mayst beseech thy parentes to allow thee some retired place some vacant time for thy spirituall exercises And first hauing begged it of our Lord haue thou so firme a trust in his goodnesse that whether it be graunted thee or no it shal be all for thy profit if thou take at from the hand of God with (o) Two partes worth the labouring for obedience and peace of mind And as for thy parentes they shall giue account to our Lord of that which they commaund thee and it shall be no superficiall account But thou art not to consider that let them looke to it for as S. Ambrose sayth It is a fauour of God and full of profit for a man to haue a sonne or daughter who will serue his diuine Maiesty in state of Virginity with contempt of the world by a particuler vocation to a spirituall life CHAP. CII That not all those thinges which we desire to do or demaund to haue are to be called a mans proper will how we may know what our Lord demaundeth at our handes IF thou haue well considered that which hath bin said to thee in those former wordes thou wilt easily haue perceiued that two thinges were recommended to thee The one The flying of thine owne will The other the following of the will of God Now for the declaration of these two thinges I must let thee know that for thee to desire or begge in particuler manner of Almighty God that he will deliuer thee out of any spirituall inconuenience whereof thou art most in danger or that he will impart some vertue to thee wherof thou art in particuler need is not any vicious act of thine owne will but it is a meanes that a good one to enable thee to fulfill the will of God who commaundeth vs to depart from euill and to do good For if thou obserue it well thy begging of a thing in particuler through (a) It is good to beg any particuler grace of our Lord in a particuler manner for so it will be done with more zeale the particuler necessity thereof wherein thou art doth help thee to aske it with greater efficacy and with a more profound sigh of thy hart which are meanes whereby God is induced the more easily to grant that which is desired Which very thing would not perhaps be graunted if it were asked with that tepidity which vseth to accompany requestes which are made in generall tearmes And this doctrine is agreable to the holy Scripture since our Lord himself doth teach vs in that prayer of the Pater Noster to aske things in particuler manner And so also did the Prophet Dauid as his particuler necessities did present themselues and so haue other Saints vsed to do when they asked any thing eyther for themselues or others And although the same may also be done whylest we are desiring temporall thinges of God as we reade of the (b) Marc. 10. blind man who begged his sight and of many others yet because nothing that is temporall deserueth to be much esteemed and the loue whereof doth vse to carry danger with it and the contempt whereof deserueth praise so great liberty is not giuen vs to discharge our hartes wholy in the desire and suite for such thinges as for spirituall although it be not ill done of vs to demaund temporall thinges so that it be without excesse of earnestnes and vnder this condition if it so be pleasing vnto our Lord. Concerning the accomplishment of the will of our Lord wherein consisteth all our good thou wilt aske perhaps How may I know what that is To which I answeare That (c) A certayne rule how to know what is the will of God whensoeuer the word or commaundement of God or of his Church doth ordaine any thinge thou art to make no further inquiry but to rest assured that it is the will of our Lord. And when there is no such expresse commaundment esteeme that to be of the same ranke which is imposed on thee by thy superiour if it do not euidently appeare to be against the law of God or of his Church or the light of Nature For since S. Paul (d) Rom. 1â— saith That although the superiour be an infidell yet the Christian man must obey him and
the bloud of Christ our Lord. CONSIDER then how deformed the spot is which sinne doth cause and how farre we are to fly from it since being once receiued into the soule it could neither be washed away by the shedding of so much bloud as was offered in the Temple by the commaundment of God himselfe nor could all the force of man arriue vnto it And if that beautifull and deare (a) Christ our Lord. Word of God had not come downe to beautify vs the deformity of sinne would for euer haue remained in vs. But that lambe without spot comming downe he had the power and he had the way and he had the will to put away these spotts he destroyed our deformity and he endewed vs with beauty And to the end that thou mayest see with how much conueniency the Sonne of God rather then God the Father or the holy Ghost was to be he that should beautify our deformed soules with his bloud Consider that as Eternity is attributed to the Father and Loue to the holy Ghost so to the Sonne of God as God is attributed Beauty because he is most (b) The first quality of Beauty prefect and without the least defect and he is the (c) The second quality of Beauty image of the Father as S. Paul (d) Heb. 1. saith