and to inioye him Or yet more fully Charitie is a motion of the soule to inioye God for his owne sake and ones selfe and his neighbour for God So that Charitie is a loue which lookes onely vpon God or for God AFFECTION and RESOL. Good God how sublime and noble an obiect How worthy of a mans whole thoughts Nay rather how farre is it aboue man and who did imbolden him to take so high a flight Ah! It was euen the same souueraigne Good which would haue it so O Lord what art thou to me or what am I to thee that thou shouldst commande me to loue thee Yea and be angrie and threaten to lay huge punishments vpon me if I loue the not Ah! is it not of it selfe a great and euen the worst of miseries if I loue thee not II. POINT Consider that as Faith and Hope are not fruites of this base soyle so nor Charitie as by our endeuours and substaÌ„ces we are not able to purchace them so nor this but it is sent dovvne from heauen as the most excelleÌ„t of Gods gifts saith he according to that of the Apostle Charitie is diffused in our harts by the holy Ghost vvhich is giuen to vs. To wayne our harts from earth and carrie them vp to heauen with her AFFECTION and RESOL. O diuine and heauenly Charitie Thy extraction is from Heauen thy whole ayme or obiect is Heauen thy whole imployment in earth is to rayse our harts to Heauen and of earthly which we are to make vs become heauenly O my soule let vs not loue our selues so litle as not to imploy our selues wholy vpon this sacred loue O loue which alwayes burnest and art neuer extinguished ô Charitie which art my God let me be wholy burnt with thy fire that I may loue thee with all my hart with all my soule with all my strength with all my aymes and intentions c. III. POINT Consider that though holy charitie be a fruite originally of Paradice yet being planted in our harts by the singer of the holy Ghost we are to husbaÌ„d water and increase it For saith S. August is Charitie intirely perfect as soone as it is produced No but it is produced that it may be perfected To witt being produced it is nourished by nourishment strengthened by strength perfected AFF. and RESOL. O let vs carefully watch this holy fire that wee may neuer be so vnhappie as haue it dye out for want of the oyle of our workes let all our thoughts be imployed vpon the husbandrie of this feede of Heauen let it be watered with the plentifull teares of a contrite and humble hart Deare God smite my hart with the dart of thy loue that my soule may say to thee I am wounded with thy charitie and out of that Loue-sore a floode of teares may streame day and night THE XVI MEDITAT Hovv Charitie is increased I. POINT COnsider how admirable Charities commerce is which quite contrarie to wordly riches increaseth by being imparted and bestowed vpon our neighbours Bestowe your charitie bountifully and it increaseth abundantly communicate not this sacred fire to your neighbour and it decreases languisheth and dyeth out Money saith he and Charitie are not bestowed alike that by being bestowed is diminished this is increased Yea more it increaseth in his hands who renders it and by how much more amply he repays it by so much more plentifully he retaynes it It increaseth in his hands AFFECTION and RESOL. O blessed tradinge easie and wishfull and gaynefull traffike By giuing away apace we speedily waxe rich By endeuouring to make others happie we fayle not our selues to become happie indeed We will therfor dilate the bowells of charitie and striue to doe good to all One we will helpe with counsell another with comfort or what other wayes we may be able to assiste him in II. POINT Consider how exceeding easie our good God hath made the increase of charitie It is not necessarie that we haue ether a great power a great purse or vse any great industrie For is there any thing more comon or more within euerie mans power then a cupp of cold water giue that onely for Gods sake and charitie is increased and a reward is promised Who saith he is able to bring any excuse sith God promiseth a revvard euen for a cupp of cold vvater And againe such is the nature of holy loue and true charitie that by imparting it increaseth AFFECTION and RESOL. O God how good thou art who while we haue nothing but by thy free gift enables vs by the good vse of what thou hast formely giuen to increase holy loue and therby draw a number of new blissings vpon vs. Ther is nothing lesse then a cupp of cold water nothing greater then loue and yet euen by that this is increased III. POINT Consider further with your holy father that it is not onely by your purse power or by the gift of a cupp of cold water that charitie is increased but euen by a good looke a good wishe a myld answere Despise no suppliant if thou beest able to giue giue If not shew thy affabilitie God crownes our good wishes where he finds no wealth Let none therfore say I had not wherwithall charitie comes not out of our coffers onely He who hath a hart full of charitie neuer wants what to giue AFFECTION and RESOL. O deare God how exceeding easie thou hast made this Queene of vertues which is indeed alone better then all the rest together Let vs neuer be so wanting to our selues as to send any away without an Almes since a good word a looke a wishe is able to doe it and by so doing our loue is increased and our title to the Kingdome of heauen inlarged THE XVII MEDâ—TAT THE EXCELLENCIES of Charitie I. POINT COnsider with him that there is nothing better more pretious more profitable more lightsome more stronge more secure then charitie AFFECTION and RESOL. What is it we looke for or whether is it that with paynes we run to seeke it Nothing can possibly be found better then the best nor more pretious then what is most pretious c. and all that we may possesse in charitie alone Nothing can better enlighten our blindnes strengthen our weaknes or secure vs against the manifold dangers of this malignant world II. POINT Consider that Charitie possesseth vs of the presence and sight of God so that we need not run out into the streetes to looke whom our hart loueth since the eyes of Faith discouers alreadie in our owne hart whom we loue Why doe we send him who hath charitie a farr of to see God Let him obserue his owne conscience and there he sees God for if Charitie inhabites there there also inhabits God Would we happily see him in heauen Le ts haue charitie and he is in our hart as in Heauen AFFECTION and RESOL. O the blisse and glorie and Maiestie of a louing hart O humane hart not so much
now a hart as a Heauen or Paradice since thou art made a Mansion for the God of glorie Doe not doe not my hart gadd abrode and by a degenerous conuersation forgett with whose presence thou art honored thou hast by loue gott Deus tuus omnia Contemne for his loue all other thinges saying Dilectus meus mihi ego illi III. POINT Consider whether a greater commendations could be putt vpon Charitie then by saying God is Charitie A short prayse and yet a great prayse Short in speech great in vnderstanding Yes it is quickly said God is charitie but good God whether are our thoughtes carried by that word God is Charitie By possessing Charitie then wee possesse God but God is all good things therfore by possessing Charitie we possesse all that good is in Heauen and in Earth AFFECTION and RESOL. O short and great commendation indeed sith so great as nothing can be added Since greater or better then God nothing can be imagined by men or Angells Nor is it a humane persuasion we haue for it but an assurance of faith that God is Charitie and vvho remaynes in Charitie remaynes in God and God in him O my soule what an honor and comfort is this amidst all the calumnies and afflictions of the world that by loue thou art able to become Gods Mansion and he thyne And if thy beloued be thyne and thou his what can be wanting to a well borne hart THE XVIII MEDITAT A continuation of the excellences of Charitie I. POINT COnsider that Charitie alone is not vexed at anothers felicitie because she knowes no emulation She alone is not transported with her owne felicitie because she swells not with pride She onely is not stung with a bad conscience because she wrongs no body Amidst contumelies she is secure amongst hatreds friendly amongst braules pleasant amidst deceipts innocent lamenting at iniquities and resuming hart vpon the discouerie of Truth AFFECTION and RESOLVT Who is then so happie as one inioying Charitie What hath the world which can giue so solide and sure a content Yea what hath it that is not brimme full of discontent Wheras the charitable man meets with no vexation no emulation no swelling but contrarily ioy peace patience vnder the shelter of a good conscience are that happie mans share O diuine Charitie how thou fillest the harts which thou dost possesse with delight sweetnes and tranquilitie Ah! they seeme euen to enter into the ioy of their Lord. II. POINT Consider that it is Charitie which makes all the good Angells and all Gods seruants compagnions in the bonde of sanctitie and it ioynes vs and them together amongst our selues and subiects vs to him AFFECTION and RESOLV See how it leagues heauen and earth together and putts vs in mynd what title we haue to it makes Angells and men fellow seruants and euen in a manner equall in honor and chaynes them together in linkes of holy loue which is true sanctitie ô wishfull and deare bonds See what a sweete order it establisheth betwixt man and man making each one loue and honor and deferre to an other without forgetting their due subiection to God to whom incomparably aboue all loue honor and glorie is due III. POINT Consider vvhat a huge great good Charitie is vvhich vvithout our labour makes vvhat is good in others our ovvne Hence it was that the Psalmist holily glories that he is made partaker of all that loue God and keepe his commandements AFFEDTION and RESOLV Ah my soule if thou hast but charitie all 's thyne owne There is no good worke done in heauē or in earth but thou hast a share of it Heauen and earth makes but one great Christiā comon wealth wherof Charitie is the Queene and lodgeth in thy hart What euer prayers fastings austerities almes-deeds sufferances are exercised within the compase of the Catholike Church