things cannot be learned of Men. NO Man can teach another the things that can no other ways be known but by Sense and Experience no Man can teach another to see hear smell taste feel or experience and much less to love rejoyce to be sorrowful and such like which must be felt and experienced before they can be known We must taste it in our selves and God must work it in us And therefore David saith Taste and see that the Lord is Good Ps 34.8 sweet or gracious We may indeed inform others of the visibility of colors and of the qualifications that are required in the eye to perceive its proper Objects but by all our diligence we can never teach others to see so we may discourse much and at large concerning the perfect and supreme Goodness of God and the manifestation of his Love which also is very good and commendable In like manner we may discourse of the property of the will of purity of heart of a good Conscience and Faith unfeigned as St. Paul saith 1 Tim. 1.5 The end of the command is Love out of a pure heart a good Conscience and Faith unfeigned But we can never teach another how to love and much less to love above all things for this is a work of God and reserved to him as his peculiar Royalty who has the heart in his hand and the will in his power Pro. 21.1 to turn and incline them how and which way it pleaseth him CHAP. V. To Love God above all things a Man cannot learn of himself IT is true that the natural Understanding of Man may from the knowledg of the Creatures raise it self to the knowledg of God and of his eternal Power and Godhead Rom. 1.20 and accordingly the Philosopher tells us that there is nothing better than God but forasmuch as they only continue in the speculation hereof without feeling and experiencing the Love and Goodness of God operatively in themselves which must be before that knowledg can beget or kindle Divine Love wherefore neither do they know God aright Accordingly St. Paul tells us Rom. 1.21 That tho they knew God they glorifyed him not as God neither were thankful wherefore also this their knowledg turns to their greater hurt and prejudice particularly in that in renders them inexcusable making them to become vain in their imagination and darkning their foolish hearts to that degree that they bestow the honour which is due to him alone viz. Love above all things upon the Creature wherefore also God suffers them to fall into Sin and Shame and to defile themselves with unnatural Lusts that they may receive in themselves the recompence due to their Error and because they do not like or value the true knowledg of God God gives them over to a reprobate mind so as to fall from one Sin into another and do those things which are not convenient Wherefore certainly it is much better for a Man never to know God than not to glorifie the known God as God or not to love him above all things CHAP. VI. To Love God above all things cannot be learnt from the Letter of the Scripture IN the Old Testament we are taught the written Law of God and therein also we find wise Instructions how the said Law must be kept or observed As likewise the good and advantage which accrues to Men by keeping of the same as well as the loss and evil that happens to Men for transgressing of it But when we come to compare our duty with our performance then it appears that we never kept any one of the Divine Commands and that we are throughout defiled with Sin We know also that no Man can keep the Law except he love God above all things and that the Letter of the Scripture can never teach us this for if the Love of God above all things did grow out of the Letter of the Old Law then it would follow that none did love God more than the Jews who abound in the knowledg of the Letter of the Law But the Apostle tells us that the Law never brought any one to Perfection that is to the Love of God above all things which is the highest perfection of Man for the Letter of the Old Law brings forth nothing but the Knowledg of our Duty that we ought to keep the Commandments of God the knowledg of our Sin that we have transgressed them the knowledg of our weakness and inability that we are not able to keep them and knowledg of the eternal punishment we must suffer for it whence fear and bondage is engendred and more than this the Letter cannot do wherefore also the Letter kills as St. Paul tells us but cannot-quicken it discovers our sickness but cannot recover us to health it manifests Sin and declares the greatness of our Fall but cannot raise us up again yet there is this comfort in it for that under this Letter the Spirit lyes hid and because the Old Law is big with child of Christ through whom the Grace of Loving God above all things is conferred They who have found this Spirit and who know and acknowledg Christ to be hid in the Law to those I say the Scripture is a profitable Doctrine and as St. Paul saith full of comfort and particularly in this that such as these as they find their Sickness in the Scriptures so likewise their Strength and Health as they find the Death of Nature so likewise the quickening of Grace through Jesus Christ our Lord in whom also they love God above all things and are able perfectly to fulfil and perform the Law From all which we see that the Law is only an Affrightment or Terror driving us from Nature to Grace from our selves into God from Flesh into the Spirit in and by whom we cry to God Abba Father and come to desire or long for God above all things In like manner also is the Letter of the New Testament a Murtherer of Souls more than the Letter of the Old Law because it represents God more lovely than that doth even as our Redeemer and who for our sakes was made Man suffered was crucified dead and buried upon all which accounts we cannot but acknowledg our selves in the highest degree bound to love him above all things Now it is evident that we make our selves lyable to greater Sins and Damnation when after so unexpressible great mercy and benefits received we continue unthankful and go on in our Sins These and such like are the effects of the Letter of the New Testament and therefore it kills as well as that of the Law For tho it represents Christ to the Eye and his Doctrine to the Ear yet forasmuch as it is unable to bring the Spirit of Christ into the heart it serves only to work a more grievous Death The Jews had Christ before their Eyes in their Ears and in their Hands but they had not the Spirit of Christ in their Hearts
struck and smitten him to the end that nothing but Love might flow from him and that the substantial and essential Love which is God himself which is given unto us before all gifts and graces without any merit of ours for Righteousness might through the Holy Ghost flow through and wholely penetrate our hearts From all which we may gather this Conclusion that to love God above all is a meer pure Grace and Favour above all our Arts or Abilities and above all our Works and Merits CHAP. XI To love God above all things is not vouchsaved to all Beloved ones in the same Measure or Degree TO love God above all things is to love him Savingly now forasmuch as even in Saving Love there be higher and lower greater and less degrees it will not be in vain or unprofitable to make mention of the said difference or diversity There are some in this Love of God above all things that are called Incipientes i.e. Beginners others Proficientes Proficients or goers forward and some again Perfecti that are arrived to the Perfection of it Of which three sorts the first love God least the second more the third or last most of all yet all of them Love him above all things for did they love any thing more than God or equal with him their Love would rather be Hatred of God because therein they do not render him his true and due Honour as Gods Love saith Men indeed may build Straw Hay and Wood Gold Silver and Pretious Stones upon the Rock but for all that the Foundation doth not suffer it self to be shaken or removed Christ must still be Christ and God must be beloved as God that is above all things this is the true Foundation of all Love and good Desires and this is common to all true Lovers of what rank soever But the Reason of the diversity of some loving more some less some in a higher and others in a lower degree is this because Gods kind and amiable Manifestation of himself doth not act necessarily like Nature according to its utmost Power and Ability but more or less as the Holy Ghost pleaseth and how and when he pleaseth Therefore to Love God above all things is not only Free Grace but every degree of Love is so likewise CHAP. XII How or in what manner the Beginner loves God above all things THE first degree of Love manifests it self in this manner when the Loveliness of God is so deeply imprinted on the heart that a Man begins to love God above all things then such a Love infallibly brings along with it a loathing or dislike of whatsoever is contrary to God as of all deadly Sin and more especially of Pride whereby Man takes upon him to place himself on even ground with or above God which every Man does when he loves himself as much as or more than God This Love brings along with it Humility in Honour Temperance in Lusts and holy Fear not such as Servants stand in of their Master but such as young Children have for their Father In these Beginners there is a mixture of Fear and Love and a Conjunction of Heavenly and Earthly Desires they love many things together with God Therefore the vertue or goodness of these consists only in this that the Love of God that is in them continually brings forth Heavenly Desires and that tho' they love God together with other things yet they love him above and more than them Wherefore also the Beginner falls often into many lesser Sins by the delight he takes in Temporal Profit Honour and Pleasure and into strong Fears and Apprehensions of Temporal Losses and Trouble finds also in himself strong Inclinations to Deadly Sins so that often he is ready to sin but that the Friendly and Lovely Perception of God in his heart doth hinder him Wherefore it still appears that whatsoever the Love of God above all things begets or brings forth in the Heart is nothing else but meer Grace CHAP. XIII How the Proficient Loves God above all things MOreover it oft happens that God from Heaven doth manifest himself yet more friendly and amiably to the Heart and thereby inflames the Will to that degree that now the Soul doth not only love God above all things but also make use of all other things in subordination and with reference to the Love of God in all things aiming at his Praise and Glory Such an one is more concern'd how he may please God than about Sins displeasing of him Now he to whom it is given to love God in this Degree or to speak more exact he in whom the Holy Ghost thus loves in him this Love is immediately followed by the Love of Righteousness great Strength and Courage of Mind a Liberal Heart Prudent Converse wise Purposes and Undertakings and other such like Vertues that help to raise a Man above himself I have said that Man being so highly excited and moved with the Divine Kindness and Loveliness doth love God in this manner or rather that the Holy Ghost thus loves in him to the end that no body might attribute his Proficiency or rising higher to himself but appropriate and impute it to God alone Even as Christ instructed his Disciples and in them all of us When ye shall be brought before Kings and Governors for my sake take no thought how or what ye shall speak for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak For it is not ye that speak but the Spirit of your Father that speaketh in you Mat. 10.18 19 20. These are the Words of Eternal Truth Now if it be true that he does not speak whom we see moving his Tongue and Lips whose Voice we hear and perceive his Breath why should not we then for the same reason appropriate and impute the Love we feel in our hearts to God alone acknowledging it to be his only The moving or motion is from the Holy Ghost but the perceiving of it is ours as when any one tickleth us the Tickling is anothers but the Sensation it produces is our own From all which it appears that the Love of Proficients together with the Vertues flowing from it are meer Grace as well as that of the Beginner CHAP. XIV How the Perfect Lover loves God above all things HE is called Perfect in Love to whom God manifests and represents himself so kind so sweet and so amiable that he becomes wholely of the mind that there is nothing lovely but God nothing kind sweet and friendly but God Such a Man as this loatheth and is burthen'd with himself hateth this Life and longs for Death that nothing might hinder him in his Love Wherefore also strange and wonderful Works proceed from such an one all which God by Love works in him He is full of Joy Peace and Rest he doth not trouble himself about either Heaven or Hell Angel or Devil Friend or Foe he hates Father and Mother Wife and
