our selues in praysing thee since all the powers of the heauens confesse and prayse thee for God Trine and One the infinit king wise powerfull good and beautifull the pardoner of them who are conuerted towards thee the vphoulder of them who approach to thee the glorifier of them who serue thee that God of whose perfectioÌ„ there is noe end For thou surpassest all tongues and all vnderstandings and thou art onely knowne in perfection by thy selfe To thee be glory through the eternities of all eternities Amen A Letter of the Authour to a Cauallier who went to study at Salamanca where they made him Rector of the Vniuersity Hee shewes that in the busines of seruing our Lord faynt desires are not sufficient but there must bee deeds Hee also shewes the hurts which multiplicity of busines brings to such as are but beginning to serue God I Pray God that both your goeing to that Vniuersitie your aboad there and your retourne from thence may be happy to you you knowe already that in this affaire of seruing Christ our Lord it is not enough to haue certaine faint desires but they must be accompanied with solide workes and sometimes with sweat euen as it were of bloud And I much feare least the difficulty of the way should fright you and least you might grow to loose the sweete of the kirnell because the skinne and shell is bitter The gate is straite whereby wee must enter into the way of God but after wee are entered Prou 4. wee finde that to be true by experience which is written Ducam 〈…〉 â—emitas aequitatis quas cum ingressus sueris non arctabuntur gressus tui I will leade thee by the wayes of equity into which when thou shalt bee entred thy paces shall not bee straitned And then a man findes that the yoke of Christ is not heauy to him since he reaches now his haÌ„d to theÌ„ who haue suffered temptations for his sake and he comforts them who are in teares and cures them who haue broken harts A happy affliction is that though noe other comfort did succeede it which is endured by vs because wee hould the standart of Christ our Lord vpright resoluing rather to endure the sharpe blowes of temptation then to enioy an ill peace and to haue warre with God You must humble your selfe much before our Lord and lament your owne misery in the sight of his mercy For there is not meanes whereby any good may come to vs but onely by the fauour of heauen And there is noe way to obtayne this fauour but onely the profounde knowledge of our misery crying out from the very bottome of our harts to that lord who dwells on high and driues not such persons from him as are ouerwrought with the burden of their miseries and who euen swelt in the lake as the Prophet Ieremy saith with a weighty stone vpon their backs I like well that you resolue to make acquaintance with those Fathers For that good opinion which they of your Citty doe now conceiue of them that haue I conceiued long agoe Onely you are to looke that the good example which you see in others may not be vnprofitable to you And I beseech our Lord that he will be pleased to lett mee passe a little that away though it be but to giue contentment to you The excuse which you make for hauing accepted the Rectorship of the Vniuersitie is iust since you were aduised to it by persons soe well qualifyed and soe many as that they did euen oblige you to it But I beseech you Sir be not negligent now that you are putt to sea since it was not without cause that you feared euen soe much as to imbarke yourself For my parte I am full of thought least our aduersary haue traced out this course soe to hinder your proceeding in the way to God which you were taking For many imployments though euen about good things should not be committed to young beginners because they vse to trouble such persons as haue not yet sett all those things in order which concerne themselues And soe our Aduersary hath done much hurt to many by this meanes and brought them to the passe of some poore little swallow which goes forth to fly before she is well in strength and then hauing not power to prosecute her flight vp aloft nor yet to retourne to her nest from which she went shee falls downe into the hands of boyes and they play with her a while and then kill her This busines is soe much the more subtile perplexed as it comes cloaked with good zeale And new beginners must be watchfull in this case little lesse then they would be when there were question of theire coÌ„mitting a sinne For if there be any true zeale in them it is fitt that first they be zealous of their owne good And zeale of others which wants zeale of a man's self hath beene the fearfull ruine of many soules I desire that you will conceiue a very great feare care in those things which may seeme good to you For in such cases as those doth that deuill who is called Meridâ—an deceiue them at high noone Psal 90. whome he was not able to deceiue in expresse darknes And doe not precipitate your self vpon the making of great reformations nor conceiue that you are there for that purpose but rather feare least it be for the punishment of your owne sinnes And if your hart offer to giue you that you shall doe great matters in this Office beleiue it not but rather lay it prostrate before our Lord with feare beseeching him to keepe it still that he permitt you not to loose the little which he hath giuen you of the knowledge of himself And if yet indeede you must execute any thing let it not be till first you haue recommended it earnestly to our lord and let it not be of that nature through the difficulty thereof as that you must probably thinke it is like to cost your minde much vnquietnes and in the end that the profitt will be vncertaine Some other man may doe those things or els your self at some other time But now looke you into your owne soule consider your wayes well and direct your feete rightly in them And because you haue little oyle in your lampe Matth. 23. answeare them thus who shall desire oyle of you Ne forte non sufficiat nobis vobis I can spare you none for perhaps there is not enough for vs both And with this religious feare euen in those things which are good and with calling vpon our Lord from your hart and with plying your study hard you may perhaps goe through this dangerous passages without harme I beseech Christ by the meritt of his bloud to graunt you this fauour Amen A Letter of the Authour to a lady wherein he tells her that of all those things which a body might choose for the seruice of God the suffering
