worth accounting himselfe rich in possessing that a lone insteede of many other things which he had before O God ô Lord ô thou the true repose of the most interiour part of our soules and when shall wee beginn I say not to loue thee but at least to desire to loue thee When I say shall we conceiue a desire of thee such a one as may be worthy of thee When shall veritie be able to preuaile more with vs then vanity beauty then deformity repose then restles care the Creatour who is soe richly full and all-sufficient before the creature whoe is soe very empty and poore Deare Lord and whoe at length will open our eyes that we may knowe that there is nothing out of thee which either hath any countenance in it selfe or is able to giue any true contentment to vs who will make some little discouery of thee to vs that soe being all enamored of thee wee may goe may runne may flye and may remaine eternally with thee Woe be to vs for wee are extreamely farre from God and wee are in soe little paine for that distance as that wee can scarce be said to feele it What is become of the profound and tender sighes of those soules which had tasted once of God and were afterwards estraunged a little from him what is become of that holy affection Psal 31. wherewith Dauid said If I shall giue sleepe to mine eyes or slumbering to myne eyelids till I haue found a house wherein our Lord may dwell And this house wee our selues are when wee destroy not our selues by scattering our harts vpon variety of things but recollect them to the vnity of one desire and of one loue and then it is that we finde our selues and are indeede the house of God For my part I beleeue that he said true who affirmed the cause of our tepidity to be this That he who hath not tasted yett of God doth not knowe in very deede what it is either to haue hunger or saciety And so wee are neither hungry after God nor are wee entirely satisfied by creatures but we remaine as certaine frozen things being neither heere nor there full of dulnes and discouragement without all taste of spiritt and fitt to cause a vomitt in his stomacke who likes not seruants who are Luke warme but desires to haue them inflamed with the fire of loue This fire himselfe brought into the world Luke 22 and desires nothing but that it may burne and to the end that it may doe soe himselfe did burne and was consumed vpon the Crosse num 19. like that redd Cow which was carried out of the campe And this he did of sett purpose to the end that wee taking of that wood of the Crosse vpon our selues might make a fire and might warme our selues and keepe correspondence with soe great a louer with some loue of ours considering how iust a thing it is that we should be wounded by the sweete dart of loue since wee see him not onely wounded but killed by it It is but reason that wee be taken by the loue of him who was taken thereby for vs deliuered ouer for our sakes into such fierce hands Lett vs enter into that prison of his loue since he entred into the prison of ours and thereby was made as tame as any lambe before them who treated him soe ill And this prison was that which made him remaine quiet vpon the Crosse For more strange and rude were those ropes and prisons of his lòue then the nailes and ropes which restrayned his person These later laying hould but vpon his body but his loue being that which seized his soule And therefore lett our harts be tyed by his loue that tye of saluation and lett vs not desire such liberty as may carry vs out of his prison For as he is very ill in health who is not wounded and made sick of his loue soe is he very ill at liberty who is not restrayned in that prison Lett vs now resist him noe longer let vs yeild our selues conquered by his armes which are his benefitts whereby he procures to kill vs that soe we may euer liue with him He desires to burne vs vp that soe the old man who was conforme to Adā being cōsumed the new man who is conforme to Christ our Lord may rise againe by loue He desires to melt our hardnes to the end that as vpon mettall which is made liquid by heate that forme is imprinted which is desired by the worke-man soe wee being softned by that loue which makes vs melt by hearing our beloued speake to vs may be ready without all resistance that soe Christ our Lord may imprint vpon vs what figure shall be most pleasing to him Now that figure which he desires to imprint is noe other then that of Loue. Iohn 15. For Christ our Lord is very Loue it selfe he cōmaunded that we should loue one another as he loued vs. Gal. 2 And S. Paule tells vs that we must soe be in loue with Christ our Lord as he loued vs and deliuered himselfe vp for vs. Soe that vnlesse we loue we are vnlike him our countenance hath noe resemblance to his but we are poore naked blinde deafe and dumbe and dead For loue a lone is that which quickenes all things and loue is that which is the spirituall-cure of our soules For the soule without loue is iust such a thing as the body is without the soule Let vs therefore loue and we shall liue let vs loue and we shall grow like God nay we shall wound him whoe is to be wounded by loue alone Lett vs loue and all things shall be ours since they are all to serue vs as it is written They that loue God shall proue well in all things If we loue this loue lett vs apply the axe of diligence to the roote of our owne self-selfe-loue and soe bring this enemy of ours to the ground What haue we of our selues let vs hedge our selues in God and make noe account at all of any thing els Let not our owne losses trouble vs but the losses of God which are the soules who depart from him And because it is a hard thing for a man to leaue to loue himselfe let vs shed many teares whereby it may be made easy for vs to dig vp this earth Let vs groane out to God from the very profoundest of our harts for our teares doe euen wound almighty God though they be soe weake and soft and though he be omnipotent Lett vs entertaine good thoughts for as Dauid saith Psal 38. My thought is a very fournace But aboue all let vs place our selues and not come quickly out againe but make our habitation in the woundes of Christ our Lord and particularly in his sacred side For there his hart being deuided and peirced for vs will receiue ours into it and soe it will growe warme through the greatnes of his loue For
whoe can remaine in fire and not growe warme at least to some proportion O that we could dwell there and how happye should we be therein what is the reason that we depart thence soe soone Because we take not vp those fiue lodgings in that high mountaine of the Crosse where Christ our Lord was transfigured indeede though not towards beauty but towards deformitie basenes and dishonour which lodgings are granted to vs nay we are desired to take them though those other three tabernacles which S. Peter desired were denyed to him If some little sparke of this fire be kindled in our harts let vs take great care that the winde blowe it not out since it is soe little Let vs couer it with the ashes of humilitie let vs hould our peace and hide it and soe we shall finde it still aliue Leuit. 6 And we must dayly add some wood to it as God commaundeth his Preists to doe And that signifies to vs the doeing of good workes and the not loosing of any tyme and aboue all things we must approach to the true fire which may kindle and enflame vs and this is Iesus Christ our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament Let vs open the mouth of our soule which is our desire and let vs goe all gaping towards the fountaine of liuing water for soe without doubt if we take hony into our mouths we shall haue some taste thereof And in fine if the fire be in our bosome it will heate vs. But both before and after we communicate we must vse some preparations and reflections and there cannot be any better then a liuely Faith that we goe then to receiue Iesus Christ our Lord together with a consideration and loue of his passion since that misterie was instituted in memory thereof Being thus refreshed lett vs then prouide our selues for our communicating the next tyme after For he whoe onely prepares himselfe for the present tyme shall seldome finde himselfe well prepared Let vs therefore runne after God for we may be sure enough that he will not flye from vs. He is nayled vpon the Crosse and infallibly we shall finde him there Let vs conveigh him into our harts and then shutt the doore that he retyre not thence Let vs dye to all visible things since there will come a tyme when we must leaue them perforce Let vs renew our selues in newnes of spirit since we haue liued soe longe according to the old man Eph. 4 Let vs be growing in knowledge and loue of Christ our Lord who is the soueraigne good And all this is to be obteyned by humble prayer and perseuerant endeauour More is receiued into the soule from without the soule then doth proceede of the soule It is more for it to be moued and disposed then to worke when that is done And therefore let vs remoue all impediments and compose our owne harts within our selues expecting Christ our Lord there who enters when the gates are shutt to visit and comfort his Disciples and soe without doubt he will come to vs. For Dauid saith of him Psal 144. Our Lord heard the desire of the poore and his eares harkened to the preparation of his hart And since Christ our Lord is principally he who must worke this in vs Psal 9. we haue noe reason to distrust but taking courage and confidence in such a conductor as he is let vs beginne to runne that course with feruour which ends not but in the obteyning of God And if we cannot soe soone make our harts as subiect to vs as we would lett vs yet endure it with patience till God rise vp and soe our enemies may fall and till he awake and commaund this sea to calme it selfe But then on the other side his expresse pleasure is that we haue confidence in him euen in the greatest temptations yea though our little barkes should be vpon the very point to sincke Let vs not therefore be disturbed or dismayed Let vs not put others to paine for the trouble which this continuall warre giues vs in threatning that we shall be ouercome The day will arriue when God will put this country of ours into peace when wee shall sleepe without any body by to wake vs. And now since this peace cannot be obteyned yet it will be a better course for vs to goe sweating and striuing to roote out our passiōs then to keepe our selues in ease and to content our selues with leading a tepid life for the auoyding of that paine which the seeking of perfection would put vs to But first lett vs vtterly distrust ourselues and confide in God and let vs beginne in the name and power of the omnipotent And this begining of ours shall be humilitie which is figured in the ashes that we take and our end shal be loue which is figured in the resurrection of our Lord and soe we shall inioye both a good lent and a good Easter In the meane tyme I kisse the hands of all my Masters your Collegialls and I recommend my selfe to their prayers And say you to them in my name that I beseech them that we may loue both God and our neighbours in great measure That soe at the day of iudgment we may know well how to answeare and that we may be made doctours be receiued into the Colledge of the Angells and Saints where we shall euer study the booke of life which is God himselfe who will for euer stand open before our eyes that we may knowe him loue him and for euer be in possession of him Our Lord Iesus remaine euer with you Amen A Letter of the Author to a certaine lady Hee shewes how the hunger of our hart cannot be satisfied but by the spirit of our lord who that hee may lodge himselfe therein requires that it bee free from all affection to creatures And how tepid and negligent persons greiue that spirit how the Feast of the holy Ghost is a very good preparation for the Feast of Corpus Chisti which followes MADAM I desire to know how your hart standes affected at this tyme. For if wee looke to the weeke wherein wee are it is belonging to the holy Ghost whose property is to giue light to the vnderstanding and to infuse loue into the will and euen strength into the body alsoe by meanes of which three loaues of bread we shall haue some what to set before our freind who comes hungry and weary from the high way For the hunger that our hart feeles which walkes as it were out of it selfe whilest it imployes it selfe vpon creatures this holy Ghost is wont to take away and to giue vs the bread of fulnes and satisfaction And woe be to vs if we feele not that great defect which is in things created and if we conuert nor our selues to god in our very harts at least now when they are weary with finding imperfections wants in those things wherein we hoped that they might obtaine repose
to the feeling of flesh bloud but according to faith which ouercomes and fooles all such discourse This Madam is the wisedome of the Crosse which makes the soule with shurt eyes submitt it selfe to the holy will of God And by thus not iudging but confiding in him it growes wise beyond the wisedome of the whole world For let him who desires to know and please God not rayse his eyes but let him abase them with humility and not sifte his iudgments and that man shall arriue to true knowledge and shall finde that our lord of power is entirely sweete towardes his seruants and doth then endue them with the greatest blessings when to the eyes of flesh and bloud hee may seeme most to haue forsaken them It is now long agoe since your ladyship hath sung this song My beloued to mee Cant. 2. and I to him But it is now that you should especially singe it for these delicate warbling notes are best vsed in these tunes of trouble Your beloued lookes vpon you and takes care of you looke you also vpon him and confide in such a taker of care He is your Father though he scourge you be you his daughter in receiuing his correction with obedience and giuing of thanks And if you be in much payne whilst you feele the scourge let it be tempered by considering the hand from whence it comes your beloued he is and he loues you more then he is beloued by you He corrects you with loue doe you also receiue it with loue that so you may answere our lord in the same tune wherein he speakes He hath a minde to purify you by fire do not fly of from the Crusyble whatsoeuer payne it may put you to For it is better to become pure from the vncleanes of earth which is ones owne will and withall to bee broken in pieces then to be whole otherwise Sing you thus to our lord Ps 16. Thou hast tryed my hart and thou hast visited mee by night thou hast examined mee with fire and thou hast not found wickednes in mee For thus doth God purify his elect and he who is not proued and purifyed thus is noe Sonne and shall be noe heire of his And for as much as it is now soe long a time since your ladyship hath soe fayre euidence that you are borne to inheritt procure you to pay with readines that rent charge which is layd vpon your land This inheritance is very rich and glorious but the heires thereof must suffer much tribulation in this world They are to be vntyed and taken of from the Crosse heere when they goe vp to raigne there and men must not think of goeing from one pleasure to another The bulls which are of a generous kind goe all darted and wounded out of the Place but such as are base and cowardly retourne home in whole skinnes Iust soe is the good Christian who is to be pierced on all sides And when tyrants and executioners are wanting they shall haue enough to suffer in they re owne houses by they re children they re husbands and they re freyndes who will by certayne sweete and and smooth wayes torment them worse then those others It is most certaine that to see one suffer whome wee loue is a very knife at our harts and loue is our executioner and the more loue there is soe much is the executioner more cruell Butt yett lett vs not turne away our face from him For this loue was the executioner of Iesus Christ our lord which putt him to more payne then all those visible executioners and this was the executioner of his blessed Mother alsoe and of as many elect as God hath had I would haue your ladyship prepare your head to be cutt of and your harte to be tormented by this executioner and you must procure to fight stoutely in the presence of God and of all his coelestiall court since such an excellente Crowne of glory is prepared for you Our lord who sends you this tribulation knowes the time which is most fitt for comforte and hee will prouide it for you when it shall be best In the meane time I beseech him to giue your lady ship patience and to remayne with you for euer Amen A Letter of the Authour to a Religious woman who was his ghostly childe Of the mercy which God shewes to such as he calles to Religion and of the exercices and obligation of a Religious woman SERVANT OF IESVS CHRIST I Haue beene thinking sometimes whither our lord might not ere this haue taken you out of this life to giue you the fruition of himselfe For to be aliue and to remaine soe long without letting me know how your soule doth seemes to me a kind of incredible thing Though yet it be true that our lord some times giues a soule soe great feeling of himselfe that it remembers nothing els because it is wholy employed vpon him who is all thinges I beseech his goodnes that this may haue beene the cause of your silence For then I shall not onely not complayne but greatly reioyce For what other thing can I soe well desire for your soule which in our lord I loue as to see it all employed in louing and in being beloued by him This is the end of all the paines which he hath taken with your soule and of all the fauours which he hath bestowed vpon it Tell me O spouse of Christ our lord how you doe Doe you loue him much and doe you hould him fast in your bosome is you heart euen wounded with the care you haue to keepe him content and to seeke his holy will though it be in contradiction of your owne For though the loue of our lord be the ioy and solace of our soules yet on the other side it suffers them not to repose but like a continuall spurre is solliciting and vrging them on that soe euery day they may please him whome they loue more and more For this reason this loue is compared to fire which neuer is at rest but the liuely flame thereof is euer working and striuing vpward This loue will haue nothing to doe with slackenes nor knowes it how to take any rest but in our lord And this is the loue of a Loyal sponse which it is reason that you be in performance since you are soe in profession since you haue an inward vocation to put that in practise to which you were called Doe not forgett the day on which you offerred your selfe to your spouse by the hand of your Prelatt Nor that other day when your spouse conueyed his hand into your heart making you vnderstand both your selfe and him He said in your soule let light be made and then all darkenes and sorrow fled away and now like one who sees the light of heauen you liue in ioy because you know which way you may goe without danger of falling For if you be carefull to keepe those dayes in mind you
them he found not what he sought he may goe at last with an intyre hart to him who alone is able to impart more to the soule then it is able to receiue Your ladyship must not therefore be carryed away by that great errour which yet is imbraced by many great ones of this world who are mightily affected to their owne will and who abound with particular appetites and who thinke belike that they are to abound as much more then others in desire of things as they are heere of more eminent ranke state but for my part I see not what they gather from hence but greater torments For after the rate of the desire is the paine And as S. Bernard saith Let our proper will cease and there will noe more be any hell And soe wee may say let this proper will cease and there will not be in the world either any sinne or any sorrow For that which comes to vs is not in it selfe the thing which giues vs paine but the coming of it when we would not haue it come And therefore doth God require our harts of vs that soe hee may free them from many miseries and may giue vs in exchaunge his owne which is peaceable reposed and Ioyfull in tribulation And a grosse foole is hee who had rather liue in his owne straitnes then in the latitude of Almightie God and who had rather dye in himselfe then liue in life And if at any tyme or in any thing we haue committed this sinne and haue enlarged the raynes to our owne desires let vs humble our selues before the father of mercies acknowledging our sinnes and hoping for pardon at his hands and taking that paine which grew vpon vs by the inordinatenes of our appetite towards the discounting and discharging of our fault For by this meanes God is wont to take away our sinnes like one who should take the boughes or branches of a tree and setting them first on fire should apply them afterwards to the tree it selfe and soe burne it vpp by the rootes Much better it is for a sinner that hee should grow into â—aine by occasion of his sinne then into peace and rest For as S. Augustine faith there is not a more wofull thing then the temporall felicitie of a sinner And as for vs let vs learne heereafter to giue all our desires to God And as a stone falls downeward and as fire flyes vpward and as euery thing in sine makes towards his proper place soe let our harts fly at full speede towards the center thereof which is God Who would not be amased to behould a great rocky Mountaine hanging loose in the ayre without falling downe to his proper place and who will not wonder to see a hart which was created to repose and rest in God detaine it selfe in the ayre and lesse then ayre Therefore whether it be that wee cannot take true rest in any other then in God or because this Lord of ours deserues of himselfe all our loue since he is the loadestone to which all spiritts looke let vs not fall heereafter into such a folly as that whereof I spake lett vs not spott our honour let vs not committ such a treason against such a lord as that heereafter any other desire may enter into our harts but of him or for the loue of him And soe will the sadd cloudes of these vnprositable hart-breaking melancholies and these both vaine hopes vaine feares fly from these harts of ours in their place a new morning will rise which will giue vs Ioy. For to see the light of heaué is the cause of Ioy but the blinde man cannot discerne it Tob 5. For this did Tobias say what ioy cann I have in this life since I cannot see the light of heauen It is a great truth that noe man who is not indeede vnbeguiled concerning this world can haue any true ioy of hart for though he thinkes hee sees yet indeede it is but a sight of earth and not a light of heauen But after this other sight a man growes cured at the very roote It will be fitt that your ladyshipp doe not thinke to make the like exercises of minde in the way of spiritt as before now that you are subiect to an vnlike disposition of body And many haue ignorantly afflicted them selues for not hauing beene able to weigh what their strength and state would permitt It is cleere that with this condition of body wherein you are you must not thinke of keeping the same method which you held before nor doth our lord aske any such things at your hands since his will is very wise and tempered alsoe with great mercie and demands nothing of vs but that for which hee giues vs meanes And not onely hee will not reape where he doth not sowe but euen when hee sowes he is content to reape lesse then hee hath sowed Your ladyship must not be discóforted for that which you are not able to performe for you might as well put your selfe to paine because you haue noe wings where with to flye Doe not place the ioye of your hart vpon hauing consolation or vpon making Prayer but vpon the accomplishment of the will of our Lord. And since his pleasure is that the tyme which before you spent in praying shall now be spent in vomiting let it be soe in the name of God and lett his contentement be ours and lett vs more esteeme that he be pleased then we would to possesse heauen and earth And if we be troubled with any scruple that such or such a punishement came to vs for our hauing committed such or such a sinne and that God chastises vs now for the thing which wee inordinately desired before in that case what haue we more to doe then to cast our selues at his feete desiring both correction and pardon And our lord will either giue them both or els the pardon without the correction but neuer the correction without the pardon if the fault be not our owne We must therefore take any tribulation as an earnest penny or introduction to peace and prouided that there may be peace betweene God vs let any thing come which he will send One onely thing wee haue to feare in this case which is least wee should slubber ouer our negligences vnder this occasion and pretence of I can doe noe more Wee must heere looke vpon our selues with many eyes for this EVE which liues within vs is soe desirous to be cherished and regaled and to be walking vp and downe the garden and to be eating of the forbidden fruite that she wants not a thousand inuentiòs to make reason beleeue that she demaunds not any thing of superfluity but of meare necessitie and she is in a mightie chafe if they beleiue her not Madam there is neede heere of two things The one that when wee clerely see that wee are able in such cases to performe our spirituall exercises wee must not omitt
lord had made in their harts whoe loued him and fills vpp that empty place which was made therein by his departure And now if he were able to comfort and free men from that sorrow which was caused by the absence of Christ our lord himselfe more easily will hee be able to comfort vs in case of the absence of creatures if we be in any paine thereby This is hee who is soe full of care of his orphanes who ouershadowes them with strength from on high and who covers and keepes them warme vnder the mantle of his protection and makes them know that they haue of in heauen whome they may with confidence but without presumption call Father hee repaires that which is ruined he illuminates that which is darke he heates that which is colde he straightens that which is crooked be refreshes that which is ouer wearyed and he is dayly giuing vs new strength which makes vs fly vp toward the mountaine of God Madam it will be reason that such an excellent present as this should put vs into great appetite and that wee sell all the affections of our hart for the purchase of this Iewell which onely is able to make vs happy The newes of it passes before our doores and the noyse sounds in our eares of how he comes downe to men and is glad of a habitation in their hartes Let vs not suffer him to passe by but let vs constraine him to visitt and comfort vs that we may serue him yet more And considering in whose name wee may desire him to stay with vs he will not neede to be much entreated for the Father sends him through Iesus Christ his sonne our Lord. Christ our Lord is he who obtayned the holy ghost for vs. For otherwises what had that most high spirit to doe with coming downe to vs whoe are but soe much flesh which is impure and weake and enclined to all kinde of ill This spiritt exceedes vs incomparably more then the heauens exceede the earth if it were not for that he who is of heauen being engendred by the Father did abase himselfe soe farre as to become man the signification of which word is to be earthly And so God being humaned and tempored with our weakenes did labour and sweate and vpon the cost of his life did obtaine for vs that this spiritt which created the heauens should abase it selfe soe farre as to dwell in those potts of clay Let vs giue thankes to Iesus Christ our Lord and lett vs gather the fruite of his labours And since the holy ghost comes downe willingly to dwell with vs in contemplation of the meritts of Christ our lord let vs not be soe vngratefull for either of these two great fauours as thereby to loose them both The most high will abase himselfe to these meane persons that he may bee their Father and their guide and how then can wee be such woefull sotts as to say Noe to him Let vs goe forth to receiue him with loue whoe comes with loue and lett vs doe it with great desire for where he is desired he is well content to stay Lett vs be like him whoe said say 26 My soule hath desired thee by night and in spiritt and with the very bowells of my sowle I watch towards thee in the morning By night he desires to enioy thy holy Spiritt who findes himselfe to be afflicted and places not his confidence in his owne arme but sends out sighes to this spirit as to the comforter of the sorrowfull and the easer of all such as are in paine And in the morning hee will bee content to watch whoe makes it not one of his last cares how it may be fitt for him to furnish vp that inward howse but the cheefe of them all is to consider how he may be able to obtaine this fauour of our Lord. And being thus desired and inuoked infallibly he will come for soe did Christ our lord himselfe who was called the Desired of all the nations Aggae 2. and he loues all such as desire to possesse him Let vs call vpon this holy Spirit with the speach both of our tongues and of our soules but we must be sure that the howse be not ill furnished and soe without prouision that after hee shall be inuited and satt downe at table we may haue nothing for him to eate Let vs mortify our flesh for that is the foode whereon hee feedes and which he likes soe well For as for the flesh which liues he flyes from it as farre as he can and it stinckes worse to him then a dead dog would to vs. Let vs mortifye our owne opinion and iudgment that soe we may be ruled by his for two heades will neuer gouerne a house well if that which knowes least be not swayed by that which knowes most And let vs renounce all our selfe conceipts for these are the Capitall enemyes of this heauenly spirit which teaches vs to say Matth. 26. Not my will but thy will be done Let vs be diligent to cleanse our conscience by penance and confession from all impurity and euery graine of dust how little soeuer it may bee For this guest is most pure and cleane and it is not fitt to lodge him in such a howse as may disgust him Let vs keepe peace both at home and abroad for euen vnquiet and wrangling folkes are wont to dissemble their little brawles for the honour of some principall guest Hauing lodged him in our howse let vs giue him good attendance since he hath made it a pallace For he is a mighty king and it is against all reason that hauing him with vs at home we should be gadding abroad to see vanities Let vs then shutt vp the doores and cast our selues prostrate at his feete and let vs tell him with truth that there is nothing which shall draw vs from him and that we haue giuen this answeare to all the world that it must leaue vs and him alone together And soe lett vs enioye him for he is able to make vs happy and so as that nothing can depriue vs thereof If you carry the busines thus you shall be comforted in all that wherein yet you haue discomfort and you shall drinke of the Riuer of the delights of God till euen you be inebriated thereby And I shall alsoe be comforted when I shall see you in the hands of him whoe knowes soe well how to keepe you and instruct you and eternally to saue you It is he whome I beseech to be your succour A letter of the Authour to a certaine Preist Hee shewes how he may prepare himselfe and what considerations are most profitable when he goes to celebrate at the Altar REuerend Father I beseech our Lord that the delay which I haue vsed in making my answeare may be recompēced with being true and profitable to you for your demaunde is of great importance and soe would the answeare alsoe bee if it were such