Another is that his Words be few necessary simple and concerning Divine things the Third is that his whole life all his VVorks and whatever he doth be so compleat and blameless that in nothing he may be reprehended by any one And of the Internal the first is that his Thoughts be pure and Heavenly the Second that he purely seek and intend God alone the Third that he be able easily and readily without any Trouble to bid farewel to all for God that is that whatever befalls him an Unmoveable undisturbed and true Peace be in his mind that as Water not moved with any blast of wind is quiet so his Soul may in all things persevere calm and immoveable For as in water so long as it swells with VVaves and is stirr'd with continual motion no man can behold himself so that most simple and most pure Good which is God can never direct the Rayes of his Light into his Soul into his Spirit or Interior part so long as he is moved with prosperous or advers occurrences For no Prosperity or Honour tho never so great for no Riches or Friends or whatever fortunate accideâ—â— must our heart yield to Levity Dissoluteness 〈◊〉 vain Joys Again on the other side he must perâ—â—… undaunted and immoveable against all Adversiâ—… so that he be not disturbed or hindred in his Souâ— by any damage done him nor wish any Evil Withiâ— or without to any other whatever he suffers from him whether he deprive him of all his Goodâ— whether Honour or Friends or Commodities or aâ—… his comforts yea tho he pull out his Eyes fire 〈◊〉 House or whatever other mischief he do him hâ—… must by no means bear an Evil thought againsâ— him nor defire Revenge but taking all not from Man but from the hand of God render him devouâ— thanks that he is in any thing made conformable to him Yet notwithstanding we must know that there is none so happy or holy Christ only and thâ— Glorious Virgin excepted but he may sometimes suffer at least the first motions of passion for all the Saints have suffered them But as soon as ever they perceived them they knew how by the Grace of God so to suppress them so as that they could not easily be perceived either in their Countenance in their VVords or their Gestures Lastly to this Quiet condition this also is required that he be so affected so disposed that tho he be encumbered with Diversity and multiplicity of business is soon as ever he turns himself to God in Prayer no Image thereof no appearance not so much as any shadow of it may remain whence in his Intellect or mind he may become indisposed or hindered Our Lord Jesus Christ. Grant that to these things we may all in time attain Amen A TREATISE OF Albertus Magnus of adhering to God CHAP. I. Of the Vltimate and highest Perfection of Man as far as the same is attainable in this Life I Have purposed with my self with the greatest accuracy as far as it is possible in this our Exile and Pilgrim State to give a description of the Absolute and Plenary Abstraction from all things and our ready secure naked and firm adhering to our Lord God alone And this the rather because the very End of Christian Perfection is Charity or Divine Love whereby we cleave to and are made one with the Lord our God To which Divine Adhesion by Love every one is bound that hopes for Salvation and is performed by the observance of the Precepts and Conformity with the Will of God the observance whereof excludes whatsoever is repugnant to the Essence and Habit of Charity such as are all Mortal Sins But those that are in Religious Orders have over and above this bound themselves to the Practice of Evangelical Perfection and of those things which are matter of Evangelical Councel and Advice rather than strict Imposition and by means whereof we more readily arrive to our ultimate End which is God by the observance of which are likewise excluded all those things which clog and hinder the Activity and Fervor of Charity from carrying us up into our Lord God such as are the denying of all things yea even of our own Soul and Body for seeing that our Lord God is a Spirit they that would worship him Joh. 4.24 must do it in Spirit and in Truth That is with Knowledge and Love with the Understanding and Affection devoid of all Phantasms or Images To this purpose is that Command of our Lord But thou when thou Prayest Math. 6.6 enter into thy Closet that is the inmost retreat of thy Heart and when thou hast shut thy door viz. the door of thy Senses upon thee there do thou with a Pure Heart and Good Conscience and Faith unfeigned pray to thy Father which is in Secret in Spirit and in Truth Which is then best done when a Man being disentangled and divested of all other things and wholly retir'd within himself and having forgot and shut out all and every thing in the Presence of Jesus Christ the Mind alone doth in silence with Faith and Assurance lay open her Desires before her Lord God and thus by the entirest Affection of her Heart and Love doth most sincerely and fully pour forth and plunge her self into God with the inmost Marrow and Strength of all her Powers dilating inflaming and dissolving her self wholly into him CHAP. II. How a Man may despising all other things adhere to and intend Christ alone NOw whosoever Desires and makes it his Business to undertake and enter upon this State or kind of Life it is needful that he as it were shutting his Eyes and Senses do not concern or trouble himself with or be careful and sollicitous about any thing whatsoever but totally reject and renounce all things as impertinent hurtful and pernicious and in the next place that he wholly retire within himself and in that Retirement entertain no other Object but Jesus Christ alone and him Crucified and so press on through him into him i. e. through Man into God through the Wounds of his Humanity into the inmost recess of his Divinity and there without any further disputing readily and securely commit himself and all his Concerns to his indefatigable Providence according to that of St. Peter Casting all your care upon him 1 Pet. 5.7 who can do all And again Be sollicitous for nothing Phil. 4 6. And that of the Psalmist Cast thy care upon the Lord Ps 55.22 and he shall sustain thee And again But it is good for me to Ps 73.28 cleave unto God And again I have set the Lord always before me Ps 16.8 And with the Spouse in the Canticles Cant. 3.4 I have found him whom my Soul loveth because Wisd 7.11 as Wisdom saith All good things come together with it This is that hidden Heavenly Treasure and that precious Pearl which cannot be purchased Mat. 13.44 5 6. but
God alone and that the view of thy mind be fixed only upon him as if there were nothing at all besides him and by close cleaving unto him enjoy him which is a perfect Commencement and Anticipation of the Life to come CHAP. XI How we are to resist Temptations and to bear Tribulations THere is no man that draws near to God with a true and sincere heart but he must expect to be tried and proved with manifold Vexations and Temptations Now in all Temptations let this Precept be observed that whenever thou feelest any Temptation that thou do not assent to it and that thou bear it patiently and quietly with humility and long sufferance And if they chance to be Blasphemous and Filthy injections take it for a certain Rule that there is no way better to overcome and be rid of them than by despising them though they be never so horrible filthy and abominable Blasphemies let this be thy sole Armour of defence against them to neglect them account them as nothing and despise them without imputing them to thy self or charging thy Conscience therewith For thou wilt find this a sure way to put the Enemy to flight if thou treat him and his endeavours with the greatest scorn and contempt for he is exceeding proud and cannot endure to be despis'd and set at naught Wherefore be sure to make use of this as the best and surest Remedy against all such injections never to mind them or be troubled at them any more than thou art at flies that buzz about thee against thy will Wherefore let the Servant of Jesus Christ take care not to run so easily from the face of the Lord by being angry murmuring and vexing himself about the buzzing of a silly Flie I mean for some slight temptation suspicion sorrow detraction weakness or any other kind of Adversity seeing that by the hand only of Good Will lift up to God all these and a thousand such like may be easily chased away and put to flight For by Good Will Man has God to be his Possessor and Owner the Holy Angels his Guardians and Protectors and moreover by the same all Temptations are as easily overcome as a Flie is chased away with the least motion of the hand Peace therefore is the portion of the Men of Good Will neither can any more worthy present be offer'd to God than it for as much as Good Will in the Soul is the Original of all good and the Mother of all Virtues which whosoever begins to be possessed of he hath without care whatsoever is necessary to a good and happy Life wherefore if thou willest that which is good without being able to perform it God will make up from himself what is wanting in thee and accept the will for the deed for an Eternal Law has unchangeably decreed and establisht that all Merit should consist and be in the Will alone as reward or punishment are in happiness or misery For Love is a strong will to serve God a sweet affection of pleasing God and a most burning desire of enjoying God Besides it is no Sin to be tempted but rather an occasion of exercising ones Virtues for certain it is that we get much good by Temptation seeing that our whole Life here upon Earth is but one long continual Temptation CHAP. XII Concerning the Love of God and how Powerful it is NOW all these things above said and whatsoever else are necessary to Salvation cannot be better more readily or more savingly performed than by Love by which the want o◠every thing that is needful to Salvation is easily supplyed and in it is the abundance of all Good neither does it wan the presence of the most desirable Object For it is Love alone whereby we are turn'd to God transformed into God cleave to God and are united to him to that degree as to become on Spirit with him and so are made happy here in Grace and hereafter in Glory from him in him and by him For Love never rests but in the beloved Object when it is possest of the same with a full and peaceable possession Love or Charity is the way of God to Men and of Men to God and God cannot take up his Habitation any where but where Charity is If therefore we have Charity we have God himself for God is Love or Charity There is nothing more sharp than Love nothing more subtle nothing more penetrating than Love neither doth it ever rest until naturally it have penetrated the whole virtue profundity and totality of the amiable Object it will make it self one with its Beloved and if possible would be the the very same thing with it and therefore it will not endure any thing to mediate or come between it and the Object it loves which is God but doth with vehemence press into him and never rests 'till it have past by all things and be come not only to him but into him For Love is an uniting and transforming Power or Vertue transforming the Lover into the Beloved and the Beloved into the Lover so that one Lover is in the other after the most intimate and presential manner imaginable Which is very apparent in the first place with reference to the apprehensive Powers viz. That the Beloved is in the Lover forasmuch as the Beloved Object is always sweetly and delightfully recall'd and represented in the apprehension of the Lover and on the other hand forasmuch as the Lover endeavours not superficially but intrinsically to discern and penetrate t◠the most inward parts of the beloved Object And as to the appetitive and desiring Powers the Beloved in said to be in the Lover forasmuch as it is most intimately rooted by an affectionate conplacency and pleasurable delectation it him And on-the other hand the Love is in the Beloved by means of a tota◠desire and conformity as having but on willing and nilling one grief and joy as if they were indeed one and the same and no longer two distinct Beings Cam. 8.6 For Love which 〈◊〉 strong as Death draws th◠Lover out of himself and placeth him in the Beloved Object making him to close most intimately therewith For the Soul is more truly where it loves than where it moves because it is in the Beloved according to its own proper nature reason and will but in that which it moves or animates it is only so far forth as it is a form which is also competible to Beasts There is therefore nothing else that can draw us from all outward sensibles and make us retire within our selves and from thence into the heart and inmost Divinity of Jesus Christ but the Love of Christ and the longing desire after the sweetness of Christ to feel perceive and to taste the intimate presence of Christ's Divinity It is nothing else but the immense power of Love which mounts a Man from the dregs of Earth to the High Glory of Heaven Neither is it possible for any one