are partly thyne while thou art rooted in Charitie THE XIX MEDITAT OF SOME MOTIVES of the loue of God I. POINT COnsider that S. Augustins first motiue of the loue of God was that he first loued him The loue wherby God loues vs cannot be comprehended nor changed for he loued vs not onely since the tyme we were reconciled to him by the blood of his son but he euen loued vs before the world was made that we together with his onely begotten son might be his sons before we were yet any thing at all AFFECT and RESOLVT While I yet was not and so was nothing my infinitly good God had thoughts of goodnes for me to rayse me out of that abisse of nothing and make me that something which now I am being made he fell in loue with his owne worke meerely out of the abundance of his owne goodnes without any neede he had of it at all and made vs sons sons and heirs of the heauenly Kingdome we had no title too Ah my soule if we will not begin to loue at least being thus graciously preuented let vs not sticke to pay loue for loue The hart is too hard which though it will not freely giue will not a◠least render what it owes II. POINT Consider that his second motiue was the excessiue greatnes of Gods loue to vs such as we were which went so farre that he spared not his owne onely son but deliuered him to death and the death of the Crosse for all of vs vs who where wicked sinners Remember how much he loued that we may not despaire whom or what kind of creatures he loued that we waxe not proude A son for a seruant an that a most wicked one deliuered vp to death and that à most ignominious one AFFECTION and RESOLV O God I cannot looke vpon that great price that infinitly great price the pretious blood of a son spent for the redemption of a seruant but of a son who was a first begotten an onely begotten and an onely beloued one one to thyne owne hart in whom thou wert intirely pleased one in a word in euery thing equall to thy selfe I cannot I say looke vpon it but with much loue and considence Nor can I reflect vpon the seruant the poore miserable and sinfull seruant vpon which it was spent but with much confusion O God what is man that thou shouldst so putt thy hart vpon him but ô man what is God to thee And yet thy hart departs so easily from him III. POINT Consider that his third motiue was not tha◠he loued vs first and most bu◠euē prepared no other reward for our loue then himselfe What then saith he shal◠our worshipe of God haue noe reward Ah yes but noe other then the verie God himselfe whom we worshipe Seeke nothing of him without him he himselfe wil◠suffice thee AFFECTION and RESOL. Ah! that hart is conuinced to be intolerably greedie and vnsatiable whom God sufficeth not At least Augustin◠noble hart finds all plentie meere want to him which is not his verie God And therfore he petitions for
and they are not it Le ts make reflection of all that euer we haue heard of honours riches pleasures and all of them are not it Let vs by helpe of imagination put all togeither that we haue either seene or heard and euen adde to them millions of millions more and yet we are not arriued at it Noe for S. Paule assures vs that neither eye hath seene nor eare hath heard nor hath it entred into the mynde of man vvhat God hath prepared for those that loue him AFFECTION and RESOL. O my most bountifull Lord and Master Hath thy goodnesse made me capable of a Kingdome which thy wisdome hath not inabled me at present to comprehend O too too happie we could we truly vnderstand our owne happinesse But ô more then most vnhappie we if we permitt sinne to robbe vs of it or that we otherwise make it a way for a messe of potage or the bitter Mandragores of mixt moments of painefull pleasures for such inconsiderable toyes I meane as are daylie obiects to meanest eyes and fill euery eare Nay euen for the greatest thinges our hartes can conceiue since in a smale tyme they vanish away like dreames and leaue nothinge in our hands Alas were it not a strange miserie and madnesse to make away such inconceiuable permanēt possessions for such knowne transitorie toyes THE II. POINTE. What heauen is Consider againe what this Kingdome or possession prepared for vs may be and we finde it is a state of life perfectly accomplished with the whole collection of all good thinges Not a passage but a state a permanencie without change without end without irkesommesse Perfectly accomplished not by halues and peecemeales With the vvhole collection of all good thinges Not with a few as here below and those good and ill paines and pleasures mixt togeither but with the whole collection of all good thinges so that what euer we desire shall be present and all that we desire not shall be absent eternally AFFECTION and RESOL. We haue Gods word for it my soule and it cannot fayle vs that he will shew vs all good that is all that is aduantagious gaynefull and rich in steede of the transitorie riches of this world all that is beseeming honorable and illustrious in lieu of the vaine and vadinge honours here belowe all that conteynes in it selfe any cause of ioy and iubilie and and all that is deare and delightfull to witt that ineffable vnmeasurable eternall waight of glorie according to S. Paule in place of those short light deluding and euen painefull pleasures as Salomon and S. Augustine experienced them for which poore man looses himselfe Thus my soule doth faith assure vs let not then follie perswade vs the contrarie THE II. MEDITATION FOR THE 6. DAY Of Heauen againe THE FIRST POINTE. COnsider the kingdome prepared for vs is Beatitude come ô you blessed and Beatitude is noe other thinge then to know what is best and to inioy the same And wheras none but God himselfe is our summum bonum or optimum our cheife good or our best it followes that God himselfe the father sonne and holy Ghost is our Beatitude or the Kingdome prepared for vs accordinge to that I my selfe vvill be thy exceeding greate revvarde Him we shall see face to face and in that sight our vnderstanding meets with all truth him we shall see and in seeing him our will meetes with all good Hence the vnderstanding hauing noe more to seeke and the will noe more to loue they fall as it were into a blessed necessitie of truly seeing what they loue and louing what they see for all eternitie AFFECTION and RESOL. Forgett not then ô man thy dignitie By Gods mercy and the merits of Christ thou art made the sonne of God coheire with Christ to share in his heauenly inheritance to possesse the same Kingdome with him that is to knowe the prime truth and loue the cheife good for euer and euer Let not then the fables fictions and vaine lyes of the world take vp thyne vnderstandinge made to knowe so great and diuine a Truth nor the vaine loue of creatures ingage thy will made to loue so souueraigne à Good But crye incessantly here belowe with holy S. Augustine Let me knovv thee ô Lord and knovv my selfe and let me loue thee as much as I desire and as much as I ought Thus my soule may we in some measure while we liue amidst our miseries begin before hand to possesse our Beatitude which consists in knovving louing and inioying our chiefe Good which is God himselfe THE II. POINTE. Hovv Heauen is to be purchased Consider out of the Gospell that the Kingdome of heauen suffers violence and the violent beare it avvay Yes but we must learne of S. Ambrose how we are to make this violence We are to assault it not with swords with clubbe or stone but with myldnesse with good workes with chastitie These are the armes which our faith makes vse of in that onsett But yet to make a right vse therof we must first of all make force against our owne flesh and bloud that so gayning dominion ouer our selues we may imploye all our abilities to force Heauen as it were out of the stronge hands of the Almightie We are not to hope saith S. Gregorie to come to great honours but by great labours and paines We must mortifie our members and all the mutinous people of our hartes our vnrulie passions and badd inclinations So did all the saintes of God scale and winne his Kingdome So did that greate Doctour of the Gentiles beare it away I chastise my body and bringe it into seruitude So did the sainte of saintes enter into his owne Kingdome He suffered and so entred into his owne Kingdome AFFECTION and RESOL. Let vs not hope my soule that we who are but younger and adoptiue children should find any other safe way to heauen then that which the naturall sonne of God and all his saintes were to passe That is through tribulations contumelies and contempts If vve suffer vvith him vve shall raigne vvith him Noe noe the pure wheate reserued for the heauenly granaries must be winnowed the gold found worthy to haue course in that celestiall Kingdome must passe through the hotest fires Sweete S. Augustine putts it at the lowest rate that euer it can be expected and yet according to him it will cost vs noe lesse then all we are The Kingdome of heauen saith that excellent Sainte is vvorth as much as thou art giue thy selfe and thou shalt haue it Doe not stand barganing my soule and grudging at the price The naturall sonne of God purchaced it at noe lesse a rate for himselfe and thee THE FIRST MEDITAT FOR THE 7. DAY A serious reflection to be made as vvell of Gods gracious gifts beflovved vpon vs as minaces pronounced against vs. THE FIRST POINTE. COnsider by way of a serious reflection of all the former Meditarions that since God hath bene so gracious to