what confusion doth he grow to haue How straightly will he hould himselfe to be obliged for such a benefit what caution will he vse that he may keepe him selfe wholly for him whoe hath done him soe much honour as to put himselfe into his hands and to come to them by them wordes of Consecration Sir these things are noe bare wordes nor noe dead considerations but they be arrowes shutt stiffly out from the strong bowe of Almighty God which wound and wholly chaunge the hart and which make it desire that at the end of Masse it may at lardge consider that worde of our Lord Scitis quid fecerim vobis John 13. Doe you know what I haue done to you Deare lord that a man could conceiue quid fecerit nobis Dominus What our Lord had done for vs in that houre That a man might tast him with the palate of his soule O that a man had true weights where with he might weigh out this great benefitt How happy should he be euen in this world and how after the end of Masse would he loath euen the sight of creatures and would esteeme it to be a torment that he must treate with them And his ioy and life would consist in pondering Quid fecerit ei dominus what our lord had done for him till the next day that he should retourne to say Masse And if our Lord doe at any tyme giue you this light you will know what sorrow and shame you ought to carry in your hart when you approach to the Altar without the same For he whoe neuer enioyed it doth not know what a misery it is to want it You may add to this Consideration of the person whoe comes to the Altar the reason why he comes and you will there see a resemblance of the loue of the Incarnation of our Lord and of his holy Natiuity and of his life and death renewing that which passed heeretofore vpon his sacred person And if you shall enter into the most inward corner of the hart of our Lord and if hee vouchsafe to teach you that the cause of his coming is a violent and impatient kinde of loue which permitts not him whoe loues to be absent from the party beloued your soule will euen faint vnder such a consideration as that A man is indeede moued much by pondering after this manner Heere I haue Almighty God But yet when hee considers that he comes meerely out of the great loue which he beares like one betrothed who cannot liue a day without seeing and conuersing with his Spouse the man I say who feeles this would be glad to haue a thowsand harts wherewith to correspond with such loue and to say with S. Augustine O Lord what am I to thee that thou shouldest commaund mee to loue thee what am I to thee that thou shouldest soe much desire to make mee a visitt and to giue mee an embracement and that being in heauen with them who know soe well how to loue and serue thee thou yet vouchsafest to descend to this creature who knowes very ill how to serue thee but very will how to offend thee Is it possible that thou canst not content thy selfe O lord to be without mee Is it possible that thy loue of mee should draw thee downe Blessed maist thou bee for euer who being what thou art hast yet placed thy loue vpon such a creatures as my selfe And is it possible that thou shouldest come hither in thy royall person and that thou shouldest put thy seife into my hands as if thou wouldest say I dyed for thee once already and I come to thee now is lett thee know that I repent not my selfe thereof but if it were needefull I would dye for thee yet a second tyme. What launce could remaine in the rest after such a deare expression of loue as this Who O lord will euer be able to hide himselfe from the heate of thy hart which warmes ours with thy presence the sparkes fly out to all them who are neere it as out of some mighty furnace And as such a lord as this my good Father doth the God of the heauens come to our hands and we being such wretches as wee are doe yet conuerse with him and receiue him Let vs now conclude this good subiect which is soe sitt to be felt and put in execution And let vs beseech this lord of ours who hath already done vs one fauour that now he will doe vs another forasmuch as his blessings vnlesse we valew them and thanke him and serue him for them will not be of profitt to vs. Or rather as S. Bernard saith The vngratefull man by how much the better hee is by soe much hee is the worse Let vs consider well how wee liue throughout the whole day least els our lord punish vs in that tyme when we are at the Altar And throughout the whole day let vs carry this thought in our harts I haue receiued our Lord. At his table I sitt and to morrow I shall be with him againe By this meaneâ— wee shall be able to avoyd all ill and wee shall take hart towards the practise of all good For that which is done from the Altar our lord is wont to rewarde at the Altar To conclude I say you must remember how our lord complained of Simon the Pharisee for that Luc. 7 entring into his house hee gaue him noe water for his feete nor any kisse to his cheeke To the end we may know that he desires that in the howse where he enters we should giue him teares layd at his feete for our sinnes and loue which makes vs salute him with the kisse of peace I beseech our lord to bestow this peace on you both with your selfe and with your neighbours and soe as that it may spring from perfect loue which I desire may torment you heere for the offences which your selfe and others committ against our Lord. And in heauen I desire that he should make you enioye it esteeming the good of God for your owne and more then your owne because you loue him more then your selfe For his loue I begg of you that if in this letter there be either litle or much which needes amendement it may not want your helpe and if there be any thing good in it giue the thankes for that to our Lord and remember mee when you shall be at the Altar A letter of the Authour to some deare freindes of his who were afflicted by a persecution which was raysed against them he animates them much to a loue of the Crosse and the imitation of Christ our Lord whereof hee speakes with great tendernes BLessed be God the Father of our Lord Iesus Christ 2 Cor 1. the father of mercyes and the God of all consolation whoe comfortes vs in all our tribulation in such sort as that wee alsoe are enabled to comfort them who are in any kinde of affliction And this we doe in vertue
sweetely and with patience I beseech our Blessed lord to remayne with you since he dyed for you A Letter of the Author to a disciple of his He treates of the security which is greater when God is serued in the way of affliction then when in the way of Consolation I Haue receiued some of your letters I haue payed my thankes to our Lord both for hauing giuen you health and his blessed help withall to be in fauour with him continuing that good which alreadie he had begun in you and soe you must confide that he will doe euen to the end for his workes are perfect This which he will doe for you is a fauour of his and noe meritt of yours Nor will he leaue the care and gouerment of you in your owne hands But he for his glory will take the busines of your saluation to himselfe Now this he doth as a most wise Physitian sometymes by making much of you sometymes by shewing signes of disgust giuing you sometymes the light of comfort and at other tymes the worme-wood of sorrow Now hyding himselfe from you for the tryall of your faith and then shewing himselfe to you for the encrease thereof And by a thousand other meanes which he knowes how to vse hee will giue you your soule saued without in a manner your perceiuing how you come by it till you haue it Be not disordered in your iudgment eyther by way of valewing your selfe the more when you thinke your busines goes well or yet on the other side must you giue sentence of condemnation against your selfe conceiuing that all is already lost when you conceiue that you haue reason to be disgusted with your self The hart of man is wicked and cannot be searched and sifted but by the wisedome of God himselfe and to him and to his iudgment you must remitt the sentence concerning the case in which you stand And you must walke on both with great confidence of his mercy and with a religious feare of his high maiesty Depart neyther to the right hand nor to the left Doe not beleeue that there is any Sanctity at all where there is any want of this chast and holy feare which makes a man grow hūble For thereby he knowes that the good which he hath depends vpon another and it makes him hang as it were vpon the eares of God beseeching him with continuall prayer that though he may without iniustice depriue him of the good he gaue him yet that through his goodnes he will not doe it Nor must you beleiue any Spirit which by meanes of any temptations or Spirituall discōforts may come to you nor yet if any darkenes or anguish which may be conueyed into your soule shall pretend to dismay you or perswade you to disconfidence in our Lord who loues you But tell that Spirit that if it had wished you to disconfide in your selfe it should haue had all reason because you are nothing but meere weaknes But in saying that you must not hope for safety at his hands who is the common saluation of all the world tell him he lyes and therein you shall but say a truth Christ our Lord loues you more then you can thinke onely it is fitt sometymes that he hide it from you For perhaps if you knew it you might fall into a greater occasion and danger of vanity then the suspition you haue of your not being beloued by him may be of your despayre for without doubt they are fewer who can enioy prosperity without any mixture of vanity or inordinate delight in the sweet meates which are giuen them then there are who can beare the bitternes of tribulation without despaire Cōceiue you therefore that our Lord keepes you safe in the hauen of security vnder the sharp rocke of tribulation to the end you may not putrify with too much sweetnes but be preserued by the bitternes of myrh And at this you are not to be troubled For of your self you should make election of that which will be good for you in Eternity rather then of that which may afford you some little temporall gust Yea and euen in spirituall consolations we reap not sometymes soe much profitt as we doe delight Nor will you be demaunded at the last day what comforts you shall haue enioyed but what discomforts you haue suffered without fayling eyther in point of faith or loue And beleiue you that God receiues that for seruice which being contrary to your sensuality and selfe will you did yet accept as being conquered by his loue and not that which a man how sensuall soeuer he might be would be glad to enioy For if to be regaled by Almighty God were to doe true seruice to his diuine Maiesty he would not haue soe few seruants since there are soe many who by this way that way and euery way are seeking comforts But they vnderstand not how farre it is from God to be able to abstaine from comforting his afflicted and deiected seruants when it is best for them And as farr also he is from liking them who taking of theire eyes from his tormenting Crosse send them in search after Comforts as conceiuing that the more they haue thereof the more beloued and more happy they are And they neuer consider how poore they shall be found at that day when God will sifte Ierusalem with the light of Lampes whē he will call vs to account whether we loue him from the profoundest part of our hearts Soph. 1. and our selues for him in him and through him or els whether we haue loued him for our selues to our owne vse And then will many of those workes appeare to haue beene carnall infected with selfe loue and interest which shined like soe much fine gould in their eyes who performed them You are therefore more secure from interest or complacence when such thinges come to you as cause bitternes But thē let the loue of God a lone perswade you to endure them till he prouide otherwise In whom you must haue so much strength of the holy Ghost as may make you abound in charity and peace and ioy treading your passions vnder foot and hauing your soule euen all enbalmed with grace Yet when you shall be in ioy doe not enioy it for your selfe but employ it with greater strength vpon him who gaue it fetching also reason from thence why it should make your loue encrease I beseech that Lord who remembred you when you forgot him to giue strength vnto your inward man that soe you may know how to adore obey and loue him and that he will send his holy Spirit into your heart that it may guide you into that land of Eternall light Amen A Letter of the Authour to a Religious woman a spirituall child of his He shewes that it is noe assured signe of disfauour for God to estraunge himself sometimes that our safety depends more vpon his goodnes then our deserts and he persuades her to
from his hand and this signe is that you haue suffered tribulation You must not be a little gladd of this since our Lord loues you Nor yet must you be slacke since you are in the middest of many dangers but carry your eye towards him who hath called you with so great loue You must alsoe haue a stronge harte For he called you not with intention to giue you ouer in the middest of your iourney but to guide you vnder the protection of his owne wings till he may haue conducted you to heauen where you shall see his face Let not the faith of Christ our Lord nor the loue you owe him sleepe in you for he neuer sleepes when there is question of doeing you any good These are tokens which he vses to send to whome he loues to try if they alsoe loue him in their afflictions and if they confide in him in their dangers That Spouse is not worthy of thaÌ„kes who loues her fellow spouse but onely when he is present with her not doth it cost him much to confide in him when she findes her selfe regaled by him But the matter is that when he absents himselfe from her yea and when he seemes to haue forgotten her she must loue him soe much the better as he is further absent from her and confide in him soe much the more as she hath fewer exteriour signes of his fauour It is enough for you my good sister to haue knowne already by experience how louing our Lord hath beene to you by his hauing drawne you to the knowledge of himself And be you not crauing new testimonies of his Loue but making your selfe sure enough thereof and be not troubled though he correct you and though it seeme as if he estraunged himselfe from you and forgott you but rather say thus Hee hath a minde to trye me and not to oppresse mee You must loue our Lord though he correct you you must coÌ„fide in him though you feele noe comfort from him Seeke him though he hide himselfe suffer him not to rest till you haue waked him and till he confesse that you are faithfull in his absence And thus you shall finde him returne to you with soe much aduantage as that when you enioye his presence againe you will esteeme your former afflictions well imployed Procure greate courage wherewith to suffer for after the rate of your sorrows shall your comforts be Bee not a louer of your selse but be a louer of God loose yourselfe and soe you shall be sure to finde your selfe And if once you would but trust God home and if once you would offer your selfe to him with true loue there could nothing happen which would fright you All bitter frosen afflictions proceede but from distrust in God And for this our Lord said Let not your harts be troubled and doe not feare You beleiue in God beleiue alsoe in mee Soe that faith and loue is the cause of peace Iohn 14 and quietnes to the hart There is noe one thinge which is soe necessary for you towards the making you able to arriue at the end of that dayes worke wherein God hath placed you as to confide in him with loue Our lord hath many proofes to make of you and many tribulations shall growe where you looke least for them but if you stand armed with faith and loue you shall ouercome them all Doe but remember how the children of Israell Num. 1 when they were issued out of the land of Egypt by the meanes of soe many miracles and were passing through soe many afflictions before they arriued at that land which our lord had promised them said thus The people which possesse this land is greater and stronger then wee they haue mightie Citties whose walis doe euen threaten the skye we cannot ouercome such a stout nation as this to what end doe wee put our selues vpon this iourney And though some amongst them whoe had faith did encourage the rest by saying that since God was of their side they should easily be able to ouercome as they had done till then yet feare preuailed soe farre as that they offended our lord thereby and through their little considence they lost the land and God destroyed them in the desert without suffering them to enioye that for which they had laboured and which himselfe had promised Let vs take warning my good sister by the danger of others and lett vs know that our lord hath gust Psal 147. in such as feare him and hope in his mercie and is offended with such as doe not soe It is he whoe drewe you out of the captiuity of Egypt when he inspired your hart with a desire of being his and hee leades you still through this desert which is soe impleasant where sometymes you want the bread of doctrine for lacke of such as might breake it to you other tymes you want company which may speake of spirituall things that soe your way might be made to seeme the shorter At other tymes you want the trees of other recreation which might giue you shade and in steede of these coÌ„modities you haue a thousand discomforts Now temptations rise against you from within and then from without now from strangers and then from domesticks But yet attend you onely to your busines for he who did that for you which was more can neuer faile to doe that for you which is lesse He who made you a freind of an enemy will better keepe you now when you are his freind He who did not abandon you when you fled from him will much lesse fly now from you when you follow him Who is he that can say with any truth that God did not helpe him if he were desired See you haue noe feare o you seruant of Christ in any thing which may happen to you but confide in him who Loued you soe well as to dye for you It is true that you haue but one who protects you but that one is of much more power then all they whoe contradict you Doe not thinke of how great the giants and how stronge the Citties are which you must encounter for it is not you who must fight Numb 14. But hold you your peace and our lord will fight for you Doe not fly from the warre nor abandon your selfe as one who were ouercome and soe you shall see the fauour of our Lord â—â—wards you For in this warre he onely looses the battaille Exod. 14. who quitts the feild It is true that you are weake but in that weakenes of yours God will shew his strength It is true that you know not much but God himselfe will be your guide By your miseries God will make his mercies appeare Whoe are you that you should be able to passe through such difficulties but yet say with Daâ—id Pâ—â— 17. In the strength of my God I will leape ouer a wall Who are you that you should be able to fight but yet say with him
loues you with most perfect loue Let not your faith grow weake in these necessities and dangers nor your loue by the feeling of these afflictiōs when the fire is great the winde doth not onely not quench it but inflame it And soe when a soule loues God but in iest any little blast of aire puts it out as it would doe a candle But true loue growes vp in affliction for it applies more strength wherewith to endure the more weight it sees coming towardes it And because that loue is of God it conquers affliction and noe water could serue to quench that fire which comes downe from heauen Our lord called you that you might loue him and this loue is noe such thing as must giue you reason to regale your selfe But you must abhorre your selfe for the loue of Christ our lord and denye your selfe to confesse him and be cruell to your selfe that you may be sweet and acceptable to his diuine Maiesty If you loue and desire to enioy your selfe you must resolue to loose your selfe If you desire to see the face of God you must passe towardes him through the pikes If you care to lodge him in your hart cast your selfe away with all other creatures vpon him Our lord will haue you all alone and all afflicted not for any ill will he beares you but because since his owne naturall sonne was soe afflicted he likes not to see his adopted sonnes apparrelled with any other liuery then that There is nothing soe beautifull in his sight as to see the image of his onely begotten sonne in vs. And as there is nothing vpon which a soule can soe gladly looke as vpon our lord Iesus being tormented for loue of vs vpon the Crosse and the more afflicted and deformed we see him there the more beautifull he seemes to vs soe the more wee suffer for God the more beautifull wee shall seeme to him Nor is it much that a soule which desires to seeme handsome in the sight of God should adorne it selfe with such curious cleansing waters as may enamour his diuine Maiesty by his seeing her since the women of the world doe many thinges which put them to no small trouble and charge soe that they may content the sonnes of men Madam we must cast our skinnes before we shall be pleasing to Almighty God Gould is purified by fire and the terrestriall part being consumed it comes resplendent from the Crucible Let vs be ashamed of being soe weake in a busines which is soe great as to import the pleasing of Almighty God and if we vnderstood this poynt well indeed we should get heart euen to shed our blood for him that soe we might appeare fairer in his sight As a certaine holy Eremite considering this very thing and seeing a woman of the world goe soe gallant and soe well adorned he began to weepe and say Pardon me O lord pardon me I beseech thee for the curious dressing which this woman bestowes vpon her selfe in this one day to please the eyes of the world ouerstrips all the paines which I haue taken many yeares for the pleasing of thine Soe that my good lady this entreprise of loue is noe matter of wordes but of sorrow of bitter torments of the dishonour of the world of being abandoned by the creatures thereof sometimes euen of the seeming absence from the protection of the Creatour And notwithstanding all this a man must cary a good countenance and not be subiect to complaintes or deiection of heart but he must resemble that Martyr whose bowels they drew out of his body and whose flesh they tore from his bones with iron combes and yet there sounded noe word out of his mouth but the name of Iesus nor was there any thing in his hart but Blessed be God togeather with a purpose to endure yet more if God should dispose himselfe to send it To suffer for Christ our lord is great glory and God impartes not that but to such a one as whome he loues much A great mercy it is to giue a guilty person fillips and to release those scourges which were his dew and if that wherein we stand obliged to the iustice of God may be satisfied by what we can suffer heere in the name of God let vs fall to worke and let vs pay whatsoeuer his diuine Maiesty will impose soe that being gone from hence we may instantly by behold the face of God Let vs labour in this banishment of ours for instantly vpon the end thereof we shall be landed in our owne country S. Augustine saith that he wrongs a Martyr who prayes for him when he is dead for Martyrdome makes a soule fly streyght vp to heauen Let vs therefore labour to be Martyrs by our patience in affliction for though our persecution be not soe greiuous as theirs was for the time yet it lastes longer And we should indeed desire that this life might not be too recreatiue but a meere Martyrdome For such was the life of our Lord and such doth hee desire that ours should be There haue beene many martyrs for the faith of Christ our Lord but in fine many are gone to heauen who were not soe But we all must be the Martyrs of loue if we meane to goe thither This loue must torment vs and put vs to paine both because our selues offend God as also because others doe it This loue must depriue vs of the comforts of this life and must load our shoulders with a Crosse This loue must make vs first imbrace affliction and then passe ouer it in the flame which was kindled by our loue of God This makes vs endure dishonours without feeling them as wine doth a drunkard This loue is in this like all other loue that whosoeuer possesses it seekes not himself but his beloued who in our case is God alone and his holy will But this loue which now is soe cruell how full of compassion will it be afterwardes to him who hath bowed downe the head to receiue Martyrdome at the hand thereof A man cannot easily feele the force of loue wherewith it torments heere nor that wherewith it comforts afterwarde Let vs beleiue it since God hath said it and let vs walke on in the faith which we haue in his words for we haue yet a long way to make Choose which you had rather haue eyther long afflictions or els very great ones for noe man can scape suffering much eyther in one fashion or another Be not sorry for this for if God giue you much affliction it is because your many sinnes deserue it and soe you are to make your payment heere and I beseech our Lord that you may doe soe For if I should dye before you want to Purgatory perhaps you might want a freind whoe would carry soe much compassion to your soule as my felf and would take soe much care to free it and if you dye first I shall haue paine enough in thinking of you Excuse mee
for it is not fitt that eyther you or I should haue an eye to our owne ease but that although wee should know that after this life wee must suffer paine yet heere we must also take courage to suffer afflictions for loue loue is content with nothing but loue Christ our lord suffered for our loue Christ our lord carried the Crosse and lett vs help him to cary it on Christ our lord is dishonoured and I renounce honour Christ our lord suffered torments and therefore they shall be welcome to me He was subiect to many necessityes and I submitte my selfe to the same For me he made himselfe a stranger and I desire not to be the owner of any single thing wherein my heart may rest He dyed for me and lett my life be a continuall death for the loue of him Gal. 2. Let me liue yet now not me but let Christ our lord liue in me and that Christ who was crucified exhausted abandoned by all the world and receiued alone by Almighty God This Christ I loue vpon the Crosse will I seeke him and from thence haue I noe desire to finde him Let him dispose of me how he will for my part I will suffer affliction for him Let him choose whether he will giue me any reward or noe for the very suffering it selfe is an abundant reward And if he would graunt me a great suite I would desire noe other then to haue afflictions for thereby I may know that I loue him and that he alsoe loues me since he layes me vpon the Crosse where himselfe lay For though I haue noe ayme at mine owne profitt yet I know full well that if I continue vpon the Crosse he will cary me to his Crowne To him be glory through the eternity of all eternityes Amen A Letter of the Authour to one who formerly had beene a disciple of his and then being of the Society of Iesus was growen to be at the poynt of death He congratulates his departure hence and his goeing to enioy the fruites of his labour in his Order and he giues him great hope of the eternall kingdome by meanes of the bloud of Christ our Lord. THE grace of the holy Ghost be euer with you Though heere they say that you are vpon the point of passing into the land of the liuing soe as a man may thinke that whilest I am writing this you may already be enioying the deare imbracements of our allswcete Iesus yet I thought it not amisse to venture this letter towards you congratulating with you your promotion to that Prebēd in the Church of the celestiall Ierusalem where without all ceasing God is praised and seene face to face Goe in a good houre most deare father goe I say in a good houre both to see all Good and to possesse it for all eternity Goe in a good houre to the bosome of the celestiall father where he entertaines those lambes of his with glory which heere he fed with his grace and corrected with his discipline Now my good Father shall you see the fauour which God did you in calling you to a Religious life and in giuing you grace in the strēgth whereof you dispising the world might follow him by the way of the Crosse For now in recompence thereof he will giue you heauen for your Religious Order and glory for that Crosse which you haue borne for his sake Blessed be our lord Iesus Christ who hath goodnes enough to induce him to giue such glory to such wormes of the earth raising vp the poore man out of the dust that he may sitt amongst the Princes of his people Happy is the houre of our corporall death since thereby wee are exalted intitled to take our seate amōgst those princes who liue eternally in the high presence of God O day which is the end of labours and the end also of sinnes and in which wee ascend to serue our Lord in good earnest and not as wee are wont to doe heere below where wee are all discomforted through the imperfections of those seruices which we performe to God For heere a man goes halting faynting with hunger through his desire to please that diuine Maiesty to serue him with all the soule But in heauē this desire is perfected that in so cōpleat a manner that all the whole man is imployed in the seruice praise of God without being subiect to the least impedimēt which may interpose it self Blessed be God who hath soe soone beene pleased to gather you vp into his granary least mallice might els haue chaunged your mind and to shew you the riches of his bounty Sap. 4. who for soe few yeares of seruice imparts an eternity of reward Sir this is God this I say is God this is the fruit of his passion this is the valew of his grace this is our happy encounter to haue fallen into the hands of such a Lord to know him to loue him though it be with many imperfections But he washes them away by his bloud making vs partakers of his Sacramēts And the paternall loue which he beares vs both makes him easily encline to pardon our faults to be very copious in rewarding our seruices And he cōducts vs through the middest of the red sea Psal 102. to the land of promise diuiding vs from our sinnes as farre of as the East is from the West and drowning them in his bloud Soe that although wee may see them still yet wee shall see them dead they will serue but to giue vs matter reason to praise our Lord Exod. 14. who hath cast both the horse and horseman into the sea Goe Sir with the benediction of our lord God to enioy the riches of your deer Father which he gayned for you with the launce in his hād by shedding his owne bloud who neuer fay les to succour all such as place theire hope loue in him It is true that wee shall misse you that wee shall thinke our selues to be all alone when we are heere without you but since God hath desined you to this great happynes let vs who loue you hould it for our owne And wee who in our owne right shall lament will yet reioyce with you in yours like the brothers of Rehecca who is goeing to be espoused with Isaak which signifies i◠And therefore wee say to you you are our brother and wee desire that you may encrease to thousands of thousands Gen. 24. and that your seede may possesse the gates of your enemyes I doe not pretend to tell you how you must prepare your self for this Feast for there you haue them who can doe it and who will helpe you to passe on out of the hands of men into the hands of God And let our lord who came into the world for you and who ascended vp to the Crosse for you Ps 22. be he who succours you in such sorte that though you