to something that is better For as all good things are done by his Operation so by his Permission all Evil things are made good And by this means are manifested his Power Wisdom and Clemency through our Saviour Christ his Mercy and Justice the Virtue and Strength of his Grace and the weakness and failure of Nature the Beauty of the Universe which springs from the contraposition of opposites the Praise of the Good and the Wickedness and Punishment of Reprobates So likewise in a Sinner converted are manifested Contrition Confession and Repentance as well as the Meekness and long Suffering of God his Kindness and Charity his Praise and Goodness Not that it always tends to their Good that do Wickedly for most commonly indeed It doth precipitate them into great Danger and the worst of Evils viz. the loss of Grace and Glory and obnoxiousness to Guilt and Punishment and sometimes of that which is Eternal from which the Lord Jesus Christ of his Mercy preserve us Amen Two ancient Spiritual Treatises OF Dr. John of Staupitz Abbot of St. Peters at Saltsburg in Germany CONCERNING The Sweet Love of God And our Holy Christian Faith Faithfully Translated out of High-Dutch into English LONDON Printed for R. Baldwin near the Oxford-Arms-Inn in Warwick-Lane 1692. CHAP. I. God is Lovely above all Things IF any one enquire how it can be made out that God is Lovely above all Things He may answer himself by considering that God is God and consequently not only full of all Perfections but Perfection it self in whom by whom and from whom all Perfection consists flows and proceeds As likewise that he is Love it self than which nothing can be found or imagin'd more Lovely as being that very Love which makes all things Lovely it lights upon if it lights on an hateful Enemy it changeth him into a Lovely Friend if it lights on horrid Darkness it becomes immediately changed into pleasant Light if it falls upon nothing the nothing immediately is made something and something that is good too For it is impossible but that all whatsoever God Loves must needs be Lovely And every one easily conceives that without or besides this Love nothing is or can be Lovely and that nothing that is unlovely can flow from it because it is the self-subsisting essential Love whose goodness is in and of it self Our Love receives the measure or proportion of its goodness from the goodness of the beloved Object and is then only good when it Loves some thing that is good and better when it Loves something that is better and best of all when it Loves the highest good and on the other hand becomes evil when it Loves that which is not good Nay whatsoever Object it lights upon whether Good or Evil yet to Love is always sweet and lovely in it self Wherefore also it makes all things not only tolerable but easie and delightful which without it would be difficult to endure if not altogether intollerable How then is it possible that the highest best unalterable constant Faithfulness and eternal Love which is God himself should be loveless harsh or unpleasant CHAP. II. God must be Loved above all things THou shalt Love the Lord thy God saith Moses and our Lord Jesus Christ with all thy heart with all thy Soul Matth. 22.37 Deut. 6.5 with all thy Mind and with all Strength above things This is what all of us are bound to do by Vertue of his Command and the Obedience we we owe him and this because he is our God to whom out of Love we are to return and give up again all that we are and all that we have our Heart Soul Mind Strength and Power House ad Goods Lands and Possessions Wife and Children Brothers and Sisters Father and Mother and in a word nothing excepted even our selves also to be disposed of as he pleases for Death or for Life for Heaven or for Hell These are indeed very hard works which notwithstanding a superlative lovely Love is able to make Light sweet and easy Forasmuch then as God will have all this Performed by us and will not accept of it as it proceeds from a sorrowful but chearful Mind therefore it is that he worketh in us his Love above all things that we may be able to perform his will herein CHAP. III. Where God is not loved above all Things there he is not Glorified as God ALL Men are Created to this end That they might praise and honor God and magnifie and glorifie him in themselves with Hearts Words and Works Now there is no other way whereby the Heart and Will may give to God his peculiar and highest Honour than by resting in his Love and by loving him only for himself with all the Heart Soul and Mind being altogether satiated and satisfied with his Divine Perfections and wholly emptied of all other Love beside For whosoever loves God for his own advantage or any thing that is Outward or Temporal he prefers the Creature before the Creator and Robs God of his Glory and highest Honour and makes that to be his God which is not God For that which the Heart loves most the same it Honours as God whatsoever the Mouth may say to the contrary Who knows not that if a Christian should now a days say that his Wife was his God or his Children or his Goods he would be condemn'd for a Blasphemer if he persisted therein and yet who is there of us who doth not see in the daily practice and Actions of Men that Temporal Goods Pleasure and Honour are preferred before God and his Love to that degree that it is matter of just Lamentation We will by no means endure the reproach of being Idolaters tho indeed we are so really and in Truth no less than others were of Old At this very day O gracious God! Many in Christendome Worship Cows Horses Gold Silver Wood and the Goods of this World as the Heathens did thousand years ago notwithstanding they say with their Mouths Our Father which art in Heaven for true Adoration consists in Loving and not in Speaking He prays well who loves much and he who loves not neither does nor can pray tho he should repeat a thousand Psalms or Prayers He who loves God serves him but he who doth not love him neither doth nor can serve him how great Works soever he may outwardly perform Wherefore nothing can be more useful and advantageous to Men than to excite draw and perswade them to the love of God especially in this miserable state we are in where we are oft hindred from loving by want of necessaries which we cannot be without by outward profit which we can hardly deny our selves in and by our inborn infirmity which no body of himself can rid himself of to which we may likewise add the Pomp Luxury and Vanity of this World and the Cunning Malice and Tyranny of our grand Enemy the Devil CHAP. IV. To love God above all
and therefore were in a more damnable condition than the Heathens They had received many more benefits from him than from any one besides but yet did not love him in the highest degree who had loved them to the utmost so as to give his Life for them And thus at this day we frequently find that those who have Christ most in their Tongues have him least in their Hearts whence follows that they also communicate or impart him to others so as they have him themselves viz. on the Tongue and not in the Heart they teach them to talk much of him but to love little by which means the poor simple People are much hindred in the way to true Perfection and happiness CHAP. VII The Love of God above all things cannot enter into a Man except the Holy Ghost be there before SAint Paul saith The Love of God is shed abroad in our hearts through the Holy Ghost which is given unto us even the Spirit of our heavenly Father the Spirit of Christ whom he that hath not is none of Christs neither is it possible for such an one to love God above all things Wherefore we are to take notice that the first the greatest and the highest Favor God bestows upon a chosen Soul is that he vouchsafes to take up his Dwelling in him By this means it is that the essential Self subsisting Love which is God himself is always in Man before his own Love or any thing that can be called Good and much the same thing happens to every pious Soul as befel the blessed Virgin Mary the Mother of God when it was told her by the Angel That she should conceive and be with child of God whereupon when the Virgin demanded how this should come to pass and by whom seeing it was not to be according to the Order of Nature To which question she and all holy Souls with her received this Answer The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee and the Power of the Highest shall over-shadow thee Luk. 1.35 As if he had said a Child of God is not born of Blood nor of the Lust of the Flesh nor of the Will of Man but is born of God alone Job 1.13 In which Birth the Soul is endued with Divine Power to fulfil all things and all Commands through the Love of God Wherefore if at any time any thing that is holy or good be done by us we must not attribute and appropriate it to our selves but to God only who is the only Father of all good Fruits and Gifts in us Upon which Account also the Angel gives us this further Information saying therefore that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God O happy yea more than happy is that Man into whom the Holy Ghost is come down from above in whom the self-subsisting essential Love which is God himself hath taken up his abode for in him continually and for ever Divine Fruits grow and spring forth whether he knows it or not for the Holy Ghost is never idle Sometimes he stirs in us motions of Anger to reprehend and reprove that which he will have reproved sometimes he moves us to mirth and jocose words to revive and rejoyce those whom he will have comforted c. and frequently makes us in those very things his Fruits and Children whereby we are apt to fear that we were become his Enemies Many very many Fruits of our Salvation doth he work in us whereof we know nothing neither more nor less Could we now in this manner always see him in our selves and clearly discern and know him this would be to be happy indeed here on Earth but it hath rather pleased him and seemed good in his Eyes to be hidden and concealed in us according to the Saying of the Prophet David Ps 18.11 He bowed the Heavens and came down and Darkness was under his Feet he made Darkness his hiding Place his covering round about him were dark Waters c. CHAP. VIII From the Indwelling of the Holy Ghost first proceeds the Light of true Christian Faith THat no Man can reach the Sense and Power of the Holy Scriptures or the Love of God above all things from any outward Learning or Information whatsoever our Lord Jesus Christ himself plainly declares when he saith to his Disciples Job 16.12 I have yet many things to say to you but ye cannot bear them now It is expedient for you that I go away for if I go not away the Holy Ghost will not come unto you but if I depart I will send him to you And when He the Spirit of Truth is come he will guide you into all Truth and teach you all things and will open to you the hidden mystical Vnderstanding of the things I have spoke to you Christ must depart and pass away from the Eyes into the Heart from the Flesh into the Spirit before ever he can be known to Salvation Upon which Account he himself disowns the Fruit of his outward Doctrine when the same is separated and divided from the inward Teaching It is in this sense St. Paul declares that as well his Teaching as that of all the other Apostles was nothing except God himself teacheth in the Heart Neither can any man with any words how high and choice soever they may be declare make out or represent the above measure lovely Love of God if God do not first reveal himself in the Heart Wherefore it is without all doubt that God himself brings into the Soul of those by whom he will be loved above all things that Light whereby his great Loveliness and Kindness are clearly seen and discerned through a firm Faith without doubting before ever we know or understand what is right and good Wherefore we must conclude that the knowledge of the True Christian Faith is a pure meer Grace of God CHAP. IX That Man is never comforted in hope whom the Spirit of God himself doth not comfort ALL the comfort of this World is Vain Useless and Empty all confidence in the Creature is deceitful for which reason the Holy Scriptures denounce Curses against all those who confide in their own Jer. 17.5 6. or others created power or ability and by this means seek their comfort in and from the Creature The only true comfort upon Earth is founded and grounded in this as St. Paul assures us that we boast our selves and Triumph in the Glory of the Children of God Rom. 5.2 11. that is in our indubitable assurance that we are the Children of God foreknown and Elected to Eternal glory This is the comfort which no Creature can give neither can any deserve it it must and can only be given by the Holy Ghost the Comforter to whom only it belongs to comfort his People and whose property it is to convey a lively hope into the heart of his chosen and this even before there is any Merit in them Neither hath our saving hope
and single hearted and other such like Wherefore also Jesus said to his Disciples when they boasted themselves because of the High gifts of God bestowed upon them and more espicially because the Devils were subject and obedient to them through his Name I beheld Satan as Lightning fall from Heaven and added this following Lesson true it is I have given you Power to tread upon Serpents and Scorpions and over all the Power of the Enemy notwithstanding for this rejoyce not nor in particular for that the Evil Spirits are subject to you but ratherrejoyce because your Names are written in Heaven Luke 10.17 18 19. It is very probable that Judas as well as Peter healed the fick cast out Devils and wrought other Miracles but forasmuch as he wanted Love all this was of no avail to him Wherefore it behoves us always to walk with Fear and Trembling and to be so much the more humble as we enjoy more of these Divine Gifts and Graces whereof we must give an Account to God how we have employ'd them CHAP. XIX Whosoever hath a true Love to God he undoubtedly keeps all his Commands A true Mark of the Love of God is the fulfilling of the Commands of God according to the Doctrine of the Wiseman for love begets likeness and conformity makes one Heart one Will one Soul in the Lover and the Beloved When Love raiseth her self above her self she frames her self into the will of her Beloved and if she stoops beneath her self she moulds all things into her own likeness and esteems or values nothing according to its natural goodness but according to her own good liking or pleasure And so makes that Evil which was by God created good in Nature He who loves God above all things is well pleased with whatsoever is well pleasing to God and is troubled at every thing that displeaseth him and therefore he loves Righteousness and hates Iniquity does that which is Good and avoids Evil I say he does that which is good tho not always according to the works of the Law yet always in conformity with the end of the Law for it happens sometimes that a man in doing contrary to the works of the Law yet does that which is right and good with reference to the end of the Law Now the end of the Law is the Love of God above all things with which no manner of Evil doing may consist So that he who truly loves God keeps all that God hath commanded him even whaâ—soever is contain'd in the Divine Word â—ccording to the Doctrine of St. Austin who expresseth himself in these following Words Love but and then do what thou wilt Art thou silent be silent for Love dost thou cry aloud Cry aloud for love Dost thou reprove Reprove for Love Dost thou reconcile Reconcile out of Love keep but this Root in thy heart