vs and we so vngratefull to him as greatly and frequently to haue offended his diuine Maiestie Since he so souuerainly hates sinne wherâ—of we stand guiltie Since death is so vncertaine iudgement so dreadfull Hell so intolerable and the ioyes of Heauen prepared for vs so ineffablely great consider I say what a necessitie is put vpon vs if our hartes be touched either with dreade of vnspeakable torments or loue of Beatitude To make a good vse of the tyme which by Gods mercy we yet haue to redeeme tyme lost to make hay whyle the sunne shines and to treasure vp the celestiall Manna before the sunne sett AFFECTION and RESOLV Noe my soule we will dare noe loÌ„ger to be so audaciously aduenterous as to triffle our pretious tyme with cold cras crasses But euen at this verie moment I will striue to conclude an eternall peace with God It is dreadfull to come too late to heare verily verily I know you not and to finde the dore shurt My conuersation therfor shall henceforth be in heauen and heauenly thinges I will descende into Hell aliue to obserue the horride torments of that gastly denne I will expect death at all houres since none knowes the houre indeede in which it may surprise me I will iudge my selfe without flatterie that I may not be more rigourously iudged I will endeuour in earnest and with my whole harte to hate sinne which God so soueraignely hates And the residue of my life shall be spent that by true and hartie pennance the onely true refuge after sinne I may take reuenge of my selfe according to S. Paule for hauing offended so gracious a Benefactour and so dreadfull a Maiestie THE SECONDE POINTE. Hovv vve are to returne to God by pennance according to S. Augustine Consider that the way to returne to God by pennance prescribed by S. Augustine is First as to the tyme to returne speedily and without all delay because he who promised pardon to the repentant sinner promised noe certaine tyme for him to repent in but willed him not to delay his conuersion Secondly as to the manner mournfully and with confusion Euery one ought to lament ouer himselfe as ouer a deade corps and expresse huge grones vpon his deade soule Thirdly in qualitie of Iudge Mounte into the Tribunall of your owne harte proue your owne Iudge and exercise iustice vpon your selfe And in the first place take your selfe from behind you where you endeuoured to hide your faults and not to be seene and stand araigned before your selfe Let feare torture you till a true confession burst out from an humbled harte and say to God I achnovvledge myne iniquitie and my sinnes are continually before myne eyes AFFECTION and RESOLVT My soule hauing thus speedily mounefully and with the iustice and rigour of an vnpartiall Iudge discussed our selues let vs presently humbly and confidently haue recourse to God for the rest We haue an vnhappie power in our selues to commit sinne Thy perdition is from thy selfe ô Israel but our saluation is from God alone To his mercy therfor which is aboue all his workes let vs betake our selues saying in the bitternesse of our harte Grant mercy ô Lord to that miserable wretch whom thou so longe sparedst in his crymes O immense pietie take compassion vpon a confessing cryminall O publike mercy looke vpon him with the eye of pitie who hath proued cruell against his owne soule ah I should apprehend my case in a manner desparate did I not bewaile it in the fight of an infinite goodnesse and conceiue my wounds incurable had I not recourse to an all-souueraigne Physition Let me perceiue the effects of thy myldnesse hauing so longe mercifully suspended the sword of reuenge and let the multitudes of my miseries be drunke vp in the multitudes of thy drainelesse mercyes THE II. MEDITATION FOR THE SAME DAY Hovv vve are to returne to God by the example of the Prodigall child THE FIRST POINTE. COnsider that the poore prodigall hauing consumed all his substance and rysing by Gods preuenting grace out of the sleepe of sinne where he had longe layd he said in himselfe hovv many hyrelings are there in my fathers house vvho haue bread in aboundance vvhile I lye staruing herevvith hunger I vvill therfor goe to my father and say vnto him Father I haue offended against heauen and against thee nor am I vvorthy to be called thy sonne treate me onely as one of thy hyrelings This was all the rhetoricke he vsed to witt a true acknowledgment of his owne miserie and offences and the plentie which was found in his fathers house And so tooke a pious resolution with the harte of a contrite and humbled child to returne to a gracious father and confesse his fault willing for his punishment to loose the title of a sonne for that of a poore hirelinge AFFECTION and RESOL. Thus it is my soule that we ought to enter into our selues by comparing the honour and plentie which we inioyed in our fathers house where a quiete conscience heauenly comforts benedictioÌ„s and graces doe abounde with the disasters disgrace and abandonments which experience made vs find and feel when like fugitiues we wandred abroad and were reduced at length to that excesse of miserie as to feede with swine Thus it is that we are to returne home againe by an humble confession of our faults to God and his Ministers hartily acknowledging that we are noe longer worthy of that noble Title of domestikes of God sonns of God coheires and spouses of Christ but onely of poore hirelings which we willingly imbrace Thus doe my soule and we shall infallibly be receiued into the open bosome of a tender father whose bowells are more prone to mercy then our miserable harts readie to craue it as we ought THE II. POINTE. Hovv vve are to returne to God by the example of B. Marie Magdalene Consider that that mirour of true penitents returned to God in the best manner imaginable that is with humilitie and loue mixed with teares c. Vt cognouit saith the Euangelist as soone as she knevv that Iesus vvas sett dovvne to table in the Pharisies house c. she entred with a pious impudence where she was not inuited and placed her selfe behind him at his feete she began to water his feete with teares and wiped them with the haires of her heade and kissed them c. She delayed not to witt the grace of the holie Ghost knovves noe sluggish delay She blushed not because the confusion which she felt within perswaded her that outward shame was not to be valued She spoke not where she knew that the language of a contrite harte was better heard and her teares the while more effectually spoke her errand So that she wrought her wrothfull Iudge to turne her pious Aduocate and to pronounce a fauourable sentence for her Thy sinns are forgiuen thee AFFECTION and RESOLV These indeede my soule are the blissed dispositions which leade vs to a perfect
and is a fruite which is onely found in the bosome of the Catholike Church None but a virgine mother brings out virgines Obedience directs all secures all confirmes all and makes a fitt tabernacle for God in the harte of man by banishing thence selfe iudgement and selfe will But heauenly charitie as a glorious mother farr outstrips them all giues them all their begining increase and perfection For why indeede my soule did we first enterprise this holy worke but because we loue What could be able to robbe vs of all we haue but loue What did wowe vs to virginall chastitie but the loue of a virgine spouse What could moue men to depriue them selues of beloued libertie and to liue at the dispose of anothers will but the loue of him alone who chused rather to dye thē not to accomplish the will of his heauenly Father Loue then saith your holy Father and doe vvhat thou vvilt THE II. POINTE. That vvithout charitie nothing is done to secure our happie eternitie Consider that if humilitie put the foundation of your spirituall Towre it was by charities guidance and order for as humilitie goes not without charitie so charitie neuer leaues humilitie If pouertie raysed the walls it was with the treasure wherwith charitie furnished her If chastitie adorned it within it was with the pure burning gold which she had of charitie Finally if obedience confirmed and secured the whole worke it was by the force she receiued of charitie vvhich is as stronge as death In a word all is from charitie and all is for charitie AFFECTION RESOLVT He S. Paule knewe this truth my soule as certainly as he affirmes it vndauntedly to wit that not onely the foresaid vertues profit vs nothinge without charitie but euen that tho vve should haue all faith so that vve could remoue mountaines though vve should distribute all our goods to be meate for the poore finally though vve should deliuer our bodies to burne and yet vvant charitie it profits vs nothing Charitie saith holy S. Augustine is that which discernes the sonns of God from the sonns of the Diuell Charitie is that one necessarie thinge which alone sufficeth Charitie in a word is that Euangelicall gemme for which if a man should giue all his substance he shall repute it as nothing Come thē ô come then ô thou holy spirit Deus Charitas and replenish the hartes of thy faithfull and inflame them vvith the fire of thy loue THE FIRST MEDITAT FOR THE 7. DAY That all the vertues are loue THE FIRST POINTE. COnsider that so true it is that nothing is done without charitie that your holy Father makes noe difficultie to teach you that vvithout charitie the rest of the vertues are not indeede reputed vertues nay further that the rest of the vertues are but indeede loue and charitie so or so qualified For what is humilitie but charitie stooping and reputing her selfe nothing What is pouertie but charitie contemning all and stripping herself of all What is chastitie but loue preseruing corruptible man from corruption of bodie and mynde What finally obedience but loue freely and reasonably sacrifycing vp the will of man and making it supple and inclinable to euerie creature AFFECTION and RESOL. Charitie then my soule is that transcendant heauenly vertue without which there is noe true vertue at all It is she which gouernes as Queene giues life vigour and worth to all the other vertues He who loueth not remaynes in death It is she who perfumes them all with the odour and sweeenesse of holy loue since we doe not meerely imbrace them because they are vertues but rather in qualitie of thinges that are desired imbraced and beloued by God To discouer à man truly vertuous we vse not to inquire what he beleeues or what he hopes for but what he loues If earth h'es earthly if Heauen he 's heauenly if God he 's Godlike for as such they become all desirable louing and louelie Let me loue thee then ô Lord let me loue thee and loue all other thinges which I loue and practise for thee and in thee that my beloued may be myne and I wholie his THE II. POINTE. That vve ought incessantly to desire and breath after charitie Consider that if as we haue seene Charitie be all in all our thoughtes ought to be sett vpon the continuall desire of it For what ought we or doe we indeede desire but what euery