I beare to my creatures I couer it for whome nothing is so good as not to know any thing which concernes themselues but to remitt themselues wholy to me In that ignorance doth their knowledge consist in that suspence their strength and in that subiection their dominion And it ought to suffise a soule that it lyes in no other hands but mine which are also hers since for her they were nayled vpon the Crosse Yea they are more hers then mine since they laboured more for the purchase of her good then of mine owne And to the ende that I may draw her out of all self conceipt and make her follow my direction it is I who conduct her into this darkenesse that so she may know nothing of herself But yet still if she putt her confidence in me and departe not from my seruice I will deliuer her and I will glorifye her and all this will I performe to her Be faithfull to death Psal 90. and I will giue thee the Crowne of life This sayth our Lord to all faithfull soules and this he sayth to yours which I pray God to keepe Amen A Letter to a Lady who was a Religious woman and in great affliction He shewes how troubles are the proofe of Faith and Loue in the seruants of God and how confident they ought to be of his Diuine Maiesly in the middest of their troubles AS soone as I receiued your letter I offered thanks to our lord for hauing giuen you a signe that your vocation came from his hand and this signe is that you haue suffered tribulation You must not be a little glad of this since our Lord loues you Nor yet must you be slack since you are in the midst of many dangers butt carry your eye towardes him whoe hath called you with soe great loue You must alsoe haue a strong hart For he called you not with intention to giue you ouer in the midst of your iourney but to guide you vnder the protection of his owne wings till he may haue conducted you to heauen where you shall see his face Let not the Faith of Christ our Lord nor the loue you owe him sleepe in you for he neuer sleepes when there is question of doeing you anie good These are tokens which he vses to sende to whome he loues to trye if they also loue him in their afflictions and if they confide in him in their dangers That spouse is not worthy of thankes who loues her fellow-spouse but onely when he is present with her nor doth it cost her much to confide in him when she findes herselfe regaled by him But the matter is that when he absentes himself from her yea and when he seemes to haue forgotten her she must loue him so much the better as he is further absent from her and confide in him so much the more as she hath fewer exteriour signes of his fauour It is enough for you my good sister to haue knowen alreadie by experience how louing our lord hath beene to you by his hauing drawen you to the knowledge of himself And be you not crauing new testimonies of his loue but make yourself sure enough thereof and be not troubled although he correct you and though it seeme as if he estranged himself from you and forgott you but rather say thus He hath a minde to trye me and not to oppresse me You must loue our lord though he correct you you must confide in him though you feele no comfort from him Seeke him though he hide himself suffer him not to rest till you haue waked him and till he confesse that you are faithfull in his absence and thus you shall finde him to returne to you with so much aduantage as that when you enioy his presence againe you will esteeme your former afflictions well employed Procure great courage wherewith to suffer for after the rate of your sorrowes shall your comforts be Be not a louer of yourself but be a louer of God loose yourself and soe you shall bee sure to finde yourself And if once yow would bud trust God home and if once you would offer yourselfe to him with true loue there could nothing happen which would fright you All bitter frozen afflictions proceede but from distrust in God And for this our lord sayde Let not your harts bee troubled and doe not â—eare You beleiue in God beleiue also in me So that Faith and loue is the cause of peace and quietnesse to the hart There is no one thing which is so necessarie for you towards the making you able to arriue at the ende of that dayes worke wherein God hath placed you as to confide in him with loue Our lord hath manie proofes to make of you and manie tribulations shall growe where you looke least for them but if you stand armed with Faith and loue you shall ouercome them all Num 13. Doe but remember how the children of Israel when they were issued out of the land of Egypt by meanes of so manie miracles and were passing through so manie afflictions before they arriued at that land which our lord had promised them sayd thus The people which possesse this land is greater and stronger then we they haue mightie Citties whose walles doe euen threaten the skye we cannot ouercome such a stoute nation as this to what ende doe we putt ourselues vpon this iournie And though some amongst them who had Faith did encourage the rest by saing that since God was on their side they should easily be able to euercome as they had done till then yet feare preuailed so farre as that they offended our lord thereby and through their litle confidence they lost the land and God destroyed them in the desert without suffering them to enioy that for which they had laboured and which himself had promised Let vs take warning Psal 147. my good Sister by the danger of others and let vs knowe that our Lord hath gust in such as feare him and hope in his mercie and is offended with such as doe not so It is he who drew you out of the captiuitie of Egypt when hee inspired your hart with a desire of being his and he leades you still through this desert which is so vnpleasant where sometimes you want the bread of doctrine for lacke of such as might breake it to you At other times you want companie which may speake of spirituall things that so your way might bee made to seeme the shorter At other times you doe want the trees of other recreation which might giue you shade and thus in steede of these commodities you haue a thousand discomforts Now temptations rise against you from within and then from without now from strangers and then from domestiques Butt yett attende you onely to your businesse For he who did that for you which was more can neuer fayle to do that for you which is lesse He who made you a friend of an enemie will better
Psal 83. I beseech him to make you dearly his and that you may be kept safe and proue a saynt Amen A Letter of the Authour to a Cauallier a freind and a Disciple of his FOR what doe spurres serue if the beast be so lazie as I am And then adding to this the burden which lyes vpon me of litle health it is no maruaile if I neither write nor answear This letter is written in such straytes of time that I know not whether it can be good for any thing or noe I haue reioyced much that the Infant is weaned though some dye at that age as not hauing strength to eate the bread with the crust But since our Lord takes you for a Childe of promise Gen. 17. as he did Isaac I hope in Iesus Christ that you will not dye of it though you should be putt to eate stones but that you will feede vpon them as Christ our Lord fedde vpon the wine with myrrhe God will deliuer you from consenting to sinne and your temptations shall serue you in steede of the torment of the Crosse for his glorie who dyed vpon it And though our enemies may bid vs come downe we will rather choose to confesse Christ our Lord by continuing vpon it then to putt ourselues into ease by denying him You are acquainted alreadie with that supreme omnipotent goodnesse of our Celestiall Father whose power is such as to draw good out of euill and heate out of colde And therefore be not dismayde though you see yourself absent from the protection of your spirituall Father on earth and though you finde barrennesse where you expected plentie and aboundance Bee not afrayde to be alone with Christ our Lord not that you are to vnder-value helpe when it may bee had by meanes of his seruants but we must obey his ordinance whensoeuer he shall be pleased that we remaine in this world without succour Because our Lord is vsually wont in such cases to doe more visible and greater fauours immediatly then he did before by meanes of his seruants And such a man comes to learne that Non sum solus quia Pater mecum est Iohn 16. I am not alone because my Father is with me Then Faith beginnes to encrease and Prayer dilates it self by Loue which is sett forward by seing how the soule is beloued And thus it encreases by that by which it seemed and it was feared that it would be diminished And he findes society when he is alone and he hath learnt to walke without a staffe though he be but weake Let there be no want of care to receiue him who is all our good and be you euer saying and that with truth Loquere Domine quia audit seruus tâ—us 1. King 1. Speake Lord for thy seruant heares thee Shutt vp yourself in the castle of your hart which though it be as weake as glasse yet he who comes to dwell there will make it so strong that all that shall proue glasse which can assault it and it self shall remaine more firme then stâ—ele And for lacke of doeing this the soule is full of weakenesse and it may say that Osee 10 which is written Diuisum est cor eorum nunc interibunt Their hart is diuided and they shall instantly perish There is no place secure where your hart may rest but in that secret place of retreate that most hidden corner where none can enter but Christ our Lord â—anuis clausis the doores being shutt Iohn 20. For if it departe from thence it runnes as great hazard as some light yong mayde might doe amongst dissolute men And if some iust punishment were imposed well executed for euery time that the hart should be gadding vp and downe the streete perhaps we should take warning by ourselues as euen a very horse or mule will doe Though indeede a man who watches himself well shall instantly be able to finde a punishment which comes downe from heauen â—re 14. vpon the very hart it self quando diligit mouere pedes when it hath a nunde to be gadding and then that which followes is this Domino non placuit This guift of recollection must be gotten with much practise For afterward the hart will stay within euen of it self though we open the doore to let it out as a tame bird will stay in a cage And this is the roote of all our spirituall profitt and at the feete of Christ our Lord we must haue it if we meane that it shall be true profitt Christ Iesus be with vs all Amen A Letter of the Authour to a Ladie encouraging her to fight the battailes of our Lord. He shewes the subtilty of the deuill and how styly he temptes soules with pride MADAME because I conceiue that you fight the combatts of Christ our Lord and doe franckely offer yourself to all affliction so that he may raigne in your hart all encouragement and assistance is due to you from such as be the seruants of God who are commaunded to aduertise the wicked man of the miserie which is growing towards him that so he may amende and avoyde it and to encourage such as are good and to goe sounding the trumpett before them when they see them entring into the battaile that is to say Esay 58. they are to giue hart by the word of God to such as they perceiue to fight for his honour For otherwise as account shall be demaunded of them for the wicked whome they had not warned so also for the good Ezech. 3 whome they had not encouraged And so they should be punished both for the euill which were committed by the one and for the good which were omitted by the other Take you therefore hart in that combatt which the ancient Serpent makes against you he procuring to diuide you from God and you resoluing to sticke close to him you must be very watchfull for his chiefe ayme is at the hart And it troubles him not greatly that a man serue God by recollecting his eyes by keeping silence by praying by singing the diuine office and the like but to the hart doth he conuey his poyson which is a certaine vaine kinde of complacence or proper estimation and loue of ourselues The foolish virgins Matth 23. were virgins but because they had not oyle in their lampes they heard this sad word out of the mouth of our Lord. In the word of truth I say to you that I know you not Now what is this lampe but the hart and what is this oyle but the spirit of truth which maintaynes and feedes it with good workes if we meane that they shall indeede be good in the sight of God And what is this Spirit of truth but that which makes a man displeasing to himselfe and to seeme ill in his owne eyes and that from his very hart and soule he may conceiue that he is all vglie and abominable and that he is amazed to consider how
What a sottish thing is it therefore for a man to thinke that hee whoe affects those things which his owne will suggests is able to runne that carriere wherein the seruants of God must runne and whoe because he contents himselfe thinkes that God will also be contented with it and who liuing after his owne fashion will yet conceiue that he may liue soe with God Away away lett vs awake at last for the loue of God lett vs awake before hell-fire awake vs. And lett vs knowe that the kingdome of God is a hidden treasure and that he who findes it must bestowe all that he hath vpon the purchase thereof esteeming himselfe more happy and rich in this alone then in all things els A man who hath a minde to gaine this kingdome is not bound to become bankrupt or to be a beggar but that which he needes is that for the loue of this kingdome hee cutt of all occasion of inordinate loue which he may carry to riches and to honour and to a delicate and delightfull life and in fine to his owne proper will Christ our lord will haue vs all naked that soe we may runne on apace to him who dyed naked for vs. That man is naked who houlds his life and his honour laid vnder and in subiection to the will of Christ our Lord doeing what Christ will and not that which is suggested by pleasure or honour and who makes as light account of these things as if he had them not and is ready to cast them all into a light fire rather then to goe against the freindship of our Lord God by committing soe much as one sinne And though perhaps a man may attend to the improuement of his estate it must not be for the loue which he carryes to it but because God commaunds it If he liue it must not be because he loues life as making that the end of his care but he must keepe it for the seruice of God and sooner throwe it away then offend him If he be to aparell himselfe he must not take counsaile with vanity how he may be esteemed for his cloathes but with the word of our Lord which commaunds that we vse them not with superfluity but for the supply of iust necessity And soe this kinde of man doth not hould himselfe to be his owne but as one who belongs wholly to God He cares not for what himselfe desires but for that which God commaunds He layes all things and himselfe withall to be trodden vpon vnder foot for soe he may hould God aboue his head God commaunds and hee obeyes God directs and hee submitts and as the shadow followes the body soe hee followes the will of God Theis are true sonnes of Obedience to whome it is promised that they shall sitt at the table of God And that as the true sonne suffered by Obedience and entred soe into his kingdome soe the adopted sonnes must alsoe enter in by the same meanes There is noe coulour of reason why a man for hauing obeyed the orders of the great Turke should goe to aske a reward of the Christian Emperour and yet if hee should it would be easy to make him this answeare Let him pay you whome you haue serued And soe will God answeare them whoe liued heere in obedience to their owne appetites when they shall aske him that reward of glory Great thankes doe we owe to Christ our Lord for hauing warned vs of this soe longe before that soe if we will thinke thereon we may not finde our selues deceiued by him who soe deerely loued vs. His aduertissement is this Not euery one whoe saith to mee Lord Lord shall enter into the kingdome of heauen but he shall enter in who doth the will of my Father who is in heauen What neede haue wee of any more since the word of Christ our Lord can neuer faile And who is that man who will not awake with this For the question is not now concerning any earthly kingdome but the kingdome of heauen since noe man enters thither but he who shall haue done the will of God Let this therefore be our study let this be our discourse let vs counsaile men to this and let vs in fine obserue vigilantly if we doe any thing which carryes not true conformitie with the will of our Lord. And because our owne watchfulnes will not suffice lett vs call vpon our Lord that hee may assist vs. Let vs acknowledge our owne misery and let vs cordyally implore his mercie Our lord who must helpe vs is noe such person as that he can deny himself to such as seeke him with their harts And if we did indeede knock call vpon him infallibly he would anfweare open to vs. And he knocks indeede who knocks both by prayer by the practise of vertue And he shall be heard when he calls who was content to hearken to his neighbour when he was called vpon by him and whoe assisted him in his necessities and who pardoned his errours and who neither did ill to him nor refused patiently to suffer ill from him This is the generation of them who seeke our Lord Psal 13. and they shall finde him Let vs therefore goe and runne this carriere For happy are those labours which are endured for the obteyning of this Crowne And they shall soone passe away but their reward is to last for euer Let vs lay vp our treasure there It will be highly enough for vs to possesse God and let vs not loose our tyme for it was not giuen vs to be lost But let vs liue to the end that we may euer liue and soe wee shall passe on from contumely to glory from pouerty to plenty from banishment to our owne country which we shall possesse through the eternities of all eternities Amen A letter to a certaine person wherein is treated of the Loue of God towards man and of that which hee is wont to doe towards the releife of our miserie THE Infant Iesus whoe was borne for our good make you partaker of the blessings which he brings since he tooke those miseries vpon him to which we were subject I beseech him to giue you that liuely fire of his loue wherein you may burne vp with a quick flame since to kindle this loue in vs he came into the world soe poore and soe frosen with cold How much more cold this Infant suffers soe much more warme doth he cloath our harts towards the loue of him And by how much the more we loue him soe much the more doe we desire to suffer for him For loue flyes from taking ease as from a thing which is very contrary to the intention and end thereof For whilest others are seeking for libertie and delight he whoe loues abhors this and desires to be eternally a slaue and to be euer labouring for whome he loues I pray you tell me who constrayned Almightie God to become man noe other thing but onely Loue Who
constrayned him since there was noe remedy but that he would become man that he must needes be borne in soe hard and soe bitter a tyme of the yeare and in a country where he was a straunger and insteede of a house that it must needes be in a stable and all this in soe great pouertie and basenes that he well deserues compassion at our hand Certainely noe other thing but Loue could haue brought him as it were all bound from heauen to the most pure wombe of our Blessed Lady and from that wombe it brought him to that hard manger and from thence to many other afflictions and soe at last to the Crosse where louing vs with much truth of loue he procured that we might truely loue him as himselfe had said before If I be exalted from the earth I will draw all things vp to my selfe Iohn 3 â—um 21. Exalting from the earth signifies to dye vpon the Crosse as he did And then drew he all things to himselfe by meanes of that mighty loue which he kindled in the hart of man For looking towards this true louer some haue beene content to forgett their countries and to liue in continuall pilgrimage others to forsake their estates and to liue in pouerty others haue offered themselues to seuerall afflictions yea and to death it selfe desiring rather to suffer for Christ our Lord then to be delighted any way but in him And let his mercie be praised for euer for that amongst them whoe through the noble loue of the Crucifix haue forgotten all their fortunes and themselues withall your selfe is growne to be one not of your selfe but by him whoe workes his owne glorie in you And therefore he will not leaue you in the weake hands of your selfe alone since he not you begin the worke You therefore my good lady may well reioyce you may reioyce in God since you are well protected vnder a mantle which is both soe soft and soe stronge Stronge to defende you from your enemies and from your selfe whoe are the greatest enemie you haue and soft or sweete to comfort you in your aflictions and to feele them as if they were his owne and to giue you part of his hart which is soe greately wounded with loue for you How could our Lord haue expected drawne or guarded or susteyned you if he had not loued you with great truth of loue How is it possible that your sinnes would not haue prouoked him to wrath if there had not beene as much loue in him as serued to make him shut his eyes towards them and to open them towards the doeing you fauour But you will say How come I to be soe happie as that the eternall king should loue mee and for that reason should endure mee and doe mee soe much good insteede of ill I will answeare you when you shall first haue tolde mee why the fire burnes and why the sunne shines and why the water refreshes and why euery thing is endewed with his owne nature And if you say the fire burnes because it is fire soe doe I alsoe tell you that because God is God therefore doth hee loue vs freely and shewes mercy to such as deserue it not Our pride hath nothing noe it hath nothing whereof to glory but the shame and dishonour must be ours and the honour his The good wee may enioye but the glorie must be his Luke 2 For soe the angells sunge when the blessed Infant was borne Glory be to God in the heauens and peace to men of good will Lett vs giue the glory to the Lord of vs all for the mercies which we haue receiued at his hand Glory be to him because he hath deliuered vs with soe much power from the hands of them to whome we had deliuered our selues with soe miserable a resolution Glory be to him whoe drew vs to grace wee being out of his grace and who sustaines vs and crownes vs with mercy and with many mercies and whoe giues vs to vnderstand that hee will finish that in vs which hee hath begunne For he is wont to haue the charge and care of any busines to whome the honour must result and he whoe reapes the honour must be content to take the care And now since this Blessed Lord of ours will be glorified in vs and will take the honour of our victorie to himselfe he will alsoe take the care of our combatt and hee will enable vs to passe through it to him and will tye vs to himselfe with soe stronge a knott of loue that neither life nor death shall diuide vs. He will enable vs to looke vpon himselfe with open eyes and to shutt them towards all other things and he will imprint himselfe soe fast vpon our harts that for the loue and memory of him wee shall forgett not onely all other things but our very selues alsoe This will he doe whoe is soe pittious soe powerfull and his name is holy and hee it is whoe loues vs more then we can either say or thinke For his workes exceede all created vnderstanding To him be glorye for the eternitie of all eternities Amen As for that which you aske mee concerning my health it goes ill with mee since I am vnworthy of sicknes For if I were not very vnworthy our Lord would not haue taken my paine from mee soe soone as he hath taken it And as for the rest of your letter I answeare that a great fire by how much the more it is shutt vp and concealed soe much the hotter it burnes Christ our Lord make you his true and faithfull disciple that soe you may in some sort correspond to that vnspeakeable and diuine loue of his as I cordially desire of him for you A letter to a reuerend and religious person encouraging him towards the perfect loue of God and representing to him some meanes for the obteyning thereof REuerend father Pax Christi Since our Lord Iesus Christ is not pleased that at this tyme I should be where I might enioy the communication of your selfe and of those my Maisters the Collegialls as I had wished lett his name be blessed for all and in the meane tyme I must endure it with patience Wherein yet mee thinks I shall not be performing a small penance for it is a hard thing for vs to endure to be diuided from the persons whome wee loue And in very truth I did neuer soe much desire to be assisted by you in some things as now For I conceiue that it might haue proued greatly to the seruice of our Lord. But yet since by one that loues all things are well taken I will speake a little to you in absence till our Lord ordaine that wee may be present Sir I much desire that we may seeke God who is our totall Good and that not after any ordinary manner but like some one whoe seekes a great treasure which is much esteemed and for loue whereof he sells all that hee is
O my deere God and when shall we maintaine our soules in perfect faith and puritie towards thee and be sincerely loyall to Iesus Christ our Lord who is the spouse thereof giuing him our loue all intyre and wholly free from mingling itselfe with the basenes of creatures When shall we be able to vnderstand this truth that he who is to owne our soules is Christ our Lord and that he created vs for himselfe and that he onely is fitt for vs Is it not enough that we haue tryed so often by experience how ill the world is wont to serue vs and that our soule could neuer finde any true repose or peace but onely when coming to knowe her owne misery and poorenes it went to God and was imbraced by him Is not one of those short fitts of tyme more worth then their whole life who sacrifice themselues to vanitie and to the confusion of this ignorant world wherein they liue Or shall it not now at length bee tyme to saye to all things created I know you not that soe I may prouide a cleane and ready place for the reception of him who created you all of nothing I am extreamely glad that we haue to doe with a Holy ghost which is soe very holy as that he would not come euen to the disciples them selues of our Lord till euen his owne pretious body were taken out of their sight That so we may know the condition of this holy spirit to be such as that we must prouide a temple for it where noe other thing may dwell or els it will not enter there And I am highly glad that you by the grace of this spirit will haue prepared your selfe and that you will haue receiued him and that you and he are well content with one another Reioyce you with this Holy ghost for he is Ioy it felfe And remember Eph. 4 that the Apostle S. Paule requires vs not to contristate the holy spirit of God whereby wee are marked out for the day of redeÌ„ption which is of the iudgment of the latter day He contristates this Spirit whoe with a dull and deiected hart goes faintly and negligently about his seruice whoe doth things which displease this most soueraigne guest who as himselfe is fire soe will he haue his seruant full of feruour and requires that he goe about his worke with great life And that he euer be casting on the wood of good workes and blowing it with holy thoughts that soe this celestiall fire may not be quenched in vs since our very life consists in keeping it aliue And soe if we maintaine this fire in vs it will maintaine vs in him though yet still it be true that he first giues vs that which afterward we giue to him So that in this respect your ladyship will haue beene fedd at a good table this weeke since you will haue celebrated the Feast of the holy ghost not according to flesh and blood as they doe whoe vse to content themselues â—vith the talke and tumult of great Festiuities but you will haue celebrated it in Spirit according to the aduice of our Lord Iohn 4. who requires to be Spiritually adored Lett vs now consider how it stands with you concerning the sent odour of the Festiuitie of the Body of our Lord which is now neere at hand For it will be an extreame shame for a Christian hart not to hunger and aspire toward this holy bread Matth. 2. before the Festiuitie it selfe arriue since the three kings those wise men of the Ghospell had a sent of it so farre of yea and the Prophetts and Patriarcks had the like a longe tyme before his Incarnation What more happy newes can there be then to see Christ our Lord passe amongst vs in our streetes and through our hands communicating and conuersing with men And to haue him sett before our eyes to finde him whome neither the whole earth nor all the heauens can comprehend shut within the narrow â—urtaine of the accidents of bread and after all â—his to make his entrance into our vnworthy woefull brests Take heede you heare not this newes with deafe eares but awake your hart and require it to be very attentiue to soe great a fauour and worke of God and that it instantly cast vp whatsoeuer other meate it may haue swallowed that soe being full of hunger it may grow all full of this celestiall bread where vpon the Angells feede And bid it be sure to watch now that soe it may not then fall a sleepe And since it is the worke of the holy Ghost you must begg grace whereby you may be able to finde the effect of that Feast of the body of our Lord which was conceiued by the same holy Ghost And soe when that Feast of his most holy body shall be come the Holy Ghost will alsoe come with it because the Holy Ghost descended into the world through the meritts of Christ our Lord. And when his Body shall be giuen vs we shall receiue the holy Ghost together with it according to the rate of that good disposition which we shall haue Soe that one Festiuity must helpe and be a preparation for another and must giue vs hunger to feede vpon the fruite of the other For it is not heere as it happens in the banquets of this world which are made by flesh and bloud Where they whoe haue fedd full at noone haue noe minde at all to their meate at night But the soule goes feeding with afresh appetite from one Festiuitie to another and soe that is accomplished Leuit. 26. which God promised The threashing of your corne shall last till you goe to vintage and till the new time of seede and you shall eate your bread in aboundance The goodnes of God be blessed which soe liberally prouides for vs and that not in any meane fashion but by giuing his very selfe to vs. The sonne is giuen to vs and the Holy Ghost for his sake and these two persons giuing themselues the father cannot choose but be alsoe giuen In fine the Father the Sonne and the Holy Ghost are ours Wee already begin euen heere that mutuall contract which we are to perfect in heauen Let vs giue him humbly thankes for his mercies Lett vs prepare our selues for the receauing of new fauours and with harts exalted aboue the earth let vs celebrate the Festiuities of heauen to the end that we may passe from these temporall Ioyes to those eternall wherein I humbly beseech our Lord that you may one day see your selfe Amen A letter of the Authour to a virgin lady who asked of him what Charitie was He answeares to her demaunde and shewes her the Loue and Charitie which she is to haue to God and her neighbours heere on earth by that loue and charitie whith the saints haue in heauen DEVOVT spouse of Christ our Lord you aske me in your letter what Charitie is to the end that you may