and so liuely an one that in regard he is engendred by way of the vnderstanding he is to all purposes as his Father who gaue him the same essence that himselfe hath in such sort as that he (e) Ioan. 14. who seeth him seeth the Father as the holy ghospell saith Now by reason of this proportion betweene the Sonne and the Father which is so absolute most iustly is beauty ascribed to him since the image is taken in so liuely a maner out of the originall Light (f) The third quality of Beauty is not wanting to him for he is called the Worde which is a thing engendred by the vnderstanding and in that vnderstanding as S. Iohn (g) Ioan. 1. saith which was true light Greatnes is not (h) The fourth quality of beauty wanting to him since he is infinitly immense and therefore was it conuenient that this beautifull God by whom we were made wheÌ„ we were not should come to restore vs when we were lost and who apparaylling himselfe with our flesh should take vpon him the resemblance of our deformity and so imparte to vs the excellency of his owne beautie And although neither our being punished or spoken faire was able to free vs from our spots yet was the valew so great of the punishing of that beautiful person that the sharp salpetre of his passion falling vpoÌ„ his shoulders there distilled downe vpon vs the sweet dew of his whitnesse And howsoeuer God doth say to the sinner Although (i) Hier. 12. thou wash thy selfe with salpetre with the Fullers hearbe thou shalt not be cleane yet telling vs that he would send a remedy against this spot he sayth in another place If thy sinnes be as red as scarlet they shal be made white like snow and if they shal be as red as bloud they shall become whyte like woll Very truly well did Dauid belieue this when he (k) Ps 50. sayd Thou shalt sprinkle me O Lord with (l) The inward meaning of this place deliuered â—yssope and I shal be cleane thou shalt wash me and I shall become more white then snow Hyssope is a litle hearbe and somewhat hot and hath the property to purge the lunges wherby we breath This hearbe they brought to a wand of Cedar they tyed it thereunto with a string of crimson double died And so being bound togeather they called it that Hyssope wherewith when first it had beene steeped in bloud and water and then with water and ashes they sprinkled both leaprous persons and such as had touched any dead body and thereupon they were held for cleane Full well knew Dauid that neither the herbe nor the Cedar nor the bloud of birdes or beastes nor yet water or ashes could giue any cleannesse to the soule although it were figured by them And therfore he desired not God that he would take into his hand a branch of Hyssope sprinkle him with it but (m) That hysop was a figure of the humility and Passion of Christ our Lord. he sayth so in respect of the humanity and humility of Iesus Christ our Lord which is called an herbe because it grew from the earth of the Blessed Virgin Mary and because he was begotten without the help of man as the flower springeth in the field which is neither plowed nor sowed For this it is that he sayth I am (n) Can. 2. the flower of the field And this her be is called little for the meanenesse which he tooke vpon himselfe in the world so far forth as to say A (o) Psal 21. worme I am and no man the dishonour of men and the very out-cast of the people This (p) The passion of our Lord is the only soueraign cure of pride humbled flesh of our Lord is such a remedy against the puffe of our foolish pride as that it may be cured by this so great humility since there is no colour for a worme to exalt it self when the King of Maiesty is so abased And forget not that Hyssope is hot For Christ by the fire of that loue which was burning in the roots of his hart was pleased to abase himself to purge vs thereby to make vs know that if he who was so high did abase himselfe how much reason there is why we who haue so true cause to abase our selues should not by our selues be exalted And if God be humble how much more should a man be so This (q) Of our Lord Iesus flesh so full of true phisicke was then put to the sticke of a Cedar when it was placed vpoÌ„ the crosse tyed by that delicate thrid of wooll twice died For although the nayles which fastned thereunto his handes and feete were hard and great and long inough yet if the thrid of his ardent loue had not fastned him to that crosse and vnles he had been willing to deliuer vp his life for the killing of our death those nayles would not haue beene strong inough for such a businsse So that it was not they but the loue he bare vs that held him there And (r) The double aspect which was carryed by the loue of our Lord the reparation of Gods honour and the remission of mans sin this loue carryed a double aspect as crimson which is double died for he suffered that which he suffered to satisfy for the honour of his father who was offended by our sinnes and for the loue of sinners who were lost thereby CHAP. CIX That the sacred humanity of Christ our Lord was figured in the gaâ—â—ent of the high Priest and in the veyle which God commaunded Moyses to make