may be sure that thinges goe wel with you that I may haue strēgth to beare that pēnāce which you shall impose vpon me for my negligece Negligence I meane in writing to you but not in remembring you For in this our Lord hath not permitted that I should be forgetfull For soe great was the loue which I carryed towards you vpon seeing that you were growne to be the true seruant of God and you entred soe deepely into my hart when I considered those mercyes which our Lord had vouchsafed to you that it neuer parted more from thence though it haue failed to strengthen and comfort you in this way as it should haue done Pardon me my good Sister for the loue of Iesus Christ and bee not cruel against yourfelfe but be as cruell against me as you shall thinke fit Be sure to loue our Lord for he deserues not to be ill vsed for the negligence of his seruant And if you should haue forgotten your duety to him you know his condition already well enough and that he hath promised to receiue the soule which will retourne and that if you will forgiue me he wil pardon you And he will shew you such mercyes as he shewed before and wil enable you to sing those Canticles to him which you sung in your first beginning and birth to Christ our Lord. Doe not now giue cause of ioy to those infernal spirits since there was a time wherein you wounded them with sorrow Doe not greiue your good Angel since he hath giuen God much praise for you and hath reioyced at your vocation Doe not reuerse that solemne Festiuity which was celebrated in the kingdome of heauen vpon the day of your cōuersion And if through my sinnes any of these things should haue happened yet still you must not be dismayed For our Lord will stretch forth his armes and will receiue you since he stretched them out for you vpon the Crosse And it is vsual with him to loue that person more who hauing runn away out of the warr doth yet returne to fight with greater courage then that other who though he neuer forsook the feild yet was neuer but slack in doeing him seruice This is a kind of warr wherein the losse of the victory consists not in the not receiuing any woundes but in flying out of the battaille rendring himselfe to the enemye in the quality of a man who is ouercome Take courage and begin yet once againe for you shall find Christ our Lord close at hand to help you And seing your humility and how much you are ashamed of yourselfe he will not put you to confusion Nor when he shall perceiue that you are lying prostrate at his feete will he cast you off or kick you out of his sight And if you call vpon those intercessours of yours who are in heauen they will not make themselues deafe to the cryes which you send vp from hence As for me because I haue made the fault whereby you haue incurred the inconuenience if there be any I wil alsoe performe the pennance as I said before And I wil beseech our Lord to restore and raise that vp which my negligence made fit for ruine Let all your thoughts beate vpon his hauing begunn the worke and not vpon my hauing neglected it And then he will put things in good order because he is the true louer of soules and pretends not to see mens sinnes that soe they may retract them by sorrow I beseech him euen by what himself is that he wil keep you in close protection vnder his wings and make you gratious in his sight and that he wil punish me in whatsoeuer sort he shal thinke fit And I beg of you by him that you wil write to me though I confesse myselfe to be vnworthy of your answeare A letter of the Authour to a woman who was afflicted with grieuous and dangerous temptations He encourages her to suffer and shewes that the fraite of afflictions is great when they are well borne BEE comforted Esaye 40. bee comforted O you my people sayth the lord your God speake to the hart of Ierusalem and call her hither for her punishment is ended and her sinne is pardoned Confide my good sister for these words are spoaken to you and they commaunde you to be comforted through his fauour who will defende you though your owne infirmities and those infernall powers striue to plucke you downe But if they be carefull to persecute you more carefull is Christ our lord to ouershadow you and to defende you and to fetch you of from this combatt adorned with new Crownes which are incomparably more to be esteemed and reioyced in then your tribulation deserues to be lamented What is the matter what is that which afflicts you what is that which frights you your God is the curer of these wounds be not troubled there at For at the instant that he closes them he will shine to you as a sunne seauen times more bright then before you were subiect to this affliction your spirituall prosperities will incomparably excell those which are past since that which you suffer now doth so farre exceede in