guide you whole life thereby For the saying of the Apostle S. Paule is true 1. Cor 13. and whatsoeuer wee doe without Charitie is nothing worth though wee should deliuer our bodyes into the fire Your demaunde is very great and I could wish that the same Apostle S. Paule whose sentence moued you to aske me the question might enable me also to make the answeare For I know not what greater thing then this you could haue asked mee since the sublime parte of all our christian religion consists in it 1. Cor. 13. And as the same Apostle saith He who liues according to it is a fulfiller of the whole law Soe that you o deuout spouse of Christ our Lord must beseech the holy ghost whose proper attribute is Loue that he will teach and write that thing in your hart whereof you aske as he taught it vpon the day of Pentecost Act. 2. when hee infused it into the harts of his Apostles For know that this is the true teacher of this language and soe as there is none but he For alas what can my tongue which is made of earth expresse of that which is onely vsed with perfection in heauen This is a celestiall language and they whoe speake it perfectly are the blessed spiritts which attend to nothing els but truly to loue our Lord God with all their strength and all that which his pleasure is that they shall loue How shall I be able to speake to you of that Loue which is subiect to noe interest and is accompanyed with noe selfe-loue and lookes towards noe other marke and aymes at noe other scope but onely God How I say shall I speake of it whome my father Adam hath left all wrapped vp in mine owne interest and who apply my selfe to seeke my selfe in all things See how much For euen in those things which concerne the seruice of God wee doe soe hang towards our selues that many tymes wee performe them for our owne interest or end And though the workes themselues be holy yet the loue wherewith wee doe them is impure And the difference doth onely consist in this that when wee seeke our selues by euill workes our Loue runnes through a conduit of clay when we seeke our selues by good workes it runnes indeede through a cōduit of gould but in fine it runnes towards our selues Iohn 6 I beseech our true doctour Iesus Christ our Lord who euer sought the honour of his Father and whose loue abased him to this world not for the accomplishing of his owne will but his who sent him that he will vnty my tongue to the end that I may tell you some part of that which you demaunde For certainly if your good desire did not oblige me to lett you know what I haue read my poorenes would oblige mee to hould my peace And now to the end that you might better vnderstand what Charitie is and how you may euer goe imployed therein I could wish you knew some parte of that Loue which the Blessed spiritts haue in heauen to the end that you may know thereby wherein true Charitie doth consist For how much neerer we shall come to that loue so much the more perfect will our loue be you must know that the loue which is in heauen doth transforme the Saints into the same will with that of our lord God For one of the effects of loue as S. Dionisius saith is to make the seuerall wills of such as loue to be but one I meane that they should haue the same will and the same not will which the other hath And now since the will and loue which our lord hath is but onely of his owne glory and of his essence which is supremely perfect and glorious from hence it followes that the loue of the Saints is a Loue and will wherewith they loue and desire with all their strength that our lord God may in himselfe be still as good as glorious and as worthy of honour as hee is And for as much as they see all that to be already in him which they can desire there followes there vpon Gal. 5. the fruite of the holy ghost which is an vnspeakeable ioy to see him whome they loue soe much to be soe full of treasures and felicitie in himselfe as they desire If you will haue a touch or at least some little sent of this diuine ioye doe but consider how great that ioy is which a good Sonne receiues in seeing his father whome he loues much full of honour beloued by all rich powerfull hoble and very much esteemed by the king Certainely there be sonnes soe gratefull and well disposed to their parents as to esteeme that nothing can be compared to the ioy of seeing their fathers soe esteemed which reaches indeede soe farre as that to whatsoeuer necessitie or affliction themselues may be subiect it serues not to depriue them of that great ioy because they aspire to noe other end but onely the honor of their parents Now if this ioy be soe great what doe you conceiue that the ioy of the Saints may be when being transformed by loue into that true lord of theirs the vniuersall creatour of all things they shall see him soe full of goodnes soe holy and soe rich in beauty and that he is a Lord and creatour soe infinitely powerfull as that by one onely act of his will all that which is created hath his beauty and his being and noe one leafe of any tree can so much as wagg but by his will Infallibly this is such a ioy as noe eye hath seene nor eare hath heard nor can such an vnspeakeable knowledge as this euer enter into the hart of any man but such a one as enioyes and possesses it You see heere the loue which the Saints haue in heauen speaking according to the poorenes of our vnderstanding And from this aboundant swelling Riuer which delights the Citty of God doth flow that loue which the soules in heauen beare to their neighbours For as all the desire and ioy of the Saints consisteth in their seeing God who is their true loue full of honour and glory from hence they grow to loue with a most feruent loue and to desire with an excesse of appetite that all the Saints may be as full of glory and beauty as they alsoe are And they ioy in this to a strange proportion because he is honoured and glorified in them whose honour and glory they onely seeke And in reguard that this is the cause why they loue the Saints from hence it growes that they ioy more and doe more desire the glory and beauty of the greatest Saints then of their very selues because they see that our Blessed Lord is more glorified in those others then in them And by this tyme you may perceiue how fart this holy cōpany is from selfe-loue from enuy which springs from that roote But you will tell me perhapps that it followes from hence that they
will be subiect to some disgust because themselues are not soe growne in sanctity as others are since thereby the glory of God would alsoe haue encreased in them This doth not follow considering that first effect of loue which is the vnion of two wills in one for they are transformed into the will of God and would haue nothing done but that which their lord will and they see that this will is the cause why one hath more glory then another and from hence they grow to be highly content with that which he assignes to them as alsoe because the diuersity of the degrees of glory in the blessed doth more beautify the whole Citty of God then if they were all of one rancke as the musick of a vyall is much the sweeter because it hath diuers strings and distinct soundes then if they were all but any one And since it is soe that because there are different degrees of glory and diuers mansions in the triumphant Church 1. Cor 13. it is of greater beauty then if they all possessed but one Iohn 14. and the same degree of glory by this they see that our Lord is more honoured in them then if they were all equall and consequently they are not troubled for their owne being lesse in glory then those others are For they in their colours and others in other colours of a deeper dye doe all concurre to manifest the infinite goodnes and beauty of him who made them Heere you see Apoc. 22 that riuer which S. Iohn discouered in the Apocalyps to issue out of the throne of God Apoc. 19. and of the lambe whereof all the blessed spirits in heauen drinke And being inebriated by this loue they sing an euerlasting Alleluia admiring and glorifying our lord God And you will haue discerned a little of that enamell wherewith those pretious stones are accompanied wherevpon that temple of the celestiall mountaine is founded And now after the resemblance of this temple Apoc. 11. which you haue seene in that mountaine you must build a dwelling place in your soule for our lord Exod. 25. iust as they said to Moyses that he should prouide to make the Tabernacle after that forme which he had seene in the mountaine You must my good sister if you meane to goe through the way of this life in perfect charitie and loue of our lord procure to carry about you a continuall desire or at least the most continuall that you can whereby you may euer wish and like that our lord God in whose presence you are still to walke may be in himselfe as good as holy and as full of glory as indeede hee is And soe with great ioy and complacence in all the attributes of almightie God you are to goe reioycing and your soule is to seast it selfe inseeing that your lord your true love possesses himselfe whoe is infinitely good powerfull from whome all creatures receiue their being and their beauty who in himselfe is soe full of glory and goodnes that all creatures haue neede of him he none of them This must be the whole scope at which your loue must ayme S. Tho. 1. And heerein S. Thomas saith that perfect charitie doth consist As for the loue which new deuotes call Charitie which is when they are kindled in deuotiō in louing our lord tēderly though this be a holy thing yet is it not of soe high condition as that other most holy loue which transformes soules into the beloued To this loue the holy scripture inuites vs in many places saying Ps 96. Phil. 4 Reioyce you iust persons in our lord And S. Paule saith Reioyce in our lord And conceiuing that this aduise was worthy to be giuen more then once he repeates it saying yet againe I tell you that you must reioyce The Prophet Dauid expressed the same when he said Ps 36 delight you in our lord and he will giue you whatsoeuer you shall aske This is that ioye wherewith the most holy virgin reioyced when she said My spirit reioyces in God my Sauiour Luk. 1. And with this ioye did Christ our lord reioyce when S. Luke said that Iesus reioyced in the holy Ghost Luk. 10. And the royall Prophet saith that his hart Ps 83. euen his flesh reioyced in the liuing God This happēs whē the soule with the will for there the hart signifies the will are actually louing desiring that our lord may in himselfe bee what he is And from the great redundāce which proceedes sometymes from this ioye of the soule the very flesh it selfe is kindled in the loue of our lord And because this loue is soe excellent celestiall a thing therefore doth the Church which is directed by the holy ghost inuite vs in the begining of Mattins with a perswasion to loue our Lord saying thus Come lett vs reioyce in our Lord and sing canticles of praise to God our saluation If you will finde the excellency of this loue put it in practise you shall see that the soule doth not satisfy it selfe but in praysing God For when it sees all that to be accomplished in God which it can wish it breakes instantly out into thanks-giuing to him for hauing perfected the desire it hath to praise him which is the same effect which flowes from the loue they haue in heauen as the Prophet Dauid saith Blessed are they O Lord Psal 8. whoe dwell in thy howse for they shall praise thee for euer and for euer S. Augustine was inflamed with this loue when speaking to our Lord he said If thou O Lord wert Augustine and I God I would make thee God and my selfe Augustine I thinke there is noe neede to bring testimonies which may proue the excellencie of this Loue for euen plaine reason tells vs that this is the loue which drawes a man out of him selfe and transformes him vnto God who is his beloued And out of this loue it must follow that all your workes and deuotions and prayers must be made by you to the honour and glory of this God who deserues to be adored and serued for his owne pure goodnes by as many creatures as he hath made without carrying any respect at all to the hope which might be had of a reward from him For though it be good and holy to serue our Lord euen for retribution Psal 118. yet is not this an act of soe perfect charity as that which seekes noe kinde of interest but onely the honour and glory of our Lord God If at any time you place before your soule the reward which they will giue it for the good it doth to the end that it may be animated towards good workes let not this be your last end but the will which you haue to serue our Lord. For the more glory you haue the more honour and glory shall our Lord God receiue Soe that the last ayme of all must be to
glorify our most blessed Lord. And in this manner if you will you may encline your hart to the commaundments with respect to the retribution as the Prophet Dauid said Psal 118. But perhaps you will aske Who is he that can haue his soule awake to goe euer cheerfull and in delight reioycing still in her God since many tymes shee is soe tepid and soe sad that by noe meanes she is capable of any ioye what remedy may then be thought of that we may not faile of this perfect and supreme loue For this it was that I told you that you were to carry with you a desire whereby you must wish that our Lord might still be what he is in himselfe because Charâ—tie consists in this desire Which desire a soule may haue though it be neuer so tepid dry and sad as a man may desire that his father may liue happily though himselfe feele noe ioy And herein I onely take for graunted that we must suppose man to haue the grace of God which our Lord will neuer deny to one who striues to walke by this way I meane that although your selfe be sadd you must desire that our Lord may be what he is And as for the delight and ioy in our Lord which vses to follow heerevpon this indeede is a fruite of the holy Ghost Gal. 5. which growes from this charitie when our Lord is pleased to communicate himselfe more familiarly to a soule When his Maiestie bestowes this fauour let vs blesse him for it and when he doth not lett vs yet perseuer in that other exercice of euer blessing and adoring him who is so worthy of infinite glory and praise For it is a very great errour into which they fall who thinke that when there is noe sensible ioy that act of the will is worth nothing whereas Charitie doth yet consist in that act And for as much as the deuill knowes this well he is euer procuring to giue vs great tepidity and drynes that soe we thinking that we loose our tyme may giue ouer this holy exercise You must therefore perseuer in it and grow deafe to those temptations of the deuill For if you perseuer not you will not arriue to enioye that crowne and heauen which such as are proficient in this holy loue grow to obtaine euen heere on earth You must consider and looke with a hundred thowsand eyes that the end and scope of your loue bee to glorifie our Lord in whatsoeuer you doe For soe great was the wrench which our nature tooke by the sinne of our â—â—st father in wholly procuring our owne â—â—terest and good that if you stand not well â—wake in the watch-tower you will finde â—any tymes that you doe but seeke your â—â—lfe euen in this very deuotion hich preâ—ends wholly to cast out self-selfe-loue And you â—hall take your selfe in the manner with reâ—oycing that you loue our Lord after this sort â—ecause you shall acquire great rewards in â—eauen thereby and because your soule â—eceiues much consolation and for other â—easons of proper interest which though â—hey be not ill yet are they acts of Charity which is imperfect You see heere in short the Loue of God which you are to carry in your soule a Copie of that Originall which the Blessed Spiritts haue in heauen It now remaines that I declare to you the loue of your neighbour which growes out of this other profound Loue. The loue my good sister which you must carry to your neighbour must bee by desiring and louing all that good which you see in him because thereby our Lord God is glorified and adored And the more that is the greater must your ioy be as on the other side any offence or sinne which you shall discouer in your neighbour must be abhorred by your soule because he is offended whose honour and glory you desire And soe as I tould you that the loue of God consisted in our applause and will that our Lord should be the very thing which he is and that the ioye which is taken thereby is a particular guift of our Lord soe also doth the loue of your neighbour consist in the application of your will to desire the good of your neighbour which is to reioyce in his true good and to feele much griefe for the sinne which he committs This is a very particular fauour of our Lord which he bestowes vpon whome he will So that if you haue obserued the matter well you will haue seene that the marke at which both the loue of God and of our neighbour shootes is that God may be glorified and adored And heereby you will also perceiue how short he falls of true loue who greiues to see his neighbour growne vp apace in deuotion and vertue considering that himselfe is not so growne vp For though it be true that the true louer of our Lord will not faile to carry a knife about him which peirces him through at the very hart because he serues not our Lord so well as hee ought and might yet followes it not from hence that by seeing another seruant of God thriue faster in spirit then himselfe he must therefore be sorry for it or dismayed by it But rather the ease and comfort which is to serue you for a remedy against that much greife which your soule receiues because your selfe doe not serue our Lord soe well as you should must be to consider that though you through your weakenes doe not â—hat to which you are obliged yet there are others who comply with that very thing which you desire which is greatly to glorifie â—nd serue our Lord. But as for that other kinde of dismay to which some are subiect I conceiue that it growes but from self-selfe-loue for it is certaine that if the end why a true louer of our Lord desires much to serue him be that his God may be honoured and glorified who is glorified as well by the sanctity which is in the soule of another as if it were in his owne it followes that he is to haue much ioy to see that others goe increasing in the seruice of our lord though it be true on the other side that he may be in paine because he serues him not soe well You see heere my good sister what that is to which you must attend in this paradise of the millitant Church where our Lord placed you when he called you to his loue and to his grace if you will also goe on to enioye the fruite which is gathered from his hand in the triumphant Church of his glory In which I beseech our Lord that wee all may glorify him and praise him and enioye him for all eternitie Amen A letter of the Authour to a certaine poore man who was called Iohn of God He was of Granada and begged almes for the poore He animates him to the loue and seruice of poore people but yet soe as that he must not forgett his owne particular deuotions I Haue receiued
ought to loue the head doe you not know that when our lord rose from death to life appeared to his disciples he placed him selfe in the midst of them Luke 24. and not at the head or els where And this vpon what reason but to make vs vnderstand that he is in the midst of vs and that we cannot doe yea or euen desire to hurt any body but that first it must passe through him He who loues not his neighbour loues not Christ our lord and as for him whoe loues not Christ our lord it were better for such a one not to haue beene borne since he arriues not to know for what he was created which was to loue our lord Conceiue that your neighbours are a certaine thing which meerely coÌ„cernes Christ our lord that they are his Images and the creatures for which he gaue his blood And therefore say How shall I wish ill to him whom my lord loues How shall I be able to desire death to him to whom my lord will giue life My lord dyed for those persons and would yet againe returne to dye for them if it were needefull and shall I then faile to loue that man who is soe much bâ—loued by him what doth it import mee if they doe me ill offices for I loue them not for what they are nor for any thing which they doe to mee I loue them for Christ's sake and what then haue their ill deedes to doe towards the making me take that loue from them which I carried to them for Christ's sake I beseech God they may be great in his presence that they may enioy him and he them that soe there may be more temples wherein my lord may dwell more soules which may praise and serue him and more harts which may loue him for he deserues them all And whensoeuer you see them say O lord doe thou possesse those soules and lett them be onely thine O lord lett them enioye thee for thou hast a minde to coÌ„municate thy selfe to all O lord they are soe many Images of thee make them like to thee more and more both to them mee to all giue pardon grace glory If your tongue will not say this yet let your spirit say it and lift vp your hart to our lord demaunding succour of him and saying O lord for thy loue and not for theirs and by little and little you shall finde your selfe in peace And if there chance to be any warre bee not ouercome therein and doe not say or doe any thing which may be against their good and consent not to any thing in your hart which be of disaduantage to them The scruples coÌ„cerning your coÌ„fessions are a temptation wherewith the deuill tormeÌ„ts you depriues you of the sweetenes of your soule and leaues you without gust in the things of God For the creature who is scrupulous is not fit either to loue God or to confide in him nor doth he like the way which God houlds with him and then he goes to looke other wayes which may please him selfe better because he findes not that in Gods wayes which giues him gust And this scrupulous person hath the fault of all for he raises the storme where there was a calme and hee found it in his owne way and not in the way of God which is very smooth and plaine Make you a Iest of such things submit your selfe to that which your ghostly-father shall ordaine be not carryed a way with scruples nor with your owne conceipt but say my lord God is not scrupulous Iohn 4 Psal 17. I doe that which they comaunde me in his name and I am to accounte to him for noe more Shall I be plaine with you make hast make hast to loue and these scruples will fall away which rise but from a fearefull hart For perfect loue casts feare out of doores Pray to our lord say Deus meus illumina tenebras meas And confide you in his mercie that seruing him he will be good to you and will dayly be giuing you to vnderstand your faults that you may mend them I would alsoe haue you laugh at the temptation of vaineglory and say to it Neither will I doe it nor leaue to doe it for thee O lord to thee it is that I offer what souer I can doe or say or thinke And when vaineglorie comes againe say to it thus Thou comest too late for it is already giuen to God It is a good aduise that beginners are to doe nothing exteriourly which may seeme to be of much sanctity for being younge and tender and all their busines being but yet in flower the winde will doe them hurt and it is better for them to hide their graces then to shew them And soe must you doe for as much as possibly you can and that which you cannot conceale doe freely and without feare And straite cast vp your hart to our Lord and say Non nobis Domine non nobis sed nâ—â—nâ—ni tuo da gloriam Or els you may say Gloria Patriâ— Filio Spirituâ— sancto And for conclusion I recommend to you that you cast all that out of your hart which is not God and that in this world you loue teares sollitude humilitie and penance and lett your eyes be euer turned to our Lord that your feete may be deliuered from the snare Put the law of God in practise and you shall see how he will sweeten your way and how he will cast your enemies vnder your feete And by working you shall grow to vnderstand that which you knowe not how to conceaue either by speaking or hearing For in this way of God these tepid and talking people learne little and they whoe are diligent in putting the hand to worke learne much Our Lord lesus Christ goes before you follow him heere with your Crosse and one day you shall be with him in heauen A Letter of the Authour to a freind whome he animates to serue God in good earnest He shewes the vanity and misery of the world and the happines which is obtained by seruing God AS he whoe hoping for the good successe of what he desires reioyces when he sees some likelyhood thereof and although that likelyhood be not very great yet it giues him noe little ioye through the excesse of his desire soe my soule is filled with comfort by your Letter for me thinkes the wordes conteyned therein giue me a hope and taste of somewhat which hath reason to make mee gladd and which if it might once take full effect would breede a ioy in mee soe very great as would be equalled by few others My good Sir I desire to see that soule of yours vnbeguiled and discharged from the many vanities which are affected and frequented in this world and that you would beleeue with a faithfull hart that your true repose consists not in any other then in him whoo created all things that you
lyer the father of lyes and some after the end of many labours and teares haue sweate hard to returne into the freindshipp of God though through all their life they continued with this dagger in their hart of How haue I offended God hauing vouchsafed mee soe many blessings And it seemed to them as if they enioyed not the benefitt of his pardon through the continual greife and shame which they had for committing the offence Others there are whoe being once gone away neuer turne againe like ill made hawkes whoe flying from the fist of their Lord fall to feede vpon carryon and being soe fleshed returne noe more and hauing formerly tasted the foode of Angells Luc. 15 growe to take delight in the huskes of swyne Of these S. Peter saith 2. Pet 2. That it had beene better for them not to haue knowne the way of our lord then to leaue it after it was knowne And it happens to them as to the dogge who returnes to eate what he had vomitted as to the hogg whoe wallowes in his myre from side to side And our Lord himselfe said Luc. 9 That he who puts his hand to the plowgh and lookes backe is not fitt for the kingdome of heauen but returnes to be worldly againe and is both made an obiect of scorne to the deuill and is alsoe placed as a marke to fright others from offending God In this sorte did the wife of Loth vndoe her selfe Gen. 19. For God hauing vouchsafed her soe great a fauour as to deliuer her from the fyre which came from heauen vpon Sodam and Gomorrah where shee dwelt and commaunding her not to looke backe againe she obeyed not his voice but turning her head backe was transformed into a pillar of salte which beasts licke vp And heere it is to be cōsidered that if God punished her soe seuerely whoe had not beene a sinner in that Citty but onely because she obeyed not his commaundement of not looking backe for what can the sinner hope whoe is deliuered from the punishment of God through his great mercy if yet dispising that excessiue goodnes he turne back his hart towards the flesh potts of Egypt and his sinnes past I beseech God euen for God's owne sake to deliuer euery soule from falling downe into soe great a misery as this For as S. Paule affirmes Heb. 11 it is a fearefull and horrible thing to fall into the hands of the liuing God and what is man that he should be able to endure the wrath and fury of Almighty God For as any huge fire is able to deuoure some little woefull straw soe doth the mighty wrath of God swallow vp the soules bodyes of all such persons as depart from him And as when some wife whoe had beene deerely beloued by her husband committs the fowle sinne of adultery that husband is inraged soe much the more against her at she had bene more beloued by him soe that wrath of God is very vnsufferable which he expresses against that soule which he had formerly drawne out of the captiuity of sinne and of bound had made free and being naked and voyd of grace had made rich and rarely adorned with the same grace and of a wicked slaue had exalted to be his most honoured beloued wife What would such a woman deserue who being vngratefull for soe great fauours I say not should committ adultery against such a generous and pious husband but through whose hart any such thought should once passe though shee were a thowsand mile off from the fact Who could euer thinke of giuing a buffett to one that had endured soe many for him and to put fresh dishonours to crucifye a secōd tyme that person whose former wounds it were much more fitt for him to bathe dresse and asswage then to add new ones to the old What kinde of wickednes shall wee call it which is able euen to amaze and astonish the world for one to leaue God for the deuill and hauing beene walking in the way to heauen to goe thrust his very feete into hell and to like better to haue to doe with God inraged then with God all gentle and appeased Madam I haue not written this as thinking that this misery will lay hould on you For my confidence is not in you but in him whoe with soe much mercy and pitty redeemed you out of the captiuity wherein you were and taught you soe well what belongs to his loue as to haue giuen you cleerely to vnderstand thereby that hee meant not to vndertake the busines in iest neither will hee that either you or I shall make a iest thereof In this lord who loues with soe great fidelity doe I place my confidence and not in you whoe haue kept so ill correspondance with his true loue But I haue written this to the end that of your selfe you may hunt out a litle sent of the danger wherein you are that you may recōmend your selfe more and more to our Lord and in fine that you may be soe discreete as not to cast away your tyme in the admitting of vnprofitable thoughts Our lord will cleere vp these things and will finish that which he hath begunne and will not take this Crowne from mee and therefore am I in patience and hope that you shall not depriue mee of that which God hath giuen mee You haue heere many seruants of God both men and woemen who recommend you to his mercy with much care and I beseech him to graunt it most completely to you Amen A Letter of the Authour to a Lady at the Feast of the Epiphany or three kings Wherein hee shewes how shee is to goe and adore the Infant Iesus with those kings being guided by the starre of faith and that shee is to offer him the gould of diuine loue I Wrote to your Ladyship this last Aduent of the great fauour which our Lord did vs in vouchsafing to come to vs and of the happines of that soule which disposes himselfe to receiue him I hope in his mercy that hee is come home to you and that you haue receiued him with faith and loue And therefore now there remaines noe more but that you offer your selfe in perpetuall sacrifice to him who hath vouchsafed to offer himselfe to you as a deere guest and that you imitate the faith and presents which were made by those wise men to the Blessed Infant as soone as they found him out as you haue already imitated them in the care they had to finde him It will doe well that you contemplate how this great lord is soe humbled in that poore open stable and that maunger where the naturall discourse and humaine reason of those kings was farre from thinking that they should finde him But the starre which with vs is Faith refuses expresly to passe any further on and declares with most resplendent beames as by soe many tongues that hee who is aboue all reason and