And what that was which Dauid begged when he desired to be sprinckled with Hysâ—ope that he might so be cleansed THE garment which the high Priest of the old Law did weare was to be double died in crimson because (a) How the figurs of the old TestameÌ„t were perfected fullfilled in the person of our Lord Iesus the holy Humanity of Christ which is the garment of his soule was to be dyed in bloud being shed both for the loue of God and man And this flesh being nayled vpon the Crosse is that veyle which God commaunded Moyses to make of the (b) Exod. 18. colour of Hyacinth Crimson and Purple double died and of whyte and well and strongly wouen linnen made with the needle and curiously diuersified by seuerall workes For this holy Humanity is died with bloud like crimson it is of a fiery colour which is signified by the purple as hath been said and it is white like fyne linnen through Chastity and Innocency and it is well and strongly wouen for it is not loose or weake but firmely and fast put togeather vnder all kind of vertuous discipline and much affliction And (c) The colour of the floure hiacinthus is blew though the colour of that stone which we know by that name is of a deep yellow this is well signifyed by the Hyacinth which is of a celestiall colour because his body was framed by the supernatural worke of the holy Ghost For this reson is it called celestiall and for many other vertues perfections thereof which were contriued by the admirable knowledge of the wisedome of God! The commaundment was that this veyle should be hung vpon foure pillars which were to vphold it which signifieth that Christ was to be placed vpon the (d) The crosse was made of foure parts One was the length two the breath the other wherupoÌ„ the litle was written foure armes of the Crosse and foure Ghospells they also be which doe publish and preach it throughout the world Now for as much as Dauid being a Prophet so illuminated by God in the knowledge of those mysteries which concerned Christ who was to come seeing how deformed himselfe was growne by the foule sinne of (c) The murther which he committed vpon the persoÌ„ of Vrias that so he might coÌ„tinue to enioy Bersabee his wife stealing the sheep and murthering the sheepheard fearing the wrath of the Omnipotent God wherwith he was threatened by the mouth of the Prophet Nathan he beseecheth God to take away his (f) The deformity of sinne the beauty of grace deformity and to giue him beauty not with materiall Hyssope since the same Dauid sayd to God That he tooke no (g) Not in any thing that was only external but the externall sacrifices were to be accompanied by internall sorrow for sinne delight in the sacrifice of beasts but he beggeth to be sprinckled by the flesh bloud of Iesus Christ being tied with the strings and cordes of loue vpon the Crosse Beleeuing that though his deformity were great and that otherwise it was impossible to remoue it yet he should grow white beyond the whitenesse of snow by the bloud which was to fall from the crosse O Beautifull bloud of Christ our Lord who art so Beautiful For although thou be as red as Rubies thou hast power to make a thing more white theÌ„ snow O (h) At the least we must now consider it and lameÌ„t the cause thereof which is our sinne if a man had seene with what violence it was drawne downe by those wretches with what loue it was shed by thee O Lord when thou didst stretch forth thyne armes and feete to be let bloud therein for the remedy of that so lewd disorder and distemper which we made by our ill desires and deedes With great force did thyne enemies come vpon thee but with much more violence did thy loue assault thee for it was that and not they which ouercame thee Dauid did stile Christ (i) Psalm 44. beautifull aboue all the sonnes of men But this beautifull creature who surpassed not only men but Angells would needes as it were dissemble that beauty of his and he apparailed the exteriour of his body with the resemblance of that deformity which possest our soules That so the same deformity might be swallowed vp in the Abysse of his beauty as some little straw would be consumed in a huge fire and that he might giue vs his owne beautifull Image and make vs so resemble him CHAP. CX How Christ did as it were dissemble those foure conditions of his beauty so to make vs beautifull to which purpose there is a passage of the Prophet Isay declared YF we do well consider the conditions which haue bin shewed to be requisite for the making a man beautifull al which are in the diuine word after a most excellent manner we shal find that he dissembled and hid them all that so being concealed in him they might grow to be disclosed in vs. Most (a) The first conditioÌ„ that any thing must haue if it will be beautifull was hidden by Christ Iesus our Lord in his sacred passion entire and perfect and full is the word of God which wanteth nothing nor can it want and which remooueth the want of all thinges But yet though in the bosome of his Father he be so rich if thou looke vpon him being made man in the wombe and in the armes of his mother as also throughout the whole course of his life and death thou wilt