bitternesse that which formerly you suffered For these flowds of anguish vse to serue but for a preface to an aboundance of spirituall delight as the tribulations of Iob were messengers to him Iob 24. of a doubling of his estate and comfort which God bestowed vpon him God afflicted him first and then he comforted him he tryed him and then he crowned him he hid himself from him a litle but afterwards he shewed himselfe more deare and sweeter then he had seemed before to be offended This is the stile which our lord holdes with his seruants He mortifies them so farre that he seemes as if he would place them in the verie torments of hell but then instantly againe he drawes them out and putts them into perfect ease and so as that the whale is neither able to retaine him nor yet so much as to touch him with anie offence whome she had swallowed Our aduersaries the deuills Ionas 2 are full of pride and they threaten to devoure vs but let vs say to them in their teeth Come and spare not for you shall be ouercome Take what councell you list it shall come to nothing for God is on our side Let it not my good sister passe once so much as in your thought to be afrayd of these infernall wolues For hee who conquered them once vpon the Crosse hath conquered them in you and will do so againe and will despoyle them to their great shame And how soeuer it may seeme to you that the encounter is fierce and the enemie so strong as to fright you be not yet dismayde E saye 19. For it is our lord who sayth Shall perhaps the prize be taken out of the hand of the strong man And shall that which was seised by the mightie be resumed Most certainly the
the loue of him And if God will vouchsafe to open our eyes that so Psal 118. with Dauid wee may consider the wonderfull things of his lawe wee shal finde that not onely there is daunger hanging ouer vs through this self leue in those things which are playnely and grossely visible and exteriour but more and much more euen in those other things wherein many thinke that true sanctity doth consist And if you aske mee what those things are I say that they are noe other then vertues the peace of soule the kingdome of heauen yea and euen our lord himself And thus you may see how great our daunger is since there is daunger euen in that which is security and how great the mischeif is of proper and inordinate loue since the stinge thereof thrustes it self into such holy things Not that it is able to make them ill for that it cannot doe but in regard that by causing vs to desire good things as our owne last end and for loue of our selues wee make our selues ill since wee inuert that order which the loue of God prescribes which is to loue that which is good and our selues withall for the seruice of God and for his loue and all this in the same manner and with the same measure which is best pleasing to his Diuine Maiesty The loue of God doth not consist whatsoeuer we will needes be saying in the desire of much vertue noe nor euen of God himself if it be inordinately done and with excesse of affliction as wee are wont to desire other things For if I be moued for the loue of God to desire any thing my maine desire to haue that thing must bee to haue it if God will and how and when and to what proportion he will and not to bee greedy of it for my owne good but to the end that the will of God may bee accomplished though his pleasure were that my soule should remayne without vertue and that I should neuer enter into heauen I say though his pleasure should be so for indeede it is not But at the least our will must soe be lodged in the will of God as that it may bee prepared to will any thing which God would haue vs will without any manner of exception For if our owne self-loue bee aliue in vs that mischeif is so much the wors and more inward by how much the better the thing is which wee desire For in these things as seeming to bee very safe a man is wont to extend his appetite as farre as he lists And whilest wee say that wee desire the loue of God wee are full of self-loue which makes vs desire him for the loue of our selues without any rule or measure whereas it ought to bee iust the contrary I remember some Doctours tell mee that Lucifer was the first whoe committed this sinne and how the thing which he desired was good namely felicity but that he desired it not how nor when nor in whome nor for whome it was fitt that he should haue desired it but with an vnbridled appetite which aymed at his owne priuate good as any couetous wretch might desire much pelfe or any ambitious man much honour Certainely if the ends and rootes of our desiring one and the same thing be different the thing it self which is materialy desired falles out after a sorte not to be the same But rather as I sayd before the better the thing it self is the more daungerous is the inordinate desire thereof For there is nothing worse then for a man to desire any thing as his owne last end for the loue of himself This last end is that soueraigne God of Goods which is God whoe ought to bee the ayme and end of all our desires And now if any should say by not vnderstanding well what I affirme that I seeme to teach that wee must not be feruent in desiring to become more and more vertuous but that wee must as well leaue all to God which belong to the soule as that which concernes the body my answere is That as in these exteriour things wee must bee diligent but not afflict our selues with excesse of care and anguish but must putt our selues wholy into the hands of God and take with patience whatsoeuer comes so in those things which importe the soule wee must be sure to be more diligent