knowledge lyes in a place which is hidden from all discourse of reason that soe wee may learne to belceue that most firmely whereof wee finde least certainty For if as the starre guided them soe they had beene guided but by their reason they would haue gone to looke for this new borne king in some royall pallace for a person and a place wherein he dwells are to carry proportion to one another Our lord vouchsafes to shew a great fauour to them vpon whom he bestowes a starre which is the guift of faith that soe they may seeke God both when he is wrapped vp aswell in those swadling-cloutes in the pouerty of his birth as in the contempt and torment of the death of the Crosse the kings finde him in one of thofe places and the good theefe in the other For both they and hee had the eyes of Faith and that made them prostrate themselues all along and adore him protesting that they were as nothing in his diuine presence For if they had knowne him but for a temporall king how great soeuer hee had beene it would haue suffized for them to haue done reuerence to him as one man vses to another but for soe great men to prostrate themselues before an Infant betokens that they had interiour faith whereby they knew the high Maiesty which lay hidd in that Infancy But now your Ladyship must be sure that you appeare not empty before this Lord and that you thinke not that you giue him any thing if you doe not giue him your loue Nothing but God is able to make your Ladyshipp happy and nothing but your selfe is able to keepe him contented This loue of his is not ioyned with any interest which regards himselfe or the value of the presents which are made to him but it is a true and perfect loue which requires an vnion of harts And this is that language as S. Bernard saith whereby God and the soule communicate themselues speake to one another in the same tune If our lord threaten and punish mee I am not to doe the same but my duty will bee to humble my selfe soe much the more as hee doth more exalt himselfe but if he loue mee I must bee like him in that and I must loue him saying with the spouse My beloued to mee and I to him O great dignitie of a creature Cant. 2 which is abled thus to draw in the selfe same yoke with his Lord and may answeare him like for like for loue is that thing which abases hills and rayses valleys Offer your loue to him whoe for loue of you did though hee were soe great become an infant and being God became man and shedd the blood of circumcision for you within eyght dayes as being not content that he had shedd teares for you when he was borne Steale not your selfe away from this lord since you are soe truly his least you grow to be of them of whome the Prophett Ieremy faith he went like one whoe runnes away with him selfe Where are you engaged more deepely where can you employ your selfe more profitably where can you exalt your self more highly then by louing Christ our lord who loued you and washed you with his bloud and giues euen himselfe to such a one as loues him and makes him of a man grow to be a kinde of God Bee very carefull of your selfe in this busines and soe that you offer gould to the Infant Iesus For as a little gould is more worth then a great quantitie of other mettall soe a little true loue is more pretious then much copper and such other mettalls of feare and proper interest or any other succh affects as rise from these Many are wont to measure themselues by their doeing many good workes and they neuer consider that God respects nothing in them but onely the hart from whence they rise and that one man shall please God more who doth lesse good workes then another whoe doth greater if he who did the lesse haue the greater loue Some man by fasting from some one meale or by giuing some very little almes shall be more pleasing to our lord as the widdow was Marke 12. then many others whoe gaue great almes because he doth it with more loue then they And heerein appeares the greatenes of our Lord since noeseruice which wee can doe him how great soeuer it may be is great in his sight if the loue of the partie be not great For hee whoe hath neede of nothing and cannot possibly encrease at all in riches or any other good why should he care for ought which can be giuen him but onely to be beloued which is soe acceptable a present as cannot be refused by any And soe much is God in earnest when he requires it of vs as that he punishes with eternall death the person whoe grauntes him not his loue What thing is soe farre from selfe loue in the desires of any thing as hee whoe needes noe seruice which can be done him thereby and whoe againe hath soe much desire of any thing as he whoe soe requires a man's loue as to punish him with the torments of hell who will not giue him that loue and giue it truely yea and that soe as it may exceede all other loues And therefore Saint Augustine might say with reason O lord what account doest thou make of mee since thou commaundest mee to loue thee and doest threaten mee with huge miseries if I loue thee not Let his be therefore your prime care to attend to the loue of our Lord. For this very purpose he made himselfe soe very little For by how much the more he conceales and as it were dissembles his Maiesty soe much more doth he declare his goodnes and thus doth he the more inuite our loue which lookes more at ease vpon the littlenes which he tooke the vpon the greatnes which he naturally possessed His wisedome lyes hidden by his being made an Infant whoe could not speake His power is alsoe bound vp by certaine swathing-cloathes and he endures bitter colde And all this to the end that the more of his other attributes he hides from vs the more he may declare his loue to vs that soe we alsoe may loue him the more as we finde him to haue suffered more for vs. It is certaine that to see him tremble with colde doth kindle vs much more then if wee saw him well and warmely cladd and if he felt noe paine And therefore hee shall doe very ill whoe denyes him his loue since it was bought at soe much cost of this Infant and after the rate thereof will it cost that man whoe shall deny to giue it Hee whoe offers this loue offers the bolocaâ—st with the marrow to our lord Psal 65. as Dauid saith For as fire burnes vp a whole beaste soe doth loue consume the whole man both within without The fire of true loue will not endure that the straw of exteriour vanities
should remaine vnburnt How shall that man be able to loue pompes and shewes who cordially loues the Infant Iesus being layd in a poore maunger if it be true that loue must make louers like to one another It is a great blessing and light which makes vs able to see God heere beloue that soe we may know how to walke for the pleasing of his diuine Maiesty And since he walkes in a very contrary way to that of the world let vs resolue to make our choice of that guide whome we meane to follow since wee cannot walke in both and since the world runnes headlong vpon errour and since Christ our Lord is the truth which saues such as beleeue and follow it Iohn 14 And let his â—â—locaust haue marrow in it for marrow is a soft thing and doth soone melt And soe doth that hart which loues our lord and whether the matter concerne the scruice of the same lord or els the good of a man's neighhour such a one will not expresse either drynes or harshnes but sweete mildenes bee alsoe hath care to keepe his loue as safe as the marrowe is within the bone But before you can arriue to that marrow it is garded first by the skynue and then by the flesh and lastly by the bone it selfe The man who loues places all things which he possesses and desires before that which he loues that he may sooner loose all that then that the person beloued by him should once be touched And he hath a strong and firme purpose as if it were made of iron not to venture the loue of our lord though it should cost him whatsoeuer he either is or may euer be Such gould as this it is which you must offer to the Infant who is borne soe poore and you must open your treasures for that purpose as those kings did For if this hart be not opened which is the treasure-howse all the labour is lost For in that case whatsoeuer it bee Marke 2. which is offered is not gold but counterfect stuffer he takes the best to himselfe and giues the worst to Almighty god Open therefore your hart and conueigh the Infant newly borne into it since that hart alone liues in which hee is And since he is of soe little weight doe not lay him downe but weare him in your bosome like that handfull of Myrrh whereof the spouse speakes Conuerse with him with all reuerence because he is God Cant. 1 and yet take courage to communicate freely with him because he is an Infant for within he hath his hart as serene and sweete as you may well conceiue by his exteriour apparance Take heede you lett him not fall for he must be kept with great care but if your loue be not great you will either forgett him quickly or els lay him soone aside as thinking that he weighes too much And soe that you negotiate with him in such sort as that you giue not ouer till you perceiue by good coniectures that both you loue him and are beloued by him For till a soule feele this it euer liues in feare and sadnes and as vnder the burden of a law but when it comes to this passe there is nothing which can casily trouble it when it considers that God loues it and it loues God I beseech him that it may soe happen to your Ladyshipp Amen A letter of the Authour to a Lady wherein hee shewes what the coming of the holy Ghost wrought in the Apostles and what it workes in them whoe dispose themselues to receiue it and how they are to dispose themselues GOd send you a good Feast of whitsontide not by hearesay but by experience that in this solemnitie your hart may feele that which the faithfull seruaÌ„ts of Christ our Lord when they were assembled in that meeting-place did feele by the infusion of him into their soules who depriued them of their weakenes and deliuered them from their ignorances and fulfilled the bosome of their soules with soe great ioy as might well giue the world to vnderstand that the blood of Christ our lord was not shedd in vayne nor his prayers to his Father made in vayne since by meanes thereof a participation of the diuinitie was communicated O how often when they saw themselues soe deifyed and that they were made soe richly the louers and beloued of God did they sing a world of prayses to Iesus Christ their lord and Maister as knowing well that he had sent them this guift as he was God and had deserued it for them as he was man For according to what our lord himselfe had ptomised the holy ghost as soone as he should become was to make knowne Iesus Christ our Lord and to giue testimony of him Iohn 16 that soe the Disciples and the world might knowe him and by knowing him might vnderstand withall that all good was to come to them by his meanes and that they were to render him seruice and expresse all gratitude to him as to their true and aboundant benefactour and that soe they might remaine faster tyed to him by the cordes of loue in his absence then formerly they had beene in presence might know by experience what a puissant loue the holy ghost is and how ardently he makes that Blessed word of God to be beloued from whome himselfe proceeded and in whome he reposes and that they should make noe difficultie to publish and proclaime him to the world though it should cost them their liues If we had a parte of this solemnity heere within our very harts we should be sure to celebrate it exteriourly as we ought And if our soule were bedewed with some dropp of the water of this plentifull Riuer which issues out of the throne of God Apoâ— 20. of the lambe the thirst of this whole world would be soone quenched in vs and wee should be refreshed by this heauenly dew from that drynes and stiffnes wherein wee yet remaine soe negligent soe barren and soe accursed O how much would we finde our selues obliged to our Redeemer when wee should sensibly feele that wee were indeede redeemed by him and that our sinnes were drowned that our sorrowes were spent and aboundance of ioy imparted insteede thereof Wee would not then complaine of paines of banishments of absence from what we loue of wanting those things which seeme most necessary to vs and in sine of any inconuenieÌ„ce For soe powerfull is this spiritt and the fire thereof that it striues vpward and makes vs soe loue confide in God that noe water of sorrow and affliction hath power to quench it but it remaines euer quicke and conveyed with such strength into the bowells of the soule which are soe mightily inflamed that it kills that which liues ill and causes that euen death it selfe cannot conquer him who is mortyfied by the coming of this holy spiritt This is that deare guest whoe cures the wound which the absence of Christ our
must be warned There is noe sanctity assured but in the holy feare of God wherein Eccl. 2. I would haue you euen grow old as the holy Scripture saith Soe to giue vs to vnderstand that wee must not onely feare God when first we come to his seruice but euen to the very end This feare is noe sadd or irksome kinde of thing but full of sauour and gust and it takes away all leuity and effusion of hart and it makes a man not venterous to approue his owne actiōs as good though perhapps in themselues they be well done But he leaues the iudgment both of himselfe and of all the world to Almighty God As S. Paule said I iudge not my selfe but he whoe iudges mee is our Lord. This is hee whome you must feare if you will perseuer in doeing well and if you will not haue your building fall but stand safe till it may rise and reach to the most high God But now this must be done by loue which I beseech our lord Iesus Christ to giue you Amen Pray for mee very cordially as already I beleiue you doe For I hope in God that hee will heare you and that he will giue mee to you for your seruice as in former tymes A Letter to a Lady who was growen a widow He comforts her in the death of her husband and animates her to carry her afflictions with patience I Haue deferred to write to you out of a beleefe that my letter would be of little power towards the mitigating of that great sorrow to which they said you were growen subiect And I thought I should take a better course to be vttering my selfe to our Lord who is the Lord of all comfort and to be recommending you to him then to be speaking to you by my letters But yet because they haue beene demaunded with soe great instance which serues to assure mee how much they are desired and because our lord hath power enough to doe what he lists by the meanes euen of dead letters I would not faile to doe as I was commaunded and that to which I was obliged beseeching our lord that by meanes thereof he will be pleased to breede that comfort in your hart which I desire Our Lord hath soe disposed as to haue you try what tast these afflictions haue which are gathered in this vale of teares and they not of the gentler but ruder sort Let his name be blessed his iudgments adored and his will obeyed since that which the creature owes to his Creatour is all reuerence and subiection not onely in those things which are delightfull but in those others alsoe which are most painefull Now to make try all of this obedience God is wont to teach vs in that which lyes next our harts To the end that wee may vnderstand that for soe great a lord we must be content both to doe and suffer great things Abraham carryed excessiue loue to his sonne Isaack Cenisis 22. and God was pleased to try him in that A great loue it was which Iob carryed to his seauen sonnes and yet God tooke them all away in one day And after this manner is he wont to proceede with such as he loues For by this meanes both they are made capable of testifying their loue to him and by the same hee takes occasion to doe them great fauours I know well that flesh and blood haue noe vnderstanding of this language and that they onely imploy themselues vpon feeling the greife and losse which they sustaine without caring for other things But if God be in vs we must restraine our sence and make it obedient to reason and to the will of our Lord. And though it trouble vs much yet must we not let this flesh of ours ouercome but remembring the anguish of our Lord which made him sweate dropps of bloud and say Father not my will Luc. 22. but thy will be done we are to say the same if we meane to be knowne for his disciples since he will know none for his vassalls on earth nor for his companion in heauen but the man who carryes the crosse vpon his backe Matth 10. and whoe will follow him as the sheepe his sheapheard though it should cost him his life Tell mee of what wee can iustly complaine in our afflictions since by them our sinnes grow to be discharged and our selues made to ressemble the sonne of God For what a bould irreuerēce should it be that slaues would not passe by that lawe by which their Lord did passe and that adopted sonnes should not be content to endure that which the naturall sonne endured who was more beloued by God the Father then his first begotten sonne and whoe was more loaden with variety of paines then hee Esay 53. Hee was the man of greife and be who knew by experience what belonged to affliction And if you be able to count the dropps of the sea you may alsoe perhaps count his sorrowes Will it then seeme reason to you that the sonne of God being soe in anguish and all wounded with greife euen to the death wee should passe all our liues without drinking once of vinager and gall Matth. 26. What is become of that shame which wee ought to haue if heere wee should lett him suffer alone and yet pretend to raigne with him in heauen Let all creatures be at last vnbeguiled and know that if the king of heauen did enter into his kingdome by tribulations we also must enter in by the same way There is noe other way but Iesus Christ and hee crucified whoesoeuer seekes any other will not finde it and whosoeuer walkes by any other will loose himselfe and hee will see that though it may be a kind of vnsauoury thing to suffer in this life it is worse to suffer in the next O blindenes of the sonnes of Adam whoe take noe care of the future soe that the present may passe to their contentement Not valewing that which brings in true profitt but that which giues vs gust Not looking towards reason but passion And therefore doe they lament when they ought to thinke themselues happy and they reioyce when they haue more cause to mourne What is all this present prosperity but a smoake which by little and little will be dispersed in such sort as that wee shall see nothing of it And what are all the yeares of our life but a short sleepe out of which when wee awake wee finde our selues but to haue beene abused And vpon any little trouble which arriues we are drawne to forgett our former pleasures yea and it giues vs a kinde of paine to haue enioyed them If then wee finde soe great in constancy in this why doe wee not seeke that other And since wee see every day that this is slipping out of our hands why doe wee not seeke that which lasts indeede and will make our felicity eternall If hitherto wee haue beene in blindenes let vs now
her selfe to leaue the world and to consecrate herselfe to God he animates her in that purpose and shewes the great blessings which shee would finde both in life and death by the espousalls which shee meant to make with Christ our Lord. DEuout seruant of Iesus Christ The contentment which my soule tooke in vnderstanding of the new purpose you were growen to haue of taking the king of heauen for your spouse yow who might soe well haue matched your selfe heere on earth was so very great that I know not with what words to expresse it And though when it was tould mee it were new to mee as not hauing vnderstood thereof before yet neither was it wholly new for already I had in a manner eyed you out for that lord who created you and I had begged of him as a particular fauour that he would bestow you vpon mee for himselfe Blessed be his holy name for euer who hath now done it soe very completely as I knew not soe much as how to wish But that ioy which your soule founde before in seeing it self soe disintriqued from all the basenes of this earth and finding it selfe already to haue receiued that pledge and pawne of loue from that heauenly king what was it els but a cleare signe that this mutation which you haue made proceeded not from any incōstancy of your humour but from the worke of God who hath conveighed his hand into your hart and therein hath produced that desire of heauen which now you haue And he also gaue you that great ioy as a testimony and earnest penny of those many and great and pure ioyes which if you proue faithfull to him he resolues to giue you in heauen the least whereof is incōparably more to be esteemed then a husband of this world and children and estate and whatsoeuer els the whole earth can giue O if you had but tryed how sweete God is to that soule which turnes her backe to the world to place her eyes vpon her Creatour O if you did but know what that sweetnes is of the celestiall spouse towards the comforting of those soules who cast all transitory delight away and like chast turtles refuse to take comfort vpon earth but send vp sighes for loue of their Lord who is in heauen who are like the doue which returnes home to the hand of the owner as cleane as shee went forth without touching any dead body soe much as with her feete What is there soe flourishing in this world which is any better then a dead and stincking carkasse And for what then doth it serue vs to ioyne our selues to that which will infect vs and which may leaue vs thirtie thousand tymes more disgusted with the bitternes which followes then with the pleasure which it yeilded for the present You must render Christ our Lord many thankes whoe hath giuen you light whereby you know how to distinguish betweene that the pretious and the base betweene eternall and-temporall betweene an immortall God and a mortall man And for hauing giuen you grace to make soe happy an election as whereby God is accepted and man despised and in that for the loue of that heauenly bedd of state the care of any earthly bedd is throwne aside◠how rich soeuer it might haue beene Be therefore faithfull to him whoe takes you for his spouse and who will be sure to be so faithfull to you as to make you finde by experience that hee is not in iest when he calls himselfe the pure Spouse of pure Virgins for you shall finde the assembly of all blisse in him Nor can it proue like the marriages which are made betweene flesh and bloud wherein vsually the little contentment which is had at first is followed by the bitternes of repētance But this worke of ours giues not onely contentment at the first but the more you conuerse with this Lord the better you shall know him and the better you know him the more you will loue him For he is not like men who when they are more frequented let vs easily see that they haue more faults and he who was a good husband vpon the marriage day within a yeare proues such as that there is noe liuing with him But in Christ our Lord you shall see nothing which may disgust you and as little in that Blessed mother of his who is the mother in lawe to all the spouses of her sonne O blessed houre wherein that good purpose was sowed in your hart and much more blessed will that other bee when you shall finde your selfe so visited by your spouse as to make you say O my Lord and when could I deserue these fauours of thee that I should finde this hidden treasure for the purchase whereof to pay the price of a thowsand liues were to buy it very cheape O how happy and prosperous is this marriage to be and of how excessiue ioy both to heauen and earth God the Father is pleased to see that there be soules on earth whoe loue his onely begotten sonne soe well as that for his loue they leaue the loues of flesh and blood not onely those which are forbidden by his lawe but euen those of marriage which are lawfull For it is a signe of greater loue when for his sake we forbeare that which we might lawfully vse The sonne is he to whome the soule is espoused and for this hee dyed that he might haue some soules which would loue him at least with spirituall purity and others whoe might doe it not onely spiritually but euen with the body alsoe vntouched The holy Ghost is most pure and farre estraunged from flesh and when he findes a soule which resolutely despises carnall delights there doth he lodge his eyes and fills them with spirituall comforts and will neuer permitt that the soule be empty which shall refuse to feede vpon carnall foode Our Blessed Lady is the mother of the spouse and they are very like one another for shee alsoe is all amiable benigne a beginner a protectour and an aduocate of virgins and shee highly reioyces that there is virginity vpon earth for that is the flower which she planted There want not pages to giue attendance at this marriage for the Angells are seruants to the king of heauen and ready for all that which the spouse shall neede Neither yet is there want of children which the world is wont to desire soe much and they come without throwes of trauaile and without paine in bringing vp and without that greife which growes when either they liue not well or dye too soone The children of this marriage are good workes which be rightly called a man's or woman's fruite What comfort will he feele when for the loue of Christ our Lord he conceiues a good purpose to giue an almes or some such other thing and when afterward he shall put it in execution what pleasure will he take by the birth thereof These children giue both ease and honour to their