see how he wanted both to eate and drinke yea and a bed wheron to lye when the Virgin layd him in the manger For neither was there any bed for him in the stable of Bethleem nor any other place then that How often did he want meanes to put away both heate and cold and nothing he had if they gaue him nothing And if in his life tyme he had not a place where to lay his head as himselfe affirmeth what shall we say of that extremity of pouerty to which he was subiect in his death at which tyme neither had he any thing whereupom so much as to lay his head For eyther he was to haue leaned backe with it vpon the Crosse and so to endure excessiue paine by the thornes which might pricke him so much the deeper or else he must let it fall so remaine without a rest but not without exceeding paine O sacred head whereof the Spouse (b) Cant 5. saith That it is of purest gold as being the head of God and how much to thy cost dost thou pay for that resting place which in preiudice of the loue that we owe to thy selfe we procure to find vpon thy creatures both (c) How true is this and how truly ought it to be reformed louing them and desiring to be beloued and praised by them making that to be our lodging which should be only our high way whereby we might
ariue to repose in thee Now the reason why he passeth through such want and pouerty is declared by S. Paul who saith You know well O brethren the grace which our Lord Iesus Christ imparted to vs who being rich did make himselfe poore for vs that so we might grow rich by his pouerty And the while thou seest that the first condition of beauty which was to be complete is altogeather hidden and as it were dissembled by him since to him there was so much wanting vpon earth who in heauen was abundance it selfe If now thou wilt consider the second condition of the Beautifull word of God which is to be (d) The second condition of the beauty of our Lord was hidden by him in the passiō the most perfect image of his Father and proportionable to him and equall to him thou wilt find that on earth he dissembled this condition no lesse then the former For tell me what is the Father but Strength Wisdome Honour Beauty Bounty Ioy and such other excellencies which all togeather do make vp an infinite Good Well then do thou place on the one side this admirable Originall which is all glorious in it selfe adored by the Angells and (c) If euer thou wilt lend me thy attention and thy compassion I beg it now then call to mind that passage which in reason ought to passe yea and passe through the most internall partes of our very soules when this beautiful image of the Father Iesus Christ our Lord was brought out from the Tribunall of Pilate most cruelly scourged and vested with a purple robe and tormented with that crowne which was of scorne in their eyes that saw it and of insufferable payne in him that felt it His hands in the meane tyme were bound and a Cane or Reed was put into them His eyes full of teares and of bloud with all which ran downe from his head His cheeks pale and wanne and full also of bloud and defiled vvith filthy spittle vvhich they had darted out vpon his face And vnder this paine and shame vvas he brought out to be seeme by all the people and thus it vvas said Behold the man And this vvas done to the end that his shame might increase in being seene by them and that compassion might once grovv in their hartes vvhen they perceaued in vvhat case he vvas and so they might giue ouer the persecution of a man vvhō they saw in such a passion But (f) Infinit patience and loue of our Lord and inscrutable malice of the wicked Iewes O vvith hovv wicked eyes did they behold the paines of him vvho yet did feele more paine for their perdition then for those very paines of his owne since insteed of quenching that fire of their frantike malice with the water of the dishonour which they saw him in it burned but more and more like wild-fyre which burnes in water They would not hearken to that worde which was said to them by Pilate Behold the man for they cared not for seeing him there but sayd that they would see him vpon a Crosse But thou at least O soule which art redeemed by the torments of Christ do thou hearken and let all of vs hearken to this word Behold the man least otherwise we grow aliens from the redemption of Iesus Christ if we cannot find in our harts to be mindfull and gratefull to him in respect of them When we (g) A consideration which wil pierce the harts of al such as hauethen◠not of flint bring forth any thing to the end that it may be seene we are wont to dresse it the best we can that so it may enamoure the lookers on And when we bring forth any thing that we would haue to be feared we set it out with a shew of Armes Trophees and we accompany it with such other thinges as may make them tremble that behold it And when we make any representation that should moue a man to tears we apparail it in mourning and we giue it all those additions that may induce men to sorrow Then tell me what was the intention of Pilate in drawing Christ our Lord into the view of the people It was certainely not to make them loue him nor to make