but yet with condition that if notwithstanding our diligence wee cannot haue all wee would wee must not suffer our selues to growe impatient For that would be a worse fault then the former which gaue vs soe much trouble But wee must conforme our selues wholy to the will of God to whome humility and patience in the midst of our frailties is more pleasing then a proud deuotion and complacence in the strength which wee conceane our selues to haue And if wee cannot obtayne at the hands of God that wee may liue without faults yet lett vs render him most humble thankes for hauing giuen vs the knowledge of them For was perhaps any other thing the perdition of that proud Pharisee but the cōtentment Luc. 18. which he tooke in his owne good workes And did any thing saue the Publicane but the knowledge which hee had of his ill deedes and the displeasur which he conceiued against himself for them desiring mercy of our Lord It is not the case of euery one to conserue humility in the middest of great vertues but there be very few whoe are not disgusted with their owne faultes And therefore though the former of these two wayes be higher yet the later is safer All which is dispensed by our God who is of soueraigne wisedome and who guides vs by seuerall wayes to the same end which is himself And though wee be neuer so couetous mee thinks this ought to stay our stomach with a sufficiency of comfort that wee may hope to goe to heauen whether it be whith the height and perfection of vertue as some goe or by the knowledge of what we want and doeing pennance for the same as many others doe But notwithstanding all this wee must not forbeare to imitate the best wee see since our Lord hath giuen vs a desire thereof and since an account is to be demaunded of vs if wee doe it not Wee must therefore desire to be better soe that yet withall wee loose not our inward peace though wee obtayne not all wee desire For otherwise I doe not thinke that euer there was a man in the world leauing him onely aside whome euery body knowes who desired not to be better then he was but yet this did not take theire peace from them because they desired nothing out of any particular appetite which neuer confesses that it hath enough but onely for the loue of God with whoe 's distribution and portion they would be well content though he gaue them lesse esteeming that to bee true loue which contents it self with what he giues more then to desire to haue much though
will see that by the former of them you were bound to lodge your loue vpon our lord after a very particular manner because the contract of marriage obliges either partie to loue the other And on the second day our lord shewed the loue which he bore to you and he gaue you strength to pay according to your weakenes the loue which you owe to him For what haue you out of your owne stocke but obligations and what meanes haue you to pay any thing towards the coming out of debt you being a poore ingaged creature who indeed deserued to be euer kept in prison in miserie and in chaynes Psal 106. as Dauid saith But the rich Iesus Christ hath giuen you the plenty of his grace whereby you may know and loue him and may ouercome your contraries and plucke downe that strong Golias which is the Deuill who biddes battaille against all such 1 king 17. as resolue to serue Christ our Lord. It is not reason I say it is notreason that you should forgett what you owe nor how God hath enabled you to pay And for that which God hath giuen you you are much the more bound to serue him For to be a religious woman is the coÌ„dition of many but to receiue soe particular lights and fauours from heauen wherewith to serue our lord is the case of few Abraham bestowed guifts euen vpon those children which hee had by lesse principall wiues but he left his inheritance and estate to the lawfull sonne of that wife of his who was most beloued that wee may vnderstand thereby the difference of the guifts of God which hee imparteth in this life to seuerall persons Our lord be thanked for that your lines and lottes are fallen into the best ground forasmuchas grace was giuen yow whereby to make you chaunge your state of life and to despise the world with your whole heart and to despise also your selfe and to obey the superiour of your Monastery as your mother and to loue all your sisters and Almighty God more then the very apples of your eyes This is that caelestiall fauour which was done you that you might be rich and well supplied with all thinges necessary in Christ our Lord crucified and from thence comes this soe hopefull and happy change which you haue made in the manner of your life and that inuisible beauty wherewith your soule is endewed And what now remaines but that you be like one who hath acquired great worldly riches and who instantly entertaines seruants to â—eepe it And soe you must be carefull to keepe that which our lord hath giuen you least els your soule turne beggar after it hath beene soe rich which is a kind of life of more affliction and greife then theirs whoe neuer knew what belonged to riches Remember what your spouse saith and conceiue that he saith it to you as indeed he doth Now thou art whole soe thou sinne noe more least a worse thing happen to thee Liue with a holy doubt and care how you may keepe that safe which our lord hath giuen you and how yet withall you may gaine fine other talents to the fiue you haue and whether or noe you haue oyle in your lampe and that such as may bee able to last many yeares And till the very houre of your death let this worde sound in your eares Behold your spouse comes Matt. 25. goe forth to meete him For if