one proposeth to himselfe for his end and the end of the lavve is loue What ought any Christiā to desire but the accomplishment of the lawe of God and the fulnesse of the lavve is charitie Nor fares it in those heauenly desires as in vaine worldly wishes a million of them puts not one pennie into our purses Wheras by the verie desire of the loue of God we begin to loue God indeed and still the more we desire it the more we loue Yea when this desire waxes stronge and hartie the desire is turned into fire and inflames the couering harte He that desires God vvith his vvhole harte has alreadie him vvhom he loues saith S. Gregorie And S. Augustine a holy desire is the vvhole life of a good Christian AFFECTION and RESOL. But alas my poore soule tho we clearely discerne this desire to be most iust aduantagious and most worthy of a christiā harte yet we somtymes perceiue our selues not to be so happie as euen to haue this desire Let vs then at least say with the Prophete my soule hath desired earnestly to desire thy iustifications at all tymes Let vs not fayle to haue this desire of desiring continually in our harte saying with S. Au. Giue me thy selfe restore me thy selfe for vvhat is not thy verie selfe is verie nothing to me and it will happen with vs as it did with the holie Prophete that in these holy thoughtes and desirs fire will flashe out and so throughly inflame our soule that as the stagge thirsteth after the fountaines of fresh water so shall we vehementlie couet and thirst after our good God that drainlesse fountaine of liuing water which flowes into life euerlastnig THE II. MEDITATION Of vvhom vve are to learne Charitie tovvards one another THE FIRST POINTE. COnsider that we ought to learne this most important lesson this one necessarie thinge of him who doth as well teach it as giue it our Sauiour Iesus who brought downe this sacred fire into earth and his vvill vvas it should burne the hartes of men And indeede neuer did he seeme so peculiarly to make himselfe the Master of any thinge as of this vertue and humilitie This is my precept said that deare master of ours that you loue one another My litle children I giue you a new precept that you loue one another In this all men shall know that you are my Disciples if you haue loue one to another Holy Father I pray c. that they may be one as we also are one I in them and thou in me AFFECTION and RESOL. This is the great commandement indeede my soule this Christs speciall precept Loue one another this the badge by which he will haue all his seruants to be knowne If they loue one another If we come without this wedding garmēt we shall be repulsed If we knocke not hauing this oyle of charitie in our Lampes wherby we may be knowne to men to be Gods Disciples God vvill not knovve vs the dore vvill be shut What thinge more wishfull could we haue desired to haue heard thē by affording mutuall loue and assistance to one another which we haue all such neede of to secure our saluation And yet the most louing and beloued Apostle assures vs It is the precept of our soueraigne Lord and Master doe this faith he and it sufficeth Beare one anothers burden and so you shal accomplish the lavve of Christ THE SECONDE POINTE. Hovv vve ought to exercise Charitie to one another Consider that this ought to be done by his example who gaue the commande of it and afterwards came graciously downe to teach it by his owne practise Thus we are taught by the great Apostle Receiue helpe comfort support and loue one another as Christ receiued assisted supported and loued vs. But how did Christ loue vs c Marrie he loued vs first with a free and disinterested loue which looked vpon noe preceedant merites 2. With a right loue not to receiue any thinge from vs but to discharge the ouer-flowing riches of his mercifull breastes vpon our pouertie 3. With a perseuerant loue for louing his vvho vvere in the vvorld he loued them to the end 4. With a stronge loue euen as stronge as death it selfe he loued vs and deliuered himselfe for vs for vs men and for our saluation AFFECTION and RESOL. If then my soule we hope for any consolation in Christ if any solace of Charitie if any societie of spirit if any bowells of commiseration let vs endeuour to fulfill the B. Apostles ioy by being of one meaning having the same charitie of one mynd agreeing in one That nothing be done by contention nor by vaine glorie but in humilitie each counting others better then themselues In a word let vs receiue comfort support and loue our poore brethren and that too as Christ gaue vs the example with a pure and disinterrested loue because it is his blessed pleasure that so it should be With a right loue not seeking that vvhich is profitable in particular to our selues but that vvhich is profitable to many With a perseuerant loue which is not to end but with the end of our liues Finally with a stronge loue readie to wrastle with obuious difficulties and euen with death it selfe for the good of our brother as our deare Lord gaue vs an example
nothing els Render me thy selfe giue me thy selfe for thee I vvish thee I seeke thee I hope for to thee hath my hart said I haue sought thy countenance ô Lord And therfore what euer my Lord God is disposed to bestowe on me let him take it all away and let him giue me himselfe THE XX. MEDITAT In vvhat manner and measure God is to be loued I. POINT COnsider that the best manner of louing God is to loue him chastly that is with puritie of intention with as litle of our owne respects and interest as may be but because he is God that is infinitlie good or infinite goodnes Let vs loue him so a◠that we loue no other thing besides himselfe I that we may be made worthy of his heauenly imbracemets let vs discharge our selues of the care of all earthly things and le ts adheare to him alone gratis AFFECTION and RESOL. Too litle he loues thee ô Lord who loues any thing besids thee yea euen with thee which he loues not for thee for alas the innocent lambe who was slaughtered for vs is worthy to receaue glorie and honor and benediction not that in respect of his good gifts onely but euen because in himselfe he is infinitly wise infinitly powerfull infinitly beautifull infinitly good contayning in him selfe in a most eminent manner all the respects of good by which a reasonable man can be drawen to loue Let vs loue him therfore let vs loue him euen for his selfe sake and for no other reason as farre as we are able II. POINT Consider that the best measure of louing God is to imitate his loue to vs and loue him without measure for sith the obiect of our loue is infinite should not our loue also if it were possible be infinite Thou art immense ô Lord and vvithout measure ought thou to be loued and praysed by those vvhom thou hast redeemed vvith thyne ovvne pretious blood AFFECTION and RESOLV Come le ts loue him le ts loue him he deserues all loue yea more then all for he hath loued vs to make vs he hath loued vs being made he hath loued vs first and most he loued vs so farre as to giue his son and to be readie to giue himselfe if we loue againe Ah! let vs blush and be as hamed if after all this we find our selues slowe to loue MEDITATIONS FOR SEAVEN DAYES TO BE VSED BY THE Canonesses Regulars of the Order of Sainte Augustine in the Monasterie of SION Established at Paris A. 1634. As well before their clothings and Professions os otherwise I vvill leade her into the vvildernesse and I vvill speake to her harte Osee 2. AT PARIS By GABRIEL TARGA M. DC LXV THE FIRST MEDITATION FOR THE FIRST DAY The preparatorie prayer shall be the Hymne Veni Creator with the prayer Deus quicorda THE FIRST POINTE. Of Gods Benefits to man in his Creation CONISDER that God who is infinitly great and infinitly and evernally happy in himselfe seeinge thinges which are not as thinges that are out of his meere Goodnesse without any neede of vs beinge neither preuented by any merits of ours not prouoked by hopes of returnes raysed vs out of nothinge to his owne likenesse presented vs with the whole world made vs absolute Lords ouer it and ouer all the great varietie of thinges comprised in it for our vse Finally he endowed vs with a reasonable soule capable of himselfe to enioy him for euer AFFECTION Where were wee where were wee soelonge or soe longe agoe my soule where were wee and all that wee glory in while wee yet were not Ah while wee slept in our nothinge he who watches ouer Israël slept not But loued vs vvith a perpetuall loue he made a world for vs not vs for the world he made vs Lords ouer it not slaues to it He gaue vs all thinges to vse not to inioy to solace our pilgrimage not to stay vs from our contry Heauen my soule is our contry the Kinge of Heauen our possession which we are made to inioy Be it farre from vs to loue the benefits more then the bountiful benefactor or to glory in our selues or any thinge while we and they are Equally his free gifts THE SECONDE POINTE. Of mans regeneration Consider that though the benefit of creation be great yet that of regeneration farre exceeds it whereby we are borne to a new and better life life euerlastinge By that we were made and called men by this wee were made and called by Christ his owne name Christians or men of Christ By that he gaue vs power to liue and raigne ouer all the creatures by this to be little lesse then the Angells yea to be like to our creator in iustice and sanctity We were borne dead but by pure grace we were reuiued in baptisme made domestikes of his house the Catholike Church strengthened by confirmation fedd and fatned by his holy word and euen his owne pretious body and bloud Whereby wee are not onely called his seruants but are indeede his freinds nor his freinds onely but his sonns nor his sonns alone but his spouses AFFECTION If all my soule that we are be due to God for our creation by which we are all that wee either are or haue in the order of nature what will be due for our better beeinge by our regeneration which makes vs citizens of the Saintes and Gods owne domestikes his friends his sonns his spouses O what hart is able to conceaue the highth of the dignity to be made by grace of sonns of the earth the sonns of God of disloyall subiects he spouses of Christ and yet my soule such wee are which was not granted to all such wee are by his free goodnesse and mercy If therefore all that wee haue in the order of nature or grace we had absolutly from his free gift let all be employed and hartily referred to his honour THE II. MEDITATION FOR THE SAME DAY Of the obligations vvhich vve contract in Baptisme THE FIRST POINTE. COnsider that as the benefite of regeneration in Baptisme is a benefite of preference and of singular excellencie since of slaues of the Diuell it renders vs childeren of God and reintitles vs to our right in the Kingdome of Heauen so it bringes with it greate obligations to which we are all indispensably subiect We solemnely promessed therin in the face of the Church First to renounce the diuell and all his pompes wiles and allurementes wherby he endeuours incessantly to worke our eternall ruine That is to detest and flye the concupiscence of the flesh the cōcupiscence of the eyes and pride of life which are the Diuells baites wher-in he insnares the whole world and inslaues it to his accursed dominion These renounciations ô my soule are the promesses we solemnely made in our Baptisme These are the christian duties to which we are all absolutly oblidged be we religious persons or be we secular according to these we shall be iudged at the last