them feare him and therefore they did neither beautify him nor set him out with Guardes Caualliers but he brought him forth to appease the cruell harts of the Iewes by that spectacle of our Redeemer And this was not to be done by the way of loue For well did Pilate know hovv cordially and profoundly they abhorred him but he had a desire to pacify them euen by the pure force of those excessiue torments which were indured by that delicate body of his so much to his cost For this it was that Pilate did dresse Christ our Lord with such a dressing of torments which were both so many and so great as might haue serued to moue compassion in al such as saw him how much soeuer they did detest him It (h) No Christian soule can doubt of this is therefore to be belieued that he brought him forth the most afflicted the most abased and the most dishonoured that he could deuise Making it his study how to deforme him as one would study to beautify and adorne some gallant birde that so he might appease the wrath of such as hated him since he found by experience that he could not do it by other meanes And now tell me if Christ was brought forth in such a fashion as might haue serued to quench the fire of hate in their harts that abhorred him how (i) It is more thē reason mightily is it reason that the sight and shew of him should kindle the fire of loue in their harts who know him to be God and who confesse him to be their Redeemer Isay the (k) Isa 5◠Prophet saw this passage long before it was brought to effect And being in contemplation of our Lord he sayd He (l) Heere giue thyn eares and thy hart to God hath no beauty nor delicacy we haue seene him and there was nothing to be seene in him and we desired to haue him despised and the most abased thing amongst men a man of griefe and who did euen possesse the knowledg of torments His face was as if it were hidden and despised and therefore we had him in no estimation It was truely he that bare our infirmityes and himselfe did suffer our paynes and we esteemed of him as some leaprous person and as stroken by the hand of God and so deiected If thou wilt weigh these wordes of Isay one by one thou wilt easily see how the beauty of Christ was all concealed in that day of his affliction for the beautifying of vs. The (m) Heere see the different christ our Lord grew to be from himselfe and it was all for our sakes Spouse speaking to Christ doth say in the (n) Cant. 5. Canticles Thou art faire thou
Christian Pilate might conceaue that quickly there would be no more thought of Christ nor any that would haue compassion of him yet God ordained that insteed of those few who did spit vpon him there might be may be shal be many who are with reuerence to adore him And that insteed of them who for the loathsomnesse of the spectacle could not endure to look vpoÌ„ him there should be many who might ioy in beholding that most blessed face as a most pure and perfect glasse though it were placed vpon a (s) The place of the greatest reproach that could be thoâ—hâ— of Crosse And insteed of theÌ„ who thought him to deserue all that which he suffered there should be so many who might confesse that he committed no euill for which he ought to suffer but only that themselues had sinned and that he suffered for the loue of them And lastly if their cruelty were so great as not to haue compassion of him but demanded that he might be murthered vpon the crosse God was pleased that there should be many who would desire to dye for Christ and who with all their soules would say I see (t) The wordes of a soule which is the spouse of Christ our Lord. O thou my friend that thou art wounded and full of payne and I would to God I could suffer it for thee Let not therfore Pilate thinke that he dressed Christ so in vayne though he could not moue them who then were present to compassion since now so many vpon the remembrance of those afflictions of Christ haue so great pitty of him that in their harts they are scourged crowned and crucified togeather with him as S. Paul affirmeth both of himselfe and in the person of many others CHAP. CXII How great reason it is that we should behold this man Christ with those eyes wherewith many of them to whome the Apostles preached did behold him that so we may grow beautifull And that this beauty is giuen vs through his grace and not through our owne merits A Most reasonable thing it is O Virgin that these motiues which are so pregnant and these examples which are so full of life should moue thee thou hauing first cast away all tepidity to fixe him in thy hart with a profound and cordiall loue who so much to his torment was placed nayled vpon the Crosse for thee And that thou be none of those hard-harted persons who heard those wordes spoken in vayne but of those others to whome the hearing thereof hath beene a cause of saluation Be none of them who had not the grace to esteeme that which was present to them but of those others in whose person Isay sayth We desired to see him for many Kinges and Prophets haue desired to see the face and to heare the voyce of Christ our Lord. Behold (a) How necessary it is for vs to behold