mother This Spouse hath noe neede of a dowry for the children which shee brings will bring it and that soe richly as wherewith she may gaine and purchase heauen it selfe And they make their mother liue in soe perfect ease that I giue you my word that when you compose your selfe to sleepe at night you shall finde your selfe in greater peace and rest then if you were Mystres of the whole earth and whatsoeuer can be desired therein And tell me now what can be thought of in this world which may arriue or euen approach to the least of these aduantages For if there be any little paltry pleasure heere euery hower of such pleasure carryes with it the counterpoyse of more then a hundred howers of greife and paine And if heere there be any pleasure without paine it will at last haue an end and either the spouse will dye before her fellow spouse or els he before her and soe all proues paine And besides the death of children it is a greife to a mother to part from them euen vpon other occasions in such sort as that they enioy not one another But reioyce you O virgin in Christ our Lord. For your spouse shall neuer dye And when you dye you will be hemmed in by your children which are those good workes that you haue wrought and they will not put you to paine by your leauing them for they goe with you into the other world and they accompany you euen to the very throne of God and they will plentifully repay all the labour and charge which you haue beene at with them and the mother shall be made happy for the loue of the children More ouer death makes noe diuorce in this case but rather puts the spouse and her fellow spouse together And he shall deliuer vs for he is the Lord of life and death And noe deuill shall presume to steale her away whome God hath taken vnder the protection of his fauour and hath honoured with the name of his spouse Then will the Angells come and serue and present her before Almighty God singing prayses to him and powring forth benedictioÌ„s vpon her and saying to her after this manner Come O spouse of Christ receiue that crowne which is prepared for thee by our Lord. The virgin mother will not then absent herselfe being accompanyed with a world of other virgins who haue done in this world that which you are doeing now and are farre from repenting themselues thereof In fine you shall goe out of this world in company of your Peeres where our Lord hath already prepared that celestiall bedd of state for yow that you may eternally be full and rich and royally prouided for in the house and presence of our Lord God contemplating that infinite beauty of his from one moment to another one hower whereof is so high a reward that by way of recompence it farre exceedes the proportion of what you suffer yea and all those afflictions which all the men of the whole world did euer suffer in tyme past or can euer suffer in tyme to come There shall you possesse all good and there shall you haue obtayned all that for which you were created and you shall bee soe very full of God as that it cannot be expressed nor soe much as thought For there shall you finde the whole bosome of your soule euen to regorge with ioy like one whoe were ingulfed into a whole sea of vnspeakeable sweetenes whereby he were enuironed on all sides Then shall you see and exclayme and enioy and possesse the Lord of all things and say whome I haue loued I haue obteyned and whome I haue sought I haue found and hee for whome I left the world is growen my pay and my reward and him will I praise and loue through the eternitie of all eternityes Amen A Letter written to a deuout person wherein is treated of Humility and Pride and of the perfection of the loue of God GOD giue you Sir a good Lent and that soe you may exteriourly take ashes in the begining of this holy tyme that the vertue of holy humility which is signifyed thereby may euer haue a resting place in your soule For to whome our Lord giues true knowledge and greife for what he was at that tyme when he went estraunged from God him hath he deliuered from the daungerous blindenes of pride and him doth he make capable of all those spirituall blessings which it may concerne him to haue The holy Scripture saith The begining of all mischeife is pride and he whoe is possessed by it shall be possessed by all manner of maledictions that is of vices For as kings are not wont to goe alone soe is Pride accompanyed with many sinnes And soe alsoe on the other side humility is neuer alone since according to Saint Iames. God giues his grace to such as are humble which Grace is the Mother of all vertue The proud man seekes after honour and afflicts himselfe when he is contemned but the person who is humble is out of countenance when hee is well treated and is glad when he is despised because he findes that Iustice is done thereby which Iustice he loueâ— as a person whoe is truly Iust The proud man is euer in want of somewhat because how much soeuer he haue either of his owne or by the guift of others he still conceiues himselfe to be worthy of more but the huÌ„ble man is alwayes in aboundance yea and in superfluity for he acknowledges himselfe to be vnworthy euen of the very earth whereof he treades yea and he esteemes hell it selfe to be a punishment which comes short of his sinnes The proud man cannot endure nor liue with any body noe nor euen with himselfe in peace But the humble man can liue with all the world for he abases himselfe to all he endures all esteeming them for his betters in his very hart To the proud man it seemes an vnsupportable thing to obey the will of others whether it be of God or man but the man whoe is humble submitts and diminishes himselfe and soe is enabled to goe in by the straite gate of doeing the will of others whether it be of the Creatour or of the creatures Great are the blessings which comes to vs in these ashes of humility and men must take heede that they be not found without it vnlesse they meane to be without God For S. Augustine saith How high art thou O Lord and yet â—he â—umble of hart are the house wherein thou choosest to aweâ— And the holy Scripture saith Vpon whome will I looke or vpon whome shall my spiriâ—â— rest but vpon the person who feares and trembles at the voice of my wordes This humility which makes a man thinke basely of himselfe is farre from being abase thing nor is it a fruite which growes on earth but in heauen it is and God impartes it to such as digg deepely in their owne dunge raking vp and ruminating vpon their faultes and
frailties with great diligence for amongst those pouerties and miseries is this pretious Iewell wont to bee founde And through our sinnes we haue soe much matter to worke vpon by way of examining and bewayling the same that vnlesse it be some man who will absent his eyes from looking vpon himselfe there is none who may not be sure to finde cause and cause enough not onely to be humbled but euen confounded Woe be to vs if we be found to be of them of whome God saith Thou art become as the face of a strumpet nor wouldst thou blush For what thing is there more deformed then the impudent boldnes of such a person as hath so much reason to be full of shame And who is he that dares once cast vp his eyes to God or his creatures if he consider well how he hath offended him made himselfe vnworthy of them who is there amongst vs who failes not in the perfect loue which he owes to God since wee loue him not with our whole vnderstanding beleiuing his truth with that firme constancy which is fitt and enterteyning those considerations those thoughts and purposes by meanes whereof we might doe him more faithfull seruice who is he who loues him with his whole hart not giuing any parte thereof to others yea or to himselfe but onely in God and for God and who renouncing all proper interest hath proceeded to loue God for God himselfe And he who shall consider how little he hath mortified his passions and what a stiffe warre he makes against the kingdome of the loue of God will easily discerne that he loues not God with all his soule And our Lord commaunding vs alsoe to loue him with all our strength we are yet content to doe it with such a deale of tepidity as wee may well desire him to pardon For the strength which wee employ vpon complying with the loue of our selues and appetites being soe aliue in vs makes vs mightily faile in the diligence which we owe to the seruice of God and to the feruour of our loue of him S. Augustine saith that the encrease of Charitie in vs is the decrease of our owne appetites and desires and then will our charity be perfect when there shall be noe such desires in vs at all Now by the name of such desires he vnderstands that inordinate selfe loue which euery one beares to himselfe And because amongst all them who descēd of Adam there is noe one excepting onely Iesus Christ our Lord and his most sacred Mother who hath not found in himselfe some excesse of this selfe loue therefore is there none of them who hath not fay led somewhat of perfection in the loue of God For when the loue of my selfe is wholly aliue in mee the loue of God is dead and then is a man in state of Mortall sinne And when the loue of God liuēs and raignes in mee in vertue of which loue I fully purpose not to offend God mortally then am I in state of grace though I may faile somewhat of that perfect loue of God because still I comply in somewhat with the loue either of my selfe or of creatures And from this want of diuine loue doth grow our faultines in our other workes because that is the life of them From hence alsoe proceede the faultes we make in the loue of our neighbours by our not hauing compassion of their miseryes nor taking ioy in their blessings as concerning persons who are very straightly ioyned to God and adopted in the Sacrament of Baptisme for his children And we alsoe faile in our workes towards them because we faile in our loue to him who said That which you haue done to any of my little ones you haue done to mee Now from the defect of these two Loues of God and of our neighbour which are the rootes of our good workes many other imperfections grow into those very workes which we doe though sometymes such workes themselues are not sinnes nay being performed in the state of grace they are meritorious of eternall life But of such as these if we meane to liue in the way of humility and truth wee are to giue the glory to God and to yeild him humble thankes who holpe vs to embrace that which was good with our free will and ordeyned that it should be meritorious by that Grace which through his mercy he bestowed vpō vs. Now wee must not vpon this reason forbeare to sifte out those faultes with care which we comitt to these actions of ours but it is a much more secure practise to consider very particularly that which is faulty in vs then that which may goe for a point of vertue And be well assured that how much soeuer you shall consider and sifte yet still there will much lye hidden from you in regard whereof you shall haue reason enough to say with deepe sighing to our Lord O clense me from my hidden sinnes Hence comes it that wee loue not our neighbours in such sorte as God would haue vs or at least not so much as hee would haue vs. Hence comes it that wee tollerate not their imperfections nor fly from giuing them disgusts And in fine from hence grow all those other faultes which defile our soules like filth which is euer dropping as from a sore Our sinnes are greater then any thought of man is able to vnderstand and onely he who created our hart and cleerely penetrates to the bottome of it is able to comprehend what our frailty is And many tymes doth that discouer it selfe to be filthy before his iudgment which seemes in the sight of ours to be very perfect Therefore as Iob hath showed vs the way we must feare all our workes how good soeuer they may seeme to vs and we must not take pleasure in our selues by reason of them nor delight our selues therein euen in the most secret part of our hartes For he onely is pleasing to God who is displeasing to himselfe he onely is Iust in the sight of God whoe knowes that grace and Iustice proceedes from the mercy of God There is not a thing from which God is more auerted then a hart which carryes liking to it selfe For God in such a one findes noe vessell empty into which he may powre the riches of his mercy and soe such a hart remaines with the naturall pouerty wherewith and wherein it shall still cōtinue because it would not abase and empty it selfe that soe the waters of Grace might runne into it and soe it might liue contented in God and might bring forth fruite as a garden would doe wherein there were abundance of water All our good comes from God he whoe beleiues that of himself he is able euen to moue his tongue towards the saying soe much as Lord Iesus that person makes himselfe God since he attributes that to himselfe which onely belongs to God And God giues himselfe to vs vpon condition that we must acknowledge this truth That
he should haue done And this is to walke according to truth giuing that to God which is his That is to say all manner of good without the least mixture of any ill And by this consideration being rooted well in the bowels of a man's hart as a truth which were deliuered by the very mouth of God a man rises from leaning vpon himselfe as from some broken reede and he euer goes leaning vpon him who vphoulds all things He behoulds himselfe and hee sees nothing but that which is to be lamented and he behoulds God in whose goodnes he confides without any feare to be forsaken And for asmuch as God is soe faithfull as that he neuer leaues them whoe goe to him and for that he hath soe great care of them as that infinitely sooner there will be want of water in the Sea and of light in the sunne then of mercy in him therefore doe they runne and fly because God carryes them and they falle not because be sustaines them and they wander not because he directs them and they shall not be condemned because our Lord giues his kingdome to such as become like little children Bee therefore sure my freind that thou vnderstand thy selfe right since our Lord doth soe much expect it of thee And of all that which passes in thee lay the glory aside for God and take the shame and dishonour to thy selfe And place thy hope of being able to proceede as thou hast begun in that Lord who put thee in the way with noe meaning I assure thee to leaue thee in the middest thereof but to carry thee on to enioy the society of his spouses in heauen There doeth he intend to doe thee extraordinary honour and therefore procure not thou to be honoured heere For being taken by the sēt of such an excellēt feast as that it is vtterly against all reason that thou shouldst glutt thy selfe with the basenes of any thing which this world affoardes For there is nothing vpon earth which can sauour well in his mouth who hath tasted though but a litle of that celestiall foode Turne thy backe to all things which thou art soone to leaue place not thy hart on that which is soe instantly to passe away It is very litle which heere thou art able to endure for God yea though thou alone shouldest endure all that which can be endured heere For considering hell which thou hast deserued and heauen with which he meanes thou shalt be rewarded since he hath placed thee in the way thither and againe waighing that which heere he hath endured for thee it is not to be accounted of noe nor so much as to be greately considered which thou either doest or mayest endure for him Esteeme thou God for soe pretious a thing that whatsoeuer he growes to cost thee thou maiest still beleeue it to bee very little yea though he cost thee thy life yet doest thou buy him very cheape In the next world thou shalt see that thou wert not deceiued in the exchaunge which thou hast made but finding them to be treated like madd fooles and miserable persons who lodged their harts and besotted themselues vpon this present world and forgot the promises which God made concerning the future thou wilt giue praises to our Lord in that thou being once deceiued he vouchsafed to vndeceiue thee and whilest thou wert casting thine eyes downe to earth he was pleased to raise them vp to heauen and thou being a slaue to vanity hee made thee a sonne of his owne and when thou wert liuing without any hope of diuine promises he grew to place thee in that way wherein thou maiest hope that he will helpe thee now to liue well and afterwards to dye well And that when this exile is ended he will conduct thee to the land of the liuing which is the cleere fruition of the face of God Where thou shall enioy soe great happines that it belongs to God alone to know it perfectly as to him alone it belongs both to be able and to be willing to giue it And this will our Lord doe not for thy sake but for his owne because hee is good and his mercy endures for euer To whome for all and of all and in all be glory and praise for all eternities of eternities Amen A Letter of the Authour to a person whome he exhortes to bee gratefull and carefull to preserue the guift of the Grace of God It seemes he was in some feare that the partie was returning to sinne I Remember you often and the loue I beare you makes me neuer thinke of you without some feare and trembling at my hart considering the many dāgers wherein your soule may be for which our Lord hath done so much that if he were still in case to be weary without doubt he would now be very weary But he was weary once for all when he tooke our mortall flesh vpon him and from those wearynesses of his doth result that care which now without any wearinesse at all he takes of such as he is drawing to himselfe O Sir how much reason haue you to be gratefull for the good which you haue receiued and carefull at the least to keepe it and fearefull least it should slippe out of your hāds And I sayd Carefull at the least to keepe it because he who can make coniecture that he hath receiued the guift of Iustification must employ himselfe like a diligent negociatour that with fiue talents he may gayne other fiue Improuing that good which God beganne in his soule and getting euery day a new parte in heauen since the gate is open for our getting more and more in euery minute of our life It is most certaine that if we should tell a man that there were a very long way in the steppes whereof there were great felicity to be obtayned yea and that for the making of one single pace they would giue him the worth of a whole kingdome and that though a man should goe all his life time in that way they would neuer depriue him of his rewarde but that still it should holde on after the rate of the first pace which he had made I doe not thinke that in the whole world there is any one worldly man who in this case would not be so great a walker as that he would hardly be euer perswaded to sitt still Now if couetousnesse of visible things be able to worke so great effects what will it be fitt that the loue of that which is inuisible and eternall should worke in our soules but a vigilant care to be still walking on in the way of God with resolutions as liuely and more then they were which we entertayned the first day when we entred into his seruice Who is he that can be so absurdly inconsiderate as not to holde himselfe a deepe debter to Almighty God for the many guifts which he hath receiued from him in recompence as I may say of so many sinnes of
ours as that he will not serue so benigne a Lord with all diligence who is he that coÌ„sidering whence our Lord hath drawen him will not resolue to be daily further and further of from hell and from the impiety of sinne He seemes not to haue bene sorrie for his offence who procures not with diligence to be farre from the like He doth not sufficiently thanke our Lord for this guift who hath layde aside the memory thereof with whome it decayes with time not stirring himself vp to giue new thankes and to presente new seruices knowing more and more thereof euery day as a person who hath receiued encrease of light This is so great a fauour that Dauid calles it the Benedictions of sweetenesse And it is great reason that we should grow strong with that new grace Psal 20. which our Lord gaue vs and not content ourselues still with being little ones I sayd that at least we must be carefull in the continuance and conseruation of this guift because according to good reason we should be encreasers thereof daily more and more And from hence it growes that when I see that the light of your soule is sett vpon by so many windes and when I consider your weakenesse in the midst of so many and so great and so subtile enemyes I finde my selfe to be all trembling ouer you as any mother would be ouer her sonne who aduentures not to reioyce for the good she sees him enioy through the feare she hath that he may chance to loose it Tell me good Sir how is it with you are you still on foote in the presence of your God doe you liue in the presence of true life is God lodged in your hart is there an vnion of loue betweene God and your soule Or is there not perhaps some litle drynesse or disagreement growen betweene you which your much care of this world and your little care to please your Lord may haue caused I feare to heare the answeare which you may chance to giue and yet I cannot content my selfe to be without hearing it If you giue me good newes my soule will reioyce in our Lord and I will giue him thankes for hauing conserued what he hath gayned But if you tell me otherwise I must be extremely sorry and yet still howsoeuer I must needes know it For I will not remaine without greife if you be subiect to any spirituall losse or inconuenience I hope to haue a parte of your Crowne and I submitt my selfe to beare a parte of your payne If there be any thing of this kinde take heede you suffer not the wound to fester and make no intricate knotts vpon the swathing-bands of your sinnes Make haste to breake that quickly which is ill tyed vp for you can haue no leaue to diuide your self from him who fixed himself to that Crossë for you with so cruell nayles Say alowde to all things Departe from me for neither am I yours neither ought I be so much as mine owne Lett the thing be what it will let the person be who it will and let the interest be as great as it can be no other can haue Title or iustice to carry you away but onely Iesus Christ who created you and tooke you for his sonne and after you had beene a prodigall admitted of you againe and honoured you and gaue you a new garment and a sweete embracement of peace and keepes a state of great repose prepared for you in heauen if you will keepe his commaundements That man namely your selfe belongs to this Lord of ours Though euery man in this world should putt in his clayme for you there is none who hath so dearely bought you as he to whome you also belong by another title For what is it for God to dye for vs but to repurchase that at an extreame rate which was already his by the benefitt of Creation and to draâ—v vs out of hell and againe to admitt vs to his freindshipp what is this but to multiplie diuerse Titles to the same thing and those so very great that euery one of them hath reason enough to carry the whole man after it O treason of the sonnes of Adam what is that which you doe when somewhat else preuailes in your hart against Iesus Christ how are you able to say No to him whome you are so bound to serue though it were with the losse of your liues Shall any small title which any thing may make towards you be able to carry you away and so blinde you as to make you forgett so many and so great benedictions as our Lord layes vp in heauen for you Let the world departe euen now from our harts since it is so soone to departe from our eyes And when we shall see anything therein which flourishes let vs bury it vnder ground and treade vpon it there in the sepulcher For by the coÌ„sideration thereof we shall obtaine a true relation of it and such a one as will deliuer vs from it and free vs from the care of all that which heere is sought with such a pestilent kind of desire What better weights or measure can you desire that so you may not be deceiued nor be drawen to take one thing for another then to carry it instantly to the Passion and death of Iesus Christ our Lord who then condemned that which the world esteemed and to carry it also to the hower of our owne death which conducts vs all naked solitary and defeated and to be trod vpon by the seete of our seruants And you in particular may doe well to remember this point since besides the feare which we all ought to haue of that passage your self haue another particular reason for it because you haue a more particular knowledge of death for lately you wanted not as a man may say a fingar's breadth of passing through it to eternity Take heede take heede that you be not deceaued by those false apparances and by those painted maskes for they are no better then maskes which enueagle deceaue our soules And if you like these shadowes so well raise vp your hart to heauen where the Truthes of these things are whereof heere there is but some litle resemblance And so you will neither conceiue any enuie against him whome you finde to prosper in warldly things neither yet will you haue any great appetite to possesse that which in fine you must be forced to leaue Do not entangle your selfe with this earth since God hath giuen you some good hopes and pledges that he meanes to carry you to heauen And those are his most sacred death the knowledge and loue of the Crucifix the receauing of the holy Sacraments whereby in the holy Church there is giuen a pardon of our sinnes and the adoption of the Sonnes of God and consequently of heyres Let him seeke for shadowes who hath no hope to lay holde on things of substance Let him respect a short tyme who hath
be ouer carefull for paines must be taken but sollicitude is forbidden and for the taking of it away our lord willes vs to confide in our heauenly Father He who hath this confidence perceiues well that the busines dependes vpon God and that his diuine wisedome knowes how to addresse him and therefore a Christian man is to be perswaded that it giues noe aduantage euen to the very busines it selfe if we fall into any vnquiet kinde of anguish or euen to superfluity of thinking of it which is thus forbidden by holy scripture Ne affligas temetipsum in consilio tuo Doe not afflict thy selfe in thine owne counsell but say thus to your selfe It is God who must doe it and not I. Perhaps our lord will not haue it remedied by this meanes And if he will yet his will alsoe is that it be done with peace and with my spirituall gaine and without my losse And soe procure that your heart may euer goe in celebration of that Christian Sabaoth whereof S. Paul speaketh and then we may say to our lord Descend â—hou into my heart for it is all free for thee and it hath nothing which may distract me from hearing thee and from speaking to thee You haue reason to desire the helpe of prayers to this purpose for it is not soe easily obtained I beseech our lord who called you to his owne seruice continue you in his grace and carry you afterwardes with himselfe to eternall rest A Letter of the Authour to a Virgin who liued in Recollection Of the valew of a soule and the care wherwith it is to be kept from falling And that if it fall it must haue hope and soe rise againe I Know not with what wordes I may be able to expresse the fault which accuses mee and the punishment which I feare I looke back vpon the much time which hath passed without writing to you whilst yet you were recommended to me that soe by meanes of my care you might proceede and proffit in the seruice of our heauenly king since he was pleased to receaue you for his through that word which I preached vnto you And I in the meane time like an ill seruant of Christ our Lord haue beene negligent in negotiating this businesse which he held to be soe truly his as that it filled him full of care and soe full as to make him giue his life for the dispatch thereof And not onely haue I sinned against him but against you alsoe To him I haue beene an ill seruant and to you I haue beene an ill Father since I haue not preserued the stock nor sustained you with the food of his word his who made mee his steward to the end that in the true time â— 4 I might wisely and faithfully dispence it â—12 to euery one according to that which he should neede I am much grieued for my negligence as it becomes a guilty person and I apprehend the punishment of my fault Not that I feare soe much least our Lord should punish or scourge or afflict me for it with vexations and torments as that he may permitt your soule to receiue some disaduantage thereby For when a man hath noe knowledge of what belongs to children nor cares how he may bring them vpp it is but reason both that he see them dye and that they may alsoe continue dead in his sight that soe the greife thereof may bee a torment to him may keepe those eyes open which his carelesnes had shutt My good sister for I will presume to say that you are mine because you are the Spouse of my Lord O how happy were he who might know how it is with you that soe he might either be delighted in your good or receiue the torment of sorrow for your ill how happy were he who might know if those feruent teares of yours still continue which washed your soule in the high presence of your Spouse and which watered it with deuotion that soe it might giue fruit to the Lord thereof And if your long watches last wherein you were wont to treate in secrecy and solitude with him whom your soule loues Reflecting vpon those sorrowes which he endured for loue of you and you desiring to endure somewhat like that for the loue of him I beseech him of his mercy that you may not haue lost that holy silence of yours which was discourse with God your rich pouerty which gaue you more full satisfaction then all the wealth of this world That coÌ„tempt of your selfe which gaue you price valew in the sight of our Lord and that holy change of your life which cast them into wonder who saw you praised God in you Let it not please him that mine eares may euer heare that the seruant of Christ is other then shee vsed to bee Let it neuer come to passe that shee should liue with any other nor regard any other nor thinke of any other then onely Christ our Lord to whome shee offered her selfe Make noe exchange whereby you may bee soe deceiued as that hauing tasted of that heauenly guift hauing fed vpon the cruÌ„mes of the table of God you should now afterward come to tast the bitternes of Egypt those meate which are deuoured by meÌ„ cast of from him Who when heere they shall haue satisfied themselues with the foode of swine shall burne heereafter in the coÌ„pany of deuills Seruant of Iesus Christ how is it with you indeed tel me how it is with you I beseech Iesus you bee wel in his sight S. Paule said that euen his very life consisted in the good of his children and euen I though not with that great fire but with the little which God giues mee doe yet adueÌ„ture to say that my life consistes in that you be well in the sight of God I can take noe pleasure in this body if the soule of my daughter be dead nor shall delight haue any place in me til I may know that your Spouse whome I lodged in you doth still inhabite your hart If it be any otherwise it is I who haue made the fault I will performe the peÌ„nance but yet see that you bee not angry with him Doe not my good Sister afflict me more then already I am afflicted through mine owne fault by the loue which I carry to your soule and if you bee offended with my negligeÌ„ce be appeased by this coÌ„session which is full of shame and greife And beleiue that through the fauour of our Lord you shall wel finde that I wil mend And vpon this motiue you must forget that I haue beene an ill Father to you since vpon the same God forgets that we haue been ill sonnes ill seruaÌ„ts to him And if yet you will require further satisfactioÌ„ be your owne caruer and require of me what you will Onely retourne to the way of God if you should haue left it or els make mee know that you continue in it that so I