even true Divine Love and Charity and than nothing but what 's good can ever come from thee nothing can be done by thee but what is saving or tends to Salvation Wherefore Men can never be Divinely taught by any one save only in the School of Love with her alone are found the doers of of the Divine Word all other Arts and Learning whatsoever make nothing but Hearers only To this Art of Arts even the Love of God Parents should draw and allure their Children The Masters their Schollars the spiritual Pastors their Sheep or rather the Sheep of Christ Whatsoever it is they teach besides this is nothing but Labour and Vexation of Spirit Neither indeed is there any other Art necessary to Salvation Yet it is true too that no body can effectually teach this Divine Art of Love but God himself as before hath been declar'd wherefore aiso our Lord Jesus Christ forbids us to look out for any other Master for to attain the Art of Salvation save himself alone CHAP. XX. They who love God in the Highest degree do not think the Yoak and Burthen of Christ to be Heavy or Troublesome but rather Easie and Light ALas How many heavy and intollerable Burthens do we see which in this miserable State the Love of this World and our Fleshly uncleanness and corrupt inclinations make very easie and desirable In order to get Riches we see the Merchant exposeth himself to the Raging Sea breaks his Sleep and shortens his Life To arrive to Honour and Dignity a man abandons himself to a continual slavery at Court and to all that which is hurtful and grievous to Soul and Body For the sake of Lust and impure Love more especially that which men bear to Women and Women to Men what intolerable burthens are not readily willingly and gladly Born For Love alas is so fast rooted and riveted in our Flesh and Blood that beyond any other thing whatsoever no body without the special Grace and Assurance of God can any longer moderate curb or restrain it much less quite root it our The inclination of the heart brought the Love of Women along with it into Paradise and we suck the same from our Mothers Breasts yea we take it from our Mothers hearts whilst we are yet hid in the Womb. For the sake of Women saithâ— Zorobabel as we find it in 1 Esdras 4.14 15 16. Men forsake and abandon their Honour Lives and Goods yea Vertue and Reason and become captivated yea senseless and distracted by Reason of the Love they bear to them This inborn and inbred Love neither Frock nor Cowl neither Church nor Convent neither Cell nor Dungeon can keep out except the grace of God through our Lord Jesus Christ come in to our help But indeed when that once comes the work is Light and Easie for if that once sweetly impresseth and ingraves the unutterable Love of God on the heart then all other Loves must pack up and be gone and the more clearly she manifests her self and the more amiably she imageth or forms her self in the Soul so much the more speedily must Flesh and Blood sink and perish Yea sometimes she appears so sweet to the Soul that all Creatures become distastful to it Here it is that our Iron-hard heart becomes soft pliant and yielding the heavy and troublesome yoak becomes sweet and easie and insuportable Burthen light and pleasurable and all this because God doth amiably move and affect our Spirits VVould you have me Communicate this Art to you and tell you how it is able to perform these great things Pray resolve me first of a matter which is a thousand times less How comes it to pass that he heavy lumpish Iron runs to the embraces of the Load Stone and why as soon as a dish or bason wherein Iron lies is touched with the Load stone doth the Iron raise it self and begin to move that way to which the Load Stone draws it Dost thou say the Stone is able to do this tho thou canst not tell me how or by what means Then wonder no more how the Creator of Nature can
his profit or loss pleasing or displeasing when he daily condemns himself and judgeth no body but himself only then without doubt God hath taken up his abode in him and he is top and brimful of God Wherefore it is a great Grace and Mercy of God and not in the least and effect of his wrath when he makes us see that there is no Truth no Faith no constant Love upon Earth when he manifestly discovers to a Man that those who are bound to love him and to return Good for Evil do requite him Evil for his Good Unfaithfulness for Love for this is the true and ready way by which God from Heaven through his special Grace empties Flesh of Flesh and fastens Spirit to Spirit Wherefore beg thou of God that he would be pleased to empty thee of thy self and of all Creatures and take it for a special friendly sure Token of the Love of God towards thee when that becomes unloving or displeasing to thee what at any time thou hast loved out of measure For as long as thou cleavest to any thing that is not God thou must needs be and continue uncertain whether God be in thee or no and tho he may be in thee without thy Knowledg yet will he never clearly come unto thee and fully manifest himself in thee until all other Loves be rid out of thy heart This is that which St. Paul declares when he saith 1 Cor. 3.11 12 13. That they who build Stubble Hay and Wood upon the saving Foundation shall indeed be Saved because they love God above all things yet no otherwise but so as by Fire and that for this reason because they love other things besides and together with God but they who build fine Gold Silver and pretious Stones which are not subject to Rust and are refin'd and purged from all dross and Refuse upon the true Foundation viz. The Love of God above all things they need not to pass the fire because they love God only in the same manner as he will be loved of his most beloved friends of whom he requires according to the Gospel-Doctrine that they hate their Father and Mother their Brothers and Sisters yea even their own Souls Now they who do love at this rate they have escap'd from and are out of the reach of Hell forasmuch as they have loved God above all things They would also be rid of all Temporal Sufferings were it not that their bodily Sufferings did above measure conduce to their Eternal Joy and that their hearts are to that degree inflamed with the Love of God that they desire nothing more or higher than as far as is possible to be made conformable to the Suffering Lamb of God in all things They also whose Love is arrived at this high pitch have nothing which they cleave unto but an entire poor Spirit wherefore also they suffer nothing here upon Earth save only Love-Sufferings as also our Lord Jesus endured no other Sufferings save those of Love For out of Love alone was he conceived born circumcised driven from his abode subject to Joseph Baptized Tempted out of Love alone he preached wrought Miracles broke his Rest and Sleep Out of singular transcendent great Love he left his most Holy Mother his Dearest Friend his Apostles sweat Blood was in an Agony was seised smitten on the Face endur'd false Witness perverse Judgment Mockings Scourgings condemning to Death the weight and bitterness of the Cross and last of all the most cruel and painful Death Wherefore to him be Praise Honour and Thanksgiving now and at all times even for ever and ever Amen An. Dom. 1518. Jesus thine I am save me B.J. von staupitz The Second TREATISE Concerning the Holy Christian Faith By Dr. John Von Staupitz THE PREFACE TO THE READER IT is a Lamentable Thing That Christians since the Death and Passion of Christ and the Apostles Decease are fallen into so great an Ignorance of Christ and his true Faith out of which no Man can be saved And though it be difficult to dispute about the established and confirmed Faith yet Brotherly Love requires every one to give his Neighbour all the Information Help and Assistance he can that the Foundation of all Good and the Root of all Vertue the only Comfort of the Elect viz. The firm Hope and true Faith in Christ may not perish or be lost Wherefore I think my self oblig'd and bound in Duty by vertue of my Function and Calling to feed the Hungry with the Word of God or rather to lead and point them to the said Food and accordingly trusting in God I have here undertaken to write simply of the Faith in Christ He that can do better let him set about it all to the Glory of God and the Edification and Amendment of his Neighbour Amen CHAP. I. Of the Obligation and Duty that lies upon us to believe and of the Beginning of the Christian Faith THere is no Man I hope so dark and blind in his understanding as not to know that every one is bound in duty to believe the infallible Truth which is god himself and that God is highly dishonoured and the Truth blasphemed when this due Faith is not given to him It is an unbecoming thing for one honest man not to believe another in all reasonable things yet forasmuch as there is no express command upon us so to do because the Psalmist tells us Psal 116.11 That all Men are Lyars this Earthly Faith is left to a mans free Will and pleasure whether he will believe or no forasmuch as they are only the Words of meer Men. But Gods Word we must and are bound always to believe because it is the Truth it self All Understandings must deliver themselves Captives to the same and all hearts must assent to it be the matters never so high above our reach and understandings yet we must believe them because God hath spoken them without any further questioning or requiring any further proof or reason of them This is the Beginning of Faith without which no Man can please God CHAP. II. Of the Duty and Necessity of Faith in Christ OUr Heavenly Father has revealed much Truth to his Elect and promised to them great Grace and many Good things and thereby in Duty bound them forasmuch as he is the Eternal Truth undoubtedly to believe and look for the same at his hands Whosoever we are whether Good or Bad Jews or Gentiles the Divine Promise neither can nor may be procur'd or hastened by our Vertues or hindred by our sins but continues eternally unchangeable and constant in it's Truth Wherefore in order to our receiving the Gifts and Graces of God by whatsoever Names they are called Faith in Christ is absolutely necessary whereby we are assured of all the Divine Promises Believe thou therefore that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and doubt not in the least but that in him through him and for his sake all the Good thou
Mind foolishly run up and down from one contrivance to another spending thy precious time in tireing thy Mind and Body and foolishly consuming the strength of them both Wherefore do thou receive all and every thing whensoever or howsoever they come upon thee with an even temper in silence and tranquility as reach'd forth to thee by the hand of the Paternal Divine Providence Divest therefore thy self of the Images and Phantasms of all Bodily things according to the Exigence of thy State and Profession that with a naked and simplified mind thou may'st sincerely cleave to him to whom thou hast so frequently and entirely devoted thy self that there may be nothing to mediate or interpose between thy Soul and him that so with a pure and fixed view thou mayest raise thy self from the Wounds of his Manhood into the Glorious Light and Charity of his Godhead CHAP. V. Concerning Purity of Heart which is to be endeavoured above and before all things IF so be therefore thou dost desire and endeavour by a strait safe and short path to arrive to the end of true Bliss here and hereafter of Grace and Glory then do thou with an intent mind earnestly aspire after continual cleanness of Heart and Purity of Mind with a constant calm and tranquillity of thy Senses and recollecting the Affections of thy Heart continually fix them above on the Lord thy God withdrawing thy self in the mean time from thy Familiars and Acquaintance and as far as lies in thee from all Men and from all things that might be a let or hindrance to thy holy purpose alwaies watching an Opportunity where and when thou may'st find place and time for sweet rest and contemplation and the enjoyment of the secret Pleasures of Silence avoiding the shipwracks of this present World and the noise hurry and confusion of it Wherefore let this be thy chief Study at all times how thou may'st attain to Cleanness Purity and Rest of Heart that so continually having shut the doors of thy Carnal Senses thou may'st turn into thy self and lock up thy Heart as far as is possible from the Representations of all Sensible things and the Imaginations of Earthly Objects It is this Purity of Heart that excels all Spiritual Exercises whatsoever as being the final Intention 〈◊〉 and Reward for all the Labours which a Religious and Spiritual Man takes in this Life Wherefore do thou with all Diligence Application and Endeavour rid thy Heart Senses and Affections from all these things that may impede its Freedom and from every other Concern of the World that hath the least Power to Allure Bind and Captivate thee And so strive to recollect and gather up all the wandring excursions of thy Heart and all the Affections of thy Mind into that One True Simple and Supreme Good and to keep them alwaies recollected within thy self as in one place and by this means endeavour alwaies to cleave with thy mind to God and Divine things and leaving thy Earthly Frailty behind strive to transform thy self continually into the pattern of the Heavenly things through thy inward Communion with and retirement into Jesus Christ Wherefore if thou makest it thy Business to strip and purifie thy self from all Images and Representations and with Trust and Confidence to simplifie and quiet thy Heart and Mind in the Lord thy God that thou may'st feel and take in the Fountain of the Divine Good Pleasure in all thy inward parts and by thy good will be united to God in thy Intellect or Understanding this Exercise alone will be sufficient for thee and serve instead of