you liue with this care you will still be well employed and you will not haue leasure to cast your eyes vpon any thing of this life For this alone suffices to giue vs enough to thinke vpon yea and to grow weake withall The holy scripture saith that this alone is enough to breake our sleepes And if you haue not this care I shal be full of sorrow for it For by the want thereof vanity and curiosity doe streight enter in and as many tales of the liues of others as they make who take noe heede to their owne And soe by little and little a soule growes to be seauen times worse then it was before I expect not to receiue such fruites and soe full of bitternesse at your charitable handes but rather the fruites of benediction and sweetnes like a tree which is planted neare the streames of water which with the leaues and with the fruite giues that man a gladd heart who tooke care thereof But yet if by humane frailty you be fallen into any negligence as it happens sometimes see that instantly you wake and breake of that sleepe least it proue inâ—â—tall to you And beg pardon of our lord who is full of mercy and benignity For though he be angry with the defectes of such as haue already knowne him and will punish them yet he driues not away his children and he giues them correction not with fury but with the rod of a Father Goe you therefore instantly to him though you know you haue offended him for perhaps hee may haue shewed you his anger to the end that yow should remoue it from him by your humility and purpose of amendment He will instantly forgiue you and sometimes he impartes particular fauours euen as if it were in recompence of our carelessenes Take heed you grow not stiff and fixed in tepidity for this is a disease very hardly cured And yet on the other side you must not be dismayed if you be not alwayes in soe great feruour as were fit For you are but a woman and noe Angell you are but weake and not indewed with much strength The greatest courtesy you can doe your greatest enemy is to remaine fallen in the way as some cripple might be in a slough of mire with the bones as it were of your soule broken through distrust as if now you had noe more to doe with the busines of getting vp to heauen Our lord's pleasure is that you should thinke highly of his goodnes and that he driues them not away who knowing their owne weaknes goe and seeke for strength and remedy at his hands And indeed our pride is soe very great that for the cure thereof he lettes vs fall many times to the committing of these very things which had formerly beene very farre from vs that soe being fallen we may rise againe And then knowing by experience what kinde of thinges we are we grow to thanke our lord for that which he is to vs and from that time forward we despise our selues we begin to liue with greater doubt and care and feare least we happen to loose that a second time which had beene lost by vs once before Thus doth our most wise phisitian and most louing father draw our cure out of our very woundes themselues and life out of our death and he shewes his goodnes by our wickednes And though we fight sometimes against him with the weapons of sinne which giues him prouocation yet his goodnes steps out like a conquerour and impartes a thousand millions of benefits
frailties with great diligence for amongst those pouerties and miseries is this pretious Iewell wont to bee founde And through our sinnes we haue soe much matter to worke vpon by way of examining and bewayling the same that vnlesse it be some man who will absent his eyes from looking vpon himselfe there is none who may not be sure to finde cause and cause enough not onely to be humbled but euen confounded Woe be to vs if we be found to be of them of whome God saith Thou art become as the face of a strumpet nor wouldst thou blush For what thing is there more deformed then the impudent boldnes of such a person as hath so much reason to be full of shame And who is he that dares once cast vp his eyes to God or his creatures if he consider well how he hath offended him made himselfe vnworthy of them who is there amongst vs who failes not in the perfect loue which he owes to God since wee loue him not with our whole vnderstanding beleiuing his truth with that firme constancy which is fitt and enterteyning those considerations those thoughts and purposes by meanes whereof we might doe him more faithfull seruice who is he who loues him with his whole hart not giuing any parte thereof to others yea or to himselfe but onely in God and for God and who renouncing all proper interest hath proceeded to loue God for God himselfe And he who shall consider how little he hath mortified his passions and what a stiffe warre he makes against the kingdome of the loue of God will easily discerne that he loues not God with all his soule And our Lord commaunding vs alsoe to loue him with all our strength we are yet content to doe it with such a deale of tepidity as wee may well desire him to pardon For the strength which wee employ vpon complying with the loue of our selues and appetites being soe aliue in vs makes vs mightily faile in the diligence which we owe to the seruice of God and to the feruour of our loue of him S. Augustine saith that the encrease of Charitie in vs is the decrease of our owne appetites and desires and then will our charity be perfect when there shall be noe such desires in vs at all Now by the name of such desires he vnderstands that inordinate selfe loue which euery one beares to himselfe And because amongst all them who descēd of Adam there is noe one excepting onely Iesus Christ our Lord and his most sacred Mother