Lord thy sorowes passe all our sorowes yet my soule it is maiestie that is thus smitten it 's innocencie which thus suffers It 's indeede the God of Gods whose immensitie cannot be comprehended whose perfections excellencies cannot be numbred whose goodnesse is boundlesse whose mercyes cannot be matched Alas my deformed hidden crucifyed Lord whither hath mercy goodnesse loue to miserable man ledd thee was it thought fittinge to this goodnesse that thy wounds should be without number as are thy perfectiōs mercyes to man soe to make an absolute demonstration that as there is noe loue soe are there noe sorrowes like to thyne Let me not liue but to loue thee suffer for thy sake THE II. POINTE. Consider further that he sufferd inall his senses by the presence of all the obiects of sorrow He saw his choysen Apostles sleeping while he was sweating bloud He saw the Trayter whom he had newly fedd with his owne blessed body bloud come in the heade of a barbarous band to apprehend him He saw the execrable crueltie of an vngratefull nation which he had alwayes oblidged and loued by preference Finally his cares were full of blaspheemies scoffes and scornes and his eyes and harte of the sorrowes teares and bloud of a God dying AFFECTION And yet my soule it is the very naturall sonne of God that suffers all this He is the splendour of his fathers glorie and the figure of his substance And shall we his poore sonns taken in by adoption onely see with drye eyes his full of teares and bloud or shall we after this sad sight permitt them any more to be filled with vanitie Shall our eares lye open to destractions adulations and found rumours which hurt our soules whyle his for our sake are filled with contumelies and blasphemies Shall we Christians pamper the rest of our senses with sweetes and delicacies while our Christs so hugely suffers in them all Ah! be it euer farre from vs to pay his loue with such intolerable ingratitude THE III. POINT He suffers in his soule But if his body vniuersally and all his senses be ingaged in the sufference is his soule at least free Ah noe it s sadd to death it s replenished vvith euill or sorrow the bitter vvaters of tribulations haue broken in vpon it The horrour of death the ingratitude of mē the scorne of Nations Pilates iniustice Herods mockerie Annas and Cayphas blasphemie the Scribes and Pharisies circumuentions the Ministers and Soldiers crueltie the peoples preference of Barabbas and their tumultuous and vniust Crucifige See then vvhether there be any sorrovv like to his sorrovv AFFECTION and RESOL. O man of dolours and accustomed to sufferances from thy youth Were not thy sorrowes and in them thy loue to man sufficiently expressed in abandonning that innocent chast and tender virginall body of thyne to the cruell persecutours wills vnlesse thou didst withall permitt the bitter flouds of tribulatiō and deadly saddnesse enter into and take possession of thy blessed soule Consider my soule and see whether their be any sorowe like to this sorrow or any loue like to his loue who gaue vp his soule to such sorrowes for thy sake If the horrour of death inuade thee thy Master went before thee waded through to death it selfe Proue friends vngratefull so they were to thy Lord. Are others of lesse worth preferred before thee but so was Barrabas before thy Master Christ Remember remember my soule that the seruant is not greater then his master c. THE IV. POINTE. He suffers vvithout a comforter Consider his body 's tormented his senses offended his soule afflicted and oppressed Is none left to comfort him Noe none relictus est solus he 's abandoned left all alone to wrastle with all the legions of sorrowes Non est qui consoletur eum There is none left to comfort him Was there euer so pittious a spectacle His Apostles are fled Peter followes a farre of and sweares he knowes him not The dolorous mother stands neere the Crosse indeed but her presence affords so smale solace that her sorrowes serue to redouble his The Angells come not neere His heauenly father abandonns him nay yet more Heauens stand amaysed at it he is euen forsaken by himselfe while he stopps the influence of his diuinitie that it flow not vpon his humanitie leauing it to suffer all alone without all comfort See then vvhether there be any sorrovv like to his sorrovv AFFECTION and RESOL. O my soule looke vpon the face of thy Christ Admire his his vn wearied suffering loue Hartily acknowledge that there is noe sorrow like his sorrow Imprint in thy harte at what a deare rate thou wast bought Ah my soule it was not with gold and siluer and such corruptible thinges but with the sorrowes and teares and bloud and death of a a God-man our Sauiour Iesus With sorrowes which spredd thēselues so vniuersally ouer body senses and soule with teares and bloud so plentifully and freely powred out with death so ignominious so deuoyd of all comfort so abandonned that it forced from the mouth of a most obedient and dearest child My God my God vvhy hast thou forsaken me Resolue firmely then that neither sorrowes nor bloodshed nor abandonments nor death it selfe shall separate vs from the loue of that dearest Lord. THE FIRST MEDITAT FOR THE FOVRTH DAY Of Deathe THE FIRST POINTE. Nothinge more certaine then death lesse certaine then the tyme therof COnsider and striue to imprint in our harts that which we all know yet seeme not to know it that which we all beleeue and yet as it were beleeue it not to witt that as there is nothinge soe certaine as death soe is there nothinge soe vncertaine as the houre therof Consult our owne Knowledge vppō these truthes we Know that neither Salomons witt nor Samsons strength nor Absolons beauty were founde proofe against it They were and now are not mortui sunt is certaine Consult the word of truth and we shall finde that we are bound to beleeue what we otherwise Know. Consult our selues againe vppon the vncertaintie of it and we finde that we haue Knowne many taken away when they and their friends least feared it some by violent some by naturall deathes some in their childhoode before they well knew what it was to liue some in theire flourishinge spring when vigourous youth promised them they could not dye Some in the decline of their age while death threatned and yet was not feared soe certaine it is that the houre of death is vncertaine to all as Christ himselfe makes it sure to faith Watch saith he because you neither know the day nor the houre AFFECTION and RESOLV Dye then we must my soule thereis nothinge soe certaine departe we must out of this cottage of clay Gods iustice hath pronounced the sentence Remember man that thou art dust in-to dust thou shalt returne But when must this sentence be put in execution that is noe lesse
vncertaine our youth may deceiue vs as it hath done many our manhoode or middle age is not priuiledged our ould age cannot last longe What then must we doe but with S. Augustine quitt the vncertaine and forth-with fixe vppon the certaine meanes a good penitentiall life to preuent the danger of that which cannot otherwise be auoyded by mortall man THE SECONDE POINTE. Nothinge more certaine for the thinge nothinge lesse certaine as to the manner Consider that as we are most certaine that dye we must as vncertaine when soe are we noe lesse ignorant where and how this irreuocable sentence is to be executed Shall it be in France or in England at Paris or in the Coūtry at home or abrode in our chābers or in the Church or Garden Shall it be by a violent accidentall or naturall death Shall we be found dead in our beds as we haue seene some heard of many Or else be wrought downe by a lōge and lingeringe disease in the presence of many Shall we finally haue the benefit of the Sacraments which we now haue with soe much ease yea want not without blame To all this the wisest amonge men is not able to answer That dye we must is appointed by a reproachlesse iustice but when but where but how mercy saith S. Augustine hath concealed that we might expect attend prouide for it in all times places occurrences AFFECTION and RESOL. If certainely we must dye my soule yet neither Know when where nor how and if vppon that certaine vncertaine houre an eternity of blisse or woe depends what a necessity is put vppon vs if we will not for moments loose eternities to be ready in all tymes places We Know not my soule we Know not when where or how death may surprise vs onely this wee Know that we haue yet an houre left vs to rise out to four slumber and it is now his present houre Now then without further delay will we by Gods grace dye to that that that c. that death findinge vs already dead may not be able to hurt vs but onely translate vs to à life which Knowes nor feares not death THE II. MEDITATION FOR THE SAME DAY Nothing more dreadfull to the obstinate sinner then death THE FIRST POINTE. COnsider that as death contaynes the greatest certaintie and withall the