Christ our Lord crucifyed therefore O Virgin this man Christ Iesus who is published by the voyce of one that is not worthy to proclaime him thus Behold this man that thou mayst then come to heare his wordes for he is that maister which the Father gaue vs. Behold this man that thou mayst imitate his life for there is no way whereby thou canst be saued but he Behold this man that thou mayst haue compassion of him for he was brought to such a passe as might haue mooued euen his enemies to compassion Behold this man to lament ouer him for it is we who by our sinnes haue brought him to the case he is in Behold this man that thou mayst loue him for he hath suffered infinitly for vs. Behold this man that thou mayest beautify thy selfe by him for in him thou shalt find all the colours of beauty that thou canst desire Red by the new buffetts which they gaue him Blew by those which he had receiued the night before Yeallow by the abstinence of his whole life and by the affliction which he had passed through in that night White by the spittle which they had discharged vpon him and Blacke by those blowes wherwith they had new moulded his sacred face his cheekes all swelled and of as many colours as those wretches could paint vpon them For Isay (b) Isa 50. prophesied thus in the person of Christ I gaue my cheekes to those that would pull them and my body to them that would afflict it What waters what enamells what white and red mayest thou find heere wherewith to beautify thy selfe if by thy negligence thou leaue them not Behold this man O Virgin for whosoeuer beholdeth him not shall not escape from death For as Moyses did exalt the serpent in the desert vpon a staffe that they who were wounded might recouer by looking on it and those others dye who did not looke so (c) It is not with fayth alone that we must looke vpon our Lord but with faith loue whosoeuer shall not looke with faith and loue vpon Christ who is placed vpon the wood of the Crosse shal dye for euer And as I told thee before that we must beseech the Father by saying Looke O Lord vpon the face of thy Christ so also doth the Eternall Father coÌ„maund and say to vs Looke O man vpon the face of (d) Christ our Lord is not only the Christ of God but of vs also thy Christ and if thou wouldst haue me looke vpon his face to pardon thee looke thou vpon his face that by him thou mayest desyre me to giue thee pardon In (e) The great God and this wretched man can only be made to meet in Christ our Lord. the face of Christ our Mediatour the Fathers sight and ours doe come to meete There do the beames of our belieue and loue there do the beames of his grace and pardon determine themselues Christ is called the Christ of the Father because the Father engendred him gaue him what he hath And Christ is called our Christ because he offered himselfe for vs bestowing vpon vs all his merits Behold therefore the face of thy Christ belieuing in him confiding in him and louing him and all others for him Behold the face of thy Christ by meditating on him and by comparing thy life with his that so as in a glasse thou mayest see thy faultes and how far thou art off from him so knowing the sinnes which deforme thee thou mayest take of his tears of his bloud which streame downe ouer that beautifull face of his and with griefe mayest wash away those spotts and so thou mayst become beautifull and iust But as the Iewes tooke off their eyes from Christ because they saw him so ill handled so doth Christ take his eyes off from that soule which is wicked and which as leaprous is abhorred by him But when he hath beautifyed it by the grace that he gained for it by his afflictions he placeth his eyes vpon it saying How (f) Cant. 4. beautifull art thou
64. Of a profitable exercise of knowing the being which we haue in Nature that by it we may obtayne Humility pag. 316. Chap. 65. How the exercising of our selues in the knowledge of the supernaturall being which we haue of grace doth serue towards the obteyning of Humility pag. 321. Chap. 66. Wherein the aforesaid exercise is prosecuted in particuler manner pag. 326. Chap. 67. Wherein he prosecuteth the former exercise and of the much light which our Lord is wont to giue by meanes thereof whereby they know the greatnes of God and as it were the Nothing of their litlenes pag. 332. Chap. 68. Wherein he beginneth to treate of the consideration of Christ our Lord and of the mysteries of his life and death and of the great reason we haue to exercise our selues in this consideration and of the great fruites which grow from thence pag. 336. Chap. 69. Wherein he prosecuteth that of the former Chapter pondereth this passage of the Canticles in contemplation of the passion of Christ pag. 343. Chap. 70. That the exercise of prayer is most important and of the great fruit which is reaped thereby pag. 350. Chap. 71. That the pennance due to our sinnes must be the first pace whereby we come to God conceauing true griefe for them and making true Confession thereof and satisfaction pag. 361. Chap. 72. How the second pace towardes the bringing vs to God is the giuing of thankes which we owe him for his hauing so