who hath not found in himselfe some excesse of this selfe loue therefore is there none of them who hath not fay led somewhat of perfection in the loue of God For when the loue of my selfe is wholly aliue in mee the loue of God is dead and then is a man in state of Mortall sinne And when the loue of God liuēs and raignes in mee in vertue of which loue I fully purpose not to offend God mortally then am I in state of grace though I may faile somewhat of that perfect loue of God because still I comply in somewhat with the loue either of my selfe or of creatures And from this want of diuine loue doth grow our faultines in our other workes because that is the life of them From hence alsoe proceede the faultes we make in the loue of our neighbours by our not hauing compassion of their miseryes nor taking ioy in their blessings as concerning persons who are very straightly ioyned to God and adopted in the Sacrament of Baptisme for his children And we alsoe faile in our workes towards them because we faile in our loue to him who said That which you haue done to any of my little ones you haue done to mee Now from the defect of these two Loues of God and of our neighbour which are the rootes of our good workes many other imperfections grow into those very workes which we doe though sometymes such workes themselues are not sinnes nay being performed in the state of grace they are meritorious of eternall life But of such as these if we meane to liue in the way of humility and truth wee are to giue the glory to God and to yeild him humble thankes who holpe vs to embrace that which was good with our free will and ordeyned that it should be meritorious by that Grace which through his mercy he bestowed vpō vs. Now wee must not vpon this reason forbeare to sifte out those faultes with care which we comitt to these actions of ours but it is a much more secure practise to consider very particularly that which is faulty in vs then that which may goe for a point of vertue And be well assured that how much soeuer you shall consider and sifte yet still there will much lye hidden from you in regard whereof you shall haue reason enough to say with deepe sighing to our Lord O clense me from my hidden sinnes Hence comes it that wee loue not our neighbours in such sorte as God would haue vs or at least not so much as hee would haue vs. Hence comes it that wee tollerate not their imperfections nor fly from giuing them disgusts And in fine from hence grow all those other faultes which defile our soules like filth which is euer dropping as from a sore Our sinnes are greater then any thought of man is able to vnderstand and onely he who created our hart and cleerely penetrates to the bottome of it is able to comprehend what our frailty is And many tymes doth that discouer it selfe to be filthy before his iudgment which seemes in the sight of ours to be very perfect Therefore as Iob hath showed vs the way we must feare all our workes how good soeuer they may seeme to vs and we must not take pleasure in our selues by reason of them nor delight our selues therein euen in the most secret part of our hartes For he onely is pleasing to God who is displeasing to himselfe he onely is Iust in the sight of God whoe knowes that grace and Iustice proceedes from the mercy of God There is not a thing from which God is more auerted then a hart which carryes liking to it selfe For God in such a one findes noe vessell empty into which he may powre the riches of his mercy and soe such a hart remaines with the naturall pouerty wherewith and wherein it shall still cōtinue because it would not abase and empty it selfe that soe the waters of Grace might runne into it and soe it might liue contented in God and might bring forth fruite as a garden would doe wherein there were abundance of water All our good comes from God he whoe beleiues that of himself he is able euen to moue his tongue towards the saying soe much as Lord Iesus that person makes himselfe God since he attributes that to himselfe which onely belongs to God And God giues himselfe to vs vpon condition that we must acknowledge this truth That
not onely in that which giues vs gust but in the contrary alsoe For otherwise what wonder is it to see the spouse obey her fellow spouse in that which giues contentment to her selfe since for that there is noe greate neede of loue for the respect of proper interest is able to breed such obedience as that Nor doe I know with what eyes Christ our lord will looke vpon such a spouse as that since he obeyed his Father Matth. 26. for her sake in cases of soe extreame affliction saying Let it be not as I wil but as thou wilt Whereas shee saith iust the contrary Not as thou wilt but as I will for shee will be squared out by another rule then her head was and will needs make the will of God which is eternally good to be crocked that it may conforme it selfe to her will which seekes not that which is truly good for her and which eternally is to be soe but that which seemes likely to giue her some little temporall delight A wake O Virgin out of that sleepe wherein you are for it is broad day Take the sheild of Faith Rom. 13. since God hath armed you with it and driue away these dismayes beleeuing that you are beloued though you be not regaled by our lord And turne your complaint backe vpon yourself since a little present disfauour is of more power towards the drawing you downe then the many fauours which are past to keepe you fast on foot You now doe iust the contrary of what you should For whereas it were reason that in this time of tribulation you should remember your comforts of former times beleiuing that the trouble which now you haue is but to trye what proportion of trust you repose in God You doe yet call it into question whether his loue were true to you then or noe beleiuing rather in the shew and leafe then in the substance and roote You haue noe iust cause to be dismayed though you bee afflicted For our lord is nor gone from you but he went away with a meaning onely to stande by and to see how you carried yourselfe like a mother who hides herselfe behind a hanging to obserue and heare what her childe sayth and doth whilst he thinkes that he hath lost her but then shortly shee steps out and makes much of him If you feare that he hath forsaken you and giuen you a bill of separation for the faults and ignorances into which you may haue fallen you are much deceiued For in farr greater falls then those Ierem. 