greatest vncertaintie imaginable so it bringes alonge with it the greatest dreade and the greatest comforte possible That to the obstinate sinner this to the humble penitent The sinner vpon the approche of death hath all the sinnes of his whole life placed before his eyes which he still placed behinde his backe and would neither see them nor sorrowe for them which now the vile Tempter aggrauates and makes appeare in their vttermost inorminitie And hence the sinner begins before hand to suffer the tormentes which he alwayes beleeued tho fruitlessely through his obstinacie to be due to his crymes And thus Knowing his guilt and the punishment most iustly due to the same he deeply apprehends it a thinge full of horrour to fall into the hands of a liuing God Thence he rages and despaires seeing himselfe vpō the verie brinke of endlesse perdition and readie to be deliuered vp into the hands of his cruell Tormenteres for all eternitie AFFECTION and RESOLVT O horrour which hath nothing equall to it To apprehend ones selfe to be vpon the verie brinke of eternall perditiō O daunting dreade incomparably surpassing all that ought to be dreaded To be within a moment of falling into the hands of that euer-liuing Maiestie which is able to throw both the body and soule into Hell fire What riches honours pleasures were they neuer so opulent superlatiue and prosperous and remayned they too till that moment in their full possession wheras indeede they all are vanished away like nightly dreames were able to conteruayle so daunting and damning a disaster O my soule those accursed wretches shall then say with in themselues repenting and sighing too late for anguish of spirit What hath pride profited vs Or what aduantage hath the vaunting of riches brought vs Or what comfort hath the most prosperous pleasure of our whole life now left vs. Alas alas none at all but contrarilie a comfortlesse fruitlesse endlesse peniteri THE II. POINTE. Nothing more confortable to the humble penitent Consideration But when the innocent and iust soule or the poore humble penitent perceiues death to creepe vpon her she lifts vp her lōge deiected heade with ioy because her redemption is euen at hand She had vsed her best endeuours mournfully to purge her sinnes in the bloud of the lambe who was slaughtered for vs and thence she cōceiues an humble confidence to meere with mercy and to be ioyfully admitted in to that celestiall mariage of his In fine she eyes death as the immediate obiect of her ioy since it alone has power to deliuer her out of her loathed prison of flesh and to deliuer her vp into the deare hands and diuine imbraces of her dearest spouse whom she loues alone AFFECTION and RESOLV Sitt downe seriously my soule and count to what a high degree of consolation it will then amounte to heare those heauenly inuitations of the heauenly spouse saying come come my spouse thou shalt be Crovvned Crowned I say vvith that crovvne of iustice vvhich is layd vp for and by a iuste Iudge shall be rendered to them that loue his coming The shewers of repentāt teares are now blowen ouer the sharpe winter of temptations tribulations vexations and crosses which we willingly endured for the loue of God are quite gone ryse vp my friend and come O what excesse of deare delight shall that happie soule inioye at that houre THE FIRST MEDITAT FOR THE FIFTH DAY Of Iudgment THE FIRST POINTE. COnsider that dye wee must that is this soe much neglected soule of ours must be turned out of the body which was pampered caressed too carefully looked to by vs presently after death Iudgment saith the great Apostle we must all of vs be brought and be made manifest before Christs Tribunall that euery one beare away accordinge to his woorks We haue left the world vnwillingly while willingly the world leaues vs the dearest freind that euer we had will not goe alonge with our abandoned soule nor euen permitt the body which they loued to ly foure and twentie houres in the Roome with them They that offended with vs will not answer for vs but leaue vs alas to answer all alone AFFECTION and RESOL. Aye me vppon what is it that we fixe our hopes is' t vppon our selues but alas these muddle walls fall the immortall inhabitant is turned our Vppon the freinds that we haue purchased by sinne or other wise but they haue left vs our body is throwne into the earth our poore soule is left alone to be iudged Ah how much better were it saieth S. Augustine to chuse him for our freind aboue all
it nor can he deceiue vs that he vvho exaltes himselfe shall be humbled and be that humbleth himselfe shall be exalted Nay my soule since the same Truth comes to teach vs this lesson in his sacred passion let vs not proue so much contrarie to his blessed designe and our owne aduantage as not to endeuour to learne it with the whole strife of our hartes Howbeit sith he is as well the teacher as giuer of it let vs often say with S. Augustine thou commandest humilitie ô Lord giue vvhat thou commandest and commande vvhat thou vvilt THE II. MEDITATION FOR THE 2. DAY THE FIRST POINTE. COnsider that hence it was that the diuine wisdome or Word of God which was in the begining with God nay was God and therfor could thinke it noe stealth to be coequall coeternall consubstantiall with God the Father exinanited or powred himselfe out and became flesh Et Verbum caro factum est taking vpon him the shape of a seruant Earth is at a losse vpon this abismall humiliation litle kowing as faith S. Augustine what to say to it or what conceipt to make of it Nay the heauenly powers stand amaysed to sea the kinge of Angells become lesse then the Angells yee iust like to one of vs in all thinges saue sinne nay one of vs indeede flesh of our flesh bones of our bones poore man Vnlesse we should yet say further lesse then man Nouissimus virorum the least and last of men a vvorme and not a man with the royall Prophete AFFECTION RESOLVT Ah my poore soule if the gracious inuitations and mylde lessons of Wisdome cannot preuayle to plucke downe our proude harte let at least the abismall example of our humanised God the eternall Word made flesh put before our eyes dissipate and cure that pernicious tumour It is thy verie God that lyes humbled at thy feete my soule it is diuinitie it selfe which lyes as it were infirme before thee that so thy swelling being worne downe thou mightst deiect thy selfe and caste thy selfe prostrate vpon that great God Deus Deorum now for thy example become the last and least of men THE II. POINTE. Consider that if this heauenly designe and resolution be truly admirable farre farre aboue the reach of men and Angells and the execution of it ineffably gracious and euen rauishinge as speaking more sweetnesse and heauēly delightes to humane hartes then they are any way capable to comprehende so that they doe not so much intice as inforce the said hartes to humilitie if there be any sense of man left in man so the admirable circumstances which accompaignie it doe powerfully preach the same lessons to the eyes of the world If then it hath pleased him to build himselfe a cottage of the same claye wherof he made vs he will also haue all the rest suted to it This most humble Loue metamorsised-kinge will haue an humble mother Queene a poore handmayde of our Lord An humble putatiue father Ioseph a carpenter An humble Pallace a poore Rocke or caue An humble chaire of state a manger Humble attendants an oxe and an Asse vvith a fevve sillie shephardes and after that all his life longe poore rude simple fishermen AFFECTION and RESOL. What my soule will be euer able to decrye pride if this doe not And what will be able to imprinte humilitie deepe in the verie bottomes of our hartes if this proue not effectuall His poore abiect and despicable condition in the verie first steppe he made into this world began to publish it His lowlie obscure and hidden life all the tyme of his infancie declared it in his riper yeares he continually preached it the course of his whole life confirmed it and at his death he signed it with his pretious bloude humbling himselfe to death and the death of the crosse the most infamous of all deathes O my soule let vs then being forced by all these pressing and euen oppressing arguments either humble our selues to the ground in all occasions of humiliation or at least confesse to our confusion that we are the most vnworthy and vnsutable seruants to a diuine Master who was in all thinges so incomparably humble THE I. MEDITATION FOR THE THIRD DAY Of the Benefit of a religious vocation THE FIRST POINTE. COnsider that it seemed not enough to that Kinge of glorie First to haue made you a reasonable creature after his owne likenesse and all the other creatures for your vse 2. to haue regenerated you to a new and better life by the holy Sacrament of Baptisme 3. to haue giuen you the knowledge of the Catholike faith hauing culled you out of multitudes that daylie perish but his gracious beneuolence went yet further on with you and by this holie vocation to Religion called you to be his peculiar friend and seruant and Fauourite to haue a more neere and deare conuersation with him and to make it your businesse in earth to singe his prayses and mercyes as the Blessed shall doe for euer and euer in Heauen AFFECTION and RESOL. O the infinite goodnesse of my deare Lord who goes still on in my behalfe heaping benefit vpon benefit and fauours vpon fauours yea fauours of singular preference tender loue and greatest assurance towards the attayning of Beatitude that can be mette with vpon this perilous sea Fauours not granted to all nay scarce to a few among multitudes who daylie suffer shipwracke while thy free grace deare God not my merits hath guided my doubtfull nauigation to a safe harbour Where witnesse S. Bernard who experienced the same one liues more purely falls more rarely riseth more quicklie walkes more cautiously receiues grace more frequently reposeth more securely dyes more confidently and is rewarded more abundantly THE II. POINTE. That this vocation leads to a certaine state Consider that Gods goodnesse by meanes of this holie vocation lendes you not to a certaine indifferencie of seruing him or not seruing him at your owne pleasure and election but he bringes you therby to a setled and permanent state wherin your body is tyed to stabilitie in a certaine place and all your actions are marked out and limited by Rule and constitutions and all these confirmed by the three essential vowes of Religion Pouertie chastitie and obedience according to S. Augustins Rule Which vowes are noe other things then sacred and solemne promises freely deliberatly and with out constrainte made to God in the face of the holy Church of thinges which are better as S. Thomas of Aquine teacheth AFFECTION and RESOL. This my soule was Gods singular goodnesse to vs to winne our hartes by our owne free choyce to renounce that dangerous libertie which might happly haue proued our ruine to imbrace the true libertie of the children of God which is neuer so free or euen truly free indeede but vnder the seruitude of that most pious Kinge of glorie according to that of S. Augustine Libertie is neuer greater then vnder a pious Kinge whom to serue is indeede