self-loue tell vs that wee desire it but for the seruice of Almighty God And for my part I beleiue that there is noe peace to be had in this world but by patience Nor doe I thinke that it is true patience when a man is content to beare with his neighbours if withall he be not content to beare with himself Not to the end that he must fayle to punish and to mend his faultes but that his hart may not be deiected and he vnreasonably afflicted and that whatsoeuer happen hee may bee able to keepe himself content both within and without but soe that yet withall as I was saying he still doe his diligences to mend himself Which yet if he should not wholy doe it is better that he bee sorry for it and that instantly he rise vp with new alacrity which vses to encrease and double our strength then that whilest conceiues himself to lament his faultes for the loue of God he should indeed displease the same God by seruing him with a sowre kind of hart and with fallen wings and such other braunches as vse to rise from this roote Let the Conclusion be that which S. Paul deliuers Let vs frequent prayer in all things giuing thanks to God Thess 5. and soe wee shall be sure to doe well Our Lord Iesus bee with you and with vs all Amen A Letter to a Cauallier his freind wherein he teacheth how the afflictions which God sendes to his seruants are to put good men in hope and wicked men in feare THankes be giuen to Christ our lord for hauing made you a partaker of paine and trouble for it is the most certaine title to heauen which can be had vpon earth since it doth enable vs to be like our lord who descended from heauen to giue vs light that we might loue him and strength by his example and grace by his merites Let not the dispensation of the workes of God seeme cruelty in your sight for as the rewarde which he giues is not light soe neither must the meanes be light whereby it is to be obtained Nor is there any thing further of from being a matter of toyes or iest then that which our lord hath prepared for such as loue him Now to the end that this may be knowen and rightly vnderstood it is fitt that they who are to enioy it may be soe treated as he was that soe the world may be vnbeguiled if it still conceiue that by liuing in iest they are to enioy that great reward in earnest Our lord giues aduise to his seruants and he threatens such as will needes be strangers to him For to the former sorte of men he saith that they must thinke highly of his rewarde since he will not giue it but vpon high tearmes And as for these other he askes them how they thinke to escape the rigour of his handes they who are his enemies since euen his children be strictly treated who are yet elected for soe great a good If we cast our eyes towardes this beame of rigour and iustice which are the afflictions whereof we now speak we shall finde that they conteyne greate occasions both of hope and feare And on the one side the mercy of God is much glorified thereby and his iustice on the other Let trouble expect to finde repose and let him feare affliction hereafter who doth not feele it now For since in any man how iust soeuer he be there are many thinges which may deserue punishment though not in hell and this punishment is to be personally indured if it be not purged with soe great an excesse of loue as that the contrition may stand for the punishment as it did in S. Mary Magdalen and some others it is plaine that eyther heere or in purgatory they must passe through fire And though they who finde not in themselues soe great loue of God as to cause this greife which may stand for a satisfaction may thinke perhaps that they receiue hard measure in beeing saued by fire whilst others shall be saued without it yet indeed they are much deceiued in their account For the great loue of God euen heere on earth when men see that God is offended doth cause greater greife then that to which you are subiect And that truth is seene by this then when one loues God greatly he would be glad of the paine you suffer soe that he might be free from that which he feeles for the offences which are committed against God And at this wee must not wonder since there are persons who euen to free you from the paine wherein you are would indure themselues And this also may serue for a proofe that the loue which one beares to another puts him to more trouble then the paine it selfe would doe which the other feeles that if your selfe loue another very much you would not be ridd of your owne paine if it were vpon condition that the other must indure it for yow which proues as I was saying that it would trouble you more in the personne of that other then in your owne Now if the loue of a creature can reach soe farre how much more will the loue of the creatour be able to doe it being infused by the most holy spirit of our lord which farre exceedes all other force And thus it growes to be a most certaine truth that eyther in this fashion or in that there is noe meanes to escape from suffering before we ariue to enioying And tell him who would complaine of this law ather complaine that he is a man that he was not made an angell and lett him complaine against iustice and reason which doe absolutely require that vertue must be obtained with labour and the reward must correspond with the vertue But who o lord who shall euer presume to cōplaine of thee as if thou didst treat them with rigour◠since instantly thou stoppest their mouthes with shewing that thou so loued the world as to giue thy onely begotten sonne to the end that in the strength of these afflictions and sorrowes and death which they charged vpon him the world might escape the torments of hell and might triumph in heauen Who I say o lord will presume to complaine when he shall see thy best beloued freindes to be soe seuerely handeled and obserue that in thy court it is hard to say which of these two haue the pre-eminence eyther afflictions or fauours and that it was said by thy commaundement to one of thy fauourites Because thou wert accepted by God it was necessary that temptation should try thee Doe not permitt your heart to sinke vnder your crosses but remember that heretofore you haue desired to doe and suffer somewhat for the loue of God God is not deafe to the desires of our hartes He hath giuen that which he knew to be best for you and if you thinke it heauy confide that he who sendes it will giue you shoulders wherewith to beare it That
for the good sight of himselfe and of his Saints that he will keepe it for heauen and that heere he will be pleased to conduct vs by the plaine way as he doth his faithfull freindes And by other good meanes we must also procure to auoyd those thinges But yet when all this is done if the visions last and if the soule reape profitt by them and if the sight thereof induce it not to vanity but to increase of humility if that which they say be agreable to the doctrine of the Church if they coÌ„tinue any long time and with that interiour kinde of satisfaction which may better bee felt then declared by this time me thinkes I see hoe â—â—use why we should flye them any longer Though â—â—t noe bodye is to trust his owne priuate opinion hâ—â—rein but he must instantly communicate the matter with some person who is able to giue him light This is the generall course which must be taken in all these thinges we may well hope in God that whoe hath humility to submitt himselfe to the iudgment of others God will not suffer him to be deceiued since he procures to walke in the right way But the while noe man should easily condemne those thinges vpon the onely reason of obseruing that the person to whome they bâ— vouchsafed are not perfect For it is noe new thing for the goodnes of our lord to draw men out of ill delights and euen out of sinnes and they great ones by giuing them very sweet consolations of his owne as I haue seene him doe For whoe shall limitt the goodnes of our lord especially since these thinges are not vouchsafed for the meritts of the partie or because he is better growen in spiritt then another but sometimes to such as are most weake And as they doe not necessarily make a man more a Saint then he was soe neither are they alwayes giuen to greatest Saints But yet they haue noe reason who discredit such thinges as these because they are very high and for that it seemes to them incredible that soe infinitt a maiesty should abase it selfe to such an amorous communication with a poore creature It is written that God is loue and if he be loue he must needes be infinitt loue and infinitt goodnes And from the hand of such loue and such goodnes it is noe meruaile if some soules receiue such excesses of loue as may trouble others who vnderstand them not And though men may vnderstand by faith that theâ—e are such thinges in the world yet the particular experience of this amorous and more theâ— morbus proceeding which God houldes with whome he will this I say vnlesse it be possessed a man cannot well vnderstand to what degree or point it arriues I haue seene many scandalized at the heroicall actes of the loue of our lord God towardes his creatures And because themselues are very farre from receiuing those fauours they caÌ„not thinke that God will doe that to others which they finde him not to doe towardes them And though it were reason that euen because it is an act of loue and such loue as castes vs into admiration it should be taken for a signe why to thinke it were of God since he is wonderfull in all his workes and much more in those of his mercy yet from thence fetch they reasons why they should not beleiue them from whence they should fetch reasons to beleiue them prouided alwayes that there be a concurrence of other circumstaÌ„ces which shew that the thing in it selfe is good For your part my opinion is that by what I can perceiue in your booke you haue made resistance to such thinges as these euen more then it was fitt you should Me thinkes they haue profitted your soule and especially they haue made you know your owne miserie and faultes and enabled you to mend them I finde that they haue lasted loÌ„g that euer they haue beene with spirituall profitt They incite you to the loue of God to the coÌ„tempt of your selfe and to the doeing of pennance I see noe reason why I should condemne them but I incline to thinke that they are right But yet â—uer with this condition that you vse great caution and that you goe not with entire confidence especially if that which happens be not vsuall with you or when it requires you to doe any particular thing which is not very plaine but subject to some question In all these cases the like you must suspend your beleife and instantly aske counsell I also thinke good to lett you know that though these thinges be of God yet the enemy may mingle somewhat with them therefore you must neuer be without care feare in such thinges as these And you must further know that though they be of God you must not yet reflect vpon them with too much estimation because sanctity consists not in these thinges but in the humble loue of God and your neighbour And as for these others they are to be feared euen when they are right and you must passe from the thought thereof to the procuring of humility other vertues with the loue of our lord You must alsoe be sure not to adore any of those visions but onely adore Christ our Lord in heauen or in the Sacrament And if it be a vision of any Saint you must lift vp your heart to heauen to that which is represented in your imagination and you neede noe more but that the image may serue to cary you vp to that which is represented by it I must alsoe tell you that these thinges coÌ„teyned in this booke happen to many others in these times and this with great certainty that they are from God whose hand is not shortened to doe that now which he did in former ages this in the weaker sorte of vessalls that soe he may be glorified the more Goe you on in your way but soe as that you bee euer in feare of theeues and that still you be asking if the way be right And giue thaÌ„kes to our Lord for that he hath bestowed vpon you the loue of him and the knowledge of your selfe and a loue of pennance and of the Crosse And as for those other thinges make noe very high account thereof though yet on the other side you must not despise them because they are signes which shew that many of them are sent by our lord and euen theÌ„y which are not cannot hurt you if you aske counsaile I know not how to beleiue that I haue beene able to write this by any strength of mine for I haue none at all but your prayer hath done it I beseech you euen for the loue of our lord Iesus Christ to laye it as a charge vpon yourselfe to pray for me For he knowes that I aske it as being vrged by great necessities and I thinke this word alone will suffice for the obliging you to doe what I desire And now I beg leaue of you
that I should write haue beene the reasons of this letter I beseech that soueraines goodnes which hath already vouchsafed you soe much fauour that to his owne eternall glory hee may finish the good worke which it hath begunne You see in what fashion I am talking to you I haue layd aside those Titles of honour and rancke which according to the stile of the world now forsaken by you belonged to your quality And I write as to one who is already estranged wholly from the world and in soe playne a manner as is conuenient to a domestick seruant of Christ our lord and as is fitt for the Institute whereof you are And since your selfe desired it and I haue obeyed you in it be carefull that now when you haue abhorred the Tytles of this world you may also abhorre the affections thereof and that now you may passe wholly on into that age cuius pater Christus est Esay 9. whose father is Christ our lord Which consists not soe much in whether the time be present or future as itt doth in Spiritt which cometh after flesh For as the Apostle saith non prius quod spirituale sed quod animale 1. Cor. 15. That is not first which is spirituall but that which is animal And therefore the spirituall is called seculum futurum a future age Soe much the more care must you take of this as it will be more hard for you to doe it since he who hath most to leaue doth it with most difficulty And the man who hath most impediments is least able to runne lightly away And this is the good which they gett who are the great men of this world though they come not to knowe it till they putt themselues to runne after others who are before them And then the faster he runnes the more he shall feele it And by his owne experience he will be able to vnbeguild himselfe in that which the world beleiues Namely that it is better to be great then meane and poore And soe I beleiue it hath happened to you if indeede you haue begun to follow Christ our Lord or at least will finde it when you shall begin The thing which must comfort you herein is this That since our Lord vouchsafed to take you for his seruant when you were most vntoward vncapable thereof hee will giue you greater strength wherewith to serue him now then hee would haue giuen to another who had not beene soe incapable And soe must you represent your selfe before our Lord who hath called and accepted you beseeching him that howsoeuer it may putt you to more payne and shame he will yet bestow that vpon you whereby you may serue him much since you owe him much And consider your selfe as a person who bringes but halfe that meanes wherewith to negotiate this busines which another bringes And begg pardon for ill employing euen your little stocke but yet with giuing thankes to our liberall lord whose workes are great towards his poore creatures That soe liuing with feare and trembling to see your selfe soe vnworthy of such a place there may grow from thence a due reuerence to all your neighbours carrying them vpon the topâ—e of your heade and doeing for them as any slaue would doe for his lord considering how mercifully Christ our lord hath done the same to you you may haue good hope to proue well in your great busines if you obtaine that knowledge of your selfe whereof I haue spoken And then shall you spend your life happily when you hould euery daye thereof to be the last Christ our Lord bee with you Amen A Letter of the Authour to some Disciples which he had in the Citty of Ezija THE peace of our Lord Iesus Christ be euer with you Amen Since I parted from your presence I haue euer had you all present with me in my memory for the loue I beare you permits me not to doe otherwise Giue your selues still to God since you once gaue your selues to him and I was a witnes thereof nor will I by any meanes that you repent the hauing offered yourselues to him since hee offered himselfe to death for you You shall be sure to haue battailles and those sharp enough for our enemies are in great multitude and full of rage Bee not therefore negligent for if you be you are instantly vndone If they who watch best haue enough to doe to defend themselues what doe you thinke will become of wrechlesse persons but that they should entirely bee ouercome Remember that the pleasure which sinne presents is small filthy and shorte and the sorrow which it leaues behinde is very great and the misery which growes to vs thereby is incomparably greater What sorrow how great soeuer it be can equal that which wee ought to conceiue vpon our losse of Almighty God O misery which should make vs tremble euen in hearing it named For if we delight in sinne we shall haue noe part in God Let vs therefore consider how we liue for we shall shortly be led before the Throne of God to giue account of our selues Let not the vncleanes of the flesh nor the vanitie of the world nor the subtility of the deuil deceiue vs. But let vs behould Christ our Lord vpon the Crosse and we shall see him tormented in his body dishonoured by the world that soe he subdued the deuill Who euer looked towards Christ our Lord and was deceiued Infallibly there was neuer any Let vs therefore neuer draw our eyes of from him vnlesse we meane to turne blinde Let it neuer seeme to him that wee valew his loue soe little as that although he died for vs we cannot find in our harts soe much as to bee looking towards him For he died for this that wee by looking vp to him might striue to dye to our sinnes Let therefore our ould man die in vs since our new man who is Christ our Sauiour died for vs vpon the Crosse Let vs approach towards his wounds for by his wee shall be cured of ours And if wee thinke it a heauy thing to part from our sinnes it was much more hard and heauy for his soule to part from his body when he died to the end that wee might euer liue Let vs therefore goe on apace take hart to follow such a captaine as this who leades vs the way not onely in doeing but in suffering Let vs crucifye our flesh with him that now wee may noe longer liue according to the desires of the flesh but of the spirit If the world shall persecute vs let vs goe hide our selues in his holy woundes and there wee shall finde those iniuries as delightfull to our harts as any musicke is sweete to the eare And soe rude stones will be to vs as pretious Iewels and prisons will be pallaces and death it selfe will be conuerted into life O Iesus Christ and how strong is that loue of thine and how truly doth it coÌ„uert all things
haue confidence in God I Haue receiued many of your letters since I saw you last And in some of them you tould mee that your soule was troubled and in others that our lord had begunne to giue you comfort Yea and I thinke you sayd in some one of them that the peace and comfort which formerly you had receiued was entirely retourned I answeared none of those letters eyther because my sinnes hindered mee from the grace of giuing you comfort or els because I knew you had sufficient confidence in mee without receiuing my answeares But now at last I receiue a letter from you whereby you tell mee that you are as much afflicted as euer if it be not rather more and you desire mee to write I am in paine through your paine and this hath moued mee to entreate that for the loue of Christ Iesus crucified you suffer not your selfe to be blinded by that darknes which superfluity of sadnes is wont to drawe ouer our soules but remember how faithfull that lord is to whom you haue offered yourselfe And that it is an vsual thing with his infinit wisdome to saue the soules of his seruants by meanes which they cannot reach to vnderstand hiding his loue from them sometimes and shewing them a countenance of some rigour and all this not because he is cruell but out of pure and perfect mercye Because he knowes that our infirmityes are better cured when wee are layd vnder the scourge of tribulation then when we are carryed vp in the hands of prosperity and comfort You tell me that desolation wherein you are seemes very bitter to you and that you cannot beare the rigour of that angry face of our lord which you say he shewes to you and that absence alsoe from him wherein you liue But I tell you my good sister that though tribulation may be of as much daunger to you as you declare yet the state of comfort is still subiect to as much Nay prosperity is much more to be feared then aduersity For in the former the soule runnes hazard to depart from God but in the latter though it suffer payne yet that very payne it selfe incites one to drawe nearer to him And if you say that the great weight of discomfort doth sometimes put the soule in daunger of sinning through impatience you say nothing but truth But yet you must knowe withall that much oftener and by assaults of greater daunger the soule is brought into daunger by the sweetnes of gust Remember the Apostle saint Paule who through the grace of him who was crucifyed did esteeme it for glory to suffer the afflictions of the Crosse Cor. 7. And though he were enuironed by warrs without and feares within yet his soule was safely kept as in a hauen most secure But soe great was the daunger which he rann by the faire and cleare weather of consolations and reuelations that if God had not permitted him to be seized vpon by the tempest both of inward and outward troubles which layd such load vpon his neck as made him stoope that great Saint might haue beene in daunger through the occasion of comfort whom soe many discomforts could not once pluck downe 1. Cor. 12 By this meanes the bitter was the cure of the sweete and the Angel of Satan was the occasion of benefit to him to whom that great communication of Almighty God might haue beene the occasion of falling if through humane frailty he had puffed vp himselfe If now this might haue happened to that vessel of election and if it were necessary for him to suffer that soe he might bee freed from the daungers of comfort how can you meruaile if God haue watered your ioy with teares if your harpe be set to sad tunes and if those sweet communications Iob 18. which you had before with Almighty God be turned into such an vnsauoury departure from him His eyes are able to discerne that which your cannot And hee knowes full well the vanity of that hart of yours which would not perhapps be able to endure the weight of diuine fauours Or els perhapps he may see that you are likely to suffer decay of health by the excesse of the sweetnes of that diuine gust which he gaue you Or else that you esteemed more of your selfe then you did of others who want these comforts Or els in fine it may haue happened for any one of many other faults which may haue taken hould of the imperfection of your hart Iere. 17. which cannot be throughly sifted by any but by that God alone who made it Yea and if you should not be in any necessity of this kind of phisick because though our lord should comfort you still yet perhapps you were not to fall into these inconueniences yet there are many other reasons why our lord may thinke fit to treate his seruants after this manner All which are grounded vpon his loue to vs though in the blind eye of flesh and bloud they may seeme to grow from disfauour You know it is a common saying He who loues thee will make thee cry And the holy scripture saith that a wound giuen by a freind is better then the treacherous kisse of an enemy And beleiue you for certaine that our lord loues you and therefore doth he treate you after this manner For it is written Heb. 12. our lord punnishes whom he loues and he corrects such a one as he receiues for his sonne And as in former times God sent most hideous Martyrdomes to his beloued seruants by the hands of base and bloudy executioners ingaging them in bitter warrs that afterward he might honour them with pretious crownes soe now when those exteriour Martyrdomes are ceased he sēdes others which bee interiour And these how soeuer they are not visible be yet as great or greater then those For then men tormented them and God gaue them comfort and by the strength of this Omnipotent God those torments were ouerwrought and maistered which were inflicted on them by weake men But now he who discomforts is our Lord who hides himselfe and the Deuils like cruell executioners doe by a thousand deuices torment the minde which is farr more sensible then the body And from that torment doth many times redound a torment euen to the very body it selfe And soe the whole man both within and without is layd vpon the discomforts of a Crosse And he sighes and grones and askes succour of our Lord. And our Lord the while makes himselfe deafe and is more hiddē from the soule then if there were seauen wals betweene him and it Yea and it doth alsoe expresly feele that our Lord hath absented himselfe from it and that not onely in the way of not doeing it any fauour Matth. 15. but rather expresly seeming to disfauour it As he proceeded with the Cananean when at the first he did but forbeare to answeare but afterward he compared her to a dog That indeed is an hower
of mighty anguish when the soule findes noe repose in any thing to which it can apply it selfe As when a man is drowning in a profound sea without finding soe much as any little rest for the feete Or like one who is bound fast hand and foot and would faine rise vp but knowes not once how to stirr For as he who is highly comforted by Almighty God cannot be discomforted by any paine or torment soe can nothing comfort him who is discomforted by Almighty God And yet must these seruants goe after their lord through such a desart as this which is euen a very image of death and by such darknes and distresse they must passe on to the place of rest This Martyrdome I say must be endured for loue of the Spouse by that soule which desires to carry the Embleme of Loue in her hart and amōgst these thornes shee must make her nest if shee will be conforme to her Head who was crowned with thornes And these draughts must shee swallow downe into these sweates must shee bee cast who resolues to keepe that Lord company who being in fierce agony vpon that holy Thursday at night did sweate drops of blood from his whole body in testimony that his soule was truly sad euen to the very death Did you thinke perhapps that it was some dainty and delightfull thing to serue Christ our Lord or that you vndertooke some trifling busines when you began to place your loue on him They who fight the battailes of loue must dye dayly as S. Paule did And they must bee euen cruell against themselues as a man who were carelesse of soe many base and broken pots to the end that they may neuer faile of fidelity to the Loue of our Lord. Which Loue was neuer complyed with well by any who was eyther negligent or inconfident For the former of these two seekes his owne Regalo whereas it were his part to seeke the contentment of his beloued And the latter faints in his loue because he cannot beleiue that he is beloued But Faith being ioyned to Obedience frees vs from such mischeiues as these making vs beleiue that God loues vs and then most when he most hides his loue from vs and when he seemes to be most rigourous and cruell towardes vs. For the condition and property of true faith is to beleiue not onely vpon those signes and pawnes which may be giuen but as well without them and not onely without them but euen against them And herein it doth but resemble euery other vertue which then declares best of what strength and beauty it is when it is put on by the fewest helpes and when it is encountered by the greater impediments That is true loue which loues a person who euen deserues not to bee beloued And that is true Patience which suffers impertinences and endures wrongs And then doth Chastity deserue a rich and gallant crowne of glory when in despight of seuerall temptations it standes fast And soe you must learne to know the true valew of true faith which beleiues and puts confidence in the truth and goodnes of God against that distrust or despaire which humane reason or the senses of flesh and bloud might pretend to cause By this Faith wee see that which is inuisible how deepe soeuer it be hidd And euen through the midst of these pikes which are the disfauours of God the sharpe points whereof we feele sticking in vs wee yet enter and passe on into that most retired secret of the hart of our Lord and there wee finde that indeed he loues vs though hee shew vs signes which looke as if they proceeded from disaffection And then soe wee esteeme and vse them as wee ought when we take them for the tryal of our Faith and for the exercise of our Loue and for the encrease of our Crowne and for matter wherevpon our Obedience to God must worcke If you beleiue mee not I pray you tell me how shall the chast woeman be tryed but by contradictions and combates against Chastity And how shall your Faith be tryed but by receiuing these tokens of disfauour which pretend to depriue you of confidence Be not troubled to finde that your Spouse is thus resolued to make tryall of your fidelity to him For this is a very vsuall thing betweene Spouses and the fruite thereof vses to be but an encrease of loue which it is not fit to keepe idle for in our employment and exercise thereof doth our life and treasure consiste And now God made choice of you to discharge this office towardes him And if indeed you would exercise it well it must be by louing him though you feele not your selfe to be beloued by him and by following him whome you conceiue to be flying from you For he who loues not but onely when hee finds himselfe to be beloued is indeed noe true louer but his respects runn all towards himselfe And heereby it will appeare whether you be that true Cananean or noe if when you heare hard language and be cast of by our lord you doe yet importune him and if following him who flyes from you and humbling your self to him who treats you noe better then some base vnre asonable creature you doe yet proceede to loue him as sincerely and purely as if you tasted of great delights and Regalos at his hands For in the end hee will answeare you thus O woeman greate is thy faith let that be done which thou desirest But in the meane time be you resolute in continuing faith full and say to him with your whole hart O Lord I will loue thee though thou shouldest not loue me I will seeke thee and looke chearfully towards thee though thou flye from me Let me loue thee still vpon that condition doe with me what thou wilt By this meanes the disfauours of our lord shall be conuerted into the exercise of true loue and herein you are to remaine more contented then you are to be in paine for being disfauoured Nor shall you onely please our lord by this meanes but more ouer you will obtaine a crowne in heauen which will be straungely greate For by the measure of your discomforts that robe of glory is to bee cut out wherewith you must be vested in heauen and from the seede of teares we must gather the sheaues of ioy And we are not to be crowned for hauing beene in deuotion and consolation but for hauing beene as it were threshed with variety of temptations and for hauing beene content with the taste of such gall as carried the very image of hell with it and of the torments thereof and for bearing all these things with an equall minde and for beleiuing that they are light and few 2 Cor. 4. in comparison of that superexcellent weight of glory which is to be reuealed in them who shall be humbled and mortifyed after this manner And wee must thinke our selues happy in being obedient to the ordinance of our lord God