deliuered vs and of the manner how this is to be done by meanes of diuers Misteryes of the Passion which are to be meditated in diuers dayes pag. 363. Chap. 73. Of the way which we are to hold in the consideration of the life and passion of Iesus Christ our Lord. pag. 367. Chap. 74. Wherein the way of considering the life of Iesus Christ our Lord to the end that it may be of greater profit to vs is prosecuted in a more particuler manner pag. 369. Chap. 75. VVherein some directions are giuen for our greater profit in the aforesaid exercise of Prayer and for the auoyding of some inconueniences which to ignorant persons are wont to arriue pag. 374. Chap. 76. That the end of Meditation of the Passion is to be the imitation thereof and what is to be the beginning and ground of greater things which we are to imitate pag. 380. Chap. 77. That the Mortification of our passions is the second fruit which we are to draw out of the meditation of the passion of Christ our Lard and how we are to vse this exercise that so we may gather admirable fruit thereby pag. 388. Chap. 78. That the most excellent thing which we are to meditate and imitate in the passion of our Lord is the loue wherewith he offered himselfe to the Eternall Father pag. 394. Chap. 79. Of the burning Loue wherewith Christ Iesuâ— loued God and men for God from which loue as from a fountaine that did spring which he suffered in the exteriour and that also which he suffered in the interiour which was much more then the other pag. 403. Chap. 80 Wherein is prosecuted the tendernes of the loue of Christ towards men and of that which caused his interiour griefe and gaue him a Crosse to carry in his hart all the dayes of his life pag. 409. Chap. 81. Of other profitable Considerations which may be drawne out of the Passion of our Lord and of other meditations which may be made vpon other points and of some directions for such as cannot easily put that which hath bin said in practise pag. 415. Cap. 82. How attentiuely our Lord doth heare vs how piteously he doth behold vs if we manifest our infirmityes to him with that griefe which is fit and how ready he is to cure vs and to do vs many other fauours pag. 420. Chap. 83. Of two threates which God vseth to expresse One absolute and the other conditionall and of two kinds of promises like those threats and how we are to carry our selues when they arriue pag. 426. Chap. 84. What a man is of his owne stocke and of the great benefits that we enioy by Iesus Christ our Lord. pag. 429. Chap. 85. How lowd Christ cryed out and doth euer cry out for vs before the Eternall Father and with how great speede his Maiesty doth heare the prayers of men and bestoweth benefittes vpon them by meanes of this out-cry of his sonne pag. 438. Chap. 86. Of the great loue wherewith our Lord doth behold such as are iust and of the much that he desyâ—eth to communicate himselfe to creatures and to destroy our sinnes which we must behold with detestation that God may looke vpon them with compassion pag. 446. Chap. 87. Of the many and great benefits which come to men in that the Eternall Father doth behold the face of Iesus Christ his Sonne pag. 451. Cap. 88. How it is to be vnderstood that Christ is our Iustice least otherwise we should fall into some errour by conceauing that iust persons haue not a distinct iustice from that whereby Iesus Christ is iust pag. 457. Chap. 89. That sinne doth not remaine in iust Persons but that the guilt of sinne is destroyed in them that they are cleane and acceptable to God pag. 462. Chap. 90. That the graunting that there is perfect cleanesse from sinne in such as are iust by the merits of Christ Iesus doth not only not diminish his honour but much more declare it pag. 467. Chap. 91. How some passages of holy Scripture are to be vnderstood wherein it is said that Christ Iesus is our Iustice and such other propositions as that is for the better declaration of the precedent Chapters pa. 472. Chap. 92. That we must fly fast from pride which is wont to grow vp apace by occasion of good workes considering the much which is merited by them and of a particuler instruction which Christ hath giuen vs wherby we may profit against this tentation pag. 476. Chap. 93. That a man being humbled and abased by the contents of the last Chapter may enioy that greatnes which our Lord vouchsafeth to impart to the works of such as are iust with confidence gratitude p. 483. Cap. 94. That froÌ„ the loue which we beare our selues we must draw a reason of louing our neighbours p. 486. Cap. 95. That from the knowledge of the loue which Christ beareth to vs we are to draw a reason for louing our neighbours pag. 488. Chap. 96. Of another consideration which teacheth vs in excellent manner how we are to carry our selues with our Neighbours pag. 491. Chap. 97. He beginneth to treate of that word of the verse which sayth Forget thy people And of the two sorts of men which there are good and bad of the names which are giuen to euill men and of their seuerall significations pag. 497. Chap. 98. That it doth much import vs to fly from this Citty of the wicked which is the world and how ill