3. his course hath beene to comfort soules by saying Thou hast committed fornication with many louers but yet retourne to me and I will receiue thee Though God like well that his seruants should know and weigh the faults into which they fall yet it is not his pleasure that they should be dismayed or too excessiuely afflicted by them Nay he esteemes this to be of more disseruice to him then the very fall it selfe Neither is it alsoe his pleasure that a sinne which is as little as a graine of seede should be made by vs as bigg as an Elephant and much lesse that we should make that to be a sinne wich indeed is none Soe that if you haue not fallen into sinne and yet will needs be troubled as if you had you offend against his truth And if you had fallen you should offend against his mercye by not beleiuing that he hath pardoned you You offend alsoe against his loue by suspecting that he hath forgotten you And lastly you offend against the Crosses which he hath sent to you esteeming them to be messengers and signes of wrath whereas indeed they are effects of his goodnes Take therefore the courage now at last to sally out from the owne narrow thought beleiue of God according to his goodnes as it imports his honour that you should doe And liue not still in such blindnes as to measure the large hand of God by the rules of your owne poore woefull hart Nor conceiue you that now he will be a rigorous iudge who at others times and in your greatest occasions hath beene a most indulgent Father to you It was not you vpon whome he looked when he pardoned you and called you but he regarded his owne blood which he shedd Nor doth he now stand hanging vpon your handes as if he loued you for them but you are placed and written in his as he sayth by his Prophet Isay And in those handes he loues you and with those handes he guards you euen then when you thinke he giues you buffets But it is his mercye which is your remedye and safety and noe meritt of your owne You are a Daughter and you are to possesse heauen by way of inheritance and not as a meere day labourer Confide in God and giue him glory in that he lodges his eyes vpon soe vnworthy a thing as you and for that he purposes to exalt soe base a creature to such height of glory And know that he hath noe neede of anything in you and that if he desire anything it is but that you may offer him that sacrifice of praise for your owne good confessing him to be your gratious pardoner and your piteous rayser vp from your falls and your Centinell who neuer sleepes when there is questioÌ„ eyther of doeing you fauours or of drawing good out of your sinnes and your most wise conductour who carries and saues you by such pathes as seeme in the eye of your ignoraunce to be very farr about or rather quite out of the way And all this he doth through his owne goodnes alone considering what himselfe is Which carries a greater weight towards your saluation then your wickednes doth towards your condemnation and you are bound to beleiue that soe it is And it must not seeme straunge to you that the greater surmounts the lesse and the Creatour the creature But let it stand for the last conclusion that as noe goodnes in you was the cause why God loued and called you to his seruice soe will he take care that your wickednes and weakenes shall not hinder the course of those mercies which he resolues to shew you for all eternity Continew your Communions and I beseech our Lord to giue them his benediction For my part I like well thereof and vpon the dayes which are sett downe communicate from time to time and God will giue you strength that it may doe you no hurt for he hath noe quarrel to you I beg that he may be your Loue since he is your Louer A Letter to a Lady who was a Religious woman and in great affliction He shewes how troubâ—es are the proofe of Faith and Loue in the seruants of God and how confident they ought to be of his diuine Maiesty in the middest of their troubles AS soone as I receiued your letter I offe red thankes to our Lord for hauing giuen you a signe that your vocation came