all Study and Reading of the Holy Scriptures and will advance thee to the Love of God and thy Neighbour according as the Anointing Teacheth thee Wherefore with all Study do thou labour and endeavour to simplifie thy Heart that being immoveable and at peace from any intruding vain Phantasms thou may'st always turn thy self to and stand fast in the Lord within thee to that degree as if thy Soul was got into the always present NOW of Eternity that is of the Deity in such a manner that for the Love of Jesus Christ from a Pure Heart a Good Conscience and Faith unfeigned thou may'st wholy forsake and leave thy self and entirely and fully commit thy whole self to God in all Tribulation and every Event whatsoever always desiring to be patiently resign'd and obedient to his Will and Good Pleasure Now to the end that thou may'st come to this State it is necessary for thee frequently to return to thine own Heart and to abide there ridding thy self as far as is possible of all things preserving the Eye of thy Mind continually in Purity and Rest voiding thy Intellect of all Images and Representations of inferiour things setting free the Affection of thy Will from all Earthly Cares and with a fervent Love from the very bottom and root of thy Soul cleaving to the True Supreme Good having thy Memory also continually lifted upwards and firmly fix'd and grounded in the same alone True Soveraign Essential and Uncreated Good to the end that thy whole Soul with all its Powers and Faculties being thus gather'd up into God may become one Spirit with him which is the highest Perfection attainable in this Life It is this Unity of Spirit and Love whereby Man is made conform in all his Desires and Wishes with the Supreme and Eternal Will so as that he becomes that by Grace which God is by Nature And here we are to observe that in that very moment wherein any Man by the Grace of God overcomes his own Will that is his inordinate Love and Likeing so as to dare fully and totally trust the Lord God with all his Needs and Concerns he does so highly please God that he freely bestows upon him such a degree of Grace by which he feels that true Charity and Love begot in him which expels all doubts and fears and gives him a sure and confident hope in God Wherefore nothing can he more happy or advantageous for us than to cast our All upon him in whom there is no want And seeing that as long as thou standest in thy self thou dost not stand fast cast thy whole self securely upon God and he will take thee up heal thee and save thee If thou doff but continually revolve these things in thy Mind thou wilt find them more conducive to a truly Happy Life than all the Riches Pleasures Profits and Honours yea and all the supposed Wisdom and Knowledge to boot of this deceiving and corruptible World yea tho' thou shouldst excel in all these all that ever were before thee CHAP. VI. That we must cleave to God with a naked Intellect and Affection WHerefore seeing that by how much the more thou shalt empty thy self of all Images and External Worldly and Sensible Intanglements by so much the more thy Soul will recover its Primitive Strength and Vigour and the use of its internal Senses to perceive and
relish those things that are above do thou endeavour to quit all Phantasms and imaginary Representations of Bodily Things because nothing is more pleasing and acceptable to God than a Mind divested of all such like Forms and Images for his Delights are with the Sons of Men that is such who with a Calm Mind Purified and Simplified from all these Occupations Distractions and Passions do intend apply and cleave to him making this their whole business For otherwise if thy Memory Imagination and Thoughts be often busied about these things it must needs be inveigled either with some new things or the remains of some formerly entertained or be variously affected and distracted with other occurring Objects Wisd 1.5 For the holy Spirit of Discipline as the Wise Man saith removes its self from thoughts that are without Understanding Wherefore a true Lover of Jesus Christ must be so united in his Intellect through good Will to the Divine Will and Goodness and be so naked and stript of all Phantasms and Passions as not so much as to take notice whether he be derided and flouted at or Loved and Honoured or whether any thing else happen to him For a good Will makes up all and is above and beyond all Wherefore if there be a good Will and that the same in the Intellect be purely conform and united to God it can do no hurt tho' the Flesh or Sensuality and the outward Man should incline to Sin and be backward and dead to that which is good yea even though the inward Man also should be dead and listless to any thing of Devotion for in this case it is sufficient for a Man by Faith and good Will nakedly to cleave to God in the Intellect or Supreme part of the Soul And this he will do if he throughly perceive and be sensible of his own imperfection and nothingness and know that all his good consists and is in his Creator and if with all his Powers and Faculties he abandon himself and all Creatures and totally plunge his whole self into his Creator so as to direct all his Actions purely and entirely to his Lord God as the sole end and scope of them all seeking nor desiring any thing besides him in whom he perceives himself to have found all Good with all Happiness and Perfection And by this process he becomes in a manner transformed into God to that degree that he can neither think nor understand nor love nor remember any thing but God and the things of God nor doth he see himself and other Creatures save only in God Neither doth he love any thing save God alone nor remember or make mention of them or of himself but in God Now this knowledge of the Truth makes a Soul very humble judging it self but not another whereas on the contrary the Worldly Wisdom makes the Soul proud Vain Arrogant and pufft up with Wind. Let us lay down this therefore for a Spiritual and Fundamental Doctrine that he who would draw near to the Knowledge Service and Familiarity or Communion with God and that would really possess him must of necessity wholly strip and divest his Heart from all sensible Love not only of every Person whatsoever but of every Creature to the end that with a simple and entire Heart he may reach forward and press into the Lord God his Creator freely without all Duplicity Care or Sollicitousness with a full assured Trust and Confidence in his Providence as to all his Concerns CHAP. VII How the Heart is to be gathered up or recollected into it self MOREOVER as it is said in the Book of the Spirit and Soul Chapter 21. To mount up to God iâ— to enter into ones self For he who inwardly entring and intimately penetrating into himself gets above or beyond himself he truly mounts up to God Let us therefore gather up our Hearts from the various Distractions oâ— this World and recall them to the joyâ— within that we may at last be able to fix them in the light of Divine Contemplation For this is the true Life and Rest of our Heart when by Desire it is fix'd in the Love of God and sweetly refresh'd with his Divine Comfort But the reason why in the experimental taste and relish hereof we are manifoldly hindered so as that we can by no means reach to him is plainly this because the Mind of Man being distracted with solicitousness doth not enter into it self by the Memory being overshadowed clouded with Phantasms doth not retire into her self through the Intellect being allur'd by Lusts and Concupiscence doth not turn in to her self through the desire of internal sweetness and Spiritual joys and being thus wholly taken up with these sensible and present Things she can never enter in to her self viz the Image of God in her self It behoveth therefore above all things and is necessary that with humble Reverence and great Confidence the Mind raise it self above it self and every Creature by a total denying and renouncing of them all and say within her self he whom of all things before all things and above all things I seek love long for and desire is neither sensible nor imaginable but above every thing that is sensible and intelligible too He is not to be perceived by any sence but wholly desirable by full and perfect desire neither is he figurable or representable but to be most perfectly long'd for by the most intimate affection He is not to be rated or valued but wholly to be affected with a pure heart as being above all things amiable and delectable and of infinite Goodness and Perfection And thus she is carried into the darkness of the Mind and becomes higher raised within her self and enters deeper into her self And this manner of ascending to the Aenigmatical or obscure Vision of the most Holy Trinity in Unity and Unity in Trinity in Jesu Christ is by so much the more fervent by how much the power of Elevation is more intimate to the mind and so much the more fruitful and profitable by how much it is nearer and stronger in Affection For in Spiritual Things those are accounted higher which are more inward as to Spiritual Experience Wherefore do thou never leave never rest until thou get a taste of some Pledges or foretastes of the fulness that is to come and 'till thou perceive the sweetness of the Divine Loveliness by some little first Fruits and do not cease running after her in the perfume of her good Ointments unti thou come to see the God of Gods in Sion For in thy Spiritual Progress and in this Union with and cleaving to God within thy self thou must neither desist nor give back until thou hast obtained what thou lookest for whereof we may take an Example from those who are going up an high Hill For if in this ascent our Spirit through Lust and Desire comes to plunge it self into the Transitory Things here below it immediately is led out of the way
by infinite Distractions and crooked winding Paths and being manifoldly divided is scatter'd in it self according to the multiplicity of the Objects its Concupiscence desires Whence necessary follows Motion without steadiness Running without attaining and Labour without Rest But if on the other side our Heart and Spirit do withdraw it self by Desire and Love from the infinite distraction of inferior Things here below wholly quitting them and by little and little gathering up her self into that one Unchangeable All-sufficient Good learn and accustom her self to stay at home and with her whole affection do inseparably cleave unto it so much the more she is gathered up into one and fortified by how much she is elevated by understanding and desire to the Things that are above and becomes so habitually fixed and established in the true Supream Good within her self 'till at length she be made altogether immutable and arrive to that true Life which is the Lord God himself so as that perpetually without any vicissitude of Change or Time she now reposeth her self in that inward Quiet and secret Mansion of the Deity being perfectly fix'd and setled within her self in Christ Jesus who is the Way to those that come to him John 14.6 the Truth and the Life CHAP. VIII How a Devout Person must Commit himself to God in all Events and in all his Concerns I Suppose that from what hath been already said thou dost perceive that the more thou shalt divest thy self from Images and all Worldly and Created Things and by Good Will be united in thy Intellect to God the nearer thou wilt approach to the State of Innocence and Perfection Than which what can be conceived better more happy or more delightful To which purpose nothing can be of more avail than that thou keep thy mind naked of all manner of Phantasms and Images and from all Intanglements whatsoever so as not to be concerned or trouble thy self neither about the World nor about Friends or Relations nor about Prosperity or Adversity neither about any thing past present or to come either in thy self or in others No nor over much about thine own Sins but with a certain pure simplicity suppose thy self to be naked and alone with God without the World for if thy Soul were already launched into Eternity and separated from the Body surely it would not be busied about Secular Matters nor would it be concern'd about the course of the World neither about Peace nor War fair or foul weather or any other Temporal Thing but would uniformly and totally intend be at leisure for and cleave to God alone In like manner do thou now according to the present possibility leave thy Body and all Creatures present and to come and steadily fix the view of thy Mind and Spirit according to thy utmost power nakedly and readily upon that increated Light that thy Spirit may be so stript and divested from all Phantasms and from all Intanglements and clowdy overshadowings as may be suppos'd that of an Angel tyed to a Body who is not hindred by the activity of the Flesh neither is intangled with vain and hurrying Thoughts Let thy Spirit therefore fortifie it self against all Temptations Vexations Injuries and Affronts whatsoever so that with the greatest unconcernedness and evenness of Temper it may immoveably persevere in God in Adversity as well as Prosperity And when any thing of trouble listlessness to any thing that is good or confusion of Mind do chance to seize thee do not thou therefore think strange or be discouraged neither run thou upon this account to vocal Prayers or other ways of comfort but let this only be thy exercise that thou awaken and stir up thy self through good will in the Intellect that so thou mayst cleave to God with thy mind whether thy sensual Part will or not For a Devout and truly Religious Soul ought to be so intimately united to God and to have and make his Will so conform to the Divine Will that it may not busie it self with nor cleave to any Creature whatsoever any more than she did before she was Created and as if there were nothing at all besides God and the Soul and