and loue wherewith this fauour is done vs it will enamour vs and oblige vs more to him then the fauour it self which he affordes what a thing is it that God doth soe much loue man as through the much loue he beares him and notwithstanding the great offences which man committes against him he yet doth not take this loue from him nor doth it euer make him say I will loue such a one noe more though he come to mee agayne I will not seeke him out nor will I send to entreate him that he may retourne to my house He saith noe such thing as this But that perseuering loue doth still burne with a liuely flame and this soe very clearely that as these great waters of his torments could not soe quench them as to make him forbeare to dye for vs soe neither can the much greater waters of our sinnes extinguish this enflamed charity of God towards vs. But it remaynes euer conquerour both in his paynes and in our offences sussering there and forgiuing heere Hee who shall wonder at this will haue reason For it would be a wonderfull thing if this kind of loue were shewed euen from an inferiour to a superiour or at the most from but an equall to an equall Butt now this loue from God to man is more then wonderfull And yet on the other side he who shall not beleiue it in respect that it is so straunge a thing putts a great affront vpon Almighty God since he beleiues it not because it is soe wonderfull a worke Whereas on the other side it is as cleare way whereby to knowe the workes of God if they be soe great as to make such wonder as know them For if he be wonderfull his workes are also to be soe And if the reste of his workes be wonderfull these of his loue are wonderfull in the highest degree forasmuch as they spring out of his goodnes in the manifestation whereof he takes more delight and glory and vses it more then in the manifestation of the other attributes As the Prophet Dauid saith Psal 144. Miserationes eius super omnia opera eius His mercyes are ouer all his workes How ill therefore are they aduised who refuse to beleiue that which God doth because it is much and who refuse to expecte and hope because that which he promises is much comparing and parallelling the great acts of God by the soe short measure of they re owne poore vnderstanding The woeman of Samaria cannot arriue to knowe how Christ our lord can come by any water and much lesse Iohn 4. how he can bestow any such water as that whosoeuer dranke thereof should thirst noe more But our lord saith that the woâ—man knowes not the guift of God nor who it is that aduises her to faith and penance and who is ready to infuse the holy Ghost into her hart And soe there are still men soe cowardly and weake in faith that they cannot beleiue any thing of God but onely in conformity with they re owne poorenes Placeing they re eyes vpon they re little strength and they re little desert and so like beasts of earth they creepe vpon the earth and rise noe higher But he that lookes vpon God who giues vs his sonne who is his loue and who sweetnes God to wards vs and in whome he is soe highly content and in whome his diuine eyes take delight how can he doubt of that hart but that it will bee fauourable to vs when wee call vpon it with pennance and pitifull in all those necessities which may occurre to vs. He therefore who knowes this and desires it as he ought may well hope that he shall haue it And with hauing that he hath all good and will haue nothing to feare as that slaue must doe who wantes loue Make therefore haste to loue this Lord who loues you soe much and hath conserued you so well And if euer you had a desire to reforme your self and to follow our Lord yet closer besure that you renew it and encrease it now For our Lord commaunded twice that his people should bee circumcised Gen. 17. Once when he enioyned Abraham to doe it and the second time â—osue 5 when he brought Iosue into the land of promise The first signifies the first coming of a man from a worldly and wicked life to follow the way of the will of God which is the streight way especially in the eyes of the world The second is when God will carry a soule to his kingdome and then he commaunds it to behould it self with new feruour and to amend it self and to cutt of all superfluity to the end that with purity and ioy it may expecte that crowne of a kingdome which the goodnes of God hath prepared for his seruants Your Lordship must vse to confesse and communicate often for it is a thing which giues most strength and comfort to heare the sentence of our absolution and to receiue our Lord Iesus Christ into our bosomes You must pray and read and giue almes and doe whatsoeuer other good worke our Lord shall inspire you to And let mee knowe how the world goes with you And if your Lordship recouer your health wee will yet remaine with hauing put our soule well in order and with hauing gotten strength against feare The Holy Ghost that great comforter which through Iesus Christ our Lord was giuen to such as are well disposed to receiue it dwell euer in your Lordship and teach you how you may best please him and guide you by the right way Amen A Letter of the Authour to a lady who was sick He comforts her in her afflictions and animates her to beare them for the loue of Christ our lord who was soe afflicted for her MAdam I haue vnderstood that you are sick and I am not sory for it For if it come to you through any excesse of pennance the punishment is well employed and if you be sick vpon noe other reason but onely because our lord seÌ„des it to you let vs bid it welcome in a good houre as being a part of his Crosse And though in some respect your paine puttes me to paine as our lord knowes yet on the other side I am glad of it because I cleary discerne the profits which will be made vpon this occasion by one whome I soe much desire to see improued They are not comforts which I wish to my children but they are corrections the time of comfort comes afterward For the present take not your eyes from of the Crosse nor your heart from him who placed you on it Giue not ouer till you finde that sufferance is of a sweet taste for that is the true touch of loue Take noe compassion vpon your selfe for there are both in heauen and earth who haue compassion on you from their very hearts and that which is laid on you was very well considered of before and it passed through the handes of one who
Iesus Christ cryes out in the demaunde of mercie for vs and that his crye is so lowde as that it drownes the crye of our sinnes so that it cannot be heard Doe you not know that if our sinnes should still remayne aliue notwithstanding that Christ Iesus dyed to defeate them his death should be of litle worth since it could not worke that effect Let no man sett a light price vpon that which was so highly valued by Almighty God that he holdes it for a sufficient yea a superaboundant discharge forasmuch as concernes his parte therein of all the sinnes of the whole worlde and of a thousand worldes if there were so manie They who are lost are not lost for want of payment but for want of seruing themselues thereof by meanes of Faith and Pennance and the Sacraments of the holie Church Settle once this truth in your hart and doe it soundly that Christ our lord tooke the businesse of our redemption to his owne charge as verily as if it had beene his owne and he calles our sinnes his by the mouth of Dauid saying Longè a salute mea verba delictorum eorum And he demaunded pardon for them though himselfe committed none and he desired with a most profound internall loue that his seruants might be beloued as if he had desired it for himself and as he desired it Iohn 17. he obtayned it For according to the ordinance of God he and we are so much one thing that either he and we must be beloued or he and we must be abhorred And since he neither is nor can euer be abhorred neither can we also be so if we be incorporated into him by Faith and Loue. But indeede because he is beloued we are also beloued and that iustly because he weighes more towards the making of vs to be beloued then we doe to make him be abhorred And the Father loues his Sonne more then he abhorres such sinners as are conuerted to him And as one who was much beloued by his Father he said to him to this effect Either loue them or loue not me for I offer myself in pardon of their sinnes to the ende that they may be incorporated into myself The greater loue ouercame the lesser hate we are beloued pardoned and iustified we haue great hope not to be forsaken there where there is so strong a knott of loue If through our weakenesse we be afflicted with excessiue feares as now you are conceiuing that God hath forgotten you our lord hath prouided you a comfort saying thus by the Prophet Isai 49. Shall the mother perhaps be able to forgett to take pittie vpon the childe of her wombe well if she doe yet will not I forgett thee for I carrie thee written in my hands O writing which art so firme whose penne be hard nayles whose inke is the bloud it self of him who writes and the paper is his owne very flesh and his word saith thus I haue loued thee with an eternall loue â—eve 31. and therefore I haue drawen thee towards me with mercie Such a writing therefore as this must not be litle esteemed especially when one findes in himself that his soule is drawen by the sweetenesse of good purposes which are signes of that eternall loue where with our Lord hath chosen and loued him Be not therefore scandalized or afflicted for any of these things which happen to you since they all are dispensed by those very hands which were nayled to the Crosse for you in testimony of the loue hee bate you And if you desire to vnderstand what you gett heereby in the inteÌ„tion of God who sendes them you must know that they are tryalls whereby you may be examined that afterward as one who hath beene faithfull in the conflict you may be crowned by the haÌ„d of our lord with a Crowne of Iustice And to the ende you may not thinke that the particulars which you endure are signes of reprobation and that they are sent by our Lord to none but wicked men heare what Dauid saith in his owne person and of many others who walked in the way of God I sayd in the excesse of my soule Psal 30. that I am cast of before the countenance of thine eyes And though this dismay of hart and the disfauour which wee finde in the middest thereof be a thing which doth much afflicte and that the soule can take no ayme of how it standes in the sight of God nor how it shall stande nor what ende that Crosse shall haue yet neuerthelesse there are few things in the world which are so forcible to purge sinnes or which teach a man soe manie tâ—utâ—es as doth this darke obscuritie and inward affliction which makes the soule sweate droppes of bloud Our lord sendes this to his seruants that they may not departe this life without feeling what crosses and tribulations are And therefore he wounds them in the spiritt wherein they liue For if he should but wound them in temporall things to which they are dead they would haue no sence at all thereof You must therefore be sure to giue a good accompt of that dangerous passage wherein God hath beene pleased to bestow you and you must adore his iudgements And being comforted through confidence in his goodnesse bowe downe that head of yours without anie more sifting into the matter and open the mouth of your hart to swallow downe this pill of darkenesse and desolation and disfauour of God through the obedience which you owe to the same God And knowe for certaine that vnlesse you haue a minde to breake your word and vnsay your self in this tryall which God sendes to you you must resolue to make yourself strong as the Angell did Iosue Ioâ—uâ— 1. and you must liue dying euerie day 1. Coâ— 15. as S. Paul did You must be baked in the fire of tribulation that so you may grow hard like anie bricke and fitt to resist the raynes and windes of temptation and troubles and that you be not soft like the dawbing of a wall which is instantly dissolued by water and no way fitt for a strong building For the people who are to be placed in that house of heauen must be beaten and hammerd here on carth by the knockes of manie tribulations and temptations as it is written Our lâ—â—dâ—ryâ—d them and found them worthie of him self Sap. 3. Learne you therefore to sustaine your self with strong foode and striue to conuerte these stones of tribulation into bread if you desire to haue the testimonie of being the childe of God And if he giue you an appetite to eate the white and new bread of consolation remitt it back againe to the will of our lord and be content with being sure that you shall haue so much of that in the next world as that the sweetnesse thereof will farre and farre exceede the recompence which might be due for anie bitternesse sustayned in this And in steede of those hard
into so great affliction and feare as the newes of what thou art ought to giue them comfort If thou O lord wert well knowne there is no soule which would not loue thee and confide in thee vnlesse it were strangely wicked For this it is that thou sayst It is I therefore doe not feare I am he who kill and giue life I cast men downe as low as hell and I draw them back againe that is I afflict a man till he thinkes he dyes and then againe I refresh I recreate and I giue him life I cast men into certaine discomforts which seeme hell to them but when they are there I forgett them not but I fetch them from thence and they are but therefore mortified that they may be quickened I sende them not thither to remayne there but that their entry into that shadow of hell may be a meanes to make them escape the substance of that true hell after death and that they may fly vp to heauen I am he who can deliuer you from all affliction for I am of infinite power And I am he who will deliuer you for I am of infinite goodnesse and I am he who know how to do it for I am of infinite wisedome I am your Aduocate for I embraced your cause as mine owne I am your surety for I haue made myself subiect to all your debts I am your Lord who haue purchased you with mine owne bloud and with no meaning to forgett you but to doe you honour if you will serue me because you were bought at so high a price I am he who haue so profoundly loued you that for the loue of you I haue beene contented to be transformed into you and to become passible and mortall I who in mine owne nature was very farre from being subiect to such miserie I am he who deliuered myself ouer to innumerable torments of bodie and farre greater torments of minde that you might take hart to endure some for loue of me and to confide that you shall in fine be freed from them since I am he who vndertake it I am your Father as I am God and your elder-brother as I am man I am your Christ your redemption and what feare can you then haue of your debts if by penance and Confession you demaunde a generall release of them I am your reconciliation and of whose wrath can you then be afraide I am that true-loues-knott of friendshipp and how then can you thinke that you are fallen out with God I am your defender and what opposites can you apprehende I am your freind and how then doe you feare that you can want anie thing which I haue vnlesse you will needes departe from me My bodie and my bloud is yours and why then doe you feare hunger nay my verie hart is yours and why then doe you feare to be forgotten yea and my diuinitie is yours and what doubt can you then haue of miserie For accessories vnto that Principall my Angells are yours to defende you My Saints are yours to pray for you My biessed mother is yours to be the carefull and indulgent mother of you all The earth is yours that you may serue me vpon it The heauen is yours for you shall enioy it and me in it The deuills and hell is also yours for you shall treade it and them vnder foote like slaues who are chayned vp in that prison This life is yours because with it you gett another which shall neuer ende Your honest entertainements and delights are yours For you direct them to my glorie Your paynes are yours for you endure them for my loue and for your owne true good Your temptations are yours because they are occasion of your meritt and of an euerlasting Crowne in heauen Your death is yours because it is to be the immediate steppe to your eternall life And all these things you possesse in me and by my meanes For neither did I gaine them for myself alone neither will I enioy them alone for when I putt myself into your companie by taking your flesh vpon me I did it to make you partakers of all the meritt which I should acquire by my labours my fasting eating sweating weeping and by the enduring of all my torments and death if the fault be not your owne Now you cannot account yourself poore who possesse so great riches if you doe not wittingly throw them away by your wicked life Be not dismayed for I will not forsake you It is true that you are no better then some thinne glasses but I will holde you fast in my hand Your weakenesse setts of my strength the more From your sinnes and miseries I draw the manifestation of my goodnesse and mercie There is nothing which shall be able to hurt you if you will loue me and confide in me Thinke not of me according to your owne opinion and the iudgments which are made by flesh and bloud but thinke of me by a strong faith with loue nor by the apparance of exteriour signes but by that hart of mine which was opened for you vpon the Crosse that you might dismisse all doubt whether you are beloued by me or no forasmuch as concernes my parte since you see such workes of loue without and a hart which was so wounded by that launce within Iohn 18. and yet more wounded by my loue How shall I denye myself to them who seeke me to do me honour since I went out to that way where those others sought me to offende me I offered myself to ropes and chaines which afflicted me and shall I refuse myself to the hart and armes of Christians where I desire to repose I yeilded myself to those scourges and to that hard pillar and shall I denye myself to that soule which will be subiect to me I turned not away my face from him who strooke me and shall I turne it away from him who will holde himself happy that he may beholde and adore me What litle confidence is this that seing me to be voluntarily torne in pieces by the hād of dogs for the loue of my children yet those children should be doubtfull whether I loue them or no though they be confessed to loue me Consider o yee sonnes of men and tell me whome I euer despised if he desired to be well with me whome haue I abandoned if he called on me from whome haue I fled if he sought me Matt. 9. I conuersed and I fedde with sinners yea I called and I iustified them who were forlorne Matt. 11. and euen fowle in sinne Nay I am importunate to winne their harts who loue me not I make myself a beggar to all the world and what cause is there then to suspect me of forgettfullnesse towards my children when there is so great diligence vsed both to loue me and to make expression of that loue And though I may cōceale it sometimes yet do I not leaue to loue but euen for the very loue
such haste doe neither vnderstand it nor thankfully acknowledge it and there remayne noe more with them but the meere sound thereof Iohn 19 And some that is such as are Infidells blaspheme him for it because they stay not to looke at leasure vpon this mighty wonder of loue But the Christian who hath taken vp his lodging heere sayth and that from his very hart This is my rest for euer and for euer will I dwell heere because I haue chosen it And if the spouse shall not remaine with at least her hart nailed to that Crosse to which the body of her fellow spouse was nailed how will shee possibly bee able to escape the name of vngratefull and vnkinde There shall you finde remedye against the poyson of those false prayses which men giue you And you will profoundly bee ashamed to perceiue yourself honoured proclaimed for good wheÌ„ you see him who indeede is good holy to be proclaimed for wicked false There shall you see how little reason you haue to think that what you doe is vnworthy of estimation in any kinde forasmuch as concernes your part thereof since it is soe weake lame when it is coÌ„pared with that which Christ our Lord wrought vpon the Crosse yea euen with that which yourself as you are ought to doe Looke into this glasse and you will easily be able to discerne the spots which are in the face of your soule For when you haue beene the most meeke of all if you compare that meeknes with his your meekenes will be noe better then meere wrath and your obedience compared with his will be very disorderly and your humility very proud Yet the blind world will needes beleiue that there are noe other sinnes but those which it conceiues to be such Whereas the eyes of God are of another kinde and he measures vs by another rule whereby many times he findes that to bee faulty which seemed in the eyes of men to bee excelleÌ„tly and coÌ„pleatly done When therefore they shall deliuer out any of these poisoned smooth-lying prayses say you instaÌ„tly in your hart as S. Paule did â— Cor. 4. he who iudges me is our Lord. And make haste to call to minde how our Lord was proclaimed for a wicked person And beseech him not to permitt that you be published for one who is good be sure you hould your toÌ„gue for our lord will obserue how the world goes Nay procure you be carefull that when you are despised you may be very glad thereof and perhaps our lord doth not now permit any body to giue you ill words because he findes that you haue not strength wherewith to beare them He who desires any part of the Crosse of our lord must receiue it as he would doe some pretious Reliquâ— with great reuerence giuing of thankes And he must valew it more then he would all the treasures of the world And because there are soe few who esteeme of those Reliques of the Crosse as they ought therefore our Lord oftentimes doth not impart them whose-pleasure is that they be honoured and beloued and borne with ioy And for this reason it is that he leaues vs still in our infancy without putting vs to the taskes of men But how much more then are we to blame if we be drawne downe to impatience or superfluity of sorrow for any of those thinges which he sendes Soe that if you shall carry a great loue to the Crucifix he will giue you a part of his Crosse But then see that you embrace it as an enterprise of great honour according to what he sayth to the spouse Place mee as a seale vpon thy hart and vpon thine arme for loue is strong as death Cam. 8. And as for that paine wherein you are because you may not receiue the Body of our Lord in the blessed Sacrament soe often as you would be not troubled thereat For I haue already tould you that our Lord is resolued that it shall cost you some what And it is but reason that it doe soe since our soules cost him soe much Doe you thinke perhaps that by our Lords onely saying Let all soules â—ee mine they instaÌ„tly render themselues into his hands Doe you thinke that the loue which you carry to our Lord the dominion which he exercises ouer you cost him but toyes I can assure you it is not soe But he shed his bloud as any slaue might doe vpon condition that your soules might be his and he yours Iust soe must that soule doe which hath a minde to obtaine him that is it must sweate first it must weepe it must importune him it must endure ill wordes yea and alsoe euill deedes at the hands of others yea and it must seeme little to haue endured this but once And if it be not put to endure them at least it shall haue gained much in hauing disposed it selfe to suffer somewhat for him thus it proues noe fruitlesse thing to seeke God Negotiate your businesse with him for if he say Yea there is none who can hinder it and if any body offer to doe it it will not proue with him but yet if it chaunce to proue you may conclude thereby that you haue not negotiated well with our Lord. What shall I say to you Cry out louder to him Follow my counsaile and whensoeuer he giues you a great desire to communicate procure then to be iust as if you were communicating indeed And beseech our Lord since he is omnipotent that he will giue you that when you communicate spiritually which he would haue giuen if you had communicated Sacramentally For soe you shall bee pleasing to his goodnes and he will not suffer you to goe empty from him if you come well prepared and it were not the worse if it might be two or three dayes before Yett now you must not thinke that you may therefore faile to confesse your sinnes afterward to your Ghostly Father But till you haue meanes to declare them to him I aduise that you ralate them to our Lord. And aboue all things keepe your hart in peace and conserue yourself in the way of obedience and humility towards your Superiours and Prelates For this is the way of our Lord and you must take heede you leaue it not Take courage to passe on in your other deuotions For though when you are in them you thinke you make noe profitt by them I say you doe and afterwards you shall taste the fruite thereof And our Lord will find a time to looke back with pittye vpon such as shall haue made much way after him And one day of those when our Lord vouchsafes to looke back vpon vs is worth more then three of those others wherein we laboured to goe after him The crowne is prepared for you in heauen God will be your defendour and will not forget you Perseuer you in obedience till you see our Lord of all Lord in Syon
the Father gaue vs his Sonne and with him gaue vs himself and the Hoâ—iâ—-Ghost and all things Receiue this grace with giuing of thankes and enioy you God since he bestowes himself vpon you And if your demeritts fright you remember that one of the benefitts which the Father impartes to vs in Christ our lord is the payement of our debts and the sweetening and appeasing of that wrath which our sinnes deserued Why doe you doubt of a pardon since you doubt not of that Passion which he endured for our sinnes Pet. 2. What doth it profitt you to confesse that Christ our lord dyed for vs be who was lust for vs that were vniust if you beleiue not that his death killed our sinnes and now if they be dead why do you feare them For the Children of Israel Exod. 15. whome our lord drew out of Egypt seing that their enemies were drowned in the sea did not feare but sung praises to our lord taking occasion thereof from those very enemies who had persecuted them before and whome formerly they had feared And though we haue not so assured Faith that our sinnes are pardoned as we are sure that our lord dyed for them because we do not so certainly know that his merits are applyed to vs yet the new hart which God gaue vs when he called vs to himself may be a good signe of his friendshipp and pardon whereby we may well hope that our sinnes also are forgiuen And besides that spirit of being his children which he gaue vs when he imparted his loue as the loue of a Father to vs may well be taken for a particular assurance that in the hart of God we are esteemed as his sonnes since in our harts we esteeme him as our Father For it is blasphemie to affirme that I louing God he should not loue me since that loue wherewith I loue him is neuer giuen me but by his hand I beseech you thinke not of our lord Sap. 1. with a short hart a straite but in great beleife of his goodnesse as we are commaunded And cast vp your eyes to that signe of our saluation Curist our lord who is the assurance of our hope and who is so acceptable to his Father and by whose participation we are also made acceptable to him and we haue assured hope through his bloud to enioy eternall life before the Throne of God And if it seeme to you that your workes are weake and poore it is reason you should thinke so still But what reason is this why you should loose your confidence By Christ our lord we were made freinds of enemies and by him we are conserued in his friendshipp We had greater impediments to be well with God when we were subiect to our sinnes before we knew God then now we haue by the defects into which we fall So that if our former sinnes could not hinder that grace which was communicated to vs in Christ our lord much lesse shall our present faults be able to breake of this friendshipp we being now incorporated in Christ who is beloued by his Father A good thing it is for vs to feele our pouertie and miserie but yet it must be with condition that withall we beleiue highly of the bountie and riches of the mercie of God And let vs glorifye his goodnesse in our wickednesse since with so much loue he tolerates his children who are so faultie so weake and so miserable Why should you depriue God of the glorie to haue great latitude of loue towards his children For by reason of the faith and loue which wee carrie to his sonne he hath patience with the faults which we committ when once we haue bewailed them and done true penance for them Beleiue therefore now at length that as there is goodnesse enough in God to make you loue him so there is meritt enough in Christ our lord to make you be beloued for his sake and liue you with gratitude for the benefitts which you haue receiued as also for the pardon of those errours which you daily committ And be daily accepting of all good occasions and fight the warres of our lord with ioy as that Iudas Machabeus did And God giuing you that which he giues you may hope you shall enioy his kingdome though perhaps you may be putt to suffer in temporall fire for the hay and straw and wood which shall be found in your soule Be you euer breathing more and more towards Profitt in spiritt but yet so as that it may be accompanyed with quietnesse grounded vpon Confidence For though it should grow to be no more then now it is euen that being carefully kept will suffice for your saluation But if you looke onely vpon yourself we are all so full of faults that your soule will neuer bee without dismay nor will you perceiue that you are greatly beloued by our lord And then proceeding after such a manner as that how will you be able to serue him and giue gust to his holie spirit which is dwelling in you For this spirit is chearefull and we checke it by our anguish and dismay against which S. Paul thus disswades vs saying That we must not contristate the holie spirit of our lord The summe of all is this that you must know and consider your faults and that they must seeme very great in your eyes and you must bewaile and lamente them by Confession and Penance But yet still you must consider that those benefitts which we possesse in Christ our lord are greater by reason whereof you must confide yourself to be beloued and you must doe it with much thankefullnesse And if God doe no more but continue that to you which you haue alreadie euen that may suffise as hath beene sayd to make you hope for eternall life A Letter of the Authour to an afflicted woman He declares that afflictions come either through the fault of the partis or else for tryall and how one is to carrie himself in tribulation THe grace and peace of our lord Iesus be euer with you Amen The true loue wherewith I loue you in Iesus Christ hath caused so great compassion in me towards you in respect of what you suffer that it hath moued me to write this letter with desire that it may serue you to some purpose I know not my good sister whether I shall putt you into anie comfort or rather whether I shall not helpe you to weepe Nor doe I know whether or no I should tell you that the trouble which you haue is good and that you are to carrie it with ioy and that I should not graunt that it is ill as it seemes to you and that as such you are to fly from it I see that if manie good men endure such accidents as this there are also very ill men who endure the same And if to some it be a signe of loue to others it is an effect of the wrath of God Our lord punishes