of them suffers ease which he loues not and iust soe is affliction sufferred by the other Now this is part of that which Christ our lord deliuered when he commaunded vs to take vp the Crosse if we meant to be his disciples I say it is a part thereof for the other and chiefe part whereof this Crosse consistes is the mortification and death of our self conceyt and will and of our passions and powers This is that old man who must die as Christ our lord died vpon the Crosse what is this old man the body which is passible and mortall and that other inward man whereof I haue spoken before must be also dead in vs. But although this be the cheife part of carrying the Crosse we must not put away that other part howsoeuer it be lesse principall then this And though S. Paul say Timoth Exercitatio corporis ad modicum vtilis est yet the seruant of Christ our lord will not leaue to please him euen in the least things which can be thought And least we should fall into errour the same Apostle saith elswhere 1. Cor. 9. Castigo corpus meū in seruitutem redigo I conceiue not that he said this because he was tempted with the flesh as some vnderstand the difficulty whereof he complaynes but that he would punish and soe cure himselfe by way of preseruatiue vsing this exercise of his body least his mind might otherwise grow sick And elswhere he saith when he recountes the afflictions which he endured 2. Cor. 4. Semper mortificationem Iesu Christi in corpore nostro circumferentes where hee calles that the mortification of Christ which is the very Crosse of corporall afflictions In another place he saith also Psal 5. Qui Christi sunt carnem suam crucifixerunt And if he had meant this onely of crucifing the affections it had sufficed to say Cum vitiis concupiscentiis but by saying carnem it proues that he meant afflictions of the body This he explicates very well in his Epistle to the Corinthians where amongst other things Cor. 6. wherein men were to exercise themselues he reckens vp corporall afflictions namely fasting and watching so that the whole man must vnder-goe the Crosse since Christ our lord died vpon it Our soule must dye by the compassion and memory of Christ crucified and by the mortification of the ould man as hath beene said and the body also must dye vpon the Crosse of corporall afflictions that soe the whole man may be conforme to Christ our lord as he is in paine and misery since heereafter he is to be conforme to him as he is in glory I haue said thus much that you may take a scantling of those forces which God hath giuen you and that soe you may imploy them vpon doeing and suffering all you can And this not onely considering that it may be addressed to some other good intention but euen though it be for noe other reason let it be done to the end that you may be in conformity with Christ our lord as he was afflicted and not vpon necessity but for loue And though neyther the hairecloath nor hard bed nor such thinges as these howsoeuer they be vsed for the loue of Christ our lord should saue vs sola enim Crux Christs est saluifica yet at least lett vs vse them in imitation of that extreme pouerty and sharpe affliction which Christ our lord endured in being crucified which consideration will not be lightly esteemed by vs if we be not wholy voyd of the loue we owe him Gloria enim magna est sequi dominum And thus much of this matter There were two other points of which I thought to haue written but there is noe time for them now I will note them downe least I should forgett them vpon condition that you write me word what there is to be amended in this letter A Letter of the Authour to a Lord of great quality who was sicke and very fearfull of death He teaches him how he is to carry himself I Haue receiued your lord-ships letter I haue read it and I haue vnderstood it and I hope our lord hath mercy for you in store For it is noe great wonder that his greatnes should doe fauour to one who deserues it not since he hath done it soe often to such as haue deserued the expresse contrary I am not sorry a whitt that your lord-ship is affrayed of death for although this feare be a thing paynefull there is noe hurt for a man to apprehend it and many times it is sent by our lord to the end that by the spurre of feare we may bee vrged on to doe that which wee will not doe for the spurre of loue And he as being a father of mercy vsefull to guide those affaires in such an admirable manner as that both feare and hope may helpe vs to ride that way which it is necessary for him to prepare and to make playne and in fine thus feare serues for many good purposes and it is hurtfull for none I desire that your lordshipp would commaund that house to bee built where your pages are to bee lodged As also that you would defrey the cost of those armes and horse wherewith those townes of yours are charged I wish more ouer that you would not cause any sumptuous cloathes or furniture or such like things to bee prouided now Besides if you remember any thing which you may haue wonne ill at play which either is not restored or els not lost againe to the same partyes I aduise you to make restitution thereof And forasmuch as the men who are Lords of states as your Lordship is are not able to reach to the knowledge of all the wrongs which may bee done to others by you noe nor yet your seruants through theire negligence I could wish you would commaund it to bee published in all the Churches of your state that whosoeuer had receiued any wrong by you should de clare the same and that satisfaction should be giuen him And you shall doe well to appoint the Prior of Saint Dominique and the Pastor of your Church where you dwell and some man learned in the lawes who knowes the affaires of your state to heare and see what were fitt to bee done Some particular causes your Lordship shall doe well to heare your self though it should be of some trouble to you that so they may not say elswhere that this course puts you to more payne then it doth I desire by all meanes that all this may bee done for it seemes to mee to be a fitt remedy of all those wrongs which may concerne your neighbours now it is as easy to doe it well as it vill be hard if it be adiorned till after this life Let it be noe impediment to this that the world may chaunce not to like it since he whoe respects the pleasure of God will easely despise that of the world As