that it may with an even temper take all and every thing that happens to it securely and infallibly from the gracious hand of the Divine Providence in all things uniformly suffering the Lord in Patience Tranquility and Silence Wherefore it appears that to strip the mind of all Phantasms doth above any other Exercise whatsoever avail and conduce to a Spiritual Life in which by good will thou mayst be united to and become like to God in thy intellect For by this means there will be nothing to mediate or intervene betwixt thee and God Consider therefore how greatly thou dost degenerate from the Nobility of thy Being and how highly thou Sinnest against the Lord thy God and against all his Righteousness if thou with thy Will and Love do cleave unto the Creature rather than to the Creator by this means preferring the Creature before the Creator CHAP. IX That Divine Contemplation is to be preferr'd before all other Religious Exercises whatsoever FOrasmuch therefore as all things besides God are the Effect and Work of the Creator having their Power and Being and whatsoever they are or can stinted and limited and as at first they were produc'd out of Nothing so are still surrounded with nullities and nothingness and of themselves tend to nothing it follows that they must necessarily every moment receive their existence conservation activity and whatsoever else may be in them from the Soveraign Workman God as being in and of themselves insufficient for themselves and others to whose Divine Working they being compared have the same proportion as Nothing to Something or a Finite thing to that which is Infinite Wherefore let all our Contemplation Life and Operation be in him alone and about him and for him and to him who with one hint of his Will is able and knows to produce things infinitely more perfect than those Creatures we now see There can be therefore neither with respect to the Intellect or to the Will any Contemplation and Fruition of Love more profitable perfect happy and delightful than that which hath for its Object the Creator the true and Soveraign Good from whom in whom through whom and to whom are all things who alone is infinitely sufficient for himself and all things Who most simply fully and supereminently contains and has concentred in himself from Eternity the Perfections of all things in whom there is nothing that is not himself with whom and through whom the Causes of all unstable things have their lasting subsistence and establishment In whom are the Immutable Ideas and Principles of all Mutable Things and in whom the Eternal Reasons of all Rational and Irrational and Temporal Things do live for ever who fulfills all and essentially fills all and every thing with himself and who is more intimately
any other Source or Spring save only the Benigne Kind and Merciful Will of God even that very self subsisting Essential Love which is God himself Accordingly our hope is not in any degree founded on the Love we have to God nor on the Duties or Services we perform to God or for his sake but is only grounded on the Love which God bears to us and the Works that he himself operates in us This the Apostle St. Paul plainly and openly declares from the High Spirit he had received of God for after that he had spoke to the Romans concerning the comfort of Hope he immediately declares to them from whence the same proceeds saying And hope maketh not ashamed because the Love of God is shed abroad in our Hearts Rom. 5. v. 5. through the Holy Ghost which is given unto us This is the saving Comfort and highest Consolation of Man that out of the inexpressible Love of God the Holy Ghost is given unto him though the Merit of Christ not of his desert as it is written Rom. 5.8 9 10. But God Commendeth his Love towards us in that he died for us whilest we were yet Sinners Forasmuch then as he hath so highly loved us whilst we were yet Sinners as to reconcile us to his Heavenly Father when we did not desire in the least any such thing of him how can it be then that being now reconciled through him to the Father we should not be saved yet not in our own but in his Life For most sure it is that all Life must proceed from one Life as all Death 's proceeded at first from one Death From all which it follows that they are not our own works that can give us comfort so as that from them we should be able to conceive a true and lively hope towards God but they afford us only a comfortable conjecture that this true hope is in us in the very same manner as each fruit points us to the tree upon which it grew It is in this Sense St. Peter tells us 2 Pet. 1.10 that we must be diligent to make our Calling and Election to Eternal Salvation sure by the good Works we do When the Holy Ghost is in any Soul her condition may be compared to water springing out of a Rock Now in this case first there must be water in the Rock for otherwise none could ever spring thence in the next place those hidden springing waters must make a Well before that ever any streams can proceed from them Wherefore as the streams or rivulets lead us to the Well or Spring and the Spring to the hidden Water in like manner do good Works lead us to the Fountain wherein Faith Hope and Love do first spring and these three again lead us to the inward hidden Water even to the Holy Ghost who is the self-subsisting Essential Love of God By this very comparison or Similitude God leads the Samaritan Woman from the Water she drew out of Jacob's Well to that Water which is God himself which through Faith Hope and Love becomes a Well springing up into Eternal Life and flowing forth in the streams of all good Vertues and Graces For the Holy Ghost is the hidden Water Faith Hope and Love are the Spring that make the Well or Fountain and good Works are the Streams or Rivulets Thus you see for a conclusion that no good Work can be in us except the Holy Ghost be there before as hath been already mentioned Now when he dwells in us then is he himself in us that Living Water which becomes in us a Well springing up into Eternal Life through Faith Hope and Love Here thou mayst understand how and in what manner Faith Hope and Love are poured forth or conveighed into our Souls why because the Holy Ghost who is the true Living Water sheds himself abroad in our hearts and so causeth them to flow forth which afterwards farther diffuse themselves into manifold other Vertues and Graces first to those that have them and afterwards also to others that see their Works And lastly as the stream is not the Original of the Spring nor the Spring or Fountain the Original of the hidden Water so neither can our Works be the Original of Faith Hope and Charity nor Faith Hope and Charity be the Original or Cause of the Indwelling of the Holy Ghost CHAP. X. The Love to God that is in us is begotten and born of the Revelation of God's Love towards us NOthing can be conceived more proper and efficacious to beget Love than Love therefore 't is that God then and there only appears most amiable and lovely unto us when his unutterable Love towards us his surpassing Benefits and the Merits of Christ are pourtrayed and imprinted on the heart when in his Light we discover how our Heavenly Father when we were as yet his Enemies gave his only begotten Son to come down into Flesh into this mortal Life yea into the bitterest Suffering and Death for us But now this Revelation Manifestation and Impression on the heart cannot be performed by any one but by God alone who has the hearts of all in his own hand and inclines the Will according to his own pleasure Our dear Lord Christ is that flinty Rock that strikes Fire but yet doth not give it forth except it be forc'd from him with the strong Iron Christ also is the Rock that gives forth Water yet not till it be smitten with Moses's Rod. His Holy Life his Suffering and Death give forth no kindling no inflaming fire except they be stir'd and struck with the eternal unchangeable constant strong Love of God in which he immutably and without repentance has elected those who shall be the Inheritors of his Eternal Joy for no striking helps nor kindles any fire except it fall into the true catching Tinder of those Souls whom God from Eternity hath determined to favour with his Grace to sanctifie and save them For else strike who will the Rock never gives fire and consequently neither doth the Tinder catch it But when God strikes the Rock in the heart of his chosen then it presently gives forth fire then the dead Coals become live Coals the black Tinder looks glorious like the burnish'd Gold and the cold fire becomes shining and flaming in that Love which is kindled by God's Love Thus Love proceeds and springs from Love that is from the Love of God to us proceeds our reciprocal Love to him So likewise neither doth this Rock give forth Water except it be struck with the Rod of Moses ever flowing streams of Grace do not flow from Christ neither doth he appear in the highest degree lovely and amiable friendly and kind in that he was scourged crown'd with Thorns mocked and crucifyed but because the merciful Lord God the true Moses the Great Law-giver of the Law of Love out of pure Love to us or as the Prophet Isaiah chap. 53.5 8. saith for our sakes hath
Children Brothers and Sisters yea even his own Soul and loseth himself wholely and altogether in this World that he may find himself in his Beloved He is got beyond self choosing and his own Works and only waits upon what God will be pleased to choose think speak and work in him with total profound Obedience and perfect Resignation He lives even as if he lived not for his Spirit cleaves so fast to God that he becomes one Spirit with him Fear takes no place in him his Labour is without Weariness and his Sufferings are become his Joy Triumph and Exultation But to whom are we to ascribe all these great strange and wonderful Works To Man Surely no That be far from any Christian Mind God himself is the Worker the Holy Ghost is that Fire which totally consumes Man and burns him to Ashes yea wholely and altogether annihilates or brings him to nothing that so he alone may remain the All in All in him and in All things Let every Soul in this Station carefully take heed not to attribute or appropriate any thing of activity or operativeness to her self But let her rejoyce in her most faithful and most loving God who hath drawn her out of her self and hath of Free Grace favoured her to live in himself in his own Spirit And therefore let such a Soul examine her self whether she finds those Fruits in her which spring from the foresaid highest degree of Love whether or no she be that Tree which God himself hath planted for whatsoever God hath not planted must be plucked up by the Roots cast away and burnt in the Fire Wherefore the Great Duty of the Soul in this state is to have an Eye to two things more especially the one is that she be never without good Thoughts Words or Works the other is that she in her inactivity or ceasing from her Works do find her self to be wrought upon by the Holy Ghost from whence proceeds the Divine Adoption as St. Paul tells us Rom. 8.14 for they who are Led and actuated by the Spirit of God are the Children of God and cannot Sin an St. John saith 1 John 3.6 9. For the Holy Ghost bears witness with their Spirit that they are the children of God Heirs of God and Joint-Heirs with our Lord Jesus Christ Rom. 8.15 16. He who hath this witness in himself he doth not own his Works to be his own but the Holy Ghosts to whom it is impossible to sin and therefore wholly leaves Nature and acknowledgeth himself to be a Child of Grace as having by the new Birth passed out of Nature into Grace CHAP. XV. The Degrees of the Love of God above all things have a mutual Subordination and Respect to one another but yet are not all given by God in the same Order FRom Imperfection according to the order of Nature we advance and go on to Perfection and nothing grows Great which has not before been little in all cases where the order of Nature is kept But when Perfection comes from abroad and is a free gift then it is wholely in the Power of him that bestows it to give it in a lower or higher Degree as pleaseth him best For he that hath a mind to bestow a thousand pounds upon any one of his free Will he may at first give him one pound at another ten at another an hundred and so on or if he please he may invert this Order and give at first an hundred next ten and afterwards one or else may give the whole thousand pounds at once as best liketh him Forasmuch therefore as to love God above all things is a free Gift of the Holy Ghost it depends wholely of his Will to bestow the same in the highest or lowest Degree sooner or later or all the Degrees of it together and at once according as it seems good in in his Eyes for notwithstanding the Beginners Love be in it self inferior and less the Proficients better and the Love of those who are Perfect best of all yet is it one and the same thing with him to make a Sinner Perfect in Love at the first as to make him a Beginner according as frequently he has done Thus verily we see that the Repentance of Paul Peter and Mary Magdalen were perfect Works in which Paul was caught up into the third Heaven Peter became melted into sweet tears of Love and Mary Magdalen with Joy of heart washed the feet of God with her Tears and wip'd them with the hair of her head notwithstanding that Repentance in it self be the work of Beginners Many Persons likewise experience in themselves that at their first taking leave of Sin by true Repentance they find in themselves a readiness to forsake themselves and all the World which is a Work of Perfect Love and yet two or three days after it may be the same persons find great difficulty and opposition to deny themselves in parting with the least part of their Goods or some filthy Lust which is the weak and defective Work of Beginners Sometimes at the Beginning of our Conversion we are able to bear an hundred weight which belongs to those that are Proficients when it may be sometime after we are not able to bear a pound weight which is a state beneath that of Beginners The reason of this alteration is because we do not bear our burthens by our own strength but by the Might and Power of the most High who imparts the same unto us when and how he will not according to our but his own good Pleasure and Liking This discovers the great Folly of those who think by their good Deeds to move and incline God according to their Will and Pleasure who in their own conceit would make themselves lovely and acceptable to God and allure God to them by their Vertue and Goodness as they lure Hawks with a Bait by which perswasion they rob the Divine Mercy of it's due Priviledg and Prerogative and carry blasted Oats to Market they would fain purchase Gold with Dung and be saved by their own Righteousness and to defend their Folly alledg the Sayings of the Holy Fathers which they never yet understood And are also extremely displeased with those who cannot comply with them in this their Folly O Folly beyond all Folly To mistake about the number of the Stars the Height of Heaven the Depth of the Sea and such like is no great damage or loss but to mistake in those things that concern our Salvation is a Loss inestimable and irreparable and more especially in the Love of God for he that mistakes in this Love mistakes in all things that are necessary to Salvation whereas he who is not mistaken in this cannot err in any thing that of necessity conduceth to Salvation Would to God that all the Books were lost wherein Men have taught us to practice Vertues so that Love alone were but found by us for then every one would do what he ought But