did so touch him at the hart that he forceably cryed out The vnlearned men of the world doe teare heauen out of our hands and we with our great knowledge without braynes or courrage are still content to wallow in flesh and bloud AFFECTION And why doe not we my soule obseruing in our selues the same errours make vse of the same remedies why doe we not fly the occasions of euill and speedily lay hold vpon the occasions of good compagnie and good counsell If in the one we meete with a moment of false delight experience assures vs it is payd with houres and dayes and yeares of discomfort and remorse of conscience wheras in that other we might euen here below haue some participation of heauen and be left with our thoughts full of a solide and permanent delight MEDITATION V. WHAT BEFELL HIM soone after his perfect conuersion to God To vvitt a change vvrought by the hand of the highest I. POINT COnsider a soudaine and strange change of the hand of the highest which happens to all who absolutly conuert themselues to God It became sweete to me saith he to be depriued of the sweetnes of wordly toyes What formerly I feared to loose I now departed from with ioy For thou didst cast them from me thou ô Lord who art my true and prime sweetnes Thou threwest them out I say and in lieu of them didst thy selfe enter who art sweeter then all delightes though not to fleshe and bloode more sublime and high then all honour but not to those who are high in their owne conceipt AFFECTION Take courrage then ô my soule take courrage God is not Augustins God alone but ours also the bowells of his fatherly mercy lyes open euen to vs too His loue is not lessened his arme is not shortened Le ts but in good earnest conuert our selues vnto him and his goodnes cannot auert himselfe from vs. Be conuerted to me and I vvill be conuerted to you saith our Lord. Let 's but absolutely dispossesse our selues of the world and worldly toyes and he will infalliby inhabite our harts possesse them of heauenly ioyes and make vs experience a deare and delightfull change II. POINT Consider secondly that he was restored to the libertie which by the slauerie of sinne he had lost Now saith he was my mynd freed from the biting cares both of honor and riches as also from procuring to welter in carnall sins and prouoking the heate of lust AFFECTION and RESOL. Oh what a change is this from that wherin he formerly found himselfe ingaged when he said now all the arguments which I was wonte to bring were solued and their remayned onely a speachles trembling and it his soule feared euen as death it selfe to be restrayned from the course and fluxe it had longe taken towards sinne wherby it was dayly pining away and growing neerer to destruction And againe I turned and winded my selfe in my chayne till such tyme as that litle which helde me might be broken but still it helde me I was saying I would doe it and euen almost did it yet indeed I did it not but remayned breathing neere the place where I should haue bene We often my soule find the same wrastling with flesh and blood but le ts be faithfull to Gods inspirations and we shall also be restored to the same libertie III. POINT Consider thirdly that as he is more and more remoued from the troubles and cares of the world he approcheth neerer and neerer to the deare delights of heauen and inioying the true libertie of the sons of God I conuersed saith he in a familiar and tender manner with thee who art my beautie my riches my saluation my Lord and my God AFF. and RESOL. Marke ô my soule the delightfull degrees of this heauenly change We are first touched and excited by grace being fallen we are carried on by delight being risen accompayned by delight we are lead to libertie which affords vs wings of holy desire to flye vp and repose in the bosome of our dearely beloued and shelter and solace our selues betwixt those sacred breastes of consolation to which I will cling and nothing shall be able to separate me THE VI. MEDITATION Hovv absolutely he betooke himselfe to a good life I. POINT COnsider that no sooner was he restored to this blessed libertie and had he receaued the Sacraments at Saint Ambrose his hands but he began to lay the fundation of a holy life by bidding a most absolute Adieu from the verie botom of his hart as saith Possidius to all worldly pretentions nether now desireing a wife nor sons of his body nor riches nor worldly honors but made a firme purpose to giue himselfe wholy to Gods seruice fasting prayer and good workes meditating day and night in the law of our Lord. saith Possidius AFFECTIONS and RESOL. O my soule lets vs take the same resolution and humbly confidently and perseuerantly make vse of the same meanes and we shall not fayle happily to be restored to Gods fauour He who made vs without vs will not saue vs without our consent and cooperation we must worke then not we alone but Gods grace with vs. II. POINT Consider that this resolution being taken in generall he found no better way to sett vpon it in particular then by selling what he had and giuing it to the poore to follow Christe take his owne word for it I saith he Epis 89. Who write these things did vehemently loue that perfection wherof our Lord spoke when he said to the rich young man in the Gospell Goe c. and I imbraced it not by myne owne strength but by the assistance of his grace AFFECTION and RESOL. Behold ô my soule how thy holy Patron springs on in the wayes of Gods counsells Their is now no more cold cras crases to morow and to morow heard but fourth with he setts vpon it No more halfe wills wherof the one serues to destroye the other but he resolutely and vehemenly loues it No more irresolution as fearing into what hands he might putt himselfe or that he might loose by the bargaine but he sells and giues all that he hath If we find our selues thus affected how good reason haue we to reioyce in our Lord but if contrarily we be delaying cold irresolute in what we haue vndertaken how good reason haue we to spurre our selues on by his example I will therfore c. III. POINT Consider that he did not build woode haye or stubble that is terreane preferments or respects of flesh and blood vpon these holy fundations but euen gold siluer and pretious stones saith Possidius that is the most choyce christian vertues to witt a feruent loue of God intimated by gold the loue of the neighbour signified by siluer and all the rest of the vertues imported by pretious stones AFF. and RESOL. This is the paterne which our holy Patron left vs let 's examine how well we take it out Is it thus indeed ô my
soule that we build Or rather doe we not heape negligences tepidities vanities and impurities of intention vpon the good fundation we haue layd Are we not in verie deed cold and slowe in the loue of God and ther vpon as carelesse of our neighbour as though the care of him had not at all bene commended to vs Let vs therfor in imitation of our good Patron say with him Giue me ô Lord to loue thee as much as I desire and as much as I ought and my neighbour for thee and in thee c. THE VII MEDITATION Hovv he behaued himselfe in Faith I. POINT COnsider that he putt down with Saint Paule whose best scholler he was that Faith is the substance of things to be hoped for an argument of things not appearing or as he saith in another place it is the fundation of all good things the verie begining of mans saluation It is an illustration of the mynd by which it is illuminated by the Prime Light to discerne spirituall things AFFECTION and RESOL. Doe we ô my soule ayme at the true knowledge of spirituall things doe we desire our saluation or hope we for those eternall waights of glorie those ineffable things which appeare not to the eye sound not to the eare nor enter into the hart of man which God hath prepared for those that loue him know then that it is by the benefit of the heauenly light of Faith That is the illumination that the fundation that the very substance and somme of all II. POINT Consider that he putt downe for his seconde ground with the same Apostle that without Faith it is impossible to please God I saith he none shall be admitted into the number of the sons of God without it None without it shall obtayne iustifying grace in this world nor possesse eternall life in the next which is giuen to the loue of God alone Nor can any loue whom he knowes not nor doth any know God but he to whom it is reuealed by the Father through faith in his onely son Christ Iesus AFFECTION and RESOL. If without Faith we know not without knowledge we loue not without loue we remayne in the iawes of death if in death there be no grace nor without grace any hope of glorie If we haue no right to the denomination of sons nor consequently iust Title of Heyres Oh of what con-consideration ought faith to be with vs how constantly ought we to imbrace it how carefully to conserue it For alas if we misse to be numbered amongst the sons of God we shall not misse to be counted amongst the slaues of the Diuell III. POINT Consider further with him that the begining of our faith is from Christ from vvhom by vvhom and in vvhom are all things It is not bought by our riches procured by our industries or giuen to our merits but is a pure