forasmuch as the Divine Love only flows forth from Gods Love revealed and manifested to us it for the most part happens that we through our vehement earnestness and eager pursuit after her hinder our selves from rellishing her sweet Savour which is best tasted and perceived when we are silent and introverted inwardly attentive when we open our Mouths wide expecting the Heavenly Food when we work or do neither Good nor Evil but attend the Working of the Holy Spirit in us In this manner David hearkned and heard what God spake in him and found him speaking Peace He opened his Mouth wide and experienc'd Gods filling it was silent and waited upon God and received Incomes of Spiritual Strength and Power Ps 81.10.40 1.85.8 For the Almighty VVord saith the Wise King Wisd 18.14,15 comes not down from Heaven his Royal Throne nor suffers it self to be heard till all things be in quiet silence Therefore for a conclusion we must above all things labour and endeavour for inward stillness and quiet of Heart and to reduce our Prayer and other outward and inward Exercises to Rest and Silence that so we may hear the Heavenly Voice of God and perceive his Lovely Motions Thus thou seest how our good God permits himself to be overtaken by a soft or slow Pace but never by Running according as we read concerning the Divine Spouse Cant. 3.1 2 4. c. 5.2 3 4 5 6. That when she laid down on her Bed and had no Desire after her Bridegroom but rather seem'd to be troubled at his knocking yet was this the time he took to manifest himself in all Friendliness and Love towards her whereas when she run out after him he hid himself from her CHAP. XVI The Degrees of the Love of God alter and are changed according to the Will and Pleasure of the Self-subsisting Love of God suitable to what he knows to be most Vseful for Men. TO Love God above all things therefore is a perpetual and constant Work always abiding the same as long as the Lover abides in the true Love yet not always at the same Height or in the same Degree but sometimes more and at other times less as God knows it will be most Profitable for the Beloved Person To Paul was given a thorn in the Flesh an Angel of Satan to buffet him that he might not be exalted above measure by reason of the abundance of Revelations vouchsafed unto him 2 Cor. 12.7 And on the other hand we see the Robber was assured of his part in Paradice Luk. 23.43 and had a clear sight given him that he was a Child of Salvation and was favoured with a joyful Death to the end the Depth of his Sins might not overwhelm him At one time Paul crys out Rom. 7.24 O wretched Man that I am who shall deliver me from this Body of Death And not long after we hear him boasting and triumphing at such a rate as this Rom. 8.38 39. for I am perswaded that neither Death nor Life nor Angels nor Principalities nor Powers nor things present nor things to come nor Height nor Depth nor any other Creature shall separate me from the Love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. This was a perfect Word proceeding from a perfect Love Thus it happens still at this day that God often in an Hours time yea in a much shorter space doth oft alter the degrees of Love in us Sometimes we find in our selves a perfect Elevation of our Minds with entire and total Resignation and soon after experience a frightful and doubting Heart and an unstable Will and many are in the same Moment comforted again with Courageousness and a Peaceful and Joyful Mind which makes them break forth with David Psalm 56.11 In God have I put my Trust and will not fear what all mine Enemies can do unto me So that a Man here upon Earth is not constant in any degree of Love but sometimes is raised above himself and at other times sinks beneath himself according as the Holy Ghost draws him Furthermore we are to know to our great comfort that the Love which God hath towards us doth neither admit of encrease dminution and frequently is doing the very best for us when we least of all perceive or understand it We are also for the most part most sweet and well pleasing to him when he seems most bitter and harsh to us here upon Earth where his Divine Love more exerts its self for our Cross and Suffering than for our Joy Heaven is the place where God continually manifests and displays himself in everlasting Joys not this Earth Forasmuch therefore as there is more advantage and profit in Poverty than in Riches more in Suffering than in enjoyment more in Weeping than in Laughter more in Hunger than in Fulness or Satiety more in Communion of Suffering than in Communion of Comfort it follows that the Love of God manifests it self in a fuller and greater Measure to us when it procures us Lamentation Sorrow Suffering and Misery than when it affords us pleasure and delight Wherefore altho' the feeling of that Quiet and Peace of Heart which is the Portion of those who are Perfect in Love be Sweeter and more delightful yet is the Love of Proficients wherein God manifests himself for the strengthning and encouraging of the Mind more profitable for Advantage and Amendment Besides it is far more profitable and advantagious to our Salvation that we despair of our own Strength than that we confide in our own Works or Labour For which Cause also God of his great Grace doth frequently take away from us the Love of Proficients and drives us into the acknowledgment of our disability and into fearfulness and despairing of our selves to the end that as little helpless Children we might run to him as our only Redeemer accounting our selves nothing and magnifying his Grace and Power alone When it is thus with us then from the great Love of God to us ward the Love of Beginners proves of greatest use and advantage to us and we do experience by so much the more comfort from God by how much the more we despair of our own Power when we do not trust in our Strength nor take upon us to strive and struggle but only six our eye upon the Lifted up Brazen Serpent Numb 21.6 7 8 9. as in the Figure it is very comfortably held forth to us When the Children of Israel were dangerously and mortally hurt by the poysonful stinging of the Fiery Serpents God was pleased to give them a Brazen Serpent lifted up on a Pole even a Serpent without Poyson made of Brass and whosoever did only behold the same became immediately healed and all the Serpents fled away from him without any more ado Which Figure imports thus much that there is no more ready or compendious way for a Man to get rid of the Poyson of Diabolical Temptation than when he despairs of any opposition himself can make
against it and lays hold only on the Cross trusting and confiding in that Fight and Combat which Christ without Sin maintained against the Sins of Men to exterminate the Diabolical Poyson and in the same came off a Conqueror and Triumphator And thus a Christian boasteth of Christ alone and wholly despairs of himself Wherefore it is much better for a Man to commit and resign himself wholly to God neither Praying for this or the other feeling or Perception of the Divine Love but that he would order all things according to his own good Pleasure When a Man comes to this State he enjoys a constant and abiding Peace Tranquility and Comfort founded and bottom'd on the unchangeable Love God bears towards us however Dead Barren or Heavy he may find himself But they who will not rest save in the highest degrees of Love and who do not believe God is with them when they do not feel in themselves the Sweetness of his Love or at least some Comfort and Solace of his Spirit such as these have no constant abiding Comfort here on Earth and are in Eminent Danger both as to Soul and Body CHAP. XVII That all things work together for the best of the Elect that Love God above all things ALL things and all Creatures are theirs who belong to Christ and are his as St. Paul saith 1 Cor. 3. v. 21 22 23. The Apostles the World Life Death Things present and things to come and in a Word all Creatures are his who himself is Christs and Christ without a mean is Gods but we are his through or by means of Christ Wherefore also the Elect Soul is by means of Christ so highly Seated in Gods favour that all Evil yea even Sin it self is not only not hurtful to her but also conducive and helpful in the hand of God her great Physitian to her best State Verily a true Christian is a Miraculous Creature of God with whom God from Eternity in the highest Love has so intimately United himself that tho' as David saith Psalm 89.30 31 32. He forsake the Divine Law and walks not in his Judgments tho he prophane his Statutes and keep not his Commandments yet God for all this will only Chastise him Temporally and not utterly take away his loving kindness from him So that even his Sin must be helpful to his Salvation For what God hath once determined can never fail and whatsoever he hath once promised must Eternally be true whom God Loves and Favours to him Heaven and Hell Good and Evil must be helpful and advantagious And for this Reason it is that we are very Subject to be mistaken and confounded in our Reflecting on the Works of other Men and find that we are not able in the least to pass a true Judgment or Estimate what is profitable or hurtful to Men forasmuch as we find by experience that God sometimes out of great and faithful Love permits him that stands to fall Who doubts but that Peters Fall wherein he denied his Lord and Master was far more profitable and advantagious for him than to have continued and persevered in his self-confidence Our Lord and God has a greater Interest and is more concerned to manifest and display the glory of his own Grace Mercy than to maintain and keep up our Righteousness His least suffering was sufficient to reconcile his Heavenly Father to us to Justifie to Preserve or make us persevere in Righteousness and to save us but this would not have been sufficient to hold forth the unmeasurableness of his Love or the unalterableness of his Mercy Therefore Paul tells us Rom. 11.32 That God hath concluded all under Vnbelief and Sin that he might have Mercy upon all If you take away Sin who then will be able clearly to understand that Gods Mercy is above and beyond all his Works or that Christ the true Son of God is the Redeemer of the World Which no other way could ever have been manifested but by his unalterable Love and by that great instance of his Transcendent Pity and Compassion to us miserable Sinners And therefore Gregory calls Sin Salutary or Saving because by Divine Mercy it procur'd us so glorious a Saviour and Redeemer Forasmuch then as God makes use of Sin for the advancement of his Divine Glory it is no longer any Wonder that he makes the same also advantagious to the Sinner But we must not argue from hence that if it be so we may therefore freely sin without Danger by no means but on the contrary it is our Duty at all times with our utmost Diligence and Strength to avoid Sin as we would the most deadly Poyson for to cover Sin with Mercy is the Work of God alone 'T is he only that can bring good out of Evil we can fall of our selves but not rise again of our selves this rests only in the gracious Mercifulness of God which excells and surmounts all his Works CHAP. XVIII Whosoever hath not received the Love of God above all things to him all the Temporal good things that God affords him are of no Profit ST Paul faith 1 Cor 13 1 2 3. Tho' I speak with the Tongues of Men and Angels and have not Love or Charity I am become like a sounding-Brass or a loud Cymbol and tho' I have the gift of Prophesie and understand all Mysteries and Knowledge and tho I have all Faith so that I could remove Mountains and have no Charity I am nothing Moreover tho I bestow all my Goods to feed the Poor and though I give my Body to be burned if I have not Charity it profiteth me nothing Yea what 's still more where Love is not it is to a persons Hurt and Loss that ever he was born a Man and the highest Gifts or Benefits God hath bestowed upon him serve only for his greater condemnation It had been better for Judas he had neverbeen born as Christ himself testifies that he had never been an Apostle that he had never wrought any Miracles that he had never seen or heard of Jesus and had never eaten the sweet Food with him at the same Table than that after such great and inestimable Favours received he should become his Betrayer sell him and deliver him to the Jews From whence we may take notice that our dearest Lord God bestows that often in his Wrath which he denies in his Love From whence also follows that the higher the Gifts are we receive from God the more they engage us to the Duty of loving God above all things tho they cannot make us to Love God so and therefore are rather Poyson than Gifts if Love does not come along with them neither can they certainly assure us of that love wherewith God loves us to Salvation Moreover these Gifts when they ate separate from Love are the cause of a puft up Spirit Pround Mind censorious judging arrogant Actions imprudent Behaviour and converse Self conceitedness Hypocrisie and Contempt of the simple