and free gift of Gods mercy to which he is nether necessitated nor induced saue onely by the abundance of his owne vncompelled goodnes AFF. and RES Blessed be thy goodnes for euer ô my Lord God who daynedst me with this great gift whilst I nether deserued nor desired nor euen thought of it Farre be it from me to extolle my selfe to arrogate it to my self as though I had had it of my selfe Nay contrarily vpon the thought of that singular goodnes I fall downe prostrate before thy Maiestie pronunceing in all humilitie that he vvho doth glorie should glorie in our Lord. THE VIII MEDITAT A CONTINVATION OF the same subiect I. POINT COnsider that though the begining of our faith be from God purely and cannot be merited by vs yet is the increase of it Gods grace being alwayes presupposed left in our hands to be procured by care and cultiuating and by continually accompaigning it with good workes We are not to be as it were secure in faith but we are to accompaignie a right faith with a right life The Apostles saith he had not left all contemning the hopes of the world had they not had some faith nor would they haue said Increase our faith had it alreadie bene perfect AFFECTION and RESOL. Blessed be our good God who doth not onely preuent vs with his benedictions before we deserue or yet thinke of them but also giues vs power by concurring with his grace to multiplie his good gifts yea he hath euen charged vs to negotiate vpon them till he come Le ts vs not therfore be wanting to our selues since the increase is left in our owne hands II. POINT Consider that though it be our part to make good vse of the good Talent which Gods grace freely bestowed vpon vs and by that good vse to multiplie it yet are we to know with our Saint that as no man is sufficient of himselfe to begin or perfect any good vvorke so is none of himselfe able to begin or perfect faith But the increase and perfection of it ought to be procured by our feruent and frequent prayers to the good Giuer saying AFFBCION and RESOLV I beeseech thee and in a most suppliant manner I implore thy mercy ô God who are the fountaine and sourse of all good things the giuer and conseruer of all vertues increase in me holy right and immaculate Faith And make me performe workes sutable to it least a good faith may be defiled by vncleane workes and least I may deny thee by a bad life whom I confesse by a good beleife I beleeue ô Lord Yet helpe my increadulitie III. POINT Consider further with your holy Fa. that for want of good workes and feruent and frequent prayers our Faith in lieu of increasing falls into a deficiencie it sleeps waxes weeke and sicklie yea dyes Iesus some tymes sleeps in vs as he slept in the shippe that is our faith which is from Iesus sleeps in vs and then the winds and waues of temptation tosse vs too and fro We must therfore awake Iesus and the tempest shall be allayed that is we must recollect our faith and call it to practlse AFFECTION and RESOL. vve perish ô Lord vve perish haue mercy vpon vs. For alas why doth our faith sleepe but for want of being excited and stirred vp by feruent prayers whence is it weeke and sickly but for want of the nourishement of good workes whence is it dead but that it is not quickned by charitie We wil therfore Pray worke endeuour to loue God aboue all things and our neighbour as our selfe c. and when all is done we will ascribe all not to our owne strength but to Gods grace THE IX MEDITATION With vvhat modestie and humilitie he looked vpon matters of Faith And hovv high a rate he putts vpon it I. POINT COnsider that he aduentures not to diue into the knowledge of high misteries with hereticall pride and presumption as though witt were able to make way to all but by a truly Catholike submission and modestie vpon many occasions he makes open profession of his ignorance acknowledges the
alreadie aboue He below by the compassion of Charitie we aboue by the hope of Charitie AFFECTION and RESOLV Had we Christians yet reason to doubt with Salomon vvhether God did dvvell amongst men we might also fall into that deficiencie of Truth that he vvalkes about the Poles of Heauen and considers not our things but being assured by Faith that he left heauen to take vp his delights amongst the sons of men we cannot feare but he is full of goodnes for vs through that goodnes loues vs and for that loues-sake would haue vs to loue him againe and to be confident in him I will therfore with the holy Patriarche hope euen against hope and with the good Iob hope in him Though he should kill me because sure I am what euer sense may seeme to suggest he doth not loue and forsake II. POINT Consider that his seconde motiue was not that he conuersed with vs onely but euen became one of vs. What hath man to doe for whom God became man taking our humane nature vpon him This is my whole Hope and entire confidence for by this sacred vnion euery one of vs hath a part or portion in Iesus Christ to witt flesh and bloode AFFECTIONS and RESOL. Let vs then say with your holy Father where a part of me raignes their will I apprehend I raigne where my flesh is glorified their I know I am glorious Though I am a sinner I cannot be diffident in this communion of grace for what my sinns prohibite my substance exacts He cannot forgett man which he beares a bout with him and for our loue tooke vpon him In him we haue alreadie ascended the heauens in him we are sett at the right hand of his heauenly father O comfortable and admirable and ineffable motiue of mans hope and confidence in so sweete à Sauiour II. POINT Consider that his third moriue of hope was not so much that he conuersed among vs or was one of vs as that he daigned to dye for our Loue. Be confident thou shalt attayne to his life of glorie vvho hast his death for a pledge of it AFFECTION and RESOL. Let then the Diuell rage the flesh reuoult the world waxe madd against me Let me heare nothing from them but vvhere is novv thy God as though I were quite forsaken by him yet wil I liue and dye in this confidence that since he delightes to be vvith the sonnes of man he cannot delight to abandonne him to the rage of his enemye any further then he discouers it for his aduantage That since for the loue of man he became man he loues no◠man so litle as to loose him That finally since he dyed for him while he was yet an enemye he will not now sith he endeuours to be a seruant and a friend leaue him a praye to his enemye In ha◠spe dormiam requiescam THE XIV MEDITAT Hovv he behaued him selfe in Charitie shevving first that vvithout Charitie all serues for nothing I. POINT COnsider that though Faith shew vs the good things which nether eye hath seene nor eare hath heard c. and Hope giues vs a comfortable confidence that we shall attayne vnto them yet shall we neuer walke home indeede vnlesse Charitie giue vs feete Thy Charitie is thy feete with that thou art carried where so euer thou art carried Thy two feete are the two precepts of the loue of God and thy neighbour Run to God with these feete draw close to him for he himselfe exhorts thee to run and to that end enlightened thee with Faith incourraged thee by Hope c. AFF. and RESOL. I playnely see what euer Faith shewes me and Hope assures me of it is loue alone can make me happie Without that like the sicke man of the passie I lye vncomfortably vnprofitably I aduance not at all vnlesse thy loue make me walke I stirre not Grant me therfore to loue thee as much as I desire and as much as I ought Let me be wholy inflamed with the fire of thy Charitie that I may loue thee with all my hart yea with the verie marrow of my hart strings that thou maist alwayes and in all places be in my hart in my mouth and before my eyes till at length I may see thee for euer face to face in thy heauenly Sion II. POINT Consider that without true Charitie all our workes are of no value seeme they neuer so specious in the eye of the world Charitie makes the distinctiō betwixt the sons of God and the sons of the Diuell Let them signe themselues with the signe of the Crosse Let them all answere Amen Let them all singe Allēluya Let them all be baptised Let them all enter into the Church and build vp the walls of the Church by Charitie onely are the sons of God discerned from the sons of the Diuell AFFECTION and RESOL. Let vs not deceaue our selues with the faire out-sides of things All that is without loue is without life Whether we beleeue or we hope what the Catholike Church beleeueth and hopeth and liue within the walls of the same Church and with ioy say Amen to all that is said to it Whether we watch or fast or preach or pray it will not all auayle vs to eternall life vnlesse all be both commanded and ordered by charitie Without this one necessarie thing all the rest are lost Diligam te Domine fortitudo mea refugium meum liberator meus c. III. POINT Consider that as hauing Faith and Hope together with all the specious vvorkes imaginable without Charitie wee haue nothing so hauing Charitie we want nothing Where Charitie is what can be wanting saith he and where it is not what can profit vs The Diuell beleeues and yet loues not but none loues but he beleeues One who loues not may though without effect hope for pardon but none that loues can despaire where loue is therefor Faith and Hope also necessarily are Let vs then keepe this precept of our Lord and let vs but loue one another and we shall not fayle to performe what euer he commands besids For in this we haue what euer other thing there is AFF. and RESOL. O God how true it was that Salomon said when he professed that together with wisdome all good things came vnto him for what is wisdome but a sauourie knowledge a true relish of heauenly things which is noe other thing then Charitie This makes vs beleeue as we ought hope as we ought worke as we ought This is one and all vpon the purchace of which if a man imploye all his substance he shall repute it all as nothing at all Vpon this then will I settle my whole intentions vpon this spend all my meditation and thoughts c. THE XV. MEDITAT VVHAT CHARITIE IS I. POINT COnsider what Charitie is and you will receaue from Saint Augustine that it is a loue of the cheife Good or Charitie is a vertue wherby we desire to see God