so freely and powerfully move his own work or how the unutterable Loveliness of God tasted and felt in the Heart doth sublime and raise the spirit in Love kindle it melt it and make it triumphantly joyful and full of Jubilee Doth the stone draw the Iron to it self without so much as touching it how much more then must needs the most Rocky and obdurate Soul being touched by the Eternal Heavenly Load-stone be raised above it self and run into the Embraces of this powerful Drawer Cantic 1.4 Or how can it be otherwise but that after this taste of the transcendent Divine sweetness all Tribulation and Suffering strewed over with this Sugar must needs become sweet and desirable Or how is it possible but that all the sweetness of the Love opposite to this must needs lose its taste and become bitter and loathsome seeing the common Proverb assures us that to him who rellisheth the Spirit the Flesh becomes ditasteful and abominable For the Nature and Property of the Holy Spirit of the self-subsisting Love of God is this that wheresoever she touches she draws and allures where she is rellished she drives and impells where she is felt and experienced she rejoyceth the Heart Moreover she has this particular property that she robs the Flesh of all its sweetness like as the Meridian Brightness of the Sun discountenances and darkens the Light of a Candle Furthermore she hath this also amongst the rest of her properties that she sweetens all pains and griefs comforts and relieves Misery and Wretchedness restores all weakness makes all labour light and easie turns weeping into laughter and sorrow into joy He that experimentally finds her rejoyceth to suffer for the sake of Christ from his very heart desires to bear the Cross with Christ and longs for the Fire of Temptation that therein his Love being tried and refined from all Dross may purely and nakedly cleave to God and therefore cries out with the divine Spouse Caâ—tic 4.16 Arise thou North wind and come on East wind and blow upon my Garden that my Spices may flow forth and give their sweet Odour As if she had said come Temptation from all quarters try and prove my Vertues and Graces that they may become pure Gold and be for the amendment and edification of all that hear or see them O Holy and Divine Spirit O sweetest Guest and Inmate of the Soul O only life of men He that wants thee tho' alive is dead before God and he that hath got thee can never die with God tho the world be carrying him forth to his grave Thou art far more necessary to the Soul then the Soul is to the Body VVhere thou art not there the outward dying is the beginning of Eternal death but where thou art of Eternal Life In thee most Holy God we are in thee we live in thee we are savingly moved and all this from the Merits and Satisfaction of our Lord Jesus Christ the only Redeemer of the VVorld in whom the unutterable Mercy of God and over great Love to us is so clearly manifested and through thee O Holy Ghost so plainly imaged and deeply imprinted in our hearts that we cannot look for any thing else but Love from the Father Son and Spirit so that it is now no more possible for us to take any strange God for our God than it is possible for any one else to shew us such transcendent and unmeasurable Mercy Kindness and Love as thou hast made us partakers of It is possible and it hath oft happened that even wicked Men have wrought Miracles being the same thing Scripture testifies that Antichrist shall do at his coming It is also possible that the Enemies of God may in outward Gifts of Charity shew themselves more liberal to the Eyes of Men than ever thou hast done and to make others by their Liberality rich and powerful and such like But all these are but uncertain signs and marks of the right true Love To suffer and die for the sake of the Beloved Object is a true and infallible sign of Love when this is done for Gods sake it shews a Love sufficient to Salvation and if it be done for the sake of a Friend then is it an expression of the highest degree of Human Love as the Lord Jesus witnesseth No Man can have greater Love than this that he lay down his life for his friend Joh. 15.31 But if this Love rise get higher even to that degree as to make a Man willing to suffer and die for his Enemy then is it a certain Mark of the Love of God alone VVe read of Antichrist that he shall do his utmost endeavour and diligence as far as is possible to appear outwardly like to Christ in Miracles VVorks of VVonder and in all his other Actions and Behaviour yea to be more kind and beneficent in outward Gifts and Liberality He will as was before hinted by his Liberality make those Rich and Powerful that believe in him and will also draw to his Party such as are Rich and Powerful with rigour and severity and by fear compel them for he will horribly afflict torment and put to Death such as will not believe in him But it will never please him to suffer for his Enemies and to die for those that hate him by which it appears that his Love is so far from being the true Divine Love that it is not so much as the highest Degree of Human Love VVherefore also all these pompous Shews of his Love will be of no force with the Elect of God to deceive them Out of Christ alone as was said before the highest Love of God breaks forth and manifests it self out of him alone flow forth the waters of Grace Neither is there any other Name under Heaven wherein and whereby we may be saved save only the sweetest Name Jesu to whom alone therefore we point and direct all who are desirous to be inflamed with the Love of God for in him alone we meet with all that ought and must be sought for in order to our Salvation CHAP. XXI The most sure and certain Sign of all as well of our entire Love to God as of his Gracious Love to us is a perfect Emptiness or Exinanition of Spirit THE Heart of a true Lover of God above all things becomes emptied and void of all Creatures as soon as it is arrived to the degree of Perfect Love so that nothing but God free and alone remains in his Spirit all Creatures whatsoever soever being driven thence But as long as this is not yet come to pass in our Souls all the most specious and apparent Signs of Gods dwelling in us are uncertain doubtful and to be suspected But when a Man is become void and empty of himself and all Creatures when he forgets his own Life his Merits his Salvation and seeks nothing but the Honour of God when he is only well pleased with his Will whether it be to
save them and none of them might be lost But why the Father hath foreseen or predetermined one and not another it doth not become us to enquire For this is sufficient comfort and satisfaction to us that we know that they all are Predestinated that believe in Christ CHAP. VI. Concerning the Redemption or Deliverance from Sin NO Man can ever be deliver'd from his Sin save only through Faith in Christ who is the Lamb of God that takes away the Sins of the World Vpon him aâ—e laid the Sins of us all he is the Scape Goat who carries the Sins of all the World into the Wilderness Without or besides him there is no Redeemer Isa 4.3.11 No Confession no Repentance no human Work is of any avail in this Case We must believe in Christ or else die in our sins Wherefore it is far more necessary for us to exercise our selves in the Faith than in a Confessional at Directory The Faith in Christ never fails the Faith in Christ purifies the heart it justifies us makes us Children of God obtains Grace of God and renews the whole Man Mat. 11.28 29 30. Come hither all ye that labour and are heavy laden with Sin believe in Christ so shall ye be refreshed and find rest to your Souls Joh. 7.37 38. Doth any ene thirst after the Divine Grace let him come hither and drink for he that believes in Christ as the Scripture saith out of his Belly shall flow Rivers of Living Water Faith is the True River of Jordan in which those who are washed obtain the purity and innocence of Children Faith is that Fountain that washeth and purifies from all uncleanness Isa 55.1 2. Come therefore and buy it without Money and without Price you need not give any thing for it for ye are justifyed by Grace alone through the Redemption which is in Christ whom alone God hath set and appointed to be our Saviour and gracious Redeemer only by the Faith in his pretious Blood-shedding for the manifesting and declaring of his Righteousness Rom. 3.24 25. and 5.1 By Faith we are saved without the Works of Love Whence follows that nothing is more needful for us than to exercise our selves in the Faith CHAP. VII Concerning our being set free from Damnable Sins NOtwithstanding that those who believe in Christ do fall into Sin transgress the Laws of God Prov. 24.16 and it may be more frequently than those who do not believe yet they who believe in Christ have the advantage that their Sins shall not be imputed to them to their Condemnation God will not because of them turn away his loving kindness from them but will visit their transgressions with his fatherly Rod and not take his loving kindness quite away from them For so God declares and testifies to David concerning Christ Psalm 89.30 31 32 33. 2 Sam. 7.12 13 14 15. And when thy days be fulfilled and thou shalt sleep with the Fathers I will set up thy Seed after thee which shall proceed out of thy bowels and I will establish and confirm the Throne of his Kingdom for ever and will exalt him above all the Kings of the Earth I will be his Father and he shall be my Son If his Children forsake my Law and walk not in my Judgment if they break my Statutes and keep not my Commandments then will I visit their Transgression with the Rod and their Iniquity with Stripes nevertheless my Loving kindness will not I utterly take from them nor break my Covenant made with them nor alter the thing that is gone out of my Lips I will abide true whether they abide so or no. For whatsoever is once born of God shall never sin neither can ever sin unto Death Their sins are always pardonable if they repent because they have been once born of God for that Divine Birth withholds them from sinning not their own Virtue Reason or Strength and presence of mind Forasmuch then as no Man is born of God but he that believes in Jesus Christ it is a consideration above all measure wonderful and terrible to see then so little exercised in or acquainted with the Faith that is in Christ It were good and necessary therefore that the Ministers of Gods Word should continually in season and out of Season faithfully exhort and press people to this Holy Faith And indeed tho there were no other Fruit of the true Faith in Christ but this only yet would all men have sufficient Reason to press after and desire it as being of such absolute necessity to Salvation CHAP. VIII Concerning the Encrease of Merit WE all know that no Man can deserve or Merit any thing of God or do any good thing except that he be planted and engrafted by the Father into Christ Joh. 15.1 2 3. which cannot be by any other way than through the Faith that is in Christ I am the Vine and my Father is the Husband Man Every Branch in me that beareth no Fruit he taketh away and every Branch that beareth Fruit he purgeth it that it may bring forth more Fruit. As the Branch cannot bear Fruit of it self except it abide in the Vine no more can ye except ye abide in me I am the Vine ye are the Branches He that abideth in me and I in him the same bringeth forth much Fruit for without or sever'd from me ye can do nothing He that abideth not in me the same cannot bring forth any good Fruit nor do any good works but his works will be cast into the Fire and be left there It is clear and evident that no man can do any thing that is good except he believe in Christ for otherwise even all his seeming Virtues are no better than Sins rejected and condemned to the Fire of Hell What will then become of the seeming Virtues of the Heathens of the Judgment of right Reason and the counting upon our good meaning without Faith in Christ Since without Christ there is indeed no true Virtue Reason or good meaning And this Doctrine agrees very well with what Jesus declared to the Jews when he bad them labour or work for that Meat which endureth to Eternal life Whereupon when the Jews asked him John 6.27 28. What shall we do that we may work the Works of God Jesus answered them saying this is the Work of God that ye believe in him whom he hath sent Therefore we ought and must employ and exercise our selves in those Works that abide to Eternal Life even such as God himself works in us and that flow forth from the Faith which is in Christ for they only endure for ever unto Eternal Life all the rest will be lost fruitless and in vain CHAP. IX Concerning the certain Hearing of our Prayers IF ye abide in me saith our Saviour and my words abide in you ye shall ask what ye will and it shall be done unto you Joh. 15.7 And again Whatsoever ye shall ask in my Name I will do